Chapter Three

Worldly Possessions

Ashley decided that she hated this café. This café meant nothing but trouble. Whenever she came here, something horrible happened. First time resulted in a near brain removal. Second time resulted in near life removal. This third time apparently resulted in life removal too, but in material form.

'How could he move out and not tell me?' Ashley muttered, stirring her tea that was now lukewarm. 'I mean, really. What the hell has he done with all my things? I swear to god if he's hocked them or chucked them out I'll…' She trailed of to an incomprehensible and disgruntled mutter.

The Doctor eyed her for a moment, knowing that when she was in such an irate mood she got snappy. He had also learnt that a snappy Ashley was not a pleasant Ashley, and if she started yelling she probably wouldn't stop for a long time. He took a few moments to pick his next words carefully. 'Couldn't you just buy more… stuff?' By the look he got from her he knew he hadn't thought carefully enough.

'With what? My magic credit card?' she snapped irritably. 'I'll just rob a bank, shall I?'

'I just mean that maybe it's not all that bad, because…' He looked at her worriedly as she interrupted him angrily.

'Do you have a box of money buried away somewhere that I could borrow?' she frowned sarcastically.

The Doctor stuck his lip out and shrugged. 'Well, it's not really for borrowing…' He caught himself. 'Of course not. Why would I need money?' He sipped on his tea and averted his gaze.

Ashley glared at him for a moment, but when she sighed her expression softened and her shoulders went limp. She pouted unhappily. 'All my photos, and clothes and stuff.' She looked down mournfully. 'My little pink pig.'

'I hope you mean a stuffed toy pig,' the Doctor said. 'Because my Tardis isn't a farmhouse you know.' He had been fishing for a smile, but she only continued look down at her tea with her bottom lip protruding. He sighed and leaned forward. 'Have you phoned Manny? Find out what's happened?'

Ashley leaned back and sighed. 'Yeah. He's on his way here now.'

'Then what's the problem?' The Doctor shrugged. 'I really doubt he's thrown out all of your things. It's not as if you died or anything.'

'You don't get it,' Ashley sighed. 'If you don't see Manny for a week you might as well be dead. He practically forgets about you. He'll have seen my stuff in the way and chucked it out without a second thought.'

The Doctor smiled at her. 'Even if he has, it's not all that bad, is it? It's just stuff. Easily replaced.'

Ashley glanced up at him and sighed. 'I suppose.' She mumbled, but didn't sound convinced. The Doctor patted her hand and smiled a little brighter. Eventually, she offered a weak smile in return. 'I'll just replace it with alien stuff, right? That'll be cooler anyway.'

'That's my girl.' The Doctor nodded, leaning back. 'And anyway, you don't really need a place if you're travelling with me, do you?'

She looked at him sideways and lowered one eyebrow. 'Well I will do eventually. It's not as if I'm going to be travelling with you forever, is it?'

He shrugged a little and his eyes gained an extra sparkle. 'Why not?'

'Well… You'll get sick of me.'

The Doctor scoffed and opened his mouth to respond, but the sound of the café door opening with a tinkle behind them caught both of their attentions. Ashley glanced around to see Manny striding towards her, looking different. He had cut his hair. And bleached it for some godforsaken reason. He looked pretty annoyed, and as she rose to meet him her expression matched his. They both snapped at each other at exactly the same time.

'Where the hell have you been?'

'Where the hell is my stuff?'

They both stopped and looked at each other, frowning. The Doctor looked between them for a moment, and then stood up. 'Tell you what,' he beamed at the two of them. 'I'm going to go for a little walk. Fresh air, clear my head, all that stuff.' He nodded. 'I'll catch up with you later.'

'Oh so you're not going to go chasing after your new boyfriend again then,' Manny hissed at Ashley as the Doctor quickly passed behind him. 'You seemed to drop everyone else for him.'

'Oh that's so you, Manny,' Ashley cried. 'If it's not about you then it's selfish.'

The Doctor slipped out of the door unnoticed, and breathed a sigh of relief to have avoided the argument. He glanced both ways up the bright street and then headed away with his hands buried in his pockets. About ten minutes or so would do, he thought. And that would probably be enough time to see the sights of this small, boring town.

He walked amiably, unaware that he was being followed.


After about five minutes, Ashley and Manny had sat down, and had also calmed down. Ashley cradled her cold tea and peered at Manny, who was checking his reflection in the window and preening his hair with a grimace.

'I'm not sure if it works.' He said. 'I mean, I know I suit blonde… but this is a bit bright.'

'It looks okay.' Ashley replied with a shrug. 'I mean, if you're into the whole bimbo look.'

Manny shot her an irritated look, but it slowly morphed into a smile. 'I missed you.' He pouted. 'Why were you gone for so long? You didn't say bye or anything.'

Ashley shrugged her shoulders. 'It was a bit… crazy last time I was home.' She replied. 'We uh… had things to do.'

'Where have you been anyway? I know you've been travelling and all that but to where exactly? You've got no money. You only took a single bag of clothes.' He peered under the table. 'Please say you've washed those jeans since the last time you were here.'

Ashley chuckled. 'It hasn't been as long for me. Only seems like a couple of days since we last spoke.'

'Yeah? Well it's been about two months.'

'The Doctor said it was only a month.'

Manny scrunched up his nose. 'What's that 'doctor' thing all about anyway? Does he like you calling him that? Does he get kicks out of it or something?'

Ashley laughed. 'It's just his name. I'd love to have seen his face if he'd heard that.' She glanced around. 'Where did he go anyway?'

Manny shrugged. 'God knows.' He paused. 'I thought he'd axe murdered you or something you know. Eddy's been going around telling everyone that he tried to kill him.'

'On my God, really?' Ashley threw her head back and laughed, drawing curious looks from the other customers. 'All he did was tell him to get lost! You should have seen him high-tail it out of here.'

Manny grinned. 'Well no one believed him anyway. Apparently Henry Wilson saw them both in here and said that your boyfriend totally kicked arse.'

'He's not my boyfriend, Manny.' Ashley told him with a disapproving frown. 'He's just a friend.'

'Whatever.' Manny rolled his eyes. 'You can't hold anything past me. I understand these whirlwind romances you know. You meet someone and feel like you're meant to be together, and then run off to the hills to frolic amongst the daffodils. Then one morning about two months later you wake up, look at each other, and go your separate ways without a word. Happens. You're not an exception.'

Ashley looked at him thoughtfully for a moment, and then shook her head. 'There's nothing romantic about it, Manny. Seriously, we're just friends doing a bit of travelling. He does it all the time and he said I could tag along.'

'Did he say how long for?'

'Well, he was kind of going to say something before you turned up…'

Manny sat back and snorted. 'Sounds to me like he makes a habit of picking up girls and taking them 'travelling'. I mean, he's older than you, right? He must be about forty.'

Ashley rolled her eyes. 'Not this again. Manny there's no way he looks forty.'

'Anyway, he's older than you, and that's what I'm getting at. Older men don't just pick girls up as 'friends' to travel with them, Ashes. I bet if you ask him he's had a dozen other 'friends' travelling with him. And where are they now? He got sick of them, like he'll probably get sick of you and dump you in the middle of a field somewhere.'

Ashley looked slightly stricken by this thought, although the field she was picturing was somewhere in the 1700s. 'Well he did mention Rose, but he didn't exactly get sick of her…'

'See? Ask him and I bet he's had hundreds of 'friends'.' He returned his attention to the window and pulled at his hair. 'I give it about a week. That's if he even comes back.'

Ashley glanced out of the window worriedly. He wouldn't do that. She frowned and looked to Manny. He didn't know the Doctor at all. The Doctor wasn't just some sleaze out for kicks. She had travelled with him for a while now and he had never made any form of move on her. He liked to call her 'my girl', but that was just affectionate. Nothing in that. At least she hoped not.

'You're avoiding the important subject.' She frowned, pushing the thoughts to the back of her mind to be picked at later. 'What did you do with all my stuff?'

Manny glanced at her and then sighed. 'I might be a bitch, but I'm no monster.' He turned to face her and shrugged. 'Your stuff's in my shed at home. I knew you'd reappear at some point so I guessed you'd be pretty annoyed if I gave it to Oxfam or something.'

'Damn right I'd be annoyed.' Ashley frowned. 'Not that I have a problem with charities or anything but… you know.'

'Well you're more than welcome to come and pick it up at any time.' He eyed her for a moment. 'You're not leaving straight away though, are you?'

She regarded him for a moment. She did miss Manny, they had been close friends for years now and she had never been away from him for longer than a week at a time. She supposed spending a little time with him before they shot off again wouldn't hurt. And surely the Doctor wouldn't mind.

'I suppose we can head off tomorrow,' she smiled. 'Although there's one problem.'

Manny cocked an eyebrow. 'And what's that?'

'I'm homeless.'

The two of them laughed loudly. Manny waved his hand, still sniggering. 'You can stay at mine tonight. I have that cot bed thing and there's the couch.' He pointed a finger at her and rose his eyebrows. 'But only on one condition. That there's no hanky panky. I don't want to be woken up at the crack of dawn by you two in the next room.'

Ashley reached across the table and shoved him in the shoulder. 'Shut up, Manny,' she frowned. 'I'm not going to tell you again that he's not my boyfriend.'

Manny shrugged and glanced back to his reflection. 'He's not your type anyway.' He remarked. 'He's too skinny.'