Chapter Nine: The Two Doctors

Lisa watched as the Doctor examined the DeLorean’s circuitry. While she knew from experience time travel does sometimes result in ghosts from the past dropping in from time to time, it happening is always a little jarring. She hadn’t been with the Doctor for a very, very long time. It had been a situation involving the Time Lord that took her from Hill Valley in the first place. Seeing him here, now, in this incarnation – his Tenth – made her hearts twist a little, reminding her of just how much she’d missed him.

He was very impressed by the enhancements to the car, probably because it was a human who had done it. Though tempted to wake Doc and get them to meet, she felt it would cause too much stress on her double, plus it was still the middle of the night, and she didn’t want to put him in danger.

Speaking of her doppelganger, she was poking about the lab, looking at everything, staring at the photographs Doc had on his desk. One was easily recognizable: the one taken in 2015 of herself, Doc, Marty, Einstein and the DeLorean. The other predominate one there was a large print of Doc and his family, Marty and Jennifer, and herself and Einstein. It was her other favorite.

While Martha held a flashlight for the Doctor and Lisa’s double tried fathoming her future self returning to Hill Valley, Lisa herself was trying to figure out why she didn’t remember ever coming back while traveling with the Time Lord. Maybe something happened between then and now to cause amnesia or whatever. Hell, it’s happened before.

She also tried to figure out when they came from, but that was actually easier to solve. They had recognized Dalek Caan, so it was definitely after the fiasco at the Empire State Building in 1930. How much longer after that, though, she wondered.

Actually, that was pretty simple to pin down, too. Martha’s projected thoughts, though filled with images of Dalek Caan and the Cult’s ordeal in New York, also contained images of the Doctor in 1913 teacher’s garb with a woman dressed as a nurse of the time. That actually explained why her double seemed even more protective of the Doctor than normal. She recalled that she had been after watching him fall in love with someone who wasn’t her…okay, so, why couldn’t she remember coming to Hill Valley afterwards?

Well, they could figure that one out later. Right now, they had to worry about Caan and his Time Corridor.

“I can see why Caan wants this thing,” said the Doctor, finally poking his head out from the inside of the car. “It packs a lot of power…and connecting it to a fusion generator that runs on rubbish…brilliant.”

“Used to run on plutonium,” said both Lisas simultaneously. Her double added, “Well, not that one. The first…I guess he made another after it got hit by the train.”

“Yep,” said Lisa. She suddenly stiffened. Someone was coming; she could hear them approaching. “Uh oh. Be right back.” Running outside, she almost slammed right into Doc Brown.

“Lisa, what in the name of Sir Isaac H. Newton are you doing up at this hour?”

It had been almost 2:30 in the morning when the tingling of the TARDIS key had woken her. It was creeping up on 4AM, now. Normally, she would have been in bed for at least six to eight more hours. Now, she was wired and running on adrenaline.

“And why are you in the lab?” he continued.

She wasn’t quite sure how to explain the situation, and he sensed this. Frowning with concern, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

Lisa sputtered some gibberish sounds, searching for the words that wouldn’t come. Sighing, she decided she’d just have to be blunt. Unfortunately, she didn’t have to. She heard movement and a gasp behind her, followed by another “Great Scott!” from Doc. She turned around just in time to see her double ducking away from the window.

She smacked her head with her hand, sighing. “Dammit…am I really that much of a nudge?”

“Lisa, what is going on?” Doc insisted.

Try as she might, she just couldn’t find a way to explain, so she opened their link all the way and transmitted her most recent memories to him. Dalek Caan, the Doctor, her other self, everything.

He was silent for a good moment, then said, “Oh.”

“And I don’t want you getting involved,” she insisted, looking directly into his liquid-chocolate brown eyes. “You might get hurt or worse and I can’t have that on either of my conscious-es.” She paused a second, then shook her head. “Or both. Whatever. It’d throw my other self off the deep end, not to mention me and Clara and the kids and Marty and – ”

Doc silenced her by putting a hand over her mouth. “By involving the time machines, I’m already involved, Lisa.”

“But…”

“No buts.”

Very, very reluctantly, she agreed and, together, they entered the lab. The Doctor and Martha were standing beside the DeLorean; Lisa’s double was nowhere to be seen.

At her questioning glance, the Doctor said, shrugging, “She’ll be back.”

Knowing just how uncomfortable she felt when Aislin was insisting she return to Hill Valley a year ago, Lisa didn’t blame her double. She also had her work cut out for her once they returned to their proper timeline, so they’d worry about her later.

“Doctor,” Lisa said, reaching for him. “This is Dr. Emmett Brown. Doc, Martha Jones and the Doctor. They’re friends of mine from a long time ago.”

“Pleasure,” said Doc, shaking their hands.

“I should say, yes,” said the Doctor. “I have to tell you, your time machine is brilliant. For a human to come up with a way to punch into the Time Vortex…”

“Can we not forget why we’re here?” Martha said before the two scientists could dissolve into technobabble.

“She’s right,” said Lisa. “We can’t let Caan finish the Time Corridor.”

End chapter nine.

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