TV OR NOT TV
CHAPTER TWO
A/N: Thanks for those who reviewed and/or cited the story as a favorite! This has been a joy to write and I look forward to (hopefully) making all who read it laugh.
Reviews, please...
Previously: "Here we are! Time to search," the Doctor told both companions. He gave them two 'screwdrivers and turned each one to the appropriate setting. The three headed inside the shop.
The sonic screwdriver indicated the location where the Doctor's time telly was. The Time Lord scanned the wall behind the back of the store and looked up, measuring the dimensions of the building. It was about six stories high, and Murray's TV Shack was proudly displayed on one of the doors, which were three in all, bearing the names of all the businesses in the grey hued building.
"Right..." the Doctor said, rubbing his long fingers together. "My readings indicate the television is behind this door." He looked to his two companions for confirmation of the reading.
Amy held up her 'screwdriver; Rory did the same. Both were casting a mauve colored light toward the door. It was on the tip of her lips to ask about why the color would be mauve rather than red for finding something, but she supposed that the device was made with the Doctor's weird tendencies in mind. Maybe he just liked the color.
"Doctor," Rory asked. "How shall we get inside?"
The Time Lord didn't respond but pointed his screwdriver toward the room intending to enter the building. A moment later, he cried, "Sha'sti'ca!" in his native language.
Amy covered her mouth, saying with an amused voice, "Doctor, did you just curse?"
Embarassed, the Time Lord fibbed, "No, I didn't." Before the companions could ask him why his 'screwdriver didn't work, the Doctor saw a small window by the door. He opened the window a little wider.
"In you go, Miss Amy Pond," the Time Lord said, helping the young lady through it. Landing on her bum, Amy tried to be as quiet as possible. She took in her surroundings and pronounced that they were entering a storage facility.
Rory and the Doctor climbed in after her and the eldest of their group took a reading, shining it on the wall in the middle of the room.
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Meanwhile, outside of the storage area, Danny was talking to Murray about pricing.
"C'mon, Murray, you wouldn't con a cop, would you?" he was saying cajolingly. "I think you can do much better than $375!"
"You said it had no buttons and dials resembling years, right, cousin?" Murray asked, thinking about where such a set had come from. He knew everything that he'd ordered, and such a set was not in the shipment he'd requested from the warehouse.
Ah, well, he thought, they'll make any kind of set with HD technology, even something retro! Now to get my pigeon to buy!
"$350," Murray said, "and I'll throw in shipping as long as it's on the islands."
Steve held up three fingers, saying, "Three hundred, or need I remind you that you're holding valuable merchandise?"
Murray calculated, doing some figures on his hand held device. "In that case, Officer," he told Danny, "$350."
Danny really turned on the schmoozola, saying, "Murray, Murray, Murray...it says in the ad I saw that you love your customers, right?"
Murray looked at him skeptically, then said, "Yeah, so?"
The blond policeman managed a pout. "So, I'm not feeling the love," he told the shop keeper, looking back at his friends, "right guys?"
Murray did some figures in his head and wrote them down.
XXXXXXXXXXX
While Danny waited for his new television set for Grace, Amy, Rory and the Doctor pushed away some crates. In the process of moving boxes to get to the set, Rory caused one of the crates to tip forward. He steadied it, but it made a creaking sound, which Steve heard outside of the room.
Whipping out a gun, the leader of Five 0 said to Danno low enough for him but not any customers to hear, "I heard a noise."
"Rats?" Danny asked, trying to be helpful.
"The sound I heard was too precise to have been made by a rat," Steve responded. "I'll check it out." He cautiously crept toward the smaller room, his gun at his side.
Murray looked at him and then back at Danno. "Pests," he suggested. "Steve's a great exterminator. Don't worry. $310."
The shop owner thought about the set once more and cast his mind back to business as he said, "$315."
Danny gave him a look, asking, "Now, Murray, pal...would you break the heart of a little girl? Would you deny her the chance to watch Saturday Morning Cartoons with her friends?"
Murry rolled his eyes, saying, "All right! $305. That's my final offer."
XXXXXXXXXXX
While Danny mulled over that price, Steve was inching toward the storage facility and putting his head to the door, listening.
Inside, Rory cast worried eyes on the other door across from where the trio stood. The Doctor was turning his set this way and that.
"Hmm," he said, inspecting it, "it doesn't seem like someone...ahh! They have been messing about with it!"
He put the device down, took his sonic screwdriver, and placed it on top of another crate. Taking it apart, the Doctor crossed two wires to reprogram it.
"Doctor..." Rory cautioned, his eyes telling the Time Lord in a silent plea to hurry up.
Outside, Steve signaled Chin and Kona to flank him as he worked on the lock. He knew he could have asked Murray for the key, but he definitely heard noises of a human variety, and Steve didn't want to let them know he was outside. From Kona's and Chin's expressions, he knew that they had guessed the same. Kona stood to Steve's left side, while Chin took the right. Standing by Murray, Danny pretended that everything was business as usual, but his blue eyes were peeled for anything.
In the storage room, the Time Lord had started tinkering with his time television. "Just ten seconds more," the Doctor said softly, reassembling his 'screwdriver after ten seconds. "Now, to test it."
"Doctor, can't we do that on the TARDIS?" Amy whispered, her eyes darting toward the door. But, wrapped up in his desire to reprogram his set, the Doctor was using the 'screwdriver to fix the dial.
"Will only take a moment," he said, using the device to seal the dial in place. Studying his handiwork after some minor adjustments, the Doctor said, "right. That's got it."
He started to pick up the small, brown box when the door opened. Rory quickly picked up the set, hoping to camouflage the little box behind his bigger body.
Amy raised her hands, turning her face toward the Doctor. She waited for a signal from him as a man walked in, with short, dark hair and a dangerous expression in his eyes. He held a weapon in his hands and had a woman and another man behind him. The man and woman behind the first man were Hawaiian looking and were standing in combative positions.
"Yet another stray thought that looks good on the paper but in actuality is positively ghastly when one enacts it in real life," the Doctor muttered.
"Quiet!" Steve ordered. Spying the set behind Rory, he looked back at the Doctor and his companions.
"Drop that TV!" the leader of Five 0 barked. Scared out of his wits, Rory dropped the small, yet heavy object...on Steve's left foot. The cop grabbed his toes, dropping his weapon as he did. The gun misfired, shooting a hole in the wall, but otherwise not harming anyone.
The Doctor, Amy and Rory were shoved out by Kona and Chin Ho, the latter putting hand cuffs on them. Meanwhile, Steve brought up the rear, grabbing his foot, massaging his hurting toes, hopping at the same time.
Danny, who had signed the credit voucher, warranty and the rest of the paperwork, asked, "Hey? What the heck happened? Who are you guys and what are you doing with my television set?"
The Doctor opened his mouth to dissuade Danny from his possession of the time telly.
