DISCLAIMERS/NOTES

1. This is a fan fiction based on characters owned by the BBC. I DO NOT OWN THEM. This is just for fun.

2. This is a femslash story. If you don't like that sort of thing, you won't like this.

3. For story notes, see Part 1.

PART 37

The Doctor slowly raised her head, and took an inhale at what she saw.

"… was taught by my mother to always have a backup weapon."

Perhaps it was the sight of the person they had been tracking for so long, the mysterious cause of seemingly everything going on. Perhaps it was the sight of her newest friend in danger. Or perhaps it was simply the use of the word weapon, but instantly the Doctor's senses cleared and all the pain in her body upon landing on the grassy ground evaporated - replaced with an uncontrollable need to protect and stem violence. With a mighty push up, she shot to her feet and dove at Delgado, whose back was to her. "No!" she screamed as she leapt onto his back, hand reaching out not to wrestle him to the ground or even incapacitate him with Venusian aikido, but to grab his pistol and save Mels.

"What the hell?!" Delgado scrambled to get the Time Lady off him, while Mels waved the rifle in her hands around, no doubt wondering to shoot or not - and if so, to not hit the Doctor.

"Gimme that!" the Doctor huffed, refusing to be shaken off. "There'll be no shooting while I'm… !" She did not finish however, as Delgado bent down and sent the Doctor up and over. "Whoaaa!" The world momentarily went upside down, before she hit the ground hard once again. All the air left her body as she made impact.

She refused to let go, however, still keeping hold of Delgado's arm. She made a go for the gun again, but in the heat of the moment, with emotions at fever pitch… everything went crazy once more. Both the Doctor and Delgado's eyes bulged as…

The Doctor found herself on a deserted street, dark and cold. The cobbled ground was damp from recent rain, and in the distance was a building. Looked almost like…

The Doctor's eyes widened as she realised what was happening. Not only was this her third touch-telepathy experience in two days, not only was she now actually part of it in astral form, but she was seeing…

She audibly gulped as she approached the building. Her hearts fluttered as she read the plaque by the entrance gates.

Coal Hill Secondary Modern School.

Her breath caught. What was she doing here? Who's memory was this? Hers? Perhaps when she was the grumpy Scot investigating the disappearing pupils? No - the surrounding area was wrong. Too… oldfashioned

Then the Doctor remembered what she was doing before she wound up here. Which meant, this vision was from the mind of…

Delgado.

Before the Doctor could process that, she heard voices coming up behind her. Rather loud and somewhat-frustrated voices, by the sound of them. She panicked, looking for somewhere to hide, but there was nowhere. And that was when she saw something which shook her to her core.

"Missy… could you not have brought us to a better time?"

The Doctor felt a tear trickle down as her face as Clara Oswald, as young and beautiful as he last saw her, walked out of the darkness towards the school. She was dressed in a heavy coat and scarf, and again the Doctor looked like a deer in the headlights. However, when Clara paid her no heed, the Time Lady remembered her situation: she was in a telepathic memory, one not belonging to her, which meant she was not part of it. Clara nor anyone else would see her.

It was then the Doctor noticed why her former companion's arms were huddled close to her chest, and it was not for warmth. There, almost buried in warm clothing itself, was a baby. Perhaps not even a toddler, though the Doctor never could tell with Human infants. Her eyes lingered on Clara, as hers simply looked up past her, unable to sense the Time Lady at all. What was she doing here?

"That's gratitude for you," came a sharp, cutting voice, as another figure once more emerged from the shadows. Again the Doctor's hearts skipped beats. It was Missy - how she used to be. Dark-haired, hard-faced and statuesque in purple Victorian dress. She was holding her old sonic umbrella, and wearing her classic boater cap. Like Clara, she was unaware of the Doctor's presence. But then, the Doctor was not really ever there, was she? "I agree to take you to your old workplace, for old time's sake, eventhough you never have to work another day in your life. Don't for a second think you're staying here, poppet."

Clara rolled her eyes. "I don't think I'd be much good right now, do you? Look." She nodded to the closed-for-the-night-building. "Not only do you bring us here in the middle of the night, when it's just rained clearly, but you bring us here a good fifty years too early."

"56, to be exact," said Missy nonchalantly.

A gasp, though it obviously went unheard. 56? That means this was just a few years before the Doctor was first here… with Susan…

"Why would you bring us here now?" asked Clara. "All I wanted was to see my old job one last time… "

At that, Missy's face softened, something the Doctor felt disgust at. "I'm sorry, my angel. Our TARDIS is infinitely better than… his… " - the disgust was momentarily redirected - "… but even it has trouble sometimes. I tried to bring us back to 2015, really I did. I'm sorry." She looked apologetic, something the Doctor was not buying for a second.

Sadly, Clara seemed to. Her own face fell to guilt, and she sighed. "No, it's… it's alright. I suppose this is just… a sign. A sign that I really have nothing left here."

"My darling Clara, always so intelligent," cooed Missy. The Doctor clenched her jaw at the outright smug expression the Mistress had behind the poor Impossible Girl's back. "Now come along dear - this is no place for a new mother and her baby." She paused. "Our baby. Sorry, I still find it hard to believe that I'm a mother myself now."

The bile from the Doctor's throat threatened to overflow.

"OK, but… can you just give me a moment?" Clara looked longingly at Missy, and the Doctor something she was very familiar with - the Clara Oswald Puppy Dog Eyes. "To say goodbye."

To the Doctor's shock and amusement, they seemed to have as much sway on the infamous Mistress as the rest of the universe. "You Humans and your sentiments," she humphed. "Fine. But don't be long - I'm not losing my new wife a month into our marriage."

New… ?! That was it: the Doctor was sure she was going to vomit.

"Missy, I'll be fine. I'll just take one last look, and then we can go."

Missy nodded. "Very well." She then leaned close, and the two shared a kiss. The Doctor closed her eyes and bit her lip, almost broken to see how quickly and deeply Missy twisted and manipulated the poor girl. With that, Missy disappeared back into the darkness.

Clara looked back up at the school. "I'm sorry, Delgado," she sighed. "I suppose you'll never know where your birth mum worked. Maybe someday I can bring you back here, to the proper time. Though if your mother is off by a few counties… we might run the risk of running into… " Her face instantly fell, and the Doctor's hearts nearly broke. She knew what - or rather who - Clara was thinking of.

"I will fix this, Clara," the Doctor said, even though she knew her words would go unanswered. "I promise you and Amy will… "

"You won't have to worry about that ever again," came another voice, this time from within the school gates.

The Doctor spun around, and choked as she saw Delgado behind the gates, as if inside a prison cell. He was not referencing the Time Lady's, as he was just as much a part of this vision as Clara and Missy. The Doctor was the visitor here.

Clara's eyes bulged. "MI… !" she began, but when Delgado raised a hand, she stopped suddenly.

Oh no. The Doctor knew hypnotism when she saw it. She rushed forward, trying to shove Clara out the way… but she just passed right through her. Instead, the former teacher - still with the infant in her arms - simply stared ahead, as Delgado slowly beckoned her closer.

No! What was Delgado unto?!

When she was right up at the gates, Delgado motioned for Clara to stop. He then reached his arm through the gates and slowly, delicately pushed back the small hood, revealing his own baby head, fast asleep in his mum's arms. "After escaping the time lock," he said, "I only have enough energy left to do this. I've already ensured my own birth… and now I'll ensure it'll always happen." With that, he placed his palm on his own past self's forehead.

The Doctor stared wide-eyed.

Slowly, energy flowed out from Delgado, almost like regenerative energy, onto and around the babe. Eyes closed tight in exertion, Delgado grimaced and grit his teeth. "Everything I am, I'm giving to you… so you'll know… in time… what happened… what I lost… and what you… have… this way… our family will… never die again… " Finally, with one last burst of power, the baby Delgado was fully engulfed in energy, and just at the end, he perked up, as if his infant mind somehow knew what was happening…

And then the Doctor watched in amazement, as the older Delgado literally faded away into nothing.

Except… that was not the end. The Doctor's shock only intensified as a sudden shock of electricity shot from the ground. A shock which, appropriately enough, seemed to shock Clara out of her haze. She blinked several times, and looked confused. "Wh… wha… ?" She looked down at tiny Delgado, who was already fast asleep again, all evidence of what transpired gone.

The Doctor stood by as Clara seemed to shake her unease away. "Well… come on, my darling. Time to… go home." She then turned and walked back into the darkness, no doubt back to Missy's TARDIS - passing right through the Doctor again in the process.

But the Doctor's attention quickly turned back to the area behind the gates. She dashed upto them and looked through, lowering her head. Her jaw dropped as she saw, right where older Delgado had stood…

A tiny golden, glowing crack.

It was the last thing she saw before she was pulled out of the vision…

"Doctor! Doctor, are you alright?!"

The Doctor mumbled as she struggled to gain her bearings. "Oh… oboy… "

Mels looked down at her, worry etched on her face. "Whatever you did, it knocked you both for a loop. Are you OK?"

The Doctor wearily raised her head, to see Delgado passed out on the ground a few feet away. Seemed she was literally dragged out the touch-telepathy.

"Doctor, say something," pleaded Mels.

Holding her head, the Doctor let out a breath. "I've seen… quite enough."

TO BE CONTINUED