Heading towards the British Naval Museum, Matt pulled up to the side and proceeded to blow his nose into the umpteenth tissue and groaned as wiped the excess off his upper lip. Tossing the used tissue into a small rubbish bag stowed away in his beetle, Matt washed his hands with some sanitizer, which he heard Jodie comment.
"You know it doesn't kill all germs, right?" Jodie spoke up as she watched him rub the scented sanitizer into his palms.
Matt looked at her funny as he protested, "Yes, it does!"
Jodie shook her head.
She explained in great details that sanitizer won't help much when the 1% germs left behind were the ones that make people sick.
"So, what I'm supposed to do?" Matt challenged her.
She replied, "Well, bleach and fire seem to work"
Her sense of humor's rather gallows, but Matt isn't in the mood to discuss it with her, he only wanted to find the Doctor and return Starlight to him, and maybe learn things from him.
Jodie seemed to know this Doctor well, but she's reserved about telling Matt much, other than the basics.
Interestingly, it sounded more like, that this Doctor's also a human, like Matt, and older gentleman at that. He'd also had an interesting background, hence his interest in vehicles and naval things. Not to forget, he fancied an even more eccentric wardrobe than the wardrobe that became Matt's mainstay.
"I don't understand, how is this possible, if he's here, doesn't that mean you're here too?" Matt brought up a good point.
If all Doctors used the TARDIS, then if this Doctor existed, then he'd have to use it as well. That meant, he'd have it somewhere in the New London area.
"It's complicated," Jodie summed. "Before you ask, he only came here to get a few things, he didn't expect that he'd have a ferret disappear on him."
Starlight pulled on her hair, resenting that last part, and Jodie looked up to her, annoyed.
"Watch it, I know every insult known to man and ferret!" Jodie warned the ferret as it sat on her head.
Matt shook his head wearily, before going with them into the naval museum, formerly a naval base decommissioned sometime along ago, and revamped into a museum that's dedicated to the naval history of Great Britain.
"Why would he be interested?" Matt's curious about the Doctor and Jodie summed that he had an interesting life.
When Matt caught on to her saying it past tense, Jodie didn't tell him anything more, and only said that if he's not looking at classic cars, he's looking at a museum.
Shaking his head, Matt followed Jodie into the museum. Of course, with Starlight on her head, the woman at the counter told her that she couldn't come into the museum proper on the account of the ferret.
Jodie overruled the museum rules of animals and showed the woman something in her palm. The woman's green eyes moved as she read something and she's in disbelief as she exclaimed, "Service animal?"
Nodding, Jodie stated that Starlight is her emotional support animal and if they attempted to dissuade her from coming into the museum with it, there could be legal trouble.
The woman's bemused, but the mere thought of having them dealing with legal trouble caused her to allow the three into the museum, with the explicit warning that if the ferret did anything, they'll pay for the damages.
"Alright, if he's here, where'd he go?" Matt asked Jodie.
Jodie's dark eyes moved around as she tried to look for the other Doctor and she looked over the maps, ship models, helms.
The Doctor they're looking for used to talk about his early days. Often, as Aesops when dealing with people who're trying to hurt him or worse, but often he just liked talking about his days.
Amusingly, he quipped once or twice that he shared similarities with someone else, except for one specific detail that differentiated them.
He wasn't drunk when he had his done.
Oh, for sure, it hurt, but he didn't mind the pain once the needle stopped poking his skin.
And unlike the other, he picked it out of suggestion, and that's all he wrote.
Perhaps, he didn't mirror his counterpart all that much, but he didn't care much at all, he's his own free agent, and that thought he hoped to spread to his companions whenever they encountered their own counterparts.
He encouraged his companions to take their own destinies instead of copying their own counterparts' and to learn from the experience.
If they don't upset the balance of the universes, there's no harm in meeting counterparts.
It's a normal occurrence for him that he's used to encountering his own counterparts.
Some of which, probably thought they're drunk, again.
Others, probably thought they've gone mad.
"Well, where is he?" Matt glimpsed around, but he didn't see anyone that'd match the description, in fact, there's hardly anyone present at the moment.
Matt tried to walk, but stopped and held his stomach. His lunch's taken the tram up and he fled to catch the next loo before the tram got to it's destination.
As he's gone in the loo, upheaving his lunch, Jodie and Starlight searched for the Doctor.
"Still grumpy?" Jodie asked Starlight.
Starlight made noises and Jodie shook her head as Starlight clung to her hair.
"Why am I not surprised?" Jodie sighed.
As much as he put on the allure as a man with a sense of fashion and tact, the Doctor they're looking for tended to become grumpy. Especially, when his companions or others did something he didn't approve of.
He'd scolded Jodie more than once for doing things without his say and partly the reason she threw him out the one time.
Jodie let him back inside, but made it clear that if he wanted to continue the charade of piloting her, he'll treat her nicely, and to keep his comments to himself.
She didn't escape death numerous times to deal with grumpiness.
Starlight whined as she rested her long head on Jodie's forehead and Jodie patted her on the head with her finger.
"There, there, we'll find him. He couldn't gotten far," Jodie comforted Starlight.
Knowing the Doctor, he wouldn't leave Starlight behind, it's rather poor taste for him to do it, and especially a birthday present at that. He was always good at keeping his promises, more than Jodie could say for the other Doctors.
"Ung, you sure you know where to look?" Matt coughed as he returned from upheaving his lunch and washing out his mouth with water. He lost his face mask in the process and he's not sorry that he flushed it and everything else down the toilet.
Jodie told him that she was sure the Doctor would've come here. It's one of his pastimes alongside doing races in his favourite vehicles.
"Well, we don't have races here, not the legal kind, so that's out," Matt sighed.
Jodie then brought up, "He did always like going to pubs and chatting up the locale, exchanging stories."
It'd make sense for a man who spent time in the navy to exchange stories with similar bodies and while he's dainty about drinking than he was when he served, he still loves sharing stories and hearing other stories with others.
"Okay, well, what pub, we've dozens," Matt gestured.
It's like throwing a needle in a quicksand, by the time you even chanced finding the needle, you're neck deep, and your throat crushed.
Putting a finger on her chin, Jodie tried to think of a place to try, and shook her head.
The Doctor didn't have much of a preference for pubs, other than they have people who exchanged stories.
Matt exhaled and asked if Jodie would've at least considered trying to contact herself, in a fashion that wouldn't destroy time as they know it, just to find out where the Doctor's at.
She wouldn't have to go with them, just tell them where the other her's at, and he'll take Starlight to that version of Jodie.
If he's there, it's as simple as dropping of Starlight, exchanging words, and going off his merry way back to his flat without Ripley knowing he'd snuck out.
Pondering, Jodie sighed as she responded that she'll try, but warned that Matt shouldn't expect much, and she stood quietly with her eyes closed.
She stayed that way for a few minutes before opening her eyes and turned towards Matt.
The Doctor's TARDIS' somewhere near the Thames. It's disguised differently than Jodie's usual form but since Matt's traveled in the TARDIS enough times, he should know what he's looking for.
"Okay, that sounds simple enough," Matt sighed. "Assuming he's still even at the TARDIS. Anything else?"
Thinking, Jodie mentioned that she had a rebellious streak and intentionally messed with the Doctor numerous times during her adventures with him. It resulted in her taking a form that he couldn't believe and she stayed with it for a couple of years before she finally changed back to her natural beauty.
"Well, what form?" Matt asked her.
Sheepishly, Jodie said, "Well, you'll see. Okay, you know where to look, better get a move on."
She didn't want to tell Matt what form she took, but she assured him that he'll know it's her, and looked up to Starlight.
Conversing with her, Starlight nodded and jumped across towards Matt. Landing on his head, she scurried down his chest before hiding in his shirt.
Matt panicked during this, but settled with a light budge in his shirt and a furry head sticking out his neckline.
Running a hand through his hair, Matt's befuddled, and Jodie laughed at this.
"Are you sure you don't want to come?" Matt asked her.
Shaking her head, Jodie said that she couldn't, time thing, but told him that if she saw the Doctor, she'll point him to Matt's direction.
Sighing, Matt walked out of the museum with Starlight under his chin, causing a stir with the woman at the desk.
He got into his beetle and buckled in, turning over the engine, he was about to leave when he got a text from Ripley asking if he's alright.
Typing out a message, Matt told her that he's doing fine and that he's been trying to sleep it off. Ripley replied and asked if he needed anything, which he responded that he didn't.
Asking about Jodie, Matt told Ripley that Jodie's staying out of trouble, and that he's keeping an eye on her in between naps.
"Alright, let me know if you need anything. I'll probably be back around seven. I have a customer wanting the armoire and he's supposed to come by with a pickup," Ripley texted him.
Matt told her to be careful and she replied, "I will. If you're out from taking the PM stuff, I'll try to keep it quiet when I send Jodie back."
Catching movement under his chin, Matt looked down to see Starlight eavesdropping their conversation. He called her out on it and she made nosies at him.
"That's rude, you know," Matt told her.
Starlight disagreed.
She made noises and it sounded like a question.
Matt shouldn't understand a ferret of all things, but for some reason, he started to understand her, and not just that, he can understand her!
"Um, yeah, she's my… my…" Matt trailed.
Well, he hadn't the chance to think about the implications of being a Doctor with a girlfriend. He usually kept it separate but since he's with Ripley now, it's rather fickle.
"…companion," Matt finished his drawn-out sentence and saw the ferret oohing before chuckling at him.
Matt heard Starlight quip, "Oh, so that's what they're calling it, now?"
It's a first for everything, but a ferret quipping at Matt's expense never crossed his mind, and he's supposed to seen and heard things that nobody's ever chanced.
"So, she's your girlfriend, huh?" Starlight teased him.
If you're ever wondering what a female ferret with chatters that somehow translated to legible human speech sounded like, it sounded a little like Audrey Hepburn.
Matt gestured as he summed, "Well, yeah."
He heard the ferret laugh at him and he rolled his eyes.
Putting up his mobile, Matt pulled away from the curb, and made his way to the estimated location of the other Jodie.
Well, he tried, there's traffic jams, and he's forced to detour New London with Starlight settled under his shirt, content with watching traffic go by.
A first for Matt, he's driving his beetle with a ferret in his shirt, how often does he say that?
