Miss Independant

by Authora97

Rating: mature
Tags: Romance, Science Fiction, Adventure, Human, Sad
Length: 35256

Meredith Gafford

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2016-02-20 04:18:58 UTC

Stolen Earth

Journey's End

Old Friends

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“What are you doing over there?” Gray asked.

I glanced up at my brother. “Working.”

“On?” Gray pressed.

“Work.” I answered curtly. I continued working on my Plans, with diligence. These years were my best chance of some down time.

Thinking back, I had never had as much free time as I do now. Most of the Plans I wrote on Christmas were done now, so I had the rest of my universe to sort out. Oh, it was OCD paradise.

“You know the phrase around here.” Gray began. I glared at him. “All work and no play?”

“That makes Jack a dull boy. I’m cool.” I lifted up the notepad. “This is my play.”

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“It says someone named Ellen Williams is dying.”

==NE==

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Pulling out a chair, I sat at Ellen’s bedside. She was sleeping, looking more exhausted than ever. Her skin was pale, and weak. She was barely awake at all these days. It wasn’t because of Prisoner Zero, I had checked.

The sky turned dark, reminding me of the dangers of even being here. There was a chance the Doctor would find out I was here, and then tell Rory about me. Rory would hate me after the Doctor told him about this, about Meredith Gafford.

I wanted to tell the Doctor about me, I wanted to have him give me one of his great big hugs that never stopped. I wanted to have the Doctor show me the that I was good, that I wasn’t a monster.

But, I couldn’t. The Doctor would never give me the chance. As far as he was concerned, I was the person who told Terra to save Donna. I was the person who got Terra killed. The only reason Jack liked me at all was because I was able to explain myself to him, and Gray was a completely different story.

Meredith Gafford was a monster. Meredith was a killer. Meredith was nothing but evil.

What was I, really? The Doctor’s heart was broken because of me, because I died. Now I was being blamed for my own murder because I couldn’t lie about that to the Doctor. I technically killed myself.

Now, here I was, with Terra’s friend. The friend that reminded her to be strong. How would the Doctor see it? I was trying to get rid of any positive in Terra’s life. That way, when the tune came, Terra would give into anything I said. Putting a rift between the Doctor and Terra was the first thing to do, and Harry’s death could be that rift. Next would be to ruin the ones with her friends, her family. Ellen would be a great place to start, then the other companions. The people that Terra trusted more than anyone, so River and Jack were next. Rory would go once I had Ellen.

This isn’t even my plan, but I’m doing way too good a job at being evil.

Maybe that was who I really was. That was who Meredith Gafford really is, a monster.

“Stop that.”

My eyes snapped up to Ellen’s sickly form. She was looking tiredly at me, but with that Ellen flare thrown in.

“You need to rest.” I chided.

“Stop it, Terra, now.” Ellen argued.

I sighed. She had always been able to see through my walls. “How did you know it was me?”

“I don’t know how you changed your face, but you have that look in your eyes. It was the same one you’ve had all the times I met you.” Ellen explained. “When you think you’re a monster.”

I frowned, feeling tears prick at my eyes.

“And you’re not.” Ellen stated firmly. “You never could be.”

”I poisoned the water supply, burned the crops, and laid a plague onto your houses.”

Ellen’s eyes widened. “You did?”

“No, but the Doctor’s not gonna wait around until I do.” I joked, adding a sad laugh.

“That man.” Ellen scoffed. “What’s he done to you now?”

“He hasn’t done anything.” I defended him. “Nothing I wouldn’t do if I were in his shoes.”

Then, I explained everything to Ellen. I explained the Crucible and my part in it, I explained my subsequent years back Home and later regeneration. I explained to her all the things I’ve done to my own past as Meredith because that was the way I remembered it being done. I justified the Doctor’s angry towards me.

At the end of it, Ellen gaped at me.

“I know.” I sighed. “I think poisoning the water would actually make him less angry at me.”

“He’s an idiot.” Ellen stated.

“What?” I reeled back.

“How can he not know it’s you?” Ellen continued on, as if ignoring my comment. “I’ve known you two minutes, and I knew it was you.”

“To be fair, you’re the only one of the two who has seen my ‘guilt eyes’.” I defended him again. “It’s fine, Ellen.”

Ellen didn’t share my sentiment. “You shouldn’t have to make yourself lower, just so the Doctor doesn’t.”

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“I’ll call him tonight.” I promised, grabbing Ellen’s hand. Tears were pouring onto my cheeks as she coughed. “I’ll call him and we’ll talk. Okay? I promise. Just please don’t die.”

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It stopped, just as the Atraxi flew away.

==NE==

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“Tell the Curator I want to speak with him.” I said, keeping my head under my head.

The secretary tsked. “Who do I say is coming?”

I looked up at her, a tired but determined look in my pale green eyes. “Tell him Meredith Gafford wants to talk.”

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==NE==

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The Curator hadn’t changed since I saw him last.

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“Terra.” The older Time Lord smiled at me.

I tried to mask the pain at that name. “I go by Meredith these days.”

“You’ll always be Terra to me.” The Curator said, which made my hearts flutter.

I tried to push the feeling away. It was harder in this body. She was more emotional than any other body I’ve had.

“For my sake, please.” I asked. My voice was low, and it came out as a plea.

The Curator sighed, walking closer to me. The hand not holding a walker cupped my cheek. My eyes fluttered, my knees became weak. Body from the 52nd century, I officially hate you.

“For your sake, I won’t stop.” The Curator said, brushing some of my loose blonde strands away.

I stepped back before I could moan. Damn, I hated when Future Doctors just tore me open like that. I needed to make a Rule against this treatment.

To get us back on track, I took a deep breath to get back to my original point. “After you learn the truth, do you think I’m a monster?”

The Curator sighed. “I had almost forgotten how little you thought of yourself, back in those days.”

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On My Heart Like A Tattoo

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Jack, Gray, and I were in a futuristic bar. It had been quite some time since the 456 attack, we were still licking our wounds.

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So while he drank at the bar, I played guitar on stage. The aliens here liked exotic music, and somehow my earth country qualified. The people (I use the term loosely) sitting close to the stage seemed to enjoy my song. Smiles and glances from Jack and Gray told me they liked it too.

Thing was, it was actually a kinda depressingly upbeat song. “I wanna be an earthquake driver, I wanna be an aquarium diver. I just don’t wanna go home.”

What even was home anymore? With Jack and Gray, as Meredith Harkness/Gafford. It wasn’t with the Doctor, as Terra Song Two, since the man hated my face and I was too anxious to tell him the truth. It wasn’t on my Earth, as Queen Morgan Spencer. “I live alone, but I am hungry for affection. I just struggle with connection til the water calls me home.” Home was always wherever the Doctor was, but I couldn’t be with him until our time lines synced back up, or until Day of the-

Just thinking about my encounter with Eleven made me flinch. I remember Nightmare in Silver, having to explain to the Doctor how Meredith had to be a friend from Home. He didn’t listen, choosing only to lash out at me. “Down under the ocean among millions of other lonely people, drowning among the only people we are ever going to know.” I kept playing, trying to ignore those thoughts drifting back in my mind. Gray gave me a reassuring grin, while Jack just toasted his drink at me.

“I wanna be an earthquake driver, I wanna be an aquarium diver. I just don’t wanna go home.” I sang. “I wanna be like the people I see. They want a rover just like me. I wanna stay but what keeps me away is I’m tied into the lightning line. I wanna see if the sun is shining, long night’s just a waste of time.”

My song paused, seeing someone hand Jack a note. I checked the seat besides his, finding Alonso.

‘How did I not know he was here?’ I asked myself, glancing to where the Doctor stood stoically.

Jack looked in the direction I was, apparently noticing my pause. The Doctor smiled at him.

“I don’t wanna see people like me, just sleeping and waking and hoping and hating and you look at me like I’m some kind of carnival attraction.” I sang, hoping to get Jack’s attention. The immortal man turned to me, as if waiting for permission. “You say love is an abstraction, just some ghost that you chase. Well, I am a cypher, I am a blank space, filled up with words you remember from whenever you saw my face.”

‘Don’t let your friendship with him being ruined because of me. One, I’d never let you live down becoming one of the cliches.’ I projected into his mind. ‘Two, I would hate myself for being the thing that drove you apart.’

Jack frowned, tapping a finger against his drink. Gray just looked on confused, glancing between our brother and I. To assure them both, I smiled.

“I wanna be an earthquake driver, I wanna be an aquarium diver. I just don’t wanna go home.” I embellished a little with the next chorus, trying to encourage my brother to move on and just look at Alonso. Seriously, the guy was at least an eight! “I wanna be like the people I see. Hey man, they want a rover just like me. I wanna stay but what keeps me away is I’m plugged into the lightning line. I wanna be where the sun is shining, all night chasing time.”

The immortal looked to the Space Titanic’s last surviving crew member, and smiled. I did too, although mine wasn’t to flirt.

“I don’t wanna see people like me just creeping and waking and hoping and hating and now what is the price for all of this fame and self-absorption.” Gray turned to me, giving a thumb’s-up. Jack had officially gotten a date, and would officially get laid. About damn time. “We turn ourselves into orphans and then spend our nights alone, living in fear of some imaginary consequence. Terror, incognito, ob-la-di, li-bi-do.”

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“Truth is, I don’t wanna be an earthquake driver. And I do not want to be an aquarium diver. But hey, I just don’t wanna go home. Oh man, I just don’t wanna go home.”

“Oh, I do not wanna go home.”

==NE==

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“I need to go, Jack.” I said.

Jack had an accepting frown on his face. “For how long?”

“As long as it takes.” I admitted. “I know the Doctor that fits my timeline come around in five years, I can wait until then.”

“Mere, just tell him now.” Jack requested.

“You know why I can’t.” I sighed, feeling sad at this argument coming around again. “It would break his hearts.”

“Good. Let them break.” Jack argued, harshly.

“Don’t you dare say that, like you wouldn’t be acting any different if I wasn’t related to you.” I snapped. “If I was just some random person, and I killed Terra for some random reason, you would be as pissed off as the Doctor if not angrier!”

“Except you aren’t a random girl.” Jack said, putting his arms on my shoulders. “And you didn’t kill Terra for a random reason, you just did what you needed to from what you remembered.”

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“You don’t have to explain yourself to him!” Jack yelled. “If anything he needs to explain himself to you!”

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==NE==

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The door opened. I tearfully looked up at the man opening the door.

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“Missy.” I hiccuped.

The Mistress stared her cold brown eyes at me. “Yes, dear?” She said. Apparently hiding suspicious behavior was a skill she picked up.

“I need help.”

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I held up my necklace. Missy’s eyes widened.

“Do I have your time now?” I asked, half glaring at her.

Missy backed away from the door, a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. I rolled my eyes at that. “But of course, love.”

I stepped in, looking around at the house full of the dead.

Missy held her arms out. “I always have a space for my little sister.”

Instead of arguing, I walked up to her and accepted the hug. Despite my efforts I started sobbing on her shoulder.

==NE==

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“Oh. Poor dearie.” Missy held out her teapot. “Little splosh?”

I nodded, grabbing the tea cup. She poured the tea, giving me a glance over. Picking up the cup, I gave her a warning look.

“I won’t kill you with tea.” Missy laughed. “What kind of monster do you take me for?”

“The kind who would kill me with the sugar cubes.” I teased, putting the cup back down.

Missy grinned. “Ah, you brilliant girl.”

Oh, she’s a lady psychopath. The most dangerous thing on the planet. My wife is one, my twin is one, and now my adopted little brother is one.

Wait. She called me little sister earlier. “You called me the little sister.”

“I’m much older than you now, love.” Missy teased. “Much, much older.”

“You have the lines to prove it.” I teased back.

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“Download the mind, upgrade the body.” I tsked. “Still see through your plans, Missy, always could.”

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==NE==

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“Our boyfriend’ll be coming soon.” Missy said, fixing up her dress.

“My husband.” I corrected. “Not your boyfriend. I am not against killing you in a jealous rage.”

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Dark Water

Death in Heaven

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Missy: “Look at them! My boys.

The Doctor: “Cybermen in broad daylight? You think people won’t notice?

(They notice, and out come the smart phones to take the photographs. Missy unpins her hat and puts it on the ground at a Cyberman’s feet.)

Missy: “Photos with the big metal men, one pound.

(Several coins are thrown into her hat.)

Missy: “Oh, honey!

(One teenage lad takes a selfie of himself, a Cyberman and his girlfriend.)

BOY: “There you go.

GIRL: “Oh, cool. Cool!

(Suddenly the location changes to Cardiff, between The Friary and Queen Street. You can tell because the steps have vanished and a Travelodge and shopping area have appeared, with Live Lounge on the corner.)

Missy: “New York. Paris. Rome. Marrakesh. Brisbane. Glasgow. Everywhere. Anywhere. Me and my boys. We’re going viral.

(Missy shows him on her steampunk style smart phone.)

Osgood: “Would you like me to take a picture? Sorry, selfies are never as good, are they? And you’re having a lovely moment. Hang on!

(Osgood snatches Missy’s ‘phone’. The Doctor grabs Missy’s arm.)

Missy: “No, just

The Doctor: “Nice bow tie.

Osgood: “Bow ties are cool. Big smiles, and now!

(Weapons are taken from pushchairs and backpacks. Soldiers come out of the buildings on both sides.)

SOLDIERS: “Move, move, move! Stand by. Surround target. Hold back!

(Once the scene is secure, a blonde woman walks up holding something behind her back.)

Kate: “Afternoon. You’ve picked a lovely day for it. My, don’t you look shiny. (to the Doctor) Haircut?

The Doctor: “Bit of a trim.

Kate: “Might want to do your roots. The woman.

SOLDIER: “Yes, ma’am.

(Missy is held by two soldiers. Kate Lethbridge Stewart addresses the serried ranks of Cybermen.)

SOLDIER: “Yes, ma’am.

(Missy is held by two soldiers. Kate Lethbridge Stewart addresses the serried ranks of Cybermen.)

Kate: “Kate Stewart. Divorcee, mother of two, keen gardener, outstanding bridge player. Also Chief Scientific Officer, Unified Intelligence Taskforce, who currently have you surrounded.

CYBERMAN: “Human weaponry is not effective against Cyber technology.

Kate: “Sorry, you left this behind on one of your previous attempts.

(She throws down a battered Mondas Cyberman head. A soldier brings the Doctor forward to stand next to her.)

Kate: “So now that I have your attention, welcome to the only planet in the universe where we get to say this. He’s on the payroll.

The Doctor: “Am I?

Kate: “Well, technically.

The Doctor: “How much?

Kate: “Shush. Any questions?

(As one, the Cybermen thump the blue disc in the middle of their chests and stamp their feet on the ground. Dust is blown everywhere as little engines in their feet start up. Missy smiles.)

(As one, the Cybermen thump the blue disc in the middle of their chests and stamp their feet on the ground. Dust is blown everywhere as little engines in their feet start up. Missy smiles.)

SOLDIER: “Back, back, everyone, back!

(The Cybermen zoom up into the air, and out of sight. Osgood turns around to see the lead covering of the dome of St Paul’s peeling back like a Chocolate Orange.)

Osgood: “Oh, my God! Is it supposed to do that? Is that new?

The Doctor: “A sun roof on Saint Paul’s? Yes, I’d say that was new.

Kate: “There’s going to be mass panic. Everyone in London can see that.

(More Cybermen fly out of the dome.)

The Doctor: “Everyone in London just clapped and went whee. Hush, I’m trying to count.

Osgood: “Eighty seven, I think. OCD.

Missy: “Ninety one. Queen of evil.

Kate: “How could Saint Paul’s be full of ninety one Cybermen and nobody noticed?

The Doctor: “Dimensional engineering. One space folded inside another. Bigger on the inside. Easy if you’re a Time Lord.

Osgood: “Mostly deploying south, a smaller number east.

The Doctor: “Yep, but one straight up.

Osgood: “So ninety one isn’t a coincidence?

The Doctor: “Of course it isn’t.

(He takes Missy’s ‘phone’ from Osgood.)

Kate: “Osgood? Ninety one. Explain.

Osgood: “Ninety one areas of significant population density in the British Isles.

The Doctor: “That’s one Cyberman for every city and major town. It’s happening everywhere, all over the world, right now.

Missy: “Sweet planet, this. I think I might keep it.

Kate: “One Cyberman per city. What could they hope to accomplish?

Osgood: “Doctor!

(The Cyberman that flew straight up has detonated itself.)

Kate: “Has it exploded?

Missy: “More than that. Cybermen don’t just blow themselves up for no good reason, dear. They’re not human.

The Doctor: “If it’s not exploding, what’s it doing?

Missy: “Pollinating. Falling like rain into the cracks of the Earth.” “The dead are coming home, Doctor. All shiny and new. In twenty four hours the human race as you know it will cease to exist.

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The Doctor: “What are you doing? Explain. Tell me now.

(A soldier fires a dart into Missy’s neck and she crumples at the knees.)

Missy: “Oh! That was nice. Must do it again.

The Doctor: “No. No, no, no, no, I need to talk to her! I need her awake.

(The Doctor gets sedated too, but he manages to remove the dart before collapsing. Two soldiers gently lower him to the ground.)

The Doctor: “Argh! No. No, no. Stupid. Stupid! No, no. Argh!

(Osgood kneels over the Doctor. Kate phones in the situation.)

Kate: “The first protocol is implemented. We’re good to go.

Osgood: “You just have to let it take you.

(The Doctor pulls her close and whispers in her ear before finally passing out.)

Kate: “What did he say?

Terra: “Guard the graveyards.

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==NE==

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MAN: “Right. Be careful with it. Be careful. Take your time.

The Doctor: “Kate? What’s with the handcuffs?

Kate: “I’m sorry. In the event of an alien incursion on this scale, protocols are in place. Your co-operation is to be ensured and your unreliability assumed. You have a history.

The Doctor: “You don’t have a future without me. Do you think your father would’ve done this?

Kate: “We both know he absolutely would.” (Still unconscious Missy is wheeled in on her box trolley.) “Who is she?

The Doctor: “Long story. Where’s Clara?

Kate: “Clara Oswald, your assistant?

The Doctor: “My friend. She was with me in Saint Paul’s.

Kate: “The team’s still on site but they’ve been unable to gain access to the building.

The Doctor: “I want her found and brought here. I need her with me.

Kate: “Then give the order. As soon as you’re on board Boat One your word is law. Quite literally.

(They go up the steps with the UNIT logo on them to the airplane. The Doctor stops halfway and looks around.)

The Doctor: “You got the TARDIS out, though?

Kate: “Yes, and Saint Paul’s locked down.

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==NE==

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The Doctor: “Where are we going? Cloudbase?

Kate: “You mean the Valiant?

Osgood: “Cloudbase was Thunderbirds.

Kate: “Too conspicuous. We need your location concealed, not advertised. From now on you’re a moving target.

(The Doctor looks at a portrait of Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart on the bulkhead.) The Doctor: “Ah, I see you’re bringing Daddy along, too. That’s very sweet.

(An Indian Army officer salutes the Doctor.) AHMED: “Sir.

The Doctor: “Oh, don’t do that. You look like you’re self-concussing, which would explain all of military history, now I think about it.

AHMED: “Colonel Ahmed, sir. Privileged to meet you.

The Doctor: “Love your outfit, Colonel Ahmed. Are you in the Scouts? Are you a Man Scout? I didn’t know they had those.” (The Doctor walks away to get a hot drink from the sideboard. Osgood walks past Ahmed.)

AHMED: “It was Captain Scarlet.

Osgood: “Sorry?

AHMED: “Not Thunderbirds.

Osgood: “Oh God, so it was,

The Doctor: “My confidence is growing every minute.

(Kate informs the cockpit of their status.) Kate: “The President and the First Lady are on board.”

The Doctor: “Mind you, me and Sylvia Anderson, you’ve never seen a foxtrot like it. Hang on a second. The President and the President’s wife? We don’t want Americans bobbing around the place. They’ll only start praying.”

I sat up, glaring at him. “Well that was hearts warming.”

AHMED: “Not the President of America, sir. The President of Earth.”

(The Doctor sits at the head of the table and puts a large quantity of sugar lumps into his cup of frothy coffee.)

The Doctor: “There isn’t one.

AHMED: “There is now.

Kate: “The incursion protocols have been agreed internationally. In the event of full-scale invasion, an Earth President is inducted immediately, with complete authority over every nation state. There was only one practical candidate.

“That’s your answer for everything, isn’t it? Vote for an idiot.” The Doctor sipped his tea.

“Whatever you think, Mister President.” I took a gulp of my tea.

The Doctor paused, looking up at the lot of us.

“So long as you’re on this plane, you’re the Commander in Chief of every army on Earth. Every world leader is currently awaiting your instructions. You are the Chief Executive Officer of the human race. Any questions?

CAPTAIN: “This is your captain speaking. Please prepare for take-off.

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==NE==

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The Doctor: “Why are you still alive?

Missy: “You saved me.

The Doctor: “I saved Gallifrey.

Missy: “Yes, Gallifrey too, I suppose. There’s always collateral damage with you and me. It’s our Paris.

The Doctor: “Gallifrey’s lost in another dimension.

Missy: “Yes and no.

The Doctor: “Meaning?

Missy: “Yes, it’s in another dimension. No, it’s not lost.

The Doctor: “You know where it is?

Missy: “Yep! You know the best part about knowing? (sotto) Not telling you.

AHMED: “Mister President, sir, we’re ready for you up here.

The Doctor: “Remember all those years when all you wanted to do was to rule the world? On my way.

AHMED: “Thank you, Mister President.

The Doctor: “Piece of cake.

(He goes to see what Osgood is working on.)

Osgood: “Oh, er, it’s her little device thingy. I thought there might be useful information on it. Who is she?

The Doctor: “You’d never believe me if I told you.

Osgood: “Cos I thought she might be the Master, regenerated into female form? Your childhood friend, responsible for a number of previous incursions.

The Doctor: “That was fairly quick.

Osgood: “We do have files on all our ex-prime ministers. She wasn’t even the worst. Doctor, there’s something nobody’s talking about.

The Doctor: “Which is?

Osgood: “The clouds caused by the exploding Cybermen, they haven’t dispersed. They’re still there. In fact, they’ve expanded and are covering almost all the land masses. We’re all looking at the graveyards. Maybe we should be looking up? What do you think?

The Doctor: “All of time and space?

Osgood: “Sorry?

The Doctor: “Just something for your bucket list.

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==NE==

NEWS REPORT: “Localised rain in the cemeteries has resulted in what can only be described as disturbances to the soil. Extraordinary eyewitness accounts are claiming that silver creatures are climbing from the graves.

(Other people, both military and civilian, are also at this briefing.)

Kate: “These scenes are being repeated everywhere. Every cemetery, every mortuary, every funeral home, every hospital, the dead are returning to life as Cybermen.

NEWS REPORT: “The public are being advised to stay away from all cemeteries.

Kate: “We’ve done heat scans of some of the cemeteries and, in each case only a handful of Cybermen have so far emerged. But every individual burial site is active.”

AHMED: “Active?

The Doctor: “Hatching.

Kate: “More are coming. Potentially millions.

AHMED: “So the rain caused all that in just a few hours?

The Doctor: “It wasn’t rain, Man Scout. It was pollen. Cyber-pollen. Every tiny particle of a Cyberman contains the plans to make another Cyberman. All it has to do is to make a contact with compatible living organic matter and bang! Full conversion. But if they have learned how to convert the dead.

(He looks at the monitor showing Missy down in the Cargo Hold.)

The Doctor: “That’s what she was doing. That’s what 3W was for. She creates an all-new paranoia among the super-rich about dying. She exploits the wealth and the mortal remains of selected idiots so she can create a whole new race of Cybermen. Cybermen who can recruit corpses. Throw away your guns, Man Scout, it’s all over. How can you win a war against an enemy that can weaponise the dead?

AHMED: “They’re not attacking, apart from isolated incidents. They’re just wandering about.

The Doctor: “They’re newborns. Give them time. Why were you there this morning? Why were you already attacking?

Kate: “Been investigating 3W for a while, then we got a tip-off.

AHMED: “From a woman with a Scottish accent.

The Doctor: “Can’t play to the gallery unless there’s a gallery, and here I am.

(Missy sticks her tongue out.)

The Doctor: “Dead bodies don’t have minds, of course, but she’s been upgrading dying minds to a hard drive for a long time. So she upgrades the hardware, and then she updates the software.

Kate: “What do you mean, a long time? How long?

The Doctor: “Well, she must have a TARDIS somewhere, so as long as she likes. The past, the future

Kate: “How long, Doctor?

The Doctor: “How long has the human race had a concept of an afterlife? Turns out the afterlife is real, and it’s emptying. Every graveyard on planet Earth is about to burst its banks.

Kate: “Mister President, you need to get back in your seat.

The Doctor: “I don’t like being the president. People keep saluting. I’m never going to salute back.

(The Doctor inhales the fragrance of a lily he has taken from a vase in front of the Brigadier’s portrait.)

Kate: “Do you know, that was always my dad’s big ambition, to get you to salute him just once.

The Doctor: “He should’ve asked.

Kate: “Doctor, what are you looking at?

The Doctor: “The clouds. Still there. So what else have they got?

(A silver face appears at the porthole. 11 Oct 1963 - Nightmare at 20,000 feet Twilight Zone episode starring William Shatner, anyone?)

Kate: “Oh, dear Lord!

The Doctor: “There’s a Cyberman out there on the fuselage. But on the plus side, it’s not turbulence.

(Then he looks at the monitor showing the laboratory.)

The Doctor: “She’s out. Who let her out?

Ahmed: “What’s it doing? Where did it go? What can one Cyberman do to a plane

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==NE==

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Missy: “Oh, she was really scared. It’s classic. Have you got any more friends I can play with?”

“Oh, oooh. Ask me.”

The Doctor: “Shut up!”

Missy: “Ask me! Come on, you know you want to. You want to know what my plan is. You’ll be surprised. I’ve got a gift for you. You know, I’ve been up and down your timeline, meeting all those silly people who died to keep you alive. And you know what I worked out? What you really need.”

The Doctor: “For what?”

Missy: “To know that you’re just like me!”

(The TARDIS phone rings.)

Missy: “Oh, and now it begins. Doctor, I do believe you’re on call. Miss Oswald expects. Who else but the girl who’s got your number? Whoops!”

The Doctor: “It was you!”

Missy: “(Cockney) Computer helpline, love. That’s the one. Best helpline in the universe.”

The Doctor: “You put us together.”

Missy: “No, I put you and your wife together. Clara was the one who kept you that way.”

The Doctor: “Why?”

Missy: “Cos she’s perfect, innit? The control freak and the man who should never be controlled. You’d go to hell if she asked. And she is. The phone’s ringing, Doctor. Can you hear that? Now that is the sound of your chain being yanked. Heel, Doctor! (as Clara) Help me, Doctor. Help me. Help me, Doctor.”

The Doctor: “Clara?”

Clara: “Doctor. With Danny.”

The Doctor: “Danny’s dead, Clara.”

Clara: “Not yet. Not quite. But he wants to be.”

The Doctor: “Clara-”

(Danny is crying nearby.)

The Doctor: “Clara?

Clara: “He’s a Cyberman. Doctor, Danny’s a Cyberman, and he’s crying. Doctor, he feels it. He’s crying.

The Doctor: “I know what it does. If you turn it on he’ll become a Cyberman.

Clara: “He’s already a Cyberman.

The Doctor: “Not yet, he isn’t.

Clara: “He’s hurting because I hurt him and he wants it to stop.

The Doctor: “Stop the pain and he’ll kill you!

Clara: “Look, are you going to help me, because I can’t do this alone.

The Doctor: “I’m not going to help you commit suicide.

Clara: “Look, the TARDIS can home in on this call, right? Either you help me, or you leave me alone.

The Doctor: “Clara? Clara, no

Kate: “Doctor! The Cybermen are in. The plane’s going down.

Missy: “Oh, great. It’s the daughter one. Do you like her? I like her.

(Kate grabs onto a cargo strap as Missy makes the airplane veer sharply. The Doctor grabs another one. Then Missy opens the cargo hatch and Kate is sucked out, screaming.)

Kate: “Aaaaaargh!

The Doctor: “Why did you do that? You didn’t have to do that!

Missy: “Oh, don’t be so selfish. I’m going to miss her, too. In fact, you know what? Just for that, I’m leaving. Boys, blow up this plane and, I don’t know, Belgium, yeah? Kill some Belgians. Might as well. They’re not even French. Byeeee!

(Missy teleports herself away. The Doctor is hanging on for dear life.)

The Doctor: “Aaah! Aaah!

(The airplane goes BOOM!)

The Doctor: “Argh! Argh!

(More)

==NE==

(More)

The Doctor: “Clara, don’t!

(The other Cybermen are standing around, watching.)

Clara: “Help me.

The Doctor: “If you do what you’re trying to do, if you succeed, he will snap you.

Clara: “No.

The Doctor: “Then he will step over your broken body and break another and another and another. He will never stop.

Cyber-Danny: “I will not harm her.

The Doctor: “P E. P E. P E.

Cyber-Danny: “Sir.

The Doctor: “I had a friend once. We ran together when I was little. And I thought we were the same. But when we grew up, we weren’t. Now, she’s trying to tear the world apart, and I can’t run fast enough to hold it together. The difference is this. (The Doctor puts his hand over Danny’s chest disc.) “Pain is a gift. Without the capacity for pain, we can’t feel the hurt we inflict.

Cyber-Danny: “Are you telling me seriously, for real, that you can?

The Doctor: “Of course I can.

Cyber-Danny: “Then shame on you, Doctor.

The Doctor: “Yes. Oh, yes.

(The dark clouds rumble overhead.)

The Doctor: “Danny, Danny, I need you to tell me. What are the clouds going to do? What is the plan?

Cyber-Danny: “How would I know?

The Doctor: “You’re part of a hive mind now. Presumably that’s how you found Clara. Just look.

Cyber-Danny: “I can’t see much.

The Doctor: “Look harder.

Cyber-Danny: “Clara, watch this. This is who the Doctor is. Watch the blood-soaked old general in action. I can’t see properly, sir, because this needs activating. If you want to know what’s coming, you have to switch it on. And didn’t all of those beautiful speeches just disappear in the face of a tactical advantage? Sir.

The Doctor: “(sighs) I need to know. I need to know.

Cyber-Danny: “(sotto)Clara:(normal) Yes, you do.

Clara: “Give me the screwdriver.

The Doctor: “No.

Clara: “Just do it, Doctor. Do as you are told.

Cyber-Danny: “Typical officer. Got to keep those hands clean.

(The Doctor walks away.)

Clara: “Just point and think, yeah?

The Doctor: “Yes.

Clara: “Okay. I wasn’t very good at it, but I did love you.

Cyber-Danny: “I love you too.

Clara: “I’m never going to say that again.

Cyber-Danny: “Me neither.

Clara: “Ready?

Cyber-Danny: “Yeah.

(Clara cries.)

Clara: “I feel like I’m killing you.

Cyber-Danny: “I’m already dead. You’re here this time at least.

Clara: “Goodbye, Danny.

Cyber-Danny: “Goodbye, Clara.

(She activates the screwdriver. Danny’s face goes blank and he straightens up. Clara turns off the screwdriver and goes to hug him.)

The Doctor: “Clara, no! Step away! He’s activating! Clara, step away now! Don’t. Danny. Danny, if you can hear me, if you’re still there, what are the clouds going to do?

Cyber-Danny: “The rain will fall again. All humanity will die.

The Doctor: “And rise again as Cybermen.

Cyber-Danny: “Correct.

The Doctor: “How do we stop it?

Cyber-Danny: “We cannot be stopped.

(Missy beams herself in as Mary Poppins, floating gently to the ground under her umbrella.) Missy: “Oh, that was brilliant! Oh, I love the telly here, but did you see that? Oh, Clara, you poor thing. You must feel like death. Let me pop away the pain.”

(Missy starts to tap at her thingy. The Doctor grabs it and throws it away.)

The Doctor: “Don’t you dare! Don’t you think about it!”

Missy: “Oh, sorry, hon, I’m just getting a bit carried away. It’s your friends, they’re so more-ish. Hmm?”

(Clara picks up Missy’s thingy and returns to Cyber-Danny’s manly metal chest.)

Missy: “Oh, stop looking all cross-pants. I’m here to give you a gift. Could you at least try and be excited?”

The Doctor: “What gift?”

(Missy speaks into her bracelet.)

Missy: “Cyberdears!

Missy: “Look at Mummy! Raise your arms. Lower your arms. Raise your right. Lower your right. Turn on the spot. There are exits at the front and rear of the aircraft. Please follow the lights up the aisle. You see, Doctor? The power to slaughter whole worlds at a time, then make them do a safety briefing. Everyone who ever lived, man, woman and child, is now at my command. An indestructible army to rage across the universe. The more they kill, the more they recruit. Happy birthday. Oh! You didn’t know, did you? It’s lucky one of us remembers these things. Happy birthday (as Marilyn Monroe) Mister President.

(She puts her control bracelet on the Doctor’s wrist then backs away and curtseys.)

CYBERMAN: “Doctor.

(The Cybermen bow their heads to him.)

Missy: “Tiny bit pleased? Oh, go on, crack a smile. I want to see if your eyebrows drop off.

The Doctor: “All of this. All of it, just to give me an army?

Missy: “Well, I don’t need one, do I? Armies are for people who think they’re right. And nobody thinks they’re righter than you. Give a good man firepower, and he’ll never run out of people to kill.

The Doctor: “I don’t want an army!”

Missy: “Well, that’s the trouble! Yes, you do! You’ve always wanted one! All those people suffering in the Dalek camps? Now you can save them. All those bad guys winning all the wars? Go and get the good guys back.

The Doctor: “Nobody can have that power.

Missy: “You will, because you don’t have a choice. There’s only way you can stop these clouds from opening up and killing all your little pets down here. Conquer the universe, Mister President. Show a bad girl how it’s done.

(Missy gives the Doctor a deep curtsy. The Doctor rips the bracelet off.)

The Doctor: “Why are you doing this?

Missy: “I need you to know we’re not so different. I need my friend back. Every battle, every war, every invasion. From now on, you decide the outcome. What’s the matter, Mister President? Don’t you trust yourself?

(More)

The Doctor: “Thank you. Thank you so much.” He kissed her cheek.

“Jealous rage.” I coughed.

The Doctor grinned at me. I knew he may not have realized he was smiling at me, but I felt butterflies.

No. He did realize. He was giving me that smile. The smile the Doctor only gave me when he was just so in disbelief that I was his. He was giving that look to me. Me. Meredith Gafford.

No. Terra Two.

“I really didn’t know. I wasn’t sure. You lose sight sometimes. Thank you! I am not a good man!” The Doctor excitedly ranted. “I am not a bad man. I am not a hero. And I’m definitely not a president. And no, I’m not an officer. Do you know what I am? I am an idiot!”

“About time.” I grinned.

The Doctor smiled at me. “You’ve been calling me that as long as I have known you. It just took me a bit longer than usual to get.”

I laughed. “Finally! Something we can agree on.”

The Doctor nodded, “I am an idiot, with a box and a screwdriver. Just passing through, helping out, learning. I don’t need an army. I never have, because I’ve got them. Always them.

“Love isn’t an emotion.” I looked at the Doctor. “It’s a promise. And he could never hurt her.”

I wasn’t talking about Danny and Clara.

The Doctor nodded. “P E, catch!”

(The control bracelet lands in Cyber-Danny’s hand.)

The Doctor: “You didn’t notice, did you? While you were doing all your silly orders, while you were showing off, the one soldier not obeying.

Missy: “No, that’s wrong. That’s impossible.

CYBER-DANNY: “The rain will not fall.

(He lets go of Clara and puts on the control bracelet as he walks towards Missy.)

Missy: “Oh? Why won’t it?

CYBER-DANNY: “The clouds will burn.

Missy: “And who’ll burn them?

CYBER-DANNY: “I will burn them.

Missy: “How?

CYBER-DANNY: “I will burn.

Missy: “One burning Cyberman is hardly going to save the planet.

CYBER-DANNY: “Correct.

(He speaks into the bracelet.)

CYBER-DANNY: “Attention!

(The Cyber-Army spring to attention.)

CYBER-DANNY: “This is not a good day. This is Earth’s darkest hour. And look at you miserable lot. We are the Fallen. But today, we shall rise. The army of the dead will save the land of the living. This is not the order of a general, nor the whim of a lunatic.

Missy: “Excuse me?

CYBER-DANNY: “This is a promise. The promise of a soldier! (to Clara) You will sleep safe tonight.

(Cyber-Danny ignites his rocket boots and rises from the ground. All the Cybermen do the same. They fly off into the clouds and explode, burning them away and letting the sunshine through. London, New York, the night sky at Sydney clears The Doctor:ll of flame.)

The Doctor: “Yes, burned up. Totally burnt. Burnt to nothing. Sorry.

Missy: “Ten zero eleven, zero zero by zero two.”

The Doctor: “What did you say?”

Missy: “The current coordinates of Gallifrey. It’s returned to it’s original location. Didn’t you ever think to look?

The Doctor: “You are lying!

Missy: “We can, we can go together, just you and me. Just like the old days.

The Doctor: “You’d be clapped in irons.

Missy: “If you like.

Clara: “Doctor, I’m assuming you’ll remember those coordinates?” (Clara holds out Missy’s thingy towards her.)

The Doctor: “No. No, don’t you dare. I won’t let you.

Clara: “Old friend, is she? If you have ever let this creature live, everything that happened today, is on you. All of it, on you. And you’re not going to let her live again.

The Doctor: “Clara, all I’m doing is not letting you kill her. I never said I was letting her live.

Clara: “Really?

The Doctor: “If that’s the only thing that will stop you, yes.

(Clara hands over the thingy.)

Missy: “Seriously. Oh, Doctor. To save her soul? But who, my dear, will save yours? Say something nice. Please?

The Doctor: “You win.

Missy: “I know.

(The Doctor prepares to vaporise Missy, but another energy bolt gets there first. It was a Cyberman with a dark chest disc. It points to something lying amongst the gravestones.)

Clara: “Doctor!

(They run to where Kate is lying on the ground.)

The Doctor: “Kate. She’s breathing! She’s alive! She can’t be here.

Clara: “She is.

The Doctor: “She fell out of a plane. The Cyberman must have caught her.

Clara: “Doctor, she’s talking about her dad.

The Doctor: “Of course. The Earth’s darkest hour and mine. Where else would you be?

(The Doctor salutes the spirit of Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge Stewart. It acknowledges with a bow of its head then blasts off into the wide blue yonder.)

The Doctor: “(sotto) Thank you.

(More)

==NE==

Coming back into the TARDIS after nearly a decade away felt like being given a hug by your mother. There was a soft hum vibrating in my mind, making me feel relaxed and calm. It was the best feeling ever, and I loved it.

I walked on the metal floor, loving the echo of my shoes in the console room. The Old Girl hummed loudly, as if she had been waiting for me too. I gripped the console, taking a deep whiff of the room. The Doctor’s books gave it an old smell. The metal added some copper to it.

The Doctor walked in behind me, a slowness to his steps. He came up to my side, but didn’t put a hand on me. His gaze was stuck on the console. I knew it. I just knew it, that he was ashamed of me. I had let him think I was dead for a thousand years because I was scared of what he would think of me. Story, I was so selfish.

“I’m sorry.” The words flew out of my mouth. “I am so sorry, please don’t-”

The Doctor reached out, holding my hand. “No.” He said, his Scottish lilt making it almost boom. He looked up at me, his dark blue eyes boring into mine. I wanted to look away, but he always did have that ability to keep our gazes locked. “No.” He repeated.

“She lied Doctor.” I told him. “Totally, and completely lied. Gallifrey isn’t there, I’m sorry. I told her not to-”

The Doctor’s blue eyes silenced me again. I almost pulled my hand away, wanting to wring my fingers in my nervousness, but I would take any hand holding he gave. It could be my last.

“How?” The Doctor asked, gently squeezing my hand.

I could see it in his eyes what he was asking. He wanted to know how I survived. “The Bad Wolf. She moved me to Earth, 2007.”

His eyes widened. “That was seven years ago.”

“Eight.” I corrected. “For me, at least.” I shrugged. “I wanted to see you, every day.”

The Doctor frowned. He looked down at our joined hands. I looked down too, and was slightly surprised at what I was seeing. My thumb had come out from his hold, and was gently brushing his knuckles. His leathery skin might as well have been silk. I didn’t want to make him uneasy and bring him into a hug, I know how much Twelve hated those.

“Terra.”

I looked back to him, for a split second seeing the sadness in his blue eyes. He hid it well, but if you knew what to look for you could see it clear as day. I threw caution out into the time vortex. My free hand reached up, touching his cheek. His hard exterior softened slightly at this. His skin was cool, like I remembered it.

“Eight years.” I murmured, finding myself mesmerized in the feel of his skin under mine. “Did you always look so handsome?”

The Doctor scoffed, rolling his eyes. “No, that was bowtie.”

Instead of whacking him or elbowing him in the gut, I giggled. “No, it was you.” I gave him a kind smile and cupped his cheek. I somehow had the courage to maintain eye contact. The Doctor was practically pleading with me. He wanted me to tell him all the things he didn’t believe, he wanted me to prove that I was here, that I was his and I wouldn’t leave him again. “It was always you.”

My eyes had to be asking the same thing, because the Doctor grinned. I wanted him to hold me and never let me go. I wanted him to whisper my name in my ear, while I whispered his own to him. I wanted him to trust me again, to be someone he trusted again.

His smile put me on edge, it always did. Nothing good happened to me when Twelve smiled like that, like he had whipped cream on his hand and I was defenseless. His free arm reached out behind me, wrapping around my waist. Before I could get a word out, the Doctor pushed his lips on mine.

At first, I wanted to push him away. My body had other ideas, reaching out to grab ahold of his jacket and neck. I pressed my body to his, not breaking the kiss for the life of me. The Doctor seemed just as reluctant to part. His other hand was now free, he used it to take hold of my blonde hair.

The intensity of the kiss grew faster than my heartbeats. The Doctor pushed his tongue into my mouth, laying claim to it. He searched my mouth with it, as if finding every new contour and new flavor. I let him have his way, happy enough to know he was actually willing to do this with me even though he hated my face.

‘I hated the person I thought was behind the face.’ His voice felt like a soft touch on my mind. Hearing him like this again sent shivers up my spine, practically making me melt before I realized what he had actually said. ‘I blamed Meredith, because if it was her fault it wasn’t mine.’

His kiss became more tender. He lifted me onto the console. A surprised squeak escaped me. The Doctor held me tighter to him, not daring to give me an inch. ‘I should have known it was you, right from the start.’ The Doctor apologized. ‘Only you would give up eight years of your life to keep me happy.’

I moaned against his thick lips. It felt so nice being held by my Doctor again. My mind brushed against his, sending a wave of love his way, making the hand in my hair fumble. ‘You couldn’t have known, I worked hard to make sure you never suspected anything. I could never forgive myself if you blamed yourself for something you had no control over.’

That was when we had to separate ourselves. As great as a respiratory bypass was, we still needed oxygen every now and then. I rested my forehead against his, catching my breath. The Doctor was the same, his hands holding me closer to him in case I tried to find some way out. I didn’t want to, I was exactly where I needed to be. I dared look him in the eyes.

His blue eyes were darker, that kind of dark I can barely remember. It sent chill up my spine, making me pull him closer to me. I almost growled at that look. It was a look only I would see. My hands threaded themselves into his hair, keeping his forehead on mine.

‘Mine.’ I growled at him.

The Doctor gripped tighter on my hair, and my waist. ‘Mine.’ He said in the Scottish lit that made me moan.

I pressed my lips on his, forcing my tongue in his mouth. Now it was my turn to test the new mouth. I had wondered how he would feel against my new lips, my new teeth, my new tongue. So far I was impressed.

The Doctor considered this a fun challenge, chuckling in a way that made his chest rumble. His tongue started wrestling mine, making me smile. I giggled at my husband’s childish antics.

This was perfect, this was what I had been missing for nearly a decade. This made every lonely night worth it, every hateful word mean nothing. It just made me feel complete, again.

I broke the kiss, reaching for my bag. “I’m sorry! I was so caught up I forgot!”

The Doctor huffed. I blushed at the annoyed look on his face, but the promise in his eyes. This wasn’t over, and I better have something important enough to stop him from kissing his wife.

When married to the Doctor, you notice his tells.

I pulled out a small photograph, giving it a small smile before handing it to him. “I had a promise to keep.”

The Doctor took the photo, his eyes widening in disbelief.

The photo was crumpled with age, but you could still see them. It was of me in the hospital, soon after the drugs wore off and I was lucid. Morgan Spencer was smiling up at the camera, a white hospital gown over her body instead of clothes. Her hair was drenched in sweat, coming out of it’s usually well brushed ponytail. In her arms were two newborns, one in blue and one in pink.

This was a photo that kept me going. Whenever I would feel at a loss, like I would never see my Doctor, I would just look at the photo. Seeing the small lives the two of us made, knowing they were just waiting for me to bring their father home, gave me a sense of determination. I owed it to my children to introduce them to their father, to their siblings.

“That’s Scott.” ‘Real Name is Theta Gamma.’

The Doctor turned to me, his eyes going from the photo to me. “They were twins?”

I nodded. “Do...do you like the name? I had to come up with them pretty quickly, since I...” I sucked in my lips. The Doctor glanced at me. “I wanted to see you.”

The Doctor looked down at the the photo. He had that face on, like he was trying to hide how much he really cared. “Not the best name. Good for a rush job.” Then he frowned. “Why Scott?”

“I asked the same thing the first time I heard you talk.” I blushed.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, annoyed. “You named my son after the way I talk?” My husband asked, trying and failing to sound offended. He actually sounded a bit pleased.

I smiled. “Yes. I named your son after how you talk.”

The Doctor froze. Apparently, my words reached him. ‘My son. I have a son. Oh, that is going to take some getting used to.’

‘I’ll tell Maximum you said that.’ I warned, trying to give him a teasing smile.

‘Oh no. That boy hates me enough.’ The Doctor said, shaking his head. “Scott is good. I like it.”

I smiled, so happy to be back with him. I hated making myself someone he hated. I hated being away from him for the past eight years. It had been breaking my hearts.

“And this is Evelina.” I said, pointing at our infant daughter.

“Evelina?” The Doctor’s face twisted in confusion. “Why does that name sound familiar?”

I rolled my eyes. My husband, the idiot. “It sounds like Eleven.” I teased, gently. I lightly poked his undershirt.

The Doctor grabbed my hand, making me look back into his eyes. “You named our daughter after that idiot?”

“Oi, I named the boy after you so quit complaining you stupid Scot.” I half scolded. “And I never said I named her after him, just that they sounded alike. Her name means light and life, which I thought described her perfectly! She was a kicker, ya know!”

The Doctor at least at the decency to look scolded. “Right. Of course dear.”

I smiled at his efforts. It was hard enough getting Twelve to hug, emotions was asking too much. Yet, I couldn’t ignore the fact that he was staring at the photo intently.

“What’s wrong, now?” I giggled, trying to sound light. Then I realized it might not be so light. “Is it too much? I didn’t mean to drop it all at once! I mean, I waited at least two hours before bringing up the kids after saying I was alive, but that’s still too fast for some.”

The Doctor silenced me with a look. I clamped my lips shut.

“When did you have them?” The Doctor asked, sounding sad.

I winced. “Uhh...that depends on who you ask.” I admitted, nervously looking at the photo.

The Doctor sounded confused. “Morgan.” His voice was starting to rise, a habit for when he got annoyed.

He said my name. That made it much more serious, and made me realize just how much I missed hearing my name come out of his mouth. “I had them eight years ago.” I answered, glancing at the Doctor.

He looked like I had revealed his worst fear. He looked back to the photo, probably thinking it was the only way he would see them as newborns.

I couldn’t help the blush that came to my cheeks. “But, back Home.” I added extra emphasis to the word. The Doctor had his interest peaked. “They were born two hours ago.”

It took the Doctor to understand what I was saying. “Hold on. You came straight here after having twins?!”

“Your wife.” Was my answer.

The Doctor huffed, putting a hand on his hip as if he couldn’t believe what he just heard. He even shook his head. I shrugged, not really sure how else to explain it.

“I just needed to get back to you.” I tried. “I wanted you to spend time with them, like this, cause I know that was something you always regretted about Blythe and all the other’s.”

The Doctor pointed the photo at me. I stared at the two babies in blankets. “So, if we went to your world, this...Scott and...Evelina, would be exactly like this photo?”

I nodded. “Yes. I didn’t waste a second once I was lucid.” I explained, brushing some of my hair back. He had apparently made the bun messier during our intense make-out. “But, but I would have her face, so just, ya know, be aware.”

The Doctor shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets. This was the first time he had done that since we walked in, I noted, keeping his hands away from me. “It’s about time I met the in-laws.”

I raised a brow, giving him a teasing smile. “You actually want to meet a companion’s mother?”

The Doctor grinned, that light hearted grin. “Morgan, you are the farthest thing from a companion.” He walked up to me, cupping my cheeks and pulling my lips to his. ‘You’re my wife.’

‘You’re my husband.’ I thought back.

I held his hand, and for the first time in nearly a decade, I thought of going Home.

Bothered

Today was the day we took the twins home.

(More)

I smiled understandingly at him. “I know how much you hate domestics-”

The Doctor stopped my speech with a look. “I don’t mind.”

(More)

==NE==

(More)

“And don’t forget to tell him about the mark!” Darcy called back.

I glared at her. My sister gave me an innocent smile before running away.

(More)

My thumb pulled my shirt collar aside, revealing the tips of my mark. The Doctor traced his finger along the intricate designs. I visibly shuddered at his touch, a small moan following. My eyes fluttered, a feeling I hadn’t felt in almost a decade burning through me in a wildfire.

The Doctor noticed this. His fingers brushed over more of the designs, making his touch more pronounced. It was soft, yet determined. He was set on following every curve, every twist, and every turn.

“I’ve seen these before.” The Doctor mumbled. His eyebrows were scrunched up in disbelief, one would even dare say wonder. He had that same face in those Series Nine trailers, when he was standing in that golden room.

I looked at him, curious. “You have?”

The Doctor kept his hands on my markings, making me shiver. “After Dominic.”

The name made me shiver in a bad way. My eyes scrunched up in pain to get the image of Dominic out of my mind. I was with the Doctor, I was safe with the Doctor.

The Doctor had apparently been going through the same mental track. His other hand reached for mine, gripping it reassuringly. “Your magic had defeated Dominic, and you had fallen to the floor.” The Doctor explained, frowning. “I was terrified it had killed you.”

I frowned back, squeezing his hand tighter.

The Doctor paused, but kept his frown. “I ran up to you, thinking you had just died.” His fingers brushed the mark again. My shoulder pushed itself onto the fingers. “Then I saw this.” His hand gripped my shoulder, caressing down my side. A breathy moan escaped my mouth.

“Uh-huh.” I said dumbly.

The Doctor chuckled. He liked doing this, Twelve liked turning me into a quivering pile of mush. He leaned in closer, his mouth right against my ear. “I wanted you so badly.” He said in an almost husky voice. Story, he knew what his voice did to me! “And I still do.”

His voice, in that deep Scottish lilt, it was starting to make me pant. My eyes were half open, my body vulnerable to the feeling of his long fingers and deep Scottish voice.

Then, his fingers stopped for longer than I’d like. I reached up for his hand, gripping it.

“Don’t stop.” I pleaded. “Please.”

That was apparently a cue he had been waiting for. The Doctor pulled me closer to him, attaching his lips to my neck. His arm wrapped around my waist, to keep me close. His other he used to run up and down my back.

I moaned at all the feelings coming to me at once. My hand reached around to grab his silver hair, nearly clenching it in mine. I used my remaining one to support myself, support us both. It was very hard to do, given the fact that this was a bed.

‘Yes.’ The Doctor’s voice echoed in my mind, making me groan. ‘Keep making those sounds. The sounds only I get to hear.’

I was centuries old, but before him I felt like a blushing virgin. I took a deep breath, letting out a loud breathy moan. My hand clenched tighter in his hair.

The Doctor growled.

(More)

==NE==

(More)

“You would have to travel to The Grey Wolf Series, then look at me.” I explained. Evelina let out a small coo, so I started to gently rock her to sleep.

The Doctor nodded. He was picking up on this stuff a lot faster than I thought he would. Maybe he was just all the stuff I had told him in the past to help?

Scott let out a small hum, barely noticeable by me. The Doctor looked down at his boy, walking to his side. He held out his finger, letting Scott wrap his whole gist around it.

“That’s really all it would take? Eye contact?” The Doctor scoffed.

Meanwhile, I was praising the Story that I was already sitting down. My knees were weak seeing him have that dad moment with Scott.

“Yuh-huh.” I stared at his leathery finger held by Scott’s pale fist.

“Who came up with that nonsense?” The Doctor asked. He waved his finger lightly, letting Scott play with it. “Just look them in the eye, and a mark’ll show up on your neck.”

“A goddess who calls herself the Great Luna.” I answered, holding Evelina tighter. My arms felt a bit weak with that one. “And you also hear them in your head. Your souls join together, so it’s not like you would lose them.”

(More)

“Why are you so curious?” I asked, being coy so he wouldn’t notice how bothered I was.

The Doctor looked up at me, apparently surprised by my question. He gave me a ‘pudding brain’ face. “Well I don’t want you to think you’re winning.”

“Winning?” I laughed. “Me having my mark before you is winning?”

The Doctor got up from his seat, walking over to my side. His blue eyes looked down at Evelina. I looked at our baby girl, seeing her falling asleep in my arms.

“Your mark says you met your soulmate.” The Doctor explained.

I tore my gaze from the slowly sleeping Evelina, staring into those handsome blue eyes.

The Doctor was staring back into my eyes, briefly glancing at my now bare shoulder. There was that look in his eyes, the kind I saw too often in Twelve.

“You want to see if you’ll actually get the mark.” I realized. “To see if my soulmate is you.”

The Doctor was silent. His face set itself in his now normal deep thoughts frown.

“Theta.” I began. “I said our souls join, not bodies. Of course it’ll show up for you. I knew the second I saw this that your’s was the one to match it.”

The Doctor snorted. I hated when Twelve did that. It was his self deprecating snort. “Did you now?”

I looked him hard in the eyes. “Yes, I did.”

The Doctor gave me a doubting look. That was my least favorite Twelve face. “You just knew it belonged to me? How could you just know? Just because you say you know everything, doesn’t mean you actually do.”

If I wasn’t holding Scott, then I would smack the Doctor into his thirteenth self. It hurt that he doubted it, hurt that he didn’t believe in it. It felt like ice in my heart when he constantly denied this, mocked the bond like it was some childish game. That wasn’t what it was. It was more than that!

Scott suddenly started to fuss. I looked down at the boy in my boy, gently rocking him back into a state of calm. “Just because you haven’t seen it, doesn’t mean you get to doubt it.”

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Good Wolf

It had been three days since I saw the Doctor, and I was feeling antsy.

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Peri walked in, and a small part of me started to fangirl. Peri had always been one of my favorite characters in the series. Even better, she was even more beautiful than the books described.

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It was Ten.

His brown hair had been styled back, like it had been in Idiot’s Lantern. His deep ancient brown was boredly looking about, as if wishing he were anywhere else but here. His outfit wasn’t as natural as Peri’s, it had more brown tones and some reds.

The fae looked right at me. For a split second, I saw the Doctor in his eyes. That small light of love, of endless care, of never ending excitement in the world around him. That spark faded, leaving Puck in it’s place. The fae looked back to Peri as if he hadn’t even looked at me.

He didn’t know who I was. My Doctor, mi Amore, didn’t know who I was.

Well, now we have two mates with memory issues. Mine was just going to take some more convincing.

==MI==

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“What’s your name?” I asked.

Ten looked at me, bored. “Puck.”

I snorted, trying to cover it with my hand. My shoes suddenly became the most interesting thing in the world.

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“Cause you and I both know, Sally, that if she were here she wouldn’t be calling him Puck.”

Sally paused, then chuckled. “She would totally calm him that.”

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==MI==

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So, with all that said, I glared back at Puck. He was too proud to show that I had just whipped his ass. “There” I snapped. “That good enough for ya, Puck?”

The name came out like an insult. The fae got the message, looking away from me.

Why that face? Why, of all the faces the Story could have given him (or just plain made up like they did mine) did she choose his? The face that has looked at me with the most hate, the most disdain, the most tender love? The last face, and first face I saw in that life. The one who saved me, who reminded me that loving him was worth the demons?

There he is now, acting like I’m nothing higher than the dirt he walked on.

“I’m waiting.” I said to Puck, sitting back in my chair.

Puck didn’t even glance at me. “Waiting for what? Nap time?”

Sally shook her head, covering her face with her hands. Costin snorted.

I took a calming breath. When Doc came back, he was not off the hook for that. “Thank you, Penelope, for your insight. Though I could’ve done without the sarcasm.” I said in a voice similar to his, including the accent. He gave me a look. I mockingly gasped, my hand flying to my chest. A giddy smile was forced onto my face. “Why, thank you Pucky! It was no trouble.” I clapped my hands, the smile vanished. “I’m waiting for that.”

Puck was apparently amused by my comment. He snorted.

‘The Doctor will not.’ I recalled. The memory only hurt my heart. I pushed it away, not daring blow my cover. Storyline, this was just like Meredith Gafford all over again.

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‘I’m 597 years old, get it together!’ I scolded myself. A part of me wanted Doc to hear so he would take away the pain.

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“Alright.” I said, hopping up from my seat. “Pack, let’s go get our bitch.”

==MI==

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Even though he wasn’t really in there, I was still able to read him. He was easier to look through than a window pane.

He followed Peri here because of the adventure. He was just as bored as before, being stuck in his realm with a bunch of ass clowns. It was like the Time Lords, and him being the only one brave enough to follow. Puck was bored, and the wolves were his adventure.

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==MI==

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“He’s not here.” I said, almost in a whisper as I sat by Jen’s side. The blonde tried to hide the small sliver of pain. “Hey.” She looked up at me. “I’m probably the only person in this entire house who knows what you’re going through right now. No hiding it from me.”

Jen looked skeptical. “How can you know what this is like?”

“Every time he looks at you, it’s feels like he’s looking past you.” I said, almost coldly. “Or worse, that he’s not even looking at you at all. So you start to pray, ‘please just see me’. You don’t even care at this point how he sees you; happy, sad, scared, hell let him even be furious at you because at least then all he would be focused on is you.”

Jen gaped. It was even weirder seeing her shocked, with her being so sickly. I still wasn’t done ranting, apparently. “And when he talks to you, it’s not him anymore. The one who would tease you, joke with you. The one who would talk to you like you were his everything, because you are his everything. The man he is now doesn’t. He talks almost like he’s annoyed with you. He can’t imagine himself with you, for whatever reason he made up in his stubborn fae head.”

Jen squinted her eyes. “Fae?”

I reeled back, unaware of the Freudian slip. “Uh, stubborn werewolf head.” I corrected myself.

Jen was still hung up on my comment. “Fae head? Just what has been going on while I was out?”

I snorted. “That’s a story for another day. Let’s get through the story of Jen and Decebel first.” I said. “Now, I told you I knew about what you’re going through.”

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“Yes Alpha.” I said, keeping my eyes down as I walked out.

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It was the Doctor. He was here. He’d come back to me! It was really him!

Before I could get anymore excited, I saw into his eyes. Puck was standing there. He was dressed in more brown than before, like the Doctor’s pinstripe suit. His hair was still brushed down, and he wasn’t looking at me. Even when Doc didn’t trust me, he still kept his eyes on me like a hawk. It’s what made the game that much more us.

They were all my Doctor, but right now he wasn’t even that. He was the Template. How long did I have to wait to have my husband back? How much did he have to break my heart?

No. I am done. Done with this heartbreak. I was 597 years old, fuck him if he thought this much pull over me! I’m an Alpha female, I’ve battled with supervillains and come out with scratches. I’ve dueled the Master and won. I had befriended the raging God of Chaos. I was the Bad Wolf herself!

I am Queen Morgan Annie Spencer! I do not get all whiny about a boy!

Time to work.

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“Did you find your mate?” Sally asked, gaping.

I stared at her, trying to keep my face cold and uncaring. Really my heart was shattering inside of me. Yes, I had found him. I spent three hundred and forty years with that breathtaking Time Lord. He loved me back, treating me with care even when I felt like garbage.

But, I lost him again. After waiting a decade for him, the Story ripped him away from me and put Ten’s face over his. Ten, the one who had been there for me after Dominic and held my hand as I died in his lap.

“No.” I said, sounding hurt as I felt. “You and I are the only two left out of the Furball Club.”

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==MI==

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“She’s Jen.” I said, even though parts of me doubted. “And Jen knows that if she dies a virgin, I’ll laugh at her when I join her.”

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“I’m starting to think I’m a psychic werewolf.” I cheered, laughing. “Pucky, is that possible?”

Puck, however, had this lost look in his eyes, like he was remembering something.

My smile dropped as I wondered if this was the minute he would Wake-up. “Puck?” I asked, half wanting to see him confusedly glare at me. Maybe he’d think I meant a different -uck word.

Instead Puck brushed off the memory, glaring at me. “No. It’s not possible for you to be psychic.”

He had been there. For a second, my Doctor had been there in those brown eyes. What the hell had happened to him? Did Puck force him away?

The thought that my Doctor had been ripped away from again wilted my heart. “Thanks for killing my dreams.” I mumbled, marching towards the others.

Puck coldly laughed. Well, it sounded cold to my breaking heart. “Melodramatic much?”

“I wasn’t talking about being psychic.” I spat out, not even looking back at him.

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“I never doubted!” I piped in before anyone could shush me.

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==MI==

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“Hello my child.” The Great Luna said.

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“Why his face?” I asked in an almost heartbroken sob. “Why Ten? Why not someone random who I have never met? Why not Twelve who I am in love with? Hell, I’ll even take Eleven!”

The Great Luna gave me a gentle smile. “Because you need to say goodbye.”

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==MI==

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I followed behind the two girls, watching them with concern.

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“Gavril smells another wolf.”

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“When did you get here?” Jen asked.

“I’ve been following you the whole time.”

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“This key. It has magic.” I said, holding up my TARDIS key. “No one can see me, or sense me, unless I want them to. Touch the key, lose a tooth.” I warned, hands clenching into fists.

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I growled, tossing the birds aside with a flick of my wrist. “Stupid freakin’ bats.”

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Elle held my key in her hands. “What kind of magic is this?” She lifted it up, trying to look at it from all sides.

My eyes glowed. “Can I have it back?” I asked, struggling to keep from leaping at the fae.

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“How old are you?”

I smiled innocently. “Eighteen.”

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==MI==

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“It was fae boy’s.” Jen said. “That key. He gave it to you, and then something made him forget you like with me and Dec.”

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“Yes.” I whispered, clenching the key tightly in my hand. “Congrats, blondie, you figured me out. Want a damn prize?”

“If he forgot you, why hasn’t he remembered it?I mean,

“You don’t think I tried?!” I barked. “I called him by every nickname I gave him! I talked about shit that only the two of us would know! He doesn’t fucking care!”

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“Shove off Puck.”

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I fought dirty.

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Puck appeared at my side, fighting off the animals with his magic. Not gonna lie, seeing the Tenth Doctor fight with magic was hot. Was this how he felt when I

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==MI==

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“I was told to come after the birthday party.” The pup said.

“By who?” Vasile asked.

“The shiny lady in the sky.” The pup answered. “She said her name was Luna.”

“And who are you?” Vasile asked.

The pup steeled himself. “Someone who’s lost, and wants to go home.”

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“Harry.” The pup answered. “Harry Song.”

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“Penelope Henry.” Harry answered. “She knows where my mother is.”

==MI==

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Puck went to the Fae World,

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“I’ll only talk to Penelope Henry.” Harry stressed.

“We can’t let you talk to her alone.” Vasile stated. “

“Fine. Have other people. Make it another Story damn party. I need to talk to her.”

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==MI==

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“He says he’ll only talk to you.” Peri rolled her eyes, annoyed. “Cause you apparently know where his mom is.”

“He came to me looking for his mom?” I asked to make sure I heard it right.

Jen glanced at me. “Uh. Why would you know some random furball’s mom?”

I shrugged. “I barely remember the furballs from the mansion party last year.”

“What’s his name?” Sally asked. “He might be one of the wolves from the Gathering.”

“Yes! That’s what it was called.”

“Harry Song.” Peri answered. Jen snorted, meanwhile I was between shocked and murderous. “I know, it sounds fake-”

“Take me there.” I ordered, rising up from my chair. “Now.”

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==MI==

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He was dressed up like a weird Han Solo. He had black hair in a curly mop on his head, the shade matching his father’s. He had the green eyes, though they were round like mine. He had the cherub chin from my side, but the hard cheekbones from Dominic’s.

This was him. I wanted to believe it, my heart demanded that I go over and hug the boy I had believed dead.

“Penelope?” Harry said.

Wow. My son’s first word to me.

“Um. Yes. Hello. That’s me.” I nervously waved, trying to hide my shock.

‘Question everything in case it’s a lie.’ The Doctor’s voice remind me.

“Looking for your mom. Who is she, just out of curiosity?” I asked. If this was some truck, the witch using any means to bring me down or some galactic joke, there would be hell to pay.

“Terra Song.” He answered without hesitation. “Please. I need to find her.”

“Why? Danger?” I asked, keeping mind of Vasile, Peri, and Alina. “Try chasing down a dark magic wielding witch.”

Harry shook his head. “No trouble. I just...I just want her.”

I was intrigued by the comment. It was almost like something a child would say. “Why? What makes you think I even know who she is?”

“The bad man said.” Harry explained. For a moment, all I could see as the pain in his green eyes. He was scared, and alone. He was a boy looking for his mummy. ‘There isn’t a little boy born who wouldn’t tear the world apart to save his mummy.’ “He said you knew Mom, that you knew where she was.”

“The bad man?” I asked, walking a few steps closer to him. The bad man, again in the words a young child would use. He was a Traveler, could he be a little boy with the body of a man? Like how I was? I wanted to wrap my arms around him in a hug, squeeze him tight enough to chase all of his monsters away.

Harry nodded. “Yes. He’s the one who took me away from Mom. I was too little to do anything about it, even when she started crying. She’s gotta be worried about me. I want to go home.”

I remember that. The sobs that I cried when Naismith said he murdered my boy, a boy I was planning a whole childhood for.

“Penelope, do you know his mother?” Vasile asked.

“Please say no so we can move on.” Peri complained.

I gave each of them a glance. Harry was still looking at me with pleading green eyes. “I know her, yeah.”

The grown ups looked at me in surprise. Harry, on the other hand, was relieved.

“She didn’t talk about you much.” I went on. “But you were on her mind a lot.”

“Can you tell her that I’m here?” Harry asked. “Please? She thinks I’m dead. I want her to know I’m okay and I want to go home.”

I almost nodded. “Sorry, Harry. I can’t. Not without proof.”

“Proof?”

“That your the real Harry.” I said.

He was hurt by my words. “I’m not proof enough?”

“Your mother thinks you’re dead. She won’t trust her eyes, or mine. She needs proof. Question everything in case it’s a lie.” I said, feeling horrible about it.

“Sounds like a pretty shitty chick.” Peri said. “Where did you meet her?”

I shrugged. “Old friend, before the Fellowship.” I joked, turning to the boy. “Sorry. I want to believe it’s you-”

“Why not?” Harry asked, looking like his were about to start watering. “Why can’t I be enough?”

‘Am I not enough? Is that the sort of man you want me to be?’ John Smith had asked me once.

I sighed. Alina came up to my side, helping me I guess. “Harry, I am sure you are more than enough.” She turned to me. “Why would she need proof?”

The words felt like ash in my mouth. “Cause Harry died when he was born.” I choked out, feeling centuries of pain come back up. “She...She never got to hold him, or hear his first cry. She was looking forward to that.”

Vasile walked closer to Harry, making the boy submissively expose his neck. “If he was dead, how could he be here?”

My pup almost whimpered. I sent a small glare to the Alpha for scaring my pup. “The bad man said I was bad. He took me from Mom. She was crying, and I wanted Mom, but the man wouldn’t let me go. He put me in here, and I don’t know how to get out. I’ve been looking for two years, and I don’t know how. Mom would know. She knows everything. I want to go home!”

I sucked in a pained breath, unable to contain it. “What did the bad man look like?” I asked Harry, my voice small.

Everyone was looking at me, tears probably shining on my cheeks as I stared at my boots.

“Scary eyes.” Harry answered, hesitant. “They were black like the dark. He had yellow hair, and he never brushed it.”

Logan. Harry was telling the truth on that part. Logan did kill Harry, but why take him away?

“You said he put your here?” Peri pointed out. “You’re telling us he just dropped you off in the forest?”

Harry shook his head.

I was right. He was like me, a child stuck in a grown-up’s body. He must still be young, possibly even a newborn. He had been here two years, so that was it. My baby was at least two years old, trapped in a body he wasn’t ready for. No wonder he was so scared.

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“He said the Doctor was my dad.”

My eyes shrunk. “Get out.” I ordered, scared. Harry opened his mouth to plead. “No, you stay. Everyone else, out.”

“Penelope. We are not leaving you alone with this man.” Vasile growled. “Who is this Doctor?”

Hearing his name again, it felt mixed up. It was like air was finally coming back in, only to have my respiratory bypass kick in and stop it. The Doctor wasn’t here, at all.

“Trust me, please. I need to be alone with Harry right now.” I stressed. “I will explain this to you all once I understand, Alpha. Please accept that. Ten minutes, that’s all I need.”

@

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He remembered me, and the Doctor. He remembered that I called the Doctor his father.

I hugged Harry, showering him around the chest and letting my tears fall on his shirt.

“Uh. Penelope-”

“I want a mom that will last forever. I want a mom to make it all better.” I sang through my tears and his shirt. “I want a mom that will last forever. I want a mom that will love me whatever.”

Harry stopped. The song was familiar to him.

“I want a mom to take my hand and make me feel like a holiday. A mom to tuck me in at night and chase the monsters away.” I was crying into his Han Solo style shirt.

“I know this song.” Harry mumbled.

“I want a mom to read me stories, and sing a lullabye.” I hugged him tighter, wiping my cheeks on his shirt. “And if I have a bad dream, to hold me when I cry.”

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“M-Mom?” Harry had tears on his cheeks, his bottom lip trembling.

I kept holding him, rubbing soothing circles on his back. My boy burst out in tears, hugging me back for the first time. Oh, it felt nicer than any hug I’d ever gotten, ever. He buried his face in my hair, while I kept rubbing circles on his back.

Storyline, how was I going to explain this to Puck?

==MI==

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“She came to me in a dream.” I began. Everyone was looking at me like I was telling them something sad. “She told me about the Doctor.”

“Who is he?” Jen asked.

I shook my head. “I can’t say. I’m sorry, but I swore an oath. I have to keep the silence.”

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“Harry is the Doctor’s son.” Vasile reminded me.

“And he was nearly murdered for it.” I pointed out. “And I’m the only person in this room who even knows who he is. The secret must be kept, Silence must fall.”

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“What about Harry’s mom?” Sally asked. “Did you actually know her?”

I had to hide the urge to laugh. “Yeah. She didn’t answer her phone, so I left a voicemail. Though, knowing her, I doubt she’ll call back before shit hits the fan.”

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“So, what? We’re basically babysitting him?” Jacque asked. I nodded. “What the hell? We already have enough trouble keeping watch of Jen.”

“Feeling the love, Red.” Jen said.

“Where is he even staying?”

“Once I explained Harry’s situation, Vasile gave him a room.” I said, smiling openly. “Harry was fine with it.”

Actually, he had a lot of problems with it. He wanted to stay in my room, but I told him I couldn’t tell people he was my son. No one would believe me, for one thing. I could say he was my mate, but that would get awkward fast. There was no real way of keeping him in my room that wolves would allow.

I promised to sneak into his room at night, comfort him to sleep. It was the only reason I agreed to this, his room being close to my own. Harry had those proper newborn months, instead he was turned into a man and was forced on his own. No pack, no family, just the clothes on his hide.

Harry Song. My boy.

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==MI==

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I brushed calming circles on Harry’s back. The boy turned man was curled into a ball, almost whimpering.

“And you’ll love it, Harry.” I assured in a relaxing whisper. “You’ll have siblings, almost a dozen of them. I told you about some of them, right?”

“My sisters.” Harry murmured, half asleep. “And my brother.”

“Yeah. You got three more since then.” I said. “Two sisters and another brother. Blythe Ellen, she’s your sort of big sister. The twins are the newest bunch. Evelina Penelope and Scott. You’ll love them so much, Harry.”

“Are they dad’s?” He asked tiredly. He even ended it in a yawn.

I smiled, kissing his forehead. “Yes. All three of them.”

He looked up at me, curling tighter in a ball. “Do you like them more than me?”

The question surprised me. If the Doctor had said that, or Puck, I would’ve slapped them so hard Jackie would wince. I wrapped my arms around him, brushing circles on his back.

“Harold Idris Song. I gave you those name because you are so unbelievably important. Harold, after Harold Saxon. Idris, after the TARDIS. Song, after River Song. Those are the people most important to my life.”

Harry was confused by that. “But what about Dad?”

“H. I. S. His. You’re his, and mine.” I explained.

My boy cuddled closer to me, one of his arms wrapping around my waist. “I love you, Mommy.”

‘And just like that, my heart melted.’ “I love you, wolf pup.”

(More)

“How much longer do you have to stay?” He said low.

My eyes watered. “Five minutes.”

(More)

==MI==

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Now, I sat in a clearing in a pixie filled forest. Puck was very, very far away.

(More)

It was easier to ignore him than I thought. He was just another annoying guy, or at least that was what I told myself. Puck was a pretty cool guy, once you got over the fact that he was an annoying fae.

I missed my Doctor now more than ever.

==MI==

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He looked at Penelope, and he just felt this instant need to keep her safe. It wasn’t just that she was one of Peri’s wolves, or that she hadn’t been wearing an appropriate coat for this weather, it was just this feeling in his chest. She was the only thing Puck could focus on.

Puck didn’t admit it to himself, but he loved the she-wolf.

She spoke, oh the first time he heard her voice. It was deep, soothing. It took him a second to realize she had asked for his name.

“Puck.” He had said.

Then she laughed. Her laughs were as beautiful as the rest of her. She turned and told her friend that joke, and Puck learned of her unique sense of humor.

“What’s your name?” Puck had asked her back.

“Penelope.” She answered, still chuckling at his name.

The word soon filled him with what he could only describe as light. Days went on, but Puck hid his true feelings from her. She had been somewhat friendly towards him, and whether she was flirting or plain teasing his never could tell.

He had been having the weirdest memory flashes, of things he could not possibly have remembered.

They were of him and Penelope, well, he thought it was Penelope. Puck would see a girl-sometimes a woman-with black hair. She would be singing, or telling a joke, or just smiling at him and it lit up Puck’s world. She called him Doctor, and he called her Terra.

Just thinking her name brought up so many memories in Puck’s mind. Of Terra and him dancing, of him and Terra running to danger, of Terra grabbing him by his tie and kissing the air out of his lungs.

He remembered when they had come strongest. Penelope had joked about being psychic. It brought a memory of him and Terra, standing in a Roman villa. She was dressed in the finest cloth, hair pulled up into a bun, adorned in golden jewels. Her amber eyes were faded off, like the oracles of the past.

Puck had been pulled out harshly, so he snapped at Penelope. The girl had looked at him like he kicked a puppy.

That had changed their strange enough relationship. The teases stopped, the little smiles stopped, the nicknames stopped, the strange offbeat jokes stopped. Penelope had been more interested in her friends than him. Puck knew this was deliberate, that Penelope would hold him out that far if Puck had done something to earn it. He didn’t know how he knew that, he just did.

Penelope had full of control of his heart once she revealed that key. “I know what it’s like. It’s like, when you fancy somebody and they don’t even know you exist.” That had been the memory that had come to him. His voice, but he had never said the thing before in his life. Point was, Penelope had no idea he existed. Puck was falling in love with her, finding it harder and harder to be away, and she hadn’t given him the time of day.

That had been weeks ago, almost months.

Now they could have mates.

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Puck saw Penelope, and he remembered everything. Terra was real, and she was Penelope. The Doctor was real, and it was him.

He felt his consciousness merge with the Doctor’s, the Time Lord quickly overpowering him. The Doctor thought it was like waking up from a chameleon circuit.

He shook his arms a bit to get out the nerves. He recognized some of this body, hating the idea. It was his tenth face? Terra must have loved that, he thought with a eye roll. The Doctor missed his so called magician’s wear, in place of this red and brown mess.

The Time Lord turned Fae looked back out into the Pixie clearing, trying to remember where in the stories he was. The Doctor reading the books Terra had left behind when he abandoned her with Clara. They were all he actually had of his wife, but they spent decades gathering dust in her old Planning room.

Pixies. Forest. Somewhere in that fifth book. He was there, teleporting after hearing something about mates. So near the end of book five. That’s wonderful.

The Doctor tried to identify the other people in the clearing. It was incredibly difficult with only descriptions. The Alpha, Vasile, and his mate, Alina. Their son, Fane, and his mate, Jacque. The single one, Crina. The older gypsy healer and her boyfriend.

Then, her.

Penelope/Terra had her hair brushed up into a bun, exposing her neck to the cold air. She had on thick brown boots, black leggings, a pink sweater, a white scarf, and her usual messenger bag. She was shivering, though only just.

The Doctor knew she liked the cold, three hundred years on Trenzalore proved that. She had worn warm clothing, though only enough so she wouldn’t constantly be sick. She had always said it took less time to undress for him.

There was something off about her. She had her bag, she had her TARDIS key, she had her infinity necklace, and she had-

She had tears in her eyes. She wasn’t shivering from the cold, she was shaking from her sobs. Penelope/Terra never cried in public, only when she was with the Doctor. She only cried it public when it was too much to hold in.

Jacque, the red haired friend of Penelope/Terra, came to her side. “Penelope? What are you feeling?” She put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, only to have Penelope/Terra flinch away.

The Doctor didn’t like that. Having anyone that wasn’t him by her side drove him nuts. He was the only one Terra came to when she was crying, and the same for him.

Penelope/Terra let out another choked sob. She pressed her jacket to her face to soak up the tears. “He’s right there, but he doesn’t see me. He sees her.” Penelope/Terra cried.

She sucked in a sob before it could come out.

“What do you mean, Penelope?” Jacque asked.

“I want him back. I want my mate back.” Penelope/Terra hiccuped. “He left me behind again. Why does he always leave me?”

‘No.’ The Doctor thought. ‘No. I always see you. When have I not seen you? You, my Morgan.’

Penelope/Terra paused in her crying. She sat up, almost hopeful. ‘Pondar?’

Her voice, it felt like a drop of water in a burning desert. It was even better to hear his real name from her. The Doctor let out a breath he hadn’t even known he was holding in. Whatever these fae were, they had no respiratory bypass did they? How rubbish was that?

‘I love you. How could I not?’ The Doctor thought to her. ‘I love it when you sing, when you dance, when you joke, when you scream and swear at me. Oh, I missed that most.’

Her tears stopped, the only from sadness. ‘Is it really you? Please tell me I haven’t actually gone crazy here.’

The Doctor chuckled. ‘What is it you say? You were born crazy, dear.’

They were happy tears now. She was smiling beneath her sweater sleeve.

The gypsy healer-Rachael, the Doctor remembered-came up behind her. The Time Lord held back the urge to pounce out and attack her.

Penelope/Terra yanked herself out of the hug. She glared at the she-healer. “Stop. Hugging. Me.”

‘You still there?’ She called out to him.

‘Never left, Morgan.’ The Doctor found himself smiling a bit at her worry. She always worried about him, it was how she felt about everyone.

This was apparently just the right thing she needed. Well, maybe not right to everyone else. Penelope/Terra fell to the grass, cradling her arms around herself. She started crying again, happy or sad he could only guess.

==MI==

He was awake. He was awake!

I heard more things happen around me, though I tuned them out. The Doctor had come back to me. Happy tears poured from my eyes, only coming out because of the pixie magic in the air. It was just so…good.

The forest air lifted, making it easier to breath. I had stopped crying, wiping the tears away with my sweater.

There was a warm body walking to mine. I felt the lump in my throat fall away, leaving only peace. I smiled, contently, as a hand rested softly on my cheek.

“All better?” My Doctor asked, keeping a firm hold of my cheek.

Both of my hands grabbed his, squeezing it tightly. I smiled, feeling like I could float away I was so light. “Yes. Yes. All better.”

The Doctor grinned, that dumb grin Ten had. I couldn’t stop that teary laugh that came out. “No no no, oh please no crying again. I couldn’t take it a second time.”

My arms went out, wrapping around his torso. I pressed my face into his neck, taking a deep breath of pure Doctor in a fae body. ‘Petrichor and copper. Holy crap, why is there not a candle of this?’

“Morgan?” The Doctor whispered. His arms wrapped around me. He pressed his face to the side of my head, almost kissing my ear. “Please tell me you’re okay. I need to know.”

‘Please just let me hold my mate.’ I pleaded, not letting him go for anything.

The Doctor shuddered. “Good god. Say that again.”

I let out a relaxed sigh. ‘Let me hold my mate.’

The Doctor just held me tighter. ‘Oh, I needed you in my mind again, Morgan. I missed you so much. I am not going to let you go now. Never again.’

I snuggled up to him, feeling a small loss at the lack of two hearts beneath that very firm chest. ‘Good. I’d kill you if you did.’

‘I would let you.’ The Doctor joked.

The two of us laughed, having forgotten we were in the exact opposite of a private place.

“Penelope?” Jacque asked me.

“Busy. Leave a message.” I mumbled into the Doctor’s shoulder. My mate laughed.

“Penelope.” The way the Doctor said the name made me sigh happily. It wasn’t my name, but it was here and that made it all the more special. Does that make sense? Probably not, I wasn’t thinking with this brain.

“How can this be?” The other single wolf, Crina, asked the Alpha. Oh yeah. She had a fae-boy too.

The Doctor hadn’t let me go, not even a little bit. It was getting uncomfortable on the dirt.

‘Can we please go over to sit on a log?’ I asked him. ‘I love you, but these are my good winter pants.’

The Doctor rolled his now brown eyes. ‘You always worry about lesser things.’

‘Alright. I’ll just go change into different pants.’ I tried to stand up, only to be lifted up bridal style.

‘Logs sound like a perfect idea.’ The Doctor thought, moving me to my previous seat.

I smirked. “I won.” I bragged. He lowered us to the bench, but kept us in his lap.

The Doctor scoffed. “I let you.”

“Sure.” I lightly clapped on his cheek, pouting playfully. “Right, I believe you.”

The Doctor rolled his eyes, making me snort. The sure to be sarcastic reply was stopped by Vasile’s statement of “We need to talk.”

==MI==

The Doctor and I ignored Vasile’s speech, choosing instead to talk mentally. It was small stuff at first, like me telling him all the fun times I had with Puck.

Then, came reteaching him some of the Fae Magic. It had been awkward to do with everyone else around, especially the part on keeping it hidden. The Doctor had been a fun student, although he denied ever being such a thing.

Once Vasile speech had stopped, the Doctor immediately cradled me up in his arms again. He took me off to deeper in the forest, not bothering to explain to the others.

“Be right back!” I shouted to them. “Or not, there’s no telling with him!”

The Doctor gave me a look, making me snicker. ‘Honestly, I can’t take you anywhere.’

(More)

“I’m so sorry.” I started to cry. “It’s so bad, Amoré. It’s so bad.”

The Doctor brushed away my tears. “What happens?”

I sobbed on his chest. “The males all go to the In Between.”

Puck’s memories had taken their effect, because the Doctor pulled me so tightly to him I felt bones creak. The Doctor pushed his face into my neck, the same side as my mark. He breathed in my scent.

“No.” He said. Ten’s voice making it sound stern.

“You’ll get lost in the In Between, for a week!” I sobbed, letting myself be exposed in his arms.

“None of it is real.” The Doctor said. “It won’t be happening. You’ll be here, safe.”

I snorted, a bit angry. “Yeah? You think you can last a week of seeing your worst fears play out before your eyes?”

(More)

==MI==

(More)

It had been complete hell.

Jacque and Morgan had both gone into the lake. The Doctor could still remember the exact moment Morgan knew she was going to follow her red haired friend. The look of pure terror she had given the Doctor, the dismay he had felt over their newly formed bond. She only said one sentence, and he knew she wasn’t going to be there. ‘Be my Doctor.’ It was horrible.

Then, the look and dismay vanished. Morgan was smiling, the smile was too soft to be real. The Doctor watched as she danced away from the group, following after her. She didn’t hear him calling out, she didn’t stop in her dancing, even when she was too deep in the water to move properly she didn’t seem phased.

That was when the cold came back. They had only been reunited for a few short minutes, but to have his mind empty again was agony.

Morgan had come back from the lake, coughing and gagging. She had gotten three steps out, nearly falling to the ground under the sleeping curse. The Doctor caught her in his arms, brushing away her wet brown locks.

“Penelope. Penelope!” He pleaded, using the fake name. “Come on. Wake up.” Her eyes stayed shut, like she was asleep. “You’re clothes are ruined. You’ll have to change.”

Nothing. Not even a little twitch. Morgan was stuck under that spell. The Doctor tried to reach her with his mind, but there was nothing but cold.

He demanded whatever creatures dragged his mate down there bring her back up. He did not reunite with his wife to have her snatched away again. No one took away the Doctor’s wife!

The pixie king, the Doctor didn’t care for his name, demanded all the males of the group follow him. The Doctor saw all of Morgan’s friends collapse to the ground in pain, including the pregnant one. He could practically hear Morgan screaming in his ear to save them.

He didn’t have any control of the Fae magic he had in this universe, which was bad news to the pixies. The Doctor almost unleashed it all out onto them, until he remembered Morgan’s last plea. He couldn’t unleash magic he didn’t understand, it could kill everyone in the clearing. So he held his magic in, using it only to attack the ones attacking him first. Then, it wasn’t his fault.

It was all for not. The pixie king trapped them in magic, saying it was pointless. The others males could say goodbye to their females, and then go to the In Between.

The Doctor didn’t have anyone to say goodbye to. He knelt by Morgan, taking her scarf to wrap it over her bun hair. She had always been self conscious about her hair.

That fae female, Peri, had come up. Apparently they were friends. He didn’t know why. He couldn’t see him around anyone who wasn’t Morgan.

“Puck, I can’t begin to understand what you’re going through-” She tried to comfort him.

“So don’t try.” The Doctor snapped. Really? My name is Puck? No wonder Morgan was laughing all the time. She knows how much I like Shakespeare.

He brushed a hand over her cheek. Her skin was still damp from the lake, and the cold air hadn’t done much good either. Why couldn’t the Doctor remember one of those drying spells he was sure the fae had.

“She was scared, and they took her away from me.” The Doctor said, feeling enraged. He was doing everything he could not to unleash the Oncoming Storm out of that witch that did this. “Her last words to me were that I not kill every last thing in this forest to get her back.”

This Peri’s eyes widened. “She’s a wolf. Didn’t she understand how strong this bond is?”

“She understands it perfectly, and that was why she told me not to.” The Doctor almost growled, his voice dropping to a whisper. He cupped her cheek, meeting only cold skin. “She never liked the idea of people dying because of her.”

The other fae frowned. “I’m sorry Puck. We’ll get you both back.”

“No.” The Doctor said. “You get her back first.”

Peri frowned. “Puck, I don’t know if-”

“No. You’ll do it.” The Doctor ordered. “You’ll bring her back, because if I get out of there and she isn’t awake, I’ll tear apart every inch of this forest until I find the witch and kill her myself.”

@

(More)

==MI==

The first thing he saw was blackness, just a long stretch of emptiness and cold. Usually, he would use his time sense to see what had happened. He didn’t have that as a Fae, so he improvised with this fae magic. Again, there was only darkness. Cold, empty, darkness, that clung to his skin like oil. The Doctor tried shrugging it off, but it only made more come on. The memories from Puck (Phantom Memories, Terra had once called them) had come to him, telling the Doctor his new magic wouldn’t work in the In Between.

Hell. I’ve finally been dragged to Hell. The Doctor remarked dryly.

The second thing he noticed was that he was in his Twelfth body, including the red lined suit. He reached up, feeling the short gray hair on his head. His skin was wrinkled, and the Doctor could feel his second heart beating in his chest. This felt much better than that ridiculous singular vascular system.

The Time Lord turned Fae didn’t have to wait long to realize why it was Hell. Off in the darkness, the Doctor saw a bit of color.

It was Morgan, with her long curly black hair pulled back in a ponytail, and dressed in a gray baggy t-shirt with a sequin heart, jean shorts, and her raspberry pink sneakers. She was smiling, happily. The Doctor ran up to her. “Terra!” He yelled.

Then, in a flash, she was gone. The Doctor felt himself wanting to growl. He turned back, seeing her stand where he had previously been. It had been another one of her games on Trenzalore, she liked him chasing her around before grabbing her and taking her to the bedroom.

The Doctor chuckled at that. He had rather liked that game. “You know, Terra, these old bones can’t do this for long.” He joked.

Immediately, his frown fell. A figure appeared behind Terra, wrapping his arm around her waist. Her eyes widened in fear. The Doctor watched a face appear in the space behind her, leaning to whisper in her ear. “Dominic!” The Doctor snarled, running to her only to find he was rooted to the spot by the dark magic in the air.

The dark man grinned sadistically at the Doctor, while tears filled Terra’s eyes. The Doctor blinked, and she was naked. He tried fighting the magic, even going as far as to hit his own feet, but the result was always the same.

For hours, the Doctor listened to Terra plead and scream and cry as she was taken by Dominic. She had been beaten, and at times killed. Dominic making sure to look the Doctor in the eyes when life drained out of her’s. The Doctor met his gaze, promising that as soon as this magic let him loose Dominic would die.

The nightmare became worse once he said this. It changed from Dominic killing Terra, to his Eleventh self (dress in the purple tweed Terra liked) killing her. The Doctor stared in shock as his previous body wrapped his hands around Terra’s neck.

The most horrific part wasn’t that it was him killing her, it was the look on Terra’s face while he did. She smiling that sad smile at him, accepting death as she always did. She was letting him do this, thinking it was deserved.

“No!” The Doctor angrily shouted at his old skin. “Put her down you floppy haired wuss!”

Eleven only turned to Twelve, grinning as Dominic had. Terra coughed out the last of her air, dying again.

The new cycle went on for Rassilon knows how long. Terra being murdered by Eleven, and other unspeakable acts. It changed to Ten at one point, and the Nine and the War Doctor and Eight and Seven...it went down and down the line until he saw every version of himself killing her. It didn’t take him long to realize where it was going.

The Doctor saw his double’s wrinkled fists pound onto his crying wife. The anger in his eyes was the same kind of anger back with Rusty, hatred purely directed at Terra. “Get yours hands off my wife!” The Doctor shouted.

His double sneered. “You married this thing?” Terra sobbed. “You really are an idiot.” He swatted at Terra, hard enough to echo in the darkness.

This whole place was designed to show him his fears, and this had to be his biggest concerning her. The Doctor couldn’t protect her, not even from himself.

The murders continued, changing from Doctor to Doctor for the longest time. The image changed, Terra chained up to an old dirty bed, dressed in rags. Her hair a curled rat’s nest, her cheeks caked in tears, and her lips covered in smeared red lipstick. She looked up at the Doctor, in tears.

“Why Pondar?” She asked, sobbing. “Why did you let him touch me again?”

The Doctor shook his head, horrified. “Terra, no, please. I...I didn’t-”

“You let him take me again.” She hiccuped, using her hand to cover her mouth to hold back more cries. “I called for you. You never came for me.”

“Terra, please. I didn’t know-” The Doctor tried to explain himself. Why hadn’t he been there? What had been so important he let her be taken again?

“You never know.” Terra sobbed. “You never care. It’s always about you and what you want. I’m just another toy for you, until you get bored.”

The Doctor felt agony in his two hearts. Terra was never a toy, or a game. She was the woman he loved, the woman he was ready to tear worlds apart for. He never wanted her to believe any different, it was never true, it could never be true.

The image changed, though only slightly. Terra was only in a white tank top, her legs covered up by a blanket. The blanket from their bed in the TARDIS. Her hair was brushed back into a ponytail, her face clear of any sadness or grief. She wasn’t chained to the bed, no trace of it ever having existed.

She looked behind the Doctor, the Time Lord almost turning back to see who was coming. The dark magic had frozen his body, he could only watch as his younger self (it changed every few minutes) climbed up beside her in the bed.

“Hello Pondar.” She teased, kissing his cheek.

His past self kissed her’s. “You look beautiful tonight.” His double purred. His hand reached under the blanket for her hips.

The Doctor growled as Terra giggled. “Get your hands off of her!” He snarled. His fought against the magic again, some feral instinct in his new body hating her being touched in that way by anyone. She was his. It wasn’t important that it was just a him from the past, the Doctor had seen that same man choke her to death just minutes (or had it been hours?) ago.

The double ignored him, although Terra glanced back. She sneered, looking him over with disgust. She turned back to the double, smiling darkly. She leaned up to the double neck, kissing it noisily.

She made love to his younger selves, sneering whenever she made eye contact with him. At times, she would complain about him to his other selves. She hated his Scottish complaining, she hated his old skin, she hated his burly eyebrows, she hated everything about Twelve. The other doctors would laugh, agreeing with the assessment.

The Doctor knew that Terra would never say that. She never talked about the other Doctors when around him, it was always just him. She never complained about how Eleven treated her like glass half the time, or how Ten was constantly belittling her, or how Nine would flat out ignore her if he was annoyed with her. She just enjoyed whichever Doctor she had.

And even if she believed in any of those things she was saying, she would never actually say them to his face. The Doctor remembered Terra telling him about her school years, how people always talked down to her and treated her like a nobody. She never wanted anyone else to feel like that, especially someone she loved.

He had been waiting for it to change to his previous self (if it went in a pattern, then Fourth Doctor was next) when the image shifted.

She wasn’t in their bed in the TARDIS. It was a bed with black silk sheets. She was dressed in dark red lingerie, a sultry look in her bright amber eyes. “You comin’ to bed, or am I just going to be by myself tonight?” She purred.

“I don’t know.” A familiar voice said teasingly, making the Doctor growl. “I think it might be more interesting seeing you alone.”

It was Logan. She was making love with Logan.

“No.” The Doctor shook his head, the only thing he could move apparently. “No. Stop this. Terra would never, not with him. She hates him. He tried to murder her sister, murdered her child. She would never sleep with Logan!”

There was laughter coming the bed again. The Doctor turned, seeing Logan climb up beside his wife. The woman looked so happy, so much safer there. The man was looking at her like she was perfection.

“But I would miss you.” Terra teased.

Logan wrapped his arms around her, kissing her forehead. “Tell me you love me again.”

Terra giggled. “I always loved you.” She whispered conspiratorially, although the Doctor could still hear her. Logan chuckled. “I was just using the Doctor, he brought me to you again and again.”

“You married him.” Logan pointed out.

Terra rolled her eyes. She lightly shoved the vile man’s arm. “All an act. I needed his time machine to bring me to you. I married the time machine, technically.” She leaned in closer to him, making sure to look Logan in his black eyes.

The Doctor growled as she traced a finger up his neck. That was for him, only. Not that black hearted beast.

“Besides, he’s not even a Traveller, like you are.” Her face scrunched up in disgust. “How could I ever love someone who wasn’t the same species as me?”

That was Logan took her, over and over again. This went on for a long time.

Suddenly it went back to Dominic killing Terra, way back at the beginning. The whole thing was a cycle. Killing her, raping her, hating him, loving Logan, and then dying again.

The Doctor didn’t know how much longer he could take this.

==MI==

(More)

For a week, I was dead to the world. Briefly, I would get flashes as to what the Doctor was seeing. Me, lying in a pool of my own blood with Dominic standing over me. Logan and his hands all over me, sometimes with fight and sometimes without. The worst one was me standing before the Doctor and telling him all the things I ‘thought’ about our relationship.

When I woke up, the first thing I did was scream. My Doctor was in agony, just like I feared.

“Penelope!” Sally’s voice called out. “Penelope, it’s alright!”

“Doctor!” I screamed, rising to my feet. I scanned my surroundings, trying to find him. I couldn’t feel him anymore, I couldn’t find my mate. “Doctor please!”

“Cynthia, she’s calling for you!” Sally shouted.

I turned to the group of females, the memories easing back as sleep left me. “What? Where’s?” My words faded off.

The doctor wolf came up to me, leaning to my side. I flinched away. “Penelope, I need you to stay calm.”

My eyes changed from panicked to cold. Cynthia nearly flinched away. “I just woke up from a fucking nightmare coma to find out my mate isn’t here.” I said in a calculated tone, my voice dropping a few octaves to sound more authoritative. “Do not tell me to be calm right now.”

Cynthia steeled herself. “Yes, but we need to be strong. The males-”

“My male.” I said in same voice. “Is watching me be raped, murdered, and then belittle him in all the ways he is insecure about. I am always strong for him, never question me again.”

(More)

“We’ll get Pucky back.” Jen said, patting my back.

I sucked in tears. ‘I nicknamed him Lucky.’ I thought. ‘That face, Lucky boy. I hope that luck is still there.’

(More)

I closed my eyes...

...then opened them to darkness.

I gasped, seeing the Twelfth Doctor fighting the air. He was shouting and screaming at someone I couldn’t see.

“Uh, Pondar?” I said dryly, hoping to add a bit of comedy into this horror. Lighten the mood, so to speak.

The Doctor didn’t notice.

“Yo Ja’crispy!” I screamed. “Are you gonna keep talkin’ ta air all night?”

He noticed. The Doctor turned to me, and immediately we ran to each other. I hugged him, only to be met with a bone crushing one in return.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” The words kept flying out of my mouth, like a mantra.

The Doctor moved his head from my shoulder, choosing instead to kiss me. I let him, reaching my hands up to grab at his shoulders for balance.

“Pon-” I tried speaking, but every time I managed to break away the Doctor pulled me back. “Hold-Would you-I have-Doc!”

The constant kisses stopped. He lowered his forehead onto mine, just holding us there. He held me (somehow) tighter than before. I waited with bated breath for what he would say. Twelve never hugged unless it was important.

“Are you alright?” He asked me.

“No.” I admitted. “I had a nightmare that my husband wasn’t there. I woke up and it was true. How can I be alright?”

The Doctor sighed, that depressed sigh he always had when thinking down on himself. “I’m so sorry, Morgan. Please-”

“Don’t you dare apologize.” I snapped. “I should have been-”

“No. This wasn’t your fault.” The Doctor assured.

“It wasn’t yours either, you magician.” I argued.

The Doctor almost retorted, when he laughed. I laughed too, relieving the tension. We were still hugging, I thought to myself. “You called me Ja’crispy again.” The Doctor pointed out.

“Got your attention, didn’t it?” I questioned.

The Doctor chuckled, pressing a kiss to my forehead. I sighed contently

“I’m coming to get you.” I promised, holding his body to mine. The Doctor let out a relieved breath, almost smiling. He had a dazzling smile. “Nothing you see is real, Pondar. Question everything, cause it’s all fake. Alright?”

“I’m not a complete idiot.” The Doctor commented, making me snort. “Morgan Spencer, laughing. Now I know everything is going to be better.”

I smiled, looking up into his deep blue eyes. He was so hurt by what he was seeing. I only hoped I could bring him back from this.

The magic keeping me here was fading.  My lips went to his, giving a chaste kiss. “Totally and completely.” I promised.

He kissed me back. “Totally and completely.”

“I’m waking up.” I said, before something stopped me.

“No.” The Doctor was starting to lose control. He hugged me tighter, hiding his face from mine. “No.”

I frowned, gripping his shoulders reassuringly. “I’ll be there soon. A day, maybe two.”

“Please. Stay with me. I can’t lose you again.” The Doctor pleaded.

I shook my head, feeling tears burn. “If there was a way I could be in both places-”

“No! I changed my mind.” The Doctor said in a firm tone. “Don’t come here. Don’t ever come here.”

“Too late!” I barked. “Now that I know you’re here, nothing is keeping me away!”

The Doctor lifted his hands off my back, cupping my cheeks instead. He bore his deep blue eyes into mine, almost making me melt. He was afraid, honestly and truly afraid. “A realm of nightmares, of your worst fears played out in front of you on a loop. I’ve seen what you are afraid of, and you spent five weeks with him.”

I started shaking my head.

“I’m not risking you.” The Doctor pleaded. The magic waking me up came back, stronger. “Please. Don’t come here.”

“Would you leave me?” I argued.

The Doctor’s frown told me all I needed to know.

That was when I woke up.

==MI==

(More)

I kept my mind clear, like in the bank of Karabraxos.

“This is our summer jam cause it’s the summertime.” I sang, closing my eyes to concentrate. “The world is gonna end, but we will never die.”

“We’re in the key of G, cause that’s an awesome key, and the BPM’s are at 120.” I sang. “Brazil, Portugal, Amsterdam, New Jersey.”

“I need money for weed, I need north for trees. I need money for bail and legal fees.” “Got a boogie board and I’m riding the waves, and I slap my brother right in the face.”

“Fly to Toronto, in a speedo. Visit my Grandma, who’s not a Guido!” “Gonna eat sardines in St. Louis, gonna make pot brownies in Camp Wanae!”

(More)

I

The Doctor looked just as he did after the Master had been shot. He was crying, on his knees, in pain.

My heart ached. I ran to him, kneeling down so that we were face to face. My hands cupped his cheeks, brushing those tears away. He let out a growl, and for the first time I didn’t flinch away.

“Pondar.” I said in a low voice.

My voice didn’t reach him. I reached down, taking ahold of his hands. He shook at the touch, trying to rip his hand from mine. I gripped tighter.

“Pondar come back to me!” I pleaded, looking at his clenched eyes. “Please! I need you!”

That made his eyes open. Those brown eyes that were just so open, showing me the Doctor inside. He was in such pain.

“It’s me.” I assured him, gripping his hand tighter. “Penelope Henry. Terra Song. Morgan Spencer.” I said all of my names, hoping they would get through to the Doctor.

The Doctor seemed to be coming out. He let out a small growl.

“And you.” I brought his hand up to my head, pressing them to my pain filled smiling cheeks. “Are the Doctor. My Doctor. My leather wearing big eared Doctor. My rude and not ginger lucky Doctor. My raggedy manboy of a Doctor with a love for bow ties. My Magician dressed Doctor, my Amore. Pondarianagoresimaiana.”

I blinked away tears. “Come to me, my sweetest friend. This is where we start again.”

Like words from a spell, they brought him back to me. The Doctor shook my hands from his, grabbing the sides of my head. He pulled me to him, pressing those wonderful lips to mine.

I moaned, my hand going to his hair. They went to work bringing him back to that sticky uppy look. Ten always looked his best when he had wind blown hair, every Doctor did.

(More)

I was panting on his chest, feeling his heartbeat beneath me. The Doctor held me close, like I was a dandelion floating on air about to blow away. The arms were welcomed, demanded is a better word actually. The Doctor leaned down, deeply inhaling the scent of me, I bet I smelled like woods and mold.

“Mine.” The Doctor swore.

“Always.” I said into his chest. The Doctor shivered, somehow holding me tighter. If he held me any tighter I might just merge with him.

The two of us stated like that for a long time, just holding each other. The outside didn’t matter to us right now, I just kept him close. I pressed my forehead against his shoulder, just enjoying his warmth close to mine.

Story, I missed this. Just this, a moment of quiet and calm with my Doctor. I was so happy I wanted to sing.

“Tonight I wanna drive so far we’ll only hear static on the radio.” I hummed. “Can’t see those city lights, and I love the way you look in a firefly glow.”

The Doctor kissed my forehead, leaning down further to kiss my neck. I smiled, content. My hand took ahold of his shoulder, the other wrapping around his neck.

“Saying everything without making a sound. A cricket choir in the background. Underneath a harvest moon.” I kissed his cheek, laying my head on his shoulder. The Doctor was bound to leave a hickey on my neck at this rate. “Standing on your shoes in my bare feet, dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat. Oh whoa, and we’re dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat.”

The Doctor relaxed, only slightly. “Don’t stop singing. Please.”

I smiled. We had all the time in the world. “And I wanna feel it like a kick drum, beating faster in your chest. I wanna feel you holding onto me and make me hold my breath.”

“You pull me closer, my head on your shoulder, baby, we won’t need a song. We’ll make a fallen star wish, one more slow kiss, what are we waiting on?”

(More)

Peri looked over at me. “Penelope?”

I looked over at her, giving a nervous smile. “I got him.” Carefully, I nudged the Doctor. “Yo, Shakespeare, get up.”

He didn’t budge.

I sighed, resting my head on his shoulder. “Look Doc.” I whispered. “Our way out won’t be open much longer. I can’t let this happen to you again. Please. I can’t let you get hurt again.”

The Doctor looked up at me, pressing his forehead to mine. Using the still stable mental bond, I sent him as many calming waves of reassurance as possible.

(More)

==MI==

(More)

“So, what do you have to say?” The Doctor asked. I threw a glare at him. He only looked at me with those smug eyes. I half expected him to pull out the glasses, our maybe put his hands in his pockets. “Cause everyone of your other little friends has gone, had their say. You like talking last, so make your peace and then leave me behind.”

I glared harshly. The others did have their eyes on me, Peri more than anyone. She was friends with Puck, and him losing his mate was probably not a thing she was happy to watch. I opened my mouth to speak.

“You’ll probably start talking about how we’ve done this whole thing before.” The Doctor began. “Or, that you’re of the few people I trust with everything. You might start quoting all of their speeches verbatim. They were good speeches, I’ll admit.”

I raised an eyebrow, wondering if he was done.

“But you forget, that you’ve hidden things from me.” The Doctor said. I was ashamed that he was right, because I was hiding something even now. “And based on the look you’re giving me, there’s more you haven’t said. So, I think it’s pretty even. You don’t need to go over there, you can stay here and we can both keep our secrets.”

I shook my head at him, surprised. “Wow. Just...just wow. That wasn’t even close to what I was gonna say.” The Doctor scoffed. “It wasn’t. We do keep secrets from each other, we’d be idiots not to. You just saw all of your worst nightmares play out in front of you. There’s nothing I can say that would make it all okay. Except, maybe, that you’re stupider than I thought.”

Jen snorted. “Real good idea, Penelope. Tell the guy he’s an idiot.”

“I was trapped in a sleeping curse, as I’m sure you know.” I ignored Jen.

The Doctor nodded. “Hard to forget you lying near dead in my arms.”

“In the dream, I could see your nightmares.” I said, much to his horror. “Not all of it, but I felt what all of it was doing to you. Saw manboy, celery, and scarfy.”

(More)

I stood up, walking away from him. My jaw was dropped, berating myself for forgetting what the Doctor was doing.

(More)

“Don’t.” I snapped.

The Doctor’s eyes widened. I rarely spoke Gallifreyan, but it was just something he wanted me to know. The rest of the pack watched the Doctor and I with confused looks, waiting for something to make sense.

“This is what I wanted to avoid.” I stressed. “You hiding from me again. Why? When have I ever showed you even the slightest shred of hatred? You think whatever you saw in there would make me think of you less?”

The Doctor made his face stern. Ten had been so open with his emotions, it was easy to pick. He was still hiding from me, but again it was supposedly for my own protection. “Logan.”

The name sent a chill down my back. My arms wrapped around me, to provide some level of comfort. “Well whatever you saw, I would never do any of it willingly. The only one I want is you. Totally and completely, remember?”

“Why wouldn’t you want him?” The Doctor said. “He’s your own kind.”

That made me stop. This was the first I had ever heard of that argument from the Doctor. Logan used it any chance he got, saying he and I were unavoidable. Logan had said that argument, saying our children would be the most powerful Travelers in creation. Logan whispered it in my ear as he abused me, marked me.

The Doctor had never even broached the subject, because he knew where my heart lied. After Ten, I told him about the mate bond and how it was his. I told him I loved him, and that I would never ever stop. Eleven knew I would always chose him, that nothing Logan ever said would make me give my mate up. Twelve didn’t need the constant reassurance. If I ever thought about choosing Logan, then he would show me why Twelve was my only choice. (He was always right)

But Ten...with Ten it was new and dangerous and exploration. Ten never knew about the mate bond, and if he did he didn’t understand it.

This wasn’t Ten. This was Twelve wearing Ten’s face. This was Twelve being shown his worst fears. It may have started out as Logan assaulting me, like he had at Dominic’s pain house, then it evolved into me giving in. Knowing his occasion self deprecating, it problem involved some yelling on my part filled with lies.

And the Doctor bought that bullshit!

Of course, none of my conflicting emotions showed on my face. It was pure shock. I was in shock. “Well. That’s good.” I said, flatly. “You see it fair to limit my information, so I’ll limit your’s. Your touch is not invited.” I somehow said with confidence, walking towards the girl side.

The Doctor looked at me pleadingly. “No please-”

“And your mind isn’t either.” With that, I cut off our mental bond. “Oh. And that thing I was hiding? I wanted it to be a surprise for when we got to the mansion.” I leaned in, saying in a stage whisper “Harry Song is alive.”

The Doctor gaped at me. “What?”

I ignored him, turning away.

“What?” The Doctor repeated.

He was doing the triple what’s, but it wouldn’t work on me this time.

I walked over to a tree, leaning against it in anger.

“What?” The Doctor said, and then silence.

The girls looked sympathetic, probably recognizing the look on my face. They didn’t know what the Doctor said earlier, but they got a feeling it was bad.

Sally put a comforting hand on my shoulder. I looked at her, seeing her give a reassuring smile. Well, at first I could see it. Stupid tears were making it a bit too blurry.

==MI==

(More)

“You know you want to tell me.” The Doctor called out. “And you want to tell me every last detail.”

I kept my mouth shut.

Jacque same up to my side. “So he knows Harry too?”

I nodded. “Yeah.”

(More)

“Still alive but I’m barely breathing.” The words flowed out from my mouth. That Equestrian Magic, y’all. “Just praying to a God that I don’t believe in. Cause I got time while she got freedom. Cause when a heart breaks no it don't break even.”

The Doctor gave me a look from across the clearing. It wasn’t of scolding, more of a plea. He didn’t want me breaking my own heart, or his heart. The song came out anyone, unwilling to stay trapped inside.

“You can stop whenever you’d like.” The Doctor said.

I closed my eyes, lying down on the tree. I sang louder, hoping it would tune him out.

“Her best days are some of my worst. She finally met a man who’s gonna put her first.”  “While I’m wide awake she’s no trouble sleeping, cause when her heart breaks no it don’t break even. Even. No.”

“What am I supposed to do when the best part of me was always you? And, what am I supposed to say when I’m all choked up that you’re okay?” “Yeah, I’m falling to pieces. Yeah, I’m falling to pieces.”

“They say that bad things happen for a reason. No wise words gonna stop the bleeding.” “She’s far gone while I still breathing. Cause when her heart breaks no it don’t break even. Even, no.”

(More)

==MI==

(More)

“Puck, what the hell are you wearing?” Peri asked.

My mind paused, quickly working out the only thing he could be wearing to get such a reaction. I glanced up, seeing him in a pinstripe suit and the sexy glasses.

He smiled smugly at Peri. “Just something a little more comfortable.” The Doctor glanced over, noticing me immediately. “Do you like it, Penelope? Thought I’d give it a go.”

He stuffed his hands into the jacket pockets. His grin said innocence, but closer analysis showed satisfaction. I steeled my features, squaring my shoulders.

“It’s alright.” I shrugged it off, being nonchalant about the utterly lustful feelings burning at my core. “Didn’t know you needed glasses.”

“I don’t. I just think they add an...element, to the suit.”

‘The element I will push you into and ride your body until we leave an imprint.’ I thought, quickly checking to make sure my shields were holding. “Yeah, they make you look like a physics teacher.”

He grinned again, a inside joke between us. “Time was, this suit made you fall to your knees.”

Again, I shrugged it off. My hands went into my own pockets, so they wouldn’t fidget. I made calming steps towards my mate, my expression steeled.

“You wanna talk about falling to your knees.” I leaned in, close enough so that only he could hear it. Not enough to touch, I wasn’t stupid. “Pondarianagoresimaiana.”

And just like that, the Doctor fell to the cold ground.

“You started a sex war with me, me. Friend of Captain Jack Harkness, wife of River Song, and who’s spirit animal is her.” I pointed at Jen, who smirked and waved. “You really think you can win that?” (More)

@

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==MI==

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==MI==

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==MI==

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“Oh, don’t tell me you’re still angry about Elizabeth.” The Doctor sighed, shaking his head.

“No. That implies I ever got over it the first time.”

“Okay. Fine. Charles Dickens!”

“Marilyn Monroe.”

“Shakespeare.”

“Queen Nefertiti.”

“.”

“M.”

“What? Nothing happened with her!”

“She showed you her boobs!” I shouted. “And let’s not forget Astrid!” “That’s right. I know about her!”

“Not that this isn’t entertaining.” Jen said, gesturing between the Doctor and I. “But what the hell are you talking about?”

“It’s nothing.” I said. “Just tune us out. Most people learn to.”

“Nothing? I wouldn’t call kissing Mickey the idiot nothing.”

“Never kissed Mickey, and you kissed Martha.”

“That was a genetic transfer!”

Jen snorted off to the side. “I bet you exchanged genetics.”

“Jennifer.” Decibel growled in a warning.

The Doctor gave her a withering look. “Yes, thank you. I’ve been trying to get her to stop calling it that-”

“Then how about you stop calling it a fucking genetic transfer!”

“Rory!” The Doctor suddenly said. “You kissed Rory!”

“He’s my godson!” I argued. “Why the hell would I kiss my godson?”

“Oh please. Don’t tell me you spent all those years around him and never kissed him.”

“Unlike some people, I don’t kiss my friends!” I argued. “Like you kissed Amy!”

“She kissed me!”

I scoffed, walking back to my tree.

“Alright. Fine. Robin Hood.”

“Rose Tyler.”

“The Master!”

“The Mistress!” I said. “Oh, sorry. Not a kiss. That was a ‘3W welcoming package’.”

“Ah!” He started to say more, but winced. “Uh...uh...”

“Cassandra, Jabe, Madame de Pompadour.”

“Clara!” The both of us shouted, making us pause. Had we both kissed Clara? That’s awkward.

“River.” I added. “But we both kissed her too, so it’s okay.”

(More)

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==MI==

(More)

I shook my head as the Eleventh Doctor (dressed in purple) wrapped his hands on my neck. “This is not real. You are a dream.” I said, like a mantra.

“Oh, I’m plenty real, dear. Watch this.” The illusion only smiled darkly as his hands constricted over me. I found myself gasping for air, clawing at the hands on my neck.

In the forest, the Doctor watched as Morgan fought off an unseen attacker. He didn’t know which one she was fighting until she begged, that was what cinched it. His previous self.

I clawed at Eleven, watching in slight horror as it changed to Ten. Then Nine, and Eight, and down the line until ending up back to Twelve.

‘Morgan, none of it is real.’ The Doctor spoke in my mind, breaking through the small fog.

I was shaking in fear as another Doctor I hadn’t met tried killing me. ‘Celery. Makes me wanna laugh. Must be why he’s choking me.’

The Doctor couldn’t even crack a smile. Did she always have to joke when she was being murdered?

I flinched away when the scene changed to a more horrific one. Dominic Chamberlin was leaning over me, hands grabbing my body. I started shouting ‘dog’ as loud as I could.

The Doctor could see it in her eyes before she screamed. It was the part of his nightmare with Dominic. He almost snarled as the image replayed in his mind. She was shouting about dogs now, which told him she was ready to have this over with.

He marched up to Peri, who was still panicking. “The wolves.”

She huffed. “I know Puck. They’re pissed off that they can’t touch their mates.”

“No, not exactly. The males can’t touch their mates.” The Doctor said. “But their wolves could.”

Peri and the female wolf turned to him, surprised. “What?” Peri said, surprised at how they had figured something like that out.

“The males were in their human form when the females cut off contact. Their wolves won’t be bound by the females wants.” The Doctor explained, growing more and more frustrated with every second. “Have them phase, then have the males carry the females to the mansion.”

Out of nowhere, Morgan screamed at the top of her lungs. “LOGAN!” Morgan screamed. “Doctor help me!”

“I’m working on it!” The Doctor shouted in her direction.

(More)

“You’re the Doctor?”

(More)

==MI==

(More)

“I can’t phase to touch her.”

“Neither can I.” The man Adam said.

“So how do we carry them back?” The Doctor snarled.

Peri stared at her friend. “I’ll carry Penelope, and Cynthia will carry Crina.”

The Doctor’s eyes narrowed.

“Well you can’t, and if anyone else does you’ll snap their neck or worse.” Peri reminded him.

(More)

==MI==

(More)

Penelope grabbed Peri’s arm, wincing in pain. “Harmony...harmony...harmony...”

(More)

“A cleansing spell?” Peri asked Puck.

The fae nodded. “A cleansing spell, with the fae stones and the other Fae Council, would cancel out the dark magic.”

(More)

==MI==

(More)

The Doctor kept his eyes on Morgan as she painfully twisted and turned. She was seeing every horror and feeling every pain that he had seen, only this time she was participating in them.

That was why she had been so adamant about him telling her what he saw. So, that when this happened, at least he could have been able to hold her. He would have been able to take those fears and doubts from her.

But he couldn’t. He couldn’t touch her because she had used some weird werewolf magic to keep him away. To make it worse, Terra had taken away their mental link. The thing that has truly brought the Doctor comfort. Terra would always be sending him waves of comfort, or reassurance, or endless love.

(More)

“I need to get her in clothes.” The wolf doctor said.

(More)

The Doctor wanted to brush back her hair. She whimpered, pushing her face into the pillow. “Morgan, I need you back.

(More)

==MI==

(More)

The Doctor put his hand on Peri’s shoulder.

(More)

The other fae had done some strange magic, allowing the pain to stop.

The Doctor felt some air get into his lungs after Terra stopped screaming. It was just whimpers now, those horrible whimpers of heartbreak.

(More)

She wouldn’t look at him.

“Morgan.” The Doctor said, feeling dampened by having his tenth self’s voice come out. “Please let me in.”

His wife shook her head, letting her ponytail fall over her face briefly. Her face was still scrunched up in agony, eyes leaking tears.

It was as if Dominic had happened all over again. That thought made the Doctor want to scream.

“Please.” He stressed, walking up to her bedside.

Then, she looked at him. The Doctor felt himself ache at seeing the emotion in her eyes.

“How?” She whimpered. “How could you want me after seeing me do...do that.” She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself even tighter.

“Because it wasn’t you.” The Doctor stressed. He brushed his hand over her hair, it felt like silk under his hands. Morgan rubbed her head against the hand, like a cat. He climbed onto the bed, staring into her amber eyes. She refused to look at him, submissively staring down at the bed. “I’m sorry. It was ridiculous to hide it from you, to hide me from you. You’ve always been the only person who’s helped me through everything.”

Terra’s closed eyes leaked tears, bunching together under the Doctor’s hand. “It was stupid to think you would go to him. You have too big of a heart.”

She whimpered, curling tighter in on herself. She felt his hand on her cheek, that cool hand of his that she utterly loved. It had that gentleness she had forgotten he had, that she had yearned for amidst all that pain. Flashes of Logan came to her mind, as well as the darkened bodies of other Doctors.

They hadn’t said anything cruel to her, they had said cruel things of him. The Doctor’s bragged about how they were the one she chose, that Twelve had no idea how to love her, that Twelve couldn’t protect her. Terra had heard the Doctor’s talk crap about other incarnations, but that had gone too far.

The Doctor touching her now, loving her now, was the one she wanted. He had Ten’s body, but she still saw Twelve deep inside. It warmed her heart. She had been forced to be cut off cold from him, in that nightmare.

(More)

He wrapped his arms around her in a hug, something he had found strangely pleasant with her.

“Mark me.” She murmured.

The Doctor looked down at her in shock. “What?”

She looked him in the eyes. “Mark. Me.” She said more like a demand.

The Doctor stared at her with that possessive glint in his brown eyes. He kissed her as if to promise her that, oh, he would mark her, and it would be good.

(More)

(More)

Morgan moaned loudly. Her head tilted back, allowing him more access to her throat. The Doctor growled.

(More)

(More)

The Doctor let out a relieved sigh. She was his. She was in his arms, not screaming in agony. Oh, and her moans were as heavenly as they always were.

(More)

He claimed her, in all of the ways he had been dying to since finding her again. The Doctor had to admit, he rather liked this place. No wonder Terra saw it as her favorite book.

(More)

==MI==

(More)

“Pondar.” Terra gaped.

The Doctor looked down at his shoulder, seeing the markings just like Terra’s.

(More)

The Doctor pressed his lips on Terra. The woman laughed happily.

“Stop laughing.” He said, trying to keep his lips pressed onto her’s.

Morgan only laughed. “Can’t.”

“I can’t make love to my wife if she’s laughing at me.” The Doctor said, moving his lips to her neck.

She shivered, but still laughing. “With you, not at you.” She corrected. The woman put her hand on his arm. “Told ya ya’d get the mark.”

The Doctor stopped his assault on her neck, sitting up on his elbows to give his wife a look. She only laughed harder. There was a part of him that was happy to see her smiling so brightly, to hear her laughing freely without pain or fear. The rest of him wanted to make her scream.

Morgan rolled her eyes, playfully smacking his arm. “You do remember that I’m in your head right now, and I heard every bit of that?”

The Doctor did not, but he wasn’t telling her that. “Good.”

(More)

“No.” Her hand brought his to her stomach, pressing down on it like there was a child inside. “Harry.”

The Doctor stopped, it clicking in his head. “Your son?”

Terra nodded, looking as surprised as the Doctor was. “He’s alive. That bastard Logan kept him alive.”

(More)

==MI==

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“

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==MI==

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“So he remembered you?” Jen said, smiling.

I smiled back, and it was my first real smile to her in awhile. “Every precious second.”

(More)

“Some language we heard in a mutual favorite show.” I shrugged, sipping my cocoa.

The Doctor sent me a wave of amusement. ‘Not a technical lie. You’re incredible at this.’

‘It’s called experience.’ I teased. ‘Do the job long enough, you figure out the right way to say things. The proper half truths and lies. I can even spot them in other people.’

‘Cause you cheat.’ The Doctor snarked.

‘What? Innocent little me cheat?’ I mentally gasped. ‘I am offended, good sir.’

I smiled, using the mug to hide my slight blush. “I said a phrase from the show, he heard, and we found out we both liked it.” I toasted the mug his direction. “Ten points to Penelope, for the amazing mate pick!”

“Please. We already get enough Potter references from Jacque.” Jen groaned.

“You’re only saying that because you didn’t get any points.” I joked.

(More)

“We don’t mean to pry.” Sally said, turning the mug in her hand. “But, what did he say?”

(More)

“And he told me to go out with that man, because he was my own kind.” I hissed. The mug shattered.

The women all flinched, jumping out of their chairs. Scalding hot cocoa covered my hand, as well as most of my arm. The whipped cream did little to help the burn, instead creating a bigger mess.

“Damn it.” I growled. Sally came to my side, using paper towels to clean the cocoa. “I liked that mug.”

“Oh my god! Penelope, are you okay?” Sally asked. Jacque and Alina came up next, using various towels to dry it up. Sally held more paper towels, as if to dry my hand.

I shrugged, lifting my hand to shake off the cocoa. “Still figuring that out.”

(More)

‘Morgan, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?’ The Doctor asked.

‘Sorry. I just got a little angry.’ I frowned, ashamed that I had let my anger control me.

The Doctor was feeling some slight joy, then concern. ‘And how did you vent your anger?’

‘May have squeezed a mug of cocoa until it shattered.’ I said. ‘Over my hand.’

(More)

“Hey M-Penelope.”

I turned to the door. Even though I knew it was Harry, it still surprised me to see him alive and well.

(More)

==MI==

(More)

“This is the Doctor.” I introduced. “And Doc, this is Harry.”

My mate looked at the boy warily, as if unsure of what to do. There wasn’t a book for what to do when meeting your wife’s son from a sexual assault, that had supposedly been murdered when he was born, only to appear in werewolf world.

Welcome to Doctor Who, enjoy your stay.

(More)

@

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==MI==

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“Terra, let’s go home.” The Doctor suggested, with a bright smile.

I smiled back, taking ahold of his hand. “Yeah, Ten is great.” I pulled him closer to me. “But, I miss my Doctor more.”

The Doctor growled, pressing his forehead to mine. “Keep saying things like that, and we might never leave.”

“Don’t tempt me.” I warned, giving his lips a quick peck.

He pulled me back to him, biting my lip. I moaned, melting into his arms. ‘I miss the feel of Twelve’s fingers on my body.’ I thought in a sensual voice.

The Doctor growled, holding me tighter to him in a scolding and looking at me with heavy lust in his eyes. It was hot. ‘Morgan.’

‘I miss the way Twelve would tease me, until I was lying on our bed, or any flat surface, screaming.’ I purred, rubbing my head against his shoulder. He was still taller than me, but I guess that was a given.

The Doctor made through with my flirt, carrying me over to a nearby wall to press me against it. I gasped, my legs automatically wrapping around him. My arms braced themselves on his shoulders.

“I said, not to say things like that.” The Doctor warned.

“No. You didn’t.” I half moaned. “You wanted to fuck me in this room again.” The Time Lord turned Fae pressed his face against my neck, sensually kissing me. A loud noise, probably a groan, flew out of my mouth as I melted into him.

The Doctor chuckled, adding a small bite that made my hips thrust into his. He gripped tighter on my hands, almost growling. “Fine then. You bloody started this, and I’m gonna bloody finish it.”

I bit my lip. “About time.”

My husband tried using that fae magic again, about to snap his fingers to remove my clothes. ‘What? You don’t want to rip my clothes off? I always liked when Twelve would make me work for it.’

The Doctor growled. ‘No. No strip teasing from you.’

‘You would be the one taking them off.’

‘You would still make it a tease.’ The Doctor pulled my scarf off with magic.

(More)

“Fuck!” I shouted, holding tightly to him. “Pondar. Pondar.”

The Doctor growled while thrusting faster inside me. “Morgan.”

(More)

==MI==

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“So.” Darcy smirked. “How was dog land?”

The Doctor and I exchanged looks.

“Alright.” The two of us answered.

Death in Heaven, Ending

Last Christmas

The

(More)

“Hello Clara.” I greeted. I could feel the ice cream headache.

The Doctor: “Clara, I want you to step inside the TARDIS. I don’t want you to talk, I want you to do as I ask. Please.”

Ian: “That was good, with the box.”

Wolf: “Hmph. Not often we get upstaged on a rooftop. Hmm.”

The Doctor: “Yes, I’m really here. I’m back. Now get inside the TARDIS.”

(Clara obeys silently and shuts the door.)

The Doctor: “I know what this is. I know what’s happening, and I know what’s at stake.”

Santa: “I don’t think you do, Doctor. But I promise, before this Christmas Day is done, you will be glad of my help.”

The Doctor: “Happy Easter.”

(He goes into the TARDIS.)

Wolf: “Ooh, brutal!”

Ian: “Cool exit line, though.”

Santa: “Be sure to save some room for a tangerine, Doctor.”

The Doctor: “Nobody likes the tangerines.”

(More)

Clara: “I’m really back here. This is, this is real, yeah?”

(The Doctor starts setting coordinates.)

Clara: “Doctor? Talk to me. I never thought I was going to see you again. What is going on out there? What’s happening?”

(The time rotor starts spinning overhead.)

Clara: “Oh, that noise. Never knew how much I loved it.”

The Doctor: “There’s something you have to ask yourself, and it’s important. Your life may depend on it. Everybody’s life. Do you really believe in Santa Claus?”

Clara: “Do you know what? Yeah. Right now, here, I think I do.”

(More)

==NE==

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Shona: “We’ve, we’ve got ghosts!”

Ashley: “Ghosts?”

Shona: “Yeah, yeah. It’s a skeleton man and a girl in a nightie.”

Clara: “Doctor?”

Shona: “No, no, no, you’re making me think about them. Don’t make me think about them!”

Clara: “What are they?”

(The figures start to sit up slowly.)

Shona: “Look. Just don’t ask, yeah? And don’t look. Don’t make me-”

(The Doctor scans them with his screwdriver as they get out of bed.)

The Doctor: “Deaf. Blind. How can they see us? How do they even know that we’re here?”

Shona: “They can only see you, yeah, if you see them. So just, so just don’t look, don’t even think about them.”

The Doctor: “Oh, telepathic. They can home in on their own image in someone else’s brain. Third-party perception. Mind piracy. We’re being hacked.”

(The Sleepers are all standing.)

The Doctor: “The visual input from your optic nerve is being streamed to their brains. Stop broadcasting. Close your eyes.”

(Clara obeys. The images of the alien heads stretch and morph.)

Clara: “They’re still coming, aren’t they?”

The Doctor: “It’s because you’re still thinking about them. So long as you retain them as an active memory, they can still home in. Think about something else.”

Clara: “How?”

Shona: “(sings) So here it is, Merry Christmas-”

Clara: “Why is she singing?”

Shona: “Everybody’s having fun.”

The Doctor: “(sotto) She’s running interference. She’s trying to distract herself. Three hundred and four minus seventeen.”

Clara: “Sorry, what?”

The Doctor: “Plus twenty. Just do it!”

Clara: “Five hundred and seven.”

(A crack like a mucus filled maw open in the carapaces.)

The Doctor: “Minus fourteen, times four.”

Clara: “One thousand nine hundred and seventy two.”

The Doctor: “Stop being so good at arithmetic.”

Clara: “I can’t help it!”

The Doctor: “Danny Pink! What is Danny Pink up to right now? He’s probably flirting with your neighbour or texting women of low moral character.”

(After seeing Danny in her mind, Clara opens her eyes and slaps the Doctor’s face, hard. The Sleepers, who are now very close to them, close their maws.)

Clara: “(sotto) Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare say that.”

The Doctor: “I was only-”

Clara: “Danny Pink is dead.”

(The Sleepers growl.)

The Doctor: “No, he’s not.”

Clara: “He’s dead.”

(The infirmary door opens and the rest of the crew run in with very, very big guns.)

Ashley: “Go, run, now, now, now!”

(The Doctor turns to grab Shona.)

The Doctor: “Come on, quick, quick, quick, come on!”

(Something like a gluttonous spider drops down on a thread of mucus from the ceiling.)

Albert: “Here they come!”

(Then lots of them.)

The Doctor: “No!”

(More)

==NE==

(More)

Santa: “Whoa, whoa! Ah! Good boy.”

(He walks into the infirmary, followed by Ian with a balloon toy, and Wolf with an air gun.)

Santa: “Well, now. What seems to be the problem? This is the North Pole. We don’t want any trouble here.”

(Rudolph bellows.)

Santa: “Hey, Rudolph.”

(Santa uses his car key fob to ’lock’ Rudolph. Beep!)

Santa: “Easy, son. Oi! Sleepy heads! It’s Christmas Eve, early to bed.”

(Santa claps his hands The Doctor: “Sleepers return to their beds.)

Ashley: “Who the hell are you?”

The Doctor: “Oh, take a guess. Go on, push the boat out. Tooth Fairy, maybe? Easter Bunny?”

Ian: “Shut your mouth, wise guy, or you get yours.”

Wolf: “It’s a balloon animal.”

Ian: “That’s a toy gun.”

Wolf: “Yeah, well, at least it’s unsuitable for children under four. Parts small enough to swallow, so watch out.

(The Doctor sighs.)

Shona: “Now, this is ridiculous. Am I, am I dreaming?”

The Doctor: “Oh, very good.”

Ashley: “I need to know exactly who you are, and what’s happening here.”

(Santa gently points her gun away from his midriff.)

Santa: “Hello, Ashley. Lead scientist on a polar expedition. Oh, that microscope really paid off, didn’t it? Now, your mum and dad wanted me to get you a toy one, but sometimes, I take a chance.”

Ashley: “Who are you? Why are you dressed like that?”

Santa: “Why do you think?”

Shona: “Come on, this is mental. This is totally not happening.”

Santa: “I got three words, Shona. Don’t make me use ’em.”

Shona: “What three words?”

Santa: “My. Little. Pony.”

Shona: “Shut up, you.”

Santa: “Yeah? I’ve got lots more, babe.”

Shona: “I will mark you, Santa.”

(Shona makes claws of her hands.)

Clara: “Okay, Doctor, are you going to explain? What is going on?”

Santa: “It’s an invasion, Miss Oswald.”

Clara: “An invasion of, of what, elves?”

Wolf: “Whoa! That is racist.”

Ian: “Elfist!”

Wolf: “Yeah. Which is a bit hypocritical, from someone of your height.”

(Wolf is ever so slightly taller than Clara. Santa fetches a large transparent specimen container 16367//KB from his saddlebags.)

Santa: “Huh? You seen them before, Doctor?”

The Doctor: “I’ve heard of them.”

Santa: “The Kantrofarri.”

The Doctor: “Colloquially known as the Dream Crabs.”

Santa: “Yeah. Depending on how many of those are already on Earth, the human race may well have seen its last day. So, are we going to stand about arguing about whether I’m real or not, or are we going to get busy saving Christmas?”

Ian: “Oh, ho, ho! Santa goes badass!”

Wolf: “He’s giving me the feels.”

Santa: “Shut up. That’s a, that’s a verbal warning. Please, stop it.”

(More)

==NE==

(More)

Clara: “Is it dead?”

(The Doctor and Ashley are looking at the Dream Crab in the container.)

The Doctor: “I don’t know. Possibly.”

Ashley: “I’m assuming extra-terrestrial.”

The Doctor: “Oh, definitely.”

Ashley: “Then how can you have heard of these things?”

The Doctor: “Guess.”

Ashley: “Because you’re extra-terrestrial, too.”

The Doctor: “Do you believe that?”

Ashley: “Why’s it called a Dream Crab, for a start?”

The Doctor: “Theorise.”

Ashley: “Because it generates a telepathic field.”

The Doctor: “And?”

Ashley: “Alters perception.”

The Doctor: “Meaning?”

Ashley: “I seem to be doing all the work here.”

Clara: “Meaning we can’t trust anything that we see or hear.”

The Doctor: “Go to the window.”

Ashley: “Why?”

The Doctor: “Because it gets worse.”

(Ashley looks out at an incongruous blue Police [public call] Box.)

Ashley: “What is that?”

The Doctor: “That’s how Clara and I got here.”

Ashley: “In a box?”

The Doctor: “Technically, in a telephone kiosk.”

Ashley: “(laughs) How?”

The Doctor: “Because it’s a spaceship in disguise. You know what the big problem is in telling fantasy and reality apart?”

Ashley: “What?”

The Doctor: “They’re both ridiculous.”

Clara: “So we don’t know what is real and what isn’t?”

The Doctor: “Exactly.”

Clara: “Are we in danger?”

The Doctor: “Oh, we are well way past danger, Clara. If I’m right, and I usually am, we’re dying.”

Ashley: “Then how do we stay alive?”

The Doctor: “I like you. Straight to the point. I want you to show me how you first encountered those creatures, and what happened to those people in the infirmary. I notice you all wear mini-cams, so I assume that there is footage.”

Ashley: “Is it possible I’m about to work with someone who might be a dream?”

The Doctor: “If it helps, so am I.”

Ashley: “We have footage on the drives. I’ll see what I can pull up.”

The Doctor: “Ashley, what’s this polar base for? Why are you all here?”

Ashley: “It’s a long story.” (Ashley leaves.)

Clara: “What you said about Danny. Unacceptable.”

The Doctor: “I know. I had to flood your mind with random emotion.”

Clara: “Random?”

The Doctor: “You never told me he was dead. You said he made it back.”

Clara: “Well, I lied. I lied, so you’d go home to Gallifrey instead of fussing about me.”

The Doctor: “I never found Gallifrey. I lied, so you’d stay with Danny.”

Clara: “So we’re dying, then?”

The Doctor: “Yes.”

Clara: “Why?”

The Doctor: “Oh, complicated.”

Clara: “How long do we have?”

The Doctor: “No idea.”

Clara: “Just. Doctor, give me something to do.”

The Doctor: “Trust nothing. Accept nothing you see. Whatever happens, interrogate everything.”

Clara: “In case it’s a lie.”

The Doctor: “In case it’s a lie.”

(More)

==NE==

(More)

The Doctor: “You alright?”

Shona: “Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I’m trying to talk sense into er, Beardy-Weirdy.”

The Doctor: “You don’t seem much like a scientist.”

Shona: “That’s a bit rude, coming from a magician.”

The Doctor: “Why are you out here? What brought you to the North Pole?”

Shona: “Long story, isn’t it?”

The Doctor: “You missed the killer question.”

Shona: “Sorry, what?”

The Doctor: “Beardy-Weirdy.”

Santa: “Yeah?”

The Doctor: “How do you get all the presents in the sleigh?”

Santa smirked, taking another sip of his cocoa. “It’s bigger on the inside.”

The Doctor frowned.

“Oh. Santa burn.” I giggled.

“I think the right term is ‘freezer burn’.” Santa gloated. I laughed again.

Ashley: “Doctor?”

(Professor Albert is gnawing on a turkey drumstick.)

Albert: “Sorry. Starving.”

The Doctor: “What am I looking at?”

(The monitor says Headcam:Carter.)

Bellows: “Footage from a week ago. A side expedition from our main mission.”

The Doctor: “What is your main mission?”

Bellows: “Long story. Ice cave directly beneath this base. Now, look at what we found.”

(A cluster of Dream crabs hanging amongst icicles.)

Bellows: “Dormant at first.”

The Doctor: “Until you looked at them too long. Till you thought about them.”

Bellows: “Exactly.”

The Doctor: “Sleeping. Probably been down there for centuries.”

(Anyone else thinking The Thing meets Alien?)

Clara: “And it wakes up when you think about it?”

(The Dream Crab twitches in its container.)

The Doctor: “They can detect their own mental picture in any nearby mind.”

Ashley: “That’s Bellows’ theory.”

Bellows: “It’s like it responds to the presence of any data concerning itself.”

The Doctor: “Oh. That was always the legend. You think about a Dream Crab, a Dream Crab is coming for you.”

(The Dream Crab twitches the container off the table, and it breaks.)

Albert: “This is where it gets really nasty.”

Clara: “Only now?”

(A Dream Crab descends onto the headcam and it goes into static.)

The Doctor: “Okay, then what?”

Albert: “They’re a bit like Facehuggers, aren’t they?”

The Doctor: “Face huggers?”

Albert: “You know, Alien. The horror movie, Alien.”

“There’s a horror movie called alien? That’s really offensive. No wonder everyone keeps invading you.” The Doctor remarked.

Bellows: “First, they just slept. Couple of days, just lying there.”

The Doctor: “And then they became aggressive.”

Ashley: “If we got close enough, yeah.”

The Doctor: “It would take the Dream Crab a little while to take control. Depends how much of the host brain was.”

Ashley: “Was what?”

The Doctor: “Digested.”

Ashley: “Are they still alive under those things?”

The Doctor: “Depends what you call alive.”

Ashley: “Are they suffering?”

The Doctor: “No. No, no. no, no, no. The Dream Crab induces a dream state. Keeps you happy and relaxed, in a perfectly realised The Doctor:orld, as you dissolve. Merciful, I suppose.”

Albert: “Compared to what?”

The Doctor: “Compared to that turkey leg you keep eating. Could you rewind for me? I’d like to see them dormant again. Clara, fetch me the dead one.” The Doctor ordered.

I looked over at Clara, trying to hold back my laughter. “Maybe I could fetch you a cup of tea while I’m at it!”

The Doctor realized his mistake. He turned back to Clara with a somewhat apology on his face. “Ooh. Yes. And a punch in the face too.”

I giggled.

“My very next suggestion.” Clara grinned.

The Doctor: “Fair enough.”

(More)

Ashley: “What’s wrong?”

The Doctor: “We’re thinking about it. Clara!”

(More)

The Doctor: “You are dying. Dying! Dying! Clara! Clara! Clara!”

(More)

The Doctor: “Clara, you’re dreaming. You’re dying. Can you hear me? Clara?”

Ashley: “We did try to waken the others. No stimulus worked.”

The Doctor: “Okay, we kill it. We find a way to kill it and we get it off of her. How do we kill it?”

Ashley: “There’s no way to kill it without killing your friend, too. And as a scientist, may I just say, I don’t like the way you’re talking.”

The Doctor: “Santa. In the infirmary, you told the Sleepers to go to bed, and they obeyed you.”

Santa: “Sorry, doesn’t mean I can get that creature off her.”

The Doctor: “No, but you can get back in there unharmed.”

Shona: “What? You’re asking Santa for help? He doesn’t exist.”

The Doctor: “And how would you know that? How did you become an expert on what does and doesn’t exist?”

Santa: “I can commit several million house breaks in one night dressed in a red suit with jingle bells, so of course I can get back into the infirmary.”

The Doctor: “Good. Because there is only one way that I can communicate with Clara.”

(More)

==NE==

(More)

The Doctor: “Hi.”

Clara: “Hi. Doctor?”

The Doctor: “It’s not real, Clara. You know it’s not real. It’s a dream, and it’s killing you.”

Clara: “Merry Christmas.”

(The Doctor closes the door behind him and follows Clara into the living room.)

Clara: “You remember Danny, of course.”

The Doctor: “Not as well as you, clearly. You’ve made him a fraction taller. Merry Christmas, PE.”

DANNY: “Compliments of the season, sir.”

The Doctor: “Dialogue’s pretty good, too. Nice work. It’s all in the detail.”

Clara: “Just stop it.”

The Doctor: “He’s not real, Clara. None of this is real. What’s real is there is an alien organism wrapped around your face, keeping you warm and happy while it eats you.”

DANNY: “Mince pie, anyone?”

The Doctor: “You’re dying.”

Clara: “If this is a dream, how can you be here? How can we both be having the same dream?”

The Doctor: “There was only one way to get to you.”

Clara: “And what was that?”

The Doctor: “I’m dying, too.”

Clara: “You just wake up. Just leave me here, please.”

(The Doctor touches her right temple.)

The Doctor: “You have a pain right here. It’s like an ice cream pain, but gentle. Do you know what that is? The skin and bone have been parted, probably half an inch, and something has pushed right into the soft tissue of your brain and is very slowly dissolving it. I want you to picture it this way. Somebody has put a straw right through your skull and is drinking you. You should be screaming with agony, but there’s anaesthetic. Everything around you right now, even Danny, especially Danny, that’s the anaesthetic.”

DANNY: “Why are you doing this? Why are you saying all of that?”

The Doctor: “Because it’s true. How long do you think you’ve been here?”

Clara: “All day.”

The Doctor: “No. No, no, no. Barely five minutes. Because dream time goes faster. Because this isn’t real. Danny isn’t real. Danny Pink died saving the world.”

DANNY: “I really didn’t.”

The Doctor: “I’m sorry. I thought there was a way back for him, but I was wrong. I can’t change that. He’s dead.”

DANNY: “I didn’t die saving the world, Doctor, I died saving Clara. The rest of you just got lucky. How long has she got?”

The Doctor: “Minutes, till it’s irreversible.”

DANNY: “Well then, get out the way.”

(The Doctor moves aside and Danny walks up to Clara.)

DANNY: “I’m a dream and you know I am, right? (Clara nods.) Right, one thing. But it’s important. It’s a very important thing. That is totally how you guessed all of my presents.”

Clara: “I miss you.”

DANNY: “Five minutes.”

Clara: “What?”

DANNY: “You can miss me for five minutes a day. And you’d better do it properly. You’d better be sad. I expect my five. But all the rest of the time, Clara, all the rest of the time, every single second, you just get the hell on with it. Clear?”

Clara: “Don’t you soldier me.”

DANNY: “Do as you’re told.”

The Doctor: “Brave.”

DANNY: “Dead already. How does she wake up?”

The Doctor: “I don’t know. Just try. Accept this isn’t real, and try.”

DANNY: “Do it. For me.”

Clara: “(crying) When I wake up, you won’t be there.”

DANNY: “Do you know why people get together at Christmas? Because every time they do, it might be the last time. Every Christmas is last Christmas, and this is ours. This was a bonus. This is extra. But now it’s time to wake up.”

(More)

==NE==

(More)

The Doctor: “Clara? Clara, look at me, Clara! Clara! Breathe, breathe. Breathe. Breathe.”

(The Dream Crabs are on their backs, twitching, then they turn to dust. A little later, they retrieve a piece of carapace and put it in a specimen jar while Shona brushed the remains into a dust pan.)

Bellows: “So these creatures, when their feeding goes wrong, they die?”

The Doctor: “The carnivore’s hazard. Food has teeth too. You okay?”

(Clara is checking herself in a mirror, looking for the hole in her head.)

Clara: “No.”

The Doctor: “Good. There are some things we should never be okay about.”

Clara: “There doesn’t seem to be a wound.”

The Doctor: “No. And the pain’s still there, isn’t it?”

Shona: “Is it the ice cream pain? Just here? Cos I’ve got that.”

Bellows: “It’s the cold, I think. Some sort of reaction.”

The Doctor: “But only on one side, just that spot there. Doesn’t that strike you as odd?”

Albert: “Well, we’ve all got it.”

Clara: “Okay, so why do we all have that pain?”

The Doctor: “Theorize.”

Clara: “Don’t treat me like a beginner. I was dreaming, then I woke up. I know that.”

The Doctor: “Do you? And have you ever woken up from a dream and discovered that you’re still dreaming? Dreams within dreams. Dream states nested inside each other. All perfectly possible, especially when we are dealing with creatures who have weaponised our dreams against us.”

Bellows: “I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m pretty certain I’m awake right now.”

The Doctor: “Which is odd, when you think about it.”

Ashley: “Odd?”

The Doctor: “Impossible, in fact. How can any of us be awake?”

Shona: “I don’t understand.”

The Doctor: “Remember how we all first met, in the infirmary?”

The Doctor: “We never stood a chance. How did we survive that?”

Shona: “Well, we, we were rescued.”

The Doctor: “Yeah, we were rescued. And who was it that rescued us?”

(More)

==NE==

(More)

Santa: “No, no, no, no. I need you to do the east coast right now. Well, otherwise you’re going to be delivering to the islands in broad daylight. Yeah, listen. Please try and remember that our mugshots are on every Christmas card. Yeah, just get it done, head towards the northern lights. Yes, I remembered to switch them on.”

(Santa walks away.)

The Doctor: “The Helman-Ziegler test. The only reliable dream test that I know. Ah. Your base manual. I take it none of you have memorised this.”

Shona: “Oh. I haven’t, I haven’t read it.”

The Doctor: “These books should be identical in the real world. But as they don’t exist in your memory, in a dream, they can’t be. Agreed? Clara. Give me any two digit number.”

Clara: “Fifty seven.”

The Doctor: “Alright, all of you, turn to page fifty seven and look at the very first word. Right, when I point at you.”

Ashley: “Isotope.”

The Doctor: “Well?”

Bellows: “Extremely.”

Albert: “Inside.”

Shona: “Chocolate. Why did I get chocolate? What’s that about?”

Albert: “This can’t be right. We must have got it wrong, that’s all.”

The Doctor: “Well, we’ll do it again. Clara?”

Clara: “Twenty four.”

The Doctor: “Twenty four.”

Ashley: “We.”

Bellows: “Are.”

Albert: “All.”

The Doctor: “Shona?”

Shona: “Dead.”

Ashley: “Since the attack in the infirmary, nothing has been real?”

The Doctor: “The attack is still going on. This is it!”

Albert: “We’ve been dreaming since then?”

Santa: “Oh, for Easter’s sake! Of course you’ve been dreaming. Haven’t you been paying attention?”

Ian: “Rudolph. Did you see the nose?”

Wolf: “The North Pole? Come on, with stripes?”

Ian: “This”

Wolf: “Is”

Ian, Wolf, and Santa: “A dream!”

Santa: “How much more obvious do you want me to make it? Because I can text the Easter Bunny, you know.”

The Doctor: “Seriously? You’re trying to help?”

Santa: “As you stand here, chatting, chatting, your lives are ending. Unless you wake up, unless you free yourselves from these dreadful creatures, they’re, they’re going to destroy you.”

Santa looked at me sympathetically. I smiled appreciatively back.

Shona: “You’re a dream who’s trying to save us?”

Santa: “Shona, dearie, I’m Santa Claus. I think you just defined me.”

The Doctor: “This makes perfect sense. The Dream Crab tries to make the dream as real as possible to trap you inside it. It creates dreams within dreams so you can never be sure if you are really awake. But your brain knows something is wrong. Your subconscious fights back. This is your mind trying to tell you this isn’t real.”

Santa: “So it gives you me. Sweet Papa Chrimbo.”

Ian: “It gives you comedy elves, flying reindeer.”

The Doctor: “Exactly.”

Santa: “A time-travelling scientist dressed as a magician.”

Ian: “Classic!”

The Doctor: “No. No, no. Hang on. No, no, no, no.”

Wolf: “Living in a phone box.”

The Doctor: “It’s a spaceship in disguise.”

Santa: “You see how none of this makes any sense?”

The Doctor: “Shut up, Santa.”

Santa: “I have watched over you all your lives. I’ve taken care of you from Christmas to Christmas.”

Bellows: “But you’re not real.”

Santa: “And yet that never stopped me. All of you, come near. Come here, come on. Join hands.”

The Doctor: “Look. No. Look, we don’t need all this touchy-feely stuff.”

Santa: “Shut up, Doctor. Join hands. Come on, concentrate.”

Bellows: “Why?”

Santa: “You are deep inside this dream, alright, and it is a shared mental state, so it is drawing power from the multi-consciousness gestalt which has now formed telepathically and-”

The Doctor: “No. No, No, no, no. Line in the sand. Santa Claus does not do the scientific explanation.”

Santa: “Alright. As the Doctor might say.” (Scottish accent) “Oh, it’s all a bit dreamy-weamy.”

The Doctor: “Why don’t you just go and, and make a naughty list?”

Santa: “I have, mate, and you’re on it.”

The Doctor: “Don’t give me that. Look, you’re supposed to be warm and friendly and cheerful.”

Santa: “(Scots) Oh, yeah. Well, look at your great bedside manner.”

The Doctor: “Don’t be so hostile-”

Clara: “Doctor, behave.”

Ashley: “This is very sweet. But right now I have an alien life form wrapped around my face, and apparently it’s digesting my brain. When you speak, how do I know it’s not the Dream Crab?”

Santa: “Ooo, good question. Spoken like a scientist.”

Clara: “Can I put it another way? Why would the part of our brain that is trying to keep all of us alive choose you for a face?”

Santa: “Is anyone else asking that?”

Shona: “Yeah, yeah. Yeah. All of us. All of us. Why you?”

Santa: “Why me? It’s the North Pole, it’s Christmas Day. You’re dying. Who you gonna call? Just one last time, huh? One last Christmas, as if your lives depended on it. Please! Ho, ho, ho. Believe in Santa.”

(They all shrug and form a circle.)

The Doctor: “I’m not very good with this holdy-hand thing.”

Clara: “Tough.”

The Doctor: “I will hold Terra’s hand, but that’s it.”

Terra: “Clara, take his hand.”

The Doctor: “Oh no, I’m fine, I’m fine. This is very Christmassy, isn’t it?”

The Doctor: “Okay, so what do we-”

(Santa, Ian and Wolf have vanished.)

Bellows: “Where did he go?”

The Doctor: “We’re waking up. That part of the dream is over. We’re on our own now.”

Albert: “Well, then. What do we do?”

The Doctor: “That pain in your head. Make it worse. Head towards it.”

Ashley: “So when we wake up, what do we expect?”

The Doctor: “Only a few moments will have passed at the most. The attack is still in progress.”

Shona: “I’m scared.”

The Doctor: “Congratulations. That means you’re not an idiot.”

Clara: “It’s not like the last time.”

The Doctor: “Last time wasn’t real.”

Ashley: “Good luck. Stay calm. And God bless us, everyone.”

==NE==

(More)

The Doctor: “Run!”

(One of the Sleepers grabs Clara’s arm.)

Clara: “Argh.”

The Doctor: “Clara!”

The Doctor: “Run!”

(One of the Sleepers grabs Clara’s arm.)

Clara: “Argh.”

The Doctor: “Clara!”

Clara: “Doctor!”

(It opens its maw and the Doctor pulls her free. She is staring at the pink tube inside the gap.)

The Doctor: “Clara? Come on!”

Ashley: “Out, out, now! NOW!”

(More)

The Doctor: “Everyone alright? Good. Bye.”

Clara: “Sorry, I’ll just go and-”

(They walk down the corridor.)

The Doctor: “No need for chatting, you’ll only get attached. This isn’t Facebook.”

==NE==

(More)

Clara: “Er, what about the Dream Crabs?”

The Doctor: “Oh, they’re fine.”

Clara: “And the people that they’re eating?”

The Doctor: “Beyond help.”

Clara: “Doctor, the others are still in danger.”

The Doctor: “Only if they’re stupid. There are polar bears on this ice cap. Am I supposed to do something about that, too?”

Clara: “We know Dream Crabs are still on Earth.”

The Doctor: “There are lots of dangerous things on this funny little planet of yours, Clara, most of which you eat. I’m the Doctor, not your mam.”

“Doctor, I’m going to ask you one question.” I instructed. “One important question.”

“What question?” The Doctor groaned.

“Why did we go see Clara?”

“Long story.” He said before stopping in his tracks. He slowly turned to me. “Are we...” He asked.

I nodded.

“Do you know what I hate about the obvious?”

Clara: “What?”

The Doctor: “Missing it.”

(More)

The Doctor: “As you were. No saluting. Are you the same people as before?”

Clara: “Of course they are.”

The Doctor: “Oh, sorry, I deleted you.”

Shona: “Well, that’s not a very nice attitude, is it?”

“Nope. Mine.” I smirked. “You love when I do the thinking.”

The Doctor took a step back. “Yes ma’am.”

(More)

“Four patients.” I said, handing all of them the books. I turned to Shona. “Shona.” I pointed at the patients in the beds. “Name patient one. Who was she?”

“Just another member.” Shona shrugged.

I grinned, right track. “Can you name any of the people in those beds?” Blank stares. I turned to Shona. “When we first met you in the infirmary, what were you doing?

Shona: “Mmm. It’s a long story.

“Uptight boss one.” I threw a manual at Ashley. “What is the primary mission of this polar base?”

Ashley: “It’s a long story. “

Terra: “Sexy one. What brings you to the North Pole at your age?”

Bellows: “It’s a long (pause) story.”

The Doctor: “If you think that’s freaky, try this. We were in the TARDIS. Why did we come here?”

Clara: “It’s a long story.”

(The penny drops.)

Clara: “Doctor?”

The Doctor: “Dreams. They’re funny. Ha, ha, ha. They’re disjointed. They’re, they’re silly. They’re full of gaps. But you don’t notice, because the dream protects itself. Stops you asking the right questions. For example, why do you have four manuals, one each, when you have a crew of eight? Or did you forget about your friends in the infirmary here?”

Albert: “But we woke up.”

The Doctor: “Dreams within dreams, I warned you.”

Bellows: “This isn’t a dream. I know it isn’t.”

The Doctor: “No one knows they’re not dreaming. Not one of us. Not ever. Not for one single moment of our lives. Clara? Page number. Make it a good one.”

Clara: “Twelve.”

(Everyone opens their manual at the number of the Doctor.)

Ashley: “Very.”

Albert: “Very.”

Bellows: “Very.”

Shona: “Dead.”

The Doctor: “And who’s going to be the first to admit it?”

Ashley: “Admit what?”

The Doctor: “Yes, there is an alien organism in your brain, eating it. Of course it’s getting worse.”

Clara: “Doctor? What are they doing?”

(On the monitor, the Sleepers are sitting up on their beds.)

The Doctor: “Factually, getting up. Significantly, sensing the endgame.”

Clara: “How?”

Ashley: “I don’t understand.”

The Doctor: “Well, look at them. Go on. Look at them. Look at them properly. Look who they are. They’re you. The Sleepers are you.”

(Close up of a name badge - Prof Rona Bellows.)

Shona: “How can they be us?”

(Shona McCullough)

The Doctor: “Because we’re dreaming, all of us. This base isn’t real. None of us are actually standing in the room. I’m probably asleep in my TARDIS. Clara, you must be in bed. God knows where the rest of you are, probably scattered all over the world. But wherever you are, the Dream Crabs have got us, and we’re all being networked into the same nightmare.”

Bellows: “What are they doing?”

(The Sleepers are walking towards the cameras.)

The Doctor: “It’s your subconscious again. The Sleepers represent the part of your mind that’s already surrendered to the attack. These are dream images of what’s coming to kill you.”

Albert: “That’s me? That’s actually me?”

The Doctor: “No, it’s a metaphorical construct representing a psychic attack within a shared dreamscape. Do please keep up.”

Albert: “But it’s me.”

The Doctor: “Don’t get too close.”

(Sleeper Albert puts its hand up to the camera, and Albert leans into the monitor.)

Albert: “Why?”

The Doctor: “Because this is a nightmare.”

(Albert gets grabbed by the Sleeper’s hand and pulled through the monitor with a scream. The Doctor and Clara try to grab him.)

The Doctor: “No! Clara!”

(Ashley and Bellows reach out to their Sleeper images on the screens.)

The Doctor: “Look out, they’re coming through. Out! Outside, now! Run, run, run, run! Run! Clara, run. Run, all of you, run. Run!”

(More)

==NE==

(More)

Bellows: “We’ll freeze to death out here.”

Shona: “But it, it’s just a dream.”

The Doctor: “This dream just killed your friend. Start taking it seriously.”

Shona: “Where’s Albert? Where’s the professor?”

The Doctor: “He probably just woke up somewhere in the real world, dead. If we don’t wake up now, we’ll do the same.”

Clara: “But how?”

The Doctor: “I don’t know.”

(The Sleepers thump the door, making fist marks in the thick metal.)

The Doctor: “The TARDIS! Come on! Come on!”

Clara: “Doctor, it’s not the real TARDIS.”

The Doctor: “Well, let’s hope that I dreamed it really well, then.”

(The TARDIS doors open, and Sleeper Doctor and Sleeper Clara come out.)

Clara: “It’s us.”

The Doctor: “Of course it’s us. We’re dreaming too.”

Shona: “Oh, my God.”

Bellows: “How is that possible? How can there be so many?”

(They are surrounded by dozens of Sleeper versions of themselves.)

The Doctor: “The logic of a nightmare.”

(Ashley lights a flare.)

Shona: “So tell us how to wake up. Because you’re always talking like you’re so clever, going on and on. So tell us what to do!”

The Doctor: “We have to leave this place.”

Shona: “Leave it?”

Bellows: “How?”

The Doctor: “Use your imagination.”

Bellows: “Excuse me?”

The Doctor: “Dream yourselves home.”

Bellows: “(panicking) But how?”

The Doctor: “Come on, it’s Christmas, the North Pole. Who you gonna call?”

(Jingle, jingle. They look up to see a bright red light fly across the full moon then swoop down to land.)

(More)

==NE==

(More)

(They do, the Doctor sitting next to Santa and Clara behind him.)

Santa: “Fortunately, I know all your home addresses. Yah!”

Clara: “So what happens now?”

Santa: “Hyah!”

Clara: “This is us just waking up, right?”

The Doctor: “Could be. Well, I hope so. Waking up or-”

Clara: “Or?”

The Doctor: “Just focus on this. Do you believe in Santa Claus?”

Clara: “I’ve always believed in Santa Claus. But he looks a little different to me.”

(Clara put her arms around the Doctor.)

Clara: “Look!”

(She points down at old Father Thames.)

Santa: “Hey. You want to take the reins, Doctor?”

The Doctor: “You’re a dream construct, currently representing either my recovering or expiring mind.”

Santa: “Yes, but do you want a go?”

The Doctor: “Yeah. Alright.”

(The Doctor takes over the reins as they pass St Paul’s. Everyone goes ooo!)

The Doctor: “Sorry, sorry, sorry.”

(They slalom between roof tops.)

Santa: Easy! This way.”

The Doctor: “No, no, no! Oh, ho ho! Ah!”

Santa: “Up a bit. Lift up. There we go.”

The Doctor: “Look at me. Look. Look at me!”

(They reach the Houses of Parliament as Big Ben chimes midnight. Everyone whoops with excitement as they fly around it they head off north westerly and climb above the cloud layer.)

The Doctor: “Look at me! I’m riding a sleigh. I’m riding a sleigh. Yippee kai-yay!”

(They head upwards.)

The Doctor: “Oh. Maybe you could-”

(He gives the reins back, panting for breath.)

Santa: “Yeah, yeah.”

Shona: “I work in a shop.”

Ashley: “I’m sorry?”

Shona: “I thought I was a scientist. That’s rubbish.”

Bellows: “Finally, something that makes sense.”

Shona: “You’re horrible, you.”

Ashley: “Perfume.”

Shona: “What?”

Ashley: “I’m an account manager for perfume. Does this mean we’re waking up?”

The Doctor: “Possibly. With any luck, we’ll all wake up in our proper times and places.”

Clara: “Proper times?”

The Doctor: “Well, we could all be from different time zones. Time travel is always possible, in dreams.”

Shona: “We might not know each other? Not any of us?”

Ashley: “No, possibly not.”

Shona: “Well, you know what we should do? We should swap numbers. We should have a reunion.”

Ashley: “Bellows!”

Shona: “Er, now I’m pretty sure I can remember my number so, if you memorise it, then you text me, we can go for a curry and-”

The Doctor: “The chances of you remembering any of this are very slim.”

Shona: “Well, don’t say that. We’ll remember, won’t we, Ashley? Ashley?”

(Ashley wakes up in bed, with her Dream Crab dying beside her. She leaps out of bed with a scream.)

Shona: “Am I next? Is it me now?”

Clara: “Shona, you’re going home. You’re surviving.”

Shona: “Do you want to hang out sometime? We can just hang out.”

Clara: “Sure.”

Shona: “Santa, can I stay a bit longer?”

Clara: “It’s a pity we have to wake up, really. It’s not really something we do every day, is it?”

Santa: “No, no. Strictly once a year.”

The Doctor: “We stay, we die, Clara.”

Clara: “You’re always such a downer, Doctor.”

(Santa and Clara )

(More)

==NE==

(More)

The Doctor: “Oh, Clara. I might have known that you would be the one to sleep in. Okay, I tracked the psychic signal here. I’m pretty sure that I know how to do this now. One of the advantages of actually being awake. So, you just hold still. I’ve just got to zap the neural centres.”

(He does so with his sonic screwdriver.)

The Doctor: “Okay, there you go.”

(He pulls the Crab off her face and puts it into specimen jar 16367//K8.)

The Doctor: “The Dream Crabs must have got to me first then found you in my memory. The others were collateral damage. Well, good to see you properly at last. How long has it been? Clara.”

(Clara switches on her bedside lamp to reveal her grey hair and wrinkled skin.)

Clara: “Oh, you know. About sixty two years. Doctor, I have missed you very much, you stupid old man.”

(She laughs and they hug.)

The Doctor: “I’ve missed you, too.”

(More)

==NE==

(More)

The Doctor: “These are Christmas hats, I’ve seen people use them. You put them on and absolutely anything seems funny.”

Clara: “Oh, probably won’t work on you.”

The Doctor: “Probably not. You want to try?”

Clara: “Go on, then.”

(He puts the yellow paper crown on Clara and she becomes her younger self.)

Clara: “Can you really see no difference in me?”

The Doctor: “Clara Oswald, you will never look any different to me. So, how was it then?”

Clara: “How was what?”

The Doctor: “The sixty two years that I missed.”

Clara: “Oh, how was my life, you mean?”

The Doctor: “Is there a Mister Clara?”

(We see the old version again.)

Clara: “No. But there were plenty of proposals.”

The Doctor: “They all turned you down though?”

Clara: “I turned them down. I travelled. I taught in every country in Europe. I learned to fly a plane.”

The Doctor: “Regrets?”

Clara: “Oh, hundreds. I just wish there were time for a few more.”

The Doctor: “Yeah, they’re always the best part. Christmas cracker. We should do one. No one ever matched up to Danny, eh?”

Clara: “There was one other man, but that would never have worked out.”

The Doctor: “Why not?”

Clara: “He was impossible.”

(The Doctor holds Clara’s hand to help her pull the cracker.)

The Doctor: “We should do this every Christmas.”

Clara: “Because every Christmas is last Christmas.”

(The cracker is pulled.)

The Doctor: “I’m sorry. I was stupid. I should have come back earlier. I wish that I had.”

Santa: “Do you, Doctor? How much do you wish that?”

The Doctor: “No. I’m not still-”

Santa: “Wakey, wakey!”

(More)

==NE==

The Doctor say up, immediately searching the rocky plains for Terra.

(More)

The woman was thin as a stick. The Doctor almost wanted to call her anorexic. She looked to be a Latina, with thick mahogany brown waves and the same shade for her tear filled eyes.

The Doctor almost asked who she was. He could feel it. That strange magic that surrounded her. She was wearing Terra’s dark blue sundress, although it hung on her quite horribly with those thin bones.

The woman spoke with a Spanish accent. “Hola.” She whimpered. She crossed her arms over her chest, cradling herself.

“Sorry.” She sniffled. “Shitty thing to say for a first impression.” She wiped away some of her tears, crossing her arms after. The Doctor didn’t like it. He hated when she cried. “I couldn’t think of anything else to say.”

“It’s fine.” The Doctor said. “I talked about my kidneys when I regenerated.”

The woman hesitated, smirking. “I hit a wall last time. Wouldn’t shut up about it for twenty minutes.”

The Doctor smirked with her. That led to the woman laughing, which led to him laughing. The woman ran to him, stopping just within arm’s reach.

“Can...” She hesitated. “I mean, can we...”

The Doctor reached out, gently brushing on her arm. The woman’s face relaxed into a content smile. “Terra.”

“I hit my head on a rock.” Terra’s voice cracked. “The Dream Crab-”

“You can tell me later.” The Doctor stressed. He ended the hug, looking at the new Terra with sure blue eyes. “We need to save Clara.”

“Clara!” Terra gasped, running to the TARDIS without another second’s hesitation.

(More)

==NE==

(More)

“You changed.” Clara said, sadly.

“Hit my head on a boulder.” I shrugged.

(More)

“You look...better.” I said, awkwardly.

The Doctor: “Is that any good?”

Clara: “Oh, that’s good.”

The Doctor: “The TARDIS is outside.”

Clara: “So?”

The Doctor: “So, all of time and all of space is sitting out there. A big blue box. Please, don’t even argue.”

(Clara thinks about it with a big grin on her face, then gives him her hand and kisses his cheek.)

Clara: “Merry Christmas, Doctor.”

The Doctor: “Merry Christmas, Clara Oswald.”

(More)

==NE==

Clara: “Well, look at you, all happy. That’s rare.”

The Doctor: “Do you know what’s rarer? Second chances. I never get a second chance, so what happened this time? Don’t even know who to thank.”

(More)

“

(More)

==NE==

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==NE==

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(More)

Coming Home

My eyes opened the familiar hospital room. The beeping of my heart monitor was on my left, and a slight burning sensation in my right arm reminding me I had a needle in it.

(More)

The Doctor kept his grip on my hand.

I nervously smiled, lifting my other hand to wave at him. “Hey.” I dragged out the word.

“Hey.” The Doctor said back, looking shocked.

(More)

The Doctor brushed my sweat drenched hair off my forehead. I smiled at him, loving that he was here. I just missed him so much.

“I missed you too.” The Doctor murmured.

This statement made me scoff. I smiled at him. “You would have barely noticed I was gone.”

“I always notice when you’re gone.” The Doctor stressed, softly. My smile faded as I looked at the emotion on his face.

“It can’t have been long for you since the forest.” I pointed out weakly.

“I spent centuries away from you on Trenzalore.” The Doctor brushed more hair from my forehead. He was looking me in my eyes, showing me the truth in the blueness. “Every day I spent with you after that felt like seconds, and then you were gone.”

Words were stuck in my throat, unable to find any sort of response to any of what he just said. My eyes were starting to close as the exhaustion mixed with the drugs hit me.

The Doctor leaned over, kissing my forehead. I looked at him with a surprised expression, his revelation made me frown. He waited six hundred years, and I waited a decade. He was the Time Lord who waited.

“Get some sleep.” He ordered in a soft voice. He got up, walking over to the back wall. He leaned up against it. “I can wait for you to take a nap.”

I sighed, my eyelids getting heavy at surprising rate. “Was that...your...dad skills?” I yawned.

“That was my wife who came for me two hours after having twins.” The Doctor stressed, as if it was a stupid idea.

“You...came...for me in...in Berlin.” I struggled to say. “Stubborn alien.”

My eyes closed, and I faded off.

==NE==

The Doctor watched his wife’s eyes fluttered shut. He faintly smirked at her comment. He had been poisoned, and he still chased after his wife.

She was drenched in sweat, and looked exhausted. The Doctor didn’t know how she was able to travel after him. He was always surprised of the things his wife would do.

He walked to her side again, just looking down at her face. It had been ages since he saw one this young, but he could see differences between Terra and Morgan. Morgan had a slightly wider face, and was an inch taller. He wondered if she was the same personality wise.

The Doctor knew he had some time to spare, so he reached over to her medical file. He may not have been there, but he could look over her results. He could be like a proper doctor. That would be something to tell her when the missus woke up.

He didn’t want to believe it was her, not a bit. Then he actually listened to her, saw how she was around the chaos and himself. He remembered how she had done exactly as he imagined she would, back with his swearing psychic paper. The signs are all there, practically in bright lights.

The Doctor thought over the many times he had yelled at Meredith. She had always just let him rant, as Terra would do from time to time. Meredith, however, would never say he was wrong. Terra would have slapped him across the face.

Actually. No. She wouldn’t. Terra took whatever hate he gave her, because she thought she earned it. She was only violent when others insulted her, with the Doctor Terra soaked it up like a sponge. That was how it always was between them. Meredith fit that to a tee, if not more so.

The Doctor watched the heartbreak in her eyes when Missy showed him the necklace, when Meredith took off her perception filter to reveal it was her. The Doctor saw that almost betrayal in her now green eyes. She had thought he would only love her because she was Terra, and not because of who she really was. She had thought he would wreak himself with guilt over how she had been treated.

When married to Terra, you notice her tells.

The Doctor couldn’t give a flip. She was Terra, the only person he knew that was brash and insecure. Honest and a liar. Protective and violent. She walked that line, not caring if she ever crossed from one to the other as long as her loved ones were safe. She would give him hell when he doubted himself, but not expect the same in return.

If that wasn’t bad enough, she waited eight years just to be here again. He made no efforts to hide how he felt about Meredith, should she be brought up. So Terra knew what she was getting into, possibly a decade of hate and scorn by the man she loved most and she didn’t even hesitate.

Then he took her back to the TARDIS, and proved her wrong. The Doctor had properly kissed his wife, not giving her a chance to argue against it. He needed to have his wife again, to prove to her that he could never see her differently.

The Doctor barely had to encourage Terra to respond. It proved at least that she really had been waiting for eight years. Lord knows how bonkers he would get after eight days.

Then she had ended the kiss. Before the Doctor could start complaining, Terra handed him that photo. That mind boggling photo.

Her body soaked in sweat, her eyes showing just how tired she really was. Her black hair (which had always been her proudest feature) was frizzy and loose. She had a slightly dazed smile as she looked at the camera, but her arms were strong as they wrapped around her newborns. The Doctor thought she looked breathtaking.

Scott and Evelina Spencer. He rather like the sound of them. Spencer was a good name for the little Terra’s. The Doctor silently hoped they were more like their mother than their father.

The Doctor brought himself back to the present. He looked at his wife, seeing her resting soundly. He picked her up charts, which were foolishly left for any idiot to see. Well, that very idiot was going to.

Meanwhile, outside the hospital room, a certain purple eyed teenager was leaning back in her chair. She had been nervously (not that she would ever admit it) waiting for anyone to tell her anything about her sister.

It had been three hours since the twins had been born, and so far Morgan was still asleep. The new season of Doctor Who started in twenty minutes, and Darcy knew her sister enough to know that Morgan would be up long before that.

Darcy had tried to get into the room multiple times. She never wants to see her sister to that, but there was just something off inside of her. She wanted to be by her sister’s side when the Doctor couldn’t, or River Song.

Morgan and Darcy, that was all the little psychopath knew. Then Lilac showed up, putting a bit of a wrench in the dynamic. Then Darcy died...three times...after trying to kill Morgan. Then when she came back, her sister was a Princess with two daughters, dead changelings, and a horrible loss on her shoulders.

Then, they made Hannah. Their Hannah, who was technically her own cousin. Morgan actually looked at Darcy, Morgan talked with Darcy, Morgan let Darcy have a say in their daughter’s life.

Darcy had her sister back. It was good. They were the Anderson Sisters, and they raised hell everywhere they went. That was all Darcy really lived for these days, spending time with Morgan and her nieces.

That stupid Doctor had to ruin it. Morgan would drown herself in his world, in those actors, even in his clone! To make it worse, she already had kids with him! The baby, Blythe, and the clone, Max. Then Jane got involved, and some weird kid named Barnable.

Darcy wasn’t gonna lie, she felt neglected. She used to be all Morgan focused on, all the time no matter what. Now that Morgan was a mom, it hurt to just be the little sister.

When she met the Doctor, she was gonna give him the Anderson Seal Of Approval.

Darcy’s foot started to twitch in her nerves. She had already seen the babies, and was less than impressed. They looked like two potatoes, with different wrappings. Babies were weird. Weird, mushy little people.

Mrs. Spencer (Darcy refused to call her Mom or Morgan’s mom) told her that one day she would understand. That someday with Hannah she would understand. That was just it, thought, she did understand. Maybe she just wanted the mother of her child to help, instead of running off to meet her husband.

She had thought Hannah would bring the two of them together. Darcy even named Hannah after Morgan’s favorite aunt, thinking it would seal the deal. The kid looked so much like Darcy, it was nice. She acted like Morgan, which Darcy thought would make Morgan contribute back to their relationship.

Nothing made sense anymore, not to Darcy. She was done following the rules.

Darcy hopped up out of her seat, walking to Morgan’s room. She would be in there, waking up soon. Morgan would ask about her kids, and then beg to see the Doctor. The teenage psychopath grinned. Now that she thought about it, Morgan might just be playing a game on her phone.

Her purple eyes widened.

Her iPhone had a Netflix app.

“She wouldn’t.” Darcy grumbled. She blinked. “She would.”

She ran to the room, ignoring any calls should they come.

It took seconds for Darcy to reach the locked room. She pulled out her handmade pocket knife, choosing the lock pick she had installed on it.

The lock clicked. Darcy grabbed the doorknob, pushing it open praying not to see Morgan Away.

What she found was much more heartbreaking.

The Twelfth Doctor stood at her feet, a medical clipboard in his old hands. Darcy’s jaw dropped at the man, realizing her fears were right.

Morgan had left her behind...again.

==NE==

The Doctor looked at the new person with hints of anger. It changed to annoyance when he saw the new person’s purple eyes. Darcy Anderson, the annoying killer that Morgan shared genes with. She had black hair, and looked more like Morgan than before.

Darcy was a whiny brat in his eyes. She always tried making some wedge between the Doctor and Morgan. She was a child, nothing like the picture Morgan had painted for him and Rose.

“What are you doing in here?” The Doctor asked, annoyed at her already.

The girl closed her jaw, glaring at him. Oh, right, because he was afraid of the brat. “Says the guy who should be in his TARDIS.” She snapped.

“My wife wanted me here.” The Doctor took in the pride at the small pain in her purple eyes.

That pride vanished when he saw that evil glint in her eyes. “Then why weren’t you here for the past year?” She shot.

Oh, he was right. He hated Darcy Anderson.

Darcy grinned at that look in his eyes. That self doubt and hatred. He didn’t deserve her sister. He left her stranded in their world, with his bastard kids. Darcy and Morgan couldn’t go adventures when she was pregnant, and near the end Morgan couldn’t even walk much! That was all his fault, and he knew it.

Maybe this was it. This was the wedge that would give Morgan back to Darcy. She wanted her sister back, not the hollow woman who took her place.

The Doctor put Morgan’s chart back, satisfied by what he read. Those pudding brains did a decent job with her, and didn’t butcher a simple double birthing. He would actually like getting around to seeing those two.

“Why are you here? My wife needs to sleep.” The Doctor rubbed it in Darcy’s face. The girl looked a bit hurt at that, but hid it well. “She just had our twins.”

“Her twins.” Darcy spat.

How dare he call them his? The Doctor was never there when Morgan had morning sickness, he wasn’t there for any ultrasound, or the very birth. Granted, Darcy wasn’t there for a lot of them either, but she at least went once.

“Not after you abandoned her like that.” Darcy finished.

“Abandoned. That’s a big word. I’m surprised you could think straight long enough to sound it out.” The Doctor said.

Darcy ground her teeth, almost hearing the strain. He did not just call her stupid. Only Morgan ever could, and she never meant it. The Doctor was an asshole, what did Morgue see in him?

“Really? Calling me stupid? Is that the only insult you know?” Darcy said, remembering all the times Morgan had shown her the show. One guy was famous because the Doctor called him an idiot!

“No, I actually have a lot of things to call you. I just don’t think you’d know what they were.” The Doctor shot back.

The two glared at each other, waiting for the next shot. Both had Morgan’s best interest at heart, and both thought they were they only person who could care for her.

“Children.” A harsh tired voice cut through the tension.

The Doctor and Darcy looked to the hospital bed, seeing Morgan squinting a cold eye at them.

“Shut up.” She mumbled, but it somehow became a command. “Now.”

“Morgue-” Darcy began.

“Terra-”

“Out.” She barked. Her eyes closed, and she pressed herself deeper onto the bed. “I need to sleep, just for a few minutes. Can I have that, or are you two insisting on being children? Now leave.”

If Darcy had learned anything these past few months, it was that when Morgue wanted to be alone you better listen. The purple eyed teen walked out of the hospital room, head down.

“Finally.” The Doctor spoke. He looked to his wife. “Now, Ter-”

“I said both of you, Doctor.” Morgan cut him off, not even moving up from her position. “Out.”

The Doctor was surprised by her harsh tone. “I was trying to-”

“At least in the hallway, if you and Darcy kill each other the guards can stop you. Now get out of my room so I can get some fucking sleep!” Morgan growled.

The Doctor frowned. “Ter-”

“You’re the one who wanted me to nap.” She snapped. “Now, let me have that fucking nap or I will throw you out!”

(More)

==NE==

(More)

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==NE==

(More)

I looked over at Evelina. “What’s she saying?”

The Doctor turned to me, then back to the baby. “She wants her mother to hold her.” The Doctor didn’t move from his spot, though I knew what he wanted.

“Let her father hold her.” I suggested, smiling between them. The Doctor just gave me a look. “I mean it. Doctor, hold your daughter.”

He hesitated, as I had expected. He wrung his hands, looking at Evelina with slight fear.

“She won’t bite.” I assured. She gurgled. “She doesn’t even have teeth.”

“She says she wants her mother, and not the man who looks like her grandfather.” The Doctor clarified.

I snorted. “You don’t look like her grandfather.”

“She was talking about your grandfather.” The Doctor said.

I winced. He did sort of look like Poppy...I shook that thought out of my head. “Evelina Penelope Spencer, your father is going to hold you. Be kind.”

(More)

“Nah. I’m already holding Scott.” I said.

The Doctor made a noise of disbelief. “You are not-” He turned to me with astonished blue eyes.

In a flash of amber magic, Scott was lying in my arms. The newborn slept on, completely unaware of the change of scenery.

I smiled innocently at the Doctor. “Hold Evie or I will kill you.” My tone was sweet, no hint of malice.

My husband understood that this was something I wouldn’t budge on. He leaned over Evelina’s bed, nervous.

I looked down at Scott’s peaceful face. He has his father’s blue eyes. My thumb brushed the light brown locks away from his eyes. My boy slept on.

(More)

“What’s she saying now?” I looked up at the Time Lord.

The Doctor briefly looked in awe. It was replaced with a nonchalant grin. “She says the old man isn’t so bad.”

My brow quirked, only to have Evie whine. “I don’t think that’s what she said.” I laughed.

“You’re the Baby Whisperer.” The Doctor said. “You tell me.”

“

(More)

==NE==

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==NE==

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