*DISCONTINUED* Between Dimensions (A Doctor Who Fanfiction)

Chapter 2: Stowaway

A white light shone from behind a tall, dense thicket of bushes. Susan double-knotted the laces on her red Converse shoes and pushed through the leaves. She stumbled upon a blue box that looked exactly like a British police box from the 1960s. Could it be? Creeping slowly up to the police box, Susan tentatively knocked four times on the door, and then ducked around the side of the TARDIS.

“Hello?” Susan heard a voice call out. She heard a crunch of leaves as someone stepped outside of the TARDIS.  She quickly darted around the corner again to the back of the police box, just as the person looked around the side. Susan turned around another corner, then another, and then slipped stealthily into the blue box without being noticed.

Susan glanced quickly around the interior of the TARDIS. She quickly caught a glimpse of yellowish-orange light before she ran down a set of steps and hid below the console. There was the sound of a door closing, and then a voice muttering, “That was odd.”  Susan then heard the whir of a sonic screwdriver, a clang of metal, and the sound of a few buttons being pushed. Suddenly, the floor rocked violently and she recognized the familiar sound of the TARDIS departing.

“So you just decided to fling yourself out of the time vortex, eh old girl?” a voice said quietly. “At least we still had that anti-matter backup generator; otherwise we would have been stuck in that universe forever.”

Susan decided that it was a good time for her to reveal herself to the Doctor. She took a couple of deep breaths to calm her anxiety and excitement and then quietly walked up the stairs. A man was facing away from her, fiddling with the screen on the TARDIS scanner.

"Hello,” she blurted, breathlessly. The man quickly spun around and faced her, brandishing his sonic screwdriver.

“Who are you and how the hell did you get in my TARDIS?”

Susan frowned. She assumed that the actual Doctor’s timeline would be parallel with the television show in her universe. Following that path of logic, she would have met the 12th Doctor, played by Peter Capaldi. Instead, she was facing a man with floppy brown hair, a red bow tie, and an abnormally large chin. In her excitement, she hadn’t noticed the yellow-orange TARDIS interior from Series Five indicates that this was from Matt Smith’s era. On her ranking of Doctors, Matt Smith’s Doctor would be around number four, behind Jon Pertwee, Peter Capaldi, and Paul McGann. Then, Susan reminded herself that he was still in her list of top five favorites and should not be too disappointed. Also the fact that a fictional character just became reality. She cleared her throat.

“I’m Susan Holland; and I believe that I walked in here, if my memory serves me right. Or I may have rolled in here like a ninja from one of those-um-ninja…movies. That part is a bit fuzzy. Also, it’s impolite to use profanity when greeting a stranger.” The Doctor scanned her with his sonic screwdriver.

“Oh, you’re human! Sorry, I thought you would be one of those hostile life forms that try to kill me. I’m the Doctor, by the way.” Then the Doctor paused. “I guess you’re surprised that it’s bigger on the inside.”

Susan blinked and shook her head.

“No, actually I just thought you would be-“ She paused and considered what she would tell him. She realized that she wouldn’t take it too well if someone told her that they knew every aspect of her life because they watched her life story on a television show. It would probably be best to keep that little detail a secret for now. Just for now. Also, It would be fun to act clever and knowledgeable in the ways of the Whoniverse, anyway.

"I was just surprised by your appearance. I had no idea that someone else would think bow ties were cool besides me,” Susan finished, smiling slightly. Hopefully, the Doctor wouldn’t find out that bow ties were the latest fashion craze in her universe. The Doctor grinned widely and puffed out his chest proudly.

“Yes, of course. Bow ties are cool.” His eyes suddenly widened as he realized something important.

"You’re from the other dimension!” He rushed back to the console unit and started fiddling with some buttons. “We’ve got to get you back.”

 “I don’t think that would be a good idea,” Susan said, sniffling and forcing tears to come to her eyes.

 “Why not?” he asked softly.

“I don’t have anyone to go back to,” she said, her voice cracking. She wiped her tears on her sleeve.

 “Why don’t we go somewhere more comfortable?” the Doctor asked. “You can talk about it, if you want.” He held out his hand. Susan took it, smiling slightly.