The Doctor, Detective, Widow, and Wardrobe (Pt 1.)
"Now?" the Detective asked as she and the Doctor huddled by a control panel, the man with his sonic flashing, her holding a big red button.
"No, no, just…" he began, frantically trying to hack into the controls for the warship they were currently infiltrating, but the monitors showed his efforts to be in vain as the ship's guns turned on the Earth.
"People of Earth, you stand alone!" a voice called out in warning throughout the ship.
"Now!" the Detective decided.
"No, wait!" the Doctor cried, but she'd already hit the button, sending off a series of explosions through the ship. He let out a huff and grabbed her arm to pull her out of the room while she cackled madly as fires sprang up around them.
"Intruder alert!" an alarm blared, "Intruder alert. Intruder alert..."
They hurried along the corridor, trying to get back to the TARDIS before the entire ship went up in flames.
…ok, the Detective conceded, she may have gone a bit heavy-handed on the explosives this time. But it was a warship! They were usually more fortified and if the Doctor couldn't hack in and send them away from earth, something would have to be done. For the Earth!
…and ok, so it was probably more to see how many explosives she could set up before the ship actually attacked, but still! Earth benefited from her efforts, so there!
The Doctor stumbled and fell to the ground, taking the Detective down with him as he had yet to let go of her hand, she landed with an 'oomph' right on top of him, which might have been for the best as a streak of flames shot right over her back, where they had been standing only moments ago. The Doctor rolled to the side, half covering her from the heat as he twisted to flick the sonic behind them, at the open doorway, causing it to slam shut and cut off the fire. He scrambled to his feet and hefted her up after him, the two of them running to another door at the other end of the hall, using the sonic to get through. He had only just closed the door behind him when another large explosion rocked the ship, and the next thing they knew, part of the ship was torn off, leaving the Doctor clinging to some exposed wiring with the Detective clinging to his leg so as not to go flying into the vastness of space or get caught in the Earth's pull and burnt up upon entering atmo.
"This is brilliant!" the Detective cheered, laughing and smiling as she was tossed this way and that by the air pressure around her, "Isn't this wizard, Theta!?"
"Not remotely!" he shouted back to her, looking around for anything that would help, this was not how he expected them 'splitting a pear tart' would go.
They had only JUST left earth, the Detective actually ready to talk to him about what River had said, but wanting to do it in the privacy of the TARDIS, after he'd taken her to the best dessert café he'd ever come across, which happened to be on Earth 1938, to get her the most delicious pear tart of her lives. And if he was buttering her up so she'd talk, so be it. They'd only just gotten off the planet when they'd come ship to ship with a large warship about to attack. Of course, they'd (he'd) put all thoughts of talking aside to go stop the enemy.
He and the Detective had…very different approaches to this. She wanted to blow up the ship, he wanted to try and just reprogram it to fly away. And, really, that should be a clue to his past Companions for which of them was more trouble. HE didn't go into anything intending or even wanting to blow something up, he always tried to figure out another way first and then it usually happened that something ended up blown up. The Detective always went right for explosives.
It appeared she'd won this round.
"There!" he shouted, spotting a spacesuit off to the side…oh dear, that posed a problem, there was only one.
"We can fit!" the Detective yelled to him, not needing to read his mind to know what he would do, try to push the suit on her, to save herself instead of him. As though she would ever let that happen.
"It's ONE suit!" he argued.
"We'll we're not exactly Slitheen!" she countered, "Wouldn't be the first time we had to cram!"
He had to nod at that, they'd gotten into all sorts of ridiculous things growing up. One time he and the Master had passed off as a very portly man to sneak into a show when they could only afford one ticket, the Detective had been stuck making up an exam at the time. Eyeing the suit…it just might work here. He would always put the Detective first, but if this saved the both of them, he'd try it.
"Come here, spacesuit," he reached out for it, "Come to Doctor…" and just barely managed to touch the edge of it before yet another explosion went off and they were torn apart and sent flying into space, hurtling towards Earth. He waved his arms, flailing to try and get momentum towards it, and finally grabbed it by the foot, yanking it towards him. He turned to try and spot the Detective, only for her to slam into him as she, too, worked to get to him.
It was a mad scramble after that, the two of them twisting and turning as they tried to fit both of them into the one suit. They eventually managed it, the Doctor mostly in the suit, his feet in the boots, the helmet on his head, with the Detective behind him, her arms wrapped around his middle, on her tip toes since she couldn't fit in the boots, with her head a bit shifted so it was just under the helmet though there was air enough in the suit itself that she wasn't worried about breathing.
In fact, for as uncomfortable as it all should have been, the most she was grumbling about was not being able to see what was happening.
He winced when he turned to try and send her the mental picture, to let her use his eyes, when he was confronted with the fact that he'd somehow left the visor down and had no idea how fast they were approaching the Earth, "Hold on!" he shouted, doing his best to move into some sort of ball shape as things started to heat up, which could only mean they'd entered the atmosphere and were falling towards the ground, and not wanting to have his arms moving about, even towards the visor, he wasn't sure he wanted to watch this…
~8~
"Oh, god you're heavy!" the Detective grunted as they caught their breath after slamming into the Earth.
"I can't help it!" the Doctor tried to roll to his side, onto his stomach so he wouldn't keep crushing her, but the fall had winded him and he needed a moment to try and get his strength back. He managed to turn to his side at least, putting some pressure off of her.
"Hello?" a voice called a few minutes later, it sounded like a woman, not they they could really turn and look since the Doctor couldn't see anyway, "Hello? Hello? Are you alright? Are you hurt?" the voice got nearer as the woman apparently came to check on them, "Did you fall? Where did you fall FROM?"
"The helmet..." the Doctor winced with a groan, though the Detective, in a moment of prank, decided to keep quiet and see if this woman helping them (hopefully helping them) would notice there were two of them in the suit.
"Alright," the woman began to pat them and the Detective couldn't help but wiggle when the woman's hand brushed against her tickle spot, "Just...just let me...I don't want to hurt you," the sound of a visor flipping open sounded, "Oh!"
"I can't see!" the Doctor gasped, "I'm blind!"
"Oh, no, love," the woman hurried to reassure him, "No. I think you've just got your helmet on backwards. How did you manage that?"
The Detective snorted against his back, 'Typical. You literally screwed your head on backward, Theta.'
'I was under stress!' he huffed at her, though he said, "I got dressed in a hurry," to the woman now gripping their arms to help them stand.
~8~
It was difficult work, getting out of the apparent crater they'd created in their crash landing, moving at all was painful for them. While the Doctor had taken a majority of the heat of reentry, the Detective had taken more of the brunt in hitting the ground. They wouldn't be able to walk to the TARDIS if they tried, which had put them in quite the pickle. How did one get somewhere when they couldn't move?
The woman, though, had offered a solution, she would run home and get the family's car, come pick them up, and give them a lift to wherever they needed to go. She was a sweet woman.
Though her driving, even though neither Time Lord could see…it was clear in how the car kept swerving that she wasn't actually used to driving the car. It made for quite the uncomfortable ride. The Doctor ended up on the Detective's lap because of how they fit in the suit and each swerve had him falling half to the side, which put more pressure on those sides. SHE was a bit more used to feeling how things went and adapting, because she had been blind for a time, but the Doctor apparently had never had that experience.
"I think I see it," the woman informed them, slowing the car to the side of the rode and putting it in park…only for it to jerk forward and hit something.
"Did we just...bump into something?" the Doctor asked.
'No,' the Detective responded sarcastically, 'Cars just naturally crash into things when put in park.'
"No, no," she reassured them, unaware of the Detective's grumblings.
"We seemed to bump into quite a lot of things," the Doctor added.
"Well, a lot of things get in the way. It's hardly my fault."
'I like this woman,' the Detective chuckled in his head, 'Maybe we should invite her in and let her fly the TARDIS!'
"No," the Doctor stated.
"What?" the woman's voice called.
'Said that out loud, Theta.'
"Nothing," he rushed to reply to her.
"You need to take that silly thing off," the woman stated, and it sounded like she'd gotten out of the car, the crunching of gravel telling them she was walking over to their side.
"Can't," the Doctor called, "Impact suit. It's still repairing u…me," he corrected quickly when the Detective pinched his side.
"Repairing you?" the woman was beside them now, the car door opening and a hand touched their arm to help guide them out. It was clunky and awkward, but it would be with two people trying to maneuver as one.
"Yeah. Well, I mean, that's the idea."
"Won't it repair you all back to front?" she wondered, starting to lead them off at a slow walk.
'That would be completely brilliant,' the Detective remarked, 'We should try it! Ooh! Do you think it'll repair us mashed together? Like we're fused?'
"I hope not," the Doctor muttered, in answer to both women, wincing when the Detective pinched him again.
'You'd be luck to be fused to me,' she chastised him.
He was about to reply when something hit him in the face, or at least that was what it felt like, he'd clearly walked into something very solid, it even clanged!
"There's a streetlamp," the woman told him.
"Yes. I got that impression."
"Round this way," she tugged him to the side and continued to lead him to the police telephone box he'd described needing to find. A big, blue telephone box, "Don't you want me to take you to hospital or something? Or you're welcome to come to our house."
'I will only agree to that last one if she has scones,' the Detective remarked.
"No, no, no," the Doctor reassured her, smirking when the Detective tried to pinch him again for not bringing up the scones. But if she was going to be silent for once, he was going to take full advantage, "I'm fine," he started to pat down his pockets, "I just need to find the...the key..."
'I have one!' the Detective stated.
'That doesn't help when it's trapped inside the suit,' he reminded her.
"Do you want me to do it with a pin?" the woman asked, "I'm good with a pin."
The Doctor stepped to the side a bit, the woman lightly pushing him and he could hear the sound of metal on metal, as though she were trying to pick the lock, "Multi-dimensional, triple-encoded temporal interface. Not really susceptible to pointy things," he tried to lean on the box, missed the corner, and fell over…right onto the Detective.
"Oomph," the Detective groaned, 'Really, WHAT do you eat!?'
'I should ask you that,' he muttered.
The Detective pinched him again, 'Are you calling me fat?!'
"Got it!" the woman cheered before the Doctor had to respond, though it was then she seemed to realize they were on the ground again, "Ooh, dear, here let me help," a hand touched their arm and pulled, the two of them shuffling back to their feet.
"Ok," the Doctor scratched at the helmet, more than a little startled that the pin had seemed to work, "Suddenly the last 900 years of time travel seem that bit less secure," he turned and thrust his arm out in the general direction he thought he'd heard the woman speak from, "Thank you for taking care of u...me. You didn't have to, you know. You've been very kind."
"Don't be silly," the woman laughed, shaking his hand in return, "It's Christmas Eve. No one should be alone at Christmas."
"What did you say your name was again?" the Doctor asked, wanting to be sure he got the name this time, so that he could put her into the TARDIS's matrix and be able to help if she was ever in any danger, to repay this kindness.
"Madge. Madge Arwell."
"If there's ever anything that I can do for you, let me know."
"How?"
"I don't know. Make a wish, that usually works."
"Does it?"
"Well, it did for me," he shrugged, feeling the Detective squeeze his middle lightly in thanks, for his mind had gone to her and how many times he'd wished, since the end of the war (and before) that she was with him, "You're here, aren't you?" he shook himself out of his thoughts, "Well, don't wait around here. Just...off you go home. I'll just go and...and wait inside here," he waved his hands around, feeling for the doors and stepping in…banging his head right on the telephone set up within, "Ow!" he cried out, putting his hands to the side to feel the size of the actual police box they were standing in, "Wrong one," he turned to step out of the box, "Do you think we could try again?"
~8~
Eventually Madge got it right, after three more attempts and a bit of sick in the helmet from the motion sickness, but they'd done it! They'd taken off in the TARDIS, got out of the impact suit, and had just gotten the box into the Vortex to have their chat…when a light began to blink.
Madge Arwell, only a couple years after they'd seen her in her time, had made a wish on a 'spaceman angel.'
"Back to earth we go!" the Detective smiled, a little relieved to have this excuse to postpone the chat.
She knew what was coming, and she didn't want to hear the whole 'I like you better as just a friend' spiel, especially not at Christmas time. Yes, there was a chance that he felt differently than that, that maybe he loved her as more than a friend the way she did him, but...she couldn't be sure. And she didn't know what to do. She'd never been in this position before.
Not just the talking about her very private feelings, no, she had been known to overshare at times, with humans and her friends alike. But the...the actually trying to look before she leaps part of it. So much of her life was just rushing into things, whether it was a dangerous or ridiculous situation, she went at it with gusto.
This was different. This time she was taking her time. This time she wanted to be sure.
It was making her feel weird and putting her on edge because she didn't do this, ever. She made decisions and went for it, but...this was far too important to risk making a mistake in. If she was wrong she could lose her best mate, she could lose the Doctor and she'd never want that. She had to be absolutely sure of how he felt before she felt like she could talk about it and even after near 200 years trying to work it out she STILL didn't know for certain. But she knew he was going to try and push her to talk about it, whether she wanted to or not, he would and she didn't think she could distract him in this topic.
And, well, nearly 200 years of her actively trying to work out his feelings and she hadn't? What did that say about his feelings? The more she thought about it, the more her mind raced through the data she did have, the more she felt like he didn't love her that way. She would have noticed by now, she would have seen it after so long of looking for the clues. But then her mind would circle back to how would she actually KNOW even if he did display clues? She had never been in love in a way she could openly express, she hadn't seen anyone in love before. She didn't particularly tend to pay attention to the Doctor and his wife given how it made her hearts tug to watch them too closely. But if she hadn't been in a relationship like that, full of such love, how would she even know the signs of it? For all she knew, the data she was accumulating could be indicating he loved her and she just had such little experience in it she didn't see it.
But what if there really just wasn't anything there?
Truly, anything that could put off having him confirm that last thought she'd jump on, even if it meant engaging with humans.
~8~
"You know you could help!" the Doctor called as the Detective stood by the window of the very large manor house they'd been working to fix up in time for the Arwells to arrive, her face was pressed to the glass as she peered out of it.
"I am!" she yelled back, her words hard to understand, her mouth was smushed too, "I'm supervising!"
The Doctor had to laugh at that. Others might think she was slacking, but he could always read her. She was just too excited for Madge and her two children to arrive for Christmas. Really, everything in the house, all the surprises and treats they'd set up, had been the product of her very active imagination. HE had been the one to put his practical knowledge and mechanical savvy into use bringing her vision to life…that and he couldn't risk her crossing any sort of wire or the house might explode.
"That wasn't my fault!" she shouted, catching that last thought.
And really, it wasn't! SHE had been trying to set a trap for an alien in Colonial America, April the 19th 1775. The Master had thought she was using too much of the bait, a chemical that could only be smelled by that particular alien. He'd tried to grab the container out of her hand, she'd yanked it back, they'd both been fighting over it while the Doctor kept watch outside…and, somehow, the entire container might have ended up splashing all over the lit fire in the fireplace…
They'd only just managed to get out of the house and drag the Doctor with them before it exploded.
While it was a very loud, booming noise to them that deafened them for a day or two, it, apparently, ended up sounding like a gunshot from a few miles away in Lexington and they only learned after the fact that they had unintentionally created 'the shot heard round the world' at the onset of the Revolutionary War in America. Where two opposing sides had come together, and a shot was fired to trigger the fighting, but no one knew which side fired first…
Oops.
"And that wasn't even wires!" the Detective continued to argue.
"Yeah, that's not making it better," the Doctor scoffed lightly, not even wanting to think about what she could do to the house with wires involved.
"You know, Theta, sometimes you're a real…they're HERE!" she suddenly cried, pulling away from the window when she saw a car pull up and Madge get out. She raced across the room, grabbing him by the hand to yank him out after her, half stomping as she ran across the house and down the stairs, to the front door and tried to yank it open…only to crash into it when the force of her pull backfired, the door was stuck and she went falling into it instead.
"Ow…" she muttered, rubbing at her nose.
"Mr. Cardew?" a voice, Madge, called from the other side of the door.
"Sorry!" the Doctor yelled, trying his best not to laugh as he watched the Detective tentatively poking her nose as though to check if it was broken, "It's the door, it's developed a fault."
"Yes, it's still standing," the Detective added, glaring at it.
The Doctor patted her on the shoulder, his expert eyes noting that, while her nose was red, she hadn't shouted or winced while she'd been touching it, so it was just sore, not broken. He ducked down to give her nose a light peck with his lips before he moved to the door and began to try and open it, first assuming that the door was locked, but it did budge, so he began to try and pry it open, but it really was quite stuck.
"Hello?" Madge continued to call out, "Mr. Cardew?"
The Detective rolled her eyes and turned to the hinges of the door, pulling out a small laser from her pocket to cut through the three hinges…and the door fell away, the Doctor jumping to the side to avoid it as it landed on the ground.
"Perfect!" the Detective cheered, sticking her head around the one side of the door, "Hello!"
"Well, come in!" the Doctor added, popping his head around the other side too, "In you come!" he stepped back from the doorway to let them in, gesturing his arm wide for them to enter, "Mind your step."
"Yes, please, enter the creepy house with the two complete strangers that just demolished the door," the Detective eagerly hopped in place.
"Sigma!" the Doctor huffed, his head dropping into his palm.
"What? I was just trying to be hospitable," she argued.
"Not the best way," the Doctor told her.
"Oh," she nodded, considering her words, "Right," and turned to the trio now warily watching her, Madge tugging her children closer, "The door was the alarming part. Don't worry, the back door is still somewhat operational."
The Doctor looked skyward, that had gone right over her head, "Right, then," he tried to smile in a reassuring manner, "May I take your cases?"
"Um, thank you?" Madge asked, setting her suitcase on the floor, her children following suit.
"Lovely, would you mind carrying them for me? I need to show you round."
"Don't worry," the Detective reassured, "I've got them, you go on," she nodded towards the Doctor who was already heading up the stairs.
"No, wait!" Madge called, taking a step towards the Doctor as the Detective moved to pick up the cases, "Who are you?"
"I'm the caretaker," the Doctor turned on the step to face them.
"But you're not Mr. Cardew."
"I agree."
"But I don't understand. Are you the new caretaker?"
"Oh many, many names, him," the Detective wandered past them and up to his side as he came down the stairs, "Doctor, Caretaker, Get off this Planet, or, my personal favorite, Theta. Take your pick. Oh!" she shouted before Madge could say a word, "I'm Sigma," she hurried down the stairs to shake Madge's hand, "Or, the Detective," and then her daughter's hand, "Or What's Wrong With Her," and then her son's hand, "Or the groundskeeper," and then moved to shake the Doctor's hand too for good measure, "Really," she spun to face them, "Take your pick."
"Or Shirley," the Doctor smirked, moving an elbow onto her shoulder.
She narrowed her eyes at him, "Actually, call him Brian."
He pouted when she chose the name he often used for other people when he couldn't remember their name. There was a certain genius to the Detective's method of naming people, he knew, it was her way of keeping them straight in her head. She might not remember their actual names, but she'd remember the nickname she gave them and it was better than not having any identifier at all.
"Hello, Madge Arwell!" he turned to the woman, reaching out to shake her hand, hoping to distract from that last part.
"Hello?" Madge seemed hesitant and confused.
"And Cyril Arwell. And Lily Arwell," he moved on to shake their hands too, far less vigorously than the Detective had, he'd thought she might be trying to tear their arms off she'd gotten so excited. The Detective moved to lean with her elbow on the bottom of the banister, waving at them, "Now, come on, come on, lots to see. Whistle-stop tour. Take notes, there will be questions."
"To the sitting room!" the Detective cheered, pointing a finger in the air and turning to point in that direction, going off, "Most boring room in the house. A room just for sitting? Really? It's as good as a bedroom, second most boring room, normally, probably the best room this time, so boring first then work our way to cool, yes?" she spun on her heel to face the Arwells, who could only blink at her.
"What about our…" Lily began, turning to point at their suitcases, only to see they were gone, "Cases? Where'd they go?"
The Detective just blinked at them, "Pockets."
~8~
In an effort to at least TRY and make the sitting room a little 'less boring' the Doctor threw the doors open with a flourish, revealing a tastefully decorated room with some quite plush chairs and very beautiful tables.
"Smaller sitting room!" the Doctor announced.
"Which is just chairs," the Detective sighed, stepping forward to try and sit in one, but the Doctor tugged her back by her hoodie, winding his arms around her waist to keep her with him. Which, thinking on it now, she was lucky the Arwells hadn't commented on how 'risque' it was to show as much of her legs as she was in her shorts, but they were a polite bunch. The Doctor, she knew, had only tugged her back because with all the excitement she'd been building and how fast her brain had been firing, the moment she sat down, she'd probably fall asleep, best to keep awake, "Bit pointless without a television."
"So I made some repairs," the Doctor beamed, reaching out to the switch on the wall and triggering a mechanism that had the chairs whizzing about the room like some sort of ride at a fair.
The Detective leaned forward so her head was between the very awed Cyril and Lily, "You're welcome."
Though it was saying something that, with her mind, that was the only thing she could come up with to make the sitting room even a bit less boring. They really were just the WORST room in a house!
~8~
"Kitchen!" the Doctor led on to the next room, a guided tour through the entire area, pointing out various bits and bobs, "That's a cooker, probably. And these are taps. Hot, cold..."
"Lemonade!" the Detective laughed, moving to take a cup and pour some out.
"…that's lemonade?" Cyril frowned when a rather purple sort of liquid came out instead of yellow.
"With lemons from Viloshia!" she beamed, a planet famous for its purple hue, everything was purple, everything. It was the only color to be found there. For as much as tourists liked to take pictures of the purpleness of everything, the natives LOVED taking pictures of the tourists for the weird colors they had.
"Brilliant, right?" the Doctor turned to the kids, earning a smile from Lily.
The Detective nodded, "You're welcome."
~8~
Now it was finally time to make it upstairs, towards the more interesting rooms, though the Detective nearly face planted on the stairs when she stepped on the bottom panel, expecting motion and receiving only stillness. The Doctor caught her just in time to keep her falling on her nose again.
"Sorry, didn't get to finishing the staircase," he told her, they'd been trying to make it an escalator of sorts.
"Told you it should be a slide," she remarked and he set her back on her feet, the two of them heading up the stairs at a run, racing each other and then playfully shoving one another when they got to the top till the Doctor grabbed her around the waist from behind and spun her around for a moment.
"Oi, come on!" the Doctor called down to them, when the Arwells just eyed them oddly from below.
"Lots more to see!" the Detective agreed.
~8~
"Sigma and I sleep up there," the Doctor pointed at a doorway as they continued the tour of the upstairs hall, "Stay away."
"No humans allowed," the Detective agreed.
"Beware of panthers."
"Panthers?!" Madge gaped.
The Detective turned in her walk so she could do so backwards and still face Madge, "Weird how you focused on THAT instead of the 'humans' bit."
"Panthers are terrifying!" the Doctor defended, "We're lovable. Well, I SAY 'we'…" he laughed when the Detective threw a candy from her pocket at him and began to chase him down the hall shouting, 'You take that back!' while the Arwells stared on, not sure if they should follow.
~8~
The Doctor rubbed the side of his arm from where the Detective had bitten him, or tried to do so through his jacket sleeve, but hadn't fully managed though he was sure he would bruise soundly there. The Detective smirked at his narrow-eyed look and threw open the doors to the master bedroom. By human standards, she was sure it was a lovely room, decorated in blues and golds and browns, with a canopy bed and a fireplace, all warm and cozy…and boring, so utterly boring! She could have made it completely brilliant, but the Doctor had said it might be best for Madge if they left one space more normal for her. Kids would play anywhere, adults were trickier.
"Mum's bedroom," the Doctor announced when the Detective just frowned at it.
"Grown up and boring," she rolled her eyes, closing the door and spinning to face the kids, "Who wants to see the kids' room!?"
The Doctor's hand shot up, as did Cyril and Lily's, before he turned to hurry them down the hall to their own space, using even more flourish to throw the doors open than they had the sitting room.
It was a verifiable wonderland beyond. More like a gigantic playroom that just so happened to almost maybe be a bedroom, too, there were so many games and toys.
"Lily and Cyril's room!" the Doctor announced.
The Detective turned, a top hat now on her head with an umbrella like a cane in hand, "Not to toot my own horn but, masterpiece," she gestured around, and gave an exaggerated bow, "You're welcome."
"Yes, yes," the Doctor laughed, joining her to show the children all the fun they'd crammed into the room, "The ultimate bedroom."
"Hmm, maybe I should have been 'The Interior Designer,'" she wondered, absently taking her hat off and tossing it and the umbrella to the side, "Or the…the…"
"Architect?" the Doctor offered.
"I was going to say 'Demolitionist,' but sure, that works too."
The Doctor shook his head at her, turning to gesture the kids more into the room, "Look!" he called to them, "A sciencey-wiencey workbench."
"A jungle!" the Detective joined him, now excited that she could show off more and more of the room.
"A maze!"
"A window disguised as a mirror."
"A mirror disguised as a window!"
"A mindow and a winror, ooh, torches! For midnight snacks, of course."
"And secret reading," the Doctor cut in.
The Detective turned to the kids, mouthing, 'midnight snacks!' to them.
"Zen garden!"
"Mysterious cupboard!" the Detective got back to it.
"Zone of tranquility…"
"Rubber wall…"
"Dream tank," the Doctor shot back, now the two of them sounded more like they were trying to one up each other than show off…which they were, in a way, they both had some ideas for the kids' room and were now shouting out the things they each put in.
"Exact model of the rest of the house!"
"Dolls with comical expressions!"
"The Magna Carta!"
"A foot spa!"
"Cluedo!"
"A yellow fort!"
"One hundred billion dollars!" the Detective finished, for some reason curling the fingers of her one hand so that only her pinky was out and moved to touch it to the corner of her mouth.
"What?!" Madge nearly had a heart attack at that.
"Not really," the Detective sighed, slumping, before she pointed at the Doctor, "But I would have won if I had!"
"You were NOT robbing the nearest bank, Sigma," he shook his head at her.
"It's Christmas!" she used as an argument for why she should be allowed.
"No!"
"Um…" Cyril cut into their bickering, noticing something odd about the bedroom…or something missing from it at least, "Where are the beds?"
"We couldn't fit everything," the Detective huffed, "Sacrifices were required…oh!" she suddenly shouted, "Hammocks!" she ran to the wall and pulled a lever, dropping two hammocks from the ceiling, "I win!" she shouted at the Doctor.
He could only shake his head at her, amused. He would give her this for two reasons, first it WAS Christmas, and second…if he let her think, even for a moment, that she hadn't won, she'd try to fit even more into the room and they couldn't risk doing that without making the room bigger on the inside and the family would certainly notice that…
"But how do you get on?" Cyril asked, drawing their attention over to where he was trying to get onto one closest to him, and not managing it.
"Watch and learn, kid," the Doctor rubbed his hands together and took a running leap at the beds, only to fly over the first, miss the second, and fall right in between them to the floor.
"For God's sake!" Madge groaned.
"This hammock has developed a fault!" the Doctor reported as he sat up.
"Really?" the Detective looked over, "Let me try…"
"No, no, Sigma…" the Doctor tried to stop her, tried to scramble out from where he'd fallen, but it was too late, she'd already made her own leap…and landed right on top of him, "Oomph…were you even TRYING to get on the hammock!?" he had to ask, because he honestly wasn't sure if she'd even made an attempt to aim for the bed instead of just running at him.
"Where's the fun in that?" she laughed, shifting more so she was just lying on him, her arms crossed beneath her chin to look at him, while his arms automatically went around her middle to keep her falling to the side, "You're far more comfy than a hammock!"
"Can you please stop talking?!" Madge cut in, sounding exasperated and at the end of her rope, "Can you please just stop?"
"Sorry," the Doctor whispered, moving to sit up, shifting the Detective beside him as they peered at the woman over the top of the first hammock.
"Children, go downstairs," Madge turned to Lily and Cyril.
"Why?" Lily frowned, sounding reluctant, "Are we leaving?"
"Yes! No! I don't know. Just, please, go downstairs!"
Lily reached out to put a hand on Cyril's shoulder to turn him to go, muttering, "You don't need to shout," under her breath as they left.
Madge took a few deep breaths to calm herself, which the Time Lords frowned to see, the woman who had helped them last time had been more light hearted and amused than this weary and short woman before them. When she was sure she was calm enough and that the children were far enough away, she turned to face the two, "Why are you doing all this?"
"I'm just...trying to take care of things," the Doctor shrugged, "I'm the caretaker."
"That's not what caretakers do."
"Do groundskeepers not keep to the ground then?" the Detective wondered, having moved onto her belly on the floor to just lay there.
"No."
"Rubbish word then," she muttered, taking the Doctor's hand when he offered it to help her up, "I don't want to be the groundskeeper then. I thought it was the one where I lay on the ground all day and sleep..."
"Their father's dead," Madge cut in, sick and tired of the woman making light of so much when it felt like there was no light at all left to be found.
"Dead-dead or…" the Detective began to ask, but the Doctor wrapped an arm around her shoulder and put his hand over her mouth to stop her.
"We're sorry," he said instead, giving her a pointed look.
The Detective's eyes narrowed a moment in confusion, before widening as she slowly nodded, "Yssssrry," she said behind his hand.
Madge shook her head at them, "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..." she let out a breath, her voice breaking, "I don't know why I keep shouting at them."
Surprisingly, it was the Detective who spoke rather insightful observations, the Doctor having moved his hand from her mouth to just resting his arm around her shoulders, "Because if they're already sad, then giving them sad news doesn't seem quite so hard."
The Doctor glanced over at the door, through which they could hear Lily and Cyril calling for their mother to join them downstairs to look at something, "But if they're going to be sad, no matter what," the Doctor argued lightly, "It's better to let them be as happy as they can be for as long as they can be before."
Madge nodded absently, both of them made good points.
"Now, we'd better get downstairs," the Doctor continued, "I think they may have found the main sitting room."
"We may have gotten you lot a gift for Christmas," the Detective added.
Madge sighed and turned to go, leaving the Time Lords to follow behind, down the stairs, and back to the main sitting room, completely decorated as though it had jumped out of the pages of a Christmas card, ribbons and toys and bows galore, with a large tree and model trains and planes moving around it.
The Detective crossed her arms as the children turned to them, standing beside a very large present as tall as Cyril, "You're welcome," she remarked as Madge moved past them to join her children, examining it all. She looked at the Doctor with a smirk, "I so win."
He rolled his eyes and took her hand, tugging her close and spinning her around under his hand before he led her off to give the Arwells some privacy, they still had to get the family's suitcases sorted after all.
A/N: Oh those Time Lords, I shake my head at them and their delays :) I feel like the Doctor is trying to be as considerate as he can be with Sigma, knowing how she is and how much he can actually push her, but he really DOES need to speak to her, but also Madge DOES need help too and a conversation can wait, whatever's hurting Madge needs to be dealt with sooner, he owes her. Sigma, this is really new territory for her in more ways than one, not only is she actually trying to be cautious for once but...she's also a little scared, I think, and since the Doctor isn't a squirrel she doesn't know how to handle that lol. She has a lot of good points for her concerns and many reasons to try and preserve what she and the Doctor have together, so it'll take some doing for her to get to a point where they actually DO talk.
But we WILL see it before the end of this story ;)
I think they'll both realize something quite obvious to everyone who observes them in terms of why neither of them realized the other loved them that way ;)
It's sort of funny, because they're both on edge about what they need to talk about, but when they're together it's just so natural and so much a part of them to be touching and close that they fall back into it. It should be awkward, and for anyone else it probably would be, but it's been such a comforting thing to them for so many decades if not centuries that no matter how much tension there might be between them, they'll still hold hands or put their arms around each other. I don't even think they realize they do it ;)
This episode will be broken into 3 chapters which means we have 1 week of stories left after this, it'll be over next Friday O.O So be sure to drop a vote for the pairing name for our Time Lords on my profile, I'll announce it in the last chapter ;) Along with 2 possible AUs for Sigma ;)
For this chapter there's only 1 intentional quote, but it also sort of involves an action that makes it a bit of a reference too ;)
Quotes from the last chapter:
I like to move it, move it. I like to move it, move it - "I Like to Move It" song
How do you like them apples? - Good Will Hunting (but it's also just a popular quote to use too)
Do it! Just do it! - Shia LaBeouf
References from the last chapter:
Voldemort - Harry Potter ;)
The only Elton that matters is John - reference to the great Elton John
The Dark Side, he came all by himself, didn't even need to break out the cookies - Reference to the quote "Come to the Dark Side, we have Cookies"
Congrats to anyone who spotted them! :)
Some notes on reviews...
I'm glad you liked that peek into Sigma's chaos :) I like that sort of balance to them in terms of how they are around each other. The Doctor helps to sort of be mature and keep Sigma from going too dangerous, but Sigma is also there to help him take care of things he can't really bring himself to do. In a way they remind me of Snow White and Rose Red from my OUAT series. Snow White is so pure and innocent it sort of falls to her cousin to do the darker things and make the hard choices so she won't have to. Sigma knows Kovarian is dangerous, she knows the Doctor wants her gone, but she also knows he's been so scarred from the war that he can't bring himself to do it in that situation and time, so she does it. Because she has no rules and she doesn't care and it slides right off her to murder someone in cold blood (if they deserve it), so she shrugs and goes 'why not?' And she knows that the Doctor will have her back and side with her when she does it, because unlike the Master she won't just randomly kill people if they don't deserve it. She's sort of like a mix between the two of them, which is how she sort of formed in my head. We'll actually see that moment with Kovarian come up again in the next story and hear it from someone else's POV }:) But yup, those darn dangers just keep popping up at the worst times lol :)
I'm glad you liked the chapter title :) Amy will definitely be a bit more cautious in some areas, she may also, though, be a bit more 'high and mighty' in some other areas. WE know that Amy would have finished off Kovarian in cold blood in the show, but since Sigma took care of it the Amy in this story won't know that and so she may view Sigma in a bit of a different light at one point, which may not sit well with the Doctor ;) But that'll be in the next story }:) I agree, she showed a lot of restraint with Kovarian. I think it sort of goes beyond those emotions, because she's had almost 200 years to think about what she'd do, even if she was focused on other things that plan and plot was always in the back of her mind and running. So she had plenty of time to come up with a number of ways to really, REALLY torment Kovarian and make her pay, and do so with a clear and composed outlook on it. She adapted her plan, chose a shorter and 'cleaner' way to do it, but doesn't mean she didn't have many other much more painful ways she could have gone, yup }:)
Salut! Je vais bien, j'espère que vous l'êtes aussi :) Je pense que si Sigma rencontrait les Wraiths, elle serait très curieuse. Je pouvais la voir piquer leurs visages avec son bâton et les examiner avec sa loupe lol :) Je pouvais aussi la voir faire des blagues et des références à Dracula et à d'autres vampires :) Quant à Michael, je pense qu'elle serait curieuse de lui, elle voudrait savoir et comprendre comment son propre traumatisme et sa folie se présentent par rapport au sien. Je pense que les Wraiths finiraient par être très ennuyés contre elle bien que lol, ils voudraient probablement aussi essayer de consommer sa force vitale puisqu'elle est si vieille et ensuite elle devrait tuer ceux qui essaient de le faire. Je pense que Michael prendrait un certain temps pour s'habituer à elle, mais je pense qu'il ressentirait aussi, d'une certaine manière, une parenté avec elle, que quelque chose dans leur passé les affectait tous les deux et les rendait différents des autres et tout le monde ne le comprend pas. :) (I used Google Translate to try and say: Hello! I am doing well, I hope you are too :) I think if Sigma met the Wraiths, she'd be very curious. I could see her poking their faces with her stick and examining them with her magnifying glass lol :) I could also see her making jokes and references to Dracula and other Vampires :) As for Michael, I think she would be curious about him, she would want to know and understand how his own trauma and madness presents compared to her own. I think the Wraiths would end up very annoyed with her though lol, they would also probably want to try and consume her life force since she is so old and then she'd have to kill the ones trying to do so. I think Michael would take a while to get used to her, but I think he would also, in some way, feel a kinship to her, that something in their past affected them both and made them different to other people and not everyone understands that :))