The Time Lord's Apprentice

In The Tardis #5

sorry for the late upload, i was super busy this week

"Peyton, can you stay down here a minute," the Doctor calls from beneath the console as she leaves for the library. They had just dropped Amy and Rory home after spending a week in Tahiti where a surprising lack of life-threatening events occurred providing and actually restful holiday for once.

"Hmm?" She stops at the top of the stairs, peering through the glass. The Doctor had gone down below deck to tinker and Peyton had opted for some reading, brushing up on her Judoon perhaps.

"Just... come here," he sighs. A cold feeling settles in Peyton's gut, his tone of voice suggests that what the Doctor wants cannot be good.

She walks down the stairs and under the glass deck. The Doctor sits on the small swing that he uses to repair the Tardis with his hands in his lap, looking off into the distance. She grabs a metal bar above her head and leans her weight onto it, trying to be nonchalant. "What's wrong?"

"What wrong?" The Doctor says in a high pitched voice. "Why does something have to be wrong?"

"Doctor," she raises an eyebrow. He looks down into his lap.

"I want to tell you something, Peyton," he says. "I should have told you before but, there was never the right moment, or there was and I didn't want to upset you-"

"Doctor, you're scaring me," Peyton interrupts.

"Yes, right," he nods, his lips pulled into a thin smile. "Peyton, U.N.I.T has lied to you."

"I don't doubt that," Peyton agrees.

"Your mother didn't die in childbirth," he meets her eyes, searching them, gauging her reaction.

"What do you mean?" She shakes her head. "Of course she did."

"Peyton, I met her," he admits. "Well, I saw her. About six months after you were born. I didn't know she had you."

"Saw her?" Her voice is weak, quavering.

"Only in a vision, prophesizing her death, among other things. But I know where she is, that is, if you want to see her."

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" She asks quietly.

"Peyton I..." The Doctor gets to his feet and walks over to Peyton, placing both his hands on her shoulders and rubbing them gently. "I wasn't sure what to say, I wasn't sure if you'd even want to-"

"Of course I want to, you daft man," she wipes her eyes, brushing away the tears that have welled up.

"You sure?"

"I'm not crossing my own timeline or anything, am I? Baby me will be locked up in the Tower of London. Doctor, take me there." She says firmly, turning away from him and marching up to the flight deck.

"Peyton, Peyton!" He calls after he as he joins her on deck watching her as she walks around the console and pulls the Tardis' Vortex shields up. "I'll take you as close as I can to the point of her death, we'll do the least amount of damage then. And I'm sorry for that. But as her daughter just meeting her could have dire consequences on her life."

"I'll be discreet, got it," she says through gritted teeth, flipping the switches on the temporal gauges and setting the engine as the Doctor sends the Tardis into flight.

They come to land and yet Peyton doesn't move, still holding onto the console, staring into the central time router. She's scared. She didn't think she'd be scared.

She feels the Doctor's hand warp around her forearm. She looks up at him. He pulls her close to his chest and places a kiss atop her head, rubbing her back comfortingly.