A/N: Wow, okay, dialogue did not want to be written for this chapter. But hey, here we are. Not exactly the longest of chapters. It was all I could write before the main action of the episode occurred. Next chapter should be fun and easier to write, hopefully. Anyway, continuing on. Thanks for the reviews and such! :)
"Oh, so this is where you popped off to," the Doctor exclaims, reaching out to grab her hand and examine it.
Miranda simply nods, watching him carefully as he flips her hand back and forth before tugging her to the console to input the coordinates from the letter. She lets go of his hand to glide it across various buttons and switches, thinking that maybe she should learn how to fly the TARDIS. It wouldn't hurt to learn how to be the co-pilot of the blue box.
She keeps her thoughts focused on anything that wasn't about the Doctor's death. Her poker face became her neutral resting face, mindlessly tapping her fingers away on the console without actually touching any buttons.
The TARDIS wheezes. Eventually they're flying through the vortex and the thought of the time vortex sends a shiver down her spine. Raising her hand to examine it herself, Miranda's thought drift toward her last adventure. It prompts a question.
"Doctor?"
"Yes?"
"Do I...pop back?"
"What do you mean?" His gaze settles on her, his hands still flying across the console as he pilots the TARDIS.
"I mean. After I left...did I-" Miranda pauses, wondering if she should continue. "Do I come back?"
The TARDIS stops. They've landed.
"Of course you come back." A smile lights up his face. He appears distant, as if he's trying to catch and hold on to a fading memory.
"Do I..." She's not sure why she's having a hard time speaking now. Maybe she's afraid of the answer. But an answer is what she needs and so she forces her way through her tumbling words. "...stay?"
The thought of falling through the time vortex reappears and attempts to drag her down. Seeing it during the title screen was never an issue for her. It was just good CGI. Except now, every time she slips through the blinding light that swallows her and tosses her through the winds of the time vortex, it was becoming less like good CGI and more of a nightmare. The other unsettling thing about her traveling via time vortex was that it always felt like she's done it a few times more than she actually has.
This is why she wants to stay. Miranda secretly just wants to stay with one Doctor and travel with him for however long she can run. Memory serves her no clear recollection of whether or not it's been stated that she continues being thrown from one end of the Doctor's timeline to the other.
"Yes." Another bright smile. It's reflected back on Miranda's face. His wide smile and joy filled eyes bring her hope. "Looking well rested, I might add."
"Good," she replies happily, a yawn following shortly after. "Fantastic."
He laughs, taking her hand once again to guide her to the door. Miranda keeps up beside him, not thinking twice about the hand holding. He does it with all the other companions. Why should she be any different? They exit the TARDIS to find themselves in the diner's bathroom. "Drinks?"
"What, are you paying?" Miranda asks him, surprised by the offer.
"Yes." A grin greets her as he leads her out of the restroom and into the diner itself, heading to the nearest booth.
"Hm. This is different from before..." Miranda recalls with a laugh. "Before you had no money to pay for the date." She simply refers to it as 'the date'. Who the date was between, she had no idea.
"I've learned since then," he explains, sitting down in the booth and pulling out the blue envelope. Miranda takes it from him, looking it over for the hundredth time before setting it down on the table between them. Before someone could come over and take their order, the Doctor jumps up from his seat. "We need our special straws."
"Special what-" He took her by the hand and back into the restroom. She realizes in a sudden flash of clarity what he means by special straws. But what stops her thoughts from going further was that he said 'our'. The two of them had special straws. A giggle erupts from her, much to his confusion.
The Doctor continues taking her through the TARDIS and to the kitchen, leaving her to observe the large room as he searched for the two items.
Miranda gapes at the scene.
It never crossed her mind to think of what the TARDIS kitchen looked like. There obviously had to be one if the Doctor regularly made fish fingers and custard. It was simple but retro looking. This made her want to explore more of the TARDIS. So far, she'd only seen the console room and a few hallways and now the spacey wacey kitchen.
Miranda was about to sit down in the cushioned chair when the Doctor found what he was looking for and took her by the hand again.
From within the diner, River, Amy, and Rory would be talking about the Doctor's death and what he might've meant by Space, 1969. This makes her slow down and the Doctor notices. Curious, he glances down at her by his side, watching as her previous wide eyed wonder turned to dread. "What's wrong?"
The word 'nothing' flew out of her mouth before she could stop it. The closer they got to the ship's doors, the more it amplified her nervousness. It was growing and growing more with every bit of distance closed. Miranda tries to stop the churning in her stomach, but it was useless. She was too tired and exhausted to face whatever may come next.
To see Amy's crestfallen face, to observe the surprise on Rory's face, to witness River slap the Doctor for something he hasn't done yet...these were all things she didn't want to face yet. All of this added up with the fact that there's still something she doesn't know about the story and her knowing certain events was the only thing that helped her feel like she was in control in this strange universe.
"The Doctor knew he was going to his death, so he sent out messages. When you know it's the end, who do you call?"
Her heart was banging against her skeleton like a mallet and it was so loud she was sure the Doctor could hear it.
"Er, your friends. People you trust."
Miranda steps in front of the Doctor, entering the diner first.
"Number 1. Who did The Doctor trust the most?"
Everybody's head swivel to meet Miranda's, varying degrees of emotion represented in their expressions. Their reactions were freezer-burn on her senses. It only got worse when the Doctor appeared from behind her, oblivious to the tense atmosphere.
"This is cold. Even by your standards, this is cold," River addresses them, causing Miranda to go rigid in place while the Doctor casually expressed his confusion at their greetings.
"Or hello, as people used to say."
"Doctor?" Amy circles them, disbelief written all over her pale face. "Miranda?"
"We just popped out to get our special straws. It adds more fizz," he explains, waving their little straws in the air to prove his statement.
"You're okay. The both of you...How can you two be okay?" Amy reaches out, a part of her afraid that her hand will phase right through her friends.
Miranda doesn't budge, taking in the situation differently than she thought she would. She thought knowing what would happen would make her feel better. But little things were changing like added words in dialogue and more confusion in their stunned faces, as if seeing the Doctor alive and well wasn't strange enough but Miranda's presence dumbfounded them as well. A chill settles at the base of her spine, taking hold of her and never letting go.
One question presses itself in her mind, demanding to be answered. It wasn't the only question but it was the main one at the moment.
What exactly happened at Lake Silencio?
The Doctor gathers up Amy in his arms, wrapping her in a giant hug."Hey, of course I'm okay. I'm always okay. I'm the King of Okay. Oh, that's a rubbish title. Forget that title." He lights up when he spots Rory and releases Amy from his grasp to race over to him. "Rory the Roman! That's a good title. Hello, Rory." He lets go of the confused man to face River Song.
Meanwhile, Miranda manages to shake off the dust gathering on her shoulders and breaks from her statue stance to turn to the Ponds. Almost immediately the two of them reach out for her and hug her at once, despite their overwhelming confusion. After the hug ends, she hears River slap the Doctor, hard.
"Okay. I'm assuming that's for something I haven't done yet."
"Yes, it is." River spits acid at him, her gaze unforgiving.
"Good. Looking forward to it."
"I don't understand. How can you two be here?" Rory asks as he pokes the Doctor in the chest, trying to find the rational explanation to this mess of events.
"We were invited," Miranda pipes up for the first time since meeting the entire Pond family in the diner, her nerves starting to calm down after receiving a much needed hug but it doesn't stop her palms from sweating. The urge to bite down on her nails was rising.
"Date, map reference. Same as you lot, I assume, otherwise it's a hell of a coincidence," the Doctor adds, nodding to the blue envelope on the booth table.
"River, what's going on?" Amy turns to the other woman for answers, knowing she can't ask Miranda that question anymore. The redhead still expects her friends to turn into fading ghosts that'll disappear before her eyes and it secretly frightens her, especially after what had recently occurred.
"Amy, ask him what age he is." River's hazel eyes meet Miranda's brown eyes as if to extract information by staring directly into her soul. Shivers run down her spine, breaking the ice that settled in and trapped her. "Ask Miranda too."
She flinches.
"That's a bit personal," the Doctor protests lightly, unaware of the staring contest between the two women.
"Tell her. Tell her what age you are." River silently commands Miranda to do the same, who finally blinks and turns away from the woman whose curly hair was full of spoilers.
"Nineteen."
"Nine hundred and nine."
"Yeah, but you said you were-" Amy starts but River interrupts.
"So where does that leave us, huh? Jim the fish? Have we done Jim the fish yet?"
The Doctor stares at her like she's grown a second head. "Who's Jim the fish?"
River fixates her attention back on Miranda after the Doctor's disappointing answer.
"What? Is that a thing we do together? We hang out with Jim the fish?" Miranda asks confusingly for all she knows about Jim the fish is that apparently the Doctor and River become friends with him but from the way River is staring at her, it's become evident that Miranda is there alongside them.
"I don't understand," Amy admits, glancing between Miranda and the Doctor in bewilderment.
"Yeah, you do," Rory tells her, starting to get what was going on.
"I don't! What are we all doing here?" The Doctor blurts out, having enough with the mysteries and the fact that Miranda seems just as confused as him when normally she tends to know nearly everything.
River answers him, careful with her words and also testing to see how much Miranda knew. "We've been recruited. Something to do with space 1969, and a man called Canton Everett Delaware the third." Miranda raises her head and slowly nods, letting River know that she knew this part.
"Recruited by who?"
River picks up the blue envelope to analyze it closer, looking at the way Miranda's name was written on the front. "Someone who trusts you more than anybody else in the universe."
"And who's that?"
"Spoilers."
Upon hearing River's trademark saying causes a series of explosions to erupt within her. Miranda strays away from where River's stare kept her grounded and approaches her with a quiet rage. Her voice low and hushed, she speaks loudly enough for only River to hear. "No more. I didn't say anything or ask anything in the past when you would mention me and not knowing certain chapters in the story. I didn't want to know. But I do now."
River sees silent determination in the young girl's eyes as a new facet of Miranda's personality comes to light. Whatever adventures she's been through that's caused those dark circles to appear under her tired eyes has helped her but it's also putting a drag in her step. And yet she's still standing despite it all. River was experiencing the beginning days of her friend's journey to becoming the person she knows and trusts.
A small proud smile spreads across her face as she whispers back, "Of course, dear."