The Adventures of a Time-Lord and a Lima Loser
Title: The Adventures of a Time-Lord and a Lima Loser
Author:zta_atsin
Rating: PG13 because of aliens and such
Length: about 7400
Characters: Rachel/Quinn, Puck, Kurt, Finn, Brittany/Santana, Sue Sylvester, etc OCs random ones
Summary: Doctor Who AU! No one left Lima, Ohio, they all ended up being Lima Losers just like the other generations. Rachel is stuck at a dead end job with a vague recollection of why she chose to stay. However, Lima gets a little interesting, when trouble rises after Rachel's job gets blown up. No one knows how to save Lima, except for the Doctor.
A/N: Awhile back I wrote some Microfics for Rachel/Quinn and I wrote one with an AU of Doctor Who. I was hoping someone would pick it up, but I decided to take a stab at it. I really hope I do justice for Doctor!Quinn; she is kind of a mixture between Nine and herself. For those of you who don't know what Doctor Who is, you should really get on it because it is the MOST brilliant show I have ever watched. The show basically follows a man named the Doctor, who is a Time Lord that travels through time and space saving the world from aliens and such. He always travels with a human companion simply because he has a thing for the human race.
In this it is Doctor!Quinn and Companion!Rachel. If you have watched the show, you might see some changes that I have made. It is only for the sake that the Doctor is Quinn, so that changes the plot of the original slightly.
PS It is also Future Fic. Rachel is a sophomore now [2010] and the story takes place 6 years later.
Onward~!
Lima, Ohio - 2016
Rachel laid in her bed looking up at her ceiling. The popcorns on her fading pink ceiling were beginning to look all alike as she tried counting them. God, she was bored.
To think, she would’ve been on Broadway in the Big Apple by now. She sighed at the thought of letting that life go. She turned her life around in a complete 180 for a stupid boy. She still couldn’t understand why; she was just waiting for something. She was glad yet troubled that all of her high school years became a blur in her mind. Her most prominent memory was choosing to stay in Lima for her boyfriend.
She glanced at her desk clock. 5:59. Immediately, as it turned to 6:00, she slapped the snooze button and hopped out of bed.
Her routine was always: elliptical, shower, breakfast, kiss Dad and Daddy goodbye, and off to work.
Her work routine wasn’t any better. It was even more mundane: work, break, see Finn, work, and close.
Her job wasn’t too difficult; working in a clothing shop in Lima, Ohio was easy. Your job consisted of folding and greeting customers all day. Everyone that you saw knew you and you would know everyone. It was an easy life but she felt empty. As if some part of her was missing.
"Are you okay?" Finn asked as he sat with her. The best thing about her stupid boy, Finn, was that he actually liked her. He filled a void that she didn’t quite understand or recall. More importantly, Rachel knew that she could always rely on him. However, there was always something more that Rachel wanted and knew she couldn’t have. Excitement.
Rachel looked over at her "boyfriend." She nodded. "I am alright. Just tired. Kurt and Mercedes keep fighting over how to organize the clothes."
"Tell me about it," Finn sighed as he put his arm around her. "I was sitting behind the counter when Brittany comes in to buy some ice cream and Puck comes by and tries to hit on her."
Rachel let out a light laugh.
"I mean, Puck should take the hint that Brittany is still obviously dating Santana."
Rachel laughed a little harder. "He still hasn’t realized?"
"Obviously not. He still wears that Mohawk from high school."
Rachel slapped Finn playfully. "You're so mean to Noah sometimes."
"It can't be helped, we are all Lima Losers," Finn shrugged.
Rachel looked at her feet. She really wished she wasn’t stuck in Lima. Anywhere except Lima would be great. She wanted to travel. She simply held in the thought and settled for what was there.
She was presented with an opportunity, she vaguely remembered. Someone offered to take her away, to leave Lima, to leave the planet. It was one of her memories she couldn’t recall.
After she kissed Finn goodbye and got back to work, she had wondered where the time had suddenly melted to. "Closing in five minutes," the PA voiced.
Rachel looked at her watch. It was already 10. She sighed, knowing she had to close up as soon as the last customer was out.
"Rachel, can you bring this down to Wilson by the way?" her boss asked as he held her extension wires.
Rachel sighed and took the wires down to the electrician. She knew by the time she had gotten down to the basement, everyone else would be gone already. She sighed for the umpteenth that day and began humming a few bars of "Touch Me" from Spring Awakening.
The basement, needless to say, was quite frightening. It was dimmed and full of equipment that could possibly fall on you. What freaked her out at the moment were the mannequins.
"Hey, Wilson!" she yelled as she knocked on the door that Wilson was supposed to be in. "Come get your stupid wires, I want to go out."
Suddenly, something fell on the ground behind her. She instantly turned around. She saw a mannequin from the other side of the wall begin to lift its arms. "Hello?" she called through the basement fearfully. "Who is there?" She watched as the plastic begin to move towards her.
"Finn? Is that you? Or is it Brittany?" Rachel asked. "You know how I deal with frightening situations. No one will get out unscathed. I have been trained in tae kwon do since I was 7. Come on."
It didn’t dawn her until more creaking sounds followed the mannequin. All of a sudden there was an army of mannequins coming to life. They all began to corner her.
In response, she shut her eyes tightly as one of them raised its arm high above her head. Using tae kwon do against any of them would be useless. Suddenly a hand slipped into hers.
She opened her eyes and saw a blonde woman, not too much older than her, simply order, "Run!"
Without even thinking, Rachel felt no other choice but to follow the blonde woman. "Where are we going?"
"Getting out of here of course," the blonde woman responded with excitement. She rounded them around the corner and Rachel could see more mannequins come to life and begin chasing them.
The blonde pushed her into the elevator and began click the button furiously. Both of them could see the mannequins quickly advancing. As the door began to close an arm came sailing in, clearly reaching for anything.
The blonde grabbed onto the arm and began to pull as hard as she could. With a loud pop, the arm came off and the elevator doors shut. "Well, that was great wasn’t it?" the blonde turned Rachel with a glowing smile.
Rachel couldn’t help but blush as she stared at the blonde. She took a moment to glance up and down the blonde. She was clearly different; she had dressed for an adventure, in her own manner with (A/N) set of white slacks and dress shirt and a vest and tie that was just thrown on with a finished touch of a pair of ratty Chuck Taylors and a tan hat.
The blonde continued. "Plastic," she said gleefully as she tossed the arm to Rachel.
"Of course it is plastic. Alright, who put you up to this prank? Was it those middle school boys? Or those William McKinley boys?" Rachel asked accusingly.
The blonde quirked an eyebrow and smirked. "Why would they be boys?"
"What?"
"You said they would be boys. But why boys?"
"Because getting a whole bunch of them to pull this prank would be simple. The number and the whole idea of pranks come from adolescent to immature high school boys that want some attention. Not to mention, they have nothing to lose. All they would do is gain popularity over the fact that they are a bunch of hooligans that stir up trouble for fun."
"That is harsh but it makes sense. Well done!" The blonde announces as she looks up at the floor number. "But do they look like boys?" There was a familiar touch of sarcasm in her tone. "I think not!" She laughed. "Boys controlling a bunch of mannequins; that'll be the day."
"Wait, what happened to Wilson? He is still down there."
The blonde turned back to Rachel and frankly answered, "In short, he is dead." The elevator dinged and she ran out quickly. Rachel followed close behind, wondering how a pair of ratty Chucks would give any support for running so quickly.
"Are you kidding me?" Rachel yelled. "How can you be so frank about him being dead?"
"It is just a fact!" the blonde answered. She was unfazed by Rachel's reaction and continued towards the fire exit. She pulled out something that looked like a pen and watched as it lit up blue. "Watch your eyes."
Sparks flew from door and Rachel knew it had to be opened now. "Alright, what is going on?" The blonde ignored her. "What is going on!?"
"Okay, you see this?" The blonde pointed at the plastic arm in Rachel's hands. "It’s plastic. Living plastic to be exact. Which are controlled by a simply relay device. But here is something really cool." She smiled and showed Rachel was seemed to be a bomb. "So! I'm going to blow this whole place up and I might die in the process. But go!"
Rachel felt herself pushed out of the fire exit. She watched as the door shut behind her. She looked on and wondered what that lunatic was going to do.
The blonde suddenly reappeared. "Aren't you going to run?"
"Who are you?!"
"I am the Doctor, run for your life!" The blonde yelled quickly before slamming the door shut.
Rachel didn’t know why she listened but she did so anyways. She ran as far as she could from the building before turning around. She got almost a block away before watching her workplace explode into bits.
"Are you kidding me? My daughter was right near the blast. We're going to want some compensation for that. She could’ve been hurt or far worse, dead!" Rachel heard her Daddy yell into the telephone from the police.
As he went on, her Dad came into the living room with some tea for her. "Are you alright?" he asked gently as she took the tea.
Rachel nodded. She couldn’t even fathom the event at all. All she could remember was that blonde holding onto her hand and dragging her away from those mannequins. She could still feel the tight grip around her hand as she sipped her tea.
There was a loud knock on her door. Her Dad got up and went to open it. Finn came flying into the room, almost knocking the plastic arm off the recliner.
"Are you okay?" he asked with nothing but concern.
"Of course I am," Rachel responded nonchalantly. She could still hear her Daddy arguing in the background. "It isn’t a big deal."
"It definitely is. You could’ve gotten seriously injured." Finn shook his head and kissed her. "You deserve a drink. Forget about tonight, all that craziness. We are going to Puck's."
"Is he having another party?"
Finn shrugged and gave his golden boy smile.
Rachel smiled in response. She really didn’t need a party right now. If the image of the blonde woman didn't plague her mind, she would have chosen to gone with Finn. It was a sweet gesture on his part after all. "It’s okay Finn. I am glad you came here but I am not really in the mood. It was really hectic and right now maybe I just need some sleep." Finn stared at her to make sure. "You can go Finn. Besides, you know my tolerance of alcohol. The smell of booze and burning sensation do not go well for my throat. I still need to practice singing if I want to get out of here at some point."
"That's my girl," Finn said proudly. "Are you sure, though?" He asked once more. Rachel nodded and he hesitantly stood up. "Do you want me to stay?" She knew he wanted to go; with her approval, he knew it was okay.
"Can you toss out that dummy arm?"
Finn smiled and grabbed the arm. Using it to wave goodbye and using it to fake a choking. Rachel smiled lightly as he walked out.
----------------------
The next morning came up the same. Her alarm rang promptly at 6am. The only difference in her routine was that she didn’t need to go to work. Her Dad and Daddy had insisted that she just stay home while they were at work.
So as she sat in front of the TV eating her cereal she had begun to wonder what really happened last night. The news was still buzzing over what happened at her shop. What caused the explosion? What was up with those mannequins?
The sound of scratches came from her front door and immediately she could hear someone trying to break in. Her eyes widened and she cautiously got up from the warm couch. Hiding behind the door as she heard the clicking, the brunette grabbed a baseball bat her Dad left behind.
As the door opened and the person walked in, she lunged forward bringing the bat down on the intruder.
With a loud yelp, the intruder fell onto the ground with a thud and began muttering swears. Rachel brought the bat down for good measure but the intruder still didn’t go out cold.
"Ow! What the hell is that for?!"
Rachel took a moment and recognized the voice. She stared again and it was the same blonde, wearing the same outfit as the night before and ratty Chucks.
The blonde rolled over on her back and looked up at Rachel. "What are you doing here?" she asked with a confused tone.
"This is my house!" the brunette yelled in response. She was frightened shitless and that was something the "Doctor" didn’t seem to understand. Rachel dropped the bat and helped the blonde up.
The blonde rubbed the back of her neck with a groan. "You aren’t plastic are you?" she asked as she tapped Rachel's head. "Nope! Bye then!" She began to walk out but then Rachel grabbed tightly onto her and shut the door.
"You have to explain what the hell happened last night," Rachel demanded as she pushed the other woman on the couch. "Do you want anything to drink?" she asked as she moved to the kitchen.
The blonde responded with a delighted, "Sure!" , and watched as Rachel walked into the kitchen. She took this opportunity to look around. She found the mirror and began touching her face. "Eyes, ears, nose, blonde, boobs, yup. All here! I wish I was a ginger..." she frowned but then shrugged and began looking around again. She picked up a magazine. "Gay and an alien. What is this world coming to?" Clearly that was disappointing.
She looked around again there was a picture on the fireplace of Rachel and group of kids. She laughed to herself, "I remember that."
"I think we should go to the cops. I didn’t know what to tell them at all." Rachel reappeared with a cup of coffee. "Maybe if you are there, you can help me out."
The blonde cringed at the name of the cops. "Cops are a no-no. Every time cops get involved, things get worse." She took the coffee from Rachel and smelled it. It still held that same scent from all those years ago.
"Like the time, we found Little Nessie at the back of school?" Rachel joked. She recoiled. Where is that coming from? She asked herself. A sharp pain shot through her brain causing her to shut her eyes.
"Are you okay?" Rachel found the blonde unnervingly close to her as she opened her eyes again. Her hand rested gently on her temples and her eyes falling into the hazel ones.
There was thumping in her chest that she couldn't ignore. It was frightening, yet it felt all too familiar. And good.
The blonde smiled. For a second, she moved closer to examine the shorter girl but was distracted with the distinct sound of tapping. She frowned. "Do you have a cat now?" The tapping got louder.
"No...Remember my dads would never let me get one because I was so scared of them after I saw 'Cats'?" Rachel responded. She was confused. There it was again, she was recalling things she didn't remember. She looked up when the tapping continued. "I think it is coming from my room."
Without another word the Doctor ran up the stairs. Rachel following after she put her coffee down. When she got up there she watched as the blonde was on the floor wrestling with the plastic arm.
"Oh gosh, this is getting weird," Rachel acknowledged that she let a stranger in her home. However, it was getting strange as she watched her fight with the plastic arm.
When Rachel got close, it suddenly wasn’t that weird. The arm came sailing at her face and it held on tightly. She got up as best as she could but felt back down on her bed.
The blonde's eyes widened as she tried to help pull the arm off of Rachel's face. With a harsh pull, she fought with the arm and slammed it down on the bed next to Rachel's head followed by the pen looking object again. After a bright blue light shone again the fighting plastic arm died again.
"Armless!" the blonde joked as she waved the plastic around. She smiled.
Rachel's face began to flush as she realized the position they were in. The blonde's hips were comfortably straddling hers as she laid pinned on her bed. She wondered how she got their in the first place but couldn’t help feel her heart pounding as the blonde smiled.
The blonde stared at Rachel as if she knew something but didn’t say anything. All she could do was smile. Suddenly, she leaned down and Rachel almost thought her heart was going to explode out of her chest.
She shut her eyes wondering if she thought what she thought was going to happen. However, there was a sudden lift in weight and she watched the blonde fly out of the room.
"Where do you think you’re going?" Rachel asked incredulously as she tailed the blonde. "You can't just sail off without an explanation."
"Well then, aren’t I doing that right now?" the blonde responded without looking back as she glided through the streets now with the plastic arm. "You really should go back home. If anyone were to be caught with me, they’d be dead. I only stir up trouble."
"You didn’t explain anything to me though. Why was that arm after me? Why did it come back to me?"
"What? Does the whole world seem to revolve around you?"
"Yes!"
"Well then Rachel Berry gold star, why don’t you go on back home? Because the world does not revolve around you. That plastic arm was after me. It was looking for me because it knows I can destroy it. It only attacked you because you blundered into meeting me."
"So what? The world revolves around you? What do you call yourself? The Doctor?"
"That's me!" the Doctor responded instantly. Rachel bit her lip not to smile at the other woman's reaction. She could tell the blonde could be insufferable already.
"Doctor of what though? I mean, you have to go through years of medical school, interning, and residency in order to qualify as a competent doctor. You do not seem like you practice medicine."
"Rachel Berry, do you ever stop rambling?" the blonde asked in a playful manner. She knew exactly how to get Rachel to stop talking.
The singer blushed and looked down. "Wait, so what’re you going to do?" Rachel asked.
"About what?"
"About this! This whole thing? I mean, does anyone else know about these mannequins coming to life?"
The blonde shook her head. "Nope. Not really."
"You're on your own?"
"Basically. Everyone else is too busy with their own lives: watching TV, eating. No one knows when the world is about to end!" Again that smile of excitement plastered the Doctor's face.
Rachel reached out and pulled the blonde back. Her hand rested gently against the taller woman's forearm. "Tell me about it."
The blonde sighed in resignation but she couldn’t help but be intrigued by the girl.
It didn’t take long to realize that the Doctor was not a person. Rachel acknowledged that the blonde looked human, talked in English, but didn’t talk like she was from this world, or universe for that matter. Her knowledge was far beyond Earth and yet there was quite a fondness.
"So how’re you going to deal with this living plastic?" Rachel asked. "Taking on one is hard; taking on a possible army is harder. There are mannequins every where if you think about it."
"We just need to kill the signal. I cut that, dead."
"But why Lima, Ohio? We are nothing but a small town with a bunch of losers," Rachel went on.
"There are pockets of energy everywhere in the universe. It just happened to be here."
A lot of things make sense to Rachel, even when people don't expect it to happen. However, the way the blonde was talking made no sense. Rachel could not understand what the blonde meant by "pockets of energy."
"Tell me, who are you?"
The blonde stopped and turned to her. "Do you know how when you're a kid, they tell you the Earth is actually spinning really fast? But then you can't really believe it because you’re a kid. I can feel it." Rachel felt the Doctor's hand slipping into hers. Her heart fluttered again. "The sense that the earth is spinning but we are just clinging to the surface. All that speed and falling into space. I can feel it but when we let go..." She let go and Rachel could feel herself fall.
The blonde moved in unexpectedly. She placed a soft kiss on Rachel's cheek. "Go home, Rachel Berry gold star. Forget about me." The blonde smiled and began walking away towards a police box.
Rachel resigned and began walking away. In the distance she could hear the whooshing of air. She ran back and looked around. There was no more police box.
When she got home she went straight onto her laptop. She didn’t even know where to begin.
She wanted to search for the Doctor. The blonde was too interesting to let go of. Someone had to know something. Who would know? Why did she seem so familiar? The blonde hair. The softness of her hands. The caress of her lips.
The Doctor.
She got useless results.
Doctor Living Plastic.
Worse results.
Doctor Blue Box.
Sue Sylvester: "Contact if you know anything." Rachel raised her eye brows to the result. She clicked on it and it spit back a picture of the blonde. It was blurry but it was definitely her. Except, why was she in the McKinley High School yearbook?
-------------------
"Do you remember Coach Sylvester?" Finn asked fearfully as he pulled up across the street from her house. "She was the Nazi of the Cheerios. Everyone was scared of her. We shouldn’t be here."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Relax Finn, it’s been 4 years since we graduated. She has got to have mellowed out by now. Besides, she has a wife and kids."
"Who are probably just as deadly as she is." Finn deadpanned.
"Don’t worry about it. I have my cell phone. If any sudden danger arises, I will call the cops."
Rachel didn’t wait for his response and jumped out of the car. She hesitated to ring the doorbell. Why would Sue Sylvester be searching for the Doctor? She had gotten this far already there was no turning back.
When the door swung opened, she was bracing herself to see that harsh older woman looking disdainfully at her.
On the contrary, an older African American woman greeted cheerfully. "Hello!"
"Hi, I am looking for Sue Sylvester about what she's looking for?" Rachel asked carefully.
"Of course," the woman responded keeping the smile on. "Sue! Someone is here to look for the Doctor!"
Rachel stared carefully into the house. Coach Sylvester finally appeared, still sporting her track suit, and holding a smoothie.
"Well if it isn’t a Smurfette," she greeted with that disdainful smile Rachel was expecting. "Come in, it is always still good to get some results."
"Do you know who the Doctor is exactly?" Rachel asked ignoring the insult as she followed the coach of the Cheerios in her home. The older woman didn’t answer until she reached what seemed to be her home office. It was strikingly different from her Cheerios office, consisting of articles and pictures surrounding the Doctor.
Again Rachel could see the beautiful blonde's face clearly and she couldn’t help but smile.
"The Doctor is the bane of my existence this moment. I have seen her before and I don’t mean just in that high school picture but several of them. After continuing my research back as far as 1964, I couldn’t help but wonder what exactly was going on."
Sue pulled up several pictures and laid them across the table. The pictures were worn out but it was definitely depicting the Doctor. All of them just as beautiful as the previous one, no matter how far back in time.
"Why are you looking for her?" Rachel asked out of curiosity. Sue Sylvester never cared about anyone besides her Cheerios.
"Four years ago, she apparently was a student here. No one seemed to know about her but then I started doing some research after I saw her incredible reflexes and triple flips. I needed her on my Cheerios," Sue Sylvester explained.
"If she has history all the way back in the 1960s then how would you even get her on the team. I mean talk about bending the rules, she has to be aged well over 40," Rachel thought of. How come she had never seen her at school before?
Sue pulled out a picture of the blonde at the Assassination of Kennedy, then the Titanic, then the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. "She looks the same in every picture. There is no evidence of aging or parentage. Not to mention an actual name; always "Doctor.""
"I will find a way to get her on the Cheerios, but with this girl, there is a catch," Sue added with a frown. It wasn’t going to be good. "Death follows her wherever she goes."
Rachel looked underneath the pile of pictures and found one that stood out. Her senior year, the Glee club took Nationals. Confused, she pulled it out and saw everyone in the Glee club standing with the trophy. There she was circled, the Doctor, smiling with everyone else.
----------------
"Alright after all of these years, Sue Sylvester is still a crazy, Nazi coach who cares about nothing more than her Cheerios," Rachel huffed annoyed as she got back into Finn's car. "I am surprised Glee Club is still alive since we have left. Either way it was a bust. Do you want to get some dinner?"
"P-p-p-pizza!" Finn said with a gleaming smile plastered on his face. Rachel looked at him as if he had a jolt of Vitamin D. "Let's go!"
-----------------
Rachel frowned as she sat in the quaint little restaurant. She had been feeling a little noxious because of Finn's reckless driving. Swerving and sudden stopping made her stomach lurch.
"What should I get?" she asked in general, simply trying to avoid talking about the Doctor. Yet, she could not get that blonde woman out of her mind. She wondered if and when she would ever see her again.
"Did you find anything out about the Doctor, sweetheart, baby, sugar, Rachel?" Finn asked with a strange twitch.
"Nothing, it’s not important anymore," Rachel brushed off.
"Do you know where she could be?" Finn persisted.
"Did either of you order the salmon?" A waiter came by.
"No," Rachel ignored. She didn’t even order yet. "Are you okay, Finn? Can we drop the talk about the Doctor?"
"But I think we should find the Doctor."
"Salmon?" the waiter asked again.
"Seriously?" Finn snapped. "We didn’t order anything!" He looked up at the waiter. "Well, this is great."
"Doctor!" Rachel exclaimed. "What're you--"
The blonde smiled and slapped the uncooked salmon across Finn's face. For a moment Finn's head spun in a complete 360 before settling back in place.
"We should talk," Finn smiled deviantly as he stood up. "Doctor."
"Yeah...No," the blonde went on as she stared at up at him. She grabbed a bottle off of the table and smashed it over Finn's head. But being so much bigger, even the duplicate of Finn could still withstand being hit.
Everyone turned to the loud crash followed by the blonde yelling out, "Damnit!" She followed up by jumping on his back as best as she could and wrung his neck with her arms. With a tight pull up and over, Finn's head came off with a loud POP.
"Hello there, Doctor," Finn still responded. Everyone started to scream and run as Finn's headless body began turning over tables and rushing to hurt someone.
"What the hell is going on?!" Rachel exclaimed to the blonde as she watched everyone run and scream.
And once again, the blonde gleamed with a smile and slipped her hand into Rachel's before saying, "Run!"
Like the night before, both of them began to run hand and hand, fingers intertwined. Rachel somehow relieved that the Doctor was still around. Her heart sank at the thought that they would never see each other again.
They took the backdoor out and knew that Finn's headless body was still chasing them and it knew exactly where they were heading. When they got outside they were cornered. No other exit unless someone opened up the pathway for the garbage truck. The only thing that could possibly save them was the police box standing there on its own.
"Come hide in here," the blonde entreated with sheer calmness. "We're safe."
"Are you kidding me?" Rachel exclaimed as she watch the blonde walk towards it. "We can’t hide in a wooden box. It’s just as bad as being stuck in a porta-potty. Do you know that there is only one good thing a police box from the fifties is for? It's for getting killed when you’re being chased! We have to get out of here. There has got to be another way out." Rachel looked around frantically.
"Come on, Gold Star!" she heard from the inside.
The singer looked around frantically again. She could hear Finn pounding at the door to get out. And he was close. Finally she resigned, running quickly into the stupid wooden box.
"Holy shit," Rachel's eyes almost fell out of her head as she wondered at the vast space inside. She watched as the Doctor fiddled with knobs and switches in what seemed to be the control panel. It seemed far too complicated for Rachel to even fathom.
"I know," the blonde cockily said as she snapped her fingers. The doors shut tightly behind the shorter brunette. She watched as Rachel still stared.
"What is this? I mean there is no chance in hell this much space could fit in such a little police box. Even if you bend space or shrink everything down, you would have no chance of doing so, there is no technology," Rachel rambled on. She could feel her heart swell up and the tears seer her eyes.
"I am going to say this once and please don’t cry; this is called a TARDIS," the blonde began. "That is Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It is bigger on the inside I get it. It travels through time and space; where ever you think you want to go, I could quite possibly make it happen. But, first things first, it is what’s going to take us to find where the Nestene Consciousness is hiding."
"Nestene Consciousness?" Rachel could feel her tears slowly spilling out. What am I doing here? What is this world? A thousand thoughts ran through her mind as she continued to listen to the Doctor.
For once, her knowledge of the world was completely shattered. Rachel Berry had plans. That is who she is, a planner. She knows what to expect and what to wait for and what to do. Then the Doctor decides to show her otherwise. She's felt it before but she did not know how overwhelming it was.
"It is what’s controlling all of the plastic in Lima, Ohio of course! Which is the reason why I took your boyfriend's head. I needed it because it produces a much better signal than the arm. Definitely a better signal."
The tears poured out of her eyes as she sank down against the doors. What is going on? What is going on? What is going on? She kept asking herself. Rachel Berry was always in control and now, she stepped into a world she could barely fathom.
In almost an instant, she felt arms wrap around her comfortingly. "Hey, I told you not to cry," the blonde whispered. Her whole body was tensed to holding Rachel but she did so anyways. "I don’t know how to deal with crying people. You have to help me out by stopping."
"Is he alive?" Rachel asked putting a filter on her tears. She finally realized that she hadn’t been with Finn the whole time.
"Who?" the blonde clearly didn’t know.
"Finn! My boyfriend?" Rachel suddenly filled herself with fury. She looked at the control panel and saw Finn's head melt into the buttons. "And now he's melting into your stupid TARDIS! All you care about is this crazy ALIEN stuff!"
The Doctor sighed. Maybe it was a bad idea to bring her back. She ran up to the control panel and began pressing all the buttons. Or at least the necessary ones. It didn’t matter much to Rachel, they all looked the same.
With a final push of the lever, the engines stopped roaring and settled carefully. The blonde looked at a screen next to the seat before running out.
"Wait it's not safe out there!" Rachel yelled as she followed the blonde out.
Not even stepping 10 feet out of the TARDIS, Rachel bumped into the blonde and looked around. She wasn’t behind the restaurant or what seemed to be anywhere remotely close.
All she could smell was sweat, iron, fumes, and what was distinctly plastic. The brunette curled her nose in disgust as she stood behind the blonde.
"Get back inside," The Doctor timidly said edging backwards.
"What is wrong?" Rachel asked as she tiptoed to see over the blonde's shoulders. She knew they had to be in a factory of some sort. "Come on, what's going on? Quinn?"
Quinn, I love you.
The blonde suddenly snapped her head around and stared harshly at Rachel. Her demeanor was serious and Rachel could tell inside her heart somehow broke. "Stay in the TARDIS. Lock it. Do not, I repeat, do not, open the door no matter what," she ordered. The cheerfulness and easy tone escaped from the blonde and was replaced with stone. She pushed Rachel back into the TARDIS and shut the door.
Quinn? Rachel thought to herself carefully. For a second she couldn’t understand why she called the Doctor that. It was becoming all too familiar to her. Something inside of her screamed out the name. She knew the blonde. But how?
The brunette shut her eyes tightly, feeling her head ache. Where? Where have I seen you before Doctor? Without realizing her actions, she grabbed the doors and swung them open. The strong odor of melted plastic overwhelmed her nose as she walked out of the TARDIS.
At that instant, she wished she had listened to the blonde. Immediately she was seized by her arms by two mannequins. They dragged her down the metal stairs. Every step Rachel took resounded with fear as she saw a fiery pit that seemed to be roaring. The longer Rachel stared, the more she realized it was moving as though it was alive. It was responding to everything going on around it.
Beyond the flames that flared up at random intervals, she could see and vaguely hear the Doctor talk down to the pit.
"You can't take over this godforsaken town! It is too little!" the blonde yelled. She tried rushing forward but was detained by two mannequins.
Then a roar came. Rachel felt her heart jump out of her when she realized that the roar came back from the pit.
"We all lost our people! We were all affected by the war!" the Doctor argued. Another roar came, this time sounding pained. "I want to save you! Leave this earth! It is just coming to life. They haven't even reached Andromeda properly yet!"
A screech came and the mannequins began to search the blonde. One of them pulled out a long tube filled with dark liquid. Another screech followed.
Rachel could perceive a pained look on the blonde face. And she recognized the way she raised her right eyebrow, her head started hurting again but she stared at the Doctor intently.
"That was just a safety measurement. I was only going to use it if you chose not to cooperate," the Doctor responded with a smug look. The thing roared back. "I thought we could settle this amicably." Another roar. "I even used the Shadow Proclamation to call you out. COME ON."
Another roar came as a response and the whole platform shook. The Doctor remained calm but looked almost ruthless as she stared down into the pit. Her tone remained as benevolent as it possibly could, "You need to leave this planet if you want to survive."
A roar came and the Doctor's expression fell. "You wouldn't." Another roar came and Rachel could tell that meant nothing good. The blonde looked up and saw Rachel as she was restrained even more by the mannequins. Another one came up from behind and placed its arm around her neck. The Doctor fought as much as she could but she stared at Rachel, her eyes apologizing.
"Doctor!" Rachel yelled as she pulled her body forward. Her heart pounded. That sad look in her hazel eyes, the helplessness. It wasn't the Doctor she saw but she didn't know who it was.
Using her 10 years of training, Rachel lifted her legs into a split into the plastic torsos of the mannequins. They loosened their grip and she kicked them one at a time for good measure. She broke free and ran as fast as she could, to the aid the blonde.
"Rachel!"
She looked around and found Finn frightened and bound to the wall. She turned back to the blonde and found herself breaking free of the mannequin’s grip. Rachel took a moment and ran to Finn's side, quickly freeing him.
"That thing, in the pit, it talks," Finn frantically said. "It would be so awesome, if it weren't plotting to destroy everything!"
"What?!" Rachel turned around and the Doctor was seized again. "Run as fast as you can to the police box on the other side. Go!" Finn nodded and ran.
"I was supposed to be in New York right now. I helped William McKinley High School win Nationals for Glee Club. I have a bumbling boyfriend and had a dead end job. I am supposed to be a star except now I am a Lima Loser. I may want to get the hell out of here but I love this place because it is my home."
She ran to the Doctor's side and kicked away the mannequins. The blonde was freed and took as much air into her lungs as possible. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Rachel looked confused for a moment. "Why are you asking me? You were the one that was almost strangled," the singer responded as she helped the Doctor stand up straight.
"So what? You're a human, I am not," the blonde smiled. For a moment, relief filled her expression until it fell again. She ran to the edge of the pit and screamed down. "You have one more chance to redeem yourself! You will put an end to this now! You will let these people live!"
A roar came again. The mannequins followed their orders and seized the Doctor again. She grabbed the one with the long tube and pushed it over the edge. As the plastic fell, she pancaked her body on the metal platform and grabbed onto the mannequins arm.
"What're you doing?!" Rachel yelled.
"This is a bargain!" the blonde responded with a strained voice. She was using as much strength as she could to hold the mannequin up. "You hear that? You have one more chance! Leave this place peacefully! Or die!" A roar came louder than ever. Everything around them began to shake and fall apart. The blonde lost her grip and the mannequin fell. The tube with the dark liquid spilled on to the thing in the pit.
For a second, as the whole factory shook and roared, Rachel shut her eyes to the piercing bright light. She heard the sound of cries in the distance but didn't understand where they were coming from.
In an instant, she felt her hand was seized again by that same comforting one she had felt before. She knew the Doctor grabbed her in the midst of the blinding light and she knew she was going to be all right.
--------------
It felt like days as the TARDIS was "bringing them back home." Rachel could not keep her eyes off of the blonde as she manned the vehicle, er, machine.
"There you guys go," the blonde announced as the engines to the TARDIS came to a halt. She snapped her fingers and the door opened. "Home sweet home."
Finn instantly ran out. He stumbled into the streets and realized what a mess it was. Cars and shops were broken into, fire hydrants dismantled, fires dying down; more importantly lifeless mannequins laid on the ground.
"So, living plastic monsters?" Rachel asked as she walked out of the TARDIS.
The blonde smiled. "Easy," with a snap of her fingers.
"Who was the one that helped kick those mannequin's asses?" the brunette teased.
"I would've still been able to take care of it," the Doctor insisted still plastered with a smile. They both shared a light laugh before Rachel looked down at her toes. "I guess, I'll be off?" The blonde paused. "Unless...you want to come with me? I mean I don’t really care, but...I guess there's a lot of traveling going on."
"Rachel! She is an alien!" Finn warned from behind her.
The Doctor rolled her eyes but smiled as if she expected it. "He is not invited." She watched as Rachel looked up at her, unsure of what path to take. "Do you want to stay here, working, eating, hanging out, and doing almost nothing? Come with me Rachel Berry gold star, there is more to life." She took Rachel's hand into her and once again Rachel felt her heart rush. "So much more, that we can experience."
Then she looked back at Finn, who looked terrified. Rachel let go of the blonde's hand. "I don't know who you are, Doctor," she regretfully answered. She looked back at Finn again. "Someone needs to take care of my dads and that boy."
The Doctor felt her heart fall but looked unaffected. She nodded before retreating back into the TARDIS.
Rachel shut the door and walked away. She took Finn's hand into hers and began to walk home.
They looked back and watched as the blue police box disappeared into nothing. Rachel felt a strong tug in her heart as if she had lost someone. But again, she didn't know who it was.
Her head felt like it was ripped in two and she fell onto her knees. She could hear Finn yelling out to her as every dam in her mind began to break. Several thousand thoughts rushed back into her mind. Every secret and part of her life that she had forgotten came back. Everything she hid from Finn, her fathers, the Gleeks, they came back. Every memory of the blonde came back to her. And for once, she didn’t feel like she was missing any thing.
The sound of the wind blowing caught both of their attentions. They turned their heads and saw the TARDIS materialize. The door opened and Rachel scrambled to her feet with a smile.
There the Doctor was again, smiling at Rachel as if she knew before walking back inside.
"Finn, I love you, but there was always someone else." Rachel shook her head. "I know that sounds really messed up but I am not going to lie to you. I remember now, all of those times you looked at me as if I was missing something or someone. You were right and this time I remember it all."
Finn stood there with his jaw dropped. He comprehended what she had said but still could understand what she was talking about.
"Thank you," the brunette said finally. She pulled him in for a hug.
"For what?" he asked sounding crushed and confused.
"Exactly." She tiptoed to kiss him on the lips one last time before running into the TARDIS. This time, she wouldn't forget. This time, she wasn't going to let her go. Her Quinn, the Doctor.
Author:zta_atsin
Rating: PG13 because of aliens and such
Length: about 7400
Characters: Rachel/Quinn, Puck, Kurt, Finn, Brittany/Santana, Sue Sylvester, etc OCs random ones
Summary: Doctor Who AU! No one left Lima, Ohio, they all ended up being Lima Losers just like the other generations. Rachel is stuck at a dead end job with a vague recollection of why she chose to stay. However, Lima gets a little interesting, when trouble rises after Rachel's job gets blown up. No one knows how to save Lima, except for the Doctor.
A/N: Awhile back I wrote some Microfics for Rachel/Quinn and I wrote one with an AU of Doctor Who. I was hoping someone would pick it up, but I decided to take a stab at it. I really hope I do justice for Doctor!Quinn; she is kind of a mixture between Nine and herself. For those of you who don't know what Doctor Who is, you should really get on it because it is the MOST brilliant show I have ever watched. The show basically follows a man named the Doctor, who is a Time Lord that travels through time and space saving the world from aliens and such. He always travels with a human companion simply because he has a thing for the human race.
In this it is Doctor!Quinn and Companion!Rachel. If you have watched the show, you might see some changes that I have made. It is only for the sake that the Doctor is Quinn, so that changes the plot of the original slightly.
PS It is also Future Fic. Rachel is a sophomore now [2010] and the story takes place 6 years later.
Onward~!
Lima, Ohio - 2016
Rachel laid in her bed looking up at her ceiling. The popcorns on her fading pink ceiling were beginning to look all alike as she tried counting them. God, she was bored.
To think, she would’ve been on Broadway in the Big Apple by now. She sighed at the thought of letting that life go. She turned her life around in a complete 180 for a stupid boy. She still couldn’t understand why; she was just waiting for something. She was glad yet troubled that all of her high school years became a blur in her mind. Her most prominent memory was choosing to stay in Lima for her boyfriend.
She glanced at her desk clock. 5:59. Immediately, as it turned to 6:00, she slapped the snooze button and hopped out of bed.
Her routine was always: elliptical, shower, breakfast, kiss Dad and Daddy goodbye, and off to work.
Her work routine wasn’t any better. It was even more mundane: work, break, see Finn, work, and close.
Her job wasn’t too difficult; working in a clothing shop in Lima, Ohio was easy. Your job consisted of folding and greeting customers all day. Everyone that you saw knew you and you would know everyone. It was an easy life but she felt empty. As if some part of her was missing.
"Are you okay?" Finn asked as he sat with her. The best thing about her stupid boy, Finn, was that he actually liked her. He filled a void that she didn’t quite understand or recall. More importantly, Rachel knew that she could always rely on him. However, there was always something more that Rachel wanted and knew she couldn’t have. Excitement.
Rachel looked over at her "boyfriend." She nodded. "I am alright. Just tired. Kurt and Mercedes keep fighting over how to organize the clothes."
"Tell me about it," Finn sighed as he put his arm around her. "I was sitting behind the counter when Brittany comes in to buy some ice cream and Puck comes by and tries to hit on her."
Rachel let out a light laugh.
"I mean, Puck should take the hint that Brittany is still obviously dating Santana."
Rachel laughed a little harder. "He still hasn’t realized?"
"Obviously not. He still wears that Mohawk from high school."
Rachel slapped Finn playfully. "You're so mean to Noah sometimes."
"It can't be helped, we are all Lima Losers," Finn shrugged.
Rachel looked at her feet. She really wished she wasn’t stuck in Lima. Anywhere except Lima would be great. She wanted to travel. She simply held in the thought and settled for what was there.
She was presented with an opportunity, she vaguely remembered. Someone offered to take her away, to leave Lima, to leave the planet. It was one of her memories she couldn’t recall.
After she kissed Finn goodbye and got back to work, she had wondered where the time had suddenly melted to. "Closing in five minutes," the PA voiced.
Rachel looked at her watch. It was already 10. She sighed, knowing she had to close up as soon as the last customer was out.
"Rachel, can you bring this down to Wilson by the way?" her boss asked as he held her extension wires.
Rachel sighed and took the wires down to the electrician. She knew by the time she had gotten down to the basement, everyone else would be gone already. She sighed for the umpteenth that day and began humming a few bars of "Touch Me" from Spring Awakening.
The basement, needless to say, was quite frightening. It was dimmed and full of equipment that could possibly fall on you. What freaked her out at the moment were the mannequins.
"Hey, Wilson!" she yelled as she knocked on the door that Wilson was supposed to be in. "Come get your stupid wires, I want to go out."
Suddenly, something fell on the ground behind her. She instantly turned around. She saw a mannequin from the other side of the wall begin to lift its arms. "Hello?" she called through the basement fearfully. "Who is there?" She watched as the plastic begin to move towards her.
"Finn? Is that you? Or is it Brittany?" Rachel asked. "You know how I deal with frightening situations. No one will get out unscathed. I have been trained in tae kwon do since I was 7. Come on."
It didn’t dawn her until more creaking sounds followed the mannequin. All of a sudden there was an army of mannequins coming to life. They all began to corner her.
In response, she shut her eyes tightly as one of them raised its arm high above her head. Using tae kwon do against any of them would be useless. Suddenly a hand slipped into hers.
She opened her eyes and saw a blonde woman, not too much older than her, simply order, "Run!"
Without even thinking, Rachel felt no other choice but to follow the blonde woman. "Where are we going?"
"Getting out of here of course," the blonde woman responded with excitement. She rounded them around the corner and Rachel could see more mannequins come to life and begin chasing them.
The blonde pushed her into the elevator and began click the button furiously. Both of them could see the mannequins quickly advancing. As the door began to close an arm came sailing in, clearly reaching for anything.
The blonde grabbed onto the arm and began to pull as hard as she could. With a loud pop, the arm came off and the elevator doors shut. "Well, that was great wasn’t it?" the blonde turned Rachel with a glowing smile.
Rachel couldn’t help but blush as she stared at the blonde. She took a moment to glance up and down the blonde. She was clearly different; she had dressed for an adventure, in her own manner with (A/N) set of white slacks and dress shirt and a vest and tie that was just thrown on with a finished touch of a pair of ratty Chuck Taylors and a tan hat.
The blonde continued. "Plastic," she said gleefully as she tossed the arm to Rachel.
"Of course it is plastic. Alright, who put you up to this prank? Was it those middle school boys? Or those William McKinley boys?" Rachel asked accusingly.
The blonde quirked an eyebrow and smirked. "Why would they be boys?"
"What?"
"You said they would be boys. But why boys?"
"Because getting a whole bunch of them to pull this prank would be simple. The number and the whole idea of pranks come from adolescent to immature high school boys that want some attention. Not to mention, they have nothing to lose. All they would do is gain popularity over the fact that they are a bunch of hooligans that stir up trouble for fun."
"That is harsh but it makes sense. Well done!" The blonde announces as she looks up at the floor number. "But do they look like boys?" There was a familiar touch of sarcasm in her tone. "I think not!" She laughed. "Boys controlling a bunch of mannequins; that'll be the day."
"Wait, what happened to Wilson? He is still down there."
The blonde turned back to Rachel and frankly answered, "In short, he is dead." The elevator dinged and she ran out quickly. Rachel followed close behind, wondering how a pair of ratty Chucks would give any support for running so quickly.
"Are you kidding me?" Rachel yelled. "How can you be so frank about him being dead?"
"It is just a fact!" the blonde answered. She was unfazed by Rachel's reaction and continued towards the fire exit. She pulled out something that looked like a pen and watched as it lit up blue. "Watch your eyes."
Sparks flew from door and Rachel knew it had to be opened now. "Alright, what is going on?" The blonde ignored her. "What is going on!?"
"Okay, you see this?" The blonde pointed at the plastic arm in Rachel's hands. "It’s plastic. Living plastic to be exact. Which are controlled by a simply relay device. But here is something really cool." She smiled and showed Rachel was seemed to be a bomb. "So! I'm going to blow this whole place up and I might die in the process. But go!"
Rachel felt herself pushed out of the fire exit. She watched as the door shut behind her. She looked on and wondered what that lunatic was going to do.
The blonde suddenly reappeared. "Aren't you going to run?"
"Who are you?!"
"I am the Doctor, run for your life!" The blonde yelled quickly before slamming the door shut.
Rachel didn’t know why she listened but she did so anyways. She ran as far as she could from the building before turning around. She got almost a block away before watching her workplace explode into bits.
"Are you kidding me? My daughter was right near the blast. We're going to want some compensation for that. She could’ve been hurt or far worse, dead!" Rachel heard her Daddy yell into the telephone from the police.
As he went on, her Dad came into the living room with some tea for her. "Are you alright?" he asked gently as she took the tea.
Rachel nodded. She couldn’t even fathom the event at all. All she could remember was that blonde holding onto her hand and dragging her away from those mannequins. She could still feel the tight grip around her hand as she sipped her tea.
There was a loud knock on her door. Her Dad got up and went to open it. Finn came flying into the room, almost knocking the plastic arm off the recliner.
"Are you okay?" he asked with nothing but concern.
"Of course I am," Rachel responded nonchalantly. She could still hear her Daddy arguing in the background. "It isn’t a big deal."
"It definitely is. You could’ve gotten seriously injured." Finn shook his head and kissed her. "You deserve a drink. Forget about tonight, all that craziness. We are going to Puck's."
"Is he having another party?"
Finn shrugged and gave his golden boy smile.
Rachel smiled in response. She really didn’t need a party right now. If the image of the blonde woman didn't plague her mind, she would have chosen to gone with Finn. It was a sweet gesture on his part after all. "It’s okay Finn. I am glad you came here but I am not really in the mood. It was really hectic and right now maybe I just need some sleep." Finn stared at her to make sure. "You can go Finn. Besides, you know my tolerance of alcohol. The smell of booze and burning sensation do not go well for my throat. I still need to practice singing if I want to get out of here at some point."
"That's my girl," Finn said proudly. "Are you sure, though?" He asked once more. Rachel nodded and he hesitantly stood up. "Do you want me to stay?" She knew he wanted to go; with her approval, he knew it was okay.
"Can you toss out that dummy arm?"
Finn smiled and grabbed the arm. Using it to wave goodbye and using it to fake a choking. Rachel smiled lightly as he walked out.
----------------------
The next morning came up the same. Her alarm rang promptly at 6am. The only difference in her routine was that she didn’t need to go to work. Her Dad and Daddy had insisted that she just stay home while they were at work.
So as she sat in front of the TV eating her cereal she had begun to wonder what really happened last night. The news was still buzzing over what happened at her shop. What caused the explosion? What was up with those mannequins?
The sound of scratches came from her front door and immediately she could hear someone trying to break in. Her eyes widened and she cautiously got up from the warm couch. Hiding behind the door as she heard the clicking, the brunette grabbed a baseball bat her Dad left behind.
As the door opened and the person walked in, she lunged forward bringing the bat down on the intruder.
With a loud yelp, the intruder fell onto the ground with a thud and began muttering swears. Rachel brought the bat down for good measure but the intruder still didn’t go out cold.
"Ow! What the hell is that for?!"
Rachel took a moment and recognized the voice. She stared again and it was the same blonde, wearing the same outfit as the night before and ratty Chucks.
The blonde rolled over on her back and looked up at Rachel. "What are you doing here?" she asked with a confused tone.
"This is my house!" the brunette yelled in response. She was frightened shitless and that was something the "Doctor" didn’t seem to understand. Rachel dropped the bat and helped the blonde up.
The blonde rubbed the back of her neck with a groan. "You aren’t plastic are you?" she asked as she tapped Rachel's head. "Nope! Bye then!" She began to walk out but then Rachel grabbed tightly onto her and shut the door.
"You have to explain what the hell happened last night," Rachel demanded as she pushed the other woman on the couch. "Do you want anything to drink?" she asked as she moved to the kitchen.
The blonde responded with a delighted, "Sure!" , and watched as Rachel walked into the kitchen. She took this opportunity to look around. She found the mirror and began touching her face. "Eyes, ears, nose, blonde, boobs, yup. All here! I wish I was a ginger..." she frowned but then shrugged and began looking around again. She picked up a magazine. "Gay and an alien. What is this world coming to?" Clearly that was disappointing.
She looked around again there was a picture on the fireplace of Rachel and group of kids. She laughed to herself, "I remember that."
"I think we should go to the cops. I didn’t know what to tell them at all." Rachel reappeared with a cup of coffee. "Maybe if you are there, you can help me out."
The blonde cringed at the name of the cops. "Cops are a no-no. Every time cops get involved, things get worse." She took the coffee from Rachel and smelled it. It still held that same scent from all those years ago.
"Like the time, we found Little Nessie at the back of school?" Rachel joked. She recoiled. Where is that coming from? She asked herself. A sharp pain shot through her brain causing her to shut her eyes.
"Are you okay?" Rachel found the blonde unnervingly close to her as she opened her eyes again. Her hand rested gently on her temples and her eyes falling into the hazel ones.
There was thumping in her chest that she couldn't ignore. It was frightening, yet it felt all too familiar. And good.
The blonde smiled. For a second, she moved closer to examine the shorter girl but was distracted with the distinct sound of tapping. She frowned. "Do you have a cat now?" The tapping got louder.
"No...Remember my dads would never let me get one because I was so scared of them after I saw 'Cats'?" Rachel responded. She was confused. There it was again, she was recalling things she didn't remember. She looked up when the tapping continued. "I think it is coming from my room."
Without another word the Doctor ran up the stairs. Rachel following after she put her coffee down. When she got up there she watched as the blonde was on the floor wrestling with the plastic arm.
"Oh gosh, this is getting weird," Rachel acknowledged that she let a stranger in her home. However, it was getting strange as she watched her fight with the plastic arm.
When Rachel got close, it suddenly wasn’t that weird. The arm came sailing at her face and it held on tightly. She got up as best as she could but felt back down on her bed.
The blonde's eyes widened as she tried to help pull the arm off of Rachel's face. With a harsh pull, she fought with the arm and slammed it down on the bed next to Rachel's head followed by the pen looking object again. After a bright blue light shone again the fighting plastic arm died again.
"Armless!" the blonde joked as she waved the plastic around. She smiled.
Rachel's face began to flush as she realized the position they were in. The blonde's hips were comfortably straddling hers as she laid pinned on her bed. She wondered how she got their in the first place but couldn’t help feel her heart pounding as the blonde smiled.
The blonde stared at Rachel as if she knew something but didn’t say anything. All she could do was smile. Suddenly, she leaned down and Rachel almost thought her heart was going to explode out of her chest.
She shut her eyes wondering if she thought what she thought was going to happen. However, there was a sudden lift in weight and she watched the blonde fly out of the room.
"Where do you think you’re going?" Rachel asked incredulously as she tailed the blonde. "You can't just sail off without an explanation."
"Well then, aren’t I doing that right now?" the blonde responded without looking back as she glided through the streets now with the plastic arm. "You really should go back home. If anyone were to be caught with me, they’d be dead. I only stir up trouble."
"You didn’t explain anything to me though. Why was that arm after me? Why did it come back to me?"
"What? Does the whole world seem to revolve around you?"
"Yes!"
"Well then Rachel Berry gold star, why don’t you go on back home? Because the world does not revolve around you. That plastic arm was after me. It was looking for me because it knows I can destroy it. It only attacked you because you blundered into meeting me."
"So what? The world revolves around you? What do you call yourself? The Doctor?"
"That's me!" the Doctor responded instantly. Rachel bit her lip not to smile at the other woman's reaction. She could tell the blonde could be insufferable already.
"Doctor of what though? I mean, you have to go through years of medical school, interning, and residency in order to qualify as a competent doctor. You do not seem like you practice medicine."
"Rachel Berry, do you ever stop rambling?" the blonde asked in a playful manner. She knew exactly how to get Rachel to stop talking.
The singer blushed and looked down. "Wait, so what’re you going to do?" Rachel asked.
"About what?"
"About this! This whole thing? I mean, does anyone else know about these mannequins coming to life?"
The blonde shook her head. "Nope. Not really."
"You're on your own?"
"Basically. Everyone else is too busy with their own lives: watching TV, eating. No one knows when the world is about to end!" Again that smile of excitement plastered the Doctor's face.
Rachel reached out and pulled the blonde back. Her hand rested gently against the taller woman's forearm. "Tell me about it."
The blonde sighed in resignation but she couldn’t help but be intrigued by the girl.
It didn’t take long to realize that the Doctor was not a person. Rachel acknowledged that the blonde looked human, talked in English, but didn’t talk like she was from this world, or universe for that matter. Her knowledge was far beyond Earth and yet there was quite a fondness.
"So how’re you going to deal with this living plastic?" Rachel asked. "Taking on one is hard; taking on a possible army is harder. There are mannequins every where if you think about it."
"We just need to kill the signal. I cut that, dead."
"But why Lima, Ohio? We are nothing but a small town with a bunch of losers," Rachel went on.
"There are pockets of energy everywhere in the universe. It just happened to be here."
A lot of things make sense to Rachel, even when people don't expect it to happen. However, the way the blonde was talking made no sense. Rachel could not understand what the blonde meant by "pockets of energy."
"Tell me, who are you?"
The blonde stopped and turned to her. "Do you know how when you're a kid, they tell you the Earth is actually spinning really fast? But then you can't really believe it because you’re a kid. I can feel it." Rachel felt the Doctor's hand slipping into hers. Her heart fluttered again. "The sense that the earth is spinning but we are just clinging to the surface. All that speed and falling into space. I can feel it but when we let go..." She let go and Rachel could feel herself fall.
The blonde moved in unexpectedly. She placed a soft kiss on Rachel's cheek. "Go home, Rachel Berry gold star. Forget about me." The blonde smiled and began walking away towards a police box.
Rachel resigned and began walking away. In the distance she could hear the whooshing of air. She ran back and looked around. There was no more police box.
When she got home she went straight onto her laptop. She didn’t even know where to begin.
She wanted to search for the Doctor. The blonde was too interesting to let go of. Someone had to know something. Who would know? Why did she seem so familiar? The blonde hair. The softness of her hands. The caress of her lips.
The Doctor.
She got useless results.
Doctor Living Plastic.
Worse results.
Doctor Blue Box.
Sue Sylvester: "Contact if you know anything." Rachel raised her eye brows to the result. She clicked on it and it spit back a picture of the blonde. It was blurry but it was definitely her. Except, why was she in the McKinley High School yearbook?
-------------------
"Do you remember Coach Sylvester?" Finn asked fearfully as he pulled up across the street from her house. "She was the Nazi of the Cheerios. Everyone was scared of her. We shouldn’t be here."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "Relax Finn, it’s been 4 years since we graduated. She has got to have mellowed out by now. Besides, she has a wife and kids."
"Who are probably just as deadly as she is." Finn deadpanned.
"Don’t worry about it. I have my cell phone. If any sudden danger arises, I will call the cops."
Rachel didn’t wait for his response and jumped out of the car. She hesitated to ring the doorbell. Why would Sue Sylvester be searching for the Doctor? She had gotten this far already there was no turning back.
When the door swung opened, she was bracing herself to see that harsh older woman looking disdainfully at her.
On the contrary, an older African American woman greeted cheerfully. "Hello!"
"Hi, I am looking for Sue Sylvester about what she's looking for?" Rachel asked carefully.
"Of course," the woman responded keeping the smile on. "Sue! Someone is here to look for the Doctor!"
Rachel stared carefully into the house. Coach Sylvester finally appeared, still sporting her track suit, and holding a smoothie.
"Well if it isn’t a Smurfette," she greeted with that disdainful smile Rachel was expecting. "Come in, it is always still good to get some results."
"Do you know who the Doctor is exactly?" Rachel asked ignoring the insult as she followed the coach of the Cheerios in her home. The older woman didn’t answer until she reached what seemed to be her home office. It was strikingly different from her Cheerios office, consisting of articles and pictures surrounding the Doctor.
Again Rachel could see the beautiful blonde's face clearly and she couldn’t help but smile.
"The Doctor is the bane of my existence this moment. I have seen her before and I don’t mean just in that high school picture but several of them. After continuing my research back as far as 1964, I couldn’t help but wonder what exactly was going on."
Sue pulled up several pictures and laid them across the table. The pictures were worn out but it was definitely depicting the Doctor. All of them just as beautiful as the previous one, no matter how far back in time.
"Why are you looking for her?" Rachel asked out of curiosity. Sue Sylvester never cared about anyone besides her Cheerios.
"Four years ago, she apparently was a student here. No one seemed to know about her but then I started doing some research after I saw her incredible reflexes and triple flips. I needed her on my Cheerios," Sue Sylvester explained.
"If she has history all the way back in the 1960s then how would you even get her on the team. I mean talk about bending the rules, she has to be aged well over 40," Rachel thought of. How come she had never seen her at school before?
Sue pulled out a picture of the blonde at the Assassination of Kennedy, then the Titanic, then the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. "She looks the same in every picture. There is no evidence of aging or parentage. Not to mention an actual name; always "Doctor.""
"I will find a way to get her on the Cheerios, but with this girl, there is a catch," Sue added with a frown. It wasn’t going to be good. "Death follows her wherever she goes."
Rachel looked underneath the pile of pictures and found one that stood out. Her senior year, the Glee club took Nationals. Confused, she pulled it out and saw everyone in the Glee club standing with the trophy. There she was circled, the Doctor, smiling with everyone else.
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"Alright after all of these years, Sue Sylvester is still a crazy, Nazi coach who cares about nothing more than her Cheerios," Rachel huffed annoyed as she got back into Finn's car. "I am surprised Glee Club is still alive since we have left. Either way it was a bust. Do you want to get some dinner?"
"P-p-p-pizza!" Finn said with a gleaming smile plastered on his face. Rachel looked at him as if he had a jolt of Vitamin D. "Let's go!"
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Rachel frowned as she sat in the quaint little restaurant. She had been feeling a little noxious because of Finn's reckless driving. Swerving and sudden stopping made her stomach lurch.
"What should I get?" she asked in general, simply trying to avoid talking about the Doctor. Yet, she could not get that blonde woman out of her mind. She wondered if and when she would ever see her again.
"Did you find anything out about the Doctor, sweetheart, baby, sugar, Rachel?" Finn asked with a strange twitch.
"Nothing, it’s not important anymore," Rachel brushed off.
"Do you know where she could be?" Finn persisted.
"Did either of you order the salmon?" A waiter came by.
"No," Rachel ignored. She didn’t even order yet. "Are you okay, Finn? Can we drop the talk about the Doctor?"
"But I think we should find the Doctor."
"Salmon?" the waiter asked again.
"Seriously?" Finn snapped. "We didn’t order anything!" He looked up at the waiter. "Well, this is great."
"Doctor!" Rachel exclaimed. "What're you--"
The blonde smiled and slapped the uncooked salmon across Finn's face. For a moment Finn's head spun in a complete 360 before settling back in place.
"We should talk," Finn smiled deviantly as he stood up. "Doctor."
"Yeah...No," the blonde went on as she stared at up at him. She grabbed a bottle off of the table and smashed it over Finn's head. But being so much bigger, even the duplicate of Finn could still withstand being hit.
Everyone turned to the loud crash followed by the blonde yelling out, "Damnit!" She followed up by jumping on his back as best as she could and wrung his neck with her arms. With a tight pull up and over, Finn's head came off with a loud POP.
"Hello there, Doctor," Finn still responded. Everyone started to scream and run as Finn's headless body began turning over tables and rushing to hurt someone.
"What the hell is going on?!" Rachel exclaimed to the blonde as she watched everyone run and scream.
And once again, the blonde gleamed with a smile and slipped her hand into Rachel's before saying, "Run!"
Like the night before, both of them began to run hand and hand, fingers intertwined. Rachel somehow relieved that the Doctor was still around. Her heart sank at the thought that they would never see each other again.
They took the backdoor out and knew that Finn's headless body was still chasing them and it knew exactly where they were heading. When they got outside they were cornered. No other exit unless someone opened up the pathway for the garbage truck. The only thing that could possibly save them was the police box standing there on its own.
"Come hide in here," the blonde entreated with sheer calmness. "We're safe."
"Are you kidding me?" Rachel exclaimed as she watch the blonde walk towards it. "We can’t hide in a wooden box. It’s just as bad as being stuck in a porta-potty. Do you know that there is only one good thing a police box from the fifties is for? It's for getting killed when you’re being chased! We have to get out of here. There has got to be another way out." Rachel looked around frantically.
"Come on, Gold Star!" she heard from the inside.
The singer looked around frantically again. She could hear Finn pounding at the door to get out. And he was close. Finally she resigned, running quickly into the stupid wooden box.
"Holy shit," Rachel's eyes almost fell out of her head as she wondered at the vast space inside. She watched as the Doctor fiddled with knobs and switches in what seemed to be the control panel. It seemed far too complicated for Rachel to even fathom.
"I know," the blonde cockily said as she snapped her fingers. The doors shut tightly behind the shorter brunette. She watched as Rachel still stared.
"What is this? I mean there is no chance in hell this much space could fit in such a little police box. Even if you bend space or shrink everything down, you would have no chance of doing so, there is no technology," Rachel rambled on. She could feel her heart swell up and the tears seer her eyes.
"I am going to say this once and please don’t cry; this is called a TARDIS," the blonde began. "That is Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It is bigger on the inside I get it. It travels through time and space; where ever you think you want to go, I could quite possibly make it happen. But, first things first, it is what’s going to take us to find where the Nestene Consciousness is hiding."
"Nestene Consciousness?" Rachel could feel her tears slowly spilling out. What am I doing here? What is this world? A thousand thoughts ran through her mind as she continued to listen to the Doctor.
For once, her knowledge of the world was completely shattered. Rachel Berry had plans. That is who she is, a planner. She knows what to expect and what to wait for and what to do. Then the Doctor decides to show her otherwise. She's felt it before but she did not know how overwhelming it was.
"It is what’s controlling all of the plastic in Lima, Ohio of course! Which is the reason why I took your boyfriend's head. I needed it because it produces a much better signal than the arm. Definitely a better signal."
The tears poured out of her eyes as she sank down against the doors. What is going on? What is going on? What is going on? She kept asking herself. Rachel Berry was always in control and now, she stepped into a world she could barely fathom.
In almost an instant, she felt arms wrap around her comfortingly. "Hey, I told you not to cry," the blonde whispered. Her whole body was tensed to holding Rachel but she did so anyways. "I don’t know how to deal with crying people. You have to help me out by stopping."
"Is he alive?" Rachel asked putting a filter on her tears. She finally realized that she hadn’t been with Finn the whole time.
"Who?" the blonde clearly didn’t know.
"Finn! My boyfriend?" Rachel suddenly filled herself with fury. She looked at the control panel and saw Finn's head melt into the buttons. "And now he's melting into your stupid TARDIS! All you care about is this crazy ALIEN stuff!"
The Doctor sighed. Maybe it was a bad idea to bring her back. She ran up to the control panel and began pressing all the buttons. Or at least the necessary ones. It didn’t matter much to Rachel, they all looked the same.
With a final push of the lever, the engines stopped roaring and settled carefully. The blonde looked at a screen next to the seat before running out.
"Wait it's not safe out there!" Rachel yelled as she followed the blonde out.
Not even stepping 10 feet out of the TARDIS, Rachel bumped into the blonde and looked around. She wasn’t behind the restaurant or what seemed to be anywhere remotely close.
All she could smell was sweat, iron, fumes, and what was distinctly plastic. The brunette curled her nose in disgust as she stood behind the blonde.
"Get back inside," The Doctor timidly said edging backwards.
"What is wrong?" Rachel asked as she tiptoed to see over the blonde's shoulders. She knew they had to be in a factory of some sort. "Come on, what's going on? Quinn?"
Quinn, I love you.
The blonde suddenly snapped her head around and stared harshly at Rachel. Her demeanor was serious and Rachel could tell inside her heart somehow broke. "Stay in the TARDIS. Lock it. Do not, I repeat, do not, open the door no matter what," she ordered. The cheerfulness and easy tone escaped from the blonde and was replaced with stone. She pushed Rachel back into the TARDIS and shut the door.
Quinn? Rachel thought to herself carefully. For a second she couldn’t understand why she called the Doctor that. It was becoming all too familiar to her. Something inside of her screamed out the name. She knew the blonde. But how?
The brunette shut her eyes tightly, feeling her head ache. Where? Where have I seen you before Doctor? Without realizing her actions, she grabbed the doors and swung them open. The strong odor of melted plastic overwhelmed her nose as she walked out of the TARDIS.
At that instant, she wished she had listened to the blonde. Immediately she was seized by her arms by two mannequins. They dragged her down the metal stairs. Every step Rachel took resounded with fear as she saw a fiery pit that seemed to be roaring. The longer Rachel stared, the more she realized it was moving as though it was alive. It was responding to everything going on around it.
Beyond the flames that flared up at random intervals, she could see and vaguely hear the Doctor talk down to the pit.
"You can't take over this godforsaken town! It is too little!" the blonde yelled. She tried rushing forward but was detained by two mannequins.
Then a roar came. Rachel felt her heart jump out of her when she realized that the roar came back from the pit.
"We all lost our people! We were all affected by the war!" the Doctor argued. Another roar came, this time sounding pained. "I want to save you! Leave this earth! It is just coming to life. They haven't even reached Andromeda properly yet!"
A screech came and the mannequins began to search the blonde. One of them pulled out a long tube filled with dark liquid. Another screech followed.
Rachel could perceive a pained look on the blonde face. And she recognized the way she raised her right eyebrow, her head started hurting again but she stared at the Doctor intently.
"That was just a safety measurement. I was only going to use it if you chose not to cooperate," the Doctor responded with a smug look. The thing roared back. "I thought we could settle this amicably." Another roar. "I even used the Shadow Proclamation to call you out. COME ON."
Another roar came as a response and the whole platform shook. The Doctor remained calm but looked almost ruthless as she stared down into the pit. Her tone remained as benevolent as it possibly could, "You need to leave this planet if you want to survive."
A roar came and the Doctor's expression fell. "You wouldn't." Another roar came and Rachel could tell that meant nothing good. The blonde looked up and saw Rachel as she was restrained even more by the mannequins. Another one came up from behind and placed its arm around her neck. The Doctor fought as much as she could but she stared at Rachel, her eyes apologizing.
"Doctor!" Rachel yelled as she pulled her body forward. Her heart pounded. That sad look in her hazel eyes, the helplessness. It wasn't the Doctor she saw but she didn't know who it was.
Using her 10 years of training, Rachel lifted her legs into a split into the plastic torsos of the mannequins. They loosened their grip and she kicked them one at a time for good measure. She broke free and ran as fast as she could, to the aid the blonde.
"Rachel!"
She looked around and found Finn frightened and bound to the wall. She turned back to the blonde and found herself breaking free of the mannequin’s grip. Rachel took a moment and ran to Finn's side, quickly freeing him.
"That thing, in the pit, it talks," Finn frantically said. "It would be so awesome, if it weren't plotting to destroy everything!"
"What?!" Rachel turned around and the Doctor was seized again. "Run as fast as you can to the police box on the other side. Go!" Finn nodded and ran.
"I was supposed to be in New York right now. I helped William McKinley High School win Nationals for Glee Club. I have a bumbling boyfriend and had a dead end job. I am supposed to be a star except now I am a Lima Loser. I may want to get the hell out of here but I love this place because it is my home."
She ran to the Doctor's side and kicked away the mannequins. The blonde was freed and took as much air into her lungs as possible. "Are you okay?" she asked.
Rachel looked confused for a moment. "Why are you asking me? You were the one that was almost strangled," the singer responded as she helped the Doctor stand up straight.
"So what? You're a human, I am not," the blonde smiled. For a moment, relief filled her expression until it fell again. She ran to the edge of the pit and screamed down. "You have one more chance to redeem yourself! You will put an end to this now! You will let these people live!"
A roar came again. The mannequins followed their orders and seized the Doctor again. She grabbed the one with the long tube and pushed it over the edge. As the plastic fell, she pancaked her body on the metal platform and grabbed onto the mannequins arm.
"What're you doing?!" Rachel yelled.
"This is a bargain!" the blonde responded with a strained voice. She was using as much strength as she could to hold the mannequin up. "You hear that? You have one more chance! Leave this place peacefully! Or die!" A roar came louder than ever. Everything around them began to shake and fall apart. The blonde lost her grip and the mannequin fell. The tube with the dark liquid spilled on to the thing in the pit.
For a second, as the whole factory shook and roared, Rachel shut her eyes to the piercing bright light. She heard the sound of cries in the distance but didn't understand where they were coming from.
In an instant, she felt her hand was seized again by that same comforting one she had felt before. She knew the Doctor grabbed her in the midst of the blinding light and she knew she was going to be all right.
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It felt like days as the TARDIS was "bringing them back home." Rachel could not keep her eyes off of the blonde as she manned the vehicle, er, machine.
"There you guys go," the blonde announced as the engines to the TARDIS came to a halt. She snapped her fingers and the door opened. "Home sweet home."
Finn instantly ran out. He stumbled into the streets and realized what a mess it was. Cars and shops were broken into, fire hydrants dismantled, fires dying down; more importantly lifeless mannequins laid on the ground.
"So, living plastic monsters?" Rachel asked as she walked out of the TARDIS.
The blonde smiled. "Easy," with a snap of her fingers.
"Who was the one that helped kick those mannequin's asses?" the brunette teased.
"I would've still been able to take care of it," the Doctor insisted still plastered with a smile. They both shared a light laugh before Rachel looked down at her toes. "I guess, I'll be off?" The blonde paused. "Unless...you want to come with me? I mean I don’t really care, but...I guess there's a lot of traveling going on."
"Rachel! She is an alien!" Finn warned from behind her.
The Doctor rolled her eyes but smiled as if she expected it. "He is not invited." She watched as Rachel looked up at her, unsure of what path to take. "Do you want to stay here, working, eating, hanging out, and doing almost nothing? Come with me Rachel Berry gold star, there is more to life." She took Rachel's hand into her and once again Rachel felt her heart rush. "So much more, that we can experience."
Then she looked back at Finn, who looked terrified. Rachel let go of the blonde's hand. "I don't know who you are, Doctor," she regretfully answered. She looked back at Finn again. "Someone needs to take care of my dads and that boy."
The Doctor felt her heart fall but looked unaffected. She nodded before retreating back into the TARDIS.
Rachel shut the door and walked away. She took Finn's hand into hers and began to walk home.
They looked back and watched as the blue police box disappeared into nothing. Rachel felt a strong tug in her heart as if she had lost someone. But again, she didn't know who it was.
Her head felt like it was ripped in two and she fell onto her knees. She could hear Finn yelling out to her as every dam in her mind began to break. Several thousand thoughts rushed back into her mind. Every secret and part of her life that she had forgotten came back. Everything she hid from Finn, her fathers, the Gleeks, they came back. Every memory of the blonde came back to her. And for once, she didn’t feel like she was missing any thing.
The sound of the wind blowing caught both of their attentions. They turned their heads and saw the TARDIS materialize. The door opened and Rachel scrambled to her feet with a smile.
There the Doctor was again, smiling at Rachel as if she knew before walking back inside.
"Finn, I love you, but there was always someone else." Rachel shook her head. "I know that sounds really messed up but I am not going to lie to you. I remember now, all of those times you looked at me as if I was missing something or someone. You were right and this time I remember it all."
Finn stood there with his jaw dropped. He comprehended what she had said but still could understand what she was talking about.
"Thank you," the brunette said finally. She pulled him in for a hug.
"For what?" he asked sounding crushed and confused.
"Exactly." She tiptoed to kiss him on the lips one last time before running into the TARDIS. This time, she wouldn't forget. This time, she wasn't going to let her go. Her Quinn, the Doctor.