I've followed the river, and I got to the sea

[sammytyler]

Characters: Sam Tyler and Annie Cartwright - FINISHED
Rating: PG to PG-13
Time Period: Modern
Location: Castle Exterior, Onto West-Southwest of Castle Grounds
Relative Date: Second Day After Arrival, Mid-Morning
Status: CLOSED

Comments

[anniecartwright]

Annie pulled away, though she tried to do so in such a way as not to further bruise his fragile ego. She really didn't want him to throw another tantrum like he had the night before, because frankly, it was rather embarrassing.

"You learned something in Manchester after all, yeah?" It was a terrible, morbid joke, but one she'd heard for as long as she could remember - the quickest route out of Manchester was a long walk and a short drop into the canal. "Of course, it is a moat - couldn't it be man-made?" She really wasn't trying to discourage him - it was an honest-to-goodness question.

[sammytyler]

Sam felt Annie pull away. Normally it wouldn't have been a gesture he thought twice about, but it pierced him when she moved away from him.

He tried not to look too wounded, and feigned a smile. "Yeah, yeah. Except that is exactly how I'm trying to avoid getting out of here," he reminded her.

Sam gestured back to the moat, and happily splashing swans. "Nah, it's connected to some other body of water somewhere. They didn't just pipe in all this water a thousand years ago," he said and placed his hands into his pockets. "From the helicopter it looked like it went on for quite a ways."

He didn't wait for her to try and discourage him again, and started walking. Sam wasn't sure how confident he felt in his plan -- if there was a way out, this certainly seemed hopeful. But it was the "if" that was keeping his hopes hanging by a thread.

[anniecartwright]

She knew better than to argue - even if it meant they'd just spend the morning walking circles around the castle, Sam would never concede the point. "Right, well, lead on, then," she said, more to herself than to him.

As they walked, she pulled the mobile phone out of her bag and started going through the old messages to get a sense of how many people were about the castle - she figured the place had to be enormous if they hadn't run into more people. She came across a conversation between the Doctor, Martha, and Sam. Stealing a slightly guilty glance sidelong at Sam, she figured they were public, so what the hell? She listened to the exchange, controlling her laughter with difficulty when she got to the bit about 'love circles.' That Doctor bloke was certainly... unique. And well, that solved the mystery of why Sam had been so reluctant to tell her what had happened in Wonderland before she'd arrived.

Ha. Like she cared. With a small sigh, she tucked the mobile away. Perhaps she'd have been better off not knowing.

[sammytyler]

Surprisingly, Sam wasn't in much of a leading mood. He walked slowly toward the bank of the river, and stopped to survey the scene. Annie had seemed engrossed in the voice mail conversations, and he could only hope she didn't care about any of the older messages. He should have just told her the whole story from the beginning, but he never got much of a chance. Suddenly Annie was there with him in Wonderland, and just as suddenly he was back in Manchester. Alone.

He turned toward her, with a crooked smile.

"So, Swindon, eh?" he asked with a teasing tone. Annie was still upset with him, or at least trying to keep a distance between them. Maybe it was better to keep things light until he got into her good graces again. Although, Sam wasn't very good at keeping things light.