Looks like a long chap... wonder how it got that way.. lol Hope you all love this I really had fun with this. I'm gonna go and work some more now before the TWD comes on tonight :) Don't forget to tell me what you think and enjoy!
"You consider this a house, it's freaking mansion!" Katelyn exclaimed seeing Sir Robert MacLeish's estate.
"Well what did you except the Queen to stay in the Burrow?" The Doctor said to her, as Rose simply smiled at the pair.
"Hey don't you insult my dream home. " Katelyn said giving the Doctor a stern look.
"You two I swear, like a proper married couple." Rose giggled causing both the Doctor and Katelyn to glare at her murderously.
Katelyn looked about she was to tell Rose off but stopped when the Carriage came to a stop in the courtyard of the estate. Instead she simply shook her head at the blonde and paid attention to the man who came out to greet them.
"Your Majesty." The man bowed to Queen Victoria.
"Sir Robert, my apologies for the emergency." The Queen greeted in return. "And how is Lady is Isobel?"
"She's indisposed, I'm afraid. She's gone to Edinburgh for the season. And she's taken the cook with her. The kitchens are barely stocked. I wouldn't blame Your Majesty if you wanted to ride on." His words made Katelyn and the Doctor exchange a curious look.
"Since when does a Lady take a cook with her." Katelyn mumbled under her breath at the Doctor.
"Oh, not at all. I've had quite enough carriage exercise. And this is charming, if rustic. It's my first visit to this house. My late husband spoke of it often. The Torchwood Estate." The Queen told Sir Robert, and then turning her gaze to the three travelers. "Now, shall we go inside? And please excuse the naked girls."
"Sorry." Rose apologized quickly, unlike Katelyn who scoffed openly at the comment.
"Feral Children, bought each for sixpence in old London Town. It was them or the Elephant Man so..." The Doctor explained in a Scottish accent to Robert.
"I'll show you feral." Katelyn grumbled.
"Thinks he's funny but I'm so not amuse." Rose said bitterly as she kept Katelyn from hitting the Doctor. "What do you think, ma'am?" She then asked hoping to win the bet.
"It hardly matters. Shall we proceed?" Queen Victoria states and then follows Sir Robert and his butlers into the estate.
"So close." Rose said disheartened and let go of Katelyn's hand.
Katelyn successfully smacked the back of the Doctor head as the Red Coat order his troop to retrieve something from the carriage.
"Your only making your self look worse by doing that." The Doctor states rubbing the back of his now sore head.
"Worth it." She said plainly and turn her attention to the small box being taken from the carriage.
"So what's in there, then?" The Doctor asked the troop in general.
"Property of the Crown. You will dismiss any further thoughts, sir." The Red Coat stated seriously.
The Doctor pulls a strange face at the man's words, earning a smirk from his two companions before entering the estate as well after the Queen.
They soon find themselves it an observatory of sorts with a large bronze telescope as the main center of attention in the room.
"This, I take it, is the famous Endeavour." The Queen said to Sir Roberts as she admire the telescope.
" All my father's work. Built by hand in his final years. Became something of an obsession. He spent his money on this rather than caring for the house or himself." Sir Roberts explained the group.
"I wish I'd met him. I like him. That thing's beautiful. Can I?" The Doctor asked gesturing to the Endeavor.
"Help yourself." Robert agreed, seeming not to care what were to happen with the Endeavor.
The Doctor and Rose happily began to exam the telescope, while Katelyn stayed by the Queen. Not really confident with touching the telescope as freely as the Doctor and Rose seemed to be. Instead she took the moment to look at the butlers that positioned themselves at the door.
There bald heads and blank faces seemed to set off all kinds of warning flags in Katelyn's mind. She even wondered if Sir Robert made the butler's shave their heads for the job, so he would have to deal with other men competing with his head of hair? A silly thought of course but the least threatening one she could think of at the moment.
"What did he model it on?" The Doctor asked looking up through the gap in the roof.
"I know nothing about it. To be honest, most of us thought him a little, shall we say, eccentric. I wish now I'd spent more time with him and listened to his stories." Sir Robert told them, thinking fondly of his deceased father.
"Looks like a lot of Hard work and time was spent lovingly intro it." Katelyn told Sir Robert, as the Doctor looked through the Endeavor.
"It's a bit rubbish. How many prisms has it got? Way too many. The magnification's gone right over the top. That's stupid kind of" The Doctor stops mid insult asking Rose. "Am I being rude again?"
"Yep." Rose answers.
"But it's pretty. It's very pretty." The Doctor said back as if back peddling out of danger.
"And the imagination of it should be applauded." Queen Victoria adds praising the mans work, as she and Katelyn step closer to the Endeavor.
"Mmm. Thought you might disapprove, Your Majesty. Stargazing. Isn't that a bit fanciful? You could easily not be amused, or something? No?" Rose tried again to win the bet. Though her attempt only earned her a shake of the head by the Doctor and a rolling of the eyes from Katelyn.
"This device surveys the infinite work of God. What could be finer? Sir Robert's father was an example to us all. A polymath, steeped in astronomy and sciences, yet equally well versed in folklore and fairy tales." The Queen stated ignoring Rose's question.
"Stars and magic. I like him more and more." The Doctor said smiling once again.
"Oh, my late husband enjoyed his company. Prince Albert himself was acquainted with many rural superstitions, coming as he did from Saxe Coburg."
"That's Bavaria." The Doctor adds as the Queen continues her story.
"When Albert was told about your local wolf, he was transported." She said to Sir Robert.
"So what's this wolf then?" The Doctor asked the man, loving a good tale.
"It's just a story." Sir Robert said trying so it may seem to avoid the conversation.
"Then tell it." The Doctor order, ignoring the fear that seemed to roll off of Sir Robert in a cold sweat.
Katelyn although, seemed to sence his fear as he nervously shifted in his place and looked back warily at the two butlers behind him. Katelyn openly stared at the oldest butler hoping the longer she looked at him the more likely she was to figure out why he seemed out-of-place.
"It's said that-" Sir Robert began to tell them but was interrupted by the older butler. This definitely did not go unnoticed to Katelyn.
"Excuse me, sir. Perhaps her Majesty's party could repair to their rooms. It's almost dark." The butler said to Sir Robert, before turning his harsh gaze to Katelyn. He had thought her to back down once he met her stare but was proven wrong as she stood her ground next to the Queen.
"Of course. Yes, of course." Sir Roberts agreed moving in front of the butler blocking Katelyn's view of him.
"And then supper,and could we find some clothes for Miss Tyler and Miss Keith? I'm tired of nakedness." The Queen said looking over her shoulder at Rose.
"It not amusing, is it?" Rose said smiling at the Queen, who just raises a brow at the girl.
"Your attempts are not amusing." Katelyn said to Rose earning a smirk from the Queen.
"Sir Robert, your wife must have left some clothes. See to it. We shall dine at seven, and talk some more of this wolf. After all, there is a full moon tonight." The Queen ordered and left the observatory.
"If you will follow, Angelo, Miss Tyler and Miss Keith he will lead you to a room for you to change into something more suitable. Doctor please follow me." Sir Robert said leading the Doctor out of the room.
"Sure leave us with mister creep, nothing bad will ever come of this." Katelyn mumbled to Rose and folded the older butler out of the room.
"You know when she said proper clothing she meant a dress." The Doctor told Katelyn as they made their way to the dinning area.
Katelyn had decided to go a comfortable route and raided clothes from a young Sir Robert's wardrobe instead of his wife's, as Katelyn was now dressd in a pair of gray trousers with a matching grey waist coat over a black blouse.
"Like I can run in a dress." She scoffs opening the door for them both.
"What says we will need to run anywhere?" Katelyn only laughed at the Doctor's question as she took a seat the seat in front of the Red Coat from before.
"It seems nakedness is common for you child."Queen Victoria states as she to entered the room.
Everyone stands from their chairs, as she moves to her seat in the middle of the table except for Katelyn who did not know it was customary to do. The Queen paid no mind this as she sat, she was far t interested in why the girl refused to dress herself properly.
"I believe you will find us not amused, by your lack femininity. " The Queen told Katelyn who couldn't help but smirk at the Doctor.
"I am sorry if you feel that way ma'am, but you will one day this will be common to all women." Katelyn said not intimidated by the Queen's gaze as she had been before.
"But today is not that day is it Miss Keith?" The Queen her voice stern with authority.
"No, but it is the start." Katelyn replied as she took her cup off the table, and drinking from it indicating the conversation was as well as over in her book.
"It looks like you got your moneys worth this one Doctor." The Queen said to the Doctor, still eyeing Katelyn as she popped a grape into her mouth.
"Oh you have no idea." He sighed looking at Katelyn as well. "No Idea."
Katelyn enjoyed the dinner after that, sampling ham and fresh fruit. It was more full filling than the rations she had received from the Renegade and the company was less desirable. Even though the Doctor was trying his best to keep the room alive with small tales and jokes, it was a dieing attempt thanks to the early quarrel with the Queen.
"Your companion begs an apology, Doctor. Her clothing has somewhat delayed her." The older butler, Angelo, said as he enter the room with more refreshments.
"Oh, that's all right. Save her a wee bit of ham." The Doctor replied, cleaning his finger off inside his mouth, much like a child.
"A feral child could probably eat it raw." The Queen remarked snidely.
Katelyn who had just brought a piece of the ham on her fork up to her lips, halted in her action. She gave the Queen look that could only be described as hatred, as she in a very unladylike manner dropped the piece of ham back on the plate a stabbed the larger slice on it and shoved it into her mouth. She gave a look of triumph as the Queen did not meet her eye as she chewed on the ham rather disgustingly.
"Must you do this with every Queen." The Doctor hissed at her as the Queen turned her anger on the Red Coat who had laughed to enthusiastically at her joke.
"Do what?" Katelyn asked after swallowing the ham. The Doctor gave her a stern look, before speaking.
"Besides, we're all waiting on Sir Robert. Come, sir. You promised us a tale of nightmares." The Doctor said to the man hoping to ease the tension between the Queen and Katelyn.
"Indeed. Since my husband's death, I find myself with more of a taste for supernatural fiction." The Queen agreed looking hopeful towards Sir Robert.
"You must miss him." The Doctor stated, admiring how the Queen seemed to be still so much in love with her late husband.
"Very much. Oh, completely, and that's the charm of a ghost story, isn't it? Not the scares and chills, that's just for children, but the hope of some contact with the great beyond. We all want some message from that place. It's the Creator's greatest mystery that we're allowed no such consolation. The dead stay silent, and we must wait." The Queen told them her words sounding heartbroken.
Katelyn even felt empathy for the woman at her words, but this didn't mean she would stop defy the Queen. She would just ease off a little at the moment.
"Come, begin your tale, Sir Robert. There's a chill in the air. The wind is howling through the eaves. Tell us of monsters." The Queen said no longer sadden.
" The story goes back three hundred years. Every full moon, the howling rings through the valley. The next morning, livestock is found ripped apart and devoured." Roberts told them.
"Tales like this just disguise the work of thieves. Steal a sheep and blame a wolf, simple as that." The Red Coat said dismissing the story.
"But sometimes a child goes missing. Once in a generation, a boy will vanish from his homestead." Sir Roberts continued.
Katelyn's brow furrows, they where obviously talking about a werewolf, but that was all fable.
Says the girl traveling through time. A little voice whispered in the back of her head.
"Are there descriptions of the creature?" The Doctor asked intrigued.
" Oh, yes, Doctor. Drawings and wood carvings. And it's not merely a wolf. It's more than that. This is a man who becomes an animal." Sir Robert told the time lord.
"A werewolf?" The Doctor smiles at Katelyn, and leans forward on the table.
"My father didn't treat it as a story. He said it was fact. He even claimed to have communed with the beast, to have learned its purpose. I should have listened. His work was hindered. He made enemies. There's a monastery in the Glen of Saint Catherine. The Brethren opposed my father's investigations." Sir Robert told them watching Angelo move to the window.
"Perhaps they thought his work ungodly." The Queen questioned.
"That's what I thought. But now I wonder. What if they had a different reason for wanting the story kept quiet? What if they turned from God and worshipped the wolf?"
"And what if they were with us right now?" The Doctor said realizing what Sir Roberts was trying to tell him.
Katelyn stood with the rest of them grabbing her fork and knife off the table and holding each in one hand. If she knew one thing about werewolves, it was their weakness to silver, luckily in a rich estate like this, silverware was definitely made of silver.
"What is the meaning of this?" Queen Victioria was the first to shout.
"Explain yourself, Sir Robert!" The Red Coat demanded.
"I'm sorry, your Majesty, they've got my wife." Sir Robert told them as the Red Coat aimed his revolver at the Angelo.
"Rose! Where is Rose? Where is she?" the Doctor yelled at the butler but got nothing in reply. "Sir Robert, Kate, come on." The Doctor ordered as they ran ot of the room in search of Rose.