"Do I know you," the Doctor asked her. He gave her a long look. "No, I would remember you."
Emily wished she could take that as a compliment, but she wasn't certain so she pressed forward. "I met…a different you."
"Oh," he frowned. "What did he look like?"
"Which one… or both?"
"You met two other versions of me?"
He didn't look pleased to hear that? "Yes."
She described first - her Doctor, floppy hair, deep green eyes, and then the other, with the kind smile and brown eyes.
He shook his head absently. "Not any of my past, then. Which means I should really go, don't want to mess up my future."
Emily frowned, she still wasn't entirely sure how there could be more than one version of the same man but she was willing to look past that for the moment. What she wouldn't look past was him acting like he was leaving her here.
He was climbing back in the TARDIS and before she could speak the door was closed.
"Rude," she muttered before walking forward to knock. She heard the whish sound and yelled out. "Get back here!"
The sound stopped and he came to the door opening it a crack. "Some lungs."
"You are taking me with you," she told him, leaving no room to argue. Somehow she wasn't surprised when he did it anyway.
"Did my future self's mention this instance?"
"No, but it's not like we really chatted about what other versions of you did."
He frowned deeper but didn't close the door. Emily decided with him this was making headway.
"Where are we?" He asked her looking around the room.
She shrugged, "I don't know, I was talking to floppy hair you, and then I was here."
He walked out, smelling the air. "Transmat. Someone wanted you."
"Well," she agreed. "I don't want them back, so let's go."
He sighed loudly, as if she was making him suffer. Emily frowned.
"Fine, you can come, but only until I figure out how to get you back to another me."
"Gee, thanks," she mumbled, following him into the TARDIS. It didn't look anything like the other Doctor's version. Not that she would tell either of them, but she liked this one better.
Even if she had to put up with grouchy in the leather. No, she wasn't being fair she realized. She hardly knew this him; maybe he just took a while to warm up to people.
"The other yous were friendlier." She told him softly, as he flipped some switches.
The TARDiS shuddered and she imagined they had successfully left that place.
"That's nice," he muttered. She suspected the face he was going for was indifferent, but he didn't quite reach it. She thought she might have offended him. New tactic.
"How can there be other versions of you?"
He looked up at her carefully. When he didn't speak she looked away, feeling self conscious.
"What?"
He smiled, just a tiny one. "You didn't say 'if."
She looked around the TARDIS, "Seems pointless to waste an' if 'when I'm standing in a time machine."
"Wouldn't stop most apes," he told her.
Apes, huh?
"More friendly," she reminded him.
He looked away. "Here I was thinking maybe you weren't so bad. Fine, tell me what was happening so I can get you back to the nicer versions of myself."
"You didn't answer my question," she prodded.
He rolled his eyes but answered all the same, "Regeneration. New body. Happens when my body is going to die, a way of cheating death."
Maybe not the best explanation but she suspected she was lucky to get any, and it was enough. He was looking at a screen and she walked over to him, standing beside him.
"You're not so bad," she told him softly.
He actually chuckled softly. "Yeah? Maybe you are right, maybe I am grumpy, it's not like I don't have good reason."
She really thought about asking the reason, he looked like he was bracing himself for the question, but she felt like it was a bad idea. If he wanted to tell her he would.
She sighed, "We were on a planet," she told him.
"In a hurry to get away from me?" He asked her softly.
How had he gone from wanting her gone, to trying to delay her departure?
"No, just you what you said."
He nodded, looking mildly ashamed of himself. "Sorry. I just-"
She looked him over, the others may have been friendlier, but this one looked like he had watched his world burn. He looked like maybe he could use a little company. She frowned. Time machine, right?
That meant that she could waste a little time, and really, making him a little happier couldn't really be a waste.
She wasn't exactly in a hurry to die. Or to watch someone else die around her.
"You want some tea?"
He gave her a curious look, and she thought for a moment he might be about to go back into defense mode but he nodded. "Sure, or maybe would you like to get something to eat."
She nodded, "Chips?"
He gave her a wide grin that made him seem less like a storm and more like a man. "I haven't had chip s in forever. Don't even know if this new body likes them, sure, Emily. Let's get some chips."
"Is it going to be okay, time I mean?"
He nodded, flipping switches with a faint grin. "Sure, time machine. Trust me."
He may smile less, may wear leather and darkness as armor but trust him she could do. Just like she had her Doctor and the other one on the street. She suspected she could meet every version of him, and that wouldn't change.
The Doctor was a man who could be trusted. No matter what the face.