YAHA! I finished this on Tuesday, but - again - didn't get round to posting. Enjoy~
Chapter 7: Wibbly Wobbly
The Doctor clapped his hands together sharply, drawing everyone's attention. "Alright, listen up!" He said, striding into the middle of the room. "The sonic definitely registered-" he paused, glancing at Eyphah, then continued "-what we were looking for at the Orphanage. Now, clearly something else is going on here, but if we want to know anything more we have to go back there. Now."
The room was silent. Eyphah held her breath. The Doctor wanted to return to the Orphanage - would he put her back? She didn't want to go. Her whole life had been in that building, but the freedom before her was so thrilling she knew she never wanted to let it go.
"River," the Doctor was walking towards the police box, yet turned to face his wife, "are you coming?"
"Of course sweetie!" River grabbed his hand and the two walked into the box without another word. Then, "Eyphah, come on!" The Doctor's voice came from within the box as River poked her head round the door.
"Quickly!" She said, gesturing at Eyphah to come forward. Eyphah didn't even think - she just did as the woman said and followed her into the box. Only, once she was inside, she saw it wasn't a box at all.
"Wha- But, that's not... How?" River grinned at Eyphah's confused expression.
"Dear, I'll let you deal with this!" She called to the Doctor as she took over from him at the control panel in the centre of the room. The Doctor bounded down the stairs from the glass platform to stand beside Eyphah, face shining with glee.
"Go on," he encouraged, "say it!" Eyphah glanced at him, in awe of her surroundings.
"It's... It's bigger on the inside!" She gasped, gazing at the TARDIS control room. "Where am I?" She asked, dazed.
River glanced up from the controls, where she was piloting the machine on its way back to the Orphanage. "Sweetie, I think she needs to sit down." She called across to the Doctor. Eyphah was led across the room and sat down in the chair next to the console.
"Welcome to my home." The Doctor began. "This is the TARDIS. T-A-R-D-I-S, stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. What d'ya think?" He was bobbing on his heels like a hyper five year old.
"A time machine!" The teenager gasped in wonder. This was so much to take in. "But, why does it look like a police box?"
River piped up. "Fault in the chameleon circuit. Specifically, the Alpha-Delta coupling which is meant to reroute the gyroscopic transformer down on level 1359b has an internal fault, by which I of course mean the pink connector has interfered with the green resistors, so the orange wire has slipped causing the purple fuse to blow." Eyphah gawked. River sighed.
"Basically, the old girl is broken and I don't want to fix her." The Doctor simplified from beside her. "She doesn't mind it though - she quite likes being a police box, don't you dear?" He addressed the machine affectionately. As if in response, the whole room was filled with a soft hum of contentment.
There was a ding from the console as River stated "We're here." The Doctor glared at her. "What?" The woman asked innocently.
"You left the brakes off. Her first time in the TARDIS and you left the brakes off..." The Doctor pouted, eyes wide. He looked like a kicked puppy.
River just huffed an walked past him to the door. "Come along Eyphah!" She said brightly. Eyphah followed, slipping past the Doctor, who now looked at River in mild irritation. "Stop nicking my lines!" He huffed as he joined her at the door. River just smiled at him. "Never."
And with that, she opened the door of the blue box.