oOo
They appeared the next morning at breakfast, just as the Doctor had described them. Tegan was startled to realize how young Ace was, probably close to Adric's age, or the age he had been when he died. It was an uncomfortable thought that served to remind her why she was wary of bringing her daughter onto the TARDIS for any length of time.
"Ah, you're here," the Doctor said unnecessarily as he rose to his feet. He was holding Lanie, who stared at the newcomers suspiciously.
Ace looked startled, swiveling her head around to stare at the Doctor she knew with a questioning shake of her head. When he merely gave her a bland look, she turned back to his fifth self. "So who's the baby, then?"
"Her name is Lanie," her Doctor replied before the other one could. "She's Tegan's. Hallo, Tegan," he added, walking quickly toward her and taking her hand in his. "It's wonderful to see you again." With his back deliberately to Ace, he mouthed, "Please don't tell her."
Tegan looked startled, then cross. As her mouth opened, he leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek, breathing a quick message into her ear before releasing her hand and turning toward Sarah Jane: "I have my reasons. Please. I'll explain later."
Tegan closed her mouth slowly, trading concerned glances with Harry and Sarah Jane over the new Doctor's shoulder as he greeted them. Ace was being introduced to everyone, chattering a mile a minute and grinning happily when Lavinia offered her a plate of waffles and strawberries. "My favorite!" She wedged herself between Tegan and Sarah Jane on the bench, cheerfully digging in while the fifth Doctor handed Lanie over to Tegan.
Lanie amused herself by trying to grab Ace's fork, while Ace in turn seemed to have fun keeping it just out of the baby's reach. She yelped as she felt something nudging her foot; when she looked down and saw K-9, her eyes lit up. "You've got a robot dog, that's super! Can we get one?" When she turned to look for her Doctor, she frowned. "Professor?" She half-stood, not even noticing that Lanie had taken quiet advantage of her distraction to stuff several pieces of Ace's breakfast into her mouth.
"They went outside," Lavinia announced, nodding at the half-open door. "To confer. And the Doctor's the one who sent K-9 to us in the first place, so you might actually be able to get him to build you another. If you ask nicely."
Ace sat back down with a sulky cast to her face. "He never does, why should I?"
"Which one is he?" That was Sarah Jane, eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Which Doctor is he? Sixth? Seventh? Eleventh?"
Ace shrugged, returning her attention to her waffles. She glanced down at the plate, then over at Lanie, who stared back at her innocently. Only the smudge of syrup drooling down her chin gave her away. "Caught you," Ace said with a grin, offering her napkin. Lanie reached for it, but Tegan intercepted it and wiped her daughter's face before she could start chewing on it. Or ripping it to shreds and tossing it around the room. "I dunno," Ace finally answered the question. "I just found out he could do that, regenerate, I mean. He wouldn't answer me when I asked him. Just said he was the best of a bad lot."
Sarah Jane snorted undelicately. "They all believe that of themselves, and I should know; I've met four of them now. No," she corrected herself, "six. Tegan and I met his second and first selves once."
Tegan nodded. "The first was a tetchy old man, not that any of them were out to win prizes for congeniality."
"You were in the Gallifreyan Death Zone," Harry pointed out as he began clearing the table. "You, Sarah Jane, the Brigadier..."
"Turlough was there, and Susan..." Tegan's voice trailed off as she stared down at her daughter, her hands suddenly cold as ice. The others noticed the sudden pallor in her face; Harry hurried back to her but she waved him away. "I just realized...Susan. She kept calling him 'Grandfather,' the first Doctor, I mean. If she's really his granddaughter..." Her voice trailed off again, and this time she pushed her way off the bench. "I have to go," she muttered, swinging Lanie onto her hip and heading into the hallway.
"Is she all right?" Ace demanded, wide-eyed. Harry muttered something, Sarah Jane and Lavinia made excuses, and suddenly she was alone in the kitchen as the other three scattered, Harry and Sarah Jane racing outside, and Lavinia hurrying after Tegan. Well, not quite alone. Ace peered under the table again. K-9 was still there; his antennae ears swiveled as he tilted his head. "Oi, dog! K-9! Do you talk?"
"Affirmative."
Ace impatiently pushed back the bench and crouched on the floor next to the mechanical dog. "Do you know what's going on?" she demanded.
"Affirmative." K-9 edged back but Ace grabbed his neck. Since she had been identified to him by the Doctor as a friend, he allowed himself to be held captive, although his laser glowed warningly.
"Then start talking," Ace ordered. "Why's Tegan so upset about the Doctor having a granddaughter? And why won't mine tell anyone which one he is?"
K-9, not having been instructed to keep any information from her, began speaking, while Ace listened intently.
oOo
"Tegan?"
That was Lavinia, knocking gently at the door. Tegan looked at it, considering her options, then shrugged and called: "It's open!"
Lavinia poked her head into the room. Lanie was playing on the floor, while Tegan was curled up on the lounge chair, staring out the window. "I see you've gone into crisis mode," she said, nodding down at something Lavinia couldn't see. "Sent Harry and Sarah Jane to fetch the Doctor to make sure I don't go into a complete funk? Do you all really think I'm that fragile?" Her voice was bitter.
"You haven't always done a good job of taking bad news in stride." Lavinia's gentle tone took away much of the sting of the implied criticism. She sat next to Tegan, who allowed her comforting touch on her shoulder. "You know that."
"No, you're right," Tegan allowed, reaching up to pat Lavinia's hand. She continued to gaze down at Harry and Sarah Jane as they spoke to the two Doctors. The one she would always think of as "hers" looked up, making eye contact, and Tegan waved and blew him a shaky kiss. "I'm all right," she mouthed, knowing he couldn't hear her but could certainly read her lips. She turned back to Lavinia. "But that's not it, not this time. I'm not running away or planning on losing sleep over the idea that I met my own granddaughter when she was older than I am, although it will take a bit of getting used to! No, I just didn't want to blurt anything out in front of Ace."
Lavinia's relieved smile turned into a frown. "Why not?"
"Because the Doctor she came with doesn't want her to know, for some reason, that he's Lanie's father." Behind them, Lanie picked up her blocks and spelled out f-a-t-h-e-r, then e-n-i-g-m-a. Lavinia and Tegan heard her delighted laughter but didn't turn to look, too wrapped up in their conversation to stop for anything short of a tantrum. "So I left. Sorry to cause so much ruckus."
"It's our own faults for over-reacting." Lavinia's voice was wry. "You spent so much time in denial when you first arrived, and none of us wanted to upset you, not in your condition." This time she did look over at Lanie, Tegan's eyes automatically following hers, but she had knocked the blocks over and was shaking a rag doll instead.
"Yeah, well, things worked out." Tegan sounded as calm as she was claiming to be, so Lavinia relaxed a bit; maybe she wasn't just presenting a good front.
Tegan glanced out the window again, then stiffened. "Looks like the party's moving back inside," she announced. "We'd better be down there to see what's next on the agenda."
As Lavinia reached for Lanie, K-9 trundled over the threshold. "Mistress," he said, acknowledging Lavinia. He never called Tegan that, as she refused to answer to it and had scolded him over it on several occasions. Sarah Jane was a bit put out that Tegan could get him to stop when she'd been trying for years, but Lavinia just shrugged and told her to get over it. "Miss Jovanka." That was as informal as the mechanical dog seemed willing to go, and Tegan didn't push it.
"K-9, please keep an eye on Lanie," Tegan instructed. She knelt down and kissed her daughter. "You play with K-9, sweets," she said.
Lanie looked over at him. "Doggie!" she crowed, clapping her hands. She crawled over to her bookshelf and pulled out her favorite story. "Read!" She'd gained the dexterity recently to hold the pages and turn them when instructed, but would only do it for K-9.
"I've never understood why she finds his voice so soothing," Lavinia whispered as she and Tegan left the room. She waited while Tegan put up the baby gate, then they started down the stairs together.
"Me either," Tegan agreed with a shake of her head. "But did you hear her? She's already talking better than I did when I was a year old!"
"We should expect her to show some advanced capabilities," Lavinia replied, pushing open the kitchen door. "After all, her father is--" She came to a confused stop; she'd completely forgotten about Ace, who was sitting on the chair nearest the back door.
"Her father is a Time Lord," the younger woman finished for her. "Right? That's what your dog says."
Tegan and Lavinia exchanged distressed glances. "So much for keeping that to ourselves," Lanie's mother finally said. "We forgot to tell K-9 not to say anything."
"We didn't know we weren't supposed to say anything," Lavinia reminded her, favoring Ace with a sharp glance. "I presume your Doctor had a reason for not wanting to tell you, young lady. He won't be pleased to know you've found out."
Ace appeared unconcerned. "The Professor probably thought I'd be embarrassed or tease him about it or something," was her opinion. "Don't worry, I won't let him know, least not till we're done with whatever it is he and your Doctor need to do."
"Well, there's no fear of any of us giving that secret away," Lavinia agreed.
Ace nodded. "Right, K-9 didn't know anything. I tried. And he doesn't know which one mine is, either." She sounded disappointed.
Tegan looked impressed. "I never thought to see if K-9 might know something," she admitted. "At least, not about what those two need to do!" At that moment, Harry and Sarah Jane came into the kitchen. "Where are they?" she asked, catching Harry by the arm. "I saw them head for the house ages ago!"
"They went into the TARDIS instead," Sarah Jane replied. "The new Doctor said not to worry, they weren't going to dematerialize, if only because he would catch holy hell from Ace if he left without her!"
"So he plans on letting me come along, eh? That's a switch; I thought he'd try to make me wait here while they went off on their adventure!" She glanced out the back door, as if expecting to hear the TARDIS dematerializing. They all did, and were only slightly reassured by its continued existence.