Disclaimer: Although those are Bonus-scenes, you'll find none of them on any DVD or Blu-ray. That's because I don't own this show.
Glimpses of another life
(Shattered through S.5-7)
-o0O0o-
"If I lose another Regeneration because of this, I will personally convince the TARDIS to play grand master Suxur's seventh symphony in all rooms! The uncut version! All forty-nine years of it!"
"And I always thought Arcal love any scientific approaches as long as they deliver results."
"Arcal? Arcal! Firstly, you can hardly call this a scientific approach, and secondly, I am not Arcalian. I am Dromeian."
"Huh, right! The many books should have been a clue."
"Why does everybody think…? Pydorians and their inability to neither listen nor focus. Except for rumours and dirty laundry, to spin their next intrigue."
"Who's biased now?"
"Guy's, " Amy interrupted. "Not the right time!"
"Right" mumbled the Doctor embarrassed and took the little bit too big syringe Tella was offering him to ram it inside the creature's neck so that thing would finally stop jumping around in its fruitless attempts to shake them off.
-o0O0o-
„I…just... What was you thinking, " Amy huffed, glaring at the Time Lady. The Storyteller opened her mouth, but Amy waved her off. Of course she didn't understand a rhetorical question. „Better, what the hell was I thinking! Damn, I trusted you. "
„And you can be assured…. "
"Then why, why are there 53 Hardcovers in this box, which you were gifting to any random kid in that mall! You can't just throw out other people's money like that. "
„Amy…"
The Doctor regretted piping up the second her glare focused on him. „And you! This is your fault, too! You've even encouraged this. What the hell was I thinking to trust you of all things! "
"Oi!"
"Don't 'oi' me! You have no Idea what you've just done. There's a reason I told you to not spend more than 200 pounds. I hope for your own good Rory can fix this somehow. He may be a nurse but with this few shifts he is able to do because of you and your silly spaceship…"
"TARDIS," corrected the Storyteller and Amy exploded.
"I don't care! I don't care at all about this. I've tried to help you, Storyteller. I thought we were friends, so it was ok to lend you some money, so you can at least buy yourself some clothes, because the only things you truly own are a necklace and a stupid bag."
"And a fob watch."
"Shut up. Just shut up for once and stop this know it-all-attitude. Because you don't. You don't know it all. You have just driven us into financial ruin! Did you know this when you bought those outfits, this terrible scarf you 'gifted' me and those two boxes full of hardcovers which one alone cost about forty pounds, just to gift them to kids because they wanted them!"
"Amelia, if you just let me…"
"My name is Amy! And no. Simply no."
Lady Storyteller lowed her head a degree in defeat, standing next to the shopping bags and those two brown boxes and glanced to the Doctor, who just looked helplessly back. At least she was silent. Amy turned and crossed her arms before her chest. That stupid alien.
Hopefully Rory could somehow fix this with their bank. They waited what felt an eternity, nobody moving but the Doctor fidgeting with his fingers and Amy's pacing.
Then the Door opened, and Rory stepped inside, a shattered look on his face. Oh no.
Amy practically jumped down the stairs from the console. "How bad is it?"
He absendmindly pushed a paper in her hand and marched straightforward to the Storyteller.
"How did you do that."
Amy gulped and glanced at the number. Blinked, and looked again. Huh? 199 Pounds missing. Not a single penny more. "What?"
Lady Storyteller straightened. "I was constantly trying to explain that I indeed kept the limit of what you two had granted me. The Books were a gift. The most of them are remaining stock or damaged which couldn't been sold anymore. An employee was on the way of disposing them and he sold me them for 15 pond each box. A deal benefiting to both parties if I may note. The blouse and the blazer came in a double as well as the scarves and the pairs of shoes. The dress was on discount. Time Lord is not only a title of knowledge but of wealth as well, dearie. I am an aristocrat having held the financial responsibility of a whole house for more than three thousand years. I can handle a little shopping trip."
This woman? Unbelievable.
The Doctor snorted and mumbled something inaudible which promptly earned him a glare from Tella.
"That doesn't explain the books," Rory noted. "That's not a fair deal, nobody would sell anybody this much hardcovers for a price like this, damaged or not. This doesn't make any sense."
"I am not called Storyteller for no reason, Roderick."
-o0O0o-
"Soo, you're a Seer."
Tella glanced up but stayed silent and continued sewing.
Amy squinted her eyes. "How does that happen? Are you born with it? Or is this something you can study on your academy. Like history of arts or… drama?"
The second the question left her lips she regretted it. Tella's hand stopped and her eyes got that distant look she always got when talking about something personal. Too deeply personal.
The silence stretched uncomfortably but the moment Amy started considering leaving Tella started to speak. "Some… get inspired, some get mad. The most run away. Like the Doctor. He always runs. Ever since."
"Oh." Amy forced a little smile. "Ok."
Tella smiled and nodded before she continued her sewing.
Sometimes this woman just creeped her out. And instinctively Amy knew that she couldn't even ask the Doctor what Tella had meant by that. For he would probably react the same. He always did when talking about himself.
-o0O0o-
"What exactly are you doing?"
"Open that door, " the Doctor growled around the screwdriver between his teeth.
"Faster, " Rory whispered eying the shadows at the end of the doorway.
"Working on it!"
"Oh for Times sake!" Tella grabbed the number pad out of his hands and placed it pack on the wall, effectively stuffing all the wires back in place. She stared a second onto it before tipping in a very long code. And the door opened.
"Well I can look at timelines, too, " the Doctor protested before sliding into the other room.
"Then why you refuse to do it!"
"No fun! Now get inside"
Rory and my followed swift so none of them noticed Tella blinking and staring at the doorway, hands in hips, before falling into a deep curtsy. "Thank you, Milady Storyteller. How insightful of you to not waste our time with bragging about your technical knowledge."
Then she stood up, bowing her head, her hand on her chest. "Oh, naturally. It was a great honour and I always love to help whenever... Oh!" She ducked the projectile crashing into the wall behind her and slipped into the door, closing it behind her but not without shouting an, "now that's just rude" outside.
The Doctor looked up from the consoles. "Did'ya say something?"
"No. How deep in trouble are we this time?"
-o0O0o-
Rory blinked. Nope, still there. Tella had knives.
Well if you could call those sickle like things with their handles inside the crescent instead as an extension knifes. Or like a pickle with a way too long nose. But regardless of the form, even from afar he just knew they were sharp. And it wasn't Rory's fault they stuck out like that in the otherwise blank room with only a bed, table and two shelves full of books. Fascinated he stepped closer and took in the gracious circles graved into the handles mirroring each other, the cords with the pearls which let them look more ceremonial than the many sharpened out dents in the blades indicated. He lifted a hand to touch this clearly alien material when the Storytellers surprisingly sharp voice interrupted him. "Do not touch them!"
He stepped back. "Sorry."
"I am the one to apologise for leaving them open to be seen by everyone. Your curiosity is well founded. Those are Reltorian blades. They are truly fascinating time engineers, the people of Relton with a beautiful culture, too. One day we may go there, they survived as far as I know."
Rory nodded, then made a calculated decision. "Want to spar?"
Tella laughed a little too sharp. "With me? Oh no. Those are antiques, a gift from a friend. I was an ambassador there for a short time. It's an old, sacred way of fighting only few are allowed to learn."
"So they're a reminder."
"Quite so."
"They are beautiful."
"They are weapons. Tools designed not only to end but worse, to erase a life. I only accepted this gift because they are truly defensive. You can't kill with them."
"Weapons that doesn't kill?"
"A concept truly foreign for humans, I know. However, I admit a true master of weaponry can kill even with those. They are weapons after all. How secret and banned that form may be. Speaking of banned. What were you doing in my room in the first place?"
Rory flinched. "The Doctor needs you in the control room. Do you know anything of ...tvameshin?"
"The Tvmay-shtin? What has he done now!"
He followed Tella out of the white, nearly empty room with a last glance at the blades. They were too well kept being just any reminder, especially for how much Tella despised them, that for sure.
-o0O0o-
Amy tried to open the door again, then knocked.
"Yes," sounded Tella's voice from inside. Wait, what?
"Tella," she asked, just to be sure.
"Yes, Amelia?"
"What are you doing in the kitchen."
"What a strange question. What one does when being in a kitchen."
"Then why is the door locked."
"Why should it not be locked?"
"Is this... one of your alien quips?"
"Amelia, how often I have to tell you to stop referring to me like this. This term is not only xenophobic but just rude. I am not calling you alien despite you being it neither!"
Amy shook her head. "Fine!"
She didn't need that cup of coffee right now per se, so she turn around to collect the laundry. She was just stuffing Rory's Jeans into the laundromat when he turned up in the door. "Any Idea what's up with Tella?"
"Not a clue. She did weirder things."
"Yeah, but those normally don't interfere with cooking lunch. She knows that. It's not to her scedule."
Amy flicked the switch and stood up. "Maybe she's making lunch?"
"The Storyteller? Cooking."
"I never said this isn't weird."
A loud bang interrupted them and all they did was sharing a look before starting to run. But surprisingly the black biting smoke didn't come from the direction of the control room but rather the kitchen. Oh crap. "Tella!"
"Tella, are you all right? Tella! Open that door!"
"Everything is fine!"Her voice was a bit to shrill to convince them.
"Tella!" The Doctor sled around the corner and pointed the screwdriver at the door which promptly clicked open. He shoved against the door and hit his head as it snapped closed again. "Ouch!"
Something blocked it from inside. Without a word all three of them threw themselves against the door.
"No, no nononono! Stay outside!" Was she seriously...?
"Are you blocking the door?"
Tella's eye appeared in the small gap but she didn't stop shoving. "Everything is fine."
"You just exploded half the kitchen!"
"I did not let the kitchen explode! I burned my hand and let the oven sheet fall."
"You're injured!"
"I said I am fine! Please Amelia, trust me! I will handle this, just give me eleven and a half minutes."
Amy stared at the door, then stepped back. "Eleven and a half minutes. Not a single Moment more."
"I said, eleven and a half, not thirteen."
"What?"
The Doctor ignored her confused expression and stepped back, too. "Eleven and a half minutes. Or I get the TARDIS itself to open this door!"
"Promised", came the forced reply.
The Doctor nodded to himself and turned back in the direction of the control room.
"What was that!"
"How should I know what this woman is doing."
"No, that thing with the time."
The Doctor rose one eyebrow before he smiled. "A moment is a measure of time, 90 seconds to be exact. Nobody uses it like that anymore. I'm actually surprised she knew that."
"There are aliens measuring time in moments?"
He laughed. "Aliens? Humans of course. In the middle age but still. If somebody tells you to wait a moment that had been exact 90 seconds once. One might argue that back then people weren't as good in measuring time to define an exact second but then you have to…."
"Doctor!"
"Eh?"
"You get carried away."
He huffed and twirled around the console. "Where is a Time Lord when you need one to hold a civilized conversation. Blowing up the kitchen of course!"
"Now that was just rude!"
He sat down with an expression like a kid caught with his fingers in the cookie glass. "Sorry. I don't like whatever she is doing. Worse, the TARDIS is supporting her. Traitor."
He waved to the monitor and truly, there was just the kitchen door visible. Amy and Rory shared a glance. What was Tella up to!
Ten minutes were a long time to wait, especially when the person one was waiting for was probably injured and one had no idea what you were waiting for.
Until somebody cleared her throat silently.
They had never seen her more ruffed up. There she stood with hair out of place and full of flour, just in her skirt and blouse without the blazer she was nomaly wearing with that outfit but an apron instead around her neck, a tired but true smile on her face and a TADIS-blue giftbox in her hand. "I hope I did not caused any inconvenience."
Inconvenience? Inconvenience, pah!
"All right. What's going on Lady Storyteller." Amy eyed the package.
Tella came down the steps and hold it out for the Doctor to take. "The whole gifting ceremony would surely be too much but… well. Happy Birthday."
What? Amy and Rory stared at the dumbfounded Doctor who scratched his cheek.
"We are in a time machine. It could be every day, Tella."
"So why it should not be the looming day of house Lungbarrow?"
The Doctor starred down the package. "But… I never had a birthday present since… If this is a sick joke, Tella, I swear…."
"No joke."
The Doctor's eyes were still wide. "Then… why?"
"We've already celebrated Amelia's and Roderick's Birthdays thrice. It's time to think of you, too."
"You. Want to think positively of myself."
"As the only other left, this duty falls to me, yes."
"But... we don't celebrate our birthdays. At least not the small ones."
"As I remember you are not that far from thousand anymore. Those few years."
"But…."
"Doctor,"-Amy interrupted- "just take that stupid present!"
Dumbfounded he nodded and opened the box, just to stare a second inside before closing it, blinking and looking again. Then he emerged behind it with a wide grin. "Are those…. No. No they aren't. Are they?"
He squealed and nearly hugged Tella but could stop himself before he did it. "How!"
Roy learned forward. "What is it?"
He twirled around starting to speak but stopped before any words could leave his mouth and blew up his cheeks a puzzled expression on his face. Helplessly he turned to Tella who searched for words herself. "…. some kind of ... sweet... I think. Remember that only gallifeyan dish I am able to produce without utter chaos?"
"Wait, that was without utter chaos?"
Amy ignored Rory's outcry. "You made alien food for his birthday! Let me see!"
"It is not alien!" Tella fruitlessly protested while the Doctor grabbed his box and shielded it from Amy. "So, you eat it all for yourself? No way!"
"Peace, please. Doctor, Amelia. There's enough in the kitchen for everybody. Tea would be fitting, too, would it not?"
But Amy and the Doctor were already up the stairs and gone.
And Tella snickered and shook her head. "Timetodd! Now what about you, Rory?"
"Err. Sure? … But Tella! Are you truly, all right?"
"Thank you for your concern. Be assured my gloves protected myself from further damage."
Well at least those things were good for something. He thought about insisting to see her hands, but there was this rare grin on her face, so he simply nodded. She was charming when she was happy, and he had to admit it was wonderful to see her like that. Free and open. She was proud of what she had accomplished in the kitchen. Asking about her hands would rub salt into her wounded pride for not being able to use the kitchen without causing chaos.
"Sweets," he asked?
Tella bowed and gestured to the kitchen in invitation, still with that joyful grin.
AN: Yep, I did it. I wrote that clichéd birthday cake fic. Well glowing space-cupcakes with translucent cream. Anyway, Happy 54 Anniversary, Doctor Who!
Those scenes all belong to the type who are important to your story in your head but not important enough to write a whole shot out of them. So, have a little drabble collection.
Time flew by so fast with the stuff I had to do for my studies, it was crazy. In my defence, I was editing some chapters with my new Beta, so I have never let that fic down and neither did you. Fifteen followers! Those are fifteen more than I ever hoped to reach with this Story, so thank you! This now includes Psychfreak66, yukikinns, SodaBrand, Viviene, Slytherpuffrules and of course JediGemini.
I'm really flattered and sorry it took that long. There will be some chapters coming for sure in January, perhaps a bit sooner, too. We'll see.
Until the next time,
alkatie
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