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"Have we landed this time?" Amy asked, the Doctor having tried seven times to land on the fifth moon of Sinda Callista, wherever that was. Each time they had landed somewhere else and she adamant that he take her to the right place. The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, but it changed to a thoughtful look and he motioned to the door.
"I'll just go check." He told her before running to the doors, throwing them open and peeking his head out. This time they had landed in a park, on Earth he guessed.
"No, Amy," He called back, "it's definitely not the fifth moon of Sinda Callista. I think I can see a Ryman's." He stepped out to get a better look when a blast from inside the TARDIS hit him in the back and knocked him to the ground.
"Amy!" he cried as the TARDIS began to de-materialize in front of him, "Amy!"
~0~0~0~
Inside the TARDIS Amy fought to pull herself off the floor as it shook and sparked, showering the room like fireworks. She held onto the bottom of the monitor and with a groan yanked herself up.
"Doctor! It's saying we're on Earth! Essex, Colchester." She called over, still thinking the Doctor was with her. The TARDIS calmed down slightly, but the inner column continued moving up and down.
"Doctor?! It's taking off again." She told him, looking over to the door and seeing she was alone. She began walking slowly around the console, "Doctor, can you hear me?"
~0~0~0~
The Doctor pushed himself up onto his elbows, looking at the spot where the TARDIS used to be, leaves blowing around from the breeze it would always create.
"Amy! Amy..." He breathed before pushing himself up and pointing the sonic screwdriver into the air. He pressed the button, buzzing through the different settings to no effect.
"Oh, don't do this!" He snapped at it, smacking it against his palm and trying again. A ball of light flashed next to him, knocking him backwards as it hit his chest and they rolled together on the floor, him finally coming to a stop on top of Danni. She grinned at him, a faint blush on her cheeks.
"Danni?" He asked, confused and she nodded. He had almost been expecting Amy to have managed to teleport herself off of the TARDIS, although now he thought about it, it did seem rather unlikely.
"Fancy getting off of me, Spaceman?"
"Not real..." He trailed off and jumped up, realising it might not be the same Danni, "Yes, of course. Sorry." He held a hand out and she grabbed it, pulling herself up. She brushed herself down and looked around the park.
"So, what are we up to?" She asked him.
"The TARDIS just de-materialised with Amy still in it, leaving us stranded here." He waved his arms around to illustrate 'here' and she nodded, a thoughtful frown on her face.
"Ah, and this is Amy with no Rory?" She continued and he nodded. She grinned and grabbed his hand with a nod.
"Right, I know what we need to do. Come along, Spaceman." She began gently pulling him out of the park, not really knowing which direction to go in but knowing where they had to go next. It was nice to be doing the leading, sometimes it felt as that all that happened was her being pulled around various planets.
"Where are we going?" The Doctor asked and she looked up at him.
"Where else? To find a little shop."
~0~0~0~
The Doctor and Danni stood hand-in-hand in front of the two story building, at the bottom of the couple of steps that led up to the front door. The Doctor adjusted the earpiece he had insisted on wearing; found in the depths of his pockets, naturally.
"Are you sure this is what we have to do?" The Doctor asked, "Live in a house?" She rolled her eyes. She had promised herself when she had woken up that morning... or evening, or whenever it was... that she was not going to get so emotional. She was going to enjoy every adventure as it came, and she trusted him when he said he wasn't going to marry River, so why be upset anyway? It was a lot of wasted energy after all.
"Yes, Doctor. Are you doubting me, again?" He shook his head, looking up at the building.
"No, but it seems rather... pedestrian." He looked at her, suddenly alarmed, "I don't have to get a job again, do I? It was a disaster last time." She shook her head.
"No, you don't. That's what the bag of money is for, isn't it?" He grasped the brown paper bag in his other hand tightly, nodding in relief.
"It just seems a bit boring, doesn't it?" She smiled and kissed his cheek.
"You couldn't ever be boring, sweetheart." He grinned happily.
"Oh, fine. Let's go be all human and live in the same place for a while." They walked up to the front door and he held the button down for the doorbell, seemingly amused by having to press a button. She couldn't help but smile fondly at his childlike behaviour, it was always endearing.
"I love you!" A man cried as he threw the front door open, holding a set of keys with a fluffy pink keyring. He stared at them, stunned, obviously not expecting it to be them. The Doctor smiled back at him.
"Well, that's good, cause we're your new lodgers. Do you know," He grabbed the keys out of the man's hand before turning to Danni, "this is going to be easier than I expected!" Danni rolled her eyes at him before shooting the man an apologetic look.
"Sorry about him, he's a big child at heart. We were wondering if you had found a room mate yet." She explained.
"But I only just put the advert up today, I didn't put my address." The man told them.
"Well, aren't you lucky we came along? More lucky than you know." The Doctor replied, looking up the front of the house, "Less young professionals, more of an ancient amateur and his beautiful girlfriend, but frankly we're an absolute dream." The man stared at him, not quite believing the guy in front of him actually existed.
"Hang on, mate, I don't know if I want you two staying, and give me back those keys," He yanked them out of the Doctor's hand, "You can't have those! I don't know if I want a couple staying."
"Yes, quite right. Have some rent." The Doctor handed him the small brown bag. The man opened the bag and stared between the mass of notes and the Doctor in disbelief.
"That's probably quite a lot, isn't it? Looks like a lot. Is it a lot? I can never tell." Danni grabbed the side of the bag with her finger, peeking inside.
"Yes that is, I told you to let me get it." She told him. The Doctor stepped past him and into the house. Danni shot him an apologetic smile then followed. The Doctor's gaze was automatically drawn to the staircase in the hallway as the lights flickered above it.
"Don't spend it all on sweets. Unless you like sweets. I like sweets. Ooh!" He turned and held onto the man's shoulders, giving him an air kiss on each cheek, "That's how we greet each other nowadays, isn't it? I'm the Doctor." He looked up the stairs, "Well, they call me the Doctor," He looked back at the man with a frown, "I don't know why." Then back up the stairs, "I call me the Doctor too." Then back at the man with a frown, "Still don't know why." He turned to Danni and smiled, placing an arm around her shoulder, around her shoulder, "She's Danni, my Danni-Girl. Not yours though, you can call her Danni. No one's allowed to call her Danni-Girl but me."
"And Jack." She pointed out, grinning as he frowned angrily.
"No, he's not allowed. He just does, and no matter how much I tell him otherwise he thinks he can just call you my name."
"He called me it first." She turned to Craig and smiled, "Danielle Fielding." She elaborated.
"Craig Owens. The Doctor?" He asked.
"Yep. Who lives upstairs?"
"Just some bloke."
"What does he look like?" The Doctor pressed.
"Normal. He's very quiet." There was a large crash from upstairs and the trio looked upwards, "Usually." The Doctor took Danni's hand again and they walked into Craig's flat, "Sorry, who are you again? Hello?!" He called after them, "Excuse me?" The Doctor immediately spotted a large stain on one corner, spreading out into the room.
"Ah! I suppose that's...dry rot?" He asked.
"Or damp. Or mildew."
"Or none of the above." Danni murmured and the Doctor nodded.
"I'll get someone to fix it." Craig found himself replying, sounding like he was trying to persuade them to say.
"No, I'll fix it. I'm good at fixing rot. Call me the Rotmeister." He looked at Danni who shook her head, "No, I'm the Doctor, don't call me the Rotmeister. This is the most beautiful parlour I have ever seen, you're obviously a man of impeccable taste." He walked over to the kitchen counter opposite the stain and pulled himself onto it, "We can stay, Craig, can't we? Say we can."
"You haven't even seen the room." Craig pointed out.
"The room?"
"Your room."
"My room?" he grinned and jumped down, "Oh, yes, my room, our room. Take us to our room!"
~0~0~0~
Craig opened the door to their new room, revealing a bedroom in brown and yellows, a lovely fireplace in one corner. It was fully furnished, a double bed in the middle and a wardrobe unit across from it.
"Yeah, this is Mark's old room, he owns the place, moved out about a month ago. An uncle he'd never even heard of died and left a load of money. You'll have to share."
"We share everything, it's fine." Danni replied. The Doctor placed both hands on the bed, pushing down hard to test the mattress.
"This'll do just right. In fact..." Another crash came from above and the Doctor licked his finger, holding it out as if he was checking the wind direction, "No time to lose. We'll take it. Ah...you'll want to see our credentials." He pulled out the psychic paper, "There...National Insurance number...," He switched hands behind his back, "NHS number... References..." He handed it to Danni, who did the same.
"Is that a reference from the Archbishop of Canterbury?" He asked, trying to look closer but Danni snapped it shut.
"The Doctor's his special favourite." She held a finger to her lips.
"Are you hungry? I'm hungry." The Doctor suddenly stated, putting his hands in his pockets and leaving the room, heading to the kitchen.
"I haven't got anything in." Craig told him as the pair followed, "Is he always like this?" He asked Danni.
"Pretty much. I told you, he's just a huge child." The Doctor was already in the fridge, pulling out some cheese, ham and eggs.
"You've got everything I need for an omelette fines herbes! Pour deux! Danni-Girl doesn't like eggs." He cracked the eggs into a frying pan, adding some herbs "So who's the girl on the fridge?"
"My friend. Sophie." Craig told him with a smile as he looked at the picture.
"Girlfriend?"
"A friend who is a girl. There's nothing going on."
"She's very pretty." Danni stated, pulling out a bowl from a cupboard and some Cheerios.
"Yeah, she is... I mean, I've never really thought about it. She's just a friend." He stuttered, blushing slightly. The Doctor shot Danni a knowing look, her replying with a smirk.
"Ah, that's completely normal. Works for me." The Doctor grated some cheese into the eggs.
"We met at work about a year ago at the call centre." Craig explained.
"Oh, really, a communications exchange? That could be handy." He ground some pepper into the pan.
"Firm's going down though." The Doctor chucked some ham in before heading to the fridge again, "The bosses are using a totally rubbish business model. I know what they should do, I got a plan all worked out, but I'm just a phone drone," The Doctor squirted some salad cream into the mixture, "I can't go running in saying I know best. Why am I telling you this? I don't even know you."
"I've got one of those faces. People never stop blurting out their plans while I'm around." He began stirring it all up, "And Danni is just so loveable you can't help but feel comfortable around her."
"You didn't in the beginning, sweetie." Danni pointed out, recalling her experience with him in New New York.
"I used to be an idiot though, didn't I?"
"Used to be?" The Doctor shot her a faux offended look and she pecked him on the lips as she headed past to get some milk. Craig smiled at them as the Doctor stopped stirring and pulled her up against him, kissing her quickly before spinning her around and letting her get back to her cereal. He hoped he and Sophie could be like that. Not that he wanted that with Sophie, they were just friends regardless of the fact he was expecting the person he shouted 'I Love You' at to be her.
"Right, where's your stuff?" he asked, shaking the thoughts out of his head.
"Don't worry, it'll materialise, if all goes to plan." He replied cryptically, Craig frowning at the peculiar man.
~0~0~0~
Craig placed his plate onto the coffee table before sinking back into his sofa, groaning in delight. The Doctor was perched on the arm of the armchair across from him, Danni curled up next to him as she ate the last of the cereal she had made. It was the first thing she had eaten since the sandwich back in the 60's and she hadn't really enjoyed it, but she could tell by the Doctor's face he was overjoyed that she had eaten so she had forced it down, each swallow becoming slightly more difficult than the last. He had given her some supplements or something just before she had jumped away and he was probably remembering it as he polished off his own food.
"Oh, that was incredible! That was absolutely brilliant. Where did you learn to cook?" Craig exclaimed.
"Paris, in the 18th century." He replied before frowning, "No, hang on, that's not recent, is it?" He looked down at Danni, who shook her head, struggling with the mouthful she was currently trying to eat, "17th?" She shook her head again, "No, no, no, 20th. Sorry, I'm not used to doing them in the right order." He told Craig, who was staring at him, bewildered.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're a bit weird?" Craig asked and the Doctor smiled, wrapping an arm around Danni's shoulders as she finally forced down the mouthful. He took the bowl out of her hands and placed it on the table, her smiling gratefully at him. There was still a bit left, but she had eaten something and that's all that mattered.
"They never really stop." He replied, staring at her fondly before turning back to Craig, "Ever been to Paris, Craig?"
"Nah," Craig replied, letting his head fall back onto the sofa, "I can't see the point of Paris. I'm not much of a traveller."
"I can tell from your sofa."
"My sofa?" Craig sat up a bit straighter, looking at it confused. There was nothing wrong with his sofa... was there?
"You're starting to look like it." Craig's mouth fell open and Danni gasped in shock, smacking the Doctor on the leg.
"Thanks, mate, that's lovely!" Craig laughed, wondering if he should have felt more offended than he did, "No, I like it here. I'd miss it, I'd miss..." He trailed off, squeezing the keyring he had in his hand absentmindedly as he did.
"The owner of those keys?" Danni piped up, nodding at them and he jolted out of his thoughts.
"What?" He looked down at the pink fluffball in his hand. Where did they come from?
"You're sort of... fondling them." The Doctor added and he dropped them, blushing slightly.
"I'm holding them."
"Right." The Doctor replied, unconvinced. Craig cleared his throat and jumped off the sofa, striding over to a table by the door.
"Anyway..." He said loudly, fishing out a set of keys from a bowl, "these... these are your keys. There's only one set, you'll have to get some more cut." The Doctor looked at Danni with a grin then met Craig halfway across the room.
"We can stay?" He asked hopefully and Craig nodded.
"Yeah, you're weird and you can cook, it's good enough for me. Right, outdoor, front door, your door." He explained, holding up each key as he showed it to him.
"Our door. Our place. Our gaff." He took the keys off Craig and turned to Danni, "Ha-ha! Yes! Me with a key." Danni stood up, much slower than the Doctor had and joined the two men, linking arms with the Doctor.
"Makes a change, someone giving you a key, doesn't it?" She pointed out and he nodded, pulling her a bit closer. Eating hadn't made her feel any better at all, but there was nothing she could do about that now.
"And listen," Craig continued, "Mark and I, we had an arrangement where if you ever need me out of your hair, just give me a shout, OK?" He winked at the Doctor before looking pointedly at Danni. The Doctor winked back.
"Why would I want that?" He then asked, not understanding what he meant. Danni sighed fondly, he was oblivious sometimes.
"In case you want some alone time." He frowned at the Doctor's blank stare, "You know, with Danni." The Doctor nodded.
"Oh, I will. I'll shout if that happens. Yes. Something like..." He paused, thinking of what to say, "I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS!" Danni snorted, trying to hold back a laugh at him as Craig just stared, bemused. The Doctor nodded, pleased with himself before turning and heading straight for the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Danni sighed, he really amused her sometimes.
"Sorry, he's a bit slow."
"Yeah, I noticed. Is he..." He trailed off, wanting to put it delicately, "Did he have some kind of accident..." Danni shook her head.
"No, believe it or not he's actually supposed to be a genius. It just doesn't always show." She turned to leave then looked back at Craig, "And if you two want some alone time as well, let us know. I'll take him for a walk in the park or something." Craig laughed.
"'You two'?" He repeated and she nodded.
"Yeah. You and the pretty call centre girl."
"Sophie." He corrected instantly and Danni smirked.
"Yes. Sophie." She reached the door then turned around for a final time, "Oh, and don't touch the rot." She pointed at it, then shook her finger with a serious look on her face before entering the room, "Aww, so cute!" She stated as the Doctor peeked up from looking under the bed.
"What's cute?" He asked.
"Craig and Sophie. He loves her, but is too scared to say anything. It's so romantic, two people who are meant to be together but neither of them having the courage to take that final step." She sat down on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs happily in the air, "Gives you a warm feeling inside." The Doctor sat next to her and she shot him a beaming smile.
"I was scared to tell you." He admitted and she frowned.
"Why?" she asked.
"Because everyone I've ever loved had left me." He explained, looking down at the floor and away from her, "My family died. Rose, Martha, Donna all left in the end, Amy will too. You always disappeared and I'm still don't really know if what you say you do in my future is true or not. I didn't want to say it because you would always leave." She leant her head on his arm, interlocking her fingers with his.
"I always come back." She said quietly. She never thought about how hard it was for him to have her jump in and out of his life. Sometimes she was so convinced he didn't want her there that she thought he'd be happy, but times like this made her sad for him, she did always leave him behind.
"You do." He nodded, "At Naismith's mansion..." He looked down at her hand, studying it carefully before looking back up at her, "I realised if you didn't come back, and I never said it, you'd leave never knowing for certain. But I do. I love you." He told her with a bit of a shrug and a sad half-smile. He fully expected her to leave one day and never come back.
"I love you too. And I am always coming back. I don't know when I finally land, but it will always be with you. I'm always aiming for you, this is where I want to be. You and me, in the TARDIS." He brought the back of her hand to his mouth, placing a kiss on it before they both fell silent, listening to the sound of the television in the other room as Craig turned it on.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor flopped onto the bed beside Danni, who was lying on her side under the covers. She giggled as she bounced slightly and he grinned at her, placing a kiss on her forehead. She tried to look up at it, going cross eyed and he ruffled her hair. A communicator was blinking a blue light in his ear, apparently this was one of the things he carried around in his bigger-on-the-inside pockets, along with the spare shirt she was currently wearing as a nightie. He had blushed and run out of the room when she'd started to get changed into it, stuttering something about 'normal' screwdrivers.
"Earth to Pond, Earth to Pond." The Doctor called into the earpiece, "Come in, Pond."
"Doctor!" She shouted back, causing a screech of feedback at the loudness of her voice that caused Danni to wince.
"Amy!" She shouted down the communicator.
"Oooh. Sorry!" She apologised sheepishly.
"Could you not wreck my new earpiece, Pond?" The Doctor scolded lightly, "How's the TARDIS coping?"
"See for yourself." The sound of the TARDIS came over and the Doctor frowned, sitting up as he listened to his spaceship.
"Ooh, nasty. She's locked in a materialisation loop, trying to land again but she can't."
"And whatever's stopping her is upstairs in that flat. So go upstairs and sort it!" She told him shortly, she wanted to get out of the box. At the moment it was okay, but sometimes it would go absolutely bananas and it was getting old.
"I don't know what it is yet!" The Doctor pointed out, standing on the bed shakily, making sure not to stand on Danni, "Anything that can stop the TARDIS from landing is big, scary big!"
"Wait...are you scared?" Amy asked worriedly. The Doctor scared was not a good sign.
"I can't go up there until I know what it is and how to deal with it! It is vital that this 'man' upstairs doesn't realise who and what I am." He began bouncing on the bed slightly, making Danni move with it and grinned at her surprised yell, "So no sonicking. No advanced technology. I can only use this," He tapped the earpiece, "'cos we're on scramble." Danni batted at his legs and he jumped off the bed, "To anyone else hearing this conversation, we're talking absolute gibberish." He picked up a discarded bottle of hair gel and poked the front of his hair with it, putting some on it, "All I've got to do is pass as an ordinary human being. Simple. What could possibly go wrong?" He then picked up a pair of sunglasses, putting them on and looked over at Danni, pointing to them with both hands. She rolled her eyes as he stepped in front of a mirror, examining himself.
"Have you seen you?"
"So you're just going to be snide?" He retorted, "I've got Danni. No helpful hints?"
"Hmm, well, here's one...bow tie, get rid!" He pulled the glasses down onto the tip of his nose.
"Bow ties are cool." He insisted, taking the sunglasses off and placing them into his pocket, "Come on, Amy, I'm a normal bloke, tell me what normal blokes do."
"They watch telly, they play football. They go down the pub."
"I could do those things!" He murmured, flipping through a book quickly, "I don't, but I could!" There was a loud crashing from above and Danni sat up, the cover falling down to her legs as they both stared at the ceiling, concerned.
"Doctor..." Danni called from the bed.
"Hang on. Wait, wait, wait! Amy?!" He called as Amy began screaming, the TARDIS shaking madly on the other side of the connection.
"Doctor!" Danni cried, her stomach lurching painfully as she doubled up in pain. The drumming in her head stopped and started, as if caught on a scratch on a broken record and it hurt so much. She leant over the bed, dry heaving but never actually throwing up, thankfully. She'd done enough of that lately, too much for her own liking but so far had managed to keep it from the Doctor. He rushed over, rubbing her back as his eyes darted around the room, watching the hands on the clocks spinning backwards and forwards. He checked his own watch, it was doing the same thing.
"Interesting. Localised time loop." He muttered, "Are you okay?" He asked Danni as she sat up straight, the drumming falling back into it's normal rhythm. She sat up, panting slightly and nodded.
"Fine, I'm totally fine." He pushed her slightly, laying her back onto the pillows gently.
"Ow! What's all that?" Amy asked, the TARDIS also settling down.
"Time distortion. Whatever's happening upstairs, is still affecting you." Amy screamed as the TARDIS lurched a bit more.
"It's stopped...ish!" She finally answered, "How about your end?" He checked the clocks again as Danni's eyes fluttered closed. He sat down on the floor next to her, stroking her hair.
"My end's good." He replied.
"So, doesn't sound great, but nothing to worry about?" Amy asked.
"No, no, no, not really! Just keep the zigzag plotter on full, that'll protect you." He told her.
"Ah!" She cried out in frustration, nothing happening.
"Amy, I said the zigzag plotter!"
"I pulled the zigzag plotter!" She defended.
"What, you're standing with the door behind you?" He asked, making sure it was the right one.
"Yes!"
"Take two steps to your right and pull it again." Danni said, startling the Doctor slightly who had thought she'd fallen asleep due to exhaustion. When was the last time she slept anyway?
"That'll never work." He retorted, but Amy did as the girl said and the TARDIS fell quiet again.
"Oh." Danni opened one eye and pulled her tongue out at him, "Now, I must not use the sonic. I've got work to do, need to pick up a few items." He turned off the communicator then turned back to Danni, "Will you be okay?" She nodded.
"I'll try and get some sleep." He smiled happily at her then placed a kiss on her lips.
"I won't be long." He promised, jumping up and he began scrambling around for items in the room he'd need before rushing out.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor struggled with the shopping trolley he'd acquired from a lovely woman at the supermarket, pulling it through the front door and up to his room. It was full to the top with odds and ends he had collected so it rattled noisily and he didn't want to wake Danni or Craig. Danni because she needed as much sleep as possible, and Craig because it would be very hard to explain what he was doing with a trolley full of junk. He unlocked the door to his and Danni's room, the thought still making him smile, and he entered as quietly as he could, pulling the trolley in after him. He turned to apologise to Danni but found the bed empty. The door closed behind him and the light turned on, revealing Danni stood there wearing nothing but the spare shirt he'd found in his jacket. His eyes went wide as he took her in; the shirt barely reached the top of her thighs, just covering her underwear and she wasn't wearing any tights, or anything below it. He swallowed deeply as she smirked at him, one hand behind her, clasped on the door handle.
"Danni!" He exclaimed, his voice at a higher pitch than he'd of liked it to be.
"I was thinking," She started, stepping towards him slowly, "we're living here like a couple aren't we?" She stopped in front of him and wrapped her arms around his neck, playing the the hairs at the base lazily.
"Yes, I suppose."
"Well, we've not been doing a very good job at it, you know?" He blinked as she bit on her bottom lip, her eyes burning as she looked up at him.
"Have...Haven't we?" She shook her head slowly before pushing him back onto the bed.
"No, I think we should rectify that fact right now." She climbed on top of him, straddling his hips as she kissed him hungrily. His hands gripped her hips as he responded in kind as he realised exactly what she was suggesting. He had been thinking about it, of course he had, especially when she wore things like his shirt, but he hadn't expected her to be so... bold about it.
"Danni, he'll hear us." He muttered against her lips.
"Not if you keep quiet, he won't." She teased and his eyes darkened as he sat up, picking her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he turned, dropping her onto the bed. He leant over her, a leg either side of hers as he planted his hands on the bed firmly.
"I didn't mean me." He promised before kissing her hard, capturing the groan that escaped from her throat. She reached around his waist, grasping the back of his jacket tightly as he took her breath away.