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Title - A Tea Party (1/1) Author - Rating - General Characters - Ten, Rose, OCs Spoilers - Through the end of S2 Disclaimer - I don't own them and I don't make money off of them, but I don't like to dwell on that, so let's move on. (Except for the kids. They're all mine.) Summary - A typical day in the TARDIS nursery. Author's Notes -  jlrpuckkeeps me organized when I have no idea whether I'm coming or going. For beta-ing even when I haven't time to breathe, I thank her. The original story request came from Kristin. Thanks also to bouncy_castle79 for the read-through. The gorgeous icon was created by swankkatfor me, commissioned by jlrpuckfor my birthday. The things one did for sisters. Bremsstrahlung Jack Tyler, who was all of seven years old, estimated he was having the 1,372nd tea party of his young life. He wasn’t sure whether to count the tea party that had been interrupted by the TARDIS abruptly crash-landing into the middle of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, and that had been resumed only after their father had insisted on introducing them to Woodrow Wilson, as one tea party or two. So possibly it was his 1,373rd tea party. Either way, he was heartily sick of tea parties. But here he was, locked in the nursery with his sisters, and the TARDIS wouldn’t let him out to get his sonic screwdriver, which he’d left in the library, and so he had been roped into another tea party. “Ten sugars for Brem,” said Athena, counting out ten imaginary sugars from the sugar bowl. Brem glowered at her. “…Nine, ten,” finished Fortuna, watching her older sister raptly. “There you are, Brem.” Athena beamed at him, as she nudged his empty teacup toward him. “Thank you, Theenie,” he sighed, obediently. Athena moved on to the teddy bear who was sitting next to him, Polly, short for Polimistira, the planet where she had been purchased. “Polly takes eleven sugars,” Fortuna said, knowledgeably, pushing a wisp of fine, blonde hair back off her forehead. “…Five, six, seven…” Athena counted out the sugars. Brem sighed again. “What’s the point of tea?” he asked. Athena and Fortuna gasped and looked at him. “What?” “What’s the point? We’re not actually drinking anything. We’re just…sitting here holding empty cups.” Athena and Fortuna continued to gape at him. Finally, Fortuna said, primly, parroting her father, “Tea is a sign of civilization. All great societies drink tea.” “But there isn’t any tea!” Brem, to prove his point, tipped his teacup over and shook it. Athena gave him a heavy sigh that sounded like the heavy sighs Mum sometimes gave Dad when she was refusing to understand his explanation for why they simply couldn’t stop at Grandma’s just now. “It must be sad to be a boy,” she said. “It really isn’t,” said Brem. Fortuna settled her chin on her little fist and looked at him frankly. “Are you sad not to have long hair?” Brem sighed and sipped his imaginary tea, because it was just easier. Then the door opened, and their parents walked in. “Oh,” said their father, pleasantly. “You’re having a tea party. Where are you off to?” he added, because Brem was trying to escape the room. “I am going to get my sonic,” said Brem. “The girls are crazy. They are sipping imaginary tea. They never get tired of sipping imaginary tea.” “Aw, Brem,” said his mother, smiling at him, and ruffled his hair. His father, however, frowned at him. “Tea,” he announced, grandly, “is a sign of civilization. All great societies drink tea.” “I told him that!” exclaimed Fortuna. “Dad,” said Brem, patiently. “There is no tea.” “Mum,” said Athena. “Can we play dress-up in the wardrobe?” “As good a plan as any,” replied Mum. “I’m going to get my sonic,” said Brem. “Hold on a second,” said his father. “Don’t you want to play dress-up in the wardrobe?” Sometimes his father was absolutely daft. “Not particularly,” he said. “I think you should play dress-up in the wardrobe. I don’t want to encourage this sexist sort of attitude where you don’t like tea parties and dress-up.” “Do you like tea parties and dress-up?” “Love-love-love them. Let’s all go play dress-up in the TARDIS.” ******** When his daughters had said “dress-up,” he thought they meant, well, not this. He’d thought maybe he’d don a tuxedo. Or one of his old scarves. Even a velvet coat. He’d worn some dramatic things in his day. He was not opposed to the idea of “dressing up,” and Brem’s distaste for it had alarmed him. Clearly Brem had been right. This was not dressing up, this was…horrifying. The girls giggled as they pulled out the most atrocious things for him, wrapping him in this pink tulle concoction that he could not believe the TARDIS has even set out, and he was furious with the TARDIS for it. Then they sat him down and began to tug their hands through his hair, styling it this way and that. “When we’re done with your hair,” said Athena, “we can have a real tea party. Can we have a real tea party, Mum?” “Oh, absolutely,” said Rose, sounding as if she could think of nothing more delightful to do. The Doctor frowned at her, but Rose exited, on her way to making the tea tray. “Oh, Theenie,” said Fortuna, reverently, crawling out from underneath a rack of evening gowns. “Look.” She held up a winking tiara. The Doctor stared. What could they possibly plan on doing with that? “Oh, Fort!” cried Athena, in the same rapturous tone. “It’s perfect.” “Er, perfect for what?” asked the Doctor. Athena took the tiara out of Fortuna’s hands and placed it on the Doctor’s head. Fortuna clapped her hands in delight. “Daddy! You look beautiful.” “You do,” said Brem, his voice choked with amusement. The Doctor shot him a glare. He was watching the proceedings with folded arms and a great deal of smugness. No seven-year-old should be that smug, he thought. “And there were enough little crowns for all of us!” cried Fortuna, running back to the stash she’d apparently discovered. The smugness faded from Brem’s face. “It’s a tiara,” said the Doctor, now amused. “And I would love to have a tea party with you while wearing this lovely tiara but I just remembered that if I don’t recalibrate the gyllyjum, we might drift out of the Vortex.” “What?” said Brem, as the Doctor placed his tiara on Brem’s head and winked at him. “There is nothing wrong with the TARDIS!” Brem protested. “And if I have to wear a tiara, you should have to wear a tiara!” “I’m not aware of that rule,” said the Doctor, making his escape. “This was your idea!” Brem called after him, in frustration, as his sisters found more pink tulle. The Doctor shed his pink tulle on the way to the console room, and disappeared happily under the controls. He discovered that, for once, the TARDIS had absolutely nothing that could be tinkered with. The Doctor was frowning at the utter lack of cooperation from his ship when Rose’s voice said, “You’re a coward.” “I’m a what?” He affected indignation. “That’s unfair.” “Come out from under there,” said Rose. “I’m trying to do something very important.” “Brem says there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the TARDIS.” “Oh, really? And who do you believe?” “Brem.” “That hurts, Rose. I’m wounded.” “So, you know, today? When we were on that planet? And I bought that outfit?” said Rose, casually. “The thing was, I was going to wear that outfit. At some point.” “Soon?” asked the Doctor, hopefully. “No, maybe not ever, now.” “Rooooooose,” he complained, and stuck his head out from under the console. Rose handed him his tiara. “You were the one that wanted to play dress-up.” “I thought they meant, I don’t know, formalwear or something.” “Come have tea,” said Rose, and turned on her heel and walked away. The Doctor sighed, but donned his tiara and walked glumly into the kitchen. And when he sat down, his daughters beamed with such pleasure that he felt uncomfortably guilty for having ducked out on them. He reached for his tea and looked at Brem. “At least the tea is real,” Brem told him. “You should do this with the imaginary tea. It’s dull.” “Daddy,” said Athena. “Where is your pink cape?” “Oh, I…lost it—” “Right here,” said Rose, wrapping the pink tulle around his shoulders again. “Ah,” said the Doctor. “Excellent. You found it.” Rose grinned at him. “And my, don’t Brem and Daddy look handsome in their pink capes?” Athena and Fortuna nodded wisely in tandem. |
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