Through Thick and Thin

Family Visit

The TARDIS materialised outside a villa on the island of Tenerife on a lovely sunny day. The door opened and the Doctor stepped out first. "Here we are; Tenerife, Canary Islands." he announced as Donna and Shareen joined him outside.

"Is that ya grandparents' house?" Donna asked Shareen, gesturing to the villa they'd landed outside.

"Yeah. They moved here about 9 years ago." Shareen replied. "Gramps retired from his job on the buses and he an' Nan decided to move to the sun. I used to come over for a week or so before I started travellin' with him." She nodded to the Doctor. "Anyway, better say hello to 'em." She went up to the villa and rang the front doorbell.

A moment later, Shareen's grandfather, Maxwell Costello, answered the door. His face immediately lit up at the sight of his granddaughter. "Shareen?!" he exclaimed. "Oh! You never told us you were on the island!"

"Yeah, well, thought I'd surprise you an' Nan." Shareen shrugged.

"Oh, come here!" Max laughed and hugged his granddaughter. "Oh, it's good to see ya, Sweets. How've you been?"

"I'm fine, Gramps." Shareen replied as they broke apart. "How about you and nan?"

"Oh, I'm fighting fit as always, Sweets," Max laughed, "and ya Nan's looking after me like she always does." He then noticed Shareen's companions. "Ah, you've bought company, then."

"Yes, these are my friends." Shareen told him. "That's Donna Noble." She indicated Donna.

"Nice to meet ya, Mr Costello." Donna said, coming forward and shaking Max's hand. "Nice place you've got here."

"Yep, cost me an arm an' a leg, though." Max replied, then turned to the Doctor. "And you are?"

"Hello, I'm the Doctor." the Time Lord replied, shaking Max's hand rather enthusiastically. "Nice to meet ya. Shareen's told me all about both of ya."

"Ah, so you're the infamous Doctor." Max raised a brow. "Hmm, from what we've heard, we thought you'd be someone older." he commented.

"He's older than he looks, Gramps." Shareen snorted. "Nan in?"

"Yep, she's out back by the pool." Max replied. "On which note, come on in!" And he led the trio inside the house.

The Costellos' villa was quite a nice house, being spacious, airy and decorated with homely touches. Before his retirement, Max had worked for London Transport as a bus driver, before moving on to becoming an inspector, and his home had several souvenirs from his career along with some mementos of his wife's former occupation as a shop worker. Shareen carried on through the house and out to the back patio, where her grandmother, Jeanette, was relaxing by the pool. "Hey, Nan." she called.

Jeanette sprang up from her sun lounger with speed that belied her age. "Shareen!" she exclaimed, delighted to see her granddaughter. "When did you get here?"

"Just now, Nan." Shareen replied. "Thought I'd pop in an' see you both."

Jeanette throw her arms around Shareen. "Oh, look at you." she fussed. "All grown up and gorgeous." Then she noticed that Shareen had a bandage on her forehead, slightly obscured by her fringe, but not hidden enough to escape Jeanette's sharp eyes. "Are you ok? What happened to your head?" she asked.

"Long story, Nan." Shareen replied. "In fact, it's kinda why I'm here. Um, ya don't mind me just droppin' in outta the blue like this?"

"Of course not." Jeanette reassured her. "We've told you, Shareen, you're always welcome in this house." She then noticed Shareen's companions, who were just joining them. "Ah, so I presume this is the infamous Doctor?" she raised a brow.

"Yep, the vain peacock himself." Shareen laughed. "And that's my good friend, Donna. You remember, I told ya about her after ATMOS?"

"Of course." Jeanette nodded and turned to the newcomers. "So, you're Shareen's friends, then. Well, welcome to our humble home."

"Hello!" Donna greeted, shaking Jeanette's hand. "Great to meet ya."

"I've heard so much about you both." the Doctor added, somewhat uncomfortable at the social interaction but being polite.

"Really?" Jeanette raised a brow. "What have you heard?"

"Well, that you're Shareen's grandparents, that you live in Tenerife and that you both brought her up when she was little." the Doctor listed off.

"Yep, and we did a bang-up job of it too." Max said as he joined them. "Look at our little Sweets now!" he beamed wth pride.

"Oh, give over, Gramps." Shareen said modestly. "I'm just a simple girl floatin' about the universe."

"But you're out there, doin' things which other people can't even imagine!" Max pressed. "I've always said that Shareen would do us proud when she grew up." he told the Doctor and Donna.

"Mom an' dad never thought so." Shareen muttered. "They used to say I'd amount to nothing."

"They didn't mean it, Shareen." Jeanette told her. "And they miss you, ya know."

"Huh, Zara doesn't." Shareen snorted. "I ran into her a couple of months back. She hasn't changed a bit."

"Ah, take no noticed of her, Sweets." Max counselled. "Zara takes after her dad, you take after ya mum. Anyway, now that you're here, how about tellin' us just exactly how you got that little shiner on ya head?"

And so everyone was soon sat on the patio, with Shareen explaining to her grandparents about the recent fiasco on Midnight. "... so that' s how I got this." she, pointing to her bandage.

Both Max and Jeanette were appalled. "That horrible woman!" Jeanette burst out.

"They'd better hope they never meet me." Max said grimly. "I'll teach 'em to mess with my family!"

"Hey, on the bright side, they're all in worse shape than me." Shareen placated them. "I managed to knock out several of that old fool of a professor's teeth, I gave that tw*t Biff a black eye and I gave his b*tch wife a broken nose."

"That's my girl." Max patted her shoulder.

"And you, Doctor..." Jeanette rounded on the Time Lord, "what were you thinking, acting all high and mighty and making things worse?"

"Well, normally, people don't turn on me like that." the Doctor squirmed.

"Yeah, usually they're kissin' his arse an' sucking up to him." Donna said lightly. "Honestly, sometimes I think Shareen and I are the only people who don't put him on a pedestal."

"But is travelling with him always that dangerous?" Jeanette asked seriously.

"To be honest, most of the time, yes." Shareen replied. "But let's face it, Earth's not much safer these days either."

"You're right there, Sweets." Max remarked. "It's like these last few years, aliens have just decided to use us a punching bag. Don't s'pose you have an explanation for that, Doctor?" he asked the Doctor.

"Um, well... I honestly don't know." the Doctor replied. "Believe me, I've asked myself that question for centuries."

"That isn't very reassuring." Jeanette muttered.

"It's not all bad, though." Donna vouched. "Out there, for every bad thing, there's a ton of good things to make up for it."

"Yeah, and I never thought I'd ever say this, but Peacock's not so bad." Shareen added. "For my birthday, he took me to see the 2022 Woman's Euro Cup Final. Ah, that was a great match!" she smiled in reminiscence.

"Funny you should mention ya birthday, Sweets..." Max said, getting up, "we've still got ya present here." He went inside the house and came back out a moment later carrying a wrapped up present. "We, uh, couldn't sent it to ya as we didn't know where you were." he said as he handed Shareen the present. "This from the both of us."

Shareen unwrapped the present to see that it comprised of a Crystal Palace Football Club shirt and a small velvet box. Shareen opened the box to see that it contained a nice ring. She then looked at the back of the shirt to see the name 'Costello' and the number 23 on it. "Ooh, thanks!" she smiled, slipping the ring on her finger.

"Glad you like them." her grandmother smiled.

"When is ya birthday anyway, Shareen?" Donna asked. Although she'd been travelling with Shareen for a few months now, she'd never asked about her birthday.

"15th of February." Shareen replied.

"Your mother phoned us that day." Jeanette told her. "She wanted us to wish you happy birthday from her."

"What, she actually remembered?!" Shareen snorted.

"Of course she did." Max said. "She's always loved you, ya know; she's just had a funny way of showing it."

"Huh, now that's an understatement." Shareen scoffed. "Anyway, thanks for the presents, Nan, Gramps."

"Anytime, Sweets. Tell ya what, why don't you and your friends stay for dinner? You got time?"

"I've always got time for you two." Shareen reassured her grandparents then turned to her friends. "What d'ya say? Nan's the best cook on this planet!"

"I'm game." Donna shrugged.

"Peacock?"

The Doctor looked like he'd been told to walk barefoot on glass. "Well, I don't think... That is... I think... Oh, go on, then." he conceded.

"Cosmic." Shareen grinned.

~8~

That evening, the Doctor, Donna and the Costellos were all having dinner together. True to Shareen's word, Jeanette was a great cook and her food went down well with the Doctor and Donna. As they ate, Shareen's grandparents were enthralling Donna with some stories about Shareen's childhood. Currently, Max was explaining about a football match at Shareen's senior school, "... so there's Sweets, her lip bleeding and we're all worried she's got a concussion, the referee's tellin' her to get subbed so she can be checked out but she's like 'No, I can still play.'"

"Well, I could." Shareen shrugged.

"That's 'cos you're a pure blood Costello." Max winked at her then resumed his story. "So the referee relents and the game resumes, with Shareen's team leading 3-2, and then Shareen takes possession of the ball, gets it past two boys twice her size and shoots, getting it square in the net, making it 4-2. We were shouting, so proud of her and the other team are nearly stamping their feet, knowing they're beaten. The rest of the match was a doddle; those boys just couldn't get past our Sweets and her team. Then the whistle blows for full time so Shareen's team won 4-2. We were all so proud of her."

"I was proud of me." Shareen shrugged.

"The team all got certificates after that match." Jeanette told Donna. "We've still got Shareen's." She pointed to a framed certificate on the wall bearing the text; 'Awarded to Shareen Whitland, Midfielder, Stonewall Secondary School year 11 football team, 2001.'

"It's a pity you didn't audition for one of the professional teams, Sweets." Max remarked to Shareen. "The coach used to say that you'd go far as a professional footballer."

"Wouldn't be as fun." Shareen shrugged. "For professional footballers, it becomes all about money and not about having fun anymore. Anyway, I don't think mom and dad would've been willing to pay for my training."

"Were they at the match, ya mom and dad?" Donna asked her.

"Nah, they never bothered with anything I did." Shareen replied. "Anyway, I think it helped me play not having them watching me like a hawk. Still, would've been nice if just once, they'd said 'Well done, Shareen'. Ah, well. Hey, Nan, Gramps, did ya know we've met Agatha Christie?"

"You're joking." Max stared.

"The Agatha Christie?" Jeanette questioned.

"The one and only." Shareen grinned and she and Donna began telling Max and Jeanette about the adventure with Agatha Christie and the Vespiform.

~8~

After dinner, the Doctor, Shareen and Donna prepared to set off on their travels again. "Well, nice meetin' ya both, Mr Costello, Mrs Costello." the Doctor said, rather keen to get going. "Thanks for the grub."

"Yeah, it was great to meet ya both at least." Donna added. "Hope we get to meet again sometime.

"Likewise, Donna." Max acknowledged. "Look after my Sweets."

"Oh, she takes care of herself!" Donna laughed.

Shareen meanwhile was saying goodbye to Jeanette. "Thanks for dinner, Nan." she said. "It was great to see you both again."

"Take care of yourself, Shareen." Jeanette said, hugging her granddaughter. "I know you're strong but please be careful. Your gramps and I love you, ya know."

"I know." Shareen smiled. "And I love ya both too." She kissed her grandmother on the cheek then turned to Max. "See ya, Gramps. Want me to bring ya back a souvenir next time I pop round?"

"Nah, I'm good, Sweets." Max laughed. "Just you go out there and enjoy yourself. Don't take any bull from that Doctor now!"

"I don't." Shareen laughed and kissed her grandfather on the cheek.

"Oh, go on. Be off with ya." Max laughed, and Shareen went off to join the Doctor and Donna. "Do us proud, Sweets." Max called after her.

"Good luck!" Jeanette added as the trio headed off towards the TARDIS. She and her husband stayed watching as the the blue police box dematerialised then they both looked up to the evening sky and the stars that were just starting to become visible, then they turned and went back inside their house, both so proud of the granddaughter.

Author's notes: Here's a short filler chapter to pad things out a bit. I figured this little side trip would act as a bit of a breather in-between the intense Midnight and the even more intense three-part series 4 finale. Note that Shareen's grandparents finally make in-person appearances here. I felt it was about time they showed up in the flesh. Unlike Shareen's parents, her grandparents are loving and supportive of her, hence Shareen still visiting them. Regarding their personalities, I imagine Max as a cool old man; always game for a laugh and possessing an unflappable sense of humour, while Jeanette is a supportive mother hen; always looking out for her family's welfare and best interests. Apologies for this rather short chapter, but we've got three of RTD's finest scripts coming up next. See ya then.