When the Dalek fleet locked on to Torchwood, they hit us hard and fast. John and I flitted about, seemingly at random, and took out at least 50 on our own with the Preacher blaster rifles. Johnny was actually laughing as he shot them, which is probably why he didn't realize until it was nearly too late that he'd depleted the charge, even though I'd switched to distracting the Daleks with bullets myself a full minute prior. I saw the Dalek hovering before him, and another, the last, heading into Torchwood Tower. I didn't pause to think. I teleported. The blast almost caught me in the chest. Almost. Somehow I managed to catch it with my bare hands and deflect it, the Dalek in front of me exploding from the midsection up.

"Adria!" John cried out as I fell backward into his arms with the force of the recoil. We were in an alleyway, just out of range of the Torchwood exterior CCTV, but close enough for me to see that the last Dalek had ignored us in favour of stopping the signal.

"I couldn't stop it," I said tearfully.

"It's up to them, now," he told me gently.

"Not that," I murmured.

"What, then?"

"This," I said, then fainted.

I woke up with my head in John's lap. He'd been crying. He was holding my TARDIS key in his hand. I could tell he'd worked it out.

"It wasn't deadlocked at all, was it," he said.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered. Magic is supposed to be impossible. My father always said so. But I have no better name for what had surged through my hands, making me able to deflect that blast. Even so, the radiation was slowly poisoning me. There was no stopping it.

"He'll come now, won't he?" John asked me. It was night time, but all the right stars were in the sky. The universe had been put right while I slept.

"He's already here," I told him.

"Adria?"

"Hello, Dad," I said, gazing up at him. He knelt beside me, wiped the tears from my face.

"How did you get here?" he asked me. He meant Earth. Out of the Time War. Life itself.

"I'm not sure. But this helped," I told him, showing him my Vortex Manipulator.

"Are you John? You're another person I never expected to see again. Has she been with you all this time?" Dad asked, squinting and scratching his head.

"I was with Jack," I told him, waiting for his anger, but he smiled instead.

"Always full of surprises. You and him, and this one, too," he voiced rather wistfully.

"Is everyone all right?" I asked him.

"Everyone survived," he evaded.

"Dad..."

"It's a long story, and you don't have much time, Adria. Who in particular are you worried about?"

"Ianto," I admitted. "His name is Ianto Jones."

"Torchwood's Ianto? Time-lock Security Lockdown they said. Sounded brilliant. Anyway, he's fine, Ianto Jones. But I thought he and Jack were..."

"Dad, no lectures. I haven't got time," I reminded him.

"Why isn't she regenerating?" John asked him.

"She can't. They engineered her that way," he said, pressing his stethoscope to my chest.

"Who did?"

"UNIT. A very long time ago. Well, not so long ago to you, but to us... I sort of kidnapped her," he attempted to explain.

"But she is your daughter, isn't she?"

The Doctor nodded. "Part human. They stole our DNA. I've never really trusted them since. I was hoping Martha might improve the—"

"Who was my mother?" I interrupted.

"You didn't notice the resemblance, did you. I tried to tell you, long ago," he said softly.

"Sarah Jane?" I asked him, but I knew even before he nodded.

"She doesn't know. Humans weren't allowed on Gallifrey. I couldn't tell her."

"It's all right, Dad," I told him. "Will it work? Even though I'm half human, I mean."

"Part, not half, and yes. I think so. Let me see your locket." I pulled it from inside my blouse, and he set his sonic screwdriver to it. I was glad he was there. I wouldn't have been able to do it myself. "You'd best say your goodbyes, John," he said gravely.

"She knows I love her. I've told her, haven't I, Sage."

"The Sage?" Dad said inquiringly. "I heard about you during the war. You were a troublemaker of the best kind. I never thought they meant you."

"What did they say?" I asked him weakly.

"You reminded them of me," he whispered in my ear, then lifted me out of John's arms. I smiled at John, and then the TARDIS doors closed. A few moments later, I died.