Sorry about the long delay, but don't you think it was worth it? It's a long one. Some swearing, so you know, cover your kids' eyes or whatever.
Oh, by the way, Merry Christmas!
CHAPTER FOUR
Ronon, Rodney, and John cautiously followed Teyla in. There was a thud. John and Ronon glanced down. "Well, there goes Rodney," Sheppard remarked.
"Look at it! Just look at it!" That was Teyla. She was standing by the mushroom shaped thing in the centre of the room, while the Doctor was running around flipping switches, pressing buttons, pulling levers, turning knobs, and other energetic-looking things.
Shepherd blinked, shook his head as if to clear it, and opened his eyes again. "Hold on, wait a second," he murmured and ran for the door, nearly tripping over McKay's prone form in the process. Behind him, the Doctor straightened up and rolled his eyes at Sheppard.
John stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around. "No, no, no," he muttered to himself. He reached out a hand to touch it. Wood, it was made of wood and peeling blue paint! He walked around it. Maybe it was bigger than it looked from the front...No, it was as big as one of those red phone boxes they have in movies set in London. "How...?" he murmured.
"The explanation is really rather complicated, and you don't look like the scientific type." John turned and saw the Doctor in the doorway of the TARDIS. "But it's...it's bigger on the inside! That's...that's impossible!" The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Gee, all this time, I hadn't noticed," he replied drily, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "C'mon, back in the TARDIS with you. Allons-y!" the Doctor said, clapping his hands together and stepping aside. Sheppard reentered the TARDIS and the Doctor closed the doors behind him.
"So, where you lot from?" the Doctor inquired, picking up a mallet. "It's bigger on the inside!" Ronon exclaimed. The Doctor rolled his eyes and muttered, "Not again," under his breath.
Fortunatly for him, John Sheppard saved him the trouble of explaining. "Apparently the explanation is really rather complicated and you're not McKay."
Sheppard could have sworn he heard the Doctor mutter, "Thank you," under his breath.
McKay came to and said, "Was someone talking to me?"
The Doctor grinned in his direction and went back to what he had been previously doing, this time whistling "You Are My Sunshine." Suddenly he paused, one foot raised in a position similar to a ballerina's pirouette. "I forgot to ask. Where you lot from?"
His question was greeted with an uneasy silence. Could they trust him? They barely knew him and he had technology that rivaled that of the Ancients. They could unwittingly invite an enemy worse than the Wraith and the Replicators put together into Atlantis.
The Doctor's gaze traveled over each of their faces in turn. Teyla met his gaze and was surprised at what she saw there. His eyes belied his young face; they were the eyes of an old, wise man who has seen much death, war, and destruction. Sad, lonely eyes. Almost as if he could feel her reading him, the Doctor shook his head and turned away from her. Sheppard measured the Doctor up. Maybe he could trust him, maybe he couldn't. He knew so little about this strange man and his strange box, although..."Hey, that song you were singing!" he suddenly burst out.
The Doctor turned to him, his eyebrows raised. "What?"
"'You Are My Sunshine.' You were whistling it just now. That's a song from Earth!" Sheppard exclaimed almost breathlessly.
"I was watching TV on the scanner and some chap was singing it and I thought it was catchy," the Doctor replied almost tonelessly. "Obviously both of us have been to Earth."
"You've been to Earth lately?" McKay squeaked. The Doctor nodded. "But how?"
"Where do you lot want to go?" the Doctor inquired, one hand hovering over the controls, deliberately ignoring Rodney.
John made a decision then and there. "Atlantis."
The Doctor entered the coordinates and there was a sharp jerk as the TARDIS took off. John, Ronon, and Teyla were thrown off their feet, Rodney slid against the TARDIS doors with a yelp, and the Doctor remained upright, looking down at them with an amused glint in his eyes.
"Security team to the Gate Room, security team to the Gate Room!" The summons resounded throughout the Atlantis base as Colonel Samantha Carter made her to the Gate Room.
"What is it?" she inquired of Dr Radik Zelenka.
"Look," the Czechoslovakian said, pointing in the direction of the Stargate. She looked and saw a blue box appearing right in front of the 'Gate, surrounded by armed guards. "What the--"
When it had completely solidified, the doors on the front burst open and Sheppard's team staggered out green-faced, supporting Rodney between them, followed by a strange man in a trenchcoat.
"Med team to the Gate Room!" Carter yelled when she saw Rodney's leg twisted at an abnormal angle.
As the requested med team carried Rodney off to the Infirmary on a stretcher, Carter turned to the rest of Sheppard's team, who had recovered since they had exited the blue box, and the newcomer, who was gazing about with the air of a tourist in an art museum.
"Welcome to Atlantis. I am Colonel Samantha Carter," she said, extending her hand. The man grinned and shook it cordially. "Thank you, Colonel Samantha Carter. I'm the Doctor," the man said in a British accent. "Nice Embarkation Room you've got here," he added, glancing around one last time. "We prefer to call it the Gate Room," Carter replied.
The Doctor shrugged and rolled his eyes. "Embarkation Room sounds cooler," he muttered. "So, you going to give me the grand tour of the place or not?" he asked in a louder voice. Carter glanced at Sheppard, who nodded. She turned back to the Doctor. "Yes, of course. This way, if you will, Doctor--ah, what was it?"
He grinned. "Just the Doctor, if you please. Just the Doctor."
The Doctor eyed the armed guards on either side of him. "Ah, Colonel, are you sure that's necessary?" he inquired.
"Just a precaution. First stop is the infirmary, by the way," she replied. "Do I look dangerous to you?" the Doctor whispered to the nearest guard as he followed Carter into the infirmary. The guard stared at him for a second, uncertain, then shrugged her shoulders. "Meh. I used to look a whole lot more intimidating, I'll have you know."
A young woman with reddish brown hair came up to them and told Colonel Carter, "Dr McKay has a sprained hip, a bruised ankle and a broken tibia, but he'll live."
"Good," Colonel Carter replied.
"And you must be the Doctor," the woman said to the Doctor, who nodded, smiling. "I'm Dr Jennifer Keller. I'm Atlantis' chief medical officer." She held out her hand and the Doctor shook it.
"I bet you're very good at what you do, Dr Keller. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Why, thank you, Doctor. It's a pleasure to meet you, too."
Sheppard interrupted their exchange. "How's McKay?"
"He's fine. He's sleeping right now, so I'm afraid you can't see him right now. You can visit him later if you like, though," Keller replied. She turned back to the Doctor. "So, Doctor, what about you?"
"What?" the Doctor replied, puzzled.
"Are you the head medical officer of anywhere?" Keller clarified.
He shook his head. "Nope, sorry. Never was. I'm not a doctor of medicine. I'm a doctor of...well, you could say, just about everything, I suppose."
"Oh. Okay." She paused. "Are you married?"
"I was, but not anymore," he replied.
"Do you have a girlfriend or anything?"
"A boyfriend." He said it very seriously and honestly and straight-faced. Keller's and Teyla's eyes widened, Sheppard rolled his eyes, Carter sighed, Ronon frowned, one of the guards tittered. The Doctor grinned. "Ah, I was just kidding. April Fools, everybody. Actually, there isn't anyone. There used to be, but not anymore."
"Anyways," Sheppard said before Keller could reply. "Why don't we move along? Good-bye, Dr Keller. See you later."
The group left and headed towards the hangar.
"So, Doctor, where you from?" Carter asked the Doctor.
He frowned at her question. "Very far away. You've probably never heard of my homeworld."
"You could us there in your...ship, couldn't you?" The Doctor shook his head. "Why not?"
"It's gone. My people are gone. Everything's gone," he replied sadly.
"The Wraith?" Ronon asked.
"The Wraith? Hell, no. The Wraith were terrified of my people. They'd never dare to attack us," the Doctor said, grinning to himself. "Very smart of them, too," he added almost as an afterthought.
Carter frowned at this and whispered something to Sheppard, who shrugged his shoulders.
"So, was it the Replicators?" Ronon pressed.
"Nope," the Doctor negated, popping the "p". "They never stood a chance. My people wiped them out long before I was born."
Teyla narrowed her eyes. "Your people wiped out the Replicators?" she asked.
"Ages ago. So long ago that you lot shouldn't even know about them. How the hell do you lot know about Replicators?"
"Because apparently they survived," Sheppard answered.
"Aw, damn them. Blasted things so damn hard to kill."
"Was it the Goa'uld?" one of the gaurds asked.
"What is this--twenty questions? No, it wasn't the Goa'uld. They didn't even know we existed. And a good thing too. If they had somehow managed to steal any of our technology, the whole universe would be doomed. No one would be safe."
"What about the Ori?" Carter asked him.
The Doctor chuckled. "What, those puffed-up gasbags with sticks? Ha, I bet I could take on all of them all by myself and win."
"OK, so tell us. Who blew up your planet?" Sheppard asked.
The Doctor didn't answer.