Doctor Who FanFic: After long winter

[outsdr]

Title: After Long Winter
Characters/Pairing: 7th Doctor
Rating: G
Spoilers: None

 

After a long winter, the spring sun had finally broken through the grey clouds with the promise of a warm, sunny day.

It was the perfect day to be outside after being cooped up inside for fear of winter’s bitter cold. The boy and his little black dog were going to make the most of the sunny weather while it lasted.

They were going to the park.

 

After being neglected for too long, the need to repair the TARDIS shielding systems finally broke through the grey matter inside the Doctor’s head. With no companions around to distract him, he set his hat on the coat stand in the corner of the control room, neatly hung his suit jacket underneath it, and rolled his shirtsleeves to his elbows. With a tug at his question-mark covered

jumper, he began to adjust the controls.

 

In the space-time vortex, a dark malevolent presence swam. It had been trapped here for ages unknown, searching for a way to free itself into the world of the living once more. It could sense the travels of vessels past it, around it, through it; but it could not break through to ride them to the temporal universe once again. Its frustration, with its madness, grew.

 

The park was a green oasis in the grey blur of ending winter. The boy smiled with the sun caressing his ten-year old face, the gentle warm wind teasing his dark brown hair. The furry dog tugged impatiently at the end of his leash, straining to be free, his black hair bouncing as he stuck his nose into everything that looked interesting, and quite a few other things that weren’t but which needed investigated anyway. He looked up with his big brown eyes at his young master, and was perfectly content with the world.

That is, until he spotted the butterfly a few feet ahead.

 

The Doctor finished making his preparations, combining the shield shut down sequence with materialization.

 

The Dark sensed ... an escape? Yes! It tensed …

 

“Woof!” cried the boy as the dog leapt for the butterfly, jerking the leash from the boy’s hand, just as thunderous trumpeting filled the air of the park. Off balanced, the boy fell into the dirty grass, squishing his nose.

 

“There!” The Doctor stood back, his hands placed triumphantly on his hips. The ship had materialized successfully, the shields were deactivated, and now he simply had to make a quick adjustment, a few tweaks here and there, and he was on his way again.

He felt quite pleased with himself as he turned to grab his toolbox.

He felt quite surprised when his hand came down on a furry head instead.

 

The little black dog looked around, feeling a little puzzled. The grass was gone, replaced by a funny looking Man...

 

Freedom! Free! After being trapped so long, the Dark was free once more... no. It had just exchanged prisons... quickly, it made sense of its surroundings... a time/space vessel, used by its ancient enemies, the Time Lords. It smiled with its mental lips. Perfect... the perfect vehicle to twist to its own evil purposes before exacting its revenge upon that hated race that had trapped it so long ago... The Dark began to trace its way through the circuits of the ship.

 

“Woof?” The boy looked up at the blue police box that he hadn’t noticed before. His hand stung where the nylon leash had burnt it when it had jerked through his fist, and his dog wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Shrugging his shoulders, the boy began to search. “Woof? Woof!”

 

Woof looked up at the Doctor. The Doctor looked down at Woof.

“You’re not supposed to be in here, you know,” the Doctor said, wagging his finger disapprovingly at Woof. Woof looked back at him, his head cocked to one side, his ears raised at the unfamiliar voice. The Doctor continued his lecture, while Woof began to wag his tail, eyeing the monarch butterfly that had just fluttered up from behind the Doctor’s head.

 

The Dark quested forwards along the electronic pathways of the ship. There was resistance, some sort of basic personality force opposing him, but it was so much weaker than the Dark, and easily trapped and rendered helpless. The Dark felt its way along, exploring new possibilities within this primitive ship, shutting down unnecessary systems as it went along, tracing the pathways to its rebirth. It ignored the frustrated TARDIS personality which was now beneath its notice.

 

“WOOF!” woofed Woof, leaping for the butterfly, springing easily from the floor to the startled Doctor’s chest before leaping to the floor once more, his claws scrabbling for traction on the smooth TARDIS floors before disappearing at top speed through the interior door in pursuit of the butterfly.

“Dog! Come back here! Oh, bother...” The Doctor scrambled to his feet, grabbed his hat from the coat stand, and ran off on his own pursuit.

In the now empty control room, lights began to flash urgently on the control panels.

 

What’s that? What’s that? Hey! That smells different! That does too! What’s that thing in the air? Can I jump that high? I can! Hey! It’s still there! There it goes! I can run fast! What’s that smell? Who’s chasing me? Does he want to play? I can run faster than him!

 

The Doctor leaned against the wall, trying to catch his breath. He glared at the furry black hindquarters disappearing through the doorway ahead of him. Panting, he slowly jogged after the puppy.

 

The boy was crying now.

 

The Dark gloated. So close to victory now, it was so close. Just one final barrier to defeat: a neutron flow to be traversed, and the universe was his to plunder once more.

           

Woof snuffled the floor, the butterfly momentarily forgotten, a comfortable looking corner just ahead. Sniffing, he turned around three times, investigating the dark corner before flopping down with a little doggy sigh, his tongue hanging out of his mouth as he panted, his eyes shining from the fun of it all.

The Doctor slowly peaked around the corner, jerking his head back before the dog could see him. “I’ve got you now!” he whispered to himself, a smile beginning to spread across his face. Easing around the corner, he began to creep up on the dog. “Easy boy... there’s a good dog... good doggy... goood doggy....” Slowly now, his arms spread wide, his hat pushed back from his forehead, his grey eyes wide and trusting... “there’s a boy... Just sit still... stay....”

Woof sat up and looked at the Doctor, a puzzled expression on his canine face. “Stay boy... stay… Stay!!!!”

The fluttering thing was back, but the man was in the way.... Woof yawned, and dove through the man’s legs after the fluttering thing.

“Drat!” the Doctor yelled as the dog streaked between his legs. He twisted, trying to catch the dog, his fingers clutching futility at the trailing leash pulling through his fingers as he dove full length onto the floor.

He forlornly rested his chin in his right hand, tapping his left fingers on the floor.

“I always have been more of a cat person,” he said to no one.

 

So close... total conquest was so close... the Dark had almost passed through the neutron flow, the last barrier between it and domination of the ship...

 

So close... the fluttering thing rested on top of the tall table in the center of the white room... don’t bark... don’t scare it... just jump for it...

 

So close... the dog sat staring intently at the butterfly on the time rotor, not even noticing the Doctor creeping up behind it.

 

The boy wiped his nose on his coat sleeve, and sat down in the shadow of the tall police box.

           

Woof jumped, his paws scrabbling across the control panels, flipping switches and tromping on buttons, his wide puppy mouth snapping at the butterfly.

The Doctor leaped, his arms wrapping around the furry puppy, elbows brushing past dials in his effort. Normally, he would be much more careful around the sensitive controls.

But this was an emergency.

The Dark screamed as the polarity of the neutron flow suddenly reversed, sweeping it backwards and sideways and into the time/space vortex once more. It sensed barriers snapping into place behind it and the gloating of a subtle, ignored personality as it howled its frustration to an uncaring, unfeeling void.

Woof squirmed around and looked up at the man holding him. The man had a stern expression, but his eyes were twinkling. Woof licked the man’s face.

The Doctor spluttered as the puppy’s tongue swiped across his lips. Cat’s do not have bad breath, he thought to himself. He looked over at the butterfly, sitting uncaringly on top of the time rotor. “I have just the place for you, my trouble making friend,” he said, winking at the monarch. “As for you, puppy, I believe someone is probably looking for you...”

 

The boy wiped his eyes with his grubby hands, sniffled, and began to pick a pebble from the grass. So much for a great day.

“Excuse me.”

He looked up at the short man with the funny sweater and funny accent, holding Woof. He jumped up to his feet.

“You found Woof!” he cried excitedly. “Thanks mister!” He grabbed the leash and wrapped it securely around his hand.

The Doctor shrugged his shoulders and smiled at the happy boy, giggling now as Woof washed the boy’s face with his tongue

“It was nothing,” The Doctor said. He squinted at the afternoon sun, licked one finger, and held it to the air. He sighed. There was work to do, shields to repair... but there were only so many beautiful afternoons to be had; a finite number of newborn spring days. He looked down at the boy and winked.

“Say... do you like to fly kites?” he asked the boy, his grey eyes shining.

This was a submission to a short story contest the BBC had a number of years ago. I didn't win.