Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who
A/N: As usual, apologies for the long wait. I hope you enjoy this chapter, inspired by jg16395 – better yet, it's a two-parter! It was also inspired by LizzeXX's one-shot 'Wibbley Wobbley Timey Wimey', in which three of her Time Lady OC's and their Doctors, from alternate universes, have an unexpected encounter.
Chapter Ten – Blast from the Past: Part One
The Doctor held Emily in one arm and pointed at the monitor screen with the other. Displayed on the screen was a photo of the original him, standing rather stiffly with one arm around his granddaughter. "That's my first incarnation, with my granddaughter Susan, from my first marriage" he explained to his daughter, who had asked him about his past incarnations after he'd explained regeneration to her. He didn't want her to be frightened if any of them were hurt (knock on wood) and began to regenerate, after all.
After he'd shown her pictures of all his incarnations, and a few of her mother's past incarnations (at least, the ones who had ever stepped aboard his TARDIS), Emily innocently questioned, "Daddy, can we meet the old you's?"
"Ah, I would if I could…well, actually no, I wouldn't. Meet myself, I mean; been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Thing is, we're not really supposed to cross our own timelines; if we do, it's often by accident - or because of someone else's meddling" her father rambled. Emily's curiosity was piqued, and she quickly inquired, "How come?"
For a moment, the Doctor wasn't sure what she meant; when he worked it out, he tried to explain everything, but ended up rambling some more. By the end of it, poor Emily was more confused than before she asked. Her dad shifted her into one arm, checked his watch and remarked, "That reminds me, it's your bedtime, isn't it?"
"Aww, but I'm not tired. I'm hungry. Can I have a cookie, please?" she asked, gazing at him with a hopeful smile. The Doctor could stand up to whole armies of Daleks, but he couldn't stand up to his daughter's puppy dog eyes. He sighed. "Alright, but just one, mind you"…
/
The next day – well, not day, but when Emily next woke up – the four Time Lords and one Time Tot gathered in the console room. "Whose turn is it to pick where we're going this time?" the Doctor wondered; they were supposed to all take turns, but with the way they often got distracted, it was hard to keep track of everything.
"I wanna go to a beach!" Emily declared cheerfully. She loved beaches, with the sand to play in and the water to splash in, and the people they could meet, and the rock pools to find little creatures in…beaches were fun! Flavia smiled in fond amusement, and remarked, "If I remember correctly, it's your mother's turn to choose the destination".
Emily immediately spun around and hurried over to her mum, tugging on the hem of her light pink shirt. "Can we go to a beach mummy? Please, please, please, please, please!" she begged, jumping up and down. Romana chuckled and ran a hand over her daughter's hair. "Of course we can, darling" she agreed, "Why don't we go to Halergan 3? There are plenty of nice beaches there" she suggested.
The TARDIS landed in the shade of a cluster of palm trees, with a beach of beautiful pearl white sand and an azure blue ocean stretched out before them. There was barely a cloud in the sky, and a warm breeze blowing... "Where are all the people?" Emily wondered. Wouldn't a beach this big and pretty be full of people on holiday?
"I took us to a time zone with no tourists, Emily. They're all on Halergan 1 and Halergan 2" her father explained. Emily's eyes widened as she worked out what that meant. "You mean…the whole beach is just for us? Woohoo!" she cheered, pulling off her shoes and socks and running towards the water. Well, she got as far as the edge of the palm tree's shadows; only to yelp and stumble back as her bare feet touched the sun heated sand.
With a chuckle, the Corsair shrugged off his jacket and ditched his own shoes and socks; the others wrinkled their nose at the not so fresh odour emanating from the footwear. "I've got it" he assured them, walking over to Emily, who was attempting once more to walk on the hot sand. She squealed in surprise when the Corsair scooped her up and carried her on his shoulders down to the water. "Corsair, how come your feet don't hurt?"
"The soles of my feet have anti-heat shields installed".
"No you don't, that's silly".
"And how would you know? You've never looked at my feet. I could show you if you like".
"No thanks". Emily pulled a face, and the Corsair grinned. He set her down again on the much cooler wet sand at the water's edge. "Thanks, Corsair!" she said gratefully, jumping over a wave that swept up the shore and giggling as it rolled backwards around her ankles. One by one the rest of her family joined her, paddling and splashing about without a care in the universe.
/
Romanadvotrelundar, or as the Doctor insisted on calling her Romana, stood on the white sand of Halergan 3 and surveyed the scenery with an air of detachment. "Doctor, I don't understand why we're here. We're supposed to be searching for the fifth piece of the Key to Time" she insisted, frowning at the Time Lord who was currently stretched out on the beach, his hat over his eyes. His coat, waistcoat and ridiculously long scarf were folded neatly under his head as a pillow.
"Exactly" the Doctor replied from beneath his hat, "We've already found four pieces, what's the harm in taking a break before we go to find the last two?"
"The White Guardian warned us that the Black Guardian was searching for the pieces as well!" Romana huffed, "We don't have time to lie around and sunbathe!"
The Doctor lifted his hat and squinted up at her, grinning inanely. "We have a time machine" he reminded her, and she glared at him in frustration before striding off along the beach. Honestly, she thought to herself, I know finding the Key to Time is a huge honour, but did the White Guardian have to choose the Doctor of all people to find it? Oh, I suppose he's the only Time Lord mad enough to even try. Mad, irresponsible, reckless…
This stream of consciousness continued until it was broken by a now familiar sound; the vworp vworp of a TARDIS. Romana pulled up short, her eyes widening in surprise. What was another TARDIS doing here? She knew she should just go to meet the newcomers; that would be the mature thing to do. Then again…if these other Time Lords wanted her to return to Gallifrey – well, she'd be happy to go, but the Doctor still needed her to help find the Key to Time. He'd be useless on his own, really.
Romana turned on her heel and hurried back to the Doctor, walking past his own TARDIS in which K9 sat recharging. She cleared her throat, and he peered up at her. "Oh, hello Romana, did you have a nice walk?"
She got right to the point. "Doctor, I heard a TARDIS just now" Romana explained, and the effect was electric. The Doctor sat bolt upright, his eyes widening until they were like saucers. "What? Another TARDIS? Where?" he asked as he scrambled to his feet.
"Up ahead, along that way, I believe. What should we do?"
For an answer, the Doctor took out his sonic and held it out in the direction she indicated. After a moment or so it beeped softly, and he looked at the readings. "Yes, there is another TARDIS parked along there, just in that group of trees. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that group over there might have travelled here in it" he declared, gesturing to five figures, four tall and one small, who were either ankle or waist deep in the water.
"Shall we go and meet the neighbours?" the Doctor suggested brightly; without waiting for an answer, he strode off across the sand. When he got near enough, he greeted the paddlers with a cheery "Hello there!"
One of them, a rather skinny bloke with a mop of dark brown hair, spun around and stared at him wide eyed. Before the Doctor could ask what the matter was, the small blond girl piped up, "Oh, wow! I know you, you're my"-
"Friend!" the skinny bloke exclaimed suddenly, wading over to the girl and hurriedly rambling, "You're her new friend, Emily loves making new friends, don't you sweetheart? I'm err, Joe Brown; this is my wife, Rosanna, and our friends, Cory and Olivia" he explained, gesturing first to himself, and then to a young woman with long brown hair, a tall, broad shouldered man and a slightly older woman with black hair.
The Doctor blinked at the man's odd behaviour, but quickly dismissed it. After all, he was pretty odd himself, so who was he to judge? "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you all. I'm the Doctor, and this is my lovely assistant, Romana" he introduced himself and his Time Lady companion, who had just joined them. The little girl, Emily, looked between the adults with a confused expression before saying, "But daddy, he's y"-
"Hey, why don't we build a sandcastle Emily? You love doing that" 'Joe' suggested quickly, picking the little girl up, "Come on, I'll carry you over the hot sand whilst your mum and our friends talk to our, err, new friends".
/
Eleven strode quickly across the sand; about halfway to the TARDIS he dared a glance back to see if his past incarnation, or the past incarnation of his wife, were watching him. Luckily they weren't, but he still had to explain to Emily why he was acting so strange. "Daddy, why can't I say that he's you from the past?"
"Because your mother from the past is here as well" he replied, "Last night, when I explained why we're not meant to cross timelines – it can end up creating a paradox. If past Doctor and past Romana find out their future selves are married and have a child, they might subconsciously think they have to get married to preserve the timelines" the Doctor explained, setting Emily down beside the bag of beach toys and towels they'd brought with them. "I love your mother, she loves me, and I want our feelings for each other to be genuine".
"Oh…but why don't you just pretend not to be married?"
"Bit late for that, I think. Okay, pick out your toys and wait there whilst I take care of something". The Doctor darted into the TARDIS and up to the console; he turned on the emergency invisibility setting, so if either past him or past Romana looked over here they wouldn't see his TARDIS, which would be a pretty big giveaway of this secret he was trying to keep.
Theta, getting the same year as your past self I can understand, but how did you manage to get the same date?
I don't know. I was thinking about you when I put the co-ordinates in, I suppose it was subconscious.
You were thinking of me?
I'm always thinking of you. Hang on, I'm coming back. Don't let them know who we are!
Eleven returned with Emily, as well as several buckets and spades, to the little group beside the ocean. "Oh, there you are. Cory was just showing me his tattoo – it's funny, it looks just like the tattoo a friend of mine has" Four remarked. The Corsair stifled a snigger and commented, "Yeah, must be one of those bizarre coincidences".
"Yes, this is all very interesting, but we actually came down here because I heard a…a spaceship landing nearby" the first Romana explained, and Eleven adopted his best 'I have no idea what you're talking about' look.
"Spaceship? Oh, yes, spaceship! Yes, we do have a spaceship. It's err, it's invisible. Invisible spaceships are cool" he grinned inanely. The first Romana raised an eyebrow and revealed, "Well, this was a particular kind of spaceship. In fact you might even call it a time machine".
"Time machine? Wow, that's…that's really…wow. We haven't seen any time machines around here, have we dear?" Eleven asked his Romana. Her lips quirked upwards in amusement and she answered, "Not that I know of".
"Fascinating; is there any chance we could take a look at this invisible spaceship of yours, so to speak?" Four inquired. Eleven's eyes darted from the palm trees where the TARDIS was parked, to Romana, and back to his past self's confused visage. The Corsair, who had no idea why the Doctor was insisting on keeping their identities a secret but was highly amused by it all, grinned mischievously. "Why yes" he replied, "You certainly can".
"Err, no, no, sorry, bad idea. Our ship is um, it's…"
"Oh, for goodness sake, Doctor. This is getting us nowhere" the first Romana sighed in exasperation. She turned to Eleven and his Romana, and told them outright, "The Doctor and I are travelling in a TARDIS, and I heard another TARDIS land here recently. Are you Time Lords or not?"
"I'm not" Emily declared matter of factly. The adults all looked down at her, and she explained, "I'm a Time Tot. Mummy says so, and mummy's always right".
"Well, okay, but are the rest of you Time Lords?" the first Romana questioned them. Four frowned in confusion and protested, "They don't seem like they're Time Lords. I can't sense them, can you?"
"No, and that's exactly what's confusing me about all this" the first Romana admitted. All of them looked at Eleven for an answer; he shifted nervously a bit, struggling to think of what to say…and then, with a sigh, he gave in. "Yes…we're Time Lords. You can't sense us because of the converging timelines…I made a mistake with the co-ordinates of our TARDIS" he explained.
The first Romana's brow furrowed slightly. "Well, then why didn't you simply tell us who you were?" she questioned. Before her parents could try to explain, Emily bluntly disclosed, "Daddy didn't want you two to get married just because they were married". She pointed at her parents, who both sheepishly met the surprised gazes of their past selves.
Four was the first to break the awkward silence after Emily's direct declaration. "You mean…you're me?"
"Yeah, the eleventh version; err, just so you know, I don't usually dress like this" Eleven said hastily, glancing down at his bare chest and striped swimming trunks. The first Romana looked between him and the woman who was apparently her future self. "And you, you're my future incarnation".
"Yes, the tenth".
"And you're…married, to him?"
"Yes?"
"We marry the Doctor? But he's...I mean, no offence, but he's…"
"Frustrating?" the Corsair supplied, "Annoying, irritating"-
"Oi!"
"Glass houses, Corsair" Flavia remarked pointedly. Four's eyebrows disappeared beneath his wildly curly hairline. "So you really are the Corsair? Why, it's splendid to see you again. I haven't come across you since that fracas on Centauri 9".
"I remember; but don't mention it next time you see me, I won't have done it by then. Oh, and her real name is Flavia, if you were wondering" the Corsair revealed helpfully, gesturing to Flavia, "In fact, the only name our Doctor didn't lie about was Emily's".
"Yep! My name is Emily Freya Smith" the little girl announced proudly. "I even have a Time Lady name! It's Emeyavor-vot-voter…" Emily scrunched her nose up as she struggled to pronounce her longer name. Her mother good-naturedly elaborated, "Emeyadvotrelundar, or Emeya for short".
"Yeah, that's it!"
The tenth Romana turned to her husband and told him, "I still don't understand why you thought them knowing who we were would be a bad thing".
"Well…the only alternative was to pretend we weren't married, and I didn't want to do that. I didn't want us to end up influencing our past selves; I want our feelings to be genuine".
"They are! I promise. Besides, they might not even remember this meeting afterwards. Does it really matter if we were influenced in the past, by the future? Isn't the important thing that we're happy together now?"
"…I suppose so…"
"I love you" the tenth Romana said gently, placing a hand on her husband's cheek, "And if one of the many, many reasons is because I found out that one day I would be incredibly happy with you, I don't mind that at all". With that she leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips; she meant for it to be a brief, chaste kiss, but he quickly pulled her closer to him and deepened it.
Emily grimaced at her parent's display of affection and looked away. "Bleugh…uh, daddy?" she said fearfully, staring between Four and the first Romana at the dark skinned, loin-cloth wearing people pointing spears at them all. "Oh, hello" Four greeted the not too pleased looking natives with his trademark friendly grin. "Would you like a jelly baby?" he asked automatically, only to remember that the white bag of sweets was in his coat pocket.
The Corsair also reached for something that wasn't there; his blaster. Emily moved closer to her parents as the spear carriers encircled them. One of them, presumably the leader, said, "You are prisoners. We are Kanarme. You belong to us now. Move!" he ordered. With spears levelled at them, the seven time travellers were forced to walk along the beach.