My first Doctor Who fic, but I have watched it for a long time, I just never got around to writing anything. This begins with the Doctor's companion being Martha, but don't worry, because I am planning to bring in Donna, Captain Jack e.c.t. I'm sorry if any of the details on the shop are wrong, but it's a long time since I've been in London. Also this is set before the end of series three, so after episode. Anyway here's the first chapter, I hope you like it.
Children ran around the massive shop building exploring the six different floors, technically seven if you counted the basement, which had now been done out into a floor full of computer, play station and other types of games.
Hamleys, located on Regent Street in London, was probably one of the greatest toy shops in the world as well as one of the biggest. It was early September and only a few days before the children went back to school and all of them wanted to go in with something new to show their friends.
The shop was divided into different floors. The lower ground floor was computer or interactive games, the ground floor was soft toys, the first floor was games, the second was preschool, the third was girls, the fourth was hobbies and the fifth was boys. Also located on the fifth floor was a restaurant.
Not too far away from Hamleys, in a back lane a blue police box faded in and out for a few seconds before finally remaining as a solid item. The door was pulled open and out stepped a tall man in long brown coat, white shoes and a blue suit (that matched his police box) and a red tie. Following him was a young looking woman who wore a dark red leather jacket and a pair of jeans. She pulled the door closed behind her looked at her surroundings instantly recognising it as London.
The pair walked out into the street and looked around. One of the first things that could be noticed was some giant red flags with 'Hamleys' written on them in white letters.
"Well, where do you want to first?" The Doctor turned to Martha with a smile as he waited for an answer.
"We could go and get something to eat for a late breakfast, I'm starving." Martha replied before grabbing the Doctor's arm and leading him towards a restaurant that was just across the road from the busy toy shop. The two were given a seat by the window and were handed a menu each. The Doctor placed his menu down onto the table while Martha was looking over hers. When she realised that he wasn't reading his menu she raised an eyebrow at him quizzically.
"You're not hungry?" She asked curiously.
"No, no I'm not." The Doctor replied before looking across the road. Martha turned her attention back to the menu before soon placing her order.
She was given her food a little while later and the Doctor asked if he could have a glass of water which was quickly brought out to him. The pair sat in silence for most of the time and Martha had long given up trying to talk to the Time Lord, as whatever conversation she tried to start the Doctor's only reply was a simple 'hmm'.
Just after a waitress had taken Martha's almost empty plate, she noticed a blue light shining on the window. When she looked over at the Doctor she noticed that he had his sonic screwdriver out.
"Problem?" She asked, curious as to why he held his sonic screwdriver out now when it wasn't really needed at this moment, from what she could see.
"Hmm, maybe." He replied placing his screwdriver back into his pocket.
"Maybe? What's the screwdriver for?"
"The TARDIS was picking some sort of signal up so is this it seems." With that the Time Lord stood up from his seat, his long coat blowing back slightly. Martha followed his actions and walked behind him stopping while the Doctor paid their bill, before then walking out of the door.
Carefully the pair crossed the road and made their way over to the toy shop. The Doctor stopped outside of the door just below the massive air conditioning vents, Martha stopping next to him as people rushed past them into the shop. It was now just after eleven o clock, the shop had only been open for an hour and yet it was already completely packed.
The Doctor was looking around and seemed like he was trying to find a trace on something. Martha looked too, however she wasn't able to locate anything that might show her why the Doctor was acting like this.
The Time Lord scanned his eyes around the shop watching as children picked things up and showed them to their parents, as some older children sulked at being pulled into a toy shop rather than a clothes shop or a huge game shop, as children sulked at not being allowed to have something and then one particular woman who stood out.
She was obviously a Mother and she seemed to be desperately looking for a child. She had a young female member of staff walking around with her, who was probably around nineteen or twenty, not much older and wore her blonde hair in a ponytail. The Doctor wondered how people could miss these things.
"Is something wrong Sir, Madam?" A voice asked jolting the Doctor out of his thoughts. The voice belonged to a young looking man probably in his late twenties, who was wearing a Hamleys uniform and a name badge that identified him as Rick.
"No. We were just looking." The Doctor replied.
"Well, feel free to come inside." Rick told them before walking off to go and promote more toys and offers that they had going on inside the store for the end of the summer holidays. The Doctor turned around and Martha looked to him in even more confusion, before the man started walking off.
"Doctor!" She called after him running to catch up with him, "Are you alright?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Do you think your mum and sister would mind if we stayed for a few days?" Martha was surprised by the question, but knew that her Mother wouldn't mind and her Sister probably wouldn't either. Neither of them had ever met the Doctor. She pulled out her mobile and dialled her Mother's number.
"I don't think she'll mind."
As Martha had thought, neither her Mother nor her Sister mined the fact that she wanted to stay for a couple of days and over the phone her Mother had sounded more than happy to have her back in London. The Doctor had left the TARDIS where it had landed as he assumed that it would be safer there than outside of Martha's house. It was less visible in a back alleyway.
Martha knocked on the door and it was quickly opened by her Mother who welcomed her in with a hug before inviting the Doctor inside as well. The Doctor followed along behind Martha and her Mother into the living room where Tish sat on the sofa watching the TV, but as soon as her sister walked in she got up and hugged her before offering her a seat next to her which Martha took before motioning for the Doctor to sit down next to her as her Mother sat in a small arm chair.
"So who's your friend Martha?" Her Mother asked.
"Oh well he's the Doctor." Her Mother and Tish looked at her in slight confusion, "Just the Doctor nothing else." She added. The pair accepted the answer, but they still seemed slightly confused.
The pair stayed for tea and then stayed overnight. Martha had the smallest room of the house, which she didn't mind, since the room had been her bedroom since she was young. The Doctor was offered her younger brother, Leo's room, since he had pretty much moved out of the house. The Doctor didn't complain, but Martha could tell that he wasn't really used to sleeping in a proper bed, but preferred to sleep in the TARDIS as that was most likely what he was used to after all of these years.
The tall building had only a few lights still on. Everyone had long gone and only Amy remained. She had been asked if she minded locking up tonight which she had agreed to quickly. She locked up everywhere while looking for the young girl who had gone missing earlier. She had tried to help the young girl's Mother to find her, but neither of them had had any such luck.
She had promised to look as much as she could for the young girl, who she had been told was called Jane and if she wasn't found in twenty four hours then a missing person report would have to be filled for her. Amy sighed for she had already heard over the summer holidays that seven other children had gone missing. The story had, luckily, been kept out of the press and so as a result hadn't been printed in the papers, which was a relief as it would have turned away business.
Amy suddenly saw something move behind her, something that moved very quickly, something not human. The young blonde turned and followed the fast moving creature as much as she could until she lost its trail. She could still hear some strange noises and so decided to turn around and finish locking up, but as she went to turn teeth appeared behind her and she screamed before everything went black.
Some of the doors and windows were still unlocked.
That night was dark and the moon was barely visible due to the cloud cover as well as there being barely any stars. The Doctor couldn't sleep, so found himself sitting on the floor, leaning his back against the bed, listening to the silence of the house. The only noise was the ticking of the clock in the hall, dripping of the bathroom tap and the sound of his own breathing.
He was going through the events of the day and the signal of an alien that the TARDIS had picked up which had lead him to bring Martha back to London, not that he told her that of course and then the time while they were sat in the restaurant and his sonic screwdriver had picked up something as well. The shop, Hamleys, seemed from the outside view to be a normal shop, but the Doctor was thinking of certain, more specific things.
Like that shop worker, Rick, the alien signals and the fact that the shop just hadn't felt right. The Doctor spent the rest of the night awake and of course the lost hours of sleep had no effect on him when he got up the next morning from the floor and headed downstairs. He had long before gone a night without sleep, so missing one every one in a while would never hurt him.
Sometimes he even missed two nights of sleep, but that only usually happened when he travelled alone or if there was a huge reason as to why he couldn't. Whenever someone was travelling with him, they always seemed to make sure that he slept.
The Doctor sat downstairs on the sofa in silence until Martha's Mothers come down and pulled back the living room curtains.
"Morning Doctor," She said as she passed him the TV remotes, "Feel free to put on what you like. I'm going to make breakfast would you like anything?"
"I'm alright thanks." The Doctor replied as he carefully took the remotes from her. She left the room and the Doctor turned the TV on switching the channel to BBC morning news. He just had a strange feeling that something was going to happen.
Martha and Tish came down while he was changing the channel and headed straight into the kitchen to see their Mother who was busy making them all pancakes.
"Morning Mum." Martha and Tish spoke and received the same answer from their mum who smiled at them both as well.
"Does the Doctor like pancakes?" Martha asked her Mother curious as to whether she had asked the Doctor or whether she just assumed that he liked them.
"I'm not making him any. I asked if he wanted anything and he said that he was fine." She replied as she continued to make the pancake mixture.
"Do him some toast and a glass of water. He never eats much, but that should give him some form of energy." Her Mother nodded and went to start making some toast as well. Martha and Tish went back to sit into the living room where the Doctor was sat on the edge of the sofa looking at the TV, which Martha recognised as being unusual for him. He didn't like TV.
"Morning Doctor, how are you-"
"Shh." The Doctor cut her off.
Tish looked to her sister and quietly spoke, "Well that was-"
"Shh." She was cut off in the same way and the pair moved to sit down to see what the Doctor was looking at with interest.
'When the shop opened this morning the morning staff found several doors and windows still unlocked. Amy Belling was the worker who was supposed to have locked up last night, but was reported to have never returned home. Another worker, Rick Marsh, was the last to see her last night before he left, but comments that he left before she had finished locking up. As well as this strange disappearance it has also been reported by Mrs Janet Gallon, that her daughter Jane, yesterday also disappeared in the shop and that Amy had been kind enough to try to help find her. The police are asking for anyone who may know anything and are opening Hamleys for business today as usual and are asking for anyone who may know anything to step forward. A member of staff also told the police this morning that seven children had also disappeared in the past few days.'
Martha and Tish were now starring at the screen and none of them had noticed the two girls Mother stood at the door with a tray in her hands.
"Well. That was interesting." Tish said slowly as her Mother walked in and allowed Tish and Martha to take a plate of pancakes and a glass of water each. Martha took the Doctor's plate of toast and handed it to him with the glass of water before taking her own plate of food allowing her Mother to sit down with her own breakfast.
"You've done me toast. Why have you done me toast?" The Doctor asked looking mainly at Martha.
"Breakfast." She replied simply.
"No time for breakfast," The Doctor started, "We have to go-"
"You aren't going anywhere until that plate is empty." Martha's Mother told the Doctor firmly. The man sat down and started to eat his toast in a very rushed way and he would have continued like that had Martha not told him to slow down before he choked.
"Eating that fast won't make us leave any quicker you know." The Doctor slowed down after that and began to eat slower and take his time. When he had finished, before every else, he just sat and waited staring blankly at the TV while Martha had a decent conversation with her Mother and Tish.
When Martha too finished she stood up and took both her own and the Doctor's plates and glasses out to the kitchen placing them by the sink with the other dirty items.
When she walked back in the Doctor stood up and they made their way to the front door. She quickly put some comfortable walking shoes on and they both made their way out of the front door and onto the busy street.
The streets became even busier as time went on and more shops opened. The weather was as it had been yesterday and was just stopping itself from pouring down on them all. There was a noticeable chill in the air and the wind was blowing the Doctor's long coat back as he walked. Martha had long ago zipped up her jacket and was glad that she had decided against the high heels today as they would only slow her down.
While they were walking Martha noticed a small shop and told the Doctor that she wanted to buy her Mother a copy of today's newspaper. The Doctor wasn't overly happy about this, but he let her and she tried to be as quick as possible.
The story was already spreading from mouth to mouth to mouth as the pair made their way towards Hamleys toy store. However, despite the news story which people may or may not have seen, the shop was still just as busy as it was yesterday.
The children were still busy looking at everything that caught their eyes and Martha wondered as to why the Doctor wanted to look into something like this. At least that was until she thought back to yesterday and remembered the signal that his sonic screwdriver had picked up and she could swear that he mentioned something about the TARDIS picking up an alien signal, so he must think that aliens have something to do with this.
After standing outside for a minute the Doctor walked into the shop and Martha quickly followed, glad to be out of the cold weather. Staff were stood around the shop at many points and from what she could see of the floor above it had the same sort of staff layout.
The Doctor made his way over to a member of staff who seemed to Martha to be relatively tired looking, but when she was able to read her badge she recognised the position as quite a high one in the staff order.
"Ah hello." The Doctor started with a cheerful smile and tone of voice that Martha had heard him use so many times before either when he was playing stupid or was just generally happy.
"Good morning Sir." The lady started, "Is there anything that I can do for you today?" Martha could see The Doctor smile slightly.
"Yes as a matter of fact I think there is." With that he pulled out his blank paper from his coat pocket and held it open to show the worker, "I'm Mr Smith and this is Miss Jones. We're with the police and we have been asked to interview people to see what they know. Is there somewhere we can talk?"
The woman stood still for a minute almost in thinking before nodding and leading the pair down a corridor into what looked like a staff room. She indicated for them to sit down at the table, which they did, before she herself sat down.
"Let's start with what you know about Amy Belling." The Doctor stated.
"Well I didn't know her brilliantly, but she seemed to be a nice girl and I used to go to the same school as her. I was two years above her and when she started work here I recognised her from back then, even though we hadn't actually ever spoken to each other before. I do an early morning shift six days a week and I'm usually gone by lunch time. That's when she comes into work you see."
"So how did you come to speak to her?" Martha asked, hoping that she had said something right. The Doctor didn't say anything, so she assumed that there was nothing wrong with what she had said.
"I had to do some evenings some time and there would be days when she would have locked up, so we would have spoken then and we occasionally spoke at times when she would be coming in for her shift and I would be leaving. But that was it."
"What about the seven other missing children, surely the police would have been told about those events a few days ago when they happened?"
"We didn't want the story getting out to people that children were going missing as it could have ruined are business. As it is, it hasn't, but are manager was worried, so she handed parents a free spending card worth thirty pounds and thirty pounds in spending money and the promise after the seventh went missing that the police would be told if another child went missing."
"I have one more question." The Doctor spoke before anything else could be said on the matter, "How long has Rick Marsh worked here?"
"I think he started working here about just over a week ago." The woman replied.
"Thank you, come on then Jones." The Doctor said as he stood from his chair and walked out, Martha as she had been told, followed him out.
"That guy would have started working here when those children started to go missing." Martha said realising what the Doctor had obviously already realised.
"Come on. I need to look around." The Doctor replied before setting off at a running pace down the corridor, Martha following as quickly as she could.
Neither of them noticed the person who had been stood watching them leave.
Okay, so this chapter is quite long, just to set up a picture really. Donna comes in to this story in the next chapter I think and Torchwood will come in shortly after. I hope you liked this first chapter. Also if you want a particular pairing let me know and I'll see if I can put it in. One more thing can you please answer my poll as I would like to know if you prefer longer or shorter chapters. Thanks for reading and please review.