So, funny story. That time El met her future self in the grocery store? Not the last time… far from it.
It happens again one night, aboard the TARDIS. El is in her room, trying and failing to fall asleep to the sound of the television on its lowest volume setting, before the door abruptly opens. Not the door to the corridor, but the door into the bathroom.
Needless to say, nobody should be in there, so El instantly shoots up, ready to fight if need be.
Herself is standing there, hair wrapped in a towel, toothbrush in her mouth, clad in pajamas.
"Ah." Future-her blinks. "This is happening now? Ah, hell."
"What are you doing here?" El asks, looking herself up and down.
"Well, it wasn't intentional, if that's what you mean." She answers. "I was just in there, having a bit of me time, and when I walk out, you're sitting there on the bed. If anything, I should ask what you're doing there."
El crossed her arms. "Still haven't actually answered."
Future-El rolled her eyes. "Was I always that curious? Fine, if you must know, the TARDIS exists outside of time and space, that includes the interior. Time flowing from one moment to the next is determined by the TARDIS herself and a series of regulators, if those regulators break down, then it can cause past people or objects to appear in the TARDIS's future relative to them, or vice-versa."
El blinks. "Do… I have to remember that?"
Future-her laughs. "No, it just happens."
"So," El glanced at herself, the person she would become given enough time, "How do we fix it?"
Future-El only shrugged. "We don't. The TARDIS has already gotten to it herself." She looked up to the ceiling. "Isn't that right?"
The TARDIS responded with a warm gust of air, and joyously pulsating lights.
"See, the TARDIS has repair systems installed for this sort of thing already." She explained. "Dad can't keep everything in working order all by himself."
El nodded in understanding. "What do we do until its fixed?"
"Well," The future-her checked the alarm clock nearby. Kind of pointless on board a time machine, and especially pointless when the time machine's interior flow of time was governed independently from everything else, but still. "We've got about three hours before ma- I mean, the TARDIS- fixes this mess, Dad's probably on one of his secret midnight rendezvous with River, and Aunt Sarah is a really heavy sleeper. So, you know what that means?"
El tilted her head.
"Ever hear the word 'joyride?'"
The two Els walked into the console room, the older one striding over to the controls with a purpose.
The younger of the two watched in awe as her future self began operating the controls effortlessly like flowing water, the way she moved from panel to panel, switch to switch, speaking for years of piloting experience, or a really good teacher.
"You can…?" El breathed as the engines engaged calmly and quietly.
"Yep." She answered, moving to the other side of the console, twisting a little dial. "Probably shouldn't be so cavalier with future knowledge, but I remember seeing this from your perspective, so I suppose it's okay."
"But… how?" El asked.
"I had a very good teacher." She answered.
"River?" El questioned.
"Ha!" The Future-El laughed, punching something into the keyboard. "No. As much as I love River, and as better as she is at piloting the TARDIS than dad, she couldn't beat me on her best day. In fact, you might say… I taught her a lesson."
"No way." El breathed.
"Yes, way." The future version replied. "That's one spoiler I'm allowed to give you." She pushed the red lever near the typewriter up, the Time Rotor locking into place. "There. See, dad's style of piloting is fun and all, but mine is easier on the noggin, wouldn't you say?"
El nodded. Her head was certainly free of the normal headache that came with the Doctor's flying.
"Now," Future El walked over to the doors, "Let's go have some fun."
"Wait." El stopped herself. "PJs."
The future version waved it away. "Oh, nobody's going to care. Worst-case scenario, we get some stares. Come on!"
El smiled, her future version's excitement rippling back to her, as she flung the door open, and stepped out.
El's eyes widened as the TARDIS doors shut behind her, and she looked around at the place in awe. Crowds of people walked down a street with shops lining the sides, some holding balloons in odd shapes, some carrying bags, others carrying nothing at all.
"Where are we?" El asked, looking up to herself.
"A place that's very special to me." She answered with a smile. "Disney World's Magic Kingdom. First theme park I ever visited. The happiest place on Earth."
"Theme park?" El questioned.
"Oh, this place has it all." She answered, "Food, rides, people in suits playing characters from beloved cartoons. The food here is actually better than most theme park fare."
El looked to the man walking down the street in the costume of a cartoon mouse, waving happily to the passersby, before looking back to herself. "What did you say we do here?"
The older version took her younger self's arm. "Come on, kid. Let's go."
"I'm not…" El looked up at the plasticine mountain, a waterfall coming out of the top.
A log with people inside dropped from the top, the people inside screaming at the top of their lungs as they dropped, before splashing into the water below.
"I don't know." El finally said, looking to her future self.
"Aw, come on, it'll be fun!" Future-El gently took her hand, leading her up to the entrance. "I've been on it a dozen times! And you know it's gotta be fun if I'll do it." She took out a small, blank piece of paper, pressing it to the face of a little glowing scanner, before it flashed green, allowing them through. "I nicked dad's spare psychic paper." She explained, leading her younger self through the queue.
"But what about those people?" El asked, looking to the line of people on the other side. It wasn't fair for them to skip, and the others to have to wait.
"This is the fast pass lane; we can get away with it." She retorted, "Come on, come on."
"Okay," Future-El guided El into the seat of the log, before sitting down next to her. "This bar's going to press down on you, but that's so you'll be safe." She explained. "It's not like the bad place."
El drew a breath, and waited as the bar came down, and the plastic log set off.
They coasted comfortably for a while, before climbing the first hill, El looking to the animatronic frog sitting nearby warily. "Smiler."
Future-El chuckled. "No, no. That's just a really fancy puppet." She explained as the log came up to the next section. "Oh, the music! The best part!"
The log took the first little drop, and El clutched onto her future self.
The woman laughed. "If you're having that much trouble on the first drop, you're in for one hell of a time." She commented, as they entered the inside of the mountain, full of the animatronic animals singing in a cartoonish landscape. "Glad I chose to come here before the ride retool." She said. "The last thing you need are voodoo masks screaming 'are you ready?' at you."
El didn't listen to herself, focusing on the story the ride seemed to be telling. A troublemaker rabbit was being chased around by a big, dumb bear, and a fox. The rabbit evaded them at every turn but got caught at the end. El wondered what was going to happen next… and that was when the log started to climb in the darkness.
The log climbed and climbed, and El's breathing sped up, as they approached the light at the end. The log went over the top of the hill and began to drop.
El screamed as the bottom approached, her future self whooping as the log dropped. Finally, they hit the water at the very end, being doused in the substance as they were at the very front.
It took a moment for her to realize it, but El's screams had turned to laughter as well.
"See?" The future version directed to her younger self. "Fun."
El nodded, as the log came back around to the start. "Fun."
After getting off the ride, the older one guided herself through the gift shop, looking at the wall of screens that held images of people at the drop of the ride.
El wondered what they were doing there, before a picture of… herselves appeared.
The younger one was screaming loudly, obviously, eyes bugging out as she clutched onto her future self for protection, while the older one laughed, face the picture of joy.
"Oh, you and your sister are so cute!" The woman working the picture kiosk gushed.
"Thanks." Future-El said, buying a copy of the photo. "Come on, El." She took her younger self's hand, before moving on.
The door creaked shut as the two walked back into the TARDIS. El looked dead tired from their little excursion into the park, but her future self seemed perfectly bursting with energy, as she set the TARDIS back into motion.
"Alright, I've set the autopilot to take the TARDIS right back to the moment it left." Future-El explained. "Dad won't even know we've been gone. Let's go, squirt, time to get you into bed."
The younger El nodded tiredly, allowing the future version to lead her way.
The two Els walked back into her room, the younger one quickly changing into a different set of pajamas, before laying down.
"There." The older one smiled satisfactorily. "Shouldn't have any problems falling asleep now."
"Stay…" El weakly requested.
"You know I can't." The older version gently replied. "I have my own TARDIS to get back to. But… I will stay until you've gone to sleep." She said, kicking up her feet on the bed next to herself.
"Okay." El said. "…me."
The Future-El laughed quietly. "If you have to call me something, call me Jane."
"Jane…" El repeated. "The voice on Starship UK called me that. And I was called that in the dream world."
"Of course," Jane replied. "It is our name. Well, birth name. I still go by El. Feels more natural than Jane. Sorry, rambling. Get to sleep."
"Okay…" El closed her eyes. "Jane? …thanks."
"Well, you heard that lady at the kiosk. We're sisters." Jane replied. "I'd be a very bad sibling if I didn't help you when you needed."
"Sisters…" El drifted away with that thought in her mind.
The gap in age between the two El's may not have been too large, but they were practically different people. People who shared blood, but were too far apart to be like parent and child, and too close to be cousins. Yes, El decided, sisters worked.
When El woke up the next morning, Jane was gone. The towel and toothbrush, the only evidence she had ever been there, gone as well. At first, she thought it was a dream. The product of her imagination running away with some of the ideas in that book explaining family trees that she'd seen in the library.
But then, El looked to her bedside table.
And the little picture left behind.
El hoped Jane would come back again, someday soon.
