In a poorly lit workshop, two men were hunched over cluttered counters, working on different projects. An alarm went off causing both men to look up. "Something wrong?" One asked as the other walked over to a monitor. The monitor showed a row of plain pale colored cylinders. "It's the repair shop. What kind of idiot would try and steal a faulty TARDIS?"

The idiot on the monitor was an older man escorting a young girl towards one of the cylinders. A white haired gentleman with a placid face. He paused when he heard a young woman's voice say, "Doctor?"

Clara Oswald tried to collect her thoughts. She was falling, falling like Alice down the rabbit hole, yet she was encircled by flames. She thought to herself, "I don't know where I am. It's like I'm breaking into a million pieces. And there's only one thing I remember… I have to save the Doctor." She kept recalling moments, but she couldn't tell if they were hazy memories or vivid dreams.
"He always looks different...but I always know it's him. Sometimes I think I'm everywhere at once."
Clara saw each of the Doctor's incarnations, she kept falling and landing on her feet in a new place, with a new Doctor and her own outfit changing as well. Was is more than just her clothes that were changing?
"I am calling to him, but he never hears me," Clara thought. Then a she saw herself as a barmaid in Victorian London. "Almost never," she corrected herself.
Clara remembered the story her mother had told so often. "I blew into this world on a leaf," Clara supposed. A leaf blew loose from a tree and covered her father's face, causing him to stagger into the road in front of an oncoming car. He pulled the leaf away and saw the face of his rescuer, Clara's mother. "I'm still blowing," Clara murmured. "I don't think I'll ever land." Then the young woman realized something. "I'm Clara Oswald, I'm the impossible girl, I am here to save The Doctor."

In a damp and dim prison in London in the year 1893, an inmate chanted a poem about the Whisper Men in a grisly voice. He squatted on the floor, the rocking of his body made the chains of his wrist cuffs rattle.

He realized someone was standing outside his cell at the bars. He turned and pointed, "One word from you could save me from the rope."

His visitor was a woman in a heavy black veil. "Then you may rely on my silence," she said.

The inmate bargained for his life, saying he had valuable information about the Doctor. "The Doctor has a secret, you know."

"He has many," Madam Vastra responded.

"He has one he will take to the grave," said the man as he grabbed a hold of the prison bars. "And it is discovered."

When Madam Vastra returned home, she told Jenny the news.

"We can't let that terrible man live," said Jenny.

The Silurian pushed back her veil. "He lives till I understand what he told me. We're going to need a conference call. I'll send out the invitations, you fetch the candles."

"Yes, ma'am!" Jenny replied. She went to hang to coat in the hall. She heard strange whisperings and paused and looks towards the window. Before she could be sure the ghostly figure was real, Vastra stood in front of her, blocking the view. "Where's Strax got to?"

"The usual. It's his weekend off."

"I wish he had never discovered that place!"

Strax was in the city of Glasgow, enjoying a brawl with one of the burly locals. Their fight was interrupted by a small boy. "Excuse me... Mr Strax?"

"What is it, girl? Can't you see I'm trying to crush the brains of this stinking primitive?" He looked to the man, "Sorry about this."

The boy held out a piece of paper. "It's a telegram, sir. Very urgent!"

The Sontaran took the telegram and read. He rolled his eyes, "Conference call!" He handed the paper back to the boy and turned to the man. "Sorry, Archie. I'm going to have to ask you to render me unconscious."

"Fine," said the man, hefting his iron pot like a hammer.

"Better use this," Strax handed Archie his shovel. "It might take a while."

Strax blacked out after a single hit on the head.

Madam Vastra's parlor was warm and elegant. She seated herself at a multi-sided table as Jenny lit a candle positioned in the center. Jenny chose a chair on a side adjacent to Vastra. Vastra put her hand on Jenny's. "Sleep well, my love."

"You too," said Jenny. They both inhaled deeply and began to drift off.

The parlor changed, the walls were covered in moving shapes and the lights gently shifted between pastel hues. Nothing was completely in focus. "Oh, I like the new set up," Jenny said.

"I was getting a little bored of the Taj Mahal." Vastra smiled as a tea tray appeared on the table. "The tea should be superb, it's drawn from one of my favorite memories." As she poured, they heard a loud thud. "Strax! Good of you to join us," Vastra said without looking up.

"It better be important! I was in the middle of destroying some very pleasant primitives."

"I apologize for the interruption, but there is urgent news concerning the Doctor."

"Who else is coming?" the Sontaran asked as he glanced about the table and counted two still empty chairs.

Vastra answered, "The women."

In a clean and modern kitchen, Clara Oswald was gathering ingredients. The two school children doing their homework at the breakfast table gave a small moan. "Oh, no," said the girl. "You're going to try and make a soufflé again, aren't you?"

Clara answered as she whisked the batter, "My mum's soufflé, yeah. This time I'll get it right. This time I will be Soufflé Girl!"

"How can it be your Mum's soufflé, if you're making it?" asked the boy.

"Because, Artie, like my mum always said - the soufflé isn't the soufflé, the soufflé is the recipe!"

The girl looked over her shoulder and asked, "Was your mum deep on puddings?"

"She was a great woman," Clara responded. She continued to whisk and sift through the mail on the kitchen counter. She saw a strangely formal little envelope addressed to her. She snatched it up.

The envelope was sealed with wax and bore the note "Open When Alone" on the back.

When Clara was alone in her room, a small bedroom made-up for a live-in nanny, she began to read the letter. She paced back and forth as she read it, wondering who it could be from. It was written in fancy script and the paper seemed quite old.

It read, "My dearest Clara... The Doctor entrusted me with your contact details, in the event of an emergency, and I fear one has now arisen. Assuming this letter will have reached you, as planned, on April 10th 2013, please find and light the enclosed candle."

Clara reached into the envelope and pulled out a small candle. She continued to read, "It will release a soporific which will induce a trance state, enabling direct communication across the years."

Clara was creeped out and quickly dropped the candle. She wiped her hand off on her jumper and went back to reading. "However, as I realize you have no reason to trust this letter, I have taken the liberty of embedding the same soporific into the fabric of the paper you are now holding. Speak soon!"

Clara felt her knees grow weak and her head fell forward.

But instead of hitting the floor, she fell into a dining room chair, in a soothing yet psychedelic parlor.

"So glad you could make it," said a lizard woman as she passed Clara a cup of tea. Clara accepted the cup and asked, "Where am I?"

Another woman, with a youthful face and a tight bun answered, "Exactly where you were - but sleeping."

"Time travel has always been possible in dreams," the lizard lady explained. "We are awaiting only one more participant."

"Oh, no," said a large humanoid potato. "Not the one with the gigantic head?"

"It's hair, Strax."

"Hair!" Strax scoffed. Just then, an older woman with a wild mane of curls appeared in her chair with a puff of smoke, like a magician. She greeted the hostess, "Madame Vastra!"

"Professor! Help yourself to some tea."

"Why, thank you," the Professor said, holding up a flute of champagne.

"How'd you do that?" Jenny wondered.

The woman smirked. "Disgracefully." She sipped the champagne and looked at Clara expectantly.

"Ah. Perhaps you two haven't met. This is the Doctor's companion," Vastra said. "Ah...that is, his current...traveling... assistant."

"Assistant?" Clara said with a smirk.

Strax leaned over to Vastra, "Have you gone a darker green?"

Vastra concluded the introduction, "Clara Oswald."

"Professor River Song," said the woman with wild hair. "The Doctor might have mentioned me."

"Oh, yeah, of course he has. Professor Song. Sorry, it's just I never realized you were a woman."

Strax tried to make things less awkward, "Well, neither did I!"

River Song maintained an excellent poker face, but she was hurt and surprised that the Doctor hadn't mentioned her more than in passing.

Vastra set down her tea cup. "Perhaps we should get down to the business at hand."

"That might be good, dear, yes," said Jenny.

Vastra touched the air above the center of the table and a projection appeared of an ugly man. "Clarence DeMarco: Murderer, under sentence of death. He offered us this... in exchange for his life." She waved her hand through the projection and it changed.

River Song recognized the image. "Space time coordinates."

"This, Mr DeMarco claims, is the location of the Doctor's greatest secret."

Clara asked, "Which is...?"

"We don't know," said Jenny. "It's a secret!"

The lizard lady spoke with an air of authority. "The Doctor does not discuss his secrets with anyone, my dear. If you're still entertaining the idea that you are an exception to this rule, ask yourself one question. What is his name?"

There was a stiff silence.

"Well, I know it," said River.

"What, you know his name? He told you?" said Clara in disbelief.

"It's part of a Gallifreyan ritual," River said with a shrug.

"So you're a... friend of his, then?"

"A little more than a friend... a long time ago."

Vastra asked, "He's still never contacted you?"

River shook her head. "He doesn't like endings." River Song changed the subject. "So what else did this DeMarco tell you? He didn't buy his life with some co-ordinates. How did he prove their value?"

"One word, only," Vastra replied.

"What word?"

"One I'd heard in connection with the Doctor before: Trenzalore."

River drew in her breath. "How exactly did he describe what he was giving you?"

Madam Vastra swiped her hand through the projection and the image returned to DeMarco's face. The image spoke, "The Doctor has a secret, you know. He has one he will take to the grave. And it is discovered."

"You misunderstood," River said in a small voice.

Jenny's face became pale. "Ma'am, I'm sorry - I just realized, I forgot to lock the doors."

"It doesn't matter Jenny" said Vastra. She turned back to River, "What misunderstanding? Tell me!"

Jenny persisted, "No, ma'am, please. I should've locked up before we went into the trance."

Vastra began to reprimand her, but stopped when she saw Jenny was clearly terrified. "Someone's broken in," Jenny said in a panicked voice. "Someone's with us. I can hear them."

"Jenny, are you all right?" Vastra leaned towards her companion.

"Sorry, ma'am, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry... I think I've been murdered." A single tear rolled down Jenny's cheek.

In London in 1893, Jenny was lying on the parlor floor on her back as three figures in black suits stood around her. In the dreamscape, Jenny began to fade. Strax and Madam Vastra shouted at her, but she did not respond.

River Song spoke sternly, "You're under attack. You must wake up now, just wake up! Do it!" She stood and violently struck Vastra across the face.

Vastra woke with her face on the floor, she could see the black shoes of the men DeMarco had been muttering about. She stood and demanded answers. The creatures turned to Vastra, their faces were like waxy mannequins. The opened their black lips and hissed through jagged teeth.

"You too, Strax," River shouted. "Wake up now!" She threw her glass of champagne at him.

Strax woke up on a floor covered in saw-dust and glass shards. He sat up and more of the Whisper Men surrounded him.

When only River and Clara were left, the Whisper Men invaded the dreamscape. They repeatedly whispered, "Tell the Doctor. Tell the Doctor."

"Tell him what?" Clara asked, showing more confusion than fear.

The projection over the table showed the face of Dr. Simeon, the host of the Great Intelligence. The projection spoke, "His friends are lost for evermore... Unless he goes to Trenzalore."

"No! You can't say that. He can't go there, you know he can't!" River insisted.

Just then, Clara heard the Doctor's voice. He was calling out, "Angie? Artie?" … the two kids in her charge.

Clara awoke with River's words racing through her mind, "The Doctor can never go to Trenzalore!"

Clara hurried down the stairs to find the Doctor blindfolded waving his arms in front of him.

"Doctor?"

"Ha, Clara! How are you, don't worry. Everything's under control."

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, um, Mr. Maitland went next door, so I said I'd look after the kids. They wanted to go to the cinema, but I said no, I said no - not until you wake up, I was very firm."

Clara nodded quickly. "At which point, they suggested Blind Man's Bluff."

"Yes. Where are they?"

Clara stepped up to the Doctor and removed the blindfold. "At the cinema," she said quietly.

"The little...Zygons!" He looked down at Clara. Puzzled by her expression, he asked, "What's wrong?"

Clara told the Doctor the strange dream she had had. After hearing it, the Doctor sat on the sofa. Clara made tea. As she poured the tea at the kitchen table, she asked, "So who was she? The lady with the funny name and the space hair."

The Doctor continued to look straight ahead. "An old... friend of mine."

"What, like an ex?"

"Yes. An ex. River asked Vastra for the exact words. What were they?"

Clara walked toward the sofa with a tea cup in each hand. "The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. It is discovered." Clara stood in front of the Doctor and saw the extreme sadness in his eyes. He seemed on the verge of tears. "Doctor?"

The Doctor's voice began to shake, "And it was Trenzalore? Definitely Trenzalore?"

"Yeah."

The Doctor apologized and quickly left the house. Clara hurried after him.
She found him sitting on the storage units underneath the TARDIS console. The room was dark except for the bright blue light emanating from the central column. Clara stood on the steps with her arms crossed. "Well?"

"Trenzalore. I've heard the name, of course. Dorium mentioned it, a few others." He stood and waved his sonic screwdriver amid the overhead cables. "Always suspected what it was, never wanted to find out myself." He tucked the screwdriver back into his coat pocket. "River would know, though...River always knew." He pulled down a cable. "Right, come here, give me your hand." Clara did so without question. "Now. The coordinates you saw will still be in your memory. I'm linking you into the TARDIS telepathic circuit, won't hurt a bit." He jabbed the end of the cable into her head. When Clara gave a shout of pain, the Doctor said, "I lied."

"OK. What is Trenzalore? Is it your big secret?" Clara asked.

"No."

"OK, what then?"

The Doctor explained, "When you are a time traveler, there is one place you must never go. One place in all of space and time you must never, ever find yourself."

"Where?"

The Doctor became irritated. "You didn't listen, did you? You lot never do, that's the problem!" He repeated the words, "The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. It is discovered... He wasn't talking about my secret. No, no, no, that's not what's been found. He was talking about my… grave. Trenzalore is where I'm buried." He began to walk up the steps. Clara trotted after him.

The Doctor decided he must save Jenny, Vastra, and Strax even though it meant doing something utterly taboo. He glanced over at Clara. "No point in telling you this is too dangerous."

"None at all. How can we save them?"

The Doctor straightened. "Apparently... by breaking into my own tomb!" He threw a lever.