Chapter Ten:
A Whole New World
Andie stood in the hallway of a very beautiful hotel, her room key tucked in a pocket and a shawl wrapped close. She tiptoed as quietly as she could towards the stairs, having a fear of elevators because of an accident with an alien. Her breath caught, suddenly trapped in a memory as she walked down the stairs towards the bottom. She didn't look where she was going, but as suddenly as she had reached another lower flight – fourth, maybe? – she was caught by the waist.
It was the other Doctor, and he calmed her down by turning her around. "I'm sorry, kid! Andie, it's just me. Just the Doctor, but you can call me Tyler." He raised his hands, hair messy and clothes more street worthy than Torchwood prepared.
"You don't just grab a girl out of nowhere, Doctor!" She caught her hair in a pony tail, frustration showing obviously in her movements and eyes. "And I won't call you Tyler. There's no need to. I was going to see if the kitchen was open. I don't like what's in my bar."
He grinned, raising an eyebrow. "That's why you trying to be all tiptoe quiet in flats? Or why you're dressed to go look around for something suspicious?" He saw the anger, something he realized was quite obviously Donna's former fire lighting her eyes, and raised his hands once more. "Sorry, sorry! It's just something your mum would do. I figured you got it from her."
Andie calmed down at that, and diverted her eyes. "No, no. I didn't know my mother." She sighed when he leaned a little closer to her. "I mean that… well, she died at my birth." She turned on her heel, deciding the conversation was over. She stomped towards the stairwell before her name was called again.
"Don't you want to take the elevator?"
"No."
"Not at all?"
She turned around, glaring again with the former fire he had recognized. "No, Doctor."
He nodded and starting to follow her, seemingly not aged since he stood on the beach with Rose Tyler, vowing himself to her. His steps were quiet, and he stayed behind her. His face seemed to be the exact same as it had been when the proper Doctor regenerated, but he was calmer. He didn't butt heads or try to get in the way of Torchwood. Often, he would reflect on days when he had a Time Lord family, and had the Master – even as an enemy, he was still the Doctor's friend.
"Andie?"
She turned around, green eyes in a light olive face, hair tumbling out of her hair tie and a hand easily catching it. Green eyes reflecting in the light of the hotel lobby. "Yeah, Doctor?"
He looked around, trying to find the proper Doctor anywhere. "You didn't tell me-me where you were going, did you?"
It was Andie's turn to raise her eyebrow, and she had very beautiful glare easily happening on her face. "Why should I?"
One whole question that challenged the power the Doctor had over his companion. It wasn't a 'Why? …Should I?' Insecurity wasn't an Andie trait. She was raised by Uncle Jack, too.
He grinned, shrugging. "No reason. Come on, I'll show you London!"
He held out his arm, courtesy before this Noble got a little angry about how spacemen didn't manners. He led the way when she took it, watching the way she was careful about how she grabbed him and how close she got. This one was certainly mindful of a lot… Still, he grinned easily and led the way to a fun night out.
Andie had eventually let go the Doctor's arm, not needing to really clasp it. Her steps followed his easily, and she found that sometimes he'd speed up just for the heck of it to test her legs. It didn't hurt her. She worked for UNIT and sometimes helped Torchwood when the days weren't as dark as Torchwood normally made things. Plus, she had Jack as an uncle, how could someone be faster than him on most days?
She poked him in the side when he didn't stop, and looked off to the sign that had caught her attention. Her eyes were watching as the signs changed from footballer to footballer.
"We have these back at home, on billboards. Actually, UNIT had a file on these specific men. They were found, back in the World Cup 2010, early on the field, but nothing had happened. They were just early. Biggest footballers in the world, all from different countries, and none of them remembered why or how they were at the stadium in Soccer City. Heck, no one knew how they got there in the first case."
The Doctor's eyebrows rose, and he looked at them closer, hands taking out glasses. "Really? That didn't happen here. Tell me more."