The Lost Girl Chronicles Book 4: Picking Up The Pieces

by frosty600

For Sophie it continued with a niggling concern as she fumbled to adjust to her new… everything. For the Doctor it continued with a fierce determination to help his Sparks adjust in anyway that he could, no matter how long it took. Or how often he'd have to remind her that they'd get through this together. Always. One step at a time. Fourth in the Lost Girl Chronicles.

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. Just Sophie my o/c.

A/N: And here we are at the beginning of Book 4 in the Lost Girl Chronicles. Time Crash was a little fun to write. Unsure whether I'll ever include it again. It's not very include an o/c friendly but we'll see. I think I managed alright here. Though I felt like I was banging my head against the wall with trying to scrape a summary together. So little words allowed. It pains me deeply sometimes… this was one of those times. Lol.

And you know, as I was writing this, my muse couldn't help but suddenly think, 'what would happen if the Doctor realised immediately that Sophie was just a little bit Time Lady' I doubt I'll ever write it. I could see it going a bit dark considering the head space the Doctor is in at 9 and Sophie being who she is. I could imagine warning bells going off in her head at how intense he'd be at finding someone even a little bit Time Lord out of the blue. But it is another idea that's scratching at my head now. Thanks muse. Lol.

And of course, thank you to ArielArtemis for pre-reading this. I always really appreciate you taking the time to do so :)

Next up: I'll be forcing myself to sit down and write the double episode feature for Poppy which will mean saying goodbye to 9. A think I have been dreading immensely. I do so love writing those two together.

PRELUDE

Time Crash

"So…" the Doctor mused as he flicked another switch on the console, "We've got some time. What do you think?"

"I think…" Sophie began, "That technically it's been a whole year since I've had coffee. And I've really gotta know!" she turned and started for the stairs of the console room – the rest of time and space could wait until she knew!

The Doctor blinked after her for a moment, before a chuckle escaped him. Then he stilled briefly as he realised. He was being left behind and he wanted to be there as she discovered her new tastebuds. Her new likes and dislikes. What made her nose do that adorable scrunch. If she still scrunched her nose…

"Sparks, wait for me!" he hurried for the stairs only to be thrown off his feet, the sound of Sparks startled cry sounding from just up the corridor as she too lost her footing as the whole Tardis seemed to shake.

"What?" the Doctor gasped as he spun back around to the console as an alarm blared and the Tardis spun widely.

*O*O*O*

Meanwhile in the corridor, Sophie pulled herself back up to her feet, bracing herself against the wall, she glanced about in alarm, "What's happening?" she made to hurry back towards the console room only to freeze as the Tardis let out a warning hum. She frowned, "What do you mean?" she asked, head tilting, "Oh… really?" she was quiet a second, before she shifted a little curiosity burning, "Can't I just peak?" she wheedled and the Tardis let out another hum and Sophie grinned, "I won't be seen, I'm a good ghost."

*O*O*O*

"Ah, stop it!" the Doctor huffed as he worked at the console, "What was all that about, eh? Eh? What's your problem?"

"Right, just settle down now," another voice came from the other side of the console as he too worked at the controls. The two men moving around the console towards each other as they worked.

"Excuse me…"

"So sorry…" the man in the white suit and hat apologised in return just as Sophie quietly came up to the top of the stairs, a smile playing on her lips as the Doctor gave a nod in return, only to pause and then gape as realisation hit him.

"What?"

"What?" the Doctor that Sophie recognised from the pictures her Doctor had once shown her if, a little changed, echoed.

"What!"

"Who are you?" the fifth Doctor demanded to know.

"Aw brilliant!" the Doctor breathed, before clearing his throat a bit, "I mean, totally wrong. Bit of an emergency, universe goes bang in 5 minutes, but… brilliant!"

"I'm the Doctor," the fifth stated angrily, "Who are you?!"

The Doctor smiled chuffed, "Yes you are, you are the Doctor," he agreed thrilled, whilst Sophie pressed a finger to her lips as her smiled widened into a grin as the fifth's angry frown turned into a deep scowl.

"Is there something wrong with you?"

"Oh, there is goes, the frowny face," the Doctor mused, smiling, "I remember that one. Mind you, bit saggier than I ought to be," he grabbed his old face and squished it a bit between his hands and Sophie had to bit her lip to keep her laughter at bay as the fifth Doctor stared affronted, "Hairs a bit greyer," he fingered the man's side burns, "That's 'cos of me, though," he explained, "The two of us together has shorted out the time differential. Should snap back in place when we get you home. Be able to close that coat again," he tugged at his old self's coat lapels, "But never mind that. Look at you! The coat, the crickety cricket stuff… the stick of celery. Yeah…" he tugged at his ear a bit recalling showing Sophie his old faces and her reaction to the celery, "Brave choice, celery, but fair play to you. Not a lot of men can carry off a decorative vegetable."

"Shut up!" the fifth Doctor snatched his hat off his head in anger, "There is something very wrong with my Tardis, and I've got to do something about it very, very quickly, and it would help. It really would help if there wasn't some skinny idiot ranting in my face about every single thing that happens to be in front of him!"

"Oh, ok," the Doctor gave a small nod, eyeing himself, whilst Sophie clasped her hand firmly against her mouth to keep the laughter that wanted to come out inside of her, even so it came out quietly through her nose, "Sorry, Doctor."

"Thank you," the fifth retorted sharply and turned back to the console of his Tardis and the Doctor couldn't help but step closer peering at it.

"Aw," he said with enthusiasm, "The back of my head."

The fifth glanced at him again, "What?!"

"Sorry, sorry. It's not something you see every day, is it? The back of your own head. Mind you… I can see why you wear a hat. I don't want to seem vain… but could you keep that on?"

The fifth Doctor whirled on him again, "What have you done to my Tardis? You've changed the desktop theme, haven't you. What's this one, coral?"
"Well…"

"It's worse than the leopard skin."

Sophie's grin faded a little as she frowned, she liked the way the Tardis looked, she thought it was brilliant. What was wrong with coral?!

"Oh, and out they come," the Doctor beamed as his old self pulled out his half-moon spectacles and put them on, "The brainy specs. You don't even need them. you just think they make you look a bit clever."

Sophie scoffed lowly… like he was one to talk. It wasn't like he needed the ones he whipped out either. She ducked back just in case as at the sound the two glanced towards the stairs, her Doctor with a raised brow and knowing eyes and the fifth with a frown as his eyes searched in the direction it had come from.

An alarm whooped, piercing the air with its urgent warning, distracting the two Time Lords in the console room.

Sophie glanced up at the ceiling of the corridor she was in, a little uneasy, instinctually knowing just how not good that sound was, but not truly understanding why or how she just knew, "They're gonna sort that right?" she got a reassuring hum.

"That's an alert… level 5," the fifth Doctor observed as he went back to work on the console, "Indicating a temporal collision! It's like… two Tardises have merged, but there's definitely only one Tardis present…," he exclaimed as he rushed around the console pressing buttons. Whilst the tenth Doctor strolled across, following him, leaning against the monitor as he watched him, "It's like two time zones at war in the heart of the Tardis… that's a paradox that could blow a hole in the space time continuum the size of…" the fifth Doctor trailed and the tenth shoved the monitor towards him and into the fifths eyeline, "Well, actually, the exact size of… Belgium," he paused musing, "That's a bit undramatic, isn't it? Belgium?"

The tenth pulled his sonic out of his pocket and held it out, "Need this?"

"Nah," the fifth dismissed it, "I'm fine."

"Oh no, of course," the tenth flipped his sonic up into the air, before catching it again and slipping it back into his pocket, "You mostly went hands free, didn't you, like 'eh, I'm the Doctor, I can save the universe using a kettle and some string, and look at me, I'm wearing a vegetable'."

Sophie smothered a snort into her hands, having crept forward again. She couldn't see much from where they were standing right now, without stepping into view, but she could hear them just fine.

The fifth stalked towards the other man, coming to stand nose to nose with him, "Who are you?"

The tenth smiled, before murmuring softly, "Take a look."

There was a pause and the fifth's face twitched, "No," he muttered, with mounting horror, "Oh, no…"

"Oh, yes."

"You're… oh, no…"

"Here it comes… yeah, yeah," the tenth nodded, a bit smug now, "I am…"

"A fan," the fifth concluded with disgust.

"Yeah…" the tenth paused as he registered what his previous self-had said and he gaped, "What?!"

A beep came from the console, "Level 10 now," the fifth muttered, "This is bad. Two minutes to Belgium."

Sophie hunched forward, smothering her laughter into her palm, hoping it was enough, she could just imagine her Doctor's face as he gaped right at the moment… trusting the Tardis' promise that everything would be fine.

"What'd'ya mean, a fan?!" the tenth spluttered indignantly, "I'm not just a fan," he insisted, "I'm you!"

"Okay, you're my biggest fan," the fifth waved him off impatiently, "Look, it's perfectly understandable, I go zooming around space and time, saving planets, fighting monsters, and being, well, let's be honest, pretty sort of marvellous..." the tenth nodded his agreement, "So naturally, now and then, people notice me. Start up their little groups. That LINDA lot. Are you one of them? How did you get in here? Can't have you lot knowing where I live..."
"Listen to me," the tenth insisted, "I'm you. I'm you with a new face," he slapped at his own cheeks for emphasis, "Check out this bone structure, Doctor, cos one day you're gonna be shaving it."

And Sophie couldn't help it, she laughed. Truly laughed, her hand not enough to smother the sound anymore.

The fifth Doctor blinked as he turned to look in the direction it had come from only to hear feet scrambling up and away, "Who's that?!"

The tenth smiled fondly as he looked away from the stairs his Sparks had just darted away from, "Someone amazing…" he trailed forcing himself not to give too much away, "Speaking of which, be sure not to miss her!" he stated firmly eyeing the previous him intently, "She's easy to miss and you'd regret it. So much if you never truly met her 'cos she'd managed to evade your attention…" he stated in all seriousness. It would have been all to easy for him to not notice her. To dismiss that one moment – to not pay attention to the oddity that she'd represented, to just dismiss her as shy that day all so long ago now. He thought about that sometimes. That in if in his distraction that day as he was saving the world, he hadn't noticed her… if she hadn't chased after him along with Rose… he'd might have left her behind. She was… well the previous her was so good at being a ghost after all… there was a chance that she could very well have passed him by if he hadn't been paying attention! So, he pinned himself with a stern look, "So pay attention!"

"Yes, alright!" the fifth huffed, curious despite himself, "But who is she?!"

"Someone worth the wait."

"The wait?"

"Yeah, sorry, bodies to go," the tenth apologised, before swearing heartfeltly, "But she's worth every second of it."

"…Bodies," the fifth muttered with a bit of a pout, curiosity piqued.

"Oh!" the tenth exclaimed in realisation, "Nicknames! You're gonna need a plethora of them, best get started now."

The fifth frowned confused again, "Nicknames?"

The tenth grinned, "She loves 'em!"

"I do not!" came an indignant exclamation from beyond the corridor, Sophie having crept forward again unable to help herself.

"She does, honestly!" the tenth rebutted with a fond grin as the two heard her start to softly mutter expletives to herself. The tenth mouthed, 'trust me!' at his previous self and got a blink and then an intrigued smile. Eyes going to the corridor hoping the mystery woman he was supposed to be paying attention for would come into sight.
Another bell sounded, ringing ominously through the console room, diverting their attention back to the matter at hand.
"The cloister bell!" the fifth exclaimed.

"Yep, right on time. That's my cue…" the tenth Doctor set to work on the console, the fifth working as well.

"In this limit, we're gonna generate a black hole strong enough to swallow the entire universe!" the fifth exclaimed.

"Yeah... That's my fault, actually," the tenth admitted a little sheepishly, "I was rebuilding the TARDIS, forgot to put the shields back up. Your TARDIS and my TARDIS... well, the same TARDIS, different voyages in the same time stream, collided and wurp, there ya go, end of the universe, butterfingers," he shrugged, "But, don't worry, I know exactly how this all works out, watch..." he fiddled with the console, "Venting the thermo buffer... Flooring the helmic regulator... And just to finish off, let's fire those zyton crystals."
Fifth pulled the Tenth's hands away from the controls, "You'll blow up the Tardis!"
"Only way out."
"Who told you that?"
"You told me that!" the tenth retorted as he hit the controls and the Tardis whirled through the time stream and everything faded to white before returning like it had never happened.
"A supernova and a black hole at the exact same instant..." the fifth trailed off in awe at the brilliance of it.
"Explosion cancels out implosion."
"Matter remains constant."
"Brilliant."

Sophie shook her head from where she was eavesdropping, expression fond, 'More like mad. You madman.'
"Far too brilliant," the fifth observed, eyeing the tenth, "I've never met anyone else who could fly the Tardis like that."
"Sorry, mate, you still haven't."
"You didn't have time to work all that out," the fifth frowned, "Even I couldn't do it!"

"I didn't work it out," the tenth denied with a bit of a smile, "I didn't have to."
"You remembered," the fifth realised.
Ten nodded, "Because you will remember."
"You remembered being me, watching you doing that... You only knew what to do because I saw you do it."
"Wibbly wobbley..."
"Timey wimey!"
The tenth Doctor raised his hand for a high-five, only for the fifth Doctor to ignore it. Another alarm blared and he leapt for the console.
"Right! Tardises are separating. Sorry Doctor, time's up, back to long ago. Where are you now? Nyssa and Tegan? Cybermen and Mara and Time Lords in funny hats and the Master? Oh, he just showed up again, same as ever."
"Oh, no, really?" the fifth made a small face, even as he enquired, "Does he still have that rubbish beard?"
"No, no beard this time," the tenth replied before adding, "Well, a wife."
"Oh," the fifth blinked as he started to fade, "I seem to be off. What can I say? Thank you. Doctor."
The tenth grinned, "Thank you."
"I'm very welcome," the fifth said in parting before the Tardises separated and he disappeared.

The Doctor noticed the hat left behind and flicked a switch on the console and his fifth incarnation reappeared. He picked up the hat and walked towards him, "You know," he handed over the hat, "I loved being you. Back when I first started at the very beginning, I was always trying to be old and grumpy and important, like you do when you're young. And then I was you. I was all bashing about and playing cricket and my voice going all squeaky when I shouted," he grinned brightly, "I still do that! The voice thing, I got that from you!" and he got a grin from the fifth, before he donned his hat, "Oh!" the tenth exclaimed and put his foot up on the console showing off his shoe, "And the trainers! And..." he pulled a pair of glasses from his pocket and put them on, "Snap! Cos you know what, Doctor? You were my Doctor," he stepped about closer taking off his glasses again as he stared earnestly at what had to have been his favourite self, his voice low, "And I'm trusting you, seriously. Pay attention."

The fifth's smile faded into a serious look and he nodded, "I shall. And nicknames!" he exclaimed, "I'll set to work. Have a horde of them saved up," he assured.

Sophie scowled, "Or you could not," she groused lowly from her hiding place, arms crossing, getting the notion that they'd both heard her as a chuckle came from the pair of them.

The fifth Doctor raised his hat to his future self, "To days to come."

"All my love to long ago," the tenth replied as the fifth faded from view again and he smiled at where he'd been standing.

Sophie stepped forward, starting down the stairs into the console room, "I guess that explains how you had so many just ready to go," she grumbled without any real heat as she walked towards him.

"Ah… well," the Doctor mused, shooting her a smile, "I may have spent an entire night brainstorming the night before I dubbed you Annie-Girl."

Sophie shook her head, huffing out aa low breath, before looking up at him, eyes unreadable, "You really that worried about not noticing me?"

"You said it," the Doctor sighed and took a step towards her, closing the small distance that was left between them where his Sparks was leaning against the console, "You're a very good ghost… or, previous you was," he rested his forehead against hers, "I'm kind of hoping this new you is less capable at the disappearing thing."

"I guess we'll see," Sophie murmured, with a small, disconcerted frown, being able to be unnoticed was a huge survival skill for her… she wasn't sure how she'd feel about potentially having lost that in her change.

The Doctor shifted, pressing his lips against Sophie's forehead sensing her unease, her hands coming up to gently grasp his arms in, "Now where were we?"

"Hmm," Sophie hummed smiling fondly as he pulled back enough for them to be able to look at each other again, "Coffee."

He grinned, "Right Coff…"

"Oh Doctor?" the fifth's voice echoed back into the console room, drawing their attention, "Remember to put you shields up."

"Oh, right…" the Doctor hummed and reached over to press the button. He'd only just pressed it down when the sound of a ships horn sounded and a prow came crashing through the wall into the console room.

Sending the Time Lord and Lady to the floor with the impact.

"What?" the Doctor huffed as he picked himself up.

"Huh?" Sophie blinked as she scrambled back up to her feet.

"What?" the Doctor muttered again as he picked up the life belt that had fallen into the console room.

"Um…" Sophie muttered, tearing her gaze from the prow that had crashed into the Tardis to peer at the life belt in the Doctor's hands.

'Titanic' they read.

"What?" the Doctor blinked befuddled.

"Eh?" Sophie blinked equally befuddled.