Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 84th cycle. Now cycle 85!
A/N: It's the final installment! Only took two years and some but here we are! ;) If you haven't read the rest of the series yet, here are the titles for the others:
1. You'll Find Wonder. 2. Padra's Run. 3. Salvage. 4. The Generational Purge. 5. Guardian of the Array. 6. The Benevolent Doctor.
7. The Mistaken M. Jones. 8. Instrumental Glory. 9. A Common Cause. 10. Ex Memoria. 11. The Theater, The Theatre.
There are also a few single chapter stories to check out:
1. Oh Doctor, Doctor. 2. A Gap In Memory. 3. Sweet Child. 4. Number Eleven in the TARDIS. 5. Number Twelve in the TARDIS.
Okay, that's about it, we're all ready to go, so ALLONS-Y! ;)
"The Class of 2012"
Doctor Who/Glee crossover #12 (final)
Doctor Who: 11th Doctor (+ various cameos, incl. (alternate, female) 12th Doctor)
Glee: New Directions (s3 graduation)
1. Where We Begin
New York City, in the year 2073
Julian Lucas had been on the phone with his younger daughter for what might have been forty minutes already, attempting one more time to convince her not to throw away nursing school. Ginny still had it in mind that she would go and become a famous actress. By no means did he think she didn't have the talent. Performance was in her blood, a gift from the Berry branch of her family tree, but he wanted her to be secure in her future. The argument had taken a turn when Ginny had pointed out that if her older sister could go off traipsing through time and space with aliens, then she could go after what she wanted, too.
They hadn't told Ginny about any of it until recently, until Gemma's trips with the Doctor had become an unavoidable reality. Recent times could definitely be described as such. Neither Julian nor his wife were entirely aware of what was happening at the moment, but they knew their ability to get in touch with their older daughter had been spotty at best, and they weren't getting very many answers.
Hearing the dog's barks outside, Julian had moved to the window, and then he'd seen… "We'll talk more about this later," he told Ginny, and after they'd hung up, he'd gone to open the side door. Gemma's dog Paulie had been left in their care while she was away, but now the animal had been visited by a friend.
"I told you I'd come back, didn't I? No, it hasn't been that long. I've got a treat, have you been good? Of course you have, you're a good dog…"
He cleared his throat, and the woman who'd been crouched before Paulie paused and looked up. She hesitated, giving Paulie a few more scratches at the ears before standing up.
"Doctor," Julian greeted the woman.
"Mr. Lucas… hello," she dusted her hands off. Paulie kept to her side, tail wagging obliviously and happily. "I was just…"
"Is Gemma with you?" he cut her off, and she breathed out.
"Not at the moment, no."
"Will you come into the house, please?" Julian asked, though it didn't feel so much like the Doctor had a choice. She moved forward and entered the Lucas house. Julian had only just shut the door when Sophie appeared on the stairs.
"What did she say, did you…" she was saying, but she was silenced when she saw they weren't alone. "Doctor, what are you… Is Gemma…" her tone shifted as though the Doctor might have been coming to inform them that something terrible had befallen their daughter.
"She's fine, she's good, she's… as far as I know," the Doctor quickly reassured her, though she found it impossible not to air her concerns. The other woman fixed her with a hard gaze. To look upon Sophie Perry when either of her daughters were concerned was to see how much she had of her own mother in her. They may have been Perry, or Lucas, but at heart they were Berry women.
"Where is my daughter?"
X
June 2012 – Lima, Ohio
As much as they'd tried to keep their eyes open for any sign of the Doctor, once they'd been lined up and the graduation ceremony had officially started, they had all but forgotten about Gemma and what they suspected would be happening that day. It wasn't until the caps had been tossed that one of them noticed something amiss. Specifically, it had been Puck, who'd happened to spot Walter Reskin in the crowd, sitting next to an empty seat and looking entirely distracted; he wasn't paying attention at all to the ceremony, though he was absently clapping because everyone else was. Gemma was gone.
"Hey, did you see her leave?" he had to get himself closer before Kurt could hear him over the noise.
"What?" he asked, and Puck frowned, turning to find Quinn.
"Gemma's gone," he told her. She looked where he pointed, and she saw Walter, too, saw how concerned he looked. Quinn turned to Santana, who'd overheard Puck. She was thinking the same thing, and she'd gone so far as to try and signal Walter. When he saw her, she pointed to the side, and he nodded.
"It's go time," she grabbed Rachel, while Puck signalled their non-graduating contingent.
"Santana, what are you…"
"You wanted proof, well it's here. Now. We have to go."
"Hey, Finn, come with us," Kurt had gone to his stepbrother.
"Where are we going?" he asked, willing if unaware.
"You'll see," Kurt told him.
It was easier than they would have imagined, for all fourteen of them to squeeze their way down the stage and out of the audience and converge on Walter, standing in the aisle.
"He's here, isn't he?" Artie asked him, and Walter nodded.
"Gemma said you'd know what to do," he revealed, and Artie sat up in his chair, turning to the others. It had been months with all of them slowly but surely finding their way together, and they may still have had one to convince and another to inform, but he knew this would be dealt with once they saw the TARDIS, it had to. It was really, finally happening.
"You heard the man. We need to get outside." The group started scurrying on its way, but Artie hung back, knowing they'd have stragglers.
"We can't just leave…" Rachel hadn't moved. "Do you really want me to believe that he's out there?"
"No, I don't, I want you to move. Go," he pointed up the aisle, and Rachel didn't argue once more, instead moving along in silence. Walter was standing next to Finn almost as though he was making sure the boy, the last one they needed, didn't wander off. "You need to come with us, too. I promise it'll make sense soon," Artie told Finn. "Right now we need to hurry."
It might have been a miracle, or he really was that easy to convince, but soon the three of them had joined the others, and they were making their way out of the school. The chaos of the crowd worked in their favor, at the very least, in making it so that no one was there to stop them or notice all that much. It was very likely that before long someone's parent, or Mr. Schuester, or Coach Sylvester would notice they'd gone, but by then, with any luck, they'd be far off, sailing on the TARDIS.
"There it is!" Brittany had been the first to spot it when they reached the parking lot, and for a beat, they'd stopped. Those of them who'd never seen the blue box, only heard of it from the others, were astounded. It was real.
"What do we do, just walk up to the door and knock?" Kurt had asked.
"That's exactly what we do," Quinn replied, and they were off again.
It had come down to Artie to do it, as they'd come to crowd around the door, all fifteen of them. There was a moment where nothing happened, and the tension weighed on them, but then… The doors opened, and standing there was a tall lean man with a red bowtie. He stared at them all, almost as baffled as they were. Artie stared at him, his face entirely unfamiliar, especially accounting for the fact he'd known the alien as a woman, but he could almost recognize something in this one, something he'd held to in the years since their last encounter, the ancientness in the youth.
"Doctor?" he finally spoke, and he knew it really was him, without a word. Then there was Gemma, standing just behind him, and she was smiling.
"Come on in, before anyone sees you," she'd said, and the group had obeyed.
To some of them, the inside of the ship was something they had seen before. To others, it was slightly different. Those of them stepping on to the ship for the first time were in complete awe. And Rachel, who had kept a firm grip on her doubt had no choice but to let it go. She didn't care how crafty any of them were, they couldn't create a room that was bigger than the outer walls that contained it. Gemma moved to rejoin Walter, and she was having to contain herself so not to burst out laughing, watching him experience the TARDIS for the first time. The last one in was Finn, and having absolutely no idea what was happening, his reaction was expected.
"What the hell is going on? Where are we?" he asked. Gemma turned to the Doctor, tipping her head to him. This was his to answer.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor, and this is my ship."
TO BE CONTINUED (TODAY)