Disclaimer: I own Summer. The process of trying to haggle for the rights to anything else Doctor Who related is still ongoing. In other words, the BBC still own it.
"What are you doing? Let me go!" I screamed, trying to get away from the person holding my waist.
"Stop screaming or they will hear you." The person holding me whispered. The voice sounded familiar, like I had heard it in a dream before. "I'm getting you out of here and sending you somewhere safe. You're my only child, I will not let you die in a place like this."
Only child? "Mum?" There was silence. "I'm not going anywhere, he's still out there somewhere and I am going to find him, no matter what."
"No, you're not. He's gone. He left this planet years ago and you know that. Now stop being so stubborn." She hissed in my ear before dragging me off.
"What are we doing in here? Where are we going?" I watched as the woman moved around the control unit in the centre of the room.
"Please, forgive me for this, but it's the only way." She was crying. Why was she crying? What was she asking forgiveness for?
"Tell me what's going on!" I demanded, still trying to understand. I felt like I was going to start crying soon.
"This is the only way to keep you safe, I'm sorry. Just remember that I love you." She kissed me on the head. The next thing I knew, pain was soaring through my body. Everything was hurting so much and I couldn't bare it.
Someone was shaking me. "Summer? Summer wake up!" I recognised that voice. "Summer, please wake up."
"Doctor…" I opened my eyes to see his staring straight back at mine. Worry was etched all over his face. "Was I snoring?" I wondered why he had been so desperate to wake me up, but then I remembered that dream. I let out a sigh. "I was screaming again wasn't I?"
"Yes." He said to me softly. I sat myself up, pulling my knees towards my chest and put my head in my hands. It was those stupid dreams. I felt the Doctor wrap both his arms around me. "Were you having another bad dream?"
I didn't lift my head up, I just tried to nod. They never used to be this bad, and I never used to be able to remember them when I woke up. But that was the second one I had had since entering the TARDIS and both times the Doctor woke me up because I was screaming.
"Do you remember what it was about?" He was still speaking so softly and I felt a little more relaxed. I nodded again, hoping he would understand. "Summer, tell me about them." I shook my head, there was no way I wanted to relive that. Just thinking about it made me shake with fear from the pain I felt. "I want to help you but you need to talk to me."
"It hurt, I don't want to talk about it. I don't even want to remember it." My voice was so quiet, not because it was hurting from the screaming, but because I was afraid. The Doctor seemed to accept my answer and didn't say another word. He just kept his arms around me while I tried to pull myself together. I could feel myself shaking still, I just had to remember that it was only a dream, no matter how real it felt, it was a dream.
I wasn't sure how long we had been sitting there in silence for but it must have been at least an hour. "How about a nice cup of tea?" The Doctor asked, he was doing his best to get me to respond to him. He still hadn't moved his arms but he was trying to tug me to sit up properly.
Eventually I gave in and lifted my head up and looked at him. "Sure." My voice was still quiet but the Doctor just smiled at me before getting himself off the bed. He stood there looking at me before offering out his hands. I forced myself to smile back at him before taking his hands and letting him pull me off the bed.
He kept an arm around me as he led me through various corridors and into a kitchen. It was huge. It was bigger than any kitchen really needed to be, unless you had several people cooking in there at the same time. The cooker was like something you would see in a restaurant and the fridge was bigger than any I had ever seen in my life.
"Wait until you see the inside of the fridge." The Doctor whispered to me. Clearly he had seen how amazed I was by the sight of the kitchen. The Doctor led me to the large, round table in the room and pulled a chair out for me to sit on.
I sat down and watched him set about the kitchen making some tea. "How… how long was I asleep for before…"
He didn't looked at me when he answered, he just carried on making the tea. "A few hours. You were sleeping pretty peacefully at first. Gave me such a fright when you started screaming. I still think you're out to make me deaf."
"Sorry. I'm really not trying to damage your hearing. I promise." I let out a sigh, the Doctor must think I'm nothing but trouble. "If you want to take me back, then… then that's fine. I'd understand."
The Doctor immediately stopped what he was doing and came over and kneeled down next to me, taking hold of both my hands. "Why would I want to do that?" He was serious. "You've only just got here."
"Well, just look at me. I'm nothing special and all I seem to do is scream in your ears. I can't expect you to put up with me, it's not fair." I broke my gaze and let it fall to the floor.
I felt him put a hand under my chin and then he gently pulled my head up to see my eyes again. "Oh, but you are special. You're my Summer, nothing can be more special then that." I could feel tears prickling my eyes, he was being so nice ad kind to me, it was something that I had long forgotten people could be.
The kettle flicked off and he smiled at me before getting up and pouring the boiling water into a teapot. He brought everything over to the table and sat down beside me. "After this, why don't you go and get yourself changed and we can go anywhere you like. The whole of time and space."
I finally managed to give him a real smile. "Sounds like a good plan to me." I wasn't tired at all anymore, and I was glad that he hadn't suggested I try to get some more sleep.
We sat there and drank our tea. The Doctor told me about some of his adventures and some of the people he had travelled with in the past. He told me about a little Scottish girl who he had met when he had regenerated into his current body.
"I was about to head back to her when the TARDIS alerted me to that machine. She has already waited for me for 12 years. But since we have a time machine we can go and pick her up any time we want." He told me as he drained the rest of the tea from his cup.
"Doctor, there's something you never explained to me earlier." He looked at me, his eyes didn't seem to show as much sadness as they had done when I first saw him at the bookshop. "You said that I called the TARDIS to me, can you explain what you mean by that?"
He put down his cup and gave me a huge smiled. "Of course I can. The TARDIS isn't just a ship, she's alive and she's telepathic. It would seem you have some telepathic abilities and you used that ability to call the TARDIS. She responds to you."
Only some of what he said made any sense to me, but I accepted what he told me. "Okay, so why did she only bring you to me those times? Why didn't she come when I wanted you to after my father had died?" I had wished so hard that he would come back, and surely if I was able to call his ship, that would have been one of the times I most wanted him to appear.
"Ah, well you see, she only brought me to you when you needed me the most. After he died, you were still able to look after yourself and you weren't in any danger. You were living your life." I wanted to correct him, and tell him that I wasn't living any kind of life but I decided to leave it. He had done so much for me in the past and he was there for me now.
"You didn't realise I was the same person again did you?" I remembered back to meeting him at the bookshop, he had no idea I was the same Summer. But then I had no idea that he was my Doctor.
"Not until you first came into the TARDIS. That's when I realised. You spoke how I remembered you speaking and then told me about your hair. I'm getting old, I'm not a quick as I used to be." I could help but laugh at him a little.
"You're only as old as you feel." I told him as I finished my tea and put the empty cup down on the table. "Right, well I think I am going to get washed and dressed now." I stood up and tucked the chair back under the table. "See you in a little bit."
Before I could make it to the door the Doctor had grabbed hold of me and was hugging me so tightly. I hugged him back just as much. It was hard to believe that less than 24 hours ago I was living my normal life that I hated so much. Now I was about to start my adventures through time and space with the man that I had longed to see again.
"If you get lost, just ask the TARDIS. She will help you find your way around. Has she started talking to you yet?" He asked me as we finally broke apart.
"Um, no I don't think she has. Telepathy, I'm guess I would be hearing a voice in my head or something?" He nodded at me. I was about to walk out of the door when a thought occurred to me. "Is it possible for her to talk to me even when I'm not in here?"
He ran a hand through his floppy hair, thinking about his answer. "Well, that's a good question. One I don't think I can really answer. Even I don't understand the way she works sometimes. It may be possible, but I'm really not sure. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason, just… curious. You should know that from all the questions I asked you about your sonic screwdriver before." I smiled at him and turned around, walking out the door and heading back to find my room.
Once I was back in my room I saw a load of empty photo frames sitting on one of the shelves. I could have sworn they hadn't been there before. I smiled to myself and picked up the wooden box that the Doctor had left by the side of the bed. I slowly went through all the photographs I had and pick out some of the best ones of my mother and put them in the frames.
The fames themselves were oak as well, I definitely had a thing for oak. I placed them on the shelf and then started to pull out some of the other odd bits I had in there. I placed the hairpiece next to the photo of my mother in her wedding dress. She had been so happy, you could just see by the way she looked at the man standing next to her that they were in love.
There were postcards from family holidays and a small glass bottle filled with sand. That was from one of the holidays, the first time the three of us ever went to the beach. I was only 3 at the time. Apparently I had kept filling my bucket up with sand and throwing it in her bag so she went and bought the bottle so that I could take some of the beach home with us.
The last thing I pulled out was an ancient looking fob watch. I couldn't remember who it belonged to, it was too old to have been my fathers so I just assumed it must have been one of my grandfathers. I don't think I ever even asked about it before, it was just there. I put it on the shelf with everything else and took a step back to look at it all. The room felt a little more comforting now, having my mother watching over me.
I grabbed my bag and started pulling my clothes out, I really hadn't brought much at all. I put most of the stuff away in the wardrobe but made sure to leave something out to wear after getting washed. I decided to go with a pair of jeans and my favourite peach coloured shirt.
When I went into the bathroom I was hit by the brilliance of the TARDIS again. The room had been designed so perfectly, like she had taken a snap shot of images from my mind. I was quick to turn the shower on and jump in, and it was the best shower I could ever remember.
Once I was washed and dressed I decided that the best way to find the Doctor was to head back to the console room. I followed my instinct and wandered through the corridors without even thinking. I ended up in the console room in no time to find the Doctor staring intensely at a monitor.
"So where are we going then, Doctor?" I called to him from the stairs, making him jump slightly.
He quickly shut off the screen, it was as if he didn't want me to see what he had been looking at but I just shrugged it off. He could have been looking at anything. "Where do you want to go? 13th century France? Go meet Henry VIII? Pay a visit to my mate Charlie?"
"Charlie who? History is full of Charlie's." I told him as I watched him dash around the console.
"Oh um, that's true. I've met most of them, but my favourite was Charles Dickens. He was brilliant, helped me save Cardiff." The Doctor seemed to have a distant look on his face, as if he was trying hard to remember something, but remembering hurt him.
"Bet you've met Shakespeare as well." I walked over to the console where he was standing and he seemed to shake himself out of his thoughts.
"Yup. So come on then, where do you want to go?"
I looked at the Doctor, he was so happy and excited. I had absolutely no idea where I wanted to go, all I knew was that I never wanted to go back to that flat or that stupid life I was leading. "I don't know. Anywhere will do me."
"Right, random trip. Anywhere, any when, Summer Richards, hold on tight." He pulled down the lever and the whole place began to shake. I really was getting used to it and so didn't hold on as tightly as I could have. The Doctor was being thrown all over the place again where as I seemed to be able to keep my balance rather well.
Once everything had stopped I bounced over to where the Doctor was holding on. "So, where and when are we?" I asked him excitedly.
"Out side those doors, is a completely different time. Now, do you remember the rules?" He asked me as he dragged me over to the doors.
"Yes. Rule one, don't wander off. Rule two, do what you say." He smiled and nodded at me. "Come on then, let's have a look."
He opened the door and I slowly stepped out. I could feel the excitement bubbling inside me but it stopped the moment I recognised my surroundings. "Um, so what year is this then Doctor?" I asked him as he closed the door behind him.
He looked down at his watch. "Ah, okay, maybe not such a completely different time. We've gone back 3 years. I wonder where we are…"
"Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England. And I'm guessing it's around early August." I told him as I watched the wind farm out to sea and listened to the helicopter flying overhead.
The Doctor just stared at me. "And how do you know all that?"
I let out a sigh. "Because I used to come here every year as a kid. We always had a few weeks holiday abroad but we always found a week to spend here."
"And what about knowing what time of year it was?" He took a step closer to me, frowning at me.
"Well, it's the middle of the day and all the children should be in school, but if you look, the beach is packed with families. That mean's that the summer holidays have started and they tend to start the end of July."
"Brilliant! You managed to work all that out just from observation and your general knowledge." He beamed at me, which made me blush a little. "Right, so since you know this place, what shall we do?"
"Well, I suppose we could just go and have a walk? I bet I could tell you more about this place than you could tell me."
"Right, you're on. Come along then." He grabbed hold of my arm and dragged me down the sand dunes that the TARDIS had landed in and right towards the sea.
We walked toward the town along the beach. I told him everything I could ever remember about the place. There had been a tour bus some time back, and a lot of the information from that was still stuck in my head so that helped.
The Doctor had been really impressed and had not been able to add much to my knowledge of the area. As we walked past one of the little holiday gift shops I quickly glanced at the date, which gave me even more way's to impress the Doctor.
"So, what do you want to do now then, Doctor?" I asked him as we finally crashed out on the beach. We had done so much walking and it was rather warm. I laid there, propped up by my elbows, looking out across the horizon.
The Doctor was laying down completely, his hands behind his head, looking up at the sky. "Well, what do you want to do next, Summer?"
I thought for a moment before letting a smile spread across my face. "Fancy hanging around here a bit more? We can grab something to eat and decide from there?"
He turned his head and looked at me, a huge smile on his face. "What are you up to?"
"Me? I'm not up to anything. What would even make you say that?" I pulled a face at him, pretending to be hurt, but we both fell around laughing instead.
We stayed on the beach for a little longer, I insisted that the Doctor come and have a paddle with me before we went to have dinner. He wasn't very cooperative at first, he really didn't want to go. I noticed an abandoned child's bucket and quickly formed a plan. "Doctor, if you don't come with me to the sea, I will make sure to bring the sea to you. Is that understood?"
He watched me carefully, but I managed to keep my posture and my pretence. "Right, okay, fine! Let's go then." He dragged me towards the sea and I gave the bucket to a child as we were passing.
We walked back across the beach and to the promenade. "What do you say to fish and chips?" I asked the Doctor as we made our way past all the amusement arcades.
"Ah, fish and chip at the seaside. It's a must." He told me, as he looked at all the neon lights.
"Come on then, I know just the place. Best fish and chips in Yarmouth. At least I hope they still are." I grabbed his hand and pulled him along with me.
An hour later we were sitting on the edge of the promenade, our feet dangling above the sand below. The sky was much darker now, and the sky was still clear. I just sat there looking up at the stars when the Doctor made my jump by putting an arm around me.
"We should start heading back soon." He told me softly.
I nodded at him. "Yeah, but not just yet. There's one last thing I want to do before we leave."
"And what's that?" He asked before jumping out of his skin when there was a loud bang. I didn't even flinch, I already knew it was going to happen.
"Watch the fireworks." I whispered as a tear slipped down my cheek.
Once the fireworks were over the Doctor helped me to get up and gave me his tweed jacket. It was a lot colder than it had been during the day and I wasn't quite prepared for the chill that was hitting me.
"Summer, are you okay?" The Doctor asked me as we walked back towards the TARDIS. It was going to be a rather long walk.
"Me, yeah I'm fine." I told him as I kept my eyes firmly fixed on the ground. Then I saw the Doctor's black boots in front of me and looked up to see him standing there, blocking my way. I could tell by the look on his face that he didn't believe that I really was okay and I let out a sigh. "I haven't been here since my mum died. This was always her favourite place in the world to go. We always used to sit and watch the fireworks together."
The Doctor didn't say anything, he just wrapped his arms around me and held me close. I closed my eyes and let the silent tears fall before taking a deep breath and pulling myself together. "Anyway, come on. We have a time machine to get back to." He smiled at me and took my hand as we kept on walking.
We soon made it back to the TARDIS and I gave the Doctor back his jacket the moment we were both through the doors. It was warm and comfortable in the TARDIS, always the perfect temperature.
I watched as the Doctor walked around the console, he looked so deep in thought. "I'm going to go make tea, do you want some?" I asked him as I headed up the steps towards the corridor.
"Ah yes, that would be lovely. Know where the kitchen is?" He asked me, not looking up from what he was doing.
"Yes, and if I get lost I can just ask. Won't be long." I called back as I headed along the maze of corridors. For me, it wasn't a maze. I had yet to get lost finding anywhere, it seemed like I already knew where everything was and that the TARDIS would never let me get lost in the first place.
I pulled my MP3 player out of my pocket, I had forgotten I had actually brought it with me, and put the earphones in. I scrolled through my collection, I had over 2000 songs on it to choose from. In the end I just set it on shuffle and let it pick for me. I ended up dancing around the kitchen while making the tea, which was something I used to do at home as well.
Once the tea was ready I turned it off and walked back to the console room. He was under the glass floor, with a wrench, hitting something. The TARDIS hummed loudly and I heard someone in my head. 'Tell him to stop that right now. Hello Summer, I'm the TARDIS by the way.' I smiled and went down the steps to where the Doctor was.
"I'd stop doing that if I was you Doctor. She doesn't like it." He quickly jumped up. Clearly I had startled him.
"How do you know?" He asked as I handed him his cup of tea.
"She told me. She asked me to tell you to stop doing that. And, since she can easily throw us into a black hole or something I think it's best that you listen to her and stop." He pouted a little which made me laugh at him. Unfortunately I had taken a swig of my tea and started coughing and spluttering.
We both sat in the console room and the Doctor told me some more of his stories about the places he had been and seen. I was amazed at some of the things he had seen and done. Some of it was terrifying. He told me about the Daleks and he instantly noticed me tense up when he mentioned them.
"Don't worry, Summer. I'm the Oncoming Storm, and as long as I am around, the Daleks will never win." He was doing his best to reassure me. I had seen the Dalek's before and they scared the hell out of me.
"What about the Cybermen? How do they feel about you exactly? The same as the Dalek's do?"
He frowned at me, and I instantly regretted saying anything. "Summer, I admit, travelling with me is dangerous and sometimes people don't make it home. But I would never let anything happen to you."
I smiled at him. 'Trust him, Summer.' I nodded, both at the Doctor and the TARDIS. If she was telling me to trust him, then I would. For some reason I already trusted the TARDIS.
I put my hand over my mouth as I yawned. "Right, well I think I'm going to go and get a few hours sleep. Just try not to break anything. I don't want her to have to wake me up to come and force you to stop whatever you're doing to her."
"Yes, fine. I will behave. My own ship has turned against me, that really isn't fair you know." He said as he gave me a hug.
'Tell him to go and pick up Amelia Pond. I'm sure you will love her, plus there is something we need to work out about her.'
"If you want something to do, go and pick up Amelia Pond. You can't leave her waiting for you forever."
He let out a sigh as he let me go. "She told you to tell me that didn't she?" The TARDIS shuddered a little and hummed. "Okay, Summer Richards, you get some sleep and I will go pick up Amy Pond."
"Good." I said, giving him my best smile. "Night then Doctor." I called as I started heading towards the corridor.
"Sleep well Summer."
Once I was in my room I quickly got changed and snuggled into the bed. It was so warm and comfortable and I fell asleep with a smile on my face. I was happy, finally, and was about to meet someone else who had waited a long time for the Doctor.
A/N: Hope you fantastic, brilliant, amazing people are enjoying it so far. The next chapter we get Amy come and join the party. Which means there is only 1 more original chapter to be before we pick up the series 5 stories. I hope everyone will still be reading by then, or better still, more people should be reading by then!
A big thank you to all the people who have favourite/followed. It makes me do my happy dance when i get those emails. What I would really love is some more reviews. There have been so few! So come on guys! Let's take it up a notch! Love you all!
Pippa.
