Chase The Wind: Doctor Who/Studio C [Book 1]

Perfectly Ordinary

Perfectly Ordinary

(Original Interlude)

A/N: Hey so, there's been a small change of plan. jjrockz14 suggested an interlude back on Earth with our dynamic duo, and I thought it was an awesome idea, so I wrote this up yesterday. This means the interlude I originally had planned for today will be up tomorrow and Human Nature will start on either Thursday or Friday.

After traveling with the Doctor, a normal, human Christmas seemed like one of the most alien things in the universe.

But it came and went, a normal 24 hour day in a place where time passed in a strict fashion and not relatively.

If there had been a worse time of year to run of with a madman in a blue box, Mallory couldn't think of one. She had rather thought going home would be like jumping off a merry-go-round and onto the ground—instead it was more like leaping from one carousel to another and getting whiplash from changing directions so quickly.

She realized then that she was straddling the line of two different worlds—life at Studio C and life in the TARDIS. Now firmly stuck in the former, she found herself racing to finish up the year's sketches; after the incident that lead her torn between the two worlds in the first place, it went by with surprising ease.

They finished up and went on break; Christmas Day came and went and time marched on to the new year. Mallory couldn't help thinking of another New Year's Eve, far in the future. It had been three weeks since they arrived back home, nearly four since Coolidge Station, and neither she nor Matt had come anywhere near discussing what had happened that day.

"Mal? You with us, Mal?"

She looked up sharply, Natalie's voice catching her attention over the indistinct murmur of conversations, the rustle of shopping bags, and the thump of dozens of heavy boots on tile floors. After-Christmas shopping—something else so weirdly normal after all the adventures she'd had.

"Sorry. Just thinking," Mallory said, taking a bite of her unceremoniously abandoned lunch and finding it had gone cold.

"Are you sure everything's all right?" Whitney asked, sounding concerned. "You've been acting... weird."

"I'm fine," Mallory replied, though her voice sounded hollow to her own ears. "Things have just been a little odd lately."

The other two exchanged glances, plainly thinking of her three-day disappearance thanks to the Doctor's terrible driving.

And then, a thought bypassed her brain entirely and tumbled past her lips.

"Matt kissed me."

Identical, incredulous expressions graced Natalie and Whitney's faces alike.

Mallory ducked her head, feeling her face heat up. "Sorry, I didn't mean to say that... forget I mentioned it."

"Oh, no," Whitney said. "You don't get to drop a bombshell like that on us and then take it back. Details, girl."

"There's not much to say," Mallory tried, well aware it was probably going to be in vain.

"We all know that's not true," Natalie said, proving her completely right. "When was this? Where did it happen?"

"A couple weeks ago, on a space station in the 114th century," she responded, purposely keeping her tone dry. "I'm joking," she continued at their blank looks.