Waylaid In London

Chapter 11

Having taken a seat on the sofa, Jamie sifted thoughtfully through the stack of mail he'd taken out of Ben and Polly's postbox. Most of it was in the form of cards, most likely Christmas cards. They'd already received a couple, first from Ben's family and then Polly's.

Christmas cards. He couldn't believe how time had flown by. It was now the second week of December, nearly a month since Jamie had first arrived here in London. So much had happened since then. There had been another string of strange deaths, all of them occurring the same way as the others. The only difference was they seemed to be occurring more often and in greater numbers. Not much progress had been made on figuring out what was causing them. Just thinking of it made Jamie sigh in frustration.

The only breakthrough they'd achieved – if you could call it that – was that a strange, gooey substance was found discharging from the victims' ear canals. UNIT had tried to obtain a sample of it, but they had to jump through quite a few hoops in order to do so. They finally managed to get a small one and had given it to the Doctor to study.

Jamie was eager to help them in any way he could, but unfortunately there wasn't much for him to do. He had done some cataloging work with Jo and had gotten to know her a little better. She seemed to be a nice lass and he was glad the Doctor had her companionship.

One of the things that had first caught his eye was the presence of the TARDIS in a corner of the laboratory. Apparently it had been there all along, but his mind had been so focused upon first meeting this incarnation of the Doctor that he hadn't noticed it right away. There were times where he would just zone out and gaze longingly at it.

One day when no one else was around, Jamie actually approached it and went inside. He knew it didn't work, but this was something he had to do for old time's sake. As soon as he'd entered, he'd felt a sharp twinge of homesickness. It looked exactly the same as he'd remembered it. If he squinted, he could still see Ben and Polly looking up at the scanners and marveling at the Moon's surface, or Victoria interrupting him and the Doctor to proudly model a new outfit, or Zoe peeking out of that trunk she'd stowed away inside once they'd left the Wheel.

Or the Doctor frantically running around the console pushing buttons or pulling levers so they could escape the Time Lords ...

Jamie shook his head to clear it, trying hard to focus on something else. He gazed around the console room again and suddenly recalled his time with the Doctor he had just left. That version of the TARDIS had looked so different. The console room alone had been darker with much different lighting and there were rooms he hadn't recalled being there before: the studio, for instance, where the Doctor sat back and listened to his brand of loud music or played his guitar. Jamie momentarily felt another sense of longing, realizing again how much he missed that Doctor.

He tried to shrug himself out of it, reminding himself that this version of the Doctor he'd just met was the same chappie. Physically, he almost reminded him of the version Jamie had just left: taller with gray hair. His style of clothing was even similar. Before he could make any further comparisons, Jamie stopped himself. He didn't want to get stuck in another rut dwelling on how much he'd missed that Doctor ... even though this chappie was still pretty much 'that' Doctor ... Argh, the whole thing still made his head hurt.

He'd taken one last look around the console room and started for the doors, discreetly peeking out. Once he made sure the lab was still empty, he opened them and stepped out, quietly shutting them behind him.

Not long after, Jamie had made an interesting discovery: inside that wallet the Doctor had given him was another note tucked inside. Scrawled across it was a series of numbers and letters. Flipping the paper over, he'd found an explanation of some sort. It was a channel Jamie could use to communicate with him should the need arise. Jamie had shown it to the Brigadier and after studying it, a knowing look spread across the other man's face. He gave Jamie a hand-held communicator with a video screen and explained how to use it. It reminded him of the wrist communicators they had used when they first met the Ice Warriors, only much bigger. Jamie had told him he wanted to contact the Doctor to let him know he was alright and the Brigadier seemed happy to oblige.