Summary: Gracie Basset is left alone with her new babysitter, strangely named the Doctor, when her parents go away for a day to meet with her sick grandfather. Little did she know, this was just the beginning of her curious adventure.
Author's note: This is possibly my favorite fan fiction that I've written so far. I hope you guys like it too, and please, feel free to leave constructive reviews!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters of Doctor Who.
Chapter 1:
"But why do you and mummy have to go tonight?" Gracie Basset cried as her father took her dinner dishes away from the table.
"Because we need to get to the hospital by morning, and if we don't leave by tonight we won't make it in time for the appointment with Granddad's doctor," her father replied trying to soothe his daughter's anxiety of being alone.
"Then why can't you take me with you? I want to see Granddad too!" Gracie retorted in a desperate attempt to not be left alone, and because she really did want to go see her grandfather.
"Because you have to go to school! You've missed too many days because you got that flu last fall, remember?" Gracie's mother replied, a little annoyed because they had this conversation just moments ago. "Besides, we've got a great babysitter for you so you won't be alone. He was highly recommended by your Aunt Hilda, and you know how hard it is to impress her. By the by, he should be arriving momentarily," her mother added as she checked her silver wristwatch.
"Mummy, please don't go," Gracie begged once more, grabbing onto her waist. Her mother sighed and hugged her back.
"You know we would take you if we could, but this is something both your father and I have to do alone," then, thinking of something that would sweeten the deal with her daughter, she added, "and, tell you what, we promise we will bring a present for you when we return. How does that sound, eh?" Letting go of her mother, Gracie looked up at her mother's pleasantly round face and sighed in defeat.
Finished in the kitchen, Gracie's father clapped his hands and turned to his child, "Right, now, you know our cell phone numbers so if anything comes up you can call us or...?" her father paused to quiz his daughter.
Rolling her eyes at her father, Gracie correctly answered, "Go next door to Mrs. Miller's. But her cats are all scary!"
Now it was her mother's turn to roll her eyes, "They are not! The important thing is that Mrs. Miller will be able to help you if your babysitter can't. Now, do you promise me you'll be good to the babysitter, and do your homework?"
"Yes, I promise," mumbled Gracie half-heartedly. Almost as if on cue, the doorbell rang, and the three simultaneously looked down the hallway towards the door. "Coming!" her mother sang as she made her way down to the door, her father following closely behind. Gracie, rather than following her parents, sat down on a couch in their living room adjacent to the dining room.
This is just great, Gracie thought as she buried her face in a pillow, Not only do I have to stay behind and NOT see Granddad, I also get stuck with some weird babysitter that probably won't talk to me the whole night, just like Ashley. This is going to suck. As she thought to herself, she heard the footsteps of her parents and the babysitter tapping against the wood floor, becoming louder and louder. She sighed once more into the pillow and brought her face up to take in her new babysitter.
"Hello, Gracie!" said the man who was supposed to be her babysitter as he sat next to her on the couch rather suddenly, causing Gracie to jump a bit. This man was odder than Gracie had expected. Not only was his chin very pointy, he was also dressed in a tweed jacket, suspenders and a bowtie. Who even dresses like that anymore, Gracie thought to herself as she replied with a quiet, "Hi." His eyes are kind, though. That's good.
"My name's the Doctor, and I believe my job description for tonight will be to make sure you don't burn down the house," he announced as he smiled wildly, chuckled at his own joke, and held out his hand for her to shake. Not wanting to insult him, she shook his hand, but at the same time looked at her parents with begging eyes, which her parents knew too well as the "Please take me with you!" eyes.
Avoiding Gracie's eyes Mrs. Basset continued, "Well, Doctor, thank you so much for taking this job on such short notice. We have all the emergency numbers by the phone, and Mrs. Miller next door can also help you if you have any problems, which I'm sure you won't. Now, we need to be off, so, Gracie, remember what we talked about, and Doctor, we should be back tomorrow at about five in the evening."
After both parents gave Gracie a kiss and a hug, they picked up their bags by the door and left into the night.
"Now then, what do you want to do first?" the Doctor asked when a few moments had passed in silence.
"I don't know...but my parents told me to do my homework," Gracie said quietly, still sizing up the new babysitter.
"Brilliant! I love homework, stimulates the synapses in the brain. Let's take a look shall we?"
Grudgingly, Gracie got up from the couch, and took her time getting her homework from her bedroom, ensuring that she had enough time to evaluate the Doctor. He was nice enough, and he talked to her, unlike Ashley, so he wasn't that bad. But Doctor who? And what kind of doctor? she thought to herself as she headed back to the living room. When she entered the living room she was in for a sight. The Doctor had started cooking something and already had the kitchen dripping with egg whites, the refrigerator's contents splayed all around, and stove top on with a pan sizzling. At the moment Gracie had walked into the room, he was standing on top of the table inspecting the light fixture in the dining room. Gracie let her homework slip to the floor in her shock, and was about to scream, but the Doctor started speaking before she had time to do so.
"I hope you like omelets! I believe I learned from the best of the best, back in the 1800's, but times do change so I want you to try it and tell me what you think. Also, I don't know if you know this, but I think you can get better light in here if you just tighten this screw here..." with this, he pulled out some sort of gadget from his breast pocket and whirred it at the screw, and the light did become brighter. "Ha, ha!" he kissed his gadget, then pointed it at Gracie, "Told you," he exclaimed as he got off the table.
"Exactly what kind of doctor are you?"
"Oh, um, a doctor of everything, you could say. Jack-of-all-trades is what I am. Why would that matter?"
"It's just...um…Nothing. I got my homework," she picked up her homework, made her way to the table, and took a seat in something of a daze.
"Yes, let's see what you have for me." The Doctor sat down next to Gracie, picked up and flipped through the pages of her math book, immediately dropped the book onto the table, and stared at Gracie.
"What is that?" He asked pointing at her math book.
"My homework…for school tomorrow..." Gracie answered, looking confused.
"That..." he laughed as if insulted, pointing at the book once more, "... is rubbish! What are they teaching you kids these days?" he asked himself and rubbed his eyes as if in shame and asked, "How old are you, Gracie?"
"I'm eight and a half. Why?"
"Eight...and they're teaching you this...this useless…rubbish?"
"You don't have to make fun of me," Gracie mumbled, a little offended.
"Do you feel offended by what I said?" The Doctor observed.
"Yes," Gracie replied a little harshly. The girl was starting to rethink her evaluation of The Doctor.
"As well you should be! They are insulting your intelligence with this kind of homework! No, I will take it upon myself to make sure you learn the proper stuff," then sniffing the air the Doctor shot up, "My omelets!" he yelled as he ran toward the now smoking kitchen. Turning off the stove and disposing of the terribly burnt eggs, he focused his attention on Gracie once more.
"Sorry, about the eggs. I'll cook them again sometime else," he apologized, "But I think there are some very important things we need to attend to, such as the state of your education. Come along, Gracie!" At this he threw the pan onto the stove and took her hand.
"Where are we going?" questioned Gracie as they headed out the door.
"To my TARDIS. The only proper classroom."
"What's a TARDIS?" And as if to answer her question, the Doctor pointed to a blue police box in her front yard.
"That wasn't there before! How did it get there?" When they got to the doors, the Doctor took out a key, opened the door and guided Gracie inside.
Gracie's heart stopped. What she thought to be nothing more than a big closet, she found to be infinitely larger on the inside. "What...?" she had to step outside and confirm the actual size of the box, then inched back inside. "But..."
"This is a good time to start our first lesson; how can a blue police box be bigger on the inside?"
Gracie had to think a little bit longer than the Time Lord would have liked. But then again, this is the first proper education she's getting, the Doctor consoled himself.
"Um...uh, magic?" Gracie shrugged her shoulders.
The Doctor lost his balance momentarily, and laughed, slightly offended, "Magic. Magic?" He rubbed his face, then took a deep breath, "No. First of all, magic is for Harry Potter, not my classroom. Now, the correct answer was a multi-dimensional spaceship."
Gracie's eyes narrowed in concentration, "A multi-dimen…diment…?"
The Doctor interrupted her struggle, "Multi-dimensionalism; dimensions within a certain dimension. Very simply, there is infinite space within the limited space of a police box by the creation of another dimension. Questions?" The Doctor turned to fiddle with the console before she could answer. "Oh, that's not normal...that's very not normal." he mumbled to himself as he read the screen hanging above his head.
"What? What is it?" Gracie walked up to the console once she remembered she had legs, and noticed several small red lights flashing at the bottom of a column that extended up from the console. "Are those red lights a bad sign?"
He smiled at his new pupil, "Well, as long as it's alright with you that our lesson is going to be extended to a field trip, I think it will be fine," he held out his hand to Gracie. The little girl looked terrified for a moment, but then The Doctor witnessed a courageous heart show itself in her eyes. She smiled, took his hand, and then nodded.
"Next lesson; Prehistoric life!" he announced as he pulled the lever and hurled the TARDIS into the Time Vortex.