Doctor Wh Fic-"Lessons"
Title: Lessons
Author:
walkwithheroes
Rated: PG-13 (for language and suggestive, adult, actions.)
Timeline: AU, post S2. No finale spoilers.
Written for
sidewalk_doctor’s The Illustrious Doctor/Rose baby project!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Doctor or Rose or Jackie.
Pairings: Rose/The Doctor. Hints at Others.
Word Count: 3,980
Warning: Some slight B.Y.O.S. (bring your own subtext) with the sibling relationship. Is it incest? Or they just really close. You be the judge.
Summary: The first twenty-one years in the life of the Doctor and Rose’s son, as told through certain life changing lessons and events.
Author’s Note: When I got the ‘challenge’ to write a baby fic, I was hoping for something fluffy. I’ve written this sort of thing in the Firefly/Serenity fandom, and I usually end up with either fluffy or very creep fics. I think this one is slightly angst, creepy, and just plain sad. Poor little half human, half Time Lords, they don‘t have it easy, you know. Special thanks to Sara_120,for the beta.
I. Intelligence
The first time Levi Tyler notices he is different is when he’s five years old.
He has known for a while that his life is not like everyone else’s, but it is not until he’s five that he notices he is not like everyone else either. It’s his first day of school, and all the other children are excited over learning their colors. Levi knows his colors. Levi knows much more then a normal five year old; he knows more then his teacher.
After school, Levi tells his Gran that he is smarter then everyone else. She pats him on the head and offers him a sandwich. Levi decides that when his parents come home, he’s going to tell them that that he’s too smart for school, and that he should not have to go back.
Levi’s parents return home a week later. They disagree about Levi not going back to school.
II. Siblings
The second time Levi Tyler notices he is different is when he is eight years old.
His parents are home, and his mother is pregnant. Whenever Levi puts his ear to his mother’s stomach, he hears two heartbeats. Levi’s father offers him a smile: “It’s always better with two.” Levi finds that he has to agree with that logic. Two eyes, two ears, two arms, two hands, two feet, two legs, two hearts, two parents, two half-Time Lords; it’s just better with two.
Levi’s younger sister is called Lily. Levi and Lily Tyler. Levi thinks the names are perfect. Levi thinks he and Lily are perfect.
III. Family
Levi is ten and Lily is two when his parents come home again. Levi’s father is so excited that he’s nearly bouncing off the walls. Levi’s mother talks quietly with Gran.
Levi sits in a corner, Lily on his lap, as he watches his father rush around the flat. Levi’s father talks to himself, rushing all his words together in excitement. “It’s huge and they’re everywhere. Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. Oh, you two are going to have the best time!”
Levi raises an eyebrow and gives the look that all ten year olds give when they are not totally sure that their parents haven’t gone completely insane. “But does then mean we have to leave Gran? Will Lily and I still be together? Will you and Mum stop traveling and stay at home, like proper parents?”
“Course not!” Levi’s father gives him a look. “Don’t be daft, Levi.” He smiles broadly. “This is the way Rose wants it. The whole family together, and we have got a first stop on a wonderful world. You two will love it.”
Levi kisses the top of Lily’s head. “Good. It will be odd to leave, but at least I’ll have my Lily.” Levi pauses in thought. “You and Mum will stay around now, won’t you?”
The Doctor smiles again. “As long as Rose wants me, I’ll be near.”
Levi can’t stop himself from standing up and running over to his father. Levi wraps his arms around the Doctor’s waist. Levi buries his face in his father’s lower stomach. Finally, they’ll be a real family. Levi hears the sounds of little feet rushing over and he smiles when he feels Lily hugging his legs.
“There’s a sweetheart,” the Doctor whispers. “You two take care of one another, always. It’s better with two.”
Levi releases his hold on his father. “No. Dad, it’s better with five.”
IV. Time Lords
Levi is twelve and Lily is four when their father begins to teach them about being a Time Lord, Time Lady for Lily. The Doctor takes them outside the TARDIS and tells them about his home world, its people, and how Levi and Lily may or may not be different then other children.
Levi finds he is most interested in regeneration. Lily gets scared by the stories of the Daleks and the Cybermen. The Doctor has to take Lily into his arms and rock her gently. Levi tells Lily jokes, until she giggles and smiles again.
The Doctor lets Lily goes, telling his children to play and learn who they are and what they can do. That day, Levi learns that he is a Time Lord. He’s intelligent and interesting, and he can learn things just by licking objects. Lily does not learn about being a Time Lord, Time Lady, that day. Instead she holds her brother’s hand, and watches him with all the awe and hero worship of a child.
That night, Levi tells Rose: “Mum, I think Lily and me an’ ‘ave get married someday. Keep Dad’s race goin’.”
Rose stares at her son for a moment. She exchanges a nervous look with Jackie, who looks like she needs a seat and a glass of water. The Doctor seems to snort back a laugh. Levi isn’t sure if he’s said something wrong, but he is sure his family is now completely uncomfortable. Rose asks Jackie to take care of the kids, while she and the Doctor go off to have a little discussion.
V. Alone in the Universe
The Doctor explains it to Rose as simply as he can. Levi and Lily are the only ones of their kind, and they always will be. No one will ever understand them in the way they understand each other. It’s a miracle he found Rose, but even she doesn’t completely understand.
Rose explains to the Doctor that siblings don’t get married on Earth. She tries to explain it all, but the Doctor just gives Rose a sad smile. He kisses her gently and tells her: “They’ll be alright, Rose. They just have to learn.”
Rose talks to Levi later that night. He doesn’t mention wanting to marry Lily again.
VI. New Earth
Levi is thirteen when he first visits New Earth.
The Doctor promises Levi that they’ll be a family and they are. For the first time in thirteen years, the Tyler family is all together and on a family vacation. Jackie takes pictures, as the Doctor and Rose stare out at New New York. Levi takes Lily’s little hand and runs with her up and down the hills.
“The new new Doctor in New New York with his new new family.” Levi hears the Doctor laugh. The Doctor wraps a hand around Rose’s waist. “It’s brilliant.”
Jackie sets the timer on the camera, so they can take a family photo on the hills of New New York.
VII. Children
The Doctor never thought he’d end up with two children by Rose Tyler. Levi is fifteen and Lily is seven. They’re both alive, and healthy, and oddly normal. Levi’s intelligent, charming, a regular chip off the old block. Lily’s quiet, thoughtful, and so very brave. The two of them are best friends and love each other dearly. They are like no one else in the whole of space and time. That is what worries the Doctor the most.
Since they are the only two like them in the whole of space and time, Levi and Lily are close and protective of one another. They understand one another in a way that not even the Doctor and Rose will ever understand them. Levi once said that he wanted to marry his sister. The Doctor knows Levi still would marry Lily if he could.
It worries Rose and it bothers Jackie. Yet, it makes perfect sense to the Doctor. Jackie and Rose will die. He’ll regenerate into someone whose him, but not him. Sooner or later, all Levi and Lily will have is each other. The Doctor thinks that sooner or later, Levi will take on the title of ’The Doctor’ and Lily will become his loyal companion through space and time.
That’s why they need to be close. That’s why they need to love one another more then they love anyone else. Because, when you’re alone in the universe, you need to have someone by you. It won’t be incest; it will be companionship, survival.
It’s why the Doctor watches them so carefully. Watches to be sure that Levi can take care of Lily. Watches to be sure that Lily understands Levi. If the Doctor is lonely being the last of the Time Lords, he can only imagine the loneliness and pain that comes with being half human and half Time Lord.
His children will never fit in, never truly have a home. It’s why they need one another so badly. It’s why the Doctor doesn’t mind when Levi tells him that he’ll protect and care for Lily forever.
VIII. Death
Jackie Tyler dies in her sleep when Levi is sixteen. The Doctor explains that Jackie was ill and that there was nothing to be done. She went quietly and that’s what is important. Rose cries for days. The Doctor becomes very quiet and moody. Levi and Lily don’t fully understand the events surrounding their Gran’s death.
They aren’t stupid, they understand that everything has its time and that everything must die. It is just that they’re naïve and don’t understand why their Gran doesn’t regenerate. The Doctor reminds them that humans can’t do that. They don’t understand either why don’t they go back in time and save her, Rose tells them that would only cause trouble.
It’s Levi and Lily’s first true lesson in death, but it won’t be their last. Someday Rose will die. Someday their father will become another new Doctor. And someday they’ll get hurt or sick and they may or may not regenerate.
Everything lives, everything has its time, and everything dies.
IX. Family Business
Levi is seventeen when he first kisses a girl. He’s used his tongue to taste things, to learn. But, there’s something exciting and fun about using his tongue in the way that he uses it for kissing. The girl’s a hippie in San Francisco in the early 1960s, she’s all blond hair and long skirt. Levi knows he won’t remember her name next week, but it’s still fun to kiss her.
The girl’s lips are wet and she tastes like pot and honey. Levi thinks that if he had more time, if she could understand everything about him, he might love her. Except, she’d never be able to understand. So, Levi puts her in his memories as a beautiful girl he had a moment with. Levi smiles at her, it’s his father’s smile and it’s charming, before he kisses her one last time.
“You’re fantastic. Simply lovely,” he tells her softly. “Have a good life, love.”
Levi meets the Doctor in front of the TARDIS; the Doctor gives him a look. “You’ve been kissing the locals, Levi.”
Levi smirks. “Just the one. She was fantastic, Dad, all hands and wet lips. It really was brilliant.” He moves past his father and walks inside the TARDIS. “Are Mum and Lily about? I want to tell them all about it.”
The Doctor watches his son carefully, almost with a stony expression. “Rose’s taken your Lily to the shops.” He follows Levi deeper into the TARDIS. “You’re getting to be all grown up, aren’t you? Kissing girls, learning things, becoming a man.”
“Ah,” Levi holds a hand up, “but I’m not really a man, am I? I am half Time Lord.” He pauses for a moment, as if he’s considering something. “I think hundreds of years from now, people will call me ‘Doctor’. Stick to the family business, yeah?”
The Doctor watches Levi move around, watches as his son flops down on the seat near the controls. Levi is so young, so carefree. The boy has so much mercy; it makes the Doctor’s heart ache. One day, Levi won’t have the freedom to be the way he is.
The Doctor sighs softly. “Maybe.” He grins cheekily. “ ‘Course you’ll have to learn to use the sonic screwdriver properly and you’ll have to lay off the chips. Can’t have a fat Doctor, that’ll ruin the whole mystique.”
X. Regeneration
The Doctor regenerates into his eleventh incarnation when Levi is nineteen. The Doctor is shot by some kind of ray gun on a planet in the year 509,986. He falls to the ground, amid the sounds of Rose screaming his name and the guards barking orders at one another.
Rose rushes to the Doctor, just as he begins to glow that familiar color. Levi picks up the sonic screwdriver, and for the first time in his life he uses it properly.
Levi’s new father, the new new new Doctor, looks older then before. He’s a bit taller and a bit more filled out. The Doctor’s got ginger hair and shinning green eyes. He looks roughly fifty-seven in human years and he sounds like he’s from Wales. The Doctor picks out a new suit and a rather ugly cane.
Rose thinks the new new new Doctor is lovely, even if he is a bit snobby and even if he does tell rather unfunny jokes. Lily is wary of the Doctor now, because he’s her father but he isn’t her father. Levi just wishes that his father would go back to the way he used to be. Rose tells the children that they’ll get used to their new father, even if it does take a little time.
Lily, whose just turned eleven, isn’t so sure. She asks Rose: “If I give back my birthday presents, can Daddy turn back?”
Rose sadly kisses her daughter’s forehead and tells her that that isn’t the way it works. Levi wishes Rose was lying. For not the first time in his life, Levi wishes things were different.
Long ago, Levi had been so interested in regeneration. Now, he wishes it didn’t exist. It won’t be the last time Levi dislikes the way Time Lords work.
XI. Hearts
Time Lords have two hearts. Humans have one heart. When you’re half human and half Time Lord, it’s difficult to know if the two hearts will be a problem.
Lily is twelve when she begins having problems with her two hearts. She’s always been a strong girl, dancing through the TARDIS and jumping around on all the worlds they visit. But, suddenly she’s weak. Suddenly, she has trouble breathing. It’s the two hearts. They just don’t work for her the same way they do for the Doctor and Levi.
Lily is brought to the finest hospital ever built. She’s given a bed, as the Doctor and Rose are told what’s wrong with her. Lily’s hearts have infections that can’t be cured yet. She can’t survive without new hearts, so she’ll simply need new ones. What’s her species?
The Doctor wonders if Lily could survive with two human hearts. Rose wonders why the Doctor doesn’t go forward in time to get the cure for Lily. Levi wonders if Lily will die and leave him all alone.
Lily seems strangely upbeat when her family enters her room. She tells them that she’ll be all right, because she comes from strong stock. Levi laughs through tears and hugs her. The Doctor says he can give her his hearts; maybe he’ll regenerate after? Rose thinks the Doctor should just go get the cure. The Doctor sadly reveals that Lily’s infection has no cure in any time he knows of. It would waste time to go looking for it. New hearts are Lily’s best bet.
The next night, Lily whispers to Levi that she would like him to have all her books. And that Rose must take back Gran’s jewelry box. As for the Doctor, he can have all the notes she’s written about future machines to build. Levi tells her not to take like that, that she’ll live. He doesn’t believe it, but he thinks it is better to lie.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Rose talk, or rather argue about what to do. Finally, they agree on trying the two human hearts. Maybe, just maybe, Lily can live on two human hearts?
Lily’s given two human hearts a day later. She stands, she walks, she jumps, and she dances within the next week. Still, the doctors of the hospital warn Rose and the Doctor that Lily will never be the way she was and that she must be careful. Her body wasn’t made for the weaker hearts she has now.
Levi just prays that Lily can regenerate if her new human hearts do give out.
XII. Sex
Levi is twenty when he has sex for the first time. The Doctor takes Levi to ‘the largest and tackiest whore house in the universe’ on Levi’s birthday. Rose is annoyed with the thought of Levi having sex for the first time at a whorehouse. Lily just thinks it is the funniest thing ever, she tells him to not get stage fright.
Levi is embarrassed as the Doctor tells the Madam that Levi would like a girl with dark hair and brilliant eyes. “She should be small, but not too small. Pretty and smart. Someone he can hold a conversation with between the intercourse.”
Levi blushes, even as the Madam brings out the woman. She looks slightly human, but both Levi and the Doctor know she isn’t human at all. The woman is all dark hair and skin, very pretty and nicely intelligent. Levi and the woman, Stella, go off to a room. The Doctor smiles brightly behind them.
If Levi thinks kissing is exciting and fun, actual sex is a hundred times better. Sex is all touching, all lips and hands and tongues. Levi’s senses nearly explode with all the feelings, sights, noises, and smells that come from real sex. It’s almost too much for him.
It’s as if he’s feeling everything in the universe through this girl. He images that it would be a million times better if he were actually sleeping with someone he loves. He images that it would be a billion times better if it were with someone who can feel the same things he feels.
Sadly, there’s only one other person in the universe who feels the same things he feels. Levi doubts his mum would be all right with it if he asked to sleep with his thirteen-year-old sister. Rose is a good mother in that way. She knows she mustn’t let Levi give in to his thoughts.
XIII. Mother’s Day
Rose Tyler dies when Levi is twenty-one. Levi is not with his mother when she dies, but according to his father, Rose jumped in front of him. The Doctor tells Levi and Lily that their mother died protecting him and that he’s so sorry he couldn’t protect Rose. He murmurs that she was so young, just forty-three.
The Doctor becomes hard on the outside, but inside he breaks. Lily tells Levi that she hears the Doctor sobbing at night. Lily asks Levi to never leave her; Levi lies and promises that he‘ll stay with Lily forever.
XIV. Two
A month, at least Levi thinks it is a month, after Rose dies the Doctor disappears from the TARDIS. Levi and Lily try to find their father, but it is as if he’s disappeared from time itself. In some odd way, they feel as if they are orphans. In every way, they are all the other has.
They have the TARDIS and a whole universe to discover, don’t they? Then, why do they feel so alone?“Levi?” Lily’s voice is quiet and so sad. It makes Levi’s heart break and he just wants to hold her. He wants to tell her that he’s sorry they were born. Instead, he just half smiles at her. “Levi, will you still want to travel? Save worlds, the universe, everyone?”
Levi thinks on that for a moment. “It’s a lonely life, Lily. It was better with Mum, and Dad, and Gran. It was better when there was a family. But, now we‘re alone.”
Lily looks down, seemingly nervous. “But, isn’t it better with two? We aren’t alone, we have one another. Forever, remember? You promised.”“Lily…” His voice is soft, barely above a whisper, and he trails off the moment he sees the tears in her eyes. “It isn’t fair, is it?” They don’t fit in anywhere, he thinks and they are all they have. “It’s better with two. Forever.” He holds his arms out, offering.
Lily runs to her older brother and falls against his stomach. She wraps her arms around his back, tightly hugging him. She’s fourteen, she’s a kid, and she should be playing and chatting up boys. She shouldn’t be where she is. She shouldn’t be parentless in a TARDIS.
“We’ll stay together. You won’t leave me on some planet, while you go off and have adventures, will you?” Lily looks up at him, the hope clear in her eyes.
“Never. It’s you and me, my Lily. You and me, the last of the Time Lords…sort of.” He wraps her in a bear hug. Levi kisses the top of Lily’s head. “It’s time to take over the family business, yeah?”
XV. The Doctor
Levi and Lily compose themselves, before Levi asks Lily that all-important question: “Where would you like to go?”
She tells him that she’d like to see the start of New Earth, as New Earth was the place where they took their only family photo.
The TARDIS brings them to a satellite, that’s invite only. All the posh people and creatures from around the universe are present, all the posh ones and two half human, half Time Lords, from nowhere and everywhere.
Levi checks to be sure he has the sonic screwdriver and the psychic paper. He feels stiff in his pinstriped suit, but he thinks he’ll get used to it. Lily stands beside him in old jeans, short tee-shirt, and converse sneakers.
They causally enter the observation deck, and are pulled aside by the Steward. “This is invitation, only,” the little yellow man tells them in his best snob voice. “I’ll need to see an invite, please.”
For a moment, Levi hesitates. He can’t do this, and a small part of him knows it. He is about to open his mouth, when he feels Lily slide her hand into his. With a small smile of encouragement from Lily, Levi is ready.
He flashes the psychic paper at the Steward. “I’m the Doctor. This is Lily Tyler. She’s my plus one. That all right?”
The Steward looks annoyed, but he nods and lets them enter the observation deck.
Lily gives Levi another, even brighter smile. “That was fantastic! You’re fantastic!” She leans into his shoulder, staring out the windows as New Earth is made.
Levi places the psychic paper back into his jacket pocket. He glances around at all the other guests, and thinks that they all know he’s the Doctor. Levi and Lily have taken over the family business and they couldn’t be happier.
As Levi watches New New York being formed, he thinks back to the lessons he’s been taught: No one will ever understand him like Lily, and even if that’s not quite right, it’s still the way it should be. It’s always better with two. And finally, everything lives, everything has its time, and everything dies.
There’s a crash, a scream, and the lights go out. Levi hears someone cry out: “Someone’s killed the Grand Duke!”
Lily sighs softly, moving away from Levi, she asks: “Shall we solve the mystery and save everyone?”
“Of course!” Levi answers with a nod.
The two go to where the crowd has gathered, and Levi clears his throat. “Excuse me, I’m the Doctor. I think you could use my help.” He bends down to take a closer look at the body, while Lily makes mental notes about everybody on the deck.
It’s Levi’s time to be the Doctor and it’s Lily’s time to be the loyal companion. Levi thinks he likes it that way. And who knows, maybe someday they’ll re-meet their father. Maybe he’ll be the same, maybe he won’t. All Levi knows is that he hopes he makes the old man proud, he hopes he’s a boon to the family business.
Author:
walkwithheroes
Rated: PG-13 (for language and suggestive, adult, actions.)
Timeline: AU, post S2. No finale spoilers.
Written for
sidewalk_doctor’s The Illustrious Doctor/Rose baby project!
Disclaimer: I do not own the Doctor or Rose or Jackie.
Pairings: Rose/The Doctor. Hints at Others.
Word Count: 3,980
Warning: Some slight B.Y.O.S. (bring your own subtext) with the sibling relationship. Is it incest? Or they just really close. You be the judge.
Summary: The first twenty-one years in the life of the Doctor and Rose’s son, as told through certain life changing lessons and events.
Author’s Note: When I got the ‘challenge’ to write a baby fic, I was hoping for something fluffy. I’ve written this sort of thing in the Firefly/Serenity fandom, and I usually end up with either fluffy or very creep fics. I think this one is slightly angst, creepy, and just plain sad. Poor little half human, half Time Lords, they don‘t have it easy, you know. Special thanks to Sara_120,for the beta.
I. Intelligence
The first time Levi Tyler notices he is different is when he’s five years old.
He has known for a while that his life is not like everyone else’s, but it is not until he’s five that he notices he is not like everyone else either. It’s his first day of school, and all the other children are excited over learning their colors. Levi knows his colors. Levi knows much more then a normal five year old; he knows more then his teacher.
After school, Levi tells his Gran that he is smarter then everyone else. She pats him on the head and offers him a sandwich. Levi decides that when his parents come home, he’s going to tell them that that he’s too smart for school, and that he should not have to go back.
Levi’s parents return home a week later. They disagree about Levi not going back to school.
II. Siblings
The second time Levi Tyler notices he is different is when he is eight years old.
His parents are home, and his mother is pregnant. Whenever Levi puts his ear to his mother’s stomach, he hears two heartbeats. Levi’s father offers him a smile: “It’s always better with two.” Levi finds that he has to agree with that logic. Two eyes, two ears, two arms, two hands, two feet, two legs, two hearts, two parents, two half-Time Lords; it’s just better with two.
Levi’s younger sister is called Lily. Levi and Lily Tyler. Levi thinks the names are perfect. Levi thinks he and Lily are perfect.
III. Family
Levi is ten and Lily is two when his parents come home again. Levi’s father is so excited that he’s nearly bouncing off the walls. Levi’s mother talks quietly with Gran.
Levi sits in a corner, Lily on his lap, as he watches his father rush around the flat. Levi’s father talks to himself, rushing all his words together in excitement. “It’s huge and they’re everywhere. Everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. Oh, you two are going to have the best time!”
Levi raises an eyebrow and gives the look that all ten year olds give when they are not totally sure that their parents haven’t gone completely insane. “But does then mean we have to leave Gran? Will Lily and I still be together? Will you and Mum stop traveling and stay at home, like proper parents?”
“Course not!” Levi’s father gives him a look. “Don’t be daft, Levi.” He smiles broadly. “This is the way Rose wants it. The whole family together, and we have got a first stop on a wonderful world. You two will love it.”
Levi kisses the top of Lily’s head. “Good. It will be odd to leave, but at least I’ll have my Lily.” Levi pauses in thought. “You and Mum will stay around now, won’t you?”
The Doctor smiles again. “As long as Rose wants me, I’ll be near.”
Levi can’t stop himself from standing up and running over to his father. Levi wraps his arms around the Doctor’s waist. Levi buries his face in his father’s lower stomach. Finally, they’ll be a real family. Levi hears the sounds of little feet rushing over and he smiles when he feels Lily hugging his legs.
“There’s a sweetheart,” the Doctor whispers. “You two take care of one another, always. It’s better with two.”
Levi releases his hold on his father. “No. Dad, it’s better with five.”
IV. Time Lords
Levi is twelve and Lily is four when their father begins to teach them about being a Time Lord, Time Lady for Lily. The Doctor takes them outside the TARDIS and tells them about his home world, its people, and how Levi and Lily may or may not be different then other children.
Levi finds he is most interested in regeneration. Lily gets scared by the stories of the Daleks and the Cybermen. The Doctor has to take Lily into his arms and rock her gently. Levi tells Lily jokes, until she giggles and smiles again.
The Doctor lets Lily goes, telling his children to play and learn who they are and what they can do. That day, Levi learns that he is a Time Lord. He’s intelligent and interesting, and he can learn things just by licking objects. Lily does not learn about being a Time Lord, Time Lady, that day. Instead she holds her brother’s hand, and watches him with all the awe and hero worship of a child.
That night, Levi tells Rose: “Mum, I think Lily and me an’ ‘ave get married someday. Keep Dad’s race goin’.”
Rose stares at her son for a moment. She exchanges a nervous look with Jackie, who looks like she needs a seat and a glass of water. The Doctor seems to snort back a laugh. Levi isn’t sure if he’s said something wrong, but he is sure his family is now completely uncomfortable. Rose asks Jackie to take care of the kids, while she and the Doctor go off to have a little discussion.
V. Alone in the Universe
The Doctor explains it to Rose as simply as he can. Levi and Lily are the only ones of their kind, and they always will be. No one will ever understand them in the way they understand each other. It’s a miracle he found Rose, but even she doesn’t completely understand.
Rose explains to the Doctor that siblings don’t get married on Earth. She tries to explain it all, but the Doctor just gives Rose a sad smile. He kisses her gently and tells her: “They’ll be alright, Rose. They just have to learn.”
Rose talks to Levi later that night. He doesn’t mention wanting to marry Lily again.
VI. New Earth
Levi is thirteen when he first visits New Earth.
The Doctor promises Levi that they’ll be a family and they are. For the first time in thirteen years, the Tyler family is all together and on a family vacation. Jackie takes pictures, as the Doctor and Rose stare out at New New York. Levi takes Lily’s little hand and runs with her up and down the hills.
“The new new Doctor in New New York with his new new family.” Levi hears the Doctor laugh. The Doctor wraps a hand around Rose’s waist. “It’s brilliant.”
Jackie sets the timer on the camera, so they can take a family photo on the hills of New New York.
VII. Children
The Doctor never thought he’d end up with two children by Rose Tyler. Levi is fifteen and Lily is seven. They’re both alive, and healthy, and oddly normal. Levi’s intelligent, charming, a regular chip off the old block. Lily’s quiet, thoughtful, and so very brave. The two of them are best friends and love each other dearly. They are like no one else in the whole of space and time. That is what worries the Doctor the most.
Since they are the only two like them in the whole of space and time, Levi and Lily are close and protective of one another. They understand one another in a way that not even the Doctor and Rose will ever understand them. Levi once said that he wanted to marry his sister. The Doctor knows Levi still would marry Lily if he could.
It worries Rose and it bothers Jackie. Yet, it makes perfect sense to the Doctor. Jackie and Rose will die. He’ll regenerate into someone whose him, but not him. Sooner or later, all Levi and Lily will have is each other. The Doctor thinks that sooner or later, Levi will take on the title of ’The Doctor’ and Lily will become his loyal companion through space and time.
That’s why they need to be close. That’s why they need to love one another more then they love anyone else. Because, when you’re alone in the universe, you need to have someone by you. It won’t be incest; it will be companionship, survival.
It’s why the Doctor watches them so carefully. Watches to be sure that Levi can take care of Lily. Watches to be sure that Lily understands Levi. If the Doctor is lonely being the last of the Time Lords, he can only imagine the loneliness and pain that comes with being half human and half Time Lord.
His children will never fit in, never truly have a home. It’s why they need one another so badly. It’s why the Doctor doesn’t mind when Levi tells him that he’ll protect and care for Lily forever.
VIII. Death
Jackie Tyler dies in her sleep when Levi is sixteen. The Doctor explains that Jackie was ill and that there was nothing to be done. She went quietly and that’s what is important. Rose cries for days. The Doctor becomes very quiet and moody. Levi and Lily don’t fully understand the events surrounding their Gran’s death.
They aren’t stupid, they understand that everything has its time and that everything must die. It is just that they’re naïve and don’t understand why their Gran doesn’t regenerate. The Doctor reminds them that humans can’t do that. They don’t understand either why don’t they go back in time and save her, Rose tells them that would only cause trouble.
It’s Levi and Lily’s first true lesson in death, but it won’t be their last. Someday Rose will die. Someday their father will become another new Doctor. And someday they’ll get hurt or sick and they may or may not regenerate.
Everything lives, everything has its time, and everything dies.
IX. Family Business
Levi is seventeen when he first kisses a girl. He’s used his tongue to taste things, to learn. But, there’s something exciting and fun about using his tongue in the way that he uses it for kissing. The girl’s a hippie in San Francisco in the early 1960s, she’s all blond hair and long skirt. Levi knows he won’t remember her name next week, but it’s still fun to kiss her.
The girl’s lips are wet and she tastes like pot and honey. Levi thinks that if he had more time, if she could understand everything about him, he might love her. Except, she’d never be able to understand. So, Levi puts her in his memories as a beautiful girl he had a moment with. Levi smiles at her, it’s his father’s smile and it’s charming, before he kisses her one last time.
“You’re fantastic. Simply lovely,” he tells her softly. “Have a good life, love.”
Levi meets the Doctor in front of the TARDIS; the Doctor gives him a look. “You’ve been kissing the locals, Levi.”
Levi smirks. “Just the one. She was fantastic, Dad, all hands and wet lips. It really was brilliant.” He moves past his father and walks inside the TARDIS. “Are Mum and Lily about? I want to tell them all about it.”
The Doctor watches his son carefully, almost with a stony expression. “Rose’s taken your Lily to the shops.” He follows Levi deeper into the TARDIS. “You’re getting to be all grown up, aren’t you? Kissing girls, learning things, becoming a man.”
“Ah,” Levi holds a hand up, “but I’m not really a man, am I? I am half Time Lord.” He pauses for a moment, as if he’s considering something. “I think hundreds of years from now, people will call me ‘Doctor’. Stick to the family business, yeah?”
The Doctor watches Levi move around, watches as his son flops down on the seat near the controls. Levi is so young, so carefree. The boy has so much mercy; it makes the Doctor’s heart ache. One day, Levi won’t have the freedom to be the way he is.
The Doctor sighs softly. “Maybe.” He grins cheekily. “ ‘Course you’ll have to learn to use the sonic screwdriver properly and you’ll have to lay off the chips. Can’t have a fat Doctor, that’ll ruin the whole mystique.”
X. Regeneration
The Doctor regenerates into his eleventh incarnation when Levi is nineteen. The Doctor is shot by some kind of ray gun on a planet in the year 509,986. He falls to the ground, amid the sounds of Rose screaming his name and the guards barking orders at one another.
Rose rushes to the Doctor, just as he begins to glow that familiar color. Levi picks up the sonic screwdriver, and for the first time in his life he uses it properly.
Levi’s new father, the new new new Doctor, looks older then before. He’s a bit taller and a bit more filled out. The Doctor’s got ginger hair and shinning green eyes. He looks roughly fifty-seven in human years and he sounds like he’s from Wales. The Doctor picks out a new suit and a rather ugly cane.
Rose thinks the new new new Doctor is lovely, even if he is a bit snobby and even if he does tell rather unfunny jokes. Lily is wary of the Doctor now, because he’s her father but he isn’t her father. Levi just wishes that his father would go back to the way he used to be. Rose tells the children that they’ll get used to their new father, even if it does take a little time.
Lily, whose just turned eleven, isn’t so sure. She asks Rose: “If I give back my birthday presents, can Daddy turn back?”
Rose sadly kisses her daughter’s forehead and tells her that that isn’t the way it works. Levi wishes Rose was lying. For not the first time in his life, Levi wishes things were different.
Long ago, Levi had been so interested in regeneration. Now, he wishes it didn’t exist. It won’t be the last time Levi dislikes the way Time Lords work.
XI. Hearts
Time Lords have two hearts. Humans have one heart. When you’re half human and half Time Lord, it’s difficult to know if the two hearts will be a problem.
Lily is twelve when she begins having problems with her two hearts. She’s always been a strong girl, dancing through the TARDIS and jumping around on all the worlds they visit. But, suddenly she’s weak. Suddenly, she has trouble breathing. It’s the two hearts. They just don’t work for her the same way they do for the Doctor and Levi.
Lily is brought to the finest hospital ever built. She’s given a bed, as the Doctor and Rose are told what’s wrong with her. Lily’s hearts have infections that can’t be cured yet. She can’t survive without new hearts, so she’ll simply need new ones. What’s her species?
The Doctor wonders if Lily could survive with two human hearts. Rose wonders why the Doctor doesn’t go forward in time to get the cure for Lily. Levi wonders if Lily will die and leave him all alone.
Lily seems strangely upbeat when her family enters her room. She tells them that she’ll be all right, because she comes from strong stock. Levi laughs through tears and hugs her. The Doctor says he can give her his hearts; maybe he’ll regenerate after? Rose thinks the Doctor should just go get the cure. The Doctor sadly reveals that Lily’s infection has no cure in any time he knows of. It would waste time to go looking for it. New hearts are Lily’s best bet.
The next night, Lily whispers to Levi that she would like him to have all her books. And that Rose must take back Gran’s jewelry box. As for the Doctor, he can have all the notes she’s written about future machines to build. Levi tells her not to take like that, that she’ll live. He doesn’t believe it, but he thinks it is better to lie.
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Rose talk, or rather argue about what to do. Finally, they agree on trying the two human hearts. Maybe, just maybe, Lily can live on two human hearts?
Lily’s given two human hearts a day later. She stands, she walks, she jumps, and she dances within the next week. Still, the doctors of the hospital warn Rose and the Doctor that Lily will never be the way she was and that she must be careful. Her body wasn’t made for the weaker hearts she has now.
Levi just prays that Lily can regenerate if her new human hearts do give out.
XII. Sex
Levi is twenty when he has sex for the first time. The Doctor takes Levi to ‘the largest and tackiest whore house in the universe’ on Levi’s birthday. Rose is annoyed with the thought of Levi having sex for the first time at a whorehouse. Lily just thinks it is the funniest thing ever, she tells him to not get stage fright.
Levi is embarrassed as the Doctor tells the Madam that Levi would like a girl with dark hair and brilliant eyes. “She should be small, but not too small. Pretty and smart. Someone he can hold a conversation with between the intercourse.”
Levi blushes, even as the Madam brings out the woman. She looks slightly human, but both Levi and the Doctor know she isn’t human at all. The woman is all dark hair and skin, very pretty and nicely intelligent. Levi and the woman, Stella, go off to a room. The Doctor smiles brightly behind them.
If Levi thinks kissing is exciting and fun, actual sex is a hundred times better. Sex is all touching, all lips and hands and tongues. Levi’s senses nearly explode with all the feelings, sights, noises, and smells that come from real sex. It’s almost too much for him.
It’s as if he’s feeling everything in the universe through this girl. He images that it would be a million times better if he were actually sleeping with someone he loves. He images that it would be a billion times better if it were with someone who can feel the same things he feels.
Sadly, there’s only one other person in the universe who feels the same things he feels. Levi doubts his mum would be all right with it if he asked to sleep with his thirteen-year-old sister. Rose is a good mother in that way. She knows she mustn’t let Levi give in to his thoughts.
XIII. Mother’s Day
Rose Tyler dies when Levi is twenty-one. Levi is not with his mother when she dies, but according to his father, Rose jumped in front of him. The Doctor tells Levi and Lily that their mother died protecting him and that he’s so sorry he couldn’t protect Rose. He murmurs that she was so young, just forty-three.
The Doctor becomes hard on the outside, but inside he breaks. Lily tells Levi that she hears the Doctor sobbing at night. Lily asks Levi to never leave her; Levi lies and promises that he‘ll stay with Lily forever.
XIV. Two
A month, at least Levi thinks it is a month, after Rose dies the Doctor disappears from the TARDIS. Levi and Lily try to find their father, but it is as if he’s disappeared from time itself. In some odd way, they feel as if they are orphans. In every way, they are all the other has.
They have the TARDIS and a whole universe to discover, don’t they? Then, why do they feel so alone?“Levi?” Lily’s voice is quiet and so sad. It makes Levi’s heart break and he just wants to hold her. He wants to tell her that he’s sorry they were born. Instead, he just half smiles at her. “Levi, will you still want to travel? Save worlds, the universe, everyone?”
Levi thinks on that for a moment. “It’s a lonely life, Lily. It was better with Mum, and Dad, and Gran. It was better when there was a family. But, now we‘re alone.”
Lily looks down, seemingly nervous. “But, isn’t it better with two? We aren’t alone, we have one another. Forever, remember? You promised.”“Lily…” His voice is soft, barely above a whisper, and he trails off the moment he sees the tears in her eyes. “It isn’t fair, is it?” They don’t fit in anywhere, he thinks and they are all they have. “It’s better with two. Forever.” He holds his arms out, offering.
Lily runs to her older brother and falls against his stomach. She wraps her arms around his back, tightly hugging him. She’s fourteen, she’s a kid, and she should be playing and chatting up boys. She shouldn’t be where she is. She shouldn’t be parentless in a TARDIS.
“We’ll stay together. You won’t leave me on some planet, while you go off and have adventures, will you?” Lily looks up at him, the hope clear in her eyes.
“Never. It’s you and me, my Lily. You and me, the last of the Time Lords…sort of.” He wraps her in a bear hug. Levi kisses the top of Lily’s head. “It’s time to take over the family business, yeah?”
XV. The Doctor
Levi and Lily compose themselves, before Levi asks Lily that all-important question: “Where would you like to go?”
She tells him that she’d like to see the start of New Earth, as New Earth was the place where they took their only family photo.
The TARDIS brings them to a satellite, that’s invite only. All the posh people and creatures from around the universe are present, all the posh ones and two half human, half Time Lords, from nowhere and everywhere.
Levi checks to be sure he has the sonic screwdriver and the psychic paper. He feels stiff in his pinstriped suit, but he thinks he’ll get used to it. Lily stands beside him in old jeans, short tee-shirt, and converse sneakers.
They causally enter the observation deck, and are pulled aside by the Steward. “This is invitation, only,” the little yellow man tells them in his best snob voice. “I’ll need to see an invite, please.”
For a moment, Levi hesitates. He can’t do this, and a small part of him knows it. He is about to open his mouth, when he feels Lily slide her hand into his. With a small smile of encouragement from Lily, Levi is ready.
He flashes the psychic paper at the Steward. “I’m the Doctor. This is Lily Tyler. She’s my plus one. That all right?”
The Steward looks annoyed, but he nods and lets them enter the observation deck.
Lily gives Levi another, even brighter smile. “That was fantastic! You’re fantastic!” She leans into his shoulder, staring out the windows as New Earth is made.
Levi places the psychic paper back into his jacket pocket. He glances around at all the other guests, and thinks that they all know he’s the Doctor. Levi and Lily have taken over the family business and they couldn’t be happier.
As Levi watches New New York being formed, he thinks back to the lessons he’s been taught: No one will ever understand him like Lily, and even if that’s not quite right, it’s still the way it should be. It’s always better with two. And finally, everything lives, everything has its time, and everything dies.
There’s a crash, a scream, and the lights go out. Levi hears someone cry out: “Someone’s killed the Grand Duke!”
Lily sighs softly, moving away from Levi, she asks: “Shall we solve the mystery and save everyone?”
“Of course!” Levi answers with a nod.
The two go to where the crowd has gathered, and Levi clears his throat. “Excuse me, I’m the Doctor. I think you could use my help.” He bends down to take a closer look at the body, while Lily makes mental notes about everybody on the deck.
It’s Levi’s time to be the Doctor and it’s Lily’s time to be the loyal companion. Levi thinks he likes it that way. And who knows, maybe someday they’ll re-meet their father. Maybe he’ll be the same, maybe he won’t. All Levi knows is that he hopes he makes the old man proud, he hopes he’s a boon to the family business.