Chapter 10 - Noticed Boredom

"Sooooooo…" the Doctor was bored, being tied to a cold metal column in the Great British winter will do that to you. He had been there about 46.33 minutes, apparently, Aiden was still holding out hope for two Timelords in one day. 47.02 minutes. The would-be adventurer in question was sitting on a carboard box, happily eating a cucumber sandwich, which was quite possibly the most boring sandwich in the known universe. Aiden made no effort to reply, and the Doctor found himself wishing for his sonic screwdriver which was sitting next to his mobile telephone and captor on the cardboard box.

"Aiden, he's not coming. May as well let me go, or at least untie me, my left foot is falling asleep."

"You stay, I stay. At least until I get bored."

"You're not bored yet?" the Doctor sighed, "What makes you think he's even on this planet or this continent. You said yourself you were six months behind!"

"My ship tracked him here, before it crashed."

"I'm sorry about your ship, what planet are you from by the way? Somewhere in the Silfrax galaxy?" the Doctor tried to think of any place that fitted this man, but with so many planets to choose from and so little information, it was neigh on impossible.

"I'm not a Vespiform, no. At least they have wings. I'm from a tiny planet in a tiny galaxy, you wouldn't have heard of it. Your friend only got there by accident." He stayed sitting on his box, facing the Doctor.

"What do you know about him?"

"Not much, he just wanted to know where Falligrey was, I'd never heard of it." The Doctor's hearts leapt at the mention of his home planet, if he ever got his friend back as well as getting out of this in one piece, he was going to have to tell him their home was gone.

"It's Gallifrey. You said he got to your planet by accident?"

"His time machine was malfunctioning, he said that's how he got lost from your planet in the first place. Where is Galefrey anyway? I should visit when I have your time machines."

"Gallifrey is gone. We're the last of our kind." That seemed to perk Aiden's interest, he stood up, having finished his sandwich.

"Well that'll make it even more interesting!" he came to stand in front of the Doctor with a grin. "Where is your time machine by the way, I'm going to need it to travel around the galaxy."

"Sorry she's actively allergic to boring, probably why she left."

00oo00

John made it to Regents park in under 10 minutes, finding Sherlock leaning on the side of a large blue police box.

"Sherlock?" he jogged the last couple of feet to stand next to his friend, "You alright?"

"It won't leave me alone." Sherlock said resignedly, glaring at the large blue object.

"What wont?"

"The box." He sighed shaking his head, "Just, just look." He preceded to walk 10 feet further into the park, the Police Box disappeared and reappeared in front of him accompanied by a quiet rasping noise. He stuck his head from around the side of the box to raise his eyebrows at John, who just laughed and re-joined his friend.

"Huh, I guess it really wants your attention." John chuckled.

"It's a box John. Not a dog." he frowned.

"What's in there anyway?" John asked, but Sherlock shook his head. "You haven't been in?" He received a scowl in reply, "If the Doctor was in there, he would have come out by now surely?" John knocked three times on the door. He received no answer but instead watched as the door opened a fraction. "Did you even try opening it?"

"No, I didn't." He spoke defensively "I way just waiting for you, see I'm a good friend." John could tell he was concerned by all this, but there wasn't much point trying to avoid this.

"It's OK to be nervous of what you might find Sherlock." Sherlock took a deep breath as though psyching himself up.

"What could possibly be in there to be nervous…" at this point he gave the door a forceful push and they both watched it swing open, revealing the enormous room inside. "…about."

John was looking at the room and back to Sherlock and back to the room again his face unreadable. John laughed in astonishment, "That's not even possible.". He poked his head in the doorway, brought it back out again and preceded to walk around the outside of the box. "Madness." He put his hand over his mouth to stifle more laughter, shaking his head in disbelief. Looking over at his friend once again, and deciding he wasn't about to move anytime soon, John went in. He walked up a metal grated ramp to the centre of the machine. "Looks like no one's home." He ran his hand along the rim and circled around the console, looking at the many buttons, levers and random items that adorned its surface. Looking back to the door, he saw Sherlock standing stock still, right where he had left him.

"Sherlock?" John made his way back to the door. Sherlock's feet were a mere inch from being inside, "I'm not sure you can put this off anymore mate." John held out his hand, which was observed, processed and eventually accepted. He gave Sherlock the small tug he needed and once he was fully inside, he let go. "Breath." Sherlock let out the breath he didn't consciously instruct his body to hold; as the door closed itself behind him and the machine gave a contented sounding noise.

00oo00

John was laughing again, at him or at the situation he wasn't sure. Sherlock was just trying to keep himself from not outwardly freaking out. Clearly seeing his unhappiness John sobered up.

"Sorry mate, I'm not laughing at you. This is just…mad and amazing."

"It is though, isn't it?" Sherlock shook his head "It's all real."

"At this point I think we have to just relax into it."

"It's bigger on the inside." They said the words at the same, then laughed reflexively. It was utterly mad, a police box from the 1940s, that was bigger on the inside and just so happened to be some sort of sentient spaceship. Sherlock walked around the console like John had, the machine made a purring noise as if it was happy to see him.

"It likes you. What do you think it is?"

"It's a type 40 TARDIS John. Time and Relative Dimensions in Space… TARDIS."

"How do you know that?" John said, eyebrows knitted as he perched on the seat next to the console. Sherlock took the fob watch out from his pocket and set it on the console.

"The watch, I think it's leaking memories. Just snippets here and there enough for me to know what's in there."

"You've had other memories?"

"Bits and pieces, nothing like before. Being in here, I just know things." He pointed to one of the controls, "I know that this, is an Axiomator, although this one doesn't seem to be functional." He walked a little further around the console and pointed to another "This controls the dimensional displacement system." As he walked round further he stopped at a small button and pressed it. " And this one brings down the…" he paused as he and John saw what looked like a metal headset lower from the ceiling "…Chameleon Arch."

"What's a Chameleon Arch?"

"Timelord technology, a cellular modifier used to change a Timelord into a human." He pointed to a space in the headset, "And that is where the fob watch sits and stores everything."

"Timelord." John said thoughtfully, "What are the chances of you being an alien with an even more pompous name than the one you already have?" Sherlock rolled his eyes in amusement, thinking for a moment of how overwhelming this would have been without John. "So, if the watch has your other consciousness in it, what about your family, what about Mycroft and your parents?"

"I don't know, when I... when the Timelord is being rewritten, the TARDIS is supposed to find somewhere discreet to fit him into, the whole point is to hide, to not be noticed."

"You do always say it's better to hide in plain sight."

"Couldn't be plainer." John sat back in the chair, absorbing the new information, while Sherlock observed the console.

"So, this is your spaceship, that's pretty cool." Sherlock frowned.

"No, it's not mine, it's the Doctor's. This is his TARDIS."

"So where is yours, you must have got here somehow?"

"I don't know, probably hiding in plain sight." He threw John a smile but a sudden shudder of the TARDIS announced its arrival back into the conversation.

"Sherlock, here." John stood and pointed to the screen just above the buttons and levers. As Sherlock moved round to stand next to John, it showed what looked like an old London warehouse, clearly abandoned by the amount of rubbish and broken glass. He saw two familiar faces on the screen. The Doctor, who seemed to be chained to a vertical metal girder, and for some bizarre reason Andrew Aiden from crime scene clear up. "What the…?"

"He's in trouble. Typical." Sherlock rolled his eyes and walked swiftly around to where he had left the fob watch, he held it up in front of him, addressing the object with all the authority of Sherlock Holmes.

"Show me how to fly this thing."