![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Adventures in Time----complete for now.....
Title: Adventures in Time
Disclaimer: Nope don’t own them..the BBC and Rob Tapert do. I’m just taking them on a spin through time!
Fandom: Doctor Who/XWP
Pairing: Jan/Mel-established pair
Rated: G
Spoilers: Just might be, this is a TIMELORD I’m playing with.
Summary: Janice and Melinda meet an interesting man..hijinks ensue!
Archiveing:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ralst has permission to take story for P&P
Authors note:I would like to thankmerfilly for the beta on this story,thank you so much for fixing my boo boos! The story is far from finished but I believe I have met the requirments for the challenge I entered. but never fear it will continue probably later than sooner or depending on feedback...we'll see. Enjoy!
**********************************************************
Deep from within the ancient tomb a loud grinding noise was heard.
Melinda Pappas looked up from the notes she had been writing, “Janice…Jan?!”
Janice Covington turned from the stele she had just finished uncovering, “What Mel?” she said as she stood, dusting herself off.
“Did you hear that noise?” Melinda asked as she pushed her glasses back up on her nose.
“Nope, what was it?” Janice asked.
“Sounded like a grinding noise; are we the only ones in here?” she asked looking around wide-eyed.
“I sent all the workers home for the day, so yep; we should be the only ones here.” Picking up her lantern, Janice started towards the corridor leading to the burial chamber. “If one of those guys came in here to steal something I’m going to shoot him myself!” she swore. Turning to Melinda, “Well, are you coming?”
Melinda took a moment and then just sighed,” Yes, give me a minute to put away my notes.”
Janice stood waiting with a hand on her hip, tapping her foot, “Come on Mel.” she said impatiently, “Where’s your sense of adventure?”
Picking up her lantern, Mel walked up to her. “It’s right there with that sense of danger that tends to follow you,” she quipped.
“Aw, ya know you love it too, Mel,” Janice said with a grin, as she turned to walk into the darkness. Melinda just shook her head and followed after her partner.
*************************************
The two women traveled down the corridor; every now and then, Janice would have to go back to drag Melinda away from some hieroglyphs.
“Plenty of time to do that later, Mel.”
Pushing her glasses up again, Melinda just sighed and continued following Janice into the burial chamber. Once there, they realized something was amiss.
“Janice, that was not here earlier.” Mel remarked. ‘That’ was a large, blue, boxlike object with the words POLICE Public Call BOX written across the top, resting next to the sarcophagus they were planning to excavate.
Janice raised her lantern higher and walked toward it. “No, it wasn’t.” Walking around the box Janice could not figure out where it had come from or how it had gotten into the burial chamber.
Melinda had, in the meantime, walked up to the front and was peering at some writing,” It says here it’s a police call box”.
“I think I figured that out, Mel. Last time I saw one of these was in London; how did it get to here, a tomb in Egypt?”
Just then, Mel stumbled back, almost falling down. “Jan! I heard voices coming from inside!”
Janice ran around to her, turning to face the call box as she drew her revolver. “Stay behind me, Mel,” she hissed.
The voices were becoming louder and soon the sound of a door opening was heard.
“I’m telling you, Leela, I’m going to introduce you to the most formidable warrior of this time.”
A laugh was heard. “Warrior? Doctor, you know no warriors.”
Two figures emerged from the call box, the first being a tall man with a mop of brown curly hair and a ridiculously long scarf wrapped around his neck. He was followed by a young woman dressed in leather and skins, much like the amazons had worn.
“I told you I know many warriors” ….the conversation pattered out when he realized they were not alone.
The couple now stood facing the two women. “Xena? Gabrielle?” he asked.
Janice looked over at Mel then back to the man. “No, I’m Janice, and that is Melinda. Just who the hell are you, and what are you doing in a call box in my tomb?!
The man just rubbed his face and groaned. “I thought I had fixed that circuit.”
**************************************************************
Janice asked again, “Who are you? She waved her revolver at the man. “Don’t make me shoot you.”
“Jan! Put that thing away! He might just give you an answer if you did,” Melinda hissed from behind Janice.
“She is absolutely correct you know,” the curly-haired man remarked. “Waving weapons around never solves the problem, it only creates one.” This part of the remark was directed to the young woman at his side.
She just hung her head low and shifted around some sand with her foot. “Yes, Doctor,” she mumbled as she brought her hand around from behind her back. She then handed the knife she had been hiding to the man.
“I told you no more knives, Leela,” he said, shaking his head.
“I am sorry,” she mumbled again.
“Hello!” Janice yelled. She placed her revolver back in its holster. ”See, no more weapons. Everybody happy now?” This remark was directed towards Melinda, who just nodded and then had to push up her glasses once more.
“You really should get some new specs, Mel,” Janice quipped.
Melinda just ignored her, focusing her attention back to the couple before them. “Sir, did I hear your friend, Leela, right?” who nodded yes, “call you doctor? Are you a doctor?”
The man gave Melinda a toothy smile. “I’m a doctor of many things, but not one thing in particular.” Reaching a hand forward to Melinda, “You may still address me as Doctor, though; everyone does.” he stated as Melinda shook the hand given to her. “And this is my traveling companion, Leela, but we’ve already established that.”
Still shaking his hand, Melinda replied “My name is Melinda Pappas and this is my partner Janice Covington, we’re in the process of excavating this tomb.”
While all this was taking place, Janice was just standing with her arms crossed, shooting daggers with her eyes towards Melinda. “Fine; you’re Doctor and that’s Leela; that still doesn’t answer my question of how did you and that,” she pointed to the call box, “get in this tomb. We’ve been working at the entrance tunnel all day!” she growled out.
“Well“, the Doctor answered. “You see; that might take a bit of explaining.”
“Explain away, I’m listening,” Janice said, waving her hand in the air for him to continue.
“Actually it might be better to show you something and then explain,” the Doctor said, rubbing his finger along the side of his nose. “If you ladies would follow me.” He turned to walk back to the call box, still talking, “This is the TARDIS, would you care for a tour?” While this was being said, he had opened the door and pointed to the inside.
“But sir,” Melinda began. “That call box isn’t big enough for all of us to fit into.”
Just then, Leela spoke up. “The TARDIS is not what it seems. You would be surprised.”
She walked past the Doctor and into the blue box. The Doctor followed her in, poking his head back out, “Well, ladies, are you coming in or not?”
Melinda just stood there staring at him, and then she turned to Janice. “Well, what do you want to do?”
Janice was still standing with arms crossed and her head tilted to one side.
“Oh my; I know that look.” Melinda groaned.
“What?! Wasn’t I just asking you earlier where your sense of adventure was Mel, and besides, if it answers my question I’m all for it. What could it hurt?” Janice moved towards the TARDIS, stepping into the doorway she turned to Melinda, “Come on, scaredy cat.”
Melinda stood there for a moment, taking a deep breath; she exhaled and said to herself, “Oh my; here we go again.”
Just as she reached the doorway, Janice yelled, “Mel! Hurry up; you have to see this! Melinda took another deep breath and stepped into the TARDIS.
************************************************************************
Stepping into the dark doorway, Melinda felt a sense of deja vu for a moment, shaking it off she continued into the TARDIS.
“Jan? Where are you?” she called out.
Suddenly Janice appeared before her. “Mel! You won’t believe this! Come on!” Janice grabbed hold of Melinda’s arm, dragging her through the doorway.
“Oh….my?!” came the startled exclamation from Melinda. She looked around the spacious room with wide eyes. “Th-thi,” she stuttered, “this is not possible.” The statement finally came out.
She looked at Janice but all she was doing was standing there with a huge grin on her face.
“Ladies, welcome to my home.” This came from the Doctor, who was standing next to an odd shaped console. “Now that you have seen, let me explain. The term TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space,” he began, and then he noticed Melinda’s confused expression. “In layman’s terms, it means it’s bigger on the inside than on the outside.”
At this remark, Leela let out a laugh, “Doctor, you have explained this same thing to me many times; I believe the ladies would understand the more,” she paused for a moment trying to think of the word. “Technical,” she grinned at remembering the term, “words you use.”
“Well…yes they probably would, but do we really want to spend all day bantering about dimensional pockets, time circuits, and whatnot,” he said, waving his hand towards Janice and Melinda.
The two women in question just looked at the Doctor with stunned expressions.
“Time circuits? Melinda squeaked out.
“Dimensional pockets?” The almost same sounding remark came from Janice.
“Wait… did he say time circuits?” Janice looked at Mel, “He called us Xena and Gabrielle out in the tomb, didn’t he?”
“Yes… he did,” Melinda answered.
Walking up to him and getting right in the Doctors’ face, Janice looked him straight in the eyes as best she could, there was a bit of a height difference after all, “What do you know about Xena and Gabrielle?” She growled out.
“I know quite a few things actually,” he smiled, “Why? What do you know about them?”
Melinda in the meantime had begun to pace back and forth, muttering to herself and toying with her glasses, pulling them off then putting them back on repeatedly.
Leela walked over to her,” Are you alright, Melinda?” she asked, looking back towards the Doctor and Janice.
Janice whipped around; ignoring the Doctor, she rushed back to Melinda’s side.
“Mel? Mel?!” When that failed to get Melinda’s attention, she grabbed the woman in a hug, stopping her pacing. Looking up into her partner’s eyes Janice said softly, “Mel, honey what’s wrong? Why are so upset all of a sudden?”
Melinda stopped her muttering and stood for a moment in Janice’s arms; taking a deep breath, she said, “Jan, I’ve been here before.”
Looking confused, Janice asked “What? How?”
***************************************************************
Melinda took a deep breath then let it out and replied “Well not exactly me, more like Xena has been here before. I can just feel that she has. It’s a vague sense of déjà vu; I felt it when I first stepped through the doorway.” Melinda let her forehead rest on her partners’ shoulder and groaned, “I’m so confused.”
While this was happening, Leela had returned to the Doctors side. “Doctor? What is wrong?” she asked him.
“Nothing is wrong, Leela; in fact it’s what is right that’s happening.” She just gave him a look of confusion.
“All in good time young lady; all in good time,” he said with a mischievous grin.
Leela just sighed and turned to watch the two women as they talked.
The Doctor leaned against the console as he watched the interaction between the two.
Thinking to himself, ‘It’s happened again. Their souls have been reborn, but with a slight twist it seems. Melinda, the scholar, awkward, and timid as a mouse, so unlike the soul she possesses. And Janice, he grinned at the little spitfire, the strong one, the protector of her soul mate. How so unlike but like the soul she carried. I wonder if they really understand the depth of those two souls.’ Shaking himself from his thoughts, he asked Leela if she would fetch some refreshments for them.
“Of course, Doctor; would the tea you showed me how to prepare be alright?” she asked.
He just nodded. She was happy to do something other than watch the two women as they now appeared to be sharing something personal. On her world, it was considered rude to observe such personal moments between mates and in her eyes these two were such a pair. ‘Was it not obvious?’ she thought to herself. She turned away and went through the only other door in the control room.
******************************************************************
Across the room from the Doctor and Leela, Janice had succeeded in calming Melinda down.
“Hey,” she said, cupping her hands around Mel’s face. “Look at me, Mel.”
Melinda brought her eyes up until blue met green and let a small smile appear on her face.
Janice pulled her closer and said, “We will figure this out together, ok? I won’t let anything bad happen to you, or me for that matter; believe me. Ok?” She ended that statement with a light kiss to Mel’s lips. Leaning back, she saw the blush that always appeared pop up.
Clearing her throat, Melinda said softly, “Thank you, what would I ever do without you in my life?”
Engulfing Melinda in a tight hug, Janice whispered in her ear, “Be some old maid in a huge mansion, surrounded by old books and cats, instead of living a life of adventure?” That earned Janice a loud laugh and a slap on the arm, “You little imp, you!” Melinda said, still laughing as she returned the hug. Just then the sound of someone clearing their throat was heard. Pulling apart, the two turned to the source of the sound.
Melinda lowered her head blushing; she had forgotten in her distress, that they weren’t
alone.
Janice on the other hand just glared at the Doctor. “Do you have a problem?”
“No… no problem at all, Janice. It’s beautiful to see two souls that have found each other again.” the Doctor answered.
“Souls? What do you know about our souls?” Melinda suddenly found herself asking.
“Patience, young lady; patience,” he said as he walked to the other door in the room. “I shall be right back with some seats for us. I think we need to be comfortable before we approach that subject,” he said as he disappeared out the door, only to appear right away carrying some stacked chairs and dragging a table he had tied his scarf to.
“Now make yourselves comfortable and as soon as Leela comes back with our tea, I shall attempt to answer any questions you may have about Xena, Gabrielle, and souls.” Sitting in one of the chairs, he just smiled his broad smile and twiddled his thumbs.
**********************************************************************
Taking their seats at the table, Janice and Melinda watched as the Doctor continued to twiddle his thumbs. Under their eyes, he proceeded to pull loose the end of the scarf he had used to pull the table with and peered at it intently.
“Tsk, tsk…It appears the end is unraveling, poor thing; we’ve had some fun times together.” Glancing over at the two women, he asked, “Either of you wouldn’t know how to knit by any chance, would you?”
The two women just stared at him. Janice looked at Melinda and made a looping motion next to her head.
Melinda gave her a stern look and cleared her throat. “I might be able to fix it for you, Doctor.”
Janice reached under the table and grabbed Melinda’s leg; she hissed, “What are you doing? Don’t encourage him!”
Melinda slapped her hand away and ignored the comment. “My great aunt Edna taught me to knit when I was little. I’d be happy to repair it for you, Doctor.”
“Excellent, my dear Melinda; I would hate to have to retire it; Nostradomus made it for me you know; witty little knitter he was… writing prophecies, now that was another matter.” He unraveled the scarf from around his neck and handed it to Melinda.
Just then, Leela reappeared in the doorway pushing a tea trolley. “Here are the refreshments you asked for, Doctor.” She pushed the trolley up next to the table and began transferring items to the table.
“Good show, Leela,” remarked the Doctor. “You even found the biscuits; good show indeed.”
“Let me help you with that, Leela,” Melinda said, standing to help.
“Alright, Doctor.” Janice spoke up once Melinda and Leela had finished setting up the tea. “Would you please tell us what and how you know of Xena and Gabrielle.”
Pouring his tea and adding three lumps of sugar, the Doctor then took two biscuits from the tray. He leaned back in his chair as he took a bite of biscuit, then a sip of tea before replying to Janice’s request.
“Well, as to the how I know of Xena; it’s quite easy. I’ve met her,” he stated with a grin.
Janice proceeded to spray the tea she had just taken a sip of all over her corner of the table. “What?! How?!” she managed to choke out.
“That is easy to explain,” Leela answered her. “The doctor is a Timelord; he travels through time,” she said with a grin, happy to help in the conversation.
That remarked earned another spit take; this time a double one as both Janice and Melinda lost their tea.
“Excuse me, did you just say travels through time?” Melinda said, recovering first. “That isn’t possible,” she said as she gave the Doctor a look of confusion.
“Yea…it’s not possible. You can’t do that,” came from Janice as she wiped up more tea from the table.
“Actually, ladies; it is possible, but I won’t bore you with the intricacies of inter- dimensional time travel. It’s rather long winded dribble drabble about things you have no inkling of, so I’ll just skip it. But Leela is correct; we are time travelers,” the Doctor said as he smiled broadly.
Janice glanced at Melinda who just shrugged her shoulders and gave Janice a look that said ‘as if we’ve seen and heard stranger’.
Janice returned her gaze to the Doctor. “Ok…say we believe you really can travel through time…”
Melinda gave her leg a kick. “Now who’s encouraging him?” she muttered.
That earned her a glare from Janice and a return kick. “As I was saying…how did you meet Xena and Gabrielle?” she finished.
“Well…I really only met Xena, not Gabrielle. It seems there had been some sort of accident. Something involving a lava pit or something or other,” he stated, taking another bite and a sip.
Janice turned to Melinda. “Mel, didn’t you just finish translating a scroll about that?”
Melinda put down her tea cup; pushing her glasses up, she replied, “Why yes…I do believe the scroll I finished last week spoke of Gabrielle sacrificing herself so Xena wouldn’t be killed. But the details in the section of scroll we have are rather vague and there was a section missing, so the exact reasons are unknown to me.”
“Doctor, do you know what happened?” Melinda asked.
The Doctor sat quietly for a moment as if contemplating his thoughts. “I could tell you all about it, but I’m afraid the details are a tad bit fuzzy. Xena never fully explained what had happened; it seems even she was at a loss for explanations at the time.”
“That still doesn’t explain how you met Xena,” Janice spoke up again.
The Doctor took a deep breath and let it out rather loudly, as if to mean he would really rather not talk about it but after a moment he began to speak.
********************************************************************
“After a small bit of unpleasantness on Galifrey, my home world, involving some corrupt Timelords, I found myself in need of some more pleasant surroundings. So I decided to take a small trip back to ancient Earth. I had always wanted to visit Greece and found it was the right time to do so. Now mind you, I had been to Rome, but that ended up rather badly…Nero and a huge fire, not a fun time.”
Janice looked as if she wanted to speak up at that comment but Melinda quickly ended the thought with a swift kick under the table. Janice just glared at her but kept quiet.
The Doctor continued. “As I was by myself at the time, I decided to have a little fishing trip. I found this lovely lake nestled in the mountains near Amphipolis…”
Janice couldn’t contain it any longer. “Would you hurry up and get to the point!”
“Jan! Don’t interrupt him! I do believe he was about to get to what you wanted to know.” Melinda said to her antsy partner.
“Thank you, Melinda; as I was about to say…” the Doctor said. “I had found this little lake and had set up a nice camp. I had just finished when I heard the sound of hoof beats approaching. I quickly stepped behind some trees. A large palomino horse came thundering into the clearing, and on this horse was a beautiful woman dressed in leather and brass armor.”
He paused for a moment to take a drink of tea after which he continued. “She dismounted and proceeded to explore my camp setup; I decided to make my presence known and received a sword at my throat. After explaining I was unarmed and meant her no harm, she lowered the sword and sat down on a log near my fire pit. I could tell she was distressed about something, so I made an offer of food and a place to rest. She gladly accepted.”
“Well…what happened next?” Janice blurted out.
“Yes, Doctor; what happened?” Melinda echoed.
Even Leela spoke up. “Please continue, Doctor.”
The Doctor looked at the women and took a deep breath, “As much as I love to talk.” He grinned. “The story is very long, and I think it would work out better just to show you what happened next.”
“Show us?” The three women replied at the same time.
“Yes, show you. I had planned on introducing Leela to Xena, so what better time to do it as when I’m about to help her. I can take us to right before we met and carry on from there. Although you two ladies…” He looked at Janice and Melinda. “You might have to hide so as not to explain a few things; mainly why you are the spitting image of her and Gabrielle.”
Janice looked to Melinda for her reaction. Melinda appeared to be deep in thought, her head bent down, and she had even begun to chew her bottom lip, something she only did when upset.
Reaching over, Janice laid a hand on Melinda’s arm. “Mel?” When that didn’t get a reaction, she took Melinda’s hand in hers, “Mel? Honey, what do you want to do? Do you want to go see what happened?”
Melinda looked up at Janice, “Do you really believe he can take us to see her, Jan? Because if you do, then so do I. It would be amazing to meet her, don’t you think?”
Before she could continue, Janice stopped her; realizing her beautiful but brainy partner was one step away from full babble mode, she said, “Yes, Mel, I believe him, and yes, it would be wonderful to see her, even better to meet her if we could.” This was said with a glance towards the Doctor.
“Hmmm…we shall have to see about the meeting part, but I will at least take you to observe,” he said.
Both women smiled and nodded. Melinda answered him, “Yes, Doctor; we would like to go with you.”
*******************************************************************
“Very well then; if you ladies would help Leela clear these things away, I shall ready the TARDIS for our little show and tell trip,” he said, standing up and moving towards the center console.
The three women quickly cleared the table and moved it and the chairs back to where they had come from. Janice and Melinda were standing in the hallway, staring in disbelief at the long corridor.
Seeing this, Leela remarked, “If there is sufficient time, I will gladly show you the rest of the TARDIS, or at least what I have discovered; it is very large.”
“Thank you, Leela; that would be wonderful,” Melinda said.
“Come on, Mel; let’s get back to the Doctor,” Janice said excitedly as she grabbed Melinda’s hand and pulled her towards the doorway.
“Ok, Jan, but one thing first.” She pulled Janice back to her and gave her a soft kiss; pulling back after the kiss, Melinda said, “You have to promise me to stay out of trouble.”
Janice started to protest but was silenced with another kiss.
“Please…” Melinda began, “Just try; I know you breathe trouble like air but try… for me. Just listen to what the Doctor tells you to do, alright?”
Janice scuffed one boot on the other, looking bashful. “Ok, Mel; I’ll listen, and I’ll try to not get into trouble. Now let’s hurry back.”
The two women returned to the console room were the Doctor and Leela were waiting for them.
“Is everything alright, ladies?” the Doctor asked.
“Everything is fine, Doctor; we’re ready whenever you are,” Janice answered.
The Doctor looked at the two of them and said,” Very well ladies…” He turned a few dials and pulled a lever, a grinding noise began and the center of the console started to pulse with light as it began to move up and down.
“Next stop a lovely lake near Amphipolis,” he said with a smile.
To be continued……………at a later time.........
Disclaimer: Nope don’t own them..the BBC and Rob Tapert do. I’m just taking them on a spin through time!
Fandom: Doctor Who/XWP
Pairing: Jan/Mel-established pair
Rated: G
Spoilers: Just might be, this is a TIMELORD I’m playing with.
Summary: Janice and Melinda meet an interesting man..hijinks ensue!
Archiveing:
ralst has permission to take story for P&PAuthors note:I would like to thank
merfilly for the beta on this story,thank you so much for fixing my boo boos! The story is far from finished but I believe I have met the requirments for the challenge I entered. but never fear it will continue probably later than sooner or depending on feedback...we'll see. Enjoy! **********************************************************
Deep from within the ancient tomb a loud grinding noise was heard.
Melinda Pappas looked up from the notes she had been writing, “Janice…Jan?!”
Janice Covington turned from the stele she had just finished uncovering, “What Mel?” she said as she stood, dusting herself off.
“Did you hear that noise?” Melinda asked as she pushed her glasses back up on her nose.
“Nope, what was it?” Janice asked.
“Sounded like a grinding noise; are we the only ones in here?” she asked looking around wide-eyed.
“I sent all the workers home for the day, so yep; we should be the only ones here.” Picking up her lantern, Janice started towards the corridor leading to the burial chamber. “If one of those guys came in here to steal something I’m going to shoot him myself!” she swore. Turning to Melinda, “Well, are you coming?”
Melinda took a moment and then just sighed,” Yes, give me a minute to put away my notes.”
Janice stood waiting with a hand on her hip, tapping her foot, “Come on Mel.” she said impatiently, “Where’s your sense of adventure?”
Picking up her lantern, Mel walked up to her. “It’s right there with that sense of danger that tends to follow you,” she quipped.
“Aw, ya know you love it too, Mel,” Janice said with a grin, as she turned to walk into the darkness. Melinda just shook her head and followed after her partner.
*************************************
The two women traveled down the corridor; every now and then, Janice would have to go back to drag Melinda away from some hieroglyphs.
“Plenty of time to do that later, Mel.”
Pushing her glasses up again, Melinda just sighed and continued following Janice into the burial chamber. Once there, they realized something was amiss.
“Janice, that was not here earlier.” Mel remarked. ‘That’ was a large, blue, boxlike object with the words POLICE Public Call BOX written across the top, resting next to the sarcophagus they were planning to excavate.
Janice raised her lantern higher and walked toward it. “No, it wasn’t.” Walking around the box Janice could not figure out where it had come from or how it had gotten into the burial chamber.
Melinda had, in the meantime, walked up to the front and was peering at some writing,” It says here it’s a police call box”.
“I think I figured that out, Mel. Last time I saw one of these was in London; how did it get to here, a tomb in Egypt?”
Just then, Mel stumbled back, almost falling down. “Jan! I heard voices coming from inside!”
Janice ran around to her, turning to face the call box as she drew her revolver. “Stay behind me, Mel,” she hissed.
The voices were becoming louder and soon the sound of a door opening was heard.
“I’m telling you, Leela, I’m going to introduce you to the most formidable warrior of this time.”
A laugh was heard. “Warrior? Doctor, you know no warriors.”
Two figures emerged from the call box, the first being a tall man with a mop of brown curly hair and a ridiculously long scarf wrapped around his neck. He was followed by a young woman dressed in leather and skins, much like the amazons had worn.
“I told you I know many warriors” ….the conversation pattered out when he realized they were not alone.
The couple now stood facing the two women. “Xena? Gabrielle?” he asked.
Janice looked over at Mel then back to the man. “No, I’m Janice, and that is Melinda. Just who the hell are you, and what are you doing in a call box in my tomb?!
The man just rubbed his face and groaned. “I thought I had fixed that circuit.”
**************************************************************
Janice asked again, “Who are you? She waved her revolver at the man. “Don’t make me shoot you.”
“Jan! Put that thing away! He might just give you an answer if you did,” Melinda hissed from behind Janice.
“She is absolutely correct you know,” the curly-haired man remarked. “Waving weapons around never solves the problem, it only creates one.” This part of the remark was directed to the young woman at his side.
She just hung her head low and shifted around some sand with her foot. “Yes, Doctor,” she mumbled as she brought her hand around from behind her back. She then handed the knife she had been hiding to the man.
“I told you no more knives, Leela,” he said, shaking his head.
“I am sorry,” she mumbled again.
“Hello!” Janice yelled. She placed her revolver back in its holster. ”See, no more weapons. Everybody happy now?” This remark was directed towards Melinda, who just nodded and then had to push up her glasses once more.
“You really should get some new specs, Mel,” Janice quipped.
Melinda just ignored her, focusing her attention back to the couple before them. “Sir, did I hear your friend, Leela, right?” who nodded yes, “call you doctor? Are you a doctor?”
The man gave Melinda a toothy smile. “I’m a doctor of many things, but not one thing in particular.” Reaching a hand forward to Melinda, “You may still address me as Doctor, though; everyone does.” he stated as Melinda shook the hand given to her. “And this is my traveling companion, Leela, but we’ve already established that.”
Still shaking his hand, Melinda replied “My name is Melinda Pappas and this is my partner Janice Covington, we’re in the process of excavating this tomb.”
While all this was taking place, Janice was just standing with her arms crossed, shooting daggers with her eyes towards Melinda. “Fine; you’re Doctor and that’s Leela; that still doesn’t answer my question of how did you and that,” she pointed to the call box, “get in this tomb. We’ve been working at the entrance tunnel all day!” she growled out.
“Well“, the Doctor answered. “You see; that might take a bit of explaining.”
“Explain away, I’m listening,” Janice said, waving her hand in the air for him to continue.
“Actually it might be better to show you something and then explain,” the Doctor said, rubbing his finger along the side of his nose. “If you ladies would follow me.” He turned to walk back to the call box, still talking, “This is the TARDIS, would you care for a tour?” While this was being said, he had opened the door and pointed to the inside.
“But sir,” Melinda began. “That call box isn’t big enough for all of us to fit into.”
Just then, Leela spoke up. “The TARDIS is not what it seems. You would be surprised.”
She walked past the Doctor and into the blue box. The Doctor followed her in, poking his head back out, “Well, ladies, are you coming in or not?”
Melinda just stood there staring at him, and then she turned to Janice. “Well, what do you want to do?”
Janice was still standing with arms crossed and her head tilted to one side.
“Oh my; I know that look.” Melinda groaned.
“What?! Wasn’t I just asking you earlier where your sense of adventure was Mel, and besides, if it answers my question I’m all for it. What could it hurt?” Janice moved towards the TARDIS, stepping into the doorway she turned to Melinda, “Come on, scaredy cat.”
Melinda stood there for a moment, taking a deep breath; she exhaled and said to herself, “Oh my; here we go again.”
Just as she reached the doorway, Janice yelled, “Mel! Hurry up; you have to see this! Melinda took another deep breath and stepped into the TARDIS.
************************************************************************
Stepping into the dark doorway, Melinda felt a sense of deja vu for a moment, shaking it off she continued into the TARDIS.
“Jan? Where are you?” she called out.
Suddenly Janice appeared before her. “Mel! You won’t believe this! Come on!” Janice grabbed hold of Melinda’s arm, dragging her through the doorway.
“Oh….my?!” came the startled exclamation from Melinda. She looked around the spacious room with wide eyes. “Th-thi,” she stuttered, “this is not possible.” The statement finally came out.
She looked at Janice but all she was doing was standing there with a huge grin on her face.
“Ladies, welcome to my home.” This came from the Doctor, who was standing next to an odd shaped console. “Now that you have seen, let me explain. The term TARDIS stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space,” he began, and then he noticed Melinda’s confused expression. “In layman’s terms, it means it’s bigger on the inside than on the outside.”
At this remark, Leela let out a laugh, “Doctor, you have explained this same thing to me many times; I believe the ladies would understand the more,” she paused for a moment trying to think of the word. “Technical,” she grinned at remembering the term, “words you use.”
“Well…yes they probably would, but do we really want to spend all day bantering about dimensional pockets, time circuits, and whatnot,” he said, waving his hand towards Janice and Melinda.
The two women in question just looked at the Doctor with stunned expressions.
“Time circuits? Melinda squeaked out.
“Dimensional pockets?” The almost same sounding remark came from Janice.
“Wait… did he say time circuits?” Janice looked at Mel, “He called us Xena and Gabrielle out in the tomb, didn’t he?”
“Yes… he did,” Melinda answered.
Walking up to him and getting right in the Doctors’ face, Janice looked him straight in the eyes as best she could, there was a bit of a height difference after all, “What do you know about Xena and Gabrielle?” She growled out.
“I know quite a few things actually,” he smiled, “Why? What do you know about them?”
Melinda in the meantime had begun to pace back and forth, muttering to herself and toying with her glasses, pulling them off then putting them back on repeatedly.
Leela walked over to her,” Are you alright, Melinda?” she asked, looking back towards the Doctor and Janice.
Janice whipped around; ignoring the Doctor, she rushed back to Melinda’s side.
“Mel? Mel?!” When that failed to get Melinda’s attention, she grabbed the woman in a hug, stopping her pacing. Looking up into her partner’s eyes Janice said softly, “Mel, honey what’s wrong? Why are so upset all of a sudden?”
Melinda stopped her muttering and stood for a moment in Janice’s arms; taking a deep breath, she said, “Jan, I’ve been here before.”
Looking confused, Janice asked “What? How?”
***************************************************************
Melinda took a deep breath then let it out and replied “Well not exactly me, more like Xena has been here before. I can just feel that she has. It’s a vague sense of déjà vu; I felt it when I first stepped through the doorway.” Melinda let her forehead rest on her partners’ shoulder and groaned, “I’m so confused.”
While this was happening, Leela had returned to the Doctors side. “Doctor? What is wrong?” she asked him.
“Nothing is wrong, Leela; in fact it’s what is right that’s happening.” She just gave him a look of confusion.
“All in good time young lady; all in good time,” he said with a mischievous grin.
Leela just sighed and turned to watch the two women as they talked.
The Doctor leaned against the console as he watched the interaction between the two.
Thinking to himself, ‘It’s happened again. Their souls have been reborn, but with a slight twist it seems. Melinda, the scholar, awkward, and timid as a mouse, so unlike the soul she possesses. And Janice, he grinned at the little spitfire, the strong one, the protector of her soul mate. How so unlike but like the soul she carried. I wonder if they really understand the depth of those two souls.’ Shaking himself from his thoughts, he asked Leela if she would fetch some refreshments for them.
“Of course, Doctor; would the tea you showed me how to prepare be alright?” she asked.
He just nodded. She was happy to do something other than watch the two women as they now appeared to be sharing something personal. On her world, it was considered rude to observe such personal moments between mates and in her eyes these two were such a pair. ‘Was it not obvious?’ she thought to herself. She turned away and went through the only other door in the control room.
******************************************************************
Across the room from the Doctor and Leela, Janice had succeeded in calming Melinda down.
“Hey,” she said, cupping her hands around Mel’s face. “Look at me, Mel.”
Melinda brought her eyes up until blue met green and let a small smile appear on her face.
Janice pulled her closer and said, “We will figure this out together, ok? I won’t let anything bad happen to you, or me for that matter; believe me. Ok?” She ended that statement with a light kiss to Mel’s lips. Leaning back, she saw the blush that always appeared pop up.
Clearing her throat, Melinda said softly, “Thank you, what would I ever do without you in my life?”
Engulfing Melinda in a tight hug, Janice whispered in her ear, “Be some old maid in a huge mansion, surrounded by old books and cats, instead of living a life of adventure?” That earned Janice a loud laugh and a slap on the arm, “You little imp, you!” Melinda said, still laughing as she returned the hug. Just then the sound of someone clearing their throat was heard. Pulling apart, the two turned to the source of the sound.
Melinda lowered her head blushing; she had forgotten in her distress, that they weren’t
alone.
Janice on the other hand just glared at the Doctor. “Do you have a problem?”
“No… no problem at all, Janice. It’s beautiful to see two souls that have found each other again.” the Doctor answered.
“Souls? What do you know about our souls?” Melinda suddenly found herself asking.
“Patience, young lady; patience,” he said as he walked to the other door in the room. “I shall be right back with some seats for us. I think we need to be comfortable before we approach that subject,” he said as he disappeared out the door, only to appear right away carrying some stacked chairs and dragging a table he had tied his scarf to.
“Now make yourselves comfortable and as soon as Leela comes back with our tea, I shall attempt to answer any questions you may have about Xena, Gabrielle, and souls.” Sitting in one of the chairs, he just smiled his broad smile and twiddled his thumbs.
**********************************************************************
Taking their seats at the table, Janice and Melinda watched as the Doctor continued to twiddle his thumbs. Under their eyes, he proceeded to pull loose the end of the scarf he had used to pull the table with and peered at it intently.
“Tsk, tsk…It appears the end is unraveling, poor thing; we’ve had some fun times together.” Glancing over at the two women, he asked, “Either of you wouldn’t know how to knit by any chance, would you?”
The two women just stared at him. Janice looked at Melinda and made a looping motion next to her head.
Melinda gave her a stern look and cleared her throat. “I might be able to fix it for you, Doctor.”
Janice reached under the table and grabbed Melinda’s leg; she hissed, “What are you doing? Don’t encourage him!”
Melinda slapped her hand away and ignored the comment. “My great aunt Edna taught me to knit when I was little. I’d be happy to repair it for you, Doctor.”
“Excellent, my dear Melinda; I would hate to have to retire it; Nostradomus made it for me you know; witty little knitter he was… writing prophecies, now that was another matter.” He unraveled the scarf from around his neck and handed it to Melinda.
Just then, Leela reappeared in the doorway pushing a tea trolley. “Here are the refreshments you asked for, Doctor.” She pushed the trolley up next to the table and began transferring items to the table.
“Good show, Leela,” remarked the Doctor. “You even found the biscuits; good show indeed.”
“Let me help you with that, Leela,” Melinda said, standing to help.
“Alright, Doctor.” Janice spoke up once Melinda and Leela had finished setting up the tea. “Would you please tell us what and how you know of Xena and Gabrielle.”
Pouring his tea and adding three lumps of sugar, the Doctor then took two biscuits from the tray. He leaned back in his chair as he took a bite of biscuit, then a sip of tea before replying to Janice’s request.
“Well, as to the how I know of Xena; it’s quite easy. I’ve met her,” he stated with a grin.
Janice proceeded to spray the tea she had just taken a sip of all over her corner of the table. “What?! How?!” she managed to choke out.
“That is easy to explain,” Leela answered her. “The doctor is a Timelord; he travels through time,” she said with a grin, happy to help in the conversation.
That remarked earned another spit take; this time a double one as both Janice and Melinda lost their tea.
“Excuse me, did you just say travels through time?” Melinda said, recovering first. “That isn’t possible,” she said as she gave the Doctor a look of confusion.
“Yea…it’s not possible. You can’t do that,” came from Janice as she wiped up more tea from the table.
“Actually, ladies; it is possible, but I won’t bore you with the intricacies of inter- dimensional time travel. It’s rather long winded dribble drabble about things you have no inkling of, so I’ll just skip it. But Leela is correct; we are time travelers,” the Doctor said as he smiled broadly.
Janice glanced at Melinda who just shrugged her shoulders and gave Janice a look that said ‘as if we’ve seen and heard stranger’.
Janice returned her gaze to the Doctor. “Ok…say we believe you really can travel through time…”
Melinda gave her leg a kick. “Now who’s encouraging him?” she muttered.
That earned her a glare from Janice and a return kick. “As I was saying…how did you meet Xena and Gabrielle?” she finished.
“Well…I really only met Xena, not Gabrielle. It seems there had been some sort of accident. Something involving a lava pit or something or other,” he stated, taking another bite and a sip.
Janice turned to Melinda. “Mel, didn’t you just finish translating a scroll about that?”
Melinda put down her tea cup; pushing her glasses up, she replied, “Why yes…I do believe the scroll I finished last week spoke of Gabrielle sacrificing herself so Xena wouldn’t be killed. But the details in the section of scroll we have are rather vague and there was a section missing, so the exact reasons are unknown to me.”
“Doctor, do you know what happened?” Melinda asked.
The Doctor sat quietly for a moment as if contemplating his thoughts. “I could tell you all about it, but I’m afraid the details are a tad bit fuzzy. Xena never fully explained what had happened; it seems even she was at a loss for explanations at the time.”
“That still doesn’t explain how you met Xena,” Janice spoke up again.
The Doctor took a deep breath and let it out rather loudly, as if to mean he would really rather not talk about it but after a moment he began to speak.
********************************************************************
“After a small bit of unpleasantness on Galifrey, my home world, involving some corrupt Timelords, I found myself in need of some more pleasant surroundings. So I decided to take a small trip back to ancient Earth. I had always wanted to visit Greece and found it was the right time to do so. Now mind you, I had been to Rome, but that ended up rather badly…Nero and a huge fire, not a fun time.”
Janice looked as if she wanted to speak up at that comment but Melinda quickly ended the thought with a swift kick under the table. Janice just glared at her but kept quiet.
The Doctor continued. “As I was by myself at the time, I decided to have a little fishing trip. I found this lovely lake nestled in the mountains near Amphipolis…”
Janice couldn’t contain it any longer. “Would you hurry up and get to the point!”
“Jan! Don’t interrupt him! I do believe he was about to get to what you wanted to know.” Melinda said to her antsy partner.
“Thank you, Melinda; as I was about to say…” the Doctor said. “I had found this little lake and had set up a nice camp. I had just finished when I heard the sound of hoof beats approaching. I quickly stepped behind some trees. A large palomino horse came thundering into the clearing, and on this horse was a beautiful woman dressed in leather and brass armor.”
He paused for a moment to take a drink of tea after which he continued. “She dismounted and proceeded to explore my camp setup; I decided to make my presence known and received a sword at my throat. After explaining I was unarmed and meant her no harm, she lowered the sword and sat down on a log near my fire pit. I could tell she was distressed about something, so I made an offer of food and a place to rest. She gladly accepted.”
“Well…what happened next?” Janice blurted out.
“Yes, Doctor; what happened?” Melinda echoed.
Even Leela spoke up. “Please continue, Doctor.”
The Doctor looked at the women and took a deep breath, “As much as I love to talk.” He grinned. “The story is very long, and I think it would work out better just to show you what happened next.”
“Show us?” The three women replied at the same time.
“Yes, show you. I had planned on introducing Leela to Xena, so what better time to do it as when I’m about to help her. I can take us to right before we met and carry on from there. Although you two ladies…” He looked at Janice and Melinda. “You might have to hide so as not to explain a few things; mainly why you are the spitting image of her and Gabrielle.”
Janice looked to Melinda for her reaction. Melinda appeared to be deep in thought, her head bent down, and she had even begun to chew her bottom lip, something she only did when upset.
Reaching over, Janice laid a hand on Melinda’s arm. “Mel?” When that didn’t get a reaction, she took Melinda’s hand in hers, “Mel? Honey, what do you want to do? Do you want to go see what happened?”
Melinda looked up at Janice, “Do you really believe he can take us to see her, Jan? Because if you do, then so do I. It would be amazing to meet her, don’t you think?”
Before she could continue, Janice stopped her; realizing her beautiful but brainy partner was one step away from full babble mode, she said, “Yes, Mel, I believe him, and yes, it would be wonderful to see her, even better to meet her if we could.” This was said with a glance towards the Doctor.
“Hmmm…we shall have to see about the meeting part, but I will at least take you to observe,” he said.
Both women smiled and nodded. Melinda answered him, “Yes, Doctor; we would like to go with you.”
*******************************************************************
“Very well then; if you ladies would help Leela clear these things away, I shall ready the TARDIS for our little show and tell trip,” he said, standing up and moving towards the center console.
The three women quickly cleared the table and moved it and the chairs back to where they had come from. Janice and Melinda were standing in the hallway, staring in disbelief at the long corridor.
Seeing this, Leela remarked, “If there is sufficient time, I will gladly show you the rest of the TARDIS, or at least what I have discovered; it is very large.”
“Thank you, Leela; that would be wonderful,” Melinda said.
“Come on, Mel; let’s get back to the Doctor,” Janice said excitedly as she grabbed Melinda’s hand and pulled her towards the doorway.
“Ok, Jan, but one thing first.” She pulled Janice back to her and gave her a soft kiss; pulling back after the kiss, Melinda said, “You have to promise me to stay out of trouble.”
Janice started to protest but was silenced with another kiss.
“Please…” Melinda began, “Just try; I know you breathe trouble like air but try… for me. Just listen to what the Doctor tells you to do, alright?”
Janice scuffed one boot on the other, looking bashful. “Ok, Mel; I’ll listen, and I’ll try to not get into trouble. Now let’s hurry back.”
The two women returned to the console room were the Doctor and Leela were waiting for them.
“Is everything alright, ladies?” the Doctor asked.
“Everything is fine, Doctor; we’re ready whenever you are,” Janice answered.
The Doctor looked at the two of them and said,” Very well ladies…” He turned a few dials and pulled a lever, a grinding noise began and the center of the console started to pulse with light as it began to move up and down.
“Next stop a lovely lake near Amphipolis,” he said with a smile.
To be continued……………at a later time.........