The Coriolis Explosion (Ten/SJ)

He started to count.

"Maybe we should---!" she was blurting out hastily, but he'd already reached the magic number. "No!" She insisted, even as he did it anyway. She whooped with joy as he caught her. She half tilted and swung as her legs could finally come down, both off to the right, and she gripped him back hard, holding with her eyes as hard as she held him with her hands.

"Better than Christmas." she agreed breathlessly. Truthfully.

He started pulling her determinedly upward, and she did her best to forget the drop behind her, instead focusing on footing, boots scrambling with a determination that rivaled the Doctor's, the the way was slick. He wrestled her up like wet laundry, then took the brunt of it as they fell back. She hadn't even tried to avoid him out of any concern for his well being, she was busy with her own. They weren't getting out of her any time soon if she cracked a rib now, would they, though she suddenly 'recalled' that her friend had become rather slight of form. 'Recalled', for she'd landed clean atop him. She clutched at the Doctor a moment, just making sure there was going to be no more falling just now. She slugged him for teasing her about her vertigo, though she made it gentle out of gratitude for the whole 'saving her life' thing. Her sass was gone in a moment however when she heard a Cyberman-like piston sound.

"Did you hear that?"

"If you heard a Cyberman." She said, half choked, eyes wide.

"Sounded like a Cyberman..can't be..come on, let's take a look". They untangled from each other, though him to get closer and for her to inch back a little. The Doctor crawled to the edge of the elevator roof and hoped down out of site. She couldn't see him, but when he started talking to a Cyberman, she wiggled for the edge.

"Doctor! Be careful!" She called out when she saw what was happening. Instead of being careful though, Doctor was speaking to it with the same tenderness he often spoke with to her. She rubbed at goosebumps on her arms.

"Prepare? Prepare how? What?!" Curiosity had turned her winged delicate eyebrows nearly into question marks.

Rolling his eyes, The Doctor walked to the edge of the elevator doors and looked up, placing his hands on the top of the elevator, he tapped it as if urging her to come down with solely his hands. "Come on down it's safe, i promise. Just sit on the edge then hop off, it isn't much of a fall if i can put my hands up here so try not to think about the drop". Retracting his hands, The Doctor couldn't help but turn his attention back to the, now dead, half destroyed Cyberman. Curiosity swarming around him like a wave of wasps, eating away at his common sense and fear until nothing but curiosity was left. Flipping out his sonic screwdriver, The Doctor scanned the hallow metal man with his trusty device then pulled it up to his eye level to review the scans.

Sighing, The Doctor tucked his sonic away and covered his face with his hands, running them up and down his face as he tried to make sense of what the Cyberman had said. Maybe it was just a fault of the failing circuits, to not kill The Doctor and warn him of an upcoming danger. Or maybe it was something more and that Cyberman meant to do just what it did. Things must be really bad if Cybermen are warning me....better not let Sarah worry about anything more The Doctor thought, standing up and turning his attention back to the elevator and Sarah, "We ready yet?" he called out to her.

She lied.

"It's your abbreviated friend there I'm avoiding." She shot back at him, even as she moved to sit at elevator's edge.  Well, perhaps it didn't look so far to drop from this new angle.  And she did know that the Doctor would have snagged her if she'd headed for the big drop off.  No need to admit that he was right however, even as she arched to get off that platform and grabbed at his shoulder on the way down for balance.  She'd use him like a prop as long as he was going to stand there all eyes for his new, shiny-headed companion.

Sarah Jane got her right boot laced again, it had come loose with that little maneuver they'd just pulled.
Her voice held twined ribbons of curiosity and accusation.

"What did that thing mean, 'wave'.  Why would it say that?  Is that thing really dead?"  

She hadn't answered if she was ready or not.  She simply was ready.  No matter how often they battled semantics and methods; no matter how hairpin a turn on words, she was always ready.  In studying his face for which way they were going next, she could see a sudden aching darkness in the back of his gaze.  It was in the tension at the corners of his eyes.  A set to his delicately hewn jaw.

"You don't believe a Cyberman do you!?"

The Doctor shrugged, turning back to shift his body and attention back down to the now dead half Cyberman, "It's definitely dead" he sniffed, arching his eyebrow as he pondered an answer to Sarah's final question, "I think it's the circuits, you know...got fried from the impact of the pulse we sent out. Probably explains why it didn't shoot me either...don't know..could have been anything. Best not let your mind dwell on simple things like this Sarah".

Suddenly his mind awoke to a new subject he could talk about, and his body gladly complied, ordering his mouth to being speaking as soon as possible, "Ooo!" he proclaimed, "Speaking of which! I have to get you back home! Which would be..". The Doctor stopped as he turned and eyed Sarah carefully, trying to guess her age and when she might have left the TARDIS in her time line. "1970's roughly? Mid 70's?" The Doctor guessed, "How long ago did you leave the TARDIS? You know..when i still had the scarf. Not long right?" he asked her as he turned and began to walk back to his infamous time machine.

When she didn't answer, The Doctor looked back at her over his shoulder, "That is..unless" he stopped as he fully turned back to her, "Well....take the scenic route home. Up to you of course considering this has already tampered with your previous timeline. No sense trying to correct that until i get you back into the TARDIS and see where you are".

He was just about the only person who could change a subject so drastically that he could pull even the intrepid Sarah Jane Smith off course. She who had interviewed dictators and criminals with aplomb.

First he was going to take her home, then he was yanking her back to a painful day of her past.  Leaving.  Then he was talking about perhaps a lark.  It was that last that made her catch her breath, and slow her questions about this 'Wave'.  About the pain caught in the back of his eyes.  Something trapped.  Well, now with what he offered, there would be more time.  His left eyebrow held promise.  The corner of her mouth answered, wry, before she split in to a grin.  "I think that where you are is stuck with me until I tell you precisely where home is.  Or close enough I could win a raffle ticket anyway."  She took a few steps to close the gap between them.

"I could use a bit of a lark Doctor. If we can just get back to where you parked."

The Doctor returned the elegant smirk displayed by his long time friend and companion as she replied to him, forcing him to remember the time where he dropped her off on the wrong street when she had left. The Doctor chuckled, not because of what Sarah had said, but because of the memory of her telling him he had dropped her off at Aberdean, The Doctor gestured over his shoulder with his thumb. "Two lefts, a staircase of stairs and half of a hallway" He finally replied to her, "Well...given that it's still there and wasn't sucked into empty space. Oh! That reminds me, i need to send out a distress signal for the ship".

Spinning around, The Doctor rubbed the back of his head before finally meeting the gaze of Sarah once more, "How about you head back to the TARDIS. Tell her wherever you wanna go..whenever...any place you can think of. Just say it out loud, and i'll be back before you can go through my wardrobe and find anymore dresses to wear".

Smirking, The Doctor turned and jetted off towards the main controls of the ship while on the way starting to think twice about the directions he gave Sarah. "She'l find it, she always tends to" He mumbled as he turned the corner and out of sight of Sarah.

"It will be a snap." She declared with a grin and gave a little snap. She was still quite tickled that the TARDIS had opened for her under such casual circumstance. "Then I'm keeping anything I can try on before you stop me." She threatened smugly. "So you'd better shake a leg, Doctor."

She knew better than to make some sort of parting gesture, and simply left. Sometimes it helped her understand him better when she tried things his way. Not to mention it was a waste of time. They were both already thinking about what was next. It helped free her from thoughts of the carnage they were leaving behind. The dead; the Cybermen and their victims, lay thick all around.

It would not be the first time she'd seen terrible death. Thank goodness most of the dead looked like tin soldiers, inhuman and mostly bloodless . .but some . . .

She could not bare to walk across the remains of the Marketplace. The people. Those poor passengers. She could not bare the different levels of transformation they'd been through, too many of them caught deep in the Uncanny Vally. There at the doorway, she sat down, leaned against the wall, and waited. They'd take this last bit together.

She let her eyes fall shut, and dreamed instead of where she wished to go.

"The White Hole of the Althrace system. The Mistfalls on Alzarius. The amphibians of Anura -" Alphabetizing was also an excellent way to keep herself from thinking. She can almost see the pages of the Almanac in her head as she flips through the volume AA-AB.

Gazing down at the controls, The Doctor had a moment of deep thought; his eyes passing over the buttons and nobs numbly while his mind hovered over the images of the dead before him. Of all the times he had been in wars, battles and blood covered skirmishes with his darkest enemies, this held more thought in The Doctor's mind than all the others. Maybe it was because of Sarah, but her presence before never affected him like this.

Brushing the thought process off as best as he could, The Doctor shifted his attention to the controls below him and began to activate the distress beacon. Once it was activated, The Doctor released a sigh of relief, turned and slowly made his way back to the TARDIS. Not once did the thought of Sarah not reaching the TARDIS cross his mind, he always thought she tended to know where to go. Just from being around him all the time or sheer luck. As he passed over the rail over looking the merchant square, he dared not look, instead he kept a keen eye on the floor and turned when needed down the stair case to the lower levels. Floor 3....Floor 4....Floor 5

With each floor sign, The Doctor's foot steps grew faster until they reached the fifth floor and turned into the first hallway on the left. His eyes immediately hit the TARDIS and a smirk emerged on his face. "Finally..don't think i could stand another minute in this place" The Doctor mumbled, tucking his hands nonchalantly into his pockets as he approached his time machine, entered then closed the door behind him. Over to the side wall sat Sarah, her back to the wall and eyes closed shut, and The Doctor immediately guessed why. Instead of alarming her, he simply walked up to the controls and yanked down the main lever. The engines roared as they pushed the TARDIS into the time vortex and swirling out to one of the places she had said out loud, "Which one do you think it is?" he called over his shoulder to Sarah, trying to ease her mind onto a new subject and possible happiness of traveling with him once more, "And please don't tell me you said some place like...like..Klum or...Earth in the eighties...blimey the human race was weird back then...i was weird back then come to think of it".

She screwed up her courage, and took the last section on her own.  The blue box was a site for sore eyes.   She'd made it into the TARDIS. Joyfully, it seemed she didn't much recall the carnage in between. Sometimes the fog of war came in handy. She had not seen one living being.  If this was just the carnage of one ship, what of all those other hundreds around them? How many now lay dead?

One snap and she was inside and safe, but she leaned against the inside wall, working on her list still.  Anything to distract herself. Sometime during the 'K' section she heard the Doctor's voice and opened her eyes.  She was about to ask him how many he thought might have died, but a second look at his body language, and the blithe words on his lips, and she knew he did not want to talk about it.

Maybe she didn't either.

She climbed to her feet then took that rather impressive walk up to the time column.

He was clearly dissociating a bit, like a cat that had fallen off the back of the telly.  Just as clearly, she could hear the lilt in his voice.  He wished to jolly her to the next destination and get out of here.  She regarded him, arms crossed, hesitating a moment.  Almost as if that had never happened, she let her arms fall and a real smile find her face.  Forgiving him. Forgiving herself? Did they even need absolution?

"Florana. We never did get a visit in when it was nice, did we?"

"No" The Doctor mumbled a reply, sighing as he turned and leaned up against the control console as the TARDIS spun and whirled through the time vortex. Looking up at the ceiling of his time machine, The Doctor thought about his travels to Flrana, but also the many times he was unable to get his then companion to the fabled planet. "Then again not many times have i been able to find the right time in Florana's time line..bit weird to be honest. Always seem to end up in some kind of turmoil...i think one time i had to fix something with the flowers one time..they thought i was a gardener because of what i was wearing".

Just as he stopped speaking, the TARDIS released a thud as it landed on the shores of Florana, the scanner revealing nothing abnormal from its scans of the outside world. Turning around, The Doctor pulled over the scanner, "Everything seems fine" he mumbled, glancing back to Sarah with a rising smile, "Wanna take a look?".

He could be very serious for such a young looking man.  She realized what was odd. There in his eyes, in the corners of his mouth, were all the wisdoms and more she'd seen in him when he'd looked much older than he did now.  He was getting younger in his face, but his mind was older.

And he'd been hurt.  In some way they had not had time to speak of, something had cut him to the core.  His face did not light up as she'd expected when she mentioned Flora. There had been all that time he kept promising and she had not wanted to talk of it because it rarely worked out. And she'd wound up running through caves in her swimsuit.  

"Everything seems fine" he declared, after they'd landed.  The trip hadn't taken a day or an hour, just moments.  It was never predictable.

"I'm not so sure about that." she said, giving him a look that included not a smile, but one of calm compassion. She wasn't talking about Florana, but about him.  Her eyes wanted to pry his gaze open, but she tore away and looked through the viewer. She came up smiling, seriousness forgotten in their unexpected sucess.

"Thats it! Isn't it? It's really Florana!"

She looked again.  Hawaii had nothing on Florana.

She looked to him, huge grin on her face now,  his problems be damned.  "I want to see the water, and the sunset!"

"Alright alright, not so fast. You need to change into something more suitable, there's bathing suits on the second floor..first door on your left i believe..unless i've changed it again" The Doctor replied to Sarah, turning away from the controls and strode over to the spiral stair case, "Last one out has to lock the TARDIS" he called back behind him.

Rushing down the staircase, The Doctor hopped into the bathing suit section of the wardrobe level and was immediately taken back from the selection the TARDIS was giving him. "Blimey" He mumbled, shifting through the spiral racks of seemingly endless bathing suits, stopping as he spotted one multi-colored trunks, "Oh definitely not". Tossing that pair over his shoulder, The Doctor stopped once more as he pulled out a hanger of bathing suit trunks that matched his blue pin stripped suit he was wearing.

Immediately a grin engulfed his face and he dashed behind the racks to change, a part of his mind pondering where he had put the scarf of his former incarnation. That was until he nearly tripped over it on the way out. Flipping it on, The Doctor came out from the wall of racks wearing the scarf, a brown blue pin striped bathing suit and a pair of sun glasses shielding his eyes, "Allons-y!" he proclaimed, rushing back up the staircase, "Ow ow ow ow" he mumbled at each step, quickly realizing how hard the steps were without shoes.

Would he ever know?  About the Wardrobe? About their special relationship?  She had no doubt that others who had come through those doors had experienced their own sort of welcome as well, but she and the TARDIS . . .well  . .they had a thing.

Magic Wardrobe.  Thoughtful Wardrobe.  Abundant Wardrobe that often seemed quite opinionated about what she wore. The good thing was, they were in accord, though the TARDIS often showed her the styles of her future instead of those of the present.  Who she would be.  It had been a comforting wisdom when the TARDIS had sent her back to Earth dressed as a child those few years ago.  To see her home with fresh ideas and an open mind.

And now here she was again, and it felt . . . normal.

"Race you~!" She had challenged the Doctor, hoping the TARDIS was busy doing it's knowing-thing in the Wardrobe.  Each had raced off, and when she'd reached the changing room, there on the front racks were the suits.  A glance told her these would be the ones that fit. She'd already worn one or two of them.  The others seemed pristine new.  She found one that seemed made of an amazing stretchy TARDIS blue satin-like that made her oo and ahh, but it was mighty plain other than the fabric itself.  There was a little pink number that wasn't much more than a series of triangles, but it didn't look like it would stand up to much romping.  And romping she intended.  Last but not least, she took a look at the suit the TARDIS had put up front and center for her.  Sarah Jane had avoided looking too closely first off.  She had to at least pretend to have an opinion.  But the TARDIS was just never wrong.

It was a sunny color of yellow, and made of a sturdy double stitched fabric.  The bottoms fit as straight across and clinging as a boys brief, but the top was more like a halter.  There were large macrame white daisies.  it fit her absolutely to a tee.  She grabbed hold of a sheer white kaftan, and dropped a loosely woven white, wide brimmed hat on her head.  White towel.  Grass green mules.  

She didn't bother to look in the mirror. She knew they were nice things.  In less than five minutes, she was clattering back down the stairs looking for the Doctor, the only sign of the struggle they'd been through earlier a bruise that wrapped around her upper arm, looking as if it were of mechanical origin. Well, that was what the kaftan was for, if they went somewhere for lunch.

The Doctor looked up, peering through his sunglasses as he heard the footsteps of Sarah approaching him from the top of the staircase. Realizing he had lost the race, The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Yes yes, i'll lock the TARDIS" he mumbled, shooing Sarah back up the staircase as he took a step towards her. Once she had made her way back up, The Doctor followed her, shaking his head as he quickly figured out that the TARDIS had helped her pick out an outfit.

"Don't think i don't know what you did" The Doctor commented, pointing his index finger at the main control console, "She's only in here half the time but what do i get to flying and traveling with you all over the place?". The TARDIS released a groaning noise, one that The Doctor immediately took a step back upon hearing, "Alright alright, sorry. You know i love you" he reassured his time machine, rubbing the edge of the controls before turning his attention to Sarah.

Grinning, he quickly bolted down the ramp and thrust open the doors, his feet reaching and hitting sand after immediately walking out. Night time. It was the first immediate mental response before he turned to his left hand side. In front of him lay a vast endless crystal clear ocean, the color reflecting a magnificent purple and orange nebula, with hints of blue towards the center, that hovered overhead. To his left stood an island, various trees spotted across its surface, a small fire a beacon of warmth to passers who needed it. But The Doctor was too distracted, distracted by the water and the colors. Never before had he managed to land on Florana when it was this beautiful, it only felt right that this time he did. "Sarah Jane" He called back, already guessing Sarah had exited the TARDIS, "Welcome to Florana".

"Well, look what the cat dragged in." Harsh as her words were, it was clear she was quite pleased to see him.  To see that long scarf in all fall colors and intense memories.  He looked quite trim in his blue trunks.   His hair looked excited to be traveling. "I win." she said smugly.

He went, per their bet, to bank the TARDIS like an ember for their return.  

"Come on!" She complained jovially as he stopped to chat with his pet time machine , and he came galloping out the doors like a school boy on holiday.   She'd looked down to step over the threshold, but looked up once her feet were in the sand.

It wasn't sunset.  it was nightset.  Stormset. For all the billow and broil in the sky, the night breeze was light, the air perfectly warm, and all finely scented like flowers and spice and salt.  It wasn't clouds in the atmosphere, but clouds out in space that made for such a breathtaking view.  

"Welcome to Florana."  He said with a triumph she understood. He'd been promising her Florana for along time.  She dropped all her gear there at the door of the TARDIS and hurried over to her friend.  She reached and took not his hand, but one long end of that very familiar scarf. She knew it so well as she held it, soft and strong all at once.  A devilish look in her eye, Sarah Jane started walking backwards toward the water, luring him  along with a gentle pull to his scarf.

"Come on! I want to swim."  The water was so clear so as to be near invisible.  She wanted to feel it.

The Doctor grinned, the emotions exhibited by Sarah now flowing into his own, the reasons why he allowed Sarah to travel with him before now becoming more prominent than ever. For a moment his mind fell back to questioning why he ever let her go, but then the memory of the older Sarah hit him. Looking over to the young Sarah standing beside him, The Doctor's grin fell to a warm smile, "Come on" he finally told her, gesturing to the water with his head, "You go first. I need to lock up the TARDIS".

Turning away from Sarah, The Doctor flipped out his key from a pocket in his trunks, locking the door with a click before turning back around to the oceans shore. "Allons-y!!" He proclaimed happily, bolting to the water as he unwrapped his scarf and let it fall onto the white sand. Falling into the water, The Doctor smiled as the feeling engulfed him as his hair fell down from it's previous sticking up position upon rising up from the water. "You should be here in August..it's like a sauna" He commented, "And in winter, the gravity of the planet decreases just enough to allow the snow flakes to hover above the lake. Quite a sight if i do say so myself".

The Doctor was busy being responsible so she freed him and ran into the water alone. The water and the air seemed to be almost the exact same temperature. It was perfect. After letting the water kick up past her knees, she dove into the rippling clear waters.

The water was so clear it was like flying. She turned back just in time to see the Doctor fall into the water and laughed to find herself splashed. She stood up and splashed him in return as he rose. They faced each other streaming water as he touted the wonders of Florana year round.

His grin was fierce and the water was warm. Why had she ever left him? Her complaints seemed thin indeed compared with the trouble she'd found on her own. The easy, loony smiles they shared now made everything else seem trivial. The Universe was painting the outline of his frame and lean muscle in rich purples and oranges. She started walking down the shoreline, water surging against her thighs.

"Can we visit winter after breakfast? And I don't want to eat in the TARDIS." On some planet less populated, they might have pulled their breakfast right out of the sea, but she was suddenly wondering if they might actually eat a vacationer. There were enough different sorts of Aliens around, she knew she'd have to be careful winnowing out the sentient creatures from the other sort. She is skipping a little in the high water, making a bit of splash.