Arcadia's Family (Book THREE)

Deception

Phi:

"SJ!" I called, banging on her door. "Sarah Jane, 5 seconds or we take you as you are!"

There was a rustle, a thud, and then a giggle before both she and Sherlock came out, one wearing a pair of black denim shorts and a red camisole, and Sherlock was wearing the same black trousers, a purple shirts and black suit jacket. "Sorry, ma, he decided he was going to hide my towel. Had to get it back."

"Yeah, I'll bet." Cadia laughed, coming up behind me. "We do have more towels, you know."

I turned to looked at my son, just seeing SJ flip him the bird. "Sarah Jane, not in the TARDIS,  you know she hates swearing. Why are you so happy all of a sudden, you've been a miserable bugger for a while. And where have you been, we can normally hear the Cure blasting from the workshop."

Cadia blushed a little. "Oh, um, well, headphones. I used headphones, it was a little awkward, but you were all asleep." OK, there was something going on here, like his and his da's trip to the trampoline worlds. What weren't they telling me? "Right, we going then? I hope it somewhere warm, because SJ seems to be wearing a hand towel." 

His little sister swatted at him, but then jumped on Sherlocks back as we walked into the console room, where her da was waiting. "SJ, down, you'll fall."

"Nah, I'm nearly the same height as him, not that far to fall, daddy." But she did jumped down again, hugging her da. "Missed you, so, what have you gathered us all here to do, and don't you dare say we're having a family meeting, because I will throw your guitar out the TARDIS without touching it."

"SJ, you touch that guitar and you won't live to go back to London." I agreed, I loved him playing that guitar, it sent me off to sleep at night. Sleep was hard enough now. "We, are going on a family trip, as we haven't been doing nearly enough together. SJ, pick a colour."

"Red."

Really? "No surprise there. Arcadia, pick a number!"

My son thought for a moment. "12."

Perfect number. "OK, now Sherlock, as the token member, you can choose the animal."

"Animal? What does an animal have to do with any of this?" He asked. "Because I don't see the point."

The Doctor sighed a little. "You forfeit this right, and I turn to my lovely wife. Animal, Phi."

"Cat."

"Again, no surprise. We are going to the jungle world in the 12th Red cluster. Indigenous species being the lovely cat people who will one day open a hospital." He smiled, wrapping an arm around my waist. "Sherlock, it's a game we play. Someone picks something, and we go with it, and then the TARDIS makes sense of it all. It's like a round robin for the sat-nav." 

The console started moving, and I quickly grabbed hold of the edge to stop myself falling over. My head... "Well, if SJ likes it, next time I'll try harder." He smiled, wrapping his arms around her, kissing her next softly. "Anything to make it so you don't want to murder me."

"No promises that'll ever happen." He commented, flipping the handbrake when we landed. "You're my daughters boyfriend, I'm supposed to hate you."

At which point my son rolled his eyes and walked through the TARDIS doors onto the planets surface. "Guys, wrong planet."

Why didn't that surprise me? "Where are we, Dove?"

"It smells like Benidorm." Perfect. "And there are a lot of girls on the beach, in bikinis."

So then SJ decided to walk out the TARDIS, looking dressed for this with her tiny shorts and thin shirt, and it looked like she was already wearing a halter necked bikini under it. "Sweet, way better than a humid jungle. So, babe, still think I can't fly the TARDIS without da realising?"