The TARDIS materialised in a small park on Earth as the Doctor opened the doors, sighing as he saw where they were, "No, Amy, it's definitely not the fifth moon of Cindie Colesta."
"I told you." Thea commented, joining him at the doors. She inhaled, "Essex, Colchester."
Suddenly a blast went off inside the TARDIS knocking the two Time Lords to the ground.
"What?" The Doctor rolled onto his back to see the TARDIS doors slam shut and the box began to dematerialise.
"Amy!" Thea shouted as the woman was stuck inside.
"Amy!" The Doctor jumped to his feet, but the box had disappeared, "Amy!"
Thea blinked, "what just happened?"
"I have no idea." The Doctor admitted.
~.~
The Doctor and Thea stood before a two-story flat. They'd gone into town when Thea had noticed a small note stuck to a shop window, well, not really noticed, more felt drawn to the shop when they spotted the note.
Written in Amy's handwriting in red ink, pointing to an advert for a lodger at a nearby flat. Obviously, the note had yet to be written so that flat must have something to do with the malfunctioning TARDIS, so they'd gone to find it.
Thea rolled her eyes as the Doctor gave her a smile and a 'Geronimo,' Before ringing the doorbell to the flat.
Not even a moment later did a slightly plump man open the doors, holding a set of keys with a pink pompom attached, shouting, "I love you."
"Well, that's good," the Doctor smiled, "because we're your new lodgers," He plucked the keys from the mans hands, "Do you know, this is going to be easier than I expected."
The man blinked, confused by the odd man in the bowtie before him, "But I only put the advert up today. I didn't put my address."
"My mate Clyde knows Mark from football." Thea offered.
"Well, aren't you lucky I came along?" The Doctor grinned, "More lucky than you know. Less of a young professional, more of an ancient amateur, but frankly I'm an absolute dream. Thea would say otherwise, but I think she's coming round."
"I am actually." she agreed, only to roll her eyes as the Doctor beamed at her.
"Hang on a minute, mate. I don't know if I want you staying. And give me back those keys." the man snatched the keys back from the Doctor, "You can't have those."
"Yes, quite right. Have some rent." The Doctor handed him a small bag with quite a lot of cash, "That's probably quite a lot, isn't it? Looks like a lot. Is it a lot? I can never tell." He stepped past the man and into the house, Thea smiled apologetically as she followed him inside, as the man, still stunned, shut the door behind them, "Don't spend it all on sweets, unless you like sweets." He glanced up as the lights flickered, "I like sweets. Do you like sweets Thea?"
"I'm quite fond of those foam mushrooms." She remarked casually.
"Ooh." the Doctor turned and gave the man two gallic kisses on each cheek, "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, too. Still don't know why."
"Craig Owens." He shook his head, "The Doctor?"
"Yep." He nodded, "and she's Thea."
"Hello," She muttered, distracted as her gaze shifted upstairs, "Who lives upstairs?"
"Just some bloke." Craig shrugged.
"What's he look like?"
"Normal. He's very quiet," he winced as a crash sounded upstairs, "Usually. Sorry, who are you again?" The Doctor ignored him and entered the flat, Thea following him, "Hello? Excuse me?"
The Doctor stared up at the corner in the sitting room seeing a stain, "Ah. I suppose that's dry rot."
"Or damp. Or mildew."
"Or none of the above." Thea mumbled.
"I'll get someone to fix it."
"No, I'll fix it. I'm good at fixing rot. Call me the Rotmeister. No," the Doctor grimaced, "I'm the Doctor, don't call me the Rotmeister."
"Whatever you say, Rotmeister." Thea joked.
The Doctor ignored her, turning to Craig, "This is the most beautiful parlour I have ever seen. You're obviously a man of impeccable taste. I can stay, Craig, can't I? Say I can."
"You haven't even seen the room." Craig reminded him.
"The room?"
"Your room."
"My room?"
"Our room." Thea corrected. It wasn't like they would really be sleeping there, but it would give the privacy as they worked out what was going on.
"Oh, yes. Our room. Our room. Take us to our room."
"Yeah," Craig gave them an odd look. He didn't really know what to make of the odd pair or why they were both sharing room. "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 stepped over to the bed in the rather plain room, testing it by jumping on it.
"How very convenient." Thea remarked, making a mental note to ensure they sorted that out in the future once they'd gotten the TARDIS back.
"It's only one bed mind you..." Craig trailed, unsure of who the two were. He knew it wasn't his place to say, and he wasn't going to ask.
"Yes," the Doctor hopped back off the bed, "This'll do just right. In fact..."
Another loud crash sounded upstairs, "No time to lose. We'll take it. Ah you'll want to see my credentials. There." He pulled out the psychic paper, showing it to Craig, ''National Insurance number..." he moved the paper behind his back as showing it again, "NHS number..." and once more, "References..."
"Is that a reference from the Archbishop of Canterbury?" Craig gaped, catching one of the references.
"I'm his special favourite." He put a finger to his lips, "Are you hungry? I'm hungry."
"I haven't got anything in." Craig warned as the Doctor made his way to the kitchen, rummaging through the cupboards and fridge.
"You've got everything I need for an omelette fines herbs, pour deux." The Doctor gathered the ingredients and moved to start cooking.
"Hold on, you can cook?" Thea blinked at him. "If you can cook, why am I the one doing the cooking every night."
"You're earning your keep." he replied, "you don't live with me for free you know."
"You asked me to move in with you." she reminded him, but shook her head. Honestly if the most he wanted from her to earn her keep was cooking, she was fine with that. She did enjoy spending time in the kitchen. "So, Craig," Thea turned to him as she settled to leaning on the counter, watching the Doctor cook, "who's the girl on the fridge?" She nodded to the picture of him and a lovely blonde woman.
"My friend. Sophie." He explained.
"Girlfriend?" She teased.
"A friend who is a girl. There's nothing going on."
"But you want there to be?" She guessed, "sorry." she straightened up, "I can be quite the little matchmaker."
"Oh, that's completely normal." The Doctor nodded, "Works for me."
"Oh, please," Thea scoffed, "all those friends who are girls of yours you bring along always end up fancying you." She turned back to Craig, "So how did you meet Sophie?"
"We met at work about a year ago, at the call centre." Craig told them.
"Oh really, a communications exchange?" The Doctor muttered, "That could be handy."
"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. Why am I telling you this? I don't even know you."
"Well, I've got one of those faces. People never stop blurting out their plans while I'm around. And Theas got the most truth worthy feeling about her." He looked at her, "what's the worst she could do?"
"You don't want to find out." she smirked.
"Right." Craig shook his head, "Where's your stuff?"
"Oh, don't worry, it'll materialise." Thea shook her head at his lame joke, "If all goes to plan."
~.~
Thea leaned her head back against the arm of the armchair the Doctor sat in having finished their omelette he had made, "not as good as mine." She remarked, wiping up the remaining ketchup on her place with her finger, "but it was good." She could admit, licking the ketchup.
"Oh, that was incredible." Craig leaned back on the sofa, stuffed, "That was absolutely brilliant. Where did you learn to cook?"
"Paris," the Doctor answered, "in the 18th century." Thea lightly tapped his leg, "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?" Craig asked.
"They never really stop. Ever been to Paris, Craig?"
"Nah. I can't see the point of Paris. I'm not much of a traveller."
"I can tell from your sofa."
"My sofa?"
"You're starting to look like it." The Doctor told him earning an eye roll from Thea as she tapped his leg at his rudeness.
"Thanks, mate," Craig laughed, "that's lovely. No, I like it here." He absently began fiddling with the keys he hadn't let go off, "I'd miss it, I'd miss..."
"Those keys." Thea giggled, knowing who the pink keys could belong to.
"What?"
"You haven't stopped fiddling with them."
"Fiddling?" The Doctor teased, "He's sort of fondling them, isn't he?"
"I'm holding them." Craig defended, setting them down on the edge of the sofa.
"Right."
"Anyway." Craig cleared his throat, before getting up and moving to a bowl on a table near the door, fishing out another set of keys, "These, these are your keys."
"We can stay?" the Doctor jumped up and walked over to him.
"Yeah, you're weird and you can cook. It's good enough for me. Right. Outdoor, front door, your door."
"My door. My place. My gaff. Ha ha! Yes. Me with a key."
"And listen," Craig added, leaning into the Doctor as Thea moved to clear away their plates in the kitchen sink, "Mark and I, we had an arrangement where if you ever need me out of your hair, just give me a shout, okay?"
"Why would I want that?" The Doctor just blinked at him.
"In case you want some time alone." He whispered.
Theas eyes widened in horror, grimacing as Craig implications, not even wanting to think of what the man was thinking, "perhaps we should go settle into our room, dad."
"Dad?" Craig blinked, looking between them. Shaking his head, the girl looked to be still a teenager and the Doctor looked mid-twenties.
"Yes, yes!" the Doctor nodded quickly, coming up with a quick cover as to why the two of them were sharing a room, "I adopted her. Everyone always takes the young kids you know." he put an arm around her, "it's the troubled teenagers you need the parents the most."
Yes, this could work. He could pretend to be a dad in situations like this when they needed a quick cover.
"That rot..." Thea nodded to it in the corner, getting a bad feeling from it, "I shouldn't touch it if I were you." She told Craig as he turned and headed down to their room, the Doctor following.
"Dad?" He asked her as he shut the door behind them, and she flopped back on the bed.
"I panicked!" she exclaimed, "his implications were all wrong, it was the first thing that came out. I should have said uncle, that makes more sense."
"And me being your dad is terrible, is it?" he frowned.
She threw a pillow at him, "shouldn't you be trying to call your companion."
The Doctor rolled his eyes, sitting down on the edge of the bed, whacking Thea back with the pillow as he tapped the earpiece in his ear, "Earth to Pond, Earth to Pond. Come in, Pond."
"Doctor!" Amy shouted down the comm. The Doctor winced at the feedback, "Sorry."
"Could you not wreck my new earpiece, Pond?"
"How's the TARDIS coping?" Thea called.
"See for yourself." Amy quietened and they could hear a terrible grinding noise.
"Ooh, nasty." the Doctor frowned, "She's locked in a materialisation loop, trying to land again."
"But she can't," Thea finished for him, "because whatever stopping her is upstairs in that flat."
"So, go upstairs and sort it." Amy huffed.
"I don't know what it is yet." The Doctor defended, "Anything that can stop the TARDIS from landing is big. Scary big."
"Wait...are you scared?"
"We're being cautious." The Doctor replied, "I have to be responsible seeing as Thea now sees me as a father figure...oi, hey!" He chuckled as Thea threw a pillow at him again.
"I'm sorry, what?" Amy called, "what have I missed?"
"I called the Doctor dad as a cover story for us." Thea sighed.
"Do you see me as a father figure, Thea?" the Doctor grinned.
"You're not going to let me forget this are you?" She groaned as he grinned, shaking his head and she pulled the pillow over her face.
The Doctor just laughed, patting her leg until she kicked at him and he continued speaking with Amy, back on topic, "we 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 realise who and what we are. So, no sonicking. No advanced technology. We can only use this because we're on scramble. To anyone else hearing this conversation, we're talking absolute gibberish. Now all I've got to do is pass as an ordinary human being. Simple. What could possibly go wrong?" He moved over to the desk, slipping on a pair of sunglasses.
"Now that you've said that...everything." Thea deadpanned.
"Have you seen you?" Amy scoffed.
"So you're just going to be snide." the Doctor rolled his eyes, "No helpful hints?"
"Hmm. Well, here's one. Bow tie, get rid."
The Doctor straightened his bowtie in the mirror, "Bow ties are cool. Come on, I'm a normal bloke. Tell me what normal blokes do."
"They watch telly," Thea shrugged, "they work on cars..."
"They play football," Amy added, "they go down the pub."
"I could do those things." The Doctor insisted, "I don't, but I could."
"You don't have the patience to watch telly, Doctor." Thea told him.
"Hey, that's dad, to you, kiddo," He pointed at her when there was a crash from upstairs, "Hang on. Wait, wait, wait." Amy started to scream, "Amy?"
"Doctor!" Thea shouted, pointing at the clocks in the room as they started to spin backwards and forwards.
The Doctor glanced at his own watch as it did the same, "Interesting. Localised time loop."
"Ow." Amy moaned, "What's all that?"
"Time distortion." Thea muttered, "Whatever's happening upstairs is affecting the TARDIS."
"It's stopped. Ish. How about your end?"
"Our end's good." the Doctor nodded seeing the clocks return to normal.
"So, doesn't sound great, but nothing to worry about?" Amy asked, hopeful.
"No, no, no, not really. Just keep the zigzag plotter on full. That'll protect you."
"If you read the manual, you'll know that isn't actually it's correct name." Thea mumbled.
"Ow!" Amy cried.
"Amy, I said the zigzag plotter." The Doctor called.
"I pulled the zigzag plotter."
"What, you're standing with the door behind you?"
"Yes."
"Okay, take two steps to your right and pull it again."
A moment later the grinding noise eased, and Amy sighed in relief.
"Now, I must not use the sonic." He reminded himself, getting up off the bed, "come along, Smith. We've got work to do, need to pick up a few items."
Thea sighed, but followed him out of the room as he switched off the comm.
~.~
Thea walked ahead of the Doctor, back to the house, a few bits and bobs in her arms as the Doctor pushed a trolley behind her, filled with various odds and ends.
"Hello," She crouched down to stroke a cat as it meowed at them, "are you beautiful? I had a friend who would adore you."
The Doctor stepped past her with the key to unlock the door to the flat, "thought you were more of a dog person?"
She shrugged as the cat purred, "depends on the cat." She straightened up and followed him back down to the room.
"Right then, time to get started." The Doctor nodded, starting to shift through the odd bits and bobs they'd collected.
"If you could avoid using the bed tonight." Thea remarked, kicking off her converse and laying down on it, "I'd like to sleep for a few hours."
"I can be quiet." he agreed as her head hit the pillow as she fell asleep instantly.
He had to smile at that. She had admitted to him that when she first arrived at Sarah Janes, she struggled to sleep no matter how tired she was. Despite knowing she was safe she felt uncomfortable falling asleep in such a new place but with him, in the TARDIS and here, she easily went out. It gave him a warm fuzzy feeling knowing that she felt that safe and comfortable to sleep.
He shook his head, seeing she had gone to sleep on top of the covers and gently pulled it up over her body.
~.~
The Doctor looked over as there was a knock on the bathroom door as he was taking a shower that morning.
"Doctor?" Craig called.
"Hello?" He shouted back.
"How long are you going to be in there?"
"Oh, sorry. I like a good soak." He listened for a response but only heard Craig muttering something, "What did you say?" he couldn't make out what he said, something about being okay, "Sorry?" He peeked round the curtain, "What did you say? Craig?" He reached for his towel only to slip and fall, getting soap in his eyes, "No choice. It's sonicking time." He reached for something in a cup on the sink, realising Craig was going to speak with the 'man' upstairs and last he knew Thea had nipped out to the shops to grab some shopping.
He ran out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist, aiming the device at the stairs as Craig walked back down. "What happened, what's going on?"
Craig gave him an odd look, "Is that my toothbrush?" He frowned, seeing the man holding his toothbrush.
"Correct." He turned it off, "You spoke to the man upstairs?"
"Yeah."
"What did he look like?"
"More normal than you do at the moment, mate. What are you doing?"
"I thought you might be in trouble."
"Thanks." Craig laughed, "well, if I ever am, you can come and save me with my toothbrush."
"Does anyone want any pancakes?" Thea called, poking her head round the doorway of the kitchen, "and Craig you might want to answer your phone."
"It's not ringing." he frowned, only to blink as he heard it. He eyed her, passing through into the room to answer the phone, not quite sure how she knew that.
"Thought you were watching him." The Doctor hissed at Thea.
"I was making pancakes." she defended, "do you want some? I picked up some bananas. I can slice some on top if you'd like."
"I would actually." He agreed, "thank you."
She nodded and headed back into the kitchen as he made to follow when the front door opened and the blonde woman from Craigs fridge stepped in.
"Oh!" She gasped, seeing him there in just a towel, "Hello."
"Ah! Hello!" He greeted, "The Doctor. You must be Sophie." He gave her two gallic kisses, oblivious to the awkwardness as she tried to avoid looking at him. "Oh, and Theas just made pancakes." He inhaled deeply, able to smell them as he stepped into the kitchen to see a plate with a small stack of pancakes, and Thea finishing one off covering in chocolate spread.
"Oh, hello," Thea smiled, wiping her hands and mouth on a tissue, seeing Sophie step in behind the Doctor, "You must be Sophie. I'm Thea. There's plenty of pancakes if you're hungry."
"My daughter." The Doctor added, pulling her closer, loving how Theas smile turned strained at the action. Oh, he was not going to let this go easily, this was good for teasing her.
"Adopted. And dad, shouldn't you be getting dressed?"
Craig walked over from the living room, talking on the phone, "No, Dom's in Malta. There's nobody around. Hang on a sec." He lowered his phone and looked at the Doctor, "We've got a match today, pub league. We're one down if you fancy it?"
"Pub league?" The Doctor frowned, "A drinking competition?"
Thea swallowed her mouthful of pancake, correcting him with her hand over her mouth, "football."
"Oh football. Football. Yes, blokes play football. I'm good at football, I think."
"You've saved my life," Craig smiled, lifting the phone again, "I've got somebody. Yeah, all right, I'll see you down there. Hey, Soph." He greeted.
"Hey," Sophie smiled, "I thought I'd come early and meet your new flat mates."
"Do you play, Sophie?" The Doctor asked her as he opened the fridge and took out a carton of milk. He rolled his eyes as Thea silently handed him a cup and poured himself a glass as she moved to clear away her plate.
"No, Soph just stands on the sidelines." Craig told them, "She's my mascot."
"I'm your mascot?" Sophie looked at him, insulted, "Mascot?"
"Well, yeah, not my mascot. It's a football match. I can't take a date."
"I didn't say I was your date."
"Neither did I."
"And on that note, I'm going for a shower." Thea remarked, slipping between the two humans and headed to the bathroom.
"And I'd better get dressed." The Doctor nodded and headed down to their room.
"The spare kit's just in the bottom drawer." Craig called.
"Bit of a mess."
Thea poked her head out of the bathroom door as she started running the water, "how did you unlock the door when you left your keys here?" She asked Sophie.
"Yeah, but I..." Sophie frowned, "How do you know these are my keys?"
"I've been holding them." Craig begrudgingly admitted.
"I have got another set."
"You've got two sets of keys to someone else's house?" Thea smiled.
"Yeah?"
"So do you like the flat or the person who lives here?" She grinned, shutting the door again, seeing them both starting to blush at her words, purposely looking away from each other.
~.~
"So, I'm going out." the Doctor told Amy as he pulled the spare football shirt over his head, "If we hang about the house all the time, him upstairs might get suspicious and notice us."
"Well, you anyway." Amy replied, "but Thea..."
"What about her?"
"It's what teenagers do. They're either never at home or they never leave their room."
"Thea goes out plenty, thank you."
Amy snorted, "yeah, I've caught her sneaking out of the TARDIS behind your back."
He paused, frowning at her words, "no, she doesn't."
"Yes, she does."
"Well, she's allowed to go and visit her mother whenever she pleases."
"Don't think her human mother is on a planet other than Earth." Amy muttered.
The Doctor frowned at that. How Amy knew Thea was apparently sneaking out of his TARDIS and he was left unaware. Which was strange as he usually was always in the console room, which meant if Amy was right, and she was sneaking out to planets other than Earth she was purposely doing it when she knew he wouldn't be around. Did that mean he would disapprove?
"Do you even know how to play football?" Amy called, cutting him from his thoughts.
"How hard can it be?" he shrugged, "it is the one with the sticks, right?"
"How do you hear the name football and instantly think of sticks?"
The Doctor looked over as Thea stepped into the room, dressed in her usually clothes with black and blue stripes, a towel wrapped around her hair.
"Football involves a ball and feet. Look," She pulled out her phone and sat on the edge of the bed, the Doctor sitting down besides her as she showed him a short video of Clyde playing the game.
~.~
The small group of four walked across the park over to the pitch where the rest of the team were waiting for them. The Doctor had his tweed jacket on over his uniform.
"What are you actually called?" Craig asked, "What's your proper name?"
"Just call me the Doctor." He smiled.
"Yeah." Sophie laughed, finding his title amusing.
"I can't go up to these guys and say hey, this is my new flat mate, he's called the Doctor."
"Why not?" The Doctor asked.
"Because it's weird." Craig said as they come up to the pitch, their teammates wearing the same blue shirts as them.
"All right, Craig." a black man walked over and slapped his hand, "Soph. All right, mate.
"Hello, I'm Craig's new flat mate." The Doctor shook his hand, "I'm called the Doctor." He gave the man two gallic kisses.
"All right, Doctor. I'm Sean."
"This is my daughter Thea." he grinned.
"Hello." Thea waved.
"Hiya," he smiled at her before turning to the Doctor, "So, where are you strongest?"
"Arms." The Doctor answered promptly.
"No, he means what position on the field." Craig explained.
"Not sure. The front? The side? Below."
"Are you any good though?" Sean eyed him.
The Doctor spun the ball on his finger, "Let's find out." He kicked the ball and headed out onto the field.
~.~
Surprisingly the Doctor was very good at football, intercepting passes to other players, scoring goals. Though he did seem to be upstanding the other players. Thea noticing Craigs put off look as the crowd, including Sophie started to chant the Doctors name as they ended up winning the match.
"You are so on the team!" Sean cheered, patting the Doctor on the back as they stood around a bench having celebratory beers, "Next week we've got the Crown and Anchor. We're going to annihilate them."
"No violence," the Doctor stepped up, serious, "do you understand me? Not while I'm around. Not today, not ever. I'm the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm..." he trailed seeing Thea shaking her head at him, "and you basically meant beat them in a football match, didn't you?"
"Yeah." Sean eyed him oddly.
"Lovely. What sort of time?"
But Craig opened a can of beer, spraying all over him as the team laughed...and it happened again...and again, a loop starting.
"Amy?" The Doctor shouted into his earpiece, "Amy?"
"It's happening again." Amy cried, "Worse."
"What does the scanner say?"
"A lot of nines. Is it good that they're nines? Tell me it's good that they're all nines."
"Yes, yes, it's, it's good." The Doctor nodded, lying through his teeth, but knowing it would help keep Amy calm enough to try and stabilise the TARDIS, "Zigzag plotter. Zigzag plotter, Amy." they waited, listening intently as they heard the TARDIS jolting and Amy screamed, "Amy? Are you there? Amy?"
There was a moment before she responded, "Yes. Hello."
"Oh, thank heavens. I thought for a moment the Tardis had been flung off into the vortex with you inside it, lost forever."
"What, you mean that could actually happen?" Amy gasped, "You have got to get me out of here."
"We're working on it." Thea defended.
"How are the numbers?" The Doctor asked her.
"All fives." Amy told them as Thea looked over to see the loop had finished.
"Fives? Even better. Still, it means the effect's almost unbelievably powerful and dangerous, but don't worry. Hang on, okay?" He tapped the earpiece cutting off the comm, glancing at Thea, "Want to help with some rewiring?"
"Oh, sure." she nodded, "I won't get in the way and if I do I can leave you in peace and..."
"You won't get in the way." The Doctor cut her off.
"I won't?" She blinked.
"Why would you get in the way?" he grinned, "two pairs of hands are better than one, you know."
~.~
Thea carefully made her way over the mess of wires they had covering the bedroom floor, careful not to trip of pull any free from the makeshift scanner they had set up on the bed, as she headed to the door, opening it to see Craig standing there, hand raised to knock, "Hello!" She greeted cheerily, keeping the door open only a crack so Craig wouldn't see the mess in their room.
"Hey. Er, listen." Craig began, "Er, Sophie's coming round tonight, and I was wondering if you could give us some space?"
"Sure, no problem."
"You won't even know we're here!" the Doctor called from behind as another loud nose went off upstairs and he muttered, "That's the idea." Under his breath.
"You and Sophie have fun." Thea smiled and quickly shut the door on the man.
"Yes, perfect!" The Doctor cheered, "What a beauty. Good team, Thea."
~.~
Thea grumbled as she left their room and down to the living room where she could hear Craig and Sophie talking. They had been playing on heading out before Sophie came round to give the two privacy as Craig had requested, but they'd gotten so caught up on getting the scanner working the woman had arrived before they'd left. So, they had decided to simply stay in the room, well, that was what Thea said they should do. Not to interrupt the humans, but of course, the Doctor didn't listen and while she had been busy soldering, he had snuck out the room and down to the living room.
"Sorry." the Doctor grinned as he popped up behind the sofa, startling the humans, "Don't worry, I wasn't listening. In a world of my own down there."
"I thought you were going out?" Craig frowned.
"We were." Thea sighed, leaning against the doorway.
"Just re-connecting all the electrics." The Doctor smiled, "It's a real mess. Where's the on switch for this?" He held up an ordinary screwdriver.
"We're heading out." Thea insisted, "aren't we dad?"
"No, I don't mind." Sophie shook her head, turning to Craig, "I mean, if you don't mind."
"I don't mind." Craig agreed, though by his tone he really did mind, "Why would I mind?"
"Then stay. Have a drink with us."
"What, do we have to stay now?" The Doctor asked.
"Do you want to stay?" Craig sighed.
"I don't mind." He looked over at Thea, "do you mind?"
She sighed, glancing apologetically at Craig, knowing he really wanted them out, but Sophie had asked them to join them, "I don't mind."
"Okay." Sophie smiled.
"Great." Craig muttered.
~.~
The Doctor sat in the chair in the living room, wires draping over him as he worked on them. Thea on a small plush stool between the chair and the sofa the two humans sat on.
"Because life can seem pointless, you know." Sophie was saying, "Work, weekend, work, weekend. And there's six billion people on the planet doing pretty much the same."
"Six billion people." The Doctor muttered, "Watching you two at work, I'm starting to wonder where they all come from."
"What do you mean by that?"
"If you don't like working at the call centre," Thea spoke up, saving the Doctor from his flub of the pair that clearly liked each other, "why not leave? Do something you actually enjoy?"
"Don't laugh. I only ever told Craig about it. I want to work looking after animals. Maybe abroad? I saw this orangutan sanctuary on telly."
"What's stopping you?" the Doctor asked.
"She can't." Craig answered, "you need loads of qualifications."
"Yeah, true." Sophie nodded, "Plus it's scary. Everyone I know lives round here. Like, Craig got offered a job in London. Better money. He didn't take it."
"What's wrong with staying here? I can't see the point of London."
"Well, perhaps that's you, then." The Doctor shrugged, "Perhaps you'll just have to stay here, secure and a little bit miserable, till the day you drop. Better than trying and failing, eh?"
"You think I'd fail?" Sophie gaped.
"Everybody's got dreams, Sophie. Very few are going to achieve them, so why pretend?" The Doctor took a sip of the wine they'd offered him...and spat in back in the glass, making a face. "Perhaps, in the whole wide universe, a call centre about is where you should be."
"Why are you saying that?" Sophie frowned, "That's horrible."
"Is it true?"
"Of course, it's not true. I'm not staying in a call centre all my life. I can do anything I want." The Doctor smiled as realisation dawned on Sophies face, "Oh, yeah. Right. Oh, my God." She fist bumped him, turning to Craig, "Did you see what he just did?"
"No, sorry, what's happening?" Craig shook his head, "Are you going to live with monkeys now?"
"It's a big old world, Sophie." Thea smiled, "time to work out what's really keeping you here."
"I don't know." Sophie shook her head, "I don't know."
~.~
"What a beauty." The Doctor said as they finished their scanner that night. A large device sat on the bed, made from all sorts of bits and bobs they'd found, "good team Thea, you and I..."
"If you say anything about father and daughter team this screwdriver will go in your eye." Thea threatened lightly, holding said screwdriver up.
The Doctor chuckled at the threat he knew she wouldn't deliver, but also how he had been thinking about saying it, "Right. Shield's up. Let's scan." He ducked out of the way as it began to spin.
"What are you getting?" Amy called down the comm.
"Upstairs. No traces of high technology. Totally normal? No, no, no, no, no, it can't be. It's too normal."
"Only for you could too normal be a problem. You said I could be lost forever. Just go upstairs."
"But we don't know what's up there." Thea countered, "and if we get killed then you really are lost."
"If I could just get a look in there." He added, "Hold on." He stopped the device, "Use the data bank. Get me the plans of this building. I want to know its history, the layout, everything. Meanwhile, we shall recruit a spy."
~.~
The next morning Thea carried a tray of breakfast through to Craig, a way of apologising for interrupting him and Sophie last night.
"Craig!" The Doctor knocked on the mans doors as Theas hands were full, "Craig? Thea made breakfast. Its normal and good. Craig?" He looked at Thea, seeing her starting to frown and took that to mean something was wrong and pushed the door open to find Craig in his bed unconscious, "Craig." He rushed to the mans side as Thea set the tray down and ran from the room, with the teapot, following her feelings.
"I told you not to touch it." the Doctor murmured as he knelt besides Craig, seeing a large dark streak running through Craigs veins, "Look, what's that? It's an unfamiliar and obviously poisonous substance. Oh, I know what'd be really clever, I'll stick my hand in it. Come on, Craig, breathe." He pointed on Craig's chest, making the man gasp and breathe again, "Come on, Craig, breathe. Thems are healthy footballer's lungs." he stood up when Thea came running back in the room, teapot stuffed with teabag.
"I made tea!" She gasped.
"Brilliant!" The Doctor cheered, taking the teapot, "Right, reverse the enzyme decay. Excite the tannin molecules." He knelt back down, making Craig drink the very strong tea from the teapots spout.
Craig slowly came round, "I've got to go to work." He wheezed, eyes still shut.
"On no account. You need rest."
"Doctor's orders." Thea nodded.
"One more." the Doctor tipped the teapot once more.
"It's the planning meeting. It's important." Craig tried to argue.
"You're important." Thea countered.
"You're going to be fine, Craig." The Doctor assured him, watching as Craig fell back to sleep, "don't you worry about the meeting. Kiddo and I have it covered."
"We do?" Thea blinked.
~.~
The Doctor popped up from behind a desk when he heard Craig talking to Michael, the head of the company. The meeting had gone fine, really well, in fact, when Thea told him to keep quiet and sit in a corner while she had taken Craigs notes and given the report to the other planners. He didn't know if they'd agreed with the plan because it was Craigs work or if Thea was playing the sweet little girl act very well and they'd agreed seeing how such a sweet thing was trying so hard to help a family friend when he was sick.
After the meeting the Doctor had taken over Craigs regular job at his computer, helping the customers, so that Craig didn't have to worry and could stay at home and rest, which was where he should still be!
"I think that's not what my screen is telling me, Mr Lang." The Doctor was saying to a customer on his headset.
"What's he doing here?" Craig groaned, "What are you doing here?"
"If that's your attitude, Mr Lang, please take your custom elsewhere."
"No, no, no, that's one of my best clients!"
"Hello, Craig." the Doctor smiled, unconcerned how he had lost Craig one of his best customers, "How are you feeling? Had some time to kill. I was curious. Never worked in an office."
Thea snorted as she walked over with a plate of biscuits, "you've never worked anywhere before."
The Doctor pointed at her, wanting to argue that he did have a job. He had had a job on Gallifrey, not that he had enjoyed it, but he had a job. He opened his mouth to point that out before deciding against in. They were blending in, pretending to be human he couldn't go around saying what he worked on Gallifrey.
"You're insane!" Craig stared at him.
"Leave off the Doctor." Michael turned to him, "I love the Doctor. He and Thea were brilliant in the planning meeting."
"You went to the planning meeting?" Craig cried.
"Yes. Thea was your representative." The Doctor told him, "We don't need Mr Lang anymore. Rude Mr Lang."
"Here you go," Sophie spoke as she followed after Thea handing a mug of tea to the Doctor, "Hi, Craig. I went on the web, applied for a wildlife charity thing. They said I could always start as a volunteer straight away. Should I do it?"
"Yeah, great." Craig muttered, "Yeah, good. Go for it."
"You should be in bed." Thea told him, "do you need me to walk you back home?"
"No, I..." Craig shook his head, heading for the door, seeing he wasn't needed at his job with the Doctor there.
Thea frowned after him, feeling as though she should go back with him, but knowing Craig really wouldn't want that, nor would the Doctor.
"Right, what's next?" the Doctor wondered eagerly, "Oh, yes. Hello, Mr Joergensen. Can you hold? I have to eat a biscuit."
~.~
Thea had tried to get them to leave not long after Craig had left. They had originally only gone for the meeting in the first place but the Doctor had gotten distracted on the headset and when she finally got him to pull away everyone kept coming over and speaking to them so it had taken ages to even leave the building.
"Hello," Thea crouched down to stroke the cat that came down to greet them outside the flat, their little spy, no one suspected cats, "Have you been upstairs?" She sat down besides it as it meowed, "Oh, brilliant. Can you show us?" She scratched behind its ears as it moved to curl up on her lap.
"Oh, but that doesn't make sense." The Doctor frowned, "Ever see anyone go up there? Lots of people? Good, good. What kind of people? People who never came back down. Oh, that's bad. That's very bad..."
Thea looked up as the door open and Craig stood here, "Hello, Craig."
But Craig just shook his head, "I can't take this anymore. I want you to go." The Doctor stood and followed Craig back inside as Thea sat with the cat, "You can have this back and all." he handed back the bag of money.
"What have we done?" The Doctor asked.
"For a start, talking to a cat."
"Lots of people talk to cats." he defended.
"And everybody loves you, and you're better at football than me, and my job, and now Sophie's all oh, monkeys, monkeys, and then there's that." He stormed down to their room, throwing to door open to see their scanner in the middle of the bed.
"It's art." He made up an excuse, "Theas school project. I've been helping her with it. A statement on modern society, Ooh, ain't modern society awful."
"Me and you, it's not going to work out." Craig told him, "You've only been here three days. These have been the three weirdest days of my life."
"Your days will get a lot weirder if we go."
"It was good weirdness. It's not, it's bad weird. I can't do this anymore."
"Craig, I can't leave this place. I'm like you, I can't see the point of anywhere else. Madrid? Ha, what a dump. I have to stay."
"No, you don't. You have to leave."
"I can't go." The Doctor insisted.
"Just get out!" Craig shouted, pointing to the doors.
"Right." The Doctor nodded, "Only way. I'm going to show you something, but shush. Really, shush. Oh, I am going to regret this. Okay, right. First, general background." And smacked his head to Craig, both men stumbling back with a cry of pain, as Craig saw the Doctors past.
Craig gasped, pointing at the Doctor, "you're a..."
"Yes." he nodded.
He pointed up, "From..."
"Shh."
"You've got a TARDIS."
"Yes, shh. Eleventh." He gestured to his face, "Right. Okay, specific detail." he headed butted him again, sharing the same reaction.
"You saw my ad in the paper shop window." Craig realised.
"Yes, with this right above it." The Doctor pulled out the note Amy had left for them, "Which is odd, because Amy hasn't written it yet. Time travel. It can happen."
Craig pointed past him into the bedroom, "That's a scanner!" He exclaimed, "you used non-technological technology of Lammasteen!"
"Shut up!" The Doctor huffed.
~.~
"Oh, hello, Thea," Sophie smiled as she walked up to the doors of the flats, seeing Thea sat in the wall outside, petting a stray cat.
"Hello." She smiled.
"Forgot your key?" She guessed, pulling out her own pink set and unlocking the doors.
"Something like that." She murmured, the cat jumped off her lap and she stood up to follow Sophie in the flats.
Thea stiffened, seeing a figure of a young girl appear at the top of the stairs, which hadn't been there a moment ago, "Please can you help me?" The girl asked.
"Hi." Sophie looked up at her.
"Please can you help me?"
"Help you? What's the matter, my love?" Sophie asked, starting to head for the stairs.
Thea reached out to stop her, knowing that if she went up she wouldn't come back down. But she also knew that nothing she said would make sense to Sophie, as far as the woman was concerned a little girl was asking for help.
So, she did the only thing she could do. She went upstairs with her and hoped she would know what to do.
~.~
"I am never, never doing that ever, ever again." the Doctor groaned, activating his comm. "Amy."
"That's Amy Pond." Craig gasped.
"Oh, of course, you can understand us now. Hurrah. Got those plans yet?"
"Still searching for them." Amy replied.
"I've worked it out, with psychic help from a cat."
"A cat?"
"It was Theas idea." The Doctor said, as he looked around, seeing that Thea hadn't even followed back inside the flat, likely still outside with the cat. "I know he's got a time engine in the flat upstairs. He's using innocent people to try and launch it. Whenever he does, they get burnt up, hence the stain on your ceiling."
"From the ceiling?" Craig stared.
"Well done, Craig. And you, Miss Pond, nearly get thrown off into the Vortex."
"Lovely." Amy groaned.
"People are dying up there?" Craig asked, only to get caught in a loop, "People are dying. People are dying. People are dying..."
"Amy!" The Doctor shouted as Amy screamed.
"They're being killed!" Craig finished.
"Someone's up there." The Doctor realised.
"Doctor?" Amy called.
"Someone's dying up there." The Doctor ran down the hall, spotting a set of pink keys in the door.
Sophies keys, which meant Sophie was up there and if Thea wasn't around, she likely went up with her.
"Thea!" He yelled, wasting no time to run up the stairs, not caring about whatever danger was awaiting them.
"Sophie." Craig breathed, "It's Sophie that's dying up there! It's Sophie!"
"Doctor!" Amy shouted.
"Hang on!" The Doctor yelled, "they've got Thea."
"And Sophie." Craig reminded him.
"Doctor, stop!" Amy ordered.
"I can't, they have Thea." He snapped, he threw himself against the door to try and open it.
"Doctor, are you upstairs?"
The Doctor pulled out the sonic to unlock the door, "Just going in."
"But you can't be upstairs."
"Of course, I can be upstairs."
"No, I've got the plans. You cannot be upstairs, it's a one-storey building. There is no upstairs."
The Doctor paused for only a moment at that, before throwing the door open and rushing inside into a dark looking room, far more advanced than human technology with a control panel in the middle of the room.
"What?" Craig blinked.
"Oh, of course." the Doctor nodded, "The time engine isn't in the flat, the time engine is the flat. Someone's attempt to build a TARDIS."
"No, there's always been an upstairs." Craig argued.
"Has there?" The Doctor countered, looking around, it felt as though Thea was alright for now, though he would feel a lot better seeing her, "Think about it."
"Yes. No. I don't..."
"Perception filter. It's more than a disguise. It tricks your memory."
Someone screamed and the turned to see Sophie being pulled towards the controls, a white orb in a panel, Thea trying to pull her back.
"Sophie!" Craig gasped, "Sophie! Oh, my God, Sophie!" He ran over to try and her keep her hand back from the orb.
The Doctor ran over, flashing the sonic, "It's controlling her. It's willing her to touch the activator."
"That's not going to have her."
"Ah, deadlock seal."
"You've got to do something."
Suddenly Sophie was released and fell back to the ground as Thea gently lowered her to the ground.
"What?" The Doctor frowned, "Why's it let her go?"
He ran over to help as a hologram appeared, "You will help me."
"Right." The Doctor nodded, "Stop. Crashed ship, let's see. Hello, I'm Captain Troy Handsome of International Rescue. Please state the nature of your emergency."
"The ship has crashed." The hologram replied, "The crew are dead. A pilot is required."
"You're the emergency crash program. A hologram. What, you've been luring people up here so you can try them out?" He flicked the sonic at the hologram as it flickered between an old man, then a young man and a little girl.
"You will help me. You will help me. You will help me."
"Craig, what is this?" Sophie asked as she awoke in his arms, "Where am I?"
"Hush." The Doctor looked over at them, "Human brains aren't strong enough, they just burn. But you're stupid, though. You just keep trying."
"17 people have been tried." the hologram stated, "6,000,400,026 remain."
"Seriously, what is going on?"
"Top floor of Craig's flat is actually an alien spaceship using humans to repair itself." Thea explained with a shrug.
"Intent on slaughtering the population of this planet." the Doctor corrected.
"It's a program." Thea countered, "it's not doing it intentionally. Surprisingly not everything is out to kill us all."
But before the Doctor could respond to her, the hologram spoke again, "The correct pilot has now been found."
"Yes," the Doctor sighed, "I was a bit worried that you were going to say that."
"He means you, Doctor, doesn't he?" Amy guessed.
The same beam of energy shot out and began to pill the Doctor to the orb.
"The correct pilot has been found. The correct pilot has been found. The correct pilot has been found."
"What's happening?" Amy called.
"It's got the Doctor." Thea told her as she tried to pull the Doctor back. "The ship wants him as the new pilot."
"Could he do it? Could he fly the ship safely?"
"Oh, yes, easily and destroy the solar system as well."
"The correct pilot has been found." The hologram repeated.
"No." The Doctor grunted, "Worst choice ever, I promise you. Stop this."
"Doctor?" Amy screamed, "It's getting worse."
"It doesn't want everyone." Thea shook her head, "it doesn't want Craig."
"I spoke to him and he said I couldn't help him." Craig recalled when he had spoken to the hologram before.
"And it never went for Sophie before now." Her mind raced as she tried to figure it out, to stop it before the Doctor touched the console and blow them all up. He couldn't do much thinking right now, he needed to focus on keeping his hand back, "but now it does because...because she wants to go and work with the monkeys! The ship wants to leave so it wants people who want to leave. Craig!" She turned to him, "you never wanted to leave. You can shut down the program. Put your hand on the panel and concentrate on why you want to stay."
"Will it work?" Craig needed to know.
"I got a feeling." she offered as the Doctor shouted, "yes!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes." The Doctor insisted.
"Is that a lie?"
"Of course it's a lie."
"It's good enough for me. Geronimo!" Craig slammed his hand on the panel, screaming as the energy coursed through him but released the Doctor.
"Craig!" Sophie gasped.
The Doctor jumped to Craigs side following through with Theas plan, "Craig, what's keeping you here? Think about everything that makes you want to stay here. Why don't you want to leave?"
"Sophie." He admitted, "I don't want to leave Sophie. I can't leave Sophie. I love Sophie."
Sophie let out a breath at that, "I love you, too, Craig, you idiot." And slapped her hand down on top of Craig's.
"Honestly, do you mean that?"
"Of course I mean it. Do you mean it?"
"I've always meant it. Seriously though, do you mean it?"
"Yes."
"What about the monkeys?"
"Oh, not now, not again." The Doctor huffed, "Craig, the planet's about to burn. For God's sake, kiss the girl."
"Kiss the girl!" Thea and Amy agreed.
Craig and Sophie kissed, their hands sliding of the panel.
"Doctor?" Amy gasped, "You've done it. Ha ha! You've done it. Oh, now the screen's just zeros. Now it's minus ones, minus twos, minus threes...Big yes!"
"Help me." The hologram flickered between its different forms, overloading, "Help me. Help me. Help me."
"That's not good." Thea stared at it.
"Big no." the Doctor agreed.
"Help me. Help me. Help me. Help me."
Craig looked over as he and Sophie finally pulled away, "Did we switch it off?"
"Emergency shutdown. It's imploding. Everybody out, out, out!" The Doctor ushered them out, pushing Thea in front of him as they ran down the stairs and outside of the flat, as the house shook.
A moment later the filter switched off reveal the ship with disappeared, people strolling in by, oblivious.
"Look at them," Craig shook his head, "Didn't they see that? The whole top floor just vanished."
"Perception filter." The Doctor shrugged, "There never was a top floor."
"You'd be surprised at what you miss, even it's its right in front of you." Thea added.
~.~
The stain on the ceiling had disappeared and Amy had called down the comm that the TARDIS had materialised in the park, and so far, was staying there. So, it was time for the Time Lords to leave the flat. Craig and Sophie were busy snogging on the sofa so the Doctor quietly dropped the keys in the bowl as they snuck out.
"Oi!" Craig called After them.
"What, you're trying to sneak off?" Sophie smiled.
"Yes, well, you were sort of..." the Doctor trailed.
"Making out." Thea finished for him.
Craig stood up and fished out the keys the Doctor had dropped, "I want you to keep these." He handed them back.
"Thank you." The Doctor smiled and took them, "Because I might pop back soon, have another little stay."
"No, you won't." Craig laughed, "I've been in your head, remember. I have a feeling Theas more likely to come back than you." He joked.
"What do you mean by that?" Thea looked at him and turned to the Doctor as he rubbed the back of his head, "you told him!" she accused.
"No, I didn't," He told her, "I showed him my memories and that sort of slipped though... sorry."
"Oh," she murmured, "suppose I can let it slide."
"I still want you to keep them though." Craig continued.
"Thank you, Craig." The Doctor smiled.
"Thank you, Doctor, and you Thea. Both of you."
"Sophie." The Doctor grinned at her, "Now then. 6,000,400,026 people in the world. That's the number to beat."
"Yeah." Sophie laughed as Craig put his arm around her.
The Time Lords smiled and waved as they headed out of the flat and down the road to the park where the TARDIS was parked and quickly rushing inside.
"Back in time!" The Doctor called, seeing Amy standing with her arms crossed by the console, "You need to go to the paper shop and leave that note for me."
"Right little matchmakers, aren't you?" Amy smirked, "Can't you find me a fellow?"
Thea turned away at that, focusing her eyes on the console as she felt a ping of guilt for Rory at that. He and Amy were supposed to grow old together having lived out their life's with each other. There was no one else more meant for Amy than Rory, "Oh, rectifier's playing up again..." she muttered, "I'll get the tool kit." He headed off down to the under console.
The Doctor nodded as he looked at Amy, "You write the note and I'll change that will." He remarked, following Thea down.
"You got a pen?" Amy asked.
"Make sure it's a red pen."
Neither of them noticed Amy pulling out Rory engagement ring from the pocket instead.