Underbrush (11th Doctor)

[Vongola Undicesimo]

Yeah, I just couldn't wait till November, could I? And, well, my Whovian cravings had to be fed somehow. I've been really into the Doctor Who tie-in novels lately. They're actually pretty good. So that and my fetish combined to make this fic. This is the prologue and part 1.

As she was bending over, tending the plants, Mia thought she heard a noise behind her. She looked around, then went back to weeding. The brush was thick, and the sun was hot. Mia’s dirty clothes were sticky on her skin. With a sigh she pulled out a particularly tough weed.

The weeds she collected would be piled together with the others and taken to be composted. There were no spaceships on this planet. Mia missed the sound of them taking off. But still, she loved her job as a gardener, and if that was what life was like here, so be it. Gardening was always her passion. Her mother had scolded her just a few weeks ago that she should be more appreciative of the fact that the Gardens of Feschnill had hired her.

She still had about five more hours on her shift. Plenty of time to do what needed to get done. Some of the fruits were ready to be harvested, but mostly it was just more weeding. Mia never really liked weeding that much. It was peaceful, yes, but also rather boring.

Mia’s long ears twitched as she once again heard a strange sound. It was louder this time. Not only that, she could hear what it was. Breathing. And not that of an animal. Panicking all of a sudden, she jumped up and started to run. With hurried gasps she ducked and jumped through the underbrush. This was probably too big of a reaction, but she had seen enough ancient Earth horror movies to know when one should run.

Without even realizing it, she was back at the wide open fields. Mia slowed down, but not fast enough to stop her collision with a worker.

“Ow!”

Rubbing her nose, Mia looked at who she had run into. A tall person stood before her, with creamy fur and sharp eyes. It was Firkii, an obnoxious young worker who always seemed to find time to annoy her.

“What the hell were you doing?” Firkii shouted loud enough for some other people to stop what they were doing and look.

Mia shifted foot to foot awkwardly and swallowed. “I...um...heard a noise.”

“And that was enough for you to come crying all the way here? Well, I’d rather hope Gell doesn't hear about this. I’m pretty sure you know what he’d do.” Firkii smirked, satisfied.

“S-Sorry...” Mia said honestly. It was true. She had overreacted.

Firkii rolled his eyes. “Let’s just get you back there, okay?” Mia nodded and together they walked back into the brush.

About five minutes later, the gardeners’ work was interrupted by a loud scream.

The Doctor took a deep breath of the clean air and sighed blissfully. The TARDIS had just landed in a forest, no, more like a jungle. “This planet was always a favourite of mine.” he said, looking relaxed.

As Clara stepped out of the TARDIS, she couldn't help but let out a small giggle. “I’m pretty sure that’s what you say about every place we go, Doctor,” she said as she smiled brightly at him.

Looking at her for a second, seemingly somewhat offended, the Doctor then turned back to the brilliant scene in front of them. There were trees of all different colours and textures. Clara thought it looked somewhat like a Dr. Seuss book. “Anyway,” The Doctor said, “these are the Gardens of Feschnill. They take up most of this planet...” His eyes grew unfocused and he covered his mouth with his sleeve. “Heh... HECHSHHOO!!”

“Bless you,” said Clara offhandedly. The Doctor continued talking, but she had stopped listening. Everything she saw was beautiful. She started to walk away from the TARDIS and into the jungle. For a while she strode, listening to the sounds of animals around her. It was like a rainforest, only better. There were so many colours. Some that didn't even occur naturally back on Earth and- was that one plant glowing?

“I said, wait up!”

Clara turned around. She had no idea how long she’d been walking. The Doctor was running to catch up to her. Wait, how fast had she been walking anyway? Once the Doctor reached her, he shook his head and started to lead her through the jungle himself.

“This may look like a jungle,” he said, “but in reality it’s just a small part of the Gardens of Feschnill. I have to admit, it’s strange that there’s no workers here. But then again, I haven’t been here in the last, oh, six-hundred years of their history, and two-hundred years of mine. People from all across the nearby galaxies come to work here. It’s not often open to the public, to spare it of pollution, so being a worker is really the only option if you want to see all of the gardens. Though now that I think about it, it’s really more like a national park, isn't it? Yes, now, here we are!” He stepped a pace in front of Clara and opened his arms wide.

This seemed more like a traditional garden. Well, traditional on Earth anyway. Rows upon rows of flowers, fruits, vegetables, but mostly plants Clara didn't recognize. Scattered across the garden were workers of all species, watering, planting, and harvesting. Clara spotted a few people who at least looked like humans, but after traveling with the Doctor, she could never be sure.

Clara’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a sneeze next to her. She turned to her left and found the Doctor blowing his nose. He put his handkerchief back in his pocket and started walking towards one of the gardeners. “Hello,” The Doctor began brightly, whipping out his psychic paper, “I’m the Doctor and this is Clara. We’re looking to buy some plants.”

The worker, who seemed a little skittish, glanced briefly at the psychic paper before looking back down at his feet. He was covered in fur and had long ears, like a rabbit. “Yes, that’s alright.”

The Doctor frowned. “What’s wrong.”

“It’s nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m Firkii. I’ll take you to Gell. He’ll show you where the plants for sale-”

“Hekshhhooo!”

Both Clara and Firkii turned to look towards the Doctor, who was rubbing at his pinked nose. He sniffled and glanced at the other two. “Don’t mind me,” he said with a smile, “I’d love to meet this Gell fellow.”

The two travelers followed Firkii through the gardens. Occasionally they stopped so Clara and the Doctor could look at the scenery. Also, the Doctor loved talking to the different gardeners. “Doctor,” said Clara as she just smelled a flower, “come smell this. It’s amazing.” The scent was a mix of cinnamon, chocolate, and something Clara didn’t recognize.

The Doctor excused himself from talking to a human worker and came over next to Clara. He leaned over and sniffed. Almost immediately his eyes started to tear up and his breath began to hitch. “Huh...Akkshhhoo! KSHOOO! HESHOOOO!!!” It didn't stop there. The Doctor had just enough time to take his handkerchief out before the sneezes started up again. “...M'KSHHHOOO!... Shoo! HaashOOO!” He ended his fit with a few coughs.

“Whoa!” he exclaimed, shaking his head. “I haven’t sneezed like that in the past hundred years or so.”

That was enough to get Clara thinking. “Doctor...” she began, “bless you by the way, do you think you’re allergic to some of the plants on this planet?”

“No way! I've been to this planet dozens of...times...oh."

“What is it?”

The Doctor sighed. “I haven’t been here in this body yet. This one’s probably allergic. I never even thought of the possibility.

Behind them someone cleared their throat. “Are you to coming?” asked Firkii quietly.

“Right!” said the Doctor, spinning around. “Off to find Gell!”

[ohlala8]

Mmm, I do love me some Whofic. And I always thought it could be fun for the Doctor to keep discovering new little quirks of each body, so bravo for running with the idea

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Yay This is really great. Reads like an episode to me. I definitely approve of this new body of his.

*fangirls*

Can't wait to see where you take this next.

[SterlingSilver]

Ahahaha~! This is great! I love how casually the Doctor refers to his body as though it's not really his (which I guess it isn't. I should probably watch this series LOL). But yeah, great work~!

[Salamander]

Waa, this is great. I LOVE how you write the Doctor. The sneezing is just right too, enough to be fetishy but not to take over from the feel of the story as a whole. It made me happy.

[Vongola Undicesimo]

Hey guys. Thanks for all the super-duper comments! Sigh, I'm sure gonna miss Matt Smith. Anyway, this takes place after "The Name of the Doctor" so (spoilers!) Clara knows about her multiple incarnations. Also, part of this references "The Snowmen" so if you haven't seen that it probably won't make as much sense, but whatever.

The fields of plants stretched on for a while. Eventually the sun started to get to Clara. She just hoped they’d get to some shade soon.

“So who is Gell?” the Doctor asked.

Firkii shrugged. “He’s in charge of this section of the gardens. That also makes him my boss.” They were now wondering into a large forest. Not a jungle like before, this one had trees Clara recognized.

“The gardeners live in treehouses,” explained the Doctor, pointing out the various structures they passed. His face suddenly scrunched up. “Heh...Hah-...” He inhaled deeply, and then, nothing. Face returning to normal, the Doctor sighed. “Hate when that happens.” He turned back to Firkii. “I have a question. Why weren’t there any workers in the jungle area? If I remember correctly, and I’m pretty sure I do, all areas need to be maintained constantly.”

Firkii seemed to flinch. “There was...an accident there.”

“What kind of accident?"

“One of the gardeners...my colleague, Mia...she was killed.”

“Oh,” said Clara. “I’m sorry.”

Firkii shook his head. “I didn’t really know her that well.”

By this point they were at the base of the largest treehouse yet. The wood wasn’t painted, giving it an old vibe. A long rope ladder hung from the deck down to right in front of them. Firkii gestured for them to climb up it. “Gell should be right there in his office,” he said.

Clara and the Doctor both thanked him and started climbing up the ladder. The Doctor smiled in memory. “This reminds me of that time when you and I- well, one of the other yous- were climbing up to the TARDIS. And you were looking at my arse.”

“Hey!”

“Well you did!”

Clara rolled her eyes. “That was not me.”

“It technically wa...was...EHSHHHOOO!” The ladder shook.

“Careful!”Clara yelled up at him, holding on for her life.

The Doctor seemed a little embarrassed. “Sorry.”

“If your allergies get us killed, I’m blaming you.”

That made the Doctor laugh. “Alright. That seems fair.”

They reached the top and climbed up onto the deck, which happened to be covered in flowers. The Doctor held his nose shut and tried to breathe through his mouth. With his other hand, he knocked on the door. “Yes, come in,” answered a voice behind the door. Once they stepped inside, the Doctor put his hand down.

In the middle of the room was a large wooden desk. Sitting at the desk was a human-in-appearance (or as the Doctor would say, Time Lord-in-appearance) man in his early fifties.

“What may I help you with?” the man asked,in a way that seemed too polite to be legal.

For the second time that day, the Doctor took out his psychic paper. “We’re professional plant gardeners ourselves. We’re looking for some new additions.”

Gell narrowed his eyes. “The only shuttle to this planet comes during tourist season. How did you get here?”

“Oh, well, we have our own means of transportation.”

“You know that’s illegal, don’t you?”

The Doctor stayed as confident as ever. “If you look here,” he said, shoving the psychic paper close to the man’s face, “it says we’re allowed to come to and fro.”

After skimming over the blank page, Gell nodded. “It appears you do. I’m sorry for doubting you, Doctor...?”

“Just the Doctor,” the Doctor said smiling. “And this is Clara.”

“Hello,” Clara said.

Gell stood up. “If that’s all, I’ll take you to your rooms.” He looked at the Doctor. “Is something wrong?”

“N-no...I just...” the Doctor held his handkerchief up to his face. “Kshooo! Hmchhhoo! EKCHSOOO!”

“Bless you," Clara added.

“Yes, thanks.”

While Gell was leading them to a different treehouse, Clara whispered to the Doctor, “Are you going to be like this the whole time we’re here?”

“I certainly hope not.”

[Shay]

Well Matt Smith isn't my favorite doctor, but this is very interesting and I can't wait to see what happens.

[ohlala8]

Oh, Doctor. I hate to disagree with you, but I'm definitely hoping you'll be like that the whole time.

[Vongola Undicesimo]

So thanks again for comments. This chapter is a little more plot driven, but I promise the next one will have lots of sneezing.

“So what kind of plants are you interested in buying?” Gell asked as he showed them around the area. It was toward the end of the day, so most of the gardeners were coming in from work. There was the distinct smell of something delicious cooking. Clara looked forward to that.

“Oh, you know,” said the Doctor. “Just the usual. Sunflowers. Trees. Kenmaknik number 3.”

Gell turned his head to look at him. “Those are all pretty common. Couldn’t you have just gotten them at a normal nursery?”

“Yes, well, there’s another reason why we’re here. We heard about what happened to one of your gardeners, Mia. They sent us to investigate.”

“There’s not much to the story,” Gell said quickly. “It was unfortunate, but it was indeed an accident.” He stopped at two doors right next to each other. “These are your rooms. Dinner will be in about twenty minutes. Just take the bridge right there and it’s the first treehouse on your right.” And with that, he left.

“I asked around,” the Doctor said to Clara once Gell was gone. “Apparently Mia heard something strange right before she was killed. If anything, we need to investigate that jungle some more.”

Clara nodded. “How long do you think we’ll be staying here?”

The Doctor shrugged. “However long it takes to figure out what’s going on. And that wasn’t a total lie what I told Firkii and Gell. I really do want some new plants for the TARDIS greenhouse.”

“The TARDIS has a greenhouse? I don’t remember seeing that when I was wondering around in it.”

“Oh, it’s quite nice. I should show it to you sometime. Anyway,” he clapped his hands together. “Let’s go to dinner, shall we?”

The dining room seemed to be a bad name for what this was. At best it was a wooden mess hall. There seemed to be hundreds of gardeners all having their dinner here. There was a line against the wall where the people were what seemed to be some sort of flower soup. “Great,” the Doctor said with a “Heschhsoooo!”

Once he and Clara got their food, they looked around for somewhere to sit. This reminded Clara way too much of school for it to be pleasant. She spotted Firkii sitting by himself and nudged the Doctor. She pointed over to him.

“Fine by- EHKSHOOO! HachhhOOO!” The Doctor gave a pathetic sniffle. “Fine by me.”

“Hey again,” Clara said as she sat down across from the rabbit-man. The Doctor took a seat next to her.

Firkii seemed genuinely surprised to be talked to. “Oh. Hi.”

He and Clara started up polite conversation while the Doctor just sat glaring at his soup. “I am not eating this.”

Clara looked at him skeptically. “Why not?”

“For one, if I...” His nose started to run. He took out his handkerchief, blew his nose, and then put it back like nothing ever happened. “If I ingest the allergen who knows what it could do to me! I think it’s better safe than sorry.”

“Since when do you care about safe?”

The Doctor turned his annoyed gaze at her.

“What?”

“So Firkii,” the Doctor said, loosening up his gaze, “why were you sitting by yourself?”

“It’s...it’s because...” He looked around, as if to check to see if anyone was listening. “I was with Mia when she died. Everyone around here thinks that I killed her.”

The Doctor leaned forward. “Can I ask you? What did she hear?”

“Well Mia said she heard breathing, but I think that was just another worker close by.”

“Then what was it? What was it that killed her?”

“I don’t know what it was,” Firkii exclaimed in defense. “All I know is that it could talk.”

“What did it say?”

“...Exterminate.”

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Oh dear, Daleks? Eep.

Awesome story

[ohlala8]

...Never a good word in the Whoniverse. Those Daleks, they pop up everywhere.

[Vongola Undicesimo]

The Doctor stood up suddenly. “Clara,” he said hurriedly. “Come with me.” He didn’t even wait for her. Instead he walked straight out of the mess hall.

Clara looked at Firkii, who was sitting there confused, then followed the Doctor. The whole way back to the rooms he didn’t talk, just scowled. “Doctor, what’s wrong?” Clara kept asking him.

Once they were far enough away from any other people, the Doctor simply said, “Daleks.” And then with a wry laugh, “They don’t even remember me and I still run into them.”

With a worried frown, Clara asked, “What are we going to do?”

Turning to her, the Doctor didn’t answer. Instead, he sneezed. “EHHSHHOOO!” Clara ducked away in time, but wasn’t happy about almost getting sprayed on. She gave him the same look he was giving his soup earlier.

“Sorry,” the Doctor apologized for the second time that day. “I’m not really hungry anymore. You can get something to eat, go to bed, whatever you humans do, but I’m going to investigate that jungle.”

“Oh no,” Clara said, linking her arm with the Doctor’s. “You’re not going anywhere without me.”

Looking at her, seeming to consider his options for a second, the Doctor hesitated. Clara’s- well technically Oswin’s- last encounter with Daleks didn’t end so well. But Clara had proved herself time and time again as a responsible companion. Then again they usually weren’t looking for trouble, but now they were purposely headed straight into it. And after almost having lost her at Trenzalore? He couldn’t stand the thought of being alone again. It made his hearts hurt almost too much to bear.

That hadn’t stopped him from taking his other companions into danger, though. Eventually, the Doctor nodded. “Let’s go.”

They headed down the rope ladder and made their way back through the gardens. It was a lot creepier when there weren’t any people around. Especially the patch of carnivorous plants that seemed to be staring at them. Very creepy indeed.

The jungle wasn’t all that far away, so they made it there in no time. The trees were just as huge and colourful as Clara remembered them. And some of the plants were glowing in an Avataresque way, lighting up a path for them. Clara was about to ask the Doctor if they were going back to the TARDIS, but found the Doctor’s nose to be twitching uncontrollably.

The thousand-year-old man went back and forth, raising and lowering his hand. He tried rubbing his nose as they walked, as if to try and coax the sneeze out. It didn’t seem to be working. With an annoyed huff to himself, the Doctor turned to Clara and awkwardly asked, “C-could I...b-borrow your ha...heh...hair?”

“As long as you promise not to sneeze on it.”

“R...right.” Leaning over, the Doctor grabbed a strand of his companion’s hair and began stroking his nose. Around his nostrils and (with Clara’s permission) inside. That seemed to do the trick. The Doctor handed Clara back her hair and raised his hand to his face for the last time. “Eh...Ah!... Akshhhooo! HehSHOOOOO!! K’SHHHOOOO!........EHSHHOOO!”

A look of relief washed over the Doctor’s face. “Much better.”

Clara stood staring at him. “That was probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever done.”

“And you’ve traveled in time!”

They both laughed. By now they were near the TARDIS. Though they didn’t go in it, the Doctor gave it a friendly pat. “So...right! Daleks! Nasty, nasty Daleks. How’re we gonna stop those Daleks?”

“Um...Doctor?”

“If we- what?”

“I hear something.”

The Doctor turned around and looked at the bush behind him. Clara was right. The sound was talking, in the voice of the Daleks.

[Feta Sneeze]

Oh...wow. A whofic with an amazing plot? Thhhhhhhhhhhhank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love it so far! Your talents astound me! More please!

[ohlala8]

“That was probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever done.”

“And you’ve traveled in time!”

Not sure if the Sherlock homage there was intentional, but BBC love for the win! Still loving this story.

[uniquelyme]

Ahh! I love this story!!! Thank you so much for writing it!

[Vongola Undicesimo]

Wowwwwwwww long time between updates. I have no excuse. Oh, and, the Sherlock reference was in fact, not

intentional , but when I was writing it I was like, "Ya know....this seems kinda familiar..." And yeah, this is short.

Quickly, the Doctor and Clara ran back inside the TARDIS and slammed the door shut. The Doctor went over to the controls and began pulling levers. As the TARDIS made her beautiful noise, he relaxed and leaned against the railing. “That was-” he sniffled, “that was close.”

“You got that right,” Clara answered, going up to the Doctor. She reached into his pocket and took out his handkerchief. “You better use this.”

The Doctor nodded and gratefully took it. “Thank you.” After he blew his nose, he stood staring into space for a moment. His eyes were focused on the TARDIS door, not moving. Clara, somewhat confused, just kept looking at the Doctor. They stayed in that position for a long moment.

Eventually the Doctor shook his head. “Sorry. That was nothing.”

Clara’s eyebrows turned down. “That didn’t seem like nothing. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine, but you can tell me if you want.”

Glancing at her, the Doctor walked out of the TARDIS. But Clara could hear his words. “Why did we run away?”

They were back at the treehouses. It was properly nighttime now. Even here, were before it was bustling, was silent. Except for-

“Uhshhhhooo!”

Except for that.

Clara couldn’t help but smirk. “I know you don’t sleep that often, but you should go to bed tonight.”

“Why? Sleeping doesn’t-” Sniffle. “-doesn’t help with allergies.”

“It’s just…you seem tired.”

The Doctor was genuinely taken aback. “Really?” He hadn’t noticed that he was letting it show. The mental exhaustion from knowing there were Daleks nearby sometimes wore him out. They stared at each other again- this is becoming a habit, Clara thought- for a while, shorter this time. “Fine,” the Doctor finally answered. He didn’t like the idea of sleeping when they were in potential danger, but it didn’t seem like the Daleks were going to make their move anytime soon.

They made their way back to the rooms Gell had shown them. After wishing each other goodnight, they parted ways.

Clara awoke early next morning feeling somewhat refreshed. She knew the danger of the Daleks, of course, in one of her other lives she had experienced it firsthand, but being tired wasn’t going to help stop them. She went back to the TARDIS to change and get ready, before heading back to the mess hall.

The Doctor was already there, sitting with Firkii again. This morning they were serving a plateful of grilled vegetables. Clara grabbed some and went over to them. She looked at the Doctor and, although it wasn’t visible on his face, she knew he didn’t get any sleep last night.

“There you are,” he said as Clara sat down. “Eadt fasdt. We deed to get back there as quickly as possible.” He grimaced at his congested voice.

“I’m coming too,” Firkii said quietly.

They both looked at him. “You sure?” Clara asked. “It’s kind of dangerous.”

Hesitating for a moment, Firkii nodded.

The human and the rabbit-human ate their breakfast and off they went back to the TARDIS.

“ExshoooOO!” They were right outside the TARIDS door. When the Doctor lowered his handkerchief from his face, Clara could see his smile.

“Your favourite part, huh?”

The Doctor shrugged. “Baybe.” He stepped inside the TARDIS, with Clara behind him and Firkii following last. Both of the travelers watched his face turn from confusion to awe.

Clara stood on her tiptoes and whispered in the Doctor’s ear. “It’s my favourite part, too.”

“Righd thed!” The Doctor said after nodding. He ran to the controls, sneezing as he did so. “HEP’SHOOOO! KshhHHH!” In a few moments they had disappeared and reappeared in the jungle.

“So,” he turned to his companion and temporary-companion. “We deed a plad, dod’t we?”

Edited August 28, 2013 by Vongola Undicesimo

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Clara stood on her tiptoes and whispered in the Doctor’s ear. “It’s my favourite part, too.”

I love this line. She's so... Clara. (yes, I know that makes no sense xD) Lovely update!

[SalvatoreSneezes]

This is such a good storyline!!!! Doctor Who and sneezing are my all time favourite things so this is just perfect!!!!!

[Vongola Undicesimo]

So, part, what is it now, five? *so proud of herself* And even though we've been lucky enough to get not just one, but two sneezing-while-hiding moments from Eleven, I figured one more wouldn't hurt.

About five minutes later they were all set and ready. The plan was to hide the TARDIS and sneak as deep into the jungle as possible to find out what the Daleks were up to. As Firkii had informed them, the flowers just got bigger and more plentiful the deeper they went. The Doctor gave a noise that almost sounded like a whimper, if Clara didn’t know him better.

“So try to be quiet,” Firkii said with an apologetic smile.

“You doh thad jusd bakes id bore likely to happed!”

Clara looked at him. “You realise we can’t understand a word you’re saying?”

With a huff, the Doctor rolled his eyes and headed towards the door. The second he opened it his nose seemed to have caught fire. Using his left hand, he pinched his nose shut. It didn’t really help much. He motioned with his shoulder for the other two to come help him cover the TARDIS in leaves.

Once they were finished, the Doctor began,“The Daleks are sbart-”

Clara snorted at the Doctor’s ridiculous-sounding voice.

“Bud hopefully they’re too busy with whadever they’re doing to dotice a huge, suspicious pile of leaves.”

Firkii’s mouth twitched. “You, um, do realise what you just said?”

“Whad? That they wod’t dotice a huge, suspicious pile of...oh. Well, sidce the chabeleon. circuit’s dot workig, it’s the odly chadce we’ve got.”

“Seriously, Doctor,” Clara began, “we have no idea what you just said.”

The Doctor sighed and took his fingers off his nose. The little bit that was helping disappeared. Suddenly he realised he was about to sneeze in the next five seconds.

And of course, with their luck, at that moment they started to hear Daleks.

“Heh…”

“Doctor!” Clara whisper-yelled. She pulled on his sleeve and together the three of them jumped into the nearby underbrush.

“When will we begin?” they heard a Dalek ask another.

“We must wait for orders,” said the other one.

Clara looked to her right to see the Doctor sniffling desperately. His eyes were already shut, mouth open. She knew she could do nothing to stop it. While he had gone back to pinching his nose, Clara started at him and hoped.

“Ekch’xxn!”

The Daleks didn’t seem to hear.

The Doctor lowered his hand. When he sneezed again, however, there was no time to raise it. Thankfully, Clara had been watching. Her hand clamped around his nose and mouth as he sneezed.

“Hekknnxx!!”

They froze as one of the Daleks spun its top part around. “What was that?”

“Let us investigate.”

As they were moving ever closer to them, the Doctor, Clara, and Firkii were completely silent. For a long painful moment, the Daleks were mere metres away from them. “There is nothing here,” one Dalek finally said.

The Doctor frowned in confusion. The Daleks were usually smarter than that. Something was clearly off. Once the Daleks were gone, they emerged from the bushes. Clara grimaced as she wiped off her Doctor-sneeze covered hand on her jeans.

“We dod’t wadt theb to discover us yet,” the Doctor stated.

“Wha- ‘Yet’?” Firkii seemed to be shaking.

Nodding, giving an acknowledgment to Firkii’s fear, the Time Lord continued, “I’b bettig they wod’t kill us od the spot.” He sniffled. “Ad thed they’ll… HAHKKSHHHHOO!!” That sneeze actually made the Doctor bend over from the force of it. He swallowed, which was painful from his sore throat, and glanced around the area quickly. Nope, no Daleks.

“Thed they’ll take us back to who-or what-ever’s id charge. Thed they’ll tell us their plad.”

“Huh?” responded both Firkii and Clara.

“There’s sobethidg wrog with these Daleks. I really wadt to fide out what. But adyway- Oh! I’ve had edough of this.” Since his handkerchief was soaked by now, the Doctor ripped a leaf off a nearby tree and blew his nose into it. As he pulled it away from his face, the clear mucus dripped down. “Disgusting,” the Doctor said. But at least he could breathe through his nose now.

“Anyway, the Daleks are acting, well, stupid. Like villains from a children’s show. Normally they would have heard even the smallest noise, but they didn’t seem to notice my sneezing.”

“And that makes you think they’ll just tell us their plan like cartoon bad guys?” Clara skeptically asked.

“No. But anything’s worth a shot, isn’t it?”

[a-tissue]

This is so perfect please continue.