Just so you know, in my mental casting, the part of Conway is played by Martin Freeman. As we all know, there's only like 12 actors in the UK, the personality fits (in my head, anyway), and I really love the Arthur Dent tie in...it makes me giggle. Anyway, there's that. ALSO, more fanart from the wonderful Miss Moria, again linked on my profile...a moment that Tim saw in the watch. So yay!

And now...the majority of the rest of Family of Blood. This chapter actually contains all but the very end of the episode, because that turned out...lengthy, for a number of reasons. Anyway, enjoy!

"What do you make of all this?" John asked Conway casually as he slotted rounds into a rifle.

"What do I make of Baines going mad and attacking the school?" Conway said, examining the sight on his own firearm. "Or what do I make of this Doctor business?"

John glanced at him and sighed. "Miss Lewis is beginning to believe it. She's doubting me."

"Let me ask you something," Conway said, putting his rifle down at his side and turning to look at John more fully. "If, by some chance, it's all true, if you are the Doctor…have you wondered if perhaps it's not just you that Miss Lewis is beginning to doubt?" John frowned at him in confusion. "You dreamt of her, wrote of her...if you are not what you seem, it's not a far stretch from that to believe she may not be either."

"Stand to!" the Headmaster shouted, saving John from trying to form a response. He shook himself as both men turned to face the gate. "At post!" the Headmaster ordered as enemies began pounding on the large wooden door, and everyone raised their weapons.

"Enemy approaching, sir," a boy called from the sentry tower.

"Steady!" the Headmaster said. "Find the biting point."

John forced himself to keep his eyes on the gate, even as he heard the whispers and whimpers from the boys around him. A moment later, the wooden bar across the gate cracked apart and the Headmaster gave the order to fire. John's finger tightened…but he couldn't bring himself to pull. He raised his head from the rifle's sight, watching the straw men blown apart, and glancing around at the young, tear-stained faces of the boys that were supposed to be under his protection, but were instead were being forced to bloody their hands on his behalf. Marion had been right—everything about this was wrong.

He shook his head sadly just before the Headmaster ordered a ceasefire, stepping past the sandbags and into the courtyard to examine the aftermath.

"They're straw," the Headmaster said in quiet disbelief. "Like he said. Straw!"

"Then…no one's dead, sir?" Hutchinson asked, looking up at John, hope and relief clearly evident in the boy's voice. "We killed no one?"

John exchanged a glance with Conway before looking forward again at the sound of footsteps approaching. The Headmaster once again called them to attention as he darted back behind the firing line.

"You child, come out of the way," he called as the young girl from the dance stepped into the courtyard. "Come into the school. You don't know who's out there. It's the Cartwright girl, isn't it? Come here. Come to me."

"Mister Rocastle, please," Martha said, and John turned to see her run out of the school with Joan and Marion. "Don't go near her."

"Mister Smith, it seems your favorite servant is giving me advice," the Headmaster said. "You will control her, sir."

"But she's right," Marion said, stepping forward. "Please…I think you should stay back."

"Mister Smith," Martha said, turning to him imploringly.

"I believe they're right, sir," John said, watching the Cartwright girl warily. "She was with Baines in the village."

"Mister Smith," the Headmaster said with a touch of impatience. "I've seen many strange sights this night but there is no cause on God's earth that would allow me to see this child—"

"She's not a child anymore, Headmaster," Conway said. "Men of straw and schoolboys with guns of unnatural device, and you find this impossible?"

The Headmaster opened his mouth so say something else, and John rolled his eyes, his patience suddenly snapping completely.

"Would you just come on," he said growled, stepping forward with Conway and forcibly pulling the Headmaster back between them despite the man's protests. "Put down your guns," he said to the boys, keeping a wary eye on the girl as Conway manhandled the Headmaster inside. "I'll not see this happen. Not anymore. You will retreat…in an orderly fashion back through the school. Hutchinson, lead the way."

"But sir—" Hutchinson said, glancing between him and the girl, who was smirking at them.

"I said, lead the way," he repeated as Baines stepped into the courtyard, gun at the ready.

"Go on, then," Baines said, his mouth twisted in a mad grin. "Run!"

He spun around, pushing the women inside and ushering the boys in after them. He herded the boys from the back toward the back entrance in the stables, locking the door to the school behind him. He was relieved to find Conway in the stables guiding them out, though less happy to see the maid, the Matron, and the librarian still in the building.

"The Headmaster is with them," Conway said as John approached. "We told them to avoid the village."

"Well, that's a mercy," he said. "At least the man can do something useful that doesn't include firearms. Now you, ladies."

"Not until we get the boys out," Joan said quickly.

"It's all of you," he said, staring at them in disbelief as all three women looked back at him with identical expressions of mutiny. "What is it, something in the water?"

"Something about being them, I should think," Conway said as he came back from making sure the boys were safely away. "Now what?"

"You take them, get out," he replied, holding up a hand as all three women started to protest. "If there are any boys left, I'll find them and follow," he said, running back to the school door. He wrenched it open to find himself face to face with several of the scarecrow soldiers. "Right. Um, retreat, I think," he said, closing the door again quickly and sprinting after the others out the door.

They raced away, but slowed in the brush near the school entrance as they heard Mister Clarke calling for the Doctor. John stopped, kneeling in the tall grass and bushes, to see the farmer standing on the steps in front of a large blue box. Marion and Martha both touched him briefly as they knelt on either side of him, Conway and Nurse Redfern a little ways behind him.

"Come back, Doctor," Clark was saying. "Come home. Come and claim your prize."

"Out you come, Doctor!" Baines added as the rest of the "Family" joined Clark. "There's a good boy. Come to the Family."

"Time to end it now!" Jenny called.

"You recognize it, don't you?" Martha asked softly.

"The magic blue box," Marion murmured.

"You said you didn't read the journal," he said, looking down at her a little fearfully.

"Come out, Doctor!" Jenny called. "Come to us!"

"Do you remember its name?" Martha asked him.

His gaze flicked between the two women and then up to the group on the steps surrounding the box. No. No, it was insane. The Doctor was a story, and a tragic one at that. He couldn't be that reckless madman, the one who leaped headfirst into danger...the one who had hurt Marion so many times in so many ways.

"I'm not-I'm John Smith," he insisted. "That's all I want to be. John Smith, with his life...and his job...and his love. Why can't I be John Smith? Isn't he a good man?"

"Yes," Marion said. "Of course."

"Why can't I stay?" he asked, scrubbing a hand down his face.

"But, John," Conway put in, "If you're not John Smith, then—"

"No," John said interrupted, his eyes on Marion. "No…don't. Because…if we're both just stories…that's so much worse."

Martha tried to say something else, but he shook his head and scrambled to his feet before running off, away from them, away from the Family, away from the truth bearing down on him.

oOoOo

"This way," Joan said suddenly as they hurried down the lane. "I think I know somewhere we can hide."

"We've got to keep going," John said in a hard voice.

"Where?" Conway asked. "We need to regroup, figure out exactly what we're going to do."

Joan shot the literature professor a grateful look. "Follow me."

They did just that, running down a side lane that she indicated some length before coming upon a darkened cottage.

"Here we are," she said breathlessly as they jogged to a halt. "It should be empty. Oh, it's a long time since I've run that far."

"But who lives here?" Martha asked, looking around.

"No one," Conway said slowly with a frown. "It's the Cartwright house, isn't it?"

Joan nodded as he warily led the group inside the abandoned home. The tea still on the table gave the place a haunted quality that gave everyone the shivers.

"Hello?" Joan called into the stillness. "No one home. We should be safe here."

"The Cartwrights," Marion said quietly as she looked around. "You mean that little girl at school…"

"She's Lucy Cartwright," Joan said with a nod. "Or she's taken Lucy Cartwright's form. If she came home this afternoon and if the parents tried to stop their little girl, then they were vanished." She paused, putting a hand to the teapot on the table. "Stone cold. How easily I accept these ideas."

"Alright, John," Conway said. "What are we going to do?"

John stood next to the table, leaning on it with his fists and looking down with a brooding expression. "I must go to them before anyone else dies."

"What will that solve?" Marion demanded.

"I'm who they're looking for," he retorted, looking up at her. "If I go to them—"

"They're looking for me too," she pointed out. "Apparently. If that's the case, then either one of us—"

"Absolutely not," he said through a clenched jaw, then ran a hand over his jaw as he sank back into a chair with a hopeless sigh.

"Martha, there must be something we can do," Joan said as Marion took a seat next to John, his head bowing as she touched his arm gently.

"Not without those watches," Martha said, shaking her head.

"You're this Doctor's companion!" John said suddenly, looking up at her sharply. "Can't you help? What exactly do you do for them? Why do they need you?"

"I'm just their friend," she told him.

"In other words, you have no use," John snapped.

"Being cruel to your friend isn't going to help anything, John," Conway said.

"Then what will?" he demanded hotly. "Tell me, please, because I'm at a loss."

They all froze when a knock came at the door.

"What if it's them?" Joan whispered fearfully.

"I'm not an expert," Martha said, "but I don't think scarecrows knock."

She moved to the door warily as John stood once again, putting himself between the door and Marion. She glanced back at the tense group before opening the door to reveal Tim Latimer.

"I brought you these," he said quietly, and Martha looked down to see both watches in his hand. She stared at them for a moment before snatching them away and pulling the boy inside before hurrying over to stand in front of John and Marion, holding out the watches, Doctor's orders be damned.

"Hold it," she implored John, seeing more curiosity than hesitation in Marion's eyes.

"I won't," he said, staring at the watches and holding an arm across Marion. "Marion, don't touch them."

"Please, just hold it," she repeated, looking from one scared friend to the other.

"John—"

"No, Marion," he said quickly, and Martha put both watches down on the table, momentarily defeated.

"They told me to find you," Latimer said. "They want to be held."

"You've had these all this time?" Joan asked. "Why didn't you return them?"

"Because it was waiting," he said, nodding at the silver one in Martha's right hand. "Waiting and protecting her. And because I was scared of the Doctor."

"Why was that?" Conway asked.

"Because...I've seen him, Sir," Latimer said slowly, watching John. "He's...like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun."

"Stop it," John said.

"He's ancient and forever," Latimer continued. "He burns at the center of time and he can see the turn of the universe."

"Stop!" John said again, backing away. "I said stop it."

"And he's wonderful," Latimer said finally. "Him and Rose Tyler, they dance together through the stars. She created herself, burned with the power of Time and Space. The Doctor and the Bad Wolf, their names are written in eternity."

The five adults stared at the boy in silence with various reactions on their faces. Conway looked thoughtful, Joan a little fearful, and Rose curious while Martha simply smiled a little sadly. John, however, looked like a strung bow, radiating tension, practically vibrating with it.

"I took this from your study," Conway said after a moment, pulling out the journal.

"Those are just stories," John said quickly.

"They're not, though," Marion said quietly. "They never were. I thought…you weren't the only one with dreams, John."

"Perhaps…perhaps there's something in there," Joan said as she took the journal from Conway while John and Marion exchanged a tortured look. Before she could even glance through it, however, an explosion outside rocked the house.

"What the hell?" Martha gasped as they ran for the window.

"They're destroying the village," Joan said, horrified.

"The watch," Marion said quietly, and Martha turned to see her holding the gold watch, her thumb moving over the designs on the cover before she looked up and held the silver one out to John. After a moment, John took a reluctant step toward her. "Hold it," she urged gently.

He took it from her slowly, looking down at it.

"Can you hear it?" Latimer asked.

"I think he's asleep," John said, toying with the watch. "Waiting to awaken."

"Why did he speak to me?" Timothy asked.

"Oh, low-level telepathic field," John said in a strange, arrogant voice, the same one that had cropped up earlier that evening for just an instant. "You were born with it. Just an extra synaptic engram causing—" He stopped, drawing a breath. "Is that how he talks?" he asked in his normal voice.

"That's him!" Martha said excitedly. "All you have to do is open it and he's back."

"You knew this all along," John said accusingly. "And yet you watched while Marion and I—"

"I didn't know how to stop you!" Martha cried, stepping forward. "He gave me a list of things to watch out for but that wasn't included."

"Falling in love?" he asked. "That didn't even occur to him?"

"No," she said. "He had Rose—"

"He left Rose," John said angrily. "He hurt her, abused her, and left her."

"No—" Martha started, eyes widening as she shook her head.

"Yes," John insisted, fuming. "I saw it, in my dreams. He left her, because he was too coward to love her. What sort of man is that? And now you expect us to die for them? For me to become the man too selfish to trust her, and for her to be in pain because of him?"

"It was always going to end, though!" Martha argued desperately. "The Doctor said the Family's got a limited lifespan. That's why they need to consume one of you. Otherwise, three months and they die. Like mayflies, he said."

"So your job was to execute us," John said coldly.

"People are dying out there!" she shouted. "They need him and I need him. 'Cause you've got no idea of what he's like, what either of them are like. It wasn't even that long ago that I met them, but they're the best friends I've ever had. And they do so much for everyone out there...but no matter what the Doctor will do for anyone else, no matter what length he'd go to in order to save a whole planet, it's nothing, nothing compared to what he'd do for her."

"Except love her," John said in a low voice.

"He does love her," Timothy said suddenly, looking between John and Marion. "I saw that too. He loves her more than anything in the universe, more than anything in his whole existence. That's why he's so afraid of her. Because the universe will always need the Doctor. But he'll always need Rose Tyler."

"John, it's getting closer," Conway broke in, standing by the window. "Whatever we're going to do, we need to do it soon, or they'll level the whole village."

John seemed to consider for a moment, then looked up sharply. "I should have thought of it before—I can give them the watches. Then they can leave and Marion and I can stay as we are!"

"I don't think we can, John," Marion said.

"If they want the Doctor, they can have him," he snapped.

"He'll never let you do it," Martha said vehemently.

"Marion, how can you be alright with this?" he demanded suddenly. "You've barely said two words except to urge me to hold this blasted thing. Why?"

"Because…what's right and what's safe aren't always the same thing," she said slowly.

"What does that mean?" he asked, thrown.

"I…I don't…I think that sometimes we have to make the hard decisions," she said, her voice breaking a little. "The painful ones…because no one else will."

"If I give them the watches," he said in a hoarse whisper. "If they get what they want, then—then—"

"Then it all ends in destruction," Joan said, looking up from the journal. "I never read to the end but those creatures would live forever to breed and conquer. War across the stars...for every child."

John made a growl of frustration and rage as he spun around and drove his fist into a wall, fighting against his own impotence in the situation. Marion moved to his side instantly, touching his arm, and he turned, pulling her into a tight embrace as he drew shuddering breaths.

"Come on," Conway said quietly. "Let's…let's give them a moment."

Marion shot him a grateful look, and he nodded at her as he ushered the others out of the house. Marion pulled herself away just enough to take John's hand and pull him over to the hearth of the cold fireplace before kissing him gently and wrapping her arms around him again as angry tears came to his eyes. They sat like that for a long moment, amidst the terror and explosions, rocking gently. Eventually, John pressed a kiss to the top of her head and pulled away, leaning his elbows on his knees, staring at the hated watch.

"You could stay," John said despondently. "They said it themselves…they want the Doctor. You can stay, live your life, be happy. You don't have to change, Marion."

Marion toyed with the gold watch thoughtfully. She knew he was right, but it felt…wrong. She glanced up and saw the journal still lying on the table, and got up slowly to look at it. It was filled with sketches of monsters and enemies…and her.

"What are your dreams about, John?" she asked carefully. "What do you see?"

"Battles," he said. "Danger and loss and pain. And fear…always fear. Fear for myself, fear for you…fear of you." He paused, looking up at her. "He'll never love you. Not the way you deserve. He won't let himself."

"Can I tell you what I dream of?" she asked, still looking down at the journal. "I dream of grass that smells like apples, and vehicles beyond imagination. I dream of Christmas with Dickens, and New Year's Eve in New York, watching a glittering ball fall from the sky. You might see danger and battles…but I see whole worlds saved simply because the Doctor was there. And I see a man who loves Rose fiercely, with every beat of each of his hearts, even though it terrifies him…and she loves him so much it hurts."

"Marion," he whispered painfully as he stood and stepped closer to her.

"I think…I think Tim was right. The universe needs the Doctor," Marion said, looking up at him.

"Then I'll go alone," he said, but she shook her head.

"But I think the Doctor needs Rose," she said. "Whether his fear and arrogance will allow him to admit it or not."

"You shouldn't change for me," he said.

"Good thing it's not your decision," she replied calmly.

"I could make it my decision," he said, drawing himself up. "I could take the watch."

Marion tilted her head to the side. "Is that your ego or his?"

He eyed her for a moment. "You are…so stubborn." He scrubbed a hand down his face and sniffed as he took a step back. "We were happy, though, weren't we? We were going to get married…have a whole life together…"

"Yes," she said when he trailed off. "But now we're going to run…all across the stars. I guess it makes sense that they're what brought us together," she added with a small smile, and he let out a bitter chuckle before she sobered again. "We're wasting time, John. You know what has to happen."

He nodded reluctantly. "That doesn't mean I have to like it." He stepped toward her suddenly, cradling her face in his hands. "Whatever happens between us…between them…remember that I love you."

"I love you too," she said softly, tears welling up in her eyes as he leaned down to kiss her.

With heartbreaking synchronicity, both lovers reached for the watches that would cause their execution, snapping them open without breaking the kiss. Golden light flooded the room, pouring from the watches and surrounding the couple. The tender kiss changed and deepened, gaining an edge of desperation and hunger, but filled with greater love than either false persona could have imagined as the Doctor and Rose Tyler were restored.

It was the Doctor who finally broke the kiss gently, resting his forehead against hers and whispering her name breathlessly. He opened his mouth to say something else as he looked down into her eyes, but then snapped it shut again and swallowed hard. Rose saw watched the emotions play out in his dark eyes…the love, the apology, the fear…and the fury. He eyes flicked up over her head to the door behind her, and his face hardened and he straightened, his eyes blazing.

"Go with Martha to the TARDIS," he said, his voice cold and detached. "I'll meet you there."

"Doctor—"

"Go, Rose."

He reached down, taking the watch from her unresisting fingers, and striding out, the Oncoming Storm ready to rain down fire on the Family who had no idea what the was coming for them.