The Church On Ruby Road

AN: Please Read the story Teddy Duncan: Time Lady before reading this story.

Disclaimer: Good Luck Charlie and all related characters are the property of The Walt Disney Company. Doctor Who and all related characters are the property of The British Broadcasting Corporation.

Hello, everyone! I'm Annabelle Duncan. I'm the progenated daughter of Teddy Duncan, stepdaughter of Jack Harkness, niece of The Doctors, mother of Melody Pond-Duncan aka River Song… But you already knew that. I figured that since Mom decided to retire from traveling with The Doctor and me, I should take over her job of telling you all our story and what better place to start than with Mom and Dad's wedding!

As you know, they had it in the backyard of Grandpa Bob and Grandma Amy's house in Denver. Mom and Dad wanted to keep it small. There was me, both Doctors, Mel, Kate, Mom's adopted family, Donna & her family, and Martha & Mickey Jones. Mom looked so beautiful in her dress. It was long, down to almost her ankle. It had short sleeves and had a modest neckline. Jack looked so handsome in his navy-blue suit. She couldn't decide who she wanted to walk her down the aisle. So, she had Grandpa Bob walk her halfway down the aisle then The Doctors walked her the rest of the way. It was a wonderful ceremony and I'm so happy to finally have Jack as my dad after all these years.

The new Doctor and I had a great time with everyone and after we watched Mom and Dad get in the original TARDIS and headed out on their honeymoon, The new Doctor and I headed off in our TARDIS.


While we were in the Time Vortex, the TARDIS shifted to the left then back. "Woah!" I said, as I checked the console, "What was that?"

"I don't know," said The Doctor, "It was like a we were hit by the wake of a bigger ship."

He did some scans and smiled, "What is it?"

"The TARDIS is picking up a goblin ship."

"What? Where? When?"

"Looks like it was heading to London… 22nd of December 2023…"

I rolled my eyes, "I would love just one normal Christmas when traveling with you."

He laughed and set a course to follow the goblin ship.


We traced the goblins to a very crowded bar. "Keep your eyes out for any kind of accidents or bad luck," said The Doctor, "That will give us a clue on who they are possibly trying to stitch into the timeline."

I nodded. I had never personally encountered goblins but from what I have read about them, they are creatures that use luck, chance and coincidence to ride the Time Vortex, and they also love to eat babies. There was a small combo playing consisting of a keyboard player, a drummer, a guitar player and a singer. They were quite good. The blond female keyboard player was kind of cute. Everyone was enjoying themselves. While they were playing Winter Wonderland, there was some feedback and the music stopped, "Ooo, Sorry, everyone, sorry," said the singer, she looked at the keyboard player, "What's happened?"

"I don't know," said the keyboard, as tried to figure out what happened, "I think it's just dead.

"Give it some welly!" said an older woman in the crowd.

"All right, I said sorry. okay?" Said the singer.

"Can you do 'Gaudete?'"

"Can we do what?

The Doctor and I looked at each other. We had a feeling that the keyboard player was the person we were looking for.


The Doctor and I headed back to the TARDIS, and we moved to the next day. We traced the goblins to a club. The Doctor and I had a great time dancing and just enjoying ourselves, while at the same time, keeping an eye out for the keyboard player. It was great seeing him have such a great time. After a few minutes, we found her. She was standing at a railing watching us dance. I smiled at her and she smiled back. I saw her step back to reach for her glass and start to knock it off. The Doctor and I rushed over and just before it fell to the floor, he caught it, he laughed, "Careful," as he handed it to her.

"Thank you," she said, "But... you two were just over there."

We both took out our psychic paper and showed them to her, "Health and safety." I said.

"Gin and tonic division," said The Doctor.

"Can I ask, does that happen to you a lot? Knocking things over?"

"Oh, all the time," she said, "But I'm just clumsy."

"No. No, you're not," said The Doctor.

"It's worse than that," I said, then I gave her a smile, "Merry Christmas."

Then we walked away, I opened our telepathic link, "I think she's the one we are looking for Uncle Theta."

"I think you're right, Young Theta. Let's keep an eye on her."


We watched as her and her friends walked down the street, "Honestly, Rubes, it's like you've got a curse," said the singer from the night before.

"I know," said the blond keyboard player,

"Taxi!" said one of the girls as a taxi drove past them. It started to stop

The blond continued, "And then I lose that 20 quid. Honestly, it's like for the past three weeks, bad luck has just been following me around." "I lose that job, I broke that thing, I broke my heel, then I fell over in front of that fit dentist," then the girls started to get in the taxi.

"You're jinxed, Ruby," said one of the girls.

Then the taxi pulled away. The taxi drove past us, and we saw it stop at a stop light. I heard a creaking noise. I looked up and saw a giant lighted snowman attached to a building. It started to slowly lean forward. The Doctor and I started toward the corner. I took out my own new remote shaped sonic and pointed it at the stop light. It changed from red to green and the taxi pulled away, "Crisis averted," I said with a smile. The snowman started to unhook from the building and there was a woman pushing a baby carriage started across the street. The Doctor and I rushed toward her, "No!" I shouted.

"Get back!" said The Doctor, "Move!"

The woman stopped on the curb. We stopped and looked up and the head of the snowman fell off and dropped on top of us. Luckily, there was nothing on the bottom of the head, so the head just dropped down around us. Then when heard someone ask, "You two alright?"

The Doctor punched out one of the eyes of the snowman, "A pram?"

I punched out the other eye, "At midnight."

We lifted the snowman that was just made out of wire and cloth and got out of it, "Really?" we said together.

The woman pulled back the sunshield, to reveal some wrapped Christmas presents, "It's my shopping." Then she walked away.

The Doctor and I looked up at the rest of the snowman as a policeman ran up to us, "Oh, my God. Sir, miss, are you alright? Are you... are you okay?"

I thought I saw a goblin on the roof of the building, "I'm good," I said.

"I'm fine," said The Doctor.

"I'm sorry," said the officer, "Report... I'm going to have to report this." He started to get out his notepad.

"Okay," said The Doctor, we stepped a little closer to him, "Name: The Doctor."

"Annabelle Marie Duncan," I said.

"Occupation: not a doctor."

"Soldier turned traveler."

"Current status: just passing by."

"Employer: Ourselves."

"Address: that blue box over there," said The Doctor, as he pointed at the TARDIS that was down the street at little bit.

"Now," I said, "if you don't mind, we just got 'snowmanned,' and would like to go home."

We walked back to the TARDIS and just as we got to the door the policeman caught up with us, "Er... Doctor what would that be?"

"Just the Doctor," said my uncle as we went inside.

Just before we closed the door my sonic pinged. I stuck my head back out and I saw the policeman standing there, "She's going to say yes." I said to him.

"Who is?"

"Your girlfriend. When you ask her to marry you on Christmas Day."

"How do you know that?"

I showed him my sonic, "Because my sonic screwdriver just went ping."

"That's a screwdriver?"

"Yep… And that with that precise ping is it detecting a two-carat diamond in your pocket. Which is the typical size of a diamond in an engagement ring. And I'm guessing that she's a she because 91 percent of men wouldn't choose a diamond. Plus, Christmas Day. It's obvious.

"But how do you know she'll say yes?"

I smiled, "Because you could have waited until Tuesday when the sales start, but you just couldn't wait. And that's why she loves you. Merry Christmas."

Then, I closed the door and The Doctor, and I were off again.


It was now December 24th, 2023, and we found ourselves parked on a very small sidewalk on Minto Road in the Notting Hill section of London. We started searching for the blond girl and about 20 minutes into our search we our sonics just when crazy with beeping and pinging. I took it out of my pocket and, "We found the ship!" I looked up but all I saw was gray sky. Just then I heard a baby crying. I looked up and saw a basket coming down out of the sky.

"Come on!" said The Doctor, "We've got to get up there!"

We went to one of the houses and pounded on the door and there was no answer. I used my sonic to pick the lock and we head upstairs. Luckly, the house had skylights, and we were able to get one open, and we climbed up on the roof. When we got to the roof the line with the basket was gone but there was a ladder with the blond keyboardist hanging on and it was moving. We started to run after it, "What the hell are you doing?!" The Doctor asked the girl as we ran and jumped over chimneys

"I'm... just... This!" she shouted back

"But what did you do that for?" I asked, "Who sees a ladder and just jumps on? You saw a ladder in the sky, and thought, 'Yeah, that looks like fun,'?"

"They've got the baby!"

We reached then end of the rooftop and then jumped onto the ladder and landed side by side. Luckly, the rungs were wide enough for both me and The Doctor to stand on. "What's your name?" I asked.

"Ruby. Ruby Sunday," said the girl.

"Hello, Ruby Sunday," said The Doctor, "And it's a Sunday right now. That's a coincidence. I'm the Doctor and this is my niece, Annabelle."

"Hi," I said.

"I've met you two before," said Ruby.

"Yup."

"There are creatures."

"Goblins," said The Doctor"

"Goblins?" said Ruby.

"They're goblins," I said.

"Okay. I can't hold on.

"Oh, right, right, right," said The Doctor, "Wait, wait. Wait, wait, wait." He reached in his pocket, "Cos I spend a lot of time hanging off things, I er... I invented these." He took out some black gloves.

"Gloves?" asked Ruby.

"Intelligent gloves. One each. Should work. Put it on." We each took a glove and put it on one of our hands. The Doctor continued, "Cos I thought to myself, 'What's the problem with hanging on?' It's all the friction and the weight and the burn, so I got rid of that. The glove's a kind of super-kinetic transfer of mass. Ah, that's better. The glove takes all my weight. All the weight is in the glove. So, nothing burns. Nothing pulls. Nothing hurts:

"I'm lightweight."

"Yeah, all the mass and density and mavity exists in the glove, not in you," I said.

"Super-gloves," said Ruby

"Yeah," said The Doctor, "They're pulling us in."

I looked down and saw were starting to go higher in the sky, "But where?" asked Ruby, "What's up there?"

"Goblins," said The Doctor, "Do you know why they call them goblins? Cos, they like to gobble you up."

"And these goblins want to gobble up the baby," I said, as we went through the clouds, "And this... is where they feast. The goblin ship."

We finally got our first look at the goblin ship. It looked like a ramshackle galleon-style sailing ship with wings.

"That's impossible," said Ruby.

"It's beautiful,' said The Doctor.

"And... what will they do to us?"

"Oh, they'll eat us too," I said.

Soon, we were pulled through a hole in the bottom of the ship. Once we were inside, we looked around and to our left and Ruby's right was a whole group of goblins, "Hiya," he said.


I tried to fight the little buggers off but there were too many of them and they overpowers us. So, we found ourselves below deck, tied to a mask back-to-back-to-back, "I can't believe this," said Ruby, "I can't believe a single thing that's happening, and... it's my birthday."

"It's your what now?" asked The Doctor.

"Oh, never mind me. They're going to eat Lulubelle. What time's dinner?"

"No, but it's Lulubelle's birthday..." I said.

"That is such a brilliant name. I wish I was called Lulubelle," said The Doctor.

I rolled my eyes, "And is your birthday on the same day?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't mean anything," said Ruby, "It's just a coincidence"

"Learn the language," said The Doctor, "That's why they went after Lulubelle. Coincidence is what makes the baby tasty."

"That's how the goblins work," I said, "Chance and coincidence and luck. That's how we spotted you. You've been having lots of bad luck, haven't you?"

"Well... yes, but that-that-that started way back," said Ruby, "I mean, Lulu arrived today. I started having accidents weeks ago."

"That was them paving the way. Goblins are time riders. They can surf the waves of Time. They spotted the chance of coincidence, and then they went back, and they wove you in."

"Wait. So, they caused my accidents? Were they trying to kill me?"

"No. No it's more like er... If you walk through a day without any bad luck, that's fine, that day is nothing. But if you have lots of accidents, it stitches you in. It weaves you into the day."

"You become all complicated and knotted and vivid," said The Doctor, "All of it leading up to a baby on Christmas Eve. The same birthday as yours, with a bedroom that is high up in the sky. All the more convenient for a goblin ship. Ha! Oh, it's like a tapestry. It's gorgeous!

"How do you two know all of this?" asked Ruby.

"We don't," said The Doctor and I together.

"This is a brand new science for us," said The Doctor, "and I love it. The language of luck. Cos what is a coincidence but a form of accident? Two things bumping together unexpectedly. Like you and us."

"No, but who are you two?" asked Ruby, "Why are you an expert in time-travelling goblins and...

"They are not time travelers…" I said.

"Time travelers are great," said The Doctor, "Like the best. Like, wow. This lot just bimble."

I rolled my eyes and Ruby said, "So if they're bimbling, why did they pick on Davina McCall?"

"Oh, that was just fun."

Then, The Doctor and I freed ourselves from the bindings. "Wait, how did you do that?" asked Ruby.

"We once spent a long, hot summer with Harry Houdini," said The Doctor.

I untied Ruby and The Doctor started looking around, "Let me see….Door." we walked over to a very small door. He pushed it but it was locked.

"Hurry up," said Ruby, "They're going to eat the baby."

The Doctor took out his sonic, but nothing happened, "Wrong world."

"Why? What is that thing?"

"Sonic screwdriver. But a screwdriver needs screws. This lot bind everything with knots. Ah..."

The Doctor and I looked at ropes that were all over and wrapped around everything. Ruby started to look for a way out, "Okay, we've got to get out, because they could be eating the baby any second now."

"What time were you born?" I asked.

"I don't know. They kind of just guessed. Two o'clock? 2pm?"

"Right... So... Language, tapestry, coincidence," said The Doctor.

Ruby tried to kick the door down, "That must be the time for the feast. What... what time is it now?" I asked.

Ruby took out her phone, "Five to two."

I saw through a hole that we were coming back toward where Ruby lived, "We're circling back to your flat," said The Doctor, "The pattern is closing. You better hurry up," he said to Ruby.

"Yes! Well, if one of you gave me a hand!

"We are learning the vocabulary of rope!" said The Doctor.

"This stuff is their version of wires and electricity," I said, "so if we..." I looked at the ropes and untied one, "trip the right switch..." Then the door opened.

"What, you can speak rope?" said Ruby. We went through the door and into the next room, and she said, "You know, we can't exactly sneak around. We're like giants in this place."

The Doctor looked at some more ropes, "Oh, I think that even a leaky old goblin ship has the equivalent of..." He untied one and trap door opened, "...ventilation shafts."

The Doctor went first, I followed, and Ruby brought up the rear. We crawled a short way, when we heard a gong, "I think that's the dinner gong. What's the time?

Ruby got out her phone, "Three minutes to." Then we heard music, "Is that a band?" We stared crawling through the shaft a little faster, "Wait!"

We kept crawling and we stopped when we looked down on the main hall of the ship. There were hundreds of goblins on each side of a conveyor belt and on the belt was the basket holding the baby, "Lulubelle," said Ruby, as the basket moved down the belt.

Then a curtain opened above where the belt started, revealing a band. And a female goblin started to sing, "We've got a baby, we can feast. We can dine three days at least. Baby blood and baby bones. Baby butter for the baby scones."

"That's 'sconns'," said a band member.

"Nice beat," I said, "Easy to dance to… I'd give it a 95…"

"Amazing," said The Doctor.

"No, it's not!" said Ruby, "What do we do?"

The Doctor and I snapped out of our amazement, "Right…" I said.

We continued to crawl through the vent as the song continued, "Baby's had such very bad luck," sang the female goblin, "Now into baby we will tuck! Eat the baby, add some salt…"

some goblin chefs started to sprinkle the baby with salt and other things, "They're seasoning her," said Ruby.

"Bay leaves, barley, powdered malt. Now baby's salted, she's a treat. Her destiny it's time to meet. Baby we need. Baby we feed. Eat with our teeth. Better than beef. Baby so soft, carried aloft, Big brown eyes..."

"Oh, no," said The Doctor.

"What?" asked Ruby and I together.

"I wonder whose ship this is?"

"He's the goblin king," sang the female goblin, "Yes, the goblin king. He's not a myth, he's an actual thing." a curtain opened at the other end of the conveyer belt to reveal a fat, giant, goblin! The female goblin continue to sing, "Here's the king. Here's the king. Here's the king. Here's the king goblin!"

"Oh... my... God…," said Ruby.

The female goblin continued to sing, "We love the king. We sing ding-a-ling. And we love his chin when it's wobbling. He likes to dine on coincidence..."

The Doctor and I started looking at the ropes trying to figure out how we could save Lulubelle.

"Leave her alone!" Shouted Ruby, "Leave her alone!"

The goblin's song continued, "It fills him, builds him up, and hence he can eat! He can eat! 500 puppies with golden fur. Orphan boys with jet-black hair. Circus clowns with a red balloon."

"He can eat me. He makes me swoon," sang one of the goblins in the audience.

Just then The Doctor started untying a knot. The lead singer of the goblin band continued her song, "A banquet for our king on high. Oh, little baby, oh little baby... say goodbye!"

The basket was almost to the end when The Doctor loosed a rope, and the vent opened up and dropped us on the belt. The Doctor and I landed right behind the basket with Ruby just behind us. I looked and saw The Goblin King just a short distance away. The Doctor and I pulled the basket away from the edge and pushed it behind us to Ruby.

The goblins started to growl and hiss at us, "Tough crowd," I said, as we stand.

"Curtsey," said The Doctor as he stood, and doing a curtsey to The Goblin King. Once the three of us were standing. The Doctor looked down at The Goblin King and said, "I'm the Doctor. This is my niece, Annabelle. and this is our friend Ruby Sunday. And I would just like to say..." There was a long pause. He smiled and said, "Why stop singing? Rock it, Janis!"

I smiled and the music restarted. The Doctor, Ruby and I started dancing around the belt. Then, The Doctor sang, "Cos the goblin king, oh the goblin king, it's so good to meet you, you great big thing."

Then, I started to sing, "I can see you're having a fun day. Meet our new friend, she's Ruby Sunday."

I took Ruby's hand and pulled her to the front. Then, Ruby sang, "It's good to meet you, good to greet you. Good to say 'How diddly-deet you.'" As Ruby was singing, I looked up and saw ropes starting to come undone. The Doctor and I got our intelligent gloves back out and I put mine on as Ruby continued to sing, "It's my birthday, my, oh, my. I'm 50 miles up in the sky. But goblins, you can go to hell, cos you're not eating Lulubelle."

The Doctor handed a glove to Ruby, and he took over the singing, "Me, AB and Rubes, we got just one hope, if I have understood that rope. Cos stuck up there when things got hot, I think I found the Master Knot." Ruby picked up Lulubelle's basket and he pulled Ruby close to him.

Then, I finished up the song, "The Master Knot has been undone. That's when we start having fun!" A rope came down. The Doctor and I grabbed onto it and Ruby grabbed onto The Doctor.

"Hold on tight," said The Doctor.

"Wait, what are you...?" asked Ruby.

I smiled, "If you reverse intelligent gloves, you get heavy." We jumped off the belt and fell through the floor and then through the bottom of the ship.

We all screamed as we fell and Ruby asked, "How do we stop?"

"Love the glove, Ruby. Love the glove," said The Doctor. Then we all laughed. Then we slowly came to a stop on top of Ruby's house.

The Doctor let go of the glove, "Well," said The Doctor.

"Wow," said Ruby and we all laughed. Then, The Doctor pulled us both in for a group hug.


Ruby took us back to the flat that she shared with her mom and grandma Cherry, "I'm back!" called Ruby as she carried Lulubelle. She looked into one of the rooms, "Hey. Sorry, I got distracted."

"I've given up on that cuppa and opted for a life of abstinence." We heard come from the room. The Doctor and I walked to the doorway, and we saw an elderly Black woman in bed. It was Ruby's grandma Cherry, " And who is this young fellow when he's at home?"

"Hi, I'm the Doctor," he said, with a laugh.

"And, I'm Annabelle," I said.

"The last time I saw a doctor, he tried to murder me, so you stay away."

The Doctor and I laughed. "Oh. Oh, you don't need me," said The Doctor as he looked at a picture of Ruby's mom, Cherry and Ruby, "You got your family looking after you."

The Doctor and I walked in the room and Cherry said, "We three queens of the sky up here in the attic."

"And your name is Cherry?" I asked.

"It is."

"Hmm. Cherry Sunday," said The Doctor.

"Like a tasty treat," said Cherry, as she chuckled.

I chucked and The Doctor said, "Yes. I'll see you later, Cherry, okay?"

Then we walked out of the room and down the hall. Ruby was putting Lulubelle in a crib, "Glove," said The Doctor.

"Oh, yeah," said Ruby, as she handed her glove back to The Doctor.

The Doctor and I then walked over to the window in the room "Only three percent left," said The Doctor as he looked at the glove.

As we were looking through the window, up at the gray clouds in the sky, Ruby came up to us, "So, are we safe now? I mean, can that ship come sailing down? What do we do? Can they get us?"

"No," I said, "I don't think they'd invade. Their world is up there, and they creep into ours, on the edges."

The Doctor and I stepped away from the window. He caught his foot on a cord for a lamp and caught the lamp as it fell to the floor, "Whoa!" Said The Doctor, with a laugh.

"Shh, shh! Shh," said Ruby.

"Accidents. That is how they get us."

"Do they cause all accidents?" Asked Ruby.

The Doctor and I thought for a moment and the I said, "Maybe they do…"

"Oh!" said The Doctor, "Is there anything in the kitchen? Anything burning?"

Then The Doctor and I started out of the room before Ruby could answer, "Doctor... Annabelle…" We ran down the hall to the kitchen, as Ruby asked, "What do we do? Goblin-proof it?"

When we reached the kitchen, The Doctor looked around the room and sighed, "Deathtrap! Check everything. The... the wiring and the plugs."

We started looking around the kitchen and I saw the refrigerator covered in pictures, "Who are they?" I asked as The Doctor, and I looked at the pictures.

Ruby joined me at the fridge and said, "Oh. That's the family. It's Mum's children. It's all the kids that she's fostered over the years."

"Wow," said The Doctor, "There's so many."

"I know. She still keeps in touch with some of them. Lots of them. She's amazing."

"You have got the biggest family in the world," I said.

"I have," said Ruby, then she looked at us, "What about you two?"

The Doctor smiled, "Well… There's Annabelle's mum and I have a brother…"

Then I jumped in, "I also have a stepdad, grandma, grandpa, some more uncles, aunts…"

Ruby smiled, "Sounds like you two have a pretty big family yourselves…"

The Doctor smiled, "Yeah… Make sure the oven is off…"

The Doctor and I headed back down the hall. Ruby called out, "You know, if you'd told me I'd be spending my birthday fighting magic..."

"It's not magic," said I as I turned off a space heater and The Doctor unstacked some paint cans, "It's a language. It's a different form of physics."

"Yes. Like magic," said Ruby, then she came to the edge of the hallway, "Don't leave the baby alone."

"Oh!" said The Doctor as the three of us rushed to the baby's room. We looked in the crib and Lulubelle was just laying there, "She's all right. She's all right."

"Don't leave her," said Ruby, as she stood in the doorway.

"Er, you did too," I said.

"I know. But don't."

Just then the front door of the flat opened, it was Ruby's mom "Here comes Santa, laden with presents." The Doctor, Ruby and I stood in the doorway of the room, "Who're your friends?"

Ruby pointed at me and said, "This is Annabelle and…" she pointed at my uncle, "this is her uncle... The... Doctor…"

"Hi…" I said.

"Hello," said The Doctor.

"There's nothing wrong, is there?" asked Ruby's mom, "Is she all right? The baby?"

"Yeah," said The Doctor.

"No, she's fine," said Ruby

"Just a perfect little angel," I said.

Ruby's mom went to go check on Cherry and the three of us started to whisper argue. We were talking so fast I could barely remember what any of us said. A few moments later, Ruby's mom came out of Cherry's room, "So, why do we need a doctor?" she asked as she walked towards us.

"It's just a routine visit, that's all," said The Doctor.

"Oh. Oh, let me see. Poor little blossom," said Carla as she checked on Lulubelle.

"This is my mum, Carla," said Ruby, as she walked in the room.

We followed Ruby over to the crib and Carla was looking at Lulubelle in the crib, "Oh, look at her. Little chicken. Hello, Lulubelle." Then Carla looked up at us, "So she's been okay?" None of us said anything, we just nodded. Then, Carla said, "What's this?" She reached down and picked up something. She showed it to us, it was a Polaroid picture of a goblin. We looked at each other. Then Carla looked at "What's that supposed to be? Is that an eye?"

"No," said Ruby and I together.

"It's a toy," said The Doctor, "It's the eye of a toy."

"She's too young for toys," said Carla, "Where'd you get a toy from, anyway?"

Ruby jumped in, "Oh my God. Mum, can we just...?" Ruby walked over to the window, "Can we just stop for a minute? Because I... I've had enough. This has been the worst day ever, and it is Christmas, and it's my birthday, and it's just been a disaster."

"Well, there was a problem," I said, "but it's gone now. No point worrying your mom."

Carla stepped closer to Ruby. The Doctor and I stepped aside, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Just er... What I mean is... they phoned. From the TV show. When you were out this morning. But they didn't find anything. Just... No mum. No dad. No brothers or sisters. No cousins. Just... just... nothing."

"Oh, sweetheart. I'm sorry, darling. Come here," said Carla, as she motioned her to come closer.

"No, I'm all right," said Ruby.

"Come here," said Carla, as she hugged Ruby, "I'm glad they didn't find her. Do you hear me? Glad. Cos, I don't know if I could make room. Cos you're all mine. That's what you are," Carla looked at us, "Isn't she gorgeous?"

"Yes. Yes, she is," said The Doctor.

"Your both lucky to have each other," I said.

"I was counting when I was out. Lulubelle is the 33rd child I've fostered," said Carla.

"Oh, my God," said Ruby.

"I've got photos. Have a look on the fridge. They're all there."

"We saw them," I said. The Doctor just kept looking at Lulubelle.

Then Carla continued, "I had some of them for days, some for weeks, some for years. But only one of them stayed." She looked at Ruby, "And you made my life. You absolutely made my life.

"I'm adopted," said The Doctor.

"My mom was adopted," I said.

"Really?" asked Ruby.

"Yeah, yeah," said The Doctor, "I, er... I only found out recently that I was."

"That's a coincidence," said Carla.

"Oh, don't be saying that!" Said Ruby.

There was a rumble of thunder from outside. Then Carla, looked at The Doctor, and asked, "So, do you know who your parents are?" Then she looked at me, "Or your mum?"

I nodded, "Mom does,"

"No, no, I was... I was abandoned," said The Doctor.

"Oh, you were a foundling, just like Ruby. Even bigger coincidence."

Then there was a big crash of thunder, and I said, "maybe we shouldn't talk about coincidence…"

There was another crash of thunder, "Do you want to just put that down?" Said The Doctor, as he took the goblin picture from Carla, "I'll take that for you. All right…"

Carla walked over to Lulubelle's crib, "I took a photo of little Lady Lu when she arrived. Look at her, though. She's so gorgeous. Don't you just want to eat her up?"

"Oh, and that's a coincidence," said The Doctor.

I gave him a look and was about to take a page out of my mom's playbook and smack him upside the head, when there was another crash of thunder. The window in the room broke and a crack started to form in the ceiling, "What the hell?" Said Carla.

"Hold on," said The Doctor, as he and I started to run out of the room, "Don't move, don't move. Don't move."

"Mum, don't move," we heard Ruby say.

We followed the crack all the way down the hall to the window above the sink in the kitchen. I looked out the window and up in the sky. All I saw was gray clouds, "Looks like they're gone. It must have been a parting gift."

The Doctor smiled, "Lucky at last," we started back down the hallway, "I think that was them saying goodbye." We stopped at the door to Cherry's room, he looked at her and asked, "Cherry, all good?"

"One cup of tea, massi Lawd. Just one," she said.

The Doctor laughed, "Thank you, Cherry. Thank you."

We walked in the back room and saw Lulubelle still in her crib, "All good, Lulubelle?" I asked.

"Oh, such a good name," The Doctor said, as we walked back to the window and looked out. Still seeing just gray clouds in the sky.

"But what the hell was that?" asked Carla, "Look at the ceiling! And the window! I'm going to freeze. Who's going to fix that on Christmas Eve?"

"Bye, bye. Ta-ra," said The Doctor, as he looked out the window and gave a small wave.

"Who are you talking to?' Asked Carla.

"No one," said The Doctor, "Nothing. Just er..." he picked up the goblin picture and it was blank, "Ah. Absolutely nothing. Yeah."

"But the whole flat just cracked in half. Now tell me, what the hell just happened?"

"Maybe we should sit you down and tell you a Christmas story, huh?" I asked, "What do you think, Ruby?" I looked around and Ruby was nowhere to be found.

"Ruby?" Asked The Doctor, "Where did she go?"

We walked out of the flat and The Doctor called out, "Ruby! Ruby, are you there?"

We went back in the flat and the flat looked very different. There were Christmas decorations and lights all over. But now there was hardly any, and Carla was in different clothes. She walked down the hall with Lulu in her arms, "Sorry. Sorry, but... where's she gone?" The Doctor and I walked up to her

"What are you on about?" Asked Carla.

"We're looking for your daughter."

"Don't be daft," said Carla as she walked past us to the kitchen, "Lulu's not my daughter. I'm fostering her just for a couple of days."

"No," I said, "Your daughter, Ruby."

"Who's Ruby?" Asked Carla.

"Your daughter," said The Doctor.

"I told you, this is Lulu. And she's a right old pain on Christmas Eve. Last thing I need."

"But...," said The Doctor. He and I looked at each other and walked down the hall to the last room. We went into what was supposed to be Ruby's bedroom.

"What do you want in the spare room?" Asked Carla

We just found a simple bed and a rack with some of Carla's clothes. We went to Cherry's room. She was half asleep. The Doctor walked up to her and shook her, "Cherry... Do you remember Ruby?"

Cherry turned and looked at us, "What you talkin' about?"

"Your granddaughter Ruby," I said, "Today is her birthday…"

"There is no pickney in this home. We were never so blessed."

The Doctor and I went back to the kitchen. I looked up as we walked and watched as the crack in the celling closed up, until it was like it was never there. We reached the kitchen, Carla was sitting at the table. The Doctor got on his knees and looked at Carla, "You had another child named Ruby."

"I've never had children, mate," said Carla.

"No. You adopted her," I said.

"I foster. Now don't be so stupid. I'm a foster mother. Just do it now and then, that's all. I've had about five or six kids."

"No, no, no, no. You had...," said The Doctor. He looked at the fridge, "They've gone." He stood up and walked over to the fridge.

"Who has?" Said Carla.

I joined him at the fridge and looked at it. All the pictures were gone. They were replaced by a smattering of magnets for various businesses and a menu for a pizza place, "Your children," I said, "All those lives. You've fostered 33 children."

"How many?" Asked Carla, "Not me, darling. Don't be so stupid. That's too much like hard work. No way. I just put my name on the list when I need a bit of money."

"No, you don't," said The Doctor, as we continued to look at the fridge.

"Eight hundred quid per child."

"Don't say that," I said.

"I think you two got me mixed up with someone else," said Carla, "Cos there is no Ruby. There's just me stuck with my old mum up here in the attic. And I'm busy," The Doctor and I walked back over to her as she continued, "I couldn't have a kid full-time. It'd be a nightmare. This little brat arrives, ruining my holiday. I was looking forward to it. Christmas Day, Mum's asleep by three, and I'll be all on my own. Why would I want a daughter when I'm happy as I am?"

As she spoke, I felt the tears forming in my eyes, I had only known Ruby for a very short time, but I was already missing her. I looked at Carla and she had tears in her eyes too, "Then why are you crying?" Asked The Doctor.

"I don't know," said Carla. She looked at him and asked, "Why are you?"

I looked at The Doctor and he had tears running down his face. "They couldn't get Lulubelle… So, they did the next best thing… they went back in time and took Ruby…"

The Doctor nodded, "They cracked the timeline," He looked at Carla, "but we will fix this. We will fix this."

We ran out the door, down the stairs and out to the sidewalk where the TARDIS was waiting. We ran inside and to the console. The Doctor got us into the Time Vortex, and I started to scan the crack in the timeline. "Got it! Ruby was left on the doorstep of a church on Ruby Road in Manchester. 24th of December, 2004… Setting coordinates now!" I threw the lever on the console.

Shortly afterwards, The Doctor and I ran out of the TARDIS. We saw a hooded figure walking away from the church. We looked at the front door of the church and saw a baby laying in front of the door We ran to the church and saw baby Ruby in a basket going upwards. We looked up and saw a goblin climbing the side of the church. The Doctor and I then ran inside. We reached the top of the tower, just below the steeple. The rope ladder started to go up and we both grabbed onto it. The ship was a long way up, "We don't have enough time!" I said. "It's too far up. Ruby's probably on the belt right now."

"Gloves!" said The Doctor.

We reached in our pockets, took out our gloves and put them on. They were still set on heavy, so we grabbed onto the ladder and started pulling down the ship down, "Down! Down!" said The Doctor.

We had quite a bit of the rope ladder at our feet, "This is still too slow…" I said, The ladder broke. Then an idea popped in my head. "We have to jump… Don't tell Mom this was my idea…"

"Not a word!" said The Doctor. We both held onto the bottom rung of the ladder and jumped off the tower. With the intelligent gloves, The Doctor and I were like a couple of weights. We pulled the ship down on to the spire of the church. A few moments later, the ship started to vanish. All that was left was the basket that Ruby was in, and it was falling fast. I kept my eyes right on in until it fell right in my arms. I smiled as I caught it.

The Doctor and I walked up to the door of the church, as I held baby Ruby, in my arms. I looked at her and thought about when I held Melody when she was a baby, and I smiled. Ruby never cried the whole time I carried her. We reached the door, and I kissed her on the forehead, "Happy Birthday, Ruby." Then, I set her down in front of the door of the church. The clock on the church struck midnight as we ran back to the TARDIS.

When we reached the TARDIS, we heard the door of the church creak open. We turned and saw the vicar pick up baby Ruby. We then turned and saw the same hooded figure walking away from the church. The Doctor and I knew that since the goblins didn't eat Ruby the timeline had to be fixed. We went back in the TARDIS and headed back to Minto Road to make sure Ruby was okay.


When we got back to Ruby's time, we parked the TARDIS on the corner across the street from Ruby's place. We walked across the road and up to the door. There was an elderly white woman sitting outside the door to her flat. She smiled and waved at us. I smiled and waved back. The Doctor used his sonic to unlock the door. We then ran upstairs to Ruby's flat and then he used his sonic to unlock the door to her flat. We went inside and looked up. I smiled when I saw that the crack was back in the ceiling. "Yes!"

Then, I looked down the hall as The Doctor closed the door. Carla was wearing the clothes she was wearing when we first met her and holding Lulubelle in her arms. But more importantly, Ruby was standing next her. I smiled and The Doctor laughed with delight, "Oh, there you are!"

We walked toward Ruby, and she walked toward us, "What?" she asked, "What did I do? What did you do?"

We pulled her into a group hug, "Happy birthday!" we said as we hugged her.

"What happened?" asked Ruby as we broke her hug, "I turned around and you two were gone. You were sort of... I don't know, cos I was here, but I got a bit lost. But what... what happened?"

"Oh, lots of things!" I said.

"Cos, they went back," said The Doctor, "You were gone. They took you as a baby. So, I went back, and then..." The Doctor stopped and started to think.

"Doctor?" I asked, "What's wrong?"

He smiled," We forgot something" He ran for the door, and I followed close behind. We ran out the front door. And he gave a salute to the older woman who was still sitting there. I gave her a wave. We ran across the street to the TARDIS. We gave her a smile as we got in the TARDIS.

ADTL

We then found where Davina McCall. She was in a wheelchair with a broken leg, sitting near a Christmas Tree. It started to fall and the star on top was about to impale her through the head when The Doctor reached out and stopped it, "Ta-da!" he said.

"You saved my life," she said.

"Merry Christmas, Davina McCall," said The Doctor.


We went back to Minto Road and walked out of the TARDIS. We stopped in the middle of the road and just kept looking up at the windows to Ruby's flat. The older woman whistled to us. We looked at her and smiled, "Busy, busy, you two," she said with a smile, "You two and your box of tricks…. You both look like you've lost a pound and found a sixpence. What's wrong?"

The Doctor and I looked at each other and then back up at Ruby's flat, "Nothing… Just wondering," I said, "Maybe we're the bad luck."

"We'd better go," said The Doctor, "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas," I said.

Then we walked back to the TARDIS, as we walked, the lady asked, "Who are you two, anyway?"

"No one," I said.

"We're just passing by," said The Doctor.

"Well, you take care," she said.

We gave her a wave, then walked in the TARDIS and closed the door. We walked back to the console. "So…" he asked, "What do you think? Should we wait a moment before heading out?"

I smiled, "Absolutely…"

We waited a few minutes; I turned on the external camera and saw Ruby come out and looked round. The older woman was still out there. They talked and I saw the older woman nod toward the TARDIS. I smiled I pressed a button on the console to unlock the door. It opened just a crack. The Doctor and I moved up to one of the ramps to wait for Ruby to come in. She walked in for a moment and then was back out. I took out my iPhone and opened up the TARDIS app that I created for it. I brough up the external camera. She walked around the box, and I smiled. Ruby looked over at the woman I turned on the external microphone and I heard the older woman say, "Good luck, Ruby." I smiled. Ruby waited a few moments. Turned back to the TARDIS and walked up to the door. I put my iPhone away She walked in, closing the door behind her and looked around. She slowly walked along the entrance ramp and when she was about halfway across, she looked up at us and asked shaking her head in disbelief, "Who are you?"

I smiled, "My name is Annabelle Duncan…"

Then my uncle said, " and I'm The Doctor…:

AN: Thank you all for joining me on this journey. I was pretty much content with ending my story Teddy & Annabelle's story with The Return of Doctor Mysterio. But, when the Fifteenth Doctor came, I was just so inspired to continue. I hope you all like it. Remember, if you did like this story, Review, Favorite and Follow. It gives me motivation to keep going!