The Redhead Outlander

Father's Day

It's when we've lost someone that we realize how important they really are. I lost my parents, my family, and my friends the day I had a car accident. Since that day, I haven't seen any of them, not even once. It was the curse of having changed universes. And because I was afraid of being disappointed, I never asked the Doctor to see if my parents existed in this universe.

Because I knew that even if they were alive here, they could never be my parents, not really. In this universe, maybe they never met, and never had me. It's this intense fear of rejection that's made me repress my feelings about this loss; deny myself mourning. That's why I didn't mention my parents, why I gave up my name without looking back.

To take my mind off it, I started reading again. I like to read, it's the only way I can escape to another world without ever leaving this one. I found myself re-reading Harry Potter for the umpteenth time. I was in the third volume, the Prisoner of Azkaban. I remember that it was this book and the film, as well as Doctor Who, which introduced me to my fascination in time travel and the science behind it. Well, I admit that the film and the series helped me more than the book. I'd devoured the book, and the whole saga, but I admit that the journey through time in the book made me neither hot nor cold.

So there I was, reading Harry Potter. I was in Remus' class, rediscovering the creature that took the form of our greatest fear. I have no idea what my biggest fear would be. I was a student at Hogwarts when Rose arrived, making me return to the TARDIS in her console room; sitting on the floor, legs crossed (which was a little painful), against a pillar of coral. Rose held a picture frame in her hands. The Doctor was sitting there playing with a ball that he had brought back from the previous adventure with Rose.

They had been on an alien market, in a galaxy very far from ours. They'd been far in the past, before the creation of our galaxy. It had been an adventure I did not participate in, just Rose and the Doctor. To make up for the adventure on the Satellite Five that we had done without her. From what I understood their adventure went wrong, of course. The market hid a black network that was selling slaves. Rose, being human, was an unknown breed to the local species, so she was captured. It was during the auction that the Doctor had found her and managed to dismantle the network. A story that ends well. The bullet the Doctor was playing with was just a trinket he'd gotten from one of the buyers during the auction. I suspect the Doctor of having some kleptomaniac tendencies.

Rose sat down in front of him, resting on the console, fiddling with the picture. She seemed to have trouble speaking. I could tell that it was because she was getting emotional, but after a sudden burst of courage she finally spoke, choosing her words carefully.

"Peter Alan Tyler, my dad... The most wonderful man in the world. Born 15th of September 1954..."

She told us about her father, telling us word for word what her mother had told her when she was younger.

"That's what mum always says. So, I thought... maybe... could we? Could we go and see my dad when he was still alive?"

"Where's this come from, all of sudden?" Asked the Doctor

"All right then. If we can't, if it goes against the laws of times or something like that, then never mind, we'll just leave it."

"No, I can do anything. I'm just more worried about you."

"I wanna see him," she said.

"Your wish is my command. But be careful what you wish for."

He got up and pulled the lever that started the engines. Rose decided she wanted to see the wedding of her father and mother, so she gave the Doctor the date and place of the wedding. He typed in the coordinates and pressed a few buttons, moving around the console quickly as he drove the TARDIS. When she materialized at the right time and in the right place, Rose went straight to the door. The Doctor turned to me, but I didn't move, still reading Harry Potter and turning the next page in my book.