Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

"Donna!" The Doctor burst through her family's front door just as her mum served her grandad pudding. Sylvia dropped the spoon she was holding in surprise, and little specks of chocolate flew all over the dining room. 

Donna watched with amusement as the Doctor wiped some from his sleeve with his index finger and promptly stuck it in his mouth for a taste. 

Her mum, on the other hand, seemed more annoyed than amused. "I thought I told you, your bloody alien boyfriend isn't welcome here anymore after the fiasco he pulled with the toaster."

"Toaster?" The Doctor mouthed, and Donna silently promised she'll explain later.

The Doctor shrugged and pulled over a chair, taking a seat between the two kids sitting at the table. He then leaned over and grabbed the crystal bowl holding the pudding. Before Donna could stop him, he took her uncle’s spoon with a quick ‘ta’ and dipped it in the bowl. 

Everyone around the table was too stunned to react as he brought the spoon to his mouth and hummed as he tasted the chocolate. Donna realised what was about to happen next a second too late. As he lowered the spoon, bringing it closer and closer to the bowl, Donna scrambled to her feet, already knowing she won’t get there in time to stop it but attempting it nonetheless. 

Jenny, bless her, realised what was happening and put her hand on the Doctor’s arm. “No double dipping, Dad.”

The Doctor blinked in surprise and stared between his spoon and his new daughter.  He was getting better at handling the ‘suddenly-a-dad’ thing, Donna noticed. Less flinchy when she touched him; more comfortable when she used the word ‘dad’. And although she couldn’t completely understand what he was going through (could anyone really? Generated anomaly, 100% biologically related 5-year-old daughter who, incidentally, was the only other Time Lord in existence besides him?). 

Donna was glad he was taking it with more ease.

Her mum seemed like she was about to explode.

Donna tentatively reached over and took the bowl from him and gently laid it down beside her mum. 

“No harm done.” He grandad said with a wink in the Doctor’s direction and grabbed the spoon from Sylvia’s hand to put some pudding on his plate. Around the table, people echoed him and the table went back to its previous familial chaos.

The Doctor waited patiently until Sylvia begrudgingly served him pudding before turning back to Donna, “I need to enrol Jenny at Eden Academy.”

“Eden?” Her uncle, Richard piped in, “I used to teach there. It’s a very fine school.”

If there was one thing Donna would never tire of watching, was how quickly the Doctor could change his entire behaviour when he needed to. In less than a second, the kid-like man who was sitting between his 5-year-old daughter and Donna’s 7-year-old cousin, explaining to them about the healing abilities of jelly babies , suddenly turned into an almost scary ready-to-talk-business man.

“I have heard many high praises for the school.” He said and pulled a bottle of whiskey from his coat pocket. 

If Richard was surprised by the change, or by the bottle, he said nothing. Only grabbed two glasses and invited the Doctor over to the next room.

They came back a while later and returned to their seat. “I will get you an interview, but let me advise once again that you bring her mother along. Healthy family relationships are highly valued in the school board.”

“A bunch of white, old dickhead Tories.” Donna murmured into her glass and the Doctor shook his head with half a smile before turning back to her uncle.

“Where is her mother?” Sylvia asked. Donna loudly cleared her throat and at her mum’s glare, pointedly glanced at the sky. Slyvia’s eyes widened and she quickly jumped to her feet and started stacking plates.

“Of course. Forgive me for asking.” Her mum said, just as the Doctor promised her uncle, “She will be there.”

If he was being honest, the Doctor was getting a little tired of constantly having to save the Earth. For such a small planet, it really did attract an awful lot of species. And a notable amount of them did not come in peace. 

So here, once again, he was stuck in London of all places, trying to find out why the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was regularly sending encrypted messages to space. 

And of course, the man he needed to find seemed to be a bloody hermit who would only ever show his face at school meetings regarding his second son, because when has the universe let anything go smoothly for him?

He was getting too old for this.

It wasn’t hard coming up with a plan, the connection between himself and the man he was spying on was only too easy- the second son was five, the same age as Jenny. They could go to school together, and might even befriend each other but regardless he would find a way to get to him and get to the bottom of this.

The fact that Donna’s uncle used to teach there was a lucky coincidence. The fact that he was willing to help Jenny get in was orchestrated thanks to his genius (and, he supposed, also Jenny’s charm). But asking Donna to watch her while the man was around to see her brilliance was his idea. Not to mention the whiskey. He really was rather clever this time around.

And not too hard on the eyes, either. Shouldn’t be too hard to find someone who would be willing to pretend to be Jenny’s mother for a few weeks. Tops.

At first, he wanted Donna to do it. It would just be easier, Jenny already knew and liked her, he wouldn’t have to pretend to be human around her. But Donna immediately turned him down, listing that a. Her uncle knows they’re not married so they won’t be able to fool him, and b. No one would believe she’d marry such a beanpole.

So he had to find someone else to be his pretend wife. He had married, or pretended to marry, a fair list of women during his life-long travels, some of them even happened in this body, but to bring them to 21st-century Earth and get them accustomed to life here could be a hassle.

A few decades earlier, he could have tried Video Dating. If he was only a few years in the future he could have used tinder. 

Just ask someone for coffee, Donna said. And it seemed like he didn’t really have another choice.

It ended up being a lot easier than he thought it would be.

“Rose, darling!” Her mum burst into her office for the fifth time that week and Rose groaned into her hands. She knew what she came around for, again and it seemed like whatever Rose kept telling her, made no difference- ‘No, mum, I’m not bringing anyone to the gala.’ ‘No. I don’t want you to set me up.’ ‘And yes , I am perfectly fine without a man.’ 

But it was all useless. It had been almost two years since she and Mickey broke up, and her mum was convinced it was time for her to start dating again, in time for the annual Vitex Gala, which happened to be next week. 

For a while it was easy for Rose to ignore her, but then her mum took it a step further and threatened to bring Adam as her date to the event. Conceited, egocentric, know-it-all Adam who Jackie knew Rose absolutely despised (which is exactly why she chose that tactic) and would be horrified by the thoughts of pictures of them circling around the press and people thinking they were really a couple. 

And when Jackie made a threat, she meant it.

Rose had to find a date for that stupid event.

It shouldn’t be too hard, right? She thought to herself as she gathered her things at the end of the day. She planned on going home and spending her evening filing a report on her last Torchwood mission. There were still a few loose ends to close, and a few artefacts to sort, and Rose really hated leaving work undone. 

But it wasn’t to be.

She just had to spend the evening at the seamstress, getting fitted for a dress for that bloody gala.

Perhaps, if she played her part right, Jackie would go back on her threat.

She could only hope.

When the Doctor was processed and Jenny was created, she stepped out of the machine knowing a few things. First, she knew who her dad was and that she had no mum. Second, she knew how to talk and run and operate weapons. And lastly, she knew she was a mistake.

All the anomalies that came out of the machine could speak and run and operate weapons. They all knew they had one parent whose tissue sample was used to create them. But, while they all stepped out of the machine in adult bodies with adult brains, ready to become soldiers, Jenny was somehow (according to her dad, it was his incredible Time Lord genes that messed with the machine, but she preferred to think it was actually fate), was created as a child. 

It was strange, having all that soldiery knowledge, stored in her too-small brain. She couldn’t understand a lot of it, couldn’t understand why they were fighting with the fishmen, but somehow knew she had to shoot them with a gun she couldn’t even hold up straight. It was even stranger because of the Time Lord stuff. Like the second heart she didn’t even know she had until Donna told her. 

It was lucky her dad was there, and Donna and they brought peace and flowers to the planet, and took her away.

She wanted to travel like her dad, save people across planets, and run a lot. But he said it was too dangerous, and they should spend some time on Earth first. He also said he would teach her about Time Lords but so far he had mostly just left her with Donna so she could take her to play with her nephew, Matthew. 

He still seemed a little unsure about her, whether she was really his daughter and so Jenny kept a secret from him. Jenny could read minds if she touched someone. She could tell how they were feeling, and what they were thinking, sometimes she could even see pictures. 

If it wasn’t normal for Time Lords, and her dad found out, he might decide she wasn’t his daughter after all and leave her.

No. She couldn’t let that happen.

In the past few days, she noticed that her dad was very worried. She didn’t understand it all, but there were a few things Jenny did manage to pick up when they were holding hands- there were aliens somewhere. To stop them, she needed to get into a school, Eden something. And he needed to get married. 

Also, the future safety of the entire world depended on him.

So despite the lady sticking pins into her body as she tried to fit the uniform, wouldn’t let her scratch her itchy nose, Jenny silently stood straight in the little shop.

At least until the woman walked in.

She was pretty, Jenny immediately noticed, pretty and blonde. As she walked briskly past her, to talk to the lady, her hand accidentally brushed hers and Jenny heard loud and clear - The woman needed a boyfriend.

“I’m sorry, sweety,” She turned towards her, “Wasn’t looking where I was walking.” She gave Jenny a warm smile then added, “I bet you’ll look lovely once the uniform is fixed.” 

“Thank you, miss…”

“Rose.” 

“Thank you, Miss Rose.” Jenny smiled, and decided then and there that Rose would become her new mum.

Now she just had to get her dad to understand that too. Without letting him find out that she knew he was looking for a wife.

“I have no mum.” She blurted out, and all three adults in the room turned to look at her. She noticed, with a growing smile, that Rose glanced in her dad’s direction. 

Up until that point, the Doctor wasn’t paying too much attention to Jenny, trusting the seamstress to do her job. He was instead, going over his plan over and over again, trying to see if there was a way to get past the no-wife ordeal, but so far he had nothing. 

He should’ve lied at the beginning, and told Richard that his wife had passed away. But as it happened, and way too often with this body, he must add , his mouth had run away on him and promised he’d bring his wife (which he didn’t have) to a meeting (which would happen in two weeks) that could affect the fate of the entire world (brilliant).

I have no mum. Jenny said and he jumped in surprise. Jenny knew perfectly well how she came to be, she understood that only one organism was needed to create her. Where did her sudden interest in having a mother stem from? He had been trying very hard not to disclose any details to her, to keep her from feeling the pressure of world-saving at such a young age, but perhaps he wasn’t careful enough? 

Or maybe just spending time with Donna’s family made her realise what she was missing with having a single parent. Especially one whose previous children were all loomed adults, so he had no idea what he was doing and so far was doing a pretty rubbish job.

He noticed the woman was glancing at him, uncertain as to what answer she should give the child.

“Jenny dear, please don’t bother the nice lady.” The Doctor told his daughter and moved to rest his hand on her shoulder. 

“Miss Rose, do you have any children?” Jenny ignored him and bluntly asked the lady, Rose . 

The Doctor pulled at his ear with discomfort, “I’m very sorry about that.” He then added with mock whisper, “She definitely didn’t get the rudeness from me.”

The smile that she gave him in return was so sincere, yet teasing, with a hint of her tongue sticking out on the side of the mouth. He was left speechless for the first time in this body (as Donna would probably confirm).

He shook his head and Rose frowned at him.

She turned to his daughter instead, “Jenny, was it?” 

Jenny nodded and offered Rose her hand to shake. Rose shook, then squeezed her hand, “Well, Jenny.” She glanced at the Doctor before looking back at his daughter, “I haven’t got any children. Not yet anyway.”

Jenny’s smile only grew at that.

“My dad and I are going on an outing!” She proudly told Rose. 

Rose laughed. “Is that so? Where are the two of you going?”

“I’m going to try ice cream!” Jenny happily exclaimed and asked him, “Dad, can miss Rose come with us?”

The Doctor turned to Rose to see she was watching him with a bemused expression. He raised his eyebrow in question. “Of course, if she’s free.”

Rose looked genuinely disappointed when she told them she had to get her dress fixed but gave him her card, and told him he could call her if they ever go again.

He left the shop with Jenny blabbering at his side about Rose this and Rose that and looked at the card. 

"Rose Tyler." He read and smiled at the way it rolled off the tongue.

He may have found his future fake wife.