Anchor -for the Minor Characters Ficathon

, , , , 2 Comments

Title: Anchor
Author: sarah531
Rating: PG13ish
Fandom: Doctor Who
Notes: Written for the Minor Characters at tindogs_fic, for lackadaisydilly who wondered “What is Jackie and Pete’s son like in the parallel world?” :)
Summary: Eight-year-old Tony Tyler falls ill, and begins to question the world around him. Er, may have turned out slightly darker than I intended.

Anchor

For her child is the anchor that holds a mother to life
-Anon

In the weeks before Christmas of 2015, eight-year-old Tony Tyler got very, very ill. It was a strange time for him. His father walked around looking worried, and he heard his mother, who never cried, crying once or twice. He felt sick constantly, and remained in bed, half the time barely even aware of what was going on around him.

His sister Rose, who was constantly away and a rather distant figure in Tony’s life, didn’t show up until five days into the mysterious sickness. When she came, she brought a man with her. Tony had met the man before, and like everyone else knew him as the Doctor. He too was quite a distant figure.

“Evening, Tony,” the Doctor said. He and Rose and Mum and Dad had suddenly gathered around his bed. “How are you feeling today?”

“Awful,” Tony said. “Hi. Hi, Rose.”

“Hi,” she said. There was concern written across her face that he hadn’t seen before.

The Doctor took something from the pocket of his long brown coat. “Right, Tony. Close your eyes for just one second.”

Tony did. There was a whirring noise which lasted perhaps five seconds and then stopped.

“Open your eyes, Tony,” the Doctor said. When Tony did, he saw what might have been a flicker of fear in the Doctor’s eyes. Suddenly he felt even more sick.

“Jackie,” the Doctor said.

“We’re just going to go outside, sweetheart,” Mum said to Tony. “We’ll be just outside.”

They went outside. But Rose paused at the door and said to Tony, “I missed you.”

“Oh,” Tony said. “I missed you too.”

Rose smiled and left the room. Three minutes passed. Tony switched on the TV that sat opposite his bed and watched Top Gear Zeppelin Edition. He thought he could hear raised voices outside, shouting.

Mum came back in. Tony hastily turned the TV off.

“You OK, sweetheart?”

“Yeah,” Tony answered.

The Doctor barged in.

“Tony, you need to listen to me,” he said, very quickly. “You’re very, very ill-”

“Don’t tell him!” Mum shrieked.

“You’ve been infected by an alien parasite. You’re not the only one. Me and your sister, right, we’re going to find the cure. It won’t be too difficult, and you’re going to be fine. You just need to fight it. Whatever it throws at you, fight it-”

He recoiled back suddenly. Mum had slapped him around the face.

“Ow,” he said, recovering fast.

“I said, don’t tell him!” Mum shouted. “You’ve scared the hell out of him, look!”

Tony had indeed started to cry a little, although this was mostly from the shock of seeing two adults fight. The other thing hadn’t sunk in properly.

“No, Jackie. He needs to know,” the Doctor said. “Tony, you got the part about everything is going to be alright, right?”

Tony just nodded.

“Right,” the Doctor said. Rose had reentered the room, and she looked quite worried. “We’ll be off. Jackie-” He put a hand on her shoulder, and then he simply went to the door and was gone. Tony heard him running down the stairs.

Rose turned to Tony.

“You’re gonna be okay, yeah?” she said. Tony recognized it as not being a question. “We promise. Me and him. We’ll have you better in no time. Mum?”

“Just go, sweetheart,” Mum said, looking away. “Be careful.”

Rose hurried after the Doctor. Mum went to Tony’s bedside.

“You’re going to be okay, Tony. Dad is downstairs making you some food. You’re going to be fine…” But she looked sad and worried, and finally she too left the room.

******

The days dragged by. Tony tried to forget the conversation. He also didn’t look too closely at his mother’s worried, angry face, or his father’s rather worn smile. He did, however, begin to ask questions about the things he’d been wondering about for ages.

“Mum,” he said, as she sat in his room. “What’s the Doctor’s real name?”

“He doesn’t have one, sweetheart.”

“Everyone has a name.”

“Not him. He’s different.” She gave a little sigh.

“He must have a name,” Tony persisted.

“He doesn’t. He’s not…” She paused. “Tony, love, the Doctor’s not from…around here.”

“From another planet?” Tony whispered. He was familiar with these things.

“From another world,” Mum said uncertainly. “Tony, love, listen, there are some things you’re not old enough to know yet. When you’re old enough, I’ll tell you. But only then.”

*****

That night, he heard Mum and Dad speaking out on the landing. They thought he was asleep.

“You know, right,” Mum was saying, “this is the first time both my kids have been in danger. I thought I could handle it, you know, but I really can’t. He’s eight, Pete, only eight…”

There was silence, and then Dad said, “How is he?”

“He hasn’t got any idea, love.” Mum’s voice sounded so dead, and Tony felt a chill. “No idea at all.”

Dad said some things Tony didn’t quite catch, and then he heard his mother again, speaking loudly and angrily. “Things were fine till he came back, that other one of him, whatever you like. Tony was fine and we were fine and Rose was fine, had her job and all, and Mickey was still here and he was fine too. I don’t think I ever made my peace with him, Pete, not properly like. Now he’s gone off with my Rose again and she’ll be in danger every second of every day while I sit around this house and end up watching my baby son die.”

This was possibly the moment Tony Tyler’s childhood came to an end, but of course he didn’t know it at the time. He crawled back into bed, frightened and alone, and started to cry.

*****

Two days later the Doctor and Rose returned. Tony awoke to both of them crashing into his bedroom.

“Tony!” Rose screamed, “Drink this!” She didn’t even give him a choice: in her hand she held a vial, and she tipped Tony’s head back and poured the contents down his throat. It tasted like fruit juice, but it burnt at his insides. As soon as he managed to swallow he started to cry, and hated himself for being such a baby.

Rose slumped on the floor in relief, and Mum and Dad came rushing in. Mum gave a little sob and wrapped her arms around him.

“There,” the Doctor said. “Everybody lives.” This sounded more like a question than a fact.

Dad shot him a look.

“We did it, Mum,” Rose said breathlessly. “Just on time, Mum, just on time. He was fine-” She pulled Tony towards her and displayed his arm. “There’s nothing, see-”

“I know,” Mum said, cutting her off. “Thank you.” But she was crying as she said it.

*****

Tony remained in bed for the next few days, as well. Mum and Dad and Rose were constantly coming to entertain or talk to him, but the Doctor stayed away. Until, finally, he turned up.

“Hi,” he said. “I thought you might want to talk about what happened to you.”

“I was ill,” Tony said. “With an…alien parasite.”

There was a pause.

“Mum said…she said I might die.” Tony finally managed to say.

The Doctor frowned. “You probably weren’t meant to hear that.”

“But I was going to die, wasn’t I? And you saved me.”

“Yeah. We did. Me and Rose did.”

“What would have happened,” Tony asked, “if you hadn’t saved me?”

“The alien parasite…it’s…” The Doctor trailed off. “You would have died,” he said finally. Then he seemed to change his mind about the direction of the conversation. “You would have become something else, something not human, and then died.”

This did not quite register with Tony.

“Your mum was…Tony…she once told your sister that eventually she would become less than human, travelling with me.”

Tony, once more, did not understand, but an image of his sister flickered in his mind. A girl. An adult. A person who he knew nothing about.

The Doctor went to the window and stared out of it thoughtfully. Finally he said.

“I’m sorry that me and Rose are never here.”

Tony didn’t know what to say.

“We love our lives. It doesn’t mean we don’t love you, though, or your mum and dad.” It sounded, somehow, like those words were echoing in from very far away. “We’re off saving people and fighting people and flying through the sky. It’s not a life you can turn down, it’s not a life you can easily leave.” He looked at Tony. “I suppose you don’t know what happened to your mother and sister before you were born.”

Tony shook his head.

“Well, you’ll find out in time, I suppose. Just…Tony…be good to your mum, okay? Buy her something nice for Christmas.”

He left. He seemed different.

Tony got out of bed. Something seemed not quite right. Something seemed a bit unfair. When he in turn went to the window, he saw his sister running down the garden path, hand in hand with the Doctor. Mum was chasing after them, calling something, but they kept running and running and running.