The Lodgers, Part 1
The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors and peeked out as the Hatter joined him, looking out to find that they had landed in what appeared to be a park somewhere with brick houses lining the streets, each looking similar to each other. The sun was just starting to rise, casting a pink glow over the sky.
"No, Amy," the Doctor sighed slightly, looking around as the Time Lady stepped out of the doorway, picking up a fallen leaf from the ground, "It's definitely not the Fifth Moon of Sinda Callista," he moved further out of the door, frowning, and squinting off down the street, "I think I can see a Ryman's".
"A Ryman's?" the Hatter raised an amused eyebrow at him, casting her eyes back down the street, "Isn't that an stationery shop?" she laughed slightly, crutching the leaf up in her hands, "Shall we pop in for a couple of pens and sticky notes? You never know when they might come in handy".
Suddenly, there was a blast of pressure from inside the TARDIS and the Doctor we sent flying onto the ground, landing on his back at the Time Lady's feet, his eyes widening, "Amy!" he and the brunet shouted urgently as the TARDIS engines filled the air, starting to dematerialise, "Amy!" the Hatter grabbed the Doctor's hand, helping him up as they looked helpless to the spot that the time machine had just vanished from, "Amy! Amy…" they breathed, too late.
They looked at each other, horrified. Amy was stuck inside a malfunctioning TARDIS with no way of escape or knowledge of how to even try to control it, helpless and alone, while they were stuck on Earth with no idea of what was happening or where to even begin to fix it. The situation couldn't get much worse.
….
With little else to do, the Doctor and the Hatter headed off down the street, trying to come up with a plan. They found a small café and went inside, taking a seat by the window. A young girl come up to them and took their order.
"Right," the Doctor began as the waitress walked away, looking across the table to the Time Lady, "Amy's trapped inside the TARDIS, we don't know what's going on, and we have no way of contacting her".
"That about sums it up, yeah," the Hatter nodded, sighing heavily, very worried for Amy, "I think we need to figure out how to talk to Amy first," she said thoughtfully, reaching inside her pocket, withdrawing a pen and a slip of paper, "I think I have an idea of just how to do that".
Together they started planning out a rough draft for an earpiece that could easily be made from objects they could find anywhere in the day and age they had found themselves in. They both agreed that for the sake of convinces, they would need to make two devices with scrambling capabilities so that they could avoid being overheard and a strong enough connection to be able to contact the TARDIS, regardless of wherever it was.
The waitress returned and sat two plates in front of them with a full English breakfast, along with two cups of tea, "Your order," she smiled politely at them.
"Thank you," the Doctor grinned at her, looking eagerly over his breakfast as he grabbed his knife and fork, digging in.
"Yes, thank you," the Time Lady added, carefully tucking the slip of paper and the pen back inside her leather jacket, satisfied that it was complete. The waitress walked away as the brunet focused on her plate, sighing slightly as she took in the mountain of food in front of her.
"What's wrong?" he asked, swallowing a mouthful of bacon, noticing the slight grimace.
"I'm just not feeling very hungry," she replied warily, "I think I'll just have some toast".
"But it's bacon!" he exclaimed, staring at her as if she was mad, "You love bacon, you're always stealing mine!"
"Sweetheart, your bacon's safe with me…at least today," she paused, something occurring to her, "Hang on, do we even have money to pay for this?"
The Doctor paused with his folk half raised up to his mouth with scrambled eggs, "Oh," he said slowly, looking slightly sheepish, "I forgot about that part".
The Hatter looked caught between exasperation and amusement, shaking her head at him, "Give me the sonic, I'll get the money," she said, rolling her eyes as he quickly pulled his sonic out of his blazer, passing it to her. She stood, adding over her shoulder as she headed for the door, "You just stay here and try not to spend any more money that we don't have".
…
Once they had got themselves some money and payed for their meal, they set to work collecting the things they would need to build their earpieces, which took them the rest of the day before they had everything that they needed and had the device built, sticking them into their ears. They managed to get into contact with Amy, who had quite a fright when she realised that they had disappeared, and tried to explain to her what to do to calm the TARDIS down by using the Zig Zag Plotter every time the shaking and jolting would start again.
Feeling slightly better now that they had a way to speak with Amy, the Time Lords began to make their way through the streets, only to pause as they came across a shop window with several notices sticking to it, but one of them caught their eyes. A small card had been stuck above another notice, written in red ink and with Amy's hand writing that said: 'Doctor, Hatter, this one. No. 79A Aickman Road. Amy XX,' followed by an arrow that was pointed down to the notice below it that said, 'One furnished room available immediately, shared kitchen, bathroom, with twenty seven year old man, non-smoker, four hundred pounds pcm, per calendar month. Suit young professional'.
The Doctor broke into a grin, glancing at the Time Lady beside him, "Perfect".
"Exactly what we need," the Hatter agreed, her eyes twinkling, "We'll have to thank Amy later…" she paused, thinking about what she had just said, "Well, once she's actually written the notice and put it up, otherwise it will be rather confusing".
He ducked inside the shop and grabbed the notes, ripping them off the window, tucking them inside his blazer as he stepped back outside. The Time Lords linked arms and went to get more money, enough to fill half a paper bag before trying to find the right address that proved to be harder than they had first thought, but eventually they found the place, which turned out to be only a short distance from where they had landed in one of the brick, two story houses across from the park.
They approached the red door and the Hatter pressed the doorbell, quickly adjusting her hat while they waited. The door was thrown open a moment later by a plump man with a bit of stubble on his face, holding a set of keys with a bright pink pom-pom hanging on the keyring, shouting, "I love you!"
The Time Lords blinked, exchanging a look as the man seemed to realise that they were standing there and stared at them, stunned, clearly having expected someone else.
"Well, that's good, 'cos we're your new lodgers," the Doctor grinned at him, taking the Hatter's hand again as the man seemed speechless, taking them both in from the Doctor's tweed blazer to the Hatter's bright yellow shoes, "Do you know…" he continued, his eyes landing on the key's in his hands and he plucked them out of his hands, still smiling at the man, "This is going to be easier than I expected!"
"Yes, I thought there would be a lot more fuss, to be honest," the Hatter agreed, leaning back slightly to look up at the second floor bay window, eyeing it for a moment. She sensed something…off about, but just couldn't work out what yet, still, she doubted that would last long. They always got there in the end, it just might take them a little while. They certainly weren't as young as they used to be.
The man frowned deeply at them both, getting over his shock, "But I only just put the advert up today, I didn't put my address".
"And here comes the fuss," the Time Lady murmured dryly to the Doctor, who struggled not to burst out laughing. She fixed the man with a bright, friendly smile, "Don't worry, we're very good at putting puzzles together," she told the man, "It's a hobby. Plus, luck. We're very lucky people…sometimes," she paused thoughtfully, "Sometimes we're very unlucky, which does tend to happen a lot, now that I think about it…" she trailed off, realising that she was rambling and the man was staring at her as if she was insane, "Right," she coughed, embarrassed, "Sorry, I'll just stop talking now".
The Doctor cleared his throat, trying hard to hide his laughter as he wrapped an arm around the brunet's waist. He really was enjoying this rambling side of her latest regeneration, "Anyway, you're more lucky than you know," he remarked, casting his eyes up towards the top floor, noticing something off about it, too, before turning back to the man, "Less of a young professional, more of an ancient amateur," he smiled at the Hatter, "Oh, and this is the wife, the professional one".
"Hello!" the Hatter said cheerfully, grabbing the man's hand before he had time to blink, shaking it quickly, and letting him go once more, her eyes moving back up towards the top floor, "Lovely to meet you," she finished slightly absently.
"Frankly, we're an absolute dream," the Doctor added, smiling at the man.
The man stared at them both, his eyes slightly wide, still trying to comprehend the idea that the rambling woman was supposed to be the more professional of the two, "Hang on," he shook his head at them, looking slightly confused, "I don't know if I want you staying," he frowned slightly, "I wasn't really looking for a married couple. And give me back those keys!" he snatched the keys out of the Doctor's hand, making the Doctor blink slightly, "You can't have those!" he exclaimed, almost sounding annoyed.
"Ah, yes, sorry about that," the Time Lady nodded, sending the Doctor a look, "He tends to get a little over excited sometimes, it's a trait we share, I'm afraid," she shook her head and smiled at the man, holding out the paper bag with money inside it, "Here's a down payment for the rent".
The man took the bag and looked inside, his mouth fell open and eyes widening even further as he took in all the cash notes sitting at the bottom of it.
"That's probably quite a lot, isn't it?" the Doctor commented, glancing down at the contents of the bag as the man's head snapped back up to look at them, "Looks like a lot. Is it a lot?" he glanced at the Hatter, raising his eyebrows at her, "You said it was a bit much, didn't you?"
"Just a bit, yeah," she smiled fondly at him, amused as she glanced at the man, "I tried to tell him we didn't need that much, but he was very insisted that he knew what he was doing," she scoffed, rolling her eyes, "Typical".
"Well, I can never tell," he defended himself, grabbing her hand, and they quickly took the chance to slip passed the man as he was distracted by the contents of the bag. The man jumped slightly and closed the door, hurrying after them as they stepped into the entrance hall with original Victorian tiles on the floor, a wooden staircase that led up to the upper floor where a door was on the small landing, while off to the side of the hall was a second door, which the Time Lords guessed lead to their new flat.
The lights flicked as the Time Lords stepped closer to the bottom of the stairs, looking carefully up towards the door on the landing, having a feeling that everything that was going on was connected to whatever was behind that door. It had to be, why else would Amy have left them that note directing them to this place unless it had something to do with what was happening? Besides, something felt off about the upstairs. That was for sure.
"Don't spend it all on sweets," the Doctor told the man, spinning back around to face him, "Unless you like sweets. I like sweets and the Hatter used to be mad for sugar, completely obsessed. I used to wake up to find lolly papers in the bed".
The Hatter cleared her throat loudly, elbowing his side, "Yes, well, I was going through a bit of a phase," she muttered, her cheeks growing pink, "Still, one eventually grows out of such things, case in point," she made a sweeping gesture down her front.
"Ooh," he suddenly said, remembering something, and quickly grabbed the man's upper arms to stop him from moving, giving him two Gallic air kisses. The man stared at him, startled, "That's how we greet each other now days, isn't it?"
"Not quite," the brunet smiled, highly amused, finding it quite sweet on the Doctor's part. She stepped closer to the man, "I don't believe we said our names, I'm…Hattie, but everyone calls me the Hatter," she informed him, deciding it would be best to alter her name slightly if they were playing the role of humans.
"And I'm the Doctor," the Doctor introduced himself before pausing, glancing back towards the landing door, "Well, they call me the Doctor, I don't know why. I call me the Doctor too," he frowned, turning back to the man, "Still don't know why".
The man blinked at him before shaking his head, "Craig Owens," he said slowly, eyeing the Doctor strangely, "The Doctor?" he repeated.
"Yep," he nodded, glancing back towards the landing door, quickly changing the subject, "Who lives upstairs?"
"Just some bloke".
"Right, interesting," the Hatter remarked thoughtfully, eyeing Craig's reaction carefully, "And what does he look like?"
"Normal," Craig shrugged, shaking his head, "He's very quiet…" the sound of glass shattering and loud footsteps banged on the ceiling above them, making them look up, "Usually," he frowned, looking at the Time Lords as they headed for their new flats door, "Sorry, who are you again?" he asked, only to be ignored as he hurried after them, "Hello?" he called after them.
They entered the flat to find an open plan living and kitchen area off to the side of the flat with a hallway leading off from the small entrance. The Time Lords made their way further into the living room, their attention immediately caught by a large black stain on the ceiling in the corner of the room, seeming to be mould.
Craig closed the door behind him, following them, "Excuse me?" he frowned deeply at them, not very happy that they had just simply walked into his home without asking.
"Ah!" the Doctor exclaimed, eyeing the stain, slipping his hands inside his trouser pockets, "I suppose that's…dry rot?" he glanced at the Time Lady.
"Or damp. Or mildew".
"And possibly nothing of the sort," the Hatter commented softly, moving closer to the stain until she was directly beneath it, trying to get a closer look. Not that she knew very much about damp or dry rot, but something about that stain didn't sit right with her. She sniffed the air, wincing a slight metal twang hit the back of her throat, almost making her gag.
"I'll get someone to fix it," Craig assured them.
"No, we'll fix it," the Doctor said quickly, taking the Time Lady's hand as she moved back to his side, casting her a slightly concerned look as he noticed she looked paler then normal, "I'm good at fixing rot. Call me the Rotmeister," he grimaced, shaking his head as the brunet gave him a raised eyebrow look, "No, I'm the Doctor," he glanced back to Craig, "Don't call me the Rotmeister".
"Anyway," the Time Lady said loudly, turning away front the stain, casting her eyes around the room, "You have quite a lovely home," she smiled at Craig.
"Yes, this is the most beautiful parlour I have ever seen," the Doctor agreed, moving to pull himself up onto the breakfast bar of the kitchen, wrapping his arm around the brunet's shoulders as she moved to lean against the counter. Craig stared at them both, "You're obviously a man of impeccable taste," he continued, giving the man a hopeful look, "We can stay, Craig, can't we? Say we can".
"You haven't even seen the room," Craig reminded them, still quite shocked by just how strange they both were.
"The room?" he repeated, slightly confused.
"Your room".
The Hatter nudged the Doctor's side, "Our room," she clarified.
"Oh, yes, our room!" the Doctor's said brightly, his eyes lighting up with excitement, "Our room," his voice softened slightly and he slipped off the counter, wrapping an arm around the Time Lady's waist, turning back to Craig, "Take us to our room!"
Craig looked at them strangely for a moment before turning and leading them out of the kitchen, off the down the hallway, pointing out a door. The Doctor moved forward and pushed the door open, stepping inside with the Hatter to find themselves inside a small bedroom with old fashioned wallpaper, a double bed, and a chest of drawers pushed against the edges of the room.
"Yeah, this is Mark's old room," Craig explained to them as they looked around the room. The Doctor pressed on the mattress a few times, testing it as the Hatter pulled back the curtain on the window, peeking outside, "He owns the place, moved out about a month ago," he continued as the Doctor turned back to him, "An Uncle he'd never even heard of died and left a load of money".
The Hatter flopped down onto the bed, wiggling around slightly to get comfortable, quite pleased once she had settled into a comfortable position, "How very convenient," she remarked, glancing over to the Doctor, "I think this will do quite nicely, sweetheart…"
There was another bang upstairs, followed by the sound of things crashing with more glass shattering, making them all look up at the ceiling.
The Doctor licked the tip of his finger and held it up in the air, testing it for a moment as Craig gave his finger an odd look, "No time to lose," he commented, lowering his finger as he looked back to Craig, "We'll take it. Ah…!" he exclaimed, reaching inside his pocket, "You'll want to see our credentials…" he withdrew the psychic paper and flashed it at Craig, "There…National Insurance numbers…" he switched it around his back, holding it up again, "NHS numbers…" again, moving it around his back and holding it back up once more, "References…"
Craig's eyes widened, amazed, "Is that a reference from the Archbishop of Canterbury?" he gaped as the Doctor tucked the paper inside his blazer.
"We're his special favourite," he said quietly, putting a finger to his lips as if it was big secret. He smiled and spun around to face the Hatter, who was still lying on the bed, "Are you hungry, dear?" he asked, his voice returning to its normal level, "I'm hungry".
The Hatter flashed him a grin and took his hand, letting him pull her up from the bed, "Excellent idea," she nodded to him as they headed for the bedroom door, "I'm suddenly feeling quite hungry".
Craig frowned after them, hurrying to catch up with them as they walked down the hall and back into the kitchen, "I haven't got anything in," he told them.
The Doctor hardly seemed to hear him as he went straight for the fridge, throwing the door open, looking inside, while the Hatter leaned against the kitchen counter. He smiled broadly, grabbing a packet of bacon, some cheese, and two eggs, "You've got everything I need for an omelette," he announced, throwing the cheese and bacon onto the counter, and grabbing a frying pan, putting on a French accent, "Fines herbes pour trois!"
The Time Lady shook her head fondly as he set to work cooking, breaking the eggs messily on the edge of the pan, tossing the empty shells aside without a care as he grabbed a wooden spoon, using it to whisk the eggs around in the pan. He was definitely going to be the one to clean up after that mess he was creating, still, it was almost worth it. He did make the best omelettes.
"So, Craig," the brunet began, casting a quick look over to the man standing beside the fridge, "Tell us about the girl on the fridge," she nodded to the picture of a blonde woman smiling at the camera beside Craig, appearing to be sitting in the back of a car. She raised her eyebrows at him, "Who is she?"
"My friend," Craig answered, glancing quickly at the photo, "Sophie".
She smiled teasingly at him as the Doctor added some pepper to the pan, "Is she your girlfriend?"
He blushed slightly, "A friend who is a girl," he clarified, trying to hide his embarrassment, shaking his head. The Doctor exchanged a quick look with the Hatter, reaching for the grater, "There's nothing going on".
"Ah, that's completely normal," the Doctor nodded, grating the cheese over the top of the pan, shrugging, "Can't say it worked for us, though…" he gestured to the Hatter, giving her a soft smile as he sat the grater and cheese back down on the counter, "Still, I've had plenty of girls who are just friends," not that he had ever been really interested in a romantic relationship with someone other than the Hatter. He might have had faint feelings for Rose when he thought that he had lost the Hatter, but those feelings were quickly overshadowed when he found her again. She had been the only one he had ever wanted and loved in that sense. He shrugged again, turning back to the pan, "Anyway, works for me".
"How did you and Sophie meet?" the Hatter asked Craig curiously. She had always found the way that people met to be quite interesting, especially considering how she and the Doctor first met.
Craig smiled slightly, seeming to enjoy remembering the moment, "We met at work about a year ago at the call centre".
"Oh, really, a communication exchange?" the Doctor remarked, pleased as he added some salt to the pan, "That could be handy".
"Yeah, the firm's going down, though," he continued to explain, sighing slightly, "The bosses are using a totally rubbish business model. I know what they should do, I got a plan all worked out, but I'm just a phone drone, I can't go running in saying I know best," he frowned as the Doctor threw some bacon into the pan, moving over to the fridge, pulling the door open, and grabbed a bottle of mayonnaise, "Why am I telling you this?" he shook his head, almost sounding confused as the Doctor squinted the mayonnaise into the pan, "I don't even know you two".
"Oh, people are always doing that," the Hatter assured him, shrugging as the Doctor started whisking the omelette again, "We must just have those faces that make people feel relaxed to tell us their plans and life stories, though, they don't always work…" she paused thoughtfully, "Actually, they rarely work like that. Forget I said they did".
Craig eyed her strangely for a moment before shaking his head, straightening, "Right, where's your stuff?" he questioned, clapping his hands together.
"Don't worry, it'll materialise," the Doctor waved him off, exchanging a look with the Time Lady, "If all goes to plan".
…
The Doctor and the Hatter where sitting in an armchair in the living area, the Time Lady perched on the armrest, both just having finished their omelettes, practically licking their fingers, having enjoyed it so much.
Craig put his plate down on the coffee table and fell back onto his sofa, tilting his head back, "Oh, that was incredible!" he remarked, amazed as he glanced back over to the Time Lords. The Hatter laughed, nodding in agreement, "That was absolutely brilliant. Where did you learn to cook?" he asked the Doctor.
"Paris, in the eighteenth century," the Doctor replied.
The Hatter cleared her throat, leaning closer to him, "Try again, sweetheart".
"Right," he nodded, quickly turning back to Craig, who was frowning at them, "No, hang on, that's not recent, is it? Seventieth?" he tried, glancing at the Time Lady, who shook her head, "No, no, no, twentieth," he corrected himself and the Hatter smiled at him, kissing his cheek. Tenses and time travel really were hard to keep track of, "Sorry, I'm not used to doing them in the right order," he said to Craig.
Craig eyed them both for a moment, "Has anyone ever told you two that you're a bit weird?" he questioned.
The Time Lady laughed loudly as the Doctor smiled, taking her hand, "They never really stop," he said, amused.
The Hatter managed to stop laughing, settling on smiling widely, "What's life without a little bit of weirdness?" she commented, raising her eyebrows at Craig, "Anyway, what about you, Craig? Have you ever been to Paris?"
She had noticed that he had a card on his fridge door for the Vincent Van Gogh exhibit that they had gone to three weeks ago…well, at least she thought it had been three weeks since that very fun adventure with old Vincent. It was so hard to keep track of how much time passed in the TARDIS, even for her and the Doctor.
"Nah," Craig shook his head, sighing slightly, letting his head fall back against the sofa, "I don't see the point of Paris," he glanced back over to them, "I'm not much of a traveller".
The Doctor nodded, eyeing him, "I can tell from your sofa".
"My sofa?" he blinked, confused.
"You're starting to look like it".
"Doctor," the Hatter muttered, nudging the Doctor's side with a scolding look.
Luckily, Craig seemed to find it more amusing then offensive, "Thanks, mate," he laughed, "That's lovely!" he continued to chuckle, shaking his head, "No, I like it here…" absently, he began toying with the pink pom-pom hanging on the key ring on the set of key's he had snatched off the Doctor earlier, catching the Time Lords attention, "I'd miss it, I'd miss…" he trailed off.
"That set of key's, perhaps," the Hatter said, raising an amused eyebrow.
"What?" he looked up sharply, startled as he glanced down at them in his hand.
"You're sort of…fondling them," the Doctor added, eyeing the keys with a slightly knowing look. He remembered doing that with the Hatter's signet necklace when he was missing her or thinking about her, though, usually away from the eyes of his companions to prevent them from giving him those annoying knowing looks that they always seemed to have whenever the Time Lady was mentioned or around. He much preferred to see her wearing it now, in fact, she never took the thing off.
Craig dropped the keys on the armrest of the sofa, "I'm holding them," he defended himself, standing with a blush spreading across his face.
"Right," the Time Lords both nodded, unconvinced.
"Anyway…" he moved across the room and over to a table that was sitting against the wall by the door, "These…" he fished another set of keys out of a bowl, turning back around to face them with a smile, holding the keys out to them, "These are your keys," he informed.
"We can stay?" the Doctor asked, excited as he stood and meet the man halfway across the room, the Hatter stood and joined them, grinning.
"Yeah, you're weird and you can cook," he laughed, shrugging, "It's good enough for me," he held up each key, "Right, outdoor," he explained, showing them another key, "Front door," and another, "Your door".
"Our door," he smiled broadly, glancing at the Hatter, linking his arm through hers, "Our place. Our gaff…" he grabbed the keys, laughing, "Ha-ha! Yes!" he tossed the keys to the Time Lady, deciding she would be less likely to lose it. She caught it, slipping it inside her jacket pocket, "Us with the keys!"
"And listen," Craig went on, lowering his voice slightly, glancing between the Time Lords, "Mark and I, we had an arrangement where if you two ever need me out of your hair, just give me a shout, okay?" he winked at them.
The Doctor winked back at him, even though he didn't understand what he meant. The Hatter gave Craig a curious look, too, "Why would we want that?" he asked.
He looked between them again, looking slight uncomfortable, "Well, you two are married…" the Doctor stilled looked clueless, while the Hatter finally made the connected and felt a blush cover her face, "So if you want some privacy…" he went on, slightly awkwardly.
"Oh, we will," the Doctor nodded, still unsure about just what he was talking about, but judging from the amused look that was quickly replacing the blush on the Hatter's face, she seemed to understand, "We'll shout if that happens. Yes," he agreed, "Something like…WE WERE NOT EXPECTING THIS!"
The Hatter laughed, putting a hand on the Doctor's arm as Craig looked slightly startled by the sudden shout, "Thank you, Craig," she smiled at him, "We'll keep that in mind," she cleared her throat, casting a look over towards the stain on the ceiling, "But onto a different note, that rot…" she nodded towards it, a serious expression on her face as she looked back to Craig, "You know, I don't think it would be a very good idea for us to touch it or try meddling with it," she flashed Craig another smile, "Night!"
The Doctor slapped Craig on the shoulder as he and the Time Lady headed out of the room, down the hallway towards their new room before Craig could even blink. The Hatter pushed the door open, closing it as the Doctor moved over to the bed and flopped down onto it, making it bounce. The Time Lady joined him, flopping beside him, putting her head on his chest as they activated their communication devices in their ears
"Earth to Pond," the Doctor called over the link, "Earth to Pond. Come in, Pond".
"Doctor!" Amy shouted back, causing a loud screech of feedback, making both Time Lords wince and grab at their ears, "Ooh…sorry," she said in a softer voice.
"Would you mind not destroying our new earpiece, Amy?" the Hatter grumbled slightly, rubbing at her ear, "It took us hours to get all the parts and to build them," she shook her head, "Anyway, how's the TARDIS?"
"See for yourself," she replied, and the sound of the TARDIS whirring with a strange bonging sound came over the link.
"Ooh, nasty," the Doctor remarked, sitting upright with the Hatter, both looking very concerned, "She's locked in a materialisation loop, trying to land again but she can't".
"And whatever's stopping her is upstairs in that flat. So go upstairs and sort it!"
The Hatter sighed heavily, resting her back against the headboard of the bed, frowning up at the ceiling, "We can't, not without knowing what we're dealing with first," she told her as the Doctor stood on the bed, eyeing the ceiling carefully, "Anything with enough power to prevent the TARDIS from landing is extremely dangerous".
"And big," the Doctor added warily, looking back down to the Time Lady, "Scary big".
"Quite so," the Time Lady agreed softly, unnerved by the idea of just what might be upstairs.
"Wait…are you scared?" Amy asked, sounding very worried herself.
"Not exactly, just healthily cautious," the brunet corrected lightly, pulling herself up on the headboard to stand beside the Doctor, taking his hand, "The fact is, Amy, we can't possibly just go up there and causally knock on the door without having any idea of just who or what we might dealing with," she shook her head, sighing again, "That's one very sure and rather stupid way for us to get ourselves killed, and while we have done some rather idiotic things in the past, this shall not be one of them. I, for one, do not have a death wish".
"It is vital that this 'man' upstairs doesn't realise who and what we are," the Doctor went on, a smile crossing his face as he grabbed the Hatter's other hand and started bouncing on the bed, the Time Lady happily joining in, laughing, "So no sonicking," he said after a moment, laughing slightly as he pulled the brunet closer to him, "No advanced technology".
"We only have these communicators," the Hatter commented, reaching up to tap the Doctor's device in his ear, "And that's only because we thought it would be wise to include a scrambling setting".
The Doctor let go of her and jumped off the bed, glancing over towards the wall between their room and Craig's, who they both assumed had gone to bed, "To anyone else hearing this conversation, we're talking absolute gibberish," he explained to Amy, stepping over to one of the drawers, pulling the top drawer open, taking a look inside.
"I almost wish I knew just how we sounded," the Time Lady smiled, amused by the idea of it as she jumped off the bed, too, moving over to peek outside the window at the darkened, empty street.
He found a tube of hair gel and removed the lid, pushing it against his quiff. The Hatter laughed and shook her head fondly at him, stepping across the room to him, taking the tube off him before he accidently poked himself in the eye. That's the last thing they needed, a whiny Doctor with a sore eye.
"All we've got to do is pass as an ordinary human couple," the Doctor said to Amy, noticing a pair of sunglass in the drawer and grabbing them, "Simple. What could possibly go wrong?" he slipped the glasses on, spinning around to show the Hatter.
The Hatter raised her eyebrows at him, looking slight impressed, "Blimey, you really need to start wearing sunglass, sweetheart," she told him, eyeing him slightly, "They suit you very well," he grinned broadly, looking quite smug as he kissed her cheek quickly. She cleared her throat, "Anyway, need I remind you that you need to stop saying things like that, otherwise you're just going to end up jinxing it," she shook her head, "We have enough bad luck as it is".
"Have you seen you two?" Amy cut in incredulously, scoffing, "You two as an ordinary human couple?"
"So you're just going to be snide?" the Doctor sighed, stepping across the room to look at himself in the mirror with the glasses on, "No helpful hints?"
"Hmm, well, here's two…bow tie, get rid! Same with the yellow shoes, Hatter!"
The Doctor slipped the glasses down his nose, "Bow ties are cool," he defended.
"And don't diss the shoes!" the Hatter added, sounding highly offended as she looked down at her bright yellow shoes, quite proud of them, taking a seat back on the bed, "Not everyone can pull yellow off as superbly as I can!" she huffed.
He cast the brunet a sideways look, raising an eyebrow as he slipped the glasses inside his pocket, "And you've been calling me egotistical for centuries," he muttered, amused that this new regeneration of hers seemed to be less humble then her previous two had been, especially her Ninth one, "Come on, Amy," he tried, moving back across the room, picking up a book, "I'm a normal bloke, tell me what normal blokes do".
"They watch telly, they play football…" Amy answered, listing them off for him in an almost bored tone of voice, "They go down the pub".
He flickered the book rapidly, "I could do those things," he replied, shrugging. The Hatter laughed, shaking her head at him, the idea of him being in an Earth pub or just simply watching TV without complaining after the first five minutes being far to amusing. He gave her a mock hurt look, "I don't, but I could," he said quickly.
"I believe you, sweetheart," the Time Lady nodded with a playful look before turning serious, "Anyway, what about human women?" she asked, "What do they do?"
"Watch telly, shop, go to yoga class".
"Shop?" the brunet repeated, making a face, "As in clothing shopping?" she shook her head, looking horrified by the idea, "Not a chance. That's almost worse than the weekly tea seasons I had to endure with my Mother for two centuries".
Suddenly, there was a loud banging noise from above.
"Hang on," the Doctor dropped the book, looking worried as the Hatter jumped off the bed, moving to his side, looking just as concerned, "Wait, wait, wait! Amy?" he called urgently over the link.
"Come on, talk to us, Amy," the Hatter muttered, shifting nervously on the spot, wincing as Amy started screaming and yelping on the other end of the link. She quickly looked across to the set of drawers, noticing that the hands on an alarm clock sitting on top of it were spinning rapidly back and forth. She nudged the Doctor's side, drawing his attention to it, and he quickly checked his own watch, "How very curious," she remarked thoughtfully, noticing that all the clocks around them were doing the same thing, "It's a localised time loop".
"Interesting," he agreed, watching the hands on his own watch spin.
Amy screamed again, "Ow!" she yelped, "What's all that?"
"Time distortion," he replied, his and the Hatter's eyes moving up towards the ceiling, very alarmed by the latest development, "Whatever's happening upstairs, is still affecting you".
She cried out again, this time for even longer, before gasping, "It's stopped…ish," she informed them after a moment, sounding slightly confused, "How about your end?"
"It's okay here now," the Hatter said, exchanging a wary look with the Doctor as he lowered his arm back to his side.
"So, doesn't sound great, but nothing to worry about?"
"No, no, no, not really!" the Doctor nodded quickly, trying to keep just how worried he really was out of his voice as he and the Time Lady sat on the end of the bed, taking each other's hands, "Just keep the Zig Zag Plotter on full, that'll protect you".
There was a moment of silence before a loud noise sounded from Amy's end, "Ah!" she shouted, sounding slightly pained from the sudden loud sound.
"The Zig Zag Plotter!" the Hatter called to her, wincing at the noise, knowing that the old girl wasn't going to like that, "Use the Zig Zag Plotter, Amy!"
"I pulled the Zig Zag Plotter!"
The brunet sighed slightly, forcing her voice to sound more patient and calm, knowing that Amy was growing frustrated, "Are you standing with the door behind you?" she asked, imagining the console in her mind, which was quite easy, she was surprised to find.
"Yes!"
"Right, good," she smiled, exchanging a look with the Doctor, "Now just take two steps to your right and try pulling the lever again," she instructed calmly. They waited for a moment, listening closely as the noise in the background seemed to fade and Amy sighed in relief, "Well done, Amy," she cheered, wishing the girl could see her wide smile, "Excellent job".
"Yes, well done," the Doctor agreed as the look the Time Lady sent him. He cleared his throat and stood, "Now, we must not use the sonic," he reminded himself more so then the Hatter, moving around to the side of the bed, grabbing a folded up scooter, chucking it on to the bed, "We've got work to do, need to pick up a few items".
They clicked the comms. off as the Hatter stood, taking his hand as they headed for the door. The Time Lady already had a mental list of items they would need and should be easy enough to find…though, one of two things might require a little bit of old fashioned breaking and entering. Not that they were stealing, more like borrowing, or so the Doctor had been very sure to express. Needless to say, the Hatter hadn't missed the chance to make a remark about how he borrowed his TARDIS, too.
…
Together, the Time Lords set to work wondering around the streets in the middle of the night and sometimes into other people's backyards in search of different objects. Eventually, they had what they needed and they returned to the flat with the Doctor wheeling a shopping trolley full of bits and pieces, while the Hatter kept an eye out, not wanting to have to explain why they had a trolley of junk in the middle of the night.
Carefully, the Doctor pulled the trolley over the curb of the street, walking backwards as a cat meowed loudly from somewhere in the distance, "Shh," he hissed to himself, casting a wary look up towards the top window, "Don't get comfortable".
The Hatter reached inside her pocket and pulled out the keys, walking over to the door as the Doctor followed closely behind her with the trolley, "Let's just get inside before someone decided to call the police on us," she muttered to him, unlocking the door.
They tried to push the trolley as quietly as they could into the entrance hall and through to their flat, not wishing to wake Craig as they moved down the hallway to their bedroom. The Hatter pushed the door open and let the Doctor wheel the trolley in first before following, closing it behind her.
"Right, then," the Doctor remarked, pushing the trolley off to the side of the room, rubbing his hands together as he stepped back over to the bed and flopped down, making it bounce slightly, "Now, we just have to move the mattress and we can start building".
The Time Lady laid beside him and put her hat on the bedside table, closing her eyes, "It's a shame," she sighed slightly, "I was actually feeling a bit tired tonight. I usually prefer to sleep every two to three days, otherwise my mind isn't quite a sharp as I would like it to be".
She felt the bed dip to her right as the Doctor rolled onto his side to face her, edging close until he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to his side, making her smile softly as he pressed a light kiss to her neck, just below her ear. Her last regeneration would have found the sensation very ticklish and would have been squirming with laughter, luckily, this new version of her wasn't anywhere near as ticklish.
"We could always put it off for a few hours yet," he said softly, toying with a tip of her hair.
She cracked her eyes opened and rolled onto her side so that she was facing him, giving him a cheeky smile as she wrapped an arm around his neck, "I suppose we could, couldn't we, sweetheart?" she smirked playfully at him, using her other hand to trace his jawline.
He groaned slightly and closed his eyes, letting his head pressed against her forehead, "Why do you have to be so…tempting?" he grumbled, opening his eyes to give her a mock annoyed look.
"You make that sound like it's a bad thing".
"I thought you said you were tired. This isn't tired".
The Hatter laughed, raising an eyebrow at him as she kissed the tip of his nose, "Are you seriously going to complain?" she asked, amused, "You and I both know how quickly my mood can change in an instant".
"Very true," he agreed at once, closing the small gap between them and kissed her, making her laugh into the kiss.
….
The next morning, the Doctor had gone to take a shower while the Hatter was in their room, blow-drying her hair with the dryer that she had found under the bathroom sink. She didn't usually bother with drying her hair, not unless she needed to get dressed-up or something, but she thought she would give it a go if she was playing the role of a human woman. Besides, the noise of the machine blocked out the sound of the Doctor singing loudly in the bathroom next door.
Once she had finished drying her hair, she sat the machine down on the chest of drawers and started brushing it. She paused briefly as she realised that the Doctor had stopped singing, but thought nothing of it and finished brushing her hair, happily putting her hat on, taking a moment to adjust it so that it was sitting on an angle that wouldn't let it go flying off while she was running. Outside the door, a phone rang.
Giving her reflection one last look, she nodded to herself and headed for the door, pushing it open, and stepped outside. She walked into the kitchen, giving Craig a wave as she noticed him talking to someone on the phone, "Where's the Doctor?" she mouthed to him. He hadn't taken any clothing with him into the bathroom, which meant that he really ought to have returned to the bedroom by now.
Craig returned the wave and pointed to the flat's door, looking almost amused by something. She blinked slightly, trying to figure out what he was doing, wondering around without any clothing on…she very dearly hoped he had at least remembered to wear a towel, but judging from the amused rather than horrified look on Craig's face, he had at least covered himself with something.
The Time Lady headed for the door, poking her head around the edge of the doorframe to see the Doctor, still dripping wet and with a blue towel wrapped around his waist, holding an electric toothbrush, giving a very bemused blonde haired woman that the Hatter recognised as Sophie two Gallic air kissed.
"Well, I suppose it could have been worse," the brunet muttered to herself, highly amused by the scene before her, especially the look on poor Sophie's face. She cleared her throat and stepped further out into the hall, giving Sophie a friendly smile, "Hello, Sophie, isn't it? I'm Hattie, but please call me the Hatter"."
Sophie jumped slightly as they both looked at the Hatter, "Oh, ah, yes," she said, still looking quite startled, "Hi".
"Don't mind him," the Hatter told her, nodding to the Doctor, who attempted to drape a wet arm over her shoulders, only for her to duck it with a cheeky smile in his direction, "He doesn't make a habit of meeting people like this, I assure you," she raised her eyebrows at him, "What have you been doing this time, sweetheart?"
"Nothing!" the Doctor said quickly, making her narrow her eyes at him. He held up his hands, giving her a mock exasperated look, "Why is it that I'm always getting blamed and accused?"
"Well, you are currently holding a toothbrush, dripping wet, and wearing nothing but a towel," she resorted, shrugging as she headed back inside the flat with him following closely behind her with a still very startled Sophie, "I think the question was pretty justified here".
"No, Dom's in Malta, there's nobody around," Craig was saying over the phone as they entered the flat, his eyes landing on the Doctor, "Hang on a sec…" he stepped into the Doctor's path, forcing him to stop, "We've got a match today, pub league, we're one down if you fancy it?" he said to him, looking hopeful.
The Doctor paused, looking slightly confused as he glanced at the Hatter, who could only shrug, not knowing what Craig was talking about either, "Pub league?" he repeated, turning back to Craig with a frown, "A drinking competition?"
"That's probably not a good idea," the Hatter cut in, casting the Doctor a sideways look. The last time he had gone out drinking had been on his stag night because Jack had insisted every groom had to go on one. Jack and Mickey had practically carried him back to the TARDIS, blind drunk only a few very short hours later after he had managed to get drunk after only visiting two clubs. She had spent the rest of the night sitting beside him in one of the bathrooms, rubbing his back as he hunched over the toilet, vomiting, while she tried to get some more fluids into him without having them just come back up again. After that, she had banned him from having more than two drinks, three if it was a special occasion and depending on the alcohol concentration. Time Lords just couldn't handle their alcohol.
Craig gave them both a very odd look, pressing his phone against his shoulder, while Sophie put a small bottle of milk that she had brought away in the fridge, "No…football," he clarified, looking at the Doctor, "Play football?"
"Football," the Doctor repeated, trying to remember the game, "Football!" his eyes brightened as he recalled Amy mentioning it the night before, glancing at the Hatter, "Yes, blokes play football! I'm good at football, I think".
He broke into a broad smile, "You've saved my life!" he exclaimed, delighted, holding the phone back up to his ear as he pattered the Doctor's cheek, "I've got somebody," he said into the phone as the Doctor pattered his cheek, too before heading for the fridge, "All right, see you down there," he ended the call and turned to Sophie with a big smile, "Hey, Sophie!"
"Hey, I thought I'd come early and meet your new flatmates," Sophie smiled back at him, casting the Doctor a quick look as he opened the fridge, grabbing the milk.
"Do you play, Sophie?" the Doctor asked as he joined them again, unscrewing the lid on the carton, taking a gulp.
"Doctor," the Hatter sighed, giving him a scolding look.
He quickly lowered the carton, swallowing his mouthful with a sheepish look, "Sorry, dear".
Craig his throat slightly, "No, Sophie just stands on the sidelines," he informed them, answering the previous question as he smiled, "She's my mascot".
"I'm your mascot?" Sophie looked at him, frowning slightly, "Mascot?"
"Well, not my mascot, it's a football match, I can't take a date".
"I didn't say I was your date".
"Neither did I," Craig said quickly, looking at the Time Lords.
The Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a look as the four of them stood awkwardly in silence for a moment, "Ah, sweetheart," the Time Lady looked at the Doctor, "I think you had better get some clothing on now".
"Right, yes," the Doctor nodded, handing Craig his toothbrush back as he and the Hatter headed for their room, both wanting to try and escape from the awkward moment.
"Oh, the spare kit's just in the bottom drawer," Craig called after them as they reached the door, stepping inside.
The Doctor peeked his head around the edge of the door, not wanting Craig to get a look inside, "Bit of a mess," he replied, quickly closing the door.
The Hatter knelt on the floor by the set of drawers, pulling the bottom open. She laughed as she found the uniform and held up the shirt for the Doctor see the number eleven embroidered on the back of it, finding it highly amusing.
He smiled back at her, laughing as he pointed at the shirt before a thought occurred to him and he pulled the door open again, poking his head out to look at Sophie. The Time Lady looked at him curiously, "You unlocked the door," he commented, "How did you do that? Those are your keys," he pointed to the set with the pom-pom hanging on them, "You must have left them last you came here".
"Yeah, but I…" Sophie began, blinking slightly as she held up the keys in her hand, "How do you know these are my keys?"
"I've been holding them," Craig admitted, blushing as he closed his eyes, embarrassed.
Sophie didn't seem to notice, "I have another set," she replied, holding up a second set of keys.
"You've got two sets of keys to someone else's house?" the Doctor raised his eyebrows at her, glancing back over his shoulder to the Hatter, amused.
"Yeah".
"I see!" he smiled, turning back to Sophie, "You must like it here too," he closed the door and spun around to look at the Time Lady, just as she threw a pair of dark blue shorts at him. He caught them, fumbling slightly.
The Hatter laughed slightly, watching as he finally managed to get a grip of the fabric, shaking her head as she turned around to give him some privacy. Even now, after the three years of marriage, he could still blush brighter than the Earth sun, "Do you know how to play football, Doctor?" she questioned, hearing the sound of the towel drop onto the floor.
"Ah…maybe".
"That's your code for 'haven't got a clue,' isn't it?"
The Doctor grinned and crept up behind her, wrapping his arms around her front, kissing her cheek, "It's the one with the sticks, right?"
She turned around in his arms, laughing again as she wrapped her arms around his neck, "Not even close. I think you might be confusing football with cricket…or perhaps baseball".
He raised his eyebrows at her, "And you would know the difference?"
"I, unlike you, happened to have an almost equal number of male companions. Max was football mad. He made me take me to see a game once, so yes, I do happen to know the difference".
"I'll never doubt you again, dear," he promised her, reluctantly letting her go as she passed him a pair of rolled up socks and shin guards. He sat on the end of the bed and started putting the shin guards on before pulling the long, blue socks over the top of them.
"I should hope not," she flashed him a grin, turning serious, "Football has a few simple rules. One, no hand contact to the ball, you can use your knees, head, feet, any body part but the hands. Secondly, the aim of the game is to get the ball into the opposite teams goal without it being caught by the goalie. Thirdly, keep the ball in the field, otherwise it will be a throw-in award for the other team and it's one of the only parts of the game that you are actually allowed to touch the ball," she raised her eyebrows at him, "That covers the basics, the rest you can gather from watching the others play".
"Right," he said slowly, nodding, "No hands, that sounds…hard".
"No harder than trying to hit a ball with a slim bat…" she paused, seeming to think over what she had just said as she handed him his shirt, "Well, not unless you understand psychics, then it's easy enough to do".
He laughed and reached up to click his comm. in his ear, the brunet doing the same with her own, "So the Hatter and I are going out," he told Amy, pulling the shirt over his head, looking down, only to find that he had put it on backwards with the number eleven across his chest. He quickly started to put it around the right way, "If we hang about the house all the time, him upstairs might get suspicious, notice us".
"He's going to play football," the Hatter told Amy, moving to adjust the collar on the Doctor's shirt as he got it around the right way, slipping his arms through the short sleeves.
"Football," Amy repeated, "Okay, well done, that is normal," she commented, sounding almost impressed that they had actually managed to do something normal.
"Yeah, football," the Doctor agreed, sneaking a kiss on the Hatter's cheek before she stepped back from him, flashing her a wide smile, "All outdoorsy".
"And now we just have to see if you can actually play the game," the Time Lady added, amused as she found a pair of football shoes in the corner of the room that, by some stroke of luck, happened to be the right size for the Doctor. She chucked them to him, laughing as he fumbled with them, trying to juggle with them before he ended up dropping both shoes with a funny, last minute leap to try and fail to catch them before they hit the floor. This version of him really was so clumsy, he was even worse than her First regeneration. She raised her eyebrows at him, grateful he wouldn't need to try and catch anything, "Well, this is just asking for trouble," she sighed.
…
The Time Lords walked, hand-in-hand with Craig and Sophie through the park as they headed for the large football field that they were supposed to be playing at. The Hatter smiled fondly as she glanced at the Doctor, who had insisted on wearing his tweed blazer over his uniform. She supposed she should have been more surprised that he hadn't tried wearing his bow tie, too.
"What are you actually called?" Craig asked the Doctor, carrying his football shoes in one hand and the ball under his other arm, "What's your proper name?"
"Just call me the Doctor," he replied, shrugging, not seeing why humans were so insisted upon needing to have a proper name for things all the time.
"Yeah," Sophie laughed, seeming to find it more amusing than anything else.
"What's wrong with 'the Doctor?'" the Hatter questioned, raising her eyebrows over to Craig. She gave the Doctor a wink, "I think it's an excellent name that speaks of compassion and trust," she reached up to pat the Doctor's cheek, who was grinning broadly at her, looking very pleased with himself, "Just like the man himself".
Craig sighed, shaking his head, "I can't say to those guys, 'hey, this is my new flatmate, he's called the Doctor and that's his wife, the Hatter'".
The Time Lords simply looked at each other before turning back to him, "Why not?"
"And you can always call me Hattie," the Time Lady remarked, pausing with an amused expression, "But I should warn you that I may not answer. I much prefer the Hatter".
"'Cos it's weird," Craig tried to explain to the Doctor as they approached a group of men, all wearing the same uniform as the Doctor and Craig as they stood on the edge of the field.
"All right, Craig," a man called to them, breaking into a broad smile as they neared him, "Sophie," he nodded to her in greeting, "All right, mate," he slapped Craig's hand as he passed him, moving off to the side to put his shoes on.
The Doctor stepped towards the man, holding out his hand, "Hello, I'm Craig's new flatmate…" he introduced himself, shaking the man's hand before giving him two Gallic air kissed, making the other man lean back with a startled expression, "I'm called the Doctor," he continued brightly, letting go of his hand, oblivious to the man's discomfort, "And this is my wife, the Hatter," he held out a hand towards the Time Lady.
"Hello!" the Hatter said brightly, taking the man's hand, shaking it enthusiastically before letting him go just as quickly, making him blink at her, "Lovely to meet you," she told him brightly.
The man glanced between her and the Doctor, seeming surprised to learn that they were married, "All right, Doctor, Hatter," he smiled at them and pointed to himself, "I'm Sean. Where are you strongest?" he looked at the Doctor.
"Arms," he answered quickly.
"Technically, the tongue is the strongest muscle in the human body…" the Hatter began, but trailed off as everyone, save for the Doctor, who was nodding in agreement with her, looked at her strangely. She coughed, feeling her cheeks heating up, "Ah…never mind. That's not how I wanted to introduce myself. I'll just save that for if we ever do a trivial night, or something".
"Right…" Craig said slowly, moving back over to them with the ball still in his hand, eyeing both Time Lords oddly before shaking his head, "He means…what position?" he clarified to the Doctor, "On the field?"
"Not sure," the Doctor replied thoughtfully, "The front? The side? Below?"
Sean frowned slightly, starting to look worried, "Are you any good, though?"
The Doctor grabbed the ball off Craig, spinning it around his fingers, "Let's find out!" he darted away from them, kicking the ball up in the air and onto the field, practising passing it between his own feet.
The Hatter laughed, watching him go, "Come back here and give me your blazer!" she called after him, shaking her head fondly, "Honestly, the man can be so easily distracted".
….
As it turned out, the Doctor was brilliant at football. The Hatter stood beside Sophie on the edge of the field with the Doctor's blazer draped over her arm, both woman watching excitedly as the teams started playing against each other at the sound of the referees whistle. The Doctor, right from the start, practically dominated the field as he dodged between opposition members, intercepting passes here and there, head butting the ball, and even managing to score a number of goals.
The Hatter smiled broadly, feeling very proud as she noticed the delighted look on the Doctor's face as he kicked yet another goal and the crowd cheered loudly, she happily joining them. But she couldn't help noticing that Craig seemed less happy about the Doctor's new found football ability as the Doctor seemed to have a tendency be so focused on the game that he didn't even notice when Craig called for him to pass the ball to him, and as the game went on and the more goals the Doctor managed to get, Craig's displeasure only seemed to grow as the crowd, including Sophie, even started cheering the Doctor's name.
And of course, when the game was just about to end and the Doctor managed to kick the winning goal, the entire crowd and team went wild. People start running out onto the field to congratulate the players, but the Doctor went running straight for the Hatter, who meet him halfway across the field, and he picked her up, spinning her around in his excitement before kissing her deeply, earning a few whistles and more cheers from the people around them.
The Hatter laughed, breaking the kiss as she blushed deeply, "You're all sweaty and muddy," she commented, smiling fondly at him as she reach up to run a hand through his damp, messy hair and the bottom of his legs were covered in mud.
"Did you see me get that last goal?" the Doctor asked her eagerly, his eyes very bright as he hardly seemed to be able to stand still.
"Of course, you don't think I would miss a second of you playing, do you?" she raised an eyebrow at him, smiling at him proudly, "You were wonderful, truly. You would have thought you had been playing the game for years".
She helped him put his blazer on and tidy his hair a little bit, kissing him quickly again. As they broke away again, they noticed the rest of the team had moved off to the side of the field by a park bench, waving them over. They made their way over to them, the Doctor wrapping his arm around the Hatter's waist as they leaned against the back of the bench, just as Sean returned from having gone back to his car to grab a plastic bag and started passing out beers.
"You are so on the team!" Sean called to the Doctor, grinning broadly at him, handing Craig a beer before holding out another towards the Doctor, "Next week we've got the Crown and Anchor, we'll annihilate them!"
"No violence," the Doctor said, suddenly deadly serious as he straightened, staring Sean down, "Not while we're around, not today, not ever. I'm the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm…" the Hatter cleared her throat, giving him a pointed look. He paused briefly, his expression softening slightly, "…and you meant beat them in a football match, didn't you?" he realised.
"Yeah…" Sean nodded, staring at him, very bemused and startled by the Doctor's sudden shift in mood.
"Lovely," he remarked, smiling, back to his happy self again, "What sort of time?"
"Don't mind him," the Hatter gave Sean a comforting look, casting the Doctor a quick glance, "He's harmless really…well, mainly. Just as long as you don't plan to take over anything or hurt anyone, then you're safe".
"I don't think that was very helpful, dear," the Doctor muttered to her as Sean blinked at her, looking unsure if she was being serious or not.
Craig opened his can, causing it to spray over his front, making him automatically close his eyes. Everyone, save for the Time Lords, who glanced over to him, laughed, but just as they had turned back to Sean, the same thing happened again. The scene started repeated over and over again as the Time Lords frowned, exchanging a very worried look as they realised what was happening. They moved away from the group, activating their earpieces.
"Amy?" the Doctor asked worriedly over the link, "Amy?"
"It's happening again!" Amy shouted back, her voice sounding slightly strained, "Worse!"
"Look at the scanner," the Hatter instructed her quickly, "Tell us what it says".
"A lot of nines. Is it good that they're nines? Tell me it's good that they're all nines!"
The Time Lady swallowed nervously, exchanging a very alarmed look with the Doctor, "Of course it's good," she lied, trying to make her voice sound brighter and cheerful, knowing very well just how bad it really was, "Nothing to worry about, just remember the Zig Zag Plotter, Amy. Use that".
The Time Lords waited, listening intently as it sounded as if the TARDIS had jolted violently, following by Amy's screaming, "Amy?" the Doctor questioned tensely, his voice lower as the screaming stopped, "Are you there?" they waited for a moment for a reply, "Amy?" he called more urgently.
Can I just say on a random note that I love soccer, it's probably one of the only sports I actually like, aside from archery. Sorry, I just had to mention that. Next chapter, the Doctor decides to develop some manners at the worst moment, the Hatter isn't very happy with him, and the Hatter is clueless as to what to do. Tell me what you thought, please review :)
Guest reviews:
Guest (1): Thank you for the suggestion, I'm always very grateful for when people take the time to suggest things to me. As for the Hatter shooting Kovarian…I think that was an important moment for Amy to get some closure after everything that happened, and as for the Hatter's involvement, she's certainly not going to stand in Amy's way. The Hatter knows exactly what it's like to lose a child and she's not going to stand in the way of Amy getting some closure, not this time.
I think that if there was ever a time for the Hatter to turn a blind eye to violence, it would have to involve something to do with children and Kovarian snatching Amy and Rory's child away from them and turning her into an assassin would have to be one of those times. She's certainly not going to let that pass and your right, we will see a darker side of the Hatter come out during that time. Thanks for the review :)
Guest review (2): Ooh, that's a big question, and one that I'm not even sure about yet. The Hatter is going to be heartbroken over Clara's death, just like the Doctor was, and she's going to blame herself for not intervening sooner with Clara's recklessness. It's very hard to say much more than that just simply because of spoilers. The Hatter and Clara's relationship is going to be quite a close one, so when Clara dies, it's going to be a huge blow for the Hatter, especially and it's going to have a big impact upon her future actions during 'Hell Bent' and might just see her doing things that she would otherwise morally not do or approve of. Thanks for the review :)
Guest (chapter 19): Danny and the Hatter is going to be interesting, and of course the effect that Danny will have on Clara with the Time Lords is going to cause some tension, especially between Clara and the Hatter. Thanks for the review :)