The Orphan and Her Family

Chapter Thirty-Five

As she's waiting for the Time Lord to return, her mobile rings. "Oh, bl**dy h*ll." She presses the device to her ear, and leans back in her seat. "Hey, Jackaboy!"

"Where are you?" he asks, "You've been gone for an hour."

"Ah, right. Well, you see, the rift sort of stole me."

"Oh okay th– Wait, what!"

"Yeah, I was heading to get the food. One second I'm in the middle of Cardiff in 2007, next second, middle of nowhere in 1970."

Jack sighs deeply, "Right, do you know where you are now?"

"I found UNIT. If anyone can get me back it's them."

Jack snorts, "Maybe. I would've gone to Torchwood myself."

Sophie rolls her eyes, "I'm nowhere near Wales. The Doctor is working for UNIT right now, so, as much as I love you, I think he might be able to do a bit better than you."

"Fine, let me know if there's any way I can help, I guess."

"Aye, aye, Captain," she finishes, hanging up the mobile.

As she tucks the device back into her pocket, the Doctor once again breezes into the room, the Brigadier and Liz Shaw trailing after him. "Doctor, you can't just leave us to deal with the alien," Liz protests, "What if they come back?"

The Time Lord waves her off, "They're leaving, and not too dangerous anyway. They're gone by now."

"Still," the Brig starts, "That's not a reason to just run off," he grumbles.

The Doctor turns, and rolls his eyes, "I have my own issues to handle, Brigadier."

"What could possibly be more important than an alien invasion?" Liz asks, crossing her arms.

Sophie decides to take this moment, and clear her throat rather loudly. Both scientist and soldier turn to find her spinning in a chair. "Hi," she waves, smiling at them. The Brigadier sighs deeply, turns on his heel, and leaves the room. Sophie watches him leave, and shrugs. She leaps from the chair, and walks over to the scientist, and smiles, "Sophie McCoy, I'm an old friend of the Doctor's."

"Dr. Elizabeth Shaw," she states, taking it all in stride.

"Miss McCoy here has gotten herself stuck here, in 1970."

"So like you?" Liz asks, raising an eyebrow at the Doctor.

Sophie chuckles, before noticing the glare the Doctor is sending her way. "Not exactly like him. I was pulled through a rift that exists between time and space, and it deposited me here."

Liz crosses her arms, "How do we get you back then? Do you just go back through the rift?"

The Doctor shakes his head, "No, the rift could deposit her anywhere, if she even managed to get through." He shakes his head, begins to pace across the lab, "No, we have to figure a different way to get her back."

"Well," Sophie starts, "I would say we could use the TARDIS, but unfortunately you had to go and get yourself caught by the Time Lords," she shakes her head at him, but smiles all the while.

He rolls his eyes, "I also happened to save Jamie and Zoe." He then turns away from her, "We'll have to try something different."

"I could try to call a different you. Someone with a working TARDIS?" she theorises.

"As if they could possibly help."

Sophie crosses her arms, and raises an eyebrow, "And you can?"

He scoffs, "Of course."

"Great. How?"

He raises his eyebrows, and resumes his pacing, "I'm not quite sure yet."

She rolls her eyes, "Well take your time then I guess." She turns on her heel, and heads over toward the TARDIS. She pushes the doors open, and strolls into the time/space ship, feeling once again at home. She touches the side of the central console, and feels the ship rumbling. "I know, old girl, you don't like being tied to any one place any more than the Doctor. Don't worry, you'll get out of this eventually." She looks around the console room again, "I just hope I do, too."

The ship rumbles under her touch again, and she smiles. The doors to the box open with a squeak, and the Doctor stands there in all his glory, "My dear Miss. McCoy, you know I will do all I can to get you back home."

She sighs, and leans back against the console, "I know, Doc. It's just...it's a lot to take in. I'm trapped out of my own time, and have no way to get back."

The Time Lord steps toward her, and places a hand on her shoulder, crouching down to meet her eyes, "I will get you home."

She nods, takes a deep breath, and squares her shoulders, "Right, lets see what we can figure out." The duo exit the ship, and Sophie walks over to the whiteboard. "I guess our first course of business should be to list all of the different types of time travel we know, and could use."

Just as she uncaps the marker, a loud banging noise is heard from within a closet. The Time Lord and the human glance at each other. Sophie quickly extracts a sword from within her bag, as the Doctor approaches the closet.

He pulls the door open, and a disgruntled Time Lord steps out. He readjusts his robes, and tries once again to look respectable. The Doctor sighs, and steps back, gesturing for Sophie to lower her sword. Begrudgingly, she let's the blade of the weapon clatter against the floor.

"What do you want?" the Doctor asks. "I'm assuming that you aren't here to release me, and allow my knowledge of time travel to be restored," he muses, and walks away from the mysterious Time Lord visitor.

"No, my dear Doctor, I'm not here for that."

He sighs, "As I suspected. So why are you here then?"

Before he gets the chance to respond, Sophie speaks up, "You're with the CIA, but you're a new recruit."

The Time Lord's eyes widen, "How!"

She chuckles, "You have a time ring. Those are mainly used by CIA agents, but, you ended up in the closet, which definitely isn't where you meant to be. Thus, a new CIA agent."

The Doctor smiles, and places a hand on her shoulder, "Why are you here?"

The Time Lord snaps out of his shock, "Right. I've been sent on a mission, Doctor. I'm to assign you a task, straight from the head of the CIA."

The Doctor rolls his eyes, "Yes, because as I've become aware, my exile makes me some kind of galactic yo-yo."

"Uh, right," the agent says, "I can guarantee, if you accomplish this mission—"

"You'll return my knowledge of time travel?"

"I'll take Miss McCoy home."

"That doesn't seem quite fair," the Doctor sighs.

"I do," Sophie interrupts, "I think it's more than fair. What do we have to do?"

"Um, the Doctor must complete the mission, until it's completed, I'm afraid I must take you with me."

She takes a few steps back, "Hold up, I didn't agree to that."

"Again, I have to take you with me." He reaches out, and grabs her arm, "I'm really sorry about this, ma'am." Then, the world goes wibbly.