Universal Displacement

There's Always Something

"I do hope you gathered all the data you needed, Ms. Foster," he said. "Because you won't be seeing the Tesseract again."

Jane's eyes flickered down to her arm, to the veins she could actually see glowing red before they faded back to her natural skin tone. She swallowed nervously and rubbed at her arm as if to draw the Aether out of her blood.

"Yeah. That might be a good call."

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After the Cheerok adventure, Sutton found there was a blessed and well deserved lull in dangerous adventures. They visited a few planets without incident at all and that was almost more unbelievable than running down cobblestone streets with alien eggs.

When things got quiet, or when she prompted, Rose would agree to show her all the different rooms that she'd been to in the TARDIS. Sometimes the Doctor would join them, and sometimes he stayed behind to tinker with whatever project he'd started working on.

The latest stop was on earth so that Rose could gather a few more of her things and Sutton managed to weasel her way into getting a much needed haircut.

Later, with freshly trimmed bangs and cleaned up split ends, she found herself strolling down a London street with the Doctor while Rose spent some time catching up with her mother. Mickey would probably show up to see her as well if he found out Rose was back.

Sutton snacked on some fish and chips while she walked because she wanted the full English experience, or at least as much as she could.

And fish and chips was super English, right?

The Doctor hadn't said too much so far on their stroll, but Sutton wasn't bothered by it. There wasn't anything dangerous or alien related going on, so it wasn't surprising that he would be subdued at the moment. She took the time to appreciate the architecture on either side of the busy streets, the street vendors selling art and postcards to tourists, and the dusty gray clouds that blanketed the sky in what she assumed was typical weather for the area. A half smile itched up her face even while chewing bits of her fried fish. The clouds reminded her of home.

"I've never been to London before," she commented again, trying to get some conversation rolling. "Maybe I'll be able to visit it again when I get back. It would be interesting to see if there are any differences between this one and the Marvel one. Though I'm sure Parliament and Big Ben are pretty constant."

The Doctor didn't instantly respond and Sutton frowned around a mouthful of french fries.

"I thought usually you'd be more interested in comparing parallel dimensions. Not that I really, actually know you super well, but... are you, um, are you ok?"

He didn't quite meet her eyes and spared her a half attempt at a smile which only made Sutton frown further as she swallowed her food.

" 'Course," he said. "You're situation is just tricky is all. I may be brilliant, but it's still a complicated problem. I'm just tryin' to figure it all out."

Sutton nodded her head in understanding and patted at his shoulder awkwardly.

"Well, I hope you know I really appreciate it, and that I really don't expect instant results. It's ok if it takes you a little bit, I understand. I mean, Tony and Bruce were working on it together and it took them awhile!" She laughed nervously but the Doctor didn't join in so she cut herself off abruptly and picked at her fries. "Anyway."

They walked a bit longer, long enough that Sutton's feet were starting to get sore, before they got a text from Rose saying that it was safe for them to come over. Sutton trotted up to the apartment after the Doctor, adjusting her traveling bag over her shoulder as it bounced against her back, and wondered about how the visit might go. Rose's mom was always a trip when she appeared on the show.