Beyond The Void || doctor who

Chapter Three: The Blue Letter

**Dedicated to @northandsouth for her awesome graphic making**

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"You know, if you're going to be here, you're gonna have to meet my mum," Jess mentioned, as they took a seat on the patio. The rain was fading, and the sun was seeping through the clouds.

"Why do I always have to put up with everyone's mothers?" he mumbled, mindlessly toying with his sonic screwdriver. Jess remembered all the times he encountered a companion's mother - not saying that she was a companion, of course.

"You sure do have a lot of 'em, don't you, Doctor?" Jess said, looking up at one cloud that took the shape of a spaceship.

"A lot of what, exactly?" asked the Doctor, glancing over at her.

"Companions. I mean, I understand, a lonely Time Lord is a reckless one, but really? You get one every season - I mean, every other year or so," Jess explained.

"That's not true!" the Doctor argued. "I mean, sure, I like company, but you make me sound like - oh, I don't know - a human." Jess laughed.

"It's weird - not like you'd understand - but, I remember the first day I saw you," she said, looking back up at the sky, which was a dingy gray color. "I was still really upset about David - I mean, your former self, regenerating, but as soon as you said your first line, I fell in love with Eleven ... well, you, I guess. Wow, this is really weird saying it out loud." She let out a nervous laugh. "But, yeah, the Raggedy Doctor who fell out of the sky with his flaming blue box; and little Amelia Pond, the girl who waited, the girl who will wait, for a little bit longer. And Rory Williams, the last Centurion, the boy who guarded the Pandorica for two thousand years. It's amazing, this face of yours, your eleventh. Gotta say, it's your best one so far." She smiled.

"For the first time in my life, I honestly have no idea what to say." They exchanged glances and laughed, for the Doctor - as they both knew - was a man of many, many words.

Dum-dum-dum Da-dum-dum-dum-dum Dum-dum-dum Da-dum-dum-dum-dum, Jess's phone blared, playing the "I Am The Doctor" score (her favorite Murray Gold score).

"Nice ring tone," said the Doctor, jokingly.

"Oh, shut up, you ... derp," she retorted.

"Derp? Nine hundred years and nobody's ever said that to me." Jess rolled her eyes and answered the phone.

"Hello?" a familiar voice rang in her ear.

"Mum!" she said. "Hey! Uh, what's up?"

"Just wanted to tell you I got out of work early. Be home in ten." She glanced nervously at the Doctor.

"Hey, um, I actually have a - uh - tutor over, you know, one of the teachers from school, Mr. - uh - Smith," the Doctor pointed to himself in shock. Yes, you, she mouthed.

"Oh, great," she said in a monotone. "Can't wait to meet him!" Jess could hear the insolence in her tone and hastily hit the end button.

"So, guess you're my tutor." The Doctor stood up and straightened his jacket.

"Oh, goody!" he said with a smile. "Does this mean I can go get my 'Advanced Quantum Physics' book? I'd love to teach you the -"

"Not gonna happen. I'm fifteen, and the hardest class I'm taking is Calc, and I don't even really wanna learn that." He stuck out his tongue at her playfully, and she did the same. "And anyway, my head would probably explode if I thought about it more than I already do."

They walked back into the house, sitting down at the dining room table.

"Now, even though I talk about the show all the time, she doesn't really listen to a word I say, so don't worry about her finding out you're on TV. Or, at least, your other-dimension self is on TV. But, you might want to stay away from telling her you have two hearts, or that you're nine hundred years old, or that you're from a planet called Gallifrey, or that you've got a time-traveling police box called a TARDIS in my backyard."

The Doctor looked offended. "I'm a grown man, I think I understand the basics of 'what not to tell people's mothers'." Jess gave him a disapproving look. "What? I think nine-hundred and nine is pretty grown up if you ask me," he huffed.

"Sure, Doctor," Jess murmured, to which he scoffed.

Just then, a sleek, silver car pulled into the driveway, which was their signal to pretend to be doing work.

As they entered the lounge, Melissa Bennett walked in, fancy pencil skirt and all.

"Hello! Mr. Smith, right?" Melissa greeted, shaking the Doctor's hand.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Bennett. Call me John," said the Doctor with a somewhat uncomfortable smile. Jess almost laughed; it wasn't unusual in the slightest for companions' mothers to hit on him. Well, who could blame them, Jess thought to herself.

It was still hard to process, that this wonderful, beautiful man was standing two feet away from her; touchable, smell-able (and how gorgeous he smelled, weird enough to say; everything she'd imagine the Time Lord to smell like).

"Miss, actually. And it's Melissa." There was mum, Jess thought, always hitting on unavailable men. He was, as Jess recalled, married. Not just to River, but to Marilyn Monroe, also (and Queen Elizabeth I, but who was keeping track).

Jess sighed and glanced around the room. Sitting on the counter was a very aged envelope half torn, as if someone was about to open it but realized it wasn't theirs. She walked over to investigate.

In deep blue ink, the words Jessica Rhiannon Bennett were written in a fast, tidy scrawl. Jess furrowed her eyes in confusion, as only a handful of people actually knew her middle name. She was about to tear it open, but then saw the words DON'T OPEN UNTIL DECEMBER THE TWENTY-FIFTH in bold letters in the corner. She furrowed her brows in confusion, but hastily tucked the envelope in her back pocket.

"So, John, would you like to stay for dinner?" Melissa asked, stripping her jacket from her shoulders.

"I -" the Doctor began.

"I'm gonna go take a walk. Mr. Smith, I think the lesson's done for today, don'tya think?" Jess interjected, while - subtly - nudging her shoulders in the direction of the TARDIS. The Doctor looked confused for a second, but then nodded comprehensively.

"Yes, I think I'll just be off. Nice meeting you, Miss Bennett." He exited with a grin.

Jess stormed off in the other direction, taking the long way around. She noticed, then, how warm it was, and how unusual it was for it to rain in the middle of December. It was never warm in December. Funny, how strange things seemed to happen when the Doctor showed up.

Jess stepped into the TARDIS just as the sun called its last hurrah on the horizon, making the Earth turn a shade of brilliant orange. A thought occurred to her as she saw the blue box's exterior in perfect condition.

"Hey, Doctor," she called, as the strange man stuck his head up from below the engine.

"Jess, I advise you don't interrupt while I try to jump-start -" he began.

"She's not dying," Jess said. "The TARDIS isn't dying! Maybe asleep or something, but not dying. At least, not yet." The Doctor looked baffled.

"What do you mean, she's not dying? I think I'd know if my own TARDIS wasn't dying," he said, resting his hands on the floor and setting his sonic screwdriver down.

"When a TARDIS is dying, sometimes the whole 'it's bigger on the inside' thing seeps out onto the exterior." The Doctor nodded. "Well, Doctor, does she look like she's bigger on the outside?"

He ran over to the doors and checked that the blue box was indeed still smaller on the outside.

"And," she added, "you said you were speaking Russian. If she was dying, she would have to withhold all of the power she had left. Do you think she'd waste her energy on translating for a silly little girl like me? Of course not." She stretched her lips into a wide smile.

"Oh, Jessica." The Doctor grinned. "You're a genius."