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Back onto the episodes and into the Idiot's Lantern! I hope you like what I do for this episode as much as you did for all the other episodes.
After figuring out where we wanted to go (we were going to see Elvis in live in concert during the late fifties), Rose and I went to the large wardrobe room to pick the right outfit to wear for that year. I was still grumbling about what happened at the end of the shower the Doctor and I took together. He was going to get in trouble for that later on, let me tell you. Rose and I didn't talk at all in the wardrobe. I didn't know what to say to her. How could I? The last time we were in the same room was when we were trying to save Jackie and she left me to get turned into a Cyberman. What did one say after that? Right now, I was looking through fifties dresses, the kind of dresses that I would love to wear to this time but I was trying to find one to tease the Doctor with. I grinned evilly to myself. It would be the start of my payback. Rose speaking broke me out of my evil thoughts.
"What do you think about this?" she asked sweetly, a little too sweetly if you ask me, holding up a pink poodle skirt and putting it up to herself so I could have a good look at it.
"Yeah, looks good." I nodded once I looked at it before turning back to the dresses that I was looking at.
"What are you going to wear?"
"Don't know yet." I shrugged as I continued looking through the dresses, spotting one that was a maybe. "I'll find something." 'Something that would make my mate's head spin.' I thought to myself, grinning internally.
"Yeah, I'm sure you will. Sophie …?" Rose started to say then trailed off and I looked over at her from the corner of my eye.
"Yeah?"
"I wanted to apologize."
I looked at her surprised, "What?"
"I want to apologize," she repeated. "I shouldn't have left you … it was wrong of me. I was just …" She sighed, "Jealous of you and the Doctor."
"You were?" I tried to make it sound like I didn't know this.
"Yeah. I'm just not used to there being another person in the Doctor's life besides myself. I know that's no excuse for what I did … but I hope you can forgive me." She sounded sincere but I had a hard time believing her. Since I didn't want there to be tension on the TARDIS with Rose traveling with us, I decided to accept her apology.
"I accept your apology," I told her and she smiled that tongue between the teeth smile of hers. "But this doesn't mean we'll be as close as we were before." Her smile fell at that and she nodded solemnly.
"I know." She changed the subject, "I'll go and try this one. Be back in a minute." I nodded and watched her walk off in the direction of the dressing room.
For a little while, I looked through the dresses but I couldn't find one that I could wear to tease the Doctor. So I decided to get Sexy's opinion.
'What do you think I should wear? Want to give the Doctor payback for what he did this morning? Or at least start to give it?' I thought to her.
'What about this one?' From another rack of fifties clothing, she threw me an outfit that looked like the one Sandy wore in that movie Grease. The black off the shoulders shirt with the black belt, black leather jacket, and tight leather pants.
Immediately, I grinned, 'Perfect! Thanks Sexy!' I ran over to the shoes and picked a pair of red high heel shoes. I went to the dressing room after that just as Rose came out of it, wearing the outfit she picked out.
"Did you find something?" she asked.
"Yep."
"Do you mind if I go on out?"
"Nope, go ahead. I'll be out soon." Rose nodded and brushed by me.
Once she was gone, I entered the dressing room and got dressed. Sexy did my hair for, the way Sandy wore her hair in the movie with this outfit. The dressing room had a mirror inside and I couldn't help but smirk as I took in what I looked like which only widened when I thought of the Doctor's reaction to me. I checked myself on last time before heading out of the dressing room. I went to the console room where I found pink moped with a pink helmet. This was probably meant for Rose.
I decided to take it out there since Rose was nowhere in sight. Same went for the Doctor. I got on it as I put on the helmet and turned the engine on. It roared to life and I drove out of the TARDIS, the doors opening for me instantly. This caught the attention of Rose and the Doctor were outside. My mate was sitting on his moped. It was blue one. He wore a white helmet along with it. I brought the moped next to his and stopped it, climbing off of it with a grin. I showed off my outfit.
"What do you think?" I directed the question to Rose.
"You look good. You look like Sandy from Greece."
"Yeah, that's what I was going for." I turned towards my mate, who was looking at me with his eyes scanning my body almost hungrily. "What do you think, Doctor?" It was hard not to call him by his real name but I think I managed it really well. This made my mate snap out of it and he blushed.
"You look, uh, Gooood." He dragged out, rubbing the back of his helmet nervously. But he groaned to me mentally, 'Why did you have to wear that?'
I didn't reply to him as I changed the subject, "So where exactly are we going to see Elvis?" Instead of replying, he patted the seat behind him. With a grin, I got on the back of his moped, locking my arms around his waist. "Ready," I told him.
He grinned at me then looked over at Rose, who had been watching us with a jealous look on her face, with the grin still on his face. "You going my way doll?" he asked in his best Elvis voice and I giggled.
Rose grinned back, the jealous look completely gone now. She slipped on a pair of pink sunglasses that matched her skirt and the pink moped. "Is there any other way to go, daddy-o?" she asked in an American accent that she pulled off surprisingly well.
"Nice American accent, Rose." I winked at her and she laughed, throwing her head back.
"Thank you!" Then she started walking forward towards her moped, "Straight from the fridge man!"
"Hey, you speak the lingo," The Doctor pointed out delighted as I took off my helmet, throwing it to Rose.
She caught it and put it on her head, climbing onto her moped. "Yeah well … me, mum, and Cliff Richard movies every bank holiday."
The Doctor pulled an 'I knew it,' face while taking off his helmet to put it on my head despite my protesting. 'You need it more than I do.' He thought me sternly. Then out loud, he said to Rose, "Ah, Cliff! I knew your mother'd be a Cliff fan."
"Can we go now?" I asked excitedly, but impatiently. This got a chuckle out of the Doctor as he turned on his moped and it roared to life just like Rose's did. We began to drive down the road with Rose driving right beside us.
"To answer your question, Sophie," the Doctor said loudly over the roar of the engines so Rose and I could hear him. "We're going to see Elvis at Ed Sullivan Studios. Elvis did 'Hound Dog' on one of the shows, there were loads of complaints. Bit of luck, we'll just catch it."
"And that'll be TV studios in, what – New York?"
"That's the one," The Doctor told Rose happily.
"Um, I don't think we're in New York," I said slowly, taking notice to the Union flags hovering above us.
"Why do you say that?"
Before I could answer my mate, the Doctor and Rose stopped their mopeds as a red London bus drove past the end of the street where we stopped at.
"That's why," I finished with a laugh as I peered over at the Doctor so I had to lean in and I laughed again at the bemused look on my mate's face. Rose joined in on my laughter.
"Digging that New York vibe," she teased the Doctor.
"Well … this COULD still be New York," he said in reply, stubbornly not wanting to admit that he had gotten the destination wrong. "I mean, this looks very New York to me … sort of … Londony New York, mind…"
"Sorry, but this is definitely not New York," I said. "I've been to New York, this looks nothing like it."
"Oh fine." He huffed, "I must have gotten the destination wrong."
"Must have?" I raised a brow at him and he sighed then grumbled to himself,
"Alright … I did get the destination wrong."
I stifled back a giggle as Rose spoke up suddenly, "What are the flags for?"
-0-
"There you are, sir." We overheard a man tell two errand boys, who took out a television from the van that the man standing nearby. Magpie's Marvelous Tellies was on the front of the van and made me wonder what was so marvelous about them. The boys carried into the house with the man, who I guessed was Magpie, watching them, "All wired up for the great occasion."
The Doctor, Rose, and I came up to him with the Doctor asking curiously, "The great occasion? What'd you mean?"
"Where've you been living, out in the colonies?" Magpie retorted. "Coronation, of course."
"Oh that's what the flags are for!" I said, easily figuring out what coronation he was talking about.
"What are they for?" The Doctor looked at me.
"Like he said, the coronation," I told him but he still stared at me with that adorable confused look on his face. 'The coronation of Queen Elizabeth the First, Theta.'
"Oh yes, I remember now. Queen Elizabeth's coronation." The Doctor nodded, "This is 1953, yeah?"
"Last time I looked," Magpie said with his own nod. "Time for a bit of pomp and circumstance, what we do best?"
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Rose frowning and she looked to be deep in thought, "What is it?"
"Look up there." She nodded and I followed her gaze to all of the chimneys on the houses around us, "All of those TV aerials. It looks like everyone has got one. That's weird."
"Very weird," I agreed with my own frown. "Since televisions at this time were really rare. The only way to watch it was if you and your family piled up into one house."
"Yeah, that's what my Gran told me."
"Not around here, love," Magpie said to me and I looked at him, sort of making a face at him calling me love as I only liked when my mate called me that. "Magpie's Marvelous Tellies." He smiled proudly as he patted his truck fondly, "Only five quid a pop."
Rose and I shared a look, 'That's cheap.'
"Oh, but this is a BRILLIANT year!"
We looked over at the Doctor to find him, smiling brightly with his eyes twinkling. He looked like he wanted to jump up and down with joy. I giggled. I loved seeing him so excited.
"Classic!" My mate continued, "Technicolor, Everest climbed, everything off the ration…" He put on a typically BBC English accent as he spread his arms out, "The Nation throwing off the shadows of war and looking forward to a happier, and brighter future!"
I laughed out loud then I mentally said teasingly to him, 'Getting a little too excited, love.' I teased him mentally. I could feel him roll his eyes in my mind.
'You know me, Sophie. Always excited about everything.'
'Yeah I know.' I thought to him affectionately. 'One of the things I love about you.'
'And the others?' He was practically grinning in my mind.
'Too many to count.'
Our silent conversation was interrupted by a woman screaming, "Someone, help me! Ted!"
We quickly looked to the sound of the voice and saw a man with a blanket over his head was being bundled into a black police car by two suited men. Instantly, the Doctor, Rose, and I ran over.
"Leave him alone!" The woman wailed, crying her eyes out. "It's my husband!"
"What's going on?" The Doctor demanded as the man was pushed into the backseat of the police car as a young boy who looked no more than fifteen years old came running out of his house, exclaiming,
"Oi, what are you doing?!"
"Police business," One of the police men addressed the Doctor coldly. "Now get out of the way, sir!"
"No!" I said, stepping forward with a glare as I titled my chin defiantly. "Not until you tell us what's going on!"
The police man who addressed the Doctor turned to me and took a step forward. Immediately, my mate put an arm in front of me, giving the police man his Oncoming Storm look.
"I would really, really, really, think before you take one step closer to her," he growled dangerously. The police man scowled before getting into the police car. The Doctor's hand slipped into mine, squeezing gently.
I stuck a look at Rose to see if she was watching but she wasn't. She was talking to the boy.
"Who did they take, do you know him?" she asked.
"Must be Mr. Gallagher…" he trailed off as if he wasn't really sure.
The police car drove off, leaving who now we knew as Mrs. Gallagher in despair. I wanted to go over and comfort her but I stayed rooted to my spot.
"It's happening all over the place." The boy sighed and we looked at him, "They're turning into monsters…"
"How many times did this happen and when did it start?" I questioned.
The boy looked to me and opened his mouth to answer when a large man came storming out of the house that the boy came out of. "Tommy!" The large man shouted angrily. "Not one word!"
The Doctor, Rose, and I looked over at him.
"Sorry, I'd better do as he says…" The boy spoke to us softly and he headed back over to his family.
Mrs. Gallegary was still sobbing and I looked at her sadly.
"That poor woman," I mumbled.
"Yeah," Rose quietly agreed.
I went to look at the Doctor only to find that he was gone and back over at the moped, kicking it to life with his sunglasses back on his eyes. I hurried over there and climbed behind him while Rose quickly got on her moped and turned it on.
"All aboard!" The Doctor exclaimed and we started driving fast. I tightened my grip around my mate's waist.
'We're not going to catch up to them.' I mentally told my mate worriedly.
'We will.' He reassured me, managing to slip of his hands in mine and he rested them on his stomach as his thumb brushed the back of my hand.
However, the Doctor was wrong … we didn't catch up to them. Somehow they had disappeared and we found ourselves stopped in front of a market stall with two men sweeping the ground.
The Doctor frowned bemused, "Lost 'em! How'd they get away from us?"
"Surprised they didn't turn back and arrest you for reckless driving, have you actually PASSED your test?!" Rose scolded him and I gave her a look of disbelief but didn't comment.
The Doctor wasn't listening to her, but I knew he heard her though. "Men in black? Vanishing police car? This is Churchill's England, not Stalin's Russia!" he ranted.
"That boy … he said something about monsters," I spoke up and my mate looked back at me. "I think we should go talk to him. He clearly knows something."
"And it might be a good idea to ask the neighbors too," Rose added.
"That's what I like about the two of you. The domestic approach."
"Thank you …" Rose frowned, thinking about it as the Doctor kicked his moped to life, "Hold on, was that an insult…?"
The Doctor and I were already off before Rose could finish what she was saying. Rose caught up to us and we rode down the street as I thought about what could be going on here. And what were those monsters Tommy was talking about? I knew we would find out soon enough.
TBC...
In...
The Idiot's Lantern, Part 2...
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