Take A Chance On Me by ABBA

***

"What's your name?" the Doctor asked me, eyes still fixed on the screen. Numbers and symbols streaked across it, a few planets rotating in a diagram near the bottom. I couldn't make sense of it.

"Ash Forrester." I straightened. "I'm a first-year student. Faculty of Arts, but I'm mostly into languages. My favourite colour is orange, and FYI, the drink you spilled in the tunnels back there was a french vanilla, not coffee. I hate coffee. I'm addicted to peanut butter and I have this weird thing for plaid. Anything else?"

He had actually turned away from the display to look at me. A smile was tugging at the corners of his lips, but he quickly tightened his jaw. His voice was distant as he returned to the console. "No."

"Okay." I glanced around the room. It was quite warm. Shrugging off my jacket, I draped it over my arm, looking for a place to leave it.

Slung haphazardly over a rail right next to me was a pink and black jacket. I reached out, running my fingers along the soft material. Rose. I looked quickly over my shoulder, but the Doctor hadn't moved. Laying my jacket next to the other, I circled the console again.

Maybe I should give him a minute.

Obviously he'd just come from the moment where Rose had been taken from him. But an overwhelming curiosity filled me - how was this possible? To get to this exact place, he would have to have traveled thousands of kilometres in space, a decade in time, and through a parallel dimension. My mind was buzzing with questions.

I clenched my jaw in annoyance. I'd just have to figure it out for myself.

My eyes skimmed the mind-boggling array of switches, dials, buttons, levers and objects I couldn't even name that crowded the surface of the TARDIS's centre control. What any other Whovian would give to be able to see this up close - this was the opportunity of a lifetime. My thoughts turned to the rest of the ship. I had the chance to see what was all behind the scenes. How big was it really? I knew there was a wardrobe room, but my mind drew a blank after that.

There was only one way to find out. I stepped away from the console, trying to take in everything at once. Where could I start?

"Don't make yourself at home."

I turned back. The Doctor hadn't looked up, but a deep frown had settled on his face.

"Yeah, I'm just..." I gestured vaguely at a narrow metal stair beside me. After another long moment, I took his silence as permission and quickly scaled the stairs to a flimsy catwalk.

A couple of cardboard boxes had been stacked along the edge, but evidently something had knocked them over, scattering a queer assortment of souvenirs across the metal grating. I perched on the edge of the catwalk, straightening a box.

Next to me lay a wad of brochures, most titled in bold letters Sirius Cybernetics Corporation - The Next Generation In Robotics. I stacked them and tucked them neatly into the bottom of the box. Another yellow folder contained a two-page photocopy of an official-looking document, the title Sol - Level 5 System scribbled across the top in Sharpie. A pair of skates and a wide orange sombrero took up the rest of the box, and I pushed it aside.

A smaller cardboard box, thoroughly taped shut, sat precariously on its side at the edge of the metal grating. The top was labeled SJ. I slid it to the back without looking, then dragged another container over.

This one was considerably heavier. It rattled loudly, and the moment I peeked inside the flaps, I could see why. The box was filled entirely with metal scraps, some coloured bits and broken plastic mixed in among the tarnished silver. I picked out a few pieces. They were all roughly cylindrical, buttons decorating the main section, most very similar in style.

Suddenly it clicked in my mind. It was a box full of broken sonic screwdrivers. I looked at the metal tubes in my hand with renewed interest. Turning one over, I moved a switch. A tiny light blinked, and I smiled. They weren't completely dead after all. I rifled quietly through the box, poking buttons to find one that worked.

A high-pitched hum became audible when I picked out a better-looking one. It wasn't quite the right sound, and the light was dead, but I grinned in delight, flipping on another.

Sonic interference filled the air, pulsing through my eardrums like an electric shock, one after another. I yelped and dropped them back into the box, then glanced guiltily down the ladder.

"Don't touch that," the Doctor said dully.

"Sorry." I let out a huff of annoyance, pushing the boxes aside. He still refused to look in my direction, and that infuriated me. I started down the stairs. "All right, then, what are you going to do?"

He stayed silent.

"Okay, so obviously you just came from Torchwood. I know how it goes. You're doing the whole sealing-off-the-universes thing, all the Daleks get sucked into the Void, Rose slips and falls toward it and her dad rescues her. Fine. I got that. But what I don't understand is how did you end up here?" I hopped down the last three steps. "Did you have one of those universe-switching buttons?"

Circling the console again, I leaned up against the side, looking at the screen. "Or maybe you set up the TARDIS somehow to travel between... but that doesn't make sense, or you'd have done it the first time." My head shot up. "Or were you trying to do that? I mean I can't see how that would work, but you're like a genius so you could probably figure something out."

The Doctor remained fixed in place, obviously a million miles away. I glared at his profile.

"Okay, I get it," I said, more softly this time. "You don't want me here. You're upset about Rose and you're stuck in a parallel universe. But I can help."

I waited. Finally, he turned to face me. A storm of emotions raged in his eyes, but his jaw was set and his voice cold.

"I didn't ask for your help," he said. "I didn't invite you into my ship, and you're right - I don't want you here."

I raised my eyebrows. "Ooh. You'll never get back with that kind of attitude."

"You don't know what you're talking about," he hissed. I was shocked at the burst of anger in his expression. He slammed a fist down on the console. "You're a human, not even twenty, and you think you can figure this out because you watch TV. Well, that's not happening. The door is that way."

The Doctor turned his back again, stepping to the other side of the console. My eyes were wide. I couldn't help but feel a little hurt.

But he was right. I was just human. A little girl in his eyes. The most significant thing I'd done in my life was graduate high school, and that didn't exactly make me special. The most incredible thing that had ever happened to me was the Doctor, and he had no obligation to do anything more than fly away in his spaceship. But then... "Why'd you come back?"

He jumped, not having noticed me come up beside him again. "What?"

"When I yelled. You stopped. You could have left me behind, but you didn't." I frowned up at him. "You were curious."

"That's me. Curious about everything. Now that my curiosity has been satisfied, you can go."

"But it hasn't."

The Doctor stopped. He shoved a hand through his hair, let out a puff of annoyance, and moved around the console again.

"Fine," his voice came. "Yes. Okay. Door."

I peered around the viewscreen. "Door?"

He jabbed a finger across the room. "We can't leave with the door sitting open like that."

"We?"

"Yes. We. Close the door." Shaking his head, he tossed his brown coat aside. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

My breathing quickened. Like a flash, I was at the door, leaning up against the inside. A feeling of triumph was rising in my chest. "Where are we going?"

"London, 2006." His grin was back. "We, Ash Forrester, are going to find Rose."

***

Hi friends I'm back with another chapter

I was going to be all professional in my author's note but never mind

So I'm just SCREAMING rn because I finally found a face claim for Ash and it's the most exciting thing ever I've been looking for months and here she is and she's perfect

(Luca Hollestelle, found in ethereal ⚜️ female face claims by DhampirMina )

Don't mind me fangirling over my own characters here but yeah this is Ash and she's basically exactly like I imagined, the freckles are my favourite and I'm just super excited.

Just as a side note I'll mention that Ash has shorter hair, kind of a bob. But anyway hope you enjoy!

Thanks for voting and commenting, I love all two of you guys 🤗