The Doctor will See You Now....

[madman_inabox]

Three flips of a lever and one environment check later, the Eleventh Doctor stepped out of his TARDIS straight into what looked like a cargo bay of a very large spaceship. Which was not supposed to be what happened at all. He was supposed to be going to Arcateen V. The Butterfly People have a very lovely spring festival that was supposed to be taking place now, and after the mess of Trenzalore, and the Great Intelligence, he could use a very lovely Spring Festival.

But this was most certainly not Aracteen V. This was a cargo bay. A very, unspringlike cargo bay. How Disappointing. He turned to go back inside his ship, and found the doors to be locked. He huffed out an irritated sound and leaned against the doors. Just what he needed. A temperamental TARDIS.

Well, usually when she got like this, there had to be a reason he was where he was. There was always a reason.

After checking for his screwdriver, which he had safely tucked in his pocket with his So he went off in search of someone who could tell him where and when exactly he was. Thanks to his basic knowledge of how humans constructed things and a little bit of exploring he found himself at the door of Ten Forward.

One deep breath and straightening of his bow tie, the one with the vines, it was his favorite combination with the purple frock coat, he stepped through the door and looked around. A bar. Well, that was a bit anti climactic.

Ah well, Geronimo.

Comments

[and_she_waited]

She's laughing gaily, eyes bright and cheery. After months and months of wondering and waiting, he's finally here. He's as solid and real as anybody, and she holds on tight as he spins her round, everything else in the room blurring into nothing.

"What took you so long?" she scolds, batting his shoulder.

There's no sting to it, though. Well, maybe there's a little sting, but she's only excited.

"You look different. Where 'ave you been? Did Rory find you? Did you bring the TARDIS?" she asks, one question after another.

[madman_inabox]

"I have a bad sense of time, you know that." By now, unless Amy had just started traveling with him. In which case she'd have no idea.

"Oh, I've been here or there. And my coat's purple now, do you like it?" For some reason he thought she would, "And I did."

[and_she_waited]

Oh, she'd have some idea. He did leave her in the garden for twelve years, after all.

"Here or there? I'm lost on a bloody spaceship, and you were 'here or there'?" she scolds, folding her arms across her chest.

They have really got to get him a better timepiece. She's resolving herself to be cross with him, but he's here with the TARDIS and that means they can go home. Together. Her frown softens into a pout as she looks him up and down, shifting her feet like a petulant child.

"It's not terrible," she says coolly, because really anything's better than the tweed.

But she can't hold out for long. Soon enough she's breaking into a smile and laughing again, throwing her arms around his neck and bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Can we go home now, then? And where's Rory?"

[madman_inabox]

"I didn't know you were on a spaceship. And it's not the first time you've been on a spaceship." There was the TARDIS of course, and then the ship she and Rory were on for their honeymoon. That counted too. He didn't know much about any of his Ponds since New York, and it still bothered him. Not that he planned on letting on.

When Amy asked if they could go home the Doctor shook his head, "She won't let me back in. Locked the door and that was it."

[and_she_waited]

"No," she concedes, giving the word a little extra emphasis; "but it is the first time I've been on a spaceship where you 'aven't put me there yourself."

He didn't know, then? That's odd. When Rory had shown up, it was from the same place as her, and he'd been looking.

But then it starts to click. The new kit, the other Doctors around this place, the different length of his hair.

"You two having a row again? Doctor ... last time you saw me, we were leavin' the asteroid junk yard, right?" she asks.

[madman_inabox]

Okay, she had a point there. Though the first time she saw his space ship, he would argue that the TARDIS crashed herself into Amy's shed, but that was neither here nor there. "No, well, not that I know of, at least."

The rest of what Amy said took a minute to sink in. The junkyard at the end of the universe seemed so long ago. It was long ago. Before Clara, before New York, before he lost all of his Ponds. They were happy, he knew that, River told him, but it didn't make it easier to hear.

But he kept all of that quiet, "That was quite a while ago for me."

I could have *sworn* I'd replied to this way sooner, ack! ;__;

[and_she_waited]

Her eyes, ever focused and true, don't give him an inch of ground. She's watching him, so bright and alive (and so very Amy), curious and trusting as much as she is suspicious.

"Doctor," she says, in that tone that demands answers.

Quite a while ago could mean anything. He's a Timelord after all, and he's popped in and out from every time and place imaginable. But they always seemed to move forward together, he and her.

"What aren't you saying?" she asks.

It's cool :)

[madman_inabox]

He wanted to tell her to never ask him to go to New York, never decide that a normal life might be something she wanted. Never do any of that. He wanted her to stay with him as long as she could.

But he knew that he couldn't. She needed to live the life she had, otherwise it never would begin in the first place. He would have no reason to tell her to wait in her garden for him. There would be no adventures at all, and just like before he couldn't take them away from her.

Eleven just smiles, then claps his hands together, changing the subject, "How long have you been here?"

<3

[and_she_waited]

"Oh-ho, no you don't!" she crows.

Amy's wise to his shenanigans, and besides, he's terrible at changing the subject.

"Doctor," she whines, as if stamping her foot will get him to circle back to the real question, to her question.

It occurs to her, of course, that the reason he's changed the subject is because the answer is something neither of them will want to hear. Maybe that's why she humours him, unhappily as it may be. It's certainly not because she's frightened.

"Months," she says, arms folded; "almost a whole year. Rory showed up a few weeks after I did. How long have you been here?"

[madman_inabox]

He wasn't going to let on about a single thing that Amy shouldn't know about. It wouldn't be right, and he was sure that if word ever got back to her about what could have happened, the adventures she could have had, she would be cross with him for the rest of his days.

"Just arrived." Then he licked his finger, "Tastes like, twenty-fourth century?"

[and_she_waited]

It's already too late for that — they're family, and that means she gets to be cross with him for the rest of his days.

It's a fringe benefit she fully plans on exploiting.

(Once she knows about it.)

She scoffs at him a little, but it's completely fond.

"You're right, as usual," she says, gently kicking his shoe; "Twenty-three-sixty...eight?"

She thinks that's right.

"The ship's called Enterprise, the captain's a bloke by the name of Picard ... somethin' French. We're in what they call 'Federation' space, which apparently started on Earth an' now is stretchin' on into other quadrants of space. Oh, and the officers on board are Starfleet, again all part of the Federation."

She's been doing a lot of reconnaissance while waiting on you, Doctor.

[madman_inabox]

And he appreciates it, he really, really does. There are reasons why he considers Amy to be his best friend, and one of them happens to be her ability to find things like that out.

"Right okay, so twenty-three-sixty-eight and a space empire called The Federation, run by humans." He said as recap. Humans running space empires seemed like it could be a problem. The weren't always the best at relating to other races.