Walk The Earth: Doctor Who/Studio C [Book 2]

Good Intentions

Good Intentions

"...it's about intent—if they meant it, they're married, but they didn't, so they're not." -the Doctor

A/N: Impulsive Christmas Eve (slash Christmas Day, depending on where you are and when you read this) update for y'all, as my present to you! And it happens to be  fairly laid back, fluffy chapter as well. Major shout out to ExiledRanger, who beta read this chapter and the next for me and--as I said--metaphorically put a pillow on the wall I was banging my head against. It was much appreciated :)

It was dark.

That was Mallory's first thought as she had the distinct feeling, once more, that the Time Vortex had spat them out when it grew tired of them. Her head ached and her limbs wobbled—but they'd made it out.

"What was that?"

She ignored Matt's groan from beside her and made a shushing sound, peering through the darkened trees. The only sound was the quiet rustle of foliage in the wind, though, and she finally spoke under her breath. "Jack's vortex manipulator. Works as a teleport."

"...You're telling me we could have been using that this entire time?"

"It only works over a few hundred yards if you don't have coordinates. And, if you haven't noticed, it kind of messes you up."

She heard him groan again. "Yeah, I noticed."

After a moment, she picked herself up off the ground. "Loses time, too, sometimes. Think it's been two or three hours. Which, in this case, is actually not a bad thing—means the UCF have been looking for us for that long when we haven't been around to find." As she paused, she shivered in the chill night air. "We have to go."

"But our packs are still—"

"It's too risky. No guarantee they're still there anyways."

He grimaced, getting to his feet as well. "You make a valid point."

She reached over, took his hand, and started through the woods.

~~~

An hour and a half later, they had finally dared to stop, holing up in a fairly typical abandoned house. Even in the dark, they could see that anything good had been picked over, and the rest trashed.

"Right," Mallory said, starting to go through her pockets. "I've still got some granola bars, a compass, and the water purifying tablets. Oh, and a pocketknife. You?"

"Um," Matt said, trying to ignore the ache in his side and beginning to do the same. "Knife, lighter, more granola bars, and that little mini flashlight we found last week." The pile their things made on the counter was pitifully small and he bit back a groan. "We lost just about everything."

She gave a quiet hum. "Well, we started from nothing to begin with, we can do it again." With another glance around the room, she looked back over at him. "I'm going to see if there's anything good left in this place."

"You do that."

She returned a few minutes later with a shake of her head. "All picked over. There's not much of anything left." Pausing a few feet away from him, she asked, "Are you all right?"

He gave a small shrug in return. "Been better."

"What's—" she started.

"It's nothing. Just a bit banged up from that fence post."