Checkmate (Doctor Who fanfiction)

Britain But Metal

Disclaimer: I only own Ruby. Everything else belongs to BBC Doctor Who.

Amy was outside. And when I say outside, I mean she was floating in outer space, being held by The Doctor, who was standing in the Tardis and holding her ankle, but other then that, she was in space.

I watched in awe. He eventually pulled her back into the Tardis. "Now do you believe me?" He laughed. She was laughing in awe.

"Okay, your box is a spaceship! It's really really, a spaceship! We are in SPACE! WHOO!" She yelled into space happily. I giggled. The Doctor turned to me.

"Care to try, Miss Oakley?" He asked, extending a hand. I smiled but shook my head. Amy didn't seem to accept this as an answer. She grabbed my arm, yanking me over.

"Oh come on!" She laughed. "It's fun!"

"Amelia!" He scolded as she literally shoved me out of the Tardis. I shrieked, and he grabbed my foot before I could fly away.

"What am I breathing?" I said shakily as he held my foot securely.

"I've extended the air shell. Trust me, you're fine, I won't let you go."

I still couldn't relax like Amy had. I mean, I don't like heights. It isn't exactly a phobia, but coincidentally, looking down into infinity isn't really on my "fun" list. Amy was ecstatic though. The Doctor pulled me back in after a minute or two, and held me securely for a moment like he had Amy, but I quickly shook his arms off me.

"Isn't it amazing?" She said excitedly. I noted. The Doctor crouched down and Amy and I soon followed his lead to stare at a spaceship beneath us. He started rambling about it. All I really caught that it was Britain. I wandered over to where he was setting the controls.

I heard Amy call him from outside. He just kept talking. Again. He kept talking. A third time. I punched his arm.

"Doctor!" I said, pointing at the closed doors of the Tardis. He walked over to them and opened them to reveal Amy, who was hanging on to the top, fear in her eyes. He chuckled.

"Come on, I've found us a spaceship!"

Only moments later, we were chatting- well, more like they were chatting- about the spaceship we were going to land on.

"The sun expands, and the whole world packs up, and moves out! That's not just a ship, that's an idea, that's... a whole country, living, and laughing, and... shopping. Britain. But metal." I smirked at his excitement. Ugh. I hate him. Why does he have to make me smile? How does he make me smile?

"Can we go and see?" Amy begged. He grinned and nodded. We ran to the scanner and he tuned it.

"Yes. But first, there's a thing."

"A thing," she said skeptically. He nodded.

"Rules. Rule one, I never interfere with other peoples or planets." The scanner tuned, and we saw a little girl crying on a bench in the middle of lots of busy people. My heart melted, because I knew what that was like.

"So we're kinda like the wildlife observers, right? Like, when they see art wounded little cub or something, they can't just save it, they've got to... keep filming and let it die. That'd be hard. I don't think I could do that," she said. She hadn't taken her eyes off the little girl, but I'd seen him leave. "Doctor," she said, turning around, but he was gone.

He showed up on the monitor, talking to the girl. She stood up and walked away. He looked up at the scanner and motioned for us to come out. I smiled and Amy and I looked at each other for a moment before running out.

We both shrieked as we ran out to see a huge spaceship around us. The Doctor scampered over.

"I'm in the future! Like, hundreds of years in the future!" Amy said. We looked at each other.

"We've been dead for centuries!" I said. He stared at me.

"Oh, lovely. You're a cheery one," He stated. "Now. What's wrong here?" He asked.

"What's wrong," I inquired.

"Look around. Come on, use your eyes, notice everything!" He said, putting a hand on each of our backs and guiding us through the people. I squirmed at his touch and changed my course and way of walking to get his hand off me. My dad had hit me often before he died, and Jeff wasn't much different. The only other male I let come in physical contact with me was Rory. Even then, I rarely let him hug me usually he only held my hand or put his arm around my shoulders. He knew his limits. Amy was my main source of affection. She was always there for me.

The Doctor seemed to get the hint, thank god, and ceased touching me. Amy didn't care though, and probably welcomed his touch.

Of course she did, the Scott absolutely adored him. I'd never lost faith in him, or convinced myself he was a simple dream like she had, but that just made me more angry at him.

"It's it... The bicycles?" Amy asked. "Bit unusual, bicycles on a spaceship." He laughed.

"Says the girl in the nighty."

"Oh my god I'm in my nighty!" She panicked. Due to exhaustion, I hadn't bothered changing into pajamas last night- was it last night? Was it technically hundreds of years ago? Well, I guess you know what I'm getting at.

The Doctor laughed so warmly I couldn't help but giggle.

"No, look around, actually look." He wasn't on a rant about things I don't feel like reciting, and then grabbed a glass of water off a near table, set it on the ground, and threw himself on the ground to stare at it intently. I folded my arms. He picked it up after and set if back in front of the confused couple. "Sorry. Checking all the water in the area. There's an escaped fish." As we walked along, I raised my eyebrows.

"You should be a lawyer."

"I'm not a lawyer, I'm The Doctor." He straightened his silly bowtie. I rolled my eyes.

"It's an expression."

Pretty soon, we were on a red bench, with The Doctor staring intently at the little girl who was crying across the marketplace.

"One little girl crying," Amy said boredly. "So?" He turned to her

"Crying silently. When children cry, it's because they're hurt, or they want attention. When they cry silently, it's because they just can't stop. Any parent knows that."

"Are you a parent?" I asked. He looked at me with an expression that told me I really shouldn't have asked that question. He took a deep breath and skipped over the question.

"Hundreds of parents walking by here and none of them are stopping to ask what's wrong, which means, they already know and it's something they don't talk about." I'd never heard someone talk who thought so much about what they were saying except me. It made me want to pay attention to everything he said.

"Where'd she go?" Amy asked, looking around. The girl had gone. The Doctor rattled off coordinates that I didn't really bother remembering. Then he held out a wallet type thing to Amy.

"You're looking for Mandy Tanner. Oh, this fell out of her pocket when I accidentally bumped into her. Took me four goes."

Subtle, Doctor. Very subtle.