Chapter 3 – Surprise!
The Doctor woke up with an obligatory yawn and a stretch, cloudy eyes flickering open in the beginnings of a brand new day on the TARDIS. But as he turned to say good morning to his wife, he instantly realised she wasn't next to him. Again.
Still with a foggy mind he got dressed into the blue suit, had a shave, and after a few moments of staring into the bathroom mirror at his chaotic hair he realised he couldn't be bothered to do anything with it, so he just patted it down slightly to little effect.
He went straight to the kitchen, hoping Rose had made tea. But as he reached the room and poked his head in the door, he realised Rose wasn't there.
Strange.
He backtracked and went to Leah's room instead, reasoning that Rose was probably getting her up – an unwritten family rule that made it the obligatory duty of the first parent awake.
But she wasn't there either... and neither was Leah. The girl's bed was messy, as though abandoned in a hurry...
Panicking slightly now, he jogged to the main living room to check there as well... Nothing. He checked the table for used mugs and plates... but there wasn't any evidence that someone had been in here since last night.
He was comfortably slotted into a full-blown silent panic now, his eyes wide as he backed out of the living room into the corridor. Where were Rose and Leah? They were in the vortex, they couldn't just take a walk outside... The Shadow Proclamation? Had they taken them? Where were they?
He forced himself to calm down, forcing his mind to think clearly... This was stupid; illogical. They couldn't get in the TARDIS, and even if they had, the commotion would've woken him up... wouldn't it?
Console Room.
He ran down the corridor and burst in, looking around frantically for them. But they weren't here either. He was so caught up in his terror he nearly didn't notice that the TARDIS door was slightly ajar...
But they were in the vortex... This was impossible...
Feeling somewhat apprehensive he shuffled sideways towards the door, body tensed, ready for a fight. His paternal and marriage bond were going crazy, if something had happened to them...
He pulled open the door, and stuck his head out into complete darkness. It was a large enclosed space... the atmosphere suggested Earth...
He moved forward slightly as he made to dig out his torch from his inside pocket... and ended up walking into a hard surface.
"Ow!" he yelped.
"SURPRISE!" several people suddenly yelled in a crescendo as the lights were spontaneously flicked on to dazzling brightness. The Doctor shrieked in surprise and almost fell backwards into the TARDIS. Everyone laughed as his hand clutched his left heart, recovering from the shock, realising where he was as several faces stared back at him.
"Torchwood?" he realised, eyes panning across the grinning crowd stood around him to meet Rose's gaze. "How did we..."
"Don't ruin the magic!" Mickey said from the side. The Doctor stared in confusion as he realised the object he'd walked into was in fact large table that he was sure had never been there before...
"But how..." Then he stopped himself, frowning. "Wait. What surprise?"
"Your birthday, silly!" Rose replied, sighing despairingly. "You're 907 today."
"I didn't even know that," the Doctor admitted, blushing slightly.
"Sit down!" Suddenly a little hand grabbed his and he looked down just in time to realise Leah was the one holding it before she yanked him with a force quite clearly beyond the capabilities of a little girl towards one of the vacant chairs around the table, everyone else taking up a chair as well.
"Daddy sit here," she said, pointing at the seat. He obligingly took it. "This special Daddy birthday chair."
"Thanks," the Doctor replied as everyone laughed, Leah grabbing onto his knees and struggling to pull herself up, until he grabbed her waist and lifted her to sit in his lap. The girl beamed up at him and commenced sucking her thumb, staring across the table expectantly at Jack.
"Presents!" Jack yelled happily on cue, scrambling down underneath the table and bringing out a menagerie of wrapped presents, placing them on the table in front of the Doctor until there was a massive pile in front of the gaping Time Lord.
"... For me?" the Doctor asked, blinking in surprise.
"No, they're for the Queen," Jack replied sarcastically as everyone laughed again. "Open them!"
"... But I didn't get you anything," the Doctor said flatly.
Everyone stared at him.
"Have you never had a birthday party before?" Martha asked, confused.
He shook his head. "Not... really."
"That's depressing," Ianto muttered, just as a beeping sounded from over by the rolling door and Ianto quickly got to his feet. "Post's arrived!" he said by way of explanation and disappeared like a cartoon coyote.
"They're all for you, you didn't have to get anythin' for us," Rose assured him as Ianto left, resting a hand on his arm. "Now open them!"
"Mine first!" Jack insisted.
The Doctor reached forward and took the first present, a square wrapped in TARDIS blue wrapping paper.
"That's from me," Martha said quickly.
He pulled open the paper and tugged out a Dido CD. His eyes lit up in joy as a massive smile spread across his face, staring at the CD with utter glee.
"Dido!" he enthused. "I've always wanted this! I..." he suddenly trailed off, looking at the surrounding crowd with an embarrassed clear of his throat, trying to sound manly. "I mean, thank you Martha," he said in an unusually deep voice.
"Mine, mine! Open mine!" Jack yelled, picking up a strange small circular present and holding it out. The Doctor already had a sense of dread before he opened it...
It was a pair of pink furry handcuffs.
He stared at them in complete shock as he held them between finger and thumb – Rose turning as red as her namesake suggested as everyone else burst into laughter.
"I thought you might want them after yesterday..." Jack said, smiling charismatically.
"Daddy what are they?" Leah asked, looking up at him with a furrowed brow.
The Doctor looked at the handcuffs still between his forefinger and thumb, and then at Jack. "Yeah, Uncle Jack," he began insincerely. "What are they?"
"Cup holders," Jack replied, smiling innocently.
The Doctor sighed despairingly before Ianto suddenly appeared again, holding a large package in his hands.
"It's for you," he said to the Doctor, holding it out. The Doctor frowned and took it, the same thought running through his head as everyone else. How could he possibly have a delivery?
All the same, the Doctor set it down on the table in front of him, pulling open the flaps and reaching in to pull out a card and a badly-wrapped gift. He raised an eyebrow as everyone else stared in confusion, opening the card's envelope and pulling out a shop-bought birthday card with Buzz Lightyear on the front, the number 9 in fun font next to him – with the numbers 0 and 7 drawn crudely after the 9 in blue biro pen.
Rose giggled at the card front. "Who's that from?" she asked, peering over his shoulder.
The Doctor could only shrug before he flipped open the card, reading the Gallifreyan writing. By that, he already knew who it was from...
To the Doctor,
Happy 907th birthday!
These little human greeting cards are hysterical! I got you a present, I hope you like it.
From the Master
"What does it say?" Rose asked, unable to read the Gallifreyan.
"It's from the Master," the Doctor said quietly.
Instantly everyone around them fell silent, eyes snapping to the still-wrapped present... as if expecting it to explode at any moment. Hesitantly the Doctor reached forward and picked it up in one hand, retrieving the sonic in the other and giving it a buzz with Leah still snuggling into him. "Seems benign." He took the chance and pulled open the wrapping paper to reveal a toy wind-up monkey holding a cymbal in each hand.
Everybody looked at the Doctor, who just stared at it with pure intrigue. He wound it up and placed it down on the table in front of him where it madly began to clap.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
The Doctor blinked. "Unbelievable."
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
Leah however, suddenly grabbed her father around the middle, clinging on for dear life, burying her head into his jacket as she burst into tears.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
The Doctor instinctively put his arms around her, pressing a kiss to her forehead as he looked down at her quizzically. "What's wrong?"
"Don't like it," Leah said quietly, sniffing. "Make it stop, Daddy."
The Doctor looked back at the monkey again. It was still going.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
It had it all, the crazy eyes, the almost hypnotising factor... Trust the Master to send him a stuffed foot-tall version of himself.
Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!
The Doctor picked up the monkey and threw it back into the box. It did little to muffle the crashing cymbals.
"Why has he sent you that?" Rose asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
"He's letting me know he's still alive and well," the Doctor replied quietly.
"But he... Is he..." Martha croaked, not even able to finish the sentence.
"He's trying to mess with our heads, it's just his idea of fun," the Doctor said, but all the same, he held Leah a little closer.
There was an uneasy pause.
"Ianto, can you clear that up?" Jack asked, indicating the box the monkey was in, still clapping away.
"Yes, sir," Ianto replied with a nod, picking up the box and disappearing with it around the corner.
The uneasy silence resumed for a moment, before suddenly Jack clapped his hands together excitedly, grin back in place. "Unwrap these, and we'll eat cake!"
A/N: "The cake is a lie!"