The night had turned into early morning, and after Caroline and Phil had given their statements to the police, they had been allowed to go home.
Phil had offered Caroline his bed whilst he slept downstairs. They had managed to sneak in past his mum, but getting out the following morning would be another matter.
Caroline lay there for a long, long time, wondering what had happened to those poor people on the dance floor. It had had something to do with Lee and something to do with Town FM and she was determined to get to the bottom of it, but she needed the Doctor’s help. He was the expert on things like this and she wasn’t too keen on getting involved without him by her side. She already felt bad for running out on him and then staying out all night. He and Danny would be getting worried.
As soon as it was light she left a note for the still-sleeping Phil and quietly made her way out of the house.
She made her way down Devonshire Ave with it’s large, grand houses all with their curtains closed to the early morning light. The leafy avenue shielded her from the little sprinkling of rain that had started to fall.
Eventually she turned into Weelsby Road and made her way down Farebrother Street and towards town. She’d go back to the TARDIS and wait there.
Back at the TARDIS the Doctor hadn’t slept. He had something on his mind and he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He had accessed the TARDIS databanks and was busy looking up information on the time period when he had a thought. A thought that maybe he should leave well alone.
He could find out some answers for Caroline. It wouldn’t have to involve her, but he could at least try and visit her parents and discover some answers. As long as the younger, fifteen year old Caroline didn’t see him, it’d be ok.
But it was a risk.
He continued to stare at the screen which showed the address of the Parker residence, when there was a knock on the TARDIS door.
Outside, the Doctor opened the door, and standing there, in the cold-grey morning light, was Sophie.
‘Good morning,’ said the Doctor, unsure of whether to smile or be surprised.
‘Hey,’ said Sophie, a little nervously. ‘I…I know it’s early, but I couldn’t sleep.’
‘Me neither.’
‘So I thought I’d pop round and ask if you’d care for some breakfast.’
‘Absolutely,’ said the Doctor, grabbing his coat and putting it on. ‘Where do you suggest?’ he asked, locking up the TARDIS.
‘There’s a café just around the corner. They opened about ten minutes ago.’
‘Sounds good to me.’
They made their way past the bus station and river and arrived at “Sam’s Café” on the corner of Town Hall Street and Victoria Street.
They entered and the Doctor ordered them two full English breakfasts and two mugs of tea. The Doctor fiddled around in his pockets and brought out a whole array of different coinage (including what looked like a cat’s toy mouse) until Sophie ushered him away and paid for it herself.
‘Sophie,’ said the Doctor, slurping on his steaming hot tea, ‘I was wondering if you could help me out with something.’
‘Sure,’ said Sophie.
‘I know you want to write this piece on me, but I’ve been giving it a lot of thought. I’m not sure if I want my entire life broadcast across the national newspapers.’
‘Okay,’ said Sophie slowly, sounding a little disappointed. ‘You were all for it last night.’
‘I’ve had a good think though and I reckon, rather than doing a piece on me, you should do a piece on how people can be more open to what’s around them. List invasions and aliens, but maybe keep me out of it.’
‘But people need to know your story.’
‘They really, really don’t,’ said the Doctor, trying to let her down as gently as possible. ‘What they need is help.’
Sophie smiled, a little sadly. ‘I guess you’re right. We don’t want millions of people trying to track you down.’
The Doctor laughed. ‘Thank you.’ He took a bite of a sausage. ‘And there’s another thing.’
‘Go on,’ said Sophie, a tomato hovering near to her mouth.
‘I was wondering if you could come with me. I need to go and see a Mr and Mrs Parker on St. Augustine’s Avenue.’
‘Sure,’ said Sophie, ‘but who are they?’
‘My companion, Caroline, is fifteen in this time. She has some sort of hidden powers and so far I’ve been unable to return her to her own time. She needs some answers and the only way I’m going to get them is by secretly going to see her parents.’
‘Sounds a bit risky to me,’ said Sophie. ‘What if her younger self sees you?’
‘Caroline once told me that she used to go to guitar lessons every Saturday morning.’ The Doctor checked his watch. ‘She should be leaving in about 45 minutes.’
‘That’s a bit of a risk though.’
‘I checked the database. Caroline’s guitar school is open today and she’s pencilled in for a session.’
‘Your TARDIS can do all of that?’
The Doctor looked pleased and proud.
‘And you want me to go along so…?’
‘For a bit of support. They seem to be a very private couple. They have decent jobs, but don’t mix with the neighbours. They keep out of trouble. If Caroline really does have some hidden power, then they may be a little nervous about talking to anyone about their daughter.’
Sophie nodded. ‘Okay. We’ll go find these Parkers, and then we’ll do my article. Deal?’
‘Deal,’ agreed the Doctor, smiling.
Back towards the TARDIS, Caroline had just arrived. She unlocked the time machine and went inside. The place was in darkness but soon grew lighter once she stepped inside.
‘Doctor!’ she called out. No reply. ‘Danny? Anyone here?’ Still not reply.
She sighed and sat down on the sofa. It looked like everyone had cleared off. She’d wait a little longer and if the Doctor didn’t arrive then she’d have to investigate this matter herself.
And if the Doctor had been paying attention outside, he would have noticed the area around Gulliver’s nightclub cordoned off by police as they removed the bodies of the night clubbers one by one.
Instead the Doctor and Sophie had finished their breakfasts and headed the opposite way towards the small, horse-shoe-shaped St Augustine’s Avenue with it’s large houses and tall, leafy trees.
They had walked in the early morning drizzle and had made sure they timed it right so that they’d miss the teenage Caroline. The last thing they wanted to do was to have Caroline meet the Doctor too early and cause irreparable damage to the timeline.
They knocked gently on the door and after a few moments a well-built man with greying hair and a thick, dark moustache opened the door. He was holding a brief case and nodded to the Doctor and Sophie.
‘Cath, I’ll leave ‘em to you,’ he said as he bustled past them and got into his car and drove away.
The woman, Cath, was standing there in a grey suit and skirt, her blonde hair tied up high and a look of frustration on her face.
‘You must excuse my husband,’ she said, ‘he’s always in such a rush to get to work. Especially on a Saturday.’ She eyed them both up and down. ‘Can I help you?’
‘Yes,’ said the Doctor. ‘Are you Catherine Parker?’
‘I am,’ said Cath, folding her arms and looking slightly defensive.
‘Good,’ said the Doctor. ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you at last.’
‘Could we get to the point,’ said Cath. ‘I’m due at work in an hour.’
‘Yes,’ said the Doctor, ‘I was wondering if I could have a few words about your daughter, Caroline.’
Cath straightened herself up and looked down her nose at the Doctor. ‘I’ve already told you people. I don’t want to see you.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
‘We’ve gone through 15 years without needing any of those health checks. I’m not about to subject her to them now.’
‘Mrs Parker-’
‘Could you leave, please?’
She was about to shut the door when the Doctor said, ‘Mrs Parker, we know your child is special.’
Cath stopped closing the door and opened it again. ‘How could you possible know that?’
‘Because I’ve met her. In the future.’
‘Doctor, is this the wisest way forward?’ asked Sophie, who had remained quiet up until now.
‘Don’t be absurd!’ said Cath. ‘You can’t be from the future.’
‘Strangely,’ said the Doctor, ‘you don’t fake surprise very well.’
Cath sighed and then opened the door for the two of them. ‘You better come in. But let’s make this quick, please.’
After ten minutes the Doctor and Sophie were sat in the very plain, pink-walled living room of the Parker’s house with a cup of tea and a packet of custard creams.
‘Go on then,’ said Cath, crossing her legs and arms at the same time.
‘Why aren’t you particularly surprised that I’m from the future?’
Cath shook her head. ‘Because they said that they’d come for her one day.’
‘Who would come for her?’ asked the Doctor.
‘Bad people. That’s all they said. People who might want to experiment on my little girl. Because of her powers.’
‘What are her powers?’ asked Sophie, finding herself getting dragged into this.
‘I don’t know,’ snapped Cath, on the defensive again. ‘She’s never shown any sign of powers, but they’re meant to be there. Hidden deep down inside.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said the Doctor, automatically grabbing another custard cream. ‘Who told you all of this?’
‘Before I tell you, I need to know exactly who you are.’
‘My name is the Doctor,’ he replied. The Doctor plucked out a photograph from his inside pocket. It showed himself, Caroline and Danny posing for a photograph in front of a beautiful double-sunset. ‘There is your daughter, aged 30. Beside the double suns of Tatooine.’
Cathy put her hand to her mouth. There was no mistaking it. That was Caroline. ‘Oh my word,’ she said, barely holding back to the tears. ‘My little girl.’
‘Mrs Parker, I believe Caroline is in great danger. My Caroline. Your daughter in the future. I need to know everything that you know about her.’
Cath nodded, handing the picture back to the Doctor and wiping the tears with a tissue.
‘So, who told you that she was special? Who told you that bad people will come?’
‘The Farrington’s did. Thomas and Rebecca Farrington.’
‘And who are the Farrington’s?’ asked the Doctor.
Cath pinched the bridge of her nose, fighting back the tears. She took a deep breath. ‘They’re Caroline’s parents. Her real parents.’
The Doctor looked confused.
Cath looked him right in the eyes. ‘She’s not our real daughter. We adopted her.’
This is Town FM on 107.9. We hope you all enjoyed our show last night. We’re sorry to hear about the mysterious deaths that took place at Gulliver’s nightclub last night. We send out our condolences to the families of the victims and hope that the police can get to the bottom of it. As a tribute this is “Don’t Go Away” by Oasis.
In the caretakers room - the makeshift radio studio - at the school, Lee put his headphones down and rubbed his eyes.
‘Did we do that?’ asked Gaz. ‘Did we really kill all of those people?’
‘It was an accident.’
‘It was supposed to help them!’ snapped Gaz.
Lee jumped to his feet and grabbed Gaz by his t-shirt. ‘Look, we said we’d help them. How were we meant to know that they’d end up killing an entire nightclub full of people.’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ laughed Gaz. ‘Perhaps them killing other people may have given us some clue!’
Lee snarled at Gaz. ‘They were all accidents. They need our help to come through.’
‘Who?’ came Danny’s whisper-like voice from the corner of the room.
His eyes were sunken in and red and his lips were blue. His skin was pale and he looked like he was in desperate need of some sleep.
‘Don’t you remember?’ asked Lee.
‘I don’t remember anything since leaving the Doctor and Caroline,’ said Danny, wearily.
‘You tried to help them through. It didn’t work though. You have to try harder,’ growled Lee.
‘Harder…?’
‘Yes. We’re going to try again. This time on a smaller scale again.’
‘No,’ said Gaz. ‘Can’t we just stop? We’re meddling in crazy things, mate.’
‘We will try again!’ shouted Lee, picking up the headphones. ‘Get him hooked up.’
The Doctor sat there in silence whilst Sophie twiddled her thumbs in the armchair. Cath had gotten up to make more drinks.
‘Bit of a bombshell then?’ asked Sophie.
‘I suspected a little more actually,’ said the Doctor.
‘Sounds to me like there is more. Ask her,’ said Sophie, hearing Cath returning.
‘Mrs Parker, who exactly are the Farrington’s?’
Cath settled down. ‘A couple that me and Tony met a long time ago. Back in the early 80’s we’d travel around the country in our caravan. We were at Primrose Valley - a holiday campsite - when we met them. She was already three months pregnant. They always seemed to be looking over their shoulder.’
‘So…?’
‘So they stayed at the holiday camp with us and we got talking. Became good friends. And then when we moved on, they came with us. The caravan was big enough for an entire family.’
‘And what did they tell you?’ asked the Doctor, leaning forward on the edge of his seat.
‘Not much really. Just that they were from the future, like you. They took an age to convince us, but we believed them in the end. They told us that they were hiding from something. They had been forced into leaving their people because of the pregnancy and they were doing their best to hide from anyone who might be able to use them and their powers.’
‘And you just straight up believed this?’ asked Sophie.
‘Like I said, it took them a while to convince us.’
‘And what was the tipping point?’ asked the Doctor, grabbing another custard cream. ‘What was the point which made you genuinely believe them?’
‘It was when Rebecca froze time.’
The Doctor nodded slowly.
‘She threw a tennis ball in the air and just…stopped everything. Only myself, Tony and Thomas could move. It was…crazy!’
‘Do you think they’re your people?’ asked Sophie.
‘No,’ said the Doctor. ‘That’s impossible. But they obviously have some kind of power to be able to freeze space and time.’
‘Rebecca gave birth,’ continued Cath, ‘and out of the blue they asked us to care for her, like she was our own.’
‘But why?’
‘Thomas did some tests on her, but couldn’t find any sign of any power in her. It broke their heart, but they knew she had to live a normal life and that meant them not being around.’
‘So you pretended she was your own?’
‘Exactly. We came back to Thornsby and just informed our friends that we’d had a baby whilst we were travelling. It’s caused us some problems with the authorities as they have no concrete proof that she is ours, but we’ve always got by.’
‘And has Caroline ever shown any signs of powers?’ asked Sophie.
‘No. Not yet. And I hope she never does.’
‘And Thomas and Rebecca?’
‘They just vanished. They said their goodbyes and then left a few weeks after Caroline was born. We never heard from them again.’
The Doctor relaxed back into the armchair and stared across the room and out of the window. He was pleased he had managed to find more pieces of the puzzle, but the more pieces he found, the more confusing the final picture had become. Caroline clearly had powers, but they were deep under the surface. The first time he had met her she had been stalked by one of the Apparites, and then she had been able to touch and widen the crack that led to the Apparites dimension. Somehow Caroline, Rebecca, Thomas and the Apparites were all connected.
There came a sound from upstairs and coughing.
‘Who’s that?’ asked the Doctor, a worried look on his face.
‘That’s Caroline,’ said Cath.
‘What!’ spluttered the Doctor. ‘Why isn’t she at her guitar lessons?’
‘She’s not well,’ said Cath, frowning. ‘She’s got some kind of flu bug so I’ve kept her home for a few days. How did you know about the guitar lessons?’
‘We need to leave,’ said the Doctor, quickly getting up from the armchair.
The sound of footsteps came from the landing upstairs and then steps down the staircase.
‘We can’t meet her. Not now. It could severely disrupt the space/time continuum!’
Town FM continues on your Saturday morning. This one is for all you kids waking up with hangovers. You know who you are! Keep it locked down on 107.9. This is “It’s Like That” by Run DMC.
The door to the living room slowly opened and in stepped a young, 15 year old girl with long dark hair, a thin but pretty face and wearing a fluffy, pink dressing gown. She looked very pale and had her arms folded to keep herself warm. Her eyes looked tired and dark and the end of her nose was red. She was also wearing some headphones connected to a portable walkman/radio player. The sounds of a song could be heard coming from them. She simply looked at the Doctor and Sophie.
The Doctor didn’t known what to say. This was quite clearly Caroline, but looking considerably younger. He gulped and was about to slip past her and out of the house when there came a high-pitched whine from the headphones and the younger Caroline threw her head back, screaming in agony.
‘Caroline!’ yelled her mum as the teenager fell to the floor in a heap.
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