Chapter one:
~of entrances and seduction~
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"You're our butler, not our nanny. We are allowed to leave the house."
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"Now, boss, where do you fancy heading?" asked the Doctor, smirking at Clara and adjusting his blue bowtie.
"Hmmm, how about back in time? 1927 about, eh, mid March?" she had picked the time and date randomly, hoping it would get them somewhere good.
"How very specific," he said, laughing. "Any particular place."
"Yorkshire, England." Clara said, again saying the first thing that popped into her head.
"You're very quick today aren't you." joked the Doctor, punching in the coordinates. She grinned at him and popped down the hall to the wardrobe as the tardis tumbled about. She came out a few minutes later wearing an era-appropriate blue dress. "Beautiful! Shall we head off?"
"Why yes I think we shall." said Clara in a mock posh voice.
"Do you think he'll come back?" asked Mary who was sitting next to Matthew on their bench. She had her head resting on his shoulder, enjoying the beautiful day as they talked, taking some quiet time away from their new babies who were probably driving poor Sybil, who was watching them at the moment, insane.
"I think he will. He's not very dependable but he seems to get it together and show up eventually." he said. He then maneuvered himself so he and Mary were opposite each other before kissing her.
"What are you doing?" Mary mumbled.
"Using our time wisely." she kissed him back and both ignored the Tardis noise starting up not too far away.
"Tada!" exclaimed the Doctor, pushing the doors open, "1927." They both walked out to see the other couple making out on the bench in front of them. The Doctor slapped a hand over his eyes and made a very loud noise.
"Shall I tell them or should you?" asked Clara.
"I'll do it." said The Doctor, striding over and tapping an unsuspecting Mary Crawley on the shoulder.
"Who the hell are you?!" dhe exclaimed, jumping off her husband and fixing her hair. "Sorry. Who might you be?" She rephrased her earlier question in a more ladylike way.
"The Doctor." he grinned, "bowtie and all!"
"Dear god. These have been the most tiring and confusing seven years of my life." said an exasperated Mary.
"Glad you think our marriage is tiring and confusing." said Matthew, who was teasing her.
"It's not you, dear! It's him! The Doctor, popping in and out and what has he done now?! Change his face or something ridiculous?"
"That is one of my enchanting qualities. Unfortunately, I can't do it on demand so there's no use selling me to a circus." Said The Doctor, frowning slightly at the end.
"I never even mentioned selling you to the circus." exclaimed Mary.
"Well you know what they say, when one meets a stranger one must let them know they can't be sold to the circus." said the Doctor grimly, "people have tried before."
"Since when have people said that?" Asked Matthew curiously.
"No clue. I might have just made it up!" He grinned at them and Mary sighed.
"I think we ought to get you some tea. Preferably decaf." She said, grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the big double doors of Downton.
"Hello, I don't believe we've met." Said Clara, stepping out and extending her hand. When Mary only looked at her in confusion Matthew darted forward and shook the waiting hand.
"Curiouser and curiouser." Whispered Mary. "Have you got a clue what's happening?" She asked Matthew.
"Unfortunately not."
"And you're sure you don't remember us?" Said Mary.
"Mm, quite." Said Clara, as confused as everyone else.
"Goodness, gotta love a good mystery!" Exclaimed the Doctor. They made their way inside and were met with Thomas, the newly appointed butler.
"Anything I can get you m'lady?" He asked, before looking up and catching The Doctor's eye, "sir?" he then directed his question at the Doctor, a slight blush creeping onto his cheeks.
"Some tea would be wonderful Thomas." She gave him a hard look when he was still looking at the Doctor a few seconds later. The Doctor winked at him right before he left and Thomas blushed even darker.
"I do believe your butler has a crush on me." Said The Doctor, grinning.
"Tea for the library." Said Thomas, walking downstairs and trying to cool his heated cheeks.
"Have we got a nice looking guest upstairs?" Asked Mrs. Patmore. Thomas glared at her. "Oof, sorry for asking a question." She turned to her task as Daisy walked in and noticed Thomas' ruffled expression.
"I bet it's a cute boy." She said, giggling.
"That's quite enough of that," said Mrs. Patmore. "I'll have to make us all a strong cup of tea if you keep talking."
"I think we'd all need something a bit stronger," said Mr. Carson, who still helped around the house where he was needed.
"Darling, you go fetch Sybil and Tom and I'll wait here." Said Matthew, gently pushing Mary in the direction of the door. Once she was gone he went and sat opposite the Doctor. "So you really don't remember us?" He asked, settling back into the couch as Thomas came in with their tea before stealing a glance at the Doctor and promptly leaving.
"Alas no. The last place we went was a big ship in space that was cloning dead presidents then letting them down on earth as a practical joke." he said, grinning at a laughing Clara.
"It was quite funny, that poor woman who gasped so hard when she saw George Washington, she fell over!" They both fell into fits of giggles as Matthew stared at them.
"That's.. interesting." he finally said. "But what about you being an - pardon me - old man? And you Clara, you had an overprotective boyfriend?"
"Are you assuming I'm single?" Asked Clara, raising an eyebrow. Matthew immediately regretted his words,
"No, it's just that I figured that if the doctor was different, you were too." he said, cheeks flushed with embarrassment.
"Well you're right. And the doctor has never been old when he's been with me so that must be us in the future." Said Clara.
"Oh but that's boring! My next regeneration has been given away. This is like the spoiler of all spoilers." Said the Doctor, throwing his arms in the air. Just then, Mary walked in flanked by her sister and brother-in-law.
"Are you alright?" Asked Matthew, noticing her heavy breathing.
"Oh perfect. Of course these two just have to be on opposite sides of the house, and then when I got Sybil I also had to calm the screaming babies." She sighed dramatically.
"When we finish up with this I'm definitely going for a lie-down. My head feels like it might burst and I still faintly hear the noise of the girls crying." Said Sybil, flopping down on the couch next to Clara. "Clara! How wonderful to see you." She said.
"Hello, Sybil was it? Before anyone asks, the doctor and I are past versions of the ones you met before. It's all quite confusing but we'll figure it out eventually." She said, sighing.
"But, that can't be! The last time we saw you, the Doctor looked much older while you simply looked the same!" Said Sybil, who was just as confused as everyone else.
"I wish everyone would stop going on and on about how old I'm going to be." Grumped the Doctor.
"Oh shush" said Clara.
"The reason I look different is because I can change my face, like I explained to, um, the blonde and the brunette, I can't do it on demand but it's quite annoying." said The Doctor.
"Well we all know the blonde is Matthew but who's the brunette?" Asked Tom.
"Well, it was whichever one was making out with Matthew on a bench outside." Said the Doctor, waving a hand, "but that's hardly the point of the story."
"You two were making out?" Said Sybil, whose feathers were slightly rustled at the thought of the two of them making out while she watched their new babies. Although on second thought, she decided she didn't really mind since most of the time she spent with the little ones, Mary and Isabella, was quite enjoyable.
"Yes but like the Doctor said, that's hardly an issue now." Said Mary with a slight blush.
"Can we please get some names down? This is all too confusing." Said The Doctor.
"I'm Tom, that's Mary, Matthew, and Sybil." Said Tom whilst gesturing around at his family.
"Matthew's the blonde, Mary is the one who isn't Sybil, and then Tom's the other man. Perfect, who wants to go to space?" the Doctor said this all very quickly and it took a good few second before any of the words sunk in.
"The one who isn't Sybil?!" Said Mary.
"Space?!" Said Tom.
"Oh yes, I've only been here under half an hour and I'm already bored. Clara, pick a planet." Said The Doctor, already leading the group towards the front doors.
"Let's randomize it." Said Clara, grinning.
"And where might you all be headed?" Asked Thomas, though everyone could see he was staring directly at the Doctor.
"Thomas, you're our butler not our nanny. We are allowed to leave the house." Said Mary, gesturing for him to move.
"Good afternoon, Thomas was it? Yes, well I was wondering if you could assist me later. I'm going to need a valet and, as you can see I've brought no one." Said the Doctor. Thomas' face stayed stony but his cheeks were bright red.
"Of course, sir." He muttered something that no one could make out before dashing from the room.
"Aw bless him." Said Clara.
"You're only leading him on you know." Said Mary, "it's quite rude." The Doctor sighed,
"You all are quite excepting for a bunch of aristocrats in the 20s." He said.
"Yes well we're not all horrible people." Said Mary, rolling her eyes.
"Do your eyes ever get tired?" asked the Doctor.
"Excuse me?" said Mary.
"Well you do roll them quite a bit." he said shrugging. Mary glared at him before looking down at her brand new gown.
"Should we change?" she asked.
"Your dress will be fine, unless we end up in the stomach of a giant space whale you'll be okay." said the Doctor, leading them out the front door.
"How did you know I was concerned about my dress?" she asked, irritation in her tone.
"You seem the one to be worried about you clothes." Clara gave him a pointed look, and when he caught it he let himself get dragged away.
"Let's try to be friends with these people. Apparently we were in the past/present." Said Clara.
"I was being perfectly friendly!" Said The Doctor, pouting. Clara raised her eyebrows,
"Really? Well that's news to me." She said sarcastically. The Doctor stuck his tongue out and walked towards their group.
"Ready to visit a planet?" he asked. Mary sighed,
"Ready as I'll ever be." she said.
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Hi! I don't usually write authors notes because I feel like you get so invested in a story line and then bOOM rAnDoM aUthORS NoTe. I just thought it would be good since this is the first chapter of the new book!! I'm writing the second chapter as you read this (well unless you're reading it in 2029 or something) (hopefully it won't take me that long) bUT ANYWAY, ENJOY.