Chapter 11 A Rekindling
Angelina sat at her dining room table flipping through proofs of her latest photo shoot. She smiled as she looked at the TARDIS key hanging from her neck in each and every photo. As much as her father hated the idea, it had become her trademark. She never thought much of it until she had been contacted by UNIT investigators. Her mom had cleared up the matter with the Brigadier. Old Lethbridge Stewart warned Angelina that some old enemy of her father might recognize it and realize who she was. The merchandizing blitz didn't help matters much.
She suddenly felt a presence in the hallway outside the apartment. Much the way she could feel when her father was near, but somehow it was different. She was already moving toward the door when the buzzer went off.
She opened the door and the threshold suddenly became a bridge for past and future.
"Angelina," The Doctor whispered. "So beautiful."
She recognized the features. Features she saw everytime she looked in a mirror.
"You can't be here. You..You can't be here."
Their eyes locked together and their minds touched. She could feel his memories of her mother, and her mother's.death? No that wasn't right."
The moment was broken by the sound of laughter coming up the hallway.
The eighth Doctor and Tegan were returning from a date.
Angelina looked at her father and then back at her visitor. Tegan stood in shock as well. And then both girls promptly fainted. The Doctors caught them as they fell.
Tegan could faintly make out a conversation as she began to stir.
"Why did you come here, this has nothing to do with your time stream?"
"I wanted to meet my daughter.'
"She's not your daughter yet, and after all this is fixed she may not even exist"
"What the hell are you two talking about? What do mean she may not even exist?"
The eighth Doctor sighed, realizing Tegan was awake and would probably be in rare form. The fifth Doctor stared at her. She was so incredibly beautiful. She actually looked far younger than he remembered even though she was several years older than the Tegan he had just left.
"Well?"
"I think you were the one who always won the arguments, perhaps you should tell her."
Doctor number five gave him a evil look and began the story. Tegan listened intently.
"I always knew there was trouble if you met one of your other selves. I don't even pretend to comprehend this. Your saying that the time streams are fractured and overlapping. And if you don't fix it. Then.."
"Zap is the word I believe you're looking for Tegan."
"Will you give me and..him.a few moments alone?" Tegan asked the older Doctor keeping her eyes locked with those of the younger.
"Of course. You know our date tonight was meant to be a cushion for all this. I was going to tell you. I had no idea he would be here."
"I know, I just need to talk with..him."
"The eighth Doctor turned and walked toward his TARDIS casually glancing back more than once."
"No scanner!" Tegan warned.
The door of the old blue box closed and Tegan motioned for the Doctor to go with her.
"C'mon Doctor, let's check on OUR daughter."
He smiled as he followed Tegan to Angelina's room. They opened the door and found Angelina beginning to come around.
"Sorry for the shock, darling. Believe me, I shared it with you. But I would like you to meet your father."
The Doctor could still feel the confusion in her mind.
"I never explained regeneration to her, Doctor. Didn't seem to matter unless something happened to you or her." Tegan said and turned toward her daughter. "This is how your father looked when we were together but this isn't how he looked when we met."
"It's okay mom, I get it. When our minds touched, I understood. Can I talk to him for a while?"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes Mum. I haven't been this sure about anything in quite some time."
Tegan slowly closed the door behind her.
"You would have, wouldn't you?' Angelina asked.
"Would have what?"
"What I felt in your mind. You would have stayed with us. Been my father."
"I would have given everything I had to be there for you Angelina. To hold you. Wipe your tears. Fight the monsters under the bed. I love you. I love your mother. I always will. You know why I'm here now don't you?"
"The time streams. I've felt some disturbances as well. Guess it's my Time Lord genes. Was none of this supposed to happen. Do I exist as some sort of.what's the term he would use? Temporal anomoly?"
"I honestly don't know. All I know is now. And now I'm looking at the most beautiful person in the universe. And I'm very proud that you are my daughter."
Angelina smiled through a flow of tears as she looked at this young man who could easily pass for a slightly older brother. But his deep blue eyes, so like her own, were those of a wise old man and the eyes of a loving father.
"What if Mum was supposed to die?"
"She wasn't. No matter what my future is supposed to hold for me. She is a part of it."
"Don't let her leave you.. Make her stay. I want you there to tuck me in at night. I want you in my life. From the beginning. Promise me!"
"I promise." He said and held her tightly. The stillness of the moment was absolute, broken only by the sound of their heartbeats."
Tegan came back in to find them as she had imagined it in her mind all those years ago. He would have been a good father. If only she had given him the chance.
"I'm going to talk to your mother for a moment. I love you Angelina."
"I love you,." She replied and added a word that she had never felt comfortable enough to say. "Dad."
Tegan held out her hand to grasp the Doctor's as her other hand wiped away tears.
As soon as the Doctor held her hand, his mind was flooded with her memories of the way she left him. And somehow he remembered it as well. How firmly she had held his hand as she said goodbye. A firmness that betrayed that she really didn't want to leave. And then the strength of her grip had faded as she found the strength to let go and it was the Doctor who had tried to hold on.
"I would have stayed if I had known Tegan. I would have stayed on earth. I would have married you and raised our daughter. You knew I loved you." " I knew Doctor, but I also knew you couldn't stay with me. You're a free spirit Doctor. We're too much alike in that way. I needed you. But you needed the universe more."
"Don't presume to know what I would or wouldn't have done Tegan!" The Doctor replied quite angrily. "I would have given my last regeneration to have spent my life with you and our daughter. Because..Do you know what my last memory of you is, Tegan? Do you? My last memory of you is you dying in my arms! My hands covered in your blood as you told me you loved me! Watching helplessly as the fire in your eyes flickered and faded. The warmth of your lips in that first and final kiss."
"It didn't happen Doctor. I'm here! I'm alive. And that most certainly was not our first kiss! Don't you remember trying to get back to Frontios. We almost died in that damn freezer. That's when we realized it Doctor. We loved each other. And when we were finally safe we acted on it! It happened damn it! And Angelina is proof. I'm sorry. I should have told you. And damn you for making me admit that."
"Tegan please. I don't know how to explain any of this. I remember it, but I also know it didn't happen."
"It did! Damn, why did I leave you? Why couldn't you just stop trying to always be the hero Doctor. We could have had a life together."
"Are you happy now? With me as you know me now?"
"Yes. Actually I am."
"Then leave it at that Tegan. Live in the now. To know that no matter what happened between us, that I eventually found you again and that we have a daughter and we all love each other. That's more than enough for me. Because as I said, all I have is the memory of you dying."
"Suppose when all is said and done and the Guardian restores the time streams, that was the way it was supposed to be."
"I can't accept that. When I look at you now. How beautiful you are, how beautiful our daughter is. I've seen several of my possible futures now Tegan. And one thing is constant in all of them. You."
"She pulled him to her and kissed him, as the eighth Doctor walked in.
"Impossible to be jealous of myself I suppose. I must say though this has intriguing possibilities. Perhaps the Air Stewardess and two naughty passengers."
Tegan laughed to ease the fifth Doctor's obvious embarrassment.
"I'm afraid its time."
Both Doctors embraced Tegan.
"One way or another, we'll meet again."
With that they both faded away.
Angelina sat at her dining room table flipping through proofs of her latest photo shoot. She smiled as she looked at the TARDIS key hanging from her neck in each and every photo. As much as her father hated the idea, it had become her trademark. She never thought much of it until she had been contacted by UNIT investigators. Her mom had cleared up the matter with the Brigadier. Old Lethbridge Stewart warned Angelina that some old enemy of her father might recognize it and realize who she was. The merchandizing blitz didn't help matters much.
She suddenly felt a presence in the hallway outside the apartment. Much the way she could feel when her father was near, but somehow it was different. She was already moving toward the door when the buzzer went off.
She opened the door and the threshold suddenly became a bridge for past and future.
"Angelina," The Doctor whispered. "So beautiful."
She recognized the features. Features she saw everytime she looked in a mirror.
"You can't be here. You..You can't be here."
Their eyes locked together and their minds touched. She could feel his memories of her mother, and her mother's.death? No that wasn't right."
The moment was broken by the sound of laughter coming up the hallway.
The eighth Doctor and Tegan were returning from a date.
Angelina looked at her father and then back at her visitor. Tegan stood in shock as well. And then both girls promptly fainted. The Doctors caught them as they fell.
Tegan could faintly make out a conversation as she began to stir.
"Why did you come here, this has nothing to do with your time stream?"
"I wanted to meet my daughter.'
"She's not your daughter yet, and after all this is fixed she may not even exist"
"What the hell are you two talking about? What do mean she may not even exist?"
The eighth Doctor sighed, realizing Tegan was awake and would probably be in rare form. The fifth Doctor stared at her. She was so incredibly beautiful. She actually looked far younger than he remembered even though she was several years older than the Tegan he had just left.
"Well?"
"I think you were the one who always won the arguments, perhaps you should tell her."
Doctor number five gave him a evil look and began the story. Tegan listened intently.
"I always knew there was trouble if you met one of your other selves. I don't even pretend to comprehend this. Your saying that the time streams are fractured and overlapping. And if you don't fix it. Then.."
"Zap is the word I believe you're looking for Tegan."
"Will you give me and..him.a few moments alone?" Tegan asked the older Doctor keeping her eyes locked with those of the younger.
"Of course. You know our date tonight was meant to be a cushion for all this. I was going to tell you. I had no idea he would be here."
"I know, I just need to talk with..him."
"The eighth Doctor turned and walked toward his TARDIS casually glancing back more than once."
"No scanner!" Tegan warned.
The door of the old blue box closed and Tegan motioned for the Doctor to go with her.
"C'mon Doctor, let's check on OUR daughter."
He smiled as he followed Tegan to Angelina's room. They opened the door and found Angelina beginning to come around.
"Sorry for the shock, darling. Believe me, I shared it with you. But I would like you to meet your father."
The Doctor could still feel the confusion in her mind.
"I never explained regeneration to her, Doctor. Didn't seem to matter unless something happened to you or her." Tegan said and turned toward her daughter. "This is how your father looked when we were together but this isn't how he looked when we met."
"It's okay mom, I get it. When our minds touched, I understood. Can I talk to him for a while?"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes Mum. I haven't been this sure about anything in quite some time."
Tegan slowly closed the door behind her.
"You would have, wouldn't you?' Angelina asked.
"Would have what?"
"What I felt in your mind. You would have stayed with us. Been my father."
"I would have given everything I had to be there for you Angelina. To hold you. Wipe your tears. Fight the monsters under the bed. I love you. I love your mother. I always will. You know why I'm here now don't you?"
"The time streams. I've felt some disturbances as well. Guess it's my Time Lord genes. Was none of this supposed to happen. Do I exist as some sort of.what's the term he would use? Temporal anomoly?"
"I honestly don't know. All I know is now. And now I'm looking at the most beautiful person in the universe. And I'm very proud that you are my daughter."
Angelina smiled through a flow of tears as she looked at this young man who could easily pass for a slightly older brother. But his deep blue eyes, so like her own, were those of a wise old man and the eyes of a loving father.
"What if Mum was supposed to die?"
"She wasn't. No matter what my future is supposed to hold for me. She is a part of it."
"Don't let her leave you.. Make her stay. I want you there to tuck me in at night. I want you in my life. From the beginning. Promise me!"
"I promise." He said and held her tightly. The stillness of the moment was absolute, broken only by the sound of their heartbeats."
Tegan came back in to find them as she had imagined it in her mind all those years ago. He would have been a good father. If only she had given him the chance.
"I'm going to talk to your mother for a moment. I love you Angelina."
"I love you,." She replied and added a word that she had never felt comfortable enough to say. "Dad."
Tegan held out her hand to grasp the Doctor's as her other hand wiped away tears.
As soon as the Doctor held her hand, his mind was flooded with her memories of the way she left him. And somehow he remembered it as well. How firmly she had held his hand as she said goodbye. A firmness that betrayed that she really didn't want to leave. And then the strength of her grip had faded as she found the strength to let go and it was the Doctor who had tried to hold on.
"I would have stayed if I had known Tegan. I would have stayed on earth. I would have married you and raised our daughter. You knew I loved you." " I knew Doctor, but I also knew you couldn't stay with me. You're a free spirit Doctor. We're too much alike in that way. I needed you. But you needed the universe more."
"Don't presume to know what I would or wouldn't have done Tegan!" The Doctor replied quite angrily. "I would have given my last regeneration to have spent my life with you and our daughter. Because..Do you know what my last memory of you is, Tegan? Do you? My last memory of you is you dying in my arms! My hands covered in your blood as you told me you loved me! Watching helplessly as the fire in your eyes flickered and faded. The warmth of your lips in that first and final kiss."
"It didn't happen Doctor. I'm here! I'm alive. And that most certainly was not our first kiss! Don't you remember trying to get back to Frontios. We almost died in that damn freezer. That's when we realized it Doctor. We loved each other. And when we were finally safe we acted on it! It happened damn it! And Angelina is proof. I'm sorry. I should have told you. And damn you for making me admit that."
"Tegan please. I don't know how to explain any of this. I remember it, but I also know it didn't happen."
"It did! Damn, why did I leave you? Why couldn't you just stop trying to always be the hero Doctor. We could have had a life together."
"Are you happy now? With me as you know me now?"
"Yes. Actually I am."
"Then leave it at that Tegan. Live in the now. To know that no matter what happened between us, that I eventually found you again and that we have a daughter and we all love each other. That's more than enough for me. Because as I said, all I have is the memory of you dying."
"Suppose when all is said and done and the Guardian restores the time streams, that was the way it was supposed to be."
"I can't accept that. When I look at you now. How beautiful you are, how beautiful our daughter is. I've seen several of my possible futures now Tegan. And one thing is constant in all of them. You."
"She pulled him to her and kissed him, as the eighth Doctor walked in.
"Impossible to be jealous of myself I suppose. I must say though this has intriguing possibilities. Perhaps the Air Stewardess and two naughty passengers."
Tegan laughed to ease the fifth Doctor's obvious embarrassment.
"I'm afraid its time."
Both Doctors embraced Tegan.
"One way or another, we'll meet again."
With that they both faded away.