Under the Knife

Word Count: 1088

Pairings: 10th Doctor x daughter reader

Warnings: angst, mentions of death

A/N: Feel free to drop me a request, and enjoy the story!

Summary: Your nerves gave you no rest, you tossed and turned all night. You tried to sleep, but the fear of tomorrow, it consumed your thoughts.

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Your eyes stared at the ceiling, pointing out constellations in the stars painted on it. You smiled as you remembered when you spent the afternoon painting them with your father. Your joy was short-lived whenever thoughts of tomorrow clouded your mind. You stood with a heavy sigh, choosing to give up your useless attempt at sleep. You made your way to the kitchen, hoping to have a warm cup of coffee.

“You’re not supposed to drink that.”

You lazily turned your head to see your father standing there. In truth the Doctor wasn’t really your father, but he was the man who raised you and kept you safe. Everything about your parents marriage was frowned upon, your mother was human, your father a Time Lord. Then there was you, it was illegal for you to even exist. So your parents kept you hid and safe, and for nine years you were loved by the greatest parents the universe could have given you. Then the Time War came, and just like that, they were gone. The Doctor had promised your parents he’d take care you, and he did. He loved you like you were his own daughter.

“Oh… right…” You muttered, placing the cup on the counter top.

‘That’s right, I have surgery in a few hours.’ You thought.

Although you were proud of your half human half Time Lord heritage, you had an unfortunate amount of health issues. You only had half the number of regenerations that Time Lords had, and only one heart. The Doctor, always worrying about you, insisted unless it was absolutely necessary that you didn’t use your regenerations. Which is why, that although your liver was shutting down, you weren’t going to wait for it to trigger a regeneration. There was a surgery, a few thousands years into the future, that would fix that problem. Unfortunately you were nervous and even slightly scared, but you kept that to yourself.

“Y/N!”

You jumped slightly at his raised voice. He raised and eyebrow, lips twitching up in amusement.

“What?”

“I’ve been saying your name for the last five minutes.” He chuckled.

You frowned, were you really that lost in your thoughts?

“No you haven’t.”

“You’re right, it was…” He glanced down at his watch.

“Four minutes and fifty-six seconds.”

You rolled your eyes and leaned against the counter, crossing your arms.

“Why are you awake?”

He shrugged, grabbing your cup of coffee. He gave you a smug smile as he took a drink of it. You stared at the cup of hot coffee, jealous.

“I heard you moving about. I’m not deaf, you were like an elephant crashing around in here.”

“Well you are certainly old enough to be deaf.” You replied cheekily.

“Oi!”

You laughed as you made your way out of the kitchen and to the console room. He followed behind you and you could feel his eyes on you, probably giving you a look like he was analyzing you. You spun around to face him, catching him off guard.

“What?”

He looked at you confused and you smirked.

“You’re making that face you make when you’re thinking.”

He looked shocked, as if he didn’t expect you to read him so easily.

“No I wasn’t.” He lied weakly.

You fixed him with dry look and shook your head. The Doctor walked over to you, standing beside you as you stared at the TARDIS doors. The hospital was just on the other side of them. The Doctor, being protective of you as always, wouldn’t take you to anywhere but the best hospital in this universe. You briefly consider the fact that he would most definitely would travel to a parallel universe if it meant they had a better hospital for you.

“You’re scared.”

You immediately felt on guard, you knew there was no reason to but you couldn’t help it.

“I’m not scared, Doctor.”

You never really called him dad, but he didn’t take that personally, he knew he could never replace your father. That’s not to say you’ve never called him dad, and he felt proud in those moments when you did.

“Then you’re nervous, and don’t deny it, I’ve been watching you play with your necklace all morning.” He said.

The necklace he was referring to was a simple silver chain, with your mother and father’s wedding rings on it. You cursed yourself for having such and obvious give away.

“So what if I am, I get to be cut open like a cantaloupe. You’d be nervous to.” You huffed.

“Well actually they won’t be-”

“Doctor.”

You loved him, but you didn’t want to hear him go into a detailed explanation of everything they’d be doing to you. He got the message and fell silent. Instead, he held his arm open for you and you welcomed the hug. You exhaled shakily as he held you tightly.

“You’ll be fine, Y/N. I’ll be right there when you wake up.” He promised.

You nodded, clinging to him tightly, just like you did when you lost your parents. The Doctor walked you into the hospital lobby, and they took you to a prepping room. The Doctor paced nervously, regretting drinking that coffee now that he was so wired. What felt like days to him, in reality was only a few hours, was the nurse telling him he could see you now. He impatiently followed her to your hospital room sighing in relief when he saw you were okay and just now waking up.

“Dad?”

Your voice was hoarse, a side effect of the anesthesia he assumed. He is hearts stored hearing you call him dad, it was the rare moments like that, that made him happier than most. He grabbed your hand smiling.

“Right here.”

“Everything hurts.” You groaned.

He chuckled and you gave him a sleepy smile.

“I suppose you’ve got your own little battle scar now.”

“That’s pointless, it’ll be gone when I regenerate, which is inevitable, no matter how many times you try to prevent it.” You laughed.

“I’m convinced it’s that human side of that makes you so stubborn.” He sighed.

You squeezed his hand. He’d been there for you through everything, almost gave his life for you a few times as well. He was the man who told you the most epic stories of your parents. He may not have been your birth father, but that didn’t change the fact that he was your dad.

“I love you dad.”

“I love you too, Y/N.”

He kissed your forehead, making you smile.