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‘Uh,’ said the woman, black coily hair framing a face of absolute confusion. ‘This is weird.’
Sam Jones was inclined to agree. They had landed in crowded, old fashioned (and rather posh) study crowded with various historical knick knacks, wood panelled walls and stained glass windows looking out over a lawn. An electric guitar leaned againt the wall, and there was an air of homeliness to the room, though she somehow doubted that this was someone’s house. Behind the messy desk, a older man with silver hair was sprawled in a chair looking distinctly annoyed, while the young woman who had spoken looked to him for some sign of. Anything probably. All very well, expect for the fact there was another TARDIS in the corner of the room.
The Doctor, unfazed, bounded into the room with a massive grin on his face.
‘Hello there, I’m the Doctor,’ he said, characteristically cheerful, extending his hand to the young woman.
She tentatively shook it and pointed to the grumpy man behind the desk.
‘Bill. And, he’s the Doctor,’ she said. Spotting Sam in the doorway of the TARDIS—the second TARDIS—she gave a little wave. Sam waved back, hopefully smiling in a friendly way and not in a ‘what the hell is going on here’ way.
Bill had medium brown skin, and her hair was worn natural, coils surrounding her face in a round style. She was wearing a striped tank top in warm colours, jeans, yellow sneakers, and an olive green jacket covered in pins and patches—Sam spotted a Save the Whales pin and her estimation of Bill grew immensely. Good to know that in…. whatever year this was people still cared. She would have to ask about that. How the whales were going. Sam always had this vauge anxiety that she would land in the not-so-distant 21st century only to find that the causes she fought so strongly for had failed.
‘How did you get that in here?’ said the silver haired man indignantly. He was Scottish. It suited him.
‘Oh, you know,’ said the Doctor breezily ‘Just got a tad off track, had to land in the closest epoch, picked a nice spot. I suppose you’re one of my future selves?’
‘Your what?’ said Sam and Bill together.
Of course, thought Sam. They must’ve landed in front of a future regeneration of the Doctor and his…. friend? Student?
‘Oh of course, right,’ said the Other Doctor, sarcastically. ‘You just, accidentally landed in my office for no particular reason, just come strolling in here interrupting my lesson with Bill. We’re discussing the importance of personal interpretations of classic film here! And if you don’t mind I always found you-‘ with this he gestured at the Doctor, Sam’s Doctor—‘rather irritating.’
‘Would someone like to explain this to me,’ said Bill. ‘Like, you know, in words.’
‘Sure,’ said Sam quickly. ‘Let’s take a walk. Care to show me around?’
—
‘Wait, so you were how old when you started travelling with the Doctor?’ exclaimed Bill, mildly horrified. She had taken Sam around the grounds of St. Luke’s—the uni where they’d apparently landed—and they were now walking around a relaxed looking park, dotted with the occasional student.
‘Seventeen,’ replied Sam, smiling slightly. ‘It’s horrible, isn’t it? And I—I never even told my parents. Just sent them postcards from other planets. Send. Still send. I can’t possibly go back now.’
Bill looked at Sam with a sort of apprehension. Sam didn’t blame her.
‘Isn’t there some kind of law about that?’ said Bill. ‘Like, surely that’s illegal.’ A pause. ‘I mean, I don’t know, is it? Underage people not allowed to run away with some nutter in a phone box? Like, no offense but your Doctor seems a lot more…. irresponsible. Than mine.’
Sam shrugged. ‘He’s always tried to take care of me. Make sure I don’t end up dying somewhere, even when we were separated—oh yeah I spent a few years living on another planet, doing volunteer work mostly, thinking I might be stuck there forever—even when we got separated, I know he was thinking about me.’
Bill stared.
‘Sorry. Sorry it does sound really bad when you say it like that,’ Sam laughed dryly. ‘Its not I promise. Okay maybe some bits were really awful but all up it’s generally quite fun…..’ she trailed off. Bill was still looking at her.
‘How old are you?’ she said.
‘I—it’s hard to keep track. The Doctor always says he knows when it’s my birthday though. I think I’m twenty two but it might be a little more. Time travel, you know, hardly a linear experience.’
Bill looked very much like she was still trying to process all of this.
‘I’m twenty-six,’ she said. ‘I mean, I thought I’d seen some pretty wild stuff but you’ve……..’
Sam put her hand on Bill’s shoulder, causing them to both stop walking for a moment. Bill, surprised, turned again to look at her.
‘Hey, it’s not a competition, don’t worry. Your experience has been rather more relaxed than mine it seems.’
‘Yeah,’ said Bill. ‘I’ve only almost died twice.’
They both laughed darkly a little.
‘What about you,’ asked Sam at length. ‘What do you study?’
‘Oh I don’t, really… I work at the canteen. The Doctor tutors me in……. I don’t know actually. Whatever he finds interesting that day.’ Bill smiled. ‘I like it. It’s fun. I always wanted to go to uni for real, but didn’t think I could afford it. This is much more interesting I think.’
‘I wanted to go to university as well,’ replied Sam. ‘I guess a lot of things just got in the way.’
Sam wondered how long it had been since Bill’s Doctor had been her Doctor. How long it had been since the grumpy silver haired man in the study had last seen her. She wished she had been paying more attention to him, to see if there was anything familiar in that face. He could tell her all about what happened in her future, but there was almost definitely some sort of rule against that. She wondered if that incarnation cared.
The pins on Bill’s jacket glinted in the sun—bands Sam hadn’t heard of, and a few she had, the kind of witty self-referential phrases that Sam liked on t-shirts, a few that seemes to be there just for colour—the Save the Whales pin stood out again to Sam, the blue catching her eyes.
‘Did you do it?’ Sam whispered, more to herself than anything, forgetting she hadn’t previously spoken aloud. ‘The whales?’ Sam asked.
‘Sorry?’ said Bill, looking confused.
Sam gestured at Bill’s jacket.
‘Your pin. Save the Whales. I used to think that was the most important thing in the world. Global warming and the oppression of women and saving the whales.’
Bill smiled. ‘I think we did yeah. I saw a Discovery Channel show about it, how there’s a lot more whales then there used to be.’
Sam grinned. ‘That’s good. That’s brilliant.’
Bill seemed to pause and think for a moment.
‘It must be hard, to keep caring about things on earth when you’ve been part of revolutions on planets no one else here has even heard of. A whole universe of just causes and people to help. Isn’t it tiring?’ She sounded like she was avoiding asking if Sam still cared.
She shrugged. ‘You would think so, but in some ways it makes me care more. Earth is the only planet with whales, you know?’
A pause.
‘Why do you think you really landed here?’ asked Bill. ‘Like, it can’t possibly be random that you landed right in the Doctor office, as we were in there.’
Sam thought for a moment.
‘Maybe….. maybe it’s because the universe wanted us to hang out on a park bench at this particular moment,’ said Sam, grinning. They both giggled a bit. ‘Maybe the TARDIS got bored and wanted to take a peek at what was in store. Maybe your Doctor needs reminding about something. Maybe my Doctor needs to see this to… to make sure it happens. Or to change the way it’s going to happen. Or something.’
‘Well, it’s gotta have happened, ‘cos I’ve just lived it,’ said Bill, face scruched a little.
Sam laughed. ‘How do you know that you’re living it the same as you were ten minutes ago? These things can change. What matters the most is being true to yourself. Even if yourself has to change.’
‘You talk like the Doctor. But much nicer,’ Bill finished quickly. Sam smiled.
‘I spent so long trying to be more like him, years trying to care the same amount about everything, and trying to act like the Doctor, thinking I had to do all that to prove myself, to be taken seriously. Maybe I finally managed it. And after all that about being yourself…..’ she trailed off. ‘How long do you think it’s been. Since your Doctor last saw me. A hundred years? A thousand?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Bill, ‘I’m sorry. He has a picture of his granddaughter on his desk, a really old one—okay, not like, old old by time travel standards, but from at least the sixties…. and a picture of his wife. Whenever I ask him about them he starts getting sad, he tries to hide it but I can tell. I know he misses them. I’m sure he thinks of you.’
Sam smiled. ‘Thank you, Bill. I met his granddaughter once, Susan. She was kind of awesome.’
‘Really?’ said Bill, surprised. ‘Her name is Susan? That’s not very….. time lord-y.’
‘I suppose not,’ said Sam with a grin. ‘They must run out of the pretentious titles on Gallifrey, maybe the younger ones have to pick normal names if all the titles are taken.’
They both giggled.
‘I like you, Sam Jones,’ said Bill, bright eyed.
‘I like you too, Bill Potts,’ grinned Sam.
‘D’you—do you want to get a drink later?’ said Bill, slightly rushed, as if she was trying to sound casual about it. ‘The student bar is really good and they have a band on a lot of evenings, if you want to, of course—‘
Sam blinked, and then properly realised what she was being asked. In spite of herself she began to blush a bit.
‘Yeah, sure,’ she said, also trying to sound casual.
Bill was smart, clearly, but Sam couldn’t help feeling somewhat older and wiser talking to her. They could go for the best date of either of their lives and the Doctor could still sweep Sam away and she could never see her again. She somehow doubted that Bill’s Doctor would let Sam stay here even if she wanted to. On one hand, that probably did something catastrophic to the timeline, and on the other he also didn’t seem particularly. Personable. He had the same sort of charisma that Sam’s Doctor did, but channelled into a different direction. A snarkier one.
Bill started talking again, and Sam listened with a grin. There was something about the way Bill looked when she got excited about something, or curious, or even slightly disbelieving, that was incredibly endearing. She seemed so….. genuinely youthful in a way that Sam hadn’t felt for a while. It was refreshing. It was kind of joyful. Out of all the people she had met on so many worlds…….. she had a flash of some sort of future with Bill. A (relatively) normal life where they move into some little flat together, go on the ocassional whirlwind TARDIS trip and then collapse on the couch with a beer laughing about it afterwards, if not as girlfriends (which Sam was definitely not opposed to) then as friends—getting ahead of herself as always.
There were trillions of people in the universe, thought Sam, but there really only was one planet with whales. There really only was one planet with English girls who go time travelling sometimes and it was the one she grew up on. It was the planet where she could hang out with Bill Potts, and that, in this moment, counted for quite a bit.