This chapter features Ace, 7 and Tegan with mentions of Yaz, Graham, 13.
Chapter Text
Ace knows that she will be seeing her old friend again after Kate gets off the phone with her. "Tegan, be nice."
"I'm always nice," she gets a glare from her friend, "ok, I'll try."
"Good," a few minutes later Kate comes up with the Doctor and her newest companion.
"You said she was a woman but not young," Ace holds back a sigh at her friend's reaction to the Time Lord.
'I'm so glad you made time to see me
How's life? Tell me, how's your family?
I haven't seen them in a while
You've been good, busier than ever
We small talk, work and the weather
Your guard is up and I know why'
"That is a good look on you Professor," Ace hopes the Time Lord doesn't remember the last time they saw each other and she called them heartless. This Doctor looks frazzled and there is something about her assistant, she means companion; Kate told her and Tegan that is what they are referred to as these days.
After the Doctor and Yaz rush off she turns to Tegan, "you were right there is no heart."
"Tegan, I was wrong, but did you see Yaz's reaction when you told her we used to be her."
"No."
"I think there is something beyond friendship there."
"Like what you had?"
"No, my Doctor was like a father and my best friend. I mean there is something deep between the two."
"Like what?"
"She's talking about emotions, Tegan," Kate can hear the two talking and puts in her opinion.
' Because the last time you saw me
Is still burned in the back of your mind
You gave me roses and I left them there to die'
While Tegan and Kate start talking Ace thinks about her last fight with her Doctor, "I am done with you manipulating me Doctor."
"It's Professor, Ace."
"I have already told you it's Dorothy now. You spent the last 10 years correcting me saying it's Doctor."
"I always loved it when you called me Professor."
"Well, that's just your luck, you played yet another mind game on me. You have been doing it regularly since Gabriel Chase 8 years ago. I am done," she is breathing hard.
"You have so much potential, if someone were to happen to me, I can see you taking over the mantle."
"What mantle? Mantle of Master Manipulator?"
"A, I mean Dorothy," he corrects himself after seeing the piercing look from the young woman.
"For someone with two hearts, how can you be heartless," she watches as the man's face falls more than she has ever seen in the 12 years they have known each other. "Take me home back to earth, I am done with you."
"Ok, let me do one more thing for you," the Doctor leaves the console room and comes back sometime later. "It won't be like the one powered by Omega, but it will still do its job in case you are ever confronted by Daleks. I can't have you dying," he pulls a lever and the TARDIS leaves where they just were and next thing Ace is standing in front of her old flat.
'So, this is me swallowing my pride
Standin' in front of you sayin', "I'm sorry for that night"
And I go back to December all the time
It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missin' you
Wishin' I'd realized what I had when you were mine
I go back to December, turn round and make it alright
I go back to December all the time'
A woman is coming out of the flat, "Dorothy," she is almost in tears.
"Hi Mum." Before Ace can do anything she is wrapped in her mum's arms and she hears the TARDIS leaving.
"I am sorry for everything I said to you. I love you."
"Mum, I'm ok. While some bad things happened; I almost made it out."
"How did you get here?" Her mum stops hugging not seeing a car.
"It's complicated."
"Come on in and tell me," Audrey takes her long lost daughter's arm and drags her inside.
"You won't believe anything I say."
"You're my daughter." Ace who has learned from her adventures when to keep her mouth shut does just that.
'These days, I haven't been sleeping
Stayin' up, playing back myself leavin'
When your birthday passed and I didn't call
Then I think about summer, all the beautiful times
I watched you laughin' from the passenger side
And realized I loved you in the fall'
A few years later a figure is watching as Dorothy McShane makes a speech. "Ace," the man whispers so no one can hear him. "You are flying higher than ever. I am proud of you."
"I started this charity two weeks ago to help out everyone who was like me when I was a teenager. If it was for my friend that I haven't seen in 10 years. He showed me that there were people out there who loved you and had faith in me. This was at the time no one had any faith in me. This charity is so everyone has at least one person who will always believe in them. Everyone, I give you A Charitable Earth."
"Aww Ace, my dear Ace," the man in a question mark jumper says as he leaves the building.
'And then the cold came, the dark days
When fear crept into my mind
You gave me all your love and all I gave you was goodbye'
Over the years A Charitable Earth thrives and Ace hires more people. One day she gets a phone call. "I hear you know a man named the Doctor."
"Who are you," Ace doesn't know the voice.
"My name is Tegan Jovanka, I traveled with the Time Lord before you did.
"How did you get my name?"
"Which name, the one the Doctor and UNIT know you as, or the one that is known by most people."
"Both."
"From UNIT you go by Ace and have a jacket with the same name. Most people know you as Dorothy McShane, head of A Charitable Earth. Nice job on the acronym by the way."
"If you know me, then you know it didn't end well between us."
"I also know you miss him."
"I miss him everyday, but you don't know how hard it was for me. We had a big fight and he brought me home. Before we traveled together he saved me."
"That isn't surprising he saved Nyssa."
"Nyssa?"
"She traveled with the Doctor and I."
"What happened to her?"
"She stayed behind on an alien ship to help save people."
"The Doctor has that effect on people."
'So, this is me swallowing my pride
Standin' in front of you, sayin', "I'm sorry for that night"
And I go back to December all the time
It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missin' you
Wishin' I'd realized what I had when you were mine
I go back to December, turn around and change my own mind
I go back to December all the time'
Tegan and Ace meet up and become fast friends. "Tegan what if I told you I knew a way to find Nyssa."
"I don't want to see her. My second divorce was just finalized."
"You need your love."
"Like you do?"
"I may have fallen for people in the past but they all turned out to be someone else. Nyssa and you on the other hand seem to have this connection from the stories you have told me."
"Right now, I want to focus on my son."
"I have a feeling he would want you to be happy. He doesn't even want to see his dad after what he did to you."
"If Nyssa comes to earth we are meant to be."
"Oh you are, look," Ace points as someone is walking towards them that looks like she is a similar age to her and Tegan.
"Nyssa," Tegan gets up and meets Nyssa and the two hug. In the distance Ace swears she sees a blue box.
'I miss your tanned skin, your sweet smile
So good to me, so right
And how you held me in your arms that September night
The first time you ever saw me cry
Maybe this is wishful thinkin'
Probably mindless dreaming
But if we loved again, I swear I'd love you right
I'd go back in time and change it, but I can't
So, if the chain is on your door, I understand'
The flashbacks end as the doors of the TARDIS catch Ace. The warm glow and the TARDIS hums as she welcomes home her thief's daughter. Ace feels the instant comfort of it and jumps up faster than most people her age can and sees that Yaz was driving the TARDIS. After she questions Yaz, she meets another friend of her Professor. Ace walks around the console remembering her first time and last time in this machine. "This is different, but I like it; it still feels like home." The TARDIS lands in a volcano, "I think I might've slightly overestimated myself here, Professor. Although I have souped up the Nitro-9." She hears a static noise.
'But this is me swallowing my pride
Standin' in front of you, sayin', "I'm sorry for that night"
And I go back to December
It turns out freedom ain't nothing but missin' you
Wishin' I'd realized what I had when you were mine
I go back to December, turn around and make it alright
I go back to December, turn around and change my own mind
I go back to December all the time'
While talking to her old friend and mentor she reaches her hand up as if trying to touch his face trying her best not to freak out. She has a heart to heart with the Time Lord apologizing for the words said in the heat of the moment.
'All the time'
While she rounds the corner her mind is one the Professor and how he still thinks of her like a child. She hears someone approaching, she takes out her bat still in good condition and is greeted by yet another friend of the Professor, but this one seems different. She enjoys flirting with him. Maybe Tegan was right with what she told Ace shortly before she and Nyssa got married, the right person would come around. Maybe Graham could be the right person.
After Yaz drops them off she gets his number silently thanking the Professor for bringing on this man.
