Quantum Leap/Doctor Who: The Silence of the Angel

Chapter 7

Martha was staring at the angel, wondering where the Doctor was. He had been acting pretty strange earlier and she hoped he wasn't losing it or something. She had seen him get angry before but she had never seen him be so... different. He just seemed like a different person! What was with him, not knowing what the weeping angels were? He wasn't even scared when she pointed it out; he was just confused. When was the Doctor ever confused? He usually at least pretended to know what was going on! If he didn't know, he usually just laughed and made something up, but she hadn't heard him laugh this whole time.

Because she was pondering the Doctor's strange behavior and was completely lost in thought, she didn't notice someone coming from behind her. She was still deep in thought when she heard someone say, "Miss, don't be alarmed."

She would not be alarmed, had the voice come from a child or a person with a voice closer in pitch to the Doctor or herself, but this man had a voice deeper than the song Imagine by John Lennon and lower than minimum wage. The owner of this voice, in addition to the fact that it was unexpected and that she was lost in her own world of confusion, couldn't have eased her shock by saying anything different than what he originally said. It alarmed her to the point that she flinched. In the midst of that flinch, she blinked, after which she froze, fearful that another blink would bring it close enough to touch her and send her back to the time period which young Bela and Haimund occupied.

"Who the bloody hell are you and why did you sneak up on me like that?" she exclaimed in a mix of frustration and horror. Her heart was beating quickly and she was furious at whomever this was. He could have killed them both!

"I'm sorry, miss," he promptly replied as he walked around her so she could see him. "Sorry that I'm a bit late, but I got it."

"Late? Got what?" she asked, surprisingly more frustrated and confused than before. "Who are you?" she asked again.

"I know you won't recognize me, miss, but I assure you that I'm me. I have the mirror you asked for so long ago, if you'll have it." Martha could see him fiddling with the 5 by 2 foot mirror he was holding. "You never said why you needed it but I think I know now. Just sorry I couldn't get it to you sooner."

Careful not to look away from the angel, Martha observed as much as she could about this newcomer through the edges of her vision. He was about a foot taller than her, wearing a t-shirt, and was bald. The way he kept calling her "miss" sounded oddly familiar. "Stop messing about," she commanded as her mind drew an unusual yet completely logical conclusion from the facts she had just observed. "Tell me who you are."

"Oh, but you already know, don't ya, miss?" He placed the mirror in front of the weeping angel's face and looked Martha in the eye. Finally free from the burden of staring down her alien opponent, she returned his gaze. He smiled, a grin which would light up any room and would lift any heavy heart. "It's nice to finally see you again," he said.

Martha just stared at him. She remembered that little boy, Haimund, and found that a few of his features just remained in this man's face somehow. It wasn't like he had the same jaw or the same sized nose or anything; something about his old but friendly face screamed "Haimund!" and she couldn't figure out what. It was still Haimund, the one and only, but aged at least fifty years.

"How did you- what- when-?" A truckload of incomplete questions burst forth from Martha's mouth, but she couldn't finish them for shock. He understood and just smiled ever more brightly.

"Where's your friend? He was with you last time I saw you."

"Oh, um- yeah, he just said he had something to do by himself." Martha was still royally puzzled because the Doctor hasn't told her something that he knew. "How did... this happen to you? I thought this was the only weeping angel."