The Orphan in the TARDIS

Chapter Nine

    Sophie woke up the morning of her eighteenth birthday, extremely excited. For one thing, she was finally old enough to leave the care home. And for another, the next leg of her life was about to begin.

    She climbed from her bunk bed, and went to hang out with the girls and Deborah. All through the day, she kept an eye out for her Time Lord friend, who, so far, hadn't missed a single birthday. She spends the day with her friend, Morgan, packing her stuff up in her duffle bag. The girls had decided to move in together when they were both old enough. So, as they travel to their new apartment, she expects to see a blue police box somewhere in the bustling streets of London.

    It's only as Sophie lays down to sleep that night, she realizes that her best friend, the Doctor, missed her birthday for the first time in twelve years. It's also the first time in a long, long time that the woman cries herself to sleep.

    The next morning she wakes to find a face hovering mere centimeters above hers. She jumps, their heads smacking against each other. Once Sophie is able to orient herself, she sees the Doctor standing there. A birthday cake hat on his swooped hair, and, instead of the normal red or blue bowtie and braces, they're patterned with birthday cakes themselves.

    "Surprise!" he cheers, his hands flailing wildly over his head, "You've made it, the big ole one-eight! Eighteen, an adult! Congratulations!"

    "Doctor," Sophie says, attempting to cut the madman's spiel off, but her voice is drowned out by his ramblings.

     "Well," he says, finally quietening down, "aren't you excited to see me, Lyn?"

    The woman sighs, "First, and, I don't know how many times I have to tell you that, my name is Sophie, Jaclyn is my middle name, not that that matters to you," with those words the Time Lord nods, silently agreeing with the words, "and two, my birthday was yesterday, so, you're late, you moron!"

    The smile slips from his face, and his arms drop to his side. "Ah, well, a day late isn't so bad, right?"

    "It is when you've never been late before, I thought you'd forgotten about me, or just didn't care anymore."

    The Doctor approaches her, sitting on the edge of the bed, pulling her into his arms, "Hey, hey, how could I ever forget about my best friend?  And that you think I could ever stop caring about you, I just can't believe you."

    She smiles and pulls back from the Gallifreyan. "So, what's the plan?"

    "We can go get a cuppa, talk about your future!"

    "What are you, my father?" she asks him, jokingly. Sophie gets up, bustling around the room, getting ready. She turns around to look at the Doctor, "Are you gonna sit there while I change out of my pyjamas, like a creep, or are you gonna wait outside?"

    A bright pink tinge clouds the Gallifreyans cheeks as he quickly leaves the room.

    About ten minutes later, Sophie hopped out of the room, pulling her shoes on, while making her way over to the Doctor.

    "For Rassilon's sake, what are you doing?"

    "Putting on my shoes!" The woman says, almost falling over, placing a stabilizing hand on the wall."

    He rolls his eyes, moving over, pulling one of her arms over his shoulder, "You're gonna hurt yourself. What is with you humans, always acting like you don't have the time to do small tasks."

    "Well, we can't all be semi-immortal time travellers," she says, finally getting her shoe tied.

    The two head out onto the streets of London. "So, what's a good tea shop around here?" The Time Lord asks her.

    "How should I know?"

    "You live here!"

    "Yeah, but only since yesterday, if I had to guess, you probably know this place better."

    The Time Lord shrugs a bit guiltily, nodding his assent. He grabs a hold of Sophie's hand, looking at her with a smile. He leads her to the TARDIS, "There's a lovely shop, but it doesn't open for a few years. He uses the TARDIS to transport them just a few years into the future. As they exit the ship, the Doctor grins at her again, clutching her hand.

    "No, no, aw, Doctor no!" Sophie whines.

    The smile merely grows wider as he leans in close to her ear, whispering "Run!" 

    "Doctor!" The woman shouts, "Why are we running, no one's chasing us!"

    The Gallifreyan with his hair flying in the breeze, replies, "Because it's fun!" Then, he whoops.

     "People are staring," she hisses.

     "People always seem to stare at me, I just ignore them."

     "Yeah, but you're an idiot, so."

    The Time Lord stops stock still, pressing a hand scandalously to his chest, "I'm greatly offended."

    "Oh, shut up," Sophie says, shoving him slightly.

    It doesn't take them a very long time to arrive at a small tea shop. The Doctor holds the door open, gesturing Sophie in before him.

    The Time Lord and the human find a seat at a table, after getting some tea, and Sophie some pie.

    "Doctor?" Sophie mumbles.

    "Hmm?" The Time Lord asks, his head propped up on his hand, elbow leaning on the table.

    "Why is pie so good?"

     "Well, lots of different species like pie, in fact, I'm pretty sure a type of pastry resembling pie exists on every populated planet, it seems to carry on throughout time. Pie seems to be loved and appreciated by every civilized species, but, personally, I don't find it appetizing." The Gallifreyan, shrugs, looking up from where he was doing some four dimensional physics on a napkin to find his best friend sitting there in shock, pie almost falling from her mouth. "Close your mouth, Sophie, we are not a codfish!"

    "Oh, shut up, Mary Poppins!"

    It's only moments after those words are uttered that an explosion shakes the building, and the surrounding street. The Doctor looks up at the explosion, meeting his friends eyes.

    "Doctor, what was that?" she worriedly asks.

    "It was an explosion," he says, but, when he sees the glare being directed at him, he adds, "But, I'm assuming that you meant what caused the explosion, in which case, not a clue."

    "I'm sorry what was that I couldn't hear you." The other guests and the employees of the tea shop were all heading out the doors to try to figure out what had caused the explosion. Probably not a great idea.

    "I said I didn't know what it was!"

    "Pardon?" the woman once again asks, leaning forward.

    "I don't know what's happening!" A smirk skirts across Sophie's face, turning into a full out grin. "You heard me the first two times didn't you?"

     Clearly trying to hold in laughter, she replies, "Maybe, but it's so rare for you to admit to not knowing something."

    "You are absolutely terrible, Lyn."

    "You flatter me, Doctor," she declares, grabbing his hand this time.

    "Are we running? I thought you didn't like to unless we were being chased."

    Sophie just smiles, breaking into a run in the direction of the explosion. A matching expression takes over the Gallifreyans face, as he's tugged along behind the woman.

Hello, sweeties,
    I don't currently have this whole story segment done, but, I'm getting there,I got the plot, and I'm ready to rock...(okay, I'll never say that again.) I hope you enjoy this mostly just fluff chapter. The action is coming.

theatregirlsmp