Relict

by LizzeXX

12/OC -Time Lady- The Doctor and his Bonded, the Professor, have escaped Tenzalore with their lives, new regeneration cycles, and their unborn child surviving their 'Fall.' But with the Promised Land being sought and another woman vying for the Doctor's attention in the Nethersphere, what will become of the Time Lords? What of their child? Or…children? Ninth in the Academic Series.

10. In the Forest of the Night

In the Forest of the Night

The Professor couldn't help but laugh as she was leaning half on the console, one hand braced against it, the other resting lightly on her stomach as the Doctor 'massaged' her back…more like tried to and then would poke or tickle her till she squirmed and slapped his hands away. She took a moment to still him, grabbing both his hands in her own before she turned, holding them before her, half sitting on the edge of the console instead. She was beaming, just glowing and he couldn't help but tug a hand out of hers to rest on her stomach. It appeared the children were sleeping at the moment, still and calm for once, which he knew she appreciated.

"Of course, your children would calm down when I'm wide awake and not when I want to sleep," she joked.

He crouched down so his face was right by her stomach and poked it lightly, "Oi! You two, up and at 'em. Come on, let's give your dear old mum a kick for us. Ow!" he flinched back as she flicked his ear.

"Call me old again…" she threatened.

He rolled his eyes at that, "You don't scare me, Kata."

She pouted, "NOW," she huffed, "Give me my blaster back and…"

"No," he said quickly, shaking his head, "You nearly killed me!"

"I barely grazed you," she countered.

He merely turned and poked at his shoulder of his jacket, sticking his finger into a tear in the fabric, giving her a pointed look. He'd gotten her irritated, her emotions high, her patience low, and she really HAD grabbed her blaster and fired at him as she had been threatening to do for many months now. It appeared she'd finally reached that point of following through.

"A graze," she stuck her nose up slightly, "Point proven."

"Well, even still, you," he pointed at her warningly, "Are not getting that blaster back till after the wee ones are born."

She rolled her eyes, about to counter that when they both fell silent, glancing over toward the doors where a soft knock had sounded. They looked back at each other a moment, frowning at that, Clara wasn't due to come see them for another few hours at the least and even then she was going to call them to let them know where to pick her up not come find them. The Doctor immediately turned to the console, moving to the monitor and flicking it on, putting in commands to activate the outer cameras, making the Professor smile when she saw him do so. He was more cautious now, taking precautions to check who was outside. After the incident with the Boneless, realizing that there were enemies out there of hers that were solely after HER instead of him or the both of them, he was less inclined to just open the doors. What he saw as some random person or alien might be one with a grudge against her.

He looked over at her when he caught sight of a young girl, dark hair and bright eyed, in a Coal Hill uniform, standing there. She reached out a hand to his shoulder and nudged him towards the door with a nod that it was safe, the TARDIS also ran scans on all humanoid people outside her doors now, automatically, it seemed even their dear old mum was concerned and didn't want a shimmer or a shape shifter to make their way in if they were a threat. But this was reading 100 percent human, and it was a little girl.

The Doctor hurried over to the doors, grumbling slightly under his breath that their moment had been a bit interrupted, before throwing the doors open.

He didn't even get a chance to speak before the girl looked up at him, "I'm lost. Please, can you help me?"

"It's that way," he pointed ahead of her, back through a dense forest, before shutting the door.

"Trafalgar Square, husband!" the Professor called.

He paused at that, his eyes widening as what he saw caught up with him and he spun around, striding out of the box and beside the small girl, looking at the dense forest that surrounded the TARDIS, in the middle of Trafalgar Square.

"Are those trees?" he frowned at them, they had NOT been there before.

"I need the Doctor or the Professor," the girl said matter-of-factly, glancing from him to the Professor as she joined them in the doorway, having taken that long to reach them as she was now moving at a much slower pace, "Are you them?"

"Yes," the Professor nodded, moving to try and lean over to face the girl, but wincing and pulling up, her face screwed in pain for a moment, a deep breath and a long release helping ease the tightness in her stomach and back from the move. She could basically stand or sit, but no twisting or leaning or crouching or really anything else or she was hit with a searing pain now. Nothing unbearable, nothing that lasted long, but still difficult.

"Why, do you have an appointment?" the Doctor asked, moving to the edge of the TARDIS to squint into the distance…what little distance he could make out through the trees, "You need an appointment to see the Doctor."

"Unless you're me," the Professor sighed, "Then he's on-call 24/7. So, why don't you tell me what you're doing here and I'll pass it on to him," she teased, knowing that the sudden-forest was likely either very alien or the earth reacting to something and she'd rather not think of what bio-programmed Earth could do after the Silurian incident, also wanting to help calm the little girl down as she seemed out of breath from her run and panicked.

"Please," the girl reached out and took the Professor's hand, "Something's chasing me."

The Professor gave the Doctor a firm look for that, nodding towards the TARDIS as she led the girl inside the box, the Doctor right behind her, shutting the doors with a quick glance outside to make sure nothing was going to try and chase them to the doors.

The Doctor glanced at the girl, staring around the console room before offering, "When you drink a glass of Coke, it's only this big," he made a small gesture, "But it's actually got this much sugar in it," and a bigger one, "It works a bit like that."

"What does?" the girl blinked.

"The TARDIS," he gestured around, moving to the console as the Professor followed slower with the girl, "It's bigger on the inside than the outside, or did you not notice?"

"I just thought it was supposed to be bigger on the inside, so I didn't say anything."

"You're a very clever girl," the Professor remarked with a smile, moving to the monitor and bringing up a map of London.

"Of course it's supposed to be bigger," the Doctor moved to start running scans, moving around and around the console as he went while the Professor remained by the console. He'd noticed she was less active the last day or so, not wanting to move as much as she had been, so, without saying a word, he'd begun to move more, get things and do things for her without her asking or saying anything about it, to try and help her without making her feel like she was being weak in not being able to move as much, "Most people are confused by that."

"I find everything confusing, nearly," the girl sighed, "So, I don't say anything."

"Oh that's not a good way to be," the Professor glanced at her, "If you're confused, ask about it. Most people will love to explain things. Just ask the Doctor and I guarantee you'll get an hour's long lecture at the least."

"Ha ha," the Doctor deadpanned, making his rounds around her once more, "Says the woman that once went 18 hours straight talking about yarn and knitting."

"You seemed captivated enough," she remarked.

"Because it was you, wife," he leaned in to kiss her temple, "You talk, I'd listen to anything."

She smiled at that and looked back down at the monitor, starting to frown when she saw what she'd been trying to work out displayed before her. The distance between the Zoological Museum and where they were parked. It was quite a distance for a little girl to go on her own…and if the forest was as thick and far-reaching as it seemed…quite hard to navigate in without any help, "How did you get here, sweetie? It's quite the distance from your school trip to here on your own."

The girl frowned, "I thought Miss Oswald told me to find the Doctor or the Professor, better to find both but at least one. But it wasn't her. It was just in my head."

"Miss Oswald?" the Doctor glanced at her from across the console, "Dark hair? Highly unpredictable? Surprisingly round face?"

"Everyone says she's in love with Mr. Pink," the girl nodded.

"The Maths teacher?"

"I really like him," the girl smiled, "I was in his group."

"Mr. Pink was looking after you?" the Professor frowned, "And now you're lost," she glanced at the Doctor, "He's never babysitting for us."

"He's not allowed to even touch our children," the Doctor countered, still not happy with the man for how he'd shouted at them the last time they'd met. He shook his head and glanced at the little girl, who was…oddly silent and marginally less annoying for a typical human child, "It doesn't surprise you that we know all about your school?"

"Everyone seems to know everything about everything, apart from me," the girl shrugged.

"That's not quite true," the Doctor remarked, moving to start the TARDIS up so they could return the girl to Clara, "Unless you're the Professor of course," he nodded at her, "SHE, unlike most, does know everything about everything."

"No I don't," she waved him off.

"She's being modest," the Doctor told the girl, "She's brilliant. Whereas I, for instance, have no idea why, when the terrestrial navigation…" he gently slapped the girl's hand away as she went to touch a control, "Starts up, it closes down all the other systems."

"Because it's homing in on one planet instead of all space and time so the other systems aren't needed," the Professor answered, looking up only to see the Doctor had, in fact, pointed right at her the moment he was finished with his question, as though expecting her to answer.

"Doctor 1, Professor 0," he grinned as though he'd just won for proving her wrong.

The Professor rolled her eyes at that, "In THIS," she could accept, "Shall we re-tally how many times you've gotten lost compared to me?"

The Doctor opened his mouth like he was going to argue, before he turned and pulled a lever, only for a small spark to go off.

"You have reached your destination," a computerized voice spoke.

"No, we haven't," the Doctor moved to the Professor's side, "We're supposed to be in the middle of London."

"You have reached your destination."

"Oh, stop saying that!"

"Doctor…" the Professor pointed at the monitor, at the map of London and their location, proving they WERE exactly where he wanted to go, but the little girl spoke up.

"She's only saying it because it's true. We are in the middle of London."

"We are in the middle of a forest," the Doctor disagreed, thinking that something had to have happened, that the TARDIS had taken them on a random adventure once again to nearby woods or something like that without their knowing. It was possible, they'd been quite distracted before.

"Come and see," the girl reached out and took the Doctor's hand, the Professor laughing slightly as he allowed the girl to pull him to the doors, following slowly behind them with a slight grimace of pain, rubbing her back with one hand and her front with the other, how the children, even inactive, could still cause twinges of pain was beyond her, "Nelson's Column!" the girl was pointing when the Professor made it to the doors with them, "Do you like it?"

The Doctor just frowned and looked around, "Do we…sorry, what?"

"Do you like the forest being in Trafalgar Square?" the girl smiled, looking up at a bronze lion, catching a glimpse of a column with a statue on it in the distance, almost blocked by the trees and leaves around it, "I think it's lovely."

"Reminds me of the Ardennes," the Professor murmured, patting her stomach in thought of that adventure in the forest.

The Doctor glanced back when one of the phones started to ring, the Professor having rewired the line back to the main console instead of the instruction panel and hurried back in to answer it as the Professor led the girl back inside at a slower pace.

"You're always showing me amazing things," Clara's voice came over the speaker as the Professor reached the console as well, but stepped past it to move to the leather armchair, sitting down with a relieved sigh that made the Doctor smile at her, too much walking back and forth, "Well, I have finally got something amazing to show you!"

"Yes, well, there are some things we've never seen," the Doctor looked back down at the phone, "But that's usually because I've chosen not to see them or the Professor's talked me into not looking. Even our incredibly long life is too short for Les Miserables."

"Speak for yourself, the music is beautiful and the novel is lovely," the Professor called, her eyes closed, resting her head against the chair, gently rubbing her stomach, shifting when a twinge hit her again. Such was the curse of being this heavily pregnant, there was almost no such thing as a comfortable position now.

"Oh, you tow are going to love this!" the beam Clara was likely wearing could be heard in her voice.

"Well, when you come to collect this child, you can tell us then," the Doctor deadpanned.

"Huh? What child?"

"Young female human," the Professor offered, using her toe to absently rock the chair side to side, still not looking, "Defenseless little girl, dark hair, sweet. Your Mr. Pink was supposed to be looking after her. This is not shaping up well for you, Clara, if you and Danny ever want to babysit."

"We've talked about that," the Doctor looked at her, "No Pinks near the children."

"Not if they can't keep track of a child," the Professor agreed with a wave of her hand.

"Speaking of child," Clara cut in, "Which one, exactly? She probably has a name."

"Good point," the Doctor pointed at the girl who had been very quietly looking up at him and observing, "You. Have you got a name at all?"

"Maebh," she stated, "My name's Maebh."

"What?!" Clara almost shouted, sounding a bit as though she hadn't actually thought there really as a child there with them, especially not one of the school children, "Maebh? Where are you?"

"In the TARDIS, obviously," the Professor opened her eyes to look at the console, "If you called the TARDIS, and we answered, and she spoke from here, we're in the TARDIS."

"And where's the TARDIS?" Clara huffed.

"Trafalgar Square."

"We found her wandering around the brand new forest," the Doctor added.

"Brand new forest?" Clara repeated.

"Yes. It's like the New Forest, except even newer."

"Is that the forest that's covering London?"

"Yes," the Professor said, "Was that the amazing thing you were going to show us? 'Cos it is amazing, but we saw it first."

"Look," Clara sighed, "Is she alright?"

"She has a voice Clara," the Professor told her, "She's right here, ask her yourself. Only she can answer that, can't she?"

"Maebh?"

"I'm fine, miss," Maebh nodded.

"Good, look, will you two bring her over?"

"No," the Doctor huffed, "We can't bring her over. We're Time Lords, not childminders."

"At least not yet," the Professor corrected with a small smile, making the Doctor grin at her.

"That's different," he insisted, "Then it'll be Time Lord-minders."

"And being Time Lords, you've got a spaceship," Clara argued, "All we've got are Oyster cards which won't be useful if there's trees all over the roads and paths."

"Yes, but we've got a global, rapid forestation crisis to deal with," the Doctor told Clara, before hanging up.

"Rude," the Professor remarked.

"She was annoying me," he shrugged.

"Still rude."

He shrugged, "Still married to me, wife," he replied back in a joking tease.

"However did that happen," she teased in return with a smile.

"I managed to ensnare you with my dashing good looks, wit, and charm," he puffed out his chest.

"Or because you made me laugh with how clumsy you were," she countered, laughing at his mock-offended expression.

"Yes, well it's only fair if you made me fall in love with you just by breathing and blinking."

"Oh did I?"

"And I'm growing more and more in love just looking at you now," he gestured at her, "Breathing and blinking, how can I resist?"

She shook her head, smiling at him though, "If Clara were here now, she'd be chastising us to stop with our 'flirty thing.'"

"Good thing she's not here then," he moved closer to her, making his way to the chair and leaning in to kiss her.

"But…" the Professor pushed him back after a moment, "Someone else IS here…"

He sighed, resting his forehead to hers before he glanced back at Maebh, "Come on," he got up, moving down to Maebh, "Let's go wait for Clara outside."

"Why?" Maebh frowned, "Can't we stay in here?"

"With how quickly the forest is growing, the TARDIS might end up covered by the time Clara gets here," the Professor explained, "Best to be outside to pull the leaves and vines off, and also spot her coming sooner."

"Coming?" the Doctor looked at the Professor, who hadn't gotten up.

"Mmm…" she hummed, considering it, "No," she shook her head, "Just…want to rest up a bit more," she told him, "We're probably going to need to investigate once Clara's taken Maebh back, I'd rather save my strength."

He nodded, leading Maebh out of the box, the little girl giving her a wave before the doors shut behind them.

~8~

The Professor slowly opened the door of the TARDIS and stepped out, having heard a child shout out 'ow!' only moments ago, a child that did not sound like Maebh, and gone to check who it was. She was…quite surprised to see a flock of young children, all in the Coal Hill uniform, with Clara and Danny. She had been expecting Clara alone, thinking the girl could pop there and get Maebh and head back to the trip without too much cause for fuss, but apparently she had either been wrong or Danny had found out where Clara was planning to go and wanted to accompany her. She honestly wasn't sure which was right.

"No rings!" a little girl was saying to Danny, holding up a broken tree branch to the man, the same little girl that had called out before judging by her voice, "Trees usually have rings to tell you how old they are. This one's got no rings. Why's that then, sir?"

"The rings mark the years of growth," the Professor answered for Danny, closing the doors behind her and stepping fully out into the forest, rubbing her back. She must have been sitting longer than she thought, her back was throbbing.

"One ring for each year," the Doctor agreed, popping out of the trees from the other side of the group, though nearer to the little girl and Danny than the others, "This grew up overnight."

"Which means that whole tree is the result of just one night's growth, and they're still growing."

"Honestly," the Doctor scoffed at Danny and Clara, "Why send a maths and writing teacher to a museum about animals and trees? That'd be like sending a sailor to explain a desert!"

"Everyone," Clara sighed, gesturing at the Doctor as he made his way over to the Professor's side, a note of exasperation in her voice, "This is the Doctor and the Professor, and they're going to sort everything out. Isn't that right?" she gave them a look, "It's what they do."

"Yes, yes," the Doctor rolled his eyes, "Leave us to take care of the humans' messes."

"Or leave me to take care of yours," the Professor nudged him lightly, "Did you happen to find anything out out her?" she asked him, "Scanning the wooden trees with your sonic that doesn't work on wood?"

The Doctor huffed at her smirking expression, "Well, having looked at things, and given your oh so gentle assessment, I think, probably, the answer to that is no."

"They always say that," Clara told the children, giving the Time Lords a look not to frighten the kids, "They're really clever."

"Oh, yes, I am," the Doctor nodded, "Very clever. My lovely wife twice as much," he put his arm around the Professor's shoulder, frowning a moment at how tense she was before rolling his eyes and moving behind her to try and help massage her back more, realizing it was acting up again, "But what use is clever against trees? They don't listen to reason. You can't plead with them. You can't lie to them."

"Well, there were those rather lovely trees that we showed Frankie…they had quite delicious apples," the Professor murmured, grinning when the Doctor pulled a shiny red apple out of his pocket and held it up to her to take and snack on.

"Frankie?"

"Baum," the Professor nodded, "Preferred us calling him by his middle name."

"You mean…L. Frank Baum?" Clara blinked, "The man who wrote the Wizard of Oz?"

The Professor swallowed her bite, "You really think he just thought that trees fling apples at insulting people from nowhere? Hardly."

"If we had a dime for every author or artist or director we inspired, Clara, we wouldn't need to borrow a tenner off you so often," the Doctor deadpanned, "We should have made them sign copyright."

"Imagine if Donna had gotten Agatha to do that," she mused.

"Back to the trees, if you please," Clara shook her head, trying to keep them focused, the children starting to look more and more confused as to what was going on.

"These trees have no moving parts, no circuits," the Doctor continued.

"Unlike treeborgs," the Professor added.

"Which means this is a natural event."

"How can it be natural for a tree to grow in one night?" Danny frowned.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the Doctor looked at Clara, "Clara is there a gnat buzzing about? I can't quite hear anything over the obnoxious buzzing noise."

"Stop that," the Professor lightly whacked his chest as she moved to the side, silently telling him his efforts on her back had worked, "Be nice."

"Why should I?" he frowned, "HE hasn't been, to either of us, to YOU."

The Professor nodded at that, "But being mean back isn't going to set a good example for the children, will it?" she countered, "What was it you told Ambrose after I mentioned an eye for an eye is never the way? Oh yes, you show your child how wrong you were and make them the best of humanity."

The Doctor seemed about to grumble but let out a huff, "Fine," he turned to Danny, a Danny that wasn't glaring in anger as he'd expected but was frowning and looking somewhat thoughtful at the same time, "A tree growing overnight? That's exactly what they said about the Ice Age. How can whole glaciers just pop up out of nowhere? Well, they just did. That's how this planet grows, a series of catastrophes."

"That's how anything grows," the Professor murmured, rubbing her stomach, "You break it down and build it up, challenge it and force it to overcome and grow."

"Farewell to the Ice Age. Welcome to the Tree Age. Possibly. When the Ice Age was here, you lot managed to cook mammoth. Now there's a forest, you'll just have to eat nuts."

"I can't eat nuts," one of the boys spoke up, "I've got an allergy."

"Don't worry," Clara tried to reassure the boy, "It's a thing he does. He pretends he's not interested until the Professor either puts a spin on it to entice him or uses her sad eyes on him, and then he has an idea. He's playing for time."

"Time…" the Doctor mused, "Interesting."

"See?" Clara smiled, "Clever kicking in."

"A tree is a time machine," the Doctor began, turning more to the Professor than the humans, "You plant a little acorn in 1795, and in the year 2016, there's an oak tree, there."

"In the same spot," she nodded, following along, "With a tiny little bit of 1795 still alive inside of it. Like the Pandorica with seeds of the Universe in it."

"Exactly! You can't create an overnight forest with extra special fertilizer. You have to mess with the fabric of time. And communicate with trees…"

"Oh can we not do the running thing," the Professor grabbed his hand as he moved to try and run into the TARDIS, "I may be able to breathe easier now, but no running, not now."

He nodded, kissing her forehead quickly and holding out an arm for her to take, forcing himself to walk slower with her, into the TARDIS…only for Clara to follow with Danny and ALL the children as well.

"So you're saying it's an act of aggression?" Clara followed them up to the console with an ease of familiarity.

"By trees?" the Professor gave her a look, before shaking her head, "Doubtful."

"Trees clean the air," the same little girl that had broken the branch spoke.

"Exactly," Clara pointed at her, "Well done, Ruby. Someone or something who's trying to scrub the atmosphere before colonizing or invading…" she murmured, before realizing that the Doctor was giving a rather displeased look to all the children crammed in the console room, the Professor leaning a bit on the console as she rubbed her stomach, more amuse than displeased, "Ah, yes, ahem. This is Coal Hill Year Eight, Gifted and Talented Group."

"What are the round bits for?" the boy with the allergy pointed at the roundels in the walls.

"Ask your teacher," the Doctor waved the question off.

"Ask MY teacher," Clara gestured at the Professor who rolled her eyes at that and turned to start putting commands into the console, leaving the Doctor to deal with the rowdy children.

"Come on!" he huffed, "Down from there! Hey!" he rounded on a small group that had gathered around the Professor, trying to see what she was doing, "Away from the console. Come on. That's an antique! Get away from there! Don't touch that! Haven't any of you been struck by the fact that it's, look, it's bigger on the inside?"

The Professor had to shake her head at that, he really did love it when people said that and it was adorable to her how cross he got when people didn't say 'the thing.'

"There wasn't a forest," the girl, Ruby, crossed her arms, "Then there was a forest. Nothing surprises us anymore."

"Oh don't say that," the Professor called, "He might take that as a challenge."

"Challenge accepted," the Doctor stated, spinning around and moving to the Professor's side even as he addressed the children, "These trees all appeared at once. That wasn't a coincidence. There's no such thing as an arboreal coincidence."

The Professor sighed at that, "Which means that something or someone has coordinated this and, to coordinate, you need to communicate," she gestured at one of the scans she'd been running while the Doctor corralled the children, "Every communication channel on the TARDIS is open, and nothing," she shook her head.

The Doctor turned to look at Clara, to ask her if anything odd might have happened the night before on Earth or if there had been any odd reports, when he spotted Danny looking at a packet of workbooks that Clara had left in the TARDIS last time she was there, though that wasn't what truly caught his attention. It was that he could see that the page Danny was looking at included a lush green forest, or a child's interpretation of it, with an angry sun sending a zap of energy towards the trees.

"Except…" the Doctor hurried over to him, plucking the book from Danny's hand, "Let me see that."

"Homework books," Danny frowned, "Why are these here?"

The Doctor turned back to the Professor, not answering his question, but showing her the book instead. Her eyes widened, "How did you…"

"I used my eyes," he joked, "I noticed everything."

The Professor shook her head and turned to rest her head on his shoulder, "I really want these children born soon," she grumbled into his arm, "These little zinging pains are irritating but I'd rather have a clearer head and more focus again. Either that or I'm getting old…"

The Doctor laughed and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "No matter how old you get, your eyes will always be better than anyone's."

She smiled at that, "Speaking of my eyes and using them…" she reached out to take the open book, closing it, "Did you happen to really notice everything?" she held it up to him, waiting a moment at his confused expression before pointing to the name of the child it belonged to on the cover, 'Maebh Arden.'

The Doctor blinked and turned around, about to ask Maebh herself why she'd drawn what she had…when he realized that the little girl was, in fact, not there at all…or perhaps he was just forgetting which one she was. These humans all looked the same.

"Which one is Maebh Arden?" he began to address the children, "Which one's Maebh?" and hurried between them, looking over each one, even the boys, "Maebh? Maebh? Maebh? Maebh? Maebh? Maebh? Maebh? Maebh?"

"Doctor…" the Professor gave him a look, not even attempting to cross her arms over her stomach, but just place them on her hips, "Did you lose Maebh?"

He couldn't even answer before Ruby was shouting, "Oh, my god, Maebh's gone! Maebh's lost in the forest. Maebh's going to die!"

"Ruby, that's enough!" Clara chastised.

The Professor shook her head at that, "So much for letting YOU babysit our children," she muttered to the Doctor.

"Oh ha ha," he replied dryly, "Clara," he looked at her, waving her over, "We've got to find her…"

"Yes, I know that we have to find her," Clara nearly snapped but took a breath to calm down, "Doctor, Professor, listen to me. Her sister went missing last year. She's on medication. The child is barely functioning. She hears voices. She's very vulnerable…"

"What do the voices say?" the Professor frowned.

"I don't know," she shrugged, "She takes tablets and they stop."

"You people," the Doctor huffed, "You never learn. If a child is speaking, listen to it!"

"Oh, like you listened to her?" Danny countered.

But the Doctor just ignored him, turning to the scanner with the Professor as she tried to locate human signals, but there were too many, other people were in the forest.

"He's right," the Doctor sighed, "She was trying to tell me something and I ignored her."

"As did I," the Professor put a hand on his, not about to let him take all the blame for it, "I was too tired. I should have gone out there with you, kept an eye on her while you scanned…"

"She kept talking about the trees," the Doctor looked at the Professor, "How they could talk to each other," before glancing at Clara, "Maebh Arden is tuned to a different channel. She can lead us to the source, to the heart of the forest. We have to listen to her. We have to find her."

"Not everything can be fixed with a screwdriver," Clara shook her head at him, "It's not a magic wand."

"Does she have a phone?" the Professor cut in.

"Well, yes, she does…"

"Have you got the number?" the Professor continued, recalling how Clara hadn't had Courtney Woods before, but if Maebh was on medications then there was a chance that both she and Danny had been given her number at least.

"Er, yep…"

The Doctor plucked Clara's phone from her hand and soniced it, "Maebh Arden. Five hundred yards south east of here."

"I can go get her," the Professor offered.

"No, I'll go get her," the Doctor argued.

"If she tosses her phone, you won't be able to track her," she reminded him, "I that case you're going to need someone that actually is trained to track people. Me."

"It's a fair walk…" he frowned, resting a hand on her stomach.

"And she's a frightened child. I can do this. So long as we're not running, I'll be fine. I've walked for longer with more weight on me than this."

"I'll go with them," Danny offered, not sure if it was the thought of the two alone with Maebh or the concerned look on Clara's face for the Professor.

"Oh, I can go," Clara shook her head, "You can…"

"You haven't seen them for months?" Danny turned to Clara.

The Time Lords glanced at each other, now realizing that, even after the Boneless, Clara still hadn't told Danny about their adventures. They had been trying to give Clara more time to be 'normal' and be with Danny without causing trouble. They'd made it so that the last few trips, while only a few days or even a week for them, was about a month for her. Surely Danny wouldn't notice if she disappeared for a few minutes in the scope of a whole month of normalcy with her. They moved over to the side, allowing Clara and Danny to have a private word off to the side. To be honest, neither of them really wanted to hear what Danny might have to say about all this, knowing how he'd reacted the last time to Clara travelling with them, they'd rather not be insulted again.

The Professor, though, was actually considering confronting the man at some point, perhaps on this trip. Either they'd come to some sort of understanding…or end up shouting at each other and, perhaps, if they shouted enough it might induce labor and she'd finally get those babies out of her. She loved them, she did, but she was just…ready to have them in her arms instead of in her stomach and causing her body all sorts of issues. She let out a breath and rubbed the front of her stomach, shifting slightly to try and lessen the strain. It was almost like her body knew that she was going to be attempting a trek through the woods and was protesting it, but still, if Maebh lost her phone or if whatever created the trees cut off communications, they'd need her skills at tracking to find the girl.

"Hey!" the Doctor shouted, pulling her attention over to where he was trying to stop one of the children, Ruby, from touching the controls, "Do not. Touch. Anything. Anything. Ok?"

"Ok," Ruby frowned.

"Now if only someone could keep to that elsewhere," the Professor gave him a pointed look, he was ALWAYS touching things he shouldn't.

~8~

The Professor was…both annoyed and relieved at the Doctor as they walked through the forest with Clara, Danny staying back in the TARDIS to keep an eye on the children with the express warning NOT to touch anything (and yes, the Professor had told him, it WAS an order from an officer. Do. Not. Touch. The. Console.). He had his arm around her and was helping to support her as they walked on, as though she needed the support…which she actually really did. But she wasn't about to admit that out loud and he wasn't about to broadcast that either. She was relieved he was doing it, but also annoyed that he had to do it. She was the Professor, for crying out loud, the 'Living-Weapon,' the Predator, the most feared Academic, the 'Greatest Warrior in the Universe,' and here she was leaning on a scrawny twig to walk through a forest because she was carrying the weight of two watermelons in her stomach.

It was both endearing that the Doctor was caring for her so, and embarrassing that if anyone, like a Sontaran, were to see her she'd have quite a bit of work to do to build up her reputation again.

"Gifted and talented?" the Doctor spoke after a while, trying to distract the Professor from the thoughts going through her mind, "Really?"

"Furious, fearful, tongue-tied," Clara remarked, "They're all superpowers if you use them properly. Are they going to be alright?" she glanced back at the Time Lords, frowning lightly at the Professor, "Are YOU going to be alright Gran?"

"I'll be fine, Clara," the Professor nodded, trying to keep the pant out of her voice, "I'll need the hottest soak of my life after this," she winced as her muscles stretched, muscles she hadn't used much of recently as moving became harder to do with the added weight, "But I'll be fine."

"And they're in the TARDIS, the safest place on the planet," the Doctor added, trailing off a moment as a faint rumble shook the ground.

"Watch out!" Clara gasped, pointing up at Nelson's Column began to shake and sway, the Doctor quickly stepping back with the Professor, anticipating that it would fall…which it very quickly did, moments after they'd gotten clear of where it would fall.

The Professor let out a breath at that, frowning at stone lying before them, she and the Doctor moving to get around it and to Clara on the other side, "If this is an invasion…"

"What?" Clara looked at her.

"It's over," the Professor told her, "They're here, they've taken over everything, they've won. So what do they want?"

"Oh my stars…" Clara breathed, looking past the Time Lords, "Look behind us," she pointed over the column, "The path we just walked down. It's overgrown already."

The Time Lords frowned back at it, and indeed it was. It looked as though the trees and vines hanging there had always been there, that there hadn't been any clear path or even concrete beneath the roots of the trees. The Doctor pulled out the sonic and scanned it, frowning when a faint beep sounded and moved ahead a few feet, crouching down to pick up a small pink phone, "Clara?"

"That's Maebh's!" Clara gasped as she and the Professor walked over, "Why would she put her phone down?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the Professor shook her head, "She doesn't want to be followed."

Clara let out a breath at that, "I'm…actually frightened. I never get frightened. Why am I frightened?"

"You just lost a little girl," the Doctor glanced at her.

"Yes, that is a worry, but I know you'll find her. Gran is an expert tracker apparently," Clara absently patted the Professor's shoulder, "No, no, no. This is not a worry, this is a dread. Maebh!" she turned, trying to shout out for the girl.

"Clara," the Professor quickly quieted her, "Shout for her and she'll hear you coming. And if she DID put this down to not be followed, she'll run faster and farther and it'll make it that much more difficult and time consuming to find her. Bit of quiet, ok?" Clara nodded, swallowing hard, "Right so…" the Professor rubbed her hands together, "Let's see if I've still got it, eh?" she smiled weakly at the Doctor who nodded, moving to her side and offering his arm.

He said nothing about how much she leaned on him the moment she was near enough.

"I hate this feeling," Clara breathed, "Why am I so scared?"

"You're pursuing a little lost girl through a mysterious forest," the Doctor began to list, "The path has disappeared. Your only companions are a rude old man and a pregnant soldier…"

"And any minute now we're going to find a gingerbread cottage with a cannibal witch inside," Clara muttered.

"The forest," the Professor murmured as she eyed the branches and ground around them, able to see faint impressions of what could only be Maebh's shoes, "It's in all the stories that kept you awake at night. The forest is mankind's nightmare…" she stepped a bit out of the Doctor's hold, moving to a bush and picking up a small scrap of fabric that got caught on it, matching the uniforms the other girls had been wearing. She moved to push the branches, only for a man in a hazmat suit to appear before her.

"Get back!" the man shouted, waving at them to head away, "We're burning here. Stay back."

"We're looking for a little girl…" Clara tried to argue.

But the man would hear nothing of it, "Stay back. We're about to burn."

The trio hesitated a moment, curious to what the man meant…only to see others with him, one with a large flamethrower in hand. It was ignited, the flames licking at the leaves of one of the trees till it appeared engulfed…but the moment the flamethrower was turned off, the flames disappeared, as though they hadn't even touched the leaves. The men began grumbling to themselves, checking their equipment over but the Time Lords knew better and turned Clara away to continue on their path, taking a way around the area.

"Trees control the oxygen on this planet," the Professor mumbled, trying to work it out while walking on and ignoring the ache in her back and the slowly growing cramp in her stomach from walking so much of such uneven terrain, "They withhold it, they smother the fire."

"What sort of forest is clever?" the Doctor thought out loud, "What sort of forest has its own in-built fire extinguisher?"

"What do they want?" Clara added.

"Why now?" the Professor agreed.

"What do you mean, why now?"

The Professor didn't look at her, keeping her eyes focused on the forest, searching for any sign of a track to pick back up, "The whole natural order is turning against this planet. But why now?"

"Well, what else?" Clara shrugged.

The Doctor pulled Maebh's homework book from his pocket, turning and holding it out for Clara to see the drawing Maebh had done of the forest and the sun, "How did she know this?"

"What is it?"

"A massive solar flare headed for Earth," the Professor answered, moving a bit ahead of the two, using the trunks of the trees around her for balance and stability and to push herself on now that they were growing so close together.

"Like the one that destroyed the Bank of Karabraxos," the Doctor sighed, "I've got an entire TARDIS AND the Professor and neither of us noticed this. But she knew. How?"

"This is Maebh's," Clara spotted the name on the front, "Where did you get this?"

"You left your marking in the TARDIS."

"Oh, great, right, well, that's just brilliant, isn't it?" Clara huffed, taking the book and waving her arms about in irritation, "You don't think Danny saw this, do you?"

The Professor blinked and looked back at her, "Clara, the Doctor just informed you that a solar flare is going to wipe out your planet…and you're worried about a row with your boyfriend?" she sighed, "You wouldn't even be in this predicament if you'd been honest with him after the Boneless, after the Orient even. I don't know why you kept it from him."

"He…doesn't like me travelling with you."

"And when has that ever mattered?" the Professor scoffed, "It is your life Clara, this is YOUR decision and YOUR time and YOUR life and if he doesn't like it, he should have no say on the subject," she turned to lean on a tree, taking a moment to rest, "Has Danny travelled in the TARDIS?"

"What?" Clara gave her an odd look, "No. You know that."

"Then how can he even know that he doesn't like you travelling in it? He had ONE experience with us, that doesn't make him an expert on US. YOU know us so it should be up to YOU what you do with your life. Danny is welcome…" she shot the Doctor a look as he gave a scathing scoff at that, "To come on an adventure with us if he'd like. You can share this world with him, you wouldn't be the first."

Clara hesitated at that, "I wouldn't?"

"Clara you're not the first companion we've had, you won't be the last. We've had all sorts. We had one whose family and boyfriend knew she was travelling with us. Another who didn't tell anyone, one whose granddad knew, and one more that travelled WITH her husband. We take all sorts, Clara, it doesn't just have to be you…" she trailed off a moment, "Unless that's how you wanted it?"

"I…I don't know," Clara huffed, frustrated, "I don't know what I want or how I want it to be anymore. This is why I didn't tell anyone about you two. I wanted to keep my lives separate."

"Keeping secrets from the ones you care about never ends well," the Doctor remarked for the first time in a few minutes now, giving remarkably wise words, "Believe me Clara, it never ends well," he looked at the Professor softly for that, both of them all too aware of the trouble that could come from secrets and not sharing concerns.

"You didn't tell your parents, your family, your boss or the kids you were nannying," the Professor began to list, "You didn't tell Danny. And that's fine Clara. If it were up to us, we'd rather you not tell too many people, but it IS up to you who you share that part of your life with."

"It's just…" Clara shifted slightly, "Danny's an important part of my life too. I just want to make him happy."

"Don't make him happy if it means making yourself miserable," the Doctor looked at her, "Clara, you're our granddaughter," the Doctor said, making Clara smile to hear that he seemed to be forgiving her for her blow up before, "We just want you to be happy and if, one day, you want to stop travelling and only have us round for dinner here or there, we would be ok with that, so long as it's what YOU want and not what you think Danny wants from you. I don't like Maths boy," he held up his hand to stop Clara speaking, wanting to finish talking, "I don't like him because I feel like he's trying to make you give up something you don't want to, that you HAVE to give it up to be with him, that he won't be with you if you don't."

"Clara," the Professor began hesitantly, absently rubbing her stomach and shifting against the tree to try and put less pressure on her body, "If there were another war, knock on wood," she knocked on the tree behind her, "Would you WANT Danny to go out and fight?"

"No!" Clara gasped, "God no! I…I'd want him to be safe, I wouldn't want him to…" her voice broke at just the thought of it.

"But you KNOW he'd go anyway," the Professor continued, "You know he'd go, without a thought, because he feels it's his duty. He WANTS to, because he is a soldier and he loves his country and he'd want to protect them. He WOULD go out there and fight, even if it's something you don't want. Even if it was the ONE thing you asked him not to do, he'd still go. Wouldn't he?" Clara nodded shakily at that, knowing in her heart he would, "Why should you be forced to give up something you want to do, because he doesn't want you to do it, when he wouldn't give up what he would want to do because you don't want him to do it?"

Clara looked down at that, in that perspective…they were right. They were both very right. She was thinking about Danny and what this would mean for him…and not about what it would mean for HER, for her…for her grandparents, her family. She wasn't ready to give up the travelling and she should have just talked to him about it. If he couldn't accept what she wanted and trust her then…then was he really the one for her?

"I shouldn't," she nodded, looking up, "If…if I want to travel with you, I should be able to. And…and if I get hurt then it's on ME and because it was MY decision. And if I want to stop one day, then it'll be because it's MY decision."

"Good," the Doctor nodded, "If you stop doing something before you're ready to, all that happens is that you grow to resent the thing that made you stop."

"And you don't want that," the Professor smiled at Clara, "You're too special to be filled with resentment Clara."

Clara smiled at that in return, "I am special," she nodded to herself, "And…so is Maebh. Her drawing," she looked down at it, frowning as something caught her sight, "She put today's date on it, last week…how could she know this was coming?"

"There's only one way to find out," the Professor pushed off the tree, "If they want something, if they're saying something, then Maebh might be able to hear it."

"She's lost someone," the Doctor moved to the Professor's side, winding an arm around her as they started moving again, thinking out loud once more, "People who've lost someone, they're always listening, always looking, always hoping…"

"They use their eyes, their ears and every other sense, they notice more," the Professor agreed, the Doctor turning to press a kiss to her temple for everything she'd lost that had led her to become as observant as she was.

Clara stopped a moment when a howl rang out in the distance, "Was that a howl?" she spun around as she heard another, "Was that a wolf?"

"I'm afraid so," the Professor nodded, recognizing the sound.

"No. That is impossible. We're in London…"

"Would that be the London with the zoo?" the Doctor remarked sarcastically, "The zoo with the pack of wolves? The zoo whose barriers and gates have probably been mangled by the trees? No, wolves are not impossible. Stick to the path, Red Riding Hood."

"There is no path," Clara's head snapped over her shoulder as they heard a pack howl now.

"There is if you know where to look," the Professor pointed to a broken branch, moving over to it, "See…prints," she gestured to them, "Now we just have to…"

Whatever she was about to say was cut off by the sound of someone screaming, of a little girl screaming.

"Maebh!" Clara gasped, running in the direction of the scream.

The Professor grit her teeth as the Doctor looked at her in concern, knowing running wouldn't be very good for her right now, but she nodded, resting her hands on her stomach as she moved as quickly as she could after Clara, silently urging the Doctor to go ahead of her if he needed to, to keep Clara in sight, but he wouldn't leave her.

"Maebh!" they could see Clara just a few feet away, by a wrought iron fence, Maebh on the other side of it…with three wolves growling at her from just a step or two before her, "Doctor, give me a boost so I can pull her over!"

"Or you could do this," the Professor grabbed the sonic out of the Doctor's pocket and flashed the fence.

Maebh turned and ran through the fence now that it was unlocked, running to their side as Clara slammed the gate shut once more.

'Kata?' the Doctor's voice called in the Professor's head as she curled a hand around one of the gate's bars, panting against it, her hand pressed to the side of her stomach.

'Fine,' she swallowed hard, 'Just…no running again, no more running right now…'

He nodded, crossing his hearts for her before he spun to Maebh, "Maebh, you came looking for the Professor and I. You didn't…" he frowned as Maebh began to swat at the air, as though there were tiny gnats buzzing around her that only she could see, "Maebh, Maebh, you didn't just stumble into the TARDIS. Tell me what you know…"

"Doctor," Clara called, her attention on the wolves as both Time Lords appeared preoccupied at the moment.

"This is important," he waved her off.

"Yes. Can we please deal with the wolves first?" she looked at the Professor, "Can't you scare them off with your blaster?"

"I would if I could," the Professor took as many deep breaths as she could, her stomach was tense from the run and nearly throbbing in protest.

"If you could?"

"My lovely husband confiscated my blaster last week."

"What?!" Clara turned to the Doctor.

"She nearly shot me!" he defended, "And besides, we don't need the blaster. Those are zoo wolves. They're not even used to hunting."

As though to disprove that, the wolves began to growl, their teeth visible.

"Doctor!" Clara shouted.

"Just to look as if we're too much bother to eat," the Professor absently waved her arm, "Stay still, stay together, and look big."

Clara nodded, reaching out to pull Maebh towards her, crowding closer to the Doctor as he moved to the Professor's side, rubbing her stomach to help her, as the wolves…leapt over the fence and proceeded to run away with whine.

"See?" the Doctor rolled his eyes, "They were rubbish. Those wolves are terrified."

Clara, however, tensed at the words, "…what are wolves frightened of?"

"Tigers," the Professor remarked.

"Really?" Clara looked at her.

The Professor gave her a look, "I don't know. But I HEAR a tiger," she jerked her head to the side…where, moments later, a large, black and orange stripped tiger crept out of the shadows, roaring at them as it stalked towards the gate.

"Ok…and we deal with a tiger HOW?"

"Well if I HAD my blaster…" the Professor began.

"You'd shoot at the tiger's feet to scare it off," the Doctor grumbled, "And then shoot me for taking the blaster away."

The Professor could only nod at that, that was likely very true at the moment.

Thankfully, they didn't have to come up with a plan to stop the tiger attacking as a flash of light appeared, moving rapidly across the tiger's face, making it whine and turn to run off, revealing Danny standing there with a torch in hand, the children following behind him, cheering as the large predator fled.

"Mr. Pink!" Clara gasped, grinning at him, "Why, thank you very much!"

Danny grinned at that, "Ah, no problem. Just decided it was best not to leave you alone," he nodded at the kids, "They've worked well together. Noticeable increase in confidence and energy levels…" he trailed off as Maebh began to swat at the air, the Doctor and Professor just watching her.

"Well done," Clara nodded, "And for saving us from a tiger, too."

But Danny was focused on Maebh, "Er, has she had her medication yet?"

"Oh!" Clara gasped, spinning around to look at Maebh, "No, I…"

"No, no," the Doctor held up a hand, "Not her medication. We don't want to shut her up. We want to know what she knows," he glanced at the Professor who nodded and he stepped away from her to crouch before Maebh, more on eyelevel with her, "Maebh, what's the…Maebh, what is this? What is this?" he mimicked her swatting.

"Apart from being almost savaged by a tiger and abducted by a Scotsman, she's allowed any nervous tics she likes, ok?" Danny frowned.

"That is not a nervous tic," the Professor shook her head, looking over at Danny, "I know, believe me. I know the difference between a nervous tic and seeing something others can't."

"There's not there," Danny gestured at Maebh.

"Can you see the wind?" the Professor countered, "But you feel it, right? Can you see someone in pitch blackness? But you can HEAR them. Our senses tell us more than just our eyes and Maebh is seeing something that we can't."

"It's not a tic, it's a reaction," the Doctor agreed.

"Please!" Ruby cried, "Just give her her tablets. She's been in a state since her sister went missing."

"And she's been trying to tell you something since then and you haven't heard her," the Professor told them.

The Doctor straightened up as Maebh ran past him, Clara, Danny, and the children hurrying after her as the Doctor looked at the Professor.

"No more running," she shook her head, holding out a hand to him, "But she's a child, she's got short little legs, a brisk walk will put us on pace with her."

He chuckled at that but took her hand to help tug her away from the fence and into his arms, wrapping one tightly around her shoulders as they went after the humans. Her assessment had been right, because the others were following a child and she hadn't gotten very far nor could she at her pace and leg length. They came to a small clearing, almost circular in nature, with trees around the edges covered in cobwebs, rather quickly, to see Maebh standing there, swatting, though her swatting was growing fainter.

"It's coming," Maebh gasped, "It's coming for everyone, and I can't unthink it!"

"Maebh," the Doctor stepped forward with the Professor who stepped past him slightly to the cobwebs, reaching out to touch one, wanting to make sure it was truly natural or something alien, "Maebh, this forest is communicating. With you. Nobody else. No technology can hear what it's saying, but you can. Tell us what it wants. Where it came from. Just tell me who did this."

"It was me," the girl sniffled, "I did this. I did these trees."

"No," the Professor shook her head, turning to join the Doctor, "You didn't make a global forest appear overnight. Somehow…this is all a truly natural event."

"But…the thoughts come to me. Ever since Annabel went missing, I look for her everywhere. I don't find her, but I find thoughts. The big forest was one. I thought everyone would love it. The thoughts! The thoughts! They go so fast…" she grimaced, her eyes flickering around as though she were looking at thoughts buzzing around her.

"Maebh…" Clara stepped forward slightly, actually listening to what the Time Lords and Maebh were saying, "Can you really see something that we can't see?"

"Nearly," Maebh frowned, "Too fast. Everywhere!"

"Everything's subject to gravity," the Professor murmured, reaching into the Doctor's pocket and pulling the sonic out, "If I can create a little local increase…" she flicked it on.

"No," Danny strode forward, "You're not experimenting on…"

He reached for the Professor's wrist but she turned, even in her condition, and grabbed his wrist, using the momentum of pulling it down to twist Danny around and shove his arm up his back as he hissed in pain, "I dare you to tell ME I'm experimenting on Maebh Daniel Pink, say it and see what I do!"

"Danny," Clara frowned at him, shaking her head, "Don't. Don't imply that. And don't try to stop them."

The Professor pushed him back and turned to focus on shifting the gravity again, the Doctor at her side, glaring at Danny over her shoulder as she worked it out.

"But she's…" Danny gestured at the Professor.

"Been experimented on," Clara told him solemnly, "And she would NEVER…not to a little girl. Not now."

"What…" Danny blinked at Clara, seemingly frozen in shock, his arm still half extended towards the Professor.

"You don't know them," Clara reminded him, "You barely listen to me when I TRY to tell you about them. So don't you dare presume to know what they're actually doing, ok? If you did even attempt to get to know them, you'd know they're helping her. They're…" she trailed off a moment, starting to smile as she saw something past Danny's shoulder, "They're trying to show her she's not mad."

Danny slowly turned at that, seeing that small specks of golden light had started to form in the air, flying past Maebh's head, in the exact places she'd been swatting at before, more slowly now though. She…she really HAD been able to see something they couldn't and all the Professor had been trying to do was show them it.

"They're lovely!" Maebh breathed, before frowning, "They don't like it when you're holding them. They want you to let them go."

"Who are they?" the Doctor asked.

"We are…" the Time Lords looked at each other as Maebh's voice began to take on another quality, her voice high, but seeming to echo with numerous others, "Here. Here, always, since the beginning and until the end."

"Here? That's it?"

"We are the green shoots that grow between the cracks, the grass that grows over the mass graves. After your wars are over, we will still be Here. We are the life that prevails."

"Why now?" the Professor shook her head, "Why are you here now?"

"We hear the call and we come, as we came before to the great North Forest, where we lie still in a great circle. As we came to the vast Southern Forest."

"Who is calling you now?" the Doctor picked up.

"The sun that creates. The sun that destroys. You are hurting us. Let us go."

"You sent for us," the Doctor held up a hand to the Professor for the sonic, "The girl came looking for my wife and I. Why? Why us?"

"We did not send. Pain. Did not send for you. We don't know you. We were here before you and will be here after you."

The Doctor nodded at that, flicking the sonic to release the golden speckles, allowing them to fade and buzz quickly once more, the children murmuring behind them even as Maebh fell to her knees, the Doctor at her side in an instant, "Maebh, you came looking for the Doctor and Professor. Think. Who sent you for us?"

"It was just a thought," Maebh panted slightly, "It was just a thought that came. I think it came from Miss," she glanced at Clara, who seemed confused, "They've gone," she looked at the Time Lords, "Why does everything have to go?"

The Doctor gave her a gentle pat on the back and helped her to her feet as Clara came over, "This really is going to happen, isn't it?" she asked the two aliens quietly, mindful of the children around.

"Stars implode," the Doctor sighed, "Planets grow cold. Catastrophe is the metabolism of the universe. We can fight monsters. We can't fight physics."

"Nor, it appears, can we fight nature," the Professor gasped, making the Doctor turn to her sharply to see her standing there with her hands on her stomach, "I…think my water's just broken."

"What?!" the Doctor gaped at her.

"My water's broken," the Professor repeated, "Unless I've just wet myself which…I haven't done in over 1,000 years so…"

"Oh my stars," Clara's eyes widened, running to the Professor's side and touching her stomach, "My cousins are coming?" she whispered, looking at the Professor.

"It appears they want to help," the Professor swallowed hard, "Doctor?" she looked at the stunned man.

"Right, yes!" the Doctor shook his head firmly and moved over to her side, "We need to get you back to the TARDIS and…"

"The earth," the Professor moved to put an arm around his neck, feeling her legs having gone unreasonably shaky now, "What…we need to help the Earth too."

"There's no helping it," he shook his head, his mind so frazzled he almost wasn't aware he was saying such a thing, he just…his wife was about to have their children and she was talking about a planet? Priorities!

"Doctor," Clara elbowed him.

"Here," Danny moved over to the Time Lords, "She doesn't seem like she can walk, we'll have to carry her. If we do it between us we can move faster."

"Are you calling me fat?!" the Professor huffed at Danny, but the man was silent, moving to her other side and putting her arm around his neck as well, the two of them wrapping their arms around her back and lifting her with their other arm under her legs.

"Right, class, follow me, this way, come on," Clara called to the kids, half jogging to keep up with the Doctor and Danny as they hurried along with the Professor between them, "Why would trees want to kill us?" she asked the Time Lords. This was turning out to be like the moon, where something was happening to the Professor and the Doctor couldn't split his focus yet, so…if it came down to it and it was up to HER to save the day again, this time she'd be ready, this time she'd make them proud. But she had to know what she was getting into, what was going on, "We love trees."

"And yet you chop them down for furniture," the Professor grumbled.

"For centuries!" the Doctor added, "If that's love, no wonder they're calling down fire from the heavens."

"But we saw the future," Clara argued, "Lots of futures. Earth's futures."

"They're about to be erased."

Clara swallowed at that, ok…so not like the moon then, likely no chance at all that SHE could save the planet, but…she could still get them to save part of it, "If you can't save them all, save who you can," she ignored Danny's look at her for that remark, "The TARDIS. It's a lifeboat, isn't it? Not everybody has to die."

"But could you do it Clara?" the Professor looked at the girl.

"Do what?"

"Decide who should live and who is left to die?"

Clara fell silent at that.

~8~

"I can stand on my own," the Professor murmured to the Doctor as he had his arms wound around her, the two of them standing before the TARDIS in Trafalgar Square. The box had been nearly entirely covered with vines and leaves so Danny had set the kids and himself to work, pulling everything off while Clara and the Doctor stood to the side with the Professor. The Doctor seemed to think that he had to keep a hold of her to keep her upright, just because she'd been carried there. But her legs, while they might not be able to walk much, they were shaking, she could at least stand on them.

"And this might be the last time I get to stand with my wife in my arms, feeling my children inside her," the Doctor argued, "Not letting go till I have to."

The Professor shook her head at that, he was so sentimental at times.

Clara swallowed and looked at the Time Lords from the TARDIS, "When they're done, you need to get in your box and go," she told them, having thought long and hard about what the Professor had said about choosing and lives being saved.

"We're all going," the Doctor agreed, "We're taking the kids."

"Taking them where?" Clara scoffed, "What are you going do with them? Leave them on an asteroid? Find a space academy for the gifted and talented? They just want their mums and dads, and they're never going to stop wanting them."

"We can save you and Danny," the Doctor offered.

"Danny Pink will never leave those kids so long as he is breathing."

"We can save you, Clara," the Professor looked at her, the children cheering as they managed to uncover the TARDIS.

But Clara shook her head, "I don't want you to."

"What, you don't want to live?" the Doctor frowned.

"Of course I want to live. I just…I don't…"

"You don't want to see your cousins born?"

Clara closed her eyes a moment, "That's just it," she looked at them, "They're not my cousins, not really. And I…"

"You what?"

"Don't make me say it."

"Say what?" he genuinely had no idea what she was trying to say.

"I don't want to be the last of my kind," Clara whispered, knowing they'd understand.

She wanted to be there, to see the babies born, she did, she wanted to love them and spoil them and be the best cousin or aunt or whatever relative she could be to them…but in the end, they weren't her blood-family, they were another species, and…going with them now, being around them as the Time Lords raised their children, no longer the last of their species, would just remind her she WAS the last of hers.

"And I can't let you two stick around and wipe out your kind either," she continued, "You two have saved me, saved earth, saved humanity so many times. But this time the human race is saving you," she held up her key to the TARDIS for them, "Make it worthwhile."

"Clara…" the Professor shook her head, "This is…the only home we have left as well. This world has become like a second home to us."

"We walk your earth, we breathe your air," the Doctor frowned.

"And on behalf of this world, you're very welcome," Clara smiled, "Now, go. Save the next one," she said this to the Doctor, but looked very pointedly at the Professor, her gaze flickering to her stomach and back to the Doctor, her meaning clear.

The Professor was his world, and it was time to make sure she was safe and healthy, that she gave birth to the most perfect little time-tykes ever, and their world kept turning.

"I'm not the first companion, I won't be the last," she offered, repeating their words back to them, "I'll just be the last human one from Earth."

The Doctor looked back and forth between Clara and the Professor before nodding solemnly, winding his arm around the Professor's waist and slowly leading her to the TARDIS, past a silent Danny and into the box. They carefully made their way up to the console, passing the monitor and scanner when the Professor paused.

"We haven't left yet," she murmured, frowning.

"We haven't piloted off yet," the Doctor nodded, not sure what she meant, they hadn't been at the controls to pilot the box.

"Hasn't stopped mum in the past," she reminded him.

His eyes widened at that, the TARDIS loved them and, in the Professor's condition, would have flown them off the moment the doors shut if it had been dangerous to be on Earth at the moment…but they were still there. His gaze turned to the scanner, an image of the sun having been picked up, the edges of it flickering with solar flares…and then it hit him. The flares, the failed flamethrower…

"Maebh's drawing!" he realized, "Solar flares…and a flame-proof forest! It's not the end of the world, it's a failsafe to keep that from happening!"

The Professor smiled at that, "We need to tell Clara."

He shook his head, "We need to get you to the med-bay."

"I have time," the Professor argued stubbornly, "I can't even feel the contractions, they must be far apart yet," she reasoned when he moved to open his mouth, "We have plenty of time, I'll just…sit," she nodded at the armchair, "You can do all the running after Clara and piloting."

The Doctor seemed hesitant, "You…you're certain? The contractions aren't close?"

"I think I would know if I was in labor, husband," she rolled her eyes, "I'll go to the med-bay as soon as Clara and the children are reassured…though I would like to speak to Danny before I end up screaming and cursing your name and breaking your hand…"

He rolled his eyes at that but…she seemed ok, for the moment, she seemed not-in pain, and reasonable and…if the contractions really were that far away that she could barely feel them, then they HAD to have time, "Fine," he finally agreed, leading her to the armchair, "I'll be right back," he promised, kissing her forehead before running out of the box, shouting for Clara.

The Professor looked up at the rotor as the TARDIS gave what almost sounded like a chastising sound, "What?"

~8~

The Professor was absently patting her stomach as it tensed periodically, not sharp pains, nothing at all like what she'd read contractions were like. It almost seemed like a bit of a precursor to the contractions, if she had to be honest. It was like an annoying tensing that lasted a few seconds and then faded and came back. They were getting nearer and she was sure once they became almost constant that her true labor pains would start. But she distracted herself by focusing on the Doctor as he gave an astronomy lesson to Clara, Danny, and the children that he'd managed to get back to the TARDIS after they'd started to head back for the school.

"It's there on the screen, look," the Doctor was saying, turning the monitor to the gathering sitting on the stairs that led to the upper level of the console room, "Big solar flare headed this way," he pointed at the image of the sun, "A thousand kilometers a second."

"Coronal mass ejection," the Professor offered, "Geomagnetic storm…"

"Ignore her," Clara murmured to the kids, knowing SHE didn't even recognize half those words.

"It's huge," the Doctor simplified, "It's brewing up a solar wind big enough to blow this whole planet away," apparently not simple enough as all he got were blank faces staring back at him, though there was a growing fear in the eyes of the children, "I assumed your teachers have mentioned this?"

"I thought it would spoil an otherwise enjoyable walk," Clara gave him an irritated look.

"Ok, ok, well, this is the bad news. The good news is…it's happened before. And you're still here."

"The Tunguska Blast, 1908," the Professor offered.

"That should have blown the whole planet off its axis, but it didn't. It knocked a few trees over. Well, a few tens of thousands of trees over."

"Curuçá in Brazil."

"Same story. Earth should have been smashed, but it wasn't."

"Now, what do these things have in common?"

"I can't believe you're giving us a lesson while in the middle of labor," Clara muttered at her.

But the Professor just waved her off, "Answers, anyone?"

"They're really, really scaring us?" Ruby guessed.

"Trees," the Doctor answered, "Whenever there's a planet-threatening, extra-terrestrial impact…trees."

Still with the blank faces, didn't the teachers at that school actually TEACH anything?

"The massive forest means the atmosphere is filled with oxygen," the Professor called.

The Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed at her, "Pumping it up like a massive, highly inflammable airbag, so that when trouble hits…"

"Everyone dies," the nut-allergy boy stated.

"No!" the Professor laughed, "The impact burns off the excess oxygen."

"You have some fairly hectic weather for a few days and some fairly trippy looking sunsets," the Doctor mused, "But apart from that, you will be alright," he grinned, "I was wrong!"

"Savor that children! Never admits that often."

"The trees are not your enemy," the Doctor continued, ignoring her, "They're your shield. They've been saving you since forever. Protecting you from everything that space can throw at you."

"The wide ring…." Clara murmured, looking between the Time Lords, "The red ring. In the museum, Ruby saw a cross-section of a tree. One of the rings was wider than the others, and red."

"Atmospheric dust," the Professor shifted, starting to sit up more in her chair, a frown of concentration on her face as she placed a hand on her stomach, "Captured by the trees."

"The fingerprint of an asteroid," the Doctor nodded, "Happy Red Ring Day."

"I don't get it," Ruby frowned, "If they're good, then why are we chopping them down?"

"The Government are sending out defoliating teams," Danny stated, seeing the confused look on the Doctor's face…the Professor seemed confused about something else, "They're dropping chemicals on them right now."

"What is it with you people?" the Doctor huffed, "You hear voices, you want to shut them up. The trees come to save you, you want to chop them down."

"Or you think you need to save the world when it's already saving itself," Clara smirked at him.

"Or that you're just starting labor when, really…you might have been in the middle of labor this entire time," the Professor added.

The Doctor started to nod at that, before her words caught up to him, "What?!" he spun around to face her.

"I…think I might have been having contractions this whole day…"

"I…what?" the Doctor repeated.

The Professor swallowed hard and looked at him, "I've been feeling twinges and spasms and cramping and tension…but…but it was nothing, it barely even hurt. But…my stomach's tensing, and the tensing's getting closer together, like contractions."

"But they're extremely painful!" Clara gape at her, "You'd KNOW…"

"I've been through worse Clara," the Professor reminded her, "I…have a very high pain tolerance…"

The Doctor just stared at her, could it really be possible that the Professor had been in labor this entire time and not realized it? She DID have a high tolerance for pain, after the war, after her training, every torture she endured had built her up. She very well might have been experiencing contractions and not even realized it. And it WAS possible, it did happen, that for some women the water didn't break till right before the…um, well, pushing was needed.

"Oh my god," the Doctor gaped at her, "We need to get you to the med-bay now!"

"No," the Professor held up a hand as he move to her side to help her up, "We need to stop the government."

"We need to make sure you're ready and set up to have our children," he argued.

"I'll go," she promised, crossing her hearts, "I'll go to the med-bay right now, but one of us has to stay here and contact the government, has to put out the word to leave the trees alone…"

"But…"

"Danny," the Professor looked at him, "Could you help me to our med-bay?"

"What me?" Danny blinked, but glanced at Clara who seemed equally surprised, and nodded, "I guess…"

The Professor turned to the Doctor, "You and Clara get the call out, then come to the med-bay."

"But…" the Doctor swallowed, "I don't want to miss it. If you're that close…"

"You won't," she smiled at him, resting his hand on her stomach, "If these children are anything like either of us, they'll be stubborn and they'll want the both of us there or not come out at all."

He had to laugh lightly at that, "I suppose it'll be my reward for helping save the earth?"

"That's one way to think of it," she nodded, "Best hurry though…" she looked at Danny and held out a hand to him to grab his arm as she led him out of the room, already hearing the Doctor checking the mobile networks to put the call out as they left.

"Why me?" Danny asked as they walked slowly.

"I wanted to talk to you before I was too exhausted to after this," she gestured at her stomach, "And before you left the TARDIS and may not step back in it or want to see the Doctor or I."

He could nod at that, he was fairly certain he'd rather avoid them if he could, "I…wanted to talk to you too. The Doctor as well but I don't think he's very up for a chat."

"He's not," she agreed, "He doesn't like that you shouted at me."

"I don't like that I shouted at you," he sighed, "That's what I wanted to say, I'm…I'm sorry I did. It wasn't right of me to. Not just because you're a woman and manners, but…you were pregnant to and you just don't DO that. No decent bloke shouts at a pregnant woman or…"

"My dad used to shout a lot," she cut in quietly, "He was…an angry man. He shouted. It's hard to STOP shouting once you start. It's hard to not shout at someone else when they get in the way of you being angry. I understand why you shouted at me. You were yelling and yelling at the Doctor, you can't just turn it off instantly because I said one thing to you. If it had just been me and you, you wouldn't have even started shouting. The Doctor…has a way of making people shouty."

"Still, I AM sorry that I yelled at you," Danny offered, sighing, "I shouldn't have shouted at all. It was your…home," he realized that now, he'd started a fight in what was literally the Time Lords' home, he'd been a guest and disrespected them by doing that, he hadn't realized it till now, till he'd heard them talking to Clara about how Earth was their second home and realized they'd lost their first home, "I shouldn't have done it. I just…Clara almost got attacked by that thing and she was trying to say the Doctor was a decent man and you were both looking out for her but…"

"But?" the Professor fished a bit, she knew there was more to Danny's shouting than he let on, but she could only guess what it was.

"You're his wife. You're pregnant. The Doctor proved it just before…you or the world, he'd pick you."

"And Clara is your world," the Professor finished for him, recalling Clara's words to the Doctor.

"She just might be," he admitted, swallowing hard, "And if it came down to it, he'd pick you, he'd save you over Clara. You said it yourself that, if you hadn't been pregnant, YOU would have been the one running around the school trying to stop that thing attacking, but you were pregnant so it was Clara doing all that. If the Doctor was looking after you and you were pregnant and couldn't look after Clara then…then she could get hurt. I didn't like that. I didn't like knowing she was putting herself in danger just for a bit of fun. It was stupid to me, it IS still stupid to me but…I went about it the wrong way. I just got so angry thinking that no one would be there to watch out for her and have her back."

"The Doctor's the same way with me, if I get hurt, he…doesn't have the best reactions with the ones that let it happen," she nodded to herself, thinking on that, "I will always protect Clara to the best of my ability, Danny, as will the Doctor. You care about her, but so do we. We don't want to see her hurt any more than you do."

"I get that," he nodded, may not fully believe it, but he did see that they both did care for Clara.

"Danny…" the Professor stopped before a door, the one to the med-bay, and looked at him, "You're so protective of her, because you love her, because you know just HOW hurt you can get in the middle of something dangerous. You're a soldier and you want to protect and keep people safe…especially those children."

"Yeah, doesn't every soldier?" he tried to shrug it off.

"No," the Professor said with a little shake of her head, "I feel the same way about children, they are…precious and I would protect a child I don't know to my last breath," she tilted her head, "You feel the same, don't you?"

"I suppose."

"Because you killed one, didn't you?"

"Why would you ask me that?" he frowned, taking a step away from her, knowing Clara couldn't have told her, HE hadn't even told her yet.

"It was an accident."

He stared at her a long moment, "How can you tell?" he asked quietly, "For all you know, I could have done, I could be a monster."

"You didn't and you aren't," the Professor told him, "Because the look in your eye…will never be the same as in mine," she sighed, "A soldier can always recognize another soldier, can see similar pains in them. You killed a child on accident…I…I didn't," Danny's mouth fell open, "It was war," she grew quiet, "I was tasked with a mission. I was a monster then, barely human," she swallowed hard, looking at him, letting him see how badly that had scarred her, "And I regret it every day of my considerably long life. I try to make up for it, I try to keep the children safe, especially, because of that. But what you need to realize, Danny…I see Clara as a child, as my granddaughter. So I would give my life to see her safe. To you, she's a woman you love, to me, she's a child. Do you understand now, that you don't have to worry about her, not as much as you have been?"

Danny nodded slowly at that, an understanding seeming to pass between them at what she'd revealed. The way he felt about those kids, she felt twice as much and had felt for likely centuries more than him. And if she really saw Clara as a child…she would really be in safe hands…as much as he didn't want to admit that.

"Good," the Professor smiled, "If…you could do one thing for me though?"

"What?" he looked at her.

"Get the Doctor and tell him he's probably got about five minutes before his children decide they're not stubborn but as impatient as him?"

Danny's eyes widened at that as he turned and ran down the hall, back towards the console room as the Professor let herself into the med-bay to wait, only minutes to go…

~8~

"You broke my hand," the Doctor murmured as he sat in the doorway of the TARDIS, a bundle in a pink blanket cradled in his arms, looking down at the earth, at the solar flare heading for it, passing over it, the fires being repelled by the trees that had condensed so much it appeared as though the earth were almost entirely green instead of partly blue.

"I did no such thing," the Professor countered from beside him, more focused on the bundle in blue in her own arms.

Clara had to shake her head as she knelt behind the two aliens, peering over their shoulder at the bundles and the solar flare. The aliens were looking more at their children, completely missing the moment but that was completely fine and understandable.

The Doctor had scrambled to get everything ready for a transmission, timing the children to two minutes to come up with a script that Maebh broadcast over the planet, reassuring people that the trees were there to help and to leave them alone, sneaking in a request for her sister to come home. Danny had come running into the room shortly after she'd finished, telling him the Professor said it was time before he touched the TARDIS back down in Trafalgar Square and half kicked the children out along with Danny. She'd offered to go with the man but he'd just told her that he'd heard her call the babies her 'cousins' before and that she shouldn't miss the birth of her family, because that was important. He had been sure to tell her he HAD seen the date on her kids' homework books, he did know she'd been travelling with the Time Lords behind his back, and just requested she be honest with him. He told he to stay with them for this, to see her 'cousins' born and think about what she wanted him to know, how much, and if she could be truthful from here on out before coming to see him again. He hadn't sounded like he was going to break up with her just that…he wanted honesty. It was almost like he might be ok with her travelling in the box, so long as she told him that was where she was. But she wouldn't know till she sat down and talked to him and, to be honest, that was the LAST thing on her mind right now, not with the two adorable babies before her.

She had practically run after the Doctor when he'd set the TARDIS to space and rushed to get to the Professor's side. She'd helped, assisted in the birth actually. The Doctor had delivered the children…the easiest birth he had ever seen, he'd remarked. And the Professor had looked fine throughout it, hardly in pain, or if she was, hardly feeling it. And out they came, two screaming kiddies…the boy first and then…a girl. The Time Lords had been ecstatic about it, she knew they'd be either way. They both wanted one child that was like a miniature of the other and now they had it. She couldn't tell what they'd look like just yet, both had no hair and their eyes were the blue all babies were. But they were adorable…and sleeping.

She had to laugh at that.

The Doctor and Professor had been insistent that the children's first sight be the humans saving themselves, or the trees saving them, just…something being saved…so they'd cleaned up the babies and there they were, watching the solar flare but not actually watching it, any of them.

"That is amazing," Clara murmured, watching as the gold of the solar flare slowly died away, blinking in surprise when the green began to lessen, as though the trees themselves were just…disappearing, "How will they explain this tomorrow?"

"You'll all forget it ever happened," the Professor murmured, lightly rocking her son.

"We are not going to forget an overnight forest."

"You forgot the last time."

"You remembered the fear and you put it into fairy stories," the Doctor nodded, speaking in an uncharacteristic whisper, his finger caught in his daughter's grip even as she slept, "It's a human superpower, forgetting. If you remembered how things felt, you'd have stopped having wars."

"And stopped having babies," the Professor laughed, "Or so I've heard."

It was ironic, she'd read so much about the pain of childbirth, the Doctor had been so worried to see her in pain like that…and she'd barely felt a thing. For once, her training seemed to have had a good side-effect in one regard.

Clara smiled once more, "I'm gonna go put the kettle on," she told them, placing her hands on their shoulders, "We should all have a celebratory cup of tea for my cousins' birth-day."

The Time Lords glanced over their shoulder as Clara disappeared into the TARDIS's halls, before looking down at the earth and then at each other.

"We did it," the Professor murmured.

"We did," the Doctor agreed, reaching out to take her hand, kissing it lightly, "Shall we introduce mum to her grandkids?"

The Professors laughed but nodded, the two of them carefully getting up and shutting the doors, heading over to the console, the room humming and filling with an increasing light from the rotor, "Well mum," the Professor took a breath, shifting her son so that the box could see him clearer, "This is your grandson, Kehar."

"And your granddaughter," the Doctor smiled, "Tala."

The Time Lords beamed up at the rotor as the TARDIS nearly buzzed around them, sounding utterly happy for her children.

And they were as well, nothing in the Universe could top that moment, the two of them, with their children, in their TARDIS, just as it should be.

A/N: The Keta twins are here! Woo! ^-^ Lol, I sort of wanted a bit of irony here where, because of everything the Professor's been through, all the pain and training and hurt and torture that she genuinely has NO idea she's in labor. Because the pain she was expecting wasn't as great as the pain she'd felt in the past so it ended up more a minor twinge than true pain ;) It's both sad that she was hurt that badly she built up such a tolerance for pain like that, but a sort of little blessing that it made for a bit of an easy birth ;) But...we might just see that whole actual scene in Recollections ;)

I hope you liked the names :) Tala (Tah-lah) means wolf, and Kehar (K'Har, silent e) means tiger, I wanted to stick with strong and fierce animals that are also very loyal and protective and also keep to the T-Theta and K-Kata, switched for gender, and keeping the 4-letter/5-letter pattern :) I wanted the girl to be Tala since the very beginning but the boy was trickier so when this episode aired, the one I planned to have them born in, and there were wolves in it, and tigers, I thought...tiger, it has to be tiger ;) Hope that makes it clearer why Leto is a Stewart, and the Sergeant, and Leia is a Smith and the Matron, they sort of swapped for their parents :) I also liked the whole 2-syllable thing for the names (if we count Proffy as 2 instead of the 3 for Professor), and I wanted to sort of mix and match the names of famous sci-fi twins as well, Leto and Ghanima from the Dune Saga, and Luke and Leia from Star Wars, since there was already a Luke Smith on the show, I thought why not take Leia from that and Leto from the other :) It's not their true names, it's not even the names everyone else will call them in the future (Matron/Sergeant), but more like the Doctor's version of 'John Smith,' the names they go by on Earth :) We'll actually get a discussion about their names from Clara very soon as well as a comment that might spark a thought to the Time Lords ;)

...I think I put WAY too much thought into the names lol :)

Also, today will be my OC Kona (from my Thor series, the Seer's Edda) take over day on my tumblr. This means that the OC from that series will be the one controlling my tumblr and you can ask her anything you'd like ;) I'll be taking the tumblr back around 9pm, so about 14.5 hours from posting this chapter (as a reference) and will answer all non-Kona related asks in my inbox, posting episode covers, and Sneak Peeks as well (today is 2 Big Bang Theory peeks ;))

And, because I won't be posting this story tomorrow, for anyone interested, tomorrow will be the day that I'll be starting my Star Wars story, Anakin/OC, so keep an eye out ;)

Some notes on reviews...

Not quite Planet of Giants, more my mind drifting to 'Honey, I Shrunk the Kids' for some reason ;)

That's awesome! Congrats! You're one week down now ;)