The Heart of the Universe

 “Take me to the heart of the universe.”

“So let me get this straight – you pull all those knobs and shit, and we go off into wherever the hell you lead us?” a black-haired young woman stated, narrowing her eyes. The man before her spun around and flashed a grin as the insides of the machine glowed an even brighter shade of light blue. “Time and space and history and time, take me to the Teutonic Order!” she urged, rushing to this strange man with a gleam in her eyes. “The time of the Teutonic Knights – no, no, I want to see the breaking down of the Wall of Berlin…” she paced around, walking around him in circles. .

The man watched her and blinked.

“Well, what is it?”

“No, no…” she stopped and laughed. “Take me to the heart of the universe, and then to the breaking of the Wall – and finally, to the Teutonic Order.” She flashed a smirk. “If you manage to do all of that, I might just believe you about your fancy little box.”

“Little?” he scoffed. “You call this little?”

“I’ve seen bigger. Now take me there, ginger-face.”

How tenacious. He raised a brow at her and spun off once more to the controls, pressing buttons and reaching for levers as she leaned against a pillar, grinning to herself in satisfaction.

“Well, aren’t you going to help me over here?”

“Do you want me to kill us?!”

“Eh, I’ve dealt with worse.” Her eye twitched.

“You cheeky asshole.” She moved forward and gave him a slight push, twisting the first few knobs that caught her eye. Red and then green and then blue – the man gave her a horrified look, pushing her aside and making her glare at him in irritation. “What did you do that for?! You asked for help, I’m giving you help!”

“You might break the TARDIS!” he insisted, muttering a foreign curse to himself as he twisted even more knobs and pulled even more levers. A look of disbelief came on to the young woman’s face.

“You could have instructed me on which ones to push, damn it!”

“Oh take a seat and stay down,” he grumbled, but as soon as the words left his mouth, the TARDIS quaked and both of them were thrown back. Landing on the floor, she screamed as she rolled back and crashed into the door, causing it to swing open. Her hands hastily grabbed around and she desperately held on as she dangled from the TARDIS, not daring to look down as they traveled through endless time and space.

The Doctor yelled out a “no!” and desperately reached out to her, holding on to a seat with his other. She refused to grab it, grip frozen on the floor tile and screaming her lungs out as majority of her dangled out of the blue box.

“Grab my hand!”

“Are you mad?!” she screeched. “I’ll fall if I even let go!”

“You won’t fall,” he urged. “Just trust me this once and grab my hand.”

“The last time you said that, I almost died!”

“You won’t die this time!” he snapped.

“How can I be so sure?!”

He saw her grip starting to weaken.

“Well, I saved you, didn’t I?”

* * * * * * * * * *

“Such a confident asshat back then.” She smacked his arm. “And what the hell are you eating now?” the ginger grinned at her, holding up the plastic bag. An amused smirk came to her lips. “Our first date and you bought us fast food from the nearest food chain there is. I’m not surprised.”

“Stop your complaining and dig in.” she reached in and took the sundae he had bought as well as a spoon, and started eating it – much to his displeasure.

“That’s going to get you some nasty hyperacidity.”

“No problem. I’ve dealt with worse.” She replied cheekily, spooning a bit more into her mouth. The Doctor put a confused face and she sent him a look, and finally, he broke into laughter.

“Using your own words against me, eh? You won’t be doing that after I bring you to this one planet,” he replied smugly after dipping a fry into ketchup.

“Try me.”

“Oh, the heat is outrageous. Rivulus praeuro, I think it’s called. Got this special kind of sun that shines hotter than the Earth’s!” with that, he gazed out of the window. “You know where I can buy those things?”

“Things?”

“Cigarette, I think.” She sent him a glare.

“Don’t you dare, Doctor. The last thing I want is the TARDIS spontaneously combusting and throwing us out into God-knows where! Last time we did that, we ended up when Atlantis was hours away from sinking.” She snatched a fry and ate it.

“But that was an accident – and don’t take my fries!”

“Too late, you’re quite slow. And how old are you? Old as the beginning as time and space, when the concept of time wasn’t even invented yet?”

“You’re exaggerating as always, Arianne.” He flashed yet another smile, his blue eyes glinting with a hint of laughter. “I’m not that old.”

“Isn’t it creepy, though? Young adult like me travelling with an oldie like you.” She snatched yet another of his fries and dipped it into the sundae. “You’re lucky you look young, or police here would be catching you left and right if they saw us climb into that box of yours.”

“That box is the TARDIS,” he huffed. “And stop taking my fries!”

“This is a date, Doctor. Sharing is caring.”

“Oh, fine. Whatever, what the hell.” He leaned back into the plastic red chair. “What will I ever do to make you recognize the TARDIS as a TARDIS?”

She finished half of the cup and looked up.

“You still haven’t taken me to the Teutonic Order.” With a triumphant grin, she merely continued eating as the Doctor protested – yet again, insisting that the fragments of space and time haven’t given them the chance to travel to such a period in history.