Mr. Pratchett pleaded with the men to leave their positions as the Doctor, else they risked their lives and the lives of those they loved, he vehemently believed that what he's doing's the right thing pushing them, the fear in his eyes. He didn't want them to make the same mistake as he did, live the life too long that it brought death and gloom on him.
"What if we can't?" Theodore asks him the possibility that they're unable to leave the positions as he wanted.
Mr. Pratchett calmly gave his answer, "You'll regret it."
David and Theodore shared a look between each other before they defended their choices becoming the Doctor.
Even if the TARDIS kidnapping him doesn't count, Theodore became the Doctor, and he couldn't simply walk away from it.
For David, it's his only way of walking through his father's footsteps, he has nothing from him.
"I will not let you date my daughter as long as you're the Doctor," Mr. Pratchett refuses as he shook his head bitterly, "you will not bring her into this life I worked so hard to stay out of, worked so hard to protect her from, do you hear me?"
His voice soft, his eyes welled with tears, Mr. Pratchett shook his head as he stared at David, refusing to allow him to continue seeing Jenny, fearing his involvement as the Doctor would've killed her it happened with Matilda.
"Mr. Pratchett, please, I already told her everything. I never lied to her about anything I did or didn't do, that's how much she means to me. If you don't believe me, ask her yourself," David defended himself against the weary Mr. Pratchett who started pacing around the TARDIS again, "I want to be with her, from the bottom of my two hearts. Please, think of her."
Mr. Pratchett sharply stopped in his spot and turned towards David, swift ire in his eyes as he stared with daggers into David's chocolate eyes, as he responded with, "I am thinking of her, I will not let you get her killed, do you understand me, Mr. McGinnis, was it?"
Seeing how fierce Mr. Pratchett became, Theodore stepped in as he attempted to meditate the peace between the men as they argued.
"Mr. Pratchett, what about what Jenny wants?" Theodore raised a valid point as he crossed his long arms, further pointing out that if Jenny held any concerns about David or her relationship with him, she would've gone to Mr. Pratchett. She never did.
He even vouched for David, saying that he trusted him, he'd never do her wrong, and he'd protect her from anything.
Lila vouched for David, too, explaining that while he's a character unto himself, he'd move mountains for Jenny.
If he felt she wouldn't be safe around him, he wouldn't have started the relationship with her in the first place, and would've told her this upfront.
The same goes now, if he felt that she wasn't safe around him, he would've said something.
Pacing around the TARDIS, Mr. Pratchett's feet pattered against the grated floor as he's deep in thought.
His mind dwelled on that moment that Mackie told him that the person he searched for's responsible for the death of Matilda, how irate he was, and how lost he felt as he wanted justice, knowing he couldn't obtain it.
How he begged Mackie to tell him, why anyone would've wanted to kill Matilda, only for Mackie telling him that his role as the Doctor culminated in the death. He inevitably garnered the wrong attention from the person Mackie searched for.
Mr. Pratchett questioned why her, why not him, but Mackie never gave an answer, just his condolences for Mr. Pratchett's loss, and Mr. Pratchett demanded retribution for her death.
The pain of losing his late wife, the helplessness, having Jenny to raise by himself, afraid of that same person coming back, and trying to take her from him, it gnawed at his very being.
His determination kept Jenny safe from harm, he meant well, and by using his knowledge, caught on to the unusual nature of the show his daughter worked on, and it cultivated in him figuring out that David isn't all that he seems.
It might've been over thirty some years, but Mr. Pratchett recognized every alien on the show, he recognized the changes done by the studio, and what's authentic.
No way it could've been coincidental and not everyone verbatim replicates what they garnered from intercepted memories of their counterparts from universes over.
Meeting David the first time cemented his concerns.
"I don't want to lose her, too," Mr. Pratchett tells them as he stopped pacing, his eyes reddened from the tears, rolling down his cheeks.
He made a vow after Matilda's death, that he'd protect Jenny, and that's what he did and hopes continuing.
Seeing tears roll down his face, Lila scrounged for tissues from somewhere underneath the grates, and handed them to Mr. Pratchett.
Thanking her, he wiped the tears away from his face, as David went towards him, a look on his face.
"I promise, from the bottom of my two hearts, I'll protect her, Mr. Pratchett. If I feel like I'm in too much danger, I'll end it if I have to for her. I want her safe as much as you do," David softly tells him as his eyes welled with tears.
Sniffling, Mr. Pratchett refused once more, saying that he thought he could do the same, but he couldn't. He refused to believe that David's any better and scorned him that he'd continue his life as the Doctor even despite the warnings.
"Don't make the same mistakes as I did, Mr. McGinnis," Mr. Pratchett softly tells David as they stared at each other.
It hit him like a bag of bricks, the realization, the error of his ways.
As much as he wanted them to leave, he knew they couldn't.
Mr. Pratchett knew it in his heart, he knew it from his time as the Doctor himself, David couldn't give it up for Jenny, even if he wanted, there must always be a Doctor, the TARDIS demanded it.
David and Theodore couldn't walk away from their lives as the Doctor as easily as someone quitting their jobs.
Mr. Pratchett did only because of Jenny, a rare exception to the rule, something the TARDIS agreed with.
Even there's two or five, it's a balancing act, there's a Doctor to compensate for every situation imaginable.
If anything happened to one, another replaces them, and this continues for however long the universes needed the Doctor. Whenever that's fulfilled, maybe then there wouldn't be a draw to lure men and women into the life, but Mr. Pratchett knew that day wasn't coming any time, soon.
Walking away, the both of them, somebody else would've become the Doctor in their places, someone with less experiences than these two.
When Mr. Pratchett left the old life, somebody became the Doctor afterwards to compensate for him leaving.
When they inevitably left, somebody came after them, taking up the mantle, an interchangeable cog that kept the mechanics of the Doctor as a whole progressing.
It didn't stop Mr. Pratchett from hoping things changed since then, that they're able to leave on a whim, rather than in coffins.
Remembering Jenny, Mr. Pratchett wanted her happiness above everything else, imagine his surprise when Jenny came through those doors excitedly telling him she's going on a date with someone she met while working at the studio.
He had to keep her from rocketing out of the house from the sheer excitement, his concerns showed about the date, but Jenny insisted that she's certain.
Many dates passed and Jenny's cemented that she's in love, Mr. Pratchett's happy for her, and she wanted him to meet David.
Didn't know his name at the time, Jenny wanted to surprise her father, and he went along with her to a dinner date where he met David.
Those looks he gave when he met him for the first time, he realized instantly that David's a Doctor, not just playing a character on the show.
He didn't voice his opposition to the budding relationship outwardly, for Jenny's sake, instead he coldly gave David the proverbial cold shoulder.
It was childish of him, he admitted that, only because he didn't know what to say or do at the time, but by then he's seeing the relationship progress. He wanted to get ahead while it's still budding, hoping to keep the damages of the revelations minimal.
Talking with David, hearing how he and Theodore wanted to be the Doctor, despite his warnings, knowing that there's nothing he can do, made Mr. Pratchett uncertain about everything.
Lightly touching his shoulder, David softly said, "I'm not perfect by any means, maybe I'm not as good like my father before me, but it doesn't hurt to try. I won't let anyone hurt her, or die trying, you have my word as both myself and the Doctor."
As he rubbed his nose with a fresh tissue, Mr. Pratchett looked up at David with his reddened eyes.
Smiling, David added that Jenny always said that her father's passionate, and he can see that, now.
They go back and forth before David finally broached the subject with him.
"Will you... will you let me continue seeing her?" David asks Mr. Pratchett's permission, while Theodore and Lila looked on.
Pondering silently to himself, Mr. Pratchett considered everything they discussed, before he finally allowed David and Jenny's relationship to continue, with one provision.
"If you hurt her in anyway, I will end you, you understand me?" Mr. Pratchett raised his finger at he stared into David's chocolate eyes.
Smiling, David agreed to the provision, and elevated that they worked out their differences.
Mr. Pratchett, or Peter as he wanted David to call him, exhaled as he walked with them towards the door.
"Do you happen to remember anything more about my father, anything that stood out, before he left?" David asks if Peter remembered anything about his late father.
Exhaling as he harkened back to meeting Mackie, Peter recalled him carrying around something in his arms during the duration of them searching for someone. He seemed protective over it, enough that he wouldn't even let Peter look at it.
"I think it was a book. I remember I asked about it and he told me that he'd stolen it from someone else, it was the only way he'd track down the person he was looking for. The TARDIS wasn't helping us at all, giving us errors, just refused," Peter recalled seeing Mackie holding a book at one point during the adventure.
Periodically, Mackie investigated it and read the pages, despite Peter's attempts, he never read them, Mackie wouldn't let him.
"Where's the book?" Lila asks Peter and the mild-mannered man pondered before he shrugged his shoulders, saying that he doesn't know, he remembered Mackie having it, but that was that.
Intrigued, Theodore asked if Peter knew what it was, but he didn't know, he guessed that it might've been a journal or diary, he caught a few glimpses of the writings in the book, handwritten.
David and Peter talked more while Theodore and Lila stood outside near the TARDIS having their own conversation.
"At least it ended well," Lila sighs as she noted that the conversation ended on a good note.
Peter granted David's permission and they learnt many things today.
Nodding, Theodore agreed with Lila, he expected hands throwing and cursing, but despite certain periods, the conversations remained amicable.
"Whoever he was looking for must've been a piece of work that he needed Mr. Pratchett's help," Lila wondered who the mysterious person Mackie searched for was, someone dangerous enough that he desperately searched for them.
Shrugging his wide shoulders, Theodore didn't have a clue, but he knew that whoever it was, dangerous enough to kill a woman without being in the same room.
"Hey, remember that conversation we had, about your telepathy, you said you'd never go anywhere in my head unless I let you, right?" Lila turned her head to face Theodore as he looked at her.
Theodore replied that he did and Lila wondered, "What'd happen if you didn't listen to me, like you just barge in my head without permission, go where you please, etc etc?"
Chewing on his inner lip as he pondered, Theodore told her that she could've very well... develop issues... if he 'walked' into her mind without permission or so not a care where he poked or prodded.
His icy blue eyes locking with her chestnut eyes, Theodore asks if she felt the same since they've carried on their telepathic conversations, and Lila replied that she felt the same since day one. Started off weird with a second voice in her head, but now she expected him to show up at any point.
"But you allow it, correct?" Theodore continued.
Pulling hair behind her ears, Lila replied that she allows him to 'walk' into her mind because that's expected since they're a bizarre duo adventuring together since Hamon pushed them into the TARDIS.
Lila asks why he asked and Theodore told her that he only wanted to make sure she felt fine, not many people had the pleasure of meeting a telepath.
Their conversation cut short as David hurriedly walked up to them, hugging them tightly as he thanked them profusely, now the weight's lifted off him.
Theodore and Lila modestly told David they did what they could, but he thanked them nonetheless, as there's a huge smile on his face as he felt giddy.
"He wants me to have dinner over at their place tomorrow night!" David excitedly said.
He bounced for joy at the thought of having dinner with Peter and Jenny, without the uncomfortable silence between him and Peter.
Now, they can start over on the right foot, and David couldn't wait.
"Hey, sorry about your dad, man," Lila gave her condolences to David and he thanked her, but he figured that something happened to his father, call it a gut feeling.
Theodore wondered who his father searched for and David responded that he doesn't know, he couldn't find anything and he even went as far as looking through the big book stowed away in a closet.
It's like there's nothing, at all.
Not even the TARDIS' of help and it shouldn't have problems with searching for answers, but this time, it did.
Checking the time, David said that he better head on, he needed to run a trip to the Scotland Yard in another universe, some problems with 'visitors' and the Doctor's needed.
"Hm, be careful, David," Theodore tells the giddy man as he went towards his TARDIS.
Turning back towards him, David responded with, "Not an adventure without a few scrapes, but I appreciate the concerns all the same. Toodles."
He disappeared into the TARDIS with the door closing and the TARDIS disappeared afterwards.
Crossing her arms, Lila blinks as she stood with Theodore.
"Y'know, maybe dealing with Daleks isn't so bad," Lila turned her head towards Theodore.
Shaking his head, Theodore replied, "Not worth our hearing."
THE END