It honestly wasn't quite what Elisabeth was expecting, but at least it was welcome.
Tristan had led her and the Doctor back to his house, just a short walk from the TARDIS. It wasn't as quite as it seemed. As soon as Tristan had opened the door a dog barreled out, straight at Tristan. Letting out a sigh of disgust, he pushed the dog off before Elisabeth and the Doctor stepped in.
"Oh, my," Elisabeth exclaimed, stepping cautiously around the animal.
"He's not the only one," Tristan groaned. He pushed past the Doctor, closing the front door firmly. "I think you'd better go for a wash first, Doctor. My brother'll be back soon."
"So you don't live alone here."
"No. There's Siegfried, my brother, and also a friend of mine, James. And his wife." Tristan explained, nodding to Elisabeth as he showed the Doctor up the stairs. "Go wait in the sitting room first, Elisabeth." He called down. "It's just the room, um, I'll let you find it yourself!"
Elisabeth heard footsteps approaching from down the hall. "Oh, good morning. Do come in for a chat." Elisabeth turned to find another woman around the same age as she, with chestnut brown hair, deep brown eyes and a friendly smile.
"Oh hello there," Elisabeth remarked. "Thank you," She followed the woman into the sitting room, where the other woman poured two cups of tea, setting them down on the coffee table.
"Please do take a seat," The other woman offered. "Oh, I'm Helen. And you are..."
"Elisabeth." She padded, or rather plowed her way through the room to get to the table, the dogs circling at her feet. Tristan wasn't wrong when he said the dog in the hall wasn't the only one. There were four, maybe five dogs. Elisabeth tried not to let her discomfort show as she took her place opposite Helen.
"So, what brings you here?" Helen started.
"I came here along with the Doctor. Ran into Tristan just down the road. He invited us for tea." Elisabeth explained.
"That's nice of him." Helen smiled, handing over a biscuit. Elisabeth accepted it, and started to nibble at the edges. However, she wasn't the only one who was hungry. She didn't see it until it hit her, leaving her with a clump of fur in her face. The dog leapt, digging its claws into Elisabeth's flesh and clothing as it struggled for the biscuit. Gritting her teeth, Elisabeth dropped the biscuit as she squealed.
"Go for it, you!" Elisabeth screamed, exasperated, her hands going to her clothing to inspect the damage. Fortunately it wasn't anything too serious. She fingered a hole in her sleeve and sighed. "I'm going back to my uh, car. I've got some extra clothes in there."
"Oh, don't worry." Helen assured. "You can wear some of mine."
"No thanks," Elisabeth refused. "I'd rather change into something more...more comfortable."
Elisabeth headed back down the road, running as fast as she could without tripping out of her heeled shoes. She cursed as she pulled them right off altogether, continuing on her journey with her stockings on. She passed Tristan - who was probably on the way to town.
"What are you doing here?" Tristan raised an eyebrow as Elisabeth ran past, and he followed, wanting to know what was going on. Elisabeth reached the TARDIS, and without a second thought went to find her room, without even stopping to shut the door. She dug a set of comfortable clothes out of the closet - a dark green sweater and a pair of jeans. She peeled off her stockings, replacing them with a warmer pair of woolen socks, and pulled on her trusty pair of sneakers. She wrapped a warm, grey scarf around her neck. She didn't care that it didn't fit the time period she was in, but she had had enough of wearing a dress. Adjusting her glasses, she hurried out of the depths of the TARDIS, wanting to get back to Tristan's house before the Doctor had noticed.
Imagine her surprise when she saw Tristan standing in the console room.
"What are you doing in here?" Elisabeth cried, wanting to push him out the doors, but the doors slammed shut and Elisabeth could hear the whirring of the engines as the TARDIS started up. But only this time it was a spluttering, choking sound, as if they were taken out by force. Tristan looked around as the lights flickered and the ground shook, finally coming to a stop. Elisabeth ran to the console, checking the data on the screens.
"Did you touch any of this?" Elisabeth asked, not knowing what to do exactly.
Tristan shrugged. "I didn't touch any of this." He stopped in shock before continuing. "What on earth are you wearing?"
"Who are you to judge? Oh, it's something from the future. You probably aren't so used to seeing women wearing trousers, eh?" Elisabeth said flatly, as she inspected the console. "I think there should be a manual somewhere. In the storage, perhaps. I think I'll go back in there and see if I can find anything of use."
The Doctor came down the stairs in a new set of clothes.
Honestly, Tristan had done quite a good job picking out clothes for him. But that was probably because he probably picked out what he wore on a regular basis. There was no point in further deliberating on what looked good on him, as Tristan assured that the Doctor would look just as good as he did.
"Tristan?" The Doctor called, looking around. He pushed open the door to the sitting room. A woman sat by the coffee table, reading the newspaper. "Excuse me," He said, "Would you know where Tristan is?"
The woman looked up from the newspaper. After taking a mere glance at the Doctor she went back to her reading. "Tristan, I know you're trying to be funny, but I think it's best you stop clowning around before Siegfried gets back."
The Doctor was puzzled for a moment, scratching his head. It didn't have to take him long to figure out what had happened. "No, I'm not Tristan." The Doctor explained. "You've just got us mixed up, since we look so much the same-"
"I think Siegfried is on his way back. I don't suppose he did get you to do the stocktaking?"
"Where's Elisabeth?" The Doctor asked.
"Why, is it important to you? Oh, and I think there's been a delivery to the surgery. I suppose you might want to take a look at it."
The Doctor sighed as he paced to the surgery, flipping open a notebook on the table. He grabbed a pen and piece of paper, and sat down at a table. He'd have to make his way back to the TARDIS to get a change of clothes, and also to find Elisabeth. How funny. He hadn't seen her since before he went upstairs with Tristan. It's alright, The Doctor assured himself. Everything's going to be fine. He wrote a short note, just in case Elisabeth was still around.
Elise,
I'm getting out to the–
"Tristan! How have things been going?"
The Doctor looked up, finding a man, slightly older than him, with similar features to Tristan's (and thus to his). He assumed this to be Siegfried, Tristan's brother.
"Uh, I'm terribly sorry but–" The Doctor started, but he didn't get a chance to finish his sentence.
"Tristan, go get a haircut! I don't know how many times I've told you not to leave your hair hanging about and–" Siegfried paused, looking at the Doctor's handwriting. "I see your handwriting's improved tremendously."
"Let me just finish explaining myself. I'm apparently, not your brother Tristan. I'm the Doctor, you see, and I-" The Doctor was cut off again.
"Don't be playing those games with me, Tristan! You know you can't fool me." Siegfried frowned, shaking his head slightly as the Doctor scrambled for an answer.
"Look, I can prove it to you. Just hear me out, I promise-" The Doctor protested yet again to no avail.
"I've no time for this." Siegfried produced a slip of paper from his bag. "I've got some visits to do, so I think you should help out too. It'll do good for your preparation."
The Doctor got up from the table, and his note fluttered right off, landing at Siegfried's toes. "What's this?" Siegfried raised an eyebrow, and the Doctor held his breath as he scanned the note. "Are you writing to your girlfriend again? I swear, Tristan, you'd be twice as effective if you didn't spend all your time chasing anything in a skirt. I thought I assigned you things to do, like the stocktaking. Has that been done?"
The Doctor sighed. "Well, I think you'd find it just as it is. I'm sorry to be impolite, but I've got to dash." The Doctor made his escape, barging through the doors without a second word, leaving the house and a very confused Siegfried behind.
"Well, there it is." Elisabeth heaved the heavy book back to the console room, setting it down on the floor and peering over it, scanning the contents. "Tristan, could you help me out a bit?" She called.
Silence.
Where had the bloke run off to? Elisabeth let out a cry of frustration as she folded down the corner of the page, turning back towards the passages of the TARDIS. How was she to find him? The TARDIS had that annoying habit of rearranging itself every few seconds. How far had he wandered right in? She wondered how she would be able to find him. It struck her like a bad memory.
The smoke, Elisabeth realised. Of course! She recalled how Tristan had pulled out a box of cigarettes the first time they met. She gathered up her courage, plunging right in, running down corridor after corridor to find the scent of that smoke. The trail got stronger and stronger, and she had to cover her nose with her sleeve as she ran. But something seemed to surface. The further she got, the more terrified she was. If she just closed her eyes she could just be transported right back to the Underground as it burned and crumbled. The glowing, red and orange remains of the tunnel. The smoke that filled the tunnels as the resistance teams piled up burning rubble to stop Arwen's allies from escaping. The cramped corridors as parts of the ceiling and walls caved in, forcing them to either forge ahead into precarious territory or to turn back and risk being trapped in the main chamber when it fell. Elisabeth put her hands over her ears, wanting the screams to stop. She knew all this was just an illusion, but with the 'improvements' that had occurred to her these experiences seemed more real, more dangerous. She knew that the smoke wasn't from the burning debris but from a cigarette (probably, she had assumed). But the sounds were still bouncing around in her head. She tried to bring her mind away, but it seemed to stick with her. And poor, poor, Jay...
Elisabeth watched as Jay died in front of her once again, her body being crushed under the metal that made up the place where she lived. And died.
She shook herself out of the memories, her forehead breaking into a cold sweat. She hit herself once on her temple, feeling the pain as her knuckles struck against the metal there. The memories faded back into the depths of her mind, disappearing for now. But she knew that they would always be back to haunt her.
"Oh, Elisabeth, was that your name?" She heard Tristan behind her. She sound, almost bumping into him.
"Where the hell have you been?" Elisabeth demanded. "Weren't you lost?"
"I wasn't lost, I was exploring." Tristan beamed. "So, have you figured out what's wrong with this witchcraft chamber of yours?"
"It's not witchcraft, it's time travel. Thought you would know the difference." Elisabeth huffed, turning to head back to the console room, Tristan following at her heels.
"You see," Elisabeth started, circling the console. "It seems that-" Her heart leapt into her throat. "That's funny, that wasn't what it was saying earlier..."
Tristan came over, peering at the screen. "What's this, then?" He stared at the complex lines of numbers. "It's all Greek to me."
"Hang on," Elisabeth said, holding up a hand before going back to the TARDIS manual, then heading back to the screen. "It seems, that we've been taken out of our time streams. Something's controlling the TARDIS. She didn't do it on her free will."
"So," Tristan inquired, "is this a good thing or not?"
Elisabeth shook her head. "It depends, honestly. It honestly depends what the intentions of this person is. This person took us out of our timelines for a reason. But thanks to the TARDIS, the signal's been interfered, and we've been suspended." She turned to him. "I guess we'll be stuck here for a while. At least until the signal clears, or we figure out how to fly this thing."
A/N: Thanks for reading on! I'll try to be as productive and update as regularly as possible. Thank you, thecrimsonnote for reviewing and I'm looking forward to more feedback by you guys! I'd really like to hear about how you guys like/dislike my story and how I can improve on.