The End Is Where We Start From

by loulouflowerpower

11/OC-Time Lady. The Doctor and the Hatter have managed to escape Lake Silencio with their lives and reunited themselves with their infant daughter. But with Astra with them, will they be able to balance parenthood and their adventures? How will losing the Ponds affect them? And a new, impossible mystery is looming that is something quite personal for the Hatter to have to solve.

21. Chapter 21 Hide, Part 2

Hide, Part 2

The Hatter remained by the controls, her eyes fixed steadily on the monitor screen as the Doctor slowly stepped outside the TARDIS, fully dressed in his orange spacesuit, his helmet firmly on his head, the Time Lady having ensured it was locked in place before allowing him to step foot outside and into what looked like the molten surface of the Earth, right at the very dawn of the planet, well before humans or any animals had began to flourish, in fact, even the earliest forms of life that had formed on the planet, bacteria, was only just coming into its infancy right now, the ground black and rocky with volcanic rock and rivers of lava running all across the surface of the planet, the air so thick with heat and gases that it would be utterly impossible to breath outside of the Doctor's suit. Still, there was still the danger of him accidently tripping into lava that the Hatter had to concern herself with, watching intently as he carefully moved a few feet away from the time machine and began scanning the surrounding area with the sonic screwdriver, before lifting the camera they had borrowed from Major Palmer up to his shielded helmet, snapping several pictures.

"That's the Earth?" Clara breathed, her eyes wide with wonder, having come to stand next to the Hatter to see the screen, too.

"A little different from your time, I know," the Hatter smiled faintly, glancing across to her.

"Just a little bit, yeah," she nodded slowly, her eyes still quite wide.

The Doctor turned on the screen and began to slowly walk back towards the TARDIS, the Hatter immediately whirled away from the screen and console, making a dash for the doors, whipping them open just as he reached them from the other side. She pulled a face as the smell of sulphur hit her like a slap in the face and the feeling of intense heat, even from the protective interior of the TARDIS, seemed to slam into her exposed face, making her instinctively back, back very fast, almost knocking into Clara, who had to hastily edge sideways. The Doctor came through the door, smoking very slightly and waving his hands urgently at the two women.

"Back off!" he told them, almost frantically, "Hot suit! Hot, hot, hot!"

"I'd say," the Hatter winced slightly, eyeing him as she lightly touched her cheek, which almost felt sunburnt…she was going to be rather annoyed if she had managed to give herself a flash burn, as a Time Lady her skin was largely impervious to sunburn, but she could still burn herself. She shook her head and turned to head back up to the console, readying them for their next stop, while the Doctor began patting his suit down with his thickly gloved hands, trying to cool it off.

"When are we?" Clara asked curiously, looking between the Time Lords.

"About six billion years ago," the Doctor replied, having to raise his voice to be heard from behind his visor, frowning slightly in thought, "It's a Tuesday, I think".

"Or it will be," the Hatter added, throwing them a cheeky grin over her shoulder as she moved around the controls, reaching out to grasp a lever, "Once the calendar has been discovered".

And with that, she pulled the lever, setting them off.

….

Their next stop was a good couple of centuries later, when the Earth had began to evolve with life and the dinosaurs had come into existence. The place that would one day become the grand estate in the future now resembled something closer to a wild, prehistoric jungle with giant dragon fly-like creatures flying between untamed trees and grasses, the Hatter laughing loudly as one took an interest in the silver star broach she had pinned to her top, the creature bigger then her head and humming loudly as its massive wings allowed it to hover before her. Anyone else might have feared that it was about to attack them or fly in their face, but not the Time Lady, who couldn't have looked more delighted by the creature's interest.

"I think you've made a friend, dear," the Doctor grinned broadly at her, his green eyes lit up as he watched from just a step ahead of her, loving seeing her laugh so freely and with such joy. It made him want to laugh.

"Ooh, I wish we could keep her," the Time Lady said a little sadly, though she was still smiling widely as she watched the creature edge a little closer to her…it's wings were actually blowing her hair, it was so close, "Astra would positively adore it, can you imagine how excited she would be?"

"Well, why don't you?" Clara shrugged, looking amused by the scene as she stood a little to the Hatter's right, though she seemed a lot less keen on getting quite as close to the insect then the Hatter evidently was.

"No, we really mustn't," she sighed, shaking her head, "It wouldn't be very fair to take her away from her home," she glanced over to the Doctor, "Best to simply take the picture, Doctor, so we can move on".

"Ah, right…" the Doctor lifted the camera up to his eyes…but rather then aiming the lens away, he aimed it directly at the Time Lady, who barely had a chance to narrow her eyes on him before he snapped a picture, grinning a grin worthy of her as he lowered the camera, "There we go, dear".

"You're lucky you're cute, Doctor, otherwise I'd be quite tempted to use that camera to strangle you right now".

….

Next, they jumped forward to the mid Victorian period, finding the house and grounds very much similar to how they had left it back in the 70's, only significantly better cared for and there wasn't even a hint of a cloud in the beautiful, sun filled sky above their heads as they stood for a moment to watch as a couple walked up towards the house, arm-in-arm, up the front steps of the great estate, the woman dressed in a impressive purple crinoline style dress and the man in a smart morning coat and top hat. Neither seemed to notice the three of them standing by the bottom of the steps, observing them as the Doctor happily snapped a picture of the house, before lowering the camera to turn back to the girls.

"Oh, it's beautiful," the Hatter sighed, almost breathlessly.

Clara frowned slightly, her arms crossed over her chest as she glanced questionably across to the Time Lady…who was staring off up towards the house with a soft expression Clara had only ever seen her give the Doctor, "Um…the house is?" she said in mild confusion.

"No," the Doctor said with something close to a half-pained, half-fond tone, "She's talking about the hat, Clara".

"Who needs a country estate when you can have a hat?" the Hatter smirked, managing to drag her admiring gaze off the very handsome, velvet top hat the man in the distance was wearing to give her companions a wink.

….

"You will watch yourself, won't you, sweetheart?" the Hatter gave the Doctor a careful look as she opened the TARDIS doors for him, the Doctor smiling back at her from behind his visor, dressed in his spacesuit once more.

"Yes, dear," he told her, giving her a affectionate look, one that clearly said he found her concern sweet and that he enjoyed it very much. She rolled her eyes, though she couldn't help smiling as she stepped closer to him to lightly press a kiss to the top of his visor, over where his forehead was, before moving back to let him pass her. He paused in the doorway, throwing her another quick smile, "Back in a mo!"

She blew him a kiss, which he grinningly pretended to catch and press to his hearts, making her laugh as he finally turned to slip outside, orange light from the planet outside briefly casting a glow over the Hatter's face before he shut the door. She was still smiling fondly as she spun around on her heel to head back over to the controls, only to pause, frowning faintly as she noticed Clara absently staring at the console, her gaze distant but sad.

"Clara," she said softly, and instantly Clara's head snapped around to her, awareness coming back into her eyes. The Time Lady was even more worried, moving closer to the girl, "Clara, are you quite alright?"

"Totally," Clara nodded instantly, her hands stuck deeply inside the pockets of her coat, giving the Hatter a tense smile, "Peachy keen," the Hatter sighed, giving her a look, and her smile dimmed slightly,"…you're so not believing me right now, are you?"

"Absolutely not," the Hatter agreed at once, giving her a searching look, "You can talk to me, you know?" she told her, her tone growing gentle as she reached out to lightly grasp her arm, "If something's bothering you, Clara, tell me, please".

She hesitated, before shoving her hands even deeper into her pockets, "Shouldn't you be, you know, checking on the Doctor?" she asked her instead and nodded her chin towards the monitor, making the Time Lady narrow her eyes on her with a knowing look.

The Hatter continued to eye her for another second, before dropping her hand from her shoulder, "Don't think I've forgotten, just because you made that rather excellent point about making sure the Doctor doesn't trip and plummet over a cliff," she said, pointing a warning finger at her, not taking her gaze off the girl as she moved to switch the monitor on.

The monitor flared into life, showing the scene of an absolutely devastated planet outside. There was no grass or trees to be seen, just a barren wasteland of pale, orange dust and sand and rock that stretched out as far as the camera allowed them to see. They seemed to have come to park on top of an edge of a great cavern in the Earth, where down bellow there seemed to be ruins of what might have once been a town. The sky itself held a dusky, orange tone to it and the sun seemed to fill most of it, closer then it ought to be as it blazed so hotly, it was impossible for life to survive on the Earth any longer. The last of the humans had all fled into the stars by now, now the earth was empty, save for the ghost of the past, just waiting for the sun to completely destroy it. The Doctor stood a few feet away from the TARDIS doors, snapping pictures.

Clara breathed in shakily from beside the Hatter, who instantly glanced at her. She was staring almost transfixed at the screen, her eyes shining, almost as though she was about to cry.

"Oh, Clara…" she sighed sadly, sympathy flaring in her chest as it hit her what was wrong, why Clara was so upset. She reached out and wrapped an arm around her, making Clara blink slightly and finally drag her eyes off the screen, the Time Lady giving her an apologetic look, "I am so, so sorry for not realising sooner, I've been so insensitive," she gave her a half hug, guilt bubbling up inside her, "I ought to have realised how this would impact you…"

"It's not your fault," Clara sniffed slightly, frowning as she looked back up at the screen.

"No, it is," the Hatter insisted more firmly, giving her a slightly tighter squeeze. A part of her whispered that she was getting to attached…she told that part to shut up and go away, because she would not feel bad about comforting someone when they were upset. She sighed regretfully, shaking her head, "I, of all people, ought to have known, this is your planet, after all…."

The TARDIS doors swung open suddenly and the Doctor quickly hurried inside, pulling his helmet off as he let the door swing closed behind him and immediately moved to join them at the controls, his hair sticking up in all directions. He placed the helmet on the console and paused, frowning slightly in confusion as he finally caught sight of the Hatter, hugging Clara to her side, while Clara's face was pale and her eyes more shinny than normal.

"Oh, what's wrong?" he questioned worriedly, his eyes flickering between the pair…the Hatter glanced over to him, giving him a pointed look, sadly, he couldn't figure out what she was trying to silently tell him, which only made him all the more confused, "Did the TARDIS say something to you, Clara?" he threw the Time Rotor a suspicious look, while the Hatter closed her eyes in exasperation, "Are you being mean?" he took his gloves off, and lightly slapped one of the control panels with it.

"For God's sake, Doctor," the Hatter rolled her eyes, giving him a sharp look, a look that instantly made him pause and pay extra attention to her, "The TARDIS hasn't done anything wrong, we did".

He blinked, his mouth slipping open slightly, "What?"

"No, it's not your fault," Clara shook her head quickly, looking between the Time Lords, who instantly focused their attention onto her. She sighed slightly, slightly embarrassed and guilty for making them think it was their fault, she felt bad, making them think they had done something wrong, when she knew they hadn't. They hadn't done anything on purpose to upset her, "I…" she shook her head, frowning faintly as she looked back up towards the monitor screen, "Have we just watched the entire life cycle of Earth, birth to death?"

"Yes," the Hatter said gently, while the Doctor hesitated, looking away from her, "Yes, Clara," she nodded grimly, glancing back up to the screen, still showing the barren, dying Earth just outside, "We just did".

Clara didn't look at either of them, her eyes still shining with unshed tears, fixed on the screen, "And you're okay with that?" she finally looked away from the screen, looking at the Time Lady, who had seemed perfectly fine right up until she had noticed how upset Clara was getting, "Both of you are?"

The Doctor glanced at the Hatter, "I am," he said, his eyes flickering up to the screen briefly.

The Time Lady sighed, meeting Clara's eyes, "While I am sympathetic towards your grief, Clara," she told her, "I...yes, yes, I am okay with that, as harsh as that may seem".

She shook her head slowly, frowning between them, "How can you both be?"

"The TARDIS," the Doctor held his hands out, gesturing around them with a slight smile, "She's…time! We…" he seemed to struggle for a moment, glancing at the Hatter, who was grimacing faintly and back across to Clara, finding her staring back at him, "Wibbly vortex and so on," he finished lamely.

"That's really not helping, is it?" the Hatter eyed Clara, who nodded slowly in agreement, still staring at the Doctor. She edged closer to Clara, her expression softening, "Clara, please understand that this…" she waved her hand back up towards the monitor screen, "…is perfectly normal for us. Time for a Time Lord, for anyway travelling through time and space, for that matter, isn't linear. Moments in history are just that...moments, some more important than others, but nonetheless making up a whole of something, the whole of a person's life, the whole of a planets life, the whole of the Universes existence. It's easy to focus on the whole picture, Clara, but it's the details that truly matter, the details that happen between the start and the end, that is what are important, especially when you're a time traveller".

Clara, however, still looked upset, turning her gaze back up to the screen, "That's not what I meant," she told them quietly.

The Doctor and the Hatter looked at each other in confusion, even the Time Lady felt rather lost as to how to try and console Clara right now, given that for once she wasn't completely sure exactly what the issue was. Obviously whatever Clara had realised upon seeing the Earth's future had hit her hard, but it didn't seem to be completely about seeing her home one day dying, as the Hatter had first thought, it seemed to run even deeper than that.

"Okay…" the Doctor turned back to frown faintly at Clara, "Some help? Context?" he asked hopefully, feeling even more thrown by the fact that even the Hatter seemed lost right now, and this was usually her department, "Cheat sheet? Something?"

She took a deep breath and turned back towards them, "I mean, one minute you're in 1974 looking for ghosts," she began, while the Time Lords listen intently, "But all you have to do is open your eyes and talk to whoever's standing there. To you, I haven't been born yet…and to you I've been dead one hundred billion years…" she looked back up to the screen as the Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a slightly uncomfortable look, "Is my body out there somewhere?" she peered up at the screen as she spoke, "In the ground?"

"Clara…" the Hatter frowned at her, shifting slightly awkwardly on the spot. This was far from the sort of conversation she wished to be having right now, speaking of Clara's death…the same girl who had already dead several times before their very eyes, the same girl who could have been a human copy of her own niece. Talking about her dying like this hit much closer to home then Clara perhaps realised, not just for the Hatter, even the Doctor seemed uncomfortable by the turn in the conversation, looking anywhere but at the girl.

"Yes, I suppose it is," the Doctor said after a brief moment, turning away from the console and wondering over towards the stairs leading down towards the hallway leading off into the ship, seemingly preparing to change out of the orange suit. And escape from this slightly uncomfortable discussion, too, no doubt.

"But here we are, talking," Clara remarked, pulling her gaze off the screen to look back to the Time Lords, the Hatter who was frowning at her and the Doctor, who had paused at the top of the stairs with his back to the room, "So I am a ghost," she said softly, her expression growing distant, almost thoughtful, "To you two, I'm a ghost," she slowly shook her head, "We're all ghosts to you two. We must be nothing".

"No," the Hatter said sharply, straightening and fixing her with a sharp, narrowed eyed look, almost catching Clara off guard. She reached out and lightly grasped her shoulders, ancient hazel green eyes peering into bright brown, "You are not 'nothing,' Clara, no one in this entire Universe is nothing to us, and you are most assuredly not a ghost. Not to us".

"Then what are we?" she practically demanded, making the Time Lady drop her hands from her shoulders, eyeing her with a faintly troubled frown, "What can we possibly be?"

The Doctor whirled around at that, pulling Clara's attention over to him, finding him staring back at her with a curious expression filling his features, something caught between wariness and a comforting smile, "You are…the only mystery worth solving," he replied, looking back across to her for a long moment, before turning away and heading back down the stairs, out of sight.

Clara watched him go, before slowly looking back to the Hatter, who gave her a reassuring smile, "The details are what matter, Clara," she told her, reaching out to gently pat her arm, "Not the whole sum of a person's life, from start to finish, take heart in that".

She turned away from her at that and moved back towards the controls, preparing to head back to the house, hopefully leaving Clara with something to think on and be reassured in. You couldn't spend your life worrying or thinking on things that you can't change or what was possibly awaiting you in your future, after all, as a time traveller it would only drive you mad. Everything had a time and an end, it would come around eventually, trying to fight it was often pointless, in the Hatter's experience…but the journey building up to it was always worth it.

….

The rain had stopped by the time the Time Lords and Clara made their way back up through the grounds to the front doors of the manor house, though flashes of lightening continued to flash across the darkened sky and the wind gusted around them, signalling that it wouldn't be long before the rain would be returning. They let themselves in and made their way through the downstairs and back into the dimly lit living room, finding Palmer and Emma seemingly just finishing setting up a very old, though new for the era, projection machine on a stack of two wooden boxes in the middle of the room. The Doctor happily handed Palmer the roll of film that they had snapped through the ages, which he took with a slightly puzzled look before leaning down to start putting it into the projector, while Clara walked straight past them without a word and went to peer closely at the photographs pinned to a large cork board at the back of the room. The Hatter watched her go with a small, troubled frown, not liking how quiet Clara had been since they had landed.

Emma, no doubt sensing Clara's despondent mood, approached the girl as the Time Lady continued to observe Clara discreetly, "What's wrong?" she asked her in a low voice, reaching out to lightly touch Clara's arm.

Clara jumped very slightly and turned to her, "I just saw something I wish I hadn't," she said softly, looking back to the photos.

"What did you see?"

"That…everything ends".

The Hatter sighed quietly to herself, dropping her gaze onto the old, ornate rug she currently stood on, tracing the swirling pattern with sad eyes. She had hoped that perhaps something she had said to Clara might have cheered her slightly, or at least made her look at matters differently, but she wasn't so arrogant as to not recognise that in this case she might not have been the best person to try and comfort Clara. She was a Time Lady, she looked at everything through very different eyes to a human, she could try to place herself in Clara's shoes, but in this matter, she thought that she might have failed to fully grasp exactly how and what Clara was thinking or feeling. She couldn't help feeling as though she had failed the girl, she was so used to being able to just simply console people and make them feel better or cast aside their worries, it was quite a blow to know that she hadn't been able to help Clara in this.

"No, not everything," Emma's voice drew the Hatter's attention back to their softly spoken conversation, and she glanced up carefully to notice Emma looking rather dejectedly and longing at Palmer's back, "Not love," she stared at him, while Palmer remained oblivious to her gaze, lifting one of the projection slides up to the light to see the film, "Not always".

That did bring some hope back to the Time Lady, who looked away again, pretending to be looking across the room at one of the old landscape watercolour painters that hung on the wood panelled wall, but she was smiling faintly. She couldn't have said it better herself, love was one of the prevailing forces in the Universe, always seeming to find a way of surviving in some form or another in those that it touched. If the Hatter had learnt anything in her long life it was that love was always worth the pain and sorrow that often came with it, always worth the tears and heartbreak. Love truly was the greatest force in the Universe. She just hoped that Emma's words had reached Clara in some way, sparking that sense of hope that the Hatter hadn't been able to.

"Right, done!" the Doctor suddenly cheered, clapping his hands together in one loud snap. He looked brightly up to the Hatter, Clara, and Emma, who had all looked over to him, and began gesturing for them to join him and Palmer around the projector, "That's it, gather round, gather round. Roll up, roll up!" the Hatter shot him a fond smile and immediately moved to stand beside him, while Clara and Emma came to stand around the projector, eyeing it. He winked at the Time Lady as he pulled the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and flashed it at the projector, switching it on as the image taken from the entrance of the house filled the screen, black and white in colour and depicting the blurred, ghostly figure of a person before a large fireplace, "The Ghast of Caliburn House…"

"She always appears to be the same," the Hatter commented lightly, eyeing the picture on the screen with slightly narrowed eyes, "In every photograph, even documented sightings, all seem to conclude the same appearance of our ghostly friend, forever trapped and tormented, followed by the screams of her own terror. But…" she paused briefly, holding up her left index finger as she snapped her gaze off the screen to look intently at Palmer, Emma, and Clara, "What if she isn't truly a ghost, but just a terribly lost, unfortunate soul that has found herself stuck in a place where time actually runs slower than it does for us?"

The Doctor grinned at the Time Lady and clicked is fingers together in her direction, "Exactly right, dear," he glanced back to the humans, who were staring at the projection screen with small frowns, "What if a second to her was a hundred thousand years to us? And what if somebody has a magic box…" he lifted his eyebrows, throwing the Time Lady a pointed look and a cheeky wink as he lightly nudged her side.

She smiled widely back at him, "Oh, the most magical box in the Universe, no doubt," she nodded knowingly, her eyes twinkling back at him with amusement, not failing to notice the faint smile that had crossed Clara's lips, too, "Coloured the deepest, loveliest blue that there ever was, sweetheart".

"Not as blue as your First self's eyes, dear," he corrected with a playful look, pointing a finger at her, speaking so fast that he must have had it prepared for just this moment.

"Don't go letting the old girl hear you saying that, Doctor," she warned him, though she was smiling slightly fondly, even though she couldn't help rolling her eyes at his ability to somehow turn this around to compliment her, and he had the cheek to call her a flirt. She glanced back to the humans, finding them eyeing them with looks of confusion on Emma and Palmer's part, and amusement on Clara's, "But that's getting a little side tracked…" she cleared her throat, giving them a slightly apologetic smile, though the Doctor didn't seem to be the slightest bit ashamed as he continued smiling happily, if a little proudly, "Just imagine, if you would, for a moment that such a magical blue box did exist and that it was capable of travelling throughout time and space…" she gave Palmer and Emma a sly look as she went on, "Just imagine if someone was able to use this box to travel back in time, taking photos over the course of a few million years, what that might reveal…"

She looked back up to the projection screen, just as the image of a woman with dark hair held back in a high ponytail and dressed in a white flight suit began to appear, clearer and clearer with each photo that flashed through the projection machine, until it showed very clearly the image of the young woman seemingly running from something that was chasing her, appearing to be running through what vaguely looked like an old, mist filled forest, though the photos made it difficult to discern her surrounding details very well.

"I told you she wasn't a ghost," the Hatter sighed, almost sadly as she eyed the photo of the young woman, "But she is lost, horribly and terribly lost, and so very alone," she glanced at Emma, giving her a grim smile, "Sound familiar?"

Emma stared back up at the projected image, nodding slowly in agreement, no doubt knowing very well exactly how lost and alone the poor woman was, better than any of them.

"Her name is Hila Tacorian," the Doctor informed them as he flashed the sonic screwdriver at the projector, making the image switch to show a profile picture of the young woman looking back into the camera with a small smile, wearing the flight suit, but with her helmet under her arm, obviously taken as an official photo, "She's a pioneer, a time traveller," he explained as he peered at the screen, shrugging lightly, "Or at least she will be in a few hundred years".

"Time travel's not possible," Palmer shook his head, his arms crossed over his chest, "The paradoxes…"

"Typically find a way to resolve themselves," the Hatter cut across him lightly, giving him a small smile as his gaze snapped onto her, frowning. Her smile widened and she winked at him, "Though, sometimes they might need a little extra help, I'll grant you that".

Emma stepped closer to the projector screen, staring at the woman's photo, "How long has she been alone?" she asked softly.

"Well…" the Doctor glanced at her, laughing slightly as he exchanged a brief, almost amused look with the Time Lady, "Time travel's a funny old thing. I mean, from her perspective, she crash landed, well…" he paused to check his wrist watch, before quickly looking back up to Emma, "Three minutes ago".

"Crash landed?" she frowned deeply at him, confused, "Where?"

"Ah, things didn't quite go according to plan for poor Hila," the Time Lady sighed, grimacing slightly as she glanced back at the girl's photo, "You see, I think someone might have got the calculations a little off, hardly surprising when you have armatures messing with time travel, but rather then landing properly, she ended up crashing straight into what is known as a pocket Universe. Basically an echo of our own, though typically much less comfortable and prone to self destructing relatively quickly…" she winced slightly at the thought, exchanging a grim look with the Doctor, "Not a pleasant experience. It can just happen, though the Time Lords did find ways of minimising the risk".

The Doctor looked around at the humans baffled expressions, evidently still not understanding what they were talking about, and held up his index finger with a bright smile. He slipped his hand in his blazer pocket and whipped out a dark blue balloon, Astra loved playing with balloons, she'd giggle like mad any time the Doctor would blow up one for her or make a balloon animal, so he liked to make sure that he kept a bag full of them on his person at all times, just to try and distract her if Astra was getting close to throwing a tantrum or needed distracting when an adventure was getting a little heavier than normal. He looked back to Emma as he blew up the balloon, keeping his fingers tightly around the end of it as he went to blow up a second one, this one red, seemingly oblivious to the strange looks he was getting from the humans, though he naturally was well aware of the amused, fond look the Hatter was eyeing him with as he blew up the red balloon, keeping his fingers tightly around the end of it, too, as he finished blowing it up.

"Our Universe," he held up the blue balloon for them to all see, "Hila Tacorian's here, in the pocket Universe…" he held up the red balloon beside the blue one, and Emma nodded slowly, listening intently he looked directly at her, "You're a lantern, shining across the dimensions, guiding her home, back to the land of the living," he slowly brought the balloons next to each other, before letting the blue balloon deflate and then the red one, making Emma smile widely with something like excitement in her eyes.

"Oh, Astra would be disappointed to miss this," the Hatter commented quietly, smiling, though a little wistfully as the Doctor looked back to her. She met his eyes, "She would love seeing daddy explain something clever with balloons".

He smiled at the thought of their flourishing Time Tot, "Well, I could never disappoint my little star, could I, dear?" he lightly nudged her arm with his elbow, "I'll have to make it up to her…"

Clara cleared her throat loudly, pulling the Time Lords attention over to her, "Sorry to interrupt," she frowned faintly, casting a curious look back up to the projector screen with Hila's picture still displayed across it, "But do you guys have any idea what she's running from?"

"Oh, yes, of course," the Time Lady nodded, flashing her a bright, cheerful smile, any trace of her previous sadness gone from her expression. She stepped closer to the girl, swinging an arm casually over her shoulders, "That's an excellent question, Clara, because…we have no idea," her smile grew into a full blown grin, looking at Clara, who blinked back at her slightly in confusion, "Isn't that great? I love not knowing, it means you have something brand new to learn!"

"Shall we see what it is, dear?" the Doctor flashed her a just as brilliant, excited smile, before aiming his sonic screwdriver at the projector and changing the slide.

Everyone's expression immediately seemed to freeze at the sight that met them, Emma's eyes widened and Palmer slowly lowered his glasses down his nose, staring at the image in disbelief, while Clara's mouth slipped open in shock. The Hatter's excited grin dimmed, growing a little more strained and closer to being considered a grimace, peering at the slightly blurred photo of a creature that appeared to be standing on all fours low to the ground, twisted and almost skeleton-like, dark in colour with skin that looked dark and leathery, and with an elongated neck. It almost looked like a poor imitation of an overgrown crab, drawn by someone who had only heard of a vague description of what a crab was supposed to look like. Even the Doctor, when he turned around to look at the picture, seemed quite stunned by what he was seeing.

"Blimey," the Hatter breathed, narrowing her eyes to try and get a better look at the picture, though it only made the image even more nightmarish, "That's…yeah, okay. I'm kind of feeling glad Astra isn't here with us right now after all…"

"Second that, dear," the Doctor nodded with a still slightly shocked expression, eyeing the picture. It was bad enough Astra had nightmares about Weeping Angels coming to snatch her or her parents away, let alone if she was here to be confronted by something that looked like this.

"Doctor, Hatter…" Clara said slowly, seemingly unable to take her gaze off the image, grimacing slightly, "What is that?"

"I don't know," he told her quietly, truly unnerved by that fact as he exchanged an unsettled look with the Hatter. He suddenly brightened and lightly clapped his hands together, spinning away from the screen, "Still, not to worry!" he smiled brightly at Clara, who still looked quite worried.

"So, what do we do?" Emma glanced over to the Time Lords, managing to pull her gaze off the picture.

"Not 'we,' you," the Doctor corrected her lightly, turning to her. Almost immediately, Emma looked nervously over to Palmer, who looked back to her in alarm. The Hatter couldn't help smiling faintly at the little looks past between the pair, wondering if that was how she and the Doctor had looked before they had got together…The Doctor stepped closer to Emma, pulling her eyes off Palmer, "You save Hila Tacorian because you are Emma Grayling," he said, reaching out to lightly grasp her shoulders, "You are the lantern. The rest of us are just along for the ride, I'm afraid," he lightly pattered her upper arms, almost comfortingly, before dropping his hands from her.

"And what a ride it shall be," the Hatter remarked, giving Emma a reassuring smile, before taking a deep breath, "But before we can do that, we're going to need a few things. First…" she held up her left thumb, counting things off as she listed them off, "We're going to need some rope, very sturdy and as long as possible, secondly, a blue Metebelis Three crystal, thirdly…"

"Kendal Mint Cake," the Doctor added eagerly, actually holding his hand up like he was a schoolboy.

She gave him an indulgently smile, curling her arm around his arm and pressing a kiss to his cheek, "And some Kendal Mint Cake, for you, sweetheart," she agreed, pulling back slightly from him with a thoughtful expression, "Thankfully, I do believe we happen to have all of that back in the TARDIS".

His eyes brightened, though that was more to do with the kiss than anything else, "Well, come on, then!" he tugged on her arm, making her laugh at his excitement, allowing him to pull her out of the room and off down the hallway.

…

Clara wondered around the upper level of the console room, circling the controls with a slightly bored expression, edging closer to the railing to peer down to catch a glimpse of the Doctor and the Hatter fiddling around with something just out of sight on the lower levels. The Hatter, between bites of Kendal Mint Cake, seemed to be using an ordinary screwdriver to tighten what looked like a metal crown, something around the size of a small, adult head, while the Doctor remained just out of sight, seemingly digging for something within the actual depths of the ship. She eyed them for a moment.

"Can't you just…you know?" she called down to them, moving to take a seat on the edge of the platform, her legs swinging down over the side.

"What?" the Doctor called back up to her, lifting his head from the where he was busy digging within the compartment of the ship for something.

"Fly the TARDIS into the parallel Universe?"

"It's a pocket Universe, Clara," the Hatter corrected her lightly, lifting the curious crown closer to her eyes, examining it intently for a moment, "Big difference from a parallel Universe, I assure you, made all the more complicated by the fact that it's currently collapsing…" the Doctor suddenly pulled a large, dark blue crystal from the depths of the compartment and she flashed him a bright grin, leaning down to pluck it from his hands, "Thank you, sweetheart, just what I was needing".

The Doctor looked up at her happily, "I told you I knew where it was, dear," he said with a hint of smugness to his tone, climbing onto his feet, though they were both forced to duck slightly to avoid smacking their heads against the low ceiling…the Hatter even reluctantly had removed her hat in order to fit.

She rolled her eyes fondly at him, turning her gaze onto the crown as she began to fit the crystal into the very middle, at the front of the metal band, "You truly are a hoarder, Doctor," she told him affectionately, "Only you would still keep a crystal that practically resulted in your Third selves death".

"You never know when it might be useful," he pointed at her, flashing her yet another very pleased grin, obviously feeling rather happy with himself for having had the foresight to have kept the crystal in the first place. The Hatter, as he recalled at the time, hadn't been overly keen on him keeping it, she had been quite upset by his Third regenerations death and had thought that keeping the crystal might be bad luck, but he was glad now that he had kept the crystal lying about all these centuries. It was exactly what they needed. He glanced up at Clara's ankles as they lightly kicked the air over the side of the upper platform, recalling her question about why they weren't simply flying the TARDIS into the pocket Universe, "Of course, Clara…" he moved to stand by her dangling feet, looking thoughtfully up towards her, "It would be possible to for the TARDIS to get in the pocket Universe all right".

"But it's far from ideal," the Time Lady added, grimacing faintly as her eyes flickered up from her work securing the crystal into the metal band she had made.

He nodded in agreement, pulling a slight face, too, "Yes, very far from ideal," he glanced at Clara's ankles again, since he couldn't quite see her face, "The entropy would bleed her power sources, you see, Clara? Trap her there until the entire Universe decayed back into the quantum form. Which would take about…three minutes, give or take, you know," he shrugged slightly.

The Hatter winced at the thought, looking up briefly from her work…she really hoped this whole plan worked out as smoothly as they expected, the alternative was cutting it a little too fine, even for her reckless standards.

….

The music room became their base of operations within the house, given that it seemed to be the room in the house that had the thinnest divide between the pocket Universe and their world. The Hatter carefully stepped over the long length of wire that ran all the way from the TARDIS, up the grounds and into the music room, connected to a tripod stand in the middle of the room, which held a massive, long, eight sided crystal-like object that glowed with a pale blue, almost white light, checking to make sure that the connection was set up properly and that the wires hadn't tangled up, which could easily result in a fluctuation in power at a critical moment. The Doctor stood before the tripod, making sure that it was hooked up, while Clara stood beside him, peering curiously at the crystal. Emma and Palmer stood a short distance away, looking around the room with matching expressions of confusion and trepidation.

"What is that?" Clara asked as she eyed the oddly shaped crystal, reaching up a finger to try touching it.

The Doctor lightly battered her hand away, "A subset of the Eye of Harmony," he replied distractedly, busy looking over the connections, frowning faintly as he looked it over for what must have been the third time already, the Hatter had also checked it at least twice herself, but they couldn't afford not to get things right.

"I don't…"

"Of course you don't," he cut across her, glancing sideways at her, "Be weird if you did. I barely do myself, that's more the Hatter's area…"

The Hatter looked up at the mention of her name, flashing them a broad smile from where she had been leaning down to double check one of the cables that was hooked up to an old clock that was set up on a stack of books, at least another nine clocks set up in a similar fashion around the room, forming a circle around a chair, in the middle of the room, and the tripod.

"He never did pay attention in class," she mock sighed, throwing the Doctor a pretend scolding look, though her amused eyes gave away her true feelings on the subject.

"I did so pay attention in class, Hatter!"

"I was referring to our professors, Doctor," she fixed him with a pointed look, her lips lifting in a small smirk, "Not to me," she didn't even try to hold back her laughter at the sight of him immediately deflating and shifting slightly embarrassedly on the spot, his cheeks growing a lovely shade of pink. She glanced at Clara, who was grinning, "He's seriously too easy to mess with sometimes".

The Doctor huffed slightly, trying and failing miserably to give her a glare, "Shut up," he muttered, embarrassed as he reached up to adjust his bowtie as Clara began laughing, too.

The Hatter simply smirked back at him, stepping carefully over the length of wires and cables littering the floor to move to his side, pressing a lingering kiss to his cheek, "You love it, Doctor dear," she said lightly, before whirling away from him with a cheeky wink, not giving him a chance to try and form a response as she looked across the room to Emma, her expression softening at the sight of the slightly nervous look on the young woman's face, "Okay, Emma, we're all ready," she smiled at her reassuringly, "If you would kindly take a seat, that would be just lovely".

Emma glanced briefly at Palmer, before moving to sit down on the chair in the middle of the circle. She blinked as the Time Lady turned back to her, suddenly holding a rather ugly looking crown-like headdress, made of metal and with a dark blue crystal sitting at the front of it, the Hatter carefully placing it on top of Emma's head, a long length of wire connected to the back of the band running directly into the mess of cables all seemingly flowing back into the tripod.

"I know it's not very pretty," the Time Lady continued, gently pushing the band more securely down over Emma's head, while the Doctor moved swiftly around the circle, flashing his sonic at each clock set up around them, "But it's very important. The blue crystals of Metebelis Three are quite unique and very powerful".

"What does it do?" Emma asked, reaching up to lightly touch the metal band, straightening it.

"Well, it acts a little bit like a microphone or a radio," she explained, watching as the Doctor moved swiftly around the circle with the sonic, "You see, the crystal helps to boost your natural empathic abilities, allowing us to reach out into the pocket Universe and gain a foothold for us to get to Hila".

Suddenly, all around the room every clock began ticking loudly, just as the Doctor finished flashing his sonic at the last clock. He slipped the sonic back inside his inner breast pocket and came to stand beside the Hatter, who looked rather reluctant as she took an old, parachute harness from Clara's hands, throwing the Doctor a slightly narrowed eyed look that clearly said that she wasn't happy, but that she wasn't about to continue arguing. The Doctor had taken it upon himself to be the one to go into the pocket Universe to retrieve Hila and bring her back to safety, the Hatter, naturally, wasn't overly keen on the idea of missing out on the chance to also try saving the missing time traveller just because the Doctor was being his protective self. It was her turn to be the one to throw herself into a dangerous position, the way she saw it, anyway, sadly their attempt to resolve the argument that could have gone on for hours by playing 'Rock, paper, scissors' didn't end up going in her favour and she was forced to rather bitterly concede defeat. Needless to say, she was not overly happy with him, she wasn't about to forget it anytime soon.

Palmer looked around curiously, eyeing the ticking clocks and wire and cables tangled across his floor with a slightly dubious expression, "What exactly is this arrangement?" he questioned, throwing the Time Lords a frown.

"A psychochronograph," the Doctor informed him, smiling happily.

His frown only deepened, "Forgive me, but isn't it all a bit, well…make do and mend?" he gestured around the circle.

The Hatter smiled faintly at his obvious attempt at still being polite, helping the Doctor slip the harness on, "It's a bit of a mess, I'll give you that," she remarked, moving around to stand beside the Doctor, helping him to buckle and tighten the straps of the harness on the right side of his body, while he did the left, "But I'm afraid that it's necessary, you see non-physic technology isn't going to work in this other dimension, so we've had to improvise a little," she threw Palmer a reassuring look as he continued to look doubtful, "Not to worry, we know what we're doing…"

"Well, she does," the Doctor cut in, giving the Hatter an affectionate look, obviously trying to get back in her good books. The Hatter lifted her eyebrows back at him, her lips pressing into a thin line, which made him wince and his small smile die. He cleared his throat, shifting under her sharp gaze, "Hatter, you know it's true, dear, my love, my dearest…" her eyes narrowed into slits, making his voice grow slightly higher, saying in a great rush, "Obviously that's why it's such a good idea for you to stay here and make sure everything's running smoothly, because we both know you're the only one who knows what's going on, like always…"

"Oh, save it, Doctor," the Time Lady huffed slightly, rolling her eyes as his voice grew higher and higher with each word, growing worryingly close to reaching a rang that only dogs might be able to decipher, which was quite an accomplishment, "Don't try pretending as though you're not overjoyed about me staying behind, I'm not a fool".

"I'm never going to apologise for being happy knowing that you're safe, Hatter," he told her firmly, meeting her eyes with a suddenly very serious look, any hint of his previous nervousness gone. It was enough to actually make a flicker of surprise cross the Hatter's features, blinking slightly at how blunt he was and how quickly his demeanour had shifted. He glanced at the humans in the room, who were all watching them with looks caught between interest and awkwardness, and cleared his throat, "Anyway, so…" he clapped his hands together, "All I need to do is dive into another dimension, fined the time traveller, help her escape the monster, get home before the entire dimension collapses, and Bob's your uncle," he smiled happily around at them all.

"That's the idea, anyway," the Hatter said with a concerned expression, eyeing him. His smile softened as he glanced at her, reaching out to take her hand and squeezing it reassuringly.

"Hatter?" Emma called suddenly, pulling the brunet's attention off the Doctor. She let go of his hand and stepped closer to her chair, leaning down slightly so that they were eye level, peering into Emma's frightened, pale face, "Will it hurt?"

She reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, giving her an apologetic smile, "Very likely, yes," she told her gently, "I am very sorry, Emma, but you really should try bracing yourself, but I promise that it will be over quickly and it won't harm you in the long run, you will most likely just have a nasty headache…" she grimaced slightly, licking her lips, "…you may also lose consciousness, too," she tried to give her a comforting look as Emma paled even more, "Look, no matter what, you just need to focus on the reason why you're doing this, okay? Think of what an amazing, brave, kind thing you are doing for Hila, and just bring her and the Doctor back home. I believe in you, Emma".

Emma swallowed nervously, staring at the Hatter for a long moment, before glancing over to Palm, who gave her bracing nod. The Hatter straightened and stepped away from her chair, moving to the Doctor's side and kissing him briefly, before he even had a chance to even try kissing her back before she was moving away from him with a grim expression written across her features, dropping her gaze from his to the floor with a frown. She was trying very hard to conceal just how nervous she was right now, not just for the Doctor, but also for Emma, seeing as she really could only work off guess work right now as to exactly how this would all play out, though she had a general idea of what would happen…if everything went smoothly, that is.

Emma took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "I'm talking to the lost soul that abides in this place," she said loudly and clearly, and faintly the sound of something, almost like thunder, crackled through the air around them, "I'm speaking to Hila Tacorian…"

The Doctor slowly backed away, towards the edge of the circle and reached down to grasp a length of rope that was connected to a large winch, while all around them clocks began spinning madly, some going backwards rapidly, while others ticked quickly forwards, the noise of all the clocks ticking filling the air as they all looked around warily. Emma panted slightly as her eyes snapped open, when suddenly she jolted and gave a small cry of pain as the sound of an electric current sounded, just before the spinning disc appeared at the end of the room, spinning in midair, shacking as it began to crack in the middle of it, emitting a bright, white light. The Hatter, without taking her eyes off the disc, grabbed the rope from the Doctor and quickly clipped it onto the hook on the back of his harness, before hastily backing away, shielding her eyes briefly as the disc shattered completely and suddenly the doorway at the end of the music room was filled with a glowing, brilliant white light that was almost blinding to look at. A strong wind blew through the room, rustling everyone's hair and clothing, the Hatter very nearly lost her hat, before she could hastily clamp her hand down on top of it, squinting at the doorway.

"See?" the Doctor shouted over the wind, glancing back over his shoulder to them all, "The Witch of the Well! It's a wormhole! A reality well!" he looked back to the glowing doorway, edging closer to it, "A door to the echo Universe. Ready?" he gripped the front straps of his harness and looked back over to Emma.

"READY!" Emma yelled back.

He threw the Hatter a cheeky wink and even blew her a kiss, which made her smile and pretend to catch it, pressing it to her hearts, blowing another kiss back at him. He turned back to the doorway, titling his head from side to side, cracking his neck briefly, "Geronimo!" he laughed, before taking a running leap towards the doorway, crying out just as he was swallowed up by the brilliant light.

The Hatter immediately dashed for the winch as the rope began to rapidly speed around and around it the further the Doctor fell into the other world, grabbing the handle with a pained grimace as she tried to slow it, just in case there should be anything dangerous on the other side that the Doctor was about to go hurtling towards at full force, though the handle was spinning so fast it was almost physical impossible for her to even try gripping it.

"Doctor!" she could just hear Clara shouting, seemingly the girl trying to make a dash to go after him.

Palmer, thankfully, blocked her path before she could, grabbing her around the middle and tugging her back into him. Suddenly, the winch came to a sharp stop and the Hatter sighed in relief, slightly out of breath and her hands positively burning from trying to slow the metal handle. She looked sharply at the rope, smiling faintly as two very distinctive tugs were pulled at the other end, signalling back to her that the Doctor had made it safely to the other side and was doing okay. Four tugs would have meant danger and that he needed to be pulled back immediately, but two was good, he was safe…or as safe as he could be right now. She straightened and rubbed her hands together, her flesh looking bright red across her palms, while her hair continued to blow back past her face with the wind. She mentally calculated the time, frowning faintly as she eyed the doorway worriedly, she had made an agreement with the Doctor that she would give him two minutes to find Hila before going in after him, he still had one minute and thirty seconds, by her mental clock.

"Come on, sweetheart," she whispered anxiously, almost wringing her hands, her eyes squinting against the bright glare of the doorway, all the while the seconds ticked away in the back of her mind, one minute and ten seconds, one minute exactly…but still there was no sign of him, "Doctor!" she shouted as loudly as she could over the howling wind, just hoping that he might be able to hear her, cupping her hands around her mouth, "Doctor, you need to come back! Hear my voice, come back, sweetheart! Come back, right now!"

She waited, tense and horribly worried now, looking between the doorway and the winch, just hoping to see the rope give three tugs to signal that the Doctor was ready to come back…but still nothing happened, even as the seconds ticked by. She felt a chill run down her spine, swallowing thickly as a sickly sensation began wash over her, what if he was hurt and couldn't get back to the rope? What if he was lost? She couldn't afford to panic right now, she knew that logically that if something had gone wrong that it would be down to her to fix it, but she couldn't help feeling the first hints of panic start to bloom in her chest, because if anything ever happened to the Doctor and she wasn't there, if he had been hurt in anyway…she didn't think she would be able to forgive herself.

"Doctor!" Emma called out loudly, reaching out a hand towards the doorway, "Doctor! Come home!" she was practically screaming now, her face screwed up with effort and pain, "Doctor, we're here!"

"Doctor!" the Hatter almost screamed desperately, her eyes beginning to water from the wind and glare of the brilliant light. She tried to channel her fear into something else, anger being the easiest right now, just trying to keep her head level and the panic at bay, "Sweetheart, I swear, if you don't come back in the next thirty seconds I am going to be so cross with you!" she threatened with little meaning, just wanting him back so that she could hug him silly, though whacking him for also scaring her like this also seemed kind of appealing right now, too, "Doctor! DOCTOR!"

"I'm not strong enough!" Emma cried out, closing her eyes in pain, gritting her teeth as she struggled to keep the doorway open.

"Yes, you are!" the Time Lady insisted, not taking her frightened gaze off the doorway, lifting her hand up to shield her eyes from the worst of the glare, "You can do this, Emma, you must! Please!"

"Just a few more seconds!" Clara urged her, still being held back by Palmer, though it seemed more like the two of them were just clinging together to try and keep upright in the strong wind.

Emma suddenly gave a horrible scream, throwing her head back in agony. The Hatter threw her a worried look, feeling that scream ripple right through her and knowing that she was largely behind it, insisting that Emma continue even while knowing that she was in agony. She felt sick from the guilt of it, but they also couldn't stop, not now, they just couldn't do that…Just then, the rope around the winch gave three firm tugs, but it barely lessoned the Hatter's fear. She knew that it was Hila coming through, the Doctor would never have gone through first, and while she felt grateful that they were at least saving Hila from her torment, that meant that the Doctor was still trapped…and judging by Emma's screams, she really wasn't sure how much longer the girl had in her.

The Hatter and Clara, pulling herself away from Palmer, dashed for the winch, working together to start winding the large handle to pull the harness back through the doorway. It took only a few seconds before a figure dressed in a white flight suit suddenly came flying out of the light, tumbling straight onto the floor with a hard thump and a surprised yelp. The Hatter was at her side before Hila could even lift her head, unapologetically already starting to try and undo the harness from around Hila.

"Sorry about this!" the Time Lady told her loudly, while the very confused woman blinked back at her, looking rather stunned and bewildered by what was going on, so much so that she didn't even try to stop the rather determined Hatter from her task, "I'm the Hatter, I assure you I usually don't go about accosting people like this upon first meeting them, but I'm a bit preoccupied right now…" she managed to get the last buckle undone and pulled the harness away from Hila's body, rising to get ready to send it back over to the Doctor, when the worst happened.

Emma gave a terrible, pained gasp and her entire body tensed in her chair, her eyes rolling back in her head as she suddenly went completely limp, slumping forwards. The Hatter's hearts dropped through the floor and she stopped breathing, her eyes widening in horror as she whirled back to look at the doorway, just in time to see the brilliant white light began to waver in and out, before disappearing completely into nothingness, leaving behind just the simple, ordinary music room doorway with no trace of the portal left, save for the mess of paper that had been sent flying around the room from all the wind.

"No!" Clara shouted, running passed the Hatter, who felt frozen to the spot, coming to a skidding stop over where the portal had been just seconds before. Slowly, Clara whirled back around to look at the Hatter, her eyes wide with fear. She took a small step towards the Time Lady, who remained completely rigid, "Hatter?"

She didn't react, she didn't even seem to hear Clara, in fact she didn't even blink until the sound of the Cloister Bell rang out clearly through the air from all the way back in the grounds. She closed her eyes and cringed against the noise, but as much as that noise sent a thrill of terror through her from centuries of being conditioned to fear that sound, it also gave her exactly the slap she needed to make her think clearly again. She couldn't panic, she didn't have that luxury right now, in fact she couldn't even afford herself to be swallowed up and consumed by the rush of terror that threatened to take control of her if she allowed it, even for a second. The Doctor needed her right now to be strong and clever, and that she could be, she could break down and get upset once he was back in her arms, until then…well, until then she had to focus and be the Hatter, not a frightened best friend, not a frantic wife, not even a stricken mother, but the Hatter, a Time Lady who could face down a Dalek and still manage to tease the Doctor and come up with a plan in a split second with a hairpin and a toothbrush as her only weapon. She sucked in a deep, sharp breathe and her eyes snapped open, meeting Clara's eyes determinedly, any trace of fear locked firmly down deep inside her.

"Don't panic, Clara," she told her firmly, though not unkindly, "I'm going to get him back, I swear on my life that I will, but no one is allowed to panic right now if I can't," she didn't wait to see Clara's look of confusion, instead she turned around to see Palmer kneeling on the ground with Emma unconscious in his arms, holding her protectively. She marched over to the pair and crouched down before them, casting Emma a quick, assessing look before sighing regretfully, reaching out to lightly grasp her arm, giving it a small shake, "Emma, Emma, can you hear me? Please, please hear me; I need you to wake up for me…"

"I'm sorry," Emma wept into Palmer's chest; her eyes squeezed shut, her voice weak and so very fragile.

"Don't be sorry," Palmer instantly consoled her, lightly rocking her in his arms. The Hatter bit her tongue, desperately trying not to shout and demand, like she wanted to with all her hearts, just trying to remain calm and level headed, for Emma's sake, if not for the Doctor's right now, "Don't be," he continued soothingly, "What you did…"

"Wasn't enough," Clara snapped suddenly, coming to kneel beside the Hatter, glaring at Palmer and Emma, who was barely conscious. The Time Lady winced at her tone, though she sympathised entirely, "She needs to do it again!"

"Clara…" the Hatter sighed warily, casting her a small frown.

"She can't!" Palmer looked up at them, throwing Clara an angry look as he clutched Emma tighter to him, "Look at her!"

"She has to!"

"Clara, enough!" the Hatter said sharply, fixing her with a stern look that instantly made Clara flinch back, rather shocked by the look of icy anger in her hazel green eyes. She took a moment to try and steady herself, breathing deeply for a second, before releasing it slowly, closing her eyes briefly in a desperate plea to try and regain control, "Clara, please…" she opened her eyes, her gaze softening very slightly as she looked back at the girl, though there was still an odd chill to her eyes that Clara had only seen her use against Skaldak, a fierceness and determination that was truly frightening to see on the usually cheerful Time Lady's face. It made her look dangerous and old, very old, "Calm yourself, we must remain calm," she insisted, more softly and gently, "Panicking right now isn't going to help".

"How can you be so calm, Hatter?" Clara almost shouted, climbing back onto her feet to glare back at the Time Lady, feeling oddly upset with how passive she seemed when her husband had literally just been trapped inside another world that was supposed to collapse at any moment, but yet here she was, preaching about staying calm.

Something shifted in her eyes then, something darker and angry and suddenly the Hatter really didn't look like herself anymore. She rose to her feet, fixing Clara with a look that truly did frighten her in that moment, so much so that she found herself even taking a small step back from her, eyeing the Hatter with apprehension. It was easy to forget how old the Doctor and the Hatter were when they acted like six year olds half the time, she was so used to seeing the gentle, fun, flirty Hatter that it was easy to forget that beneath all of that was a woman who had lived through centuries of pain and grief, lived through a war and survived it, but looking at her right now, Clara could understand a little something of what sort of person you needed to be in order to do that. She understood a little of Emma's warning now about not trusting the Time Lords, why even the Hatter was someone to be careful with. It was true; there was a sliver of ice in her heart.

"I am anything but calm right now, Clara," the Hatter told her, her voice tight and strained, as though she was barely keeping it from rising, her hands clinched into fists at her sides, "I am petrified right now and I am barely holding myself together, but if I let go, even for a second, then there is no hope for getting the Doctor back and I will never, ever, allow that to happen. So, yes…" she took a shuddering breath, her voice dropping to a tight whisper, "I must be calm and I must be strong, even if I might want to scream and cry and curse, but I will not lose my head and my husband right along with it, Clara. I will not do that, if not for the Doctor, then for the sake of my daughter, I will be calm. Do you think you can do the same?" she lifted an eyebrow at her, her gaze unwavering and icy.

Clara swallowed and nodded, "Yes," she said quietly, lifting her head a little higher, "Yes, I can".

She smiled at that, some of her usual warmth returning to her eyes, "I know you can," she said confidently, and with a hint of pride. She crouched back down beside Palmer and Emma, sighing heavily as she regarded the barely conscious Emma, "Emma," she said gently, reaching out to lightly touch her arm, "I know I ask to much of you and for that I am eternally sorry, but if you could find the strength to try again, just try, I would forever be in your debt. Please…" she practically pleaded, her voice growing slightly chocked, "I need him, he's not just my best friend and husband, he's a father to our daughter. He's everything to me, to us. Just…" she licked her lips, ducking her head as tears blurred her vision, though she fought hard against the sob in her throat, "Just try".

She didn't wait to hear what Emma or Palmer, for that matter, had to say on that matter; in fact she couldn't even bring herself to look at them as she rose and turned to swiftly cross the room, using the back of her hand to roughly wipe her cheek as a treacherous tear fell. She barely even paid much mind to Clara trailing along after her, struggling to keep pace as the Hatter practically marched through the hallways of the house and back out into the grounds. Her hearts hammered in her chest and she felt almost as though she might either be physical sick with fear or break down in hysterical sobs at any second, but she would not do that, she couldn't afford it. She let the sound of the Cloister Bell still booming through the air to steady her, remind her what was at stake.

"What are we going to do?" Clara asked, slightly puffed as she struggled to keep up to the Hatter as they began to hurry down the front garden steps, towards the time machine.

"Something reckless and stupid," the Hatter replied grimly, flashing her a suddenly bright smile, a smile that didn't match the look in her gaze, "Though, I imagine that doesn't exactly narrow down the list".

She threw her a small frown, "You're going to try and fly the TARDIS into that other Universe, right?"

"Well done, Clara. I am, indeed".

"But…I thought you and the Doctor said…"

"That the entropy would drain the TARDIS of power within four seconds, yes," the Hatter cut across her, nodding as she slipped her hand inside her pocket for her TARDIS key, easily fishing it out as they quickly approached the blue box, "That is still completely true, however, the Doctor is in danger and he needs me, four seconds is more than enough for me to save my damsel-in-tweed".

She reached the TARDIS and inserted the key into the lock, automatically already taking a step forward as she pushed the doors forward…only the doors didn't budge and she ended up slamming her forehead straight into the door, earning a hiss of pain and a string of Gallifreyan curses from the Time Lady, who stumbled backwards with a pained grimace. She reached up to touch her sore forehead, rubbing it with a glare aimed at the blue box, her hat askew.

"Seriously?" she huffed angrily at the time machine, "Now, of all times, you're not going to open? I'm trying to save the Doctor, old girl! Can we do this later?" she shot Clara a look, "This is your fault".

"I haven't done anything to her!" Clara bristled slightly, crossing her arms across her chest with a dark look thrown back towards the TARDIS, "She's just being a grumpy old cow!"

The Hatter sighed, rolling her eyes upwards in exasperation, "Oh, yes," she said with a note of sarcasm, "I'm sure that the name calling is truly going to warm her towards you," she shook her head and stepped towards the time machine again, resting her hand gently against the wooden door, "Come on, old girl," she tried, slightly more desperately, "Just let us in, whatever Clara has or will do…well, I'm sure she'll apologise to you if you just let us in…"

Suddenly, there was a loud zapping noise that whirred through the air, making Clara and the Hatter glance at each other, before spinning around. A young man stood a few feet away from them, tall and rather handsome, with dark brown hair that was rather messy and ruffled, as though he had never heard of a comb before, while his features were sharp, though they still held a boyish softness to them, while a pair of gentle, bright brown eyes stared back at them. He wore a wrinkled white shirt and dark red trousers that tucked into a pair of dark, knee length boots, his top two buttons left unbuttoned and his collar sticking up slightly, though the disregard for his clothing only made him appear more handsome, almost roguish.

"Whoa," Clara stared at the man, blinkingly as she looked him up and down.

"The Doctor really was rather handsome in our youth," the Hatter commented fondly, smiling as she regarded the man with a nostalgic expression, "I forgot how untidy he used to be, he never hung up anything on a hanger, just dumped them on the floor half the time and then he'd wonder why he was constantly being scolded for looking like a mess…" she shook her head, laughing faintly at the memory, "Goodness, I missed that side of his First regeneration, he used to be so carefree…"

"Wait…" Clara looked at her sharply, frowning deeply as the pointed across to the man, "That's the Doctor?"

"No, of course not," she laughed slightly, "That's the TARDIS Voice Visual Interface wearing the First Doctor's face…well, technically Theta Sigma's face, judging by the outfit. I forget he used to wear those boots…" she paused, her gaze growing distant, thoughtful, "Hmm, I wonder if I could get the Doctor to consider wearing something similar, I bet he would look good in those trousers…"

"How is that supposed to be the Doctor? Hatter, what the hell is going on?"

"Regeneration, Clara," she shook her head, waving a slightly dismissive hand, "I'll explain that later," she turned her attention onto the hologram of the young Doctor, who peered back at her with emotionless eyes.

"I am the TARDIS Voice Visual Interface," the hologram spoke, speaking flatly, but with deep, pleasant tone, "I'm programmed to select the image of a person you esteem. Of several billion such images in my databanks, this one best meets the criterion".

"Of course it would be you, sweetheart," the Hatter remarked fondly, regarding the hologram almost as though it was actually the Doctor standing before her, "This is the version of you that I first fell for…but that's getting us side tracked," she cleared her throat, her expression growing harder and her gaze steely with determination in a split second, "We need to help the Doctor, he needs us and the only way to get to him right now is by using you, old girl, so kindly stop with the attitude and let us in already!"

"The Doctor is in the pocket Universe".

She sighed loudly and glanced at Clara, "I love her, I truly do," she told her in exasperation, lowering her voice to a whisper, "But do we really need the obvious to be stated?"

"I told you she's a cow," Clara replied just as quietly, crossing her arms across her chest and throwing the hologram an annoyed look.

"Okay, that's really not helping, either," she pointed sternly at her, "I swear, when this is all over your two are having a big chat," she turned back towards the hologram, frowning deeply at it as Clara looked rather disgruntled by the idea of attempting to make amends with the grumpy time machine, "We know where he is, old girl," she tried to tell the TARDIS, her tone filled with forced patience, "Hence why we wish to go get him and rescue him before it's too late, which we can do if you just let us, so…how about opening those beautiful doors for me, you sexy thing?" she gave her best, most charming smile that usually made the Doctor go weak kneed, just hoping it might work.

Clara frowned faintly, eyeing the Time Lady with a dubious look, "Did you just call the TARDIS 'Sexy?'" she asked, though the Hatter pretended not to hear, her smile firmly in place and her gaze fixed on the hologram.

"The entropy would drain the energy from my heart," the hologram informed them emotionlessly, "In four seconds, I'd be stranded. In ten, I'd be dead".

"Yep, well aware of that fact, thank you very much," the Hatter nodded, her patient tone very quickly disappearing and instead being replaced by urgency. She took a step closer to the hologram, taking a deep, steadying breath, "Look, old girl, I know the risks and I am sorry for having to ask you to do this, but this is the Doctor we're talking about here, you would never leave him behind anymore then I would, because we both love him. He needs us, and we both need him, so just let me in and I promise I will save him. You know I can do it, old girl".

The hologram seemed to peer intently right back at her, though it was just a hologram wearing the face of the First Doctor in his youth, the Hatter could have sworn that she sensed a flicker of warmth brush against her mental shields, just for a tiny second, like someone reaching out and placing a hand on her shoulder, comforting and affectionate. She didn't share the same bond with the TARDIS as the Doctor did, she never would be able to sense the TARDIS the same way he could, almost as though she was another limb, but she had travelled and cared for the TARDIS for all these centuries, and she and the Doctor did share their own psychic bond, the Hatter supposed that it wouldn't be surprising to learn that the TARDIS could reach out to her psychically on some level, be it minimally and try to communicate to her the only way that a TARDIS could, typically towards those that they were bound to, like the Doctor. The Hatter closed her eyes as the sensation disappeared and she heard the TARDIS doors click open behind her.

"Thank you, old girl," she murmured gratefully, opening her eyes to find that the hologram had vanished. She grabbed Clara's hand and positively dragged her along after her as she whirled around, dashing straight through the TARDIS doors and into the console room.

"Hey!" Clara yelped slightly, stumbling to try and keep pace with the Time Lady, tripping over her own feet in her hast. She likely would have already hit the floor if it hadn't been for the Hatter's hand gripping her hand as tightly as it was, almost painfully so.

"No time, Clara," she called back over her shoulder, only dropping Clara's hand when they reached the console panels, where she immediately began racing around the controls, pulling levers and hitting buttons, while Clara was left to jump out of her way with wide eyes, hastily checking her wrist for any sign of possible bruising later, "Okay, okay, now this isn't going to be very pleasant," she warned Clara as she continued dashing around the controls, not seeming to notice even when her beloved hat toppled off her head as she suddenly ducked beneath one of the control panels on her hands and knees to grab for something beneath one of the panels, "Not pleasant at all, I should imagine…"

Clara eyed her slightly nervously, just as the Time Lady leapt back onto her feet, just avoiding smacking the back of her head on the edge of the panel as she rose, "What can I do to help?" she asked her, wanting to do something, at least, to try and help rather than stand around, watching the Hatter racing about like a mad woman.

The Hatter gave her a bright, warm smile, "Now that's what I like to hear!" she cheered, clapping her hands in a very Doctor-like fashion and pointing at Clara, who smiled faintly back at her, "This lever right here…" she turned to the controls and Clara quickly joined her, allowing the Hatter to gently take her right hand and place it over a rather large lever with a red, rubber covered handle, "You need to pull this when I tell you, only when I tell you, Clara, while this dial…" she took Clara's left hand and placed it over the top of a large, brass dial that showed a series of different numbers around the edge of the circle and two dark red arrows, currently sitting in the very middle of the numbers, "I need you to watch it and when you see both arrows hit eleven hundred, you need to hit this green button right over here, okay? Just watch the dial for eleven hundred, green button, and wait for my word on the lever. Got it?"

She hesitated, eyeing the controls with a wary look, "What happens if I muck it up?"

The Time Lady winced, "Well…the TARDIS will implode and possibly tear a hole in the fabric of time," she said in somewhat of a rush, as though she thought saying it quickly might make it sound better. Poor Clara's eyes widened in horror, making her hastily give Clara a reassuring smile and a comforting hand upon her shoulder, "But that isn't going to happen, I wouldn't be giving you this task if I didn't think you could do it, Clara," she sighed, her smile fading and a worried frown creasing her forehead, "Besides, attempting this in tricky enough, having someone else just to do this is going to make everything a lot easier for me. Please, Clara…"

Clara looked at her for a long movement, before nodding determinedly, her expression growing resolute, "Okay, I'm game," she said firmly, reaching out to place her hand back over the lever and planting her feet firmly, while her other hand gripped the edge of the console tightly, preparing herself as best as she could for the flight ahead, "I'm ready if you are, Hatter".

The Hatter smiled widely at her and lightly clapped her on the back, before spinning away from her and around to the other controls. She reached out to grasp another lever, giving Clara one last encouraging look right before she very quickly jerked the lever downwards. The entire room jolted violently immediately, though the sound of the engines was softer than normal as the Hatter dashed madly around the controls, her hands moving so fast that Clara, who kept looking from the dial to the Time Lady as she struggled to keep her boots from sliding out beneath her, could barely keep track of what control or button she was hitting next.

"I've had to turn the breaks off!" the Hatter called suddenly, her cheeks slightly pink as she dashed about from one control panel to the next, even snaking her hand around Clara at one point to reach for a control, "Not to mention the Blue Stabilises, but even they aren't going to be of much help to us right now…lever, Clara!"

Clara hastily pulled the lever down at her command, before quickly bringing her gaze intently down onto the dial, watching as the arrows both flew rapidly around beneath the glass, though they did seem to be both edging closer to eleven hundred…She gave a loud squeal as the TARDIS gave a very sudden jerk and she almost ended up flying backwards with the motion, though the Hatter seemed to take it all in her stride, somehow managing to actually laugh and use the random jerks and jolts to move about even faster than normal. She almost seemed to be dancing a very strange waltz around the control panels, twirling and twisting as her hands constantly remained on the controls, still piloting the ship without being phased by any of the movements, not even when she did finally lose her balance did it seem to concern her as she was sent tumbling backwards from the controls, falling back, hard, into one of the railings.

"Ow!" she huffed slightly, using the next sudden jolt to practically fling herself back towards the controls, reaching out in time to catch herself against them, right beside Clara, who gave a yelp of surprise, just barely clinging on herself. The Time Lady shot her a cheeky grin, "Did I ever mention what a great dancer I am, Clara?"

"No, but I reckon you'd make a pretty good surfer".

She laughed at that, "Sadly, that's more the Doctor's area then mine," she told her, giving her a wink before she was moving back around the controls again.

Clara really didn't know how much longer she could hold on for, she had lost count of how many times she had almost been tossed away from the controls, when she checked the dial again, finding it reading eleven hundred. She almost forgot where the green button was, when she finally found it and slammed her hand down on the control. The second she let go of the edge of the console, however, she found herself being flung backwards with a loud cry, catching herself on the railing behind her, clinging to it.

"Hatter!" she shouted, slightly breathlessly, "Please tell me we're nearly there!"

"Just about!" the Hatter yelled back, not looking up from the controls, her hair tangled around her face and annoyingly falling across her eyes and mouth. She had to resist the urge to spit some of it out of her mouth, "I've just got one last thing to do…I do so love to make an entrance, after all!"

She reached over the controls and hit a button, and suddenly the sound of the TARDIS familiar noise filled the air as she put the brakes back on, rolling her eyes fondly, loving that noise, even if it was completely ridiculous and so very like the Doctor to keep the breaks on just because he enjoyed the sound…and hadn't known how to take the breaks off, more than likely, too. She grabbed the monitor screen and smiled widely as the screen showed the Doctor lying on his back in the middle of an open, grass and mist filled area just on the edge of a thick, old looking forest…what was just a little less pleasant was the fact that the same nightmarish creature from the house was there, hovering above the Doctor, as though it was about to attack him.

"Oh, no you don't!" she narrowed her eyes, grabbing for another of the controls, "If anyone is going to kill the Doctor, it's bloody well going to be me today! Get in line," she brought the TARDIS closer towards the ground, gritting her teeth as the ship continued jerking about, but she managed to bring it down just enough to knock the creature away from the Doctor, before rising into the air again, all the while Clara continued screaming, "Come on, Doctor," she grimaced between gritted teeth, almost sweating from the effort of just trying to keep the TARDIS from flying off without him, bringing her back down closer to the ground towards him as the Doctor jumped onto his feet and began running…, "Come on, just a little bit further…!"

The Doctor took a leap forward and managed to grab the edge of the TARDIS, just in time. The Hatter was so relieved; she might have collapsed then and there, had she not still needed to get them all to safety. Thankfully, taking them to the music room back at the house was made easy by Emma, who had seemingly regained enough strength to open the doorway again, and the Hatter was able to fly them straight through to land right in the doorway, back in the proper world, the portal closing up almost as soon as she landed them. The Hatter could barely even wait to put the handbrake on, her hair tangled and her cheeks a rather unattractive shade of pink, while she felt suddenly terribly tired, but none of that stopped her from immediately running for the door and flinging it open, dashing out into the music room where the Doctor greeted her at once, pulling her straight into his arms and hugging her so tightly that he actually lifted her off the floor.

"I'm okay," he was saying over and over again into her ear, pressing his lips against it, "I'm okay, I'm okay…"

"Oh, do shut up, Doctor," she told him sternly, pulling back just enough so that she could kiss him, passionately, unwrapping her hands from around him to bring them up to grasp his face between her hands. Naturally, the Doctor wasted little chance in kissing her right back, just as deeply, while Clara managed to stumble her way out of the TARDIS and fell sideways against the door, looking far too stunned and relieved to even care about what the Time Lords were doing. The Hatter pulled back first and fixed him with a cross look, making him blink dazedly back at her, his eyes a little unfocused, "You have no idea how afraid I was, Doctor," she said angrily, though there was a fragility to her voice, "I thought…" she trailed off, looking away from him.

That was enough to sombre him from his stupor and he gently took her face in his hands, just as she had before, bringing his forehead against hers, "Well, I wasn't afraid, Hatter," he gave her a gentle, soft smile, "Because I knew you'd save me, like always".

The Hatter did manage to smile at that, though it was rather tired and still a little too fragile for the Doctor's liking, but it was a smile, at least, a proper, happy one at that. He pulled back to press a lingering kiss to her forehead, before the Hatter reluctantly let go of him, though the Doctor wanted nothing more than to keep her in his arms for the rest of eternity, but he let her go and watched as she moved to where Emma was on a heap on the floor, still gasping and shuddering from the pain of opening the portal again, while Palmer tried to help ease her and Hila stood on Emma's other side, looking rather alarmed. The Hatter knelt before Emma and gently took the crown off her head, before gently lifting Emma's face up, giving her a positively beautiful smile.

"Thank you," she said softly, full of gratitude, wiping Emma's tears with her thumb. If it hadn't been for Emma opening the portal again, she knew that they wouldn't have escaped under the four seconds, not when she had been forced to try and save the Doctor from the creature, as she had done. Emma opening the portal had allowed them to get away, just in time, "Thank you, you brave, brave, girl," she pressed a kiss to her cheek, "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't have made it out".

Emma continued to sob and shudder with the aftershocks of opening the portal, and the Hatter gently pulled her into her arms, lightly rocking her as the morning sun streamed in through the windows, filling the room with warmth and life again.

….

Clara walked ahead of the Doctor and the Hatter as they began to head out the front door of the old manor house, holding hands as they went. They paused as they reached the open front doors, standing closely together, as though afraid that they might be separated again, watching as Clara walked on without them to join Palmer and Hila as they stood outside on a patch of grass area, bathing in the lovely, warm, morning sunlight as Palmer and Hila seemed to be discussing something, no doubt Palmer was continuing his attempts at gaining more information about what Hila had experienced in the echo Universe, as he had been doing since Emma had recovered. The Time Lords watched them silently, the Doctor frowning faintly, while the Hatter still looked rather tired, though her eyes held a reserved, guarded quality. Heeled footsteps sounded on the tiled flooring from behind them, though they didn't turn to see Emma come to stand a few feet from them.

"You wanted a word?" she asked them.

"Well, if that's…" the Doctor began, almost hesitantly as he glanced back over his shoulder to her.

"That's fine," she cut across him, making the Time Lords both turn to face her properly, finding her eyeing them carefully, with a very slight smile, "You didn't come here for the ghost, did you?"

"You truly are quite perceptive," the Hatter commented, giving her a knowing look, unsurprised that Emma would have picked up on that, even when they themselves had gotten rather side tracked with all the drama.

"You came here for me".

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, exchanging a brief look with the Hatter.

"Why?"

The Hatter hesitated, licking her lips almost nervously, "We…had a question that we thought you might be able to answer," she said slowly, her tone wary.

Emma didn't blink, she didn't even look surprised, she simply lifted her eyebrows curiously, "Then ask".

"It regards Clara…"

"Yes?"

The Doctor stepped closer to Emma, looking intently at Emma, his lip pressed briefly into a hard line and his gaze growing colder, guarded, "What is she?" he questioned quietly, though his tone remained harsher than normal. The Hatter frowned faintly at his back.

Emma almost laughed, giving him a bemused smile, "She's a girl".

"Yes, but what kind of girl, specifically?"

Her smile dimmed as she eyed his hard, intent expression, her eyes flickering over to the Hatter, who looked back at with a grave look. She frowned faintly, "She's a perfectly ordinary girl," she told them, looking between them with a flicker of confusion, when neither Time Lord looked any happier or reassured, if anything they simply looked more frustrated, "Very pretty…"

"Hmm," he hummed dismissively, crossing his arms across his chest and turning away from her, wondering back towards the doorway, looking out to where Clara was smiling at something Hila had just said with a rather intrigued looking Palmer.

"…very clever…"

"Well, that's evident enough as it is," the Hatter sighed slightly, frowning as she looked back over her shoulder, too, looking at Clara, oblivious to their gaze. She was growing increasingly fond and maternal of the girl, much faster then she had expected, but she couldn't help it when she looked at Clara and sometimes she could just see Os looking back at her with that cheeky, clever smirk and big brown eyes. But she also know that she couldn't afford to grow fond of Clara, not when they didn't even know who or what she was, it could cost them everything if they trusted blindly and they simply couldn't take that chance, not when they had Astra to think of. In the past, perhaps they would have, but now…now they had everything to lose.

"More scared then she lets on".

"They all are," the Time Lady shook her head sadly, before looking back over to Emma, regarding her closely, "But what more is she, Emma?"

Emma blinked, startled, "Why?" she asked on confusion, frowning as she looked between them, "Is that not enough?"

The Hatter met the Doctor's eyes, exchanging a grim look as they reached out to take each other's hand. There was only really one way that Clara could be so many different woman, all at once, exactly the same, throughout time and space, and for her to be connected to them, but it was still just a theory that the Hatter had come to after many, many, many hours of discussing it with the Doctor and researching other possible avenues. But if it was true, that meant that this Clara was the true one and the others echoes, echoes of the same girl, sprinkled throughout their timeline, though the details still remained difficult to fully understand at this point, they had both agreed that it was the most likely theory they had managed to come up with thus far. What did that mean, though? What did any of it actually mean for them and their daughter? And what did it mean for Clara and her future? Was she going to have to die in order for this whole mess to happen? Would she end up being lost? And how did it happen in the first place? It felt as though the closer they got to figuring out something, the more they realised that they truly had no idea.

"Thank you, Emma," the Hatter said after a moment, giving her a tired smile, "You've been…most helpful," she and the Doctor turned to walk away, but Emma wasn't finished.

"You should know, Hatter…" she called after them, making them pause and glance back to her, but she was looking gently at the Time Lady, "You and Clara…you have a special connection, which I know you're conflicted about, but…it's okay. You should trust your instincts".

The Hatter eyed her for a long moment, frowning faintly with a trouble expression, before glancing at the Doctor. If only it was that simple.

….

Major Palmer slowly circled the TARDIS, examining the outside with curiosity as the Doctor and the Hatter walked behind Hila and Emma. The two women paused as they approached the blue box, hugging each other tightly as they smiled widely, having been getting along fantastically. The Hatter smiled as she watched the pair, though she did raise an eyebrow when the Doctor suddenly dropped her hand and threw his arms around the hugging women, laughing slightly as the pair both blinked in surprise. The Hatter shook her head fondly and rolled her eyes as she caught Clara's gaze as she leaned back against a nearby stone arch, watching on with amusement. Emma and Hila pulled apart, slightly awkwardly as they both glanced oddly at the Doctor, who simply grinned cheerfully as he also dropped his arms from around them.

"Oh, sweetheart," the Hatter sighed, stepping forward to take his arm again, wrapping her arm around his as he looked brightly at her. She shook her head at him, leaning in to press a quick kiss to his cheek, "Whatever shall I do with you?" she said, mock thoughtful.

He leaned closer to her, "Well, I could think of a few…" he began in a low voice, before suddenly breaking off with a pained yelp, just as the Hatter stepped on his foot, flashing him an innocent smile when he threw her an accusing glare and tried shaking out his left foot.

Emma, thankfully, paid them little mind as she focused on Hila, "Where will you go?" she asked her.

"They can't take me home," Hila explained sadly, glancing at the Time Lords, "History says I went missing".

She frowned, confused, "But they can change history…"

"No," the Doctor suddenly pointed firmly at Emma, "No, no, we can't, actually. There are fixed points in time, you see…"

"Sweetheart?" the Hatter cleared her throat, giving him a small, pointed smile.

"Yes, dear?"

"I'm quite certain that Emma and Hila have little interest in discussing the complexities of time travel right now, so…let's just observe, for once, and not interfere, yes?"

The Doctor glanced between Hila and Emma, slowly nodding as he pressed his lips firmly together, giving the two women a close lipped smile as he let the Hatter lightly tug him away from them, giving them some pretence of privacy as they moved to stand by Clara. Naturally, they could still hear every word that was going on.

"I knew you were there," Hila told Emma, smiling softly at as Emma began smiling widely back at her, "I could feel you".

"I know," Emma said happily. The Doctor went to step forward, but the Hatter only tightened her hold on his arm, forcing him to remain by her side without even glancing in his direction, her gaze fixed on the two women with a smile.

Hila stared at Emma for a long, silent moment, before slowly frowning, "Have we…"

"We can't have. You haven't even been born yet".

The Hatter shook her head fondly as the Doctor gave her a pleading look, all big green eyes and a slightly hopeful pout…it reminded her so much of Astra that she simply couldn't resist, giving him an indulgent smile as she pulled her arm away from his, practically shooing him over towards Hila and Emma. He positively beamed back at her in delight and immediately dashed forward towards the pair.

"No," he came to stand between the pair, nodding as he smiled knowingly, "You can't have met, but she can be…" he turned to look pointedly at Emma, just as Palmer began to make his way back over towards them, "…your great, great, great, great, great granddaughter. Hey?" he didn't even seem to notice the look of shock that crossed Emma and Hila's faces, before turning to give a sly look at Palmer as he reached them. The Hatter winced slightly, but before she could even try to cut in before the Doctor said anything more, he bet her to it, "Yours too, of course," he pointed at Palmer, who instantly froze, while Emma's mouth slipped open slightly, not that the Doctor seemed to notice, glancing at her, "But you'd guessed that already, didn't you?"

Palmer fixed him with a slightly stunned look, before glancing awkwardly at Emma, who was still staring at him with a shocked expression. Hila looked slowly between the pair, the silence stretching on, almost agonisingly so. The Hatter sighed and stepped up beside the Doctor, who slowly frowned as he peered around at them all.

"Evidently not, sweetheart," the Time Lady smiled slightly apologetically at Emma and Palmer, "So sorry to have to break the news to you like this, he does tend to speak without thinking frequently…terrible habit for a time traveller".

Palmer blinked slowly, pulling his eyes off Emma to frown worriedly at the Time Lords, "The paradoxes…"

"Are quite good of correcting themselves," the Hatter cut across him, giving him a reassuring smile, lightly shrugging, "And if not, there's always us…" she gestured between herself and the Doctor as she continued, "Call it a hobby. But that also explains why the psychic connection between Emma and Hila was so strong, you're blood and that can be a very powerful thing, so powerful it was even able to reach out from another time and place. You're right, Emma," she smiled broadly at the young woman, "Some things in this Universe are eternal and love is, without a doubt, one of them, because love never truly ends, even after we're gone, love still finds a way to prevail in those that it touches".

She looked at the Doctor as she finished, finding him looking back at her with a soft, gentle look on his face and a warm, tender glow in his gaze. He reached out to take her hand, brushing his thumb lightly along her knuckles of her left hand before lightly touching her engagement and wedding ring, his thumb lightly grazing them briefly. She couldn't help the massive smile that crossed her lips, laughing faintly as she turned to lightly tug him towards the TARDIS.

"Doctor, Hatter…" Palmer suddenly called after them, making them pause and turn back around to find that he had followed them a few steps, looking rather awkward, "What about…" he cleared his throat, throwing Emma a quick look, "What about us? Emma and me?"

"What about you?" the Doctor asked blankly, looking between him and Emma, who had moved to follow.

"Well…" he hesitated, dropping his gaze to the dirt ground for a moment, "What's suppose to happen? I mean, what do we do now?"

"I'll tell you exactly what you do, and I do have quite a bit of experience on the matter," the Hatter grinned at the humans, giving them a sly wink. She reached out and took Emma's hand, before reaching out to take Palmer's other hand, bringing them together, their fingers automatically entwining with each other as they glanced at one another. She dropped her hold from them, still smiling widely as she watched them with a knowing look, "There you go…holding hands, what an excellent place to start," she reached out and took the Doctor's hand, just to prove her point all the more, "Just keep holding on to each other and you can't go wrong, through the dark and through the light, and you'll always find one another again. That's the secret, isn't it, Doctor?" she looked happily across to the Doctor, only to find him staring off into the distance with a rather wide eyed stare. She instantly frowned, worried and slightly alarmed, "Doctor?"

He seemed to blink out of his daze at that and suddenly smacked his own forehead, jolting himself and causing everyone else, save for the Hatter, to jump, "Oh, I'm so…slow!" he exclaimed angrily at himself, before looking back to the Hatter, who eyed him in confusion, "I am slow, dear, you've always been the fast one, it's always been my problem. But…but I get there in the end. Oh, yes…"

"Doctor," the Time Lady cut across him, bringing her right hand up to grasp his shoulder, almost as though she was trying to help steady him as he continued to look quite wide eyed, "Just take a second and explain, okay? Because I'm just a little lost right now and it's kind of worrying me".

"How do sharks make babies?"

She blinked, actually taken aback by that, "Okay, I'm definitely worried," she said slowly, eyeing him as though she was a little concerned for his sanity, truly rather clueless as to what was going on right now.

"Um, carefully?" Clara suggested as she stepped up beside Hila, regarding the Doctor with a slightly puzzled look. If the Hatter didn't know what the hell he was babbling on about, maybe it was wise to start getting a little worried…

He turned and pointed at her, "No!" he shook his head, frowning slightly at her, "No, no, happily!"

She narrowed her eyes slightly, throwing a bemused look at the Hatter, though the Time Lady seemed much less concerned now and rather more thoughtful, regarding the Doctor closely, "Sharks don't actually smile," she pointed out, looking back across to him, "They're just…well, they've got lots and lots of teeth. They're quite eaty".

"Exactly!" he smiled, pointing at her, "But birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it!" he flashed the Hatter a cheeky wink as she slowly began to smile at him, her eyes lighting up with realisation at what he was trying to say. She even laughed as he suddenly pulled her away from the other humans, Clara hurrying after them, jogging away from the TARDIS and over to where they could get a clear view of the house, staring back up at it, "Every lonely monster needs a companion".

"Of course!" the Hatter cried, laughing loudly at her own stupidity and slowness, she felt almost like slapping herself over it, though she managed to resist. She peered back up at the house, just in time to spy a very brief glimpse of one of the nightmarish creatures peering back out at them from an upstairs window, before it ducked back out of sight, "Oh, what I fool I've been!" she shook her head, smiling widely back at the Doctor, quite proud of him managing to figure it out, "And you…you clever thing…" she leaned closer to him and kiss his cheek, "I was so caught up in everything else going on, I didn't even think twice about it".

"There's two of them?" Clara gasped as she came to stand next to the Time Lady, looking slightly shocked, too.

The Doctor nodded, looking rather proud of himself, too, especially at the kiss that the Time Lady gave him, "Well, I was bound to figure out something before you, one of these days, dear," he told her happily, making her laugh slightly at how proud he truly was. He looked back up towards the house, his smile softening, "It's the oldest story in the Universe, this one or any other," he said, glancing back between the Hatter and Clara, "Boy and girl fall in love, get separated by events. War, politics, accidents in time. She's thrown out of the hex, or he's thrown into it…" he wrapped his arm around the Hatter's waist, tugging her closer to his side as he looked back up to the house, "Since then they've been yearning for each other across time and space, across dimensions…"

"This was never a ghost story," the Hatter breathed, looking at him with a soft, tender smile, "It's a love story, between two lost souls desperate to be reunited".

"Sounds pretty familiar to me," he gave her a little, gentle smile of his own and just barely held back from closing the distance between them, but they still have work to do. Speaking off…he reluctantly dropped his arm from around her waist, though he smiled widely when she immediately grabbed his hand, the two of them dashing back over to where Hila, Palmer, and Emma were quietly speaking, all looking quite happy, "Excuse us, excuse us…!" he said as they interrupted their discussion, coming to a stop before them, "Sorry to interrupt the rest of your life," he looked directly at Emma, who slowly lost her smile, eyeing them. They gave her a hopeful look, "So…tiny favour to ask…"

….

Emma actually agreed to help them in the end, though she was rather reserved at the start, though once they explained the fact that the two creatures were being separated from each other and that they were not actually dangerous, but just simply very desperate to be reunited, she was quite willing to help them, one last time. This time, however, the Hatter made quite certain that the TARDIS was well and truly ready to slip back into the other world. The portal between the worlds opened and the Doctor easily threw himself back into the dense, aged forest on the other side, landing rather smoothly this time and quickly slipping the harness off himself, he wouldn't be needing it anyway. He had his own ride back. He still needed to act fast, though, the second he was free from the harness he took off running through the trees, looking around desperately for the other creature as he went.

"I'm sorry!" he shouted up at the sky as he went, just hoping the being would hear him and come, "I understand now! I can take you to her!" he paused in the middle of an open clearing, slowly moving around on the spot, trying to spy the creature through the mist and trees, "I can take you to a safe place far away from here! You can be together!" he grinned broadly at the thought, his old romantic hearts instantly conjuring up the image of the Hatter, "Well, come on, then!" he tried again, when there was still no response, "She's waiting!"

He paused suddenly, hearing a low growl fill the air and his smile grew…though it did falter just slightly, feeling someone's warm breath hit the back of his neck, just a little too close for comfort. He slowly spun around and came face to face with the creature, his eyes widening slightly as he took in the leathery, grey skin and the oddly long neck with a large head looming high above him, peering down at him from a squished, ugly face. Beauty truly was in the eye of the beholder, he supposed.

"Well, hello again," he broke into a warm smile, eyeing it slightly as it breathed rather loudly in his face, "You old Romeo, you. Now…" his smile only grew, just as the sound of the TARDIS wheezing reached his ears, his hearts lifting, "Here she comes," he looked up at the sky as the TARDIS came spinning into view, heading straight down towards them…even from here he could hear the Hatter laughing and Clara's screams as she no doubt held on for dear life. He looked back to the creature, giving it a bracing smile, "Get ready to jump".

And that's exactly what they did, and like always, the Hatter and the TARDIS were right there to catch him.

I so enjoyed writing this episode, it's one of my favourites of this season, after all. I love a spooky ghost story. We also get the Hatter playing the hero, which I felt like we hadn't seen in a long time, so I decided to separate our Time Lords, plus I really liked the idea of having Theta Sigma, be it a hologram, make an appearance. I hope you guys also enjoyed it; I know it's very long, but you've got to have something to do while stuck at home, I suppose. Tell me what you thought, please review :)

Guest Reviews:

Izzy (Chapter 1, review 1): Well, hello! Goodness it's been a long run since Eleven started, I so clearly remember when I first wrote his Doctor and just knew he and the Hatter were just going to click so well. I do one hundred percent feel like my writing has improved greatly over the years, I look back at my old stuff and cringe now, but there's always room for improvement, I'll probably do the same to this story in another two years. Well, writing is relaxing and fun to me, so it's easy not to become bored, though I have had my moments. That's when I turn to another project for a little while, plus, you guys have always been so wonderful. I'm delighted you like the Hatter; you have no idea how happy that makes me :)

Izzy (Chapter 1, review 2): I am pretty excited for Missy, I feel like I'm going to have fun playing with the banter between her and the Hatter. Missy's hat isn't going to go down well with someone…

Izzy (Chapter 1, review 3): I do think that Rassilon likely knew about the Timeless Child and just who that was, I wouldn't be surprised if he was the reason or played a role in why the Doctor was regressed into a child and had all his/her memories erased or changed. I'm not sure if I like the idea him being Tecteun, but it would make sense, I reckon Rassilon would be ruthless enough to do something like that, for power.

Izzy (Chapter 1, review 4): I like all the Doctor's, that we know of, I'm not counting "Ruth" here, by the way, but I like all the Doctor's for different reasons, I suppose the Doctor I probably feel conflicted about the most is Twelve. One part of me loves him, I adore his serious speeches and scenes, but sometimes I struggled with his character, but that might just be the writing. His last season was difficult to follow and just kind of disappointing at times…We shall not speak of his final Christmas Special, I still have bad flashbacks. Having that, I also will admit that as much as I do think that Thirteen has so much potential and I enjoy watching her, I just…I'm not sure if I feel like she's the Doctor to me yet, I keep hoping, but I've only had a few scenes where I felt like I was watching the Doctor, but I just haven't had that impact yet to say that yes, this is one hundred percent the Doctor right there, I just feel like there's something lacking.

I'm not a big fan of Mel from Classic Who, I found her rather grating, for some reason, and I just didn't find her very memorable as a companion. Peri's accent annoyed me, too, but I didn't mind her as a companion, I felt pretty sorry for her most of the time and wanted her to smack the Doctor for some of his nonsense towards her. Does Kamelion count? He was rather creepy to look at as a robot, and I have to admit that I never felt overly emotionally invested in Adric's character, but I think that's more because I watched a lot of his time out of order and so long ago, I'll have to rewatch Classic Who again when I get the chance, properly, this time.

Izzy (Chapter 1, review 5): Well, my dad was always a fan of the show, but I personally thought it was stupid…I was seven, okay? I was also a really difficult eater and we have an open plan kitchen and living area, so I would be forced to sit at the dining table with my dinner and my parents would be watching TV, and I'd be able to see from the table and I just kind of had nothing else to do but watch the TV, which had 'School Reunion' playing, I was about eight, by this point. And that's how I got into Doctor Who, just by refusing to eat dinner and being stuck at the table.

I was sick when I first developed the Hatter and thirteen; I'd only been into Fanfiction for about a year at this point and had tried writing with some success, though those stories no longer exist. I'd just started getting into reading OC stories, but I just couldn't find the OC Time Lady story I wanted to read, not for a lack of trying, either, so I just thought…well, why not give it a go? 'School Reunion' was and still is one of my favourites episodes, so I picked that and the story just sort of flowed from there. It was an escape from being ill most of the time from undiagnosed Chronic Fatigue syndrome and it allowed me the chance to practice and use my imagination, as it still does to this day.

Don't be sorry, I love reading your questions, it's wonderful to know that someone is actually interested, so ask away! :)

Izzy (Chapter 1, review 6): I can kind of understand why people ship the Doctor and the Master, I personally don't, I think it would have always have been toxic between them if they had been romantic, but I can see why people like them. She would be most certainly horrified at first to think of the Doctor and the Master together, her reaction to finding out about people shipping them is pretty close to how you described it, which gave me a good giggle, by the way, I could so see her refusing to tell the Doctor what horror she had accidently stumbled across and she would probably need to go and make herself a very strong cup of tea, while the poor Doctor would just be so horribly confused and worried. Eventually she would tell him, once she had calmed down and started laughing over the idea, and then the Doctor would be needing the tea…or something a lot stronger, he'd probably beg her to stop and run out of the room before she finished speaking singing at the top of his lungs and covering his ears, trying to shut it out.

I think the Hatter would understand the Rose/Doctor ship, the Doctor did have feelings for Rose, after all, while River/Doctor would probably creep her out a little, considering that River is technically their Goddaughter, though River did kiss the Doctor that time she poisoned him, not that any of them knew yet just who Melody Pond was to the Time Lords, but in a world where the Hatter didn't exist, she would for sure ship the two of them. And Clara/Doctor would probably disturb her quite a bit, since Clara looks like her niece, though once she got over the shock she would probably crack a joke about the Doctor being a cradle robber, while the Doctor would probably just grab the laptop by that point and throw it in a black hole. Seriously, though, this question gave me a really great laugh, I loved the mental picture.

Izzy (Chapter 1, review 7): I would love to see Natalie Dormer play the Rani, if they brought her back.

Izzy (Chapter 1, review 8): Oh, yes, I know Jaime Murray from The Originals, yeah, I could see that. Good pick.

Guest (Chapter 1): I'm not sure if it would work, but it would be fun to watch the Doctor ending up in our world and finding out that he was just a character on a TV show. I feel like it might be fun to see it happen in a comic or as a one-shot mini episode, but I'm not if it would feel a little too silly for a full episode. But like I said, I'm sure it would be amusing.

Izzy (Chapter 1, review 9): Yep, I'm not a big Rose fan, I don't dislike her as much as I did when I first began the series, but I'm still really not a fan of her. But that is interesting, thank you for telling me, I'll have to check out the channel when I have the chance :)

Izzy (Chapter 1, review 10): I've never actually watched any reaction videos for Doctor Who, though I do follow a channel of this guy who reacts to movies, mostly really horrible ones, and I love his channel. I love the fact that she reacts to Classic Who, so many people miss out on a massive chunk of Who history by not watching, though I understand completely why people don't. I'd be open to checking it out, and not at all, you're not making me uncomfortable in the least, ask away! And I'm delighted that you still like the Hatter :)

Izzy (Chapter 1, review 11): Nope, I'm afraid I've yet to get into Big Finish, though I hope to do so one day. I could probably do it while excising, rather than watching YouTube. Oh, that is interesting, Ace is one of my favourite Classic companions, I might have to do some YouTubing…

Izzy (Chapter 1, review 12, 13, and 14): I too find it interesting to see how people have reacted differently to the Master changing genders, compared to the onslaught that followed the Doctor's gender change announcement, though I don't have a Twitter account and tend to avoid Twitter for this very reason, to be honest, so I can't be sure, but I do spend a fair bit of time on Tumblr and I've seen both super negative things about Thirteen and Jodie, and wonderfully positive things, but I do feel like even after all this time, the negatively surrounding the gender change of the Doctor hasn't really died down that greatly. I've stumbled across a couple of those videos myself, though I avoid them when I do, I've only watched one based on the Timeless Child and I just felt kind of depressed after watching it and the negativity of the presenter, so I decided to stay well away from videos like that, but I can understand your approach. I try to be positive, so negativity usually just drags me down, so I tend to try and avoid it if I can, most of those videos are just full of negativity and, from my very limited experience, not really worth giving time to. Don't apologise for the rant, ranting is very healthy.

Guest (1): I've always been so interested in the Shobogan's, I'd be interested to see if there was a connection there. I'm a fan of a rebel.

Guest (2): I wasn't overly keen on the whole Hybrid story line any more then I am with the Timeless Child plot, to be honest, though I guess it kind of makes sense now that we know it was actually referring to the Master and not the Doctor. But at the time I didn't like how it seemed to leave the whole question of who the Hybrid was so open, plus, as you point out, it made the reason for why the Doctor left because he was afraid, which I never bought and it did take away from his character.

Guest 1:Well, I certainly do hope and expect for the Timeless Child plot to be explored more in the future episodes of the show, so I am trying not to judge to much, though it's a struggle. I really, really want them to clear up some of the plot holes and I do expect that they will at least attempt to do so and not just leave it as it is, which I can't see them doing, but I've learnt to be a little cynical about these writers these past few years. Here's hoping.

Guest (3):It's very hard for me to imagine the Hatter's mother not hating the Doctor, that's like the Master becoming good and wanting to save the Universe just because it feels right, with no other motive. The Hatter's mother is just…yeah, she's complex, there's history there, but I suppose that if she did like the Doctor she would probably have been behind the two of them getting together a lot sooner. She probably would have urged the Doctor to tell the Hatter how he felt and likewise encouraged the Hatter to admit how she felt for her best friend, she probably would have helped them run away from Gallifrey before either of their separate weddings could take place and the Doctor and the Hatter would have been together from graduation onwards, travelling the stars.

Guest (4): For as much as I disliked the Timeless Child plot, I do fully agree with you that the episode, the whole season, really, looked amazing and I loved some of the musical moments, I do miss the old musical score from Eleven and Ten and Nine's era, mind, but this season had a few musical moments that I really loved and I thought the look and style of the episodes were beautiful, I loved the way that they showed Gallifrey, all the gold and grandeur was just amazing, I loved it. I also really enjoyed the acting, I felt like it was better than the past season and I got a bit more of a sense of the Doctor from Jodie then I had before, which I really enjoyed seeing. The villains for me were a bit lacking, I'm not happy with how that side of things played out, but thank you for pointing out Awakening, I'd completely forgotten all about that scene. Good point.

I can't speak for everyone, but I think it's deeper than a few plot holes upsetting people. I personally felt like this season and the previous season was just very superficial at times, I felt like the characters were lacking in any real development or independence in personality, and that the general feel of the season was that every episode held a political message that was just felt very forceful, rather than subtle, like political messages have usually been delivered in the past. I also really disliked how it felt like there was only a handful of episodes actually important to the main plot, while the rest just felt like filler to me after seeing the final. But that's just how I felt, I watched a YouTube video recently that managed to sum up exactly all my issues with the season perfectly, I feel like I'm not nearly doing a good enough job right here, so I apologise for that.

Izzy (1): Yes! That brings up a really good point, I forgot all about Rassilon being out there somewhere, so maybe the Doctor will track him/her down and get answers. That would be really good, actually, I'm one hundred percent behind that idea.

Guest (4): If the Hatter ever met me…I would apologise and probably beg for her forgiveness, while hugging her, which is big for me since I am not a hugging person. Being her, she would forgive me…for most of the stuff I've put her through, obviously not killing off her children, but I think she would probably also thank me for giving her Astra and the Doctor. But yeah…that would be so incredibly awkward for me, I'd just apologise over and over for her rubbish childhood and first marriage and her children's deaths. I'd probably also ask her if I could try her hat on, not that she would let met wear it, but it would be hard to resist. I'm a hat girl myself :)

Guest (5):Well, if the Hatter didn't escape the Time War and Rassilon kept it a secret from everyone, I imagine she would be stuck in a prison cell somewhere very dark and deep. She would probably go a little insane, but I think that the Doctor would one day learn the truth. Or perhaps the Master, who would rescue her under the promise that she help him/her in some scheme, which I could see her being desperate enough to agree to at that point. Naturally, she would turn against the Master in favour of the Doctor the first chance she got.

Izzy (2): I'm personally not a fan of the ship itself, but I don't mind the name. I've always been a little confused by why people ship Yaz and the Doctor, but that's just me.

Izzy (3): I think that it's platonic love between Clara and the Doctor, all the flirting between her and Eleven kind of made me cringe, to be honest. I just…didn't like them together, I'd rather see him with River and I wasn't a massive fan of them being married, to be honest. But to me Twelve going through all that he did for Clara just shows the depths that he is willing to go to for those that he loves, he's a very passionate man, the Doctor, he feels deeply and fully, with both hearts, that includes his love for his friends. I am a firm believer that you can love someone whole heartedly, but platonically, and that's how I always looked at them.

Izzy (4): Yes, I did! 'Farewell, Sarah Jane' made me cry watching it, I just loved it so much, and I loved Rani's moment at the end and how she thinks that Sarah Jane went off for one last trip in the TARDIS with the Doctor. Sarah Jane is my favourite companion, so even though I was sad to know that she had officially died in canon now, it still made me really happy how they did it.

Izzy (5): The Master's feelings for the Hatter were one hundred percent obsession, not love. When I flirt began the story it was going to be a love triangle between him and the Doctor with the Hatter, but I hate love triangles and, to be honest, I just can't imagine the Master being capable of loving someone like that, so I decided to turn it into more like an obsession on his part. But I also think it's very complex, the Master, in one way, hates the Hatter more than anyone else for taking the Doctor away from him, they were friends first, after all, but he also knows that if he had the Hatter by his side he could have whatever he wanted, and in those early days that was what pushed him. Now days, I feel like he's come to realise it's a fools errand to get her on his side and has just decided to go after them both. But…yeah, God, it's very complex, their relationship. They were friends, but yet never quite friends, there was always an element of dislike there and mistrust, that only grew as they got older and I think that the Master holds a lot of resentment and anger, while the Hatter, I think, for all her ability to read people just doesn't quite understand it and probably has given up trying to make sense of it, too.

Izzy (6):I like Paul McGann, I enjoyed his short time as the Doctor and would have liked to see more of him on our screens. I really hope he will make an appearance in the 60th, I'd love to see that, he so deserves it.

Izzy (7):Well, I like all of this era's companions, I really do, even if I have my issues with them, too. I like Graham for how real he feels to me, I feel like his plight with cancer and losing Grace was something that could happen to anyone, and I just really enjoyed watching him dealing with that, he's also the one who manages to make me smile the most out of the three companions. Yaz, to me, feels like the type of girl I could probably be friends with and hang out with, I wish they would use her policing skills more, but I also like the fact that she is a police officer and I really enjoyed getting to know more of her background this season. Ryan feels like a typical guy to me, which I really like, I also love the fact that he has a disability, though they've seemed to have forgotten that fact this season…Still, I enjoyed watching him engaging with other character's this season and that he is kind of that impulsive companion in the group.

Guest (6): Ooh, the list of shows that I like is rather long, but here goes: The Blacklist, The Vampire Diaries (though I kind of lost interest once they got rid of the Original family from the main cast), the Originals, Legacies, Downton Abbey, Outlander, Revenge, Teen Wolf, Timeless, Game of Thrones…I feel like I am missing so many other shows that I love, but I can't think of them right now.

Izzy (8):I actually do walk a fair bit, I try to do thirty minutes a day, five to six days a week on top of my five days of thirty minute stationary cycling and occasional trampolining, I use walking kind of like my warm up. But I also walk because it helps me think and I can spend those thirty minutes just to myself, letting my imagination run wild and I use it to help plan my stories. Not so much Classic Who has caused me to feel like I needed to walk to clear my head, though I did spend one walk after the 'The Deadly Assassin' thinking about how I would put the Hatter into that story, which was fun. But in regards to New Who, probably 'The Woman Who Fell to Earth,' just because I was so delighted by the new Doctor and excited for the coming season at the time, most of season ten, mainly due to how complicated some of that season was and most certainly for that year's Christmas Special that we shall not speak off…I also had to go for a walk to try and just sort out how I was going to do the whole Astra's birth and figure out what I wanted to do with Astra during this season, too. Walking is kind of my form of meditation.

Izzy (9): I'm…conflicted about what I'm going to do about the Hatter once I reach Thirteen, I'm even conflicted about if I'm going to change the Doctor's gender at all, mainly because I feel concerned that if I did, I'd lose interest in the story, since I really love the Hatter as a woman. I'm just really not sure at this point what to do, plus, I don't want to upset people if I did keep the Doctor as a male and I'd feel a little unsure about writing the Hatter and the Doctor has women. I'm straight, so trying to write a same sex couple just feels kind of out of my scope right now since I have zero experience in that area, I would hate to accidently offend anyone. I'm just really not sure.

Izzy (10): Nope, I can one hundred percent confirm that the Master calling himself 'O' has nothing to do with Clara or the Hatter, that was totally his own thing.

Izzy (11): That's an interesting idea, I funnily enough really like how 'normal' these companions are, but I hadn't actually considered that some people might dislike them for that reason. Thank you for pointing that out to me.

Guest (7): Please see above, let's just so that I'm very, very unsure at this point about what Thirteen Hatter might look or be like, it's very up in the air for me right now.

Guest (8): I loved Jack's return; I really hope they bring him back for a proper episode so he can meet the Doctor. I can't wait to see that. I'd also love for Torchwood to maybe come back as a result…

Guest (9): Oh, God, I've been thinking a lot about Twelve these last few weeks, so much. I feel like I won't know for sure until I start writing him, though, but I've got a general idea of how his relationship with the Hatter will remain or change, each Doctor has a slightly different approach towards her, after all. Ten was all sweet and gentle and a little unsure romantically, while Eleven is full of confidence and very flirty, while still being tender and very passionate. Twelve…well, you'll have to see how he is, but I do have ideas that will hopefully fit smoothly into his character.