A/N: Hey! Welcome to the sixth story in my third(!) OC series, the Heart of Time Saga, Among the Forgotten. I would recommend that new readers check out the first five stories of the saga (A Treasured Discovery, Meeting of the Minds, Hearts to Hearts, Fading, and Mated Souls) to really understand who my OC is, her unique abilities, and where she is in her relationship with the Doctor, trust me they NEED to be read, especially for this series. This will be a Doctor/OC series, the pairing name officially called Thella, featuring my OC The Angel, AKA the Time Lady Nella, a woman with quite a few gifts she's only starting to understand.
As a treat for readers, if we ever make it through 100 reviews, for each hundred I will post a 'sneak peek' of something happening later in Series 5. If we happen to make it to 500(!), then I'll give a one line teaser for something monumental that will be happening in the NEXT story for Series 6 :) Lol, I've got it all picked out :)
Quick physical description: Angel, now on her 11th body, is an average-height woman (but just a bit shorter than the 10th Doctor) with long, black hair that she tends to wear half-up, half-down, and sharp grey eyes with speckles of gold in them, which the Doctor has come to realize is a part of the Vortex inside her peeking out. She also seems to have similar ears to Captain Jack :) She tends to wear a blue (-cough- TARDIS blue -cough-) short sleeved, tunic-style dress, with a ruffle-trim near the round neckline which makes it seem flowy, with a thick black belt and black cowboy boots. However she loves dressing up in period style clothing for those sorts of trips :) I picture her to look something like Rachel Weisz.
Every chapter (except 'mini-sode' chapters) will be at the very least 4,000 words. I have been making it to about 5,000 so far but there may be a few that fall to 4,000 depending on how much I liked that episode (just so you have fair warning). Every episode will be broken up into three chapters that has a special title to it, so the longer episode titles (like A Good Man Goes To War, etc) will be shortened to AGMGTW to fit the title. The holiday specials however will be posted in 5 chapters since they are quite a bit longer. This story will also have the SJA episode 'Death of the Doctor' (in 2 chapters) and possibly a Torchwood Crossover with Miracle Day (not sure how many chapters yet. It will also have the 'Meanwhile in the TARDIS' mini-sodes and the 'Death is the Only Answer' script-to-screen, (each as a separate single chapter). This story will be at least 49 chapters long and will be updated EVERY DAY which should make for a YEAR of DW! Woo! :)
~8~ is a scene break
'italics' is telepathic communication between the Doctor and Angel
'...words...' or ...action... is Angel hearing/seeing the future
~oOo~ well...we'll find out by the end of Eleventh Hour }:)
Disclaimer 1: I do not own Doctor Who...or I wouldn't be stuck in my terrible Accounting job...
Disclaimer 2: My OC is not to be associated with any DW stories that also have a Time Lady named The Angel.
Enjoy!
~8~
The Eleventh Hour: Amelia Pond
The TARDIS flew wildly over London, the central console sparking, the room in flames, as Angel did her best to pilot the old box by herself. The Doctor was currently hanging out of the TARDIS doors by his hands, his sonic in his mouth. This new him was even worse a pilot than the last him was it seemed...either that or the TARDIS was FAR more cross about his turbulent regeneration than they originally thought...
Now that she thought about it, it almost seemed like the box was trying to throw him out. She'd kept jerking in the direction of the doors, making the Doctor stumble numerous times. The last jerk had been enough to send him over the edge but the box wasn't even trying to help get him back in. She didn't understand it, the box loved the Doctor as much as she did, she knew it, so why was the old girl so cross? It couldn't be just the regeneration, he'd had loads of them before, his 9th self's, while not quite so bad, had been as extreme. And the box would fix herself right up, repair herself as TARDISes could do in extreme circumstances, when filled with the regeneration energy of her pilots. It was like...a sponge or a battery, the box absorbed the regenerative energy and used it to rebuild.
So...if everything was going to be fine, why did the TARDIS seem so determined to kill the Doctor?
"It'll be ok girl," she patted the rotor, hoping that she would be able to calm the box down enough to let him back in, "I promise, cross my hearts," she crossed them, "I'll fix you right up after you've rebuilt, anything left broken I'll get right on, it'll be ok."
The box calmed just a bit, leveled out some so the Doctor wasn't literally dangling from her any longer, but...she sounded almost...pained, as she hummed. Not a pain of rebuilding or having been damaged but...like she was trying to give a warning.
Angel shook her head, she didn't have time to try and interpret it at the moment, and so she glanced over to see the Doctor's head pop up as he tried to crawl back in, "I told you to hang on!" she shouted over to him as she ran around the console, glancing over at the Doctor as he tried to pull himself back into the TARDIS. He turned his head at the sound of a bell chiming and saw he was about to hit Big Ben. Angel pulled a lever and pulled the TARDIS up just in time though.
"Thanks!" he called, pulling himself completely inside and closing the doors, falling against them with a sigh. The ship lurched and spun out of control, nearly sending him to the ground on his face this time.
"A little help!" Angel yelled and he ran over to the console.
~8~
A little ginger girl knelt by her bed at night, saying her prayers before she went to sleep, "Dear Santa, thank you for the dolls and pencils and the fish. It's Easter now, so I hope I didn't wake you. But honest, it is an emergency. There's a crack in my wall..." she turned to glance at the crack before turning back sharply, unnerved by it, "Aunt Sharon says it's just an ordinary crack, but...I know it's not, because, at night, there's voices. So please, please, could you send someone to fix it? Or a policeman. Or..."
The rest of her prayers and pleas were cut off by a crash outside and the sound of glass breaking.
The girl looked back at her window, "Back in a moment," and ran to it, grabbing a small torch, looking outside to see the TARDIS on its back, having knocked down part of the shed, smoke rising from it. She looked up at the sky and smiled, "Thank you, Santa."
And then she turned, running out of the house, grabbing a red jacket and matching wellies on the way. She made her way to the back of the house with her torch, to where the big box had landed. Suddenly the doors were thrown open and a rope with a grappling hook flew out, catching on a lawn mower. A moment later a hand and then another came over the edge, and the Doctor popped up.
"Can I have an apple?" he asked her, "All I can think about, apples. I love apples. Maybe I'm having a craving. That's new, never had cravings before."
"Doctor!" a woman's voice called from inside, "Could you move please?"
The Doctor quickly moved to straddle the TARDIS, making room for Angel to make her way out and up to the side of the TARDIS as well. He looked back inside and gaped, "Whoa! Look at that!"
"Are you ok?" the little girl eyed them. The man was a bit weird, with his soaked, brown, floppy looking hair and green eyes. He had a blue shirt on with a brown tie and brown pants, white shoes, the whole outfit just...didn't seem to fit him. The girl, though, was dry, with black hair and a blue dress the same shade as the box they were both sitting on. She could make out cowboy boots on the woman's feet as she swung one leg over the side.
The Doctor swung both legs over and sat on the edge, shrugging as though their sudden appearance and the state of them, all wet and smudged, was perfectly normal, "Just had a fall. All the way down there, right to the library. Hell of a climb back up."
"Are you ok though Doctor?" Angel eyed him, worried, she remembered his last regeneration, how he'd been fine at first, but then fallen into a healing coma, she didn't want that to happen again, she'd felt so helpless, though this time there would likely be no one there to blame her, she still didn't want to see him in such a state.
"Right as rain," he nodded.
Angel just gave him one more look, rubbing her elbow absently. She'd managed to grab onto the console before the TARDIS had crashed, but she'd banged her elbow soundly on a lever in the process. It was rather stiff.
"You're soaking wet," the girl pointed out.
"I told him not to pull the lever," Angel told her, "And he did," she started to stroke the side of the box, "You didn't like that did you girl?" and then back at the girl, "He fell into the swimming pool."
"But he said he was in the library."
"So was the swimming pool," the Doctor nodded.
"Are you policemen?"
"Why? Did you call a policeman?"
"Did you come about the crack in my wall?"
"What cra..." he fell to the ground with a twitch of pain, "Argh!"
"Doctor!" Angel quickly jumped off the box to kneel beside him, checking on him, feeling her hearts restart again at seeing it was just a regeneration pain. She could feel it, this regeneration wouldn't be like the last, he wouldn't need a healing coma, but that didn't mean she didn't worry about him still. She'd always worry about him, seemed she'd have to now, this new him didn't really seem to worry about himself or much either.
"Is he alright?" the girl asked.
The Doctor pushed himself to a kneel, "Yes, I'm fine, it's ok. This is all perfectly norm..." he opened his mouth and orange burst of energy came out.
Angel sighed, "Let's hope there's no Pilot Fish this time," she remarked, looking around as though expecting the robots to show up out of the blue. At least the last Christmas hadn't had any killer robots...just killer Time Lords. But still, everything was ok now, they were both alive and safe and healthy and that was all she wanted, the Doctor to be ok.
"Who are you?" the girl frowned, looking between them.
"I don't know yet," the Doctor replied, looking at his hands, "I'm still cooking. Does it scare you?"
"No, it just looks a bit weird."
"No, no, no. The crack in your wall. Does it scare you?"
"Yes."
The Doctor jumped up, startling Angel at the sudden move, oddly enough having not expected it despite his new energetic countenance, oh this new him would take some getting used to wouldn't it?
The Doctor just grinned, "Well, then, no time to lose. I'm the Doctor. This is Angel. Do everything we tell you, don't ask stupid questions and don't wander off," he turned and strode away...
"Tree," Angel called, shaking her head, unable to help feeling like...something was off, like something was wrong...
...and then the Doctor walked into said tree, knocking himself back to the ground.
"You alright?" the girl called.
"Early days," he sighed from his place on the ground, "Steering's a bit off," a hand was suddenly in front of his face and he took it, Angel helping him off the ground, the Doctor moving to brush some dirt and leaves off his clothes, wringing out the soaked tie, before they followed the girl into her house.
~8~
The Doctor and Angel stood in the little girl's kitchen as she went to get the Doctor his requested apple. It was a very cozy room, very homey, "If you're a doctor, why does your box say 'Police?'" the girl asked, handing him the apple.
He took a big bite of it, chewing it a moment before spitting it out and coughing, "That's disgusting. What is that?"
"An apple."
"Apples are rubbish. I hate apples."
"You told her you loved them," Angel reminded him.
"No, no," he shook his head, pointing at her, "I love yogurt. Yogurt's my favorite," and turned to the girl, "Give me yogurt."
The girl moved to the refrigerator and got him a yogurt.
He tore the lid off and poured it into his mouth before spitting it to the side, "I hate yoghurt, it's just stuff with bits in."
"You said it was your favorite!" the little girl told him.
"New mouth, new rules," he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, "It's like eating after cleaning your teeth, everything tastes wro...agh!" he had a small fit and smacked himself in the forehead.
"What is it? What's wrong with you?"
"Wrong with me? It's not my fault. Why can't you give me decent food? You're Scottish, fry something."
The girl eyed him oddly a moment before turning to the stove and turning it on.
"Still rude then?" Angel asked, looking at him intently, she really couldn't shake the feeling that something was really terribly wrong...but what?
"Suppose so," he shrugged, turning to open and close the cupboards around him, just being nosy.
Angel tensed a little as she watched him. It was...different. Him. When he'd regenerated the first time, it had been like a new start, he'd been so different, but a good different, and this was a good different too. This new him seemed...happier, lighter, like...he was finally starting to let go of all the guilt from the War. She hoped, a very small hope, that she might have had something to do with that. But...still...there was something about the new Doctor...
She blinked, was THIS how he'd felt when she'd regenerated? The Doctors before him, her Doctors, she hadn't been Mated to one and only started the Mating with the other, but they hadn't regenerated while she was Mated to them till just now. Was this how he'd felt when she had regenerated during the Mating? It was true, the Mating made things that much more powerful, emotions wise, made the loss of one incarnation feel that much more profound. But...
The 10th Doctor had never seemed to mind, not for long. She knew he had been worried for the first few moments of her regenerations, about the Mating bonds and about her. But he always seemed pleased with the new new hers, like...each time he just found new things to love about her. She had to admit, she DID see a bit of hesitation right at the beginning, that moment when you didn't really know what sort of person the new new Mate was, she supposed it would just take time.
She smiled, being a Time Lord, they had all the time in the Universe to get to know this new new new him. And she couldn't wait because...she bit her lip a bit, she rather liked the new new new him from what she'd seen the last few minutes. He was just as handsome to her as the last hims had been, much more energetic, playful, happy...that was what she wanted, him to be happy.
As long as he was happy, she would be too.
~8~
The Doctor and Angel stood there, drying themselves off with a few towels as the girl cooked up the bacon.
"Ah! Bacon!" the Doctor smiled, taking a bite of it from the plate the girl had given him, the girl laughing as Angel shook her head at him, just knowing what was coming next. He made a face and spit the food out, "Bacon. That's bacon?" he looked at the girl, suspicious, "Are you trying to poison me?"
"I wouldn't have let you touch the food if she was Doctor," Angel smiled at him.
~8~
The girl turned the stove on again and cooked up some beans.
"Ah, you see, beans," the Doctor smiled, moving to the table and taking a forkful of beans when the girl handed him the bowl...
Which he then spit out in the sink as the girl made a face.
"Beans are evil. Bad, bad beans."
Angel shook her head and looked at the girl, "I'm sorry about him."
~8~
The girl sighed, spreading butter over a slice of bread.
"Bread and butter," the Doctor nodded, "Now you're talking."
Angel just headed out of the room, towards the front door...
~8~
...and held it open as the Doctor threw the plate of bread and butter out. There was a crash and a poor cat screeched, making Angel wince.
"And stay out!" he called, shutting the door behind him.
~8~
The girl looked in the refrigerator as the Doctor paced, "We've got some carrots…"
"Carrots?" the Doctor eyed her, "Are you insane?"
Angel sighed and walked over, "Well, while you debate what to eat…" she reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a container of custard and then a package of fish fingers from the freezer. She looked at them and smiled, "Fish fingers and custard."
"Ew," the girl grimaced as the Doctor eyed her as though she were insane now too.
"What?" Angel shook her head, "Hearing you talk about food has given me a craving," she paused a moment with a frown, she'd never really had a craving before, and SHE wasn't even the one regenerating, but she shook her head and went to get the food ready, she hadn't really eaten much and with all the running around, the food sounded good.
She blamed the Doctor for her craving though, he was always influencing her.
~8~
Angel sat at the table, dipping a fish finger into a bowl of custard and taking a bite. The Doctor eyed her closely before reaching forward and experimentally trying the same. A smile bloomed across his face as he dipped the fish finger in again and woofed it down, going in for more. The girl laughed, eating ice cream across from them. After a few moments, when the fish fingers were all gone, the Doctor lifted the bowl and drank some of the custard.
"Funny," the girl remarked, eyeing him.
"Am I?" he swallowed, wiping a custard mustache away, "Good. Funny's good."
"I prefer silly," Angel smiled, the Doctor had proved numerous times there was nothing wrong with silly.
"What's your name?" the Doctor looked at the girl.
"Amelia Pond," the girl answered.
"Well it's very nice to meet you Amelia," Angel reached over to shake the girl's hand.
"Amelia Pond, that's a brilliant name, like a name in a fairy tale," the Doctor nodded, "Are we in Scotland, Amelia?"
"No," she sighed, "We had to move to England. It's rubbish."
"Your mum and dad..." Angel began with a frown, getting a pang as she thought on them and the girl.
"Yes, where are they?" the Doctor cut in, looking around, "Are they upstairs?"
"Doctor," Angel shook her head.
"Thought we'd have woken them by now."
"I don't have a mum and dad," the girl said, "Just an aunt."
"I don't even have an aunt," the Doctor remarked.
"You're lucky."
"I know. So, your aunt. Where is she?"
"She's out."
"She left you here alone?" Angel shook her head, unable to comprehend that, the girl was only 7!
"I'm not scared."
"'Course you're not," the Doctor nodded, "You're not scared of anything! Box falls out of the sky, man and woman fall out of box, man and woman eat fish custard, and look at you, just sitting there. So you know what I think?"
"What?"
"Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall."
~8~
They stood in the doorway of Amelia's bedroom, looking at the crack. It looked like it was just an ordinary crack, hardly worth investigating. The Doctor was even going to turn and ask Amelia if, perhaps, her aunt had any sort of plaster around so he could mend the crack...but then Angel spoke.
"I don't like it," Angel shook her head, crossing her arms and staying in the doorway, looking at the crack with a frown on her face that was a cross between unease and disgust. She shifted a bit, even just...looking at it made her feel like it was wrong, made her feel like she shouldn't get close to it...made her feel a bit sick too. Her stomach was churning at the sight of it and she swallowed, trying to keep the fish fingers and custard down.
"Why?" the Doctor looked over at her.
"I don't know," she shook her head, "It just…makes me feel a bit sick is all."
The Doctor nodded and stepped into the room, keeping that in mind as he went to examine the crack, "You've had some cowboys in here. Not actual cowboys, though that can happen."
"I used to hate apples," Amelia remarked as she stood in the doorway by Angel, sharing the woman's sentiments about not getting too close to the crack, "So my mum put faces on them," she glanced at the Doctor before walking in and handed him an apple with a smiling face cut into it.
"She sounds good, your mum," he tossed the apple in the air and caught it.
"You might want to keep that for later," Angel called, stepping hesitantly into the room, though her gaze was locked on the crack. She really didn't like it, but the Doctor and Amelia were in the room and, if anything happened, she wanted to be closer enough to help.
The Doctor though, didn't seem to notice her hesitation or agitation as he just dropped the apple into his pocket and turned back to the crack, "This wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So here's a thing, where's the draft coming from?" he flashed the sonic across it and checked the results, "Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey. You know what the crack is?"
"What?" Amelia shook her head.
"Don't touch it," Angel called, seeing him move to do just that, everything in her was telling him to get him away from that crack.
"I'll be fine," he whispered, focused on the crack as he ran his fingers along it, "It's a crack," he added to Amelia, "I'll tell you something funny. If you knocked this wall down, the crack would stay put, 'cos the crack isn't in the wall."
"Where is it, then?" Amelia frowned.
"Everywhere," Angel answered, blinking at the crack, "It's everywhere and in everything," she glanced at the Doctor, "I used to see something like it with the TARDISes when their pilots would try to break into alternate realities, it's the result of the skin of the world ripping and trying to mend in the wrong way, two pieces of space and time that aren't meant to be together are being forced together."
She swallowed hard...
'...Prisoner Zero has escaped...'
...the sun seemed grayish, flickering before returning close to normal...
'...we're in the coma ward. But it's here, it's getting in...'
The Doctor nodded, "Right here in the wall of your bedroom," he pressed his ear against it, "Sometimes can you hear…"
"A voice?" Amelia cut in, "Yes."
"Prisoner Zero has escaped," Angel murmured, looking down, not wanting to look at the crack any longer.
The Doctor frowned, eyeing her a moment, he could hear an echoing distant voice, but couldn't make it out. He walked back to a water glass on the nightstand by Amelia's bed and poured out the water, looking at it before pressing it against the wall, and then his ear.
"Prisoner Zero has escaped," the voice said.
He nodded, she was right, "Prisoner Zero has escaped."
"That's what I heard," Amelia agreed, "What does it mean?"
"Prisoner Zero has escaped," the voice said again.
The Doctor moved away from the wall, "It means that, on the other side of this wall, there's a prison and they've lost a prisoner. Do you know what that means?"
"What?"
"You need a better wall," he moved her desk out of the way, "The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way. The forces will invert and it'll snap itself shut. Or..."
"What?"
"You know when grownups tell you everything's going to be fine and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better?"
"Yes."
"Everything's going to be fine."
He stepped over to Amelia's side, taking her hand and holding out the sonic in the other one. He glanced over at Angel who nodded, "Everything WILL be fine," she told both of them before smiling at Amelia, "Trust me, I just know things," before whispering conspiratorially, "Psychic."
He nodded, turning back and flashing the sonic. Amelia peered around as a bright light shined in the crack and it separated wide. There was a dim light past it, through which there was a faint outline of bars.
"Prisoner Zero has escaped," a voice said as the Doctor stepped closer to it, "Prisoner Zero has escaped."
"Hello?" he tried to peer in, "Hello?"
A giant blue eye suddenly appeared in the crack.
"What's that?" Amelia squeezed the Doctor's hand.
A small beam of light flew out from the crack and hit the Doctor. He fell against the bed as the crack slammed shut, sealing itself, "There," the Doctor smiled, "You see, told you it would close. Good as new."
"What was that thing? Was that Prisoner Zero?"
"That might have been Prisoner Zero's guard?" Angel guessed, glancing at the Doctor, feeling much better now that the crack was gone, it really unnerved her. She eyed the Doctor a moment, wondering why it hadn't unnerved him, why he was so calm facing it when she was freaking out about it, but shook her head, they both had tried to remain as calm as they could for Amelia.
"Whatever it was," the Doctor shrugged, "It sent me a message," he held up the psychic paper, "Psychic paper, takes a lovely little message. 'Prisoner Zero has escaped.' But why tell us? Unless..." he stood up suddenly.
"Unless what?" Amelia frowned.
The Doctor looked around, "Unless Prisoner Zero escaped through here. But he couldn't have," he looked at Angel, "We'd know. You'd've sensed it," he ran out of the room and into the hall, looking around in confusion, "It's difficult. Brand new me, nothing works yet. But there's something I'm missing..."
Angel stepped out of the room and over to his side, her gaze being pulled and fixing on the door at the end of the hall, tensing.
He looked at her and tried to look at what she was...but couldn't, and realized just what it meant for that to happen. He turned his head, trying a different approach, "In the corner..." he slowly turned his head so that the door appeared just in his peripheral vision, "Of my eye."
"The TARDIS!" Angel gasped, running down the stairs moments before an echoing sound of machinery and a deep bell ran out.
"No, no, no, no, no, no!" the Doctor shouted, running after her, Amelia following him out into the night.
"We need to get inside!" Angel called, frantically hoisting herself up onto the edge of the TARDIS, "The engines are about to phase and it'll burn her from the inside out!" and with that, she jumped back into the box.
"But...it's just a box!" Amelia shook her head as the Doctor ran over and freed the grappling hook, "How can a box have engines?"
"It's not a box," the Doctor explained, "It's a time machine."
"What, a real one? You've got a real time machine?"
"Not for much longer if we can't get her stabilized. Five-minute hop into the future should do it," he quickly tied the rope to the door handles.
"Can I come?"
"Not safe in here, not yet. Five minutes. Give me five minutes, I'll be right back," he hopped onto the edge and was about to jump when…
"People always say that."
The Doctor looked back and jumped to the ground, looking her in the eye, "Am I people? Do I even look like people? Trust me, I'm the Doctor."
Amelia started to smile at that.
"Doctor!" Angel cried from inside.
He winked at the girl and climbed back onto the edge, holding the rope before jumping in, "Geronimo!"
The TARDIS doors shut and Amelia watched as it disappeared.
As soon as it was gone she ran back inside and straight to her room. She pulled out a small suitcase from under her bed and began to throw clothes and other items in there. She locked it and ran back downstairs, past the now open door at the end of the hall, not even noticing it. She ran outside, wearing a warmer coat and a hat and sat down where the TARDIS had disappeared, waiting.
She didn't even notice a shadowy figure dart past the window of the kitchen.
~8~
The TARDIS materialized in Amelia's back garden in daylight, the Doctor throwing the doors open as he and Angel coughed, rushing out, using bits of cloth to cover their noses and mouths while smoke billowed from the TARDIS.
"Keep an eye on her," the Doctor told Angel before running towards the house, leaving her to care for the box as he went to protect the little girl, "Amelia! Amelia! I worked out what it was. I know what I was missing! You've got to get out of there!" he flashed the lock with the sonic and ran in.
"Calm down girl," Angel whispered, stroking the corner of the TARDIS, "I know, I know he's an idiot, he is. I'm sorry, but you need to calm down or you'll make yourself sick."
The TARDIS just hummed, sounding almost frantic.
"What is it girl?" she shook her head, she couldn't understand, it was like...the box was too overwhelmed to get whatever it was she was trying to say across.
~8~
The Doctor ran into the house, looking around, "Amelia?" he ran upstairs, "Amelia, are you alright? Are you there?" he ran straight to the door that he'd glimpsed before and tried to open it with the sonic, "Prisoner Zero is here. Prisoner Zero is here! Prisoner Zero is here! Do you understand me? Prisoner Zero is..."
~8~
"Duck…" Angel whispered, blinking.
~8~
The Doctor turned, hearing a creak behind him, only to be smashed in the head with a cricket bat.
~8~
"Yes," Angel nodded at the TARDIS, "He's done it again," she sighed, reaching over to pull the doors to the TARDIS shut, before she ran off towards the house, only to find that the door had locked itself again.
~8~
A male nurse with light brown hair, and a slightly large nose, wearing blue scrubs followed a woman in a business suit towards the coma ward of the local hospital where the patients were laid out, unconscious. She stopped in front of the beds and looked at the nurse, "So. They all called out at once, that's what you're saying?" he nodded, "All of them, all the coma patients," she flipped through the files, "You do understand that these people are all comatose, don't you? They can't speak."
"Yes, Dr. Ramsden," he nodded.
"Then why are you wasting my time?"
"Because they called for you."
"Me?"
"Yes...and for..."
"And for who?"
"Doctor," a patient called out softly, startling the two as they looked over, "Angel…" all the other patients began to speak, calling out for 'Doctor' and 'Angel' as well.
~8~
The Doctor slowly came to, his vision clearing, to see a female police officer in a very short skirt speaking into her radio, "White male, mid-20s, breaking and entering. Send me some backup, I've got him restrained," she ended the conversation and turned to see the Doctor awake, "Oi, you! Sit still."
He moaned, "Cricket bat. I'm getting cricket bat."
"You were breaking and entering."
He tried to get up, but realized the woman had apparently handcuffed him to the radiator. He winced and rubbed his head, "Well, that's much better. Brand new me, whack on the head. Just what it needed."
"Do you want to shut up now? I've got backup on the way!"
"Hang on, no, wait, you're a policewoman."
"And you're breaking and entering. You see how this works?"
"But what are you doing here? Where's Amelia?"
The woman blinked, "Amelia Pond?"
"Yeah. Little Scottish girl," he rubbed his forehead, feeling a sort of pressure building there, "Where is she? I promised her five minutes but the engines were phasing. I suppose I must have gone a bit far. Has something happened to her?"
"Amelia Pond hasn't lived here in a long time."
"How long?"
"Six months."
"No, no, no! I can't be six months late! I said five minutes. I promised," he shook his head as the officer turned away, "What happened to her? What happened to Amelia Pond?"
"Sarge, it's me again," she called into the radio, "Hurry it up, this guy knows something about Amelia Pond…"
The Doctor's gaze landed on the door from before a little niggling in the back of his mind.
~8~
Angel frowned as she closed her eyes, concentrating hard. She'd been calling the Doctor in his mind for the last few minutes but he hadn't responded. She could feel him at the edge of her mind, but it seemed like he was ignoring her for some reason.
She opened her eyes and looked at the lock, he only ever did that when the situation was really bad and needed his full concentration. And if it was that bad...she should be there...
~8~
Dr. Ramsden examined the first patient who spoke, an older man who had pictures of his dog on the nightstand, "I don't think they were even conscious."
"Dr. Ramsden, there is another sort of, um, funny thing," the nurse added.
"Yes, I know. Dr. Carver told me about your conversation. We've been very patient with you, Rory. You're a good enough nurse, but for God's sake..."
"I've seen them!"
"These patients are under 24-hour supervision! We know if their blood pressure changes. There's no possibility you'd have seen them wandering in the village! Why are you giving me your phone?!"
"It's a camera too," he held out the phone.
"You need to take some time off, Rory," she said, reaching for the phone when a pager beeped, "A lot of time off. Start now," Rory tried to argue, "Now!"
Rory nodded and left.
~8~
Angel looked down at the doorknob and clutched it with both hands, smiling as she saw the golden energy of the Vortex drifting out of them and into the door...beaming as it clicked unlocked. She had just pushed the door open, when the TARDIS gave a pained groan, like a very sick grinding noise.
She stopped, feeling like the box was calling to her, begging her not to go in there. She looked back at it, it felt like the box was asking her to stay with her. She swallowed and looked back at the door then the TARDIS. She quickly dashed over to the box, "What is it girl?" she asked, reaching for the doors but they wouldn't open, "Please, the Doctor needs me. What's wrong?"
~8~
"I need to speak to whoever lives in this house, now," the Doctor said, still sitting on the floor. He rubbed the side of his head, he was starting to get a headache now but he shook it off, it was not the time.
"I live here," the woman stated.
"But you're the police."
"Yes, and this is where I live. You got a problem with that?!"
"How many rooms?"
"I'm sorry, what?"
"On this floor. How many rooms on this floor? Count them for me now."
"Why?"
"Because it will change your life."
"Five," she pointed them out, "One, two, three, four, five."
"Six," he nodded at the door she missed.
"Six?"
"Look."
"Look where?"
"Exactly where you don't want to look. Where you never want to look, the corner of your eye. Look behind you."
She slowly turned around and spotted the door, "That's...that is not possible. How's that possible?"
"There's a perception filter round the door. Angel sensed it the last time we were here. I should've seen it."
"But that's a whole room. That's a whole room I've never even noticed."
"The filter stops you. Something came a while ago to hide. It's still hiding. You need to uncuff me now!"
She turned and slowly started to walk down the hall towards the room, "I don't have the key. I lost it."
"How can you have lost it?! Stay away from that door!" but she kept walking, "Do not touch that door!" she put her hand on the knob, "Listen to me! Do not open that..." she opened it, "Why does no one ever listen to me? Do I just have a face that nobody listens to?" she slowly walked into the room, "Again..." he frantically searched his pockets for the sonic, "My screwdriver, where is it?"
~8~
Angel frowned as the box was silent, "I'm sorry," she told it, stepping back, about to go to the house once more...
When the TARDIS gave the saddest sound she'd ever heard. She closed her eyes, and nodded, "Ok," she whispered, stepping back to it, "I'll stay, but if the Doctor needs me..." she left the rest unsaid, for it didn't have to be said, if he needed her, she'd go.
She glanced up at the windows to the second floor, calling out to the Doctor once more, but still...no reply.
She looked over her shoulder as the TARDIS gave a quiet hum, almost sad, almost apologetic. But...she wasn't sure what the box was apologizing for.
"It'll be ok," she whispered, patting the corner of it as she turned and kept her gaze on the windows, waiting for any sign or feeling that the Doctor would need her help.
~8~
The woman looked around the dusty room, where old boxes were set up on the floor, the curtains barely there anymore. The walls were stained with water damage. She looked over at the table in the middle of the room.
"Silver thing, blue at the end!" she could hear the man shouting, "Where did it go?"
"There's nothing here," she called back.
"Whatever's there stopped you seeing the whole room. What makes you think you could see it? Now, please, just get out!"
"Silver, blue at the end?" her gaze landed on the sonic, sitting on the table.
"My screwdriver, yeah."
"It's here."
"Must have rolled under the door."
"Yeah. Must have. And then it must have jumped up on the table..."
A/N: Lol, I hope you all liked how Angel was the one to start the fish custard thing :) I know when my siblings are hungry and going on and on about what to eat, even if I've eaten only an hour before I end up hungry and eating with them lol.
For this chapter, all I can say is...Angel is right, something IS wrong, very, very, very wrong and the TARDIS IS aware of what that is. There were a few hints in this chapter about it, even more coming up in the next though. Care to take any preliminary guesses as to what it is? }:)
Either way, next chapter Angel meets Rory! Woo! :) I am seriously dying to get to the point where he starts to travel with them ^-^
Just a few notes on reviews (from Mated Souls)...
Lol, I definitely caught the wi-fi reference :) I'm not sure if it was intentional for the writers, but I LOVE when things work out like that :)
I love how 11 goes from playful to dangerous SO much! I miss the tweed too, though I have to admit I like the new jacket (just because purple is my favorite color though :)) I definitely wanted to see the swimming pool more too instead of just a glimpse of it in JTTCOTT :)