The Orphan and Her Family

Chapter Thirty-Four

The car slows to a stop, and Sophie stretches, checking the time. Her eyes widen, "Oh my gosh. It's half past midnight." She drops her head on the car's dash, "No use going home now," she shrugs.

"You're welcome to spend the night here."

She looks over at the immortal, and smiles, "Okay," she says, sounding sleepy.

Jack points his finger at her, "Hey, no sleeping until you're in my bed." He freezes, "That came out a lot more sexual than I intended."

Sophie opens the car door, and pats the side of Jack's face, "Everything sounds a lot more sexual coming out of your mouth."

He rolls his eyes, and wraps an arm around her shoulder, "Yeah, whatever, kiddo."

***

She wakes up the next morning, and yawns. Jack is nowhere to be found, and she simply shrugs. She wraps the blanket from the immortals bed around her shoulders, and trudges for the ladder.

Her head pops out of the ladder hole, and she looks around like a little meerkat. Jack watches as she squints against the light, and tugs the blanket over her head. "Morning, sleeping beauty."

She waves, and climbs the rest of the way into Jack's office. She trudges over, and wraps her arms around Jack. "I should really be going," she says, looking at the time displayed on the Captain's computer.

"I thought you were staying until the New Year."

"I was just going to get some breakfast," she mumbles, as she frees herself from the blanket.

Jack turns around in his seat, "You could just make something."

Sophie snorts, "Do you have anything in?" she asks, before hastily adding, "Besides cold pizza." Jack shakes his head. "That's what I thought. You live in the sewer and all you eat is pizza."

"Sometimes I don't eat anything at all!" he protests.

Sophie rolls her eyes, "That does not help your case. There's a little diner not far from here where I can go and grab some food." Jack sighs, and pulls a money clip out of his pocket. He removes a couple twenty pound notes, and hands them to her.

"Jack, you don't have too." she protests.

"I know, but I want to," he pushes the money to her once again. "And I figure you can pick me up something as well," he smirks.

"Yeah, alright," she smiles, and heads for the exit.

Sophie glances down at her phone as she steps onto the Plass. Starting down toward the diner, she sees that Jack texted her, asking specifically for flapjacks. She's going to respond something about him sounding all American, but glances back up to find herself in the middle of nowhere. "Well Toto," she mutters to no one in particular, "I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

A normal person would freak out, scream, throw things, maybe call the police. Sophie is not a normal person. She starts off back in the direction she came from, keeping her head on a swivel. She nearly stops dead in her tracks, as a military facility appears in front of her.

She glances around, and sees nothing for miles, except for this facility. She starts up the long gravel drive. The woman spies the sign, which says U.N.I.T in big letters. Sighing, Sophie continues up the drive.

The door comes into view, she approaches. Knocking on the large metal door, a window slides open. A man in a soldier's uniform peers through, "Can I help you, Miss?"

Sophie gives him her best smile, "I sure hope so. I'm looking for the Doctor."

His eyes widen, and then narrow slightly, "We have a lot of doctors here, Miss."

"I know that, but I'm looking for the Doctor. Dr. John Smith, your scientific advisor."

"Can I have your name?"

She rolls her eyes, "Sophia Jaclyn McCoy."

"One moment," he says, and closes the window on the door.

She leans against the wall, waiting as the soldier contacts his superiors. A minute later the door creaks open, and the soldier nods, "Welcome, Miss McCoy. The Doctor is currently out right now, but he told me to escort you to his workshop."

She nods, smiling, "Right, thank you, Corporal..."

"Bates, ma'am."

"Thank you, Corporal Bates. Lead the way then."

They go through winding hallways, each looking exactly the same. They're stark white, soldiers marching through as well. They reach a garage, laboratory type room. The TARDIS pressed into the corner, with Bessie taking up a prominent position near the centre of the room. Various technology, and mechanical bits straggled across the table. There's a wheelie chair in front of the table, and she approaches it. Corporal Bates stands in the doorway, "Can I get you anything, ma'am?"

"Could you tell me the year? I know it seems like a strange request."

"1970, ma'am. The Doctor is always going on about time travel, so you don't need to explain."

She smiles, collapsing into the chair, "Could you maybe grab me a cuppa?"

"Course. The Doctor should be back any minute."

"Thank you, Corporal Bates. And it's been lovely to meet you."

He steps out of the room, and she starts to spin in the chair, waiting for the Time Lord. She pulls out her phone, pulling up Solitaire. She's not sure how long she's playing the game, Bates coming in and dropping off the tea, before promptly returning to his post. What Sophie assumes is a half an hour later, the Time Lord walking into the room, removing his cape, hanging it on the coat rack just inside the room. Sophie, who has her legs flung over the back of the chair, looks at the Doctor from her upside down position. She waves at him, smiling.

The Time Lord stops the chair from spinning by setting a hand on the chair. "It's nice of you to drop in, Miss McCoy." She grins at him, sliding down the chair. "How exactly are you here?" he asks, as she finally flops onto the floor.

Sophie rolls over, easily standing up, shrugging. "Don't know. Was just walking through Cardiff, next thing I know I'm in the middle of nowhere. Just started walking, till I found UNIT."

"Most people would have probably started having a mental breakdown," the Time Lord tells her, as he scans the tech on the table in front of him.

"I'm not most people," she tells him, with a raised eyebrow. "I figure it has something to do with the rift in time and space that runs through the middle of Cardiff, but it's just a thought," she shrugs.

He busies himself, rifling through the tech, "Yes, that is an idea."

Sophie blinks, "Sorry, am I interrupting something important?" she asks, as he grabs a strangely shaped object off the table.

"Unfortunately, yes," he responds.

"I'm sorry my quandary seems to be inconvenient to you."

The Time Lord rolls his eyes, "We'll figure out why you're here as soon as I fix the mess that UNIT has caused."

"Fine," Sophie grumbles. The Doctor breezes back out of the lab, and Sophie resumes her place in the wheelie chair.