REFUGEES

Chapter Seventeen

The Doctor waited until the crowds around them were nearly gone before they packed up and headed back into the TARDIS.

"This…my friends and family is how one should travel," he crowed when everyone was finally inside. "No traffic, no fuss, just push a few buttons and pull a few levers…"

"And end up in the Stone Age," Donna said.

"Not always," the Doctor said while everyone laughed.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

When they got back to the storage room, they decided to let Rex stay inside the TARDIS until the personal fireworks show had ended. They took them outside to the brick patio behind the house along with the canvas chairs and the blankets. The children and teens sat on the blankets with some of the adults while Rose, John, Alicia, Ruth, Martha and Donna sat in the chairs.

The Doctor brought out the crystal and turned it on and Amy and Rory waved at everyone and wished them a happy Fourth of July.

Jim and Dan took the fireworks out to the end of the brick patio and lit them one by one, dashing away as soon as the fuse was lit. They lit fountains that threw colored sparks up into the night air while everyone ooed and awed at them. But occasionally one fountain had loud, ear-piercing shriek that went with it and the younger children covered their ears while the adults winced at the noise.

"Got any boomy ones that will scare Shelly senseless?" the Doctor teased after they lit a few firecrackers.

"Got any bottle rockets we can shove up the Doctor's bum?" Amy said.

"That wasn't nice, Pond. That's very unangelic of you," the Doctor said to her.

"I'm not an angel," Amy said, shrugging. "Angels are an entirely different species from humans, sorry."

"Well, you can refrain from saying those sorts of things anyway," the Doctor said to her.

"He still thinks I'm under his control, you notice that?" Amy said to her husband.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

"Okay, we've let off the really exciting stuff. All that's left are the snakes," Jim said to everyone when the last fountain fizzled out.

"Snakes?" the Doctor said, frowning.

Jim went inside for a moment, turned on the patio lights and he got in close to everyone as he laid four tiny black discs on the ground in front of them. He lit them until black ash began to rise up out of them in a snakelike coil. The Doctor frowned while he watched them, wrinkling his nose at the acrid smell the things were giving off. While they were doing that, Dan lit sparklers and passed them out to everyone. The Doctor finally activated his bypass system so he wouldn't smell the foul odor any longer and leaned in, waiting for the ash to do something. To his astonishment, they fizzled out after the ash grew about a foot long.

"That's it? That's rubbish," the Doctor said while everyone laughed.

"I said the most exciting ones were done with, now you get crap," Jim teased as he pointed to the ash.

"I see. Well, keep on with the crap, I'm heading inside for a pee," the Doctor said, getting up while everyone laughed harder.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

After they were done, they let Rex out of the TARDIS and debated on whether or not to go ahead and go to the house in London.

"Let's stay one more night, Daddy," Michelle said. "We can camp out down here."

Jim looked at Lori when the other children and teens echoed that sentiment.

"Everyone else okay with that?" he said.

"I think we'll go ahead and go home," Alicia said while Great Uncle Tom nodded. "I'm too old to be sleeping on the floor but I had so much fun."

"We better head home as well," Ruth said. "We're going to miss you but I suppose the Doctor could bring us all over there once in awhile."

"Doctor, would you mind taking us back to our cars now?" Ruth asked him.

"Not at all and I'll give you some more Ambrosia to take with you," the Doctor said.

"Good, I was hoping he'd offer that," Ruth said while everyone laughed.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Jim built a fire and everyone spread out blankets and sleeping bags around the sofa bed and Rose and John's bed. Wilf and Sarah Jane shared the sofa bed and Rose and John shared their bed while everyone else and Rex slept around them.

"Strange that this is our last night now," Brittany said while she lay under a blue blanket.

"Yeah, it'll be weird living in London after spending so many years in this house," Lori said while she cuddled with her husband under a blanket.

"It'll be an adventure though," Sarah Jane said to them. "There'll be lots more to do than there is here. There are more opportunities for you and the children."

"And since you're wealthy now, you can afford to live there," Martha said.

"And you'll have all of us," Jack said. "So you have friends and family readymade when you get there."

"And I'll be away traveling and laughing at you homebound lot," the Doctor said.

"Oh? Mister Domestic who keeps coming back here," Rose said to him.

"I'm observing the humans like any good alien should," the Doctor said while everyone laughed. "It's a scientific thing. You wouldn't understand," he said, waving his hand dismissively.

"So is that what I was then? A scientific observation?" Rose teased.

"Yes and your husband was what I like to call…what would happen if I had a clone? And see, I found out what would happen so there you have it."

"You're silly," Mandy said.

"No, Ps and Qs, I'm scientific, there's a difference," the Doctor said to her.

There was silence for a moment and then suddenly there was a short little fart.

"Ew, who did that?" Jack said while everyone giggled.

"I pooted," Mandy said.

"Okay, whoever is next to Ps and Qs, get out of there now before you get gassed to death!" the Doctor said while everyone laughed.

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