A/N: Here's chapter 2! This one's mostly about the Doctor and Adyson, but I promise River will be back soon!
Enjoy! Please review!
"Woah." Adyson bolted back into the TARDIS and collapsed onto the seat in the console room.
"Doctor! That was the coolest thing I have EVER done!"
He had taken her to a planet called Ipmansius, which was known throughout the universe for its beautiful mountains and generally picturesque scenery. Adyson had grown bored of watching the mountains after a mere five minutes and had set off to climb one instead.
The Doctor came stumbling in after her.
"I didn't realize you were such a daredevil," he began. "Seriously, where did you ever get the idea that jumping off of a mountain top was a good idea-"
"We had harnesses, Doctor. And in case you can't see, I'm standing in front of you. That means I'm still alive." She crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. "What's life without a little risk?"
The Doctor couldn't argue with that, considering the life he tended to live.
"Fine, just don't scare me like that."
"Aww, look at you being all caring and stuff."
The Doctor walked over to the console and sighed. "Where to now?"
"Actually, could I run home?" asked Adyson as she too approached the console.
"You… want to go home?" asked the Doctor, disappointment crossing his face.
"Not forever, stupid!" Adyson said with a wave of her hand. "You can't get rid of me that easily, I expect you need someone around to keep you somewhat sane. But if you want me to hang around for more than a few days, I'm going to need to pack my stuff. Plus, I can get my last paycheck from Sir Slimeball the boss-man. I live about a block from the café where I used to work."
"Great!" The Doctor punched in the coordinates and they were off yet again.
The Doctor opted to wait outside while Adyson barged into the café to demand her last paycheck. The bangs and yells that he heard from the inside told him that he had made the right choice.
Adyson emerged a mere five minutes later, clutching a small piece of paper in her hand and wearing even more of a smug look than she normally did.
"Well, I never have to deal with that asshole ever again," she said. With a toss of her hair, they started off down the street together.
"Don't expect much of my apartment," said Adyson as they approached her building.
The building itself was enough to make even the Doctor not want to go near. The paint was peeling off of the sides. Some of the apartments had balconies, but it looked like all of them had had them at some point. The ones that did had pieces hanging on by mere splinters. Many of the windows were broken and duct taped together. Some did not have windows at all. It was the sorriest excuse for a living arrangement that the Doctor had ever seen, and that came from someone who lives in a big blue box.
Adyson sighed at the look on the Doctor's face as they began to climb the stairs.
"I told you not to expect much," she said with a slight tone of embarrassment. "At least I live on the top floor. I've only had my place broken into a couple of times now… but the people on the bottom floor have their apartments busted up every weekend or so."
The Doctor was appalled. "Why on Earth do you live here?"
"It's the only place I can afford on a waitress's salary," said Adyson with a shrug. "People don't tip much. And it's not so bad. I live next to some pretty nice people. That's when they're sober, that is."
Adyson stopped in front of a doorway and inserted a small gold key into the lock. She shook the doorknob roughly before being able to turn the key and kick the door in. The door made an awful squelching noise against the doorframe as it creaked open to reveal a small studio apartment.
The Doctor stepped warily into the dark room. Adyson flipped on the overhead light and looked nervously at him.
"Again, it's not much. But it's home… sort of," she said.
The room was tiny, much smaller than the console room in the TARDIS. There was a mattress without box springs or a real bed frame lying on the floor in the corner. On the other wall was a small mini fridge with a tiny microwave on top of it. The paint on the walls looked similar to the paint outside of the building—an off white color and peeling badly. The Doctor thought that "not much" was quite an understatement.
Adyson rummaged through the closet and pulled out a duffel bag.
"Let me get my stuff together and we can be off," she said. "I don't want to stay here longer than I have to."
"Fair enough," said the Doctor as he began to poke around.
Adyson disappeared into the bathroom while the Doctor continued exploring. He noticed a picture frame sitting on top of the microwave, which he promptly picked up. It showed three girls, one of which was quite obviously a much younger version of Adyson. Her face was brighter than now, she hadn't lost the baby fat from her cheeks yet, and she did not wear her signature smug look. It was the most genuine smile that the Doctor had seen her with. Adyson was holding a young girl with dark brown curls. They were both being hugged from behind by a smiling woman with light brown hair and freckles.
"This is the happiest I've ever seen her," the Doctor thought as he examined the picture even closer. The Doctor spun around suddenly when he heard Adyson approach.
"Who's this?" he asked, pointing to the picture.
Adyson looked shocked as she snatched the picture away and stuffed it into her duffel bag.
"Nobody."
"That's a lie," the Doctor retorted.
"It's not important," she snapped.
Seeing the fierce look on her face, the Doctor figured he would leave his questions for later.
Adyson finished packing in a surprisingly short amount of time, took one last look around the room, and stalked out. The Doctor followed her.
"Are you planning on coming back here?" the Doctor asked as they walked back to the TARDIS.
"Not if I can help it," she said.
"The TARDIS has created you a bedroom," said the Doctor as they entered the blue box.
"I'll find it later," said Adyson. "First of all, if I'm actually going to run off with a strange man, I'd kind of like to know who he is."
"I'm the Doctor," he said, spinning around to look at her.
"Well, yeah, but who are you?"
"Just me," he replied.
"Are you always this closed off?"
"Yes."
"Fine."
"What about you? Who are the people in the pictures?" the Doctor said, crossing his arms.
"That's not important."
"Are you always this closed off?"
"Yes."
They stared at each other, glaring and fuming in their mutual inflexibility.
"I'll tell you what," said Adyson. "I'll tell you something about me, and you tell me something. We'll ping pong back and forth. Then we both win."
The Doctor nodded, and Adyson sighed.
"My name is Adyson West. I don't know where I was born, and I don't know who my parents are or were. I grew up in an orphanage in New York City. I'm twenty-two years old. Your turn."
"My name is the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord, not a human. I'm from the planet Gallifrey. I'm one thousand and forty seven years old. Your turn."
Adyson stared.
"One thousand-"
"Yep."
"You're not human? You look human."
"You look Time Lord." The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Your turn."
Adyson rolled her eyes and sighed again.
"The people in the picture were, for all intensive purposes, my mother and sister. My mother Alexa adopted Clara and I at the same time. I was seven, she was two. Your turn."
"I grew up on Gallifrey. Then one day, I found this TARDIS. She was unlocked and I wanted to see the universe. So I stole her, and likewise, she stole me. We've traveled the stars together for over seven hundred years. Your turn." The Doctor and Adyson moved to sit on the bench in the console room.
"My mother had a bad heart condition. She died when I was twelve and Clara was seven. We moved in with a woman who was technically our aunt, but she never treated us like family. She was an alcoholic and a horrible person. I raised Clara by myself, essentially." Adyson stared into space, tears forming in her eyes. "Your turn."
"There was a war. An awful war, we called it the Time War. It's a long story, but I essentially destroyed my own home planet."
"You destroyed it?" Adyson said, her head snapping to look at the Doctor. "Why?"
"It was the only way to end the war. To destroy our enemy, I had to also destroy my own people. I'm the very last of my kind." The Doctor ducked his head. To say that this was not his favorite subject to talk about was a huge understatement. "Your turn."
"When I was eighteen, we moved out of that horrible woman's house and I got custody of Clara. We were really happy just to be together." Adyson's voice broke.
The Doctor placed a comforting arm around her shoulders.
"What happened?"
"She… she was hit by a car two years later, and slipped into a coma. She had horrible brain damage… but they thought she would eventually wake up. She didn't. She died a few weeks after the accident. She was fifteen. I was twenty."
Adyson sniffed, clearly holding back all of her tears.
"Your… your turn."
"I've traveled with lots of different companions. But they always leave me in the end, in one way or another. I swore I wouldn't bring anyone else along, but," the Doctor smiled and shook his head. "Some people just show up and all but scream 'hey, I'm here! Let me come with you!'" The Doctor smiled and ruffled Adyson's hair.
"What about River?" asked Adyson.
"Well, we have a complicated story. She is also a time traveler. Not Gallifreyan, but part Time Lord. Our timelines are going in reverse. So, for example, the first time I ever met her was the last time she ever saw me."
Adyson stared again.
"Oh my… what? But you're married… how does that even work?"
"It works, but in an extremely complicated and very difficult to verbalize manner. Your turn."
"There's not much else to me. After Clara died, I had to live on my own. I've been living in that studio apartment piece of shit, and working at that stupid café with idiots. I have a pathetic life. But I always wanted to see the stars. That's one thing I don't like about New York City… the lights are so bright, that you can't see the stars."
"Well, Miss Adyson West, let's take a look outside." The Doctor grabbed her hand and pulled her to the TARDIS door.
"The stars," he said, pulling the doors open and opening his arms wide.
They were floating in the middle of a galaxy somewhere, surrounded my twinkling stars by the thousand. Adyson had never seen such beauty. She stood, transfixed, staring into the deep blue and purple sky.
"Where… where are we?" she stammered.
"Right outside of the Milky Way Galaxy. Lovely view. Alright, Ady. Let's go figure out where we're going to explore next!" The Doctor closed the doors and all but skipped back to the TARDIS console.
Adyson paused.
"Did you just… did you just call me Ady?"
"Yes, I did. Is that bad?" The Doctor asked, peeking around the console.
Adyson shook her head.
"No, it's not bad. It's just… the last people to call me Ady were Clara and my mother."
The Doctor smiled and reached out to hug her.
"You know, we're not actually that different, me and you," said Ady.
The Doctor pulled back from the hug and stared at her.
"What do you mean? We're not even the same species…"
"I mean, look at us. Both of us have lost basically everything we have ever loved. You with your planet and your past companions, and me with my whole family. But we have one more thing in common."
"What's that?"
"We both want to see the stars, and we feel that this is where we really belong."
The Doctor hugged Ady again.
"I'm glad you're coming with me, Ady."
"I'm glad you're taking me with you, Doctor."
Aww, companion love.
Please review!