Work Text:
The Doctor's Wife:
Amy: Look at you pair. It's always you and her isn't it? Long after the rest of us have gone. A boy and his box off to see the universe.
The Doctor: Well you say that as if it's a bad thing. But honestly it's the best thing there is.
oOo
A Boy and His Box
AKA: Resurrection
The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS doors and walked slowly up the staircase to the console, flinging his tweed jacket over the side of the railings lazily before reaching the. control panel. He stuck his hand in his pocket and fished out a cream coloured seashell, neat vertical grooves reflected the lights and it shone pale green under the dim green backlight of the time rotor.
"Hello dear...so, I brought you back a souvenir. It's just a shell from the beach outside, but I thought it'd look cool on your console," the Doctor rambled out loud as he wandered around the console before placing the seashell on top of the blue boring-ers. Right where the light refracted off the workings of the rotor, causing it to splinter in a mini-rainbow, making the ridges of the seashell gleam like magic.
Then he hopped down the steps, sliding a hand down the cool metal of the rail, before swinging around and walking down to the forest of tangled wires underneath the console. "I was wondering if you like it or not? I'm sure you do, suits you, you know, shiny stuff." He sat down in the swinging harness and rummaged amidst the wires until he found his welding goggles, snapping them onto his eyes.
"I was thinking of maybe fixing up an observatory. House deleted it same time he tried to delete us." He cracked a wry smile, "You told him where to go," he continued, absently twirling a stray grey wire around his finger.
Talking to her was something he had always done, just a conversation, 'And how are you today TARDIS?', 'Where are we next off to Sexy', 'Could you believe old Lizzie?' and the occasional lament; 'I miss talking to you...talking-talking I mean, with mouths and hands and that cross face you had when you told me off.'
"But, yes!" The Doctor said as he remembered his train of thought, "An observatory, now, wouldn't that be cool? Although, there is a charm about flinging those big blue doors open to see the stars." He began to pull wires from around him, connecting them with his sonic screwdriver.
"It's quiet, isn't it dear? Without the Ponds." He commented after a short time. He had dropped off Mr and Mrs Pond onto a market place on a watery planet. A very human touristy must-see kind of place for anyone in the thirty third century, complete with a spa, and a theatre built on the plans of the Globe.
He swung back and forth on the swing as he worked. The quiet sound of her engines turning over filled his ears in return. "But I like it, I can hear my own thoughts, and your engines hum." He finished up connecting the wires and slid out of the harness, pushing the goggles up on to his forehead, trapping his hair underneath in a comical fashion. "You know, I think you would've liked it outside. Nice, peaceful beach with sand! Lots of space to run around. Well, I say peaceful...you dropped me off in the nick of time!"
The Doctor wandered back up to the console and patted the monitor fondly. "A couple of prods with the old sonic screwdriver and the reactor was sorted." He gestured with a finger, pretending to go through the motion again for her benefit. Then he leaned over to pull a lever down and it clicked into place, "Thank you Sexy, always dropping me off where I need to be." He grinned and his face was reflected off the glass of the monitor. He patted the side of the console fondly and the engines may or may not have hummed louder.
He hummed as he twisted a few dials, "Yes, outside, nice beach, and the sea, oh! Very blue, very very blue. Not a particularly sunny day, but we could always come back again when the sun is shining brightly and the waves are at their bluest of blue."
He paused for a moment and then frowned, "Though, don't get me wrong old girl, even that blue couldn't beat you. Because you're TARDIS blue." He pointed to the time rotor and dipped his head in an awkward nod.
"Mind, when I say a nice beach with lots of sand, I do mean that in a sort of human-enthusiastic way. To tell you the truth, it gets everywhere!" He whispered, as though confiding a secret. "I bet you, I'll tip out my fez and they'll be a neat pile of sand on the floor...and before you moan, yes, I'll clear it up...later."
He flipped a couple of switches and something on the left hand side of the console sparked in retaliation. "See, that's the thing about sand. It can be so annoying, getting into your fez, or your boots." He looked down and tapped the heels of his own on the see through floor to make soft clacks.
"But the feel of that damp sand between your toes, all crunchy and scratchy, it makes you feel alive!" The Doctor exclaimed animatedly and waved an arm to emphasis before zapping a button with his sonic screwdriver, looking down to fiddle with the settings.
Then he sighed heavily, "I think...you would've loved it, running around, making footsteps in the sand, watching them melt away when the tide comes in. Happens four times a day out there, they've got two moons!" He rested a hand on the time rotor sympathetically and then spun around wildly, reaching for another component of the control panel.
"Alive, well you are, completely and utterly sentient. Feeling and thinking. Yes, I bet you're pleased I haven't brought home any strays this time round," he teased, leaning over the buttons. "Amy and Rory enough for now?" The Doctor asked and then scoffed, "Rory, he's got a..." He looked up and moved his hand around the centre of his face, "I really do not understand why you call him Pretty." He shook his head with mirth.
Leaning backwards, the Doctor flopped down onto the old car seat, crossing his arms and lifting one leg over the other. "Alive...you found it good. Being human; bigger on the inside. Sums it all up to be honest." He tipped his head to the side, "That's what you said; humans and words were bigger on the inside. The time we talked..."
He unfolded and refolded his arms again awkwardly, wrapping up his chest tightly. His braces cut into his shoulders. "And then it came to an end. Why?" He huffed with enough frustration for the both of them. "Not fair at all. I wanted you to stay. You and me, we're-"
He broke off his rant, realising the childishness of it all, "A being from the eleventh dimension can never hold form in a flesh body," he answered himself bitterly, reminding himself of the only flaw in the brilliance of the idea.
"If only we could talk again, dear. But if we did, then the universe would end." He chuckled quietly to himself, though knowing she could hear him, "Pesky, troublesome thing isn't it? You'd think the amount of times we've saved it; it owes us a little favour." It was a truth, after everything he had ever done, all the times he had ran and all the times she had delivered him to the right place at the right time; The Doctor and the TARDIS, here to help. Yet it couldn't grant them this small favour in return. Something they, did not want, but needed. It was a cruel truth, as cold as space and as unforgiving as the tick of time.
Suddenly, he froze. His eyes glazed up, his breathing stopped and he sat ever so still as he considered the thought that flashed across his brilliant, brilliant mind. Then he launched himself out of his seat, clambering towards the time rotor. "A being from the eleventh dimension can never hold form in a flesh body," he repeated, "But what if it wasn't a flesh body?"
"A hologram!" He shouted excitedly, his voice echoed off the brass curved walls behind him. "A hologram, Sexy! Oh, just think." He ran around to the typewriter and began to write a new computer program. "A hologram, using the parameters of your old human body, you know, you as a mad bitey lady." He clacked his teeth together, grinning madly.
"The TARDIS with an interfaceable hologram," the Doctor continued, trying to explain his idea, "We can talk!" His fingers flew over the keys and he hunched over, typing furiously, fingers striking buttons with unerring accuracy. "How cool would that be? And you'd never have to die or leave. Oh...I'm so old and stupid, should have thought of this years ago!"
He continued to type, falling silent so that he could concentrate. Ten minutes passed, and then the clacking of the typewriter finally slowed down, he pressed a final button and then reached for a dial, slowly turning it around while holding his breath. It had to work, it simply had to.
As the dial reached the maximum level, a soft golden coloured glow filled the TARDIS interior, building up just by the steps. By the time he turned the dial to the end marker, she was standing there. She looked exactly the same, blue, slightly raggedy dress, dark hair tangled and piled up upon her head, beaming at him. Her eyes still softly glowing gold as the hologram stabilised. "Hello, Thief."
He walked towards her and stretched out a hand, she mirrored the action, but their smiles slipped a little as his hand passed through hers.
"Oh." She said sadly, looking at him and trying to smile anyway. He had tried so hard. She had waited for forever and hardly a minute for him to come to the realisation.
"The projection needs a little refining." He frowned and then stepped back to the console. Only, she beat him to it and a lever flipped up, just as he was stretching to reach it.
The Doctor felt her wrap a hand around his, "Hello Doctor, my Doctor." And he turned around to face her.
"Hello TARDIS, my TARDIS," he grinned back like a nine year old. "You saw what I was going to do." His beam grew a little wider. He looked back at the lever, "Now that is very timey-wimey."
"Time is relative," she replied knowingly and dropped his hand to walk over to the time rotor. She reached for the cream coloured shell sitting on top of the blue boring-ers. "I like it when you bring me presents. Better than bringing back strays. Thank you." She flipped the shell over in her hands, scrutinising its detail by holding it a few centremetres from her nose.
"We're talking!" The Doctor said happily, running up after her.
She spun around quickly after placing the seashell back onto the console, "I know!" She grabbed him, pulling him into a tight hug. "You talk, and now I can talk back!
He was crushed in her hug but still managed to reply, "We're talking! What do you want to talk about?"
"Talk? I want to do lots of things as well as talking. Fish fingers and custard! No, chips. No, jelly babies. No...Jammy Dodgers! I want to visit everywhere, like this..." The TARDIS stepped backwards and forwards, "Walking with feet! I see you've written in stabilisers to the programme. Good thing too." She took hold of his shoulders, patting him and poking his chin, "Most of all, I want to run with you." Her hands rested on the sides of his face, gently compared to the jarring, excited movements from earlier.
"Run?" The Doctor asked, confused. His eyes flicked from her left hand back to her face and then his grin softened to a smile.
"Yes, run. You know, when we land on a new planet, and then you open my doors and take your friends to run," she replied in tone which stated that he should've known what she meant.
He nodded his head with understanding after a moment. "Running? Oh, you mean travelling."
She shook hers as she lowered her hands. "No, oh, I'll just have to show you later," she tutted, placing her hands on her hims..
He opened his mouth to speak and she sighed heavily, "Oh, if you're going to be like that then, sulking and pouting and whinging like a two hundred year old. Running, you know, when you and your companions go to a new place and you run. Let me see if I can remember correctly. You ran from the Family, you ran from the Daleks, you are always running from the Daleks. You have run from the Slitheen, the Judoon, the Weeping Angels, the Silence, the Gelth, the Vashta Nerada, the Autons-"
"Oh, running!" He realised, "But...I don't do that on purpose, I don't go out seeking trouble-"
"Could have fooled me." She interrupted, "Yes, running."
"But that's just the bits in between. You said you wanted to see the universe, so you stole me, now you can. You want to go outside?" The Doctor asked, "Outside, outside?"
"Well of course I do my beautiful idiot, what else would I do if I was like this with these legs? Sit inside myself all day, waiting for you to come back from running?" She leaned against the console, her fingers tapped against the sides and the background hum of the engines grew a little louder.
"No, no! Obviously not, yes, running." The Doctor nodded his head with a wry smile. "But, if you're going outside...your projection might not hold for that kind of distance...let me see." He pulled out his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and scanned her before pointing it at the console and pressing the button down, "Just extending the projection using the chameleon circuit...just flick that switch, the silver one..." he told her and she did just so.
A ripple of light ran down the TARDIS' body and she stretched out her arms, "All done?" She said with a grin and twisted from side to side, the blue material of her dress swept around.
"So, where are we off to first Sexy?" The Doctor asked.
"I...don't know. There's everywhere..." She looked a little baffled. "And all of time. Hmm, it's certainly easier to think about it when I'm a box. If I'm like this it's not so relative...Oh, I don't think I can choose." She said with wide eyes and a grin which stretched wider with her happiness. "You choose Thief."
"I think I've got a better idea." The Doctor grinned back, walking around to the console. "How about we set you on random. We can go anywhere, anywhen. There could be monsters, so terrifying with the guarantee of lots of running. Or there could be the most amazing sights ever to be seen. You could land on grass, on water...on a mountain, on an asteroid...in the middle of a Beatles concert."
She beamed at him, "You and me, my Doctor. Anywhere and anywhen, just like in the past and the future...oh, and now." She tipped her head. He pressed the button as she spoke her words and then the ship began to jerk and shake, beginning its journey.
They yelled and laughed and clambered to their feet as the TARDIS flew through the time vortex. "Off to see the universe!" The Doctor shouted with glee, clutching to the console.
"I've always wanted to do that!" The TARDIS shouted back over the sound of the engines.
"I know!" He replied and skidded around the console, arms flailing ever so slightly. "And now we can. This is cooler than bowties and fezzes put together!"
"Forever?" She called back, trying to hear him over the sound of the engines and just a little distracted by falling over with the tipping motion of the time and space ship. "Yes, for forever my thief."