"What are you doing in here?" The Doctor asked, a slight panic was slipped into his tone.
"Oh. My. God!" Lauren suddenly had a realization of what was going on here, "You're an alien!"
The Doctor paused, and then look impressed, "Wow. No one's ever gotten it that quick before. You're sharp." He smiled at her, but then shook his head and turned serious again, "But you can't be in here."
"And why not? It seems perfectly safe to me." She put her hands on hips and winced. Her left forearm was still bleeding profusely. She held her arm to her body to try and maybe stifle the pain, but the movement only made it worse.
"Here," The Doctor said softly, stepping towards her, "Let me see." Lauren held her arm out for him to look, "Come here." He pulled her gently over to a bench on the opposite side of the room and had her sit down, "You didn't sever any arteries or anything important, so you should be fine." He said as he searched around the room and then came to sit next to her, a box of bandages in hand. "Why did you sneak into the TARDIS in the first place?" The Doctor asked as he gently wiped away the blood.
"The what?" Lauren was trying not to wince in pain; The Doctor's moves were slow and gentle, but her arm still hurt pretty badly.
"The TARDIS; what we're in right now. It stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. It's my 'spaceship', if that's what you want to call it." Having wiped all the blood off, The Doctor started to wrap her arm in a bandage.
"Oh. I'm not sure why I did it, you just… intrigued me, I guess." She shrugged. The Doctor smiled a little, but kept focused on fixing her arm, "Where are you from, exactly? And what are you?"
"I'm a Time-Lord from the planet Gallifrey." Her arm was completely bandaged and The Doctor stood up, "All right then, you should be getting home."
"Fine, I'll just see myself out, then. Thanks for bandaging up my arm." Lauren crossed quickly to the door and reached to open it. The Doctor tried to stop her, but was too late; she had already opened the TARDIS door and had stepped out into a place that looked nothing like her driveway, "Where are we?"
She turned to The Doctor, who was leaning against the door frame, "Venice in 2045. Far away from where you live." He stepped out of the TARDIS and locked the door behind him, "We might as well see what there is to see. I have a feeling that if we don't, I'll be hearing about it all the way back to your house."
Lauren smiled smugly, "Naturally." Then she ran around the corner of the alley the TARDIS had landed in and came out in an outdoor shopping mall. People walked past her, going about their daily lives, when Lauren noticed something, "They're all speaking English."
"No," The Doctor said, "They're speaking Italian. And so are you. When you step into the TARDIS, it does this sort of translating thing in your head."
"So I know Italian now?"
"I guess you could say that."
Lauren just laughed and looked in every direction she could. There were people everywhere and all of them were dressed in red cloaks, "Why are they all dressed like that?"
"It's their way of celebrating Giorno Della Vittoria, or Victory Day, in English. On this day, March 13th, in 2018, a plague of vampires descended on the human race here in Venice. The townspeople got together and fought back, and won in a horribly bloody, 12 hour battle. It was a quick victory, but so many people were lost." The Doctor strode up to stand beside her, his hands in his pants pockets, "Now, every year, the people of Venice celebrate every year by dressing up in red cloaks, eating, and dancing together."
"Sounds like fun." Lauren smiled.
"Yeah, well, don't get too comfortable. You're going home soon." The Doctor said seriously as he strode ahead of her and into the town square.
"Why don't you want me with you?" Lauren asked, jogging to catch up to his long strides; The Doctor was at least 2 feet taller than her.
"I'm used to being alone."
"I know the feeling." Lauren muttered under her breath. The square was alive with people milling about and buying things from the open air shops, "It's funny; you'd think things would change in 34 years, but everything looks just like it did in 2011."
"Well, the industrial revolution happened in the 18th century, and several advances went from there, but everything stopped after Apple updated the iPad to the iPad 3 in 2015. Technological advances stopped after that and Earth will go through a technological freeze until the invention of the hologram in 2056; then you will be launched into the future and all the things that you see in movies will start to exist." The Doctor didn't break stride as he rattled off the information about the past and the future.
"How do you know all this?" Lauren asked, trying hard not show her struggle in keeping up.
"I'm a Time-Lord. They teach you everything about anything that ever happens everywhere when you're 16."
"That's one hell of a sweet-sixteen gift. All I got when I turned sixteen was a four page essay to write about where I would go if I could travel through time." She smiled at the irony of the memory, "I said that I'd go back to my house on January 15th, 1998."
"Why then?" The Doctor asked, halting his walk and turning to face her.
Her smile wavered and threatened to disappear, "It's just a special day for me." Lauren said quietly.
She could tell The Doctor was about to press her further on the issue, but she was saved from having to explain herself by a plump, red-headed woman with rosy cheeks and a shrill voice, "Tourists!" she exclaimed, "Oh, you obviously have never been here during this holiday. Come, you'll celebrate with my family."
Before the travelers could protest, the woman was dragging them along to a house at the end of the street. The Doctor smiled dizzily, "I've never been called a tourist before. This could be fun."
Lauren just rolled her eyes, "We're being drug through the streets by a strange woman, and all you can say is, 'this should be fun'?" She hissed through her teeth, "For all we know, she could be a murderer. We could DIE tonight."
"Lauren, think about it, how could a sweet, middle-aged woman with her… physique, possibly kill us?" The Doctor was enjoying himself now.
"I saw Legion. I KNOW what little old ladies can do." Lauren said as they were shooed inside the house and into a kitchen area.
At the table was a man who looked to be about 30, and an extremely pregnant woman. The red-haired woman who'd brought them to the house gave a satisfied sigh and said, "Brett, Margo, we have company for the holidays."
The man named Brett stood up and shook hands with The Doctor and Lauren, "You are welcome in our home; we love guests!"
"Thank you." Lauren said awkwardly, "I'm Lauren and this is…"
"The Doctor! How do you do? Oh! Do I smell chowder? I love chowder!" The Doctor made his way over to the stove and started to smell the contents of a pot on the stove.
"And I'm Lisa." The red-haired woman who'd forced them here finally introduced herself, "This is my sister and her husband. And, of course," she gestured to Margo, "Their little baby, who should be coming any day now."
"Nice to meet you." Lauren shifted her weight and looked around uncomfortably. She'd never in her life been in a situation like this one before.
But, Lisa didn't stop to think about that. She just put Lauren and The Doctor to work immediately. The Doctor was in charge of helping Brett catch and kill the turkey, and Lauren was to skin potatoes and help Margo cut green onions. Two hours later, everyone was sitting down to the table for the celebration meal.
The Doctor had turkey feathers sticking out of odd places in his clothes and hair and Lauren had several bandages on her fingers from the potato skinner, but, thankfully, the meal looked better than they did. Throughout the meal, The Doctor and Lauren explained that they were just travelers passing through, and they listened to the small family ramble on and on about their lives, the baby, and baby names, until thunder shook the house. Everyone stood to look out the window, and when they did, they saw that a terrible thunder storm had struck. It was so bad that you couldn't even see the house across the street.
"Looks like no one's going anywhere tonight," Margo said, "I guess you two will just have to stay here until morning."
The Doctor started to protest, but Lisa just shoved another dinner roll in his mouth and said, "Nonsense. It's too dangerous. I'll go set up your room." The three residents of the house scattered to find things for their guests.
"She did mean our rooms, right? As in the plural form of the word?" The Doctor asked.
"I don't know, but I guess we're about to find out." Lauren followed Margo up the stairs, and, sure enough, she was led to a small guest room with a twin sized bed in the corner and a candle on a stand to illuminate the darkness. Lisa was making the bed and Margo was trying to change the light bulb.
"I don't know why I'm changing this thing; you two aren't even going to have it on at all." Margo winked at Lauren, who couldn't find the words she needed to explain.
"Oh no, we're not… I mean, we don't… We aren't…"
Margo screwed in the bulb and the light filled the room better than the candle had, "It's OK, love. You don't have to make excuses. We don't judge. And we have enough sense to know that two people traveling together aren't exactly playing card games on rainy nights."
"Who is playing card games?" The Doctor asked as he walked into the room.
"No one," Lisa said as she exited the room.
"Have a nice night," Margo nudged Lauren as she left.
"What was that about?" The Doctor asked, searching the room for another bed.
"They think we're sleeping together." Lauren said and she threw herself down on the bed. If one of them was sleeping on the floor tonight, it wasn't going to be her. The Doctor tried not to laugh as he squeezed in beside Lauren on the bed, "Can I ask what you're doing?"
"Well, I'm not sleeping on the floor, but you can if you don't want to be mature about this." The Doctor said; rolling over on his side to look at her and arching an inquisitor eyebrow; it was almost a cute look. Almost.
"No, I'm mature. Now go shut off the light."
"Yes, miss bossy." The Doctor scoffed and he took out his sonic screwdriver, pointed it at the light fixture and the light went out.
They lay still and silent in the dark for a few minutes before The Doctor whispered, "I blame you for this."
"Me?" She hissed back, "Why me? What'd I do?"
"You stowed away. You shouldn't have been in the TARDIS in the first place."
"You trespassed on my property. You shouldn't have been in my driveway."
"I saved you from Gremlins!"
"No, I save YOU from Gremlins."
It grew silent until The Doctor said, "Thanks for that."
"You're welcome." Then the silence stretched on and on until both were sound asleep.
The loud sound of screaming filled the house and caused bother The Doctor and Lauren to wake suddenly. It was the middle of the night and pitch black outside; not a street-lamp on in sight. The Doctor tried to swing his legs out of bed, but they were so tangled up in Lauren's, that he fell onto the floor and brought Lauren with him. They both hit the wood with a loud thud and had to spend a few seconds untangling themselves in the dark.
When both were free from the other, they ran downstairs to inspect the screaming. It was Margo. She was lying on the floor of the living room screaming in pain, and Brett was next to her holding her hand, "It's ok, Margo, we'll get through this." When Brett saw The Doctor come in, he said, "You're a doctor! Help us! She's having the baby!"
The look on The Doctor's face was one that was not normally there. It was a cross between 'oh my god' and 'wait, there's a baby in there?'. "What? No, I'm not THAT kind of doctor! I can't help!" The Doctor stammered as he tried to back away from the couple.
"Then get OUT of the way!" Lauren said, pushing past him and kneeling down in front of Margo, "Alright, let's see if I remember anything from my Child Development class in high school." She thought for a moment, "Ok, Brett, I need you to keep doing what you're doing, except: calm down. Lisa, I need blankets, warm water, a syringe, binder clamps, and scissors. And Doctor?" She turned to look at him.
"Yeah?" he said, hoping that whatever he was needed for would be quick and easy.
"I need you to not cause problems or be in the way." She smirked before turning back to help Margo.
"Uh, yeah. That I can do." The Doctor said as he melted into the corner of the room.
As the labor progressed, Margo was in more and more pain and Lauren was trying not to look like she was as absolutely terrified as she felt. As the minutes slipped by, and the baby was ready to be delivered, Lauren decided to check on the occupants of the room, "How's everyone holding up?"
"Fine." Brett and Lisa said at the same time, while Margo just yelled in pain.
"And you, Doctor?" She asked. No answer, "Doctor?" Silence, "DOCTOR!"
"Uh…" He sounded slightly dazed, "I'm Ok, I'm—OH MY GOD IS THAT A HEAD?" The next thing Lauren heard was a thump and Lisa's cold giggle, "What just happened?" Lauren didn't dare try to turn around while delivery was this close.
Lisa stifled her laughter, "The poor man just fainted."
Lauren rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, "The man's an alien and he can't even deal with childbirth." She turned slightly to Lisa and said, "Do something with him, will ya?" Lisa, still giggling, drug The Doctor's unconscious body out into the hall before coming back in. By that point, the whole process was over and Lauren was wrapping Margo and Brett's newborn baby boy up in a blanket. As she cleaned the baby off, however, she began to notice something strange about it.
Out in the hall, The Doctor was starting to come to, "Jeez… I've traveled across all time and space, yet THAT was a new experience. A new experience and one I never want to have again." He mumbled as he stood up, rubbing his head, "I think I hit my head on something." He straitened his clothes and tried to pop the crick out of his neck.
The Doctor turned to go upstairs; he wanted to get some sleep before Lauren took up the whole bed and after what he just saw, he could wait to see the baby until the morning. But before he could get even halfway up the stairs, Lauren's scream caught his attention, "DOCTOR!" Her voice was panicked, and he knew she was in trouble.
The Doctor burst through the door to the living room and saw, yet another new sight. The newborn baby was crouched on the floor like some sort of animal and was hissing at the cornered human beings; it's canine teeth as sharp as razor blades, "Get behind me!" The Doctor yelled as he put himself between the baby and the adults.
The Doctor fumbled for his sonic screwdriver and Lauren was looking around for anything to help defend everyone. Her eye caught a broom in the opposite corner of the room, and without warning, she lunged for it, "No!" The Doctor called out and tried to grab the collar of her shirt, but she was too quick for him.
In a flash, she was across the room with the broom in hand. The child lunged at her and she took a baseball batter's swing at it, hitting it across the jaw. Margo screamed and began to cry, and Brett held her close to him and tried to calm her down and keep her safe. The baby had stopped moving, and The Doctor was trying to examine it. He finally stood and said, "It's not dead, but it is possessed."
"Possessed?" Margo began to cry harder.
"Yeah. By a vampire spirit. Most likely one left over from the battle in 2018; biding its time until a fresh soul came into the world on this day." The Doctor pulled his glasses out of his coat pocket and slipped them on.
"Can you save him?" Brett asked, his eyes pleading for a yes, but begging not to be told no.
"Maybe." The Doctor picked up the small baby and laid it down on the table, "But you don't want to be in here for it." Brett nodded and escorted his family out of the room, "That goes for you, too." The Doctor said to Lauren.
"I'm not leaving you, not with that thing still inside the baby." Lauren gripped the broom tighter.
The Doctor stared her down, but he realized that she was serious, and that she wasn't going anywhere, he said, "Stay back a bit." She obeyed and watched as he worked.
At first, it didn't seem like he was doing anything, just placing his hands on the baby's head, but then its head snapped back and a deep and rough whisper poured out of its lips, "Leave me be, Doctor. I only want to live!"
"You can't live here, this person is already living." The Doctor remained as calm as if he was having tea with an old friend.
"But it's so small, no one will notice if it's gone."
"The parents will notice." The thing grew silent, "What's your name?"
"Gareth. I was one of the first to die in the battle for Venice over 20 years ago. I have awaited my chance to come back, and now it has come. So leave me be, Doctor. I just want to live!"
The Doctor looked as if he had compassion for both the baby, and Gareth, "Gareth, this is illegal. You know very well that in the law of your people, you're not allowed to do this. And, you know that if you were caught by your people, they would set you free. Just like this." Quick as lightning, The Doctor drew out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at Gareth, switching it on. The baby writhed on the table before arching its back high to the ceiling, then falling back to the table; asleep.
The Doctor went over and picked it up, the tiny human curling up instinctively to his chest. He walked the baby out to its parents and handed it back saying, "There. All better."
Brett and Margo were spilling forth their gratitude until The Doctor held up a hand and went back up the stairs without another word. Lauren watched him go before saying, "What will you name him?"
"Doc." Margo's eyes were shining with happiness, "It may be a strange name, but Brett and I decided that if he got us through this, then we'd name the baby after him, and one day tell him of The Doctor's heroism." Brett took his son and held him close, tears of happiness pouring down his cheeks.
Lauren smiled, but was suddenly overcome by a wave of exhaustion, "I'm going back to bed." She commented as she trudged up the stairs. The Doctor was lying still on the bed except for the gently rise and fall of his chest from breathing. Lauren tried her best not to wake him as she lay down, and she fell instantly asleep when her head hit the pillow.
The next day was a bright one, and it started early for The Doctor and Lauren. He had woken her only two hours after she'd fallen asleep and told her to get up and get ready. Seeing as she hadn't brought anything with her, that didn't take long. He snuck them out of the house before the family woke up and led her back to the TARDIS, "Why did we leave so early?" Lauren didn't understand.
"Because we don't need to bother those people anymore. And besides, I need to get you home." The Doctor showed no emotion as he unlocked the TARDIS door.
"Oh." Lauren said softly. She went inside the TARDIS and sat on one of the benches. She hung her head and hid her face from The Doctor. She didn't want to go back home, but he didn't want her there, so her fate was sealed.
The Doctor began to set dials and push buttons, "Alright, let's get you home." He looked up at Lauren and saw her forlorn body language. But he shook his head to clear his mind and continued to push buttons. The TARDIS began to disappear into time and space.