The girl with two hearts

Chapter 3

The Doctor scans Ashie, taking a look at her DNA.

She swings her little legs back and forth from her spot on the jump seat as he looks at the DNA string that is shown on the monitor. There's far more Gallifreyian DNA in her than human DNA. Which makes her truly unique. Partly because all of his people are gone, and partly because she's also got a bit of human in her. He imagines it like a spark, like a little piece of different that's somehow maneged to survive inside of her.

Like a little piece of Rose that's still with him.

Turning the monitor off again, the Doctor turns to Ashie. His daughter. Sure, he's been a parent before, but that was such a long time go. They are all dead, since several decades. And here she is, like an impossible little miracle. It's still odd that's she's heard stories of him her whole life and he didn't even know she existed until a few hours ago.

She's still wearing the clothes she wore when they found her: a simple white T-shirt and dark blue jeans. There's a big rip in the fabric of those jeans, right where she injured her knee when she fell. He should probably find some new clothes for her, it might help her feel a little better about this entire situation. Like a fresh start, or something like that. He sends a telepathic request to the TARDIS to add some cute clothes in Ashie's size in the closet, and smiles for himself as the ship happily agrees to do so.

"I've got something to show you", he tells the little girl.
Her eyes lights up with excitement and she jumps to the floor. The Doctor thinks about picking her up, but he ends up just taking her little hand as he leads her down the corridor. Her eyes fills with awe as she looks around. He can't understand how someone can be so intrested in an simple corridor, but he's lived here almost as long as he can remember. She just got here. Of course she's gonna find everything about his time ship fascinating.

They turn left and then they're in the TARDIS closet. Ashie looks around, taking in everything: the huge mirrors and the seemingly endless rows and shelfs with different clothing items.

The TARDIS nudges the Doctor further into the walk-in closet, and he places a hand on Ashie's lower back to lead her in that direction. Her eyes looks like they are gonna pop out of her head as they reach the part of the closet the TARDIS just added a few minutes ago.

The closet opens up into a round room, the wall packed with mirrors and glittering lights. In the very center of the room there's a collection of clothing racks, and hanging from them are several tiny outfits in every color in the universe. From what the Doctor can see it's a mix of casual clothes, shiny princess dresses and shirts with cool pictures and phrases.

Ashie spins around to face him, her eyes asking if it's all for her.
"Of course, go ahead", he says.
She runs right over to the racks of clothes, going through them. Then she pauses her movements, instead walking over to the wall to press her palm against it.
"Thank you, TARDIS", she tells the wall fondly.

The Doctor gets all warm and fuzzy at that, a feeling he hasn't had in a long time. Not since Rose.

He walks over to Ashie, picking her up into his arms. He can't stop himself, and presses a kiss to her temple. She giggles.
"How did you know about the TARDIS?" he asks her.
"Mummy told me!"
"She told you a lot about me, didn't she?"
"Yup!"

He sets her down on the floor again and she returns to the clothes.

***

"Alright, what's wrong?" Donna asks with a sigh.
"There's nothing wrong!" the Doctor insists.
"There are, it's obvious. What's wrong?"
He looks down at the floor.
"I just... I can't look at Ashie without thinking about her mum, and thinking about Rose just makes me sad. Is that... Is that a bad thing?"

Donna looks up from her plate of food to meet his eyes.
"I don't know if it's a bad thing or not, but I think it's normal."
"How?"
"Well, Ashie is like a miniature version of her mum, and you obviously miss Rose a lot. Believe it or not, but kids often look a bit like their parents. Some of them, a lot."

She returns to her food, but the Doctor isn't really happy with that answer. He starts to pace back and forth across the kitchen floor. At least until Donna yells at him that he's stressing her and he stops dead in his tracks, quietly apologizing.

"Am I a bad parent?" he asks suddenly.
Donna sighs, slamming her cutlery down on the table.

"Doctor, listen to me! This... A random kid shows up and turns out to be the daughter you never knew you had, and she brings you a letter from her mum telling you that kid is your responsibility. That is enough to make anyone flip out!"
"If you say so..."
"That's the truth! Oh, I know what you're doing! You always do this! The very moment there's a reason you might be a bad person you start telling yourself that's everything you are! And it's not a very good habit, you!"

The Doctor looks away. She's right. Of course she's right!
"And it's not the truth either! The truth is that you are the most brilliant man I have ever met!" Donna continues properly yelling now.
He runs his hands through his hair, groaning. Like there's something he really wants to say but can't put into words.

"Daddy, look!"

The two of them turns towards the high-pitched voice. Ashie has picked out a white dress with black polka dots all over it. The black ribbon around the waist is tied together into a tiny bow at the front of the dress. She twirls once, the fabric of the dress following the motion.

"You look lovely!" Donna exclaims in a very exaggerated, baby-ish voice.
The Doctor smiles for himself.
"Yeah, you look lovely", he mumbles.

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