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Deep Breath – Part Two

They gathered in the conservatory, drinking tea, and explaining to Vastra what had happened. "And then?" the Silurian inquired curiously, sipping at her tea. "We'd just left Trenzalore, we were in flight, but the Doctor forgot to set landing co-ordinates" the Corsair explained. Flavia continued, "The TARDIS automatically…interpreted, for lack of a better word, his regeneration as a cause for an emergency landing. Unfortunately, the landing turned out to be right in front of the dinosaur".

"Which then proceeded to swallow your ship" Vastra finished for them. The Corsair shrugged and replied, "I don't even think she meant to eat us. We must have startled her, appearing out of nowhere like that, and she lashed out. It's a natural reaction, after all" he pointed out. Anything would be alarmed if a flying blue thing just randomly appeared in front of them, and if the creature was an aggressive carnivore, then there was bound to be…teeth involved.

Just then, Romana, Emily and Clara stepped into the conservatory. "Help yourselves to tea" Vastra invited, gesturing to the tray, "I trust Jenny brought a cup for the Doctor?" she added. Romana nodded and replied, "We met her on the landing, I'm sure she'll be back down at any minute". They took seats, and Clara found herself sitting beside Flavia. "How are you coping?" the Time Lady asked sympathetically.

"Fine" Clara replied just a little too quickly. The others gave her doubtful stares, and she fidgeted uncomfortably. "I'm fine, honest, I just…need some time" she admitted. Romana had told her the Doctor was merely confused, that they just had to wait…but she still had her doubts. She just couldn't see the Doctor in the stranger asleep upstairs, and she knew that wasn't fair, but it was just how she felt. "How does it work?" she asked Romana out of the blue, "Regeneration, I mean. When I asked how a brand new body could already look old, you said regeneration didn't work like that, so how does it work?"

"I also told you it was complicated. With practice one can control the change, but most of the time, it's random" Romana explained calmly. The Corsair knocked back the rest of his tea, prompting Jenny (who had returned from upstairs) to pour another cup, and said, "Look, Clara, regeneration is always weird at first. I've changed genders before. The first time it happened, I was so freaked out that I almost killed myself trying to regenerate back into a man" he revealed. Flavia looked at him in mild alarm. "You didn't though, did you?" she inquired.

"Well, I was going to, because I was completely out of it, but then someone flirted with me and one thing led to another, and I learned a very important lesson – that if you regenerate into a woman you should just roll with it because you might meet someone really hot" the Corsair explained with a smirk. Clara felt like they were getting off topic. "So what are you saying? That I should be glad the Doctor didn't regenerate into a woman?" Oh, she shouldn't have said that, she didn't need that mental image in her head.

Romana sipped at her tea and told Clara, "If it helps, I think the reason he regenerated into an older body is because I did. Now with me, it was simply luck of the draw, but it's possible that he subconsciously chose an older body to better match with me" she explained. Flavia nodded in agreement. "Yes, I'd heard about such things occurring back on Gallifrey. Married couples, particularly bonded ones, would often regenerate into forms that matched their significant other" she recalled.

"Okay, I get why he looks older, but…I just want proof that he's still the Doctor I knew, and I'm not gonna get that until he wakes up, am I?" Clara insisted. Emily frowned at her, not cross, merely confused. "Why can't you trust us?" she asked Clara; she could sort of understand how Clara would be reluctant to trust her dad, but not her mum. "Regeneration really doesn't change all that much, Clara. Playing the cynic doesn't suit you" Romana commented, and Clara bristled at that.

"How would you know? You've never seen me like this, and you've never seen the Doctor like that. The man upstairs is just as much a stranger to you as to me" she said firmly. There was a thump from the ceiling, making them all look up. "Surely he hasn't woken up already" Jenny protested, and Romana drained the rest of her tea before standing up. "Thank you for the tea, but I should really keep an eye on him" she excused herself. "Do you want some help?" asked Clara…she didn't really want to leave Romana alone with the 'Doctor'.

Romana shook her head. "No thank you, Clara. I can handle it" she said pointedly, guessing that the girl believed she was in danger from her husband; which was ridiculous. She went upstairs, and stepped into the bedroom to find the Doctor kneeling on the floor, writing all over it with a piece of chalk. "Jenny won't be pleased that you've spoiled her nice clean floors" she remarked lightly, and he looked up at her. He smiled briefly and then went back to his scribbling, only to look up a moment later and ask "Which one's Jenny?"

"Madam Vastra's wife, the one dressed like a maid" Romana informed him. He pulled a face and muttered, "There's a time and a place…Romana, there's something important I'm doing. This is important, but…I can't remember why" he told her, looking at her with wide icy blue eyes. She peered at the chalk writing, trying to figure out what he was doing…and then it hit her. "You're trying to find Gallifrey" she murmured, realising that he was writing calculations for how to enter pocket universes.

"Gallifrey…we really saved it?" he asked her, sounding genuinely unsure. Romana looked at him in concern. "You don't remember?"

"I remember, but…it all feels like a dream".

"Well, I assure you it wasn't, and this isn't a dream either" she reassured him, taking his hands, "This is all real…and speaking of dreams, you shouldn't have woken up".

"I couldn't sleep. It's boring, utterly boring, especially when…"

"When what?"

"When you're not there" he admitted, focusing his attention on her in a way that sent pleasant shivers shooting up her spine. "Well then, would it help if I laid down with you?" she asked, but the dinosaur roared again before he could answer. The Doctor walked over to the window, and Romana sighed. "You're not going to sleep no matter what I do" she realised with a sigh. "Probably not" he agreed, going over to the door and opening it. "Door, boring, not me" he said, closing it again. Then he went over to the window. "Me" he decided, opening it and clambering out.

Of course Romana followed him. He was being utterly ridiculous, and she only remembered the untouched cup of tea beside the bed once they were both up on the roof. She doubted he'd come back in now but it was worth a shot; "Doctor, it's cold out here, come in and have some nice warm tea" she called, as if they weren't standing on the roof of a terraced house with a dinosaur trapped in the Thames. "No time for that, Romana!" he declared, marching off across the rooftops towards the tyrannosaur.

He started waving and shouting when they got nearer the end of the terraced row; Romana really hoped he'd have enough presence of mind to stop before he reached the edge. "Oi!" he yelled, "Oi! Oi, big woman, I'm sorry. Sorry, it's all my fault. Our time machine got stuck in your throat, it happens. We brought you along by accident, but don't worry, I promise we will get you home. I swear. Whatever it takes, we will keep you safe. You will be at home again" he promised the dinosaur…which burst into flames, before their very eyes.

It roared in pain, and Romana's hearts clench. She'd been a bit annoyed by the creature, but no living being deserved to die like that. "Stop that. Who's doing that? No, don't do that" the Doctor said in dismay. He ran to the edge of the roof; Romana's eyes widened and she ran to grab him, but she was too late – only to see that he'd landed in a tree. Sighing in relief, she reached out to the other Time Lords as she climbed down after him. The dinosaur burst into flames, the Doctor is investigating, I'm going with him she informed them.

Emily was the first to voice the telepathic conservation to those not in the know. "Mum says the dinosaur burst into flames! She and dad are going there right now" she told Vastra, who swiftly called on Strax to prepare the carriage. "How are they getting there?" Flavia wondered; come to think of it, how had they gotten out of the house without being noticed? She supposed she shouldn't ask when it came to the Doctor.

Meanwhile, the Doctor had fallen through the tree and ended up dangling from a lower branch by his knees. Romana came down a bit more carefully, although a few branches had broken under her weight as well. A horse trotted up to them, pulling a hansom cab. "Halt. Sorry, I'm going to have to relieve you of your pet" the Doctor told the animal. Its driver frowned in bewilderment. "You're what?"

"Shut up, I was talking to the horse" the Doctor said dismissively, dropping down onto the horse's back and reaching up to help Romana do the same. Once she was settled in behind him, he handed her the sonic. "Sorry about this" she told the cabbie as she cut the traces and reins. "Forwards!" the Doctor urged, kicking the horse up into a gallop. Romana grabbed him around the waist and held on tight as they hurtled through the cobbled streets. "Left - No, no. Right, right, right, right. Sorry, it's my new hands. I can't tell them apart".

"Maybe you should've let me drive!" Romana suggested, ducking as they passed under a low hanging sign. They were being followed by the others, in Vastra's cab…Romana wondered if the Doctor even realised who was following him. If she had to guess, he knew he was being followed but not by whom, so he was going dangerously fast to try and get away from them.

Theta, slow down, we're going to get hurt she told him, trying to get through to him using their bond…and to her relief, it worked. He pulled back on the horse a little, telling it "Watch it on the corners; it's a bit slippery up here". Better? He asked her, and she nodded, before remembering she was behind him. Much better, thank you she replied.

They reached the river and dismounted, walking up to the wall around the edge. The Doctor climbed up onto the parapet, murmuring "Sorry, sorry…I'm sorry, sorry, sorry…" Romana climbed up next to him and tried to put a comforting arm around his shoulders, but he shifted away from her and just squeezed her hand for a moment instead.

The others came to look at the remains of the dinosaur from over the wall. "She was scared" the Doctor said aloud, "She was scared and alone. I brought her here and look what they did" he said regretfully. It was his fault, really, he was the one who had set the co-ordinates to random instead of somewhere he knew would be safe. Still, Romana and Emily were okay, and that was all that really mattered.

"Who or what could have done this?" wondered Vastra, and the Doctor simply stated, "No".

"I'm sorry?"

"No. That is not the question. That is not where we start".

"The question is how" Strax said confidently, "The flesh itself has been combusted".

"No, no, shut up. What do you all have for brains, pudding? Look at you. Why can't I meet a decent species? Planet of the pudding brains" the Doctor grumbled. Romana put a hand on his arm and he almost immediately stopped frowning at Clara (or so it seemed to the girl) and looked at her. "Doctor, I don't know what the question is, can you please explain?" she asked him.

He gestured to the still burning corpse. "A dinosaur is burning in the heart of London. Nothing left but smoke and flame. The question is…have there been any similar murders?" he asked Madam Vastra, whose eyes went wide. "Yes. Yes, by the Goddess, there have" she confirmed. The Doctor looked over at people crowding up to the river's edge, pointing. "Look at them all, gawking" he said disdainfully, before looking across the river. "Question two. If all the pudding brains are gawking, then what is he?" the Doctor asked, pointing at one man walking away from the scene.

"He seems remarkably unmoved by the available spectacle" Vastra noted. Clara frowned uncertainly. "Do you think that is whoever"- she began to ask, only to hear a splash as the Doctor jumped off the parapet. "What's he doing? He'll drown!" she exclaimed, hurrying to the edge and peering over it. "He knows how to swim" Romana informed her, taking off her shoes. "Emily, darling, keep my shoes safe" she instructed, before jumping off after the Doctor.

Clara turned to the Corsair and Flavia. "What do we do?" she asked them urgently. "Exactly what the Doctor and Romana are doing – investigate" the Corsair replied as Emily took her mother's shoes off of the wall. She knew her parents were fine, and that her mum just wanted to keep an eye on her dad…and that meant she trusted Emily to take care of herself!

/

The next morning, Clara was pouring some water into a washbasin when she heard Strax's voice float in through the window. "Come on, Earthling scum. Position it here. Easy now, that's it, careful" he was saying. She went over to the window and looked out to see that a cart had brought the TARDIS up from the riverbank. "Don't get it scratched or you and all your bloodline will be obliterated from time and space" Strax threatened one of the men, who nodded and politely replied, "Very good, sir".

"Strax!" Clara called down to him, and the Sontaron looked up at her. "Ah! Morning, Miss Clara. You're awake at last".

"You got the TARDIS, then?"

"Military tactics" he declared, "The Doctor and his wife are still missing, but they will always come looking for their box. By bringing it here, they will be lured from the dangers of London to this place of safety, and we will melt them with acid".

"Okay, that last part?"

"And we will not melt them with acid. Old habits" he said apologetically, before holding up a newspaper. "The Times, shall I send it up?"

"Yeah, why not?"

"Hah!" Strax cried as he chucked the rolled up newspaper at Clara, hitting her right behind the eyes and knocking her back with the force. Once she'd confirmed that she didn't have a concussion – at least, she wasn't seeing double – Clara got dressed in a Victorian gown. She met Jenny on the stairs and greeted her with a simple, "Jenny", and the maid smiled. "Ah, good morning Clara" she replied.

"Morning" Clara nodded, "Err, so, what are we going to do? Are we looking for the Doctor, and Romana?"

"The Corsair went with the Paternoster Irregulars to look for them. Meanwhile, Madam Vastra is slightly occupied by the Conk-Singleton forgery case, and is having the Camberwell child poisoner for dinner".

"For dinner?"

"After she's finished interrogating him. Probably best to stay out the larder. It'll get a bit noisy in there later".

"…Oh".

Jenny returned to her chores, and Clara entered the kitchen, although she'd rather lost her appetite after that. Strax was busy mopping the floors, but he paused when she entered and said, "Ah, Miss Clara. You look better now you're up".

"Thank you, Strax" she smiled, but then he peered at her and shook his head. "Oh, sorry. Trick of the light. You still look terrible. Can I get you anything?" he inquired. Clara still wasn't hungry, but her throat was a little dry… "Err, no, thanks. Maybe just some water" she suggested. Strax nodded and said, "Of course" as he hefted the bucket of water he was mopping the floor with onto the table. "Well, don't hold back. I've nearly finished anyway".

"Err…"

"It's perfectly all right. I washed in it myself".

"…All of a sudden, I'm not very thirsty".

"Really? Perhaps it is time, then" Strax began as he pulled out a device like a monocle with three lenses, and shone a green light from it into her eye, "For your mandatory medical examination. Say 'ah'".

"Ah"

"You didn't move your lips".

"You're looking at my eye".

"Oh. Oh yes, there we are. Easy mistake" He shone the light into her mouth, and then moved it to her forehead. "Now that's interesting?"

"What? What's interesting?"

"Deflected narcissism, traces of passive aggressive, and a lot of muscular young men doing sport".

"What are you looking at?"

"Your subconscious. Is that sport? It could be sport".

Clara flicked down the lenses, feeling thoroughly uncomfortable. "Well, stop looking" she insisted. Honestly, someone really needed to explain to Strax about personal boundaries. He moved the green light to her throat. "Moving onto the thorax, such as it is", and so on down to her chest. The light made her ribs glow slightly, like an X-Ray. She really hoped it wasn't radioactive. "Ah, excellent. Enviable spleen" Strax complimented, "Well done. Twenty seven years old, with a projected lifespan of exactly"-

"Stop right there" Clara cut in quickly; she did not need to know how long she had to live. "Oh, you're going to do quite well. But watch out for fluid retention later. It's going to be spectacular. Well, put your clothes back on" Strax instructed. She glanced down at herself and back up at him. "They are on".

"Oh yes, so they are" he nodded. Clara took his little scanner thingy from him and put it on the table. "Why are you doing this?" she asked, so Strax explained, "If we are to serve together, I need you in peak physical prowess, eh?" He gave her a comradely punch on the arm. "Ow! Why would we be serving together? The Doctor and Romana are going to come back, aren't they?" Clara asked nervously. Emily appeared in the doorway and replied, "Of course they are. Come on, Clara, you need to help me find a nice dress" she urged, still wearing her jumper and trousers from Trenzalore.

"Huh? Oh, right, coming" Clara nodded. Emily beamed and dashed off upstairs, calling for Jenny. "You must stop worrying about them, my boy. By now, they've almost certainly had their throats cut by the violent poor".