Chapter 1
“River!!!!” The Doctor screamed loudly as he jumped over a low green bush and landed on the soft squishy grass.
“Yes, Sweetie?” She called back in-between labored breathes.
“I can’t believe you shot at the emperors dog!!!” The Doctor took a look back at the giant guards dressed in spiky armor chasing after them. Behind them shined the shimmering orange gold colored palace that glistened from the bright sun. But the most magnificent thing was the beautiful garden filled with flowers so humongous that you couldn’t even see the sky. Not that it was a surprise, the Norfelels were giants themselves that shook the planet when they took a single step.
“What?! Me! You’re the one that called his wife fat!” River and the Doctor ran onto the long wooden bridge that stretched across the vast ocean, thankfully they would only have to run a quarter of it.
“I didn’t say that! I said she should lay off the chips is all!” The Doctor understood how bad it actually was as the words came out of his mouth.
“And you didn’t think she’d be offended?” The guards had now also run onto the bridge and even though they were slow they took big steps.
“Yeah fair point, I guess we were both in the wrong.” Then he saw it, his small blue TARDIS. It was parked on the bridge with the big salty waves rolling behind. They both sprinted faster and with a snap of the fingers the Doctor opened the door and they both ran in. River immediately ran to the Console and began to prepare for flight. The Doctor on the other hand stuck his head out the door and gave the Norfelels a smile. “Sorry about the trouble. By the way, tell the chef he makes excellent kabobs!” Then he shut the door and the Norfelels watched in fury and shock as the blue box disappeared.
/-/-/
“So where are we off to now?” Young Rose Tyler looked at the Doctor as he began to fix his black leather jacket.
“Where do you want to go?” He picked a white string off his sleeve then looked at her.
“Uh, I don’t know. Future maybe?”
“How far?”
“How far can we go?”
“It’s a time machine Rose, there’s not really a limit.”
Rose was just about to start fighting with him about the fact that it was hard to choose when a loud beeping began to go off followed by blinking lights. The Doctor looked at the Console with confusion.
“What’s happening?” Rose asked.
“Truth or lie?” The Doctor glanced at her.
“Truth defiantly truth.” They both grabbed onto the TARDIS consol as it began to shake.
“We’re caught in an orbit tempest!" The Doctor twisted something that looked like a blue and green light bulb with gold glitter on the top.
“Orbit tempest? What’s an orbit tempest and why does it sound bad?” Rose lurched around as the Doctor grabbed something from a compartment under the console. He threw it to her and she barely caught it.
“Turn to page 996.” He instructed.
The book was heavy and had no cover. Its pages were thin and looked very old, so old she thought they might fall apart as she turned them. But finally she came to 996 and at the top it read “Orbit Tempests”. With one hand on the console and one holding the book she read as best she could in the shaky environment. “Orbit tempests are a collection of stars, asteroids, comets, and other unidentified flying objects that are caught up in a magnetic pull around a planet so intense it can send them through space at the speed of 739,834,242,397,842,432,425,600,776 light years per minute.” She looked up at the Doctor. “And I’m guessing we’re in the unidentified flying objects group?”
“Yes we are!” He yelled with a slight grin.
“Great.” The TARDIS abruptly shook to the right and the book flew out of Rose’s hands and across the TARDIS floor. “And again, great!” She replaced both hands on the Console. The Doctor had started laughing for some unapparent reason. “Oh, you find this funny?!”
“No, not this….this!” He pointed to the console computer screen and when Rose looked at it she saw a bunch of shapes in one big pile moving across the screen. She saw a blinking rectangle that she knew was the TARDIS and then a circular shape not like the others, it was blinking red.
“What is that?”
“Another ship!” The Doctor cried out with his hands in the air. “Someone else got stuck in this orbit tempest!” The Doctor grabbed his phone and started dialing numbers, “And we’re going to call them!”
Rose heard the sound of ringing and then a voice. “Hello?” The voice was a man’s and he sounded rather confused.
“Hello there! I’m the Doctor and I’m here to help!”
“Help! Yes, we could use some of that right now!” Rose noticed the man’s voice had a kind of country accent to it. She also noticed there were loud noises echoing in the back around.
“What’s your name?”
“Rudy!”
“Well Rudy I happen to notice you’re caught in an orbit tempest along with me and my ship.”
“Yes we’ve been like this for quite a while now.”
“And we have no way of getting out!” Rose heard another voice yell in the background.
“Now that can’t be true or I wouldn’t be calling you.” The Doctor put the phone between his shoulder and ear and resumed pushing and pulling things.
“How do you suppose we get out then?”
“You have a standard ship for the 62 century which means you have a negative charge box in the back. Tell me I’m wrong!”
“Well sir you know your ships because we do.”
“Listen to this Rose.” He smiled at her. “Rudy we are in the middle of a huge magnetic pull! So if you send out a negative charge and I send out a positive then we’ll be able to bounce each other out of this!” The Doctor took a break from the controls and wiped his brow.
“But a positive charge? I’ve never heard of a ship with such a thing!”
“My ship isn’t normal.”
“Oh well alrighty then.”
“Rose I’m going to have to take down the shields to do this so we’re going to feel it.”
“How is it going to feel?” Rose couldn’t mask the worry in her voice.
“Like you’re a chicken in a bouncy castle.”
Rudy’s voice echoed through the TARDIS again. “All set!”
“Ok when I get to three send out your charge. One….two….three!” The Doctor pushed down on a yellow tall button that looked like a tulip and everything stopped. The shaking stopped, the blazing lights, even the sounds. Rose felt as if she was ten times heavier, like her body was being pushed against by some invisible force. Her eyes felt like they were underwater and her head felt cloudy.
These feelings only lasted a couple seconds before her ears popped, her legs lost balance, and the shaking resumed but it was even worse than before. She screamed and grabbed onto the console tighter as the TARDIS tipped. Her legs were in the air and her hair flew back into her face. She knew if she let go she would certainly hit the wall and probably die. She heard Rudy scream on the phone before it turned into static.
“What’s happening?!” She yelled but it barely got out, her throat was filled with air that tasted like pennies.
“We’re bouncing!” The Doctor yelled with a smile. He was also grabbing onto the TARDIS console and half way in the air. Then the flashing red lights and loud beeping came back. “We’re crashing?!” The Doctor looked at the Console computer screen.
“What?!”
“Yeah we bounced out of the orbit tempest but now we’re heading toward a planet.”
“What planet?”
The Doctor started to laugh like she had said something hilarious. “Earth!”
Earth? Of course, it always came back to crashing into Earth.
/-/-/
Drip, drip, drip. The incisive dripping was driving Amy mad! “Ugh! Emmitt!” Amy pushed away the many hairstylists and makeup artists. “Emmitt!”
“Yes Mrs. Pond.” The tall man in a dark blue suit walked into the dressing room and looked down at Amy as she sat on the comfy chair.
“That dripping! I don’t mean to sound like a diva but that dripping is going to drive me to the mad house! Please fix it!”
“All right don’t get your panties in a twist.” Emmitt began to type something on his Blackberry. “I’ll have someone come in and find the leak, okay?”
“Thank you.” She sighed and leaned back in her chair. She glanced in the mirror to see her hair all curled and shiny, her skin covered in makeup, and her eyes covered in dark eye shadow. She reminded herself of one of the fish from space she had met in Venice back in 1580. Fish from space…she laughed a little remembering that’s what the Doctor called them. The Doctor, she hadn’t seen him in ages.
“Mrs. Pond.”
“Huh?”
Emmitt gave her an annoyed looked. “I hate it when you zone out like that, honestly I think you go to another planet sometimes. Anyways, your husband is outside waiting-”
Amy jumped up from her seat and ran as fast as she could in the long flowery dress. She ran out of the dressing room and down the hallway. As soon as she turned the corner she saw him. Rory, her husband. He held a suit case and was looking around as if he was lost…so nothing changed….good.
“Rory!” Amy ran over and jumped into his arms. It had been so long since she’d seen him last. The modeling tour had sent her all around the world but it still didn’t feel right being away from him.
“Amy!” Rory embraced her tightly. “I’ve missed you!”
Amy heard the sound of his suitcase hit the grown and his other arm came around her. She pulled back and looked at him. “You’re here!”
“Yes, in New York City!” He gave her a big smile. “It’s amazing if I might add!”
“I know when I first got here I said….actually we’ve seen better.” She gave him a secret smile and he laughed and nodded.
There was a few seconds of silence as they looked at each other. Then without even thinking Amy leaned down and kissed her husband. Rory didn’t object and instead held her tighter. Kissing Rory always made her feel safe and at home.
“Sorry to interrupt but… Mrs. Pond!” Emmit yelled in frustration.
Amy ripped her lips from Rory’s and looked at Emmit. His dark skin was now showing a bright reddish color. “What do you want? Can’t you see I’m trying to have a private moment?” Amy groaned.
“The shoot is about to start.”
Amy sighed and groaned and Rory set her back down on the floor. “Fine, but Rory is coming.”
“Of course.” Emmit showed no hint of enthusiasm and turned to walk down the hallway, his expensive black shoes hitting the floor with loud taps.
/-/-/
“Ow!” Martha groaned and repositioned herself on the sofa.
“You alright love?” Mickey poked his head into the living room from the kitchen.
“Yeah just hurting is all.”
Mickey’s eyes widened. “Is it…time?”
Martha rolled her eyes. “Just because I’m having discomfort doesn’t mean I’m going into labor.” Martha placed a hand on her large round stomach. “But it should be any day now.” She smiled.
Mickey grinned then went back into the kitchen. “It would be just our luck to have our baby born on New Year’s Eve don’t you think?”
Martha agreed. “Yeah it would be special though…..Mickey?”
“Yeah, yeah I know. I didn’t forget to buy the pickles.” He opened the fridge and reached a hand down to grab the pickle jar.
“No Mickey.”
“Oh you want to go straight to the ice cream then?” He opened the freezer and grabbed the mint chocolate chip. “That’s why I married you. Always get straight to the point. To what you want.” He grabbed a spoon and walked back into the living room.
Martha was standing by the door placing her coat on. “Mickey get my purse.”
He frowned. “What? Why? Is it not the kind you like?”
She rolled her eyes then smiled. “My water just broke.”
His eyes widened. “You mean…”
“Yes, we’re having the baby….tonight….now….on New Year’s Eve.”
Mickey's eyes were wide and he gulped loudely before responding. “Should I bring the ice cream?”