Title: Absolutely Barking Stars
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Cal Lightman
Fandom: Doctor Who/Lie to Me
Rating: PG-13
Table: doctorwho_100
Prompt: 11, Yesterday
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor or Cal Lightman, unfortunately. Please do not sue.

***

The Doctor held his breath as Cal walked into the Tardis, wishing that the other man would turn around so he could see the expression on his face. But Cal didn't turn back; he walked up the three steps that led into the control room slowly, looking around him.

Quietly closing the door, the Doctor followed him, moving up the steps and standing only a foot or so away from his guest, watching to see Cal's reaction. Cal finally turned to him, his eyes wide with wonder, apparently at a loss for words.

"No wonder you didn't seem like you were lying when you told me you had a spaceship," he breathed, his voice soft. "I thought it was because you were deluded and you really believed what you were saying. But it's true. It's all true, isn't it?"

The Doctor nodded, a smile tugging at his lips as he spoke. "Yes, it's all true. That's why I seemed so earnest to you, I expect. I'm not lying, Cal. I really am an alien -- and this is a ship. She can take you anywhere in time and space that you'd like to go."

"Anywhere in time and space?" Cal's alert ears had obviously picked up on what the Doctor was saying. "You mean she's not just a spaceship? She can travel in time too?" His eyes widened, as though the possibilities of that had just occurred to him.

The Time Lord nodded again, his smile growing wider. "That's exactly what I mean. We can go to any time -- Elizabethan England, prehistoric times, far into the future. You can see any time period you'd like to go to. On Earth -- or on any other planet."

"You can go anywhere in time in this ship?" Cal turned around slowly, his eyes trying to take in all of the Tardis' control room. "This is ...." He shrugged his shoulders, spreading his hands out in a helpless gesture. "I've never seen anything like it."

"She usually affects people that way when they first see her," the Doctor said, pride showing in the tone of his voice. He moved to the console, laying a hand on it. "She really is remarkable, isn't she? And she's not just a ship. She's .... a living creature."

"What?" Cal looked incredulous, then skeptical. "Oh, come on now. You can't expect me to believe that. It's a spaceship. We can't be inside the proverbial belly of the whale if this is a living organism. We'd be .... well, digested."

The Doctor shook his head, still smiling. "The Tardis doesn't work like that. She'd never hurt me -- or anyone I choose to invite into the ship. We have a bond, you see." His smile wavered as Cal's skeptical look grew; he should have known Cal wouldn't accept his explanations that easily.

"This makes me wonder if you're responsible for any of the missing persons reports that have turned up," Cal murmured, backing away a few paces and shoving his hands into his pockets. "This might all be just a clever ruse to make me drop my guard."

"No, it isn't," the Doctor said quietly, wishing that he had some way of breaking through Cal's defenses. This man wasn't simply going to believe him; he'd have to be shown more than just the inside of the ship to win him over. "I'm an alien, but not a malevolent one."

"How do I know you're an alien?" Cal demanded, sounding more suspicious than ever. "You look just like an ordinary human bloke. All right, a very attractive human bloke," he amended. "But there's no proof you're not just as human as I am."

The Doctor shook his head, sighing in exasperation. "Will this prove to you that I am what I say I am?" he asked, holding out a hand to Cal. "Put your hand on my chest. I have two hearts. You can feel them both beating. That should tell you that I'm not human."

Cal's eyes widened again, this time in surprise. "You have two hearts? That's not possible." He shook his head, but he reached out for the Doctor at the same time, as though he couldn't resist touching the Time Lord to ascertain the truth of his words.

"It's possible because I'm Gallifreyan," the Doctor told him, smiling again. "My race has two respiratory systems. Good thing too, because it's very easy to get into sticky situations when you're traveling through the galaxy. I've needed that second system at times."

Cal drew back for a moment, hesitant to touch the other man. The Doctor simply stood there in front of him, waiting for Cal to decide that it was best to actually lay his palm on the Time Lord's chest and discover the truth for himself.

After a few moments, Cal's hand pressed flat against the Doctor's chest; he let out a soft gasp as he felt those dual heartbeats beneath his palm, their beating strong and firm. "You .... you have two hearts," he stammered, the color draining from his face.

"It's nothing to be afraid of," the Doctor hastened to assure him. "I'm not some kind of malevolent alien who wants to detroy your world, Cal. Though those types are out there," he added thoughtfully, as though speaking to himself.

"So you're a good alien," Cal said, taking a step back, his hand falling to his side. "I can't quite make myself believe this," he whispered, shaking his head. "I'm standing here in a spaceship, talking to an alien. The world's gone barking mad."

The Doctor shook his head, sighing softly. He hadn't expected Cal to be such a hard nut to crack in terms of believing what he was -- and he certainly hadn't expected this man to have such a problem with wrapping his mind around the truth.

"Just accept the truth for what it is," he said gently, wishing that there was some easier way to put Cal at ease. "I'm an alien, and I mean you and your planet no harm. I've been coming here for centuries -- even though I haven't always looked like this."

"What? Do you have another skin under that one? Is this just a disguise to make you look like one of us?" Cal's suspicions were back in full force; he took a step forward, raising a hand to poke a finger against the Doctor's cheek.

The Time Lord shook his head, almost wanting to laugh at those words. "No, this is my body and my face, and there's nothing hidden under it," he said, his gaze meeting Cal's. "But I .... regenerate. When the body I have becomes damaged beyond repair, I get a new one."

"So I could have seen you before -- or even met you -- and not known it was you?" Cal asked, raising an eyebrow. "Excuse me, but that's a little too crazy for me to believe. You can make me believe that you're an alien, but that's just ..... absolutely barking stars."

The Doctor couldn't help but laugh at Cal's choice of words. "All right, call it what you will," he said with a shrug. "But it's the truth. Still, you know that I'm an alien. And you know that I travel through time and space on this ship. So that's established."

Cal nodded, albeit hesitantly. "All right, I'll believe that. Now, how are you going to prove to me that this .... ship .... actually does travel through time?" He crossed his arms over his chest, fixing the Doctor with a questioning look. "Going to take me on a trip?"

"If you'd like," the Doctor said softly, hope rising in him. Maybe Cal would want to stay with him once he'd been into the stars on the Tardis; maybe he'd have a new companion, someone he could match wits with, someone who would challenge him in many different ways.

Cal nodded slowly, as though he couldn't quite believe he was doing so. "Yeah. I'd like," he said, his voice suddenly sounding small and unsure. "You will bring me back, right? After all, I've got a life here. I can't just walk out on all of it."

The Doctor's throat tightened; he couldn't keep back the rush of disappointment. What had he expected? That Cal would be someone who could simply toss up their life on Earth and be with him? He shouldn't have thought that; he should have known that Cal wouldn't have that sort of freedom.

But he would take this man into a past or future time, out into the stars; they could spend at least a short while together, and maybe Cal would want to come on another trip with him at some other time. It wasn't exactly what he wanted, but it was better than being alone.

"Of course I'll bring you back," he said, forcing himself to keep his voice steady, and even to speak brightly. "You have friends and family to come back to, I'd say -- and a job as well, obviously. I can't take you away from everything you know, and people who need you."

Cal nodded again, letting out what sounded like a sigh of relief. "I can't leave my daughter -- or my job," he explained, shaking his head. "I run a business. I have to be there -- I can't just disappear." He winked at the Time Lord, tilting his head to the side. "But I can play hooky for a bit."

"Then let's play hooky!" the Doctor told him, turning to the console and looking down at the controls. He didn't want Cal here for just one trip, or just a few days. He'd like to have this man as a companion, for as long as he could stay. But that wasn't in the cards.

Without looking up, he knew that Cal had joined him by the console; he could feel the other man beside him. "Yesterday, I wouldn't have believed that any of this could happen," he said softly, glancing at the Doctor. "I don't know if I'd be more comfortable going back to that time or not."

"Yesterday, you didn't know that aliens existed," the Doctor told him, glancing over at him with a smile. "I've changed a lot of your perceptions about your world, haven't I? And a lot more of them are going to change once you see what's out there."

"I don't know if that's something I'm really prepared for or not," Cal admitted, looking down at the controls with a wary expression on his face. "But we might as well find out. Lead on, MacDuff. I'm ready to follow -- as long as I know I'll get back home safely."

The Doctor turned to look at Cal, wondering just where this man would most like to go. "It's up to you," he said, sweeping a hand towards the console. "You pick the time and place. What have you always wanted to see that you never thought you could?"

Cal considered for a moment, looking thoughtful. "The past, or the future? I don't know which would be better for me to see. Yesterday I might have said that I want to see the future. But now I'm not so sure that's a good idea. So you pick the time. I'll just be along for the ride."

"My wish is your command." The Doctor turned back to the console, punching in a few coordinates. He braced himself as the felt the familiar displacement of time and space, hoping that Cal wouldn't be disappointed with where he'd chosen to take them.

***