"Now, now, Samantha Carter, why would you want to look in this plain old blue box?" The Doctor asked with a twinkle in his eye. He knew this Samantha Carter was supposed to be smart as 21st century history would have it, but so far she had exceeded his expectations.
"Because. I won't believe it until I see it." She said defiantly.
"See what?" Jack O'Neill asked confused. He was a little narrow minded to be exploring the galaxy in the Doctor's opinion but there were reasons he was the leader of this gate-hoping team. Very good reasons.
"You'll see." The Doctor said in his all-knowing Doctor-ly way.
He took his TARDIS key and unlocked the door, he glanced sideways at Rose before opening both doors in a dramatic sort of fashion and stepping back to allow Jack and Sam to see the wonders of the TARDIS.
They looked completely and utterly gob-smacked, dumbfounded and speechless.
He stood proudly at the entrance to the best ship in the universe, with Rose at his side. He beamed a warm smile in Roses direction, who returned his smile shaking her with laughter, her tongue sweeping under her top teeth as she smiled.
"Wow." Said Sam completely awestruck.
"How… how does it do that? How's it all big on the inside and it's a little on the outside?" Jack asked confused, again. It seemed to be a trait with this particular human.
The Doctor took a breath ready to go into detail about the workings of his beloved ship, but Sam got there first.
"I'd imagine it has a constant space field fluctuation, almost like the time dilation device of the Asguards. Then again, Time is Space, if you go by Einstein's theories, which makes it all relative really. "
Asguard! I haven't heard about those guys in ages, thought the Doctor.
"How are those guys doing?" he asked genuinely.
"Pretty well," Jack replied, despite the fact that the Doctor had asked Sam, "Still got a slight problem with pesky bugs and sex, but other wise my old buddy Thor is en form."
"Colonel!" Sam reprimanded.
The Doctor couldn't help but grin at the slightly sheepish look that crept onto the colonel's face.
"What? It's true." Jack replied.
"I know but sometimes you're so…"
"Direct?" Offered Rose.
"Thick?" Suggested the Doctor.
"Blunt." Sam said shaking her head slightly and finally finishing her sentence,
"And you're all geniuses are you?" he asked incredulously, then glancing between the Doctor and Sam, he muttered "Wrong crowd."
"I'm not." Rose said smiling proudly, "Just another stupid ape with an urge to explore."
The Doctor grinned at her. She might be a stupid ape, but he couldn't imagine his last few adventures without her. He couldn't imagine going out and finding new adventures without her. She was part of his life now.
"Sir," Sam said softly, "Remember I'm the one the Asguard come to for a 'stupid idea', it's all…"
"Relative. Yes I'm starting to get the feeling that everything is becoming relative at the moment." And he looked thoroughly annoyed at the idea, "So, we going inside or what?" his temper still evident in his words.
"Ah, well I think it should be ok," the Doctor said turning to his wonderful machine, stroking the doorframe in a slightly adoring fashion, "the TARDIS seems to be in a pretty good mood today."
"So it's alive?" Sam began, thinking through the Doctor's words once again, "I had my suspicions, the most efficient things tend to be organic and with the power requirements of...this…"
She stopped talking, and the Doctor knew the reason why. It was the proud and warm way in which he was looking at her.
The history books just didn't do this woman justice, she was an absolute treasure.
Not just intelligence but the imagination to put it all together and mix new things with theories she'd learned years ago, just fantastic.
"I like you." The Doctor said warmly reflecting the kindness in his eyes.
"Thanks." She replied a little unsure at first, but then eventually returning his smile.
"Well, shall we?" Jack said a little coldly; it seemed the Doctor had ruffled a few feathers with the colonel regarding Sam. The Doctor watched as Sam's eyebrows crinkled for just a second over the tone of her commanding officer's voice, then give up as she didn't want to pass up the invitation to go inside the TARDIS.
The colonel bowed slightly, and said with slight impatience, "Ladies, first."
The Doctor and Jack watched as Sam followed Rose inside as Rose began explaining all that she knew about the ship, this left the two of them outside and 'relatively' alone.
The Doctor observed the colonel for a moment, and an interesting question popped into his head.
"So are you two…?" the Doctor asked, deliberately leaving the question open.
"No." the colonel replied automatically, then with more thought and hint of sadness in his voice Jack repeated, "No," and then quite out of the blue he asked. "How about you?"
He had to admit over the last few weeks he had thought a lot about that sort of question and all the things associated with it. So it was of no surprise to him when he replied with a hint of dejection in his voice;
"No."
At which point their gazes met and they both knew this would be the beginning of a great friendship.
"Colonel, you should see this, it's amazing!" Sam called from inside the TARDIS.
"Coming, Carter." Said Jack, stepping inside and walking further in, the Doctor following close behind, "Don't forget Dad's gonna be here in 10 minutes so it's gonna be a short visit."
"What? You're not staying for tea?" asked Rose grinning.
"Oh come on Jack, in 10 minutes we could go to the end of the universe and back, it's all…" said the Doctor winding up his new short fused friend.
"RELATIVE! I get it!" shouted Jack, "Jez, I swear between you and Carter a man could go crazy!"
"Nuts," Started the Doctor, his grin spread from ear to ear, as he looked towards Jack. I'm going to enjoy this he thought before continuing, "Bonzo, no longer in possession of one's faculties, insane, three fries short of a happy meal, wacko. Would that be about right Jack?"
Needless to say Rose and Sam had no clue what he was on about, and shared a similar look and shrugged, but from the look on Jack's face he seemed to know what was going on.
The Doctor was very nearly laughing out loud and the look of utter shock on Jack's face. No doubt he was wondering about how the Doctor knew about a time disturbance around earth a few years ago, it was like Groundhog day from hell, living the same day over and over for 6 months. Again it was the TARDIS that had helped him out at that point. Time is a fickle thing, and playing around with it tended to catch the great machines attention. The Doctor had to admit, had it not been for the colonels antics during those 6 months it would have been rather boring episode in his life.
"Colonel?" Sam asked worriedly.
"I'm alright. Carter," Then turning he replied to the Doctor with a distinct tone of petulance in his voice, "Maybe."
"Don't worry Jack, my boy, I won't say a word." The Doctor said still grinning.
Jack nodded silently, glancing not so subtly in Sam's direction before moving deeper into the TARDIS and beginning his own exploration.
"My boy?" Sam said in a questioning voice.
"Yeah, he's only 51." The Doctor said simply. Rose watched him as he played around with the minds of the officers. Typical, she thought, shaking her head slightly.
"Hey!" Jack said indignantly.
"Wha'?" the Doctor said then continuing, his eyes shining "Getting a bit old for this chasing aliens business, but then again being over 900 years old I'm one to talk!"
"Did you just say 900?" Sam said confused and intrigued.
Jack looked shocked. Again.
"Yeah." He replied nonchalantly. Rose grinned as she stood next to him.
"As in 900 years, with 365 days in a year and 24 hours in a day and 60 minutes in a hour and 60 seconds in a minute?" Sam asked getting right to the crux of it.
"Yeah." He replied nonchalantly and grinning, and catching Rose's eye.
She grinned back, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter.
"How…?" Said Jack, again confused.
At this the Doctor looked pointedly at Sam. Come on Sam, he thought, figure it out.
"Not how, what." She said softly not taking her eyes off him, "What are you?"
The Doctor revealed a quick smile in approval.
"I'm a Time Lord." He replied softly, a familiar flicker of sadness in his eyes with the mention of his title.
Authors note; this is a work in two parts with each set in different points of view of two shows, both DoctorWho (9) and Stargate SG-1, this other part should you wish to read it is called 'The Stargate and the Blue Box'. NOTE this will mainly be an SG-1 fiction at the moment then hopefully move into Doctor Who
