The Gallifreyan Bloodline

V

The TARDIS interior was growing immensely on Foreman - something about how the lights shone barely bright enough to light up the room and cast mysteriously comforting shadows around made him feel at ease. It was certainly a comfortable place for him to be, even with all the things that came along with it.

Of course, the tension rose significantly as soon as the Doctor entered the room. Foreman became hyper aware of every move he made, believing that his father in law would end up finding something to point out about him, making him feel guilty simply for existing.

"I suppose you aren't thinking about that show of yours any longer, Foreman," the Doctor said. "I remember how reluctant you were to leave it all behind, and look at you now!"

"Things changed," Foreman grumbled, although it was entirely true. Things had changed, and he was no longer very upset about having gone along with the Doctor. He hadn't been expecting to see his daughter again ever in his life, and now he was at least given the chance to be near to her despite being unable to connect fully.

"Now, I do need to talk to you about something..." the Doctor began, putting a hand on the TARDIS console as he walked around in a full circle.

"I suppose it's going to be another one of these private conversations, right?" Foreman asked.

"Actually, no - I need all three of us to be together," the Doctor said. "This isn't just something that one person does at a time. We need everyone at once."

"Where is Susan, anyways?"

"Somewhere in the TARDIS," the Doctor replied, raising his hand as if he were to wave the problem away from him. "It's impossible to say where she currently is, but we can do our best guess about what she might to be up to. Certainly she'll back to us soon - just you wait and see what happens once time goes onwards."

"But if we need her here in order for you to explain something, shouldn't we go and attempt to find her? That just seems like the right thing to do..."

"You just want an excuse to go off and talk to her without me present," the Doctor said. Foreman nearly raised his voice in protest, but then he decided it wasn't worth it. He could get on about everything without causing another fight between the two of them. Though the conflict was up in the air for him to grab and pull out, he would be better of not doing such a thing.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter," Foreman said. "She'll be here any moment now, I'm sure. She just always seems to know the right moment to arrive.

"Yes, of course. I have a feeling that she'll be walking thr-"

"Grandfather!" Susan called out cheerfully, entering the control room right ahead of her cue. The Doctor seemed to be somewhat upset over the situation, but he decided not to get too invested in this situation. Instead, he started smiling widely - now he could properly explain everything to his two companions.

"Ah, Susan," the Doctor exclaimed. "Glad to see that you've arrived."

"I didn't interrupt anything between the two of you, did I?" she asked, her smile starting to fade. "It always seems like I walk into the very middle of a conversation between the two of you, and it makes me feel so guilty..."

"No reason to feel guilty, Susan," Foreman said, deciding it was his turn to say something in the conversation. "You haven't interrupted anything. Nothing all that important, anyways."

There was a pause as everyone attempted to decipher Foreman's words - even he felt strange for having seemed so eager to please Susan, despite knowing precisely what he meant to do.

"Well, now we're all here...I suppose there's no better time to explain what's going on. I can't tell if you've figured it out already or not - it's not exactly the most prominent thing in what's going on so far. But you surely must've suspected that I brought us all together for a reason. It's very important that three of us are together."