Dodo woke suddenly. There was a loud knocking on her front door- so loud that her eye began to twitch with the continual thumping noise. She looked at the clock on her wall- it was only 8.30am, who was calling by the house unannounced?
Throwing her dressing gown on, she ran down the stairs and flung open the front door. She wasn't sure who she was expecting to be standing there, but it wasn't a man dressed in clown-like baggy clothes and a haircut that reminded her of her uncle when he had tried to cut his hair with a pudding bowl on his head. In one hand the man held a blue recorder, and in the other some sort of thick black journal. Dodo wondered if he was a travelling salesman, albeit it a rather strange one, but before she had time to tell him she wasn't interested in buying anything, the man stared at her deeply. Feeling unnerved, Dodo tried to casually drop hints that she was busy, but the man just continued to stare at her.
"I do apologise," he said finally in a voice that was calm and pleasant. "I didn't realise that this was your house. I suppose you don't recognise me?"
"No. Should I?"
The man clasped his hands together in delight and let out a smile. "We have some things in common you and I."
Dodo shuffled nervously. "I think you may be thinking of my aunt, are you one of her lot?"
"Her lot of what?"
"The neighbourhood watch crew, always twitching the curtains for some gossip, always looking for trouble."
"I suppose you could say that trouble is something I frequently encounter, Dodo."
Dodo laughed nervously but then stopped still and silent when she realised he had referred to her by not only her name, but not even her real name- the name only she liked to use. Her aunt always called her Dorothea.
"So, do you know my aunt or not?" she asked with a wave of confusion sweeping over her.
"You wouldn't recognise me because I've changed quite considerably since we last met. It's me, Dodo, it's the Doctor."
Dodo stared at him for a moment and then erupted into a fit of uncontrollable giggles. "You the Doctor? You're having me on! How do you know him then, you a friend of his or something?"
The man smiled warmly and didn't appear threatening in any way. "Maybe I should first explain why I'm here. Running into you was purely accidental, but you see Dodo, I am here on a manner of great urgency."
Dodo felt a strange sensation pass over her, almost like a déjà-vu, or a sense of the uncanny. She looked at the man as he fiddled around with his pockets and pulled out a small silver device that looked like a little pen.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm scanning for extra terrestrial activity."
Dodo laughed. "But if you're the Doctor, aren't you extra-terrestrial activity?"
The man looked down at himself, patting his coat, and smiled. "Oh yes, I suppose I am. Now Dodo, will you let me into your garden so I can see what it is I think may be there?"
Dodo held the door firmly, adamant she was not going to let a stranger into the house and rummage about in her garden. The man thought for a moment. "Remember the Toymaker, Dodo, or when I named you Miss. Dupont? Remember the TARDIS? You don't recognise me because I've been through a state of renewal. Those lines upon my face became these lines," he said pointing at his rather different looking face- a face slightly younger but just as expressive as the one she remembered. "His eyes became my eyes, but still the same person."
Dodo shuddered. His eyes were a piercing blue, and although he looked nothing like her Doctor, she also felt a strange connection to him and sensed that he was telling her the truth- after all how could he know so much? As she stared at him, trying to decipher his new personality and look, she was startled by a loud bleeping sound from the outside of the house.
"Oh my giddy Aunt!" the Doctor cried. "I must get to the source of that hullabaloo Dodo, oh crumbs its worse than I thought."
Dodo, though slightly anxious at the intrusive noise, was also amused by the Doctor's much more worrying nature. He was kind of cute though in a 'look at that sweet eccentric man' sort of way. The Doctor rushed past her and ran to the other end of the house. She followed and called after him, telling him to explain what the sound was and why they were running toward it and not away from possible danger.
"My Doctor always told me I was too curious, but you're the one who won't leave well alone. What's happening here? And why are you leaning over the rose bush like some sort of alien gardener?"
The sight of the small man bent over the rose bush with his ear to a leaf was one that made her smile, even if the constant bleeping sound made her head ache. She prodded him on the shoulder.
"Excuse me…what are you doing?"
He tapped something in the bush with his shoe and then looked puzzled as the sound ceased and they were left in an eerie silence. "Ah, I was a bit off with my calculations, it's not ready."
"What's not ready?" Dodo asked, hands on hips, demanding some answers.
The Doctor clasped his hands together gently. "Let's just call it a pod, shall we? I must come back later. You do trust me don't you, Dodo?"
Dodo looked at the man and saw the sincerity and wisdom, she did trust him. He was the Doctor- he had to be!
"I suppose I do trust you, well I hope its not some trick. You could be the Doctor, just sort of had plastic surgery that's all."
The Doctor smiled and placed his arm around her shoulder. "I am so glad you're well and have not changed one bit. You are doing well aren't you?"
Dodo shrugged. "Don't know really. I suppose so."
"Well I'm certain you will be. Look, I'll be back soon alright?"
Dodo laughed. "Well I'm not going to sit in the garden and wait for you if that's alright."
"I'm sure you won't. Until next time then?"
As he started to leave, she turned him around by the shoulders to face her. "Doctor, it's wonderful to see you. I'm sorry for how we parted."
He placed his hand on top of hers and patted it gently. "Don't worry, these things happen. See you soon, and don't tinker about in that rose bush."
"But what's in there?"
"I'll explain the next time you see me."
…
Dodo was in the garden sunbathing when there was a pounding on the back gate to the garden. She sighed, took off her sunglasses and got up angrily wondering why she was being disturbed. She arrived at the gate, flung it open and didn't take a moment to look before declaring. "Oh sod off, it's my day off."
As she adjusted her eyes to the light, she realised it was not one of her neighbours or friends, but two tall men, one a military man, and one a well dressed white haired gentleman wearing what looked like a vampire's cape.
"Oh, sorry, I thought you might be fat Charlie," she told them with an apologetic shrug.
"Fat Charlie?" the military man asked.
"Oh he's not really fat, he's skinny as a bean pole; it's just what I call him. Sorry, who are you?"
The military man scoffed and then stepped forward. "I'm Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart of 'United Nations Intelligence Taskforce' and this is my scientific advisor, the Doctor."
"We've already met," the Doctor interrupted as he leaned forward and took Dodo's hand. "Miss Chaplet and I travelled together back when I had transportation," he sighed toward the Brigadier as though it was the Brigadier's fault for preventing him from a quick getaway from Earth.
"Oh Doctor!" Dodo exclaimed. "It can't be. I mean you've changed again. You were a small, sweet, little clowny fellow before. How can you be like this now?"
"Tell me about it," the Brigadier replied.
"Yes," the Doctor said as he rubbed his chin with his leather gloved hand. "Yes I was a bit wasn't I? Silly chap as well if I recall. Much better these days my dear."
"Yes alright Doctor," the Brigadier said as his moustache rose in annoyance. Dodo laughed and imagined the military man's facial hair having a personality of its own.
"Anyway," the Doctor said as Dodo let them onto the lawn. "I've come to check on the pod that I told you about last time we met."
Dodo nodded and let the Doctor and the Brigadier navigate their way to the flowerbeds. She frowned when she saw the Brigadier scoffing at something as he leaned over the flowers.
Dodo frowned. "What are you moaning about?"
"These zinnias are in disrepair Miss. Chaplet, do you not have a gardener?"
"Minimum wage doesn't really stretch to gardeners," she mocked as she did a curtsey.
The Doctor smiled, easily amused with Dodo's rebuttal. "I see you still live with your aunt," the Doctor said as he held a metal cylinder shaped contraption above the bushes. "I did consider the possibility that you had moved. I was slightly worried about that prospect. Don't know why it didn't occur to me before."
"My auntie died a couple of years back, so the house is mine now. I got this night job in a club, even play a bit of piano there at weekends."
"Good for you," the Doctor said with a smile. "Now could you be so kind my dear as to pass me a garden hose?"
Dodo didn't question what he was doing and handed him the hose straight away. Whilst he was half in the bushes, she continued to tell him all about the club she worked at, all the interesting people she had met there. She ignored the Brigadier who was examining the lawn which was desperately in need of a mow.
"You might remember it Doctor, the Inferno nightclub. I even see Polly and Ben in there sometimes, and they've got a few stories to tell."
The Doctor nodded, half interested in her stories, half in the job at hand. "I am sorry, I seem to be ignoring you my dear, but I assure you this is hugely important, otherwise I'd quite like to sit down and have a good old talk about the old days and about Ben and Polly too."
"Doctor, are you quite done with that bush?" the Brigadier muttered. "I'm due back at HQ at fifteen hundred hours."
The Doctor set down his contraption with a tired sigh and looked at the Brigadier. "If you want to go, would you just leave me to it? I can get it done better alone anyway."
"Oh and give you the opportunity to run off again!" he said as he turned to Dodo. "He seems to like vanishing without a word."
Dodo laughed. "Yeah he does that."
The Doctor looked down at the rose bush and let out a grumble. "Oh damn and blast!"
"What's wrong?" Dodo asked. "Can I help?"
"It's still not ready, and without the TARDIS I have no way to determine when it will be. I'm afraid my visit has been a waste."
"Not to me Doctor."
The Doctor smiled warmly. "No, of course not, nor to me my dear."
…
At the sewing machine in her bedroom, Dodo admired the dress that she'd been working on for her theatre production of 'Oklahoma'. She held the frock against herself and smiled at her own handy work. Suddenly there was a loud bang from outside in the garden, and she sprung to attention, glancing out of the window in surprise. Dangling from her apple tree was a man who had become entangled in the long stripy scarf he was wearing, though it occurred to her that the scarf had probably stopped him from falling onto his head and causing him a serious injury. She furiously opened the window and shouted at him. "What do you think you're doing, what are you some sort of peeping Tom?"
The man didn't reply for a moment as he managed to swing himself to the ground and then untangle himself from the scarf's woollen clutches. Once he was free, he stared up at her window, squinting in the sunlight.
"Ah Dodo Chaplet, it's you! I was hoping you'd be here."
Dodo frowned. "If you're the Doctor I'm going to laugh my head off."
The Doctor looked down at himself and then tipped his hat. "Ah well I am the Doctor."
"Another one!" she said as she signalled that she would meet him in the garden. When she arrived outside, he was leaning over the rose bush talking to himself proudly.
"Ah, yes very interesting."
"It's been years," Dodo said approaching the tall figure from behind.
The Doctor turned around and smiled broadly at her, showing an impressive set of teeth that made her both want to smile but also cower in fear- he was very intense.
"Has it? I find it hard to keep track."
"It's been about seven years! I'm married now and everything."
The Doctor seemed puzzled and leaned in close to her so that their noses were almost touching. "You are? Well why did you go and do that?"
"I fell in love and wanted to!" she exclaimed.
"Ah yes, I suppose that's a good enough reason as any. On the planet Crentyl they marry three people every year, a most fascinating species."
"Just the one man for me thanks."
"Not ready."
"For marriage?"
"Hmm? No, no, I mean the pod. It's not ready, still immature."
Dodo folded her arms in annoyance as she looked up at the tall man towering above her, his curly brown hair even more unruly in the strong wind. "Is it ever going to do anything? I've been waiting for it to explode or hatch or god knows what for years. Are you going to tell me what it is yet?"
The Doctor smiled again. "I'll tell you next time."
He began to walk around the garden, skipping carefully along the flowerbeds as if he were playing a game rather than investigating something extra-terrestrial. Dodo stopped him and looked at him deeply. "You're leaving again aren't you?"
"Yes, but I'll be coming again very soon."
…
Dodo raced down the stairs when she heard the kettle boiling on the stove. She was startled, given that she was sure her husband wasn't home, and she certainly hadn't put it to boil herself. As she reached the bottom of the stairs with a golf club in her hand, she could see a tall blond man wearing what appeared to be a cricketing outfit, standing by the oven. She was about to run at him and tackle him to the floor, when from the corner of her eye she could see a flash of blue out of the kitchen window. As she neared the window she saw that she was correct, that the TARDIS itself was parked in the garden. She let out a deep sigh of relief.
The Doctor, who clearly had changed again, hadn't noticed her lingering near him and was still tinkering about with some cups and tea bags. She was still staring at the blue box she hadn't seen since she had been so young.
"Ah there you are Dodo," the Doctor said finally noticing her. He poured the hot water into two cups. "The pod is still a little underdone I'm afraid."
"So you don't knock on the door at all now?" she said trying to focus on him as her eyes kept drifting to the image of the TARDIS outside. How she longed to see it properly again.
"Ah yes…sorry about that, but I have three agitated passengers waiting for me and I thought I'd get started without bothering you in the process. I'm just taking a quick tea break."
"You're very young," Dodo stammered as she looked intensely at the new Doctor, examining his new face.
"Older than since our last meeting," he said with a smile.
"So do you age in reverse?"
"No, it's pot luck most of the time, no guarantee for anything you might personally want."
"Well you look very nice, the outfit's a bit weird or are you planning on a match later?"
The Doctor frowned and resumed his tea duties.
"Oh that's a point, I have something for you," she said with an excited grin. "I made it after the last one of you came here. I thought you could wear it."
She raced out of the room and came back a moment later carrying a box with a red bow placed on the top. The Doctor looked rather intrigued at the large gift. "You shouldn't have," he said in a pleasant manner. He un-wrapped the paper and then pulled out a coat from the box. The coat was highly coloured and long in length. It was so multi-coloured in fact that his eyes had to squint to look at it, and it started to give him a headache. "You…really shouldn't have…"
The Doctor gestured that her tea was ready and she sipped it gratefully as she watched him further examine the coat. "Isn't it fab? I made it myself for a production of 'Joseph', but it didn't end up going ahead. I'd like you to keep it."
The Doctor carefully turned his nose up at the coat and patted it gently. "It's a little big."
"Oh you'll grow into it."
The Doctor forced a smile and folded the coat under his arm. The front door slammed, and a moment later a young man, Dodo's husband Doug, strolled into the kitchen and threw his keys down onto the table barely noticing that the Doctor was there. He kissed Dodo on the cheek. "Alright love, I'm home for lunch," he said and then stopped when he saw the Doctor standing there uncomfortably. "Who's this?"
"Oh this is the Doctor," she said with excitement. "Remember I told you I travelled a bit when I was a teenager? Well, this was who looked after me."
Doug looked at the Doctor with suspicion. "I thought you said he was old?"
Dodo and the Doctor glanced at one another, both signalling for the other to speak first. Finally, the Doctor answered for her. "In spirit I was older. I've always been an old soul I suppose."
Doug leaned closer to his wife and whispered. "He's not some old boyfriend is he?"
Dodo laughed loudly as if the very idea repulsed her, "Oh gosh no! Don't be daft."
"It's not that Steven Taylor bloke then?"
"Give over, Doug! He's just the Doctor that's all, the one and only Doctor."
…
"You grew into it then," Dodo said as she placed the Doctor's cup of tea on the garden patio table. He was half in the bush with his bottom raised in the air. The yellow of his trousers stood out against the deep green of the plant.
"Yes, Dodo, the coat is marvellous," he said with a muffled reply. "It would seem we two are in a minority group on that score."
After a squeak of pain, Dodo grabbed the man's arm and helped pull him free of the entanglement of thorns. She laughed as he stood upright and his face was filled with red blotchy marks from where he'd leaned against the plants. He looked like he'd contracted some alien virus.
"So are you going to tell me what the thing is or am I going to be an old dying woman before I know?"
The Doctor sighed. "Oh Dodo Chaplet, dear Dodo, I'd love to tell you, but now isn't the time."
Dodo was starting to get annoyed with the excuses and folded her arms. "And I am just supposed to wait for you and put up with you my whole life? I mean, I like you Doctor, but my husband might wonder why there's some strange bloke here all the time. And there's my job at the talent agency. I'm busy these days Doctor. I haven't always got time to be here."
The Doctor smiled and sat down on the lawn, pulling her next to him. "It warms my hearts to know you've found your place in this world Dodo. I must admit I was rather hurt when you chose to leave without even a hug goodbye."
Dodo felt the tears rise in her eyes, feelings of regret rushing through her. "It was easier than having to face you and say goodbye to the adventure. I knew if I stayed on the TARDIS…I'd never leave."
"And I admire your honesty, and I hope that you can appreciate that I cannot tell you what is in your rose bush. All I can promise is that I would not let anything hurt you. Is that clear?"
Dodo smiled and wiped away the stray tears that fell upon her cheeks, it'd been so long since she'd cried. "You know Doctor, every time I see you, it's like I'm sixteen all over again and I'm back adventuring across the stars."
The Doctor nose bopped her and gave her a sideways hug. His colourful coat almost engulfed her petite frame. "We should all remember the feeling of youth my dear."
"Can you stay for longer this time?"
"I can't."
…
"Will you check it for me Dodo? It's important and I need your help."
Hearing the voice of the Doctor on the telephone was surreal and she couldn't quite believe that it was the same man. His voice was a new voice and a distinct one just as all the others had had before him. She was certain she could hear a hint of a Scottish accent but his voice was slightly muffled with the poor connection. She listened carefully.
"Why can't I see you face to face Doctor?"she asked when he finally took a moment to breathe.
"It's difficult to explain…and I'm rather indisposed… but my instinct Dodo is that the rare and wonderful gift you possess can help me with this task."
"Why are you being so nice…are you in trouble?"
There was a moment's silence and Dodo breathed heavily as she considered that he'd been hurt and was unable to communicate with her. "Doctor, are you still there? Doctor?" She listened for a few moments with baited breath.
"Yes I'm still here,"he said with a chuckle. "Rather got you there, didn't I?"
"Oh Doctor! I thought you were in danger. You tease."
"I'm sorry. Will you do me this favour?"
"I'll do as you wish Doctor… but first you have to tell me what you look like."
There was a grumbling sound down the phone-line. "Is that important?"
"No, but I've known your other faces and I'd like to know yours. Please tell me."
"Oh alright, alright, well let me see. I'm much shorter than I was before, and I'm ordinary I suppose, perhaps a little strange looking though I like it a lot. I wear a hat and carry an umbrella. I can also play the spoons which is useful."
Dodo smiled with excitement picturing the new Doctor inside her head. "I bet you are wonderful."
She heard the Doctor laugh and then he explained what she had to do. She tried her best to take in every detail he was saying, though she wanted to tell him about all the things she had been up to in her own life. Finally he stopped talking and she was aware that he was going to soon hang up, though she didn't want him to. "Doctor?"
"Yes, Dodo?"
"What are you going to do now?"
There was a brief pause as if he was considering something. "Wars rage on across the universe…things must be fought, promises must be made. Long story short, no time to ponder…rest is for the wicked."
"Then good luck Doctor, I won't let you down this time, I promise."
…
Dodo struggled with her shopping through the back gate to the garden, almost dropping some of the items to the floor as she pushed the gate closed with her bottom. She walked a few paces and then stopped in surprise when she saw a man and woman sitting on a picnic blanket by the rose bushes. They were chatting quietly and had little cups and saucers, and some sandwiches on a plate. She put down her bags and marched up to them.
"Doctor, is that you?" she shouted. "A phone call wouldn't be a bad thing. I've just been shopping for a party I'm having. If you'd have phoned I would have left the errands until later."
"I didn't want to disrupt your life Dodo. Lucie and I just came to check on the pod and we thought as it was a nice day we'd take a quick picnic."
"And is the pod ready yet?" Dodo said as she sat down beside them, smiling at Lucie and grabbing a small cake.
"Afraid not," he said stuffing a cake into his mouth. "Much too early."
"Excuse his rudeness," Lucie said, shaking Dodo's hand. "And sorry about the intrusion. I'm Lucie Miller, the one keeping him in check."
The Doctor swallowed the cake and sat up into a more comfortable position. "I do not need keeping in check. What is it with humans and there desire to babysit me?"
"If you can't behave like a normal sane person rather than a crazy one, then yeah, you need babysitting."
Dodo laughed and nodded in agreement. "I'm pretty sure without us lot looking out for him he'd be completely impossible to get along with!"
The Doctor pouted but was used to his companions taking pot shots at his personality. He admitted defeat and fell back upon the blanket in a form of surrender. "May some higher being strike me down if ever I face life alone."
Dodo pulled the Doctor back into a seating position and looked at him intently- her tone shifted to a much more serious one. "Why were you gone so long this time?"
"The cons of a time traveller, Dodo, you never can quite get the timing right. When are we now 1994, 95?"
Dodo laughed. "1998. it's been so long since you phoned me that one time. I was starting to think something had happened to you."
"To me? Now don't worry about that, I'm always coming eventually."
"Don't you be thinking about that," Lucie added. "Whilst I'm looking out for him, he keeps his promises. He may whizz off from time to time, god knows where he goes to, but when you need him, really need him, he's there."
The Doctor smiled and tried to hide the fact that he felt his cheeks getting hot with embarrassment. He was shuffling uncomfortably and Dodo could tell he was ready to change the conversation.
"So, Dodo," he said. "What did you think of the other ones of me?"
"See how vain he is," Lucie noted.
"Well…that last one I saw in person, the one with the blond curly mop hair and yellow trousers. After my Doctor, he was definitely my favourite."
"The one with the…really? The one with the coat?"
"Yes, the one with the fabulous coat that I made!"
"Oh yes…you made that didn't you? I'd forgotten."
"Anyway, he was a darling. You were a darling I should say."
"I'm not now?"
"Of course you are, in a more obvious sort of dashing way."
The Doctor scoffed in amusement. "Hear that Lucie, I'm more obvious."
"Alright Doctor I'm right next to her, I can hear what she's saying without needing a parrot translation."
"You're not offended are you?" Dodo asked.
"Never Dodo, never."
…
Dodo looked in the mirror on her dressing table and straightened out the loose bits of hair that were falling into her face. She'd always kept her hair short, easy to manage and practical. She liked it that way; though she wasn't as fond of the grey that kept creeping through. She looked over at Doug who was seated at the desk typing away on the computer.
"You gonna be on that thing all day?" she asked.
"You what?" he muttered as he momentarily looked up from the screen to acknowledge she was there. She was about to reply when the door bell began to ring.
"Get that would you love?" Doug said.
"Oh that you hear! Selective hearing is it these days?"
Doug looked up from the computer. "Sorry did you say something?"
Dodo rolled her eyes and left the room, shutting the door behind her and heading to the front door. She opened the door and was greeted with a rather serious looking man wearing a leather jacket and dark clothing.
"You here to read the gas meter?" she asked.
"No, why would I want to do that?"
"Well…what do you want then?"
"It's me Dodo…it's the Doctor. Hello!" he said waving his hand.
"The Doctor?" she said, shocked, but no longer surprised that he'd changed again. "Then why not go around the back? Honestly, come on, through you go."
The Doctor followed her through the house and into the back garden. It was a dreary day and she was aware how the weather seemed to suit his brooding mood. She'd never seen him so normal.
"What happened to your hair?" she asked.
"My hair?" he said as he bent over the rose bush and sniffed the soil below the plants.
"Well you change a lot but I thought the barmy hair was a constant."
The Doctor looked somewhat puzzled and touched the top of his head. "I don't pick it, it just 'appens. Sort of like waking up one morning and someone's shaved off your eyebrows as a joke."
Dodo started to laugh heavily. The Doctor stopped what he was doing, a bit put out, and looked at her. "And what is so funny?"
"I was just picturing you and your former selves in a police line up! It'd look ever so funny!"
The Doctor smiled, humouring her. "I'm sure it would."
She watched curiously as he again bent into the bushes and she heard a few mumbles and curses. Finally, he popped back up and folded his arms.
"The bad news is the pod isn't ready, or it's immature, or it's just a lazy teenager who won't get out of bed."
Dodo nodded. "Why is it taking so long to do what it has to do? It's starting to drive me mad wondering what it's doing just there."
The Doctor let out a wide reassuring grin which instantly made Dodo feel safer.
"It's a tricky process, better to be safe than sorry. We don't want to bother it until its ready do we?"
"It?"
"It's just a thing, don't question things. Just pretend it's not there, alright?"
"Pretty hard to just ignore it."
"It'll all make sense one day, I can guarantee that."
…
Dodo sat up in her bed and sighed. She felt tired from the party she'd been to the night before and the rather excessive amount of wine she'd consumed hadn't helped her headache. Her husband Doug had left for work so it was a perfect opportunity for her to get some rest and get rid of the awful hangover. As she shut her eyes for some much needed sleep, she saw the laptop screen light up on the top of the desk. She sighed and went to shut the lid down, but when she got closer to the screen she realised there was a man's face staring at her.
"Hello!" he said as he waved his hand in an enthusiastic manner.
Dodo's first instinct was to scream as the man on the screen looked at her like he knew her. She noticed that the Skype was on and considered that he was a friend of Doug's, though she didn't recognise him.
"Who are you?" she asked as she covered herself with her dressing gown.
"It's me, it's the Doctor!" he said as if he was proud of himself.
"Moved into the 21st century have we?" she asked.
"Easy way to keep in track of old friends," he said. "And this way I can have a quick chin wag and then let you get back on with that hangover of yours."
"It's not a hangover, it's a head cold."
The Doctor scoffed and laughed at the same time. "That's what they all say."
"Look, enough of the pleasantries, Doctor. Why are you wherever you are and not here with me with your backside sticking out of the garden bush?"
"Ah…well…I'm a bit stuck at the moment."
Dodo rolled her eyes as she rubbed her throbbing head with her hand. "Of course you are."
"No…I really am stuck. Glue like substance coats this planet. I've had to send my companion for help. Luckily I could still contact you with some A+ gadgetry and a top notch sonic screwdriver."
Dodo ignored all the gobbledygook and sighed. "And is there any chance you're going to do me a huge favour and let me know whether that pod thing in my garden is ready, or are you going to tell me that next time you'll have the answer. I mean, with the amount of you, you could start your own football team."
The Doctor laughed. "Yeah that's a bit difficult to be honest, the pod thing, not the football team- we'd need one more for that. I really can't be any more specific about the rose bush. Time is this ball of wibbly wobbly stuff."
Dodo sighed and motioned for him to stop talking. "I'm really too old for all that mumbo jumbo talk!"
The Doctor bowed his head, his mood changing from a bouncy happy man to a serious concerned one. "I'm so sorry, I get carried away at times, but I promise you I'm sorting it out. You still trust me don't you?"
Dodo stared hard into the Doctor's brown eyes. She still felt the sense of déjà vu and the uncanny, still felt the excitement and wonder when she spoke to him, she did trust him.
…
Dodo grabbed the watering can and held it above the row of flowerbeds as she attempted to cheer the garden up after a long and miserable winter and spring. The sun was starting to put in an appearance and it was beginning to get hot. She looked at the row of flowers and smiled.
"You are a pretty bunch aren't you? So full of life! I used to be like that once, so full of colour."
There was a sudden rustle of leaves and Dodo screamed as a man popped up from underneath a hedge with a big grin on his face. "Still are full of colour!"
"You're not the Doctor?" she stammered, still trying to catch her breath. "Please tell me you're not the Doctor?"
The man pointed at himself. "It is; it's me! I'm sorry about jumping out at you like that but I wanted to have a look."
Dodo instinctively began to wipe the Doctor's jacket with her hands, getting rid of the stray bits of grass and dust. "But you're so young; I mean you look so young. Are you sure you're not the Doctor's son or something?"
The Doctor's smile turned to a frown as he wagged his finger at her. "Looks can be deceiving. I'm so much older than the white haired man you travelled with, I was just a boy!"
Dodo laughed. "You acted like it too, sometimes."
"The pod's still not ready you know? I'm not sure why, but it needs a few more years maybe, it's rather annoying."
"Years? Doctor, why is it you, all of you, can't seem to give me a straight answer? What are you hiding?"
The Doctor avoided eye contact with her and reached into his pocket, pulling out a silver cylinder device that had a green glow resonating from the top. "Have I ever shown you this?"
"I don't care about some flashy prop; I care about what's been living in my garden for decades. Be honest with me…am I safe?"
"Yes," he said with absolute sincerity. "Yes, you're safe."
…
Dodo got out of bed abruptly and stared at the clock, it was 2.00 am. She looked over at Doug who was fast asleep in the bed covers and snoring loudly so that the blanket moved upwards with every breath. She quietly headed to the door and put on her outer coat and made her way to the back door and into the garden. In the night air, it was cold, and the darkness was creepy. She pulled out a small torch from her coat pocket and walked to the rose bush and bent over it in apprehension. Why had she not done this before, and seen what all the fuss was about?
She peered carefully through the leaves and felt her way about through the overgrown mass of thorns. The rose bush had been the one unchanged thing in the whole house and garden. The decades had gone by, she had aged, the décor had changed, the garden had been re-done, and plants had been re-planted, but somehow she knew never to tamper with that one bush- the one the Doctor was so fascinated with, the one that held the 'pod' she was never supposed to see.
"Oh its here somewhere," she let out as she pulled away a mass of green in her hand and was greeted with the sight of what looked nothing like a pod, or a seed or anything growing. Instead it appeared silver and metal like, futuristic and hot, not what she had expected at all.
"What is it?" she spoke aloud.
…
The next day Dodo sat in the garden alone. She'd spent the morning staring at the bush, knowing the contraption was still there, just sitting there. Doug had gone on a pub crawl with some of his friends and she'd decided not to go with him, and had told him she needed to get some costumes sorted for a new play she'd written that was to be performed in a few short weeks.
When the garden gate swung open and she heard some footsteps approaching her from behind, she instantly knew it'd be the Doctor. She just knew. She turned around slowly to see the man- a tall, slim, grey haired man standing on the lawn. He was alone. "Doctor?"
"You knew I was coming didn't you?"
She shook his hand and then continued to stare at the older gentleman. She looked at his face and studied it for a moment. "You're old again?" she said.
"Am I?"
Dodo realised he was standing away from her and was much more withdrawn than his previous self. She couldn't help but be drawn into his eyes. They were so intense, so frightening, and they reminded her so much of the Doctor she travelled with. She turned away quickly with anger as she felt the tears fill her eyes.
"You kept promising to tell me the truth but you were never going to were you?"
"I sense you're angry with me."
Dodo laughed nervously and then turned back to face him. "There is some alien technology in my garden. It's been there for over forty years and you have not once bothered to tell me what it's doing there, of course I'm angry."
The Doctor stepped forward one simple step. "I didn't want to worry you."
"Worry me? I've done nothing but worry. I'm not that sixteen year old schoolgirl anymore who believed that nothing could harm me. I was so naive, so idealistic, thought everything was an adventure. But I've grown up, and I've changed. But every time you or one of you came to visit, I remembered what it was like to be excited and to feel young again. But being ignored when I ask questions is not something I can do anymore. I need to know."
He folded his arms. "Why? Can't you trust me?"
"Not when I don't get the whole truth. All I see is that you come here, put something dodgy in my garden and then pop by whenever you feel the need. Do you want to ruin my life?" she yelled, and was shocked by her own sudden outburst of emotion. She'd never spoken to the Doctor like that before, never ever thought she could.
But the Doctor was angry too, his body tightened and he looked at her with an air of both menace and shock.
"For crying out loud! Ruin your life? Ruin it? I did none of this to ruin your life. I did it all to save it!"
Dodo paused and the tears filled her eyes again, struggling to maintain composure. "Save it?"
"For nearly fifty years I've been saving your life. That 'thing' isn't a pod, Dodo, its life support…for you."
Dodo didn't know how to respond. Her body began to tremble as she tried to comprehend what he was saying.
The Doctor softened and lowered his voice. "I lied to you Dodo. I've lied to you for a long time. After that war machine took over your brain I detected that you'd become infected with a deadly virus."
He twisted uncomfortably on the spot, running his hands through his hair as he did so. "There was no way to cure you, no way I could just pop you some pills and presto Dodo Chaplet is better….but…I could keep you going. A life support machine from the future placed right by you, able to let you live your life the way you could."
Dodo could barely find the words to talk, she felt sick at what he was telling her, all she had been through. "Doctor, tell me am I going to be alright?"
"I don't know!" he shouted with frustration. The Doctor then nodded and smiled, managing to let out a small laugh.
"And what is so funny?" she said, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
"I've probably broken all of the rules of time travel."
Dodo managed a small smirk remembering her Doctor's claim that nothing could be changed in history. In fact, they had done almost anything to avoid it in their trips to the past.
"But I thought about how nothing mattered," the Doctor continued. "Safety of the ones who keep me going is paramount. I had to just do it and damn the rules."
"You could have told me."
"And make your life a death sentence? You'd be constantly wondering if it was going to break, or whether you'd have long left to live. Is that what you'd have wanted?"
Dodo stared up at his face and felt a sense of relief that she finally knew the truth and why the Doctor had lied, though she was still angry with him for keeping so many secrets.
"And what happens now?"
"Life happens."
"And what about that thing in the bushes?"
"Ignore it, pretend it's not there, let it do its job. Have a fantastic, amazing existence and don't ponder on what is to be."
Dodo nodded, still confused but too tired to question any further. She had some of the answers she wanted, and that was enough for now.
She leaned up on her tiptoes and kissed the Doctor gently on the cheek. He edged away slightly with apprehension. She sighed. "I'm going to pretend that you'll come back one day and I'll see you in that bush once again."
"And I'm going to pretend you're right."
…