Time and Twinford (the unlimited rice pudding remix)

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Ruby ducks into the Double Donut the next morning for a prearranged meet-up with Clancy, hair dripping with rain and plastering to her skin. She wipes condensation from her glasses, tries to wring out her sodden shirt, and glances around. The diner is nearly empty, but Marla's behind the counter, making up a tray of tea, and she waves cheerfully in Ruby's direction.

Ruby goes up to the counter and orders a banana milkshake. There is music playing on the old radio in the corner, a cheerful song with guitar sung by a rather baffled sounding singer.

Ruby takes a seat near the window, and watches the rain coat the glass in patterns while she waits for her friend and her drink to arrive, in no particular order.

"Excuse me," says somebody behind her, "but would you mind terribly if I joined you? My friend hasn't arrived yet, and I do hate to sit alone."

Ruby turns to look at the man, and her eyebrows shoot up - even though she's never met him before in her life, she recognizes him. The question-mark jumper, the brown coat, the white straw hat perched on his head - and his eyes are old and deep and wise and at this very moment, he's smiling at her.

"Sure," she says, trying to swallow her surprise. "It's a free country, man, and my friend's not here yet either."

"Thank you." He seats himself almost elegantly on the chair opposite hers, and regards the rain silently but cheerfully. "An excellent day for contemplation, no?"

"You're the Doctor," says Ruby, almost making it into a question, but ultimately deciding not to.

He turns his head sideways, and gives her a curious look. "It seems my reputation precedes me," he says. "In my experience, that means you're either very alien or very nosy. Which is it, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Nosy," says Ruby unapologetically.

"I thought so," he says, apparently unconcerned by this. "You don't have nearly enough tentacles for the former." He raises his hat slightly and tips it in her direction. "A pleasure to meet you, my nosy friend. I'm the Doctor - or, wait, no; you know that already."

"I'm Ruby," she says, and mimes a hat-tip of her own, despite the fact that she doesn't have one on. "Ruby Redfort."

"Rrrrrruby," the Doctor says thoughtfully, spinning out the 'r' like he's spinning a top. "Well, then. That rather changes things, doesn't it?"

"It does?" That statement makes Ruby ever so slightly nervous. The Doctor doesn't seem like he's dangerous, but appearances could be and frequently were very deceiving indeed.

"It explains how you know who I am, for one thing," he says. "Spectrum, correct?"

"Oh - " Ruby relaxes. " - yeah. That's right. Not so loud," she adds, not because there's any real danger of anybody overhearing, but more out of habit, and then she leans across the table towards him. "Why were you in LB's files? And why were they marked 1907? Does she know you? Did she call you here or something?"

"She did," the Doctor says, answering the last question first, which is - well, all right, it's a bit infuriating, but she can work with that. "Apparently there's been a resurgence of possible alien activity in Twinford, and both she and the UN agreed, presumably, that I was the best person for the job of cleaning it up."

Ruby frowns. "You work for the United Nations?"

"Hardly," he says, smiling. "In fact, I'd go so far as to say that they, more often than not, work for me. But that's beside the point."