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Fic: Trust Me (I'm a Lying Liar Who Lies). Chapter 8.
I left you on a cliffhanger, didn't I? Sorry about that. Life has been unebelievably busy. However, this chapter ballooned, so decided to I split it, which means there should only be a couple of days wait for the next part after this. (Sorry if the quality of the writing is so-so. Blame LIFE. /o\)
(Previous chapters here in my memories.)
Summary: In which River is enigmatic, Martha is frustrated, Mickey is intrigued and the Doctor... is a Pond.
Setting: Post-S6 (spoilers for everything aired so far, including First Night/Last Night and The Christmas Special).
Characters: Martha, Mickey, River, the Doctor (11), OCs. (More characters will probably turn up later.)
Word count (this chapter): 1980 words approx.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 8
“Doctor!” Mickey cried, rushing to the fallen Doctor’s side, ignoring both the screams from the archeologists and the threat of further Silurian violence. What was it Martha had told him about CPR? Although if he’d been shot, was he going to regenerate? Hands trembling, Mickey - with immense relief - located two heartbeats, and was just wondering what to do next when the Doctor’s eye suddenly snapped open, staring at Mickey with stunned concentration.
“Did I just see-?” he asked, before scrambling to his feet, a wide grin breaking out on his face as his eyes fastened on the Silurian.
“Doctor Malohkeh!” he exclaimed, and then covered the distance between them in no time at all due to his long legs, as Mickey stared dumbly after him, witnessing the resulting hug with the cogs in his brain refusing to turn.
“Mickey!” the Doctor called out a moment later, his arm around the Silurian. “Come here, let me introduce you!”
Cautiously Mickey walked up, and the Doctor beamed at him. “This is Doctor Malohkeh - I mentioned him, remember?”
“Um, I think so?” Mickey replied, still wary. “Just - if you’re friends... Why did he shoot you?”
Doctor Malohkeh looked very apologetic as he reached out and shook Mickey’s hand.
“Pleasure to meet you young man,” he said, his voice rich and cultured and sounding just like one would expect a doctor to sound. “I’m afraid I experienced somewhat of a malfunction. This-” he held up the oblong tool, “-is a clever new 'all-in-one' prototype that, as senior medical staff, I was asked to try out. It’s essentially a diagnostic tool, but it has an inbuilt communicator and database and so forth, as well as some basic medical functions - including anaesthetic...”
“It’s a bit like a refined stungun,” the Doctor finished off. “Set to Silurian, so it only knocked me out for a moment, no harm done.”
“Right,” Mickey said slowly, as the Doctor turned to Doctor Malohkeh again: “But how is everyone? Nasreen? Tony? It’s been an age...”
Deciding to leave them to their chatter, Mickey turned and looked around.
“Hey everyone!” he called out. “It’s OK! It was just a misunderstanding - we’re not in danger!”
The leader of the dig, a middle aged woman in a dark raincoat, her hair in a sensible plait, stepped forwards.
“Very well. Does that mean that we might finally get some explanations? I’m Professor Townend, and, quite frankly, I would like to know what happened to my dig, and what aliens have to do with it!”
She glared at Doctor Malohkeh, and the others congregated behind her as Mickey bit his lip.
“Right. The green dude isn’t alien, but the one in the bow tie is. And together they should be able to explain what happened...”
Turning, he was just in time to see another yellow spacesuit appear in a flash, and his heart sank. This time however, the person inside didn’t mess around and immediately removed the helmet, revealing herself to be another middle-aged women, except one that bore somewhat of a resemblance to Mickey’s late grandmother.
Upon seeing her, Doctor Malokeh smiled with ill-disguised relief.
“And here she is. As I was just explaining Doctor, we were a party of two, trying to get to the bottom of this mystery... Well, I chose to come along to learn something about a new ancestor... Professor-” he turned to the newcomer, as he indicated the Doctor with an elegant sweep of his hand, “-this is the man who can answer your questions.”
The Professor looked the Doctor over, eyes narrowing, and Mickey was almost startled when her accent turned out to be bland upper-class English, rather than carrying the deep Jamaican lilt of his grandma.
“Good. I would like to know why Luna University suddenly has a new dig, under mine and Doctor Song’s custody - I’ve had quite the difficult morning trying to answer questions I had no response for. Sorry, I’ve not introduced myself, have I?”
She held out her hand. “Professor Pond. Pleasure to meet you.”
There was a beat, as the Doctor seemed to freeze. Not out of awkwardness, but in that way he had of shifting his entire focus onto a single thing. The smile that subsequently broke out on his face was so luminous that Mickey felt he needed sunglasses.
“Professor Pond,” he said, carefully enunciating every syllable as he shook her hand warmly, “the pleasure is all mine!”
Before they could continue, Professor Townend interrupted.
“Excuse me, but would this be my dig that we are discussing? And what is this ‘Luna’ University?”
The Doctor looked from one to the other, then clasped his hands together.
“Ladies. Allow me to explain...”
After a brief, if somewhat meandering, foray into the history of the Silurian people (to which Professor Townend didn’t say anything, except look deeply sceptical), he then proceeded to explain the afternoon’s happenings in a more-and-less straightforward manner - although Mickey, with interest, noticed the way various parts were left out or obfuscated.
As the Doctor finished his explanations, Professor Townend planted her hands on her hips and looked him up and down.
“So, basically, you’re saying that this Doctor Song stole our dig?”
As he hesitated, Professor Pond spoke up.
“Technically, yes. Of course, under the Silurian Act of 3124 all Silurian artifacts are automatically the property of the Silurian People, but since we’re around a thousand years away from that here... Well, she did everything by the book. The dig is ours now.”
“I beg your pardon?” Professor Towend asked, her focus shifting. “How did it magically become yours? I get that you're from the future, but theft is theft. Besides, I’m still not sure this isn’t some kind of hidden camera TV show. I’d be expecting Jeremy Beadle to jump out at any minute if he wasn’t dead.”
Professor Pond crossed her arms, not an easy feat in the bright yellow suit she was wearing.
“I can assure you that this is no joke to us either, Professor. If you’ll allow me, I will explain the situation?"
"That would be marvellous," Professor Townend replied drily, and Professor Pond, refusing to rise to the bait, instead entered into lecture mode.
"Now then. First of all Doctor Song moved the dig to the moon, which is neutral ground. No court in the Empire would let you move it again. Besides, you don't have the technology. Secondly she did all the legal paperwork in exquisite detail - the woman is a genius, unfortunately for you. How she manages to run around and steal archeology when she's in the highest security prison known to man I'll never know - makes the university look bad too, of course, but I did warn them..."
"Prison?" Professor Townend interrupted. "So she's a wellknown fraudster?"
Professor Pond studied her with equal parts pity and seriousness.
"She's a wellknown murderer. Probably the most famous and dangerous woman in the universe. Which was going to be my third point: If I was you, I'd count my lucky stars that you were away when she turned up, and be grateful she didn't want anything other than your dig. Because nobody's gonna help you get it back - no one in their right mind crosses that woman."
Mickey, slightly taken aback at the vehemence in Professor Pond's voice, turned his head to see what the Doctor's reaction to all this could be, and found him watching proceedings with mercurial eyes, smugness practically radiating off him.
‘He likes it,’ Mickey realised with a jolt. ‘His wife is an infamous intergalactic criminal... and he likes it.’
For her part, Professor Townend looked momentarily shaken, yet swiftly rallied.
"So, what am I supposed to say to people? ‘Oh by the way, my possibly ground breaking new discovery was stolen by a notorious murderous con woman from the future’? That'll go down well with the people who approved my funding."
The Doctor cleared his throat, straightened his bowtie, and stepped into the fray once more.
"Well... River's plan was for none of you to discover what had happened, leaving only Doctor Roberts as a rather unreliable witness, talking about little green men, which would have caused UNIT to take an interest and cover everything up. Pretty flawless plan, apart from leaving Mickey and myself here..."
“You’re her partner?” Professor Pond asked, eyeing him warily, and the Doctor lifted his chin.
“I’m her husband,” he said proudly, and Professor Pond sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Oh marvellous. I’m surrounded by crooks and thieves. What a day.”
“I’m not a-” the Doctor began, then stopped himself. “Well, I’m not a crook. As such.”
Professor Pond looked thoroughly unimpressed.
“I’m presuming, by the way, that you were the one who impersonated me?”
The Doctor looked rather offended, and poked the front of her space suit.
“I was merely being myself. I’ve gone by Professor on more than one occasion, and I am a Pond. We might even be related,” he finished triumphantly, that joyful glint once more in his eyes.
"Dear Lord I hope not," Professor Pond replied, with feeling, and Mickey could feel the warning signs of a major argument begin to assert itself (a handy sixth sense he'd picked up from prolonged exposure to Martha's family).
"Hey - why don't we get a cup of tea and try to find some kind of solution that'll work for everyone?" he suggested, hoping his voice didn't sound as unconvincingly cheerful to the others as it did to his own ears, and the Doctor turned to him eagerly.
"Mickey? You're a genius! Professor Pond, I've not introduced you to this marvellous young man, have I? This is Mickey Smith, my good friend and the man who single-handedly prevented World War Three."
"Excuse me, I know my history-" Professor Pond began, but the Doctor interrupted.
"-in 2005. Or was it 2006? My memory isn't what it was... Funny how you get past a millennia and stuff just begins to blend together. Anyway. Tea. This is England, so there must be tea making facilities in this camp somewhere."
He looked around expectantly, and Professor Townend sighed and turned to the purple-haired girl.
"Fine. Ella, be a dear and put the kettle on? Wish we had something better than PG Tips, but nevermind. It'll have to do."
The Doctor's face lit up once more.
"PG Tips? That's the one with the monkeys and the piano, isn't it? I love that one!"
Professor Pond turned to Doctor Malohkeh (who had been keeping quietly out of argument's way - clever bloke), and they shot each other a blank look.
"Oh there's nothing like living history!" the Doctor said, then added, with a hopeful look towards Ella. "You don't by any chance have some jammy dodgers?"
The girl shook her head mutely, and he sighed and turned to Mickey.
"Once held off a Dalek invasion with a jammy dodger. Well, it worked for a few minutes."
From the looks on the two Professors’ faces they were still wanting a lot more answers, and Mickey strained his ears for the telltale grind of the TARDIS which would take them away from all this awkwardness...
But he was listening in vain.
At that same moment River was pouring Martha another cup of tea, carefully studying the young woman.
“Are you sure you’re OK?” she asked, as Martha folded her hands around the fine bone china, before closing her eyes and nodding.
“I’m good.”
‘You’re not good, you’re amazing', River thought to herself. ‘Amazing, and far, far too brave. Oh Doctor. Why do I ever let you out...’
Chapter 9
(Previous chapters here in my memories.)
Summary: In which River is enigmatic, Martha is frustrated, Mickey is intrigued and the Doctor... is a Pond.
Setting: Post-S6 (spoilers for everything aired so far, including First Night/Last Night and The Christmas Special).
Characters: Martha, Mickey, River, the Doctor (11), OCs. (More characters will probably turn up later.)
Word count (this chapter): 1980 words approx.
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
“Doctor!” Mickey cried, rushing to the fallen Doctor’s side, ignoring both the screams from the archeologists and the threat of further Silurian violence. What was it Martha had told him about CPR? Although if he’d been shot, was he going to regenerate? Hands trembling, Mickey - with immense relief - located two heartbeats, and was just wondering what to do next when the Doctor’s eye suddenly snapped open, staring at Mickey with stunned concentration.
“Did I just see-?” he asked, before scrambling to his feet, a wide grin breaking out on his face as his eyes fastened on the Silurian.
“Doctor Malohkeh!” he exclaimed, and then covered the distance between them in no time at all due to his long legs, as Mickey stared dumbly after him, witnessing the resulting hug with the cogs in his brain refusing to turn.
“Mickey!” the Doctor called out a moment later, his arm around the Silurian. “Come here, let me introduce you!”
Cautiously Mickey walked up, and the Doctor beamed at him. “This is Doctor Malohkeh - I mentioned him, remember?”
“Um, I think so?” Mickey replied, still wary. “Just - if you’re friends... Why did he shoot you?”
Doctor Malohkeh looked very apologetic as he reached out and shook Mickey’s hand.
“Pleasure to meet you young man,” he said, his voice rich and cultured and sounding just like one would expect a doctor to sound. “I’m afraid I experienced somewhat of a malfunction. This-” he held up the oblong tool, “-is a clever new 'all-in-one' prototype that, as senior medical staff, I was asked to try out. It’s essentially a diagnostic tool, but it has an inbuilt communicator and database and so forth, as well as some basic medical functions - including anaesthetic...”
“It’s a bit like a refined stungun,” the Doctor finished off. “Set to Silurian, so it only knocked me out for a moment, no harm done.”
“Right,” Mickey said slowly, as the Doctor turned to Doctor Malohkeh again: “But how is everyone? Nasreen? Tony? It’s been an age...”
Deciding to leave them to their chatter, Mickey turned and looked around.
“Hey everyone!” he called out. “It’s OK! It was just a misunderstanding - we’re not in danger!”
The leader of the dig, a middle aged woman in a dark raincoat, her hair in a sensible plait, stepped forwards.
“Very well. Does that mean that we might finally get some explanations? I’m Professor Townend, and, quite frankly, I would like to know what happened to my dig, and what aliens have to do with it!”
She glared at Doctor Malohkeh, and the others congregated behind her as Mickey bit his lip.
“Right. The green dude isn’t alien, but the one in the bow tie is. And together they should be able to explain what happened...”
Turning, he was just in time to see another yellow spacesuit appear in a flash, and his heart sank. This time however, the person inside didn’t mess around and immediately removed the helmet, revealing herself to be another middle-aged women, except one that bore somewhat of a resemblance to Mickey’s late grandmother.
Upon seeing her, Doctor Malokeh smiled with ill-disguised relief.
“And here she is. As I was just explaining Doctor, we were a party of two, trying to get to the bottom of this mystery... Well, I chose to come along to learn something about a new ancestor... Professor-” he turned to the newcomer, as he indicated the Doctor with an elegant sweep of his hand, “-this is the man who can answer your questions.”
The Professor looked the Doctor over, eyes narrowing, and Mickey was almost startled when her accent turned out to be bland upper-class English, rather than carrying the deep Jamaican lilt of his grandma.
“Good. I would like to know why Luna University suddenly has a new dig, under mine and Doctor Song’s custody - I’ve had quite the difficult morning trying to answer questions I had no response for. Sorry, I’ve not introduced myself, have I?”
She held out her hand. “Professor Pond. Pleasure to meet you.”
There was a beat, as the Doctor seemed to freeze. Not out of awkwardness, but in that way he had of shifting his entire focus onto a single thing. The smile that subsequently broke out on his face was so luminous that Mickey felt he needed sunglasses.
“Professor Pond,” he said, carefully enunciating every syllable as he shook her hand warmly, “the pleasure is all mine!”
Before they could continue, Professor Townend interrupted.
“Excuse me, but would this be my dig that we are discussing? And what is this ‘Luna’ University?”
The Doctor looked from one to the other, then clasped his hands together.
“Ladies. Allow me to explain...”
After a brief, if somewhat meandering, foray into the history of the Silurian people (to which Professor Townend didn’t say anything, except look deeply sceptical), he then proceeded to explain the afternoon’s happenings in a more-and-less straightforward manner - although Mickey, with interest, noticed the way various parts were left out or obfuscated.
As the Doctor finished his explanations, Professor Townend planted her hands on her hips and looked him up and down.
“So, basically, you’re saying that this Doctor Song stole our dig?”
As he hesitated, Professor Pond spoke up.
“Technically, yes. Of course, under the Silurian Act of 3124 all Silurian artifacts are automatically the property of the Silurian People, but since we’re around a thousand years away from that here... Well, she did everything by the book. The dig is ours now.”
“I beg your pardon?” Professor Towend asked, her focus shifting. “How did it magically become yours? I get that you're from the future, but theft is theft. Besides, I’m still not sure this isn’t some kind of hidden camera TV show. I’d be expecting Jeremy Beadle to jump out at any minute if he wasn’t dead.”
Professor Pond crossed her arms, not an easy feat in the bright yellow suit she was wearing.
“I can assure you that this is no joke to us either, Professor. If you’ll allow me, I will explain the situation?"
"That would be marvellous," Professor Townend replied drily, and Professor Pond, refusing to rise to the bait, instead entered into lecture mode.
"Now then. First of all Doctor Song moved the dig to the moon, which is neutral ground. No court in the Empire would let you move it again. Besides, you don't have the technology. Secondly she did all the legal paperwork in exquisite detail - the woman is a genius, unfortunately for you. How she manages to run around and steal archeology when she's in the highest security prison known to man I'll never know - makes the university look bad too, of course, but I did warn them..."
"Prison?" Professor Townend interrupted. "So she's a wellknown fraudster?"
Professor Pond studied her with equal parts pity and seriousness.
"She's a wellknown murderer. Probably the most famous and dangerous woman in the universe. Which was going to be my third point: If I was you, I'd count my lucky stars that you were away when she turned up, and be grateful she didn't want anything other than your dig. Because nobody's gonna help you get it back - no one in their right mind crosses that woman."
Mickey, slightly taken aback at the vehemence in Professor Pond's voice, turned his head to see what the Doctor's reaction to all this could be, and found him watching proceedings with mercurial eyes, smugness practically radiating off him.
‘He likes it,’ Mickey realised with a jolt. ‘His wife is an infamous intergalactic criminal... and he likes it.’
For her part, Professor Townend looked momentarily shaken, yet swiftly rallied.
"So, what am I supposed to say to people? ‘Oh by the way, my possibly ground breaking new discovery was stolen by a notorious murderous con woman from the future’? That'll go down well with the people who approved my funding."
The Doctor cleared his throat, straightened his bowtie, and stepped into the fray once more.
"Well... River's plan was for none of you to discover what had happened, leaving only Doctor Roberts as a rather unreliable witness, talking about little green men, which would have caused UNIT to take an interest and cover everything up. Pretty flawless plan, apart from leaving Mickey and myself here..."
“You’re her partner?” Professor Pond asked, eyeing him warily, and the Doctor lifted his chin.
“I’m her husband,” he said proudly, and Professor Pond sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Oh marvellous. I’m surrounded by crooks and thieves. What a day.”
“I’m not a-” the Doctor began, then stopped himself. “Well, I’m not a crook. As such.”
Professor Pond looked thoroughly unimpressed.
“I’m presuming, by the way, that you were the one who impersonated me?”
The Doctor looked rather offended, and poked the front of her space suit.
“I was merely being myself. I’ve gone by Professor on more than one occasion, and I am a Pond. We might even be related,” he finished triumphantly, that joyful glint once more in his eyes.
"Dear Lord I hope not," Professor Pond replied, with feeling, and Mickey could feel the warning signs of a major argument begin to assert itself (a handy sixth sense he'd picked up from prolonged exposure to Martha's family).
"Hey - why don't we get a cup of tea and try to find some kind of solution that'll work for everyone?" he suggested, hoping his voice didn't sound as unconvincingly cheerful to the others as it did to his own ears, and the Doctor turned to him eagerly.
"Mickey? You're a genius! Professor Pond, I've not introduced you to this marvellous young man, have I? This is Mickey Smith, my good friend and the man who single-handedly prevented World War Three."
"Excuse me, I know my history-" Professor Pond began, but the Doctor interrupted.
"-in 2005. Or was it 2006? My memory isn't what it was... Funny how you get past a millennia and stuff just begins to blend together. Anyway. Tea. This is England, so there must be tea making facilities in this camp somewhere."
He looked around expectantly, and Professor Townend sighed and turned to the purple-haired girl.
"Fine. Ella, be a dear and put the kettle on? Wish we had something better than PG Tips, but nevermind. It'll have to do."
The Doctor's face lit up once more.
"PG Tips? That's the one with the monkeys and the piano, isn't it? I love that one!"
Professor Pond turned to Doctor Malohkeh (who had been keeping quietly out of argument's way - clever bloke), and they shot each other a blank look.
"Oh there's nothing like living history!" the Doctor said, then added, with a hopeful look towards Ella. "You don't by any chance have some jammy dodgers?"
The girl shook her head mutely, and he sighed and turned to Mickey.
"Once held off a Dalek invasion with a jammy dodger. Well, it worked for a few minutes."
From the looks on the two Professors’ faces they were still wanting a lot more answers, and Mickey strained his ears for the telltale grind of the TARDIS which would take them away from all this awkwardness...
But he was listening in vain.
At that same moment River was pouring Martha another cup of tea, carefully studying the young woman.
“Are you sure you’re OK?” she asked, as Martha folded her hands around the fine bone china, before closing her eyes and nodding.
“I’m good.”
‘You’re not good, you’re amazing', River thought to herself. ‘Amazing, and far, far too brave. Oh Doctor. Why do I ever let you out...’
Chapter 9