Glimpses of Time
Chapter Twelve: Relationship Advice
By Lumendea
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The Doctor adjusted his bowtie as he moved around the console, humming a little and making tiny adjustments to the settings of the controls. There was no real purpose to it. He was waiting for Athena and Rose to finish getting ready. A moment later, Athena walked out into the console room and ran her hand over the TARDIS controls.
"I do like the new look," Athena said. "I should visit more often."
"You should," the Doctor agreed. "I know you have your own TARDIS now, but we love having you here."
The honest warmth in her father's voice made Athena smile. Their relationship, while not always perfect, was good. This incarnation of her father was a bit more protective and dramatic than his prior self, which had surprised her, given that she was older now. Her mum had joked about his emotional reactions being turned up to max when he'd regenerated.
Nonetheless, Athena needed some advice, and her father, despite his flaws, had the best marriage she'd ever seen. Somehow, he'd managed to form a long-lasting relationship, something that eluded Athena. And she needed to know how he pulled it off.
"Hey, Dad, I need relationship advice."
Her father looked up at her, eyes widening comically. "Look, just because I'm married to your mother doesn't mean I know how I did it," he said very seriously, his voice going a touch higher. "I mean, I know I come off as this suave hero of the universe-"
"You really don't," Athena said. She earned a dark look and a pout from her father. "But you must have some decent advice."
"Athena, sweetheart, your mother fell in love with me and had the patience of a divine being while being so glorious that I couldn't help but fall in love with her." A soft, besotted smile took over his face, and Athena nearly groaned. Then he shook his head. "But you're too young to be worrying about such things anyway, Athena. At your age, if you were on Gallifrey, you'd still be in the nursery."
She told herself not to take offense at that. Athena considered the potential dangers of slipping back in her father's timeline to talk to his past self. His tenth body, while still a bit weird in his relationship with her mum, had at least seemed to have a better idea of what was going on. Holding back a sigh, Athena dismissed that thought. She doubted that version of her father would be any more helpful than the current incarnation.
That meant asking her mother. Again. Honestly, at this rate, her mum was going to become very concerned that Athena couldn't manage any social relations. And maybe that was true, but it wasn't her fault. It clearly was hereditary, and she had the bad luck amongst her siblings of having the highest concentration of their moron father's DNA.
Athena should just accept that she was doomed.