| Date: 24 December 2007
Characters: Adam Mitchell, The Ninth Doctor Location: outside Link to IJ: thread #19096 |
 Adam wasn't in any hurry to get back. He didn't want to have to face his mother, explain what had happened and what he'd done, and then try and convince her that he hadn't gone completely nuts while he was out in Utah. More than he was worried about explaining things to his mother, he hated the idea of having to face his father, knowing that he had been so close to getting the information that would have helped him get better. Still, it wasn't as though this place had many attractions to its credit. There were a few buildings, the essentials basically, but other than that...
Which was why Adam was left wandering the streets until he spotted the back of a familiar leather-clad figure, "Oy! You!" Adam shouted instantly, raising a hand to wave him down. |
 "Oy me?" The Doctor questioned, turning to face Adam with a complete lack of recognition. He looked from side to side to see if there was anyone else he could have been talking to while Adam caught up with him. |
| Oh, he was going to do that, was he? Pretend like he didn't have any idea who he was. "Yeah, you," Adam said, frowning as he closed the distance between the Doctor and himself, poking the much taller man in the chest. "You and I have some unfinished business to discuss." |
| The Doctor looked at Adam, then looked at his poking and raised an eyebrow before wrapping his hand firmly around Adam's wrist, refraining from the urge to twist it. "Do we?" |
| Adam glanced over at his wrist clasped in the Doctor's hand and took a few shuffling steps backward, "All right. Maybe... Maybe I shouldn't have come on so strong. I mean, we can discuss this like civilized gentlemen, can't we?" Adam amended quickly. |
| "One of us can and for once I think it's gonna be me." He let go of Adam, "Who are you?" |
| What? Adam lifted an eyebrow slightly at the Doctor curiously. "You don't know?" Adam asked after a moment before raising his hand to massage his wrist as the confusion cleared as he glanced up at the Doctor again, a very slight smile crossing his face. "You don't know."
Well, damn. If this wasn't a break and a half. "Adam. Adam Mitchell," He said, extending his hand toward the Doctor. |
| "You know who I am, I'm guessing," he said, frowning, then took Adam's hand to shake. |
| "I traveled with you...for awhile," Adam said, clearing his throat slightly before raising his freehand to scratch at his forehead. |
| "Just you and me?" he questioned, studying Adam. |
| "No. Rose, too," Adam said, hoping that he wouldn't be asking Rose to confirm what he said. She'd fill in the blanks that he was definitely going to leave. |
| He relaxed at that. He hadn't met Rose, but he'd heard of her a lot. "I've not met her yet either." |
| Well, that was a definite relief. No meeting Rose yet means no one to contradict him. "You'll like her when you do," Adam said with a smile. "It's practically impossible not to."
Which was true, as far as he could think of it. That was, if the Doctor didn't come across the...older Rose first. He'd get completely the wrong impression then. |
| "I've heard that about her. What unfinished business?" |
| Adam sighed slightly, scratching his forehead again before dropping his hand and snapping his fingers, the port in his head opening up, "This." |
| "What is that?" The Doctor asked, intrigued, leaning in to examine it. |
| "A computer link up from the year 200,000," Adam said, frowning slightly to himself as his hand twitched a bit, resisting the urge to close it right back up despite the Doctor's inspection of it. "I meant to get it removed before we left...but, well... I obviously didn't have the opportunity." |
| "Why not?" The Doctor pulled back from the inspection. |
| "Things happened. Stuff blew up. We had to get out of there fast. I'm not sure exactly how much detail I should go into here," Adam said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. |
| "Why not?" The Doctor offered Adam his hand to go find some place to sit. |
| Adam snapped his fingers, closing the port back up, relieved the second that he did. "Well, you don't know me or Rose. So you don't know the situations. Wouldn't have prior knowledge of the events...taint them in some way?" |
| "I'm guessin' no, based on everything else I know so far." |
| Oh, well. Shit. That was just the way, wasn't it? And as much of a genius as he was, he'd always been a rather crap liar. "Well, you see... I'm not exactly too sure what happened," That he could at least be honest about. "I just remember things blowing up and the whole place shaking...and then you grabbed me," he figured he could leave out the 'by the collar' bit, "and dragged me back to the TARDIS when you spotted me since we'd...gotten separated."
Gotten separated sounded so much better than 'I wandered off'. |
| Still. The Doctor knew the kind of people he liked to travel with and he heard that hesitation. "You mean you wandered off."
He sounded amused though. |
| Well, at least he didn't sound angry about it. Adam worked up a sheepish smile, raising a hand to rub at the back of his neck, "A bit, yeah," He said with a weak laugh. |
| "See anything good?" |
| "Oh, definitely," Adam said, his features lighting up despite the nagging in the back of his mind asking him whether the Doctor had really meant that question to be sincere. It was hard to adjust to the man not having some sort of grudge against him just for...being him, really.
What was it that he'd said to Rose when she'd asked if he could come along? 'He's a little bit pretty.' Hard to believe that would be reason enough to hate someone. |
| Adam was possibly underestimating how posessive the Doctor was of Rose's affection.
"Tell me about it," the Doctor invited. |
| Tell him about it? Adam laughed a bit, raking a hand through his hair, "I wouldn't know where to start," He said. "It was all a bit overwhelming." |
| "Take a deep breath. Willl probably sort it in your head." |
| Adam did as he was instructed, half in the sheer appreciation of the fact that the Doctor wasn't talking in him in a tone that clear indicated hatred and the urge not to want to do anything to screw that up.
"We were on some sort of...orbital," Adam said. It was amazing. You'd think he'd be able to remember something that had happened less than a few days ago a lot easier than this. "It was... a television Satellite." |
| "Orbitin' what?" he grinned, tugging Adam's hand. |
| "Earth," Adam said with a slight chuckle. "I wouldn't think that there would be any other race that would put out the resources to build a floored habitation Satellite to be used strictly for broadcasting telly." |
| "The Sentaroriens." he said immediately, "They worship entertainment." |
| Both of Adam's eyebrows lifted in interest, "Literally worship, or are you just using that as a figure of speech?" |
| "Not a figure of speech," he grinned, wild and manic, but pleased. |
| Adam grinned right back. He'd seen that expression before when it had been flashed at Rose. It meant actually said something right for a change. "How's that work, then?" Adam asked, unable to hide his natural curiosity. "Are their churches divided by genre? Comedianity, Tragedish, Musicalism?"
It sounded like he was making fun. He was. But only partly. |
| "They worship humor," he said with a grin. |
| Adam couldn't help but grin at that. Sounded a lot more appealing than the current religious systems that Earth had all mashed together and trying to compete with each other. "Absolutely brilliant," Adam said with a laugh.
It was nice not feeling like the odd man out. |
| "Maybe one day we'll end up there," he said easily. |
| "Maybe," Adam said, his tone dropping into thoughtfulness as he dropped his gaze to the floor, raising his hand to scratch nervously at his forehead again. |
| "What does it even do?" |
| "Apparently it turns me into a human radio tower," Adam said, running his hand through his hair and rubbing the back of his neck. "With the linkup that it works with, I can transfer something that I know to...well, someone else with one of these." |
| "Can't see them being heavy on the ground.' |
| "Well, it's not really that heavy," Adam said, tapping his forehead with a thoughtful expression. "And it's not really that useful in the 21st century. Just something to turn me into a walking science experiment." |
| "That's where you're from? The 21st century?" |
| "2012," Adam said with a nod. "I was working in Utah when you and Rose stumbled across the Bunker." |
| "The bunker?" he questioned curiously. |
| "Henry Van Statten's compound. An archive of alien artifacts, technology, and one rogue murdering Dalek," Adam said, rubbing the back of his neck. This was getting far too close to the truth for comfort. |
| "...A pardon?" he went cold suddenly. |
| "A rogue Dalek," Adam repeated, wincing internally. He should have known that that would raise enough more questions with the way the Doctor had reacted to it. "Mister Van Statten was keeping it as a pet. It was...broken until Rose touched it. Then it did some sort of...DNA extrapolation of went ballistic." |
| "A pet?" The Doctor all but flailed. |
| "Yes, a pet," Adam said with a frown. "Van Statten was a nutcase. But he was a rich nutcase so he could get away with quite a bit more than the normal garden variety whackjob." |
| "You were there?" |
| Adam nodded sadly, sighing as he glanced up at the Doctor, "I was," He said. "I was lucky to get out of it alive. Most of the staff didn't." |
| "That's why you left with us?" he asked. |
| "Actually, it was Rose's idea that I come along," Adam said. "After everything that happened, they were going to fill in the Bunker with concrete, pretend like it never existed, so I ran down to tell the both of you so you could get out.... You weren't really thrilled with the idea, to be honest." |
| "Why not?" he frowned. |
| "I'm not...sure, to be honest," Adam said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You told Rose I was 'a bit pretty'? Not that I can see what that had to do with anything." |
| The Doctor rubbed the back of his own neck, a bit sheepish looking. |
| Adam couldn't help the curious look that came across his face. He would really love an explanation of why the Doctor didn't like him. He'd always figured part of it was because that he didn't get Rose out of the lower bunker before the bulkhead had closed, but the pretty comment had always confused him.
"What?" |
| "That's all I said about you before then?" |
| "Yeah. Pretty much," Adam said, frowning softly. "Though, you did make a comment that insinuated that I couldn't cut it in a fight when I showed you the weapons stores I'd hidden away in case anything went wrong." |
| "Could you?" he asked, "Cut it in a fight, I mean." |
| "I... Well, I guess," Adam said after a moment. "I'm not exactly weak. Just cause I've never actually had to fight someone before doesn't mean that I couldn't manage it if I had to."
And there was that defensiveness again. Adam had spent his life as the smart kid and the computer geek. It just came far too easily. |
| The Doctor raised an eyebrow, "Wasn't accusin'." |
| Adam blinked a few times before clearing his throat a bit, "Sorry about that," Adam said, frowning heavily. "You just get so used to being called weakling, skinny boy, and nerd-geek all your life, and you pretty much take everything as an accusation." |
| "You're a man now. Stop it." It wasn't harshly said. |
| This was definitely going to be different and an adjustment. Though, it was nice not to have to worry about being insulted and called 'English' for the first time in...a long time.
"All right," Adam said with a smile. |
| "Now we need a cup of tea and to talk about bones." |
| "Tea. Tea sounds good right now," Adam said with a slight laugh. "I haven't had a decent cup in...months. Americans have no idea how to make it without bollocksing it up." |
| "That's Americans for you." |
| "I'll never understand how they drink it cold," Adam said, the situation suddenly striking him as utterly ridiculous. Here he was faced with the Doctor, someone who had kicked him out of the TARDIS and basically called him an idiot and a screw-up not more than a few days before. And they were discussing tea.
Funny how life worked out sometimes. "So." |
| "So?" |
| "So. I have no idea where I was going with that statement," Adam said with a slightly sheepish smile. "When are you from, anyway? I mean, if you haven't met Rose yet. She gave me the impression that you two had been traveling for quite awhile the first time I met her." |
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