Chapter Text
Mia woke up in a pool of her own sweat, her head pounding and her mind racing with immediate panic. Gasping, then coughing, she rolled over and tried to catch her breath. Feeling softness beneath her, she deduced that she was in a bed; it was pitch black in the room. The muscles in her arms and back screamed out at her as she moved.
Finally slowing her breaths, she reached out a hand next to her in an attempt to gain some leverage and sit up. She stifled a yelp when she felt her fingers come into contact with something warm.
Someone was lying next to her.
She clambered out of bed, stumbling in the dark for a moment until the lights came on by themselves.
At once, her mind caught up to her. Sighing in relief, Mia took in the room around her. It was her room on the Tardis. Her mum’s room. Her mum, who was… lying in the bed, completely and utterly passed out, her chest gently rising and falling. The duvet was gently draped over her.
Feeling nauseous and slightly dizzy due to her headache, Mia found her way into the ensuite. Without much thought, she discarded her clothes – the same clothes she’d been wearing since going after the Doctor – and slipped into the shower.
Finding it hard to stay standing, she sank down to the floor, letting the water wash over her as she desperately wished her head would stop hurting. For a moment, she thought she was going to throw up, and braced herself for it.
She had so many questions. Who were those Time Lords? What was the Master intending to do with her and her mum? What was the power that he kept referencing, and what the hell had happened to her mum? Mia had watched Rose die. She had watched as her mother died, then burst into that golden flame and reemerged untouched…
Who was she ? Who were they?
Groaning, Mia shook her head to herself, grabbing some nearby soap and pitifully trying to wash some of the grime from her body. The smell of jasmine hit her nostrils as she gently scrubbed her skin, unable to stand still. She felt like she’d been hit by a bus. The nausea had thankfully waned.
The more she thought about it, the less she wanted to know the answers to those questions.
She found herself missing her life before… this, when it was just her and Mum. When she thought she was normal, and knew nothing of aliens or Tardises or –
Like a jolt of pain to the chest, Mia remembered that she was alien. As much as she might miss her old life, she’d never known the truth back then.
She was alien . Half Time Lord, half… human? Demi-human? Goddess?
Unwilling, or maybe unable to think about it any longer, Mia finished her shower and slowly dressed in some pajamas that the Tardis had provided for her. Throwing on a plush pink dressing gown over it, she brushed out her hair in the mirror, swaying gently.
At some point, she noticed a small bowl next to her with a cup of water. The bowl had two blue pills in it. Mia bit her lip, gingerly picking them up and turning them over in her hand.
Reassurance hit her like a wave, so forceful that she doubled over the sink.
“Argh, blimey ,” she said through gritted teeth, her voice hoarse, “could you have been a bit gentler?”
Another emotion hit her, but this time it was soft and indiscernible. If she had to guess, it was the Tardis’s way of saying “Sorry.”
Mia threw the pills in her mouth and downed the glass of water, hoping that it would help with her headache. A small voice in the back of her head told her that she probably shouldn’t take random drugs that a sentient spaceship was providing for her – but she ignored it.
Slipping on some fluffy sandals, she stepped out of the bathroom. Rose laid there in the exact same position as before, blissfully undisturbed. Mia’s phone was laying on the side table near where she had been sleeping, plugged into the outlet. She frowned, having no memory of plugging it in. Or getting into bed, for that matter. Actually, the last thing she remembered was using every bit of force she had in her to ram that wooden piece into the Master’s machine, over and over and over until… blackness.
Well, that could explain the soreness in her arms and back.
Mia dropped a light kiss to her mother’s hairline before tucking her in, then grabbed her phone and ducked out of the room, pulling the dressing gown around her against the cool air in the ship.
Lingering in the hall, she bit her lip. What was she supposed to do now? Find the Doctor?
Anxiety pricked at her nervous system. She had to talk to him at some point, but found herself dreading it. She had directly gone against his wishes when she had followed him and Mickey; he would definitely be angry with her for that. She had allowed his sonic to be destroyed by the Master.
And then there was the matter of him being her father. Would he be disappointed by that? He had certainly seemed to get along with her before, but this new information could… change things. He might not want to be her father. He might tell her she was an accident. He might be angry with her mum.
Realistically, she knew deep down he wouldn’t be cruel. Of course he wouldn’t. But even still, Mia had never had a father before. She’d only ever had her Grandad and Uncle Mickey, who had always tried their best to fill in, she supposed. Still, Pete had never acted particularly parental towards her – he’d always left that to her mother, and in cases where her mother wasn’t around, Nan. Uncle Mickey had done a few things with her to be nice (likely because Rose asked him to), like zoo days when she was small and a school shopping trip once or twice. But he’d never overstepped the unspoken ‘uncle’ boundary, which Mia was always glad for. He wasn’t her dad, and neither was Pete. The Doctor was, as she now knew.
She felt suddenly terrified by the prospect of facing him. What was she supposed to say? How was she supposed to act ?
Did he even know?
“Mi?”
She almost jumped out of her skin at her nickname being spoken from across the hall. Whipping around, she sighed. “Grandad. Hiya.”
Pete smiled at her, stepping forward to wrap her in a hug. “You’re up. The Doctor said you’d probably sleep for longer.”
“How long was I out?”
Pulling away, he answered, “A good ten hours. We’ve all been worried.”
“Where’s…” My dad. Where’s my dad? She cleared her throat. “Where’s the Doctor?”
Her Grandad’s eyes shone a bit. “He’s in the library with Nan, catching up. Might want to give them a minute. You know how sentimental she gets. Are you okay, Mi? You look worn.”
Sniffing, Mia shrugged. “I…” Her shoulders slumped. “I dunno. I wanted to talk to him. I have to…”
“You know, don’t you?” Pete asked her in a whisper. She nodded, feeling a lump forming in her throat. “Oh, Mia. I don’t think I can say much to make this better for you. It’s not a good situation, I know. We always wanted to tell you, we just… never did. Always thought it was easier to keep you oblivious. I mean, we never thought we’d see him again.”
Mia didn’t have a response for that. Dejectedly, she nodded.
“And, you know…” Her Grandad paused. Mia saw his eyes glistening, and he continued thickly, “Your mum was so, so heartbroken. We did what was easiest for her. We had to.”
“I know, Grandad,” Mia breathed out, offering him a weak smile. Drawing him in for another hug, she said, “I love you.”
“I love you more,” he responded through a few tears. “I have to get to sleep, though. I’ll see you soon, sweetheart. Go chat with your dad. He wants to talk to you, too.”
*
Mia found him and her Nan in the library, as Pete had directed. Mickey was also there, his legs swung up onto the table and his head angled back against the chair. The Doctor and Jackie sat next to each other on the sofa; Jackie was crying, her shoulders shaking gently, and the Doctor’s arm was around her.
Mickey saw her first, perking up and offering her a warm smile. “Mornin’, Mi.”
Mia shuffled in, plopping down on the other armchair. “Yeah. Morning.”
Jackie quickly wiped her eyes, sniffling. “Oh, sweetheart. Are you feeling okay?”
“‘M fine,” Mia answered, her eyes trained on the floor. She pulled her legs up towards her, resting the soles of her feet on the chair. “Had a headache, but it’s going away. The Tardis gave me some pills.”
Her nan sent an alarmed look to the Time Lord next to her, who nodded. “It’s fine. She wouldn’t have given Mia anything harmful.” He looked incredibly tired – there were lines forming under his eyes, and it seemed as if he hadn’t changed his clothes, just discarded his shredded jacket and tie. The oxford beneath was wrinkled. There still were some cuts and bruises on his face, the worst of which were covered by a bandage on the side of his forehead.
“You shouldn’t have left the ship,” Jackie said in a low voice, shaking her head as fresh tears spilled out. “You could have died, Mia –”
The Doctor cut her off, withdrawing his arm from her shoulders and patting her hand. “Come on, Jackie. Let’s leave it for now.”
She sent him another affronted glance. “So you’re okay with her swanning off into trouble, are you?”
He passed a hand over his face, rubbing his eyes. “Blimey, of course not . But it’s done now. There’s no sense in charging on her the second she walks in, is there?”
Jackie snorted. “Right, okay. You let me know the next time she gets into trouble, and the time after that, how that works out for you, Doctor.”
“He’s right,” Mickey said, shrugging. “She’s gonna get an earful from Rose anyway.”
Mia piped up, “Is Mum okay?”
“She’s okay,” the Doctor murmured, glancing somewhere off to the side of them, an anxious look on his face. He was tugging on his ear. After a moment, he said a bit louder, “Would you two mind if I talked to Mia for a tic? Alone.”
Jackie sighed, moving to stand. “I need a kip anyway. Wake me up if Rose does, will you?”
The Doctor hummed in agreement, and Mickey patted his shoulder as he and Jackie left the room, leaving Mia and her father.
A few seconds trickled by. The only noise in the room was the gentle, synthetic crackle of the fire (there was no real heat coming from it; Mia figured that it was some kind of projection), and a distant ticking from an old grandfather clock somewhere else in the library. Mia watched the Doctor warily. He stopped pulling his ear, bringing his hands together and wringing them, a sorrowful sigh escaping him.
“I don’t…” He shook his head, rubbing his eyes again, seemingly using any excuse not to look at her. “I don’t know what to say, really. I’m…”
“It’s fine,” Mia said gently, sending him a weak smile. “The Master told me you’re my father. I already know.”
If her dad was shocked, he didn’t show it. “I had a feeling you knew. I… suspected, too, but I wasn’t sure until I felt your heartbeat.”
“You suspected? How?”
He shrugged lightly. “Your mannerisms. Your birthdate. General timing was there, and… well, your mum may have mentioned something to me when we said goodbye. I thought she was bluffing, and she laughed it off. Until I met you, I never thought it was… possible. To have a child, I mean. I’m so sorry, Mia.”
“Don’t be,” Mia said, cursing herself for crying again . She furiously wiped at her cheeks. “It’s not your fault.”
The Doctor scoffed. Mia noticed his eyes gleaming with unleashed tears. “It is, though. All of it. I wasn’t there for anything, you… you grew up without me, and I didn’t even know you existed, and Rose… she had to do it all on her own.”
“She had Nan and Grandad,” Mia reminded him hoarsely.
“It’s not fair,” he whispered. “You should be angry with me. I abandoned you, Mia.”
“You said it yourself, you didn’t know about me,” Mia pressed. “And Mum, she – she let me believe you died. My whole life, I thought my father was dead.”
“She was trying to help,” he said weakly. “I was as good as dead. This shouldn’t have happened, Mia, any of this. The timelines… have been in flux. Your existence is somehow fixed, but the timelines have shifted. I don’t know how, but they have, like – like it wasn’t supposed to happen this way, but it has.”
Mia swallowed, sniffing. Something swooped deep in her chest. “Yeah, alright. So, you’re saying you… you don’t want –”
“No,” he said immediately, firmly shaking his head. “No, Mia, absolutely not. I didn’t mean to imply that I was disappointed or upset. Truthfully, I’m amazed. I never thought I’d be a father ag–”
He clamped his own mouth shut. Mia’s eyes widened a bit. “You… you’ve had other children?”
Hesitating, he nodded once. “Two. A son and a daughter. This was back on Gallifrey, and things were quite different there. They weren’t born like human children. They were… created, I guess you could say. Anyway, they didn’t get along with me very well. Being a ‘parent’ wasn’t big on my home planet.”
He stopped elaborating, and Mia nodded slowly, still hugging her legs.
“I guess what I’m trying to get at,” her dad finally went on, “is that I would like… no, I’d love it if you'd give me a chance to be your dad properly.”
Mia nodded again, relief flooding her nervous system, and she wiped some more tears away. “Yeah. I’d – I’d love that too.”
He beamed at her. They both stood up, and he stepped forward to engulf her in a crushing hug, kissing the top of her head. “Thank you,” he whispered, his voice breaking.
“Are you and Mum going to get back together?” Mia asked in a murmur, her face pressed firmly into his oxford.
His chest rumbled as he replied. “I don’t know, Mia. I haven’t spoken to her, she’s… in some kind of regeneration coma. She’ll wake up in the next few hours.”
“What happened to her? I saw her… she died and the Master did something to bring her back. She was in flames –”
“It wasn’t the Master,” the Doctor told her, gently stroking her back. “It was her. She did that, she… she brought herself back. And I’m beginning to suspect that wasn’t the first time she’s done it. When she looked into the Tardis and became the Bad Wolf, she should have died. Any regular human would have died, but she didn’t. She changed herself. And I think that’s part of the reason why we have you, Mia. It’s impossible for humans and Time Lords to conceive, but like I said, you were meant to happen.”
“They called me a Timeless Child.”
“Means nothing,” he assured her. “It’s just an old legend. You’re something new, a kind of… cross-species child that the Time Lords couldn’t bear to admit the existence of. So the Master pushed the title on you for some extra fear factor.”
They pulled apart and sat down together on the sofa. Mia began carefully asking some more questions, such as What exactly is a regenerative coma? and Who the hell were those Time Lords?
The Doctor answered each one, telling her about regeneration and the history behind the Master and Lord Rassilon, even if he had to through gritted teeth. Time trickled by as Mia listened intently to his explanations. She suddenly found herself wanting to learn everything to do with Time Lords and Gallifrey – even if they were gone, it was still a part of her. Half of her.
Her father hesitated when she asked, “What happened after I passed out?”
He was silent for a moment, avoiding her eyes, then he said simply, “Nothing. The Master fell into the void with the Time Lords, and they disappeared. Back to their timelock. Back to the war.”
Something about the pained look on his face told her that there was more to it – that he hadn’t simply gone . An uneasy feeling creeped its way up her spine. There were details he wasn’t telling her. Remembering something, Mia’s eyes lit up. “Where are we? Are we back in the other universe?”
He nodded. “Had to get through as soon as possible. Crack’s gone, dissolved. No going back now.”
“Well, good riddance, I suppose,” Mia murmured, feeling deflated. She tried to think of her old friends, of people she’d met and known; all of whom would wonder what happened to her. She bitterly thought of Dylan, wishing they’d left things on better terms. He was a nice boy, albeit a little clueless. Would he be upset over her sudden disappearance?
“I’m sorry,” her father said in a small voice, “I am, truly, really sorry. You’ve lost all your friends, the life you knew is… gone.”
Sensing how tired he was, and feeling weary herself, Mia grew quiet after she softly said, “It’s okay.” Her headache was thankfully gone, and she rested her head on her dad’s shoulder, sighing. This was her life now, she realised. Aliens and spaceships and travel. It was mad to think about, and a bit scary – but she had her mum and dad here, and so she knew she was safe. Something deep inside her told her that this was just the beginning of a long, wonderful life.