Gift for joking
To: joking
From: navaan
Title: Meet The Girls
Characters and/or Pairings: Amy, Martha, Donna, Rose, implied Amy/Rory, a tiny bit of Jack/Nine/Rose and Martha/Tom Milligan
Rating: G
Summary: Amy leaves the Tardis to pass the time while the Doctor does some repairs and has some strange encounters on her way
Author’s Notes: For Amy this is early Season five, for the rest of them this is sometime between Season three and four.
Word Count: 3056
Travelling with the Doctor wasn’t always as Amy had imagined it to be in her childish daydreams. Not everything was about monsters in closets, voices in walls, food and explosions. Some days turned out to be pretty uneventful, not really normal, not boring exactly, just not as exciting as travelling with the Doctor usually was.
Today hadn’t started off with an adventure, but instead the Doctor had been quietly mumbling under his breath since she’d entered the console room. And she’d been ignored since the mumbling had started.
“Something wrong?” she asked, watching him fumbling with some cables.
“Wrong? Not wrong exactly.”
“But not right either?”
“Right.”
The Tardis made the whooshing noise Amy associated with her materialising somewhere. “Where are we?”
The Doctor looked at his instruments and shrugged. “Little planet in the middle of nowhere. Safe planet, too. Been here before. Quite nice to relax, go shopping. Entertainment, you know?”
“Can I look around?”
The Doctor was staring at the monitor, frowning, then looked back at her. “We’re on earth, Amy. You know? Little planet in the middle of nowhere? We’re stranded in good old London, too. Like the Tardis had locked on to something and just... frozen up in this place.”
She kept her face from falling and instead jumped the few steps down to stand at his side: “And when are we?” She was hoping for the far future, for historical London, anything.
He scrunched up his nose, but she couldn’t tell if it was in distaste or concentration. “We’re... a little early.”
“Stone ages?”
“No, a little early for you to be home...”
“So, in a way I’m just home. Nothing new and exciting out there and we can’t move?”
“Right.” His hands were already moving the assortment of strange instruments that made up the Tardis console into different settings, but his expression told her that he wasn’t making progress. “This could take a while.” Something gave a loud popping noise and the Doctor ran his hand through his already tousled hair and made a face. “A long while... I think I need...” He practically threw himself to the ground to get a closer look at something Amy couldn’t see.
“Can I go out for a bit, then? You obviously won’t miss me.”
“Hmm, hmm.” He didn’t sit up. From her point of view, she was only able to see the back of his jacket.
“That settles it, huh?” She put on her jacket and called over her shoulder: “I’m off then. Don’t leave without me!”
“...won’t...” came the muffled reply from beneath the console.
To Amy’s surprise it was a pleasant, sunny day outside and she looked around to find her bearings. Trust both Doctor and Tardis to land her in a part of town that didn’t look appealing. The Tardis had landed beside something that looked like a big, closed-down warehouse and for some reason the buildings around looked like they hadn’t been in use for some time either.
It was either going back to the safety and unexpected boredom of the Tardis or risk exploring a possibly just as boring part of London. She looked back over her shoulder for a moment, shook her head and went on her way.
She was glad to discover that the Doctor hadn’t managed to strand them in a ghost town, when a few streets down everything started to be less forlorn. There were people on the streets, cars driving by and she was happy to see a little shop at the corner. With all she had seen over the last weeks with the Doctor she would never have expected to be happy about these simple things. She thought of home and Rory for a moment and couldn’t quite quash the feelings of guilt she felt whenever she remembered her wedding.
An ambulance drove by with its siren on, pulling her from her thoughts. She hadn’t noticed that she was near a hospital and for a moment she just watched the building, bemused and a little unsure of what she was looking for in this place. Excitement? Diversion?
It was then that she noticed a beautiful, dark-skinned woman, standing only a few feet away, a paper cup in hand, watching the hospital entrance with a little amused smile. Amy had the certain feeling she’d worn a smile like that before herself, whenever she had been up to something. She was about to walk on, when the woman straightened up and started walking forward herself, and - with a motion that seemed planned - bumped straight into a young, dark haired man who had just walked out of the hospital and down the street. The paper cup fell and the young man caught the woman before she could stumble.
Amy couldn’t help, but watch in fascination, although she had no idea what exactly she was watching.
“I’m sorry. I’m stupid like that sometimes,” the woman started to apologize, something like an embarrassed smile on her lips, but her eyes were shining bright and happy, as if she was glad to finally see this man face to face. There was a mystery right in front of her again, but this time it seemed like one of these harmless, normal little mysteries that human life was made of. And Amy had a feeling she knew what this little mystery was all about. She hid a smile with her hand and looked away, feeling like she was intruding.
“You don’t have to be sorry. I could have watched where I was going, too.”
“No, no. Don’t apologize. It was my fault, really. I have a job interview in a few minutes and was just not looking where I was going...”
“Job interview? At the hospital?” the man asked, looking at her with obvious interest.
“Yeah.”
“That’s where I work. Good luck then. It would be nice to...” he stopped as if he just remembered that he didn’t even know this person. He looked at her again, surprised. “I have to hurry and you probably have to hurry, too. If I see you around, I’d like to buy you a coffee...” he gestured to the paper cup lying on the pavement.
“That would be nice, yeah. I’m Martha by the way, Martha Jones.”
He held out his hand: “Tom Milligan.”
Amy tried to look inconspicuous, but for a moment she had a feeling the woman had looked right at her, before giving “Tom” a dazzling smile. “Yeah,” Martha said softly, as if she had known that all along.
He smiled, obviously a little embarrassed himself and started to walk, looking back at her twice. Martha just watched him go with an expression of someone who was happily in love. “I know,” she whispered. The she turned to look right at Amy and raised an eyebrow.
“Sorry,” Amy said. She must look stupid, standing in the middle of the street, staring at strangers. “I didn’t want to intrude. It was just hard to not notice, you were up to something.”
Martha laughed. “You could say that. Just to be clear: I’m not some weird stalker. I know him, he just has forgotten all about me.”
Amy’s face fell. “You mean, like amnesia?”
“Something like that, yeah.” Martha shrugged and bent down to pick up the paper cup to throw it into a bin. “It’s all a bit complicated.”
“He doesn’t remember you?” Martha shook her head in answer. Amy knew what it felt like to think that the Doctor had forgotten about her. How must it feel like to be completely forgotten by someone you obviously loved. “Then you’re going out of your way to remind him?”
“Someone has to make him see how awesome I am, right? And who’d be better at it than myself?” Martha chuckled at her own words and then looked at Amy, probably asking herself why she was telling all this to a complete stranger.
“Shouldn’t you hurry? You’ll be late for your interview.”
Martha laughed again and shook her head. “I already had that to be honest. But there is this other job offer, I’m still thinking about... I just... I studied so hard to be a doctor and now I’m considering doing something else entirely. Crazy, isn’t it? But...” She stopped to think for a moment. “I’m not sure it’s what I want to do, at the moment. I’ve seen some pretty crazy things... lately. I just want to consider all my options. Do something exciting.”
Amy nodded. Sometimes it was easier to talk to strangers. She had a feeling these things had been bubbling inside Martha for a long while now. “I think that’s the right thing to do. I was a little nervous about getting married - so I went and travelled with a friend...” She felt another guilty pang at leaving Rory behind with no-one the wiser. “I’m travelling with a friend,” she repeated, speaking to herself. “He’s a doctor, too, you know?”
“You’re travelling with a doctor?” Martha laughed again, a warm, amused sound that made Amy like her even more. “Doctors aren’t dull travel companions. If it’s anything like my experiences, that can’t be boring.”
“It’s not,” Amy smiled. It felt like sharing a secret, without giving away the truth. “Not boring at all.”
Martha watched her with a softer, calm expression now. “You’re getting married?”
“Yeah.” She thought about her own insecurities, the Doctor coming back after leaving her behind again, the rush of it all - and her wedding that was always only a day away, a few hours really, even if she’d been avoiding it for a long while now. “Tomorrow. I’m going to get married tomorrow.”
“That's wonderful!” Martha said and nodded at her. “I’ll have to go now.”
“Yeah, I’ll better head back to meet up with... my friend, too. Good luck with Tom.”
“Thank you.” Martha winked and Amy had a feeling that she wouldn’t give up on her lost love without a fight. And Amy felt encouraged to finally come clean. She’d have to make a decision about her wedding and sooner rather than later. She’d have to tell the Doctor. She really should go back see Rory...
She missed Rory. She was just nervous and a little afraid of messing up.
***
She had nearly reached the area where the Tardis was waiting when she stopped to look at a spot where one of the old, blocked-up buildings, she’d been wondering about, was supposed to be. Instead there was an empty spot. Had she lost her way? A few people were standing in front of the empty space looking as surprised as herself.
“I’m sorry,” said a woman wearing a brown pant suit and who had long, red hair, that reminded Amy of her own. “Are you living around here? Have you seen anything?”
“Seen?” Amy furrowed her brow. “Seen what?”
“The building that has vanished.” She pointed over her shoulder in a matter of fact way.
“Ah.” So a building had vanished. She wasn't crazy then.
The woman looked at her expectantly then rummaged in her jacket pocket to flash a card at her, with the words “Donna Noble, South London Press,” but the card had vanished from view before Amy had even really started to pay attention. She seemed a little too interested and too open about the mystery of a vanished building. “You really don’t know anything?”
“I’m not from around here, sorry.” She couldn’t help, but wonder if the Doctor had anything to do with this and felt the urge to run back to the place where she’d left the Tardis to make sure it was still there. “I have to hurry... I have an appointment with... my doctor, so...”
The woman looked at her, startled, and mumbled something under her breath that sounded like “lucky you”, but she didn’t pause to ponder it. She started to walk, suppressing the urge to run, but her pace quickened anyway. She was rushing down another street, finally seeing the warehouse that had been right in front of her when she’d left the Tardis. She rushed around the corner into the abandoned little street, glad to see the familiar blue box standing right where she’d seen it last, but crashed into something and was thrown back by the impact.
The something turned out to be a someone, who fell back onto the pavement hard just like Amy. For a moment they were staring at each other with obvious surprise. The street had been empty,; how had she missed the girl walking right into her?
“I’m so sorry. Are you all right?” The girl, was wearing a nice purple leather jacket and her long blond hair was tousled from the fall. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t see you there...” She scrambled to her feet and hastily stretched out a hand to help Amy up. “I really should’ve watched where I was going.”
Amy still had no idea how she could have overlooked that someone else had been there. There didn’t seem to be any side streets she could have come from. “I’m all right. Really, you okay? You fell pretty bad there, too.”
The girl waved a dismissive hand in front of her. “That was nothing. Don’t worry about it. It was my fault really.”
She felt reminded of Martha deliberately walking into Tom and blurted out: “You haven't been waiting for me, have you?”
That obviously wasn’t what she had been expected to say and the woman shook her head reflexively. “Waiting? No, I don’t... We’ve never met, have we?”
“At least, I don’t remember,” Amy answered, smiling at her own little, private joke.
It was then that she noticed the girl looking over her shoulder right at the blue police box. Hadn’t the Doctor explained that there was some mechanism that made people not notice the Tardis right away? But the sight clearly surprised the young woman in front of her, who stared open mouthed at the Tardis. Then she looked back at Amy, as if considering something.
“I think I’m late for...” The words didn’t come to her, but she felt the urge to get away from the scrutinizing look. She’d had too many strange encounters in this altogether all too normal setting for one day.
“No need to explain.” The woman pulled something from her pocket that looked like a small mobile. She studied the display and pocketed it again. “I think I’m late, too. Or early. However you look at it. But I’m not at the right place in time.”
Amy could feel herself gaping at her.
“Sorry again, for knocking you down and all...” With a last look at the Tardis she started to walk away, then hesitated. “I’m not sure, he’ll understand, but could you tell the Doctor, that Rose, says ‘hi’?”
Amy nodded. “You know the Doctor?”
Rose smiled. “You could say that. Just look after him a bit. He tends to get himself into trouble all the time, yes?”
“Yeah. He’s good at that.” Rose smiled and started to move away again. “Rose?”
“Yeah?”
Amy didn’t know what compelled her to ask, but she heard herself saying: “Will I see you around?”
Rose seemed surprised, too. “I don’t know. Maybe. Great, wide universe, right?” She finally walked away and turned around the corner. Amy hesitated for a moment then followed, but when she turned the corner, nobody was there.
“Amy?” She turned to see the Doctor standing in the open door of his Tardis, watching her with a slightly worried expression. “Where have you been all day?”
“All day?! I’ve been away only a few hours!”
“And we’re all ready to go! So hurry up!”
She laughed. “You’d think with a time machine you’d be in less of a hurry.” She passed him inside the door and smiled. “I’ve had an educating day. How was yours?”
“Nice.”
“And by the way, Rose says ‘hi’. Does River know, you have another girl friend?”
***
Amy knew she missed Rory more than ever and that it was time to come to grips with the fact that she’d run away without telling anyone. But two days later she still hadn’t said anything and was mulling over all that had happened. The Doctor had been kind of tight lipped about Rose and had looked at her strangely when she’d told him about the vanished building and Martha and Tom.
On a commerce planet where the Doctor was looking for a spare part he needed to finally settle the problem with the Tardis locking up on them, she thought she saw a glimpse of Martha Jones, accompanied by a handsome, tall, if a little skinny man in a brown coat. But before she could be sure, she’d lost her in the crowd.
“I know I’ve seen one like it, right here, right now. But which shop was it?” the Doctor mumbled beside her.
“You’ve been here before?”
“I’m here all the time,” he said cryptically, throwing a paranoid glance over his shoulder.
“You’ve come here with Martha?”
He looked at her with his impenetrable expression, probably considering his answer. He hadn’t commented on her story before, but suddenly that made even more sense. “In another life.”
She smiled. “All right, keep your secrets.” After all, she still hadn’t figured out how to talk about some of her own. On the way back to the Tardis the Doctor made a strange face, when they were passing a tall bloke in a leather jacket, and quickened his pace. Amy turned to follow him with her eyes and stopped when she saw Rose standing beside another handsome man at the end of the market street. They were laughing together, looking out of place - like Amy and the Doctor with their anachronistic choice of clothing - and the way their eyes were twinkling implied something more along the lines of outrageous flirting.
That could be her and Rory, standing there waiting for the Doctor to finish his errands. The man in the leather jacket joined them and there was more laughing. A happy band of close-knit friends. A girl travelling through space and time.
“Amy?” The Doctor called over his shoulder, exasperated.
“Coming!” she called back. “See you around, Rose,” she whispered to herself and imagined what it would be like to have Rory along in the Tardis.
From: navaan
Title: Meet The Girls
Characters and/or Pairings: Amy, Martha, Donna, Rose, implied Amy/Rory, a tiny bit of Jack/Nine/Rose and Martha/Tom Milligan
Rating: G
Summary: Amy leaves the Tardis to pass the time while the Doctor does some repairs and has some strange encounters on her way
Author’s Notes: For Amy this is early Season five, for the rest of them this is sometime between Season three and four.
Word Count: 3056
Travelling with the Doctor wasn’t always as Amy had imagined it to be in her childish daydreams. Not everything was about monsters in closets, voices in walls, food and explosions. Some days turned out to be pretty uneventful, not really normal, not boring exactly, just not as exciting as travelling with the Doctor usually was.
Today hadn’t started off with an adventure, but instead the Doctor had been quietly mumbling under his breath since she’d entered the console room. And she’d been ignored since the mumbling had started.
“Something wrong?” she asked, watching him fumbling with some cables.
“Wrong? Not wrong exactly.”
“But not right either?”
“Right.”
The Tardis made the whooshing noise Amy associated with her materialising somewhere. “Where are we?”
The Doctor looked at his instruments and shrugged. “Little planet in the middle of nowhere. Safe planet, too. Been here before. Quite nice to relax, go shopping. Entertainment, you know?”
“Can I look around?”
The Doctor was staring at the monitor, frowning, then looked back at her. “We’re on earth, Amy. You know? Little planet in the middle of nowhere? We’re stranded in good old London, too. Like the Tardis had locked on to something and just... frozen up in this place.”
She kept her face from falling and instead jumped the few steps down to stand at his side: “And when are we?” She was hoping for the far future, for historical London, anything.
He scrunched up his nose, but she couldn’t tell if it was in distaste or concentration. “We’re... a little early.”
“Stone ages?”
“No, a little early for you to be home...”
“So, in a way I’m just home. Nothing new and exciting out there and we can’t move?”
“Right.” His hands were already moving the assortment of strange instruments that made up the Tardis console into different settings, but his expression told her that he wasn’t making progress. “This could take a while.” Something gave a loud popping noise and the Doctor ran his hand through his already tousled hair and made a face. “A long while... I think I need...” He practically threw himself to the ground to get a closer look at something Amy couldn’t see.
“Can I go out for a bit, then? You obviously won’t miss me.”
“Hmm, hmm.” He didn’t sit up. From her point of view, she was only able to see the back of his jacket.
“That settles it, huh?” She put on her jacket and called over her shoulder: “I’m off then. Don’t leave without me!”
“...won’t...” came the muffled reply from beneath the console.
To Amy’s surprise it was a pleasant, sunny day outside and she looked around to find her bearings. Trust both Doctor and Tardis to land her in a part of town that didn’t look appealing. The Tardis had landed beside something that looked like a big, closed-down warehouse and for some reason the buildings around looked like they hadn’t been in use for some time either.
It was either going back to the safety and unexpected boredom of the Tardis or risk exploring a possibly just as boring part of London. She looked back over her shoulder for a moment, shook her head and went on her way.
She was glad to discover that the Doctor hadn’t managed to strand them in a ghost town, when a few streets down everything started to be less forlorn. There were people on the streets, cars driving by and she was happy to see a little shop at the corner. With all she had seen over the last weeks with the Doctor she would never have expected to be happy about these simple things. She thought of home and Rory for a moment and couldn’t quite quash the feelings of guilt she felt whenever she remembered her wedding.
An ambulance drove by with its siren on, pulling her from her thoughts. She hadn’t noticed that she was near a hospital and for a moment she just watched the building, bemused and a little unsure of what she was looking for in this place. Excitement? Diversion?
It was then that she noticed a beautiful, dark-skinned woman, standing only a few feet away, a paper cup in hand, watching the hospital entrance with a little amused smile. Amy had the certain feeling she’d worn a smile like that before herself, whenever she had been up to something. She was about to walk on, when the woman straightened up and started walking forward herself, and - with a motion that seemed planned - bumped straight into a young, dark haired man who had just walked out of the hospital and down the street. The paper cup fell and the young man caught the woman before she could stumble.
Amy couldn’t help, but watch in fascination, although she had no idea what exactly she was watching.
“I’m sorry. I’m stupid like that sometimes,” the woman started to apologize, something like an embarrassed smile on her lips, but her eyes were shining bright and happy, as if she was glad to finally see this man face to face. There was a mystery right in front of her again, but this time it seemed like one of these harmless, normal little mysteries that human life was made of. And Amy had a feeling she knew what this little mystery was all about. She hid a smile with her hand and looked away, feeling like she was intruding.
“You don’t have to be sorry. I could have watched where I was going, too.”
“No, no. Don’t apologize. It was my fault, really. I have a job interview in a few minutes and was just not looking where I was going...”
“Job interview? At the hospital?” the man asked, looking at her with obvious interest.
“Yeah.”
“That’s where I work. Good luck then. It would be nice to...” he stopped as if he just remembered that he didn’t even know this person. He looked at her again, surprised. “I have to hurry and you probably have to hurry, too. If I see you around, I’d like to buy you a coffee...” he gestured to the paper cup lying on the pavement.
“That would be nice, yeah. I’m Martha by the way, Martha Jones.”
He held out his hand: “Tom Milligan.”
Amy tried to look inconspicuous, but for a moment she had a feeling the woman had looked right at her, before giving “Tom” a dazzling smile. “Yeah,” Martha said softly, as if she had known that all along.
He smiled, obviously a little embarrassed himself and started to walk, looking back at her twice. Martha just watched him go with an expression of someone who was happily in love. “I know,” she whispered. The she turned to look right at Amy and raised an eyebrow.
“Sorry,” Amy said. She must look stupid, standing in the middle of the street, staring at strangers. “I didn’t want to intrude. It was just hard to not notice, you were up to something.”
Martha laughed. “You could say that. Just to be clear: I’m not some weird stalker. I know him, he just has forgotten all about me.”
Amy’s face fell. “You mean, like amnesia?”
“Something like that, yeah.” Martha shrugged and bent down to pick up the paper cup to throw it into a bin. “It’s all a bit complicated.”
“He doesn’t remember you?” Martha shook her head in answer. Amy knew what it felt like to think that the Doctor had forgotten about her. How must it feel like to be completely forgotten by someone you obviously loved. “Then you’re going out of your way to remind him?”
“Someone has to make him see how awesome I am, right? And who’d be better at it than myself?” Martha chuckled at her own words and then looked at Amy, probably asking herself why she was telling all this to a complete stranger.
“Shouldn’t you hurry? You’ll be late for your interview.”
Martha laughed again and shook her head. “I already had that to be honest. But there is this other job offer, I’m still thinking about... I just... I studied so hard to be a doctor and now I’m considering doing something else entirely. Crazy, isn’t it? But...” She stopped to think for a moment. “I’m not sure it’s what I want to do, at the moment. I’ve seen some pretty crazy things... lately. I just want to consider all my options. Do something exciting.”
Amy nodded. Sometimes it was easier to talk to strangers. She had a feeling these things had been bubbling inside Martha for a long while now. “I think that’s the right thing to do. I was a little nervous about getting married - so I went and travelled with a friend...” She felt another guilty pang at leaving Rory behind with no-one the wiser. “I’m travelling with a friend,” she repeated, speaking to herself. “He’s a doctor, too, you know?”
“You’re travelling with a doctor?” Martha laughed again, a warm, amused sound that made Amy like her even more. “Doctors aren’t dull travel companions. If it’s anything like my experiences, that can’t be boring.”
“It’s not,” Amy smiled. It felt like sharing a secret, without giving away the truth. “Not boring at all.”
Martha watched her with a softer, calm expression now. “You’re getting married?”
“Yeah.” She thought about her own insecurities, the Doctor coming back after leaving her behind again, the rush of it all - and her wedding that was always only a day away, a few hours really, even if she’d been avoiding it for a long while now. “Tomorrow. I’m going to get married tomorrow.”
“That's wonderful!” Martha said and nodded at her. “I’ll have to go now.”
“Yeah, I’ll better head back to meet up with... my friend, too. Good luck with Tom.”
“Thank you.” Martha winked and Amy had a feeling that she wouldn’t give up on her lost love without a fight. And Amy felt encouraged to finally come clean. She’d have to make a decision about her wedding and sooner rather than later. She’d have to tell the Doctor. She really should go back see Rory...
She missed Rory. She was just nervous and a little afraid of messing up.
***
She had nearly reached the area where the Tardis was waiting when she stopped to look at a spot where one of the old, blocked-up buildings, she’d been wondering about, was supposed to be. Instead there was an empty spot. Had she lost her way? A few people were standing in front of the empty space looking as surprised as herself.
“I’m sorry,” said a woman wearing a brown pant suit and who had long, red hair, that reminded Amy of her own. “Are you living around here? Have you seen anything?”
“Seen?” Amy furrowed her brow. “Seen what?”
“The building that has vanished.” She pointed over her shoulder in a matter of fact way.
“Ah.” So a building had vanished. She wasn't crazy then.
The woman looked at her expectantly then rummaged in her jacket pocket to flash a card at her, with the words “Donna Noble, South London Press,” but the card had vanished from view before Amy had even really started to pay attention. She seemed a little too interested and too open about the mystery of a vanished building. “You really don’t know anything?”
“I’m not from around here, sorry.” She couldn’t help, but wonder if the Doctor had anything to do with this and felt the urge to run back to the place where she’d left the Tardis to make sure it was still there. “I have to hurry... I have an appointment with... my doctor, so...”
The woman looked at her, startled, and mumbled something under her breath that sounded like “lucky you”, but she didn’t pause to ponder it. She started to walk, suppressing the urge to run, but her pace quickened anyway. She was rushing down another street, finally seeing the warehouse that had been right in front of her when she’d left the Tardis. She rushed around the corner into the abandoned little street, glad to see the familiar blue box standing right where she’d seen it last, but crashed into something and was thrown back by the impact.
The something turned out to be a someone, who fell back onto the pavement hard just like Amy. For a moment they were staring at each other with obvious surprise. The street had been empty,; how had she missed the girl walking right into her?
“I’m so sorry. Are you all right?” The girl, was wearing a nice purple leather jacket and her long blond hair was tousled from the fall. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t see you there...” She scrambled to her feet and hastily stretched out a hand to help Amy up. “I really should’ve watched where I was going.”
Amy still had no idea how she could have overlooked that someone else had been there. There didn’t seem to be any side streets she could have come from. “I’m all right. Really, you okay? You fell pretty bad there, too.”
The girl waved a dismissive hand in front of her. “That was nothing. Don’t worry about it. It was my fault really.”
She felt reminded of Martha deliberately walking into Tom and blurted out: “You haven't been waiting for me, have you?”
That obviously wasn’t what she had been expected to say and the woman shook her head reflexively. “Waiting? No, I don’t... We’ve never met, have we?”
“At least, I don’t remember,” Amy answered, smiling at her own little, private joke.
It was then that she noticed the girl looking over her shoulder right at the blue police box. Hadn’t the Doctor explained that there was some mechanism that made people not notice the Tardis right away? But the sight clearly surprised the young woman in front of her, who stared open mouthed at the Tardis. Then she looked back at Amy, as if considering something.
“I think I’m late for...” The words didn’t come to her, but she felt the urge to get away from the scrutinizing look. She’d had too many strange encounters in this altogether all too normal setting for one day.
“No need to explain.” The woman pulled something from her pocket that looked like a small mobile. She studied the display and pocketed it again. “I think I’m late, too. Or early. However you look at it. But I’m not at the right place in time.”
Amy could feel herself gaping at her.
“Sorry again, for knocking you down and all...” With a last look at the Tardis she started to walk away, then hesitated. “I’m not sure, he’ll understand, but could you tell the Doctor, that Rose, says ‘hi’?”
Amy nodded. “You know the Doctor?”
Rose smiled. “You could say that. Just look after him a bit. He tends to get himself into trouble all the time, yes?”
“Yeah. He’s good at that.” Rose smiled and started to move away again. “Rose?”
“Yeah?”
Amy didn’t know what compelled her to ask, but she heard herself saying: “Will I see you around?”
Rose seemed surprised, too. “I don’t know. Maybe. Great, wide universe, right?” She finally walked away and turned around the corner. Amy hesitated for a moment then followed, but when she turned the corner, nobody was there.
“Amy?” She turned to see the Doctor standing in the open door of his Tardis, watching her with a slightly worried expression. “Where have you been all day?”
“All day?! I’ve been away only a few hours!”
“And we’re all ready to go! So hurry up!”
She laughed. “You’d think with a time machine you’d be in less of a hurry.” She passed him inside the door and smiled. “I’ve had an educating day. How was yours?”
“Nice.”
“And by the way, Rose says ‘hi’. Does River know, you have another girl friend?”
***
Amy knew she missed Rory more than ever and that it was time to come to grips with the fact that she’d run away without telling anyone. But two days later she still hadn’t said anything and was mulling over all that had happened. The Doctor had been kind of tight lipped about Rose and had looked at her strangely when she’d told him about the vanished building and Martha and Tom.
On a commerce planet where the Doctor was looking for a spare part he needed to finally settle the problem with the Tardis locking up on them, she thought she saw a glimpse of Martha Jones, accompanied by a handsome, tall, if a little skinny man in a brown coat. But before she could be sure, she’d lost her in the crowd.
“I know I’ve seen one like it, right here, right now. But which shop was it?” the Doctor mumbled beside her.
“You’ve been here before?”
“I’m here all the time,” he said cryptically, throwing a paranoid glance over his shoulder.
“You’ve come here with Martha?”
He looked at her with his impenetrable expression, probably considering his answer. He hadn’t commented on her story before, but suddenly that made even more sense. “In another life.”
She smiled. “All right, keep your secrets.” After all, she still hadn’t figured out how to talk about some of her own. On the way back to the Tardis the Doctor made a strange face, when they were passing a tall bloke in a leather jacket, and quickened his pace. Amy turned to follow him with her eyes and stopped when she saw Rose standing beside another handsome man at the end of the market street. They were laughing together, looking out of place - like Amy and the Doctor with their anachronistic choice of clothing - and the way their eyes were twinkling implied something more along the lines of outrageous flirting.
That could be her and Rory, standing there waiting for the Doctor to finish his errands. The man in the leather jacket joined them and there was more laughing. A happy band of close-knit friends. A girl travelling through space and time.
“Amy?” The Doctor called over his shoulder, exasperated.
“Coming!” she called back. “See you around, Rose,” she whispered to herself and imagined what it would be like to have Rory along in the Tardis.