Evie's TARDIS Diary: Date Night
Age: 15
Location: Ledworth, England, Earth
Date: October 2030
"You look nice." Mum said, absent-mindedly looking up from the kitchen table. She was painting her finger nails with a bright red varnish she'd borrowed from Gran.
"Thanks…" I muttered, moving quickly towards the back door.
I was only a couple of strides from it when she spoke again. Somehow she'd managed to navigate the squeaky kitchen chair, stand up and follow me across the room without me noticing. I swore under my breath.
"And where do you think you're going?" She asked, turning me round with her hands on my shoulders and arching an eyebrow at me.
"Out?" I replied, trying to sound as innocent as possible.
"Where?" Mum pressed. "This is the third time you've gone out all dressed up this week."
"I'm not 'all dressed up'!"
She laughed. "You don't generally wander around in a mini-skirt and heels."
I narrowed my eyes, staring her out. Mum apparently had no intention of letting me off the hook that easily but, from the look of it she was getting ready to go out as well. This meant that she had half her mind focused on clothes and hair and makeup and wouldn't be fully concentrating on this particular battle. I smiled, innocently.
"I'm just meeting up with some friends." I told her. "You know, Jade and Tara from Chiswick High… when I was living with Donna. Just friends from school. We're going to the cinema and to get pizza. Apparently this is what they wear for doing that."
Apparently she was sufficiently distracted to believe my story and nodded, smiling indulgently at me. "Oh… d'you need some money?"
"Nope, Gramps gave me some earlier."
"Good. Well, have a nice time." Mum told me, returning to the table and starting to paint her nails once more. I grinned and opened the door, intending to make a hasty escape. "Oh! What time will you be back?"
I furrowed my eyebrows. "I don't know… why?"
"I'm going out as well." She said with a strange look on her face. Her eyes were twinkling and she was practically glowing. It didn't take a genius to realise that she was going on a date with the Doctor. "And so are Mum and Dad. It's date night, apparently. Do you have a house key to get back in?"
I nodded, scrabbling around in my bag and pulling out a set of silver keys. I waggled them at her, before stuffing them back into the bag and blowing her a kiss. "Have a nice time… say hi to the Doctor for me."
She looked surprised, as though she'd assumed I wouldn't automatically know who she was going out with. It was so obvious – who else would it be? Then she smirked and blew me a kiss back.
"Be good." She ordered, arching her eyebrow and smirking even more broadly.
I just laughed and went outside, closing the door with a click and setting the coordinates on my Vortex Manipulator. In a little more than the blink of an eye I found myself standing on Chiswick High Street. I'd half been telling the truth; I was meeting a friend from school. I just wasn't meeting Jade or Tara. Or any other girl, for that matter.
The truth was, I was meeting Tom; my boyfriend.
He grinned as he spotted me, pushing his floppy brown fringe out of his eyes and pulling his hands out of his pockets. I smiled back as he walked towards me and reached up on my tiptoes to give him a peck on the lips in greeting.
"You're late, babe." He said, chuckling and interlacing our fingers as we turned and headed along the street in the direction of the cinema.
Punching him lightly in the chest, I laughed. "No I'm not… you were early."
"Fair enough." He agreed. "I guess I just couldn't wait to see you."
I laughed and pulled a face. "Oh shut up, you loser."
We chatted as we walked, not really paying much attention to our surroundings. Suddenly I spotted a familiar figure to my right and yanked Tom by the hand behind a telephone box. Pressed up against him, I put a finger to my lips and peered around the corner of the box to check whether the coast was clear.
A very familiar woman with fiery red hair was walking quickly along the road, several bags of shopping in each hand. Donna had obviously been doing some late night shopping and was only now heading home. I didn't want her to spot me out with Tom. If she found out that I had a boyfriend before Mum or Gran, or even Gramps and the Doctor, there would be trouble. Not to mention the fact that she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret and I would never hear the last of it.
"What was that about?" Tom asked in bewilderment as I moved away and let him out from behind the telephone box.
"Sorry… that was Do… my auntie. She doesn't know about you yet and if she'd seen us it wouldn't have been good." I told him apologetically.
"Are you ashamed of me?" He questioned, raising his eyebrows.
"No!" I said quickly. "Not at all. It's just… my family isn't exactly normal and… well… I should probably keep you away from them for your sake."
"They can't be THAT bad?"
I snorted with laughter. "You'd never believe me."
"Try me."
I looked at Tom. He was staring at me, as though challenging me to tell him the most ridiculous, farfetched, unbelievable story in the universe. In a moment of complete madness I decided to do just that. I decided to tell Tom the truth.
"I'm not human." I said seriously. "Well, not completely human."
Tom looked as though he didn't know whether to laugh or not. "What?"
"See… told you you wouldn't believe me." I said, slightly smugly. Sighing, I used our intertwined fingers to pull him to a nearby bench and sat down on it. I turned to face him, still holding his hand tightly. "Out there… all around is… is a big wide universe. We're not alone, as they say. My mother was conceived in a time and space machine, called a TARDIS. This meant that she was affected by the Time Vortex which caused her to develop certain… non-human traits."
My explanation was incredibly simplified from the truth, but even this seemed to be giving Tom a look of complete confusion. He was obviously trying to work out whether his girlfriend was totally off her rocker.
"I can show you, if you want." I suggested, tilting my head slightly to one side.
"Show me? How?" He had gone pale at the possibilities running through his mind.
Pointing to the device on my wrist, I smiled reassuringly. "This is called a Vortex Manipulator. It uses rift energy to travel through the Vortex and take me to different times and places, depending on the coordinates I've imputed."
"What…?" He muttered.
"Let's go to my grandparents' house." I suggested, taking his hand and pressing the button on my wrist. We dematerialised from the bench and materialised again in the garden of Gran and Gramps' house.
Tom looked as though he was about to faint. "What…?" He repeated.
I unlocked the door and led him into the house, locking the door behind me. He allowed me to pull him through the rooms and into the living room. I turned on the lights as he slumped onto the sofa, looking a little grey.
"Are you alright?" I asked, realising that this was probably a very stupid question. "Using the VM takes a little getting used to. D'you want a drink or something?"
Tom shook his head. "So… you're an alien?"
"Sort of." I agreed with a shrug. "My Gran and Gramps are completely, one hundred per cent human, so the non-human part of me comes from what happened to Mum. Well… I dunno who my Dad is. He could be an alien, I guess." I shrugged again and sat beside him on the sofa. "I'm sorry… d'you want me to take you home?"
He shook his head again. "No… I… it's just hard to get my head around. Having an alien for a girlfriend…. It's pretty cool!"
"You still want me to be your girlfriend?" I asked, surprised. I had expected him to freak out and refuse to ever see or speak to me again.
"Of course." He agreed, looking a little surprised himself. "Why wouldn't I? I liked you before I knew you weren't human… finding out hasn't changed that."
I smiled and leant towards him, our lips meeting in a tender kiss.
x-x
A couple of hours later, I heard the front door opening and sat bolt upright. Tom looked at me in confusion as I pulled at my top, hastily re-doing the buttons properly. Before I could say anything, let alone warn him, my bedroom door opened and the Doctor stood in the doorway. Panicking, and completely losing my head, I threw myself at Tom, kissing him firmly. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
"Evie Song, what in the name of Rassilon do you think you're doing?" The Doctor demanded.
I glanced up and met his eyes weakly. "Kissing my boyfriend, what else does it look like?"
As he glanced at my slightly dishevelled appearance and the fact that we were sprawled on my bed, I realised that perhaps that wasn't the best question to have asked. But it was too late; the words had already left my mouth and reached the Doctor's ears. He looked as though he was about to explode.
"River, talk to your daughter!" He shouted over his shoulder, reaching out and grabbing Tom by his arm.
I protested, but he pulled him out of the room. Tom threw nervous glances at me as they went, but I was prevented from following by Mum, who blocked my way down the hall, standing with her hands on her hips and raising an eyebrow.
The whole thing was made far worse by Gran and Gramps' arrival back at the house. Mum and Gran proceeded to ask for details, apparently far more concerned about getting the gossip than doing as the Doctor had obviously intended and reprimanding me for my behaviour. Apparently they didn't mind me sneaking a boy into my bedroom, as long as he was good-looking.
Gramps had immediately gone to fetch his sword. It was always the first thing he did when he felt the need to assert his authority in a situation. Tom had looked terrified when Gramps walked into the living room, brandishing an authentic Roman sword. I attempted to dodge past them and get to him, but Gramps firmly shut the door and I was forced to enlighten Mum and Gran while Tom received an interrogation from Gramps and the Doctor.
Finally they apparently decided that he wasn't intending anything untoward and let him out of the room. This, however, meant that he was released straight into the clutches of Mum and Gran. I don't know which ordeal was worse.
In the end, I pulled him away from them and hurriedly transported us back to Chiswick, just after we'd left. Tom looked absolutely terrified and I was sure he was about to tell me he couldn't deal with the insanity of the situation and the ridiculous people I called my family. Staring at my feet, I chewed my lip and waited for the worst.
"So…" He said, weakly. "According to my watch we can still make the movie… if you're up for it?"
I looked up at him, wide-eyed. "You mean… you're not going to dump me?"
"Dump you? No!" He laughed, although admittedly it was slightly nervously. "You might be an alien, but you're still Evie. Besides, after they'd finished interrogating me – which I imagine was significantly worse than being questioned in court – your Gramps and the Doctor explained some things to me. Your life is pretty cool, babe."
"Oh… so you're with me for my family now, are you?" I joked, grinning up at him.
He bent down and kissed me gently. "Of course."
I giggled and kissed him back, putting my arms around his neck. It was just getting interesting when a familiar voice broke through my thoughts and brought me abruptly back to Earth.
"Evie Song…" The crisp voice of Sylvia Noble snapped just behind me. "What on Earth do you think you're doing?"
I sighed heavily, before turning and smiling at her. "Tom, this is my… Nan. Nan… this is Tom, my boyfriend."
Sylvia tutted before folding her arms over her chest and scowling at us both. I could tell this was going to be a long night with even more explanations about my strange, mixed up, incredibly dysfunctional family.
A/N: This chapter was written in response to three prompts. The first was from The Sheep Of Destiny, who wanted to see 'Evie's first boyfriend'.
The second prompt was from DoctorWhoGal, who suggested that, 'Evie should be on her first date and the Doctor and River are over protective of her. I think you should also get Rory involved to do his Last Centurion act.'
The third prompt was from Amyxxx, who said, 'Evie is 13 and she and her boyfriend are sat in Evie's bedroom at the Pond's house kissing. The TARDIS suddenly materialises in her room and The Doctor and River come out.
The Doctor: Evie Song, what in the name of Rassilon do you think you're doing?
Evie: Kissing my boyfriend, what else does it look like?
The Doctor: River, talk to your daughter!' I adapted this a little, but hopefully you don't mind too much! :D
Hope you liked it guys! :)
Also, I don't think I've said it for a while – if I have that's just another example of how bad my memory is! – but THANK YOU for all the reviews and favouriting and subscribing and all the brilliant prompts you've sent me! I'm a little behind with parts for this fic because I was concentrating on getting 'Nightmares' finished. Now that's done I can refocus on this! :D
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