Er, right. About my update schedule. Or more like, what update schedule? When I started this, I had about twelve chapters already written, and I've currently got 27 written. But I'm learning that "written" and "ready to post" are two completely separate things. Took me long enough. I'll try to be more consistent and get a chapter out each week (which, considering how I've been doing lately, would be something of a miracle), but school's starting again soon and I procrastinated on my summer homework. So no promises.

Anyway, we're onto the more plot-relevant stuff now. The next few chapters are probably an absolute mess, given the complexity of this episode's plot lines. I guess I'll find out when I edit.

Disclaimer: i dO nOT oWN tHE dOCTOR wHO uNIVERSE aT aLL (who in their right mind invented toggle case?)

Chapter 17: The Long Way Around

"No," April whispered. She could see Harriet beside her, staring at the Face of Boe in horror. "No, no, no, no, no."

The Face of Boe spoke for the last time, spoke his final, dread secret. "You. Are. Not. Alone."

So, we didn't fix it, was April's first thought. We messed up, and the Master's coming back.

Not necessarily, she told herself. Remember? The message can be faked. Right? She didn't answer herself. Boe breathed his final breath, and then he rested forever, his eyes closing for the last time. The cat-nun wept over him, and April wondered what her name was. Hanna, or something like that. At least she isn't dead. At least no one here died who wasn't supposed to.

Supposed to? I can't believe I just said that. Thought that. No one's supposed to die.

At least I didn't make it worse. How's that?

"Come on," the Doctor said quietly, standing up. "We've got the TARDIS to get back to." Martha took one last look as they walked away.

As they walked through the overcity, April admired the beautiful spires and shining houses. Everything was bright and clean, and the trees appeared to be mostly fake. The sun shined down on New New York. Not the sun, April reminded herself. A different star. That's not the sun I'm looking at.

By silent agreement, neither April nor Harriet mentioned the Time Agents or Jeremy Rice. They could discuss that later, when they were back in the TARDIS, but the Doctor finding out that something had happened could cause an untold number of problems. And they could tell him later, but they couldn't take back something they'd already said. Doctor Who was, by nature, a show that took a while to go from season premiere to finale. They'd have weeks, months, to tell him, to pool their information and find out what was going on.

But this doesn't necessarily have the same "finale" as the show, April reminded herself. It might not even have a finale at all. We might never figure out what's going on. And so many problems come from not sharing information, so it's probably better that we all know as much as possible as soon as possible.

Then I'll advocate for telling him. But neither of us should tell the Doctor about this until we both agree.

Do we have to watch out for the Time Agents now? April wondered. Will they try to find us again? Can they find us again?

And how the heck did they find us in the first place? April sighed, watching the people around her look at the city in awe. The intense colors, the sun, the fresh air…many of them had never been anywhere like this in their lives.

The windows on the tall buildings shimmered in the sun, and the sweet-smelling grass to the side of the walkways seemed to actually be real, despite the lack of gardeners in the past few decades. Children wearing dark clothes were running through it, trampling the lush grass as their laughter filled the air. They passed a garden, filled with deep blue flowers that April had never seen before in her life. A little girl with orange pigtails was placing one of them in the pink hair of a little boy.

All over the city, motorcars were parked wherever, people stepping out and gazing at the clear blue sky. April passed a bulletin board and observed it curiously. It was a screen, with different notices popping up on it as she looked:

SENATE MEETING CALLED

THE DELEGATION FROM JEHRO WILL ARRIVE ON TEUSDAY

THE DUKE OF MANHATTEN GIVES BIRTH TO BABY KATARINA

THREE NEW TRANSPORTS FROM YEGAR WILL DOCK SHORTLY

Eventually, they made their way back to the undercity. "What was it like?" April wondered. "Living here. On another planet."

"Oh, just like living on any other, I imagine," the Doctor said.

"But I mean, did they have school? I think they did—there was a notice about that in the undercity. Like, did they have robot teachers? Holograms? Did people still eat food here, or did the rich have nutritional pellets? Or did they get food through IVs? Did they still drink Gatorade or something like it? Still have an unhealthy obsession with energy drinks? What time did they get up? Did they play VR games for fun? What type of jobs were there?"

The Doctor frowned, thinking. "Robots. The rich payed for experts to tutor their children. But if you lived in the uppercity or even sometimes the lower city and passed enough tests, you could go to one of their special schools. Like over there." He pointed at a gleaming white spire. "They ate food, but some of it was in the form of nutritional bars. What's Gatorade? Yes, they had energy drinks. I imagine what time they got up would vary depending on whom you asked. The rich played holographic games. And most of the people in the upper city were government officials, in charge of companies, there on vacation, or working for members of the previous groups."

April watched in astonishment as three young cat-people, a bald human girl of no more than ten, a boy with short black hair, and a child with bright red skin and a tail ran around on the streets of the undercity. "What're they playing?" Harriet asked.

"Tag."

"Seriously?" Martha said. "They still do that, in the future?"

The Doctor nodded. It was almost worth it, April supposed, seeing all of these other people on so many different worlds, just living. Almost. She had nearly died again.

"Will they be alright, these people?" April asked. "I mean, their government's, well, dead."

"Eh, they'll be fine!" The Doctor announced. "Remarkably resourceful, humans."

"So, we just go then?" Martha asked. "Just…leave?"

"New New York will start again! They've got Novice Hame, just what every city needs! Cats in charge!" The Doctor said happily.

"It doesn't seem right," Martha said. "It's not like they can just snap their fingers and have a stable society, just like that. Shouldn't we stay? Help with the cleanup?"

"I don't do that," the Doctor said as he stepped into the TARDIS. Martha followed. Wasn't she supposed to camp outside? April wondered. With that chair?

"But what did he mean, the Face of Boe?" Martha asked. "You're not alone."

"I don't know," the Doctor said.

"You've got us. Me and Harriet and April. Is that what he meant?" She asked. Maybe that's it! April thought. It didn't in the show, but it could be that here, it could mean something else. A friendship arc or whatever.

"I don't think so," the Doctor said. "Sorry."

"Then what?"

"Doesn't matter," the Doctor said. April realized that Martha might never get the explanation of the Time Lords. She couldn't stay outside the TARDIS; she was already in it. Somehow, Harriet and April's existence had managed to change the dialog. Did all of my questions push this part later? April wondered. "Right, you've had a trip—two trips," he said. He's not going to drop Martha back off at home, right? April thought. He pulled a lever and tapped the screen then stood back to stare at the time rotor contemplatively.

"This is it, then?" Martha asked, disappointed.

"Back to Earth as promised," he said. Maybe if he stays for the Lazarus Experiment, he'll decide he does want Martha to come along. And if he doesn't decide to go to Manhattan, I can always say I want to go there. He'd probably see right through that, though. "But…I suppose we could take a detour." Yes!

"A detour?" Martha asked skeptically.

"Er, I…" The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. "We could…you know, take the long way around."

"You mean…?" Martha said.

"Well, we could take a brief stop. Mind you, it would be quick. We're not headed there, see. But we could, er, take an indirect route." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Well, no complaints from me!" Martha said. "We could go somewhere April and Harriet want to go?"

The Doctor looked over at Harriet and April, standing to the side and watching him and Martha talk. What if he does ask us? April wondered. Where would we say we want to go? Do we stay away from Manhattan? Or decide to go? "How about a trip to New York? The original one." The Doctor said. April barely contained a sigh of relief. That's not actually something people do, sigh in relief, she reminded herself. Stop acting like you're in a book.

Am I? She wondered. I mean, is that really any less plausible than "Doctor Who is real" or "you're actually psychic and made up a whole TV show"? I could have somehow fallen into the story, like in Story Thieves or something.

The Doctor pulled a lever, fiddling around with the TARDIS mechanisms. The TARDIS pitched to the side as the sound of the breaks filled the room. Suddenly, it felt like there was some sort of break in the action, like a record skipping. April shook her head, clearing off a sudden spell of dizziness.

"Are you okay?" Harriet asked, worried.

"Did you feel something weird?" April asked.

Harriet squinted at her, then shook her head.

"April?" The Doctor asked.

"It's nothing. Probably. I mean, I've been doing a lot of running. So, the dizziness has got to be exhaustion or something. Right?" It didn't feel like that. Somehow, it felt important. April looked up to see the Doctor watching them intently. Great. Now he's going to think I'm weak or something, April thought.

Well, that's good, maybe he'll let you skip out on this adventure.

But think of all the good I can do. I mean, I may not remember this episode very well, but a lot of people died in it. I can help them.

STAY BACK. The conviction suddenly filled her head.

What?

There wasn't any reply.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Harriet asked quietly.

You know, April thought, it'd probably be a good idea to make bigger deal about that.

It's perfectly reasonable to expect that sort of symptoms of exhaustion.

Yeah, but what if it's not? These sorts of things cause so many problems. Communication difficulties, no sharing of evidence and most of all, people saying "it's nothing".

But it probably is, indeed, nothing.

"Probably," April said. "Just felt a bit weird."

"Something's wrong with the TARDIS," the Doctor said suddenly, watching the dials on the TARDIS console. He leaned over it, playing around with the controls.

"What?" April asked. This wasn't in the script. Literally.

"Oh, it's nothing. Might need some time to cool down, but she'll be fine," he assured them, patting the console. "Here we go."

I don't like this, April thought. First you feel weird, and now the console.

Martha and the Doctor stepped out of the door, and April and Harriet followed. "No interfering," Harriet reminded her.

"I don't need you reminding me," April muttered. She wouldn't make the same mistake for a third time.

"Don't think I fell for—"

"Shh," April hissed.

"Where are we?" Martha asked.

"Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely. Martha, have you met my friend?" Martha turned around, and then, slowly looked up. April smiled. She'd seen it, of course, but somehow it felt different. Back then, she had been "going away", spending a day in New York City. Now, she was "coming home", or as close to it as she was going to get. She was in New York. Yes, it might be New York ninety or so years ago, but it was much closer than when they had met Shakespeare.

"Is that…? Oh, my god. That's the Statue of Liberty!" Martha said, gaping.

"Gateway to the New World. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

"That's so brilliant," Martha said. "I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean the real New York, not the new, new, new, new one. Have you been?" She asked, turning to the two younger girls.

"Well, there's the genuine article," the Doctor said, before either April or Harriet could say anything. Why? April wondered. It would have to be deliberate, but she couldn't see any of the reasoning behind it. "So good, they named it twice. Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. No wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam."

"I wonder what year it is, because look, the Empire State Building's not even finished yet."

"Work in progress," said the Doctor. "Still got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around…"

Meanwhile, Martha had picked up a copy of the New York Record conveniently lying on a bench. "November first 1930."

"You're getting good at this."

"Eighty years ago," Martha said, staring at the harbor. "It's funny, because you see all those old newsreels all in black and white like it's so far away, but here we are. It's real. It's now. Come on then, you. Where do you want to go first?"

"I think our detour just got longer," Harriet muttered.

"I think our detour just got longer," the Doctor said, then looked over his shoulder at Harriet and April, leaning against the TARDIS.

"Hooverville Mystery Deepens," Martha announced. "What's Hooverville?"