eponymous_rose

Title: Late Fines
Author:

eponymous_rose
Word Count: 400
Rating: G
Characters: Mel, Seventh Doctor

"You know," said Mel, in what was an extremely cool and collected voice, all things considered, "I really-" She paused to swat at an animated piece of parchment that got a bit too close to her hand. "-and I mean really - never thought I'd be attacked by the contents of a killer library on an alien planet a billion miles away from home."

She couldn't make out the Doctor's form, but his voice came from the vicinity of a flurry of trashy paperbacks. "Really? It seems to happen to me rather a lot, you know. I wonder if there are statistics about this sort of thing."

"And I suppose you'd be the one to beat the odds," Mel sighed, and dropped to the ground, just out of the path of a particularly aerodynamic dictionary.

"Hm," said the Doctor, and then: "I think that's done it."

Mel risked a glance up to see the books hovering as though uncertain, some wobbling amid the torn pages fluttering through the room. "What did you do?"

Suddenly his hand was in front of her, and she took it to pull herself up. "Never mind," he said, and waved his brolly at her in emphasis. "I think we should be allowed to pass right on through to the stacks, now."

"Hang on," said Mel. "What was that all about in the first place? Last I checked, books don't tend to pounce on people."

"They're generally quite docile, yes," the Doctor said, and cleared his throat. "Just one of those things, I suppose. Come on, Mel-"

Mel held her ground, crossing her arms. "Doctor," she said, and as he turned he at least had the grace to look sheepish.

"I, ah," he said, and, hooking his brolly on his coat, stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I may have had a few overdue books on my person-"

"Oh," said Mel, and burst out laughing. "This is just a security system, then?"

"Well," the Doctor protested, "these books are worth quite a lot! I don't suppose they appreciate losing track of them."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And just how long did you have those books out?"

"Never mind," he said again, and this time as he stalked off along the stacks, she followed, grinning.

As he turned a corner, he mumbled something that sounded rather like: "Just a few millenia."