Chapter 6 - Long Live The Ponds

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THE DOCTOR

Falkirk Orphanage, 1992

“Why here?  Why now?” I ask.

“Why not?” she replies.

“It’s your old orphanage, Olivia.  You tell me.”

“I thought… I don’t know; I thought if we went far back enough we might find something about this.” She says, tugging on the chain of her locket.

“You want to know where it comes from?”

“I want to know where I come from.  I’ve shown this to several different professionals but no one recognises the language.”

“Is this the day you were brought in?”

“No, Doctor, it’s 1992.  I’ll be eight or nine about now.”

“Well, that’s not nearly far enough back.  You must have given me this date for a reason.”

“Yes, I do.”

“Care to expand on that?”

“Because I think my parents came to visit me today.”

Olivia raises an eyebrow at my incredulous glare.  Leaving the TARDIS behind she passes under the metal arch at the entrance to the orphanage grounds, the old gate resting on its side beside the arch.  Hopscotch squares and other games are painted on the stone ground by a couple of swingsets and a seesaw.

“No, wait, Olivia.  This is not a good idea.  We should go back.” I say as she ignores the open front door and leads me to another entrance round the side away from the children’s play area.

“Why?”

“What if you’re wrong?  I can’t bear to see you be disappointed.”

She frowns, “You’re lying, Doctor.  Why don’t you want me to go see if it’s them or not?”

“Because…”

“Yes?” she hisses.

“Because your parents dumped you.  Left you on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere.  A baby, a defenceless child.  They didn’t care about you then, why should they care enough to return for you a few years later?”

“You’re just saying that,” she said, scowling, “saying horrible things to distract me.  To stop me from going in.”

“Yes.”

Her mouth twists unpleasantly and her eyes shine with tears momentarily, “I really want to hit you right now, you know.  But I won’t.  Don’t think I haven’t taken all this into consideration, Doctor.  I know I got left behind, but I chose to leave them behind too.  I just want to know more about this.” She said, pulling on her chain again.

“Why have you never asked me to look at it?”

“You already got to look at it in Isis.” She said, covering the locket so I couldn’t read the scripture on it.  “If you know something, you’d tell me, right?”

“Of course.”

“Lying again, Doctor.”

She stormed ahead towards the other door, tucking her locket under her shirt collar.  After that I knew she wouldn’t let me get a look at it for a long time.  Inside the door there’s a small corridor, people are bustling back and forth.

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