Travels With a Timelord ~Doctor Who fan fiction~

Chapter Four: Stars

"So..." I spoke up eventually, after a few moments of silence whilst I watched the older man work away on the control pad. "Where are we going exactly? Or... when are we going?"

"Anywhere - anytime – you like," he shrugged casually, and for a second, I worried that he was just taking me along because I was related to Rose, or maybe he felt sorry for me. "First trip in the TARDIS, any requests?"

I thought for a moment. If he was asking for requests, surely he couldn't just be taking me along for sympathy? Surely he wanted me there as much as I wanted to be there?

Before I had chance to speak up, the TARDIS jolted, throwing me off balance. I stumbled head over heels, and felt myself falling until I felt the Doctor grab hold of my arms, steadying me. Flustered, I let out a nervous laugh, grabbing onto the side of the console, hoping to steady myself.

"You... you should install seatbelts or something..." I attempted to joke, nervous and unsure what else to say, until I noticed my bag had been thrown over, my history folder bursting open with sheets everywhere. "Ah, shit, knew I should have bought my folders at Wilkinsons instead of fucking WHSmiths,"

My sudden outburst of swearing brought out my northern accent, the one I'd lost years ago, and when I looked up, he was looking down at me in shock, a small frown evident on his face as he bent down to help me gather up my sheets.

"No swearing in the TARDIS, that's a rule," he muttered, looking over my sheets. "If you're from London how do you have a northern accent?"

"My mum, well, my parents, lived up North for a while, so I did as well until... well until about seven years ago... and I lost it sort of until I swear, it comes out sometimes, normally leads to everyone impersonating how I say 'no' when it does appear though..." I trailed off, wondering if I'd successfully hedged around the topic of my parents, feeling worry build up inside me, until I saw his serious expression crack a smile,"

"Annoying, isn't it?" he laughed slightly.

"People in London used to look at me like they needed a translator..." I mentioned, smirking slightly. "How come you've got an accent, thought you were from another planet or something?"

"Lots of planets have a north," he pointed out, still looking down at my sheets.

"Yeah but not every planet has a Sheffield or a Manchester or wherever your accent is from... what's so interesting about my essay?"

"You only scored 17/25,"

"Bugger off, that's a B! Oh, sorry, does bugger count as a swear word?" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, but... The Great Exhibition, we could go there, never been, always wanted to! The highlight of Prince Albert's life!"

"As if we could go to the Great Exhibition, that was almost two hundred years ago!" I began, dumbfounded, until our eyes met and I felt my face blush. "Sorry, not used to saying stuff in a time machine... but, as great as that would be, and as much as I love Prince Albert, could we go somewhere else? I've just spent the last three hours writing essays on the Victorians, it'd be a bit like flogging a dead horse if you took me there now,"

The Doctor grinned, handing me a pile of papers which I slipped back into the broken folder, pushing it back into my open backpack. He jumped up, holding has hand out to help me back up. I followed him suit, watching as he ran back round to the console, looking at something on the screen.

"Typical human," he shook his head, a smile of endearment present in his expression. "You spend half your school life learning about big important figures, memorising their dates, being tested on their lives. You spend all that time learning about them but never truly knowing them, don't you want to put a face to the name in the textbook?"