Chapter Text
The Tardis filled with a bright gold light, engulfing everything until it was all that could be seen. The Doctor hunched over grabbing his stomach before snapping back up, arms outstretched, head back. The light consuming his body before shooting out of his arms and head. Features morphing, his hair growing to just above shoulder length, before collapsing on the floor of the control room.
The Doctor patted at her chest feeling breasts beneath her palms. “Oh.. they're new,” she muttered cupping them and squeezing lightly. “Ah, la la la. That's high. Definitely female… and still British!” she nodded to herself in silent celebration.
No matter how many times this had happened before the gallifreyan always felt the same excitement when checking over a new shell. Looking down at long slim fingers, she wiggled them before jumping up onto her feet in one swift movement, the Doctor hopped down from the main platform around the heart of the Tardis and began pulling out different alien artifacts throwing them carelessly behind her.
“I wondered where that went...” she muttered throwing the pocket watch over her shoulder.
“Bingo!” she called out laying her hands on the mirror. “Alright then, lady, let's get a good look at ya!”
Pulling the mirror up and resting it on the base of the column so she could see her new face. Opening her mouth to reveal white teeth, resting them together and pulling her lips up the Doctor turned her face left to right in examination. Then running long fingers through her hair, “Ginger? Finally!” the Time Lord said gleefully. Her hands moved to her face, fingers massaging the skin and cheekbones beneath them, “Easy on the eyes.” The Doctor smiled to herself. Noticing the indents of dimples she poked them with her index fingers.
The redhead doubled over clutching at her ribs for a moment before straightening back up holding her head high, she opened her mouth as a cloud of gold puffed out and evaporated into the room.
Suddenly knocked over with the force of some kind of impact the Doctor tried to steady her tall frame finally taking in the room around her. Realising her Tardis had definitely seen better days. The center console above her sparked in several places. The doctor quickly jumped to her feet running up the stairs to the upper platform again, using the rails to steady herself. “Did the nasty Doctor hurt you, sexy?” she asked her Tardis, pouting her lips.
Finally reaching the main console she began pressing what appeared to be random buttons in sequence before pulling the gear stick down. The Tardis jolted sending the redhead flying onto the floor.
“Come on old girl, can't do this by myself.”
Scrambling to her feet she made her way towards the door. After the third time of being knocked over the redhead decided to crawl the rest of the distance. Pulling herself up to her knees she grabbed for the door opening it quickly, bracing arms against either side of the frame. White covered the ground below, as far as her eyes could stretch. Snow...lots and lots of snow. The ground was approaching quickly, the building below growing bigger with each passing second the redhead slammed the door shut scurrying back as quickly as she could grabbing the stair rail, wrapping her arms around it bracing for impact.
Pulling herself up to the open door of the blue police box, that lay on its side, the redhead hooked her arms over the side to hold herself up. Legs dangling into the empty space below her until feet found support on one of the large beams that ran up the inner wall. The Doctor hooked a leg over the door frame and pulled herself over hopping onto the cushion of snow beneath her.
The cold air hit her immediately, throwing arms around herself in an attempt to keep warm. “Shit,” the redhead shivered, pausing in surprise. “This one's a potty mouth,” she smiled to herself.
The doctor crouched down and stuck her index finger through the snow, going up passed her wrist, until she found the earth. Popping her finger in her mouth to taste it, she slapped her mouth around, rolling her tongue and hummed to herself. Earth...maybe Canada? The redhead licked her finger. Definitely Canada.
Brown eyes scanned the area around her falling on miles and miles of white scenery, the only civilisation was a small house a mere 100 feet from where she stood. Turning to look at the damage to the police box the Doctor noticed wooden ruins beneath it. That's not good. Patting the far too big jacket that hung loosely around her frame her hands searching. Feeling the familiar shape of her sonic in the inside pocket.
Reaching for it the Doctor slumped when she took in the sight of her sonic screwdriver nearly snapped in two. With a heavy sigh she put it back. Not that it would have done much good against the ruined barn but it was always handy to have around. Especially considering the Doctor had a habit of finding trouble wherever she travelled.
“Who are you?” came a small voice from behind.
Spinning on the spot the Doctor popped a dimpled smile at the short brunette woman who'd managed to sneak up on her.
“I'm the-”
The redhead was cut off by the sound of a gunshot echoing through the open air.
“I really hate guns,” she muttered under her breath. The brunette apparently catching it and raising an eyebrow at her in response. The Doctor watched a taller brunette stomp across the yard, a revolver with a long barrel pointed at her.
“Who the fuck are you? And what have you done to my barn?!” the taller woman shouted as she got closer.
Raising her hands above her head the redhead flashed a smile that was all teeth and dimples. “Who am I? Well now, that is a question,” she pondered on it for a moment, her face turning serious taking in the gun pointed at her again. “Do you mind?” she asked flicking an index finger of her still raised hands at the revolver.
The taller brunette stepped forward again, pressing the gun to the Doctor’s chest.
“Answer, the question.”
The Time Lord let out a long slightly irritated sigh, “What is it with you humans and your guns?”
“Start talking, Red,” the barrel pressed harder into her chest.
“I really wish you wouldn't, this one's very new,” the redhead eyed the gun and continued, “Okay, fine. I'm the Doctor. And you are?”
The two women stood looking at the gallifreyan with furrowed brows, their confusion obvious.
“Doctor who?” the older woman asked.
“I love when they ask that,” the redhead said in excitement to the shorter woman wiggling her eyebrows. Earning a giggle.
The Doctor collapsed to her knees clutching her abdomen in pain, another gold cloud leaving her mouth. The small brunette rushed to her side in an instant, arm around the redheads shoulders.
“Waverly, get back!”
Ignoring the other woman's instruction the younger brunette helped the Time Lord to her feet.
“Come on, Wynonna, don't you think if she was going to do something by now she'd have done it already?” she questioned.
“Waverly, huh? A pretty name for a pretty face,” The Doctor said through gritted teeth, the pain not quite subsided.
The younger brunette blushed, a shy smile pulling at her lips.
“What so a woman just drops out of the sky in a blue police box, talking in riddles and I'm supposed to just trust her?!” the taller woman asked in disbelief, half raising her gun again.
The redhead looked at the older woman examining her. “I'm the Doctor, a Time Lord, from the planet Gallifrey,” she smiled.
Laughter erupted from the older woman as she doubled over, her gunless hand slapping her thigh.
“What's so funny?” the Doctor asked a little offended.
“Ignore her. My names Waverly,” pink dusted the younger woman's cheeks again. “Waverly Earp and the idiot with the gun is my sister, Wynonna.” She paused, questions burning in her hazel eyes. “Is your name really the Doctor?” Waverly asked curiously.
“It's not my real name...more of an...alias I chose, but you can call meee...” the redhead chewed her lip, rolling her tongue around in her mouth. “Nicole? Yes, I like that. I'm Nicole," she nodded finally.
“Are you drunk?” Wynonna asked after her laughter died out.
“No,” Nicole wrinkled her nose recalling a particularly wild night with Tiberius, the Roman emperor. Although she wore a different face then. “It makes my head all fuzzy,” she finished, wiggling her fingers towards her head.
“Just mad then?”
“Some have referred to me as the madman in a box,” the redhead mumbled lost in thought.
Waverly and Wynonna exchanged confused looks before looking back at the Doctor with blank expressions.
Nicole let out a heavy sigh. She had a feeling this was going to go round in circles, never understanding why people had such a hard time grasping such a simple concept. A light bulb flicked on in her head, she smiled and clicked her fingers. The doors to the Tardis slammed shut. The blue box started phasing in and out with a vworp vworp sound echoing around them.
The Earp sisters jumped back in surprise.
“I really hope this works...she's still mad at me,” the redhead mumbled holding her breath.
Vworp vworp.
The Doctor grinned proudly as the Tardis disappeared. Waverly and Wynonna blinking, their mouths dropped open in shock as they looked at the now empty space where the blue box had been.
Waverly was the first to find her words and break the silence, her curious mind apparently getting the better of her. “Wha-what was that?”
Nicole took a step back to where the police box had just been led on its side. “If you stand right about...” the Doctor shifted to the left a little and took a small step back, “.,.here, you should find out in about, oh I don't know, four seconds?” she finished, lifting her arm and looking at a watch that wasn't there.
Waverly walked cautiously towards the redhead, followed soon after by Wynonna, tightening her hold on her gun.
A few seconds ticked by then the same noise as before filled their ears as the Tardis began to materialize around them. Nicole rocked on the balls of her feet in excitement.
“Here comes the good part,” Nicole winked at Waverly.
The Doctor watched the Earp sister's eyes go wide and their jaws go slack in that amazed expression she never tired seeing.
“This way,” she instructed hopping into a half run up the steps, leaning over the railing when she realised no one had followed.
“It-it's.. bigger, on the inside..?” Wynonna said in confused amazement.
“It's a lot to take in, isn't it? Tiny box, huge room inside. What's that about? Let me explain… it's basically-” Nicole started, she really did love this bit.
“It's another dimension,” Waverly interrupted with a proud smile.
“What?” Nicole asked in a disappointed tone.
“I watch a lot of science fiction shows,” Waverly shrugged, walking up the steps to join Nicole. Trying to fight the smug smile that was pulling at her lips.
“But...”
The older Earp burst out laughing and turned to make her way to the other two, her shocked expression replaced with one of pride at her sister. “Okay, so you're an alien. Why do you look like us? I thought aliens were little green men with antlers or whatever?” Wynonna asked
“I think you mean antenna, Wy,” Waverly offered, leaning around Nicole to look at her sister.
“Right,” the older woman confirmed clicking her middle finger and thumb together, pointing at Waverly. “Green men with antenna,” Wynonna nodded.
“That's racist,” the Doctor sulked, “and actually a little sexist too...” huffing like a child who'd had their toy taken away she continued, “besides... you look like us, Time Lord's came first.”
“So how old are you?” Waverly asked, intrigued but not the least bit overwhelmed like Nicole had hoped.
“A lot older than I look,” the Doctor smirked crossing her feet and leaning against the railing.
“And what was that before? When you collapsed...is that normal?” the brunette fired.
Nicole's eyes lit up, her disappointment forgotten, “Normal? Yes and no. I'm regenerating. New face, new person...look,” the Doctor said pulling her jacket open and tilting her chin up, moving her face from side to side.
“Regenerating? What's that?” Waverly's eyes sparkled with curiosity.
The redhead turned on her heel and stepped over to the centre console pulling a small screen round to face them by the handles either side. “I'm glad you asked, Waverly,” she praised the younger Earp typing away at the keyboard underneath the screen. “This-” Nicole hit the keyboard one last time with an exaggerated tap of her finger, “-is me. You see here how all my cells are-”
“Rewriting themselves?” Waverly finished.
“Yes!” Nicole replied, a proud and impressed look on her face. “You're a smart one, I like that,” the Doctor praised again, a dimpled smile on her face, nudging the brunette lightly with her body.
Waverly blushed, her whole face turning pink up to the tips of her ears, dipping her head down, a shy grin spreading across her lips. Nicole couldn't help but be fascinated by the human, looking at the youngest Earp with intrigue.
Wynonna cleared her throat behind them, snapping the two from their gaze.
“Yes, well. It means that I can't die...strictly speaking. If I'm mortally wounded my old body dies and I get a new one. Like this one,” the Doctor said patting her chest. Nicole's face suddenly turned serious as she carried on explaining, “But, if I'm wounded, shall we say, shot with a revolver-” the redhead shot a pointed looked at Wynonna who half raised her hands, palm out, “-while my body is still regenerating, then there's no coming back for me. I die.” She finished, letting her sentence trail off, losing herself in thought.
“In my defense you did literally drop out of the sky and smash my barn with your box,” Wynonna said, bringing Nicole back.
“She's called the Tardis,” the Doctor corrected, pointing a finger up.
“A what now?” Wynonna asked raising an eyebrow like the redhead was a crazy person.
“A Tardis. T.A.R.D.I.S. Time and Relative Dimension In Space,” the redhead explained noticing that everything she had just said went straight over Wynonna's head. Waverly on the other hand was hanging on every word.
“We ran away together didn't we old girl?” Nicole cooed in adoration, stroking the console. “Oh! That reminds me,” the Doctor said to herself, eyes popping.
She pressed a button next to her hand, a small circular hole opening up on the dash. Reaching into her jacket pocket Nicole pulled her broken screwdriver out and placed it in the hole, watching it close again.
“So you said you were a...Time Lord? Does that mean that this,” Waverly held her arms out gesturing to the room around them, “is your...time machine?” she asked.
“Ten points to Gryffindor!” Nicole shouted, bopping Waverly on the nose with her finger.
“I'm a Ravenclaw” Waverly corrected her.
“Of course you are,” the redhead smiled, “I helped name them you know.”
“What?”
“The Hogwarts houses, me and Jo, brainstorming over tea and scones. It was all very British,” the Doctor said shaking her head and smiling.
“Anyway! I digress,” the Doctor said, letting her words trail off. “Would you and your sister like to see what my baby can do?”
Waverly's eyebrows shot up to her hairline, while Wynonna wore a more skeptical look before the two nodded in agreement.
“Fantastic! So my question to you is this, with any point in time and space, the whole universe at your fingertips, where would the Earps like to go?” Nicole asked curiously, eager to start a new adventure.
“The O.K. Corral.”
“Ancient Greece.”
The two sisters spoke at the same time, voices drowning the other out.
Nicole laughed at the Earp's, noting Wynonna's sudden enthusiasm with the possibility of a trip to ancient Greece on her mind.
Waverly and Wynonna looked at one another as if having a silent conversation. Waverly pouted at her sister and mouthed a please. The older brunette stood firm for a few moments before her shoulders slumped.
“Fine, baby girl, let's go see the great Wyatt Earp in action,” Wynonna relented. Waverly bounced in place, squealing in excitement, biting the knuckle of her index finger.
“Wyatt Earp? A relation of yours?” Nicole asked, joining their conversation.
“Our great, great Granddaddy,” Waverly smiled. Wynonna simply rolled her eyes at her sister's enthusiasm, a small smirk quirking her lips.
“Okay then! Let's go see your family in action!” the Doctor said already pushing buttons on the dash. “Hold tight,” she beamed pulling a lever down.
The Tardis sprung to life with a vworp before it cut out, sounding like a failing engine. The time machine shook and juddered, going silent again.
The Doctor's brow furrowed in confusion. She typed at the keyboard again and looked back at the screen. She opened her mouth to speak but was cut off by Wynonna slapping a hand against her shoulder, jolting her forward a little.
“Well, nerds, this has been...eye opening..,but if you're done playing make believe, I've got a bottle of whiskey with my name on it,” Wynonna said heading for the door.
“No, Wynonna, wait!” Nicole called after her, holding an arm out. “We've moved but-” the redhead cut herself off, attention going back to the screen, “-we're just...same place...different location,” she mumbled.
Nicole took off to the door in a sprint, opening it she poked her head out to get a better look at their surroundings. Stretched out in front of her was a very large open warehouse. She watched as soldiers marched passed, a forklift driving around in the distance transporting a large wooden box. Slipping back into the Tardis and closing the door behind her she turned to face the Earp sisters with a concerned expression.
“Don't freak out but...we appear to be in some sort of military base.”
“What?!” the sisters exclaimed.
The Doctor held a finger up to the women, her expression not changing, “I said don't freak out.”
“That's a pretty big bombshell to drop on a person even after you've told them not to freak out, Doc,” Wynonna blurted.
“I think we should check it out,” Waverly added casually.
“Did you hit your head, baby girl?” the older Earp asked in disbelief, turning to face her sister.
“No, Wy, I just...the Tardis brought us here for a reason, right?” Waverly asked looking at the Doctor for confirmation.
Nicole nodded in agreement, watching Waverly's expression change as her mind worked.
“Well, I say we find out what that reason is,” the brunette finished.
The Doctor's features switched from concentration to elated in the blink of an eye. “I knew I liked you for a reason, Waverly Earp,” she pointed, turning to run off down the corridor that lead from the control room. Skidding to a stop she whipped round to face Waverly and Wynonna. A stern look on her face.
“Both of you just...wait here until I get back. Don't. Move,” the redhead warned.
“Where are you going?” Waverly asked.
“To change,” the Doctor replied like it was the most obvious thing in the universe. “Don't let your sister touch anything while I'm gone, Waverly,” she called over her shoulder. The sound of Waverly laughing and Wynonna grumbling growing quieter as she made her way down the corridor.
Rummaging through a box of clothes left behind from her past selves and the many companions who'd travel with her, the Time Lord picked out a pair of skinny black dress trousers, a light blue button down shirt and suspenders. Changing into them, she discarded her old clothes in a pile next to the trunk. The redhead turned towards the mirror, checking over her profile from the front and sides. Something was still missing. Diving back into the box she continued to throw clothes in every direction. Pulling a charcoal trench coat out she held it up in front of her. Lips quirking to the side in thought before slipping it on.
“Oh, yes. This will do nicely, Doctor” she muttered, turning to leave.
“Shoes...I need shoes.” Nicole reminded herself, grabbing for a pair of black 18-hole laceup boots. The Time Lord hopped her way back into the corridor, sliding her shoes on, stopping briefly to tie them.
Nicole reappeared in the control room to find Wynonna sat, one knee up, with her back against the Tardis door. Spinning her gun in her hand. Waverly sat on the floor of the main platform letting her legs dangle over the edge. Arms folded on the support rail, chin resting on them.
“So, what do you think?” Nicole asked excitedly, pulling her coat open and twirling for the pair.
Wynonna offered a small smile and a nod before turning back to the revolver.
“Very handsome,” Waverly blushed, standing quickly.
The Doctor felt a strange heat rise in her face, a grin pulling at her lips. “Thank you,” she said, tipping her head in Waverly's direction before heading towards the door.
“Come on then Earps. Oh! Wait! I just need one more thing.”
The Doctor ran to the dash of the center console again just as a ding (that sounded a lot like a microwave) sounded out. A clear cylinder coming up from the hole where Nicole had dropped her sonic screwdriver earlier. Taking it with a smile the Doctor slipped it into the inside pocket of her coat, jumping over the rails instead of using the stairs, headed for the door.
“Ready?” she asked Waverly and Wynonna, looking at each one of them in turn.
Waverly nodded with excitement as Wynonna grumbled a tight lip smile.
Nicole opened the door and took a cautious step out, the sisters in tow, closing the door behind them.
In seconds they were surrounded by a group of soldiers, guns pointed at them. A tall blonde woman stood just behind watching the Time Lord and her companions.
“The Doctor, I presume?”