Chapter 3 - Baby Sitting a Time Tot
Ace couldn't believe it. Here she was back in Perivale; living in the same old council house she grew up in. Her mother had died last week, she supposed she should be sad about it, but oddly she wasn't. Instead she felt empty, the same sort of emptiness she had felt before she ran off with the Doctor, who had felt more like a parent than her mother or father ever had.
The funeral had been yesterday, and oddly the doctor she had known showed up. Said it was the last time he was going to see her again for a very long time, and that he had a very important mission to undertake for the time lords. He didn't say what, but since the Christmas party last year, and meeting a different doctor, one that was younger, yet in his eyes older, and had a thing for the girl he had brought with him; well from what he had told her she had a good idea what that mission was. Ace knew better than to say anything to the doctor about it though, she had hugged him and almost cried when the TARDIS had dematerialised, because she knew he was off to his death. Not his final death, the doctor will always live on, but the death of the one she had known, and had been as much her father as an alien from across the galaxy that picks up strays could be.
Sighing she fingered the TARDIS key the doctor had given her so long ago, that now hung around her neck; then picked up her old backpack and with a smile flung it over her shoulder. They where tarring down the old play-park where she had been abducted by the Master and the Cheetah People. She figured since she had so many memories she'd go give them a hand. One thing was for certain it was going to go off with a bang, and bangs cheered her up a bit.
Ace got to the old park and sat down on the same swing that she had when the Cheetahs attacked, and was glad she didn't turn into one of them. Looking around she decided she would start with this swing, so she reached in her back-pack and got a canister of nitro-nine, set a sixty-second fuse, and ran back. Suddenly there was a familiar whining noise and a blue police box materialised. The door opened and the new doctor walked out, scratching his head.
"This' not..." He noticed the canister, "ACE!" He dived back into the TARDIS just as the nitro-nine exploded spectacularly and bits of grass, concrete and metal flew about everywhere.
Ace grimaced and approached the crater the TARDIS sat at the very edge of, she opened the door and looked in to see the Doctor on the floor grinning like an idiot, a heavily pregnant woman she recognised from the party as Rose, and a toddler that was laughing at the doctor. "Em sorry Professor?"
He sat up, "what I tell you about nitro?" He asked calmly.
Ace was scared now, he was being too calm. "Sorry, it's just..."
"Never mind that, come in here and close the door, I can hear the police coming. Besides I need your help." She grinned and came in and closed the door. "I need to take Rose to the hospital but I can't until at least the next millennia or else any drugs they give her could kill the baby."
"And he still can't get this old thing working," Rose jabbed laughing at the indignant glare.
He turned to the console and stroked it gently, "there, there old girl don't listen to her. I know you'll get it right next time." He turned to Jake, "always remember son, a TARDIS is a living thing as well as a machine, and type 40s are well known for their sentimentality, and are very easy offended. Do that and she'll take you anywhere but where you are supposed to be going."
"You must have offended her a lot then," Ace sniggered.
"Hay, I've not done anything, just she's older than a TARDIS is supposed to be. Don't always know her way anymore, but I have faith." He picked up Jake and fiddled with the console. "She got rather battered during the war, had to replace everything on the console with whatever was available at the time. This is the original; the other console rooms don't even work anymore, but we've got her fixed up rightly now."
"So what you need me for?" Ace asked, suddenly remembering.
"A very important job, and it just goes to show I still trust you a lot even though I almost got me head taken off." He moved over to her, "you like kids?"
"No..."
"Good." He handed Jake over to her, "This is my son Jake, Jake you be a good boy for Auntie Dorothy, ok?"
The Doctor ran around the console full of energy, and they where moving again, then when it stopped Ace asked, "What you want me to do?"
"Stay here and look after Jake for me. I'm trusting you with his life, he can't regenerate yet if anything happens."
Rose kissed the boy on the cheek, then held her stomach as a contraction hit her. "Thanks."
The Doctor grabbed Rose around the middle and helped her out of the TARDIS, then looked back in, "I'll be back when I can. Was hell last time..."
"He fainted!" Rose called out teasing, which made Ace laugh.
"I didn't... I just forgot to breathe a little too long..." This made Ace and Rose laugh harder, "Bed by seven dinner at five." Then the door closed behind him and Ace was left holding the baby.
"Well how hard can it be..."
It been ten minutes and already she lost the kid. She had put him down, then he started to ask stupid kids stuff like 'if she was Dorothy where is Toto.' The more she told him not to call her Dorothy the more he did of course; then there was a light started to flash on the console so she looked, finding it was only the one that the doctor put there years ago as a joke to 'tell when the baked potatoes are ready' or something useless like that; it was the only part of the TARDIS console she recognised. Well needless to say when she had turned around Jake was no where to be found.
"Just brilliant," she muttered. "Jake? You out there?"
Looking she seen the TARDIS door was still closed and she would have heard it open otherwise. But at the other side the door was open to the rest. Sighing Ace went through and looked around. The living quarters where all still in the same place but there was no sign of him in any of those, and some of the stuff she had seen in the doctor's room made her blush; just too much info.
Next she looked in the kitchen since it was next on the list, pulled the potato out of the oven sighing; looks like the Doctor was still as forgetful as ever. She put it in the suspended animation cabinet and closed the door. Moving on to the workshop next, she found different things that looked interesting, like the frame of a robot dog, tools she had no idea what they were, computer chips, and even to her surprise the outer shell of a Dalek.
Sighing Ace went through another Door and found herself back in the console room. "Great." Then she heard a childish snigger and turned around to see a small boy: still lots of puppy fat, healthy build for a two year old, had dark black hair, and shockingly pale blue eyes, and was wearing your every day clothes for a boy his age in her time; blue jeans and black 'Harry Potter' t-shirt. "Jake, don't run off like that."
Jake blinked, his little hands behind his back, "but Auntie Dorothy I was only getting you a present."
Ace sighed again, "ok Jake but you shouldn't run off like that. And stop calling me Dorothy my name is Ace."
Jake handed her a bunch of red flowers, "I picked these for you."
"Oh thank you," Ace smiled accepting the gift and pressed them into her nose and took a smell. Then with horror she remembered what they were, 'itching flowers'; well they had a proper name' from the planet they originated from, but it got lost in the translation and she couldn't remember what it was. It wasn't long before her face started itching, came up in hives, and she sneezed violently. "Why you little brat, you done that deliberately."
Jake laughed, "hehe you fell for it!"
Then he ran for his life as Ace screamed, "this means war!"
Ace creped through the TARDIS corridors; cream over her face to bring down the hives, water gun in hand, which was connected to a two gallon tank of water on her back. She didn't want to alert her prey of her presence. Slowly she opened the door of what looked like a nursery and seen it, then fired. "Got ya!" When it didn't move she went in closer only to find it was a teddy that had Jake's clothes on it, 'smart kid.'
"Ha ha!" Jake was behind wearing something similar to what was on him before with a smaller water gun, and squirted Ace. "Can't get me."
Ace turned around and chased after him, then managed to hit Jake with a good blast knocking the boy off his feet. "I never miss."
Jake got up soaked to the skin laughing, "you still got to catch me!" Then ran off again.
Ace wasn't long before running after him, "not for long!"
The two of them had been running around the TARDIS for hours, and Ace was looking for him again. She two was soaked from falling into the pool, again something Jake had tricked her into. Getting into the kitchen she saw the boy slumped in a corner ready but he looked to tired. "Hay kido."
"I'm to tired to play anymore Auntie Ace."
"Oh so you stopped calling me Dorothy now," she folded her arms a little suspicious.
"Yea, your a load more fun than my Gran."
Ace reached down and helped him up, "Ok, time to get you some food."
Jake slumped down at the table as he pulled himself onto a chair. It was cute really cause he almost wasn't big enough to 'slump'. "Can I have Ice cream?"
"No."
"Aww come on."
"Sorry. One there is none left, two your parents would kill me, more than they will already."
"Least your only human."
"Why you say that?" Ace asked a little amused.
"Then they can only kill you once."
"Good point," Ace laughed as she looked through the suspended animation cabinet, "how does pasta sound?" When Jake just shrugged his shoulders, she took it out and put it in the TARDIS equivalent of a microwave to heat, then put out a little plate of spaghetti and meatballs and a bigger one for herself. She put what was left back in the suspended animator and sat down beside Jake handing him his as well as a fork.
Jake ate it all quite hungrily, he had no idea how long it had been in the suspended animator but it was good. "What do you think, am I going to have a brother or sister?"
"Well I duno."
"I want a brother, my Mum and Dad could have found out, but Mum insisted they wait."
Finishing Ace picked up the plates and put them in the washer. "Well either way I'm sure we will find out soon." Ace picked up the sleepy little guy, she had grown fond of him already despite everything. He kinda reminded her of herself as a child. They went to his room and into the bathroom since all the TARDIS bedrooms was on-sweet. She ran the Bath and helped the boy off with his clothes, and into the warm water. "There, now isn't that better?"
"Uh huh, less cold now." He looked at Ace who resembled a drowned river rat, "what about you Auntie Ace? Your wet too."
"I'll have one after your cleaned up and ready for bed." She moved into the bedroom and looked for some pyjamas. Finding some she came back in, helped the boy wash up, then get dried and dressed. "Now time for you to go to bed."
He yawned loudly, "do I have to?"
"Yes," she answered simply tucking the young boy into bed.
He gave another yawn, "can you sing to me?"
"I'm not much of a singer."
"Please I promise I won't laugh."
Ace sighed, "ok what you want me to sing then?"
"Wish upon a star. My Dad sings it sometimes... well it's the only English one."
It almost made her laugh thinking of the Doctor singing lullabies, especially ones from old cartoons. "That's the one from Disney?"
"Uh-huh."
"Well I know that one." She smiled who didn't really. So softly she started to sing:
When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you
If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do
Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfilment of
Their secret longing
Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true
When Ace finished she found him fast asleep cuddled up to a teddy. She smiled, the boy looked so peaceful, so she quietly slipped out of the room, and off to go get dried off herself.
Thanks gargoylesama for the idea.