Riley knew that her aunt was most likely worried about her, having seen her been taken by police and everything, but still… she did not expect the exceedingly warm (not to mention stifling) welcome she received when she came home. In fact: she didn't actually get home at all because her aunt was standing out at the yard along with Mrs. Tyler looking all kinds of relieved. Riley only just had time to notice Mickey standing off at the side before she found herself engulfed in the mother of all hugs.
"Riley! My baby!" Aunt Sarah sobbed and grabbed on to her school blazer with a fierce grip. "I was so worried."
"Auntie, it's okay. I'm all right." Really, what are you supposed to say in a situation like this? She dimly noted that Rose was given a similar welcome by her mother of to her left.
"I didn't know what to do! I didn't know what was going on or why they took you…" Her aunt sounded like she was trying to explain something but cut herself off and finally released her only to look at her sternly. "You have a lot of explaining to do, young lady!"
"I will, I promise." Riley assured her soothingly and watched in the corner of her eye as the Doctor wandered off. She realized he was probably going back to Sexy to give them some semblance of privacy and decided to use it well. "Why don't we go inside and I'll tell you all about my crazy day?"
Riley didn't really tell her aunt everything. How could she? There was so much of it that just seemed too far out there for her aunt to understand. She couldn't even begin to explain Sexy and their blossoming friendship and she decided to delicately leave out the dead bodies in fear of scaring her aunt too much. Riley told her about running into Rose along with her friend the Doctor earlier that morning (without mentioning where exactly) and how they had gotten talking. How the Doctor had some dubious history with the military (UNIT) and that he was an expert of sorts. She explained how the higher-up's wanted his help with the alien "crash landing" and that she and Rose just sort of got caught up in it. It was all true just not… the entire truth.
"Well, I'll say… how irresponsible of them! Taking a child to Downing Street!"
Riley explained how the Doctor made sure to protect her while in Downing Street (which he did, just not the entire time) and how Rose stayed by her side. She made it sound like it simply was the fault of a stupid government (which it was) that was unable to handle itself properly in a time of crisis.
Aunt Sarah bought it all. Hook, line and sinker.
Riley felt somewhat guilty at that but it's not like she had much of a choice. If her aunt learnt the true nature of her adventure she would never let her outside again! It was for the better. It had to be.
"Where is Jared?" After having explained the (almost true) story, Riley finally realized that it was rather quiet in the apartment.
"Oh, he's at work. This whole episode has brought chaos to the city, what with aliens and Downing Street blowing up." Sarah explained and got up to start a pot of coffee. She was supposed to be at work herself in about an hour.
"I suppose it would have." Riley nodded.
Jared was an ambulance driver and a trained nurse at Royal Hope Hospital and no doubt the scare from earlier, when everybody thought that aliens were about to blow them all up (which was true, just a different set of aliens is all), caused all kinds of accidents and so on. It was like the Doctor said: humans lash out when they're scared. Sarah herself had seen some scuffles just outside the estate while worrying for her niece.
"I've got work in an hour but I can stay home. You shouldn't be alone after everything." Sarah said. "You might have trauma."
"Oh, it's all right. Really, I'll be fine." Riley tried to convince her. "Besides, don't you have some sort of important meeting today? I remember you mentioning it the day before yesterday."
"I really shouldn't. What kind of a guardian would I be if I left you on your own after something like this?" She protested but Riley detected a slight shift in tone.
"You are a great aunt." She intoned seriously. "And I won't be alone. I could go over to the Tyler's flat. I want to thank Rose for looking out for me anyway. I'm sure they won't mind."
"Are you sure? It's just, alien invasion notwithstanding, it really is an important meeting… but if you want me to I'll stay home. I promise. I could always reschedule…"
"Nonsense! I'll be fine!" Riley insisted. She really needed to talk to the time-traveler's anyway, about what to do next, and she knew that the meeting would be a tie-breaker if Sarah could pull it off.
She was a PR consultant working for one of those big-shot firms with clients all over the country and if she managed this one assignment she would get a promotion. Riley had overheard her aunt and Jared talking about it last weekend.
"Well… I suppose… let me just talk to Jackie first to make sure." And thus Riley won.
It had not taken much convincing on Mrs. Tyler's part to let Riley stay over for the day. Although Riley could sense a slight hint of disapproval from the blonde (after all, Riley had just been through something very traumatic and to dump her on the neighbor the very same day, well Mrs. Tyler obviously did not agree with her aunt's priorities) but she said nothing. With a promise to ring her on her mobile if she suddenly wanted her aunt to come home, no matter what, Riley found herself alone with the Tyler's.
"Hey." Rose greeted the twelve year old as they both positioned themselves on the couch. "What did you tell her?"
"The truth." Riley admitted. "Granted not all of it. I may have edited some parts."
"I bet you did." Rose laughed softly.
"She values her work." Riley spoke up, startling the girl seated next to her. "She always has. That's okay, I don't mind, everybody need something to value."
"I didn't…" Rose tried to say but stopped herself. She did. She did wonder and probably would have asked. It just seemed so callous; to leave the girl here and go off to work after what happened.
"But you were thinking it." Riley smiled. "Like I said, it's okay. It's not that she doesn't love me or anything it's just… Aunt Sarah is a very independent woman. She has Jared and I but she is still her own person. I understand that and I respect it."
"You really are wise for your age, aren't you?" Rose sighed.
"Not really. Just open-minded." Riley responded with a cheeky grin. "Besides, she had an important meeting today that could get her a big promotion if she pulls it off. I was fine and the crisis was over so there really was no reason not to go, especially for such a good opportunity."
"If you say so, you know her best after all." Rose conceded defeat and instead leaned over to grab the remote from the table.
It was nearing midday and the two women had barely moved from their spot in the sofa. They were watching a news transmission with Harriet Jones while Mrs. Tyler ("call me Jackie, dear") was bustling around in the kitchen. Mrs. Tyl… Jackie had sat down earlier and had a serious talk with Riley about her aunt and how she had explained the events to her. Rose had told her mother the absolute truth, no editing required, and the elder woman wanted to know what she had said. Not to mention she wanted to, subtly at first before right-out asking, find out if they had any "family-problems". You can say whatever you want about Jackie Tyler but the woman was a mother through and through and seeing the way Riley and her aunt had interacted earlier had her almost worried. Riley managed to explain, to some degree, that there wasn't any problems like that but she could tell that Jackie would stubbornly keep her eyes open from here on out. It made her feel sort of warm inside. Aunt Sarah was great, really no fault with her but… like she had told Rose; she was an independent woman and not really a mothering type.
Riley felt strangely at ease with the Tyler's in their flat; she didn't know why. It was a bit like how she had felt with Sexy; like she belonged. At first she had put it off as simply the thrill of making a new friend but after meeting Sexy's Thief she realized it was different from that, deeper somehow. No matter what it was; she liked it.
"Mankind stands tall, proud…" Harriet was saying on the telly and Riley smiled. The woman really would do great as the Prime minister.
"Harriet Jones. Who does she think she is? Look at her, taking all the credit. Should be you on there. My daughter saved the world!" Jackie came back into the sitting room huffing. "And you, Riley. Honestly!"
"That's okay; I don't mind Harriet getting the credit." Riley answered absentmindedly as she watched the future prime minister speak.
"Besides, it wasn't just us. I think the Doctor helped a bit." Rose added.
"All right, then. Him too. You three should be given knighthoods." Jackie grumbled.
"Don't you technically have to be of age for those?" Riley asked jokingly.
"That's not the way he does things. No fuss. He just moves on. He's not that bad if you gave him a chance." Rose straightened up in the sofa and looked at her mother.
"He's good in a crisis, I'll give him that." Jackie admitted and both the girl's smiled at her.
"Oh, now the world has changed. You're saying nice things about him." Rose teased.
"Well, I reckon I've got no choice. There's no getting rid of him since you're infatuated." Jackie said and Riley had to stifle her giggles. She supposed that's the way it looked and in a way it sort of was like that. She just felt that romance wasn't quite it in the emotions spectrum concerning those two. But maybe it would grow into that later on, she didn't know.
"I'm not infatuated!" Rose protested.
"What does he eat?" Jackie asked not even acknowledging her daughter's response.
"How do you mean?" Rose answered slightly off kilter. What did that non-sequitur have to do with anything?
"I was going to do shepherd's pie. All of us. A proper sit down, 'cos I'm ready to listen. I wanna learn about you and him and that life you lead. Only, I don't know, he's an alien. For all I know, he eats grass and safety pins and things." Jackie said, sounding like she had thought it through.
"He'll have shepherd pie." Rose answered with a small smile that quickly grew. "You're going to cook for him?"
"What's wrong with that?" Jackie asked defensively.
"He's finally met his match." Rose laughed.
"You're not too old for a slap, you know." Jackie answered making Riley laugh. "You can go and visit your Gran tomorrow. You'd better learn some French. I told her you were in France. I said you were au-pairing."
"That's as good a story as any, I suppose." Riley said thoughtfully.
Just as Jackie walked back to the kitchen Rose's phone rang. The blonde takes it out and looks at the caller-id.
"Is that a TARDIS?" Riley asks intrigued.
Rose nods and answers. "Hello."
Riley listens with half an ear as she stands up and walks to the window. Pushing apart the curtains she looks out at the estate yard and sees Sexy standing right where she'd been before. Riley looks between Rose and Sexy; making calculations in her head while trying to decide. In the end it's no competition and Riley walks away from the window, ducks as she passes the kitchen and heads to the hallway where she puts on her shoes and leaves. Taking the stairs two at a time she bounds down to the ground floor and jogs across the yard toward Sexy.
She stops right before her doors and contemplates whether to knock or not but in the end Sexy makes the decision for her and opens up the doors wide for her to enter. Smiling she walks inside and looks over at the Doctor, who is still on the phone with Rose, and waves. The Doctor nods at her but keeps talking to Rose, something about a plasma storm in a nebula (Riley honestly has no idea), and she walks past him and into the corridor that leads to the library. Riley knows that's where Sexy will be waiting for her.
"You took your time, youngling." Sexy greets her as soon as she steps inside the gigantic library. She still looks like Riley but her clothes are different; rather than the school uniform she'd been wearing before (that Riley was still wearing) she was dressed in a knee length blue (TARDIS blue) dress and she was barefoot.
"Don't call me that." Riley grumbled. "And what's with the outfit?"
"Oh, I decided that two of you dressed the same way was confusing. For you, obviously, not me. And besides; this looks good on you." Sexy answered with a teasing grin.
"Whatever you say."
They both stood still for a few seconds, trying to decide the next step, until Riley grinned.
"Your Thief is awesome." She said.
"I know." Sexy answered as if it should be obvious. "What do you think of his stray?"
"Oh, you mean Rose? I like her, always have, not that I know her particularly well but... why?" Riley said in all earnest.
"I suppose she's… fine." Sexy didn't answer.
"I like Mickey too." Riley added, curious about the response.
"Oh, yes, the pretty one." Sexy smiled a very grown-up smile that Riley thought looked very strange on her face.
"Not just pretty, though I suppose he's that, but smart and fun too. And he's nice." Riley said.
"That too." Sexy agreed, as if by afterthought. Then she looked, really looked, over at Riley. "What do you want to happen now?"
"What do you mean?" Riley asked confused.
"Well, one my Thief gets his stray back we'll leave, like always, to someplace that's not here. I don't know when we'll be back." Sexy answered and took a step closer.
"Oh." Riley said. "I don't know. I didn't think of that."
"No, you wouldn't. But I did and so now I'm asking. What do you want to happen now?"
"Well, what can happen?" Riley asked unsure of the situation.
"You can either stay here, with that aunt of yours, or come with." Sexy answered.
"Granted…" A third voice suddenly spoke up behind Riley, making her gasp and turn around. In the doorway stood the Doctor, well more like leaned, and he was looking piercingly at her. "I've never had a companion so young before. Not one that wasn't… well, you would be the first."
"You would be okay with that?" Riley had to ask. They had just basically saved the world together but at the end of the day they didn't really know all that much of each other.
"My ship seems to like you." He said, glancing over her shoulder to the apparition that was his TARDIS. "I don't really need anything else."
"Well, it is tempting really, it is but… I don't think my aunt would be okay with that." Riley said in deep thought and then turned back to Sexy. "But I want to. You are my friend."
"That's okay." Sexy said and smiled. "It's not like we'll never see each other again. I'm not letting go just because we are not at the same place together."
The Doctor listened to his ship in wonder. Since when had the TARDIS become so… domesticated? He'd known she was alive, every TARDIS was sentient (they were, after all, grown not built), but that she was so… so alive! It was astounding. His ship was actually showing emotions for this little girl. Had befriended this little girl. What a weird day.
"And you'll be back. Right?" Riley asked a little afraid.
"Well, his latest stray lives here so I'd assume so." Sexy said, nodding toward the Doctor. "And even if she didn't I'd still steer us here."
"I'll tell you what." The Doctor spoke up again, having made a decision about this strange new development. "Do you have a phone?"
"No." Riley answered. "My aunt says I'm too young."
"No matter, I'll give you one." The Doctor said and started digging in his pockets. Riley watched in surprise as his hands went deeper and deeper inside the pockets until she was certain that his jacket must be like the Sexy; bigger on the inside. Finally he gave a triumphant 'ha' and produced a mobile phone which he proceeded to take apart. "I usually only give these to my traveling companions but… I'll make an exception."
She watched him fiddle with the phone some more, using that silvery stick of his again to buzz at it, before he put it back together.
"Here." He said and handed the mobile to her. "Now you'll be able to phone the TARDIS anywhere and anytime. I also put in Rose's number in there, just in case, she has a similar phone. Speed dial one is the TARDIS specifically."
"Okay…" She answered and turned the phone over to look at it. It was one of those phones you could slide open and it was the same color blue as Sexy. Suddenly the phone lit up and started vibrating and a noise came out of the speakers; the same noise Sexy made whenever she was landing.
"Well, it works." Sexy spoke up and turned to Riley. "I just sent you a text message."
"You did?" Riley asked and looked back down on the phone. True to her word the phone was displaying a new message saying; 'testing, testing'. "How original."
"Well, sometimes original is the best way to go." Sexy grinned.
"Thank you." Riley said to the Doctor who smiled.
"No worries. It's specially made so that you never have to pay for any TARDIS-communication but if you text or phone your aunt for example you still have to pay for that. Also you should never need to load it; it will draw on the TARDIS's energy whenever there is communication between them." He explained and then clapped his hands. "Now, if you ladies will excuse me, I have a graffiti artist to deal with."
With that said he walked off and disappeared behind a corner.
"So, basically we're like pen pals now?" Riley asked Sexy. "Neat."
"I'll give you a heads up whenever we're about to land someplace close. Maybe you could still come for daytrips or stay a weekend or something."
"Like a proper sleepover? Do you think the Doctor would mind if we had a pillow fight?" Riley laughed.
"If they were his pillows." Sexy laughed as well before sobering up a little. "When you're older we'll take you away and we could travel together."
"I'm looking forward to it." Riley smiled softly. "Until then I don't mind this arrangement. I text often, yeah, and you'll tell me whenever you're in my time-zone?"
"Always." Sexy answered with a grin.
They stayed in the library just talking and socializing with each other for a while until Sexy said it was time to go. Sexy disappeared and Riley walked back to the console room where the Doctor was with Rose.
"I still say you packed too much." She heard the Doctor grumble.
"There can never be too much." Rose laughed and looked over to see Riley coming into the room. "Oh, so this is where you disappeared off to."
"Yeah, I had to talk to someone. So you're leaving again now?" Riley asked and walked up to the blonde.
"Yeah, And you? Are you coming with?" Rose answered. She wasn't really sure what to feel about the girl; she was a brilliant young girl, that's for sure, she didn't freak out or anything despite all that she'd seen the last two days. But she was still a twelve year old little girl and Rose wasn't sure if it was appropriate for someone like that to come along, especially considering the things that they could stumble upon.
"No." Riley smiled. "My aunt would never allow it. Maybe when I'm older. But the Doctor gave me this super-phone so that I'll be able to keep in contact and everything. He also gave me your number, is that all right with you? If I call or something, I mean?"
"Yes, that's fine. Brilliant in fact." Rose smiled. "You can keep me updated on things back home and I'll keep you updated on things here. Perfect."
"Yes, it is, isn't?" Riley laughed.
"Okay you two, enough talking. I'm ready to leave." The Doctor interrupted and made a shooing motion with hands to Riley. "If you don't want to come along you better leave now."
"All right, you, I'm leaving." Riley giggled and started walking toward the door. "I'll stay in touch."
"You better." Rose said and waved. "I'll see you when I see you."
"Yeah, will do. Bye." Riley waved one final time and walked out of the doors.
No sooner had she stepped outside that Sexy started making her 'disappearing noise' and faded from existence. Looking around she sees Jackie and Mickey, both watching the place where Sexy had just stood.
"Hey, Riley." Mickey gives a sort of half wave not even looking at her and Jackie looks at her clock.
"Ten seconds." The woman sighs and walks away.
Riley isn't quite sure what that was about but turns to Mickey instead and sees him reading the newspaper while sitting on a trash can.
"I'm surprised you didn't come along, Mickey. Didn't you want to?" She asked and walks up to stand at his side.
"No I… it's just a bit much." He sighs and closes the paper. "Have you seen this?"
Riley looks over at the headline. "Alien hoax? Really?"
"I know, right. Unbelievable." He huffs. "What about you? Why didn't you go along with them?"
"I'm not sure." Riley answers with a small frown. "I wanted too but… it's just… it didn't feel right. Not now, anyway."
"What do you mean?" Mickey asked looking at her.
"Didn't you feel it? Between the two of them? Like, coming in between right now is just… wrong, somehow?" Riley wasn't sure how to explain it.
"Yeah, maybe. A little, I suppose." Mickey nodded thoughtfully. "Like it wasn't our time."
"Not yet anyway." Riley nodded as well. "Besides, my aunt would never forgive me. I think she needs to warm up the idea first."
"Then there is that." Mickey laughed.
"I got Rose's phone number though. She promised to keep me updated." No need to mention Sexy, Riley wasn't sure how to explain her to Mickey yet.
"Did she now?" Mickey asked. "Do you mind if…?"
"I'll keep you updated, don't worry." Riley smiled. "I have a feeling we'll be seeing more of each other now anyway. If only because Jackie need to talk to someone about the strange man her daughter ran off with and we are the only two who knows about him."
"Hah, you're right." They both looked over at the apartment where they just knew Jackie was pacing right about now. "We better go keep her busy."
"And to think that just two days ago she nearly hated you." Riley giggled.
"It feels like the world is ending." Mickey jumped off the trash can and grabbed her hand.
Together they walked back to the Tyler's flat, laughing along the way, and Riley thought to herself; this is not so bad.
It's almost like having a family.
