Work Text:
A remnant of something to remember you by
Beginning:
The beginning was not at the start as time should unfold, rather she found herself being pushed out of her own skin and mind, pulled away from her heart, squashed and then stretched before she disappeared into nothingness-a rather tricky beginning if anything.
Middle:
The middle was somewhere cold and dark then full of warm and light and so many corridors and for a moment she felt so big and alive before being compressed into unconsciousness.
End:
When she awoke again, after what seemed like forever and no time at all, she found herself lying down on a white hospital bed in a dimly lit room with curved bronze walls musing on what strange sort of end to an equally strange experience it had been.
Love:
And then alarmingly there was a voice inside her head, much like her own but not quite the same as it echoed, sounding like stars yet full of love for her and a thousand silent thank you's and hello's.
Illusion:
"Who are you?" Idris asked aloud and then realised she never needed to, because the knowledge was inside her head and being spoken at the same time.
Discovery:
"Yes, who are you?" the Doctor asked curiously and cautiously as he stepped into the medical bay holding a burnt hand (the charcoaled fish fingers drifting somwhere between Clom and Raxicorocofalipatorius), then stared in disbelief as she replied that she was Idris Jones.
Numbness:
"Idris Jones," she told the mad looking man who had silly looking hair and a rather large chin, and his bizarre appearance seemed familiar to her while the lack of knowledge made her feel numb.
Silence:
Her next question was on her new location, but the Doctor couldn't bring himself to answer and they stood in silence because she was Idris Jones and so alive, but she wasn't the TARDIS.
Nature:
With a nod of his head and an outstretched hand he introduced himself, as she smiled back curiously, "Ah, now I see, your Old Girl has told me, is telling me and I know now."
Time:
"She's a TARDIS-"
"A Time And Relative Dimension In Space," Idris butted in as she stared off down the open doorway, "and a rather wonderful creature, I must say."
If:
"And if you would be so kind as to aid me, I would very much like to go home."
Colour:
The Doctor noted the colour of her faded blue of her dress and the bright blush against her cheeks before blinking twice and finding his words, "Ah, yes of course I'll take you home, Victorian London, twelfth of August...nineteen, oh, three?"
Friendship:
"Four, and thank you, Doctor-Thief," Idris replied, wondering whether if she had met him at the party she had supposed to attend, they may have spent the whole night talking of nonsense, travels and wonders.
Betrayal:
The Doctor turned around and walked up the corridor with Idris behind him, scowling at the polished wooden floors, the whooshing sliding doors and hating the feeling of betrayal by fate because Idris wasn't his Old Girl.
Happiness:
The TARDIS hummed beneath his feet reproachfully, "Be happy with what you have my beautiful idiot, I was her, and she isn't me," she seemed to say as the engines turned over and they floated in space.
Smugness:
The Doctor could feel her smugness too, "Oh fine," he muttered under his breath.
Eyes:
Idris' eyes grew wide as they stepped into the console room as she took in the sight, from the glowing time rotor to the transparent glass floor to the twinkling lights and the wonderful wires.
Smiling:
"It's beautiful, isn't it," the Doctor commented, catching himself smiling in the bronze of the monitor edging, (because the look of wonder on their faces always made him smile).
Embrace:
Idris began to cry, partly from shock and partly from the experience of being sucked out of her body and then plonked back in, and all so very very very far from home, but the salty tears began to subside when the Doctor pulled her into a comforting hug.
Before:
"I just need to tweak...this...here...before we go," he informed her as he flashed the sonic screwdriver over the controls.
After:
It seemed like a bad idea from the start, but he was a Time Lord, and the captain of the space ship called the TARDIS, but afterwards as they ran she would never think that she would've stopped to question him.
Change:
"Oh," she realised, just before he threw the handbrake off, that she certainly couldn't turn up to the engagement party of her two closest friends wearing a frayed dress which had not seen better days since she lived on the back of a sentient and rather dastardly asteroid.
Similarity:
He pointed her in the direction of the wardrobe and she returned soon, wearing a similar style of dress in what would have been the original deep blue as provided helpfully by the TARDIS.
Difference:
If anything, there was a slight, heartbreaking difference, and if the TARDIS had remained in her body, he was sure she would look exactly the same, fresh faced and ready for adventure, rather than a return journey to home.
Marriage:
"She told me, your ship, that you and her have always been together, and I'm sure she loves you," Idris realised and spoke after the Doctor turned away with a compliment and a half hearted smile but the Victorian woman carried on speaking; "She sounded like your wife, it's a little odd, to be married to a ship, but it's the best I can imagine."
Music:
"Sounds like..." Idris listened carefully to the turning and grinding of the TARDIS' engines as she travelled through the time-space vortex, "music!"
Cheating:
They landed in 904 on the planet Cerulean on Bloomsday and as the Doctor stalled in his stride at the doorway he could only remark, "That's cheating," to the big, blue box which had landed with a defiant thump only moments earlier.
Confusion:
She hadn't been confused earlier, rather taking it all in her stride just like when her travelling plans hit difficulties, but staring at the vast field of long, pale purple stalks like a carpet before her, her confusion was very much accounted for.
Travel:
"Do you have problems travelling in your ship, or limited knowledge in navigating, because this surely isn't London, 1904, Doctor!" Idris protested with her hands on her waist.
Urban:
He considered London in 1904 with its hansom carriages pulled by strong horses, damp cobbled streets, smog filled air, the docks full of imported spices and treasures and the ever wonderfully busy streets just teeming with humans, "No, this isn't London, or even Earth..."
Voice:
She tried to hold fast onto her courage, but it faltered unwillingly and her voice cracked, "What do you mean not London, not Earth?"
Glee:
"We're on another planet," the Doctor began to explain calmly but his excitement poured through and his eyes sparkled with glee, "Called Cerulean, and today...is Bloomsday!"
Breeze:
Idris remained quiet for a long moment, "Bloomsday?" she mused as she stared on at the stalks which began to quiver in the soft breeze which had picked up.
Bloom:
"All over the planet, it's the first day of Spring, well technically it's called Mor –but it's the same thing, and the flowers are about to bloom," the Doctor explained, crouching down to brush a finger over the tightly closed bud on the tip of a stalk which stood by his right boot.
Hot:
Idris forgot she was on another world, with a strange, alien man and bent down to copy his action, finding the bud of the flower hot to her touch.
Cold:
A shiver of cold air swept across the back of her neck as a rustling sound was carried along to her ears, "Bloomsday," she repeated, smiling back at the Doctor who had stood up and was staring past the blue box at the horizon.
Purple:
The violet stalks rippled backwards, and slowly each bud unfurled, until every single richly coloured plum flower in their sight had bloomed for the first time in 4000 years.
Sweet:
The smell was sweeter than anything she had experienced before, and she buried her nose into the closest one, delighting in the fragrance.
Bitter:
The Doctor pulled a face and spat out the dark purple petals as she stared up at him bewildered causing him to explain sheepishly; "They taste bitter."
Running:
Of course they would run, he always would, and she found it so simple and easy to follow him, both sending petal fluttering off into the gentle winds under the golden clouds.
Child:
She had the heart of a child and delighting in asking him questions; about himself, the ones she only knew as Orange and Pretty, the planet and its history, the flowers and if there were any other flora or fauna on the planet.
Peace:
After her questions had been answered, they fell into a companionable, peaceful silence, walking side by side and instead of the thrum of the TARDIS under his feet he felt the soft single thuds of a human's heartbeat as their hands linked and his fingers rested lightly against her wrist.
Inconceivable:
It was inconceivable that she was anyone but Idris, but for a moment he, the time weary old man who had always been running, could pretend.
Thoughts:
"I wonder, Doctor, it can't always be like this, can it?" Idris questioned as they walked through the fields of flowers back to the TARDIS, and he thought there was hope that there could be more.
Space:
"Space is a rather wonderful place, there's danger, there's always been danger but there's also wonderful places and beginnings and stories which never cease to amaze me, much like today," he replied truthfully.
Moment:
She smiled back fondly at the wonderful, bizarre man and hoped she would remember every single moment, "One day I shall grow old, and I shall forget the colour of those beautiful flowers, nor your smile, I dearly wish I couldn't."
Surprise:
He sighed as he led her back inside the TARDIS, and then tapped a few buttons on the control panel to take off before watching a side compartment pop open with a rattle, causing him to raise an eyebrow and mutter, "Is that so, Old Girl?"
Dusk:
It was dusk when they landed at the correct place and time as Idris adjusted the black coat and looked out of the open doors with a beaming smile, then threw her arms around him saying "Thank you Doctor for an extraordinary excursion and an astonishing ending, I'm glad we met, even if things were..."
Knowingly:
"Yes, I always meet the most brilliant people under the most perilous circumstances," he finished for her, with an equally wide smile as he hugged her back around the corner from the party where she was meant to be.
Thanks:
She left, looking back only once with a never wavering smile as he leaned against the closed doors of the TARDIS, "She deserved that, she deserved our thanks."
+1. Token:
She only realised much later, when she returned home with heavy limbs with her musings a million miles away on a planet with flowers or with a old, young-looking man inside a blue box, that there was a small TARDIS blue box in her pocket and enclosed was a plum coloured flower with smooth petals preserved in a cube of crystal.