And Where Were YOU?

The sounds of a groaning TARDIS filled the night air, followed by a soft thump and a door slamming open. Sonya stumbled out of the smoke billowing out of the blue box and bent over double, coughing violently to clear her lungs of the smoke. "Damn..." She muttered, peering over her shoulder at the poor ship with pity. "Sorry, Lady. Looks like we'll be..." She trailed off, shooting a quick glance around and made a face. "In Cardiff for a while so we can patch you up."

Straightening up, she passed a hand through her short hair and let out a small sigh. It was thanks to Thet and Robin she was even able to get off of Mercury in the first place. After they got rid of the acid spitting lizard hiding out in the engine core that is. Blasted thing nearly destroyed the TARDIS, not to mention if it had gone and exploded like it had planed  on, half of the galaxy as well.

Shaking her head, she surveyed the outside damage with a critcal eye. The whole bottom half of the ship had been burnt black. No familiar blue visible until past the sign beside the door. "You poor thing." Sonya murmured, reaching out to pat the side with a sad smile. "Sorry I put you through all of that, lady. I really am." Taking a breath, she poked her head back inside for a moment, squinting through the smoke still billowing out from under the console and swore softly. "Exhaust fans on full, Lady. Get as much of the smoke out of here that you can. I'll be back in about twenty  minutes, I need to see if I can find our favorite Time Lord hanging out anywhere nearby."

With that said, she shut the door and locked it. With a final pat to the singed paneling, she turned and walked out of the alleyway and onto the street. to be honest, it was a long shot to find any version of him wandering around here, and it was a safe bet to say he would be rightfully upset she had his TARDIS in the first place (Even if it wasn't borrowed from his current regeneration or not). Then there would be the Spanish Inquisition about why his TARDIS was in such bad shape... Blowing out a long sigh, she shook her head and plodded down the street. Maybe a cup of coffee would relax her enough not to snap back at him when he started in on her?

The calming hums of the TARDIS echoed through the seemingly endless interior, making for a nice lullaby to the sleeping Doctor whose face was planted on the control panel; drool dripping from his mouth and a light snore emitting from his open mouth. All of a sudden an alert roared from the screen, red lights loomed over The Doctor as the TARDIS tried to wake up its thief. "Aargghh" The Doctor grunted, "I like my shoes, don't make fun of them" he continued unconsciously. Seeing that The Doctor wouldn't wake up from normal alarms, the TARDIS emitted an "Oi!!" audio copied from a saved Donna Noble track prompting a sudden burst of energy from The Doctor previously asleep Doctor.

"Donna?" The Doctor grunted, looking sleepily around before rolling his eyes as he realized what had happened, "Very funny..ugh, how long was i asleep?". The TARDIS showed gallifreyan symbols of 1 year to The Doctor who replied with a chuckle as he pulled over the screen, "I guess that's what happens when you sleep in a time machine. But why did you wake me up anyways..hold on..". The Doctor paused as he read the alert on the screen, "That's not possible, there's no damage to the TARDIS....what's wrong with you?" the TARDIS replied by changing the alert, "Not you? Another TARDIS....where?". The TARDIS lunged forward, locking onto the coordinates of the damaged time machine; The Doctor grabbed hold of the control panel with both hands as he was thrashed around before surviving a final bump as the TARDIS landed.

Slowly The Doctor straightened up, eyeing the double doors a few feet in front of him, a brush of excitement building inside of him, "Oh i've missed this" he grinned. Bolting down the ramp he snagged his trench coat and flipped it on as he exited the TARDIS, his eyes squinting as he adjusted to the brightness. A sigh of annoyance escaped The Doctors lips as he gazed around, "Cardiff?! Seriously? Why couldn't it have been in the Bahamas or a planet i've never seen before?" he complained. His scan of the nearby area came up empty until he looked to his side, immediately noticing a duplicate TARDIS next to his; smoke escaping through the cracks of the doors and battle scars and burns on the exterior blue wood.

The Doctors mouth dropped, "Oh you poor thing! Who did this to you?!" he proclaimed as he dashed over to the TARDIS, placing his hand on the wood and beginning to rub it. Jetting his head back, The Doctor began to look for the culprit before making his way over to the door and trying to insert his key. Immediately he jerked his hand back, the heat of the lock nearly burning his fingers, "I guess you don't want me in there ey?" he mumbled as he turned back around to face the streets in front of him, arching his eyebrow as he scrutinized the nearby buildings and people.

Breathing in the aroma from her steaming cup of coffee, Sonya grinned and took a small sip of it, the vague memory of one of the Doctors teasing her about her 'unhealthy addiction' right before stepping out of the TARDIS doors and right into trouble. "Because running around the universe and looking for trouble isn't a unhealthy addiction at all, eh, Doctor?" She chuckled to herself and turned the corner back into the alley where she left Lady.

Catching sight of the figure standing there, she froze, silently debating on if she could get away before that specific Doctor noticed her. But before she could come to a conclusion, the TARDIS she was currently 'borrowing' wheezed a welcome, quickly followed by the other one chiming in with her's. 'well... So much for that idea.' Sighing softly, she forced a grin on her face and strode towards the Doctor. "Well, long time no see! It's been... Oh let me think, about fifteen or twenty years since I saw you last!" Clapping a hand on his shoulder, she quickly moved to stand in front of the TARDIS and sipped her coffee nonchalantly in an attempt to seem like nothing was wrong.

Despite the fact the TARDIS looked like it had a run in with a flame thrower, or the fact that her clothes stank of plastic smoke. Nevertheless, she managed to look him in the face and smile wryly anyway. "So, what have you been up to lately, Doctor?" The last thing she wanted was for him to see the actual damage inside the TARDIS. It would just give him another reason to never let her fly Lady again. Sonya could already hear the future arguments now: 'After you almost burned her to a crisp on Mercury? No.'

No, not if she wanted to go around like she usually did without that damned vortex manipulator, she'd have to stay on his good side... More than usual anyway. Not like she did a good job of it anyhow.

The Doctor smirked hearing Sonya's voice, his mind trailing back to the last time they had met and how it had been since he had seen her. It was nice to see her again but The Doctor couldn't help but look at the TARDIS in front of him, "Well..you know..things" he mumbled a reply, sniffing as he thought back to himself sleeping before cutting off the thought and continuing, "But clearly not as much as you i see.". The Doctor pulled away from the grasp of Sonya's arm and leaned up against the TARDIS, pointing back at the double doors with his thumb as he asked, "Mind if i see what you've done with the inside? Gotta make sure you're treating her good".

Waiting for a moment, The Doctor relished in the moment knowing exactly what he would see if those doors opened before grinning and breaking the silence, "Don't worry i wont do that to you. I already know what's inside...and i know how mad i am so...let's just leave it at that and allons-y". Eyeing the coffee in Sonya's hand, The Doctor quickly grabbed it as he walked by "Ooh! Coffee! Love coffee!" he exclaimed before taking a sip and immediately spitting it out, protruding his tongue out in horror and disgust, "Blagh! Blagh! Blagh! That's horrible who would drink that?!". Handing the cup back to Sonya, The Doctor tried to get the taste out of his mouth, "Look what i get for trying to get something to wake me up! Keep having to get the dust out of my eyes" he added, wiping away some sleep dust from his eyes and releasing a yawn.

Sonya watched him in amusement after he had risked a taste of her coffee. Coffee she had the barista add four expresso shots to when making it. Lifting it up once she was sure he had her in his line of sight again, she purpously took a long drink from the cup and even let out a soft sigh of satisfaction at the taste. "Dunno what you're complaining about, Doctor. Tastes fine to me." She hummmed happily then turned and reluctantly nudged the doors of the TARDIS open to see how bad the smoke was inside.

"Well come on then, Might as well show you the damage..." She muttered, filing away his comment about feeling tired to bring up after he had his bit about how bad Lady looked. Peering around the console room, she winced sympathetically at the darker areas where she began to burn inside. "Sorry, girl..." Sonya whispered, fingers trailing along a column of coral as she passed it, smiling weakly at the faint hum from the machine.


On the bright side, it wasn't full of smoke anymore, so that was a plus. Turning around to face the open doorway, she bit back a yawn of her own. Groaning softly, she rubbed a hand over her eyes and blinked away the vague feeling of exhaustion before it could make her want to crawl into bed. No sleep until she fixed up Lady. she owed at least that much to the machine for practically burning herself to a cinder to keep her safe.

Clenching her jaw against the tugging sensation threatening to grow into a yawn once more, she strode towards the burnt console and fiddled with a few dials, ignoring the sparks that flashed out weakly at her fingers. "Oh, Lady. I'll give you a whole new look once I'm done with you. I'll give you a energy booster and a new matrix, yeah?"

The Doctor carefully walked into the TARDIS after Sonya, glancing around at the damage of the interior was he walked further in. Immediately he could feel the pain of the TARDIS, it'll take a lot more than just some bandages to fix this up he thought as he looked over to the central control panel. Stopping, he paused for a moment to try and think of ways to help fix Sonya's TARDIS before his eyes danced over to Sonya as she made her way around the interior and spoke aloud.

Unconsciously The Doctor reached for and pulled out his sonic screwdriver before looking up and around once more at the damage then landing back onto Sonya, "You know..i can't fix all of it..well..not right now but.." he started. "I could give her a new make over and maybe...one or two upgrages. Should help with getting her back up and running..well..i should say flying" He continued, displaying a heart felt smirk as he walked over to the control panel with Sonya and placed his hand on her shoulder, "Come on, what do you say? Care for a little tinkering?".

Sonya managed a weak smile up at her friend and nodded miserably, still feeling guilty over what happened and straightened back up. "Alright, what I need right now are my tools, gimme just a mo and I'll go dig them up." With a final pat to the console, she flashed a normal grin up at the Doctor before disappearing into a hallway in search of the room with her tools.

"Man, Nine is definitely going to kill me if he ever catches wind of this..." She muttered under her breath, wincing at the scorch marks decorating the walls of the hallway she walked down. Poor girl had been very close to exploding judging from how she looked. It was pure luck that Thet had caught her distress signal when he did... Holding back a shudder at the thought of if he hadn't, she ducked into a familiar room and reemerged with a box full of clanking objects.

Heading back into the control room, she paused in the doorway, simply taking in the image of Ten standing by the console and smiled. It had been ages since she saw him last, and here he was when she was just on the verge of a mental breakdown over the condition of Lady. Just like usual, that face of his appears at the very moment when she needed a familiar face to ground herself.

Lately though, it felt like something had been wrong, she couldn't put her finger on it per-se though. At that thought, the smile twisted itself into a thoughtful frown. Something tickling the edge of her thoughts, something just barely out of place, like as if everything in her apartment had been moved just an inch to the left. Not enough to see it really, but enough to throw her off balance anyhow.

With a rough shake of her head, Sonya pulled her lips back up into a smile and walked over to drop the box of tools on the jumper seat and folded her arms. "Well... Where should we start?"

As The Doctor waited for Sonya to return his mind began to wonder and ponder about the events that had transpired throughout the day. First he had fallen asleep on the console, which wasn't too bizarre but the dust left over from it was what was odd; The Doctor rubbed this thumb and index finger together. It felt thicker than normal...there's something going on...something in plain sight The Doctor thought to himself just before his concentration was broken from the reemerging Sonya; returning a smile to her The Doctor turned in her direction then glanced around the room as she spoke.

"Well..." The Doctor started, "The walls and everything aren't that big of a deal, simple desktop reset should do the trick...it's the internal components that need to be looked at. See what the real damage is" he finished with a sniff before hoping down to the grate flooring and scooting up under the console. Removing the cover, The Doctor went to work on the wires and internal components of the console, "It's good to see you by the way" he said suddenly, pausing for a second before continuing, "Missed you..well..more like enjoyed your company..well..okay missed" he chuckled.

Despite pushing himself to focus on the TARDIS repairs, The Doctor could not brush off an uneasy feeling as he continued to work on the console. The buzzing of his sonic screwdriver echoed through his mind as he thought deeply before speaking, "But i wanted to ask you" he started, "Have you noticed anything odd lately? I know i usually don't ask this question but...i don't know...just feel like there's something there..something i should be paying attention to. Or i could just be getting too old...that's a scary thought".

Sonya grinned at his awkward admittance to missing her and plopped to sit beside the console while he worked, legs jiggling slightly while she watched him work. "Not gonna lie, seeing your face is probably the best part of my day." She laughed lightly and swung around to join him under the console. "I missed you too, by the way, in case you didn't figure that out." She added lightly, already taking her own sonic out to help him.

Pausing at his question, Sonya bit her lower lip lightly, debating on if she should say anything to him while he rambled on in his usual way. "You, odd? Never." She snorted lightly, eyes rolling upwards to add to her heavily sarcastic tone. "Couldn't see you ever being... Odd." That time a snicker slipped out, vividly remembering several cases where he had been decidedly weird. Her favorite one being him chasing around a starship full of people with a banana.

Then she fell silent, consumed in her thoughts while she worked robitically, already patching up some of the lesser frayed wires. "Well..." She hedged slightly, shoulders shifting a little to get into a comfortable position. "To be honest, something has felt a little bit off." Sliding out from under the console, she moved over to her box and began digging around in it to stall for more time. "Well... A lot off, really." She mumbled under her breath, remembering the dizzy spell she suffered after walking out of the coffee shop earlier before they met up.

The Doctor chuckled at her reply and listened as she spoke, his intrigue growing as she spoke about her tiredness and thinking back to his incident on the TARDIS a short time ago. "Sorry for being gone for so long" He sniffed, placing a wire in his mouth to hold as he connected a few with his hands before grabbing the wire out of his mouth and attaching it to the console with his screwdriver, "Just kind of...lost track of time i suppose". Reaching into his coat pocket, The Doctor pulled out a banana, "Banana?" he asked, flopping it across to her lap before yanking out another one for himself as he scooted out from underneath the console and sat up.

"Tell you what though" The Doctor started, mouth full of banana as he spoke, "This whole tired thing is interesting. Got me thinking...could of sworn i've seen a thing on the market recently, some sort of sleep inducer..but had loads of side effects". Arching his eyebrow, The Doctor began to think deeply, his eyes wide as he thought and began to stare of aimlessly, "There wouldn't be any chance that you've seen the same thing i'm talking about right?" he asked. Looking over to Sonya, The Doctor couldn't help but grin as he felt the excitement starting to build up in him again, something his missed for a long time. When you had the fact that Sonya was right there with him, it made The Doctor feel something he once thought was long gone; true happiness. Sonya stood for many things for The Doctor, a connection to home, a Time Lord (Lady) that didn't want him dead the second they saw him but also friendship, friendship that stood the test of time. No matter which situation they found themselves in, The Doctor knew he could trust Sonya and that's something The Doctor knew was a rare quality in this universe. Why did i ever stop doing this The Doctor thought to himself.

Sonya peeled the banana idly, lost in thought as she bit into it. "Maybe, something to do with that song... Sandman or something." With a shrug, she got to her feet and tapped on the console a few seconds and brought up a flickering image on the cracked screen. "This thing, yeah? Morpheus?"

Turning to look down at the Doctor, she nudged him with the toe of her boot teasingly, a grin tugging her lips to the side in a lopsided smile as she felt the usual jolt of adrenaline start pumping it's way through both of her hearts. "Yeah, it's meant to condense a whole night's sleep in just five minutes. Tricks the brain into thinking it got eight hours."

Turning back to the screen, she brought up a schematic of the pod, eyes narrowing in concentration as she took another bite of her snack. "Oh, look at this. 'Now you'll never waste time again.' Humans, so worried about living life, they forget the simple things." Shaking her head, she finished the fruit and tossed it in an empty box nearby.

"It's being sold on a colony based on the moon, real cheap apparently. The newest version of it, instead of five minutes, it's three. Brilliant, stupid, but brilliant." A faint look of disgust mixed with admiration shone on her face as she turned to look down at her longtime friend in exasperation. "I know they complain about how they need more sleep than us and all... But isn't this a little... I dunno... Extensive?"

The Doctor stood silent, his mind reviewing the details Sonya spoke aloud and pondering the next possible move and who could be using it. "Yeah a bit.." The Doctor responded, snapping out of his gaze with a sniff as he leaned up against the console, "Thing is though..it's always been known there's major side effects using this machine. Zapping the time down even more could harbor something much worse..". He paused for a moment, trying to think about the machine before finally yanking over the scanner to have a look for himself, "But look at this price!" he noted, "Whoever has this has to be well funded...very well funded. Unless that really isn't that bad of a price..i'm not sure i don't use money".

Placing his hand over his eye, The Doctor checked for any eye dust, relief overflowed him as none turned up but worry began to creep over his thoughts. "For some reason...i feel like there's a whole lot more going on then what we are seeing" The Doctor suddenly mumbled, looking over to Sonya, "Could be exciting. I mean that is..if you're up to finding whoever has this and shutting it down before anything horrible happens. You know..the usual planet threatening scenario and Doctor Sonya solution".

"It's a good price, I could have afforded it with pay from when I waitressed." Sonya reassured the Doctor, eyes locked on the screen as she brought up a list of online reviews. "And..." She drawled lazily, glancing over at him with a wry smile. "I suppose I have time to help you out."

Turning away from the screen, she tapped a few buttons on the console, setting the TARDIS on diagnostics as she fiddled with more buttons. "There, she'll run an internal scan to pinpoint the problems and I'll fix them when I get back." With that, she grabbed her hoodie from the jump seat and slipped it on and faced the Doctor once more, one hand waving towards the doors. "Age before beauty, my friend."

"That is unless you finally agree that I'm older than you." She added with a smirk, eyes twinkling in amusement as she stared up at her old friend. "Come on, just once, and I'll never bother you about it again."

The Doctor smirked as he walked nonchalantly down the ramp and towards Sonya, "Who am i to give up such a good argument?" he asked rhetorically, opening the door and glancing back towards her, "Besides, i think someones a bit jealous their regeneration didn't turn out looking as good as mine". Stepping fully out of the TARDIS, The Doctor flipped out his sonic screwdriver and held it up to his ear as he listened for the right frequency and setting, "One thing about those machines is they emit a ton of energy..and consume it..so if we can lock onto an energy signature we can...see if there's one nearby".

Just as The Doctor finished speaking, the sonic screwdriver lit up with life; it's buzzing growing stronger with each step The Doctor took to the west, "Think i found something" he commented, "I bet it's one of those machines..well...either that some else someone shouldn't have. I don't know, i've been having some problems with my sonic recently, i've been meaning to get it fixed.".

"More like it has a problem with you." Sonya snorted and elbowed him in the side with a small grin. "Come on then, let's go find some trouble to get into." With that, she plucked the sonic from his hands and started walking in the direction it pointed to. "Better keep up, Doctor. I don't have the time to wait around for someone to be lazy." She added over her shoulder, eyes narrowed in concentration as she fiddled the settings the smallest bit and smiling when the pitch changed to a higher warble.

"There, much better. You really need to change out some of the wires, they sound like they're starting to wear out." Turning around and walking backwards, she tossed the sonic back to the Doctor with a cheeky smirk on her face. "Keep up with me if you can, Doctor. Your regeneration may be streamlined for running, but mine looks much younger." With a wink, she started jogging in the general direction the signal came from, fumbling in her pocket before tugging her own sonic out and setting it off.

*bump*

The Doctor caught his sonic screwdriver, smirking and rolling his eyes as he watched Sonya bolt off in the direction of the signal. "Just like old times" He mumbled under his breath before chasing after his, sometimes aggravating, friend and fellow Time Lord. It wasn't long before The Doctor caught up with Sonya, jogging beside her as they turned a corner and entered an alley lined with tall three story apartments. The Doctor slowed down as he glanced around at his surroundings, extending out his sonic screwdriver slowly to detect the signal. His pace turned from jogging to a silent and methodical approach, careful to not make anymore noises than he needed to. His eyebrow arched as the sound of a nearby trashcan falling immediately caught it his attention; he slowly diverted it back to his screwdriver as he continued down the alley.

Raising his trusty device, it roared with a higher pitched tone in the direction of a two story apartment few feet in front of them. The Doctor looked up at the dark and gloomy apartment, the windows filled with holes and shatter points, the steps covered in dust which caught The Doctors attention as he approached it. Flipping his sonic screwdriver away, The Doctor crouched down before the steps and ran his hand over the dust and grabbing a handful, watching it fall he scrutinized it. Sniffing the dust, The Doctor then dropping a little in his mouth; it wasn't long before The Doctor protruded his tongue out in disgust, "Blagh! Blagh! Too salty" he commented as he stood up and wiped his mouth.

"What is with you and wanting to put everything you come across in your mouth?" Sonya asked, a grossed out look on her face as she watched him. "You have no idea where that's been." With a roll of her eyes, she stepped past him and pushed open the door with a cautious hand. "Stop... Tasting things and let's go see with our eyes." Sending a grin over at him, Sonya stepped inside and stopped just in the doorway, her senses tingling with... Something. "What on earth-" She managed to get out just before several shuffling sounds made themselves known.

Eyes wide, Sonya slipped out her torch and flicked it on, it's bright light knifing through the dark of the room. "Doctor, I think there's some... Thing in here." She murmured, voice dropping to a low pitch as she moved the light around, something just in the corner shifting out of view through a doorway before the light hit it fully.

"Doctor!" Hissing back at him, she moved a few steps into the gloom, eyes trained on the doorway the thing vanished through. "Let's go!"