Authors Note: this is the second of the two chapters I'm posting tonight, and is the one that I should be posting today. Sorry about the mess up! Hope you enjoy this one, I am aware that the dates are off - I'll explain at the bottom. The usual disclaimer, it all belongs to the BBC, and, in this case, Victor Hugo. Almost done on this one now, and I have finished writing it so should all be up by Christmas. Read, enjoy, eat mince pies and christmas pudding C x

An Accident in Paris

When he opened the door, the Doctor was surprised to find they had landed in Paris. He looked out at the semi familiar vista and grinned. Paris in the winter was his favourite time. He knew the movies said that Paris in the springtime was the best time of all, but there was something a bit more mystical about the city under ice, frost and snow. It was probably all to do with his love of snow he knew, but the prospect of being in Paris under snow in the moonlight made playing at Father Christmas that little bit more exciting. He stepped out of the TARDIS to find himself slipping down the side of the Notre Dame. As he did so he realised that the side he was stepping out onto was non-existent, he barely had time to realise what had happened before he started to fall down the side of the bell tower. He reached out with his sonic screwdriver and managed just to grab a horn on a gargoyle. He groaned as his entire weight landed on his shoulder and started to try to swing back up. After what felt like an hour to him, but in reality was probably only 10 minutes he gave up and started to yell for Jack, hoping that the Captain had returned to the Console room.

"Jack! For God's sake Jack, I'm hanging off the side of the Notre Dame. Jack! Jack! Captain Jack bloody Harkness!" After a while he gave up and fell silent, trying to work out why the TARDIS had brought him here.

"Can I help you?" a voice asked. He looked around trying to find where the voice had come from.

"What?"

"I said can I help you, it's just you've been yelling quite loud and my ears are quite sore now. Also, you are hanging off my ear."

"You're the Gargoyle?"

"Yes. Who did you think it was?"

"I wasn't really sure. Yes, a little help would be appreciated."

"Jolly good, watch your arm." The Doctor felt something hard and cold grip his hand, and then he was asked to let go of the Gargoyles ear. The Gargoyle swung himself down into the Belfry quickly and easily, and the Doctor felt his feet being set down on the floor. "Now, you're dressed like Father Christmas but you don't look much like him to me."

"No, no, I'm the Doctor." He replied looking around the room curiously. "Is there just the one of you then?"

"Yes, there is only me. Sorry, why were you up here, and why are you dressed like that." The Doctor nodded slowly, scratching his head.

"Could ask you the same question." He laughed. "Disney almost got it right."

"Excuse me?" the Gargoyle looked at him closely, his stone eyes blinking slowly. "Are you alright? Would you like to sit down? Cup of tea?" he pointed towards a chair in the corner and the Doctor nodded and sat down in it slowly.

"I'm the Doctor, I'm a, well I'm a Timelord, travel through time and space. I er, well I accidentally crashed into Father Christmas' sleigh, and then I sort of rendered him unconscious, and well here I am. I suppose I'm here to give you your stocking?"

"Well, no actually. You're here to give the baby a drink."

"The baby?" the Doctor paused, his mind a whirl. "The Hunchback? The Hunchback of Notre Dame? It's not a myth?"

"All myth is based in fact." The Gargoyle's voice grated. "And I suppose yes, he is the Hunchback of Notre Dame, as I am the Gargoyle. He was abandoned on the steps a few months ago. His pathetic wailing awoke me, and I could not bear to see the babe starve. I have taken him in, with the help of a young priest. He sleeps in the chamber below." The Doctor stood and went down the steps slowly. In an old wooden cot a small child, his head forced forward by the lump on the back of his shoulders, slept peacefully. The Doctor placed a hand on his forehead gently.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He whispered aware of the pain the child would eventually suffer. He put the presents in the small stocking hanging on the side of the cot, and walked slowly back up the stairs. When he got there he looked at the Gargoyle. "You're not from this world, but you're looking after that child. That is enough for me, but there will come a time when you will not be able to continue living here, I can take you home when that time comes if you wish it." The Gargoyle nodded, slowly, and the Doctor noticed stone dust being emitted from the movement.

"I am not from this world no, but its atmosphere is killing me. By the time the child is full grown, and passed on, I shall truly be no more than the stone gargoyle you caught hold of. So it has been for my brothers and sisters. We were all once alive, and then we became stuck here, and now only I remain. Come Doctor, it is time you were on your way." He offered the Doctor his hand and taking him on his back climbed back to the roof where the TARDIS stood waiting. "Farewell, my friend, we shall not meet again." The Doctor nodded again, mute from the sadness he felt at hearing the acceptance in the Gargoyles voice. The Gargoyle swung himself over the balustrade again and the Doctor raised his hand in farewell before pushing the TARDIS door open slowly and re-entering.

A/N Hugo wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1831, which is eight years before this story is set, but his tale was set in 1482, hence the mix up with the dates, but after another couple of my ideas for Paris backfired, things not being built in the right years, this just popped into my head C x