#ladyofthebluebox

The whooshing sound the TARDIS made rang out in the backyard of the Corvin household. The Doctor stepped out of the time machine and smiled, breathing in the fresh air. She was looking forward to surprising her best friend and taking him on an adventure, but the moment she knocked on the back door, she knew the adventure was going to have to wait.

Michael opened the back door and he looked stressed out. His eyes had bags and his hair was a mess. She tilted her head as he gave her a tired smile, and then she understood why. There was the sound of a baby crying, or two or three. He groaned and ran back towards the nursery. She stepped inside and saw the house as a total disaster area.

“Doctor!” He yelled from up the stairs “Can I get your help, please?” She sighed, already knowing where this was going and ran up to help her best friend. He was holding Cecilia and Lucian, Alex was sitting on the bed, still sobbing. “Can you get the bottles of blood from the fridge there?” He nodded over towards the minifridge in the bedroom. 

“But, Michael, I’ve come to collect your promise on an adventure. I promise I can have you back in what is less than ten minutes!” She begged, knowing very well that she wouldn’t be able to handle taking care of his triplets the way he would want them to be taken care of. When he shook his head, she sighed, resigning herself to this. She went to the fridge and passed over the bottles. It looked like a mix of blood and milk.

“They can’t fully digest the blood yet.” The hybrid commented as he put Lucian down and started to feed Cecilia “We have to mix it with Selene’s breast milk so they can start getting used to it. Probably, in a few weeks, their diet will be primarily blood.” He glanced over at the Doctor to see her talking to Alex, who had stopped crying and was beginning to babble.

“Be nice to your daddy, Alex.” She scolded gently and he giggled, reaching up to tug on a lock of her hair “No pulling. You expect him to get you a dog for a pet if you try and pull on things.” His arm lowered and he ended up reaching to be picked up, and she did so.

“Doctor, what are you doing?” He asked as she cradled the young boy in her arms. She gave him a wide smile and looked down at the baby in her arms.

“I speak baby, Michael, didn’t you know?” She looked down at Alex “You know, he doesn’t appreciate you spending so much time with Cecilia. Or as he called her, the whiny one.” She laughed, only to roll her eyes “I know, I wish my hair was a different color too, perhaps ginger.”

“Doctor, you do not speak baby,” He shook his head again and looked at Cecilia, who was falling asleep in his arms. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and placed her in the crib “Let me see Alex.”

“Alexander, do not be rude.” She said, glaring at the baby before turning to face Michael “I speak everything.” She passed him over, and the child curled up in his father’s arms. The Doctor picked up Lucian and began to bounce him.  He, too, started to babble mindlessly at her. She nodded in response.

“Oi, Lucian, not nice.” She said “You cannot say that you..- Right sorry, secret.” Her cheeks turned red and she glanced at the clueless hybrid who was finished feeding Alex. She looked back down at the child in her arms and sighed. This was getting painful, memories flashing of children she once cared for, of a grandchild she wished she could find.

Michael noticed how her mood seemed to fall and he frowned. “Hey Doctor, do you mind helping me keep them occupied?” She nodded and picked up Cecilia as well, heading into the room that was recently converted into a playroom. She put the two down and sat on the floor.

“What do you two want to play with?” She asked them and Lucian babbled again “No, Lucian, you can’t play with what your mother uses. It’s way too dangerous. I don’t care if you think it looks fun.” He reached up and patted the Time Lady’s face. She watched as Cecilia started to climb the drawers.

Michael walked into the room carrying Alex. He put Alex down and looked to his daughter. “Cecilia, no! We don’t climb on things. Doctor, why didn’t you stop her?” He ran to her and went to stop her. She pouted and started to cry.

“Michael, she’s fine. She can handle herself. Just look at her father! He who survived Daleks, the Silence, Weeping Angels and so much more.” She said, pride in her voice. She knew a lot of her old companions could have, and had, done that, but Michael had been hit by the Silence’s attack and he was still breathing. That alone impressed her. The hybrid’s cheeks turned a bright red and his eyes fell to the floor. He shook his head and went to move his daughter off of the drawers, to which she started to cry, He sighed and put her down, bringing her a plush wolf, which she immediately started to chew on the ear of.

“I can see why you needed my help now, Michael.” The Doctor’s voice lowered slightly, watching the triplets do their own thing. Cecilia was still chewing on the ear of the wolf, Alex was banging on the toy xylophone that was given to them by one of Michael’s older sisters, and Lucian was crawling to the toy box to pull out something. “They’re such a handful, how do you handle this?”

“It’s just instinct, Doctor. The minute I laid eyes on them, it was like I knew what I needed to do to take care of them.” He smiled at her as Lucian crawled back over to the Doctor and placed a toy pirate ship in her lap and a pirate in her lap.

“Play?” He whined. The Doctor’s eyes widened and she looked at Michael, who was just laughing.

“Sorry, the triplets have all been speaking for a while, but all of them are shy. They won’t talk to you unless they really want to. Otherwise, they’ll just babble at you. Seems like Lucian wants to talk to you.” He smiled at his best friend and then at his son.

“Sure, Lucian, I’ll play.” She said, taking one of the toy pirates and started to play with the young child. He started giggling and playing along with her. Suddenly, the Doctor stepped back and looked at Michael. “I’ll be right back.” She took off into a sprint, heading straight for her TARDIS.

It was about fifteen minutes later that the Doctor returned, arms full of toys. She beamed and gave Lucian another pirate ship. Almost immediately as it was placed on the ground it started to hover. “I made it myself,” She said proudly “Real hover technology and safe for children.” In front of Cecilia, she put two plush animals, and one started to move “One’s able to act like a real dog, the other has a good flavor to it, and so she can chew it all she likes.” The one that the Doctor said was able to act like a real dog, jumped around and pounced on Cecilia, licking her face and she giggled.  She put in front of Alex a drum set “He can pound on this as much as he wants and it will never break, plus it has different settings.” He started pounding on it and laughed. “And for you Michael,” She gave him two pairs of earmuffs “They block out unwanted noise, so you can get a good night sleep, but when one of them cries, it registers that and lets that sound in, as opposed to the banging of your son’s drums.” Michael smiled brightly and wrapped his arms around her.

“You’re the best, Doctor, absolutely the best.” He looked down at her, smiling even winder.

“No, I’m not, I’m just looking out for my companion and best friend.” She rubbed the back of her neck and looked around at the family.

“Doctor, you know you’re part of this family too, right?” He asked, hoping she understood that. He considered her to be a sister, family. He would do anything to protect her and wanted her to know that. He cared about her more than he thought she would ever know.

“Am I really part of this family, Michael?” Her voice sounded unsure, and a little frightened. She wasn’t sure he was being honest with her. She didn’t have a family, a living one anyway, and she didn’t belong here.

“Of course,” He said hugging her “Doctor, you are pretty much an honorary Corvin. Feel free to stop by for any holidays or anything.” He was teasing her at that point, but it got him the reaction he wanted, she cracked a grin.

“Good, a holiday dinner with the Doctor! Sounds like fun, doesn’t it!” She beamed and glanced at him “Thank you Michael.”