My Hope (Doctor Who x reader)

7: Empty Sounds a Little Dramatic

Nancy grabbed their plates from right in front of them with a bothered expression. The Doctor looked a bit shocked, as if he was actually eating the food to begin with. Y/n was a bit disappointed—she enjoyed meals she didn't have to cook much more—but didn't protest.

"What was that for?" the Doctor asked, almost offended.

"You took two," Nancy replied, referring to the slices of ham. Y/n vaguely recalled her telling the kids to only take one slice each when they walked in. She thought it was only fair, if not a little funny, that Nancy took the Doctor's plate away. "No blondes, no flags. Anything else before you two leave?"

"Yeah, actually." Y/n made faces at the boy across from her, trying to make him laugh. She didn't feel the need to participate in the conversation, or even to fully listen. "Thanks for asking. There's something i've been looking for; would have fallen from the sky about a month ago. Not a bomb, or not the usual kind, anyway. It wouldn't have exploded." He grabbed a pen from his pocket and a spare napkin scribbling a shape onto it. "Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere. Looked something like this." He held up the napkin to show a messy drawing of just a tube. Y/n had to look away to avoid laughing at the entire situation.

There was a knock at the door before anyone could say something. Nancy tensed up instantly and began gathering her things. "Mummy?" It was the voice from the call. "Are you in there? Mummy?" The two time travellers stood up and looked through the window toward where the voice came from. It was a young boy, no older than seven, with a gas mask on and messy hair. He called out again, "Mummy?"

"Who was the last one in?" Nancy asked, somehow more serious than she had been during dinner. One of the boys said it was him. "Did you close the door?" He avoided the question a bit, unsure if he did or not. "Did you close the door?"

"Mummy?" He started knocking. "Mummy?" Nancy rushed through the hallway and latched the door shut, double checking to make sure there wasn't a way in. The Doctor walked in behind her, raising an eyebrow at the drastic reaction. "Mummy?"

"What's this about, then? It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold."

"Oh, and I suppose you'd know."

"I do, actually, yes."

"It's not exactly a child," Nancy said, looking a bit grim. She went back to the dining room and rushed the kids to get up and out of their seats. The small girl that was playing tic-tac-toe on a napkin with Y/n and the Doctor's forgotten pen looked a bit disappointed, but more-so spooked. "Everybody out. Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Move!"

They all grabbed their coats and listened, the oldest one holding the torn bit of the chainlink fence up for the younger ones. The little girl next to Y/n looked unsure of what was going on and what to do. She had her coat in her hands but was still seated, looking around the room with a concerned and confused look only a four year old could have. Y/n helped her to her feet.

"C'mon, out you go. You've got to leave with the others, alright? It's just like a game. Like chasing or tag! Go on, alright? I'll visit you again soon, and Nancy and the others will be right with you. Go!" Y/n helped the girl get her arms through her coat as she spoke, smiling at her. She was probably more clueless on the situation than the child was, but that was no excuse to not help out. Nancy was clearly concerned, and therefore Y/n was going to help how she could. The little girl rushed out to catch up with the older kids.

The Doctor was still by the door, confused by the boy in the gas mask. "Mummy?" the little boy asked again, "Please let me in, mummy. Please let me in." A small hand popped in through the mail slot. The Doctor took note of the wound on the back of the hand, reaching out carefully. Before he could make contact, however, a case smashed against the door. The hand withdrew and he looked back to see Nancy with a worried and stern expression.

"You mustn't let him touch you!"

"What happens if he touches me?"

Nancy took a deep breath. Whatever her association with this child was, it was clearly one that she didn't want to think about. She was tense and stood with a defensive posture, shoulders more squared than would be comfortable. "He'll make you like him."

"And what's he like?"

She turned her body a bit. "I've got to go." The Doctor didn't want her to leave quite yet, though.

"Nancy, what's he like?"

She paused. "He's empty." Y/n wandered back into the hallway in time to overhear, and briefly thought that felt a bit dramatic. She brushed off that thought quickly and focused instead on the now ringing phone. "It's him," Nancy told them. "He can make phones ring. Just like with that police box you saw."

The Doctor partially ignored her warnings and ominous revelations about the boy and answered the phone. "Hello?" The phone crackled just like before.

"Are you my mummy?"

Nancy snatched the phone and put it back on the hook, clearly paranoid. It didn't help; the radio in the living room started to crackle just as the phone did. It came to life suddenly with a staticky voice, repeating, "Mummy? Please let me in, mummy." A toy monkey started to act up after a second when nobody spoke back. "Mummy. Mummy. Mummy."

"You can stay if you want to," Nancy finally spoke again, implying a silent 'but I most certainly will not.' She left through the back door just like the others and met up with them on the other side of the fence. Y/n watched them run off until they were out of sight. She turned her head back to see the Doctor at the front door again. The boy was sticking his hand through the mail slot again. The Doctor lifted his hand, a bit too close for comfort, so Y/n grabbed his wrist and moved it further away. He nodded at her in thanks, but she was already crouched beside him and occupying herself with studying the scar on the child's hand.

It wasn't an open wound, but it looked somehow recent and weeks old at the same time. There was something else off about it, too, but she couldn't quite pin it exactly. The shape was a bit odd, but plenty of things could cause a y-shaped injury. It didn't look infected at all, either. In fact... how was it not infected? It didn't seem to have been wrapped or cleaned at all, from what Y/n could tell, but there wasn't even a slight amount of swelling to it and skin around it wasn't red. She sat back on her heels as she thought, ignoring everything the Doctor and the child said. How could a would be fresh and old, untreated and uninfected? It looked almost like that's how the boy was supposed to be. Wait. Hold on–

"Okay, I'm opening the door."

Y/n was promptly distracted from her train of thought at that, standing up. The injured hand retreated back through the mail slot again and the Doctor stood as well, slowly unlatching the door. He opened it, but nobody was there. The street was completely empty. He stuck his head out the door and looked around just in case, but saw nothing.

"He's not there."

"Yes, Doctor, I can see that."

"We should follow Nancy, don't you agree?"

Y/n had a strange feeling in her throat at that, and wasn't sure what to do. "You can," she settled on, "I'm sure we'll bump into each other again before this is figured out." The idea of companionship was a bit hot in her head and made her a bit uncomfortable or confused—though she wasn't terribly sure which. It was the way he phrased that, she thought, that felt so weird to her. We should go, he had said. Not an 'I should go, and you're invited,' no, she was part of the initial plan.

The Doctor nodded and double checked she was sure before bidding a temporary farewell and parting ways. He felt like things were goin well up until then, but wasn't sure what he did wrong. Sure, he wasn't making much small talk with her (and in retrospect he sort of regretted that), but he felt as though they were getting along tremendously for someone who hated his guts. He was even a bit shocked by how well they got along. She even laughed at some of his jokes and quips. She... was confusing, was his final analysis, before focusing his thoughts on Nancy and the so called empty child. She could plague his mind another time.