The Doctor is not a superhero, he is not a knight in shining armor, and he is certainly no prince from a fairytale. They all, no matter how deep down, knew that. And yet they always knew that he was coming. When they needed him most. But sometimes, the Doctor lets people down. And those people just happened to be his children.
Neither twin had understood at the time, but the small little blue house they were raised in was the best anyone had ever gotten from the Doctor. 24 linear years, with their mother, and no matter how angry she'd gotten at him for accidentally burning her copy of Archeologists of the Universe while nearly burning the house down, she always looked at him with such admiration. Like every minute she was reminded of just how special she was, and she appreciated everything she gave him, even the things she could probably do without.
And despite himself being there solely for his wife, the Doctor had gotten out of it as much as he possibly could. He gotten 24 wonderful years with the love of his lives, and even two little Timelords of their own. He knew it probably wasn't the best idea, considering what would eventually become of his wife, but it was the best worst idea of their lives.
Their mother told the story of the two of them finding out there was going to be two more of them as opposed to just one, was one of their favorites. The look of sheer embarrassment across their father's face every time she told it was what made it all the more fun.
The Doctor absolutely adored his two children. Aurora and Arthur, each had their own hold on one of his hearts. His daughter liked to joke that she owned the right one, and Arthur got the left one, just cause. And for some reason the idea bothered the little boy.
The Doctor couldn't help but want to spend every minute of every day with his two children, after all they seemed to get the best parts of him and his wife. His daughter had inherited his excitableness about the universe and her mother's charm, (which would only torture him further in her teenage years), while his son inherited his curiosity and his mother's utter confidence about everything.
As they grew older, the couple chuckled at the idea that their daughter's hair actually resembled her grandmother's fiery red hair almost on the nail, while it unfortunately seemed that little Arthur had inherited his father's ungodly eyebrows. But with teenage years the children's first morning on Darillium was fast approaching and the Doctor knew that he would have to tell them eventually of their mother's upcoming fate.
The time had come, tears rolling down all of their faces, but the mighty River Song was about to look death in the eye at make it blink, even though she wanted nothing more than to stay with her family on the planet where a night lasted 24 years. The Doctor lasted a whole sum of three days, the first of which had been spent in his room all day, and the second of which he'd lashed out throwing every little knick knack the couple had hoarded, and the third of which he'd spent sobbing in the middle of the living room.
The first both his seventeen year olds each took shifts either sitting outside his bedroom door or sneaking a plate of food on the dresser without saying a word. The second they stayed out of their father's way, slightly jumpier than before, but Arthur always came behind him with a broom and there was glue and tape on the kitchen counter. The third, they both just sat on either side of their father, each with a hand on his back, speaking only when spoken to.
Then he couldn't take it. He shouldn't of been the one getting cooed and whispered that it was okay, his children were probably breaking, he couldn't even help them grieve properly. And then it all came crashing down, he was an irresponsible, unworthy, monster and he was somehow supposed to raise two Timelords in training on his own?
He shoved them into the Tardis, the only place he'd ever felt truly safe in, besides his wife's arms, and as he closed the door behind his children's room that night and listened to the small sob that left his daughter's lips, his hearts broke. He wanted nothing more for him to be in that Library and his wife to be here. She was so much better at this than he.