Bad Wolf (Entry One of The Diaries of a Teenage Time Lady)

A Family Outing

Dear God, I had SO much fun writing this! :D This was great. Anna's cuteness and the adults being amused . . . what wasn't to like?

Also, if there are any English out here, let me know if I messed wording up somewhere.

***

"Here we are," Rose smiled, sitting down at the table the Doctor and Anna had sat down at close to the fountain in the square. "Two baskets, one with practically everything on it, the other plain." She gave the Doctor a disappointed look as Anna inspected both. "I can't believe you haven't dropped by a chippy for her."

"We've been busy!" he protested.

"You have a time machine," she reminded him. "You could've dropped down anywhere!"

"Why do they put this - " Anna held up a chip and made a face as the chili on top fell back into the basket. " - on your chips?"

"It's a learning experience," Rose took one of the plain ones and took a bite. "When the Doctor said you'd never had chips before, I got them both."

"And you went bonkers," the Doctor rolled his eyes, keeping his chips loaded.

"How could you sound like you're from the North, and you've never taken her for chips?" Rose raised an eyebrow at him as Anna took a bite. Her eyes lit up, and she finished her chip quickly. "How long've you two been running around on your own?"

Both Time Lords instantly stopped and looked at each other before turning to Rose. "Oh," she realized what she said too late, and she blushed. "Sorry. That wasn't what I meant it to sound like."

"Been a while," the Doctor allowed, looking at his daughter, who fidgeted in her chair. "Only a handful of my trips have been to Earth, and most of the time - "

"It's too dangerous," Rose guessed.

"Well . . . yeah," the Doctor admitted.

"What are these?" Anna inspected the packets Rose had also taken.

"Ah," Rose smiled, picking up one. "They're called condiments - "

"What?"

"You'll learn," Rose promised. "Look, these go with the plain ones. That's part of why I got them. Er . . . napkins," she looked around, then took one from under the Doctor's basket. Since he'd decided to take the loaded chips, Rose was glad she'd decided to get a larger basket of the plain chips. "Right. This is what I like with my chips," she opened one of the packets and squeezed its contents onto the napkin. "Have you had ketchup?"

" . . . catchup?" Anna tried to say it.

The Doctor grinned at her attempt. "Instead of catch," Rose tried to teach her, "it sounds like the beginning of keg. Take that sound, and finish it up."

"Ketchup?" she repeated timidly.

"Exactly," Rose nodded, beaming at her. "It tastes slightly like tomatoes, but it goes great with chips. Just do this." She took one of the smaller chips, dipped it into the ketchup, then popped it into her mouth. "See?"

Anna followed her lead, chewing slowly. Her eyes immediately brightened, and she grinned. "That's good!"

"Have at it," Rose patted her hand, giving her that napkin and opening another packet of ketchup for herself. "You see, this is why you need to take her out more, Doctor," she teased the older Time Lord as he took a drink. "If you're going around Earth so much, she needs to learn more about it."

"You did just fine teaching her now," the Doctor shrugged. "Learning experiences."

"OK," Rose said simply.

" . . . what?" the Doctor blinked.

"I can teach her," Rose looked at Anna, who looked up from taking a bite. "You can teach us about where we go," she told the Doctor. "And during breaks in between, I can teach Anna how to interact on Earth."

"Please?" Anna turned to the Doctor with puppy dog eyes.

The Doctor groaned. "Oh, you didn't need to use those!"

"But then I know you would say yes!"

Rose laughed at the exasperated look on the Doctor's face. "Is that a yes, then?" she asked sweetly.

"Yes, you can teach her," the Doctor rolled his eyes, but he smiled at Anna's excited squeal. "Try and explain ketchup's best friend to her."

"What is it?" Anna frowned. "Dropdown?"

That made both the Doctor and Rose laugh. "No," Rose shook her head with a smile. "No, nowhere close, unfortunately."

"Then what is it?"

"All right," Rose rubbed her hands together. "Doctor, next trip, burger joint."

"I'll put it on the list," the Doctor promised.

"This," Rose smiled at Anna, "is going to be fun."

"All right, finish those up," the Doctor nodded to their basket, "then we're off again."

"Where to this time?" Rose asked.

"No idea," he grinned. "That's the fun of it."

"It's true," Anna nodded. "He sets it to random so many times."

"Please have an idea on where to go this time," Rose told the Doctor. "And no time around when the Sun expands."

"Gotcha," the Doctor promised. "And when you're done, we'll go."

The girls grinned and started eating again as the Doctor cleaned up his part of the table. As he walked to a rubbish can and looked back, he smiled, watching Rose interact with his daughter. Rose was pointing out different parts of the square, Anna nodded and asking the occasional question. He had been right to go back and ask Rose a second time.

From the looks of it, the blonde was happy about it, too.

***

Oh, yes, I am going to have so much fun with series. :)

We'll get "The Unquiet Dead" soon!