It's been a long arduous period since Theodore and Lila stayed in their respected universe longer than a week, to them, they've spent decades in the TARDIS adventuring and risking their lives for the good of the world, while they're only gone every other day.
Going back and forth working at the library and adventuring, it's a miracle they're managing getting out of their beds every morning without crashing on the ground because their legs gave out from under them, unable to walk anymore, after running for their lives too many times.
Hammond kept their schedules in a way that nobody's the wiser when they're off on adventures, having hired more people working at their department, he's able to rotate them as needed, but still on Theodore's case for anything that went wrong during an adventure.
The adventure with something out of a nightmare, well, he wasn't happy hearing that Theodore and Lila went to tow with a biomass that almost ate them and their companions, granted they all survived and the power plant's destroyed, but Hammond didn't like it one bit.
While the other adventures weren't easier and Hammond wasn't happy about the state of those, he's happy his little brother and his employee hadn't died horribly, else, he'd have to tell their Uncle.
For once, today, it's normal, something becoming alien to Lila ever since she found Theodore munching on a pastrami sandwich in her kitchen.
It's a day-off, today, and Lila loved every minute of it, no running, no shooting, no screaming Daleks, no alien having a chipped shoulder courtesy of Theodore and Hammond's dad, a breath of fresh air compared her now-normal days.
Today, though, Lila went and helped the Smiths and Hamon clean out their late dad's house.
Hamon moved in, wanting to keep it in the family, and have a residence he's familiar.
It's believed that Mr. Smith would've wanted his beloved uncle staying at the family house, close to his children.
Hamon didn't touch anything in the house once he moved in, he stayed in a guest bedroom, and only cleaned out the kitchen for the obvious reasons, but he kept the house as is, only cleaning it when necessary.
He felt that enough time's passed, his nephew's adult children's able to go through things, and help him clean out the house.
"Thank you for helping me," Theodore thanked Lila for coming out with him and helping him and his siblings with the cleaning.
Shrugging her stout shoulders, Lila modestly told him it's what friends do for each other and that it's her duty as a companion for him that she helps him with anything that he deemed important.
Arriving at the family house in Hammond's modified four-seat roadster, Lila immediately noticed the blue bricks and gray tiled roof, complete with a deeper blue wooden door.
Around the two-story home, there's trimmed bushes, slowly budding as it's starting to warm up, after months of snow and ice.
The unibody green lawn perfectly manicured, likely by Hamon's obsessive nature keeping everything tidy, and little statues near the cobbled walkway leading up to the steps of animals.
Getting out of the roadster, the three noticed a black old taxi cab near the side of the road, which the brothers identified as Odette's and leading to Lila asking them that she drove for a taxi company only for Hammond to explain that their little sister held elective tastes for vehicles as they did.
She opted for a taxi cab almost at the end of its rope, almost scrapped completely by the city, hadn't Odette caught sight of it one evening, and buying it on the spot for less than its retail and secondhand price. Just like Hammond, she modified it for her own uses, which Lila wasn't sure what those modifications entailed, but with her lineage, it's anyone's guess.
Hammond made a point that she might've brought Ben with her as help and warned Theodore that he needed to watch his behavior, after all, their sister clearly trusted Ben enough to bring him along.
"And I don't think our dear sister wants to hear you two arguing about whatever frivolous topic you two decide upon," Hammond thinly warned Theodore of his behaviour for the period they're helping clean the house.
Recoiling as he made a face, Theodore remarked he's always polite around Ben, something Lila ended up mentioning that the aloof giant always had a laugh at Ben's expense no matter the occasion.
"I'm nice," Theodore asserted as he pointed at himself.
Lila pointed out, "You scared him when you talked in his head the one time he came to the library for an event."
Theodore did it just for fun and the poor man near jumped out of his skin when he turned his head not seeing Theodore anywhere near him.
Feigning innocence, Theodore stated he wasn't on the same floor as Ben when he allegedly heard him. Proven by Bill who solidified the alibi as Theodore helped her lug books from the back during the same time as Ben heard him. He couldn't even sneak and do it because of the level of books needed from the back, it wasn't possible for him to stop what he's doing just to play a prank on Ben.
Poor man apologized for his trespass and Theodore took it wholesale, when out of earshot, Lila pinched him for it, but he tried saying it's an innocent prank.
He knows Ben enough that he knows what he's doing, Ben didn't suffer any heinous side effect from a brief "boo" of course, Lila didn't see it from his angle.
Turning towards her, Theodore defended himself as he stated that it wasn't like he jumped out and spooked Ben, but Hammond reminded him that while Ben didn't know, Odette certainly would've, on account that Ben still didn't know that they're telepaths.
The mere mention of the event would've tipped her off enough that she'll bend Theodore's ear for the slight.
"Then he didn't tell her," Theodore smiled as he pointed out that Odette never bent his ear for the slight, thus meaning Ben never told her, so that's that.
"Your luck's running out sooner than later," Lila warned him that he's treading on thin ice, Odette's going to find out about the little pranks Theodore pulled on Ben, and she's going to let him hear it.
Remembering, Lila then mentioned Hammond's not safe from Odette, either, considering how he treated Ben.
Aghast, Hammond scorned her as he refused the idea that he's unjust with Ben, and she pointed out that she knew him long enough that she picked up that he's secretly manipulating Ben for his own enjoyment.
Tricking Ben into going into the janitorial closet by convincing him it's Hammond's office, for starters, and Hammond swore it was an honest mistake.
"Honest mistake, Hammond, you tricked the poor man into reading stereo manuals," Lila pointed out that Hammond wasn't as innocent as his brother tricking Ben and the brothers looked at each other briefly before defending themselves.
Crossing her arms, Lila mentioned that she's started talking with Odette more, guess it comes with the territory of working with her older brothers, and it'd be a shame if their joyous tricks ended up cutting short when Odette found out that her brothers tricked Ben more than once.
"It's not like we're hurting him, Lee, dear sister doesn't need to know about our little game," Theodore tells Lila that it wasn't like they're evilly pulling 'Tom & Jerry' tricks on Ben, he's never harmed, and they wouldn't go that far for their little sister's sake.
Shaking her head, Lila sighed as she walked ahead of the brothers, unable to comprehend their strange morality wheel, and stood in front of the big dark blue door, before pushing the button.
Theodore and Hammond joined her as Hamon opened the door with his bubbly smile, the trio didn't get a chance to talk before the Time Lord bear hugged them until they're near blue.
"Good to see you two!" Hamon smiles as he released his nephews as they recovered from his bear hug.
They greeted him back and he looked towards Lila as he reached out and grabbed her hand, thanking her for coming out with them.
As she's trying to keep her balance, Lila modestly tells him that she wanted to help, and he smiled as he released her hand before letting them inside the house.
Moment she walked in, Lila sees a house that she isn't quite sure what to make, other than it's strangely normal, as normal one expected from an elective family such as the Smiths.
"Odette's on the second floor with Ben," Hamon told them that Odette's going through her old bedroom with the help of Ben.
He told Theodore and Hammond that they ought to start with their rooms before they started with other areas of the house.
Nodding, the brothers and Lila went upstairs to the second floor, where they heard Odette and Ben talking to each other as there's shuffling of boxes.
The brothers popped into Odette's room while Lila stayed by the doorway as they greeted their little sister while she's going through her old desk.
Ben held the box for her as she's putting in stuff she wanted to keep. Old trinkets she collected over the years.
Ben caught sight of a peculiar necklace as Odette took it out of one of the drawers. It looked like a typical looped necklace, but the way the loops overlapped with each other with some filled with different designs, he ended up asking about it.
Odette merely told him she got it on a trip with their uncle.
Which is true, when they went on a trip to Gallifrey with their uncle, Odette obtained it from a kiosk somewhere in the domed city.
To Ben and unobservant, it's just loops, but to people who knew the language of Gallifrey, it's Odette's name.
She never told him this, of course, and he ended up believing her without hesitation, as she rested the necklace in the box.
"How're you two doing?" Odette asks them as she pulled back her wavy raven hair behind her ears as she briefly turned her head to look back at them.
Theodore and Hammond gave their responses, before Odette asked how Lila's doing, and she poked her head in from the hallway before replying, "Oh, you know, feels like I'm running a marathon."
She leaned heavily on the truth as possible, because well, it's true that she ran so much, she's practically in a marathon, both adventuring and the library work.
One hand, she's building up muscles, other hand, she's sored every time.
Ben greeted the brothers and they greeted back in their own ways, Hammond as polite as he's known down at the library, and Theodore in his usual aloof manner.
Turning his head at Lila, Ben greeted her, and she greeted back.
They conversed more before the brothers went along to their rooms with Lila trailing behind looking at the pictures on the wall.
Different photos of the Smith family, some of the siblings, some with the parents, some with Hamon, and some with all of them.
Hammond disappeared into his room while Theodore and Lila walked on towards his at the end of the hallway.
The door to his bedroom had a hazard sticker on the door, which Theodore said Hammond put on at one point much to his annoyance.
Opening the cream-colored door, Theodore turned on the light into his bedroom with Lila following behind.
Inside Theodore's room, it's painted a light blue color with creamy white trims, and immediately Lila sees the goings of a young Theodore.
On the walls, there's movie posters for science fiction movies from different eras, and among them, Lila sees family photos of him with Hammond and someone she never saw before.
He's tall, at most his fifties or early sixties, Lila couldn't tell, wearing an elective outfit, had grey hair, and stood with the teenaged brothers with Hammond's roadster.
Confused, Lila asked Theodore, "Hey, who's this guy?"
As he rummaged around his closet, going through his old clothes, Theodore stopped briefly before looking back seeing what Lila's pointing towards and saw the man.
Turning away from the closet, Theodore went over, and stood beside Lila as he looked at the picture.
"Oh, that's one of the Doctors, the one I told you about, who gave me the ferrets," Theodore tells her and as she looked at the picture closely, he added that this picture's taken when Hammond received the roadster from him.
Lila asked his name and Theodore replied that he never gave it, didn't seem inclined, and their father never saw anything wrong with it.
"Whatever happened to him?" Lila continued as she turned away from the picture as she helped Theodore clean out his closet filled with even more elective clothing that she ever saw in her life, more than the brightly colored clothes of the 90s.
Thinking back on it, Theodore replied that he truthfully didn't know, one moment the Doctor visited them regularly, then the next he stopped, and never reappeared.
He came to terms what might've happened to the Doctor, but he still remembered the reactions when the Doctor appeared at their doorstep one evening.
Surprised his mum, but not his father, in fact, the very words out of his mouth were, "What took you so long?"
They talked for hours on end before his father welcomed him with open arms, and eventually cultivated with Theodore's ferrets and Hammond's roadster.
An unusual backstory, but it's the norm for them, and Theodore remembered the Doctor thanking their father for letting the TARDIS roam, because it gave him something worth living for, and it made their father happy that even though he's not the Doctor anymore, he helped someone.
"Anyone else from the gallery show up?" Lila inquired if any more showed up on their doorstep and Theodore replied that nobody did, probably didn't even know how much less know the significance of his father, which isn't surprising since the TARDIS changed hands so many times.
Cleaning out Theodore's bedroom, Lila expected finding things that mirrored her brothers' bedrooms, but to her shock, she only found science orientated text books, and the atypical action figures one expected.
It's shocking enough that Lila wondered if Theodore's good at hiding things, because Billy and Ethan could've learnt things from him.
"Don't even think about it," Theodore abruptly interrupted her trail of thoughts and she sheepishly turned her head towards him as he went through his shelves, collecting books from it.
Lightly shrugging her shoulders, Lila remarked that she didn't mean to infer that the aloof giant kept contraband in his bedroom, but her experiences with her brothers' mishaps were her only references.
Sighing as he pulled on his white collared shirt, Theodore replied that he's not like her brothers, and that he knows better hiding that sort in a house occupied with three telepaths.
"Fair point," Lila acknowledged that it wouldn't be wise, even though they would've granted him privacy, better safe than sorry.
Continuing the cleaning, Lila helped toss things while collecting other things that Theodore wanted to keep, and by the time they finished, the bedroom looked sparse.
Checking with Odette, she and Ben cleaned her room out, already brought out the trash and the box of things she's keeping.
Continuing on, they checked with Hammond and he's carrying one box of things he's keeping with him, when asked, he said that unlike Theodore, he routinely cleaned out his room.
Caused Theodore to stick his tongue out at Hammond before Lila nudged him as Ben and Odette came out of her bedroom with the respected boxes.
She tells Ben she'll carry both down to the vehicle while he helps her brothers and it caused Ben to confusingly look at her before she assured him that she's able to carry both boxes down the stairs herself.
"Only if you're sure," Ben murmured as he let Odette stack the box, he carried on top of hers and she went down the hallway, leaving him with her brothers and Lila.
Blinking, Ben wondered about her, and Hammond explained that it runs in the family.
After emptying their respected rooms, the brothers left to place their boxes in the back of the roadster while Lila and Ben helped Hamon clean the living room.
Dozens of books on the bookcases, it amazed Ben as he looked at the amassed collection of works, he noticed some that he wasn't familiar with, seemingly in a different language. He asked about them with Hamon who only said that his late nephew held elective tastes.
Truthfully, the books came from Gallifrey, they're a compilation of stories and history, something Hammond sent to the family, helping the siblings learn things about Gallifrey when they're unable to visit him.
For Ben, if he took one off the shelf and tried to look at a page, he'll never understand the calligraphy. It's not a language humans learn easily, as Hamon once told Lila.
Granted, Lila figured as much when Hamon tried telling her his actual name the first time they met.
Helping them clean the shelves, taking off books that belonged to the siblings, she came across a card stuck in between the shelves.
Took prying, but she managed to carefully pull it out, facing it towards her, she's met with a question that made her head tilt.
Didn't get a chance to process it before it's snapped away quickly by Theodore reappearing behind her after putting up the boxes with his brother.
He squirreled it away, making Hamon laugh at it, Ben equally confused.
"Oh, nephew, it's nothing to be embarrassed about," Hamon tells Theodore.
Shaking his head, Theodore sputtered, "Not around company!"
Confused, Lila asked what the card's about, and Hamon summed that it was a game the couple played, only for Theodore to blush in embarrassment as Hamon told Lila this.
Ben, understanding the context, lightly smiled as he comforts Theodore, though Theodore didn't take it in stride.
"Ah, those two, near inseparable," Hamon's eyes twinkled as he recalled his nephew and Sarah, becoming attached at the hip. Hardly impossible finding one without the other somewhere nearby, always with their warm smiles they beamed at each other.
Hammond and Odette returned from putting up their boxes and Hamon asked Odette and Lila's help with cleaning out the master bedroom's closet. He feared that if the clothes languished further, they'll risk eaten by moths.
"Of course, uncle," Odette nods as she turned towards Ben and her brothers to talk to him briefly, "Try to get along, okay?"
Nodding, the brothers gave an unconvincing smile, while Ben merely smiled.
Hamon asked for the brothers and Ben help cleaning out the attic, remembering that there might've been pictures somewhere in a container somewhere.
"Of course, uncle," the brothers smiled at their uncle before he disappeared with Odette and Lila up the stairs before leading them towards the bedroom on the opposite side of the hallway.
Opening the door, Hamon led them inside the large master bedroom, filled with pictures on the walls, the aroma of perfume caught Lila's attention, and Hamon told her it's lilacs, Sarah's favourite.
On the coat hanger, there's a suede Stetson hanging on a hook, perfume lingering from it, and Hamon said that Sarah wore the hat extensively during her time in the military before gifting it to his nephew as a keepsake when she transitioned to her civilian life following the birth of Hammond.
Wore it everywhere he went, when he napped and put it over his face, he'll smell the perfume, and linger before moving on to his latest adventure.
Turning her head, her loose chestnut hair moved slowly with her, Lila sees the portrait of the two in their wedding garments on Gallifrey, would've fooled people thinking they're at a science fiction convention with the way the outfits look, but Hamon said that it's tradition.
He remembered that day fondly, the two wedded much to the dismay of the Council, and how he officiated the marriage when no one would because of their skepticism.
Seeing the late Sarah Smith, Lila sees how Odette took from her, her light gray eyes, almost like glass, flushed cheeks, and wavy blackened hair, hard to believe she once worked on a naval base.
Hamon smiled as he reminded Lila not to judge a book by its cover and she acknowledged his answer with a nod as she and Odette went through the closet.
It's hard to judge what clothing belonged to Sarah and what belonged to her husband, hadn't Odette and Hamon helped Lila sort them as they went through the closet.
Lila pulled out an outfit that looked eerily like the detective Ben played on that show, which Hamon recalled that outfit's what inspired what they knew and love about the fictional detective.
"Yeah, but Hamon, he never drank from someone's inkwell to dispel poison from his body," Lila brought up that while there's heavy influences from the author's interactions with Hamon's nephew, there wasn't a mention of the famed detective downing Indian ink like a bourbon chaser.
Smiling, Hamon reminded her, "Often the truth's much stranger than fiction, my dear, nobody would've believed that true or fiction!"
Putting it like that, Lila's able to see why the author declined putting that tidbit into the character, maybe a little hard to write into a book series without looking mad.
The trio worked to sort the clothing and Hamon fetched the brothers, wanting them to sort through the clothes, take what they wanted, and Theodore wasted no time mentioning that they'll all have to go to him, since he's tall enough compared to Hammond, and it took Hamon keeping the peace between the brothers.
Odette took what she wanted from the pile of her mother's clothes, having taken some for her own collection, and part of her wardrobe on the show.
Hamon offered some of his late nephew's clothes to Ben, hoping it'd help him with costuming, and he modestly declined, of course Hamon offered to throw in the deerstalker.
Cleaning through the house, throwing out trash, helping the siblings lug boxes out to their respected vehicles, it must've been two hours before things started winding down, and they've done enough that it looked different compared when they started.
Lila's walking out to the trash cans pulled to the side of the road with the last bag of trash that they've went through, and as she's walking, she ended up knocking into someone ahead of her.
Stumbling backwards while clenching the heavy bag, Lila let out an audible noise as she steadied herself before the daze faded, and saw a tall slender man with a fitted deep colored suit and a black sleek hair, his back facing her.
She swore she hadn't seen anyone outside, but of course; she's been throwing away trash and moving things around, it's hard keeping track, but she apologized profusely for accidentally bumping into the man she didn't see, and she heard him answer in response with a posh accent.
"Oh, don't worry, I'm fine," the man said, not turning around, "Are you all right, my dear?"
Lila sheepishly replied that she's fine despite moving a house for two hours, but besides that, she's had worse days.
"Such as it were, history has a funny way of repeating itself, no?" The man pointed out all the rubbish in the can, which Lila admitted that it's not the first time she helped with moving.
Gets easier every time she and her family moved from different naval bases, that she keeps her important items in their own box that she never takes out, because of the frequency of her family moving, that she couldn't afford the time putting them back in the box. Easier grabbing what she needs and putting them back into the box.
"By the way, have I seen you around, before?" The man asks Lila a question as she tossed the trash in the can.
As she closed the lid, Lila replied, "No, first time coming here, you must be mistaken."
There's a light chuckle coming from the man before he mentioned, "So it seems, I'd remember a face like yours."
He bid Lila farewell as he walked on, by the time Lila turned her head to face him, he's gone, and she's left confused before hearing Theodore calling for her.
Heading back around, she sees that Hamon's sending them on their way, deciding they did enough with the short time they worked, and he didn't want them overworked.
"It's good seeing you three," Hamon pulled his nephews and niece together in a bear hug as they modestly replied that they're glad to help Hamon.
As he released them, he thanked Ben and Lila for helping with the cleanup and they modestly replied in their own way the same.
He nearly shook Ben's hand off and hugged Lila until she's nearly blue in the face, before he saw them off.
Theodore thanked Lila for her help and she replied that it's what she does, before Hammond drove them away from the curb, merging into traffic as they returned to the city.
Seeing them off as he stood by the opened doorway, Hamon turned his head, looking yonder, seeing nothing but bricked houses and fencing. He looked for a while, before disappearing through the doorway, closing the door.
THE END