ashes ➝ Doctor Who²

XXIX

Jasper bursts into Penelope's office, sitting across from her with the biggest grin on his face. Despite the fact that the smile lit up the office, she rolled her eyes.

"Please Jasper, why don't you come in and take a seat." She smiled at him as he slid a file over to her. Picking it up, it was light and didn't seem like a case file, or any file she would usually be handed. "And what's this?"

"I found your father." She could hardly breathe, the light file suddenly becoming a deadweight in her hands. She wasn't sure the man even existed after everything that happened in the parallel world.

"And?"

"He's an Officer in the Navy. You said that he attacked your mother when you were 14 right?"

"Y-yeah." She was a little despondent, but this was lost on Jasper who was so excited to have found something for her after looking since their run when he promised to find him.

"But he couldn't have, he had been away at sea for years. It's all confidential but it looks like he was away or out of the country since before you were born. Not only that but I managed to get in contact with him, he's going to be docking in the country soon and we can go talk to him. Apparently he was given divorce papers in the mail and told to never contact your mother ever again. He wasn't the one that hurt your mother."

He waited patiently as Penelope read through the first half of the file, "but.. if he was away from before I was born. That means he isn't actually my dad." Jasper leant over the desk, flipping to a page further into the file, pointing something out for her. He did feel a little bad for this, knowing it probably won't help but she has a right to know.

"There are no records of your mum ever giving birth, or even being pregnant. This is what I meant when I said we weren't able to find anything out about you, you just didn't exist one day and the next you did. No records at all. It's like you were given to Jena-"

"In the parallel world she said she wasn't able to have kids, is that in her medical records?" He looked at her confused, she hadn't told him that she had met her parents in the parallel world. But he had taken a copy of her medical records to show she was never pregnant, just not checked to see if she even could get pregnant.

"Her medical record is in there, towards the end." She flipped through it violently, standing over her desk to read it, confusion twisted with anger flowing through her head.

"My.. her grandmother had ovarian cancer. It looks like it skipped her mother but here it says Jena had both her ovaries removed just to be safe. The notes have a signature saying that both her, her husband and mother agree that they have never wanted kids."

It was quiet for a moment, Penelope just taking in the information, reading the same words over and over again, trying to make sense of something on that page. Otherwise her entire existence is thrown into question, there had to be a record of her somewhere. Her vaccinations, preschool, even mother-baby groups that they might've joined.

There had to be something that proved she was real and that she was wanted. She doesn't want to have to live not knowing where she came from, she can't.

Jasper reached out and took her hand, bringing her back down to reality. Her grip tightened, thankful for him being an anchor, and she looked up at him.

"Find out when Garrick is back in the country and get us there. I need to talk to him."