Ruby

Chapter 3: Revelations

Sarah-Jane's arms moved to gently hold the Doctor's, which were tangled in her hair, as she kissed him back. The kiss seemed to last forever, but in reality it was only for a few minutes. Just as suddenly as he started to kiss her, the Doctor turned and carried on working on helping Ruby. Sarah-Jane just stood there. He kissed her. The Doctor had kissed her. She stared at him with confusion, as he moved around in a frantic worry over Ruby, connecting wires here and there, doing medical stuff. He didn't seem fazed at all. Maybe he didn't mean it. Maybe he was just so relieved about Ruby that he just done it. It didn't mean anything at all, except thank you.

The Doctor started doing tests on Ruby, making sure all her systems were okay. After hundreds of tests the Doctor sat next to the bed, with Sarah-Jane sitting the other side. He found it incredibly hard to sit still. There was one more test he had to do, but he was scared of Sarah-Jane finding out. Sarah-Jane was getting really annoyed, so she decided to hit the nail on the head.

"Ok. What's wrong, apart from the obvious?" Looking straight at the Doctor, he was too worried for someone he was apparently scared of. The Doctor gave Sarah-Jane a sidelong glance, could he tell her? But what would she say?

"Um… there's one more test to do but… um… it may reveal something…" Now, Sarah-Jane was confused.

"Reveal what? If it could help her then wouldn't it be a good idea to do it?" What could possibly be that important that he would not do the test? He had already shown he didn't want her to die.

"Because I don't know what you'll say." The Doctor kept staring down at the floor, not wanting to see the look on Sarah-Jane's face. Sarah-Jane's opinion really meant a lot to him. That kiss earlier is all he wanted to do since the Tardis landed here, but he was pretty sure she thought nothing of it, she seemed to brush it off quickly.

"Does my opinion really matter that much? Doctor, I'm confused. One minute you're terrified of her and run away! The next you're distraught because you think she's going to die, and now you don't want to do an important test because of what I'll say! Doctor, do the test!" She just couldn't understand his mood swings.

The Doctor just sat there shocked by Sarah-Jane's outburst. Did she care that much for Ruby? What if- no. No do not go down that route, it won't end pretty. You'll just end up pushing both of them further away.

"O-Ok. I'll do the test." The Doctor feebly got out the chair and pulled out a heart monitor. He connected Ruby onto it. His finger hovered over the power switch, debating with himself whether this was a good idea. He looked at Sarah-Jane as she sat watching Ruby sleep, her hand wrapped tightly around Ruby's limp one. He decided there and then, seeing how much Sarah-Jane cared for Ruby, he would tell her how he felt about her. He should have done it years ago, really, before she walked out those doors, bloody TimeLords. As he flicked the switch, the monitor came to life. Lights from the monitor shined down illuminating Ruby where she lay unconscious, oblivious. Suddenly, the heart monitor picked up and started sounding Ruby's heartbeat.

*beep-beep* *beep-beep* *beep-beep* *beep-beep*

Hang on that doesn't sound right. Sarah-Jane thought to herself. It sounds like she's got-

"No. But… you said… you said you were the last one." He told her. He had told her at Deffry Vale that they were all gone. No one was left. The TimeLords were dead.

"Sarah, why do you think I care for her so much? Why do you think I'm scared of her so much?" He was now standing over Ruby looking down at her face with all the love and caring only a fool would be able to miss it. "She's… She's my daughter. Ruby Bella Smith." Sarah-Jane wasn't expecting that. The Doctor had a daughter? "It's been 20 years since I last seen you. 15 years ago I found her outside the Tardis. I did some tests on her, to find out who she was. She was only 5 days old. I found the two hearts, so I did a DNA test. It told me she was mine. At first I didn't know what to do. I tried to look for the mother but I couldn't find out who she was. It was like that part of her DNA was locked; only her mother could unlock it. I'd been a father before so I decided to keep her, raise her, love her. She's my daughter, in every sense of the word. A TimeLord, with two hearts. My daughter. Lying here nearly dead." The anger inside of him just built. The more he looked at her the more he hated himself for what he had done. "It's my entire fault." His voice was hardly a whisper now; Sarah-Jane was barely able to hear what he said. But she did. She retrieved one of her hands from Ruby's and slipped it into the Doctor's. She gave it a gentle squeeze, so he would look down at her. He did, reluctantly, only to see understanding and want. Want? For what, him? No she wouldn't want him. Want to help maybe? He slowly lowered himself down to the chair next to Sarah-Jane, never breaking his eye contact with her. He rested his forehead against Sarah-Jane's and closed his eyes. Sarah-Jane closed her eyes, as well, at the contact. The Doctor took a deep breath, as to try and stop the tears, but the attempt was in vain. As the tears rolled down his cheeks, he let his biggest fear out.

"I done this to her." Sarah-Jane felt her own tears escape her eyes. To see the Doctor, her true love, in this much pain and hurt, it ripped her heart in two. She knew what it was like to have your child so close to death. It hurt beyond belief. She reached up to his face and wiped his tears away, leaving her hand to rest against his cheek.

"She's going to be fine, you said so yourself." She also knew how easy it was to blame yourself, for your child's pain. She had to help him through this. She couldn't let him tear himself apart with unnecessary guilt.

"No, no. It's gonna hurt her so much. She'll be in agony. I did this. I made her forget. I made her forget about me, about this life. But… I also had to change her. I had to rewrite her DNA. It's absolute agony. But I had to. They were hunting her to get to me. I had to hide her. And now because she remembered… her mind was going to burn up if she didn't open the watch and change back. But it's going to hurt more." The Doctor looked up straight into Sarah-Jane's eyes, as he said, "She's going to be in so much pain, and it's all my fault." Sarah-Jane couldn't begin to imagine what the Doctor went through, having to do that to his own daughter. She would never be able to do that to Luke. She didn't blame him for what he'd done. She knew how important it was to protect your children. Her heart broke just thinking about how much pain that would have caused her love.

"Well, she's safe now. You did what you had to do. I mean, the aliens have gone haven't they?" The Doctor nodded his head; he loved how she always could keep a level head. She could always make perfect sense of everything. "She's got you again, and me. We'll help her through this. I'm not leaving until she's back to perfect. Ok? She's going to be fine." But, just as the Doctor was nodding his head in agreement, Ruby screamed out in pain, even though she was still unconscious. Her body began to lift her chest as what looked like a red electric current circled Ruby. The Doctor and Sarah-Jane were by her side in a shot.

"Shhhh. It's ok. I'm here. Shhhh. Daddy's here." The Doctor stood there cradling Ruby in his arms, swaying slightly like a parent would to get a small child to sleep. Sarah-Jane had never seen the Doctor so domestic; she loved the scene in front of her. Her heart just melted to see the Doctor like that. Sarah-Jane began stroking Ruby's hair, soothing her as much as she could from the Doctor's side. The Doctor took his arm away from Ruby and put around Sarah-Jane's shoulders, so she could get to Ruby. Sarah-Jane took the place under the Doctor's arm, holding Ruby in her arms as well.

Even though Ruby had stopped screaming, Sarah-Jane and the Doctor still stood their close to each other soothing the little girl in their arms. Sarah-Jane was getting tired so she absently put her head to rest on the Doctor's shoulder, making the Doctor notice how tired she was getting. The Doctor shifted his weight so he could move Ruby and Sarah-Jane to a more comfortable position. Sarah-Jane wasn't quite asleep so he kept her standing so he could climb up onto the bed, still holding Ruby, but making sure there was plenty of room for Sarah-Jane. Once he was comfortable, he patted the space next to him signalling for Sarah-Jane to sit there. Sarah-Jane sleepily shook her head in protest, but the Doctor wouldn't have it, he gently grabbed Sarah-Jane's wrist and pulled her to the bed. She was too tired to argue so she climbed up next to him and snuggled into his side. She was so tired she didn't realise that she had draped her arm across the Doctor's and Ruby's bodies, and that she was holding Ruby's hand. The Doctor lay there, enjoying his little cuddle with his girls. Wait… his girls? His daughter and his one true love were both in his arms sound asleep. He liked it. No, he didn't like it, he loved it. All he ever wanted was snuggling into his arms right now.

His mind began to wonder and fantasise as he softly fell into a peaceful sleep. Him, Sarah-Jane, Luke and Ruby. Living at 13 Bannerman Road. Being domestic. Luke at Uni, Ruby at Park Vale High School. His Sarah-Jane with a golden band on her finger, one matching his. Him and his Sarah lounging about in the attic. Sarah calling him her Michael, he always did like that name. Ruby slouching in from school, with Clyde and Rani close behind dressed in their sixth form uniform. Luke walking in with a bag of washing for Sarah, visiting from Oxford for the weekend. Mr Smith detecting an alien crashed spaceship. All… six of them jumping into the two cars, Luke's yellow beetle and his Bessie. The three young adults going together and Ruby going with her parents. All of them reaching the aliens. They help the aliens get back to where they are supposed to be, everything's okay again. They go home and get a celebratory takeaway, pizza. People go home and to bed. It's just him and Sarah now. They decide to celebrate without the kids. Sarah takes hold of his hand and leads him up the stairs to their bedroom...

Just as the Doctor fell asleep, Luke walked into the sickbay looking for his mum. They'd been in there for hours; Rani and Clyde were waiting in the control room, so he had to be quick. Surprisingly, when they saw Ruby collapse in the road earlier, Clyde and Rani were a lot more accepting of Ruby. Maybe it was because if she meant that much to the Doctor then she can't be out to destroy the Earth or harm Sarah-Jane. He had to find out if Ruby was okay and see how long his mum was going to be. He wasn't expecting what he saw. He walked in to see his mum asleep cuddling up to the Doctor and holding Ruby in her arms. To be honest, he didn't mind he was just shocked. Although, he did feel a little pang of jealousy that they looked like the perfect family and he was standing on the outside watching. Suddenly, there was an image appeared in his mind, like someone was projecting it out. It was an image of the Doctor putting his hand on Luke's shoulder and an arm round his mum's waist, talking to him saying 'Welcome home son.' Luke walked out of the room into the hallway. He turned and leaned his back heavily against the wall. It was all a bit overwhelming. Did the Doctor think of him as a son? He would love to have the Doctor as his dad. He normally imagined what it would be like. Luke looked down the hall towards the control room. He should probably get back. He knew now that even though they were a picture of a perfect family in there, and he was out here, he was still part of that family. He always will be.