Glimpses of Time

Chapter Seventeen: The Proxy

By Lumendea

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any spinoff material, and I gain no income from this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

AN: This is for the Galligang, my discord group of Doctor Who writers! We were chatting about the Thirteenth era and things we would have liked to see. I wrote this super-fast while the idea was fresh, but hopefully you'll enjoy it.

…

Rose raised an eyebrow as she listened to her spouse and Graham talk about their latest adventure. Once again, someone who had heard of the Doctor had assumed that Graham was the Doctor. Rose herself, known as the Doctor's wife, had stepped in to confirm that, yes, the blonde woman she was kissing was, in fact, her spouse.

"All I'm saying," the Doctor said loudly. "Is that if the baddies are going to assume that you're me, we should use that. Make them regret their bad assumptions."

"I'm almost afraid to ask what you're planning," Graham answered. Rose rather agreed but lowered her book and focused on the conversation. This had interesting written all over it.

"I'll teach you a bunch of scientific terms. Enough that you can pass as me a bit more easily," the Doctor said excitedly. Her eyes were shining with unholy glee.

"So, I'll be the decoy?"

"More like a proxy," the Doctor assured him. "A diversion when things are really bad."

"We could say that you're a companion," Rose suggested. The Doctor's nose curled up, but she nodded thoughtfully a moment later.

"That would work. I am known for traveling with humanoid women."

"And that is so strange to me," Graham said, glancing over at Rose.

"No, it's not," the Doctor insisted. "They always brought a different viewpoint to mine. Always had different ideas. And a lot of people underestimate women." She gestured at herself. "Case in point. Might as well use that." The unholy gleam was worse now and would have sent the Black Guardian running. "Never give up a strategic advantage." Reaching out, she gripped Graham's shoulder. "We start lessons now."

"Oh lovely," Graham sighed. "Technobabble lessons."

"No, well… maybe a little," the Doctor admitted. "Oh, and I need to pick a companion name! That's gonna be weird. Maybe fun! Rose, Darling, start thinking of possible companion names for me!"

Graham looked worried. Rose was looking forward to seeing just how this played out.

…..

They didn't have to wait long. Enough of the universe knew about the Doctor that it was less than two weeks later that Graham was mistaken for the Doctor by a wanna-be warlord with ships surrounding a peaceful level three planet.

"The great Doctor himself," the warlord said. He was a tall humanoid figure with dark hair and pale eyes, dressed in massive black armor. Rose thought he looked ready to tip over at any moment. "I've heard of you."

"Ah," Graham said. "Yes, that's not surprising. I've been around awhile, haven't I." He smiled awkwardly. "These are my companions," he gestured to Rose and the others nervously. "Rose."

"Ah, the famous wife," the warlord said.

"Uh, yes, yes, this is my… wife," Graham managed.

Rose took pity on him and kissed his cheek quickly, standing close to his side both for moral support and hopefully to help sell this. Ryan covered his mouth with his hand in an attempt to stifle his laughter.

"And these are Yasmin, Ryan, and …. Jane." Graham struggled on the last name, pointing at the Doctor.

"That's not what I chose-" the Doctor started to protest before Yas nudged her.

"I don't care about your companions, Doctor," the warlord sighed. "Everyone knows that you travel with them."

"Well, you should care. I care," Graham replied. "After all, I'm responsible for their safety. And you are a threat to them."

He wasn't doing too badly, Rose decided. In the corner of her eye, she saw her grinning wife slip into the shadows and begin to traverse around the room. There were machines and control panels all around. Most of the guards were focusing on Graham; their weapons pointed at him. Rose took his hand and squeezed. The gesture would hopefully reassure him and keep up the image that this was her spouse.

"Doctor, there is nothing you can do. The Shadow Proclamation is too busy to care about my invasion, and my armada will have moved on before they even send an investigation squad."

"Ah, but what about the…weapons systems?" Graham said slowly. Rose tried to keep her expression calm. He sounded unsure. She didn't blame him, but unsure was not a trait of the Doctor.

"What about them?" the warlord looked mildly concerned.

"Well, I'll just… uh reverse the polarity direction. Confuse it," Graham said. "Keep the chain reactions from forming properly within the… plasma stuff." He straightened up a little.

Rose glanced to the right. The Doctor was near one of the machines. Two of the warlord's troops were looking at each other in confusion. The Doctor gave Graham a thumbs-up sign and then quickly gestured for him to keep going before ducking out of sight.

"It comes down to the Sheffield Principle," Graham said. He sounded a bit more confident now. Ryan snorted behind them. "Start at the Interchange, follow the flow of Effingham to the Darnall connection. From there to Retford and Woodhouse." He shrugged. Rose bit her lip as she realized where the words he was using were coming from. "Not a complicated system, really. You just need to stay focused and mind the flow of the, uh, energy particles all the way to Kiveton."

"What are you talking about?" the warlord asked. They looked truly confused and were glancing at the guards and a frowning man a few feet from him. A scientific advisor of some sort, Rose guessed based on how their dress differed from the guards.

"Well, I am the Doctor; I suppose it might be a bit advanced for you lot," Graham replied. "But it all comes down to the Todwick Anston formula."

Explosions rocked the room. Graham grabbed Yaz's hand and stumbled towards the TARDIS. The door was still slightly ajar and Ryan eagerly rushed inside. Staying to the side of the door, Rose gripped the side of the TARDIS as their companions hurried inside and looked back at the Doctor. Her spouse was running for the TARDIS with a wide grin on her face. Then she stopped and turned around to look at their latest foe.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way. Nice to meet you."

There was just enough time to see the man's shock before his escape pod activated. The Doctor spun and grabbed Rose's hand and pulled her into the TARDIS, laughing all the while.

"That was terrifying," Graham said as the door closed.

"Are you joking?" the Doctor laughed. She rushed to the controls and, with Rose's help, put the TARDIS into the Vortex. "No one paid anything attention to me! I messed with everything! Disarmed all the systems, ordered a full evacuation, turned on the self-destruct, played a round of Galaga, or something very similar to it, and sent all their files to the Shadow Proclamation." The Doctor beamed at Graham. "You and me, good team!" She gave him another thumbs up. "If the bad guys keep being that sexist and stupid, this is going to be really easy."

"Easy," Graham repeated. "Yeah."

"But we need to work on your technobabble," the Doctor said. "You switched to Sheffield streets and bus stops. It was terrible."

"Made as much sense as you do," Graham huffed. "I couldn't remember all your technical terms." He shrugged. "I figured Sheffield roads and bus stops would sound weird to a bunch of aliens."

"He wasn't wrong," Yas pointed out with a grin. "I mean, did you see their faces."

"Yeah, you did good, Grandad," Ryan said. "They were proper distracted. And that was the point, right, Doctor?"

The Doctor pouted. Rose, Yas, and Ryan all lost it then, finally erupting into laughter. Graham didn't look like he knew how he should react. When the Doctor frowned and looked over at Rose, she shook her head fondly and kissed her wife.