OUTSIDE INN: Keeping Up Appearances
Title: Keeping Up Appearances
Characters/Pairing: The Doctor, Kaylee, and Rose
Word Count: 1382
Rating: G
Summary: Kaylee is taken to the TARDIS. The Doctor leaves her alone for ten minutes. Trouble ensues.
Notes: Written for itsproductivity - the prompt was "someone whose reputation relies on the appearance of an inanimate object", which just begged me to write this. Evie and I have been talking about it for a while now... No idea when this takes place in Inn-time. On the Doctor Who timeline, it takes place some place after "Age of Steel" but before "Army of Ghosts".
Disclaimer: I do not own the Inn or any of its characters. I don't even play any of these characters (well, the Doctor, but not Ten).
The Doctor looked up as Rose walked into the TARDIS from outside. Though the TARDIS was currently floating in space somewhere in the Horsehead Nebula, what the Doctor saw behind her was not the familiar green-blue formation of stars, dust and gas, but the lobby of an Inn, warm and welcoming (at least, when nothing was blowing up, no one was possessed by disembodied music, and so on). Luckily, by now the Inn was also a familiar sight, or the Doctor would have been a little concerned (either at the appearance of a room where there shouldn't be, or at Rose's apparent sudden ability to survive in space, depending on whether he noticed the Inn).
What was not a familiar sight was the girl who walked in with Rose. Well, familiar in that he knew her, brown hair pulled back from her face, wearing patched overalls and a bright smile on her face, but not familiar in the sense of being on the TARDIS.
"What- What's Kaylee doing here?" he asked, moving from his position stretched out in a chair with his trainers on the console. The door closed behind the girls as Kaylee waved with a grin and a "Hi, Doctor," though the next minute her eyes were on the ship itself, mouth half open in delight and awe.
"She wanted to come along," Rose said, all wide-eyed innocence. "Her ship doesn't travel through time."
"But you didn't even ask me!"
"It's just Kaylee! 'S not like she's gonna kill us in our sleep!"
Kaylee, leaning over the console and somehow managing to keep her hands to herself, seemed oblivious to her conversation.
"But it's my ship. You could ask."
Now Kaylee glanced over at them. "Cap'n does that too. All the time."
"It's not even like he bought the ship," Rose said, talking past the Doctor at Kaylee, like he wasn't even there. "He stole it."
The Doctor cut in before they could go on. This was reminding him too much of Rose and Sarah Jane for his comfort. Any minute now, they'd team up and he'd be doomed. "Let's not go on about who stole what. The point is, Rose, you remember the last time you asked someone along?"
"Mickey?" A brief expression of pain and regret flashed over her face, and the Doctor decided it was best to move on quickly.
"No, he invited himself along," the Doctor said with a wave of his hand. "I was talking about Adam. Remember him, head that opens now when you snap your fingers?"
Rose sighed and turned to Kaylee, who was crouched beside the console, studying some of the wires at the base of it. "Kaylee, you promise not to get an electronic spike put in your head?"
"Shì a," Kaylee answered absently, though the Doctor got the feeling she'd have said that about absolutely anything, because she had that distant, not-really-listening tone. Rose, however, seemed to accept it, whether or not Kaylee actually heard or cared about the question.
"So there. Anyway, it's not like we're even going anywhere. What could go wrong?"
In his long life, the Doctor had never liked that question. It simply invited disaster. But... it was just one girl, on the TARDIS, in the middle of space. What could go wrong?
*
At first, the Doctor had been nervous. He'd hung around the console room, keeping an eye on Kaylee, making sure she didn't break anything. He was certain she was perfectly competent on her own ship, but this was the TARDIS. It was Time Lord technology, and Kaylee was curious. Anything could happen.
But after an hour or two, and various assurances by Kaylee whenever she happened to glance up and realized he was still there, he got bored. And surely if she was going to accidentally break anything, she would have already... So he left her alone, to examine the superior technology of the TARDIS in peace. After all, the TARDIS would warn him if she was about to really do anything wrong, wouldn't it?
His confidence in Kaylee, the TARDIS, and Rose's ability to choose people who should be allowed on the TARDIS evaporated the instant he stepped back into the console room, less than an hour later, and Kaylee's head popped up from the other side of the console.
"I fixed it!"
The Doctor froze in the doorway momentarily, and then ran to the console to check the instruments. Nothing was off that he could tell, but... "Fixed it? Fixed what?"
She got to her feet, bracing herself on the edge of the console. "Dunno. Coupla wires were all wrong, so I fixed 'em, next thing I know, this panel here's lightin' up" - she gestured to something across the console from the Doctor - "and beepin' at me, but it looks like it's workin', whatever it is."
The Doctor bounded around to the other side, moving on the balls of his feet, and realized immediately what it was. That panel hadn't lit up in centuries.
"The chameleon circuit!" He beamed, resting his hands on her shoulders, which only made her light up all the more. "You fixed the chameleon circuit! How did-"
And then he stopped.
"Wait."
Reality - or, at least, what passed for reality in the Doctor's brain - sank in.
"Oh, you fixed the chameleon circuit!" he said again, this time supremely disappointed. Leaning down to look underneath the console, he realized he had no idea what she'd don't to fix it. "You have to put it back!"
"Shénme?"
"You have to put it back. I liked it that way."
"Broken?"
"Well, blue police box, you always know where you parked. It's like having a neon green car, only far more aesthetically pleasing. With the chameleon circuit, it's like having a boring old white car, or a cupboard, or a refrigerator, or a..." He trailed off, realizing the way Kaylee was staring at him, and remembering that they didn't have automobiles anymore by her time. And there he'd gone and wasted a perfectly brilliant analogy.
The Doctor waved a hand at her. "Never mind. Just... fix it."
Kaylee spread her hands, looking frustrated. "I did fix it." The Doctor hated it when she pouted. Not enough to change his mind.
"Well, fix it the other way."
"You mean break it?"
"Yes, exactly."
"Hăo ba," she said with a long-suffering sigh and leaned down to look under the console again, just as the Doctor realized something.
"Wait!"
Kaylee's head popped up again.
"You're worse than the Cap'n," she said, her tone accusing.
"What? There's no way on any planet I'm worse than- Oh. Other captain. Never mind. What was I saying? Right. The chameleon circuit's on, the TARDIS isn't really anything now. So the first place we go, whatever it disguises itself as, it'll get stuck like that if you've disabled the chameleon circuit again."
"Okay..." Kaylee said slowly.
"We need to make a trip," he said, moving quickly to set the coordinates.
As the TARDIS began to glow, the central column pistoning, Rose walked into the console room looking confused. "Where are we going?"
"Metaphorically speaking, or-"
"Doctor."
"London, 1953!"
"Why?" Rose asked slowly, glancing from Kaylee to the Doctor.
"So we look like a police box."
"Don't we... anyway?"
"Not anymore. Kaylee changed it."
"Only 'cause Doctor Space an' Time likes his ship broken."
The pistoning slowed, and stopped, and the sound of the TARDIS died away. The Doctor ran to the door and stuck his head out, hanging from the doorframe as he twisted halfway around to look at the outside of the TARDIS. He came back in looking vaguely perturbed.
"What are we?" Rose asked.
"Storage locker." He closed the door behind him and strode to the console once more. "Attempt two, then."
At attempt twenty-seven, finally looking at a police box again, it was decided that they would never again visit London 1953 if they could help it, the Doctor would never leave anyone alone in the console room again, and no matter who it was, Rose's judgment in visitors aboard the TARDIS was not to be trusted.
Characters/Pairing: The Doctor, Kaylee, and Rose
Word Count: 1382
Rating: G
Summary: Kaylee is taken to the TARDIS. The Doctor leaves her alone for ten minutes. Trouble ensues.
Notes: Written for itsproductivity - the prompt was "someone whose reputation relies on the appearance of an inanimate object", which just begged me to write this. Evie and I have been talking about it for a while now... No idea when this takes place in Inn-time. On the Doctor Who timeline, it takes place some place after "Age of Steel" but before "Army of Ghosts".
Disclaimer: I do not own the Inn or any of its characters. I don't even play any of these characters (well, the Doctor, but not Ten).
The Doctor looked up as Rose walked into the TARDIS from outside. Though the TARDIS was currently floating in space somewhere in the Horsehead Nebula, what the Doctor saw behind her was not the familiar green-blue formation of stars, dust and gas, but the lobby of an Inn, warm and welcoming (at least, when nothing was blowing up, no one was possessed by disembodied music, and so on). Luckily, by now the Inn was also a familiar sight, or the Doctor would have been a little concerned (either at the appearance of a room where there shouldn't be, or at Rose's apparent sudden ability to survive in space, depending on whether he noticed the Inn).
What was not a familiar sight was the girl who walked in with Rose. Well, familiar in that he knew her, brown hair pulled back from her face, wearing patched overalls and a bright smile on her face, but not familiar in the sense of being on the TARDIS.
"What- What's Kaylee doing here?" he asked, moving from his position stretched out in a chair with his trainers on the console. The door closed behind the girls as Kaylee waved with a grin and a "Hi, Doctor," though the next minute her eyes were on the ship itself, mouth half open in delight and awe.
"She wanted to come along," Rose said, all wide-eyed innocence. "Her ship doesn't travel through time."
"But you didn't even ask me!"
"It's just Kaylee! 'S not like she's gonna kill us in our sleep!"
Kaylee, leaning over the console and somehow managing to keep her hands to herself, seemed oblivious to her conversation.
"But it's my ship. You could ask."
Now Kaylee glanced over at them. "Cap'n does that too. All the time."
"It's not even like he bought the ship," Rose said, talking past the Doctor at Kaylee, like he wasn't even there. "He stole it."
The Doctor cut in before they could go on. This was reminding him too much of Rose and Sarah Jane for his comfort. Any minute now, they'd team up and he'd be doomed. "Let's not go on about who stole what. The point is, Rose, you remember the last time you asked someone along?"
"Mickey?" A brief expression of pain and regret flashed over her face, and the Doctor decided it was best to move on quickly.
"No, he invited himself along," the Doctor said with a wave of his hand. "I was talking about Adam. Remember him, head that opens now when you snap your fingers?"
Rose sighed and turned to Kaylee, who was crouched beside the console, studying some of the wires at the base of it. "Kaylee, you promise not to get an electronic spike put in your head?"
"Shì a," Kaylee answered absently, though the Doctor got the feeling she'd have said that about absolutely anything, because she had that distant, not-really-listening tone. Rose, however, seemed to accept it, whether or not Kaylee actually heard or cared about the question.
"So there. Anyway, it's not like we're even going anywhere. What could go wrong?"
In his long life, the Doctor had never liked that question. It simply invited disaster. But... it was just one girl, on the TARDIS, in the middle of space. What could go wrong?
*
At first, the Doctor had been nervous. He'd hung around the console room, keeping an eye on Kaylee, making sure she didn't break anything. He was certain she was perfectly competent on her own ship, but this was the TARDIS. It was Time Lord technology, and Kaylee was curious. Anything could happen.
But after an hour or two, and various assurances by Kaylee whenever she happened to glance up and realized he was still there, he got bored. And surely if she was going to accidentally break anything, she would have already... So he left her alone, to examine the superior technology of the TARDIS in peace. After all, the TARDIS would warn him if she was about to really do anything wrong, wouldn't it?
His confidence in Kaylee, the TARDIS, and Rose's ability to choose people who should be allowed on the TARDIS evaporated the instant he stepped back into the console room, less than an hour later, and Kaylee's head popped up from the other side of the console.
"I fixed it!"
The Doctor froze in the doorway momentarily, and then ran to the console to check the instruments. Nothing was off that he could tell, but... "Fixed it? Fixed what?"
She got to her feet, bracing herself on the edge of the console. "Dunno. Coupla wires were all wrong, so I fixed 'em, next thing I know, this panel here's lightin' up" - she gestured to something across the console from the Doctor - "and beepin' at me, but it looks like it's workin', whatever it is."
The Doctor bounded around to the other side, moving on the balls of his feet, and realized immediately what it was. That panel hadn't lit up in centuries.
"The chameleon circuit!" He beamed, resting his hands on her shoulders, which only made her light up all the more. "You fixed the chameleon circuit! How did-"
And then he stopped.
"Wait."
Reality - or, at least, what passed for reality in the Doctor's brain - sank in.
"Oh, you fixed the chameleon circuit!" he said again, this time supremely disappointed. Leaning down to look underneath the console, he realized he had no idea what she'd don't to fix it. "You have to put it back!"
"Shénme?"
"You have to put it back. I liked it that way."
"Broken?"
"Well, blue police box, you always know where you parked. It's like having a neon green car, only far more aesthetically pleasing. With the chameleon circuit, it's like having a boring old white car, or a cupboard, or a refrigerator, or a..." He trailed off, realizing the way Kaylee was staring at him, and remembering that they didn't have automobiles anymore by her time. And there he'd gone and wasted a perfectly brilliant analogy.
The Doctor waved a hand at her. "Never mind. Just... fix it."
Kaylee spread her hands, looking frustrated. "I did fix it." The Doctor hated it when she pouted. Not enough to change his mind.
"Well, fix it the other way."
"You mean break it?"
"Yes, exactly."
"Hăo ba," she said with a long-suffering sigh and leaned down to look under the console again, just as the Doctor realized something.
"Wait!"
Kaylee's head popped up again.
"You're worse than the Cap'n," she said, her tone accusing.
"What? There's no way on any planet I'm worse than- Oh. Other captain. Never mind. What was I saying? Right. The chameleon circuit's on, the TARDIS isn't really anything now. So the first place we go, whatever it disguises itself as, it'll get stuck like that if you've disabled the chameleon circuit again."
"Okay..." Kaylee said slowly.
"We need to make a trip," he said, moving quickly to set the coordinates.
As the TARDIS began to glow, the central column pistoning, Rose walked into the console room looking confused. "Where are we going?"
"Metaphorically speaking, or-"
"Doctor."
"London, 1953!"
"Why?" Rose asked slowly, glancing from Kaylee to the Doctor.
"So we look like a police box."
"Don't we... anyway?"
"Not anymore. Kaylee changed it."
"Only 'cause Doctor Space an' Time likes his ship broken."
The pistoning slowed, and stopped, and the sound of the TARDIS died away. The Doctor ran to the door and stuck his head out, hanging from the doorframe as he twisted halfway around to look at the outside of the TARDIS. He came back in looking vaguely perturbed.
"What are we?" Rose asked.
"Storage locker." He closed the door behind him and strode to the console once more. "Attempt two, then."
At attempt twenty-seven, finally looking at a police box again, it was decided that they would never again visit London 1953 if they could help it, the Doctor would never leave anyone alone in the console room again, and no matter who it was, Rose's judgment in visitors aboard the TARDIS was not to be trusted.