Chapter 8 – A Little Macgyver
"Would you like some more tea, Miss Floppy?" Francine the bear asked, leaning forward holding a plastic cup of water to Floppy.
"Yes, thank you, Francine!" Floppy squeaked in reply, and after a little bit of fumbling, received the cup and put it on the saucer in front of her. Then she took a careful sip and put it down again. "How delightful!"
"I do love Sundays!" Francine commented, taking a sip of her own water tea.
"I agree, Francine!" Floppy replied, brushing back her ear that was flapping around in front of her black bead eyes. "Because nothing ever happens on Sundays! It's just so relaxing! Would you like a slice of lemon cake?"
Suddenly there was a knock at the door, and both Floppy and Francine looked.
"Oh, whoever could that be?" Francine wondered, getting up from the table and shuffling over to the door. She opened it to reveal...
"Oh no!" she screamed, her hand moving to her mouth. "It's Dinny the dinosaur!"
"Gimme all yer moneh!" Dinny the dinosaur demanded angrily.
"Why, Dinny, you know we don't carry pocket change!"
"Gimme all yer moneh!" Dinny yelled in spite of this, shoving through the door and whacking Francine in the head with his tail.
"Ow!" Francine cried as she fell to the floor in a daze.
"Oh no, Francine!" Floppy exclaimed, getting up and backing away from Dinny and trembling in pure fear. "I'll call the police!" she squeaked, trying to sound more confident than she actually was.
"If you dern't give me yer moneh I'll gobble yer both up with some ketchup!" Dinny threatened.
"Excuse me!" a voice suddenly cried from the doorway and Super Ted appeared, his cape flowing in the breeze.
Dinny spun around in alarm as Floppy sank the the floor in pure relief. "Oh no, not Super Ted!" he exclaimed.
"Just what might you be doing in the house of such pretty ladies on a Sunday, if not having tea and cake?" Super Ted wanted to know.
"Nuffin', Super Ted!" Dinny insisted quickly. "Ah was just leavin'!"
"Off with you, Dinny! May you one day see the error of your ways!" Super Ted demanded, stepping aside from the doorway to let Dinny run out screaming.
With a contented and triumphant laugh, Super Ted turned back to Floppy and Francine, who was now sitting at the table rubbing her head.
"Have no fear, ladies! For as long as I live no harm shall ever befall you!" he assured them, hands on his hips again.
"Oh, thank you, Super Ted!" Francine and Floppy chorused.
"You are very welcome, because crime never pays! Except for when you get away with it, of course." He paused for a moment, and then saw Floppy standing there. "... Miss Floppy, have I ever told you just how pretty you are?"
"Oh, stop it, Super Ted!" Floppy replied, probably would've having blushed if she could.
"But Miss Floppy..." He inched forward.
"No, really, Super Ted, stop it," Floppy replied, a lot more firmly this time.
"I love you, Miss Floppy!" Super Ted yelled in delight and jumped onto her, snogging the life out of her.
"Jack!" the Doctor yelled angrily, Floppy now torn from his grip. "You just had to ruin it, didn't you?"
Jack drew apart Super Ted and Floppy, shrugging. "I just thought it needed a little spice!"
"Rose," the Doctor began, looking at his wife still holding Dinny the dinosaur. "Back me up on this!"
Rose just looked at Leah, who was staring at the sight before her clapping in delight. Her brother was sitting beside her, and he copied her clapping looking a little confused.
"I liked it," Leah insisted.
"Thank you!" Jack acknowledged with a nod. "A little bit of realism goes a long way, Doctor."
The Doctor sighed, sitting Francine back down in her tea party chair just as there was a knock on the door.
"Lunch is ready!" Penelope called.
Everyone instantly stopped arguing, and before any of the adults had managed to right themselves Leah was out the door and gone.
The Doctor stooped to pick up Alex as Rose and Jack got to their feet.
"See you guys later," Jack said.
"Stay for lunch if you like," Rose said.
Jack shook his head. "Thanks, but me and Yan have plans."
"Okay," Rose replied, giving him a hug of farewell.
"Bye, Alex!" Jack said to the boy, who giggled and waved as Jack left. Then Alex yawned, and rested his head on his Dad's chest.
"Meet you in the kitchen," the Doctor said and left, taking Alex to his cot.
He settled the boy down inside, who yawned again. The Doctor gazed at him lying there a moment longer, then leant forward to kiss him. It had been another few days, and his pneumonia had cleared up quite quickly so the Doctor had elected to take him out of the Infirmary and put him back in the nursery. For now. He had always done this knowing it would probably be only a matter of weeks, even days until something else struck.
"Bye, Alex," he said gently.
The boy stared up at him, and opened his mouth slowly, as if he was about to say something...
The Doctor's eyes widened. "Bye, Alex! Bye!"
Several seconds went by... and then Alex yawned again and closed his mouth.
The Doctor stifled a sigh, and just gave him a smile. "Bye," he said again, then moved to the door, deliberately slowly just in case Alex said something. But he didn't.
"Thank you, that was really nice," Leah told Penelope politely as Rose moved around to clean up the plates.
"You're very welcome, my dear," Penelope replied with that ever gentle smile.
"Can I go and play?" Leah asked, and rather than directing the question at either of her parents she was directing it at Penelope.
"Of course," Penelope replied with a nod, and like a lighting bolt the 4-year-old was off the chair and out the door.
Rose smiled, taking her seat again. "I think she likes you."
"I'm very glad," Penelope replied, the both of them laughing quietly before noticing the Doctor, staring at the table as he had been most of lunch.
"What's up?" Rose asked him, resting a hand on his arm.
The Doctor snapped out of it instantly, looking up. "Oh, nothing, just thinking."
"What about?" Rose asked.
"Alex," the Doctor admitted. "When I put him in his cot earlier it was like... Well, I thought he was going to say something. It's like... It's like he's trying to but he just can't figure out how."
"Maybe he'll figure it out soon, yeah?" Rose reassured him as best she could. "Wonder what his first word'll be? I'm rootin' for Mum but you know, I'll have anythin'."
"Gran," Penelope put in with a smile.
The Doctor and Rose both laughed at that. "I'll take that," Rose said.
"What about Dad?" the Doctor tried.
"Not fair! Leah said Dad as her first word."
"Because it's easier to say," the Doctor said, laughing. She dug him in the ribs. He mocked frowned and rubbed his side.
"Better go and feed him," Rose said, getting off her chair and dabbing the Doctor a quick kiss before she left, leaving the Doctor and his mother sitting alone.
"I'm sure Alex will be fine," Penelope assured him gently. "If he's anything like you. If it's any consolation, you were quite similar for the first few years after you were loomed."
The Doctor smiled appreciatively. "Thanks, Mum."
She nodded understandingly... Just as there was a scream of, "DOCTOR!" from another room. The Doctor was off in a shot, following the cry straight to Rose stood in the nursery, staring at the cot.
"He's gone!" Rose gasped spinning around to meet him, her eyes wide in a true reflex response of Mother hysteria. "Doctor, he's gone!"
"Calm down, Rose," the Doctor said quickly, observing the situation. "If he'd been stolen by a salivating ten foot monster I think we'd have heard. See, look..."
He leant forward, and examined the evidence trail. Then froze, frowning slightly.
"Oh blimey," he muttered, staring at the sight in front of him.
"What?"
"Look," the Doctor began, moving over to the cot and picking up a toy screwdriver from Alex's toy toolbox from the cot. "He's... He stood up in his cot, used this screwdriver to lean over the sides and undo the catches for the side so it dropped down. Then he..." He moved to the next object, a pillow on the floor. "He threw the pillow where he would land, jumped down, then moved over to the door..." He followed to trail to a pile of Lego leant against the wall. "He made a Lego tower with stairs, climbed up and hit the switch... The door opened..."
Without a glance at Rose he moved through the door into their bedroom to the door. "Right, the door here was open so he just walked through, then..."
He emerged out into the corridor, looking around for any hint of where Alex went next. Then he saw the toolbox by the door to the console room, opened with tools scattered everywhere. He ran over to it and examined the next situation. "Right, so he got here but he couldn't reach so he..."
He stooped to pick up the abandoned tools. They were slotted together. "He... He slotted them together and used the pole to hit the switch. Then..."
He got up and went through the door into the console room, looking around. The TARDIS door was ajar. He went over to it and peeked out to find Leah sitting alone in the middle of Torchwood playing with Myfanwy, stroking the Pteranodon's beak.
"Leah?"
"Yes?" Leah asked, looking up.
"Have you seen your little brother?" the Doctor asked.
She nodded. "He wanted to go out so I opened the TARDIS door for him and then he climbed up those stairs," she said, pointing to the stairs that led to Jack's office.
"Thanks," the Doctor replied, following the path up the stairs. Just as he got to Jack's office the door opened to reveal Jack standing there holding Alex in both hands.
"Looking for this?" he wondered.
"Yes!" the Doctor exclaimed, taking the boy into his arms.
"I found him in my top cupboard, with the alien artefacts," Jack replied with a slight frown. "I don't have a clue how he managed that without me noticing."
Rose looked at the Doctor. "You do know what this means, right?"
"What?"
"We've got a little Macgyver."
"I'll say," the Doctor muttered, kissing Alex. The boy was giggling and hugging his Dad's neck, perfectly content in his arms.
"What's wrong?" Penelope's voice asked anxiously from next to the TARDIS, calling up to them.
"Nothing, Mum. Found him!" the Doctor called back down. She smiled in relief and made to go back in the TARDIS.
Suddenly the Hub door rolled back, and a new person entered.
"This is the Sol 3 refuge centre, yes?" the man called up with a tone of voice that somehow commanded utter and complete authority over them all.
Jack quickly slipped between the Rose and the Doctor and flew down the stairs to greet him, the Doctor and Rose following on behind whilst fawning over Alex.
Jack met a tall, broad-shouldered dark-haired humanoid man wearing a long black cloak, and extended a hand to shake. The man looked at the hand with disdain, then looked up at Jack again.
Jack frowned slightly, a little taken aback, but continued regardless. "Yeah, this is the Sol 3 refuge centre."
"Excellent," the man replied, looking around the Hub with a slight sneer, before his eyes connected with Penelope moving back into the TARDIS...
"Penelope!" the man called, shocked.
Penelope turned at the voice, and then froze. "Ulysses? But..."
"Father?" yet another exclamation came from yet another direction, and everyone instantly looked at the Doctor who was staring at Ulysses with his jaw agape. Rose quickly took Alex before the Doctor could drop him in utter shock.
"Theta!" Ulysses realised.
"Are you serious?" Rose croaked, looking at the Doctor.
Suddenly as if from nowhere, Leah appeared at her parent's feet, staring at Ulysses.
"Does this mean I get more presents?" she wondered.
A/N: Very much stepping into dangerous territory, now. But bear with me! All will make sense at the end.
But in the meantime, I am prepared for flames! *raises fireproof shield*