The cat stayed low in the tall grass of the garden behind the house. It was watching the humans. The humans seemed on the brink of a fight, but they were not postured that way.
"I know it would be nice to adopt Amy but I just think that it would be even better if we became foster parents. Taking kids in and helping them." The brunette short haired male made that argument.
I know, but with being a foster parent we have to be available any time day or night, on a moment's notice. How often are we actuality around enough to accept that responsibility? The human female with long red hair countered
"Do you really think the Doctor would let a baby on board? I mean, come on. Our lives would be tied to Earthlife, Goodbye TARDIS I doubt he would have let us raise Melody on the TARDIS. I wouldn't want a baby on that thing."
There was a strange noise that sent the cat hiding and caused the cat to hiss as loudly as it could. Then something appeared and the cat hissed louder or so the cat thought. There was now a blue box where there was not one before. Once the strange object settled the cat got curious. It looked like it would be the perfect place for the cat.
The opening revealed itself and another male stepped out. He had blondish floppy hair and stopped suddenly "What's going on here. The Doctor noticed the postures as them being in some sort of argument. "Oh glaring eyes, raised blood pressure, Perhaps I should…
They both look at him. "Stay right there Doctor." They continued looking at each other.
The male looked at the floppy haired gentleman "Ok, we will discuss it with him as well see what he thinks. I mean, wouldn't his opinion matter."
"What would I think about what?" The floppy haired guy looked totally confused as they started to all go inside the house. The opening is closed behind him as he leaves.
The cat looks at the box with bright green eyes surrounded by gray fur. It goes up to the blue box and hisses at it. Then the cat pokes it with its paws. The thing does not move. The kitty sniffs it and rubs his face on the corner.
The humans come back out and the cat scampers around to the side hunching down.
"So where are we going?"
The floppy haired man sounded excited. "There is a migration of primitive dragons on a planet called Rhoptah, it's a gas giant. On one of the moons Rhoptah 5 there is a beautiful world and on that world is what you would call dragons. They migrate every thousand years or so. They won't be seen again for the next thousand years. The event is often time locked dragons are an endangered species.
They were talking more as the floppy haired male opened the doors again. The other humans seemed to have lots of questions before they entered. As quickly and quietly as possible, the cat entered the cooler depths of the ship.
It hunches down as it first enters the TARDIS. The cat sniffs the air and looks about. Its ear twitches and moves about as it catches each groan and whir of the machinery inside. It creeps around the first set of stairs. The cat hears the humans come in and it jumps down into the lower levels. The humans were making so much noise they didn't hear the cats landing.
"Well, seeing dragons would be different."
"Stay downwind" The Red head joked.
The humans and something that appeared to be a human left the room the cat was in. The cat carefully makes its way up the steps and to a pedestal. It jumps up and sniffs the surface. It sees something move and sneaks up on it. The cat watches the moving parts and reaches out to touch something that was spinning. The cat gets bored and continues circling the pedestal. The other side proves more entertaining. It steps across something with lots of keys. The cat reaches a slippery part and slides off. It lands on its feet and shakes its head. The cat spies another set of stairs and it scurries up. Coming from the long hallway the voices seemed to come from a deeper part of the space the cat found itself in. The cat hears the humans coming back in and it hops back on the toy filled pedestal and then looked at a sheer surface that had a place to perch above it. The cat shimmies where it sits and it leaps up to the top of the sheer surface. Then it looks up and finds the railing and makes a leap to the top most surface it could near the ceiling.
"I could have sworn I left it in the TARDIS bedroom." Complained the red haired woman
"How did you lose your Zolfanian credit stick?" Said the short haired human in a huff
"They don't give those out to anyone, you were lucky to even get one; it's usable in more systems than galactic credits." The floppy haired being informed them, obviously trying to be helpful.
"I know! Stop badgering me about it." The red haired woman turned in a huff and stormed out.
The two men follow behind her.
They leave the TARDIS and close the door to the outside behind them.
The cat looks around again and walks easily across the beam it was on and then leapt to a catwalk. The cat went to the hallway the humans came from and walks through as if it owned the place. It starts rubbing its chin on various surfaces as it goes. It finds a room that looked like it had lots of surfaces. It hops onto the largest surface, it is soft with lots of folds to curl up in. But as happy as the cat was, it jumps back down and out of the room. It makes its way further down and reaches a very humid room.
The humid room had a big pool the cat carefully walks up to the edge and sniffs the water. It takes a couple of drinks the water and shakes its head as it didn't like the taste. Lots of pools tasted like that. The cat then leaves that room and finds a room with lots of shelves, items to rub and the flat things the humans like to look at once in a while. There were glass things sitting in rows, a ladder to climb even higher on. Soon the cat was lost as it roamed around the space it found itself in. The cat felt something coming up and hacked away, as a fur ball made its way out. But there was something else. It was going to happen and it knew the time was coming.
It walked and walked and walked until it came to a room that it found interesting. It was clean except for a couple of items on the floor. It sniffed around it started to be lonely. It meowed. Upon hearing the strange echo it starts looking around the room. There seemed to be a pleasant dark spot underneath a bed. It found some cloth and it started to shred a cream colored shirt with a reddish hue to it. Taking the cloth in its teeth it drags it under the bed. The cat also finds a dark pair of pants and starts piling that as well. It finds a long stringy cloth and drags that as well. The cat sniffs and seemingly gives a slight nod that all was to its satisfaction. The cat leaves the room and does not seem to care the doors open and close on their own.
The cat goes to where food smells were coming from. There were some fish fingers out dipped in custard. The cat happily eats the left over fish fingers and finds a dripping faucet that had not been closed all the way. The cat bites down into the fish finger it was eating and jumps down from the counter and scurries to a dark place dragging the piece of food behind it. It eats in silence as the humans come back including the one that smelled wrong. The cat eyes the floppy haired male warily. The cloth the cat used to make its bed smelled like the strange being.
The humans plus one left the kitchen and headed off. Just as the cat was done with the fish finger there was a horrible jolting that sent the cat to some tight spot in the hallway. The cat meowed but was unheard over the noise. The human made the sound they use when they were happy, and soon the echoes faded and the TARDIS was again silent. The cat decided to leave and find some place to take care of business. The cat walked and walked and walked forever, it seemed. It came to a room that had a dirt center on a raised dais. The dirt was perfect for business and the cat took care of itself and buried the remains. The cat then left the room and found that room that it had made its bed. It slept for a while until something happened. Its belly moved and the cat lay there until the movement stopped.
About that time the humans' voices started echoing through the large space that the cat now claimed as its territory.
The Doctor looked about and sniffed the air. His nose was more sensitive than the humans and he could smell something rancid. "Oh… what's that smell?"
"What smell?" asked Rory
"How do you people live with like you do? One heart, normal brain, dulled senses." The Doctor asked in wonder
"Whatever." Rory looked almost insulted
"Sorry, but really, you don't smell that." The Doctor looked around with his nose scrunched up giving his normally animated face a comical expression.
"No," answered Amy.
"Someone's here. I know it." There was a universe of worry in his voice. "What could have made it through those doors? Whatever it was has to be very powerful."
"Doctor, how could anyone get in here? You said it yourself armies could not get in here."
"Someone has. Let's have a look around." The couple knew that icy tone of voice and they knew the Doctor meant business. Doctor took out his sonic and waved it around as he took to the innermost parts of the ship. "No energy readings yet, no tampering with systems." He scratched his head with the sonic. "We find that smell we find our intruder." With sudden decision, "Rory you go to the library, Amy you head to the cloister room. I'll be in the kitchen." The Doctor instructed.
"Oh no, Doctor. I don't feel like replacing all the jars of jam you stuck your fingers in, again. I will go to the kitchen."
Sounding indignant the Doctor replied "Fine. So be it. Rory has the kitchen, me library, Happy now?" They nodded and separated.
Rory went in to the kitchen and not watching where he was going and slipped on something and landed on his rear. "Ow! What did I…?" He slipped on some streaked custard. With his eyes, he followed it to somewhere underneath some cabinets. He crawled over and peaked under and saw a mostly eaten fish finger. He took it out. The teeth marks did not look human.
The Doctor entered the library carefully. The Sonic was making that buzzing noise as he waved it around. The sound continued steady getting nothing. He lowered his arms and rubbed his face with his hands. He cast his eyes down in thought and almost stepped in something. He picked it up with his fingers. It was goo covered and looked like a pod of some kind. He scanned it with his sonic but nothing. "What is going on around here. What kind of pod are you?"
About that time the cat felt pain that sent a shock through its whole body. It was time. The cat knew.
Amy made her way to the Cloister room there was plants and trees scattered all around the spacious rooms. She liked to come here and relax between adventures. Besides the pool it was one of her favorite rooms. It caught her nose and she pinched her nostrils shut. It smelled awful, like something had died or something. "Not as bad as that time I went to the sponge planet. Now I am sounding as bad as the Doctor."
She closed her eyes, remembering how she could smell better when she was forced to keep her eyes closed because of the Weeping Angels. She turned to the center and walked up the stairs on the dais. She found what she was looking for. "Oh gross."
They all met in the middle of the ship. All at once, they explained what they found.
"I found a mostly eaten fish finger underneath the counter"
"I found a pod" The Doctor held up the tightly wrapped husk of a pod still slimy
"I found…"Amy was hesitant as she approached the group.
"Amy, what did you find. It might be important." The Doctor urged.
"I found poop"
Rory looked slightly taken aback once he got a better look at the pod and winced back. "Doctor, that is not a pod, that is a fur ball.
"A fur ball? " The Doctor was curious
"Something like what cats hack up from their stomachs." Amy scrunched up her face.
"That's disgusting!" The doctor flung it away from himself and onto the hallway floor.
"This from the man that licked that fish man" Rory compared.
"That was a greeting, totally different." The Doctor defended himself.
In the room the cat found safe haven to lay there and wait for whatever was to happen to happen. The cat went through the first pains slowly and out came an offspring. The Mother cat started to clean off the kitten and started to caterwaul as the pain became too much to hold back.
It was loud and caught the echoes. The Doctor, Rory and Amy all heard it and they ran looking for the noise. They heard it a few times, before it stopped. The Doctor started to make adjustments to his sonic screwdriver, making it detect anything. The sonic picked up something and they followed it.
The new mother cat started to lick and clean the kittens as they were born. She birthed five kittens all had made it. She stretched out on the clothing and let the kittens find their nipples. She lay back to rest as the kittens began their life, aboard the TARDIS.
The Doctor burst through the doors to his room, his innermost sanctum. Neither Amy nor Rory had ever seen it before. It looked like any of the other rooms aboard the TARDIS, except there was considerably more stuff, treasures, mementoes. Some of the things looked totally alien. Some things looked personalized some were clearly just collected for their personal meaning. There was a bed that looked hardly used. And there was some clothing lying about.
"Wow, Doctor, you have been around!" Rory exclaimed.
"I think we have a goal to beat." Observed Amy.
"Hey, this is not a contest. Besides, you'd never catch up." The Doctor half joked half challenged them.
The Doctor held up his hand. He heard something just out of the corner of his hearing. He indicated they should be silent and pointed to his bed. Then he pointed underneath. They nodded. He pointed to Amy and indicated she should go to the one side of the bed. He pointed at Rory and indicated he should go to the foot of the bed. The Doctor started to move to the other side. They had the bed surrounded. The Doctor pushed a button, a panel slid open and the bed started to lift into it. He pointed his sonic and then promptly lowered it with an overjoyed expression on his face.
"Aww, look at that." Amy was thrilled
The humans plus one gathered around her. She looked ready to protect her kittens, but realized the plus one meant her or her kittens no harm.
"They are just born, Doctor." Rory smiled, delighted at the sight of the furless sightless squiggles that moved about.
The Doctor adjusted the Sonic and scanned mamma and kittens. "Well, look at that. They are perfectly healthy."
They were afraid to touch the newborn kittens. The Doctor lowered the bed back down.
She must have snuck in. While the door was open. "He pets the mama cat in an affectionate way. "I didn't know you had a cat." The mama cat started to purr under his light touch
"We don't. I think old Ms. Cadence does, though." Amy concluded
"I think she went off to find a safe place to give birth. She's been missing since yesterday."
"And she discovered the TARDIS." The Doctor smiled as the bed finished lowering. He seemed slightly honored. "No safer place I can think of."
The trio left the room the Doctor knew he wouldn't need to sleep for a couple of days that would give the cat time to nurse the kittens to a point when they can be moved to a safer place than under his bed. He was not even upset that his first shirt, pants and bow tie he ever wore with this body was ruined because of the afterbirth blood. It seemed appropriate.
"You know that would solve our problem." Amy
"What would solve our problem?" Rory asked
"We could get a cat or a dog" Amy suggested
"A snake, a friend of mine had a snake while I grew up." Rory remembered fondly
"No way. No, just no. No snakes." Amy protested vehemently
"I had a pet once. It was something similar to a rabbit, but with a long bushy tail. And it ate meat. Ok, maybe it wasn't anything like a rabbit forget I said that." The Doctor reminisced.
"You. You had a pet. How long did that last?" She mocked an accusatory tone.
The Doctor protested the insult as they walked away laughing, leaving the mother to care for the kittens.