Helped and by the Existence of that Goodness
Chapter One
The insistent ringing was infuriating. Ella reached out a leaden in arm in the vague direction of her phone, the main aim was to switch the alarm to snooze but she only managed to knock it to the ground. It was silenced, that was all that mattered. Her arm retreated back into the warmth of the covers.
A minute later the ringing started again. She groaned. Finding the adequate momentum from somewhere, she shuffled to the side of the bed, supporting herself with one arm while the other groped for her phone. She eventually discovered it and pushed herself back onto the bed. Lying on her back once more, she took a glance at the caller id, which told her nothing, and went to flick the phone open.
The ringing stopped.
She stared at the phone in disbelief for some time. Eventually she let it fall and rolled over onto her side, burrowing into the covers once more, half way between sobbing and laughing.
The ringing began again. She reached out a hand behind her and discovered the phone. Pulling it up to her ear, she flipped it open.
"'lo." Her voice came out full of sleep and quite deep.
"Ella?" Came a questioning, male voice from the other end.
"Yeah." she said slowly. Great, she was being woken up by someone who didn't even know if they were calling her or not.
"Oh, good." slight pause and then, very brightly, "Hello!"
"Yeah," she agreed, trying to place the voice that was so chirpy at this hour in the morning. Although, she rolled over and found her watch on her bedside table, oh, it was half twelve, perhaps they had some excuse to sound awake then.
"How are you?"
"Fine, I spose. Bit sleepy." She was silent for a minute and then roused herself to make some conversation. "How are you?"
"Brilliant."
"Lovely for you." She had really no idea who it was. Ella had always had a bit of a problem recognising people's voices on the phone but there was absolutely nothing familiar about this one.
"It is yeah. Anyway, I was wondering if you could do me a favour."
"Sure." She liked people to be happy. At the back of her mind she tried to sort out whether she'd met anyone recently who she might have given her number to, she drew a blank.
"I was wondering if you could - well, come with me." He sounded quite hesitant, as if expecting to be knocked back.
"Ok." She was just going to wait for him to say something which would tell her who he was, probably wouldn't be much longer.
"Really?" And now he sounded incredulous.
"Yeah, 'course." She hoped it wouldn't be in the next hour though, she was still more than a little bit sleepy. "Where do you want to go?"
"What?" He sounded stumped by the question, as if she shouldn't have had to ask it.
"Where do you want me to come with you?" she elaborated.
"Er - on my ship?"
And everything suddenly clicked into place.
"Oh my god - Doctor?" She sat up suddenly in bed.
"Yeah - who did you think it was?" He sounded puzzled.
"I had no idea!" Ella rested her head in her hand, how had she not guessed who this was?
"Do you agree to go anywhere with anyone then?" He sounded vaguely curious, as if he was assessing this element of her character, one that he may well need to keep an eye on.
"I was just being polite." A thought suddenly struck her. "Hang on - did I give you my number?"
"No, I googled it."
"My number's on google?"
"Mmhmm."
"Bloody hell." That was a bit worrying.
"So, what do you think? Now that you know what I'm asking." He sounded amused by the whole thing but she didn't miss that edge of uncertainty to his voice.
"What? Come traveling with you?"
"Yeah, just one trip so you can see the stars - when you're not concussed that is."
"Ha ha, very funny." She paused for a second, trying to wrap her mind around what he was asking. "Are you serious?"
"Completely." He replied, keeping the word light despite the many layers of hidden meaning.
"I get to leave home for the rest of my gap year?"
"Er, yeah, we could probably work that out."
"I'd love to."
"Really?" He asked, to make sure before he started to sound too over-enthusiastic.
"Yeah! It'd be brilliant!" She was exuding enough enthusiasm for both of them.
"Shall I come and pick you up then?"
"Sure - gimme a couple of hours though, 'kay?" She still had to get dressed and showered and everything, packed as well she supposed.
"Yeah - are you in London or Derbyshire?"
"Derbyshire - I'll give you the address and everything."
"Ok, I'm going to need the date and time as well."
She filled him in on all the pertinent information and got ready to hang up the phone, suddenly wide awake and full of energy.
"I'll see you soon then?" she asked.
"Yep, see you very soon, Ella Marlowe."
And she could tell he was beaming.
The Doctor waited for her to hang up before closing his own phone and placing it back on the console. He set the coordinates and put the TARDIS into motion, before glancing at the book open on the chair. His expression became serious as he regarded it and after a minute he looked towards the ceiling.
"Happy now?" he asked quietly. His ship hummed her approval.
