Chapter 35 The One Where They Just Observe
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I've created a lil pinterest board for Florence! www . pinterest . co . uk / comebacksoonx / florence /
Remove the spaces and there you have it!
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Five days after the events in the countryside, Florence was still in Cardiff. While she wasn't best pleased about her confinement to the Hub (the team's fond name for their top secret lair), Jack was more than happy to be keeping a close eye on her. He hadn't let her out of his sight, bar trips to the toilet and the occasional checkup with Owen to see how her throat was fairing. A few days of vocal rest had helped the bruising go from black and blue to a cool shade of lime green and browns in no time. She had spent the last few days watching intently from various spinny chairs she set up camp in throughout the Hub as Tosh studied rift activity, Owen examined alien autopsies, and Jack showed her various artefacts the Institute had scavenged throughout its history.
In all honesty, apart from the excitement of the occasional arrival of a weevil brought in off the streets of Cardiff, Florence was bored. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the team's attempt to integrate her in their daily lives, nor Jack's attempt to bring her some sense of comfort and normality, it was that she just wanted to be as far away from earth as possible.
She hated even thinking that, she hated the idea that she had never felt so far from home, and she hated that every moment spent with these kind hearted strangers only served to remind her that she had nearly died at the hands of cannibals. Of human beings. She had almost died, alone, in the countryside, and the Doctor would have never known.
The Doctor.
She didn't want to think about the other reason she felt so out of place here, she couldn't bring herself to admit that she missed him. When she had reached for Jack in the dark slaughterhouse in the countryside, she had tried to imagine that the stiff wool of his jacket was tweed, or that she would open her eyes and it would be at least pinstriped, or to even hear soothing northern tones in her ear rather than American. That wasn't the case, she had screwed her eyes as tightly together as possible and willed herself to jump, she begged whatever was out there to send her far far away from where she was, to ignite the burning that coursed through her veins, pulsing under her skin, if it meant that she could be in his arms for one moment.
Instead, she had found herself helped gently into the passenger seat of the Torchwood SUV, her hands trembling as she clutched at the extra rips that had been made in her jeans, rubbing at the mud that was caked to her skin. She had pulled down the sun visor and stared at herself in the mirror, her neck was red, and all she could do was wait for the inevitable bruising to form, and brown smudges of mud covered her face. She raised a hand and swiped at the dirt, succeeding in only smearing it more over her cheeks. She began to rub harder, trying to remove all traces of the night's events from her face, the tears that finally fell from her eyes helping. Suddenly, the door behind her opened, and the presence of the Torchwood team pulled her from her daze. She flipped the visor back up and wiped her eyes once more, turning her face away in order to avoid direct eye contact with anyone.
That had continued for a few days, Florence aversion to joining in with the joking and laughter of the Torchwood team had led them to only try to encourage her to join in more. She could have resented them for it, she could have simply ignored Jack and fled back to London, damn the consequences of messing with the timeline.
But she didn't. She let herself be cooped up in the Hub like an invalid, all because of the damn hand in Jack's office.
"Stop it."
"Stop what?"
"You know what." Florence swivelled around in the chair to glare at the American who stood in the doorway.
"I'm not doing anything." Jack crossed the room and sat behind his desk, turning the jar that contained the Doctor's hand around to face him.
"You're staring at this hand like a puppy stares at the front door." Florence rolled her eyes.
"Give over, you're being dramatic." Jack smirked and crossed his arms.
"You're turning into me." Florence raised her eyebrows.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Jack smiled, and Florence thought it was worse than his insufferable smirk.
"Over 100 years I've spent here, waiting for a version of the Doctor to arrive that coincides with my timeline. I check every alien article, every gust of wind I think might be the TARDIS. But guess what, it's never him." Jack nodded to the jar on the desk. "So… I turn to this bad boy, looking for answers. Hoping it could track him for me. Next, you're gonna ask me to borrow my fancy high tech equipment to start rooting around to try and throw yourself into the rift." Florence pursed her lips. "Am I right?"
Florence shook her head. "No."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "No?"
"I wasn't going to ask."
He laughed at that, a full belly laugh that had Florence cracking the first smile she had in days.
She missed the Doctor, but she conceded that she rather enjoyed Captain Jack Harkness' company as well.
The moment she felt the first hint of pins and needles in her fingertips, she knew she was on her way back to him, she felt her eye twitching as a stabbing pain emanated from the back of her head. And she had never been more grateful for the pain. She tossed her head back with a groan, Owen looking up from his desk with a frown of confusion.
"Uh, alright over there?" Florence waved him off slightly,
"Fine, just… off again soon…" Owen dropped his pen, swivelling his chair around to face Florence, sitting on the sofa near his desk, eyes clenched tightly and hands fisted at her sides.
"Sorry, you just… know this?" She may not have been able to see him, but she could almost feel his eyes studying her intently.
"Kind of." She told him, through gritted teeth. "It's like… a burning… and then I'll open my eyes and-" She did as she had explained.
Darkness.
"Darkness" She muttered, the burning had reached her calves, as if she had climbed the height of the Eiffel Tower wearing platform heels, and she fell to her knees, bracing her hands against the pitch black that acted as the floor of wherever she was. She gritted her teeth through the pain, the only thing crossing her mind was him. As the cacophony of speech echoed around her, she closed her eyes and let images of tweed coats, leather jackets, and pinstriped suits flood her senses, stretching her fingers across the solid black beneath her as if she might feel the comforting material underneath them.
"Doctor." She hissed out, breathing heavily as she felt the burning in her lungs.
Suddenly, another memory fixed itself to the front of her mind, the sick smile twisting across an unshaven face, dirty hands wrapping tightly around her throat, the burning in her lungs now all too familiar.
"Flossie!" She couldn't open her eyes, she didn't want to. She was terrified that if she did she would be back lying on the dirt floor of the Welsh countryside, alone and struggling to breathe.
"Look at this, Flossie! New me, new TARDIS, new bow- Florence?" Suddenly hands were touching her, cradling her face, before trailing slightly down to the green bruises still littering her neck, but she jerked back, a sob escaping her throat.
"Please. Doctor." The hands were relentless, and they smoothed across her cheeks, thumbs sweeping across her eyelids gently.
"Florence, open your eyes." She shook her head. "Please, Florence it's me. Open your eyes." Familiar lips pressed themselves to her forehead. "I'm so sorry, Florence. I'm so sorry."
She took a deep breath, opening her eyes and seeing those ancient green eyes staring back at her in concern, floppy brown hair falling into them, which she knew would happen no matter how often he would push it back.
"Doctor." He nodded, smiling gently at her.
"It's me, Florence, it's me." Another sob wracked her body, before she pried her hands from the cool glass floor and launched herself forward, grappling for purchase of the tweed jacket in front of her. She buried her face in the space between his shoulder and his neck, her hands fisted in the fabric as she let out short sharp breaths, trying to control her racing heart.
"It's you." He stroked the back of her head, hands smoothing over her hair repetitively, soothingly.
"Where have you been, Florence? Where have you come from?"
"It was… they were…" She pried her head from his shoulder. "It was horrible."
"Past or future?"
"Present." Her lip trembled as she looked at him. "It was my year, those things were happening while I was just… finishing uni."
The Doctor frowned. "What happened, Florence? What was happening?"
"You weren't there." She finally confessed, and shook her head. "There was nothing… nothing alien about it. They were monsters. And Jack… he…" The Doctor closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers.
"Florence, please, please tell me you weren't with Torchwood."
"I was so scared." She pulled back and cupped his face similarly to how he had cupped her own only moments before. "All I wanted to do was see you." She ran her thumbs under his eyes as they opened. "Every time I closed my eyes I thought 'bring me back to him', and it never did." He raised his hands to the green bruises on the column of her neck, while her own dropped to hold tightly onto the lapels of his jacket. "We were in the countryside… there were people going missing. We went to find the creatures that did it, but they found us first." She shook her head. "They weren't creatures, they were human. They were humans and they… killed them all. They killed them and then they ate them… It was some kind of tradition, a Harvest he called it. And he… we escaped but he… He caught up with me and he pinned me down and he wrapped his hands around my neck." A dark look crossed the Doctor's face, his jaw clenching tightly as he let her speak. "The team found me, they found a police officer, but he was with them. I thought we were all gonna die, carved up and served at that fucking table in that disgusting house."
She took a shuddering breath.
"But Jack came. He saved us, the police came and they patched me up back at the Hub, and that was it. Just like that, we left and everything was normal again. There was paperwork and some cover up shit and then fucking pizza. His team was so kind and I am so so grateful for them but my god I hated being there." The Doctor looked confused at her confession. "It was so stifling." She looked away from him for the first time since her arrival and around at the comfort of the control room, the warm orange glow bleeding into her pores. "I missed you both."
She wasn't sure the response she was expecting, but it certainly wasn't the one she got. Warm hands kept her head tilted to the side, facing the all too familiar glow of the central column, while warm lips pressed a feather light touch against the bruises on her neck. She let her eyes flutter close at the sensation, a sigh escaping her as he turned his attention to the other side of her neck, before pulling back and once again resting his forehead against her own.
"Florence, I am so so sorry. I will never leave you again." She shook her head at that, frowning slightly.
"It's not your fault."
"I'm glad Jack was there for you but I'm not letting you out of my sight."
"That sounds like hard work."
"Not to me, not if it's you."
His soft confession made her sigh, the sheer joy in being back with him overriding the memories of Torchwood.
"Have you got enough eyes to keep one on me and keep us out of trouble?" She asked him with a small smile, her hands resting on his shoulders, before looking around the eerily quiet TARDIS, missing the usual loud mouth Scot. "What about Amy? God knows she needs an eye on her too." The Doctor's eyes flashed with something that Florence couldn't put her finger on.
"Well, can't be too sure, they're new after all." Florence pulled back at that, eying him warily, noticing he was already dressed in his signature tweed jacket.
"Hang on, new?"
"Not even a day old!" Florence laughed slightly at his enthusiasm, feeling a sense of peace that had evaded her for the last week.
"You really are baby-faced then aren't you?" She pressed her fingertips against his cheek lightly. "Done any damage yet?"
"Nope, still in one piece." As he spoke he frowned, clearly remembering something. "Can't say the same for my screwdriver…"
Florence's mouth dropped open. "You broke your screwdriver?"
"Technically, an intergalactic prisoner forced me to break my screwdriver."
Florence laughed, five minutes with the Doctor and all thoughts of Welsh cannibals thrown from her mind. He stood, with an almost smug grin on his face at the sound of her laugh, and held out his hand to help her to her feet, her knees cracking as she accepted his offer.
"Something to look forward to, I guess." The Doctor smiled softly, his eyes losing their spark of humour ever so slightly.
"I'm sorry in advance." Florence tightened her grip on his hand slightly.
"That's a lot of apologies from you, mister." She tugged him in finally for a proper hug, wrapping her arms around his middle as he looped his own around her shoulders. She sighed into his chest before pulling back and resting her chin on his chest. "I need a warm bath and then my bed, can you give me a couple hours before we go gallivanting with this rocking new bod of yours?" She felt his chest move as he chuckled, pushing her hair back from her face.
"Of course, I need to take her around the moon and back quickly, I'm not the only one with a 'rocking new bod'." Florence grimaced at his use of her own words.
"No, no. Just… don't."
Florence woke to the sound of shushing and crockery clacking together. She frowned from underneath the mountain of blankets she had thrown over herself and peeled the layers away from her head slowly, poking her head out to see the Doctor - sans jacket and holding a tray in front of him as he tried to place it carefully on the bedside table.
"What are you doing?" She croaked, her vocal chords still half asleep. Her voice made him jump, the cup on the tray spilling light brown liquid down the sides as it jostled.
"Don't do that!" The Doctor cried, letting go of the tray and holding both hands to his chest where she knew both hearts lay. "Blimey!"
Florence laughed at his dramatics, tossing the covers away from her completely and sitting herself back against the headboard.
"You brought me coffee?" The Doctor nodded enthusiastically, picking up the mug from the tray and handing it to her.
"And a croissant, and some orange slices!" He gave her a bright smile. "Now, I'm gonna need you to drink up, we have a passenger to collect!" He whipped his sleeve up slightly to peer at the watch on the inside of his wrist. "She shouldn't have had to wait too long, but I owe her one." Florence winced suddenly,
"Fuck…" She remembered her words when she had calmed down after her meltdown. "Amy?" The Doctor smiled softly at her.
"Not too good at your own rules sometimes."
"But you have met her! That doesn't count!"
"What if I wasn't planning on taking her with us?" Florence gave him a 'you're not fooling me' look.
"Then this new body would be a big fat liar." The Doctor winked, playfully tapping her nose with his finger.
"Never."
Florence took a large gulp of the warm coffee in her hands, relishing in the caffeine hit. She grabbed the croissant that had escaped the spillage with minimal damage and tore a chunk off with her teeth, grinning at him with a full mouth and nodding to the door.
"Well get going then, let me change in peace." The Doctor clapped his hands together with a smile, bounding from the room without looking back.
Abandoning the rest of the croissant, Florence took a moment to lean her head back, relishing in the comforting familiarity of her TARDIS bedroom, smiling softly as the coffee warmed her hands. He really was a sweetheart, such a contrast to the rough and sarcastic northern Doctor she had been with in Cardiff or the surly Scotsman who barely accepted a hug, or even the cocksure snark of the pinstriped Doctor who had so quickly dismayed over the lack of human understanding of 'happy primes'.
She shook her head at her thoughts, there was no need for favouritism, after all, they were all one in the same. As much as her northern Doctor tried to argue with her at every turn, he also took her hand so gently and gave her the extra carrots from his plate. Her pinstriped Doctor may have thought that he was the smartest in the room, but he took the time to listen to her ideas before anyone else's.
Her northern, her pinstriped, hers hers hers.
Her Doctor.
Florence gulped.
'Oh no.'
Florence smiled when she saw the Doctor fiddling at the console as she walked in, pressing the same button over and over again, whispering to the TARDIS in earnest.
"Come on, come on."
"She's definitely not gonna do as you ask now." She told him, folding her arms across her chest as she leant against the railing of the staircase. The Doctor wiggled a finger at her, not looking up from where he was hunched over.
"Ah, that's where you're wrong, my dear Florence. She loves me too muc- OUCH!" He flung the hand that had been resting against the console away when it sparked in clear annoyance.
"What did you want from her anyway?" Florence asked curiously, stepping down the stairs and closer to him.
"I'm trying to get her to hurry up with my new screwdriver!" The Doctor looked up. "You look lovely." He told her automatically, making Florence blush under his gaze, fiddling with the lilac sleeve of the thin knitted jumper she wore.
"Stop it." She looked at the screen in front of her. "Leadworth, England." Florence frowned, Amy's Scottish drawl floating through her memories. "Is this where we're picking her up?" The Doctor nodded and Florence laughed happily, clapping her hands together and spinning on the spot, running to the doors. "Come on then!" The Doctor smiled at her enthusiasm, clearly proud of his choice of companion, before following her down the ramp and opening the door with a flourish.
They had landed in a beautiful garden, full of trees and flowers with an archway of ivy leading up to a huge house. Florence felt like she was in a fairytale.
"Wow." She gasped, the normality of it all hitting her. She had almost forgotten that the companions the Doctor picked up had a home that they had come from, a vivid memory of Martha's turquoise living room making her smile. The door ahead of them slammed shut and Florence's attention was drawn to a familiar ginger, slowly making her way towards them in her nightie and white plimsolls. "Amy!"
"Sorry about running off earlier." The Doctor explained to her jovially. "Brand new TARDIS. Bit exciting. Just had a quick hop to the moon and back to run her in." Florence felt his hand stroke down her back towards her waist lightly, and she was grateful to keep her early breakdown between the two of them. "She's ready for the big stuff now."
"It's you." Amy looked between the two of them. "You came back."
"Course I came back." The Doctor told her. "I always come back. Something wrong with that?"
"And you kept the clothes…" Amy nodded to his outfit, and Florence looked at him curiously.
"You stole the clothes…?" She murmured, and he shushed her gently.
"Spoilers. I just saved the world." He argued. "The whole planet, for about the millionth time, no charge. Yeah, shoot me. I kept the clothes."
"Including the bowtie." Florence laughed lightly.
"Oh, I like the bowtie, it's not that bad!" The Doctor tugged her closer by the waist, resting his chin on the bare skin of her shoulder, exposed by the loose collar of her jumper.
"Exactly, it's cool. Bowties are cool."
"Are you from another planet?" Amy asked, and the Doctor nodded.
"Yeah."
"And Florence?" Florence smiled at Amy, shaking her head. "Okay."
"So, what do you think?" The Doctor asked.
"Of what?"
"Other planets. Wanna check some out?" Amy narrowed her eyes.
"What does that mean?"
"It means…" The Doctor floundered slightly.
"It means come with." Florence finished, laughing at the two of them. "Come on, Amy. Say yes."
"Where?" Amy asked, and Florence looked to the Doctor, his eyes twinkling with excitement.
"Wherever you like."
"Whenever." Florence added, wiggling her eyebrows.
"All that stuff that happened." Amy shook her head. "The hospital, the spaceships, Prisoner Zero." Oh how Florence hated spoilers.
"Oh, don't worry, that's just the beginning." The Doctor promised her. "There's loads more."
"Yeah, but those things, those amazing things! All that stuff!" Amy paused, staring up at him in wonder before stepping closer. "That was two years ago!"
Florence looked at the Doctor in confusion. "What?"
"Oh!" The Doctor winced. "Oops."
"Yeah…" Amy narrowed her eyes at him.
"So that's…"
"Fourteen years!" Florence felt very out of the loop.
"Fourteen years since fish custard…" The Doctor smiled softly at the young woman. "Amy Pond… the girl who waited, you've waited long enough."
She looked up at the blue box next to them.
"When I was a kid, you said there was a swimming pool and a library," she turned to the Doctor, "and the swimming pool was in the library." The Doctor shrugged.
"Yeah, not sure where it's got to now…" The Doctor told her, while Florence smiled to herself, vividly remembering where the swimming pool was. "It'll turn up! So! Coming?"
"No." Amy told him, and the Doctor's face fell slightly, while Florence's smile remained optimistic, for once her spoilers coming in handy
"You wanted to come fourteen years ago." The Doctor reminded her.
"I grew up!" Amy told him, and he smirked.
"Don't worry." He told her. "I'll soon fix that." He clicked his fingers, the doors to the TARDIS swinging open, her warm orange light casting over Amy's face. Florence loved the look of astonishment on her face, feeling it every time she entered the TARDIS still, even after so many adventures. She pulled you in, her warmth, the gentle hum that echoed through your bones the moment you stepped in. Amy turned to them, and Florence gave her an encouraging smile, nodding her head towards the inside.
She slowly moved forward, laughing in disbelief as she pushed past the open door and into the cavernous room, her eyes wide as she tried to take it all in. The Doctor and Florence followed her inside, the Doctor stepping around her to get a good look at her face, while Florence closed the door gently behind them, patting the wood lightly as she did so.
"Well…" The Doctor began. "Anything you want to say? Any passing remarks?" He grinned. "I've heard them all." He stepped away from her, heading up the stairs and hopping onto the glass floor with a flourish.
Amy looked around, floundering, and Florence stepped closer, squeezing her arm gently, causing the ginger to look down at her outfit.
"I'm in my nightie."
"Oh don't worry!" The Doctor told her. "Plenty of clothes in the wardrobe! And! Possibly a swimming pool!" He looked up at the TARDIS console, and Florence could tell he was enjoying himself. "So… all of time and space, everything that ever happened and ever will… Where do you want to start?"
Amy gasped slightly, pulling herself away from Florence and following the Doctor up the stairs. "You are so sure that I'm coming." She circled the console and through Florence a suspicious look. "Both of you."
"Yeah." Florence shrugged, walking closer and leaning against the railing. "I'm very sure." She shared an amused look with the Doctor.
"Why?"
The Doctor smirked, holding a hand out to Florence for her to join them on the platform, which she took, surprised but grateful for his sudden desire to constantly touch her, his constant reassurance of his presence.
"Cos you're the Scottish girl in the English village, and I know how that feels!" He told Amy, who looked sceptical.
"Oh, do you?"
The Doctor nodded, fiddling with the controls of his new TARDIS console. "All these years living here, most of your life, and you've still got that accent." He looked up, giving her a cocky smirk. "Yeah, you're coming." He dinged the bell in front of him in victory.
"Can you get me back for tomorrow morning?" Amy asked, and the Doctor grinned.
"It's a time machine, I can get you back for five minutes ago! Why, what's tomorrow?"
"Nothing." Amy answered quickly, too quickly for Florence's liking. "Nothing. Just… you know, stuff."
"Alright then, back in time for stuff." The Doctor agreed, before getting distracted by a whirring noise from the console, a familiar green instrument shooting up from the gold metal surface. "Oh! A new one!"
Florence laughed. "As if you weren't begging for one earlier!" The Doctor laughed, flipping it in his hands and pointing it at her, the cool green light scanning her as he tested it out.
"Thanks, dear." He ignored Florence, giving the TARDIS a loving pat before continuing to fiddle and type in coordinates. Amy stared at him before attempting to copy his movements, flicking up a switch and causing the TARDIS to whir in disagreement.
"Why me?" She asked suddenly.
"Why not?" The Doctor retorted.
"No, seriously?" She asked again. "You're asking me to run away with you in the middle of the night… It's a fair question. Why me?"
"I dunno!" The Doctor told her. "Fun! Do I have to have a reason?"
"People always have a reason."
"Do I look like people?"
"Yes."
The Doctor looked at Florence momentarily before staring at the console. "Did something stupid, my choice, regret it now. A big fat mistake! My moping around was boring myself, let alone Florence." Florence hated times like this, when she felt out of the loop about something important.
"You made a mistake? What, falling out of the sky all those years ago?" Amy asked, looking a bit put out.
"No!" The Doctor grinned. "Leaving you behind!" He joined her on her side of the console, giving her a soft smile. "What was I thinking?" Florence rolled her eyes at his charm, he simply couldn't help himself, and she knew Amy's answer.
"Stop playing hard to get, Amy, darling!" Florence laughed. "Just say okay!"
"Okay." She responded automatically, and the Doctor flicked the switch on the monitor next to him, turning it off.
"So, you're okay, then?" The Doctor asked. "Cos this place… it can make people feel a bit, you know…?"
"I'm fine!" Amy told them quickly. "It's just, there's a whole world in here, just like you said. It's all true."
Florence smirked, looking around the incredible room again. "I thought I had been drugged and left in a dark alleyway when I first saw it." She confessed, garnering a horrified look from the ginger. "It's mental, isn't it?
Amy laughed slightly. "I thought. Well, I started to think that maybe he was just like a madman with a box." She told the other woman, ignoring the alien next to them.
"Oh, Amy." Florence sighed, locking eyes with the madman in question. "He most definitely is a madman in a box, don't you ever forget that." She smiled at him softly and he laughed.
"Yeah!" He wrapped an arm around Amy's shoulders, giving her a firm shake before releasing her and spinning back around to the console. "Goodbye, Leadworth! Hello, everything!" He pulled the lever in front of him with a yell and Florence grabbed Amy's hand, pulling her to the console and wrapping it tightly around one of the bars.
"Hold on!"
"Come on, just choose!" The Doctor moaned. "I'm giving you the whole of time and space and you're saying no?!"
"It's not up to me! Amy's new, she should choose!" Florence refused to back down, having been badgered for the last fifteen minutes for a location while Amy had analysed every detail of the console controls.
"She's busy! Choose!"
"Hold on a minute…" Amy looked between the doors and the cavernous room. "Why is it a phone box?" The Doctor peered over at her, confused.
"Sorry?"
"On the outside, it said 'Police Box'. Why have you labelled a time machine 'Police Box'? Why not 'Time Machine'? Is that too obvious?" She barely gave the Doctor a moment to breathe before she was onto her next question. "And what is a police box? Do policemen come in boxes? How many do you get? Are you a policeman?" She shook her head at her own questions. "No, look at your hair!" Florence let out a bark of laughter at the Doctor's offended look, his hands reaching up to touch his hair. "Actually, just look at your hair! Do you ever look at your hair and think, 'Whoa! It just won't stop! And my chin! Look, I'm wearing a bowtie! Shoot me now!'" Florence suddenly felt offended on his behalf, her own hands reaching up to pull his away from his chin as he tried to inspect it.
"Amy!" She admonished, and Amy winced.
"Am I gabbling?"
"A bit, yeah."
"The question stands." Amy prompted, and the Doctor looked at her in confusion.
"The first question?" Florence raised her hand.
"I have to say, I've always been curious…"
The Doctor's eyes frantically moved back and forth over the two of them.
"Well, it's not really a police box!" He exclaimed, as if they were thick. "Which, by the way, is a special kind of telephone box that policemen used to use!"
"Right, telephone box." Amy nodded, still clearly overwhelmed by her surroundings. "There's a light on the top… do you need to change the bulb?"
The Doctor stood in front of her and looked directly into her eyes.
"Amy. Stop. Breathe." Amy took some shaky breaths in and out before flapping her arms.
"Why doesn't the air get out? It's made of wood!"
"I think I prefer yours and Donna's kidnapping worries…" The Doctor muttered to Florence, causing her to slap him lightly on the stomach.
"Stop it…"
"You've got a wooden time machine! Do you feel stupid?" Amy was reverting back to insults. "Sorry. Back on the bowtie!"
"It's camouflage." The Doctor interrupted. "It's disguised as a police telephone box from 1963… Every time the TARDIS materialises in a new location, within the first nanosecond of landing, it analyses its surroundings, calculates a twelve dimensional data map of everything within a thousand mile radius, and determines which outer shell would blend in best with the environment." He looked so proud of his ship, and Florence was looking at her in a new light, she was incredible. "And then it disguises itself as a police telephone box from 1963."
"Oh, why?" Amy asked, and the Doctor looked mildly put out,
"It's probably a bit of a fault, actually… I've been meaning to check."
Florence smiled at him. 'I like it."
"What, it's a police box every time?"
"Yeah, I suppose… Now you mention it…" He really was a terrible liar.
"Well… how long's it been doing that?" Amy asked.
"Oh! You know… not long…"
Florence raised an eyebrow at him, while he purposefully avoided her eyes. Liar.
"Okay, okay…" Amy continued. "But what about the windows? There are windows on the outside. Where do they go? Is it a cry for help?"
"What?"
"The bowtie!" She couldn't get away from it.
The Doctor scoffed, straightening his bowtie with a smirk. "Bowties are cool!"
"And you're an alien…" Amy said, in wonder, and the Doctor nodded.
"Yeah! In your terms… because, well, in my terms: you're the alien!" He tapped her on the forehead with a laugh. "In quite a few people's terms, probably."
"What kind of alien?"
"Well, you know, a nice one!" The Doctor told her. "Definitely one of the nice ones! Isn't that right, Flossie?"
Florence gave him a dirty look at his use of that dreaded nickname. "Hmm."
"So you're like a space squid or… something?" Amy asked. "Are you a tiny little slug in a human suit? Is that why you walk like that?"
"Yes!" Florence laughed, at the same time the Doctor shouted. "No!" He walked over and grabbed the girl's hands, slapping them onto his cheeks.
"Amy, this is me! This is what I really look like!"
"Well, that's fine then!" Amy slapped her hands together hard, catching his cheeks in between them.
"Ow! Good!" Florence rolled her eyes good heartedly at both their childishness dramatics.
"Okay!" Amy breathed. "I think I'm done here." They all laughed at her, while the Doctor pulled another lever with a smirk.
"Amy Pond… you've barely started." The TARDIS made a soft hum and he ran from the console, heading towards the doors, followed by Amy and Florence. "Plus! Do you know what I keep in here?"
"What?" Amy asked, as the Doctor slowly opened the doors.
"Absolutely everything." He pulled both doors open and let Amy gaze out upon the magnitude of space, a sight that still took Florence's breath away every time. "Anything take your fancy?"
The young woman stood, mouth open, looking out at the stars. A sea of stars flooding her vision, like a carpet had been tossed out ready for her to walk across them.
"We're in space."
"Yep, that's space." The Doctor told her.
"But it can't be." Amy protested.
"But it is."
"It's like, it's like, it's like… special effects." Florence laughed,
"I promise you, Amy, it's not."
"This so isn't real." She maintained. "It's not real."
"Get out." The Doctor told her, and she frowned.
"What?"
He nodded. "Yeah. Seriously… Get out!" He gave her an almighty shove, letting her fall into the vastness that was the galaxy in front of them, quickly reaching forward and grabbing her by the ankle before she could get too far from him. Florence shook her head, leaning against the side of the TARDIS and smiling up at the girl in front of them.
"You're a right bastard, you know that." The Doctor threw her a wink.
"You can have a turn next if you want, dear." She tilted her head back and laughed.
"Keep your hands to yourself, mister." They both stood in silence for a moment after that, watching Amy and smiling at her laughter. "Thank God she's calmed down…"
"Yeah, well, wait til she hears about your jumping."
Florence cringed at that.
"Just let go of her, please."
The Doctor let Amy float for a little bit, and Florence couldn't quite work out whether he was doing it to show her something amazing, or whether it was punishment for her earlier critique of his hair, chin, bowties, everything.
"Come along, Pond!" He called up to her as he pulled her ankle to bring her back down, laughing as she came. Florence grabbed her arm gently to keep her upright as she landed on the TARDIS floor once more. "Now do you believe me?" The Doctor asked cheekily, and Amy continued to laugh.
"Okay, your box is a spaceship! It's really, really a spaceship. We are in space!" She shouted out into the abyss, before pausing and taking a deep inhale. "What are we breathing?"
"I've extended the air shell, we're fine." The Doctor reassured her, before his eyes cast down slightly and widened in excitement. "Now that is interesting!" Florence hesitated before swallowing her fear and following his gaze downwards, holding onto the frame in support and seeing what looked to be an entire cityscape floating underneath them. He immediately turned, racing back to the console, grabbing Florence's hand and thankfully dragging her with him. "29th Century, solar flares roast the earth, and the entire human race packs its bags and moves out til the weather improves!" Florence laughed at the absurdity.
"No way! What, cos of global warming?" The Doctor clicked his fingers at her.
"If you're not careful!"
"Doctor?" Came Amy's voice, slightly muffled, and Florence turned to look back at the doors.
"Whole nations, migrating to the stars!" The Doctor continued, while Florence looked confusedly at the empty space where Amy had stood, and the closed doors in front of her.
"Doctor?" Amy's voice sounded again. "Florence?"
"Doctor!" Florence shouted, running over to the doors that had closed on their own volition, clearly trapping Amy on the wrong side. The Doctor started at her exclamation, quickly forgetting the controls and running to join her, opening the doors and looking up at the floating Amy, grasping onto the outside of the TARDIS with fear.
"Well, come on!" He scolded, helping her down once more. "I've found us a spaceship." She frowned at him and nodded when Florence slapped him on the chest.
"Thank you, Florence."
The Doctor rubbed his chest before heading back to the console, pulling up a side view of the space-city they were currently floating over. "This is the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland." He explained. "All of it, bolted together and floating in the sky. Starship UK." Florence laughed lightly at the Union Flag covering the side of the ship, it was brilliant. "It's Britain, but metal. That's not just a ship - that's an idea. That's a whole country, living and laughing and shopping. Searching the stars for a new home."
Amy was almost bouncing off the walls of the TARDIS.
"Can we go and see?" She almost begged, and the Doctor nodded almost immediately.
"Course we can… but first, there's a thing."
"A thing?" Amy asked.
"An important thing." He told her. "In fact, Thing One: We are observers only. That's the one rule I've always stuck to in all my travels. I never get involved in the affairs of other peoples or planets." Florence opened her mouth to correct him on that piece of misinformation, but found a Time Lord's hand laid quickly over her mouth without him even glancing her way, arm casually thrown over her shoulder as he did so, his eyes on the screen in front of him. "Ooh. That's interesting."
"So we're like a wildlife documentary, yeah?" Amy asked, turning to the screen. "Because if they see a wounded little cub or something, they can't just save it, they've got to keep filming and let it die." Her voice trailed off slightly as she saw what the Doctor was looking at, a very young girl who was clearly sobbing uncontrollably, all alone. "It's got to be hard." Florence felt the hand leave her mouth, trailing over the back of her neck and squeezing it ever so slightly in farewell as she felt the Doctor slowly creep past them and, what Florence knew for certain, out of the TARDIS and towards the little girl. "I don't think I could do that." Amy continued. "Don't you find that hard, being all, like, detached and cold?" Just as she finished speaking, she jumped at the appearance of the man she thought she had just been talking to on the screen, the little girl running away from him as he tried to comfort her. "Doctor?" The man in question gestured at them wildly to join him, and Florence laid a hand on Amy's arm to get her attention.
"Amy, he's full of shit." She shook her head fondly at the madman, before pulling Amy along with her towards the doors. "Come on."
She let Amy step out first, before pulling the doors shut behind her.
"Welcome to London Market." Echoed an announcement from a tannoy. "You are being monitored."
"I'm in the future." Amy murmured. "Like… hundreds of years in the future." Florence squealed quietly and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her slightly.
"I know right! It still gets me!"
"I've been dead for centuries." The ginger continued, and Florence dropped her hands and smiled awkwardly.
"Oh, yeah, I suppose."
"Lovely!" The Doctor exclaimed sarcastically, popping up from next to a tourist stall. "You're a cheery one. Never mind dead, look at this place! Isn't it wrong?" He pushed her forward gently to walk with him, while his other hand reached out to grab Florence's, and she let him pull her closer to his side.
"What's wrong?" Amy asked, still looking around the market in wonder.
"Come on," the Doctor urged, "use your eyes… Notice everything. What's wrong with this picture?" Florence was stumped, the place looked just like the London she had left back home, if not a little bit more steampunk.
"Is it the bicycles?" Amy guessed. "Bit unusual on a spaceship, bicycles." The Doctor looked her up and down.
"Says the girl in the nightie…"
"Oh, my God! I'm in my nightie!" Amy realised. "Florence!" The other woman grimaced slightly.
"It's not that noticeable!" She gave the girl a grin. "I'll show you the wardrobe the moment we get back, you'll love it!" She briefly remembered an old version of the ginger woman in front of her mentioning her desire to show her the wardrobe and affection filled her. "Promise!"
"Now, come on!" The Doctor continued. "Look around you. Actually look!"
"London market is a crime-free zone." Came the voice from the tannoy, and Florence scoffed at the words.
"There's your abnormality, nowhere in London is crime free, I'll tell you that much." The Doctor clicked his fingers at her in praise.
"You joke, but think about it… Life on a giant starship." He began. "Back to basics. Bicycles, washing lines, wind-up street lamps. But look closer. Secrets and shadows, lives led in fear. Society bent out of shape, on the brink of collapse. A police state. Excuse me." He ran over to a table nearby, grabbing a glass of water from a man and placing it gently on the floor, observing it momentarily before handing it back to the man, smiling apologetically. "Sorry, checking all the water in this area." He explained quickly. "There's an escaped fish." He headed back to the two young women. "Where was I?"
"Why did you just do that with the water?" Amy asked, Florence herself had barely flinched at his odd behaviour by this point.
"Don't know. I think a lot. It's hard to keep track. Now, police state…" Florence shook her head.
"You really think so? Why?" Florence asked, and the Doctor nodded quickly.
"Do you see it yet?" She frowned.
"See what?" Amy looked over at the area he was pointing towards.
"Where?"
"There." The Doctor had directed their attention past the crowd of people and over to the small figure of a familiar crying girl, sitting all by herself on one of the red benches, passersby ignoring her completely and continuing their days in peace while she tried to hold her tears back. The Doctor ushered them into seats just out of earshot of the young girl.
"One little girl crying." Amy pointed out. "So?"
"Crying silently." The Doctor corrected her. "I mean, children cry because they want attention, because they're hurt or afraid. But when they cry silently, it's because they just can't stop. Any parent knows that." He shrugged indifferently at his last comment, as if it were nothing special, but both of his companions stopped at his words. It was the second time she had a feeling that she didn't quite know the Doctor as well as she had previously thought, with so many mysteries surrounding the man.
"Are you a parent?" Amy asked innocently, and Florence knew without any need for the time machine only minutes away from them that he was going to avoid the question, instead choosing to rest her fingers lightly against the side of his leg in minuscule comfort.
"Hundreds of parents walking past who spot her and not one of them's asking her what's wrong," the Doctor continued, hardly pausing to consider Amy's words, "which means they already know, and it's something they don't talk about. Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of. Shadows, whatever they're afraid of, it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere."
"Police state." Florence murmured, and the Doctor bobbed his head in agreement.
"Police state." Amy suddenly noticed the empty gap where the girl had been sitting.
"Where'd she go?"
"Deck two-oh-seven. Apple Sesame block, dwelling 54A. You're looking for Mandy Tanner." The Doctor told her, before pulling a card holder out of his suit pocket and handing it to her. "Oh, er, this fell out of her pocket when I accidentally bumped into her. Took me four goes." Florence rolled her eyes at his lack of discretion. "Ask her about those things. The smiling fellows in the booths. They're everywhere." Florence frowned and followed his gaze to one of the booths in question, a creepy mechanical face plastered with a smile staring back at her.
"God, what are those things?" She muttered, and the Doctor hummed in agreement.
"They're clean. Everything else here is all battered and filthy." He pointed out, gesturing around them. "Look at this place. But no one's laid a finger on those booths. Not a footprint within two feet of any of them. Look. Ask Mandy: 'Why are people scared of the things in the booths?'"
"Because they're creepy as fuck…" Florence whispered, shivering slightly at its vacant eyes.
"No, hang on." Amy protested. "What do I do? I don't know what I'm doing here and I'm not even dressed!"
"It's this or Leadworth." The Doctor lightly threatened."What do you think? Let's see. What will Amy Pond choose?" Amy turned away from him and he smirked in victory. "Ha ha, gotcha. Meet us back here in half an hour."
"Wait, I'm going alone?" Amy asked, looking at Florence for help.
"I don't mind going with ya…" Florence began, but the Doctor shook his head.
"Nope, Flossie with me. Go on, Pond. Show me what you got." Amy pouted slightly.
"What are you gonna do?"
"What I always do… Stay out of trouble." He stood and held out his hand to Florence, wrapping his fingers tightly around hers and giving her a little spin as she stood, reading to head in the opposite direction to Amy. "And fail."
"Miserably." Florence added, looking up at him with a smirk. "Hence, why I go with him."
'Exactly."
"So is this how it works, Doctor?" Amy asked, as the two began to wander away. "You never interfere in the affairs of other peoples or planets, unless there's children crying?"
The Doctor smiled at her.
"Yes."
"Florence was right." Amy smirked, leaning closer to the alien. "You're so full of it." She spun with a flourish and left the two of them standing there as she headed to the lifts, the Doctor turning and giving Florence an offended look.
"Hey!"
"I didn't say that." Florence told him, sweetly, pulling him away from the benches. "I said 'full of shit', dear."
Just a nice light chapter after the TRAUMA of those welsh cannibals...
I enjoyed this chapter, there was little plot but a lot of characters that I love writing! I found the hurt in the last chapter easy as but the comfort took me a moment to get into...
There's a lot I can reveal about my decisions with each version of the Doctor that Florence comes into contact with at various points in this story, and I'm trying to make it subtle enough while also wanting to scream about why this is super cool and what this means for the future! But I don't, because things will slowly be revealed soon, and I'm really looking forward to the last couple chapters of this story.
See you for chapter 36!x