LOOKING FOR A TOMORROW
Chapter Nine
Tara lingered in the doorway as Willow spoke into the phone. Try as she might, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something terrible was about to happen, and she’d learned to follow her instincts a long time ago.
“No, we’ll meet at Rack’s place,” Willow murmured into the phone, giving Tara a weak smile as she uttered the words. “Buffy might suspect something if you turned up here...” She paused as Amy said something down the phone line, then hurriedly grabbed a pen. “Yes, I know where it is,” she said as she wrote down an address. “See you there…yes, yes, I know, eight o’clock.” With a relieved sigh, she hung up the phone. “I’ve got it,” she said simply.
“Good, good!” the Doctor said cheerily, clapping his hands together as he jumped to his feet. “Well, no time for dilly-dallying, let’s go and have a little chat with this Rack person.”
“Dilly-dallying?” Buffy asked, her tone amused. “Not even Giles sounds that British. What century are you from, exactly?”
“Ah, that’s the question!” the Doctor exclaimed, grinning manically, and Tara suppressed a groan. She knew things had been going too well.
“Doctor,” she said hurriedly. “We should be getting a move on.”
“What?” the Doctor blinked. “Ah, you’re right, of course. Genies to bottle, sorcerers to conquer and all that.”
“Actually, technically he’s a warlock,” Willow murmured quietly.
The Doctor frowned. “There’s a difference?”
“Yes, thankfully,” Willow said, with a shudder. “A warlock can channel power but they can rarely raise it themselves. They usually affiliate themselves with a god or a demon, but there are other ways for them to garner a power source, like using an especially powerful amulet or artefact-”
“Or people,” the Doctor said, nodding. “And sorcerers?”
“Sorcerers don’t need outside help to raise power, they can raise it directly from the source, hence the name ‘sorcerer’,” Willow said. “A warlock will eventually run out of steam, if you press them hard enough, and there are ways of leeching their power away, but a sorcerer doesn’t have that weakness. The only way of stopping a sorcerer is by literally reaching inside them and shielding their ability to wield.”
“Which is very dangerous,” Tara cut in. “You’re literally at the mercy of their thoughts. People who have attempted it have literally lost their minds.”
“I see,” the Doctor said thoughtfully. “Interesting. I’ve always wondered about human ‘magic’. Technically, it shouldn’t work, but empirical evidence suggests…”
“Doctor,” Tara interrupted, before he could go off in another tangent. “Fire breathing Genie, remember?” Until now, the others hadn’t asked too many questions about the Doctor’s background, seemingly content to go along with whatever he said. Tara was definitely beginning to suspect he may have some innate ability to make people trust him…but there was such a thing as pushing things too far. A frown was already developing on Willow’s face.
“Oh, right, yes!” the Doctor said. “Sorry.”
“Human magic?” Willow mouthed at Tara as the Doctor bounced in the direction of the door.
“He gets around a lot,” Tara mumbled.
“He’s kinda cute,” Dawn announced as she pulled on a cardigan.
“He’s also kinda too old for you,” Buffy said dryly. “And where do you think you’re going?”
“I thought I’d come along. You know - be your backup?”
Buffy raised an eyebrow. “I think we’re good,” she drawled. “Besides, don’t you still have homework to do?”
Dawn threw herself back onto a chair. “Spoilsport.”
“Yup, that’s me, bane of your life. Now, remember, no answering the door to strangers, no after dark trips to the crypt, and no ordering pizza”
“I’m surprised you haven’t decided to get a babysitter,” Dawn muttered.
A thoughtful frown crossed Buffy’s face.
“Don’t you dare!”
Buffy smirked, but said nothing as she grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder.
“Ready?” the Doctor called impatiently, from the hallway.
“Is he always this chirpy?” Buffy asked.
“Pretty much,” Tara said. Except when he’s not, she added silently. “Things seem to be better between you and Dawn,” she said, changing the subject.
“Yes,” Buffy said hesitantly. “We’re still not there yet, but things are improving. At least it doesn’t automatically turn into a shouting match every time we talk anymore.”
“And Spike?” Tara asked, lowering her voice.
A shadow crossed Buffy’s face. “It’s over.”
“Well, come on,” the Doctor said grumpily, poking his head into the living room. “We haven’t got all day, you know!”
A crease developed on Buffy’s forehead as she heard the front door open. “Ya know, it’s strange, he seems to have this strange effect on people… I mean, why are we listening to him? This isn’t some weird spell, is it?”
Tara shrugged uncomfortably. “It’s just part of who he is, I think,” she said. “Do me a favour, Buffy, just go along with it.”
“What aren’t you telling me, Tara?” Buffy asked softly.
“He’s lost someone recently,” Tara explained reluctantly. “And I think he needs a distraction, something to stop him thinking about…”
Buffy nodded, understanding. “Yeah, I know how that goes,” she said sadly.
The Doctor was standing in the driveway, shifting restlessly on his feet, when they eventually stepped outside. Willow stood beside him, her arms wrapped around herself as if she was cold. “This might be a bit tricky,” she mumbled. “Amy isn’t supposed to be meeting me until eight.”
“But we already have the address,” the Doctor pointed out.
“Yeah,” Willow said. “But Rack will know something is up if I arrive before Amy… he always knows.”
A sudden grin crossed the Doctor’s face. “Guess we’ll have to take him by surprise, then,” he said cheerfully.
“And how are we supposed to that?” Willow asked worriedly. “Tara doesn’t use offensive magic and I can’t-” Willow took a deep breath. “I just can’t.”
“Ah, but ‘magic’ isn’t everything,” the Doctor declared. “Sometimes, a good plan, and some hefty technology, can do the trick just as well!”
“Huh?” The word popped out of Buffy and Willow’s mouth at the same moment, and the Doctor’s grin grew wider still. Sometimes, he reminded Tara of a really skinny Cheshire cat.
“Care for a little trip?” he asked nonchalantly, as he led them down the street. “Well, more like a hop, skip and a jump, really - or a quick pop around the corner to the shops for a bag of crisps and coke-”
“Doctor!” This time Tara chimed in, and Willow smiled as Buffy rolled her eyes.
“Oh, right, sorry.” The Doctor looked slightly bashful. “Well, its like this, he’s a ‘warlock’, isn’t he? And he needs to tap into his power source in order to become a real threat. Now, I’m thinking that a certain amount of empathic ability is needed to be able to generate a psychic field in that way – not as rare as you’d think in the human race - but as it happens, I have at hand something that might give us an edge. A way of negating his ability without having to resort to…oh, you know.” The Doctor waved an imaginary wand. “Magic.”
Tara’s lips twitched. “You don’t believe in it, do you?” she asked.
“Believe in what?”
“Magic!” Tara said, smiling, “I can practically hear the inverted commas drop into place every time you say the word.”
“Ah, well, magic is such a relative term,” the Doctor said evasively.
“We’re sitting on a Hellmouth; only a few hours ago you were discussing ancient texts with an ex-demon; you’ve got a Genie locked up in your ship…how can you not believe in magic?”
“Um, experience?” the Doctor offered uncomfortably, digging his hands into his pockets.
“Then explain the Hellmouth!”
“You mean the inter-dimensional portal rift?” The Doctor shrugged. “Nasty, I admit, but not exactly magical. There has always been weak spots in the fabric of what you’d call reality. Although I have to admit this one is unusually active – not even the one in Cardiff is this busy. It’s practically a throughway 'round here.”
“Cardiff?” Buffy asked. “There’s a Hellmouth in Cardiff? Why do I never hear about this kind of stuff? Is there some kind of flyer going around that everyone gets except me?”
“Actually,” Willow said thoughtfully. “I do believe Giles mentioned it once, but it hasn’t been active in over a century.”
“Oh, right.” the Doctor scratched his head. “Keep forgetting the date…um, forget I said anything.”
Tara made a mental note to check out Cardiff online when she got home, it never hurt to be too prepared. “And Anya?” she teased.
“Ah, well, a little more tricky, I’d admit,” the Doctor admitted. “But it’s not unheard of to change species. In fact, I have a… ah, well, best not discuss that, really…”
“But demons,” Buffy pressed. “How do you explain demons?”
“Remnants of an elder age,” the Doctor said. “At least, in this dimension it is. Still going on elsewhere, I’ve no doubt. This was the only dimension that we-” The Doctor halted, a dark shadow crossing through his eyes. “But I suppose that no longer holds,” he eventually murmured. “Nothing to keep them in check anymore. No elders, no…us, just me.” The Doctor blinked, as if coming out of a daze. “Ah, we’re here!” he declared.
“Where?” Willow asked, puzzled.
“Home,” the Doctor said simply, as he pulled the TARDIS’s key from around his neck.
“Home? But I though you said you had a shi-” Willow stopped, mid-sentence, as the Doctor inserted the key into the TARDIS’s lock. “Uh, Tara,” she said worriedly, under his breath. “Are you sure your friend is, you know, all there?”
Tara tried to not let a smile creep onto her face. “Whatever do you mean?”
“It’s a…a box,” she hissed, as the TARDIS’s door opened. “A blue, wooden box…with windows and…and…why does it say ‘Police Box’?”
“I know, I know,” Tara said gravely. “ I did try to convince him to change the name to something more generic, like ‘Home Sweet Home’ or ‘Shangri La’, but he was having nothing of it…and you don’t want to know what he said when I suggested curtains.”
“Sweetie,” Willow said flatly. “You know I love you, but sometimes you’re a little too quirky even for my standards.”
“Are you two done yet?” the Doctor asked, his tone amused as he lounged against the TARDIS’s doorway.
Curious, Buffy peeked over his shoulder, her eyes narrowing as she tried to get her mind around what her eyes were seeing. “Wait a minute.” Forcefully, she brushed past the Doctor and stepped inside the TARDIS. “Huh,” she said, her voice echoing slightly as it wafted through the doorway. “No wonder you’re so blasé about inter-dimensional portals…cool.”
The Doctor’s eyes widened in surprise, and Tara grinned. “Not as blonde as she looks,” she mouthed, as she hooked her arm through Willow’s and pulled her into the TARDIS.
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