With a final shake the TARDIS landed. A new place, but where? wondered the Doctor. He poked his head out. It was cold, that was for certain. He stepped outside. "Earth" he said to himself.
"2011?" he found an abandoned newspaper. It read: 'January 1st, 1951'. 'Ahh, 1951' he thought, 'the invention of the Aerocar, the car build with a freeway.' It had seemed like a good idea to him. 'I wonder why it never caught on...'
"Sir?" A young boy walked up to him. He was dressed very poorly and looked like he hadn't had a decent meal in a year. "Excuse me sir?"
'England' thought the Doctor.
"Sir could you please tell me were I can find the orphanage?"
"Umm..." replied the Doctor. He looked into the basket the boy was holding and saw two babies.
"Why do you need to take them to the orphanage?"
"We don't have the money to fill 5 people sir." The doctor looked at the basket again.
"Why don't i take them for you... Do they have names?" he asked the boy.
"Yes sir." he pointed to the girl. "That's Annie and," he pointed to the boy "that's Arthur" the boy handed him the basket and said a small good bye to Annie and Arthur who he now noticed were asleep.
"Umm, boy, how old are they?" he asked.
"Almost 12 months sir. They're birthday is next month. The 6th" the boy said. "Thank you sir."
The boy turned and ran off home without another word. The Doctor looked down at the two babies. The boy had flaming ginger hair. The girl had gently soft, honey brown curls. He looked at them a moment longer then went into the TARDIS.
"What am I to do with the two of you?" the Doctor said to himself. "Where's a woman when you need her?" He sighed and the little girl, Annie, giggled.
He smiled.
"Aren't you cute" he said tickling her under her chin. "So Annie, where would you like to go?" She looked thoughtful before she replied.
"Goo-goo, gaga?" she said.
"No, I'm sorry, I can't take you to your mummy.." he said sadly.
"Doo-da?" she said.
"Umm... I don't know how to tell you this," he said more to himself than to her. "Well lets give it a go." He looked at her and said "Annie, sweet Annie... Mummy's... gone... away... for awhile..." He struggled with what to say, for there was no way to say that your mummy didn't want you nicely.
"' 'Ou dada?" She asked.
"Umm, sure. I'll be daddy.." He said thankful for the slight change of subject.
"Foo bo mama.." she said.
"Yes, but I'm not mummy."
Arthur coughed.
…
The Doctor stepped out, basket in hand. "Ahh! Here we are! I love this planet, it has the greatest and funniest name. Ahh but its brilliant." He looked down at Annie and Arthur who had curious looks on their faces. "Bob." He said simply with a smile. "The planet Bob! Named as a joke by astronomers who were drunk. They didn't think it was a real planet but the next night they looked and what do you know! There was Bob, still there in the sky." Annie giggled, Arthur appeared to roll his eyes. "You know, this planet takes a great respect to babies and has the biggest baby store you could ever see, maybe we should get you set up."
The Doctor carried the basket in his left hand, carefully trying not to swing it. The last time he had visited Bob, the store was full of other types of items to carry babies in. To be honest, he was getting tired of carrying them around in an old basket.
When he stepped into the store, the first place he headed to were the would be a relief to push a carriage instead of carry a basket, but still, it seemed like too much to lug around. He decided to think on that and instead headed to clothing.
The twins were only wrapped in, at the most, two blankets. The least he could do was provide the children with decent clothing.
It wasn't that he liked doing any of this, in fact, he could hardly stand breathing the air in that store, let alone actually shopping. But there was no where else to go. Besides, maybe a kindly person would see him there and take in the kids. Probably not, but it was worth a shot.
The Doctor somehow wound up in the boys clothing aisle. He looked around. Something didn't feel right. It was as if someone or something were breathing down his neck. Yet, when he looked behind him, he saw nothing. Yes, something was definitely wrong. Even Annie and Arthur looked worried, and they were only babies!
He decided to let it be for now, even though he would still be on his guard. The Doctor continued down the aisle, looking at the boy's clothing. He judged the size clothing that Arthur probably wore and picked up a few things quickly, not really paying attention to the design. Then he headed to the girl's clothing aisle.
He could still feel the eerie presence following him like a shadow. Its steps were light and silent, and he almost wondered if it was the Vashta Nerada. But he would still be able to sense the Vashta Nerada, and besides, there weren't lights burning out behind him and there were no actual shadows behind him.
He glanced at little Annie, trying to judge what size of clothing she would probably wear. But somehow, he couldn't pull his eyes away as quickly as he had with Arthur. There was a small glint in her eyes that he hadn't seen with the boy. When the Doctor looked at the boy, he felt like he was looking at an old friend, but when he looked at Annie, he felt that he could see someone else in her.
It had been so long ago, he almost didn't want to remember it, but yet the memories flooded back; the memories were of Gallifrey and what he had left behind on that lonely planet. The Doctor could already tell that Annie was so full of life and curiosity. She had enough curiosity to see the whole universe. She was almost like her...
Well, there had been so many, but the Doctor was thinking back to the first woman who had ever travelled with him. Both she and Annie shared that same glint in their eyes.
But he already knew that Annie was not her. She was disguised as a different human. He had already met with her, travelled with her, and fell in love with her all over again. There was never any way to get her back, and now he would never get the chance to tell her.
He shook his head and looked back at the clothes. He knew he had to get clothes for Annie.
He strolled through the aisle, uncomfortably aware of the presence. To anyone else, this presence may have seemed like a figment of their imagination or a result of over anxiety, but to him, he knew that something was there. He racked his brain, trying to figure out what type of species it could be, and from what planet it could be from.
He reached a section of the aisle where most of the clothes would fit Annie, and acting as though everything were normal, he looked at a few of the outfits and put them in the cart. He calmly strolled to the front desk, and stepped on.
The Doctor always hated shopping and this was one of the reasons: He never liked having to stand there and pay for whatever it was he bought. No matter what planet it was, what century it was, or what race it was, he never got any customer service. He always got a funny look when he tried to explain that he couldn't exactly pay; that the fate of the universe rested in his hands and he had no time to stand there and wait for his change.
However, there were times like this where there wasn't anyone at the desk. Actually, there wasn't really a desk. It was more like an ATM on earth. The "cashier" was actually a computer.
Thankfully, he actually did have the currency for this planet with him. He took the items out of the cart as well as the twins, setting everything down next to him. Then the platform began to rise.
"Goo ga-a?" Annie asked.
"Oh, yes sorry," the Doctor replied. "This is a planet where the platforms rise - paying platforms are what they're called. They rise so that way someone can't steal any items from the store. The people of this planet may be nice, but they don't want anyone stealing their merchandise."
Annie crawled closer to the Doctor and sat next to his left leg.
The ATM screen flashed a price of all the items that he had unloaded. The platform was not only a way to stop theives, but also to identify the items on the platform. It weighed only the items, and subtrac
ted the weight of the people.
As he paid, he felt that something was a bit off. The shadow was following him again. He could feel it. Annie grabbed his leg and held on, seemingly stronger than the one year old that she really was. The Doctor could hear her sobbing. As he got change back from the machine and the words "Have a Nice Day" appeared on the screen, it finally clicked.
"Arthur!"
Before the platform completely reached the ground, he grabbed Annie and leaped off, looking for the missing baby.
"Arthur! Arthur!" The Doctor knew that even though this was a planet full of people who cared about children, there were still those who could take the baby for evil. Not to mention that shadow- like thing that kept following him. Now it was gone.
Not to mention Arthur wasn't answering. Whatever that thing was, it took Arthur
