Note: I've finished typing up the story, so updates are being increased to Monday/Fridays.
1998
Date: January 3
"Okay, I'm just leaving the store with her cake now. Did you get the balloons?" Jenny pinched her newly acquired mobile between her cheek and her shoulder as she unlocked her car. She'd never fully appreciated human made 21st century communication technology until now.
"Yeah, got them, I'm almost back to your place," Shayne answered.
Jenny settled herself into her car and fired up the engine. "Great, can you start setting things up? I'll help you finish up when I get there."
"Well I would, but I don't have a key. Unless your sitter left one of the windows open," Shayne said with a nervous chuckle.
Jenny groaned. "Remind me again why I haven't just given you a key? You practically live with us anyway."
"Because if I had a key there would be no reason not to just live here full time," Shayne quipped back.
They lapsed into a charged silence for a moment.
"Well," Jenny said finally. "Maybe you should."
Shayne was quiet for so long that Jenny wondered if they had lost their connection.
"Are you serious?" he asked in a much more somber tone than he'd previously been using.
Jenny's heart was pounding now as she realised the gravity of her suggestion. But she knew there was no going back now, the words were out there. And, as she started to think about it, Jenny couldn't really see a reason for him not to move in. They were in a good place still after almost six months of dating, and Mara loved him. And, despite her worst fears, Shayne still had no idea that she wasn't human.
"Yes I'm serious," she said.
"Well…" She heard him pull in a long breath. "Okay. Let's do it."
Jenny felt a wide smile break out across her face as she turned onto her road. "Yeah?"
"Absolutely."
Date: July 14
"Mara, please don't run up the big kids' play structure!" Jenny shouted as she hurriedly ran after her little sister. The three year old was absolutely determined to go down the big kids' slide without her accompaniment.
"I got her," Shayne said as he rushed past her. Jenny slowed to a stop as he scooped her little sister up. "Oh! The big tickle monster has got you now!" he cried as Mara screeched with laughter.
Jenny shook her head at her little sister as Shayne set her safely back down on the ground. "What am I going to do with you, little one?"
Mara's lower lip jutted out and she crossed her arms angrily. "Sissy, I'm not little! I'm big! I can go on the big slide!"
Jenny sighed heavily. "How about the swings? Wouldn't you rather I push you?"
Her baby sister thought about her offer for a moment before she nodded. "Yeah!" She grabbed Jenny's hand and pulled her over to the swings. "Push me on the big kid swings!"
Shayne chuckled. "Does that stubbornness come from you or your parents?"
Jenny rolled her eyes. "All three of us probably." She looked down at her little sister again, and relented to her request with a huff. "Fine, you can go on the big kid swings. But only if you keep close to the ground okay?"
"Yay!" Mara cried out happily and let Jenny lift her up onto the higher swing.
"Hold on tightly, okay?"
"Push! Push!"
"Mara, what do we say?" Shayne chastised.
"Please?"
Jenny smiled. "Okay, ready? Here we go!" She gave the swing a gentle push.
Mara let out another peal of excited laughter. "Higher, Jenny, higher!"
Jenny bit her lip, but complied with the request. After she'd got her going, she stepped back to let Mara swing on her own. She was still within reach to slow her down if she got too high.
"Look how high I am, Shayne!"
Shayne laughed. "You're like a superhero!"
"Yeah!" Mara shouted. "I can fly!"
And that was the moment that Jenny's whole world stopped.
Mara, so caught up in her excitement, let go of the swing and threw her hands out in front of her, which then sent her body flying towards the rubber covered ground. Jenny and Shayne both gasped and rushed forward, but they were not fast enough to keep her from landing with a loud thud.
Mara immediately screamed out in pain.
"Mara!" Jenny shouted as she slid down next to her. She picked up her little sister by her armpits, which only made Mara scream louder. That's when Jenny noticed how quickly her left arm was swelling up. "Oh, sweetheart, I'm so sorry. Come here, let me see." Jenny turned to her purse and fished out a wad of napkins she carried around with her. She immediately clamped one down on the long gash on Mara's arm.
"We should take her to Urgent Care to make sure that arm isn't broken," Shayne said.
"No!" Jenny cried as she gathered Mara up in her arms. "No, no hospitals. I have someone I can call."
Shayne stood frozen in place for a moment as Jenny rushed to her car. "No—Jen, what do you mean no hospitals? Why couldn't we take her?"
"We just can't!" Jenny quickly strapped Mara into her car seat. "It's going to be alright, sweetheart, we're going to fix you right up okay?" She reached out with her mind to soothe the pain she could feel radiating out from Mara, and her little sister's screaming subsided, though her tears still flowed.
"Why the bloody hell not?" Shayne demanded as both he and Jenny got in the car.
"Just trust me," Jenny said, "I know someone."
"Who?"
Dad, we need you.
She immediately felt his response. On my way.
"Someone I can trust!" Jenny shouted as she sped away from the park towards her house. "He's a doctor."
Her dad was already waiting on her front porch as she pulled up to the house.
"Who is that guy?" Shayne asked as they got out.
"My doctor," Jenny answered simply.
"How did he get here before you could call him?"
Jenny swallowed and ignored his question as she opened Mara's door and unfastened her car seat. "I'm going to make you sleep now, okay sweetheart? That way my friend can make you better."
Mara nodded. Jenny reached out and touched her two fingers to her little sister's temple. Mara's eyes immediately closed and her mind dulled to a soft hum.
"What did you just do to her?" Shayne demanded as Jenny gathered Mara up in her arms.
She ignored him as she ran up to their dad. "TARDIS?"
He shook his head. "That would bring them right to you." He held up a leather bag. "Everything I need is in here."
Jenny nodded and handed him her keys. "Here."
"You're just going to let him in?" Shayne shouted. "Jen, who the hell is he?"
Her dad's eyes flickered towards Shayne before he turned to unlock the door. She turned back to Shayne. "Do you trust me?"
His eyes were stormy when they met hers, and they both stood still for a moment before he nodded.
"Good," she said before she took her keys from her dad and held them out to Shayne. "Because I need you to leave and not ask questions."
Shayne shook his head. "No. No way. You are going to tell me what's going on."
"Jen, we don't have time for this," her dad said in a low voice.
She glanced back at him. "I know. Here, take her in." She handed him Mara. "I'll be right there."
He nodded, and disappeared into the house.
She turned back to Shayne. "Fine, you want to know what's going on? That man is my father. He's come out of hiding to help Mara and doesn't have a lot of time before the things that are after him find us. If they do find us bad things will happen, so no, I don't have time to tell you the full story right now. All you need to know is that I trust him, and that I have good reasons for calling him instead of taking Mara to see a doctor in Urgent Care."
"But when did you call him, Jen? I didn't see you dial the phone, and you don't have a pager. How could he know to come here? And how did you put Mara to sleep by just touching her temple?"
"Jenny, I need you!"
Jenny turned towards where her dad's voice echoed out from the front door. "I have to go. Please, Shayne, just leave. I'll call you when he's gone."
Shayne shook his head and marched past her. "No way. I want answers."
Jenny sighed heavily and followed him into the house. She slammed the front door shut and went to where her dad had Mara laid out on the kitchen table. "I'm here."
"It's just a sprain. I can use the sonic to fix it, and the scrapes, but I need you to hold her arm out straight."
She nodded and gently pulled Mara's arm out.
He pulled out his sonic and pointed it at her left arm first. Jenny heard Shayne gasp when her dad turned the device on and began to heal Mara.
She looked up at him. All the blood had gone from his face and he was staring at her with wide eyes.
She pursed her lips. "Shayne—"
"Jenny, who are you?"
She swallowed. "You're asking the wrong question."
"We don't have time for you to do this now," the Doctor said. He finished healing Mara's scrapes and smoothed her hair away from her forehead before he turned to Jenny. "I have to go."
She nodded. "I love you."
His lips pulled up into a small smile. Love you, too. He glanced back at Shayne and nodded his head. Tell him the truth.
She nodded, and he kissed her cheek before he ran for the door. She closed her eyes as it slammed shut.
"Jenny?"
She slowly opened her eyes, and felt her stomach drop at the sight of Shayne. She only had two options at this point. She could either follow her dad's advice and tell him the truth, or she could erase his memory. The problem with erasing his memory was the risk factor. The human mind was so delicate, and her telepathic skills were rusty at this point. She could easily turn him into a vegetable by accident.
So it would be the truth, then.
She gathered Mara up in her arms and carried her to the couch. She laid her down carefully and kissed her forehead before she turned to Shayne.
"I'm not human," she said flatly. "My mother was born on Earth, but she's a race called the Quo. My father is a Time Lord. They're both from a planet called Gallifrey." She slowly stepped towards him. "Together, we travel across all of time and space in a ship that's bigger on the inside. It's called the TARDIS. Right now, my mum is fighting off creatures called Angels that want to do harm to my little sister and I don't know if I'll ever see my mum or my dad ever again."
She left out several of the more complicated details. Like how she was really born on Messaline as a progenation of her father's DNA with the purpose to fight a pointless war. Or how her mum had crossed a whole dimension and nearly caused the universe to destroy itself just to get back to her dad. Or how her mum was fighting to save a version of her sister that was thirteen years older than the little girl that was laid out on her couch right now.
Shayne swallowed. "You're—"
"An alien," she said. "Yes. I've got two hearts and everything." She crossed her arms. "Is that going to be a problem?"
Shayne let out a shaky breath and laughed. "Is that going to be a problem? You just admitted that you've been lying to me since the moment I met you. That you're not even from this world—not even human—and you want to know if that's going to be a problem?"
Jenny nodded.
Shayne let out another hysterical laugh. "This is insane—you're insane!"
She shook her head. "I can prove it." She stepped closer to him and took off her key necklace. She grabbed his hand before he could move away and pressed it overtop her hearts.
Shayne's eyes widened as he felt her hearts beating. "Oh my god. You really are an alien."
Jenny nodded.
He turned away from her and brought his hands to his face. "Jesus."
Jenny swallowed. "Can you handle this?" she asked. "Can we still…"
"Can we still what?" Shayne demanded, and spun back around to face her. "Can we stay together?"
She nodded mutely.
He stared at her for a long moment before he let out a slow breath. "No," he said. "We can't."
