The Time Ring

Jeremy finished unpacking very fast. He was excited to talk to his sister. They haven’t seen each other in a few months. He was excited to tell her about his adventures in Scotland and curious what she had done recently.

Mousy knew that Jeremy was going to ask a lot of questions. Despite their complicated and awkward relationship, Matt was going to ask a lot of questions about the Doctor. Therefore, when the two boys went to buy more Christmas lights and snacks, she grabbed the Doctor and cornered him.

“You are very violent nowadays, aren’t you?” She glared at him and pointed between them. The Doctor raised an eyebrow. “Are we playing charades? Because I love charades” His eyes shined in excitement. She stared blankly at him before she gave up.

“Fine. You and me. What are we?” He frowned.

“Oh, that’s a tough one. You made a rhyme too. Let me think” He actually looked deep in thought. She bit her lower lip and tried to remain silent. She was ready to punch him in the face when he responded. “We are adventurers” She blinked repeatedly.

“No. You told my aunt that you are my date. You told Matt that you are my date. Do you know what that means?” He nodded. “No, you don’t” His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“I don’t?”

“You don’t” The Doctor looked unconvinced. “It means you are my boyfriend. A boyfriend is not a friend who is a boy. It’s a boy who is more than a friend. If we are more than friends we have to act closer. We have to hold hands, talk gibberish, giggle like stupid people and kiss”

“So that’s why your aunt didn’t believe we are a couple at first” Her eyes widened for a moment. She completely forgot about that time. “I convinced her. It’s alright”

“You’re making fun of me” He chuckled. He really was teasing her. “You know very well what’s happening here. We have to find a story to tell them. They will ask us how we met and what we like about each other”

“These are definitely tough questions. Maybe if we tell them the truth, they will find the lie more believable” His theory wasn’t that bad. He was genuinely proud of his idea. She wasn’t.

“Fast. When did we meet?” The Doctor thought about an Earthly place.

“This year in London?” She nodded and smiled.

“And how did we meet?”

“You were standing near the TARDIS” She made a sign for him to add something. “Which is my vehicle?” She nodded quickly.

“And why do we like each other?”

“Because we have a lot in common” Her eyes glistened in excitement.

“And because we both work in the same domain” They both said in synch. Their eyes were wide with amusement. Until Mousy realized how much fun it actually was and moved her head to the side. They both coughed and agreed on their responses.

She was ready to leave when the Doctor grabbed her elbow.

“Wait. Does your brother know about Victor?” She pouted and nodded.

“Yes. He knows what happened to our parents. He knows our mother was a scientist. But he doesn’t remember what happened exactly on that day. He is also afraid of fire” The Doctor hummed and nodded.

“What about your friend? You didn’t have a childhood friend in the past” She rubbed her chin.

“True. I met Matt after I moved here. My aunt was very harsh when she was young. He became friends with Jeremy and well, we dated for a while in high school”

“A younger guy?” She scoffed.

“No one believed me when I told them my real age. It’s not like he figured that out” The Doctor chuckled. “Now, we have to find you a suit. One that looks clean and new” The Doctor smiled widely.

“That’s not a problem. I have a lot in the TARDIS” She titled her head to the side

“The TARDIS” He nodded and grabbed her arm. He was going to show her the amazing world inside the TARDIS.

“I didn’t expect that” She was really impressed. He opened a door in the TARDIS that led to a whole dresser. It was fantastic how many clothes he had there. For both men and women. Wait, women. She turned to him and eyed him suspiciously.

“What?” She pointed at the Victorian dresses. “What?” He was playing innocent.

“You are a nasty little heart breaker, aren’t you?” He blinked innocently. She shook her head and walked along the racks. “Did you lend dresses to your assistants?”

“One, yes” She smiled softly while looking at a particular dress.

“She must have meant a lot for you, then”

“She did” He sounded quite normal yet she could distingue the sadness in his voice. “She is far away now” Mousy glanced at the Doctor over her shoulder.

“I bet she is” She didn’t want to keep him in a sorrowful and melancholic mood. She grabbed three dresses and two costumes. She turned to him quickly and pushed the costumes in his arms. “We’re going to play dress up” The Doctor didn’t like how that sounded. She looked evil.

“I don’t like this one” The suits she chose for him were a little weird. He wasn’t feeling comfortable in any of them.

“You don’t need to have an opinion Doctor. We’re not talking about aliens. We’re talking about fashion”

“I don’t like this one” She checked him out. He didn’t look bad at all. The costume was simple yet it was an old model. It looked pretty good on him because he was tall and skinny.

“Then which one do you like?” He shrugged and pointed at a plain black suit. “That’s boring”

“I like boring” She rolled her eyes.

“I’ve noticed” He scrunched his face and narrowed his eyes at her. She went to look for another suit.

“You said you met aliens before. You never told me what kinds” Her eyes were searching through the racks.

“Remember when the Royal Hope Hospital in London was transported to Mars?” The Doctor nodded.
“I was there. A few days before that I got into a bad accident and they sent me to Royal Hope. People thought I was in a coma but I was only healing”

“You were there?” She nodded.

“Remember the Weeping Angels?” The Doctor frowned. “Yes. I met them before. My aunt had a few in the basement”

“Are they still there?” She scoffed.

“Of course not. I didn’t know how to destroy them back then. I actually looked into their eyes and didn’t blink for a few minutes. The ring helped me. In the end, I figured they should look at each other and they will break” The Doctor leaned closer to her face. He could see his reflection in her eyes.

“You are one smart little girl, aren’t you?” She smiled sarcastically and pushed him back.

“Try this” She handed him another suit. The Doctor rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. She smiled. She was actually having a lot of fun. She almost forgot the last time she had such joyful time.

“Finally!”

After a few more hours, she chose a suit for him. Of course, after a few more hours she chose her dress. The Doctor was fast asleep by the time she decided. She woke him up by pushing him off the chair. He didn’t look very happy.

“It didn’t take that much” The Doctor looked incredibly at her. “Alright, maybe it did. But you have to look good for Sunday”

“I thought you didn’t like your aunt’s family gatherings” He rubbed his back again. He didn’t have a nice fall. She froze. That was right.

“Well, things change” The Doctor eyed her from the corner of his eye. “You are here, this year. You make it easier to bear” She tried to act like it wasn’t a big deal.

“Maybe you should thank me for accompanying you” She turned to him and blinked a few times. He was waiting for her to recognize that.

“Oh, look at the time. I have to prepare more deserts” She waved and ran into the kitchen. The Doctor watched her sneak out. He started to laugh and shook his head.

“Excuse me, can we talk for a bit?” The Doctor had his hands inside his pockets. He turned towards the living room where he saw Jeremy. He was leaning against the door watching the older man coldly.

The Doctor realized that Jeremy behaved a lot like his mother. He was judging the Doctor without even knowing him. His eyes were cold and his heart was beating steadily. He was a little scary.

“You’re dating my sister?” The Doctor nodded. He suddenly remembered what he discussed with Mousy. That was going to come in handy in a short while. “What do you know about her?”

“Everything” That wasn’t what Jeremy wanted to know.

“Do you know about her problem?” The Doctor was going to try his luck.

“Do you?” Jeremy glared at him. “What do you know about Amanda?”

“She’s my older sister. She doesn’t want to talk about her issues but I know. I found letters from my mother in our house’s basement. She wrote about the experiments and about our father. She wrote about some iris-less guys who came and kidnapped Mousy. That was before I was born. She wrote about some guy she met who introduced himself as the Doctor” That was something unpredictable.
“When you introduced yourself as the Doctor, I realized that maybe everything she wrote in her journal weren’t lies. She wasn’t crazy”

“You should talk to your sister” Jeremy’s eyes softened.

“She never tells me anything. She wants to protect me but I want to know. I need to know. I want to protect her”

“I think she wouldn’t agree to that” Jeremy chuckled.

“She wouldn’t. She’s always been independent. While I went to boarding schools she tried to find her place in society. She looks 6 years younger than she is. That is quite hard. She finished her studies but no one hired her. She finished law, you know. She could become a great lawyer but no one would take her seriously” The Doctor found himself pitying Mousy’s life. He told her a few things when they were in the past but he didn’t know what her real life was like. He compared her to Donna, Rose and Martha but she wasn’t like them. She was different.

“I think I should apologize to her” Jeremy didn’t understand. “I guess I was an asshole back then” The Doctor was talking to himself. That much was obvious. Jeremy raised an eyebrow and coughed. “Right. Jeremy boy, I think you should talk to her. She will understand” The Doctor got on his feet. “I have something to investigate right now” He left quickly.