There was a panelled wall with a blazing fire in an ornate fireplace right in front of me. Even more surprising was the ormolu clock on the mantelpiece. I'd seen one before, in a drawing. It had been in a book about Madam De Pompadour, a woman from Versailles, France in the seventeen hundreds. Back then, before she became the King's mistress she was commonly known as Reinette Poisson.
"Well, there's something you don't see in your average spaceship," the Doctor said behind me, making me jump as he and the other two came in. "Eighteenth century. French. Nice mantle. Not a hologram. It's not even a reproduction. This actually is an eighteenth century French fireplace. Double sided. There's another room through there."
I crouched, looking through the fireplace and realised he was right, and on the other side was a young girl looking at me.
"Oh, hello," i said.
"Hello," the girl replied, causing the Doctor to drop to his knees beside me.
"What's your name?" i asked, watching her tilt her head.
"Reinette."
I felt my jaw drop, okay i had just been thinking about the woman and then there she was? What the hell? But hey at least I'd been right about the clock.
"Reinette, that's a lovely name. Can you tell me where you are at the moment, Reinette?" The Doctor asked.
"In my bedroom," the girl responded, as Rose and Mickey both crouched to have a look.
"And where's your bedroom? Where do you live, Reinette?"
"Paris, of course," i said in time with the girl, didn't he realise who she was?
"Paris, right!" he exclaimed, giving me a weird look.
"Madame, Monsieur, what are you doing in my fireplace?" Reinette asked.
"Oh, it's just a routine . . . fire check. Can you tell me what year it is?" The Doctor asked in return.
"Of course I can. Seventeen hundred and twenty seven."
"Right, lovely. One of my favourites. August is rubbish though. Stay indoors. Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for your help. Hope you enjoy the rest of the fire. Night, night."
"Goodnight Monsieur. Madame," she waved and i got to my feet with the Doctor, trying to comprehend what just happened. I moved closer to get a better look at the clock while the others spoke.
"You said this was the fifty first century," Mickey accused.
"I also said this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the universe. I think we just found the hole. Must be a spatio-temporal hyperlink."
"What's that?" i asked.
"No idea. Just made it up. Didn't want to say magic door," the Doctor said, sounding less impressive.
"And on the other side of the magic door is France in 1727?" Rose checked.
Nodding the Doctor said, "Well, she was speaking French. Right period French, too," as he moved back to take of his coat then started feeling up the fireplace.
I ignored Rose and Mickey as i stepped out of his way, then closer again. The clock was broken, but it was still beautiful. I let out a yelp as we moved, and the Doctor grinned at me, before turning me around to face Reinette's bedroom. Said girl was sleeping and the Doctor moved to the window to look at the snow falling outside. I just watched him until the girl woke with a start.
"It's okay. Don't scream. It's us. It's the fireplace people. Look. We were talking just a moment ago. We were in your fireplace," he told her, lighting a candle with his Sonic.
YOU ARE READING
The Golden Snow (RE-WRITING)
Fanfiction(UNDER EDITING) When Alex was seven years old, she was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. The reason - The Doctor. He and a woman called Red appeared before her, opened her eyes to the wonders of the universe and vanished, leaving her with broken dreams...
