Chapter Text
Jamie stretched out his arms as he left the TARDIS. The TARDIS had landed in a large field. And large meant large. There was nothing else in sight but bright green grass and blue skies. The suns shone brightly overhead, causing the young Scot to cover his eyes.
“Don’t s’pose you get much weather like this where you’re from eh?”
Jamie turned around, Ben was smirking at him, indicating that he was speaking in jest. Ben was wearing tinted spectacles and handed Jamie an identical pair.
“To help with the sun”, the young sailor explained. Jamie put on the spectacles and was taken aback by how much dimmer everything now looked. He was thankful he no longer had to squint however.
“So where’s the Doctor and Polly? He’s usually the first one out”, Jamie asked. Ben tutted slightly.
“Well the Duchess has gone to find the right outfit -- we don’t really get summers in London either -- and the Doctor has gone to find a suitable hat!”, Ben answered with mock indignation. He had known the Doctor, and Polly, longer than Jamie had and so seemed very unsurprised by the turn of events.
“Well I hope they aren’t too long, I want tae look around!”
The Doctor and Polly both seemed to be indecisive that particular day as Jamie and Ben walked around by the TARDIS for almost half an hour. Ben was just about to cave to his impatience and yell at them to hurry when Polly emerged from the TARDIS in a white dress with red spots adorned to it, along with matching slip on shoes. She was also wearing the tinted spectacles -- ‘sunglasses’ Ben had called them. The Doctor followed her out, wearing the same oversized frock coat as usual but with ‘sunglasses’ and a large straw hat -- the brim of which was so wide Jamie could barely see his face.
“We’re on the Eye of Orion! Splendid”, the Doctor exclaimed, clapping his hands together.
The three companions all glanced at eachother in confusion.
“Doctor, is there anything particularly special about the Eye of Orion?”, Polly asked. The Doctor clasped his hands together, almost looking like he had shrunk, and shook his head.
“Well, no. It’s just very relaxing”, he admitted. Polly and Ben smiled.
“Well ‘relaxing’ is exactly what we need right now! Better than Daleks or Cybermen any day!”, Ben said, Polly nodded enthusiastically.
“I couldn’t agree more, which is not something I usually say about something Ben said”, she said, elbowing him gently. He scoffed mockingly and elbowed her back. Jamie nodded but said little, not really having anything to add.
The four travellers walked across the fields for about an hour, although there was little to see -- just grass as far as the eye could see. Eventually the Doctor decided that they should all sit down to have a picnic, sending Ben and Jamie to the TARDIS to fetch some chairs and towels while he and Polly set up the food. Jamie questioned how the Doctor would have sufficient food inside his pockets, Ben shrugged and told him it would take half a day for him to even understand the basics. Jamie nodded and conceded that he was right and dropped it.
The foldable chairs were easy to find, being in the storage room which Jamie had been sure was not next to the console room but definitely was when he and Ben were searching for the chairs.
“Look, you just don’t question certain things mate”, Ben said to him.
The picnic was very nice -- thankfully the food was proper food and not the weird cubes that Jamie had sometimes eaten in the TARDIS. It was fairly basic fare, even by Jamie’s standards, although the bread was the softest bread he had ever eaten!
Jamie stared contentedly at his surroundings, the Doctor reading a book about The History of Interstellar Travel, ‘light reading’ he’d called it. Jamie was not especially interested in reading himself, since he could only read in Beurla -- the language of the Sassanach.
Ben and Polly had both dozed off at some point, Jamie wasn’t sure when. The Doctor stood up and tapped Jamie on the shoulder.
“I’m just going to go to the TARDIS to get another book”, he whispered into Jamie’s ear, “Do you need anything?”. Jamie shook his head. The Doctor nodded and scarpered off. Jamie couldn’t help but smile as the older man did little air kicks as he walked back to the TARDIS, the Doctor was like a child sometimes.
After a few moments Jamie noticed two figures running towards where the travellers had set up their picnic.
“I told you there were people here Steven!”, Jamie faintly heard a young woman exclaim.
As the female figure came closer into view, Jamie could see that she was more a girl than a woman, not looking any older than 16, with short black hair and wearing a bright blue dress with bright yellow tights and red boots. The man with her, and he definitely was a man, was tall with broad shoulders, wearing a black turtleneck jumper similar to the one Jamie himself was wearing -- although he was wearing a pair of trousers rather than a kilt. The man rolled his eyes at the girl.
“Yes, I can see them Dodo”, he said, his voice bearing more than a trace of irritation. The name seemed to prick Polly’s ears as she stirred.
“Dodo?”, she mumbled. She opened her eyes and jumped out of her seat.
“Dodo?! What are you doing here?!”, she called out, causing Ben to also wake up. The young girl looked at the tall blonde woman with confusion.
“How do you know me?”, Dodo asked. Ben rushed over to the girl.
“‘Ere! It’s us Dodo! Don’t you remember, back in London -- in 1966? We met at the Inferno!”, Ben exclaimed to the confused teenager. The young man placed his hands on her shoulders.
“Look, I don’t know who you are but you must have her confused for someone else! She doesn’t know you”, he said protectively. Jamie frowned, but said nothing. He didn’t know this ‘Dodo’ but maybe Ben and Polly had met her?
“Look mate”, Ben said to the much taller man, “We ‘ave met her before!”. He then turned to Dodo again, softening his expression, “Don’t you remember? You were with the Doctor and you were hypnotised by WOTAN? The Doctor sorted you out, like he always does”, he said. Dodo frowned and shook her head. Polly looked at Ben concernedly.
“Maybe the incident affected her memories?”, she asked the sailor. He nodded.
“It’s possible”, he said. Steven glared at the two.
“Look, how do you two know the Doctor?”, he asked. Ben and Polly’s eyes widened.
“Wait, you know the Doctor too?”, Polly asked. Steven nodded.
“Yes”, Steven answered tersely.
The man simply glowered at Ben and Polly while keeping his hands on his young friend’s shoulders. Jamie couldn’t really blame him, if two random people acted like they knew a young friend of his he’d be pretty angry and protective too.
The group stood in silence until Polly snapped her fingers.
“Wait”, she started, “What does the Doctor look like?”, she asked, looking at Steven. Dodo opened her mouth.
“Well he’s about average height for a man, he’s pretty old with long white hair and he dresses like he’s from the 1900s with a wicked cloak!”, she answered. Jamie frowned at the answer.
“But the Doctor dinnae look like that!”, he exclaimed. Polly nodded.
“Not now, no -- but he did when Ben and I met him”, she said. She gave Ben a knowing look, he looked at her in confusion before nodding in understanding.
“Ah, I get it -- this is before Dodo met us! Of course, we do travel in time and space!”, he said, placing a hand on his head. He then paused.
“But ‘ang on Duchess, if she’d met us now ‘ow come she didn’t recognise us when we met her in London?”.
“That’s a good question young man, and I have quite a few for you three in kind”.
Jamie instinctively took a step back as he saw the old man who had seemingly appeared from nowhere. His cloak wasn’t really wicked but it certainly was rather impressive in material design, being rather long and giving the man a dynamic looking pose. Jamie turned to his friends, both of whom looked like they had seen a ghost. Dodo smiled at the old man.
“There you are Doctor! You’ve been gone for ages, we were looking for you everywhere!”, she exclaimed. The old man nodded briefly to the girl.
“Yes, well I’m here now”, he said before turning to Jamie, Ben and Polly.
“Well don’t gawk at me like that! It’s most rude!”, the old man exclaimed. He then pointed his cane towards Jamie’s face. Jamie was almost sure he saw the old man smirk while he did so.
“Well young man, explain yourself and your friends! How do you know who we are?”, he asked. Jamie wringed his hands, something he had picked up from his Doctor.
“Well, I dinnae know who you or those two are”, he said, indicating to Dodo and Steven, “But Polly and Ben seemed tae have met ye in yer future and their past, I think?”, he explained, not quite understanding the implications himself.
The old man lowered his cane to the grass below.
“Yes, I gathered that part -- what I haven’t gathered is where I am?”, the old man said. Jamie frowned.
“But yer right there, where else would ye be?”, he asked. The man hrmph’d and clutched the edges of his cloak.
“Well Jamie, I would be right here”
Jamie turned to see his Doctor awkwardly holding a copy of War and Peace under his left arm. The dark haired man decided on placing it on one of the chairs before turning back to the others.
The two older men stared at eachother. They seemed to be roughly the same height and Jamie could see how his Doctor looked like a younger, messier version of the older man -- even though it appeared that his Doctor was in fact the older one.
“Goodness me! It appears I have shrunken into a clown! Couldn’t you at least have found some clothes that fit?”, the older but also younger Doctor asked the younger but also older Doctor, the disapproval obvious in his voice. Jamie frowned. Jamie’s Doctor wringed his hands and smiled sheepishly at his former self.
“Yes, quite. Though I wouldn’t call myself a clown, just that perhaps I’ve become more free spirited?”, he said, not sounding completely certain himself. The white haired Doctor said nothing, he didn’t really need to, his irritation was obvious just by his eyes.
Jamie tapped his Doctor’s shoulder.
“Doctor? Why would the old man say he’s shrunk? Yer both the same height”, he asked. Jamie’s Doctor chuckled. Behind him, Ben and Polly folded their arms and raised an eyebrow at Jamie. Dodo and Steven did likewise.
“Well that’s very kind of you Jamie, but alas my first regeneration caused me to lose a few inches of height”, he said, patting the young Scot’s face. Jamie scanned the two Doctors and shook his head.
“No! Yer definitely the same height!”, he exclaimed. Polly walked over to Jamie, and pushed him slightly so that she stood where he had been. She peered at the two men, even taking off her sunglasses, and then shook her head.
“No, the earlier Doctor is definitely taller -- by quite a fair bit!”, she said. She turned to Jamie, frowning with concern.
“Are you alright Jamie? Are you feeling dizzy or anything?”, she asked, putting a hand on his forehead. He brushed her hand off.
“Yeah I’m fine! Just that I dinnae know what everyone else is seeing! They’re clearly the same height!”, he protested.
Steven walked over to Jamie, examining him -- this caused Jamie to blush.
“Maybe he’s short sighted?”, he asked Polly. Jamie folded his arms.
“No I’m not!”, he said defensively, “I wouldnae been allowed to fight against the Redcoats if I was!”.
“Who are the Redcoats?”, Dodo asked, standing behind Steven.
“The British army”, Ben explained, “We met Jamie after the battle of Culloden in 1745”.
“Oh cool! So he’s a Jacobite!”, the teenager said excitedly. Jamie frowned at the girl.
“No, I wouldn’t say ‘cool’ Dodo”, Jamie’s Doctor said gently, “The aftermath of war is not a pleasant experience”. Jamie smiled at the Doctor -- he always knew what to say. Jamie noticed Steven nodding at the dark haired Doctor, as if he understood in some way too.
Jamie’s Doctor then turned to him.
“Steven does have a point though -- why do you see me and… me as the same height?”, the Doctor asked his young friend.
“Because ye are!”, he exclaimed with frustration at everyone else.
“Look mate, Pol and me were there when the Doctor changed -- he definitely shrunk. Like, his cloak was way too big for ‘im and ‘is ring fell off his finger!”, Ben said. Ben turned to the older Doctor.
“‘Ere Doctor, could you lend the other you your cape?”, Ben asked.
“Well I don’t see why I should! Clearly the important question is why we’re both here?”, the white haired Doctor protested, “That may take some time to discover”, he added. The old man looked at the Scot intensely, staring into his eyes, before suddenly turning away and shrugging.
“Well I suppose it wouldn’t do any harm”, he said, taking off his cloak and handing it to his other self.
As the dark haired Doctor wrapped the cape around himself, it… grew, lengthened, expanded. Jamie could not believe his eyes, it was magic! He looked back at the white haired Doctor, who was smiling contentedly.
“See Jamie”, Ben said, grabbing his friend’s shoulder, turning him to face his Doctor, “Told ya the Doctor shrunk! The cloak is massive on ‘im!”. Jamie shook his head.
“No, did ye not see? The cloak grew as it wrapped around him!”, Jamie exclaimed. Jamie’s Doctor looked at his young friend with concern.
“Are you alright Jamie? Have you had enough sleep?”, he asked the Highlander. Jamie nodded vehemently -- while at first his nights in the TARDIS had been restless, this was no longer a problem. He turned to the white haired Doctor.
The old man snarled at him. Jamie gasped.
“Yer not the Doctor! Yer a faerie!”, he said accusingly. Before anyone could react, he pulled his knife from his sporran and jumped at the old man.
“Jamie! What are you doing?!”, Polly cried. He ignored his friend, if he could just…
*PUNCH*
Steven punched the Highlander square in the face, the force caused Jamie to fall back and crash to the ground. The surroundings were beginning to fade around him.
“Ah! Good work Steven!”, Jamie heard the white haired ‘Doctor’ exclaim.
“No problem, Doctor -- I just don’t understand why he would attack you?”, Steven asked.
“Well Jamie can get rather hot tempered”, Polly suggested, “But he wouldn’t attack someone just because he’s confused”.
“Well it doesn’t really matter now does it?”, the white haired man said quickly, “We need to discover why we’re all here -- it must be important if we’re both here”.
“Yes”, the Doctor said, “I’ll have to have a chat with Jamie once this has been sorted out”. After that, the voices around him began to fade.
Jamie opened his eyes. It was completely dark -- he thought he was still in the field but it was hard to tell. His friends were nowhere in sight, no-one was. He stood up unsteadily. He looked around.
“Doctor! Ben! Polly! Where are ye?”, he yelled. No response. He tried again. And again.
“They won’t be coming for you”, the white haired man’s voice said. He then appeared from nowhere.
“Faerie”, Jamie hissed. The old man chuckled.
“Yes, I had not expected to meet anyone so resilient -- or to even know who I am”, he said. “No matter. You are unimportant”, he added coldly. Before Jamie could react, a bright light appeared from the man’s eyes and engulfed the young Scot’s entire body.
“Argh!”, he screamed, writhing in pain. The old man smiled cruelly.
“Goodbye, you won’t be missed”