It was all a blur, by the time Lila's mind caught up to her, she realized that the TARDIS's no longer in the kitchen, not only that, Ben's inside the console room with her!
He's standing by the console with a befuddled look and by the time it caught up to him, Lila's trying everything to rationalize what happened.
"How… what?" Ben's unable to properly speak as he's looking around, seeing the cream-coloured console room as he's processing what happened.
Lila, aggravated, asks angrily him, "Do you muck about where you don't belong?!"
Theodore hates when even if someone goes up to the console without permission, he's fickle when he lets even Lila use it, the fact that Ben used it without permission's already going to drive the aloof giant mad!
Defending himself, Ben stated he didn't touch anything, he swore he heard a phone going off, and went to answer it out of habit, opening the door in the kitchen, where it was coming from, there he found… wherever they're in, now.
Exhaling sharply as he tells her, Lila shook her head as she chewed her inner lip, before telling him, "Yeah fine, you didn't touch it, and yes, it does that. No, it doesn't even have a caller ID half the time."
Lila couldn't hide the fact they're standing in the middle of the console room, not with Ben mingling near the console.
"What… is this…?" Ben wanted answers on what they're standing in and Lila's forced into telling him that they're in the TARDIS, because at this point, hand waving it away's not going to work, and the fact that the TARDIS turned on by itself and took them.
Looking up, Lila called out to Al in an annoyed tone, "What did I tell you about giving us thirty-minute warnings?"
It was an agreement!
Al gives them a thirty-minute warning when they're needed for an adventure, allowing them to prepare beforehand, he couldn't just kidnap them whenever he likes, anymore.
Appearing before her, Al insisted it was an honest mistake, causing Ben to walk over to him, his blue eyes wide.
"Dean Stockwell?" Ben looked at him in awe.
This caused Lila to go, "You know Dean Stockwell?"
Didn't think someone except the gaggle of people to know Dean Stockwell on this side of the pond.
Nodding as he stared at Al confusingly, Ben expressed that they got "Quantum Leap" over here, too.
Well, good to know!
Al tilts his head at Ben before correcting him, "Um, I'm not… I'm not Dean Stockwell. Good eye, though. Good eye."
Staring at him with his blue eyes, Ben inquired why Al's smoking cigarettes, he remembers him smoking cigars, to which the AI tells him that he preferred cigarettes.
"Bad habit," Ben commented on the sight as Al snorted, pointing towards Lila, saying she said similar.
Staring at him, Ben's unable to process what's going on, and Lila asks if Al could take them back to the flat, only frowning when Al said he couldn't.
"Who was calling?" Lila looked at him as he smoked his cigarette.
Puffing smoke as it disappeared into the ether, Al says that he's not sure, but whatever the call was, it's enough to pull him into action.
Groaning, Lila rubbed her throbbing lobe as Ben's aghast that Al won't take them home, but Al says that if they can find the source of the call, maybe they can get somewhere, and go form there.
"Um, Al, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you don't see the aloof giant, do you?" Lila pointed out that Theodore isn't with them, thus making this endeavor a moot point.
As Al said, there had to be a Doctor manning the TARDIS.
He nodded while tapping his cigarette against the phantom ashtray, Al tells her that he knows that, but unfortunately, circumstances meant that they're flying solo.
Doesn't mean they're flying blind, pointing to himself as he stated that he may be old, but he has it in him.
"Great. Great. What should've been an easy day turned into an adventure," Lila muttered as she rubbed her eyes.
Seeing Ben confused at what's going on, Lila decided that it was time to break the bad news.
When Theodore isn't working at the library, this is what he does. He goes to different worlds, solves mysteries, dissolves conspiracies, you name it, he deals with it, and she assists with him.
Ben drew parallels with the show that had something similar, which Lila informed him that it wasn't just a show, it was real, and they're living it.
No scripts, just winging it, and praying they don't get banged up enough for someone to notice and start asking questions.
"Alright. I lived a good life, where do we go from here?" Lila sighed as she turned towards Al, looking for a start in this unplanned adventure of theirs.
Nodding, Al pointed towards the door as Lila went towards it, with Ben uneasily following her.
Opening the door, they exited the TARDIS, appearing somewhere in a park, with Ben's blue eyes dashing as he studied their new surroundings.
With ease, Lila took charge, Al leading them away from his physical body towards the entrance of the park, from the looks of it, they're somewhere on a different version of Earth, don't know what city, but it's familiar enough that Lila didn't have trouble finding her way, with Ben closely behind.
"Okay, Al, what's the diagnosis?" Lila inquired while they're walking on the sidewalk down from the park, Al keeping pace with them as he looked off in the distance before saying that he got a call from a pay phone on the corner from here.
Leading them, Al went through whatever got in his way while Ben and Lila avoided the obstacles, towards a pay phone near a brick stone.
"Someone called me and all I can remember's needing to come here," Al summed that for some reason, that one phone call's enough to cause him into going into automated mode, needing to come here.
It's never happened before and it's bothering him.
This didn't satiate Ben as he's skeptical that a phone call's enough to draw them here, enough that they can't go home until it's resolved, and Al admitted that he was skeptical, too, but he can't figure it out.
Without the answer, they can't leave.
Going up to the pay phone, seeing it untouched, nothing out of place, she even checked for spare coins, Lila wondered the purpose of calling Al, bringing him here.
Too elaborate for it to be a prank, it wasn't like they posted the number on a bulletin board somewhere for everyone to call at their whim.
Turning back, Lila noticed that Ben's nowhere to be seen, and she asks Al if he'd seen him.
Glimpsing around, Al swears that Ben was just here, but now he's not.
"Al! You lost a whole human?" Lila gave an exasperated look towards Al as he tells her that he swears Ben was near him.
Running a hand through her thick chestnut hair, Lila tried looking in the general vicinity for the man, but he hadn't turned up.
Why?
Why couldn't this have been one simple day?
Why couldn't have he stayed by the idiots?
Odette's going to kill them, now!
"Relax, he couldn't have gone far!" Al swore that Ben's fine, he only been gone for a few minutes.
Panicking, Lila reminded him that Ben's not them, he won't understand, and now they got two problems!
Calming her down, Al says he can track Ben, he has his phone with him, and Lila forced him into doing so, while going with him on their hunt for the furloughed Ben.
In her mind, Lila played back the scenarios, most had Odette furious with her and mostly towards Al, but furious at the fact they lost Ben in an unfamiliar world.
Theodore's irate with Al, Hammond's irate with Al, Lila's trying to find a balance, it's not looking too good.
"Al, please tell me you know where we are?" Lila looked towards Al for guidance as he informed her that they're in London, circa 2006, a different Earth, obviously.
Glancing around, it didn't look any different than the London she's familiar with, but Al says there's quite a bit of differences, just underlying, compared to overt like some London look.
"Great, he'll think we're home and won't know the difference," Lila flinched as she realized that without context, Ben won't realize that something's amiss, think he's just somewhere close to home, something.
It takes a great skill realizing the differences, it took Lila many adventures before she got the hang of it, but now, it's put to the test, hoping to find Ben before he inadvertently get into trouble.
"Come on, we'll find him," Al mustered as Lila followed him through the busy streets of London, looking out for Ben, while Al honed in on his phone.