The Bay of the Doctor

[D.B]

"Leah Whatever-her-last-name-is-now"- hilarious. Really liked her conversation with the Doctor, though she seems rather keen on him. I wonder if he'll feel the same. It will be interesting where you go with this. And the banter between Alf and the Doctor continues to be great and it's so like Alf. I look forward to more. 

 

[TelephotoMarigold]

 

Chapter Two

 

There was a competition for the biggest look of surprise, the one on the doctor’s face when Alf deposited a pile of sheets and towels in his arms and told him he had to make his own bed or his daughter, Roo’s, when she learnt that the doctor was single.

Alf shook his head at the pair of them, especially when Roo started flirting with the Timelord.  He only let it carry on because for some reason the doctor actually looked uncomfortable, and he didn’t ever look like that, even when facing cybermen.

“Ah, get away with you,” Alf heard the doctor saying to his daughter, “I should introduce you to a friend of mine, Captain Jack. In fact let me go call him now…”

With that the doctor neatly escaped from Summer Bay house away from the machinations of a suddenly flirty Roo Stewart.

“Strike me first Leah and now you!” Alf muttered.

“What about Leah? He didn’t meet her first did he?  She’s on the lookout for another husband and if I’m quick I can beat her to it.”

Roo tugged on her too long dress that she was forever tripping over and stalked over to the jug putting it on to boil. 

Alf narrowed his eyes as he looked at her, “you making tea?”

“You want a cuppa Dad?”

“I could do with a brew, it’s been a very long day.”

As he sat back slowly on to the sofa he cast his mind back to when he’d began travelling around with the doctor.  He’d been ankle deep in mud in the jungle in South East Asia wishing for the rain to stop for five minutes so that he could get some sleep.   On cue the flashback started (accompanied by the song 'Run through the jungle'). 

The metallic tasting water dripped down the brim of his hat and fell on to his nose before slipping further down.  Whatever the Yanks were dropping onto this godforsaken jungle it was making everything rot including the boots on his feet.  The rain even had a strange smell to it and this combined with the dang smell of rotting vegetation.  

He was proud of signing up, proud to serve with the other drongos in his platoon but sometimes he wished he was a million miles away. 

“Million, huh,” a strange voice called out from behind him.

Alf Stewart had spun around and pointed his rifle at the dapper man wearing a white brimmed hat and cricket jumper underneath a white jacket.

“Who are you and how…” the question died on his lips at the sight of a blue police box materialising behind them.  He was obviously going mad. What cocktail of chemicals the Yanks were putting into the atmosphere was starting to cause hallucinations.

“Sorry about this, I got a little lost.” The newcomer was saying.  He flicked his hand up and a strange metal instrument in his hand began to beep.  “Well, when I say a little lost, I mean a great deal lost.  This is Vietnam isn’t it? And at a guess of the uniform it’s the 1970’s?”

Alf could only nod in response.

“Splendid.”

“What the flammin’….” Alf muttered.

“You’re wondering where I came from, well so am I really.” The newcomer spun around and pointed at various things in the undergrowth before spinning back around and looking at Alf.  

“Are you seeing this?” Alf hissed out looking in the direction of one of his comrades.  He paused his mouth dropping open as he saw them sitting completely still in their makeshift dugouts.  They were paying no attention to the extremely strange sight of a blue police box, a man wearing a white hat and jacket.

“They aren’t seeing anything, you could say, well, definitely would say I’ve frozen time for them.  I don’t normally do this sort of thing but she brought me here for a reason and that reason I think is you,” he flourished the metal instrument again flicking it up and down in front of him before peering at the smallest of screens on it. 

Screens that shouldn’t exist.

Alf blinked. Then blinked again.  But the man was still standing there.  The blue box was still in front of him. 

Slowly, with an agonising sounding creek, one of the doors opened as if in invitation and for some reason Alf Stewart took the dozen or so steps until he was inside the strange looking box.

“Stone the flamin’ crows! It’s bloody bigger on the inside…”

The man in the white hat put away his sonic screwdriver and followed Alf. The Tardis often knew what was going on before he did and for some reason it wanted this man to come travel with them.

“Yes Alf, that’s because it’s my ship….” His voice drifted off as he took in the sight of the green clad soldier who had fainted onto the floor of the Tardis.  “Oh dear, another one!”

 

***

The Doctor sat on the as yet unmade bed and looked around him.  Of course Timelords didn’t get depressed, but suddenly that seemed to be what he felt.  He’d genuinely thought that Alf Stewart would be glad to see him after all these years.  Admittedly there had been daleks involved and a great deal of running back when they'd hung around together and back then he'd had a different face, but then that hadn’t seemed to bother the much younger man who'd seemed to enjoy running around and avoiding great big metal robots.  Even now as old as Alf had gotten in the intervening years, he was still so much younger than him.

The Doctor had over 900 years on him, and if he were to do the maths he'd probably have to add a few more to that figure,  and the past few years with Donna and Martha made him remember why he had companions even though he still yearned to hear Rose’s voice sometimes.

Standing up from the bed he turned and pointed to it with his sonic screwdriver. After the briefest of pauses ,as if the screwdriver was assessing if it were worth telling him to make the bed himself, by magic the sheets unrolled themselves from the neat pile they’d been in and spread themselves out over the mattress.  The pillows were next, seeming to throw themselves into the waiting pillowcases before crashing down on the bed.  Job done he put away his screwdriver and slipped out of the door of the van to go look around the Bay.  Maybe a walk along the beach would clear away the cobwebs.  

Yes, he hadn’t yet made it so the sonic screwdriver would work on wood but with just a deft flick of his wrist he could make a bed with hospital corners.  He bet that was a skill that Alf Stewart would be impressed with he thought as he climbed out of the van and began walking back to the beach. Maybe he'd have another cup of tea with that nice Leah woman. She seemed extremely friendly. 

[Red Ranger 1]

The Doctor still attracting the attention of the locals! I liked the explanation for how he first met Alf, and being able to make your bed with a sonic screwdriver is definitely useful!

[Inactive User]

Great chapter

Liked how the doctor was attracting the locals' attention

Update soon please xx

[pembie]

Ever since I have been watching Doctor Who His companions haven't had the best of fates they either die or have their minds wiped So I can see why Alf wants to stay away from him

Leah friendly? Just wait untill she starts moaning and nagging the poor doctor would rather go to war with the daleks again