"How don't you remember the Daleks?" Peyton asks Amy as the Doctor gets the TARDIS into flight. "It was probably the scariest moment of my life. Twice technically."
"Twice?" Amy raises an eyebrow.
"Oh yeah, as well as being half alien Peyton is also from the future, well your past now," the Doctor explains.
"Long story, never mind," Peyton says. "But Amy, we hid together, we cried together," her voice breaks off as no recognition crosses her face.
"Well, that's a mystery for another day," the Doctor changes the subject. "Ladies, come with me," he spins and walks toward the staircase leading up into the depths of the TARDIS. They had only been up here once, to change out of their sick covered outfits into something, cleaner. But the Doctor takes them down another route and doesn't stop until suddenly he turns around, causing the two girls to bump into him.
"I hope you remember the way," he quizzes. Peyton and Amy look at each other guiltily.
"Look," he pulls his sleeve to check the times "It's been a while since I stole you away in the middle of the night, and I assume you'll be staying with me for a while," he points his fingers at the two doors opposite each other.
"Bedrooms?" Peyton guesses. He smiles.
"The TARDIS has bedrooms?" Amy asks. He frowns disappointedly at her.
"This ship transcends all human knowledge and understanding, it has an infinite and ever-changing system of rooms. Of course, it has a few bedrooms somewhere, every living organism needs to sleep." He leans over to each door in turn, turning their handles quickly to let them fall open.
Peyton walks past him and peers into the room. It's small, cosy. A light wood bed with a plain yellow comforter, a sleek mirror and bedside table to match. She can't help but smile.
This is all she's dreamed about since hearing about the Doctor. Travelling with the last man who is like her, who can teach her.
"Alright," he claps his hands together. "Goodnight Pond, Peyton, a word."
Amy pouts from her doorway at the blonde girl as the Doctor walks away.
"Secret alien stuff?" She scoffs, Peyton laughs, giving her a hug.
"Night."
• • •
"I promised you a library and here it is," the Doctor throws open the third door in five minutes to finally reveal a library bigger and grander than any Peyton has seen in photos. The ceiling is at least thirty feet high and the tops of the dark-stained wooden shelves nearly reach it. Ladders, desks and paintings lie around everywhere and lamps along the walls illuminate the space.
"At least it isn't another bathroom or greenhouse," she laughs, using sarcasm instead of letting into her amazement.
"Not my fault," the Doctor insists. "New TARDIS, everything is in the wrong spot." He leads her into the room and pulls out a chair at the nearest desk for her. She takes in her surroundings and sinks into the plush seat watching him draw up a stool on the other side.
"So, I'm guessing school wasn't very much good for you," he leans his elbows on the desk and his chin on his fists.
"Uh, not really, top of the year in everything, religiously got one question wrong on every test, to throw off anyone calling me a genius and carting me off somewhere."
"What about when, you were with U.N.I.T," he says with a certain hostility. "Did they teach you much?"
"They had a couple of University professors teach me some stuff. A-level maths, Chemistry, quantum physics. Latin and French"
"In other words, miles behind," he drops his hands and leans over to her. "How old were you when you left?"
"Almost seven."
"See, even then you'd be considered a little slow but not terrible but look at you now. Eons behind." He leaps to his feet. "How many languages can you speak?"
"Uh, I learned German at school, and I taught myself Mandarin in my spare time," she shrugs. "Not perfect."
"Been alive twenty odd years and only know five languages?"
Peyton gives him a look trying to convey to him that he is being a little bit much.
"Sorry," he sits back down. "Earth, trying not to stand out."
There is a silence between the two of them for a while. He looks at Peyton like he's trying to understand how she works, taking her apart with his eyes.
"Where do you want to start?" He says finally.
"I want to know about you, my dad, your people. I want to know where I come from. Why there are no more." He smiles sadly at that.
"Wait here," he stands and moves his stool around next to her chair and runs off a few shelves away, coming back with a brown, leather-bound book.
"Peyton Barrett," he smiles at her. "This is your ancestry."
YOU ARE READING
The Time Lord's Apprentice
Fanfiction"But, you're impossible!" "Yeah, and the world is ending, I don't think now is the time." Peyton is an orphan, taken from her mother as an infant by the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. She is raised separately from other children because she is spec...
