Lost In Time: A Doctor Who Fanfiction

Chapter 3 - Picnic At Asgard

"Why don't you try running your hands through the leaves, first?" River suggested.

Lyssa looked at her quizzically, but complied. Walking over to a nearby tree, she trailed a hand through the purple leaves. Her expression changed as musical notes filled the air, quiet at first, then slowly getting louder as more leaves were touched. It didn't form any melody she recognized, but none of the notes clashed, and the tune was pretty enough.

Looking back at the Doctor and River in shock, seeing them watching her with a smile, she demanded, "What is this?"

The Doctor laughed, coming forward to play a simple tune himself. "It's one of the musical trees from Levnot 5. The leaves produce a musical note when touched. Do you know, there's one tree that they biologically engineered to play words along with the music? Of course, then there were the people who started complaining that it wasn't really a tree anymore, because they'd changed its DNA, but it was still a lovely tree to listen to. We played a duet together. It was quite good at harmonizing."

"Doctor, you're rambling," River pointed out.

He shrugged, unbothered. "It's a musical tree! I'm allowed to ramble. But in the interest of peace - how about we see what she's packed for us to eat?" the Doctor offered, setting the basket down and pulling out a large blanket for them to sit on.

Making her way over to the tree, Lyssa plopped down next to River and began pulling out the plates and drinks. "Why is there wine in here?" she wondered aloud as she pulled out a wine bottle and a single glass.

"That would be for me, dear," River smiled, taking them both and gracefully pouring herself a glass of the deep red liquid. "You don't drink it, and he's so picky that he won't drink it either. There's probably something you'll like in one of those thermoses. Otherwise there's a few bottles of water in there as well."

Digging into the basket, Lyssa pulled out a small thermos and opened it curiously, peering inside. Taking a cautious sniff, her eyes lit up as she realized what it contained. "You were right, River. I definitely like this."

"What is it?" the Doctor asked curiously.

Lyssa took a gleeful sip. "Chocolate milk."

Laughing, the Doctor grabbed another thermos from the basket. "Naturally. The TARDIS is the one who packed." Peering inside, he grinned in triumph. "Ha ha! She gave me some too."

"Wait. So not only is the TARDIS sentient, but she deliberately gave me chocolate milk just because she knew I liked it?" Lyssa blinked.

River chuckled. "Naturally. She's very kind to those she likes, and she's rather fond of you."

Lyssa's eyes widened. "I think I love the TARDIS even more now. I never got chocolate milk back home unless I saved up change specifically for that. Mother always said that we didn't have the money to spare for sweets that would only make me fat." She snorted. "Because that was clearly the issue..." She trailed off, then realized they were both watching her in concern and returned to the present with a blush, offering a fake smile to the others. "Sorry. That was... anyway. Not a big issue."

The Doctor's face hardened, and River was clearly not thrilled either, but she kept her voice light as she handed out the sandwiches. "Would you mind telling me about your life back home? I know some things, but you never talked much about it. And I still want to know how you ended up with a cast on your hand," she added, shooting a narrow-eyed glance at the Doctor.

"It's not his fault," Lyssa interjected, wrinkling her nose as they began to eat. "And there's not much to talk about. I finished high school, worked as a nanny for a few years, then decided that I needed to move out, as... certain events made it impossible to stay. So I ordered a plane ticket to England secretly, packed my bag, and took off."