To The Moon and Back [A Doctor Who fanfiction]

A Compromise

We made our way down twisting and turning hallways, passing more and more cases full of charging Cybermen.

"We have to hurry, I only deactivated the Cybermen attacking us, not any of the rest. These could pop out on us at any moment." The Doctor said, jogging ahead of me. "Why don't you just deactivate these too?" I asked him, trying to keep up. "Because they're not actually deactivated unless it's done from the control room. They're only deactivated for a short period of time." "Wait, so the Cybermen that attacked us, they could come back to life?" I asked. "Yes, technically, they could." The Doctor responded, turning a couple corners. "What if they got into the TARDIS?" I asked worriedly. "They can't, it's locked and I've got the key."

He stopped at the end of a hallway and pressed his back against the wall, peering around the corner and quickly snapping his head back.

"Okay, the control room is right at the end of this next hallway." He whispered to me. "Okay, let's go." I said, taking a step towards the corner. He pulled me back, and I caught myself before slamming against the wall. "We have to be careful; there are Cybermen guarding it." He peeked around the corner again before looking back at me.

"Okay, you stay here while I deactivate them, then we have to move quickly. We can lock the control room door behind us, but there is probably going to be more Cybermen in the room." I gulped. "You okay?" He asked me, putting his hands on my arms. I nodded. "You ready?" I nodded again. "Okay, let's go."

He swung out into the end on the hallway, raising his sonic screwdriver and quickly activating it, deactivating the Cybermen guarding the door. He motioned for me to follow him and we ran down the hallway, busting into the control room. All of the Cybermen in the room turned to look at us but the Doctor quickly deactivated them without a word. He ran over to the control panel lining one of the walls, pushing buttons and flipping switches before stopping and looking at me.

"Flip that lever." He said, pointing to a lever next to me on the panel. I flipped the lever and suddenly all of the lights went out in the room and the Cybermen fell limp to the floor. The Doctor whooped and I laughed. "Step away from the control panel." He said. I stepped away and the control panel sparked and burnt out, little puffs of smoke rising from it.

I was waiting for my eyes to adjust when I felt the Doctor's hand on my shoulder. "Let's get back to the TARDIS." He said. He guided me out of the room and back through the maze of hallways, and eventually we saw the comforting glow coming from the TARDIS's windows.

The Doctor pushed open the door and I walked inside the TARDIS, leaning up against the railing in the center area, taking a deep breath. "Well that was something." I said as the Doctor walked in, closing the door behind him. "It was, wasn't it?" He said, walking over and standing by me. He smiled at me fondly.

"We make a pretty good team, don't we?" He said. "All I did was pull a lever." I said, laughing. "Not true. You came up with the idea to deactivate the Cybermen. If it wasn't for you, we'd probably be dead right now." "That idea came from lack of information." I responded, rolling my eyes playfully. "Well I'll be sure to better educate you next time." He said.

The smile vanished from my face as I registered what he had said. "What do you mean 'next time'? You're taking me home right now, right?" His smile slipped off his face and he pursed his lips. "Yeah, I guess I have to." He responded, walking over to the console and flipping a few switches. "That's right you are." I muttered, nodding sternly.

I gripped on to the railing as we had a less shaky ride back to the park. I opened the TARDIS door and turned back to look at the Doctor, who was looking absent-mindedly at the console. "Well, bye I guess." I said. He looked up at me, sadly smiling and nodding slightly. I turned and walked out, but just as I was about to close the door, he called out to me.

"Bella, wait." The Doctor walked over to me, holding the door open. "Do you want to come travel with me?" He asked me. The question caught me off guard. "Do you want to travel with me?" He repeated. "In the TARDIS. It is a time-traveling spaceship after all; we could go anywhere in the universe, anywhere in time, anywhere you wanted."

I ran and reran the question through my head as the Doctor eagerly awaited my response.

"My parents will worry about me." I said. "Time machine." He responded. "I could drop you off here and now, so to them it'll merely seem as if you were returning from a walk." I pursed my lips. "What if something bad happens to me?" "I won't let anything bad happen to you. I'll always be there to protect you."

I looked at my feet. "I don't think I can. It'll be too difficult for me." "Please," The Doctor responded, taking my hands and looking me in the face. "Just one trip. If you absolutely hate it after that, I'll take you straight home and you'll never have to see me again." I weighed the options in my head while the Doctor stared intently at me.

"Fine, but just one trip." I decided finally. The Doctor grinned and gave my hands a squeeze, hopping back into the TARDIS. I followed him back inside, laughing as he cheerfully bopped around the TARDIS, hitting a few buttons on the console before gesturing towards the hallways leading away from the main room.

"That way is the kitchen. That way is the guest bedroom. That way is the library. That way is the swimming pool." "You have a swimming pool?" I asked, leaning up against the railing beside him. "Yep, and an observatory and an art gallery." He said, grinning. I looked towards the hallways in awe, shaking my head slightly.

"How are you sure I'm not going to get lost?" I asked, turning back to him. "The TARDIS will make sure you don't get lost, won't you girl?" He said to the console. The result was a cheerful whirring sound. I laughed and walked out into the open, spinning in a circle and taking another delighted look around.

"So," He said, clapping and looking at me. "All of time and space," He took a few steps towards me, causing me to press my back against the console. "Everything that ever happened, or ever will," He was right in front of me now, our foreheads and noses touching. "Every star that ever was," He reached down and grabbed my hands, giving them a cheerful squeeze. I smiled and giggled causing a small smile to tug on the corners of his mouth. "Where do you want to start?"