Chapter Text
"New Mexico?" The Master sighed, "that's a vast wasteland of desert and cactuses."
"The correct term is cacti," The Doctor interjected.
"Well, that's where the filming takes place," David was in his room at the TARDIS choosing some clothes to pack into an overnight case, "and I can't just show up in a blue box so we'll need to park somewhere near the airport they're sending a car to pick me up," he snapped the case shut, "you don't have to stay, you can just drop me off and come back after the shoot."
"I like New Mexico," The Doctor smiled, "Roswell, and all. In fact they have had the main controller from a Cyberman since 1947 and I think they're still trying to figure it out."
"Isn't that a good thing?" David asked sitting on the bed.
"Oh yes!" the thin Time Lord laughed, "it seems 'someone' put the idea in their head that it's just the remains of a Canadian weather balloon."
"I would have told them it was an ash tray," The Master snorted, "at least that would have been more original."
"What's the movie about?" The Doctor asked.
"Vampires," David shuddered remembering his real life encounter with the all-too-real brood and his time as a mobile blood bank, "but luckily this is all make-believe. No real vampires this time."
The other occupants of the TARDIS smiled at his words, unknowing and unaware that they were to soon to be spectacularly proven wrong.
"So do you get to pretend to be a vampire?" The Master asked, "get to suck on some pretty co-star's neck?"
"Sadly, no," David laughed, "maybe next time."
"Please tell me these aren't going to be the sparkly kind that seem to be way too popular these days? I have never met one that sparkled, well, if they manage to catch on fire, which they do have a tendency to if sprinkled with holy water and then lit aflame, and the smell is just impossible to get out of one's clothing...." The Doctor stopped aware that the other two were regarding him like he had suddenly sprouted an additional head, "theoretically that is," he finished quickly.
"Don't even ask," The Master cautioned the actor.
"I wasn't planning to," David assured him.
As if he had just realised what David had said The Doctor looked at the actor with a frown, "what's wrong with turning up with the TARDIS? You aren't ashamed of her are you?"
"Absolutely not!" the actor protested, "but just think of how hard it would be to explain you and him," he pointed to The Master, "and avoid getting locked up in a loony bin" he thought to himself then aloud again, "besides I'm pretty sure there is something like a Torchwood based there and they might try to confiscate her."
That seemed to mollify the Time Lord, who patted the wall next to the bed affectionately, "true," he smiled, "she is very special."
"Ha! 'She' is a broken down piece of junk that you only got your grubby mitts on because it was being sold for scrap," The Master rolled his eyes, "I swear you two should just elope or something, it's just a stupid outmoded time capsule."
"I'd watch your step for the next few days," The Doctor cautioned.
The Master rubbed the sore spot on his shin from the last time he had insulted the TARDIS, he had walked into a small table in the dark that hadn't been there up until the very moment his leg collided with it, "your ship is a total..."
"Manners!" the thin Time Lord cut him off. Then stepping to the doorway, "time to get you to New Mexico!" he announced before bounding off to the console room.
The Master rose too, "do you think they have spas there? I could use a good massage and a cigar and a dry martini."
"I can ask around," David offered.
"You know for a misbegotten mongrel who shouldn't even exist you do have your uses," The Master patted him on the shoulder.
David watched him walk away in stunned disbelief before shaking his head with a wry smile, "thanks...I think."
The Doctor had parked the TARDIS behind a row of fuelling tanks at the airport. Before disembarking David wrote down his hotel information, and extended an open invitation for them to drop in any time.
As turned towards the terminal he heard the unmistakable sound of the TARDIS taking off, and turned around just in time to see it wink away into nothingness. Smiling as he turned back around David picked up his bags and headed to the waiting car.