Arcadia's Love (Book TWO)

Mr and Mrs Christmas

The Doctor:

Honeymoons, didn't have one last time, and this one, well I didn't expect to be climbing along a rooftop trying to save the Mini-Ponds. With my new wife in a nighty.

There was a large chimney on the roof, one that I was staring at with a small grin. And then Sera realised what my plan was. "No way in hell! What if there's a fire at the bottom, Doctor?!"

"There isnt look, all the snow around here is still fresh and not melted. If there was a fire, then it would be. Trust me?" I held out my hand for her, which she then sighed and took.

"Of course, my Angel. But, you go first, break my fall, alright?" She laughed as I pulled her up to the top of it, then peered down. There was no fire, like I'd said, but it was a very long drop. "And don't you go dying on me, just yet, Doctor Pond, I need you alive and well, my Angel."

I gave her a quick peck on the lips, and then positioned myself to fall. "Ho ho ho." I beamed, then let myself fall, tumbling out at the bottom in a shower of soot. "Ah. Yes. Blimey. Sorry. Christmas Eve on a rooftop. Saw a chimney, my whole brain just went, what the hell." I stuck my head back up the chimney. "Princess, come on, we don't have all day!" And then I went over to a family stood a little confused. "Don't worry, fat fellow will be doing the rounds later. I'm just scoping out the general chimney-ness. Yes. Nice size, good traction. Big tick."

"Fat fellow?" And then there was a yelp as Sera, now covered in dust herself, was at the bottom of the chimney.

"Father Christmas, Santa Claus or, as we've always known him, Jeff." I told the kid, helping her back to her feet and dusting her down. "See, fun, wasn;t it!"

"You're going to be the death of me, my Angel." She sighed, shaking her head at me.

The little boy with the family was also shaking his head. "There's no such person as Father Christmas."

"Oh, yeah?" Ser reached into my jacket and pulled out an old photograph and showing it to the boy. "Us and Father Christmas, Frank Sinatra's hunting lodge, 1952. See him at the back with the blonde? Albert Einstein. The four of us together. Brrm. Watch out. Okay? Keep the faith. Stay off the naughty list."

I beamed at her, and then I clocked a large electrical organ computer. "Ooo. Now, what's this then? I love this. A big flashy lighty thing. That's what brought me here. Big flashy lighty things have got me written all over them. Not actually, but give me time, and a crayon."

"Or not, my Angel. I can't even trust you with those after we visited Michelangelo again."

Giving her a sheepish grin, I kept going. "Now, this big flashy lighty thing is connected to the spire in your dome, yeah? And it controls the sky. Well, technically it controls the clouds, which technically aren't clouds at all. Well, they're clouds of tiny particles of ice. Ice clouds. Love that."

"Who's she?" Sera asked, looking in interest at a chryochamber in the middle of the room as I played with the keyboard. Nothing was working.

"Nobody important, woman."

I shot him a death look. She was more than just a woman. "Nobody important. Blimey, that's amazing. Do you know, in nine hundred years of time and space, I've never met anyone who wasn't important before. Now, this console is the key to saving that ship, or I'll eat my hat. If I had a hat. I'll eat someone's hat. Not someone who's using their hat. I don't want to shock a nun, or something. Sorry, rambling, because, because this isn't working!"

"The controls are isomorphic. One to one. They respond only to me." The rude man told me, while Sera came and traced her hands over the panels.

"Oh, you fibber. Isomorphic. There's no such thing." The man reached over and switched something on and off. All we got were annoyed beeps, even with the screwdrivers. "These controls are isomorphic."