A/N: I'm so excited about this. The next chapters are going to be soooo funny to write. Please remember to review, I love your comments!
Warnings: This will be somewhat AU. Also, spoilers for Doctor Who seasons 1-6.
Disclaimer: Doctor Who and Torchwood belong to BBC. I only own the characters you don't recognize.
BOOK TWO
"People don't understand time. It's not what you think it is."
- "Then what is it? "
"Complicated. "
- "Tell me. "
"Very complicated."
Chapter 1: You've got to be kidding me
The first thing Susan saw was something brown and green coming towards her, very fast. She hit the ground with a faint thud and groaned at the impact. Not very nice landing with this time travel office, they definitely have things to improve, she thought darkly as her stomach rolled and twisted and her vision spun.
The nausea was over in a few seconds, and Susan rolled over to look at the sky. It still looked like an ordinary sky. No sun was visible, but the clouds looked very normal. She guessed she was at least still back in Earth. Not that she had, of course, expected anything else.
Susan stood up slowly and brushed the dirt away from her clothes, at the same time subtly looking around. She didn't see any medieval knights or anything that could suggest witch hunts or something as dangerous. In fact, she seemed to be standing on a normal looking country road with a few bushes and trees surrounding the place. Few miles further Susan could see large fields, and as she turned around, some buildings. There seemed to be a little village of some kind ahead. So far nothing pointed out that she even had gone back in time in the first place, but Susan knew better. So she sighed and started walking towards the village.
After arriving at the village was glad she had decided to buy her vintage coat. People around her were definitely from the older times, and if she guessed correctly, it was probably the beginning of the 20th century.
Susan walked around like she knew what she was doing, after all, it had been one of the Doctor's tips about time traveling. Always walk around like you own the place, and no one will question you. She looked at shop windows and subtly eavesdropped some conversations among the villagers, and was glad to notice that people were speaking English. That meant she hadn't landed in Germany or anyplace else. Not that there was nothing wrong with Germany. She just didn't speak the language.
Susan spotted a newspaper stand and headed towards it. The first newspaper she saw was of course The Times. She rolled her eyes and her eyes immediately went up to check the date.
November 9th 1913
Susan blinked and stared at the date for a while. Her mind had drawn completely blank about the significance of the particular year, until after a while her eyes widened and her mouth dropped.
Then she started counting back in her head, and her mouth dropped open even more. This was the month that Doctor was spending as a human in the episode Human Nature.
Susan shook her head. The only thing that was missing from this ridiculously convenient event was that she wasn't anywhere near the Doctor right now, because as far as she could tell, she was still somewhere in Wales.
"Now anything more I can help you with miss Redfern?" Susan heard a shopkeeper as next to her.
"No, thank you, this is all I need," a vaguely familiar voice answered. "I better get going back to the school or they will start looking for me."
Susan was frozen in place for a second. Could it really be this easy for her? She wasn't about to look the gift horse in the mouth, so when she finally could move, Susan quickly spun around to look at the person who was speaking.
Nurse Joan Redfern was standing in front of her, speaking to a shopkeeper. Or at least, she had been talking to a shopkeeper until she heard Susan turning, quite noisily, to look at her. The woman raised an eyebrow at Susan's amazed expression.
"Anything I can help you with?" Nurse Redfern asked, taking Susan's appearance in with a quick glance.
"Ummm," Susan stuttered, opening and closing her mouth before finally closing it quickly and swallowing. She was going to have to come up with something intelligent. "I just happened to overhear you talking about a school," she said quickly and scratched her cheek awkwardly. "You wouldn't be talking about the Farringham School for Boys, now would you?"
Nurse Redfern nodded curtly. "As a matter of fact, yes," she said. "Why do you ask?"
Susan made her best pleading expression. "It's just, I'm looking for that particular school because I'm here to meet someone in there," she said, her mind quickly coming up with a lie that wouldn't make her visit seem too suspicious.
"A relative in fact. I would be very glad if someone could escort me there, since I don't know the way."
Redfern eyed her for a while. "I suppose I can help you since my dealings here are done," she said, and for the first time Susan noticed that Nurse Redfern was carrying a basket on her hands.
The woman placed it on her left hand, while the other one gestured for Susan to move forwards.
"Follow me."
"Thanks!" Susan said happily before realizing how stupid the word sounded in the 20th century. "I mean, thank you. I'd be most grateful."
Nurse Redfern looked at her oddly. "You're very welcome."
They walked in silence for about ten minutes, while Susan was having an argument with her inner voice.
'And what are you going to say? The Doctor can't help you, you know, since he still thinks he's a human right now,' the voice said.
I'll just have to come up with something... Susan thought. I mean, his memory is a bit fuzzy isn't it? I could just come up with a story that I'm his distant relative or something and he'd totally buy it.
The voice sighed. 'Yes, but what about Martha Jones?' it argued.
Susan thought about it for a while. Well, she's basically his servant right now. She doesn't really have any right to argue with him, right? And besides, what if I come up with a story that couldn't be proven and I'd be a relative that he's never heard of?
'If he's never heard of you, why would he let you stay at the school?' the voice asked, clearly amused.
Susan rolled her eyes. Well of course I'd be a close relative. Like a... half-sister or something. Then he'd have to let me stay, right? These times are so strict that they would never leave a lady out in the cold on her own, Susan thought, inwardly smirking.
The voice chuckled. 'We'll see.'
"We're here," Nurse Redfern said and startled Susan out of her thoughts. She looked around and saw that she had absentmindedly followed the woman right to the school yard. There were no student's loitering around the building, so they all must have been at class or something. The pair walked across the yard and stopped before a great wooden door.
"Now, who are you meeting here, miss...?" Redfern asked suddenly.
Susan realized she hadn't even introduced herself and smiled awkwardly. "Sorry," she said, "I'm Susan Friberg. Pleasure to meet you."
The woman nodded slightly. "I am Joan Redfern, the school nurse. You may call me Nurse Redfern."
Susan also nodded. "And to answer your question, I'm here to meet Mr. Smith," she said nonchalantly and noticed Redfern's surprised expression. She almost smirked at her. "You wouldn't know him, now would you?"
"I happen to know him, yes," Nurse Redfern answered. "Please come in and I'll fetch him for you."
They stepped inside the old building and Susan almost stopped to look at all the beautiful details around the room, but remained silent and walked carefully behind Nurse Redfern.
That's when a woman came from a doorway and noticed them. "Good afternoon, miss Redfern," a very familiar voice said, making Susan look at the person more carefully. Her eyes widened as she realized who was talking to them. It was Martha Jones in a maid's outfit.
"Ah, good morning... Miss Jones, was it?" Redfern questioned with a barely even glancing at Martha. "Now, we have a guest. Will you please stay here with Miss Friberg while I fetch for Mr. Smith?" she asked.
Martha Jones looked at Susan, only now seeming to notice her. "Of course," she said as pleasantly as she could, before realizing what Nurse Redfern had just said and looking back at her with a confused expression. "Wait, what do you need Mr. Smith for?"
Redfern raised her eyebrow again. "Miss Friberg is a relative of him, that's all you need to know," she said strictly. Then she walked up the stairs and was gone.
Susan was left staring at suspicious Martha Jones, who was eyeing her in a very visible way. "Hello," Susan said and swallowed, trying not to stare too much. "Susan Friberg," she said. "And you are?"
"Martha Jones, miss," Martha said while eyeing Susan suspiciously. "Mr. Smith's personal maid, been serving him for ages, miss," she said in a strange way. "I have never seen you before. What relation are you to Mr. Smith?"
Susan swallowed again, and tried to grin. "Well, I'm quite close but we've never actually met before. The age difference, you know," she laughed awkwardly.
"Right, miss..." Martha said, clearly not believing her. Susan felt like hitting her head on the wall. Of course Martha would be suspicious immediately, since she knew that 'John Smith' had no relatives.
She was saved from further questionings when they heard footsteps on the stairs. David Tennant walked down the stairs and towards her, with a strange expression on his face. No, Susan thought, it wasn't David Tennant. She'd really have to stop thinking of him as David Tennant even thought it was hard. It had been a while since she had seen that face and thought of the Doctor only, after all, Matt Smith had been the 11th Doctor for over two years now.
"Nurse Redfern has told me you are here to meet me," he said and eyed her curiously. "John Smith," he said, offering a hand.
Susan looked at his hand for a while, really hoping that her face wasn't making any strange expressions at the time, before realizing what he was doing. "Susan Friberg," she said and offered her hand.
But to her astonishment and slight embarrassment, instead of shaking her hand, John Smith brought it up and placed a faint kiss over her knuckles. Susan was sure her face was crimson and her heart might have just stopped beating.
"Now, how can I help you?" John asked with a slight smile, clearly noticing her embarrassment but deciding not to comment on it.
Susan waved her hand to clear the air around her, suddenly the air had turned hotter.
"Didn't Nurse Redfern tell you why I am here?" Susan asked after a moment of breathing, raising an eyebrow.
John Smith shook his head. "She only told you were here to meet me," he answered.
Susan sighed. "Well, this is going to be a long story... I think we might better sit down," she suggested.
John looked at her for a moment before realizing what she meant.
"Oh! Of course," he said and turned to Martha, who was gaping at John and Susan. "Martha, bring us tea to my office."
"Yes, sir," Martha muttered and went to the kitchen.
"Let me escort you up to my office, miss Friberg, and we'll discuss this over tea," John said pleasantly and gestured towards the stairs. "After you."
Susan sighed in relief. "Tea sounds wonderful."
"Thank you," Susan said as Martha poured some tea on her cup. She looked up to see John Smith mixing his cup of tea with a spoon. Sighing deeply at the sight she took the psychic paper out of her shoulder bag, grateful that while Martha had been making tea, she had the opportunity to think about her story.
"As I said, I'm Susan Friberg," she said and showed him the paper. "This is my passport."
John Smith read it with a quick glance. He raised his eyebrows and looked back at Susan. "You're all the way from Russia?" he asked incredulously.
Susan blinked at him before realizing that Finland was still part of Russia. Damn.
"Yes, yes," she grumbled. "I've lived there for all of my life until moving here about a month ago after my mum died last year."
"I'm sorry," John said solemnly.
Susan nodded. "Anyway, I'm here because apparently we have the same dad," she started carefully.
John Smith's eyes widened and his mouth opened to form a silent O. "What do you mean?" he asked after a while eyeing Susan with a new light in his eyes. "I've never heard of my dad having any other children."
Susan shook her head. "Well, as I said, it's a long story. After your mom died 20 years ago, your father met my mom who was at the time living here in England. They fell in love and got engaged, but just when they were starting to plan their weddings, my grandfather died and my mum had to go back to Russian, as she was his only child and she had to take care of the property and financial business," she told with a faraway look in her eyes.
"So they split up. After a year, my mum had me. They still kept in contact and dad was kind enough to financially support my mom... Apparently he never told you about me. I think it might have been the fact that I was his child outside of marriage, and the fact that since my mom never married him, he didn't see the point of telling you, as you never had even met her."
John blinked. "That's..." he trailed off. "Very unfortunate."
Susan nodded grimly. "Yeah, well and five years ago when your dad died, my mum kind of got depressed and then she finally got sick about a year ago and died. She of course had told me all about my dad and you, so when I got the chance, I sold the house to my cousin and took all the things I needed with me to come here to meet you."
John leaned back in his chair and was silent for a minute.
"You didn't have any other luggage with you beside that bag," he said. "Where's the rest of your things?"
Susan scratched her neck awkwardly. "Well, I was staying at an inn on my way here, and this morning when I was leaving, the driver took off without me with all of my things inside his car and this is the only piece of luggage that was left."
Even Martha seemed to sympathize with her after that. "That's terrible!" she said.
John glanced at her, "Yes, well thank you Martha. I think you could go now."
Martha almost glared at him but stopped herself in time.
"Yes, of course Mr. Smith," she said and took the tray with her. "I'll leave you to it."
Susan watched her leave. "So she's Martha Jones?" she asked and turned back to John. "I heard she's been with your family since she was a child. Your dad mentioned her on his letters."
The time-lord-changed-into-human nodded. "Yes, she's been a very good servant. I almost think of her as my friend," he said and noticed Susan raising her eyebrows. "I mean, we're very close." He scratched his head, "No, well, you know what I mean, don't you?"
Susan had to keep herself from laughing. "Yes, I do know what you mean," she giggled. John smiled at her. After a while their expressions changed into more serious ones.
"I was hoping to stay here for some time to get to know you, John," Susan said carefully. "I can call you John, right?
John Smith grinned. "I think it's appropriate at this situation, Susan," he said. "After all, we are what you could call, siblings."
Susan smiled and her cheeks burned with the idea. She was posing as the Doctor's half-sister... How cool was that?
"Yes, indeed we are."
"Martha!" John yelled after a second.
Martha opened the door quickly and peeked inside. "Yes, Mr. Smith?"
"Is there any rooms available for our guest?" he asked and looked at Susan. "You will stay at the school, of course? I hardly think it would be appropriate for us to make you find an inn when you could stay here. After all, your luggage was stolen just today."
Susan nodded. "I would be glad to stay here if you have any room."
Martha looked a bit dubious and looked at John. "I don't think there's any rooms empty right now, sorry," she said and then glanced at Susan. "Well, unless..."
"Unless?" John asked a bit annoyed.
"Well, there's empty bed at the maids quarters, sir," Martha said. "But I doubt miss Friberg would be willing to stay there."
John glanced at Susan. She bit her lip. Apparently Martha wanted to keep an eye on her. Well, she didn't really mind, since she understood her concerns. She would definitely do the same thing in her place.
"I don't mind, really," she said, noticing the displeased expression on John Smith's face. "I'm only as a guest here, I don't require any special treatment," she said, smiled and turned to Martha. "I'd be happy to have you as my roommate, I've heard so much about you."
Martha narrowed her eyes slightly and Susan sighed. Things were going to be a bit tricky from now on.
