Coal Hill Secondary School- January 23, 2019

The Doctor walked into the classroom. Ian had told her that Barbra was teaching a class in 320- ironically the same class she had told Chastity to 'shadow'. Well, here she was in 320, and Barbara was most certainly helping teach the class. The desks were arranged in neat, vertical lines, and a student sat at each and every one of them. Most were taking notes, but one girl was on her phone, or at least the Doctor assumed she was, considering no one just stared down at themselves and laughed. Or, at least girls didn't. Some very vain boys might. Barbra, however, didn't seem to notice this, and was talking about what people in the far future might think of Earth's culture. It was strange, the Doctor mused. Human's in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries taught classes much more different than classes on Gallifrey. But, she assumed it was because of how undeveloped the Human's were. If she had had a phone, and had been going on it during her lectures at the University, her teacher would have had her kicked out faster than you could say 'Dalek'.

"In about a thousand years, archeologists will uncover Coal Hill Secondary School- Abigail." Apparently Barbra did notice her pupil on her phone. "Kindly not go on your phone while I'm teaching. Mrs. King told me, and I told you that you would be tested on this tomorrow."

"I don't care about some dumb test. Plus, you're just a sub. What can you do?" the girl, Abigail, snorted from where she sat next to Chastity. The Doctor's current companion looked at her neighbor, a look of disgust on her face. The Time Lady began to say a mantra in her head.

Don't interfere, don't interfere, don't be like Barbra, don't bloody interfere.

But the mantra seemed to be useless. "You shut your mouth." Chastity burst out. She never could stand disrespect. Abigail turned to the Scottish girl, sneering. Sensing that things were about to get messy, the Doctor cleared her throat.

"Excuse me. Are you Miss Wright, by any chance?" she asked, walking fully into the classroom from where she had been standing in the doorframe. Barbara looked up from the textbook, saw the newcomer, and turned toward Abigail and Chastity.

"Both of you, see me after class." Abigail didn't look guilty at all, but Chastity was beet red, and looking up at the Doctor like a puppy who'd just been beaten. "I'm sorry. One of them is a shadow, and her host isn't being a good role model."

"Yes, I know. She's my...erm...not my granddaughter, my erm…" The Doctor trailed off.

"I'm her niece!"

"Yes, yes, my niece. She's definitely my niece. I have a niece. Yup. Definitely." The Doctor chuckled awkwardly, aware now of the entire class staring at her, and Barbra looking at her quizzically. She cleared her throat again. "Yes, well...may I have a word with you and Mr. Chesterton as well after class? It's rather urgent, I'm afraid."

"Of course." she turns to Abigail and Chastity. "Come here after school. No excuse. And Chastity, with your behavior today, I do not think you will be accepted." As soon as Barbara said this, the bell rang, causing there to be a symphony of chairs grinding across the floor and the buzz of chatter. Barbra raised her voice over all of it. "Now remember, do the review on page 134 for homework. Mrs. King will be back tomorrow, and she will test you on it. Have a good day!"

The students began to surge out the door, heading for their next class. As Chastity walked past her, the Doctor grabbed her arm and pulled her aside. Taking the psychic paper out of her pocket, she handed it to Chastity. "Go and get Ian Chesterton from the office. If anyone stops you, you just need to show them this and tell them who you're getting. It will transport your thoughts onto the paper, and cause them to see a hall pass. You understand?"

"It's magic paper?" Chastity breathed, looking at it like it were made of gold. The Doctor chuckled, and began to nudge her out the door.

"I guess. Now go get Mr. Chesterfield."

"Chesterton, Doc- oh sorry. Auntie Smith." she smiled wryly up at the Time Lady, The Time Lady shook her head.

"Go!"

Chastity was the last person out of the classroom, but the buzz of chatter could still be heard in the halls, along with the occasional, 'Stop stalling and get to class!'. The Doctor walked back towards the windows, and feigned looking out at the street. In reality, she was observing her former companion, Barbara Wright- well, Chesterton now. She had to hold in a smile when the history teacher said that she had married the science one. They always had acted as if they were married when they travelled with her- and she had shipped. Hard. (Bill had taught her the word after the 'Pope in the bedroom' incident.)

Barbara was still sitting at the chair in the front of the class. She was wearing a dark blue sweater with a white shirt visible underneath, and a long black skirt that went to her ankles. Always so professional, the Doctor thought to herself. Barbara's once brunette hair had turned pale white, the same colour as her husband's. She had grown it out of the 60's haircut, however, and it fell to her shoulders- or at least it would if it hadn't been pulled back into a ponytail. Other than the normal signs of age- wrinkles, the slight change in her voice, stiffness in her movement- Barbra acted the exact same as she remembered her. Ian too. Even in fifty-six years...

"I know you're staring at me, you know." Barbara sighed. The Doctor bit her lip, embarrassment rushing through her. She should have known better than to believe that trick would fool her. She was too sharp for that.

"Sorry. It's just...nothing. Never mind." the Doctor was about to say that she knew her, but stopped herself. It would be easier to explain it when Ian got here.

"It's weird, but...you remind me of someone." Barbra gets up from the chair with a small grunt. The Doctor moved a bit in concern, but Barbra waved her off. "Don't bother, it's fine. Just recovered from a surgery. I'm still a bit shaky on my feet."

"You said I reminded you of someone?" the Doctor asked as Barbra joined her at the window. Barbara nodded.

"Yes. A...friend. An old man. I knew him and his granddaughter a long time ago, back when I had just started teaching here. They were...odd, extremely odd. I travelled with them for a bit."

"What, on a ship?" The Doctor decided to play along, feign interest until Chastity and Ian got back. Barbara laughed.
"Yes, you could say that. A ship in the form of a police box!" the Doctor laughed with her, and they continued to do so until they heard the approaching of footsteps, and then a second later the forms of Ian and Chastity came into view.

"Your niece said that you wanted to see us together, Miss Smith. Is everything alright?" Ian asked. He hadn't followed his wife's example, and had kept his hair exactly the way it was years ago. He was wearing a dark red dress shirt, along with a black tie, and khaki pants.

"Oh, yes. Everything's fine. Just needed to...well...erm…" the Doctor turned to Chastity. "Close the door, Chastity." The dark ginger girl walked into the classroom and shut the door. Ian and Barbara glanced at each other, uneasy. The Doctor took a deep breath, then turned to them.

"Chastity is not my niece. I am not her aunt, not related to her in any way actually. She's my companion, assistant, whatever you want to call it, from eighteenth century Scotland." Chastity walked over to the Doctor, and held the psychic paper out to her. It had been torn in half, somehow, and even if the Doctor tried to close her mind and read it, she knew it wouldn't work. It had been completely destroyed. "Seriously? I give you this for five minutes, and you rip it? Really?"

"Someone cornered me in the hallway. A student." Chastity did look like she had been pushed down on the ground. Her hair was messy, and she seemed to keep the weight off her right leg.

"Oh...I'll fix you up when we get back to the TARDIS."

"The TARDIS?" Barbara exclaimed. "Then you travel with the Doctor. Where is he?"

"Right here." Chastity said. The Doctor took the paper from her hands and hit her on the head with it. "Ouch!"

"But that's impossible! The Doctor was an old man! Barbara-" Ian turned to his wife. The Doctor rolled her eyes. Honestly, sometimes humans were so...ignorant.

"Impossible! Chesterfield, you have seen thousands of impossible things with me. Is it really that big of a stretch to think of me getting a new body?" Barbara laughed.

"See, Ian? It has to be the Doctor- he always got your name wrong!" She turned to me. "Chesterton, Doctor. How many times?"

"Oh, lets not bring that up now. That body was old. It forgot things." The Doctor waved her off. "Now...I don't suppose you two are free at the moment?"

"We are." Ian responded. "But what do you need us for? Can't really go on an adventure now, can we?"

"Time machine, Ian. And no, I wasn't going to whisk you off again- or at least try not to. No...Chastity and I came back to London completly by accident, and well…noticed something perculier on the scanners back in the TARDIS. Something that had an awful lot to do with Coal Hill School."

"Well what was it?" Barbara asked, curious, but dreading the answer a little bit.

"Nothing good. Come on- the ship is in a supplies closet on the next floor. This you need to see."