"So, you lot, what's the story?" The Doctor had managed to sneak the two of us into the house, and had given all the kids a scare.
"What do you mean?" A boy who looked around thirteen asked us.
"You're homeless, right? Living rough?" The Doctor took a bite of his food.
"Why do you wanna know that?" Another boy furrowed his eyebrows. "Are you a copper?"
"Of course we're not coppers! Even if we were, what would we do, arrest you for starving?"
The kids started laughing and I smiled with them as the Doctor continued. "I made it to 1941. You lot shouldn't even be in London. You should've been evacuated to the country by now."
"I was evacuated. Sent me to a farm." One boy said.
"So why did you come back?"
"There was a man there."
"Same with Ernie! Two homes ago," Another boy pointed to who I assumed was Ernie.
"Shut up. It's better on the streets anyway. It's better food." Ernie took a bite of his food.
"Look at you guys, getting your priorities straight." I smiled at all of them. "I bet Nancy knows all the places to get the best food, eh?"
"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us, miss." Another boy said, and I smiled. "Call me Liza- miss makes me sound old."
All the kids laughed, and the Doctor pulled a face at me, making a poor imitation of me. I kicked him from under the table and he scowled. He then turned to Nancy.
"So that's what you do, is it Nancy?"
"What is?"
"As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo! Feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town. Puddings for all, as long as the bombs don't get you."
"Great job, Doccy, way to be optimistic." I muttered, taking a bite of the food.
"One, what kind of a name is Doccy, and two, I was just stating the facts!" He kicked me from under the table and I elbowed him, glaring. The kids started laughing again, and I smiled at them. Nancy, however, was not amused.
"What's wrong with me feeding them?" She glared at the Doctor, who shook his head.
He frowned and looked at her. "Wrong with it? It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical."
"Why'd you follow me? What do you want?" Nancy looked at the two of us incredulously.
"I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call, and you seemed to be the right person to ask." He looked at me, "Especially since she's not protesting right now."
I shrugged. "Well, that could just mean I'm letting the episode go the way it does and you asking Nancy could actually be a lost cause,"
"Or you're just making up stuff because you're pretending to be unpredictable when you're not." He shrugged, and all the kids laughed again. I scowled at him as he turned back to Nancy. "Like I was saying, how?"
"I did you a favour. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling you."
The Doctor looked at me and frowned. "Seriously, are the two of you related?"
"I'm American and from another universe. We're totally related."
He scowled at me. "Anyway, I'm also looking for a blonde in a Union Jack. And a specific one, I didn't just wake up in the morning having a craving."
All the kids started laughing again, and I looked at the Doctor, "One, I thought you've never had cravings before, and two, they definitely wouldn't have seen her since she's dancing with an ex Time Agent on an invisible spaceship that's parked in front of the Big Ben."
The Doctor looked at me, his eyes wide, and I shrugged. "You wanted info, I gave it to you."
The kids, however, thought this was some sort of a comedy act and started laughing. Which it probably was. The Doctor was a certified comedian anyway, and even if he wasn't, we were in an episode written by a comedy writer. Nancy, on the other hand, wasn't as pleased. She came towards us and snatched the Doctor's plate from him.
"What did I do wrong?!"
"You took two slices!" The kids all started laughing at the Doctor again as Nancy continued ranting, "No blondes, no flags." She put the plate down on the table. "Anything else before you leave?"
"There is, actually. Thanks for asking," The Doctor started rummaging through his pockets. Probably shifting all the marbles in there or trying to avoid squishing the banana he'd put in there in case he got hungry during an adventure (or well, in case he met a handsome Time Agent and had to steal a gun from him and humiliate him at the same time while making it clear that bananas are a good source of potassium). "Something I've been looking for. Would've fallen from the sky a month ago, but not a bomb."
He finally pulled out a notebook and a pencil. "Not the usual kind anyway, wouldn't have exploded. Probably would've just buried itself somewhere." He started drawing on the paper, "And it would've looked something like," He held out the drawing of the Chula ambulance- which looked more like a medicine capsule if you ask me, "This."
Silence- the verb, not the noun, as in 'maintain silence' silence and not 'Silence will fall' silence- took over as everyone looked at the drawing. I looked up at Nancy in particular, and she was doing a very good job of hiding her emotions.
And as usual, in a wonderful Liza Cole fashion, I'd been so absorbed in the scene I was experiencing that I'd momentarily forgotten what would happen next. Meaning, I jumped and grabbed onto the Doctor's arm when the Empty Child knocked on the door loudly.
I let go of the Doctor's arm a moment later as he stood up, closing his notebook. "Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?"
The Doctor looked at me for a moment and opened the curtain. I closed my eyes immediately and turned away, knowing what was there. "Mummy?"
"Who was the last one in?" I quickly turned toward Nancy and looked at a cabinet, avoiding looking at the Empty Child. Nice cabinet, pretty cabinet, perfect thing to look at instead of the thing that gave you nightmares for weeks.
I tried to concentrate on everything but what was going on as frantic dialogue was exchanged between everyone in the room while the child outside kept repeating the word 'Mummy' over and over. It's not a game, Kate, this is a scale model of war. I closed my eyes tightly, placing my hands over my face. Every war fought right there in front of you.
I was brought back to reality by someone grabbing my shoulder, I turned around, almost jumping, but sighed as it was just the Doctor.
"What the hell are you doing, there's a kid out there!" He pulled me up and dragged me toward the front door, which Nancy had locked in a frenzy.
"What's this, then?" Nancy turned back as the Doctor continued. "Never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know."
"O suppose you'd know."
"I do, actually, yeah."
"He's not exactly fully a child anymore, Doctor," I muttered, and he looked at me, frowning. I took a deep breath. "Like I told you before, enhanced abilities. With- consequences."
"Mummy?" The kid sang again. Nancy ran inside and I bit my lip, trying my best to concentrate on anything but the shadow of the kid on the door. Nancy made all the kids get out and escape, and the Doctor looked at them, frowning.
"Mummy? Mummy?" The Doctor turned around. "Please let me in, Mummy," A hand came through the mail slot thing. I gasped softly, the familiar feeling of the lump in my throat coming in. That's a kid! Scary or not- he's still a baby! And you were scared of him- he's more scared than you can ever imagine, idiot! You're worse than Adam!
A hand wrapped around mine, squeezing it slightly. The Doctor then slowly moved forward toward the child. "Are you alright?"
"Please let me in." At that moment, his hand recoiled from the post slot as Nancy had thrown a vase at the door.
The Doctor turned around, frowning at Nancy. "You mustn't let him touch you!"
"What happens if he touches us?" The Doctor frowned.
"He'll make you like him!"
"And what's he like?"
Nancy turned around and started walking away. "I've gotta go."
I was about to open my mouth and answer, but the Doctor shook his head slightly, before turning to Nancy again. "What's he like, Nancy?"
She turned around and whispered, "He's empty."
At that moment, the phone rang. The Doctor quickly turned towards it. "It's him," I said, and he turned towards me. "Enhanced abilities?"
I nodded, and Nancy frowned at the two of us. The Doctor then moved to pick up the phone, but the moment after he did, Nancy put it down. Then, the radio started playing, the kid chanting the word 'Mummy' over and over meshing (extremely badly) with the song.
The Doctor ran inside to look at what was going on, while Nancy followed him. I stayed back, looking at the kid, whose hand had slid back in through the post slot. "Mummy, please let me in," He said again, the fear evident in his voice.
I took a deep breath, trying to suppress everything I was feeling at that moment. A part of me wanted to let him in- he was a scared kid left outside in the middle of an air raid. But that's not what actually happened. And the last time I changed something, we were put into a time loop. Although, time was already pretty fractured at that point because Rose altered a fixed point. Maybe things won't go wrong this time... But what if they do?! But what if they don't?
"Please let me in, Mummy, I'm afraid of the bombs."
That did it. I looked behind me to see that Nancy was still talking to the Doctor, who seemed to be getting increasingly surprised. I looked back at the door and took a deep breath. "Okay, Jamie?"
"Mummy?"
"I'm opening the door now, but you'll have to move your hand, okay? I don't want you getting hurt."
He drew his hand out, and I opened the door, only to be faced with nothing. I poked my head out and looked into the distance. "Jamie?"
I then jumped and turned around as someone put a hand on my shoulder. "What are you doing?"
"Looking for the kid?"
"You were afraid of him five minutes ago!"
"And then he said that he was scared! He's just a kid and I was scared of him, I-" I was throwing my hands about while ranting, and waved them around wildly for a moment, "I was afraid of a baby-" I groaned and ran my hands through my hair. "I'm a terrible person-"
I looked up at the Doctor, who was frowning at me. I grabbed his hand and pulled him out. "Right then, we need to go and find Nancy."
"You were relaxed some time ago! How did you switch over to 'bossy but won't tell me why I'm supposed to be doing the things I'm doing' mode again?!"
I turned around, my hair hitting my face (which I ignored, after pushing it away- very badly). "Because this isn't a story anymore. It's all real- there's a kid out there who is extremely scared and I'm gonna help him."
He looked at me for a few moments, his face unreadable. I frowned at him, and he grinned. "Alright, then, where are we going?"
"Following Nancy."
He frowned at me, pointing in the direction opposite to the one we were moving in. "Wwe were going the wrong way, she went there."
I scowled at him. "You waited this long to tell me that?!"
"But you didn't even-"
I grabbed his hand again and started walking in the other direction. "Come on! Also, tell me which way we're supposed to go because I have no idea where she went except that it's a hideout thingy- and you know how good I am with directions. Also, your nose has superpowers."
"Why yes it does, Liza Cole, and so do my ears- you're going the wrong way again, go into that street- and be quiet, she's still there."
A/N: Hey guys! So sorry for the short chapter- I was busy this week and tried to get a chapter in last night but ended up watching Doctor Who and Marvel edits till 3AM (oops-)
Anyway, we had Liza go through a bunch of mood changes here ("It's a rollercoaster with you tonight, isn't it?" is what Twelve would've said) because of a bunch of things that happened lol. Anyway, the reason I kinda wanted her to go through with this was because I felt like even though this is an episode where no major screw ups happen (except for the fact that it's WW2 and Jack Harkness can be a massive idiot sometimes), Jamie being scared and sad would kinda trigger her.
Moving on (I rlly hope this is a good substitute for 'anyway', because I seem to keep using that word way too much), I have a question to all the Doctor Who fanfic writers- how do you usually write an episode? I usually have the episode open on one tab and the transcript on another and watch the episode simultaneously to see everyone's faces and reactions, and have the transcript open for dialogue references.
Alright then, we've had another super long A/N, and I won't bore you guys much longer, so goodbye! Well, actually, till the next chapter!
Replies to reviews:
NeoMulder: Hahah I loved the vibe she had too, but then changed my mind halfway through because I figured out that it would be out of character for her to be too relaxed if there was a scared kid around- so I did the next best thing- a wake up call (lol). And about Rory, I really love the guy, but I feel like he can be a not-so-nice person at times, and feel like even though his accusations about the Doctor may be accurate, they're kinda harsh (although, that could just be because I'm overprotective of the Eleventh Doctor lol). Also I'm glad I inspired you to update your fanfic! (It's awesome, btw, Phoenix seems like such a cool person to follow and I love her relationships with her friends even though I'm only a few chapters in)