A - F
A/N: A self-imposed word challenge using the alphabet. All fics are set after “Cold Blood” and before “The Pandorica Opens.” (yes, so that I don't have to deal with Rory. Cough.)
I probably made these far too long...I couldn't help it! They're so fun to write~
The ratings fluctuate between G and PG-13. No worries, nothing adult...(yet).
Abduction: the act of taking someone away by force or cunning; kidnapping.
The Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS with a flourish, “Lumicent. Smaller than Earth, amazingly intelligent planet, lovely, very industrial.” He grinned at Amy as she took in the sights. Buildings taller than the sky, neon lights, glossy windowpanes and somehow the sunlight was able to burn past all the tall buildings and cover the city in a sparkling glow. Amy had to blink a few times to get her eyes to adjust to the light.
“It's so bright!” Amy turned to the Doctor, “What else? Do they have flying cars or...?”
The Doctor chuckled, leading the way as they walked through the bizarrely empty streets, “No...teleporting stations, usually. Much like a bus station on Earth.” The Doctor said pointing to a row of circular pads on the ground with a parking-meter shaped control panel next to each pad. His forehead creased as he noted the red blinking light on all the teleporters. They were offline?
“Why's it so...”
“Empty.” The Doctor finished her sentence and he spun around in place. Amy followed him as he went to a window and peered inside. Empty. Amy frowned, “Doctor, nearly every single shop is closed.” The two stood side by side and he could hear the cogs in her head turning. Wait...
“Doctor!” He turned to see a machine created out of cogs, turning and rotating with each step. More cog-machines followed the first. Their parts shining in the bright light of the city, they reminded the Doctor of those beautiful clockwork robots.
“Blimey.” The Doctor blinked, “Amy? Run!”
There was that thrilling adrenaline as they ran through the streets together. “This way!” She grabbed his arm and dragged him down a different street. “Uh-oh.”
“This is an army.” The Doctor said, his back pressing against Amy's as the clockwork robots that weren't really the clockwork robots closed in from both sides. The Doctor was thinking, thinking of what to do or say. They were robots. He's dealt with robots before...Cybermen...he's seen it all. Come on, think think think.
“Doctor?”
“Hush, Amy. Thinking!”
“Doctor, they don't have mouths. But...they have hearts...”
“What?!” The Doctor held his sonic at one of the robots, he checked the readings, “Impossible. Alien hearts? Why? Why? All machine except the heart? Who is your master?! Who is controlling you?” The Doctor demanded as the tight circle began to close. Their faces were all cogs varying in size and Amy was correct-no mouth. But, how did they communicate then? What was the point of having an alien heart? No brain, from what he could see and what the sonic was picking up.
He turned to Amy, searching her face, as if his companion had all the answers.
“Amy! We'll get out of this.” The Doctor said as one of the machines grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled him away, away from Amy, and he didn't know where they were going.
Amy gave a small forced laugh, “We always do!”
Body: the entire structure of an organism (an animal, plant, or human being).
[connected to letter A]
4 Days...
The not-really-clockwork-robots tossed him into a cell with a wooden door and a least fifty Lumicent citizens. They were quiet, marvelous, and smart. Their skin varying shades of blue, aqua, and silver. Their eyes wide with yellow iris's, their hair depending on age: the elders usually had white hair, much like humans did, and the younger generation had soft, indigo shades.
The Doctor spent four days, that's 78-no 82 hours without Amelia Pond. He paced, he talked, talked to himself and to the other captives. They explained, they reasoned, but none could stop his worry. The feeling that kept him awake whether it was night or day. The feeling that he had lost Amy Pond and her heart was resting inside one of those robots.
“So, what happened?” The Doctor asked on the third day(72nd hour, 45th minute and 34th second) with his back leaning on the wall.
An elderly female answered his question, “They came from beneath the soil. Three of them, metallic hearts, beating in rhythm. Authorities were terrified, citizens were worried, scientists were ecstatic. We brought them to the Academy, tried to find out where they came from...tried to learn...”
“But they don't have any sort of communication...” The Doctor frowned.
“That's what we thought, they communicate with their hearts. The beat. It's like...a code. The rhythm...their hearts are temporary, I suppose, until they can build the metal hearts we saw the originals with.”
“But why so many? Why abduct a whole civilization and use them...keep so many of us hostage?” The room fell silent then, nobody had the answers, not even the Doctor. His only guess was that these robots were re-building their own society, a society that had been lost, and it was up to him to get these two to live together harmoniously. He wouldn't have another war happen...no. No wars. Ever. Not while he was around.
On the 82nd hour, 20th minute, and 15th second was when the wooden door was violently shoved open and he met the wild eyes of Amy Pond. “Well, come on then!” She snapped, holding the door open, and the Doctor was the first out the door.
The other Lumicent citizens followed and dispersed amongst the crowded hallways, finding their families and friends, overriding controls and opening more doors. The machines stood idly, not attacking, the sound of their hearts drowned in the sound of all the voices.
The Doctor collected Amy into his arms and hugged her tightly. He heard her laugh into his shoulder.
“Gotcha.” She muttered.
The Doctor shut his eyes and felt her arms around his neck, could smell her hair, feel her back, his nose brushing on her neck, and oh how he memorized it all.
“Doctor, the heart is the key. It's given them emotions, just a little, just enough to listen to reason, I talked to them...” Amy explained as the Doctor pressed his forehead against hers, his hands holding her face. She could see the worry etched into his eyes. His thumbs ran along her cheekbones. The Doctor was proud of her, Amelia Pond, the Scottish girl in an English village, the girl who waited, the feisty companion, the girl who saves worlds...
“We've got a planet to save then, now don't we?” He said as he stared into her face. The curve of her eyebrows, the freckles on her skin, the color of her eyes, and shape of her lips. The Doctor closed his eyes, intent on being able to see her face even with his eyes closed.
The Doctor kissed her forehead, “Come along, Pond.”
And he's done it, he's always been good at that, saving planets, saving people, saving her...but this time, she had saved him. And yeah, when they got back to the TARDIS, Amy was a little smug about it. With her and the Doctor's combined efforts along with the efforts of the Lumicent people-the robots saw their hearts. Some, as the Doctor feared, exploded and broke down upon the realization. Others resented their new forms and would stop at nothing to help the scientists to find a way to reverse it (which would take time). The three that risen from the soil returned to it.
“So...” Amy said as she danced around the console, “Did I impress you?”
“Oh yes, didn't expect it at all.” He grinned. The Doctor took her hands and Amy suddenly felt very, very nervous and maybe a little excited as he looked at her. “For a while there, Pond, I had thought I had lost you.” His eyes fell down onto their hands and Amy laced their fingers together, smiling softly.
He leaned forward, making her heart do a little jump, but his forehead just rested against hers. He wanted to remember it all. The way her hand fit with his, the length of her eyelashes, and the current color of her fingernails. Four days, twenty minutes, and fifteen seconds was far too long apart from Amy Pond.
It's amazing she went fourteen years without him.
Chocolate: a food made from roasted ground cacao beans.
The Doctor knew Amy was up to something when she came down the stairs, two at a time, with something red, square, and glossy in her hands. He knew by the way she smiled. But, he's the Doctor, so he kept his tone nonchalant when he asked; “Amy? What have you got there?”
“Chocolate!” Amy plopped down on the seat near the console. The Doctor shrugged, returning to his work. He wasn't fond of chocolate, not that he tried it in this body, but he hadn't had much luck with different foods. The Doctor flipped a few switches and pulled down on the big-red-important-looking lever. He turned to Amy, “Now then, let's go see where we've landed!”
“Wait.” Amy held out a piece of chocolate to the Doctor. “You gotta try this.”
“Ah, no thanks...” The Doctor gave a small grin, but she would not be swayed.
“Come on! Just a little?” There was this swelling feeling in her chest, this echo of nostalgia that made her smile. “You never asked for chocolate that night you crashed into my backyard.”
“Well, that's because I don't like chocolate.”
To the Doctor, Amy looked like someone had tossed a bucket of dead squids onto her face. She narrowed her eyes skeptically, “Have you even tried it?”
“No.” Amy's smile widened at this. She broke the already small piece of chocolate in half and extended it to the Doctor, “Try it, then we go!”
The Doctor opened his mouth to argue but, when he saw the look of childlike excitement and mischief on her face, he simply could not deny her. Which, would probably end up being a problem at some point. The Doctor sighed, snatched the chocolate from her finger tips and popped it into his mouth. His teeth made contact with the sweet...
And he promptly spat it out, his face contorting in disgust while Amy was doubled over in laughter. He had laughed too, just a bit, and then it was all serious (well, not entirely) as they exited the TARDIS.
“That's odd.” The Doctor immediately commented to the frozen tundra before them.
“What? That's it's freezing?” At least, Amy was wearing jeans for this. The Doctor shook his head before walking along, Amy following with her arms wrapped around her frame. She didn't like it when he didn't explain and when he did-he spoke so quickly so that when she were to ask 'what?' he'd make this face like she had just dribbled on her shirt. Amy (sometimes) could follow her madman Doctor, his rants, his ravings, his quick-to-the-point explanations, and his long, powerful speeches. It was when he didn't speak that confused her the most.
A man who moved so much and talked so much; it unnerved her when he was silent.
'It's bloody freezing,' Amy licked her lips, 'I wouldn't be surprised if my lips were blue!' The landscape was mostly ice and a thin layer of snow but it was the chilling wind that was affecting her the most. Her red scarf around her neck seemed to mock her as it whipped around with her hair. She tried to move it so it covered her nose and mouth but it kept falling down. Eventually, Amy just gave up on it. It was only a few minutes after leaving the TARDIS that they found whatever it was they were looking for. Only noted because the Doctor exclaimed 'Aha!' once he saw the door.
The building looked like a big-bulky factory, “S-s-so we mad-d-e it then-n, y-yeah?” The Doctor turned, looked extremely guilty for a split second, and then smiled. Amy looked two degrees away from being an ice sculpture. He pulled her inside of the equally cold yet far more comfortable factory.
“This planet...” He began, and Amy was thankful for some explanations, “Is set to be in a constant winter. Not like this, not at all like this, this is extreme! Not like winter at all, more like a big...freezer!” The Doctor was sonic-ing the computers and the fuse boxes. The factory slowly buzzed to life, lights turned on, computers booted up, there was the echoing clang of machines shaking off the icicles and pushing through the cold.
“And s-so what happened to everyone?” Amy was beginning to feel the muscles of her face again.
“Left. Machines malfunctioned and short-circuited by the looks of it, didn't have the tools to repair it, so they left...” or they died. The Doctor mentally added as he entered the proper temperature. He looked to Amy, seeing her blow air into her hands and frown. He took a quick stride over to her and chuckled, “Why didn't you grab a warmer jacket?” He asked, curious, remembering how Donna left mid-speech to grab heavy winter jacket.
“I didn't know we were walking into a freezer!” Amy didn't think his tweed jacket was all that warm anyways, so why wasn't he complaining or rubbing his hands together and he didn't even loose any color to his lips or...or...Amy's brain decided to promptly shut up then. Ha-ha if she wasn't so cold then maybe she could have made a joke about brain freeze. His hand cupped the side of her face for the faintest of moments and then between that moment and a sharp intake of air-he was kissing her.
Color flooded to her cheeks and she could feel the warmth from his body radiating into hers. The Doctor had pulled her close and Amy responded with enthusiasm, her once numb fingers curling around his lapels. The kiss was fervent and demanding, 'I don't like chocolate.' The Doctor mused, 'but right now, Amy tastes like chocolate. So? Do I only like chocolate on-do not finish that thought.' Her thoughts of being cold, well, she had forgotten what the word cold had even meant. Amy pulled away, a little breathless and a lot warmer, and she stared at the Doctor. He was mirroring her shocked, out of breath expression.
He cleared his throat, “Next time, bring a warmer jacket.” The Doctor grinned, as if he was trying to pretend that didn't just happen and they were moving along with his point and he did not just snog the magnificent Amy Pond. 'Can't say I would want to, Doctor, after that performance' Amy returned the smile.
“Next time, do that thing you do...” She licked her finger and held it up, mimicking what he once did after they picked up River, “And let me know what the weather is like.”
On the walk back to the TARDIS, the weather was far less severe but still cold. “I wonder if the TARDIS has hot-chocolate.” Amy thought aloud, making the Doctor cringe a little bit. “Would you try some?”
“Amy, if I don't like chocolate when it's room temperature and solid, what makes you think I'd like it when it's liquid and scalding hot?”
“You seemed to like it when it was on my tongue.” Amy Pond did not miss the fleeting flush of color on the Doctor's cheekbones and the way he increased his pace to get to the TARDIS before her. She bit back a grin. These moments; she wouldn't trade them for all the chocolate in the world (or universe).
Dark: devoid of or deficient in light or brightness; shadowed or black.
He took her to the planet of Acerbus and Amy had now seen two completely polar opposite planets. While the planet (although their visit was short) Lumicent was bright, sparkling and hurt her eyes, the planet Acerbus was dark-and by dark, Amy had to keep grasp of the Doctor's hand just to know where she was going. He didn't seem to mind though.
The darkness was almost tangible, unlike the shadows she saw on Earth, these shadows were created with very little to no light. This darkness her eyes couldn't adjust to, it was like a thick layer of just black. The creatures of the planet could see crystal clear while herself and the Doctor stumbled and kept one another close. “Doctor?” Amy whispered, something about the dark and whispering seemed to go hand-in-hand, much like herself and her Raggedy Doctor at the moment.
“Hm?”
“Why can't I see the stars? Are we underground?” Ah, observant as always. The Doctor smiled a hidden smile. He then explained how the whole city was surrounded by this, to put it simply, environmental dome. The sunlight would blind them after living in darkness for so long, it was simply a characteristic of their race to be shrouded in darkness.
Amy listened intently because she really did like how he explained things. He moved their intertwined hands together as he gesticulated and he spoke quietly, even if she couldn't see him-she knew he was tilting his head toward hers. The darkness gave her this feeling of intimate closeness with him. If he felt that same intimate closeness, he didn't show it.
“Here we are!” The Doctor said, pulling Amy down to the floor with him. She sat beside him, blinking, hoping that she could see some shapes or anything really. “Now, watch.” The Doctor's hand gently squeezed her own. 'I hope I found the right place, no, this is the right place. It happens here every year, every day, it's not like it could get up and walk around. Then again...it could. Gotta say, got here without a guide...that was impressive.'
'Watch what? Am I missing something?' Amy tried not to be too impatient, she wanted to see what the Doctor wanted to show her-his reason for bringing her here.
Then, it happened. A white-blue, soft, barely moving light appeared and illuminated a miniscule circle. Another light of the same color. Another. As the field became illuminated with these tiny lights, Amy realized what they were. Flowers. Their petals were tiny and at the center was the small, small light, glowing so-very-softly. There was this mist, too, given off by the blooming flowers. It sparkled very faintly and twirled in and about the stems.
“It...it looks like the night sky!” Amy turned to the Doctor, seeing him for the first time upon landing on this planet.
He grinned at her. Amy's face was filled with awe and wonder, she would never get used to this, used to seeing such beautiful things. It wasn't always beautiful, she saw terrible things too...but, that was life. A balance...a...pile of good things and a pile of bad things.
“Can we walk?” The Doctor nodded, his thumb caressing hers right before they stood.
Amy felt like she was walking in the sky, she let go of the Doctor's hand and he was only a few steps behind her. Amy gave a small twirl, feeling giddy and childish and delightful and so very grateful that he was sharing this with her.
The Doctor smiled, standing with his hands behind his back as he watched Amy move about the glowing foliage. He watched the mist, well it was actually pollen, twirl around Amy as she crouched down to examine the plants and it sparkled, twisting its way through her red hair.
The Doctor felt a serenity in which the way she moved. He breathed in deep, checking his watch, 'Oops.' The Doctor hurried and took Amy's hand again. She looked at him like she was expecting him to say something-but they were doused in darkness once more as the flowers closed.
“Getting here was easy.”
“Please tell me you know the way back.” Amy could see his boyish smile in her mind's eye.
“Yeah!” A pause, “Kind of.” Another heavy pause, “It's...we go...this way!”
They laughed, holding hands, clinging to each other as the stumbled, feeling around in the darkness and hoping that (with some luck) they'd bump straight into the TARDIS.
Emblem: special design or visual object representing a quality, type, group, etc.
Amy found the door by accident. The Doctor might have said the TARDIS had led her there but, Amy was pretty sure she found it on accident. It was a deep brown and the door knob was a freshly polished silver. Amy bit her lower lip in anticipation as her hand grasped the knob and turned--
Locked.
She tried again. “Keeping secrets are you?” She asked the TARDIS. Amy backed away from the door besides, the TARDIS was ginormous! She could find another door. Five minutes later, the same door was there-not in the same place. 'What is this? Like Hogwarts but instead of moving stairs we get moving doors?' For the hell of it, Amy tried the door again and surprise! It was locked.
Amy turned to walk away but she saw something out of the corner of her eye. There was a symbol on the wood. It was silver and black, it looked almost like two figure eights combining with one another. Something about the symbol on the door resonated deep within Amy's heart. This symbol was ancient and she wanted to find out what it was. More than want, it was need to know.
When Amy turned back to the door, the symbol was gone, she could only see it out of the corner of her eye. Perception filter, that's what the Doctor called them. The Doctor had also talked about the TARDIS being alive, in a way, that's how the wardrobe room always had the perfect size, how the fridge was stocked, no shortage of tea...
It was worth a shot. “Um...TARDIS...could you show me to the library?”
Trusting her instinct and that the TARDIS would lead the way, Amy pushed open two heavy mahogany doors and she noticed right away, a book was on the floor-open. Amy crouched down and flipped a few pages, seeing gibberish, but on the page it was open to...English. “You're showing me this?”
Amy could have sworn she felt the TARDIS say yes.
“I am so honored.” Amy looked back to the book and there was the symbol, the very same she saw on that door. 'Seal of Rassilon; a symbol of great power used by the Time Lords.' Amy's stomach jumped into her throat. Amy shut the book, very carefully, because it was big and ancient and the pages might turn to dust any second. She had an idea as to why the TARDIS had shown her this.
“I'll show him, that's what you want right? That's why you showed me. He needs to go in there-yeah?”
The TARDIS hummed.
Amy smiled, here she was, having a conversation with a space ship! Ah! This was great. Much better than any fairytale. “You can count on me, uh...old girl.”
Fascination: the state of being intensely interested (as by awe or terror).
As he paced through the Library, the Doctor tried to pinpoint exactly when it happened.
“I was fascinated by Amelia, seven years old in a house far too big with a crack in her bedroom wall.” The memory was still so vivid in his mind as if it only happened thirty minutes ago. If he hadn't been late, oh if he hadn't been late, what then? Would he have taken young Amelia and watched her grow up and found the reason for the cracks and then...oh what if he lost her then?! Moving on, moving on...
“And then Amy...” To him, Amy and Amelia were like two completely different people. Yet, they weren't. Two sides of the same coin? Perhaps. A logical metaphor.
He was fascinated by Amy, yelling and pulling him by his tie, feisty and her energy sparking off of his. She was just as mad as him. Fascinated by her bravery, her intelligence, her Scottish accent, her hair, her smile, her sense of humor, her boldness, her compassion, her choice in clothing...
Fascinated by Amy-because she was just magnificent. She was mad, impossible, Pond. There were other feelings, like vines they grew upon his fascination and bloomed into something much, much more. Something the Doctor hadn't felt since...well...since a really long time. Or maybe not. Time was different around him. But, that was another life, so he counted it as a long time.
Okay okay, he's been interested in Amy Pond since the start...but when exactly did he fall for her? The Doctor gave an exasperated sigh as he collapsed into one of the plush chairs with the stuffing peaking out in the arm.
The Doctor ran his hand down the length of his face. Maybe it wasn't a question of when, what mattered now was shaking this feeling, this fascination before it was too late. His bones ached feeling the weight of nine-hundred and seven years. He'd live for nine-hundred more, and she could spend her life with him but, as he once said; he couldn't spend his life with her.
“It's not that easy...” The Doctor said to himself, resting his elbows on his knees. “You loved Rose for two regenerations, two!” And not to mention the meta-crisis, Rose in a way had him. The Doctor was not going to create a TimeLord-Human version of himself just so Amy could be with him. No.
“This isn't...just infatuation with Pond, it's more...so much more. Fascination, adoration, affection, all bundled in this...great big ball of...stuff!” The Doctor felt the TARDIS give him a gentle nudge, which could only mean that Amy was awake and would be seeking him very soon.
The word was on his tongue but he swallowed it back. He'd have to admit it to himself before he ever said to Amy. Oh and how could I ever tell her? Rory, she doesn't remember him, but I do...and I like Rory. He's nice...he needs Amy, loves her, and she doesn't know it but she misses him. Maybe she knows? Maybe she's always known...I hope she knows...and what if she says it first? Then what do I do? What if I say it? No, no, I'll be careful...
“Doctor?” She paused, “Where's the swimming pool?” It seemed that every time she went to the Library, the swimming pool decided to leave. It was disheartening, really.
“It'll come back. Might be in the broom closet.”
“Which broom closet?” And he's fascinated all over again as she smiles.
“We can find it later, I want to show you something.”
“A planet?”
“Yes.”
“It's the planet of Acerbus...” He explained as they walked back to the center of the TARDIS. The Doctor is hoping that with enough adventures, enough running, that it'll shake this feeling-because he doesn't want this to get complicated and he doesn't (really, really, really) doesn't want to bring her home.
A/N: My favorite was letter 'B', and then 'C' - I was like “hmmm. I dunno.” because sometimes I wonder if the Doctor would ever really take the chance and kiss her. Somehow, these are all going to come together in one...big...thing of words. Honestly, I don't even know.
click to read part 2 ( follow the TARDIS )