Lost In Time: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 7 - 42, Part 1

Lyssa woke up to a gentle light filling her new bedroom. She rolled over, fighting back a yawn as she blearily opened her eyes.

The false window on one wall now revealed a gorgeous sunrise reflected on the lake below and illuminated the room with a natural lighting she'd never experienced back in her old universe. Sleepily looking around the room, she couldn't help her smile when she saw the new decorations on her bookcase.

Carefully placed around her souvenirs from Asgard were several picture frames helpfully provided by the TARDIS. One was from the previous day's adventure, with her, Rose, and the Tenth Doctor leaning against the motorcycle. The Doctor had given her that picture when he'd walked her back to her room later that night, pulling it out of one of his many pockets. She'd immediately found a place for it on her shelf, secretly - or perhaps not so secretly, given the way he'd been watching her - thrilled at having a happy memory she could openly display without worrying about how it could be used against her.

The other had been provided by the TARDIS, shimmering into existence on her desk mere moments after she'd made some mindless comment about wishing she had something from her very first adventure. When she'd curiously picked it up, she'd found it was from the picnic at Asgard, with her, River, and the Eleventh Doctor clearly enjoying their time together.

When she'd asked the Doctor how the TARDIS had got that picture, he'd told her that the TARDIS, existing across multiple timelines, had likely pulled it out of the memories of whoever else was in the picture with her and combined them to create a complete image. It was something the ship had done many times before, though any possible spoilers such as faces or backgrounds were always blurred to whomever needed it.

"Like that picture there, with you, Rose, and I. I could never really see it until tonight, and I still can't make out that other one. It's the TARDIS's way of avoiding spoilers," he'd informed her. "If you like, the TARDIS could create pictures from your memories as well in future adventures. She'd just need you to agree to it. Whoever's in that picture agreed to let their memories be used, otherwise it wouldn't be here."

It had been an interesting conversation that followed - in more than one sense of the word - but Lyssa had been more than willing to agree, given both the TARDIS's apparently guaranteed respect of her privacy and her desire to decorate her room however she liked, now that she was able.

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she pushed herself up to a sitting position and fought back another yawn. Two hours of swimming last night with Rose and the Doctor combined with the craziness of the day had left her exhausted. She'd hastily scribbled the day's adventure in her journal, then fumbled her way through the shower, half-asleep, before falling into bed with her hair still damp and uncombed, knowing she'd regret it in the morning and too tired to care.

Reluctantly crawling out of her bed, she walked into the bathroom, glanced in the mirror, and absolutely regretted not taking care of her hair last night. It looked like she'd stuck a fork in a socket, and that was being kind. She groaned, resigning herself to carefully pulling apart the snarled curls by hand.

After ten plus minutes of struggling with it and making little progress, she gave up and just piled her hair into a messy bun on top of her head, planning on dealing with it later. It would likely take around an hour to fully clean and style her curls again, and she wasn't sure how late she'd slept - she had no idea whether or not the sunrise from the window was indicative of the actual time, if there even was an 'actual time' aboard the TARDIS. Not to mention she'd hopefully be ditching the cast that night, which would make it far easier to deal with her hair.

Not bothering to change out of her pajamas, she slipped on a pair of deep blue ballet flats to protect her feet and wandered out into the halls in search of the kitchen and something to eat. Thankfully, the TARDIS made it easy for her, and it wasn't long before she had a bagel in the toaster and all the supplies she needed ready and waiting on the counter. She was nursing a cup of hot chocolate when Rose, looking just as tired as she felt, came stumbling in.