Word Count: 6,447
"What is it now, Sergeant?"
He could hear Benton stammering on the other end of the line. "Well, sir, there's been a security breach. A woman seems to have broken in to the Doctor's laboratory, sir."
The Brigadier let his head fall into his hand. He'd only been gone for three days and already the entire operation was beginning to fall apart? "Is the breach at least contained, Benton?"
"Yes, sir. There haven't been any other problems since we got her into custody in the detention center. But... well, there's something strange about her, sir."
"I don't pay you for your commentary, man, I pay you to get the job done."
It was impossible for him not to notice the way the Doctor hovered on the other end of the room, one bushy eyebrow raised over a smug smile. That blasted alien was always eager to enjoy anything that happened at his expense!
"She keeps asking for the Doctor. Says he knows her and can vouch for her."
"Oh?" The Brigadier finally caught the Time Lord's eye. "What's this woman's name?"
"Miss Diana Summers, sir."
The name was almost familiar to him, although he couldn't place a face to it. So he motioned for the Doctor to come closer and asked, "Doctor, do you happen to know a woman by the name of Diana Summers?"
Two large hands slammed onto the Brigadier's desk and a pair of wild, steely eyes bored into him. "Is she here?"
The Brigadier leaned back in his seat just slightly. Neither this Doctor nor the previous one had ever been frantic enough to make him want to back away slowly as if they were a wild animal, not like this. But that was when he realized that he did recognize the woman's name. In fact, he could summon a hazy picture of her face. She was one of the previous Doctor's friends who had helped them fight off those monstrous Yetis and again against the Cybermen, but neither she nor the Scotsman and his plucky young lady friends had returned to HQ with the new Doctor. He'd simply assumed that this Doctor traveled alone by choice and left it at that.
"Lethbridge-Stewart, answer me! Is Diana here?"
He shook his head to clear his thoughts and nodded up at the Doctor. "It seems so. She broke into your laboratory and was taken into custody."
The Doctor was out the door before the Brigadier could blink. He dashed out of his chair, phone forgotten, and ran after the fool with a sinking feeling in his abdomen.
"Doctor! Doctor, I forbid you from leaving!" But the Doctor kept running down the hall with that ridiculous black cape billowing in the air. Liz Shaw happened to turn the corner then at the very end of the hall and the Brigadier knew she would probably be the last and only thing to stop their scientific advisor from abandoning the mission entirely. "Liz! The doors!"
She perked her head up as the Doctor came barreling toward her, glancing at the Brigadier and then at the doors to her immediate right. In a moment of sheer brilliance, she braced herself in front of them with her eyes flashing dangerously. Even a man like the Brigadier might have backtracked if she'd looked at him like that. The Doctor came to a screeching halt and very nearly knocked her over, but she stood her ground beautifully.
"Liz, let me pass."
"Doctor," the Brigadier snapped between quick gasps for air as he finally caught up, "we are in the middle of an investigation. This Silurian business, the murders, the power drains-."
"Brigadier-."
"We are representatives of UNIT acting under the guidance and orders of the United Nations. You are an intergovernmental employee and your job is here, investigating! Now I realize that Miss Summers is a friend of yours-."
"She's more than that, Brigadier," the Doctor snapped back.
"Be that as it may! Your place, for now, is here. The moment this business is cleared up, you and Miss Shaw may return to HQ and see Miss Summers. But until that very moment, Doctor, you will remain here and continue to do the job I pay you for. Is that quite understood?"
Liz was looking between them, quiet as a mouse but observing everything with her usual keen and clever attention to detail. The Doctor, however, refused to meet the Brigadier's eyes. He didn't particularly care one way or the other if the Time Lord made eye contact or not, all he wanted was an affirmative response and an end to the whole mess that the blasted nuclear facility had put them into in the first place.
"Well?"
The Doctor huffed. "It is understood, Brigadier. And it is also understood that you know very little of anything else!"
It had only been a few hours after I was placed under supervision that Sergeant Benton returned to inform me that I was no longer under arrest and there would be no charges pressed, but I would need to stay in the detention center until the Doctor and the Brigadier returned to formally clear my name.
I wasn't sure how long it would take for the Doctor to return and I didn't even know where he was or what he was doing, but Benton was very kind and eager to make my stay as comfortable as possible. He brought in extra pillows and blankets to my holding cell, which was to become my new home while everyone was away, a second mattress for me to stack onto the first, and accompanied me on walks to the cafeteria and the gardens outside. He had apparently not recognized me when I first arrived, but did after a phone call to the Brigadier and remembered me from the Cyberman attacks two years prior when he was still a corporal.
My first night in UNIT HQ was uncomfortable and cold and eerily quiet, seeing as only a skeleton crew remained behind to keep watch over myself and the premises, but Benton's extra bedding didn't go unused and I showered him in thanks the next morning. That day followed the same as before with a few short walks and three precisely scheduled meals in the cafeteria, with the addition of lots of legal paperwork that earned me a few strange looks when I marked my date of birth as 1996.
The second night was about as uncomfortable as the first had been, albeit a little warmer, and the second day passed uneventfully until about an hour after sunset. The very last remnants of sunlight had just vanished from what little I could see of the sky in my cell and I was sipping on my third mug of citrus tea when the incoherent sound of shouting drifted down the hallways. The guard who had stayed behind to watch me, a Corporal Kempe, jerked out of his chair and hurried to the door.
"You stay here, ma'am," he said nervously before heading outside.
I set my mug on the floor near the wall and started to look around for something I could use to defend myself if need be. The detention officer's desk had an assortment of heavy items like a stapler, paper weight, and even his phone, and I figured I could even use the chair or perhaps my mug as a last resort.
"Out of my way, Corporal!" came a gruff voice just outside.
"You can't go in there-."
"I'm your chief scientific advisor, man, I can go wherever I damn well please!"
The door suddenly flew open and a tall mass of black, grey, and white burst into the room. It was a woman. She was older, perhaps around 50, with brown skin, bright grey eyes, and shockingly white eyebrows and short, curly hair. She was wearing a black two piece suit with a black cloak and tie, and a white button up underneath with ruffles poking out at the ends of her sleeves. I didn't recognize her face, but the magician outfit, bulbous nose, and bushy eyebrows told me all I needed to know.
"It's really you," she breathed, eyes wide and glossy.
I hardly dared to breathe. "Doctor?"
She swept across the floor and into the cell in an instant, pulling me into her arms with an air of desperation that almost frightened me. My arms went around her back out of instinct, but her hands were intimately seeking me out - on my spine, at the base of my neck, in my hair. Then she retreated and moved her hands to cup my cheeks, angling my face toward hers until she was all I could see.
"I thought I might never see you again." Her thumb rubbed gently over my cheekbone and my heart skipped in response. "The Time Lords. Did they hurt you?"
Time Lords? I frowned, almost flinching out of the Doctor's reach. "How do you-?" I stopped almost as quickly as I had started. She wasn't talking about Division, but the trial that had wiped Jamie and Zoe's memories and banished her to Earth, the trial that had killed the old Doctor and forced her to regenerate. Shit. "Uh, no. No, I'm okay. I haven't- I wasn't there. I don't know what happened."
The tender, worried expression on the Doctor's face faltered and morphed into one of perplexity. "You don't know?" Her eyes flitted across my face, gray eyelashes sweeping low enough to almost graze her cheeks.
An almost memory shot through my skin and bone into my brain, a memory that wasn't mine. I was gazing down at myself, holding the other me's hands except my hands weren't my own. They were rough and calloused, slightly larger than they should have been, and framed by the sleeves of a dark suit coat. The other me had tears in her eyes. A raggedy bow tie that could only have belonged to the Second Doctor was wrapped around our joined hands. I, the one in the dark coat, leaned forward with my eyes on the other Diana's lips and then-.
The image disappeared without warning and the Doctor's hands fell from my face, leaving me reeling from the sudden intrusion and the chaos that seemed to radiate from the memory itself. Had that actually happened? Was it Two's memory?
"Apologies," she muttered as she turned away from me, fingers curling over her mouth.
"Wait, what was that?" I asked.
But the Doctor had already exited the cell. The Corporal had returned, accompanied by the strikingly familiar Elizabeth Shaw, and they were both standing near the main door. Kempe had the decency to pretend he hadn't been watching us, but Liz didn't seem intimidated by the Doctor's towering presence or the sudden shift in her mood.
"My dear Corporal," the Doctor began, her voice strained and her tone foul, "would you care to explain to me why, if Miss Summers has been cleared of all accusations, she remains in this dismal cell like a common criminal?"
Kempe swallowed nervously. "It was the Brigadier's orders, sir. He said Miss Summers was no longer charged and free to visit any civilian cleared areas of HQ, b-but..." He faltered as the Doctor came close and arched her neck over him like a bird eyeing its prey. "That she was to remain under supervision in the detention center until he returned. That's all I was told, sir."
The Doctor dismissed him with a scoff and a wave of her hand. To me, she extended an arm and motioned for me to step out of the cell. "Come along, my dear. We're going."
Kempe moved to stand in front of the main door. "I'm sorry, sir, but she's not allowed to leave. She's under my supervision and I'm under the Brigadier's orders-."
"Oh, bother the Brigadier! My-." She bit hard on the swell of her lower lip. "My friend is not spending another night here. I don't care what your orders are, Corporal, and frankly, I don't care if I'm an intergovernmental employee under the auspices of Mickey Mouse. We're leaving. And you can tell that to the Brigadier."
Her grip was firm and surprisingly warm, insistent and urgent. I let myself be pulled from within the cell, past Kempe and Liz, and into the dimly lit hallway. There was no way I was protesting getting out of that cell, but I was curious to know where we were going. Among other things. Like why was the Doctor so agitated? Was there more to that memory and what was it even about? Why on Earth was she a woman and not Jon Pertwee?
The Doctor was mumbling under her breath as she guided me around corners and down corridors I hadn't seen yet. "Of all the impertinent, asinine, damfool-!" Her fingers tightened painfully around mine, but I was too stunned and too wary to ask her to release me so I suffered in silence. "If there was one thing my people ever got right, it's that humankind is woefully ignorant of anything past the end of its own nose. They're all beef-faced, half-witted scrubs and I'm stuck here with the lot of them!"
I suddenly found my shoes to be very interesting. What does one say to someone when they aren't quite what you expected, when they are mid-tirade and you hardly know them and you have nowhere else to go? Even more so, what does one say when said person is insulted on your behalf for something you're not even upset about?
I think she heard, or at least picked up on, those thoughts as they tumbled around inside my brain. Her pace slowed to a more easygoing rate and the grip on my hand lessened, prompting me to steal a peek at her face. Her face was directed forward, but her eyes darted to me just long enough to see that I was watching. She grimaced.
"I'm sorry, my dear," she sighed. "I don't mean to lose my temper, but this is the straw that breaks the camel's back, I'm afraid. The audacity to lock you up, it just bungles the mind."
"I know," I said softly, "but it's really okay. Nobody hurt me. Sergeant Benton even got me extra pillows and stuff to make sure I was comfortable. And to be fair, I did just show up out the blue like I broke in. I don't blame them for thinking that."
The Doctor hummed thoughtfully as she considered me. "Yes, how did you manage it, by the way?"
I thought of Karvanista and the other Doctor and smiled a little sadly. Little Kahshi. I hoped they were alright despite helping me.
"Vortex manipulator."
"You still have that lump of junk?"
"It saved my life, so I don't really care what it is," I replied with a shrug. Curious that she already knows I have one this early. "I'm just glad I'm here." And not under space police jurisdiction.
A warm, buzzing feeling slid down from my sternum to my stomach when the Doctor answered in a low voice, "So am I", and I hoped that she couldn't see me blush in the muted lighting.
The laboratory was much the same as it had been when I first arrived, with the TARDIS console smack dab in the center, although the shattered glass and toppled stools had been cleaned up. The TARDIS itself remained in the corner as a beacon of familiarity in a world that continued to rattle me every time I thought I had it figured out. At least she hadn't changed, at least she was still the sturdy blue box that I had always known, even if she was in the middle of being gutted.
"You'll, er, pardon the mess," the Doctor said as we picked our way around the console and toward the ship.
"It's okay," I laughed. "I don't know how you got it out here, though. Did you have to take the whole thing apart?"
"Trust me, my dear, you really don't want to know."
With the TARDIS doors unlocked, the Doctor pressed her palms against them and let them swing open. The inside looked hauntingly barren, but still recognizable due to the roundels on the walls. I followed the Doctor inside and waited patiently as she closed the doors behind us and pocketed the key.
"Here we are, then. Home sweet home."
I wasn't sure what to say again, except for maybe, "Thank you."
An almost bashful expression seemed to come over the Doctor's face as she scratched at the back of her neck with her head tilted toward the floor. "I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner. There was some business up in Derbyshire with Silurians and-."
"I know, they told me."
"I see. Well, I'm sorry all the same."
"It's okay."
We glanced awkwardly at each other as the silence continued. I took in the gentle crows-feet at her eyes and the laughter lines around her mouth, the way the overhead lights cast shadows from her eyebrows and nose that stretched down over her face. The pinkie ring at her left hand sparkled as she scratched a spot on her jaw, but her ring finger was noticeably bare.
"Something the matter?" she asked innocently.
Dammit, I was staring. I shook my head 'no' and turned my attention to the empty hole in the floor where the console should have been.
"But...?"
"But what?" I said, still refusing to look at her while the fire in my cheeks continued to rage.
"I'm not what you expected."
That got my attention and I snapped my head around to face her again. "What do you mean?"
Her lips cracked into a lopsided smile as she slipped one hand into her coat pocket, the thumb sticking out, and rubbed the other hand over the back of her neck. "Your thoughts can be rather loud, my dear, and I'm afraid I heard you thinking something along those lines. Tell me, who is Jon Pertwee?"
A string of anxious, giddy laughter tickled at the base of my throat that soon had me doubled over. "I'm- I'm sorry," I squeaked between giggles. "I'm sorry, it's not funny." I took a few deep breaths to steady myself, but my body was still shaking with the effort of holding my laughter in. "You would not believe the shit I've been through the last few days and this? This is just... the icing on the cake."
The Doctor harumphed. "I don't see what's so funny," she grumbled.
"Jon Pertwee is the man who, uh... Hm." I wasn't sure what the Doctor's past held concerning me, what I had told her about myself, and if she was going to react like the Fugitive had, then I wasn't sure I wanted to go through the trouble of explaining it again. "Have I told you anything about how I know about you?"
"About that clever little show detailing my life, you mean? Yes, you've told me."
Oh. I could feel my shoulders immediately release all of the tension that had bunched up between them. Thank God.
"Okay, well, Jon Pertwee is the man who played you on the show." I tilted my head to one side as I looked over her face again. I could suddenly see the resemblance between them in the shape of her nose and brows, in how she smiled, and the almost lisp that poked out every now and then. "You kind of look like him."
I watched the way the Doctor tried to fight against a smirk, but it won out anyway and she lifted her chin a little higher once it did. "Fortunate man. I have quite a distinguished air about me, wouldn't you say?"
Oh and you know it. "Somebody thinks very highly of herself," I chose to say instead. Teasingly, playfully. With an unconscious, unintentional flutter of my lashes in her direction.
It was a blurry sort of morning, if it was even morning at all. I'd barely managed to take a shower and rid myself of about three days' worth of Sri Lankan sweat and prison grime before completely passing out in my bed the last night, too tired to even dream. But now that I was feeling properly energized, I was ready to go out and join the world of the living. And the Doctor.
My face grew hot just thinking about her. I thought I'd started to figure out this new universe by now, that there wasn't a whole lot that it could throw at me anymore now that I knew Daleks and Time Lords existed. This female version of the Doctor, though, was throwing me for a massive loop. She was so much like the Doctor from my universe, there were times where I swore she sounded just like him, where I was sure she was just as cheeky and charming and brilliant as Jon Pertwee was, even just from the few moments I'd spent with her. Mostly, though, I thought she was pretty. Really pretty. I liked her eyelashes and the swirling depths of her eyes, the way the ruffles lay just so against her wrists. Oh, her hands...
Right. I was letting my thoughts run away from me again. I had other things to worry about! Division, Kahshi, important things that had a much higher priority than my instant crush on this newly familiar Doctor. As much as I wanted to stay with Three for a while, enjoy the slamming seventies (or whatever the era was called) and go full hippie, explore a time I'd never seen before, I still wasn't sure it was safe. Karvanista had mentioned a tracking device - what if he'd gotten caught trying to disable it? what even was it? was it possible for Gat to reactivate it and track me down all over again? There wasn't a single doubt in my mind that she would incapacitate me on the spot the next time we met, probably truss me up like a fatted calf and drag me to Division headquarters herself.
Whether the device was disabled or not, one thing was absolutely certain - I needed to be more adept at defending myself. Could I throw a mean punch if I really needed to? Sure. I'd thrown a chair at that one guy back in Mercy, but not every planet was guaranteed to have one. I could fire a gun if I needed to, I was just familiar enough to know how to handle one, but it wasn't my style. No, I needed a foolproof way of keeping myself safe and out of danger. Self defense. Funny, then, that I should wind up with the one Doctor who was most well known for his- er, her (their?) talents in the realm of martial arts. Call it kismet. Or fate.
With my next course of action decided, I finally rolled out of bed and set to work on making myself presentable. Freshly cleaned glasses, braids and a bandana, a very funky retro kaftan with brown go-go boots (full native and perfect for running in), and my locket would be perfect-
My locket. Where? I raced into my bedroom, frantically tearing at the sheets, rummaging through my shoulder bag. No no no no no no, where is it? How could I have lost it? And then I remembered. The Fugitive Doctor, that planet, me trying so desperately to convince her of the truth. I'd taken off the necklace to prove it to her, put it right in her hands along with the letter. Shit. Shit! How was I supposed to get those back? That necklace, the letter, the fact that the Doctor had signed his nickname on it, they were irreplaceable and I'd gone and lost them like an idiot.
My head fell into my hands as I plopped onto the edge of the mattress, huffing in resignation. God, how could I be so stupid? What had I been thinking? Well, I hadn't, that was just the problem. I was mostly sure the Doctor wouldn't just discard them, she'd likely want to hold on to them and inspect them when she had the time, but how was I supposed to track her down? She was Division.
Shit.
A burning ache had started up between my eyes and it only worsened the longer I stressed about it. Even my stomach had properly woken up and had started gurgling at me. Food, I needed food. That would make me feel better. And then I could think properly, talk to the Doctor about her giving me some aikido training, and then I'd be prepared. More prepared. Somewhat prepared. Ugh, what a mess I'd made of things.
"... blatantly disregarded my orders!"
That sounded like... the Brigadier? I almost tripped over my own feet as I picked my way through the remains of the console room. The UNIT era was a favorite of mine and to actually be able to meet the Brigadier was so exciting that I was starting to get ahead of myself. Except he sounded like he was in a really crappy mood. That and I hadn't been in one of the classic TARDISes before and I wasn't seeing a door handle anywhere. All in all, not so great.
"I'm my own person, Brigadier, I may come and go as I please." The Doctor. She sounded agitated as well.
"And I am the commanding officer of the British contingent of the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce and that means that my orders are, at the very least, above your paygrade, Doctor. Do remember that you answer to me."
"Do you know what's above your paygrade, Brigadier?" There was a beat of silence. "Diana is my wife."
The conviction with which she stated it nearly knocked my feet out from under me. There was so much emotion in so few words, so much pride and obvious love, so much of that tenacity and courage required to stand by one's partner through thick and thin. I could hear it all in her voice as plain as day. And as I recalled the way she held me the previous night, the way she stormed into my cell like a storm, all lightning and fierce winds and stormy shades of gray, I felt my entire face flush with heat. I hadn't been entirely sure what to make of it all then, but with some solid rest it occurred to me just how emotional she'd been about our reunion and it struck me as a little odd. Not because the Doctor was incapable of strong emotions, but that she harbored them for me this early on. I hadn't even dared to think she would... I mean, this early in her travels... And for me?
And then I realized the gravity of what the Doctor had just admitted. 1970 was at least thirty years from the first legalized same-sex marriage in the modern era, if I remembered correctly, and I wasn't sure what the laws were in the UK, but I knew that plenty of countries still upheld anti-gay laws punishable by prison time even in the 70's. Not to mention that the Brigadier might be a secret homophobe and this could be what finally made him snap. Not that I actually believed that for a second; Alistair had always struck me as a decent and honorable man who wouldn't judge someone for things like that, but I couldn't shake the paranoia all the same. There was still a lot on my mind to be worried, things more serious than this. I just hadn't expected to be outed like that.
The Doctor, as they always seemed to be across the incarnations, was apparently unbothered by the weight of her revelation as she continued. "And as difficult as it may be for you to wrap your militarized mind around the concept of basic empathy, I implore you to try, especially after you chose to blow an entire species to kingdom come yesterday!"
The silence that seeped under the doors and into my bones was borderline unbearable. I could only imagine the expression on the Brigadier's face as he digested the fact that his alien scientific officer was apparently also gay. Did the Doctor understand how important that information was and how careful she needed to be about it? What if someone had overheard? Hell, did she even know that I had overheard?
"Right," said the Brigadier, finally, coughing a bit to disrupt the awkwardness. "Well, wife or not, Doctor, she still needs a background clearance to be on premises. I'll meet her in my office when she's awake to discuss the specifics."
I thought I could make out the sound of his boots and for a very long moment, there was no other sound. Nothing from the Doctor, not even from the TARDIS apart from her usual ambient buzzing. Just as I decided to attempt heading outside and ask the Doctor what was going on and where exactly I ought to go to meet with the Brig, the doors opened and the woman herself stepped inside. She was mid sigh, a hand in her hair, frowning so severely that her entire face had crinkled as a result, but her entire demeanor brightened upon seeing me.
"Diana. There you are."
"Hi," I said a little timidly. "What's up?"
She looked for a moment like she wanted to run away from the idea of the conversation, but after a heartbeat she let her shoulders and her chin drop. "I suppose you heard all that."
I smiled apologetically. "Oh, just a little bit. I'm sorry."
"No, my dear, I'm sorry you had to find out that way. That wasn't how I would have preferred to tell you." There was something terribly sad in her eyes that broke my heart. "I know you're still quite new to all this."
"Not as new as you might think. I've suspected for a long time that we were... you know, one day... I knew for certain just recently. It's, it's okay, Doctor. Really."
This didn't seem to be the response she had anticipated. Her eyes fluttered all across my face, searching, scanning, for what I wasn't sure. The frown lines around her mouth deepened momentarily. "You'd better get a move on," she finally sighed. "The Brigadier's expecting you, something to do with paperwork."
Ah, yes, probably to go over the fact that I'd put my date of birth as 29 years into the future and in another country. That wasn't going to get me cleared, that was going to get me sent to a psychiatrist. "Look, um, I don't suppose you'd mind going with me, would you?" The expression shot my way told me that yes, she absolutely did mind, which made me grimace. "I know you're not getting along right now, but if I need a background check, they're going to find it a little impossible since I technically don't exist in this universe. I need someone with me who can back me up."
The Doctor smiled, this time no tension and all gentle understanding. She nodded. "Of course." An arm was offered and I took it without hesitation. "Shall we?"
"You know, this is all highly irregular," said the Brigadier, one eyebrow arched in a very dissatisfied manner.
I nodded. "Yes, sir, I understand. But it's not like it was voluntary."
I cringed the moment the words left me. Your wife is literally right there, idiot. My wife. The Doctor. Weird. But she was indeed sitting next to me, attempting to argue on my behalf with a bunch of complicated jargon that I could barely keep up with, let alone the Brigadier. And I knew it had to sting, the reminder that I hadn't chosen to be here, I hadn't chosen her. No time to apologize now, just keep going.
"If I had the right identification, I'd give it to you, but I have nothing. The Doctor can vouch for me, but..."
"I'm afraid word of mouth simply isn't enough for clearance onto a military base, Miss Summers."
"There must be something you can do," the Doctor interjected. "Some insignificant rule you can overlook this once. You remember what she's done for UNIT before, with the Yetis? Surely that counts for something."
The Brigadier sighed. "Not enough." His tone and expression were decidedly more negative when he addressed the Doctor, but when he turned his attention fully to me, he softened. "I am sorry. It's nothing personal, you see, but the security of this facility falls to me and there are some rules which simply cannot be bent."
"I understand." And I did. Growing up with military family, I understood better than most how delicate these things were and it was likely that he'd already relaxed a lot of the usual regulations to avoid keeping me in custody. I did show up under suspicious circumstances and with a gun, after all. "No offense taken, Brigadier."
He nodded, quickly shuffling my paperwork into a stack and clipping it together before finally standing. "I'll allow you the rest of the day to gather your things, but I'll need you off premises by 1700 hours." One of the drawers in his desk was opened and the Division issue blaster was handed over. "I believe this is yours?"
The Doctor immediately bristled. I might have left that detail out when explaining things.
"Thanks," I mumbled rather sheepishly. No pants, no holster, nowhere to stick it for the time being other than to awkwardly hold it. I wasn't even sure how to put the safety on. Did it come with a safety? I glanced at the Doctor and wanted to wither away under her stony gaze and flashing eyes. Oh, great job, Di, real nice. "I'll just... head out. Thank you."
I felt so out of place, so massively and blatantly out of my comfort zone, it was almost as bad as being caught 2,000 years in the past. No identification, no proof of my existence, no friends among UNIT's ranks (except for Benton, but it was starting to look like I'd never see him again), and a fancy gun that was only serving to encourage the Doctor's already poor mood. The whole time the Doctor and the Brig had been gone, I'd been struggling to commit the facility to memory so that I could find my way around once things settled down. I'd just assumed I'd become a part of UNIT like the Doctor had, like Jo and Sarah Jane, assuming Karvanista really did block that tracker and Division didn't come after me again; it had never occurred to me there was any other option. Perhaps it was best for me to just move on?
It wasn't until we returned to the TARDIS that the Doctor finally spoke up, although it was more to herself. She'd started looking around the lab, mumbling into her hand as she strode about the room. She was not happy. Traces of her thoughts came out every now and then, something about the Brigadier and "idiot", "ridiculous", "unbelievable". Not that I blamed her - if my spouse had been barred from my workplace due to forces outside her control, I'd be pretty peeved, too.
"It's okay, you know. Really, I'm not upset."
She didn't answer.
"Doctor."
Again, nothing, just more and more pacing and aggravated mumbling.
"Doctor," I tried again, firmer this time. "Hey."
"He's a fool," she snapped, whirling around on me with the fiercest frown I'd ever seen on her. "He has absolutely no idea of what he's talking about!"
What could I possibly say? You're overreacting, calm down? Yeah, that'd go down about as well as a house fire. It's not a big deal, I'll just see myself out? Probably wouldn't be so bad, but she'd been so emotional when we reunited in the cell last night that I hated to cause her anymore distress, even accidentally. Still, it was the best solution - neither of us would be in trouble with UNIT, I could leave and prevent Gat from catching up with me, and the Doctor could continue doing what she did best, which was apparently getting into arguments with the Brigadier.
"Look." I fixed my attention on the gun, tracing the loosely Gallifreyan designs carved into the grip with my thumb. Easier that way. "I should probably go, anyways. The Brigadier's just trying to keep his people safe, that's his job. So I don't mind-"
"No."
I swallowed. Even just the timbre of her voice sounded dangerous. Just how angry was she?
"You're not leaving. I just got you back."
Oh, those eyes. They were different every regeneration, but somehow always exactly the same - ancient and knowing and sad. Look too long and it starts to hurt just how intense the soul behind them is. Whatever had happened before she came here, whatever had caused us to bind our hands together and weep while chaos rained down all around us, it still haunted her.
I'll come back, I wanted to say. Let me skip forward a bit, past your exile, and then it won't matter anymore. But I knew that wasn't going to work with her in this state. Better to save my breath than to try and argue with the Oncoming Storm.
"If the Brigadier wants you to leave, then so be it. He'll just have to find himself a new scientific advisor."
Coming up - reasoning with a Time Lord proves to be more difficult than Di had anticipated and she struggles to understand the Doctor's fear of letting her go, meanwhile the Brigadier has to track down his missing (and most irritating) staff member.
I also wanted to let everyone know that college is starting back up for me next week and while I will be trying to update this story, those updates may dwindle. If anyone still reads this thing, I'm eager to show you the coming chapters in Di and the Doctor's life together!