CHAPTER 11

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Rani materialized her TARDIS right outside of her parents' house, and then stood there in terror for a while. She really wasn't sure about this. She knew that it had to be done, but that didn't mean that she was looking forward to it.

"Aren't you going to introduce us, Mum? You're not ashamed of me, are you?" Henry asked.

"No, no! It's got nothing to do with you at all, Henry. It's just kind of nerve wracking to suddenly drop all of my secrets on my parents at once like this especially with my Mum. I'm not sure how she's going to react. Maybe I'll just come back later," Rani said as she started to get back inside the TARDIS.

"Rani, go in there right now!" Lady Jane commanded.

Rani was surprised by this as she had never acted so forceful towards her before. Lady Jane smiled at her as she said, "I was the Queen, you know, even if it was for only nine days. Just because I'm unsure of my place here doesn't mean that I'm going to let you make a mistake. You said that we could be like sisters so here's where I start acting like one and look out for you. Do it, Rani. You'll feel better once it's over."

Rani smiled at her as she said, "Thanks."

"What else are sisters for?" Lady Jane said.

Rani then turned back toward the house with a look on her face that Lady Jane recognized. It was the same way that she had felt right before she was about to be executed. She hoped that it wouldn't be quite a bad as that though.

Rani knocked on the door, and her mother Gita answered right away. Gita's face was filled with a huge smile as she hugged Rani tightly. She hadn't seen Rani in a while, and she was so happy that she had decided to drop by. The look on Rani's face told her that she was troubled though.

'What is it, sweetheart? You know you can tell me anything," Gita said.

"Is Dad here too?" Rani asked as she avoided the question for the moment.

"He's around here somewhere. I'll get him. Is everything okay?" Gita asked.

"I have a big announcement to make. I've been keeping something from you, and it's time that I told you about it," Rani said.

"About Sarah Jane and how you help her keep the world safe from aliens you mean? I already know about that, Rani," Haresh said as he came out of a back room.

"You do?" Rani asked in shock.

She looked at her mother to see if she knew as well and saw to her complete astonishment that she did. Gita's face had no surprise whatsoever on it.

"How did you know?" Rani asked.

"We've both suspected for some time now. We're much smarter than we look, Rani. I knew for sure after that whole incident with Henry and Mrs. Wormwood. It's okay, Rani. You're a grown woman, and you can do what you want to with your life. At least I know that you're doing something good with it," Haresh said.

"I'm not so fond of it, Rani, but I trust Sarah Jane so I'm sure it'll be alright," Gita said a little nervously.

"Sarah Jane protects the world from aliens that are out to destroy it or conquer it. She's been doing that ever since she first met an alien herself. The Doctor was an alien. She met him years ago, and they became good friends. They helped save the world and the universe together several times, and then she went on protecting the Earth by herself once he left her. Not all aliens are bad though. Remember that, Mum and Dad! A lot of aliens are good. They never harm anyone," Rani said.

Rani took a deep breath. It was going good so far, but that was the least of her secrets. Now she had to unload the big one on them and hope that it didn't blow up in her face.

"That's not the only reason that I came here, Mum and Dad. I . . . ," Rani started to cry as she became worried about their reaction.

"It's alright. Whatever it is, it'll be alright," Gita said as she put her arms around her to comfort her.

"Just tell us, Rani. Spit it out," Haresh said in a soothing voice.

Rani steeled herself for what was to come as she looked back toward the doorway to see Lady Jane smiling encouragingly at her. She had to do this.

"I'm not who you think I am. I'm not really your daughter," Rani said.

"How did you know that? Did you tell her that?" Gita asked Haresh in a panic.

"I never said a thing," Haresh promised.

"You know that I'm not yours?" Rani asked.

"Of course we did. It would be hard not to notice when you were just dumped on our doorstep like you were with that watch in your tiny little hand. I never wanted to tell you though. I never wanted you to feel like I didn't want you or like you weren't mine. You are mine, Rani. You always will be. Don't worry about that, sweetheart!" Gita said.

"I wasn't just abandoned, Mum. I was left there by my time machine, the TARDIS. I'm not human, Mum. I'm an alien. Specifically, I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. It's a long story, but someone took over my mind and used a machine called a Chameleon Arch on me to turn me into a human in order to hide herself from the rest of our people who thought she was dead. Of course she thought that she had destroyed my mind at the time and was in complete control of my body. It turned out that I wasn't quite gone, and the machine used my mind instead of hers to create Rani from," Rani said.

Both of her parents looked at her like she was mad and said nothing.

"Rani, what's happened to you? One of those aliens messed with your mind, didn't they? I knew this would happen! You've had your brains scrambled by some alien machine!" Gita cried out in alarm.

"Mum, I'm an alien. My real name's Annika. I just found out about it recently. I still love both of you though. That hasn't changed at all. As far as I'm concerned, you're still my parents," Rani said.

Both of them looked at her with blank expressions on their faces as they wondered if it could possibly be true. Was their daughter really an alien?

Rani knew that they were having a hard time believing her so she decided to give them some visual evidence. She used a small portion of her regenerative energy to make both of her hands glow with golden energy for a brief moment. Her eyes glowed with energy as well.

"It's true," Gita said in a weak voice.

"I still love both of you. I really hope that you still love me too," Rani said in a scared voice.

Gita looked in Rani's eyes and could still see her daughter there and so could Haresh. Both of them moved to hug her at once as the family had a group hug. Rani began to cry with joy. They accepted her!

"So you're okay with it?" Rani asked.

"Yes, of course we are," Haresh said.

"We're all for aliens in our house. Well, I'm all for one of them anyway," Gita said as she kissed Rani's forehead.

"I still have a few more things to tell you about," Rani said.

"Well, they can't be as bad as the whole 'I'm an alien' thing. You can't top that," Gita said with a laugh.

"I've adopted a son, and I have a new friend who's living with me now. She's actually Lady Jane Grey, the Nine Days Queen. I rescued her from being executed with my time machine," Rani said.

"You've just got it all going on lately, don't you? I've never heard of so many changes before coming in such a short time," Gita said in shock.

"You have a time machine?" Haresh asked in disbelief.

"Of course she does. It's kind of implied in the Time Lord name, dear," Gita said.

Rani was surprised at how fast her mother was getting used to this and how well she was keeping up with it all. She was proud of her.

Rani looked toward the door and invited Lady Jane and Henry inside. They both hesitantly walked inside. Now it was their turn to be afraid! Rani thought to herself with a grin.

Gita looked at Lady Jane in shock as she realized who she was. She started to curtsey to her, but Lady Jane stopped her and smiled at her.

"I'm not the Queen. I haven't been in quite some time. Your daughter saved my life, and now she's going to give me a chance to live my life the way that I want to. A life where I can do what I want instead of what my parents wanted me to do. I never wanted to be Queen after all. That was all their idea. I just don't have any idea what exactly that I want to do with it yet so I'm staying with her in her TARDIS for a while. Is that alright?" Lady Jane asked.

"Of course, it's alright. My daughter is friends with a Queen! You can't ask for more than that," Gita said happily.

Henry looked at Rani's parents hesitantly as he said, "Hello, I'm Henry. Rani said that she'd be my Mum."

Gita looked at him for a moment, and then developed a huge smile as she hugged him while she said, "He's adorable! Is he an alien too?"

"I was made by the Bane to take over the world. I ran away though, and then Rani took me in. She's been taking care of me ever since," Henry said.

"So that's where you went to. I've been wondering about you for a while now. You disappeared right after the whole Mrs. Wormwood incident. So you're living with Rani too?" Haresh asked.

"Yes, Sir. It's been me and Mum. Well, I guess Lady Jane is going to be with us now too. I guess she can be my Aunt Jane," Henry said.

"I don't see why not," Lady Jane said.

"You've already given me a grandchild, Rani. Now all you have to do is get married, and I can die content," Gita said happily.

"She's working on that," Henry said with an evil grin.

"Shut up, Henry!" Rani hissed.

"Sorry, Mum!" Henry said even though he didn't look very sorry.

"What is he talking about, Rani?" Haresh asked with sudden interest. He had a bad feeling about this.

"I, uh, I'm going out with Clyde," Rani said.

"What?!" Haresh said as he became enraged.

"Clyde's a nice boy, Haresh. She could have done much worse," Gita said as she tried to calm him down.

"I don't see how," Haresh said.

"I find it amazing that I tell you that I'm a Time Lord, and you don't even blink. However, when I tell you that I'm going out with Clyde then you freak out!" Rani said with a grin.

"Of course, I'm freaking out as you put it. You could do so much better, Rani. He's a nice boy, but he's not exactly the brightest bulb in the box, is he?" Haresh said.

"I can't help who I love, Dad. I've had feelings for him for a long time now, and I've finally gotten him to admit that he feels the same way about me. I have to see where life takes us. I want to see where we go from here," Rani said passionately.

"I just think that you're making a mistake, Rani. I guess I'll just have to let you make it. It's your life and your choice. I don't think that Clyde would ever break your heart so it's not that. It's just that I think that you might find that you want something more out of life, and you might wind up breaking his. Do you want to risk that?" Haresh asked.

"I don't really believe that I'll ever change in the way that I feel about him. I haven't so far, and it's been years since I first started to fall for him. I think it's the real deal, Dad," Rani said.

"Alright, Rani. I guess I'll just have to trust in your judgment. You've done pretty well so far in your decisions," Haresh said.

"Well, I did almost get into trouble by saving Lady Jane, but a friend of mine bailed me out of it. I learned my lesson about that. No more interfering in history ever again," Rani admitted.

"That took a lot of courage to admit that when you had just won the argument, Rani. It doesn't make me right or you wrong though. Everyone makes mistakes. Even people with usually good judgment like me and you. I still trust your ability to do what's best for yourself and Clyde though. The mistake that you made with changing history came from the heart so I can't really say that it was misguided. I've often thought to myself what if I could change the past too. I'm sure that I would do a lot worse with a time machine if I were in your position," Haresh admitted.

"Maybe but I doubt it. Would you like to have a chance to ride in a time machine?" Rani asked with a huge smile.

"Really?" Haresh asked.

"Yep. It's right outside," Rani said proudly.

She led her parents outside, and they looked around for the TARDIS in confusion.

"Where is it?" Haresh asked.

"It's right in front of you. It's in disguise," Rani said with a giggle.

"Disguised as what, thin air?" Haresh asked.

"No, it's that old tree right in front of you," Rani said.

"That's your time machine?" Haresh asked.

"It can disguise itself to look like its surroundings so that no one can find it," Rani explained.

"I would certainly never find it," Haresh admitted.

"I think it's very clever, Rani. Who would think of a tree as being a time machine? It makes me wonder if there might be other time machines around in disguise. They could be anywhere. I wonder if any of the other trees might be one," Gita said as she looked around her suspiciously.

"I don't think so, Mum. I think it's just this one," Rani said in amusement.

"Rani, after all of the surprises that you've given me today I wouldn't be surprised if all of the trees in our yard turned out to be aliens instead," Gita said.

"Trees aren't aliens, Mum. Well, not all of them anyway," Rani said with a chuckle.

"Was that a joke?" Gita asked Lady Jane.

"Sometimes I'm not sure," Lady Jane responded with a shrug of her shoulders.

Rani led them all inside of her TARDIS, and her parents looked around the Console Room in amazement. She smiled at their excitement, and the way that they looked at the TARDIS like a kid in a candy shop. She was hoping that they would respond like this.

"So, where would you like to go? You've both got anywhere in time and space at your fingertips," Rani said as she made a sweeping motion with her arm.

"I've always wanted to meet Leonardo da Vinci and see him painting the Mona Lisa," Haresh said.

"Done," Rani said even as she remembered how the Mona Lisa was actually alive. She hoped that wouldn't matter though. She had never heard of her coming to life as Leonardo was painting her after all.

Rani's TARDIS appeared inside of Leonardo's Workshop, and the whole group of them left the TARDIS as they looked at the half finished Mona Lisa in awe. Luckily, Leonardo wasn't around, and they could look at all of his paintings that were left lying around as much as they wanted. This really was looking at history as it occurred.

They suddenly heard someone approaching the workshop, and Rani started to feel a familiar presence nearby. She started to panic as she realized who was just outside the workshop and about to enter it at any moment. She panicked even more as she realized just who could, and probably would with her luck, be with them.

"We've got to go! Now!" Rani shouted.

"What is it, Rani?" Gita asked.

"We've got to get back in the TARDIS. Hurry, hurry!" Rani shouted as she tried to get them to move quickly.

It was already too late though. They had already seen them.

"Doctor, who are they? They certainly don't look like they belong in this time," a young woman who Rani recognized all too well said.

"That's because they don't, Sarah Jane. Who are you? Did the Time Lords send you to check up on me? Are you here to send me on yet another mission for them? I won't do it! I just won't!" the Fourth Doctor said as he pouted like a baby.

This was the Doctor with the curly hair, the floppy hat, and the long multi-colored scarf. So far he didn't recognize her. She had to get out of here now before he did, and also before the young Sarah Jane could get a good look at her and her parents. Maybe if they left in a hurry, they could avoid creating any problems.

That unfortunately was not to be.

"Hello, Doctor! I knew that if I came here to Leonardo's Workshop and stayed long enough that you would eventually be here. You certainly brag enough about knowing him," a woman's voice said behind all of them.

"Oh, no!" Rani said under her breath as she recognized that voice.

"Doctor, who is that?" Sarah Jane asked.

"That's an old enemy of mine although she used to be a good friend once too, Sarah Jane. I wish that she could be again someday. That's the Rani," the Doctor said sadly.

"Don't act so sad, Doctor. We're about to become very close again, you and I. I need you to help me with a plan to save my sister. I'm going to bring Kali back from the dead!" the Rani said.

Next: It's Rani vs. the Rani! What is the Rani's plan to save Kali, and how will it affect Rani's future?