An Old-Fashioned Mystery [Romana!]

[The Eighth Doctor]

“America, 1920s? A little roar and a lot of jazz. No, no, no...” The Eighth Doctor fiddled with the scanner on his TARDIS console some more. “Napoleonic Wars? Perhaps I could meet Beethoven. I could do with a good symphony concert…” He sighed, shaking his head. “Nah. That’ll never do right now.” The Doctor turned around, crossing his arms and staring across the TARDIS. Empty, as it sadly was from time to time. No companions, no one to share adventures with it. It could be incredibly dull without someone else to share things with. Humans were the best about that, he was sure, because they were so unfamiliar with the goings of the rest of the universe. They would see things for the first time, and for the Doctor, it was like seeing things through new eyes, even if he hadn’t regenerated. The thrill of having someone around that was so astonished by the things he showed them was what he loved the most. Humans… Funny creatures they were, always thinking, always looking, always wanting something more. And that’s why he wanted to show them just that.

But not now. He wasn’t ready to pick up a full-time companion again just yet. Besides, it usually just sort of… happened. Perhaps he’d find somebody on his next trip, perhaps he wouldn’t. He didn’t worry about it too much, though. This version of the Doctor didn’t like to worry about things too much as a whole. “No fun in that, right, old girl?” he murmured, turning sideways to stroke the TARDIS console lightly. The ship didn’t respond, beside the constant hum that suggested contentment. He smiled softly, then turned back to the monitor. “How about something random then, hm?” he asked, flipping the controls. Perhaps the TARDIS herself would show the Doctor some adventure. That’s what he needed, right?

A blip on the scanner caught his attention. The TARDIS seemed to know just what was needed to cheer him up. “There you go, old girl!” he said with a grin. The Doctor checked just what he was going for: Victorian London. Now that sounded like a good idea. He hardly thought to pay attention to exactly why the TARDIS had pointed out the time period. If he had indeed thought of it, he would have done nothing more than dismiss it anyway. Where was the fun without the adventure, the danger, the intrigue? That’s what Victorian London was in his mind, anyway. Jekyll and Hyde. Dorian Gray. Sherlock Holmes. Some of the classics were from that period, and he couldn’t say that he didn’t wish half of it were real. He grinned at the thought of playing Sherlock to a mystery in the time period. Brilliant, really, that was what he thought of that. He glanced down at his clothing; for once, he would actually fit in quite well.

He was about to set in the coordinates, but hesitated. The Doctor paused, glancing around once more at the empty TARDIS. The whole ‘no one to share it with’ thing was nagging him again, ever-present in his mind. He had certainly gone on trips and journeys before without the aid or companionship of another, but there were times when loneliness could indeed gnaw fervently at the Doctor’s heart. A thought hit him, but he shook his head immediately, vehemently. “No,” he said aloud. “I couldn’t do that. Just go home and ask her to go with me again. She wouldn’t just leave for a trip like that. Last time, there was a point, a purpose. And she’s the Lady President now, with all those duties and responsibilities…” He sighed, keying in the coordinates for Earth on the console. But being alone… He paused, hands hesitating over the panels. Well, maybe he could. Perhaps. Even the Lady President needed to get out from time to time, right? And Romana had rather enjoyed going with him to see Chronotis and all the events that followed. If enjoyed was even the word… The point still stood, she more than likely enjoyed or was elated by or at least positively endured the adventure.

The Doctor set coordinates for Gallifrey. Whether or not Romana would approve of his barging in again didn’t really matter. She would want to go on this trip with him, wouldn’t she? The Doctor grinned, standing back and waiting to arrive on Gallifrey. Just the thing he needed today, seeing an old friend to take away the lonely blues. When he got at the Citadel, he rushed outside of the TARDIS, hoping to avoid the Guard and any other Time Lord at all costs. Perhaps he could convince her to go and get out of there before raising any sort of alarms. He looked around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Gallifrey’s Lady President. “Romana,” he called out in an almost-sing-song voice. “Guess who’s come round for a visit?”

[romana]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SHE'S PRETTY AS A P I C T U R E
she is like a golden ring
SETTLES ME WITH LOVE AND LAUGHTER
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Romana had been sitting inside the Presidential quarters, working on papers and making sure that everything was running smoothly. For many years the Time Lords had maintained a law of not interference with the disputes of other races. But since her Presidency and one or two before her some of these laws had been modified. It was true and dangerous that too much interference could be bad for some races, there were already examples of that. But they could no longer remind like they had been for so long. Many needed help and the Time Lords had the resources to at least lend it. Even if the High Council still controlled some of them and she still was unable to do all she wanted, things were getting done.

On of the things that worried her the most where the Daleks, even now their names were murmured around the Citadel. Romana knew from experience that they were dangerous, that the Doctor would have destroyed them when he had the chance. As a prisoner for twenty years their cruelty had been known to her, not even her previous encounters would compare to those 20 years. The Daleks themselves had been keeping a low profile lately, this worried her more because that usually meant they were planning something big. The current quietness from them also allowed Romana to focus on other things that needed her full attention now. Like the large pile of papers that she had to read and sign.

She thought about making like the Doctor and running of for a bit, but the more logical part of her first boy stopped her. Maybe once she worked on most of them Brax would feel sorry and help her or even K-9 that she was sure was roaming the Citadel, talking to other computers and collecting information. Romana picked another paper smiling at thought of the small metallic dog roaming around startling Time Lords and Ladies. K-9 had been a gift from the Doctor, she’d learned that at least another model existed. After meeting the human Leela and another much older and rusty form of K-9. Unfortunately Leela lacked the knowledge to repair him, plus her own K-9 like herself hadn’t aged much during their time in E-Space.

After hours of work Romana was now almost able to see the bottom of the stack of papers, she was sure her body would stand two or more hours of hard work and then she would be able to rest. Before Romana could continue with her work a small screen opened. She looked at with interest and then worry. The alarm signaled with a TARDIS landed on Gallifrey, but the TARDIS landing was the only Type-40 out there. The Doctor’s TARDIS. She would be happy to see her old friend, but unfortunately the Doctor just wasn’t the type to give normal visits. Most of his previous visits to Gallifrey ended up in some unexpected disaster, the Master and later Sontarans. Romana was afraid that something like that was just about to happen, they couldn’t deal with an attack or invasion with all of the current other problems.

As she stood to meet the Doctor she prayed that for once he only brought good news. She ignored the part of her that knew him so well, this generation was a lot like the Doctor had been once. Just a visit would be far too boring for him, Romana believed that this boring expect was what stopped the Doctor from visiting friends after their travels ended. One of the reasons why she doubted he would ever settled back in Gallifrey or anywhere else, she could see the Doctor dying doing the same thing he’d done since the moment he left Gallifrey, traveling. But it would be a good death, because it was what the Doctor loved the most. She followed his voice, rolling her eyes lightly and grinning. The voice was the same which meant that he still hadn’t regenerated.

Good, she liked that body. It also worried her how quickly he went through bodies, Romana was still in her second and the Doctor was already on his eight. “Doctor!” She walked faster now, opening her arms and hugging her old friend before stepping back. “Doctor looking great, how have you been.” Romana waited for the Doctor to respond before continuing. “I highly doubt this is just a visit, very unlikely fir you.” Her President persona slipped in with a slight hint of worry. “I do hope you haven’t brought another Military alien race here in hopes to trap them again Doctor. Last time you tried that we ended up with an even worse problem.” She shivered at the memory of the Sontarans, she hadn’t known the Doctor just yet back then.

“Oh but who do I kid, aliens or not I’m glad to see you again Doctor. I’m sure K-9 would be happy to see you too.”

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[The Eighth Doctor]

The Council and Chancellory Guard would really not appreciate the Doctor popping in on Gallifrey just to whisk away their Lady President once again without so much of a Post-It note with a proper explanation. Then again, the Doctor thought, they most likely didn’t have Post-It notes on Gallifrey now, even with their usefulness that he had discovered quite some time ago during one of his infinite visits to Earth. Typical Time Lord superiority complex, that was. They didn’t tend to adopt technology or inventions of other cultures unless it was particularly genius, and even then, they generally altered it in a way that it appeared their own. The fact that the Time Lords could be so very arrogant didn’t exactly make the Doctor feel any guiltier about trying to take Romana from her duties so suddenly and apparently at random. He grinned at his old friend as she came into the room to greet him.

“Romana!” the Doctor greeted in return, opening his arms for the hug that she gave him. His arms closed around his former companion and held her for a moment before releasing her to let her stand back from him. “You look fantastic yourself, Romana. I’ve been great. How about you?” She seemed decently surprised to see him. For a moment, the Doctor felt slightly indignant that Romana thought there had to be something wrong for him to visit. Then again, it was true, wasn’t it? The last time he had shown up was for a very specific purpose. He hadn’t thought anything was necessarily wrong when they left the last time, but it had obviously gone wrong eventually. But no, this time was purely a visit, for he wished to have company during one of his seemingly random trips to different points in history in the universe – particularly Earth. That in itself was odd enough for him, he had to admit. He hardly ever saw companions again after they left him or vice-versa.

So the fact that the Doctor wasn’t just showing up for a visit was true. But the point was that he hadn’t indeed brought the normal amount of trouble that Romana expected. He put on a mock-hurt expression, pouting a little at his old friend as she implied that he had brought along another hostile group of aliens. “Romana, you misjudge my intentions!” he said teasingly. “How could I possibly do that to you? …Again.” His little façade failed as his face broke into a grin. “Though I do promise, I haven’t brought any trouble whatsoever to your doorstep. The Lady President should be proud of her old travelling friend.” He walked forward, glancing around the room, trying to look nonchalant. Despite the fact that he hadn’t brought any trouble, the fact remained that he was there to pull her away from her duties on another little adventure. As much as the other wanted to be true to her job, there were times that he knew she couldn’t resist some trip in the TARDIS with the Doctor.

“At least I have the happiness of your seeing me,” the Doctor said, nodding slightly. “It just wouldn’t do for me to show up and not at least be welcomed!” He laughed a little, but stopped short in a happy surprise as he took notice of the entry of a third party. “K-9!” he cried happily, rushing over and stooping forward to give the robotic dog an affectionate pat. It was as though K-9 had heard Romana speaking of him and had made his entrance so perfectly timed. “MAS-TER!” K-9 returned in a tone that the Doctor always identified as happy. Some upheld that K-9 units couldn’t possibly have any sort of emotions or attachment; the Doctor was obviously not one of those that kept that same belief whatsoever. “I PICKED UP THE PRESENCE OF A TYPE-40 TARDIS ON MY SCANNERS AFTER THE MISTRESS LEFT THE ROOM.” “So clever, K-9!” the Doctor returned, winking up at Romana. “IS THERE TROUBLE THAT YOU NEED TO BRING TO OUR ATTENTION, MAS-TER?” K-9 went on to ask quickly. The Doctor shot another indignant look at the little dog before looking up at Romana. “You two are just too much!” he cried. “Must there be trouble for me to visit two of my old friends?” “BUT MASTER, MY DATABANKS SHOW THAT STATISTICALLY YOUR ARRIVAL ON GALLIFREY COINCIDE –” “Yes, yes,” the Doctor interrupted, waving a dismissive hand and walking around impatiently. “I get the point. Shall we move on, hm?”

When K-9 took the hint and was silent, the Doctor looked back up at Romana. “Alright, alright, so I didn’t show up just for a mere visit,” he admitted. Anticipating a retort of some sort, or at least some type of pointed look, he rushed ahead in his little speech. “But I’ve hardly gotten into some sort of trouble of any sort! I was just…” Wanting company. Right. So that sounded a bit pathetic when it got down to it, yeah? On with it then. The Doctor knew no shame sometimes. “I was just wondering if you wished to take a little holiday. Victorian London, back on Earth. Fancy a visit?”