CHAPTER 49: The Day of the Doctor

I heard the revving of her bike, and that was enough to nearly knock over my tower of cards with excitement. Ever since our trip into Dad's time stream, Clara and me had a connection that was more than just getting on as friends. I supposed that was to be expected after such a traumatic time, and teamed with the sheer danger of that experience, there was probably some kind of tangible mental link between us as a result. Like the sort of connection twins reported, maybe.

There were a few beeps as the revving became louder. I immediately clicked my fingers and opened the doors, letting in a little fresh air and natural light before the motorbike came skidding inside. I shared a smile with Dad as Clara climbed off her seat and removed her helmet.

"Draught." Dad called from his reading position on the steps. He hadn't yet turned around. Clara winked at me and clicked her fingers, the doors slamming shut again.

"Fancy a week in ancient Mesopotamia?" Dad began, closing his book on advanced quantum mechanics as I placed the final card on top of my tower. "Followed by future Mars?"

"Will there be cocktails?" Clara asked.

"On the moon." I replied as Dad whipped off his round glasses.

"The Moon will do." She said. There was a brief pause before we all burst into laughter, Dad and me each giving Clara a hug.

"How's the new job?" I asked once we'd settled.

"Teach anything good?" Dad added.

"No," Clara shrugged. "Learn anything?"

"Not a thing." Dad replied, and the three of us slapped our palms together. Then, as if our clap set it off, an alert sounded from the console and the whole box jolted.

"What's happening?" Clara asked as we gripped the sides for support.

"We're taking off." Dad frowned.

"But the engines aren't going," I added, pointing at the lack of light in the central column. We hurried around the console, tapping the monitor for any information and flicking a few switches that might've helped. The room still swayed side to side. "It's not the TARDIS. Is there anything outside?" Dad rushed to the doors and opened one, reaching for the emergency phone. The sky looked a lot closer than before and there was a loud spinning whoosh sound all around us.

"No kidding!" Dad shouted into the phone, then held it up.

"What's going on?" Clara asked.

"Not a clue," I frowned, then sprinted to join him by the doors. The Thames whizzed past below us, and I looked over his shoulder at the helicopter carrying the TARDIS over London. "What's going on?" I yelled into his head. "Who are you talking to?"

"UNIT!" He replied, then just as the T left his mind, the helicopter turned and took the box with it.

"Dad!" I screamed and instinctively grabbed whatever I could as he lost balance and tumbled out of the doors. With his tweed sleeve clutched tightly between my fingers, I was almost pulled out with him if it wasn't for Clara, who grabbed my other hand. The wind from the helicopter's propellers blew the loose strands of hair over my face as I surveyed the damage. Dad's shoes were just holding him on to the base of the TARDIS, the heels curled slightly over the edge, and Clara was trying her best to keep them there with one foot. I had hold of the sleeve of his coat, so he wasn't quite upside-down. One of my legs was swinging freely in the air while the other was still just about in the TARDIS, and Clara was grasping my hand securely. If any of us let go, at least one would be requiring a parachute.

"You OK?" Clara called to me.

"Brilliant, thanks," I replied loudly, then shouted down to Dad as he grabbed hold of my wrist. "Dad, are you OK?"

"Ow!" He exclaimed in reply as the phone dangling by its cord whacked him in the face.

"He'll do." I muttered so Clara could hear.

"Next time, would it kill you to knock?" I heard Dad yell down the phone. "I'm just going to put you on hold!" He looked up at us. "Jen, let go of my hand!"

"Are you sure?" I exclaimed.

"Positive!" He replied. I took a deep breath and released his fingers so he fell back. Clara pulled me more forcefully towards her and the console room, and I went stumbling inside.

"Oh no," I sighed loudly at the sight of the room. "My card tower collapsed!"

"Doctor!" I heard Clara cry, and I instantly rushed to the doors again. His feet were no longer clinging to the base. He'd somehow managed to right himself and was hanging from underneath the TARDIS by his arms. I looked at Clara.

"Welcome back." I grinned.

"Nothing unusual." She replied with a chuckle.

-~oOo~-

For the remainder of the journey above London, Clara and me enjoyed the view, particularly when we got to Trafalgar Square and the helicopter lowered us. Once Dad dropped from underneath the box, I followed suit and took the jump from several feet up. As the soles of my Converse touched the damp concrete, I noticed Dad giving an enthusiastic salute to Kate Stewart, who was stood waiting.

"You don't salute. Why are you saluting?" I frowned.

"Why am I saluting?" He agreed, then took the few steps forwards.

"Doctor, as Chief Scientific Officer, may I extend the official apologies of UNIT." Kate began, clutching the collar of her coat to protect from the wind.

"Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, a word to the wise," Dad shouted over the helicopter blades. "As I'm sure your father would have told you, I don't like being picked up."

"That probably sounded better in his head." Clara added as she joined us.

"I'm acting on instructions direct from the throne," Kate explained, handing Dad an envelope. "Sealed orders from her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth I."

"The Queen? The First?" Clara asked as I groaned. "Sorry, Elizabeth I?"

"Yes, Liz One," I sighed. "Or my stepmother."

"Your what?" She exclaimed.

"Ladies!" Dad interrupted, giving us a warning look. I winked at Clara.

"Her credentials are inside," Kate continued. I watched with interest as Dad went to open the red wax seal on the envelope. "No, inside." She corrected, pointing at the National Gallery behind her. I raised my eyebrows.

"Nice scarf." Dad commented to the girl with Kate, who was wearing the long striped woollen item that I could've sworn I'd seen somewhere before, and we headed up the stone steps to the Gallery.

-~oOo~-

"How is Elizabeth I your stepmother?" Clara asked as we strode across the clean wooden floor of the National Gallery. "Don't tell me he married the virgin Queen."

"So much for history, eh?" I murmured.

"Unified Intelligence Task Force." Dad interrupted just as I opened my mouth to continue. He shot me a warning look.

"Sorry?" Clara frowned.

"This lot. UNIT," he continued. "They investigate alien stuff. Anything alien."

"What, like you two?"

"I work for them."

"Copy of Torchwood, really," I teased Dad, nudging his shoulder playfully. "But you're more international than us."

"Hold on, you've got a job?" Clara exclaimed.

"Why should I have a job? I'd be brilliant at having a job." Dad replied.

"You've seen me do my job, Oswald," I added. "Back in Victorian Yorkshire, remember?"

"I know you've got a job, Jen," she sighed, then turned to Dad. "But you don't."

"I do," he stressed. "This is my job. I'm doing it now."

"You never have a job."

"Yeah, several faces ago." I added.

"I do," he continued as we reached a large covered artefact at the end of the hall. "I do." Our bickering stopped when the cloth was removed from the painting. First all I could see was dark fiery orange across the canvas, but once my eyes focused after a second, I saw what it actually was. It was a Citadel with towers and domes, one that I'd seen before. Dad had showed me. He showed me when I asked to see Gallifrey, my heritage, our homeland. He said it was called Arcadia. But it wasn't surrounded in violent flame like it was in the painting, the buildings nearby burnt and collapsing.

There was only one event in Gallifrey's vast history that could have produced such a painting.

"Elizabeth's credentials, Doctor." Kate announced as we stared.

"But that's not possible." Clara frowned.

"No more." I heard Dad mutter under his breath.

"What?" I whispered, tearing my eyes away from the painting to look at him. There hadn't been many times when I'd seen Dad that afraid.

"That's the title." Kate said.

"I know the title." He snapped.

"Also known as Gallifrey Falls."

"Lovely name." I spat through gritted teeth, taking a small step towards Dad.

"This painting doesn't belong here, not in this time or place." He breathed.

"Obviously." Clara murmured.

"Is that the fall of Arcadia?" I asked delicately. Dad took a breath.

"Yes," he replied aloud, his eyes still on the canvas. "Gallifrey's second city."

"But how is it doing that?" Clara wondered, stepping towards the painting with her hand outstretched. "How is that possible? It's an oil painting in 3D."

"Time Lord art," I explained. "Bigger on the inside."

"A slice of real time, frozen." Dad finished.

"Elizabeth told us where to find it, and its significance." Kate continued, as if the image of the destruction of a man's home planet wasn't in front of him. I swallowed as I felt Dad clutch my hand.

"You OK?" Clara asked him, and I glanced down to see he had her fingers wrapped around his too.

"He was there." He mumbled.

"Who was?" She questioned.

"The other him." I replied.

"The one I don't talk about." Dad added.

"I don't understand." Clara said.

"I've had many faces, many lives," he began. "I don't admit to all of them. There's one life I've tried very hard to forget. He was the Doctor who fought in the Time War, and that was the day he did it. The day I did it. The day I did it. The day he killed them all. The last day of the Time War. The war to end all wars between my people and the Daleks. And in that battle there was a man with more blood on his hands than any other, a man who would commit a crime that would silence the universe. And that man was me." I squeezed his hand.

"But the Time War's over," I said, probably slightly louder than intended due to slight shakiness. "Why have you brought us here to look at this?"

"The painting only serves as Elizabeth's credentials, proof that the letter is from her," Kate explained. "It's not why you're here." I looked down as Dad let go of my hand and snapped the red wax seal on the centuries old envelope. The letter was written in elaborate Tudor script, the parchment brown at the edges. I read over his shoulder:

My dearest love,

I hope the painting known as Gallifrey Falls will serve as proof that it is your Elizabeth who writes to you now. You will recall that you pledged yourself to the safety of my kingdom. In this capacity I have appointed you as curator of the Under Gallery, where deadly danger to England is locked away. Should any disturbance occur within its walls, it is my wish that you be summoned. God speed, gentle husband.

I shared a glance with Dad before he turned his eyes to Kate.

"What happened?"

"Easier to show you." She replied, and led us through a wooden door to our left.

Dad strode ahead of Clara and me during the short walk to the next gallery room. He was putting up his brave front. I was shaken up seeing that Gallifreyan painting, let alone the man who made it happen in the first place.

"You OK?" Clara whispered to me.

"Yep." I replied with a smile, and she squeezed my hand lightly.

The room was a lot smaller and plainer than the previous with white walls and little artwork displayed on them. There were guards behind us as a metal shutter slid down the entrance we'd came in through, and more either side of the large painting opposite.

"Elizabeth I," Clara said as we admired the image of the Tudor Queen and her secret husband that I knew so well. "You knew her, then?"

"A long time ago…"

-~oOo~-

Jenny, aged 1

"Umm… slight problem."

"Sorry?" I called as I swung from the tree branch, my legs dangling freely, the tips of my Converse skimming the layer of leaves on the ground.

"We've made a mistake." Charlie replied from his position behind a trunk, watching Dad and Elizabeth in the distance.

"What do you mean?"

"It's just… the Zygon." He mumbled.

"Dad's dealing with it," I chuckled as I hopped up to a higher branch. "Don't worry, Charlie."

"No." He continued, lifting the second gizmo we'd built slightly higher and calling something else to me.

"Who?" I shouted, pausing almost at the top of the tree.

"It's not the Queen." He repeated. I immediately leapt from the highest branch.

"Then who is it?" I asked, joining him at the edge of the forest. Dad was still laid with Elizabeth on their picnic blanket.

"Not who…" Charlie began quietly, but he didn't have to finish. The pure white horse behind them was slowly turning a rosy pink and the four legs had shrunk to two.

"Allons-y!" I exclaimed, grabbing Charlie's hand as we sprinted back to Dad and the TARDIS.

"…Also it can microwave frozen dinners from up to twenty feet and download comics from the future. I never know when to stop." Dad's voice echoed across the English slopes.

"My love, I do not understand." Elizabeth replied.

"I'm not your love, and yes you do," Dad spat just as we arrived. "You're a Zygon."

"A Zygon?" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Oh, stop it. It's over. A Zygon, yes!"

"Dad!" I cried.

"Yep, in a minute." He replied distractedly before turning back to Elizabeth. "Big red rubbery thing covered in suckers. Surprisingly good kisser-" I cringed a little – "Think the real Queen of England would just decide to share her throne with any old handsome bloke in a tight suit, just 'cause he's got amazing hair."

"Dad…" I whispered, pulling Charlie with me as I took tentative steps back from the alien.

"And a nice horse," he continued, oblivious, until he glanced around. "Oh."

"Yep." I nodded.

"It was the horse."

"Correct."

"I'm going to be King."

"You're what?"

"Run!"

Immediately I did as he said, grabbed Charlie's hand and followed Dad and Elizabeth in a sprint across the grass.

"What's happening?" She screamed.

"We're being attacked by a shape-shifting alien from outer space, formerly disguised as my horse." Dad replied as we slipped into the remains of an old grey building.

"What does that mean?"

"It means we're going to need a new horse."

"I'll get right on that," I said sarcastically after Dad pointed at me. "Just as soon as the Zygon-horse is out of the way." Charlie chuckled.

"Who are these people?" Elizabeth questioned loudly, glaring at Charlie and me.

"Ah! Yes. You've not met," Dad explained. "This is my daughter, Jenny, and her friend, Charlie."

"Daughter," she repeated, looking me up and down. "You hardly appear old enough to have a child of such an age."

"Hey, I'll have you know tha-" I started before Charlie grabbed my hand and pulled me back.

"See? Jen, see?" Dad was exclaiming animatedly. "I don't look old enough!"

"The first person to ever think so." I sighed.

"I suppose I shall be your stepmother." Elizabeth continued with her eyebrows raised in discontent. I stared for a second.

"Oh, you didn't!" I groaned, turning to Dad. His mouth widened, about to argue.

"It's going into the forest." Charlie interrupted. I poked my head around the crumbling archway to watch the Zygon, indeed, heading towards the trees where Charlie and me were stood only a few minutes before.

"We'll hold it off," Dad said quickly. "You run, Elizabeth. Your people need you."

"And I need you alive for our wedding day." She cried, before yanking Dad's face down to hers and planting a kiss on his lips. I raised my eyebrows.

"Oh, good work, Doctor. Nice one," he muttered to himself as she ran away. "The Virgin Queen? So much for history."

"My sentiments exactly," I agreed. "Charlie?"

"Yeah… Probably not the best plan after all, Doctor." He nodded nervously.

"Yep," Dad squeaked. "Anyway. Let's split up: you two, after the Zygon now. I'll follow, make sure Elizabeth's OK."

"She is your fiancée, after all." I teased, pulling Charlie away with me before Dad had the chance to respond.

-~oOo~-

We heard her scream before we found any trace of Zygon in the forest and followed that instead. As much as I disliked the fact that my Dad was engaged to be married to the Queen of England, and one who very much enjoyed beheadings no less, I didn't think leaving her to the Zygon was the best course of action.

"Doctor!" She was still calling as we entered the clearing.

"Elizabeth," I replied, helping her up instantly. "You OK? What happened?"

"This feeble female body," she huffed. "Where is your father?"

"He's on his way." I assured her, just as we heard his voice calling back through the trees.

"Elizabeth!"

"Over here!" Charlie shouted back, and within seconds Dad burst into the clearing.

"That thing," the Queen demanded. "Explain what it is. What does it want of us?"

"That's what we're trying to find out." He replied.

"Probably just your planet." I shrugged.

"Doctor," another voice echoed. I span to face a double of Elizabeth striding towards us. I shared a wide-eyed look with Charlie. "Step away from her, Doctor. That's not me. That's the creature."

"How is that possible?" The first Elizabeth gasped, stepping towards her twin. "She's me. Doctor, she's me!"

"Dad." I whispered.

"Yep, doing it. Charlie." He replied, fiddling with the gizmo and commanding Charlie to do the same.

"I am indeed me," the second Elizabeth (I named her Lizzie in my head to avoid confusion) said. "A compliment that cannot be extended to yourself."

"Extraordinary," Elizabeth sighed. "The creature has captured my exact likeness. This is exceptional."

"Exceptional?" Lizzie replied. "A Queen would call it impertinent."

"A Queen would be compelled to admire the skill of the execution, before arranging one."

"It's not working!" Dad growled.

"This one isn't either." Charlie grumbled.

"One might surmise that the creature would learn quickly to protect itself from any simple means of detection." Elizabeth continued.

"Clearly you understand the creature better than I," Lizzie responded sarcastically. "But then, you have the advantage."

"This is mind-boggling," I mumbled. "Thought I'd seen a lot. Two of them."

"Back, all of you, now!" Dad cried suddenly. I turned around. There, in the air above us, was a sparkling white rip in time and space. "That's a time fissure. A tear in the fabric of reality. Anything could happen," at that moment, an object flew out of the centre of the fissure and hit the leafy ground. I frowned. "For instance, a fez."

-~oOo~-

Jenny, aged 11

"Welcome to the Under Gallery," Kate said as she pulled the painting of Elizabeth and my tenth Dad back, revealing a dark corridor behind it. "This is where Elizabeth I kept all art deemed too dangerous for public consumption." I hopped down the steps after her, immediately stopping next to the piles of sand littering the floor. I knelt down just as Dad did the same, both of picking up a handful. I sprinkled a little bit on to my tongue.

"Stone dust." We said simultaneously.

"Is it important?" Kate asked.

"In twelve hundred years I've never stepped in anything that wasn't." Dad replied as we leapt to our feet again. I span around as I heard a titter behind us. The girl in the long striped scarf was watching from the doorway.

"Oi, you!" Dad cried, pointing a finger at her. "Are you sciency?"

"Oh, er, well," she stammered, climbing through to the corridor. "Er, yes."

"Got a name?" I asked.

"Yes." She nodded.

"Good. I've always wanted to meet someone called Yes," Dad smiled. "Now, I want this stone dust analysed. And I want a report in triplicate, with lots of graphs and diagrams and complicated sums on my desk, tomorrow morning," he waved his hands around excitedly. "ASAP, pronto L O L," I rolled my eyes at Clara as he looked at her. "See? Job," he pointed at Kate. "Do I have a desk?"

"No."

"And I want a desk." He added.

"Get a team. Analyse the stone dust." Kate ordered the girl.

"I've got a desk." I boasted exaggeratedly as we continued down the corridor, nudging Dad's arm.

"Inhaler!" Kate called back as the girl made a squealing noise.

We followed her through a few more gallery rooms, one with glass display cases along the wall rather than canvases and frames.

"Keep walking," I whispered to Clara as I spotted one I was certain Dad would have been particularly interested in. "Don't show him you've seen it. Pretend it's not there. Look at this one." I stopped her next to a painting of a battle. We shared a grin, thinking we'd fooled him, but as we turned around…

"Someday, you could just walk past a fez." Clara groaned. He had the red hat firmly on his head, beaming at us in excitement.

"Never gonna happen." He grinned. The next room was lighter with wooden panelled floors and again, white walls. Kate was stood beside a painting on the left.

"As you instructed, nothing has been touched." One of the scientists said.

"This is why we called you in." Kate explained, indicating the painting. That one was calmer, no fire or burnt buildings, just sandy hills and a pale sky. I noted the glass scattered across the floor just in front of it, though.

"3D again." Clara said.

"Interesting." Dad commented.

"The broken glass?"

"Nah," I replied. "Where it's broken from."

"Look at the shatter pattern," Dad continued. "The glass on all these paintings has been broken from the inside."

"As you can see, all the paintings are landscapes," Kate began. "No figures of any kind."

"So?" I asked.

"There used to be." She handed Dad a tablet, which he held up to the painting to show a large figure once there.

"Something's got out of the paintings." Clara concluded.

"Lots of somethings." I agreed.

"Dangerous." Dad added.

"This whole place has been searched," Kate told us. "There's nothing here that shouldn't be, and nothing's got out." I raised my eyebrows at Clara as we went to leave. Creatures climbing out of Time Lord art was completely and utterly brand new…

A bright white light made me turn back. Floating in the air across the room was a sparkling time fissure, the edges like precious gems and the centre slightly sunny yellow. I'd never seen one in reality before, but for some reason it seemed like a familiar sight.

"Oh no, not now." Dad exclaimed.

"Doctor, what is it?" Clara asked.

"No, not now. I'm busy!" He groaned.

"Is it to do with the paintings?" Kate questioned.

"No," I replied involuntarily, then paused. "Is it?"

"No, no," Dad continued. "This is different. I remember this. Almost remember," he turned to me. "Don't you?"

"It's… familiar," I frowned. "Fez!"

"Sorry?"

"The fez!" I cried, still a little confused. "I remember a fez."

"He's had lots of them." Clara groaned sarcastically.

"No," I shook my head, reaching for the hat on Dad's head. "This fez."

"Oh, of course," he sighed, his eyes widening in realisation. "This is where I come in." He took the fez from my hands and grinned before turning to the fissure, tossing the hat inside it with a flourish.

"Geronimo!" He yelled and followed it in with a huge leap.

"Doctor!" Clara screamed.

"Don't." I replied, pulling her back. No one else jumped through yet. I remembered.

-~oOo~-

Jenny, aged 1

We stared at the red fez for a second before something else fell through.

A man.

He dropped from the fissure with the final echoes of a yell still humming through and thumped to the ground, just as the white light behind him closed. He and Dad stood simultaneously, the latter placing the fez on his head.

"Who is this man?" Elizabeth exclaimed.

"Dad, who is that?" I murmured. The first thing I noticed about the man was his chin. It jutted out like he was clenching his jaw. Then there was his hair, all quiff and floppy. No eyebrows as far as I could tell. Purple tweed. Bow tie. He felt oddly familiar.

"That's just what I was wondering." Dad replied quietly, his eyes transfixed on the man.

"Oh, that is skinny," he began, turning to the side, apparently comparing himself to Dad. "That is proper skinny. I've never seen it from the outside. It's like a special effect. Oi!" He leapt forwards and knocked the fez off Dad's head. I stepped forwards protectively, Charlie keeping hold of my wrist loosely. "Ha! Matchstick man." We watched as Dad and the man moved from side to side in unison.

"Who is he?" I whispered to myself in frustration, gripping Charlie's hand tighter.

"Your Dad can regenerate, right?" He replied under his breath.

"It can't be." I muttered.

"You're not." Dad said to the man. Both of them pulled out a sonic screwdriver from their jackets. The man's was bigger than Dad's, green on the end and had a combination of gold and silver metal. He flicked it up arrogantly and the light extended somewhat. Dad pushed his own blue light up. I hadn't realised how unimpressive it was until that moment.

"Compensating." Dad commented.

"For what?" The man asked, his face dropping a little.

"Regeneration, it's a lottery."

"Oh, he's cool," the man began jokingly, flailing his arms around and turning to me. "Isn't he cool, Jen?" I took a step back. "I'm the Doctor and I'm all cool. Oops, I'm wearing sandshoes!"

"What are you doing here? I'm busy." Dad hissed.

"Oh, busy. I see," the man repeated, snatching the fez from the ground and putting it on his head. I had to admit, it looked better on him than Dad. "Is that what we're calling it, eh? Eh?" He stopped in front of us. "Jen, Charlie," then bowed to the two Queens. "Hello ladies."

"Don't start." Dad cried.

"Listen, what you get up to in the privacy of your own regeneration is your business."

"One of them is a Zygon."

"Urgh," the man screwed up his face. "I'm not judging you." At that second, the time fissure reappeared behind them. Simultaneously, they stepped towards it and put glasses on their faces; Dad's his usual square ones, and the man a pair of thick-rimmed, perfectly round specs. I couldn't hold in a giggle as they noticed each other's eyewear and exclaimed.

"Oh, lovely!"

"Your Majesties," the man began. "Probably a good time to run."

"But what about the creature?" Elizabeth and Lizzie both cried.

"Elizabeth, whichever one of you is the real one, turn and run in the opposite direction to the other one." Dad ordered.

"Of course, my love." They both agreed. One of them hurried forwards (I'd lost track of Elizabeth and Lizzie by that point).

"Stay alive, my love. I am not done with you yet." She said, then smacked a lengthy kiss on his lips. I cringed both internally and out.

"Thanks, lovely." Dad mumbled as she ran away.

"I understand," the other Queen started, rushing to him too. "Live for me, my darling. We shall be together again." And again, she pulled him down to meet her lips for several seconds.

"Well, won't that be nice?" Dad said quickly as she ran.

"Nice isn't the word I'd use." I snapped. The man gave me a sympathetic glance before turning back to Dad.

"One of those was a Zygon."

"Yeah." Dad nodded.

"Big red rubbery thing covered in suckers."

"Yeah."

"Venom sacs in the tongue."

"Yeah, I'm getting the point, thank you."

"Nice," the man said, then looked at me. "Or not so nice."

"Doctor, is that you?" A voice echoed through the fissure suddenly.

"Ah, hello, Clara," the man replied cheerfully. "Can you hear me?"

Jenny, aged 11

"Yeah, it's me," Clara replied. "We can hear you. Where are you?"

"Where are we?" I heard Dad 11 ask through the bright white tear in the air above us.

"England, 1562." Dad 10 replied. It was good to hear that voice again. I'd missed it.

"Jen said you're talking to-"

"Myself." Both my Dads finished.

"Can you come back through?" Kate asked.

"Physical passage may not be possible in both directions," Dad 11 replied. "It's… Ah! Hang on. Jen, catch! Fez incoming!" I assumed the prepared to catch position, but no fez presented itself.

"Nothing here." I called.

"So where did it go?" Dad 10 asked mysteriously.

"It's possible the fissure has been opened across more than one moment in time and space." I replied.

"Yes, yes, of course it is, Jen," Dad 11 agreed. "But where?"

"Well, let's start with why you two have been brought together in the first place."

"Who knows?" Dad 10 replied.

"That sounds like me." I heard a quiet voice murmur in the background.

"Yeah, sorry," I responded to, well, myself. "Bit weird. You'll get used to it."

"Who are you talking to?" Clara asked.

"Jenny." I shrugged.

"OK, so there's two Doctors, and now two Jennys as well?" She frowned.

"Yep," I grinned. "Welcome to time travel."

"Keep him talking," Kate instructed as she left the room behind us. "Malcolm? Malcolm, I need you to send me one of my father's incident files. Codenamed Cromer. 70s or 80s depending on the dating protocol."

Jenny, aged 1

"OK, you used to be me, you've done all this before," Dad said to the man next to him, who was apparently the Doctor too. "What happens next?"

"I don't remember." He replied.

"How can you forget this?" Dad exclaimed.

"Hey, hang on. It's not my fault," the Doctor argued. "You're obviously not paying enough attention. Reverse the polarity." They lifted their screwdrivers into the air at the same time and the sound of warm buzzing filled the clearing.

"It's not working." The Doctor muttered.

"You're both reversing the polarity." Charlie called.

"Yes, I know that, Charlie."

"No, listen to him. There's two of us," Dad explained. "I'm reversing it, you're reversing it back again. We're confusing the polarity." Then, just as a burst of white light almost blinded us, another man dropped through and landed on his feet.

"Anyone lose a fez?" He asked happily. As I regained my sight, I took in the man's appearance. He was older than Dad and the Doctor, wearing a long, dirty leather coat and mud-covered trousers. The only bright thing about him was the red fez in his hand.

"You," Dad said, panicking me with his wide eyes. "How can you be here? More to the point, why are you here?"

"Good afternoon," the man smiled, nodding in our direction. "I'm looking for the Doctor."

"Well, you've certainly come to the right place." Dad replied.

"Good. Right. Well, who are you boys, and young lady?" He asked politely as I walked closer to Dad. "Oh, of course. Are you his companions?"

"His companions?" The Doctor cried.

"They get younger all the time," the man chuckled. "Well, if you could point me in the general direction of the Doctor?" Both Dad and the Doctor lifted their screwdrivers again, flicking the ends up.

"Really?" The man gasped.

"Dad, who is he?" I whispered, standing right behind his shoulder. He gripped my hand tightly instead of replying.

"Yeah." The Doctor nodded.

"Really." Dad agreed.

"You're me?" The man questioned, and I took a sharp breath. "All of you?"

"No, no," the Doctor replied. "Just us. This is Jenny and Charlie."

"Both of you." The man continued, looking between the two Time Lords next to me.

"Yep." Dad said.

"Even that one?" He continued, nodding towards the Doctor.

"Yes!" The Doctor cried outraged.

"You're my future selves?"

"Yes!" They both nodded exaggeratedly.

"Am I having a midlife crisis?" The man spat, taking a step towards us. Instinctively, I stepped back with the two Doctors and pushed Charlie behind me. I could sense Dad's discomfort with his past self, something that was only enhanced as they both pointed their screwdrivers at him. "Why are you pointing your screwdrivers like that? They're scientific instruments, not water pistols," they lowered the screwdrivers sheepishly. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Still," Dad began, still holding my hand. "Loving the posh gravelly thing. It's very convincing."

"Brave words, Dick Van Dyke." The Doctor teased. Suddenly, a loud galloping of hooves announced the arrival of a troop of soldiers, completely surrounding the entire clearing with the five of us stood in the centre.

"Encircle them," the leader ordered. "Which of you is the Doctor? The Queen of England is bewitched. I would have the Doctor's head."

"Well, this has all the makings of your lucky day." The past Doctor smiled.

Jenny, aged 11

"Is that three of them now?" Clara asked as Kate returned.

"Sounds like it." I nodded.

"There's a precedent for that." Kate added.

"What is that?" The panicked voice of the soldier leader echoed through the fissure.

"Oh, the pointing again," the Doctor that I'd seen in Dad's time stream said. I'd know that voice anywhere. "They're screwdrivers! What are you going to do, assemble a cabinet at them?"

"That thing, what witchcraft is it?"

"Ah, yes," Dad 11 replied loudly. "Now that you mention it, that is witchcraft. Yes, yes, yes. Witchy witchcraft. Hello? Hello in there! Excuse me, hello! Am I talking to the wicked witch of the well?" There was a pause.

"Clara," I muttered. "That's you."

"What?" She grumbled. "Why am I the witch?"

"Clara?" Dad 11 called.

"See." I grinned.

"Hello?" She replied reluctantly, glaring at me.

"Clara, hi, hello. Hello," he began. "Would you mind telling these prattling mortals to get themselves begone?"

"What he said." She frowned.

"Yes, tiny bit more colour." He hissed.

"Right," she sighed. "Prattling mortals, off you pop, or I'll turn you all into frogs."

"Ooh, frogs," Dad 11 repeated. "Nice. You heard her."

"Doctor, what's going on?" Clara asked, back in her normal voice.

"It's a timey wimey thing."

"Timey what?" The time stream Doctor groaned. "Timey wimey?"

"I've no idea where he picks that stuff up." Dad 10 replied, and I snorted loudly.

"The Queen. The Queen." The soldiers said suddenly, the sound of feet and metal clanging fast indicating that one of the Elizabeths had returned.

"You don't seem to be kneeling," she said. "How tremendously brave of you."

"Which one are you?" Younger me asked.

"What happened to the other one?" Dad 10 added.

"Indisposed," she replied. "Long live the Queen."

"Long live the Queen." The soldiers chanted.

"Arrest these men and woman. Take them to the Tower."

"That is not the Queen of England, that's an alien duplicate." Dad 10 shouted.

"And you can take it from him, 'cause he's really checked." Dad 11 interrupted, and I laughed.

"Oh, shut up," Dad 10 groaned. "And you in there, Jenny Smith."

"I said nothing!" I cried.

"Venom sacs in the tongue." Dad 11 added.

"Seriously, stop it."

"No, hang on. The Tower," Dad 11 continued. "Did you say the Tower? Ah, yes, brilliant. Love the Tower. Breakfast at eight, please. Will there be Wi-Fi?"

"Are you capable of speaking without flapping your hands about?" The past Doctor snapped.

"He's really not." I replied.

"Yes," Dad 11 argued. "No. I demand to be incarcerated in the Tower immediately with my co-conspirators Sandshoes, Granddad, Anomaly and the Genius."

"Granddad?"

"They're not sandshoes!"

"Yes, they are."

"Why am I an anomaly?"

"Silence! The Tower is not to be taken lightly," Elizabeth shouted. "Very few emerge again."

"Dear god, that man's clever," Kate said, turning to leave. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Clara and me asked at the same time.

"My office, otherwise known as the Tower of London."

-~oOo~-

Jenny, aged 11

"The Doctor will be trying to send us a message," Kate explained as we strode along the dark corridors. "We're looking for a string of numerals from around 1550, approximately. Priority One. I'm going to need access to the Black Archive."

"I've never heard of the Black Archive." I questioned.

"Highest security rating on the planet," she continued. "The entire staff have their memories wiped at the end of every shift. Automated memory filters in the ceiling," we reached a man at the end of the corridor. "Access please."

"Ma'am." He nodded, handing her a key.

"Atkins, isn't it?" She asked.

"Yes, ma'am. First day here." I smiled as we passed him into the next room.

"Been here ten years." Kate muttered under her breath.

"Lock and key," Clara commented. "Bit basic, isn't it?"

"Can't afford electronic security down here," Kate replied. "Got to keep the Doctor out. The whole of the Tower is TARDIS-proofed. He really wouldn't approve of the collection."

"But you've just let us in. His best friend and his daughter." I argued.

"You have a top level security rating from your last visit."

"Sorry, our what?" Clara asked as we paused at a large pin board of photos. Right there were images of the pair of us with Kate, walking down those same corridors we'd just come from.

"Apologies," Kate called. "We have to screen all his known associates. We can't have information about the Doctor and the TARDIS falling into the wrong hands. The consequences would be disastrous."

"Weird." I muttered.

"I've seen some of these people before." Clara whispered.

"Yeah," I nodded, scanning the pictures of Dad's companions. "Rose, Jack, Martha, Donna, Amy, Rory…"

"Who's that?" She asked, pointing at a black and white photo.

"Susan Foreman," I replied. "My niece."

"Niece?" She repeated.

"Mm," I nodded. "Dad's granddaughter."

"Jenny, Clara," Kate called from across the room. "Hurry."

"What is that?" Clara asked as we reached her. There was a large glass case, big enough to step inside, with an object placed in the centre. An object I recognised clearly.

"Time travel, Oswald." I replied.

"A vortex manipulator bequeathed to the UNIT archive by Captain Jack Harkness on the occasion of his death." Kate explained.

"One of them." I injected with a chuckle.

"No one can know we have this, not even our allies."

"Why not?" Clara asked.

"Think about it," Kate sighed. "Americans with the ability to rewrite history? You've seen their movies." I stayed staring at Jack's vortex manipulator for a few more seconds before following her and Clara into the glass box.

"OK, so this is how we're going to rescue the Doctor." Clara said as we entered.

"Doubt there'll be enough power for a two-way trip," I shrugged. "It's not been active for hundreds of years."

"And we don't have the activation code," Kate added. "The Doctor knows we have this, so he's always kept the code from us. Let's hope he changes his mind." I moved closer to Clara as her phone rang.

"Don't you have yours on you?" She whispered.

"No," I shook my head. "Left it on the TARDIS. It's not working anyway. We'd probably be hundreds of years out, looking at three completely different faces and a human corpse."

"Lovely." She replied, wrinkling her nose.

"Yeah."

"Well if you've found it, photograph it and send it to my phone." Kate snapped down her phone. That was out of character.

"Er, Kate?" Clara asked, drawing my attention to the girl with the scarf and a man outside the box. "Should they be here? Why have they followed us?" Subtly, I pushed Clara behind me.

"Oh, they've probably just finished disposing of the humans a bit early." Kate replied casually.

"The humans?" I repeated.

"Dear me," she continued. Or whatever had taken over her body continued. "I really do get into character, don't I?"

"Slipped up a bit at the end." I criticised. Kate's lips curled into a smile as her skin grew pinker and her face contorted. Her head grew larger and suckers exposed themselves from her red skin. I'd seen this sort of shape-shifting before.

"The Under Gallery is secured." The scarf girl said, appearing behind the Zygon.

"Yeah? Well, one thing you haven't prepared for." I replied, watching Clara pick up Kate's phone and enter coordinates into the vortex manipulator.

"Prepare to dispose of one more human and a Time Lord," the Zygon said, ignoring me. "We have acquired the device."

"Excuse you, Time Lady." I snapped.

"What was it we haven't prepared for exactly?" The Zygon-scarf girl asked sarcastically.

"Team Save the Doctor." I grinned.

"Activation code, right?" Clara smiled. I placed my hand on her wrist quickly, waved goodbye to the Zygons, and we disappeared.

LunaRoseDiCaprio: OK, there you go. Part 1 uploaded.

Please let me know what you think! This one has been pretty stressful to write :)

I really really want to say next time - 'Fifty' on 23rd November. However, I haven't started it yet and my placement is ridiculously busy (5.30am to 6pm, then lesson planning in the evening and at weekends...) so please don't be surprised if chapter 50 is not uploaded on that date. I really want it to be, though, because it would be really cool to have my 50th chapter based on the 50th anniversary episode uploaded on the 51st anniversary of the show :)

...So see you as soon as possible I guess!

Read & Review xx