Recall

By Lumendea

Chapter Seventeen: Recalled by the Fourth I

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material, and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

….

Sarah Jane inhaled the country air through the open window of UNIT HQ. It was nice to be back on Earth, even if she knew they'd be off in no time. The Doctor was the impatient sort now. He never wanted to sit still and was always eying the next adventure. Well, she decided, maybe that wasn't completely fair. He did have some patience, but he certainly hated to sit still for more than a few minutes at a time. Even getting the man to stop and eat something in the morning could be a challenge. Sarah Jane couldn't help but chuckle as she remembered how difficult it had been to keep him on Earth, even for a couple of days right after he'd regenerated.

She took a sip of her tea and closed her eyes for a moment. Despite her occasional frustration with the Doctor, Sarah Jane had no doubts about leaving with him on the TARDIS once again as soon as the Brigadier released the Doctor from his wrap up questions. The Brigadier really was the only person who could get the Doctor to stop and answer questions. Sarah Jane suspected she hadn't gotten the entire story of her last Doctor's exile, but even after he'd regenerated, he had enough lingering fondness for UNIT and Earth that for them he made an effort. It was sweet.

A sudden shout of "Daddy" made Sarah Jane look at the TARDIS parked in the corner of what had been her old Doctor's lab. To her shock, the door had been opened and a short figure was sticking its head out. They had ginger hair braided up on the top of their head and stepped out slowly. Sarah Jane jumped to her feet, certain that this person hadn't been there before.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

The figure turned to Sarah Jane, and she blinked as her mind finally processed the most important detail about the intruder. It was a child. A short, chubby-faced child with bright blue eyes and wearing a pair of blue overalls over a flowery shirt. The girl tilted her head and considered Sarah Jane for a moment before grinning.

"I asked who you are?" Sarah Jane asked, raising her voice louder. "How did you get into the TARDIS?"

"Oh, hello." The girl greeted. She was completely calm while Sarah took an uneasy step back. She'd never had much luck with small children and was beyond grateful that this one was so calm. "I'm looking for my dad." The little girl looked around the room and her eyes lit up. "Oh, we're at UNIT!" She peered at Sarah Jane intently. "Are you-"

Sarah Jane heard footfalls in the corridor. "Brigadier! There's an intruder!"

She wasn't sure that it was the Brigadier in the corridor, but she needed some help here. This intruder looked like a child and claimed to be looking for her father, but Sarah Jane couldn't be certain that was true. She'd seen too many strange things in this universe to assume that a child was only a child. The girl huffed, looking a bit annoyed, but merely shut the door of the TARDIS and leaned against it as the Brigadier and two men came rushing in.

"Miss Smith, what in blazes-" the Brigadier broke off when he caught sight of the girl.

Sarah Jane just stared at the little girl as she beamed up at the Brigadier. The child raised a hand and waved, her smile widening as Benton came rushing in after his superior officer. Like the Brigadier, he also immediately stopped.

"Hi, Brigadier!" The girl said happily. "Wow, you're really young." Then she snapped her mouth shut. "Uh, forget I said that. My recall activated again." She patted the TARDIS fondly. "So here I am."

"You know her, Brigadier?" Sarah Jane asked. She was deeply confused and trying not to let her mouth simply hang open. "Who is she? How did she get into the TARDIS?"

"I told you, my name is Gaia."

The Brigadier chuckled. "Ah, Miss Smith. This young lady is," he paused and studied her. "Well, I'll let the Doctor explain that. But yes, I do know her. We met a few years ago." He smiled at Gaia. "Though, I'm not sure you remember that."

"I remember," Gaia replied with a smile. "You were very considerate to let me stay on the base. Daddy has explained that it was a very unusual circumstance, even for UNIT." Her gaze turned to Benton, and she brightened further. Raising a hand, she waved to him. "And Segreant Benton got me TinkerToys! I still play with them sometimes!"

Benton's whole face lit up. "I'm so happy to hear that," he said. "You've grown a bit, haven't you?"

"I was three then," Gaia explained. She raised her chin proudly. "I'm six now."

"Interesting," the Brigadier said. "That was roughly three years ago to us. I'm not sure the Doctor's time travel antics have ever been so politely aligned."

"They probably never will be again," Gaia said seriously. She nodded sagely and had the air of someone very used to such things. "This will be the outlier."

Sarah Jane gaped at the child. That word seemed rather impressive for a six-year-old. The Brigadier looked so amused and was barely containing a smile. She was about to push for better answers than that when Harry's shouts in the corridor drew all of their attention. The doors of the Doctor's old lab flew open and the Time Lord himself came swooping in. He moved so fast that the ends of his scarves made it through the doorway before they'd even begun to shut.

"There's my little dearest!" The Doctor dashed past Sarah Jane and the UNIT men to swoop down and scoop up the little girl. "Oh, you're growing up too fast. Soon you'll be too big for me to carry!"

"Don't worry, Daddy," Gaia laughed. "That's a long way off." She wrapped her arms around the Doctor and hugged him tightly.

The Doctor was returning the embrace, completely ignoring Sarah Jane, the Brigadier, Benton and Harry. It took Sarah Jane a moment, but only a moment to home in on a critical detail of their Doctor's warm welcome of the child.

"Daddy?" Sarah Jane repeated dumbly. She looked at the Brigadier and Benton. They both nodded with amusement dancing in their eyes. "You have a daughter?" She looked back at the Doctor.

"Well, Gaia here isn't due to be born for a while yet," the Doctor answered. He was still holding Gaia in his arms, and the girl was fingering his scarf with interest. Turning back to Gaia, the Doctor chuckled. "What do you think of the scarf, Gaia?"

"I like it," Gaia giggled. "I have a long scarf, but not nearly as long as yours. You teased me when I tripped on it the last time we went to a winter festival."

"Oh, did I? Well, that was very rude of me. I am sorry about that." The Doctor's eyes were twinkling.

"What do you mean she isn't due to be born yet?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Ah, Gaia, this is Sarah Jane Smith. She's travelling with me. You'll be pleased to know that my exile was lifted. This was just a visit to help UNIT clean up a problem."

"I thought she was Sarah Jane," Gaia said. She turned just enough in her father's arms to wave. "It's nice to meet you, though we've already met to me."

Sarah Jane blinked at that. There was a flicker of pleasure that the girl knew who she was, but it wasn't enough to overcome her confusion.

"Oh, have you?" the Doctor asked. "That's interesting. Any chance you'll tell me the circumstances?"

"You know I can't do that. And you're not supposed to ask."

"Laying down the law, isn't she?" The Brigadier chuckled and ignored the small glare he received from the Doctor. "Are you planning to remain here while she's visiting, Doctor, or go elsewhere?"

"Well, as lovely as it has been to catch up, Brigadier, I rather like the idea of a proper day out with my daughter." He looked over at Sarah Jane. "Care to tag along, or shall I swing back to pick you up once Gaia is no longer in my care?"

"Just wait a moment, Doctor," Sarah Jane huffed. "What is going on? Are you really sure that she's your child from the future? I mean, she looks nothing like you."

"Sarah, you've seen me regenerate," the Doctor tutted. The way he spoke suddenly reminded Sarah Jane of his previous self. "There's no reason to assume that Gaia will look like me. My memory is a bit foggy, always is when I cross my own timeline, but I'm fairly sure she has the eyes of the incarnation that fathered her."

"Yep," Gaia agreed.

"Besides, what binds a Time Lord to their child is up here." The Doctor tapped his temple with his free hand, still keeping a firm grasp on Gaia with his other arm. "That's how I knew Gaia had arrived. I was speaking with Harry when suddenly my connection to Gaia appeared. A very pleasant surprise."

He beamed at the girl in his arms, open affection in his eyes while Sarah Jane tried to process what was happening. The Doctor had a child. Apparently, the Brigadier and Benton knew that fact and had never mentioned it. She glanced at Harry Sullivan, but he looked just as startled and confused as she felt. At least it wasn't common knowledge. Then again, if someone had told her that, but she hadn't seen this behaviour with her own eyes, Sarah Jane might not have believed it.

"All right," Sarah Jane said. She thought back to what the little girl had said as she tried to make sense of the world again. "But what did she mean by her recall activated?"

It was Gaia who answered this time. "My bracelet is a specially constructed personal time travel device that is linked to the TARDIS. When I'm in danger, it transports me to a safe point in the TARDIS's history, either in the past or the future where I stay with my dad until he can come and get me."

That sentence only made sense because Sarah Jane knew about regeneration and time travel. She almost laughed at the insanity of this situation. How could a person meet their child before they were even born? She had no plans to have children, so the idea was absolute madness to her. Still, Sarah Jane clung to her reporter instincts and focused on sorting through the oddness.

"And this has happened before?"

"Gaia visited my last self while I was here at UNIT," the Doctor said. "Gave Jo a bit of a start, but it all worked out." The Doctor offered the UNIT men watching a slight smile. "UNIT was very welcoming to her. Then again, she was only three years old at the time and just as adorable then."

Gaia grinned, tilting her head and peering up at her father with her big blue eyes. Sarah Jane watched the Doctor melt and raised an eyebrow. She'd never understood children. They were just… very alien. And she liked aliens and understood many of them. But children were something else. It was odd to see the Doctor practically cooing over one of them. She looked over at the Brigadier and Benton again. The Brigadier looked amused at the Doctor's behaviour and Benton looked ready to start cooing. She supposed that she should have figured him for the sort who loved children.

Sarah Jane studied Gaia, trying to see if she could see any resemblance to the Doctor. And maybe, if she was very very honest, to herself. There wasn't anything that she could see. That little crush she'd been carrying dimmed a little, though it didn't die. That was inconvenient, but Sarah Jane pushed that issue to the side. At least she wouldn't need to worry about having a child because she'd met said child.

"How far into the future are you from, Gaia?" Sarah Jane asked. She might not like children or be good with them, but she was fairly certain that she couldn't just ignore the girl.

"I can't tell you that," Gaia said. Her voice was somehow both gentle and firm at the same moment. "I'm a Time Lady and I have to be careful that I don't give information away."

"Exactly," the Doctor said. He was beaming again and even Sarah Jane had to admit that his open affection for the girl and pride in her was sweet. "Me meeting Gaia already establishes a casual time loop. Because I've met her and know her, I have to make sure that she's born someday. But as long as she doesn't give me details, I still have room to manoeuvre and thus still have free will."

"And that's very important," Gaia said imperiously.

"That makes sense." Sarah Jane exhaled, trying to shake off the last of her confusion. "I suppose you wouldn't want your life to be a script." Forcing a smile, Sarah Jane took a cautious step closer. "It is nice to meet you, Gaia."

The Doctor smirked at her and Sarah Jane was very tempted to stick her tongue out at him or maybe kick his shin. Her… well not dislike of children, but discomfort with them hadn't come up before, but he was the observant sort.

"So, Sarah, are you coming with us or staying here?" the Doctor asked. He glanced at the Brigadier. "See you around, Brigadier. Do give Kate a kiss for me."

"And you try to stay out of trouble, Doctor," the Brigadier replied in the tone of someone who knew their request was impossible, but felt they needed to say it anyway.

The Doctor chuckled, the deep warm sound blending with a high and light laugh from Gaia. She knew her father well enough to understand, it seemed. How did someone even raise a child with the Doctor's mad life? Sarah Jane found herself walking after the Doctor to the TARDIS. Part of her worried that if she didn't go with him that it could be some time before he returned to pick her up. Sarah Jane adored the man, but she knew how easily distracted he could be.

Gaia peered at her over her father's shoulder and started waving to the Brigadier and Benton. Glancing back, Sarah Jane smiled as she noted that Benton looked a touch disappointed. She wondered if the Doctor would come and visit when Gaia was born. Given how much he already seemed to adore her, Sarah Jane thought he just might. It was a sweet thought.

The Doctor opened the TARDIS without ever putting Gaia down and carried his daughter inside. Sarah Jane followed them in, resisting the urge to look back at the others. She wasn't sure that she wanted to see their expressions as she wondered if this was really a wise course of action.