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Their toddler daughter Anna sat happily on the floor, playing with a new stuffed bunny, her Easter basket haul spread around her. Among them was a brightly colored alien egg, resembling a tie-dyed T-shirt. He only took his eyes off of her for a second to address Rose, “Well, I think the Easter basket’s a hit!” Behind him, down on the floor, a cracking sound, followed by a screech, echoed throughout the room.
“Doctor!” Rose called, rather loudly, given their close proximity. Her eyes were wide and she hesitated only a second before she dashed to their little girl’s side.
“Pink! Fuzzy!” Anna giggled as she tried to wiggle out of her mother’s arms.
“I thought you said once the egg turned multicolored, it wasn’t able to hatch! Now we have a… what is it?!”
He gazed at the little trembling creature in wonder. It was a tiny ball of fluff with huge emerald eyes and a quivering lower lip, sat in the middle of candy wrappers and plastic eggs. It had indeed hatched from a supposedly dead egg found on an alien planet. The egg had caught the Doctor’s eye during a recent trip. He had never intended it to be any more than a decoration on a shelf. This development was completely unexpected, but then again, nothing about their life could be called predictable. “It’s a Flurgeon. I’m suspectin’ exposure to the time vortex caused it to hatch.”
“Speed up the scientific explanation, Doctor, it’s about to eat her…”
“My blankey!” Anna wailed.
The Doctor knelt and rescued the blanket in the nick of time. When he stood up he had the cloth in one hand and the wriggly Flurgeon in the other. “S’okay. It won’t hurt anybody. Or eat anybody’s blankey, Anna.” He dropped the blanket so he could hold the tiny ball of fluff more securely. “Ergh… Gonna need to wash that. Struggling to keep hold of the energetic fuzz ball, he added, “It’s just about as wiggly as you are.” It tried to lurch towards Anna. Rose took a few protective steps back.
“Okay. So, now apparently we have a Flurgeon. Do we go back to...whatever planet we got it on...”
“Flurgania, Rose,” the Doctor said, rolling his eyes.
Rose narrowed hers. “Don’t give me the stupid ape look. Not when you’re the one who said it wouldn’t hatch.”
He opened his mouth to refute her argument, realized he couldn’t, and closed his mouth with a click. “Erm… well, we really can’t take it back. The mother won’t accept it.” The Flurgeon interrupted with a high pitched squeal, and renewed its attempts to get closer to Anna. “And I think this one’s imprinted on our girl.” He approached Rose slowly. “Just… hold on. These are gentle creatures, wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Not worried about flies, Doctor.”
“Think about it, Rose. This little creature, defyin’ the odds, comin’ out of that shell… It really wasn’t supposed to exist, yet somehow it does. Kinda like our Anna. Amazin’.” He tore his gaze away from the animal to look at Rose. Her expression, while still concerned, had softened a bit. “It won’t hurt her. It thinks she’s its’ mother,” the Doctor chuckled. Using Anna’s favorite story time voice, the Doctor held up the Flurgeon and squeaked, “Are you my mummy?”
He was rewarded with a giggle from his little girl. Glancing at Rose, he saw she’d pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh. The little girl reached out to the quivering ball of pink fluff. Its’ gigantic green eyes peered at Anna.
“Are you sure that thing’s safe?” Rose demanded. “And its real mum won’t accept it back?”
“I might have been wrong about the egg thing. But I know these are gentle creatures, and it won’t hurt us. It wants to eat fabric, anyway,” the Doctor assured her. He stroked the Flurgeon’s fur, and it made what he assumed was a happy sound. “And nope, the mum won’t take it back. As far as she knew, this egg wouldn’t hatch. Don’t think we could find her, anyway. We could give it to a farm or somethin’ in Flurgania, I suppose. But they’re usually not treated well in captivity…”
“Oh,” Rose murmured, casting a worried eye towards the furball.
“Jingle bells!” Anna interjected excitedly when she heard the Flurgeon’s reaction to being petted. She hesitantly touched a finger to its pink fuzz and the Flurgeon emitted a joyful jingle. It nuzzled Anna’s hand lovingly. “Hi, baby! S’ a girl baby. Her name’s...Pink Jingle Bell.” Anna grinned widely at her parents, happy with her own cleverness. Smirking, Rose gave a resigned sigh.
The Doctor proclaimed, “She is its mummy.”
“Blimey,” Rose chuckled. She hesitantly stepped closer. “I’m nana to a Flurgeon.” The Doctor snorted laughter. “Hi, Granddad.”
“That makes Jackie a great-nana.”
Rose burst out laughing. “We’re not tellin’ her that. Whoa, hey there, you can’t eat my hoodie…” As the Doctor diverted the Flurgeon away from Rose’s sleeve, she sighed. “What do we feed it? We can’t let it loose in Anna’s room. It’ll have all of her clothes eaten by the end of the week!”
Watching their daughter pet the little alien animal, he thought for a moment, then said, “Been meanin’ to do some spring cleanin’ in the wardrobe, me.”
“You’re gonna set it loose in there? I better move some stuff out…”
“Nope, m’gonna put it in the TARDIS garden. Anna spends most of her time there anyway. Besides, we’ll need the extra room for it.”
“Wait a second, how big is this thing gonna get?”
He gave her what he hoped was his most winning smile. “Good thing the TARDIS garden is bigger on the inside, huh?”