Adventures in Time and Space (TARDIS Family Adventures: Part 2)

3: Misunderstandings & Complete Clarification

Thirty two minutes, sixteen seconds later, he was leaned against the wall by Scarlett's door, staring at an imaginary spot on his shoe, getting more nervous as each second went by, when he heard footsteps. He quickly stood up straight and watched her approach.

"Hello." he said and smiled softly, hoping to ease the brunt of her annoyance.

She sighed and glanced at him before turning her attention to her door. "Doctor."

He reached out quickly, stopping her hand on the doorknob. "Please, Scarlett—I've upset you—can we please talk?"

She stared at his hand over the top of hers for a moment, then looked back towards him. "Yes, come inside." He released his grip on her hand and she turned the knob, opening the door and walking through. He quietly followed her inside, realizing he had only been in here once since she had come aboard the TARDIS almost four months ago. "I'm taking a shower. You can wait there." His gaze followed where her hand pointed to a seating area further into the room.

He nodded, deciding not to push too quickly. She was upset, and he needed to make amends, but she had waited for him, now he could wait for her. He watched her go into her walk-in wardrobe then went to sit down. He hadn't paid attention to the sounds in the room, and it was only then he realized that where his room had a fireplace in the seating area, hers had a water fountain inset in the wall, water gurgling down the side of the stone gently. After a few moments, he heard the door to the en-suite bathroom shut and then the shower started.

He took this time to consider the past year. It seemed that in a blink of an eye he had Scarlett back, Jacob came to life, they all became part of his Time Lord family, then their time on Teni, then on Earth—now they were back on the TARDIS. He closed his eyes, elbows resting on the arms of his chair, fingers steepled in front of his face. He focused on the sound of the water and allowed his mind to go back over the time since Scarlett was back in his life while he waited for her. He snapped out of it when he heard her emerge from the bathroom, standing quickly as she approached.

"Dim the lights, please, Old Girl. You know my preference," Scarlett said aloud, in no particular direction. The lights dimmed down, and blue light shown around the fountain, lighting the whole seating area in a blue glow.

()

Scarlett came around to the seating area and let herself drop down into her chair. She was back in her normal wrap tunic and loose linen pants, these in a tan color, but barefoot. She let out a deep breath as she sat. The Doctor followed her lead and sat back down.

"Scarlett, I—"

"Doctor—"

They spoke over each other, and she frowned and sighed. "Doctor, I think perhaps either there has been a great misunderstanding of one sort or the other. I—"

He interrupted, "Yes, definitely a misunderstanding, I just—" She stared at him a moment, mouth still open from what she was saying. He blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry. Sorry, go on."

"As I was saying. There's been a misunderstanding of one sort or the other. I came on board the TARDIS to travel. With you. And with Jacob and Donna, yes. But I didn't leave my planet behind and come on board the TARDIS just to be another one of your companions. I thought we—"

The Doctor couldn't wait any longer. He interrupted her again. "You think—you think that's what I want? Just another companion?" His eyes were wide, his mouth hung open after he spoke.

"I don't know, Doctor. I don't know what to think." She stood back up and started to pace in front of the water fountain. "When we were on Teni, even though we had to stay apart for so long, I felt closer to you than I do now. Here we are, on a ship together, albeit a bigger-on-the-inside ship, but still, on the same ship, and I feel further away from you than I have since I met you. You became distant, we barely talk, barely see each other, unless it's as a group, with Jacob and Donna. I—"