Aderyn, Amy, Rory and River had all fallen asleep in the living room, squashed onto sofas. The Doctor watched Aderyn for a minute. She had fallen asleep next to him, curled on one side of the sofa, her hand on River's shoulder, tangled in her hair. River was sat on the floor. She had fallen asleep with her head against the sofa. Rose had been right of course, Aderyn really did act like him on occasion. He had been told by a few people. Amy had delighted in pointing it out to him several times. But now he actually thought about it. It all should have been obvious really. No one ever followed his train of thought like she did. She had been unnaturally quick at learning how to fly the TARDIS. And the TARDIS had always looked out for her more then anyone else.
When he was certain they were all really asleep, he got up and quietly left the room. When he stepped inside the TARDIS it let out a single wheeze. "I'll be back to them before they wake up," He told her "But right now I have something I want to do." The Doctor flicked switches and pushed buttons. Invisible and silent, the TARDIS flew through the vortex.
A child cried. It was a truly scared cry. But no one came. The door was locked and no one was home. The child was alone. That was until an unseen door opened and out walked a tall, lanky man with floppy hair and a pronounced chin.
The Doctor walked over to the small cot and peered over the bars at the wailing child "What's all this noise for then?" He said soothingly. He lifted the baby Aderyn out of the cot and swayed her gently till her cries lessened. "Nightmare was it? Well don't worry about them. I'll chase them all away." With nothing else to sit on, the Doctor sat on the floor, rocking Aderyn to sleep while singing her Gallifreyan lullabies. When she was finally asleep again, he carefully placed her back in the cot and crept back into the TARDIS. He stayed there all night with the door open, listening out for the slightest noise from Aderyn. When he heard the front door open and raised voices in the hall, he closed the door and switched the scanner on. But no one entered the room. He left before Aderyn had woken up.
Back through the vortex and he found her again. It would have been a year or two later. She couldn't have been older then about five or six. She was by herself, walking through a park. She was lost. The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS right in front of her. "Hello," He said cheerfully "Are you lost?" Aderyn nodded. "Where are you meant to be?"
"With my parents. I'm not as quick as them and I lost them." Aderyn said quietly. Seeing her so small and scared and vulnerable was almost heart breaking. He was used to seeing the Aderyn that was tough and sarcastic.
"Shall we find them?" The Doctor asked kindly.
Aderyn shrugged "I'm cold. I want to go home."
The Doctor crouched down to her level and smiled "Let's get you home then. I'll just grab a coat." He disappeared into the TARDIS. When he turned back to the door, Aderyn was peering in.
"What is that?" She asked.
"It's the TARDIS. It's bigger on the inside. It can travel through time and space," He said. He stood in front of the console and twirled theatrically. "Maybe one day I'll take you for a trip. But right now," He handed her a dark purple jumper "You need to put that on because it's cold and we need to get you home."
The Doctor was furious when he took Aderyn home. Her parents didn't care that she had been lost, or even that she had arrived back so late. They had muttered a half hearted, almost disappointed, thanks to the Doctor for taking her home. Though why they had gone home and not looked for her, the Doctor didn't understand. But then he remembered what Aderyn had told him about them. Hearing about it was one thing. But witnessing it was completely different. He wanted to storm in there and take Aderyn away from them. It was too early to do anything about it now. The whole walk back to the TARDIS he shook with anger. He took the TARDIS straight to Aderyn. She jumped violently when he stepped out of the TARDIS into her room. "Are you ok?" He asked her. She nodded but he knew she was lying. He pushed the TARDIS door open fully "Want to see something cool?" She nodded excitedly and jumped to her feet. He left the TARDIS door open and showed her excitedly round the console room and the TARDIS library. She had been fascinated by the books he had and he'd given her a book filled with brightly coloured pictures of alien flowers and landscapes. And they spent an enjoyable half an hour stretched across the console room floor painting and drawing. She had insisted on giving him the picture she had drawn to 'brighten up the library'. When she started to yawn and get a bit grumpy he demanded she got to bed. But he stayed with her, telling her stories of the wonders he'd seen until she'd drifted off. The picture she had done was placed on a shelf in the library.
He made a few short, random trips through her time line. Just little, unimportant visits at unimportant moments to make sure she was ok, help her with homework. He knew it was important she had someone there. She had asked him a few times if he was going to take her away from it all. But he always told her the same thing. It was too soon. After a slightly longer then intended trip, where he'd spent a few fascinated hours reading through her school work and becoming fascinated by her ability to write fantastic stories at such a young age, he decided that he had to make an important visit.
Once again into the vortex. But this time he went a bit further ahead then the normal few months. If his calculations were correct, and they weren't often, Aderyn should be ten and it would be Christmas. Quick checks proved that he had been right this time. Or rather, the TARDIS knew what he was doing and made sure he was in the right time. He quickly wrapped a couple of presents and cautiously stuck his head out of the TARDIS door. He'd developed the ability to accurately land in her bedroom. And once again, he'd got it right. Aderyn was sat at a desk, peering at the snow through an open window. He could hear raised voices in the house. He knocked on the TARDIS to get her attention. When she turned to him, he held a finger to his lips and beckoned for her to follow. She looked nervously at the bedroom door before dashing after him as he ran back into the TARDIS.
"Merry Christmas." He said happily.
"Um, merry Christmas." she said, uncertainly.
"I got you something," He held out the poorly wrapped presents "I'm sorry I'm not very good at wrapping."
"Thank you." She unwrapped the first. It was a blue diary with eight panels embossed on the front. When she opened the front cover she saw a small drawing of a bird and an intricate design of circles. The second was a rag doll. The doll had a grey dress and a shock of curly yellow hair. There was a small piece of brown leather around one wrist like a cuff.
"I know you may be a bit old for dolls but this one is special. Her name is River and she'll look after you." The Doctor explained.
"Why? Are you going somewhere?" Aderyn asked sadly.
"Not at all. You'll see a lot of me over the years. But sometimes you may need River."
Aderyn smiled at him, a broad, genuine smile. "Thank you. I mean it. Thanks. This is the first time anyone has ever got me anything."
"Get used to it kid." The Doctor smiled.
It was Aderyn's first Christmas that had been anything but another day. It was her first trip in the TARDIS. The Doctor took her to Victorian London, where Christmas spirits were high. He had considered taking her to see Madame Vastra. But he then remembered that he would do that in a few years anyway and it wasn't a good idea to mess with time. He was doing enough of that already.
Aderyn enjoyed the Frost Fair he took her to and when he took her home he promised she would see him soon.
That wasn't entirely truthful. He hated himself for giving her the false hope. He wouldn't see her now for a couple of years when she would meet his previous regeneration, who would save her life and take her on several grand adventures. He had left a note for himself, the version of himself that would be horrified by the state of her living conditions, the version of himself that would rummage through her pitiful collection of books while he waits for her to get back from school. That version of himself would find a message in one of the books. A simple message without too many spoilers. It was a time, date, location and instructions to make sure Aderyn met a certain lock picking Victorian chamber maid.