Chapter Fourteen

Returning to the TARDIS

I felt exhausted the second Monday after my surgery. The tape that was supposed to remain had the issue of its stickiness giving up, making me ponder if I would need to reinforce the tape with first aid tape. I had a whole week's worth of homework to deal with while trying to keep up in class. I felt overwhelmed and a bit panicked. And all through this, the holes the surgeon had made in me for the scopes had started to itch and the three-inch gash on my belly felt odd, making me sure that they had used stitches on that judging by the stiffness.

I downed my second can of overpriced caffeine as I did all I could to focus on what needed to be done, which had been hastily scribbled in a notebook in the form of a checklist. I had a presentation due the next week, I had a Linux script due the previous week, and I had to code a form for another class on top of having to deal with jQuery for my final project. My brain had enough going on that I could feel it inching towards exploding. Or maybe it was an aneurism forming. It was hard to tell sometimes.

With all of this stress, imagine my frustration when I heard a knock on my door. The first thought that ran through my head was that I hadn't ordered delivery. I knew that I was too poor for something that I knew I barely had time to eat. With a frustrated groan, I opened the door and instinctually glared at the grin I saw.

"You look like a wreck," he stated, his grin disappearing.

"My instructors are overworking me, I swear," I stated, "there's no way I could get enough t—hold on. You're a freaking miracle! I swear!"

He looked a little confused, almost as if he failed to see why I was grumpy and annoyed one moment and I was grinning and happily packing my life away.

"Olmstead? What's wrong?" he asked, clearly puzzled.

"Your timing is impeccable!" I exclaimed as I shut down both of my laptops and I was grabbing a suitcase and throwing clean and dirty laundry into it haphazardly.

"Okay, I guess it is. Why?" he asked.

"Right before you showed up, I was wondering just how in the world I was going to get enough time to do all of my assignments," I stated as I fought with the zipper to the suitcase as he obviously connected the dots.

"I hope you're not taking advantage of the fact that I have the TARDIS," he stated with a frown.

"What's wrong with getting some homework done in the time between the times we find ourselves deep in trouble?" I asked with a grin, "Isn't knowledge and learning worth everything?"

I glanced over to him, seeing as how he seemed speechless as I finally won the fight between myself and the zipper to the suitcase. I ran back over to my two laptops, sliding them into their cases as I started to pocket various things. iPod, check. DSi, check. Every flashdrive I had to my name, check. Keys, check. I looked back at my apartment, seeing as how everything that truly mattered to me were in my pockets or were accounted for. Well, apart from my instruments that filled a corner.

"Is that a Wii I see?" I heard him ask, almost eager.

"Yes and I thought we were going off on adventures," I stated.

"But it's a Wii," he stated, "and I like Wiis. Wiis are cool."

"Like you have a TV on your ship," I muttered.

"I could have a TV on the TARDIS," he stated.

"If you wanna drag it with us, go ahead and grab it," I stated lightly, "and I'm going to need some help carrying all this. My surgeon told me not to lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk. One laptop is pushing it. Which means you're going to have to carry my clothes."

"Are you sure you should be-"

"Nothing's wrong with my legs," I stated with a frown, giving him a look, "and I spent over a week laying in bed as it is. I need to do something before I completely go bonkers."

"Are you sure that hasn't happened yet?" he asked right before I hit his arm in the friendly 'that's not funny' way as I walked past him with one of my two laptops.

"Why do you even need two laptops?" he asked as I noticed that he had followed me with my suitcase.

"I like to separate work and play," I stated with a shrug, "classwork really requires a basic computer while gaming requires a higher level of a computer."

"Let me get the door for you," he stated, racing ahead of me so that I wouldn't have to wait on him too long.

"And they say chivalry is dead," I muttered with a joking smirk as the door opened and I set the first laptop on the ramp and I noticed that my suitcase was placed next to it before I ran back to my apartment to grab the other laptop.

As I grabbed my second laptop, which I could tell was my gaming laptop. It was the heavier of the two laptops, the heavier weight to it caused me to feel a tightness where I knew I had to have stitches. It wasn't exactly painful, just a tightness as I realized that I was forgetting something. Right, my jacket and various other things. I removed the laptop bag as I gathered what I figured I'd need. My steampunk gear had been thrown into the suitcase, coat included, but I had forgotten about my more normal attire.

I was lucky that I was still clothed from my classes earlier that day. I had my domo-kun shirt on and a tan pair of cargo pants. I had been lucky that I hadn't cut my bare feet on the ground so I grabbed two random pair of socks, winding up with a gray sock on my left and a black sock on my right. At least I was more coordinated with my shoes since I only owned two pairs and my boots. I slipped on my sneakers, grabbing my boots so I wouldn't forget them. Then I grabbed my usual jacket, which was a worn denim jacket that used to belong to my dad but it fit just fine on me. I usually kept my keys and wallet in the breast pockets, so I didn't want to forget the jacket. Especially since the wallet I used was the wallet that my dad had used ever since I could remember. Then I grabbed my green denim patchwork hat, my sunglasses which I put on the brim of the hat and then my scarf which was a shade of green in the middle but faded to black at the ends. I knew I was ready for anything.

"Are you ready yet?" I heard him ask, already holding my wii with its various cords and cables.

"Pretty much," I replied with a smirk as I grabbed my gaming laptop, "you?"

"Then let's go already. Geronimo!" he exclaimed in excitement as he ran out of my apartment.

I grinned to myself as I stepped out of my apartment, giving it one last glance before I closed the door. I had a feeling that I'd never be back to it. I had moved enough times that I had long grown used to the feeling of leaving something behind. And then it dawned on me. I did leave something important behind. I ran back into the apartment to my bookshelf and saw the polished wooden box I had placed on one of the higher shelves. I didn't want to leave him behind. Grabbing the light box, I knew that nothing else was important enough to drag with me. I locked the door behind myself and ran down the stairs as butterflies took up my stomach. I was going to have the adventure of a lifetime.

The Doctor closed the doors behind me and I looked around at the increasingly familiar console room of the TARDIS. But this time, I was a more permanent visitor to it. Just the idea that I was going to be living there for a while gave a different feeling to the already amazing ship. This was going to be my home for a while, not just a mode of transportation that it had been to me during my initial, albeit short, visits in the ship.

"So what are the rules?" I asked the Doctor.

"Rules? Which ones?"

"Everyone has rules regarding their home. Like 'don't keep the seat up' or something like that," I responded.

"Oh, those rules," he stated, "generally boils down to not taking advantage of me."

"That I've figured," I stated, "same as 'don't be a douchecanoe'."

"A what?"

"Fancy and not nice way of saying 'jerk of great magnitude'. I don't make it a habit of taking advantage of anyone and I do my best to not be a jerk of any magnitude," I stated with a smirk.

"Right. So..." he said, trailing off before appearing to find his train of thought, "Welcome home. Explore. Knock yourself out. Please note that that is a figure of speech and that it would really suck if you managed to beat yourself unconscious whilst doing something."

"I get the idea," I stated with a smile as I went down the a corridor and found a plain door to my right.

Cautiously, I opened it, seeing a plain room that was mostly empty but looked rather welcoming. The walls looked like they were wood-paneled, the bed looked like it was definitely big enough for my liking and it had a sizable desk opposite of the bed. The room seemed well lit with a small closet and a dresser. I smiled to myself, feeling that I had found my room. I set the laptop down on the desk and set the polished wooden box on the dresser. Yeah, it was starting to come together already. I managed to spot a door along a room and guessed that it was a personal bathroom. I would have to verify my thoughts later.

"I see you've found your room," the Doctor said from behind me since I'd left the door open behind me.

"Seems like it," I stated, noticing that he was carrying my suitcase and my other laptop.

"She did a pretty nice job on your room," he stated appreciatively.

"Who are you talking about?" I asked.

"The TARDIS. She may seem like just a ship, but she's alive in more ways than most can guess," he stated with a smile, "and she's very sensitive."

"Then perhaps I should thank her for my room then," I stated with a smirk that I sometimes wore rather than a grin.

"I should leave you to your unpacking then. When you're ready, you know where to find me," he said with a smile as he unloaded what he had been carrying and ran off.

I looked at my things in my room and barely debated for a moment as to which was more important – unpacking or having an adventure somewhere in the universe at some unknown point in time. I made up my mind within a second. I stepped out of my room and closed the door behind me with a grin on my face. As I walked down the corridors, I couldn't help but to feel happy for the first time in a very long time. The Doctor clearly accepted me and decided that I was good enough to bring on adventures. Even if I didn't feel that I was good enough, I knew that by experiencing new things, things that most people never experience in their lifetimes, perhaps, I could become good enough. I had enough time to improve myself. I had all the time in the universe.