"Oh, this is a bomb. Oh, this is definitely a bomb and that is way outside my abilities," I said as I pulled the lid off the box and looked at all the mechanical parts that were whirring along.
"Did you open it?" The Doctor asked and I realized belatedly that that was probably not a good idea.
"Well I can confirm there isn't a tripwire thing on the lid of the box," I said, and he made a noise of concern.
"What does it look like?" He asked next and I started shaking my head as I peered at it again.
"There is literally no way I would manage to not blow this up. I'm going to the next one," I said as I carefully set the lid back on top of the box and stood up from my crouch.
"Emma no. I don't want us to split up anymore than we already have," he said. I waved my hand around in frustration even though I knew he couldn't see me.
"Would you rather I stand here and risk getting blown up or see what's ahead of us?" I asked with only the tiniest hint of sarcasm in my tone.
"What would really make me feel better is if you came and got the sonic and see if that helps you with the bomb," he answered with an equal amount of sarcasm. I bit down on my lip so that I wouldn't burst out laughing at his snark.
"Don't you need it?" I asked even as I started walking back to where I had split off with him with the catapult contraption.
"No, it's all just a matter of not setting it off accidentally when I'm cutting ropes," he said. I snorted when I caught sight of him with one arm shoulder deep in the middle of the contraption. He sent me a look like he knew what I was thinking and didn't appreciate it. I did take a second to acknowledge his skill in keeping the phone pressed between his shoulder and his ear given his position.
"Which pocket?" I asked. He angled one pocket towards me as I crouched down and shoved my arm in. I rifled around for a moment before my fingers closed on it. "Seriously you really need to reconsider the depths of your pockets."
"So, you keep telling me," He said as he twisted his arm awkwardly.
"Well if you ever take my advice, I won't have to anymore, now will I?" I flashed him a bright grin and received an exasperated look in response.
"Setting seventy-nine." I waved at him and turned to head back to the bomb. "Don't get blown up."
"I'll try!" I called back over my shoulder.
"There is no try. Only do!"
"Sure thing Yoda," I said with a grin.
"Quiet Earthling." I smiled wider.
"I didn't think people actually used the term Earthling," I said with only a small hint of delight in my voice and the Doctor laughed.
"They don't but I knew it would make you smile." I ducked my head to hide my blush instinctually.
"You're so sweet to me." I took a deep breath and knelt down next to the box again. "Note to self get you to teach me your phone balancing ways."
"Well if you hadn't made us split up," he said as I set the sonic down on the ground and shifted my shoulder around to make sure I wouldn't drop the phone as I pulled the lid off the box again.
"You mean made the brilliant suggestion to divide our resources to better conquer the challenges before us," I corrected as I picked up the sonic again.
"Of course, that's what I meant. One more rope to cut."
"Okay I'm doing this." I pointed the sonic at the machinery and thought about setting seventy-nine. I still wasn't really sure how the sonic worked, and when the Doctor had attempted to explain the last time I'd asked he'd gotten a bit too technical, but I'd been too embarrassed to say that he had completely lost me at some point.
"The mechanical parts quit moving and I didn't blow up, so I think we're good," I said very hesitantly and studied the bomb carefully to see if I had jinxed myself, but it stayed still and silent, so I breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'll have you doing science stuff in no time," the Doctor said with what sounded like pride in his voice.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here." I smiled despite my slightly self-deprecating words. "Can I hang up the phone now?"
"As a matter of fact, you may," the Doctor said from directly behind me and I startled slightly. I sent him a look as he grinned at me before he held out his hand to help me up and swept his lips over my temple once I was on my feet. "Great job with the bomb."
"And you were worried about us splitting up," I teased.
"Well we have such a great track record when we get split up."
"Where next?"
"Would you believe that we have fixed the timeline?" He asked with a huge grin as he scooped me up in a hug.
"I thought it would be harder honestly," I said with a laugh as he set me back down. "Should we head to Lillian?"
"I think it would only be fair to also introduce you to Louis-Phillipe. You can use it as material for next months article," he said.
"I do appreciate you conveniently landing us in historical locales every time I need to think of something for the magazine," I said with a slight quirk to my eyebrow to let him know that he wasn't subtle in the slightest. He winked at me.
"Lady Emma, Sir Doctor!" Alexandre called when he noticed us, and I waved at him. "Let me introduce you to His Majesty."
"Such a lovely afternoon Your Majesty," I said as I curtsied, and the Doctor bowed. Louis-Phillipe smiled at us.
"I was just saying to Lady Lillian that not even God himself could break the beauty of today," he said and I opened my mouth to mutter something to Lillian about foreshadowing when I got cut off.
There was a horrifying cacophony of noise that very suddenly split the summer afternoon air as an almost unfathomable number of bullets whizzed in our direction. I saw Alexandre dive for Lillian and tackle her to the ground to safety out of the corner of my eye as a courtier fell in front of me.
"Emma!" The Doctor cried, probably trying to spur me into action, but my attention was caught on Louis-Phillipe who appeared to have frozen. I lashed out with my foot without thinking about it and kicked Louis-Phillipe in the back of the knee with enough force to send him to the ground. He hit the ground with a shout of pain, and I exhaled in relief.
"Emma!" The Doctor shouted again as he appeared in front of me and shoved me into a crouch.
"Sorry I was saving the King," I muttered and for a brief second, he looked furious like he was going to say something else, but my eyes fell on his upper left arm.
"You're bleeding," I said and reached for it with a shaky hand. He blinked at me in shock and glanced down at his arm. I smiled up at him weakly as the noise died down from the Machine Infernal. "Who got shot now?"
"Yours was way worse. This probably won't even scar," he said after we had moved the fabric out of the way to see where the bleeding was coming from and he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to me. "Could you tie this over that for me?"
"You know a couple inches to the right and you'd be regenerating right now. Imagine trying to explain that to all these traumatized Frenchmen," I said as I tried to keep the shaking to a minimum. I wasn't really sure if it was from the sudden adrenaline disappearance or because he'd gotten very close to regenerating.
"Don't worry I'm sure we could have figured something about the regeneration out." I finished the makeshift bandage and he sandwiched my hands between his. "You're shaking like a leaf."
"Adrenaline," I said weakly with a shaky smile.
"Time to go Doctor," Alexandre said as he appeared next to us. "Before the King starts asking weird questions."
"Quite right," the Doctor said and we both stood up quickly. Lillian and I threw our arms around each other tightly once we had gotten to where she was standing at the end of the bridge.
"Are you okay?" I asked and Lillian nodded.
"Terrified and thrilled all at once." I smiled at her answer.
"Yeah that's about how it usually is," I said and linked arms with her again as we walked down the street at a quick pace. Lillian squeezed my hand gently.
"It's not for me on a regular basis, but Emma don't you ever give this up," she said, and I smiled.
"I definitely don't plan to."
"What a marvellously strange day," Alexandre declared solemnly once we were back on the street where we had first met him. We all smiled.
"Marvelous?" I asked because I couldn't quite understand why that was in there, though I definitely understood why strange was. He nodded sagely.
"I was granted the privilege to accompany three friends in their quest to save the King. They demonstrated a type of loyalty that was enviable and admirable, the kind that everyone hopes to have and inspire in others. And they did this with gallant smiles on their faces." He smiled widely in a vaguely distant way before he focused on us again. "Truly a privilege."
"The privilege was ours, Alexandre." The Doctor sketched a quick bow which Alexandre waved off.
"Thank you Doctor, Lady Emma, Lady Lillian." He nodded at all of us before pivoting on his heel and heading back towards the chaos. I smiled after him until a realization descended on me and I spun to the Doctor.
"Did we just inspire The Three Musketeers?" I gasped. The Doctor looked at me and his eyes widened, and his gaze snapped up to Alexandre and then back to me several times in quick succession.
"I think we might have just done that," he said, and I burst into laughter.
"Lillian, we inspired Mom's favourite book! Can you believe that?!" I asked between my giggles. She was still staring after Alexandre in shock.
"If I hadn't been here to witness it I wouldn't. Honestly, I'm still not sure I do believe that just happened," She turned to look at me and started laughing as well.
"Oh my God I can't wait to tell her," I said as our laughter died. I bit my lip nervously and turned to the Doctor. "Do you mind if I tell her and Dad about the time travel?"
"Why would I mind?" He asked with a perplexed look on his face. I shrugged.
"You're the one who said you've had issues with Moms in the past. And this time you'd have to deal with two parents," I said. He smiled at me softly.
"Emma don't make me insist," he teased, and I threw my arms around him.
"Let's go home first. I do not have enough energy to go straight there," Lillian said as I released the Doctor and fished out my key to unlock the door to the TARDIS.
"Movie day?" I offered.
"I found a new terrible sci fi movie," Lillian said. I smiled at her as I started the take off sequence though I was still pretty bad at it. The Doctor hovered behind me and helpfully flipped switches when I missed them.
"Not bad," he said after I stepped away because I didn't want to have to force the TARDIS to deal with my ineptitude for too long.
"Wow only like three hours since I left. Time travel is very impressive," Lillian said after we had landed, and she'd stuck her head out the door to look at the kitchen clock. "I'm going to make popcorn."
"You can come watch terrible sci fi movies with us if you want. You're allowed to judge all the absolutely god-awful science," I said after Lillian had closed the door behind her. I fiddled with a harmless switch on the console as I looked up at the Doctor. "And you don't have to meet Mom and Dad if you don't want to. I can explain everything with Lillian."
"And make you take public transit? Perish the thought." He walked over to me and pressed a kiss to my forehead before gently forcing my chin up so that I had to look at him. "There's also the fact that I want to meet them. And in the meantime, I also want to watch terrible movies with you."
"Okay." I arched up on my toes to press a kiss to his cheek. "Come on I can bandage you better while we watch, and I bet this one's a doozy for Lillian to call it terrible."
"Oh, I bet it is."