Official Eighth Doctor

A Trip To Paris

"The thing is, Adam, time travel is like visiting Paris. You can't just read the guidebook, you've got to throw yourself in! Eat the food, use the wrong verbs, get charged double and end up kissing complete strangers! Or is that just me?"
—The Ninth Doctor

"Oh, come on, Doctor! I want to go to Paris! Please?"

Charley had been asking the Doctor for months now to go to Paris. He refused to tell her why he kept saying no.

But this time, he turned to her and nodded his head with a little sigh. "Alright, we'll go."

"Thank you!"

Charley ran over and gave the Doctor a big hug. He smiled. Then Charley looked up at him. "Doctor," she said, "why don't you want to go to Paris?"

"Erm, well, I seem to be a bit...rusty on my French."

"But doesn't the TARDIS translate every language?"

"Not Gallifreyan. I have to speak French if I want to be understood in Paris."

"You'll be fine, Doctor."

A few minutes later, they were standing outside the TARDIS in early 21st century Paris.

"When are we?" Charley asked.

"I think about 2012. Yes, 2012. Good, good. I was a bit worried we'd get sent to 2015, and that's not good."

Charley shrugged. They were in Paris. She began wandering away. "Are you coming with me, Doctor?" She called over his shoulder. The Doctor shook his head. "I'll catch up later."

The Doctor began wandering the streets of Paris, thinking vaguely of buying some food. He walked over to a bakery. Maybe he could get a few doughnuts and surprise Charley with them.

Walking into the bakery, he asked for two doughnuts.

"That will be 16 francs, Monsieur."

The Doctor then realized that he'd forgotten to bring any money with him. "Just a moment!" He called out in English, and ran to the TARDIS.

"This should be good," he muttered, grabbing several coins out of a chest. He ran back to the slightly enraged man in the shop.

"Here," he said breathlessly. Then he realised he was speaking English. "Merde," he muttered, then clapped a hand over his mouth. He wasn't supposed to swear! He attempted to explain what he used been doing.

"You look, Monsieur," he said, trying to remember his French, "I just had to move back to TARDIS and hold money..." His voice trailed off as he saw the Frenchman glare at him.

"Monsieur, that will be 16 francs, as I said before."

"Ah. Yes." The Doctor dropped his small handful of coins on the counter, not even realising that they were from 1864. The man stuck them in his pocket.

As the Doctor left the shop, the sign in front of the doughnuts caught his eye. He had been charged double.

"Now, if only I knew where Charley was..." He scanned the immediate area, as though hoping she would appear. When that didn't work, he decided to get a cab and drive around looking for her.

The Doctor ran over to a parked cab and climbed in. There was just one slight problem. There was another person in it.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry..." His face turned red with embarrassment. The lady in the cab gave a small laugh. "Don't worry," she said. She was speaking in English but had a French accent. "Where did you want to go?"

"Oh. Well, I was looking for my friend Charley, she wandered off, and I don't know where she is..."

The lady sighed. "Here, I'll find you another cab. I mean, I'm on a schedule."

But just then, the cab jolted forward, and she fell on top of the Doctor. She flushed a deep red, and began trying to sit up. But just then, the Doctor locked lips with her.

The kiss was passionate, and the woman was breathless when she sat up. "Okay," she said. "Let's find Charley."

15 minutes later, the Doctor saw Charley walk out of a florist's shop with a bouquet of flowers. "Stop the cab!" He cried to the lady, and she repeated his instructions in French. The cab came to a sudden halt, and this time the Doctor was thrown on top of the woman. "I'm not kissing you this time, Sir." She laughed.

But as he stepped out of the cab, the Doctor couldn't help but lean down and kiss the woman one more time.

"Ah-hem!"

The Doctor spun around. Charley was tapping her foot. He turned back around in bewilderment, but the cab had driven off.

"Erm—"

"I'm waiting, Doctor." Even though her outward appearance was stern, Charley's voice seemed amused.

"Well—oh, is is going to take some explaining, won't it?"