Fanfic: An Interlude in a Pub
Title: An Interlude in a Pub
Genre: Doctor Who
Pairings: Five/Peri UST
Notes: Written for theriversdream as part of misscam's Easter Egg Fic Exchange.
An Interlude in a Pub
by Jennifer Adams Kelley
The reality of being in a different time period didn't hit Peri for several blocks. The whole lead-up to it-- the Doctor claiming his ship traveled in time as well as space, Peri daring him to prove it, he accepting that dare and asking where she wanted to go, she flippantly saying the 1960's, and he suggesting if she take the third left, second right, fourth left, go down the stairs seven levels and make a sharp left at the water fountain she might find a Room of Appropriate Clothes for the Period-- seemed more like some giant game of "Let's Pretend" than like something that was actually happening. Nevertheless, Peri went along with the Doctor's suggestion, swapping her bikini and shorts for an op-art a-line mini dress and matching accessories. On impulse, she grabbed a black wool double-breasted coat on the way out of the room.
She snuggled deeper into the coat now, as she stood in the middle of the sidewalk in the middle of Soho, London in the middle of December 1964. The warmth kept her teeth from chattering. The Doctor, who had gone on ahead oblivious to his companion's sudden reticence, stopped and turned around. His hands automatically slid into the pockets of his striped trousers as he contemplated Peri with a mixture of amusement and concern. She felt his gaze on her and, despite the turmoil in her mind, managed to raise her chin slightly in challenge. The Doctor smiled and returned to her side. "Not quite what you expected, is it?" he asked kindly.
She wasn't able to form the words to reply, so she settled for giving him an annoyed glare.
"Right. I know just the thing to settle you down." He took her firmly by the arm and guided her down the block and into a smoky pub. He steered her toward an empty table and made sure she was comfortably seated before asking, "What would you like to drink?"
"Huh? Oh, um…." Peri felt she could really use something alcoholic at the moment; she didn't, however, want to create a bad impression, so she merely said, "Diet Coke?" The Doctor shook his head. "Um… Tab?" He gave an apologetic shrug. "Fresca?" His eyebrows rose in dismay. "Oh, okay, whatever passes for pop around here."
The Doctor gave her hand a pat. "I know just the thing for you." He weaved his way up to the bar.
Peri shrugged her coat off and took a look around the pub. The hominess of the place, combined with the familiarity of the clusters of people drinking and chatting, relaxed her. (She found it a good idea, though, to not look into the corner opposite the bar, where two beehived secretaries giggled over a current-to-the period fashion magazine.) She had spent the better part of a week in a London pub earlier that summer (subjectively, she added mentally) while she and her mother waited for Howard to finish his guest stint at the U of London prior to the Grand Trek to Lanzarotte. It was actually a nice experience, hanging out with her mother. Peri had gone back east for college, and didn't even come home for spring break, so she actually hadn't seen her mother in six months. It was almost like the old days, that week in the pub, before her mother met Howard and Things Went Weird.
She smiled ruefully at the thought of her stepdad-- and then sat bolt upright. Where did her parents think she was right now? When she didn't return to the hotel, did Howard assume that she went off to Morocco with Eric and Colin? Or did they think that something more sinister happened? She chewed on her lip, worried. Actually, she didn't care what Howard thought, because he was a pain in the ass and tended to treat her like she was 9 instead of 19. Her mother, though… well, that was a horse of a different color! The last thing she wanted was to cause her mother more grief, not now, when she was really happy for the first time since her father died.
She glanced toward the bar to see how the Doctor was coming with her pop, and vowed that she would raise the topic in as suave a manner as possible the moment he returned. When he actually came back, though, she not able to do much other than raise an eyebrow at the pint placed in front of her. "Doesn't look like cola to me," she commented.
"I thought something a little stronger would be the better prescription."
"Prescription, huh?"
"I am a Doctor…." He made a bit of a show of taking a drink, giving his companion a pointed look until she drank as well. He noted her slight shudder as she swallowed and added, "Sorry it's not cold."
"'sokay. Got used to it room temperature when I was here last. Not that, technically, I've been here last yet." Her eyebrows drew together. "This time travel thing can really mess with your verb tenses."
"To say the least."
They sat in companionable silence for a few moments, Peri working on her pint and the Doctor idly playing with the handle of his. The ale helped soothe Peri; after she had finished most of it, she felt much better about a lot of things. Finally, she pushed the now-empty glass away and gave the Doctor a rueful grin. "You know your stuff, Doctor. That was just what I needed."
"I thought as much. A pint or two's just the thing to ease preliminary transtemporal angst."
Peri grinned. "That sounds like something out of Hitchhiker's Guide."
"You'd be surprised at how much Douglas Adams had right."
"Save the lecture for later, okay? I'm just now kinda sorta wrapping my mind around things."
"Good for you!" The Doctor patted her hand, and let his hand remain near hers across the small table.
She rolled her eyes. "I must be such a complete nerd, Doctor."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because you're talking to me like I'm 9."
"Well, compared to me, Peri, you could be 100 years old and still a child."
"You sure know how to make a girl feel better."
"Look…" he grasped her hand rubbed the top of it gently with his thumb. "You're not the first person who took a bit to adjust to the concept of time travel. It's not something you Humans are used to, after all."
"Other than in Star Trek episodes."
"Or in H.G. Wells' oeuvre."
"Oh, yeah, him, too."
"You sound so dismissive."
"Not like we Americans are supposed to pay attention to literature. Unless we're being tested on it for a class, of course."
"It explains much about your people, true."
Peri squeezed his hand. "Sweet talker."
The Doctor's eyes widened, as if he realised for the first time exactly where his hand was in relation to Peri's. He looked at their entwined fingers, then at Peri. She met his gaze with an amused expression. Blushing slightly, he gave her hand a final squeeze before withdrawing his. Once both hands had been firmly anchored on the pint glass, the Doctor said breathily, "I trust I wasn't too forward."
"Oh, no, not at all." Peri had to suppress her amusement at his reaction.
"Good. Good." He stared down at his mostly-full drink.
The silence stretched out, an awkward cousin to the previous quiet camaraderie. Peri studied the Doctor. Really, she had no idea why he suddenly went mental on her. She enjoyed him holding her hand, and she thought he had enjoyed it, too. It felt... well, she wasn't sure what it felt like, other than something that needed to happen again (and repeated as often as possible). The Doctor, though, now looked as weirded out as she felt just half an hour ago.
She had better do something to snap him out of it. The last thing she needed was to have to deal with a mopey alien (albeit a dishy one). (Now, where did that come from, she wondered.) Adapting a casual tone, she said, "Soooooo…. Since we can travel in time as well as space, that means I can be gone for like years, right, and still return home on the same day I left."
The Doctor looked up, curious. "If that's what you want…."
She shrugged. "Might make things easier for my family, you know?" She finished off her pint. "I could give a rat's ass about Howard-- it's my mother I'm concerned about."
"Ah, yes, it always comes down to the mother, doesn't it?" A far-away look came over his features. "Unless it's the father…."
"I don't want her to worry, that's all."
"Then let me assure you-- if you want to be returned to the exact time-space coordinates you left, I will do so. Which hopefully won't be for some time." Surprise flited across his face, as if the last sentence slipped through without his permission.
Peri grinned. "Nyah, you're stuck with me for awhile, Doctor."
"I'll survive somehow."
"Good. You can start by getting me another round. I don't think I'm quite adjusted yet…."
"You could have mine."
"The way you've been holding onto it, Doctor, I'm surprised it hasn't boiled over yet."
"Point taken." He rose from his seat.
"And could you get them to maybe put in an ice cube or two?"
The Doctor grimaced.
"Well, I am American."
"You're more than that Peri, and don't ever think otherwise." He grabbed her glass and headed for the bar.
Peri settled back in her chair, feeling much better about things.
Genre: Doctor Who
Pairings: Five/Peri UST
Notes: Written for theriversdream as part of misscam's Easter Egg Fic Exchange.
An Interlude in a Pub
by Jennifer Adams Kelley
The reality of being in a different time period didn't hit Peri for several blocks. The whole lead-up to it-- the Doctor claiming his ship traveled in time as well as space, Peri daring him to prove it, he accepting that dare and asking where she wanted to go, she flippantly saying the 1960's, and he suggesting if she take the third left, second right, fourth left, go down the stairs seven levels and make a sharp left at the water fountain she might find a Room of Appropriate Clothes for the Period-- seemed more like some giant game of "Let's Pretend" than like something that was actually happening. Nevertheless, Peri went along with the Doctor's suggestion, swapping her bikini and shorts for an op-art a-line mini dress and matching accessories. On impulse, she grabbed a black wool double-breasted coat on the way out of the room.
She snuggled deeper into the coat now, as she stood in the middle of the sidewalk in the middle of Soho, London in the middle of December 1964. The warmth kept her teeth from chattering. The Doctor, who had gone on ahead oblivious to his companion's sudden reticence, stopped and turned around. His hands automatically slid into the pockets of his striped trousers as he contemplated Peri with a mixture of amusement and concern. She felt his gaze on her and, despite the turmoil in her mind, managed to raise her chin slightly in challenge. The Doctor smiled and returned to her side. "Not quite what you expected, is it?" he asked kindly.
She wasn't able to form the words to reply, so she settled for giving him an annoyed glare.
"Right. I know just the thing to settle you down." He took her firmly by the arm and guided her down the block and into a smoky pub. He steered her toward an empty table and made sure she was comfortably seated before asking, "What would you like to drink?"
"Huh? Oh, um…." Peri felt she could really use something alcoholic at the moment; she didn't, however, want to create a bad impression, so she merely said, "Diet Coke?" The Doctor shook his head. "Um… Tab?" He gave an apologetic shrug. "Fresca?" His eyebrows rose in dismay. "Oh, okay, whatever passes for pop around here."
The Doctor gave her hand a pat. "I know just the thing for you." He weaved his way up to the bar.
Peri shrugged her coat off and took a look around the pub. The hominess of the place, combined with the familiarity of the clusters of people drinking and chatting, relaxed her. (She found it a good idea, though, to not look into the corner opposite the bar, where two beehived secretaries giggled over a current-to-the period fashion magazine.) She had spent the better part of a week in a London pub earlier that summer (subjectively, she added mentally) while she and her mother waited for Howard to finish his guest stint at the U of London prior to the Grand Trek to Lanzarotte. It was actually a nice experience, hanging out with her mother. Peri had gone back east for college, and didn't even come home for spring break, so she actually hadn't seen her mother in six months. It was almost like the old days, that week in the pub, before her mother met Howard and Things Went Weird.
She smiled ruefully at the thought of her stepdad-- and then sat bolt upright. Where did her parents think she was right now? When she didn't return to the hotel, did Howard assume that she went off to Morocco with Eric and Colin? Or did they think that something more sinister happened? She chewed on her lip, worried. Actually, she didn't care what Howard thought, because he was a pain in the ass and tended to treat her like she was 9 instead of 19. Her mother, though… well, that was a horse of a different color! The last thing she wanted was to cause her mother more grief, not now, when she was really happy for the first time since her father died.
She glanced toward the bar to see how the Doctor was coming with her pop, and vowed that she would raise the topic in as suave a manner as possible the moment he returned. When he actually came back, though, she not able to do much other than raise an eyebrow at the pint placed in front of her. "Doesn't look like cola to me," she commented.
"I thought something a little stronger would be the better prescription."
"Prescription, huh?"
"I am a Doctor…." He made a bit of a show of taking a drink, giving his companion a pointed look until she drank as well. He noted her slight shudder as she swallowed and added, "Sorry it's not cold."
"'sokay. Got used to it room temperature when I was here last. Not that, technically, I've been here last yet." Her eyebrows drew together. "This time travel thing can really mess with your verb tenses."
"To say the least."
They sat in companionable silence for a few moments, Peri working on her pint and the Doctor idly playing with the handle of his. The ale helped soothe Peri; after she had finished most of it, she felt much better about a lot of things. Finally, she pushed the now-empty glass away and gave the Doctor a rueful grin. "You know your stuff, Doctor. That was just what I needed."
"I thought as much. A pint or two's just the thing to ease preliminary transtemporal angst."
Peri grinned. "That sounds like something out of Hitchhiker's Guide."
"You'd be surprised at how much Douglas Adams had right."
"Save the lecture for later, okay? I'm just now kinda sorta wrapping my mind around things."
"Good for you!" The Doctor patted her hand, and let his hand remain near hers across the small table.
She rolled her eyes. "I must be such a complete nerd, Doctor."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because you're talking to me like I'm 9."
"Well, compared to me, Peri, you could be 100 years old and still a child."
"You sure know how to make a girl feel better."
"Look…" he grasped her hand rubbed the top of it gently with his thumb. "You're not the first person who took a bit to adjust to the concept of time travel. It's not something you Humans are used to, after all."
"Other than in Star Trek episodes."
"Or in H.G. Wells' oeuvre."
"Oh, yeah, him, too."
"You sound so dismissive."
"Not like we Americans are supposed to pay attention to literature. Unless we're being tested on it for a class, of course."
"It explains much about your people, true."
Peri squeezed his hand. "Sweet talker."
The Doctor's eyes widened, as if he realised for the first time exactly where his hand was in relation to Peri's. He looked at their entwined fingers, then at Peri. She met his gaze with an amused expression. Blushing slightly, he gave her hand a final squeeze before withdrawing his. Once both hands had been firmly anchored on the pint glass, the Doctor said breathily, "I trust I wasn't too forward."
"Oh, no, not at all." Peri had to suppress her amusement at his reaction.
"Good. Good." He stared down at his mostly-full drink.
The silence stretched out, an awkward cousin to the previous quiet camaraderie. Peri studied the Doctor. Really, she had no idea why he suddenly went mental on her. She enjoyed him holding her hand, and she thought he had enjoyed it, too. It felt... well, she wasn't sure what it felt like, other than something that needed to happen again (and repeated as often as possible). The Doctor, though, now looked as weirded out as she felt just half an hour ago.
She had better do something to snap him out of it. The last thing she needed was to have to deal with a mopey alien (albeit a dishy one). (Now, where did that come from, she wondered.) Adapting a casual tone, she said, "Soooooo…. Since we can travel in time as well as space, that means I can be gone for like years, right, and still return home on the same day I left."
The Doctor looked up, curious. "If that's what you want…."
She shrugged. "Might make things easier for my family, you know?" She finished off her pint. "I could give a rat's ass about Howard-- it's my mother I'm concerned about."
"Ah, yes, it always comes down to the mother, doesn't it?" A far-away look came over his features. "Unless it's the father…."
"I don't want her to worry, that's all."
"Then let me assure you-- if you want to be returned to the exact time-space coordinates you left, I will do so. Which hopefully won't be for some time." Surprise flited across his face, as if the last sentence slipped through without his permission.
Peri grinned. "Nyah, you're stuck with me for awhile, Doctor."
"I'll survive somehow."
"Good. You can start by getting me another round. I don't think I'm quite adjusted yet…."
"You could have mine."
"The way you've been holding onto it, Doctor, I'm surprised it hasn't boiled over yet."
"Point taken." He rose from his seat.
"And could you get them to maybe put in an ice cube or two?"
The Doctor grimaced.
"Well, I am American."
"You're more than that Peri, and don't ever think otherwise." He grabbed her glass and headed for the bar.
Peri settled back in her chair, feeling much better about things.