A/N: Chapter Two in which a lot more characters appear and there are many more words used - yay!
I don't own Doctor Who.
Heres the Bride, the Bridesmaids and the Doctor
Chapter Two
As instructed, Ella and the Doctor turned up on Martha's doorstep on the 24th June. It had taken some effort to get them their, the Doctor having to fortify himself for the domesticity of the whole thing by thwarting several invasions and buying a couple of dozen bananas. Ella reached up and rang the doorbell. It was opened by a shortish, pretty young woman who had to be related to Martha somehow.
"Doctor!" she exclaimed before throwing herself into his arms.
"Hello Tish," he grinned hugging her back. They broke apart and her turned to Ella to introduce her. "This is Ella Marlowe. Ella this is Tish, Martha's sister."
"Hey," Ella said, waving slightly.
"Hi, you must be another bridesmaid, I'm one too. Why don't you both come in, Martha's trying on her dress but Mum's in the kitchen."
The Doctor's expression froze slightly and he began to look worried and not a little sick.
"Ah, well, I think I might just go and check the - thing - "
Ella took him firmly by the hand and lead him into the house.
"Come on, Doctor, it's all going to be fine." she announced breezily, the determination in her face belying her airy words.
Tish showed them into the kitchen, a large-ish sunny room with a scrubbed wooden table, at which sat an older woman who Ella presumed was Martha's mother.
"Hello Mrs Jones." said the Doctor, trying to smile ingratiatingly and hide behind Ella at the same time.
"Hello Doctor," Francine Jones appeared stern at first but then relaxed and held her arms out to hug him. The Doctor's smile became natural and he happily embraced her, always ready for a good hug that man.
When Ella and the Doctor had been armed with cups of tea and were sitting at the kitchen table, Francine went to tell Martha they'd arrived. Ella turned to her companion and observed.
"You know, I think you must lie about more things than I imagined. You always say that you never get on with people's families, especially their mothers, and here's this lot - " she gestured vaguely towards Tish who was talking on her mobile in the other room. " - absolutely in love with you, and my mum adores you as well."
"Wasn't like that at first," he replied darkly. "But I think I might be getting better at this family lark in my old age." He looked rather proud of himself and Ella smiled at him, though shaking her head at the inordinate amount of pride he seemed to take from this idea.
They heard footsteps on the stairs and Martha appeared, in a mass of white net. The Doctor stood and embraced her, though looking quite awkward trying to maneuver round the meringue of a dress she was wearing. Ella hugged her as well and then looked down at the dress, trying to say something about it.
"That's a very - er - it's very - " she looked towards the Doctor who stepped into the breech.
"It's very big."
"Doctor!" Ella hit him on the arm in exasperation.
"What? It is!"
"But you don't say that! God!"
Martha was laughing at the pair of them.
"Don't worry, this isn't my real dress. I just wanted to try on a fairy tale princess one and make sure it really wasn't what I wanted. And it's not."
She smoothed her hands down the big skirt and revelled for a moment in the fact that she really did look like she belonged in a fairy tale. Ella was now looking at it speculatively.
"Can I try it on?"
"Sure, there's loads upstairs, come and have a look."
The pair of them were clearly indulging in their girly sides, not a part of their personalities that was at the forefront with either of them, and were already half out of the room before they noticed that the Doctor was choking on his tea. Ella walked over and gave him a friendly slap on the back, which earned her nothing more than an affronted look.
"What's wrong?"
"You're not getting married."
She rolled her eyes at him.
"I know." she probably would have noticed if she'd been proposed to. "It's fun to try them on though!"
With a quick pat on his head she left the room and went slowly up the stairs, avoiding stepping on Martha's skirt.
"What's he doing?" Martha sounded slightly worried.
"He'll find something, don't worry."
"As long as the kitchen and everything in it is in tact when I come down." she sounded doubtful that this would be the outcome of leaving the Doctor alone.
They'd reached Martha's room by this point and Ella was occupied in choosing a dress to try on but said over her shoulder, in what she clearly considered was a reassuring manner,
"It's alright. He's got two dozen bananas."
About half an hour later Ella realised that downstairs was very quiet, alarmingly quiet. Francine, Tish, Martha, the dress fitter, the hairdresser, the make up artist and her were all in Martha's room where the bride-to-be was being pinned into the dress she'd finally chosen. Not bothering to change Ella went downstairs to investigate, promising Martha that she'd make sure nothing was permanently destroyed.
Entering the kitchen she found the Doctor talking to a tall dark haired bloke. He saw her first and seemed a bit surprised by her outfit but smiled kindly, the Doctor turned to see who it was and stared at her with his mouth open. The wedding dress she was wearing was long and flowing, cut in an empire line and gathered at the top. It was very elegant and beautiful suiting her height, and the sort Ella thought she might wear if she ever did get married for real, really real not like those other times.
"You must be Ella," the strange man spoke seeing that the Doctor appeared to be speechless.
"You must be Dr Tom," she replied holding out a hand for him to shake.
"Just Tom is fine," he looked her over again and asked "You're not getting married too, are you?"
His eyes were looking curiously between the Doctor and Ella as if asking the pair of them the question. The Doctor now turned his distraught gaze on him as if he thought a fellow male should be supporting him, not making outrageous insinuations. It didn't help that Ella had gone off into peals of laughter and so was unable to explain. He searched for the words but none came and he was extremely thankful to the mysterious caller when the door bell rang.
"I'll get it!" he exclaimed in a strangled voice and ran from the room before anyone could stop him.
It wasn't long before sounds that indicated a joyous meeting floated down the hall towards the kitchen and Ella raised an enquiring brow towards Dr Tom who could return only a bemused glance. The Doctor quickly reappeared in the kitchen, red head in tow.
"Donna!" Ella positively squealed. All the girlie-ness and overexcitement of the occasion was clearly getting to her. She hugged the older woman tightly before they broke apart and both began speaking nineteen to the dozen.
The Doctor smiled at the pair of them benevolently and went to sit down next to Tom, who appeared slightly shell shocked.
"Those two will be at it for a while." the Doctor predicted, not looking too worried about the fact. Living with both of them on the TARDIS for a considerable amount of time had left him inured to their chattiness.
Once again footsteps sounded on the stairs, walking carefully as if whoever they belonged to was wearing new shoes and was precariously pinned into a dress.
"Is Donna here?" Martha called, continuing her progress.
Ella dashed to the bottom of the stairs while Donna tried to block the doorway.
"Martha! Stop! Dr Tom's down here!"
"You're wearing your bloody wedding dress!" Donna now had her hands on her hips as if she thought Martha really didn't understand the rules of weddings.
"Oh yeah," Martha paused for a moment and then called into the kitchen. "Hi Tom!"
"Hello, love," Tom appeared to be taking his cue from the Doctor, i.e. resigned to the fact that there was no way to get round Donna and Ella, they were very determined. The Doctor sat at the table quite at his ease, eating one of his bananas.
"Did you have a good day?" Martha asked, trying to catch a glimpse of Tom over Ella's shoulder. Ella and Donna turned to look at Tom sitting in the kitchen.
"Yeah, not too bad. What about you? Get any sleep?" Ella and Donna turned to look at Martha.
"Some, but Mum and Tish are both here so - " Martha trailed off significantly and Ella and Donna turned to see if Tom understood the insinuation. Apparently he did.
"Oh, right," he paused for a moment considering whether Ella and Donna were planning on letting up any time soon, their intense concentration on the conversation was rather unnerving. "Listen, why don't we talk later, when you've got changed."
"Alright, I'll see you in a bit." Talking with someone who was half way down the stairs, through the hall and on the other side of the kitchen was quite exhausting. Martha turned her attention to her protectors. "Do you two want to try on your dresses?"
"Yes! Yes! What are they like?" Ella proceeded quickly up the stairs, catching the train of her borrowed wedding dress over her arm. Donna followed reluctantly, muttering that she couldn't believe she was going to be a bridesmaid again.
Tom sat down, and absently took the banana the Doctor offered him. Anyone else in the same situation would have provided him with a stiff drink but oh well. The Doctor tipped back his chair so he was balancing on two legs and looked at the prospective groom sympathetically.
"Sorry, all the women I travel with seem to be a bit mad."
Tom didn't protest that one of the said women was soon to be his wife, the statement was clearly quite true.
A/N: Dr Tom! I love him. Anyway I hope you liked it - please review and tell me what you think, there's a love. x