Chapter Text
I
Luke sighed as the last client finally left the diner, the door slamming shut behind them and the bell ringing its goodbye. Another day of going out of his mind with boredom.
He glanced around the empty diner, his bones weighed down with dread. He still had to clean up and close the place before going home.
It was routine by then; putting the chairs up, wiping down tables, mopping the floors. He missed the time when his life was exciting. Back when he was seventeen, not a care in the world but the thought of making it big, becoming a rockstar. Yeah, those were the days. He didn't really know when everything had gone so wrong, but Luke longed for the times when all he had to worry about was what songs he and his friends were going to play at their next gig. Now it was all about bills.
He finished with the floor and looked over the diner again. Everything was clean and in its proper space, but there was a heaviness in the air that hadn't been there before. The hairs at the back of his neck stood on end and he shivered.
Pushing the feeling away with a shake of his head, Luke pulled the blinds over the door and made sure that it was locked. He turned back and headed toward the kitchen, picking up the mop and bucket along the way. Just as he made his way behind the counter, the lights in the farthest corner of the diner turned off.
Luke swore. He was so close to being done, and now he had a stupid lightbulb to change. Except just as he took a step toward the dark, another light went off, this one closer to him.
His steps halted as he stared at the dark corner of the diner, and he could've sworn something moved.
"Dante, is that you, man?" he called out, waiting for a response and looking around toward the kitchen.
Maybe the other waiter had come back to prank him; it wouldn't be the first time. Due to his amazing good looks and irresistible charm, Luke usually got all the good tips and Dante didn't exactly love that about him.
As another light turned off, something definitely moved in the dark. Like a long shadow, slithering from the floor and up the wall. What the f-
"Haha, you got me. Come on, bro, it's not funny." Luke tried again, but there was no sign of anyone else being in there. The silence was eerie, making the sound of Luke's heart beating in his ears even louder.
Another light turned off, and another, and another. The dark was getting closer and closer. Luke had seen enough horror movies to know that this was the time the main character usually bolted.
Abandoning the mop and bucket, he stumbled back into the kitchen. Luke cursed as the darkness followed him until he hit the back wall and realized, to his horror, he'd backed himself into a corner.
Like it was taunting him, the darkness stopped too, the shadows moving too fast for his eyes to track, like they were ghosts.
He looked to both sides, searching for something to defend himself with, but what the hell would work against the dark? Well, light, obviously, but he didn't have any at the moment.
Just as he made the decision to slowly step toward the backdoor, the shadows started to close in on him. He could see them, distinguished from normal shadows caused by objects. These were smoky around the edges, bleeding into the darkness as a completely separate entity.
They were only a couple of steps away and Luke closed his eyes. This was so not how he'd expected to die. Even that hot dog incident would've been better. He screwed his eyes shut tighter, waiting for death to come.
A cold hand slipped into his and Luke's eyes snapped open.
He barely had enough time to take in the dark haired girl next to him before she grinned and whispered, "Run!"
Luke didn't have to be told twice. Following her lead, he let her drag him around the shadows and towards the backdoor; all the while she was shining a purple light with a sort of buzzing noise toward the darkness.
They burst out the diner's back door into the street and only stopped running once they reached the opposite sidewalk.
"What the hell was that?!" he asked, unable to take his eyes away from the diner's rapidly darkening windows.
"Ghosts!" the girl answered with enthusiasm, throwing him a grin before focusing on the… thing in her hand. "Well, not ghost-ghosts. Those aren't real." She frowned, pushing some of her curly hair back over her shoulder and slapping the weird device against her hand as it buzzed again.
Luke's brows furrowed. "If they're not ghost-ghosts, then what kind of ghosts are they?"
She didn't answer immediately, instead pointing the device thing toward the diner. One of the nearby lamppost's lights exploded in a shower of sparks, and the girl winced as she turned her attention back to the thing in her hand.
"What, so you believe in ghosts?" She gave him a surprised look over her shoulder, her eyes trailing his form up and down before focusing back at the task at hand, whatever that was. Luke couldn't help straightening up a little; he flittingly wondered if he looked as gross from his shift as he felt.
"I just got attacked by shadows. I'd say ghosts aren't exactly a stretch."
She hummed in agreement, this time letting out a triumphant 'Aha!' as the noise from her thingy finally seemed to stabilize. She directed it toward the diner again, and he could see the lights from inside becoming brighter as the darkness was chased away.
"Well, the good news is: those aren't shadows!" She gave the now illuminated diner a firm nod before turning toward him. "Bad news: they weren't ghosts either." As if that concluded their conversation, she turned and walked away.
Luke stared at her, mouth gaping open as her grey coat flowed after her. He glanced at the diner, looking just like it did on any other day. Technically, he knew he still had to close up, he could potentially lose his job for not doing it, but he also had almost lost his life, and that girl seemed to be the only one with answers. Without another look, he jogged to catch up with her.
"Okay, so if they weren't shadows and they weren't ghosts, why did you call them ghosts?" he asked, falling into step next to her.
He noticed her give him a look from the corner of her eye, a light smile pulling at the corner of her lips. She was really pretty, he realized. Then shook the thought out of his head.
"That's just what I've been calling them." She shrugged. "I haven't figured out their species. Yet. So they needed a name, and 'non-corporeal cognitive monstrum umbra' sounded like a mouthful. Besides, you should be glad I didn't have to blow up the building, there was only one ghost in there, the lights did the trick." She said it all so fast that it took him a moment for the words to make sense in his brain.
He was halfway convinced he'd slipped on the wet floor while cleaning the diner and now he was having one of the strangest dreams ever.
"Okay, so did the lights kill it then?"
"No, don't be silly! You can't kill a shadow." She bumped against his side, driving in the teasing tone of her voice. "Well, I suppose you can, but these aren't shadows."
"Okay, so monstrum umbra," he said the words slowly, trying to sound them out like he'd heard them. "I'm guessing 'monstrum' means monster. Where does the umbrella come in?"
"Umbra."
"Yeah, that's what I said." She laughed, and Luke couldn't help but want to make her do that again.
Then he frowned once more. His mind was going in confused circles and his heart was still beating way too loud in his ears. Either way, he had to admit that in that moment, he felt more alive than he'd done in years.
The feeling came to an abrupt halt as the girl stopped in front of an alleyway.
"Well, this is me, thanks for the chat, now forget you ever met me!" She waved her fingers at him, then turned on her heels.
He stared in shock for less than a minute before surging forward, just barely grazing his fingers against the sleeve of her coat before retracting them.
"Wait! I- I didn't catch your name."
She didn't turn, but paused and looked at him over her shoulder, an amused smirk turning up her lips.
"What's your name?"
Luke's eyebrows raised in surprise as she turned the question on him, but he answered anyway. "I'm Luke, Luke Patterson."
"Nice to meet you, Luke, Luke Patterson. I'm the Doctor." Then she turned and continued walking into the alley.
"Aren't you a little young to be a doctor?" he called out after her, but she didn't respond. "Doctor who?"
In response, she raised an arm above her head and waved again. "Stay in the light, Luke Patterson." It was the last thing he heard from her before she disappeared further on into the alley. The tall buildings on both sides cut off all light sources from illuminating the narrow passageway, soon enough engulfing the dark haired girl into it.
He hesitated. Should he go after her? Maybe offer to walk her home? Then again, she seemed more than capable and she had purposely walked away from him. With one last shake of his head, Luke continued on. He was only a few steps away from the alley's entrance when a weird, wheezing sound started to echo through the street.
He turned around and rushed back toward the alley, but everything was silent once more and there wasn't anyone there.
Luke called in sick the next day. Even if he could step foot in the diner after that 'ghost' attack, he probably shouldn't be walking around with drinks and plates on a tray, lest he get distracted chasing some poor attempt at a logical thought and drop everything on the ground.
He just couldn't get her out of his mind - that Doctor. The wild curls falling over her shoulders, the long, grey coat fanning after her, the rainbow shirt… The way her eyes shined with excitement as she dragged him away from danger, the curve of her smile, the- He shook his head, violently getting rid of those thoughts.
He dragged himself out of bed and opened the curtains, letting in the sunlight as he turned off the overhead lights. Yes, he had slept with the lights on. Sue him.
Luke was just taking the first sip of his coffee when there was a knock at his door. He sighed, wondering if Mrs. Prentice from next door needed another thing fixed around her apartment. When he opened the door, though, the Doctor breezed in as if they were old friends.
"The thing is, I don't get it," she said, not bothering to even look at him as she walked inside his apartment.
Luke's jaw hit the floor. Then he realized he was only in his boxers, and he could feel the heat spreading from the tip of his ears down to his chest. The Doctor didn't seem to care… or mind. She was shining her purple light at the shadowy corners of his living room.
"They're not Vashta Nerada, I checked."
"Vash- what?" he managed to choke out.
"Air piranhas. But the Vashta Nerada live in the dark, these ghost things, well, they are the dark." She walked around his couch and crouched next to the cabinet, shining her purple light behind it.
"What's that?" he asked, frowning as she twirled the long, cylinder thing around her fingers.
"Sonic screwdriver!"
He scoffed. "That doesn't look anything like a screwdriver."
The Doctor grinned at him. "That's the sonic part!" She threw him a wink, then went back to inspecting his couch.
Luke blinked, only understanding about five percent of what had come out of her mouth. Realization struck then. The Doctor was there. In his apartment, looking under his couch.
"How- How did you even find me?"
She didn't sound guilty, or even fazed, as she answered. "You told me your name."
"So what, you checked the yellow book?" He huffed, something between a scoff and a laugh.
"Of course not," she snorted, rising on her knees to throw him an incredulous look. "I Googled you."
His eyebrows shot up. "You Googled me?"
"Well, to be honest, it was a way more advanced search software, but sure, let's go with Googled." She headed to the kitchen and started pulling cabinets' doors open.
"Okay, so what are you, then? FBI? CIA? A Shadowhunter?"
She chuckled, pausing on her search to throw him an amused look. "Nope, but I suppose that last one is kind of fitting, isn't it?"
Luke laughed, a low, breathy thing, more like air escaping his lungs in an amused huff as he tried to put the limited information he had into some kind of order in his mind.
"Right. So, uh, what are you looking for, exactly?"
"Are you gonna drink that?" She asked abruptly, coming to a stop in front of him and pointing somewhere in the middle of his chest. Luke glanced down, surprised to find himself still holding his coffee mug. Then he remembered his state of undress and raised wide eyes to meet the Doctor's. She still wasn't fazed. His ego hurt just a little bit.
"You know what?" He made his way around her and put the mug into the sink. "Let me get some clothes on and then we can talk about piranhas, alright? Stay right there." He turned and quickly walked back to his room, a series of what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, chanting in his brain.
As insane as it all sounded, he couldn't help the thrill of adrenaline coursing through him. It was almost as good as being on stage again, almost. Nothing made sense to him, every logical bone in his body was screaming at him to stop, to let it go, to let her go because she was clearly mad. But… was she? He was there last night, he remembered how the shadows moved. Or maybe he'd been having hallucinations due to a gas leak, that was possible too.
Luke didn't care either way, the Doctor was the most exciting thing to happen to him in a long while, and he'd enjoy it as much as he could. The important thing was: something crazy had happened last night and she seemed to be the only one with the answers.
Another important thing was that his living room was empty once he made his way back, now fully clothed.
"Shit!" He sprinted out the door, pulling it closed behind him and rushing toward the staircase. He leaned over the railing, only to catch a glimpse of her at the bottom of the stairs. "Doctor! Wait!"
She didn't wait.
Luke skipped as many steps as he could as he made his way down, finally reaching the street, panting for breath. He looked right and left before spotting her in the distance and hurrying to catch up. Damn. For someone so short, she was really quick.
"Doctor!" he called again, jogging to a stop next to her. "You didn't wait." No, he wasn't pouting.
"Sorry, I'm busy!"
"Ghost hunting, right."
"Yep!"
When she didn't offer anything more, Luke frowned, glancing at her from the corner of his eye as they made their way down the sidewalk. "For real though, who are you?"
"Told ya, the Doctor."
"But Doctor what?"
"Just the Doctor."
"The Doctor?"
"Hello!" She waved, grinning at him, the small gap between her teeth on full display.
Luke chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief. "Is that a codename then? Are you some kind of secret agent?"
"Nah, I was just passing through." She shook her head, then her voice lowered, her eyes becoming distant. "I'm a long way from home."
He wanted to ask, but didn't think it was his place to. Besides, homesickness was something he could understand; they didn't have to talk about it.
"Okay, so why did you track me down, then?"
"Huh?" She frowned at him, pursing her lips in thought as if she had no clue what he was talking about.
"You showed up at my apartment?"
"Oh, right. I thought maybe you had something to do with the ghosts."
"What, me?!"
"It's weird, right? The whole world of possibilities, why would they go to a diner in the middle of LA and try to kill you?"
For some reason, Luke didn't think she was still talking to him. She pulled the sonic screwdriver from her pocket and turned it toward him, shining the purple light up and down his body.
"I don't get it. You're totally normal," she said, examining the sonic up close. If there was a screen showing any results, he couldn't see it. "Nothing important, just some guy, living his life…"
"Wow, thanks," he said, unable to keep the displeasure from his tone. "Do you know how rude that is?"
It didn't look like she heard him as she just kept speaking. "So why would they come for you? I don't know." She turned to him, leaning closer as if to share a secret. "I don't like not knowing."
"So I had to check your place," she continued. "I scanned the whole Earth, there was nothing, no trace of it. Then of course, it's kind of hard to track the dark because, you know." She gestured wildly around them.
"The whole Earth?"
"Yeah, I know, should probably have scanned the whole galaxy," she lamented, pushing her lower lip into a pout. Luke gulped, and decided not to focus on how cute that was. He was definitely ignoring the fact that ghosts wanted to kill him.
"Isn't there anyone who can help you?" he asked, and the Doctor started, turning toward him even as they kept walking, nearing a playground. "To track it down, I mean."
"Oh! No, not anymore." She gave him a smile, but it wasn't nearly as bright as the ones before.
Luke frowned, feeling something tug on his heartstrings. "Okay, so start from the beginning: why would these ghosts have it out for me?"
"No clue." She shrugged.
He laughed. "Right, you're a big help, thanks." He reached out to poke her on her side. The Doctor chuckled as she pushed him away.
The very next moment, her expression was serious. There wasn't even a shadow of the smile that had painted her lips, and her eyes were narrowed as she stopped walking and met his eyes.
"Have you done anything strange lately? Met anyone weird, found anything unusual?"
Luke halted next to her, furrowing his brows in thought. Other than the usual weirdness of LA's citizens, his life had been the same boring thing as always.
"No, nothing that I can think of."
"Huh. Maybe it wasn't about you, then. Maybe you just got in the way."
Without another word, she walked away. Luke watched her go for a moment before following again.
"So, what are we gonna do about these ghosts then?"
"We aren't going to do anything." She shook her head. "I will figure out what they are and then stop whatever they're doing."
"Oh, come on, boss! I can help." She shot him a dubious look, so he tried another angle. "I was there, okay? If these things are after me, I deserve to know why, don't I?"
"I thought we'd agreed the world doesn't revolve around you?" she quipped, but the excitement from before was gone. She stopped again. Her eyes were still narrowed as she looked in the distance, thumbs hanging from the yellow suspenders she was wearing.
"I guess you won't know unless you let me help?" he said, hope coloring his tone as he bounced on his heels and leaned down just a little to try and meet her eyes. With a smile, he delivered his last blow. "You did say you didn't like not knowing."
She glanced at him then, lips pursed in annoyance as she looked him up and down. Seemingly coming to a conclusion, the Doctor threw her head back and groaned. "Fine! You can help. A little."
"Yes!" Luke pumped a fist in the air. He had absolutely no clue what he'd just gotten himself into, and the thought thrilled him more than anything else.
"Not now, though." She turned away, and Luke's mood plummeted back down.
"What, why?!"
"I need to check some things first, then maybe you can help."
He wasn't happy, but she'd already caved, so Luke decided to stop while he was ahead. He did have a tendency to be annoying, sometimes. Or that's what Alex used to tell him, anyway.
"Alright, fine, but just one more question." She stopped a couple of feet in front of him and turned back, giving him a curious look and an encouraging nod. "Who are you?" He breathed the question out, unable to take his eyes away from hers. She looked young, about his age - mid-twenties, max. But her eyes, her eyes looked incredibly old.
The Doctor seemed to consider his question, tilting her head to the side as she thought about how to answer him. Then she stepped closer, slipping her small hand into his and intertwining their fingers.
Luke looked down at their clasped hands in surprise before raising his eyes to meet hers again. They were breathtaking.
"Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving?" she asked, her voice soft and intimate, like she was telling him a secret. One that he was more than eager to hear. "It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still." She paused, glancing around them.
They'd made it to the playground, and around them there were kids running around and on the swings. Parents were seated on benches, on their phones or with a book, never taking their eyes off their children for too long. Across from them, there was a blue police public call box like nothing he'd ever seen in LA.
Suddenly something tugged at his stomach and he drew his eyes back to the Doctor's brown ones. For some reason, he felt as if he'd just stepped off a rollercoaster, or maybe the ride had only just begun.
"I can feel it," she continued, eyes going distant again. He believed her. "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it." Her eyes snapped back to his, and he found the slightest shimmer of tears reflecting back at him. "We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go…" She squeezed his hand tighter, then dropped it all at once, her voice hardened. "That's who I am. Now, forget me, Luke Patterson. Go home."
Luke was too stunned to follow her again as she walked away. He was looking at his now empty hand when the same wheezing sound from last night echoed throughout the playground.
When he looked up, the blue police public call box that had been across from him was gone, and so was the Doctor.
Luke wasn't one to give up so easily.
Soon as he got home, he pulled out his laptop and sat himself in the sunniest patch of carpet he could find. Maybe the Doctor hadn't Googled him, but he could definitely Google her. His first attempt was less than successful. He typed,
THE DOCTOR
And instead of anything about his beautiful and mysterious new friend, all he got was a list of local doctors, clinics and hospitals.
His next attempt didn't help much either.
DOCTOR LIVING SHADOWS
There was a lot about shadowing doctors and living shadows fantasy novels, but nothing about the Doctor.
He tried again, the third time's the charm and all that.
DOCTOR BLUE BOX
The number of results were far less than before, which was already promising, but once Luke caught sight of the first site linked, he knew he'd hit the bull's eye.
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WOMAN? - CONTACT NICK | WHO IS THE DOCTOR?
He clicked the link and it opened into a simple website with a purple background and a small picture of Luke's Doctor at the center; her wild curls were unmistakable. Underneath the picture there was a phone number and the caption "DOCTOR WHO?" in big letters.
Pulling out his phone, Luke typed in the number and sent 'Nick' a text. It didn't take long at all for a reply to come in, and next thing he knew, Luke was agreeing to meet Nick at his place in an hour.
He put his laptop away and took a quick shower. It wasn't even 10am yet, but time seemed to be speeding by and crawling all at once. His body was so full of energy that he couldn't even imagine having to sit still while waiting for his meeting. So he grabbed his keys, his phone and his wallet, and left the apartment, figuring Nick's place wasn't that far and he could use the walk.
As he climbed down the stairs much slower than before, one door made him hesitate as he passed by it.
Once upon a time, he and Alex had been best friends. They still were, a little. In name, anyway. But nothing had been the same after Bobby's disappearance.
Still, if he was about to go meet with some conspiracy theorist about a woman who saved his life, knew about living shadows, and had a habit of disappearing, he should at least let someone know. Just in case he ended up dead in a ditch.
Luke took a deep breath, and knocked on Alex's door. A moment later, his friend's voice called out from inside, "Coming!"
Alex hadn't changed at all. Not that he would have, since the last time Luke saw him it was like, two days before by the mail boxes. But it felt like so much longer. His pink hoodie was nowhere to be seen, neither was the fanny pack, but even in his pajamas, he looked so familiar that Luke couldn't help the knot forming on his throat.
"Oh. Hey," Alex's previous light expression melted away into a frown, and the cruel reality of their 'friendship' came crashing back down on Luke.
"Hi," he choked out, clearing his throat before painting a smile on his face. "I, uh…" Should he go in? Tell him everything that had happened since the night before? Would Alex even care? Or should he just say he had a meeting with a sus person? Should he even put that on Alex, anyway? What if something did happen to him, would his friend be drowned in the guilt of not stopping him?
Alex's movement as he shifted uncomfortably at the door broke him out of his spiral and Luke shook his head. He needed to tell someone, just in case.
"Can I come in?"
It hurt that Alex looked so surprised by the question, but he stepped aside anyway, so Luke counted that as a win.
He stepped past him and walked into his friend's apartment. The layout wasn't very different from his own, and it hadn't changed much since the last time he'd been inside, but Alex's place was definitely more clean and organized than his own. Not to mention how all of his furniture actually matched.
"Uh, so… Can I get you some water or anything?" Alex asked, trailing slowly after him and rubbing his hands together. A few years ago, Luke wouldn't even have had to knock to be let in his friend's place, let alone have to be asked if he wanted anything.
He swallowed, a hand reflexively going up to scratch at the back of his neck. He settled on one of the benches at the counter that separated the kitchen and living room.
"No, no, I'm good. Uh…" Where did he even begin? "So I met this girl… this Doctor girl…" he trailed off, risking a glance at Alex's frowning face.
He had his arms crossed, eyes lowered. Luke hated that he didn't know what was going through his mind.
When Alex didn't say anything, he continued. "She's in some kind of trouble, and uh, I might be able to help so I'm gonna see this guy that says he knows what's going on." He bit his lip. Alex still hadn't spoken and his stomach was churning with doubts. He shouldn't have bothered Alex with any of it. He stood up. "Anyways, I just… wanted to let someone know, just in case I turn up murdered or something…" He forced out a chuckle, pulling at the hairs at the nape of his neck for a moment before letting go and shaking off his shoulders.
"Yeah, that's pretty much all I wanted to say, so…" Luke pointed past Alex toward the door, and made his way around his friend to reach it. He wasn't sure what he expected going in to talk to Alex, but the stoic silence hadn't been it. He couldn't help the sting in his eyes as he pulled the door open; they'd been so close once.
"Wait," Alex called out, and Luke stopped in his tracks, turning to look at him over his shoulder. With a long suffering sigh, the blond walked away without a word.
Luke frowned. Was he supposed to follow, or…? Before he could wonder for too long, Alex was back, usual hoodie, cap and fannypack in place. He grabbed the keys from the little table next to the door and gestured for Luke to go outside.
"I'm coming with you."
The silence during the drive to Nick's place was stifling. Neither of them spoke much, but the urge to fill the quiet space between them had Luke's leg bouncing the whole way. Alex didn't ask many questions, which wasn't like him. Or maybe Luke just didn't know what was and wasn't like him anymore.
Unable to keep silent any longer, Luke glanced at Alex from the corner of his eye and asked, "So… how are classes?"
"They're good." Alex looked at him briefly before turning back to the road, fingers tightening around the wheel.
"And you're still working at the library?"
"Yep."
"Cool…"
Luke turned to look outside, casting around in his brain for anything to fill the silence with. He kind of wanted to turn on the radio, but he didn't think Alex would appreciate him using music to hide right now.
Eventually, much to his relief, Alex's voice broke the quiet that had settled between them. "So, what kind of trouble did you get yourself into this time?"
Luke sputtered. "What makes you think it was my fault?"
Alex didn't answer, he just threw him a deadpan look from the corner of his eyes.
"Well, it wasn't, okay? I didn't ask anyone to try and kill me!"
It was a good thing they were wearing seatbelts, Luke figured, because otherwise his face might've gotten very familiar with the windshield as Alex slammed on the breaks.
"Dude, what the hell?!"
"Someone tried to kill you?"
Luke shrunk in his seat, crossing his arms and focusing on the houses passing by as Alex started driving again. "Maybe a little."
Alex scoffed, his hands tightening around the wheel, knuckles turning white. "A little?!" his voice went up an octave, and Luke winced. "What do you mean 'a little'?! Where? When? How?! Did that doctor girl you said help you?"
"Uhhh… At the diner, yesterday, not sure, and yes, she saved me." Luke mumbled, pulling at a loose string in one of his bracelets.
"Wait, yesterday?" Alex furrowed his brows. "And how are you not sure? Dude, what the hell did you get yourself into?" he asked, just as he pulled up in front of a light yellow house, the number matching the one Luke had written down.
"Look, just- it's kind of complicated," he said, unfastening his seatbelt and opening the car door. "I'll explain more later."
"Luke, I swear to God, if you end up murdered…"
"Relax, he sounded like a chill dude on the phone. Except for the whole conspiracy theory thing, but oh well..." He shrugged, stepping out and slamming the door, muffling Alex's protests.
"Conspiracy theories? Luke, wait. Luke!"
Luke checked both sides of the road before crossing over to the right house and ringing the doorbell. He glanced over his shoulder while he waited to find Alex tapping a beat against the wheel as he glared at him all the way from across the road. Luke couldn't exactly see his friend's expression, but he could imagine it perfectly.
Finally, the door opened and a girl with hair too pink to be anything but a wig looked him up and down. When he didn't say anything, she raised an impatient eyebrow.
"I'm, uh…" He threw her a charming smile. "I'm Luke. I'm looking for Nick? About the Doctor?"
Seemingly not needing any more information than that, the girl rolled her eyes and huffed.
"Nick, it's one of your nutjobs!" she called out further into the house, then strolled away without another glance at him.
Luke swayed a little on his feet, wondering if he was supposed to just go in or wait. Soon enough, though, a blond guy about his age came stumbling down the stairs and met him at the door.
"Hi, you must be Luke!" He said, giving him a smile and reaching out a hand to shake his. "Don't mind Carrie, she doesn't like it when her rehearsal is interrupted."
"Hey, man. And yeah, it's fine," he chuckled, waving Nick's apology away.
"Come in, come in."
"Oh, can you just wave over at my friend Alex over there?" Luke said, gesturing towards his friend's car. "Just so he knows you're not gonna murder me or something."
Nick laughed, throwing his head back a little before waving at Alex. "Yeah, that's fair. Come on."
Luke followed the blond through the house, past a staircase and a set of closed doors that barely contained the pop song blasting out. Nick led him through a side room by the kitchen and then down into the basement. His stomach dropped just a little as he wondered if he would get killed, after all.
The basement was well lit, with cozy-looking furniture that made up most of the space. In a faraway corner, Luke could see the washing machine and a sink, and next to it there were shelves filled with books, boxes spilling out papers and objects on the floor, a cluttered table and one of those murder boards with several newspapers' articles and pictures pinned on it. On the opposite side of the sink, an old table held an even older computer.
Nick headed straight for the table, sorting through the books and papers before picking one up triumphantly. He motioned Luke closer.
"A lot of this stuff's very sensitive. I couldn't just send it to you. People might intercept it, if you know what I mean," Nick said, his eyes widening meaningfully. He turned back to the papers, sorting through it again. "If you dig deep enough and keep an open mind, this Doctor keeps showing up all over the place." He moved some books, shaking them in Luke's direction without pausing long enough for him to check them.
"Political diaries, conspiracy theories, even ghost stories," he continued, and Luke's heart picked up the pace in his chest. Ghost stories? That sounded familiar. "No first name, no last name, just the Doctor. Always The Doctor. And it's like the title is passed down from mother to daughter, like an inheritance. That's your Doctor there, isn't it?" Finally picking up a photograph, Nick showed him the same small picture that had been on his website.
"Yeah." Luke nodded, taking in the Doctor's messy curls and intense eyes, as if she was staring right into the camera.
"I tracked it down to the Washington public archive just last year," the blond explained, handing Luke another picture. "The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original…"
Luke looked down at the new image Nick handed him, this one looking like the original photograph. He recognized the scene easily enough: President Kennedy's cortege going through Dallas before he was assassinated. And as much as he sucked in history, he was pretty sure that had happened more than twenty years ago, which was about how old the Doctor looked in the picture.
"The assassination of President Kennedy, November 22nd, 1963," Nick confirmed his suspicions.
The Doctor was just a face in the crowd, her face grim as she watched the President's car go by, like she knew exactly what was about to happen. She didn't look any different from this morning, even wearing the same clothes.
"So…" Luke trailed off, brows furrowed in thought as he tried to put the pieces together. Going by Nick's theory of the title passing down from mother to daughter… "This could be her mom?"
Nick just shook his head; an excited and yet oblivious smile on his face. He jumped suddenly, turning back to the cluttered table and hunting something down.
He slapped another photograph in Luke's hands. It was an old one, black and white, yellowed with time and worn at the edges. "Going further back, April 1912. This is a photo of the Danvers family of Southampton, and friend." In the picture, stood a man, a woman, two children and the Doctor.
They were all wearing old fashioned clothes, the women with long, puffy dresses, their hair pulled back. Even with the different clothes, Luke couldn't mistake the Doctor for anyone else. She had the same intense eyes as before, even if her mouth was set in the slightest of sad smiles.
"This was taken the day before they were due to sail off for the New World on the Titanic, and for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived," Nick continued, before abandoning the picture in Luke's hands and hunting for something else to show him.
Nick shoved a piece of paper in his hands: a sketch. "And here we are, 1883. Another Doctor."
The drawing showed the Doctor, unmistakable curls blowing in the wind, hands shoved in the pockets of her long, grey coat, a rainbow right across the chest of a shirt Luke knew for a fact to be purple.
"And look, the same lineage. It's identical," Nick said, bringing his attention back to him. "This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded." Luke had no clue what Krakatoa was, or where Sumatra was located, but something told him if he were to look it up, he'd find the information matching what Nick was telling him.
The excitement seemed to drain out of Nick then, and his tone became low and full of dread. "The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, she's there. She brings the storm in her wake and she has one constant companion."
Luke's voice lowered to match his. "Who's that?"
Nick paused, giving him a solemn look. "Death." He paused again, as if giving Luke time to digest his words would have made the dread building at the pit of his stomach any easier to handle. "If the Doctor's back, if you saw her, Luke, then one thing's for sure. We're all in danger. If she singled you out, if the Doctor's making house calls, then God help you."
Luke frowned. Yes, he almost died. Yes, the Doctor had been there. And yes, she had literally made a house call that morning, but if anything she'd been the one who saved him from danger, and he trusted her enough to do it again if the situation called for it.
"But who is she?" he asked, setting down all the pictures and the drawing he'd been holding. "Who do you think she is?"
Nick swallowed, shaking his head slightly before taking a deep breath. "I think she's the same woman. I think she's immortal." He shrugged. "I think she's an alien from another world, causing death and havoc wherever she goes."