What would happen if it turned out Rose's presence in the parallel world caused a misbalance?
(No Martha or Jones family in this one)
Chapter 7: Human Nature/Family of Blood
The Doctor and Dani dived into the TARDIS and the doors slammed behind them but not before a shot was fired into the ship.
'Get down!' the Doctor yelled.
They both hit the ground before the shots were fired. The Doctor slammed the door shut.
'Dani, did they see you?' the Doctor asked, pulling her up.
'No,' Dani said. 'I don't think so. My back was to them the whole time.'
'Off we go.' The Doctor jumped at the controls and the time rotor was soon moving. Dani moved to his side. She may have been raised on the TARDIS, but she still couldn't read Gallifreyan.
'Ah!' the Doctor yelled in irritation. 'They're following us!'
'They're following us?' Dani asked in annoyance. 'What have they got? A vortex manipulator?'
'Stolen technology,' the Doctor said. 'They can follow us wherever we go. Right across the universe. They're never going to stop. Unless…I'll have to do it.' He turned to the girl. 'Dani, you trust me, don't you?'
'Since I was five-years-old,' Dani answered. 'Why?'
'Cause it all depends on you,' the Doctor told her.
'What are you doing?' Dani asked as the Doctor ducked under the console. 'What am I supposed to do?'
'Take this watch because my life depends on it,' the Doctor answered.
'Hold on, that's a fob watch,' Dani said.
'And it's no ordinary fob watch,' the Doctor stated.
Dani instantly understood. 'Oh, no! Do you have to?'
'Yes.'
John Smith bolted awake. There was a knock at the door and he stood up and pulled on a dressing gown. Once he was decent, he called, 'Come in.'
John's younger sister, Dani walked in, carrying her own tray of breakfast and leading a maid in.
'Good morning, John.'
'Good morning, Dani.'
The maid set John's breakfast on the table and then handed him the morning newspaper.
'Thank you,' he said.
She nodded and walked around, opening the draperies. Dani sat down opposite John's place with her breakfast. John took his place opposite her as he read the paper. This was a tradition that was carried over from their childhood. Eating breakfast and supper together. They usually talked about what their plans for the day were and what actually happened through the day. Dani was John's little sister. He was bound to take care of her by family duty. And their parents had died. That was why she had come with him when he had taken on this job. She'd be with him until she got married. And it didn't look like that would happen anytime soon.
'Is it any good?' Dani asked, nodding to the newspaper.
'Not really,' John answered with a slight amused smile. 'No excitement for a man nowadays.'
Dani smiled ruefully. 'Depends who you are, I suppose.'
'It does.'
They were silent for a moment as they ate and John read the newspaper. But he couldn't focus. That dream was gnawing at his brain. Suddenly Dani leaned forward and pulled the newspaper out of his hand.
'If you can't focus on it, stop trying to read it,' she said. 'What's the matter? Did you have another peculiar dream?'
'Yes, I did,' John agreed.
'What happened this time?' Dani asked.
'I was the…adventurer again,' he said. 'This daredevil, a madman. "The Doctor", I'm called. And last night, I dreamt you were there.'
Dani looked up, interested.
'As my…companion,' John went on. 'I'm a man from another world, you know.' He looked over to the mantle. 'That thing.' He nodded to the Fob Watch there. 'The watch…it's funny how dreams slip away. But I do remember one thing. It all took place in the future. In the year of our Lord, 2007.'
'And what does the date on the paper say?' Dani asked with an amused chuckle, holding it up.
He smiled at his sister.
'It's Monday, November 10, 1913,' Dani said. 'And you're as human as I am.'
'Hmm, that's me,' John agreed. 'Completely human.'
He looked at his sister and chuckled lightly. Dani leaned back.
'You want the dreams to be real, don't you, brother?' she asked knowingly.
'Well, every man wants excitement in his life,' John allowed. 'And myself in my dreams has a lot more excitement than I do here and now.'
'Perhaps that's what the dreams are,' Dani suggested. 'A reflection of your desire to have more excitement in your life.'
'Perhaps,' John said.
'And people you know are often injected into your dreams, I've noticed,' Dani added.
'So they are.' John smiled. 'It was particularly exciting this time. I hate to lose it.'
'Do what you always do,' Dani told him.
'Oh…yes.' John got up and fetched his dream diary from the bookshelf. He missed Dani's amused look.
XXX
Dani came around and into the matron's sick bay. Joan Redfern. A nice enough woman, but the feelings developing between her and John Smith were sure to complicate matters.
Cruel as it sounded, she hoped Joan died if she ever found out about what was going on. It was even more cruel to allow her to find out the man she'd fallen in love with was really another man—another species—and already in love with a completely different woman. And this man didn't love her that way because he wasn't really John Smith.
'John,' Dani said. 'I heard you took a tumble. Are you all right?'
Apparently, he'd hit his head.
'I'm fine, Dani,' he told her. 'I'm absolutely fine—ow!'
Dani hid a snigger behind her hand as Joan said, 'Oh, please. I've had boys that complain less than you do.'
'He's never had that high of a threshold for pain,' Dani told Joan.
'Are you quite amused?' John asked irritably.
'Yes,' Dani answered.
XXX
'You lost the Fob Watch?'
John looked up at his little sister. He might have imagined it, but she looked awfully worried about one little watch.
'Yes,' he said. 'Don't worry. They're easily replaceable.'
She muttered something that sounded a lot like: 'Yeah, well, not that one.'
'I beg your pardon?' he asked.
'I said, you have a point on that one,' Dani said.
'Oh, yes,' John said. 'Uh…Dani. I was thinking I might show Joan the diary.'
Dani sat down. He thought he saw a look of worry cross her face. But then she said, 'If you like. You aren't worried about what she will think?'
'Of course I am,' John said. 'I'm worried she'll think me mad. But I am feeling strongly for her. And the first step would be complete honesty.'
'I know someone who could have used that advice. Of course, if you told him, you probably would have gotten a cussing earful.' Dani got up and walked out. 'Enjoy the evening, brother.'
XXX
Timothy held the Fob Watch and listened to the voices, watched the images. He jumped as a hand landed on his shoulder. It pulled him out. Mr. Smith's sister, Miss. Dani Smith was there.
'Hello, Timothy,' she said. 'What's the matter? You look like you're a million miles away.'
'I think this belongs to Mr. Smith.' Timothy handed her the watch.
She took it and looked at it. Then she looked at Timothy as if something occurred to her. She seemed to be thinking about it. 'Timothy. You may be able to help me, but first I have to be sure of what I think. I want you to say the first three words that come into your head. I don't care what they are.'
The words were strange, but Timothy said them. 'Skaro. Mondas. Gallifrey.'
'Good,' Dani told him. 'Then you can help me.'
'Please,' Timothy asked, 'do you recognise those words, Miss Smith?'
'Yes,' Dani said. 'But you shouldn't.'
'I don't,' Timothy said.
'You may find it interesting,' Miss Smith said. 'The order you said those words was the same order I thought them in.'
'So I read your mind?' Timothy asked.
'That's right,' Miss Smith told him. 'And that explains why you looked so far away. You were seeing and hearing what is contained within the watch, weren't you?'
'Yes, ma'am,' Timothy said. 'Mr. Smith isn't really Mr. Smith, is he?'
Miss Smith shook her head. 'And I'm not really Miss Smith. In truth, I have no last name. Where I come from, nobody has a last name.'
'I don't understand,' Timothy said. 'You were in the most amazing places. You could go anywhere in time and space and you loved it. Why on Earth would you give it up?'
'Because, we were being chased,' Dani told him. 'Well, the Doctor, specifically—that's his real name. He has an indefinite lifespan. This group of body-snatchers who call themselves the Family of Blood want his body for eternal life. So we hid. But they will find us. When they do, John Smith must be convinced to open this watch and become the Doctor once more. But he doesn't place enough importance on it. He doesn't realise how important it is. You do.'
'You're asking me to take care of it?' Timothy asked.
'Yes,' Dani answered. 'I'm John Smith's little sister. The Family know what the Doctor looks like. They'll know John Smith is the Doctor. And anyone "connected to him" will be seen as an accomplice. Or a companion. You're just one of John Smith's students. You're not "connected to him" by their standards. The watch is safer with you, Timothy.'
'I'll take care of it,' he promised.
'Fantastic,' Dani told him. 'Oh. And if you see anyone behaving oddly or looking a bit peculiar in the eyes, they've probably been possessed by a member of the Family of Blood so let me know.'
'I will.'
Dani grinned. 'Timothy Latimer, I like you.'
XXX
Dani froze as she came in and saw John Smith and Joan Redfern in a lip lock. She cleared her throat pointedly and they broke apart.
'Oh, Dani,' John said. 'I apologise. You probably didn't want to see that.'
'Not particularly, no.' Dani shifted her weight uncomfortably. 'I assume you've shown her your diary by this point?'
'Yes,' Joan said. 'It's terribly interesting what a man's mind can come up with.'
'Isn't it just.' Dani forced a smile.
'Well, I best be off,' Joan said. 'Goodnight, Dani.' She smiled at John. 'John.'
'Joan.' He smiled as she left. Then he turned a worried look to Dani. 'Are you all right with this?'
'With what?' Dani asked. 'You and Joan? Well, I'll tell you what. Don't make any plans to marry her within the next few months and I'll make up my mind about her. Beyond that, do as you please.'
John smiled. 'All right. And I'll tell her that.'
'Thank you,' Dani said.
XXX
John Smith knew that younger sisters could sometimes feel a bit scared and confused when their older brothers who they'd had to themselves for years, the way Dani had him, started to fall in love. That was why he asked Dani if she was okay. She seemed all right, but had asked he refrain from marrying Joan for a while. Then she had gone happily on her way. She'd only come in to say goodnight. He realised that was indeed the time.
Where does the time go? He wondered as he watched his sister leave. He closed the door after her and then started getting ready for bed.
XXX
Dani watched John Smith and Joan Redfern dance around the floor at the annual ball.
This whole thing complicated matters. They had no idea what was coming and now John and gone and done the unthinkable. He'd fallen in love. Dani wondered how they were going to get through this.
XXX
Jeremy Baines snuck out of the school. He was going for a beer party and he wasn't going to miss it. No matter what that Mr Smith said. He really hated him. They guy was so annoying. And he got him into trouble all the time just because Jeremy knew who was beneath him. And Smith's sister wasn't much better.
XXX
There was an insistent knocking on Dani's bedroom door. As the moral code went, Dani wrapped a dressing gown around herself before she answered it. It was Timothy.
'Timothy,' she said. 'It's two o'clock in the morning. Don't you have curfew?'
'Something just shot out of the sky,' Timothy told her.
'Where?' Dani asked.
'Well, your window faces out there,' Timothy told her.
Dani pulled Timothy in and closed the door behind them. They rushed over to the window. Dani pulled the lace curtains aside and they looked out. There was a line of smoke that led into the forest. It was reminiscent of a jet-trial, but heavier.
'That's them,' Dani told Timothy. 'They're not concerned about being inconspicuous the way most extraterrestrials are. If someone catches them, they can just body-jump and take someone else's body.'
'So it's definitely them?' Timothy asked.
'We're about to find out,' Dani said. 'Baines has snuck out. And he's heading for the ship. If he happens across the Family, they'll steal his body and I'll know.' Dani and Timothy stood there for about five minutes before Dani said, 'It's the Family.'
'How much time have we got?' Timothy asked.
'About 24 hours, give or take,' Dani answered. 'They'll want to steal a body each before they come after the Doctor and me. That's how long it'll take. Lay low until the gunfire and the explosions stop then find us without the Family seeing you and bring us the watch.'
XXX
Dani looked down at one of the maids as she passed her—Jenny—and noticed she was possessed. So long as the Family didn't know what she looked like they were relatively safe. Then John Smith passed the corridor, muttering as he went through some papers. And the Family of Blood-possessed Jenny saw him.
There goes that. Dani thought.
She turned around and pointed a finger at her.
'I've got my eye on you, body-snatcher,' she said.
Then she strode off.
XXX
Dani could kick herself. Her timing assumption had been just about right and then, thick as a human, John Smith had called arms. Of course, men died. Only after they believed it and that was only because they were attacked by Son of Mine in the body of Jeremy Baines. Then they ran away and Dani had to tell him the truth.
'The bad news is you lost the Fob Watch,' she said. 'The good news is someone else found it. And I know who.'
There was a knock at the door and Dani let Timothy Latimer in.
XXX
'Hold it.' Dani held out the Fob Watch.
'I won't,' he responded.
'Please,' Dani begged. 'It's not going to bite you.'
'It told me to find you,' Timothy said. 'It and Dani both. It wants to be held.'
'You had this watch all this time?' Joan asked. 'Why didn't you return it?'
'Because Dani didn't think that Mr Smith realised just how important the watch really is,' Timothy said. 'And it was waiting. Then, because I was so scared of the Doctor.'
'That's not unusual, Timothy,' Dani told him. 'He scares a lot of people. Specifically people who are doing things that go against his moral codes.'
'Why?' Joan asked.
'Because…' Timothy hesitated. 'I've seen him. He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm and the heart of the sun.'
'Stop it,' John told him.
'He's ancient and forever.' Timothy ignored him. 'He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe.'
'Stop it!' John ordered. 'I said stop it!'
But Timothy knew he couldn't stop. John Smith had to hear this. 'And he's wonderful,' Timothy said.
Dani nodded.
'I've still got this.' Joan pulled the book out. 'The journal.'
'Those are just stories,' John argued.
'No, they're not,' Dani said. 'They're the Doctor's memories.'
Suddenly there was an explosion and they all ran to the window. The deadly light show was happening outside.
World War I, Dani thought. This isn't meant to start until next year.
'They're destroying the village,' Joan murmured.
John snatched the watch from Dani.
'John,' Joan begged. 'Don't.'
'Can you hear it?' Timothy asked.
'Like he's asleep,' John answered. 'Waiting to waken.'
'But why did he speak to me?' Timothy asked.
'Oh, low level telepathic field,' John answered in a flippant, Doctor-like, that's-old-news tone. 'You were born with it. Just an extra synaptic engram causing…' He cut himself off and shook in terror as he stared down at the watch in his hand.
'Pure Doctor,' Dani explained to everyone else in the room.
'Is that how he talks?' he asked Dani.
'Yeah,' Dani agreed.
'You knew that?' he asked. 'And you sat there and watched while Ms Redfern and I…?'
'Yeah.' Dani shrugged. 'Sorry. I didn't really know what to do about it. I knew it'd go down badly if the Family found us, which they did, but nothing in my life has prepared me for having to break up two people. I don't think the Doctor even considered that it could happen.'
'Falling in love?' John asked. 'That didn't even occur to him?'
'Probably not, no,' Dani answered.
'Then what sort of a man is that?' John asked. 'And now you expect me to die?'
There was another explosion.
'I'm sorry,' Dani said. 'You have no choice. If I could, I'd fight those body-snatchers off myself but I don't know how to get rid of them. The Family's got a limited life span. That's why they need to consume a Time Lord. Or they die in three months. Kinda like mayflies.'
'So your job was to execute me?' John asked.
'No,' Dani said. 'My job was to protect the Doctor's body from the Family so he could come back. You're the Doctor's body.'
XXX
Joan looked at John Smith. She didn't want to lose him, like Dani had explained had to happen.
'Is he capable of love?' John asked.
Dani froze. Then she looked at him. 'Did you just ask if he was capable of love? Or am I hearing things?'
'No,' John told her. 'I want to know. You're the only one who knows him. Can he love?'
'You know him too,' Dani stated. 'But all right. He goes around saving planets and some kick him off, not wanting him back. Some don't even notice he even did anything and some assume the worst and some make a list of the dead after his name. Now, if he couldn't love, would he put up with that? Would he keep saving planets and people that don't give him an ounce of "thank you" if he couldn't love? I know I wouldn't. It's gotten to a point where he takes off when he's saved them.'
'What about the girl?' John asked.
'What, Rose?' Dani asked. 'Never met her.'
'But the way he acted around her?' John asked. 'The way he acts about her? Is he in love with her?'
'Yes,' Dani answered.
'Did he think I might fall in love?' John demanded.
'No,' Dani answered.
'Why not?' John was understandably angry now. 'Because I'm not supposed to be real? Because I'm a figment of his imagination? Because—'
'No.' Dani's calm answer cut him off. 'He understood that the minute he became you, John Smith would be a real man with his own thoughts, opinions and emotions. He may have given you his morals and principles, but you're still your own man.' She paused. 'The Doctor loved Rose more than a human could ever love anyone. He's got a vast brain span and two hearts. He loved Rose with everything he was. Nothing was more important than her. And the pain of losing her was something humans could never, ever even begin to imagine. Even if she's not dead. Parts of him leak out in you, John, and he knew that would happen. I guess he thought parts of the pain would too. And that kind of pain, he thought, would stop you from falling in love. Everytime you so much as looked at a woman that reminded him of Rose, the pain would shoot through your heart and that pain would make it impossible to fall in love.' She sat down. 'But, I suppose, you and he are more separate than he thought you'd be. You never felt the pain, did you? Not outside your dreams.'
John slowly shook his head. Joan couldn't imagine the overwhelming pain the Doctor must have lived with.
'Isn't it far more merciful that this Doctor is allowed to stay dead?' she asked Dani.
Dani paused. Not as if she was considering this viewpoint, but as if she had considered this and was looking for a way to explain the conclusion she had reached.
'No,' she said. 'If the Family hadn't shown up, it would have been. It would have been far kinder to let you two get married and grow old together. The Doctor would never have to feel that pain over losing Rose ever again. I'd keep the pretence up for the rest of my life just for that.' She paused again. 'But they found us.' She seemed to stare into space. 'They know what the Doctor looks like. They found us. No. Now, it wouldn't be better. They won't be satisfied until they get the Doctor. And if they don't get him…then all of humanity will be destroyed. Wiped from the face of the planet. Genocide.' She refocused. 'Anyway, I don't want to put any pressure on you, but up to you.'
Joan looked at John as he turned all this over in his head and it was hurting him immensely. He grabbed the Fob Watch and tried to take it out.
'If they want the Doctor, then they can have him!' John yelled.
'You stupid ape!' Dani yelled. 'That won't help!'
'If they get the Doctor, then…then…then…' he stammered.
'Then it all ends in destruction,' Joan said, looking up from the diary.
They all turned to face her. Dani took the watch from him.
'I never read to the end,' Joan told them. 'Those creatures would live forever. To breed and conquer. A war across the stars for every child.'
A man should not be seen at weakness and John was close to crying.
'Dani, Timothy,' Joan said. 'Would you leave us alone please?'
Dani seemed to understand. She took Timothy out, leaving the Fob Watch on the table.
Rose bolted up in bed, her headache completely gone. All the pain, gone. Her mother came at her.
'How's your head?' she asked.
'Headache's gone,' Rose said. 'I told you it'll pass. Nothing to worry about.'
'Uh…' Mickey stammered. 'Rose, when you sat up, it was kind of like when the Doctor wakes up from unconsciousness and sits up.'
'Yeah?' Rose asked with a sad smile. 'Good.'
The Family turned around.
'Just…' John said.
He spun around and accidentally threw a bunch of levers.
'Just stop the bombardment,' he said. 'That's all I'm asking. I'll do anything you want, just stop.'
'Say please,' said Father of Mine.
'Please,' he said.
Mother of Mine threw something. 'Wait a minute,' she said. Then she sniffed. 'Still human.'
'Look, I can't pretend to understand, not for a second, but I want you to know, I'm innocent in all this,' John insisted. 'He made me John Smith. It's not like I had any control over it.' He fell on some switches.
'He didn't just make himself human,' Mother of Mine said. 'He made himself an idiot.'
'Same thing, isn't it?' Son of Mine asked.
'I don't care about this Doctor or your family,' John said. 'I just want you to go! So I've made my choice.' He held up the Fob Watch. 'You can have him. Just take it, please. Take him away!'
Son of Mine came and took the watch. 'At last,' he breathed, taking the watch. He grabbed John as he tried to leave. 'Don't think that's saved your life!'
Then he pushed him back and John fell to the ground, hitting a bunched of senor activators as he went.
'Family of mine,' Son of Mine said. 'Now we shall have the lives of a Time Lord.'
He opened the watch and all the Family inhaled, preparing for the power. Which never came.
'It's empty!' Son of Mine exclaimed, turning back to John.
'Where's it gone?' John seemed on the verge of a panic attack.
'You tell me.' Son of Mine tossed it back and John caught it, suddenly calm as a cucumber.
John Smith was the Doctor again.
'Oh, I think the explanation might be you've been fooled,' the Doctor answered easily, standing up. 'By a simple olfactory misdirection. A little bit like ventriloquism of the nose. It's an elementary trick in certain parts of the galaxy. But it has got to be said—' He put his glasses on and leaned forward. '—I don't like the look of that hydrokinometer.' He looked over it. 'It seems to be indicating you've got energy feedback all the way through the retrostabalisers, feeding back into the primary heat converters. Oh! Cause if there's one thing you shouldn't have done, you shouldn't have let me press all those buttons.' He turned away. 'But, in fairness, I will give you one word of advice.' He offered. He said it with a grin just as the room went red. 'Run.'
He took off.
XXX
The ship exploded, knocking the Family to the ground and the Doctor knew Dani would be around momentarily. The Doctor went back stood over the Family of Blood. They knew they were in for it. Punishment worse than death. Dani was suddenly there.
'What are we going to do with them?' she asked.
XXX
'He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing. The fury of the Time Lord. And then we discovered why. Why this Doctor—who had fought with gods and demons—why he had run away from us and hidden. He was being kind. He wrapped my father in unbreakable chains forged in the heart of a dwarf star. He tricked my mother into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy to be imprisoned there forever. He still visits my sister, once a year, every year. I wonder if one day he might forgive her, but there she is. Can you see? He trapped her inside a mirror. Every mirror. If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you, just for a second, that's her. That's always her. As for me, I was suspended in time, and the Doctor put me to work standing over the fields of England as their protector. We wanted to live forever. So the Doctor made sure that we did.'
XXX
Joan sat with her back to the door. She didn't want to look at the Doctor when he came. He may look different.
'Is it done?' she asked.
'It's done,' he said.
'The police and the army are at the school,' Joan told him. 'Parents have come to take the boys home. I should go. They'll have so many questions. I'm not sure what to say.' She turned around and saw he was the same. 'Oh. You look the same. Goodness, you must forgive my rudeness. I…I find it difficult to look at you. Doctor. Must call you Doctor. Where is he? John Smith.'
'He's in here somewhere,' the Doctor answered.
'Like a story,' Joan murmured. 'Could you change back?'
'Yes.'
'Will you?'
'No.' The Doctor answered without hesitation.
'I see,' Joan said, looking away. 'Well, then. He was braver than you, in the end. That ordinary man. You chose to change, he chose to die.'
'Come with me,' he said.
'Sorry?' Joan asked.
'Travel with me,' he clarified.
'As what?' Joan asked.
'My companion,' The Doctor answered.
'But that's not fair,' Joan told him. 'What must I look like to you, Doctor? I must seem so very small.'
'No,' the Doctor told her. 'We could start again. I'd like that.'
Dani stuck her head in the door. 'Stop trying to compensate.' Then she pulled her head out.
'We could try at least,' the Doctor said. 'Cause everything that John Smith is and was, I'm capable of that too.'
'I can't,' she said.
'Please come with me.'
'I can't.'
'Why not?'
'John Smith is dead and you look like him,' Joan answered.
'But he's here,' the Doctor said. 'Inside. If you look in my eyes.'
'Answer me this,' Joan answered, not looking. 'Just one question, that's all. If the Doctor ever visited us, never chosen this place on a whim, would anyone here have died?'
The look he gave her was tight. Cold.
'Oi!' Dani stuck her head in again. 'That's not fair! It's not like he killed them!'
'You can go,' Joan told him.
He walked out and took Dani with him.
XXX
The Doctor walked with Dani up the hill.
'It wouldn't have worked anyway,' Dani told him.
'What do you mean?' the Doctor asked.
'Just a minute.' Dani jumped to his other side and the wind picked up her hair. She looked out to the horizon. 'Look along behind me.'
He did as she said and he saw blonde hair waving in the wind and hazel eyes looking out to the horizon. Someone else in Dani's place.
'You're not seeing me, are you?' She pulled him out of it. 'Tell me who you're seeing.'
His Adam's Apple suddenly felt three times as big in his throat. 'I'm seeing Rose.'
'Exactly.' Dani moved back over to his other side, allowing him to pull out of it. 'I don't think you're over Rose, Doctor. And you never will be. If ever you had any stable relationships before her, you'll never be able to have another one unless you get her back.'
They were in front of the TARDIS. Before the Doctor could consider that, Dani turned her head. He looked. Timothy was coming.
'Tim Timothy Tim!' the Doctor greeted.
'I just wanted to say goodbye,' Timothy said. 'And thank you. Because I've seen the future and I know what must be done. It's coming, isn't it? The biggest war ever.'
'Yeah,' Dani agreed.
'You called it World War I?' Timothy asked.
'You heard that?' Dani asked. Then she seemed to remember. 'Oh, yeah. I was standing right next to you.'
The Doctor chuckled quietly. 'Tim, I'd be honoured if you'd take this.' The Doctor handed him the Fob Watch.
Timothy took it and then stared at it. 'I can't hear anything.'
'No, it's just a watch now,' the Doctor said. 'But keep it with you for good luck.'
'Don't get blown up,' Dani coached, coming over and giving him a hug.
Then Dani climbed into the TARDIS.
'You'll like this bit,' the Doctor told him.
He followed Dani in and moments later the TARDIS dematerialised.
2007 war memorial
Timothy, now an old man, sat in a wheel chair and listened to the priest.
'…they went with songs to the battle. They were young, straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted.'
Timothy turned his head and saw the Doctor and Dani, young as the day he'd last seen them, almost 90 years ago, and both wearing poppies. They smiled at him. Despite how time had aged him, they recognised him.
'They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, not the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.'
Timothy looked down at the old Fob Watch.
