Weak
As the Doctor ran through a spaceship, dodging explosions, Adelaide stood in the TARDIS waiting to help him. Though, of course, help would likely be a strong word; she hadn't approved of the Doctor running off in the first place, so she wasn't overly willing to do anything to save him from himself.
But he was still the last Time Lord and every aspect of Adelaide's being forced her to attempt to keep him alive if only to maintain the existence of the species.
Because Adelaide wasn't the same as her last regeneration.
And she loved it.
She was herself again.
There was a sound and Adelaide turned, pressing the button on the TARDIS which transmitted the call the Doctor had sent. "Hello, bit of a situation…I've got my finger on a button, which is fine, but as soon as I take my finger off the button the spaceship is going to explode. Which is good in one way, because the spaceship in question is about to attack the Earth, but bad in another way, because I'm on the spaceship and I'm going to get all smithereened. Now, plan; I'm going to send you the coordinates so you can fly the TARDIS here and rescue me. Only flaw in this plan, as far as I can see, is that I don't have the coordinates."
She sighed, pressing her fingers to the bridge of her nose. "Really, Doctor?"
"Gotta run!" the message ended and Adelaide lowered her hand.
In her old TARDIS, she would have been able to pinpoint the Doctor's exact location and pilot the TARDIS to him. And even if she'd spent over two centuries piloting this TARDIS and learning its quirks, it was notorious for not doing what it was told to. She might determine where and when the Doctor was, but end up halfway across the galaxy a century in the future.
Besides, she'd be able to sense if he was in any life-threatening danger and didn't doubt that the TARDIS would decide to help its pilot once they reached that point.
Now, all she could do was wait for him to send another message which, thankfully, he did, though it was a bit muffled. She was able to see why when he stumbled into the TARDIS with a spacesuit…on backward.
Adelaide had the sense she'd be doing a lot of sighing in this regeneration. Her previous had tended to raise her eyebrows at the Doctor's antics, but it was clear this one's favored method of expressing exasperation was a sigh.
And the Doctor provided much to be exasperated about.
"Help please?" he called, stumbling up the TARDIS. "Adelaide?"
She stepped forward and helped him out of the suit, watching his face shift as he, clearly, didn't expect her new face.
It hadn't been that long since she'd regenerated and the Doctor, for his credit, had been attempting to pretend that she hadn't regenerated. Or at least, he'd been trying. It never seemed to truly work as he intended. His first reaction, whenever he saw her, was that of shock, of worry, of unease. He didn't know what to think of her and she didn't blame him.
She didn't know what to think of her.
She was far closer to her old regenerations now, yes, but she still wasn't exactly there. It was impossible, after everything that had happened in her last regeneration, for her to completely return to what she had once known. Thus, her opinions on things related to both him and her were in a bit of conflict.
The main problem involving the Doctor was that her last regeneration had been in love with him.
Adelaide had to admit it. She couldn't just pretend that there had been no feelings between her previous regeneration and the last Time Lord, though she also couldn't ignore the fact that they were the last Time Lords and that, as the last of their species, there were certain…expectations.
Of course, Adelaide knew that she could just be attempting to explain away feelings she didn't want to admit to being responsible for.
Honestly, it was all rather confusing, even for her.
Especially having just regenerated and had her entire mentality change between regenerations. And with Caroline still somewhere in her mind, shut away but still there, it made it even more difficult.
She couldn't even imagine how the Doctor was dealing wi it, because she had no way of knowing what his true opinion of her previous regeneration or Caroline had been.
And this was all regardless of the fact that she and the Doctor were undeniably Aligned.
|C-S|
The family of the woman the Doctor had encountered in his attempts to find his way back to Adelaide and the TARDIS stood before an old manor, looking up at it with varying expressions.
"Is it haunted?" the boy asked.
"Is it drafty?" the daughter added.
"Oh, this is no good," Madge Arwell shook her head, sighing. "Where's Mr. Cardew? He was supposed to be here?" she strode up to the door and knocked firmly.
The boy, Cyril, leaned towards his sister. "Maybe it's haunted by the ghost of Uncle Digby."
Lily, the girl, made a face. "Uncle Digby is still alive. He's in a home in Battersea."
"Mr. Cardew!" Madge called, knocking again.
Cyril frowned. "But why do we have to come here?"
"Because of the bombing, stupid."
Cyril shrugged. "I like the bombing. It's exciting."
Madge turned back to her children as Lily spoke. "Will Father be here? Well, he will, won't he? You said he'd meet us at the house."
"He'll be here!" Madge said, swallowing hard. "Of course he will. You don't need to keep asking about it."
They all heard the door open from the inside and the children ran forwards. "Father!"
"Sorry!" a man said and the children stopped. "It's the door. It's developed a fault!" There was a banging sound.
Madge stepped forward again, looking uneasy. "Hello? Mr. Cardew?" but she stopped when the door fell back off its hinges and the Doctor, grinning, leapt into the doorway.
"There we go! Well, come in." He gestured furiously at them, ushering them inside. "In you come! Mind your step now. Don't worry, the back door is still, broadly speaking," he put the door back up, "operational." He spun to face them, rubbing his hands. "Right then, may I take your cases?"
Madge nodded. "Thank you."
Lily put down her case. "Thank you."
"Thank you."
"Lovely." He clapped. "Would you mind carrying them for me? I need to show you round." He bounced over Madge's case, moving for the stairs.
"Oh no, wait!" The Doctor paused partly up the stairs. "Who are you?"
"I'm the caretaker."
"But you're not Mr. Cardew."
He nodded. "I agree."
"I don't understand. Are you the new caretaker?"
He shrugged. "Usually called the Doctor...or the caretaker, or Get-Off-This-Planet...though, strictly speaking, that probably isn't a name." He descended the stairs again, stopping in front of Madge. "Hello, Madge Arwell."
The woman blinked, uncertain at how to take this shift. "Hello..."
"And Cyril Arwell," he looked down at the children, "and Lily Arwell." The Doctor stepped back. "Now, come on, come on, lots to see. Whistle stop tour. Take notes, there will be questions." First, he brought them into one of the sitting rooms. "Smaller sitting room...just chairs. Bit pointless without a television, so I made some repairs." He pressed a button by the door and made the chairs start to move around on their own. The children's eyes widened in joy. "I know." He ducked out of the room again, heading towards the kitchen. "Kitchen! That's a cooker, probably. And these are taps..." He tapped them as he named them, "hot, cold, lemonade."
Cyril frowned. "Lemonade?"
"I know!" He darted back out into the main room, though he stopped when nothing happened when he stepped onto the staircase. "Staircase...it seems to have broken down." He pouted. "We'll have to walk up." At the first landing, he pointed back at a small door in the corner. "I sleep up there. Stay away. Beware of panthers."
Lily laughed. "Panthers?"
"They're terrifying. Have you never seen panthers?" He spun, spotting Cyril attempting to look past the door. "Cyril!" Once the boy stepped away, the Doctor brought them to a door that he barely let them see inside. "Mum's bedroom. Grown up. Your basic boring." He closed it, running to the last door. "Lily and Cyril's room." He opened the door with a wide grin, revealing the place where Adelaide had been hiding this entire time.
The Time Lady was putting the final touches on the organization of the room. It appeared to be quite difficult, given how much stuff they had actually managed to pack inside, but she'd managed to do it.
"Adelaide!" The Doctor called, trying to pretend his back hadn't straightened in nervousness from encountering Adelaide again. "The guests of honor have arrived!"
Adelaide turned, dressed slightly festively in a dark green shirt and black sweater with a red belt. "Hello, Arwells. As the Doctor said, my name is Adelaide."
Madge sighed. "Are you a caretaker too?"
"For the moment, yes." Adelaide, sounding less than happy, put down the last thing she'd been holding, straightening it. "Continue the tour, Doctor."
He nodded, swallowing, before running around the room to point at everything as he named it. Adelaide just followed him, straightening anything he messed up; she may have hated cleaning, but she would be damned if she let him ruin all her hard work of attempting to make this part of the gift somewhat presentable. "I'm going to be honest, masterpiece," the Doctor told the Arwells. "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."
Adelaide glanced at the Arwells. "Apologies."
"Dolls with comical expressions, the Magna Carta, a foot spa, Cluedo, a yellow fort..."
"Where are the beds?" Cyril cut in.
"We couldn't fit everything in," Adelaide said, as the Doctor nodded.
"There had to be sacrifices. Anyway, who needs beds when you've got..." He pulled a lever, making two hammocks drop from the ceiling. "Hammocks! I know."
Cyril walked up to one of the hammocks, studying it. "But how do you get on?"
"Watch and learn, kid." The Doctor moved back and, after a moment of pausing, took a running leap for the hammock.
And landed with a loud thud right between the hammocks.
"For God's sake!" Madge shouted, throwing up her hands.
The Doctor popped up again. "This hammock has developed a fault.
"Can you please stop talking?" Madge snapped, shutting everyone up. "Can you please just stop!"
"Sorry," the Doctor mumbled, avoiding looking at Adelaide.
"Children, go downstairs."
Lily frowned. "Why?"
"Are we leaving?"
"Yes...no...I don't know. Just please go downstairs!"
"You don't need to shout," Lily mumbled, leaving with her brother.
Once they were alone, Madge turned to the Time Lords. "Why are you doing all this?"
"I'm just trying to take care of things." The Doctor shrugged. "I'm the caretaker."
Adelaide glanced at him. "This isn't what caretakers traditionally do." She'd been attempting to tell him this for the past few hours, so she didn't have much hope of it sinking in now, but it didn't hurt to try.
He frowned. "Then why are they called caretakers?"
"Their father's dead."
"I'm sorry," Adelaide said, cutting in for the Doctor.
"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 swallowed hard, unable to say it again. "I don't know why I keep shouting at them."
Adelaide nodded. "Because every time you see them happy, you remember how sad they're going to be...and it breaks your heart." It almost looked like Adelaide had to catch herself at the end of that last word, but only the Doctor appeared to notice.
"Mother, come and see!" Lily called from downstairs.
"Mother! You're got to see this!"
"Because what's the point in them being happy now if they're going to be sad later?"
"Mother!"
"Mother, are you coming?"
"The answer is...because they're going to be sad later."
The Doctor had to force himself to look away from Adelaide then, and take a breath before speaking. "Now, we'd better get downstairs. I think they may have found the main sitting room."
"Mother!"
He grinned. "I repaired it." Madge gave him a look before stepping out of the room. He glanced at Adelaide again. "What you said..."
"It was very difficult to determine if there was a proper time to tell you how I felt about my previous regeneration." She left the room.
After a second, the Doctor ran after her, both of them arriving on the bottom floor a few seconds after Madge, who had stopped to stare in shock at the large tree the Doctor had acquired. He'd covered it with baubles, ribbons, various toys, and even a train around the bottom. But the main object of the children's focus was the large box next to the tree.
"I know," the Doctor said, grinning at the children when they looked back at him with wide eyes.
"Look at that present!" Cyril said, pointing. "It's for me."
Lily ran over. "No, it says it's for all of us."
"I'm the youngest. I get to open it first."
"Doesn't say who it's from. Mother, who left this here?"
Madge looked around, but the Doctor and Adelaide had already left the room. "That man is quite ridiculous and that woman...you must stay away from them."
"I like them," Lily said.
"I like them, too."
"And it's a nice tree, isn't it?"
"It's the best tree in the world!" Cyril cheered.
"Yes," Madge allowed herself a smile. "Yes, I suppose it is."
"Say it, Mother, go on, please. Say the thing you always say."
Madge took a breath before she spoke, straightening her back. "This Christmas is going to be the best Christmas ever." She hugged her children, kissing their heads.
|C-S|
The Doctor was sitting at a low table next to his TARDIS, working on a small device. Adelaide sat against the TARDIS reading a book on human evolution. They both looked up when they heard Lily enter the attic, looking around. "You were lying about the panthers."
He chuckled. "Famous last words." He flinched as something sparked.
"Why have you got a phone box in your room?"
"It's not a phone box, it's the wardrobe." He flinched again. "I've just painted it to look like a phone box."
Lily walked closer. "Well, what are you doing?"
"Rewiring."
She frowned. "Why would you rewire a wardrobe?"
"Have you seen the way I dress?" Lily smiled. "It's a wonder that Adelaide maintains any sort of stylishness." Adelaide said nothing, but glanced at the Doctor with a frown.
"Who are you?" Lily walked closer to the Doctor. "Really, who are you?"
Something on his device beeped and both Time Lords looked at it sharply. "Your brother, where is he?"
Lily ran out of the room, checking her and Cyril's room, before returning to the attic. "Still in bed, asleep."
The Doctor nodded. "Okay. Faulty, then."
Adelaide, however, stood. "Don't tell me you never snuck out and pretended to still be asleep?"
Her statement was confirmed when the device beeped again.
The Doctor leapt up, leading Adelaide and Lily out of the room and down to the children's room, opening the door quietly.
"See?" Lily whispered, pointing at where it appeared her brother was sleeping.
Adelaide just walked forward, pulling down the blanket. "The present," she told the Doctor.
The Doctor turned again, running down to the first floor and entering the sitting room just as Cyril ducked inside the present. "Cyril!" He fell to his knees, crawling inside.
"What's happening?" Lily stopped. "I don't...what is that?"
Adelaide hurried up to Lily's side, giving her a slight push. "You're not going to fall back asleep, so come with us." Both crawled inside the box.
It may have been stupid to follow the Doctor into the box, especially with a child, but Adelaide was not going to let a child go wandering around the forest completely alone, especially not earlier than expected. If they could find the boy quickly, they could return to the house before Madge woke and then everyone would be safe and sound.
They entered a forest covered in snow, Adelaide quickly pulling off her outer sweater to give Lily some amount of warmth.
"Cyril!" The Doctor shouted, turning around in an attempt to find the boy. "Cyril!"
"Where are we?"
The Doctor cut Adelaide off. "In a forest, in a box, in a sitting room, pay attention." He glanced at his watch. "He's about twenty minutes ahead."
"But we just saw him."
"Time moves differently across dimensional planes," Adelaide said, before making a face at the fact she probably should have explained it better.
The Doctor shook his head, walking around one of the trees. "What do they teach you in schools these days."
"But I don't understand where we are."
"We've gone through a dimensional portal...thingy."
"Well, what's that supposed to be? Where did it come from?"
He sighed. "It was a present, and it wasn't supposed to be opened till Christmas day. Honestly, who opens their Christmas presents early?" Lily frowned at him. "Okay, shut up, everyone." He turned to walk off.
"Apologize."
The Doctor glanced back at Lily. "I'm sorry."
"Thank you."
Lily, though she smiled, looked up at the trees as she and Adelaide followed the Doctor. "I don't understand. Is this place real, or is it fairyland?"
"Fairyland?" The Doctor scoffed. "Oh, grow up, Lily. Fairyland looks completely different. Now, these are Cyril's footprints," he pointed down at the sets of footprints, pulling out a light to see better, "and these are the ones he was following. Notice anything?"
"The other footprints are getting bigger."
He nodded. "Yes...whatever your brother's following, it's growing."
"Well, we have to get after him." Lily ran forward, knocking aside branches as she passed them. As the snow fell from them, Lily stopped and stared when she noticed a large silver orb growing from the end of the branch.
The Doctor hurried over. "It's okay, you're fine. Don't worry."
"Is that tree alive?"
Adelaide frowned at the child. "It's a tree; of course it's alive."
"But is it dangerous?"
"Every rose has its thorns."
Lily held out a hand, almost touching the bauble-like thing. "They're like Christmas tree decorations."
The Doctor grinned. "Yeah, naturally occurring Christmas trees. How cool is that?"
"I don't understand."
"It's a big universe. Everything happens somewhere. Call it a coincidence, call it an idea echoing among the stars." The Doctor straightened, spreading his arms. "Personally, I call it a brilliant idea for a Christmas trip. Or it should've been." The Doctor trailed off, not looking at Adelaide.
Originally, they'd believed their lives peppered with coincidences, drawing them together across the universe.
Now they knew better.
They all went silent, just listening to the wind...or lack thereof. Adelaide frowned. "What's the difference between wind and trees talking to each other?" She mumbled.
Lily looked at her. "What?"
"No wind. We've been here many times, but the trees have never been so active."
The Doctor nodded. "Something's wrong." He eyed the bauble. "What are you doing? What are you up to?" He stepped closer, studying it, until his reflection changed to a wooden king. "I'm sorry, Lily, I really am." He stepped back, taking Lily's hand. "But there is something very wrong in this forest, and your brother's right in the middle of it."
He set off at quite a pace, with Adelaide matching his pace effortlessly but Lily needing to jog to keep up with both of them. "Why would you bring us to this place?"
"It was supposed to be a treat," the Doctor sighed. "This is one of the safest planets I know! There's never anything dangerous here." The ground started to shake. "There are sentences I should keep away from."
|C-S|
After walking for a bit longer, Lily shook her head, drawing Adelaide's sweater closer around herself. "It's just irresponsible. How can you do this to my brother?"
"It was meant to be a supervised trip," Adelaide informed her.
"To the future?"
"Future, yes."
"The future on a different planet?"
"Oh yes, very different."
"Where Christmas trees...happen."
The Doctor shrugged. "Well, sort of Christmas trees. They're not really Christmas trees." They reached a small clearing, stopping before a large wooden tower with a glass sphere at the top. The Doctor let out a whistle. "Oh, look at that!"
"What, are we going in?"
Adelaide nodded at the footprints in the snow. "Cyril did." They walked forward, Time Lords looking around the interior with interest.
"Interesting..." The Doctor studied the wooden king sitting right where the footsteps ended.
"What's that? Is that a statue? What is it? It's like a king..."
The Doctor shrugged. "A king, possibly, but not a statue." He pointed the light down. "Look at the floor. This is what Cyril was following...the growing thing."
"Hatched from a bauble on a tree," Adelaide said. "Grew to this size in less than an..."
"Hour," the Doctor provided.
She nodded. "Impressive." She walked over to the wall, running her hand along the wood. "This building is...well, it's not a building, it's a group of trees grown in the shape of a building."
The Doctor grinned. "Ooo, clever, I love clever. Clever old forest. So, the forest grows a building. Why would it do that, Lily?"
"I don't know."
"Why is there honey in a honey trap?"
"Because it's a trap?"
"Exactly. Thing about people, we can never resist a door."
Lily looked around. "So this is a trap. What, we've just walked straight into a trap?"
"A people trap. Question is, why does a forest need people?" The Doctor exchanged a look with Adelaide before eyeing the statue.
"We should go." Lily took a step back. "We have to get out of here."
"Except..."
Lily stopped. "Except Cyril was here."
The Doctor held out a hand and Lily took it, squeezing. "So let's find Cyril."
Adelaide led the way up the stairs, sonic out, and stopped when they finally reached a closed door. "Cyril?" She called, sonicing the lock. "Cyril, can you hear me?"
"Cyril!" The Doctor called. "Cyril!"
Adelaide paused, looking down at her sonic. "Of course...it's wood."
The Doctor hit his forehead, groaning. "It's rubbish at wood."
Lily eyed the door. "It doesn't look like wood."
"It's disguised wood," the Doctor said. "Have you been listening?"
"How can trees grow into a building?"
"Never underestimate a tree, Lily." The Doctor walked forward, pulling out his own sonic to see if two were better then one. "I met the Forest of Cheem once. She fancied me."
Adelaide looked at him. "The Forest of Cheem? I never got a chance to meet them."
He smiled at the memory. "They were wonderful."
A/N: Christmas adventures have arrived! Adelaide's still attempting to figure out exactly who this new her is, but what was that confession at the start? ;)
Only one more chapter until Stars in Mind, which I will hopefully post the start of this weekend. :)
Notes on reviews:
lautaro94: These two certainly can't :) I don't want to spoil anything about their future together, but I can certainly say it is interesting.