The Doctor and the Nurse (comic story)

The Doctor and the Nurse was a two-issue comic story from the Doctor Who (2012) range.

Summary
The stress from their past few adventures have the Doctor and Rory at each other's throats, and Amy has had just about enough. So she sends them on a boy's night out, much to their chagrin, but with a TARDIS at their disposal.

Part 1
The TARDIS materialises on several planets in time and space, the Eleventh Doctor and Rory Williams taking turns to check their surroundings before throwing in the towel. They're lost.

Several hours earlier on Hipponensis 3 in the year 7213, the TARDIS team flees from the Siblinghood of Saint Augustine, Physicist, and clamber back into the TARDIS. Before the Doctor can take off, the ship is struck by a chronomagnetic pulse... to no effect. Shrugging it off, the Doctor sets sails while explaining that the Siblinghood are "presentists" and are religiously opposed to the idea of both the past and future. Rory is incensed that the Doctor knew about the cult and took them there anyway. As the two argue, Amy Pond silences them before realising that she has always stood in the way of Rory and the Doctor forming a closer bond, Rory never having been the Doctor's sole companion as she once was, and saying that they need to travel without her for a while to properly bond. Agreeing, Rory only requests that there be "lots of beer" which the Doctor inputs into the TARDIS.

Materialising in London in 1814, a date and location which gives the Doctor a feeling that he's forgetting something, Amy leaves the two in a pub before she goes off sightseeing. The two men quickly retreat to the TARDIS where the Doctor proposes skipping ahead a few hours. Though Rory is initially opposed to the idea, as the Doctor's entire history with Amy is literally nothing but arriving late, the prospect of holding a conversation with the Doctor is enough for him to take the risk. Soon enough, the two emerge in a London night. Specifically, a night during the Blitz where they find none other than Ian Fleming pinned under rubble. After the spy falls unconscious, the Doctor gets to work disarming the bomb while Amy texts Rory.

Rory lies and tells Amy that they're having great fun, and Amy sulks in the boring world of 1814. Deciding to head back to the TARDIS and just watch television, Amy spies a Silence agent. Though she briefly considers calling the Doctor, she decides that he and Rory need this time and that she can handle it.

Back in World War II, the Doctor and Rory, now dressed in full tuxedos, bid goodbye to that adventure, with the Doctor praising Rory for inspiring James Bond, before the Doctor hits the fast return switch. Rather than 1814, the TARDIS lands in Los Angeles, circa 35,000 BCE. As the Doctor instructs Rory to close the doors before the TARDIS is flooded with tar, he suddenly remembers why they need to return to Amy. Before the doors can be closed, a sabre-toothed tiger leaps into the ship and onto the console, Rory sending it running after bopping it on the nose with a rolled up magazine. As the Doctor works the ship, he sends Rory to find tranquilliser laced meat with which to trap and sedate the predator.

Back in 1814, Amy tracks the agent to a brewery before he suddenly runs out. As she calls out to him, a rumble sounds as the brewery explodes. At 6pm on October 17th 1814, London was struck by the London Beer Flood of which Amy is about to become the first victim.

Part 2
As the Doctor examines the console, he realises the cause of their chaotic trek. The Siblinghood shot them with a temporal weapon, its effects taking a while to show. All of a sudden, the TARDIS lands. Stepping out, the two find themselves in New York City in the 1930s. Though Rory believes that a giant gorilla is attacking the city, the Doctor clarifies that someone has shrunk New York. They need to calm down the gorilla, figure out how New York was shrunk, reverse it, and make those responsible apologise. Reasoning that such a thing can wait given a time machine, the two set off again only to drop back into realspace. The power reserves are too low for sustained temporal flight. As the Doctor plots a days long trip back to the Cardiff Space-Time Rift, he starts to explain to Rory that Amy is in the middle of the London Beer Flood, one of the oddest tragedies in human history. 323,000 gallons of beer split out from the brewery and demolished part of the city. It was good that they left in the TARDIS, as the pub they were in was fated to be destroyed. While good for them, Rory can only wonder what's become of his wife.

Spluttering, Amy comes to in a pool of beer, marvelling that her phone still works. As she looks up the flood, she notices the Silence agent at her feet. Resuscitating the man, she takes his weapon and demands to know why he triggered the flood. Revealing the event to be a fixed point in time, the agent disappears with his vortex manipulator, though not before Amy lands a glancing shot on his shoulder. Despondent, Amy reads over the casualties list before she hears a cry for help. Following the cry, Amy revives a woman named Meredith Blake. Remembering her name from the casualty list, Amy is shocked to see it change before her eyes. Realising that only the tragedy, not its victims, constitute a fixed point, Amy runs off to save more lives.

In 2013, the Doctor explains how the rift fuels the TARDIS before the ship shudders from a warning shot. They have been found by the Cybermen. Brought to the brig of the Cybership, the Cybermen evacuate while setting their ship to self-destruct to finally kill their foe. As the clock ticks down, Rory offhandedly suggests that the TARDIS could use some "bed rest" to the Doctor's delight. Fishing through his pockets, the Doctor produces a car key and declares it the key to their freedom. Flying away from the exploding ship, the Doctor puts the TARDIS in "sleep mode" so it can better heal. As this also means turning off life-support, the two set up a camp on the lunar surface to wait it out.

When the TARDIS returns, the Doctor sets a course back for 1814 only to wind up in the War of 1812. Though Rory is content to just wait two years for Amy, the Doctor flags that the War of 1812 is improperly named. It should be called the "War of 1812 through 1814 and a little bit of 1815". They've arrived on the right date, just not at the right place. At Rory's insistence, the Doctor simply flies the TARDIS to London so they can pick Amy up.

Exiting the ship, the two men go over their "To Do" list before an irate Amy makes herself known. Before the two can explain, Amy stalks into the ship, declaring that there will be no more "boys' nights".

Characters

 * Eleventh Doctor
 * Amy Pond
 * Rory Williams
 * Ian Fleming
 * Silence agent
 * Meredith Blake
 * Cybermen

Continuity

 * The Doctor opens the TARDIS doors by snapping his fingers. (TV: Forest of the Dead)
 * Rory mentions the time the Doctor came back for Amy 36 years too late. (TV: The Girl Who Waited)
 * The TARDIS has a fast return lever, which appears to be either a new name or a replacement for the fast return switch. (TV: The Edge of Destruction)
 * The TARDIS previously became stuck in a tar pit in PROSE: Blood Heat.
 * The Doctor has visited Machu Picchu before. (COMIC: Hitching Point)
 * The Doctor refuels the TARDIS at the Cardiff Space-Time Rift at Roald Dahl Plass. (TV: Boom Town) Though the rift had apparently closed beforehand in 2009, (AUDIO: The House of the Dead) temporal disturbances were shown to persist in 2017. (AUDIO: More Than This)
 * Amy mentions (and demonstrates) her tendency to accidentally fire handguns when holding them. (TV: A Town Called Mercy)
 * When Rory thinks they've landed in 1812, and suggests that he'll live through the two years until they sync up with Amy, the Doctor calls him "Rory the Roman". (TV: The Big Bang)