5. Who is the President?

The Doctor remained still as the two boys stood in his doorway. The one in the green hat seemed to be soaking in the entirety of the TARDIS. He hadn't said anything since, "It's bigger on the inside." He hadn't moved either.

The one in the blue hat had come to terms with the TARDIS it seemed, and instead trained his eyes on The Doctor himself, as if he could read what he was all about if he stared at the bowtie long enough.

The Doctor rocked on his feet in anticipation of them saying something, before finally giving in and deciding to start the conversation over.

"Right, so, why are you boys banging on my TARDIS door? General misfits? I love misfits!"

Kyle slowly rolled his head back in the Doctor's direction, clearly not ready to talk yet. So it was left to Stan, who mentally conceded that he was probably the more social of the pair anyway.

"I'm Stan, this is Kyle," he said, gesturing toward his speechless friend. The Doctor opened his mouth to respond, but Kyle was finally up to speed, and went for the first question that popped into his mind.

"The Doctor? What does that even mean? Doctor who? Doctor of what? I've seen doctors, you don't look like any of them," his tone was accusatory, but it had softened considerably. Now instead of sharp accents, his words flowed together in a more soothing tone.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. This kid was quick, usually it takes a few conversations, if ever, before they ask that. He couldn't help but smile before replying.

"Well, I'm not quite sure. I'm a Doctor of everything I guess. I don't know. A mad name for a mad man in a Blue Box."

Stan responded almost immediately with the most important question on his mind. "This isn't just a Blue Box, is it?"

"Well, no. And yes. It's… complicated," The Doctor stepped to the side and pointed toward a few seats next to the console. "Well, you guys are already inside I guess, why don't you have a seat.

The boys looked to each other, unsure if this was a good idea. They had no idea who this man was, or where they were. The whole thing seemed impossible. But both boys had seen their fair share of adventures, and this seemed relatively safe. Stan stepped forward first, and Kyle fell in line behind him as they proceeded cautiously up the metal stairs and took seats across from the console. Despite the available space, the two boys sat right next to each other. The Doctor noticed this, and filed it away into the back of his mind to analyze later.

The Doctor followed them up the stairs and glanced at the console. The date, still changing on his display, grabbed his attention again. He didn't have time for Twenty Questions with the boys; he had to figure out what was going on. He leaned his back against the console, staring at the pair, deciding how to approach the situation.

"Yes, Blue Box, it's all mysterious, but I have a better question for you boys: Who is The President right now?"

Kyle tilted his head to the side and squinted in disbelief. How could this man have no idea who The President was? Even if he is British, it seemed impossible not to know who the President is.

Where Kyle's reaction was confusion, Stan's was amusement. He leaned back slightly and gave a smirk. Clearly this mysterious Doctor wasn't very smart.

Both boys looked at each other. Their gazes meeting briefly, as if asking each other if they should entertain this absurd question. Both glances saying, 'why not,' they turned back toward the Doctor and answered in unison.

"George W. Bush," Stan said.

"Barack Obama, " Kyle said.

They both snapped back toward each other, and this time, the puzzled looks were caused by the other boy, rather than the mysterious Doctor. It only took a second for the boys to think they'd realized the error, and they turned back to the Doctor and tried again, just as before, in unison.

"Barack Obama," Stan said, correcting himself to Stan's original answer.

"Bill Clinton," Kyle said, assured that this time he had sorted it out in his head.

Once again, the boys turned to each other in bewilderment. The Doctor, meanwhile, clapped his hands and turned his head to the console again with a smile. How could they both not know who the President was? Not knowing was as delightful

"What the hell dude! Who is the President?" Kyle pointedly asked his best friend.

"I don't know. I mean, I knew it was Bush, then I knew it was Obama. And I think you're right, I think it's Clinton."

"It's not Clinton, he's out, it's gotta be Bush," Kyle responded.

"No way dude! Well… maybe." Stan squinted his eyebrows in growing confusion. "What the hell!"

The Doctor turned himself back to face the two boys. They seemed to be just as confused as the TARDIS about when they were.

But what would be causing this sort of temporal problem? He had to leave, look for clues, figure out what was going on. And that's exactly what the Doctor did, pushing himself off the console with his palms and heading down the stairs hurriedly toward the TARDIS door. He shoved it wide open and stepped out, closing it behind him.

Something was nagging the back of his mind though, as if he forgot something. He shrugged it off; it wasn't important, there were things to do.

Then the TARDIS door opened and the two boys stepped out. The one in the blue hat, Stan, shouted at him.

"Dude, what the hell, where are you going!"

Oh yeah, the boys, he couldn't believe he'd forgotten them. They were the most important clues he had so far. He spun around, almost slipping in the snow.

"Sorry, sorry, you're right!" He shouted back, his breath billowing into the cold winter night. "It's just; there are things to do! There's something not right here. Actually, that's a good point," The Doctor rushed back over to them, sliding to a stop, stooping over and grabbing Kyle by the shoulders, staring intently into his eyes and lowering his voice. "Have you noticed anything strange? Has anyone noticed anything strange? Said anything… unbelievable?"

Kyle furrowed his brow in anger and glared at the Doctor. Whatever his problems were, Kyle didn't like being grabbed by a strange man. Meanwhile, Stan skeptically replied back to the Doctor's question.

"Well, there's ManBearPig…"

Kyle let out an involuntary, "Oh Christ," and bowed his head in frustration..

The Doctor let go of Kyle and pivoted to face Stan. He's heard the word before, from the man he first met outside his TARDIS door after he landed.

"Of course! ManBearPig! That's it, it's… wait…" The Doctor paused and looked upwards, as if searching through his mental database. "What's a ManBearPig?" he asked, slowly enunciating each syllable of the word. It was Kyle's turn to respond, and his brows were still furrowed, the sharpness to his accents returning.

"It's just some stupid made-up creature that Al Gore…"

The doctor interrupted. "But what if it's not made up?" He popped back entirely upright. "We have to find that ManBearPig!"

Kyle had had it. He was cold and hungry, and he wasn't following another crazy asshole on a wild ManBearPig chase, even if he was a crazy asshole with a magic box.

"You find him dude, I'm going to go find something to eat. I haven't eaten all night."

Stan saw the anger in Kyle's eyes, and he felt that twinge of guilt again. Stan had ruined Kyle's evening, and while that shouldn't have been enough to bother Stan, it apparently was. Kyle had conceded to joining his pity search with Al Gore, now it was time for Stan to concede to Kyle.

"Yeah… uhh, Doctor, I'm going with Kyle. You can look for ManBearPig if you want. "

The Doctor's shoulders sagged in disappointment. These two boys, who seemed so clever and curious, were walking out on a great mystery.

"You can't just go!" The Doctor shouted at them. "Don't you want to know what this ManBearPig is?"

Kyle was already walking off. Without turning his head he shouted back at the Doctor.

"It's fake!"

Faced with losing the only potential guides he met, and his only clues so far as to what was going on, the Doctor lurched forward and caught up with the boys. Trying to make his temporary feeling of defeat recede, he commented, "I guess I could eat something too then." He had no real interest in eating, but he needed some excuse to follow them.

"Great." Kyle said flatly, not changing his pace at all. Stan rolled his eyes. Whenever one of the grownups was following them around, it usually meant trouble.

As the trio walked out of the woods, toward the only visible streetlight, none of them noticed an opportunistic, shadowy figure slide into the open TARDIS and close the door.