I've decided to create a short list of cute childish short stories for Doctor Who. This is the first one I've created so far and there will be plenty more with all of your favorite characters and Doctors. I particularly liked this story, not just because it was my first short story but because it's about my favorite DW couple: Ace and the 7th Doctor. They're so cute together. ^3^
And for anyone wondering, Ace is about nine years old and Seven is similar in appearance.
"Now don't wander off, Theta. I have some business to take care of and I can't have you mucking it up, as usual." Theta thought his instructor sounded far more stressed than usual, and would have gladly joined him just to make him twitch, but his instructor gently gave him a push towards a nearby playground. "Go mingle with the natives."
He sniffed, giving his instructor a tired and annoyed look. If his father were there, his instructor wouldn't be so quick to push him away and leave him on his own. Theta shook his head, his blue eyes scrutinizing the small playground. There were a few children about, kicking dirt at each other and throwing bark, and Theta decided he didn't want to be around them.
Though there was one child that wasn't throwing dirt or bark. She was sitting by a tree, messing with a water bottle, and grinning to herself. Theta thought she had a very nice smile (for a girl, since Theta was at that very tender age when girls had cooties) and that she was certainly better than the barbarians hogging the swings and ruining the park for the rest of the children.
Trotting in her direction, he almost stumbled to a halt when she looked up at him. Good gracious, he thought in awe, she has beautiful eyes. She stared at him with her wide warm brown eyes as he ventured closer and her eyes got even wider as he stood awkwardly next to her.
"Hi," he said quietly, his voice suddenly sounding ridiculous with its high pitch and his appearance suddenly a concern. He never thought of his height as an issue but when a girl, who was clearly younger than him, towered several inches over him, he didn't feel too confident in himself. He wanted to comb his chubby fingers through his thick dark hair and straighten out his clothes, although he hadn't the faintest idea why.
Then she smiled at him and it was like the stars were falling just for him. "Hello," her voice was a chorus of angels. Theta almost sighed but caught himself. Her cheeks were slightly chubby with baby fat but not so much that she looked obese and her light brown hair was put up in a ponytail, little curls escaping at the nape of her neck. Theta thought she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. "What's your name?"
"Hmm?" he was so caught up in staring at her that he didn't realize she had spoken. His eyes widened and he stopped himself from smacking his own forehead. I must look like such a fool, he scolded himself. Noticing that she was still waiting for an answer, he cleared his throat. "Th-Theta, Miss."
She laughed and Theta sagged a bit, his smile stretching wide. He loved her laugh. In fact, so far, there wasn't a thing he didn't love about her. "Oh, none of that 'Miss' stuff. My name's Dorothy," she stuck out her tongue in disgust and wrinkled her little nose, "but I hate it… so you can call me Ace."
Theta smirked; 'Ace' was proving to be a bit of a rebel and he loved it. Theta considered himself a rebel (though most called him a nuisance) and was pleased to find someone, inferior species or not, that had that in common with him. "Okay 'Ace'… what're you doing?"
"Playing with explosives," Ace replied, shaking the water bottle at him as though it was obvious.
Theta blinked at her, shocked. He wasn't aware that this century handled explosives so willy-nilly. He could understand if they were in a war or something… but children? "Isn't that dangerous?" he asked, wondering why he cared. Blowing stuff up was something he enjoyed (watching, at least) and if this girl had explosives, then more power to her. He hoped she used it on something good, like the other children behind them. He nearly grinned as he imagined the looks on the children's faces when their coveted playground went up in smoke.
Ace laughed again. "No, no, no, it's fine. Look, see?" She showed him the water bottle and shook it again. This time, Theta flinched, his blue eyes huge.
"Be careful with that thing!" His eyes narrowed in annoyance and anger as she rolled on the ground, laughing her head off. "What's so funny? You could have killed us!"
"It's just water, dummy!" she cried, still grinning. "See?" She unscrewed the cap and dumped out the water. Theta watched dumbfounded as the water splattered over the green grass and felt like a fool for thinking ordinary water would be an explosive. "It's okay. I don't think any less of you for it. Nitro glycerin is clear like this and highly sensitive so it's alright."
Theta blinked at her again, surprised at her knowledge of explosives. He swallowed, a tad bit worried about her enthusiasm. "You sure do like explosives, don't you?"
Ace nodded happily, throwing the empty water bottle in the air and making an explosion sound. "I want to be a scientist one day and help create a new explosive, like a liquid or something. Man, it would be so cool to just carry that around with you everywhere."
Theta shivered. "Yes…" he grumbled, "…cool…"
He pitched forward as something hard hit the back of his head and he fell onto his stomach. Tears welled in his eyes as the back of his skull throbbed but he refused to cry in front of Ace. He just worked his way back up and sneered behind him at whoever had thrown something at him as he leaned against a tree for support. Ace was on her feet, reminding him of his small stature, and she looked appalled. "Hey!"
The group of children that had been messing around before, throwing things and whatnot, were sitting at the very top of the playground structure, snickering and giggling. The oldest boy, who looked to be the leader, was grinning like an idiot. "Yeah?"
"Whatchu do that for?" Ace yelled, her expression fiery. Theta wobbled his way over to her and made himself stand upright, as much as he wanted to collapse and cry for a little. She was defending him and he would fight beside her, no matter how dizzy he was. He blushed red hot as she wrapped an arm around his shoulder and helped hold him up. "You could have really hurt him!"
Theta groaned. "He did hurt me."
Ace spun him around and looked at the back of his head. She hissed and frowned. "Ouch. You're going to have a bump for a while but you'll be fine. We just need to get you some ice soon." When Theta nodded at her, she faced the attackers once more. "You bunch of idiots! Only cowards attack for a distance!"
"I don't fight girls," the older boy replied and his posse cackled, as if he'd cracked a joke none of them had heard before.
"Whatever," Ace called back, turning and pulling Theta with her. "Pansy…"
There was a thump and both children spun to see the older boy standing at the base of the playground structure, his arms crossed. "What did you call me, squirt?" Now that he was standing at their level, Theta could now see that he was no child. He was a young teenager of twelve or thirteen and much bigger than Theta. He wasn't quite as tall as Ace but he looked mean. Strangely, Theta thought he looked like the stereotypical bully for Earth.
Ace, unperturbed by the boy's appearance, puffed out her chest and glared. "I called you a pansy! A wimp! A chicken!" Then, to Theta's amusement, she flapped her arms and walked around, clucking like a chicken. He couldn't help the grin that split his face at her antics and he laughed and laughed and laughed and soon enough, she was laughing too and they were laughing with each other and Theta couldn't remember the last time he laughed that hard ever.
He was only half aware of the large teen charging at him and ducked just in time for the fist that was thrown to fly over his head and hit the tree behind him. The teen yowled in pain but didn't let up and grabbed Theta by the front of his shirt, lifting the poor short boy off the ground. Ace grabbed a hold of his arm and yanked. "Let go of him! Let go of him now, you jerk!"
He shoved her away and she fell, skinning her elbows. She sat in the dirt for just a moment, her eyes watering, before she stood and stomped her foot. "I'm telling!" then she ran off. Meanwhile, Theta was seeing red. How dare that older boy lay a finger on Ace? How dare he hurt her and make her cry? Ace should never cry! She was far too pretty to cry! And if Theta had anything to say about it, he would make sure Ace never cried again!
Kicking out his feet, he landed a massive kick to the teen's stomach and fell to the ground as the teen doubled over in pain. Theta kicked and punched and scuffled with the tumbled teen for a minute before there was a ring of children around them and Theta was grabbed by the arms. He glared down the teen boy, who was just getting to his feet, and spat at the boy's shoes. "Imbecile! Miscreant! Foolish child! You made Ace cry and I'll make you sorry!"
The teen chuckled. "Not before I make you sorry, runt."
And with that, Theta got the beating of his life. The boy punched Theta in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him, then he punched him in the face, splitting his lip. Another punch to the face gave him a black eye and a single punch to the ribs gave Theta a bruise he never thought would fade. Theta saw the teen draw back another punch and wondered which part of his body would ache next… when someone caught the boy's arm.
"Ace…" Theta moaned, blood spilling down his chin as he broke into a bloody thankful smile. Maybe she really is an angel…
The teen turned and sneered. "Hey, what do you think you're…!" He froze, staring up at the man behind her. A police officer in full uniform was standing there, his arms crossed and a disapproving frown upon his stern face. The teen paled. "Officer Lethbridge-Stewart…"
"Run along, Sabalom," the officer said with authority.
"But…!"
"Now, Mr. Glitz," Officer Lethbridge-Stewart said, pointing down the street. "Don't make me tell your mother on you. You're lucky Miss McShane here decided to tell me instead. Your mother would have given you a good hiding had she found out you were fighting again."
Glitz swallowed fearfully. "Don't tell Mum."
The officer made a scooting motion with his hand and Glitz took off, leaving behind a bloodied and bashed Theta. The children dispersed and Ace rushed to Theta, cupping his cheeks to lift his head up. His eyes rolled around in his head wildly. Officer Lethbridge-Stewart bent down next to them, a concerned expression on his face. "Are you quite alright, son?"
"I'll be better in a minute, sir," Theta said softly, holding his head.
"What happened?" Ace asked.
Theta spat out a bit of blood and wiped his lip with his sleeve, staining his white shirt cuff. "He made you cry… so I fought him. Nobody should make you cry."
Ace's cheeks darkened and she gave Theta a soft smile. "Oh… how sweet."
"Dear boy, that was a very brave and noble thing you did," the officer said, patting Theta's shoulder. "But you should have told an adult. Fighting is definitely not the answer."
Theta chuckled mirthlessly. "Yes, I think I figured that out the hard way. Help me up, will you Ace?" She grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet, brushing the dirt off of his jumper and button up shirt. "Are you alright, Ace?"
Once again, Ace's cheeks turned pink and she grinned. "Nah, I'm fine. It takes more than a scratch to make Ace McShane break." Despite the pain, Theta grinned right back. Ace's smile faded. "Whoa… he got you good, didn't he? Your teeth are all bloody."
Theta shrugged and chuckled. "It takes more than a split lip to make me break."
Giving the two youngsters a nod, Officer Lethbridge-Stewart went back to patrolling the streets with a fatherly, "Stay safe." Now that the playground was free of mean children, Ace went to go sit on the swings and Theta gave her a few pushes to help her get some height.
"Theta?"
"Hmm?"
"Where are you from?"
Theta paused and barely was able to see the swing coming back at him. He dodged it and walked around to the other side so he wouldn't get hit. "You want to know where I'm from?"
"Sure," Ace said, kicking her feet to go higher. "You sound like you're from Scotland but you sure are strange. You could be from anywhere!"
Anywhere in the universe, Theta thought with a smirk, oh if only you knew. "I um… I used to live in Scotland but now I live somewhere else."
Ace flew past him, soaring higher and higher into the air with every swing. "Where?"
"Um… down the street?"
"Then how come I've never seen you before?"
Theta was getting a bit tired of her questions but he shrugged. "I just moved here."
"Oh."
Theta gawked as Ace soared up, up, up into the air and left the seat of the swing. To a small child like Theta, it was like she was flying across the park but she'd only traveled a few feet forward. Ace landed on her feet but the momentum made her fall onto her bottom and she laughed in exhilaration. "Wow! That was wicked!"
Theta shook his head at her with a smile, kneeling beside Ace. "Dorothy Ace McShane, you are something else." At that moment, Theta's instructor came back to the park and shouted for Theta to come back because they were leaving. Theta grumbled; he didn't want to leave Ace. Not yet. They were having so much fun. Ignoring his instructor's voice, he smirked at Ace. "We make a pretty good team, eh Ace?"
He gaped in shock as Ace pressed a short sweet kiss to his cheek and grinned at him. "Yeah, we do. Will I see you around?"
Theta was still in shock but he snapped out of it when she elbowed him gently. "Oh, uh… probably not," he answered truthfully. "You see, my uh… my family isn't going to be here long. We're only staying for today and then we leave for uh… Norway."
Ace nodded. "Oh." She looked down at her shoes, still covered in bark from her fall. "So your family travels a lot, huh?"
Theta nodded. "Yes, quite a bit actually."
"I think I'm gonna miss you."
A blush blossomed across both of their cheeks and Theta cleared his throat. "Yes, well… I'll miss you too Ace." He smacked his thighs, frowning. "You know what? I don't see why I can't visit! In fact, the next time I come to Ear- I mean… Perivale, I'll come visit you."
Ace grinned at him. "Really?"
"Really," Theta answered, tweaking her nose affectionately. His instructor was getting really angry now. Theta gave Ace an apologetic frown. "Sorry, Ace. Gotta run. I'll be seeing you."
"You'd better!" Ace threatened with a smile and waved as Theta rushed off to his instructor.
Ace crossed her arms, watching as the short strange boy with blue eyes and a penchant for mischief ran to his teacher, and shook her head. Boys were gross. Boys had cooties and picked their noses and were mean. But if they were so bad… then why did Ace like Theta so much? Theta wasn't mean. Theta didn't pick his nose or call her names. And Ace wasn't a doctor but she was pretty sure Theta didn't have cooties. Maybe that's why. Other people didn't notice it but Ace did. Ace noticed that Theta wasn't like the other boys. He was… special, different, in a very good way. She walked back to the swing, sat down and kicked a little without enthusiasm.
She really hoped he came back.
"Well, you seem to have gotten yourself into some trouble," Theta's instructor stated, taking in Theta's state. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
Theta nodded, a dumb love-struck look still plastered to his face. "What a woman."
The instructor, though thoroughly confused, smirked at Theta and shook his head. "What is it now? One of the natives capture your hearts? Love with a human is hardly rational, you know."
"Love has never been noted for its rationality, Instructor," Theta said with a grin. "And this case is certainly no exception."
I've got a general idea of what stories I'll write (2nd Doctor and Jamie, 1st Doctor and Susan, 3rd Doctor and Sarah Jane, etc.) but I'm totally open to suggestions and ideas. Thanks so much for reading. R & R please!
