BtVs by Whedon & M.E., The Ninth Doctor & recent Doctor Who by Davies and the BBC


In the alley outside the Magic Box, Sunnydale's one-stop spot for spells meant to brighten life on an active Hellmouth - at least, that was the use for most of the items the proprietors actively tried to keep in stock - a deep whirring sound could be heard, the sound of cosmic gears clicking into place.

In slow pulses, a blue telephone box emerged into reality, settling itself down onto the concrete. A man of average height, with short brown hair, burst from the doors in a burst of frantic activity. Taking a few moments to reign himself in, he cricked his neck, rolled his shoulders and took a few deep breaths. Despite the relaxation of the rest of his body, the toes of one of his feet kept up a steady tap-tap against the ground.

"Bloody Hell," a voice said from behind him. He whirled around to take in the leather-jacketed appearance of Spike.

The blonde vampire had been lounging on some crates, taking advantage of the deep shade and indirect sunlight to enjoy a cigarette break. "That's one way to arrive in style," Spike said. "Although I'm not sure what kind of style you're going for."

"Unforgettable." The man bowed. "Anything else is pointless."

"Wot?" Spike's lip curled. "Are you actually British or are you making fun of me?"

"I'm from the North," he said with a grin. "Most planets have one, although when you're dealing with donuts it can get tricky. You can call me the Doctor. You must be William the Bloody."

"Great," Spike snarled. "Another alien. We slaughtered the last one. You here on your own reconnaissance or did Glory get a wholesale discount? If I'd known it was easy to get things from outer space I wouldn't have bothered with the Order of Taraka, stupid waste of money that was. My reputation from the Scourge spread to other planets already?"

"No, just your future poetry. Most of it's the same as your old work, you just needed encouragement from a better audience."

"Ah." Spike glanced from side to side, then stuck out his hand, making sure to keep it in the shade. "Nice to meet a man with good taste."

The Doctor shook the offered limb happily, then brushed past Spike to enter the store.


Anya frowned as the vampire and the alien emerged from the back stacks. "What have I told you about bringing in friends through the back door? I get suspicious and I have to waste time redoing the inventory and it takes time away from my boyfriend because the one time we tried to combine the two he got this awful bruise on his-"

Willow coughed loudly and started speaking before Anya could continue. "I'm sure any friend of Spike's is a non-enemy of ours - he likes us. I'm Willow and this is Anya."

The Doctor smiled politely and walked between the ladies towards the counter. His all-purpose sonic screwdriver, set to silent mode, as he'd been afraid it might be mistaken for a weapon, vibrated faster in his pocket as he neared a suitable target.

He began rummaging around the stacked objects with one hand, while the other dove deep into his pocket to come out with a pair of spectacles that had a jeweler's scope attached. Placing them on his head he grabbed a crystal off the counter and spun around to face the others, one eye freakishly enlarged.

"Briliant!" He held the purple crystal dramatically up to the light. "A compartmentalized crystalline matrix using Maddox style encoding. I haven't seen one this fine in a century."