Glimpses of Time

Chapter Thirteen: Not Fooling Anyone

By Lumendea

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material, and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

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Bill blinked as she entered the Doctor's office. He was sitting at his desk and grading paper, like a regular professor. Then she frowned and walked forward.

"Why are you grading papers?" she asked. "You do lectures, not classes."

"Professor Morrison's daughter just had her baby," he explained calmly. "Asked me to help."

"What?" Bill asked. "He asked you?"

"Baby is a month premature," the Doctor replied, raising an eyebrow at her. "Unexpected. He wanted to be there, but these papers need to be finished up. His TA is sick."

"That's nice of you then," Bill said. She started to smile and the Doctor caught it.

"Don't," he said firmly.

"But it is nice," Bill insisted. She sat down in the chair in front of his desk. "Will the baby be okay?"

"She's not in any danger," the Doctor answered. His grump expression softened. "Already past the worst. You needn't worry."

Bill smiled at him, falling silent as the Doctor took a sip of his tea and finished one of the papers. It was a mess of angry red marks and she grimaced. It might be a nice thing for Professor Morrison, but she doubted Morrison's students would be happy.

"Why did you become a professor?" Bill asked suddenly.

"What?" the Doctor looked up at her, scowling a little.

"All of time and space, yeah. You and Rose have the TARDIS and yet, you're here on Earth. Why?"

The Doctor studied her a long moment. "Family reasons."

"Family reasons?"

"Rose's family is still on Earth," the Doctor explained. "Her mum, Jackie, is getting older and Rose has a younger sibling that she didn't grow up with. We live on Earth for now so she can spend time with them. Though, not too close. I've no interest in my mother-in-law constantly dropping in." He grimaced at the words, acting like they had left a bad taste in his mouth.

"But you've been here longer than that," Bill pointed out.

"Trial run," the Doctor huffed. "And keeping an eye on things. Rose's history is complicated and being nearby just in case seemed a good idea. There are some forces that can block the TARDIS, but might not think to block a train from Bristol to London in the event of an emergency. And with the children all grown up and knocking about the universe in their own TARDISes, I decided the universe was probably safe enough for a bit to try something new."

He said the words dismissively as if living on Earth for a few decades with the weekly trip and giving lectures was exactly what he wanted. She smiled; Bill couldn't help it. For all of the Doctor grumpiness, he adored his wife and Bill wasn't at all surprised to learn that he was stationary for her sake.

"Stop it," the Doctor huffed.

Bill's smile only widened. She pointedly looked at the pictures around his desk of his wife, children, and grandchildren. "You don't fool anyone," Bill told him. "No one at all."