Because You're Special - One
Because You're Special
Great Big Cowboy Idiot
The Doctor muffled a cry, inching to the door of his war-battered blue box. Sometimes, he thought, using his stained hands to pull him to his feet and pushing back the heavy wooden door to tumble into the dark quiet of the TARDIS, sometimes, everyone dies… even him. The door clicked shut behind him, silencing the sounds of lingering carnage from beyond.
He was having trouble breathing now, the shrapnel from the Dalek's latest weapon making even the slightest movement unbearably painful. The Doctor bit back another sob, trying to maintain a brave front even though there was no one to see. The TARDIS whispered comfort but her voice was barely comprehensible, a murmuring distant in the fog of pain.
"To live to see such a day," He said softly, taking in another slow breath, "To live no more after."
It was tempting. To just die here. Moments after his people's destruction, seconds after the end of the Daleks… but he still had more life in him. Surely, something good could, would, must come after this day.
Somewhere with clear skies and smiling people. He struggled to the console, shuddering from cold, and ordered the TARDIS to earth.
Gallifrey was gone. He only had one home left.
He felt the burning from the inside of his hearts, the pounding inside his brain and finally let himself scream as he was enveloped in the gold of regeneration energy. The fire erased him, rippling over his body, and built a new form for his heavy mind.
The new Doctor gasped, dropping to the floor. He stared down at the new hands that had caught him from face-planting on the TARDIS decking. Slowly breathing, he shifted to allow one hand to travel to his side and check for injuries. He was healed but the holes in his clothing were still there.
The Doctor made it to his feet and flung back the TARDIS doors. The ship muttered a warning about exiting so soon after the trauma of regeneration but he callously reminded her who was master and left her worrying behind him. His human shoes, gifts from his American friend Grace, made soft imprints in the new snow. Everything in London, for that of course was where he landed, was covered in the clean white fluff and he breathed in deep. Clean. He wanted to feel that way too, to pick up handful of this pure substance and ram it into his eyes and purge them of all that he'd seen and fill his ears with the beautiful silence until all the screams and memories were voiceless and void. "New man," He laughed bitterly, reaching for a handful of earth snow to pack into a snowball, "same mind… hopeless case, I am."
Northern accent? Unexpected. But sort of nice… a nice change.
"Oh my god!" A shrill voice broke out, ruining the solitude. A human girl, dressed in a worn leather coat and oversized boots, raced to him. "It is blood, isn't it? Oh my god!"
"Eh now," he batted her hands away, still trying to adjust to the sound of his voice, "I'm fine. So you can take your grubby little hands…"
"And what?" The teen stared up at him defiantly.
"Shouldn't you be running off home?"
"Should you realize its Christmas-not Halloween? Scaring people out of their minds! Walking around like what… a butchered cowboy?" She flipped her perioxide-ruined hair over her shoulder, "Gah, I sound like my Mum."
"Oh I can imagine what she's like then…"
"Just because I can disrespect my mother doesn't mean any loon on the street can, cowboy!"
The Doctor glanced down and found only the tatters of his previous regeneration's favorite outfit. It wasn't completely western, but it certainly didn't match whatever era he was in now. And the blood and holes exposed much of his chest. He found himself slouching farther into his overcoat and then straightened… after all, the girl was watching.
"Don't suppose you know any clothes shops that are open at this time of night?"
"Christmas Eve?" The girl rubbed her gloveless hands together and stamped her feet. "We can take a walk down this street and see if Willy's is still open."
"Thanks. I can take it from here. I'm not a dumb ape, you know."
"Scrawny sour-faced dunce like you? You couldn't find your way out of a paper sack, cowboy." She snorted, and began walking, slow enough to keep pace with him.
The Doctor scanned his new companion-no, acquaintance-and noted the little things that mattered. Her hair, jacket and boots were all sort of rough and ill-fitting. Her earrings, slacks and tee-shirt were all well-tailored and upperclass. A runaway, the Doctor surmised, or something like it.
"Eyes!" She scowled at him.
"What?"
"I saw you, cowboy."
It took the Doctor a few seconds to follow her train of thought. But then he frowned back, "Rude little thing like you? Don't flatter yourself."
"I saw what I saw!" She shot back. "Look, he's open."
The girl pulled back the door, letting out a flood of warm light and traditional Christmas music. She held it for him, looking at him expectantly. "You're the one who needs clothes."
The Doctor stepped in, cursing his bad luck for running into the most irritating clingy child that humanity had ever bred. He eyed the small room and shouted back at the girl. "A leather shop?"
"Everyone needs a good jacket, is what my Dad says." She slung her hair back over her shoulder, tromping in with muddy boots and warming her hands over hissing waterpipes on a nearby wall. "Go on, cowboy. Look around!"
"I give the orders here!" The Doctor barked. He wavered, remembering orders given and received and the burning of his home. Never, he swore, never again. No more orders, no more guns, no more soldiers.
"You alright?" The girl's voice seemed less shrill.
"Mind your own business, stupid…" He walked away, muttering a list of unkind things one could say about humans in general. Ah, now that was interesting. It was a simple black leather coat, mid-length, with large side-pockets. Nothing silly about it, no question marks or bright gaudy colors. It matched how he felt. Depressed and angry and serious and…
"You gonna try it on or just ogle it, cowboy?"
"I'm shopping!" He whirled around, bellowing across the room.
The girl had perched on a counter; her ankles were crossed and she was flipping through some magazine, diverting her attention between him and the magazine. "I can see that. Shop a little faster."
"I'll shop at whatever speed I like!'
"I could have bought six shirts and three slacks in the time it took you to pick one jacket." She challenged, thumbing to another page.
"Humans!" He shoved his arms in the jacket, spinning on his heels in a wide circle. "Fine! I like it. Where's the idiot clerk…"
"I was just having a bit of eggnog…" said the bleary-eyed man, stumbling from some mysterious backroom. He unfolded his specs and stared at the register, leaning in closer and closer until his forehead touched the top of it. He named a price, somewhat high, and leaned back, almost far enough for his bald head to touch the shelves behind him.
The Doctor fished around in his pockets, bringing up string, a mangled paper bag that once held jelly-babies, an assortment of postage stamps and finally the correct amount.
"Do you normally carry all that in your pockets, cowboy?"
"Have I told you lately to beat it? Vamoose. See ya!" He turned to her, smiling sarcastically, "Off you go!"
"You think you scare me?" she scoffed, "You don't know anything about Do-"
"Don't care to."
"Fifty-two is your change." The egg-nog drugged cashier vanished again, nearly tripping over his own feet.
"Oi! We weren't done shopping yet!" The girl cried, leaving her perch. She sighed, fluffing her ridiculously dyed hair. "C'mon, sunshine, just because everyone needs a jacket doesn't mean they don't need things like… well, underwear…"
"I don't need your help!" He felt like a willful belligerent child. But really, some stupid stranger picking out his wardrobe took all the fun out of picking out a new set of clothes. And it was so… domestic!
"Tell me you wear underwear!" She stared up at him.
"Not telling." He sulked.
She shrugged as if it didn't matter either way and tossed a black garment at him. "Shirt!" She flung a package of socks, also black, at him. "Socks!" The girl's barrage ceased for a moment while she rummaged among hangers. Finally, she hurled a pair of jeans at him. He sputtered, pulling the heavy denim fabric from his face and rubbing at where it had slapped him.
"You nearly blinded me!"
"Great big cowboy idiot, that's what you are. They're jeans. Gah, stop acting like I'm throwing acid at your face!" She rolled her eyes.
"Where's eggnog boy…" The Doctor carted his armful back to the counter.
The cashier tottered to his post, "I was just having a bit of eggnog…"
"Knew that." The Doctor slammed the money on the counter, and hefted the bag into his arms. The girl reached for his jacket. "Give that here."
"I was just helping!"
"Stop helping. In fact, stop talking too. And to finish off, why don't you stop breathing?" He barked. Maybe that was bit too harsh but he didn't care. He had wanted to be out of the TARDIS and now, he only wanted to be inside it.
"There you are!" The door flung open. A rush of wintery air ruffled through the Doctor's clothes.
A tall clean-shaven teen, in some ridiculous baseball cap of many mottled neon colors, stomped in. He glared at the girl.
"Looking for me, have you? Well, you needn't have bothered." She darted out of reach of the newcomer, moving closer to the Doctor.
"Some girlfriend you are!" He cursed her, in an even more crude and vulgar way than the Doctor had and grabbed for her. He pulled her to him, twisting her arm behind her back, until she gritted her teeth.
"Hate to disrupt this lover's spat," The Doctor said, "but, see, I have this thing about bullies…"
The Doctor swung his shopping bag at the boy's head, the heavy jeans making a satisfying slap sound. He hooked the girl under his arm and half-carried her as he raced from the building. She twisted around, landing on her feet and ran next to him.
"Thanks, cowboy." She laughed, "Did you see that prawn's face?"
"You set me up." He glared at her. "For that, you get to carry my bag." He deposited the purchased items in her arms and rounded the corner until the TARDIS was in view. The girl nearly tripped into him, panting slightly.
"Oh alright." She admitted, her breath puffing into smoke, "I knew that idiot would never let me leave… But now that he thinks you're my boyfriend…"
"I'm ancient and you're a dumb conniving little idiot!"
"You look intimidating, scary even." She fidgeted in the cold. "He won't mess with me again. Coward deep down and all."
"Pick a stranger off the street to help you…? Where's your Dad?"
"Dad's wonderful, but he can't even stand up to my Mum. Couldn't tell Grandad… he'd have killed him." She blushed, rubbing at her nose, "Embarrassing too, you know?"
"No. I don't know. I don't do all that romance rubbish. And if you want my advice, you'll follow suit." "I just wanted someone to…" She laughed softly, sadly. "…who am I kidding? I'm just a dumb kid from Chisick."
"And don't you forget it." The Doctor lifted the bag from her arms. "Safest thing for you to do is to go home and call the cops if you see anything more of that boy."
She rubbed her nose, looking like a pathetic miserable little match-girl in the snow.
"Fine!" He opened the TARDIS doors, dumped his bag inside and locked it.
"You a cop?"
"No. Of course not."
"That's a police-box."
"Really? Hadn't noticed." The Doctor offered his arm. "Come on, earth girl. Your "boyfriend" will make sure you get home safe."
"I don't need your pity."
"Yes. You do. I don't bite children, now come on."
She took his arm, carefully, and they moved forward. The snow crunched and the ice crackled beneath them as they passed down the cold streets.
"Wasn't all bad, at first. He seemed like a really great guy."
"But he was an idiot." The Doctor finished, a sharp tone in his voice.
"Yeah." She pulled her coat collar closer around her neck. "Were you going to a party, then? Before I ran into you?"
"Oh yeah. Life of the party, that's me. Always striking of for new and greater dance trends, bowties, punchbowls. That sort of thing."
"Can't imagine you in a bowtie." And she giggled at him. "Or dancing."
He swung her around in a little circle there in the snow. "Took a whole class in it, when I was younger. The kids might have laughed at my five-year vision statement at the Academy but I could dance circles around every idiot schoolboy."
"All right, all right." She smiled, looking almost agreeable for the first time tonight. "You dance very well, Sunshine."
"Got all these hidden talents." He couldn't help bragging, "Ever tell you I can play a mean recorder?"
"I'm the fastest typer in my whole class."
"I can drink three gallon of carrot-juice in one sitting."
"Why on…? Well, I can paint all my nails without spilling a drop."
"There's a useful talent."
"Much more useful than that carrot thing."
"Ever saved the galaxy? Known universe? Unknown Universe? Cat in a tree?" He waited, "Gotcha."
"Fine." She sighed. "You can save the world with your recorder skills."
"… actually, that might have happened once… or twice…"
"That's my house up ahead." She pointed to a brick house. It looked warm, cheery, comfortable. If you liked that sort of thing. "My mum is going to kill me… Thanks. I don't even know your name…"
"No need to." He said cheerily, slipping away from her side. "Never see me again, I can guarantee it."
"I don't know, cowboy." She winked at him. "I might need saving again one day."
"If you're smart," He shouted as she ascended to her front door, "you'll keep out of trouble."
"What was that?"
"Keep. Out of. Trouble!"
"And here I thought you didn't care!"
"I don't!"
"Goodnight, sunshine."
"Goodnight, brat." He muttered under his breath, turning back to walk home. Amazingly, he realized, had gone a full half-hour without worrying about his problem, without remembering Gallifrey. The Doctor strode a bit faster. Maybe, just listening to someone, just wandering on earth with a human, would dim the memories. He just had to find someone less annoying…someone perfect… And a real blonde would be nice…
Author's Note: I had the idea that it would be fun to write Nine and Donna... just because they would not get along. The abusive boyfriend seemed to make sense due to Donna's experience with Lance and her general need to find "someone to listen" as she shouts at the world.
Next Chapter: {Little Gnome or Penguin}