Timelines & Bylines: Introspective.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. DC, Warner Brothers, the estates or what not of Siegel and Shuster, the CW, and the BBC own everything. Doesn't it suck?
Summary: Lois and the Doctor think about their situation.
Spoiler Warning: Oh my god, YES. SPOILERS. For the end of Series/Season 4. Totally. Run away if you don't want to know.
Notes: Third person view this time. Mhm.
Notes 2: Thanks again for the feedback! Sorry I didn't update sooner. Things got in the way of it. And Lavender, if Lois seemed/seems like River Song, it's just by accident. I did like that character though.

Introspective

Lois Lane sat in the chair opposite the control console for the TARDIS. Her light blue coat was slung over one of the railings beside a long brown overcoat whose owner was circling the console with an enormous amount of hyper active energy. She took a sip of her bottle of water that she'd managed to find on the TARDIS. They had just spent the day at a butterfly festival on another planet, something that was still settling in Lois's mind. Aliens. Time travel. It was all real. She'd been on another planet! Filled with humans... but that was beside the point.

Every so often the Doctor, who was Lois's host on this trip and owner of the TARDIS, would look over at her and smile before looking away as a haunted look bled into his eyes. She thought that maybe he was relieved on some level to see her, while at the same time terrified of her. She wondered why, but then she recalled how he was when he tried to explain his previous companion's whereabouts. Something major had happened and she only had bits and pieces of information. She hoped to get more, but only time would tell.

She tilted her head as she watched the Doctor work. He was tall (taller than her), lean, with tousled brown hair. He was wearing a brown suit with light blue pinstripes and a pair of cream colored Chucks. Usually he had the overcoat on, but it was tossed aside not long after they returned to his ship. That was another thing altogether. The TARDIS looked like an old blue police box on the outside, yet the inside was unquestionably infinite in Lois's mind. Hell, all she'd found so far besides the main console was the kitchen and a bathroom. The young woman shook her head and returned her musings to the Doctor. The Doctor. That was what he said his name was. She hadn't pressed him on more, yet anyway, but she was debating on how long she could hold out on that. Was he a cruel man? Lois wasn't sure. He had that haunted look about him every so often, one he'd quickly replace with an exuberant smile and something shiny and new to show her. If she hadn't grown up on military bases all her life, she might not have recognized it for what it all really was. There was guilt there. Survivor's guilt. Doing and seeing terrible things. She wasn't oblivious to the pain he was trying to hide, but she almost felt bad for seeing it at all.

The Doctor's voice interrupted her and she felt the seat she was on shift as he settled beside her. "Someone's deep in thought."

That was another thing, for a so called alien with a space ship; he had an Estuary English accent. It was odd, but she could roll with it. She offered him a smile and a shrug, not wanting to share her mind's working. "What makes you say that?"

He pointed to the top of her forehead with a teasing smile. "Oh, well, you get a little wrinkle in right there when you-"

She lightly swiped his hand away and rolled her eyes. "Funny. They say no one can hear you scream in space, should we test that now?" There was that flash of dark emotion in his eyes and Lois maneuvered topically. "I was wondering what's next. I mean, are you taking me back?"

The Doctor's smile which had already faltered once almost did so again. "Do you want to go? Or maybe you'd like another stop?"

"Like that's a hard choice to make." Lois snorted. This was something beyond extraordinary. This was, well, it was a word Lois had yet to find. "You know full well that I'm now hooked. So shake a leg, we're burning daylight here!"

He beamed at her and hopped off of the seat, heading straight for the console. "Now that's the reaction I was hoping for." He pushed a switch up and the circular tube in the center of the console began to glow brightly.

He'd known he had her addicted with one trip. He was too smart not to know, even if he seemed to act as if she shouldn't be there when he thought she wasn't paying attention, and Lois stuck her tongue out at his back before speaking again. "So where are we going?"

She was looking at him expectantly, he knew it. And despite the fact he knew better than to draw another person into his world, here he was, doing it again. It was his fault really. All he had intended to do was stop yet another minor cataclysmic event and he'd done so with an audience. Her blasé attitude toward him seemed to appeal to him and it surprised him so much that he'd spoken without much thought. Or maybe he just needed to admit to himself that he needed someone even if he destroyed them in the end. It was selfish of him. So much so, that he knew he should turn around and take her right back to where he found her.

Instead, he found himself flipping switches, turning dials, and attempting to set a new course for another destination. "How would you like to meet a historical figure?"

"What, you feel the need to prove this baby can time travel?" Lois responded and he glanced over at her, only to see that she was staring at him with an amused smirk. "If so, I already believe you. Future and planet, remember? But hey, if we're going to time travel to a specific place... what about the first performance of Whitesnake?"

The Doctor felt his jaw drop. "What?!" He was utterly baffled by her suggestion. She couldn't possibly be serious but her expression said otherwise. "Whitesn-What? Why?"

Her eyes narrowed at him and she folded her arms across her chest. "I happen to like Whitesnake, thanks for asking."

"You can't be serious. If need to go to a gig, you could go see-"

"Shakespeare or Oscar Wilde." She raised a hand and pointed at him. Actually, he was going to suggest Elvis or The Clash but she didn't give him a chance to do so."You've probably seen all of that already, but I bet you've never seen Whitesnake in concert."

Of course he hadn't, he liked to think he had better taste than that, but what did that have to do with anything? "Well, no, but-"

"Then why would I want to go see something you've done? Why not do something neither one of us have done? I mean, come on. Historical figures in time travel have been done to death." She smirked at him and he realized she was going to taunt him. "Or are you just as straight laced as that suit you wear?"

"I'll have you know," He growled at her as he reset the coordinates, "I happen to like rock music. Janis Joplin gave me that coat!"

"And yet that doesn't impress me." Lois smirked some more and the Doctor found it a little irritating. "So come on, spacecase. Impress me."

He turned to flip the final switch and scowled. "Spacecase?" When he turned back around he found her standing beside him. He hadn't even noticed her getting up. "Really, is that the best you could come up with?"

"It fits. Deal with it." The smirk turned into a smile and she punched him on the arm before sauntering away from him.

He winced at her gesture and absently rubbed his arm as the TARDIS quaked through the time vortex. "Blimey, do you have to hit so hard?"

"Don't be such a wimp. If you survived meeting the General, you can survive that."

The Doctor was starting to think he should take her home, for completely different reasons this time than before. He was about to say something but the TARDIS came to a stop, not nearly as jarring as their first trip, but enough to make him grab a railing by instinct to keep from falling. He noticed Lois doing the same before quickly running toward the doors.

She glanced back at him and gestured a thumb to the doors. "So? Is it something good?"

There was something in her eyes that made him stifle the common sense telling him to send her home. There was anticipation and desire for whatever came next in those hazel eyes, but there was loneliness just behind that. Not quite the level as his to be sure, but loneliness all the same. She needed this. If wanted to be honest with himself, he needed this.

"Oh, you'd better believe it." He smiled and headed toward her, grabbing his coat off the rail as he went. "Allons-y!"

She arched an eyebrow at him when he reached the doors. "Allons-y?" He was ready to explain as he pulled his coat on but she nodded, understanding what it meant. "Allons-y. I like it."

He offered her his arm. "Shall we?"

Her grin was as contagious as he suspected his was at times and she took the offered arm. "We shall."

He pushed the doors of the TARDIS open and left his doubts and misery inside. No, they wouldn't be forgotten forever… but one more trip without them. Just one more. They could wait another few hours. After all, he had nothing but time.