A Christmas Carol (Part 1)
A space liner flew through the clouds of a distant planet, storms around them, lightning striking everywhere. It was crashing. The captain, her assistant, and the pilot were all in alarm as they fought to gain control of the ship, when they noticed a distress call had been sent from the honeymoon suite.
Suddenly the doors to the cabin opened and none other than Amy Pond walked in, dressed as a policewoman, her infamous kissogram outfit. The captain, assistant, and pilot all turned to look at her, "I sent for help," she told them.
"Who the hell are you?" the captain asked.
"Look they're friends of mine ok? And they can help. They'll come."
The captain just looked at her outfit, "And what are you wearing?"
Amy tugged at her skirt, trying to laugh it off, "…that doesn't matter."
"Are you in the honeymoon suite?" the captain continued, realizing why she might be dressed that way.
Amy very nearly blushed, "Shut up."
Just then the brand new Mr. Pond stumbled into the room, dressed as a roman centurion, with a large blocky device in his hand, an antenna sticking out of it, "Amy!" Rory shouted, going over to her, "The light stopped flashing does that mean they're coming?"
"Honeymoon suite," the assistant nodded.
"Oh the clothes…" Rory looked down at himself, "Um, it is just a bit of fun…"
"Really!" Amy called, "Shut up!"
"Storms have penetrated the central hold!" the pilot reported.
"So does this mean they're coming?" Rory continued, looking down at the device Evy had given them as he moved around to stand before Amy, "Or does this mean I need to change the bulb?"
"They'll come!" Amy told him, "They always come."
"Well they are cutting it kind of tight!"
"If we can't stabilize the orbit we're finished!" the captain cried out.
"There's nothing to lock on to!" the pilot shouted, "I am flying blind."
The ship jolted as they continued to crash.
"Come on Doctor," Amy breathed, "Come on Evy!"
"There's something come alongside us!" the pilot called, "Something small, like a shuttle."
"Just once don't be late."
"Incoming message," the assistant announced, "From the other ship."
"On screen," the captain ordered.
The assistant brought up a sort of screen over their main window, a projection showing a small message at the top:
Come Along Ponds!
Amy and Rory nearly laughed, seeing the TARDIS zoom by in the heart of the storm.
"What does that mean?" the captain frowned.
Amy just smiled, "It's Christmas!"
~8~
Evy had disappeared for a bit as the Doctor worked on 'fixing' the TARDIS, with only the excuse that she was working on a surprise for him and not to peek. So, he focused on the TARDIS to distract himself and keep him from being tempted. He'd gotten far more than he bargained for in terms of distractions when a device Evy had rigged up to keep in touch with Rory and Amy began to go off with them calling for help.
Evy had come running and they were both trying to get the TARDIS to land on the ship…unfortunately, the ship was falling far too quickly and moving too much for them to get a proper lock on it. They were able to get a reading off the ship and the area around it and discovered that it was the cloud belt they were trapped in that was causing their problems. They were also able to get a reading off the cloud belt itself that pointed to some sort of control harnessing the power of the sky.
Evy had immediately started tracking the energy signals and they landed on the roof of a large building overlooking a rather high-tech village with Victorian themes. The building was in the center of town with a large dome on top and a spire of purple energy shooting out of it, the clouds swarming around it…yes…definitely the source of the cloud disturbance.
As soon as the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, and saw a chimney only a few feet away, Evy knew she was in trouble. He took off for it, half diving down into as she ran over shouting, "Oh, don't do that!"
But it was too late, he'd already jumped through.
She sighed, walking back to the TARDIS and re-landing inside the house in some room. She opened the doors to see the Doctor pick himself up off the floor of the main sitting room where he'd rolled out of the chimney, covered in soot. There was a small family of four standing there, an old man, and a few servants, all staring as the Doctor coughed.
"Ah…yes…blimey," he looked up, noticing the people stood around him, "Sorry, Christmas Eve on a rooftop, saw a chimney, my whole brain just went 'what the hell!'"
"Really?" Evy asked, stepping into the room, "My brain went, 'you're an idiot!'" she walked over and began to help him dust off, ignoring the people staring at her now too.
"How'd you get in here?" he asked, looking behind him at the chimney and then over at her pristine clothes.
"We do have a TARDIS that can land indoors you know, and I wasn't about to get another outfit dirty," he looked at her tan coat and pants, tucked into black boots, with a red button down shirt, "Besides, this is my favorite jacket."
He just laughed and got a look in his eye that she knew meant trouble. Before she could react he reached out and pulled her into a hug, getting her dirty anyway.
"Thanks," she rolled her eyes, not actually all that mad. It was hard to be mad at him so near Christmas.
He looked behind her, seeing the children staring at them, "Don't worry…" he walked over towards them as Evy tried to brush the soot off her pants, "Fat fella will be doing the rounds later," he shook their hands, "We're just scoping out the general chimneyness. Yes!" he clapped and turned back, heading towards the chimney and patted it, resting his hand against it as he leaned, "Nice size. Good traction…" he pulled his hand away suddenly as the chimney was still rather hot from the fire that had just been in it, "Big tick."
Evy took his hand and looked at it, making sure it wasn't badly burned. It looked fine.
"Fat fella?" the father of the family frowned and shook his head, confused.
"Father Christmas," Evy replied as she and the Doctor walked back over to the family. They still looked confused, "Santa Claus?" she tried another name.
"Or as we've always known him," the Doctor smiled, "Jeff."
"There's no such person as Father Christmas," the son replied.
"Oh yeah?" the Doctor whipped out a black and white photo of him and Evy, sitting, with three people standing behind them, "Us and Father Christmas."
"I remember that!" Evy looked at the picture, "Frank Sinatra's hunting lodge, 1952."
"See him in the back with the blonde?" the Doctor pointed, "Albert Einstein, the five of us together. Watch out!" he put it away, "Ok?" the boy smiled and nodded, "Keep the faith."
"Don't be naughty," Evy smiled as the Doctor turned around.
"Oh, now what's this then?" he asked. She looked over to see him running towards a device with a monitor in the middle, gauges above it and valves on either side, "I love this. A big flashly lighty thing, that's what brought us here," he looked over at Evy who went to join him, "Big flashy lighty things have got me written all over them. Not actually…" he continued to ramble as Evy examined the machine with her sonic. He sat down and spun to face the people still staring at them, "Give me time and a crayon. Now! This big flashy lighty thing is connected to the spire in your dome yeah?" he looked back at the old man, sensing he was in charge. Evy just shook her head at him, "And it controls the sky…"
"It actually controls the clouds," Evy corrected, sitting in the chair as the Doctor got up and walked towards the old man, "Which aren't really clouds."
"Well, they're clouds of tiny particles of ice," he agreed as he walked past the man and towards the family, "Ice clouds…" he pointed at the daughter, "Love that."
"Who's she?" Evy asked, frowning at the large, frozen container with a very lovely blonde woman trapped in it, in stasis.
"Nobody important," the old man replied.
Evy and the Doctor exchanged a look before both of them made their way over to the box to look inside, getting a closer view of the woman, "Nobody important?" Evy shook her head, that was impossible.
"Blimey that's amazing," the Doctor commented, "Do you know in 900 years of time and space I've never met anyone who wasn't important before," he turned to look meaningfully at the old man before running back to the controls of the 'big flashy lighty thing,' "Now! This console is the key to saving that ship…" he leaned down to examine it as Evy walked back over to him, after giving one last look at the woman in the box, "I'll eat my hat…if I had a hat. I'll eat someone's hat, not someone who's using their hat, wouldn't want to shock a nun or something..."
"The machine," Evy remarked, getting him back on track as she leaned against the wall beside him.
"Sorry rambling," he cut himself off, "'Cos…'cos this isn't working!" he threw his hands up, frustrated.
"The controls are isomorphic," Evy told him as the old man opened his mouth.
The man gave her a hard look before walking towards them, "One to one," he agreed, "They respond only to me."
The Doctor looked at him, "You fibber!" he turned back to the machine, muttering, "Isomorphic…there's no such thing."
"My brother," Evy deadpanned, "On the Valiant. With a laser screwdriver. Ringing any bells?"
"Nope, none at all," he replied, but she could tell he was lying.
The old man reached past him, tapping a switch, turning off the device, and then turning it back on.
The Doctor looked at him a moment before reaching out to the same switch, but it just beeped, not doing anything. He tried it again, flipping it quickly, but still nothing. He pulled out his sonic, scanning the switch and then the old man, looking at his results.
"The controls are isomorphic, aren't they?" Evy raised an eyebrow, amused.
"Yes…" he replied slowly, "Yes, they are."
"The skies of this entire world are mine," the old man told them, "My family tamed them and now I own them."
"Tamed the sky?" Evy laughed, the whole idea was a bit ridiculous to her.
"What does that mean?" the Doctor asked.
The old man just turned and walked off, "It means I'm Kazran Sardick. How could you possibly not know who I am?"
"I sippose we're just easily bored," Evy commented, not too fond of the man.
The children smiled at that.
"So, we need your help then," the Doctor clapped and walked towards Kazran.
"Make an appointment," Kazran waved him off.
"There are 4,003 people trapped in your cloud belt in a spaceship," Evy frowned at him, pushing herself away from the wall to stand beside the Doctor, facing the man, "They'll die without your help."
"Yes," Kazran smiled, as though he didn't see the problem.
"You don't have to let that happen," the Doctor told him.
"I know, but I'm going to," Kazran sneered at them, "Bye bye, bored now. Check!" the servants rushed forward, ushering the family out as another two servants grabbed the Doctor and Evy's arms to pull them along, but they managed to break free, storming over to Kazran as he sat in his chair by the fire, "Oh, look at you, looking all tough now."
"There are 4,003 people we won't allow to die tonight," the Doctor looked down at him, "Do you know where that puts you?"
"Where?" Kazran asked, not sounding remotely interested.
"4,004," Evy answered.
"Was that a sort of threaty thing?" he smirked, not scared in the slightest.
The Doctor looked at Evy who just frowned at the man before returning his attention back to Kazran, "Whatever happens tonight remember, you brought it on yourself."
"Yeah, yeah, right," Kazran rolled his eyes, "Get them out of here!" he waved at his servants who came forward and grabbed their arms, pulling them away once more, "And next time try to find me some funny poor people."
The servants resumed ushering the family out the door when the small boy broke free. He ran forward and grabbed a lump of coal that had rolled across the room from the chimney and threw it straight at Kazran, hitting him in the head.
"I like him," Evy remarked, smiling at the boy's action.
But then Kazran jumped to his feet and nearly ran across the room, lifting the back of his hand, ready to strike the boy.
"No!" Evy shouted
"Stop!" the Doctor struggled in the servant's grip, "Stop!"
"No!" the father cried, "You leave him!"
Kazran hesitated a moment, staring down at the child as though trying to muster the nerve to strike him but was unable to. He lowered his hand…
The Doctor and Evy exchanged curious looks, watching as Kazran stepped back, "Get them out of here!" he nearly growled, glaring at the family and the boy, "Get that foul smelling family out of here! Out!" the family was forced from the room as Kazran turned around to head back to his chair, when he paused. He looked over his shoulder to see the Doctor and Evy still standing there, "What? What do you want?"
They just looked at him a moment.
"A simple life," the Doctor answered.
"You didn't hit him," Evy eyed him.
"Well I will next time!" Kazran spat.
Evy shook her head, "No, I don't think you will."
"Now why?" the Doctor looked past him, staring off into space, "What are we missing?"
"Get out!" Kazran shouted as they slowly walked past him, more into the room, "Get out of this house!"
"Chairs," the Doctor breathed as Evy looked over to see a portrait of an older man who bore a striking resemblance to Kazran hanging on the wall, "Of course the chairs, stupid me, the chairs!"
"The chairs?" Kazran muttered, watching as Evy went to stand in front of the portrait.
"There's a portrait on the wall behind me," the Doctor began staring past Kazran, looking though Evy's eyes at the painting.
"He looks just like you," Evy remarked, examining the date, "But it was painted too long ago. Must be your father."
"All the chairs are angled away from it. Daddy's been dead for twenty years but you still can't get comfortable where he can see you. There's a Christmas tree in the painting, but none in this house on Christmas Eve."
"You're scared," Evy realized, turning around and walking over to them, "You're scared of him, of being like him."
"Good for you. You're not like him. Not really, do you know why?"
"Why?" Kazran gasped as lightning flashed behind him.
Evy smiled gently, "Because you didn't hit that little boy."
Kazran looked down.
"Merry Christmas Mr. Sardick," the Doctor smiled as well.
"I despise Christmas!" he shouted, glaring at them.
"You shouldn't!" the Doctor called, taking Evy's hand and walking with her towards the door, "It's very you."
"It's what?" Kazran shook his head, turning around to face them, "What do you mean?"
"Halfway out of the dark," Evy replied as they stopped to look at him.
Kazran's eyes widened, realizing they were talking about what he'd been saying just before the Doctor fell out of the chimney. They had heard every word.
He looked down as the servants entered, the Doctor and Evy walking out the door past them, "Get her downstairs with the others!" he shouted as they left, "And clean up this mess!"
The pair heard him shouting orders left and right as they stepped out of the house, when something beeped in Evy's pocket. She pulled out a small sort of narrow flip phone and opened it.
"Have you got a plan yet?" Amy asked as soon as the line was open.
"Yes we do," the Doctor replied.
"Evy…is he lying?"
Evy laughed, "Of course he is."
"Oi!" the Doctor turned to her.
"Just remember Amy, there's never a plan when it comes to him."
"Don't treat me like an idiot Doctor," Amy threatened.
"Was he lying?" Rory asked in the background.
"Ha…no, no," Amy chuckled nervously to him.
"Ok," the Doctor cut in, "The good news, we've tracked the machine that unlocks the clouds belt. We could use it to clear you a flight corridor, and you could land easily."
"Well, hey, hey, that's great news," Amy replied.
"But…we can't control the machine."
"Less great."
"We did meet a man who could though," Evy told her.
"Ah, well, there you go!"
"And now he sort of hates us."
"Was I because the Doctor was being all charming and clever?"
"Yup," she popped the p.
"How did you know?" the Doctor asked, stunned.
"Lucky guess," Evy could almost hear the eye roll in Amy's words.
"Sir?" the father from before called, stepping over to them, "Ma'am?"
"Hang on," the Doctor muttered into the comm., pulling it down so they could give the man their attention.
"I've never seen anyone stand up to Mr. Sardick like that," the father said, reaching out to shake their hands, "Bless you sir, ma'am, and Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas," Evy smiled at him.
"Yes, Merry Christmas," the Doctor nodded, "Lovely. Sorry, bit busy…" he held up the device.
"You better get inside though," the man warned, "The fog's thick tonight and there's a fish warning."
"Yeah…" he nodded, before shaking his head, "Sorry, fish?"
"Yeah," the man agreed, "You know what they're like when they get a bit hungry."
"Yes we know what fish can be like," Evy cut in, that was another adventure with the Doctor that had gone wrong, "But what do you mean by a 'fish warning?'"
"All Mr. Sardick's fault I reckon," the man pointed up at the spire as they looked up at the lightning around it, "He always lets a few fish through the cloud layer when he's in a bad mood," he sighed, pulling down the goggles he wore on his hat and shook their hands again, "Thank you. Bless you once again," he walked off, leaving both the Doctor and Evy rather confused.
"Fish?" the Doctor frowned.
"Doctor!" Amy's voice shouted over the comm., "The captain says we've got less than an hour. What should we be doing?"
"Fish!" Evy breathed. The Doctor turned to see her staring at a small group of tiny fish actually swimming in the air around a light post behind them.
"Sorry what?"
"Fish that can swim in fog…" the Doctor said as they walked towards the post, "I love new planets!" he grinned at Evy, "Like you love period trips, and this is both! Oh, this is Christmas!"
"It really is," Evy murmured, eyeing the fish. It literally was very nearly Christmas.
"Doctor, please, don't get distracted," Amy called, "Evy, please, don't let him get distracted."
"Too late…" Evy remarked as the Doctor stood, staring at the fish…though she had to admit she was a bit curious as well.
"Now why would people be frightened of you tiny little fellas?" the Doctor reached out a hand, wiggling his fingers at them as a few swam over and tried to nibble on them, "You sweet little fishy, wishys…" they swam back to the light.
"Doctor…" Evy began, frowning as she looked at the fish, "If those tiny fish swim in the fog…what's in the cloud cover?"
"…ooh" his eyes widened, he pulled up the comm., "Careful up there."
"Oh, oh, great thanks Doctor," Amy said sarcastically, "Because there was a real danger and we were all gonna nod off…" the Doctor held the comm. away as Amy shouted, "We've got less than an hour!"
"We know," Evy replied, looking back at a clock that just turned to 11 pm.
The speakers on the light posts turned on and began to play a sort of Christmas song.
"Doctor!" Amy yelled, "Evy! How are you getting us off here?"
"Oh just…give us a minute," the Doctor called back, hitting his forehead with his hand. Evy walked over to him and took his hand so he couldn't do it again. He squeezed it looking at her.
"Right then, no TARDIS," she began, helping him work through the problem at hand, "It can't get a proper lock on the ship."
He nodded, "So that ship needs to land, but it can't land unless a very bad man suddenly decides to turn nice just in time for Christmas day."
"I can't hear you!" Amy called, "What is that? Is that singing?"
"A Christmas carol."
"A what?"
"A Christmas carol," Evy repeated a bit louder.
"A what?"
"A Christmas carol!" the Doctor shouted. He froze, his eyes widening as an idea struck him. He looked over at Evy, sending her his plan.
She blinked and smiled, "That could work!"
"Doctor?" Amy asked, "Evy?"
"Kazran Sardick…" the Doctor looked up at the spire.
"Doctor!" Amy shouted.
He just smiled, "Merry Christmas Kazran Sardick."
~8~
They used the TARDIS's databanks to pull up a rather old recording of a rather young Kazran Sardick. It was in pretty bad shape, though, as it was quite old and seemed to have been forgotten for quite a while. Evy had had a lot of work to do on it to get it to actually play with sound. The Doctor then slipped into Kazran's home to see the old man asleep on the chair and stuck the recording into a projection box on the table beside him.
They watched in silence as Kazran woke up to see the projection of something he'd recorded as a child playing. The child spoke of the fish and how they seemed to like singing when his father stormed into the room and began to argue with him about how silly the idea was. The child tried to stand up to him, to say that he wanted to see the fish, that singing could work, and they didn't have to be afraid of them anymore.
Evy flinched as the father struck his son. The Doctor took her hand as the child began to apologize to his father, crying as the father ignored him and continued to belittle him. It was a horrible thing to watch and seemed to be just as terrible for Kazran to relive as well. They slowly made their way over to him.
The Doctor rested a hand on the man's shoulder, "It's ok…" Kazran jumped back, spinning to face them, "It's ok…"
"What have you done?" he demanded, glaring at them, "What is this?" he pointed at the projection, still playing.
"Found it on an old drive."
"The picture quality isn't the best, sorry about that," Evy added, "I had to cover the data using quantum and folding…"
"…and a paperclip," the Doctor finished, smugly. He'd been insisting that the paperclip would work and Evy had been arguing it wouldn't. She'd grown frustrated and finally used it to prove him wrong, only to be proven wrong herself. He sat down on the chair Kazran had gotten out of.
"Yes, and a paperclip," she sighed, walking over to stand beside him, only for him to tug her down onto his lap, still grinning as he opened up a newspaper for them both to look at. Kazran looked at the projection box before hurrying around the table towards the bell to alert his servants, "Don't bother," she remarked but he rang the bell anyway, "All your servants quit."
Kazran looked at them, stunned.
"Apparently they won the lottery at exactly the same time…" the Doctor commented, "Which is a bit lucky when you think about it."
"There isn't a lottery," Kazran replied.
"Yea, as I said…" the Doctor looked up at him over the newspaper, "Lucky…"
Kazran glanced at the projection once more, seeing himself as a child, crying in his room, before looking over at the Doctor and Evy once more, "Who are you?"
"Tonight…we're the Ghosts of Christmas Past."
Kazran looked at the projection again, slowly walking towards it as his father left the room.
"Did you ever get to see a fish?" Evy asked quietly, "Back then, when you were a kid?"
"What does that matter to you?" Kazran snapped.
"Look," Evy nodded at the screen, "It clearly mattered to you."
"I cried all night. And I learned life's most invaluable lesson."
"Which is?" the Doctor asked, getting up with Evy and walking to stand in front of the projection, facing Kazran.
"Nobody comes," he sneered, "Get out! Get out of my house!"
The Doctor jumped back, taking Evy's hand and pulling her back from the fuming old man, "Ok…ok," he held up his hands in surrender, "But we'll be back…" he glanced at Evy who nodded, "Way back," they turned and walked over to the main doors to the room, opening them to reveal the TARDIS sitting there. Evy went over and opened the doors to the box as the Doctor looked back at Kazran, "Way, way back."
They stepped into the TARDIS and disappeared…reappearing at the exact moment they had left Kazran watching on the projection…the young Kazran's bedroom as he cried at his desk. They watched through the window as young Kazran looked up and over at them.
"See?" the Doctor called, knowing the event was still being recorded and the older Kazran would be seeing this as it happened, "Back?"
He opened the window as Kazran turned to face them, "Who are you?"
"Hi!" the Doctor shouted, "I'm the Doctor and this is Evy and we're your new babysitters!" he jumped out of the window and into the room, turning to catch Evy as she jumped down as well.
"Where's Mrs. Mantovani?" Kazran asked, trying to quickly wipe his eyes.
Evy frowned and walked over to him, drying his tears with a handkerchief as the Doctor went to stand on the bed frame, "Ah, you'll never guess," he jumped onto the bed and kept jumping up and down, "Clever old Mrs. Manters went and won the lottery."
"There isn't any lottery," Kazran sniffled. Evy gave him a side hug, which seemed to brighten him up just a bit.
"We know! What a woman!" he jumped off the bed and over to Evy, pulling her into a hug himself and spinning her around, making her laugh.
Kazran just watched, stunned by them, "If you're my babysitters, why are you climbing in the window?"
"'Cos if we were climbing out of the window we'd be going in the wrong direction. Pay attention."
"But Mrs. Mantovani's always my babysitter."
"Times change," Evy smiled, turning to lean in front of the recorder, "Don't you agree?"
"See?" the Doctor called as Evy stepped back, "Christmas past."
"Who are you talking to?" Kazran asked cautiously, fearing for their sanity.
"You," the Doctor grinned.
Evy rolled her eyes and nudged him out of the way, leaning down to look at the recorder again, "Your past is going to start changing so your memory will change too."
"Bit scary," the Doctor nudged her as well, "But you'll get the hang of it."
"I don't understand," Kazran shook his head.
"Oh, I bet you don't!" the Doctor turned to the child sitting there, "I wish I could see your face…" he started pointing back and forth between the child and the recorder before grabbing Evy and running back to the bed. He jumped, falling onto his back, taking Evy with him, the both of them laughing. Evy rolled off of him, onto her elbows, as the Doctor sat up with a clap, "Right then, your bedroom! Great! Let's see, you're 12 years old so…" he began to tug up a sheet hanging over the side of the bed before Evy reached out and motioned for him to drop it.
"I'd stay away from under the bed if I were you," she said.
"Cupboard!" the Doctor cried, noticing a door a little ways off, "Big cupboard!" he grabbed Evy's hand, pulling her off the bed and over to it with him, "I love a cupboard. Lots of things you can do in a…hmmm…" he cleared his throat, glancing at Evy with a blush as she laughed at the memory of the last time they'd been caught in a cupboard. He threw the doors open and looked inside, "Do you know, there's a thing called a face spider? Just like a tiny baby's head except with spider legs, and it's specifically evolved to scuttle up the backs of bedroom cupboards…ow!"
Evy smacked him on the head, giving him a meaningful look as he turned to glance at her, rubbing his head. "Face spiders?" she hissed quietly, nodding back at Kazran who looked just the tiniest bit scared.
"Yeah…" he winced, turning to face Kazran, "I probably shouldn't have mentioned that. Right, so!" he walked over to Kazran again, pacing as he tried to figure out what they should do. Evy went and sat on the bed to watch, "What are we going to do? Eat crisps and talk about girls?" Evy raised an eyebrow at that, "I've never actually done that, but I bet it's easy. I mean, I could go on and on about Evy here…" he glanced at her, "She's just brilliant. Could probably talk for years but what about you? Girls? Yeah?"
Kazran eyed him skeptically, "Are you really a babysitter?" the woman, he could believe, but the man…
The Doctor looked almost offended, "I think you'll find I'm universally recognized as a mature and responsible adult," he held up the psychic paper.
Evy started cracking up at that, actually rolling on the bed with laughter, holding her sides at the blatant lie.
The Doctor mock glared at her before turning back to Kazran, "Just says ignore the cackling madwoman on the bed."
Kazran looked up at him from the paper, "It's just a lot of wavy lines."
The Doctor looked at it as Evy got up to see it as well, wiping a tear from her eye, "Yep," she nodded, looking over his shoulder at the paper, "You shorted it out. You've finally done it, told a lie too big for the poor thing to handle."
He stuck out his tongue at her, only emphasizing her point, before putting the paper away, "No," he crouched down to face Kazran, "Not really babysitters, but it's Christmas Eve, you don't want a real one. You want us!"
"Why?" Kazran frowned, "What's so special about you?"
"Have you ever seen 'Mary Poppins?'" he asked, getting up.
"No."
"Good," Evy cut in as the Doctor turned to speak, "That would have been a rubbish comparison," she walked over to the Doctor, who was pouting, "I think we'd be much better than that," she smiled at him, giving him a peck for extra measure.
The Doctor grinned, clapping his hands before turning to the window, "Fish in the fog, fish in the clouds," he turned to Evy as he jumped into the window, "How do people ever get bored?" he held out a hand to her.
"How did boredom even get invented in the first place?" Evy agreed, taking his hand and standing beside him in the open window.
"My dad's invented a machine," Kazran called, getting up and walking to stand beside his bed, looking up at them, "To control the cloud belt. Tame the sky he says. The fish'll be able to come down, but only when we let them. We can charge whatever we like."
"Yeah," Evy nodded, "We took a look at your dad's machine."
"What? You can't have."
The Doctor looked over his shoulder, out the window, a moment and then back at Kazran, "Tame the sky…" he mumbled, "Human beings…you always manage to find the boring alternative don't you? You want to see one? A fish?" Kazran smiled, "We can do that. We can see a fish."
He frowned, "But aren't you going to tell me it's dangerous?"
Evy snorted, "Him?" she nodded at the Doctor, "Tell you it's dangerous? And then let that stop him?" she laughed quite loudly at that.
The Doctor rolled his eyes at her before jumping out of the window again, "Dangerous?" he turned and held out a hand, helping Evy back in as well, "Come on, we're boys and you know what boys say in the face of danger…"
"What?" Kazran asked.
The Doctor turned to face him, "Mummy," he said, very seriously, before pausing a moment, "Or, in my case, Evy," he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her back against him, "Trust me, with Evy around, we'll both be safe," he gave her a little kiss on the cheek.
Kazran smiled.
~8~
They were sitting in the cupboard, the Doctor in the middle with Evy on his right and Kazran on his left, the recorder sitting before them. He had a bit of string tied in a loop around his finger as they sat and waited. The string went outside to a hook on the ceiling where his sonic was dangling as a lure for the fish.
"Are there any face spiders in here?" Kazran looked around nervously.
"No," Evy told him reassuringly, "Of course not."
"Not at this time of night," the Doctor agreed, "They'll all be sleeping in your mattress…ow!"
Evy smacked him again, "He means, they don't exist on this planet," she turned to Kazran after giving the Doctor a meaningful look, promising him another smack if he countered what she was going to say, even if it wasn't true, "They can't survive in fog, so you're safe."
The Doctor swallowed hard, "So why are you so interested in the fish?" he changed the topic.
"'Cos they're scary?" Kazran shrugged.
"Good answer," the Doctor smiled. Evy rolled her eyes at them, boys.
"What kind of tie is that?" Kazran asked, his own attempt to change the topic.
"A cool one."
"Why is it cool?"
"Why are you really interested in fish?"
Kazran sighed, "My school, during the last fog belt, one of the nets broke and there was an attack. Loads of them. A whole shoal. No one was hurt but…it was the most fish ever seen below the mountains."
"You must have been scared," Evy remarked softly.
"I wasn't there," he replied glumly, "I was out sick."
"Ooh, lucky you," the Doctor nodded, before seeing Kazran look down, sad, "Not lucky?"
Kazran looked up, "It's all anyone ever talks about now. The day the fish came. Everyone's got a story."
"Everyone except you," Evy nodded, understanding.
The Doctor looked over at the recorder, "We see that now."
"Why are you recording this?" Kazran asked.
"Do you pay attention at school Kazran?" the Doctor asked suddenly.
"Sorry, what?"
Evy smiled, "You're not paying attention now…" she nodded at the Doctor's finger which was being tugged by the string.
"Shh," the Doctor held a finger to his lips as he and Evy slowly got up and leaned against the door.
"Are you sure?" Kazran whispered.
"Trust us."
"Ok…" Kazran replied slowly, clearly not too trusting.
"Oi!" the Doctor turned to him, handing the string to Evy to hold, "Eyes on the tie, look at me. I wear it and I don't care," he grinned, "And Evy thinks I look smashing in it so that helps," he laughed, looking down at Kazran, "Trust me?"
"Yes," he smiled and nodded.
"That's why it's cool," Evy added, smiling softly at the Doctor. She loved how amazing he was with children.
They glanced over at the recording before sliding out of the cupboard, shutting the door behind them. There was a small fish floating in the air before the sonic, trying to nibble on it as it dangled there.
"Hello fishy," the Doctor smiled, circling the edge of the room with Evy, "Let's see…interesting."
Evy quickly scanned the room with her own sonic before putting it away, "Crystalline fog, possibly carrying a tiny electrical charge."
"Is that how you fly little fishy?" the Doctor asked, walking towards it.
"What is it?" Kazran called from the cupboard, "What kind? Can I see it?"
"Just stay in there a little longer," Evy called back as the Doctor leaned over and looked straight at the fish.
"Is it big?"
"Nah, just a little one," the Doctor replied, "So little fella, what do you eat?"
"Doctor!" Evy suddenly yanked him back as a giant shark swooped in through the window and ate the fish, screwdriver and all.
"How little?" Kazran continued, not seeming to have noticed Evy's yell.
"Um…" the Doctor began, grabbing Evy's hand as they both looked straight at the shark.
"Can I come out?"
"No, no," the Doctor called, eyes wide as he tried to maneuver them around the shark, along the wall, and back to the closet, "Maybe just wait there for a moment…"
The shark eyed them as they moved.
"What color is it?" Kazran asked.
"Big," he muttered, "Big color…"
He suddenly jolted towards the cupboard door, yanking Evy in after him as they slammed it shut just as the shark attacked.
"What's happening?" Kazran cried as the door thumped with the shark trying to break it down.
"Well, concentrating on the plusses," the Doctor began, "You've definitely got a story of your own now."
The door thumped again.
"Also," Evy added, "We were able to get a look at the fish. We might understand how the fog works now which will help us land a spaceship in the future, save a lot of lives."
The Doctor smiled, when the door jolted again, "And I better get some very interesting readings off my sonic screwdriver when we get it back from the shark in your bedroom."
"There's a shark in my bedroom?!" Kazran's eyes widened.
"Oh fine, focus on that!" the Doctor muttered as the door banged once more and stopped.
It was silent.
"Has it gone?" Kazran asked, "What's it doing?"
Evy and the Doctor looked at each other before pressing their ears to the door, "What do you call it when you don't have any feet and you're taking a run-up?" the Doctor asked.
Evy pulled him away from the door, the two of them pushing Kazran to the back of the cupboard as the shark slammed at it, actually breaking through the door. They huddled there, on the floor, with the shark looming over them.
"It's going to eat us!" Kazran cried, "It's going to eat us! It's going to eat us...is it going to eat us?"
"Well maybe we're going to eat it," the Doctor countered.
"I really don't like the odds!" Evy shouted as they stared down the mouth of the shark, seeing the glowing green of the sonic from within.
"So let's see, tiny shark…and if I had my screwdriver I could send a pulse and stun it."
Evy quickly began to check her pockets.
"Where's your screwdriver?" Kazran shouted.
"Well, concentrating on the plusses, within reach. You know there's a real chance the way it's wedged in the doorway is keeping its mouth open."
"There is?"
"Just agree with him," Evy said, pulling out her sonic and trying to set the controls.
"Right, good, 'cos I've only got two goes and then it's your turn," the Doctor looked down at Kazran, not about to even suggest Evy try what he was about to.
"Two goes?" the boy frowned.
"Two arms!" the Doctor held up his arms, "Right then…ok. Geronimo. Open wide!"
He lunged at the shark, only for it to slump a moment before his arm reached it. He stopped short, staring at the creature as it hung limply in the doorway, sliding to the floor now that it was relaxed. He looked back at Evy to see her holding out her sonic.
She gave him a smirk, blowing on the end of it as though it were a smoking gun. She twirled it through her fingers and put it back in her pocket.
The Doctor just laughed, pulling her up, and kissing her.
~8~
They had managed to get the shark outside Kazran's room through the window and lay it on the ground. It had coughed up half of the Doctor's sonic only moments ago and the Doctor took right to fiddling with it as he and Evy knelt beside the beast, Kazran sitting on the other side of it.
"What's the big fishy done to you?" the Doctor lamented, looking at the little bit of sonic left, as he got up and walked away, Evy following, "Swallowed half of you that's what…half a screwdriver…" he looked over at Evy, "What use is that? Bad big fishy," he scolded.
"Doctor?" Kazran called, "Evy?" they turned to him, "I think she's dying."
They walked over to kneel by the shark again, the Doctor attempting to scan it, but it was useless. Evy pulled out her sonic again and scanned instead, "Half my screwdriver's still inside," the Doctor commented as Evy looked at the results, "But yeah, we think so."
"They can't survive long outside the cloud belt," Evy looked up at the sky from the results, "Just long enough for quick raiding trip…"
They looked over at Kazran to see him crying, "Can't we get it back up there?" he asked, "We were just gonna stun it, I didn't want to kill it."
"She was trying to eat you," the Doctor said.
"She was hungry."
"I'm sorry Kazran," Evy sighed, looking at him, "We can't save her from here. If we could take her back up there she'd have a better chance, but in her condition she wouldn't survive the trip without a fully functioning life support of some sort."
"You mean like an ice-box?" he asked, brightening with hope, "Ok!"
He quickly jumped to his feet and ran out of the room, the Doctor and Evy following behind as he led them down the stairs. He walked over to a table to get a lamp when the Doctor became distracted by a rather large Christmas tree.
"Ooh!" he shouted, running over to it, "Tree! Good tree!"
Evy just shook her head fondly and walked over to him, pulling him away from it as Kazran led them to another set of stairs. They went down it to find themselves at a rather large, very thick, sealed door. They peered through a small window to see a room filled with row upon row of ice-boxes with people inside.
The Doctor frowned, "What is this?"
"The surplus population," Kazran remarked sadly, "That's what my dad calls it…" he grabbed a wheel on the door, trying to open it, "Oh, it's not turning…turn!"
The Doctor tried to sonic the keypad by the door, but it still didn't work.
"It's broken Doctor," Evy smiled gently at him, she stepped up and flashed her sonic, "And anyway, it's deadlocked."
"What's the number?" the Doctor asked Kazran.
"I don't know!" Kazran strained, still trying to turn the wheel.
"There are alarms everywhere," Evy read the results of her scan of the keypad, "Triggered by the door. We'll need that number to get in quietly."
"I'm not allowed to know until I'm older!"
The Doctor and Evy shared a look…
"Give us a mo…" Evy told him.
And they were off, running up the stairs.
~8~
"7-2-5-8!" the older Kazran was shouting as new memories arose in his mind.
"Just what we were after…" the Doctor called, peeking through a doorway. Kazran spun around to see them standing there, leaning out of a blue phone box.
"Thank you!" Evy shouted, shutting the door…
~8~
"7-2-5-8!" the Doctor yelled as they ran back down the stairs to where the younger Kazran was waiting for them, "7-2-5-8!"
Kazran ran to the keypad and put it in, standing back as the Doctor and Evy struggled to get the door open. It finally swung out to reveal a large room with fog rolling across the floor, tiny little fish swimming through it.
"Ah, there's fish down here too!" the Doctor exclaimed, looking at them.
"Yeah, but only tiny ones," Kazran remarked, walking through the rows of people, "The house is built on a fog bank that's how dad freezes the people. They're all full but…we could borrow one," he stopped and peered inside one, "Yeah, this one!"
The Doctor walked over and held up a lamp to reveal the blonde woman they had first seen in the older Kazran's house standing there, "Hello again," Evy breathed.
"You know her?" Kazran glanced at them.
"Oh yeah…" the Doctor looked down at him, a smile on his face, "Important is she?"
Kazran looked away, a tiny blush on his cheeks, moving to the side of the box, "She won't mind, she loves the fish," he typed a little command into the keypad on the side and a projection began to play in the window of the box.
"My name is Abigail Pettigrew," the woman said, via projection, "And I'm very grateful for Mr. Sardick's kindness…"
"She starts to talk about the fish in a minute…" Kazran murmured.
The Doctor took Evy's hand, slowly walking off to look at the other boxes while Kazran watched Abigail speak.
"…but I'm also surrounded by the fish," the projection continued, "The beautiful, iridescent, magical fish..."
"Why are all these people even here?" Evy frowned as they peered into another box, she looked around there had to be hundreds, "Why does he do this?"
"My dad lends money," Kazran sighed, "He always takes a family member as...he calls it 'security.'"
"Hard man to love, your dad," the Doctor commented, looking back at the young boy, "I suppose you know that."
"I'm not alone and I am at peace," the projection finished.
Kazran hit another button and the projection disappeared, the warming process starting.
"Doctor…" Evy began, looking back at the open door, "Can you hear that?" it sounded like a submarine radar beep.
"What's wrong?" Kazran looked over to see them both eyeing the door.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic, now flashing in time with the beeps, "Just my half a screwdriver trying to repair itself. It's signaling the other half."
Kazran walked over to them, listening as the beeping became louder, "The other half's inside the shark," Kazran breathed, his eyes wide and on the door.
"Yep. Sounds like she's woken up…ok, so it's homing on the screwdriver…"
Suddenly the shark appeared above them, diving at them. The Doctor pulled Evy towards him, the two of them being knocked to the ground, the boxes falling around them as Kazran ran off, trying to avoid the shark.
"Kazran!" Evy shouted. She quickly pushed herself up and pulled the Doctor up as well, the two of them running off after him but unable to find him. Then…
Someone started singing.
They paused, looking at each other, before turning and running back, their sonics out and only one of them ready, only to see Kazran standing there, watching as the blonde woman, Abigail, knelt by the shark, petting it as she sang.
They slowly walked forward, a bit amazing that the bloodthirsty shark was now as calm as a kitten.
"It's not really the singing, of course," the Doctor commented as they came up beside Kazran.
"Yes it is," the boy argued.
"Nah," the Doctor waved it off.
"The fish love the singing. It's true."
"Nah, the notes resonate in the ice crystals causing a delta wave pattern in the fog…" he suddenly slapped his neck and looked behind him, "Ow! Fish bit me."
"Shut up then!" Kazran grumbled, turning to watch the woman sing as she glanced up at them.
"I see," Evy nodded slowly, looking up at the Doctor, "That's how the machine is able to control the cloud belt."
"The clouds are ice crystals," he nodded as well, realizing what she was thinking, "If you could vibrate the crystals at exactly the right frequency, you could align them into…" he slapped his neck again, "Ow! Why do they keep biting me?!"
"Look, fish like the singing, ok?" Kazran glared at him, "Now shut up!"
The Doctor pointed at the boy like he was going to say something but then put his finger down, "Ok…" he turned to watch the singing, before slapping his neck again, "Ow! What was that for? I didn't even say anything this time!" he shouted at the fish.
Evy giggled, "That was actually me that time."
He pointed at her like he was going to say something and she just raised an eyebrow. Instead he gave her a peck on the lips and turned to listen again. Evy smiled, taking his hand in her own as they stood there and listened to the beautiful melody.
A/N: Lol, oh Evy, you just love teasing him don't you? I loved writing this episode, I love all the Christmas adventures, they're so fun. I'm especially looking forward to the next chapter, I feel like it really picks up with all their Christmas Eve adventures through time and space, so I can't wait till tomorrow to post it.
Hmm...there's only 2 more episodes of DW for the first half of Series 7 left (really looking forward to The Power of Three, I love Brian, he's so...Rory's dad). I have to say, I'm hoping something happens in these last two episodes (not saying what) otherwise I'm going to have to rewrite something I have planned for The Girl Who Waited, or come up with some crazy loophole/twist. Guess we'll find out after the 29th :)
Oh! The next chapter of Recollections should be up later today :)
Next chapter...Abigail takes a leaf out of Evy's book. Evy's got an eyebrow of doom. The Doctor gets a very touching Christmas gift.