A/N: Okay, I was gonna wait awhile but I love these characters too much to leave them alone so I'm gonna start the next story in the series while I work on everything else. This one will have more action too since I've gotten past all the background and character development. Hopefully it won't be another two hundred chapters either. But I hope everyone likes the next chapter in the saga. And now…on with the show…
Chapter One
Mingxia yawned and stretched when her alarm went off. She'd been travelling with her friends in the TARDIS for a little over a fortnight and she realized that very soon Imiko would return to offer her the choice of becoming a Time Lady. For the past couple of weeks ever since they returned from the resort planet they had been exploring different planets and time periods. For the most part it had been relatively peaceful with no major disturbances and Mingxia actually enjoyed going though time and space with her friends. But she could also sense their frustration at being left out of the loop since all of them were in constant contact telepathically and none of them really had the need to explain anything since they shared pretty much the same knowledge. She knew they didn't like having to stop and explain everything to her or have someone deliver a message to her because she wasn't linked with their minds but she was still hesitant to become a Time Lady since that was a huge change that required her changing not only her mind but her entire body as well. Still, they didn't push her or bring it up since they also realized it was a huge decision and for that she was grateful.
She put on her powder blue slippers that the TARDIS had provided and padded out of her bedroom towards the kitchen to make some breakfast. When she entered the kitchen she saw the two couples eating together. They smiled and bid her good morning and she did the same while she went past them to the refrigerator. The two brothers were reading the newspaper that they purchased every morning from a planet called Hytomia. The company who owned the newspaper had spaceships that went far and wide across the stars and secret bases underneath several planets including one on Earth in Siberia. The reporters who worked there and everywhere else gathered the news from all over the universe and transmitted back the major stories which were then put into the paper. The Doctor explained to Mingxia that Hytomia had several bases of their own from other planets and was a major stop on several intergalactic trade routes hence the need to report news from different planets. Both the Doctor and Alan liked to check it not only to keep up with what was going on but also to see if they could spot any burgeoning trouble that needed their attention. While they did that, their wives would eat with them and chat quietly. It was a morning ritual for them, one of several that they had adopted now in their married life.
Mingxia opened the fridge and pulled out some eggs, bacon and milk. She started to make herself breakfast when she heard the Doctor let out a curse. Alan lowered his paper while Rose and Rain looked at him.
"What is it, brother?" he said.
"What page are you on?" the Doctor said, glancing at his twin.
"Page 4 at the moment."
"Turn to page 6 and read the story at the bottom of the page."
Alan did that while Rose and Rain stared at the Doctor in confusion.
"Love, what's wrong?" Rain asked.
"Oh…crap!"
Rose and Rain looked at Alan.
"What is it?" Rose asked as Mingxia came over.
Alan sighed angrily and looked at the Doctor.
"The Shadow Proclamation is looking for my brother," he said to them.
"What?" Rain said, looking at her husband, "what do you they want with you?"
"I have a feeling they wanna talk to me about the whole scarpering before I could lead them into battle thing," the Doctor said.
"Are you gonna go talk to them?" Alan asked.
The Doctor ran his hand through his hair.
"I might as well since I'm sure they'll start posting the Judoon goons all over the universe in hopes of catching me somewhere. The crisis is over now. The twenty seven planets have been restored to their rightful places. So they can't charge me with anything since we sorted everything out. All the Shadow Architect can do is yell at me for leaving her and her cronies behind."
"Unless they want you to sort out something else," Alan said darkly.
The Doctor snorted.
"Well, if that's the reason they can look elsewhere for a servant. The High Council did that to me and I despised it and I'm not about to become the Shadow Proclamation's lackey and sort out their messes, half of which those rhinos probably caused in the first place. So if that's the Shadow Architect's intention, she's gonna be very disappointed when I tell her no."
He sighed.
"But I guess I'll finish eating and we can round up the others and get this over with so they can leave us alone," he said, picking up a piece of toast.
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The Judoon rushed into position when they heard the wheezing sound of the TARDIS. They withdrew their guns and held them out in front of them while the time ship finished materializing and stopped. The Doctor stepped outside the doors and let out an angry sigh when he put up his hands and spoke in the Judoon's language, identifying himself and his purpose. Once his identity was confirmed, the TARDIS's language circuits were unblocked and they were able to hear everything in English. The captain stepped forward while the rest of the Judoon lowered their guns and put them back in their holsters.
"What do you want?" the Doctor said angrily.
"Mistress Esmera wants a word with you!" the Judoon barked in his gruff voice.
"If it's about my taking off and leaving her behind…"
"No, Doctor, that's not what this is about."
The Shadow Architect came forward and glared at him.
"Oh, you mean you aren't gonna send me to my room without supper for leaving you and your ilk behind?" the Doctor said.
"No, I want to talk to you about someone interfering in planetary events and causing trouble. I…"
Esmera trailed off when Alan stepped outside the door.
"What? What is this? There are two of you?" she said in disbelief.
"Yeah, he's my twin brother, Alan," the Doctor said.
He glanced back when the others began to file out the door.
"And this is my family and friend, Mingxia. Now I know that all of them are just as curious to find out what this is all about as I am. So if you could…"
Just then, Rose stepped outside the door.
"THERE SHE IS!" Esmera screamed as she pointed at her.
Rose froze in shock and looked around.
"What? Where? Who?" she said.
"It is the transgressor! Arrest her!" the captain said.
Alan quickly jumped in front of his wife.
"Whoa! Don't you come anywhere near my wife, rhino boy! Back off, right now!"
"She is the transgressor! She must be arrested and brought to trial!" the captain said.
The others quickly formed a protective circle around her.
"You better back off now," Alan growled, "because if you so much as breathe wrong on my wife, I'll rip that horn off your face and shove it somewhere unpleasant!"
The Doctor put a hand on his brother's shoulder and he calmed down slightly.
"Wait a tic, now what's this all about?" the Doctor said trying to defuse the situation before it spiraled out of control.
"She is the one who is interfering and causing trouble!" Esmera said, pointing to Rose.
Everyone looked at each other.
"I haven't done anything," Rose protested.
"Where is it?" Esmera yelled at Rose.
"Where is what?" she yelled back at her.
"Your rocket!"
All of them were taken aback.
"Rocket? I don't' have a bleedin' rocket. I travel in a TARDIS, why would I need a rocket, lady? Whatever you think I've been doin' I haven't done it!"
"Just calm down, alright?" the Doctor said to her.
The woman is bonkers, Doctor! She thought to him. I haven't done anything.
I know, Rose, just let me handle it, alright?
She nodded and took a deep breath calming herself down. The Doctor stepped forward while the rest of his family clustered around Rose.
"Alright, suppose we all calm down and you tell us what's going on before we'll all do something we'll regret?" the Doctor said.
"We have gotten reports from our spies that a young blonde woman is traveling to different planets causing trouble," Esmera said.
"In a rocket?" the Doctor said.
"Yes."
The Doctor pointed back at the TARDIS.
"This isn't a rocket, Architect. You have the wrong woman. She travels with us everywhere we go and she hasn't left our side. If she did have a great big rocket stored inside here I'm sure I'd find out about it sooner or later. Now how about your boys go out and do some actual investigating instead of just accusing the first blonde woman they see."
"You do not have another woman out on her own?" Esmera said.
"No, this right here is my family and they all travel by my side. No one has gone off by themselves and that includes Rose."
Esmera frowned.
"Her name is Rose?"
"Yes, my name is Rose," she said.
"Oh, forgive me, that wasn't her name," Esmera said. "My apologies to all of you."
"There now, you see? You jumped to conclusions and accused an innocent woman of something she didn't do."
"My apologies, Doctor. You are the only one we know of that travels around and actively interferes in planetary events. We know you travel with companions and we thought perhaps this Jenny was one of yours."
"No, she's not one of mine. There's no one here named…"
He trailed off.
"Wait? What's her name?"
"Our spies report that she calls herself Jenny."
"And…she has blonde hair," the Doctor whispered.
"Yes, long blonde hair."
Alan put a hand on his brother's arm and Donna moved up behind him when the Doctor staggered back.
"Doctor, what's wrong?" Esmera said.
"Jenny. It can't be," he whispered. "It can't be her. It just can't. She's…"
The others family members looked at each other in confusion.
"Brother, what if all of you were wrong? What if the regeneration had been delayed like it was in San Francisco?" Alan said.
"Doctor, what's goin' on?" Rose asked.
He swallowed hard.
"Jenny. My daughter," he said.
Everyone's eyes widened in realization except for Mingxia who was still confused.
"Daughter?" she said to Awinita.
She quickly explained who Jenny was while the others supported the Doctor who had now gone pale.
Alan glanced at Esmera.
"Can my brother please sit down?" he asked her.
She nodded.
"Yes, of course, but what's wrong?" she asked.
"We'll explain in a moment. Just please find him a seat, would ya?" Alan said annoyed.
Esmera nodded.
"Follow me," she said.
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They put a chair in the main hall and the Doctor sat on it quietly sipping some tea while his wife stood nearby rubbing his back. He had recovered for the most part and was staring off into space while his family explained who Jenny was to Esmera.
"So you believed this woman to be dead?" Esmera said walking over to him.
The Doctor nodded.
"I left her behind on Messaline. They wanted to give her a proper burial so I let them do it. She…she was dead for all intents and purposes. I don't know what happened. Like my brother said, it must have been a delayed regeneration but…"
He closed his eyes.
"Oh, she's alive, my daughter's alive," he whispered.
Rain knelt down beside him.
"And now we can find her and bring her back to our family," she said to him.
He smiled.
"Yes, my daughter traveling with us, part of the family, exactly where she belongs," he said.
Rain gave his hand a squeeze and laid her head against his arm.
"Where is she? Do you know where she went?" the Doctor asked Esmera.
"According to our spies, her last known location is Beltrop Eleven," she said.
"And is she still there?" the Doctor said.
"As far as we know. The spies haven't reported any rocket lifting off from the planet, at least none that matches the description of the one she uses."
"So, if she's causing trouble why haven't you lot nabbed her?" the Doctor said angrily.
"We've tried but she's always managed to elude us. We just recently found out that she was there and we've been lying in wait, biding our time and trying to trap her. But she's a clever one."
He gave her a smug smile.
"What about you?" Esmera said. "Will you help us?"
"If it means getting my daughter back, yes. I won't help you so you can arrest her and cart her off to some prison planet where she'll rot for these so-called crimes of hers."
"She has caused trouble!"
"She doesn't know any better. She was born from me and she's trying to follow in my footsteps. She isn't some wicked criminal, she's just naïve. If I can find her, then my family and I can give her the guidance she needs but I will not see her thrown in jail over a few innocent mistakes. I've probably done a lot worse that she has, in fact I know I have. Now will you call your goons off and let me go find my daughter or will I have to fight through them to get to her?"
"Very well, Doctor. Find her and bring her in line before she does more damage."
"I will, don't worry," the Doctor growled under his breath.
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Once they were back inside the TARDIS. The Doctor took it back into the vortex. He excused himself for a moment while his family gave him sympathetic nods. They agreed to pilot the TARDIS in the meantime while he recovered from the shock. They watched while he walked through the back door. Rose hugged Alan around the middle while he nuzzled her head.
"Oh Alan, I can't believe Jenny's alive," she said to him.
"I know, Starlight, this is wonderful news. Once we find her, our little family will be complete," he said to her.
They hugged one another, happy that there was someone else that they could add to their ever-growing family. They held each other tight hoping that they could find her quickly before something happened to her. Rain held on to them for a moment and then went off to find her husband.
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She found him in their bedroom. The Doctor looked up when she closed the door and walked over to him.
"Oh Latara, she's alive," he whispered.
"Yes, my love, and now she can come home to us," Rain said, settling down beside him.
She saw the pain in his eyes and took his hand.
"Thete, what is it?"
"Something's wrong," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"You don't realize it? My hearts, we can't feel her," he said, sadly. "If she's my daughter then we should be able to feel her mind in ours but we can't. I've never been able to feel her which is why I didn't accept her as my own at first. Something's off. They did something to her when they made her. They gave her two hearts but not a full Time Lord mind. She's like Alan used to be. They must have used enough of my DNA to construct her and equip her to fight as a soldier but not enough to make her a full Time Lady."
"But you can fix this, can't you? Or Imiko could. Imiko is coming back to ask Mingxia if she wants to be a Time Lady. Can't she do the same for her? What about the chameleon arch? There must be some way to fix her so she'll be like us."
She held him while the Doctor lowered his head to her shoulder.
"I never should have left her behind," he said. "If I hadn't left her behind, she would have woke up on the TARDIS and been with me."
"You can't blame yourself for this, Thete. You thought she was dead."
"But I left her behind. I left her there with strangers. I kept denying her until almost the end of our time together. She woke up alone. What if she hates me, Latara? What if she doesn't want to be found now because she's angry at what I did and the way I treated her?"
"I don't believe that," Rain said, shaking her head. "You showed her how much you loved her before she died. She must know you care for her and that you only left her there because you thought she was dead."
"But she's never made any effort to contact me."
"And is it easy to contact you when you're traveling all over time and space?" she pointed out.
He nodded.
"I guess you're right but still…"
"Don't give up before you've started, Thete. Don't let all these doubts and fears about whether or not she'll love you get in your way. Just find her; at least so you can tell her you do love her."
He smiled and nodded. She sighed and hugged him tightly.
"You know," he said into her shoulder, "this means you're her stepmother."
He leaned up and grinned at her. Rain laughed.
"Hey, I wanted a child with you and now I have one," she said. "I would be honored to be her stepmother. But what about Bro? Is he her dad too?"
The Doctor thought.
"No, I think he'd probably prefer to think of himself as her uncle," he said. "At least I hope he'll think that because it'll get confusing for the poor girl pretty quickly trying to figure out which dad is which."
Rain laughed and nodded. They hugged one more time before both of them got up and walked back to the console room.