X 04

The Doctor strode up to the main doors confidently, only stopping when a tall, wide gentleman blocked his path and coughed politely.

"Ooh, you ought to get that seen to," the Doctor said with a friendly grin, but the old man didn't move.

"Your security pass, sir?" he asked, his voice a deeply resonating hum.

"Of course, silly me," the Doctor allowed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the black fold-over wallet containing the psychic paper. He opened it for the man to see.

The man took it slowly, reading it and looking up.

"And you are alone, sir?" he asked slowly.

The Doctor looked around behind him, then tutted.

"Oi! Where've you got to now!" he called almost irritably.

"Mister Campbell is with you, I trust?" the man added. The Doctor looked back at him.

"He is, he just… gets excited and wanders off," he said, annoyed.

"Young men will do that, sir," the man said warmly. "I myself have two sons, they can be a handful."

"How – um – marvellous for you," the Doctor managed, distracted by his search for the young wayward Scot. "Oi! Mister Campbell!" he shouted.

"Here, Skipper," he said quickly, appearing from his left.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, riled.

"Just looking fae them wee lassies, Skipper. Ah reckon they're inside," he winked. He noticed the gentleman on the door and hesitated. "Oh. Is it ID time?"

"The Doctor has provided both of your security passes, young man," the old man said kindly. "Do not cause him to tarry much longer. In you go," he said, standing aside.

"Oh, well then, thanks very much," he said brightly, walking past the two men and into the main doors. The Doctor shook his head, following.

They walked into a large reception area, all carpeted in red and smelling suspiciously like the foyer of the Manchester Evening News Arena, Fergus noticed.

"Who are we this time?" he asked, putting his hand out for the wallet containing the psychic paper. The Doctor simply handed it over, not even looking at it as he stared up and around at all the differing types of aliens wandering about.

"Says here Ah'm just Fergus Campbell," he shrugged, then he paused. "And yir Doctor Campbell!" he grinned. "Yi huv a name, at last."

"I already have one, but thanks," the Doctor said, pre-occupied, looking around.

"We're scientists on a research mission from thi… thi Boolong Jadoof Scientific Academy of Bullosarrus Nine?" he hazarded, shaking his head. He snapped it shut and handed it to the Doctor. "So what do we do noe?"

"We look for the meeting," he said, taking the wallet off him and pushing it back into his inside jacket pocket.

Fergus reached out and tapped the Doctor's arm suddenly. "Look! There they are!"

He pointed and the Doctor looked around to see the two girls standing by the entrance doors.

Their dresses certainly did them justice, and Fergus felt his mouth go dry.

"C'moan!" he said excitedly, pulling at the Doctor's arm. He pulled himself free but followed, a small smile on his face.

As they crossed the room two older men approached the girls from their left, stopping to talk to them. Fergus slowed to a stop, but the Doctor barrelled on.

"Wait just noe," Fergus hissed at him, and he stopped and looked round at him.

"What?" he asked innocently. "Let's just –"

"No, wait," he said again. "Look."

The girls did not appear happy to be with the two males, and the Doctor took another step forward to interrupt. But again, Fergus put a hand out and stopped him.

As he did so, the shorter girl looked over and her eyes met the Doctor's. He smiled genially, raising his hand and wiggling his fingers in a manner which Fergus had no doubt these girls would consider "cute". The Scot let go of the Time Lord's arm to wave too. The girl, blatantly ignoring the two men still talking, turned and elbowed the other girl slightly, nodding her head.

The taller girl looked over and caught sight of Fergus, smiling instantly. He swallowed and smiled back, before she raised a hand and waved her fingers at him.

It took him a minute to realise she was being friendly, such was the amount of blood pumping through his temples. He waved back dumbly, and she looked at the other girl, giggling. She waved her hand and purse at the man still trying to talk at her, and simply took the other girl's elbow. She looked back at Fergus before pushing her friend on and into the entrance doors.

The Doctor shrugged to himself and turned to see Fergus, mouth half open, staring after them. He grinned and slapped his hand down heavily on the younger man's shoulder.

"Come on then," he said loudly, "let's get inside, shall we?"

They walked in, expecting to be dwarfed by the number of people and the building itself.

They were not disappointed. The ceiling was a good two hundred feet high, with gold and fancy patterns swirling round each other into infinity. Huge balustrades ran down the wall, a dozen small carvings from something akin to marble adorning it at intervals. The wall itself was deep red, with so many tiny faces it almost appeared completely round.

"Woah," Fergus allowed, nodding. He put his hands in his jeans pockets, just looking round and grinning. "Noe this is what Ah call a UN meeting room."

"Hearing Hall, apparently," the Doctor corrected, eyeing a highly polished metallic-looking plate, screwed to the wall nearest him. "Built in... er, 1947. The Gregorian calendar? Out here? Weird," he said, his grin dying by degrees as large cogs spun in his infinite brain, processing this.

"Doesnae look like it," Fergus observed, his gaze already stealing round the many heads, trying to find the two brown-haired girls. "There," he said, putting a hand out and grabbing the Doctor's sleeve.

"Alright, steady on," the Doctor protested, following him more down toward the front. "Honestly, Mister Campbell, your libido has absolutely no bounds."

"There's no answer tae that, is thir?" he grinned, and the Doctor simply followed him to two empty seats near the front.

"Now all we have to do is sit through a few hours of boring waffle from old boys in smart suits," he said pleasantly. Fergus sat down, indicating the free seat next to him. The Doctor sat slowly, pulling his long coat round him and giving an involuntary shiver. "And get them to turn the heat on."

"Alright, old man," Fergus teased, then settled back with a wide grin on his face.

The Doctor looked around, then spotted the reason for his young charge's sudden willingness to attend such a stuffy meeting: the two girls were sat in the row to their left, and the older one was nudging the smaller one, pointing out the two men discretely.

Fergus sniffed to himself and made a show of only just noticing them there. The Doctor tutted to himself, eyeing the ceiling briefly, as Fergus waved his fingers at the two girls. The older one waved back, then turned to the other and their heads went together.

"I just hope this isn't going to end in tears," the Time Lord said easily to himself.

"Shut it you. Watch thi show," Fergus said from the side of his mouth.

Important people wandered round the platform in front of them, and then microphones and chairs were arranged on the stage.

The Doctor decided he would put all his attention into the meeting. After all, it promised to be distinctly less boring than observing Fergus's attempt at charm.

-------------------------------------------------

The speakers dragged on, and Fergus was beginning to think he'd made a mistake after all. The girls were certainly nice enough, but the older one, which he'd privately hoped would look at him more than once every half an hour, seemed much more aloof than her younger friend.

It was while some short, round woman was banging on about the need for energy reserves to be released from some storage facility that Fergus realised the younger girl wasn't actually watching him at all, but rather the Doctor next to him.

He huffed, mouthing 'typical' to himself, before settling back and concentrating on not falling asleep.

He looked at the Doctor and found him staring at the woman on the stage as if she were delivering 'Hamlet' entirely in Earth Welsh.

"What is it?" he hissed from the side of his mouth.

"Well for one thing, they shouldn't have those microphones for this hall. They're not made on Krimmanhell – they actually look like they've come from Radio Shack," he added curiously.

"That's it?"

"I'm not sure," he said slowly. "There's just something wrong with all of this."

"Like?" Fergus pressed, relieved perhaps there might be something exciting hiding round the corner.

"Well, the wrong word here, an odd feeling there… There's just something that shouldn't be here. It feels wrong," he said, concerned. Fergus watched him for another moment, then simply sat back and looked around the stage slowly. He nodded to himself.

"There isnae any water on her podium thing," he remarked. The Doctor turned his head quickly and looked at him.

"What?"

"There's nae water, man. Seeing as she's been yakking fae close to an hoor, you'd think she'd need a drink," he added frankly.

The Doctor looked back at the stage then frowned, and Fergus noticed the Time Lord's jaw slide to one side, the muscles dimpling as he chewed at the inside of his lip.

"And don't dae that," he added quickly.

The Doctor sniffed and perched an elbow on the armrest between them, wiping his mouth slowly while he thought.

"There's just something…" he muttered to himself.

"Well, think aboot something else. Then it'll come tae you really quick," Fergus said with a nod. "Talking o' which, Ah think we should ask them lassies–"

"She's leaving," the Doctor said suddenly. Fergus sighed and watched everyone start to clap hands or slap armrests, as the round woman left the stage slowly, smiling and waving.

"Is that it noe?" he asked hopefully, but a man walked onto the stage, waving an alarmingly large sheaf of notes with him.

Fergus sighed and settled back into his seat.

If Ah'm lucky, Ah won't fall asleep in front of thi lassies, he sighed to himself.