Returning Through The Gaps [Closed]

[Lucyfer]

When he was a mere 900 years old, he had realized he’d lived too long in the same face. Now, the Doctor considered he had just lived too long in general as he stumbled back into his TARDIS, a hand over one heart as it beat out his precious blood.


“Good a grave as any,” he said as the doors shut behind him, and he fell upon the central console, “Eh, good friend? Right here. Right here is fine.” He smiled, only to flinch as the TARDIS started itself off. “Ah, yeah, best to get out of here. Hate to have you in the wrong hands.” The TARDIS was programmed to go back to earth in such an incident, to London, where it would slowly die as people passed by it, day after day.


As it launched off with a jerk, he slipped off the console and hit the floor with an “Uumph!” on his back. And then, he felt the energy of regeneration surge forward. “What? But I didn’t think I’d change!” And like so many times in the past, he didn’t get a say, as his body acted to preserve his life.


The regeneration energy lit up and spilled over his very being, causing him to scream as his cells were written over and given a new look. The bones cracked, the muscles altered, the colors of his hair and eyes changed, until it all ceased with the TARDIS’s rocky landing, and him rolling over onto his stomach. He coughed, got up to all fours, and stared at the floor in surprise. “But, but how?” His voice was different now, of course. Bit of a higher pitch. If he was to sing, he was certain he’d be tenor. “Oh, well, how am I to strike fear in people if I can’t make my voice boom!” Of course he tried to drop it lower, and froze up.


Then, he laughed. “Oh, that’s good!” His boom was actually quite good. Startling, in the way cold wind was. It wasn’t what one expected from his normal voice.


He rocked back so he was on his feet, and then hopped up, looked down at his attire. “Bowtie? Ugh, that’ll never do,” and he quickly pulled at it, and discarded the maroon fabric. Off went the brown jacket, which he laid over the rails, “Nope, I’ll simply have to find something different. Something not so….” He pulled at the suspenders as he walked to the TARDIS door, “Grandfathery.”


And out into the brisk, cool air of London, 2015. He inhaled the sweet scent, and smiled, as he stepped out right onto a college campus. “Well now, this is nice.” He consented, watching all the young people walk right by him, moving on to their classes. “I can definitely find something not-grandfathery here.”


And hopefully a mirror. He was quite curious if he had red hair yet.

 

[missbrightside]

"David told me it was a statue!" Charlie said with wide eyes, narrowly avoiding dribbling the cherry filling of her doughnut on her blouse. People always assumed that she was a healthy eater because she was a vegetarian, but anybody who knew her could tell you that wasn't true at all.


"Then he lied, love! He probably didn't want to tell you because he knew you'd go all PETA on him," Charlie's friend, Lindsay, retorted as they headed to the english building. Lindsay was a very hip, street wise girl and Charlie had been attracted to her for it right away. She had been riding city buses solo since she was six, and her life was easily everything that Charlie's was not. At least, that's how it used to be.


"I would not," Charlie protested, earning a scowl from Lindsay. "Besides, he wouldn't lie to me."


"He probably didn't know," Lindsay conceded, lifting her herbal tea in a shrug. "I have it on good work from Bree that this is a new species they're dealing with here. It's all very hush hush. She only knows through her zoology professor. I think you're right, she's banging him for sure. I owe you a tenner."


They shared a laugh on that. "Yes it's very hush hush, Lindsay. That's why everyone is talking about it."


Charlie nodded over to the main research facility, where all sorts of science types as well as some aspiring journalists were crowding around the building, pointing and nodding in hushed tones. It wasn't too far fetched to think that they might send a creature to the Hepler Building to be studied. Some truly remarkable discoveries had come out of those labs in the past half a century, even to someone as inept in the sciences as Charlie. It had really helped her convince her parents to send her to the school from the first place.


"Well, if I know you," Lindsay said, "And I believe I do, you will find out exactly what's going on and be leveling some quietly judgmental looks at whoever's in charge by the end of the week."


"I don't even do that!" Charlie cried.

 

[Lucyfer]

The campus was alive with gossip. The man could hear it, but it was so difficult to focus on any single conversation. He didn’t quite dare to step into the main flow of traffic immediately, since he wasn’t sure where he wanted to be. It was fortunate that he didn’t move too quick.


A blonde woman and her friend walked by, he caught a bit of their conversation. ‘New species?’ His eyes widened in delight at the prospect. Oh, the TARDIS never steered him wrong! It always took him to fascinating things.


He’d have to pretend to be a professor then, wouldn’t he? Easily done.


Where did he need to go, though? Thoughts of attire faded as he stepped onto the sidewalk and called ahead to the pair of girls, “Excuse me!” Well, time to just wing it. If he could get the attention of the women, he was certain he might be able to figure out just where to go.


He brushed a hand back through his hair and tried not to appear as out-of-it as he felt. Regeneration was cruel. “I’m a visiting professor, zoology, not…not terribly certain where I’m supposed to go.” Psychic paper was somewhere if he needed to confirm his credentials. At least, he hoped it was on him, and not in the TARDIS. Or the jacket he’d left in the TARDIS. That would be just his luck, wouldn’t it?


He smiled, though, hiding his worries of such trivial things behind the smile.

 

[missbrightside]

Charlie turned towards the ginger man. Living in the city, she had gotten used to a broad sense of the word fashion, but suspenders? New.


"...visiting professor..." Well, that should explain that, then, shouldn't it? The quirky but brilliant absent minded professor wasn't a stereotype for no reason, didn't really matter whether he was old enough for it or not. With this sort of commitment to the persona, she should just feel lucky he was wearing pants at all, she supposed. But still, he looked a bit out of place, and a bit out of sorts. She gave him a friendly smile.


"Just up there," she said, pointing past the hoard of students to the building itself.


"I can't say I envy you on that one, mate" Lindsay said. Then more quietly to Charlie, "I think Bree might have a new friend."


"Lindsay!" she admonished, but she realized her friend was right. He was a visiting professor of zoology. That meant two things, the first being that Bree might be right after all, a new species, holy hell incredible, and the second being that if she could just talk to this guy, he could potentially tell her everything that she wanted to know about it.


"I bet they can't wait to get you in there," Charlie said brightly. "Never fear, we'll see if we can't get through without triggering them to stampede. No flashy colors or loud noises, Professor."


She grabbed his elbow and steered his towards the Hepler building before he had a chance to say anything back. Charlie looked over her shoulder to Lindsay, who was pursing her lips, arm on her hip in a knowing look.


"Come on," she mouthed, pointing aggressively toward the Professor, then toward his suspenders.


Charlie smirked back. This was why she always won all the bets. "Tell Professor Gripwald I'll be a bit late, please," she said extra sweetly.

 

[Lucyfer]

The Doctor’s eyes moved up towards the hoard of people, and he almost slapped his forehead. He did laugh, “I knew I had to be close!” He exclaimed, amused with himself that he hadn’t even noticed all the people bunching up together. Of course there would be a crowd, if students were already gossiping. “Thank you.”


And it seemed he’d have more to be grateful for, as before he could march off towards the building, the young woman took his elbow and explained that she’d be taking him in. Well, he could use all the help he could get, really. His grin widened, “I’ll do my best, but I make no promises,” flashy colors and loud noises sort of followed him.


The Doctor let himself be pulled towards the building that read Hepler. He racked his mind for information on the term, but his mind was overrun with thoughts. There was a Hepler in Kansas that offered zoology tutoring, too. Must be a famous scientist, and a rich one, at that.


A conversation occurred that he wasn’t privy to before they reached the building. Something about a professor Gripwald, late, and then they were in the crowd and heading towards the doors. “Oh, er, I’m Doctor Smith,” he offered as an introduction, realizing he hadn’t yet. “Thank you for your help,” they reached the top of the stairs into the building, and he looked around, sincerely disoriented, and sincerely grateful he had someone to show him the right way. It would save a lot of time and awkward questions.


“Are you in zoology?” He asked her, wondering if she’d be known here, perhaps as some graduate research assistant. She didn’t really look the sort, though. She was too put-together, too focused, to be in something as unruly as science.

 

[missbrightside]

Charlie smiled at the professor. She had seriously underestimated his ability to charm.


"My name's Charlie, and it's no problem at all," she said as they muddled their way through the group of students. She had been a little worried that maybe some of them would recognize this Professor Smith and would get the same idea that she had, but apparently he didn't have a famous face. They were probably thinking what she had, in fact, that he was too young to possibly be one of the reinforcements.


"No, I'm not in zoology. Wish I was," she said, making a bit of a face. "I'm an Undecided. Getting more than time to grow a pair and pick something but..." she sighed, "here we are."


She lead toward a set of stairs. The railings were very modern glass paneling, and the steps themselves were some sort of clean looking rock. The Hepler building, with it's tall ceilings and natural lighting, not to mention the state of the art lab equipment that was put to use, was easily the nicest building on the campus. There were classrooms devoted to other natural sciences, but the gripe of every biology grad was that the space in the research labs was devoted very nearly only to zoology. Charlie supposed that had something to do with the famous Gregory Hepler. She had no idea what he was famous for, but he must be a big deal to be able to continually fund something like this.


"So, Professor Smith, what is it that you study?" she asked pleasantly. "It must have impressed some people for you to be here." Finding out why, specifically, he was here could give some insight into the general reason for his presence. As they walked through the building, Charlie was grateful that she knew exactly where she was going. She supposed she would have to thank Bree for that one later.

 

[Lucyfer]

He gave a smile as he heard the name given to him. Charlie! Wouldn’t that have changed the show Charlie’s Angels if Charlie had been a sweet blonde like this girl. He imagined the remake for a second.


Then, he spoke as she mentioned being undecided. “Well, if you’re undecided, you could always join zoology!” The Doctor informed her with the zeal he imagined was expected of a professor, but it was also sincere zeal. Zoology was a grand subject! He’d love to know more on the sparrow, and so many other earth creatures.


The Doctor never once questioned the direction they were going, but kept looking around the building like some awe-struck child. “Oh, me?” Uh, shoot. What did he study? “Well, professionally I study avians. That’s what they pay me for. My true passion, though, what I truly study is what I think my critics term as Cryptozoology, which is the research of creatures that other zoologists think have been invented and never existed, like gargoyles.”


He expected a laugh. He waited for it, even, because of course he was dead serious. He did explore, examine, and look for things that humans thought didn’t exist. He’d met minotaurs and unicorns, he’d seen the fairies—native to Earth, amusingly enough. The Doctor couldn’t lie about everything. Little bits of truth had to be sprinkled in.

 

[missbrightside]

Charlie was almost ashamed of herself for forgetting what must be one of the most fundamental laws of nature. Never mention a career crisis to a professor. She wasn't sure how she could have forgotten about that, given the suspenders and everything.


She was quite taken with this Professor Smith and his little mannerisms. The way he looked around, rubbernecking this way and that like he couldn't get enough of, well, whatever it was that took his interest at that second. And when he told her that she studied birds, she realized that was exactly what she reminded him of.


"Cryptozoology? Really!" she exclaimed, her face lighting up. He had proven to be both eccentric and completely worth Charlie's time.


It did occur to her that a gargoyle was like a statue, like David had told her from the first place. It was an interesting coincidence, for that to be the example that happened to pop into his head. Though more likely, it was some sort of macaw from the pits of the Amazonian rain forest, or something like that. Shouldn't that be exciting enough for her?


"So, who are you right now? Are you here professionally or passionately?" she asked.

 

[Lucyfer]

The Doctor laughed a little at the way her face lit up. A hand moved behind his head in a gesture of mixed embarrassment and admiration. Well, another human interested in the strange, and not about to discount it. Wonderful!


“Yeah,” he admitted.


He thought of asking her how his hair looked, still curious if it was ginger or not. He couldn’t see it, blasted length. Her question then had to be answered, “Oh, a little of both, I think. They wouldn’t have called me here if it weren’t for business, but you know, I study birds with a passion, too. I don’t do anything without passion,” he informed.


Of course, he had no idea what he was getting himself into as they reached a floor which was deceptively silent, save for the rushing of feet. The pair of them were almost immediately noticed, and quickly confronted. “What are you doing here? This area is off-limits!” The woman in the white coat said.


The Doctor dug in his pockets, “I’m here on business! I was invited!” He said, “I’m professor Smith of, ah,” shoot, where? “Imperial College of London,” there was the piece of paper! He took it out in its leather case, and flipped it open so that the paper would be seen. If it worked, there would be a picture of himself there, with his identity as the John Smith identity he’d created. “And this woman is my assistant, Charlie.” She was coming along.

 

[missbrightside]

The professor's answer was vague, probably purposely, she had to had admit to herself, its not as if that question had been completely opaque. But she imagined that it was probably a very honest answer as well. It seemed unlikely that you would see him falling into the trap of some tired old routine.


Some sort of scientist rushed up to them, and Charlie watched as Professor Smith fumbled for his identification. How could a person doubt this guy's authenticity?


"...my assistant, Charlie..." Her stomach did an excited little dance. She tried to sent him a grateful glance that wasn't too obvious. She tried wipe the surprise off her face. She wondered if she was succeeding at any of these things.


'Oh, hello then. I'm Melissa. Excuse me one moment, will you?" Charlie was amazed at how the lady's personality seemed to morph in a split second, right in front of them. She walked over to another white-coated person, and they proceeded to confer, heads bent together. Melissa was pointing at them casually, and Charlie was suddenly and irrationally anxious that they were discussing her, and were about to turn both of them away any minute now because she wasn't supposed to be there.


She searched for Professor Smith's eye and beamed at him. A second later, the pair of white coats lifted their heads and Melissa waved them forward.

 

[Lucyfer]

The Doctor wouldn’t let worry cross his features. He had to be absolutely confident in his disguise, so that it would pass over well. He caught that little grateful gaze and gave her a wide, encouraging smile.


If she wasn’t a zoologist, she shouldn’t be recognized here. They’d think she was some RA he brought along. It’d work out quite well. ‘And maybe this will just be some nice oddity and nothing bad.’


Sometimes he landed in places of extraordinary happenings, of good things.


Melissa waved them over and gave a little, “Come on,” to Charlie, before hurrying ahead to follow after the white coats.


“I didn’t know we’d called anyone else in,” Melissa was saying, “But it certainly makes sense why. We’ve never seen anything like this!” Her voice held the excited passion of a scholar now. “Were you told much about it?”


“Just a little,” he lied, “I came as soon as I could.”


Melissa bobbed her head in a nod, and walked to a metal door and inserted a passcode. She then pushed it open, and held it open for them to pass through. “It’s right through there, behind the glass.”


The Doctor didn’t need to be told that. Alongside the left, was a huge window. Through that window, he could see the stone creature, shielding its face. He came to an abrupt halt.

 

[missbrightside]

Charlie couldn't believe her luck. She was about to see it, whatever this thing was that scientist Melissa and her scientist friends had never seen the likes of before. They came to a heavy metal door, and she watched Melissa enter the password. It hit her then, how serious and official the whole thing seemed.


She approached the glass, passing through the door Melissa held open. A large, human looking shape was standing behind the glass. As she went closer, she realized it was a large stone statue, an angel. It was a very solemn, eery thing, and chills were sent across her arms when she realized the angel had its face buried in its arms. It bothered her, for some reason, that you couldn't see the expression on its face.


"Professor, it's a statue," she said slowly as she turned around, a question in her voice. She couldn't understand what this graveyard statue was doing in the bright, tightly sealed laboratory.


Seeing the professor didn't do anything to help her. An emotion was on his face that Charlie did not recognize, and she realized he had not taken a single step into the room in the whole time her back had been to him. "Professor?" she asked, brow creased. Charlie crossed her arms in front of her chest.

 

[Lucyfer]

It was a statue right now, but the Doctor knew it wasn’t one at heart. Melissa spoke to answer the statement made by Charlie, “That’s what we thought as well, but it moves! We haven’t seen it move ourselves, but it wasn’t in that position when we found it. It was reaching out, like this,” and Melissa imitated the posture, reaching her left hand out, fingers-up.


“Yes, yes,” the Doctor nodded, confirming he was alive and present as he shook himself out of his stupor. “I’ve heard of these. Never thought I’d really see one, you know, all my trips to cemeteries never paid off.” He walked to the window. “You haven’t taken any pictures or video of it, have you?”


“Oh, of course!” And Melissa moved to the table at the center of the room and began to open up files and DVD cases, “We’ve been trying to catch its movements on film. We have a video running now,” she confessed, “We’ve only caught it’s movement through pictures of its changes.”


Then, she asked, “What do you know it as, Professor Smith?”


“Weeping Angel.”

 

[missbrightside]

Charlie imagined the angel reaching toward her as Melissa demonstrated. This couldn't really be real. Charlie considered whether this could be some prank, or a psychology experiment she had unknowingly wandered into. But as she watched the professor, she knew it had to be genuine, at least from his point of view.


"That's incredible," she said, mostly to herself as the Doctor walked up to the window.


A Weeping Angel. It sounded like something from legend, something noble and vaguely hostile, like a symbol of sacrifice or the embodiment of God's shame in the human race. Something that your well-meaning elderly neighbor would give you nightmares about as a kid, after casually spinning you a gruesome fable in her barely-decipherable accent.


"Is this some kind of a defense strategy?" she asked tentatively, peering through the glass. "Like playing opossum? Because that's brilliant," she said, chuffed. It was amazing that there could possibly be something that existed outside of science, for all this time. Some people, like her parents, thought that all the adventures had been taken, all the possibilities explored. The intrepid would always find another mystery. You just had to look a little harder.


Charlie gravitated towards Melissa and the table. She wanted to see this footage more than anything. She wondered what sort of creature it was, its temperament, its life, and you could tell a lot about a thing by the way it moved. Melissa had gotten some pictures of the it, and Charlie saw a still of the angel standing like it was now, face in its hands. The creature must be terrified, she realized.

 

[Lucyfer]

There were stills besides the one that Charlie immediately gravitated to. There were stills of the angel with its soft expression. The Doctor, when he tore himself away from the window, couldn’t help but notice that in none of the stills were its fangs bared. ‘They have no idea….’ "It is a defense strategy, yes," the Doctor said to Charlie's statement, "When they're like that, they can't be harmed at all, though they're still very aware of what's going on around them." Not that he was sure what really harmed them. Mystery of the universe to him. Starvation, of course, would kill them...but he knew nothing else.


“I’ve never heard that term before. I thought it would be some sort of gargoyle.” Melissa stated.


The Doctor did allow himself a chuckle, realizing he’d mentioned gargoyles earlier with Charlie, “No, no, gargoyles are much kinder. These things, not so much,” he thumbed back to it. “At least in legend, you know. They’re, ah, thought to be possessed by vengeful spirits,” he had to make up a lie. These sorts of things were often seen at cemeteries, after all.


Thank goodness he was always quick on his feet. “And they can pass on their influence by possessing images of themselves.” He picked up one of the pictures and neatly tore it in half. “All of these have to be destroyed.”


That was when Melissa looked upset, “You can’t be serious.” And as he reached for more, she quickly reached out and brought them towards herself. “You haven’t seen one before. We have no evidence that this creature is as hostile as you say.”


“You want evidence?” The Doctor inquired, and his words were the promise of a threat. “Then have someone step in there, turn off all the video cameras, and have everyone look away for just one second.”


It was ridiculous, and the Doctor knew he shouldn’t have said it as soon as it slipped his lips. “Fine!” And he lost color, because he knew what would happen. He was condemning some poor human to death, or to the past.


But Melissa was already shouting orders.

 

[missbrightside]

Vengeful spirits. That hadn't been exactly what Charlie had been expecting.


She was shocked as Professor Smith plucked up a picture and tore it in half, like it was nothing at all. The obvious thing to do. To him it must be, she reasoned, but this obviously did not go over well with Melissa. It wouldn't with any scientist, she imagined.


Legends were legends, often based off truth, sure, but usually distorted. Manatees immediately came to mind, and the stories they started about mermaids. Charlie couldn't see anything vengeful about the angel, not this far at least, but that didn't mean the professor was completely wrong. She was just about to express some of this to the two heating people, but then Professor Smith boiled over.


“You want evidence?” he asked, a bit menacingly. But with the mix of challenge, threat, and promise of a solution, would you ever really expect Melissa to say no? She started giving commands.


"Cameras one, two, and three all off, Travis," she said in the tone of a sergeant, clearly being fueled by what was essentially a dare. "Quickly, if you please!" She gave a pointed glance back at him. "Professor Smith says he has a theory to test."


Charlie was stunned, couldn't even move. She was like the Weeping Angel, but all too aware that she could still be harmed by the action moving around her. Professor Smith looked equally stunned, the situation spinning out from his control. Charlie snapped out of it.


"Professor," she said forcefully. "What's going on?" She looked at him intently, and brought her voice down to a gentler tone, a fear creeping over her and clinging to her skin like a summer thunderstorm. "What's about to happen to them?"

 

[Lucyfer]

The Doctor knew he had to let this happen, and yet he couldn’t condemn an innocent. “Travis,” he said, speaking to him before answering Charlie, “When you get where you’re going, write a letter, and send it to be delivered here, at,” he looked around for a clock. Still early, “9:42am, please. Tell me where you go.” He would see about bringing him back. He hoped he could.


Travis arched an eyebrow, a skeptic through and through. He still had his doubts the thing moved, despite the pictures. Photoshop was a thing, nowadays. “Sure.” He said with a roll of his eyes.


Then, he answered Charlie’s question, “Weeping Angels gain sustenance by, well, eating the life you might have lived,” this didn’t work at all with his vengeful spirit theory, but he didn’t even consider that. “When Travis gets in there, and we turn our backs, Travis will be transported through time. The angels will gain sustenance this way, through the years Travis never got to live here.”


Melissa gave him a strange look, “What?”


The Doctor just raised a hand, single finger up, and made a turning gesture.


Melissa did as suggested, as did others.

 

[missbrightside]

Charlie felt like she had just been dropped in the middle of the twilight zone. She couldn't decide what was wrong with Professor Smith, if he was some sort of conspiracy theorist type crack head, a psychopath, or just overzealous.


Nonetheless, she turned her back, along with the others. She didn't feel like she had any other option. Either nothing would happen, or the creature would become hostile against him and they would just have to save him before he could get hurt. She felt very safe that no one would have their life force consumed, whatever that meant.


She heard the sound of the door opening and closing behind her, then nothing. Charlie glanced over her shoulder, expecting to see an immobile angel and a very bored scientist.


Travis was gone.


Melissa made a sound, something like a cross between a sob and gasp. "Travis!"


The angel was several feet from where it had been originally, and even more incredibly, its hands had moved. One arm was reaching out, fingers in a clawing grabbing position. And its face. The stony mask had frozen in a terrifying snarl.


No one had heard anything, and it was much too fast for the Weeping Angel to have killed and, she shivered, eaten him. The only explanation Charlie could see was the one the professor had given.


And then, someone knocked on the door.


"You knew this would happen?" Charlie pointed to creature, "And you just let it? Bon voyage, Travis! Send a postcard!" she said, a bit hysterically.


"How?" Melissa demanded. "How could you know?"


Charlie had to agree. This was knowledge beyond having heard an old legend. Professor Smith was wearing a grim righteousness, as if nothing else ever could have been expected to happen, as he went to open the door. Of course he could still be a, a what was it called, cryptozoologist, who believed more than a little too much.


But that didn't explain why he had been, or at least seemed at the moment to be, correct.

 

[Lucyfer]

The Doctor didn’t even look back when the others did. There was a gasp, and then Travis’s name was called.


No, there was no need for the Doctor to look and see what had happened, for he knew. So, he waited, and he hoped that Travis would do as he’d asked.


On cue, there was a knock, and the Doctor turned to the door as Melissa expressed her grief and her shock. He ignored her this time. He had known. In the end, it didn’t matter how he had known. Now, at least, Melissa was likely to listen to him.


He opened the door and there, on cue, was a postal service individual, “I have a letter here for ah, uh, Doctor?”


The Doctor arched an eyebrow at that. The postman didn't go on to say 'Doctor Smith'. Just 'Doctor'. ‘How do you know…?’ Now Travis was going to be a rather interesting fellow, if he’d figured out who he was. The Doctor took it, “That’d be me.”


“I’ll need to get your signature,” the man said, and the Doctor signed in English, tempting as it was to write Gallifreyan on the pad.


Melissa marched right up behind him and snatched the letter away before he could reach it. The Doctor gave a shake of his head to the postman to indicate not to harass her about that. It was fine by him. “You know, we’ve all been wondering what’s in that….”


“Well, you’ll have to keep wonder. Ta-ta,” the Doctor waved, and then shut the door before the postman could get too far away. ‘Rude. I know, sorry.’


And then a smile came across his own lips that had nothing to do with this situation, an old memory replaying in his head. If only he knew if he were rude and ginger this time around. That window really wasn’t giving him a good idea of what hair color he had.


Melissa didn’t take his smile very well. “What are you so happy about?” She had just torn the letter open, dropping the envelope to the ground.


“That’s from Travis, isn’t it?” The Doctor asked, “When is he?”

 

[missbrightside]

The first thing Charlie notices was that the envelope looked old. It was scuffed and yellowed, and when Melissa let it fall to the floor it seemed heavy. This was not, she assumed, a good sign.


Melissa's eyes quickly scanned over the paper, one, two, three times.


"What does it say?" Charlie asked.


When Melissa didn't answer, Charlie took the letter out of her hands. That paper was a creamy color, much less worn then the envelope itself. It kept trying to curl back in on itself and revert to its folded form. The message was rather short, all things considered. She read it out loud.


"Doctor, this is 1846. There is no such thing as science. People can't stop talking about the sewing machine. Send the rescue committee please, and I expect credit for these findings."





"If this is a joke," Charlie said, "it's not funny. Just in case anyone was wondering."

 

[Lucyfer]

“1846, well, that’s further than I expected,” the Doctor chuckled a bit at the demand from Travis as he walked to the envelope and sought an address on it. Locating that, he folded it up and stuck it in the pocket of his pants, frowning at the sight of the suspenders. He still needed to change. This was getting ridiculous.


He looked to Charlie, “This is no joke,” he told her. “That is a Weeping Angel, and it is very dangerous. It only moves when no one is looking at it, and it reproduces through images,” he looked right at Melissa then.


She immediately understood why he had targeted the photograph. She walked to the table and started to gather them up, shoving them in folders again and putting them in a pile. “We’ll burn them. We’ll burn them all,” she said, voice quavering, “How do we pacify it? How do we deal with it?”


“Well,” he stretched his voice a bit, letting it rise in octave as he looked at the creature behind the glass. “I’d say a mirror ought to do it, but those things are so….” And then he snapped his fingers, coming to something. “Mirrored glasses!”


“What?”


“They make glasses that are mirrors, I think. Or we could, if you don’t,” he turned away from the window, “Then we’d just have to tape it to the angel, and it’d be frozen forever, since the mirror would always be reflecting its image back on itself,” which would count as being stared at, because of the idea that what looked like an angel, became an angel.


Yes, it was genius! “Then it can be returned to wherever it was found.”

 

[missbrightside]

"Oh, yes, brilliant," Melissa said. "Let me just pull out my spy glasses and we'll see who signs up to put them on the deadly monster."


"No, that's good," Charlie said, almost involuntarily. "All we need is a pair of glasses and some of that mirror paper. Simple. I'd bet they have some down in the art studios."


"Can we get a lighter while we're at it?"


"But my question," Charlie mused, "is what we're going to do with it then. We can't very well let it go, can we? If we tried, it'd kill us. Melissa, where did you even find it?"

 

[Lucyfer]

The Doctor found a relieved smile coming to his lips at Charlie’s immediate defense of his idea, “Thank you. Someone sees the genius of it.” All the time, he kept the angel in his peripheral vision.


Melissa ignored him. There was the question of where they found it. “The Amazon. There was an old church there, some missionary place, probably,” she brushed a hand back through her hair, distractedly, “It was chained up, and someone got the brilliant idea to unchain it since it looked so good. Then it moved.”


The Doctor pursed his lips. He imagined the scenario that would have led to the angel being chained up, and he wondered how strong the chains would have to be. He never knew how strong the angels actually were. Super-fast, yes, but strong enough to break chains? Maybe not.


“Well, we can’t take it back there. Perhaps we can just set it in some concrete and turn it into a true statue,” if it couldn’t break chains, it couldn’t break out of concrete if its feet were covered. “With those glasses on it, it could be some sort of modern art thing,” he shrugged. “What would we even call it? Patron Saint of Hipness?”


Melissa was giving him a terribly unimpressed look. He clapped his hands together. “Oi, shouldn’t someone be getting that mirror tape, then? And a lighter!”

 

[missbrightside]

Charlie smiled a bit at Smith's reaction to her defense. As she listened to Melissa's story about the discovery of the Angel, she wondered where it had come from in the first place. How long had it been chained there? Did these creatures live any other way?


"Well I suppose Travis can't do it," Melissa said to herself before adding, "I'll go get someone to fetch it." Charlie watched her go, noticing how it was never a consideration for Professor Smith to get his own supplies.


The door closed and Charlie, Professor Smith, and the angel were alone in the room staring each other down, the Professor looking at the angel, Charlie looking at the Professor, and the Angel frozen and staring into space.


"Now, while she's gone," Charlie said. "Would you please just answer me a few things?" She didn't wait for him to confirm to start asking. "How did you know what happened to Travis, and can we do anything to help him?"

 

[Lucyfer]

The Doctor wouldn’t have expected to be asked. After all, he was a visiting professor. How could he possibly know where the supplies were?


Not that he wouldn’t figure out a way to find them….


Charlie drew his attention back to her, and he gave her a kind smile. “It’s all right to ask any question you like. I know this can be confusing,” of course it could. It was difficult enough for humans to truly fathom aliens and time travel. The two things together? Few could grasp it.


Since the room was empty, he approached her, offered his hand, “I’m the Doctor, an alien from the planet Gallifrey,” no longer in existence, “I’m a Time Lord. I travel through space and time, and I’ve seen these creatures before. I’ve been trapped in the past by them before,” he chuckled at the memory of being stuck in the past with Martha. “So it may be possible to bring Travis back, with the information he’s provided us.”


The Doctor watched her expression, looking for a reaction. He hoped she would take the news gracefully, but he was prepared to be met with any number of outbursts.