Disclaimer: I do not own anything Doctor Who, all rights belong to the BBC.
Outfit's: claires_outfit_chapters/set?id=93117839
Playlist: /theshadowphantom102/the-artist-and-the-doctor
I blinked my eyes open. Everything was blurry and my mind felt like it was in a constant state of fog. Slowly my head began to clear and my eyes started to refocus only to reveal; pale walls, sterile floors, and many different kinds of monitors.
Great I'm in a hospital.
I groaned at the thought and attempted to push myself up. A sharp pain went through my right side and my head began swimming as nausea came over me.
Bad idea.
"No, no, no." I was gently pushed back down and a hand brushed back stray bits of hair that had fallen in front of my face.
"Doctor-"I started, but my throat burned when I tried to speak.
"Here this will help." The Doctor handed me a glass containing a bright green liquid.
I eyed it uncertainly before downing the mysterious liquid. Immediately I spit it back out in The Doctor's face, gagging in the process.
"Oh God, what the hell was that?" I asked my voice suddenly back to normal.
"Oi, don't go spitting liquids in my face!" The Doctor said in disgust, wiping his face on my blanket.
"Eww, you're so gross!" I laughed.
The Doctor threw me a cheesy grin as he sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Why am I in a hospital?" I asked suddenly.
"You're not in a hospital; you're in the TARDIS medical bay. You got knocked out when I counteracted the tank from exploding. The energy sent out very forceful waves of pressure knocking you out in the process. Nothing to worry about though, you just have a minor concussion and a bruise on your right side. You'll probably be a little sore for the next couple of days. As for the liquid I just gave you, that was a throat cleanser, so now you can speak with no problem." The Doctor explained.
"What about Transylvania and the children? Are they ok?" I asked worry lacing my voice.
"The planet is safe, for now. As for the children, they're back with their families and going about their normal way of Transylvanian life." He assured me.
I let out a sigh of relief and let my eyes rest on the monitor to my left. It made a soft humming noise and consisted of intricate green glowing circles. I stared at the symbols in awe wondering what they stood for.
The Doctor followed my line of vision and smiled sadly. "It's Gallifreyan. The ancient language of the Time Lords."
"It's beautiful."
The Doctor stood up from the bed. "You should get some rest. If you're feeling better tomorrow we'll go to a much quieter planet."
"Doctor."
He stopped at the door and turned around eyeing me expectantly.
"You never told me about Gallifrey."
A forlorn expression crossed The Doctor's features. He looked down at his feet before looking back up at me a hurt smile tugging at his lips.
"You would have loved it, Claire. Red orange skies and sliver leaves decorating the trees. One of the most beautiful planets these old eyes have seen."
"We can't go there can we?" I asked.
He shook his head with a sad smile.
"What happened, if you don't mind me asking?"
The Doctor fell quiet for a moment.
"You don't have to answer! I'm sorry I never should've asked you." I said quickly, regretting that I brought up an obviously touchy subject.
"No, it's ok." The Doctor moved back to the bed and settled on the edge of it again. "There was a war. The Time War. I'm the last of my kind, the last of the Time Lords. I had to burn my planet because an evil race called the Daleks were invading. There was nothing I could do to save my people."
"I'm sorry." I whispered reaching a hand out, softly resting it on top of The Doctor's.
He smiled slightly and brought my hand to his lips, kissing it softly. I felt my heart jolt suddenly and a blush heated up my cheeks. I averted my eyes quickly and stared back at the monitor.
"Rest." The Doctor said leaving the room.
My eyes fluttered open revealing the pale walls of the TARDIS Medical Bay. I sat up, feeling a lot better than the day before. I had a slight headache and my side was sore, but other than that I was ok.
I scanned the room for The Doctor, but he was nowhere to be found. I considered calling for him, but decided against it. He probably wouldn't be able to hear me anyways. Who knows how big this ship really is… I swung my legs over the bed, steadying myself as I carefully stood up. I wobbled a little, but soon caught my balance. Once I was sure I would be able to walk about with no trouble I set off to find The Doctor.
In the hallway outside the Medical Bay were several other doors and corridors, leaving me feeling completely lost and unsure of which path to take. I looked to the corridor on the left and felt an urge to follow it. I started heading down the corridor and the TARDIS hummed in response, almost as if it were guiding me to where I needed to go, but that wasn't possible… was it? This was a ship certainly it couldn't be alive…
After a few short minutes of following the long corridor, passing other doors and passageways along the way I soon ended up in the console room. I walked up to the console and scanned the room, still no sign of The Doctor.
"Doctor?" I called out.
"Down here!"
I looked down and saw a whole other level through the glass floor that I hadn't noticed before. I bounded down the stairs and met up with him. He was seated on a swing fiddling with a couple of loose wires above his head, a pair of ridiculous looking goggles covered his eyes causing me to chuckle slightly.
The Doctor looked up at me in confusion. "What's so funny?"
I quickly bit back my laughter. "Nothing."
He shrugged it off and continued on with his work. "Feeling better?"
"Yes, I am. Thank you." I sat down on one of the steps and watched him work.
He took the goggles off and grinned like the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. "Great! Where to next?"
"Actually can you take me home?" I asked shyly.
Immediately the Doctor's face fell. "Yes, I'll bring you home. I understand. The adventures I take people on do tend to be dangerous a good majority of the time, even though most of the time I don't plan on it. I don't blame you for wanting to leave really, you'll probably be much safer back in Salem." The Doctor passed me on the steps and stepped up to the console, plugging the coordinates in for Salem.
I ran up to him and placed my hand on his shoulder causing him to stop what he was doing and look at me. "I didn't want to leave you, I just needed to pick up a few things back home and let my friends know that I'll be gone for a while so they don't worry about me, as well as settle a few things with my school so I can travel. But if you want me to leave I will."
The Doctor quickly pulled me into a warm hug. "Of course I want you to stay. I was afraid you wanted to leave because you got injured." He mumbled into my shoulder.
I laughed lightly. "It's going to take much more than that to get rid of me."
The Doctor pulled away and smiled. "To Salem?"
"To Salem."
The TARDIS doors opened allowing The Doctor and I to step out into the street where my apartment was. The sun was out causing it to be warmer than I last remembered, the leaves were changing color and a light breeze blew the ones that had already fallen about.
"Uh… Doctor, you said you would get me back a few minutes later. Its mid afternoon." I observed scrunching my nose slightly.
"Oops, must have time jumped a little. Doesn't seem like it was too long. Once I promised a little girl that I would be back in five minutes, and didn't come back until 14 years later; poor little Amelia Pond, the girl who waited. Trust me it could've been a lot worse."
We walked up to the door and I tried the door handle. It was unlocked. Which was strange because Molly usually had class at this time. We walked in only to find Molly, Danae, and Maia sitting on the couch rifling through a pile of papers on the coffee table. When we walked in their heads perked up and they all stared at me like I had two heads.
"Hey guys… why are you staring at me like that?" I asked confused.
Maia suddenly jumped out of her seat and threw her arms around me in a bone-crushing hug. "I am so sorry I snapped at you. All of this time I thought you were gone because I yelled at you. Please say you'll forgive me." She sobbed into my shoulder.
I stroked her hair in an attempt to calm her down and side glanced at The Doctor, who was suddenly very interested in fixing his jacket sleeves. "How long were we gone?" I asked.
"A year." Danae answered getting up from her seat, Molly following suit.
"A year?" I asked in disbelief. I let go of Maia and turned to The Doctor. "We were gone a year?"
The Doctor pulled at his bow tie in discomfort. "Oops."
"We were beginning to think you were dead. You're family's been worried sick, sending search parties out to find you." Molly scolded. "Where the hell were you and why didn't you call us?"
I gulped and pulled the Doctor aside. "What do I tell them?" I asked in a whisper. "I can't just say that I met an alien, ran away with him to go visit other planets and time periods only to have him accidentally time jump so we came back a year later without even realizing it!"
The Doctor winced. "Let me handle this. I've gotten myself out of many tight situations similar to this."
I rolled my eyes. "Good luck." I muttered turning back to my friends who stared at us impatiently.
The Doctor spun around to face my friends and flashed them a smile. "Hello, I'm The Doctor. I'm a good friend of Claire's. We ran into each other last year on Halloween and she seemed pretty upset so I decided to take her travelling with me. I'm a traveler and I thought a change of scenery would cheer her up. I guess we lost track of time. Sorry about that, won't happen again."
I face palmed, knowing there was absolutely no way they were going to buy that.
Molly smiled sweetly. "Interesting story, especially since it seems so out of character for Claire. See Claire would never leave without informing her family and friends first. She would also plan something like this, months in advance and settle things with the school first. She is not the type to just take off out of the blue without any sort of notice. Now can you please tell us the real story, before I decide to call the police and tell them that you kidnapped my friend?"
The Doctor gulped and I rubbed my temples in frustration. "Can I just tell them the truth?"
"The truth would be nice." Molly said sarcastically.
I glanced at the Doctor, telepathically asking him permission to tell my friends the truth about him and what had happened. He sighed and nodded in my friends' direction before crossing his arms against his chest.
"Ok you guys probably won't believe me and quite frankly I won't blame you." I inhaled and exhaled slowly before telling them my very unbelievable story.
"So he's an alien?" Danae asked in disbelief.
"Time Lord." The Doctor corrected.
"You're not going to probe us or anything are you?" Maia asked.
I face palmed, wishing we never stumbled upon my friends.
The Doctor shrugged casually. "I could if you wanted me to."
My friends immediately burst into a fit of giggles while I gasped in horror and whacked him on the shoulder.
"Oi, what I do now?" He asked rubbing his shoulder.
"That was inappropriate."
"What was inappropriate?" The Doctor asked clearly confused. I glared at him causing him to finally get the message. "Oh my stars, I am so, so sorry." He quickly apologized a blush tainting his cheeks.
"You guys remind me of an old married couple." Maia laughed. "Are you sure you aren't dating?"
I felt a blush rising on my cheeks as I glared at her.
"No, no, no, we're not." The Doctor quickly stammered out.
Maia threw us a knowing smirk before dropping the subject.
"Wait you said you had a box that was bigger on the inside and could travel in both space and time?" Molly asked not believing the story she just heard.
"Yup." The Doctor stated proudly straitening his bow tie. Oh great they're fueling his ego…
"How is that even possible?"
The Doctor smirked. "There are many possibilities out there."
"You said you were an alien correct?" Danae asked.
"Time Lord."
"Right Time Lord, how come you speak with a British accent?" She asked curiously. I turned to him curious as to why that was as well.
The Doctor shrugged. "Why not?"
Real straight forward…
The Doctor clapped his hands together suddenly. "Alright Claire settle whatever it was you needed to settle and then we're off."
"Wait, you're leaving again?" Danae asked.
"Just for a little while. I'll come back." I assured.
"And who knows how much longer that's going to be." Molly said crossing her arms against her chest.
"Listen guys, something amazing has happened to me and I'm not going to sit around here wondering if I'll get a job after college or if I'll be able to support myself later on in life. I've been given a once in a lifetime opportunity to experience what's beyond the world we know and I am not going to blow that chance." I stated before storming up to my bedroom to pack what I needed.
Once I was all packed I trudged down the stairs, duffel bag and art portfolio in hand. The Doctor met me at the bottom of the staircase. "Are you sure you want to come with me?"
I felt my heart drop to the pit of my stomach. "You don't want me to come do you?"
"No, no, no, it's just that you have so much here. You have a family and friends who care deeply about you. I don't want to take you from them."
I averted my eyes from his suddenly feeling very shy to look back up at him. "When I'm around you…" My voice shook slightly from nerves, I never was good at speaking my mind, let alone my feelings. "When I'm around you I open up more. I can speak my mind more freely and I'm not afraid of what others will think when I'm with you. I don't know why, but I feel like I can easily be myself around you. I know I just met you, but there's something about you that makes me feel more at ease. I'm sorry that probably sounded really cheesy."
The Doctor stared at me for a moment before pulling me into a hug. "I'm proud of you." He whispered in my ear before pulling away and holding his hand out to me. "Cellphone, hand it over."
I raised an eyebrow before dropping the duffel bag to reach for my cellphone in my pocket. "Why do you want my cellphone?"
The Doctor snatched the phone from my hand and started scanning it with his sonic screwdriver. "Just a simple upgrade so you can reach anyone from anywhere from any planet. Pretty much the best service in the universe." He explained before handing my cell phone back once it was done.
"Why would you do that?" I asked softly.
"So this way you can contact you're family and friends at any time and they an do the same for you. I want to take you with me, but I don't want to separate you from your home. Ugh, old age is definitely making me more selfish."
I laughed. "Thank you." I paused for a second. "You're constantly referring to yourself as old. How old are you, exactly? Not to be rude. I was just wondering."
The Doctor smiled lightly. "I'm about 1100 years old now. If I can remember correctly that is." He shrugged.
"Wow. Well you certainly don't look your age." I laughed.
The Doctor joined in my laughter for a moment before getting serious again. "One more thing." The Doctor said taking my hand in his. He held my palm face up and placed a tiny silver key in it. "You're very own key to the TARDIS." He whispered before folding my fingers over it with his own.
I smiled shyly up at him and examined the tiny silver key in my hands, it felt cool to the touch and seemed to hum with life. The key to possibilities…
The Doctor threw my duffel bag over his shoulder and we headed back into the living room where my friends were waiting.
"I'm sorry I was gone for so long and I promise that I won't be gone for that long again. You guys can call me whenever you want and I'll call you whenever I can as well." I said praying they would understand.
Danae was the first to walk up to me and give me a hug. "Go out there and enjoy yourself, just try not to get yourself killed ok?"
"I promise." I said pulling away.
Maia then wrapped me in another bone crushing hug. "Show those aliens what you got girl, oh and make sure you keep an eye on that particular one over there." She said nodding in the Doctor's direction. "I sense a future romance kindling with that one. Trust me he seems like the perfect match for you.
I pulled away from her blushing deeply. "I doubt that's going to happen."
Maia smirked "I don't know, you'll be surprised at what might happen."
I shook my head at her before turning to Molly.
"Sorry for the way I acted. I'm just surprised that you're actually doing this, but then again I'm glad that you are. It's about time you break out of that shell of yours and show the universe what you can do. Kick some alien ass." She said hugging me.
I laughed before pulling away. "Don't worry I will."
"Come on Claire, we have planets to explore." The Doctor called impatiently.
"He needs to learn how to wait." I groaned before heading out the door.
"Where are we headed?" I asked stepping into the TARDIS.
"I actually have a few friends I need to pick up. I might have left them a bit too long. Let's hope Amy's not too mad at me. Oh wait till you meet the Ponds! I'm sure you'll get along swimmingly!" The Doctor rambled.
"Swimmingly?" I raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, swimmingly. I like that word. Swimmingly is cool."
I laughed and gestured to my bag and portfolio. "Uh, where should I put these?"
"Oh, the TARDIS prepared a room for you. She's telepathic so she can create the perfect room for you."
"Ok, cool. Umm where do I go?"
"Up that staircase, down the hall and it's the first room on the left. You're name should be engraved in the door."
"Ooh fancy. Be right back." I followed the Doctor's directions and came across a wooden door with my name scrawled out in a delicate script. Underneath were the same Gallifreyan symbols from the monitors in the Medical Bay.
I opened the door and gasped. The room was absolutely stunning. The walls were painted a light silvery color and the flooring was covered with a dark grey-purple carpet. In the center of the room was a queen-sized bed with a light purple bedspread with black and silver roses embroidered along the ends of the fabric. The bed had too many pillows than I knew what to deal with along with a black headboard that was carved into intricate swirls with white Christmas lights weaved into it. Off to the side was a walk in closet filled with too many clothes to wear in one lifetime. I even had my own bathroom with a bathtub and shower.
Once I had settled in, I changed into a pair of light blue jeans and a sea foam green long sleeved sweater, with sea foam green converse to match. Once I was finished dressing I ran back to the console room. I spotted the Doctor fiddling with a few controls. I quickly ran up to him and pounced on his back.
"Thank you so much! I never expected a room like that."
The Doctor laughed. "Don't thank me, thank the TARDIS."
"Thank you TARDIS!"
"Call her Sexy."
"Thank you Sexy!" I called out and the Doctor and I fell into a fit of laughter as the TARDIS hummed happily in response.
"Ready to meet the Ponds?"
"To the Ponds!"
And with that we took off to collect the Ponds.
A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up. Been very busy lately. I'll try to be more consistent, but sometimes life happens. :P Hope you all enjoyed. :)