stay calm. it will be okay. you have my word. Pilot: The Season Two Ending We Deserved
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. 💕💕
Notes:
OKAY SO I KNOW I SAID I WOULDN’T MAKE ANOTHER WIP BUT ISTG THAT SERIES FINALE RUINED ME NCUTI COME BACK I MISS YOU.
Also the Murderbot brainrot has got me delulu and the current political climate makes me want to cry so tbh this descent into pure personal fan service was all very inevitable. Anyway, enjoy! Or don’t. Back button is there for anyone who needs it. 🙂
Thanks so much to Fire_Phoenix2305 and tinysugacube for their beta and cheer-reads of this fic, and to Marvin for his seal of approval!
Pilot: The Season Two Ending We Deserved
“Poppy! Where’s my girl?” The Doctor grinned as he walked into the TARDIS, Ruby right behind him. Bel was cooing over their daughter as she stood in her cot, grinning up at her mother.
“She’s too big for this already.” Bel shook her head at the Doctor before addressing their daughter again “Aren’t you, Poppy?” she gestured at the cot. “She’ll climb out. This place is a deathtrap!”
“I know, I know, I know.” The Doctor agreed, scanning the console room. “We need rails, safety rails going all the way around. It’s going to look amazing.”
“So what are you guys going to do? The three of you? Like, settle down?” Ruby asked.
“Oh, absolutely not. My daughter’s not going to have a boring life. We can go anywhere and everywhere and show her everything. Are you too hot in this, Pops? It’s always cold in here, but for the first time, it’s too warm.” Bel sighed, pulling Poppy out of her coat.
“Mm. That’s the TARDIS. Accommodating.” The Doctor explained, adjusting some of the controls on the console, telepathically requesting that the TARDIS prepare a room for Poppy.
“There’s one thing I still don’t understand. How come my memory was different?” Ruby asked. “Why did I remember things that no-one else could?”
“I have no idea.” The Doctor mused. “But we have seen many a strange thing together, Ruby-roo.”
“We’ll need all sorts of things.” Bel had picked Poppy up and was now holding the girl on her hip. Like a room for toys.”
“I can do that.” The Doctor grinned. “I can turn the TARDIS into anything. We can put a room off there, or anywhere.”
“I wonder where we take her first. Where do you wanna go Pops? Do you wanna see Neptune? Oh, what about Kerala?”
“Kerala!” The Doctor exclaimed. “I have never been. All of the universe, and I’ve never been.”
“We can go and see my Uncle Roo. Oh, he’s wonderful, and he’ll love Poppy.”
“Of course he will. Though she should probably meet your family here first.” The Doctor grinned.
“Oh, my mum! I’m going to have to tell her that she’s a grandmother! Unless, will she already know? How has the wish world affected things as they are now? Will she remember us?”
“That’s a good point. We should evaluate what differences exist between our wish lives, the world before and the world of now. What do you remember?” The Doctor asked.
“It’s… odd.” Bel’s face twisted in concentration. “I remember working as a nurse, living in a shared house with some people I knew from uni. But I also remember us living together and raising Poppy. I can’t fully recall which is which.”
“Do you remember the addresses?” Ruby asked. “It’s only been a day, hasn’t it? All you have to do is go to both places. Wherever your stuff is, that’s where the timeline settled.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Bel replied slowly.
Poppy yawned, leaning her head against Bel’s shoulder. “I think this one needs a nap, before anything else.”
“Right! The TARDIS should have made her a room now, I asked her to rearrange things so that it is next to yours.” The Doctor led the way through the halls to where a new door had appeared next to Bel’s, Poppy’s name written across it in sparkling blue letters. Opening the doors, they found a room with plush blue carpet, the walls covered in a mural that depicted a number of fish and other playful sea creatures, and a window with cheery yellow curtains. There were a number of books and toys, and her bed was low to the ground, and covered in a soft blanket also decorated with sea creatures. There were also a few stuffed animals, identical to the ones that Bel remembered her daughter having in the wish world.
They tucked her into bed and she fell asleep almost instantly. Tip toeing out the room, they went back to the console room. In their absence the room had changed itself, reshaping so that the various ramps now had proper guardrails, so any errant children would not find themselves falling off the edge. The tiles were also softer—not quite carpet, but not the hard floors that they had been previously.
Things were changing, and the Doctor couldn’t be more excited about it.