A/N: A bit short, but I expect to have the next one up within the next 24 hours. They just didn't really fit together. Don't look at me like that! Oh, and PS. Let me know if a certain someone sounded right.
-1912-
- The Titanic -
Calypso tried to swim to the surface but her arms and legs tangled up in the dress and the jacket, spinning her down the hallway, heedless to her need to breathe. Her hands slipped against the walls uselessly, and it was too deep now for her to try to find her footing. As her lungs started to burn she could taste the brackish water pouring in through her mouth and nose, another moment and she'd be forced to swallow it.
Firm hands plucked her from the current of the hallway and set her against the wall. Her feet scrabbled to get under her and she grabbed at the banister to steady herself. She coughed and gasped once she was finally righted, heaving in a deep lungful of air while her chest rattled, trying to clear its passages. She thought she was going to be sick as she pressed her forehead against the wall. She didn't even have the energy to push back the hair that had plastered across her face. She could see and she was shivering to death. That's all she knew right then. The current was weaker here, finally opening her eyes she realized that they had entered one of the rooms, blocking the worst of the wave of water that had just thrown her down.
"Just thought you'd hop down for a quick swim?" A snide voice commented from behind her. "Is the temperature to the ladies liking?"
"I'm sorry?" She turned around, fully expecting to see the Doctor, it certainly didn't sound like him, but it had to be. Who else could be down here? But it wasn't the Doctor. He was some annoyed looking man with big ears, and a heavy black jacket over his equally dark shirt and pants.
"This jacket is ruined you know. Leather doesn't take to sea water very well." He glared at her as he brushed at his sleeves like that would help anything. He didn't look like a crew member, but he didn't dress like any passengers either. "What kind of stupid ape comes down to third class when the ship is bloody sinking anyway?" He looked up at her as though he fully expected an answer.
"M-my friend is down here." She mumbled, her lips shaking as she did so. Where was the Doctor? "Have you seen him?"
"Oh of course. It's about a man, is it? Always is, with you lot." He threw his hands at her disgustedly. "Well, kiss your boyfriend goodbye, love. You can follow me up on deck, or you can stay here and drown. Either way, no skin off my back." He said as he started to climb the small stairway in the corner of the room. "Well? Are you coming?" He seemed to expect her answer was yes, despite his insistence that he didn't care. She started to push the hair away from her face, so she could glare at him properly.
"Ah! There you are!" The Doctor suddenly appeared in the doorway, looking as equally disheveled as she was.
"Oh sure. The prodigal boyfriend returns." The man in the jacket shot a scornful look at them both and started to clap. But he stopped when the Doctor slicked his hair back over his head, the smirk dissipating slowly. The Doctor's eyes scanned between the stranger and Calypso before he stepped forward, blocking Calypso's view of the man. For the first time, he seemed at a loss of something unpleasant to say.
"Hello." The Doctor said as though he recognized him, he gripped Calypso's hand in his own and she was grateful for what little warmth it provided. She huddled closer to the Doctor's back, partially so she could peek out at the man on the stairs.
"Well what the hell are you doing here?" The man snorted.
"Oh, you know. Traveling." The Doctor shrugged, not put off in the least by the man's attitude.
"Thought one go round on a sinking ship would be more than enough, don't you?" He had retreated a few steps now, coming closer to the Doctor.
"Yes. But, I thought, what the hell, I'd give it another go around."
The man frowned, and then peered over the Doctor's shoulder, trying to get a look at her. The Doctor shifted slightly, was he hiding her?
"Who is she then?" He nodded to where she was huddling still.
"Something to look forward to." The Doctor said with a cryptic smile. Something in his tone made Calypso herself smile and she wrapped her fingers around his tighter.
"Doesn't look like much." The man snorted his disbelief. If Calypso hadn't been trembling so badly, she might have made an effort to reply in kind.
"Yes, I'm sure you've never been wrong before." The Doctor said mildly. "Don't you have some creature to be catching up with?"
"Alright, alright. I'm getting to it." The man said, waving his hand at the both of them. "Don't get yourself killed, idiot." He said before disappearing up the stairs.
"Excellent." The Doctor turned to her, grinning as though he were on his very last nerve. "We should just have time to make it back to the TARDIS." He was pulling her back into the hallway, down the way they had been unceremoniously thrown down before.
"Who was that?" She asked, bewildered. The rapids had calmed some, but they were still fighting the current that was now above her waist.
"Oh," The Doctor shot her a sympathetic look over his shoulder. "You know, me." She thought maybe she had misheard him, but she realized it made a weird sort of sense. Still, she never would have believed it had he not told her.
"A bit rude." She commented offhandedly as he brought them back to the crew door, the lights starting to flicker and die around them.
"Oh yes." He agreed. "Very."
