Mistressnmoon: I am so sorry about the long stretch between chapters! Had some major life stuff going on, but I'm back with a new chapter and I hope you like it!

The Lodger

"I love you." I blinked in surprise at the man who opened the front door, the man seeming equally as surprised as the Doctor responded,

"Well, that's good, because we're your new lodgers. Do you know, this is going to be easier than I expected." I opened my mouth to tell the Doctor that the man had clearly thought we were somebody else, before closing my mouth as the Doctor grabbed the fluffy pink keys from the man's hands.

"But I only put the advert up today. I didn't put my address."

"Well, you're lucky we came along." I piped up, the man turning his attention towards me just briefly, as the Doctor muttered out,

"More lucky then you know." He then started speaking at a normal volume, which brought the man's attention back towards the Doctor. "Less of a young professional, more of an ancient amateur, but frankly I'm an absolute dream. And don't even get me started on Kitten here." I gave a small wave as the man continued to stare at us in confusion.

"Hang on a minute, mate. I don't know if I want you two staying. And give me those keys back, you can't have those." I eyed the keys momentarily, wondering just exactly who they belonged to, keeping a small smile on my face as the Doctor brought out a small brown bag.

"Yes, quite right. Have some rent." The Doctor gave an awkward nod before continuing. "That's probably quite a lot, isn't it? Looks like a lot. Is it a lot? I can never tell." I rolled my eyes as I followed the two into the hallway, immediately noting the flickering upstairs lights. "Don't spend it all on sweets unless you like sweets. I like sweets. Ooo." The Doctor gave the man several air kisses to his cheeks before stating, "That's how we greet each other nowadays, isn't it? I'm the Doctor. Well. They call me the Doctor. I don't know why. I call me the Doctor. Still don't know why." I once more rolled my eyes at the man, muttering out softly enough that the other man couldn't hear me,

"Maybe because it's what you introduce yourself as?" I paused for a second before telling the man in front of me, "Name's Coco. Ignore him."

"Craig Owens. The Doctor?" I was glad the man had introduced himself, and that I finally had something to call him.

"Yep. Who lives upstairs?"

"Just some bloke."

"What's he look like?

"Normal." That wasn't helping the case of this is a normal place. No description of him? Seemed weird to me, sounded like he'd never met the man. "He's very quiet." Ironically there was a loud crashing noise coming from upstairs seconds after Craig had finished speaking. "Usually. Sorry. Who are you two again? Hello?" I quietly followed the Doctor into the flat, immediately noticing the grossness in the corner on the room. "Excuse me?"

"Ah I suppose that's dry rot?"

"Or damp. Or mildew."

"Or maybe none of the above." Only the Doctor heard my mutterings, but he still gave me a small nod of agreement.

"I'll get someone to fix it."

"No, I'll fix it. I'm good at fixing rot. Call me the Rotmeister." I must have made a bad face, because one look at me and the Doctor was immediately backtracking on the name. "No, I'm the Doctor, don't call me the Rotmiester." I sighed softly at the Doctor, and his sill I sighed softly at the Doctor, and his sill shenanigans. "This is the most beautiful parlor I have ever seen. You're obviously a man of impeccable taste. We can stay, Craig, can't we? Say we can stay."

"But you haven't even seen the room."

"The room?" I gave a small smack to the Doctor's arm,

"He means our room. The one we came here to rent?"

"Our room? Oh! Our room. Our room. Take me to my room." I glared at the Doctor for a moment, before turning my attention back towards Craig.

"Sorry, he means please show us the room. We would love to see it." Craig glanced between the two of us, confusion on his face, before he muttered out an okay and led us over towards the room.

"Yeah, this is Mark's old room. He owns the place. Moved out about a month ago. This uncle he'd never even heard of died and left a load of money in the will." The Doctor and I made eye contact, knowing that once we had the TARDIS back that we'd need to sort that out.

"How very convenient. This'll do just right. In fact." Suddenly there was another loud crash from upstairs, making me worry. Whatever was going on upstairs wasn't good. No time to lose. We'll take it. Ag you'll want to see our credentials. There." The Doctor did a fancy maneuver to make the psychic paper look like multiple sheets of paper, while I pulled out my own physic paper and just showed it the once.

"National Insurance number, NHS number. References."

"Is that a reference from the Archbishop of Canterbury?"

"We're his special favorites. Are you hungry? I'm hungry? Kitten?" I shrugged softly, not entirely sure the last time I'd properly eaten, as I stated,

"I could certainly go for food." Craig looked between the two of us before he started protesting.

"I haven't got anything in." The Doctor completely ignored what Craig said and made his way over to the fridge and started digging through it.

"You've got everything I need for an omelet. Fine herbs, pour deux. So who's the girl on the fridge?" I glanced at the image on the fridge, a photograph of Craigh and a girl with blonde hair, next to a Van Gogh post card. My heart ached slightly at the postcard as I turned my attention away from the postcard and towards Craig as he spoke.

"My friend. Sophie."

"Girlfriend?" I almost groaned out loud at the man, who the fuck just asks personal questions point blank like that?

"A friend who is a girl. There's nothing going on." I could tell by the tone and body language that he wasn't being completely honest, but I wasn't planning on pressing the man about it. He had his own life, and hopefully would continue to do so after we fixed the issue with the upstairs.

"Oh, that's completely normal. Works for me."

"We met at work about a year ago, at the call center."

"Oh really, a communications exchange? That could be handy." I sat down at the small kitchen table, resting my head on my hands as I tried not to groan at the Doctor. He was so bad at this whole "normal person" thing.

"Firm's going down though. The bosses are using a totally rubbish business model. I know what they should do. I got a plan all worked out. But I'm just a phone drone. I can't go running in saying I know best." Craig paused for a moment, a look of confusion crossing his face before he continued speaking. "Why am I telling you this I don't even know you two."

"Well, I've just got one of those faces. People never stop blurting out their plans while I'm around." I noticed the Doctor finishing up the omelets, so I stood to help him set the table and get the food on the table for all of us.

"Right. Where's your stuff at then?" The Doctor gave me a look, before happily stating,

"Oh, don't worry, it'll materialize. If all goes to plan." My eyes rolled at the man, before I sat back down at the table.

"He's right, it'll show up eventually. Now why don't we dig in while the foods still hot?" I, personally, was very excited for the food the Doctor had made, it looked incredible! Honestly, the Doctor hadn't stuck me as someone who knew how to cook but he had clearly proven me wrong. This omelet was so incredible, and we all sat in a comfortable silence as we ate.

"Didn't know you knew how to cook so well Doctor, that was incredible." Craig nodded enthusiastically as I spoke.

"She's right, that was incredible. That was absolutely brilliant. Where did you learn to cook?"

"Paris, in the 18th century." I gave the Doctor a small kick under the table, knowing he'd gotten the centuries mixed up. "No, hang on, that's not recent, is it? 17th? No, no, no. 20th. Sorry, I'm not used to doing them in the right order."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a bit weird?"

"They never really stop." I gave the Doctor a sad look, knowing what he meant. Always the black sheep so to speak. "Ever been to Paris Craig?"

"Nah. I can't see the point of Paris. I'm not much of a traveler."

"I can tell from your sofa." My jaw dropped at the Doctor's words; I simply couldn't believe that he'd just said that.

"My sofa?"

"You're starting to look like it."

"Thanks, mate, that's lovely." A relieved sigh escaped my lips, glad Craig hadn't taken too much offense to the Doctors mean comment. "No, I like it here. I'd miss it, I'd miss…"

"Those keys?" Now that the Doctor mentioned it Craig was kind of… for lack of a better word fondling the keys with a warm look on his face. He must have been thinking of someone, probably his 'just friend' Sophie.

"What?"

"Well, Craig, you are kind of fondling them?" Craig glanced at me in surprise, and alarm, glancing between myself and the Doctor.

"I'm holding them."

"Right." Craig looked awkwardly between the two of us, knowing we didn't believe him, before clearing his throat.

"Anyways. These. These are your keys. Sorry, there's just one set." I nodded at the man, knowing we could always make another set.

"That's fine."

"We can stay?" Craig let out a small laugh, nodding his head at the Doctor.

"Yeah. You're weird and you can cook. And she's nice enough. And well, that's good enough for me. Right. Outdoor. Front door. Your door."

"Our door. Our place. Ha ha! Yes. Me with a key." I snagged the keys from his hands,

"I don't trust you with the keys, so I'll be holding onto them." The Doctor pouted at me but didn't argue with me about it.

"And listen. Mark and I, we had an arrangement where if you ever need me out of your hair, just give me a shout, okay?" My face flushed at Craigs comment, knowing exactly what he meant. If we wanted to have the flat for a date or for um. More adult activities.

"Why would we want that?"

"In case you two want some time?" I squeaked and upon seeing my face, the Doctor seemed to put something together, but pretended to be oblivious.

"Oh, I will. I'll shout if that happens." He winked at me, making my face burn even brighter. Fuck this was going to be a mistake. Why did I think sharing a small room with the Doctor was a good idea. "By the way, that… The rot. I've got the strangest feeling we shouldn't touch it." I nodded in agreement, not wanting Craig to touch the stain either. Seemed dangerous.

"Sure. Well, I'll let you two get settled in." I smiled at the man; glad he was letting us stay in the flat.

"Thanks Craig! I look forward to living with you!" We all went our separate ways, Craig to his room and the Doctor and myself to ours, my face still a little flush. "Why are you like this?" My hands flailed out gesturing to his general person, still flustered by him not denying that we were a couple. Not that I really did either, but still!

"Like what?"

"Like. Like. I don't know!" I let out a huff, crossing my arms like a pouting child. "Why didn't you tell Craig that we're not dating?"

"Oh." I watched the Doctor's face fall, and suddenly felt bad for something outside of my control. "Right. It's still early for you."

"And what does that mean?"

"Spoilers." The man looked so desperately sad at that. Like he had an unbearable secret, one that was breaking his heart for me not to know.

"Ah." I floundered for a second, before I gently grabbed his hands. "I'm sorry." For what I wasn't sure, but I felt bad that I had made the man so sad. Without thinking about it I leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. "It'll be okay. I'm sorry I got upset." The man looked at me curiously, as if trying to piece together a complex puzzle, before telling me,

"It's not your fault. We're time travelers, that makes things complicated and messy. Just…" The man paused, looking awkward for a moment. "Just know that you mean a lot to me, and that things will make sense someday." I nodded, before I let go of the man's hands and flopped onto the bed.

"Sure, sure. Someday. In the meantime, think we should give Amy a call?"

"Yes. Of course. What a brilliant idea Kitten!" He spun in a circle, before he pressed on his earpiece and stated, "Earth to Pond. Earth to Pond. Come in Pond." I paused, upon realizing I'd only be hearing half the conversation, before moving up onto the bed and pulling the comforter around myself. It'd been a little bit since I'd last properly slept, so I figured I might as well get comfortable and take a small nap while I listened to the Doctor talk.

"Could you not wreck my new earpiece, Pond." There was a short pause before the Doctor asked, "Who is the TARDIS coping?" There was another pause before he muttered out, "Ohh nasty. She's locked in a materialization loop, trying to land again. But she can't." There was another pause as Amy responded to the Doctor before he spoke up again. "I don't know what it is yet. Anything that can stop the Tardis from landing is big. Scary big." Yet another pause as I half listened to the Doctor. "I can't go up there until I know what it is and how to deal with it. And it is vital that this man upstairs doesn't realize who and what I am. So, no sonicking. No advanced technology. I can only use this because we're on scramble. To anyone else hearing this conversation, we're talking absolute gibberish." I slowly drifted off after that, needing to take a nap.

I suddenly bolted up in the bed as there was a loud noise from upstairs. I stared up at the ceiling while the Doctor loudly called for Amy,

"Hang on. Wait, wait, wait. Amy?" There was a pause, in which I noticed the alarm clock going backwards and forward rapidly. "Interesting. Localized time loop." I blinked towards the Doctor as the sleep lingered in my brain. "Time distortion. Whatever's happening upstairs is still affecting you." I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes as the Doctor continued to speak with Amy. "My end's good." I flopped back onto the bed, struggling to wake myself up fully. "No, no, no, not really. Just keep the zigzag plotter on full. That'll protect you. Amy, I said the zigzag plotter." I half listened to what the Doctor was saying until he stated, "Need to pick up a few items." After a few more moments in which he said his goodbyes to Amy, he turned his attention towards me. "Blimey, you look awful."

"Thanks. Just what every woman wants to hear Doctor." I pushed myself back up into a seated position, glaring lightly at the Doctor.

"Er I uh. I mean."

"It's fine." I cut the Doctor off, scratching at the back of my head. "I had fallen asleep for a few, until the upstairs neighbor woke me." The man nodded, looking a little relieved that I wasn't actually upset with him. "Do you need help getting your stuff or can I go back to sleep?"

"Go back to sleep Kitten. You could probably use the rest." I blinked blearily at the Doctor, noticing that it looked like he wanted to ask me something.

"What is it?"

"Could I... er…" I blinked at the man again, having no clue what he was trying to ask. "Could I lay with you a few minutes?"

"It's your bed too."

"No, I uh." I stared at the man, confused. "Can we lay together?" It still wasn't clicking for me what he meant. I continued to stare at him.

"Again. It's your bed too. Where else would we both lay?" The man seemed to be frustrated with my sleep ridden brain.

"Kitten." He stared at me in exasperation, before finally blurting out, "Can we cuddle together?"

"Oh." It finally clicked what he meant, and I felt a little silly that it had taken me that long to understand what he was asking for. "I mean. Uh. Um. Sure?" It came out as more of a question, but I suppose I didn't mind? I liked the warmth of cuddling with someone and hadn't had anyone willing to cuddle with me in a long time. We both stared awkwardly at each other for another moment before I scooted over and patted the bed next to me. "Oh. Yes. Why not. Let's cuddle, I guess?" With another awkward moment of hesitation, the Doctor joined me in the bed, and I curled up into his very warm side.

The next day found me sitting on the couch, with my damp hair drying under my hat, scrolling Instagram while the Doctor took his turn showering. I half listened to the Doctor singing some tune in the shower, as Craig glanced in my direction before gently knocking on the door and calling out,

"Doctor."

"Hello?"

"How long are you going to be in there?" My eyes flicked towards the time in the corner of my phone, noting that he had been in there for quite some time already, before shrugging to myself and turning my attention back to my phone.

"Oh, sorry. I like a good soak." A soft chuckle started to escape my lips, because I personally hated a good soak as the Doctor had put it but died off as a loud banging noise echoed from upstairs.

"What the hell was that?" I stared up toward the ceiling in apprehension, barely registering the Doctor questioning what Craig had said. I'm just going to go upstairs. See if he's okay." Panicking for a second, I scrambled up, hastily shoving my phone in my black skinny jeans, before blurting out,

"Lemme join you! I hope he's okay!" Barely on my feet, I rushed after Craig, who was already at the door. I peered out the door, noticing Craig standing at the bottom of the staircase, before hesitantly stepping to the bottom of the stairs as Craig went up to knock on the door; unsure of what I would do if this thing went after Craig. We both watched as a grey-haired figure open the door just a crack.

"Yes? Hello?"

"It's me from downstairs. I heard a big bang." I took a hesitant step up, trying to get a good look at the figure but only spotting their hair.

"Thank you, Craig, but I don't need your help."

"What happened, what's going on?" I jumped in shock, and almost fell down the few steps that I had climbed, as the Doctor suddenly appeared holding a whirring electronic toothbrush with a towel wrapped around his waist. I eyed the Doctor's half naked form, briefly staring at the muscles in his chest, before turning my attention back towards Craig as he spoke, starting his way back down the stairs.

"Is that my toothbrush?"

"Correct. You spoke to the man upstairs?"

"Yeah."

"What did he look like?" When his eyes landed on my, I gave a half shrug, not having seen much of the mysterious upstairs neighbor.

"More normal than you at the moment, mate. What are you doing?" I stepped out of the way, closer towards the Doctor, as Craig made it to the bottom of the steps.

"I thought you two might be in trouble." His eyes, still a little panicked, settled on my form as if checking to make sure that I was okay. It was only at that moment that I realized that the Doctor was worried about me, extremely worried.

"Thanks. Well, if I ever am, you can come and save me with my toothbrush." I giggled softly, as Craig's phone started to ring. The Doctor started to make his way towards the stairs, only to pause with a hint of hesitation before he gave me a tight hug and a kiss to my forehead. Only then did he start making his way up the staircase. I blinked in surprise, feeling the lingering warmth of the Doctor's lips, as the front door opened.

"Oh! Hello." I gave a small wave at the woman that I assumed was Sophie.

"Ah! Hello. The Doctor."

"Right." There was a slightly awkward pause before I scratched the back of my neck and introduced myself.

"I'm Coco, pleasure to meet you." The woman smiled in my direction, as the Doctor stated,

"You must be Sophie." He then moved next to her, still only dressed in a towel and holding a toothbrush, to give her air kisses as a greeting.

"Oh. Oh."

"Maybe we should make our way back into the flat, yeah?" The Doctor turned to smile at me, before shrugging an arm over my shoulder and dragging me back into the flat, not even noticing that he was still in just a towel.

"No, Dom's in Malta. There's nobody around. Hang on a sec." Craig turned his attention away from his phone, towards the Doctor, as we all entered the flat. "We've got a match today, Pub league. We're down one if you fancy it?"

"Pub league. A drinking competition?" I shook my head gently at the Doctor, speaking up to correct him.

"No, he means sports. Socc… Er football." Craig gave me a look at the almost slip up of my time spent in America, before nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, football. Play football."

"Football. Football. Yes, blokes play football. I'm good at football, I think." Amy must have told him things that 'normal' blokes do, and the Doctor was just doing such a great job at sounding like a normal bloke.

"You've saved my life." Craig then turned his attention back towards his phone and whomever he was talking with. "I've got somebody. Yeah, all right. I'll see you down there." He hung up his phone, and finally noticed that Sophie was here with us. "Hey Soph."

"Hey, I thought I'd come early and meet your new flat mates."

"Do you play, Sophie?"

"No, Soph just stands on the sidelines. She's, my mascot." My brows furrowed and I crossed my arms, starting to understand why the two weren't dating despite Craigs obviously huge crush on the woman.

"Mascot?" The disbelief was obvious in my tone, which Sophie mimicked as she asked Craig,

"I'm your mascot? Mascot?"

"Well, yeah, not my mascot. It's a football match. I can't take a date." The Doctor watched the two talk with interest, while I winced at Craig's statement. Yeah, becoming painfully clear why Craig and Sophie weren't dating.

"I didn't say I was your date."

"Neither did I." God this was painfully awkward, and I really wish I had an excuse to leave the room. As if sensing my discomfort the Doctor stated,

"Better get dressed. Come on Kitten, let's go get ready." I barely held back my heavy sigh of relief, and followed the Doctor towards the room we were staying in. He moved his arm from my shoulder and grabbed onto my hand instead, as if afraid to let go of me.

"The spare kit's just in the bottom drawer."

"Bit of a mess." The Doctor shoved me into the room first, finally letting go of me, before following me and shutting the door. I turned towards him with my mouth open to say something, only to stop short as he held his finger up and blurted out,

"How'd she open the door?"

"Oh. Uh. Not sure? She left her keys here the other night, didn't she?" The Doctor spun on the spot and peered his head back out the door.

"You unlocked the door. How did you do that? Those are your keys. You must have left them last time you came here."

"Yeah, but I… How do you know these are my keys?" I could hear the slightly muffled replies from Sophie and Craig and could imagine the surprise on the woman's face.

"I've been holding them."

"I have got another set."

"You've got two sets of keys to someone else's house?"

"Yeah?"

"I see. You must like it here too." With that the Doctor reentered the room and turned back towards me. "You should be more careful Kitten." Blinking in surprise, my mouth hung open for a second before I could respond.

"Be more careful? Aren't we trying to get a look at Mister upstairs? Besides I wasn't going to let Craig go into danger alone!" The Doctor frowned at me, refusing to make eye contact with me.

"Not worth the risk."

"It's not like the man saw me; I could barely see him. Besides this is furthest from the most dangerous thing I've done."

"I don't like that." I huffed in frustration, not understanding why he was being so weird.

"Look, I had a life before I met you, Doctor. And much like your own life it wasn't always the safest. But I'm still here, and I always do my best to be as safe as possible. Okay?" The Doctor seemed to be searching my eyes for something, and upon not finding what he was looking for he sighed softly.

"Okay." There was an awkward pause, as if he wanted to say something more, before he looked away and in a pout stated, "I'm going to get dressed and give Pond a call." I could barely stop myself from letting out a frustrated sigh, and with furrowed eyebrows, I gave the man a small shrug.

"Okay. Fine. I'll go do my makeup." I honestly hadn't been planning on wearing any but moved to grab the small bag I had and went to the bathroom, closing the door behind me with a little more force than needed. God this man would be the death of me.