Touch The Sky: Doctor Who/Studio C [Book 3]

Life, the Universe, and Everything

Life, the Universe, and Everything

(Interlude—Recognizable dialogue from 'Partners in Crime')

For the first time in two years, Donna Noble set foot on the TARDIS.

"Off we go, then!" she exclaimed.

"Here it is," the Doctor said, leaning up against the console. "The TARDIS. It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside..."

"Oh, I know that bit. Although frankly, you could turn the heat up."

The Doctor gazed at her for a moment, before spinning around the console. "So! Whole wide universe, where do you wanna go?"

"Oh, I know exactly the place."

"Which is?"

She merely pointed. "Two and a half miles, that way."

~~~

Up on his hill, lost in his thoughts, Wilf finished the last of his tea and poured the dregs on the ground. He was prepared to head down the house when an odd noise caught his attention.

"There—" he stared, staring into the sky, before yelling, "Donna! It's... it's the flying blue box!" He stared at it for a long moment, waiting for her to answer, before putting his eye to the telescope.

His granddaughter waved at him from the open door of the TARDIS.

"Huh... what? That's Donna!" He lifted his head before putting it down again. "That's Donna!" The Doctor gave a short wave as well, making Wilf cry, "And that's him!" He continued to stare, wide eyed, at the man he'd met while selling papers a few short weeks ago who had disappeared in front of his eyes. "That's him!" He gave a half-shout, half scream and tossed his red hat in the air. "Whee-hee! That's him! Ha ha ha! Go on girl! Go on, get up there!"

He continued to shout and dance as the TARDIS doors closed and the box shot up through the atmosphere, doing a happy jig that he didn't care if anyone saw.

~~~

The good thing about the Adipose incident, Mallory couldn't help but think, was that it had at least gotten Nancy to shut up.

It was a terribly cruel thing to think, and she didn't deny it. Nancy and a million others likely would have died without the Doctor's intervention—she knew it had to be. UNIT hadn't been in a position to stop it happening, and as fond as she'd been of Captain Jack Harkness she doubted Torchwood had been either.

After the Titanic incident, she'd grown wary of wearing her TARDIS key 24/7, afraid she'd give into the temptation to be dragged back into that spectacularly dangerous life all too easily. Leaving the first time had been harder. The second had been harder.

She wasn't sure she could do it a third.

So she'd tucked the key in the dark recesses of her dresser, hoping she had enough strength of will left in her to move on with her life.

Now, though, she was wishing she had someone else, anyone else with her.

She resisted the urge to pull her knees up and tuck them up under her too-large black hoodie, knowing it would only make her look stupid instead of helping her disappear. Instead, she tapped her foot, flipping through a glossy magazine that was three years out of date just to give her shaking hands something to do.

You shouldn't be this nervous, she told herself. It's just a waiting room. Just a doctor's appointment. You went to one last week.

That wasn't a prenatal appointment, another voice argued, and Mallory bit her lip. Though the words blurred in her vision, she stared back at the magazine, if only because it kept her from dwelling on the fact that she was the only one here alone.