From Tumblr: Anon Ask - Do I 'ship the Seventh Doctor and Ace?

[nym_wibbly]

You ship Seven and Ace?
~ Anonymous

No, I don’t think there’s a romantic/attraction element to what I described as their love for each other. Of all the Doctor’s companions, I think Ace is the one he views as a daughter and a welcome balm for his ‘old-age’ loneliness - that’s what he articulates in the Big Finish ‘verse, anyway, when he articulates his feelings at all. He’s invested in her in terms of helping her reach her maximum potential, and he respects her enough to see literally super-human potential in her - someone who can stand on equal terms with the elite Time Lords, and probably teach them a thing or two.

I’m not sure what shape her love for him takes, what her investment in him became once she moved past the early hero-worship/desperate need for his approval. I’m not sure she defines it at all, beyond their own working definition of “family” - which is a statement in itself, coming from someone with the family issues Ace started with. It started out as idolisation, which became a huge vulnerability for Ace that the Doctor exploited ‘for the greater good’, but it’s something mutual, familial and strong, now. Something they both protect, as they protect one another, but something that has room for Hex and Benny as well. I can’t think of a word that fits better than ‘family’.