TRIGGER WARNING: ABUSE
Travelling alone with the Doctor has been most enjoyable for Cherry. So much so that she will probably be saddened when Amy and Rory's honeymoon inevitably comes to an end, and they both join the couple on their travels. She will, of course, be ecstatic to see them both after going so long without them, though she did see them briefly when the Doctor picked them up from the honeymoon planet and dropped them off on a Starliner where he got them the Honeymoon suite with the psychic paper. She misses them greatly, but the Doctor keeps her busy enough to take her mind off them completely, and she can still phone Amy whenever they need to chat.
She and the Doctor have grown quite domesticated during their time alone. Of course, they still go on wild adventures, and the Doctor likes to take her to the most extravagant places. They even went for a picnic on Asgard with River Song, whom Cherry grows increasingly fond of every time she meets her. It would be hard for her not to grow close to a woman who strongly reminds her of her best friend. However, when they are not taking down cybermen, saving planets from mutant plants, or picnicking on new and exciting planets, the Doctor and Cherry settle into a comfortable routine. They cook dinners together, and the Doctor shares his chef expertise. They read together. Cherry paints in the console room whilst the Doctor tends to the Tardis engine. Cherry even forces him to watch films with her some nights, but he tends to get quite restless and usually ends up reading during them. Then, they retire to bed, where they do everything but sleep for the first hour or so, and then Cherry falls into a deep slumber, trapping the Doctor in her bed. He's slept more in the brief time they've had alone together than he thinks he must have in his entire nine hundred years. Part of him wishes he had just told her he couldn't ever sleep, and then he wouldn't waste so many nights sleeping like some sort of ... well, human. But honestly, he doesn't really mind staying with her, especially considering the nightmares of horrifying stone statues, metal men and the Pandorica that plague her sleep so often now. At least this way, he can be there when she jerks awake, her eyes wide and her chest heaving with fright.
In fact, the pair are very contently enjoying one another's company when a light on the console begins to flash, emitting a loud beeping throughout the entire Tardis. Cherry frowns, peering at the Doctor over the top of her romance novel to see his reaction to the strange alarm-like sound. He jumps to his feet almost immediately, speeding to the console.
"What is that?" she asks, placing her book on the seat beside her.
"A distress signal," he answers as he rushes around, typing different things onto his keyboard, flipping different switches and levers, and pressing all sorts of buttons. The ship shakes around them as Cherry stands up and approaches the console. She grips onto the side of the control panel to steady herself. "From Amy and Rory. The starliner is crashing."
"What?" Cherry shouts, her eyes widening as she stares at him.
"Don't worry," the Doctor yells over the sounds of the Tardis in flight. "I've traced the signal. It will be easy to help them. Look!"
The Doctor pushes the scanner in front of her, and it plays a live view of what is happening outside of the Tardis. They're speeding alongside the starliner already, and the Doctor seems to be typing something, and then he focuses his attention on flying the Tardis again. "Call Amy," he orders, and Cherry obliges, shakily taking her phone out of her phone out of her pocket. She presses Amy's number quickly and sets the phone up on speakerphone.
"Doctor! We can't land!" Amy says before Cherry or the Doctor have a chance to say anything. "Do something?"
"Amelia Pond!" the Doctor greets her cheerfully despite the dire situation, and Cherry and Amy let out an identical frustrated groan, which only makes the Doctor chuckle. "What seems to be the problem?"
"Both engines failed, and the storm gate's critical," a woman speaks through the phone. "We can't land. We're trapped in the cloud belt. We made contact with the President. He said that he could not open a flight corridor. He spoke to the person who could, and they refused!"
"Right, leave it with me," the Doctor says. "Amy, Rory, hold on."
"Doctor, wait. What are you- "the Doctor hangs up Cherry's phone and places it in the pocket of his tweed jacket.
"What are we doing?" Cherry asks, still holding onto the console for support.
"I can't lock onto the ship, so we're going to land. Open up that flight corridor ourselves," the Doctor says, making quick work of landing the Tardis on the planet below.
"How?" Cherry speeds after him, and they run out of the doors of the police box to find themselves standing on a roof. "Where would we even start?"
"Well, this looks as good a place as any," the Doctor points to the huge domed centre of the building they have landed on, which seems to be blasting purple volts straight into the clouds themselves.
"It's freezing," Cherry shivers, rubbing her arms, which are only concealed by her terribly thin red cardigan.
"It's Christmas Eve," the Doctor says, listening to the music drifting up from the street below. Cherry doesn't dare look down at the town, knowing that the drop below will terrify her, and she doesn't have the time to worry about that when Amy and Rory and thousands of other passengers are stuck up in the sky with no hopes of a safe landing unless she and the Doctor do something. The Doctor's face lights up, and he rushes across the roof. "It's Christmas Eve, and there's a chimney!"
"Doctor!" Cherry screams as he lowers himself into the chimney, and he disappears. "Oh, my God!"
"Charlotte!" The Doctor's voice booms up from the bottom of the chimney, and Cherry breathes out deeply and places her hand on her heart when she hears he is still alive.
"Doctor, are you crazy?" Cherry snaps, her voice carrying down into the building.
"Yes! You'll have to jump down, too," he calls back, and Cherry laughs disbelievingly. "Don't worry, I'll catch you!"
"No way! I'll die!" Cherry protests.
"No, you won't! Do you trust me?" The Doctor shouts. "Just jump!"
"No," Cherry shakes her head, her hands, and knees both trembling as she looks down into the dark abyss of the chimney. "Doctor, I can't."
"Yes, you can. Charlotte Pond, you can do anything," the Doctor encourages her. "Do it for Amy!"
Cherry swears quite loudly, and she can picture the disgruntled look on the Doctor's face at her choice of words as she slowly climbs onto the edge of the chimney. She teeters on the edge for a moment, the toes of her boots hanging over the darkness of the fall below. "You'll catch me?"
"Always!"
Cherry's scream can be heard for miles as she flies down the chimney, her eyes squeezed shut, though she would not be able to see anything, anyway. She lands ungracefully in the Doctor's arms, groaning in pain as her body slams into his, and they topple to the floor. She lands on top of him, their chests pressed together as he laughs and squeezes her waist, and she keeps her eyes firmly shut, unable to open them out of fear.
"See, I told you," the Doctor says, letting go of her waist to wipe the soot off her sickly pale face. She finally forces her eyes open, and she's shaking as she lies on top of the Doctor, but she laughs a little, and she does the same, wiping away the soot from his cheekbones with trembling fingers. Someone clears their throat, and Cherry and the Doctor both look over to the source of the sound. There's a rather posh-looking old man, a shocked family who look far worse off than the elderly gentleman, and a handful of servants gathered around a strange-looking chamber, which is covered in ice. They both climb to their feet awkwardly, and Cherry stands with her legs crossed to hide the fact that her knees are still wobbling.
"Ah, yes... blimey," the Doctor scratches his neck sheepishly as Cherry brushes her hands over her cardigan and black skirt to get rid of the black ash. Thankfully, as the Doctor went down the chimney first, he seemed to have collected most of it on his own clothes, so she is not nearly as dirty as him. "Sorry. Christmas Eve on a rooftop. Saw a chimney, my whole brain just went, 'What the hell?'." The Doctor walks past the old man and the servants and makes a beeline for the poor family with a bright smile when he notices the younger children. "Don't worry, fat fella will be doing the rounds later. We're just scoping out the general... chimneyness. Yes. Nice size, good traction. Big tick."
The Doctor walks away from the family again, leaning his hand on the top of the fireplace as he pretends to inspect it, and then he gasps in pain and shakes his hand out as the surface he placed it against appears to still be hot.
"Fat fella?" the youngest child, a little boy, asks with a confused look plastered over his face. The smile Cherry had bore over the Doctor's quirky behaviour quickly falters because surely this little boy must know who Father Christmas is.
"Father Christmas," the Doctor nods. "Santa Claus... or, as I've always known him, Jeff."
"There's no such person as Father Christmas," the boy denies, and the Doctor raises his eyebrows, rising quite quickly to the boy's challenge. He whips out an old photograph of him, Father Christmas himself, Albert Einstein, and a blonde woman, which makes Cherry laugh as he shows it around to everyone.
"Oh, yeah? Me and Father Christmas, Frank Sinatra's hunting lodge, 1952. See him at the back with the blonde? Albert Einstein. The three of us together... brrm! Watch out! Okay? Keep the faith. Stay off the naughty list."
The little boy nods his head excitedly, and Cherry's smile returns as the Doctor distracts himself with a strange-looking machine. It looks similar to an organ, but where the keys would be to play the instrument, there are all kinds of golden buttons and twisty handles surrounding a small screen. There are lights flashing all over the device, and the Doctor wiggles his fingers before he starts to play with different controls.
"Ooo. Now, what's this then? I love this. A big flashy lighty thing. That's what brought us here. Big flashy lighty things have got me written all over them," the Doctor says and then pauses thoughtfully, spinning around on the office chair in front of the machine. "Not actually, but give me time and a crayon. Now, this big flashy lighty thing is connected to the spire in your dome, yeah? And it controls the sky. Well, technically, it controls the clouds, which technically aren't clouds at all. Well, they're clouds of tiny particles of ice. Ice clouds. Love that. Who's she?"
Cherry, who has been quite distracted trying to calm her heart after falling down from such a height, looks over at the icy chamber with furrowed eyebrows, and then her face falls when she realises that there is a strikingly beautiful blonde woman trapped inside it, frozen and sleeping, and she steps forward. She touches her hand to the small window in the chamber door, but she jumps away when the old man slams his cane against the side of the chamber, warning Cherry to leave it alone.
"Nobody important," the man grumbles, and he turns to Cherry wickedly. "Don't you touch it!"
"Nobody important? Blimey, that's amazing. Do you know, in nine hundred years of time and space, I've never met anyone who wasn't important before," the Doctor sends the old man a sharp look as he places himself between him and Cherry. The elder looks rather disgusted and taken aback by the pair of them. "Now, this console is the key to saving that ship, or I'll eat my hat... If I had a hat. I'll eat someone's hat. Not someone who's using their hat. I don't want to shock a nun or something..."
"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Cherry sighs at him. He is back at the lit-up machine, repeatedly flipping one switch.
"Sorry, rambling, because... because this isn't working!" the Doctor shouts, growing irate.
"The controls are isomorphic - one-to-one-," the old man informs the Doctor as he slowly makes his way over to the Time Lord. "They respond only to me."
"Oh, you fibber! Isomorphic? There's no such thing," the Doctor says, and the man leans over to switch the device off and on again. It responds immediately to the old man and the Doctor's confidence wavers. He tries repeatedly to turn it on and off, but it does not listen to him, and he grumbles before scanning the machine with the sonic screwdriver. He turns to Cherry and the family as though nothing has happened. "These controls are isomorphic."
"Idiot," Cherry sighs, shaking her head.
"The skies of this entire world are mine. My family tamed them, and now I own them," the old man says smugly and Cherry's brows furrow.
"You own the sky? What does that mean?" she presses.
"It means I'm Kazran Sardick. How can you possibly not know who I am?" the old man demands vainly.
"Well, we're just easily bored, I suppose," the Doctor shrugs, unimpressed by Kazran. He claps his hands together and finally walks away from the controls. "So, I need your help, then."
"Make an appointment," Kazran says disinterestedly.
"There are four thousand and three people in a spaceship trapped in your cloud belt. Without your help, they're going to die," the Doctor explains, and Kazran nods with a smile.
"Yes," he confirms that he is well aware of the situation at hand.
"You don't have to let that happen," the Doctor tells him.
"I know, but I'm going to," he waves his hands at his servants, and they quickly get the message. They seize Cherry and the Doctor by their arms, and Cherry rolls her eyes. "Bye-bye. Bored now."
"You know, grabbing people is just rude," she huffs, ripping free from their hold at the same time as the Doctor while Kazran settles in a tall leather armchair by the fireplace. The Doctor storms over to him with a dangerous look in his eye which sends a shiver down Cherry's spine.
"Ooo, look at you, looking all tough now," Kazran says, not intimidated in the slightest.
"There are four thousand and three people I won't allow to die tonight. Do you know where that puts you?" the Doctor says bitterly.
"Where?" Kazran queries, eyebrows raised in amusement.
"Four thousand and four."
"Was that a sort of threat-y thing?"
"Whatever happens tonight, remember you brought it on yourself," the Doctor warns Kazran, and the man laughs and then waves his hand dismissively.
"Yeah, yeah, right. Get him out of here. And next time, try and find me some funny poor people," Kazran demands. Cherry pulls a face at the man's vile words, and the servants start to usher out the poor family. One of them tries to take hold of Cherry, but she steps away from them and makes her own way to the door as they drag the Doctor behind her. The little boy breaks free from the servants and rushes forward with a distraught look on his face. He picks up a lump of coal and chucks it at Kazran, hitting the old man right on the head. Cherry covers her mouth in shock, and the servants seem unsure of what to do other than hold everyone back as Kazran yells out in pain and then sprints towards the little boy in a fit of rage. Kazran lifts his arm up, intending to backhand the little boy straight across the face, and Cherry cries out as the Doctor and his father protest loudly.
Cherry steps between Kazran and the little boy immediately, her arms held out by her sides protectively as she shields him from the old man with her body, but Kazran has already hesitated. He saw the fear in the boy's eyes, and he couldn't go through with it. His hand shakes as he lowers it, and Cherry sees the regret in his eyes before he roars at his servants. "Get them out of here! Get that foul-smelling family out of here! Out!"
They drag the family away, leaving Cherry and the Doctor alone with the man.
"What? What do you want?" he rounds on them angrily.
"A simple life... but you didn't hit the boy," the Doctor answers.
"Well, I will next time!" the man raises his voice as a warning to the boy, hoping he will hear it in the corridor.
"You see, you won't. Now why? What am I missing?" the Doctor slowly paces around the room.
"Get out! Get out of this house!"
"The chairs. Of course, the chairs! Stupid me, the chairs!" the Doctor says, referencing the armchairs, which are all pointing away from the same wall.
"The chairs?" Kazran frowns, unsure of what the Doctor means.
"There's a portrait on the wall behind me. Looks like you, but it's too old, so it's your father. All the chairs are angled away from it. Daddy's been dead for twenty years, but you still can't get comfortable where he can see you," the Doctor points to a painting which looks remarkably similar to Kazran with a few subtle differences and much older, as the Doctor said. It slowly dawns on Cherry what the Doctor is getting at as she stares into the empty eyes of the bleak painting, and she looks at the man with pity. He's still vile, of course, but Cherry suspects it is not as simple as him being a spoilt rich man with a cushioned life. Something has made him this cruel. Someone. "There's a Christmas tree in the painting, but none in this house, on Christmas Eve. You're scared of him, and you're scared of being like him and good for you. You're not like him, not really. Do you know why?"
"Why?" Kazran whispers.
"Because you didn't hit the boy," Cherry finishes softly for the Doctor because she knows exactly what he means for once, and the Time Lord seems rather impressed with her.
"Merry Christmas, Mister Sardick," the Doctor says, wrapping his arm around Cherry's shoulder and escorting her towards the doors of the room.
"I despise Christmas," Kazran grumbles.
"You shouldn't. It's very you," the Doctor replies simply.
"It's what? What do you mean?"
"Halfway out of the dark," the Doctor tells him with a smile as they leave, and the servants return after kicking out the family. The Doctor rings Amy from Cherry's phone as they make their way out of the grand house and onto the freezing street.
"Have you got a plan yet?" Amy asks them.
"Yes, I do," the Doctor says, which makes Cherry raise her eyebrows because she was unaware of any plan.
"Are you lying?" Amy presses.
"Yes, I am," the Doctor admits.
"Don't treat me like an idiot," Amy snaps and Cherry sighs.
"Amy always knows when people are lying," Cherry tells the Doctor for future instances.
"Was he lying?" Rory asks in the distance.
"No, no," Amy says and Cherry snorts out a laugh at this.
"The good news is, I've tracked the machine that unlocks the cloud belt. I could use it to clear you a flight corridor and you could land easily," the Doctor explains briefly to the redhead.
"Oh, hey! That's great news!" Amy celebrates a little prematurely and Cherry shakes her head.
"Except we can't use it and the man who can is a right piece of work," Cherry says quickly, ending her cousin's jubilations.
"Yeah, he hates us," the Doctor mutters.
"Were you being extra charming and clever?" Amy asks pointedly.
"Yes! How did you know?" The Doctor asks cluelessly and Amy groans.
"Lucky guess. Cherry, I thought you were with him. You're supposed to do damage control," Amy whines.
"Yeah, I had just jumped down a chimney to try to save you," Cherry points out. "I was a little bit disoriented!"
"Sir! Ma'am!" The father from the family approaches them.
"Hang on," the Doctor says to Amy and looks over at the man expectantly.
"I've never seen anybody stand up to Mr Sardick like that. Bless you, sir. And thank you for stepping in front of my little boy," the father shakes both of their hands. "And merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas! Lovely. Sorry, a bit busy," the Doctor motions to the phone in his hands and the father nods in understanding.
"You'd better get inside. The fog's thick tonight, and there's a fish warning," the man tells them, and they both look at him with furrowed eyebrows.
"Yes... sorry, fish?"
"Yeah, you know what they're like when they get a bit hungry," the man jokes lightly.
"Yeah, fish. I know fish," the Doctor says. "Fish?"
"It's all Mister Sardick's fault, I reckon. He always lets a few fish through the cloud layer when he's in a bad mood. Thank you! Bless you both!" The father hurries off after that, joining the rest of his family.
"Fish?" The Doctor wonders aloud.
"Doctor! The captain says we've got less than an hour," Amy speaks up again, but the Doctor seems engrossed in his thoughts, so Cherry takes her phone off of him.
"Amy, don't worry. We'll figure it out," she assures her little cousin. She doesn't know exactly what they'll do, but she doesn't care. They'll come up with something.
"What should we be doing?" Amy asks her.
"Fish..." the Doctor says, staring up at a streetlight with a shoal of tiny fish swimming around it.
"Wow," Cherry breathes out when she notices them too, because it's quite astounding to see them floating in the air.
"Fish that can swim in fog," the Doctor observes, holding his hand up and a few of the tiny creatures propel towards him, nibbling lightly on his fingers. "I love new planets."
"Doctor, please don't get distracted," Amy begs.
"Now, why would anybody be frightened of you tiny little fellows? Look at you! Sweet little fishy-wishies," the Doctor coos, bringing a smile to Cherry's lips as she watches his gentle interaction with the floating fish. "Mind you, fish in the fog, so the cloud cover... Ooo, careful up there."
"Oh great! Thanks, Doctor, because there was a real danger we were all going to nod off," Amy scoffs sarcastically. "We've got less than an hour!"
"I know," the Doctor says as the clock strikes eleven pm. There's a scratching sound that comes from the speakers on the lampposts and then a soft Christmas carol starts to play.
"Doctor? How are you getting us off here?"
"Oh, just give me a minute," he says and then smacks himself on the forehead. "Can't use the Tardis because it can't lock on. So, that ship needs to land. But it can't land unless a very bad man decides to turn nice just in time for Christmas."
"Doctor, could we not just force him?" Cherry suggests, and the Doctor shakes his head.
"No, the controls are isomorphic. He has to want to use them," the Doctor explains quickly.
"I can't hear you guys! What is that? Is that singing?" Amy asks, referring to the carol which is still playing through the streets.
"A Christmas carol," the Doctor answers Amy's question.
"A what?"
"A Christmas carol!" The Doctor says louder.
"A what?"
"A CHRISTMAS CAROL!" He shouts, and then his eyes light up and he shares a knowing look with Cherry, who slowly figures out that he isn't thinking about the song, but rather A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
"Will that work?" Cherry asks the Doctor.
"Kazran Sardick," the Doctor smiles, looking up at the domed building. "Merry Christmas, Kazran Sardick."
The Doctor hangs up the phone abruptly and Cherry rolls her eyes and sends Amy a text that reads 'He's come up with a plan, we'll sort it. Be careful x.' She follows him back into Kazran Sardick's home, breaking in with the sonic screwdriver and the Doctor finds his way to an old store cupboard where he finds an incredibly old and dusty video camera sitting neglected on a shelf.
"Bingo," he says, and he takes hold of Cherry's hand, and they make their way up to the roof again. Cherry eyes the chimney wearily, her heart racing at the memory of falling down it and she slams the doors shut behind her. "This is old... I'll have to recover the footage."
"What's this for?" Cherry asks, watching as the Doctor plugs the camera into the console of the Tardis.
"The Ghost of Christmas Past," he says with a gleam in his eyes. He does something technical with the Tardis and a paper clip and then he turns to Cherry. "Could you deliver... these to Kazran Sardick's servants?"
"Uh... sure... what are they?" Cherry looks down at the envelopes in her hands as the Doctor pilots the Tardis.
"Winning lottery tickets," he tells her. "I don't imagine Mr. Sardick is the best employer, do you?"
Cherry shakes her head as the Doctor lands the Tardis just outside the servant's hall of Kazran's house. Cherry leaves the Doctor to sort out the camera and knocks shyly on the servant's door. She decides it's best to leave the envelopes on the ground and not interact with the servants, who have already seen her face, and she rushes back into the Tardis. The Doctor thanks her and then parks the Tardis outside the room with the fireplace where Kazran is sleeping in his chair.
"What are we doing?" Cherry asks in a hushed whisper as they creep around the room and the Doctor sets up a drive he pulled from the video camera into a projector, and he plays the footage on the wall opposite Kazran.
There's a little boy projected on the wall, beaming into the camera with childlike wonder. He's the picture of innocence, and Cherry could not imagine him hurting anybody ever.
"Hello, my name is Kazran Sardick. I'm twelve and a half, and this is my bedroom," he says, looking back with a mischievous smile which leads Cherry to believe that he is not supposed to be filming whatever it is he is doing.
"Top secret special project," the older Kazran mumbles in his sleep.
"This is my top-secret special project," the boy carries on, moving closer to the camera and whispering now and a smile plays on Cherry's lips. It's strange, seeing the miserable old man as a child, he seems so different, and not just in looks. "For my eyes only. Merry Christmas!"
"KAZRAN!" A deep, furious yell comes from outside the bedroom door, and the little boy's face falls in terror. All the joy drains from his eyes, and he moves away from the camera. Kazran jolts awake, feeling the same fear from the man's voice he did when he was twelve and a half. "KAZRAN! What are you doing? WHAT ARE YOU DOING? I've warned you before about this, you stupid, ignorant, ridiculous child!"
Cherry's expression distorts with disgust as Kazran's father throws the bedroom door open violently and marches in, hurling insults at the poor boy. She couldn't dream of calling any child those things ever. No wonder Kazran grew to be so vile. She suspects from both the young boy's terror, and the fear even in older Karzan's eyes as he watched the footage that this is just the beginning of the abuse he endured from his father.
"I was just going to make a film of the fish," Little Kazran says innocently.
"The fish are dangerous!" His father warns him.
"I just want to see them!"
"Don't be stupid," his father dismisses him. "You're far too young."
"Everyone at school's seen the fish!" Kazran pleads his case to the bitter man.
"That's enough. You'll be singing to them next! Like gypsies!"
"The singing works! I've seen it. The fish like the singing!"
"What does it matter what fish like?" His father growls.
"People say we don't have to be afraid of the fish. They're not really interested in us," Kazran defends the creatures.
"You don't listen to people! You listen to ME!" his father roars. He raises his hand in the same manner Kazran did to the little boy earlier that night, but unfortunately for Kazran, his father isn't kind enough to hesitate, and nobody is there to stop him. His father delivers a sharp, hard backhand to the twelve-and-a-half-year-old's face. Cherry turns her head away, tears stinging in her eyes and the Doctor's hand brushes over her back as he walks past her and reveals himself to the older Kazran Sardick. The old man has his fingers up to his cheek, shaking with teary eyes as he watches the old video and the Doctor places his hand on his shoulder. Kazran jumps away from him, flinching as the Doctor tries to calm him down.
"What have you done? What is this?" Kazran accuses the Doctor harshly.
"Found it on an old drive. Sorry about the picture quality. Had to recover the data using quantum enfolding and a paperclip," the Doctor says, settling into Kazran's chair and unfolding the newspaper on the table. Kazran makes a move to call his servants. "Oh, I wouldn't bother calling your servants. They quit. Apparently, they won the lottery at exactly the same time, which is a bit lucky when you think about it."
"There isn't a lottery," Kazran says, and the Doctor looks rather smug.
"Yeah, as I say, lucky."
"Who are you?" Kazran demands, eyes flickering furiously between Cherry and the Doctor.
"Tonight, we're Ghosts of Christmas Past," the Doctor answers. Kazran doesn't respond, distracted once again by the video which is still playing. The younger Kazran is sobbing into his arms in front of the camera as his father storms out of the room, slamming the bedroom door as he does.
"Did you ever get to see a fish, back then, when you were a kid?" the Doctor asks.
"What does that matter to you?" Kazran snaps, and Cherry steps forward.
"It doesn't matter to us. But it mattered to you," she says firmly, nodding at the distraught boy.
"I cried all night, and I learned life's most invaluable lesson," Kazran admits.
"Ah," the Doctor says, walking past him. "Which is?"
"Nobody comes," Kazran tells him bitterly. "Get out! Get out of my house!"
The Doctor steps back as the man screams at him, and he beckons for Cherry to follow him towards the doors that the Tardis is behind. She rushes over to him, avoiding Kazran as she does. "Okay. Okay, but we'll be back. Way back. Way, way back."
"What are we doing?" Cherry asks as they enter the Tardis and the Doctor speeds around the console giddily.
"Saving a little boy," the Doctor answers simply as he lands the Tardis. He takes what he calls a quick detour to deliver yet another winning lottery ticket to Mrs Mantovani, Kazran's babysitter, and then they land outside the round bay window of Kazran Sardick's bedroom. Cherry can see him through the window, just twelve years old and crying at his desk. The Doctor pushes open the window and looks straight at the camera. "See? Back!"
"Who are you two?" Kazran asks fearfully as they climb through the window.
"Hi, I'm the Doctor, this is Charlotte," the Doctor points to her, and she rolls her eyes.
"Just call me Cherry," she introduces herself kindly to the young boy.
"We're your new babysitters," the Doctor claps his hands together cheekily.
"Where's Mrs Mantovani?" Kazran asks, wiping away his tears, and the Doctor smiles before he starts jumping on Kazran's bed.
"Oh, you'll never guess. Clever old Mrs Manters. She only went and won the lottery!"
"There isn't any lottery," Kazran says, just as the older version of him had.
"I know. What a woman," the Doctor exclaims.
"If you're my babysitters, why are you climbing in the window?"
"Because if we were climbing out of the window, we'd be going in the wrong direction," the Doctor says. "Pay attention."
"But Mrs Mantovani's always my babysitter."
"Oh, but we're way more fun than she is! Aren't we, Doctor?" Cherry ruffles the young boy's hair kindly. He flinches away at first but quickly relaxes when he realises she doesn't intend to hurt him. "We could stay up all night, watch funny movies and eat sweets for dinner."
"Yes, times change," the Doctor says, putting his face right up to the camera. "Wouldn't you say? You see... Christmas Past."
"Who are you talking to?" Kazran wonders.
"You," the Doctor tells him. "Now, your past is going to change. That means your memories will too. Bit scary, but you'll get the hang of it."
"I don't understand," Kazran furrows his eyebrows.
"I'll bet you don't," the Doctor is beaming as he turns to the little boy. "I wish I could see your face."
The Doctor jumps onto the bed again, lying back on the mattress and Cherry sits on the edge of it, smiling over at Kazran.
"Right then, your bedroom. Great. Let's see. You're twelve years old, so we'll stay away from under the bed. Cupboard! Big Cupboard! I love a cupboard!" the Doctor exclaims, speeding over to the wardrobe built into the wall. "Do you know there's a thing called a face spider? It's just like a tiny baby's head with spider legs, and it's specifically evolved to scuttle up the back of bedroom cupboards, which..." the Doctor takes in the horrified looks of his girlfriend and Kazran and sheepishly runs his hands through his hair. "Yeah... I probably shouldn't have mentioned it. Right, so, what are we going to do? Eat crisps and talk about girls? I've never actually done that, but I bet it's easy. Girls? Yeah?"
"Are you really babysitters?" Kazran eyes them both suspiciously.
"I think you'll find I'm universally recognised as a mature and responsible adult," the Doctor lies, and Cherry cannot keep herself from laughing out in disbelief at his fibbing. He holds out the psychic paper to Kazran, who looks between the wallet and the Doctor with a frown.
"It's just a lot of wavy lines," Kazran tells the Doctor, causing Cherry to snort out yet another laugh.
"Idiot," she sighs at him, and he sends her an offended look as he shoves the psychic paper back into his pocket.
"Yeah, it's shorted out. Finally, a lie too big. Okay, no, not really a babysitter, but it's Christmas Eve. You don't want a real one. You want us!" the Doctor assures Kazran that they will be great babysitters.
"Why? What's so special about you two?" the boy is unconvinced.
"Have you ever seen Mary Poppins?" the Doctor asks him, and he shakes his head. "Good, because that comparison would've been rubbish. Fish in the fog. Fish in the clouds. How do people ever get bored? How did boredom even get invented?"
"My dad's invented a machine to control the cloud belt. Tame the sky, he says. The fish'll be able to come down, but only when we let them. We can charge whatever we like," Kazran explains.
"Yeah, I've seen your dad's machine," the Doctor mutters.
"What? You can't have?"
"Tame the sky. Human beings," the Doctor rolls his eyes, ignoring the offended look on Cherry's face. "You always manage to find the boring alternative, don't you?"
"Hey!" Cherry huffs, crossing her arms over her chest. "You can't be rude about humans all the time anymore. You're dating one!"
"I know, who would've thought," he grins cheekily and then looks over at Kazran. "You want to see one? A fish. We can do that. We can see a fish."
"Aren't you going to tell me it's dangerous?"
"Dangerous? Come on, we're boys," the Doctor pats him on the head as he walks past him. "And you know what boys say in the face of danger."
"What?"
"Mummy," the Doctor says, and then he collects a ball of string and ties the end around the sonic screwdriver. He ties it to a hook in the ceiling and then pushes Kazran and Cherry into the cupboard before him. He shuts the door behind them, trapping the string in the middle of the doors, and then he ties the other end around his finger.
"What are you doing?" Cherry asks him, hearing the screwdriver periodically buzzing on the other side of the wooden doors.
"Catching a fish," the Doctor says, and Kazran brightens. The Doctor sets up the camera in the wardrobe so the older Kazran can still watch.
They sit on the wooden floor in silence, trying to listen out for any movement in the bedroom, but for a while, all they hear is the whirring of the sonic.
"Are there any face spiders in here?" Kazran finally breaks the silence, and Cherry's skin starts to crawl as she remembers the spiders the Doctor had told them about earlier.
"Nah, not at this time of night. They'll be sleeping in your mattress," the Doctor reassures them, though it doesn't do much to ease either of their nerves.
"Kazran," Cherry says softly, trying to change the subject from the horrifying creatures. "Why do you want to see the fish so badly?"
"Because they're scary," he says.
"Good answer," the Doctor praises him.
"What kind of tie is that?" Kazran eyes the Doctor's bow tie, which is crooked, so Cherry quickly reaches over and fixes it.
"A cool one."
"Why is it cool?" Kazran's face scrunches up.
"Why are you really interested in fish?" The Doctor counters and Kazran sighs.
"My school. During the last fog belt, the nets broke and there was an attack. Loads of them. A whole shoal. No one was hurt, but it was the most fish ever seen below the mountains."
"That sounds scary," Cherry says. "Were you scared?"
"I wasn't there," Kazran replies with a frown. "I was off sick."
"Oo, lucky you," the Doctor says, but Kazran hides his face in his arms. "Not lucky."
"It's all anyone ever talks about now. The day the fish came," Kazran says sadly. "Everyone's got a story."
"But you don't? I see."
"Why are you recording this?" Kazran says.
"Do you pay attention in school, Kazran?"
"Sorry, what?" Kazran is confused by the change of subject.
"Because you're not paying attention now," the Doctor says and both Kazran and Cherry notice that something is tugging on the string around the Doctor's finger.
"Doctor, are you sure this is safe?" Cherry stops him, her fingers closing over his sleeve when he goes to open the door.
"Trust me," he says to her, but Kazran looks quite frightened.
"Oi, eyes on the tie. Look at me. I wear it and I don't care. Trust me," the Doctor points to his bow tie and Kazran cracks a smile and nods.
"Yes."
"That's why it's cool," the Doctor answers Kazran's earlier questions. "Kazran, stay here. Charlotte, look after him."
"I will," Cherry says as the Doctor slips out of the wardrobe, leaving her sitting on the floor with Kazran. He looks a little awkward being left alone with her, but she leans close to him and says in a whisper. "He's not cool. Don't let him fool you."
Kazran giggles, and the Doctor hears this from outside of the wardrobe.
"What are you giggling about?" He calls to the pair. Cherry and Kazran share a look, and she holds her finger to her lips, asking him to keep it a secret, and he grins.
"Nothing!" He lies to the Doctor and Cherry squeezes his shoulder.
"Hello, fishy. Let's see. Interesting..." they hear the Doctor say. "Crystalline fog, eh? Maybe carrying a tiny electrical charge. Is that how you fly, little fishy?"
"What is it? What kind?" Kazran asks excitedly.
"Just stay there a moment."
"Is it big?"
"Nah, just a little one. So, little fellow, what do you eat?"
"How little? Can I come out?"
"Um... no, no. Maybe just wait there for a moment," the Doctor says. Cherry catches his change of tone and pitch almost immediately. She knows that voice. It's the voice he uses when he's pretending everything is okay, but really everything has gone disastrously wrong. It's a voice she hears quite frequently on their travels.
"Doctor, what's wrong?" she raises her voice, worried for him.
"What colour is it?" Kazran continues to ask about the fish, not realising something is up.
"Big. Big colour," the Doctor says, and then he throws the cupboard doors open and takes cover in there with him. Cherry catches a glimpse of the fish he is fleeing from just as he slams the doors closed once more and her eyes go wide. It's not a fish at all. It's a shark. A great white shark.
"Doctor," Cherry hisses. "What have you done?"
"What's happening?" Kazran demands, having not seen the shark.
"Well, concentrating on the plusses... you've definitely got a story of your own now," the Doctor says as the shark rams into the doors, sending tremors through the walls. Cherry quickly pushes Kazran to the back of the wardrobe and places herself in front of him to try to protect him from the creature. "Also, I got a good look at the fish, and I think I understand how the fog works, which is going to help me land a spaceship in the future and save a lot of lives. And I bet I get some very interesting readings off my sonic screwdriver when I get it back from the shark in your bedroom."
"There's a shark in my bedroom?"
"It has the sonic screwdriver?"
"Oh fine, focus on those parts," the Doctor says, exasperated by Cherry and Kazran despite him being the one who has lured a shark here that will potentially kill them all.
"Has it gone? What's it doing?" Kazran notices that the shark is no longer slamming into the door and the Doctor pauses.
"What do you call it if you don't have any feet, and you're taking a run-up?" The Doctor asks Cherry and Kazran. Cherry makes sure Kazran is still as close to the far wall as he can get.
"Doctor! Get back now!" Cherry yells at him and he sprints to them on the other side of the wardrobe. The shark breaks through the doors with ease, wedging itself in the door frame and the three of them are blasted back from the force. They land on the ground and Cherry wraps her arms protectively around Kazran as he cries in fear. The shark bears three rows of deadly sharp teeth at them, but it cannot move any closer thanks to the narrow doorway.
"It's going to eat us! It's going to eat us! It's going to eat us!" Kazran whimpers, hiding his face in his hands. "Is it going to eat us?"
"Well, maybe we're going to eat it, but I don't like the odds! It's stuck, though! Let's see," the Doctor shouts over the growling shark trying to break free and eat them. "Tiny shark brain. If I had my screwdriver, I could probably send a pulse and stun it."
"Where is the screwdriver?" Cherry demands, looking at the Doctor with raised eyebrows.
"Well, concentrating on the plusses, within reach," the Doctor says, and Cherry hears a buzzing noise coming from the shark and notices the back of its throat is illuminated with green light. She groans, face-palming as she realises the shark has swallowed the sonic. "You know, there's a real chance the way it's wedged in the doorway is keeping its mouth open."
"There is?"
"Just agree with me because I've only got two turns and then it's Cherry's go," the Doctor says.
"Two goes?"
"Doctor, don't you dare!" Cherry shakes her head as he pulls up his sleeves. He ignores her, of course, and claps his hands together.
"Two arms! Right then! Okay," he says, gingerly approaching the dangerous shark with his arm outstretched. "Geronimo. Open wide!"
Cherry can't watch, wincing as he sticks his arm straight into the shark's mouth. Sometimes she thinks he wants to get seriously injured. She hopes his theory is right because she really isn't sure what to do when someone's arm gets eaten... maybe she should start asking Rory to teach her first aid, it would probably be useful given how often their lives seem to be in danger. Her heart is racing, and she hears the Doctor cry out and assumes the worst, but then the buzzing of the sonic grows clearer and Kazran cheers. Cherry carefully opens her eyes, glancing over to see the Doctor fully intact with half of the sonic screwdriver in his hand. He manages to stun the shark with the broken device and Cherry breathes a sigh of relief and then tackles the Doctor into a tight hug.
"Don't scare me like that! It could've eaten your arm," she says, hiding her face in his chest as he wraps his arms around her shoulders and gives them a squeeze.
"Hey, I'm okay," he assures her, kissing the top of her head before he lets her go and turns to the shark. "Now, let's get this outside before it wakes up."
They haul the shark out of the wardrobe and through the bedroom as quickly and as smoothly as they can, not wanting to move it around too much and wake it up. They pass it through the round window and then lay it down on the balcony on which the Tardis is parked. The Doctor stands on the edge of the balcony, fiddling with the broken part of his sonic screwdriver and Cherry stays close to Kazran, who is crouched over the stunned shark.
"What's the big fishy done to you? Swallowed half of you, that's what," the Doctor sighs, trying to wipe some of the shark's saliva off the metal. "Half a screwdriver. What use is that? Bad, big fishy."
"Doctor?" Kazran looks up at the eccentric man, worry plastered over his face. "I think she's dying."
"Half my screwdriver's still inside, yeah," the Doctor says, turning his attention to the shark. He crouches down beside it, his hand resting gently on its head. "But yeah, I think so. I doubt they can survive long outside the cloud belt. Just quick raiding trips on a foggy night."
"Can't we get it back up there?" Kazran asks, his voice wobbling and his eyes shining with tears. "We were just going to stun it. I didn't want to kill it!"
"Kazran, it's not your fault," Cherry soothes him, wrapping a comforting arm around him. She rubs his arm as the Doctor looks over at the boy.
"She was trying to eat you," he points out as if that makes the action more justified, but Kazran shrugs his shoulders.
"She was hungry," he says, excusing the animal entirely.
"I'm sorry, Kazran," the Doctor says sincerely. "I can't save her."
"Can't we take her back up," Cherry nods over to the Tardis and the Doctor shakes his head.
"I could take her back up there, but she'd never survive the trip," he explains to them. "We need fully functioning life-support."
"You mean like an icebox?" Kazran perks up. "Okay! Follow me!"
Kazran darts away from them, back in through his window, and he leaves the bedroom door open as he runs downstairs. The couple exchange exasperated looks and then break into a run after the twelve-year-old boy. The Doctor gets distracted by a rather grand Christmas tree in the main room of the house and Cherry has to drag him away from it and down the dark steps into the basement.
"What is this?" The basement is a small blue room, covered in ice and absolutely freezing. Cherry shivers, and she can see her breath as she starts to rub her arms to try to warm them up. There's a safe door, with a small window and Cherry peers into it after the Doctor does and sees rows of the chambers exactly alike to the one with the blonde lady frozen in it.
"The surplus population," Kazran says with a shrug. "That's what my dad calls it." Kazran and the Doctor both struggle to open the safe door, unable to move the wheel on it. "Oh, it's not turning. Why won't it turn?"
"It needs a code," Cherry notices the number pad on the side of the door, and the Doctor tries to unlock it with his screwdriver, but that's unsuccessful thanks to the other half of it still being digested by the shark upstairs. "Kazran, what's the number?"
"I don't know," the little boy says as the Doctor tries to type in different combinations.
"This place is full of alarms. It's not just the door. I need the number."
"I'm not allowed to know until I'm older," Kazran tells them. Realisation dawns on the Doctor's face and he instructs Cherry and Kazran to wait there for him to return before he leaves them in the basement. When he returns, rushing down the stairs, he shouts out the combination and Cherry punches it into the keypad. The red light on it turns green, and the Doctor spins the wheel and heaves open the heavy metal door. The temperature inside the safe is even cooler, and the Doctor hands over her red corduroy jacket with the faux fur lining on the inside. She thanks him and quickly slips it on over her thin cardigan.
"Ah, there's fish down here too!" The Doctor exclaims, spinning around on the spot to look at all the little fish swimming around in the fog that's settled in the bottom of the freezer.
"Yeah, but only tiny ones," Kazran says. "The house is built on a fog lake. That's how Dad freezes the people. They're all full, but we could borrow one. Yeah, this one."
It's quite unsettling in the freezer. Every single coffin-like chamber holds a frozen person. There's no discernible pattern or similarities between the people either. They're of all ages, genders, and races, frozen in the basement of the Sardick home, possibly forever. Kazran and the Doctor are standing in front of one chamber that Cherry recognises instantly. It's the girl who is frozen in Kazran's future. So, it seems they really must be frozen for a lifetime.
"Hello again," the Doctor says as he peers through the window.
"You know her?" Kazran looks puzzled and the Doctor nods.
"Yeah... important, is she?" The Doctor asks, eyebrows raised.
"She won't mind. She loves the fish," Kazran presses some buttons on the side and a recording pops up on the window of the girl.
"My name is Abigail Pettigrew, and I'm very grateful for Mister Sardick's kindness," she speaks. "My father..."
"She starts to talk about the fish in a minute," Kazran talks over the woman's voice.
"But I would not allow it. I could not have chosen this path were it not for the compassion and generosity of the great philanthropist and patron of the poor, Mister Elliot Sardick. But I'm also surrounded by the fish. The beautiful, iridescent, magical fish."
"This is really weird," Cherry finally says, looking uneasily around at the rows of chambers. "What are these people here for?"
"Yes, what's all this for?" The Doctor adds, looking at Kazran expectantly.
"My dad lends money," Kazran shares with them. "He always takes a family member as... he calls it... security."
"Hard man to love, your dad," the Doctor says in a deep voice. "But I suppose you know that."
The Doctor's pocket begins to buzz, and he retrieves the broken half of the screwdriver, looking down at it disappointedly.
"What's wrong?"
"Just my half a screwdriver trying to repair itself. It's signalling the other half," the Doctor says, and then the other half of the screwdriver beeps in response to the signal. Their faces fall, and they look down at the broken sonic as it buzzes out a signal and then listen carefully when the other half beeps.
"And the other half is in a hungry shark..." Cherry reminds the two boys.
"Yeah, sounds like she's woken up..." the Doctor says, turning slowly to the door. "Okay, so it's homing on the screwdriver."
Cherry screams as the shark appears out of nowhere, snapping straight at them and the Doctor grabs onto her and throws them both to the side. They crash painfully into the chambers next to them, knocking them to the floor as Kazran runs in the opposite direction, dashing frantically up and down the rows in the freezer.
"Bloody hell," Cherry whines, stretching out her aching body because it turns out that hitting heavy metal coffins with full force is quite painful. The Doctor wastes no time, pulling her to her feet and hiding deep into the freezer behind one of the chambers. He presses her up to the back of it, covering her mouth with one hand. He strokes a hand over her hair with the other and their eyes are locked onto one another's. Hers are rather more panicked than his, her brown eyes wide and filled with fright as the Doctor's screwdriver continues to buzz both in his pocket and in the shark, which is roaming through the fog in the room, trying to locate them or Kazran.
"In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan," someone is singing in the middle of the freezer. It sounds almost angelic, and the Doctor and Cherry's eyebrows furrow with confusion as the Doctor removes his hand from Cherry's mouth but holds his finger to his lips, warning her to keep quiet. He peeks out the side of the chamber they are shielded by, and he looks quite relieved. He steps out from behind the chamber and Cherry follows him, surprised to see Abigail Pettigrew out of her chamber and singing to the shark, calming it with the beautiful song.
"It's not really the singing, of course," the Doctor says as he, Cherry and Kazran watch the scene before them in awe.
"Yes, it is," Kazran argues adamantly.
"Nah," the Doctor denies.
"The fish love the singing. It's true!"
"Nah. The notes resonate in the ice crystals, causing a delta wave pattern in the fog," the Doctor elaborates and then hisses in pain. "Ow. A fish bit me!"
"Shut up then!" Kazran tells him as Cherry laughs.
"Of course. That's how the machine controls the cloud belt. The clouds are ice crystals," the Doctor realises. "If you vibrate the ice crystals at exactly the right frequency, you could align them into - ow! Why do they keep biting me?"
"Honey, if you keep talking over the singing, they're going to keep biting you," Cherry tells him, and his cheeks flush pink as he looks at her.
"Honey?"
"Look, the fish like the singing, okay? Now shut up!" Kazran says firmly.
"Okay," the Doctor huffs, sulking as per usual. "You three get the shark in the cryochamber. I'll get the Tardis."
He's gone before any of them can protest and Kazran hesitates for a moment as Cherry walks over to Abigail and wonders how they will be able to move the huge shark without the Doctor's help. She hopes that being frozen in ice for who knows how long doesn't take away any strength because Kazran is only young, and Cherry will never be able to move a whole shark on her own. Thankfully, Abigail is stronger than she looks and with a little help from Kazran, they just about manage lift the shark off the ground and place it in Abigail's cryochamber Kazran closes the lid on it, setting it to freeze to keep the shark alive as the Tardis materialises in the freezer a short distance away from them. Kazran and Abigail both rush over to it, looking into the ship with sparkling eyes when the Doctor leaves the doors open and crouches down next to the cryochamber. He knocks on the window of it, pleased when the shark does not move.
"It's bigger on the inside!" Kazran observes.
"Yeah, it's the colour. Really knocks back the walls," the Doctor remarks and Cherry bites down on her lip as she smiles at his ridiculous explanation. "Shark in a box, to go!"
They move the cryochamber into the Tardis, and Cherry makes sure the doors are shut whilst the Doctor takes off. Kazran and Abigail are rightfully amazed by the ship's interior, and they watch in amazement as the console bursts to life as loud as ever.
"This is amazing!"
"Nah, this is transport," the Doctor corrects the blonde woman. "I keep amazing out here!"
When the Doctor pulls open the doors, they are floating in the clouds, surrounded by shoals of fish all swimming through the ice crystals and they marvel at the sight of it.
"Who are you?" Abigail asks, looking over at the Doctor and Cherry with furrowed eyebrows.
"I'm the Doctor, this is my girlfriend, Charlotte," the Doctor points to the brunette, who rolls her eyes once more.
"It's Cherry," she reintroduces herself. She's not sure why the Doctor insists on introducing her as Charlotte to everyone, especially after he specifically told Craig only he calls her Charlotte, but she assumes he's not going to stop anytime soon.
"Come on then," the Doctor says, pulling Cherry over to the cryochamber and leaving Kazran and Abigail looking out into the cloud belt. "Let's get this shark out!"
The Doctor groans as he opens up the door and then the shark bursts out from the cryochamber and swims straight out of the doors, over their heads with no problems whatsoever.
"Hey! Look at her go!" Kazran cheers as the shark swims off quite happily through the sky. Cherry celebrates too, wrapping the Doctor up in a tight hug, which makes the Time Lord laugh and Kazran snaps a photograph of the couple as they embrace.
Cherry breaks away from the hug quickly, joining Kazran and Abigail by the doors to watch the fish and the Doctor takes a closer look at the cryochamber. "Abigail, this number. What does it mean?"
"The number pertains to me, sir," Abigail answers, walking over to the cryochamber. "Not the fish."
"Yeah, but how?"
"You are a doctor, you say? Are you one of mine?"
"Do you need a doctor?" The Doctor asks, but something beeps on the console, and he jumps to his feet, never waiting for the answer as he rushes over to the controls. "Ah, sorry. Time's up, kids!"
"Why?" Kazran turns to the Doctor with a frown.
"It's nearly Christmas Day."
"Do we have to leave her here?" Cherry asks as they set up Abigail's cryochamber in the freezer once again.
"It's what she wants us to do," the Doctor says, focusing on standing it upright in the correct place.
"It's not right. Look at this place," Cherry frowns, looking around at all the poor people trapped inside their icy coffins. "Isn't there anything we can do?"
"Well, let's just hope we change Kazran for the better, and he realises this is wrong," the Doctor places his hand on her shoulder. She doesn't seem convinced and the Doctor sighs. "Charlotte, I would love it if there was something we could do, but there's four thousand and three people trapped on a spaceship that we have to help first. Including Amy and Rory."
"Yeah, I know," Cherry agrees to leave it for now, though she is not at all happy about it.
"If you should ever wish to visit again," Abigail says as she steps into the cryochamber.
"Well, you know," the Doctor says coolly, slinging his arm around Cherry's shoulder. "If we're ever in the neighbourhood."
"They come every Christmas Eve!" Kazran lies and Cherry and the Doctor look over at him with wide eyes. "Yeah, they do! Every time!"
"What?"
"They promise," Kazran commits them to visit every Christmas Eve before he shuts Abigail back in the ice.
"No, we don't," the Doctor shakes his head, but it's too late. Kazran looks positively thrilled at the prospect of spending another Christmas Eve with Abigail, the Doctor and Cherry and the brunette sighs, resting her head against the Doctor's shoulder. Now they'll have to visit every Christmas Eve. Kazran will be disappointed if they don't show up next year, and he'll inevitably learn the same lesson in life he did before they interfered. Nobody comes. So now they have to be there for him. Every single year.
A/N: it's like 5 am right now and I have the most awful back pain ever it's making me feel sick so I can't sleep and I wrote this to pass the time. I hope you guys like it, I can't wait to get onto the next season honestly! Also, omg, wtf, this book is already almost at 20,000 reads and 1,000 comments and I only published it in January! Not only that but it's consistently been no. 1 under the 11th Doctor tag for ages now, well over a week, maybe over two weeks I'm not certain but I'm just so thankful for all of you and your support!