belle, doctor who

twenty-two

The Doctor drops Belle off at a house. He grabbed her hand as she stared at the front, but she gasped when she felt part of the hand cold. She lets go of it and it reveals to be a key.

"Go on. Try it," the Doctor kisses her temple.

"No. There's no way," Belle starts. Amy and Rory come out of the TARDIS.

"Where are we?" Amy says. "I thought we were going to Rio."

"Not yet. Dropping Belle off," the Doctor says. Belle tries to open the door with her new key.

It works. Belle steps into the beautiful home. There's a banner saying "WELCOME HOME BELLE" while an adult man is standing below it.

"Belle! I can't believe it's you," he tears up, running towards her.

"What?" Belle asks as the Doctor follows behind. The Doctor tells Amy and Rory to stay back.

"It's me. Kaden," the man says. "I'm the same age as you now."

"No," Belle says, pulling away from the hug. "It's not you. Kaden's a little boy. About yay-high," she puts a hand up to where she remembered Kaden's height was.

"It's true. It is Kaden," The Doctor tells her. "He believed you were dead for the longest time until I came five years ago. He got angry with me, but we made up."

"Yup," he says, "and I can tell how much he loves you. That's why I'm glad you had someone to love when you were traveling—"

"Woah Woah there," Belle says, giving a nervous laugh, "who said anything about love?"

The Doctor frowns. "You'll get there eventually," he tells her. "Now you and Kaden get to live in a house on your own until I pick you up."

"Really? What — What happened to Maverick?"

"Dead," Kaden says. "Just a few days after my birthday actually. He was so furious with you, Belle."

Belle gasps.

"How — where'd you live?"

"With Maverick's sister," he told her, "I enjoyed it a lot more than I did when he was around."

Belle is too shocked to do or say anything. She notices how emotional the Doctor has gotten. She hugs him.

"You're not crying about Maverick, are you?"

"No," Belle hears him say. He didn't say anything after that. He just cried.

••• BIG TIME SKIP •••

After a lot of thinking and after a lot of months without seeing the Doctor, Belle finally realized something. She was in —

"Your phone is ringing!" Kaden shouts from the kitchen. Belle hurried down the stairs as she answered her phone.

"Hello?" She answers happily.

"Belle?"

"This is...? Only my friends call me Belle. How'd you get my number?" Belle asks the person on the other end.

"Uh... you didn't save my number, didn't you?" The Doctor's voice is heard over the speaker. It was his latest regeneration. Not the one she was traveling with before.

"Er... no," Belle says. "Is Donna there?"

"Hello, matey!" Donna says on the other side. "I'm here, but with someone new! Or rather older. She wants to meet you, though."

"Oh. Who's this?"

"Martha Jones, of course!" The Doctor says. "I think you two would get along just fine."

"We can see about that," Belle laughs. "Donna, you still there?"

"Yep! Need anything, sweetheart?"

"I just wanted to quickly say something to you in private. I was wondering if you could turn the speaker off the phone for a moment?" Belle asked, knowing that they had the speaker on. Belle could tell the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Er... is it off?" Belle asks Donna as she hears her footsteps walking away from the Doctor. And Martha if she's there.

"Yeah, why? Is something wrong? You were acting weird that last phone call you made. It's only been quite a few hours for us," Donna says as she's walking through the hallway of the TARDIS.

"Oh," Belle laughs. "I remember that. Well, I think it's almost been a year for me."

"A year?" Donna repeats, amazed.

"Yeah. I've been doing some thinking while the Doctor was away, and..."

"How long was that?" Donna asks.

"Er... maybe five months? Though the TARDIS has a weird time system, y'know."

"Okay. So what did you want to say?" Donna asks her. "I'm far away from them now."

"Them?"

"Martha and the Doctor."

"So she is there!" Belle exclaims. "What's she like?"

"She's really good. There's a lot to explain when you get back. So what is it?" Donna is anxious.

Belle steps outside as she sees that Kaden is watching her closely.

"Uh... I think... I'm... in love?" Belle's voice goes high-pitched. "And now I'm going back to his past self now, I'm going to have to keep my cool and I don't know if I can do that, Donna. Donna?"

Donna blinked a few times. Belle in love? With the Doctor?

"You won't be happy with what he did on our last adventure," Donna comments, not saying anything about what she just said.

"Oh?" Belle states. She suddenly sees the TARDIS appear on the lawn next to her. Kaden runs out.

"Is that the Doctor?" Kaden asks excitedly.

Belle pushes him back inside the house. "Yes, but not the one you know. You need to get back in."

"Oi!" Donna says rushing out of the TARDIS. Belle blushes brightly as she closes the phone. "Who was that?"

"My brother Kaden, but you can't meet him now."

"Why not? I'd like to meet this man," Donna says, pushing Belle out of the way.

"No! Donna. Timestreams will get messed up. The whole universe could explode," Belle says. Donna turns around with a huff.

"Mind explaining what you just said on the phone, then?" Donna asks, crossing her arms. Belle looks guiltily. She hears the TARDIS door open again. It was him.

It was the Doctor in his other regeneration. The one she met.

"Hi," she smiled brightly at him. He smiles back.

"Hi."

━━━━━━━━━━

Oh boy did I think about crying while writing before the big time skip. PAIN!!! I'm so sorry but it had to be done. This is the end of act one!!! Tell me how you liked it! Feedback is very much appreciated. I love you all for reading this and hope you enjoy part two. (If you want to, pls click on the "act two" before moving on to the next chapter. I have made a theme for it like I did for act one. I think you'll like it lol.)

<3 Liv