It was a struggle to hold on to any one thought when she jumped. Thoughts darted across her mind like reflections dancing on water, never forming completely and always disappearing before she could grasp them.

What did the Doctor mean when he said he lied? How was she getting home? What was happening to her? Where was she going?

Everything was moving so quickly, but one feeling remained. Betrayal. Was it irrational to feel betrayed by a man she just met? If it had been anyone else then perhaps she was would say yes, but the Doctor had seemed different. Sincere. Trustworthy, even.

Or maybe she felt betrayed by herself. After years of carefully crafted walls, she had allowed herself to make one stupid decision, and had wound up in a position she wasn't sure she could get out of. There was no hopping on a plane to come home, there was no way of reversing what had happened. She was out of her depth. She was no longer in control.

"Oh my god, are you all right?" A voice cried out.

The voice belonged to a woman and was getting louder as Audrey regained awareness of her surroundings. Audrey's eyes opened to see a dark-skinned woman that she had never seen before. Another face came into view, this one a man. He had short brown hair that stuck up in every direction and his eyes were swimming with worry. Someone's hands were stroking the sides of her face softly, making her flinch.

"Where am I?" Audrey mumbled, trying to sit up. The unfamiliar woman bent down to help her and Audrey accepted gratefully.

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, "But how can you be here?"

Audrey was finally able to get a good look at where 'here' was when she stood up. By the looks of it, the people in the streets seemed to be wearing clothes from the 1500s, though she wasn't exactly an expert.

"Er…this definitely isn't modern times then," Audrey said. The man and woman before caught her eye next, only serving to confuse her further since their outfits didn't fit in with the time period either. Who were they? No, finding the Doctor had to be her first priority. He was the only one that could get her home.

Except right now, both of them were still staring at her, most likely wondering how a woman could appear out of thin air. Audrey hurried to find an explanation for what they'd witnessed.

"I'm not a witch, I swear," Audrey blurted out, backing up slightly. "Please don't drown me."

"Oh, it's good to see you," The man laughed, scooping her into a tight hug.

Shock took control of her body, causing her to hesitate a moment before ripping herself away from him. She moved away quickly, too quickly it seemed because her vision went hazy and she started to feel the pain in her head again. The sharpness of it was taking away the clarity she had just started to regain after the jump.

"My head hurts," Audrey moaned, mostly to herself. Stumbling away from the two people, her fingers went up to rub at her temples. Two hands fell to her waist and spun her around so that the man could look at her properly. He leaned in to get a good look while she leaned away.

"Just the after effects of the Time Vortex," he decided. "You should be fine in a minute."

"What?" Audrey questioned.

"Doctor? How did she do that?" The woman asked the man. Audrey's eyes darted between them.

"Doctor?" Audrey repeated. "You can't be the Doctor. I was just with him."

The Doctor nodded, thoughtfully, "So you haven't met this regeneration before."

"Regeneration?"

"My race, the Time Lords, we have a way to cheat death where every cell in our body is rewritten and we become a different person. Same memories, different face. You've been with another regeneration of me, a future one most likely," He explained to her.

It took a minute for Audrey to wrap her head around the idea. Before she had left, the Doctor had said that she was going back further in his time line and that he would look different but she had assumed he meant 'different' like those bad haircuts you have in the sixth grade, not different as in you're an entirely different person.

Audrey raised an eyebrow, "Anything else I should know about then?"

"No," The Doctor said. Audrey look pointedly at the woman peeking out from around his shoulder and then back to him. He turned around and then looked at the woman as if he had just noticed her. "Oh, this is Martha."

The two women exchanged small waves before Audrey became distracted by something behind them. Her brown eyes lit up with a new shade of amazement as she walked to the edge of the street where a river was roped off.

Brown water was flowing at a lower level than the city, dragging sewage upstream and making small waves that lapped at the seawall. It wasn't the river that drew her attention, however. It was the city that rose on the other side of it. Great big buildings were huddled together. Some of them had chimneys that released a swirling pattern of smoke that seemed to rise up and join the rest of the fog that settled over the city. Just like Starship UK, it was a new and foreign site that Audrey could never have imagined.

Stay. You should stay. Think of the adventure, the voice in Audrey's head nagged her. These sites were making her resolve wither by the minute, but she pushed it down.

Her family needed her at home. And now, she would have a story for when she returned. That is if they believed her. She had been to the future and now to the past, though she wasn't sure by exactly how much. The first thought in her mind was that she couldn't wait to tell Reed, seeing as he had always been the history buff of the family. Then, their last encounter surfaced in her mind.

No, she thought, I'm going to fix it. Everything would be better when she returned.

While she was out of earshot, Martha took this time to turn to the Doctor, "No, hang on. How come she doesn't know me? We've met before. At the hospital, she was there and we met."

"She doesn't always meet people in the right order," The Doctor informed her, though his attention was focused elsewhere, "She could be here now and then jump twenty years into your future."

Martha wasn't sure she understood, but she nodded anyways. She supposed it did make sense, though. The Audrey in front of her now was acting like a completely different person than the woman she had met before.

"So, where are we?" Audrey asked as she joined them again.

Martha smiled, "We're going to see Shakespeare!"

"Ok, I take it back," Audrey told the Doctor excitedly. "You can take me home after we see Shakespeare."

What was one more adventure in the long run, Audrey reasoned with herself. She could still change her mind at any time.

"Take you home?" The Doctor repeated in confusion. Martha didn't seem to notice their conversation as she walked ahead to the theatre. Audrey and the Doctor lagged behind.

"Well, yeah, I can't stay here forever. My sister is expecting me to be at her recital at seven. You can get me back before seven, right?" Audrey asked, before interrupting herself with a giggle, "Oh my god, she's never gonna believe where I've been."

"Audrey, I can't take you home."

Audrey's heart skipped a beat as she faced the Doctor. He stared, not sure why this was news to her. Panic was beginning to set in for Audrey, but she refused to believe it.

"What do you mean? When I was with you before you said…"

"You're from an alternate universe. I can't travel there."

"You mean I'm stuck here?" Audrey asked. This couldn't be happening. When she was with the other Doctor he had said he would take her home, he had promised. She couldn't be stuck in an alternate universe, her family needed her.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor apologized. To his credit, he did sound sincere, but Audrey couldn't trust it. The other Doctor had sounded sincere as well and all that time he had been lying to her face. Audrey carded her hand anxiously through her hair, pulling at the ends of it roughly.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Audrey muttered to herself. "I don't have any money or anything and I can't live in an alternate universe! I'm sure it's all pretty much the same but my family-"

"No, no, Audrey, you- did future me really not explain all of this?" The Doctor wondered, "Audrey, you get pulled through my time line at random. We could meet now and then you could travel back to years ago or years in the future. I've known you for most of my life."

"So that's what happens to me now? I just get pulled around for the rest of my life?"

"I'm sorry," He said again.

By this point, the two of them had reached the theatre. The Doctor opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Martha who was already standing at the entrance of the theatre. She was calling their names and trying to wave them over, not realizing the seriousness of their situation. Her insistence brought them out of their thoughts and made them realize that this wasn't the best time to be having this conversation.

The Doctor sighed, "I'll explain everything after this. I promise."

"Yeah. Yeah, you keep saying that," Audrey muttered.

Looking back on it, a lot of things started to make sense. At first when the other Doctor had promised to take her home, she had known that he was keeping something from her. It also explained why the queen had known so much about her or why Amy and the Doctor acted so familiar with her. He really wasn't lying this time; her whole life had been flipped around and now she was stuck in an alternate universe without any of her friends or her family. So far, the only constant was the Doctor, and not even him or the companions he traveled with stayed the same.

Now, she found herself standing in a place that people could only dream of and all she could think about were the things she was missing.

On the stage, there were actors playing out the events of Shakespeare's Love's Labors Lost. There was part of her that was crying out to enjoy it, to live in these moments of impossible situations, but it was directly conflicting with the part of her that wanted to be angry, that wanted her to want to go home.

Clashing emotions left her feeling torn. What was she supposed to feel? If she couldn't do anything about the situation was it healthy to agonize over it? But on the other hand, was it right to give in so easily?

Audrey could feel her emotions spilling out, flying too close to the surface for her to feel comfortable. She pushed it down and let the familiar feeling of being numb was over her. Numbness was good, it was safe. And once she was numb to her emotions, she was a blank canvas to be painted over and presented to the outside world. A mask fell over her face, making her seem like one of the others in the theatre who were excited to see Shakespeare's masterpieces come to life.

After the play had ended and the actors were all bowing on the stage, Audrey was smiling and cheering loudly with the rest.

"Where's Shakespeare? I want to see Shakespeare. Author! Author!" Martha called, turning to look at Audrey. "Do people shout that? Do they shout author?"

People around them picked up the chant as they pumped their fists in the air. Both girls looked at each other with a grin.

"Well, they do now."

Cheers grew louder as a dark haired man walked out on stage with his hands in the air. It was clear that he was a crowd charmer and that he reveled in the attention. He blew kisses to the audience and bowed, soaking up the praise that the crowd bestowed upon him. Audrey's own hands were hurting from how hard she was clapping but she didn't take notice. Shakespeare, the real Shakespeare was standing in front of her and they had just watched on of his actual plays.

While Reed was the history buff of the family and Phoebe was the dancing prodigy, literature was where Audrey's strengths lay. She had been in college to become an English professor and Shakespeare had been the last playwright they had covered before her unscheduled vacation.

"He's a bit different from his portraits," Martha commented as she got a good look at the man.

Audrey smirked. "Mm, but who's complaining?"

"Genius. He's a genius. The genius. The most human human there's ever been," The Doctor beamed, "Now we're going to hear him speak. Always he chooses the best words. New, beautiful, brilliant words."

"Ah, shut your big fat mouths!" Shakespeare yelled at the crowd.

"Not quite what I was expecting," Audrey admitted. The Doctor voiced his own disappointment and Martha leaned over to shake her head at the two of them.

"You should never meet your heroes," She advised.

"You've got excellent taste, I'll give you that," Shakespeare said on stage, "I know what you're all saying. Love's Labor's Lost, that's a funny ending, isn't it? It just stops. Will the boys get the girls? Well, don't get your hose in a tangle, you'll find out soon. Yeah, yeah. All in good time. You don't rush a genius."

On stage, Shakespeare jerked back suddenly and looked around the crowd, "When? Tomorrow night. The premiere of my brand new play. A sequel, no less, and I call it Love's Labor's Won."

"I'm not an expert, but I've never heard of Love's Labor's Won," Martha said as they were filing out of the theatre. Before the Doctor could say anything, Audrey turned to Martha excitedly.

"It's the lost play. There's rumors of it and it's listed in lists of his plays but other than that, nothing. And no one knows why," Audrey explained and both of them turned to her in surprise, "Sorry. I was studying this stuff in college. I've always been a bit of a literature fanatic."

The Doctor grinned at her, but Audrey could see the questioning look that lingered in his eyes. As convincing as Audrey knew her act to be, the Doctor could see right through it. In fact, it seemed like Martha's presence was the only thing stopping him from calling her out on it. However, Martha had begun to pick up on the tension in the air. She looked between the two of them before changing the subject.

"Have you got a mini-disc or something? We can tape it. We can flog it. Sell it when we get home and make a mint," Martha exclaimed.

The Doctor was quick to shoot that idea down with a shake of his head.

"That would be bad," Martha concluded.

"I wonder why it disappeared in the first place," Audrey said, looking back at the theatre.

The Doctor glanced over at her, saw the interest in her face, and sighed. Saying no to Audrey had never been his area of expertise, even if she didn't know him well enough yet to use it to her advantage. Perhaps this could make up for the news he had dropped on her earlier…

"Well, I was just going to give Martha a quick little trip in the TARDIS, but I suppose we could stay a bit longer if you want."

After making their way to an inn down the street called 'The Elephant', the three of them walked into a room where three men were sitting around a table. It seemed to be two actors from the play and, most noticeably, Shakespeare himself sitting behind the desk. When they Doctor had suggested they stay a while longer, Audrey had never imagined that meeting William Shakespeare is what he had meant.

"Hello!" The Doctor greeted cheerfully. All three men looked up, alarmed. "Excuse me, not interrupting, am I? Mister Shakespeare, isn't it?"

The playwright sighed in annoyance, Oh, no. No, no, no. Who let you in? No autographs. No, you can't have yourself sketched with me. And please don't ask where I get my ideas from. Thanks for the interest. Now be a good boy and shove-" He cut himself off as his eyes landed on Martha and Audrey peeking out from around the Doctor's shoulders and gestured to the seats in front of him, "Hey, nonny nonny. You ladies, sit right down here next to me. You two get sewing on the costumes. Off you go."

A woman standing in the doorway of the room rolled her eyes at Shakespeare's behavior, yet didn't seem surprised.

"Come on, lads. I think our William's found his new muses," She said as she ushered the men out of the room. Audrey and Martha sat down in the vacated seats while the Doctor dragged a third chair from the corner of the room and positioned it next to Audrey's.

"Such unusual clothes. So fitted," Shakespeare observed, eyes scanning their figures.

Audrey, who had admittedly been a little star struck, felt someone's hand grab her own and interlock their fingers. The Doctor had set their intertwined hands in plain view of Shakespeare, but didn't meet her eyes when she sent him a questioning look. After a moment, she moved her hand away.

"Er, verily, forsooth, egads," Martha tried and the Doctor turned to Martha.

"No, no, don't do that. Don't," He said before pulling out a small black wallet and showing it to Shakespeare, "I'm Sir Doctor of TARDIS and this is my wife Audrey. Miss Martha Jones is our companion."

Audrey opened her mouth, ready to refute any idea of her being the Doctor's wife, when an elbow dug into her side. Turning to glare at the Doctor was useless, he only gave her an innocent look in reply.

Shakespeare looked doubtful, "Interesting, that bit of paper. It's blank."

"Oh, that's very clever. That proves it. Absolute genius."

Before Audrey could take a look at the paper, Martha took it from the Doctor's hands and stared at it in confusion.

"No, it says so right there. Sir Doctor, Audrey, and Martha Jones. It says so."

"And I say it's blank," Shakespeare replied simply.

"Psychic paper. Er, long story. Oh, I hate starting from scratch," The Doctor muttered, turning to see a confused Audrey and nodding to himself, "Starting from scratch twice. Brilliant."

"Psychic? Never heard that before and words are my trade. Who are you exactly?" Shakespeare questioned, then leaned his head on his hand as he stared at Martha, "More's the point, who is your delicious blackamoor lady?"

While Martha looked both insulted and surprised at Shakespeare's words, the Doctor leaned back in his chair with a smug look.

"Oops. Isn't that a word we use nowadays? An Ethiop girl? A swarth? A Queen of Afric?"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Martha stated, turning to look at Audrey in disbelief.

"It's political correctness gone mad," Audrey whispered, leaning into the girl as the Doctor carried on, trying to explain where Martha came from. When she tuned back into their conversation she elbowed the Doctor in the side, "Freedonia? Really?"

"Excuse me!" A man called out suddenly as he entered the room, "Hold hard a moment. This is abominable behavior. A new play with no warning? I demand to see a script, Mister Shakespeare. As Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed."

"Tomorrow morning, first thing, I'll send it round," Shakespeare promised, trying to appease the man.

"I don't work to your schedule, you work to mine. The script, now!" He demanded.

"I can't."

"Then tomorrows performance is cancelled," The man declared smugly. Audrey watched as the servant girl that had been cleaning left the room quietly, her supplies left abandoned. The Doctor and Martha didn't seem to notice as they were too busy watching as the two men went on, Lynley eventually leaving after announcing that he would make sure the play would never go on.

Once Lynley had left, Martha turned to the two of them, "Well then, mystery solved. That's Love's Labor's Won over and done with."

"Bit uneventful," Audrey commented and Martha nodded in agreement.

"I thought it might be something more, you know, more mysterious."

A scream rang out from the street, making the four of them shoot up in their seats and run outside. More screams were coming from the people in the courtyard as Lynley stumbled in, grasping his throat as water shot out from his lips.

"It's that Lynley bloke," Martha pointed out.

"What's wrong with him?" The Doctor questioned before running over to help, "Leave it to me. I'm a doctor."

"So am I, near enough."

Audrey tried to hold him still so that Martha could check him over but he collapsed on to the ground. The women leaned over him, trying to hear for a heartbeat yet there was nothing. When Martha went to give him CPR, water poured out of his mouth and she reared back quickly.

"What the hell is that?"

Audrey moved to get a closer look, her brows furrowing together, "It's water. His lungs are full of water, he drowned."

"I've never seen a death like it," The Doctor commented, "He did drown but after that, I don't know, like a blow to the heart, an invisible blow."

The Doctor looked back at the crowd that had drawn around them, his face neutral, and he called for the innkeeper they had seen earlier.

"Good mistress, this poor fellow has died from a sudden imbalance of the humors. A natural If unfortunate demise. Call a constable and have him taken away."

She nodded and was about to leave when the servant girl from before spoke up.

"I'll do it, ma'am," She said, turning on her heel and leaving. Audrey could've sworn she saw the young woman smirk just before she left, but she couldn't be certain. What would a serving girl have to gain from Lynley's death?

"And why are you telling them that?" Martha asked the Doctor.

"If you were to tell them what really happened, they'd panic and think it was witchcraft," He replied.

"Okay, what was it then?"

The Doctor looked at her blankly, "Witchcraft."

The three of them had returned back to the inn when it became apparent their trip was going to be different from what they had expected. Audrey had thought they'd journey back to the TARDIS and then come back tomorrow to see Shakespeare's play. However, they couldn't risk something happening while they were gone, so they decided to stay the night in the Inn.

"I got you and your wife a room, Sir Doctor. And Miss Martha Jones is just down the hall," Dolly informed them, but all she got were absentminded nods in reply. Everyone was too enthralled with their thoughts to provide much conversation.

"Poor Lynley. So many strange events," Shakespeare spoke, after a long stretch of silence. He then turned to Martha, his eyes lit with interest, "Not least of all, this land of Freedonia where a woman can be a doctor?"

"Where a woman can do what she likes," Martha corrected lightly.

"And you, Sir Doctor. How can a man so young have eyes so old?"

The Doctor brushed the comment off, "I do a lot of reading."

Shakespeare seemed to expect this answer from the Doctor and, surprisingly, didn't push the subject. Instead, he turned to Audrey. She felt uncomfortable when placed under his inquisitive gaze. The look in his eyes made you think he was capable of unlocking all your most personal secrets in a single look, and he was so clever that it wouldn't surprise Audrey if he could.

"And you," He said, "Your kind eyes have a sadness in them too great for someone as young as yourself. How can one woman seem to carry the weight of the world within one look?"

"I'm stronger than I look," Audrey shot back. She tried to brush it off as casually as the Doctor had but it didn't work. Luckily for her, Martha Jones came to her rescue.

"I think we should say goodnight," She said. There were muttered replies that followed her as she exited the room. Audrey turned for the doorway but lingered behind long enough to catch the end of the Doctor and Shakespeare's conversation as they said goodnight to each other.

The two of them ascended the stairs in silence, even though Audrey was bursting at the seams with unanswered questions. It was easy enough to push away the thoughts of their earlier conversation when they were rushing around with William Shakespeare of all people, but now, in the quiet of the night it wasn't as easy to ignore.

Audrey entered the room first. It was bare of mostly everything except a bed that sat in the middle of the room and a nightstand on either side. Two candle holders were mounted on the walls, neither of them lit. The only light in the room was the moonlight that streamed in through the window. The Doctor brushed past her and Audrey shut the door quietly. He was already standing in the middle of the room, rambling on about something or another.

"Bit boring décor wise, but I suppose it'll do. The good news is the bed is fairly large-"

"Doctor," Audrey interrupted.

"-Or I could take the floor. If you'd be more comfortable, that is. I-"

"Doctor."

This time it was loud enough to draw his attention and he stopped. There was a sigh before he sat down on the bed, looking dejected. Audrey assumed he knew what conversation was about to follow. She sat down next to him, careful to leave at least a foot of space between them.

"Doctor, can I… am I really stuck here?" Audrey asked, allowing the slightest bit of fear to color her voice.

"Yes," He told her honestly. A slight flicker of pain crossed his face before he schooled his expression into a neutral one.

"And- and why is this happening?"

"We still haven't figure that bit out yet," The Doctor admitted.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we know that our time lines are tied to each other in some way, and that you are pulled through them at random, but we've never been able to figure out why," The Doctor explained. Audrey could see how he was taking great care to pick his words, "No human should be able to do the things you do, Audrey."

Everything was so new and complicated that Audrey wasn't sure what to think about it, or if she was even ready to accept it as the truth. The Doctor was trying to help ease her into this life as best he could, but the lack of a real explanation was making it hard for her to wrap her head around the situation.

Something in her expression must've given away her feelings because the Doctor grabbed her hand and held it tightly. Audrey pulled it away sharply.

"Stop doing that!" Audrey snapped, making the Doctor jerk away from her with wide, apologetic eyes. Air was hard for her lungs to find as her chest heaved violently, and she still felt breathless. Everything was happening too fast and Audrey felt cornered. Pain bloomed in her chest as it tightened with fear.

"Audrey, listen to me," The Doctor said. He didn't try to reach out to her again, instead he sat completely still, and tried to project a calm demeanor.

The woman in front of him wasn't listening to him, she was beyond listening to anything. Her ears were ringing with the sound of her own heartbeat, which was much too fast and felt like it was trying to beat out of her chest.

"My family…" Audrey muttered, her tongue darting out to wet her chapped lips, "My family isn't going to know what happened. They're going to think I left them. I can't…I can't-"

Her hand rubbed harshly against the back of her neck as she tried to think. All her thoughts were flying around her mind at a speed that meant it was impossible for her to grasp a hold of one in particular. What would her parents do? What about Phoebe, sweet Phoebe who looked up to Audrey? And Reed, he'd always think she'd finally had enough and left. She'd never see them again, never make things right, never tell them she loved them. Never, never, never-

The Doctor's face swam into view in front of her, "Audrey, breathe."

Audrey shook her head, "No, no, I can't…I can't."

"Here, breathe with me," The Doctor encouraged as he began counting out the beats. Audrey tried her best to follow, but kept losing the pace and hyperventilating. The Doctor remained patient, starting over each time until Audrey had finally returned to a normal breathing rate.

"Come, sit down. We can talk about it all," The Doctor suggested.

Audrey's eyes darted around the room. The panic had subsided, leaving only sadness in its wake and making Audrey swallow back a lump in her throat.

"No," Audrey said firmly. The Doctor watched as she crossed the room quickly and opened the room, "I'm going to ask Dolly for another room. I…I'm sorry."