They reached the ground far too soon for Hanna's liking, she Vastra and Jenny landed elegantly and each drew their weapon.

Remain still and lay down your weapons, in the name of the British Empire!" Vastra instructed, though her demand was undermined somewhat by Strax plummeting to the ground behind her. "Strax!" She groaned through gritted teeth.

"Sorry." The Sontaran picked himself up from the floor.

"I've told you before, take the stairs." Jenny sighed.

"Oh look, the cavalry." The Doctor said to Clara.

"I burned an ancient, beautiful creature for one inch of optic nerve." The half faced man said, approaching the Doctor. One of his hands was now clamped to his shoulder and in its place was what looked to Hanna to be a flamethrower. "What do you think you can accomplish, little man?"

"What do you? Vastra?" The Doctor took a step back.

Vastra got between the Doctor and the droid, blocking the way with her sword, "The establishment upstairs has been disabled with maximum prejudice and the authorities summoned." She said, grunting with the effort of holding the droid back.

"Hang on, she called the police?" Clara said, "We never do that, we should start."

"You see, destroy us if you will. They're still going to close your restaurant." The Doctor said.

Hanna moved over to join the Doctor and Clara, "Sorry about all that." She said to Clara, "He's the Doctor. He was never going to abandon you. And even if he was, I wouldn't have let him."

The Doctor pulled a face, "And have an angry Scottish woman dogging me for the rest of my life? I'd rather give that a miss if it's all the same."

"I'm loving the new accent though." Hanna smiled at him, "Reminds me of home."

"We will destroy you." The two faced man said, gesturing with his free hand. The droids in the alcoves all stepped forwards, revealing sharp blades where their arms should be.

Vastra pushed the half faced man away with a grunt of effort.

"No, you won't." The Doctor said, "you are logical. You have restraint. You kill to survive, you're not a murderer." As he spoke he backed away slowly. More and more of the clockwork droids emerged from the corridors of the ship.

"He's not a what? This is a slaughterhouse." Clara protested.

"To survive. To try to become human. He doesn't kill for fun." Hanna said, levelling her gun but she didn't know which way to aim it. There were too many of the creatures already.

"How does this differ to any other restaurant?" The Doctor asked her, "You weren't vegetarian the last time I checked. This is over." He turned his attention back to the half faced man, "Killing us won't change that. What would be the point?"

"To find the promised land." The half faced man replied.

"You're millions of years old, it's time you knew. There isn't one." The Doctor told him.

"How would killing us get you there?" Hanna asked, "The promised land is a... a legend. An idea of what happens after you die. And in most cases it's where you go if you're good. If you live a good life with good intentions. Killing us in cold blood won't get you there. Killing us will mean you won't ever get there!" She wanted to reason with him. Even though part of her knew he would never listen.

"I am in search of paradise. I will reached the promised land."

The Doctor laughed, "Yeah? Well, me too. I'm not going to make it either."

The half faced man pushed Vastra to one side and caught the Doctor sharply across the face, sending him reeling to the floor.

"Doctor!" Clara was at his side immediately, helping him to his feet.

"I will leave in the escape capsule." The half faced man said, moving to sit in the row of plush seats which had brought the Doctor, Hanna and Clara down in the first place. "Destroy where necessary."

"Escape capsule?" Vastra looked over at him before turning her attention back to the ever closing in group of clockwork droids that were now surrounding the group, "This ship is millions of years old, it'll never fly!"

"It has been repaired." The half faced man said.

"These creatures are remarkably resourceful." Hanna said, "I wouldn't count on it not flying..."

"Repaired with what?" Clara asked.

The half faced man looked at them, "You."

"Defensive positions, everyone." Strax said. They formed a circle, back to back facing outwards.

"Doctor!" Clara called as the seats where the half faced man were started to rise up, "He's getting away!"

"Your friend is intelligent. He'll know better than to follow me." The half faced man told them.

Hanna looked over and smiled, seeing the Doctor clinging with one hand to the bottom of the seats and waving down at them with the other.

"It is our intent to leave." Vastra told the droids around them, "If it is your intent to stop us, perhaps we should get down the business."

The droids attacked. The group fought back. Vastra and Jenny worked back to back, defending the weaponless Clara as they fought with their swords. Strax and Hanna did the same, firing at the droids in an effort to force them back. Neither attack was doing them a lot of good. The droids kept coming, kept them on the defensive. They weren't truly alive. They didn't get hurt and they couldn't be killed. The droids grabbed them, putting pressure on their hands and wrists in an attempt to make them drop their weapons. Vastra's sword clattered uselessly to the floor. No one else was doing much better, though Hanna and Strax still had at least one hand on their guns.

"Hold your breath!" Clara shouted suddenly, "They're stupid, everybody hold their breath."

"Do it!" Hanna added, drawing in a deep breath and holding it. The droids stopped. Some of them had blades inches from the throats of the living group. But without the disturbance of the air they could no longer tell that they were alive at all. As one, they drew back their blades. Hanna watched as Clara reached over and grabbed the sonic screwdriver from where it had fallen from the Doctor's hand earlier. Her lungs burned. The longer they stood there the more her body started to scream for oxygen. She watched Clara desperately trying to use the sonic screwdriver to open the door. She could see out of the corner of her eye, Strax bringing up his gun and turning it around to face himself.

"Stop!" Vastra yelled, having seen it too. Everyone in the room took a gasping breath of air. The droids instantly started to close in on them once more as they gulped in the oxygen they had been depriving themselves of. Then all at once, the creatures stopped. They froze and then one by one fell to the ground. Deactivated. Dead.

"We... We should get out of here." Hanna said, looking around at her fellows. "We need to go."

"Is everyone alright?" Vastra asked. When everyone had replied to her she looked over at Hanna and nodded, "The Doctor?"

"He's fine. We should go now though. Before anything else happens!"


Several hours later they drew up outside the house in the carriage. They'd been searching the wreckage of the half faced man's ship and beyond but there had been no sign of him. In the end they'd decided to come back home. To where the TARDIS should be.

"Are you sure he'd come back here?" Jenny asked, climbing from the carriage.

"Where else would be go?" Hanna replied as she followed her, "We couldn't find any sign of him anywhere and the TARDIS is here. He always comes back to his TARDIS."

They stopped as they saw the empty square in the straw on the ground. Vastra let out a faint sigh, "I fear we have missed him."

"He'll come back." Hanna said, "He promised."

"He did?" Clara looked at her.

"He promised me that he'd never leave me like this again. That he'd never go off and abandon me in another time zone. He'll be back." Hanna smiled, making herself seem a lot more certain than she actually was. "I don't know about the rest of you but I'm starving. We didn't get any lunch and it's certainly getting on for supper time."

"Let's go inside and eat." Vastra agreed, "And for now, until such time the Doctor returns, you two are more than welcome to stay here."


A couple of days later, Hanna and Clara met each other on the stairs and frowned. They'd both changed into the clothes they had been wearing when they arrived. "Now this is a coincidence." Hanna said.

"I fancied the change of clothes." Clara replied, "only so much time you can spend in Victorian get up before you start to miss the 21st Century."

Hanna nodded and waved her phone, "I was talking to Sean. He called to say Merry Christmas. It's still Christmas for him. Even though it was a while ago."

Clara smiled, "How is he?"

"Being used as a doll by his niece. I told him that I expect pictures." She laughed, "Anyway, where were you headed?"

"I just... wanted to talk to Madame Vastra."

"In which case, would you like me to join you?" Hanna offered Clara her arm.

Clara took it and smiled, "Of course. Let's go."

They stayed arm in arm until they reached the doorway of the greenhouse.

"Please, come in." Vastra said, turning to them.

"We're not disturbing you, are we?" Clara asked.

"I should be glad of the company." Vastra replied, "What can I do for you?"

"Ah, well, that's exactly what I was going to ask you." Clara glanced over her shoulder at Hanna, "Seems like we're stuck here now. Got a vacancy?"

Vastra smiled and laughed slightly, "You would be very welcome to join our little household." She moved over to them, "But I have in on the highest authority that the Doctor will be returning for you very soon."

"Whose authority?" Clara frowned.

"Well, the two people who seem to know him best in the universe." Vastra told her.

"Who's that?" Clara was still confused, exchanging a glance with Hanna.

Vastra looked between them, "Well Miss Clara Oswald and Miss Rosehanna MacKay. You both have already dressed to leave."

"I was talking to my lodger. Wanted a change." Hanna said.

"I don't think I know who the Doctor is any more." Clara sighed.

Before Vastra could say anything, the sound of straining engines came from outside. A sound that they all knew very well. "It would seem my dear, you're very wrong about that." Vastra said with a knowing smile. Clara and Hanna looked at each other and grinned before taking off towards the door. "Give him hell, he'll always need it." Vastra called after them, grinning herself.

Hanna reahed the TARDIS door first and pushed it open, her grin only widening as she saw the TARDIS interior. It was different. And beautiful.

"You've redecorated." Clara said as she looked around, "I don't like it."

"Not entirely convinced myself." The Doctor replied. He was sat in a large leather chair off to one side, "I think there should be more round things on the wall. I used to have a lot of round thing. I wonder where I put them."

"I think she's beautiful." Hanna said, moving over to the console and running a hand gently along it before turning and finding a railing to perch on, "And you've kept my require railing."

"I still don't see why you can't use a chair." The Doctor told her as he stood up.

"Chairs are for boring people." She replied.

The Doctor watched them silently for a moment, taking in the way Clara was looking at the console and not at him, "I'm the Doctor." He said as he moved down the stairs towards them, "I've lived for over 2000 years and not all of them were good. I've made many mistakes and it's about time that I did something about that." He was down by the console now, one hand resting on it as he looked over at Clara, "Clara, I'm not your boyfriend." He said.

"I never thought you were." She replied.

"I never said it was your mistake." He pulled the lever nearest his hand and the TARDIS dematerialised.

"You were very young and cute and stupid." Hanna put it, "This you is a nice change."

"Who put that advert in the paper?" Clara asked.

"Who gave you my number?" The Doctor replied. "A long time ago, remember? You were given the number of a computer helpline and you ended up phoning the TARDIS. Who gave you that number?"

"The woman. The woman in the shop." Clara told him.

"Then there's a woman out there who is very keen that we stay together. Someone that Hanna has met and doesn't remember anything about her."

"She's not wearing a tan jacket. I can tell you that much." Hanna added. When they both frowned at her she added, "Sean's got me listening to Welcome to Night Vale. In that there's a character who no one remembers apart from the fact he's wearing a tan jacket."

"Okay so Hanna's strange fangirling moments aside..." The Doctor said. "How do you feel on the subject?"

The TARDIS landed and Clara looked around, "Am I home?"

He smiled, "If you want to be."

"I'm sorry." She said softly, "I'm so, so sorry. But I don't think I know who you are any more."

He looked confused but before he could say anything, Clara's phone started to ring. "you better get that. It might be your boyfriend."

"Shut up. I don't have a boyfriend." She said, fishing her phone out and moving outside to answer it.

Hanna looked over at the Doctor, "You called her? Before you regenerated."

He nodded, "I thought she might need a little help getting to grips with the new me."

"You can say that again." She smiled at him, "But hey, I know you're the Doctor."

"You have an advantage though. You've seen these episodes before."

"A long time ago." She sighed, "I'm running out. Oh I've still got some time but I'm running out of reliable future knowledge. Before long I'll be just like everyone else."

"Oh Hanna, you could never be like everyone else." He smiled at her, "You also however have seen regeneration happen before. Not first hand but I know how expansive your collection is."

"Now that is very true." She smiled, jumping off her rail, "Shall we see if she's okay?"

"Good idea." He moved over to the door and opened it, watching Clara for a moment before calling over, "So who is it? Is that the Doctor?"

Hanna appeared at her side and smiled, stepping outside and looking around. "Are you okay?" She asked as Clara hung up the phone.

"Yes. No. I don't know." Clara looked over at them.

"Well?" The Doctor asked.

Clara sniffed, "Well what?"

"He asked you a question. Will you help me?"

"You shouldn't have been listening." Clara told him.

"I wasn't." he replied, "I didn't need to. That was me talking."

"Same man, new face." Hanna said softly.

"You can't see me, can you?" The Doctor said, "You look at me and you can't see me. Have you any idea what that's like?" When Clara said nothing he continued, "I'm not on the phone, I'm right here. Standing in front of you. Please just... just see me."

Hanna moved over and stood beside him, just close enough so that they were just about touching shoulders. Letting him know that she was there. She watched as Clara stepped forwards and examined his face for a moment. Clara smiled. "Thank you."

"For what?" He asked.

"Phoning." Clara replied softly before throwing her arms around his neck in a hug.

"I-I don't think that I'm a hugging person now." He tried to protest, even as Hanna joined in, hugging them both tightly.

"I'm not sure you get a vote." Clara told him.

"Whatever you say." He said.

"This isn't my home, by the way." She told him.

"Sorry, I'm sorry about that. I missed." he replied.

Hanna laughed and pulled away from them. "Not that badly though."

"Where are we?" Clara asked.

"Glasgow." Hanna said softly, "Not your home but mine. Close enough. I'd recognise it anywhere."

"Right... shall we uh... Do you want to go get some coffee or chips or something?" The Doctor asked them. "Chips and coffee?"

"Coffee." Clara said, "Coffee would be great. You're buying."

"I don't have any money." He replied as she started to walk away.

"You're fetching then." She replied cheerfully.

"I'm not sure that I'm the fetching sort."

"Yeah, still not sure you get a vote." She replied.

Hanna grinned and followed them both down the street, walking between them, "I get the feeling that the next few months are going to be really, really awesome."

"And what makes you say that?" The Doctor looked at her.

She linked arms with him and Clara, "New series. New start. New Doctor, new monsters to fight. A mysterious new Big Bad to discover."

"Big Bad?" Clara asked.

"Overarching theme. Presumably this woman who is determined to keep you together. I remember something about her. Nothing concrete. I'll have to look her up when we get back to the TARDIS but for now just rest assured that I predict awesome."

The Doctor and Clara exchanged a glance behind Hanna head and smiled.

"I think we can agree with that." Clara said, "And a bit of optimism never hurt anybody. Here's to an awesome few months."

Hanna laughed happily, "And many more after that."


Author's Note: I'm SOOOO sorry! The last couple of weeks have been totally hectic! And I've started work so I have even less time and energy to write! I'm working on it though! Just give me time to get settled into my new routine and I'll probably start writing again and updates will become more frequent! I've only got Into The Dalek written but I am working on the rest of series 8. I love you, all my readers! ~Ice

(Question time will happen when I'm awake enough to answer questions. Please send them in though, I will answer them!)