DISCLAIMER: Nope don't own them..the BBC and Rob Tapert do. I'm just taking them on a spin through time!
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.

Adventures in Time
By Elfcat255

 

Part 3

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

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