The Daughter of Gallifrey

7: The Brown-haired Man

"Apparently here," Caroline said, sounding rather disappointed. They had landed on an ordinary street of houses, scrunched together in a distinctly urban Britain style. She spun on her heel, her mouth in a slight pout. "Seriously? This isn't far from my cousins' university. I bet her and her mates are still in class. Why were you here, Doctor?" But she got no response from him.

The Doctor was fixated on a point behind her. He stared over her head, not hearing a word of what she was saying. Caroline followed his gaze to the door of a house, the only blue door in the whole row of houses. She wasn't sure what exactly was going on, and that both bothered and fascinated her.

"Doctor?" Caroline tried again to get the Time Lord's attention. He snapped back to her, a blank expression on his face.

"Um, nothing. Nothing special here at all, no, no. Was just taking a stroll here, it's quite nice in the afternoon. And there's a park-" He went to gesture down the road with his finger but stopped when he saw she obviously wasn't convinced. In fact, Caroline had never looked so skeptical in her life.

"Nothing special about that house over there, then?" She pointed to the blue door. His eyebrows jumped up and his fingers tugged at his collar.

"Uh...no. Never noticed anything, um, out of the ordinary," he tried, but Caroline remained suspicious.

"Doctor, you're the most terrible liar." She laughed at little as she said it.

"Really? I suppose that's not-"

"Which is funny because rule number one is the Doctor lies. I guess you're just not trying very hard right now."

"Um..." His vision found its way to the door again. Irked by the Doctor's weird behavior, Caroline started across the street. The Doctor almost immediately realized what she intended to do and sprinted after her.

"Now wait a minute, Thomas, you don't even know who-" But the doorbell was already rung, Caroline's small finger pressed confidently on the button. She held it down for a second or two and then clasped her hands at her waist, waiting. "I think I'll just wait in the, uh, TAR-" The Doctor gingerly took a step back, wringing his hands.

"Oh, no. I don't think so, Doctor." Caroline grabbed a handful of shirt fabric directly below his bowtie. He struggled to straighten himself out, but her short arm span kept him slightly bent over.

"I really think I-" Before the Doctor could finish, the door opened and a young man with mousy brown hair and a sort of hawkish nose appeared. Astonishment washed over his relatively handsome features.

"Doctor?" It was obvious he had encountered the Time Lord before, or traveled with him perhaps. Caroline only knew the faces of the Doctor's companions before the Time War. She had a hole in her knowledge of the Doctor's assistants after the war. She let go of the wad of material she had in her fist and made a little wave with it.

"Hello then, I'm Caroline Thomas. You've met the Doctor?" The man seemed surprised at the sight of her. He opened his mouth to speak again, then closed it, only reopening it after swallowing several times.

"Uh, yes, I have. It's been, um, a while." The Doctor and the young man seemed intent on inspecting their shoes until they committed every detail to memory. Caroline glanced between the two awkwardly standing there for an uncomfortable minute, shuddering slightly in the chilly breeze, and then dared to clear her throat. The man looked up at Caroline and seemed to suddenly remember himself.

"Oh, terribly sorry! Come in, come in!" He ushered Caroline and the Doctor in with several vigorious waves of his hand, stepping aside to make room for them to get by.

The man caught the Doctor's eye as Caroline walked ahead of them and mouthed, "Who is she?" His eyes flashed in her direction. The Doctor responded with a silent, "I'll explain later." The man quickened his step to stand next to Caroline.

"I'm Rory Williams, by the way, sorry for-" But something else had already grabbed Caroline's attention. She pointed to a picture frame on the wall above the couch.

"Wait, this-this is River!" she exclaimed, her eyes bright with curiousity. "How do you know her? Was she with you, traveling with the Doctor, I mean? And is this your girlfriend? She's quite pretty." The picture showed Rory and a red-haired woman, both laden with backpacks over their shoulders, standing with River in the middle of a desert. "Where were you?"

"Um, is she-?" Rory started to ask, giving the Doctor a meaningful look. He nodded in response. Rory gave a little smile. "River's my daughter. And that's my wife, actually." He pointed to the red-haired woman. "Amy Williams-"

"-Pond," the Doctor interjected. Rory shot him a look, a shadow crossing his face, which took Caroline off guard. Rory seemed so kind and sort of shy, the glare he gave the Doctor was startling. Maybe there was more to this mild-mannered man that she had believed at first.

"Sorry. Williams." The Doctor corrected himself, uncharacteristically meekly.

"Your daughter? How does that work? She actually looks older than you," Caroline inquired, quite puzzled.

"That's time travel for you," Rory replied simply.

"Oh." Caroline felt there was perhaps more to it than that, but she left it alone. Sensing that the Doctor and Rory had some words to exchange, she decided to excuse herself. "Mind if I use the loo?"

"Uh, sure. Upstairs, to the right," Rory directed.

"Thanks, Mr. Williams." The Doctor stifled a snicker behind his hand, but Caroline continued up the stairs.