AN: This was a faster update than I thought. Of course, I'm neglecting my homework to get this done… Ahem. Ignore any typos; I'm always super excited to post these. Story's going to pick up, promise. Let me know what think!
Chapter Two: Looking in All the Wrong Places
The morning sun arose; forcing its way through Miranda's parted curtains. She remained still, seated on her sunken mattress, staring at her laptop screen as she had been doing for the past three hours since she returned from her jog. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she paused in thought.
None of her searches brought up anything useful. Simply searching the name 'Doctor' brought up only medical related persons, as expected. The terms 'Police Public Call Box', 'phone box', ' blue box', 'magically bigger on the inside box' and every imaginable variation were just as dead ended. It wasn't until she combined both the keywords of 'Doctor' and 'blue box' that something semi-related came up.
The website was headed with the question 'Doctor Who?' Below it was an unfocused picture of a man with short dark hair amid a crowd of people. Under the picture, it asked 'Have you seen this man' and gave a link to contact the site owner. Miranda pursed her lips and angrily pushed the laptop away from her. She begrudgingly rolled out of bed, dragging her feet to the kitchen.
Miranda forced herself into her morning routine yet still, all efforts of pushing her thoughts from the mystery of the Doctor were futile. Sighing heavily, she filled a teapot with water, put in three spoonfuls of tealeaves and set it on the stove, forgetting entirely to turn on the burner.
She sat at her wooden table to brood. That police box was unmistakable; how many were in existence? Not many, she mused; it hadn't been until her encounter with the Doctor that she'd ever seen or heard of one. The rarity of the sight was obvious but the fact that she, herself, saw a police box again only in the span of a few months seemed hardly coincidental.
As her mind churned, another persisting thought resounded in her mind that she could no longer ignore. Police call boxes didn't come to Britain until 1891, the first being in Glasgow, a long way from Chiswick. They were red cast-iron structures and hexagonal in shape, nothing like the Doctor's. It wasn't until the sixties that they started to resemble the one the Doctor had. So, that being said, it would be literally impossible for there to be an image of the Doctor's style police box in a window of St. Marie's Cathedral unless it had been built in the sixties; something Miranda highly doubted. It just didn't make sense…
She blinked, snapping out of her deep rumination. She hurried into her room and retrieved her laptop, settling back into her chair.
"Saint… Marie's…Cathedral," Miranda said aloud as she typed, "Plus… Chiswick… Plus… Blue Box."
She hit enter and bit her lip as the results came up. She clicked on the first website dedicated to the church. Miranda scanned the site and looked through its tabs but there was nothing that mentioned a blue box. She sighed, deciding to see when it was built anyway. She clicked the section about its history.
St. Marie's Cathedral was first built in 1822 and served as a convent for the Sisters of Perpetual Mercy. It was not until 1875 that the convent was converted into a church and made open to public services. One of the most-
Miranda was already opening a new window where she frantically typed in 'St. Marie's Convent in Chiswick' then as an afterthought, added 'blue box'. She felt her heart beat faster as the results came up. The first site had all of her terms in bold. She clicked on it.
The Legend of St. Marie's
It was reported by the Sisters of Perpetual Mercy in 1870 that they were directly involved in a battle of good and evil. The general consensus states that the sisters claimed their convent was a battleground between a sinister demon and a man sent from God. The Mother Superior, Sr. Mary Elizabetha, described the demon as "having come down from the heavens although its birth was clearly in the fires of hell". The demon was said to have hid itself in the convent, attacking any who crossed its path. The sisters' account states their prayers were answered when a blue box appeared and a wingless angel emerged. The man was later named by the Sisters of Perpetual Mercy as the "Sainted Physician". They claim he was able to drive the demon back to hell by the will of God and was never seen again, himself and the blue box vanishing without a trace.
Physician? There was no way… It was imposs- She shook her head, stopping before she even finished the thought. There was no way that it was him or even his police box. It's not like he was painted in the stained glass… For some reason, she didn't quite believe her own excuses.
Her hand was shaking as she did another search, 'box' plus 'history'. There were a number of mixed results; it'd take her some time to sift through them but she had a feeling that something important was buried in them. An hour passed and she found nothing linking her to the Doctor. Curiously enough, there was a depiction of a man and woman on either side of a 1960's style police box on an ancient marble slab found in Rome but the man didn't even remotely resemble the Doctor. In the archaeological column she found it in, it had said the figures were seen as gods as the slab was surrounded with ceremonial offerings. It said nothing about a doctor or a physician.
She tried another search, 'Doctor' plus 'history' plus 'mystery'. Lazily, Miranda scrolled down the results, becoming frustrated until something caught her eye. My Mysterious Doctor. She clicked.
The 18th century painting, My Mysterious Doctor, was created by Lady Matilda, daughter of a nobleman in the King's court. The central figure on the canvas, suspected to be a secret love interest of Lady Matilda, was never identified, however, it is stated that he was a doctor of some nature. Some historians theorized that the figure may have been the royal doctor or an apprentice.
When her father found the pair together, the supposed doctor was sentenced to the guillotine and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Two days after his incarceration, it was reported that a large seemingly magical sphere was said to have carried the doctor off and was never heard from again. After this, it is believed that Lady Matilda added the word 'mysterious' to her painting title yet curiously enough, left it unfinished.
Underneath the brief description was a photograph of the painting in question. Miranda stared disbelievingly.
"It's him…" she whispered, eyes glues to his face, "It's the Doctor."
Lo and behold, the Doctor stood proudly on the canvas holding a trident, surrounded by cherubs and bright clouds. He was also completely naked, save for a crown and a flowing cloth tastefully shielding certain areas from view. Miranda felt her cheeks grow warm then realized the heating must be on higher than usual.
She x-ed the window and sat back in her chair, appearing quite disturbed. That painting was from the 1700's, she thought, How could the Doctor be in a three hundred year old painting? There was no denying it. It was definitely him. But how? Either he looked extremely good for his age or he wasn't from the 1700's at all. But that would make him a time traveler which was… impossible! Miranda forcefully shut her laptop and stood, brows furrowed and lips tightly pursed.
"Everything about him is impossible!" she shouted, "Can't I get a straight answer once? Just once?"
What was she even trying to accomplish? It didn't matter who he was nor where he had been, did it? He was out of her life and that was probably a good thing. Nonetheless, she couldn't help but wonder about him. How could someone leave so many stones unturned? The only leads she had found, after hours of searching, were dead ends. Miranda gritted her teeth and tried to calm down. When that failed, she decided to get ready for work. Once in her horrific pink uniform, she made her way to the lift. She stopped seeing Clover Benfield and a dark haired man waiting for it as well; both looking quite cross.
"Since when do you hate my perfume?" Clover demanded, "You said it was lovely!"
The man sighed, "I don't hate it… I just wish you'd wear something else."
Clover crossed her arms. "And you haven't even called me Clover-bear in the past week! Do you not love me anymore? Is that it, Tom?"
Miranda cringed at her shrill voice and started in the opposite direction as Tom started to reply; she didn't want to be trapped in the lift with them. Taking the stairs cost Miranda seven minutes and her scattered thoughts making her turn at the wrong block cost her another seven. Consequently, she found herself arriving late at Annie's, the 50's themed diner she worked at. When she came in the back kitchen entrance, her hyperactive co-worker, Laura practically jumped on her.
"Andy, I thought you weren't showing!" Laura exclaimed, ignoring the annoyed looks of the cooks.
"Sorry," Miranda mumbled, "And it's just Miranda…"
Laura smiled, "Riiight, keep forgettin'. But anyway, you won't believe it! Susie's won the lotto! The whole jackpot! She phoned me last night; quit in the morning!"
Miranda internally sighed, "Brilliant… I guess we're picking up her shifts then?" She took off her trainers and began to put on her work required roller skates.
Laura's smile grew wider and continued, "No, that's not the half of it! You see, we got a replacement straight away before the ad even went out! Some bloke just strolled in looking for work."
"A bloke?" Miranda repeated, "I thought we were only supposed to have girls as waitresses?"
Nodding, Laura explained in her matter-of-fact way. "Apparently, it'd be gender discrimination. Plus, we needed the help anyways; Boss couldn't be too choosey. The new guy seems familiar though… might've went to school with him or somethin'."
Just then, the sound of roller skates grew louder, the kitchen doors opened and an all too familiar voice rang out, "That's two specials, a number four, hold the cheese, a number thirteen, a soup of the day and an extra side of chips!"
Miranda froze; her blood ceased flowing as her heart stopped momentarily. Mouth gaping and eyes wide with shock, she turned to find the one person she least expected to see. Clad in black slacks, a pink button up shirt, a matching paper hat and a red bow tie was the Doctor, grinning mischievously.
"Miranda Cole! I had absolutely no idea you worked here. Small world," the Doctor winked then paused, "Relatively speaking, of course..."