Hello you beauties!
We meet again for Chapter 16! Before I let you get on with it, I'd like to give a special thank you to Turtle who's an absolute sweetheart with his (her?) reviews! Thank you, it does help me a lot and warms my little heart (yes I have one...)!
Well I don't have much more to say, just tell me (in pm or reviews or whatever) if you'd like my twitter or nah. As usual, please let me know what you think and help me get better.
Enjoy!
Melody - x.
Chapter 16
Melody sat up in her bed, waking up.
"He did it again, didn't he?" she exclaimed, getting up and searching for her clothes. It wasn't the first time the Doctor made her sleep. Whenever he met her in the TARDIS at her bedtime not asleep, he ended up by tricking her and making her sleep before carrying her to bed. "And where the hell are my clothes?!" she asked. It seemed all the clothes disappeared, including the nightie she had just taken off to get dressed. Even the wardrobe was empty. So she was standing there, in the middle of her room, just wearing her underwear, how embarrassing. She looked up.
"TARDIS, this isn't funny at all you know! Where did you put all my clothes?"
The time machine just answered with a noise that sounded like a laugher, making the girl sigh.
Suddenly the door burst open.
"Melody are you up yet? I thought we could go say hello to…." the Doctor said.
Letting out a panicked and surprised cry, Melody wrapped her arms around her chest before turning around so he would only see her back, though that was already too much.
"...Craig. Oops." he finished. "I-I'm sorry!" . He quickly hid his face behind his hands before looking at her body again, frowning. "No, wait, hang on, that's not right!"
"I know, the TARDIS hides my clothes and then this kind of thing happens!" Melody said. "Now could you stop looking and get out so I can dress please? That's embarrassing."
"No."
"What?". She heard him come closer. "What are you doing? Doctor I'm… naked!"
He didn't answer her and looked closely at her back.
"Where did you get this?"
"Get what?" she asked, not understanding his question.
"That thing on your back, have has it been there always?"
"Doctor I don't understand, I have nothing on my back!" she exclaimed, turning around and quite annoyed, still hiding her chest with her arms.
He was frowning. Oh that deep frown, that's there's-something-wrong frown.
"You don't have any tattoo then?" he asked.
"No!"
He took her by the shoulders and led her to the wardrobe, closed the door and turned her around.
"Look in the mirror, over your shoulder." he ordered.
She was on the point to ask why but obeyed and looked over her shoulder. Her eyes widened as she saw drawings running along her spine, from her neck to her back. She narrowed her eyes: not drawings, writings! Circular Gallifreyan writings were all along her back!
"Doctor…" she stated with a trembling voice. "Doctor what is this? How...How? What does it mean? Doctor please answer me! What's happening to me?!" she asked, panic making her voice raise. The Doctor gave her a reassuring smile before pulling her into a tight hug. That was embarrassing. As he ran his fingertips along the writings inked in her skin, making her shiver, he whispered in her ear:
"You are so psychic that the TARDIS is writing on your skin. She's giving you something, and that's why she took your clothes away: she wanted me to see it."
"But what's written?"
"The Child of Time." he answered. "You are the Child of Time…"
The knock stopped and soon the door opened.
"I can cope on my own!" exclaimed a blonde man who Melody recognised as Craig Owens.
So this was the episode "Closing Time" then…
"Hello Craig! I'm back!" the Doctor said with a wide smile.
"She didn't? How could she phone you?" the man asked, shocked.
"How could who phone me? Nobody phoned me, I'm just here and this is Melody, she's my girl, my Timey-Wimey-Mystery Girl!"
"Hi Craig!" the girl said.
The Doctor looked inside the house before saying:
"Oh you've redecorated! I don't like it."
Melody couldn't help but laugh at that sentence.
"Doctor they moved, it's a different house."
"Yeees… That's it."
"Doctor what are you doing here?" asked Craig.
"Social call." he answered. "Thought it was about time I tried one out. How are you?"
"I'm...fine."
"This is the bit where I say 'I'm fine too', isn't it?" he asked to Melody who nodded in answer. "I'm fine too." he said with a smile. "Good. Love to Sophie! Bye!" And he turned around, ready to go.
Melody smiled sheepishly at Craig, knowing how it could be confusing.
But as the door step light flickered, she heard him mutter:
"Something's wrong." And he entered the house, pulling out his sonic screwdriver, beginning to scan the place. "On your own you said, but you're not. You're not on your own!" he said as he grabbed Melody's hand and started to climb the stairs.
"Just shhh!" said the girl and Craig together.
"Increased sulphur emissions and look at the state of this place! What are you not telling me?"
"Doctor please!"
"Shhh"
"Doctor listen to him, please!"
"Shhhhh!"
He walked to a door and burst into it, pointing his sonic.
"Whatever you are, get off this planet!"
Craig and Melody sighed as a baby started crying, Craig's baby.
"You've woken him!"
He took the baby in his arms and they all went back downstairs to the kitchen.
"So when you said on your own…" the Doctor said, opening the fridge and closing it after taking a bottle of milk.
"He meant with the baby, yes!" Melody said.
"Because no-one thinks I can cope on my own, which is so unfair because… I can't cope on my own with him!" Craig said, desperate. "I can't, he just cries, all the time! I mean, do they have off-switches?"
"Human beings, no, I've checked." the man in a bow tie answered, sitting at the table and starting to read the books in front of him.
"No, babies!"
"Same difference. Sometimes this works though." he said. Placing his index finger on his mouth and shushing the baby who was crying, making him instantly stop.
"Can you teach me to do that?" asked Craig.
"Probably not."
"Oh please! Come on, I need something, I'm rubbish at this."
"At what?" asked the Doctor.
"Being a dad! You read all the book they tell you you'll know what to do if you follow your instinct. I have no instinct!"
"Don't be so rude with yourself Craig, you're a good dad." said Melody. Craig thanked her.
"That's what this weekend is about: to prove to people I can do this one thing well." he continued.
The Doctor laughed as he read something in a book.
"So what did you call him? Will I blush?" he asked.
"We didn't call him 'The Doctor'!" answered Craig.
"No I didn't think you would…"
"He's called Alfie. What are you doing here anyway?"
The Doctor leaned closer to Alfie and listened to what he said.
"Yes, he likes that, Alfie. Though personally he prefers to be called Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All."
"Sorry what?"
"That's how he calls himself. He speaks baby." said Melody, pointing at the Doctor who got up.
"Of course you do. I don't even know when his nappy needs changing." Craig said, sitting where The Doctor was sitting few seconds ago. "I'm supposed to be his dad."
The Doctor massaged Craig's shoulders as Melody was playing with Alfie. He looked at her and smiled: she was good with children.
"He's wondering where his mum is? Where is Sophie?" he asked Craig.
"She's gone away with Melina for the week end, needs a rest."
"No he's your dad, you can't call him Not-Mum!" said the Doctor.
"Not-Mum?!" exclaimed the man.
"That's you. Also Not-Mum that's me. others are peasants… that's a bit unfortunate. And Melody is … Beauty?! Oi! Watch it! She's mine!" the Doctor exclaimed, making the girl laugh.
"Aw Stormy, that's cute." she said to the baby.
She played with him as the Doctor was talking about the Alignment of Exedor.
"Sounds nice." said Craig as the Doctor was picking the newspaper back.
"So this is me popping in and popping out again, just being social, just having a laugh. Nevermind that…"
Melody looked up. Ah the noticing face.
"Nevermind what?" asked Craig who saw it too. "You noticed something, you've got your noticing face on. I have nightmares about that face!"
"No! Given up all that, done with noticing things." he said, fighting himself to stop noticing. The lights flickering. "Didn't even noticed that for example. Got to go." he shook Craig's hand and grabbed Melody's one. "Good seeing you Craig, goodbye Stormageddon." and he ran off.
"No wait wait ! Can you do the shushing thing?" asked the blonde man.
"No it only works once and only on life forms with underdeveloped brains."
"Hang on, you said farewell tour?"
The Doctor shushed him and he and Melody walked towards the TARDIS.
"Just go, stop noticing, just go, stop noticing."
"Doctor, you should really get back. You can't leave them, not Craig, not Alfie. There's something happening here, they are in danger." Melody said, standing in front of him. "And you know that, you know it's important."
Leave me your impressions and your assumptions about what's going to happen in the story arch, that'd be funny ;)