The Belted Doctor, Chapter 10
Title: The Belted Doctor, Chapter 10
Author: tkel_paris , aka KendraC
Rating: High T, borderline M for (very) naughty humor, and some hints... Consider yourself warned.
Summary: A crack!fic inspired by a line from “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” and run for its life with. The Doctor is left with a very uncomfortable “protection” against unwanted advances. But will he find the one who is foretold to release him from his... prison?
Disclaimer: Mel Brooks owns “Men in Tights.” The BBC and others own “Doctor Who.” 'Nuff said.
Author's Note: When I wrote this, Muse was evidently determined to fit in a whole bunch of my plot bunnies into one story. Although this one made things much more interesting in future chapters... as well as provided additional humorous moments and comments. In fact, I recently caught a clip from "The Doctor's Daughter," where they had just been placed in the cell. I think a lot of us consider it FACT that any child the Doctor could have at this point in his life would prove smarter than he's prepared to deal with. Jenny was well on her way...
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CHAPTER TEN: MATERNAL INSTINCTS
Even with what Romana had said, the Doctor had practically given up on being a father again. The odds seemed so remote...
She certainly couldn't have seen this coming, could she?
The last adventure on Earth, probably. Including how he nearly lost Donna to the Sontaran ship. Of course, Donna had handled herself so well that he imagined that she and Romana would have gotten along quite well. Romana always had a high respect for strong women.
He might not have survived he experience, however... It was bad enough when Rose and Sarah Jane starting comparing memories about him and started to get along.
The Generated Anomaly was the biggest shock of his long life. Completely unnatural creation and born to fight - with weapons! Every instinct rebelled against her very existence, against opening his hearts to that girl.
But Donna... Donna had not only named her, she fought him over his treatment of her, and showed him the truth of her biology. Her having two hearts was another shock; his line started with just a single heart, so how could she start with two?!
In the end, it hadn't mattered. He was too devastated now, standing over her lifeless body. She'd stepped between Donna and a bullet. She proved too much like him where he had been unwilling to see how precious she was - until it was too late. He could only think of all of the places he wished he could have taken her to, all of the things he wanted to teach her, and how much more bearable the idea of eventually living without Donna would be with Jenny around. And Donna might have taught her compassion, empathy, and perhaps how to recognize emotions - so she might be less rubbish at it than he was.
No parent should have to bury their child. That was the phrase Donna used. He didn't understand what the fascination was with burying; Time-Lords never did that. But Donna insisted that they stick around, even as he tried to ignore her by focusing on his grief. She didn't slap him, but her words did: “It's the family's responsibility to ensure that the dead get a proper burial, the memorial that they deserved. Tell me, Sunshine: do you really want to leave all of that in the hands of people who are still pulling themselves out of this whole mess?”
He didn't have the energy to fight her. He didn't want to, anyway. So he asked her and Martha to handle things. Mercifully, she sensed that he couldn't deal much more with the rest of Messaline, so she took Martha with her to talk with the Humans and Hath who were starting a government.
The Doctor was painfully aware of every second that passed as he stared at Jenny, lying in a form of state rest. His vision went cloudy as suppressed tears started to fall.
And couldn't believe it when a golden light appeared out of Jenny's mouth. He wiped his eyes to ensure he wasn't hallucinating, and saw her open eyes and wide smile.
The sudden shouting brought people running into the room, and they were treated to the sight of the Lonely God clutching his unexpectedly revived child to him. Donna and Martha couldn't believe the tears almost streaming down the Doctor's face or the incoherent exclamations. (TARDIS wasn't sure how to translate them, even though Gallifreyan was the basis for the noises.) But everyone had the sense that this man was desperately hoping that he never had to let his child go again.
Much later, the four were on Earth. Donna and Martha helped sift through the TARDIS' multi-story wardrobe for clothing for Jenny, as the ginger understood that the Messaline uniform would always bring unhappy memories back for the Doctor and was determined to help form new and happier ones. Jenny finally chose a long-sleeved deep green shirt, black jeans, and black boots. Donna proclaimed, “We're going to have to get you some better shoes, sweetheart,” which drew a massive groan from the Doctor.
Then Jenny stopped everyone with a question. “Where do people normally get their names?”
Martha, feeling a little mischievous, answered, “Usually their mum or their dad. Parents are supposed to be the ones who name kids.”
The young Time-Lady thought about that, and soon looked at Donna with open curiosity. “Does that make you my mum?”
Donna and the Doctor choked on that question, although Martha was positive that it wasn't for the same reasons... Especially when Donna finally agreed to take on the role, which the Doctor seemed to decide he didn't mind at all...
Soon they were walking down Martha's street. The Doctor and Jenny were a few steps behind as he was trying to explain Earth in 2008. “Quite the picture,” Donna whispered to Martha when they glanced behind to watch father teaching daughter. The animated gestures of the Doctor and the awed expression on Jenny's face would've looked very strange had any bystanders been watching.
Martha grinned. “Never saw him so happy. He's meant to be a dad.” Her features clouded. “I wonder if he really looks on us like children.”
Donna quickly took Martha's arm and increased their pace. “No. He tries to look at us as adults within our own cultures.”
“He's terrible at expressing his feelings to anyone,” Martha muttered darkly.
“Listen, he's told me a bit about what happened between you two, and he regrets that he wasn't fair toward you. He knows that his lack of awareness about feelings hurt both you and Rose, and he now knows that he should have treated Rose like a teenager. I plan to stick around to make sure Jenny doesn't pick up his rubbish talents with feelings.”
A light laugh floated between them. “Good luck with that.”
Donna looked thoughtfully at her new friend. She lowered her voice, making sure that the Doctor was still consumed with whatever he was describing. “You sure you don't want to stick around? Help educate a Time-Lady?”
Martha shook her head. “Yeah, positive. I can't do this anymore.” She looked hard at Donna. “You'll be the same one day.”
The thought gripped Donna's heart, and she gasped at it. “I hope not. You don't know what my life was like before I met him. I was nothing. I was going nowhere. Whatever future I had, it was bound to be equally nothing special. Now, I have the best friend anyone could have in the entire universe, and he helps me be something special! And now he has a girl who needs a mother in her life, and she looks to me to fill that role. How could I go back to that... shallow, meaningless life after seeing all of this? If I could, I would travel forever with that man and his daughter.”
The two stopped, which their companions noticed. Martha evaluated Donna's behavior and words, and sensed that there was a lot of emotion behind Donna's words that the ginger didn't realize were there. She would be an excellent true companion, Martha though, if they both could only wake up and smell the hot tea leaves. “I hope you get your wish; you're really good for him. You've helped him have a reason to live for.” Maybe more than one...
And she was now convinced that her wish of poetic justice might just be commuted into a wonderful reward for the Doctor. Assuming nothing got in the way...
Chapter 11: Insanity in the 1920s