Fanfic - Doctor In New York

[indigoneutrino]

Title: Doctor In New York
Fandom: Doctor Who/Castle crossover
Rating: G
Summary: On a trip to New York, Amy and the Doctor run into a certain writer and his muse. Oneshot for now, but I may continue with it at a later date.

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Doctor In New York

In the time she'd known the Doctor, Amy Pond had gotten used to doing quite a lot of running. Usually, they always seemed to end up running away from something, but on this occasion they found that they were the ones in pursuit. However, what exactly it was they were in pursuit of Amy still wasn't one hundred percent sure.

"What is this thing again, Doctor?" she called out to him ahead of her, where he was running through the crowded streets of New York with his strange detector device thing whirring and buzzing in his hand. Some people gave them reproachful glances as they barged their way through, but for the most part both the Doctor and Amy ignored them.

"I told you, Amy, it's a Joulofluxus," the Doctor answered, seemingly overlooking the fact that his previous explanation had consisted of a thirty-second hurried rambling-on session on the TARDIS which Amy had little chance of understanding. "Creature of pure energy; usually inhabits underground generators and power stations but this one's out in the open. The question is, why? Joulofluxi don't normally stray far from a power source, but this one's dissipating energy really quickly through causing an ion drift in the air. Something must have disturbed it."

They darted over a road, weaving in and out of backed-up cars that were at waiting at a red light. A few car horns sounded at them in protest as the light changed to green, but it wasn't like the traffic was moving much anyway. Congestion was, as always in New York, keeping the traffic circulating as slowly as possible.

Just about catching up with the Doctor as they reached the other side, Amy watched him spin round in a circle for a few seconds before declaring, "This way!" and grabbing her hand to drag her in a different direction.

It was just typical of the Doctor, she thought, to get her involved in doing something like this. When he'd said he'd take her to New York – as in the original New York, and not one of its twenty-four incarnations throughout time – he hadn't meant for shopping and a stroll through Central Park. He'd meant to track down a mysterious energy pattern that the TARDIS was picking up. Amy knew as much, but she found it frustrating that she couldn't really make much sense of the explanation he'd given her. However, despite finding that he often didn't explain things as well as she'd like and she didn't always know exactly what was going on, she loved travelling with him and wouldn't change things for the world.

As they ran further down the street the Doctor's pace suddenly slowed to a walk and he frowned down at the device in his hands before stopping completely. Amy slowed to a standstill beside him. "What is it?" she asked.

"It appears to have stopped," the Doctor replied. "It's not moving anymore. The reading's now coming from somewhere…" He turned round again, and then back to the direction he was facing as he looked down at the device in concentration. "…down there," he finally finished, and then turning a corner he and Amy began to head down another, narrower street. Noticing the police vehicles parked along the road and the scene up ahead of them, Amy slowed down somewhat and seemed to be wanting to hang back. In front of them a portion of the street was cordoned off with police tape and several officers both in uniform and plain clothing were milling around what Amy thought looked worryingly like a dead body. She tugged on the Doctor's sleeve to get his attention. "Um, Doctor, that's a crime scene. We can't go in there, can we?"

He looked up from the device and turned to her with a puzzled expression. "Really, Amy? I can take you to the outermost reaches of the galaxy, back to the birth of the solar system or the ends of the universe and you think I could be stopped by a piece of flimsy yellow tape?"

"Well, I know we can go in there," Amy responded a little defensively, "What I meant was, should we? Do you think it's a good idea to interfere with a police investigation when it's got nothing to do with this Joulifluxo-thingy?"

"There you go assuming things, Pond," he responded, "We don't know it's got nothing to do with the Joulofluxus. Of course it might not do, but you should never assume. Now, the Joulofluxus has stopped up there somewhere so we need to find out why."

Amy nodded. Although she felt a little wary about visiting an actual crime scene like this, she knew they had to find out what the Joulofluxus was doing.

A few other onlookers were surrounding the crime scene, drawn by a sense of morbid fascination to see what was going on, but the Doctor and Amy made their way through them to get closer. The pair of them approached the yellow tape barrier and were about to duck under it when a uniformed officer appeared beside them, putting out an arm to hold them back. "Sir, Ma'am, this is a crime scene. I can't allow you through there."

Seemingly unperturbed, the Doctor just gave him a friendly smile. "Oh, but of course you can allow us through," he said, using the hand not holding the detector to rummage round in his inside pocket. He eventually produced his psychic paper and held it out for the cop to see. "I'm the Doctor, this is my partner Amy Pond. We're special investigators."

The officer studied the psychic paper carefully for a moment with a stern expression, but then gave a nod as he seemed to find nothing wrong. He took a step back from them and held up the tape a few inches to let them under. Amy followed the Doctor through to the other side, and as her gaze fell on the dead body that was the cause of all the police presence she couldn't help but feel a bit squeamish. The man lying on the floor had evidently been killed from what looked like a savage knife attack, judging by the series of deep gashes that had been carved across his chest and face. A rather large pool of blood had collected on the floor and was just beginning to congeal. Amy felt a wave of nausea come over her at the sight, but tried to force herself not to think about it. "So, you think the Joulofluxus caused this?" she asked the Doctor.

"Not caused it, no," he replied, still looking down at his detector and walking towards the body. "But it may have something to do with it. The Joulofluxus has settled here, for some reason." At that point he knelt down beside the body and the beeping noise coming from the detector shot up in frequency and intensity. "It's occupying the body," the Doctor said, and then he went silent and a thoughtful expression settled on his face.

Amy stood a couple of paces behind him, waiting for the explanation she was sure he was thinking up, but before he had chance to say anything a shadow fell across the body and they both heard someone speak off to their left. "Hey, this is a crime scene. I don't know who you two are but you're not part of the investigation team, so unless you want to be arrested you ought to leave."

The pair of them turned to see a rather striking woman surveying them with a disapproving glare. She had dark brown hair and was dressed in a formal work suit coupled with five-inch heels, and on her belt was the badge of the NYPD. Behind her, a man who appeared to be in his late thirties and who was wearing a dress shirt and blazer stood looking at the Doctor and Amy with a curious expression.

The Doctor thought he heard Amy give a gasp at the sight of him and vaguely wondered why, but decided he could ask her later. He straightened up again and put his friendly smile back in place. "Oh no, we are investigating, see," he said, flashing the psychic paper at the woman. "The Doctor and Amy Pond, special investigators."

The woman narrowed her eyes and looked at the small piece of card, but didn't look impressed. "Well, we didn't call for any special investigators and this murder is in our jurisdiction. Until my captain tells me we need special investigators on this I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Before the Doctor could respond the man behind her spoke. "Oh come on, Beckett. Just because you're jealous they've got better toys to play with than you," he said teasingly, eyeing up the detector in the Doctor's hand. "What does that do, anyway?" he asked.

The Doctor glanced down at the device, which was still whirring and beeping erratically. "Oh, this?" he said, "It's a non-random flux variation detector. Picks up energy patterns and sequences that are out of the ordinary."

The man looked like he didn't understand what that meant, which Amy didn't really either, but he still seemed interested. "Can I…?" he began to say, but the woman turned her attention on him and cut him short.

"Firstly, Castle, I am not jealous. I have been able to do my job just fine for years without the help of fancy gadgets like that. And secondly…" At that she rounded on the Doctor again. "I don't see how it's going to help with the investigation. So if you don't mind, please take yourselves and your detector elsewhere. If you really are supposed to be helping me out then call my captain, get him to confirm you're supposed to be here."

"No point wasting time with that; we could start helping you now," the Doctor began to say in an attempt to convince her, but Amy was tapping on his shoulder and had leaned in close to whisper in his ear.

"Doctor, do you know who that is?" she said, sounding mildly disbelieving and more than a little excited.

He turned to look at her, wondering why she was being like that, but he made a point of keeping up the act of being a special investigator when he answered. "Of course I do, Detective Pond," he replied, not even attempting to speak quietly like she was. "This is Detective…" he paused a moment and turned to the woman, trying to remember what the man had called her. "…Beckett, who we've been told to help out. That's what we're here for, remember."

"No, not her," Amy said, jerking her head towards the man. "Him."

The Doctor turned his attention on the man behind her and frowned slightly, as if concentrating. "Hmm, actually he does look familiar," he said after a couple of seconds, and then asked the man, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

The man gave a rather pleased smile. "Well, you might have heard of me," he said, and Beckett gave a roll of her eyes as if to say "Don't start." He carried on regardless. "I'm Richard Castle, the writer. I made the New York Times bestselling author list last year…"

The Doctor shook his head dismissively. "No, that's not it," he said, at which point Castle shut up and looked a little crushed. Amy thought she saw Beckett smirk ever so slightly, but it was difficult to be sure. The Doctor appeared to think for a few more moments, and then suddenly a look of recognition spread across his face and he exclaimed, "No, I remember! You remind me of a Firefly captain I once met. Nice man, but a bit violent. Anyway, back to the point," he said, turning to Beckett. "Detective, I'm currently reading very high energy levels on this body. I need to know if your medical examiner has already taken a look at it."

Beckett fixed him with a hard stare, at the same time managing to look rather baffled by what he'd just said. "That isn't something I'm about to tell you until I've got confirmation you're even meant to be on this case," she said coolly. "What did you say your name was, anyway? Are you a doctor or a detective?"

"I'm the Doctor," he answered, "But I am a detective. Well, I do a bit of detecting from time to time, at any rate. But the point is, Detective Beckett, I'm here to help you."

She narrowed her eyes. "Uh-huh," she said sceptically, clearly not believing him. "Doctor who?"

The Doctor was about to answer, but Amy beat him to it. "Oh, he's just the Doctor," she said, "Well, he's not just the Doctor, but that's what everyone calls him. He's the Doctor and I'm Amy." When she introduced herself she turned to Castle and flashed him a smile, which he returned enthusiastically. "Um…" Amy continued, blushing slightly, "I was wondering if…before we get down to work, might I be able to get an autograph?"

Castle seemed delighted that she'd asked and immediately replied, "Of course," but Beckett rounded on him with an exasperated look and the Doctor turned to Amy with a rather perplexed expression.

"An autograph?" he said, sounding a little bemused, "You didn't even want an autograph from Churchill, Amy. Why's he so special?" At that he gave a nod towards Castle, who looked a little confused and unsure whether or not he should be offended. "If you're wanting autographs from really impressive people I could take you to meet the consuls of the Human Empire, or the first colonists in the Andromeda Galaxy, or the man who invented the pan-galactic gargle blaster."

"Well…" Amy replied a little awkwardly, conscious that Castle and Beckett were listening and this conversation would sound completely bizarre to them. "Nobody would believe me if I got an autograph from any of them. I could at least show this one to Rory back home. Now come on, let me borrow a pen."

The Doctor still looked a little baffled as to why she wanted one, but started to search his pockets for a pen. Realising how long that was going to take when they were practically bottomless, he said, "I don't really do pens, you know. At least not the standard old-fashioned kind. Could we wait until…"

"Oh, doesn't matter," Castle suddenly said, reaching into his blazer and taking out a Sharpie. "I've got that covered. Now where would you like it?"

Amy turned to him and gave him a girlish smile, and deciding to leave the pair of them to it the Doctor took a step closer to Beckett and turned towards the body. "Right, never mind those two for now. The thing is, Detective, there's currently a very high energy being occupying this body and I have a feeling it might attempt to re-animate it. Now I've seen the Gelth try and do something like that before and it didn't turn out well, so it might be an idea to tell your team to take a step back for now and let me have a look."

Beckett looked at him as if trying to decide if he was trying to be funny or if he was genuinely crazy. "Doctor, this is my investigation and I'm not about to take orders from you. Maybe you think you're being funny, but I suggest you stop jerking me around and leave before I have you arrested."

The Doctor gave her a serious look. "Detective, I know this is difficult to believe, but if you don't listen to me something really bad could…" Before he had chance to finish the sentence the beeping on the detector suddenly changed pitch and frequency and the Doctor looked down at it in surprise. "Oh, never mind," he said, a little taken aback, "It seems that it's moving on."

Leaving Beckett just staring at him in stunned silence, he turned back to where Amy and Castle were still talking and exchanging flirtatious smiles and grabbed hold of Amy's shoulder to pull her away. "Come along, Pond," he said, beginning to run again, "We've got a Joulofluxus to catch."

With a hurried "Sorry, gotta go," and an apologetic glance back at Castle, Amy turned and joined the Doctor as they dashed back towards the yellow tape and ducked under it again to head up the street.

"It's heading back towards Amsterdam Avenue," the Doctor said, following the trace on the detector. He took a few more steps forward and then stopped and turned to look back at Amy, as if something had just occurred to him. "Hang on, where did you get him to sign the autograph if you didn't have any paper?"

Amy's cheeks coloured to the same shade as her hair. "Never you mind," she said defensively, "Now come on. Joulofluxus…running…focus."

She gave an insistent gesture for them to keep going and with a grin the Doctor complied. "Yes, quite right, Pond. Let's go!" he said, taking hold of her hand and leading her on in the direction the detector took them.

-oOo-

Castle and Beckett stood watching them leave in bewildered silence for a few seconds, before Beckett finally said, "Did that just happen?"

When Castle replied he sounded just as stunned as she was. "I think it did."

They watched the red haired girl and the man in the bow-tie hurry away up the street, and then Beckett turned to Castle. "I take it they weren't really sent here to help us then," she said, "Although that's got to be one of the crazier ways to get an autograph. Pretending to be investigators just to get on the crime scene? Why couldn't they just go to your book signings like everybody else."

Beckett seemed somewhat irritated, but it wasn't a sentiment Castle appeared to share. "Well, some of my fans are a little crazier than others," he said, smiling slightly. "Although I'm not too sure that was a ploy to get an autograph. They seemed to be in a hurry to get going. You'd think if they wanted an autograph they would have a hung around a bit longer and come better prepared. Hey, maybe they were trying to investigate something."

"Oh please, Castle," Beckett responded with a roll of her eyes, "Of course they were in a hurry to get going. They wanted to leave before I figured them out and arrested them."

Castle seemed determined to fight his corner. "What was the detector thing for then?" he asked, "Seems like a lot of effort to go to if they were just pretending to be investigators. Perhaps they were doing some kind of Ghostbusters thing."

In response to that Beckett just stared at him with a disbelieving expression. "Really Castle? Tell me you're not seriously suggesting that."

He looked like he was going to argue the point with her a bit more, but then gave a slightly sheepish smile as he conceded that suggestion was a bit far-out. "Alright, I guess some of my fans are just a bit crazy," he admitted, "But doing all that just to get onto the crime scene? And then getting her friend to distract you so she could have my undivided attention? That shows dedication." Beckett gave him an admonishing look, and upon noticing it he quickly followed up that sentence with, "But of course it's still completely unacceptable."

"Well, you weren't exactly doing much to discourage her," Beckett berated him lightly, "What with all your flirting."

Castle looked at her indignantly. "She was cute!" he said in his own defence. "Plus, she's come all the way from Scotland. I couldn't disappoint her when she came that far to meet me."

Beckett's expression clearly showed she didn't think much to that answer. "Don't you do book signings in Scotland?" she asked.

He gave a somewhat vague reply. "Not for a while."

"Uh-huh," Beckett said, cocking her head to one side and folding her arms, "Well, perhaps you should do one soon. Stop any more crazy Scottish fans pulling a stunt like that."

It was obvious she was irritated by what had just happened and his attitude towards the whole thing, but he just put on one of his charming smiles and leant closer to her. "Ah, but see, Beckett, I couldn't do that," he said teasingly, "Because if I went to Scotland I wouldn't be able to shadow you. And then how would I write without my inspiration?"

At those words, her annoyed expression softened somewhat and she returned his smile with one that was mildly flirtatious. "Castle, are you saying you'd rather follow me around solving murders than get chance to meet more of your 'cute' Scottish redhead fangirls?"

His smile broadened, and the warmth behind it was evident in both his expression and his answer. "Always."

Although she wouldn't admit it, that answer had improved Detective Beckett's mood greatly. Not that she had been jealous of the girl - of course not, why would she be jealous? It wasn't like she didn't get a lot of Castle's attention, and when she did he often got on her nerves. It was just nice to know that he'd rather be following her round doing the grisly work of a homicide detective rather than getting chance to meet more of his adoring fans in a foreign country. "Alright then, Castle," she said, not quite managing to hide the little burst of happiness his reply had brought her. "In that case, I've got a murder to solve, and if you're going to be following me then we best get to work."

He gave a nod, "Of course, Detective," he said, and began to follow her as she turned to walk over to Ryan and Esposito, who had more details about the identity of the victim. After only a second though Beckett turned to look back at him with a curious expression.

"So where did you sign the autograph, then?" she asked, "Because I don't remember her having any paper."

Castle gave her another teasing smile. "I signed it where she wanted it," he replied enigmatically, and took great delight in the intrigued look she shot back at him. Before she had chance to ask him anything further he added, "Anyway, Beckett. Murder…investigating…focus."

He gestured towards Ryan and Esposito, and Beckett flashed him another coy smile before saying, "Right you are, Castle," before the pair of them turned and began to walk towards their colleagues side by side.