LAST EDITED ON Apr-23-13 AT 05:00 PM (EDT)
Sunday, December 5, 2410
02:41 hrs Nekomi Standard Time
Beiwiru, Nekomikoka, TomodachiBelting on her robe and grumbling slightly, Kitty Griffin made her way down the stairs to the front hall and wondered who could possibly be ringing the doorbell at this unholy hour. It wasn't entirely out of the question for Stately Griffin Manor to be receiving guests at quarter of three in the morning, admittedly, but generally that kind of visitor would either knock down the door, or have arrived by plummeting through the ceiling into her bedroom. Being a graduate of the Xavier Institute did tend to set the tone for one's peer group later in life.
Emma. It had to be Emma, didn't it? Quarter to three on a Sunday morning? Drunk and looking to score. She hadn't done that for a while now, but was it realistic to think she'd ever give up entirely? Kitty opened the door, drawing breath to unleash a torrent of abuse, and then stifled it when she saw that the person on the doorstep was not Emma Frost, nor, in fact, anyone else she recognized.
He was tall, and he gangled, and that was really all that Kitty could tell in the dark. She wasn't getting any kind of hostility read from him on her ninja radar - quite the opposite, in fact. At the sight of her, backlit by the hall light, he threw his long arms wide in a gesture of delight.
Now hopelessly puzzled, Kitty switched on the outside light, illuminating the strange figure and revealing that he was not, as she had briefly and whimsically considered, Abraham Lincoln. Way too much chin for that, and Lincoln wouldn't have been dressed as a high school geography teacher from the 1950s.
"Kitty my love!" he declared with a great, beaming smile. "Ah, home at last."
"... what?" Kitty replied.
"It's me!" the stranger said. "The Doctor!"
Kitty folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at him. "The Doctor's upstairs," she said. "And he has a key."
"Mislaid it someplace, terribly sorry about that. Happens to me sometimes," said the stranger. "And - hang on. What do you mean I'm upstairs?"
"You - he was a couple of hours ago, anyway." Kitty leaned back and looked into the front room. "TARDIS is still here... "
"But that's - " The Doctor frowned, then looked at his wristwatch, his face falling. "... Oh," he said. Then, glancing guiltily around, he leaned toward her and pleaded in an earnest whisper, "Don't tell me I was here."
"I may not even remember it myself," Kitty replied sincerely.
The Doctor smiled, bussed her on the cheek, and then whirled and darted back down the steps, calling, "Hattori! Wrong decade, we're going."
"Hang on, what is that?" Kitty demanded as a dark shape emerged from the shrubbery and fell into step beside the Doctor.
The Doctor paused, turning back. "Wha? Oh!" He looked from Kitty to the dark figure and back. "It's a ninja. I have a ninja now." The ninja straightened up and bowed to Kitty while the Doctor beamed at her. "Ninjas are cool."
Kitty half-smiled. "I guess I can't argue with that," she said.
"Right! Back to bed! Sorry for the inconvenience. Pleasant dreams!" With a wave, the Doctor and his ninja disappeared into the night.
Kitty stood in the doorway, looking out at the quiet suburban street for a few moments. Presently she heard the distant sound of a TARDIS departing. Shaking her head with an indulgent sigh, she shut the door and went back upstairs.
"Cool" - A Future Imperfect Micro-Story by Benjamin D. Hutchins
special to the Eyrie Productions Discussion Forum
© 2013 Eyrie Productions, Unlimited