I can feel his eyes on me.
He's watching me... waiting for something to happen... for me to speak first or move closer... or just do something... anything.
But I am content to just sit and read my book, Wuthering Heights, for the billionth time.
Any minute now he's going to initiate a conversation, I can feel it. That frustrated energy he has, desperate to just talk and clear the air. We haven't spoken since I woke up in the Medbay.
Except he doesn't.
After about five minutes of watching, he simply grabs a book from the shelf and moves to sit at a desk opposite me.
I take a second to observe the scene before me. The desk looks like it's made of some old rustic oak, with a glossy finish. There's a drawer half open that is stuffed full of paper and books.
This must be his desk, the other desks in the Tardis' library are bare, empty and impersonal. But this one, well, it's so very him.
He has sat with his back to me, which I am grateful for.
I watch on as he hunches over and begins quickly flicking through a book. His reading glasses are on and every so often he mumbles to himself, grabbing a pen and scribbling on the book.
Before long I relax and decide to go back to my own book. And quickly I become engrossed in it again.
Then I hear him get up, causing me to watch his movements. He doesn't go far, The Doctor simply grabs another book off the shelf and returns with it to his desk. He slams the old one closed and shoved it away from himself. Interesting.
What book could possibly be that frustrating?
I continue watching him, my own book sliding from my hands to settle on the sofa next to me.
The Doctor keeps up this routine of flicking through a book, annotating or grumbling at it and shoving it away.
In the end curiosity gets the better of me.
"What are you doing?" I question.
He starts, seemingly surprised at my presence and interaction.
"Oh, ummm...reading?" He answers.
"Are you always this bad at giving straight answers?" I complain.
At that he smirks.
"Only as bad as you are" he responds.
"No you are definitely worse" I shoot back unimpressed.
"I beg to differ" he retorts.
"Beg all you like, I'm better at telling you stuff than you are. I swear you don't tell me anything useful, all you do is tell me off or apologise" I grower at him.
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed" he muses.
I am affronted. If this is his attempt and offering me an olive branch of friendship it's a pretty rubbish one!
"No I'm simply stating the truth" I bite back.
He pauses.
"Ok then Nadine, how are you feeling?" he begins.
"Fine" is my automatic response.
"See what I mean" he states although I'm not sure he's happy about apparently proving himself right.
"I am fine!" I snap back.
"Oh so you're totally fine with having nearly died on multiple occasions in a short amount of time? And you're fine with the fact that your unable to go home? Oh, and you're fine without you're medication. Oh, yes, because you're coping so well Nadine..." he rants at me.
Wow.
That hurt.
Fine, if that's how he wants to play it.
"Just because I'm stuck here, with you. Doesn't mean I have to like it, or like you in fact. Because I don't." I lie, just wanting to hurt him back.
"Oh really! I hadn't noticed!" is the sarcastic response I get.
God, he's so annoying.
I decide to take a different approach.
I grab the current book he's reading off the desk, snatching it up and walking away from him to read it's contents.
It makes no sense, it's just confusing theories and maths.
I snap it shut in annoyance. Well, that didn't work the way I was hoping it would.
Then I glance at the cover.
I stop dead in my tracks.
"Humanity and the predisposition of time travel" I read aloud.
What?
"Nadine, give it back, it's nothing. Just a project, a hobby..." The Doctor moves to take it out of my hands.
I stuff it on a shelf as he moves to take it back.
In the meantime I shoot over to the desk and open the drawer full of paperwork and other books.
Humanity and Strange Cases
Species with Innate Time Travel
The Art of Atom Transfer and its Application to Sentient Beings
Molecular Time Travel: Experimental Conclusions.
Hold on...
That's my name.
I grab a document with my name at the top.
It's like a medical record.
There are details about my blood type and images of a brain scan.
There is a section that reads Artron Count- 100rp•
It's circled in red pen.
I turn towards the Doctor. Furious.
He's stood right behind me.
"Look Nadine, I can explain" he stutters.
"What is this?!" I demand.
"I'm trying to find out what happened, why you jump along my timeline. I'm trying to help, I swear!" He defends.
"Oh, so you really do want rid of me! All this time, everything bow tie said!!" I rant.
He quickly cuts me off.
"Spoilers!"
That doesn't help.
"I really am just an inconvenience to you..." I say more to myself really, I mean I know I thought it before, but this is proof.
"Now Nadine, no that's not... look, you've misunderstood" he begins.
I don't care.
I don't want to hear it.
"So how close are you to fixing it, fixing me?" I ask him, a desperate tone to my voice.
He sighs.
"I haven't found anything much, except that it's related to artron energy and I have a theory but it's in the very early stages" He explains.
"What's your theory?" I cut him off.
"I mean it's not based on much yet, I'm still exploring other factors" he goes off on some tangent.
"Tell me!" I demand.
He sighs again.
"Artron energy can be used to displace people, I think you've been displaced. But that's only half of the picture, this can't have been an accident. It's too precise. If you just moved randomly then it would explain it, but you're strictly fixed to my timeline, always appearing within close proximity" he continues.
"You think someone did this to me?" I cut to the chase.
"Now, let's not rush into anything, I can't be sure. But yes, that is a possibility" he resigns.
"Was it that woman?" An idea suddenly springs to me.
"Woman?" He repeats back.
"Eyepatch lady, she said something about it not working if I wasn't with you, I swear, she moved me!" I rant, suddenly thinking back to those times when she randomly appeared right before me.
My breath comes out in shudders, I'm starting to panic. This could be really bad, what does she want with me?
"Nadine, Nadine! Slow down, I don't understand, when did you see her? I need more information" he grasps me by my shoulders, forcing my attention on him.
"I don't know... umm... before, at platform one, after we had our fight and you left" I recall.
"Right.. well, that could just be the stress and panic, you were in a highly emotional situation. And you did say that when you landed after that you kept having episodes in hospital. This might not be connected" he explains.
I know I'm not mad. This wasn't an episode, this was something else!
"You told me I wasn't crazy!! You said..." I shout back.
"I know, I know... but that doesn't mean" he begins.
"No, no I'm telling you this was real. This wasn't the first time I saw her!" I continue.
"Right, well, an eyepatch you said?" He speaks placatingly.
I nod.
"Ok, I will look into it. See what I can find" he attempts.
I glare at him.
"Don't patronise me" I deadpan.
"I'm not!" He responds.
"You don't believe me" I realise.
"I didn't say that... it's just, you've experienced trauma, you've been stressed and exhausted. It could just be a product of that" he explains softly.
"Right" I reply, I don't believe him for one second.
"You must be hungry, I know I am. Why don't I go and find Martha and we can go to this restaurant where you inhale your meal, it's made up of specific gasses that contain all the nutrients in a meal... except it's in a bubble that you inhale!" Great diversion tactic Doctor. Not.
I resign myself to agreeing. And he rushes off to find Martha.
I move to sit back on the sofa, processing what just happened.
I don't know what to think.
I don't know where the Doctor and I stand, or what's causing me to jump, or who that woman is.
I have no idea, and it's too much to think about.
A tear slides down my cheek.
I sigh and grasp my book, Wuthering Heights.
I turn to page 162
I knew he would detest you, on my account, so for your own good, and nothing else, I took precautions...
Quickly I find myself lost in the novel, gladly entering to world of fiction. Far better than the real one.