Kill the Moon: 2 Choices

Before Angel could even throw up a shield to block Courtney from the spider's attack, the girl had pulled something out of her pack and sprayed it at the spider, causing it to leap away from her with a squeal and a shudder before collapsing to the ground.

"Courtney," Clara ran over to her, checking on the girl.

"What was that?" Tailor gaped at the girl, then what was left of the spider as MK9 trundled over to begin scanning it.

Courtney showed her the spray bottle she was holding, basic cleaning solution, "Kills 99 percent of all known germs," she smirked. She'd brought it with her, along with some paper towels, in case she actually DID get sick this time in the flying box. Call her disruptive, but she did respect other people's homes, if she made a mess in their box it was only right that she be able to clean it up herself or, if she was genuinely feeling ill, bring something with her that they could use instead.

"Good stuff, Courtney," the Doctor moved over, "Just don't try that at home, ok?"

"You alright?" Clara asked the girl, checking her suit to make sure the spider hadn't damaged it or hurt her.

"I'm fine," Courtney nodded, though she did appear a little ill as she observed the Doctor flashing the sonic on the remains of the spider, connecting it with MK9 for further analysis.

Angel moved over to the Doctor's side, he and Tailor crouched down…her daughter now poking the spider with a pencil she'd grabbed off the desk of photos. She could hear Lundvik behind her, asking Henry what had happened and why he wasn't arming the bombs, but right now SHE was more concerned about the thing on the ground.

"How did a germ manage to grow that large?" she asked.

The Doctor and Tailor looked up at her, the Doctor appearing a bit startled, "How'd you know?" he asked, he'd only JUST gotten the results from the sonic and he was fairly sure she hadn't gotten a feeling about it, he could usually sense it off her when she had.

Angel laughed lightly, resting a hand on his shoulder, "If the spray kills 99 percent of germs and it dealt with that…" she nodded at the spider, "Wouldn't that mean it's a germ?"

The Doctor opened his mouth to respond, but snapped it shut with a grin and a nod.

"That's brilliant, mum," Tailor beamed, getting up and half-hugging her mother from the side. Sometimes her father, and even herself to an extent, got so caught up in trying to find the scientific explanation that they missed the obvious clues. She knew her mother had struggled in the past with feeling as though she wasn't as clever as a Time Lady ought to be, but her mother was clever in her own way.

"This is incredible," the Doctor glanced back at the spider-germ, "You're right about the size of it, it's like a badger!"

Clara, however, didn't seem as impressed or excited as the Time Lords, "Doctor, it's not really a germ, is it?"

"Scanners indicate a prokaryotic unicellular life form with non-chromosomal DNA," MK9 announced, trying to be helpful.

The Doctor patted the dog on the head as he stood, "Which, as you and me know…well, not you and me," he gestured at the humans, "Well, you, certainly," he added towards his girls, "You and me, yes, this IS a germ."

Courtney shifted uncomfortably, moving closer to Clara, "I'm scared, Miss."

It was one thing when it was just a giant spider, that she could handle, it was just big. But a germ? A real actual germ that had grown that big? It was disgusting and…and well, she may not pay a LOT of attention in class but she knew enough to know that germs were supposed to be super super small and that there were always thousands of them…

"Ok," Clara nodded, putting an arm around Courtney's shoulder in comfort.

"You alright, Lundvik?" Angel asked as the woman wandered over to them.

The blonde seemed half in shock as she leaned against the wall near the small group, her gaze on the two men in her crew as they spoke quietly off to the side. She shook her head, "Duke," she murmured, "He'd just had a grand-daughter. Elina. She was his first. He was my teacher. He taught me how to fly. We were both given the sack on the same day," she let out a long breath, "He could have ended up like that suit, couldn't he?" she looked at the Time Lords, "If you hadn't stopped that creature."

Angel gave her a sad nod, her expression grim, "It didn't happen though," she reminded the woman.

Lundvik nodded, mute, still feeling the weight of what could have been. She closed her eyes tightly, another thought striking her. She had sent Henry off as well, and given how he had appeared with Angel…it was likely he had been in danger too. She could have lost both men had it not been for these strangers and their odd abilities. If they could save her men, perhaps they could save this mission and help them figure out what was going on.

"Which way to the Mare Fecunditatis?" the Doctor asked, his arm moving over Angel's shoulders, squeezing it in thanks for how she had helped the humans when he hadn't. Even though it happened so frequently, he would never get used to it and how much of an actual angel she was, his good luck charm. Hopefully that charm would hold strong and they could deal with whatever had happened to the moon and fix everything.

He tried to focus on that, on the relief of her saving a life, instead of the jolt of fear that always flew through him when she would suddenly disappear when her feelings and sensations told her another was in danger. She was there, she was safe, her and Tailor.

Courtney, however, cut in, "Please can I go home now?" she looked to the adults, "I'm really…I'm really sorry, but I'd like to go home."

Angel gave the girl a gentle smile, stepping towards her to take her hands, "You don't ever have to apologize," she told the girl, "This can be a bit much for anyone and I'm very proud of how you've handled it so far. You're a remarkably smart girl Courtney, very brave and very quick," she squeezed her hands and eyed her a moment, "Maybe you just need to find something to direct all your disruptive energy into, to make it productive instead?"

"Like what?" Courtney frowned though she felt an odd warmth in her stomach for the woman's words. So many of her teachers wrote her off because of how she acted in class, how the other students followed her lead, how she brought up things that didn't make sense and just wanted explanations the teachers never gave her. To have someone, even the school dinner lady, saying she wasn't a lost cause, it almost made up for the caretaker saying she wasn't special.

Angel smiled, tilting her head to the side, "Well, you're charismatic, energetic, passionate, and you're not afraid to stand up to authority so you can be heard…I've seen how the students follow after you," she remarked, "Maybe become someone worth following."

Courtney fell silent, considering that, considering how much of her own thoughts the woman had echoed. She didn't ASK the other kids to do what she did or egg her on or follow her lead, they just did. She hadn't really thought of herself as any of those words Angel had used, charismatic or any of those other things. But the more she thought on it...the more she could see it. She had a lot of friends, they all liked her, she had 'that personality' as she heard her parents say a few times. She never got tired of things and she could argue with the best of them, that was being energetic and passionate right? And standing up to authority? Wanting them to HEAR her? Wanting them to hear what her friends and the other kids had to say? She did that all the time, maybe not in the best way but she DID it…

Huh, maybe she was a leader.

But it was ok for even leaders to get scared right? To want to go home?

"It's 100 percent ok," Angel spoke, answering her unspoken question, "Everyone needs help sometimes. No one can be an expert at everything," she purposefully ignored the Doctor's pointed cough behind her, "That's why presidents and Prime Ministers have cabinets and councils and people they trust to help them out."

"And right now, we'll help you out," Tailor agreed, "We can't just leave and go back to Coal Hill," she told the girl apologetically, "But Aunt Idris can keep you safe till we're done, right dad?"

The Doctor nodded, "Pit stop to the TARDIS."

~8~

The Doctor led the way across the moon's surface, hand in hand with Angel, and heading towards the shuttle, towards the TARDIS. They would have had to go in that direction anyway, now that the bombs had not been armed as Lundvik had instructed, the trio of astronauts would have had to go back to set them. It was a good thing that Lundvik seemed to realize there was a genuine threat to them out there and had ordered her two partners to go with them instead of leaving anyone back at the settlement. There was strength and safety in numbers and so they had ALL gone. The Time Lords ahead, with Tailor, Clara, and Courtney behind, MK9 rolling along beside his Mistress, with the astronauts behind them at the rear.

Clara glanced at Courtney and Tailor, the two conversing a few feet away, before she stepped a bit faster and up to the Doctor's side so he was in between her and Angel, "Ok," she began, "This is dangerous now."

The Doctor snorted, "It was dangerous before. Everything's dangerous if you want it to be."

Angel nodded, "It's like I told your Mr. Pink," she agreed, "You could choke eating a chip. Or trip down the stairs. Or not look when crossing the road…" she trailed off at that one, feeling a sense of foreboding about it. She'd felt it before, when speaking to Danny about the dangers on Earth, but it was a bit stronger now. She couldn't help but feel like it was something very important to be aware of, that the strength creeping into the feeling meant it was looming in the near future.

She would have to call the family and tell them to be extra careful crossing roads for a while, just to be safe.

"It's no way to live your life," the Doctor continued, "Tell her. You're supposed to be teaching her."

"Look, I have a duty of care, ok?" Clara huffed at him, "You know what that is?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Course I know what a duty of care is."

"He IS the Doctor," Angel remarked, it was in his name that he had a duty of care. Though his care extended further than just his family or students, but to everyone he met, within reason though. She doubted he would hold true to that sentiment when Daleks or Cybermen or Kovarian…or River Song…were involved. But he cared so much about other people, even those he'd only just met, it was quite silly to ask him if he knew what a duty of care was. Though she would let it slide for Clara, the girl was quite stressed this trip.

"What are you suggesting? She's fine. What are you," he glanced back at Courtney, calling out to her, "35?"

Courtney gave him an odd look, "Fifteen. Like her," she nodded at Tailor.

"Actually, 405," Tailor remarked, though she felt she looked more 16 than 15, but that was neither here nor there.

"What?" Courtney looked at her as they reached the shuttle, "How?"

"Alien," Tailor shrugged, "We age pretty slow."

She didn't bother to add on that there was a point where they stopped aging, that was a little more than needed to be said.

"Here we are," Angel smiled as they made it into the cargo hold of the shuttle, the TARDIS sitting there, just fine, not a germ-spider in sight. She walked over to the door, pushing them open to let Courtney in, Tailor and Clara remaining outside for the moment with MK9.

The Doctor pointed a warning finger at Courtney as the girl took her helmet off, "Now, don't touch anything."

"You got any games?" the girl asked.

"Oh, don't be so stupid!"

"My love," Angel gave him a warning look, before she turned to Courtney, "We don't have any here in the console room. But if you ask Sissy nicely, I'm sure she'd pull up the game cupboard for you to search through."

Courtney just gave her an odd look for that, and pulled out her phone instead, content to play games on it, "Can I get reception up here?"

The Doctor didn't even bother to answer as he led Angel out of the TARDIS and back into the cargo hold, able to see Lundvik, Henry, and Duke off to the side, working on setting the nuclear devices.

Clara frowned when she saw the Doctor shutting the door behind them, locking it to keep Courtney in so she couldn't wander out, "Why are you shutting her in? We don't really need to stay, do we?" she'd been hoping that the Time Lords had just said what they had so the other astronauts wouldn't do anything, clearly she'd been wrong.

"We do," Tailor told her Aunt.

"But why?" Clara shook her head, "It's not some big mystery you need to solve. The answer's obvious, isn't it? The moon doesn't break up."

"What makes you say that?" Angel looked at her, a little concerned, though not from her question but by how much Clara seemed to want to leave. She knew Clara could get a bit impatient near the end of an adventure, especially when she had a date with Mr. Pink planned. But she would always tell her about it so she could be more precise with the landings so it wasn't a date. The only other thing she could think of was Courtney being there as well. Clara was usually so eager and happy to go on trips with them, not wanting it to end just as it had begun.

It reminded her, just a bit, of the Ponds, of how they had begun to react to the trips later in their time together. Sooner or later the travelling and the adventures began to wear on humans. For as much as they always claimed they wanted to stay forever, something always seemed to come up that made them change their minds or they just began to miss their normal lives, began to feel that desire to live their lives on Earth instead of rushing about everywhere else. With Amy and Rory, they would pop in from time to time, usually trying to make the time between visits longer and longer, so they could settle more. 'Weaning them off us,' the Doctor had called it. They'd realized it was upsetting to the Ponds though, to Amy especially, to constantly be waiting to hear the wheezing of the TARDIS, to worry endlessly the longer they didn't appear that something had happened to them.

But they also just couldn't cut their companions off suddenly. The Doctor had learned from Sarah Jane not to do that, how it made it so much harder to go from all that splendor to ordinary life.

They were trying something different with Clara, meeting up every week for her or whenever she asked them to, meeting on her schedule, and had promised each other they would only stop when she asked them to. Because it would mean SHE was ready to let go, she was ready to start her life on Earth. No lingering waiting to hear the TARDIS to hold her back, no sudden jarring loss of splendor, parting on good terms with no bad feelings. Rose had been lost, torn away from them, Martha had experienced such a trauma after the Master, Donna had been forced to stop the adventures, and the Ponds lost as well though they had been trying to make that transition easier and weren't able to see if it helped or not.

They would be sad to part with Clara, to only see her on the holidays with the rest of the family. They would never feel ready to lose a Companion, even if that loss was for a good and happy and positive reason. But it was up to Clara, when she felt ready to say goodbye to the adventures they would step back and let her go, no matter how their hearts would break, what mattered to them was their Companion's happiness and well-being.

She couldn't help but feel like there were more and paths springing up that could lead to Clara leaving from something negative and hurtful than because she had chosen it for herself and her happiness. She shook her head lightly to cast off the thoughts, she would do all she could to make sure their time with Clara continued to be positive and safe. This one, it seemed, would start with making sure Courtney was safe at all times.

Though it appeared her question only caused Clara's frown to deepen, for Angel to be questioning it was something completely different than the Doctor wanting to solve a puzzle, "Because I've been in the future, and the moon is still there. I think. You know the moon is still there, right?"

"Maybe it isn't the moon," the Doctor shrugged, "Maybe it's a hologram.

"Or a big painting," Tailor joined in, "A special effect."

"A completely different moon," Angel suggested.

"But you would know," Clara insisted.

"We would?" the Doctor asked with a hum.

Clara gave him a look, "If the moon fell to bits in 2049, somebody would've mentioned it. It would have come up in conversation. So it doesn't break up. So the world doesn't end. So, let's just get in the TARDIS and go."

"A giant Cyberman once walked through Victorian London," Angel remarked, "Not a word of it can be found in most records on Earth. Hardly any records, really. No one mentioned it, it never came up in conversation, it still happened."

"Yeah, but that was one town, this would affect the entire planet."

"Clara," the Doctor sighed in a way that told her some sort of long-winded rant was about to come her way, "There are some moments in time that we simply can't see. Not even Angel can see everything, yet. There are these little eye-blinks. They don't look the same as other things. They're not clear. They're fuzzy, they're grey. Little moments in which big things are decided. And this is one of them."

Clara cut in, holding a hand up to stop him, and turned to Tailor, "In normal words?"

Tailor laughed, "Sometimes we land in the middle of a decision happening," she tried to simplify it, "And we can't see what happens because it hasn't been decided yet. There are too many possible futures for us to see what's coming, not even Mum would get a clear look."

Angel had to nod at that, there were so many people on Earth and each of them would have a different decision in terms of what to do about the moon, it muddled the future. She could usually see or get a solid glimpse of the future when it was things closer to what she was dealing with. Larger scale things were more unpredictable and the more people involved in those decisions, the harder it was to see clearly.

"Whatever decision is coming it's going to happen here and now," the Doctor continued, "Which very much sounds as though it's up to us."

"We can't leave yet, Clara," Angel added, "Sorry."

"None of you are going anywhere," Lundvik strode over to them, "This is the last shuttle, these are the last nuclear bombs. We're the last chance for Earth, and you're staying to help us."

The Time Lords glanced at each other, Clara joining them, as they decided to keep quiet about the fact that they hadn't been talking about taking the shuttle back to Earth.

"Decision made," the Doctor murmured.

"Yeah," Clara sighed, not pleased.

She was sure she would have had much more interest in this adventure, want to see it through, see what was happening to the moon, if it wasn't for the fact that her worlds had completely collided and one of her students was locked away in the TARDIS. She couldn't enjoy this trip, she was too worried about Courtney and keeping her safe. The TARDIS and the travelling, they were her escape from all the responsibilities and duties of her life on Earth. Right now her responsibilities were right there with her, it put rather a large damper on everything.

~8~

Inside the TARDIS, Courtney looked up as the box groaned around her, sounding almost warning, and slowly lowered her phone from where she was taking selfies. She reached out, about to touch one of the controls now that she was bored again, only for it to shock her with a bit of static.

"Hey!" she huffed, getting the distinct feeling that the box had done it on purpose, that it could understand her.

Well, maybe it could, if that Angel lady could hear it talking in her head then the box had to be able to communicate in some way.

She let out a long suffering sigh and plopped down on the comfy armchair, crossing her arms.

SO boring!

~8~

The group of travelers stood at the edge of the survey area the Mexicans had begun to utilize, examining their sampling equipment as well, MK9 taking samples of the soil for extra measure.

"Well, at least there's no broken water filtration systems," Angel remarked, "This won't be a repeat of Bowie Base One."

The Doctor was silent, he knew she was trying to make him feel better about the situation, narrowing it down through the less pleasant catastrophes this could be to show the situation wasn't as terrible as they feared. And while it was a small comfort to know they weren't going to be dealing with the remains of the Mexicans as infected enemies trying to convert them all…it was still unsettling to him to think back on that adventure. He had only just realized the Vortex had not left Angel months before that trip and to see her lose such control, to have the Vortex take her over to correct the timelines, to recall the pain she'd been in after it was over…because of his own actions…he would do anything to keep THAT from repeating.

He looked over when he felt a gentle hand on his arm to see Angel giving him an apologetic, though also understanding, look. She never blamed him, for the things he did, for the wrongs he committed. She always found some way to look past his shortcomings and see something in him worth believing in. Perhaps that was why he was often so hard on himself, because no one else would hold him as accountable as he felt he should be.

As always though, Angel was there to pull him out of the darkness, even if that darkness was just his own thoughts.

"That is a positive," he spoke, agreeing with the sentiment, before sighing, "But it won't mean much if we can't figure out what is killing the moon."

"How can the moon die, though?" Clara frowned.

"Everything, all things, must die," Angel murmured, glancing at Clara, "You saw it, Clara. The end of the Universe, one tiny little planet left. It wasn't just one we happened to stop on, others were either destroyed or died off."

Clara fell silent at that, she hadn't really considered what it meant to be at the end of the Universe. The Time Lady in her memories had been uncomfortable, feeling like it was wrong to have gone that far. But she hadn't really stopped to think about what it meant for where they landed, for the fact that they had been able to land anywhere at all that far into the future. What HAD happened to the other planets?

"Can we save it?" Henry asked, shifting on his feet and looking around, not feeling at all safe being so exposed on the surface of the Moon. Those creatures had attacked him out in the open, he'd rather be in the settlement with doors and objects around to defend himself with.

"That would depend on what's killing it, wouldn't it?" Tailor glanced at her father from where she'd been examining MK9's results for affirmation, smiling when he nodded, "Good thing we have a Doctor around," she quipped, bumping her hip into his with a laugh.

Lundvik, however, was serious, looking down into the small crater the space was set up in, her eyes trained on three masses of cobwebs near some large cracks in the Moon's crust, even from a distance she could see the tell-tale signs of spacesuits against the webbing, "There are the other three."

She led the way down to the three cocoons, watching as the Doctor scanned them as well, MK9 about to try and use his laser to cut through the webbing when Tailor shook her head, it wouldn't help them now and it felt too much like disturbing their final resting places.

"Is it those germ things, then?" Clara wondered, "Are they like cockroaches? Is it…is it an infestation?"

The Doctor was silent, looking at the results on the sonic.

"Is it?" Duke repeated, growing as nervous as Henry was with the thought there could be more.

"We've only seen a few of them," the Doctor pointed out, "It would take an awful lot more to cause the moon to put on 1.3 billion tons…" he was suddenly jerked back by Angel grabbing his suit and pulling when one of the spider-germs appeared right next to one of the spacesuits and tried to jump at him. They moved to the side and the spider-germ went flying past them, landing on the ground and scuttling off, into another crack just as MK9 tried to fire his laser at it, missing it.

"So a bit more than a few, now," Tailor spoke, a bit shaken by its sudden appearance and grimacing in the direction of the other crack, taking a step closer to her dog, "You don't think more of them are down there, do you?"

"Safe betting says yes," the Doctor huffed, straightening, not appreciating when things tried to launch themselves at his face. The only thing he ever wanted near his face was Angel's lips.

'Feeling's mutual, my love,' he heard her soft giggle in his head.

"Sunlight," Clara said suddenly.

"Sunlight?" Lundvik looked at her.

She nodded, "If they're germs. My nan says it's the best disinfectant there is."

The Doctor nodded as well, "Shine your light down there," he instructed the astronauts, not trusting how the critters would react to the Vortex.

"I think I'M going to be sick now," Tailor blanched as the astronauts shinned their torches at the crack and all they could see was squirming black masses and a number of their red knees. It was definitely an infestation of some sort if that amount of germs was in every crack on the Moon's surface. Not even Angel moving to her side and rubbing her arm could make her feel better this time.

"Where have they come from?" Henry grimaced, pulling back slightly, not wanting to get too close, reminded too much of the last time one had launched out of it at him.

"Maybe they've been there all the time?" the Doctor mused, glancing at Angel for any sort of confirmation, anything her sensing might be telling her, but she was just frowning down at the germs, "It's warmish. They're multiplying, feeding, evolving."

"We should get to more cover," Duke murmured.

The Doctor, however, frowned, looking around for something before heading over to another, larger fissure.

"Doctor, if the moon breaks up, it'll kill us all in about forty five minutes," Lundvik stated grimly.

"43 minutes 39 seconds," Angel corrected almost automatically, before offering the humans an apologetic grimace.

"Unless something else is going on," the Doctor mumbled, pulling his yoyo out and swinging it down into the fissure, pulling it back to see it was dripping with some sort of liquid.

"You're sure this isn't like Mars?" Tailor glanced at her parents, more concerned now. She'd read about that adventure in her father's journal, that was one particular adventure she would never want to experience for herself.

"Positive," Angel reassured her, watching as the Doctor dripped a bit of the liquid onto MK9's scanner.

"That can't be water, can it?" Henry frowned, unsure what else it could be.

"Negative," MK9 announced, "Scanners do not indicate water."

"What is it then?" Tailor asked.

"Scanners confirm: amniotic fluid."

"Oh, eww," she grimaced.

The Doctor, however, nodded as though it made perfect sense, "The stuff that life comes from."

Angel glanced at the yoyo, a deep frown on her face, and over to the fissure, before she focused on the ground beneath her feet. She couldn't help but think back to the Signora in Venice for some reason, the waters of the canal being infested with thousands of 'husbands' for her converted girls. But the fluid on the yoyo wasn't water, and these spider-germs weren't carnivorous fish-vampires. One thing that was the same though, was a feeling of foreboding she was getting, the sense that something much larger was coming.

"I've got to go down there," the Doctor spoke, cutting into her thoughts.

"Dad, you can't be serious," Tailor scrunched her face in disgust, half-crouched down as she worked to wipe the fluid off her dog's scanner, turning to eye the yoyo, just picturing her father covered in it. It was gross!

"Doctor…" even Lundvik seemed against it.

"Back to your shuttle," the Doctor waved her off, "Get your bombs ready. You," he pointed to Clara, "Get to the TARDIS. Get safe. Angel, get them all safe," he looked at his Mate, glancing to his daughter and back, "I will be back."

Angel sighed, knowing there was no stopping him, and stepped towards him, handing him the cleaning spray Clara had taken from Courtney and strapped to her belt for extra protection. She gave him a pointed look, "I'll expect you back in 8 minutes and 13 seconds," she warned him, "And not a moment later."

He gave her a wink, knowing it was her way of letting him know he'd be safe, that she didn't sense any immediate danger in his plan, and took the spray before he jumped right down into the fissure.

"Doctor!" Clara shouted, but it was too late

Duke shifted in place, "He…he WILL be back right?"

Clara sighed, turning to face them, "If Angel says so, I suppose he will."

She'd learned not to bet against a psychic like Angel. If the woman wasn't freaking out or using the Vortex to pull him back, he must at least be safe for now.

~8~

The small group had only made it about halfway to the shuttle when the comms. crackled and Courtney's voice came out, "Miss? Come in."

"Courtney?" Clara frowned, about to ask how she was able to contact them when she was sure the Doctor had told her not to touch anything, when she recalled Courtney had a spacesuit of her own with a comm. set up to connect to theirs.

"I'm bored. When are you coming back?"

Tailor giggled, "She sounds like Dad when you're not in the same room as him, Mum," she nudged Angel as she came up beside her, MK9 not far away.

Angel could only laugh and shake her head at how true it was. At least that had started to seep into the Doctor's mind during his amnesia, if Amy's talk of the earache the man had given her when she'd been visiting Jack during that whole Miracle Day debacle was anything to go by. He was even worse in this body. It was almost like, unless there was some danger he had to investigate to keep her safe, he never wanted her out of his sight.

"We're on our way," Clara reassured her student, "What you doing?"

"Putting some pictures on Tumblr."

Clara gaped, she could almost imagine pictures of them all in spacesuits and the surface of the moon and the space shuttles and settlements flooding the web, "No! Courtney, don't put any photos on Tumblr!"

Lundvik gave a small laugh, "My granny used to put things on Tumblr."

"Don't worry, Clara," Angel called out, "Sissy will filter her photos. Anything she couldn't find off the internet won't make it onto her page."

Clara had only just let out a breath of relief when the ground beneath them began to shake once more, causing them all to stagger into each other, grabbing onto arms and suits for balance. It lasted longer than the last quake, and so they were hesitant to straighten up for a few moments after it stilled.

"Everyone alright?" Angel looked around just to be sure they were fine, MK9 had tumbled onto his side but Tailor was quick to right him.

"Was that where we landed?" Clara asked, pointing to where the shuttle was resting, now on the opposite side of a ravine, "It looks so different."

"The quake just shifted some of the surface," Tailor frowned…when another quake hit, while less powerful it did come with new cracks forming along the Moon's crust. Tailor gasped suddenly, her eyes wide, her hands resting on the front of her helmet as though she were trying to cover her mouth but couldn't.

"What?" Clara spun to her, concerned, "What is it?"

"I'm turning into dad!" the girl looked startled, which only served to make Angel and Clara laugh as they realized what she meant. He, too, would often say things and then have it get much worse. Her comment about the shifting surface, and then the surface shifting into more cracks.

"The shuttle!" Henry shouted, pointing ahead.

"It's going down!" Duke warned, and in fact the cracks were getting so bad that part of the top edge of the ravine began to crumble, the shuttle falling right over the edge and into it.

"Courtney!" Clara gasped, "Angel!" she spun to the girl.

"She's fine, Clara, she's fine," Angel rushed to reassure her, taking her hand, "The moment Sissy senses danger, she'll phase out and come find us. I promise you, Courtney is fine."

"We aren't though," Lundvik cut in, "We're going to have to take cover. We're running out of oxygen."

"Don't even think about it, my love," Angel said suddenly, stepping to the side and tugging Clara with her to reveal the Doctor had appeared behind them, attempting to hug Angel from behind despite the fact he was absolutely covered in the amniotic fluid.

He, despite Angel's light snuff, was grinning near maniacally, "Today's the day, humankind."

~8~

Clara had managed to wait just long enough for them all to reach the settlement and get inside, taking off their helmets, before she turned frantic at not seeing the TARDIS there waiting for them, "Angel, the last time the TARDIS ended up adrift and had to 'find you' lot again, it ended up on the wrong side of the planet. Courtney is my responsibility, I need to know where she is."

"She's completely safe," Angel promised, crossing her hearts, "Sissy would never let anything happen to her."

"Call her," Tailor suggested from where she was taking a closer look at MK9's scanner to make sure she'd gotten all the fluid off him, "You have her number right?"

"No," Clara sighed, "No, no. Of course I don't have her phone number."

"Well, what about the school?" the Doctor asked as he and Angel tried to wipe the fluid off his suit, cleaning him up as much as possible, "Does the secretary have her number?"

"I can't. The secretary hates me. She thinks I gave her a packet of TENA Lady for Secret Santa. Look. Courtney's posting stuff on Tumblr. Doesn't that know where you are?"

"I don't know," Lundvik spoke, "I'm not a historian."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and held out a hand to Clara, "Phone," he called, sonicing it quickly once she handed it over, aiming it at a monitor fixed on the wall and bringing up the image of Courtney in the console room for them to see.

"Courtney!" Clara gasped, relieved.

"Yeah?" the girl asked, not seeming at all perturbed at being in a lost TARDIS, almost as though she hadn't even realized it had taken off with her in it things were so calm.

Angel smiled, it was just like the old girl to take care not to worry a child within her.

"Are you ok?" Clara asked.

That just made Courtney frown in confusion, "Er, I'm fine. What's up?"

"Good, see, she's fine," the Doctor huffed, "She's not the problem. I know what the problem is."

"What is it?" Lundvik turned to him.

"It's a rather big problem."

Tailor sighed, shaking her head, "Any day now dad."

He pointed a warning finger at her before sighing, "Well, I had a little hypothesis. The seismic activity, the surface breaking up, the variable mass, the increase in gravity, the fluid. I scanned what's down there," he moved over to MK9, flashing his sonic at the dog's head to transfer data, and soon a 3d Hologram of the moon was shining before them from one of the dog's projectors, "The moon isn't breaking apart. Well, actually, it IS breaking apart, and rather quickly. We've got about an hour and a half…" he pointed almost automatically at Angel, anticipating exactly what she did next.

"87 minutes, 12 seconds," she answered promptly, reaching out to grab his finger and lower his hand though she held onto it, linking their fingers instead.

"Still, THAT isn't the problem. It's not infested."

"What are they, then, those things?" Courtney called out from the monitor, following along rather impressively.

"Bacteria," he stated, "Tiny, tiny bacteria living on something very, very big. Something that weighs about 1.3 billion tons. Something that's living. Something growing."

"Growing?" Clara frowned.

"It's an egg," Angel breathed, before the Doctor even changed the hologram to show what looked like a miniature dragon of some sort curled up within the moon's crust. That part of her vision made sense now! Well that was a relief, for a moment she thought she'd gone as mad as the Doctor.

"Ooh, it's so cute!" Tailor nearly squealed though it came out as more a quiet, if excited, sigh.

"That lives under the moon?" Courtney squinted, trying to see it clearer.

"No," the Doctor shook his head, "That doesn't live under the moon. That is the moon."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lundvik demanded.

"As my lovely Mate already told you, it's an egg," he looked at the humans, "The moon isn't breaking apart. The moon is hatching."

"Uh…what?" Duke shook his head, thrown.

"But that's impossible," Henry agreed.

"Is it?" Angel looked at the men, "You've said it yourselves, space exploration and study simmered down quite a lot, if you didn't keep studying the moon, how would you know it's not an egg?"

"Has it, er, has it always been an egg?" Clara asked, not sure what to make of it.

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, "For a hundred million years or so…"

Angel laughed as he pointed his other finger at her, "102,679,512 years," she stated, "Give or take a decade or two."

"Or none," Tailor teased, knowing what seemed like random numbers to others were actually likely pin-point accurate if it came from her mother. While the moon was technically 4.47 billion years old, apparently it had only been fertilized around one hundred million years ago and had been growing life ever since.

Angel smiled, looking back at the hologram, "It's just been taking a while to be born," she could sympathize with that, while human pregnancies took about 9 months, and some animals even longer, her own had been 3 years. This put that to shame.

"Ok," Clara shook her head, still trying to grasp what was being said, "So the moon has never been the moon?"

"No, no, no, no," the Doctor corrected, "It's never been dead. It's just taking a long time to come alive."

"Is it a chicken?" Courtney asked.

Tailor snorted, "Does it look like a chicken?"

"I'm just saying, for a chicken to have laid an egg that big…"

"Courtney, don't spoil the moment," the Doctor huffed.

"She has a point," Clara cut in, "I mean, what IS it? What species?"

"Unknown," MK9 answered, having run through a list of alien species in his databanks and come up with nothing that matched.

"I dunno," even the Doctor admitted, "I think that it's unique. I think that's the only one of its kind in the universe. I think that that is utterly beautiful, though, not AS beautiful as other things I've seen," he glanced at his Mate and daughter, earning an eyeroll and hug from Tailor, "But still up there."

"The miracle of life," Angel mused as she observed the hologram.

"How do we kill it?"

And, of course, the beautiful moment had to be spoiled by a human, though not the one the Doctor had originally warned.

"Why'd you want to kill it?" Clara turned to Lundvik, horrified at the idea.

"It's a little baby!" Courtney agreed.

"It's defenseless," Angel frowned at her.

Tailor nodded as she added, "It's just sleeping, it hasn't done anything but be born…"

Lundvik ignored the women, turning to the Doctor as though he would be the one to help her, to agree with her, "Doctor, how do we kill it?"

"Kill the moon?" the Doctor scoffed, turning the hologram off, "Kill the moon. Well, you have about a hundred of the best man-made nuclear weapons, if they still work. If that's what you want to do."

"Will that do it?"

"Affirmative," MK9 answered, the numbers and math already crunched.

The Doctor's expression grew hard hearing the confirmation to his own thoughts, "A hundred nuclear bombs set off right where we are, right on top of a living, vulnerable creature? It'll never feel the sun on its back."

Lundvik glared at him, unamused, "And then what? Will the moon still break up? You said…you said we had an hour and a half or 87 minutes or whatever…"

"If the thing inside an egg is dead, there's nothing to break open the shell," Tailor shook her head, disgusted.

"The gravity of the little dead baby will pull all the pieces back together again," the Doctor crossed his arms, equally as disgusted as his daughter, perhaps even more so being the father he was, "Of course, it won't be very pretty. You'd have an enormous corpse floating in the sky. You might have some very difficult conversations to have with your kids."

"I don't have any kids," Lundvik said simply.

"I do," Duke murmured, uneasy now, "Grandkids too."

"And me," Henry added.

"What's worse, a dead chicken or millions of dead kids on Earth?" Lundvik snapped at them.

Clara glared at her, "Stop," she ordered the woman, "Right, listen," she looked at the humans, knowing they were the biggest threat right now with their access to those weapons, and, with Courtney there, this was NOT a conversation she wanted the girl to have to witness, this was NOT how she wanted the girl to see HER, not defending an innocent life, "This is a…this is a life. I mean, this must be the biggest life in the universe…"

"It's not even been born," Courtney reminded them.

"It is killing people," Lundvik argued, "It is destroying the Earth."

"You cannot blame a baby for kicking!" Clara shouted.

Lundvik rounded on her, "Let me tell you something. You want to know what I took back from being in space? Look at the edge of the Earth. The atmosphere, that is paper thin. That is the only thing that saves us all from death. Everything else, the stars, the blackness. That's all dead. Sadly, that is the only life any of us will ever know."

"There's life here," Courtney cut in, "There's life just next door!"

"Look, when you've grown up a bit, you'll realize that everything doesn't have to be nice. Some things are just bad. Anyway, you ran away. It's none of your business."

Courtney frowned at the woman, before taking a breath and doing what Angel had said she was good at, standing up to authority so she could be heard, "I want to come back."

If she wasn't going to be taken seriously because she wasn't physically right there, then she'd go there.

"Courtney, you'll be safer where you are…" Clara tried to argue with the girl, but even she could see the determined glint the girl always had when she was about to ignore everyone else around her trying to tell her what to do.

Lundvik turned her back on them, lifting the case in her hand and begining to tap on it.

"Look, I'm sorry," Courtney told Clara, "I want to come back, ok? I want to help."

Angel smiled at her, "That's the best reason to do anything," she told the girl, "Go over to the blue bookshelf, there should be a few DVDs on it. Pick any of them and slip it into the console, Sissy will bring you right to us."

She could work out why the TARDIS hadn't landed yet, with how Lundvik was acting, being ON the Moon wasn't as safe as it should have been. The DVD would trigger commands and programs to bring the TARDIS to them in spite of that.

"Right," Courtney nodded, doing so.

"And make sure you hang on to the console," Tailor added.

"Otherwise the TARDIS will leave you behind," the Doctor called.

"She didn't need to know that, dad."

Clara shook her head and turned to the Time Lords, feeling torn about Courtney's decision. On the one hand, she'd be safer in the TARDIS away from the crumbling moon or hatching moon or whatever the hell was happening. On the other hand, though, she would feel better if Courtney was right there within arms' reach. She took a breath, "So what do we do?" she asked them, "Huh? Doctor, what do we do?"

The Doctor jolted from where he'd been looking at Angel, likely silently communicating, "Nothing."

"What?"

"We don't do anything," he turned to her, "I'm sorry, Clara. I can't help you."

"Of course you can help."

But he shook his head, "Listen, there are moments in every civilization's history in which the whole path of that civilization is decided. The whole future path. Whatever future humanity might have depends upon the choice that is made right here and right now. Now, you've got the tools to kill it. You made them. You brought them up here all on your own, with your own ingenuity. You don't need a Time Lord. Kill it. Or let it live. I can't make this decision for you."

"Yes, you can! Who better qualified to help us decide what to do about an alien than an alien!" Clara huffed, "AND you work for UNIT so don't you dare pull the 'get an earth expert on it' card."

"Clara," Angel moved over to her, putting a gentle hand on her arm, "What he means is we really can't TELL you what to do."

"We're a bit too biased," Tailor reminded her, "Especially mum and dad, seeing as how I'M their alien baby."

"It's not just that," Angel added, "We've fought to let alien offspring live, like the Adipoise. But we've also had to…had to let other alien offspring die away, like the Racnoss. One benign, the other destructive, just in their nature. We don't know what this alien will be."

Clara grew silent, thoughtful, "You can't see it?"

"I know what I feel and I know what I think," Angel told her, "Right now, I'm feeling that something monumental is about to happen, but for whether that's good or bad, and for whom, that's another thing. What is right for some is wrong for others."

"Can't you…pop ahead?" Clara looked at them, "See what happens?"

"I can," the Doctor agreed, hesitant, it wasn't a trick he relied on very much, in fact it was one he tended to avoid for numerous reasons, "Bit of a cheap parlor trick, but there's no guarantee I'd be back in time to tell you before you have to make a decision."

"There's no decision to make," Lundvik cut in, "I'M in charge of this mission. We are using the bombs and stopping this."

"The president," Tailor said suddenly, "Did she give you authorization to use those bombs to destroy an innocent life?"

"We're to use them to annihilate the threat against the human race."

"That baby may not BE a threat," Tailor argued.

"Look, there are five of you humans," the Doctor cut in, "You do your best to make a decision, we'll pop to the future and try to find out what's going on…"

"YOU'LL pop to the future," Angel amended, "I'll stay with Clara and Courtney, you two go on."

"Angel…" the Doctor shook his head.

"Father-daughter bonding moment," she continued, as though she wasn't feeling his unease with her change to the plan.

She knew he'd never leave her alone, trapped without the TARDIS, but this was too important. She needed a way to appeal to him, to go without her, to take a peek, prove a point as he had with Martha so long ago, bringing up time spent with Tailor piloting the TARDIS was one. So long as they didn't set down in the future or leave the vortex, they should be able to search for any indication of what happened to the moon or didn't happen to the moon and pop back. If they were careful. They weren't making the decision for the humans, but they could at least offer what they learned to help make an informed one.

'Really, my love,' she whispered in his mind, 'Does this not tell you what I think will happen?'

Would she really stay there, risk herself or Clara or Courtney if she truly thought they would blow up the moon? She had noticed his faith in humans had been shaken in this body, it was time to remind him of the best of humanity. And she had a feeling it would not let her down.

He let out a long sigh but ultimately nodded, "I don't like this."

"I'll make it up to you later," Angel promised.

"Come on, Tailor," he called to his daughter, the girl giving her mother a tight hug before following him to where the wheezing of the TARDIS was sounding. As soon as it was solid, as soon as Courtney stepped out, Tailor opened the door to allow MK9 in before she and her father followed.

"You're staying with us," Clara murmured to Angel, watching as the old blue box disappeared, "And he's letting you…" she frowned, "Everything is going to be alright, then?"

Angel could only give her a smile.

A/N: Originally, that was how I interpreted the Doctor just up and leaving, at least in part. To go to the 'future' to see what happens with the moon and come back, it's not something he does lightly but this is a very unique situation. They don't fully have Angel's foresight, they don't know if the earth will be in danger or if they killed the moon, their conscience can't bear it if the alien baby dies, and they aren't actually going to the future. Their plan is to get into the vortex and see what they might be able to dig up. I felt like it was a possibility for being what the Doctor did in the episode as, to me, he genuinely didn't seem to know what to do, then left, then came back and knew about the creature.

With Tailor and Angel there, I couldn't see Clara being in the dark about it so now she knows why he's leaving so she doesn't feel as abandoned. There's also the added security of Angel remaining behind, because he would NEVER leave his Mate in danger and so, to Clara, it means it can't be as dangerous. He WILL come back. And he will have answers, though whether it's information on what the moon is or there being no record of what happens is something she doesn't know yet.

No real notes on reviews for the last chapter :)