Chapter 11: Curiosity
"So, you're telling me that I have an alien, an actual alien staying in my bed and breakfast?!" Granny says.
"Yes," Emma groans, feeling as if this was the sixth time she'd run through this with Widow Lucas. (which it was)
"The one in the…" she mimics a bow tie.
"According to Crystal, he has two hearts and he claims that his… species is Time Lord."
"That's a species?"
"I DON'T KNOW!" the blonde screeches in frustration. "This is as much news to me as it is to you!"
Emma exhales and collects herself.
"Sorry. I'm sorry Granny, I didn't mean to yell, it's just… been one hell of a day."
"Clearly," the old woman says, still a little taken aback by Emma's outburst, but it could also be pregnancy mood swings. "Can I get you some hot chocolate with cinnamon for the road?"
Emma just smiles and nods… "Better make it for the whole family."
…
Everyone else is waiting outside on the front patio for Emma to get their "guests" settled for the night.
Crystal sits on top of a picnic table, while David and Snow sit in lawn chairs, making a call to the fairies who are watching Neal and Gideon. Despite the Dark One's hatred for the "flying gnats" he'd agreed with his wife to let them watch their son while they dealt with the fallout of this particular event. Both couples were making plans to go pick up their sons once they'd finally had a private discussion. Regina is pacing back and forth, and Killian is watching through the window to keep an eye on his wife. While this alien claimed to be friendly, he didn't want to risk her safety or the safety of his unborn child.
"What a first night back," Crystal says, breaking the long silence.
Everyone looks at her, mostly with glares.
"I'm sorry, just trying to ease the tension a bit…" she then turns to the former Evil Queen. "Regina, you're going to wear a hole in the concrete.".
"Don't start with me!" she snaps. "I've had enough of your nonsense today."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What are you talking about?"
"I have a tough time believing that this is all a coincidence that these people happen to show up the day you come back from realm-hopping."
"Do you think this is my fault?" the daughter of the Dark One says in disbelief.
"Regina," Snow says, coming to the girl's defence.
"It wouldn't be the first time someone brought a problem home with them after being elsewhere," she says shooting a glance at Killian, reminding him of when he and Emma went back in time and brought Marian, Robin Hood's wife back to Storybrooke (who actually turned out to be Zelena), along with Elsa, the Snow Queen.
"Regina, I swear I have no idea who this guy is. I don't even know what a Time Lord is or where the hell Gallifrey would be. It sure as hell wasn't the name of a realm I visited and I… kept… a record."
"But you said that you fought in battles with other people. Ones from comic books no less and you weren't surprised that we were due for a visit by aliens. One of those realms could've been another planet. How do we know you didn't piss off some alien race and they sent someone here to destroy us?"
"Regina, don't you think that's a bit of a stretch?" Belle says.
"Oh, please Belle, we know that in Storybrooke, there are no such things as coincidences."
Rumple gives a disapproving growl to warn the Evil Queen from attacking his wife any further.
"Don't give me that Gold, you're the one who taught us that."
"But space and aliens don't exactly fit into the realm of magic," David says. "This alien guy doesn't believe in it."
"And he looks at us like we're the crazy ones," Belle adds.
"How are you people not freaked out by this?" Regina barks.
"Because sometimes stuff happens and you just have to deal with it," Crystal says bluntly.
The former Evil Queen glares at her. "I've been doing that longer than you've been alive!"
"Regina that's enough!" Snow says, standing up to diffuse this. "It wasn't Crystal's fault, and it wasn't any of our faults. We didn't summon them, they didn't come through a portal, the… The doctor even said that they crash-landed. This is… it just happened and we are just going to have to deal with it."
Emma walks out with two trays of hot chocolates and can immediately sense the tension in the air.
"Figured we could all use a little bit of sugar," she says, placing the trays on the picnic table.
"Thanks, Ems," Crystal says, taking her beverage.
"Now who is Regina blaming for this?" the blonde asks.
Crystal whistles and points at herself. "She thinks it's too much of a coincidence that I come back home today and then these guys show up."
"Come on Regina," Emma says. "That's a big jump to conclusions."
"What you people don't seem to grasp is that not only do we have an alien in our town, but two other people who somehow managed to come through our enchanted barrier with no trouble at all and the fact that the Dark One's daughter basically admitted to them that we all believe in magic."
"What is this the blame game?" Crystal snaps. "He listened to our conversation, which we thought would be a good idea to have in front of these people, we can't exactly control that."
Belle takes a sip of her hot chocolate before speaking. "And I don't think that he actually believes it anyways. He thought this place was an asylum or that we are medieval people who travelled to the modern day and think science is magic."
"But he could figure it out," Regina points out. "His… screwdriver seemed to be picking up on some things including that Leroy wasn't human. And if he tells those other two people and they go back home and tell someone, we're all screwed. Our cover is blown"
"Honestly Regina, our town can't be seen by normal people so even if they did say something, they'd have no way to prove it," David reminds her.
"And if they travel with that man, they've probably seen stranger things than us," Killian agrees.
"How can we know that?!" she says, still not letting this go.
"Look," Emma steps in, ready to end this and go to bed. "They're only staying one night; they'll cross the town line tomorrow morning, we'll act normal till then, end of the story."
"No, not the end of story! We need to do a memory wipe or something," the mayor continues.
"How can we be sure that it will work on the alien, what if it makes it worse and he does attack us?" Crystal asks, ready to toss those fears back at Regina.
"Let's just act normal and then let them go," Emma says. "No harm, no foul and life goes on."
"But…"
"Good night," Emma says. She and Killian's fingers interlock and they head towards the car.
"We should go pick up Neal," Snow says to David, glad her daughter has come up with the most reasonable plan. They get up from the picnic table with their hot chocolates and also head towards the street.
"We should too," Belle agrees.
"Yes, get my son away from those fleas as soon as possible," the Dark One grunts.
"Rumple, he's not going to turn into a fairy just because he spent an hour with them," she says.
"But…" Regina says.
"Face it, Gina," Crystal says, using the annoying nickname to get a little even with her. "You've been outvoted. Do yourself a favour, go home and get some sleep."
The young woman hops off the table and begins walking towards her apartment.
"And next time think about your ideas before drawing snap conclusions," she adds before turning a corner out of sight, leaving the former Evil Queen and mayor of the town speechless.
…
Crystal takes another couple of sips of her drink before turning towards home. It will take her by Granny's Bed and Breakfast so she can ensure that the guests are settled and not snooping around.
She can guess which windows are being used because one has its lights on and the other has its curtains drawn, empty rooms always had their curtains open to let in natural light and advertise the view of either the forest or the square.
However, as she's walking, she hears a strange swooshing noise. Maybe one of the strangers decided to open the window for some fresh air. She does a second glance and freezes in her tracks. Crystal rubs her eyes to make sure she's not seeing things.
Sure enough, when she looks again, she sees a man hanging out the window.
Based on the way he's dangling, the colour of his coat, the strange metal object with the green tip in his hand, and the fact that no sane person would go out the window unless escaping some kind of peril, she guesses that it's the Doctor.
While tired and wanting to go home, she's curious about this alien and his goofy personality was quite entertaining. Unlike Regina, Crystal believes that this guy is not a danger to the town and that everything that happened was an accident… certainly not her fault.
"Bloody…" he's grunting as he tries to lower himself down. "Why are there no soft shrubberies under the window to land in?"
The Time Lord tries to look for the best place to land but has to keep kicking himself away from the building to avoid dragging and ruining his clothing and having the best landing possible.
Finally, he lets go and lands on his feet, but a shooting pain goes through his left ankle.
He grimaces in pain and scans his ankle with the screwdriver, a little banged up but nothing to worry about.
While he could be sleeping or guarding the Pond's door, the Doctor was never one to stay in one place for very long, plus if there was a threat hidden in this town somewhere, he had to find it and protect those he cared about.
He begins to walk along, hopping through the garden beside the Bed and Breakfast before reaching the sidewalk.
Crystal slides into the shadows, behind one of the trees in the small garden, not the best cover but this alien was so distracted, he'd never notice that he was being followed.
"All right now Storybrooke, reveal your secrets to me," he says aloud.
He crosses the street, continuing to scan around and gather as much intel as he can.
When there's a considerable distance between them, Crystal follows, careful not to get too close. She uses a tiny bit of magic to enhance her hearing so she can listen to what he's saying.
The Doctor walks along the sidewalk of Main Street, peeking into shop windows, scanning for anomalies, and muttering to himself.
"No animated plant life?" he asks, poking some flowers planted in a window box in front of Archie's Psychiatrist's office and flinches as if it's going to attack. When nothing happens, he checks the sign.
"Psychiatric assistance," he reads aloud. "Perhaps more is needed if they believe in magic."
Crystal rolls her eyes at that.
"Any subterranean systems?" he asks himself. "Perhaps Groblites or those ancient moles dwelling below…" A quick scan reveals nothing beneath the streets. "Or the Blue-light ants… Hmmm… Some subterranean tunnels with igneous formations… majority have collapsed…"
He looks into a sewer grate to double-check for any glowing orange eyes or blue ants.
The thought that the Doctor was detecting the cave that dragon Maleficent had once dwelled in, springs to mind.
Finally, Eleven loses interest in the ground and goes to a nearby building. He knocks on it in a rhythmic pattern.
"Egg sacks hidden within brick walls?" he ponders. When nothing happens, he scans and then moves on.
"Any electrical anomalies?" he gazes up at the powerlines. "Eilphi organisms?"
One might assume that the daughter of the Dark One would become bored with all the starting and stopping, like a dog that must stop and sniff everything, but what's keeping her interested and continuing to follow is his constant thinking out loud. The stuff he's mentioning sounds like something out of a 50s B movie or a science fiction novel. Egg sacks in the bricks? Blue ants? Whatever those organisms are. This guy either has the most amazing imagination or he really gets around the galaxy. Some of these things sound extremely scary and bizarre, making the young woman thankful that Earth is as normal as it can be.
You do get around Doctor, she thinks to herself.
What causes her to pause is when the alien reaches her father's pawnshop. While it can look like a normal antique shop, Crystal begins to worry that there might be magical objects in there that the Doctor will detect with his device. She swallows and gets a little closer, knowing she might have to do something to dissuade his curiosity in their town. He's suspicious and not getting the results he's expecting but Storybrooke is fairly normal… except for the magic.
The Time Lord gazes inside the pawnshop, cupping his hands to get a better look through the window.
"Interesting Antiquities," he says.
"You know, there's an old saying that goes: stick thy nose, not in others' business," a voice calls out from behind him.
The Doctor spins around and points his screwdriver at the source of the voice. The younger girl from earlier is sitting on a nearby bench with her arms crossed. She's giving him a smirk.
"Or maybe that's another thing your Gallifreyan planet doesn't teach its Time Lords."
"Have you… have you been following me?" Eleven asks.
"It's pretty hard to miss an alien dangling out the window of our local motel and then him using his screwdriver to scan everything in town. You know window shopping is better in the daytime, right?"
"I'm not window shopping," he grumbles.
"So, what are you doing then?" she asks.
The Time Lord flips his screwdriver once before pocketing it in his jacket before answering. "Nothing that concerns you."
"Well, you are in my town, walking in my streets and standing in front of my father's business, in the middle of the night. So, I'd say it does concern me. You know how that looks, right?"
"Yes, I do," he growls in annoyance.
"So why are you wandering the fair streets of Storybrooke? Are you sure you're not going to invade us? Bring your whole race to colonize Earth?"
"Invade? That would be rather impossible considering I'm the last of my kind,"
The grin on Crystal's face drops like a stone and guilt immediately fills her stomach for being so rude. She stands up from the bench and gets a little closer to the Doctor in case he needs comfort or support.
"I'm sorry… I…"
"No, I wouldn't expect you to know that… It happened almost a millennia ago and it's not something I like to think about, nor tell people about when I first meet them"
"A… millennia… how old are you?"
"1100 and 59 years… next month, give or take,"
"Oh God," Crystal says, having to grab the wall of her father's shop to steady herself with that information. She knew that Killian was probably 200 years or older, but that was because of Neverland and time stood still there… plus her dad was extremely old too, but he was immortal… this guy. "That's…interesting."
"Interesting for you… yes, but for me not so much."
"How…? How are you… how… why do you look so young then? Are your life cycles longer? Do you just stop ageing at a certain point like vampires? Are you immortal?"
"In a way, it's like immortality. Gallifreyans have long life spans in general. We can live for hundreds of years and not look a day older than the last. Gallifreyans, including Time Lords, can do something called Regeneration. When our bodies are old, or if we become fatally wounded or ill, our bodies will regenerate with a new face and body. Gender doesn't matter nor anything else."
"So… how many times have you regenerated?"
"Eleven."
"That explains why you've lived so long… so how…" the girl pauses, deciding not to ask about how or why he's the only one left of his species. "Never mind."
The Doctor knows what she was going to ask. "So how come I am the only one left of my species if we can all do that?" He pauses and swallows heavily.
"No, you don't have to tell me. We all have pasts that we don't want to think about. I'm sorry I asked."
The Time Lord looks over at the young woman and can tell immediately that she's thinking of her own past, the tears slowly swimming up into her blue eyes.
"Curiosity can both help and hinder one's ability to get to know one another," he replies.
"I think we're both curious of each other Doctor, the question is… are we willing to reveal each other's secrets?"
A/N: Please follow and review