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When their new TARDIS was ready to fly, three pairs of Converses crossed the threshold. One pair, the tiny mint green pair, crossed in the arms of her father since she was not quite one and not quite steady on her feet yet. And so from that early age, Susannah Jacqueline Rose Noble saw the stars.
Susannah had a lot of catching up to do. She was, after all, named after some of the most amazing women who ever travelled the stars with the Doctor. He couldn't name her after all the companions. (Even for a Gallifreyan, it would have been a very long name.) Susannah's name had come to him one day five months into her mother's pregnancy. He had decided to stick with people Rose had actually met- but with one exception. Since she was the first, Susan would have the honor of being a part of their first child's name. Bits of Donna's, Martha's and Sarah Jane's names worked their way around in his mind until he came up with Susannah. When he dashed into their small cottage to tell Rose his idea, she was delighted. Then she asked, "So what will her middle name be?" And the Doctor deflated a bit.
After a while they decided on naming her after Jackie ("And Jack, too, he'd have loved that!" Rose had giggled. The Doctor did not giggle.) The Doctor had insisted on Rose as well because "without my Rose, we would never have gotten to Susannah. And I'm not just talking about you conceiving her with me. Because if I hadn't met you, I shudder to think how I or either of these universes would have ended up." Pregnant and emotional, Rose burst into tears and agreed to the middle names. Four months later, both cried has they held their daughter for the first time and agreed that they couldn't think of any other name that would have suited her as well.
Susannah was born with her father's hair and eyes and mother's nose and smile. It took the Doctor's breath away to see Rose's smile on his daughter's face and he shuddered to think about the effect it would have on boys across the universe. Because he didn't have to worry about just earth boys with a space and time traveling daughter. He suddenly felt a kinship with Jackie that he hadn't felt before. Rose said he needed to stop worrying about it while Susannah was still spitting up her lunch on his shoulder when he burped her.
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Susannah loved the TARDIS right away and the TARDIS loved her. It was as if their new time ship had decided Susannah was her little sister. (Or possibly twin- they both had a penchant for getting into toddler style trouble. They both definitely threw toddler style tantrums occasionally.) Most of the time, however, they were both good girls.
Susannah slept through the night for the first time on the first night on the TARDIS. She hadn't yet gotten through a night without being awakened so when Rose jolted awake early that morning, panicking with the feeling of dread, she vaulted over her still sleeping husband and and dashed through the door into Susannah's adjoining nursery only to see her daughter perfectly content, stuffed Pooh Bear under her arm, ruffled pajama bottom stuck up in the air, mouth wide open and drooling on the crib sheet. Her cheeks were pink and her hair rivaled her's father's. It took a minute for Rose's heart to stop racing. By then, the Doctor had stumbled in behind her. "Look at 'er," Rose whispered. "Never ever has she slept this well!"
"It's the hum, Rose. Our TARDIS has bonded with Susannah too. Now let's let her sleep...." He guided Rose back over the threshold to their room, and since they were wide awake anyway they decided to take advantage of the "grown up time" they suddenly had. Both of Susannah's parents sent their TARDIS a telepathic wave of thanks following that.
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Crossing the threshold of the TARDIS seemed to kick off some major milestones for Susannah. She had been pulling up on furniture in their cottage but suddenly she was doing much more and before they returned to earth for her first birthday she was toddling around unassisted. Jackie was both elated and heartbroken to see this, because she swore they would take Susannah away at six months and return with a sixteen year old. She hated to miss anything. So the Doctor performed some jiggery- pokery on Jackie's iPad and Face Time could happen anywhere, even on that universe's Raxicoricofallapatorius. Why they would want to, the Doctor didn't know, since Clom had a perfectly nice Disneyland in the twenty third century.....and Jackie told him to shut up and then thanked him for her technology upgrade.
Jackie also spoiled her granddaughter rotten with clothes and was the direct influence on her girl's love of tulle because she was always buying her tutus. Susannah's go to outfit was a My Little Pony T-shirt, shorts and no less than two tutus, pulled together by a slightly larger pair of mint green chucks- ("daddy shoes" as she called them)
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"Go" was her first real word. "Banana" was the second, and both delighted the Doctor to no end. Rose laughed and accused the Doctor of choosing their daughter's name so he could call her Susannah Banana.
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On this particular day when Susannah was fourteen months old, they were on New Earth (cat nun and Cassandra free in this universe) in a large field of apple grass. It was gorgeous sunny day with miles of blue sky, fragrant grass and plenty of room for newly capable running feet.
In the TARDIS galley, Susannah was unpacking the picnic basket as fast as Rose packed it. Rose was beginning to get frustrated with her little wild haired daughter. The Doctor popped in just in time to get a pleading look from his wife. "We might have a picnic and we might not," she said.
"We'll pick some flowers for Mummy," he aid, scooping up his tutu clad daughter. Together they headed out into the brilliant sunshine (after he popped her sun hat on her head).
Susannah immediately started wriggling. "Let's go!" she cried.
"Hey! Two word sentence there, and very appropriate. Definitely my child. Allons-y, Susannah!"
"See!" she attempted and then her new, slightly bigger mint green chucks were speeding across apple grass with her dad behind her. She stopped short at a small clump of blue flowers that would have put Scottish blue bells to shame with their vibrance. She plopped down on her nappy padded bottom and started grabbing fistfuls of the blue flowers. The Doctor realized that firstly, these were harmless, and secondly, he'd have to make sure he got to the flowers first from now on just to make sure they were safe. Space travel with a toddler would be quite challenging. But worth it, he thought has she proffered a chubby fist full of blue flowers at him. "Blue flowers!" He exclaimed. "Blue just like our TARDIS."
"Home," she agreed. The Doctor grinned widely and nodded.
"We've got the best home in the universe, right? It take us everywhere. All of time and space, Susannah Noble."
"Eat?" she asked.
"But not on an empty stomach," he amended. "We must have our priorities. Reminds me of your mother. I show her the wonders of the universe and she wants chips."
Rose stepped out of the TARDIS just then, picnic basket in tow. Susannah immediately hopped up, plopped back down hard again, then made another go of it. She ran full tilt to her mum, holding out the flowers. Rose put the picnic basket down to accept her gift.
"For me, Susie, thank you! I love them!" She couldn't resist pulling out her phone to snap a picture for her own mum, who was desperately missing her grandbaby. She then spread the picnic blanket out and the Doctor joined his girls.
After a hearty meal of sandwiches, crisps and pickles and a big fruit salad, Susannah's toddler energy finally waned and she dozed on the blanket in the shade of the TARDIS. The Doctor sprawled out on the ground by Susannah and Rose. Rose leaned against him and sighed.
"I'm knackered," she said. The Doctor reached out and put his hand on her just barely distended abdomen.
"Feeling okay otherwise?" He asked.
"Just really tired, not sick at all this time, thankfully. It's definitely different, though, chasin' a fourteen month old around on top of it all."
"Let me do the chasing, love. My chucks are just as effective chasing toddlers as they are for chasing aliens."
"Love you," she kissed him gently. "There are just days when I think we are crazy for havin' two twenty-two months apart. But most of the time I'm just thrilled we can do this at all. Guess I'm overwhelmed. And I worry about you, too, me and my pregnant brain can't stop thinkin'. She stroked his sideburns and he nuzzled into her hand.
"Why worry about me?"
"We're travelin' again and we haven't run into a bit of trouble. Aren't you missin' the jeopardy friendly life?"
His eyes widened. "Absolutely not. This is enough of an adventure for me! I love that we have our house on earth-" her eyebrows shot up- "I really do. And we have the stars. Better with three, now. It will be brilliant with four. Or however many. I love you, Rose Tyler. We'll manage all this." At that moment Susannah sat up sleepily and rubbed her eyes.
"Hi!" she said. She usually woke up in a much better mood than Rose ever did. Rose suspected it was the Time Lord in Susannah that gave her the ability to go from sound asleep to bright eyed in less than five seconds.
She grinned her sunniest smile at her parents, stood up and waggled her fingers at them. "Run!" she yelled. The Doctor hopped up right away, and grinned hugely at his wife. In that smile Rose saw all she needed to see. She stood up too, a little more slowly than her husband, and watched them run. Rose didn't know why she had ever been worried.