A/N: I've wanted to write something like this since the episode aired on Saturday. I'm fairly pleased with the result although not sure about the title. I suppose it's a big learning experience for Jenny because she's come out fully formed but her only knowledge is how to fight, but still. I do love the whole snapshots of life sort of thing though, you may have noticed this from my other fics, which you should all read by the way, if you haven't already. ;)
Learning.
by Flaignhan.
She still isn't tired of the running. It makes her hearts beat fast and adrenalin floods through her. She loves the panicky feeling that makes her feel sick and tingly both at the same time. She loves struggling for her breath. She loves thinking that somewhere, in this big old universe, he's out there running just like she is, hearts pumping rapidly.
He's not just somewhere in this big old universe. He's here. And she finds this out when she hurtles into him, not even realising who she's just collided with, despite the instantly recognisable long brown overcoat, the manic grin and the loud mouthed red head who is sprinting around the corner after him.
When he steps back from her, his hands clamped on each of her arms to steady her so she doesn't fall, he looks at her with a mixture of pain and shock. She looks back and her breath is taken away. Of all the places she'd expected to run into him, this wasn't it. She hadn't expected to end up running from huge security guards; she was only here to get some new t shirts, and yet here he was, looking at her as though something had just clicked into place in his life.
He sweeps her into a rib cracking hug and she doesn't want to let go. This is only the second time she's hugged her father and she hopes that by the third time they won't have somebody chasing them with guns. He puts her down and Donna is the next to pull her into a hug, but the interruption of gun shots breaks up the happy reunion.
Father grabs daughter's hand and there is lots more running.
She's always liked blue and green. She's always enjoyed going to planets where there are vast oceans and golden beaches. She enjoys going to Sol 3 a lot because there are lots of nice islands surrounded by sea where dozens upon dozens of different types of fish dart through the water. She likes the fruit there too. Especially the yellow fruit. Bananas, they said. Yes, she likes bananas.
When he introduces her to the Tardis she adores it. It is like an underwater cavern with the glowing hues of green and blue and the coral-like beams winding their way up to the ceiling. The only thing that she doesn't approve of is the grated flooring, but he explains that it's supposed to be practical, rather than aesthetically pleasing, and from that point of view she agrees.
Donna mentions something about tea and she sees his brown eyes light up. She wonders what it is but the more pressing question is how he fits the outside around the inside. He says he'll tell her later, that it's been a long day and equations can wait until after they've had some tea.
There are bananas in the kitchen, hanging on a funny little hook, as though they're growing from a small plastic tree. She grins and asks if she can have one and he replies with an 'oooh I s'pose'. She tells him about the islands on Sol 3 and he listens to her as she talks and talks, occasionally taking a bite of her banana. Donna is listening too and tells her how she wishes the Doctor would take her to the Caribbean.
Between the two of them they convince her that tea is definitely something she has to try and although she isn't sure about the brown liquid she takes a sip, so eager to please her father. She tries to disguise the grimace that comes with the taste and fails, so he takes her cup, adds a couple of spoonfuls of sugar and slides it across the table to her. She likes it much better this time, and the warmth spreads through her body making her feel calm. The two of them are watching her with baited breath, as though she were the most interesting creature that ever lived. When she gives them the thumbs up, Donna claps her hands whilst her father sits back in his chair, his lips curved upwards in a small smile.
She allows herself to be led off by Donna to find a bedroom, while he sits there, completely still apart from the gentle rise and fall of his chest, clearly deep in thought.
The first door Donna opens is the right one. The walls are aquamarine and there is a large fish tank stretching across one wall. She immediately walks over to it, bending down so she can peer through the glass at the brightly coloured fish. They swim back and forth, and in the time it takes them to swim one length, they've forgotten they've done it and so they swim back again.
There is a huge bed at least three times the size of the small bunk that she'd had on her little rocket. She flops onto it and inhales deeply, the smell of fresh sheets being completely new and completely wonderful. She doesn't sleep much, but she thinks she could definitely make a habit of it.
When Donna finally convinces her that she can lay in her bed later, she agrees to go to see the wardrobe. Like everything else on the Tardis, it takes her breath away. There are racks upon racks of clothing, ranging from the ridiculous to the most stylish and most beautiful garments she's ever seen. To her delight, there is a pile of t shirts in every imaginable colour on a shelf to her right. She picks one up and is somehow surprised yet unsurprised to find that is in her size. There are also trousers, dresses, jumpers, shoes, all of it in her size and none of it ridiculous.
She can see why Donna was anxious to bring her here.
She falls asleep at the kitchen table much later, after many cups of tea. They had fish and chips for dinner and at first she was horrified at the idea of eating the same sort of animal that she has in her bedroom, but Donna tells her that it's part of the food chain. Also it tastes bloody nice.
When she wakes up, she is in her bed, her nostrils filled with the marvellous scent of those fresh sheets. She can blearily make out her father through her sleepy eyes, sitting next to her bed, just watching her. She falls asleep again almost instantly, and half registers her duvet being rearranged so it covers her properly.
He is still sitting there when she wakes again, an hour or two later. This time she has had just enough sleep to stay awake for a few hours.
"Tell me about where you come from," she says sleepily. He looks at her for a few minutes and then sighs.
He tells her all about Gallifrey and it is no bedtime fairytale. He puts his fingers on her temples and she sees how it used to be, inside her head. He tells her about Daleks and he tells her about Timelords. He tells her about his family, his friends, his life before the war. He tells her about how the planet burnt, and how he was the one who made it so. She tries to tell him that he made the right choice, that everyone would have died anyway if the whole of creation was at stake. It seems to be of little comfort, and she realises he's probably told himself this hundreds of times. Then he tells her about Rose, the shop girl from Sol 3 with the big smile, how she disappeared right before his eyes. He tells her about meeting Donna, and their initial dislike, about Martha, who's gone back to her fiancé now, and about meeting Donna once more, Donna and her hat box.
He also tells her how proud of her he is, and how words cannot describe how lucky and relieved he feels to have her here, alive and well.
When she falls asleep one last time, just after he's left to get a couple of hours' rest, she dreams of fire and impossible choices.
When she wakes, there is a more energetic feel about the Tardis and she knows it is time to get up. She wonders if the dreams are what he meant when he spoke of a shared suffering.
One day they stop off on Sol 3, in a place called Cardiff. He explains about the rift, and how the Tardis soaks up the power. He says he's going to see an old friend, and she and Donna decide to tag along - the last old friend of his that she met was Martha, and she likes Martha a lot. She wonders who this old friend is.
While her father makes himself at home in the hub, the suited man on the desk upstairs having let them in, telling them that Jack would be back shortly, she and Donna sit down patiently on a chair, watching the pterodactyl soaring around above them.
After half an hour of waiting, a tall handsome man in a long blue coat strides in, sees the two of them, and smirks. He asks them what they're doing there and he kisses Donna's hand, and then her own.
"She's my daughter," he says in a hard voice, and the handsome man immediately springs away from her.
"Never knew you had it in you, doc!" he says cheerfully, "and I take it this lovely lady is the mother?" He gestures to Donna who is quick to tell him, with a few expletives thrown in that she most definitely is not.
She likes Donna, and Martha, and she likes Jack too. She wants to meet lots of her father's friends. He's friends with nice people.
It's nothing like the rocket. The rocket was pure science. This is more intuition, and it's not just destination she has to worry about, it's time as well. With the rocket you have to wait if you want to travel a great distance. With the Tardis you have to be careful that you don't hit the wrong universe because it's all so instant and accessible.
Something begins bleeping and out of the corner of her eye she sees Donna slowly move towards the rail and hold on. She doesn't know why, but something tells her that the wheel on the side of the console to her left needs spinning around about three times to make the bleeping stop. She moves towards it, puts her hand out so it's almost touching it and seeks an answer from her father. His face is straight but she can tell that a smile is about to form. She spins it around quickly and slaps her hand down on it to bring it quickly to a halt.
A broad grin forms on his face as she instinctively moves about the console twisting dials and pushing buttons. He asks her where she's taking them above the noise of the Tardis, but she just smiles.
Admittedly it is a shaky landing, but not bad considering it was her first full flight, as opposed to the theoretical lessons he's been giving her, but she can tell Donna doesn't mind when she opens the doors and steps out into warm sunshine. Her father doesn't need to chivvy her out the door, because she's already on her way, but his impatience means that he does it anyway. He heads straight to the banana plantation a mile or so away from the beach while she and Donna enjoy the sand and the Caribbean sea.
That evening, when they are all a little sunburnt but nevertheless satisfied with the day of relaxation, he tells her about the controls which at the start of her lessons she was told she should never touch.
Technically, it's Donna's birthday. She wants to go out to a bar. She wants to go out to a bar and get drunk. Apparently she doesn't like being reminded that she's getting older. The Doctor reluctantly agrees to take them to a bar on the rings of Saturn.
Her first taste of hyper vodka comes as a bit of a shock. Her second taste isn't so bad. The memory from her third taste onwards is a little hazy. She remembers her father telling a man to keep his grubby hands away from her, and she remembers Donna stumbling into a large marble column and knocking herself out.
She also vaguely remembers the laughter as they attempt to navigate their way through the Tardis, her father having finally relented and having a few drinks himself. He's singing at the top of his voice, but when she tells him she feels sick, the singing stops and he frog marches her to the bathroom.
Like a dutiful father he holds back her hair as she experiences her first ever bout of drink fuelled vomiting. When she's finished, he hands her a cup of water and she drinks it slowly. She allows herself to be pulled into a gentle hug and he rubs her back. She realises she's learnt a lesson, much more effectively than if he'd told her not to do it in the first place.
He helps her to her feet, takes her to her bedroom and waits outside while she changes into her fluffy pyjamas. When she's laying in her bed, still a little drunk and feeling quite sorry for herself, he comes inside and tucks her in, brushing her hair away from her forehead before dropping a soft kiss there.
In the morning there is tea waiting for her in a kitchen where the lights have been dimmed. Donna passes her a pack of aspirin but her father leaps over to the table and snatches it away from her. She learns that it is poisonous and makes a note never to touch the stuff.
Also on the list of stuff she should never touch is hyper vodka.
One day she meets a boy. He's good looking, he likes to run, and he makes her giggle. Her father doesn't even acknowledge him until it's time to leave. He probably feels he has to, after all, Jay has helped them a lot. His local knowledge got them out of more than a few tight spots.
"Thanks then Jay," he says, and for a moment she thinks he's about to show some sort of acceptance of the boy. "But you'll have to do a lot better than that if you want to impress my daughter." Without another word he steps into the Tardis, leaving her livid. She sees Donna attempting to hide a smile as she also steps into the Tardis.
In the end she says nothing, knowing that he definitely can't come with them, and there's no way in hell she's leaving the Tardis, so she steps inside, showing her anger by not saying a word to her father, and instead striding straight to her bedroom in what she later finds out is a most human manner.
She lays awake in bed that night wondering whether she will get sick of her father acting like this, but she realises the fact that her choice was so simple shows that Jay wasn't worth it anyway.
She knows she won't be angry in the morning, and when he checks in on her later she pretends she's asleep. His rudeness and his over protectiveness isn't to make her life difficult, it's because he treasures her.
The next time he pokes his head around the door, she tells him he's a good dad.
He must have felt he had to live up to this sentiment, because when she wakes the following morning, there is a hot cup of tea and two pieces of toast with sliced bananas on top within her reach.
The End.