"I can't believe that this is your idea," I hissed under my breath as I lead us down the street that the Ramsuen house was on. I'd forgotten the fact that they had lived practically on campus until the Doctor had asked.
"I haven't even told you the whole idea," he protested, and I shot him a look.
"Oh, I can just imagine. Waltz up to the front door, wave the psychic paper in his face about how we're from health and safety or something, and then figure it out from there," I said with a teasing eye roll. He grinned widely.
"Emma sometimes I think you know me too well," he said, and I sighed before I reached into his pocket to grab the psychic paper for myself.
"Lucky for you I have a different idea." I tapped him on the nose with the psychic paper gently. He raised his eyebrow up at me in wonder.
"Going to share?" He asked and I pursed my lips as I pretended to think about it.
"I don't think I will. Turnabout's fair play after all," I said and started walking up to the door. I heard him sputter out a surprised laugh before he caught up to me just as I rang the doorbell. I smiled at Professor Ramsuen as he opened the door and held up the psychic paper while I tucked my other hand behind my back and crossed my fingers.
"Hello, I'm here about the nanny position and this is the Doctor, he's here to enquire about co-researching something with you," I said brightly. I felt the Doctor's fingers brush over my crossed fingers delicately and heard 'You are brilliant'. Professor Ramsuen blinked at us in shock before he coughed and nodded.
"Yes of course, my apologies I was- May I see that?" he asked and gestured towards my hand. I nodded and handed it over. He mumbled something and waved the two of us inside.
"Your credentials are spotless," he said as he handed the billfold back to me before he turned to shake the Doctor's hand. "Both of you."
"May I meet your son?" I asked and he nodded immediately.
"Yes of course, we were just sitting down to dinner a bit early since I have a night class this evening to teach. Quite fortuitious your arrival. I was beginning to think I was going to have to bring him along." We followed him deeper into the house before we paused just outside a door. "You should know that well, Billy and I are still trying to find our balance around each other."
"Of course, these things take time sometimes," I said smoothly. He tilted his head towards me before we entered.
"Billy this is Emma and the Doctor. Emma is going to be staying with you while I'm at work and the Doctor is here to work with me." Billy looked up at us and studied us carefully with a facial expression I recognized very well before he looked back down at his plate and muttered something unintelligible. I'd seen the look a lot when I was twelve.
Dinner was awkward at best. Professor Ramsuen was right, they definitely hadn't found their balance because Billy barely looked at him, but when he did it was with another look that I recognized. Billy was a foster care kid, and he wasn't looking at the Professor with disdain, but concerned confusion. Thankfully the Doctor took care of most of the talking with Professor Ramsuen, which was good because I kept tripping on my tongue when he asked me questions about where I studied and why I looked so familiar even though he couldn't put his finger on it.
After dinner was over we all gathered in the study under the Doctor's pretence that he wanted to see Professor Ramsuen's notes about some kind of project. I waited until the Professor had left to make some tea, I was beginning to think that he had forgotten about his night class in his excitement to compare ideas with the Doctor and sent a mental apology to his students, and moved to where Billy was in the corner of the room.
"Where do you keep it?" I asked as I crouched down to be at eyelevel with him and Billy looked at me sideways.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said quietly.
"Your bag of special things. Because sure the professor is nice, but he's new and they're always nice when they're new. Can't trust him with the special stuff just yet," I said and there was a tiny flash of recognition in his eyes. "I used to keep mine between the mattress and box spring. Or inside my pillowcase if I was desperate."
"There's a hidden panel next to my bookcase," he said slowly, but with a glimmer of understanding in his eyes.
"Wow that's some good thinking. I never would have looked for something like that," I said, and he smiled at me slowly.
"The house is old." He shifted a bit before he looked up at me. "How do you know that the place where you might end up is good?"
"You feel it," I said and reached out to tap his chest and his forehead in turn. "Here and here. If it feels right in both those places, then you've got lucky and you found it."
"Do you have to feel them both at the same time?" He asked and I shrugged.
"I don't know. I did, but I always knew where my good place was. Maybe you just need one for now," I said and smiled. "Can I ask which one it is?"
He reached up and tapped my sternum hesitantly. I hummed in understanding and nodded.
"It's always that pesky brain getting in the way of things huh?" He nodded. I smiled comfortingly. "Well I suppose there's two more things to consider. The first is that maybe the professor wants to be loved just as much as you do but is a silly adult and doesn't want to admit it."
"Really?" Billy asked and I nodded again with a wink. He mulled this over for a few seconds before he spoke again. "What's the second thing?"
"The second is asking if you think this is enough?" I asked and tapped his chest again. He thought about it for a few moments before he nodded with a bright grin on his face
"I think so. I'm going to show the professor something from my stuff," he said and bounced up from the floor to give me a quick hug. "Thanks Emma."
"I didn't know you were in foster care," the Doctor said after Billy had run from the room. I looked up at him with a frown. If I was being perfectly honest, I had forgotten that he was also in the room, not that I was bothered by him knowing this considering I thought he had already known.
"Damn I thought I had told you. After my Dad left there was a period where the police had to make sure I had actually been abandoned. Then well, my parents hadn't left a will and all of my biological relatives were either completely unreachable or dead or didn't want me," I said, and he frowned at me.
"We're going to come back to the not wanting you. But I thought Susan and Greg took you in," he said with confusion in his tone.
"Yeah but there was still a legal process to go through and in the meantime, I got put in foster care. I wasn't there very long, maybe three and a half months because Uncle Alistair pulled some strings for Mom and Dad with his government connections," I said.
"I imagine that didn't help the abandonment issues," he said, and I shrugged.
"Not really, but I was also lucky. I wasn't in the system long enough to bounce around like a lot of other kids do. Like Billy, he looks like he's seen at least five," I said with a gesture towards the door he had just run through.
"Can I ask what was in your bag?" He asked and I laughed.
"Nothing overly special. Just photos; me, Mom, Lillian, and Dad together. Lillian, Kate and I from the previous summer at Uncle Alistair's. Uncle Alistair and I from a few summers before that."
"But nothing of your parents," he said slowly, and I shook my head.
"Too fresh and painful. Oh, and I also had a huge sac full of quarters in my special stuff," I said, and he laughed.
"Quarters?" He repeated with laughter in his voice.
"Dad's gift. There was a phonebooth around the corner from my foster home and he told me to call whenever I couldn't handle the abandonment issues. I called his office a lot or home to talk to Mom or Lillian, or sometimes I would call Kate. Hell, I even called Uncle Alistair at his office a few times and I'm pretty sure UNIT came and scoped out that phonebooth for security reasons," I said with a huge grin at the idea of a few UNIT privates doing a sweep for bugs, listening devices or something similar in the cover of darkness because a little girl was afraid to lose her family.
"That's really sweet," the Doctor said, and I smiled.
"That's Dad for you. He's the first one who would always be ready with a cup of tea and whatever you needed, be that someone to talk to or just quite companionship," I said. "I should call him."
"What we should do is pop over for a visit," he said as he held out his hands to help me up off the floor.
"You're right we should do that instead. Brilliant idea Doctor," I said and pulled him down slightly so that I could kiss his forehead.
"I'll thank you to not do my job," he said dryly. I laughed as I kissed him properly.
"So how do you think we should go about telling Professor Ramsuen that his robot is too good and if he goes through with completing it, his research and subsequent findings will destroy the timeline of human history irreparably?" I asked and the Doctor sighed deeply.
"I have no idea Emma. Especially since he seems intent on doing it for his wife. I can't fault a man a sense of closure," he said.
"Maybe we just need to shift his focus. What did his wife really want more? For him to spend the rest of his life lonely but a famous robotic engineer or for him to be happy with a family and content with his teaching practice?" I suggested and the Doctor tilted his head.
"It could work, but how do we do that without breaking his heart?" I held up my finger and smiled before I tugged him to the doorway and poked my head out to look down the hallway. Professor Ramsuen and Billy were excitedly chattering to each other while they danced to a small plastic radio balanced on the coffee table.
"How about we let Billy do it?" I asked and he smiled widely. "I've been informed it's called delegating."
"He seems to be more than adept at it."
"It's the cherub cheeks," I said, and he laughed.
"That and being his child."
"Well that too of course." I leaned back against his chest and he crossed his arms in front of me to hold me there as we watched them dance in the living room. I leaned against his cheek gently.
"I am always going to want you Emma. Platonically or otherwise," the Doctor said seriously into my temple. I frowned for a moment in confusion before I remembered that I had casually mentioned distant family who didn't want me. I smiled and leaned a little more purposefully into him as I pulled one of his hands up to cover my heart and linked fingers with him.
"I know."