Dancing Across Time (Book Two of The Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Chapter Eight: The Idiot's Lantern

Jessie wrinkled her nose at the fluffy violet dress the TARDIS had picked out for her, pulling on her denim jacket and sliding an ICER into one of its inside pockets. "I am not wearing the heels," she told the Doctor.

He grinned at her. "Why not?"

Jessie stuck her tongue out at him and instead began lacing up black high-heeled boots. "No shoes. I'll do boots, but not those shoes."

The Doctor grinned, messing up his hair even more. "I'll get a ride. You go look outside."

Jessie walked to the doors and stepped outside, then held up a hand against the sunlight, checking their surroundings. "I thought we were heading to the Vegas era?" she called into the TARDIS.

He poked his head out. "You are kidding, aren't you? You want to see people like Elvis, you go for the late fifties. The time before burgers." He went back into the TARDIS, still talking. "When they called him the Pelvis, and he still had a waist. What's more - " She jumped when she heard the revving of a motorbike engine, and she laughed when the Doctor rode out on an old-fashioned motorcycle, complete with a white helmet and shades. She burst out laughing, and he grinned at her. "You see him in style!" he crowed, then put on an Elvis impression. "You going my way, doll?"

She smirked. "Is there any other way to go, daddy-o?" she shot back in a matching impression, putting on her own dark violet shades and walking up to him. "Straight from the fridge, man!"

He grinned. "Hey, you speak the lingo!" he praised.

"Steve made us watch Cliff Richard movies every so often," Jessie replied, climbing on behind him and putting on the violet helmet he handed her. "Skye was quite a fan of them and made us watch them every Bank Holiday Monday."

"Ah, Cliff," the Doctor said happily. "I knew Skye would be a fan."

Jessie grinned and wrapped her arms around his waist as he drove off. "So where are we off to?"

"Ed Sullivan TV Studios," he replied. "Elvis did Hound Dog on one of the shows. There were loads of complaints. Bit of luck, we'll just catch it."

She looked around. "And that'll be TV studios in . . . what, New York?"

"That's the one!"

A double decker red London bus drove in front of them, and Jessie began to snicker into the Doctor's shoulder as he skidded to a stop, and she burst out laughing when she saw the Union Flags hung between houses all around them. "Oh yeah," she laughed. "Totally digging that New York vibe."

"Well," the Doctor began, looking around. "This could still be New York. I mean, this looks very New York to me. Sort of Londony New York, mind."

She smirked at him. "Then what are all the flags for?"

He paused. "Well . . . "

Jessie, 1. Doctor, 0, she thought in satisfaction.

***

"There you go, sir!" a television man told someone, and Jessie read his name tag: Magpie. "All wired up for the great occasion."

"The great occasion?" the Doctor asked as they walked up to him. "What do you mean?"

Magpie looked at them in surprise. "Where've you been living? Out in the Colonies?" he asked. "Coronation, of course."

"What Coronation's that, then?"

The man blinked. "What do you mean? The Coronation?"

Jessie's eyes brightened. "It's the Queen's," she realized. "Queen Elizabeth."