belle, doctor who

seven

The TARDIS parks in the same place it was in 2030. The air felt different, but Belle didn't care as she was back home again. She had asked the Doctor to take her home even though they were just starting to become friends.

"Thank you," Belle tells him as he stands inside the TARDIS and she's outside.

"Haven't been here in ages," the Doctor steps out, looking around the place. Donna wants to come out. The Doctor tells her 'no.'

"Why not? I would like to see where my best friend lives," Donna tells him. "Twenty thirty," she says, "that's... twenty four years from two thousand six."

"I was born in two thousand five," Belle says out loud. "So you'd be... how old?"

"Oi," Donna says, "I don't wanna think about how old I'll be. I'll still be traveling with this one, won't I?" She nudges the Doctor. He gives a nervous laugh.

"I guess this is a goodbye then," Belle says as she stands in front of the two. She hugs Donna first.

"Thanks for helping me out," she whispers to her as they have a long hug. "I really appreciate it. Tell Wilf I said hello from 2030 if you see him."

"Of course I will," Donna says as they pull away. "Though you should visit him yourself sometime."

Belle doesn't say anything because she doesn't know if Wilf would still be alive in twenty thirty. She turns to the Doctor instead. She gives him a hand shake.

"Though I'm still a little angry at you for doing that," she says, "it was an honor to meet you and become friends."

"You'll get over it," the Doctor tells her. She nods.

"I know. Now that I'm home, everything will be okay."

Or so she hoped.

"Oh! Here's the phone number if you need to call us," the Doctor says, handing her a quick note. She realized she didn't have her phone with her. She left it at Donna's before she headed over with her to Adipose Industries.

"I don't have my phone!" Belle groaned. "Now what will I tell Mav and Kaden?"

"... who?" the Doctor asks.

"Her friend and her brother, idiot," Donna says. "Don't worry. I'll try to get it back. Wilf will keep it safe."

Belle nods. "Thanks," she says.

•••

She headed into her apartment with a smile on her face. She heard something drop as she tried looking around.

"I'm home!" she announces. "Don't worry... I–"

"Where the HELL have you been?" shouted Maverick as she noticed how different her apartment looked. It looked like a madhouse. Everything was all over the place, and not as clean as she had it before. She gasps as he comes over with raging eyes.

"Traveling?!" Maverick says, grabbing a note on the refrigerator after running over to where she was. She backs up.

A note says, Will be out for a while! Sorry for the inconvenience. Might be back in a few months. Traveling with new friends.

"Traveling for six months without-without... without telling me first?! You gave me a heart attack, Belle!"

"Belle!" she heard a tiny voice say. Her baby brother, Kaden.

"Kaden!" she squealed, ignoring Maverick's rage. She picks the little kid up, ruffling his long hair that she hadn't seen in a month.

Maverick takes him away from her. "No," he says with fury. "You don't get to hold Kaden after you... you..."

"Alright," Belle huffs, taking a deep breath. "I'm not a kid anymore, Mav!" she shouts at him. "I can do whatever I want, and I want to... want to travel with friends!"

"You're living under MY care," Maverick says, "because of your brother. Your parents wanted me to take care of the both of you. You used to help pay for the rent. I almost lost this apartment because you left. Because you decided to... to travel with friends!"

He gets angrier. She is scared now, and backs away even more.

"Mav," Kaden yells, "please let her go," he whimpers. Even he knew this wasn't good. The ten year old wanted Maverick to stop.

"You are grounded," Maverick says, his voice calming down, breathing heavily as Kaden wraps his arms around Belle's legs. "You'll be cleaning this house for a week, and you will not go anywhere else until it's done. The people at your job have given your stuff to me, and I gave it away. You were fired from your job because of not letting them know where you went. No extra notes about anything. You only left this one."

Belle sighs as she feels tears coming to her eyes. She looks down at Kaden who is looking up at her. She ruffles his hair. "Alright buddy," she says, "I'm going to clean up this house for the two of you. Are you okay with that?"

"I want to help," Kaden tells her.

"You're not helping," Maverick tells him. "We have to prepare for your birthday party that's coming in a few days."

"Birthday?" Belle asks. She totally forgot it's been six months. It was only a month for her, but six months for them. It's been longer for them.

"Yes. Where've you been? Oh wait, I'm traveling for six months!"

"Thanks for coming back before my birthday," Kaden tells her. "I was hoping you'd come back."

"Me too kiddo," she told him. "I just missed you too much."

•••

It had been a few days and Belle was slowly finishing up cleaning the house. She just had a few more things to do before Maverick and Kaden went to his birthday party. She was exhausted already.

"Can I go to Kaden's birthday party?" Belle asks Maverick as she sees him shaved and clean. Maverick shakes his head.

"No," he says. She frowns, tears forming in her eyes. "I was actually going to give you something to do while we were away."

"And that is...?"

"First, I want you to complete the taxes since it's Sunday," he tells her. "Then, I want you to go to the grocery store. There will be no talking to anyone while you're in the store. You get what I give you on the list and you will come out with what was on that list. If you can't find anything, it won't matter. You can just try to get it in the next few days."

Belle doesn't say anything as he hands her a list.

"We're leaving right now," says Maverick. "Kaden!"

"What?!" Kaden yells from the top of the stairs. "I'm getting there!"

Belle sighs. She wishes she could go and support Kaden, but Maverick doesn't want her to come and talk to people because of how mad he is. It's been five days and he still is mad.

Maverick realizes he forgot something to give Belle. His hair flops as he runs to the pile of mail.

"Someone must've dropped it off at our mailbox," Maverick says as she is handed the envelope, "because it doesn't have a return address. It says, 'TARDIS' at the corner, but there's also no stamp."

Belle gasps as she sees the 'TARDIS's' name on the corner. Maverick looks at her curiously.

"What?" He asks as she turns around. He tries to grab the letter back from her. She hisses at him.

"It's for me only," she tells him. "If you didn't notice, the envelope has my name with a lowercase 'b.'"

She looks down at the card again. She was correct. It did have a lowercase b, but she did notice it was spelled out as: "belle,". 'belle' with a comma.

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Omg. The suspense is killing me. Thank you so much for 100 reads already! I hope you're enjoying it so far. Comment how you feel about it!

Now for the exciting part! This next chapter will still be an original one. I will let you know when it will not be!

<3 Liv