Author's note: Another installment in our GTTniverse, and I say another because even though this is technically the first in the series, it's the fifth to be published, and like, the twentieth to be written. Like always, it can be read on its own, but it is, indeed, a part of a headcanon series my sister and I are writing. Enjoy!
They were running. Again.
Donna nearly groaned when they were off once more, having destroyed the hideous Serie alien's plans to destroy the beautiful four sunned planet Risha, they were now running from the Serie itself; racing toward the TARDIS and safety and leaving the capturing and punishing part of their usual job to the Risha police, who had ensured them that all Serie would be contained and given justice.
But for now, the Serie were free, free and wild and very, very, angry.
Plus, they had guns. And not only guns, they had the only super-sonic guns in the universe that could get through the TARDIS's defensives.
And so they ran. The Doctor in the lead, with his long coat flying out behind him and Donna following at his heels. Terror and elation gripped at Donna's heart, but she knew by now that they would get away. They always got away.
So that's why it didn't surprise her when the familiar blue of the TARDIS came into view. And that's why she wasn't the least bit amazed when the Doctor hurriedly put his key into the lock and flung open the doors.
And that's why she was so shocked when the gunshot sounded, and she and the Doctor both jumped to the floor of the TARDIS, and the laser blast went straight over where the Doctor had been standing and hit the controls of his beloved TARDIS, and the TARDIS engines sounded.
The Doctor stood and slammed the doors shut, closing off Donna's last view of the Serie, all pointing their shiny guns at the time machine. And then she was falling, right past the console.
She grabbed one of the railings that went around the controls as she heard a bang that she assumed was something, or the Doctor, hitting the console as they continued spinning, upside down, over again, rolling through time and space.
Donna kept hold of the railing, banging her head on the ground once she was righted again, but then turning upside down again. Always keeping her hold on the railing.
She heard the Doctor yell something, but the rushing in her ears tuned him out completely.
They kept spinning and jerking until finally, finally, the TARDIS groaned to a stop and the air was suddenly filled with smoke.
Donna opened her eyes, scared of what she might find, but they were the right way up this time. Standing hesitantly, Donna looked around and saw that the console was literally on fire, and fuming clouds were coming out of it.
It was also sparking and groaning, like it was in terrible pain. The Doctor stood next to it, holding onto the ledge of the console, with smoke surrounding him and his hair even more of a mess then usual, looking worried and stunned and altogether horror-struck at what might have happened to his TARDIS.
"Donna, get out!" He yelled, springing into action and rushing to the double doors that he had slammed shut just a minute ago.
Donna stumbled after him hurriedly, coughing because of the smoke and trying not to trip. The Doctor flung open the doors and ran out into the open.
"What happened?!" Donna demanded as she followed him out of the smoking machine. The Doctor slammed the doors shut again and then pointed the sonic screwdriver and waved it around them. "What happened?!"
"The TARDIS was shot." The Doctor said, lowering the screwdriver and inspecting the blue box warily. "It went into autopilot and took us to a safe place where she could recuperate."
Donna looked around them, noticing that they were in what appeared to be an abandoned restaurant of some sort. "Where is this?" She asked, turning back to the Doctor, who was stroking his ship with a distant expression on his face.
"Um," He looked around him and then breathed deeply. "I think it's around 2012, June, maybe. America by the looks of it, mountains and rainclouds. Washington? Idaho?"
"Well, how are we going to leave?" Donna asked, feeling somewhat annoyed.
"The TARDIS needs to repair herself." The Doctor said, biting his lip and glancing at Donna nervously. "We can't get in while she does it, or it will throw the whole thing off. Plus, the smoke is poisonous; it would kill us in an hour."
Donna took a small step away form the TARDIS, but then a more important thought struck her. "How long will that take, Doctor?" She asked him anxiously.
The Doctor rubbed the back of his head awkwardly as he tried to find words. "Uh… Probably no more then… Two months?"
Donna felt her jaw drop at the news. The Doctor watched her wearily, as if he was waiting for an explosion.
"You mean we're stuck here, for two months, with absolutely no space travel, no ride, no money, and none of our belongings?" Donna asked, sounding very calm. Again, the Doctor hesitated to answer. But Donna knew what he was getting at.
They were stuck.
"It's not my fault!" The Doctor exclaimed as he chased after Donna, who had turned and walked out of the restaurant and then picked a random direction and continued walking away after hearing that they were practically stuck in America. The Doctor caught up to Donna and stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked along next to her.
Donna had a very clear flashback of him doing the exact same thing when she had first met him, only then she had been in a wedding dress.
"It isn't?" Donna exploded, the Doctor winced. "It isn't your fault? The one place in the universe with weapons that can hurt the TARDIS, and you say 'Oh, nothings gonna happen, Donna'. We find out that there's an alien plot to destroy the planet, using those types of guns, and you say 'Don't worry, Donna. It's just a little tribe, Donna. Piece of cake, Donna.' Well, now we're stuck here in this…"
Donna looked around and inspected her surroundings. The small American town looked like the farthest thing from adventure there was. With little streets and little, mostly abandoned, buildings. "This dinky town!" She decided. The Doctor looked around himself too and then opened his mouth to talk, but Donna wasn't finished yet. "With no resources and no money!"
"Well," The Doctor hesitated, looking for something to say. "Well, at least I – I have the Sonic Screwdriver!" He pulled the sonic device from his coat pocket and smiled grandly. "And…" He dug around in his pocket for a while before pulling out the thin, wallet like, thing that got them into places. "Psychic paper!"
"What good will that do us?" Donna sighed, exasperated.
"It actually could help us a lot." The Doctor said excitedly, happy that he could offer Donna something. "You see, we can be registered new Americans, recently moved in from London with the Psychic Paper, and no one will question that that's who we are. We can rent apartments, or even get a house! We can fit into this tiny town while we wait for the TARDIS to recuperate! We can… We…" He suddenly seemed to deflate a bit. "We can be normal." He finished with a look of distaste.
"So, we're just supposed to sit around here waiting while the TARDIS repairs itself?" Donna scoffed. "Get a house and a job and fit in and just be normal?"
The Doctor hesitated for a second. "…It won't be all that bad, Donna." He insisted, rather uncertainly. "It's not like we're on Klom or something, its earth, we can fit in here. It won't be that hard."
"Yeah, and you'll get a job and be a normal bloke like everyone else." Donna said sarcastically as she rolled her eyes.
"Well, maybe not normal." The Doctor corrected himself. "Well, normal as in human. Well, not human for me, exactly. More like pretend to be a fairly normal human. Well, when I say 'fairly normal'-"
"Oh, shut up." Donna snapped somewhat warily, cutting off the Doctor, who immediately stopped rambling like he was trying to stay on Donna's good side. "If we're gonna be stuck here, then we'd better get started." She said.
The Doctor grinned, but didn't say anything, which was a first. He just looked around, standing on his tiptoes to check his surroundings.
"Where are we going to find a house?" Donna asked, the Doctor glanced at her. "We… walk around." He said. "It seems like this a small town, not very populated either. Look around, Donna, there's no one any where."
Donna looked around the town and discovered that he was right, she couldn't see anyone. It seemed like it was around threeish, kids and dads returning from work should be all over the place, but as it was, Donna couldn't even see any cars.
"So there's probably some house available for us." The Doctor continued, sticking his hands in his pockets again and taking off in a random direction, walking slower then usual so that Donna could easily keep up.
Donna couldn't help but feel like the Doctor was trying to avoid annoying her in any way, because he was oddly silent as they walked, only talking very once in a while and often looking at Donna as if he was checking to make sure that nothing he did was upsetting her.
Eventually, they rounded a corner and nearly ran into someone. It was a young girl, possibly nine or ten years old, and standing a little way off from her was a boy who looked to be twelve. He rushed forward immediately.
"Sorry." The girl said in an apologetic tone of voice. "We didn't know anyone would be out around this time."
"Oh, that's fine." The Doctor said, smiling at the little girl brightly. "You were just walking, that's not a crime. I'm the Doctor, by the way, and this is Donna Noble."
"The Doctor?" The boy asked, inspecting the Doctor warily and putting a protective hand on the girls shoulder. "Doctor who?"
Donna elbowed her friend. He got the hint and decided not to go into the whole 'Just the Doctor' thing, as 'The Doctor' wasn't really a normal name.
"Smith." He said instead. "Dr. John Smith. Donna and I just moved in from Chiswick."
"Where's Chiswick?" The girl asked. This time, it was the boy who elbowed the girl. "It's in London, stupid." He told her, shaking his head. "London, England. You know, they had the Olympics this year."
"I don't care about sports." The girl sighed. "And how am I supposed to know what all is in England? All I know is London, and… and Britain."
The Doctor stifled a chuckle as the boy shook his head in wonder and the girl blinked, confused.
"So what are your names?" Donna interrupted, looking at the Doctor pointedly.
"I'm Yvonne Lucinda Trent." The girl introduced herself, smiling widely. "But everyone calls me Pepper, don't ask me why."
"It's because you're a fiery person." The boy said, like he explained this to her every day. "And also, you have a strange addiction to Dr. Pepper, which is why I sometimes call you Dr. Pepper instead of just Pepper."
"Oh, who cares about all that?" The girl said, sighing exaggeratedly. "The point is, you can call me Pepper. Everyone does."
"Right, Pepper, that's cute." The Doctor said as he nodded his head. "Though, I always kind of liked the name Piper. That's pretty close to Pepper, just one vowel off. Well, two letters, one of which is a vowel so…" He trailed off, realizing that he was rambling again. "Anyway, what's your name, then?" Turning to the boy.
"It's Colwyn Matthias." Colwyn Matthias said. "And I don't have a nickname. So, did you guys just move in?"
"We're looking for a place to stay, actually." Donna inputted.
"There's a house for sale right next to mine!" Pepper said excitedly, jumping up. "Wouldn't that be nice? If you two could move in next to me?"
"We don't even know them, Pepper." Colwyn said, looking at the Doctor cautiously. Pepper glared.
"They're friendly, Colwyn." She insisted. "Obviously, they need a place to stay, and why not stay in the brown house?"
"Because that house is haunted, duh!" Colwyn said.
"Wait just a minute," The Doctor interrupted. "What do you mean 'haunted'?"
"Well, everyone says so." Colwyn shrugged. "The last three people who moved in moved out within a week. There's always groaning and moaning at night, and I even saw someone in the window once." His eyes widened.
"Now, you seem like a smart boy, you believe this stuff?" The Doctor said reproachfully. Colwyn frowned indignantly.
"It's standard fact, Doctor." He insisted. "Everyone in town knows about it. There's a ghost in the house. The last person who tried to move in ran out screaming, and my brother's friend Henry spent the night in the house, and ended up in the hospital because of a heart attack!"
"Silly campfire stories." Pepper said, rolling her eyes at Colwyn. "Your brother's friend was just a coincidence, and the person that you saw in the window was probably some stupid teenage boy on a dare." She turned to the Doctor. "Plus, this guy doesn't seem to be the kind to run away screaming."
"Definitely not." The Doctor agreed, smiling. "Thanks for the warning, Colwyn, but I don't believe in ghosts."
"I'm not moving into a haunted house." Donna protested.
"Oh, now you're in on it?" The Doctor sighed, looking at Donna and making a face. "Really, it's probably nothing but folk tales."
"If the ghost kicks you out you can come and stay in my house." Pepper said jokingly. "Or into Colwyn's."
"My mom would never go for that." Colwyn protested. "Random British strangers just moved out of a haunted house. Yeah right."
"Your mom needs to loosen up." Pepper said thoughtfully. "Well then, if you want to see the house, it's right this way." She started walking back the way that she had come.
"We'd better check this out." The Doctor muttered quietly to Donna as Colwyn ran to catch up to his friend. "I may not believe in ghosts, but I know a strange story when I hear one."
"Right," Donna said, nodding. "Investigating and everything. And here I thought we were gonna be normal."
"Well, who wants to be normal when you can be chasing ghosts?" The Doctor said, smiling brightly.
"Doctor Smith!" Colwyn called from a little ways away. Furrowing his brow in confusion. "The house is this way!"
"Alright, Colwyn." The Doctor called back. "We're coming." He set off at a jog and Donna sighed before following him.
Eventually, they came to a medium sized brown house. It was very beautiful, with a stone walkway and wild trees and ivy climbing up the sides of it; a brown wood fence surrounded a backyard, and through the windows they could see that the house was fully furnished, with pictures and nick knacks and everything.
It looked like it had come from a story book, the only thing off was a 'For sale by owner' sign with a phone number attached.
"Here it is," Colwyn said, keeping his distance. "The brown house. Or you could call it the haunted house, or the death trap."
"Stop being so negative." Pepper said. "There's nothing wrong with this house, it's just a bit old, is all. And a tad dusty. But Mrs. Smith will probably take care of that when she and Dr. Smith move in."
"Oh, no," The Doctor said, starting to explain. "She's not my wife."
"We're not a couple." Donna inputted. "He's just a friend. I'm Donna Noble, not Mrs. Smith."
"That would never happen." The Doctor interrupted Donna. "Never ever," she agreed.
"Alright then," Pepper said, looking them up and down with her eyebrows raised. "I meant no offence. No need to get snappy."
"They weren't getting snappy, Pepper." Colwyn said in annoyance. "They were just being regular. I know it might be hard for you to understand, but there are people in this world who are normal. I'm one of them. They just told you that they weren't together. That's not a crime!"
"Of course it's not a crime," Pepper agreed. "Never said it was. Now let's get going. Mom's making spaghetti today."
"Fine," Colwyn sighed as he rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. Then he turned to Donna and the Doctor. "I'll be seeing you then, Dr. Smith, Miss Noble."
"Alright, see you." The Doctor agreed, saluting with his first two fingers.
Pepper smiled at them and then turned and ran to the house on the right of the brown one, jumping onto the porch and flinging the door open. Colwyn gave the Doctor a look like 'can you believe her?' and then took off after her.
"Nice kids." Donna remarked, smiling a bit.
"Right," The Doctor said. "Can I see your phone?" Donna held out her phone to him with confusion and he took it and dialed a number.
"Hello," The Doctor said into the phone. "Is this the owner of the brown house down…?" Here he paused and looked around to see what street they were on. "Down Carter Street?"
He paused for a second as the person on the other end answered, and then he grinned. "Oh, good." He said to the person. "You see, I was looking into purchasing it… Really? No money at all?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows at Donna, who looked impressed. "That's just brilliant, because you see, me and my friend just came in from… Right now? Do you have the paper work?"
"What happened?" Donna asked him, but he just gave her a look and continued on with his conversation.
"Oh, well in that case…" The Doctor started, but then he frowned. "Alright, I'll come down and… Of course, I… No, it's not… Can I finish…?" He turned to Donna and gestured to the phone disbelieving. "Yes, we'll come down," He said very quickly into the phone. "Thank you." He hung up the phone and handed it back to Donna.
"Well?" Donna asked him as she took the phone back. "What did the owner say?"
"She said we could have the house," The Doctor said, frowning a bit. "Completely free of cost. She said to come down right away and sign the papers."
"That's good isn't it?" Donna inquired. "That's a lot less work on our part, at least."
"Well, yes," The Doctor agreed. "But she was clearly agitated, and seemed almost scared. Wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise, she was so busy thanking me and begging me – actually begging me to come down and take the house off of her hands."
"Then there's definitely something." Donna said, resigned. "And we must investigate it."
"Right you are, Donna." The Doctor smiled. "She said that she lived a little ways from here, near the bottom of that hill." Here he pointed to a hill just a few blocks away from where they were standing."
"What house do you think she lives in?" Donna asked him, looking at the small line of houses that were standing there.
"I think I know." The Doctor answered her, looking up a bit. Donna followed his gaze and saw a large, pretty looking white house on the hill. It had a winding road down to the town, but the road was covered in fallen tree branches and some of the concrete had been cracked and scattered by the tree roots. The house itself looked well looked after, with clean gleaming windows and clean cut lawns, but it seemed as though no one tried to make the journey up the long stairs in a while.
"It looks like a house in one of those murder mysteries," Donna said in surprise. "The ones where everyone gets trapped and they have to find out who killed who, with creepy butlers and hidden bodies."
"I bet that's where the owner lives." The Doctor said. He grinned at Donna and began making his way to the house. "Come on, then." He called behind him.
Donna sighed and turned to the brown house again, but the sight of a shadow moving inside the old place made Donna turn and hurry to the Doctor's side.
The owner's house was every bit as grand up close as it was from a ways away.
Everything seemed to gleam and shine, whether it was the diamond paned windows or the beautifully carved redwood door, complete with a golden knocker (14 karat, the Doctor had proclaimed after licking it), and a dark red mat on the floor.
The Doctor reached up and tapped the knocker three times.
The door opened slightly and a woman peeked out at them, but all they could see was her shadow and her dark half silhouette. The lights seemed to be off from the other side of the door.
"Hello?" The woman asked in a somewhat gravely voice. "Who is this? What do you want? I have a hair dryer!"
"No, we're friends." The Doctor said, smiling and holding up his hands to show her that he was unarmed. "Um, I'm Dr. John Smith. I just called you about your house on-"
"Oh, of course, I'm sorry." The woman said, stepping away from the door and swinging it open, revealing her startling appearance.
The first thing that the Doctor noticed was her hair, which was a bright, creamsicle orange color mixed with a few grey locks, and it was unordinarily frizzy and fell all the way down to her ankles.
The next thing that he noticed was her eyes, which were largish and a pretty grey color, but were so wide and demented looking that all attractiveness was lost. The woman was thin, but about as tall as Donna, and she was wearing a big paisley poncho and a pair of jeans with huge holes in the knees. She was completely barefoot and was also holding a large and lethal looking hair dryer like one would hold a baseball bat.
"Hi, there." The woman said. "You called me about the house."
"Yes, I did." The Doctor told her cautiously, his eyebrows raised at her bizarre attire and attitude. "Like I said on the phone, me and my friend just came in from England and we were hoping to-"
"I don't care," The woman interrupted. "If you're actually thinking of buying it I'll give you eight hundred dollars, but if you're just renting then I'll have to let you know that everyone who rents that house dies or goes insane."
The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her and then exchanged a glance with Donna. "When did this begin happening?"
"It's happened for as long as I've lived there," the owner said. "The previous owner, the man who sold it to me, said it started the summer of 62, he went on vacation and then when he got back, he started hearing voices."
"Fifty years to the date," The Doctor said absently before turning back to the woman. "What kind of voices, exactly? What were they saying? Why did he think they were ghosts?"
"They were just... voices," The woman said. "I didn't think anything of it, I thought he was... insane. But then I started hearing them too. Strange voices, echoes, as if something had happened, and I could still hear it happening."
"Right, and what were they saying?" Donna asked.
"Different things..." The woman said, looking away over their shoulders. "Just... phrases... certain names, over and over... cries for help... a little girl, laughing... I can still hear it sometimes... At first, I ignored it, but then I started hearing it other places, too... not just in the house."
"You mean, like, the names, the cries?" The Doctor asked, trying to understand.
"No, the laugh," The woman said. "I started hearing the laugh other places. There were four voices total. A man, a woman, a little girl, and a little boy."
"A whole family, then," The Doctor said. "Well, Miss...?"
He waited for the woman to introduce herself, but she just kept staring over their shoulder. The Doctor turned around and followed her gaze to the house. "Anyway," he said. "Can we have the house?"
"Of course," the woman said. "I have the papers all ready. You just have to sign here..."
She handed some papers to the Doctor, who wrote his name. "You just happened to have these ready because...?" he prompted.
"I've wanted to get rid of this house for years," she said as Donna also signed. "I've had these papers ready, just in case."
"Well, here you are, then," The Doctor said with a smile, handing the papers back to the woman, who glanced over them.
"Mr. Smith," she said. "The house is..." She trailed off and stared at the paper, her pale face suddenly ash grey.
"What, what is it?" The Doctor asked worriedly, as the woman's hands began to shake.
"You..." she whispered. "You... Go away! Go away, right now!"
"What's the matter, what's happened!?" The Doctor asked again.
The woman looked up and stared at Donna. "It was after you," she said. "It was after you! All this time... It's after you!"
"Excuse me, what!?" Donna demanded. "What's after me!?"
"Go away," The woman exclaimed, stepping back into her house and slamming the door shut behind her.
The Doctor and Donna stood there for a few moments, staring.
"...So we can have the house, then?" The Doctor asked the closed door.
After a few more moments of waiting, the Doctor sniffed and turned to Donna. "I'll take that as a yes," he said.