A Family Moment. I.
by bendingwind
"Why are we hiding?" Blue asks, peering up at him with eyes the color of his own.
"Your mother's being cross," he answers cheerfully, "I'm avoiding her, and you're following me."
"That's because you're hiding. I have to be able to find you if you get lost," she points out, as if it's the most logical thing in the world.
"I'm not going to get lost," he says, grinning down at her. He turns around to crouch in front of her. "It's my TARDIS, I don't get lost!"
"Don't be stupid, Daddy, you get lost all the time," she says, folding her arms across her chest. "Mum says you can't even fly her properly."
"I can do anything I like," he laughs, ruffling her hair. She scrunches up her nose and bats his hand away. "I don't suppose you know why your mother is cross with me, do you?" he asks, his smile widening as she pouts up at him.
"Nope," she lies. She's not a very good liar, but he likes to indulge her.
"Would you know if I promised to let you fly the TARDIS?"
"Yes!" she beams up at him, "All by myself?"
"Well, maybe with me to help. I promise to let you do all the important things!"
"Okay!" She squiggles her way into his arms, and he picks her up. She's really quite heavy—growing so quickly, he thinks with fondness and a little bit of sorrow.
"Mummy's annoyed 'cause she found out you were the one who told Grandma and Grandpa that my name was Blue. She says it's all your entire fault for en—" Blue wrinkles up her nose for a moment, and then finishes the word, "encouraging me. She doesn't think Blue is a real name."
Blue's pout tells him everything he needs to know regarding how she feels about that. He kisses her on the forehead.
"Mummy'll come around eventually," he says. "She thinks it means you're taking after me."
"What's your name, Daddy?" she asks, curiously.
"Doctor," he says cheerfully.
She gives him the disapproving, disbelieving look that is very definitely genetic.
He shifts her weight so he can free up a hand to tap her on the nose.
"I'll tell you one day, I promise," he says with a wink. "But it's a secret, so when you're older and I tell you, you can't tell anyone else. Okay?"
"Okay." She doesn't sound particularly appeased, and he chuckles to himself.
"Here we are," he says, as they arrive in the console room. He climbs the stairs with her in his arms, and switches off a lever while she isn't looking. The TARDIS probably wouldn't take them anywhere too dangerous, but better not to take a chance.
"This is where you enter the coordinates," he says, pointing out the Old Earth Keyboard. "That's how the TARDIS knows where to take us. And this is the turn-ony-lever…"
River doesn't take long to find them there, and she sighs as she leans against the doorframe. Blue is busy scrambling over the console—the Doctor barely manages to switch back one of the levers before she deletes half the rooms in the TARDIS, including her own bedroom—to notice her mother's arrival, but he offers her a sheepish smile.
She stands up straight and makes her way towards them.
"You forgot to tell her how to turn the breaks off," she chides, fondly, and Blue leaps off the console with a squeal and runs into her arms.
"So I have," the Doctor replies, laughing as River scoops their daughter up and twirls her around.