Disarming (adjective)- removing, or capable of removing hostility, suspicion, as by being, charming; winning of confidence.
Prompt- Disarming the Sontauran was, I'm sure, terrifying, but Donna pulled it off brilliantly.
A/N- If anyone's been checking this regularly, I'm sorry for how long I have kept you waiting, but I didn't really have any good ideas about how to proceed. I like the premise of this one, but I don't like the way it's written as much as I liked the last one. I'm not sure I know enough about the 11th Doctor to really do him justice. Anyway, if you have any ideas/constructive criticisms as always they are greatly appreciated. Sorry it's a bit long.
Disclaimer- No, I do not own Doctor Who! Quit knocking on my door!
Adeola Rose Smith-Jones wanted a bedtime story. Grandmum has already helped her wash up and tucked her in; then Grandmum had gone to the guest room to lie down having, complaining she had a headache. Adeola could hear her snoring.
It was a typical Thursday evening in the Smith-Jones household; Grandmum was staying with Addey until her Mum and Dad got home, (which was always after Adeola was supposed to be asleep, but she stayed up anyway to hear her parent's footsteps coming up the stairs. She liked to know they were safe.) And like always when Grandmum was too tired to read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, she hoped that he'd show up.
Tonight she was in luck!
Addey heard the familiar whooshing, whirring sound from out in the back garden. She ran to the window and, with some difficulty at the age of five, thrust the window open. A man of average height and a mop of brown hair wearing suspenders, a bow tie, and a purple fez poked his head out of the door of the blue telephone box. Upon noticing Addey's cheerful wave from the window he extracted from behind him, swung it up to meet her window ledge, and ascended.
By the time the Doctor climbed in through her window Addey had already hopped back into bed. "Adeola Rose Smith-Jones, I still can't believe your mother let Mickey sneak Rose in there, to what do I owe this pleasant surprise?" He smiled down at the little girl. With her hair tied back in two braids, and wearing a lilac nightgown advertising an anatomically incorrect cartoon of a mermaid with red hair, she was the spitting image of her mother.
"How can it be surprise to you?" Adeola asked, sincerely confused, "I didn't know you were coming. I just wanted a bedtime story." The Doctor squinched his eyebrows together for a minute bending down to meet the girl at eye level, and then straightened up.
"Well, that explains it then!"
"Explains what?" Adeola demanded.
"Why the TARDIS brought me here. My friends Amy and Rory just went off to bed, I was in the control room fiddling with some wires when next thing I know, I've landed in your garden. Obviously something's wrong, the question is what?"
The mad man began darting around Addey's room, sonicing everything he could get his hands on. Addey'd seen him do this before. It used to make her giggle, but now she just sat there, watching him make his rounds, chin in hands.
'That's weird," the Doctor said, stopping next to Addey's bed, "there's nothing wrong, literally nothing wrong!" He ran the sonic screwdriver over Adeola's face.
"Ow!" she complained as he shined the light in her eyes.
"Sorry, but there's no bee stings, or dog bites, or dangerous aliens inhabiting you body, ("'course your Mum would've noticed that by now," he muttered under his breath) you're fine! I get a night off." he paused, "I never get a night off."
"Doctor?" Adeola interrupted his monologue.
"Yes?"
"Will you tell me a story now?"
"Of course, don't I always? I just do the sonic thing because it makes me look clever. So, which will it be this time?"
"Can you tell me the one about Donna hitting the Sontauran with a hammer, and Mummy's clone, and the green goo bath?"
"But I told that one last time, that's no fun," if the Doctor was being honest, the truth was he didn't want to have to talk about Donna. There was too much guilt there, and as was often his philosophy, why dwell on the past? But he knew he'd done too much to Martha and Mickey already to begrudge their only daughter a bedtime story.
"Nooooo, last time you were here you told the new one about how you, Mummy, Daddy, and Uncle Jack fought the evil octopus monsters, remember?"
"But we never…. Ah," he said as the realization dawned on him, "Time travel, can't keep it straight in your head," he looked down at Addey's pleading face and sighed, "Alright, here goes." The Doctor launched into his story with surprising fervor, while skating over some of the more sticky bits, trying to make the adventure sound for exciting and funny, rather than death defying and scary. Finally he got to the bit about Donna infiltrating the Sontauran spaceship. Adeola was a great audience. She gasped and applauded in all the right places. The Doctor had to admit, he was enjoying himself.
"-Meanwhile I was stuck on the ground, trying to fix the bigger Sontaruan problem, but also the smaller, yet equally important problem of what had happened to Martha. I knew the Martha that was in the room with mean wasn't the real Martha because A. she was acting very un-Martha-y and B. she smelled disgusting. I was sure the two problems were linked, but I knew I had to deal with the Sontaurans first. Lucky, for Earth really, Donna was on board the spaceship. Disarming the Sontauran was, I'm sure, terrifying, but Donna pulled it off brilliantly."
Then the Doctor quickly told Addey about how he'd found her mother, and the boy genius had sacrificed himself to save Earth, and then he, Donna, and Martha (a bit unwillingly), had shot off on their next adventure.
The Doctor was surprised Addey hadn't interrupted his story more, correcting parts he'd skipped over from last time, or said differently, but then he realized she had dozed off. He stood up. He could hear Martha and Mickey coming in through the front door downstairs, and knew it was time for him to make his exit.
"Well Adeola, it's been a pleasure remaking your acquaintance. From what you said, I think we'll be seeing each other again. Sweet dreams." The Doctor pecked Addey on the forehead ("That's for your Mum," he informed her.) and crawled out through her window. Addey stirred, "But I'm not sleepy," she argued. The Doctor poked his head back in her room and smiled at her.
"Of course you're not," he then descended the ladder and landed safely on the ground. Addey pulled herself out of bed and walked to the window, watching the Doctor drag his ladder to the TARDIS door.
"Good night Doctor!" she called. He turned around and waved to her before disappearing inside his ship. Martha opened the door to her daughter's bedroom.
"Adeola Rose, what are you doing out of bed?" Martha scolded. Addey jumped and turned around.
"Mummy!" she ran to hug her mother, "The Doctor came to tell me a bedtime story!" Martha stood still for a moment in shock.
"The Doctor….. He….. WHAT!"
"Come and see!" Adeola tugged her mother's hand, pulling her to the window. The TARDIS was already dematerializing.
"Mickey!" Martha screamed. Mickey ran into Addey's room; or hopped rather as he had only one leg in his pants.
"What? What is it?" Martha just pointed out the window. Mickey just managed to catch a glimpse of the TARDIS before it entered the time vortex, but its unique sound had been all too familiar. "The Doctor? But what's he doing here?" His daughter turned toward him.
"He came to tell me a bedtime story Daddy." Mickey glanced at his wife and noticed that Martha was smiling sadly and had tears glistening in her eyes. He looked down at Addey's face and saw that his daughter was wearing a similar expression.
Mickey looked up at the sky and murmured, "Doctor, must you steal all the women in my life?"