The Littlest Timelord: The Fall of the Eleventh
Chapter 1
A/N - Welcome to the first chapter of "The Littlest Timelord: The Fall of the Eleventh"! Lots of clues and surprises in this book! I hope you're ready!
The TARDIS landed roughly, sending Elise to the floor. She picked herself up and ran to the doors. They'd landed on earth.
She remembered the Doctor mentioning something about that. But where was he?
He'd told her to stay in the TARDIS while he executed his plan and now he was lost. Great.
About half an hour later, the door opened and the Doctor stumbled inside.
"Dad!" She ran towards him and grabbed his hand.
"Oh! Elise! Is that you?" he asked.
"Well who else would it be? What are you wearing?"
He was wearing some type of spacesuit and by the looks of it, his helmet was on backwards. "Impact suit. It's busy repairing me."
"Of course it is," she muttered.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!" She led him up to the platform and helped him sit in the jump seat. "How do I get the helmet off?"
"There should be a latch or a button."
Elise's nimble fingers searched around his neck until she found it. She pulled it off.
"Hello there," the Doctor said.
Elise smiled softly. "How about I go make us some tea?" Elise disappeared down the corridor as the Doctor stood up and took off the spacesuit.
Just as Elise came back holding two mugs of tea, the TARDIS took off. "Where are we going?" Elise asked.
The Doctor grabbed onto the monitor. "The English Countryside!"
"But why?"
The Doctor smiled. "Because someone made a wish!"
The Doctor opened the door, well one of the doors fell off its hinges… "There we go. Well, come in. In you come," he said.
Madge, Lily, and Cyril entered the house.
"Mind your step. Now, don't worry. The back door is still, broadly speaking, operational." The Doctor lifted the door and placed it upright again. "Right then, may I take your cases?"
Madge and children thanked him.
"Lovely. Would you mind carrying them for me? I need to show you round."
"Oh no, wait!" Madge said as the Doctor ran up the stairs, "Who are you?"
"I'm the caretaker and this is my assistant."
"But you're not Mister Cardew."
"I agree."
"I don't understand. Are you the new caretaker?"
"Usually called the Doctor. Or the Caretaker or Get Off This Planet. Though, strictly speaking, that probably isn't a name. My assistant's name is Elise Smith. Hello, Madge Arwell."
"Hello."
"And Cyril Arwell. And Lily Arwell." The Doctor shook each of their hands. He gave Lily a soft smile. She looked much like Elise had at her age. "Now, come on, come on. Lots to see. Whistle stop tour. Take notes, there will be questions."
He first led them into a small sitting room. "Smaller sitting room. Just chairs. Bit pointless without a television, so I made some repairs." He pressed a button by the door and the chairs started to move on their own. "I know."
They made their way into the kitchen next.
"Kitchen! That's a cooker, probably. And these are taps. Hot, cold, lemonade," the Doctor said.
"Lemonade?" Cyril asked.
"I know!"
The upstairs was next.
The Doctor stopped in front of the staircase and kicked it, but nothing happened. "Staircase. It seems to have broken down. We'll have to walk up."
When they got to the landing, the Doctor pointed at the stairs leading to the attic. "Elise and I sleep up there. Stay away. Beware of panthers."
"Panthers?" Lily asked.
"They're terrifying. Have you never seen panthers?"
The little boy, Cyril, stopped and looked up the stairs.
"Cyril!" the Doctor called.
Elise placed a hand on Cyril's back and led him away from the stairs.
It was time to see the bedrooms. Madge's bedroom was first.
The Doctor opened the door. "Mum's bedroom. Grown up. Your basic boring."
The children's room was next. It was the Doctor's favorite. It wasn't too far off from what Elise's bedroom had looked like as a child.
"Lily and Cyril's room. I'm going to be honest, masterpiece. The ultimate bedroom. A sciencey wiencey workbench. A jungle. A maze. A window disguised as a mirror. A mirror disguised as a window. Selection of torches for midnight feasts and secret reading. Zen garden, mysterious cupboard, zone of tranquility, rubber wall, dream tank, exact model of the rest of the house, not quite to scale. Apologies. Dolls with comical expressions, the Magna Carta, a foot spa, Cluedo, a yellow fort."
Lily giggled.
"Where are the beds?" Cyril asked.
"Well, I couldn't fit everything in. There had to be sacrifices. Anyway, who needs beds when you've got…" The Doctor pulled a lever hammocks were lowered down from the ceiling. "Hammocks! I know!"
Cyril walked up to one and tried to get on. "But how do you get on?"
"Watch and learn, kid." The Doctor ran and jumped right in between the two of them.
Elise covered her face, embarrassed.
"For God's sake!" Madge said, exasperated.
"This hammock has developed a fault."
"Can you please stop talking? Can you please just stop!"
The Doctor stood up. "Sorry."
"Children, go downstairs."
"Why?" Lily asked.
"Are we leaving?" Cyril asked.
"Yes. No! I don't know! Just please go downstairs!" Madge yelled.
"You don't need to shout," Lily told her.
The children left.
"Why are you doing all this?" Madge asked.
"I'm just trying to take care of things. I'm the Caretaker."
"That's not what caretakers do."
"Then why are they called caretakers?"
"Their father's dead."
The mood in the room drastically changed. "I'm sorry."
"Lily and Cyril's father, my husband, is dead and they don't know yet, because if I tell them now, then Christmas will always be what took their father away from them, and no one should have to live like that. Of course, when the Christmas period is over, I shall… I don't know why I keep shouting at them."
"Because every time you see them happy, you remember how sad they're going to be, and it breaks your heart." The Doctor looked at Elise as he said this.
Elise could see the memories of House flashing across his mind. The day that he told her Gallifrey was gone and everyone she knew and loved was dead.
"Mother, come and see!" Lily's voice yelled from downstairs.
Cyril joined her. "Mother! You've got to see this! Come on!"
"Because what's the point in them being happy now if they're going to be sad later?" the Doctor said.
"Mother!" Cyril called.
"Mother, are you coming?" Lily asked.
"The answer is, of course, because they are going to be sad later. Now, we'd better get downstairs. I think they may have found the main sitting room," the Doctor told Madge.
"Mother!" Cyril yelled.
"I repaired it."
As they left the room, Elise leaned in towards Madge. "Even though they'll be sad later, they'll be okay. I was."
Down in the main sitting room, it was decorated perfectly for Christmas.
Lily and Cyril looked back at them.
"I know!" the Doctor said.
Lily and Cyril were drawn in by the large present near the tree.
The Doctor and Elise slipped out of the room.
"Do you think she'll tell them?" Elise asked.
"She has to."
Elise sighed.
"Ellie? What is it?"
Elise played with the zipper on her jacket. "I miss Amy and Rory. This'll be the first Christmas we don't spend with them."
The Doctor placed his hand on the back of her head and kissed her forehead.
Elise wandered around the house. She couldn't sleep. The Doctor had tried to lull her to sleep by singing to her, but it didn't work. So she decided that maybe a walk would be enough to clear her mind.
She was downstairs when heard small footsteps coming down the stairs.
It was Cyril. He was awake and making his way towards the main sitting room.
Elise knew she should have alerted the Doctor, but she couldn't let him go wandering off by himself. What if he was hurt? Elise wasn't sure about what exactly was in that present.
Cyril untied the present and opened the box. Light streamed out along with a few snowflakes.
Now Elise was curious as well.
Cyril climbed inside before backing up into the sitting room. Cyril climbed inside the box again and jumped down into a winter wonderland.
Elise waited until he was far enough away to follow him. She was just going to keep an eye on him and made sure nothing bad happened to him. As she walked past one of the trees, she noticed a broken ornament on the ground.
There were tracks leading away from it.
Well this was not good.
Well, what do we think? What surprises do you think I have in store?