#the scene with the doctor and the donna copy where she reveals she- at some point- saw every single experience they had

[novantinuum]

honestly a big fan of the combination of Classic High-Concept Sci-Fi Horror Idea combined with shitty, unsettling ass CGI body horror

that's a 10/10 from me folks

[denimbex1986]

'We are so back. Sure, the next season of Doctor Who isn’t supposed to drop until sometime in spring 2024. But to help us transition into the upcoming era, we’re getting three-anniversary specials and a Christmas special this month. Returning showrunner Russell T. Davies is hitting the ground running. Last week’s special was an ensemble adventure involving the Doctor, Donna Noble, multiple members of Donna’s family, and of course, the deceivingly adorable Beep the Meep. In contrast, this episode rests almost entirely on the Doctor and Donna’s shoulders. Good thing they’ve got giant arms! (Or at least, their evil twins do.)

David Tennant and Catherine Tate are flexing their acting skills as both protagonists and antagonists because this adventure introduces a pair of villains that can copy bodies and memories. Perhaps these so-called Not-Things are distant relatives of the creature from “Midnight”? Either way, it’s a thoroughly creepy premise. But in classic RTD fashion, the episode bounces between tense moments and playful humor, making it fitting that its title is a nod to a war song that’s still jaunty enough to be performed by a children’s choir.

“Wild Blue Yonder” picks up with the TARDIS crashing into an apple tree near Isaac Newton, who has enough melanin to inspire some uninspired “Doctor Woke” think pieces. The Doctor and Donna deliver a punchline about gravity in unison, and Newton promptly misremembers this new word as “mavity.” The whole scene feels like an opening sketch from another beloved BBC export — one more pun, and Noel Fielding could’ve walked out and announced it was sci-fi week on The Great British Baking Show. But the tone instantly shifts when the flaming TARDIS drops the Doctor and Donna off on a spaceship at the literal edge of the universe.

Much like Doctor Who itself, the TARDIS is in the process of rebuilding itself. That inadvertently reactivates a feature that causes the TARDIS to dematerialize when it senses hostile action, taking the sonic screwdriver with it. The Doctor and Donna are stranded and aware that they’re in danger. Not ideal. Donna is understandably panicked by the gravity (or mavity) of the situation. The show takes the opportunity to helpfully remind us that even though Fourteen has a familiar face, he’s still a different Doctor. When Donna tries to brush the Doctor off, he kisses her hand and holds it on his chest, offering both physical and verbal reassurance. Yeah, some of his past regenerations could never.

After a scan fails to detect other life signs on the ship, the Doctor decides that he and Donna should split up and complete tasks in different rooms. They meet back up, but something’s off. They don’t usually let the other ramble for that long without interrupting with a bit of banter, do they? Sure enough, the not-alive Not-Things reveal themselves by complaining that their arms are too long, with the camera cutting to the astonishingly elongated proof.

At first, it’s easy to identify the Not-Things. They’re puffed-up, distorted versions of the Doctor and Donna that clog the hallway. But their duplication gets better with each try. And with the ship’s walls periodically shifting, the Doctor and Donna eventually find it difficult to distinguish between body bender and BFF. (By the way, a spaceship where passengers are completing tasks, moving through hidden passages, and having heated arguments over who is an impostor? Oh, RTD definitely played Among Us during lockdown.)

Despite their comically stretchy bodies, the Not-Things struggle to wrap their heads around the concept of nuance. Most concerningly, they’ve decided that the universe is only about fury, hatred, and violence. Their restricted system of thinking makes them falter when presented with any seeming contradictions. How can Donna think she’s both dumb and brilliant? Why is the Doctor suggesting that a superstition can also be true? At one point, the Not-Doctor’s tie disappears after he drops it on the floor. In one of the more unsettling moments of the episode, he realizes his mistake: “When something is gone, it keeps existing.” The episode constantly emphasizes that things don’t always fit into mutually exclusive binaries. It feels like a thematic extension of the last special, which presented a nonbinary solution to the meta-crisis: The DoctorDonna couldn’t survive, but the introduction of Donna’s daughter, Rose — a third party — saved her mom’s life.

Conveniently, the Doctor and Donna don’t actually have to think of a way to take the Not-Things down. The ship’s previous captain has already done that by programming the ship to turn itself into a bomb, slowly enough that the object-permanence-challenged Not-Things haven’t figured out what’s happening three years later. The captain also took her own life before her plan could be copied from her mind. Unfortunately, the Not-Things find it easier to duplicate targets who are thinking, whose blood is pumping. The Doctor can’t stop himself from realizing that a slow-moving robot on the ship is a bomb trigger, which means the Not-Things reach the same conclusion. The Doctor speeds up the countdown, and the TARDIS senses that the Not-Things won’t have time to stop the detonation. This means the hostile action is over, so the TARDIS comes back! The Doctor hops on board with the wrong Donna, and the console alerts him to a tiny mistake in her wrist length. Just as the bomb goes off, he ejects the Not-Thing and scoops up his real companion.

Safely back in the TARDIS, the Doctor seems to be on the precipice of an emotional milestone. Earlier on the other ship, Not-Donna accessed the DoctorDonna’s memories and forced the Doctor to think about the consequences of Chris Chibnall’s era, including the Flux and the fact that the Doctor no longer knows where he’s from. The conversation affected him so much that he stopped to kick a wall afterward. I’d make a joke about men doing anything instead of going to therapy, but it was honestly pretty satisfying to see the Doctor finally reckon with the emotional fallout, even if he has to take it out on an inanimate object. Look, half of creation was destroyed, and his entire understanding of Time Lord history was rewritten … he can have a little tantrum, as a treat. Plenty of fans certainly did.

It feels like the Doctor is thinking about opening up about all of this to the real Donna because he carefully asks if she, too, remembers his past 15 years. When she says she doesn’t, however, he falls right back into old patterns of avoidance. Donna even accuses him of timing the TARDIS’s landing so he doesn’t have to talk about what happened. He doesn’t deny keeping her at arm’s length — in that sense, even before the Not-Thing, the Doctor’s limbs have always been too long.

To be fair, the universe does enable his behavior. There’s always a distracting fire that needs to be put out somewhere, and this episode is no exception. When the TARDIS finally lands, Wilf is parked outside waiting for his granddaughter and his favorite alien. We barely have time to enjoy Bernard Cribbins’s sweet posthumous appearance before explosions and fights break out in the street. Wilf reveals that “everyone’s gone mad” and the “whole world is coming to an end.” As easy as that, the Doctor has another excuse to put off processing his feelings.

Cut for Time (Lord)

• The Doctor is so unserious for pretending to be dying after licking that filament. The music added a dramatic touch that helped with the payoff of that scene and several others, so props to the sound designer.

• I appreciate the parallels between the Doctor and Donna’s conversations with the Not-Things. When Donna is wondering what her family (Rose, Shaun, and Sylvia) would do without her, the Doctor is thinking the same thing about his loved one (the TARDIS). The Doctor is reminded of the Timeless Child, and Donna gets to recount her own emotionally fraught origin story (sleep with one eye open, Auntie Iris).

• I’ve heard that some people didn’t love the look of all the body stuff, but I, for one, am glad it didn’t look too realistic. I’d rather be laughing at the Not-Doctor melting into a backbend and galloping around on all fours instead of having nightmares. Incidentally, I can’t believe those giant hands weren’t CGI.

• The Doctor surprises himself by admitting that he finds Isaac Newton to be “so hot.” Perhaps we’ll explore that more with Ncuti Gatwa’s Doctor … also, does that mean the Fourth Doctor was bluffing about explaining gravity to Newton after dropping apples on his head? He just wanted to flex in front of Romana, lol.

• I didn’t expect to get so emotional about the dedication to Bernard Cribbins in the end credits! Hoping to see more of him in the next episode.

• It seems like the chaos on Earth might have to do with the salt superstition the Doctor invoked at the edge of the universe, and I’m worried about it.'

[theroseandcrown]

The Rose & Crown: Chapter Fourteen (Part Two)

Rating: M Chapters: 14/24

Summary: The TARDIS arrives on a familiar planet and the Doctor’s memory is put to the test. History is being rewritten and now it is up to him to figure out how and why.

Read this story on another platform: Archive of Our Own Fan Fiction WattPad

Messaline, 6012

The TARDIS landed abruptly at its psychically charted destination despite the Doctor’s distracted thoughts having led the way. He found himself slightly amazed that the ship had been able to locate the new point of interest, yet was intrigued by the endless possibilities awaiting him outside the safety of his blue box. Having disabled most of the safety control systems, he felt as if he had wandered blindly into a dark and dangerous jungle armed only with his bare hands. Checking the view-screen, he raised a curious brow as the surrounding elements on the outside appeared to be somewhat familiar to him, though he could not determine where or when he had seen them before. A series of underground tunnels had encased them inside of its jagged stone walls. With the safeguards and nav-com turned off, it was impossible to determine what potential lifeforms could be lingering outside. Had it not been for his undying thirst for discovery and ever-increasing eagerness to explore their new surroundings, he would have forced himself to revise his previous coordinates without the unpredictability of his wandering mind. However, distractions aside, the TARDIS must have had some reason for bringing them there while his consciousness was interlinked within her interface.

“This is it, yeah?” Clara glanced over his shoulder towards the view-screen.

“Only one way to know for certain.” He tried his very best to sound as confident as possible as he placed the small audio device into his ear.

“I suppose there’s no point in trying to talk you out of this, is there?” She remained hopeful he’d change his mind as she plugged the second device into her ear.

“You’ll be able to see everything I see from right here.” He ignored her predictably disquieted glance as he pointed to the screen in front of them. “With the nav-com offline, we won’t be alerted to the presence of other lifeforms. So, I’ll need you to monitor the TARDIS surveillance system and keep an eye out for any potential threats.”

“Sounds easy enough. So I’m basically your spy.”

“Aren’t you the lucky one?” he teased. “Now remember, if something were to happen and I don’t make it back, you must use the telepathic interface to fly the TARDIS back home. Don’t hesitate, just go.”

“You want me to just abandon you here?”

“If it comes to that, yes.”

“Well, let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that then.”

“And whatever you do, stay here.” He pointed a stern finger towards the floor. “No matter what happens out there, you must not leave the TARDIS. This is the safest place for you to be. Best to keep you out of trouble this time around.”

Clara found herself frowning at his words. Had it not been for his refusal to heed her warning of potential danger, they wouldn’t even be in this mess to begin with. However, she knew there would be plenty of time to remind him of how awfully infuriating he was once all of this was finally over. He headed for the door and cautiously pulled it open. “Doctor,” she called to him. His eyes turned to meet hers. “Be careful, okay? Don’t do anything stupid, like get yourself killed.” She tried to force a small smile of confidence on her face to mask the worry embedded throughout her emotions. Her currently over-sized matronly ensemble was the only thing sheltering her trembling body from his furrowed eyes. It took all of her energy to calm her nerves so as not to reveal how truly frightened she was at the thought of him never returning to her again.

“When have you ever known me to do anything stupid?”

“Seriously? Have you met you?” she quipped.

He responded to her humour with a rigorous brow. “Right. Don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it.” He exited the ship and closed the door securely behind him.

The subterranean cavern surrounding him was as familiar as taking a stroll inside one of his memories, one that hadn’t been visited in such a long time. A memory so unused it had nearly been forgotten. And yet, at the same time, he experienced an overwhelming sense of uneasiness as if something in the back of his mind was telling him he had been there before. He was left with the unfaltering sensation of déjà vu taunting him with fragmented visions derived from his scattered recollection of this planet they found themselves on. As he surveyed the dark space around him, he found himself relying almost solely on his extraordinary senses to take in all the extra details he might have been missing.

The aroma in the air was palpable and stale, a rich fragrance of minerals distributed from the ground underneath his feet. Even more noticeable was the soil itself. The path in front of him had become a tramping ground forged by several unmistakable sets of footprints marking the way out. A series of electrical wires ran like untamed vines branching out to bring life to the lights lining the bottom of the cavern walls. The only source of illumination throughout the darkness engulfing him. Lifting his sonic-screwdriver, he activated its torch setting allowing him to better observe the area around him. “Well, that’s interesting,” he spoke aloud.

“What is it? What have you found?” he heard her reply into his ear.

“These cables, their construction is fairly new. Which leads me to believe someone has been here very recently.” He carefully stepped over each wire and slowly headed deeper into the cave. “I’m going to attempt to locate their source. Whatever is powering these lights must not be far from here.”

“Just be careful, Doctor. Knowing our luck, this is probably a trap.”

The Doctor pushed forward. His memories began to awaken to the scene around him. Just ahead, he encountered a flickering light as if whatever it was attached to had been badly damaged. In the darkness, he could make out a sort of sealed glass structure, a chamber perhaps, embedded into the wall of the cave. The lights inside of it continued to flicker. Finally reaching the chamber, he raised his torch to better observe the malfunctioning electronics lining its exterior hatch. His consciousness suddenly accelerated to full throttle. The forgotten memories stored within him began to flood his thoughts. A wave of suppressed emotions hit him unexpectedly as he finally realized exactly where he was. He cautiously raised his hand to place it upon the surface of the glass. He closed his eyes and allowed the memories of this forgotten place to run its course through his mind. The voices of his past could be heard so clearly in his head it was as if they never left.

“Where did she come from?” Martha asked, still confused by the assault on her friend.

“From me,” he answered, still in shock by the young woman standing before him.

“From you? How? Who is she?” Donna interrupted, more confused than the others.

“Well, she’s... well, she’s my daughter.” His emotions teetered between denial and acceptance.

The young blonde woman stepped forward from inside the chamber and smiled towards the lengthy man in the strange brown jacket. “Hello, Dad.”

“Jenny,” he whispered. The pain of losing his loom-born daughter returned to him as if all memory of her had been stolen from his mind.

“Doctor?” he heard Clara respond. “Are you alright? Is someone there with you?”

Why did you bring me here, he asked himself of the ship’s decision to send them to this chosen location. Must I suffer these memories as well? Is it not enough that I’m doing everything in my power to save my remaining child’s life? He felt anger rising inside of him at the ship’s cruelness to send him there. Why this place? Why here, why now? What am I missing? He continued to ask as he attempted to find a reason behind this unwarranted detour. He combed through the events leading up to their departure and retraced his thoughts to before the TARDIS had dematerialized. Then it suddenly became so very clear. The final thing that entered his mind before their destination was received by the interface was the thought of holding his daughter in his arms. The TARDIS must have connected that emotion to the very last thing he experienced during his first visit to this place. The act of cradling his dying daughter and the memory of watching the vibrancy of her short-lived life fading from her body.

Upon opening his eyes, he began to take in all the details of the chamber’s construction as if trying to remember exactly how it felt to have stood in front of it two faces ago. Yet something strange caught his attention. The mechanism designed to pull DNA from a singular host had been altered. The chamber had also been upgraded with more advanced technology than it had been fitted with before. The Doctor felt the frown on his face deepen, realizing whoever was responsible for altering it had found a way to manipulate the chamber’s primary functions to successfully produce identical copies without needing the DNA of an original host.

“Doctor? Can you still hear me? Is everything alright?” Clara continued to call to him.

Something is wrong. This technology shouldn’t even exist yet. So why is it here? Beside the chamber, he could make out what appeared to be a small console station fitted with a narrow slot intended for a type of holographic disk. Approaching it, he scanned the console and activated its power setting. Its interface struggled to power up before displaying the uploaded contents of the disk in the form of a view-screen. The flickering image produced a detailed map of the cave and surrounding infrastructures. He had seen this map before. Though the technology had been upgraded, the layout of the building remained for the most part unchanged. That’s strange, he thought as he attempted to expand the map to a view of the planet. The image fluttered as its energy source began to drain more rapidly. Aiming his screwdriver towards the interface, he redirected as much power as he could from the surrounding area directly to the console. The view-screen quickly came alive with vibrancy. The detailed rendering of the degraded planet’s current condition filled every edge of the frame. Messaline, his suspicions now confirmed, but it can’t be!

Next to him, the lights continued to flicker inside the glass chamber. He could hear the small panel adjacent to the sealed door fluctuating as it attempted to draw more power to itself. The display and keypad were barely functioning as it faded in and out of life. He directed his attention towards the malfunctioning panel and scanned its hardware for a possible answer to who might have installed the upgraded systems. Suddenly, the panel started to spark as the electronics inside of it surged from extensive corrosion. “No, no, no!” he screamed at the panel. “Come on, don’t do this to me! I need to know!”

“Doctor? Tell me what’s going on. You’re starting to scare me.”

“I’m coming back to the TARDIS. We need to leave this planet immediately.”

“What? Why? Doctor, what is it? What did you see?”

“Something I shouldn’t have,” he answered, looking upon his reflection through the glass. “Clara, I-” he began to say before being interrupted by a loud bang as the panel suffered a complete system failure and exploded. It was as if it had been rigged to go off in the event any tampering had been detected. The small blast sent out a shock-wave which shattered the glass door of the chamber and nearly sent him flying to the other side of the cave. He managed to quickly raise his arm in time to protect his face from potential shrapnel before being thrown to the ground.

“Doctor?! Doctor, can you hear me?!” She called into her earpiece as the vibrations from the blast were felt from inside the ship. “Doctor! Are you there?! Answer me!” She pulled the view-screen towards her. The once clear image of the cave was now clouded by a thick layer of smoke and dust making it impossible to receive a clear visual. She had been blinded and completely cut off from the outside world. Whatever had happened, only one thing was certain. He was truly on his own now. “What’s happening out there?!” she yelled towards the silent Gallifreyan rings holding the time rotor together. “Don’t you dare go quiet on me! You are every bit as much to blame for us being here! He could be in danger right now, or worse!” The ship continued to play the silent game as Clara paced back and forth, unable to resist the horrid thoughts entering her mind of what may have happened to her best friend.

“Something’s wrong. He should have been back by now. He would have responded,” she spoke to the ship as if hoping for some kind of validation to her concerns over his well-being. When there wasn’t any, she found herself very afraid of how alone she felt at that moment. She continued to pace, nervously biting her thumb as she tried to come to terms with what he told her to do in case he didn’t come back to her. She shook the thought from her mind as a burst of confidence forced her to take drastic action. “That’s it. If you’re not going to help me, I’ll do it myself,” she asserted towards the interface. She headed to the travel bag and rummaged around for her jacket. Finding it, she quickly placed it on and started for the door when the TARDIS finally responded with a series of unfavourable noises.

“Yes, I know what he said and I don’t care!” she yelled back as she grabbed the handle and pulled, only to find it wouldn’t budge. She angrily spun around to face the console. “Open the door,” she demanded. The ship clattered with refusal. “Listen to me, you blue bucket of bolts and fancy whistles. I realize we haven’t always gotten on. You’ve hidden my bedroom. You’ve even put a leopard in my bathroom. But this, this isn’t about me. This is about the man we both love. And right now, he’s out there all alone and he needs our help. If he dies out there, it’s on you. I swear with every part of my being that if something happens to him, you will never be rid of me. I will never leave this ship even if it means I’ll die in here. You will spend the rest of your lonely existence without your Time Lord, carting around a bloody pile of bones while I haunt the inside of these walls for eternity. Just you and me, forever.” Her eyes were fierce, her voice threatening and angry. “So, what’s it gonna be?” The two of them were drowning in silence for a few moments as they squared off against each other for control over the situation. Suddenly, the door to the outside opened allowing the cool air from their surroundings to enter and pass through them. A small smile formed on the young woman’s face as she peered gratefully towards the living machine. “Thank you.” She then turned and exited through the threshold on a mission to find her friend.

Outside the ship, the Doctor coughed and fanned the smoke from his face as he approached the decimated panel to better assess the damage. Placing his hand to his ear, he called to his companion. “Clara? Are you alright?” The silence from the earpiece was concerning. “Clara, can you hear me? Clara!” he called again before realizing that their communication had been severed. He concluded the blast from the panel must have destroyed the circuits inside the earpiece and temporarily stranded them from each other.

“Doctor?” a voice echoed in the distance.

He was almost certain he imagined it as he peered through the fine airborne sediment towards the sound of the voice. He tapped his earpiece and called for his companion once more. “Clara, is that you?” he asked, hoping the audio device had somehow come back online. Through the thickened haze, a shadow quickly approached him. A spout of adrenaline arose from within him as he prepared to engage in possible combat with the unknown being.

“Doctor?” a feminine voice he recognized called out. “Doctor, are you alright? Where are you?!” She coughed and batted her way through to him.

He gave a sigh of relief followed by frustrated anger as he realized who the voice belonged to. “Clara! What are you doing out here?! I told you to stay on the TARDIS!” He headed to her and took hold of her arms as if trying to determine if she was indeed real and therefore stupid enough to be standing in front of him.

“What, and let you have all the fun?” she replied mid-breath.

“Ah, yes. You’ve finally discovered the truth. We’ve really come all this way because I’ve secretly been planning a much needed fun-filled weekend holiday for two. Surprise! I hope you like the view, very authentic. I give it at least three stars.” His furious temper and sarcasm had finally reached maximum capacity. “Now, will you please go back to the TARDIS!”

“I’m not going back there without you. I won’t let you do this alone,” she insisted, pulling herself from his grasp.

“Clara, as much as I appreciate your concern, I don’t think you quite understand the severity of the situation. This entire planet is a war zone and we are currently standing right in the middle of it! I will not allow you to put yourself and our child in danger so you can quench your thirst for adventure!”

“You said we needed to leave this planet. So you’re either coming back with me or taking me with you. Your choice,” she argued.

“I can’t leave, not yet. Something is terribly wrong here, some crucial point that I’m missing. I cannot in good conscious leave here until I discover exactly what that is. Somehow history is being changed. This entire planet should have been terraformed by now. Before I left here, there was peace between the species. This whole planet’s ecosystem had been completely transformed from a radioactive wasteland to an Earth-like paradise. According to the readings I obtained from their computer, it’s as if none of that ever happened. Which either means the war never ended and we are standing on an active battleground, or someone won.” He moved away from her and stepped towards the shattered chamber, sighing with frustration. “If my fears are correct, I believe a third party has played a hand at providing one side with an advantage over the other. The upgraded technology in this room alone proves it was not crafted by mankind nor is it of indigenous design. If someone has altered the course of events here, there’s no way to know for sure how many other things may have changed.” He pressed his hands on either side of the chamber’s frame and hung his head, submerging himself inside of his thoughts as if he were drowning in the fear rising within. He felt the comforting presence of his companion as she came up beside him. He didn’t need to read her expression to know she was growing more concerned by his words. He could sense the worry inside of her from an entire galaxy away. Yet, the real truth he now faced was just how foolish he felt to have believed this mission they were on would have ensured no resistance. “I need to follow this to the end, Clara. For all I know, it may already be too late. But I have to try. If Quynn is behind this, then there’s no telling what damage she has already caused to the fabrics of time. She must be stopped.”

Clara placed her hand on his shoulder and gently turned him around to face her. “Then we’ll do it together. Just like old times.” She leaned her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around his thin frame.

The Time Lord embraced her caring gesture and held her close to him. He gently ran his fingers through her brown hair and rested his cheek upon her head. “You and your infuriating stubbornness are going to be the death of me, I just know it.”

She laughed and held him tight. “By the way, what happened in here?” She took notice of the damaged equipment lying in pieces throughout the area. “Were you trying to blow yourself up again?”

“Very funny. Although I did discover that one should always ask for consent before probing around inside a computer’s secured interface. A lesson well learned.”

“Sound advice,” she teased, immersing herself in his warmth. “So,” she started, her eyes meeting his with a curious brow. “Who’s Jenny?”

Before he could respond, they were interrupted by a threatening voice from somewhere nearby which took them by surprise. “There they are! Open fire!” the voice commanded. Several armed men quickly stormed through the cloud of dust and smoke towards their location, completely blocking their access to the ship as they took aim. A chain of weapons fire commenced. Their ammunition tore blindly through the fog missing the Doctor and Clara by inches as the bullets ricocheted off the stone walls.

“Run, Clara!” the Doctor screamed, grabbing her hand and bolting deeper into the caverns. The soldiers’ footsteps could be heard closing in from behind.

“I’m starting to think this may have been a mistake!” she admitted, trying to keep up with the pace he set for them in her weakened state.

“‘Just like old times’, eh?” He was partially excited yet terrified all at the same time. “I hate soldiers. Don’t you hate soldiers?” he smiled, trying to make the best of their current situation.

“Yeah,” she agreed, becoming more breathless the farther they ran.

“Just keep running!” he urged. His hand tightened around hers, fearing one false move could mean the end of them at any moment. Rounding a corner, they noticed the soil beneath their feet had been reinforced with metal flooring. Their footsteps clanked loudly across its surface as they headed towards the next area. The jagged stone walls that once made up the cave had been reconstructed and moulded into a narrow corridor that emptied into a large abandoned theatre fitted with a domed ceiling. As the pair of them made their way to the centre of the room, they stopped and peered around for a suitable place to hide. “Over here!” he whispered, pulling her towards a stack of crates near an exit point and ducked behind them.

Clara took the opportunity of temporary rest to catch her breath. “What was that machine back there? Obviously something important to need this much protection.”

“A type of loom, very similar to the technology we used on Gallifrey to produce our offspring. I have a feeling someone has modified it, possibly to create an army of identical soldiers to win this war between the two species occupying this planet.”

“Are you sure? It looked a little small to fit a whole army in there.”

“Of course I’m sure! It’s the same machine that was used on myself to create my daughter Jenny the last time I was here.”

“Jenny? She’s the non-Gallifreyan child you told me about?”

“Yes, born by genetic transfer but still of my own flesh and blood.”

“Hang on, something doesn’t make sense. If you’re right about Quynn changing the course of history on this planet, if the war never ended, wouldn’t that mean you were never here? And if you were never here, then wouldn’t that mean Jenny never existed? So why can you still remember her?”

“For the same reason your memories began to resurface on Trenzalore when they shouldn’t have. Because nothing is ever really forgotten as long as you can still remember it.”

She opened her mouth to respond but was met with the warm touch of his hand as he covered her mouth to shush her. They watched and waited quietly as the soldiers who had been following them made their way into the room and began to search the area. The troop leader signalled for his men to separate into adjacent paths. The Time Lord and his companion found themselves alone in the room once more, not yet willing to move from the safety of the crates they hid behind. When all was quiet and clear, she pulled his hand from her face and finally spoke.

“So what now? Can we get back to the TARDIS from here?” she whispered.

“Well, we certainly can’t go back the way we came, but yes. There is another tunnel that will lead us there. Although, they’re sure to be guarding it in case we try to leave. I don’t know about you, but I’m really not in the mood to get shot today.”

“You said you’ve been here before. They must have some kind of weapons room or something.”

“That’s your plan?! You want to charge through them, guns blazing?”

“Do they have one or not, Doctor?” she asked again, becoming more agitated.

“Of course they do, it’s a war zone! But there’s no way of knowing if it’s in the same place. For all I know, it could be a broom cupboard now!”

“Which way?” She peered around the crates to locate the surrounding exits.

“Through there,” he pointed towards a corridor near them. “But we’ll never make it without being seen. It could be heavily guarded.”

She waited until the footsteps of the soldiers had become silent then removed herself from behind the crate. “Right then, let’s go,” she instructed, heading towards the next corridor.

“Clara! What are you doing?!” he called, trying to keep his voice as low as possible. His eyes were wide with fear. “Come back here immediately!”

“I’m getting us out of here. Are you coming or not?” She waited only a moment for him before proceeding towards the undiscovered hallway.

“Clara!” he called again. Realizing she wasn’t planning on coming back, he quickly left the safety of the crates to follow after her. Her quickened pace made it difficult to keep up which prevented him from preparing for any possible dangers ahead. The next corridor proved much longer than he remembered. As they rounded the corner, they were met by half a dozen armed soldiers stationed at the far end of the path. Their weapons were armed and ready to receive them. The events that followed happened so fast he hardly had time to react. His first instinct was to retreat the way they came. Yet Clara confidentially strode forward as they began to open fire on them. Raising his arms to protect his head from the slew of bullets flying around, he continued to scream her name in the hope she would come back to him. Despite the urgency in his voice, his companion maintained her current course towards their enemies as if she had become possessed - somehow unafraid of the severe possibility of being shot. His hearts and mind raced while she proceeded towards the gunfire as if she were purposely trying to get herself killed. The next door he came by he recognized immediately. Thinking quickly, he used his screwdriver on the handle. The door unlatched and flew open allowing him access inside. Before she could proceed any farther into certain death, he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the newly opened room. “Not that way! In here!” he insisted, flinging her inside like a rag doll. Looking towards the soldiers, he aimed his screwdriver above their heads and activated it. The piping above them burst open and exploded as the gases mixed with the electrical pulse being sent out. The last thing he witnessed before closing the door behind him was the image of screaming bodies flying in all directions as their lives were extinguished in flames.

He entered the room and glared in disbelief at the woman standing before him. Her eyes refused to meet his. Instead, she focused her attention on the room around them. Her distracted gaze made it clear that she had no recollection of how she got there. Whatever the reason for her lack of concern over her well-being, the fact that she had so determinedly put all three of them in danger enraged him. “Have you gone completely insane, or has pregnancy really made you this recklessly stupid? You could have been killed!”

“What makes you so sure they were aiming for me?” Her eyes maintained themselves away from his rage-filled expression.

He watched concernedly as she appeared to ignore his displeasure, becoming more disconnected from him every moment that passed. Every part of his being wanted to scream and lash out at her outrageous behaviour having led them to their current situation. His temper was unravelling. His hands shook from the adrenaline coursing through his system after having just murdered several people. He quickly hid his hands in his pockets and tried to calm his mind. He looked around the room to distract himself from how irate he felt towards her at that moment. They had indeed found the small armoury as she intended. The walls were thick and barren of any possible way out other than the way they had come. Multiple well-armoured crates had been sorted and stacked in rows along the floor creating a labyrinth of weaponry.

“So, here we are,” he announced, facetiously seething in sarcasm. “I can’t wait to see what else you have in store for us. Though it could be worse. We could be trapped in a small room with only one door while an army of soldiers gathers reinforcements with the intent to kill us.” She remained silent, hugging herself with crossed arms as fresh tears began to build in her eyes. As much as he wanted to comfort her, he was far too angry to allow her emotions to tamper with the thought of what she had done. This time she had gone too far. “Why couldn’t you have just stayed on the TARDIS? I told you not to leave. I had everything handled without you putting yourself directly in danger. Your job was to monitor the situation from inside and if necessary, take her far away from here. What were you even thinking?! Do you have any idea how furious I am with you?!”

“Are you sure it’s me you’re angry with?” She glanced his way, her eyes connecting to his with fierce intention. “You and I both know those soldiers bore Quynn’s insignia, which means her reach spans farther than we ever realized. She isn’t just building up her armies, she’s changing the course of history as you and I know it. What if she reaches Earth? What if she enslaves the entire human race? What if there is no stopping her?”

“Do you honestly believe I haven’t thought of that? That I haven’t been doing everything in my power to prevent her from becoming even stronger?” His anger grew rapidly as he spoke. The more he tried to control it, the harder it was to keep contained. She was testing his patience in more ways than one.

“What if it isn’t enough? What if she can’t be beaten? What if we’re already too late?”

“Forgive me. I must have forgotten how many wars you’ve fought in, how many armies you’ve commanded, how many innocent lives you’ve witnessed perish at the hands of an enemy much stronger than yourself yet somehow still prevailed. You wouldn’t know real sacrifice if it slapped you in the face! You cannot imagine what it’s like to have lost everything, to have done everything you could to save the lives of those who count on you most.”

“Not everything,” she noted, running her fingers along the surface of the crate in front of her. With the other hand, she undid the latch holding the crate closed and lifted the lid. Inside were a series of enhanced pistols, the clips loaded and ready for combat. She carefully lifted one from its holster and examined its intricate design in front of her.

“Clara, what are you doing?” he asked as a strange feeling of nervousness crept up from within him.

Her eyes met his again. Though her expression seemed almost apologetic in nature, there was also a sense of confidence and serenity he had never seen before. “What I have to do.” She instinctively released the safety from the weapon, its capabilities now fully armed and ready to fire. “All this time the answer has been staring us right in the face, yet you’ve refused to admit it. You’ve been so blinded by trying to save us that you couldn’t see the solution right in front of you.”

“Clara, whatever you think you’re doing-”

“I know exactly what I’m doing, Doctor,” she interrupted. Her calm demeanour did little to cease the rising distress growing inside of him. “I’m making the choice that you could not. I’m saving us.” She slowly brought the gun to her head and placed the barrel next to her temple.

His emotions fluctuated between sheer panic and shock at the sight of her actions. “Stop this at once! Have you gone mad?! What has gotten into you-?” he stopped himself, suddenly recalling his unborn child’s warning of his companion’s terribly dark secrets as they flashed into his mind. He had seen the pain thriving inside of her, yet had not known the depths of how far she would be willing to go. The guilt of not being able to cure her overwhelmed him. He could feel his time was running out. If he could not find a way to bring her back to him, he may lose her forever. “Ah, I understand now. So this was all part of your plan, was it? To fool me into bringing you here? This was never about wanting to help me defeat Quynn. You needed me to present the opportunity for you because you couldn’t do it alone. How long have you been planning this?”

“Since eighteen sixty-five. Since the moment you discovered Quynn was our daughter. The more I realized how powerful she was becoming the more I knew there was only one way to stop her before more people fell victim to her wrath. After Danny died, that feeling became even stronger. The darkness inside of me has only been growing, it’s only a matter of time before it takes over completely. I knew you would never allow any harm to come to me or the baby even if the entire universe was burning all around us. Can’t you see? Missy has finally succeeded in finding your weakness and using it against you. The only way to stop them both is to beat them at their own game.” Her hand began to tremble as her finger secured itself upon the trigger.

“Clara, please. Don’t do this.”

“You said so yourself. We could be trapped in this cyclical hell forever. How many times do you think we’ve been through this? How many times have we tried to stop her and failed? You can feel it, can’t you? I didn’t understand what it was before, but now I know. That feeling growing in the back of your mind telling you that you’ve done this all before, but you just can’t explain it. That’s how I feel all the time. It’s the feeling of living inside of a never-ending nightmare.” Her tears streamed down her face as the memory of her vivid dreams began to surface from their secured place in her mind. “If our daughter’s only reason for existing is to bring us together to conceive her so she can reign terror upon the universe for all of eternity, then this is the only way I see out of it.”

“There’s no guarantee this will even work, no way to know how far back the timeline may reset. It could cause time to completely collapse on itself, or nothing could happen and you’d just be dead. Are you willing to take that risk?”

“Yes,” she admitted with such confidence that it terrified him to his core. “I’d be willing to do whatever it takes to stop her, even if it means I’ll die. What’s one life worth compared to the billions I could be saving?”

“More than I am willing to give up.” He risked taking a step towards her. In her startled reaction to his movement, she stepped back from him as a look of warning flashed upon her face. His hearts beat faster than they ever had before. He’d rather be standing in front of an army of Cybermen or surrounded by Daleks than face the stand-off he was in between himself and his friend. “I’m begging you, don’t do this. We’ll find another way. We’ve come so far already.” He held out his shaking hands as a peaceful gesture and took another step towards her as his world began to crash down all around him. He was so scared of what she was about to do, he found it difficult to breathe. He could barely hear anything over the sound of his hearts pounding in his chest. He tried to remain calm, yet his entire body trembled as he drew closer to her. “How can you possibly ask this of me, to just stand here and allow you to murder yourself and our child right in front of me?” He could no longer control the tears forcing their way out over the thought of them dying by her hands. He was being torn apart. All the bravery and courage he held inside of him for so long had vanished leaving him alone with the frightened child-like innocence that remained. “I’ve already lost more than I can even bear. Please, don’t leave me here all alone,” he begged with every last ounce of his being as he dropped to his knees and buried his sobbing face in his hands.

The sight of her best friend’s crumpled form before her was unbearable. Her tears continued to fall as she contemplated everything she was doing. She had never been more scared than she was right at that moment. Yet, deep down, she knew she couldn’t allow him to cause her to doubt what she felt was their only option left. If there was any hope of releasing herself from her fate, she would have to be the stronger one. “You take more risks than anyone I’ve ever known. Tell me why I can’t be like you? Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t do this. If there’s even a chance we could escape this, why shouldn’t I take it?” she asked, gripping the pistol even tighter.

The Doctor lifted his head from his hands and allowed his tears to fall openly, finally exposing all of his weaknesses in front of her. He had come to terms with the thought that if this was truly what she wanted to do, if this was the last time he’d ever see her again, then there was no reason he could think of to continue to keep his feelings a secret any longer. He never would be able to live with himself if he allowed her to die without ever knowing how he felt about her. If their friendship must end, then it would be on his terms. There was only one thing left to do. One remaining ace up his sleeve he had been saving for the right moment. And there was no greater time than right now. “Because... I’m in love with you, Clara.”

She felt almost light-headed as if she had been holding her breath. His confession both startled and surprised her. Unsure if she simply imagined his words due to the emotional state she put herself through or if he genuinely declared what she thought he had, she finally spoke. “What did you say?” she asked, almost frightened of the answer.

“I said, I’m in love with you,” he confirmed. “I always have been. My face may have changed but how I feel about you has never faltered. From the very first moment I heard your voice to this moment right here right now, I always have and always will love you. You are my impossible soufflé girl, the mother of my child, the woman about to make me the happiest man in the universe by giving birth to our daughter, and I love you more deeply every day that passes for it.” He looked into her eyes and bore his hearts to her with the hope she’d understand how he felt. “Please, don’t take that away from me.”

Her grip on the pistol loosened as a river of tears came streaming down her face. Her heart was tearing apart as his words began to sink into her soul. The feelings she’d been denying and pushing away since his last body finally felt validation after all this time. Yet, a bigger part of her was so angry with him for daring to spare her from how he truly felt until this very moment. “Damn you, Doctor,” she cursed his entire existence both in mind and spirit. “Why tell me this now?”

“Because I’m afraid of what I will become without you,” he professed. His thoughts were spilling out uncontrollably as he finally released everything he’d been holding back from revealing to anyone. “If you die, I would spend every waking moment making sure our enemies paid for what they’ve done. There would be no rest until I had rained hell upon every last one of them. I’d break all of my own rules, I’d risk all of time and space, I’d let the stars burn, I’d watch as entire worlds collapsed on themselves while billions of voices screamed in agony. I’d give up all of who I am if it meant you’d live.”

His shocking confession bewildered her which prevented her from determining if there was any truth behind his words or if he was simply spewing idle threats merely out of desperation. “I don’t believe you. Your reign of terror would end with the sight of the first crying child and you know it.”

“No, I don’t,” he admitted. “None of you have any idea what I am truly capable of. Or did you believe Quynn was the worst thing to happen to anyone? You’ll never know true horror until you’ve seen a Time Lord on a quest for revenge. There would be no stopping me, nothing to hold me back from myself. There would be more suffering than you can even imagine. The universe has every right to fear me, as it should.”

For the first time, she found herself truly frightened of him. She had never heard him speak in such a way before. It was as if the man she had come to know and love had completely gone leaving her alone within the presence of his inner demons. “If that’s true, then Quynn was right. There is a monster hiding inside of you.”

A new sense of humiliation and shame in himself overwhelmed him at the harshness of her words. He felt defeated and powerless against the truth behind them as he fell forward onto his hands and braced his sobbing form at her feet. “Help me, Clara. I’m begging you. Don’t let me become that man.”

She stared at the fallen Time Lord below her as her emotions shattered into a million pieces. She realized he was right. There was so much more at stake for the universe than what Quynn had in store for it. If this plan didn’t work, she would be responsible for unleashing all the horrors within him no matter who stood in his way. There would be no one to stop him from himself. No one left to remind him of how to care for the lives of others. All that she had ever accomplished with him would be in vain as he chose the path of destruction over being who he needed to be. The thought of how important her life was for the survival of the entire universe was overwhelming. She was lost in thought. Her once trembling hand holding the weapon to her temple had long since calmed. She slowly lowered it into the crate and released it from her grasp. Glancing towards her fallen friend, she knelt in front of him and ran her fingers through his silver hair in an attempt to comfort him as he continued to sob in her presence.

He raised his head at her soothing touch. His eyes filled with tears as they instinctively met with her own. The emotion contained within her expression was unmistakable. He had seen it only once before in his last body. It could only be described as the look of undeniable love and compassion. His hands found their way to her waist as he gently rested his head against her belly and took in her warmth for all it was worth. The child fluttered and kicked from within her at his presence. His hands pressed carefully on either side of her as he experienced the sensation of movement within his palms. His hearts nearly burst with affection for her and her mother as they embraced each other. “I love you both so very much. Please, don’t take her away from me,” he pleaded with every drop of emotion remaining inside of his furrowed old body.

The love he displayed for them at that moment disarmed her from within as she gently wrapped her arms around him and cradled his head in her hands. She knew there would be no turning back now. Whatever their fate may be, only one thing was certain. They would face it together. “Well, old man.” She carefully tilted his head to meet her gaze. “What’s your plan for getting us out of here?”

[chocolatequeennk]

Forever and Never Apart, 25/42

Summary: After taking a year to recover from the Master, the Doctor and Rose are ready to travel again. But Time keeps pushing them forward, and instead of going back to their old life, they slowly realise that they’re stepping into a new life. Friends new and old are meeting on the TARDIS, and when the stars start going out, the Doctor and Rose face the biggest change of all: the return of Bad Wolf.

Series 4 with Rose, part 7 of Being to Timelessness; sequel to Taking Time (AO3 | FF.NET | TSP)

Betaed by @lastbluetardis, @rudennotgingr, @jabber-who-key, and @pellaaearien. Thank you so much!

We are finally to the Library, which gets a major rewrite. And that means this is still a prompt fill for @doctorroseprompts–imagine Doomsday didn’t happen, and rewrite one S3/S4 episode or scene.

AO3 | FF.NET | TSP

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 | Ch 6 | Ch 7 | Ch 8 | Ch 9 | Ch 10 | Ch 11 | Ch 12 | Ch 13 | Ch 14 | Ch 15 | Ch 16 | Ch 17 | Ch 18 | Ch 19 | Ch 20 | Ch 21 | Ch 22 | Ch 23 | Ch 24

Chapter Twenty-five: Donna and Jenny Have Been Saved

Jenny knew as soon as her dad hit the teleport button that something had gone wrong. Even as she caught a quick glance of the TARDIS console room, she felt a tug, like something had grabbed a hold of her and wasn’t going to let her into the ship. She heard Donna scream as she gritted her teeth against the sensation, and she hoped that either Donna had made it to the TARDIS, or that they’d be together, wherever they were going.

Ten seconds later, her eyes blinked open in a large, airy bedroom painted in soothing pastels. She looked down at herself, and instead of being dressed in her own jeans and t-shirt, she was wearing flannel pyjamas.

What is going on? How did I get undressed and where am I?

Jenny took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing on the telepathic presence of her father and Rose. They were still there in her mind, just like they should be.

Her dad had told her that if she were ever abducted or lost, she should reach out for him and Rose so they could start looking for her. When she’d asked the first question to come to mind—rather practical she thought, to wonder if it was possible to block telepathy—deep, remembered pain had echoed in her mind from both of them.

She’d quickly gathered that while it was possible, most people wouldn’t have the means or knowledge to do so. And lying in this strange bed, it only took her a moment to find their telepathic signatures and ask them to find her.

The heavy wooden door swung open, and Jenny jumped to her feet as a tall, bald, black man entered the room. She scanned him quickly, taking in the crisp white shirt and the placid smile on his face. His non-threatening posture did nothing to reassure Jenny, since, as far as she could tell, this perfect stranger had yanked her away from the safety of her home.

She crossed her arms over her chest. “Who are you, and how did you bring Donna and me here? Where’s the rest of my family?”

Brown eyes blinked behind rimless glasses. “I’m Doctor Moon. I’ve been treating you and your Aunt Donna since you came here.” He tilted his head. “What do you remember, Jenny?”

Jenny drew herself up and wished she had her boots on—they would have added a few inches to her petite size. She copied the way Rose would tilt her head back when people dared condescend to her and reached for the confident tone of voice her dad always managed.

“My name is Jenny Tyler. My dad and mum are the Doctor and Rose Tyler. We live on the TARDIS with our friend Donna.”

Doctor Moon circled her as she talked. “Interesting,” he mused quietly. “Integration seems to have failed entirely with you. I’ll have to try again.”

He walked back to the door and smiled at her. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Jenny.”

Jenny shook her head slowly after he left, trying to understand what had just happened. Integration?

She blinked, and when she opened her eyes, she was in a cafeteria. Doctor Moon sat across the table from her. “Hello, Jenny. I’m glad you could join me for coffee today. Are you feeling better than you were yesterday?”

Jenny stared at him. “That was less than a minute ago, Doctor Moon. You left my room, I blinked, and then we were here.”

Doctor Moon pursed his lips. “No, Jenny. You’ve forgotten the last twenty-four hours. That’s a symptom of the trauma you received.” He gestured at her. “Look, you’re even wearing different clothes.”

Jenny glanced down and realised her hospital issue pyjamas had changed from red to blue-and-white plaid. She raised an eyebrow—she knew there was no way she’d been in the hospital for more than ten minutes.

“Can I see Donna?” she asked, ignoring his lie. “You said she was in a room like mine. I’d like to see her.”

The doctor shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t allow that, not when your mind is still so affected by your accident. Your Aunt Donna has had some false memories as well, and if the two of you met right now, you would only reinforce the fiction your damaged minds are trying to create.”

Jenny could feel her forehead scrunch up in a frown. “I’d really like to see her,” she pressed.

Doctor Moon smiled regretfully. “When you’re feeling better, we’ll see what we can arrange.” He looked down at the watch strapped to his wrist. “I’m afraid I need to cut today’s meeting short. I’ll see you tomorrow, though.”

Jenny watched him stand up and walk away, then she closed her eyes. When she opened them, she wasn’t surprised to find herself walking with the doctor across a plush lawn. A surreptitious look at herself revealed she was finally dressed in normal clothes, instead of pyjamas.

Her first instinct was to ask how they’d gotten outside, but then she remembered what Doctor Moon had said. If she wanted to make sure Donna was all right, she had to pretend to buy into the lie.

“It’s a lovely day for a walk,” she said, not commenting on the time or location at all.

She felt Doctor Moon looking at her, but she kept a smile on her face as she looked up at the sky. The sun didn’t even feel warm. How did they expect people to believe this was real?

“Have you had any more dreams?” he prodded. “About the Doctor and Rose, and the blue box you flew in through time and space?”

Jenny’s temper flared at the casual, condescending way he referred to her entire life. But she reminded herself that the goal today was to see Donna, and she shook her head. “No, Doctor Moon,” she said—and it wasn’t a lie. She hadn’t even slept, so how could she have dreamt?

Doctor Moon smiled. “It is a lovely day,” he agreed. “I’ve asked a nurse to bring Donna out, if you would like to talk to her.”

Jenny swung her gaze around to look at the doctor. “Yes, please!”

A second later, they were on the patio, sitting at a table sipping tea. Donna reached across the table and grabbed Jenny’s free hand. “I’m so glad you’re all right, Jenny,” she said. “This lot wouldn’t tell me anything about you, except that your head injury was worse than mine and it was taking you time to heal.”

It was hard to smile when Jenny knew Donna didn’t really know who she was, but somehow she managed it. “I’m doing so much better,” she promised Donna.

“As soon as they let us out of here, we’ll get a place together,” Donna promised her.

“I’d like that,” Jenny managed to say. She wanted to grab Donna and shake her until she remembered their real life on the TARDIS with the Doctor and Rose and all the running, but she just smiled instead.

“Donna,” Doctor Moon said, “would you like to go for a walk down to the river with me?”

Donna smiled beatifically and stood up. Then she looked at Doctor Moon, now wearing an overcoat and holding a bag of bread crumbs while ducks quacked noisily.

A steady breeze came off the water and they sun had slipped behind the clouds. Donna looked around, fighting her disorientation. “You said river, and suddenly we’re feeding ducks.” There was something not right, but she just… couldn’t put her finger on it.  

“Doctor Moon. Morning.”

Donna turned and suddenly felt a little breathless when she spotted a man who was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome walking towards them carrying fishing gear. And he’s got some meat on him, too, she thought, admiring his solid physique. Unlike that skinny bloke… She closed her eyes quickly and shoved the errant thought of the Doctor into the back of her mind before Doctor Moon could pick up on it.

“Donna Noble, Lee McAvoy.” Doctor Moon smirked, then moved off to the side.

Donna smiled at the newcomer. “Hello, Lee.”

His eyes were warm when he smiled at her. “Hello, D, D, D…”

“Ooo, you’ve got bit of a stammer there.” She looked over at Doctor Moon. “Bless.”

“D, D,” Lee persisted.

Donna waved the attempts away with a hand. “Oh, skip to a vowel. They’re easy.”

What felt like just a second later, she was back on the hospital grounds with Doctor Moon. The sun had come back out, but it was still cold enough that she was comfortable in her winter coat.

Donna bit her lip as she looked up at the doctor. She thought she liked Lee, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remember anything about the rest of the afternoon.

“How did we leave it, him and me?

Doctor Moon smirked again. “I got the impression he was inviting you fishing tomorrow.”

oOoOoOoOo

The next twenty-five minutes were a nightmare and a headache for Jenny, as she watched Donna progress rapidly through her relationship with Lee McAvoy. Jenny had no real objections to Lee—he seemed perfectly nice—but was he even real? What if she and Donna got out of wherever they were, and Donna had fallen in love with someone who didn’t even exist?

But she couldn’t say a thing to warn Donna—Aunt Donna, she reminded herself—or she’d be back in the hospital faster than you could say… well, most things.

Jenny looked around at the cosy bungalow she’d moved into sometime around minute eighteen in this strange, pocket universe. Her act had successfully fooled Doctor Moon, and he had declared her fully integrated and stopped visiting her, thankfully. It was harder than she’d thought to continue pretending in front of him.

Pretending was how she was allowed to be part of Donna’s life, though, and that let her offer some kind of protection, at least. Today, she was supposed to be going to Lee and Donna’s wedding, but she knew there wasn’t any reason for her to try to get ready, because in just a minute…

The pew was hard against her back and the pale blue dress didn’t fit well. But despite her discomfort and misgivings, it was almost impossible not to be happy for Lee and Donna as they ran up the aisle together.

Twenty minutes or eight years later, Jenny was sitting in her own garden, listening to the shouts of Donna’s children echoing over the wall. She pressed a hand to her forehead; how had this gotten so out of control?

Suddenly, she realised there was another person in her garden—a tall, veiled woman dressed all in black. Jenny jumped up and pressed her back to the wall. “Who are you?”

“You don’t need to be afraid of me, Jenny Tyler,” the woman said, and the voice was familiar. “You are not like anyone else who has been in this computer simulation.”

“Is that what it is, then?” Jenny looked around, and it all made sense. Everything was perfect. The computer could program them to skip time, and then Doctor Moon would fill in the gaps of what had happened with his narrative explanation.

“Yes. You are in the central computer of the Library. You remember the Library, don’t you, Jenny?”

Jenny pressed her lips together to withhold a sob. Even though less than an hour had passed since her dad had activated the teleport, sometimes it really did feel like she’d been trapped here for nine years. Time is meaningless in the Vortex, Rose, she remembered her dad saying more than once. She didn’t really think this was what he’d meant.

So after being trapped in a bizarre virtual reality for an hour, hearing someone else talk about the real world was almost more than she could handle. But the other woman was waiting for an answer, so she nodded. “Who are you?” she asked.

The woman tilted her head. “I think you know the answer to that, if you really think.”

Jenny stared at her, trying to place the voice. She’d heard that voice before… she’d heard that voice dying, she realised suddenly.

“Miss Evangelista!” she gasped.

“Yes, or at least, I am what’s left of her,” the woman said.

Jenny frowned and started to ask what exactly she meant by that. But then the air next to her flickered, and she watched a figure appear out of thin air—a figure she knew very well.

“Dad!”

He had his head bent down so he could listen to the sonic, but when he heard her voice, he looked straight at her. “Jenny!”

She held out a hand and he ran towards her, but he disappeared before he reached her. Staring at the blank space where her father had been just a moment before, Jenny swallowed hard.

“How can we get out of here?” she asked Miss Evangelista.

oOoOoOoOo

After Rose reminded Melody of the squareness gun, she used it on every wall they came to. The Doctor crossed his fingers that it wouldn’t run out of battery power, though she didn’t seem to having the problem Jack did.

Finally, they reached a room with a large open space under the skylight, giving them plenty of light. “Okay, we’ve got a clear spot,” Melody announced, motioning for everyone to pile into the room.

The Doctor immediately let go of Rose’s hand and slid down to the floor, pointing the sonic at the shadows.

“In, in, in!” Melody continued. “Right in the centre. In the middle of the light, quickly. Don’t let your shadows cross. Doctor.”

“On it,” he replied, scanning for Vashta Nerada.

“There’s no lights here,” Melody said, pointing out what he’d noticed as soon as they entered the room. “Sunset’s coming. We can’t stay long.” The sonic flickered. “Have you found a live one?”

“Maybe. It’s getting harder to tell.” He tapped the sonic against his hand and scanned again. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked his tool.

Melody stood up and spun around. “We’re going to need a chicken leg. Who’s got a chicken leg? Thanks, Dave.”

A moment later, the Doctor watched a chicken leg fly through the air and hit the ground as only a bone.

“Okay,” Melody said as she stumbled backwards. “Okay, we’ve got a hot one. Watch your feet.”

“They won’t attack until there’s enough of them,” the Doctor said, brushing off her concern. “But they’ve got our scent now. They’re coming.”

You’re being rude, Rose told him gently as she rubbed his shoulders.

Behind their backs, both of Melody’s assistants were peppering her with questions—questions about them.

“So who are they?” Other Dave asked. “A group of people we’ve never met show up on our expedition, and we’re just supposed to trust them?”

“That’s the Doctor and Rose Tyler,” Melody said. “And yeah, you’re supposed to trust them.”

The Doctor stared into the shadows as he shamelessly eavesdropped on the conversation between Melody Pond and her team. I’m being rude? At least I’m not talking about her where she can hear me.

Only ‘cause she’s not telepathic, Rose retorted, and he glanced up to see her teasing grin.

The results from the sonic screwdriver were getting spottier. The Doctor tried pulsing the button to see if that would help while Mr. Lux asked Melody who he and Rose were.

Oh, I feel so hurt that Mr. Lux isn’t impressed by our credentials, Rose snarked.

“The only people I’d want with me in a life-and-death situation,” Melody shot back. “Trust me, there’s a reason I asked them to meet us here. If there’s anyone who can get us out of here alive, it’s them.”

The Doctor knew Rose was trying to make light of the situation, but as he watched Melody out of the corner of his eye, he couldn’t let it go. Listening to someone he’d never met talk about him and Rose as if she’d known them forever had been mildly curious before. Now that Donna and Jenny were gone because he’d followed this woman’s message to the Library, it was infuriating.

“You say they’re your friends, but they don’t even know who you are.”

The Doctor moved to the next set of shadows and nodded vigorously with Anita’s salient point. Exactly! They didn’t know who this woman was, so how could they trust her?

Melody looked up at him and shrugged when they made eye contact. She didn’t even look surprised that he was listening in. “Listen, all you need to know is this. I’d trust those two to the end of the universe.”

Really? the Doctor thought sarcastically. And have you been to the end of the universe? Because I have, and you weren’t there.

Stop snarking at Melody Pond and focus on finding Donna and Jenny, Rose ordered sharply, clearly tired of his sour disposition.

The Doctor shuffled over to the next set of shadows, but he didn’t get any better results there. I’m trying, but something’s interfering with the sonic.

“The Doctor doesn’t act like he trusts you,” Anita said astutely. “Rose might, but I don’t think he does.”

Melody tucked a strand of straight, brown hair back behind her ear. “Yeah, there’s a tiny problem. They haven’t met me yet, and the Doctor is extremely protective of his family.”

“What about Rose?” Anita asked.

They heard a smile in Melody’s voice when she answered. “Rose is extremely protective of the Doctor.”

You have to admit she’s right about that, Rose told him as she traded screwdrivers with him. They both heard Melody walk towards them, but ignored her while the Doctor tried Rose’s sonic on the shadows. To their consternation, her screwdriver seemed to be having the exact same problem.

“What’s wrong with it?” Melody asked.

The Doctor ignored her, tapping the screwdriver lightly and tried it again, but the violet diode only flickered briefly.

Rose sighed and looked at Melody. “There’s a signal coming from somewhere, interfering with it.”

Melody nodded once. “Then use the red settings.”

The Doctor’s gaze flicked over to her, then he went back to fiddling with Rose’s sonic. “It doesn’t have a red setting.”

“Well, use the dampers,” she said as she took her gloves off.

“It doesn’t have dampers.” The Doctor was already disinclined to be civil towards this woman who claimed to be from their future, and the way that she was now pretending to know everything about his sonic screwdriver, the tool he had designed and perfected over the years, grated.

She pulled the sonic screwdriver she’d used earlier out of her pocket. The diode that had been blue now looked red. “Hmmm. I guess mine has a few extra features then,” she said.

The Doctor snatched it from her hands and stood up. “So, some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver.”

She snatched it back. “No. At some point in the future, you give me my own screwdriver.”

He rocked back on his heels and glared at her. “Why would I do that?”

“Present when I graduated from uni,” she said breezily. A hint of nostalgia entered her voice, but her smile was still smug, like she knew something they didn’t. “I’d always wanted one, but I’d never dared to ask. And then you came up to me, just the two of you, and said you had a special gift for me.” She arched an eyebrow. “I guess this is when I told you I wanted a sonic screwdriver.” A smirk crossed her face. “You know, if you’d told me before that this was what you meant when you said time travel had its up sides, I might have been more interested.”

The Doctor’s agitation washed over Rose, and combined with her own worry for Jenny and Donna, her temper sparked. She stepped in between the Doctor and Melody, standing with her feet shoulder width apart and her arms crossed over her chest.

“Oi! Leave ‘im alone!” The Doctor put a hand on her arm, and Rose took a deep breath but didn’t back down. “You just told Anita and Other Dave that I’m protective of the Doctor, and now you’re teasing him for your own amusement when you can tell how upset he is?”  

Melody opened and closed her mouth, then shook her head.

Rose sighed, and some of her anger drained out of her. “I know you’re upset and stressed and this has got to be difficult for you, when you were thinking you’d get the versions of us that you know. But we just lost our daughter and our friend.” Her voice cracked and she swallowed hard. “Neither of us are in the mood for jokes right now.”

The smirk disappeared from Melody’s face. “You’re right. I’m sorry, both of you.” She smiled wryly at Rose. “I’ve never been on the receiving end of one of your protective tirades. Think I’ll try to avoid it happening again.” She blinked rapidly as she turned back around to the rest of her expedition crew.  

There was a short, awkward pause, then the Doctor held up Rose’s screwdriver. “Know what’s interesting about our screwdrivers?” he asked as he started walking in circles around the group. “Very hard to interfere with. Practically nothing’s strong enough. Well, some hairdryers,” he allowed as he looked up at the skylight. “But I’m working on that. So there is a very strong signal coming from somewhere, and it wasn’t there before. So what’s new? What’s changed?”

“The moon is up,” Rose said immediately. “I noticed it when I looked through the skylight when we walked into this room. There wasn’t a moon in the sky before, and now there is.”

The Doctor spun around and bounced on his toes. “Oh, very good, Rose!” He turned and looked at Mr. Lux. “Tell me about the moon. What’s there?”

The company president shook his head. “It’s not real. It was built as part of the Library. It’s just a doctor moon.”

“What’s a doctor moon?” he pressed.

“A virus checker,” Mr. Lux explained. “It supports and maintains the main computer at the core of the planet.”

“So it’s there to make sure that CAL is safe,” the Doctor mused. Now that he knew what to look for, he could scan for a connection between the planet and the moon. Unlike his attempts to scan for Vashta Nerada, that worked almost immediately.

“Well, still active. It’s signalling. Look.” The sonic’s steady buzz pulsed slightly as it picked up the signal from the moon. “Someone somewhere in this library is alive and communicating with the moon. Or, possibly alive and drying their hair.” The Doctor put his screwdriver to his ear, listening to the signal. “No, the signal is definitely coming from the moon. I’m blocking it, but it’s trying to break through.”

He twisted the top of the screwdriver and heard a funny pop, then a very familiar voice called out, “Dad!”

The Doctor looked up up, and his throat caught when he saw a flickering projection of his daughter. “Jenny!” he called back, pushing her name past the lump in his throat. He ran towards the projection, but it disappeared just as he reached it.

He stared at the blank spot, blinking back tears. A moment later, Rose wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight. She’s there, love, one of them said, though he couldn’t tell right now if the thought was his or hers. Jenny’s there, and she’s fine.

Rose pulled back and wiped tears from her eyes. “Can you get her back?” she whispered hoarsely.

“I can try,” the Doctor said, his voice thick. His hands were shaking when he raised the sonic to his ear, but they were steady enough to adjust the settings, trying to lock onto the frequency coming from the moon. Please, let me see Jenny again, he pleaded with the universe.

But it seemed like the universe wasn’t listening. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t interfere with the signal between the doctor moon and the planet.

He growled and tapped the sonic on the heel of his hand. “I’m being blocked!”

“Doctor Pond?” Anita said, a tremble in her soft voice.

“Just a moment,” Melody replied. The Doctor heard the buzzing from her screwdriver and realised she was trying to locate Jenny, too.

“It’s important,” Anita insisted. “I have two shadows.”

The Doctor’s stomach fell when he spun around and saw that the young archaeologist did indeed have two shadows.  

“Okay.” Melody took charge. “Helmets on, everyone. Anita, I’ll get yours.”

“It didn’t do Proper Dave any good,” Anita pointed out practically.  

Melody shook her head. “Just keep it together, okay?”

Anita rolled her eyes and snorted. “Keeping it together. I’m only crying. I’m about to die. It’s not an overreaction.”

No one could argue with that, so Melody was silent as she put the helmet on the scared woman and did up the seal.

“Hang on.” Using the sonic, the Doctor turned the filter on the visor all the way up, making it black.

Melody gasped. “Oh God, they’ve got inside.”

“No, he just tinted her visor, Melody,” Rose explained. “But why, Doctor?”

The Doctor shrugged. “Well, I thought maybe they’ll think they’re already in there, leave her alone.”

“Do you think they can be fooled like that?” Melody pressed.

The Doctor pressed his lips into a thin line. The constant questioning was grating on his nerves. “Maybe. I don’t know. It’s a swarm. It’s not like we chat.”

“Can you still see in there?” Other Dave asked.

Anita nodded. “Just about.”

When the Doctor turned around to look at Other Dave, he noticed something they’d all missed. A seventh figure, standing in the shadows.

Other Dave and Mr. Lux both took a step forward, and the Doctor waved his hand for them to stay still. The last thing they needed was for the shadows to cross, spreading the infestation.

“Just, just, just stay back.” Then he took Rose’s hand and looked at Melody. “Rose, Melody. Could I have a word, please?”

Both women frowned, but nodded, and they took three steps away from Anita, careful to stay in the light.

The Doctor lowered his voice. “All right, both of you. Without being obvious, I need you to take a quick head count.”

He watched them casually glance around the room before they looked back at him. “Seven,” they whispered in unison.

“Right. That’s the three of us, Anita, Other Dave, Mr. Lux, and…”

Their eyes widened.

“Hey, who turned out the lights?”

“Run!” the Doctor ordered, and the six still-living people raced out of the room, chased by the form of Proper Dave.  

oOoOoOoOo

The Doctor led the group to the stairs, thinking they might be harder for the swarm in a suit to navigate. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, keeping them safe from other shadows as they climbed over two dozen flights.

Finally, they reached a floor that indicated a skybridge could be found on this level. “This way,” he said in a low voice, straining his ears for the shuffle-clomp of the Vashta Nerada, several storeys below them.

They ran through the sky bridge from one skyscraper to another. The Doctor slammed the heavy wooden doors shut behind them and hustled everyone towards the stairs, but some twinge of curiosity caught Rose’s attention, and she stopped and looked at him while Mr. Lux and Anita ran on.

His eyes were bright with anger and curiosity as he stared back at the closed doors. It only took a moment for Rose to figure out what he wanted to do.  

She looked at Melody, who’d slowed down when they’d stopped. “Keep running. We’ll be right behind you.” Melody looked hesitantly at the two of them, then nodded sharply. “Mr. Lux, Anita, Other Dave—stay with me,” she barked, then ran for the door marked ‘Stairwell.’  

From behind them, the shuffling noise of the swarm-in-a-spacesuit got louder, and Rose mentally counted off the minute or so she reckoned they could stay there safely.

“Rose…”

She cut him off with her hand held up. “No. I sent them away because every second counts. But you’re not going to stay here with that… You said the only thing to do with Vashta Nerada was to run, Doctor.”

“I know, but…” He looked at her, then back at the doors, just as they burst open. “Why did they come to the Library to hunt?”

“Hey, who turned out the lights?”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Does it matter?” she asked. “Would finding out how they got here and why get us any closer to the TARDIS? Would it help us find Jenny and Donna?” She held out her hand for the Doctor, and he took it. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

“Hey, who turned out the lights?”

The Doctor looked over his shoulder at the Vashta Nerada, just crossing the threshold of the room. Rose’s heart stopped until he looked back at her, and she could see the decision in his eyes. She let out a slow breath when he took her hand.

“Thank you.”

With the Doctor’s hand in hers, they raced down the stairs. “I’m still curious about where they came from, but you were right,” the Doctor admitted as they ran. “It wouldn’t make a difference in the end.”

Rose squeezed his hand. “I’m curious too,” she panted as they turned a corner. “But I’d rather spend our time finding Jenny and Donna and getting the hell out of here.”

The Doctor snorted. “Right you are.”

They both looked out the window as they reached the ground floor of the building. The sun had very nearly set by now, which would make it almost impossible to avoid the shadows.

“I don’t know how we’re going to make it out of this,” the Doctor admitted finally.

Rose pulled him to a stop. “Don’t,” she said sharply. “Don’t talk about giving up, not…” She took a deep breath and smiled up at him. “Have you forgotten, Doctor? We’re the stuff of legend.”

It was all bravado, and they both knew it. There was a significant likelihood that they would not make it out of this adventure alive. The possibility of regenerating teased the edges of Rose’s mind, but she could tell by the level of the Doctor’s fear that it probably wouldn’t be possible if they were consumed by Vashta Nerada.

She shook her head and rested her hands on his elbows. “We are going to rendezvous with Melody and her team, we’re going to find Jenny and Donna, and we are going to make it home,” she said firmly. “That’s the only conclusion to this day that I will accept. All right?”

The Doctor smiled, then pulled her close. “And I reckon even the Vashta Nerada don’t dare thwart your wishes,” he said, his voice muffled by her hair.

Rose nodded. “Exactly. Now, are you ready to find Melody?”

He kissed her quickly, then took her hand. “Oh, I’m ready.”

oOoOoOoOo

They found Melody, Anita, Other Dave, and Mr. Lux back in the main circulation area, where he had first explained the Vashta Nerada only a few hours before. Melody was crouched on the floor, using her sonic screwdriver to scan the Library seal in the middle of the floor.

None of them heard the Doctor and Rose enter the room silently from the mezzanine level, so the Doctor took advantage of the moment to shamelessly eavesdrop.

“You know, it’s funny,” Melody said as she checked the results of her scan. “I keep wishing the Doctor and Rose were here.”

“The Doctor and Rose are here, aren’t they?” Anita said. “They are coming back, right?”

Melody sighed and pushed herself to her feet. “You know when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it’s from years before you knew them. And even though it’s them, there’s something just… missing. A familiarity that isn’t there yet.”

Rose squeezed the Doctor’s hand. Like meeting your first incarnation, she told him. It was the first time meeting you since meeting you the first time when you looked at me without knowing me.

Down below, Melody continued her explanation. “Well, yes, the Doctor and Rose are here. They came when I called, just like they always do.”

The Doctor raised his eyebrows and filed that piece of information away.

“But they aren’t the Doctor and Rose who pick me up every year for Christmas. Last year, we had dinner at the Tylers’, but they don’t know that Jackie spiked the punch with ginger ‘because it just isn’t fair that himself doesn’t get drunk like the rest of us.’” Anita laughed, and Melody nodded. “You see what I mean? They’re here… but they aren’t.”

Rose’s hand had tightened around his at the mention of her family, and the Doctor pulled her close. “Spoilers,” he warned, unable to keep the bite out of his voice. If Melody wasn’t who she said she was… if she was just playing them and she’d just given Rose false hope of seeing her mother again…

Rose reached up and stroked his jaw. Don’t get so upset before we know, she chided. You can be my protector later, if it’s necessary.

Melody’s expression was stricken, though, and for the first time, the Doctor really believed she was who she claimed to be. “How much did you hear?” she whispered.

Her guilt was obvious, and now that he’d allowed the possibility that she truly was someone from their future, he could more fully appreciate how difficult this would be for her. Meeting someone you obviously knew very well before they had even met you was a tricky tightrope to walk, and he’d clearly impressed upon the young woman the importance of maintaining the timelines.

Impulsively, he jogged down the stairs and pulled her in for a reassuring hug. “It’s fine, Melody,” he promised. “A little foreknowledge won’t damage the timelines.”

She drew a shaky breath and looked up at him. “Yeah?”

“Yep! And I’ll let Jackie get me drunk, even though I know it’s going to happen.”

Melody rolled her eyes and shoved him away from her, and he knew everything was going to be fine.

He turned and looked at the rest of the group—Mr. Lux and Other Dave, looking scared as they hovered awkwardly in the space between the shadows and Anita, who still had two shadows.

“How are you doing?” he asked her as he walked over to her.

“Still alive,” she said, a hint of defiance in her voice. “But Doctor. Proper Dave only lasted what, five minutes after they latched onto him? How come they haven’t taken me yet?”

“I don’t know.” The Doctor looked at her two shadows. “Maybe tinting your visor’s making a difference.”

Anita snorted softly. “It’s making a difference all right. No one’s ever going to see my face again.”

Her grim pragmatism made him wish he could do something for her, and despite the fact that he really couldn’t, he found himself asking, “Can I get you anything?”

“An old age would be nice,” she quipped, and her brave wit in the face of death made this hurt even more. “Anything you can do?”

The Doctor nodded, even though she couldn’t really see him. “I’m all over it,” he promised. If there was any way he could persuade the Vashta Nerada to let go of Anita, he would do it.

“Look at us,” Rose said, and he silently thanked her for changing the subject. “Six of us, still safe after running from the Vashta Nerada for two hours.”

The Doctor grinned and stuck his hands into his pockets. “Yep, still safe…” He lingered on the word. It felt significant, and he quickly filtered through his memory of all the times in the last two hours that he’d heard the word “safe” or any variations of it.

“What is it, Doctor?” Melody asked.

“Safe.” As he repeated the word, the thought finally unlocked. “You don’t say saved,” he explained, his mind still working out the ramifications of his realisation as he talked. “Nobody says saved. You say safe.” He spun to point at Mr. Lux. “The data fragment! What did it say?”

“Four thousand and twenty-two people saved. No survivors.”

“Doctor?” Rose asked.

“Oh, it’s been staring us in the face, Rose!” He grabbed her and spun her around. “Because people don’t get saved, not unless you’re talking about the preachers on street corners. But computers—computers save things. And that’s what it did. It saved them.”

oOoOoOoOo

Something about the world was wrong. Donna usually managed to shove that faint awareness into the back of her mind, but a moment ago, when she’d been talking to Doctor Moon, it had flared to life for just a few seconds.

Now, as she made tea for her guest, she felt like she’d forgotten something really important. It felt like she’d had it, just for a second, and then it had been lost again.

She sighed when the tea was done and shrugged her shoulders. I’m not going to figure it out by standing in the kitchen, she told herself as she picked up the cups and walked back to the living room.

“Here we are, Doctor Moon.”

Donna’s smile faded into a confused frown when the doctor was nowhere to be seen. Ella and Joshua ran through the room, and she held the teacups up to keep them from getting bumped into.

“Mummy, I made you!” Ella held up a thick body made of plasticine with two arms, two legs, and no face.

“Oh, that’s nice, Ella,” Donna said. She was determined to praise her daughter’s artistic endeavours, rather than belittling them like her own mother had. But… “Where’s the face?” she couldn’t help but ask.

Ella looked down at the doll and shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Donna sighed and carefully bent over to put the teacups down on the coffee table. “Did you see Doctor Moon? Did he leave?”

Before Ella could answer, the door swung open and Lee stepped inside, wearing his regular suit and carrying a briefcase. The kids went crazy, calling his name and running to him, and for the briefest moment, Donna thought that the timing of his arrival was certainly convenient, the way it interrupted any answer Ella might have given her.

That cynical thought disappeared when she watched her husband set his briefcase down and open his arms to their children. “Hey! Hello, you two. Come here. Big hugs. Big Daddy hugs.”

“Look what I made.” Ella held up her doll.

“Oh.” Lee looked at it, then glanced at Donna, his eyes dancing. “It’s Mummy.”

“Uh, it hasn’t got a face,” Donna pointed out again. There was something off-putting about the idea of her face being… taken, and try as she might, she couldn’t let it go. “Did you see Doctor Moon?” she asked, wanting to change the subject.

“No. Why, was he here?” asked Lee.

“Yeah, just a second ago.” Donna walked over to the window. “You must have passed him.”

She pulled the curtains back, expecting to see the tall figure of Doctor Moon, maybe disappearing around the corner. Instead, she spotted a flash of black lace as what looked like a veiled woman in a long, black dress walking behind a tree.

“You all right?”

Lee sounded a little worried now, and despite Donna’s growing feeling that something was wrong, her reassurance was automatic.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine,” she said as the last of the woman’s train disappeared. “It’s just…”

“Just?” Lee murmured in her ear.

The quiet neighbourhood Donna had always loved suddenly seemed eerie. Wind blew clouds in, and the sun slanted in at the wrong angle for the time of day. Even the birds were quiet.

Donna sighed and shook her head. “Nothing.” She turned around and wrapped her arms around her husband. “It’s been a long day, that’s all.” She pulled back and smiled up at him. “I’m just tired.”

She blinked, and she and Lee were in their bedroom, dressed for bed. The feeling that the world was wrong strengthened, and she shook her head, hoping to either get rid of it, or get more insight into why it seemed so wrong.

Lee put his hand on her arm. “You okay?”

Donna felt a hint of panic welling up inside her as she tried to remember exactly what they’d done for the evening. She hadn’t had this many problems with her memory since she’d been released from the hospital, and the idea that she might have to go back terrified her.

“I said I was tired,” she began slowly, trying to remember what had happened next. “And, and… we put the kids to bed, and we watched television.” The memories came as she talked, and the knot of tension in her stomach had eased by the time she finished.

Lee smiled at her, and Donna was just about to suggest they get into bed when they heard the distinctive sound of the mail slot being pushed open.

Donna looked over her shoulder at their open bedroom door, then back at Lee. “Was that a letter?” she asked.

Lee shook his head. “It’s midnight.”

Donna pushed him gently towards the bedroom door. “Go and see what it is,” she requested urgently.

He sighed, but left the room, patting her shoulder reassuringly on his way by. After he was gone, Donna stared at the red accent wall behind their bed for a moment, wondering yet again what had led her to paint it that way. It had felt familiar and right, somehow.

She shook the thought off and wandered over to the window. If someone had dropped a letter in the slot, maybe she could catch a glimpse of them as they walked away.

The flash of lace was familiar. This definitely seemed like the dress she’d seen earlier in the afternoon, though this time, she caught a much better glimpse of it, enough to see that it was a Victorian gown, with a bustle and train.

“The world is wrong.”

Donna’s skin tingled when she heard the words she’d been thinking from Lee’s lips. She dropped the curtain and looked back at him.

“What?”

He held up a letter. “For you. Weird, though,” he added, raising his eyebrows before reading the entire note. “‘Dear Donna, the world is wrong. Meet me at your usual play park, two o’clock tomorrow.’”

Donna looked out the window again, and Lee wrapped his arms around her waist and looked over her shoulder as they watched the woman in black walk away.

“Nutter,” she muttered, earning a laugh from Lee.

Still… the world was wrong, and despite the tremor of foreboding she felt when she considered what the woman might have to say, Donna needed to know if she actually knew something, or if she just liked dropping notes in letterboxes at half twelve at night.

The rest of the night and the morning passed in an instant, and the next thing Donna knew, she was walking hand in hand with Ella and Joshua to the big park down the road. She brushed off the part of her that wondered when she’d decided what to wear, and if she’d had coffee or tea with her breakfast, and even how she and the kids had gotten to the park. Those weren’t important questions.

She spotted a woman dressed in full Victorian mourning, completely with veil, sitting on a weathered park bench. Donna took a deep breath and nodded once, then looked down at her kids.

“All right, you two, off you go,” she told them. “No fighting,” she added as they raced off to play with the other kids.

She watched for a moment, and when she was satisfied they were having fun, she turned back to the woman and slowly circled the playground equipment until she was able to sit down beside her.

“I got your note last night.” It was cold enough that Donna could see her breath when she talked. “‘The world is wrong.’ What’s that mean?”

“No, you didn’t,” the woman said.

Something about the voice sounded familiar, but Donna ignored it in favour of addressing the direct contradiction she’d just received.  

“I’m sorry, what?”  

“You didn’t get my note last night,” the woman elaborated. “You got it a few seconds ago. Having decided to come, you suddenly found yourself arriving.”

Donna sucked in a breath, thinking about all the times she’d felt like time had just magically passed, all the times she’d had to struggle to remember how she’d gotten from one place to another.

The woman’s head tilted. “That is how time progresses here, in the manner of a dream. You’ve suspected that before, haven’t you, Donna Noble?”

She added emphasis to her name, but it wasn’t necessary. Hearing someone she’d never met address her by name was enough of a shock.

“How do you know me?” Donna demanded. The world was wrong. This was all wrong.

“We met before, in the Library.” It was strange listening to someone talk when she couldn’t see their lips moving. “You were kind to me. I hope now to return that kindness.”

“Your voice. I recognise it.” Flashes of memory returned to Donna, moments Doctor Moon had told her were only dreams and hadn’t really happened. But this voice had been in those dreams, calling her the nice woman.

The woman turned slowly to look directly at her. “Yes, you do. I am what is left of Miss Evangelista.”