Chapter 12

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The Doctor pulls the TARDIS door open, rushing over to the console. He slams down buttons and pulls levers, cursing under his breath in a number of alien languages. Donna catches up with him, the door closing behind her.

"What is it?" she pants, a bit out of breath from all the running.
No reply.
"Doctor?"
"We have to find her!" the Doctor growls, looking around before rushing off down the corridor.

When he reaches Ashie's room he rushes in, grabbing the stuffed bunny and hurrying back to the console room. The tip of the bunny's ear is still a little damp from Ashie's saliva. It should be enough for a DNA sample to trace.

Donna watches the Doctor as he puts the bunny's ear under the scanner, scanning the DNA. A DNA string that's both human and Timelord shows up on the monitor.
"That's Ashie", the Doctor confirms, dropping the stuffed bunny on the jump seat and going back to pressing buttons on the console.
"Come on old girl, find her", he whispers to his ship, leaning his forehead against the console.

Nothing happens. For several minutes there's just a soft beeping and a radar symbol is visable on the monitor screen.
"Find her", the Timelord repeats softly, his eyes falling shut.

He jumps as there's a single, loud beep from the console. The monitor is now showing a map of the entire park. The Doctor stares at it for a second before yelling out a string of curses. He grabs the closest item that isn't fragile, which happens to be Ashie's stuffed bunny, and throws it into the wall.

Donna flinches a little at his sudden, aggressive reaction. He's now got his head in his hands and he's close to shaking. She slowly walks over to him.
"Doctor? What's wrong? Is it bad?"
"It's Ashie. She's not here."
"Not here!? Doctor, a person can't just vanish from existence! Can't you just... I don't know, widen the search field?"
He nods silently, pressing some more buttons. The console beeps some more. The Timelord rests his elbows on the console and places his chin in his hands, sighing deeply. He never takes his eyes off the monitor screen, though the only thing there is the same radar as before.

In an attempt to help with the anxiety he's obviously feeling, Donna starts talking.
"You know that thing you said the other day? About you not being a good parent for Ashie?"
"Mhm?"
"That really wasn't true."
"How can you tell?"
"Because... Just look at you! Here you are, trying about everything to find your daughter. And it's very obvious you want her safe and happy and here. I don't know about you, but in my opinion that makes you a pretty awesome dad-"

She's interrupted by the Doctor's cheering as the console beeps loudly once. He spins around and then he's hugging her. A bit unexpected, but also really nice.
"You're absolutely brilliant!" the Timelord exclaims,
"Well, I hope so, especially after you've brought me along for so long. What was that for, anyway? Not that I didn't like it, b-"

The Doctor turns the monitor sideways so Donna can see it from where she's standing. The map of the park itself is now smaller, and a bit of the space around the moon is also visable on the screen. A bit above the moon's surface there's a small red dot, inside a bigger dark grey blob.
"This is Ashie!" the Doctor exclaims happily, pointing to the screen.
"That grey blob?"
"No, not the blob. The red dot that's blinking. The blob is some kind of spaceship or something, and Ashie seems to be on it."
"But how? How did she get up there?"
"Only one way to find out, isn't there?"

The Doctor pulls the handbreak and the TARDIS takes off with her signature noise.

***

The Doctor doesn't waste any time before running over to the door and pulling it open with a jerk.

They are located at the end of a dark corridor. At the other end there's a large steel door that looks like it's been built to protect whatever's on the other side of it at all costs. Or keep in on the other side at all costs.

The TARDIS door is slammed shut behind Donna and the Doctor pulls his sonic from one of his pockets as he rushes over to the door at the other end. After having a quick look at it he sonics the look open without any difficulty. It's kind of funny how such a small object can be used to unlock that massive door.

Glancing back at the TARDIS once, the Doctor pulls the heavy door open.

There isn't really anything special about the room itself: there's wooden walls and a wooden floor and there's an old couch in the corner, with the springs finding their way out of some of the several tears in the colorful fabric.

Still, the couch isn't that intresting. The far most intresting thing in that room is the group of children sitting by the wall. When the Doctor has gotten closer he notices that every child's foot is chained to to the wall. And Ashie is one of those children.

He rushes over to her, taking the little girl in his arms. The chain attached to her foot rattles.

"Hi, Daddy!" she says happily.
"Hello, sweetie. It's okay, Daddy's here. Don't worry, I'm gonna get you out of here."
Setting her down on the floor again he frees her foot from the chain with his sonic. She rubs her ankle, getting up on her feet.

The Doctor moves on to the other children, loosing their cuffs. They all seem pretty confused, but mostly happy.

"I said you would come!" Ashie says happily, reaching her little arms up towards him.
He picks her up, holding her close.
"Did you?" he asks, a bit suprised.
"Yep! I knew you'd save me!"

The Doctor burries his nose in her soft, blond hair. Her little body is so relaxed in his arms, and he can feel the beat of her two hearts.

Then the door opens.

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