Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and Alfie, everything else belongs to the Beeb and Superdrug.
Hot Chocolate
She feels the tug at the end of her sleeve,
"Aunty Donna, I lost the Tardis again" a small voice wines
Feeling slightly put out that yet another shopping trip has been interrupted she turns to the small child who over this past month has cropped up and tugged on her sleeve no less than five times, definitely his child.
He stands there, big mournful brown eyes staring up at her from a pale freckled face with brown hair that doesn't seem to have decided which would be the best direction to grow in and as ever, he's clutching a tatty patchwork blanket, thumb stuck in his mouth, clutching a sonic screwdriver and wearing a scarf that is at least five times the length of him and trailing behind him, yep definitely his child.
She crouches down to face him,
" It's ok Alfie, have you sent out a signal?"
He shakes his head.
The first time she had met Alfie he was with her for four hours before she heard the familiar whirl of the Tardis engines. The second time he showed up, he had instructions. He had pulled out a laminated card that was attached to a lanyard under his jumper and showed it to her,
"Mummy gave me this if I ever got lost again, it tells me what to do"
Donna had read the card, took Alfie's screwdriver and Tardis key and using setting 42 had sent a signal to the Tardis. The third time Alfie showed up, she made him do it himself.
Donna sighed,
"Right, why don't you send out a signal the way Mummy taught you and then me and you can go and get some hot chocolate while we wait ok?"
Breaking out into a grin he nods, hands Donna his blanket and fiddles with his screwdriver and key for a minute. Hearing the familiar tell tale high pitched note telling them both that the signal had been successful Alfie tucks his key back under his jumper and looks up at Donna,
"All done?" she asks
"Yep!"
Giving him back his blanket and taking his hand, she leads him to the nearest coffee shop.
It's an hour and two banana hot chocolates for him and a skinny latte for her later that help arrives in the form of a blonde haired brown eyed woman. He sees her before she does,
"MUMMYYYYY!!" he cries out whilst jumping out of his chair and in the ensuing run, he manages to knock over three chairs, a display stand and causes one poor woman to trip over his scarf. However all is forgiven when Alfie in typical fashion turns on the charm, helps tidy the display and right the chairs and as Mummy helps the scarf victim up off of the floor is complimented on her lovely son and his impeccable manners.
Donna wisely waits until everything is back to normal before she approaches the two of them,
"Hello Rose, you alright?"
Donna finds herself enveloped in a bone crushing hug,
"Thank you thank you thank you thank you, I've been frantic"
Extracting herself gently she shrugs,
"No worries, so where did he wonder off from this time?"
"1973, Greenwich, we were buying milk, next thing I know, he's gone, we were searching for him for a day before we got the signal"
Donna grimaced imagining the pictures that Rose's mind could have painted for her in that one day,
"Well, he's here now, that's the main thing"
Rose smiled brightly and nods ruffling Alfie's hair.
"Mummmmmm, stop it" he said batting Rose's hand away, ignoring him she replies
"Yeah it is isn't it"
"One thing I can't figure out though?"
"Yeah what's that?" Rose asked, Alfie at this point had taken to swinging himself back and forth from their hands, the extra weight causing them both to jolt to the side every now and then.
"Why does he always come to me?"
"Oh that's easy" Rose replied smiling "You're his favourite Aunty Donna and you always buy him a banana hot chocolate, he's really attached to you"
Feeling slightly misty eyed, Donna looked away from Rose and sniffed and shaking her head slightly she turned back to her.
"Right then, well I guess the two of you best be off then, I expect the Doctor will be getting a bit worried about what's taking you so long"
Rose nodded and turned to Alfie,
"Right then trouble, say goodbye and thank you to Donna for looking after you"
Alfie turned to Donna and wrapped his little arms around her legs and squeezed tightly,
"Thank you for looking after me today"
Ruffling the his hair, Donna replied
"It's ok, but no more wandering off you hear"
Alfie looked up at her, brown eyes twinkling, great big beaming smile on his face,
"Ok Aunty Donna, I promise"
It was in that moment that she knew there'd be at least a few more banana hot chocolates in her future, ruffling his hair once more she turned to Rose,
"You might want to think about getting him fitted with some kind of locator chip"
Rose catching the twinkle in her sons eyes nodded and picked up her son,
"I suppose I'll see you later and don't…."
"I know I know" she interrupted "Don't say anything, I won't, besides, it would ruin the surprise if I did"
Rose smiled and with one last hug walked away.
It was much later back on board the Tardis having tea in the kitchen that she saw the Doctor,
"Did you have fun today?" he asked
"Yeah met up with an old friend, it was nice" she replied
"That's nice, so where to next, the Tardis is fixed and we're raring to go, how about Buldoon, never showed you Buldoon have I, they've got pink trees and orange grass and on the forth day of every luna cycle they sacrifice……."
Letting his babbling wash over her she follows him into the control room.
It's two months later in Superdrug when she feels the familiar tug on her sleeve, she turns to him.
"Aunty Donna, I lost the Tardis again"
"That's ok Alfie, have you sent a signal yet?"
"Yup" he proudly shows her his screwdriver and key, it then that she notices a new addition.
"Alfie what that's around your wrist?" she asks
He pulls up his sleeve and shows her a metallic looking bracelet with three blinking lights in the middle of the band.
"It's my locator tag and it can never ever come off, I tried, Mummy and Daddy gave it to me"
Smiling Donna takes his hand,
"Right then, shall we go get some hot chocolate whilst we wait?"
With a nod and a smile they make their way to the nearest coffee shop.