Thirty-Eight

The calendar quietly turned to 2015 and things continued as they were. There was no invasion as was worried (which made the Brigadier-Director and her husband feel all the more justified in both taking the holiday off) and alert levels were brought back down to their normal, non-panicky, watchfulness. Even so, time went on and waited for no one.

"Ow! Mum! That hurt!" Fiona snapped, jerking her head. Kate ignored her and attempted to regather the strands of hair needed for the braid, wondering why this side was not going as well as the other.

"It's either I do it or Miss Angela does, and which would you rather have?"

"Miss Angela." The teen smirked as her mother tapped her shoulder with the comb. "I'm joking! I'm joking! Jeez—you're just cross because you can't come."

"It's not your fault that Marco proposed to Dan at Christmas and then they want to be married less than a month later," Kate frowned. She adored her former stepson, though there were parts of him that reminded her too uncomfortably of his father—Loris wanted a quick engagement and never enjoyed waiting either. The elder Ferrero sibling's saving grace, it seemed, was that at least he had been living with the man he was going to marry for over a few years at that point and marriage was more about dotting Is and crossing Ts and less rushing into a shit situation. It smoothed over many worries she would have possessed otherwise, with one of the few remaining being that she was merely irritated that she had already locked in her schedule for January and therefore couldn't attend the ceremony or the reception afterwards.

"It's our impulsive Italian blood," Fiona joked.

"Then what's Dan's excuse?"

"Marco."

Rolling her eyes, Kate tied off the end of the braid and began to pin it in place to mirror the other one. She took a can of hairspray to both and waited for the last of the mist to settle before admiring her work.

"Looks good—you'll be the groomsmaid with the best hair, we can at least say that."

"More importantly, is the muffin safe?"

"Yes, the muffin is safe," Kate groaned. Fiona removed the baked good from under her pajama shirt and resumed munching on it now that it was no longer in danger from errant hairspray and inconveniently-launched hair fragments. Her mother went about getting them some more tea, taking solace in how peaceful it was otherwise—Malcolm was already at work for a morning shift and the two would at least get to have lunch together.

"Shit! I'm going to be late!" Fiona cursed. She shoved the rest of her muffin in her mouth and ran out of the kitchen. The teen reappeared mere minutes later, having changed into her dress and was now fighting with her coat.

"Did you get our gift?" Kate asked.

"It's in the car!"

"Are Gordon and Kanda meeting you there?"

"Yes, and she's driving both of us back to Gordy's place, where I'm gonna crash for the night—we went over this, Mum!"

"I know." Kate helped her daughter untangle her coat sleeves and got the garment on her. "Just relax—you're going to do fine. Give my love to the happy couple, alright? They don't visit often enough."

"Maybe the whole being married thing will make visits to an ex-stepmum not nearly as weird," Fiona chuckled. She gave her mother a kiss on the cheek and turned to leave. "Thanks Mum—love you."

"Love you too; hey, tea." Kate shoved a travel mug in her daughter's hand, which made the girl laugh. "Drive careful."

"Always do."

Within moments, Fiona was in her car and headed down the drive, going towards town. A couple minutes and half her cuppa later and she received a text from Kanda—her and Gordon ready to attend the wedding, her dress and his tie and waistcoat all the same soft shade of pink. It made her smile to see at least a glimpse of the pair dressed nicely, even if they wouldn't see one another in person. Her son was absolutely smitten; why else would he consider wearing pink?

Finishing up her pre-work routine, Kate began to head into work with half a mind to bunk off and attend Marco's wedding service anyhow. Having decided against it by the time she crossed into Inner London, she treated herself to a nice takeaway coffee from a nearby food truck, the outside air cooling it to perfect drinking temperature by the time she entered the false front and went down the lift.

Calm; everything was as close to calm as it possibly could get. There was a gathering of several departmental heads in the atrium, though considering the fact that the Elder Osgood and Glenn Cullen were laughing, no alarms were raised.

"Having fun without me?" Kate teased as she approached the group. She accepted a peck of the lips from Malcolm and glanced about—the gathering was the only suspicious bit in the entire atrium. "What's going on?"

"Ji-Yu and I were just going over those tech protocols from the other day; we'll be phasing them in soon with everyone and we found our way out here," the Elder Osgood said. He glanced at his Tech and Maintenance equivalent and furrowed his brow in thought. "Did we go over it all?"

"All I need are updated Biometrics and we can begin implementation," Ji-Yu said. She glanced down at her tablet and exhaled heavily. Tapping at the screen, she rolled her eyes in irritation. "Tucker, your pet raven's found its way out again."

"Junior is more intelligent than you're aware," Malcolm snarked. The two began to trade a couple (mostly) good-natured barbs, while Kate used the distraction to pull her Head of Security aside.

"How's surveillance on Subject Twelve?" she asked, keeping her voice quiet. Fajr simply shrugged and handed over a file folder.

"Holding steady—I get the feeling that he's simply biding time, laying low until he can disrupt the most effectively," she replied.

"How annoying," Kate frowned. She handed back the files—there would be no time—and checked to make sure that her keys were in her jacket pocket. "I'm going over there."

"Ma'am, you can't be serious," Fajr gasped. "We don't know anything about what's going on, why he's there, what he's doing… it could be a trap."

"…and if it's a trap, then it's been laid for me," Kate stated. "Besides, it's Saturday—too many students are going to be off on benders to bother with getting in the way."

"Benders…? What…?" Fajr narrowed her eyes and gave Kate the most confused expression she could possibly muster on her Human face. "What are you talking about? What is there to bend at a university?"

"Remind me to explain a bit more about being an existential uni student when I get back," Kate said. She walked towards her husband and briefly kissed him. "Going on a field trip—be back by dinner."

"I'll stroke myself into a nap while I'm waiting," he replied.

Straight back up the lift and Kate quickly returned to the normal world as though she'd never stepped foot inside UNIT. She got into her car and pulled out her mobile; Bismuth had sent her the address and directions, as well as the Doctor's faculty listing. It took only a minute to punch into the satnav before she was off; there was over a hundred miles to drive and she wished to waste no time.

Bristol.

It felt as though the couple hours it had actually taken was no time at all despite the distance, and she was glad for it. After finding a parking spot, Kate got out of her car, glanced down at her mobile, and checked the address on the building—yes, it was the correct one to find the Doctor in, during office hours, even. The campus seemed mostly how she had imagined—young, angry, busy over by the pub—and it nearly made her nostalgic for her own uni days. She pushed that from her mind, however, as it would also involve other, more frustrating times, and she needed to remain concentrated on the mission at-hand:

Find the Doctor, determine his position, evaluate any potential changes to his mental status, and leave intact. No big deal… it was only an ancient extraterrestrial who could potentially lash out at any moment if he happens to be brooding or whatnot. Nothing to worry about.

A deep breath and Kate went inside, navigating the corridors until she found a door labeled "The Doctor" via a brass nameplate. Then again, even if it wasn't labeled, there was a hand-written sign taped to the wood saying "GO AWAY HUMANS", and if that wasn't a hallmark of this particular face of the Doctor's then nothing was. Opening the door, she found that it merely was the entrance to an ancillary office, where a bald, stuffy-looking man was sitting at a desk doing paperwork. He glanced up at her and pouted in irritation.

"He's not seeing anyone today," the secretary snipped. "Go away."

"These are his regularly-listed office hours," Kate reasoned firmly. "He has the time."

"No, he does not." The secretary raised a brow and adjusted his glasses. "Are you even a student? You look a bit old for it."

"You are going to go in there and tell the Doctor that Kate Stewart is in to see him, and if you do not comply all I need is to send a prewritten text my husband for all of UNIT to magically show up on-campus."

"Oh, it's one of you," he huffed. He came out from behind the desk and toddled over towards Kate, seemingly puffing himself up for some sort of intimidation factor that he believed he possessed (yet decidedly, to Kate, he did not). Any being that was merely a series of smooth egg-like shapes had no chance of intimidating anyone, let alone her. "You better get a move on, or you are very quickly going to find yourself in another dimension of suffering."

Already bored, Kate kept her face straight as stone as she looked the secretary dead in the eyes. "Is that an underserviced Gerffiad motherboard that's making your arm twitch like that? Underserviced means unlicensed, and unlicensed, those things are banned in several systems, including ours, and it would be a shame if someone alerted… higher authorities to come and retrieve their property, as the last I checked, none were supposed to be in this system."

The secretary flinched, clearly caught off-guard by the threat. He considered her words and shuffled over towards the other office door, poking his head in first.

"A Missus Stewart is here to see you, sir; says it's important," the secretary said. An indistinguishable voice answered something and the bald man opened the door properly. "You can see him now."

Kate stepped into the Doctor's office to find that he was sitting at a desk, putting a pause on paper-marking for the time being. It was a grand space, with a split level and packed with books and relics from around the world and across the ages, all the chaos seeming centralized on a desk covered in papers and framed photos. The TARDIS sat alone in the corner and it hummed lightly in greeting; it recognized her, and it was glad for the change in company.

"Ah, Kate, it's been a long time," he said. The Doctor stood from his chair and walked over to greet her; they hugged, which surprised the human greatly. "I didn't realize the world was in danger."

"It's not," she replied. "I simply caught word that you were working for St. Luke's. How long have you been here?"

"A long time—the domestic bug caught me while I was with my wife on Darillium. You remember her, don't you?" He plucked a photo frame from his desk and showed it to his visitor, who did her best to hide her surprise and terror when it was not the person she originally thought. "I see a new ring on your finger; you remarried since we last saw each other, so you must understand how a functioning marriage needs constant work. River and I were hardly ever in sync chronologically, and the linear time together did us plenty of good."

"…which led you to watch an entire city form from nearly nothing over the centuries? Keeping still and quiet, despite all the invasions and other extraterrestrial happenings?"

"Yes and no, but that's not important. What's more important is how you discovered me; did Alistair tell you about me being here, or was it something else that caught your attention? I didn't think I was getting sloppy…"

That made Kate double-take, narrowing her eyes slightly. "My father's been dead for over five years now."

"It wouldn't surprise me if there was an old journal or file you needed to look over and found that he wrote about having seen me," the Doctor said. He had Kate sit down as the secretary came back in with tea. Once he was gone again, the Time Lord leaned against his desk as he sipped the drink sloshing about in his saucer. "He was sent here as a fresh UNIT recruit to see something about some errant Sontarans, and then again a couple times as a brigadier by the time he realized who I really was and that I could change faces. This face was one of the ones he saw the most, to be honest, even though he kept quiet about it. Very good about keeping his mouth shut if I asked him, Alistair was—it's one of the things I always give him, despite any flaws as to otherwise."

"Why keep you being here a secret?"

"Previous to this face, I thought that this regeneration would be kept from me, that the one right before this one was supposed to be my last. I might have lived differently had I known there was another face waiting for me after the one with the bowtie and square jaw, and that is a dangerous fact that needs to be contained at all costs. Alistair was a good man, a man of principle despite his militaristic shortcomings, and he obviously kept my secret well." He raised an eyebrow at Kate, watching as she stirred her tea. "Are you here to expose what I've been doing?"

"If I was, then no one outside of UNIT and a select few would believe me, branding us as tin-foil nutters yet again," she replied. "No—I just wanted to know why you're here, of all places, and thought you deserved the dignity of being asked in-person by someone who is neither armed nor a simple lackey before we place a mandatory shadow on you."

"I appreciate the courtesy." He took another sip of tea and attempted to stay quiet. Shifting in his seat and quickly looking about the room, he couldn't help but look uneasy about their visit.

"What are you doing here?" Kate implored refusing to accept the non-answer. "You can't be here simply for the abundance of sun and West Country charm."

"As I said, it is a domestic bug, nothing more," he insisted. "Nardole's been here this entire time, which has been annoying, but it's useful having someone else around with a lifespan that extends far past what humans are capable of living. If he weren't around then things would be peaceful beyond compare, though I'd have no one to fetch crisps."

She wasn't buying it for a minute, yet Kate nodded as though she did. "I take it that soon enough you'll be running around causing havoc again? My son needs some training if he's going to be a Lethbridge-Stewart worth your company, you know."

"With you as his mother, I'm certain he's already there," the Doctor replied. He seemed to stare off into nothingness as he took another sip of tea from the saucer, showing his guest how incredibly weary he looked. Weary and sad was not the Doctor, not one bit… and neither was a Doctor whom had not mentioned Clara yet, whether he had spent time with River Song or not.

"Thank you for your time," Kate said. She stood to leave, which made the Time Lord jump to his feet.

"You just got here," he mentioned. "Please, at least stay long enough to have another cup. It will irritate Nardole greatly."

"I can hear that, sir," the secretary deadpanned from the outer office. He shuffled into the room again, a feather duster in his hand. "I would prefer if you don't irritate me; I can kick your butt, you know."

"You keep on saying that phrase and I don't think you entirely know the meaning of it," the Doctor snipped. He sniffed the air experimentally as he walked with Kate over towards the door, at least wanting to see her out. "You married Malcolm? His scent is all over you."

"In September—Benton did the honors. Since when were you part bloodhound?"

"Since whenever I need to be," he joked. "Don't be a stranger, Kate." They then exchanged hugs and a quick kiss on the cheek. "I mean it: let's irritate Nardole sometime with old stories. At least let the intern you have shadow me come up and introduce themselves. We need someone with at least half a brain to pop in every once and a while."

"I know how to find you," she half-chuckled. Kate walked into the outer office and shut the door behind her once she was in the corridor, carefully listening to what she could discern from behind the wooden surface.

"I'm beginning to think you have a thing for blondes, sir."

"You don't know everything about me, Nardole, so stop acting like you do…" The Doctor's voice trailed off and it was all Kate could do to walk away and attempt to not panic the entire way out to her car.

'He's forgotten Clara,' she thought, absolutely horrified. 'He found River Song again and forgot Clara… he remembers Malcolm and my father, yet he forgot Clara... he has a photo of his granddaughter on his desk, yet not one of Clara, or their child…' She made sure she was back on the M4 before ringing Fajr.

"Yes, ma'am?" the Zygon answered, voice pumped out of the car's stereo. "Find anything?"

"Are you around anyone?" Kate half-snapped.

"No…? I'm in my office, the door's shut, and you're not even on speaker…"

"Good, because I've got bad news."

"He's two steps from going… what's it called… Valeyard on us…?"

"Worse: he's forgotten Miss Oswald." The call went quiet and Kate glanced quickly at the screen on her dashboard—yes, it was still connected. "Bismuth…?"

"Don't males from your general species typing often forget those with whom they mate?"

"Not this male, and not this mate," Kate clarified. "He seems like such a shell of his former self that if it wasn't for the cyborg secretary and the TARDIS in the corner I would've thought we caught wind of a look-alike."

"Oh…" Fajr was silent for nearly an entire mile and she said something in a language Kate was incapable of speaking before resuming in English. "What do you think happened?"

"I don't know; he could only remember time spent with River Song, with no acknowledgement of Miss Oswald despite this being her home space-time coordinates. Something tells me it's connected to either the cyborg-secretary that was so conveniently attempting to stop me from visiting, or whatever is the real reason he's sitting on his arse marking papers… possibly both."

"What did he say he was doing?"

"Sitting through a domestic bug—the Doctor is not easily domesticated, nor is Bristol's entire history merely a bug to let run its course."

"I'll put my best agent on his detail, effective immediately."

"Give him roughly a week, then put a tracker on him—he's going to expect one anyhow and this way it at least shows that we are not completely attempting to babysit him." Kate flicked on the headlamps and frowned at the fact it was already so dark. "I highly doubt he'll do anything in the meantime, let alone at all, but protocol is protocol."

"I'll be sure to keep any information about this as far away from Miss Oswald as possible," Fajr said. "I'll await further instruction when you get back."

"Wait for it tomorrow—I have a dinner to make and this sort of thing shouldn't be decided on lightly."

"Understood."

The call ended and Kate spent the rest of the drive with varying news stations on the radio, only wanting them on as background. She pulled into the drive long after turning over to music and sat in the car after putting it in park. Allowing her mind to go blank, she didn't even realize how long she'd been sitting there until Malcolm knocked on the window, making her jump.

"What the…?!" she gasped. Malcolm opened the door and allowed her to step out of the car before gently grabbing hold of her shoulders.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "You've been sitting here in the dark for twenty minutes. I thought you were on a call or something at first, but…"

"Get inside," Kate ordered. She grabbed her bag and headed towards the kitchen door. "This is massive—we need to be inside."

"Kate, love, what's wrong…?" Malcolm followed his wife inside and watched as she began to pace around the kitchen. "Where the fuck were you that's got you shaken this badly? It's so late…"

"Bristol."

Malcolm stayed quiet, allowing himself time to go over the possible scenarios in his brain. "What's the matter with the Doctor? Did he threaten you?"

"The exact opposite: I have an open invitation to come over whenever I want to have tea and irritate his cyborg secretary. He's… just… there…"

"No threats, no nothing?"

"None."

"…then I don't see what the problem is, love," he frowned. Malcolm grew increasingly uneasy while he watched Kate panic, something he knew she was only doing outwardly because it was him and no one else as her audience. "What happened? Is he monitoring Miss Oswald closer than we feared?"

"He's not monitoring her at all—he's completely forgotten her. There's no monitoring because he doesn't even realize there's anything to keep tabs on…"

"They have a child together," Malcolm scowled. "Didn't think he was the kind of low-life cunt to forget someone as important as the woman he has a child with."

"No—he merely is one who was never told, nor has figured it out yet," Kate said. Her chest began to feel tight as panic was fully enveloping her now and sat down. She accepted some water from her husband and slowly sipped at it. "If we aren't on our best behavior, he's going to find out, and he'll be the crossest thing in the entirety of the universe."

"…and you don't want to be collateral damage," he surmised as he sat down. She nodded in reply. "We'll be fine, Oswald will be fine, the kid'll be fine… just, what's the Doctor like, other than still ugly?"

"Calm, docile, kind, welcoming; I get the feeling he's a bit more harsh when it comes to his secretary or certain students, but he's generally not the same Doctor that nearly killed you with the Kantrofarri, accident or not, despite it being the exact same face."

"What about the secretary?"

"Irritable and irritating—just wants to be left alone, seems like. He might be behind the memory loss, he might not, he might just be inadvertently enforcing it…"

"Then that just means they won't prod into our business," Malcolm stated calmly. "As long as neither of them decide to get up our shit, there shouldn't be much of an issue... not when it comes to the bairn."

"We can't tell Clara about the Doctor and I don't even know how telling the Doctor about Clara would go over considering the circumstances," she said, voice wavering. "I'm just terrified, Malcolm. This isn't like him. Even with the people he generally likes he is loads more abrasive."

"Then ignore it," he said. "Did you tell Fajr?"

A nod.

"Good—then have her put a security detail on him and let your staff do their job," he insisted. "Now don't you think about that ancient, crusty cunt for another moment, yeah? Don't waste more energy on him than he's worth." He leaned in and kissed her, trying to make her concentrate on what was in front of her instead. "I'm fucking mad about you."

"Positively mental," she chuckled. She leaned against him, their foreheads touching and resting her elbows on his knees, before a loud squelching sound came from her stomach. "Fuck…"

"Then it's a good thing you came home to dinner," he replied. She sat up straight and sniffed the air—it did smell like Malcolm had been cooking, yet she had been so preoccupied that she didn't notice until just then. "The fish and veg are probably drier than a dusty MP's fanny at this point, but the potatoes kept well enough, and not enough can be said about the magic of a well-paired wine…" He went over to the oven and opened it, pulling out two plates of food that he subsequently placed on the table. Everything had definitely dried out, but the thing was that it was still there… both of their dinners were.

"You didn't have to wait for me," she frowned. She watched as he returned with two glasses of wine—one normal for her and one with half the amount for himself.

"Yes I did; you deserve the chance to eat with someone today," he replied. His mobile chirped and he pulled it out of his shirt pocket, placing it on the table so he could check the message while eating. He chuckled and turned the device towards his wife. "To be this young again."

Kate took the mobile and looked at the photo: Fiona taking a selfie on the dance floor while her eldest brother and his husband both kissed her on the cheek, one on each side.

"She sent you this?"

"Yeah, been texting me most of the day, honestly. I think she wants to show me off to her other relatives, and texting me is the closest thing…" He took a forkful of veg and shoved it in his mouth. "That's fucking weird, isn't it?"

"Not entirely," she replied. "You being around shows that not only have I moved on from her father, but that we're happier together than we ever were with him around. Speaking of Loris, did he ever show up, or do I need to inquire myself?"

"Inquire; I'm smarter than to bring up a previous year's model. You didn't marry me for the accent and dashing good looks."

"…though they are perks," she mentioned. She hooked his ankle with hers underneath the table, the couple eating like that until Malcolm stood when their plates were empty.

"I hope Marco and Dan don't lose that," he said, kissing the top of her head on his way to the dishwasher.

"Lose what?"

"The little things… the perks…" He put the plates and utensils in the dishwasher and turned it on before going back to her to wrap his arms around her shoulders. Ignoring his mobile's buzzing to alert him to another text, he nuzzled the crook of her neck and grinned as he could feel her humming in anticipation. "How good this domestic shite feels."

"I hope they never lose that either," she agreed. They then began to kiss, the taste of dinner still on their tongues, and realized that things were beginning to intensify when Malcolm's arse bumped into the island counter and he realized that Kate's leg was already attempting to wrap itself around his own.

Up the stairs they went and proceeded to ignore more than a few texts as they proceeded to get handsy and giggly in the comfort of their bed. Malcolm made certain that for just a little while (though not that little, for fuck's sake), his wife was able to forget about work. He distracted Kate so fucking thoroughly that she temporarily forgot about security protocols and intergalactic bogeymen. It was nothing but the two of them as they shagged each other until neither could think, which was precisely the plan.