Bed Time Stories
A fairly fluffy which stemmed from a plot bunny jumping up and waving a piece of paper with "Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? The Big Bad Wolf? The Big Bad Wolf?" he sings then stops, "Actually, your mother can be terrifying when she wants to be - so I definitely am!" written on it. It was very insistent…
And thus… another fluffy fic was born! My first foray into Pete's world, but unlikely to be my last
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As was fairly usual in the Tyler household, it was approaching the bed time of the littlest Tyler, the recent offspring of a Meta Crisis Time Lord and the Human girl who loved him. And there, in the TARDIS blue painted nursery, stands the Doctor with his baby boy gently cradled in his arms. And, as was also fairly usual in the Tyler household, the Meta Crisis was telling him a bed time story.
"And then, the evil Pepper Pots surrounded our not-so-handsome-as-he-is-now Hero, and it looked as if it was game over for him."
The Doctor pauses, looking up at the nebula painted ceiling and he giggles.
"Game over at the Game Station… how apt!"
Smiling softly, he shakes his head and continues.
"So it looked to be game over for our noble Hero, for to defeat the evil Pepper Pots he must destroy half of the planet below; and that, my brilliant boy, is something that he will never do. So he surrendered and accepts the inevitable, happy that at least his Princess has been sent away to safety to be guarded by the dragon and the court idiot."
He cuddles his child closer and nervously glances over his shoulder. Despite having moved out of the Tyler mansion several months before, the Doctor would put it past Jackie to miraculously appear behind him and hear that last bit. He still lived in fear of that slapping arm of hers. Cybermen? Daleks? Easy. Jackie Tyler in a mood with him… now he's scared!
"But!" He continues dramatically, the arm not holding his son gesturing wildly, "As all seemed lost, he heard the sound of the universe. The wheezing, groaning sound that brings hope wherever it goes; to everyone who hears it, no matter how lost. And our Hero turns; amazed, horrified, and not daring to hope even as the evil Pepper Pots accuse him of trickery. And there…"
He grins down to his infant son who smiles a happy, gummy smile back.
"There, against all odds, stands his magnificent ship. She was old, but inside she was new, she was borrowed, although" the Doctor adds with a cheeky grin "not that he would ever give her back!" his son laughs and the Doctor grins proudly, "and she was the most magnificent shade of blue."
His son wiggles in excitement and claps his hands; the Doctor's enthusiasm is contagious.
"And you'll be meeting her sister soon, when you're both a bit bigger of course"
Not too much bigger mind. He thinks with a grin; Might as well get those Time Lord telepathic nerves firing early!
"'What've you done?' cried our Hero as the doors open; and there stands the most beautiful being in all of creation. She radiates the power of time, and she burns with it. She is so beautiful and so impossible that it breaks our Hero's heart to look at her. Because he knows that the flame that burns brightest burns the quickest, and her time is so short compared to his already."
The Doctor swallows past the lump that suddenly appears in his throat. He takes a deep breath and pulls his small son closer, reveling in his very existence.
"But not that that's a problem anymore is it? No it is not!"
He grins again, peppering the child with feather light kisses on his brow.
"So the Princess looks right at our Hero and tells him she looked into the TARDIS and the TARDIS looked into her.
'You looked into the Time Vortex,' exclaims our Hero, aghast 'Princess, no one's meant to see that!' And her golden eyes glow with the power of time, and she's silhouetted in a blinding golden light and energy tendrils snake outwards and it's beautiful. She's so beautiful.
But the evil Pepper Pots want to destroy the Princess! Because she can see all of time and she has the power of a god.
'Exterminate!' Cries the Pepper Pot
And the brave Hero is terrified, because the evil Pepper Pots will murder his Princess and there is nothing he can do." He pauses for emphasis and the child looks up in expectation. Or maybe just because his Dad had stopped talking, it's hard to tell with the offspring of the Doctor.
"But she can!"
The Doctor grins again, lightly tapping the boy on his nose causing him to giggle.
"Because his precious girl is impossible and never does what she's told; When our Hero tries to keep her safe she just comes back to protect him because it's better with two. So she lifts her hand, and stops the evil Pepper Pots."
Just out of the corner of his eye, in the doorway of the nursery, a familiar blonde woman stands. And backlit by the hallway light, she looks ever so similar to her Bad Wolf persona.
"I am the Bad Wolf." Smiles Rose, stepping into the room and slipping an arm around the Doctor, "I create myself. I take the words; I scatter them in time and space. A message, to lead myself here."
The Doctor smiles at her, then looks back down at their son "And our Hero is amazed. 'Princess, you've got to stop this.' He pleads 'You've got to stop this now. You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're going to burn!'"
"But the Princess knows best" interrupts Rose, a half smile pushing the corner of her lips, "'I want you safe' she says-"
"Now that's not the line and you know it Rose Tyler!" the Doctor pouts. "Honestly, you're corrupting our son with false information!" He sniffs haughtily. "Now say it properly!"
"You know, I'm not entirely sure our son should be listening to tales about the evil Pepper Pots as a bed time story." Even as she's admonishing him, Rose grins at the Dalek's new child-friendly name "At least not until he's older!"
"Ah but," replies the Doctor, smirking slightly, "forewarned is forearmed!" He smiles again, gently bouncing the newest Tyler "And anyway; he should know about when his mother was the most powerful being in the multiverse!"
Rose giggles, gently poking him in the side "So you admit that Bad Wolf out ranks the Oncoming Storm then? 'Bout time you realized that!"
"Ah." Replies the Doctor "Well..." He trails off, trying to find a convincing argument about how he is superior that won't end up with him sleeping on the sofa... Again.
Stumped he looks down at his son, and decides it'll be safer to switch topic "Ah, you see here Rose, now we see the beginnings of the oncoming pout if mummy doesn't say her part right. Isn't that right my baby storm?" The Doctor coos and Rose laughs at how ridiculously domesticated he is now. If only his ninth self could see him...
"Fine." She moans half-heartedly, taking their child from him. "Daddy's a silly idiot isn't he sweetheart?" she coos cuddling him close. "Yes he is! Yes he is!"
"Oi!"
She laughs at her husband's indignant expression and continues the story. "So the Princess says, 'I want you safe, my Hero'"
"Quite right too." Interrupts the doctor and she shushes him.
"'I want you safe.' says the Princess, 'Protected from the false god.' Because the Emperor of the Pepper Pots fancied himself as the god of a new world."
"But the Emperor was a fool!" Grins the Doctor, "He thought he was immortal and doesn't believe that the Princess could stop him. But the Princess told him. She said..." He looked expectantly at his wife who rolls her eyes.
"She said 'You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence, and I divide them.'"
"And she did." Continues the Doctor, sending a proud smile towards his wife. "The evil Pepper Pots that wanted to rule the universe gently fell into piles of golden dust as the Princess waved her hand. She divided them into atoms - which of course." he says, taking their son back into his arms "you already know are the smallest things in the universe, because you my son are a brilliant genius like me! Yes you are!"
Rose clears her throat and raises an eyebrow.
"Erm, our son." He hastily corrects "And you'll be fantastic like your mother and brilliant like me, won't you little mister Tyler? Yes you will!"
Rose just smiles at his antics, the daft alien she married.
"And so," the Doctor smiles "the Time War ended." He frowns. "Well... almost."
Rose places a hand on his arm and his frown melts as he turns to look at her.
"And all because of the Big Bad Wolf." And suddenly he's grinning again in a way that makes Rose slightly nervous. The Doctor lifts their son above his head and twirls around the nursery singing a childish nursery rhyme.
"Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? The Big Bad Wolf? The Big Bad Wolf?" he sings then stops glancing at Rose's less than amused face.
"Actually." He says looking sheepish "Your mother can be terrifying when she wants to be - so I definitely am!"
Rose just smiles and shakes her head at the pair of them. "Come on you," She says to a laughing Doctor. "Put him down and come to bed. We've got work tomorrow."
The Doctor pulls a face. "Oh Rose, don't say that! It just sounds so..." He trails off searching for the right word to best describe how utterly terrible and horrifying that sounds.
"Domesticated?" Asks a grinning Rose, "I think you gave up your right to moan about domesticated when you asked me to marry you, mister." She walks over and places a gentle kiss on the baby's head. "Night sweetheart, sleep well and don't let your daft old Dad keep you up." She says smoothing a hand across his downy hair as the baby yawns.
"And you," she adds looking up at her husband "if you're not in bed in 10minutes I'm sonicking the door shut again."
She swipes his screwdriver from his pocket and smiles her tongue between her teeth grin, "So don't be too long."
The Doctor gapes after her retreating form. "Ooh, definitely a Big Bad Wolf, your mother." He says to the small boy in his arms "Must have learnt from her mother, the evil dragon!"
He grins and gently rocks the tired infant. "Hello, again little storm. It's the Doctor. Here to help." The little boy begins to fuss. "Shush. Hey. There, there. Be quiet. Go to sleep. Really. You've got a lot to look forward to, you know. A normal human life on Earth. Mortgage repayments, the nine to five, a persistent nagging sense of spiritual emptiness. Save the tears for later, boy-o." He pauses, this wasn't quite what he meant to say… "Oh, no. That was crabby. No, that was old. But I am old, Stormy. I am so old."
He smiles gently. Yes, he's old. But then, this body - this half human Meta Crisis is barely older than his son. Maybe he doesn't have to worry about being the old, crabby Time Lord Doctor now, still holding on to the scars of his old life. Maybe he can be a new man.
"You, little Tyler," he continues "You are so young, aren't you? And, you know, right now, everything's ahead of you. You could be anything. Yes, I know. You could walk among the stars. They don't just look like that, you know. They are rather more impressive."
He pulls out a spare sonic screwdriver from his pocket and with a sly whispered, "Don't tell your mother!" He turns on the holographic star-scape he built when they found out Rose was pregnant.
"Yeah." He grins "You know, when I was little like you, well, the first time, I dreamt of the stars. I think it's fair to say in the language of your age, that I lived my dream, I owned the stage, gave it a hundred and ten percent. I hope you will have as much fun as I did, Little man.
Your dad's trying his best, you know. Yes, I know he's brilliant, if I do say so myself."
The youngest Tyler gurgles at him.
"Shush you." The Doctor admonishes "But it's been so long since I was a father, and so much has happened since. The death of my planet at my own hands, and not to mention the whole becoming half human bit!" He sighs, "But I promise you my little man, you and your mother are the most important things in the universe to me. And your auntie TARDIS. And someday soon, I'll be able to whisk you all away and we'll travel the stars. We've got things to do, you and me, hey? We can go anywhere. Everywhere. You choose. You and your mum. You're my son, and we've only just got started. You're going to be great. You're going to be more than great. You're going to be amazing. You hear me?"
The Doctor looks down and sees his little son has nodded off into sleep to dream about the stars. The Doctor just smiles, placing him down into his cot and tucking him in.
"You and me, time and space. You watch us run."
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I haven't really got much to add to this one! Apart from, make sure to look out for my new MUTLI-CHAPTERED(!) Fic that'll be appearing on the 24th of June (a bit of a birthday present to myself hehe). It's all very exciting!
Hope you enjoyed this fluffy oneshot – drop me a review and let me know!
Love and Hugs,
Spannerspoon out.
