AN: I always have grumbled that Moffat made it to where the Ponds did not get any children. They are nice people and deserve children, damnit! So, that was my consolation, a chapter of cute Amy/Rory with children, even if they aren't theirs. What'dya think? ;D Review! The inspiration for this chapter is: It's like we're living in a dream world. The moon is dancing and the stars twirl.
Chapter 3- The Self-Taught Stranger
The Baudelaires were awoken by the pleasant smell of waffles drifting into their noses. They smiled at each other and skipped down the stairs and into the Ponds kitchen. A wonderful sight awaited them.
Amy had stacks of strawberry waffles with whipped cream waiting for them at their seats. Rory was already sitting reading the newspaper and drinking coffee, and Amy washed her husband's, as well as her own, plates.
"These are for us?" Violet asked incredulously.
"Of course!" Amy replied cheerfully. "Who else would it be for?"
"Have you not had breakfast waiting for you just because?" Rory asked, looking up from his paper with a frown.
"Well-" Klaus was about to reply when Amy interrupted.
"Don't mind him," she shot him a glare. "He thinks all orphans are Oliver Twist," she said sassily, hand on her hip.
"I never said that!" Rory exclaimed. The two bickered playfully, and the children sat down to tuck into their waffles. The phrase "tuck in" here means eat ravenously.
The truth was, like Rory has apparently thought, the Baudelaire children had not had a lovely breakfast just handed to them in ages. They devoured the delicious waffles in no time.
"Are you sure you were never a mother, Amy?" Violet asked, clearing her throat of the whipped cream.
Amy and Rory paused in their argument, and her face blanched. "What?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you! I just thought...you remind me of our mother," Violet stuttered, trying to cover up her rudeness.
"No, no, don't be sorry. You're fine. It's just I was a mother, but my daughter's grown now."
"She's grown?" Klaus asked, interested. "How's that possible?"
Amy opened her mouth to answer just as the Doctor burst in.
"Everyone have breakfast? Yes? Time to go!" he exclaimed.
"Are ya really sure that's good for them right now?" Amy asked.
"What'dyou mean? Of course it's good for them! Travel is good for the weary, Amy Pond!"
"Doctor, I think what she means is, they've gone through an awful lot, and d'you really think you can handle three children in dangerous situations?" Rory chimed in, coming to the rescue of his wife.
"Nonsense! I've got it under control!" but not proving his point at all, the Doctor knocked a glass onto the floor.
Amy sighed. "That's the third one this trip."
"So, I'm a little clumsy...but this is just a trip, Amy. Not anything serious. We'll be back before you miss us!"
Amy looked at him pointedly. "Are ya sure?"
The Doctor sighed, "Promise. Cross my hearts."
She nodded happily. "Alright then, but if they end up stuck in alternate universes or something like that, Rory and I will kill ya. Got that?"
The Baudelaires smiled at the banter between their new friends. But what did she mean about alternate universes?
"Low blow, Pond," he muttered. "Come along, Baudelaires! Say goodbye to the Ponds!" The Doctor swooped in to air kiss Amy and Rory on their cheeks and then ran out the door.
"Don't mind him," Amy told the children. "He's not very good at domestics."
The Baudelaires pulled the red headed woman into a hug.
"Thank you," Violet said sincerely.
"For everything," Klaus added.
"Wa fun!" Sunny exclaimed.
"Oh, I'm glad!" Amy said happily, kissing each of them on the foreheads.
They turned to Rory next and gathered him into a hug as well.
"You were very kind to us," Violet said earnestly. "Not many people are."
The Ponds waved goodbye and the Baudelaires followed their new guardian into his strange blue box.
…
"Now, Baudelaires, let me show you something truly amazing."
"What is it?" Klaus asked, curiosity peaked.
"Look right outside those doors, and you will see the stars," the Doctor told them.
"As in far away, right?" Klaus asked incredulously, a word which hears means, not believing him one bit. "There's no way we'd be able to breathe in space."
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Quite sure!" Klaus exclaimed.
"You'd better check that," the Doctor grinned, and motioned to the children to open the TARDIS door.
Violet scooped up Sunny and they walked over to the door. She pulled the knob and suddenly they were looking at the stars.
"What-" Klaus asked. "How?"
"Air bubble," the Doctor supplied. "It lets you look at space. For a limited time, of course, but you still can."
"It's beautiful," Violet breathed.
"Yes, it is, isn't it?" the Doctor said, going to stand behind the children.
"This must be why you travel all the time," Klaus said. "If you get to see things like this."
"Oh, more wonderful things than this Klaus," the Doctor said wistfully. "All of time and space is my backyard. I do hope you children will have a great time with me."
They walked back inside, and the Doctor turned back into his usual bundle of energy.
"Where do you want to go? What do you want to see first?" he asked the Baudelaires excitedly.
"Doctor?" Violet asked tentatively.
"Yes, Violet?"
"Could you take us to see our parents?" she asked.
"I can't take you back to save them," he said outright. "I'm just letting you know now, because I tried that once, and let me tell you it doesn't end well."
"Just take us to their first meeting," Klaus suggested.
"That I can do!" the Doctor exclaimed, pressing various buttons and pulling levers until the ship rocketed beneath them.
It wasn't long before they had landed.
"Right through those doors, your parents are about your age," he told the two oldest Baudelaires, but they weren't listening. They had already crossed the floor to the door and opened it.
The room they were in was grand. There was a marble staircase to their right, and everything around them was white and gold. But none of them was important.
In the middle of the room, two children were talking and laughing together, and the Baudelaires gravitated-a word which here means walked towards-towards them, thinking it was their parents as children.
A group of children dressed in school uniforms walked by the pair and started obnoxiously teasing the boy.
"Lemony, Beatrice doesn't want to be seen with you-hoo!"
"Lemons, go play with someone your own caliber!"
"You better leave before-"
But the Baudelaires didn't get to hear who the boy called Lemony should leave before, because another boy strode into the hall.
"Hey, Beatrice!" He flashed her a smile.
"How do you know my name?" she asked.
"I always make sure I know all the pretty girls' names," their father replied, and the boy Lemony rolled his eyes.
Beatrice blushed. "What's your name?"
"Bertrand," he introduced, sticking out his hand.
She shook it. "Lemony and I were just going to go to lunch, would you care to join us?"
Bertrand nudged Lemony out of the way to stand by their mother. "Actually, Lemony just told me he had to go practice his lines, right?" He made a pointed stare at the boy, and he mumbled something before darting off.
Their father flashed another brilliant smile and pulled his hand out from behind his back to reveal a popsicle. "Lavender?" he asked.
The Baudelaires smiled at that, as they remembered their mother used to always cook with lavender, insisting it had a special taste and significance to her.
She took the popsicle and the Doctor came up behind them, tapping them softly on the shoulder.
"It's time to go," he whispered. "I'm about to appear any moment and it will create a paradox."
The Baudelaires looked longingly at their parents before following their new guardian back into the ship.
….
"You children are having a good time, right?" the Doctor asked them later, after they had been flying through something called a vortex for about an hour.
"Er, yes," Klaus supplied. "Better than most places."
"But what about Count Olaf?" Violet asked.
"He can't harm you here," the Doctor promised.
"Ho dyu no?" Sunny asked.
"The assembled armies of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they tried," he said fiercely, before turning back to the console.
"Is there anything we can do?" Violet asked, "We are getting a bit bored just standing here."
"Ah! I'm glad you asked! If you go down the hallway with a clear vision of the room you want to appear in your mind, the TARDIS will guide you to it. So, say you wanted the library, which has every book in the universe, mind you, it would appear right before your eyes."
The Baudelaires looked excited, and went off to explore what was to be their new home.