Well, here's the next installment in this little story of mine. :D Hope you all like it!
Disclaimer: I don't own a thing. I'd love to have David Tennant, Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, or Billie Piper though... Or Catherine Tate. For the lulz that would ensue.
CHAPTER ONE
It was five years before she saw the Doctor again.
Lily was leaning against her favorite tree on her school's campus. A small, bemused smile adorned her face as she watched her little brother Henry and their friend Riley bicker over something inconsequential.
She felt good that day.
VWORP. VWORP.
Until she heard that noise. That whirring noise that had been in her dreams for the past five years.
Without a second thought, Lily snatched her discarded shoes from the ground and took off running. She ignored Henry and Riley's confused yells in favor of finding the source of that noise.
It was that ridiculous police box again, she just knew it.
Lily ran all the way to the big gym her school had, the smell of chlorine wafting out through the open doors. She stared at the Olympic sized swimming pool for a moment, her face showing her confusion.
"I know I heard that stupid noise just now. Where the fuck is that big blue box?" She mumbled to herself, her brow furrowed.
"That noise isn't stupid! It's… special!"
"Holyshi-" Lily whirled around, a hand clutched over her heart. The first thing her eyes focused on were brown eyes staring back at her.
Those big brown eyes.
"You! Doctor man!" Lily yelled. She pointed a finger in the Doctor's face and glared at him.
"Me!" The Doctor replied. He moved Lily's hand so that it was pointing at his chest. He leaned forward and stared into her face for a moment, a look of concentration scrunching up his features. "I know who you are! You're Lily, that little girl at the beach! My, you've grown since I last saw you!" He gave her a once over, nodding in acceptance with a slight smirk.
Placing her hands on her hips, Lily looked every bit like a woman scorned. And hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
"Are you joking?" Lily scanned over the Doctor's tattered sneakers and ruffled suit and hair. She looked up into his face again, raising an eyebrow. "You look just like my brother!"
The Doctor's jaw dropped. "What? No 'Hello, Doctor! How have you been?' Not even a 'What the hell are you doing here?' I'm disappointed."
A roll of the eyes was Lily's only response. She watched the Doctor turn away from her before putting up three fingers, silently counting down as she watched his back stiffen slightly.
"3… 2… 1…" She smirked widely when he spun around to stare at her incredulously.
"How do I look like your brother? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Oh, I think it has to do with a lot of things." Lily mumbled. The Doctor gave her a scrutinizing look, seeming about ready to ask her a question when Henry and Riley suddenly ran into the gym they were still in.
Riley put his hands on his knees and breathed in deeply, wheezing slightly. He looked up at Lily and gave her one of his more disapproving looks.
Henry threw his arms in the air, immensely frustrated. "Why'd you run off like that, Lily? You could've given us a bit of a warning, you know!"
Lily bit her lip. She went to reply, but before she could get a word in edgewise, the Doctor flailed his arms out much like Henry did. "Blimey! You weren't lying, he really does look quite like me!" He exclaimed.
The Doctor and Henry took a step back at the same moment, the Doctor running into Lily while Henry bumped into Riley's arm.
"Oh!" Lily scooted back a little, instinctively grabbing onto the Doctor's waist so she wouldn't fall over.
Did the temperature suddenly go up ten degrees? Or was it just her?
Swallowing nervously, Lily clenched her hands where she was holding onto the Doctor before abruptly letting go, her face a remarkably dark shade of red.
There was a decided note of awkwardness between Lily and the Doctor, both with reddened cheeks and completely flustered demeanors. Henry took the opportunity that arose in their distraction to snatch Lily's arm and pull her behind him.
A mixed look of triumph and suspicion was plastered all over Henry's face as he stared at the Doctor. He pursed his lips slightly, not looking the slightest bit amused. "Who are you and what does it have to do with my sister?"
"I'm the Doctor!" The Doctor said gleefully. He raised his hand and did a kind of mock salute, his face shining with his smile.
Henry's eyes widened almost comically. He whipped around so that he was looking at a very sheepish looking Lily. ". . . WHAT?"
"Well… I told you he was real! You just didn't want to believe me!" Lily shrugged slightly, scratching the back of her neck.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Henry growled. He ran a hand through his dark curly hair angrily. "So you're telling me that he-" He thrusted a finger in the Doctor's direction. "is that… imaginary friend of yours? The one you've been dreaming about all these years?"
Lily blushed furiously as she watched a slow smirk form on the Doctor's face. "Shut up, Henry!"
"No!" Henry looked truly livid as he looked between Lily and the Doctor. "For fuck's sake, Lily! I thought this was all your imagination! He's not supposed to be real!"
Before Henry could pounce on the Doctor and strangle him to death like his twitching hands were implying, Riley stomped up to his friend and stared into his face shrewdly.
SMACK.
The resounding smack echoed throughout the room, followed by Lily's loud gasp and the Doctor's shocked murmur.
Henry held his cheek tenderly, a scandalized look on his face. He clenched his teeth, his face turning slightly red in irritation. "Riley, what the FUCK was that for?"
"Sorry, mate, but you were going mental." Riley shifted his weight from side to side, not meeting his friend's eyes.
An uncomfortable silence elapsed until the Doctor coughed into his fist. He looked around at the others, an embarrassed smile on his face. "Well, I guess I'll be the one to address the Slitheen in the room. I'm the Doctor, which it seems you already know. I met Lily here a fair few years back, which it seems you also know. They didn't put you in a loony bin for outrageous stories about some mystical man disappearing out of thin air, then?"
"Almost," Riley grumbled, the ghost of a smile gracing his face. The Doctor seemed to have that effect on people.
"That's all very well then, but why are you here? Hell, how are you here?" Lily's curiosity overcame any sense of politeness, as it usually did. Rather than being annoyed, as most adults would have been, however, the lanky man in the funny suit grinned at her enthusiasm.
"Thanks for reminding me, Lily! Have you noticed anyone around here acting...strangely?" The Doctor bounced on the balls of his feet; the man never seemed to be at a loss for energy.
Lily looked at Henry and Riley, her brow furrowed. "Actually… Our English teacher has been acting a little weird lately. We only thought it was because of his recent surgery that made him act like he does."
"He says he had a surgery." Riley raised an eyebrow. "You see, he's a bit of a fat man, so maybe he wanted to get rid of some of the extra layers?" Lily smacked his arm. "Oi!" He turned to Lily, pouting slightly.
"Be nice." Lily said, her lips pursed in disapproval.
The Doctor chuckled, making Lily turn to him with an amused sparkle in her eyes. The way she looked at him made him falter for a moment. He never really noticed how blue her eyes were… Clapping his hands once, he gave himself a mental shake while looking around at the three other people in the room. "Well! This is interesting news that could be proven useful!"
Scoffing loudly, Henry gave the Doctor an incredulous look. "How is that information useful in the least? They just told you about our annoying, fat English teacher!"
The Doctor gave him one of those looks that showed he was really trying on his patience. "Any information is useful, if you know how to use it well."
Lily gave Henry a hard shove, making him stumble backwards right into the pool. She had a satisfied smirk on her face as she turned back to the Doctor. "Now that my idiot brother is out of commission for the moment… What does our annoying English teacher have to do with this?"
"I also have a question!" Riley said, a truly confused expression on his face. "I heard you mention the word Slitheen earlier. What is that, exactly?"
Bouncing on the balls of his feet again, the Doctor looked positively gleeful. "Oh, you two are so refreshing after what I had to deal with-" He looked confused for a few seconds before shaking his head and smiling. "That story is for another time! Now, as for the Slitheen, what you have to know is that… they're aliens."
"Aliens?" Lily exclaimed, perplexed. Riley looked even more confused than he did before while Henry scoffed again from his dripping wet perch next to the pool.
"Yes! Aliens!" The Doctor's face was shining brightly, two spots of red high on his cheekbones showing his overall excitement about explaining all this to them.
He's so adorable. Lily thought offhandedly, watching the Doctor flail his arms around as he explained all these new, slightly shocking concepts. The sparkle was back in her eyes as the smile on her face turned softer around the edges. I really like him... Wow, I really do like him.
Henry looked between his sister and the strange man, and was a bit put off by the look in his eyes as he stared at her. When he blinked, however, all seemed relatively normal again. Well, apart from the odd chap whom no one apart from Lily thought existed. And the mission they were apparently on. What was it anyway? They didn't exactly get details on any of this-
He was snapped out of his reverie at the Doctor's sudden movements. Before he knew what was going on, Henry was running after Riley, who was chasing after his sister and the man. How infuriating.
As he fought the growing stitch in his side, Henry thought he heard the Doctor say something about "farting" and "danger." Seriously?
"Hold on. Did you just say something about danger?" Assuming the protective sibling role, Henry stopped in his tracks. The others skidded to a halt at the sound of his voice.
"I did mention danger, yeah. There's the off chance of getting hurt, of course, but I've dealt with these creatures before. They're fairly routine." The Doctor seemed impatient to get moving again, but Henry stood his ground.
"I don't like the idea of my sister being put into danger. You can go right ahead and investigate our teacher, but we're staying right here."
Lily turned to Henry, glaring daggers at him. "Henry Hughes, I believe I can speak for myself, thank you very much. It isn't your decision whether I stay or go. I'm my own person, and most importantly, I'm older." Her juvenile ending to her retort did lessen the blow a bit, but it was effective.
"You may be older, but are you wiser? Do you really have your well being in mind?" Henry was starting to get a bit patronizing, as was common when arguing with his sister.
Lily mumbled something sounding quite like "Wiser my arse!" when Riley jumped in.
"They may be quite mature individuals, but when they're together, they act like a pair of schoolchildren." He drowned out the argument as he explained his friends' actions to the Doctor. The siblings sheepishly looked at each other, both quite embarrassed for making fools of themselves. The Doctor, on the other hand, found the blush creeping up Lily's neck quite endearing...
All party's attention was shifted to more serious matters as the scream of what sounded like a young woman echoed from somewhere deep in the school. The Doctor immediately sprinted to the nearest door, and Lily, turning and shrugging at her brother, followed. Though not quite as enthusiastic, the boys weren't far behind.
Until next time, guys! Reviewing is fun. Everyone gets a nice sugar cookie that I'll bake specially for you if you review!
Also: Quite sorry to leave you with a cliffhanger like this so soon into the story. I feel like I need to write a bit more before I update again though. Hopefully you enjoy this! *hides behind desk chair from flying objects*