A/N: I am back on schedule, finally got some chapters written up for later, did all of my other stuff, except for homework... but all the important things were finished! Yay! I am still excited how people keep following my story, it's like I'm picking up a companion ;) Ignore me, you can read.
Chapter 7:
Rose was rather surprised by the amount of tea that Liz had, she thought, being as it was America, that all she would have would be coffee. Apparently her husband Tom believed tea was the solution to everything, so she had experienced when it came to making it.
As the kettle began to boil, Rose sat in the quaint dining room that was attached to the kitchen. She looked out into their backyard through the sliding glass door, the porch was rather worn and decorated with mismatched deck furniture .
"So, why is it that Alli isn't allowed to go outside by herself then?" She asked, this had been bothering her since Alli didn't seem like the kind to cause trouble.
"Oh, she has been wandering off since before she could walk. We went to the Empire State building and she got lost! She was only three at the time and I know since then she could've gotten better but she is just accident prone. We had just went camping and when crossing the street, she looked one way but not the other, nearly got hit by a semi." Liz rambled on.
Rose stifled a chuckle as she heard about how much she got into trouble. "So, um, is it just her, or does she have brothers and sisters?"
"Yeah, most of them grew up and moved out, the only one close to her age is her sister Amber. She's her only full sister too, since me and Tom had our own families before."
"She told us about her sister Amber, do you know what she did though?"
Liz arched an eyebrow at the question, "What did she say this time?"
"Well, uh.." Rose stuttered unsure of the tone in her voice. She cleared her voice and continued. "She's saying that Amber had turned all the neighbor kids against her, that's why she was wandering around, playing by herself."
Lis sighed, this seemed to happen all the time. "Those two are constantly fighting, but I always only find Amber picking on her, I know that Alli must be doing something to aggravate her but I haven't ever seen her do anything yet, but she is doing something. There's no reason that Amber would have taped her to a door without Alli doing something to make her angry." Rose raised her eyebrows at this little story before Liz continued.
"I'd ask Amber but you know how kids are when you ask them. Story changes on both sides so you never know what to believe."
"Sorry, it's just that she seemed to be pretty upset by it so I thought I should say something."
"It's fine, I'll talk to both of them about it see if I can find out. So where are you from?"
Rose gladly veered away from the conversation, they both went into a deep discussion of all the trouble that Alli had gotten into as a kid, laughing at how crazy a situation Liz would find her in. She had been asked a while ago to get rid of some of the firewood on the patio since it wasn't being used and didn't look very nice, so she set fire to the entire pile and was found just roasting marshmallows and sitting in front of the inferno.
They were going into a debate on American lemonade and British lemonade, but just as Liz's mouth opened to speak, she was cut off by the sound of someone coming up the hallway. The Doctor walked in smugly with his hand in his pockets.
"Well, got her to go to sleep and might I just say, she is the most creative, intelligent little girl I've ever met, and she gives amazing back rubs!" He said as he rolled his shoulders. "So, how about a cup of tea?"
Liz rolled her eyes at how many people Alli charmed through her massages, "I'll go start your tea."
"So I asked Liz about her daughter Amber," Rose whispered cautiously, not wanting Liz to overhear them, "and there's somethin' odd about how her and Alli fight nonstop, but Alli's never caught. By the sound of it, she just-"
"Manipulates her into starting it." He quietly interjected, "She's very good at that I noticed, which leaves a big honking question." Absent mindedly scratching his sideburns and concentrating deep in thought. "What?" Rose asked, knowing that look he got when he was confused by something.
"How can a girl who can outsmart almost everyone be potentially kidnapped, for no good reason, and not show signs of a struggle?"
"Well she couldn't have just wandered off, the article said the police searched everywhere and she couldn't have gotten far."
"She really did just... vanish." The Doctor muttered grimly. Just then Liz walked in with his tea.
"Just who I wanted to talk to!" He said suddenly, startling her.
"What do you want to talk about?" She asked carefully, not sure what he needed to say to her.
"Mostly the monarchy that's taken place in your neighborhood, but also your daughter's relationship with each other." He stated smoothly, sounding more like they were commands rather than topics of conversation.
Liz just sighed and held her tea up to her face as she delved into the subject once again, "Kids will be kids, I've had enough experience to know that these things will blow over. As I told Rose, I'll talk to them about it, but these usually go both ways when it comes to who's fault it is."
"But I had the pleasure of getting to know your daughter and I need to speak with both of them. I've had experience with children as well, but, as I am sure you are well aware of, Alli is one of those unique children that doesn't really follow the basic guidelines of what it means to be a child. Not to mention, I know when people are lying." He spoke nearly at a hundred words per minute before he finished. Leaving Liz at a loss for words.
The front door opened with a loud clatter and chattering as Amber walked in through the front door with a couple of friends trailing behind her. Liz glanced over at Rose seeing a pleading look on her face before she finally made her decision. Amber was about to walk to her room before Liz called for Amber into the kitchen.
"Amber! Come here and meet our guests!" The Doctor sniffed with a victorious smirk on his face while Rose rolled her eyes at him.
Amber walked through accompanied by a haughty looking brunette and a stoic red-head. Amber had light brown hair with hints of strawberry blonde reflecting from the light on her. She looked like Alli slightly, but with no freckles, hazel eyes, and a couple years older.
"Your friends can wait in your room." Liz said as she nodded her head towards the two girls, they immediately turned and walked down the hallway, muttering 'whatever' and 'K'.
Once they heard the door close, the Doctor got up and walked over to her. "Hello, I'm the Doctor, this is Rose Tyler." He reached out to shake her hand and she accepted it politely.
"Hi, I'm Amber." She then turned towards her mom "Can I go play with my friends now?"
"Don't be rude, come sit down." Liz sternly ordered. She rolled her eyes as she sat down at the table and sunk into the seat looking expectantly at the two out-of-town strangers for whatever they were going to say.
"Right then!" Doctor said with a clap of his hands as he pulled out his chair and plopped down next to her. "Why don't you tell me what Alli did to make you so upset?"
Her brow furrowed as she tried to mime a look of confusion, "What you mean? I'm not upset."
Rose leaned forward, "Alli already told us her side of the story, it would be only fair to hear your side too." She smiled at the nine year-old who sighed and leaned back in her seat.
"She wanted to watch something on TV when she had the TV all day, I told her it was my turn so wouldn't let her have the remote. Then she started throwing a fit that made Seth and Toby think I was bullying her and threw me out of the room. She only did it so she could have her own way like always, and no one does anything about it." Her voice steadily rose throughout the whole story until she was huffing her chest with anger at the sore memory.
"I believe you." He said confidently.
"Yeah but she always- wait, what?" she stopped not sure what she heard, no one ever believed that "sweet, innocent, little Alli" could ever do anything like that, so this was a first.
Rose looked at the Doctor, who was receiving a curious look from Liz, as she set her tea down slowly.
"I believe you," he repeated, "Which is why I want to help you when she gets that way, the kind of person she is, she can't control it. I want you to handle your sisters manipulative plans without turning the whole neighborhood against her." He gave her a hard look, making her shrink further in her chair, attempting to retreat from both his and her mother's glare.
"Okay, I'm sorry." She glumly apologized.
"It's alright love, at least you know it was wrong." Rose said giving her a kind smile, before turning to the Doctor. "But Doctor, what did you mean by, the kind of person she is?"
"Yeah she's just like every other little girl, there's nothing wrong with her!" Liz spoke up, she was offended by how he talked about her daughter like a… a psycho. She was always her happiest child.
"She is way more clever than any girl her age should be. I'm sure you've noticed Amber," he said motioning towards her, "Since you're so close to her, you notice how she acts to get her way, so she makes your word not 'reliable' in a sense that you can't get her in trouble. This can be fixed just by sitting her down and telling her not to use people to her advantage or simply ignoring her." He said turning around to Liz. He was a little surprise to see her so livid.
A/N: I am soooo ready for the next chapter, I just need to put it up right away when I come home so I'm not posting at midnight all the time. Sorry about that. Hope you enjoy the chapter, I'll try to make them longer. Thank you to everyone who has been reading, I really do love that.