Just a little one-shot I thought up in the midst of writing for 'Bridging the Gap'. I suppose it could be considered a companion piece (no pun intended, ha). I don't own Doctor Who. If I did, certain companions would not just be ignored.
Bedtime Stories
It was a bedtime story her parents told her when she was little. Her mum would brush her curly strawberry blonde hair gently, braiding it as she spoke. The man in the flying blue box, traveling among the stars, saving the universe. He was a lonely man-not so much a man as much an alien. But he was all too human, possibly more human than some of the 'apes' as he used to call one of his companions.
Ah, yes. He wasn't always alone. A human friend, a companion, would accompany him on his travels, to have the adventures of a lifetime. More often than not, they would leave. Sometimes willingly, sometimes taken away from him.
That was the saddest part of the bedtime story her mum told her. When his companion got stuck on another planet, there was no way to go back to him. It broke the little girl's heart to see her mummy start to cry as she told the story, unable to finish. Her dad would hug her mum tightly, telling her it was going to be alright. That they had each other.
The little girl didn't understand what that meant. She tried to forget, and focus on the happier parts of the story. Like when the alien who called himself "The Doctor" and his companion would bicker back and forth. Apparently, she had the wrong bucket. Red or blue, her parents weren't very specific. He would yell an 'Allons-y', and take off.
Her mum would go on with the story, telling her about the most important woman in all of creation. She was the Noble One, who helped the Doctor learn how to live again. She was the reason that the Doctor and his old companion met again, and the reason that the old companion was happy once more. She no longer traveled with the real Doctor, but the Noble Spaceman, a combination of the Doctor and the Noble little girl would always smile during the anecdotes about little fat babies, but her smiles turned to a look of horror when her mum wouldn't talk about the fate of the Noble One.
"She got married," her mum would say.
"Was the Spaceman there?"
"Yes. But he couldn't talk to her. She couldn't remember him," her dad interjected with a sad smile.
Her parents tried to play it off as amnesia. When she demanded to know what had happened to her, she cried, right along with her parents. It was as if they were mourning for a friend that they actually knew.
The little girl would stay up at night until sleep took her off into dreamland. She believed that if she waited long enough, the Doctor would come and take her to see the stars from up-close. She could already hear the noise of the time machine that her mum and dad described, coming for her. Every night, she would have a small bag ready, sitting under her bed, just in case. She never planned on being gone too long, she'd miss her parents too much.
When she started school, the other children made fun of the little girl. They thought she was strange, with her head always stuck up in the clouds. She would make up fantastic stories about robots bent on destroying the Spaceman. She kept up the practice of having a bag with a few of her belongings under her bed, even if she didn't wait up all night. Her teachers found her precocious at first, admiring her creativity. The began to worry when she started writing in a completely different language, a strange, alien one that she insisited was real. The teachers talked to her mum and dad, telling them that their daughter was unwell.
Her dad took the little poem she wrote in her made up language, and grinned. He told the teacher that it was in fact a language-one of the dead ones like Latin, from thousands of years ago. It no longer exists, he informed the teacher. The teacher frowned, accusing the parents of filling their daughter's mind with silly stories that weren't true. Her mum got mad, and stormed out of the school.
In art class, the little girl drew a blue box, flying among the stars. In the doorway, she drew her dad, because that's what a Spaceman would look like: sticky-uppy hair, glasses, and a long coat. Next to him, she drew her mum, her beautiful, kind mum. And the Noble one, with fiery red hair stood next to them both, as if protecting them from harm. She was the one who brought them together.
Her parents got another call from her teacher. The phone was slammed.
One day, when she was nine, she saw her dad disappear into the yard's shed. Before she could follow him, her mum took her hand, whirling her around. She would never forget the look on her face-harried, panicked, and hopeful, all at the same time.
"Love, do you really believe the stories your dad and I tell you?" she asked.
The little girl nodded. Why shouldn't she believe them?
"Don't tell me their silly like Mrs Stevonson does," she pouted.
Her mum smiled, shaking her head, "They're real. It's all true. Don't ever let anyone convince you otherwise."
She completely forgot about the shed. She shrugged and went on her way. From that point on, her parents seemed fidgety, as if waiting to tell her something. They never did.
On her thirteenth birthday, after presents and cake, and her uncle Tony and grandparents had left, her parents sat her down in the living room. Her mum asked if she still kept a bag under her bed. The little girl didn't know that she knew. Her dad chuckled at her look of shock.
After admitting that she did, both of her parents took a deep breath.
"You might want to get it now. We have a surprise," her dad told her.
"What?"
"We're going on a little trip," her mum grinned.
"To Barcelona," her dad said.
"Spain?" the girl asked.
"No, the planet. Allons-y, then," he stood up.
Her parents led her to the shed. Suddenly, it formed into a blue box. The same one her parents had told her about. She stared at it, wonderstruck. Her dad said that the chameloeon circuit (whatever that was) worked on their TARDIS, but not the old one. She looked between her parents, and suddenly everything made sense. Her dad and the Doctor both said that. Her last name was Noble-Smith, the Noble One. Her mum and dad both knew about the Doctor and his adventures all too well. Her dad was able to read and understand the poem she had written. "High Gallifreyan", he called it. They were there. Her dad was the Spaceman, her mum the companion. It all made sense. She smiled, hugging them both.
"I knew it. I knew it was real," she said.
Barcelona was her first real adventure. It was during that time she learned that there was another Earth, the one her mum was from. And on that Earth were her parents' old friends, including the Noble One. When the little girl asked if they could visit, her dad shook his head. Her mum began to tell her a story. The story of how there was an opening in the universe. How they helped save everyone. And how the Noble One remembered them. There was just no way to go back, she finished.
Except for now. Upon coming of age, the little girl (who wasn't so little anymore) worked alongside her parents, at Torchwood. She was experimenting with finding ways to open the path between the parallel worlds without the universes collapsing.
She didn't have to wait up at night, waiting to be whisked away for an adventure. She was doing the whisking away all her own, once her dad taught her to navigate the TARDIS. But still, she wanted to find the Doctor, and thank him for her family. Yes, he needed the thank-you card of the century.
Her bedtime stories were all true. And until the end of time, The Doctor, now known as John Noble-Smith (or Spaceman, as his daughter affectionately called him), his wife, Rose Tyler Smith, and their daughter, traveled together in the TARDIS.
So, what do you think? I like the idea of the entire family in the TARDIS, working together. I also think that their kid would be a bit spacey, and seen as odd. And hmmm, she knows how to fly the TARDIS! Who else, Doctor aside, can do that?
Please review. It'd be greatly appreciated.