"Ok I'm getting something, I think I got it, yes there, you're connected now." Stella said as she fiddled with the tower like device that she and the Doctor had put together with spare parts they had found around them on the barren red planet.
"Perfect." The Doctor said with a grin then concentrated. "Of course I'm still alive, Jo. I thought that was obvious. Catch up."
"Doctor, be nice." Stella said sternly as she connected the wires on the device. The Doctor rolled his eyes in annoyance, bouncing on his heels as he explained the situation.
"Course it's not. It's me and yes Stella is with me as well, no need to worry. I'm using Clyde as a receiver. We've keyed into his residual artron energy so I can organize a very complicated biological swap across ten thousand light years. Hold on." The Doctor said as Stella stood up. "Ready?"
"Yeah, be careful love." Stella said wrapping her arms around him,
"Of course." The Doctor replied giving her a quick kiss and a playful wink. He took a couple of steps back as Stella activated the machine sending Clyde a dose of artron energy. "Is it working?"
"Almost there." Stella said sending more energy, until the Doctor was replaced with Clyde.
"Doctor? Doctor!" Clyde called out as he turned on the spot.
"Hello Clyde, long time no see." Stella said with a smile as Clyde looked to her.
"Stella?" Clyde said as he looked to her. "Where are we? What happened?"
"We are in the Wasteland of the Crimson Heart and you just switched spots with the Doctor, it was all the artron energy you got from the Tardis when you touched it last time." Stella said offhandedly.
"Ok, then why are we getting attacked and by who?" Clyde asked as he processed and looked around the wasteland.
"The Claw Shansheeth of the 15th Funeral Fleet for some reason have been spreading the rumor that the Doctor is dead, don't really know why." Stella replied then the machine started to beep. "Oh it's beeping."
"Sounds like a countdown." Clyde said.
"That's cause it is, you're about to go back." Stella said then gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry."
"Wait…!" Clyde vanished before he could respond and the Doctor reappeared looking frustrated.
"What happened?" The Doctor asked as Stella picked up the device shaking it.
"I don't know, I'm working with spare parts give me a second. I'm not McGyver you know." Stella said as she shook the machine harder. "Come on, come on." Stella grumbled as she started to re-wire it once again, using gum, a paperclip, some string, and a button to fix the inner workings of the machine. "Did you find them?"
"Yeah." The Doctor nodded.
"Any ideas as to why you're dead?" Stella asked.
"Nope, still don't know why yet." The Doctor replied looking over the device as well, taking it from Stella. "Oh I see."
The Doctor disappeared suddenly letting the machine fall, Stella barely catching the device before it hit the ground just as Clyde reappeared before her.
"Welcome back." Stella smiled at him then looked down at the device. "Oh it's slowing down."
"No, no, no! Don't slow down." Clyde chanted looking over the device, but not understanding a bit of it. "Take me back."
"Oh calm down, give me a second." Stella said poking around the device with her sonic finger tips, humming along with the hum they were producing. Then Clyde disappeared again only to be replaced by the Doctor, Sarah Jane, and Jo. "Hello all, welcome to the Crimson Heart." Stella said cheerfully to the women who were looked around in shock. "Doctor, I'm having a bit of trouble here." It made a strange warped noise. "Well that can't be good."
"No, no, no, no." The Doctor muttered as he came over. "Let's get you working properly."
The Doctor took the device from Stella pecking her on the cheek and got to work, allowing her to go and properly greet the two women.
"Sarah Jane, it's good to see you again." Stella said with a bright smile as she jogged over to the famed journalist bringing her into a tight hug.
"Stella, it's good to see you to." Sarah Jane said hugging her back with a laugh.
"Jo Grant, right?" Stella said looking to Jo when she and Sarah Jane had released each other
"Jo Jones now, do I know you?" Jo asked in confusion as Stella hugged her much to her surprise, but she returned the hug anyway.
"Of course not, we've never met, but the Doctor told me all about you." Stella replied with a smile. "He does get nostalgic at times despite what he says."
"Oh, well, then it's nice to meet you." Jo smiled brightly at the young lady.
"Where are we? The Crimson what…?" Sarah Jane asked.
"The Wasteland of the Crimson Heart. Planet Earth's that way." The Doctor pointed in a general direction. Stella rolled her eyes pushing his arm still pointing to the right a bit. "Bit of a long walk. Sonic, please."
"It's so many years since I was on another planet." Jo said as she looked around.
Sarah Jane handed the Doctor her sonic lip stick, Stella rolling her eyes at him. He really hated to be without his sonic screwdriver, despite Stella's sonic abilities.
"Me too." Sarah Jane said as Stella walked back over to the Doctor kneeling down in front of the device using her own sonic abilities as the Doctor used the sonic lipstick.
"So this goes here and then this goes…" Stella stopped short when it buzzed angrily. "This does not go there, it goes over here?"
"There, and there." The Doctor supplied as Stella adjusted her rose colored glasses so she could get a better look.
"It's kind of like Operation." Stella commented as the machine buzzed again. "I am lousy at that game."
"Did it hurt? I mean, the regeneration." Sarah Jane said with a small frown. "That last body of yours, was he okay in the end?"
"It always hurts." The Doctor replied sadly, only smiling again when Stella covered his hand with hers. He raised it to his lips kissing the back of it before they got back to work. "And that goes there."
"So how did you two end up in this place?" Sarah Jane asked smiling at the touching seen.
"The Shansheeth lured us." Stella replied.
"A mighty old battlefield, just begging to be explored." The Doctor said. "Because we're travelling with Amy now."
"And Rory." Stella added. "They got married."
"We dropped them off at a honeymoon planet, which isn't what you'd think. It's not a planet for a honeymoon, it's a planet on a honeymoon." The Doctor said.
"It married an asteroid." Stella said wistfully. "It was a beautiful ceremony."
"Then they nicked the Tardis." The Doctor said in a miffed voice.
"The Shansheeth, not Amy and er…that doesn't seem right." Stella said getting distracted by the device before she could finish her sentence.
"Fortunately, we had all this wreckage to build a space swapping doo-dah thingummy wotsit." The Doctor said cheerfully.
"Patent pending." Stella smarted off.
"So, you've a married couple in the Tardis." Jo commented.
"Mister and Mrs. Pond." The Doctor answered.
"And it looks like the two of you will be enjoying matrimony soon as well." Jo said looking to Stella's engagement ring.
"Yeah, he wore me down." Stella joked nudging the Doctor who nudged her back with a grin.
"Please, you practically forced me." He joked back kissing the corner of her mouth.
"I only left you because I got married." Jo said looking a little sad as she sat down on a pile of rocks and junk. "Did you think I was stupid?"
"Why do you say that?" The Doctor asked as he joined her leaving Stella and Sarah Jane to work on the machine
"I was a bit dumb." Jo said despondently. "Still am, I suppose."
"Now what in the world would make you think that, ever, ever, ever?" The Doctor asked in concern.
"We'd been travelling down the Amazon for months, and we reached a village in Cristalino, and it was the only place in thousands of miles that had a telephone, so I called you. I just wanted to say hello. And they told me that you'd left, left UNIT, never came back." Jo explained. "So I waited and waited, because you said you'd see me again. You did, I asked you and you said yes. You promised. So I thought, one day, I'd hear that sound, Deep in the jungle, I'd hear that funny wheezing noise, and a big blue box right in the middle of the rainforest. You see, he wouldn't just leave. Not forever. Not me. I've waited my whole silly life."
"But you're an idiot." The Doctor said.
"Well, there we have it." Jo said shaking her head.
"No, but don't you see? How could I ever find you? You've spent the past forty years living in huts, climbing up trees, tearing down barricades. You've done everything from flying kites on Kilimanjaro to sailing down the Yangtze in a tea chest. Not even the Tardis could pin you down." The Doctor explained.
"Hold on. I did sail down the Yangtze in a tea chest. How did you know?" Jo asked as she looked to him.
"And that family. All seven kids, twelve grandchildren, thirteenth on his way." The Doctor went on. "He's dyslexic but that'll be fine. Great swimmer."
"So you've been watching me all this time?" Jo asked in wonder.
"Stella said it, from time to time I do get nostalgic and look back." The Doctor said shaking his head, his eyes sad. "I never could before, it hurt too much, but then Stella…she helped me and I looked back on all of you." The Doctor smiled wistfully. "Every single one. And I was so proud."
"It really is you, isn't it?" Jo asked with a watery smile.
"Hello." The Doctor said and then they hugged.
"Sorry, but we've got that lot back at home with the Shansheeth." Sarah called out.
"And these wires are not doing what I want them to, they are deliberately being difficult." Stella said with a pout.
"Yes, yes." The Doctor called out. "And I still need you, Jo. Now, that bag of yours, I can smell blackcurrant." The Doctor sniffed at her bag. "Is it buchu oil?"
"Hand-picked in Mozambique." Jo said digging it out and handing it to him.
"Oh, perfect." Stella said as they came back over to them.
"These circuits need connectivity. Wonderful." The Doctor said as he used the oil. "Little tiddly drop. That's it. What a team."
"There. That should work" Stella said with a cheer.
"Intergalactic molecular streaming, with just a hint of blackcurrant." The Doctor said.
"But what'll happen to Clyde?" Sarah Jane asked.
"No, no, no, we've fixed it." Stella said.
"All we needed was you two." The Doctor said.
"Oil and sonic." Stella added.
"Now we can go back and Clyde can stay where he is." The Doctor said as they all stepped back and held onto one another. "Hold tight."
They disappeared leaving behind the device and reappeared in the corridor of a large building.
"Get us out of here. Doctor! Stella!" Clyde called out.
"Then again, maybe leaving Clyde in the same place wasn't such a good idea." The Doctor said as they ran over to a grill in the wall where Clyde was calling out from.
"Look out, stand back." Sarah Jane sonicks off the grill.
"Ah! Ventilation shafts. That takes me back." The Doctor grinned.
"Or even forwards." Stella said with a grin of her own as they climbed into the shaft.
-0-
"Hurry up. We're getting boiled alive." Clyde called out.
"Hold on. We're coming." The Doctor called out as Stella followed him down the shaft.
"Don't worry, Santiago, I'm here. You go first. You've got the sonic lipstick." Jo turns to see Sarah Jane is being held by a Shansheeth then a second one grabs her.
"Doctor!" Sarah Jane called out.
"Stella!" Jo called out as well.
"Jo? Sarah?" The Doctor called back.
"What's going on?!" Stella asked.
"They're roasting us." Clyde yelled.
"Let us out!" Rani yelled as well.
"Sarah." The Doctor called again.
"We have to get the kids." Stella said. "They'll be roasted alive if we waste any more time."
"Argh!" The Doctor said in frustration of being caught in the trap. They finally made it to the where the children were and worked on the panel. "And release."
"Blimey. You really have changed faces, haven't you? I couldn't see you before, I was too busy swapping." Clyde said when he came face to face with the Doctor.
"Oi, we're still cooking back here." Rani said.
"Where's my gran?" Santiago asked.
"Right, yes, sorry, she's in danger, so, we'd better er…" The Doctor shifted around.
"Can't turn round?" Stella commented.
"No." The Doctor replied.
"You'll have to shuffle backwards." Clyde said.
"Oh, yes, okay. Thank you, Clyde." The Doctor said in frustration.
"I'm not complaining." Stella said with a smirk and she could practically feel the heat radiating from the Doctor's ears.
"Next time you go into the vent first." The Doctor muttered as they started to shuffle backwards.
"Whatever you say love." Stella purred making the Doctor's face erupt even more.
"Even your eyes are different. It's weird, cos I thought the eyes would stay the same. Can you change color or are you always white?" Clyde asked as they went along.
"I could be anything." The Doctor replied.
"And is there a limit? How many times can you change?" Clyde asked.
"Five hundred and seven." The Doctor replied as the hum of the Memory Weave started up.
"They've started." Stella said as they climbed out of the shaft and ran to the chapel, but they couldn't get in.
"They've sealed it off." Stella said.
"Jo, Sarah, can you hear me?" The Doctor banged against the door.
"They want the key. They've got the Tardis, and a Memory Weave." Sarah Jane called out.
"Too late." Karim replied with a smirk. "Full activation.
"Concentrate. Think of the key." Shansheeth ordered.
"Try to find a way in." The Doctor ordered and everyone scrambled to do so. Stella pounded against the doors then tried kicking them.
"They reinforced the doors." Stella snapped as she tried to force the doors open with no luck.
"There's nothing." Santiago replied. "We need a bulldozer."
"I've got the original here." The Doctor called out through the door. "You can have it if you let them go."
"You let the Doctor inside this room and he will destroy us. Keep going!" Karim ordered.
"Think of the Tardis." Shansheeth ordered. "The key. Remember the key."
"Fight it, Sarah Jane. Try to think of something else." Jo yelled.
"I can't." Sarah Jane yelled.
"Neither can I." Jo said as Clyde tries hitting the steel doors with a fire extinguisher.
"It's not shifting." Clyde yelled.
"The memories coalesce. The key, it takes shape." Shansheeth said.
"Don't! Don't!" Jo screamed.
"I can't stop." Sarah Jane screamed as well.
"What do we do, Doctor? What do we do?" Clyde called out.
"Stella, what do we do?" Rani said as she clung to Stella's arm.
"It's ok, we'll figure this out." Stella assured the girl. "Let's see what we know. The Shansheeth want the key to get the TARDIS and are using the memory weave to get it…"
"Because the Shansheeth are making them remember." The Doctor said looking to Stella.
"Oh, that's right." Stella said snapping her fingers.
"I know." Clyde said rolling his eyes.
"Then don't you see?" The Doctor said looking to them.
"I don't see anything." Clyde said shaking his head.
"We do the same." Stella said and got to work on the communication system. "Opening comms."
"Sarah, Jo, can you hear me?" The Doctor called into the comm.
"The key, it's almost ready." Sarah Jane yelled.
"Listen to me, both of you. I want you to remember." The Doctor ordered.
"We are doing. That's the trouble." Jo replied.
"No, no, no, no. I want you to remember everything. Every single day with me. Every single second." The Doctor called out.
"What's he doing?" Karim asked.
"Because your memories are more powerful than anything else on this planet. Just think of it. Remember it. But properly. Properly. Give the Memory Weave everything. Every planet, every face, every madman, every loss, every sunset, every scent, every terror, every joy, every Doctor. Every me." The Doctor called out.
"I remember." Sarah Jane said and as the machine started to over load.
"No!" Karim snapped.
"Memory Weave overloading." The computer said.
"I remember." Jo said.
"We need that key. What is happening?" Karim said angrily. "What's happening?"
"Initial target lost." The Computer said.
"The device is overloading. Too many memories. Too many." Shansheeth said as the device smoked, sparked, and burned.
"Reverse it. Bring that key back." Karim ordered, struggling with the deivce.
"Come on, all of you. Tell them, tell them." Stella urged the kids. "Get them to remember everything!"
"Think of us, Sarah Jane. Remember Maria and her dad, and all the stuff we did, like the Gorgon." Clyde called though the door.
"And the clowns, and the zodiac." Rani said loudly. "And the Mona Lisa."
"All of it. All of it." Sarah Jane said as the memories filled her up.
"Just think, Gran. All the countries you've been to." Santiago called out.
"Every country in the world." Jo said proudly.
"Weave starting to self-destruct." The Computer said as the device defected and set Sarah Jane free.
"It's blown a circuit." Sarah Jane called out.
"I can't get out." Jo said struggling to get free.
"I've got you." Sarah Jane said rushing over to her freeing her from her straps.
"Now we're in trouble. The Weave's going to blow up and we can't get them out." The Doctor said starting to panic as the device got worse, the ground starting to shake with the impending explosion.
"What?" Rani breathed out.
"Can't escape." The Doctor repeated emphasizing with hand gestures.
"I need the key." Shansheeth said as he tried to get into the Tardis, hammering desperately on the door.
"Weave now entering detonation phase." The Computer said as things started to really go bang and fires grew everywhere filling the room with smoke.
"I can't unseal the doors. The power line is gone. Argh!" Karim was blasted back hard to the ground and moved no more as Sarah Jane tried to use her sonic lipstick on the door, but it was no use.
"We've drained it." Sarah Jane called out through the door, the roof raining down on them. "Doctor? Doctor, I can't get out."
"I can't open it." The Doctor said as he and Stella tried to force it.
"No sonic screwdriver." Sarah Jane said.
"It's inside the Tardis." The Doctor answered.
"Even if he had it the doors or deadlocked!" Stella pounded against the door.
"And we can't get in, because guess what? We stopped ourselves getting the key. Oh, that was clever." Sarah Jane snapped in frustration.
"I just want to say, I'm so glad I saw you again. I waited all this time, and it was worth it. Every second." Jo called out through the door. "Funny thing is though, your funeral turns out to be ours instead."
"My funeral?" The Doctor questioned as he looked down at Stella, both of them realizing the same thing.
"Doctor, all of you, you'll look after Luke for me, please." Sarah Jane called out.
"No, no, no, no, but listen." The Doctor said. "My funeral. Don't you see? My funeral."
"With a lead-lined coffin!" Sarah Jane and Jo said at the same time and ran over to the coffin prying open then climbing inside.
"How much time have they got?" The Doctor asked Groske.
"Big bang, ten seconds." Groske answered.
"Come on." Stella said herding the kids away from the doors as Groske counted down, following after them with no real alarm.
"Total destruction imminent." The computer said as the Shansheeth is hammering on the Tardis door.
"Hurry up, Gran." Santiago urged as Groske continued to count down as he made his way down the hall.
"Five, four, three, two…" KaBOOM! The fireball blows the doors off, rubble rained down all around, the ground rocked violently, and smoke bellowed out.
They all cautiously made their way back toward the room as everything started to settle down. Stella stopped short suddenly looking thoughtful and confused, with a tinge of worry as she looked to Rani.
"What do you mean, the Mona Lisa?" Stella asked suddenly.
"Long story." Rani said as they ran into the room.
"I'll need to hear about it, Leo would hunt me down and kill me if anything happened to one of his creations." Stella ran her hand through her hair.
"Smells like roast chicken." Gorske commented as they looked around the chapel, the Doctor and Stella running over to the coffin.
"Now then. Smith and Jones." The Doctor opens the coffin lid. "The coffin was the trap. The coffin was the solution. That's so neat, you could write a thesis."
"Or a detective story." Stella commented with a wide grin.
"Come on then, you two. Out you get." The Doctor said helping the two women out, all hugging in relief.
-0-
"Attention. Temporal flux escalating in this vicinity. The Tardis has landed." Mr. Smith said as the Tardis parked herself just under the skylight.
"Whoa. It's Bannerman Road. It's like everything moved. I'm never getting used to that." Clyde said as he stepped out followed by the others.
"Mister Smith, you're in big trouble. Those Shansheeth were bad." Rani said looking to the computer.
"It transpires that you encountered a rogue element, and the Wide Wing of the High Shansheeth Nest sends apologies." Mr. Smith replied.
"No way. On top of everything else, you've got a talking computer? That is it. I'm giving up." Santiago said in amazement.
"Still the same old Tardis. It doesn't matter what's changed, it still smells the same." Jo said as she looked around the Tardis with a bright smile. "No. I've got to say goodbye, or else I'd stay with you forever. Besides, I probably couldn't keep up any more. Get you into trouble with the Time Lords."
"Hmm." The Doctor hummed sadly as Stella once again took his hand, comforting him. "Yeah, we'd probably better go. You know me, stuff to do."
"It's daft, though, because we were both saying, we had this theory that if you ever died, we'd feel it, somehow we'd just know. But that's just silly, isn't it?" Sarah Jane asked the Doctor.
"I don't know. Maybe not. Because between you and me, if that day ever comes. I think the whole universe might just shiver." The Doctor said then he gives a start, making them all laugh.
"Your ego." Stella said shaking her head as she looked out of the Tardis to the kids. "This universe has more protectors than just you and me. We might be amazing, but those kids, they're something else."
"Oh, it was so good to see you again." Jo said as she and Sarah Jane laughed as they pulled them into tight hugs.
"You to." The Doctor replied.
"It was great to meet you." Stella said to Jo.
"You as well." Jo said then gained a curious appearance about her face, looking to Stella's tattoo like lines. "May I ask, what species you are?"
"I'm a Human, Cyborg, Time Lord hybrid." Stella answered rubbing the back of her head. Jo looked at her wide eyed, blinking a few times. Stella smiled and gave her the short version of her life. "So there you have it, but keep it under your hat yeah?"
"Of course." Jo smiled with a nod as she looked between the couple. "I'm glad you found someone Doctor."
"Me to." The Doctor said wrapping his arm around Stella as she leaned against his shoulder.
"Goodbye." Sarah Jane said as they stepped out of the Tardis and closed the door behind them and the amazing ship disappeared before their eyes with its familiar wheezing groaning sound.