This is the sequel to 'The Reunion'. So if you haven't read it yet…I recommend you do, because otherwise you may not know how Rose and the Doctor got back together again (which is what the Reunion is all about). Hope you enjoy (and review)!
It was getting darker. Steph knew that if she was late home again, her mother would kill her.
"Crap!"
Steph turned to face a dark alley.
"Wrong way!"
Steph turned on the spot and ran the other way. The streets looked different at night. She knew the moment it hit 6pm, her mother would get VERY angry. Steph silently crossed the street, checking both ways. Anyway, it wasn't her fault. It was Mike's. Her boss had asked her to tidy up the backroom of the café where she worked. She had almost finished when her fellow waiter Mike, came in and tipped all her neat piles all over the floor. She had to start again.
Steph looked at her watch. 5.50pm.
"Oh no! I won't make it!" She cried.
Suddenly, a large, unnatural sound made her stop. She turned around and peered into the darkness, looking for the source. Slowly, out of no where, an object started to appear. Steph could feel her heart beat faster. The object appeared to be a blue box of some sort, though Steph had never seen anything like it. The noise it appeared to be making was so strange, and all Steph could do was stare. She stood, rooted to the ground by fear and shock.
All of a sudden, the noise stopped and the doors opened. A man followed closely by a woman tumbled out laughing quite loudly. They stopped instantly when they caught sight of Steph. The woman turned to the man with a look that combined shock and curiosity. He returned it. The man turned back to face Steph. She could feel his eyes scan her up and down. The woman leaned closer to the man and began to whisper. Steph strained her ears to hear.
"Doesn't the TARDIS usually land somewhere deserted, or at least no one notices?" She asked.
TARDIS?
"That's what I thought too. Something was have told the TARDIS that there was nothing nearby though." He replied.
Steph instantly realised what they must be.
"You're aliens." She stammered.
"Ah yes, well…" The man started, but he might as well said 'yes, I'm from Mars', because Steph took off down the opposite direction as fast as she could.
Steph closed the front door of her house behind her. She slid down it with her back against it, her heart still going at a million miles per hour. She looked at her hands. They were still shaking from her 'encounter'.
"STEPHANIE CAITLIN TUCKER! YOU ARE LATE!"
OO
"Hey, why are you so late today?"
Steph rushed into the classroom, throwing her books to one side in anger. She slumped into her desk and turned to face her friend.
"Sorry Miranda. I'm grounded, again!" She scowled.
"Was Mike giving you a hard time again at the café yesterday?"
"How'd you guess?" Steph replied bitterly.
Her friend looked at her sympathetically.
"He just doesn't ever seem to want to leave me alone! I'm like, serving customer and I can feel his eyes burning into the back of my head. It's really creepy!" She sighed and leaned back in her chair, just as the teacher came in.
"I hate going to work now, just because he's there."
Her friend sighed.
"Well, you're gonna hate going to school now too, because he's working here as well."
She motioned to a tall man in a new janitor's uniform, strutting past the door. Steph groaned.
"I hate my life right now."
OO
Steph dragged her bag around the corner. Looking up the road, she realised she had been here not so long ago. Glancing around, she spotted the Blue Box again. She had to stop herself from shrieking out loud and dashing back the way she came. Taking control of her fear and sighed deeply.
"Aliens!" She breathed.
Fear began to creep back, but Steph shook herself. She figured she was probably the only one who knew there were aliens, so she should find out as much as she can about them, and then tell someone. After all, isn't that what they usually do in the movies? Pinching her arm to remind herself that this wasn't a movie, it was real life, Steph slowly moved towards the box. Dropping her books on the ground and crossing the street, she checked to see if anyone was around. It was deserted, except for her.
Steph placed her hand on one of the sides of the box. It felt wooden under her fingertips. Tapping lightly, it felt very solid.
Are all spaceships made of wood?
Circling the box, she turned to face the doors. She felt a sudden urge to open them, to be the first to see inside an alien spaceship…
Just as she was about to open them, voices could be heard coming closer. Quickly, she darted around the other side of the box, hopefully from view of whoever it was coming around the corner.
As the voices grew louder, Steph realised that she recognised them. It was the man and the woman.
The aliens.
Unsure of what to do, Steph crouched down, with her back still against the box.
"I'm telling you…," The man was saying. "There are odd things going on!"
The woman laughed.
"I haven't the slightest idea of what you're going on about! No, wait, yes I do! We come to Australia, and you have some paranoid thing about it. Is that it?"
"I'm telling you! Something about that café gave me the creeps!"
"I've never been to Australia before, and when we finally arrive, there's something wrong with it. What's sooo bad about this café anyway?"
"I don't know; something!"
"There is nothing wrong with the Crepe Café!"
Steph gasped. That was the café where she worked!
The aliens must be coming after me! Or something like that…Am I in danger?
Frantic thoughts raced through Steph's mind as she conjured up possible scenarios in her head of what the aliens would do to her if they caught her…
Steph began feeling around on the ground behind her, searching for something to use as a weapon, just in case…Picking up a large rock, she prepared herself for whatever might happen…
"I just wanted a nice, pleasant date with you, but no!"
Or not…
"You didn't like the date? What? Miss the excitement of dangerous and deadly aliens chasing you through some deserted village on a planet a million miles from home? I thought you said you wanted a nice, calm date?"
"Oh, Doctor! Every date with you is great! There was nothing wrong the Crepe Café! Although, I have to admit…The lemon tarts weren't as nice as they looked in the shelf…"
Steph gathered her wits and the large rock and jumped out in front of the box.
"What the…" The man started.
"What are you doing in my café?" Steph demanded.
The man and the woman stared at the fifteen year old blonde waitress in surprise. In one had she had a large rock and the other was aiming at their heads.
"What?" The woman exclaimed.
Steph shuffled her feet in surprise.
They aren't attacking…yet…
"Crepe café. I work there. Why were you there?" She repeated.
The man's eyes lit up.
"I know you…" He started.
"You work at Crepe Café?" Asked the woman.
Steph eyed her off.
"What's it to you?" She bluntly replied, still holding the rock high, even though the strength in her arms was beginning to wane.
"What's your name?" Asked the woman.
"Steph. Why do you want to know?"
"Hello Steph. My name is Rose, and this is the Doctor." The woman pointed to herself and the man next to her.
"Doctor who?"
"Just the Doctor. Now Steph, has anything unusual been happening lately? Anything at all…" The Doctor blurted out.
Steph lowered the rock.
"Why do you want to know?" She asked quietly.
"It may be…or may not be important. Either way…?" The Doctor replied.
Steph thought for a moment. Should she trust these aliens? For all she knew, this could be a plot to take over the world, but generally she had a good judge of character, and these two didn't seem like the type to take over the world.
"Nothing much has happened that's unusual." She answered.
There was always Mike's behaviour, but then again, some people are just like that.
"Oh." The Doctor looked somewhat disheartened, but Rose just tapped his shoulder and smiled.
Steph checked her watch.
"I'm late!" She shrieked.
Steph ignored Rose and the Doctor's confused looked and raced past them, grabbing her bag as she went. Steph sprinted down the alley and around the corner and into work.
OO
"That's it! Now I'm sure!" Declared the Doctor once they were back inside the TARDIS.
"What's sure?" Asked Rose, intrigued.
"The TARDIS usually only ever lands somewhere where people don't notice it. But, something made it think that Steph wasn't there. That's not normal." He explained.
"So…now what?" Rose asked.
The Doctor smiled at her.
"You see this?" He produced a single blonde hair from inside his pocket.
"Yeah…" Replied Rose slowly.
"Well, when she pushed past us to go wherever she was going to go, this came off. I'm going to run a few tests, just to make sure…"