Chapter Ten
The next night, Sherlock and Mycroft watched someone die.
Well, sort of.
They had spent most of the day caught up in a legal battle between two planets; both of which refused to allow the other members to visit. It had been a boring and tedious day but they had finally negotiated visitation rights.
"I'm sorry," the Doctor yawned as they finally returned to the Tardis.
"It wasn't that bad," Mycroft offered.
Sherlock snorted and the Doctor grinned, "Yeah it was."
"Yeah it was," Mycroft agreed.
"Don't worry," the Doctor reassured them, "I'll make it up to you two. I have a plan for tomorrow!"
"What do you have in mind?" Sherlock eagerly asked.
"It's a surprise," the Doctor exclaimed, setting the Tardis to orbit amongst the stars. The brothers yawned and he cheerfully added, "Alright! It's time for bed."
Sherlock groaned and the Doctor added, "No arguments or excuses. You need to get a good night's rest for tomorrow."
"Doctor," Sherlock suddenly said, "There's a man floating outside."
The Doctor snorted, "Sherlock, what did I just say about excuses…?"
Sherlock frowned at his skepticism and pulled the door open. Sure enough, Mycroft and the Doctor could just make out the silhouette of somebody floating. He was too far away to reach and was eerily tumbling around.
"Ah," the Doctor said, coming over, "He's out of the oxygen bubble. Mycroft, would you mind grabbing the lifebuoy? This looks like a particularly painful one."
Mycroft did so and the Doctor threw it. It fell around the man and the brothers suddenly realized that he was very still.
"Is he…is he dead?" Sherlock whispered as the Doctor pulled him in.
"Yes," the Doctor grimaced, "That happens from time to time."
Mycroft and Sherlock exchanged terrified looks but the Doctor quickly said, "Don't worry. Give it a minute."
As if on cue, the man suddenly gasped.
Sherlock and Mycroft cried out and practically leapt to the other side of the room.
The Doctor knelt next to the man and merrily said, "Up and at em!"
The man sat up and grunted, "Sorry. Miscalculated where I was going to land. Look at you, though! River said that you looked different after your regeneration but I didn't expect your hair to be so…floppy. And what's with the bowtie?"
"Oi," the Doctor looked truly offended as he muttered, "Bowties are…"
"Cool," the man finished with a grin, "River told me that too. Just joking."
The Doctor helped him to his feet and the man hugged him. The Doctor returned the hug though remarked, "Not laughing. You nearly scared my companions to death."
The man looked delighted as he repeated, "Ah, new companions?"
"No," the Doctor sharply said, "No. Not…these companions."
The man looked slightly confused until the Doctor pointed. Mycroft and Sherlock were now against the opposite wall, the latter hiding behind the former.
"Right. Laissez-faire, obviously," the man said, "But since when have you chosen children as your companions?"
"Those aren't just any children," the Doctor said with a smile, "Meet Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes."
"You're joking?" the man gasped, "The Holmes brothers?'
"Even he knows us?" Sherlock muttered.
The man grinned and said, "Hi. I'm…"
He trailed off, noticing that the Doctor had raised an eyebrow, and defensively said, "You introduce me, then."
The Doctor laughed at that and said, "Sherlock, Mycroft, this is…"
"Captain Jack Harkness," Mycroft finished, "I've read about you."
"Good things?" Jack asked with a smile.
"Err…"
Jack burst out laughing and teasingly said, "Gee…wonder who the author was?"
He grinned at the Doctor who chuckled and said, "Mostly good things."
"So, you're immortal?" Sherlock uncertainly asked, "You can just…die whenever you want to?"
"Yep," Jack grinned, "Wanna see?"
"Yes!" Mycroft and Sherlock eagerly said.
"No," the Doctor immediately cried, "Okay. Rule 11: No killing Jack."
Before Jack and the brothers could argue, the Doctor exclaimed, "Now, time for bed!"
"Oh come on," Mycroft snorted.
"You can't honestly expect us to go," Sherlock agreed.
"I do honestly expect you to go," the Doctor smirked, "You two were practically snoring in the middle of that courthouse today."
"That wasn't from exhaustion," Mycroft pointed out, "That was from boredom."
"Well tomorrow is going to be fun," the Doctor promised, ushering them along, "We're going to go to one of the greatest amusement parks!"
"Really?" Sherlock and Mycroft eagerly asked.
"Yes. Which of course means that you're going to need your strength."
The two boys grumbled but stomped along.
Like every night, the Doctor took time to tuck Sherlock in, ruffle Mycroft's hair, gently say goodnight, and left them to gaze at the stars.
The boys waited all of thirty seconds before simultaneously leaping up and creeping down the corridor. They crouched against the wall and listened.
"Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes," Jack was saying, "Are they just as brilliant as you had said?"
"Even more so," the Doctor remarked and the brothers could hear the smile in his voice.
"How did you ever get the Holmes brothers to be your companions? And at that age…?"
"Age isn't a measure of brilliance, Jack," the Doctor calmly said, "If you must know, I met them two years ago. Sherlock was upset because their father wanted to evict Mycroft from the nursery…"
Mycroft and Sherlock squirmed, still remembering that day. Well, it had all worked out for the better.
"…out of pity?" Jack was uncertainly asking.
Their ears perked up.
"No," the Doctor quietly said, "Oh, no, no. I did not pity Sherlock and Mycroft. I don't pity them and I will never pity them. I care about them. And I'm the first one to do so for a while. And that is a pity. It's a pity for everyone else who won't get to know just how amazing and brilliant those two are."
The brothers flushed with pride.
"So I came back for them," the Doctor continued, "It was only a few weeks for me but it was two years for them. I do feel bad about that."
"The Tardis took you where you needed to be," Jack offered.
"For all of our sakes," the Doctor agreed, "After what happened with Amy and Rory…"
He broke off and Jack murmured, "Yeah. River told me that too. I'm so sorry."
Jack then quickly changed the subject by saying, "You're amazing with them, though. I mean, it's like you know exactly what to say. How to act. What to do."
Jack hesitated before quietly saying, "It would be nice…having kids, that is."
Mycroft stole a quick glance around the corner to see that the Doctor looked thoughtful.
Jack quickly continued, "I imagine that it would be hard to have to watch them grow up when you barely age."
"Well," the Doctor bracingly said, "Why don't you come to the amusement park?"
"Yes!" Jack excitedly cried, "Will you bring the Sonic on the roller-coaster?"
"To make it go rapidly fast until it's out of control? Of course!"
The two laughed and the Doctor said, "You can have the hammock in the guest room."
"Great! Thanks."
"You know," the Doctor suddenly said, "There is one thing that Sherlock and Mycroft just can't do."
The two brothers glanced at each other, both angry and shocked.
"Yeah? What's that?"
"They're rubbish at listening in on people's conversations."
Sherlock and Mycroft paused, before realizing that they had been caught. They guiltily rounded the corner and the Doctor laughed and said, "The next time, stay away from the light. I could see your shadows."
"Did you still mean everything else?" Sherlock asked.
The Doctor smiled and sincerely said, "Every word."
() () () () ()
Sherlock was getting impatient. He angrily tapped his foot and muttered, "Bored."
"For a Time Lord, you think that he would be on time," Mycroft admitted.
The two brothers and Jack were standing in the console room, waiting for the Doctor to come out. They were eager to get to the amusement park.
"Let's play a game," Jack suggested.
"Alright," Sherlock eagerly said, "I dare you to…err…stand on your head!"
Jack complied and instead of just balancing on the palms of his hands, he literally managed to balance on the top of his head.
"Impressive," Mycroft admitted as Sherlock clapped.
"I've picked some things up," Jack grinned, flipping back over, "Alright, Mycroft. I dare you to push…"
He surveyed the console for a moment before spotting a random silver button and exclaiming, "…that button!"
"What?" Mycroft cried, "I can't do that!"
"Sure you can," Jack encouraged, "I dared you."
"Come on, Mycroft," Sherlock pressed.
"The Doctor will murder me!"
The two merely grinned and Mycroft rolled his eyes before snarling, "Fine."
He stepped forward but the Doctor suddenly raced out and cried, "Mycroft, no; that's the nuclear fusion reactor!"
Mycroft immediately leapt back cried, "Jack dared me to do it."
Jack didn't deny it and instead merely laughed "I thought that it was the button to shoot out confetti."
"Nope," the Doctor remarked, "That's the one next to it."
"Mm. You really should color-coat those things."
"Alright," the Doctor slowly said, "Rule 12: No pushing buttons on the console unless I'm in the room."
"Even if Jack dares us to?" Sherlock whined.
"Especially if Jack dares you to," the Doctor snorted and hit another button. The Tardis made the familiar noise and shook before finally stopping.
As it turns out, the rest of the day was worth the wait. The amusement park was a huge universal hub. Aliens from all over came to enjoy themselves. The Doctor parked the Tardis in the parking lot, between two spaceships. As they excitedly walked to the rides, the Doctor pointed out different species.
The four zoomed around the roller coasters at top-speed! The Doctor clicked his Sonic Screwdriver to make them go even faster! Jack, Sherlock, and Mycroft all laughed and whooped, albeit the other riders didn't find it as amusing.
At one point, Jack, Sherlock, and Mycroft raced to the top of a large waterpark-playground, complete with fountains, water-guns, geysers, and steep slides.
"Err…you go first, Jack," Mycroft uncertainly said as he stared down one, "Jack?"
The three turned and saw that a gruff alien was holding Jack up by his neck.
"Hey, leave him alone," Mycroft angrily said.
"No cutting," Sherlock added.
"Jack Harkness," the alien growled, "The scum of my planet."
"That's…Captain…Jack…Harkness," Jack choked, "The scum of your planet."
"What did you do?" Mycroft cried.
"I accidentally got engaged to his daughter," Jack wheezed, "Who just so happened to be the princess of the planet."
"And?"
"I dove out the window," Jack admitted, "Landed in the lake. Swam until I could safely use my vortex manipulator to get away. He convicted me of breaking his daughter's heart."
"Vortex manipulator?" Sherlock repeated, "How does that work?"
"Like this," Jack gasped, hitting something on his wrist. He disappeared and reappeared behind the gruff alien. Unfortunately, the alien spun around and pulled out a taser gun. The extreme bolt of electricity hit Jack and he crumpled.
"Jack!" Sherlock and Mycroft shouted.
The alien sighed and somberly said, "Jack Harkness, I relieve you of your convictions."
"Thanks, mate," Jack cried, leaping up, "Now that that's settled…"
He jumped onto the water slide and Sherlock and Mycroft followed.
The Doctor laughed when he heard what happened and took them to a candy floss machine. The Doctor nonchalantly whistled and clicked the Sonic Screwdriver, causing the machine to go haywire and spit out an entire cloud of candy floss. They then went to the popcorn machine with similar results. They also had similar results with the ice-cream machine, slushie machine, the soda machine, the chocolate machine, and somehow the candy-apple booth.
The four also drove the bumper carts out of the box and onto the streets, crashed two of the trolleys, combined the wind-tunnel with the vortex-ride, rapidly spun the Ferris Wheel, tipped over the swinging pirate-ship ride, caused a tsunami in the wave-pool, accidentally impaled an employee at a prize booth by missing the balloons with their darts, and bounced on the inner-tubes on the lazy river.
In the end, they were banned from the amusement park.
For an eternity.
The four laughed as security had to personally escort them back to the Tardis.
"We might have over-done it," Mycroft admitted.
"Are you kidding?" Sherlock grinned, picking candy floss from his curls, "It was the best adventure we've ever had!"
Author's Note: Yep! Captain Jack Harkness! In my mind, he already somehow knows River. Actually, if you don't think that the two of them are best friends who use their vortex manipulators to go to the movies and sonic the popcorn and then stay up all night gossiping about the Doctor, you are wrong.