It was an Sunday afternoon. A small, slender, beautiful young woman with long dark brown hair was sitting in her late grandmothers arm chair, reading a book when she heard a strange grinding sound. She lowered her book and looked around as the sound grew louder. Then it stopped. Suspicious, the woman put down her book and got to her feet, grabbing a poker from the fireplace as she faced the door. There were hurried footsteps on the other side.
"Clara Oswin Oswald!" bellowed a man with a bowtie, bursting into the young woman's sitting room. Clara held up the poker threateningly and the man hastily pulled away putting up his hands in a gesture of surrender.
"Who the hell are you?" Clara asked suspiciously, "What are you doing in my flat?"
"Oh, right you don't remember me," the man said cheerfully, "No surprise; last time we met was another lifetime; literally."
"Get out!" Clara shouted, "Get out now you lunatic!"
"Oi," the man said indignantly, "I prefer the word madman. Lunatic sounds too...loony." Clara swung the poker at him and he dodged back out of range, "Still as fiery as ever I see," he said dancing around the sofa as Clara stalked after him, "I'm not sure how you keep coming back to life but it's nice to know you come back as the same person. Sometimes I wish I could do that. Regeneration is so unpredictable."
"What are you jabbering about?" Clara said, "And who are you?"
"I'm the Doctor," said the man happily.
"Doctor Who?" Clara asked and the Doctor beamed.
"You asked me that last time," he said, "It's a dangerous question."
"Why?" asked Clara.
"Oldest question in the Universe," the Doctor said cheerfully, "You don't know how much power a name can have."
"So enlighten me," Clara said.
"No can do," the Doctor replied, "Haven't gotten to the Fields of Trenzalore yet."
"What's Trenzalore?" asked Clara.
"Dunno," the Doctor replied, "Never been there. But hopefully you'll be there when I do."
"Why would I come with you?" asked Clara, "You just burst into my sitting room. For all I know you could be a rapist, a murderer or even a serial killer."
"Well if I was I would have attacked you by now," the Doctor said.
"Not unless you want me to smash your head in," Clara retorted. The Doctor smiled and whipped out a device that looked like a metal wand. The end glowed green and Clara felt an electrical shock go through her hand. She dropped the poker with a yelp of surprise.
"Humans have electricity in their bodies," the Doctor said, "My Sonic Screwdriver can channel that electricity into one area to give you a mild electric shock." He put away the Sonic Screwdriver and sat on the sofa as though he owned the place, "Now maybe we can talk." Clara hesitated then sat down in the armchair opposite him.
"Why are you here?" she said, "What do you want from me?"
"I've been lonely," the Doctor said, his cheerful demeanour changing to sadness very quickly, "Lost my mother and father in laws over a decade ago; been living on my own ever since. Then I met a past version of you and we had a great adventure. Unfortunately you died at the end of it."
"You said I keep coming back to life," Clara said, "How is that possible?"
"Well I've got an immortal friend," the Doctor said, "But his method of resurrection is different from yours; he just wakes up gasping for air. You however end up in a different time period. Tell me do you remember anything about Victorian London?"
"No," Clara said, "I've never been there."
"Yeah you have," the Doctor said, "Just not this version of you. Somehow you've been split across time and space; you live in different time periods in different parts of the Universe but you have no memories of your previous lives. And then somehow we keep meeting; I've already met two versions of you, one in the past and one in the future." Clara was fascinated, albeit sceptical.
"This is crazy," she said shaking her head, "How can I be split across time and space?"
"I don't know," the Doctor admitted, "But I have seen something like this before, a very long time ago. As far as I know it's never happened to a Human before though. I was a different man last time I saw a creature split through the Universe." He grinned and jumped to his feet, "Come with me, I've got something to show you." Clara got to her feet but hesitated. The Doctor hurried to the doorway and looked back at her, "Clara I'm not going to hurt you. The past version of you wasn't this wary, although come to think of it the future version of you was." Clara's curiosity got the better of her and she followed the Doctor out of the room.
In the kitchen there stood a blue police box. The Doctor strode towards it and leaned against it. Clara stared at the police box.
"What is this?" she said.
"It's called the TARDIS," the Doctor said, "That means Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Let me show you around." He snapped his fingers and the doors opened. Clara stepped hesitantly towards it.
"It looks a bit cramped," she said.
"Just wait till you get inside," the Doctor grinned at her and despite herself Clara couldn't resist smiling back. She stepped into the TARDIS.
"Oh. My. God." She said staring around the control room, "But how can...? This is impossible!" The Doctor appeared behind her.
"This is my home," he said, "and my only constant companion. Trouble is she's not very good at conversations. No offence dear." The TARDIS made a noise that somehow seemed mildly annoyed.
"But it's..." Clara darted outside and stared at the box which had managed to squeeze itself into her kitchen, "It's smaller on the outside."
"Yep," the Doctor said happily. Then they heard a door opening.
"Clara!" called a voice, "I'm home!"
"Oh that's Nina," said Clara, "My partner." She looked at the Doctor defiantly as she said the word "partner" but he merely smiled. Clara hurried out of the TARDIS. The Doctor followed. "Hello dear," Clara said hugging a dark skinned woman, a year or so older than her and then kissing her affectionately.
"Who on earth is this?" said Nina looking suspiciously at the Doctor and holding Clara in a rather protective way.
"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor said happily, "I'm a friend of Clara's. Or at least I was a friend of a past version of her, and a future version. Loads of timey-wimey stuff; very complicated." Nina was gaping at him.
"How did you get that in our kitchen?" she said pointing to the TARDIS, deciding not to ask about the timey-wimey stuff.
"Piloted her," the Doctor said, "This is one of my wives." He patted the TARDIS fondly, "My other wife is probably off studying archaeology somewhere; haven't seen her for a while now." There was a hint of resentment in his voice.
"You're married to a blue box?" Nina said sceptically.
"Come and look inside," Clara said and pulled her partner into the box. The Doctor peered in, grinning as Nina stared at the TARDIS control room.
"It's bigger on the inside!" Nina said.
"You know Clara said it's smaller on the outside," the Doctor said, "Much more original. So," he bounded in after the two young women, "Want to take her for a spin? She hasn't been getting much exercise recently have you old girl? I'm surprised I was able to find you so easily Clara."
"Clara I think we should leave," Nina said, "This guy's clearly insane."
"Nothing wrong with insane," the Doctor said.
"Insane people can be murderers," Nina said.
"No, that's evil people," the Doctor corrected her, "There's a difference between being insane and being evil." Suddenly the TARDIS groaned, "Whoa, what is it dear? What's wrong?" The TARDIS made another groaning sound, "Something's interfering with her telepathic matrix," the Doctor said, "That's not good. The last thing I want is for our telepathic connection to sever."
"What connection?" asked Clara.
"I'm bonded to my time machine," the Doctor explained messing with the controls, "Powerful telepathic connection; that's how I was able to open her just by snapping my fingers. Now someone, or something, is trying to sever the connection."
"Doctor!" bellowed a voice and the Doctor spun around.
"No, no, no, no, no!" he yelled and charged towards the door's slamming them both shut, "Impossible, I wiped myself from the Universe. Unless...Oh stupid me...In their timeline this happens before Lake Silencio. Probably before the Big Bang too."
"What are you talking about? What or who are they?" asked Clara. The Doctor looked at her with a grim expression.
"The Silence," he said.