stay calm. it will be okay. you have my word. Episode Eleven: Thank you, can I go back to my show now?

This is episode eleven! 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:

The Doctor, Bel, and Poppy stumble upon a murder after the TARDIS unexpectedly deposits them on Preservation Station. As Murderbot investigates, the Doctor must balance his curiosity with the need to be a responsible parent.

Notes:

Yes, the chapter count did go up again. Don’t worry about it, everything is fine. 😅

Once again, thanks so much to everyone who has left comments and kudos, and special thanks to Fire_Phoenix2305 and tinysugacube for tolerating me blowing up the group chat on a daily basis as I come up with ideas for this fic, and to Marvin for his seal of approval!

Episode Eleven: Thank you, can I go back to my show now?

The TARDIS materialized with a wheezing groan in a clean, brightly-lit corridor on Preservation Station. This had not been the plan, something which her mum made abundantly clear when she and Poppy stepped into the corridor.

“Doctor, this is not our backyard,” she said testily.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed,” he replied in faux shock.

“Ha ha, very funny, dad,” Poppy rolled her eyes. “Why are we on the station? You said we would go straight home after dropping everyone off back on Earth, and I promised Amena I would watch the latest episode of Worldhoppers together. She’s waiting for me.”

“Well, to tell you the truth, I’m not actually sure. The TARDIS does what she wants, love. Besides, Preservation Station is nice! Actually looked after, unlike some other places we’ve been.” Her dad grinned, making a sweeping gesture around them. “No artron energy, no temporal distortions, no creepy doppelgangers, just good civic planning.”

“Yes, and station security who are likely to be asking questions about how we ended up here, rather than on our property where we are supposed to be.” Mum crossed her arms.

“Ah, Belinda my love, what’s the harm in doing a little exploring?” Dad winked before setting off down the corridor. Poppy exchanged an exasperated look with her mum before following. Rounding the corner, they nearly collided with… SecUnit. Who did not appear happy to see them. But then again, SecUnit never looked happy.

It opened a private feed connection with Poppy. I watched episode 237.

And? She prompted.

For aliens you look remarkably human.

Mum is human. Dad’s not. I’m half.

Improbable. But interesting.

“You aren’t supposed to be here,” it said aloud.

“Yes, but we are,” the Doctor replied charmingly.

SecUnit glared at them. “There is a situation I need to handle.”

“Maybe we can help?”

“Don’t get in the way,” SecUnit replied shortly before stalking off down the corridor. They followed, only to stop abruptly when they noticed the body on the floor, with Ayda and another woman standing close by.

The person was lying on the deck with a broken feed interface shattered under their right hand. Poppy looked away, turning her face into her mother’s chest. It was not her first time seeing a dead body, but there was something about the person that just looked so broken and fragile… she could not bear to look.

The Doctor, intrigued, knelt by the body without touching it, whipping out his sonic screwdriver and doing a scan. He glanced briefly at Bel with a furrowed brow, but her I got this over the feed assured him enough that he returned his attention to the body.

SecUnit must have been running its own scan because nearly in unison they both said, “Time of death: approximately four hours.”

 They had met before, but only really in passing.

I’m taking Poppy back to the TARDIS. Bel told him over the feed.

I’m sorry. The Doctor replied. Do you need me to…?

No, we’ll be alright. Enjoy your mystery. I think she just needs rest.

“How do you know?” Senior Indah asked. The Doctor was prepared to launch into an explanation of the sonic screwdriver, but before he got the chance, SecUnit had already converted its scan data, its query, and the comparison results into a readable report and sent it to the Doctor’s feed address, and presumably Indah’s and Ayda’s as well.

Well done, The Doctor sent to SecUnit in a private feed.

I know you’re not human, SecUnit responded.

Guilty. The Doctor smiled. What else do you know?

You’re an organic life-form with a binary vascular system and elevated brain activity… you and your daughter are both capable of manipulating the feed and multitasking more than even a non-augmented human. You have a non-standard scanning device made from unknown materials, and you have a box that can serve as transportation beyond current human capabilities. You also have the ability to make spaces bigger than their outsides. You are a friend to Dr. Mensah and her family.

All true. The Doctor smiled. What are you going to do about it?

I don’t trust you.

Do you trust anyone?

Before Murderbot had even wrapped its head around how to answer that question, Senior Indah spoke again, having finally managed to finish reading the report. It really did take humans forever to process things. “Well, I don’t know how accurate this is, or what data the Doctor used—”

Another security person walked in—one of the techs who normalled worked on checking cargo shipments for biohazards—feed ID Tural. “Our scan analysis indicates that the victim’s been dead for about four hours.” The Doctor smirked and Indah sighed. Mensah said nothing, and neither did Murderbot, though it did feel slightly vindicated.

Tech Tural was confused at the responses, but before they got a chance to question it, Murderbot was already interrupting. “ID? Known associates?” The feed ID was destroyed, but anyone who thought that was going to be sufficient for concealing the dead human’s identity was naively optimistic.

Tural glanced at Indah and she nodded for them to answer. They said, “There was no subcutaneous marker or clip or augment or anything else with ID. We’ve done an initial search on recent arrival passenger lists using physical details, but couldn’t come up with anything.” Indah and Mensah both looked incredibly dissatisfied at this response. Murderbot kept its face blank. The Doctor was crouching down again, using his scanning device on the broken interface. Tural looked at him uncertainly before adding: “Without an interface, we have to wait until Medical gets here to do the body scan so we can try to match it with the visitor entry logs.”

“And Medical isn’t here yet because…?” Indah trailed off, looking at Tural pointedly. Tural winced.

“It’s preventative health check day at the school?” They scratched their head. “The bot who normally does the mobile body scan is busy with that? It has to move the mobile medical suite they use?”

Murderbot’s face remained blank, but if it had less control over its facial expressions it might have rolled its eyes. Humans like to do the “make it a question so it doesn’t sound so bad” thing and somehow fail to realize that it still sounds bad.

“Did you tell them it was an emergency?” The Doctor looked up from his scanning with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes but—sorry, who are you again?” Tural asked.

“Never mind him,” Indah interrupted impatiently. “It’s a valid question.”

“Um, well yes, we did tell them it was an emergency, but once the onsite medic pronounced the person dead/unretrievable it went to the bottom of the non-emergency list of things they have to do.”

Indah did not look pleased. Mensah’s mouth twitched in an “I would like to say things but I am not going to” way.

“Since when is a murder not an emergency?” the Doctor asked in disbelief, standing to look at Tural properly.

Indah’s jaw was tight. “This is a murder. If whoever did this kills someone else—”

The Doctor opened his mouth to speak as well, but Mensah cut them both off. “I’ll call them and explain that it’s not an accidental death, and yes, it is an emergency and we need them here now.” Her brow furrowed as she looked at the body again. “The council closed the port and deployed the responder as soon as we got the alert, but are you certain this person is—was—a visitor and not a resident?”

“Actually no, Councilor,” Tural admitted, “we’re just guessing they are a visitor.” They shrank back at the unimpressed looks Mensah, Indah, and the Doctor were giving them. Murderbot always looked unimpressed, so that was nothing new. Indah pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Just keep trying to make an ID,” she sighed.

—

The Doctor wanted to solve the mystery death—he really wanted to solve the mystery death—but one of the things he remembered about being a parent—one of the things he had recommitted to when Poppy came into being—was to put his role as a parent first, especially while Poppy was still a child. In many ways she would always be a child—she would always be his—but she was growing up. Her reaction to the death of this unnamed human though, that, if nothing else, showed how truly young she was. She had a lot of growing up to do still.

So, despite his keen interest in what Ayda was discussing with SecUnit, and his curiosity about the body-scan equipment, he instead made his way back to the TARDIS and his family to check on them first. Making his way through the console room, he wandered for a bit until he heard Bel’s voice. He found them together in one of the many sitting rooms in the TARDIS, though he knew this was Poppy’s favorite. She and Bel were curled up together on one of the sofas, each with a cup of tea in hand. They were speaking too low for him to make out the words, but if they needed him to know what they were talking about they would tell him.

He knocked softly on the doorframe to announce his presence. “Hiya.” He smiled.

“Hi papa,” Poppy said in a small voice. “Did you find out more about who killed that person?”

“Not yet, Pops. But we will. How are you doing?” He sat softly on the edge of the sofa.

“I,” she bit her lip. “I thought things like this didn’t happen in the Preservation Alliance. That we were… safe. Here.”

“Things like this are rare here, but that doesn’t mean they never happen, baby,” Bel murmured softly.

“I’m not a baby,” Poppy’s face scrunched up. “I know people get murdered all the time. I grew up as a kid on Earth.”

“You’re still a kid, Pops,” the Doctor nudged her gently. She opened her mouth to protest, but he beat her to it. “I know it’s scary. You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to. I can take you and your mum home. I should take you and your mum home, with a killer on the loose, especially given the lack of motive thus far.”

“You’re not coming home with us though,” Poppy pointed out. “You’re going to keep poking at the mystery. You want to know who killed them and why.”

“I think SecUnit has things handled. It’s done good work on the security of this place. Smart, too.”

“Dad.” Poppy narrowed her eyes at him. “I thought you only just met SecUnit. You didn’t even know that Ayda had been kidnapped, what with your grand adventures into existential voids.”

“Trust me Pops, you did not want to be there. And you don’t want to be here. Let’s just go home, you can have your WorldHoppers date with Amena while your mum and I get caught up on season 29 of Love Island.”

“It is not a date.” Poppy huffed. “But that does sound nice. Are you sure you don’t want to stay?”

“Want to? Maybe. Will do? No. I’d rather spend time with my girls.” He kissed them both on the forehead before making his way to the console room. He meant what he said, he was willing to let the mystery go… mostly. He fiddled with the console controls briefly, uploading the scans the sonic had taken and analyzing the results. “Interesting,” he hummed, looking everything over. Still, he had promised not to be too involved. Compiling it all into a feed packet, he stepped out of the TARDIS to remove any interference caused by being inside and sent it to SecUnit, along with the request for contact once the issue had been resolved. After SecUnit confirmed receipt, the Doctor stepped back into the TARDIS and navigated his way back to their home on Preservation.

Some time later, the Doctor received a long-distance ping on his feed.

We caught the culprit, SecUnit told him.

Great! I hope my notes were helpful.

Your instant transportation device might have been more so. But we managed.

You could have called me for help.

You had already left.

I would have come back.

As I said. We managed.

Do you need help with anything else?

No, thank you. I’d like to go back to my show now.

Of course. I still need to finish watching Love Island with Bel, I get it.

What is Love Island?

The Doctor was surprised at the sound of genuine interest in SecUnit’s feed voice.

It’s a show from Earth.

Is Earth the planet you are from? What sort of media do they have there?

The Doctor grinned. Despite previous mishaps, friendship just might be on the table after all.

End Notes:

Murderbot is disgusted with itself for not being able to hide its interest, when typically it does not (or at least tells itself that it does not) care.