Doctor Oneshots

Bedtime Story (drabble)

"This is the story of a boy. A boy and his box, and the adventures he had, and the things he lost, but I'll wait to explain those.

This is also the story of a girl. A girl and a chance meeting,  and a choice made and ignored, but I won't break your little heart with that tonight.

Tonight I'm going to tell you a fairytale.

Once upon a time, a boy ran away. He was afraid of growing up, settling down, picking up the responsibilities of his home, getting bored. Well, he never had to. But there was a cost. The boy lost his home, and everyone there, and was cursed. He was cursed to roam the stars forever, in his little blue box, all alone.

Now far, far away, on a little blue and green planet, on a soggy little island, there was a girl. She was afraid of being stuck, standing still, being no one forever and ever. She worked somewhere unimportant, doing something unimportant, and feeling so very unimportant.

One day, a villain came to her little island. And it took over the shop window dummies where she worked. She was cornered, alone, and frightened in a basement. Then someone took her hand, and whispered, "Run."

The boy took her away from her unimportant little life, off into the stars. Slowly, he grew to trust her, and she trusted him. And they grew to be friends, and then more than friends. And she slowly learned all about his curse, and decided to end it by staying with him, always.

Once, he changed to save her life. She didn't know if he was still the same boy she'd fallen in love with, and she almost left. She almost gave up. But he proved himself to her again, by fighting off another villain from her soggy little island, and by showing her he still loved her. So they kept traveling together.

Once, she thought she'd lost him forever. A horrible white wall sprang up and pulled them apart. She thought she'd never see him again, but she never gave up. She searched for him for years and years, and finally found him again.

But then there were two of him, one a clone, the other the original boy. And the original boy left her on the other side of the wall with the clone. And he did it to keep her safe. She was mad at first, oh, she was very mad with him. She wouldn't accept that his clone was him. But then he told her things.

He told her he was free of the curse of living forever. He told her he could spend the rest of his life by her side.

He told her he loved her.

And she accepted him. It was slow, at first. But he grew his magic box again, and they traveled again, and he asked her to marry him. And she finally accepted him. She said yes.

And now they have a beautiful little girl. And her name is Donna Jackie Tyler. And she's finally fallen asleep."

Rose smiled at the little bundle in her arms, and gently set her in the little blue cradle. Her planet mobile swung above her, shining galaxies twirling beautifully around scaled-down planets. One of them was small and blue and green. Another was big and gold and red.

She ran a finger over the little girl's cheek, smiling when she turned her head toward it. "Goodnight, Donna," she whispered, and stepped back, out of the room, turning off the lights and leaving the little stars' glow in their place. She shut the door, and turned to her husband, who was leaning against the hallway wall, brown spikey hair and striped pajamas ruffled. She smiled at him, and he smiled back.

"She asleep?" "Yeah," Rose sighed, folding herself into his arms. He stroked a hand down her back and leaned his chin sleepily against her head. "You done fiddling with the controls?" "I'll just let the TARDIS decide where we go tomorrow." "How about no where? A family day in?" He smiled down at her. "Well, you do have a story to finish. I think I could help with that." She leaned up and kissed him softly, then pulled back. "C'mon, Doctor. It's time for bed." She led him down the hall.

Inside the starlit room, the little girl clutched happily to a small device, one that would seem out of place in any other crib. But the little sonic screwdriver was perfectly right for the little Doctor's Daughter.