Timelines & Bylines: Tis The Season.
Summary: The Doctor takes Lois on a simple relaxing trip. No, really.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. DC, Warner Brothers, the estates or what not of Siegel and Shuster, the CW, and the BBC own everything. Doesn’t it suck?
Notes: This is a series of stories involving Lois Lane and The Doctor. This is my way of explaining why Lois is only seen 13 episodes out of season of Smallville even when plots should have her in it for logical means. This spins off after the finale of Season/Series 4 of Doctor Who. (As in New Who.) There may be ‘rewrites’ (rather, modified versions) of DW events to mesh the two into one reality.
Notes 2: I meant to have this posted last week, but the holiday prepping took my attention. But here it is. It's Christmas day here, so it still counts! I think.
Spoiler Warning: Oh my god, YES. SPOILERS. For the end of Series/Season 4 and the 2008 Christmas Special. Totally. Run away if you don’t want to know.

Christmas was not a holiday I enjoyed these days. To be perfectly honest, I hadn’t enjoyed Christmas since I lost my mother. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world, and I still decorated, but still. I didn’t really celebrate it. I just didn’t feel it.

My inability to celebrate Christmas properly made me miss the Doctor. I didn’t know why really, I just did. I spent my summer travelling with him, through the stars, time, to Disney World... Oh, we saved the world a couple of times too. Good times. But after a while, sometimes a person needed a break. Just to breathe and stop running. Just for a few minutes. Only it was months in my case, and not by choice. So here I was, back in Smallville, helping out with Mr. Kent’s run for senator.

Honestly, I told him to come back. I did. But I hadn’t heard from him in months and that... that worried me. It wasn’t as if I said I never wanted to travel with him again. I just had- Had what? Responsibilities? At the time, I hadn’t had anything. Sure, now I did, but... did he think I was blowing him off? I hoped not. I don’t know why I wanted the break. Damn. I did miss him.

“Lois... what are you doing?”

I looked up from my thoughts and noticed Mrs. Kent giving me a curious look. I had forgotten I was in the Kent’s kitchen and going over some of the plans I had made up for Mr. Kent’s campaign. I plastered a smile on my face and tried to cover up my vacant moment by downing some of my coffee, which unfortunately was cold by now. Damn. “Just looking over-”

“Lois, you’ve been staring at the same page for thirty minutes.” Mrs. Kent said with that motherly tone of hers. She plucked the mug out of my hand even as I protested, but she was already fixing me a fresh cup. “Is there something wrong?” she asked when she joined me at the table with fresh caffeine.

“It’s no-” She was giving me one of those looks that said she wasn’t going to buy anything but the truth. It made me wonder if all mothers were genetically bred with that ability. “It’s just, I met this guy over the summer and I haven’t heard from him in a while.”

A spark of light appeared in Mrs. Kent’s eyes as she sipped her coffee. “Is he special?”

“Oh, you have no idea.” I mumbled and nodded. “I mean, not in a romantic way or anything. He kind of became my best friend and we traveled around. I needed a break so I came back and he never contacted me again.”

“Did you try calling him?” She asked me with a frown.

“He doesn’t have a phone.” Or did he? He never did tell me if he did. “He’s one of those people who go where the wind takes him.”

“Are you worried about him?”

“Of course I’m worried about him!” I replied instantly. Mrs. Kent looked a little taken aback at my tone. Oops. I shook my head. “Sorry. It’s just that he has a tendency to find trouble too. If I’m not there to get him out of it, who will be?”

“If that’s the case, then why did you come back?” She was all concerned for me now.

“I don’t know,” I replied with all honesty. “I just... things happened... but I guess... I just felt like I should be back here. I know it sounds crazy. I just wish I knew why I felt that way.”

The back door opened and in walked Clark. He took one look at me and that teasing yet exasperated smirk appeared on his face. “Lois. What are you doing here?”

“The apartment’s being fumigated and your mom said I could stay here.” I said as innocently as I could. Mrs. Kent gave me a disapproving frown at my lie but she didn’t say anything.

Clark let out a laugh that quickly died on his lips. “..You’re not kidding are you.”

I smirked at him and finished the last of my coffee. “I’m as serious as your fashion sense.” I stood up from my seat and smiled at Mrs. Kent even as Clark gave me a withering look. “Thanks for putting up with me tonight.”

She smiled at me and rose from the table, “I didn’t put up with you. You know if you ever-”

“I know.” I cut her off, not wanting my life dished out in front of Clark. “I appreciate it.” She walked with me toward the door once I finished gathering my stuff.

“Are you coming for Christmas dinner?” She asked as I opened the door. I could see Clark’s expression of horror. It was nice to know he cared. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at him.

“I don’t think so. I’m not really big on Christmas gatherings,” I started to say, because let’s face it; I didn’t want to be an extra wheel at the perfect Kent & Lang holiday special. “Besides; I think I want to see about getting in touch with my friend.”

At first I could tell she was going to protest my dinner refusal, but at the mention of the Doctor, though not by name, she backed off. But she did so with that ‘I know what you’re doing’ look. We said our goodbyes and as I headed down the porch steps, I could hear Clark’s sigh of relief at the fact I wasn’t staying there. Ok, I couldn’t actually hear him sigh, but I knew him well enough to know his reaction.

The drive back to the Talon was uneventful. The only thing of notice was that the Hubbard family’s yard looked like Father Christmas had decided to explode all over their lawn. I felt a sense of peace when I finally entered the dark building where my apartment lay. I headed up the stairs to the door and sighed as I put my key into the hole. I was going over the ways I might try reaching the Doctor. If all else failed, maybe I could risk talking to the General about him. …Yeah, now was a good time to erase that idea from any option list.

The minute I entered my apartment, I knew something was off. For one thing, the lights on my Christmas tree were on. I knew for a fact that I’d had them turned off when I left. I was ready to grab something for a weapon when a shadow walked into view. It was attached to a very familiar figure dressed in a suit and a brown overcoat.

The Doctor stood there with a smile on his face and gave him a shifty look in return. I wasn’t going to make this easy for him. “You said come and get you in a few days.”

My eyes widened. “Days? It’s been months!”

He had the decency to look sheepish. “Yes, well... for you... only... well, alright a while for me too. Went a little too far. Then there was some Cybermen, Christmas, and then River, ah... nevermind. It’s complicated.” He rolled along past explanation land into sidetrack central. “Came back as soon as I could, then I had to track down where you were living... a coffee shop? Really? Are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, blimey. You and coffee...”

“Despite what you keep insisting, I do not have an addiction.” I held my chin up high walked over to him. I kicked him lightly on the shin.

“Ow!” He exclaimed with a look of shock as he hopped back and then bent over to rub his leg. “What was that for?”

“For being late.” I snapped at him. “I was worried about you! I mean, god! You know full well what kind of trouble you get into, and you- Wait, Cybermen at Christmas?”

That grin of his returned and I was enveloped in a hug that I was not only glad to receive but happy to return. Scary, wasn’t it? “Oh, I definitely missed you.”

“Yeah, well... you know I missed you too. And to think, you came just in time for Christmas... lacking the Cybermen, I hope.”

He let me go and I saw the wistful look on his face. “Yes, well... Not much for Christmas.”

I nodded. “Yeah, me either.” There was a comfortable yet uncomfortable silence between us. “Want to go on a holiday?”

That immediately brightened his mood and held out his arm for me to accept, which I did. “Why, Miss Lane, you’ve read my mind. Where do you think we should go?”

“Some place with running. I could use a little exercise.” I paused, as there was always running involved with him. “And somewhere where the sky is purple and the water is perfect and crystal clear.”

He led me back the way I came, my arm looped with his. He paused long enough to shut off my lights with his sonic screwdriver, causing me to mutter the phrase ‘show off’. “I have the perfect place. Warm weather and the water shines like sapphires when the moons, there’s four of them, reflect off the water’s surface.”

“Sounds like a plan.” On the way out, he was leading me toward the back exit of the Talon that led to the alley; I slid a hand into my pocket and felt a small wrapped package I’d been carrying around for days, just in case. So I was slightly sentimental. Once in the alley, I was greeted by the wonderfully familiar sight of the TARDIS parked in the darkness. Oh, she was beautiful. So much so, that I separated from the Doctor and bolted for her. The doors were closed and I pulled out the key I wore on a chain around my neck. He’d given me a key to the TARDIS about three weeks before I left and I could only hope he didn’t change the locks.

“Well?” I heard his voice behind me. “Go on then. It’s not like I changed the locks.”

I stuck my tongue out at him, entirely too childish but he deserved it. “I hate when you know what I’m thinking.”

He chuckled even as I unlocked the door. “No you don’t. You actually find it refreshing and free.”

“Not as refreshing of a feeling as I’ll get from smacking a Time Lord upside his head.” The familiar interiors of the TARDIS greeted me and I let out a content sigh.

“I’m starting to wonder why I missed you.”

“You missed the fact that when we run from everything, I can actually keep up with you without breaking a sweat.”

“We don’t run from everything!” He denied and walked ahead of me toward the console. “We didn’t run from the butterflies of New Amsterdam. And technically you didn’t run in Ashanvare Four.”

I removed my coat and tossed to the side, before heading over to the lonely seat and making myself comfortable. “Oh, you’re right. My consciousness was trapped in a jar while that little body thief was running around in my body.” I snorted. “Not to mention he-”

Switches were flipped, knobs were turned. “You’re never going to let me forget that one are you?”

“It was the third time someone other than me did something in my body.” I threw my hands up into the air. “Third!”

He turned toward me and pointed a finger at me. “Now, wait just a minute, those other times were before I met you. You can’t put that on me.”

“I could too; I just wouldn’t have any validity to them.”

“Remind me why I put up with you.” The Doctor sighed.

I flashed one of my brighter and confident grins. “Because you need Lois Lane. Everyone does. What can I say? I’m brilliant.”

“You’ve been around me too long.” He muttered with a slight laugh.

I shook my head at him. “No, I haven’t been around you long enough.” I wasn’t going to bullshit him or coddle him. The brooding Time Lord with guilt issues may have been a large part of him, but it wasn’t all he was and I knew it. He couldn’t do to me anything the General already hadn’t with his own alienation and militaristic techniques of parenthood. Even if I was just another stop in his ever growing family of companions across time and space, I’d accept it and all that it entailed.

I got one of his blinding grins for that. It was honest, good, and just so... Him when he was happy and I realized that I couldn’t think of a better way to spend my holiday.