"Oh, I'm so sorry," Hannah mumbled as she fought for balance, a daily battle.
"Don't worry about it. You alright, miss?" A slight chuckle was detectable underlying the question.
"Fine, fine. I've got the grace of a giraffe on stilts… Hold on, that doesn't make much sense… Oh well..." she mumbled. "I'm Hannah, by the way, Hannah Kepler."
"Alright then, Hannah Kepler, I'm the Doctor," he extended a hand, which Hannah shook, a funny expression creeping across her face.
"Nice to meet- OH!" Hannah interrupted herself as the realization hit. This was the Doctor! The one in the notebook! The one whose blue box, at this very moment, Daniel might be scrutinizing!
"I'm sorry," Hannah dropped the Doctor's hand, "I've got to go. I've late for, um, this thing, and I'm meeting these guys…" Her excuses were feeble, but the Doctor didn't question them. She started to stride off in the direction Daniel, Oliver, and Katie had gone. The Doctor followed, keeping about thirty feet behind her.
It wasn't hard to spot her friends as she approached the center of the square. Daniel was walking slowly around the large box. Katie and Oliver stood about twenty feet away, watching as their friend paced.
"Oy!" The Doctor ran towards Daniel, stopping to stand between him and the TARDIS. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Excuse me, sir, but I know what I'm doing. This is a highly dangerous piece of machinery. If you could just step away…" Without looking up, Daniel moved to try to get around the Doctor, but the Doctor moved with him, not letting him get so much as an inch closer.
"Actually, you don't. The TARDIS isn't dangerous. Well, not that dangerous. Well, kind of dangerous. Sometimes. But only if you're not me. Who are you, anyway, to think you know what you're doing?" The Doctor placed a hand on Daniel's shoulder, forcing him to look into his face. Daniel's eyes grew to the size of baseballs as he recognized the Doctor's large nose, elephantine ears, and closely cropped, slightly receding brown hair.
"You're… you're… you're…" Daniel stuttered. He gestured to Katie, who trotted up warily and handed him the notebook. Flipping through pages, he stopped when he found the page with the Doctor's and Rose's pictures taped to it, and brandished it.
"You're Torchwood, then?" The Doctor took his hand off Daniel's shoulder, and took a step back.
"Used to be." Daniel was trying his best to be nonchalant, but failing slightly. He was clearly still a bit nervous, but he reached into his pocket, pulled out a battered, duct tape-repaired wallet, and flipped open his ID.
"Quit or fired?" The Doctor asked with a strange tone in his voice. He clearly didn't trust Daniel, but he didn't outright dislike him.
"Quit. Where's Rose?" Daniel was still doing the best he could to keep calm, but his science-geek-ness was dying to befriend the Doctor and get him to show him the inside of the TARDIS.
"Visiting her mum and boyfriend," The Doctor answered flatly.
"Boyfriend?!" Oliver exclaimed, clearly upset.
"Sorry, mate," Hannah patted her friend on the shoulder, causing him to jump. She had lurked up behind him without his noticing. Katie strode up to the Doctor and looked up at him.
"So are you going to give us a look inside or what?" She asked.
"Nope," The Doctor replied with a smile. "You kids just run along and play now. I'm going to pick up Rose, and we'll be on our way. Just forget all about us, alright?"
"Don't think so," Katie planted herself squarely in front of the two navy doors and gripped either edge.
"Katie's right," Daniel moved to stand next to Katie, but he never looked away from the Doctor.
"No, she's not, Dan. Katie," Oliver's voice contained a hint of trepidation, "Just let him go. It doesn't matter," He stepped forward and gently grasped his sister's elbow. She pulled out of his grasp and threw him with a meaningful glance, but he just took hold of her again and tugged at her sleeve.
"Olly!" Katie wheedled, "You never let me do anything! C'mon! Don't you want to see what's in here?"
"Well, yeah," Oliver shrugged, "but that doesn't mean we'll get to find out."
"Good boy. Exactly. Learning to live with disappointment and all that, eh?" The Doctor smiled widely, and moved to unlock the TARDIS, but Katie and Daniel still blocked his way.
"Move one more step and I'll report you," Daniel, who wasn't a very threatening person at the best of times, feebly warned.
"To who? Torchwood won't believe you, seeing as you've quit," The Doctor scoffed, folding his arms across his chest.
"Jack will," Daniel stated calmly, and a small smile found its way onto his lips as he registered the look on the Doctor's face.
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Author's Note: I realize the story might be getting a wee bit confusing with all the characters I've included so far. I apologize profusely. I'm doing my best to keep things as straightforward as possible, so bear with me. Things will clear up in the next few chapters. Thanks for reading! –RWG