Chapter Text
Entering the blue doors, Doctor frowned, his fingers automatically reaching for his sonic. He had made sure to turn off the brakes before landing to avoid disturbing the occupants, but the noise coming from the room in the right corner of the small cottage indicated otherwise.
He waited with bated breath. The noise was loud enough to wake the heaviest of sleepers up. He almost expected a gun to be shoved into his face any second.
His worries began nagging at the back of his head when nothing happened for a few moments, only the persistent loud sound echoing through the house. What if…?
He shook his head and began making his way towards the source of noise, rolling his eyes at the overflowing bookshelves lining the wall. A glance inside the room on his other side confirmed his hunch. The only other occupant of the cottage was sound asleep, or at least doing a good job of trying to sleep through the ding.
Reaching the small room, he paused at the door. Howsoever briefly, a doubt niggled at the back of his mind. He probably wasn’t the right person, probably not the one needed or wanted. Pushing aside the doubts, he nudged the door open. The corner of his lips curled in a smirk when the noise stopped the moment he stepped through the doors.
"Hm. No dirty diaper, and apparently, not hungry. Just bored. I hope you realise this trick is not going to work every time." Closing the door behind him, he waggled his finger at the boy in the corner of the room while waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness.
"Don’t smirk like that, young man. And—for heaven’s sake, pull that finger out of your mouth, Aeton!" He frowned and picked the bouncing toddler up, "We need to convince your mother to let you have a bed one of these days. May be you won’t be so bored then."
His eyes narrowed as the little boy gurgled, “On the second thought, probably not. A month was more than enough to live with otters; I don’t fancy a lifetime.”
The toddler chortled, tiny fingers reaching for the most prominent feature on the older man’s face.
"Yes", settling in the rocking chair next to the crib, he held the baby a little away from him, "they are a bit more noticeable this time around, aren’t they?"
Aeton gurgled, bouncing on his toes on the old man’s thighs, and clapped his hands against the Time Lord’s cheeks. Doctor sighed. “Yes, I know. Things are a bit grey this time”, his eyes narrowed at the tiny sound the toddler made at the back of his throat, “You are just a year old babbling pink bundle! Be a cute little monster and go to sleep. Leave the sass to your ol’ mum and dad!”
The toddler made a squealing sound, a mischievous smile blooming in the chubby cheeks. “Shh!!” placing a finger to his lips, Doctor playfully scowled at the little boy, “Sleep.”
Studying him with all the care a 12 and a half month old can manage, Aeton furrowed his eyebrows, his face perfectly mirroring the scowl on the old man’s face.
"Already teaching our son to scowl, Sweetie?"
Doctor’s eyes widened at the familiar voice. Abruptly standing up, he pulled Aeton close to him and covered the boy’s face with his large hand, “You were asleep. I was just trying to put him to sleep.”
"I wasn’t sleeping, really. You still don’t know how to turn off those brakes." River arched an eyebrow, one hand coming to rest on her cocked hip, "Tell me you were not about to use your dad skills on him."
Without answering his wife, Doctor glanced at the little boy in his arms, “Do you see what you did, Aeton Song?”
As if in response, the toddler leaned forward with a very unrepentant smile on his face, strangely reminiscent of his father's last regeneration, before blowing a raspberry on his cheek.