moragmacpherson (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
moragmacpherson) wrote2008-03-28 06:15 am
moragmacpherson) wrote2008-03-28 06:15 am
Fic: Better With Two (2/??) (Buffy/DrWho)
Title: Better With Two (2/??)
Series: Tempus Frangit
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
moragmacpherson
Rating: PG-13
Timeline: True sequel to Another Side of the Sky. Takes place during AU Buffy season 8 "The Long Way Home," approximately two months post Another Side for the Doctor.
Disclaimer: I make no claim to any characters contained herein, who are actually owned by big corporations filled with highly paid attorneys who know that suing me would be idiotic based on the fact that all I own are student loans and they wouldn't even be able to recover costs.
Archive: Here, TtH. If you'd like it, let me know.
Betas: Depending on the chapter, some combination of Arkaeus, LiastraLee, MissJulie, and/orbooster17
Summary: Great muppety Odin, Buffy misses the Doctor. She decides the time has come to do something about it.
Chapter Two - It's All New
Akiko looked the Doctor up and down. “You’ve never done any research on demons?”
“No. Nada. Not a thing.” He was earnest, with a bright grin on his face.
Akiko rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Well, um, are you familiar with the Pagani Codex?”
“Nope.” Same grin.
“It’s a good place to start, I guess.” She turned away from him and headed into the stacks. The Pagani was a regular reference, and it wasn’t too far in to the labyrinth. She handed it to the Doctor. “This is the basis of most Slayer lore.”
“I’m sure it is.”
“Buffy didn’t give you any sort of background on this?”
“Not really.” The Doctor twisted a finger in his ear. “Said that she’d just mess it up, and I’d be better off getting it straight from the source.”
“Typical. Let me know when you’re done with that.” Akiko waved the alien away with her hand, and started back towards her worktable. She wished she could publish her research sometimes. Her sister had already published three times, and the family had no idea what had gone wrong with Akiko, their black sheep who left Harvard freshman year to become what- a glorified librarian? Sure, a glorified librarian who could punch through a wall, but punching through walls wasn’t exactly the sort of achievement that won you favors in the Miyamoto household.
She would write home tomorrow anyway.
Someone tapped her shoulder. “What?”
There stood the Doctor, a sheepish look and plastic glasses on his face. “Fascinating text, that Pagani. Could you show me where to find the Black Chronicles and Pietros Magnus’ journals?”
Akiko guffawed. “No way. It hasn’t been ten minutes.”
“No, really. His description of Ailrey’s victory over the Sabacians was fascinating. Though his interest in succubi I think bordered on the unhealthy. And was he telling the truth about the Rite of the Cruciamentum?”
Wrinkling her nose, Akiko set down her pencil. “Yes, he was. Buffy and Giles put a stop to it though, I guess. Plus, there’s no Watcher’s Council around anymore to implement it.”
“I suppose that's true.” The Doctor’s expression was far off, like the conversation had awakened an old memory. “So, those books?”
“Actually, no, I can’t. The Black Chronicles I can get you fragments of. The last copy we know of mostly burned up in the attack by the First. We think Wolfram and Hart have another one, but if they do, they’re not exactly sharing. Pietros Magnus’ journals have been lost for centuries, and Giles thinks that Pagani may have been making them up, he’s the only man to ever reference them or claim to have seen them.”
The Doctor scratched his head. “I see. Where would you send me next then?”
“To the cafeteria to get me some coffee? I’ll put together a list while you’re gone. Can’t exactly have you bugging me every ten minutes for new stuff and get any work done.” Akiko smiled at him. “Two sugars and cream, okay?”
“Okay?” The Doctor just sort of stood there mute until she pushed him out with a hand to his lower back.
“Scoot. The books will still be here when you get back.” As soon as the Doctor was out of the library, a chorus of giggles rang out of the stacks. A pack of slayers soon emerged and ringed Akiko’s desk. Ashley hopped up on it.
“Akiko, you frigid bitch, you just made Buffy’s boyfriend your coffee bitch!”
“I did. Now could you guys get out of here, I really do need to get him that list.”
“But Akiko, he’s only the second y-chromosome in a ten mile radius and you’re all with the spikiness. What gives?”
Mu frowned. “He’s an alien. Does they have y-chromosomes?”
“Really guys, that’s enough.” Akiko continued typing. “He’s a guy. He’s a smart guy. He’s a cute guy. He’s a guy with Buffy. Why are we even talking about this?”
“I’m just trying to hold off punching my ticket on the L-train.” Ashley held up her hands.
“Because that’s done Satsu so much good.” Mu and Lisa giggled, and after a moment, Ashley joined in.
“Please, if anyone was gonna bring our boss over to the fluffy pink triangle, Willow would have done it long ago.” Akiko finished with the spreadsheet and pressed print. “Did I just say that?”
“Prim-Miss-Akiko not as above the gossip as she wants us all to believe.” Lisa wagged her finger at the older slayer.
“I am so. It doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention. But not all of us are still fifteen years old.”
Lisa stuck out her tongue. “I hope turning twenty doesn’t make me as dull as you.”
Ashley leaned back. “So does this mean you think Willow’s cute or that Satsu isn’t?”
“Satsu’s a very pretty girl.”
“Uh-huh,” chorused the three girls.
“Not that I’ve gone that way. It’s just that the complete isolation from men should have been in the brochure, that’s all.”
“Are you girls really that isolated?” Silhouetted in the doorway, the Doctor arrived bearing two cups and a box of pastries. Four slayers blanched and swallowed.
“A little bit.” Akiko palmed her face in her hand. “Girls, this has been loads of fun and embarassment. Can we get back to work now?”
The girls melted away, little Lisa murmuring “Hi Doctor,” as she slipped past him towards the stacks.
“Sorry about that. New blood always gets the girls going.”
The Doctor nodded, handing the coffee to her and setting the box on the desk. “Yeah, no, it’s perfectly understandable.” He sipped his tea. “Am I considered, oh what's the word, cute? That's it. Am I cute?”
“There’s a split. About a half think you’re cute, a small splinter group insists that you’re ‘dreamy’, and twenty percent think you’re old.”
The Doctor scratched his cheek. “That ‘old’ contingent keeps getting bigger. Enough to make a Time Lord want to regenerate again.” He plucked a danish out of the box and bit in. “You’ve left out a sizeable percentage though, by my count. What about the rest of them?”
Akiko raised her cup to her mouth. “The rest of them haven’t seen a guy in so long they’ve sort of given up on it.” She drank, then finished. “A case of supply changing demand as it were.”
“I see.” Akiko waited for the inevitable pillow fight joke, but it never came. He just finished the pastry and took another sip of his tea. “And what do you think of me?”
“I think you’re going to be a pain in my butt for the next couple of weeks, and then after that, you’re going to take over my job.”
The Doctor shook his head. “All of these books? Three quarters of them in languages that don't even exist in my universe? I think your job is safe for the foreseeable future. But I will try to help you, and quit being such a pain in your arse.”
“I appreciate that Doctor. Here’s your list.”
“Thank you Akiko." His gaze was steady and his eyes twinkled. "For the list, and for the honesty.”
“Anytime Doctor. Thanks for the coffee.”
~*~
Willow knocked. “Come in!” chirped the Doctor, and she entered the TARDIS, stopping and swaying just inside the doors.
“You okay there?” The Doctor tilted his head at her.
Willow’s head lolled back, smile on her face. “Doctor, she’s singing. How can you bang away when she’s singing like that?”
He snorted and moved back to the console. “Maybe she sings for you. Me she treats like a petulant child. She must like you.”
Willow drifted towards him. “She gets annoyed with you and your mallet. Really Doctor? Hitting this poor girl with a mallet?” She clucked her tongue.
“Sometimes she just needs a good shove. Speaking of which, could you tell me if she’s really as capable of negotiating the time vortex here as she seems to think she is?” He held one hand to the central column. “It would be useful, but I don’t want to strain the old girl out here, so far from home.”
Willow’s eyes were fully open for the first time since she’d boarded the ship, and they sparkled. “Oh, she’s ready Doctor. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to come along for the first trip, just to make sure nothing dangerous happens.”
The Doctor grinned at her and flipped a switch. “Nothing dangerous? Where’s the fun in that?”
Her eyes bugged out. “Now?!”
“Why not? Plus, I need you to travel in the TARDIS to help her with her translation work. She’ll start translating any language she knows for you, and if you know them, she can learn from you. These demonic languages have been driving me mad.” The ship tossed to the side, and the Doctor caught her. “Aren’t you ready?”
“Oh, yeah. Totally ready. Where are we going again?”
“When, Willow, you have to remember to ask when as well.” He danced around the controls. “And I’m not sure. Still getting my bearings here. What’s an important date? What’s something I should see?”
Willow thought for what seemed a long time, then felt the airy presence of the TARDIS encouraging her. “Sunnydale, May 21, 2002. Around three o’clock if you can.” The Doctor stared at her. “Don’t worry. We won’t see Buffy, there won’t be any paradoxes or anything. It’s just something you and she should see.” With a gulp, the Doctor nodded and set the coordinates to the best of his ability. The TARDIS cooed, and her mood echoed the Doctor’s motions at her console.
Then all was calm. The Doctor looked queasy for a moment, but met her eyes. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes Doctor. You need to know this about me. I mean, really know it.”
He straightened his shoulders. “Okay then.” Taking her hand, he exhaled. “Ready?”
“Yup.”
They exited the doors. As they set foot on the grass, the Doctor fell to his knees with a cry. “What the hell is that?”
Willow gazed down at him. “Grief.” She extended her hand. “Mine.” He pulled up and leaned against her.
“It’s like the world is trying to pull itself apart. It’s madness,” he gasped.
Willow pointed to the next promontory over. Two black-haired figures stood before a stone building, in a heated argument. “It was my madness too. I hated everything. Mostly I hated myself. I was going to destroy the world.”
The Doctor convulsed again. Panting he asked, “How- what were you doing? What the hell is all that noise?”
“Black magic Doctor. If you’re going to help us, you’ll need to get used to it. Of course, most of the time, it isn’t in this kind of a dose. But now you know what it’s like.” Storm clouds swirled toward the center, over the figures on the horizon.
“Make it stop.”
She held his arm tighter. “I couldn’t. It was all too much.” Her lips thinned but she kept staring at the distant people. The Doctor forced himself to watch with her, the sensation of the earth beneath him nauseating and wrong on every level. “There was only one person who could stop me.”
Then the whole swirl of it hiccupped. The female, it must be Willow, the hair color was wrong, but it was her and she faltered, and the man - was that Xander? - approached her, slowly, and painfully, and she kept attacking, but the madness abated, and the Doctor could watch calmly as Willow crumpled into a heap in Xander’s arms, the black draining out of her hair and the turmoil out of the world. “My God,” he breathed.
Willow nodded. “Now do you see, Lonely God?” She swallowed. “We need them. We need that humanity. All of that power we have, and without them, we burn.” Tearing her eyes from the scene on the hill, she looked back at the TARDIS. “Will she still sing for me, knowing what I’ve done?”
Regarding her, eyes glassy, the Doctor clasped her hand. “Oh yes.” He pulled her towards the ship. The doors safely sealed behind them, he faced her to him and held her shoulders. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For knowing.” And he opened his memories to her, to the end of the Time War, to the day Gallifrey burned.
“Oh.”
They stood there for a few quiet minutes, in perfect comfort while the TARDIS sang to them.
Next
Series: Tempus Frangit
Author:
moragmacpherson Rating: PG-13
Timeline: True sequel to Another Side of the Sky. Takes place during AU Buffy season 8 "The Long Way Home," approximately two months post Another Side for the Doctor.
Disclaimer: I make no claim to any characters contained herein, who are actually owned by big corporations filled with highly paid attorneys who know that suing me would be idiotic based on the fact that all I own are student loans and they wouldn't even be able to recover costs.
Archive: Here, TtH. If you'd like it, let me know.
Betas: Depending on the chapter, some combination of Arkaeus, LiastraLee, MissJulie, and/or
booster17 Summary: Great muppety Odin, Buffy misses the Doctor. She decides the time has come to do something about it.
Chapter Two - It's All New
Akiko looked the Doctor up and down. “You’ve never done any research on demons?”
“No. Nada. Not a thing.” He was earnest, with a bright grin on his face.
Akiko rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Well, um, are you familiar with the Pagani Codex?”
“Nope.” Same grin.
“It’s a good place to start, I guess.” She turned away from him and headed into the stacks. The Pagani was a regular reference, and it wasn’t too far in to the labyrinth. She handed it to the Doctor. “This is the basis of most Slayer lore.”
“I’m sure it is.”
“Buffy didn’t give you any sort of background on this?”
“Not really.” The Doctor twisted a finger in his ear. “Said that she’d just mess it up, and I’d be better off getting it straight from the source.”
“Typical. Let me know when you’re done with that.” Akiko waved the alien away with her hand, and started back towards her worktable. She wished she could publish her research sometimes. Her sister had already published three times, and the family had no idea what had gone wrong with Akiko, their black sheep who left Harvard freshman year to become what- a glorified librarian? Sure, a glorified librarian who could punch through a wall, but punching through walls wasn’t exactly the sort of achievement that won you favors in the Miyamoto household.
She would write home tomorrow anyway.
Someone tapped her shoulder. “What?”
There stood the Doctor, a sheepish look and plastic glasses on his face. “Fascinating text, that Pagani. Could you show me where to find the Black Chronicles and Pietros Magnus’ journals?”
Akiko guffawed. “No way. It hasn’t been ten minutes.”
“No, really. His description of Ailrey’s victory over the Sabacians was fascinating. Though his interest in succubi I think bordered on the unhealthy. And was he telling the truth about the Rite of the Cruciamentum?”
Wrinkling her nose, Akiko set down her pencil. “Yes, he was. Buffy and Giles put a stop to it though, I guess. Plus, there’s no Watcher’s Council around anymore to implement it.”
“I suppose that's true.” The Doctor’s expression was far off, like the conversation had awakened an old memory. “So, those books?”
“Actually, no, I can’t. The Black Chronicles I can get you fragments of. The last copy we know of mostly burned up in the attack by the First. We think Wolfram and Hart have another one, but if they do, they’re not exactly sharing. Pietros Magnus’ journals have been lost for centuries, and Giles thinks that Pagani may have been making them up, he’s the only man to ever reference them or claim to have seen them.”
The Doctor scratched his head. “I see. Where would you send me next then?”
“To the cafeteria to get me some coffee? I’ll put together a list while you’re gone. Can’t exactly have you bugging me every ten minutes for new stuff and get any work done.” Akiko smiled at him. “Two sugars and cream, okay?”
“Okay?” The Doctor just sort of stood there mute until she pushed him out with a hand to his lower back.
“Scoot. The books will still be here when you get back.” As soon as the Doctor was out of the library, a chorus of giggles rang out of the stacks. A pack of slayers soon emerged and ringed Akiko’s desk. Ashley hopped up on it.
“Akiko, you frigid bitch, you just made Buffy’s boyfriend your coffee bitch!”
“I did. Now could you guys get out of here, I really do need to get him that list.”
“But Akiko, he’s only the second y-chromosome in a ten mile radius and you’re all with the spikiness. What gives?”
Mu frowned. “He’s an alien. Does they have y-chromosomes?”
“Really guys, that’s enough.” Akiko continued typing. “He’s a guy. He’s a smart guy. He’s a cute guy. He’s a guy with Buffy. Why are we even talking about this?”
“I’m just trying to hold off punching my ticket on the L-train.” Ashley held up her hands.
“Because that’s done Satsu so much good.” Mu and Lisa giggled, and after a moment, Ashley joined in.
“Please, if anyone was gonna bring our boss over to the fluffy pink triangle, Willow would have done it long ago.” Akiko finished with the spreadsheet and pressed print. “Did I just say that?”
“Prim-Miss-Akiko not as above the gossip as she wants us all to believe.” Lisa wagged her finger at the older slayer.
“I am so. It doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention. But not all of us are still fifteen years old.”
Lisa stuck out her tongue. “I hope turning twenty doesn’t make me as dull as you.”
Ashley leaned back. “So does this mean you think Willow’s cute or that Satsu isn’t?”
“Satsu’s a very pretty girl.”
“Uh-huh,” chorused the three girls.
“Not that I’ve gone that way. It’s just that the complete isolation from men should have been in the brochure, that’s all.”
“Are you girls really that isolated?” Silhouetted in the doorway, the Doctor arrived bearing two cups and a box of pastries. Four slayers blanched and swallowed.
“A little bit.” Akiko palmed her face in her hand. “Girls, this has been loads of fun and embarassment. Can we get back to work now?”
The girls melted away, little Lisa murmuring “Hi Doctor,” as she slipped past him towards the stacks.
“Sorry about that. New blood always gets the girls going.”
The Doctor nodded, handing the coffee to her and setting the box on the desk. “Yeah, no, it’s perfectly understandable.” He sipped his tea. “Am I considered, oh what's the word, cute? That's it. Am I cute?”
“There’s a split. About a half think you’re cute, a small splinter group insists that you’re ‘dreamy’, and twenty percent think you’re old.”
The Doctor scratched his cheek. “That ‘old’ contingent keeps getting bigger. Enough to make a Time Lord want to regenerate again.” He plucked a danish out of the box and bit in. “You’ve left out a sizeable percentage though, by my count. What about the rest of them?”
Akiko raised her cup to her mouth. “The rest of them haven’t seen a guy in so long they’ve sort of given up on it.” She drank, then finished. “A case of supply changing demand as it were.”
“I see.” Akiko waited for the inevitable pillow fight joke, but it never came. He just finished the pastry and took another sip of his tea. “And what do you think of me?”
“I think you’re going to be a pain in my butt for the next couple of weeks, and then after that, you’re going to take over my job.”
The Doctor shook his head. “All of these books? Three quarters of them in languages that don't even exist in my universe? I think your job is safe for the foreseeable future. But I will try to help you, and quit being such a pain in your arse.”
“I appreciate that Doctor. Here’s your list.”
“Thank you Akiko." His gaze was steady and his eyes twinkled. "For the list, and for the honesty.”
“Anytime Doctor. Thanks for the coffee.”
~*~
Willow knocked. “Come in!” chirped the Doctor, and she entered the TARDIS, stopping and swaying just inside the doors.
“You okay there?” The Doctor tilted his head at her.
Willow’s head lolled back, smile on her face. “Doctor, she’s singing. How can you bang away when she’s singing like that?”
He snorted and moved back to the console. “Maybe she sings for you. Me she treats like a petulant child. She must like you.”
Willow drifted towards him. “She gets annoyed with you and your mallet. Really Doctor? Hitting this poor girl with a mallet?” She clucked her tongue.
“Sometimes she just needs a good shove. Speaking of which, could you tell me if she’s really as capable of negotiating the time vortex here as she seems to think she is?” He held one hand to the central column. “It would be useful, but I don’t want to strain the old girl out here, so far from home.”
Willow’s eyes were fully open for the first time since she’d boarded the ship, and they sparkled. “Oh, she’s ready Doctor. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to come along for the first trip, just to make sure nothing dangerous happens.”
The Doctor grinned at her and flipped a switch. “Nothing dangerous? Where’s the fun in that?”
Her eyes bugged out. “Now?!”
“Why not? Plus, I need you to travel in the TARDIS to help her with her translation work. She’ll start translating any language she knows for you, and if you know them, she can learn from you. These demonic languages have been driving me mad.” The ship tossed to the side, and the Doctor caught her. “Aren’t you ready?”
“Oh, yeah. Totally ready. Where are we going again?”
“When, Willow, you have to remember to ask when as well.” He danced around the controls. “And I’m not sure. Still getting my bearings here. What’s an important date? What’s something I should see?”
Willow thought for what seemed a long time, then felt the airy presence of the TARDIS encouraging her. “Sunnydale, May 21, 2002. Around three o’clock if you can.” The Doctor stared at her. “Don’t worry. We won’t see Buffy, there won’t be any paradoxes or anything. It’s just something you and she should see.” With a gulp, the Doctor nodded and set the coordinates to the best of his ability. The TARDIS cooed, and her mood echoed the Doctor’s motions at her console.
Then all was calm. The Doctor looked queasy for a moment, but met her eyes. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Yes Doctor. You need to know this about me. I mean, really know it.”
He straightened his shoulders. “Okay then.” Taking her hand, he exhaled. “Ready?”
“Yup.”
They exited the doors. As they set foot on the grass, the Doctor fell to his knees with a cry. “What the hell is that?”
Willow gazed down at him. “Grief.” She extended her hand. “Mine.” He pulled up and leaned against her.
“It’s like the world is trying to pull itself apart. It’s madness,” he gasped.
Willow pointed to the next promontory over. Two black-haired figures stood before a stone building, in a heated argument. “It was my madness too. I hated everything. Mostly I hated myself. I was going to destroy the world.”
The Doctor convulsed again. Panting he asked, “How- what were you doing? What the hell is all that noise?”
“Black magic Doctor. If you’re going to help us, you’ll need to get used to it. Of course, most of the time, it isn’t in this kind of a dose. But now you know what it’s like.” Storm clouds swirled toward the center, over the figures on the horizon.
“Make it stop.”
She held his arm tighter. “I couldn’t. It was all too much.” Her lips thinned but she kept staring at the distant people. The Doctor forced himself to watch with her, the sensation of the earth beneath him nauseating and wrong on every level. “There was only one person who could stop me.”
Then the whole swirl of it hiccupped. The female, it must be Willow, the hair color was wrong, but it was her and she faltered, and the man - was that Xander? - approached her, slowly, and painfully, and she kept attacking, but the madness abated, and the Doctor could watch calmly as Willow crumpled into a heap in Xander’s arms, the black draining out of her hair and the turmoil out of the world. “My God,” he breathed.
Willow nodded. “Now do you see, Lonely God?” She swallowed. “We need them. We need that humanity. All of that power we have, and without them, we burn.” Tearing her eyes from the scene on the hill, she looked back at the TARDIS. “Will she still sing for me, knowing what I’ve done?”
Regarding her, eyes glassy, the Doctor clasped her hand. “Oh yes.” He pulled her towards the ship. The doors safely sealed behind them, he faced her to him and held her shoulders. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For knowing.” And he opened his memories to her, to the end of the Time War, to the day Gallifrey burned.
“Oh.”
They stood there for a few quiet minutes, in perfect comfort while the TARDIS sang to them.
Next