Team Tardis discover that the distress call they were following had already been answered. But by whom?
After stumbling on someone's 13th Doctor fanart on Pinterest (juanmao1997 on Twitter) the plot bunny for this wandered around my head for a few days before I wrote it down. Go check out their art, even if you can't understand Chinese (and I can't) you will understand what most of the pieces are conveying. Also Cat!13 is absolutely adorable (cats!9-through-12 are also perfect, as is cat!Missy).
"I am afraid you are too late," said the alien to the Doctor as Team Tardis looked around at the damaged buildings. "The distress call has already been answered and the situation has been resolved. But I thank you for coming to our aid."
"Oh," said the Doctor, looking almost disappointed that she couldn't wade into an exciting situation and take control.
"Back to the Tardis then," muttered Graham to Yaz. "I can finish my cup of tea."
"Is there anything we can do to help?" Asked the Doctor, bouncing on her toes.
"I can ask our saviour what you can do to assist with the rebuilding efforts. I will take you to our headquarters. Come."
"You've lost your thunder with this," said Ryan to the Doctor as they walked through streets filled with aliens clearing rubble. "You're not the hero this time."
"I'm not a hero, Ryan. But it's nice to know that there are people out there who help other people not enslave them." She replied. "Or at least that's what I am hoping is happening. I've seen the rescue of a civilisation used as a cover for invasion too many times before to trust what is happening on the surface. Anyway, I'm excited to meet whoever answered the distress call first, it sounded like it was going to be a hard situation to sort."
They entered a low building through heavy metal doors. Inside was a warren of corridors that their guide navigated through with ease.
"Through here." The alien motioned towards a doorway they had stopped near, sunlight streaming through. "I must go back to my position but our saviour will appoint someone to you to show you where you are needed or back to your ship if required." It gave a quick hand gesture of farewell and disappeared back down the corridor.
"Well," said the Doctor. "Let's see who we will find through here." She stepped through the doorway, palming her sonic screwdriver as she went.
They walked into large room, with rows of control desks encircling out from the centre, each manned by an alien enraptured by their tasks; none of them looked up when they passed. Bright sunlight lit up the room from above, huge glass skylights covering most of the ceiling.
In the centre of the room, standing next to a large bank of screens, stood a human-looking woman with long blond hair tied down her back. She half turned towards them as they neared her, acknowledging their approach with a glance and a nod as she continued speaking to someone through a headset. Her hands moved as she spoke, fingers tapping at buttons and trailing across words on the monitors as she read them.
The Doctor froze mid-step, staring wide eyed at the blond figure, screwdriver slipping from her fingers to clatter on the metal floor.
"Jenny?" She asked, voice quiet and hopeful yet fearful of the answer.
The figure turned to the visitors, removing the headset and hanging it up on a corner of a screen. She looked at the Doctor critically.
"Hi, do I know you? I haven't been in this part of the galaxy long enough to know anybody yet." The Doctor suddenly looked nervous.
"I'm the Doctor."
"I'm sorry," the woman said, brows furrowing. "but I'm gonna have to ask you to prove it. I've met people pretending to be him before. Though this is the first time a woman has tried it."
The Doctor looked down at her hands as she spoke.
"You were born on Messaline out of my genetic material to help fight a war. As you didn't have a name Donna called you Jenny as I called you a generated anomaly. You died saving me as I was brokering peace between the humans and the Hath."
There were tears in both Jenny's and the Doctor's eyes as the Time Lord looked up, hopeful.
"Dad?" The woman asked.
The Doctor leapt forward and enveloped her daughter in a massive hug, Jenny wrapping her arms around the Doctor's waist, grinning from ear to ear.
Behind them the three forgotten humans just stared shell shocked at each other. Ryan mouthed 'Dad?' at the other two.
There were tears streaming down the Doctor's face as they parted, the Doctor stroking Jenny's cheek.
"Oh my girl." She said in an almost sob. "My beautiful girl."
"Hi Dad," smiled Jenny. "I hoped I would bump into you again someday."
"How are you here? You died in my arms."
"And then I woke up a few hours later. Turned I am more like you than we realised. I stole a shuttle and explored the universe." The Doctor barked a short laugh.
"Like father, like daughter." She stepped back and wiped her face with a hand, sniffing loudly. "You do not know how happy I am to see you alive. I always regretted how poorly I behaved towards you on Messaline. I only knew you for such a short time but I treated you so terribly. You made me remember the family I had lost so I paid no attention to the family I had gained. I'm sorry."
"It's ok, Dad. I understand. Or should I call you Mum now?"
"You can call me whatever you want. But," She added in a quiet voice, "I quite liked it when you called me Dad. And I still haven't got completely used to the whole female pronouns thing yet."
"Dad it is then, whatever face you have." The Doctor beamed.
"Oh Jenny. I have missed you so much." There was a few moments silence as both women drunk in the sight of the other. "Has the universe lived up to your expectations?"
"It's better than I could have imagined. I always hoped that I could find you so I could tell you about all the places I have been. I also tried to find everything about you. The last of the Time Lords who can change his face. Saviour of worlds. The adventures you have had."
"Don't tell me about them, some may not have happened to me yet. But I would love to hear where you have been."
There was a cough behind them, reminding them that they weren't the only two in the room. Graham stood sheepishly in front of the Yaz and Ryan, clearly having drawn the short straw.
"Aren't you going to introduce us Doctor?" He asked.
"Sorry," she replied excitedly. "Jenny, this is Graham, Ryan and Yaz." She pointed to each in turn. "Fam, this is Jenny. My daughter."