That same evening after a rushed goodbye to the bard as a result of a unfortunate brush with Queen Elizabeth I. The Doctor and I sat quietly in the TARDIS unsure of exactly what to say about everything that had just happened.
"Lily" he said breaking the silence, the silence wasn't awkward, it was a kind of... happy silence. We were both happy, just... lost for words. I turned to face him with a smile
"Yeah?" I asked, he raised an eyebrow at me and walked closer
"I just thought we should talk about what happened... out there" he said gently and I smiled happily
"Why? Don't you remember? Here let me remind you!" I said happily moving towards him, but before I could place my lips quickly on his he placed his fingers on my own. I looked at them confused, the Doctor spoke quickly
"Now Lily, before you do anything I need to know, that wasn't just... y'know a passing whim out there? It wasn't just adrenaline or happiness or-" I cut him off placing my lips on his once more. I ran my fingers through his thick brown hair and sighed happily before moving away and looking him right in the eye
"What do you think?" I asked in a low voice. He shrugged
"Alright then" he said quickly before kissing me again, this time deeper. He moved away and I sighed shivering slightly
"Oh I'll never get tired of that" I said happily, he winked
"I've been waiting hundreds of years for that kiss" he said quietly. I smirked and turned slowly, leaning on the console
"Oh really" I said slowly with a smug grin "Doctor, Doctor you didn't tell me we were romantically linked". He smirked
"We were much more than that" he said happily, heading over to the console himself "Now Lillian, there's been something I've wanted to do for you, something I haven't quite gotten around to yet" he said as he began his odd button pressing, lever pulling, knob twisting ritual that was piloting the TARDIS. I chuckled
"What wonder are you gunna show me now Doctor dearest? What far off galaxy, what intergalactic war, what magical alien with shimmering turquoise scales?" I spoke happily in almost a sing-song way the Doctor only smiled
"Oh Lily, lovely, lovely Lily" he pushed a button on the panel "It's going to be so much better than that" The TARDIS shuddered and I grabbed one of the rails with a shocked 'ah' laced with a happy giggle. The TARDIS came to a quick stop and the Doctor sighed and looked at me. "You ready?" he asked and I laughed
"I don't know!" I said happily "You won't tell me where we are and what for!" The Doctor only smiled
"Well we're only on earth. It's nothing new" he said heading to the door and I laughed
"OK I'll play your game, WHEN are we?" I asked
"When?" he repeated, he paused making his usual thinking noises "I'd say about twenty maybe twenty one years ago"
"Twenty one years ay?" I asked curiously "Why that many years, exactly?" I asked, he only turned to the door
"Oh you'll see" he said opening the TARDIS door. We stepped out into a field not far from what looked like a fairly inactive road surrounding an estate I didn't really recognise at all.
"Where are we?" I asked looking around for any familiar features
"C'mere" he said. I walked over and he put his arm around my shoulders pointing up at a tall building
"Canary Wharf" I said looking at the tall building
"Yep." The Doctor said casually "Torchwood. Here, the battle hasn't even happened yet" he explained, I looked at him
"Should... should we maybe go warn them?" I asked, he shook his head
"Nah, fixed point in time. Must be. If Canary Wharf doesn't happen, Rose doesn't cross over, we would've probably never wound up at the Globe and the world would've ended" he explained simply
"If Rose was with us, why would we have never went to Shakespearean times?" I asked
"Well going there was supposed to be my treat to you, a leisure day. If Rose was here she'd probably want to do something else" he explained and I shrugged
"I guess so." I looked up at the building "Shame, so many people died and... well... just the thought that they were supposed to... it seems kind of wrong." I said thoughtfully before turning to look at the Doctor again "Is this what you wanted to show me?" I asked and he shook his head.
"No" he turned me around as a car drove into the street "That is". I watched as the car drove in slowly, all I could make out was a silhouette. He quickly grabbed my hand and we ran towards the car. To my surprise the car stopped when the person inside saw us, The Doctor slowed to a stop
"Lily... before you do or say anything. You can't tell him who you really are" The Doctor said gently
"What are you talking abo-" I began, I stopped when I recognised the man right away. It was my dad. He walked towards us at first slowly but he seemed to speed up the closer he got
"Wait a minute" I heard the Doctor say quietly, I looked at him
"What?" I asked and he only laughed and began running towards my dad
"It's you!" he shouted happily, my dad laughed and gave him a hug, he was a big man, beer bellied and bearded. Like a giant teddy bear.
"Good to see you Doctor" he said in a low gruff voice whilst giving him what looked like a hard pat on the back. The Doctor smiled and my dad looked at me "My little girl" he said opening his arms "come give daddy a hug!" he said happily. I felt tears well up in my eyes as I looked at the man I thought I'd never see again in my life, the man who disappeared from my life in an instant never to come back. My daddy, the first man I ever loved, my daddy who died. Yet here he was with his arms open and his warm smile, looking right at me.
"Daddy" I whimpered happily as tears began to roll down my cheeks. I ran to him as quickly as my legs would carry me. I didn't know how he knew who I was and I didn't care, all that mattered was he knew. I jumped onto him and he picked me up and spun me around in his warm tight hug. He put me down and wiped away my tears with a smile, as his own eyes started to water
"My baby girl... you're..." he sniffed and wiped his eyes "you're all grown up! You're the image of your mother Lily" he smiled happily but I looked confused
"My mum?" I asked confused "No I don't..." my dad smiled
"Yes, you do. Your REAL mum" he said with a smile. He smiled when I continued to look confused "Come back to the house, you must have a lot of questions" he said before leading us back.
At the house he made the Doctor and I tea and sat in the living room with us.
"Lily, remember when I told you the parents that raised you weren't your parents?" the Doctor asked, I nodded
"Yeah"
"Well I was wrong" he said with a smile and a laugh "well half wrong, Lily, meet your daddy, your real, pure blood, Time Lord, big hairy daddy!" He said with an excited laugh and I smiled
"So that's why I kept the name Lily..." I said looking at him "Why did you never tell me?" I asked
"Your regeneration failed, Everything in your body was dead apart from your brain, so when I rescued you from that planet you went into survival mode, gave yourself the appearance of the weakest form of life, a baby. How am I supposed to tell a baby she's a time lady? By the time you were old enough to understand... well... I wasn't around." He explained
"How did you-" I began but he cut me off
"You're my little girl" he said with a smile "I know everything about you" he looked at the Doctor "By the way, I might have borrowed your TARDIS to get her back when you were resting here" he said to the Doctor whose eyes widened
"You what?" he asked
"Hey, I saved my daughter and your girlfriend from death. I got her back safe didn't I?" Dad argued
"The TARDIS or Lily?" The Doctor asked
"Both" my dad replied, he looked back at me "After I got you back I decided to peek into your future, to see if you made it. You did, I didn't." He sighed "I'm sorry, for everything." He said
"I don't care about that. I don't care that you didn't tell me, I don't care that you borrowed the TARDIS or any of that, one thing I don't understand dad, is..." I lowered my head a little "Why did you leave me with her?" I asked tearing up "Why did you leave me with that woman, did you love her?" I asked and he nodded
"For a while yes, while we were a family unit she was wonderful, never lay a finger on you. But then I saw what happened after I died" he said sadly "I'm sorry, but I can't change that now. Otherwise-"
"Otherwise I wouldn't have met the Doctor" I finished his sentence "Don't worry dad. I wouldn't change a minute of it, because it brought me here" My voice cracked as tears gathered in my eyes. My dad came over and hugged me tightly
"My little girl, you're not my little girl anymore. You're a beautiful young woman now, and I couldn't be prouder of you" he said gently, he kissed my head gently "I've seen the things you've done, and the things you're going to do and you're so much stronger than I could ever hope to have been" He stepped back and looked at the Doctor who was smiling "and you Doctor." He handed him a note "You have my blessing" The Doctor took the note and smiled
"You knew we were coming?" he asked and my dad smiled and nodded towards me
"That's my little girl" he said proudly "I already told you, I know everything about her. Don't open that yet" he said to the Doctor who was looking carefully at the note. He nodded and put it in his pocket
"Anything you say Chief" he said cheerfully
"You'll know when you need to open it" he said happily
"Chief?" I asked curiously
"yeah" my dad responded "My name, like Doctor or Lily"
"Your real name?" I asked and he shook his head, he leaned in and whispered in my ear, his name and my name
"You know you must never let anyone know your name Lily" the Doctor said
"Yeah" I responded "Because it can be dangerous, like those Carrionites said" My name seemed to bring back some memories, made me feel like I was someone again, like I had an identity.
"Well, you're here. So that can only mean one thing" My dad said picking up some keys from the bench I watched him intently
"What?" I asked, he sighed
"It's time to go" he said bluntly "it was good to see you, I had to be sure you'd be OK"
"Where are you going?" I asked, he smiled and ruffled my hair
"Lily... you know what the date today is, don't you?" The Doctor asked and I shook my head
"November 15th" he said gently "20 years ago"
"The day I die" my dad explained and I shook my head
"No... no you didn't die until I was eight..." I said confused
"No Lily, I died today, you're only a few months old" he explained and I shook my head
"That's impossible, I remember you raising me!"
"What you remember Lily is our time on Gallifrey. It's not surprising you remember it; you're a Time Lady after all. You'd been through a lot of trauma and your memories were mixed up. When your step mother raised you, she raised you as a human, she didn't know who I was or who you are, so Lily Halidae the human, became you. Because of your failed regeneration your memories were already hazy, when you were then left alone among humans, they almost disappeared, they were forced out and replaced with new, human memories although not all of them disappeared, that's why you've always been so confused." I lowered my head and sighed
"It can't be today... how do you know it's today?" I asked, I wanted to cry but couldn't. There was a lump in my throat I felt like I was choking on and my eyes stung
"I went into the future remember?" he said taking hold of my shoulder "I had to find out you were OK" he looked at the Doctor who stood up
"We need to go now" he said and I finally began to tear up
"Dad, I'm so so sorry... if I'd known I would've been so much stronger... I would've never done even half of the things I did... I'm so sorry. God I wish I'd known!" I said sobbing slightly. He knelt down beside me and hugged me
"I couldn't be prouder of you sweetheart. You got through it after all, which is so much more than I could've ever hoped to do" he wiped away a tear and I heard his voice start to tremble "Don't cry. I need you to be brave for me." He sniffed "sweetheart, seeing you today has made me so happy, I'm not scared of what's going to happen because I know it's going to help you become who you are" I sighed and wiped away the last of my tears
"Thank you" I said quietly standing up, he gave me a hug and led us to the door of the house where he walked out with us, locking the door behind him. It was depressing to watch him, knowing he knew he'd never step back inside his home. We reached the end of the driveway where we were due to part ways, he gave me one final hug and looked at me
"I don't know what's going to happen to me Lily and I don't care. I'm ready for it, as long as you promise me one thing." He said gently and I nodded
"What is it?" I asked
"You need to remember our time on Gallifrey, there was much more of it" he said with a smile and I nodded
"OK" I said forcing a smile, I hugged him trying to push back my tears with a smile "You'll be OK daddy, just be brave" I sniffed, not hiding my tears very well "I love you" I said with a whimper
"I love you too sweetheart" he said letting me go and stepping back "goodbye Lily" he said, I only smiled and nodded as he walked off. I couldn't say goodbye, I couldn't. The Doctor and I headed back to the TARDIS
"he doesn't know what happens to him?" The Doctor asked, I kept my head down all the way back
"Would you want to know?" I asked and he shook his head
"Guess not" there was a pause "Lily, what did happen to him?"
"he was mugged" I said bluntly "stabbed, bled out on the pavement" I said clenching my fists with rage and grinding my teeth. It was silent the rest of the journey, I couldn't stop thinking about his death. He'd be there all alone and in pain, I was thinking about how I'd just walked away from him and left him. It was making me sick with guilt. It wasn't until we reached the TARDIS when it hit me. I took hold of the door handle and just fell forward. Resting my head on the wooden door I was overcome with those thoughts. My grip tightened on the handle and my knuckles turned white
"Lily?" The Doctor sounded concerned "What's wrong?" At that point I snapped. I pushed myself away from the door hard and ran as fast as my legs could carry me in the opposite direction. I shouted at the Doctor who quickly followed me as I ran
"I forgot to say goodbye"
