The Doctor's arrival! (open)

[doctor_how]

Who: The Doctor and ... anyone else.
Where: The lobby.
When: After "Journey's End" for the Doctor, and I guess a couple of weeks into the stays of everyone else.
Summary: The Doctor arrives, forced into yet another inexplicable situation.

Comments

[capj_harkness]

Jack had left the dining room practically whistling. If everyone around here was as interesting as Buffy Summers, the time it took to find a way out of here might not be so horrible. After all...

His thought was interupted as he stepped into the lobby, all thoughts of checking out the rest of the hotel gone from his mind. The Doctor. He didn't know whether to run up to the Time Lord and throw his arms around him, or whether he should step behind the nearest marble pillar and hide. He decided to seek the middle ground and stepped a little further into the lobby. He didn't know where the Doctor was on his own personal timeline or in relation to Jack. He had the new face, which meant he at least knew who Jack was...

"Doctor," he said evenly, by way of a greeting, giving the Doctor a curt nod.

[doctor_how]

Stopping in his tracks, the Doctor stared at Jack. In his time line, of course, he'd just come from dropping off Jack, Martha, and Mickey in their proper time period, watching as they walked off together. The entire universe had been saved. But where - and when - was Jack coming from?

A mixture of emotions flooded through the Doctor as he stared, not saying a word. Finally, his face broke into a grin and he exclaimed, "Captain Jack Harkness! Lovely to see you again!"

The initial feeling he'd gotten in response to Jack's immortality was gone, strangely. It was as if Jack was mortal once again. And, come to think of it, he felt rather odd himself, but -

"Where are we this time, then?" he asked brightly.

[capj_harkness]

Jack shrugged. "The best I've been able to determine so far is 'nowhere'," Jack admitted. "I haven't been here long, but this place doesn't seem to exist." He grinned. "I'm glad you're here, though!" he added happily.

[doctor_how]

'Nowhere' was indeed intriguing. The Doctor gazed around him, eager to have a look at everything and see if he could shed any light on the matter. He was about to ask Jack exactly 'when' he'd come from, but as he'd opened his mouth to speak, he spotted a familiar figure standing in front of the elevator.

"Martha!" he cried, grinning even wider than before. "Well, isn't this a nice reunion!" He motioned for Jack to follow him to greet her, although it was most likely hardly necessary. Unless, of course, Jack hadn't met Martha yet? But he seemed completely unsurprised by the Doctor's new appearance, so maybe he had. Timey wimey, etc., he couldn't be sure, but there was no point in dwelling on that just now.

[[ooc: continued below, where Martha makes her entrance! yaaay all three of them together again :D]]

[jonesingdoctor]

Martha had been headed down to the library to grab a new book or two to read. That was all she'd had planned for the day; reading. She'd long since given up on ever seeing again that one person she most wanted to see, although this did nothing to alleviate the pangs of sadness she felt whenever he crossed her mind, which was often

[doctor_how]

"Martha!" he'd exclaimed, as soon as he spotted her whilst in the midst of his conversation with Jack. Motioning for the Captain to follow him, the Doctor ran over to Martha and hugged her tightly. "Good to see you again! Though it hasn't been that long for me. And Jack, do you know Jack yet?" Separating from her, he grinned, and realized he hadn't hugged Jack properly yet, which was a matter that he promptly rectified. After hugging his two dear companions, the Doctor stepped back and nearly began bouncing on the balls of his feet. It was immensely wonderful to be around loved ones again, and the TARDIS had clearly known that this would do him good. Which is probably why she landed here, as well as intentionally getting him involved in whatever curious mystery this building had to offer.

"I've just arrived, so you'll both have to fill me in. Anything I shouldn't mention? Shouldn't do? Any dance steps I shouldn't partake in? You never know what might happen down your own timeline, so c'mon, let's catch each other up."

[capj_harkness]

Jack stood behind the Doctor's right shoulder, grinning at Martha as the Doctor hugged her, then pulled him into an unexpected embrace as well. "I just arrived too," he told the Doctor as he was released from the enthusiastic and welcome hug. "I've only met one person. Vampire slayer, by trade. Fascinating girl." He looked at Martha. "And Martha Jones! Voice of a nightingale. If I'd known you were here, I would have come looking for you as soon as I got in the door," he told her, stepping forwards to give her a hug as well.

[jonesingdoctor]

Calling Martha 'pleased' to get a hug from the Doctor would be just about the understatement of the century. This one that they were in right now. As a matter of fact, Martha was just about dizzy from joy at the combined fact of the Doctor's sheer presence (her teared-up eyes had transformed into a wide grin that she didn't think could ever be abolished) and the fact that he'd seemed so very pleased to see her. Like he really, honestly liked her, and didn't just keep her around because he needed a bit of company. She supposed there had been all sorts of evidence of this, and that she had on many occasions outlined this evidence to Holmes (the perfect person to speak to about evidence of anything), but it was hard to convince her own stubborn mind

[tact_girl]

Cordelia had decided to give the tombstones out front of the hotel another look. Sure, they hadn't found anything out as a group, but in her professional opinion there were a lot of useless people getting in the way then. Surely on her own she could discover a pattern or force a vision into her brain or something.

On her way across the lobby, Cordy spotted Martha Jones talking to two unfamiliar men. She shook her head, sure that it was just a couple of random new arrivals.

But then she heard the word 'Doctor' and her head involuntarily whipped towards them.

"The Doctor?" she yelled across the lobby before she could even stop herself. Martha had just spoken so highly of him, Cordelia couldn't help but feel like this was a bit like meeting Zeus or something. Or at least someone who might remind her a bit of home.

[jonesingdoctor]

Crossing over to Cordelia, Martha hoped that exactly what she'd had to say about the Doctor wouldn't come out. She hardly needed to scare him away when he'd only just found his way back into her life, after all.

"This is him!" she called out, maybe a bit too loudly, motioning at the taller, slimmer, frecklier of the two men. That silly grin was still stuck on her face.

[capj_harkness]

"And I'm Captain Jack Harkness," Jack added, flashing Cordelia his grin and extending his hand. "You are?" he asked.

[tact_girl]

A slight gasp escasped from her lips and somehow the words "Cordelia Chase" fluttered out of them. She wasn't usually the type to get speechless around men, but something about this one made her automatically go a little weak in the knees.

She realized that Jack's hand was still out, so she extended hers as well to shake.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking at the three of them in turn. "I didn't mean to interrupt. I just remember Martha telling me about her genius friend, the Doctor. It was a jealousy outburst more than anything. Wish my genius friend was here."

"But I'm sure having you two around is probably good news," she said, grinning up at Jack.