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locker_monsterTitle: Home (1/8)
Rating: PG
Characters: Ten, Martha, Ian, Barbara
Timeline: Set during "Blink"
Summary: Stranded in 1969, the Doctor turns to some old friends so he and Martha can return home.
Disclaimer: Nope, these characters still ain't mine.
A/N: Posting this in honour of Doctor Who's 46th anniversary. The story itself was mostly inspired by "The Transit of Venus", a Big Finish Companion Chronicle audio drama, and me cramming in the first two seasons of Classic Who in about ten days. I wanted to re-visit Barbara and Ian and jumping on the "the Doctor and Martha dropped in on Ian and Barbara while stranded in 1969!" bandwagon seemed like the best way to do it. A shout-out to my beta![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
agapi42. Thank you so much for all your help!
The Doctor couldn’t help himself. Stuck in 1969 without a way home, he should have been thinking about how to find Billy Shipton when the young man arrived in this period and recording a message to Sally Sparrow so she could receive it in thirty-eight years time, but his mind drifted to other, more personal matters. All the times he landed on Earth in the 1960s, he had always been too busy to do something he wanted. It had always been about saving the planet, whether it be from Chameleons, Yeti or Cybermen.
This time though, he had nowhere to go and the most menacing thing facing him and Martha right now was trying to make the rent for the tiny flat they currently inhabited. He had the time, he reasoned, to look up some old friends.
From their point of view it had only been four years since they saw him last, but for the Doctor it was well over four hundred years. He wanted very much to talk with them again, but he wasn’t quite sure how to approach them. He had never thought to explain regeneration to either of them, as old as his first incarnation had been at the time. Would they even listen to him once he found them? A million conversations ran through his head as he made his way to his destination.
Coal Hill School looked exactly the same as the Doctor remembered, but admittedly, he hadn’t had much need to visit the institution before now, except to chase away some Daleks. All those years ago, when he had been forced to land on Earth to make repairs to the TARDIS, it had been simply a way for his granddaughter to keep out of trouble, helping them to avoid any contact with the local law enforcement, not a place of learning. He had heard about the school often enough, from Susan during her few months there and from both Ian and Barbara while they travelled the universe with him, but it had always seemed so primitive to him.
As he wandered the corridors, empty during lesson time, he could almost feel the power of young minds at work. The teachers were crafting them, like sculptures, turning them into something more. The methods may have been primitive but he could now admire the outcome.
At last he came upon the main office. A young woman, her blonde hair done in a pageboy style, sat behind the central desk, working away on a noisy typewriter. She glanced up briefly, sensing someone was waiting, but quickly returned to typing. Then she paused and looked up again. Her previously bored expression became one of rapt attention.
“Can I help you?”
The Doctor smiled brightly and flashed the psychic paper at the young woman. He had thought long and hard about what guise to adopt.
“Hello. I’m from the law office of Steel and Phillips.”
The young woman didn’t even glance at the psychic paper. The Doctor got the feeling he could have told her the truth – “I’m from another planet” – and she wouldn’t have batted an eyelash, too intent on him.
“Are you a solicitor?”
He considered saying yes but saw no reason to complicate matters further. “I’m just an office drone, really, doing all the footwork. I was wondering if you could help me find someone. Well, two someones. A History teacher and a Science teacher. This was their last listed place of employment.”
“Of course. Their names, please?” The young woman reached for a pad of paper and a pencil. No consulting a computer in this day and age.
“Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright.”
The young woman frowned slightly and put away the pad and pencil.
“They no longer work here?” guessed the Doctor.
“Mr Chesterton and Miss Wright haven’t worked here since 1963.”
The same year the Doctor took the pair aboard the TARDIS and whisked them away from their lives on Earth. Though the two teachers had made it back to the planet two years later, it seemed the time away had cost them their jobs. He felt a slight pang of regret. “Would you happen to know if they’re teaching at another school?”
He expected the young woman to answer in the negative but she quickly replied, “Mr. Chesterton teaches at Sutton Academy now.”
The Doctor waited for the young woman to supply current employment for Barbara but it soon became obvious that she had none to offer.
The speed at which the young woman supplied the information was enough to tell the Doctor that Ian and Barbara were well known, or at least their exploits were. Disappearing for two years without a word home was bound to start some gossip.
His desire for a simple visit now dashed, the Doctor forced a smile. He didn’t need complications in his life right now. “Thank you. You’ve been very helpful.”
He barely noticed the young woman’s look of disappointment as he left the office.
They had rented the flat out of necessity. Not for the shelter but for the convenience. The way back to 2007 wasn’t exactly clear in Sally Sparrow’s notes. There was no indication how long he and Martha would have to wait in 1969 before Billy Shipton showed up. The Doctor had an idea on how to detect Billy’s arrival but it would be complicated work and it wasn’t something he wanted to do in, say, an abandoned warehouse. He had needed somewhere with electricity and maybe an abundance of spare parts.
The flat only fulfilled half of his requirements, but it did for now. Though, he and Martha wouldn’t have it for long if they didn’t pay the rent. He had managed to pickpocket a few pounds here and there from the unsuspecting upon their initial arrival – a practice he normally would have not condoned, but desperate measures and all that – enough to placate the land lady. A promise to hand over the rest soon was the only thing keeping them from the street.
As the Doctor plopped down on the worn sofa in the flat, he tried to imagine what Martha was doing right this second. Getting a job had been the only feasible option if they were to keep their humble habitation and, out of the two of them, only Martha had work experience. She had found a job in a shop without much hassle, but the pay wasn’t substantial. Everything she made went into rent or buying food. What little was left over wasn’t enough to buy parts for the device the Doctor wanted to make.
He had thought the trip to Coal Hill would help clear his head and get ideas flowing, but now all he could think about was his two former companions. He could have easily looked up their addresses and visited them at home, but that felt too personal, like an invasion of privacy. Ian and Barbara had chosen to leave. Bursting back into their lives would be no different to him kidnapping them in the TARDIS, like he had done the first time they met in Foreman’s junk yard.
Junk yard.
Of course! If he couldn’t buy the parts he needed, maybe he could salvage them. He did it all the time when he needed replacement parts for the TARDIS. The Doctor conjured a mental list to determine what he would need. The 20th century wasn’t horribly antiquated, but he wished they had been stranded a few years later, after the invention of the microprocessor.
When Martha returned to the flat after a long day’s work, she found him sitting on the sofa, deep in thought. She sat down next to him and let out a frustrated groan.
“How was work?” the Doctor asked casually.
“Please tell me you’ve found a way to get back,” Martha pleaded.
“Not yet,” he said, carefully choosing his words. It was probably best not to mention how he had spent most of the morning getting to Coal Hill rather than making plans to get home.
Martha glanced over at him, as if she could sense he was withholding something. She seemed ready to call him on it, but her expression softened. They were stuck here, together. Getting mad would get them nowhere. “I’ve got my money; it’s enough to cover the rent this week.” She retrieved the envelope from her jacket pocket.
The Doctor took the hard-earned money from Martha. He would give the money to the land lady tomorrow morning. Maybe he would offer to fix her stove as a sort of peace offering.
He added the two tasks to his mental to-do list. Pay rent. Offer to fix land lady’s stove. Find a junk yard and/or cheap spare parts to build his device. Find equipment to record a message for Sally Sparrow.
And, time permitting, look up some old friends.
Rating: PG
Characters: Ten, Martha, Ian, Barbara
Timeline: Set during "Blink"
Summary: Stranded in 1969, the Doctor turns to some old friends so he and Martha can return home.
Disclaimer: Nope, these characters still ain't mine.
A/N: Posting this in honour of Doctor Who's 46th anniversary. The story itself was mostly inspired by "The Transit of Venus", a Big Finish Companion Chronicle audio drama, and me cramming in the first two seasons of Classic Who in about ten days. I wanted to re-visit Barbara and Ian and jumping on the "the Doctor and Martha dropped in on Ian and Barbara while stranded in 1969!" bandwagon seemed like the best way to do it. A shout-out to my beta
agapi42. Thank you so much for all your help!The Doctor couldn’t help himself. Stuck in 1969 without a way home, he should have been thinking about how to find Billy Shipton when the young man arrived in this period and recording a message to Sally Sparrow so she could receive it in thirty-eight years time, but his mind drifted to other, more personal matters. All the times he landed on Earth in the 1960s, he had always been too busy to do something he wanted. It had always been about saving the planet, whether it be from Chameleons, Yeti or Cybermen.
This time though, he had nowhere to go and the most menacing thing facing him and Martha right now was trying to make the rent for the tiny flat they currently inhabited. He had the time, he reasoned, to look up some old friends.
From their point of view it had only been four years since they saw him last, but for the Doctor it was well over four hundred years. He wanted very much to talk with them again, but he wasn’t quite sure how to approach them. He had never thought to explain regeneration to either of them, as old as his first incarnation had been at the time. Would they even listen to him once he found them? A million conversations ran through his head as he made his way to his destination.
Coal Hill School looked exactly the same as the Doctor remembered, but admittedly, he hadn’t had much need to visit the institution before now, except to chase away some Daleks. All those years ago, when he had been forced to land on Earth to make repairs to the TARDIS, it had been simply a way for his granddaughter to keep out of trouble, helping them to avoid any contact with the local law enforcement, not a place of learning. He had heard about the school often enough, from Susan during her few months there and from both Ian and Barbara while they travelled the universe with him, but it had always seemed so primitive to him.
As he wandered the corridors, empty during lesson time, he could almost feel the power of young minds at work. The teachers were crafting them, like sculptures, turning them into something more. The methods may have been primitive but he could now admire the outcome.
At last he came upon the main office. A young woman, her blonde hair done in a pageboy style, sat behind the central desk, working away on a noisy typewriter. She glanced up briefly, sensing someone was waiting, but quickly returned to typing. Then she paused and looked up again. Her previously bored expression became one of rapt attention.
“Can I help you?”
The Doctor smiled brightly and flashed the psychic paper at the young woman. He had thought long and hard about what guise to adopt.
“Hello. I’m from the law office of Steel and Phillips.”
The young woman didn’t even glance at the psychic paper. The Doctor got the feeling he could have told her the truth – “I’m from another planet” – and she wouldn’t have batted an eyelash, too intent on him.
“Are you a solicitor?”
He considered saying yes but saw no reason to complicate matters further. “I’m just an office drone, really, doing all the footwork. I was wondering if you could help me find someone. Well, two someones. A History teacher and a Science teacher. This was their last listed place of employment.”
“Of course. Their names, please?” The young woman reached for a pad of paper and a pencil. No consulting a computer in this day and age.
“Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright.”
The young woman frowned slightly and put away the pad and pencil.
“They no longer work here?” guessed the Doctor.
“Mr Chesterton and Miss Wright haven’t worked here since 1963.”
The same year the Doctor took the pair aboard the TARDIS and whisked them away from their lives on Earth. Though the two teachers had made it back to the planet two years later, it seemed the time away had cost them their jobs. He felt a slight pang of regret. “Would you happen to know if they’re teaching at another school?”
He expected the young woman to answer in the negative but she quickly replied, “Mr. Chesterton teaches at Sutton Academy now.”
The Doctor waited for the young woman to supply current employment for Barbara but it soon became obvious that she had none to offer.
The speed at which the young woman supplied the information was enough to tell the Doctor that Ian and Barbara were well known, or at least their exploits were. Disappearing for two years without a word home was bound to start some gossip.
His desire for a simple visit now dashed, the Doctor forced a smile. He didn’t need complications in his life right now. “Thank you. You’ve been very helpful.”
He barely noticed the young woman’s look of disappointment as he left the office.
They had rented the flat out of necessity. Not for the shelter but for the convenience. The way back to 2007 wasn’t exactly clear in Sally Sparrow’s notes. There was no indication how long he and Martha would have to wait in 1969 before Billy Shipton showed up. The Doctor had an idea on how to detect Billy’s arrival but it would be complicated work and it wasn’t something he wanted to do in, say, an abandoned warehouse. He had needed somewhere with electricity and maybe an abundance of spare parts.
The flat only fulfilled half of his requirements, but it did for now. Though, he and Martha wouldn’t have it for long if they didn’t pay the rent. He had managed to pickpocket a few pounds here and there from the unsuspecting upon their initial arrival – a practice he normally would have not condoned, but desperate measures and all that – enough to placate the land lady. A promise to hand over the rest soon was the only thing keeping them from the street.
As the Doctor plopped down on the worn sofa in the flat, he tried to imagine what Martha was doing right this second. Getting a job had been the only feasible option if they were to keep their humble habitation and, out of the two of them, only Martha had work experience. She had found a job in a shop without much hassle, but the pay wasn’t substantial. Everything she made went into rent or buying food. What little was left over wasn’t enough to buy parts for the device the Doctor wanted to make.
He had thought the trip to Coal Hill would help clear his head and get ideas flowing, but now all he could think about was his two former companions. He could have easily looked up their addresses and visited them at home, but that felt too personal, like an invasion of privacy. Ian and Barbara had chosen to leave. Bursting back into their lives would be no different to him kidnapping them in the TARDIS, like he had done the first time they met in Foreman’s junk yard.
Junk yard.
Of course! If he couldn’t buy the parts he needed, maybe he could salvage them. He did it all the time when he needed replacement parts for the TARDIS. The Doctor conjured a mental list to determine what he would need. The 20th century wasn’t horribly antiquated, but he wished they had been stranded a few years later, after the invention of the microprocessor.
When Martha returned to the flat after a long day’s work, she found him sitting on the sofa, deep in thought. She sat down next to him and let out a frustrated groan.
“How was work?” the Doctor asked casually.
“Please tell me you’ve found a way to get back,” Martha pleaded.
“Not yet,” he said, carefully choosing his words. It was probably best not to mention how he had spent most of the morning getting to Coal Hill rather than making plans to get home.
Martha glanced over at him, as if she could sense he was withholding something. She seemed ready to call him on it, but her expression softened. They were stuck here, together. Getting mad would get them nowhere. “I’ve got my money; it’s enough to cover the rent this week.” She retrieved the envelope from her jacket pocket.
The Doctor took the hard-earned money from Martha. He would give the money to the land lady tomorrow morning. Maybe he would offer to fix her stove as a sort of peace offering.
He added the two tasks to his mental to-do list. Pay rent. Offer to fix land lady’s stove. Find a junk yard and/or cheap spare parts to build his device. Find equipment to record a message for Sally Sparrow.
And, time permitting, look up some old friends.
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no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 02:31 am (UTC)(Just noticed what I think is a typo in paragraph 25 (beginning "The flat fufilled..."); should the 3rd sentence in that para read "... a practice he would not have condoned..."?)
no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 02:45 am (UTC)And thanks for catching the typo. Though the Doctor as a thief would be kind of cool. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 03:19 am (UTC)And working Classic Who into this fic via Babs and Ian is absolutely the right way to go! (I love to see the takes on those two in fanfic.)
no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 12:22 am (UTC)I really love Barbara and Ian. I just latched on to them when I started watching Classic Who. They just complement each other so perfectly.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 01:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 02:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 04:14 am (UTC)screaming femaleOld School companion were you first introduced? (Actually, that's probably not fair. I haven't seen much Two with Jamie, but I've seen enough still with Jamie's face in a paroxysm of terror that I imagine he let loose with a few screams.no subject
Date: 2009-11-26 12:17 am (UTC)Though, they did tend to fall down and over things a lot. So many pointless twisted ankles...
no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 02:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 02:48 am (UTC)I'll be posting chapters daily, so keep your eyes peeled.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 03:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 01:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 02:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 02:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 12:19 am (UTC)Tis a great icon. Describes me in a nutshell. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 01:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-24 04:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 01:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-25 06:58 am (UTC)I'm very intrigued by this and will look out for more...
And can I just say that this:
“Hello. I’m from the law office of Steel and Phillips.”
gave me the giggles! It IS a Law & Order: UK reference, isn't it?
no subject
Date: 2009-11-26 12:19 am (UTC)It IS a Law & Order: UK reference, isn't it?
Yes! You win the prize. :-) I couldn't come up with any cool names for a law firm, so I went with a broad reference.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-26 05:21 am (UTC)Agreed!
Yes! You win the prize. :-) I couldn't come up with any cool names for a law firm, so I went with a broad reference.
Whee!!!