Sorry for the delay. Life's been crazy busy, and I've been under a bit of stress dealing with it. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.
The first sensation Zoe became aware of as she slowly returned to consciousness was the cold, smooth flat surface underneath her. The second was how her legs felt heavy, as if something was weighing them down. She tried to open her eyes and found the task near impossible. She felt so tired that her eyelids seem to have weights holding them down. With great effort, her eyelids fluttered open, and she startled at seeing the Doctor's face hovering over hers, staring at her with an intensity that would have embarrassed her if she didn't feel so groggy and out of sorts.
"Doctor?" she asked, and promptly frowned. Her voice sounded scratchy from disuse.
"Why hello there, sleeping beauty," the Doctor quipped with a growing grin.
She swallowed and her dry throat ached from the movement. "What happened?" Or that's what she meant to ask, but it came out sounding more like wha' hap'ne.
The Doctor noticed and slapped his forehead. "Oh, water! Of course, hang on a sec…"
He disappeared from her immediate vision, and she found it worrying that she couldn't turn her head to see where he went. He reappeared a moment later with a glass of water in his hands and put a straw in her mouth. She sucked on the straw greedily, unable to believe how delicious and refreshing the cool water was. After she drained the entire cup, the Doctor pulled the glass back and put it down on what she could only presume, without seeing it, was a bedside table. She heard the cup lightly smack against what sounded like a metal surface.
She cleared her throat and tried to speak again and was pleased that she sounded more like herself this time. "What happened? Why can't I move?"
"That's the lingering effects of the healing chamber," the Doctor explained. "It's kept you in stasis while you've been healing, should wear off in a minute or so." Then almost like an afterthought, he added, "You're in the TARDIS' medical wing."
True to his word, she could turn her neck after a minute and the weight on her legs seemed to be decreasing with every moment that passed. Facing the Doctor now, she could see he had his arms folded, and except for the tension in his shoulders, he looked almost relaxed and at home sitting on a nearby stool. The walls around them were white and sterile, though it had a metallic sheen that even the most modern hospitals lacked. "How long have I been in here?"
The Doctor shifted uneasily in his seat, and she knew before he said it the answer wouldn't be good. "You've been in stasis for a week." Her mind stuttered to a halt at the ramifications of this. She'd lost a week of her life. He seemed to understand her need for more information, because he explained without further prompting. "The damage to your legs from contact with the Nestene Consciousness was extensive." His expression darkened considerably then. "I can't decide if that was extremely brave or stupid of you, jumping in front of me like that." He leaned forward then, giving her an impressive glare. "Let's get something straight, right here, right now. Next time we're faced by sentient, freaky shapeshifting, liquid-plastic creature, and it's a choice between diving in front of me or letting me get hit by its molten hot tail, you let me get hit."
Zoe stared at him, mouth gaping open and doing her best to ignore how much his words hurt her. "You would rather I had let that tail swipe you?"
"Yes!"
Taken back by the strength of his outburst, Zoe could only lay there for a minute, feeling upset and confused at first until she couldn't take it anymore and swallowed the unwelcome feelings down. August didn't want to let her help him either. Finally she bit out, "I won't apologize for saving your life."
"I save people. Other people don't save me!"
"Everyone needs to be saved by others sometimes."
"I would have been fine without your interference," he retorted. At her disbelieving look, he rolled his eyes. "One way or another I would have lived. If not me, a different version of me. I'm a Time Lord. I have regenerative powers. You on the other hand..." He swiped his face wearily with his hand. "If you'd been anyone else, you'd have died. You almost did die."
Zoe scrunched her brows together, catching the odd way he'd worded that. "If I'd been anyone else? What does that mean?"
"Don't worry about that right now," the Doctor said firmly, but he kept his gaze averted, focused on a screen she realized hung above her bed, showing what she assumed were her vitals. Like the screens in the console, everything was in Gallifreyan. "Focus on getting back on your feet first."
"What happened to the Nestene Consciousness?" she asked after a moment, still feeling baffled by whatever the Doctor wasn't telling her. Her memory flashed back to when he had blocked her view of one of the screens on her first day in the TARDIS. She thought he had been hiding information from her then. Could this be related somehow? What exactly was on that screen?
"The Nestene is dead," he said without hesitation, his voice held a sharp edge. "I used the Sonic Screwdriver to send a blast of hot air, and the force of it sent the anti-plastic over the edge into the vat. Without the Nestene to give out orders, the Autons reverted back to just plastic. Crisis averted, the Earth saved, and stupid apes free to live another day in ignorance."
She absorbed this information quietly, feeling this certainly matched up with what she could remember when she'd been fighting to hold onto consciousness. Her thoughts shifted to the Autons merging into a giant monster and the Nestene Consciousness shapeshifting into a dragon. That definitely didn't happen on the show. With all the distinct differences she's seen, she couldn't help, but wonder whether the changes had less to do with her presence or more to do with this reality. Maybe the Doctor Who universe was just that more dangerous than what they could safely show on TV. "Doctor?"
His eyes, which had been hard, glimmering pools of suppressed rage at the deceased Nestene Consciousness, softened upon looking at her. "Yes, Zoe?"
"Was that normal? The Nestene shapeshifting, I mean. Was that something you expected?"
To her surprise, he became alert at her question, straightening in his seat to stare at her intently. "Was it unexpected for you?"
"Yes," she said softly, fiddling with her t-shirt's hem. The feeling in her arms and legs were returning the longer they stayed there. "It's like the Autons merging together, that didn't happen on the show." She ignored how he heaved a long-suffering sigh at the mention of Doctor Who and stubbornly continued, "The Nestene I remember couldn't - or at least didn't - change forms. It just looked like a grumbling, grumpy lava blob that could talk."
The Doctor's mouth gave an amused twitch at her description of the Nestene Consciousness, but his furrowed brow told her he was working something out in that brilliant, arrogant Time Lord brain of his. After a moment, his expression brightened. Whatever he'd realized though, he seemed to decide to keep to himself like always, because with a big grin, he simply said, "Never seen a thing like it. Nestene aren't known for shapeshifting, but I suppose they will be from now on."
Something about his wording struck her as funny, but she couldn't see the entire puzzle piece to know how it fit in the big picture. "You're holding something back. I can tell," she said. "I'm going to figure out what it is eventually you know."
He looked taken aback for a moment, but then appeared pleased that she'd caught on before giving her a mischievous grin. "I would hope so, or you're not as clever as I thought."
She mock-gasped. "I'll have you know I'm more than clever, I'm a bonafide genius."
"Says the one who thinks I'm a fictional character."
"Well, obviously not you," Zoe said, crossing her arms, and then lifting a shoulder in a casual shrug, "but your alternate ego..." She let the sentence trail off meaningfully.
"Right," the Doctor said dryly, looking torn between amusement and annoyance. "Looks like you have full-control of your body now."
Zoe found he was right, and pushed herself into a sitting position to look at her legs. Relief was a heady rush at seeing her legs whole, the skin an unexpected shiny, healthy pink. It was an alarming feeling to realize the skin was brand new, and then she took in what she was wearing and heat rushed to her face. The whole time they'd been talking, she'd been sitting in front of the Doctor wearing only a white t-shirt and plain, black panties, and to make matters worse, she was cold...
"Doctor," she said, gritting her teeth and closing her eyes tight against the mortification. "Get out."
The Doctor looked up, alarmed by her hostile tone. "What?"
"I said get out. I'm not wearing a..." Zoe faltered, unwilling to say the word bra out loud. How exactly was her bra removed in the first place? The thought of the Doctor helping her out of it just made her angrier. It better have been the TARDIS using some weird futuristic technology. "Just give me some privacy," she said tightly.
"Oh," the Doctor said, then his eyebrows shot up his forehead. "Ohhh! Right. Um, I'll just step outside then, shall I?" Avoiding her gaze, his pink ears and neck a near match for her rosy flushed cheeks as he walked through the exit. The TARDIS swiftly closed the door behind him, earning no small amount of gratitude from Zoe.
She looked around the medical wing in search of her clothes and when she didn't see them or any places they could've been stored, she sighed, glancing down at her undress fretfully. How was she going to get to her room to change without running into the Doctor? Not that he hadn't already seen her like this...
Seeming to have heard her thoughts, the TARDIS beeped once, a friendly and sympathetic sound, to get her attention. When she looked up, she saw some folded clothes and a pair of bright blue running shoes sitting on the counter next to the chamber, as if they had been waiting for her to notice them.
Zoe's face lit up and she scrambled out of the chamber. She stumbled at first, her legs feeling a bit unsteady, but she managed to walk the three steps needed to reach the offered clothing. "Thank you so much," she said to the TARDIS, taking in the short-sleeve black t-shirt and dark blue jeans.
She laughed out loud when she saw the quote on her shirt laid out in big, bold, gold letters, and she sensed the TARDIS laughing with her. It was a quote from the 11th Doctor.
I'm Being
Incredibly
CLEVER
Up Here, And There's
NO ONE
To Stand Around
LOOKING
Impressed!
Chuckles subsiding at what she now saw as an inside joke with the TARDIS. She turned her attention to what was sitting next to it. Bless her, there was a clean black bra and underwear for her to wear.
Feeling the chill from the metallic floor - why was everything in this room made of metal? - she was quick to pull everything on, relishing in having her legs and feet covered. Her skin was extra sensitive to the feeling of denim, but she figured she'd get used to it. She laced up her new Nike shoes, pleased that the TARDIS knew her favorite color, and finding it oddly fitting that she'd chosen something Zoe could easily run in. She had a feeling she'd be with the Doctor for a while and running was a known hazard of being his companion. She froze mid-tying up the lace of her right shoe at the thought. She hadn't really thought about it since she woke up in Rose's house, but everyone would see her as the Doctor's companion now.
Weird, she thought and finished tying her shoelaces up.
After using the facilities to freshen up, she was ready to see the Doctor, but she hesitated at the medical bay's door. Still feeling lingering feelings of embarrassment at the Doctor seeing her so under dressed. She sighed, shaking it off like she did everything else. He didn't even seem to notice until she pointed it out anyways. She couldn't stay in the medical wing forever, and if she wanted to get back home, back to August to find out what happened to him, she'd have to see the Doctor some time soon.
She stepped through the door, and the immediate hall, dark and open, disappeared in front of her eyes. In an instant, it was replaced by the console room. The sudden disappearance of the hall and appearance of the Doctor floating around the controls disoriented her for a few seconds, but she managed to get her bearings by the time she reached him, wobbling only slightly on her feet.
Now that she was closer she could see the Doctor wasn't so much as floating, as he was fidgeting with the controls. He looked up at the sound of her approaching steps and offered an awkward smile as a peace offering. "Glad to see you managed to find the console so quickly."
"I had help," she said.
"You did?" he said, scrunching his brow. "She must really like you. I once had a companion that would wander the halls for hours before the TARDIS would have mercy and dump them here."
Zoe shrugged, feeling uncomfortable speculating what the TARDIS may or may not think about her. "Are we going somewhere?" she asked.
"Would you be up for it so soon? You only just got out of stasis," the Doctor said, but he couldn't hide how much he hoped she would be. A sympathetic pang shot through her. She could only imagine how bored he'd been, stuck on the ship, waiting for her to recover in the stasis chamber.
"My legs feel a little funny, but I feel fine overall. I'm up for a bit of exploring, if you are."
The Doctor full-on grinned at her and started dancing around the console, flipping levers and punching buttons as he went. His happy, ecstatic energy was contagious and she found herself grinning back. "Right then, Zoe Peyton, you tell me. Where do you want to go, backwards or forwards?"
Those words sounded so familiar to her she frowned at first, thinking she was experiencing some sort of deja vu. Until she realized exactly where she'd heard those words before. He'd said the near exact same thing to Rose after she'd agreed to travel with him for the first time.
The Doctor noticed her sudden lack of enthusiasm and slowed to a halt in front of her. "What's wrong? Are you feeling alright?"
"We can't go to the past," she told him. "We have to go to the future. To the end of the world."
His expression darkened at her words, catching to what she meant. "Is that what happens in your show, Rose chooses to go to the future?"
Zoe nodded, unsurprised the Doctor caught on so fast, and hurried to explain. "You wanted to impress her, so you took her to the day the Earth dies. That's where you're needed next. If you aren't there, people will die."
"Zoe," he said, shaking his head with an exaggerated patience that irked her. "We don't have to go anywhere."
"But -"
The Doctor held up his hand, stopping her short. "You're not listening," he said sharply. "You think that what happened on your show was the original timeline," she could hear the implied finger quotes around the word show, "and that your presence here is changing the natural order of events, but that's not what's happening. I peeked at the time stream while you were in stasis, and this is the original timeline. You could tell me something is supposed to happen, and we could do something to 'change' it." He used finger quotes around the word change. "But the actual event that occurs due to our actions would be what would have happened all along." He smiled then. "Nothing is being altered by your presence here. You were always meant to be here. With me."
"I...what?" Zoe spluttered. "But I don't belong here! This isn't my universe. What about Rose? August and Mads?"
The Doctor surprised her by gripping her by the shoulders, so he could look her straight in the eyes. The unexpected physical contact silenced her. She drew in a shaky breath, and forced herself to keep looking into his expressive blue eyes, brimming with compassion and understanding. "I don't know anything about Rose. She's not here, you are," he said. "And I'm sorry about your family, I really am. I'll do everything I can to get you home, back to them wherever that may be..." His speech trailed off. He seemed to want to say something else, but was stopping himself from saying anything further.
"What are you hiding?" she asked, frustration flaring to life inside her. She jabbed an accusing finger at his chest. "You know something that you're not telling me."
He gave a curt shake of his head. "I won't say until I know for sure."
"So you admit it," she said, her voice dull. The flame sputtering out as quickly as it ignited.
"It's for the best. If I'm wrong, you'd be hurt for nothing."
She studied his serious expression. "Is it that bad?"
He dropped his eyes, seeming to consider his next words carefully, before lifting his gaze back to hers. "I think that'll depend on you." They stared at one another for what felt like hours until the Doctor cleared his throat and dropping his hands from her shoulders, taking a measured step back. "Anyways," he began, "the point is we can travel whenever, wherever we want. If we're meant to go to the end of the world, it'll happen, but it doesn't have to happen right now. And I'll prove it to you by taking you into the past."
The Doctor hurried over to the console, punching a couple buttons, so they lit up, flashing red and green in spinning bright whirls of light. He spun on his heels to look at her, spreading his arms out wide in an unspoken challenge. "So here's the question, Zoe Peyton, how far into the past do you want to go?"
Zoe gripped her left arm with her right hand, digging her fingernails into her bicep painfully, and shook her head. "I don't think this is a good idea. What if we never end up going to see the end of the world, never meet Cassandra, never stop her from burning up the space shuttle," the Doctor's eyebrows lift at the new, unexpected details, "Everyone would die. For all we know, we need to go right now in order to save them."
"And for all we know, everything could be fine," he retorted. "Your insight into the future isn't perfect, not everything happened back under the London's Eye like you thought it would."
"No," she agreed, "it was worst."
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Don't be such a drama queen. You know what, I think I know exactly what you need. A nice relaxing and fun day out, somewhere to take your mind off things. It's best you take it easy anyways while you recover. How does October 1, 1971 sound?" Without waiting for a response, he started punching buttons and spinning a white disk backward. The TARDIS hummed, jerked, and wheezed, indicating she was traveling.
Her grip on her arm relaxed somewhat, now that the choice had been taken out of her hands. "What happens on October 1, 1971?"
The Doctor smirked. "Walt Disney World's opening day."
Her eyebrows raised, her mouth curving into an incredulous smile. "You're taking me to Walt Disney World?"
"We're already here," he said, gesturing to the doors with a grand sweeping gesture. "Why don't you go and take a look?"
She smiled against her will, shooting the Doctor a bemused look over her shoulder, as she walked over to the TARDIS doors. She peeked her head through the door, expecting to see children running around, cotton candy, Disney branded balloons, maybe some unfortunate soul walking around in a Mickey Mouse costume in blistering Florida heat, and instead saw a very different kind of setting. "Um, Doctor," she said, pulling her head back in. "Are you sure we're in the right place?"
"Of course I am," he said, striding over to her with swift steps. "My driving skills are impeccable..." His voice trailed off as he came face to face with a supremely irritated blue alien man, standing right outside the TARDIS with his arms crossed over an obnoxious gold suit. "Er, hello."
Author's Note:
As always please favorite, follow, and review. I look forward to your reviews. They are the light at the end of a dark tunnel for me.
I have no fun, weird question this chapter. I just don't have the energy or brain space to think of one. I hope everyone is staying safe and doing well.