The world keeps turning
Title: The world keeps turning
Author: creepylicious/alles_luege
Pairing:Bob/Emilie Autumn, past Bob/Gerard, Doctor/William
Rating: PG-13
Summary: 2011, Earth: Bob has no band and a lot of time and The Doctor just happens to crash on his lawn. OR: How Bob Bryar saved the world.
Bob sat down and looked him over. “So, who are you?”
“I’m The Doctor,” he said and seemed to wait for something. It almost looked to Bob like he was kind of disappointed.
Bob leaned back in his chair.
Warning(s): aliens
Author’s Notes: Loosely tied to We keep meeting like this. Doctor Who/Bandom crossover.
Word Count: 4661
Beta: allfaltering
Disclaimer: Don’t know, don’t own, not real
~1~
Bob was having a smoke and minding his own business, even enjoying the quiet of the late evening (without Frank around he had a lot of quiet; too much sometimes) when something crashed onto his backyard. Bob took a deep drag from his cigarette, got up from the stairs he was sitting on and went to investigate.
~+~
“That is never going to work!” Bob says; he doesn’t shout, because Bob doesn’t do shouting. He doesn’t need to, one look and people are at least thinking their actions over. Not that that ever happened with HIM.
“You seem to forget that I’m brilliant!” The Doctor answers.
“You keep telling me that. The thing is, Doc, that I’ve met a lot of brilliant people and none of them were sane!” He grabs desperately onto something as the Tardis jolts again. Hard. This can’t be good, he thinks.
“This can’t be good…” The Doctor mumbles.
“Great. We’re gonna crash, right?” Bob asks. All of a sudden he feels a lot calmer.
“Nah…” The Doctor says and then, “maybe….uhm, make that a definitely.”
“Famous last words ?”
“Isn’t that a song?” The Doctor asks, but Bob doesn’t have time to answer that one anymore.
~+~
A blue box was lying on the grass. The rose bushes his mom planted were destroyed. As Bob took another drag of his smoke a door opened and a guy came out.
“Where am I?”
“Chicago.”
“Doesn’t look like I remember it,” the guy said.
“Outskirts.”
“Oh, okay. Good…that explains a thing or two. What time is it?”
“Nine thirty,” Bob replied after a glance at his watch.
“Year?”
“2011.”
“Excellent, I think? You’re not one for a lot of words, are you?”
Bob wanted to reply with ‘I’m a drummer’ like he always did when people asked him that particular question, but he shrugged instead.
“Want some coffee? And a smoke?”
“Tea would be lovely and some biscuits,” the guy answered with a small smile.
Bob took another drag of his cigarette and nodded.
~+~
Bob’s head is killing him. He opens his eyes and sits up. Still in the Tardis.
“Doc?”
“Yeah, under here…” comes a voice from somewhere to his right.
“Need help?”
“That would be lovely,” The Doctor answers. Bob rolls his eyes. British people are always so polite, even if he doesn’t really think the Doc is British what with the space-ship and all. He wanders over to The Doctor, lifts something up and helps The Doctor on his feet. “Thank you.”
“So where are we? And how bad is it?” Bob asks, he itches for a smoke, but the Doc has a strict no smoking in the Tardis policy going on.
“I have no idea! Let’s find out!” The Doctor says.
This, Bob thinks, is how all the disasters with the Doc begin. That or the word: Interesting.
~+~
“So, you crashed on my lawn,” Bob said, pouring tea into a mug.
“Seems so. You have somewhere to be, Bob Bryar?”
“I am somewhere.”
“Very philosophical of you,” The Doctor nodded, taking a sip of his tea.
Bob sat down and looked him over. “So, who are you?”
“I’m The Doctor,” he said and seemed to wait for something. It almost looked to Bob like he was kind of disappointed.
Bob leaned back in his chair.
~+~
The year is 2007 and the location is Earth.
“Not bad,” The Doctor says.
“You think? I live in this time. I am part of a band in this time,” Bob answers.
“Are you now?”
“Yes.”
“What band?”
“My Chemical Romance,” Bob replies, taking out a cigarette. He really needs one.
“Huch?!”
“What does that even mean?” Bob asks, taking a drag.
“I can’t remember you and I’ve seen them in concert in London with Bill once.”
Bob wants really to know who the heck Bill is, but he keeps it to himself for now.
“I’m not in the band anymore. When did you see them?”
“2013.”
Bob gives him a look. “Explains why you didn’t see me.”
“Explains why you have experience with brilliant people, that Gerard Way…” he stops abruptly and stares at something on the other side of the street.
This can’t be good, Bob thinks. And he’s right, a few seconds later The Doctor is running like hell, chasing the girl he was staring at.
~+~
“If you have nothing better to do than just existing you can come with me,” The Doctor said.
Bob took a sip of his coffee. “To do what?”
“Exist somewhere where it’s more exciting than here,” The Doctor answered.
“In your blue box?”
“It’s a spaceship and it’s bigger on the inside.”
Bob was hearing a stupid in joke about that from Frank in his head. Well, fuck. He really did not have anything better to do right now. The guys were playing Europe and promoting their new album, playing dress up for videos and he was here in Chicago with The Doctor.
“To the moon and back, hmm?” Bob said, exhaling smoke.
“Isn’t that a song?”
~+~
Bob is never going to get used to the running. What’s with all the running, seriously? What the hell. He is chasing after the Doc who’s chasing the girl.
“Stop right there!” The Doctor shouts and she turns around. Her hair is red like Gerard’s is (or will be) and Bob closes his eyes for a second. Not the time, not the place.
“I did nothing!” she says.
“Why are you running away then?” The Doctor asks.
“Why are you chasing me?”
“That is a very good question, Doc,” Bob throws in.
“She looked suspicious.”
“Man, Gee looks suspicious and you aren’t chasing him!” Bob answers.
“I was, I will be…”
Bob gives him another look. “Not the time, nor the place,” The Doctor says.
“Right.” Bob takes out a cigarette and the Doctor sighs. “Don’t give me that shit, I need this. It keeps me sane around brilliant people.”
“Can I go now?” the girl asks.
“No. You don’t belong here.”
“Who does?”
“I mean, this is not your planet.”
“In fact it is, it’s just not my time,” she answers.
The Doctor’s eyes widen. “You’re like Jack!”
She shrugs. “I’m Emilie.”
“Bob, and that’s The Doctor. In capitals.”
“Of course,” she answers and they share a smile.
~+~
Bob took one look at The Doctor and knew he was in deep shit, but he took one look at Gerard the first time and knew he was in deep shit, so. Bob dealt because that was what Bob did.
~2~
They’re sitting in a café and Emilie is drinking tea with The Doctor, Bob is trying to be cool around her. He had his fair share of beautiful girls on tour and later. He’d dealt with some pretty impressive alien women too since he stepped into the Tardis, but Emilie is something else. He can’t even describe it.
“So, how old are you?” The Doctor asks and she smiles into her tea.
“You don’t ask a lady that kind of question.”
“You’re sitting here in your underwear,” The Doctor points out.
She puts her mug down, carefully and looks at him. “Doesn’t mean I’m not a lady. I could be sitting here naked and still be a lady.”
“I’m just trying to pinpoint where things went wrong,” The Doctor says.
“You want to know when you and your ship messed me up?”
“Uhm…I wouldn’t say it like that…” The Doctor answers, taking a sip of his tea.
“I bet you wouldn’t.”
Bob likes her.
~+~
They end up taking her with them. Bob is pleased, as far as Bob can allow himself to be pleased with something like that. He is smoking outside the Tardis on a planet he doesn’t even have a name for because he can’t pronounce it when Emilie steps next to him.
“So, you’re a drummer?”
“Yeah,” because he still is a drummer. You don’t stop being who you are because you aren’t doing what you love anymore.
“I sing and play the violin,” she answers.
“He seems to collect musicians right now,” Bob says. He has a suspicion who the Bill guy is The Doctor is talking about so fondly.
“I bet it’s just a phase,” she replies with a soft laugh.
He keeps silent, but he really likes her being around. Even her hair doesn’t make him feel angry anymore. Doesn’t make him think of Gerard anymore.
~+~
“What’s with all the running?!” she gasps beside him. The Doctor is making some hand gestures that seem to convey they should shut up now. Emilie glares at him, but presses her lips together.
Bob shakes his head. He has no idea either. Since he stepped into the Tardis he seems to be running constantly from something or towards something - mainly the Tardis to get the hell out of here - wherever here is at that given moment.
After a few minutes The Doctor pulls out the screwdriver and opens the door. The corridor is empty and damp. Emilie crinkles her nose. It looks adorable, Bob thinks. The Doctor grins and Bob glares at him.
“What were they?” Emilie asks.
“Slimy alien creatures,” Bob supplies.
“Well, that’s one way of putting it. But they are in fact…”
Bob tunes him out. He doesn’t care about what this particular alien form is called. They seem evil, so Bob is sure The Doctor is going to thwart their evil plan of world domination and then there will be a lot of running again and they will be off to another adventure. “…but the important thing is that it has something to do with the Ways,” The Doctor finishes.
“As in Mikey and Gerard?” Bob asks.
“Yes! The great Gerard Way and his brother Mikey. I met them once after a show…I will meet them, because it didn’t happen to them yet, and we saved the universe!”
“Seems to be a hobby of yours,” Emilie says. She sighs, because she just stepped into a green puddle of something. Bob just doesn’t want to know.
“It might seem like that, I suppose?” The Doctor looks contemplative for a moment before he turns and says: “Let's see what they are planning for the Ways.”
Bob is so on board with that idea.
Even if he was pissed off after they threw him out, he left, they fucking split up, whatever you want to call it, he doesn't want some slimy green (not that he has anything against green in particular) alien form to eat them or something. He has seen aliens who love human flesh, so it's really not out of the range of possibilities. Gerard would love this shit, he thinks and then: Gerard will love this shit; and that makes him smile.
Emilie grabs his hand as they are rounding the third corner. He doesn't look at her, she stares ahead. The Doctor doesn't even grin. Thank god for small favours.
~+~
There are a lot of things Bob has seen on his way through time and space, but this, well this is something else.
“That is...” he stops and stares. The Doctor is waving his hand like a crazy person, but Bob ignores him. He really wants to kill that evil slimy alien thing right now. Not that he knows how you would go about killing something like this, but he's sure the Doc knows. What he’s not so sure about is if the Doc will tell him. The Doctor grabs Bob's hand and Bob looks at him.
“We are going to get them in a minute,” he says, calmly.
Bob gives him a look. What the aliens are doing to Mikey and Gerard seems like it fucking hurts. Emilie on the other side squeezes his hand.
“I'm going to kill them,” Bob hisses.
“No, you're not. You're going to save your friends. I will raise some hell.”
“Isn't that a song?” Emilie asks.
The Doctor grins, waving his screwdriver.
~+~
“They won't remember a thing about this?” Emilie asks. She looks stricken, Bob thinks.
“No, they will not,” The Doctor answers.
“But...” she looks helplessly to Bob, but Bob can only shrug. His rescue mission is over. They saved the day - or in this case Mikey and Gerard - and now the only thing they can do is to bring them back safely to where they are supposed to be. Bob remembers that day. Frank and Ray were worried until the brothers wandered in with coffee in both hands and giggling like mad. They said they got lost and no one questioned it. After all they all learned their lesson - except Gerard apparently - that you don't follow Mikey when he says the words 'I know a shortcut'. It never ends well. Gerard was being all philosophical about how getting lost makes you discover new things and stuff after Ray mentioned the shortcut thing.
“It's better that way,” Bob tells her. He really believes that.
The Doctor nods, grim, but he doesn't seem happy. Bob can see his brain working. This thing is not over yet and he has the suspicion that The Doctor didn't just stumble upon him. Something weird was going on before Bob even met The Doctor. Something is still happening to the Ways. Everything comes back to them.
“They’re not in danger are they?”
“They might be. I met them in 2013 and they know now about me and other things, but these aliens didn't know they don't know this yet.”
“But they know the Ways know something,” Emilie clarifies. Bob is fluent in Emilie by now. She is pissed off and suspicious of The Doc. He is definitely not telling them something. Something important.
~3~
It doesn't surprise Bob at all that Emilie is the one who kisses him and not the other way around. They are stranded on an alien beach, The Doctor muttering to himself all the time, and she just grabs his shirt and kisses him. Bob doesn't ask what it means. He knows what it means and it's okay that she will most likely outlive him for at least a millennia or something. You can't choose who you fall for, you just fall and hope the crash won't kill you - or that's what Gerard keeps saying.
“He knows something he isn't telling us,” she says, afterwards. Her naked toes buried in the purple sand. The water is a crimson red. Gerard would love this, he thinks again.
“He knows a lot of stuff he isn't telling us,” Bob answers.
“But this time I have the feeling it's about us.”
“You mean the Ways.”
“No, I mean us. You and me and maybe the Ways as well. I guess you don't get kidnapped by an alien race and brainwashed by The Doc for nothing. Something fishy is going on here.”
Bob takes the time to light a cigarette before he replies. “I know. He is hiding something. I think he thinks he can protect us that way, us or the world or time and space. I have no idea. It's all about the greater good with him.”
She squeezes his hand and keeps silent.
~+~
“She has her off days, sometimes,” The Doctor says. He sounds fond and he is patting a part of the Tardis. Bob likes to refer to nearly every part of the Tardis as something as he has no idea what the hell it does. Bob is not amused. He could have broken something. Something important - like his neck. Emilie gets up from the floor on shaky legs.
“Off days?” she asks a bit sceptical. Bob really can’t blame her at all.
“Well…” The Doctor says, sheepishly. How can he be hundreds of years old and still such a boy, Bob thinks. Some people just don’t grow up at all it seems, no matter what species you are. And Bob doesn’t even know exactly what species, what alien life form, the Doc is. Time Lord seems more like a title to him.
“At least we’re alive,” Emilie answers, brushing her clothes off.
“That we are!” The Doctor looks like a small child on Christmas day. It’s kind of cute.
“This will end in disaster. I am positive.”
“You need to see things more brightly!” The Doc says.
“We just crashed. Again.”
“I know, so let’s find out where we are.”
“Did we crash in Venice 1780??” Emilie asks. She looks at her dress and sighs.
“No, I don’t think so…” The Doc says after he opens the door. That is so not Venice in 1780, because Bob remembers Venice and even in 2005 it looked different than that.
“I need to put on something else then.”
“Where the hell are we?”
“Sahara? Maybe?”
“Maybe?” Bob asks, crossing his arms over his chest. It’s the no nonsense pose. Even Frank was intimidated by it. The Doc doesn’t seem to be intimidated by anything.
The Doc nods. “Maybe. Could be Nevada for all I know.”
“At least we’re on earth,” Emilie says when she comes back wearing a short frilly dress and boots.
“We need sun block,” The Doc throws in.
“I need a smoke,” Bob answers.
“It will kill you one day,” The Doc says disapprovingly.
“You will be my death, Doc,” Bob replies with a small smile as he steps out and lights a cigarette in the endless desert. He feels like the sand is already clinging to him.
~+~
“Oh fucking hell!” Frank says and stops. Just fucking stops doing whatever he is doing and stares.
“What?” Bob asks.
“You’re dead,” Frank answers.
“No, he’s not,” The Doc says and Frank points his gun at him. Since when does Frank have a gun anyway?
“Who the hell are you?”
“I’m the Doctor.”
“Doctor who?”
The Doc lights up like always. “Just The Doctor.”
“He’s not a real doctor, it’s more of a title or name,” Bob throws in.
“You trust him?”
“What the hell is going on, Frank?” Bob asks.
Frank sighs. “Things are a little crazy…”
“You have a gun pointed at random strangers, I think it’s more than just a little crazy. Also, we are in the fucking desert.”
“Ray saw the box and sent me out here. We thought it was maybe them.”
“Who?”
“The Glibs.”
“The hell?” Bob asks.
“The Glibs! You pronounced it wrong, by the way, it’s the Gliphs. They’re a slimy alien race but they’re not green - they’re more... yellowish. That's how you can tell they're the evil alien race.…” The Doctor says.
“Great! Just fucking great…” Bob answers.
“So, what are we going to do?” Emilie asks. Frank looks from her to Bob and grins.
“Oh, shut up.” Bob says.
“We need to see the Ways.” The Doc throws in.
“How does he know about Gee and Mikey?” Frank wants to know.
“He knows stuff…” Bob answers, taking out his pack.
“Dude, are these cigarettes?”
“Yeah…”
“I would kill for one,” Frank says.
“A little crazy, huh?” Bob replies, handing the pack over.
~+~
“Holy shit!” Mikey says and looks from Bob to The Doctor. “Gee! Fuck…GEE!” he shouts and Gerard emerges a few seconds later from the backroom of the diner Frank brought them to.
“Holy shit!” Gerard says. His hair is still violent red. Just like Bob remembers it. “Bob!” he throws himself at Bob and Bob lets him clutch at his shirt for a moment before he hugs Gerard back. “You’re alive and you’re with The Doctor?”
“Yeah, he told me you saved the world back in 2013.”
“It was nothing, really,” Gee answers.
“You saved the world with an alien and didn’t think to tell us about it?” Frank asks a bit pissed off.
“He told us to keep quiet about it until we met again. I hoped you would pop in for a drink or something and not for the fucking apocalypse.” The last part is for The Doctor.
“I hoped that too. Listen, Gerard, Mikey. I need to get inside your heads,” The Doc says.
“What? Hell no!” Frank says, his gun raised.
“The alien race put something inside their heads and it seems to be the key to everything.”
“Is that why you crashed into my backyard?” Bob asks a bit suspicious.
“No... maybe? Time and space always try to mend themselves and this is not how this time should be.”
“Oh!” Mikey says suddenly. “You were there when they put the information into our heads, the day we got lost and couldn’t remember anything clearly. You were there.” He sits down, clutching his head.
“Seems you are the key, Bob Bryar. The Globs wanted to save the earth from the Gliphs. But the Globs are all gone now sadly. And they put the info into Gerard’s and Mikey’s head and linked it to you, so the information could be unlocked when we needed it. They knew I would be here…” The Doc explains.
“So, we have the information to save the world from an alien race inside our heads? We had it all the time and couldn’t get to it?” Gerard asks pissed off.
“We had to wait for the right time,” The Doctor answers and as soon as he says it Bob knows that that was the wrong thing to say to Gerard.
“I would think the right fucking time was when they landed here and started a fucking war! Eight fucking months ago!” He explodes. Mikey grabs his brother’s hand and squeezes.
“Gerard, I can understand that-”
“No, no you really can’t,” Frank cuts in, softly, and Bob just doesn’t want to know.
The Doctor looks stricken for a second. “Well, we’re here now.”
~+~
“I knew it!” Bob says and everyone looks at him. Emilie smiles. “I mean, I knew it would be about Beckett. The Doc is always gushing about him.”
“Even I didn’t know,” The Doctor says.
“It’s because you just kind of collect people,” Emilie answers.
“The right kind, so there is a higher power working here, ” Rays says.
“Me,” The Doctor throws in and Gerard and Mikey roll their eyes.
“Is Beckett even still alive?” Frank asks.
“Let’s find out and if not, we can just bring him here from the past!” The Doctor answers.
“Awesome.” Frank says.
~+~
In the end they don’t need to bring Beckett back from the past, because he contacts The Doctor himself.
“You gave him an emergency phone?” Bob asks, unbelievingly.
“Yes! It’s a phone for emergencies.”
“No shit,” Gerard throws in. He still looks kind of pissed off about the whole alien/brain/apocalypse thing. Bob is too, if he’s honest.
“I’m sorry for all the…” The Doctor waves his hand.
“Shit you put us through?”
“To be fair, it wasn’t his fault the Gliphs started a war here,” Ray throws in.
Gerard sighs. “I need a cigarette.”
“Open the door when you need to smoke,” The Doctor says in surrender. Bob is sure he knows that the Ways can’t stay sane without cigarettes and coffee.
~+~
They met Beckett in an underground base with Gabe - unsurprisingly - and Panic (big fucking surprise).
“The Doctor is in,” Gabe says and Bill rolls his eyes.
“Ignore the douche. Let’s save the earth.”
“I really like you, William Beckett,” The Doctor says and Bill smiles.
~+~
Bob doesn’t understand what the Doctor is doing with Gerard, Mikey and Beckett, but he has a sinking feeling when he comes out and looks kind of gloomy.
“We need more power for this to work.”
“For what to work?” Bob asks.
“The Globs put construction plans into the Ways heads and it’s designed for William to use, but we need really strong human energy to set the waves free.” The Doctor explains. Bob has still no clue of the how, but he has an idea he doesn’t like about the human energy.
“You said Emilie is like Jack…she could live forever?” he says.
“You are brilliant!” The Doctor says. Bob doesn’t feel brilliant at the moment.
~+~
“At least there’s no running this time,” Emilie jokes as the Doc hooks her up to Bill’s brain.
“I prefer the running any time,” he answers and kisses her.
She smiles and nods at The Doctor. “Ready when you are.”
~+~
“What the fuck?!” Bob says as they crash in the backyard again.
“Nothing is going right today…” Frank mumbles.
“Isn’t that a song?” Mikey asks. He’s clutching something hard, as is everyone.
“We saved the world, we saved the fucking world,” Frank says as they climb out of the Tardis. Bob’s backyard looks kind of destroyed, but he knows he will be fine. Emilie sits down in the grass and looks up at the sky. She isn’t immortal anymore, but Bob thinks she doesn’t mind at all. She lived two hundred years already and now she can spend the rest of her life with him.
~+~
The Doc looks at them in turn and nods. “I expect great things of you,” he says.
“I expect someone to fix communications soon,” Mikey answers rolling his eyes. He’s playing with Bill’s emergency phone and trying to get the word out that they are safe now - or at least not at war with the Gliphs.
“So, are you staying or are you…” Gerard asks waving his hand in that typical Gerard way of his. Bob fucking missed him.
“Emilie and me, we think we kind of got used to all the running,” Bob answers and she gets up to stand beside him.
“We did.”
“Excellent!” The Doctor says and then he grabs Bill and pulls him to the side of the backyard. Gabe looks kind of murderous, as does Ryan Ross for some reason. Bob doesn’t want to know. At all.
“Thanks for saving the world,” Frank says.
“Hey, it was nothing…Gerard and Mikey did it once too.”
“It’s good he has you, you know?” Gerard says, hugging Bob tight. Bob hugs back.
“I know.”
“See you! Don’t be a stranger, Bob, saviour of the time and space!” Ray says and Bob smiles. Mikey texts a goodbye to Bob’s emergency phone and Bob rolls his eyes.
“Off we go! You have our number!” The Doctor says when he comes back. William’s lips look shiny. Bob doesn’t want to know.
~end~
Author: creepylicious/alles_luege
Pairing:Bob/Emilie Autumn, past Bob/Gerard, Doctor/William
Rating: PG-13
Summary: 2011, Earth: Bob has no band and a lot of time and The Doctor just happens to crash on his lawn. OR: How Bob Bryar saved the world.
Bob sat down and looked him over. “So, who are you?”
“I’m The Doctor,” he said and seemed to wait for something. It almost looked to Bob like he was kind of disappointed.
Bob leaned back in his chair.
Warning(s): aliens
Author’s Notes: Loosely tied to We keep meeting like this. Doctor Who/Bandom crossover.
Word Count: 4661
Beta: allfaltering
Disclaimer: Don’t know, don’t own, not real
~1~
Bob was having a smoke and minding his own business, even enjoying the quiet of the late evening (without Frank around he had a lot of quiet; too much sometimes) when something crashed onto his backyard. Bob took a deep drag from his cigarette, got up from the stairs he was sitting on and went to investigate.
~+~
“That is never going to work!” Bob says; he doesn’t shout, because Bob doesn’t do shouting. He doesn’t need to, one look and people are at least thinking their actions over. Not that that ever happened with HIM.
“You seem to forget that I’m brilliant!” The Doctor answers.
“You keep telling me that. The thing is, Doc, that I’ve met a lot of brilliant people and none of them were sane!” He grabs desperately onto something as the Tardis jolts again. Hard. This can’t be good, he thinks.
“This can’t be good…” The Doctor mumbles.
“Great. We’re gonna crash, right?” Bob asks. All of a sudden he feels a lot calmer.
“Nah…” The Doctor says and then, “maybe….uhm, make that a definitely.”
“Famous last words ?”
“Isn’t that a song?” The Doctor asks, but Bob doesn’t have time to answer that one anymore.
~+~
A blue box was lying on the grass. The rose bushes his mom planted were destroyed. As Bob took another drag of his smoke a door opened and a guy came out.
“Where am I?”
“Chicago.”
“Doesn’t look like I remember it,” the guy said.
“Outskirts.”
“Oh, okay. Good…that explains a thing or two. What time is it?”
“Nine thirty,” Bob replied after a glance at his watch.
“Year?”
“2011.”
“Excellent, I think? You’re not one for a lot of words, are you?”
Bob wanted to reply with ‘I’m a drummer’ like he always did when people asked him that particular question, but he shrugged instead.
“Want some coffee? And a smoke?”
“Tea would be lovely and some biscuits,” the guy answered with a small smile.
Bob took another drag of his cigarette and nodded.
~+~
Bob’s head is killing him. He opens his eyes and sits up. Still in the Tardis.
“Doc?”
“Yeah, under here…” comes a voice from somewhere to his right.
“Need help?”
“That would be lovely,” The Doctor answers. Bob rolls his eyes. British people are always so polite, even if he doesn’t really think the Doc is British what with the space-ship and all. He wanders over to The Doctor, lifts something up and helps The Doctor on his feet. “Thank you.”
“So where are we? And how bad is it?” Bob asks, he itches for a smoke, but the Doc has a strict no smoking in the Tardis policy going on.
“I have no idea! Let’s find out!” The Doctor says.
This, Bob thinks, is how all the disasters with the Doc begin. That or the word: Interesting.
~+~
“So, you crashed on my lawn,” Bob said, pouring tea into a mug.
“Seems so. You have somewhere to be, Bob Bryar?”
“I am somewhere.”
“Very philosophical of you,” The Doctor nodded, taking a sip of his tea.
Bob sat down and looked him over. “So, who are you?”
“I’m The Doctor,” he said and seemed to wait for something. It almost looked to Bob like he was kind of disappointed.
Bob leaned back in his chair.
~+~
The year is 2007 and the location is Earth.
“Not bad,” The Doctor says.
“You think? I live in this time. I am part of a band in this time,” Bob answers.
“Are you now?”
“Yes.”
“What band?”
“My Chemical Romance,” Bob replies, taking out a cigarette. He really needs one.
“Huch?!”
“What does that even mean?” Bob asks, taking a drag.
“I can’t remember you and I’ve seen them in concert in London with Bill once.”
Bob wants really to know who the heck Bill is, but he keeps it to himself for now.
“I’m not in the band anymore. When did you see them?”
“2013.”
Bob gives him a look. “Explains why you didn’t see me.”
“Explains why you have experience with brilliant people, that Gerard Way…” he stops abruptly and stares at something on the other side of the street.
This can’t be good, Bob thinks. And he’s right, a few seconds later The Doctor is running like hell, chasing the girl he was staring at.
~+~
“If you have nothing better to do than just existing you can come with me,” The Doctor said.
Bob took a sip of his coffee. “To do what?”
“Exist somewhere where it’s more exciting than here,” The Doctor answered.
“In your blue box?”
“It’s a spaceship and it’s bigger on the inside.”
Bob was hearing a stupid in joke about that from Frank in his head. Well, fuck. He really did not have anything better to do right now. The guys were playing Europe and promoting their new album, playing dress up for videos and he was here in Chicago with The Doctor.
“To the moon and back, hmm?” Bob said, exhaling smoke.
“Isn’t that a song?”
~+~
Bob is never going to get used to the running. What’s with all the running, seriously? What the hell. He is chasing after the Doc who’s chasing the girl.
“Stop right there!” The Doctor shouts and she turns around. Her hair is red like Gerard’s is (or will be) and Bob closes his eyes for a second. Not the time, not the place.
“I did nothing!” she says.
“Why are you running away then?” The Doctor asks.
“Why are you chasing me?”
“That is a very good question, Doc,” Bob throws in.
“She looked suspicious.”
“Man, Gee looks suspicious and you aren’t chasing him!” Bob answers.
“I was, I will be…”
Bob gives him another look. “Not the time, nor the place,” The Doctor says.
“Right.” Bob takes out a cigarette and the Doctor sighs. “Don’t give me that shit, I need this. It keeps me sane around brilliant people.”
“Can I go now?” the girl asks.
“No. You don’t belong here.”
“Who does?”
“I mean, this is not your planet.”
“In fact it is, it’s just not my time,” she answers.
The Doctor’s eyes widen. “You’re like Jack!”
She shrugs. “I’m Emilie.”
“Bob, and that’s The Doctor. In capitals.”
“Of course,” she answers and they share a smile.
~+~
Bob took one look at The Doctor and knew he was in deep shit, but he took one look at Gerard the first time and knew he was in deep shit, so. Bob dealt because that was what Bob did.
~2~
They’re sitting in a café and Emilie is drinking tea with The Doctor, Bob is trying to be cool around her. He had his fair share of beautiful girls on tour and later. He’d dealt with some pretty impressive alien women too since he stepped into the Tardis, but Emilie is something else. He can’t even describe it.
“So, how old are you?” The Doctor asks and she smiles into her tea.
“You don’t ask a lady that kind of question.”
“You’re sitting here in your underwear,” The Doctor points out.
She puts her mug down, carefully and looks at him. “Doesn’t mean I’m not a lady. I could be sitting here naked and still be a lady.”
“I’m just trying to pinpoint where things went wrong,” The Doctor says.
“You want to know when you and your ship messed me up?”
“Uhm…I wouldn’t say it like that…” The Doctor answers, taking a sip of his tea.
“I bet you wouldn’t.”
Bob likes her.
~+~
They end up taking her with them. Bob is pleased, as far as Bob can allow himself to be pleased with something like that. He is smoking outside the Tardis on a planet he doesn’t even have a name for because he can’t pronounce it when Emilie steps next to him.
“So, you’re a drummer?”
“Yeah,” because he still is a drummer. You don’t stop being who you are because you aren’t doing what you love anymore.
“I sing and play the violin,” she answers.
“He seems to collect musicians right now,” Bob says. He has a suspicion who the Bill guy is The Doctor is talking about so fondly.
“I bet it’s just a phase,” she replies with a soft laugh.
He keeps silent, but he really likes her being around. Even her hair doesn’t make him feel angry anymore. Doesn’t make him think of Gerard anymore.
~+~
“What’s with all the running?!” she gasps beside him. The Doctor is making some hand gestures that seem to convey they should shut up now. Emilie glares at him, but presses her lips together.
Bob shakes his head. He has no idea either. Since he stepped into the Tardis he seems to be running constantly from something or towards something - mainly the Tardis to get the hell out of here - wherever here is at that given moment.
After a few minutes The Doctor pulls out the screwdriver and opens the door. The corridor is empty and damp. Emilie crinkles her nose. It looks adorable, Bob thinks. The Doctor grins and Bob glares at him.
“What were they?” Emilie asks.
“Slimy alien creatures,” Bob supplies.
“Well, that’s one way of putting it. But they are in fact…”
Bob tunes him out. He doesn’t care about what this particular alien form is called. They seem evil, so Bob is sure The Doctor is going to thwart their evil plan of world domination and then there will be a lot of running again and they will be off to another adventure. “…but the important thing is that it has something to do with the Ways,” The Doctor finishes.
“As in Mikey and Gerard?” Bob asks.
“Yes! The great Gerard Way and his brother Mikey. I met them once after a show…I will meet them, because it didn’t happen to them yet, and we saved the universe!”
“Seems to be a hobby of yours,” Emilie says. She sighs, because she just stepped into a green puddle of something. Bob just doesn’t want to know.
“It might seem like that, I suppose?” The Doctor looks contemplative for a moment before he turns and says: “Let's see what they are planning for the Ways.”
Bob is so on board with that idea.
Even if he was pissed off after they threw him out, he left, they fucking split up, whatever you want to call it, he doesn't want some slimy green (not that he has anything against green in particular) alien form to eat them or something. He has seen aliens who love human flesh, so it's really not out of the range of possibilities. Gerard would love this shit, he thinks and then: Gerard will love this shit; and that makes him smile.
Emilie grabs his hand as they are rounding the third corner. He doesn't look at her, she stares ahead. The Doctor doesn't even grin. Thank god for small favours.
~+~
There are a lot of things Bob has seen on his way through time and space, but this, well this is something else.
“That is...” he stops and stares. The Doctor is waving his hand like a crazy person, but Bob ignores him. He really wants to kill that evil slimy alien thing right now. Not that he knows how you would go about killing something like this, but he's sure the Doc knows. What he’s not so sure about is if the Doc will tell him. The Doctor grabs Bob's hand and Bob looks at him.
“We are going to get them in a minute,” he says, calmly.
Bob gives him a look. What the aliens are doing to Mikey and Gerard seems like it fucking hurts. Emilie on the other side squeezes his hand.
“I'm going to kill them,” Bob hisses.
“No, you're not. You're going to save your friends. I will raise some hell.”
“Isn't that a song?” Emilie asks.
The Doctor grins, waving his screwdriver.
~+~
“They won't remember a thing about this?” Emilie asks. She looks stricken, Bob thinks.
“No, they will not,” The Doctor answers.
“But...” she looks helplessly to Bob, but Bob can only shrug. His rescue mission is over. They saved the day - or in this case Mikey and Gerard - and now the only thing they can do is to bring them back safely to where they are supposed to be. Bob remembers that day. Frank and Ray were worried until the brothers wandered in with coffee in both hands and giggling like mad. They said they got lost and no one questioned it. After all they all learned their lesson - except Gerard apparently - that you don't follow Mikey when he says the words 'I know a shortcut'. It never ends well. Gerard was being all philosophical about how getting lost makes you discover new things and stuff after Ray mentioned the shortcut thing.
“It's better that way,” Bob tells her. He really believes that.
The Doctor nods, grim, but he doesn't seem happy. Bob can see his brain working. This thing is not over yet and he has the suspicion that The Doctor didn't just stumble upon him. Something weird was going on before Bob even met The Doctor. Something is still happening to the Ways. Everything comes back to them.
“They’re not in danger are they?”
“They might be. I met them in 2013 and they know now about me and other things, but these aliens didn't know they don't know this yet.”
“But they know the Ways know something,” Emilie clarifies. Bob is fluent in Emilie by now. She is pissed off and suspicious of The Doc. He is definitely not telling them something. Something important.
~3~
It doesn't surprise Bob at all that Emilie is the one who kisses him and not the other way around. They are stranded on an alien beach, The Doctor muttering to himself all the time, and she just grabs his shirt and kisses him. Bob doesn't ask what it means. He knows what it means and it's okay that she will most likely outlive him for at least a millennia or something. You can't choose who you fall for, you just fall and hope the crash won't kill you - or that's what Gerard keeps saying.
“He knows something he isn't telling us,” she says, afterwards. Her naked toes buried in the purple sand. The water is a crimson red. Gerard would love this, he thinks again.
“He knows a lot of stuff he isn't telling us,” Bob answers.
“But this time I have the feeling it's about us.”
“You mean the Ways.”
“No, I mean us. You and me and maybe the Ways as well. I guess you don't get kidnapped by an alien race and brainwashed by The Doc for nothing. Something fishy is going on here.”
Bob takes the time to light a cigarette before he replies. “I know. He is hiding something. I think he thinks he can protect us that way, us or the world or time and space. I have no idea. It's all about the greater good with him.”
She squeezes his hand and keeps silent.
~+~
“She has her off days, sometimes,” The Doctor says. He sounds fond and he is patting a part of the Tardis. Bob likes to refer to nearly every part of the Tardis as something as he has no idea what the hell it does. Bob is not amused. He could have broken something. Something important - like his neck. Emilie gets up from the floor on shaky legs.
“Off days?” she asks a bit sceptical. Bob really can’t blame her at all.
“Well…” The Doctor says, sheepishly. How can he be hundreds of years old and still such a boy, Bob thinks. Some people just don’t grow up at all it seems, no matter what species you are. And Bob doesn’t even know exactly what species, what alien life form, the Doc is. Time Lord seems more like a title to him.
“At least we’re alive,” Emilie answers, brushing her clothes off.
“That we are!” The Doctor looks like a small child on Christmas day. It’s kind of cute.
“This will end in disaster. I am positive.”
“You need to see things more brightly!” The Doc says.
“We just crashed. Again.”
“I know, so let’s find out where we are.”
“Did we crash in Venice 1780??” Emilie asks. She looks at her dress and sighs.
“No, I don’t think so…” The Doc says after he opens the door. That is so not Venice in 1780, because Bob remembers Venice and even in 2005 it looked different than that.
“I need to put on something else then.”
“Where the hell are we?”
“Sahara? Maybe?”
“Maybe?” Bob asks, crossing his arms over his chest. It’s the no nonsense pose. Even Frank was intimidated by it. The Doc doesn’t seem to be intimidated by anything.
The Doc nods. “Maybe. Could be Nevada for all I know.”
“At least we’re on earth,” Emilie says when she comes back wearing a short frilly dress and boots.
“We need sun block,” The Doc throws in.
“I need a smoke,” Bob answers.
“It will kill you one day,” The Doc says disapprovingly.
“You will be my death, Doc,” Bob replies with a small smile as he steps out and lights a cigarette in the endless desert. He feels like the sand is already clinging to him.
~+~
“Oh fucking hell!” Frank says and stops. Just fucking stops doing whatever he is doing and stares.
“What?” Bob asks.
“You’re dead,” Frank answers.
“No, he’s not,” The Doc says and Frank points his gun at him. Since when does Frank have a gun anyway?
“Who the hell are you?”
“I’m the Doctor.”
“Doctor who?”
The Doc lights up like always. “Just The Doctor.”
“He’s not a real doctor, it’s more of a title or name,” Bob throws in.
“You trust him?”
“What the hell is going on, Frank?” Bob asks.
Frank sighs. “Things are a little crazy…”
“You have a gun pointed at random strangers, I think it’s more than just a little crazy. Also, we are in the fucking desert.”
“Ray saw the box and sent me out here. We thought it was maybe them.”
“Who?”
“The Glibs.”
“The hell?” Bob asks.
“The Glibs! You pronounced it wrong, by the way, it’s the Gliphs. They’re a slimy alien race but they’re not green - they’re more... yellowish. That's how you can tell they're the evil alien race.…” The Doctor says.
“Great! Just fucking great…” Bob answers.
“So, what are we going to do?” Emilie asks. Frank looks from her to Bob and grins.
“Oh, shut up.” Bob says.
“We need to see the Ways.” The Doc throws in.
“How does he know about Gee and Mikey?” Frank wants to know.
“He knows stuff…” Bob answers, taking out his pack.
“Dude, are these cigarettes?”
“Yeah…”
“I would kill for one,” Frank says.
“A little crazy, huh?” Bob replies, handing the pack over.
~+~
“Holy shit!” Mikey says and looks from Bob to The Doctor. “Gee! Fuck…GEE!” he shouts and Gerard emerges a few seconds later from the backroom of the diner Frank brought them to.
“Holy shit!” Gerard says. His hair is still violent red. Just like Bob remembers it. “Bob!” he throws himself at Bob and Bob lets him clutch at his shirt for a moment before he hugs Gerard back. “You’re alive and you’re with The Doctor?”
“Yeah, he told me you saved the world back in 2013.”
“It was nothing, really,” Gee answers.
“You saved the world with an alien and didn’t think to tell us about it?” Frank asks a bit pissed off.
“He told us to keep quiet about it until we met again. I hoped you would pop in for a drink or something and not for the fucking apocalypse.” The last part is for The Doctor.
“I hoped that too. Listen, Gerard, Mikey. I need to get inside your heads,” The Doc says.
“What? Hell no!” Frank says, his gun raised.
“The alien race put something inside their heads and it seems to be the key to everything.”
“Is that why you crashed into my backyard?” Bob asks a bit suspicious.
“No... maybe? Time and space always try to mend themselves and this is not how this time should be.”
“Oh!” Mikey says suddenly. “You were there when they put the information into our heads, the day we got lost and couldn’t remember anything clearly. You were there.” He sits down, clutching his head.
“Seems you are the key, Bob Bryar. The Globs wanted to save the earth from the Gliphs. But the Globs are all gone now sadly. And they put the info into Gerard’s and Mikey’s head and linked it to you, so the information could be unlocked when we needed it. They knew I would be here…” The Doc explains.
“So, we have the information to save the world from an alien race inside our heads? We had it all the time and couldn’t get to it?” Gerard asks pissed off.
“We had to wait for the right time,” The Doctor answers and as soon as he says it Bob knows that that was the wrong thing to say to Gerard.
“I would think the right fucking time was when they landed here and started a fucking war! Eight fucking months ago!” He explodes. Mikey grabs his brother’s hand and squeezes.
“Gerard, I can understand that-”
“No, no you really can’t,” Frank cuts in, softly, and Bob just doesn’t want to know.
The Doctor looks stricken for a second. “Well, we’re here now.”
~+~
“I knew it!” Bob says and everyone looks at him. Emilie smiles. “I mean, I knew it would be about Beckett. The Doc is always gushing about him.”
“Even I didn’t know,” The Doctor says.
“It’s because you just kind of collect people,” Emilie answers.
“The right kind, so there is a higher power working here, ” Rays says.
“Me,” The Doctor throws in and Gerard and Mikey roll their eyes.
“Is Beckett even still alive?” Frank asks.
“Let’s find out and if not, we can just bring him here from the past!” The Doctor answers.
“Awesome.” Frank says.
~+~
In the end they don’t need to bring Beckett back from the past, because he contacts The Doctor himself.
“You gave him an emergency phone?” Bob asks, unbelievingly.
“Yes! It’s a phone for emergencies.”
“No shit,” Gerard throws in. He still looks kind of pissed off about the whole alien/brain/apocalypse thing. Bob is too, if he’s honest.
“I’m sorry for all the…” The Doctor waves his hand.
“Shit you put us through?”
“To be fair, it wasn’t his fault the Gliphs started a war here,” Ray throws in.
Gerard sighs. “I need a cigarette.”
“Open the door when you need to smoke,” The Doctor says in surrender. Bob is sure he knows that the Ways can’t stay sane without cigarettes and coffee.
~+~
They met Beckett in an underground base with Gabe - unsurprisingly - and Panic (big fucking surprise).
“The Doctor is in,” Gabe says and Bill rolls his eyes.
“Ignore the douche. Let’s save the earth.”
“I really like you, William Beckett,” The Doctor says and Bill smiles.
~+~
Bob doesn’t understand what the Doctor is doing with Gerard, Mikey and Beckett, but he has a sinking feeling when he comes out and looks kind of gloomy.
“We need more power for this to work.”
“For what to work?” Bob asks.
“The Globs put construction plans into the Ways heads and it’s designed for William to use, but we need really strong human energy to set the waves free.” The Doctor explains. Bob has still no clue of the how, but he has an idea he doesn’t like about the human energy.
“You said Emilie is like Jack…she could live forever?” he says.
“You are brilliant!” The Doctor says. Bob doesn’t feel brilliant at the moment.
~+~
“At least there’s no running this time,” Emilie jokes as the Doc hooks her up to Bill’s brain.
“I prefer the running any time,” he answers and kisses her.
She smiles and nods at The Doctor. “Ready when you are.”
~+~
“What the fuck?!” Bob says as they crash in the backyard again.
“Nothing is going right today…” Frank mumbles.
“Isn’t that a song?” Mikey asks. He’s clutching something hard, as is everyone.
“We saved the world, we saved the fucking world,” Frank says as they climb out of the Tardis. Bob’s backyard looks kind of destroyed, but he knows he will be fine. Emilie sits down in the grass and looks up at the sky. She isn’t immortal anymore, but Bob thinks she doesn’t mind at all. She lived two hundred years already and now she can spend the rest of her life with him.
~+~
The Doc looks at them in turn and nods. “I expect great things of you,” he says.
“I expect someone to fix communications soon,” Mikey answers rolling his eyes. He’s playing with Bill’s emergency phone and trying to get the word out that they are safe now - or at least not at war with the Gliphs.
“So, are you staying or are you…” Gerard asks waving his hand in that typical Gerard way of his. Bob fucking missed him.
“Emilie and me, we think we kind of got used to all the running,” Bob answers and she gets up to stand beside him.
“We did.”
“Excellent!” The Doctor says and then he grabs Bill and pulls him to the side of the backyard. Gabe looks kind of murderous, as does Ryan Ross for some reason. Bob doesn’t want to know. At all.
“Thanks for saving the world,” Frank says.
“Hey, it was nothing…Gerard and Mikey did it once too.”
“It’s good he has you, you know?” Gerard says, hugging Bob tight. Bob hugs back.
“I know.”
“See you! Don’t be a stranger, Bob, saviour of the time and space!” Ray says and Bob smiles. Mikey texts a goodbye to Bob’s emergency phone and Bob rolls his eyes.
“Off we go! You have our number!” The Doctor says when he comes back. William’s lips look shiny. Bob doesn’t want to know.
~end~