Just in time for the Christmas special, I've decided to get as many chapters down as I can so that I can (hopefully) reveal some other Doctor's Daughter secrets before they are - potentially - ruined on the 25th. I actually cannot wait, it's possibly the most exciting thing about Christmas this year. Love and stuff, A xoxo

CHAPTER 26

Ella, who had tried so hard not to eavesdrop, had chosen the wrong moment to peek through the crack in the door. She hadn't been able to hear the mumbled conversation that had occurred on the other side of the room, yet she had clearly seen the anguish on Rory's face as he walked away.

She stood there, her nose pressed against the doorframe, and waited until the echo of Rory's exit had faded into silence. From her position behind the door, Ella could see nothing but a few curls of Amy's red hair. They weren't talking, just…sitting.

Unable to stand the heavy silence for a moment longer, Ella pushed the door wide, blinking as she stepped out of the softly-lit bedroom towards the lurid blue of the console. She stopped when she reached Amy and the Doctor, who were sitting still on the sofa.

"Mum, I –"

"Not now, El," Amy frowned, and for once, Ella decided to keep her mouth shut. Amy stood up slowly, and shuffled out of the room as Ella and the Doctor watched in quiet concern.

"I'm sure she didn't mean to be rude," the Doctor said, once Amy had closed the door to her room.

"Oh, it's nothing," Ella shrugged, and flopped onto the seat next to the Doctor. "I'm used to it."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Is she like that a lot, then?"

"You know her almost as well as I do, Doctor," Ella replied. "Maybe even more."

"I don't know," the Doctor shook his head. "I always got the feeling she was holding back on me. Deliberately keeping some part of herself hidden."

"I've had that feeling my entire life," Ella said with a wry smile. "Like there was something she was deliberately not talking about. I guess I was right, huh?"

"I guess you were," the Doctor smiled back.

"Doctor." Ella said after a pause.

"Yep?"

"You know something." Her eyes narrowed as she stared into his, trying to work out if her suspicions were correct.

"What?" the Doctor asked, and Ella was sure he was feigning innocent. "What are you on about?"

"You know something important, and you're not telling me."

"I know a lot of things that you don't." The Doctor flashed her a grin. "Such as that the speed of light is nearly three hundred million metres per second, and that the Sun will explode in the year 5 billion, and that –"

"Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"Shut up." Ella rolled her eyes as the Doctor snorted. "And, actually," she continued. "I did know that. About the speed of light, we learnt it in school."

"Oh."

"But the thing about the sun blowing up? That's just…that's just weird. How do you know that stuff?"

"Time traveller, remember? I've seen many things, things that your mind can't even dream of…and yet there's still so much more out there that I don't know."

"I thought you knew everything," Ella grinned cheekily.

"Oh, I don't pretend to know everything. But what's important is that I know far far more things than you."

"Doctor, can I ask you something?"

"Have I ever been able to stop you?"

Ella ignored his comment. "What's your real name?"

"Ah."

"I mean," she persisted. "What kind of a name is Doctor?"

"It's a title. It's a custom on Gallifrey to choose an alias for yourself."

"Galli-what?"

"Gallifrey. It's the planet where I'm from."

"Oh," Ella nodded. "So do all people from Galla – galli – that planet have weird names?"

"It depends what you mean by weird. I suppose, to humans, the names of Time Lords would be quite bizarre."

"I'm part-Time Lord," Ella said quietly. "You said I was. My name's not weird."

"It would be to the Gallifreyans," the Doctor pointed out.

"Will you take me?"

"Take you where?"

"To Gallifrey. Please?"

The Doctor hesitated. "I…I don't know. It's complicated."

"It can't be that complicated – you keep telling me you're a Time Lord and can do all these amazing things! I've just found out that I'm from another planet, and I'd like to see it. I'd like to know where I'm from."

"There's a lot of stuff you've got to think about, El."

"I can't, if I don't know what to think, can I?" She sighed. "Please tell me your real name."

"Very few people know my name. My proper name."

"Does mum know?"

The Doctor shook his head, and chuckled at Ella's surprised expression. "Weren't expecting that, where you?"

"No."

"Like I said, very few people –"

" – but I'm," Ella interrupted, then stopped short before she had completed the sentence. The words were fully-formed in her mind, but she was struggling to manipulate her mouth into forming them. "I'm…I'm your daughter. I'm your family."

This wasn't the first spoken acknowledgment of this fact, and yet it seemed just as significant. The Doctor seemed to sense this, too. He sighed deeply, and turned his body so that he was facing Ella directly.

"I know."

Ella looked up at him, imploringly. "Please," she whispered. "I need this." When the Doctor did not reply, she looked away, embarrassed. "Oh god, I sound so pathetic."

"No, you don't," the Doctor smiled. "You sound like anyone who just wants her questions answered."

Ella nodded.

"You won't be able to pronounce it."

"I don't care."

"Come here," he beckoned, and she leaned in closer, so that the smallest of whispers could be heard. She brushed away the strands of hair that fell across her left ear. Ella listened in silence as the Doctor's greatest secret was revealed to her; and to her only.