- Barriers –
Southend-on-Sea looked perfectly normal, Amy thought as the Doctor steered her out onto its streets. It was a warm, sunny day, with the sun high in the sky and the sound of waves hitting the shore audible over children laughing and adults chatting. A gull swooped past in her peripheral vision, and Amy shrugged her jacket off her shoulders. She threw it through the open TARDIS doors, watching it hit the console room floor in a crumpled heap. The Doctor gave her a reproachful look and reached awkwardly behind himself to pull both the doors closed.
The TARDIS was parked in a laneway off what appeared to be a main road lined with shops and as Amy, John and the Doctor emerged onto the footpath they discovered that Holmes was already out of sight. There were quite a few people walking around – totally normal people, going about their ordinary business – and Holmes seemed to have disappeared amongst them. He should have been easy to spot, with his stature and his presence, but he was nowhere in sight. Something akin to dread made Amy's stomach drop.
"Great," John muttered from the Doctor's other side. "Just great. Where's he gone now?"
"Off to deduce, I suspect," the time lord replied.
Amy was somewhat surprised to note he was grinning. "What's got you so happy?" she questioned, prodding him in the ribs with her elbow.
He squirmed away from her, knocking into John, but his smile didn't slip. "If Sherlock is deducing, it means that he knows there is something to be deduced. Make sense?"
Amy nodded. And then realised that no, she didn't have a clue what he was saying. She replied, "No. Not really."
The Doctor stepped forward and spun back to face the two of them. He began to explain in a very animated fashion, "He's interested, you see. He's spotted something and now he's gone off to deduce it, which means that he knows that I was right and this is worth investigating."
"Or I just wanted to prove you wrong in a timely fashion."
Amy looked over the Doctor's shoulder and was surprised to see Holmes sauntering towards them. He looked smug – which was quite an accomplishment for someone wearing their pyjamas and dressing gown in public - and when the Doctor pouted his smirk only grew.
"Now that's not fair," the Doctor complained, "You've only been gone, what, two minutes and thirty-four-point-two-five seconds? And you don't even know what you're looking for!"
"I know exactly what I'm looking for," Sherlock replied.
"Oh, so you've had previous experience with alien life forms, have you?" the Doctor countered. "Go on then, Mr Holmes, why don't you tell us exactly what evidence you've found that proves there's nothing to look in to here?"
Holmes raised a single eyebrow and gave the Doctor a cutting look. "Unless you want to investigate how the local chip store can get away with such exorbitant pricing I assure you there is nothing here worth my time."
"It might not be worth your time, Sherlock, but I guarantee you it's worth mine," the Doctor snapped back.
"Alright!" Amy cut in before the argument could grow any more. The two men had begun to raise their voices and were earning a few odd looks – and Amy thought it best that their little group didn't draw too much attention to themselves yet. "Alright, so Sherlock thinks that we should get back in the TARDIS and go."
"Yes," Holmes confirmed.
Simultaneously, the Doctor said, "That's not happening." Holmes glared at him, and the time lord said pointedly, "My TARDIS. My rules."
"This is bloody insane," John murmured, rubbing his temples.
Amy felt a flash of pity for the man. If she had to live with Holmes she was pretty sure she'd be constantly exasperated too.
"Yes, right, we know," she said plainly. "And I agree with the Doctor." If she hadn't known better, she would have thought that Holmes actually looked hurt by her statement. Before he could complain she pressed on, "I know that you're brilliant at what you do, Sherlock, but you've got to trust the Doctor on this. He knows what he's talking about."
She looked over just in time to see the Doctor stick his tongue out, and immediately regretted her little speech. Holmes and John watched the time lord, too, faces contorted into expressions of confusion and mild disgust.
"Tastes funny," the Doctor declared, licking his lips. "Not good."
"What?" John questioned bluntly.
"The air," the Doctor replied, taking a deep breath in through his nose. "It's wrong. Not… not salty enough."
"How insightful of you," Sherlock muttered.
The Doctor ignored him and fished the sonic screwdriver out of his jacket pocket, waving it about in the air. He scanned the footpath and then held it up to observe the readings.
John watched him with obvious awe. "What is that? Is that a magic wand?"
"Magic wand?" the Doctor scoffed. "No, no, John Watson, this is much better than a magic wand. Wands are just wooden sticks with bits of stuff in the middle, all they do is channel a genetic mutation and discharge the energy in an organised burst…" Amy coughed, and he brought himself back on track, explaining, "This is a sonic screwdriver."
"Never heard of it," John replied.
"Good, you shouldn't have." The Doctor patted him on the shoulder.
"What's it do?" he inquired, looking at the sonic with equal parts curiosity and caution.
"Everything except wood," the Doctor told him in an offhand manner, focusing on scanning the air around them.
John continued to look just as lost as before. Amy noticed that Holmes had gone a bit quiet, and attempted to meet his gaze. He stubbornly avoided meeting her eye, choosing instead to offer the Doctor a scathing remark. "How am I meant to take anything you say seriously when you believe in magic?"
The Doctor glared at him over the tip of the sonic, which was glowing bright green. "Magic and science, it's all much of a muchness, you know."
"Hardly," Holmes scoffed.
"Really, it's all the same thing… You call it a spell, I call it a magnified transmission of matter in the form of -"
"Doctor," Amy interrupted, tugging on his sleeve, "Look!"
While the men had been bickering, Amy had been observing the people on the street. They all seemed perfectly ordinary, it was true – but a lot of them also seemed angry. A whole bunch of those angry people were stomping down towards the beach, gathering around a barricade at the end of the pier. Over their heads, she could see the peaks of a rollercoaster and the circle of a Ferris Wheel. They'd definitely be riding the rollercoaster before they left, she decided. While the crowd of locals and tourists gathered at the barred entrance to the rides been relatively quiet up until this point, a few of them were now starting to raise their voices and shake their fists.
A couple of them had begun shouting, "It's the start of Summer, you can't do this!"
"What's this about, I wonder," the Doctor mused, watching the scene even more intently than Amy.
Before she could respond, he'd taken off and started running down the road to join the mob. She rolled her eyes and jogged after him, shouting over her shoulder at Holmes and John, "Come on!"
The consulting detective and doctor – medical doctor, she mentally categorised – followed her after a moment's deliberation, and soon the three of them were standing at the back of the crowd huddled at the entrance to Pleasure Pier, as Amy read off a sign. She couldn't see the Doctor anywhere, even when she stood on her tip toes to peer over peoples' heads.
"He's on the other side of the barricade," Holmes said. The sound of his voice over her shoulder, so close that his breath moved the hair beside her ear, startled her. She jumped forward, bumping into the woman in front of her. She turned around just long enough to shoot Amy a frown and Holmes a confused look, and then went back to shouting with the other protestors.
"How do you know?" Amy asked him, glancing at him sideways while she continued to search for the Doctor.
Holmes gave her a condescending look and drew a breath as though he was about to rattle off a long winded explanation, and Amy thanked her lucky stars when John cut him off, saying, "He's right there. If you stand here you can see him."
She stepped sideways to follow John's line of sight and, indeed, there was the Doctor, strutting down the pier and chatting to a man wearing a bright yellow construction vest.
"What is he doing now?" she mumbled to herself. Turning back to the two men behind her, she said, "Right, let's go after him."
"Does he do this a lot?" John asked as they pushed their way through the crowd to the barrier.
Amy narrowly avoided stepping on a toddler who had just made an escape from their pram. "What?"
"Run off?"
"Yeah, a bit."
"Huh."
When they finally reached the blockade, they were confronted by a lone police officer. He was young and looked remarkably overwhelmed by the growing crowd in front of him. Holmes brushed past him without so much as a glance, lithely jumping the low wooden barrier and strutting down the pier after the Doctor as if him being there was the most natural thing in the world. Amy and John, however, weren't so lucky. Presumably giving up on chasing Holmes before he'd even begun, the cop decided to focus his efforts on stopping the two remaining travellers. As they went to climb over the barrier, he spread his arms wide and pushed them back.
"No entrance," he said firmly.
"No, we're with him," Amy tried to explain, pointing at the Doctor. She was slightly alarmed to see that he was now climbing onto a steel beam attached to the end of a low-hanging crane and peering around with his hand over his brow. She hoped he wasn't clumsy enough to fall. Or worse, dumb enough to try and drive the crane.
"No entrance," the officer repeated, "No exceptions."
"But -"
It was at that moment that the Doctor spotted them, stranded on the other side, and he began waving. Amy gave an exasperated wave back and he jumped down off the beam. He almost bumped into Holmes upon landing, but managed to still himself just in time. He hurried over to Amy and John, bow legs casting long shadows across the wooden planks that made up the pier.
"Ah, Captain Watson and Constable Pond, there you are!" he greeted them naturally. "Come along then, we're on a case! Can't have you just standing there, dilly-dallying."
"We are not dilly-dallying," Amy snapped. "And who even says that?"
"These two with you, Sir?" the police officer asked the Doctor, suddenly looking even more nervous.
"Yes," the time lord affirmed, "so I would very much appreciate it if you could let them pass."
"Right, yes sir. Right away sir." With a bit too much pandering for Amy's liking, the officer let them through. He had to quickly step back into his former position as soon as the two of them had jumped the barrier, as the entire thing was at risk of being swallowed up by the growing crowd.
As they walked away, Amy leant in to the Doctor and asked, "Should he call for back up?"
"No, we don't want back up, that only brings the risk of drawing more attention to ourselves," he replied.
"Oh, and we never do that." Amy rolled her eyes fondly. "By the way, why is John a Captain and I'm only a lowly Constable?"
The Doctor looked past Amy to smile at John. "Because John really is a Captain, aren't you?"
"I am," he confirmed, nodding.
"You're a -" Amy fumbled for the right term.
"An army doctor," John supplied. "Captain John Watson, Fifth Northumberland Fusilier."
"Wow," she breathed. "That's… wow." John seemed unsure of what to make of her reaction, and so stayed silent. Amy continued on, saying to the Doctor, "But that still doesn't explain why I'm still just a constable."
"Because the only thing even remotely police-y that you know how to do is put a man in handcuffs," the Doctor said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
John made a sort of disbelieving squeaking noise that may or may not have been the result of him choking on thin air.
"Shut up," Amy grumbled, trying to fight the embarrassment she could feel flushing her cheeks and twisting her expression into a grimace.
"And," the Doctor continued, oblivious to the obvious discomfort of his two companions, "when you did handcuff me you lost the key."
At that statement, John gaped at the pair of them. He pointed from Amy to the Doctor and said, somewhat breathlessly, "Sorry, is this an appropriate conversation to be having right now?"
"No, it's not – he doesn't mean it like that!" she hurried to correct, but she could see from his astounded expression that the army doctor couldn't imagine what else it could have meant. She lowered her voice and explained, "It wasn't – like, a role play or anything. He broke into my house and I didn't believe it was him, you know, I thought it couldn't really be my imaginary friend come back for me after twelve years. So I whacked him in the face and knocked him out with a cricket bat, and then handcuffed him to the radiator."
"Right," John said, nodding once. But then he skewed his mouth and added, "No, sorry, still not getting it. How exactly did you two meet again?"
"Good story, that, remind us to tell you later. The important bit right now is that, after handcuffing me to the radiator, Amy pretended to call for back up," the Doctor said, eyebrows knitting together in a frown. "Which is exactly what our friend at the barricade has done. Except he really has called for back up, and they're already here. So we're going to have to speed this up a bit."
Amy glanced back over her shoulder to see two patrol cars pulling up alongside the crowd, two uniformed officers in each. When she turned back, the Doctor had dashed ahead to where Holmes was standing, observing a large blue print that had been spread over a table on the boardwalk.
One of the construction workers was jabbing his finger angrily at Holmes, who looked as though he was seconds away from grabbing the digit and snapping it in half. As Amy got closer, she could make out what the man was saying. "Just who do you think you are, barging in here and demanding to see our plans? And why are you in a dressing gown?"
"Ah, psychic paper will clear this right up," the Doctor said quietly. He reached into his pocket, grasping for the leather wallet, but came up empty handed. He looked at his bare palm as though it had betrayed him. "But I swear I put it in there," he mumbled as he started patting himself down.
"Uh, Doctor." Amy nudged him with her elbow and nodded towards Holmes. "I think we have a pickpocket in our midst."
Holmes was indeed in possession of the psychic paper. He was currently holding it up for all of the construction workers to see, looking extremely smug. Once all of the workers had quietened their grumbling, he ordered, "Now, as I was saying – we're going to need a copy of all of these blue prints, as well as your building permits."
There was more grumbling at that, but one of the workers – in a particularly flattering bright orange high visibility jacket – said, "I'll go get them for you now."
As he walked over to the portable office that had been set up beside the ticket booth for the rollercoaster, he cast an extremely agitated look back over his shoulder at the strange man making demands while still in his pyjamas.
Once he'd disappeared inside the makeshift room the Doctor marched up to Holmes and snatched the psychic paper out of the pocket of his robe. "You can't just take my psychic paper!" he exclaimed, waving the wallet in the other man's face. "This is advanced technology, you know! I can't have you just waving it about whenever you like on 21st century Earth!"
"It's quite useful," Holmes offered, possibly the nicest thing he'd said to the Doctor since the two had met.
"Yes, I know," the time lord replied, "Which is why I'd like to keep it in my possession, thank you very much."
He tucked it back into the inside breast pocket of his jacket, making sure that it was secure before withdrawing his hand. Amy noted that, despite the heat coming from the unobscured sunlight pouring down on them, the Doctor hadn't raised a sweat. He looked perfectly composed and not at all bothered by the fact that he was wearing a tweed jacket, shirt and trousers when other people were walking around the streets in bikinis and board shorts.
"What have you been doing?" John asked Holmes.
"I've been collecting evidence."
"Evidence of what?" Amy asked.
However, her question was drowned out by the Doctor yelling triumphantly, "Yes!" Everyone turned to stare at him. He lowered the arm he'd raised in celebration and explained, a little bit sheepishly but very much smugly, "I told you there was a case here. And I told you that Sherlock wouldn't be able to resist investigating it."
Amy rolled her eyes. "Oh great, so not only do you have the face of a twelve year old but the maturity of one, too."
The Doctor looked put out by that, and she felt bad enough to reach out and rub a reassuring hand against his forearm. She let go when the construction foreman returned with a roll of blueprints and official looking documents.
He passed them to Holmes and said, "Here you go, Inspector. I hope this gets cleared up quickly. Can't have my men standing around all day with that lot watching at the end of the pier. They're riled up enough as it is."
Amy looked back at the crowd of tourists and locals, angry at being denied access to the pier. Quite right, too, she thought. She wanted a go on that rollercoaster as much as any of them.
"We'll get this resolved right away," the Doctor reassured, but Amy noticed a well disguised wariness in his eyes. "In the mean time, why don't you all go get some chips and have a bit of a break, hey?"
The stomping of police boots sounded along the planks behind them, and the four travellers started backing along the pier.
"Thanks very much for your cooperation," Amy called out as they turned and hurried off.
They passed the cops without too much fuss – although Holmes continued to get odd looks from everyone who saw him – and Amy made a point to thank the overwhelmed police officer still stationed at the entrance for his help.
Because of this, she was a couple of steps behind the Doctor and Sherlock, who were striding off ahead. She fell in to step beside John, with his shorter legs, and observed the two taller men discussing the blue prints as they walked.
"You alright?" she asked John, aware of how overwhelming travel in the TARDIS could be.
"This is all a bit mad," he answered honestly, and she smiled.
"Yeah, it is a bit. You'll get used to it though, don't worry."
"Get used to it?" John repeated, looking up at her. "Do you think this'll be a regular occurrence from now on then?"
Amy paused. She hadn't even thought about it, not consciously, but yeah – she did think this was going to become a regular occurrence. It wasn't like her and Holmes had spent much time together so far today, or even had a proper conversation, but even being near him was nice. She hadn't realised how much she'd missed him, or how much of a connection they'd forged over their single night together. And John was nice too; steadfast and loyal, she thought. Never traits that went astray.
He reminded her of someone, actually… She'd had a friend just like him, once. That's what she thought, anyway. Was it friend? Maybe they'd been something more... But as soon as she reached for a solid grasp on the memory, her mind faltered. There was nothing substantial to grab a hold of; just a weird feeling, a vague sensation of being reminded of something that you haven't forgotten because you never really knew it in the first place. Amy suddenly felt extremely sad, for no apparent reason.
She shook her head, trying to focus on the conversation, and said, "Yeah, if you want. We could all travel for a bit."
John smiled at that. "I reckon that sounds alright. I mean, this'll take a bit of getting used to. But – bloody hell – yeah, I think that'd be good." There was a comfortable pause as the two of them gained on their counterparts, and then he asked, "Does it really go anywhere in time and space?"
"It goes absolutely everywhere," Amy answered honestly.
John's smile turned into a grin.
He was still grinning when they reached the small side alley that the TARDIS was parked in and drew even with the Doctor and Holmes.
"If it is what you say it is, then those workers aren't in on it," Holmes was saying.
"I agree." The Doctor nodded thoughtfully. "They're all locals, and perfectly normal humans. There's no way they'd go along with this if they knew what it was they were installing on those rides."
"What're they installing on the rides?" Amy asked.
Neither man answered her – they just continued to pore over their blueprints.
A cold breeze picked up suddenly, making her shiver. In the alley there was no sunlight, and the wind howled between the buildings with a ferocity that struck Amy as odd, considering how calm the ocean had been. She started towards the TARDIS, planning on getting her jacket back.
"Oh, Amy," the Doctor called. "Take Sherlock to the wardrobe, would you? He can't get away walking around dressed like that for much longer."
"Says the man with the bow tie," she teased. He straightened it proudly, and she waved the reluctant Holmes along after her.
John took Holmes' place beside the Doctor, looking at the site maps with eyes that weren't as keen on detail as Holmes' or the time lord's, but were filled with just as much earnest curiosity as either's. Yes, Amy thought to herself decisively, she quite liked Captain John Watson.
Holmes stepped up beside her, and she felt her heart start to beat just that little bit faster.
"You look absolutely ridiculous," she said, praying to god that her voice didn't sound as shaky as she suddenly felt.
Holmes arched an eyebrow at her, but the corner of his lip also twitched up. "At least I'm not in a kissogram cop outfit."
"Hey, pyjamas in public is way worse than a cop outfit! At least mine was practical," she argued in a light hearted tone.
"A skirt that short can never be practical," he replied so quickly and so sharply that she couldn't help but wonder if the length of her skirt had already been on his mind.
When she next spoke her voice was an octave lower than normal. "I don't know, it had its uses…"
Their flirty banter was cut short by a sudden, panicked cry from the Doctor. "Amy!"
"Doctor?"
She spun on her heel to see him racing towards her, arm outstretched and features wide with fear. The sight of the Doctor afraid was all it took to get her panicked, and she felt her heart rate increase for an entirely different reason. Before he could reach her, a shadow descended between them. Except it wasn't a shadow – it was like a wall, a wall made of a slightly grey, slightly warped yet solid substance that was cold and hard to the touch. Amy found this out when she banged her fist against it.
"Amelia!" the Doctor yelled, pressing his face against the other side of the wall. His voice was slightly muffled and did nothing at all to calm her down.
"Doctor!" she screamed, properly frightened and acutely aware that a trap was almost always followed by a capture or an attack – neither of which she wanted to be a part of. "Doctor, what's happening?!"
Holmes had disappeared from beside her. In her peripheral vision she could see him run behind the TARDIS and then reappear on the other side, only to repeat the path. He did it three times before giving up and joining her once more.
"It goes all the way over us," he informed her. "It's a dome. And we're trapped inside."
"Oh my god," John breathed on the other side. Amy couldn't hear him, but she could see his lips shaping out the words over and over.
"Okay, it's alright, Amy, it's alright, I'm going to get you out," the Doctor was saying, aiming the sonic screwdriver at the dome. She watched the tip light up green, but the wall between them didn't change and the way the Doctor's face dropped when he checked the readings did nothing to abate her fears. "Okay, so I can't get you out yet, but I am going to get you out, I promise."
"What do you mean, you can't get us out yet? How long are we going to be stuck in here?" Amy was embarrassed to note that she was sounding - and even feeling - a little bit hysterical.
This was so not how she'd wanted to act around Holmes when she met him again. Hysterical wasn't impressive at all.
"It's fine," the Doctor said, splaying his palms against the wall. She reached out and mirrored him, pressing her own hands over his on her side of the division. He smiled at that - a small, proud smile that made Amy feel the tiniest bit better - and promised, "I think I know how to get you out. It's just going to take some time. So try to be patient, please. Go inside the TARDIS and wait."
Amy didn't want to wait. Waiting was the last thing she wanted the Doctor to ever ask her to do, but what choice did she have? And they both knew that, even if she hadn't been trapped in this stupid dome thing, she would have waited for him. Of course she would – he was her Raggedy Doctor, and she'd wait for as long as he needed, for however long it took him to come back to her. So she swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded.
"Okay, John and I are going to fix this. You and Sherlock wait in the TARDIS and you'll be totally safe. No matter what happens, even if you feel it moving – especially if you feel it moving! – do not walk out those doors. Keep them closed, keep them locked, and stay inside. We'll be right back!" With that, the Doctor grabbed John's hand and the two raced off around the corner and out of sight.
Holmes made a gruff noise and shoved his hands deep inside the pockets of his dressing gown. He was frowning at the wall as though enough of his concentration was going to make it shatter, by force of willpower alone.
Amy sighed, "What was that you were saying about there being nothing to investigate here?"
The look that he shot her made Amy wonder how they were going to survive being trapped alone together.
a.n. all the usual apologies and excuses, i'm a shitty updater and you know the drill. thank you to all the reviews, favourites and follows! keep them coming, please! i've started work on all the milestone review one shot prizes and will be in touch with the winners to discuss progress over the next two days, yay.
just a reminder that i've never actually been to southend-on-sea so i'm very sorry if i get any details about the town wrong. according to the internet, it's very much like my own hometown, which is helpful for reference.
i got john's rank in this chapter from the hounds of baskerville ep. i think that my transcription is correct?
my sincerest apologies for the lack of pondlock action in this chapter, but as you'll see i've now set the plot in motion and also forced amy and sherlock to spend time alone together! yay alone time.
please let me know what you think in a review, and thanks for reading!