strong enough [crossover]

iv. mj overthinks things (what else is new?)

trigger warnings: discussions of racism, 19th century-era attitude, mentions of necrophilia and dehumanization

*

After her less-than-cheerful conversation with Rose, MJ decides to overcompensate with color. That's how she ends up wearing a rainbow shirt with purple pants.

By the time she's done styling her hair, she's feeling much better. It's not anything crazy — just braided pigtails. She spritzes herself with a body mist that smells almost exactly like the sun-ripened strawberries of Camp Half-Blood, and then she's good to go. She grabs her backpack — there's no way she's going anywhere without her medical supplies — and heads for the console room.

"Took you long enough!" the Doctor crows when she walks in.

Rose is already here, leaning against the railing. She offers MJ a warm smile that MJ easily returns.

"You're more than welcome to help me with my hair if you think that'll make things go faster," MJ says.

The Doctor considers this for about four seconds before saying, "Nah, I'm good." He points to a button on the console. "Press that."

MJ complies and they're immediately thrown into flight. The Doctor starts barking out orders to MJ and Rose, telling them what to press and what to pull.

"Hold that one down!" the Doctor orders Rose.

"I'm holding this one down!" Rose insists.

"Well, hold them both down!" he says.

MJ is stuck adjusting a dial while holding down a lever with her foot, so Rose is left to stretch across the console to reach whatever else the Doctor wants her to hold down.

"It's not gonna work," Rose says.

"Oi!" the Doctor exclaims. "I promised you a time machine, and that's what you get. Now, we've seen the future, let's have a look at the past. 1860, how does 1860 sound?"

"What happened in 1860?" Rose asks.

"Abraham Lincoln got elected president of the United States!" MJ very helpfully supplies.

Rose rolls her eyes. "Besides that."

"I don't know, let's find out!" The Doctor yanks down another lever. "Hold on, here we go!"

MJ isn't entirely sure what happens next. All she knows is that by the time the TARDIS actually lands, all of them have somehow fallen to the floor. They lay on their backs, laughing like madmen as the TARDIS materializes in, presumably, 1860.

"Blimey!" Rose says.

The Doctor gets to his feet with relative ease, clearly used to these kinds of rough landings by now. "Telling me! You two alright?"

"Yeah, I think so," Rose says. MJ's already standing, so she offers Rose a hand and Rose takes it gratefully. "Nothing broken."

"Did we make it?" MJ asks. The two girls hurry to join the Doctor where he stands looking at a screen. The writing is nonsense to MJ — circular Gallifreyan, if she had to hazard a guess. She pushes a stray lock of hair out of her face. "Where are we?"

"I did it!" the Doctor gushes. "Give the man a medal! Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860." He giggles to himself, crossing his arms over his chest.

MJ pokes him in the shoulder. "I think you mean we did it. Rose and I helped!"

"Yeah, whatever," the Doctor says, waving a dismissive hand. MJ rolls her eyes.

"That's so weird," Rose says. "It's Christmas." Her lips curl into a brilliant smile.