A/N: Welcome back to Heart of Gold. Hope you're looking forward to reading these two new chapters. Here's part one.
These chapters are based on the episode: The Girl in the Fireplace.
I do not own Doctor Who. All I own is this story and my OC.
Please review and no flaming will be tolerated.
Happy reading :)
LA VIE EN ROSE
"Hold me close and hold me fast.
The magic spell you cast.
This is "La vie en rose".
When you kiss me, heaven sighs.
And though I close my eyes.
I see "La vie en rose."
– Cristin Milioti: 'La Vie En Rose' (How I Met Your Mother: Deluxe (Original Television Soundtrack) [2014]).
18th Century France
Palace of Versailles
It was a warm starry night in France, and a masque ball is currently underway at the Palace of Versailles. However, nothing is what it appears. Inside the magnificent, famous, and elegant French palace, total chaos is afoot. Crowds of 18th century aristocrats, dressed in finery for the masque ball, are running around in a panic. They are screaming and fleeing from the sounds of whirring and ominous shadows on the elegant golden wallpapered walls. Shadows that look vaguely, the shape of men and women.
In a nearby royal bedroom, a woman stands in front of her fireplace, dressed in an open-fronted mantua gown of golden silk, tulle, and embroidered lace, with a matching petticoat and train. Her long golden hair had been elegantly twisted up into an elaborate bun of curls, adorned with hair jewels, and pieces of fine jewellery had been strung around her throat, her wrists and dangling from her ears. Her name was Reinette, and she was the chief mistress to the King of France; and currently looking nervously at an ornate clock on her mantlepiece.
Its glass face had been smashed in.
"We are under attack!" King Louis XV (hereafter referred to as Louis) ran in, looking anxious. Reinette looks at him through the cracked glass of her clock, and sighs despairingly, like she had known this was going to happen all along. "There are creatures. I don't even think they're human. We can't stop them."
"The clock is broken. They're coming," Reinette reveals, ignoring what her king had just told her. "They're both coming!" Louis frowns at her, looking incredulous.
"Did you hear what I said?"
"Listen to me," Reinette turns towards Louis, beseechingly. "There is a man and a woman coming to Versailles. They have watched over me my whole life and they will not desert me tonight."
"What are you talking about?" Louis demanded. "Who is coming?"
"The only man, save you, and the only woman I have ever loved." Louis opened his mouth to protest, but Reinette immediately stops him, frowning sternly at him. "No, don't look like that, there's no time. You have your duties. I am your mistress. Go to your queen." Reinette then promptly goes back to the fireplace, and kneels down in front of it, calling out to something unknown while Louis looks at her with a half-worried, half-confused expression on his face.
"Are you there? Can you hear me?" Reinette shouts to be heard above the screams of the guests out in the corridors of Versailles, desperate. "I need you now. You promised. The clock on the mantle is broken. It is time! Doctor! Katy!"
Spaceship
Three thousand years later, the TARDIS materialises on a spaceship with a long central hub and two rotating sections. One larger than the other. The TARDIS's door opens, and Mickey looks out; a privilege given to first-time fliers, and his mouth falls open in complete shock before he grins from ear to ear. He turns and shouts back into the TARDIS, alerting the rest to their location.
"It's a spaceship," Mickey exclaims, stepping out and walking away from the TARDIS a little, as Katy follows him out and looks about, just as eager as him. "Brilliant! I got a spaceship on my first go."
"Not bad for your first trip, huh?" Katy grinned at him, before making a face at the pieces of equipment scattered around the floor in front of the TARDIS when she almost trips over one. Rose is next to come out, and she frowns a little at the mess too.
"It looks kind of abandoned." She comments to the Doctor, who is the last to step out and locks the door behind him. "Anyone on board?" The Doctor does a quick scan of the room with his eyes, before shaking his head.
"Nah, nothing here." He says, sounding a little unconvincing. Katy and Rose look at him, skeptically. "Well, nothing dangerous." This time even Mickey gives him a disbelieving look. "Well, not that dangerous … you know what, I'll just have a quick scan, in case there's anything dangerous." The Doctor changed his mind.
"Good idea," Rose agreed.
"Better to be safe than sorry later on," Katy added from where she was carefully inspecting piles of junk around her. The Doctor fiddles with a nearby console.
"So, what's the date? How far we gone?" Rose asks, casually.
"About three thousand years into your future, give or take." The Doctor replied smoothly. He manages to find a nearby light switch on the console he was inspecting, and flicks it on, revealing a ceiling above them that shows a cluster of multicoloured stars.
"Wow…" Katy breathes, taking it in. The Doctor smiles warmly and walks over to her, wrapping an arm around Katy's shoulders, enjoying the fact that yet another place that he had taken them to, fascinated her. Katy leans into him, lacing her fingers with the hand dangling from her shoulder.
"51st century," the Doctor reveals. "Diagmar Cluster. You're a long way from home, Mickey. Two and a half galaxies."
"Mickey Smith, meet the universe." Rose introduces, with fake cheerfulness. She had seen the very intimate gesture between the Doctor and her sister, and was once again resentful, that it wasn't her that the Doctor seemed interested in. "See anything you like?" Rose forced herself to focus on making Mickey's first trip through time and space a positive and memorable one. She didn't notice the Doctor eyeing her rather sternly out the corner of his eye. He hadn't been lying to Sarah-Jane on their last adventure, when he told her that he was getting sick of Rose's jealous nature; and wished he could break it to the blonde that he wasn't and never would be interested in her, in that way.
"It's so realistic!" Mickey was practically a kid in a candy shop, and Katy broke away from the Doctor to share in the excitement her best friend was exuding.
"Yeah, I had the exact same reaction when the Doctor first took Rose and me to a lookout station back in the year 500 million," Katy told him. "While it was a new and exciting experience, I will admit that I did feel overwhelmed, even if I didn't look it."
The Doctor's head snapped up at that.
"You never told me that," He looked a little surprised at this revelation. "I thought that it was just Rose who felt overwhelmed." The blonde looked a bit embarrassed about the reminder, as Katy smiled sweetly at him.
"You never asked. Probably because you two were too busy sniping at each other." Katy recalled, remembering how annoyed the Doctor had been with her sister back then, before they formed a tentative friendship, that had gradually gotten warmer over several adventures. It was only recently that Rose's attitude was causing it a bit of strain.
"Did not!" Both Rose and the Doctor piped up at the same time, before scowling at each other; as though daring the other to admit the truth. Katy giggled, while Mickey just looked confused. Clearing his throat, the Doctor continued inspecting the console he was stationed at.
"Moving on," He flicked a couple more switches before his eyes widened in surprise once again. "Dear me, had some cowboys in here," the Doctor remarked, as he examined a 3D typography of the spaceship, they were in. "Got a ton of repair work going on." He pressed a few buttons, then frowned at the screen. "Now that's odd," He said, as Katy came over to look over his shoulder at what he was seeing.
"What?"
"Look at that," He pointed at the screen, showing Katy a flashing red part of the layout. "All the warp engines are going. Full capacity. There's enough power running through this ship to punch a hole in the universe, but we're not moving." He observed.
"So, where's all the power going?" Katy mused.
"And where'd all the crew go?" Rose piped up.
"Good question. There's no life readings on board." The Doctor scanned the ship, eagerly.
"Well, we're in deep space. They didn't just nip out for a quick fag." Rose muttered, wryly.
"No, I've checked all the smoking pods," The Doctor piped up, missing the obvious sarcasm in Rose's voice. He suddenly sniffed the air, frowning curiously. "Can you smell that?"
"Yeah," Katy sniffed with interest. "Someone's cooking."
"Sunday roast, definitely." Mickey agreed. The Doctor flicked yet another switch, and a door slides up behind them.
Fireplace room
The door revealed a hidden room, filled with more discarded piles of junk and rubbish. The far wall was paneled, and contained a blazing fire in an ornate fireplace, of all things; with an ormolu clock on the mantlepiece. All four of them look at the out-of-place fireplace with astonishment.
"Well, there's something you don't see in your average spaceship," the Doctor commented, walking closer to inspect it curiously. Katy was quick to follow, looking at the fireplace with wonder. "18th century. French." The Doctor ran a hand across the top and sides of the fireplace. "Nice mantle. Not a hologram. It's not even a reproduction. This actually is an 18th century French fireplace. Double-sided. There's another room through there."
"There can't be," Rose piped up from where she had wondered over to a nearby porthole in the same wall. Outside she could see the same cluster of stars and nebulas they had seen in the glass room back where they had left the TARDIS. "That's the outer hull of the ship. Look." She waved over Mickey, who came over to see for himself. Both he and Rose frowned in confusion. Katy, however, was crouched down in front of the fireplace, still inspecting the brilliant craftmanship. She was unprepared for what she saw next, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw a pair of surprised blue-green eyes blinking back at her from inside the fireplace.
"Hello," She greets a little girl with blonde hair, dressed in an old-fashioned white nightgown, who was looking back at her warily. The Doctor frowns and squats down beside Katy to see who or what she was talking to and offers a warm smile to the girl too.
"Oh, hello there!" He also greets the girl.
"Hello," the little girl responds to both Katy and the Doctor. Rose and Mickey come over to see what was going on.
"What's your name?" The Doctor asks her, politely.
"Reinette."
"That's a lovely name," Katy compliments the now named 'Reinette', giving her a smile, which was shyly returned by the girl. "Can you tell us where you are at the moment, Reinette?"
"In my bedroom." Reinette responds, frowning a little at what she obviously thought was a weird question.
"And where's your bedroom?" The Doctor elaborates, patiently. "Where do you live, Reinette?"
"Paris, of course."
"Paris, right!" The Doctor parroted, realising that it was obvious because of the design of the fireplace. Little Reinette frowned once again.
"Mademoiselle, Monsieur, what are you doing in my fireplace?" She asked, curiously.
"Oh, it's just a routine fire check. Can you tell me what year it is?" The Doctor responded. Reinette immediately brightened.
"Of course, I can!" She chirped, "Seventeen hundred and twenty-seven." Katy was amused that Reinette appeared proud that she knew this. Clearly, a very intelligent little girl. The Doctor returned Reinette's bright smile.
"Right, lovely. One of my favourites," then he frowned momentarily. "August is rubbish though. Stay indoors." Reinette, Katy, Rose, and Mickey look at him in bemusement, obviously wondering what he was going on about. "Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for your help. Hope you enjoy the rest of the fire. Night, night."
"Goodnight, Monsieur, Mademoiselle." Reinette responded. The Doctor gets up from his crouch, assisting Katy up as well.
Mickey frowned at him accusingly.
"You said this was the 51st century."
"I also said this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the universe," the Doctor retorted, not unkindly. "I think we found the hole. Must be a spatio-temporal hyperlink."
"What's that?" Mickey questioned.
"No idea. Just made it up. Didn't want to say, 'magic door.'" The Doctor replied, sheepishly. This earned him an amused snigger from Katy, to which he responded with a grin and a wink. Rose rolled her eyes.
"And on the other side of the 'magic door' is France in 1727?" Rose sounded dubious.
"Well, she was speaking French. Right period French, too." The Doctor stated, looking incredibly intrigued.
"She was speaking English, I heard her." Mickey pointed out.
"We know, Mick. That's the TARDIS. It translates foreign languages for you." Katy explained.
"Even French?" Mickey was surprised.
"Yep." Katy nodded. The Doctor was feeling around the sides of the fireplace and its mantle, trying to find something. He grinned in triumph when he felt a switch with his fingers.
"Gotcha!" He shouted, triumphantly. He activates it, causing the entire fireplace to suddenly begin to rotate inwards, taking both the Doctor and a caught off guard Katy, with it.
Rose's eyes widened in alarm.
"Doctor! Katy!" She calls out.
Reinette's Bedroom.
Paris, 1727.
The fireplace had swiveled 'round into Reinette's bedroom. It was the middle of the night, and the girl in question was sound asleep in bed, and snow was falling outside her window. Katy lets go of the mantlepiece that she had grabbed onto when the Doctor caused the entire fireplace to swivel round, and lightly slapped him on the arm in annoyance.
"Ow!" He jumped and rubbed at his arm, as he looked at Katy with a slightly wounded expression on his face.
"A little warning next time would be appreciated," Katy whispered at him, scowling a little. Unfortunately, even though Katy was whispering, it still woke Reinette up and the young girl sits up in bed with a start. Her eyes widen in fear when she sees the Doctor and Katy standing in front of her fireplace.
"It's okay, don't scream," the Doctor hastily rushes over to calm her down before she could do something unwanted, with Katy walking slightly more sedately but just as eager to calm her down too. "It's just us; it's the fireplace man and woman. Look. We were talking just a moment ago. We were in your fireplace." He turns and lights a candle on Reinette's bedside table with his sonic screwdriver.
Reinette didn't relax, instead she just looked confused.
"Monsieur, that was weeks ago. That was months." She explains to them, and both the Doctor and Katy looked shocked.
"Really? Oh. Must be a loose connection. Need to get a man in." the Doctor muttered, as Katy gave him a withering look. He was not helping the situation at all.
"Who are you? And what are you doing here?" Reinette was bordering on hysterical, and Katy moved to try and soothe the obviously frightened and confused child.
"Breathe, sweetie. We promise we're not here to harm you." She reassured Reinette, who calmed down a little when she saw the expression on the older girl's face. There is a rather loud ticking noise in the air, and both Katy and the Doctor frown, looking for the source.
"Okay, that's scary." The Doctor suddenly pipes up, and Katy turned to see what he was talking about; before spotting the broken mantle clock her boyfriend was staring at and coming to the same scary conclusion.
"Uh, oh." Katy mumbled, nervously.
Reinette, however, just looked at the Doctor and Katy skeptically, having not come to the same realisation as the other two had.
"You're both scared of a broken clock?"
"Uh, a little bit, yeah." Katy confirmed, looking around for something out of the ordinary, as the Doctor elaborated further.
"Because, you see, if this clock's broken, and it's the only clock in the room, then what's that?" He gestures to thin air, and finally Reinette understands and becomes frightened again. "Because, you see, that's not a clock. You can tell by the resonance. Too big. Six feet, I'd say. The size of a man."
"What is it?" Reinette asks.
"Now, let's think. If you were a thing that ticked and you were hiding in someone's bedroom, first thing you do, break the clock. No one notices the sound of one clock ticking, but two?" Katy instinctively goes over to Reinette, preparing to protect the child against the unknown threat. The Doctor nods at her in agreement. "You might start to wonder if you're really alone." The Doctor cautiously walks over to Reinette's bed. He looks over at both Reinette and Katy. "Katy, get on the bed with Reinette, and stay on it." Katy nodded and hopped up on the large bed, gathering the scared child into her arms. Reinette immediately latched onto the older girl. "Right in the middle, you two. Don't put your hands or feet over the edge." He instructs, before crouching down beside the bed and bending down to wave his screwdriver underneath the bed.
Almost immediately something knocks it out of his hand and stands up on the other side of the bed behind Katy and Reinette. The Doctor looks over the side of the bed, and Katy watches as his eyes widen.
"What is it, Doctor?" Katy questioned. The Doctor looks at her and raises a finger to his lips, signaling for her to be silent.
"Reinette," He grabs the little girl's attention. Reinette pulls her head back from where she had hidden her face in Katy's chest and looks at the Doctor warily. "Don't look 'round." Katy turns her head and spots a figure in an ornate, elaborately decorated smiley mask, standing behind them. Her eyes widen in horror. "You, stay exactly where you are." Reinette looks at him, puzzled, as the Doctor suddenly frowns. "Hold still, let me look." He reaches out and gently holds Reinette's head, looking deeply into her eyes. He then glowers at the figure with appalled shock. "You've been scanning her brain."
"It's been doing what?" Katy looked just as horrified.
"You've crossed two galaxies and thousands of years just to scan a child's brain?" The Doctor stood up to properly address the creepy figure. "What could there be in a little girl's mind worth blowing a hole in the universe?" Reinette pulls away completely from Katy, frowning in confusion.
"I don't understand. It wants me?" She turns towards the figure, seeing it for the first time and only flinching just a little, much to the shock and admiration of the Doctor and Katy, witnessing her bravery. "You want me?" She questions it.
The figure finally makes a move.
"Not yet. You are incomplete." It responds to Reinette's question.
"Incomplete? What's that mean, incomplete?" Katy demanded, her maternal instincts kicking in, now that she knew a child was being threatened. She gets off the bed and walks over to stand beside the Doctor, looking outraged. "You can answer her, you can certainly answer us. What do you mean, incomplete?" The figure, which turned out to be an android, suddenly advances upon Katy and the Doctor, brandishing a blade that comes out of its hand. The Doctor immediately grabs Katy's hand and pulls her behind him, shielding her from the obviously hostile android.
Reinette's eyes widen.
"Monsieur, Mademoiselle, be careful!" She frets, and Katy gives Reinette a shaky but reassuring smile.
"Just a nightmare, Reinette, don't worry about it." The Doctor reassures her. "Everyone has nightmares." The android slashes at them, and the Doctor and Katy dodges. "Even monsters from under the bed have nightmares, don't you, monster?" He addresses the android, who takes another swipe and ends up getting its blade stuck in the mantlepiece. It tries to pull itself free, as the Doctor and Katy step up onto the mechanism too.
"What do monsters have nightmares about?" Reinette questions.
"Me!" The Doctor grins.
"Him!" Katy answers at the same time, as the fireplace rotates again, taking both of them and the android with it.
Fireplace room
Rose and Mickey immediately got to their feet the minute they saw both Katy and the Doctor swivel into view but froze when they noticed that they were not alone. The android was still trying to pry its blade from the mantle, so it didn't notice that the Doctor had made a beeline towards a tube from a nearby rack. He gestures for Katy to get out of the way, before spraying the contents over the android.
It instantly seizes up.
"Excellent! Ice gun!" Mickey grins, looking impressed.
"Fire extinguisher," the Doctor corrects him, tossing it to Rose who barely catches it and throws him a slightly annoyed look as a result. He easily ignores it, completely focused upon the temporarily frozen android.
"Where did that thing come from?" Rose questions.
"Here," Katy answers before the Doctor could, and he gives her an almost smile before returning his focus upon the machine. Mickey frowned in confusion.
"So why is it dressed like that?"
"Field trip to France," the Doctor explains absently. "Some kind of basic camouflage protocol. Nice needlework, shame about the face." He pulls off the creepy smiley mask, which reveals clockwork encased inside a clear casing. The Doctor beams with delight.
"Woah!" Katy blurted out, taken aback by what she was seeing.
"Oh, you are beautiful!" The Doctor compliments the android, grinning from ear to ear. "No, really, you are. You're gorgeous! Look at that."
"I see," Katy nodded, acknowledging her boyfriend, but also looking quite stunned by the intricate looking golden clockwork that apparently made up the android's head. "I've never seen anything like this…"
"Space age clockwork, I love it. I've got chills!" The Doctor continued gushing. "Listen, seriously, I mean this from the heart, and, by the way, count those. It would be a crime, it would be an act of vandalism to disassemble you," then the Doctor's face became very serious as he held up his sonic screwdriver at the android, threateningly. "But that won't stop me." Realising that he wasn't joking, the android immediately beams away.
"Where'd it go?" Katy asked.
"Short range teleport," the Doctor explained. "Can't have got far. Could still be on board." Katy nodded, as Rose steps forward looking curious.
"What is it?" She demanded.
"Don't go looking for it!" The Doctor orders, sternly. "Come on!" He says to Katy, who nods and gets on the rotating fireplace platform.
"Hang on, where're you going?" Rose shouts at them. Katy shrugged as the Doctor flicks the switch to activate the fireplace once again.
"Back in a sec." He promises, as the fireplace rotates, taking the Doctor and Katy back into Reinette's bedroom. Rose sighed in annoyance, before glancing over at the fire extinguisher and went over to heft it into her arms like a big gun.
Mickey immediately protests.
"He said not to look for it," He points out.
"Yeah, he did." Rose agreed, looking at Mickey with a 'so what?' expression. Mickey pauses, weighing up the pros and cons of this decision, before choosing and darted over towards the second fire extinguisher and pulls it down from the rack. Rose grinned at him, approvingly. "Now you're getting it."
Both she and Mickey take off down the corridor, searching for the runaway android.
Reinette's bedchamber
Bright, beautiful sunshine filtering in from large windows, was what greeted the Doctor and Katy, the second the fireplace swiveled to a stop. Katy's eyes widened as she took in the room she and the Doctor were standing in.
"I think time fast forward again," Katy mused.
Reinette's room no longer resembled that of a seven-year-old anymore. Instead, it was big and plush, and sparsely filled with childhood toys. A harp stood in place of a large dollhouse Katy recalled being in the corner of the room, the last time she and the Doctor had set foot in the room.
"I think you might be right, sweetheart." The Doctor agreed, as he wondered over to the harp and played a few notes on it. Katy immediately swats him on the arm.
"Don't touch!" She admonishes him, earning a pout from the Doctor who looked like a scolded schoolboy.
Neither noticed a beautiful young woman in her late teens, early 20s, dressed in an expensive pink silk mantua dress walk into the room. The young woman, although startled upon seeing the couple, immediately lit up when she recognised them, then smirked when Katy had swatted the Doctor on the arm. She decided to make her presence known.
"Ahem," Both Katy and the Doctor jolted like they had been shot and spun round to face her, looking sheepish.
"Oh. Hello." The Doctor greeted her, awkwardly. "Er, we were just looking for Reinette. This is still her room, isn't it?"
"We've been away, just not sure how long…" Katy trailed off.
"Reinette!" An older, impatient sounding woman's voice calls out in the distance. Both the Doctor and Katy's eyes widened and glanced around in anticipation for their friend to make her appearance from behind this young woman presumably. "We're ready to go!"
"Go to the carriage, Mother. I will join you there!" The young woman – obviously now revealed as Reinette – shouts back to her mother, amused by the shocked expressions on Katy and the Doctor's faces. She walks up to them. "It is customary, I think, to have imaginary friends only during one's childhood." Reinette smirks mischievously. "You both are to be congratulated on your persistence." She commends them, as the Doctor clears his throat.
"Reinette! Well. Goodness, how you've grown." He complements her, with Katy nodding in agreement. Reinette scrutinises them both, curiously.
"And you do not appear to have aged a single day. That is tremendously impolite of the both of you." She scolds, light-heartedly.
"It's a long story," Katy explains. "A very long, complicated story that…" she looks to her boyfriend for assistance. "… help me?"
"Right, yes, sorry." The Doctor takes over the explanation from Katy, seizing her hand in his and preparing to turn back to the fireplace to take a swift exit. "Listen, lovely to catch up, but we'd better be off, eh? Don't want your mother finding you up here with two strangers, do we?"
"Strangers?" Reinette blinked at them in astonishment. "How could you be strangers to me? I've known you both since I was seven years old."
"Yeah, I suppose you have. We came the quick route." The Doctor clarified, nervously. Reinette walks closer to them both and gently touches their faces, examining them closely. Katy stiffened in surprise, while the Doctor narrowed his eyes slightly.
"You seem to be flesh and blood, at any rate, but this is absurd." Reinette mused.
"How so?" Katy was genuinely curious.
"Reason tells me you cannot be real," Reinette shrugged, still examining them. The Doctor gently removes Reinette's hand from his face.
"Oh, you never want to listen to reason." He suggests, lightly.
"Mademoiselle!" A servant shouts off in the background, sounding weary. "Your mother grows impatient." He reminds her, and Reinette frowns in annoyance.
"A moment!" She snaps back. The frown instantly slides off her face when she turns back to the Doctor and Katy. "So many questions. So little time." A calculating smile spreads over her face before she moves in to passionately kiss the Doctor. However, he immediately stops her, frowning.
"Uh, no. Don't do that." He asks, firmly. Reinette blinks at him questioningly, before noticing a fairly possessive glare on Katy's face and grins, suddenly understanding.
"Oh! I see…"
"Mademoiselle Poisson!" The servant shouts insistently, sounding closer than before. Reinette immediately hugs both of them quickly but tightly before turning and heading for her dressing table, snatching her purse, and running out her bedroom door past an exasperated servant. He freezes in his tracks when he spots Katy and the Doctor who were both wearing wonderstruck expressions on their faces the second Reinette's surname was mentioned.
"Hang on. Did he just say 'Poisson'?" Katy questioned. "Reinette Poisson?"
"No! No, no, no, no, no way." The Doctor was just as stunned as she was. Huge grins formed on both their faces as recognition set in. "Reinette Poisson? Later Madame Etoiles? Later still mistress of Louis the Fifteenth, uncrowned Queen of France?"
"Actress, artist, musician, dancer, courtesan…" Katy continued listing Reinette's historical background, getting more and more excited by the minute.
"Fantastic gardener!" the Doctor shouted, as both of them turned and stampeded back towards the fireplace to make their leave. The servant snapped out of his shock, and angrily walks over to the couple.
"Who the hell are you two?!" He demanded. The Doctor and Katy just grinned back at him, unfazed by his anger.
"I'm the Doctor, and she's Katy. And we've just met—"
"—and hugged…" Katy reminded him, and the Doctor hooks an arm around her shoulders, holding her close to him.
"Madame de Pompadour!" He laughed brightly as he activated the fireplace and it swivelled back around to the spaceship.
"Oh, my God! I can't believe it!" Katy gushed as they disappeared back around.
Fireplace room
Katy breaks away from the Doctor and bursts forward excitedly the minute the fireplace returns back to the fireplace room, eager to share with her sister and Mickey what they had discovered.
"Mickey! Rose!" Katy exclaimed excitedly, as the Doctor looks on with fondness. "You'll never guess who the Doctor and I just—" She cuts herself off, looking around in confusion. "Where'd they go?" Katy looks back at the Doctor and he frowns with annoyance.
"Every time," He grumbled, gesturing for Katy to follow him as he takes off down the corridor.
"Hey! It's not every time." Katy protests, looking wounded.
"With you, maybe. But Rose?" The Doctor countered; he mutters with irritation underneath his breath. "It's rule one: Don't wonder off." He glances at Katy as he continues ranting. "I told her, rule one. There could be anything on this ship." They turn a corner and pause in their tracks when they see a white horse with a saddle, standing in their path, nickering.
"Like a horse, for example." Katy pointed out, before wondering over to the horse, cautiously. "Hello, there." She cautiously reaches out a hand, and smiles when the horse allows her to touch its nose. "Aren't you a friendly horse," Katy coos as she scratches lightly on the end of the horse's nose. "Where'd you come from?"
"Katy, c'mon. Don't encourage it. We've gotta find Rose and Mickey before they run into trouble." The Doctor calls out to her, and Katy turns, noting the slight frown on his face.
"You think they would?" Katy questioned.
"I know they would." The Doctor corrected her, before turning on his heel and walking off.
Katy takes the hint.
"Bye, now." She says to the horse and hurries to catch up with her boyfriend.
Unfortunately, the horse seems to have other ideas, and walks with them.
Corridor
With the theme to Mission: Impossible playing through his head, Mickey darts in and out through the corridors, forward flipping … just generally behaving like a dork and trying to be clever while he was searching the spaceship. Rose trails along behind him, observing all this with a bemused smile on her face. A camera with an eyeball suddenly catches Mickey's eye, and he has to do a double take when he realises it was looking and blinking right at him.
"Are you looking at me?" Mickey asks the camera, feeling slightly freaked. The camera extends from the bulkhead and down towards him for a closer look. Rose approaches him. "Look at this," Mickey tells her, pointing towards the camera. "That's an eye in there. That's a real eye." Rose makes a face, just as the camera retreats back into the bulkhead; apparently seen what it needed to see. Suddenly, the both of them hear a slightly muffled thump-thump, thump-thump noise, and they exchange curious looks before Rose follows the sound towards a small hatch on the wall. She reaches out and grabs the door, only to pull back with a small hiss when it burns her fingers a little. Rose eventually gets the hatch open, and she and Mickey peek in through the hole. The thump-thump noise is louder now, and they gaze down along the wires and pipes.
Something is hooked up to the machinery.
"What is that?" Mickey demands, uncomfortably. "What's that in the middle there? Looks like it's wired in." Rose swallows hard, realising exactly what she was seeing and trying to swallow down the bile that started rising up her throat.
"It's a heart, Mickey. It's a human heart." She reveals, and Mickey's eyes widen in both horror and disgust.
Another corridor
In an entirely different corridor, the Doctor and Katy are still searching for Rose and Mickey, and not getting anywhere fast.
"Where the hell did they go?" Katy pondered, a little worriedly, and the Doctor was looking a little bit concerned as well.
"Rose?" He calls out, sounding like a lost little boy.
"Mickey?" Katy adds. Eventually, the Doctor gets fed up with the horse, who is still following them like a lost puppy, and turns to tell it off, much to Katy's amusement.
"Will you stop following us? We're not your parents." He snaps, a little crossly.
"Aww, I think it's sweet." Katy grinned, patting the horse's nose affectionately. "I'd still like to know where he came from though." She ponders, just as the Doctor comes upon a pair of white wooden doors and pushes them open. Some bright sunshine floods the corridor, and the Doctor turns and grins at Katy with triumph. "Oh! Never mind." Katy said, sheepishly. She walks away from the horse's side and approaches the Doctor, looking curiously at the door.
"So this is where you came from, eh, horsey?" the Doctor commented casually, before taking Katy's hand and breezing on through the threshold of the double doors.
The horse doesn't bother to follow them.
Versailles Gardens
They find themselves standing in a beautiful garden on the rolling hills of Versailles, with bright, warm sunshine blaring down on them overhead.
"Oh, now isn't this lovely?" the Doctor remarked with a bright smile on his face.
He shoves one of his hands into the pocket of his pinstriped suit jacket, and intertwines his other hand in Katy's, before both of them walk leisurely along the garden taking in the view. Katy couldn't help but blush at the intimate gesture the Doctor voluntarily did and smiled happily at him, pleased that they were making the most out of being alone together without risk of Rose throwing dagger eyes at them, and spoiling the moment.
Suddenly, she catches a glimpse of Reinette.
"Doctor, look!" Katy points towards two young women, one of them being Reinette, who were walking nearby, shading themselves underneath their parasols and enjoying a laugh between them. The Doctor and Katy exchange excited grins between them and move closer to get a better look.
"Oh, Catherine, you are too wicked." Reinette lightly chides her friend, before spying something out the corner of her eye and turns to look at it. Both the Doctor and Katy duck out of sight before they could be noticed. Reinette frowns a little before shrugging and resuming her conversation with her friend, Catherine.
"Oh, speaking of wicked, I hear Madame de Chateauroux is ill and close to death." Catherine commented, in conspiring tones.
Reinette smirks, playfully.
"Yes. I am devastated." The Doctor and Katy come out of their hiding spot and lean casually against a wall, content with observing their friend from afar. Catherine giggles at Reinette.
"Oh, indeed. I, myself, am frequently inconsolable." She stated, causing Katy to roll her eyes at the over dramatics. "The King will therefore be requiring a new mistress. You love the King, of course?" Catherine asks Reinette, slyly.
"He is the King, and I love him with all my heart." Reinette admits truthfully. "And I look forward to meeting him." By this time, the Doctor and Katy had moved to stand beside a stone urn, still observing their new friend from afar. At that moment, a peacock loudly calls out, causing Reinette to instinctively turn towards the noise. They just barely manage to hide. Reinette frowns curiously; she really did thought she had noticed something move just out of sight.
"Is something wrong, my dear?" Catherine asks Reinette.
"Not wrong, no." Reinette responded. Satisfied with her friend's answer, Catherine continued talking about the King and his search for a new mistress.
"Every woman in Paris knows your ambitions."
"Every woman in Paris shares them," Reinette retorted, dryly. Catherine nodded, unable to refute that observation and smirks with amusement.
"You know of course that the King is to attend the Yew Tree Ball?" She inquires casually.
"As am I," Reinette states with a playful smile on her face, as both women set off back towards Versailles. The Doctor and Katy immerged from their hiding spot, all smiles.
"You know, Doctor. I'm really enjoying this adventure so far." Katy observes, earning a look of surprise from him.
"Really?"
"Yeah," Katy confirmed. "Ever since I studied her in one of my history classes at Uni, all I wanted to do was meet Reinette. Or at least be a fly on a wall." She admitted. "She really was a remarkable woman."
The Doctor grins at her, pleased.
"Well, lucky you got to do both in one entire adventure." He stated, "However accidental it might've been." He added, somewhat sheepishly, scratching the back of his messy head awkwardly. He blinked in pleasant surprise when Katy pulls him closer and plants a brief, but affectionate kiss on his lips.
"You are the best. Thank you, Doctor." Katy smiles brightly at him before kissing him again and hugged his arm to her chest as they walked back towards the double doors they had come from.
He smiles tenderly at her.
"If I get a reaction like that from you every time, I might do it more often." The Doctor stated, before kissing the top of her head.
Corridor
Rose and Mickey are still exploring the corridors of the spaceship, still half-heartedly searching for the elusive clockwork android, but mostly discussing their gruesome discovery of body parts equipped to the mechanism of the spaceship. Neither of them realise that they are being followed or watched as they continue exploring.
"Maybe it wasn't a real heart," Mickey mused, still looking uncomfortable.
"'Course it was a real heart," Rose scoffed, her eyes darting about the corridor for something out of place, or the android they were hunting, keeping the fire extinguisher close.
"Is this like normal for you?" Mickey asked tentatively. "Is this an average day?"
"Life with the Doctor, Mickey? No more average days." Rose replied, very matter of fact, much to her ex's chagrin.
They eventually come across a large window. The view inside appeared to be what looked like an 18th century parlour or sitting room. It was the middle of the night in there, and the room was dotted with muted warm candlelight from both wall sconces and candelabras on various tables, illuminating elegant, old-fashioned furniture arranged neatly on a highly burnished brown stained wooden floor. Rose and Mickey immediately took interest.
"It's France again," Mickey commented in astonishment. "We can see France."
"I think we're looking through a mirror," Rose mused, just as three men walked into the room; with one of the men very obviously standing out due to the deference the other two men were giving him and in the way he was very regally dressed. Mickey let out a mocking snort.
"Blimey, look at this guy. Who does he think he is?" He scoffed, then jumped when an arm drapes over his shoulder, and he turns and looks at the owner, sagging with relief when he sees it's only Katy.
"The King of France." She answers him. The Doctor walks up behind her and stops, taking in the view with the rest of them. He barely reacts beyond a friendly smile when Rose beams at him adoringly when she sees him.
"Oh, here's trouble. What you two been up to?" Rose asks, slightly flirty-like.
"Oh, this and that." The Doctor responded. "Katy and I became the imaginary friend of a future French aristocrat—" He explains casually.
"—He picked a fight with a clockwork man." Katy pipes up. The horse, who was still following them, lets out a loud neigh causing Rose and Mickey to blink at it in bewilderment. The Doctor and Katy barely bat an eyelid.
"—Oh, and we met a horse." The Doctor finished the explanation. Mickey frowns at the horse, curiously.
"What's a horse doing on a spaceship?" He questioned, earning an exasperated look from the Doctor in response.
"Mickey, what's pre-Revolutionary France doing on a spaceship? Get a little perspective." He scolds him lightly, before refocusing on the scene in front of them. He gestures with his hand. "See these? They're all over the place. On every deck. Gateways to history. But not just any old history," Reinette walks into the room and curtseys to the King. Katy grins with excitement.
"Hers!" She exclaims brightly, earning looks of confusion from her sister and Mickey.
"Time windows deliberately arranged along the life of one particular woman. A spaceship from the 51st century stalking a woman from the eighteenth. Why?" the Doctor questioned with a frown.
"Who is she?" Rose asked.
"Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson," Katy fields the question. "Known to her friends as Reinette. One of the most accomplished women who ever lived." She added, ever the history student.
"So has she got plans of being the Queen, then?" Rose asks the Doctor, ignoring her sister's excitement; having been used to it since she first started her course and began learning in her classes – sometimes boring her and Jackie to tears with random facts.
"No, he's already got a Queen," the Doctor responded, smiling. "She's got plans of being his mistress."
"Oh, I get it. Camilla." Rose grinned, earning an eyeroll from the Doctor for the reference.
"I think this is the night they met. The night of the Yew Tree Ball," The Doctor stated. "In no time flat, she'll get herself established as his official mistress, with her own rooms at the palace. Even her own title: Madame de Pompadour." He grinned, as they all watched as the King and his servants leave. Reinette remains behind, approaching the 'mirror' they were all looking through and checks her appearance.
Rose snorted.
"The Queen must have loved her."
"She did," Katy said, surprising her sister. "They got on very well."
"The King's wife and the King's girlfriend?" Mickey sounded dubious. The Doctor shrugged, nonchalantly.
"France. It's a different planet." Mickey nodded, not looking entirely convinced. Katy's smile suddenly fades when she spots something hiding in the shadows in the room with Reinette.
"Oh, no. Doctor…" She warns, causing all of them to become alert.
Versailles Sitting Room
Reinette was in the process of straightening out her gown for the ball when she hears something or someone move behind her, sounding uncomfortably like a ticking clock. She immediately spins around, frowning indignantly at the silhouetted figure of a woman in a mantua gown.
"How long have you been standing there? Show yourself!" Reinette demands, then gasps when it turns out to be yet another clockwork android. The mirror swivels forward, surprising Reinette when the Doctor steps from it, armed with the fire extinguisher he had taken from Mickey. Katy is right behind him, making a beeline towards Reinette, while Rose and Mickey hesitantly step into the room too.
"Hello, Reinette. Hasn't time flown?" The Doctor greets her, airily.
"Fireplace man!" Reinette exclaims with surprise, as Katy comes over to her with a smile.
"Hello, again!" Katy greets her friend as the Doctor uses the fire extinguisher on the android and sprays the white foam all over it, once again shorting it out. The Doctor throws the extinguisher at Mickey, as the android creaks.
"What's it doing?" Mickey demands.
"Switching back on. Melting the ice." The Doctor muttered.
"And then what?"
"Then it kills everyone in the room," The Doctor was matter of fact, and takes a hasty step backwards when the android swipes at him with its blade. "Focuses the mind, doesn't it?" He quips, before narrowing his eyes on the machine. "Who are you? Identify yourself." The android doesn't respond. The Doctor turns and looks at Reinette, a little impatiently. "Order it to answer me." He requested, and Reinette looks at him blankly.
"Why should it listen to me?"
"Well, it listened to you when you were a child," Katy pointed out. "Let's see if that is still the case now." She suggested and Reinette nods, before frowning at the android with a determination.
"Answer his question," She orders. The android still doesn't move. Reinette's eyes narrow. "Answer any and all questions put to you." She insists. The android obeys.
"I am repair droid seven."
"What happened to the ship, then?" the Doctor immediately questioned. "There was a lot of damage."
"Ion storm. Eighty two percent systems failure." The android responded promptly. The Doctor frowned.
"That ship hasn't moved in over a year. What's taken you so long?"
"We did not have the parts," The android stated.
"Always comes down to that, doesn't it? The parts." Mickey smirked, understandingly. The Doctor ignores him, moving on to the next question that bothered him.
"What's happened to the crew? Where are they?" He asked.
"We did not have the parts," the android repeated.
"There should have been over fifty people on your ship. Where did they go?" The Doctor was confused.
"We did not have the parts." The android persisted, and this time Katy realised what the droid was implying and turned a sickly shade of green.
"Oh, God…" She whimpered, horrified. Reinette turned when she heard her whisper and her eyes widened with concern.
"Are you alright? You have gone awfully pale all of a sudden." Reinette fussed, and Katy waved a hand dismissively, worried that if she said anything she might be sick. The Doctor appeared to have not caught on yet.
"Fifty people don't just disappear. Where—" Then he caught sight of Katy's nauseated face, and remembered exactly what the android said, and grimaced. "Oh. You didn't have the parts, so you used the crew."
"The crew?" Mickey parroted, and Rose's eyes widened in horror.
"We found a camera with an eye in it, and there was a heart wired into the machinery." She reported to the Doctor, who nodded gravely.
"It was just doing what it was programmed to do: repairing the ship any way it can, with whatever it could find." He surmised. "No one told it the crew weren't on the menu." The Doctor turned towards Katy, and looked at her sympathetically, but resolutely. "What did you say the flight deck smelt of?"
"Someone cooking," Katy responded, swallowing hard.
"Flesh plus heat. Barbecue." The Doctor concluded, and now even Reinette looked disgusted and horrified. "But what are you doing here? You've opened up time windows. That takes colossal energy. Why come here? You could have gone to your repair yard. Instead you come to 18th century France. Why?" The Doctor questioned, curiously.
"One more part is required," the android explained.
"Then why haven't you taken it?"
"She is incomplete." The android stated, indicating to Reinette who looked taken aback. However, the Doctor looked incensed.
"What, so, that's the plan, then. Just keep opening up more and more time windows, scanning her brain, checking to see if she's done yet." The Doctor sneered.
"Why her?" Rose piped up, eyes swivelling towards her inquiringly. "You've got all of history to choose from. Why specifically her?" She indicates towards Reinette, whom Katy was trying to comfort because of the disturbing revelation the android had just revealed.
"We are the same," the android replied, simply. Reinette glares at the android, breaking away from Katy to step towards it.
"We are not the same. We are in no sense the same." She snaps.
"We are the same." The android insists.
"Get out of here. Get out of here this instant!" Reinette demands, causing the Doctor to react in alarm.
"Reinette, no—" but the android obeys her and teleports away. He lets out a frustrated groan. "It's back on the ship," he turns towards Rose. "Rose, take Mickey and Arthur. Get after it. Follow it. Don't approach it, just watch what it does." He instructs firmly. Mickey nods, and goes for the mirror, but Rose just looks at him, perplexed.
"Arthur?"
"Good name for a horse, apparently." Katy elaborates, and Rose makes a face.
"No, you're not keeping the horse." She whines.
"I let you and Katy keep Mickey. Now go! Go! Go!" The Doctor shoos her towards the mirror, before closing it behind them. "Reinette, you're going to have to trust me. I need to find out what they're looking for. There's only one way I can do that. It won't hurt a bit." Katy watches as the Doctor reaches up to place his fingers on Reinette's temples, instigating a mind meld and she nods in understanding, before glancing at the double doors with slight alarm.
"I'll keep a look out for anybody coming." Katy announces, heading towards the doors. The Doctor smiles warmly at her and nods.
"Thanks, love." He responds, and Katy jogs over to the threshold of the doors as Reinette observes them with an intrigued and calculating gaze.
She had seen their obvious reluctance to be apart from each other, common with couples who were just beginning to court each other. But she also had observed the blonde girl with the strange implement in her hands, scowling jealously at them both and even the doe-eyed, lovelorn stare she was aiming at her fireplace man, and realised that this 'Rose' was the reason for their reluctance. A romantic at heart, Reinette couldn't help but feel indignant and angry on their behalf. So she decided to lend a helping hand.
It was just a question of how? The Doctor places his fingers on Reinette's temples and closes his eyes. Almost immediately he is within the private confines of Reinette's mind. She gasps in surprise.
"Fireplace man, you are inside my mind." She exclaimed in wonder. This reaction causes Katy to briefly glance over at them with curious eyes before turning away to keep watch. She already knew from personal experience what the Doctor was doing; he had done it once before when she was trying to describe the strange dreams she had been having, that turned out to be her Time Lady memories leaking through. She too had seen the Doctor inside her head, searching for answers to both their questions.
The Doctor frowned in concentration.
"Oh dear, Reinette. You've had some cowboys in here." The Doctor stated, with interest.
A/N: I'm gonna leave it here for the moment, while I upload the second part of this chapter. Otherwise this is going to be VERY LONG.
Stay tuned!