REFUGEES

Chapter Ten

"Now you guys behave while we're gone," Jim said to Michelle and Brittany. "Listen to the adults and mind them."

"We will," Michelle and Brittany said in unison.

"We won't be gone long, probably a few hours," Lori said to everyone as they stood around Rose and John. "The food is ready upstairs and we made enough for everyone and made extra helpings so help yourself."

"And you behave too," Jim said, patting Rex on the head.

Tom walked over to Rose and hugged her tightly.

"Get well, Sissy," he said to her.

"I will. You have fun tonight," Rose said, rubbing his back while she hugged him.

He let go and walked around to the other side of the bed while Mandy walked up to her.

"Mind your Ps and Qs," she said sternly to her.

"Oh, will you stop that?" the Doctor said while everyone laughed. "You and your P and Q thing now. Before it was the whole break it down now song and now you're stuck on this."

Rose chuckled and hugged Mandy. She kissed her cheek and walked around to John and did the same for him. Once they were done with that, they walked back to their parents and everyone said goodbye to them while they waved and followed their parents upstairs.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"Oooh, this is gorgeous!" Rose moaned as she and John sat in bed and ate their meal. "The chicken is so tender and the potatoes are cooked just right. She is a wonderful cook."

"Yes, she is," the Doctor said while he and everyone else sat in chairs and on the sofa bed and ate.

"That enchilada thing you let me taste last night was also good," Rose said. "I wish I could have had more of that. But this is just as good. God, I want thirds and fourths and fifths on this. You had no idea the kind of slop they fed us. I wouldn't feed it to a dog," she said, glancing at Rex who was sitting by the bed watching her eat.

"Mommy is a very good cook," Michelle said as she sat with her sister and Donna on the bed.

"I'll have to tell her so when she gets back," Rose said. "If we're living with you lot for awhile, I will defiantly enjoy the food."

The Doctor looked at Amy and Rory who were now leaning back against a large tree. Or at least he assumed it was a large tree since all he could see was a wall of bark behind them. They were watching and holding hands and looked peaceful and content but the Doctor couldn't resist taking the mickey again.

"Too bad Boo and Boo the Husband can't eat with us," the Doctor said, skewering a chunk of potato on his fork and holding it up to them.

"Boo? We're not ghosts, dearest," Amy said. "Ghosts would be like that enraged Red Indian you had living in here. We are spirits and…we can do whatever we like here. We could have filet mignon a thousand times over and not get full from it. So take your smugness somewhere else, Raggedy Man."

"Mmmm," the Doctor said loudly while everyone else giggled. "Deeee-licious. Just like Rose said, so tender and juicy and it melts in your mouth."

Rory and Amy glanced at each other. Rory held up his hands and a gigantic lobster tail appeared in it that was as big as his body.

"We can make food that would make your chicken look puny and ill," Rory said while Amy nodded in agreement. "We could have a wall of chocolate and devour it and not vomit once. We are quite content to watch you feed yourselves, thanks."

The lobster tail disappeared and he put his hands back down at his side.

"You know, my love, I think the Doctor is trying to get us to come back to the Earth plane," Amy said to him.

"I think he is as well and if I hadn't crossed over, I would oblige him and haunt him wherever he went. But I crossed over and I can't come back, at least not as Rory, so I'll sit here and watch him make a fool of himself."

"What'd ya mean, not as Rory? You mean like reincarnation?" Donna said.

"Oh yes," Rory said. "There is such a thing. Of course, most people wait a century or two between lifetimes so they can have a rest and recover."

"We've had some interesting past lives," Amy said, gesturing to Rory. "We were in five past lives together which is why we were so close in this one. Probably be together in a few more eventually."

"But until then, I can't leave this plane of existence and go haunt you," Rory said to the Doctor. "Actually, I could leave temporarily to inhabit a body if I were invited to, like a trance medium letting me speak through their body. But that's exhausting, so I've heard, because you have to come down into a heavier plane and inhabit a flesh body and that sounds boring and tedious so I'll just sit here and relax."

"Coward," the Doctor said gleefully.

"Is he asking me to possess his body?" Rory said, glancing at his wife.

He looked at the Doctor who was making everyone laugh by clucking at him.

"He's asking me to possess his body, isn't he?" Rory said to his wife. "Because I need permission from the person to come into their body, right? That's how it works?"

"I believe so," Amy said. "I think you should and make him punch himself silly."

"Hmmm," Rory said, tapping his chin while he pretended to consider it. "Should I exhaust myself and expend energy and make the Doctor punch himself silly for a laugh? Hmmmm…"

"You can possess me!" Jack said to Rory.

"And do what, exactly?" Rory said.

"Believe me, Rory, you don't want to know the answer to that!" the Doctor said. "If there is a Hell, Jack could get you evicted to it, trust me," he said while Jack gave Rory a devilish grin.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

After eating, the Doctor, Jack, Donna and Brittany took everyone's plates, silverware and glasses upstairs.

"Are you feeling better?" Michelle said, walking to John's side of the bed.

"I do. That was delicious and it hit the spot," John said, patting his belly. "Best meal we had in months."

"I'll say, I think I'll just curl up with Rex and sleep now," Rose said with a sigh while she rubbed Rex's head.

"I want to be a companion someday," Michelle said to them.

"Seriously? After seeing us in this condition?" Rose said, her eyes wide.

"Nothing deters this child," Amy said. "She's heard all sorts of stories and knows all about the life of a time traveler and apparently, she still wants more. Even if you tell her your story, she'll probably still wanna do it."

"I like going places in the TARDIS," Michelle said to them.

"Where have you been?" John said.

"To London and a couple of planets."

"And did anything happen on those planets you visited?" John said.

"Nothing dangerous," Michelle said.

"I'm only asking that because it really is dangerous out there. Not all the time but it has its risks and you do see that not all aliens are friendly, yeah?" he said, pointing to his emaciated body.

"Yes but I still like traveling," Michelle said. "But I have to wait till I'm older."

"Well, thank Heavens, my older self has the sense to make her wait," John said to his wife.

"I had to wait for him," Amy said. "I met him when I was seven and I had to wait fourteen years to travel with him."

"And I had to wait fourteen years with her," Rory said. "And she was just as keen on the Doctor as Michelle is. And I had to pretend to be him when we were kids."

"Seriously?" Rose said.

"Yeah, I made up stories and we playacted and he was the Doctor," Amy said.

Rory blushed when John and Rose stared at him for a moment.

"And you willingly agreed to do this...playacting?" John finally said to him.

"Yes, because I was in love with her," Rory said, pointing to Amy. "I even went to university to try to be a proper doctor but I only made it as far as nurse before I left."

"Wow, that's dedication," Rose said while Michelle giggled. "I thought I was potty about the Doctor but you, you outdid me in my devotion, mate."

"He's a good bloke," Amy said, patting Rory's shoulder. "He's always been there for me. I have to tell you the story of how he became a Roman soldier and guarded me for a thousand years."

Rose and John looked at each other before looking at Rory in shock.

"I wanna hear the story," Michelle said, raising her hand while Rose and John continued to stare at Rory. "I wanna hear it whenever you tell it."

"Wait, are you like Jack then?" John said as Michelle put her hand down.

"No, I was an auton for awhile."

"What? How could you be an auton and then switch back?"

Rory pointed to his wife.

"It's a long story," Amy said.

"I'm with Michelle, I wanna hear it as well when you get ready to tell it," Rose said.

"Well, we could do a story swap," Amy said. "You tell us your story, we'll tell you ours."

"You got a deal," Rose said. "After telling you about us, I want to relax and just hear about something that didn't happen to me."

XOXOXOXOXOX

After doing the washing up and putting everything away, everyone came back downstairs. The Doctor walked over to John's IV tubing and pulled out the syringe with the nanomites in it.

"Thought I'd let you enjoy your meal first before doing this," he said. "I don't think there'll be any ill effects but hopefully they'll be repairing your eye while we listen to your story."

He inserted the syringe into the tubing and injected the nanomites into it.

"Rory was telling us about being an auton," Rose said to him as he took the needle out. "They're going to tell us the story about it after we're done with ours."

"Ah! The tale of Rory the Roman, perhaps that'll lighten the mood after your story. Especially since I have a feeling it'll needed to be lightened. Good luck, mate," he said, patting John's shoulder. "Let me know if you feel any odd side effects or if you feel your eye clearing up, yeah?"

John nodded and the Doctor told them to wait while he disposed of the syringe. He hurried into his TARDIS and five minutes later, he came back out and took his seat while everyone else got comfortable and waited for Rose and John to continue their story.

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