FIC: Jamie - Chapter 4
May. 18th, 2009 10:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nentariTitle: Jamie - Chapter 4
Author: Me
Beta-Reader:alouzon
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2827
Disclaimer: Doctor Who and all its characters belong to the BBC. I own nothing - not even the Fourteenth Doctor.
Summary: Jamie McCrimmon was returned to 18th century Scotland, his memories erased... But one day, a ghost from those lost days shows up at his doorstep.
Warning: Spoilers for The War Games and The Two Doctors.
Author's Notes: I'm so sorry about the beginning of this chapter. That scene has always had the power to both enrage and disgust me.
Chapter 4
The red-browed man (if indeed he is a man) presses a strange contraption against his leg, making him scream in agony. It feels like his flesh is being twisted and torn apart below the skin.
"What are you doing?" a voice is then heard. It's the scientist, and he's not at all happy.
"Oh, er, tenderizing the meat," the red-browed man replies, eagerness and delight in his voice. "Oh, see how the flesh is marbling there. That's the fatty tissue breaking up."
The scientist is clearly disgusted with this spectacle, though not enough that he'd be willing to order the red-browed man to stop. "Kill him first."
"It works better on a live animal."
He uses the contraption again, this time on his chest. It's as if his heart is exploding.
"It looks very painful," the scientist says, as he sees him convulse.
"That's simply a... a nervous reflex," the other replies. "I've been cooking all my life. Primitive creatures don't feel pain in the way that we would."
Another blow, this time in the stomach. No more, he thinks, but nothing but a moan escapes his lips. Please, no more... He can't speak. He can't even open his eyes.
"Now this is the part, I always say, where you can tell a butcher from a botcher," he hears the red-browed man say. "The meat should always have a clean edge."
He feels a blade touch his neck...
***
Jamie woke up with a loud choking sound, his hand on his throat. It took him a few seconds to realize where he was, and that he was safe, having fallen asleep on the floor of that strange room.
The blue box was no longer moving. We've landed, he thought, and his eyes instinctively moved upwards. Whatever his subconscious was looking for, however, didn't seem to be there any longer. Shrugging it off, he turned his attention to the figure he had placed on the chair before he himself dozed off (that chair was something that wasn't there before, but he figured it was better not to dwell too much on those things right now). The Doctor seemed to be sleeping peacefully, with no traces of the pain and discomfort she had experienced just before passing out; however, she looked smaller and frailer than before, and it troubled him. He had no idea how the Doctor could change like this, or why, but he could see it was a difficult and painful process.
Looking around, Jamie noticed a door hidden in a corner, and couldn't help but smile. At least something seemed to be located where his dreams told him it was. He found the elegant jacket the Doctor had been wearing hanging by the chair and drew it lightly over her, gently brushing the Doctor's hair out of her eyes before crossing the door in order to explore more of the marvellous place where he now found himself.
Once again, the corridors looked strange but familiar, and he found himself being lead by his instincts. He quickly found the kitchen, which still looked exactly the way it had appeared in his dreams - only in them he was usually accompanied by Ben and Polly, who flirted shamelessly with each other while making a pot of tea. There was also a large room filled with books, another with a large body of water (a swimming pool, his mind told him, recalling lessons with Ben), several bedrooms, and a strange room filled with machines, some of them with legible English words, "Pinball," "Pac Man" and "Windows Vista" written on them.
And then he found the room that gave him the biggest jolt of familiarity of them all. A small, cosy room, which looked as if it had just been under siege - shoes and boots, not to mention several articles of clothing and assorted objects, were scattered everywhere.
This was his room.
One by one, he picked up every object, dropping it unceremoniously where he found it as he moved to the next. A small box with dials, books, paper flowers, socks... Everything was greeted by Jamie as something familiar but long lost. Eventually, he picked up some broken bagpipes that had been carefully propped up on a corner shelf, in what seemed to be a place of honour alongside a small framed portrait of Victoria.
"Hey, Doctor, would you look at these," he heard his own voice inside his mind, filled with excitement. "You never told me you had these."
"No, Jamie," said the Doctor evasively. The other Doctor, that is - the first he had ever met.
"Hey, I could fix those easily."
"Yes, I was afraid of that."
"Jamie," Victoria admonished, "you're getting as bad as the Doctor."
"You never did fix those," he heard another voice, this time a real voice, rather than just an echo in his mind. He turned to find the Doctor (the new, female Doctor) leaning against the doorframe, the jacket around her shoulders, looking tired and weary but smiling widely at him.
"My word, what a mess!" she continued. "It's a good thing the TARDIS keeps everything sanitized, otherwise this room would have become a summer resort for creepy-crawlies from all over the universe by now."
Jamie did not answer. Instead, his eyes darted around the room one more time before he asked, "Was this my room?"
"Well, of course it's your room. Why would you ask...?" She trailed off, as the smile faded from her lips. "Of course. You don't remember. I forgot." She sighed. "Yes, this was - is - your room." She walked in and sat on a small spot on the bed that remained miraculously free of junk. Carefully replacing the bagpipes on the shelf, Jamie sat next to her.
"What happened?" he asked. "What is it that I cannae remember, and why is it that I cannae remember it?"
She looked at him sadly. "It's a long story."
"I'm not going anywhere."
She gave a slight pat on his arm. "Very well, I'll tell you. But can you wait a moment? We've landed."
"Aye, I figured that."
She smiled mysteriously. "But do you know where we've landed?"
Jamie was getting impatient. What did he care where they had landed, when there was so much he needed to know? "That place you want to go to, Tory... something."
"No, not Thoros Beta." She shook her head, and the smile widened. "I'm afraid the TARDIS has made other plans again - and on your behalf, I think."
"Eh?"
"I'm not going to spoil her surprise. You'd better go and check the scanner."
Something suddenly clicked in Jamie's mind. "The scanner," he said, recognising the long lost word. "I searched for it, but it's not there."
"Oh, it's still there." She stood up. "It's on the console now; it seems to move places every time I redecorate." She held out her hand. "So, do you want to come and see?"
Jamie hesitated. He wanted to ask his questions first, and definitely was in no mood to see where they were. The interior of the box was enough for him right now. However, the expression on the Doctor's face soon made him change his mind, and he took her hand.
"Aye, let's go."
***
The vision on the scanner struck him speechless. It couldn't be...?
"Go on, Jamie," the Doctor said. Without a second's thought, he rushed outside.
The box had brought him back to the Highlands - in fact, to a spot he knew well, not far from the very place where he had grown up. He'd not been to this place since his clan had left to fight for the Prince. The moment he stepped outside and felt the cool breeze on his face, he experienced the same sense of familiarity he had felt the previous night, when he first touched the blue box. He trembled with emotion.
"I reckon you know this place well," the Doctor said, sounding very pleased with herself.
"Oh, aye. This is..." He turned to look at her, and his face fell. She was clinging to the edge of the door and seemed to be in pain once again, but this didn't remove her smile. "Doctor? What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, don't worry." She slid to the ground, leaning against the door. "I'll be alright soon. I think this-" she gestured to the air, as if trying to point out everything around them "-takes priority now. Don't you agree?"
"Och, never mind that." He kneeled beside her. "You're not well."
"I've been worse, you know." She closed her eyes, clearly trying to look nonchalant. "I've always thought that the post-regeneration effects after changing genders would be the most difficult of all, but it's the easiest change I've had in a long time."
"You mean you were expecting this to happen?"
"Well, no." She opened her eyes again. "Oh, you mean the gender thing. Well, I've always considered the possibility of regenerating as a female. One out of five Time Lords have experienced something like this at some point in their lives, so it's neither uncommon nor surprising."
"But you said it was impossible."
The Doctor put a hand to her side and winced. "I meant something else. Anyway," she smiled again, "you should be enjoying this moment. After all, the TARDIS picked this particular place and time just for you."
"But, Doctor-"
"I'll answer your questions later," she cut him off shortly. "Right now I'm not in the best condition to explain anything."
***
They spent the following two hours outside, Jamie alternating between taking in the Highland landscape, rejoicing in being home, and worrying over his companion, keeping a covert watch on her while he explored. He had stubbornly fetched a chair from the TARDIS for her when she had (just as stubbornly) refused to go back inside. The Doctor kept still, her eyes usually closed, most of the time more out of exhaustion than out of pain or any strong feeling of discomfort - or at least that was the impression she tried to give to Jamie through her words and attempts to smile at him, though he was not at all convinced.
She turned to him as he sat down next to her. Her lip quirked as she took in his dishevelled, grass stained appearance: Jamie had gone for a roll in the heather when he thought she was dozing. "What exactly do you remember?"
"Eh?" the broadly phrased question took him by surprise.
"You remember where the scanner used to be, you know your way around the corridors, and you seem to retain memories of some other things. What else do you remember? Why do you remember them?"
"I've been dreaming about these things," he replied with a shrug, not taking his eyes off the scenery.
"Oh?" she prodded.
"And there are some other things I look at, and I just seem to know what they're supposed to be."
"Like the scanner?"
"Aye."
"Oh dear." The Doctor shook her head, sadly. "Someone botched it up. No wonder Zoe-"
"Look, what happened?" Jamie interrupted her. "If I've lived all these things I dream about, why do I not remember them?" He looked at her seriously. "You are well enough to tell me right now, are you not?"
The Doctor took a deep breath. "Oh, all right." She rubbed her eyes before she continued. "You travelled with me for some time, after we met in Culloden. The Time Lords - those are my people - caught me and put me on trial."
"For what?" he snarled fiercely. If there was one thing he remembered about the Doctor, he had been a force for good. Who would dare to put him on trial?
"That's another story. A very boring one. Now, don't interrupt," she added, seeing that Jamie was going to press on. "Let's just say our opinions about good, evil and personal property differed a lot back then. Anyway, they sent me into exile, and returned you to your own time with your memory erased."
"Why would they do that?" Jamie was appalled.
The Doctor frowned. "Because they were a bunch of self-opinionated idiots. And some rather incompetent self-opinionated idiots, if you ask me, leaving you to keep on reliving your old memories like that." There was a weighted pause. "I can reverse it, you know."
"Let me remember everything, you mean?" Jamie attention focused sharply on her face.
"Exactly. Mind you, if your subconscious is working your memories like that, everything is bound to come out eventually, though it might take some time. I'll just speed up the process."
"And the dreams will stop?" he clutched at the arm of the chair, excited by the prospect.
"Well..." She paused. "Dreams never stop, but I can guarantee they will be normal dreams after the memory blocks are gone."
"Well, what are we waiting for, then? If you know how to do this, be as quick as you can." And, to the Doctor's surprise, Jamie leapt to his feet and darted inside. "Well, come on!" he shouted. Turning back, he noticed she was still sitting in the chair, looking at him with a baffled expression.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
He turned back, uncertain as well. "D'you not use a machine for this?"
"A machine? Oh, I can see why you'd think that. I never did explain it. No, there's no need for a machine. I'll just step inside your mind and break the blocks."
He pondered about this for a second. "You mean you'll get inside my head?"
"Yes." She looked at him. "Are you troubled by that?"
"No, but..." He paused, trying to gather the right words. "I trust you, Doctor, but are you prepared for this? You're not well, and I reckon getting inside people's heads is not easy, even when you can travel the way you do and change your face like that."
"Well, I do admit I'm not in top shape, but telepathy is usually easy enough." She stood up (not without some difficulty, as Jamie could easily see) and tried to reach for his temples.
Gently but firmly, he took her wrists. "No."
The Doctor was taken aback. "No? But..."
"I can wait," he said calmly.
"But... You were so eager to do this just now. And it didn't look like you could wait, with all those questions and the insistence."
"I know."
"Then why not? I'm here. I can do this for you." The Doctor was getting irritated.
He let go of her. "Look, you told me this box of yours..."
"The TARDIS."
"Aye, the TARDIS. You said it took you where it wanted to go, instead of going to the place you want, right?"
"Yes..." She sounded like she didn't care for the turn this was taking.
"Then it's got a mind of its own." he concluded.
"She is sentient, yes."
"Not just that. I think it - she - is a smart one. Very smart. She must have known I'd look after you."
"That's a good point, although slightly self-centred. How annoying."
"Now don't you start." He gave her a slight scowl. "Anyway, we're here now because it's quiet, and I can look after you properly. And that's what I'll to do, then - and I don't think making you get inside my head when you're not ready is the right way of helping you."
She was flustered. "But I am ready!"
"Are you?"
"I am," she insisted.
"Well, I'm not so sure about that, and I don't want to risk it. If I've been dreaming like this for two years now, I can wait a while longer."
"But... But..." She waved her arms violently. "You're insufferable, Jamie McCrimmon!"
"And you're as stubborn as a wee mule." He smirked. "Now let's not think about this memory-blocking thing until you're good and ready." The Doctor sat in the chair again, arms crossed, looking at him with a pouty scowl. After staring at her face for a few seconds, Jamie burst out laughing.
"Now what's so funny?"
"Now that's something I remember well," He said, indicating her face, a huge smile on his lips. "That's the Doctor I know, acting like a wee spoiled bairn when he didn't get his way." The scowl vanished from her face, as she stared at him with an indefinable expression. "Now I know you really are the Doctor," he added, his voice now soft and tender and devoid of any teasing laughter.
"Oh, Jamie," she said with a smile, "what am I going to do with you?"
"Well, what about some breakfast, eh?" he replied with his most charming smile.
The Doctor punched him in the arm with a grin, while making a mental note to herself not to encourage him by giving in to his misguided notions of chivalry too often. He might get used to it. Jamie helped her to her feet and she followed him into the TARDIS.
Author: Me
Beta-Reader:
alouzonFandom: Doctor Who
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2827
Disclaimer: Doctor Who and all its characters belong to the BBC. I own nothing - not even the Fourteenth Doctor.
Summary: Jamie McCrimmon was returned to 18th century Scotland, his memories erased... But one day, a ghost from those lost days shows up at his doorstep.
Warning: Spoilers for The War Games and The Two Doctors.
Author's Notes: I'm so sorry about the beginning of this chapter. That scene has always had the power to both enrage and disgust me.
The red-browed man (if indeed he is a man) presses a strange contraption against his leg, making him scream in agony. It feels like his flesh is being twisted and torn apart below the skin.
"What are you doing?" a voice is then heard. It's the scientist, and he's not at all happy.
"Oh, er, tenderizing the meat," the red-browed man replies, eagerness and delight in his voice. "Oh, see how the flesh is marbling there. That's the fatty tissue breaking up."
The scientist is clearly disgusted with this spectacle, though not enough that he'd be willing to order the red-browed man to stop. "Kill him first."
"It works better on a live animal."
He uses the contraption again, this time on his chest. It's as if his heart is exploding.
"It looks very painful," the scientist says, as he sees him convulse.
"That's simply a... a nervous reflex," the other replies. "I've been cooking all my life. Primitive creatures don't feel pain in the way that we would."
Another blow, this time in the stomach. No more, he thinks, but nothing but a moan escapes his lips. Please, no more... He can't speak. He can't even open his eyes.
"Now this is the part, I always say, where you can tell a butcher from a botcher," he hears the red-browed man say. "The meat should always have a clean edge."
He feels a blade touch his neck...
Jamie woke up with a loud choking sound, his hand on his throat. It took him a few seconds to realize where he was, and that he was safe, having fallen asleep on the floor of that strange room.
The blue box was no longer moving. We've landed, he thought, and his eyes instinctively moved upwards. Whatever his subconscious was looking for, however, didn't seem to be there any longer. Shrugging it off, he turned his attention to the figure he had placed on the chair before he himself dozed off (that chair was something that wasn't there before, but he figured it was better not to dwell too much on those things right now). The Doctor seemed to be sleeping peacefully, with no traces of the pain and discomfort she had experienced just before passing out; however, she looked smaller and frailer than before, and it troubled him. He had no idea how the Doctor could change like this, or why, but he could see it was a difficult and painful process.
Looking around, Jamie noticed a door hidden in a corner, and couldn't help but smile. At least something seemed to be located where his dreams told him it was. He found the elegant jacket the Doctor had been wearing hanging by the chair and drew it lightly over her, gently brushing the Doctor's hair out of her eyes before crossing the door in order to explore more of the marvellous place where he now found himself.
Once again, the corridors looked strange but familiar, and he found himself being lead by his instincts. He quickly found the kitchen, which still looked exactly the way it had appeared in his dreams - only in them he was usually accompanied by Ben and Polly, who flirted shamelessly with each other while making a pot of tea. There was also a large room filled with books, another with a large body of water (a swimming pool, his mind told him, recalling lessons with Ben), several bedrooms, and a strange room filled with machines, some of them with legible English words, "Pinball," "Pac Man" and "Windows Vista" written on them.
And then he found the room that gave him the biggest jolt of familiarity of them all. A small, cosy room, which looked as if it had just been under siege - shoes and boots, not to mention several articles of clothing and assorted objects, were scattered everywhere.
This was his room.
One by one, he picked up every object, dropping it unceremoniously where he found it as he moved to the next. A small box with dials, books, paper flowers, socks... Everything was greeted by Jamie as something familiar but long lost. Eventually, he picked up some broken bagpipes that had been carefully propped up on a corner shelf, in what seemed to be a place of honour alongside a small framed portrait of Victoria.
"Hey, Doctor, would you look at these," he heard his own voice inside his mind, filled with excitement. "You never told me you had these."
"No, Jamie," said the Doctor evasively. The other Doctor, that is - the first he had ever met.
"Hey, I could fix those easily."
"Yes, I was afraid of that."
"Jamie," Victoria admonished, "you're getting as bad as the Doctor."
"You never did fix those," he heard another voice, this time a real voice, rather than just an echo in his mind. He turned to find the Doctor (the new, female Doctor) leaning against the doorframe, the jacket around her shoulders, looking tired and weary but smiling widely at him.
"My word, what a mess!" she continued. "It's a good thing the TARDIS keeps everything sanitized, otherwise this room would have become a summer resort for creepy-crawlies from all over the universe by now."
Jamie did not answer. Instead, his eyes darted around the room one more time before he asked, "Was this my room?"
"Well, of course it's your room. Why would you ask...?" She trailed off, as the smile faded from her lips. "Of course. You don't remember. I forgot." She sighed. "Yes, this was - is - your room." She walked in and sat on a small spot on the bed that remained miraculously free of junk. Carefully replacing the bagpipes on the shelf, Jamie sat next to her.
"What happened?" he asked. "What is it that I cannae remember, and why is it that I cannae remember it?"
She looked at him sadly. "It's a long story."
"I'm not going anywhere."
She gave a slight pat on his arm. "Very well, I'll tell you. But can you wait a moment? We've landed."
"Aye, I figured that."
She smiled mysteriously. "But do you know where we've landed?"
Jamie was getting impatient. What did he care where they had landed, when there was so much he needed to know? "That place you want to go to, Tory... something."
"No, not Thoros Beta." She shook her head, and the smile widened. "I'm afraid the TARDIS has made other plans again - and on your behalf, I think."
"Eh?"
"I'm not going to spoil her surprise. You'd better go and check the scanner."
Something suddenly clicked in Jamie's mind. "The scanner," he said, recognising the long lost word. "I searched for it, but it's not there."
"Oh, it's still there." She stood up. "It's on the console now; it seems to move places every time I redecorate." She held out her hand. "So, do you want to come and see?"
Jamie hesitated. He wanted to ask his questions first, and definitely was in no mood to see where they were. The interior of the box was enough for him right now. However, the expression on the Doctor's face soon made him change his mind, and he took her hand.
"Aye, let's go."
The vision on the scanner struck him speechless. It couldn't be...?
"Go on, Jamie," the Doctor said. Without a second's thought, he rushed outside.
The box had brought him back to the Highlands - in fact, to a spot he knew well, not far from the very place where he had grown up. He'd not been to this place since his clan had left to fight for the Prince. The moment he stepped outside and felt the cool breeze on his face, he experienced the same sense of familiarity he had felt the previous night, when he first touched the blue box. He trembled with emotion.
"I reckon you know this place well," the Doctor said, sounding very pleased with herself.
"Oh, aye. This is..." He turned to look at her, and his face fell. She was clinging to the edge of the door and seemed to be in pain once again, but this didn't remove her smile. "Doctor? What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, don't worry." She slid to the ground, leaning against the door. "I'll be alright soon. I think this-" she gestured to the air, as if trying to point out everything around them "-takes priority now. Don't you agree?"
"Och, never mind that." He kneeled beside her. "You're not well."
"I've been worse, you know." She closed her eyes, clearly trying to look nonchalant. "I've always thought that the post-regeneration effects after changing genders would be the most difficult of all, but it's the easiest change I've had in a long time."
"You mean you were expecting this to happen?"
"Well, no." She opened her eyes again. "Oh, you mean the gender thing. Well, I've always considered the possibility of regenerating as a female. One out of five Time Lords have experienced something like this at some point in their lives, so it's neither uncommon nor surprising."
"But you said it was impossible."
The Doctor put a hand to her side and winced. "I meant something else. Anyway," she smiled again, "you should be enjoying this moment. After all, the TARDIS picked this particular place and time just for you."
"But, Doctor-"
"I'll answer your questions later," she cut him off shortly. "Right now I'm not in the best condition to explain anything."
They spent the following two hours outside, Jamie alternating between taking in the Highland landscape, rejoicing in being home, and worrying over his companion, keeping a covert watch on her while he explored. He had stubbornly fetched a chair from the TARDIS for her when she had (just as stubbornly) refused to go back inside. The Doctor kept still, her eyes usually closed, most of the time more out of exhaustion than out of pain or any strong feeling of discomfort - or at least that was the impression she tried to give to Jamie through her words and attempts to smile at him, though he was not at all convinced.
She turned to him as he sat down next to her. Her lip quirked as she took in his dishevelled, grass stained appearance: Jamie had gone for a roll in the heather when he thought she was dozing. "What exactly do you remember?"
"Eh?" the broadly phrased question took him by surprise.
"You remember where the scanner used to be, you know your way around the corridors, and you seem to retain memories of some other things. What else do you remember? Why do you remember them?"
"I've been dreaming about these things," he replied with a shrug, not taking his eyes off the scenery.
"Oh?" she prodded.
"And there are some other things I look at, and I just seem to know what they're supposed to be."
"Like the scanner?"
"Aye."
"Oh dear." The Doctor shook her head, sadly. "Someone botched it up. No wonder Zoe-"
"Look, what happened?" Jamie interrupted her. "If I've lived all these things I dream about, why do I not remember them?" He looked at her seriously. "You are well enough to tell me right now, are you not?"
The Doctor took a deep breath. "Oh, all right." She rubbed her eyes before she continued. "You travelled with me for some time, after we met in Culloden. The Time Lords - those are my people - caught me and put me on trial."
"For what?" he snarled fiercely. If there was one thing he remembered about the Doctor, he had been a force for good. Who would dare to put him on trial?
"That's another story. A very boring one. Now, don't interrupt," she added, seeing that Jamie was going to press on. "Let's just say our opinions about good, evil and personal property differed a lot back then. Anyway, they sent me into exile, and returned you to your own time with your memory erased."
"Why would they do that?" Jamie was appalled.
The Doctor frowned. "Because they were a bunch of self-opinionated idiots. And some rather incompetent self-opinionated idiots, if you ask me, leaving you to keep on reliving your old memories like that." There was a weighted pause. "I can reverse it, you know."
"Let me remember everything, you mean?" Jamie attention focused sharply on her face.
"Exactly. Mind you, if your subconscious is working your memories like that, everything is bound to come out eventually, though it might take some time. I'll just speed up the process."
"And the dreams will stop?" he clutched at the arm of the chair, excited by the prospect.
"Well..." She paused. "Dreams never stop, but I can guarantee they will be normal dreams after the memory blocks are gone."
"Well, what are we waiting for, then? If you know how to do this, be as quick as you can." And, to the Doctor's surprise, Jamie leapt to his feet and darted inside. "Well, come on!" he shouted. Turning back, he noticed she was still sitting in the chair, looking at him with a baffled expression.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
He turned back, uncertain as well. "D'you not use a machine for this?"
"A machine? Oh, I can see why you'd think that. I never did explain it. No, there's no need for a machine. I'll just step inside your mind and break the blocks."
He pondered about this for a second. "You mean you'll get inside my head?"
"Yes." She looked at him. "Are you troubled by that?"
"No, but..." He paused, trying to gather the right words. "I trust you, Doctor, but are you prepared for this? You're not well, and I reckon getting inside people's heads is not easy, even when you can travel the way you do and change your face like that."
"Well, I do admit I'm not in top shape, but telepathy is usually easy enough." She stood up (not without some difficulty, as Jamie could easily see) and tried to reach for his temples.
Gently but firmly, he took her wrists. "No."
The Doctor was taken aback. "No? But..."
"I can wait," he said calmly.
"But... You were so eager to do this just now. And it didn't look like you could wait, with all those questions and the insistence."
"I know."
"Then why not? I'm here. I can do this for you." The Doctor was getting irritated.
He let go of her. "Look, you told me this box of yours..."
"The TARDIS."
"Aye, the TARDIS. You said it took you where it wanted to go, instead of going to the place you want, right?"
"Yes..." She sounded like she didn't care for the turn this was taking.
"Then it's got a mind of its own." he concluded.
"She is sentient, yes."
"Not just that. I think it - she - is a smart one. Very smart. She must have known I'd look after you."
"That's a good point, although slightly self-centred. How annoying."
"Now don't you start." He gave her a slight scowl. "Anyway, we're here now because it's quiet, and I can look after you properly. And that's what I'll to do, then - and I don't think making you get inside my head when you're not ready is the right way of helping you."
She was flustered. "But I am ready!"
"Are you?"
"I am," she insisted.
"Well, I'm not so sure about that, and I don't want to risk it. If I've been dreaming like this for two years now, I can wait a while longer."
"But... But..." She waved her arms violently. "You're insufferable, Jamie McCrimmon!"
"And you're as stubborn as a wee mule." He smirked. "Now let's not think about this memory-blocking thing until you're good and ready." The Doctor sat in the chair again, arms crossed, looking at him with a pouty scowl. After staring at her face for a few seconds, Jamie burst out laughing.
"Now what's so funny?"
"Now that's something I remember well," He said, indicating her face, a huge smile on his lips. "That's the Doctor I know, acting like a wee spoiled bairn when he didn't get his way." The scowl vanished from her face, as she stared at him with an indefinable expression. "Now I know you really are the Doctor," he added, his voice now soft and tender and devoid of any teasing laughter.
"Oh, Jamie," she said with a smile, "what am I going to do with you?"
"Well, what about some breakfast, eh?" he replied with his most charming smile.
The Doctor punched him in the arm with a grin, while making a mental note to herself not to encourage him by giving in to his misguided notions of chivalry too often. He might get used to it. Jamie helped her to her feet and she followed him into the TARDIS.
