Earth Grazer || Doctor Who

XVII. Under Arrest

Unedited

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Ella heard soft footsteps approach the area she’s been occupying for the last couple of minutes, she turned her head and was unsurprised to see Rose walking up to her. “Sleep well?” She shrugged in response and took a drag of the cigarette that she borrowed from one of Rose’s neighbors, Mr. Harris.

“Not really, I’m still tired. These last few weeks have been really exhausting. Just before Egypt we were on a planet that was being invaded by a swarm of metal snakes … that could fly. And this place was a level 3 planet so there were no buildings, I had to stay on watch for days while the Doctor came up with a plan to get rid of the invaders.” Ella rubbed the inner corner of her eye as Rose leaned on the wall next to her, “speaking of which, where is he?”

“He said he was going on a wander, but I think he went to check out that spaceship.”

“Or the body. He doesn’t wander unless there’s trouble. We’ll have to see what he found when he gets back.” The brunette exhaled smoke as she spoke, Rose held her hand out to her and knowing what she was asking, Ella gave her the cigarette. “I thought you quit smoking?”

“You’re one to talk.” Rose reminded with a forced laugh and took a couple of drags.

“Well, I haven’t been around for a year, so I think I deserve a smoke break.” Ella took back the cigarette from the blondes offering hand.

“What’s a level 3 planet?”

“That’s just a scale to determine how civilized a planet is and what galactic laws they’re protected under. See, Earth is a level 5 planet. We just got that status in ‘57.” Ella mumbled the rest of her sentence as she took the last couple of drags from her cigarette.

“How certain are you that he’ll come back?” Rose’s sudden shift in topics had Ella wondering if she missed something.

“What?”

“How are you sure that the Doctor will come back? I mean, you left me.” Ella had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as she stubbed out the cigarette before she answered.

“You wanted to stay and take care of Mickey.” The mention of her boyfriend caused a sour look to cross the blondes face and Ella made a note to talk about that later. “I told you that when someone offers you the universe, you take it. You didn’t but now we’re here to fix that. If you do well, you might be able to come with us.”

“Do well? What, is there a test?”

“Quite possibly and I’m not sure how long I’ve been traveling with him, time is a bit weird inside that box, but he wouldn’t leave me. At the very least he wouldn’t leave this.” Ella pulled out the long chain wrapped around her neck that held her Tardis key. “He was a bit busy that day and I had to run back to the ship for equipment, I never gave it back. But he doesn’t need it, he’s got about ten copies hidden around the control room. And at least three more in his room.”

“You’ve got a key to his house … is the Doctor your boyfriend?” Rose wondered and Ella let out a loud laugh at the absurd idea.

“No, he could never be a boyfriend. I don’t know … that word seems too small for him. He’s … much more.” Almost like her words summoned him, the girls heard the Tardis starting to rematerialize. The key that Ella held in her hand started to glow and grow hot.