Thank yous go out to a17al, for your review on last chapter.
Chapter 28.
"I am not afraid of aging, but more afraid of people's reactions to my aging."
-Barbara Hershey
POV: Jenny
Date: December 25
"Well, it's a standoff," Dad said, and plopped a marshmallow into his mouth. "They can't attack in case I unleash the Time Lords, and I can't run away, because they'll burn this planet to stop the Time Lords from returning." He chuckled, and winked at us. "Hey, after all these years, I've finally found somewhere that needs me to stick around. A town called Christmas…could've been worse."
I looked over at Mum. "And you're…you're okay with just being stuck here? Both of you?"
She shrugged. "It's not like I have anywhere else to be, is it?"
Dad reached out and adjusted Handles. "Right, there you go buddy. Comfy?"
"Comfort is irrelevant," the Cyberman answered.
Dad adjusted him again. "How's that? Is that better?"
"Affirmative," Handles said in a muted voice.
"You just take it easy, buddy." Dad looked up at us. "He's getting old. I do my best for him, but I just can't get the parts, you know." He chuckled, and stretched his arms. "I know the feeling." He passed around the bag of marshmallows. "Have a s'more."
"Where did you get these?" Mara asked.
"We have a supplier. Try the pink ones, Jen, they're the best."
"I have developed a fault," Handles said suddenly.
Dad waved him off. "Hey, don't you worry, Handles. You're just dreaming. The sun's coming up very soon. You just hang on in there, yeah?"
"I have developed a fault," Handles repeated. "I-I have dev-v-veloped…a…fault."
"Hey, Handles, come on." Dad picked up the Cyberman head and patted it. "One more dawn, you can do it. You've got it in you. Come on, just hang on in there."
"Attention, emergency, attention."
"Handles, what is it? What's wrong?" Dad's brow furrowed with worry.
"Urgent action is required. You must patch the telephone device back through…the…console unit," Handles said, and as he spoke his voice gradually slowed until it came to a stop and his lights went out.
We were all quiet for a moment. I felt a lump rise in my throat as Dad started to shake the Cyberman head. "Come back. Handles? Handles, come back."
Mum placed a hand on his arm. "He's gone, Doctor."
Dad sniffed. "Oh, thank you, Handles. Well done, mate."
"Dad…" Mara said, but was interrupted by the sight of the sun rising over the town.
We all held our breath as the light washed over the snow that covered every inch of the town. It sparkled off every surface as the sun rose higher and higher.
"What do you think of our new place?" Dad asked quietly. "Your mum and I come up here once a day for a few minutes."
"It's a reminder of what it is we're protecting," Mum said softly.
"It's so beautiful…" Clara whispered, and then turned her eyes on Dad. "Why did you try to send me away?"
Dad swallowed. "Because if I hadn't, we'd have buried you a long time ago."
Clara shook her head. "No, you wouldn't have. I would never have let you all get stuck here."
"Ha!" Dad laughed. "Everyone gets stuck somewhere eventually, Clara. Everything ends."
"Except all of you," Clara whispered, and leaned forward with a familiar gleam in her eyes. "None of you die. You just change. You pop right back up with a new face." She glanced at Mum. "Right?"
Mum swallowed, and shared a look with Dad. "Not forever, Clara."
Mara and I glanced at each other. "What are you trying to say, Mum?" I asked, and turned my eyes to Dad. "You do have more regenerations left, don't you?"
Dad sighed heavily. "Twelve regenerations. That's how many I have. Thirteen versions of me, thirteen…silly Doctors."
Clara nodded. "Okay, so you're number eleven, so…"
Dad shook his head. "You're forgetting Captain Grumpy. I didn't call myself the Doctor during the Time War, but it was still a regeneration."
"So you're number twelve," I said.
Dad glanced at Mum. "Well, number ten once regenerated and kept the same face." He smirked. "I was trying to impress someone."
Mum chuckled. "Or maybe you were just a tad vain."
"Oi—if you want to blame anything, blame the hair." He winked at her. "You never could resist my hair."
She grinned, and ruffled his greys. "Still can't, you silver fox."
Dad briefly smiled, and then grew somber as he turned his eyes back to us. "Twelve regenerations. I can't ever do it again. This is where I end up." He looked out over the landscape as the sun began to set. "This face, this version of me. We saw this planet in the future, remember? All those graves…one of them mine."
"So change the future," Mara said. "You do it all the time."
Dad shook his head. "I can't."
My hearts felt constricted and I was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe. This couldn't be it. This couldn't be the last time I would ever see my dad.
"But you've got the TARDIS," I said. "Can't she help somehow?" Even as I asked the question, I knew the answer. There was nothing that could be done for him.
Dad looked insulted. "Do you think I'm just going to fly away and abandon everyone?"
"Of course not," Clara said, "but you've been protecting this town for over three hundred years. Do you not think it's anybody else's go yet?"
Dad shook his head. "There's no one else to protect it."
"There's me," Mum said.
He glanced at her, and shook his head vigorously. "No. Absolutely not. I am not exiling you here."
"Doctor—"
"No, Rose," he said firmly.
"But, Doctor, it's not going to be you forever," Clara interjected. "It'll end the same way, whatever you do."
"Every life I save is a victory," Dad countered. "Every single one."
"What about your life?" I demanded. "Isn't that worth something?"
He sighed. "I don't know anymore."
Mara reached out to take his hand. "Dad, it's worth something to us."
"Listen to your family," Clara said with a new urgency in her voice. "Just for once, after all this time, have you not earned the right to think about your own life?"
Dad swallowed, and looked away from all of us.
Mara leaned back, and Clara straightened up. "Sorry. You haven't seen any of us for over three hundred years. We shouldn't be having this argument right now."
He chuckled. "Clara, Rose and I have had that argument for centuries."
Mum let out a small smile. "It's good to hear someone else take the opposing side."
We all looked up as thunder sounded across the sky and Tasha Lem's holographic face appeared. "Doctor!"
"Ah," Dad said with a sigh, "look who's woken up."
"The Church of the Silence requests parlay. Your rights and safety are sanctified."
Dad slowly brought himself to his feet. "I'll be right up."
POV: Rose
Date: December 25
"You should come this time," the Doctor said as the others headed back down to the ground level of the Tower.
I shook my head. "You know what Tasha would do. She'd perceive my presence as an act of aggression. Besides, how awkward would it be to have the wife and the ex in the same room?" I asked with a much needed tongue-in-cheek smile.
He looked at me with pleading eyes. "I need you there, Rose."
I swallowed, but finally relented with a nod. "Fine. But at the first sign that she's discovered what or who I am, I leave."
"Deal," he said, and headed out of the Tower towards Tasha's transporter.
I sucked in my cheeks as we all climbed onto the teleporter. "This is a very bad idea."
The Doctor grinned at me. "I know." He offered me his hand. "Isn't it great?"
I shook my head as a smile broke out over my face. "You're so daft."
I took his hand as we were teleported up to the ship. I blinked as I felt my consciousness being broken apart and reassembled on the other side of the teleporter. The sensation vaguely reminded me of when I had broken open the TARDIS to save my Doctor. It was not a pleasant reminder.
The hand that was still holding the Doctor's tingled as we broke apart. "Okay?" he asked, and looked at me with worried eyes.
I shook myself, and nodded. "Yeah, let's get on with it shall we?" My eyes nervously flickered around the great hall as we walked up a red carpet towards what looked like a stage, really. At the top of a short set of stairs stood the woman I assumed to be Tasha Lem.
"She hasn't aged much," Clara whispered.
"No, she's against aging," the Doctor whispered back.
I heard Mara snort. "Aren't we all?"
I couldn't help but smile at her wit. I had missed my girls.
"Approach!" Tasha commanded.
"Bossy," Jenny grumbled.
"Oi, hush," the Doctor hissed.
Clara yelped when a Silence approached us. "Confess," it demanded.
"What are those things?" Clara asked.
"Confessional priests," the Doctor explained. "Very popular. Genetically engineered so you forget everything you told them."
His companion looked back over at him, and a confused expression crossed her face. "Told who?"
"There you go."
I half smiled when Clara looked back at me for an explanation. "It's a long story."
