A/N - Wow. Chapter 30. Can you believe it?

The park wasn't far from Craig's flat so they walked.

Elise walked by the Doctor's side with her backpack on her back as the Doctor played around with the football in his hands. If Elise had felt comfortable speaking in front of Craig and Sophie, she would have told the Doctor to leave his jacket at home instead of wearing it over the football jersey.

It made him look weird. More than usual.

"What are you actually called? What's your proper name?" Craig asked him.

"Just call me the Doctor."

"Yeah," Sophie said.

"I can't go up to these guys and say hey, this is my new flat mate, he's called the Doctor," Craig told him.

"Why not?"

"Because it's weird. By the way, if you're called the Doctor, then how come Elise's got a normal name?"

"Because she's a child. That's why".

When they got to the pitch, one of Craig's teammates greeted them. "All right, Craig. Soph. All right, mate."

"Hello, I'm Craig's new flat mate. I'm called the Doctor," the Doctor said, giving the man air kisses.

"All right, Doctor. I'm Sean. So, where are you strongest?"

"Arms."

"No, he means what position on the field," Craig explained.

"Not sure. The front? The side? Below," the Doctor said.

"Are you any good though?" Sean asked.

The Doctor spun the football on his finger. "Let's find out." The Doctor took off his jacket and set it on the ground.

"I'll watch her. Don't worry", Sophie told him.

The Doctor kissed Elise on the head before running out onto the field.

The game seemed simple enough, although it was nothing like the games they played on Gallifrey.

Elise had no interest in watching the game so she pulled out her sketchbook and started to draw Gallifrey, specifically the silver leaves on the trees.

"That's rather good", Sophie told her, "You're like one of those child prodigies."

Needless to say, Craig's team won the match thanks to the Doctor. "

You are so on the team," Sean told him as he handed out beers, "Next week we've got the Crown and Anchor. We're going to annihilate them."

"Annihilate? No. No violence, do you understand me? Not while I'm around. Not today, not ever. I'm the Doctor, the Oncoming Storm, and you basically meant beat them in a football match, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Lovely. What sort of time?"

Craig opened his can and got sprayed with foam.

The same moment repeated again and again.

Elise and the Doctor stepped away from the group and the Doctor pressed a button on his earpiece as he started to talk to Amy.

"Amy? Amy? What does the scanner say? Yes, yes, it's, it's good. Zigzag plotter. Zigzag plotter, Amy. Amy? Are you there? Amy?"

The Doctor paused and Elise started to worry for their ginger friend.

"Oh, thank heavens. I thought for a moment the TARDIS had been flung off into the vortex with you inside it, lost forever. How are the numbers?"

The scene behind them stopped repeating.

"Fives? Even better. Still, it means the effect's almost unbelievably powerful and dangerous, but don't worry. Hang on, okay? I've got some rewiring to do."

They made their way back over to the group.

"Sorry about that. Important phone call", the Doctor said.

"No worries, mate", Craig said, "Well I'm going to head back".

"I think me and Elise are going to stay for a little while". The Doctor took the football from Craig.

"Okay, see you at home then", Craig said and the team left.

The Doctor took off his jacket and led Elise onto the pitch. He placed the football in front of her and then walked a few feet away.

Elise stared down at the ball.

"C'mon, Ellie. Just kick it over to me", he told her.

Elise tried her hardest to kick the ball but it barely moved. Tears filled her eyes as she sat down with her arms crossed.

The Doctor laughed quietly to himself and walked over to her. "Aww, Elise. It's okay", he said, rubbing her back. He picked her up and set her on her feet. "C'mon, try it again", he told her.

She kicked the ball again and it moved a little further.

"It's too big, isn't it? Tell you what, when we get Amy back we'll get a child sized ball and we can practice with that, okay? Why don't we go play on the playground instead?" he suggested.

They stayed at the playground until Elise tired herself out.

The Doctor carried her home and put her to bed while he worked on his device.

When Elise woke up, the Doctor was nowhere to be seen. She panicked and was about to start screaming for him when she heard voices coming from the living room. Elise got out of bed and padded into the living room.

"Oh, hey there", the Doctor said, smiling at her.

Elise walked to him and he picked her up, placing her in his lap as he worked on the mess of wires around his neck.

"We didn't wake her, did we?" Sophie asked.

Elise shook her head.

"She fell asleep after we went to the park."

"How will she sleep tonight?"

"Probably won't".

"She's not on a schedule or anything?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I let her do what she wants. Bolsters creativity".

Elise hated it when adults talked about her like she wasn't in the room at all.

"Like I was saying, life can seem pointless, you know, Doctor. Work, weekend, work, weekend. And there's six billion people on the planet doing pretty much the same," Sophie said.

"Six billion people. Watching you two at work, I'm starting to wonder where they all come from," the Doctor commented.

"Huh? What do you mean by that?"

"So then, the call center. That's no good, then. What do you really want to do?"

"Don't laugh. I only ever told Craig about it. I want to work looking after animals. Maybe abroad? I saw this orangutan sanctuary on telly."

"What's stopping you?"

"She can't. You need loads of qualifications," Craig told him.

"Yeah, true," Sophie said, "Plus it's scary. Everyone I know lives round here. Like, Craig got offered a job in London. Better money. He didn't take it."

"What's wrong with staying here? I can't see the point of London."

"Well, perhaps that's you, then. Perhaps you'll just have to stay here, secure and a little bit miserable, till the day you drop. Better than trying and failing, eh?" the Doctor asked.

"You think I'd fail?"

"Everybody's got dreams, Sophie. Very few are going to achieve them, so why pretend?" The Doctor took a drink of his wine and then spit it back into the glass. "Perhaps, in the whole wide universe, a call center about is where you should be."

"Why are you saying that? That's horrible."

"Is it true?"

"Of course it's not true. I'm not staying in a call center all my life. I can do anything I want!"

The Doctor smiled. She played right into his hands.

Sophie smiled back, realizing what he had just done. "Oh, yeah. Right. Oh, my God. Did you see what he just did?"

"No, sorry, what's happening? Are you going to live with monkeys now?" Craig asked.

"It's a big old world, Sophie. Work out what's really keeping you here, eh?" the Doctor told her.

"I don't know. I don't know," she said.

Craig walked Sophie out to say goodbye while Elise and the Doctor went back to their room.

He put the finishing touches on his machine. "Right. Shield's up. Let's scan," he said. He started to spin it. The Doctor had his earpiece in, so once again Elise could only hear half the conversation.

"Upstairs. No traces of high technology. Totally..." He ran over to check the readings. "Normal? No, no, no, no, no, it can't be. It's too normal. Without knowing and get myself killed? Then you really are lost. If I could just get a look in there. Hold on. Use the data bank. Get me the plans of this building. I want to know its history, the layout, everything. Meanwhile, I shall recruit a spy."

The next morning, the Doctor got up and made breakfast.

After he and Elise had eaten, he loaded up a breakfast tray and carried it to Craig's room.

"Craig? Craig? Breakfast. It's normal. Craig?"

They entered his bedroom to find Craig still in bed.

The Doctor ran over to Craig and set the tray down on the bed. "Craig. Craig, Craig, Craig. I told you not to touch it!" He grabbed Craig's arm that had a nasty looking line going up it. "Look, what's that? It's an unfamiliar and obviously poisonous substance. Oh, I know what'd be really clever, I'll stick my hand in it. Come on, Craig, breathe." The Doctor slammed his fist down onto Craig's chest.

Craig sat up and gasped.

"Come on, Craig, breathe. Thems are healthy footballer's lungs." The Doctor grabbed the teapot and ran out of the room.

Elise wished she was older so she could help.

The Doctor ran back in and poured the tea into Craig's mouth, straight from the teapot.

"I've got to go to work," Craig told him.

"On no account. You need rest. One more."

"It's the planning meeting. It's important."

"You're important. You're going to be fine, Craig." The Doctor jumped up from the bed. "Come along, Elise". He took her hand and they went to the call center.

"Doctor! Elise!" Sophie said, "What are you doing here?"

"Craig wasn't feeling well, so he asked me to come instead".

"Oh, well his desk is over there. Do you need me to get you a babysitter for Elise?" the Doctor waved his hand dismissively.

"No. Elise will be fine as long as she has her sketchbook. You won't even know she's here".

Around 2:00 pm, Craig came running into the office.

"Oh, afternoon," his manager said.

"I'm so sorry, Michael. I don't know what happened. I've got no excuse."

"I think that's not what my screen is telling me, Mister Lang," the Doctor said, popping up from under his desk.

"What's he doing here? What are you doing here?" Craig asked.

"If that's your attitude, Mister Lang, please take your custom elsewhere."

"No, no, no, that's one of my best clients!"

"Hello, Craig. How are you feeling? Had some time to kill. I was curious. Never worked in an office. Never worked in anywhere."

"You're insane!"

"Leave off the Doctor. I love the Doctor. He was brilliant in the planning meeting," his manager said.

"You went to the planning meeting?" Craig asked.

"Yes. I was your representative. We don't need Mister Lang any more. Rude Mister Lang."

Sophie came over with a plate and a mug. "Here you go, and I found some custard creams," she said, "Can I get Ellie anything?"

"Sophie, my hero," the Doctor said, handing one of the biscuits off to Elise.

Elise tucked it away in her backpack for later.

"Hi, Craig. I went on the web, applied for a wildlife charity thing. They said I could always start as a volunteer straight away. Should I do it?" Sophie asked him.

"Yeah, great. Yeah, good. Go for it."

"You look awful. About turn. Bed. Now," the Doctor told Craig, "Who next? Oh, yes. Hello, Mister Joergensen. Can you hold? I have to eat a biscuit."