"I thought you said that nobody could get in the TARDIS!" I cried as I clung to the console as the TARDIS shook more erratically than usual.
"Well technically they're not in the TARDIS. They're hanging onto the side of the TARDIS," the Doctor cried back as he flipped the stabilizers on and off. I gave him a wild-eyed stare and clenched the console harder as the TARDIS suddenly began spinning in the other direction.
"Who's being flippant now?" I asked and somehow, he spared the time to raise his eyebrow up at me.
"Still you," He said cheekily, and I stuck my tongue out at him as far as I dared so that I wouldn't risk biting my tongue. He opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off by the TARDIS letting out what seemed like an irritated noise.
"Emma Hold On!" He shouted, and I nodded and tightened my grip on the console. The TARDIS suddenly jerked to one side, then the other and spun around erratically and, despite my best efforts my grip slipped. "Emma!"
I tumbled around the air of the TARDIS until the spinning stopped and my breath slammed out of me as I hit the door of the TARDIS laying down. I had a second of clarity as I stared up at the Doctor, who was clinging onto the rotor with all his limbs like a monkey, as he looked down at me and screamed my name as the doors opened and I fell out into the vortex.
I felt burning cold as I fell for an unknown amount of time and lost track of up and down and left and right. I wondered if this is how the TARDIS felt while she flew us around and made a mental promise to give her some love if I didn't end up spending the rest of eternity in the time vortex until I landed on my hands and knees on a thick rug.
"Where did you come from?" I glanced up at the feminine voice and took a quick stock of my surroundings through the lingering burning cold and the rising nausea. Old palace of some kind, furnishings and the dress she was wearing were very fancy and looked to be around sixteenth century.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you Your Majesty," I said before I threw up in the chamber pot she helpfully thrust under my face.
"Try me," she suggested once I'd finished throwing up.
"Maybe not while we're both crouched on the floor," I said, and she nodded in agreement. I struggled for a few moments to stand up since I had the sensation of burning pins and needles from my shoulders down the rest of my body. I made it to my feet at the same time that the other woman did.
"We'll have to find you a dress. Ivan does hate immodesty," she said and gave my jeans and t-shirt a curious gaze. I tugged on the hem awkwardly before letting my hands drop to my sides as she pulled a dress out of the wardrobe.
"Wait Ivan?" I asked, and she nodded. I wracked my brain quickly for a rough Russian history timeline. I also sent a mental thank you to the TARDIS for the fact that the translation matrix still worked even though I wasn't close to her.
"My husband."
"Ivan the fourth? First Tsar of All Russia's?" She nodded again. I gaped at her for a moment before I continued softly. "You're Anastasia Romanova, First Tsarina. Your Majesty it is an honour to meet you."
"I am and thank you." She beamed at me gently. "Now tell me your tale."
So, as I wiggled myself into my borrowed dress, a lovely creamy yellow with an orange trim, and Anastasia settled herself back into her bed and I perched on a chair beside her, I told her about the planet of giants and the greedy one who missed preying on humanity and wanted a way back to Earth. I had just wrapped up my tale of how I had fallen through the vortex and landed on her rug when the door flew open and Ivan barged in. He fixed me with a glare and reached out to grab me and, despite the fact that I had just had an encounter with man eating giants, I flung myself backwards away from his anger. I landed on my feet at the other side of the bed and dropped into a proper curtsey as I kicked my clothes further under the bed.
"Who are you and how did you come to be here?" He demanded, and I opened my mouth and closed it instantly as I realized that I didn't really have a handy lie that I could come up with. Anastasia sat forward with a placating hand outstretched.
"She is Lady Emma and she is here at my invitation," Anastasia said smoothly. Ivan grasped her hand and shot me another harsh look. I kept my head down, because history would remember Ivan as Ivan the Terrible and regardless of what the Doctor thinks I do actually have a sense of self preservation.
"How did she get into your chambers without my knowledge?" Anastasia gave him a small smug smile.
"I have my ways. I invited her here to keep me entertained while I am ill. Lady Emma is an amazing storyteller." The next look Ivan gave me was deeper and more speculative, like he was trying to determine what I could gain from this or trying to decide between keeping his wife happy and the obvious questions that my presence raised.
"Very well. She may stay, but she will be watched at all times whenever she is not with you." Anastasia smiled sweetly and pulled his hand closer to press a kiss to it.
"Thank you, my husband."
"Your kindness is immense Your Majesty," I murmured and dropped into another curtsey. Ivan gave me a nod before he swept out of the room. Anastasia gave me a curious look.
"You have very good manners for someone from the future," she said.
"I studied history for school," I said and shook out my hands to try and get feeling back in them. While the nausea had gone away the feeling in my body had begun to alternate between numbness and pins and needles. Anastasia hummed idly as she resettled herself on her pillows.
"You studied history?" she asked, and I nodded. Then I told her about how the school system I grew up with worked, and how Lillian had studied finance and worked in a bank, and that when I was from anyone could be anything if they put their minds to it. When she asked about my clothes I fished them out from under the bed and handed them to her.
"Jeans and a T-shirt. Jeans made from denim and my T-shirt is a polyester cotton blend," I said, and we ran our fingers over them together. Anastasia pressed them back into my hands after a few moments.
"The future sounds wonderful." She said as I folded my clothes and tucked them away in a drawer that she pointed at. I smiled at her.
"I always thought the past sounded wonderful growing up." We shared a smile and I was suddenly struck by the fact that she was only a few years older than me. Four years at the most, but historians were never sure when exactly she was born.
"What year is it, by the way?" I asked as casually as I could manage.
"1560. And for you? When are you from?"
"2009," I said just as there was a knock at the door. Anastasia pressed her finger to her lips and I nodded and repeated the gesture as she bade the person to come in. I knew in that moment that we had agreed not to breath a word of the truth to anyone and I was glad that I had found an ally.
"Your Majesty, I've come to escort Lady Emma to her chamber at the bidding of His Majesty." The soldier snapped to attention as soon as he entered, and I glanced at the grand clock sitting on the other side of the room.
"I hadn't realized the time. I apologize Your Majesty I'm certain you are tired," I said and smoothed any lingering wrinkles in my skirt out.
"I'll have you brought back in the morning. Sleep well." I curtsied and stood next to my escort who bowed before we left the room. He led me to a room about fifteen doors away from Anastasia's chamber. He stopped outside my door and frowned at me before blinking in shock as I thanked him while smiling at him with just a hint of exhaustion. I shut the door behind me and slid the lock into place, mostly for my peace of mind.
I sucked in a few deep breaths as I scanned the room desperately, don't panic yet, don't panic yet, until I noticed a wardrobe and folded myself into a ball inside it. Once I closed the door behind me as best I could I let myself have a small meltdown.
In all probability, I was stuck here in 1560 on the generosity of a Queen that I knew would die soon with absolutely no way to contact the Doctor and probably no way for him to find me.
I was stuck. My small meltdown turned into a much bigger one as that thought resonated through my brain. Would Ivan let me live past Anastasia's death? Even though all the historians said his mental instability increased long after she passed?
"Lady Emma?" The solider who had escorted me here was speaking softly to me from outside the wardrobe. I hadn't even heard him come in. "I let myself in because I believe you may be in distress."
"A bit of distress yes," I said laughingly between my desperate breaths. He made a noise of agreement and settled down on the floor.
"You have nothing to fear. I am here for your protection. No harm will come to you," he said, and I timed my breaths with his to slow my breathing.
"It's rather more complicated than that," I said.
"It always is." I pushed the wardrobe open a touch more at his words. He rewarded me with a quick smile as he pressed his back against the wardrobe that I wasn't sitting in. "My sister got distressed like this when she met her husband for the first time, and before she left for her wedding. She preferred to hide under the bed though."
"I thought about it, but the wardrobe was more accessible," I said. "Also, I only have one dress so getting it remarkably dusty would not be the best idea I've ever had." He chuckled at that.
"I can see why Her Majesty likes you." I nudged the door a touch more open again and a handkerchief appeared through the crack.
"Thank you. And what is the name of my protector?" I asked as I mopped my face back towards normal.
"Dimitri Vladimov at your service Lady Emma," he said and held out a hand to assist me out of the wardrobe as I pushed the door open fully. I gave him a big smile.
"I'm glad to hear it Dimitri Vladimov." He grasped my hand tightly and led me not so subtly to the bed.
"I suggest sleep Lady Emma. I'm certain that by this point you are just as exhausted as Her Majesty," he said, and I nodded. I'd been tired when I walked into this room and now that I'd had a few meltdowns, I was approaching a point that I hadn't felt since university.
"I'd almost wager more," I mumbled as I flopped down onto the bed. He gave me a grin and held up the key he'd used to get in.
"I'll make sure that no one else disturbs you." He pulled the door shut and I waited until I heard the lock click before I rolled over and shook out the pins and needles again to get comfortable.
"I can figure this out," I promised to the air as I let my eyes slide shut.