Four times a new companion met an old companion: Chapter 2 [Doctor Who fic]

[isabrella]

Chapter 1; full work; chapter 3.
950/4759 words by isabrella
Chapter: 2/4
Fandom: Doctor Who (2005)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Donna Noble & Amy Pond
Characters: Thirteenth Doctor, Twelfth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor, Yasmin Khan, Sarah Jane Smith, Bill Potts, Martha Jones, Amy Pond (Doctor Who), Donna Noble
Additional Tags: Humor, Case Fic, Canon Compliant, four times fic, Companions helping other companions, Fandom Trumps Hate 2021

On SqWA / Tumblr.

Chapter summary:

2. Bill and Martha meet when the (Twelfth) Doctor travels to assist Martha with a mystery.
Bill and the Doctor go to investigate a call for help from Martha. Set towards the beginning of season 10 for Bill and the Doctor and post-season 4 for Martha.

Notes:

This is technically canon compliant, in the way that most Doctor Who fic is canon compliant if you squint.
It is implied that Yaz is romantically interested in the Doctor but it's unclear if this is reciprocated.

 

Suspected alien invasion. London, May 23^rd, 2010. Martha.

Bill scans the words on the screen with wide eyes, then turns to face the Doctor. "Come on!" she says. "We've got to go and check it out."

"We've got to do nothing," he argues. "You have got to stay here and work on your essay. I have got to go see what's going on." God, he's irritating.

"Nope," Bill says, shaking her head. "My essay is nowhere near as important as saving the world."

"We won't be saving the world, Bill!" The Doctor frowns. "I'm sure Martha and I will clear it up just fine." 

"Who's this 'Martha' then? I'm coming with you," Bill says. She strides over to the TARDIS and lays a hand on her door. For a split-second, Bill wonders if she'll side with the Doctor, but then… the door swings open. "See? Even the TARDIS agrees!"

"Alright," the Doctor grumbles. "But this is the last time, I swear…."

---

The Doctor uses one of the TARDIS's myriad powers to scan the note and jump right to where it came from. Upon landing, Bill immediately swings open the front door and steps out. The Doctor raises a hand in protest at her quick action, then sighs.

The door opens on a woman sitting at a desk, finger over the 'send' button. She jumps a mile as Bill steps out.

"Bloody hell, that was quick." She turns around, holding a hand out to Bill. "Martha Jones," she says.

"Bill," Bill says, shaking the proffered hand.

"Hello," the Doctor says, emerging from the TARDIS, awkward as ever. Martha grins at him, then hugs him.

"You've got to see this, Doctor," she tells him, ushering them both into the next room. Another man sits on the couch, tapping away furiously on a laptop.

"Rickey?"

"The Doctor? Oh, no…" The man – Rickey, Bill assumes – waves a hand half-heartedly, then puts the laptop aside.

Bill raises an eyebrow at Martha, who just grimaces and shakes her head.

"You know it's Mickey, Doctor," Martha intervenes when neither man says anything.

"Hello, Mickey," the Doctor says, eyebrows drawn together in a frown.

"Oh, god, and now he's Scottish, too!" Mickey groans.

"Oh, get over yourselves," Martha scolds them. "We have work to do."

Mickey (disgruntledly, Bill thinks) opens a few video files and shows them to the Doctor. Bill cranes her neck trying to see, but it's bloody crowded 'round the laptop like that. She can make out CCTV footage of items on shop shelves disappearing with no apparent cause – just there, and then not. There doesn't seem to be any particular pattern to what the things are – there's footage of a lingerie store, a bookshop, a supermarket.

The Doctor taps the screen once, lips pursed. Mickey bats his hand away, looking affronted. "And you're sure this is real, not some glitch on the tapes?" he asks.

"There's no way to be one hundred per cent sure, but there's no obvious evidence of tampering, and this is private CCTV footage from completely random stores. No reason for anyone to tamper with all of it."

"Unless they were stealing from all of the stores," Bill points out, then remembers she should probably stay quiet, in case the Doctor whips her back to 2019.

Martha nods. "No, I thought about that, but there's just no other evidence to suggest it. It's completely random. Sneakers in ten different sizes, whole frozen chickens, schoolbooks for all kinds of grades. Lots of it with no resale value, some perishables…."

The Doctor strokes his hand along his chin. "This definitely calls for an investigation. I'll need some specialist tools… things you can't get on Earth…."

With that cryptic pronouncement, he returns to the TARDIS, leaving Bill with a silent Martha and Mickey.

"Nice… alliterative names you've got," Bill says, then grimaces. Sometimes she really does just say the first thing that pops into her head.

Martha snorts. Mickey looks unimpressed. "Not the first time I've heard that," Martha says. "How did you end up with the Doctor, Bill?"

"Oh, uh… he started tutoring me. He's a professor at St. Luke's University."

Martha lets out a startled laugh. "Him? He's a professor? I bet he loves that. He so looks the part now too."

Bill shrugs in agreement. "How do you know him?"

"I was treating him in a hospital, and we got teleported to the moon. The whole hospital, can you believe?"

"Yea-ah, that sounds like the Doctor…." Bill agrees.

---

By the time the TARDIS whoosh-whooshes back in place, Bill's entirely at home, slouched next to Mickey on the couch, a cup of tea in one hand and a Hobnob in the other.

"…And then he actually made me get a job in a shop, in 1969, for months! He said he 'couldn't work' for some 'timey-wimey' reason." Martha punctuates this with air quotes and an eye-roll. "He was very different back then – all hair gel and skinny suit. I've got a photo here somewhere…."

"I am absolutely certain that's not necessary, Martha." The Doctor steps out of the TARDIS with a handful of cables dangling from his left hand. "While you've all been here, chatting," he rolls the word disdainfully, "I've figured it all out."

"Nah…" Mickey says incredulously, gesturing with the Hobnob in his hand.

"Wouldn't put it past him," Bill points out, getting to her feet.

"Well, come on, then!" He ushers the three of them towards the TARDIS with one hand. "I've got bigger, better mysteries to solve today."

Bill looks at Martha. "Was he always this bossy?"

"Yep. And bloody useless to boot," Martha says cheerfully.

"Hey!" The Doctor protests. Bill and Martha grin at one another.

 

Full work; chapter 3.