The Pro from Dover
Rose turned to the Doctor as he started up the TARDIS. "Why aren't you helping these people?"
"I am." He declared as he fiddled with the controls for the TARDIS.
"Looks to me like running away." Rose said petulantly. One of the things she admired about the Doctor was his willingness to help people out of a jam. But now, in the face of the monsters of Aplactex, they were running away.
"It may look like I'm running away but I am actually going to fetch help." The Doctor remarked.
"Help?" Rose asked incredulously.
"Yes, help. What, did you think me so vain that I can never ask for help?" The Doctor replied with obvious hurt in his voice.
"Well, no. It's just that I never seen you ask for help before." Rose answered back. Then after a while. "So, who are we going to see?"
"Mrs. Buffy Summers-Potter."
"What?" Rose sputtered out a laugh. "You're joking, right?"
"I most certainly am not. And I advise you not to make fun of her name. She's quite touchy about that."
"Still, a rather odd combination of California and English." Rose pointed out.
"Yes, well, I was just as surprised to find out she survived long enough to get married."
This last comment piqued Rose's curiosity even further. "Go on." Rose prompted, expecting the story that usually followed these statements.
"Well, her kind has a tendency to die rather young." The Doctor explained.
Rose frowned. "What do you mean her kind? Isn't she human?"
"Well of course she's human. Why wouldn't she be human?"
"But you said "her kind" like she was something different." Rose pointed out.
The Doctor was silent for a minute, adjusting the TARDIS controls. "It's her calling that makes her different. Stronger, faster, better senses, short life."
"She's a mutant?"
"No. She's a Slayer. Always a girl, usually very young, between 13 and 18, chosen to kill the things that go bump in the night. I've ran into a few in my travels."
Rose gave him a shocked look. "You're taking me to see a murderer!"
The Doctor glared at her. "No, not a murdered, a Slayer. She only kills monsters, like Vampires and such. She's what you would call a champion. Saved your planet a time or two."
Rose shook her head, thinking the Doctor had finally gone around the bend. Monsters, really. Something else occurred to her while she was trying to wrap her head around the idea of monsters. "Why are visiting her now and not in the past? I mean wouldn't it be better to recruit her in her prime?"
"Would you rather we visit her when she was guarding the Mouth of Hell?" The Doctor asked her sharply.
"Well, no." Rose replied sheepishly, "Though it might have been interesting."
"Trust me, it is better we approach her now. Much safer, for us at least." The Doctor returned to the controls of the TARDIS checking the coordinates one last time. "Aha, it seems that we're here. Take a look." He directed her attention to the screen in the TARDIS.
Rose stared at the screen for a long time. She recognized the house from when she was a little girl. It was the Dey mansion. "I know this place. It's the Dey house and it's supposed to be haunted."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow "Really?"
"Well that's what Mum used to tell me. We would sometimes pass this place on our Sunday walks and she would always tell me about the mysterious things going on in that house. It was always kind of scary, since no one lived there for over forty years." Rose explained.
"What type of strange things?" The Doctor inquired.
"Oh, the windows would move about, never in the same place twice. The lights always seem to be on at odd hours and did I mention no one living there for the past 40 years?"
"Well there is someone living there now." The Doctor replied. He was right, the place did look lived in now. There were some sports balls littered on the grass along with a small bicycle, although in the rain, Rose couldn't tell if it was for a boy or a girl. "Let's get our information and get back to help the Aplactexians." The Doctor continued, holding out his hand for Rose. She took it and together they opened the door to the TARDIS to leave but stopped at the edge of it because of the storm still raging outside.
"What now, Doctor?" Rose asked, looking at the rain and judging the distance to the front door. "I don't want to look like a drowned rat."
The Doctor frowned in thought, "I do believe I have an umbrella somewhere, I just have to remember where I put it." He turned abruptly and ran into the bowels of the TARDIS; Rose just stood there and waited. He came back a few minutes later with a full grin on his face, carrying a very large umbrella.
"Where did you get that?" Rose asked pointing to the umbrella.
"Oh, it's just a something that I used to have as a prop a few regenerations ago. At least it's not a scarf."
Rose just stared at him, then shook her head and held out her hand. "Are we off then?"
The Doctor grabbed her hand, opened the umbrella and walked out towards the front door, Rose by his side. Reaching the door, the Doctor allowed Rose to ring the doorbell. It was quickly answered by three small children, two girls and a boy. The oldest girl had auburn hair, green eyes and looked about 10 years old. The boy had blond hair and hazel eyes and was a few years younger than his sister. The youngest girl had messy black hair, green eyes and was wearing glasses, the only one of the three to do so.
The Doctor studied the children for a minute and then asked, "Hello is your mother home?"
