Hanna bounced into the console room, "Hi!" She grinned, greeting the Doctor as she perched herself on her usual railing.
The Doctor turned to her, "You're surprisingly chipper this morning."
She shrugged, "Just in a good mood. And I've been watching Ghostbusters. Which is completely amazing. I forgot how much I love that film."
"It is a good one." He agreed, "Why didn't you invite me?"
"I couldn't find you." She shrugged. Before she could say anything else the TARDIS door opened and Clara stepped in. "Who ya gonna call?!" She half shouted, pointing at the other girl and grinning.
"Ghostbusters!" Clara replied automatically. "Hey, Hanna."
"Hi Clara! We should go ghostbusting one day."
"Sounds fun," Clara nodded, going over and leaning on the console.
"I've been ghostbusting." The Doctor said, "Then again, they weren't really ghosts."
"Seriously? You've done ghostbusting?" Clara asked.
"More ghost hunting." Hanna told her, "And it wasn't really that. It was more 'trying to find out what the ghosts really are'. Turns out, Cybermen. Which wasn't very fun. Though he did bust them."
"I want to go ghostbusting." Clara said, looking at the Doctor, "Can we?"
He grinned at her, "I don't see why not. I've got just the place. Grab your ghostbusting gear and we'll go."
"Gear?" Clara asked.
Hanna laughed, going down the steps and starting to look through the storage compartments under the console. She pulled out a red umbrella and put it to one side as she kept looking. "Take that." She said to Clara as she joined her, holding out the umbrella.
"Why an umbrella?" Clara asked, but took it anyway.
Hanna shrugged, "It could be raining."
Clara nodded, "Fair enough."
Hanna grinned, "Plus, where we're going they'll have proper ghostbusting stuff. So we need to be prepared with... other stuff. I don't know, just take the brolly."
"That's still weird, you kind of knowing our future." Clara said, going back up to the console.
"It's still weird for me too," Hanna replied, following her, "It doesn't really get easier. Knowing the future kind of sucks."
"I can imagine..." Clara said. "But you're okay though, yeah?"
"I'm dandy." Hanna smiled, "I have recovered from being nommed by the giant parasite god and I want to get on with and have new awesome adventures. Starting with ghostbusting."
"You're sure though? You're not going to pass out on us?"
"Certainly not. At least not without it being caused by this episode." She glanced at the Doctor, "It's called Hide, by the way."
He nodded, pulling the final lever and looking over at them, "We've arrived." He said ominiously before bounding towards the door. He pulled it open and went outside. They were in the grounds of a large house. It was dark and the night was cold. It was raining heavily.
"It's freezing," Hanna complained.
"You were right about the rain," Clara added.
"Well it is winter." The Doctor replied, "come on. Let's go catch us some ghosts." He led them up to the main doors of the house and knocked lightly. The door swung open.
"Creepy." Hanna commented, "Someone already inside?"
"Possibly." The Doctor confirmed, stepping up the hall to the next door. Hearing voices inside he lifted a hand and knocked loudly. Then he grinned boyishly at the others and hid behind the other side of the door. When it was opened, he paused for a moment before jumping out and shouting "Boo!" He laughed before adding, "Hello. I'm looking for a ghost."
"We're looking for a ghost," Hanna corrected, stepping out from behind him.
"And you are?" The man who had opened the door asked.
"Ghostbusters." Clara said with relish, knocking the umbrella into her hand and grinning.
"Can we come in?" Hanna asked, "Only it's very cold and wet out there and in here it's much warmer. And less rainy. And we can actually hunt ghosts which we can't do when we're outside seeing as the ghost is in here." She held out a hand, "Hanna MacKay, good to meet you."
The man looked bemused but shook her hand. The Doctor smiled at him, "I'm the Doctor."
"Doctor Who?" The man asked.
"If you like," The Doctor shrugged, "And this is Clara. Ah but you are very different!" He ran over to the machinery at the bottom of the stairs with Hanna in tow, examining it with childlike glee before turning to face the man again, pointing before starting to walk towards him, "You are Major Alec Palmer, member of the Baker Street Irregulars, the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, specialise in espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance behind enemy lines." His voice dropped to a whisper before he started to talk at his normal volume again, "You're a talented watercolourist, professor of psychology and... ghost hunter." He grinned happily.
"Which all in all, is a pretty good mix of talents." Hanna said.
The man looked unimpressed as the Doctor shook his hand warmly, "Total pleasure." The Doctor gushed, "Massive."
"Actually, you're wrong." The woman said, "Professor Palmer spent most of the war as a POW."
The Doctor looked at her, "Actually, that's a lie told by a very brave man involved in very secret operations. The type of man who keeps a Victoria Cross in a box in the attic, eh?" He added quietly to Palmer before turning back to the woman, "But you know that because you're Emma Grayling." He went over and air kissed both cheeks, "The professor's companion."
"Assistant." She corrected.
"You just keep telling yourself that," Hanna said, winking at her.
"It's 1974," The Doctor said, "You're the assistant and 'non-objective equipment'." He acted out the air quotes before adding to Clara, "Meaning psychic."
"Getting that." Clara smiled at him, "Bless you, though."
The Doctor clapped Palmer on the shoulder as the man turned to Emma, "Relax Emma, he's military intelligence." He said before looking back at the Doctor, "So, what is all this in aid of?"
"Health and Safety." The Doctor replied, "Yeah. The Ministry got wind of what's going on down here, sent me to check that everything's in order."
"And he doesn't go anywhere without us." Hanna added.
"They don't have the right." Palmer said.
"Don't worry, governor, I'll be out of here in five minutes. Oh! Oh look!" he pointed happily at the machines behind Clara, "Oh, lovely, the ACR99821. Oh, bliss. Night action on the toggle switches. You know, I do love a toggle switch. Actually, I like the word 'toggle'." He said, starting to get off track. "Nice noun. Excellent verb." He slapped Clara's hand away as she pressed something, "Don't mess with the settings."
"Yes, he is always like this." Hanna said to the bemused looking Palmer and Emma, "You get used to it though."
"What's that?" Palmer asked as the Doctor darted across and activated the sonic screwdriver in their faces.
"Gadget." The Doctor replied, examining it as he walked away, "Health and Safety. Classified, I'm afraid." He turned back to them, "You know, while the backroom boffins work out a few kinks."
"What's it telling you?" Emma asked as he used it in a dark archway.
"It's telling me that you haven't been exposed to any life-threatening transmundane emanations." He replied.
"English, Doctor." Hanna put in.
"So." He clapped the screwdriver closed "Where's the ghost? Huh?" As if to eccentuate his point, thunder rumbled outside.
He picked up a burning candelabra and moved between them, "Show me the ghost."
Hanna giggled, "I love it when he gets like this. It's adorable."
"I am not adorable." He replied, not looking at her. There was a banging from upstairs and he smiled, "It's ghost time!"
"Come on," Hanna said, "Show us where you've seen the ghost."
Palmer looked about to protest but then sighed, seeing from all three of their faces that it would be no use. He started to walk, guiding them through the hallways, "I will not have this stolen out from under me, do you understand?" He said as they walked.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Hanna said, "We want to see a ghost, that's all. This is of course your find and we are purely here as enthusiastic amateurs."
"As long as you understand that this is my house. And all this belongs to me." Palmer said firmly.
"As I say, we would not dream of taking your find. We just want to see what's going on. Find out about ghosts."
"This is actually your house?" Clara asked.
He glanced at her, "It is."
Clara chuckled slightly, "Sorry, you want to the bank and said, 'you know that gigantic old haunted house on the moors? The one that dossers are to scared to doss in, the one the birds are too scared to fly over?' And then you said, 'I'd like to buy it please, with my money'?" She stopped walking and looked at them.
"What's wrong with that?" Hanna asked, "I would. If I had the money to be able to buy haunted old houses, that's totally what I would do."
"Seriously?" Clara looked at her.
"Absolutely." Hanna grinned, "Come on!" As she started to follow the others there was a loud bang to their left, making them both jump and look over.
"Listen Major," The Doctor said from a few paces away, next to a door, "We just need to know what's going on here."
"For the Ministry?" Palmer asked.
"You know I can't answer that." The Doctor told him.
Palmer sighed, "Very well. Follow me." He led them towards a bedroom where there was a large board with all sorts of information about the ghost on it.
"So Emma, tell us about more about you." Hanna said, looking towards the woman as she sat down.
"Well, is there anything you and your friends don't already know? You know my name. And that I'm an empathic psychic."
"But what is an empathic psychic?" Clara asked.
"Something I sense feelings." Emma told them, sitting down opposite them. "The way a telepathic can sense thoughts. Sometimes though, not always."
"The most compassionate people you will ever meet, emapathics." The Doctor put in. He had gained a bottle of milk from somewhere. "And the loneliest. I mean, exposing themselves to all those hidden feelings, all that guilt, pain and sorrow and..." He stopped as Clara tapped him on the shoulder.
"Doctor?" She said.
"Yes?" He looked down at her.
"Hush." She told him. Emma had gone very quiet, her eyes averted away from them.
"He doesn't mean it." Hanna said softly to her, "He doesn't always know where to stop. He doesn't quite get human emotions."
"Do you, uh, care to have a look?" Palmer called from the other side of the room and the looked over as he turned the board around to face them. The Doctor went over with Hanna at his heels as Palmer started to explain, "Caliburn House is over 400 years old, but she has been around much longer. The Caliburn Gast. She's mentioned in local Saxon poetry and parish folk tales. The Wraith of the Lady." He explained as they examined the pictures. All of them showed various parts of the house and in each was a ghostly figure, blurred but clearly a woman. "The Maiden in the Dark." He continued, looking at them "The Witch of the Well."
"What well?" Hanna asked, pointing towards a yellow scrap of paper.
"Is she real?" Clara interrupted, "As in actually real?"
"Oh, she's real." Palmer told them, "In the 17th Century, a local clergyman saw her. He wrote that, 'her presense was accompanied by a dreadful knocking, as if the Devil himself demanded entry'."
"Well that's not creepy." Hanna grinned.
Palmer glanced at her in mild annoyance before continuing as if she hadn't spoken, "During the war, American airmen stationed here left offerings of tinned Spam. The tins were found in 1965 bricked up in the servants' pantry, along with a number of handwritten notes, appeals to the Gast." He pointed at pieces of paper as he continued, "'For the love of God, stop screaming.'"
"She never changes." Clara said, looking at the pictures as the Doctor moved away, "The angle's different, the framing, but she's always in exactly the same position. Why is that?"
"Maybe she's asking for help." Hanna said softly.
"We don't know." Palmer told them as the Doctor returned holding the candlestick again, "She's an objective phenomenon. But objecting recording equipment can't detect her."
"Without the presence of a powerful psychic." The Doctor finished, looking over at him.
"Absolutely." Palmer took off his glasses and looked over at the Doctor, "Very well done."
"She knows I'm here." Emma said softly, clearly scared. "I can feel her," She continued as the others turned to look at her, "Calling out to me."
"What's she saying?" Clara asked gently.
"'Help me.'"
The Doctor looked back at the board, examining it, "The Witch of the Well." he mused out loud before looking back at Palmer, "Hanna asked a very good question. Where's the well?"
Palmer walked over to a table to show him the plans that were laid out on it, "The oldest plans of the property we could find. There is no well on the property. None that we could find, anyway."
Hanna looked over their shoulders, "But if there's no well, where did the name come from? Names like that don't just spring up from nowhere, they all have some basis in fact, no matter how small. If she's called the Witch of the Well then logic follows that at some point there must have been a well on the property. Even if it was long before the house was built." She left them to ponder on that, going back over to look at the board. She couldn't stop the feeling that she was being watched and crossed her arms, trying to push it away.
"Are you coming?" The Doctor whispered, coming up behind them.
Clara jumped and turned to him, "Coming where?" She hissed.
"Ghost hunting." Hanna said with a soft grin.
"Why would I want to do that?" Clara looked between them.
"Because you want to. Come on." The Doctor started to walk away.
"Well, I dispute that assertion." Clara told them.
The Doctor turned back and frowned, "Eh?"
"This place is kind of creepy." Hanna admitted, "Not creepy enough to stop me coming with you but creepy nonetheless."
He frowned slightly, "I'm giving you a face." He said, inclining his head towards the door. "Here. Can you see me? Look at my face." He kept moving his head, trying to gesture that they should go.
Clara deliberated for a moment before sighing, "Fine." She went over to join Hanna and the Doctor in the doorway before looking up at him, "Dare me."
He smiled, "I dare you. No takesie-backsies?"
Hanna giggled softly as Clara shook her head slightly, taking the candles from him and starting to lead the way, "This is going to be fun."
"The music room is the heart of the house." Emma told them, having been unable to not notice what they were doing.
"Thank you," Hanna smiled at her before the three of them walked away.
They walked slowly, sticking close together in the dark and gloomy corridors. "Say we actually find her. What do we say?" Clara asked softly, as if the thought had only just occured to her.
"We ask her how she came to be or if she is." The Doctor replied quietly.
"Which makes little sense." Hanna added, looking around. She still felt like someting was watching her.
"Why?" Clara asked.
"Because I don't know." The Doctor replied, trying a door but it was locked, "And ignorance is... is... what's the opposite of bliss?"
"Complete unbridled terror?" Hanna supplied helpfully. "Because that's the feeling I'm getting right now."
He looked at her, "Not that. Something else."
"Carlisle?" Clara asked.
"Yes." The Doctor replied, his quiet voice now tinged with triumph, "Yes, Carlisle. Ignorance is Carlisle."
"Sounds about right." Hanna nodded slightly. They lapsed into silence and kept walking, still peering cautiously around every corner and into most shadows. "Does anyone else get the unpleasant feeling that we're being watched?" She asked softly after a moment.
"A little." The Doctor admitted, "Try to ignore it."
"I am trying..." she murmured, "But it's really creeping me out."
"You'll be fine." He patted her lightly on the shoulder.
"Really?" She asked softly, glancing behind them.
"Probably." He patted her once more before going back to peering into the shadows, looking for the ghost. They walked in uncomfortable silence for a while before they reached a large room with musical instruments and music stands in it, light coming in through the windows from somewhere outside. "Ah, the music room." The Doctor got out the sonic screwdriver, "The heart of the house." He turned to the others, "Do you feel anything?"
"Like I'm being watched." Hanna replied, "That awkward tingling on the back of your neck like there's someone or something lurking out of the corner of your eye but you can't see them if you turn to look."
"Yes, I'm starting to get that." He murmured, activating the sonic and starting to walk back towards the door they just came through.
"So am I." Clara added.
The Doctor smiled slightly at them before moving toward the door again, leaving the pair of them in the middle of the room. There was a creaking, groaning sound like footsteps on floorboards and they both turned. Nothing was there.
"I think she's here." Clara said softly, clearly scared.
"Doctor, I don't like this." Hanna whispered.
"You'll be fine." He said gently, "Hold on. Cold spot." He turned to face them, "Spooky. Cold..." he stepped forwards one pace, "Warm." He stepped backwards, "Cold." To the right, "Warm." Left again, "Cold." Further left, "Warm." Back again, "Cold." A step backwards, "Warm."
"We get it!" Hanna snapped suddenly. "There's a random exactly circular patch of cold exactly in that doorway."
He crouched and drew a circle around it before straightening up, a door creaked somewhere and he started to walk away again, Hanna and Clara following close behind him. They quickly started to head back towards where they had left Palmer and Emma but stopped at a sudden loud thudding noise.
"What was that?" Hanna asked softly.
"You're the one with future knowledge." The Doctor replied, equally quietly.
"Yeah... but this ones scared me... like it's scaring me now." She replied, staring at the candles as they all blew out at once. "Doctor..."
"It'll be okay." He told them. "It will."
"It's getting colder. Much colder. Much too quickly." She looked over at the nearest window and stepped towards it. The Doctor and Clara followed her, watching as before their eyes ice and frost spread across the wood and glass. She flinched as the thudding continued. Louder. Closer.
"Okay, what is that?" Clara asked, her voice tense with fear.
"It's, uh, it's a very loud noise." The Doctor fumbled for some kind of explanation but had none. "It's a very loud, very angry noise." He rubbed the back of his head and looked away.
"What's making it?" Clara asked.
"I don't know. Are you making it?" He asked before letting out an involuntary yelp of fear, leaping towards them and turning around quickly as the thudding started again.
"There's something else here." Hanna said softly, "I don't know what. Or where. But there is definitely something else in this house."
"Doctor?" Clara hissed a moment later.
"Yes?" He replied.
"I may be a teeny tiny bit terrified but I'm still a grown up."
"Mainly. Yes, and..."
"There's no need to actually hold my hand." He looked at him.
His eyes widened and he looked down at both of his hands. Hanna stepped smartly forwards, "We need to go."
"I'm not holding your hand." The Doctor said, confirming the need to move.
They glanced behind as lightning flashed, illuminating a strange, inhuman figure between them and the nearest window. All three of them screamed and bolted, running along the corridor to the stairs and leaping down them two at a time. They skidded into the hallway just as a circular portal appeared in the middle of the room.
"Has this happened before?" The Doctor asked, getting out the sonic screwdriver.
"Never." Palmer told him, staring at the portal.
"Ah! Camera. Camera!" The Doctor took it from Palmer an started to talk pictures of the portal.
Hanna looked over at Emma, watching with wide eyes as the white ghostly figure grew every more visible, "Doctor!" She called.
He spun around, taking rapid photographs of the figure as it reached out towards them. Behind her, were the just about visible shapes of trees. "Help me!" A female voice shouted before the figure vanished and Emma collapsed. The Doctor and Palmer but ran to catch her, helping to keep her upright.
"Doctor..." Clara said softly, drawing all of their attention. Written on the wall halfway up the stairs in ghostly lettering were the words "Help me". The Doctor jumped up the stairs two at a time and was just hesitantly reaching out to touch the letters when the portal distorted and then vanished in a flash of bright white light.
"Spooky..." Hanna murmured softly.
"Just a bit." The Doctor replied before looking at Palmer, "Do you have anywhere to develop these pictures?"
Palmer nodded, "Yes, I've set up a makeshift dark room. Follow me."
He turned and started to lead him through the house, Hanna followed them. When the Doctor turned and opened his mouth to say something she interrupted, "I've always liked photography." She said, "I know what I'm doing in a dark room."
He nodded, "Okay then. Just don't touch anything."
"I wouldn't dare." She said honestly. "Not without Professor Palmer's permission." She glanced pointedly at the man as they stopped outside a door.
"If you know what you're doing, I don't see why you can't help me." He told her, "I'll run you through the chemicals."
She grinned, "Thank you. It's been a while so I might be a little rusty."
He nodded, opening the door and holding it for them. Once they were inside he closed the door again and switched on the red lights. The three of them set to work. Palmer walked Hanna briefly through the three chemicals used before they all lapsed into silence, working together to develop the photographs.
The Doctor examined a few of the pictures they'd developed, "I had a little peek at your records back at the Ministry." He said after a moment. "Well, you've certainly seen a thing to two in your time. Disrupting U-boat operations across the North Sea. Sabotaging railway lines across Europe. Operation Gibbon. The one with the carrier pigeon was brilliant." He went over and leaned on the table opposite Palmer as he spoke, adding after a moment, "I do love a carrier pigeon."
Palmer didn't look at him, focussing on the photograph in the developing fluid, "I did my duty, but then so did thousands of others. Millions of others. I was just lucky enough to come back." He looked up at the Doctor.
"Yes, but how does that man, that war hero, end up here, in a lonely old house looking for ghosts?"
Palmer hesitated, looking down at the picture, "Because I killed." He said, his voice cracking slightly, "And I caused to have killed. I sent young men and women to their deaths. But here I am still alive and..." He hesitated, "But it does tend to haunt you, living after so much of... the other thing." He got the picture out of the fluid and put it into the tray next to it, the second chemical stopping it developing any further.
Palmer was quiet for a long moment before continuing, "You see, I was alone and unmarried and... you know, I didn't mind dying. I mean, not for that cause. It was a very, very fine cause. Defeating the enemy."
As they were talking, Hanna took the picture out of the chemical and placed it into a tray of water to clean the chemicals off of it.
The Doctor looked over at Palmer before softly asking, "And if you could contact them, what would you say?"
Palmer looked up at him, "Well I'd very much like to thank them."
"Ah..." the Doctor said, taking the photograph out of the water and pegging it up, "Ping."
"Who do you think she is?" Palmer asked, changing the subject as they examined the latest photograph, which showed the Doctor and the ghostly figure.
"Not what I thought she'd be." The Doctor replied.
"What did you think she'd be?"
"Fun."
"She's a lost soul." Hanna said softly, "Looking for a way home."
"Can I borrow your camera?" The Doctor asked. Adding, "Ta," when Palmer picked it up and handed it to him. Hanna skipped past him to the door, checking over her shoulder that all the film and photograph paper was away before opening it. "Who is she, Hanna?" He asked.
"I told you." She replied, looking at him, "She's a lost soul, calling out and looking for a way home."
He nodded slightly before calling out for Clara. The young woman joined them a moment later. "Grab your umbrella." He said, "We've got some work to do."
Clara smiled and the three of them headed for the door. She took the umbrella from the stand where she had left it and they hurried from the house, huddled underneath it as best as they could as they ran for the TARDIS. They stopped nearby, "I've got this weird feeling it's looking at me." Clara whispered, "It doesn't like me."
"The TARDIS is like a cat." The Doctor told her. "A bit slow to trust but you'll get there in the end." He ran for the TARDIS with Hanna following closely and went inside. Hanna went over to her railing and sat down, waiting for Clara to follow them.
There was a soft knock on the door and the Doctor went over and opened the door for Clara. "Hey," The young woman said, closing her umbrella and stepping inside. She looked around for somewhere to put it. "You need a place to keep this." She said.
"I've got one." The Doctor said, pointing. Then he stopped and frowned, "Or I had one. I think I had one. Hanna, did I have one?"
"Yep." Hanna replied, "Though not for a very long time. Your fourth body had one. I think the fifth did as well. Don't know about sixth because I didn't get a chance to watch much. But you definitely used to have one."
"Good!" The Doctor said. "No! Not in here!" He exclaimed suddenly as Clara started to shake out the umbrella, he marched over and took it from her, "How do you expect her to like you if she's soaking wet? It's a Health and Safety nightmare!"
"It's okay, dear." Hanna said, patting the railing she was sitting on affectionately, "The nasty lady didn't mean to upset you."
"I'm not nasty." Clara protested before folding her arms and whispering 'sorry' to the TARDIS. "So." She said in a louder voice, stepping over to the console, "Where are we going?"
"Nowhere." The Doctor replied, "We're staying right here. Right here on this exactly spot. If I can work out how to do it."
"So... when are we going?" Clara asked.
The Doctor laughed, "Oh that is good. That is top-notch."
"And the answer is?" Clara called after him as he started to walk away.
He turned back to her with a grin, "We're going always."
"We're going always." She echoed as he disappeared around a corner into the corridors.
"We are." Hanna looked over at her, "We're stay in this spot but we're going to keep travelling through time to try to find out who the ghost is and where she came from."
"Oh..." Clara replied, "Okay."
"What do you think?" The Doctor replied, returning with a bright orange spacesuit.
"Uh, the colour's a bit boistrous." Clara replied.
"I think it brings out my eyes." He told her excitedly.
"Makes my eyes hurt." Clara told him.
"I like it." Hanna said, "Does it still fit you? I mean, you got it while you were still in your last body."
"Yes, it fits." The Doctor replied, "I have tried it."
"Just checking." Hanna grinned at him, "It's been a long time since you wore it."
"Yes, thank you." He said.
Hanna and Clara stayed in the TARDIS, watching the scanner as the Doctor ran backwards and forwards from the console to outside and back again, the camera ever clasped in his hands.
"When are we?" Clara asked as the Doctor came back into the TARDIS, shouting about how hot his suit was.
"About six billion years ago." He told her, "It's a Tuesday, I think."
This continued for a long time, the Doctor removing his spacesuit once he was able to breathe the atmosphere. Clara joined him outside occasionally but Hanna stayed in, silently watching on the scanner.
"Back in a mo!" The Doctor shouted from the door. He was once again in the spacesuit, the atmosphere outside burnt up. "Are you alright?"
Clara turned to him, "Totally. Peachy keen."
"Okay, then." He nodded slightly, "Well, don't press any buttons or pull any levers or make any funny faces. Actually, don't move. Stand completely still. Don't breathe. Well, you can breathe. But shallow breaths." He smiled slightly and gave them thumbs up and then he was gone again.
"So... the truth now." Hanna said, going over and standing beside Clara.
"Hmm? I'm fine." She replied.
"No you're not. And I know you're not. He's an alien, he doesn't understand. But yes, we did just see your home planet be born and then die." She nudged her with her elbow.
"Isn't it your planet too though?" Clara asked.
"Well yeah but... not really. My home planet is across the void in another universe. Just because it's called the same thing, doesn't mean it's the same planet. Not really. The only home I have is the TARDIS."
"That's... kind of sad." Clara said softly.
"Yeah..." Hanna murmured.
Before either of them could say anything else, the Doctor returned. "What's wrong?" He asked, taking off his helmet. "Did the TARDIS say something to you? Are you being mean?" He added the second question to the TARDIS herself, slapping his gloves lightly against the console.
"It's not that." Clara said softly.
"Doctor, we just watched the Earth live and die. We're human. The Earth is Clara's home. And even if it wasn't then... that kind of thing is a big deal. Seeing the entire life of a planet in about..." she checked her watch, "An hour."
He frowned slightly, "Yes..."
"And you're okay with that?" Clara asked.
He thought for a moment, "Yes."
"How can you be?" She looked over at him.
"The TARDIS, she's time. We... we're the vortex. And so on."
"He's thousands of years old. He spends his entire life running around seeing all of time and space. He knows how everything plays out. He's seen the big bang and the end of the universe. He almost actually got caught up in the big bang..." Hanna said quietly. "He can be in one place and know how things play out. How they're supposed to play out. How they might play out."
Clara swallowed, "How can you be in 1974 looking for ghosts and just... you open your eyes and talk to whoever is standing there. To you, I haven't been born yet. And to you, I've been dead a hundred billion years." When he didn't say anything she continued, "Is my body out there somewhere, in the ground?"
"Yes, I suppose it is." He said, starting to walk away.
"But here we are, talking, so I am a ghost." Clara said to his back, causing him to stop, "To you, I'm a ghost. We're all ghosts to you. We must be nothing."
"No. No." He turned back to her, "You're not that."
"Then what are we? What can we possibly be?" She went over to him.
He sighed before slowly replying, "You are the only mystery worth solving."
Hanna came up behind Clara as the Doctor walked away, "He doesn't understand humanity." She said softly, "He never has. But he loves us. He loves every single being in the entire universe. He is incredibly old and incredibly kind and what he wants more than anything is to see the wonder of the universe. He knows all the stories but he wants to live them. As much as he can see all of time and space, he lives in the present. When he lands in a time zone that's it, he thinks only of the events happening in that moment. And when he takes on someone in the TARDIS, it doesn't matter to him when they were born or when they die. All that matters is that they're there and they're wonderful."
Clara looked at her and smiled slightly, "Really?"
Hanna nodded, "Really, really. Knowing something and living it are two very different things. And that is something you can trust me on more than anyone."
Clara nodded slightly, "How do you do it?"
Hanna smiled sadly, "By living in the present. Trying not to think of what's going to happen in the future. I'm here. This is my life. So I'm going to live it as fully as I can because I can't do anything else."
Author's note: I really like this episode. It was so much fun to write.
Question time!
1) What sort of television shows are your favorite? - Sci-fi or drama. Something with an epic storyline
2) What are your top seven favorite colors? - Purple, Orange, Green, TARDIS blue, Light blue, Red, Black
3) If you could save one person from each season of New Who, who would you save? - (Oh my God. That is such an amazing question. I LOVE it. But it's SO hard!) So in order: Lynda (with a Y. Not Linda with an I), Chip (From New Earth. Because saving one person means I can't save the entirety of L.I.N.D.A.), Chantho, The hostess from Midnight, Bob (Time of Angels), Sexy, Rory.
4) In the hokey cokey do you go left foot first or right foot first? - Right.
5) Are you all about the destination? Cause I'm going nowhere slowly. - But I'm seeing all the sights! If I was about the destination I don't think travelling in the TARDIS would be the best way to go =P
6) What colour Smartie do you hoard and eat at the end of the tube? (Or is that just me?) - Orange! They're clearly the best!