AN: This chapter features the Old English language, but I am not a master of the language, so forgive me if Shakespeare speaks modern English at times.
AN2: This is a Doctor Who chapter.
Chapter 11 - Shakespeare
"Where are we?" Buffy asked. This was her first trip with Anne and Xander and they were standing amongst wooden buildings, watching people in funny clothes walk the streets. The same funny clothes the three of them were wearing.
"This time, we didn't go to another planet. This is Earth, London to be precise. Approximately the year 1599."
"We can't like... mess up the past or anything, can we?" Buffy asked.
"Naw. We're fine. Just... if you ever see your past self, don't make physical contact. That would be bad. Now... We're just down the river by Southwark, and right around the corner is..."
He took a hand each of Anne and Buffy, and led them down the street, and around the corner of a building, before letting go, and pointing.
"The Globe Theater."
"We're here to see a play?" Anne asked.
"Not just any play. Shakespeare. A romance."
"We're going to see Shakespeare?" Buffy asked.
"Yup, and can meet him afterwords, if you want to." Xander answered.
They approached the ticket booth, and Xander pulled money out of his pocket, buying them box seats.
"You just happen to have fifteen hundreds money on you?" Buffy asked. Xander just looked at her, and rolled his eyes.
They climbed the rickety wooden stairs and found their box, where they sat and watched the play. It had just ended, when someone down in the pit started shouting 'Author, author!'
Anne and Buffy leaned forward to the railing of their box, looking down on the pit, when they both noticed something.
"Wait a minute, she's wearing a leather jacket." Buffy said.
"A red leather jacket." Anne added. They looked to Xander for answers, but he just smiled mysteriously.
"All answers will come in time."
A very young looking William Shakespeare stepped out onto the stage, blowing kisses to the crowd.
"He's not half bad looking." Buffy commented.
"What about Angel?" Anne asked.
"Angel won't even be born for... over a hundred years."
Anne grinned at her.
"You'll like him." Xander said, "Despite his fame, he's surprisingly down to earth."
Shakespeare stood center stage and open his mouth to speak, "Ah, shut your big fat mouths!"
Anne and Buffy laughed, "I see what you mean."
"You've got excellent taste," Shakespeare said, "I'll give you that. Oh, that's a wig." He pointed to someone in the crowd, everyone in the pit stretching to see the man he was pointing at.
"I know what you're all saying. Loves Labour's Lost, that's a funny ending, isn't it? It just stops. Will the boys get the girls? Well, don't get your hose in a tangle, you'll find out soon. Yeah, yeah. All in good time. You don't rush a genius...
When? Tomorrow night. The premiere of my brand new play. A sequel, no less, and I call it Loves Labour's Won."
"Ooh, Can we stay and watch the sequel?" Buffy asked.
"Of course." Xander grinned, "It'll be one hell of a show."
As the play was letting out, Buffy, Anne, and Xander hurried down the stairs, and headed to the Elephant inn, where he insisted they'd find Shakespeare. They climbed the stairs to the second floor of the inn, and entered Shakespeare's room. They found the man in conversation with two of the actors from the show that night, while the inn's owner served them drinks.
"Hello, Will, I must say, you did wonderfully tonight." Shakespeare seemed upset being disturbed, until he saw the two women with him.
"Well thank you kind sir, but do I know you?"
"I'm known simply as Q, these are my lovely companions, Anne and Buffy."
"And finer twins I have never to meet." Shakespeare said, grinning slyly at them. They had just sat down, when the door opened, and in entered a skinny man with wild hair, in a brown suit, and a black woman in a red leather jacket, the very woman Anne and Buffy pointed out in the theater.
"Hello!" The skinny man said, "Excuse me, not interrupting, am I? Mister Shakespeare, isn't it?" Anne and Buffy watched the by-play, while Xander kept his back to the man.
"Oh, no. No, no, no. Who let you in? No autographs. No, you can't have yourself sketched with me. And please don't ask where I get my ideas from. Thanks for the interest. Now be a good boy and shove-"
Shakespeare stopped mid-sentence when he noticed the woman in the leather jacket.
"Hey, nonny nonny. Sit right down here next to me." He turned to the two actors sitting with him. "You two get sewing on them costumes. Off you go."
"Come on, lads." Dolly, the server and inn keeper beckoned the actors. "I think our William's found his new muse."
"Sweet lady." William said to Dolly as she left. He then turned to face the two newest arrivals to the room, as they sat at the table. He looked at the woman. "Such unusual clothes. So fitted."
"Er, verily, forsooth, egads." The woman said.
"No, no, don't do that. Don't." The man instructed her. He reached into his coat, and pulled out a bilfold, which he showed to Shakespeare. "I'm Sir Doctor of Tardis and this is my companion, Miss Martha Jones."
"You're not The Doctor." Anne said.
The Doctor turned to her. "Wait a mo', I know you."
"Hello Doctor," Xander said.
"Q. And you're..." He thought for a moment, "Anne, right?"
"That's us." Xander replied, "This is Buffy, Anne's sister."
The Doctor looked back and forth between Anne, and Buffy for a moment, before reaching into a pocket on his suit, and pulled out what appeared to be old fashioned red and blue cardboard 3-D glasses. He slipped them onto his face, and looked at the girls again, before slipping them back into his pocket.
"They aren't sisters." The Doctor said. "If I had to guess, I'd say she" He pointed at Anne, "Is her" This time he pointed at Buffy, "from an parallel universe."
Xander grinned, "You are quite impressive, Doctor."
"How'd she get here?" He asked.
"I brought her here." Xander answered, "And before you even ask, yes, I can bring Rose here."
The Doctor had a look of betraying hope on his face, while Martha looked like someone kicked her puppy. Rose was the Doctor's companion for two years, before one of their adventures ended with her trapped in a parallel universe, with The Doctor unable to get to her. But then, The Doctor wasn't Q.
Xander looked to the dark skinned beauty. "I'm sorry Martha, I know you're holding a candle, but he loves her. Nothing will get in the way of that."
He turned back to the Doctor. "Find me after our companions are asleep, and we'll pop over to the other universe."
The Doctor grinned widely.
"But he's not the Doctor." Anne commented. "We met The Doctor. He was an older guy in a leather jacket.
"Time Lord." The Doctor said, as if that answered everything.
Xander rolled his eyes. "This is The Doctor. As he so eloquently put it, he's a Time Lord. They have this trick, when they are dying, they literally remake their bodies."
"Same man, new face." The Doctor added.
"So he's the same man we met on Platform One?"
The Doctor nodded, "That's me."
"Amazing." Shakespeare said, the others having forgot he was there during their reunion. "A man with one soul and multiple faces."
"Yes, that's me," The Doctor said, waving around his psychic paper, "Sir Doctor of Tardis."
"Interesting, that bit of paper. It's blank."
The Doctor was amazed, "Oh, that's very clever. That proves it. Absolute genius."
Martha frowned, "No, it says so right there. Sir Doctor, Martha Jones. It says so."
"And I say it's blank." Shakespeare insisted.
"Psychic paper." The Doctor informed her, "Er, long story. Oh, I hate starting from scratch."
Anne and Buffy looked to Xander for answers. "The paper is slightly psychic. It shows whatever he wants people to see. That or whatever they expect to see. But people with psychic training or true geniuses can see past it."
Shakespeare looked intrigued, "Psychic? Never heard that before and words are my trade. Who are you exactly? More's the point, who is your delicious blackamoor lady?"
Martha was aghast, "What did you say?"
Shakespeare looked embarrassed, "Oops. Isn't that a word we use nowadays? An Ethiop girl? A swarth? A Queen of Afric?"
"I can't believe I'm hearing this." Martha muttered.
"It's political correctness gone mad." The Doctor said, "Er, Martha's from a far-off land. Freedonia."
"Actually, so are these two." Xander added, sticking his thumbs out at the two blondes.
Suddenly, the door banged open, and in came a rather robust man wearing velvet and a large gold chain around his neck, looking rather angry. "Excuse me! Hold hard a moment. This is abominable behaviour. A new play with no warning? I demand to see a script, Mister Shakespeare. As Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed."
Shakespeare looked exasperated, "Tomorrow morning, first thing, I'll send it round."
"I don't work to your schedule, you work to mine." The man insisted, "The script, now!"
"I can't." Shakespeare said.
"Then tomorrow's performance is canceled. I'm returning to my office for a banning order."
"It's all go around here, isn't it?" Martha wondered.
"If it's the last thing I do, Love's Labours Won will never be played." The man spun around, and stormed out of the room, and down the stairs.
"Well, that was dramatic." Buffy said.
"That's Lynley." Shakespeare explained. "He has more of a love of power, then art."
Martha sighed, "Well then, mystery solved. That's Love's Labours Won over and done with. Thought it might be something more, you know, more mysterious."
"There was a mystery?" Anne asked.
Martha was about to answer, when there were multiple screams from outside. The bunch of them stood, and ran down the stairs and outside the inn, where they found Lynley spewing up water, as he struggled to stay on his feet.
Martha was shocked, "It's that Lynley bloke."
"What's wrong with him?" The Doctor wondered, "Leave it to me. I'm a doctor."
"So am I, near enough." Martha added. They ran to Lynley, Anne and Buffy following quickly, and Xander walking toward him at a slower pace. Shakespeare stayed standing at the door to the inn.
Lynley suddenly keeled over, falling to the ground. Martha checked for a pulse, but found none. "Got to get the heart going. Mister Lynley, come on. Can you hear me? You're going to be all right."
She leaned his head back to perform CPR, but stopped as water gushed out of his mouth. "What the hell is that?"
"Allow me." Xander, said, crouching next to the group. He snapped his fingers, and the water vanished. "Go ahead."
Martha stared at Xander for a moment, before beginning CPR. Unfortunately, it was no hope, Mister Lynley was dead.
"I've never seen a death like it." The Doctor said, "His lungs were full of water. He drowned and then, I don't know, like a blow to the heart, an invisible blow."
The Doctor turned to Dolly, "Good mistress, this poor fellow has died from a sudden imbalance of the humours. A natural if unfortunate demise. Call a constable and have him taken away."
Dolly nodded, "Yes sir."
The inn's maid stepped up, "I'll do it, ma'am."
"Why'd you tell them that?" Buffy asked.
"This lot still have got one foot in the Dark Ages. If I tell them the truth, they'll panic and think it was witchcraft."
"What was it, then?" Martha asked.
"Witchcraft." The Doctor answered.
They waited while Mister Lynley's body was carted away, before returning to the inn, adjourning to Shakespeare's room.
"I got you a room, Sir Doctor. You and Miss Jones are just across the landing. And you and your ladies, Mister... Q?"
"Just Q." Xander corrected.
"You are in the room next to Sir Doctor's."
"Thank you, Dolly." Xander said, Anne and Buffy smiling at her.
"Poor Lynley." Shakespeare spoke up after Dolly left, "So many strange events. Not least of all, this land of Freedonia where a woman can be a doctor?"
"Where a woman can do what she likes." Martha retorted.
"And you, Sir Doctor. How can a man so young have eyes so old?"
"I do a lot of reading." He replied.
"A trite reply. Yeah, that's what I'd do. And you?" He turned to Xander. "You appear to have knowledge of the universe behind your eyes."
"Oh, He's good." Anne commented.
"And you two." He looked at Anne and Buffy, "Two sisters with one soul... or perhaps the same soul."
Shakespeare turned to Martha, "You look at them like you're surprised they exist. They are as much of a puzzle to you as they are to me."
"I think we should say goodnight." With that, Martha turned and exited the room, heading to her and The Doctor's room for the night.
"I must work. I have a play to complete. But I'll get my answers tomorrow, Doctor, Q, and I'll discover more about you and why this constant performance of yours."
"All the world's a stage." The Doctor said.
"Hmm. I might use that. Goodnight, Doctor."
Xander couldn't help but laugh at The Doctor feeding Shakespeare his future famous lines.
"Goodnight, William." Xander said, leading Anne and Buffy from the room. They entered the room they would be staying for the night, and looked around.
"Not exactly five star, is it?" Buffy asked.
"Eh-" Xander said, "for one night, it'll do."
There were two beds, so it looked like he either wasn't sleeping, or sharing with Anne. Not that he was complaining. The mattresses were stuffed with straw, and not the most comfortable, but again, for one night, they'd do.
"So," Anne spoke up softly, "The Doctor said witchcraft."
"He was being facetious."
"Oh, 'cause he sounded pretty serious."
"We know there is such a thing as magic. I mean, we've seen it." Buffy said.
"Don't try telling The Doctor that," Xander instructed, "He'd never believe it."
"Why?"
"He's never seen magic. He comes from a time when magic has long ago died out."
"That's sad." Buffy whispered.
"Yeah." Anne agreed.
"Anyway, I have to help the Doctor, I'll be back." Xander slipped from the room, and knocked on the door of the room shared by The Doctor and Martha.
The Doctor stepped outside, and Xander spoke. "Ready to get Rose back?"