Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was three o’clock on a Saturday and you were blessed with being able to do nothing. For once you got a break from your demanding job to just sit in your favorite park and enjoy the nice weather. You sat Indian style on a wooden bench with your favorite book in your lap. The remains of your lunch sat next to you fluttering in the light breeze.

After finishing another chapter, you looked up to see what had changed around you, and to give your eyes a break. The park was mainly empty except for yourself and another man that was walking down the path. Something about the man caught your attention though. He looked completely lost, and he kept gazing around like he was looking for someone. Your sympathetic heart went out to him, and you marked your place in the book before stowing it back into your bag. Slinging the bag over your shoulder you approached the man. Without stopping to think about the possibility of your help not being wanted, you tap him on the shoulder. He turns around to face you, and you are happy to realize that there aren’t any hostile emotions on his face. He seemed worried, but there was also a twinkle of kindness mixed with a lot of curiosity in his eyes.

“Hello! May I help you?” he asked in an accent you couldn’t quite place. English for sure, but more specific than that and you didn’t know.

“Actually I was about to ask you the same thing. You look lost.”

“Oh no I’m not lost,” the man answered your concern with a smile.

“Then have you lost something?”

“That I have done. Two some ones actually. Have you seen a blonde in jeans and a green sweater or a man in a long black coat? The man was probably flirting with something.” You searched through your memory of everyone you had seen throughout the day and come up with a few vague ideas of where you might have seen someone with a green sweater.

“I think I could show you where I might have seen your friend earlier. I don’t know if she’s there now, but it’s a start,” you offer hoping to be of some assistance.

“Fantastic! Lead on.” His eyes light up and a dorky yet endearing smile spread across his face. You flashed a smile to before turning and leading the way down the path you entered the park on. He kept pace with you and walked next to you. You watched his face out of the corner of your eye. The smile that had been on his face was dropped, and a stony concentration took its place. He was very obviously concerned for his friends.

“So what’s your name?” you ask hoping to relieve some of the tension that was building in his muscles.

“The Doctor.”

“Just the Doctor?” you ask in confusion. Surely he had a last name or something other than just doctor.

“Yep. Just the Doctor. Spent so much time studying I completely forgot my name. I got my diploma though.” The story made you laugh and also kept you from asking any more questions. He didn’t want to tell you anything about himself, and that was fine. You wouldn’t want to tell a random person on the streets your information either.

After a few more minutes of walking, you arrived at the place you grabbed lunch from earlier. “I saw your friend here earlier I think. She was walking through the shop. I can’t remember what she was doing exactly-“ you cut yourself short, because looking through the window you could see a blonde girl in a green sweater sitting at a table across from a man in a long black coat. The girl had her head propped on her hand and was looking quite sad while the one in the coat sat back in his chair and watched people enter the building.

“I guess this is where we part ways. Don’t lose your friends again, but if you do come and find me in the park again alright?”

The Doctor looked down at you with a smile. “Thanks for the help (Y/N) I’ll see you soon.” He walked into the restaurant where both of his friends jumped up to great him. The girl hugged him tightly and even the two men embraced, but something was bothering you. The Doctor had referred to you by your name and said he would see you soon. But you never gave him your name, and had never met him before to your knowledge. Strange.

Chapter Text

You breathed deeply through your nose and exhaled through your mouth as your cubical neighbor continued to prattle on about his dog’s ear infection. You were about to murder the man with a dull pencil. It wasn’t that you didn’t like him, but a person could only take so much useless chatter, especially on a day as soul sucking as this one. You didn’t even want to think about missing the bus into work or getting reprimanded because you got to a meeting late. Everything only got worse when you realized that you forgot your lunch on your counter, and it was your night for locking up the building.

Your coworker switched gears and began talking about all the work he had to do after ignoring several of your attempts to get him to shut up. You were about to drop another obvious hint when a tremor traveled through the room. The clicking of computer keys stopped as the floor stopped shaking and conversations ceased. The room was quiet as everyone waited for an explanation or a continuation of the tremors. When nothing else happened, everyone gradually went back to work leaving you the only person not working. There was something not right about the whole building shaking. You were pretty far above the city so if it was a normal earthquake you’d be doing more swaying than trembling.

You jolted out of your seat cutting off your neighbor who had returned to his conversation without your attention. “Uh sorry” You apologized distractedly. “I just-uh-I need to go check on something.” You excuse yourself before bolting to avoid any questions. You wouldn’t have been able to answer them anyways. You didn’t even know why you felt the sudden need to check the roof. All you could say was that something wasn’t right with the building shaking.

You rush as quickly as you can to the stair well shaking off the questioning glances you get from other workers. Luckily you don’t have a long climb, and no one else is in the corridor to question you about your troubled expression. The rush of air that greets you at the door leading to the roof sends goose bumps up and down your arms and legs. A blue box with the white words "Police Box" across the top sits in the middle of the roof. You’re sure you have never seen the phone box before, but you had an inexplicable feeling of recognition.

There is hesitation in your first few steps, but as you get closer your confidence grows. You stop when you’re close enough to read the post on the blue wood. The words make sense for a phone booth that was on the ground, but they did nothing to explain why an object this close to extinction was on the roof of your office. When you reach for the door handle you expect to look into an empty box. Maybe there’d be a phone, but you doubted it. However, when you pulled the door stayed stubbornly shut. In fact it didn’t budge a centimeter. You confirmed the door’s sturdiness with several more trials of pulling.

At that point you were certain the tremors were connected to the box. You didn't know how yet, but you planned to find out by the end of the day. Of course, the only plan you had was to pace around the box trying to find out its secrets. Needless to say the laps did nothing and you were left staring at the door trying to formulate a new plan. Maybe if this really was the cause of the small quake there was something inside. You stepped up to the door and knocked three times on the wood with one of your knuckles. After lowering your hand you pressed your ear to the door hoping to catch some sounds from within.

What you weren’t expecting was for the door to be flung open hitting you square on the ear. An involuntary OUCH! escaped your lips and you stepped away from the door with your cheek cradled in one of your hands.

“You know when you knock on someone’s door you’re supposed to step backwards.”

You raised your head and gazed at the source of the voice with wide eyes. You recognized that voice. In the doorway to the box is the man that you had helped almost year ago. It surprised even yourself that you still remembered what he sounded like, but the situation had been so unusual that it was a regular visitor in your mind.

“Oh my god it’s you.”

“Yep. Good old me. But I don’t think I know who you are.”

You’re eyes narrowed in confusion. The last time you saw the man he had called you by name. A name which you had never given. So why was he denying ever meeting you now?

“Um my name is (Y/N). I helped you find your friends like a year ago. You don’t remember me?”

“ ‘Fraid not sorry.” You shook your head.

“That’s alright. It was a while ago.” You were about to say more when a new voice enters the conversation.

“Doctor who are you talking to? Oh hello.” The blonde girl that you recognized from the restaurant all that time ago stepped up behind the Doctor.

“How many people can you fit in there?” you asked jokingly.

“You’d be surprised it’s actually quite roomy. Rose this is (Y/N), (Y/N), Rose”

“Nice to meet you.” You said even though you already knew who she was. At least you knew her name, but you hadn’t actually talked to her before. “What about the other one? You had another guy traveling with you the last time I saw you.” The two looked at each other before the Doctor shook his head.

“Nope just us.”

“Oh…Well why are you guys on the roof? Are you stuck again? Anything I can do to help?”

The Doctor looked like he’s about to say something about how they were fine, but before he could get it out the blonde beside him took the initiative. “Actually we need a few things. If you could bring us as many bananas as you can find and what was the drink they liked?” This last question was directed at her companion.

“Root beer.”

“Oh yeah and if you could find a bunch of that too.” You almost asked what they could need bananas and root beer for, but they were both in a box on top of a roof so you decided not to.

“Sure. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

(30 minutes later)
With the help of the Doctor you carried the bags of fruit and soft drinks up the many flights of stairs to the blue box. Rose held the door open for the both of you once you reached the top. The wind on the top of the building was growing fiercer, and dark clouds were starting to appear, but you weren’t sure you wanted to get in that small box with two other people.

“Well come on then. You’ve helped enough we might as well bring you along for the ride.” The Doctor called to you.

“What’s that supposed to mean? There is no way there’s room for the three of us in that box.”

“If that’s the way you think, I’m not surprised you’re stuck doing paper work for a large company.” You pursed your lips in displeasure before rudely shoving past the man.

You were about to make some snappish retort, but you stopped short when you saw exactly what environment you had walked into. The Doctor really hadn’t been joking when he said you’d be surprised by how roomy it is. In fact it extended past any logical boundaries.

“How…Wha-I-uh-I-Uh…I don’t think I…”

“Understand? That’s normal. So before you start asking questions let me explain. This is a time machine, and recently there has been something mucking around so we keep appearing in random places. So that explains why we’re on top of the building, and why we need root beer and bananas.” Both the Doctor and Rose looked at you as if waiting for you to call them both crazy.

“Ok.” You say instead. “That actually explains quite a bit.”

“Well that’s an unusual response. But I’ll take it! Now then (Y/N) you've helped us purchase all of these Earth delicacies and it would be rude of me to not bring you along on the rest of the adventure."

“Oh no that’s fine. I have family to take care of actually, but good luck you too. I hope you can find whatever is messing with your machine.” The smell of adventure had only wafted into your nose before the stiff breeze of reality scattered it. But what you said was the truth. You already had responsibilities waiting for you, and at least you were able to help a little. You took one last look around the room you stood in and said your good byes to the girl and the man you had only known for a few hours. You were about to leave for good when a sudden impulse struck you. You grabbed the Doctor’s leather sleeve making sure you had his attention.

“The next time you find yourself a little lost go to the nearest park. Sometimes we all need a little help alright Docto?” You let go of his sleeve and stepped out of the box. You closed the door and tried to quell the little bubble of sadness in your chest. Just like you knew the blue box was extraordinary, you knew you would never see it again.