Chapter 9- Don't do what?
"Well," the Doctor said, halting into front of the T.A.R.D.I.S. door, "this is our stop." After the dull walk back, Sherlock couldn't say he was sorry, there are only so many times one could hear 'Are we there yet' and retain one's sanity. There wasn't much to examine of the skeletal remains (nothing that countered his belief that the woman had been anything but eaten. After counting the remains, it confirmed that the drop in female births over the last month was due to the mothers being kidnapped and then eaten, an additional three bodies were found, but curiously their offspring were nowhere in sight. Likely conclusion: whoever had given 'Queen Gonian' the means to take the woman had done so because they wanted to the offspring for themselves. That brought him back to the original question, why?)
"Nothing else will be coming after us?" Neu asked.
"Nope, well, nothing 'supernatural' anyway. Mostly just boys for you women now."
"We'll be fine then," she continued, spokeswoman for the group. "You have our upmost thanks."
"Well, better get off home, you're families are missing you."
Neu nodding, but he words countered her action. "We have a baby to return to her father and bad news to deliver first." She turned to the only member of the party still pregnant. "Eba, you should return home before your husband turns hysterical."
Eba looked between them, clearly she wanted to go back but felt obliged to go with them. She gaze finally feel on Seilan, who carried the motherless babe (handed to him as the male of the group and therefore 'his job'). "Are you sure?"
"We're certain," Lan replied. "We have a promise to fulfil, there's no need for you to tag along."
Neu gave a curt nod, "I will ensure that the girl and father are provided for."
"I'm sure you will," the Doctor grinned.
"Won't you come back and have dinner with us?" Seilan asked.
Much to Sherlock's surprise, the Doctor looked a little comfortable at the prospect. Curious. He hid it well, but the signs (tension in the face, shifting his gaze by turning his face away and scrunching it up ever-so-slightly) were clear to the consulting detective. "Thanks, but I don't really sticks around for the after party. Always on the move, that's me. Allons-y."
The boy's face fell. "I hope I'll see you again."
"Me, too," Toe burst in. "Today was exciting!" Apparently she'd forgotten her fear from the tunnels already; children were prone to doing that.
"You might," he grinned. "I might see you again after this. I may see you again before this, you never know with me."
That made sense, that the order the Doctor met people in wouldn't necessarily be the order that they met him in. He didn't have much experience in Time Travel, but he would imagine that these kind of things happened all the time. It made one wonder if the Doctor had met himself before now or if that broke some kind of law (if Time Lords existed, had existed, then it was logical that they would have some regulations in place). He didn't have long to dwell on this as the Doctor said his final goodbyes and opened the T.A.R.D.I.S. door. Another round of thanks came from the Toceps as they disappeared inside as Sherlock closed the door behind him, a step behind the Doctor (always a step behind, but that would change in there next case).
Once inside, he closed the door and noticed that to the right-hand side stood a coat stand (traditional Victorian style, one metre and ninety centimetres tall) on which hung the Doctor's and his coats. Odd, he was certain it wasn't there before. The Doctor never had time to move it there from outside of the room, could be the T.A.R.D.I.S. (that opened up a whole range of interesting possibilities) or there were servants (unlikely, didn't fit what he knew about the Doctor). He supposed it wasn't that big of a jump from larger in the inside than out. If Time Lords could regenerate themselves and they had the technology to go through time and space, then why not extend their regeneration to their technology. Could you do that to dead or inorganic objects, surely it would have to at least be partly alive for that to work. Oh! Now that was fascinating. Could they really be inside a living ship? This was going to the top of his investigation list, when he had a spare moment.
He noticed that the Doctor had dropped the cube under the central control unit (time for that later, for now he was more curious about where they would go next). He stride to the centre was slowed when he saw the Doctor. The Time Lord leaned (half-sitting) against the console, his hands shoved into his pockets. All of the man's signature care-free happiness was gone from his face. Instead it was blank, not gormless though. It was the stiff blankness of a serious man, oddly counter balanced by his relaxed posture. He exuded a sternness that was so effortless that it almost (almost) intimidated him (it was a posture that he remembered Mycroft intimidating from their father when they were younger. Mycroft could never get it quite right though) despite Sherlock not being sure what he had done wrong (and he clearly had). He wondered if maybe he was catching a glimpse of beneath the Doctor to the Time Lord.
The detective stopped two metres away, waiting for the man to start.
"When I travel with people, there are certain things I never expect to have to say to my companions."
"And what do you think you need to say to me?"
The Doctor looked him dead in the eyes and there was something, something that made it difficult not to feel like he was in the wrong, even if he didn't know how. He refused to be shamed though.
"When you travel with me, you never put anyone else's life at risk, not one purpose. Never an innocent and never a child, much less a baby. I've left people behind for less you know."
"But you won't take me home yet."
"Really? Why not."
"Because you wouldn't be talking to me now if that was the case. No, you strike me more of the drop me off and then tell me you're leaving type. I could even see you as the leave me behind and not tell me type. That and that I'm the smartest person you've travelled with," his ego couldn't help adding.
The Time Lord's eyebrows rose in mock surprise. "Are you now? Do you want to bet one that?"
Suddenly Sherlock wasn't so confident and he realised that no, he really didn't want to bet on that. He felt the sharp jab to his ego, as it occurred to him that to the Time Lord, his intelligence was probably nothing special, which by extension meant that he was nothing special (Sherlock was his mind). The man had complimented him, but it must be like praising a five year old who could read at a seven year old level (no, let's be fair, a nine year old level). It was nothing remarkable until put into comparison with others in his group. A new realisation of just how disposable he was hit him and with it came the possibility of losing his new fascinating past time.
"Would you rather I left Toe to the creatures mercy. I doubt she would have survived long." (Not certain, she may or may not have been hurt because she was a girl) "Toe was in danger. I made a quick decision on how to act. I know what I was doing, the baby wasn't in any real danger."
The Doctor stared at him hard, thinking and examining him. Then quick as light, the stern seriousness evaporated and the man was all smiles and cheer.
"Good," he straightened and started running round the console pushing buttons, turning dials and pulling levers, "because I have the perfect person to visit. Earth, eighteenth century, Florence." He paused to grin up at Sherlock. "We're going to see an old friend of mine."
So end of arc two. I'm sure many of you can guess where they are headed to see next. I was supposed to add another scene with John Watson at the end of this chapter, but that's taking a bit too long, so I'm afraid you get a short chapter now and another short chapter in a couple of weeks. Sorry about that.
Anyway, let me know what you thought of the second arc. This was a bit of a learning curve so hopefully I've learned some valuable lessons from it. Any thing you guys can tell me about what you liked and didn't like would be awfully helpful.
Thanks for reading. See you soon.