"What thing?" Liz stood cross armed in the living room, watching the Doctor scan the house with his sonic screw driver, as he had called it.
The Doctor payed no attention to her as he looked at one side of his screw driver. "Of course, of course. I should have known..." he turned around and looked straight at Liz. "Have you got any new bugs in your house, like beetles or ant invasions?"
Liz scrunched her eyebrows as she often did when she was confused. Who would as a silly question like that, especially now? "Uh, yeah, I guess. There have been a few stink bugs around the house lately, but no invasions."
"Well then, let's go find those stink bugs, shall we?" The Doctor smiled and walked quickly down the hall, his screw driver (though to Liz it looked more like a child's toy than a screw driver) out and scanning the walls.
"Liz, who was at the door?" Liz's mother poked her head out of the office and smiled warmly. "Oh, hello." She came over and shook hands with the Doctor. "I'm Liz's mom. Would you care for some coffee or tea, perhaps?"
The Doctor's eyes lit up at the sound of tea. "Tea sounds wonderful, thank you. Now, to find those killer stink bugs!" He swept past Mrs. Park and the older woman raise a confused eyebrow at Liz. Liz just shrugged and followed her new friend to the back of the house.
She found the Doctor with his screw driver flashing green in front of the basement door. "What's down here?" He asked, looking at Liz through the darkness of the hallway.
"That's the basement. My brother Hank lives down there." Liz explained, turning on the hall light.
"Hank? Who names a child Hank?" The Doctor looked quite displeased with her brother's name, but Liz just pushed open the door and flipped the light switch on.
"He isn't home right now, so we can go down and investigate." She told him and followed his lead down the wooden steps.
Liz had only been down here once or twice, since Hank liked to keep things private. The light bulb on the cement ceiling flickered a little and most of the room was completely shrouded in darkness. The Doctor, with his little metal screw driver, turned up the electricity in the bulb so he could see better.
Down at the far corner of the room, a large bed was piled with books and metal objects Liz didn't recognize. At the foot of the bed, the desk Liz's mother had given to Hank was covered with all sorts of metal scraps and mother boards from radios and computers. The only part of the room that was actually clean except the floor was a wooden dresser at the front part of the room.
As they took a few more steps towards the bottom, the Doctor stopped and put his finger to his mouth. "Something is down here. Step lighter, you sound like a wobbling cow."
"Excuse me?" Liz folded her arms and stopped in the middle of the staircase. "I will be as loud as I wish, thank you very much."
The Doctor bit his lip and waved his hands in the air as if signalling a bus. "No, I'm serious, shush, please, just be quiet or you'll alarm-"
"Doctor?" Liz's eyes widened as she saw the floor begin to move towards them. No, not the floor, stink bugs! A whole herd of bugs began to make their way towards the stairs, making their way forward quickly, especially with such short legs.
The Doctor and Liz began to back up towards the door, but it slammed shut behind them. Liz jumped up to it and pulled the knob, but it wouldn't budge. "Doctor, help!"
"How would I help?" The Doctor retorted, backing into her.
"Use that screw driver of yours!"
The Doctor pulled out his sonic and smiled. "Oh, yeah." He pointed it at the knob and it unlocked, letting the two out. They rushed out the door and the Doctor slammed it shut, using his sonic to lock it tight.
Liz bent over, panting from the terror. "Wow..." She gasped.
The Doctor laughed happily. "I know!" He exclaimed.
"What happened down there?" The two looked up as Mrs. Park came through the hall. "I heard yelling and banging. Is everything alright down there?" She reached for the door knob, but the Doctor blocked it with his hand.
"You can't go down there!" He exclaimed, moving in front of her. "It's, uh, uh-" he looked to Liz for help.
She stood beside him. "You're birthday present is down there! Yeah, the Doctor just came over to help finish it, and we're just taking a break." She smiled innocently.
Her mother looked at the door, then back at the Doctor. "You two were only in there for a few moments, not long enough to have a break."
Liz and the Doctor looked at each other. "Uh, the Doctor wanted to have tea before we finished!" Liz told her mother, taking the two cups of tea from her and handing one to the Doctor. "Thanks, mom!" She said and led the Doctor past Mrs. Park and back through the house.
Once out in the kitchen, Liz placed her cup at her place at the table while the Doctor slurped his up. "What were those things?" She asked, looking at the Doctor with a worried gaze.
He stopped drinking his tea and placed it on the table as well. "Those were robots, or did you think they were wood?"
"No, I thought they were real!" Liz mocked him, folding her arms and gazing out the sliding glass door that led to her backyard.
The Doctor stood beside her and shifted his weight. "You know what this means, right?"
Liz looked up at him, confused. "You mean about Hank? Did he break an intergalactic law about building but robots or something?"
"No, no, that would be on Yanho, not Earth. No, I mean," his voice got hushed. "Your brother isn't who he seems to be. No one can sleep on a bed full of metal and books, can they? Which means they don't sleep and that would mean..." He was quiet for a moment, then reached for his tea on the table.
"Means what, Doctor?" Liz asked.
The Doctor didn't answer, which irritated Liz quite so, but she said nothing as the man sipped his drink. She sighed lightly and looked back out the window, happy for there to finally be some silence.
Ello! So, here it is! The second chapter, so soon after writing the first! Well, that's how I am, I guess. Anyway, hope you Whovians enjoy it a lot, and the third chapter will be up shortly!
-Goldmoonrider