A/N: This is a very risky chapter. But I'm just gonna put it out there :o *raises flame-retardant shield*
Chapter 29 - Kiana
It took around eight hours to deliver every single alien to their home planet, and another hour to sort out Yash. Jack had sorted things very quickly for him, so the Doctor flew him to his new house in a small town in Devon.
Yash had thanked him for everything, giving both the Doctor and Rose a huge hug of gratitude, followed by one for Leah and another for Alex.
"Oh, this is gonna be so awesome!" Yash enthused, looking around at his brand new home. All for him, and no one else. "Thanks so much, I really owe you, Doctor!"
"You owe me nothing," the Doctor assured him with a grin. "Now, you know what you're doing? Got Torchwood's contact details? Know how to use the internet and the phone?"
Yash nodded, beaming. "I can use 'em all!"
"Good," the Doctor replied, then suddenly frowned and dug into his pocket, drawing out a slim silver box. "Nearly forgot. This is yours." He handed the box to Yash.
Yash looked like he'd just been given the crown jewels, holding it with absolute care. "Is this...?"
The Doctor nodded. "Morphic Box, four uses should last you about a ten hour spurt each, but then it needs an hour to recharge."
Yash nodded so hard the Doctor thought his neck might break.
"Now, be good, don't do anything I wouldn't do, and maybe you'll want to talk to your Mum?" he suggested gently.
"Umm... Yeah," Yash muttered, looking a little awkward.
"I've kicked up your phone for universal roaming and your computer accesses universal connections as well. But just lay low for a while, don't draw any attention to yourself. That wanted stuff'll blow over and I'll wipe the records," the Doctor told him.
Yash nodded gleefully. "Thank you so much! You're totally the best!"
"I know," the Doctor agreed with a grin, and turned to limp back to the TARDIS, letting the others in first before he stepped in, and turned back to Yash for one last exchange.
"Let me know how you're getting on. Any problems, anything, contact Torchwood and ask for Jack. And... just... be happy. All right?"
"Yeah!" Yash enthused, punching the air and almost sending the morphic box flying. He yelped and quickly caught it again, looking back at the Doctor guiltily as he held it against his chest, wide-eyed.
The Doctor just rolled his eyes. "Good luck, Yash," he said, then went inside and shut the door.
Yash stared at the churning began, and the TARDIS began to fade, until there was nothing in front of him and he was standing in the middle of his house, staring at the wall.
He sighed a very long sigh. "Man, I am so crushing on him," he muttered, then turned to go and find out how the television worked.
They got Chinese, and everyone got it all over their faces. Alex was a little disappointed that everyone else seemed to be eating lots of fun-looking challenging food while he had a bowl of pulverised rice and peas that had come from his father's plate. So he took a handful and smeared it all over his face as well so he could join in.
By the end of it the whole table and family were covered in it. So after multiple baths the Doctor put Alex to bed and Rose got Leah into her pyjamas before the little girl went to play for a while before bed.
Rose found the Doctor sitting on their bed, staring sightlessly at the wall. This was the comedown, now. She moved in to kneel next to him, hugging him tightly.
"Thinkin' about your Mum?" she wondered quietly.
He nodded, then a tear slid down his face. She kissed him softly and held him some more.
"I... wish she could've stayed," the Doctor muttered. "Just a bit longer... Why couldn't she have been real?"
"I know," she said gently, still holding him. "But at least you got the chance to talk to her again, yeah? And your Dad."
He nodded silently, sniffing back more tears though he couldn't stop them coming. She kissed him again, rubbing his back comfortingly.
There was suddenly a tiny knock on the door and it opened to reveal Leah standing there holding Floppy, peeking in. Her face fell at the sight that greeted her.
Rose let go of the Doctor and shuffled over to the end of the bed, dropping to stand in front of the door. She took Leah's hand and led her back down the corridor.
"Mummy, why is Daddy crying?" Leah asked quietly.
Rose looked at her sadly. "Because Granny Penny died, sweetheart."
"Oh," Leah muttered, looking at the floor. "I liked her."
"Me too," Rose replied. "Now come on, time for bed."
"Yeah..." Leah muttered. "... Can I go and hug Daddy first?"
Rose thought about this for a moment, then nodded. "Of course you can, sweetheart. But straight to bed afterwards."
Leah nodded, letting go of her hand and running back down the corridor and to her parent's bedroom. She pushed open the door, just a little, to see her Daddy sitting on the bed with tears rolling down his face. He looked up on her entry, and quickly brushed away the tears, forcing a smile.
"Hi, Leah," he said in a broken voice.
She didn't verbally reply, she just ran over to the bed and jumped up beside him, reaching up to hug him. No words were exchanged, they didn't need to be.
Only after a while did she finally part from him, gazing straight into his eyes and giving him a reassuring smile.
He reached out to brush her hair back from her eyes, his eyes watering again. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," she told him, pressing a kiss to his cheek before getting off the bed again and running out the door, almost colliding with Jack coming the other way.
"Sorry, Uncle Jack!" she yelled, and was off again in a flash. Jack shook his head in bemusement, stepping into the bedroom.
"You okay?" Jack asked the Doctor gently.
The Doctor nodded, wiping at his eyes. "What is it?"
"Err..." He pulled a face. "Brace yourself."
"What?"
"Ianto just found a basket in the shop front, it's addressed to you. There's a note, I didn't open it..."
"And...?" the Doctor wondered vaguely.
"Oh, yeah," Jack said, as if the thought had just occurred to him. "In the basket... There's a baby."
Jack wasn't lying. There was indeed a baby wrapped up in old cloths and towels crying its lungs out inside the basket. Rose took the infant and tried to comfort her as best she could as the Doctor took the note and opened it. It was in Gallifreyan. That meant it could really only be from one person...
It's called Kianavolunthranmera. I don't want it.
The Doctor blinked, flipping over the paper to see if there was anything else, but there was nothing.
"What does it say?" Rose asked, still trying to calm down the baby but it was apparent she was starving and needed changing.
"I think this is a present from the Master..." the Doctor muttered.
"The Master?" Rose repeated disbelievingly. "Why the heck has he..."
"I think we need to go to Daufor," the Doctor muttered.
The TARDIS churned into existence outside the Master's house in Daufor. Roughly ten seconds later the door opened and the Doctor and Rose shuffled out, having managed to feed, change and dress the infant to calm her down. She was now just lying in Rose's arms swaddled in new blankets, staring up at the world with bright blue eyes.
The Doctor glanced at Rose. "Okay?"
She nodded, looking down at the girl. "What did you say her name was?"
"Kianavolunthranmera," the Doctor replied. "Kiana for short. It's a Gallifreyan name."
"It's pretty," Rose said quietly, then looked up at the house. The living room light was on.
The Doctor moved up the weed-ridden garden to the front door, raising his hand and knocking three times. This felt like deja vu. He waited a few moments, and then tried again. No answer, though he could hear the television going inside.
He whipped out his sonic screwdriver and buzzed the door. It clicked and he pushed down the handle, stepping inside.
"Doesn't a locked door mean anything to you?" a voice came from the living room and seconds later the Master walked out, looked a little more than irritated.
"I got your delivery," the Doctor replied simply, gesturing to Kiana in Rose's arms. "Fancy telling me why?"
"Go away," the Master spat. "And take it with you."
"It," the Doctor repeated, suddenly irritated. "I'm going to take a rough guess that you were a little busy roughly nine months ago and this might just be the product."
"Think what you like," the Master spat. "I'm not interested. It's yours, now. Kill it for all I care."
"Kill it?" Rose repeated in a gasp, looking at the Doctor. "This is his daughter, right?"
"I think so," the Doctor replied, stepping towards the Master. "Just what is going on? How in the universe do you have a baby and why do I now have it?"
"I'm just asking for a favour, Theta."
"Don't call me Theta," the Doctor grated, stepping forward so they were inches apart. "And you want a favour from me? That's funny, when I last asked you for that you sold me out. I was tortured for two months, my wife and daughter became experiments, which my daughter still has nightmares about, and my son still isn't talking to me although he's seven-months-old."
"Yeah, why the hell should we help you?" Rose wanted to know.
The Master looked at Rose, then Kiana, then the Doctor, and sighed. "Look, Doctor, could we talk without the blonde?"
"Where I go she goes," the Doctor replied simply.
"Just take that thing and go, then."
"This is your daughter," the Doctor reminded him.
"Don't you think I know that?" the Master spat. "I got roped into this stupid human gathering, tried some alcohol because everyone else was, and suddenly I've got this pregnant woman who adores me tagging along behind me constantly. I tried to kill the foetus, I tried to make her miscarry but it just wouldn't die. I tried killing the woman but I couldn't do that either. Then suddenly I've got the birth and there's some woman dead on my floor and there's a baby screaming at me for something and I don't want it."
"God you're pathetic," Rose spat. "You're just going to abandon her? Your own daughter?"
"I can't be a father."
"Yes, you can," the Doctor urged. "You just need to change."
"But I can't do that, don't you see? I can't be something I'm not! I don't care about that thing and now I've got a dead woman buried in my back garden completely stinking up the place... I can't have a daughter, I just can't. I don't know how."
"I don't either," the Doctor told him seriously. "I'm just making it up as I go along."
"Well you were lucky, your father was great. You've got something to go by."
"Was he?" the Doctor wondered softly, his eyes misting over.
"And your mother, she worshipped the ground you stood on. While I got landed up with a pair of complete idiots."
"Castellan Marnal was a great man," the Doctor suddenly defended.
"No, he wasn't. He was a stupid, spineless moron. You don't even know he used you for blackmail, do you?"
"What?"
"He attacked the Vore and altered the timelines, turning them from an advanced sentient race to a non-sentient aggressive species because he was that much of an idiot. Your Father, Mother, Larna and Mr Saaldimir found him out and were going to reveal him to the authorities, when the little spineless coward took the blackmail route and threatened to reveal you were a hybrid to the High Council. So to protect little precious Theta and save the universe from my father's complete stupidity, your father wiped his memory and dumped him on Earth. Your father took his TARDIS too, which is now the one you've got."
"What? You're lying... How could you know that?"
"Because I went to see him in the 1970s and he had four wives, four parasite adopted daughters and made a living as a science-fiction writer. That the complete irony of it is that after he got his memory back he was killed by the Vore he created. Yeah, if that's what you call a great man I can see why you like being so stupid."
"Stupid?" Rose repeated. "Who's the stupid one here? You think runnin' away is gonna to solve this?"
"I don't want anything to do with... That thing."
"That 'thing' is your daughter!" Rose yelled.
"I don't care!" the Master grated in return. "If you leave it here I'm not going to touch it. I want nothing to do with it. Either leave it here with me or take it with you. It's your choice."
Twenty seconds later they were back out into the front garden, the front door slamming closed behind them.
"Well," the Doctor began, looking at Rose.
"Well," she echoed, staring at him in return.
"I guess we'll keep her name," the Doctor muttered, scratching the back of his head. "She can have Leah's old room."
Rose nodded, and looked at the baby in her arms. "I guess you're callin' me Mum," she supposed.
Kiana just made a cooing sound, as if agreeing, before she closed her eyes to sleep.
"Leah, Alex, this is Kiana," the Doctor told the children gently, showing them the little baby lying in the cot. "Treat her like a sister."
"You had another baby and you didn't tell me?" Leah suddenly said, hands on hips, eyes staring into her father's.
"No, no, Leah," the Doctor said quickly. "She's not our baby."
"Did you steal her?" Leah asked, jaw agape.
The Doctor and Rose glanced at each other. "No..." the Doctor began. "We've... adopted her."
"What does adopted mean?" she asked, still staring at him.
"Her Daddy isn't a very nice person," Rose told her gently. "So me and your Dad have taken her in to raise her."
"Who's her Daddy?" Leah wondered next.
The Doctor and Rose exchanged another glance before the Doctor answered her. "The Master."
Leah's eyes widened, looking back at the baby lying there, so the Doctor quickly continued.
"But we're going to raise her like one of us, she's only a baby so she's not going to be anything like him. So treat her as sister."
Leah looked at the baby some more, then nodded. "Okay," she said, then turned to leave.
"Leah," the Doctor said quickly.
"Mmm?" Leah asked, turning back around again.
"Miho'afa qe'gear?" he asked.
"Here we go again," Rose muttered.
Leah smiled broadly. "Lei-o'piak, Pohh. N-ei'quara qe."
The Doctor gazed at her. "Lera?"
She nodded, still smiling. "Fia! N'qe'afa quara."
The Doctor finally spread a smile. "Prea, min. N-je'qe'yaira, gilita?"
"Oreg!" she said, and disappeared out the door before the Doctor could reply.
Rose looked at him. "Seriously, what are you two going on about?"
"Nothing," the Doctor insisted, grinning away. Then he boosted up Alex in his grip, who hugged his neck tightly. "C'mon, Alex, come and play with me," he said, kissing him before leaving out the door.
Rose sighed despairingly and took one last look at the baby sleeping in the cot before she left.
Miho'afa qe'gear? - How is that thing?
Lei-o'piak, Pohh. N-ei'quara qe. - Do not worry, daddy. I sorted it.
Lera? - Really?
Fia! N-qe'afa'quara. - Yes! It is sorted.
Prea, min. N-je'qe'yaira, gilita? - Well, good. What was it about, anyway?
Oreg! - Nothing!
