Chapter Text
Lee Williams rounded around the corner of the practice room maze at Oberlin College. Her mind was twittering away with the fingerings for yet another clarinet concerto as she shifted the large stack of sheet music underneath her left arm. As she walked past each door she paused for a moment, standing on her toes while peering in through the windows. She could catch for a brief moment, each time her own feathered strawberry blonde hair and mustard colored sweater caught her off guard before she could see a student already occupying the room.
She continued walking around the twisted hallways, her heeled boots echoing softly against the linoleum floor until she finally found an open room past the organ corridor. She fumbled with the door, her clarinet case supported by only her pinky and ring finger as she twisted the door knob open. Lee walked into the room, flicking the light switch with an elbow as she placed her things down on the lid of the piano, still not noticing the very large and very blue box which stood in the room.
“Hello, I’m the Doctor.” Lee looked up not startled or surprised, tilting her head a bit and squinted at the man in front of her. He head was sticking out of the door of his box, his floppy hair still swaying. She bit her lip to avoid from smiling as her hearts suddenly seemed to beat excessively fast. “Most people would be a bit surprised by a police box in a conservatory practice room.” He added with a frown.
Lee opened her mouth a bit and thinking before she spoke her first words to him “Did you really think you could ever surprise me?” She smirked.
“I had to try.” He said stepping out of his box with a small hop. He walked over to the piano, his fingers tinkering on the keys before he withdrew them due to the dissonant sounds he made. He looked at them with disgust wondering how they could possibly betray him before he looked up at her with a toothy grin. His eyes shining new and old at the same time. She had seen his face so many times, heard the stories but she ever though that in the flesh the truly could look like a mad man in a box.
“Yeah you did” She replied darkly as she looked him over. He hardly looked out of place at a college, the tweed jacket and bow tie were all very professorial, the floppy hair was not exactly fashion in 1970’s America.
“You’re a long way from home.” He replied with curious tilt of his head.
She narrowed her eyes, “So are you.” She shot back defensively
“Ah yes but I come and go, like the women speaking of Michelangelo.” He replied with a turn “You Riley do not belong here.” He added tapping her gently on the forehead.
“Who says so?” She was getting cocky, but also shivering with anticipation. She had wandered and searched for so long, and now it really did seem as if she was watching an inexplicable magic show before her eyes. She knew how all the tricks were done and yet it was just so mesmerizing.
“I do.” He added with a smile, walking back to the opened doors of his blue box. “Are you coming?”
Lee hid a smile. Those words sent a shiver down her spine. In a moment her life had changed, in a moment she had gone from running and causing troubles on her own to running with the Doctor. And yet while so many of her wishes were coming true she still wanted to push every single one of his buttons, just to see if she could.
“Why?” She whispered teasingly, testing his patience.
“Because it’s Christmas somewhere out there and I need your help.” Lee giggled and ran into the TARDIS, shutting the doors behind her. Bigger on the inside, she thought to herself as she left the dimensions of earth. The interior exactly the same as the one she remembered from twenty four years ago. The brightly golden walls, the gleaming glass floor, the console which appeared to be pieced together with any and everything. The Doctor was already at the controls humming away at a tune.
“What piece is that?” Lee asked jumping up the set of stairs to watch him pull levers and buttons.
“You’re not even going to comment on the bigger on the inside bit, I love that bit.” The Doctor remarked as she stood with her hands resting on her hips.
“What piece is that melody from?” She demanded. He still hadn’t said anything to let her know that this was the right Doctor. The Doctor who knew who she was. The sinking feeling of disappointment was growing in her with each second that he did not address her as his own daughter.
“I don’t know.” The Doctor remarked with a sly smile which Lee did not see. “Do you recognize it?”
“It’s familiar. Maybe, I think I have forgotten it.” That was a lie; her first lie to the Doctor. Lee leaned forward and placed her hand on the console, withdrawing it quickly as sparks erupted from underneath her hand. “I don’t think your time machine likes me very much.” She added shaking her hand in pain.
“She is the TARDIS, and she loves you.” He said taking hold of a large lever. He smiled at her as if he was suddenly happy for the first time in a long time “Now Christmas.” And with a hearty yank of a lever the TARDIS began to wheeze as they took off to some new world.
~~~
Lee walked about the corridors like it was all a dream. After all these years, he had finally come for her. She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes, he had to know. One scan of her DNA and he could have figured out everything about her. But didn’t he want to know where she had grown up, who exactly she was, it was just a matter of time before he asked her any questions about her childhood, she was sure of it. The TARDIS was the same as the one she remembered, the one she had been in so many years ago. She felt as if she was suddenly in a great cathedral of knowledge, a place somewhere large enough to hold all the complexities of her brain. She ran her hands across the walls and found she could communicate telepathically with the ship. Their minds connecting into a vivid dance of colors and ideas communicating knowledge far beyond the spoken language. In five minutes she had discovered more about the TARDIS that she doubted he ever had in a thousand years.
She only had a few moments to walk about and look at things, but in that time she managed to find the library as well as an old storeroom of parts. She rummaged through the storeroom, grabbing the correct circuitry that she needed in order to upgrade her vortex manipulator for interstellar travel.
“Oh honestly,” The Doctor said popping his head in and looking at her with a frown. “There are worlds to see and hear you are tinkering with old circuit boards.”
Lee turned about and quickly hid her things behind her back, giving him a small smile, which seemed to cast a brief dark shadow over his face. “You said it was going to be Christmas, I wanted to get ready.”
He looked at her with a great smile as he put a heavy arm around her dragging her out of the storeroom and back towards the main console room. “You’ve been hopping around in history for a long time, why?” He asked her in a deep voice, as if he was imply thing she had done something wrong. As they reached the console room he removed his arm and walked towards the center controls of his beloved ship, stroking it affectionately as Lee jumped up and perched herself on the railings.
“I got bored.” She replied truthfully, her American accent hitting his ears sharply. “And I was clever enough to find a way to travel in a more exciting way.”
“Bit dangerous.” He said not looking at her but rather typing coordinates into the ship.
“What’s life without a bit of danger?” Lee added, and she continued to stare at the back of his head, as if this would cause him to make some veiled comment about one or two of his previous companions. Yet he remained silent. She wasn’t going to make the first move, but she felt that he wasn’t going to either, not unless they found themselves in some sort of catastrophe.
“Brilliant with a wild side, oh the trouble you could get into.” The Doctor said as he threw the levers and they landed with a jerk and screech. The Doctor tossed about a bit jostled, while Lee remained statuesque on her perch with a pencil thin smile. “Well then, Christmas, Riley.” He said as he made his way to the door, his finger on the handle as she slowly glided over to his side.
“I prefer to be called Lee.” Hearing him use her real name without addressing the situation seemed to make everything hurt more. She fear in the pit of her stomach grew deeper.
He did not respond, instead he opened the door to a brand new world. She wondered for a moment if she should make a cheeky comment about environment checks, or not going about so recklessly into the unknown. But he was over a thousand years old Lee knew any sort of those comments was useless on the Doctor. Instead she looked out at the new planet trying to hide her smugness. It was a beach world, with sand and blue waves and palm trees blowing in the wind. She expected it to look a little more impressive than a postcard from Florida. It was most definitely Christmas, as the lights wrapped around the palm trees, and the ornaments handing from them could tell her. But it certainly was no white Christmas.
“Looks like earth” Lee sighed, unimpressed as she stuck her head back inside the TARDIS.
“Earth.” The Doctor called out incuriously. Stepping outside of the ship, forcing her to follow “This happens to be Gamma Veranda, eight planet in the Zao System of the Corinthian Galaxy in the year 2351b, home of the Moo people. This is nothing like earth.”
Lee looked around, trying to hide a smile as she examined the world on further inspection. “Oh come on,” She began in a mocking tone “The palm trees, the perfectly cresting waves, the grass huts, it’s all a bit Malibu. But they do have a blue sun, I’ll give them that.”
She smiled and punched the Doctor in the arm before linking arms with him and walking down the beach together towards the seaside town. “I’m going to have to try very hard to impress you, aren’t I?” He said with a squint and a head shake.
“You bet Doc.” The pair smiled at each other for a moment. There were many things they were not saying to one another, many emotions that they were not expressing. So they walked down the sunny beach arm in arm, enjoying each other’s company for the first time in quite a while. In that moment they both silently decided that they would come to the moment of confronting their relationship only when they were both forced to.
Lee began humming the chorus to Christmas in California, a popular scything Christmas tune from her future back on earth, which dealt with the holiday season in such an unseasonably warm location. Soon the Doctor joined in, and within a few bars they were both singingly loudly as they approached the town: “Oh it’s Christmas in California and there’s not much to do. It’s a balmy sixty-five degrees the city’s all wrapped up inside. There’s no snow in sight, there’s no ice rink in the park, but we got all the surf and sand you could ever want.”
They walked into the city, arm and arm laughing, stopping in the middle of the street. The town was painted in cheery pastels yet each little shop front seemed dimmed and darkened. There was no indication of the upcoming holidays, Lee assumed it may be due to cultural differences, but she looked about and saw what in her mind appeared to be a town in mourning. Those walking by were humanoid, though they all bore diamond shaped marking on their foreheads, and all seemed to have rather Technicolor hair like some species of the week on Star Trek. But the green and blue hair was detracted by the somber clothes they all were again wearing.
“Funny way to celebrate Christmas.” Lee said as she spun about the city square.
“We’ll they’re not are they?” The Doctor replied and Lee turned to look at him with a funny expression. “I told you I needed your help to save Christmas.” He added.
Lee gave a sigh and looked about the bright and dark town with the people all passing them by. She had never tried before to save anything or anyone. She was more of a meddler, or an accidental influence. But that was not what the Doctor did; he was more a sweep in and save the day type of a person. He was looking at her anxiously waiting for her to agree to come and save a city with him, but Lee was no sure that was what she wanted. A hero was someone who children would look up to, Lee was just a little girl who ran away and explored out of spite.
“Why do you need my help?” Lee asked him and he gave a small shiver.
“Because they’re something’s I cannot do without assistance.” It was clear that he felt she should have no say in the matter that she was coming and that was all. Lee gave a small huff and considered her options. She did not know where she was, or how to get home in any sense; he had trapped her into staying. She gave him an indignant look, like a sullen child and they followed after him as he made his way to an orange cream building.
Seagulls were crying out in the distance as they stepped into the building. A far off call reminding them of life somewhere beyond the gloom of the town. Inside was a small collection of people all sitting in a large circle, men and women twenty in all. They looked up at the Doctor and Lee came in, and their faces broke into grim smiles.
“Hope I’m not too late.” The Doctor called out throwing his hands up in a gesture of welcoming. An elder man with deep plum hair coiffured in short locks look up at him and gave a small nod, he was clearly the elder of some sort. The Doctor sat down and Lee followed next to him, looking about the room at the robed people she realized she was still dressed in plaid bell bottoms from the 1970’s.
“I would like you all to meet, Lee…”
“Donavan.” She cut him off using a fake name without any hesitation as she tugged uncomfortably at the hem of her sweater.
“Lee Donavan, a friend of mine.” The Doctor paused, next to him Lee made a small sniffle of disproval at his choice of words. “I have asked her to come and help me. Lee these at the Moo people of the Suptal Village.
Lee’s eyes widened a bit at the absurdity of it all “Very nice to meet you, what can we do to help?”
The purple haired chief shifted upon his cushion and spoke with a surprisingly high and delicate voice. “My daughter Noel is coming upon her eighteenth day of born, a large celebration for our people. But two nights ago she was captured by a rival village, the Salmavian, I have called upon the Doctor to help bring her back.”
She suddenly felt very dizzy and hollow; she pursed her lips together fearing whatever words that slipped out of her mouth at the moment would not be very helpful. She rocked back and forth trying to rationalize the sudden rush of anger which had come over her. All her life she was sure the Doctor would fall out of the sky and whisk her away that was how the stories always went. But year after year, perilous moment after the next he never came. Three years ago, when she had ran away for good she was sure he would soon find her, but he never did. She ran away out of anger and hatred, and vainly in the hopes of running into him one day. Now she sat in a foreign planet that the Doctor had called her to, just so she could help him save someone else’s friend and daughter.
Lee stood up; she would just run away again. Maybe the Doctor really was just too much of a story and less of a man. She looked about the room and left wordlessly running out the door and down the street. She ran straight to the TARDIS pulling at the handle but the door wouldn’t budge. She pounded on the doors yelling at the machine to let her inside, but it did not open for her. Lee gave it a swift kick and upon feeling the pain radiating into her feet staggered down to the sandy beach. She looked down at her wrist, but she had left the vortex manipulator inside the ship.
Thoughts were racing through her head, making her want to scream. She had waited. She had done her part, been as good of a girl as she could, but what had been the point. After twenty four years the Doctor finally came back into her life, and he gave her not a single glance of significance. He’s my father, the man who created me, the reason I’m so peculiar in the first place, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to mention the fact. No he just drags me off to an alien planet to help save someone else’s child. But where was he when I need help.
Lee sat alongside the sandy beach until she could no longer cry. She looked out over the waves which were silently crashing into the shore. The sea had always been salty on earth but here the aroma that filled her senses was sweet like a flower. It reminded her with a sharp pain that she had no way of getting back to earth.
She didn't know what to expect from him, or how she should react to his avoidance of her for that matter. Surely he remembered her, maybe he had some grand reason for completely forgetting to mention to her just exactly who he was. Yet she didn’t know how to act either. If it had been some other version of him, a younger version those Doctors she could forgive for not running to hug her, for not being proud of her. But this man, what excuse could he possibly have? Lee reminded herself that she had a father and a mother, Amy and Rory who had raised her and loved her. Could the Doctor ever really be more than just the man who contributed part of her genetic makeup?
She was stirred by something moving alongside her, and she saw him standing by her side looking out at the same strange sea. His face was nearly expressionless, yet it was tinted with sadness.
"You're not the first you know." He remarked, his voice like a horn call in the distance.
If she had been younger and considerably less sensible, Lee would have inferred it to mean something very different. "I know." Lee whispered
His silence was so long she wondered if he had really heard what she had spoken, yet Lee was hesitant to repeat herself. "Riley I have lived a very long life. And I have lost… so many people I care about. I knew you would be safer with-“
"I don’t blame you for that." Lee said cutting him off turning her head to look up at him, her brow furrowed. "I just want to know… do you forget?"
Confusion flashed across his face for a small moment. "Never completely."
Lee closed her stinging eyes and turned back to the sweet sea. "It must be some strange side effect, because I've never forgotten a single day of my life. I remember each one with complete clarity. I know everything these is to know, and I know who you are."
The Doctor was silent as he took the great effort to sit down next to her, his body almost touching hers. He had hoped she would forget the early trauma of the first few weeks of her life. But he looked at her now and understood her anger. She remembered every single dark day. He had the mercy of forgetting the pain and the past while she remembered being ripped from Rivers arms.
"I understand that you wanted to protect me." Lee whispered, her fingers playing with the ring on her left thumb. "And I appreciate that, as well as the childhood. The question is how do you want to proceed?"
He turned to look at her, smiling at her level headiness. "You're free to travel with me, whenever you want, whenever you need me, I'll be there for you."
"Even if I want some semblance of a normal life; or if I choose to be nobody, or a criminal or a scientist?"
"I will always be there, from now on out."
They looked at each other, and their eyes said to say all the words they were afraid to say. There was no anger or remorse, no bitterness or argument to be had.
"I'm not going to start calling you Dad." Lee mocked, as she leaned her head against him as they looked out over the water.
"I know." He replied, knowing that she would come up with her own way to view him, just as all Pond women did.
"So what now?"
"Well there still is Christmas to save." They ran back into the TARDIS, the Doctor flipping away at the controls as Lee ran off to get changed. She returned a few moments later wearing jean shorts and a button down shirt.
“You know you don’t need to change in order to fit in.” The Doctor said as he looked at the monitor. They hadn’t gone anywhere yet but Lee knew he was researching the other village.
“Clearly” She scoffed as she stood next to him and leaned over his shoulder to look at the monitor. “I just wanted to get rid of the pants, okay.”
He chuckled as he typed on the type writer, “The town seems harmless enough.” He replied leaning away from the console so she could get a look herself.
“But…” Lee encouraged, there was always a but.
“But they kidnapped a young girl two days before Christmas; we don’t know what we’ll find.” He said warily.
“Well then.” Lee reached around the console and pulled down on the lever. The TARDIS took off with a lurch, and Lee laughed as she saw the wide eyed shock on the Doctors face. They landed abruptly and she hopped down the stairs to the door. His stunned expression made her smile even more. “One spark was all I ever needed.” Lee added wiggling her fingers at him. He rolled his eyes, caught between chiding her and asking her what else the TARDIS had already taught her. He looked in her glittering eyes and knew there was no doubt that she was his and River’s daughter. He just wished she didn’t have a gun hidden somewhere on her body.
They stepped out of the TARDIS and into second similar pastel colored town, yet this one looked as if it was covered in Christmas colored vomit. Pine garlands where over every window, the smell of cinnamon and oranges hung in the air like a fog. Brightly colored lights flashed and twinkled from every rooftop and palm tree. The people of the town were all dressed in red and green, with thin scarves around their necks.
“Looks like they got the memo.” Lee whispered as they walked towards the center of the town. She twirled a length of metallic garland around her neck and borrowed a Santa’s hat from a sand snowman, placing it on the Doctor. “Now we fit in.” The Doctor tugged the hat on his head making sure it was still there. He felt his heart surge as he looked at his daughter. They walked towards into the center of town, watching as the townspeople waved at them.
“They seem to be very cheery kidnappers.” Lee commented as the stood in the town square, the Doctor nodded absentmindedly as he was sonicing the town. He ran off wordlessly towards an alleyway. Lee stood in the square of a moment, expecting him to call after her. But when he did not she ran off down the streets of the town after him.
He was in her sight when she felt an arm grab around her she called out after the Doctor, but darkness soon fell all around her.
~~~
When Lee awoke her eyes felt fuzzy. Slowly the world seemed to come to her, dark curtains, hanging ropes, the smell of saw dust. She sat up suddenly as she became fully awake, she was in a theater. Lee stood up and looked around, there was people all about dressed for a Christmas pageant. She looked around wondering what possibly kind of planet this could me, and then she saw it in the corner. A purple haired girl dressed as an angel helping a few green haired children get on their costumes.
“Noel.” Lee called out as she pushed her way through the backstage crowds to get closer to the girl.
Noel looked up at her and smiled as if nothing was wrong at all. “Do you need a costume, I’m sure I can find one.” She didn’t seem to be harmed at all, she seemed happy. Noel had not been kidnapped from her village at all. Lee could see it in the way she moved, as if she was free for the first time in her life.
Lee took her by the arm and pulled her into a corner of the theater. “Noel, why did you run away from home?” She was trying to be a non-threatening as possible. “Don’t worry I’ll make sure you won’t get in any trouble. I ran away from home as well.”
Noel looked up at her scared, and Lee rested a hand on her comfortingly. “In two days, on my birthday, I was going to be married to a man who my father choose. They are so strict, I needed to get away.”
“They called off Christmas because of you Noel, did you know that?” She shook her head in refusal. “Did you ever tell your father that you didn’t want an arranged marriage?”
“No, but no of my other sisters had him choose their husbands.”
Lee paused, trying to put it all together in her brain. “Do like someone Noel?” She shy nodded. “And is he from this village and not your own?” Noel nodded again more strongly. Lee sighed and lifted the girls chin so they were looking at one another. “You’re going to do this Christmas pageant, and then we are going to talk to your father.”
“But I don’t- want to.” Noel confessed.
Lee shook her head. “He’s your family Noel, and no matter how much he hurts you intentionally or unintentionally, you need to try and communicate with him.” Lee wondered if what she was saying was half a lie. She had waited all her life for the Doctor to come into her life, and yet now she seemed to resent him. He was holding out from her, and it made her suspicious, maybe her life really was better without the Doctor. “No matter what.” She added in a whisper.
“All right.” Noel said with a hesitant smile. “Do you want to be in the pageant, I mean can you sing or dance?”
Lee laughed, “I can sing.” She replied. And so Noel dragged Lee off to get changed for the Christmas pageant, and neither of them noticed the tweed sleeve disappear into the wings.
The Doctor watched from the audience as a nervous Lee managed her way through the Christmas Pageant. But the words that he had overheard were ringing in his ears. He had stayed away from her, because he thought it was the best for her. He knew that whole civilizations would track her down and dissect her if they still knew she was alive. Lee needed to go down in history as human, and unassuming. Yet he knew that was a longshot. He smiled as Lee managed her way through unknown carols. He had checked and double checked when he brought her onboard the TARDIS hours earlier. He had seen Lee before, long before he ever knew River or Amy, he had known Lee. And that hurt him, more than she could ever understand. He knew who she would become.
If he had known, when she was born that his Riley would grow up to be, well who she was going to be, he would never have left her with Amy and Rory. He would have done everything in his power to protect her; he would never leave her out of his sight. She was free spirited like River, but he needed to find a way to make her stay with him.
When the pageant was over both Lee and Noel came to meet him in the audience. “Noel ran away from home, so she and I are going to have a talk with her father. So can I have the TARDIS keys?” She said placing her hand out. He almost made a joke about how it was a bit soon to be asking for the keys to the car, yet he changed his mind.
“You do realize that Noel’s village is only a mile and a half south.”
Lee laughed nervously. “I guess we’ll just walk then.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” The Doctor shouted after her.
“Nope.” Lee yelled back.
~~~
“Well?” The Doctor called out as Lee walked out of the Chief’s house smiling to herself.
“He agreed to let her marry the other guy in two days. Christmas has been saved.” Lee began as she walked towards The Doctor and the TARDIS in the square. “Did you really need my help?” She added with a whisper.
The Doctor laughed as he opened the doors of the TARDIS and they both stepped inside. “Well you gave Romeo and Juliet a happy ending, you did something.”
Lee looked him over, trying to work out what he was not saying, but it was no use. The Doctor lies, rule one. “I always wondered, did Romeo and Juliet always have an unhappy ending, or did you talk Shakespeare into that?”
“Don’t know.” The Doctor said flinging his jacket over the console. “Want to go see.”
Lee sighed and leaned against the railing. It stung a little bit, to be standing in the TARDIS, to hear the ship running through her head. This was where she truly belonged, but it did not feel like it. “You can just drop me off back in Ohio.” She mumbled.
The Doctor did not answer, he looked down at his ship and punched in some coordinated. He looked up at her with a devilish twinkle in his eyes. “That’s one.” He said, placing a hand on the takeoff lever.
“What do you mean?” Lee asked suspiciously.
“I owe you,” He paused “You’re twenty four, so one for every Christmas I’ve ever missed and this years as well. You and me 25 Christmases.” Lee laughed, but he was not joking. He flipped the lever and they both flung backwards as the TARDIS uneasily took off.
“Where are we going?” Lee yelled over the wheezing of the time machine.
The Doctor took her hand, “Christmas.”