stay calm. it will be okay. you have my word. Episode Five: Preservation
This is episode five! To start reading from the beginning, check out Pilot : The Season Two Ending We Deserved
Story Summary
Turn off “The Reality War” at 40:15 and start here instead. This is the story of what happened after—the story where the Doctor, Bel, and their extraordinary daughter Poppy get to live the life they deserve.
It’s about finding family across time and space. It’s the Doctor and Bel co-parenting like the besties they are, Poppy growing up splitting her time between 21st-century London and the far-future of the Preservation Alliance, and a Sanctuary Moon fanclub that spans across the universe. It’s Rogue getting the ending he deserves, Jenny finding her fathers, Murderbot reluctantly acquiring more humans, and a universe where love, in all its forms, is the most powerful weapon we have.
This is a fusion-fix-it full of gratuitous wish fulfillment, because sometimes the best way to heal is to rewrite the story. 💕💕
Episode Summary:
After Poppy finally finds a true sense of belonging among her new friends on Preservation, returning to 21st-century London and its harsh social realities leaves her feeling more isolated than ever. In response, her parents make an offer that will radically change the shape of her future.
Notes:
Dang, not me forgetting to post a chapter yesterday even tho I wrote this particular chapter weeks ago and it remains largely unchanged smh.
In any case, this is the chapter when we finally get to meet more people from the Murderbot Diaries universe! This includes characters that you don’t meet until Network Effect however this is all taking place before the events of All Systems Red.
Thanks so much to everyone who has left comments and kudos, and special thanks to Fire_Phoenix2305 and tinysugacube for letting me blow up their DMs on a daily basis as I come up with ideas for this fic and to Marvin for his official seal of approval!
Episode Five: Preservation
“John my friend, it is good to see you!” The Doctor had barely stepped out of the TARDIS before he was being embraced by Tano, one of the many friends he had made in his time on the planet.
“It is good to see you too my friend.” The Doctor replied cheerfully, returning the embrace before turning back to the TARDIS. “May I introduce my daughter, Poppy, and her mother, Belinda. Pops, Bel, this is my good friend Tano. We met while attending FirstLanding together.”
“Any friend of the Doctor is a friend of mine,” Bel smiled.
“Welcome, welcome!” Tano beamed. “You are all just in time for our last family dinner before Ayda leaves for the station, she’ll be gone for a number of cycles. She’s starting her new position as our planetary leader tomorrow.”
“Oh good, I would have been sorry to have missed her! How is the family?” The Doctor asked.
“Good, good.” Tano replied cheerfully. “Amena is starting at FirstLanding soon. They do grow up fast, don’t they?”
“Is Amena your daughter?” Poppy asked. “Papa said you have kids my age.”
“Well, I’m not sure about planetary years since you are from off-world, but you both look about the same.” Tano replied in the same cheerful manner.
“Best not keep them all waiting. I know Farai and Ayda will be pleased to see you, and I don’t think you’ve had the chance to meet the kids yet.”
“How many kids do you have?” Poppy asked, her hand still clasped with her mother’s. “Papa said he wasn’t sure.”
“My marital partners, Ayda and Farai, and I have seven ourselves, but our farm is large enough that we also live with Ayda’s siblings and their marital partners and children. So many of us it’s hard to keep track sometimes. But if you’re anything like your dad, I’m sure you’ll fit right in.”
Poppy puffed up with a kind of pride. “Papa and I are a lot alike. Mum says so all the time,” she paused before adding in a faux whisper “sometimes she says it like it’s a bad thing, but I’ve got the best dad in the universe so I know that’s not true.”
Bel rolled her eyes fondly and the Doctor suppressed a smile. Tano gave a full belly laugh as he ushered them into the main house where the family had their bigger meals. “Oh yes, you’ll fit right in.”
—
Poppy did indeed fit right in with the Mensah children, more than she ever had among her friends and classmates on earth. One of her favorite things about this place was the presence of the feed. This far into the future, even the most basic non-augmented person had access to it. The feed was a kind of wireless network that allowed people, constructs, and bots to set up channels that connected them. It was not quite telepathy, it relied on having a shared network and there were limits as to how far it operated across distances. But it allowed for an increased level of communication that made it easier to share her thoughts and feelings about situations, and it allowed her to engage with media in a way that was completely unique to what it was like to read and watch shows while on earth or even while on the TARDIS.
Most people needed augments to engage with the feed at an advanced level, and Poppy, as a child with a still developing brain, had been prohibited by both of her parents to get any until she was at least 18 earth years old. Not that she would want to, as her time lord genes and her inherited telepathic instincts were already enough to allow her advanced use of the feed.
Poppy’s favorite, favorite part about the months they spent living on Preservation, was access to The Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon. She had never particularly enjoyed soap operas while on earth, despite how much many others in her class enjoyed them, but there was something about Sanctuary Moon that could not help but captivate her interest.
Indeed, when it was finally time to return to earth, she had made sure to bring with her a data chip that included every single episode. It was hard for Poppy to leave. She loved her new friends, and felt more at home with them than she did with her earth friends, who she hardly felt herself missing at all.
She missed her family of course, but with the exception of Joey they were all grownups and she hadn’t realized until spending that time on Preservation how much she liked spending time with kids her own age. And no one there ever went hungry, or hurt each other because of who they loved or the color of their skin. Preservation felt like a paradise. And yet here she was, back in 21st century London.
“Poppy my dove!” Poppy was brought out of her brooding by a knock on her bedroom door. “Can I come in?” Jumping off her bed, where she had been drawing a rough sketch of Captain Hossein, she ran to and flung open her bedroom door.
“Auntie Rose! I didn’t know you were coming!”
“As if I would miss my favorite niece’s birthday!” Rose gasped in faux offense before picking Poppy up into a hug. “Now, what has you all holed up in here, hmm? Your mum and dad said you’ve been up here all morning, they wanted to let you sleep in, but it’s already half two and your party starts at three.” Rose set Poppy down and looked at her with a keen eye. “You also don’t exactly look like someone who just woke up.”
“I wasn’t sleeping, I just wasn’t hungry,” Poppy sat down on her bed again, not looking at Rose.
“What’s going on, Pops?” Rose asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“I just—” Poppy let out a long breath. “I don’t want to go back to school on Monday. There are so many bullies, and no one but me ever sticks up for people, and the people I stick up for just say I make everything worse, and I only have like two friends and I don’t think that they even like me that much.” Poppy told her miserably. “They both texted me, said that something came up and they won’t be able to come to the party today, only I looked at their snap stories and it’s because Tommy Meacham is having his own party today, and the whole class was invited but me. And so actually now I know I have no friends here, and I wanna go back to Preservation where I’m not the weird girl who knows too much about science and gets into fights and—” Poppy broke out into proper tears and Rose pulled her into a hug.
“I’m sorry darling. I remember what it was like being at school when I was your age, and it’s so hard, for everyone, but especially for those of us who are different. Who are special. And you’re strong, but it’s not fair that you have to be strong. Life isn’t easy and it isn’t fair, and I don’t blame you for wanting to be somewhere you feel safe and loved.” Rose ran a soothing hand down Poppy’s back as the girl curled up into her lap.
“I feel safe here.” Poppy sniffed. “With you and Amma and Papa. And I feel safe with your family, your parents and uncle John and grandad. With auntie Ruby and Nana Carla and Nana Cherry. But I don’t like school. I don’t wanna go back there.”
“You don’t have to go back.”
Poppy startled as she felt her mum settle at her other side. She turned and found herself wrapped into a hug by both women. And her dad was there, kneeling at the foot of the bed.
“We wanted it to be more of a happy surprise but. Your dad and I were talking,” Bel continued. Poppy’s heart started to lift with what felt like hope. “And you were happier on Preservation than we’ve seen you in years. And so we did some arranging, and if you want it, there’s a space for you at FirstLanding.”
“Really?” Poppy breathed out. “But I thought we had to stay on earth? For my, stability or whatever. You said I couldn’t go to space until I turned 18!”
“Well that’s not exactly it. We said you have to live with one of us until you’re 18, and that, small trips aside, we wanted you to live as linear and stable life as possible while you are growing up. That doesn’t have to be on earth. It’s just that earth is where I’m from, and where my family is, and so it was the easiest place to raise you.” Bel told her, gently taking her hand.
“But you aren’t happy here, Pops. You were happy on Preservation. It’s why we stayed for three months when it was just supposed to be three days.”
“I can really go back?” Poppy asked, eyes bright.
“We’d like it if you finish out the year here, if you can stick it out for a few more weeks. We have to make arrangements if we’re going to be gone for a long time again.”
“Gone for a long time?” Poppy asked, confused. “We have a Time Machine, I don’t know why I have to keep saying this.”
“Of course we do, but Poppy, you’re growing up. If we spend three years on Preservation and come back tomorrow people will be suspicious about how you went from being twelve to seventeen overnight.” The Doctor explained patiently.
“Oh,” Poppy felt silly. “I didn’t think of that.”
“Don’t worry Pops. We’ll miss you, of course, but we’ll be happy for you too.” Rose bumped her shoulder.
Poppy felt torn. She was going to miss her family on earth, but this was an opportunity she couldn’t let herself give up on.
“Thanks, Rosie. I’ll miss you too. But we came come visit, right? For holidays and birthdays and everything?”
“Of course, dove.” The Doctor kissed the top of her head. “We won’t miss a single one.”
End Notes:
This is the last of the fully pre-written chapters, tho the fic is fully outlined and several future scenes have already been drafted. I have also set aside some time this weekend to lock in and bang out a few more chapters and should be on track to post a new chapter next week, pending me actually remembering that I was planning on posting a chapter.