Chapter Five

"If your dad is in this universe, it might be extremely hard to find him," the Doctor struggled to explain the next morning, leaning back in the captain's chair as he faced a very determined-looking Callie. "I imagine that he'd try to live out the rest of his life with a low profile. Stay out of sight. I imagine he must be miserable though, without Rose." He saddened at this thought.

"Mum's been pretty miserable all these years, too," Callie murmured. "She never really did move on."

Suddenly, a strange thought occurred to the Doctor. "Tell me, Callie, did your parents ever marry?"

River raised an eyebrow at this, but said nothing.

"No," Callie replied, surprised. "But they were engaged. She still wears the bloody ring like she keeps expecting him to pop back up and marry her just like that."

The Doctor smiled faintly. "Just like Rose," he said, reminiscent for a second. "The ever persistent." Then, he leapt up. "So!" He said, startling her. "Eight thousand, nine hundred and forty-three John Smiths in London. Where should we start?"

Callie giggled at his sudden enthusiasm. "How exactly are we going to do that?"

He stopped short, looking at her with his mouth open. "I haven't the foggiest."

River rolled her eyes at the Doctor for the severalth time since they'd met Callie. "If I may interject here, sweetie, you have a bloody, ancient time machine that contains a universal searching system," she reminded him.

Pink crawled up his cheeks. "Oh yes, I, I do have that," he said admittedly.

Excitement rose up within Callie. "So if he's here, you can find him?" She tried to keep herself from hoping, but failed.

The Doctor grinned. "Theoretically, yes, I can!"

OoOoO

Three hours and twenty-four minutes later, they hadn't had any luck.

"Ugghhh! So many damn people! He couldn't have chosen a less common name?!" Callie snapped, banging her head on the console. River had left a little while earlier, kissing the Doctor goodbye. It had only been then that Callie had realised they were together - more than together, they were married. She had been too caught up in her own problems that she hadn't noticed the chemistry between the two of them.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Not my fault human me had to do something as stupid as touch a bloody crack."

Callie's head shot up. "I'm sorry?" She said sarcastically. "At least my dad was doing what he was asked! He was asked to examine it; to investigate. Maybe he shouldn't have jumped to conclusions and touched it, but at least he did something!"

"This - was never - supposed - to happen!" The Doctor shouted, standing up. "You were meant to have a happy life with Rose and human me! I know, because I saw! You, Callina Tyler, were never supposed to come here! This is not right!"

Callie's eyes flashed dangerously. "And what makes you so sure? Just because you're a big fancy Time Lord with a time machine doesn't mean you know everything and anything that ever was."

The Doctor walked over to Callie, placing a hand on each of her cheeks and staring into those deep brown orbs. "You said the other Doctor fell into the crack before you were born. You were absolutely certain."

She nodded. "Why is that relevant?" she snapped.

He sighed. "Remember when I told you I met you as a baby? Well, you weren't the only one I met that day. Your father was there, in your flat, and I saw him. I talked to him. He was real."

Callie nearly choked, looking at him in complete shock.

"No," she said in a small voice. "No, that's... not possible."

The Doctor sighed, leaning back in the captain's chair once again. "Humans," he grumbled. "You lot always have to be so smart, bending the rules, being decisive, and yet you are still so remarkably thick."

She stared at him, her eyes shimmering with tears. "How." It was a statement, not a question.

He rubbed his forehead. "The best I can figure is that your future - rather, his future - has been unrightfully tampered with. Either that, or you're not who you say you are." He glanced at her discreetly, afraid for her reaction.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, however, not anger. "I am Callie Tyler," she said sincerely. "Not some duplicate or meta-crisis outcome. I've been the same since I was born on September 29th, 2009. Three quarters human, one quarter Time Lord."

Something she said caught The Doctor's attention. "Time Lord," he said. He grinned, covering his mouth briefly.

"What?" Callie asked as he raced to the supercomputer on the side of the console.

"Time Lord," he said giddily. "This whole time, we've been searching for humans named John Smith, but we've been incredibly thick all this time, Callina Alexandra Tyler, and do you know why?" He began to type furiously.

She nodded, slowly getting it. "Oh, my God," she said. "Dad's half Time Lord. How could we have missed that?"

He laughed. "I don't know, Callie Tyler, but we did." He hovered over the Enter button. "Ready?" He asked.

Her heart raced. "Ready," she replied anxiously.

The Doctor hit the Enter button.