It was a rather standard day for the Doctor. He had been busy as usual with his cluttered schedule, but lately, his sleep routine was in a turbulent mess and so days would pass by when operators would find him asleep on the desk as he desperately tried to hack away at the angry stacks of papers glaring at him.
And today was no different, of course. The Doctor lifted his head and swiped his hand at the paper stuck to his face. He wiped the sweat off his face with a tissue and threw it in the bin before he put his mask back on. As long as Amiya didn't catch him, he rightfully earned that nap.
The Doctor tapped his pen and scribbled on one of the recruitment profiles to place his signature on the designated line, but the line of ink faded the longer he wrote.
Shaking the pen, the Doctor sighed. He remembered why he fell asleep now. His pen had run out of ink, but instead of getting up to refill it, he just ignored the problem and succumbed to his drowsy desires. He didn't mean to give up so easily, but sometimes his body just did that to him.
The Doctor looked around one more time and slowly got up from his chair to open the door to his office and survey the hallway. Nobody was present, and that was a satisfactory answer to his question about sleep again.
The Doctor returned to the small bed in his office and curled up to sleep while hugging his pillow. This was what he wanted after pulling through the night. He closed his eyes and slowly drifted to the land of dreams.
Inside his dream, he imagined a world where he was free from all the duties of Rhodes Island and he was frolicking in a grassy field with Ceobe and Ethan while they enjoyed a picnic. Of course, Ceobe and Ethan's gluttony ruined the picnic, but he didn't mind. He felt relief for the first time in a while.
The dream popped as he felt his body shift and something warm pressed against his head. The Doctor laid still for a second, unsure how to handle the situation. When his curiosity got the best of him, he turned his head to look above him and found Meteor looking down at him with warm eyes and a beautiful smile. This wasn't something he expected to wake up to; a lap pillow.
"Ara~? Looks like you're awake, Doctor." Meteor said as she put a hand on his shoulder.
The Doctor shot out of her lap and sat up on the bed as he stared at her in shock. "N-Nice to see you, Meteor! Um... I wasn't a bother to you, was I?"
The Doctor noticed she was wearing a new outfit, reminiscent of the season when leaves would change colors and fall from the trees. She wore a pair of white, baggy pants that were cut off below her knees and held up by a black belt tied around her waist.
Covering her body was a hoodless green cloak that had a yellow smiley face imprinted on the left side of her chest area, along with a tiny tan cape wrapped around her neck, exposing her black bra. The white sunhat on top of her head, revealing her ears, was a pleasant touch to it all.
It was a nice fashion statement that grabbed the Doctor's attention immediately, though he did his best to look straight at her face.
"Not at all, Doctor. I just wanted to make sure you were comfortable sleeping with your head in the proper position, but I guess I woke you up to my sudden movements. How are you holding up with all this work restricting you in this environment?" Meteor said as she looked around at the disarray in his office.
"Er... Not good, but I suppose it's time to get back to work." The Doctor said as he stood up and looked at his desk without taking a step forward.
"Are you feeling unwell?" Meteor asked, an expression of worry painting her face.
"Not at all...!" The Doctor started but trailed off as he looked back at her. "Actually, yeah... I'm pretty tired, and seeing the stacks of paper doesn't help."
Meteor regarded the Doctor's plight and smiled as an idea formulated in her head. She didn't say anything as the seconds flew by until she slowly reached out to hold his hand.
Meteor lifted his hand, causing him to stare at her with confusion while she stood up with an invitation tumbling out of her lips. "Doctor, why don't we go out to a forest nearby? I took some time to survey the land before I arrived here, and I wanted to share the view with you."
"Uh..." The Doctor hesitated as he took another glance at the paperwork. He wasn't one to run away from work, but at the same time, he felt like he deserved a break now and then. Even though Amiya strove to push him past his limits until he burned out, he showed up every day, only to fall asleep on his desk, which was contradictory to what she desired. But he was a person, not a robot!
"It'll only be for an hour or however long you want it to be. I'm also getting tired of the learning curve I have to endure with these electronics or whatever they're called, so I would love to step outside into the forest with you."
"I guess I have some time to spare." The Doctor murmured as he stood up to follow her to the outside world. "However, I have to ask. Did you set up a campfire on the deck while I wasn't there to check?"
Meteor looked at him in disbelief. "Of course not! You already told me I couldn't, so I intend to keep that promise!"
The Doctor laughed at her shocked reaction. "Just making sure."
Meteor brought her lute, a bouquet, and a bow with her as she led the Doctor into the forest, checking back every so often to make sure he didn't trip on anything. "Would you like to hold my hand as we travel?"
The Doctor breathed out as he shook his head. All this walking was getting to him. "I wouldn't want to burden you since your hands are full."
"You're not a burden at all, Doctor." Meteor commented as she handed the bouquet to him. "Also, this is for you."
The Doctor looked at the colorful assemblage of flowers and admired the way they complimented each other. "Oh, thank you."
While the Doctor was distracted, Meteor grabbed his free hand and led him around the maze of trees. This caught him off guard, but he didn't protest and went along with the flow.
It was a peaceful adventure to wherever they were headed. He trusted Meteor to guide them to a proper resting spot not too far away from Rhodes Island, so they could head back in a timely fashion.
The wind rustled the branches of the trees, causing them to wave in the currents. A selection of brown, red, yellow, and orange leaves showered them and grazed against their clothes, sometimes landing on top of their heads, only for them to slide off and rest on the ground.
It was beautiful to see the change in hues as the season affected the landscape to transform from its usual green color into a shift of amber painted across the scene.
"Looks like I found a spot, Doctor." Meteor pointed out as she turned to look back at the Doctor studying the prettiness of nature. Meteor smiled as she also looked around. "It's beautiful, isn't it, Doctor?"
"Yeah..." The Doctor replied, momentarily oblivious to the pain at the bottom of his feet for a second before it returned when Meteor led him to a small clearing in the middle of the forest where a boulder was off to the side and wilted grass sprouted by the thousands.
Meteor helped the Doctor sit next to the boulder comfortably before she indulged in herself. She put the lute off to the side while the Doctor set the bouquet on the rock. It tilted slowly from the weight of the flowers and fell to the ground.
The Doctor panicked and picked it back up to prop it up against the boulder so it didn't fall over. When he turned around to look at Meteor, she just giggled and waved his mistake away.
"It's wrapped tightly, so I wouldn't worry too much about it spilling out," Meteor said as she grabbed her lute and set it on her lap.
The Doctor put a hand over his chest in relief. "Oh, that's good to hear. I was worried for a second."
"There's no need to be."
The Doctor watched as she tuned the lute by adjusting the pegs sticking out on the end of the instrument. Meteor quietly plucked the strings she conditioned and used her hand to pluck them again until its reverberating sound told her they were tuned to the right pitch. When everything sounded perfect, she cleared her throat and hummed to the flow of her lute.
A minute later, she was softly singing with the music she played, giving life and meaning to the simple plucks or chords she strummed. The melody drifted into the atmosphere, creating a soothing environment that lured the Doctor into a peaceful state of mind.
When she finished playing the song, the Doctor gently clapped his hands together. Meteor blushed from his applause, but bowed her head in his direction and grinned.
"When did you learn to play that stringed instrument?" The Doctor asked.
"I used to play it a lot when I was in the forests of Kazimierz, but now I just dabble here and there," Meteor said as she laid it down on the grassy ground and stood up to stretch.
The Doctor stared at her. Maybe a little too much, but he quickly averted his gaze when she looked at him. "Must be nice to play an instrument like that."
"If you want, I could teach you how to play whenever you want to take a break from looking at papers all day long."
"I'll take you up on that offer if I take a break."
Meteor giggled and stretched her hand out to him. "I look forward to it, Doctor."
"Are we going back so soon?" The Doctor asked, accepting her hand.
"No, I want to build a campfire, and I want your help."
"Urk..."
Meteor put a hand over her mouth and laughed. "Let me do the hard work, Doctor. You just need to gather some small sticks and some dry bark shavings you see around the forest and bring them to me. I'll look for branches that can burn for long lengths of time and set up a perimeter of stones around it."
The Doctor nodded his head and did exactly so. He scoured the forest to look for small sticks he could pick up and bark he could peel from trees while Meteor ran off to search for the rest of the resources they needed.
It didn't take long for him to find the amount he thought she would need. He bunched up in his hand as he entered the clearing to find Meteor already waiting for him with the border of stones set up and her bow altered to drill enough friction against hardwood to start a fire.
She accepted the material he brought and put a concave rock on top of the stick she was using before she used her bow to drill away at the piece of hardwood until smoke arose from the point of contact through the help of friction.
Meteor then used the bark she had instructed the Doctor to shred into thin strips to pave the way for the fire to exist. She catered to it while putting the thick branches in to keep it burning for some time and laid down on the grass in exhaustion.
"That's way more difficult than I remember it." Meteor remarked, huffing from the physical exertion.
"Sorry, I couldn't be of much use."
"You do not need to apologize, Doctor. You already did plenty for us."
The Doctor lay next to Meteor with his hands intertwined on his stomach and stared at the sky. The sun was saying its farewell to the world until it rose again from the opposite side, but it wasn't at that point yet.
Streaks of colors painted the atmosphere into a beautiful array of colors as if someone had spilled a bucket of paint across the sky and dragged it with a rake linearly. There was just something about it that made him feel at home, despite the dirt rubbing against his clothes.
The Doctor closed his eyes to relish the moment, but somewhere along the way, he fell asleep. When his eyes shot open, the forest was cloaked in an aura of darkness. The sun had gone to sleep, and the sky was completely black.
The Doctor sat up with his arms and looked around the area. "M-Meteor?" He muttered as he spun around to see her sitting next to the campfire, tending to its hungry desires for fuel and oxygen.
Meteor's expression lit up as she made eye contact with him. "Ara, it's about time you got up, Doctor. It's been a bit since the sunset, but not too long since people would be worried about you. At least I hope so… But we should head back now."
"Y-Yeah, I guess we should." The Doctor rubbed his head and sat up on the floor of the forest.
Meteor disrupted the life of the fire by covering it with dirt, but not before she grabbed a branch and ripped off a piece of her cloak to wrap it around the end of it to light it on fire.
Meteor reached out to grab the Doctor's hand. "Follow me, Doctor."
As they headed back to Rhodes Island, the Doctor expressed his gratitude to Meteor. "Thank you for today, Meteor."
"It's the least I could do to help you out." A mischievous smile appeared on Meteor's face, but the Doctor couldn't see it because she was facing away from him since she had to lead him safely to Rhodes Island. "Does that mean I can now get permission to set up a campfire on the deck?"
"What? No, I'll get in trouble, so please refrain from such action!"
Meteor's laugh echoed throughout the forest. "I don't know if I should keep asking and trying, but maybe you'll give me permission one of these days."
"Sorry, but it's a definite no."
"I figured as much, but it was worth asking."
The Doctor chuckled at her persistence, despite the multiple accounts of rejections she received. He had to give it to her for never giving up, but the answer would always be a no for a campfire on the deck. Maybe one day, he could work something out for her, but for now, he could consider it.
Author's Note: I wanted to write an autumn-themed story because it fits the season, so I tried my best to accomplish that by writing about a romantic day between Meteor and the Doctor!
I hope it helps people get into the season when leaves fall from the trees, turkeys start making gobble-gobble noises, and candy since Halloween is around the corner! Anyway, I really hope you guys are doing well so far this year! And I hope you enjoyed the story! Thanks for reading!
With warm love from your favorite writer, Out4Lunch!
