The Doctor sat in the control seat of the console room. For quite a while he had been fidgeting, unsure of how to spend his free day. He had sent Clara back home for a weekend to care for the children and tend to any issues that might arise during their next journey. He straightened his bowtie, grabbed the glasses from his top pocket, and swiftly pulled out an Agatha Christie novel. "Oh Dame Christie, what fun times we had. I should pop in for a short visit, seeing as the bee problems have been solved and I've got a new face and all. Although it won't be nearly the same without..." His watering eyes wandered to the psychic paper he had left on the controls.
Although he glanced away first, his eyes returned and he jumped up, barely remembering to place the bookmark back in its spot. He whipped the paper up to his face and read in disbelief. In a clear, yet unfamiliar handwriting, coordinates had appeared with the small sidenote "HURRY!" The Doctor stared for a moment at the paper. As he continued to watch, he was stunned when the note disappeared and was replaced by the words "I'M WAITING..." Abruptly he ran to the controls and plugged in the coordinates, shaking his head and swiftly sending the TARDIS into flight. "Well then, I suppose if you're that impatient I'd better see what the hurry is. Geronimo!"
With a powerful thud, the TARDIS fell violently to the ground and the Doctor spun around anxiously. "Well that was...disappointing. You would think I'd know how to land after 1000 years..." He turned back toward the controls and fiddled for a moment before looking at the screen. Earth's moon, 5148. He looked down at the psychic paper and shook his head. He made his way towards the door, muttering under his breath "Who in blazes would be..."
As he violently swung open the doors of the TARDIS, he jumped with a start when he was faced with a young girl, staring excitedly up at him. "Doctor!"
"Oh!" he replied with a second jump as he slowly closed the TARDIS doors and stepped out. He looked around, quickly examining his surroundings. He had apparently landed in a small park, inside a large environmental sustainment bubble. Down the path were a few large building which he recognized but could not name. He finally looked down at the girl. "Hello there...I'm sorry but I believe someone is expecting me..."
"Yep I sure am! You're much more punctual than I expected." Her hair flopped into her face as she jumped slightly, fighting to keep the tangled curls out of her face. Her hair was a rich chocolate brown and there were light freckles on her cheeks and nose. Although her outfit was clean and stylish, there were dirt marks on the knees of her trousers, as if she had been running and tripping through the dirt. The Doctor took note of her appearance but was suddenly distracted by her comment.
"Really!" the Doctor exclaimed excitedly, before composing himself and smiling, "I mean, of course I was punctual, I have a time machine of course. Only a silly person would be late with a time machine."
The young girl rolled her eyes and stared at him while he nervously fidgeted and looked around. "So! Let's cut to the chase. Who are you and how did you know how to reach me?"
The girl smiled, "Tess."
"Tess," the Doctor smiled back at her. "That's a pretty name Tess. How old are you?"
"Eight...and a half!" she exclaimed.
The Doctor smiled, but then turned stern. He kneeled in front of her and whispered gently. "Tess, tell me why I'm here."
"I need your help, Doctor," she frowned as she put a hand on his shoulder, "we're on an investigation."
"Investigation," the Doctor shouted with a jump, "well I love investigations. What are we finding then?"
"My mum. She's gone."
The Doctor frowned and grabbed Tess's hand. "Well then Tess, let's go find your mum. But as we walk, I'd like to ask you a few questions."
"Sure," Tess replied, beginning to skip along the path, hand in hand with the Doctor.
"How do you know who I am, and how did you know how to find me?"
Tess looked puzzled for a moment, then shrugged. "Well, I suppose it's just because of my mum. She always said, if you really need help and you wish real hard, he'll find you. And he'll always be ready to save the day."
The Doctor's eyes furrowed and he turned away from Tess, "Well, I like to believe that last part is true. Your mum sounds like she knows me well. What's her name?"
She sheepishly shrugged her shoulders and said, "Well, I'm not sure..."
He stopped and looked down at her, "What...how do you not know your own mother's name?"
Tess's eyes began to water and she mumbled "well I've only ever called her mum, and Teacher never let me talk about her, said it was dangerous and I just don't..."
The Doctor knelt again and gave her a hug, this time picking her up as he stood. "Brave heart, Tess. Let's go find your mum."
Back in the TARDIS, the Doctor guided Tess to one of the many closets he had. "Here we are! Something in here should fit you. Don't want you running around with dirty trousers."
Tess giggled slightly, rubbing some tears off her cheek. "You have a lot of girl clothes, Doctor"
The Doctor pulled a dress off a hanger and held it up in front of Tess. "These were my granddaughter's clothes. She never wore them while we were traveling, but at one point I went back to Gallifrey to pick up a couple of keepsake items she had outgrown over the years." He tried holding a couple other dresses up to Tess, throwing each one over his shoulder until he found one that fit her. "There we are! Now the bathroom is down that hall, first door on the left. Off you go!"
Tess held the dress up and smiled, "Thank you Doctor!" As she skipped out of the room, he stared at her, then stared down at the floor.
"Why would I tell you that? I don't even know you." He smacked himself in the forehead, then headed back to the control room. He stared at the monitor, wondering why the moon? Why here? Who are you? Tess skipped down the stairs a few minutes later, wearing the TARDIS blue dress the Doctor had handed her. She sat down in the control chair and began to spin, giggling and watching the Doctor watch her.
Finally she stopped spinning. "Are we going now?" she nagged. The Doctor was awoken from his trance of contemplation and sat down on the floor next to her.
"Tess, we'll find your mum, but I just have to ask you a few more questions..." he began to explain.
Tess began to whimper again, "I've told you everything I know. I only got to see my mum once a year, if she was on best behavior."
"Best behavior?" the Doctor asked patiently.
She shrugged, "Once a year, if she'd been good, I'd get to go to her room and she'd tell me a story or two. Sometimes she'd read out of her story book."
The Doctor thought for a moment, but shook his head. His mind was making connections that he didn't want to be true, so he disregarded those thoughts and held Tess's hands.
"Alright, let's go ask someone where your mum is." the Doctor whispered.
He stood, still holding Tess's hands and guiding her toward the TARDIS doors. They stepped back into the park, and he led her toward the large buildings he had seen earlier.
As they approached the first building, the Doctor read the signs aloud. "Luna University, Department of Archaology". His heart sank. The connections were putting a puzzle together that he didn't want to complete. He held his breath for a moment, as Tess tugged his hand.
"Aren't we going inside? Teacher will be worried about me."
The Doctor ignored his sinking stomach and began to inch up the steps, with an anxious Tess pulling him ahead. Finally, they reached the top of the stairs and entered a grand hall filled with ancient Earth artifacts. At the end of the hall, they saw a woman in a prison guard uniform and a man in a suit. The woman saw Tess immediately and ran up to her, hugging her close. "We were so worried about you!" Tess pushed her away and grabbed the Doctor's leg, hiding behind him. The woman stood slowly, and although she was shorter than him, he felt as though she was staring him down. "And who might you be?"
"Yes, well I'm the Doctor." he said with a cooky grin, attempting to break the tense air.
"And I'm Ms. Stonewell. I am the girl's caretaker and teacher. I'm going to have to take her away now." the woman said with a cold look.
Tess grabbed the Doctor's leg even tighter and he looked down at her. "Yes, right, well before that happens I actually need to speak to Professor..." the Doctor gestured toward the man in the suit, who had been walking slowly over to them.
"Doctor Hodges," the man said with a grunt.
The Doctor frowned and muttered, "For goodness sake, if you study archaeology, you're not a doctor."
The man looked bewildered and grunted, "And what exactly do you hold a doctorate in?"
The Doctor's smile faded and he looked from face to face. "Wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. Now Tess," he said as he knelt on the ground again, keeping his hands on Tess's shoulders to comfort her. "Tess, please tell me, this is very important to the investigation, what is your full name?"
Tess stared straight in his eyes, but tilted her head slightly in confusion. "Teselecta Amelia Pond."
The Doctor stood abruptly, stepping away from the group. His eyes felt parched and dry as he held back the tears which longed to pour down his face. His mind raced and spun as he remembered the night. That night. It had been only weeks. Just before the incident in Victorian London, but right after the infamous Winter Quay. The Singing Towers of Darillium. That night when he had taken her on that final fatal date. And now she was gone. He knew that now. He was grateful for his last goodbye on Trenzalore, but this was too much. To realize that her timeline was complete, and that he was trapped by time, as a younger and ungrateful version of himself got to spend the last day with her. And to realize that Tess was more than just an extention of the pain that he would forever feel about losing River. She was his daughter.
He felt a tug on his leg, and found Tess tugging on his trousers again. "Is everything alright, Doctor?"
He suddenly fell to his knees and hugged her, letting the tears fall as he ran his fingers through her thick curly hair. Realizing he had questions to be answered, he looked up at Ms. Stonewell and implored, "Where has she been all these years?"
Stonewell stood aback and began to stutter, "Well, Ms. Song..."
"Professor" the Doctor corrected, "She's a professor."
"I mean, Professor Song was suddenly pregnant and she wouldn't tell us what was going on, so we had no choice but to confiscate the child. We allowed annual visitation, but only if Ms. Song did not break out excessively or cause any trouble. We were keeping the child until River Song was finished with her probation period. Teselecta has been under my care at Stormcage because we could not find any family to..."
"Of course Teselecta has family!" the Doctor exclaimed, "she's a Pond! For goodness sake you didn't even think to look on Earth? River's home?"
"We were informed that placement of Teselecta into the custody of Amelia and Rory Williams would interfere with a fixed point in time," Ms. Stonewall explained.
"What about Brian Williams? Did you think of that?" The Doctor was shouting angrily now, but Tess still held his leg firmly. Ms. Stonewall stood silently, while Doctor Hodges inched slowly into the shadows, hiding from the conflict that had now risen.
Tess was whimpering, so the Doctor finally picked her up and began to soothe her, holding her close and whispering "you're going to be okay" repeatedly.
Finally he pulled away from her just enough to look her in the eyes. "Tess- dear old Teselecta. I..." he paused, trying to find the most delicate way to phrase the news. "Your mother, Professor River Song...well, she's my wife." Tess froze and began to analyze his face. She put a hand on his hair, and began to experiment with the way it flopped, then put a hand on his chin, poking it as if it were a sharp object. Finally she swung her arms around his neck and hugged him close. He held her even tighter and closed his eyes, glancing to the side only once to watch Ms. Stonewall join Doctor Hodges in the shadows. They hugged in silence for a moment, before he finally set her down on the ground and she beamed up at him.
"So where is Mum?" she smiled excitedly.
He kept his mouth shut and looked around the room. Doctor Hodges had started to walk towards them, but before Hodges could explain to Tess, the Doctor took Tess's hand and walked her back to the TARDIS. He had her sit in the control chair as he flew the TARDIS to the one place he swore he would never return to. After a landing much better than the one from earlier that afternoon, he opened the doors.
The library was much colder than he remembered. By his estimations, it was roughly three months after his tenth regeneration had left with Donna Noble, so there was no risk of any encounters with his previous self. He led Tess toward the well lit desk area and began to type on the computer.
After several minutes of watching the Doctor in silence, Tess finally repeated her question. "Where is my Mum, Doct...I mean Dad?"
He cringed. It had been over a hundred years since he had heard that word. So far that word had meant nothing but pain. But the Doctor continued typing, until finally the screen showed that it was attemting to make a phone call. It rang a few times, and her face appeared. The Doctor choked a bit, but was relieved when he heard the words "Hello sweetie."
"This is a pretty big secret to keep from me," the Doctor said firmly. River's face froze and turned towards her daughter.
"Teselecta?" she said quietly.
"Mummy! Mum, where are you?" Tess exclaimed excitedly, jumping in front of the Doctor. The parents exchanged a look then the Doctor grabbed Tess's shoulders and spun her around slowly.
He sighed and began to explain, "She's on the computer Tess, she's only on the computer."
Tess frowned, "But what do you mean, she's only on the computer?"
River interjected softly, "Sweetie, he means that my mind is saved on a computer, but my body...it's gone. Technically...well, technically I'm dead sweetie."
Tess held herself together for just a moment, but then began to cry. She sobbed softly at first but then harder as she put a hand on the screen and whispered, "No, Mummy, come back."
Suddenly, the Doctor jumped. He realized something.
"Spoilers! You said spoilers at Trenzalore. Why? You knew something was coming that would change our situation. Tess couldn't possibly be the only spoiler, oh no. You knew I would have to come back and you knew that..." his face beamed, "Oh yes! Oh boy, you are...you are so clever. More clever than me I'm afraid. Oh, I love you." The Doctor was bouncing off the walls with excitement as he ran back into the TARDIS, but only after giving the screen a huge, romantic smooch. Tess sat perplexed while River smirked and laughed a little. Suddenly the Doctor poked his head out again, wearing his welding mask atop his head, "Although, seeing as I figured all this out on my own I think I deserve credit for being clever, so probably I'd say we're equally clever."
"That's cute, sweetie," River shouted through the computer speakers.
The Doctor smirked and jumped back into the TARDIS. He finally ran back out with a long cord, dragging it out of the TARDIS and all the way to the screen, where he plugged it in to the CAL computer system.
"CAL?" he asked of the computer, "can you download person 'River Song' to the external memory system I just connected?"
After a moment, a young girl's voice answered, "Confirmed. Download in progress." The Doctor gave a big jump and began to dance around the center of the library lobby, dragging Tess over and swinging her around excitedly. Tess laughed and finally the computer beeped. He ran back to the screen to find it empty, then led Tess back into the TARDIS.
"I have a plan Tess, oh and it's a fantastic one!" he yelled as he plugged in new coordinates and watched her across the console room. He pulled the lever and the place whirred and spun. When they landed, they found themselves back in England, 2013.
The Doctor and Tess stepped out of the TARDIS, and with a hand on her shoulder, he led her toward the nearest house and rang the bell.
Brian Williams came to the door. "Oh Doctor! It's good to see you! I thought I'd never see you again after the news you gave me...and who might this be?"
The Doctor smiled slightly and asked, "May we come in?" The three all sat in the living room, where Brian had a ladder set up, apparently to change the light bulb again. "You remember Melody Pond, right Brian?" the Doctor began. When Brian nodded, the Doctor continued, "well, River- I mean Melody and I were of course married and...this is our daughter."
"What?" Brian exclaimed, "you mean you were doing- you mean she's-"
The Doctor leaned forward. "Now Brian, I know you may be upset."
"Upset?" Brian started, "I'm just...I'm too young to be a great grandfather, you know?"
The Doctor smiled, "yes you are Brian. I need you to care for her."
"Can I come with you?" Tess asked. The Doctor's face tensed up and he turned her towards him.
"No Tess, no you can't. Although I would love nothing more than to raise you on my own, you deserve a real childhood. One free from danger and monsters and prisons. I've tried that before, but my old family, they're all gone. I can't lose you too. Too many people I care about have been lost. Your great grandfather Brian Pond, well, he can take care of you. He did an amazing job raising your grandad and grandmother, and even your mum technically, seeing as she was Mels. But you have to trust me Tess."
Tess began to cry, and he gave her a big hug. "But this isn't goodbye Tess. I'll be visiting. Every Christmas. I promise. And you'll have your mum to talk to too."
"How?" Tess blubbered through her tears, "She's dead. That's what she said on the computer."
The Doctor smiled. "Brian, do you have a web camera?"
Brian pointed to the computer on the nearby desk and said, "Sure, Rory set it up for me just before we ran into those dinosaurs."
"Perfect!" the Doctor said with a whirl of his arms in the air. He dashed over to the computer and began to type frantically. He began creating a program and before Brian and Tess had enough time to ask what he was doing, the Doctor was done. The screen was showing that a video call was being made, and just seconds after, River's face appeared once again onto the screen. "Hello sweetie. And Tess. And Grandad! How are you?"
"Been better," Brian explained. "I'm a great grandfather now."
River smiled, "I know. Sorry about the sudden surprise."
Tess looked up at the Doctor. "But- how?"
"I saved her onto the TARDIS's main computer. Her entire mind. Which means she can make decisions on her own, like answering phone calls."
"And," River interrupted, "Seeing as there is not a lot to do while saved on a computer, I'll always have time to talk to you, my darling daughter."
Tess smiled and hugged the Doctor. "You saved her! You saved mummy!"
The Doctor and River exchanged a longing look. "Yes, I finally saved her."
After quick goodbyes to prevent prolonged tears, the Doctor finally turned away from Tess and Brian and continued over to the main controls of the TARDIS. He played with a couple of switched, and finally River appeared before him.
"Ah, I see you now understand what I meant about still being there when we were on Trenzalore."
The Doctor smiled and grabbed her hand. "That your computer mind imprint is strong enough to create a physical and not just visual hologram? Yes."
They kissed, but suddenly River pulled away and frowned. "But remember that I'm the clever one that came up with all this."
"Whatever you say, sweetie," said the Doctor as he pulled her back into the kiss, holding her passionately and vowing to never let her go again.
The next day, the Doctor was waiting patiently outside of Clara's home. When she finally emerged with suitcase in hand, he gave her a big goofy wave. She approached him with a smile.
"Well somebody had a good weekend. What did you do while I was gone?" Clara asked as she passed through the doors.
"I saved the day," the Doctor replied, confident and for the first time in months, utterly happy.