State of Confusion (Doctor Who Fanfic)

Chapter One - Non-Linear

CHAPTER ONE

Non-Linear

"Doctor, are you listening?"

Startled out of his thoughts as if he'd suddenly been splashed with cold water, the Doctor pushed off of the console and stood up straight, looking in the direction of Amy and Rory. 

"I'm sorry, what?" 

They were staring at him as if he'd just sprouted another head.  After a long pause, it was Amy who finally took a step closer.  "Doctor, are you alright?"

"Yes, of course I'm alright.  Why wouldn't I be alright?"

"Well, you just sort of spaced out there for a minute and that's usually what you do when you're definitely not alright."

He felt the twinge again, deep in the pit of his stomach.  But more than that, he heard it.  Not in himself, but in the hum of the Tardis, in the throb of her Matrix.  The slightest little glitch, the faintest little cry, but he heard it.  He gave Amy a reassuring smile before he turned away from her. 

"Perfectly fine!" he lied, clapping his hands together.  "Now.  Where should we go?"

He wasn't listening to her answer.  Instead, his eyes were drawn to the time rotor in the center of the console.  The faintest flicker, like a muted sob or a muffled cry.  Something was wrong with her.  Something was wrong and he could feel it. 

What is it, old girl?  What are you trying to say?

But there was nothing but that flicker of feeling again - that sense of grief and loneliness.  And the memory of another life, so far removed from the present he sometimes forgot he had ever been that man.  A memory of another time and place.

A memory of a storm...

"On second thought," the Doctor answered warily, reluctant to even give voice to the feeling that was settling inside of him.  "I think we'd better postpone the holiday."

*X*X*X*

Wandering among the crowd that was slowly filing out of the stadium - eighty thousand people on a Friday evening, all trying to leave at once - Rose was glad they were in no hurry.  She'd never been to the Olympics before, although she was sure the Doctor had.  He knew how it all turned out in the end; fair chance he had seen it, or something very much like it.  Or, maybe... not so much like it.

"Anti-gravity Olympics?" she asked with wonder.  "How does that work?"

"Hmm?  Oh, well, same as regular Olympics, mostly, 'cept intergalactic by that point. The competition is unbelievable, let me tell you.  Klup versus Poosh? Blimey, 1956 blood in the water looks like nothing after that."

Her eyes widened a bit as she tried to picture it, then finally shook off the thought.  She was sure that no matter what she came up with, it wouldn't compare to the actual thing.  It never did.  Slipping her arm loosely through his, she studied him curiously. 

"So is there anything you haven't seen?"

He glanced down at her, pondering.  "Of course.  It's a big, wide open universe out there, across all of time and space.  If I had a hundred million years, I couldn't see it all."

"What about specific places?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're always asking me where I want to go.  I think you should pick the next stop."

"Somewhere warm, I think."  He looked up again, studying the stars.  "Somewhere with a lot of suns. Most I've ever seen is seven.  I wonder if there's a planet with more."