Here we are, an update!
Hope you enjoy!
-RainingCoffee
I became aware of many things at once. One, this was not my bed. Two, I had slept for far to long and my body hated me for it. And three, I desperately had to use the bathroom.
First thing was first. I shift minutely, feeling around the expanse of the bed. The good news was that there didn't seem to be anyone else in the bed with me. This wasn't the first time I had woken up in a strange bed and well, it was never a good thing when you woke up next to someone else in a bed you didn't remember going to sleep in.
I open my eyes next, sitting up and taking in the room. The room the Doctor had given me in the Tardis greets me in return. Oh. It hadn't been a dream!
This was real. This was really real. The Tardis chimes, confirming my thoughts.
Giddy, I flop back onto the bed and beam up at the ceiling.
A knock coming from my door startles me. Throwing the comforter off, I go over to the door and open it up.
Captain Jack Harness stands on the other side of it. "Yes, hello?" I say to him, a smile coming to my face.
"You're awake. Good!" Jack responds. He looks around the corridor then leans in, lowering his voice. "Between you and me, I'm glad you're up. The Doctor is getting testier by the hour."
Bewildered, I stare up at Jack. "I don't understand what that has to do with me being asleep."
He shrugs. "Let's just say there is a correlation." Jack smirks down at me suddenly. "By the way, we never got a chance to introduce ourselves earlier. I'm Jack Harness."
"And I'm Willa." I tell him, taking the offered hand and shaking it. "Though I think we both knew each other's name before introductions."
"You could be right." Jack admits. "Are you going to come and put the Doctor out of his misery?"
"Give me five minutes. I need to use the bathroom and find a hairbrush." I bargain.
Jack nods. "Deal, I'll let them know then." He then turns around and heads down the corridor, presumably to go find Rose and the Doctor.
I look up at the ceiling. "Okay, old girl, any hint about where the bathroom would be?" A door that I hadn't noticed on the other side of the bedroom opens. "Thanks!"
Inside is a full bathroom. I head over to the sink, pleased to find a toothbrush that's still in it's packaging in the cupboard underneath it. There is also a hairbrush that I commandeer for my own use.
Several minutes later, feeling refreshed and minty, I start heading down the corridor I saw Jack go down earlier. It doesn't take long before I hear voices in the distance indicating that I'm on the right track.
The closer I get to the voices, the slower my footsteps get. The giddiness I felt when I woke up was fast fading and I was coming back down to reality. The Doctor Who universe never stayed safe and happy for very long. There were a lot of people that die. I knew myself to well to know that I'd never again let someone die if there was something I could do to prevent it.
I open the door to the kitchen, and the noise comes to a halt. Rose and the Doctor are over by the stove. Rose was in the process of smiling up at the Doctor, but as Jack said earlier the Doctor didn't look very happy. Jack is sitting down at the table taking a sip from a mug.
"Willa!" The Doctor's face lights up. He pads over to me, placing a hand on my arm. "I was wondering when you'd wake up."
"Yeah." I smile wryly. "I must have been more tired than I thought."
He studies me, scanning over my face. "Sleep is good. Sleep means you're healing. And healing means you need to eat."
"Careful Doctor." I tease him. "You keep feeding me like this and you'll have to roll me to places." Of course, this is the point where my stomach decides to growl and show how angry it is at being empty.
The Doctor laughs at me, tapping me on the nose. "Until then, it seems your body agrees with me."
My face heats with embarrassment. A look around the Doctor's shoulder shows Rose scowling at whatever is cooking on the stove as she stirs it. "Do you want me to set the table again?" I'm not going to let anyone say I don't earn my own share.
The Doctor ruffles my hair. "Good idea." He walks back over to Rose and takes over, stirring whatever is in the pan.
I smile at Rose as I pass her on my way to the cabinet that houses the plates. Her lips twitch like she wants to smile back, but she tenaciously holds onto the scowl. That's okay, I'm patient. I'll wear her down soon.
Grabbing enough plates and silver wear for everyone, I set the table. After being shooed away from the stovetop by the Doctor, I proceed to stare awkwardly at Jack from across the table.
Jack clears his throat. "So how did you end up here. The Doctor was kind of loose on the details."
Thankful, I immediately latch onto the conversation. Anything other than awkward staring. "I'm kind of loose on them myself. It was supposed to be one of the last nice days of the season, so I decided to take my dog for a walk in the park. The next thing I know I'm stepping through a patch of grass like it isn't actually there and I find myself here."
The Doctor hums from behind me, I hadn't realized that he had moved over from the stove. "Sounds like dimensional shifting, or a parallel universe. You must have found a weak spot and fallen through." I look over my shoulder and find him frowning, deep in thought. "The kind of power traveling through the void would take is far too high though. Travel like that isn't possible anymore."
I shrug. "I honestly have no idea. But now I'm here."
He shakes his head, smile coming to his face as he focuses on me. "For now, it's nothing to worry about."
The rest of the meal passes quickly. Eggs, bacon and biscuits today, it's simple but delicious. As usual, my plate is completely clean by the end of the meal. The Doctor pushes more food in my direction, but I wave him off. That was more than enough food, especially after how much I ate last night as well.
The Doctor, Rose and Jack start up a conversation about a planet called Trefenoi. Lush scenery, but volatile local life. I enjoy listening to how excited they are as they talk about it. I can see just why Jack and Rose fit in with the Doctor so well.
The conversation comes to a close and the Doctor leans back in his chair, turning his attention to me. "Are you ready?"
Huh. "Ready for what?"
"I wanna run some more tests, make sure your hand is healing well." He elaborates.
"Then yeah, I guess I'm ready." Not like it would benefit me to say no.
We both get up, and the Doctor leads us back to the med room. This time he has me lay down on the med table. As I do so, a transparent green bubble forms over the table. "Uhh, Doctor?"
"Don't worry." The Doctor tells me, sending me a smile. "It's supposed to do that."
"It didn't do that yesterday." I grumble. Not going to lie, all of this is starting to really freak me out. He used that handheld device on me last time. Why couldn't he use it this time?
The Doctor presses something on the side of the table, and several Gallifreyan circles appear. They spin and whirl around as my stats change. He studies the circles for a moment, before turning concerned eyes to me. His hand reaches through the barrier to rest on my arm. "It's just a routine check up, nothing to worry about."
My mouth twists up into a crooked smile. "Sorry. This wasn't what you did yesterday and it's kind of throwing me off."
He hums, patting my arm again before pulling back.
The scan takes far longer than it did yesterday. I'm not stupid, I know he's not doing it just to check on my wrist.
The green bubble fizzes out. I gratefully sit up, but the Doctor stays hunched over a panel near the side of the room.
I slide off the bed and walk over to him, placing a hand on his back hesitantly. "Doctor?"
The Doctor lets out a shaky breath, straightening up and beaming at me. "Your wrist is healing at a good speed. Should only need to keep the cast on for a couple more days."
"That's good." I reply, tilting my head to the side. There's something not right here. "Are you sure that you're okay?"
"Course I'm okay." He responds, rolling his eyes at me.
I frown at him. His expression seems genuine. There isn't any of the fake cheer I've seen him use on the show in his demeanor. Just..there was something in my gut that told me the Doctor was very much not okay right now. For a second, I had a thought about confronting him about it, but that quickly fizzed out. He just met me yesterday. If he was going to open up to anyone, it would most probably be someone he knew better.
I pull my hand back, my frown turning into a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I could have sworn..well anyways, never mind."
The Doctor reaches out and ruffles my hair. "One more thing. I want to do a blood test too."
"What for?" I ask, bewildered.
"Hmm?" The Doctor responds, distracted as he prepares a vial and needle. "Just want to get a baseline." He reassures me.
Whatever. It's not like I didn't know he wasn't really doing this to check on my wrist anyways. I don't argue, gritting my teeth against the pain of the needle piercing my skin. The Doctor draws two more vials before sending me off claiming he has some work to do.
I rub at my arm as I walk down the hallway, grumpy. I hate needles, they bring up all sorts of things I don't want to remember.
The Tardis warbles, baseboard lighting up and heading down the hallway. Trying to distract me, huh? That's a distraction I will gladly accept.
The lights lead me to a gorgeous library. The stacks stretch on past where the eye can see. There are a couple of comfy looking chairs and a couch next to a merrily crackling fire. The only thing that would make this better would be a huge mug of hot chocolate and a blanket.
I spend a little over an hour just perusing the shelves. There were so many different books I was honestly at a loss of where to start. For comforts sake, I decided on a copy of the Goose Girl by Shannon Hale. It was always a favorite of mine as a child.
I make my way back towards the armchairs I remembered seeing when I first came in. The Tardis must have anticipated me, because there was a big fluffy blanket and a cup of steaming hot chocolate waiting for me as I rounded the corner.
"Thanks dear." I whisper, hand sliding along the back of the armchair. The lights dim a bit in response.
Curling up in the armchair, I pull the blanket over me and get comfortable. The hot chocolate is perfect, not that I doubted it would be. All in all, it was the perfect set up for someone like me.
By the time I finished re-reading the book my frazzled nerves were calm and I was feeling much more relaxed. In fact, I almost wanted to sleep again. I knew I would never be able to do so, however, I had gotten way to much sleep the previous night.
Instead, I curl deeper into the armchair and just kind of drift. I wasn't asleep, but I wasn't quite fully aware of what was going on either. I let my thoughts flow like the flames in the fire.
"So I see you've found the library." The Doctor's voice comes from behind me.
I arch my head back, seeing him looking at me from over the top of the armchair. "Yes. It's gorgeous."
The Doctor comes around, sitting down on the couch that's beside my chair. He looks strange. Almost giddy. There's an aura of manic energy around him. Even as he's sitting, his leg is bouncing up and down.
"What's going on?" I ask him.
"Nothing." He responds, looking over at the fire.
I narrow my eyes in response. "You're…vibrating."
The Doctor laughs, looking down at his knee. "I suppose I am."
Sitting up, I make sure the fluffy blanket is still wrapped around me. I have a feeling I'm going to need it for this conversation.
"I examined the information I was able to get from the scans I took from you earlier." The Doctor starts. "Skipping over how improbable it is, you do have traces of void energy, showing that you have travelled between universes."
Sending a pointed look my way, the Doctor continues. "It also explains why you've been sleeping so much, travelling without any protection through the void is taxing, even on an adult body and you're still just a child."
"That doesn't make sense." I argue, faint memories coming to the fore. "I remember on the show that someone travelled through the void and they were only a couple years older than me. They didn't crash like I did."
The Doctor shrugs in response. "That's also another thing we need to talk about. You cannot under any circumstances tell anyone about what you saw on the show. I'm going to assume that it was much farther along in my personal timeline?"
I had been in the middle of opening my mouth to respond, but the last sentence causes me to snap it shut. "That's what I thought." He murmurs. "How far along did the show go?"
"You know I can't tell you that." And I wouldn't even if I could, nobody should know how far their future unfolds. "And I don't think that we will have to worry about that for much longer anyways. I've already noticed that my memories of it are getting fuzzy. I'm slowly losing details."
"Good. That's probably for the best." The Doctor nods. He leans back, eyeing me with curiosity. "How much of my life did this show actually go over?"
"You just got done telling me I couldn't tell anyone anything about it, and now you're asking questions?" I tease.
The Doctor laughs. "Well you can't blame a guy for trying. But I was mostly talking about future knowledge."
I hum, think about what I can tell him. "Well the show has been running for about 55 years now. It mostly showed the adventures, not the downtime in between so there was really not any concrete way of telling how much time was skipped."
Shifting on the couch, I bring my cocoa up for a sip. "Most people classify it between Classic who and New who."
"Classic who and new who?" The Doctor asks, nose furrowing.
"Yeah. The show would go through periods of popularity and decline. It would get canceled and then re-green lighted. It eventually died out in the late 1990's but was rebooted in 2005. Classic who encompasses all the episodes between 1963 leading all the way up to the movie in 1996. That covers 26 seasons and 8 regenerations." I explain. The Doctor is looking a little bewildered.
"Twenty six seasons?" He blurts out. "Twenty six seasons, a movie. Covering 8 regenerations."
"Yep." I pop my p, enjoying his confusion. "I have to admit, I didn't watch a whole bunch of the older episodes. They were shown less frequently and many of them had disappeared or gotten destroyed. I mostly watched New who."
The Doctor suddenly goes rigid, hands clamping down on his knees. "Don't worry Doctor." I murmur, reaching over and laying a hand on top of his. "They didn't show what you are thinking about."
He takes a deep, measured breath, blowing it out slowly. "Sorry, it's just-" He lets the sentence hang.
"I know." I squeeze his hand, then let go. "So! Ready for the explanation on New who?"
"Yeah." The Doctor sends a grateful look in my direction for the distraction.
I clear my throat, dressing it up a bit. "Well New who kicks off in 2005. So far it has 11 seasons, twelve Christmas specials, a fiftieth anniversary special, countless mini-sodes. And it seems to only be growing in popularity. New who also introduces you." I throw my hands out towards him and shake them around. "Tada!"
"Me huh." The Doctor starts to smile. "It kicks of with this me."
"Yep. So if you really think about it, all the popularity New who gained really started with you." I tell him.
He leans back, tapping a finger against his mouth. "And people just watch my life. That is bizarre."
"I mean, you have to admit that a lot of your adventures are really cool." He does a so-so motion. "They are!"
The Doctor smiles at me, his eyes crinkling at the force of his amusement. "Do the episodes follow just me?"
I shake my head. "Nah, most of the time you have companions that travel with you. That's how I knew Jack was going to be with you, I recognized the outfit that Rose was wearing when we were in the med room." My lips tip up into a mischievous smile. "Of course Jack is a fan favorite. He's so popular he even gets his own spin-off series."
"Really?" The Doctor sounds disappointed in mankind.
"Oh yes." I bring a hand up to muffle my giggles. "It is immortalized now, as well as all the unfortunate fashion choices that you made during your lives."
His lips twitch in amusement, even as he tries to pretend otherwise. "I'll have you know, I am the pinnacle of human fashion no matter where I go."
"Ah yes, rainbow coats and decorative vegetables, the pinnacle of human fashion indeed." I murmur.
"They even have that?" The Doctor throws his head back and laughs. Genuine amusement fills his expression. I hide a smile under the edge of the blanket. Mission – make the Doctor think about something other than the war for at least two seconds – accomplished.
His warm gaze focuses back on me. "How did you get into watching the show anyways?"
I keep my smile fixed, shrugging. "Oh you know, it was on the tv and I caught an episode here and there. Liked what I saw, so I ended up watching more."
"Did you watch Jack's spin off show too?" The Doctor asks me. He's studying me again, I must not have kept my smile as fixed as I hope.
"Of course." I immediately respond. "Though, because it was Jack it ended up being far more sexual than was necessary."
He looks as though he's imagining it, before a look of regret drifts over his face. Yeah, bad move there Doctor. "There were a couple other spin offs but I didn't ever end up checking them out."
"Who all else gets spin offs?" The Doctor jumps on it immediately, anything to get the image of Jack having sex out of his head.
I open my mouth to tell him about Sarah Jane but my train of thought immediately gets de-railed. "It's-" Shaking my head side to side, I frown. "I just had it on the tip of my tongue, but it's like the thought floated away."
The Doctor leans forward, placing his hands on his knees. "Interesting, that must be part of my future somehow. That's why you can't retain it when trying to tell someone."
Disoriented, I lean back in the armchair. That was a very strange feeling, and one I hope to not repeat anytime soon. "I'm going to end up forgetting everything, right when it's most important aren't I?"
"Yours is a special case. Most people aren't in a position to influence events like you are." The Doctor murmurs. There is compassion in his eyes that I have to look away from. "It's better that you forget."
I disagree, but there's really no good way to say that. Reaching out, the Doctor picks up the book I had been reading from the table. "Goose girl?" He asks, brows furrowing in confusion.
"Yeah." I respond, still distracted by the fact I wasn't going to be able to knowingly change anything. "It's one of my favorite books."
"Ever?" The Doctor says skeptically, looking down at the book in doubt. "Of all the books you've ever read, you picked one called Goose Girl as your favorite?"
"Oi!" I focus my attention back on the Doctor. "Unless you've read that book before, I don't want to hear you diss it! It's fabulous."
There's a hint of a smile in his eyes as he scoffs. "Oh really, what's it about then?"
Outraged, and determined to win him over, I lean forward in my seat. "It's a story about sacrifice, love and choice. It's a story about bravery, and the many forms it takes."
The Doctor hums. "Nah, still not convinced."
I narrow my eyes at him, he sticks his tongue out back at me. "Fine!" Getting out of the armchair, I lug my comforter and pillows over to the couch next to the Doctor. "We are going to read this together, and if you still don't like it, then you can talk shit." Pausing in the middle of getting my blanket just perfect, I hesitantly look up at him. "Unless you have other things you want to go do right now."
Shifting, the Doctor leans farther back into the couch. "Got nothing better to do, might as well." He flicks the book open, positioning it so that I can see the writing as well. "She was born Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, and she did not open her eyes for three days."
And so it goes. It doesn't take the Doctor long to get into the story, you can tell by the way his breathing speeds up during the action, or how it trembles whenever something is sad. Halfway though, I pull my feet up onto the couch and get comfortable, laying my head down on my nest of pillows. The Doctor pauses, hand brushing down my hair. "You tired?"
"No." I deny, and I'm not. "I just wanted to get comfortable. And you do the voices really well, I don't have to see the book to be in the story."
He hums, leaving his hand where it is and returning to the story. It doesn't take much longer, just a little over an hour. The Doctor finishes up, closing the book and sitting back with a satisfied sigh.
"See." I murmur. "I told you you'd like the book."
"You did." The Doctor responds. "And I did, it was much better than the title suggests."
I roll my eyes. Why can't he just admit that he liked it without posturing? "Anyways, thanks."
"For what?" The Doctor asks. I sit up, dislodging the hand. It kind of hovers for a second before the Doctor returns it to his knee.
"For reading." I reply. For being kind and hanging out with me, I leave unsaid. He could have very easily just left me here and gone on an adventure with Jack and Rose or tinkered with the Tardis. The fact that I was able to share my favorite book with the Doctor, someone who I've looked up to for a while, is amazing to me.
He makes a noise like he doesn't believe me, but doesn't push. Instead, the Doctor starts to talk. He talks about some of his older adventures, fights against werewolves and old gods. I've seen some of the episodes he's talked about, but some of them I haven't.
Either way, hearing him re-tell the stories are still fascinating. "No! That's ridiculous!" I exclaim, collapsing back into the couch, overcome by laughter.
"I'm serious!" The Doctor insists, huge smile on his own face. "It was a creature made entirely of candy. Liquorice, sherbet, even marzipan." His eyes go unfocused and he laughs. "I'm fairly certain we were able to stick him to the ground with lemonade."
"That's so cool." I murmur, absent mindedly fidgeting with the cast on my hand.
The Doctor makes that same noise as earlier, the bad/stop/no noise, and I immediately stop my fidgeting. "Let it heal properly." He says, exasperated.
I raise the hand that's not in the cast and make a show of placing it down in my blanket nest, far away from the other one. Instead of being angry with my sass, I get the feeling that the Doctor is rather amused by it.
Huh.
xxxx
Weeks pass. We don't go on any adventures, which I'm vaguely grateful for. Something about the thought of heading out on an adventure with Rose and Jack fills me with worry and the annoying sense that I'm missing something.
I spend my days doing a mixture of exploring the Tardis and following the Doctor around like a puppy. It was getting me increasingly dirty looks from Rose, but it's not like it was unwelcome. The Doctor was the one who came and got me most of the time.
There was a book he recently found and he thought I'd like it, why don't I come to the library and he would read it like he did with the Goose Girl. He had to do some routine maintenance on the Tardis, I could come and keep him company while he did it.
Honestly, I didn't mind. Once it became clear that I wasn't overstaying my welcome, and that he genuinely enjoyed my presence, I started to search him out too. I found a really cool room that had a life sized bouncy castle? Gotta show the Doctor. That day we ended up grabbing Jack and Rose and having a blast. Rose even forgot herself and smiled at me.
Speaking of Rose, I hadn't made a whole lot of progress with her. She was never overtly hostile, but she wasn't cheery with me either.
Jack on the other hand, became a good source of entertainment and friendship. He was always willing to share a funny story, or a midnight snack, if I happened to catch him at the right time.
I still had insomnia, but it wasn't so bad now. If I didn't feel like laying in my room staring at the ceiling, or reading in the library, there would be someone around to distract me.
It was..nice. To be part of the group.
Arawa – Thank you! I hope you enjoy the new chapter. I'm setting things up for the future.
Rosealyn – I really do enjoy parental Doctor fics, but it seems hard to find them.
Falling Right Side-Up – My hope is to affect quite a lot, but to do it in a realistic way. It's not going to be all happy and giggles along the road, there are many different ideas I'm going to be playing around with. I start setting them up in the second chapter.
Arashi - IV of VI - Thank you, I'm glad you liked it!
