Chapter 3: Wrong Presumptions
The Doctor opened the door of the TARDIS fearlessly, expecting to stumble on a miniature Tegan-clone in this girl, only to discover himself in a dark immaculate living room of a good-sized apartment. Taking a peek out the window he saw the familiar frightening landscape of downtown New York City in the dead of night. The shouts of drunken sots over the ever-present traffic were the only sounds to be heard.
"Right location then" He mused aloud; taking in his surroundings, letting his eyes adjust to the light. There were no personal pictures to look at in the spotless apartment; reminding him deeply of Tegan's meticulous psyche. The room was impersonal with no distinct sense of style to give some clue of the type of person he was to expect from his girl.
The only thing that really stuck out in the room was the extensive book collection crammed into two huge bookcases spanning from floor to ceiling. Checking the titles of the books, he saw an eclectic assortment with everything: Complete Works of Shakespeare, paperbacks of Agatha Christie, a rather worn copy of the both the Odyssey and the Iliad among a number of others. The Doctor had to smile when he saw a book about planes shoved between a Latin dictionary and A Dummy's Guide to Gaelic. She was more like her mother than she probably realized.
His unquenchable curiosity about her was diverted by a movement in a room beyond the, now cramped, living room with the TARDIS parked right in the middle of the room for all to see. He followed his inquisitive nature and decided to investigate.
The Doctor found himself in a sparse bedroom dimly lit by the streetlights, dominated by this military issue type of cot. Tiptoeing closer to the sleeping figure, he looked down at this enchanting vision of a woman. Tegan was right when she said her daughter was beautiful, even more so than he expected. He let his eyes glide over the well-described features: the long deep mahogany hair creating a dark halo around her gentle face; yes she did have her mother's cute nose and almond-shaped eyes that supposedly were the color of melted chocolate when open.
Gingerly, the Doctor sat on the bed beside her, gazing lovingly at her as if she was his own child. She looked so peaceful as she slept, so innocent how her hand clutched at the pillow behind her head. In a blink, he found himself impassibly pinned by the supposed sleeping angel with a wicked-looking dagger pressed against his throat as she straddled his hips with ease.
His expectations of Tegan's daughter were shattered in that moment. The Doctor could've sworn this fierce wildcat was actually Leela's daughter with the cold vicious glare she was giving him; even her tussled hair added to the wild look about her.
"How the fuck did you get in my apartment?" She stated softly and dangerously; never releasing the constant pressure of the dagger or the icy hostile stare of her eyes that sent cold shivers down his spine. The Doctor wondered to himself what made Tegan love the gaze of those uncanny piercing eyes that made him feel rather uncomfortable as they fixated on him intensely.
"Hello." He greeted timidly with a weak smile, looking down at the obviously lethal blade with a fearful glance.
"Answer the question dirt bag." She stated coldly, pressing the dagger dangerously close to his skin. He could feel the cold steel start to bite perilously at his throat.
"In my spaceship." He stated honestly, hoping that she wasn't really prepared to kill him in a moment's notice as she looked. The Doctor was almost frightened to think what kind of man her father must be to spawn such a child.
"REAL funny buddy," she sneered as she looked down with total detest toward him, "Let's try this again; who are you and how did you break into my apartment?"
The Doctor sighed; knowing the only way to get out of this situation was to be totally open with her. "I'm the Doctor and I came in my TARDIS." Her eyes glinted in the dark, fixed with a sort of smile hovering on her lips, more terrible and more sinister than anger. She pressed closer to him so their faces were inches away. Hers was a scary mask of pure malice equivalent to the Master himself at his most wicked. It was getting awkward when he could feel the heat of her body radiating off of her as he realized just how dangerously close together they were.
"I should kill you right now you dirty liar." She said threateningly as she looked down at him with hate blazing in those fierce eyes that reminded him so much of his beloved Tegan but with none of her humor or light. The dagger stung as it pressed against his skin, feeling it give a nasty scratch right under his Adam's apple.
"You must be his son," She spat, her angelic face torn viciously with scorn, "You're much too young to have been the supposed Doctor."
She pulled away with the blade still trained on his neck, her face now hidden in shadow but still just as menacing now he couldn't read her expression in the dark. "How did he do it, huh: drugs, alcohol, or hypnotism?" She asked mockingly, her voice seething with sharp bitterness.
"What are you talking about?" the Doctor replied, his eyebrow lifting in question as his mind tried to comprehend her bewildering accusations, "Whose son?"
"HIS son," She said intensely, grabbing his throat in a vice grip, "the bastard who tainted my mother with his 'stories' of their alleged adventures till she went crazy." She laughed smugly to herself as he looked up at her dumbfounded and speechless.
"Didn't think I'd figure it out did ya? And now here you are, impersonating that same character? What did you think, that you could trick me like my mother? Well, that's where you were wrong buddy; I'm not weak like she was." She ranted, repositioning the dagger back to its former position with a look of sick pleasure to have him in such a position.
The Doctor's two hearts pounded loudly in chest, feeling the adrenaline rushing through his head as he felt the dangerous electricity flowing between him and her as she seemed to be set on killing him; a cold wave of sheer and utter terror running through him. Never before in his life did he ever feel such fear. Never.
"No! She's not crazy!" He replied desperately, feeling her father's influence in this, "She was telling the truth: I did take her on trips through time and space. Your father was wrong!" That seemed to set something off in her; a younger softer her.
"What did you say?" She asked, her eyes wide in bewilderment, losing all that hardness about her; replaced with a venerable childlikeness about her
"Your dad was wrong: your mother wasn't crazy." He repeated, feeling the danger passing quickly, replaced by wonder and disbelief as she looked down at him with interest.
"How did you know my dad thought my mum was crazy?" She asked inquired with a look of suspicion, pulling away the dagger just a smidge from his tender skin involuntarily; enough to tell he was heading in the right direction during this interrogation.
"She told me!" He sighed in annoyance, feeling the constant distrust very grating on the psyche after awhile. She scoffed him loudly before informing him quite firmly:
"That's impossible. Mum died in a plane crash sixteen years ago." Looking down at him triumphantly, finding the hole in his story like she was looking for as she clutched at a familiar chain of a necklace he had journeyed for around her neck unconsciously.
"No she's not." He replied just as firmly, fixing her with one of his intense looks, "I just came from her place not half an hour ago to get the Tempus Crystal".
"Impossible!" She retorted stubbornly, turning her face away in disgust.
"I did and I can prove it! My TARDIS is parked right in your living room at this moment!" She looked back at him with her beautiful determined eyes dancing with amusement.
"Alright Doctor. Prove it." With that she pulled herself off him with one graceful kick, crossing her arms in front of her arrogantly as if she already won the argument.
The Doctor led her out of the room and presented the TARDIS with a quick impatient gesture with both of his hands. She stubbornly huffed in disbelief. He growled in exasperation, now remembering Tegan acting like this when she lost an argument.
"If you mother died sixteen years ago— how could she leave you a note in her diary to you after your brother's death about letting you have them to remember her by, hmm?" She refused to look him in the eye, "Fine! Don't believe me? How about I take you on a little trip then?" He asked with his nostrils flaring, losing his temper a smidge.
"Fine." She replied snootily turning her nose up at him, acting nonchalant with a little sneer.
"FINE!" With a push, he opened the door to the TARDIS and stepped back politely to let her go first; never forgetting his manners no matter how aggravated he was.
Her eyes expanded to the size of saucers the minute she stepped into his ship. Not the plate type, the alien space ship type; much bigger. She stood rigidly as her eyes raked over the setting before her, trying to take it all in at one.
"Next stop: London!" The Doctor stated, smiling impishly at her, with a pull of a lever. Jaime jumped at the sound of the TARDIS setting off, shaking her head at herself for being so tense.
The Doctor took this short time to look over Jaime for real. She was dressed in just gray short shorts, showing off a killer pair of legs, and a simple oversized black t-shirt that proclaimed 'Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy— Benjamin Franklin' in fancy red script. Her demeanor was much like her mother's: proud, street-wise, and slightly arrogant but there was something very serious about her. She didn't smile easily, he could tell. Her delicate face was toughened by all the things she'd seen and done.
What happened to her in her life that made her so jaded? He thought to himself sadly as he looked at her. She was at the peak of youth yet she had the look of a person much older, at least in her eyes.
They touched down. "We're here." The Doctor chimed in a singsong voice in hopes of at least getting a crack of a smile from her but it was lost on her. Unperturbed, he walked out; eyeing him uncertainly for a moment, she then followed in suit sheepishly.
"Where exactly is 'here' anyway?"she asked; making a puff of warm air in the cold as she looked about them with interest as her arms snaked tightly around her from the chill while they stood in the middle of the woods. The cold was cutting into her; making her teeth begin to chatter. The Doctor smiled thoughtfully at her as he stripped off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders protectively.
"Your mother would kill me if you caught a cold." He joked, taking off toward the only house in sight with long determined strides.
"Hey mister, you didn't answer my question!" she declared, running to catch up to him before falling into stride with him.
"We're home!" He replied vaguely with a wag of his brow, stopping suddenly to look at her. He was smiling that maddeningly cheerful grin of his as he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets, "And please: call me Doctor." He added sincerely before taking off again.
He lead her around the front of the house they came upon when they cleared the wood, grinning smugly as he knocked on the front door; the first rays of the sun peeking over the horizon, turning the clear sky a pretty color of pink. A movement in the trees caught the Doctor's attention for a moment but was soon forgotten the minute the door opened.
"Ello Tegan!" He greeted energetically with a wide smile to his former companion, his chest practically ready to burst with anticipation.
"Hello Doc. Do you know what time it is?" She asked wearily as she rubbed her eyes groggily, "I was just about to kip off to bed."
"Oh, I'd say about five in the morning or so." He drawled his eyes dancing playfully at her looking up at the sun to calculate the time.
Jaime was silent the whole time, standing in the background, just looking at Tegan with quiet fascination. The Doctor threw a smile at her before declaring proudly to his old friend as he took a step back so she could see her daughter clearly:
"Tegan, I'd like you to meet Jaime McBane: your daughter." Tegan's face broke into joyful disbelief.
"Jaime? My Jaime?" she stammered as she fixed her daughter with a look of wonder. With a nod from him, she launched herself at her kid; hugging her fiercely to her as if she never was going to let her go ever. Tears were streaming from her eyes as she looked her daughter in the face; touching it tenderly with her hand. She turned back to the Doctor with a look of such gratitude it was tear-jerking "Thank you Doctor for returning me my little girl; thank you!"
She went to hug him when a shot was heard. Tegan fell into the Doctor's arms, a mortal gunshot wound in her chest. His eyes searched the surrounding area for the perpetrator, fixing on a suited figure running to a car; he recognized it as one of the Master's men when he was parading around as Saxon. Tegan's breath was coming in raggedly as he laid her gently on the ground, still holding her tightly to him.
"Can't you do anything for her?" Jaime pleaded desperately as she fell to her knees; never taking her eyes away from her mother's ashen face.
"No, it's a mortal wound." He replied coolly, pushing a strand of hair out of his friend's face as he waited for the inevitable with a cold heart.
"Doc," She breathed, fading fast, "Doc, I want you to take care of Jaime. Guard her for me. Promise me that." She asked as she gripped his arm tightly; a desperate need in her eyes.
"I promise you." He replied earnestly, steeling himself for his friend's death. Tegan's eyes closed at that for the last time, her face taking on a peaceful look.
"Mum?" Jaime murmured hesitantly, getting no answer, "MUM!!" She screeched pitifully, as she shook her mother vigorously; feeling no response. Instead of breaking down and crying like he expected, she stood coldly and asked, "Who was that man?"
"He was one of the Master's men…my greatest enemy." he added, "Must have been trying to hit me when…" He said, letting his sentence trail as he looked at Tegan mournfully.
He lifted her into his arms and carried her into the house; placing her on the couch and folding her hands properly before turning away in his grief. "Let's get going." He said finally after a long silence of them just standing there unsure of each other's company. She followed silently; her eyes closed-off to the world as she just looked forward at the TARDIS. He could sense something detached about her that worried him; it wasn't healthy to turn off your emotions, especially for humans who lived and breathed by their feelings. He wrote it off for the moment, focusing on the moment on trying to befriend his newfound companion and charge.
The Doctor gave the silent Jaime a tour of the TARDIS, ending at her new bedroom (not telling her it was the one her mother used when she traveled with him). She followed him indifferently, not really paying any attention to what he had to say as she glared at everything in sight. He felt sorry for her when she closed the door to her room to be alone. He vowed he'd do anything in his power to try to get her to open up to him.