Disclaimer: Nope, I didn't own Doctor Who last time I checked. And probably still won't the next time I check again.
Summary: „Is it like the wardrobe that goes to Narnia?" she asked hopeful. 11th Doctor and tiny humans. Fluff. Set somewhere between The God Complex and Closing Time. Well, there or somewhere else. I'm not quote sure myself. Just a little something that I started writing to get over writer's block and it ended up this, whatever this is.
The curious case of the tiny humans
The Doctor nodded to himself satisfied as he landed the TARDIS in his destination with the accompanying 'vworp vworp' noise. He caressed the console gently. Oh, how he had missed that brilliant noise these past few weeks. Sure, travelling with River for a while had its quirks and even though he'd be damned to admit it, he had enjoyed it greatly and most importantly of all it had been fun. However at the same time he was quite happy when she finally went off for one of her archaeological expeditions. Oh, that woman. She just made him so nervous like a stroppy teenager totally out of his element as the over a thousand years old Time Lord. His musings were interrupted by a loud thud.
"What is it, old girl?" he addressed his beloved ship, but then he realized the origin of the noise. It was the sound of something colliding with the TARDIS on the outside. He straightened his bowtie and murmured: "Well then, what have you got for me this time, eh?" as he opened the TARDIS door.
The TARDIS had landed in the middle of a cherry orchard and the sight that greeted the Doctor when he came out was that of a little human boy of about eight years staring at the Doctor and the TARDIS incredulously. No, there was something more than that. There was also an unmistakeable excitement and a flicker of hope in the boy's eyes. Unlike adults who would be most likely to pretend that they never had even seen a mysterious box appear out of the blue, children still had that precious gift to not only hope for the impossible, but also to believe in the impossible. It was there, even though only for those scarce few years which were but a fleeting moment to the Doctor, but it was there nevertheless. And the Doctor always made sure to make the best of it when faced with tiny humans. When he needed to forget the worst of himself, they reminded him of the best of him with their pure hearts and eyes wide open to the world. And after some odd twelve hundred years of life later when you could no longer see it and the days became tediously like one another, the furious cycle of birth, life and death, there was nothing quite like seeing the world through the eye of a human child. Oh, what a shame it was that all of that had to eventually be erased and rewritten by the tedious mistake of growing up and ending up doing all the nonsensical adulty-wadulty stuff, thought the Doctor.
"Could you please give me back my ball, sir?" the little boy seemed to finally find the courage to address the strange man in front of him.
"Hmm? Your ball? What ball?" the Doctor fidgeted with his fingers and looked around the orchard, but there was no ball in sight.
The boy's features hardened in his best attempt at an angry face, pouting his lips, but with his curly dark hair falling into his piercing green eyes and perfect facial features, he resembled a sad puppy more than anything. He crossed his arms and muttered: „It's all because of Lindsay...my stupid little sister. She dropped the ball when you and your box fell out of the sky."
„Huh. Okay, the man who fell out of the sky not getting this, the man who fell out of the sky very confused. So, where's your sister then?" the Doctor looked around searching for a displaced human girl between the trees.
The boy sighed and pointed up to the top of the tree whose lowest twigs were touching the top of the TARDIS. He noticed the small orange ball on the TARDIS roof and when he looked up he set his eyes on the little girl of about six or seven crouching on one of the branches, her face stained by tears swallowing small sobs.
"Hello, there, Lindsay. I'm the Doctor, here to help. It does look like you need a little help up there. What are you doing up there all alone?" the Doctor addressed the little girl softly.
Lindsay swallowed and she managed to get a somewhat coherent account of what happened out through her sobs:"I just...I just wanted...want...sob...wanted to play...sob...with the ball for a bit...sob...but Jessie wouldn't let me have it...sob...so I took it...sob...and climbed up here, so Jessie would...sob...leave me alone...sob..but now I..sob..."
She couldn't get any more words out, but the Doctor already understood.
"But now, you don't know how to get down, eh? Don't worry, Lindsay, I can help you. That's what I do all the time. Help is my middle name. I do it all the days of the week and sometimes twice on Saturdays. Well, okay, forget Saturdays, that's actually when I get into trouble. But that's a bit of a different story, eh? Sorry, I'm rambling, that happens sometimes, well actually it happens quite often, but that's besides the point and doesn't matter. What matters is this, Jessie, why haven't you helped your little sister down from the tree yet, eh?"
Jessie frowned: "Because I told her not to climb the tree like a million times. I told her that she couldn't do it. But she's always doing stuff that I tell her not to do, she's stupid like that. And mum is always telling me to look after her and I always get stuck with her and she's totally useless."
„Oi, you don't speak like that about your sister, young man," the Doctor admonished Jessie, but turned his attention back to the little girl: „But first things first, though I do get them mixed up here and there, but we're going to talk some more later, " he pointed his index finger at Jessie.
The Doctor climbed up the tree slowly and carefully, aware of his gangly limbs and regretting just for a small moment getting rid of his habit of wearing sneakers that he had in his previous body. Or maybe at least the ones he used to have in his fifth one. Because his current footwear was most definitely not designed for tree climbing. But just a little more and there he was, a huge trade mark Doctor smile lit up his face as he carefull enveloped the little girl in his arms and picked her up.
"Gotcha," he murmured.
He climbed down from the tree and let out a sigh of relief as he was finally with both his feet back on steady ground.
"See, I told you I'd help. You're safe now, Lindsay," he whispered to the little girl. She sniffed and rubbed the tears out of her eyes and looked up as if noticing the large blue bo properly.
„Is it like the wardrobe that goes to Narnia?" she asked hopeful.
Her head dropped in disappointment as the Doctor shook his head.
„Narnia? No, no, not Narnia! The old girl is so much better than that. Dear old Clive, he was a wonderful chap, but I kept telling him that's not how it works, but he wouldn't listen now, would he? You humans can be incredibly stubborn when you want to, you know. I'm sorry I'm rambling again," he apologized as Lindsay laughed at the nonsense he was sputtering and Jessie eyed him bemused.
The Doctor smiled mischieviously: "Lindsay, Jessie, do you want to see something amazing? Better than Narnia. And Fairyland too, though Fairyland is pretty good in its own right too."
He adjusted the hold on the little girl in his arms and pushed the TARDIS door open.
"After you, Jessie," he smiled and encouraged the boy to walk inside.
"It's bigger on the inside, it's like in Harry Potter," Jessie commented with a smirk on his face.
"Yeah, I need to talk about that to JK the next time I see her. Handbags that are bigger on the inside, that's not what we agreed. It's not meant for the boring stuff. I mean what's next beans that are bigger on the inside? She got it pretty right with time travel though, that time turner thingy is quite like a vortex manipulator. Still, a rubbish way to travel as I keep telling my wife. But the old girl is so much better than that. It travels in time and in space, " he babbled on for once enjoying an audience that was unlikely to interrupt him with some nonsensical questions. Like, yeah, I know it travels in time and space, but will you get me home back on time for my date for once, Doctor? How boring can you get, really?
There was of course nothing like that from the children, who just simply admired the ship's beauty while trying to wrap their small heads around the whole time AND space concept.
At first Lindsay simply restricted herself to awing. As she finally found her words again, all signs of previous emotional trauma disappearing, she exclaimed full of excitement and joy: "It's so pretty...so bright..."
The TARDIS hummed in reply. The Doctor smiled.
"Seems that the old girl likes you too, Lindsay. Blimey, what is it that you tiny humans eat? You're a lot heavier than my dog was. Then again he was metal and pretty little. Ahh, now that's better, " he said as he deposited the little girl in one of his favorite places in this current desktop, the swing.
As he tried to get up, Lindsay took a hold of his bow tie and giggled: " This is pretty too," she said.
The Doctor smiled proudly and kissed the girl's forehead. „You, Lindsay, are AMAZING! Do you want one too?"
She nodded enthustiastically.
„Well, then, wait here a little, don't you wander off! They always do that for some reason, wander off I mean, I dunno why."
The Doctor moved around the console room in a dance like fashion until he finally found the box he was looking for. He nodded to himself satisfied and took out the crimson red bow tie.
He returned to Lindsay triumphantally: „Look, it will match with your T-shirt. Hmm, but you can't really wear it, can you?" he ruffled his hair absentmindedly, but as the little girl's expression changed to one of disappointment, he found the solution. „Oh, I got it, we can put it into your hair."
As he tied Lindsay's hair, Jessie approached the two of them with a bemused look o his face.
„Who in their right mind even wears bow ties? I mean bow ties, really?" he asked the Doctor.
The Doctor at last satisfied of the end result of Lindsay's hair turned to Jessie, crouching on his knees, so he was at eye level with the little boy.
„Listen, Jessie, there are two things, two timeless truths you need to know. First is this, little sisters need to be protected and taken care of. No matter how annoying they get. Because that's what big brothers do," he poked Jessie's chest with his index finger: "that's your job. And secondly," he touched his bow tie: „Bow ties are and will always be cool."
A/N: Just a few things:
Thanks for reading! Reviews are appreciated!
This is my first ever attempt at writing the Doctor, so I hope I managed to stay at least somewhat in character (it would be cooler than bow ties, Stetsos and fezzes combined if you let me know whether I did or didn't manage it.
I'm not a native English speaker and I wouldn't necessarily call the English that I learned British English, so please if possible gloss over grammar mistakes and the lack of britishisms.