Hey there guys, thank you again to all the follows, favs and reviews. Keep the reviews coming they are really motivating. I like to know what people think so far of Lauren Raven's story and my writing because i'm dyslexic so sorry for any mistakes.
Anyway here is chapter 4 enjoy! Again I own nothing apart from my OC.
Chapter 4 The Doctor, Just taking Care
Having always dreamed of meeting the Doctor this should have been a dream come true for Lauren. Except she didn't think it would happen because he was fictional, but now she knew he wasn't she was currently mortified. She just meet the Doctor up close and personal with her face now red and puffy with blood pouring everywhere from her nose. This was not how she imagined meeting her hero.
Four words could sum this up:
This. Was. A. Disaster.
But maybe a disaster was what Lauren needed, she just had to wait long enough to understand an event's important.
"Where are we going?" she asked even though she knew exactly where he was taking her, his storeroom but she wanted to keep up appearance and behave normal; and behaving normal in front of the Doctor (well what he seen as normal for humans) was behaving clueless and asking questions.
"The caretaker's storeroom," the Doctor replied. Leading Lauren by the elbow and ushering her through the big red doors, she was greeted by the sight of a really big and cluttered room.
But she didn't have to look twice to see what she was looking for as she laid eyes on the TARDIS for the very first time sitting cosy in the corner. She had to refine from gasping and fangirling at the sight.
Hello old girl
She felt a warm buzz flow through her mind.
"There's a big blue box in the corner. Why do you have a big blue box?"
"It's my caretaker box, ask no more." The Doctor pulled out a stool. "Sit there and don't move, don't touch anything." Lauren did as she was told, setting her bag down while the Doctor grabbed a pack of paper towels from a shelf.
"Here take some to stop the bleeding," Lauren took a handful mumbling her thanks. She pressed firmly on her nose feeling the papers become damp with blood. The butterfly feeling returned in the pit of her stomach.
The Doctor took some more paper towels, set the rest of the pack down and ran water on them under the sink located off to the side. He rinsed the extra water out of the wet towels before moving back toward her.
Thankfully the bleeding had eased and bits were beginning to dry and crust to her skin. Her face still stun though and the throbbing numb feeling across her nose persisted.
"I'll just remove the rest of the blood here, then you'll look less like you've been mauled by a bear," the Doctor explained as he sat on another stool in front of her and slapped the damp cold paper around the side of her cheek, starting to wipe away the bloody mess.
"Ow!" She hissed at the pain. "Sorry," the Doctor mumbled.
"I don't look that bad." Even as she said it Lauren knew she must have looked a state for the Doctor to even offer help.
"That's right, keep your spirits up," the Doctor continued to remove the rest of the blood until it was gone, leaving her face and tip of the nose only a raw pink colour – the stinging eased slightly with the cool water.
"There. More normal-ish," the Doctor smiled, pleased with himself. Lauren smiled shyly back, meekly thanking him. The Doctor took hold of her wrist, "The last bit," he washed the dirt off the cut skin of her palm. "You might also want to change, you've got blood all down your shirt. It isn't a great look for you." He gestured a hand at her now ruined uniform.
"Yeah. Um, thanks Mister…"
"Smith."
"Mister Smith for helping me, I know you must be busy and I'm wasting your time." Lauren was glad for the help but the Doctor should have been busy with the business of the Skovox Blitzer and Courtney Woods should be entering soon. She didn't want to ruin the flow of the episode. "You could of just taken me to the nurse like." She didn't think caretaking involved dealing with bloody noses.
"Just doing my job, taking care besides the nurse is on lunch, school nurses always seem to be on lunch when you need them. Anyway! I have some free time now and I wanted to talk to you," the Doctor stood up thrusting his hands into his brown coat pockets, looking at Lauren steadily.
Immediately Lauren had tensed at the need to talk part but she masked her features to show what she hoped was indifference, but she had a feeling the Doctor could see right through her. All the emotions: confusion, curiosity, fear, hope and joy.
"Why do you want to talk to me?"
"Why were you following me earlier?" the Doctor shot back bluntly. An eyebrow raised in question.
Lauren looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Busted…
"Um, I, I wasn't ah –" Oh god, think Lauren! "Ah, you aren't really a caretaker are you?! I thought I'd follow you because you were strange and…and you had a strange glowing device that made a high pitched noise. I wanted to find out who you really were." What am I even saying?
The corners of the Doctor's lips quirked up in a small smirk at her answer. However it quickly disappeared as his face grew more serious; he didn't believe she was telling the whole truth. He tilted his head to the side and considered the girl before him.
"You need to work on your stealth skills. I sensed you in the courtyard then you began following me through the corridors watching me. Saw you three times then you legged it before I could confront you, so I decided to follow you to the playground."
Lauren really didn't know what to say to that.
The Doctor continued, "I'll tell you what, I'll answer your questions only if you answer mine first, truthfully. Sound fair? Yes, deal."
The Doctor gave no room for her to say no. Although filled with trepidation, Lauren knew this was her chance and she needed this, this was in her favour if she played her cards right. She waited for his first question.
"You're not local, I guessed that much from your accent, but you are new here I take it?"
"Ah, yes, I'm Irish. And it's my first day here." The Doctor nodded.
"Have you been living in England long?" He asked.
"A few months." In her own world she had been in England for four months at university so she was technically not lying.
"So, you moved country a few months ago and now to this new school correct?"
"…Yes." Lauren could see the Doctor calculating something in his head.
"You're not happy about it though, are you? I can see from your eyes that you are even surprised to be here at all," the Doctor frowned at her.
"N-no, I'm not, well, I don't know. But yes you could say that." Lauren started to fidget slightly with her skirt.
"So, everything is strange and new to you, and you're scared, I can see. What you would normally do is fit in, act normal and follow some basic rules, but you didn't," the Doctor leaned in closer to her, eyes now level with hers. Then he whispered, "So why didn't you?"
He continued in a low voice, eyes boring into hers. "First days can be tricky but by following me you missed classes and you didn't seem to care. Now, you wouldn't just do that because you found me or my device strange, you wouldn't follow me because that was your first impression of me. You don't know me, shouldn't know me. You would get on with your day like everyone else." He raised a finger at her, "Yet you didn't and you look at me right now as if you've seen me before, maybe you have, maybe not, and I will admit I'm a bit rusty on faces and had to delete the boring ones. But most importantly you look at me with a look I've seen on many people's faces."
Lauren gulped. It was impossible to avoid his gaze as she finally spoke. "What way do I look at you?"
"The same way everybody looks at me, when they want help." The Doctor explained. "Go on, it your turn now, give me your question." He gave an encouraging nod.
"Will you help me?" She whispered. There, she said it.
"What's your problem?"
"I'm lost."
The Doctor frowned at her answer, those attack eyebrows doing some serious work. He looked like he was about to say something but then changed his mind; settling on something else, "Well then, I'll see what I can do about that but later I'm rather busy. For now toddle along, I've got work to do and you've got class," The Doctor stood to his full height and made a shooing motion. Lauren got up uncertainly wondering what to do now.
"What's your name by the way?" he asked as if it only occurred to him now, it probably only did.
"Lauren Raven."
"Good to meet you, just call me the Doctor," Lauren felt a trill run through her as he said that.
"I thought you were a caretaker?"
"Part-time." They shook hands, then, just like with Clara, an electric shook came from their connected hands running up to her shoulder.
"Ow, not again," Lauren gasped in pain.
They both jerked away from each other, hands held in the air between them.
"Interesting," the Doctor breathed, rubbing his sore figures together and rolling his shoulder blade. His gaze became even more intense upon her. Almost like static electrically except in a bigger dose.
There was a moment silence as they just stared at one another. Until the Doctor broke it.
"Run along Lauren Raven, I'll see you soon."
And Lauren didn't have to be told twice, his intense stare was enough to make her do as she was told. She quickly exited the storeroom.
