Title: Penny For Your Thoughts
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Mick St. John
Fandom: Doctor Who/Moonlight
Rating: PG-13
Table: DIY, 100_situations
Prompt: 31, Discover
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the lovely Tenth Doctor or Mick St. John, just borrowing them for a while. Please do not sue.

***

"So the Doctor is just a name that you took because you liked the way it sounded?" Mick asked as he walked down the darkened street next to the Time Lord. "I guess I can understand that. Most people don't seem to like their given names."

The Doctor shrugged, glancing over at him. "I haven't told anyone my given name in centuries. I don't think anyone needs to know. Besides, I'm .... a very private person," he added, his voice a soft murmur. "There are some things I prefer to keep to myself."

"I don't have any problem with calling you Doctor," Mick said, his own shrug mirroring the other man's. It wasn't as though he was going to spend a lot of time with this man, anyway, he told himself, shoving his hands into his pockets as they walked.

Why did that make him feel regretful? It wasn't like he didn't have a life here. This guy -- this alien -- would show him a ship, and then go flying off in it. At least, that was what he thought would happen. Nothing more, nothing less.

He shouldn't feel this crazy need to ask if he could go along. Not for good, of course. He had things to take care of here, responsibilities that he couldn't back out of. Even if he didn't have much of a life, he'd at least managed to carve out a niche for himself.

So he didn't have a lover, or anyone other than Josef who he truly cared about. There had been Beth -- but that was something he'd rather not think about. He'd discovered her true colors, and that had made him finally put her out of his life for good.

She'd tried to kill his best friend. Rather than believing him, she'd believed lies and rumors -- and had gone after Josef. Not only that, but she'd tried to do an exposé on him for her gossip rag, which would have effectively ended the life he had in Los Angeles.

Fortunately, he'd stopped her. But he knew that someday, either he or Josef would have to kill her. She knew too much about their world -- and about them personally. And she was the sort of self-serving bitch who would use that knowledge to her advantage sooner or later.

How could he have been so blind as to think he had actually cared about her? He'd cared about the child she had been when he'd rescued her from Coraline long ago -- but she had become a manipulative, selfish woman, one he didn't want to be around.

Anyway, she was out of his life, and he had gone back to doing what he did best -- his job. The only close friend in his life now was Josef, and he intended to keep it that way. He'd learned the hard way to be cautious about who he trusted.

It was just one more discovery on a long road that had been filled with new experiences. And he could look at this meeting with the Doctor as just one more discovery he'd made along the way. Something strange and .... well, out of this world.

"Penny for your thoughts," the Time Lord said, looking over at him. "Judging from that scowl on your face, they must not be very pleasant. You look like you want to kill someone -- or at least bite them. I hope that someone isn't me."

Mick turned towards the Doctor, a small smile curving his lips. "A penny? I'd have thought you'd say a shilling, considering that you've got a British accent. And my thoughts aren't worth a penny, really. I was thinking about .... past experiences. Bad ones."

"I've been all over the world, Mick," the Doctor said with a laugh. "All over the universe, actually. I know all kinds of money, from Zakatar to Earth. In the past and the future. Not that I've ever had much of it, at least in your world."

"You don't have money? How do you get by, then?" Mick was a little started at the Doctor's words. Did he actually come from a world where money wasn't an important factor? That was a concept that Mick was sure humans would never be able to grasp.

I don't have a sou to my name in the currency of your world, but in other galaxies ...." The Doctor's voice trailed off as he shook his head. "Money isn't important everywhere. And I've never thought much of it. It just seems to turn people into beasts."

"You can say that again," Mick muttered, his hands clenching inside his pockets. Having a lot of money offered to her was what had turned Beth against him and his kind; money could indeed turn people's heads. He'd seen it firsthand.

"I hope those bad experiences aren't something that's going to color our meeting," the Doctor said softly, sounding a little hesitant. "I'd hate to think that you're not keeping an open mind. There's so much to see, if you'll just open yourself to it."

Mick couldn't help but laugh at the Doctor's words. "I'm a vampire. Do you really believe that I don't have an open mind? Believe me, if it was any more open, it'd probably fall out of my head. But I have to see proof of something before I'll blindly believe."

The Doctor nodded, his demeanor serious. "I can understand that. It's probably a good way to be. It's always a bit dangerous to go rushing into a situation or a belief blindly without knowing the facts, isn't it?" The words were more a statement than a question.

Mick laughed as he looked over at the Doctor. "You can say that again. I came into the vampiric world without knowing or even believing anything about it except all of the myths and legends I'd read. That was pretty dangerous in itself."

"I can imagine," the Doctor told him, a look of sympathy crossing the other man's face. Mick couldn't help but feel surprised at that; most people wouldn't have thought that a creature like him deserved any kind of sympathy or understanding.

But this man wasn't human, he reminded himself for what seemed like the hundredth time already. He wasn't from this planet. That was a hard concept to wrap his head around -- but no harder than knowing that he himself was a vampire.

This man was different from anyone he'd ever met. His conversation, the way he looked at the world, everything about him. But of course he'd be different, Mick told himself. He was an alien. He had to remember that, even though it seemed incredible.

"There's so much to discover in the world, Mick," the Doctor said, his voice soft. "You've only seen what's here on Earth -- even though you've obviously seen a lot more than most people, given what you are. But there's even more out there in the galaxy."

"I know there is," Mick told him, sighing. "I've never been one of these people who believe that we're the only intelligent life in the universe. I'm sure there's a lot of other life forms out there who're probably a lot smarter than us." He glanced at the Doctor, brows raised. "You're proof of that."

"Oh? And how do you happen to know that I'm smarter than humans?" the Doctor said with a laugh. "Even though I am, you know," he added, sounding more serious. "Gallifreyans have highly developed brains. Much more so than the human race."

"I wonder if vampires fall somewhere in between them, or if we just retain the same intelligence we had when we were humans?" Mick asked, a teasing note in his voice. "Maybe that's something I'll have to discover the answer to."

"There really is a lot to discover in the universe, Mick." The Doctor stopped walking, turning to Mick with a serious expression on his handsome features. "Though there are some questions that should more than likely remain unanswered."

Mick almost made a quip about vampires again, but stopped himself before he spoke. The look on the Doctor's face told him that this wasn't a time for jokes; for some reason, the other man seemed to be completely serious about what he was saying.

What was the Doctor thinking? What was it that he wanted to say? Whatever it was, Mick wanted to hear it. This was a strange way to meet someone and get to know them, but he'd had stranger things happen in his life. And he wanted to know the Doctor.

"A penny for your thoughts," he said softly, almost wanting to reach out to the Time Lord and take his hand. That thought startled him; other than his best friend and mentor Josef, he'd never wanted to touch another man before.

But he wanted to touch this man. What was more, Mick wanted to be with him. He wanted to find out if what he said about having a ship was really true -- and if it was, he wanted to see other worlds, other planets. He wanted to discover new frontiers.

Looking at the Doctor, he was sure that it was possible. This man wouldn't lie to him; Mick could tell instinctively that what the Time Lord was telling him was the truth. There were worlds out there, and the Doctor could take him to all of them.

"My thoughts aren't important right now," the Doctor told him, smiling and extending a hand. "What is important is what you're going to see. And I hope you'll be impressed enough by it to come along with me -- at least for a while."

Mick only hesitated for a moment before he took the Doctor's hand, surrendering himself and letting the other man lead him where he would. He was sure that whatever he was about to discover would be something far beyond even his wildest dreams.

***