Fanfic - DW/RW: So, a Doctor … - Ch.1 - Into the TARDIS
Title: So, a Doctor, a King, and a Knight Walk Into a TARDIS and …
Author: eboniorchid
Full Header for the Series
Chapter One: Into the TARDIS
He met them running. Why did he always seem to meet everyone running? Well, that wasn't entirely accurate. Mostly, they ended up running shortly after meeting or- … Well, really that was Rose, because Jack had been conning - ah, Jack - and Marth'd been tending to wounded - right bright one she was - and, technically, the guys he was meeting had already stopped running, and - also technically - he hadn't exactly met them yet either. He wanted to, though. When was the last time he'd picked up a not-quite-human anyway? It had been a while, hadn't it? No sense having a bigger-than-a-breadbox safe haven if he wasn't going to save anybody with it. Hence, the open door and the wide welcoming grin.
"Come on then! Inside!" The Doctor stuck his head out, eyebrows tilting at the two boys' obvious hesitation as they paused in their panted argument, out of breath from their sprint. "What'd you do all that running for if you wanted them to catch you?"
The slimmer boy with dark hair gave the larger long-haired one a stern look, which was quickly returned with a huff.
"No."
"Michael …"
"What if he's a Skin? What if it's a trap?"
"A weird phonebooth trap?"
"It's a police box!" The Doctor interjected, slightly perturbed- or, at least, until he tipped his head a little, lips pursed, and started in on the usual spiel, which still felt largely unusual. "Besides, it's not really a police box. That's just the outside!" Obviously.
The boy presumed to be Michael shook his head, storming up to the thick metal fence that was blocking their exit - or maybe their entry. "We don't have time for this, Max."
The TARDIS beeped, quietly for a warning, but loud enough to be heard by the Doctor's soon-to-be-guests. "No. You don't." His face was suddenly somber. He could hear the footfall now and really didn't want to watch a fight, didn't want to have to leave or stay or hurt people he didn't know or see people he wanted to know get hurt, get taken, get killed. "They'll be here in thirty-seven seconds." Now or never.
Max's eyes went wide as his chest heaved with breath, the sound of running growing in all their ears. Michael's arm was gripped before he'd even fully turned around and Max hauled them both hastily into the mysterious blue box as the Doctor closed the door on rising shouts, ragged with threats and insults.
Striding up the ramp, passed his shocked guests, the Doctor reached for the viewer screen and adjusted the picture just in time to see five humanish people come charging into the space where Max and Michael had just been. They chased empty air around the TARDIS, one way, then back the other way, before stopping to actually try the door, though it wouldn't budge. He didn't even have to look up to know that one or both of his new would-be-friends was seriously contemplating turning around and walking back out that door. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. They're still out there and it's harder to make a getaway with the door open - failsafes and all that."
"Make a getaway?"
"Come now! Surely this doesn't still look like a police box to you." The Doctor looked up and grinned, pleased to see that he'd guessed right and it was Michael who had gruffly challenged his sanity, his arms folded tightly over his chest. "And … away we go!" He reached for a knob to twist and a switch to flick and the whirring started, the light from the heart of the TARDIS filling the pistons in the core of the console.
As the room tipped, a little like a skateboard- or a surfboard- or a snowboard. Snowboard! His eyes snapped back to the control desk as let his fingers rush over the dials again. Push-pull-turn-turn-slam. The slam was the TARDIS hitting the ground harder than it should, not that he was especially worried. The old girl was hardy and the wear of the years just made her more beautiful. He couldn't help the way his face softened.
"What just happened?"
Glancing up, the Doctor watched Michael slowly, but firmly, shift Max off from where he'd fallen against him as he stood with his back to one of the TARDIS' internal metal branches that framed the top of the ramp. "The getaway, of course! To Colorado, no less!" He found himself swaggering right up to the guys, one hand in his pocket and one finger on the rim of his glasses as he rather intently peered at them. "You're not allergic to snow are you?" The computer had said they were hybrids of some sort, Antarian hybrids, but that seemed odd. He'd never heard of Antarians venturing this far nor of them mixing with other species like this.
"No …" Max shook his head slowly, the length of his upper arm lightly brushing Michael's as they stood side by side.
"Good." He directed his words to Max, acknowledging something he didn't know what to call just yet. "Shall we go for a drink then?"
"Who are you?" Michael, ever playing the bodyguard - or perhaps really the bodyguard - made sure to lean into the space of connection between his friend and their host. "Really."
The Doctor let his eyes shift to Michael, friendly though there may have been sarcasm deep down underneath somewhere. "Hi, I'm the Doctor. Yes, I'm an alien. No, I'm not like you. And no, I'm not like the ones who were chasing you." He drew in a breath and held it a moment before letting it out dramatically. "So … drinks?"
Michael moved in a way that might have been a very subtle shrug, but mostly he just looked grumpy. The Doctor wondered if he always looked grumpy, if that was just how Antarian bodyguards were built- Built! But … why would the Antarians build hybrids like these? Wait, someone was speaking.
The Doctor blinked back to the present. It was that pesky where-from question again. "It's really not all that important to the state of ale, is it?"
Michael's arms tightened over his chest. "We're not going anywhere with you until you tell us who you are?"
"You already did."
"Did what?"
"Go somewhere with me. You already went somewhere with me. We're already here. For drinks. And snow. And possibly snowboarding." His pseudo-serious face split in a grin again. "If you're up for it, anyway. It's Jack's favorite- Well." He scratched the back of his head. "Everything's Jack's favorite really."
Michael shook his head, clearly exasperated and thirty seconds - nope - two seconds from grabbing Max and dragging him to the TARDIS door, which he then shoved open into a snowy parking lot. Ah, Colorado in December!
"That's the spirit." The Doctor charged after and beside them, coming up short a few feet in front of his new could-be-but-apparently-hadn't-decided-yet friends. "What'd you stop for? The inn's only half a block up! If I was going to kill you, you'd already be dead!"
Max wrestled his arm back from Michael, his surprise colored by a certain annoyance that said this was not a new argument between he and his … friend? Turning more directly to the Doctor, he set his back to block Michael's interference. "Thank you. And don't mind Michael. We've been running a long time."
The sound in the back of Michael's throat must have meant Max was sharing too much with a stranger, but he didn't jump back into the conversation.
"We're just trying to figure out if we're actually safe here or if we need to keep going."
Part of him wanted to be flippant, an ever-buoyant energy in his stomach just bouncing words into his mouth as usual, but there was gravity in Max's voice that dampened that urge for a moment and his mind flashed through their circumstances with analytic speed before he nodded once. "Safe enough for an ale, I'd say. We can figure out what to do with you after."
Max gave him a long look and then nodded once in return, taking him at his word. "Okay."
The Doctor turned back towards the inn with a gesture of his head that said come-along and Max moved to walk beside him.
Just behind and to Max's left, Michael followed, grumbling under his breath. "I was hungry anyway."
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Author: eboniorchid
Full Header for the Series
Chapter One: Into the TARDIS
He met them running. Why did he always seem to meet everyone running? Well, that wasn't entirely accurate. Mostly, they ended up running shortly after meeting or- … Well, really that was Rose, because Jack had been conning - ah, Jack - and Marth'd been tending to wounded - right bright one she was - and, technically, the guys he was meeting had already stopped running, and - also technically - he hadn't exactly met them yet either. He wanted to, though. When was the last time he'd picked up a not-quite-human anyway? It had been a while, hadn't it? No sense having a bigger-than-a-breadbox safe haven if he wasn't going to save anybody with it. Hence, the open door and the wide welcoming grin.
"Come on then! Inside!" The Doctor stuck his head out, eyebrows tilting at the two boys' obvious hesitation as they paused in their panted argument, out of breath from their sprint. "What'd you do all that running for if you wanted them to catch you?"
The slimmer boy with dark hair gave the larger long-haired one a stern look, which was quickly returned with a huff.
"No."
"Michael …"
"What if he's a Skin? What if it's a trap?"
"A weird phonebooth trap?"
"It's a police box!" The Doctor interjected, slightly perturbed- or, at least, until he tipped his head a little, lips pursed, and started in on the usual spiel, which still felt largely unusual. "Besides, it's not really a police box. That's just the outside!" Obviously.
The boy presumed to be Michael shook his head, storming up to the thick metal fence that was blocking their exit - or maybe their entry. "We don't have time for this, Max."
The TARDIS beeped, quietly for a warning, but loud enough to be heard by the Doctor's soon-to-be-guests. "No. You don't." His face was suddenly somber. He could hear the footfall now and really didn't want to watch a fight, didn't want to have to leave or stay or hurt people he didn't know or see people he wanted to know get hurt, get taken, get killed. "They'll be here in thirty-seven seconds." Now or never.
Max's eyes went wide as his chest heaved with breath, the sound of running growing in all their ears. Michael's arm was gripped before he'd even fully turned around and Max hauled them both hastily into the mysterious blue box as the Doctor closed the door on rising shouts, ragged with threats and insults.
Striding up the ramp, passed his shocked guests, the Doctor reached for the viewer screen and adjusted the picture just in time to see five humanish people come charging into the space where Max and Michael had just been. They chased empty air around the TARDIS, one way, then back the other way, before stopping to actually try the door, though it wouldn't budge. He didn't even have to look up to know that one or both of his new would-be-friends was seriously contemplating turning around and walking back out that door. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. They're still out there and it's harder to make a getaway with the door open - failsafes and all that."
"Make a getaway?"
"Come now! Surely this doesn't still look like a police box to you." The Doctor looked up and grinned, pleased to see that he'd guessed right and it was Michael who had gruffly challenged his sanity, his arms folded tightly over his chest. "And … away we go!" He reached for a knob to twist and a switch to flick and the whirring started, the light from the heart of the TARDIS filling the pistons in the core of the console.
As the room tipped, a little like a skateboard- or a surfboard- or a snowboard. Snowboard! His eyes snapped back to the control desk as let his fingers rush over the dials again. Push-pull-turn-turn-slam. The slam was the TARDIS hitting the ground harder than it should, not that he was especially worried. The old girl was hardy and the wear of the years just made her more beautiful. He couldn't help the way his face softened.
"What just happened?"
Glancing up, the Doctor watched Michael slowly, but firmly, shift Max off from where he'd fallen against him as he stood with his back to one of the TARDIS' internal metal branches that framed the top of the ramp. "The getaway, of course! To Colorado, no less!" He found himself swaggering right up to the guys, one hand in his pocket and one finger on the rim of his glasses as he rather intently peered at them. "You're not allergic to snow are you?" The computer had said they were hybrids of some sort, Antarian hybrids, but that seemed odd. He'd never heard of Antarians venturing this far nor of them mixing with other species like this.
"No …" Max shook his head slowly, the length of his upper arm lightly brushing Michael's as they stood side by side.
"Good." He directed his words to Max, acknowledging something he didn't know what to call just yet. "Shall we go for a drink then?"
"Who are you?" Michael, ever playing the bodyguard - or perhaps really the bodyguard - made sure to lean into the space of connection between his friend and their host. "Really."
The Doctor let his eyes shift to Michael, friendly though there may have been sarcasm deep down underneath somewhere. "Hi, I'm the Doctor. Yes, I'm an alien. No, I'm not like you. And no, I'm not like the ones who were chasing you." He drew in a breath and held it a moment before letting it out dramatically. "So … drinks?"
Michael moved in a way that might have been a very subtle shrug, but mostly he just looked grumpy. The Doctor wondered if he always looked grumpy, if that was just how Antarian bodyguards were built- Built! But … why would the Antarians build hybrids like these? Wait, someone was speaking.
The Doctor blinked back to the present. It was that pesky where-from question again. "It's really not all that important to the state of ale, is it?"
Michael's arms tightened over his chest. "We're not going anywhere with you until you tell us who you are?"
"You already did."
"Did what?"
"Go somewhere with me. You already went somewhere with me. We're already here. For drinks. And snow. And possibly snowboarding." His pseudo-serious face split in a grin again. "If you're up for it, anyway. It's Jack's favorite- Well." He scratched the back of his head. "Everything's Jack's favorite really."
Michael shook his head, clearly exasperated and thirty seconds - nope - two seconds from grabbing Max and dragging him to the TARDIS door, which he then shoved open into a snowy parking lot. Ah, Colorado in December!
"That's the spirit." The Doctor charged after and beside them, coming up short a few feet in front of his new could-be-but-apparently-hadn't-decided-yet friends. "What'd you stop for? The inn's only half a block up! If I was going to kill you, you'd already be dead!"
Max wrestled his arm back from Michael, his surprise colored by a certain annoyance that said this was not a new argument between he and his … friend? Turning more directly to the Doctor, he set his back to block Michael's interference. "Thank you. And don't mind Michael. We've been running a long time."
The sound in the back of Michael's throat must have meant Max was sharing too much with a stranger, but he didn't jump back into the conversation.
"We're just trying to figure out if we're actually safe here or if we need to keep going."
Part of him wanted to be flippant, an ever-buoyant energy in his stomach just bouncing words into his mouth as usual, but there was gravity in Max's voice that dampened that urge for a moment and his mind flashed through their circumstances with analytic speed before he nodded once. "Safe enough for an ale, I'd say. We can figure out what to do with you after."
Max gave him a long look and then nodded once in return, taking him at his word. "Okay."
The Doctor turned back towards the inn with a gesture of his head that said come-along and Max moved to walk beside him.
Just behind and to Max's left, Michael followed, grumbling under his breath. "I was hungry anyway."
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