Jumping For The Stars

Chapter 21 - Manhattan and Henry

Chapter 21

Manhattan and Henry

Ailia's head leaned against the Doctor's shoulder, silently tracing the twisting curves of the foreign text.

"She runs away?" Ailia asked, looking up at the Doctor.

"Mmhmm," the Doctor hummed.

"Why would she listen to a random stranger, though?" Ailia questioned.

"I don't know, it was a storybook. A very old storybook," the Doctor marked the page, peering at the book with curiousity.

"It sounds modern," Ailia commented.

"Well, the timelords were ahead of anything Earth has. Now to almost ever," the Doctor replied.

"SHIELD? UNIT? I hacked into their archives a few times," Ailia stated.

"So, a little modern then," the Doctor allowed, then paused, "Hacked into?"

Ailia shrugged, not denying it, "It's not like its hard. Besides, they always have the funniest videos."

"Hmm," the Doctor didn't bother to try to tell her off.

They sat there like that for a minute, tracing the lines of the book, thinking things over.

It was the Doctor who broke the silence after a yawn from Ailia, "Time to sleep, you need your ten hours apparently, else you'll kill me."

Ailia sat up straight as best she could, though she was still slouching over slightly. The Doctor chuckled, patting her head on his way out, something that she would have normally objected to, but was too tired to do so now.

"Night, Lia," the Doctor said.

"Good night, Professor," Ailia replied, watching as the door slowly shut behind the man.

She thought back to the vortex manipulator hidden within the room, but almost immediately decided against an adventure for that night. Sleep, that's what she needed. Sleep.

So, she clicked off the lights and did just that.

---

She shifted and turned under her covers, dragging the closer when the monsters dug at her skin and pushing the away when the tearing heat burned its way through, numbing everything else.

A cool calming feeling rushed through her mind with the night half way past, soaking her in an soothing darkness.

There were no problems for the rest of the night.

---

Just as Ailia said, she got her ten hours of sleep and walked into the console room not a minute later. Both Martha and the Doctor were already up, though Martha was still wearing pajamas and her hair a wild mane around her head.

"Hello," Ailia sat down on the railing.

"Hello," Martha greeted in reply.

The two looked at each other and shared a thought, "Food?" they looked at the Doctor, "Food."

The Doctor appeared a little creeped out at the synchronization, glancing back and forth between the two.

"Doctor, the masses have agreed," Ailia said, "And we want food."

"If it's not to much of a bother," Martha added, ever the embodiment of politeness.

"Or if it is," Ailia continued, ever being the honest one.

The Doctor found it wise to go in search of a kitchen.

---

It was much later that they actually reached a decision of where to go, Ailia wanted to go to Egypt and Martha insisted they go somewhere surprising. Ailia told her that Egypt was surprising, but Martha didn't believe her.