A/N: PLAGIARISM :(
The internet was very spotty at my house the last few days (which was why the last chapter of my BBT story was late and why the resumption of this story was late) and we just replaced our modem yesterday, so I went on here to edit this chapter and reply to some PMs and saw one bringing up a possible plagiarism of a story they had been reading.
As some of you may know, I define plagiarism as clear cut/pasting of my work or very obvious/blatant paraphrasing. And when I say paraphrasing, I usually only look at original content, because we will all describe the episodes we write off of in different if similar ways. When it came to this potential plagiarism it was the second part, the blatant paraphrasing of original content, posting it on both FF and wattpad :/
It, unfortunately, wasn't just the one story the PMer was concerned about. The story began originally (an OC being a human hidden Time Lady type thing), but when the OC became alien or neared that point, that was when the paraphrasing of my work began.
Worse yet, it was only the first of THREE stories, which meant I had to check the other two out.
ALL three contain paraphrasing of original content. That I saw, this series plagiarized 3 of my OCs, Proffy, Evy, and Mac and 5 of my stories (Relapse, Alone No Longer, Together at Last, Linked Through Time, and Endeavors in Wooing). The first story did begin originally, then took from Evy and Proffy in the last 2 episodes, the next story has paraphrased portions in every single episode from Evy, and the last story only just started but even in those two chapters on wattpad, it already contains a paraphrased portion from Evy and Mac. Considering the track record of the last two stories and the fact that it's already hit 2 OCs and 2 of my stories before the first episode is even halfway done, I don't have much faith the paraphrasing will stop there :/
If you think that's it, you'd be wrong, it gets worse :(
They had a second DW series, a different OC, 2 stories. Of the 2 stories, 1 story (the second) paraphrased portions of 4 OCs, Proffy, Mac, EVY, and Angel :/ While this second story isn't as blatantly plagiarized as their other series, the fact that there is evidence of FOUR OCs and FOUR different stories of mine found throughout does not make me think this wasn't intentional :/ And on Wattpad, this story is completed, and they took LJ, they took Jonathan and put him in the Wedding with the same lines as in MY story :(
I have posted the evidence on my tumblr of the four stories I'll be listing below, with easier links to report them there, but I would like to ask your help reporting these four stories on both FF and Wattpad. Of course, I would expect people to look at the evidence for themselves first and only report if you feel comfortable doing so. Paraphrasing plagiarism is sometimes less cut and dry than copy/pasting. There IS original content sprinkled through their work, but the fact that my work is there, with my words tweaked, my own original content manipulated to fit their OC, it's upsetting :(
It doesn't happen everywhere all the time, but it happens enough in areas I added little original things to, in the same order, with the same basic words and thoughts and content that I had, the same pattern and format and sequence in some areas, to know it isn't just someone unintentionally influenced by having read my story a while ago, it's follows my work too closely to not be paraphrased directly from my content.
Had it just been the one story, I might have considered reaching out to ask them to redo their last 2 episodes, because a large part of their work was original. But then they continued to paraphrase and take my content in their next story, in larger chunks, and again in their next story, and to find evidence of it happening in a completely separate series, for more than 1 OC, I can't do it.
The stories are (links on my tumblr):
Healing Touch (Book 1 Healing Series) by Chell-P, on FF and on WattPad (links on my tumblr)
(paraphrasing begins with Evy near the end of Stolen Earth and Proffy in the Doctor's original content confrontation with Rose in Journey's End)
Broken Hearts (Healer Series Book 2): 10th Doctor Specials, on FF and WattPad (links on my tumblr)
(paraphrases original content from Evy in basically every single chapter)
Far Longer Than Forever (Healer Series Book 3), on FF and WattPad (links on my tumblr)
(paraphrases the beginning of Evy's Linked through Time to meeting Amelia, then paraphrases parts of Mac from the crack in the wall to Zero escaping. Only 2 chapters up so far on wattpad)
Unstoppable (The Seer Series 2), on FF and WattPad (links on my tumblr)
(where to start. Paraphrases Proffy in A Good Man Goes to War and Let's Kill Hitler. Paraphrases Mac in episodes 1-6, Angel in the Rebel Flesh also, Mac and Angel and Proffy in Night Terrors. On wattpad, paraphrased Evy in the Wedding of River Song episode, by taking LJ)
I know some readers of mine have read these works, I check reviews to see if anyone else might have brought up how 'similar' some areas are to my work once a plagiarism is brought up to me. As I said, some parts are original and I wouldn't expect people to notice in the first story how the Doctor's argument with Rose after the Crucible came from my story Relapse, but very large chunks of Evy's story were lifted in their second story, original content I put in that wasn't in the episodes. Many examples are there, but a short few would be Evy making a phone for the Doctor to use on San Helios with UNIT literally on speed dial 6, Evy going back on Mars to fix the Doctor's mess and getting covered in blood while using a Perception Filter and earlier in the episode her remarking on how he held Elizabeth IV at sonic point during the middle of a civil war because he thought she was a clone (literally of anything in the world to pick for a reason he gets in trouble, and it's the exact same thing as in Evy's story?), Evy and the Doctor discussing how she can't hear Jackson Lake in her head due to human brainwaves when the Doctor gives her a necklace at the end for the sole reason that he can't picture her without one and she already gave him the greatest gift in being his Link, Evy releasing Artron energy to get the TARDIS to Sarah Jane, Evy and the Master's Mother being the second weeping woman, and more. Then Mac gets taken in their third story, how she explains the situation to Amelia when the Doctor wants to lie about the crack, asking her permission to try and get rid of the crack, and I don't mean it as 'oh they just wanted her to explain and ask' but as in she literally says the same thing to Amelia and uses the exact same examples and phrasing as Mac. Maybe it just seems so obvious to me because I only look at my stories and so I know what they say and what happens much fresher? Idk, if you would like proof it's on my tumblr.
The last story I might have considered reaching out about too, because the examples of paraphrasing are mixed in and in small chunks, but there are so many of them, and if I can read it and know which specific Time Lady it came from, the paraphrasing is there :/ If I can open a chapter and find one in nearly each chapter, something is very wrong. And to go through that story and be like, 'Ok, Proffy, fine, but the rest is original right? And then see MAC. And then see Angel too? AND EVY? No :( There are, of course, more examples than I posted on my tumblr that I found, but tumblr only allows 10 images, I believe, I posted the ones that showed it was more than one TL :/ I added a second set because I only just found out about Evy's content being stolen :'(
So that's...jeez, NINE stories and 4 OCs and isn't that just a sucker punch to the gut :(
I hope you don't feel that I'm nitpicking or seeing too much plagiarism or anything, I get similarities happening in a story. There's only so many ways you can describe what's physically happening or being said in an episode. It's the original content I look for, whether it's original lines or sections or entire contents. Like, you want to have the Doctor go off on Rose for destroying the walls of the universe with her cannon, go for it. But I can almost guarantee, if the OC is genuine and yours and has their own relationship with the Doctor and history and personality, they would have a different impact on him, and his confrontation would be in different orders, with different points and actions and reactions and descriptions than what happens in my story because it is coming from a different person who sees and thinks and writes differently than me.
A lot of instances of this paraphrasing version of plagiarism seems to come about when people use my work instead of a transcript, or they use it as a holding place 'until they can get a transcript' :/ Guys, I have an entire page on my tumblr with links to DW transcripts. I don't even use my own work instead of a transcript when I write new TLs, for each and every single TL/story/chapter I go from the basic transcript and work from that. It's the best way for anyone to avoid even accidental plagiarism, start blank, don't work off of another person's story, you know? :( I don't know if that's what happened here, but finding so many instances of my own phrasing/lines/content seems to point to that :(
Please, check out the evidence on my tumblr, decide for yourself, and if you feel comfortable, please help me report these four stories. It's not an invitation to bash the author or respond harshly to them, I just can't do this alone :'(
We're getting this chapter earlier than normal. I usually eat and other things after work and sit down to edit then post, but right now I'm sick to my stomach over it all and I'm not hungry right now. I just want to get this out and not have to look at a computer or fanfiction for a few says :( First my family drama, then the internet dying on me, now 8 stories plagiarized...the punches just keep coming don't they :(
~8~
In the Forest of the Night: Enchanted Forests
Angel smiled as she sat on the armchair of the console room, munching on some little treats Clara had dropped over the night before when she'd picked up Tailor. This time it was their daughter going on an adventure with her Aunt than the other way around. Tailor hadn't been lying when she'd told Clara and Danny that she was registered with the school as a teaching assistant. The school had called the TARDIS, a false number they'd given the school that would be transferred to the TARDIS till they cut it off. They'd admittedly forgotten to cut it off, which had been lucky as the headmaster had been calling to see if Tailor might be willing to assist Miss Oswald and Mr. Pink on an overnight school trip with their classes.
Tailor had been over the moon about it, bitten by the independence bug ever since dealing with the Boneless on her own even if she had felt rather overwhelmed by the responsibility of it all at first. This should be different through, a school trip on earth, no aliens in sight, as normal as it could get, and it wouldn't be ALL on her, she'd be there to help Clara and Danny, not the other way around. It was a half step forward from the full step back she'd taken.
True to Angel's word, she'd told her daughter what the Doctor said about her making an excellent Doctor, though something told her that Tailor already knew. The girl used it as an excuse at every turn to try and 'wander off' now, always with MK9…though this particular trip the dog had had to remain with them due to the children being around. The Doctor, however, had refused the wandering the last few trips, which had admittedly been relatively calm and peaceful and probably would have been good practice, but one never knew.
SHE was of the opinion he was doing it on purpose, as was her sister, making the trips as easy as they were. The TARDIS had been beside herself after the old box had left siege-mode, after she'd woken up of course, the TARDIS hadn't wanted to disturb her rest. Idris had felt so awful about not protecting her sister when she'd been pouring Vortex energy into the old box, blamed herself for the severe state Angel had ended up in. The Doctor, too, had felt so foul that he hadn't been able to help his Mate more. Both of them, she was sure, were conspiring to make things easier on her.
It had taken her longer than she could remember it taking in the past to get her strength back from what happened. The Doctor had mandated bed rest for at least a week, but relented to let her walk around the TARDIS when her back had begun to ache from lack of movement. She was particularly worried by the fact that she hadn't had a vision since. Not that much had occurred that would require her to need to see the future recently, but still even just her sensations seemed muddled for a while. She had been beyond relieved when she'd picked up the phone a moment before it rang to answer the school's call.
She was actually hoping their next trip after this might be a bit more exciting, she didn't feel right just sitting around doing nothing. She felt…off…in a way she couldn't quite place.
She shook her head out of her thoughts, watching the Doctor positively beaming as he stood at the console, speaking to Tailor for an update. They'd set the TARDIS down in the middle of London, where Clara had swung by to pick her up for the overnight, and they'd done their best not to interrupt their daughter's work. But SHE had called THEM this morning and just gushed about how wonderful it all was, how human. The children were excitable, Clara was in teacher-mode, Mr. Pink was trying to wrangle some sort of control, and her stories were absolute winners with the kids. They had been so many places and to so many different times that she had so many stories about a lot of things inside the museum the class was visiting.
The kids all thought she was having a bit of fun with them, talking like she'd actually BEEN there when she talked about the different objects around the place. Clara and Danny, though, knew different, but they let her go on because the kids were utterly fascinated with the storytelling quality of her 'lessons' rather than feeling like they were being lectured about it.
Angel had to chuckle as Tailor began to lament that she hadn't picked a different title like 'The Bard' or 'the Orator' or 'the Teacher' or something, though she knew her daughter loved her title the way it was. She tossed one of Clara's treats into the air and caught it in her mouth, munching on it. It was a very thoughtful gift from the girl. She'd somehow managed to make fish fingers in the shapes of balls, hollowed out in the middle so the center could be filled with custard. It was genius, and SO tasty!
She must have expended far more energy than she'd originally thought she had, she'd been eating like she hadn't in a week!
She brushed off her hands, setting the small plate on the arm of the chair before she got up, moving down to the console and beside the Doctor. She wound her arm around his waist as he put his around her shoulder, letting her lean on him, his smile soft as he listened to Tailor ramble on and on without breath.
"So you're enjoying yourself, sweetheart?" Angel asked with a grin.
"Oh, mum, you and dad would LOVE it!" Tailor extolled, "There's so many kids here! I get why you love kids so much, they're so fun, and they're like little sponges, they just absorb everything! And teaching them? Watching their eyes get wide and sparkle? It's like giving them magic!"
The Doctor had to nod at that, "That and more."
"Ooh!" Tailor gave a light gasp, "Sorry, sorry, I have go to. Aunt Clara's waving me over. We're supposed to wake the kids soon. She and Mr. Pink seem to think it's going to be a nightmare. Dunno why. I can see why the headmaster thought they might need some help. Gotta go! See you soon! Bye!"
"Bye," the Time Lords called, managing to get the word in a split second before Tailor ended the call on Clara's mobile.
Angel looked at the Doctor, "Our daughter is absolutely wonderful."
"That she is," he leaned in to press a light kiss on her lips.
"If she doesn't win Mr. Pink around, I don't know what will," Angel teased, disentangling herself and stepping back to head down the stairs.
The Doctor groaned, "I still can't believe you…Angel?" he called, when her movements slowed, a deep frown coming to his face as he looked around the room…
Angel gasped lightly, the room around her almost…shimmering, shifting slightly, like there was a ripple forming before her eyes and spreading around her. She looked around slowly, shapes beginning to form, browns and greens stretching. By the time she turned in a full circle it was almost like she was standing in the middle of a forest, a very…transparent forest. She could vaguely see through the trees, see the console, see the Doctor. It was like a malfunctioning hologram was forming around her.
She twisted, hearing a noise behind her, a somewhat guttural growling, to see a tiger crouching through the grass, snarling at her, but it too was almost ghost-like.
She stepped back, the tiger rushing past her, like it was about to pounce at something behind her and she turned to follow it's path, only to see what looked like a large speck of light drifting in the air, past her face, pulling her attention to the side. It was like a field of stars fluttering about, like when she would create them for Tailor when the dark got to be too much, only larger, frozen in place before starting to whizz about at a frantic pace and…
Someone tugged her arm, startling her, causing her to turn to see the Doctor beside her, the holographic…whatever it was, gone.
"Angel?" he asked, reaching out to touch her face, turning it to face him as she tried to look around the room again, "What happened?"
He had been standing there and suddenly he felt like he was lost. He knew it was coming from Angel and not himself, and then he began to see something. He couldn't quite make it out, even as he tried to look through her eyes, see what she was seeing, it was like there were things around him, but he just couldn't make out what. Odd shapes and shadows and sounds to him, but he knew Angel was seeing more than him.
"I…" Angel opened and closed her mouth, trying to answer, but…not sure herself, "I don't know, I…" she shook her head, really trying to make sense of it, "It was like…like with the Boneless," she looked at him, "It was like I wasn't HERE any more, but I was here this time…"
He frowned, glancing over at the console as the TARDIS hummed around them, and back to her, "What did she say?" he asked.
"I dunno," she murmured, "Sissy says…it doesn't make sense. She said it's what she sees."
The Doctor fell silent, his mind racing to try and understand the box, "The TARDISes exist in all space and time, we don't know how or what they see, how far. Maybe your mind is still partly connected to the TARDIS and you've tapped into how she sees the world?"
Angel couldn't answer, it…it fit but also didn't. It did feel like the few times she would touch her mind to the TARDIS, that sense of seeing things and not knowing if they happened or would happen. But it also didn't feel like something borrowed or coming from something else, pushing into her mind.
"I dunno," was all she could say.
The Doctor nodded, "We'll keep an eye on it," he told her, before offering her a smile, "Remember, you don't have to figure it all out on your own. You never have."
Angel gave him a gentle smile for his words, knowing where they stemmed from. There had only been three times where she'd kept something from him, wanting to work it out for herself and only ended up scaring the daylights out of him and break his hearts to know she hadn't told him. When she first realized the Vortex hadn't left her but had seemed to settle within her, when he'd forgotten who she was and she'd tried to work out why and how to get his memories back, and when she'd realized she was going to be killed at a lakeside and wanted to work out how to survive it. She had wanted to prove herself then, prove she could be worthy of him, if she could figure it out on her own, if she could just do that ONE thing on her own.
She didn't feel that way any longer, she didn't feel like she had to prove anything again or that she wasn't worthy of him. She was finally content in their relationship, how they balanced each other, how they both had their own strengths. It had taken her a while to get to that point, she'd never been happier to be there though.
"I know," she smiled, leaning in to give him another kiss, "Now come on," she took his hand, "I have a feeling there's something outside you'll want to see."
He grinned, tugging her back, "I'm fairly certain there's something inside I always want to see," he countered, looking at her pointedly.
"Mutual, my love," she whispered, kissing him again, before half dragging him to the door and pulling one open.
"A child," the Doctor stated, looking down at the young girl, wearing a uniform under a bright red jacket, a backpack on her shoulders, with dark hair, her hand raised to knock as she stood there and blinked at them.
"Hello, Maehb," Angel spoke, moving to crouch down to speak to the girl more on her level, "You alight?" she knew the answer, of course, but sometimes humans didn't react well to someone already knowing.
"I'm lost," the girl, Maebh, answered, "Please, can you help me?"
The Doctor sighed as he looked down at his Mate, already knowing they would, and moved to step out of the TARDIS to help the girl find her way, when he froze, his eyes wide as he looked over her head, "Are those trees?" there seemed to be a fair bit of trees around them though he was sure he hadn't piloted the TARDIS anywhere…perhaps the box had taken off on her own without them realizing?
Maebh didn't answer, just turned to Angel, "I need the Angel Doctor," she told the woman, "Are you the Angel Doctor?"
"I'm the Angel, yes," Angel nodded, reaching out to take the Doctor's hand as he bent down beside her, "And this is the Doctor."
"Oh," Maebh blinked, "You're two people."
"And you're Maebh Arden," Angel nodded, "Very nice to meet you."
Maebh seemed to grow a little tense, looking back over her shoulder, "Please. Something's chasing me."
The Doctor stood, "Better come in then," he moved to the side, helping Angel up to let the girl into the TARDIS.
She took a single step in and gaped in wonder at the sight beyond, that the tiny little box was so BIG on the inside!
The Doctor smirked at her reaction, "When you drink a glass of Coke, it's only this big," he moved his hands to indicate the size of the glass, "But it's actually got this much sugar in it," and moved his arms out wide, "It works a bit like that."
"What does?" Maebh asked as she walked further in, looking around, absently reaching out to take Angel's hand and tug her on with her, much to the Time Lady's amusement.
"The TARDIS," the Doctor explained, following them, "It's bigger on the inside than the outside. Or did you not notice?"
Maebh shrugged, "I just thought it was supposed to be bigger on the inside, so I didn't say anything."
"Well, of course it's supposed to be bigger," he muttered.
Angel squeezed her hand to draw her attention, "Quite a few people are confused by that. You're a very clever girl, Maebh."
"Not really," Maebh argued easily, "I find everything confusing, nearly. So, I don't say anything. That's how come I'm in the woods. I thought Miss Oswald told me to find the Angel Doctor, but it wasn't her. It was just in my head."
"You're one of Clara's students," Angel remarked.
"Who?"
"Miss Oswald?" the Doctor turned from where he'd plucked up a map from one of the desks, "Dark hair? Highly unpredictable? Surprisingly round face?"
Maebh's mouth formed an 'oh' before she nodded, "Everyone says she's in love with Mr. Pink."
"The PE teacher?"
"Maths," Angel and Maebh corrected.
"I really like him," Maebh told Angel, focusing on her instead.
"I'm glad," Angel swung her arm, "I believe Miss Oswald does too, very much. And he her."
"That's good then," Maebh nodded, "It's better to like someone who likes you back."
"Very true."
"I was in his group," Maebh continued.
"Mr. Pink was looking after you?" the Doctor called, heading for the console with the map in hand, "That explains why you're lost," he glanced at her, "It doesn't surprise you that we know all about your school?"
"Everyone seems to know everything about everything, apart from me," Maebh said simply.
"And me," Angel moved to sit on the steps, moving Maebh to join her, "Just means we have to find the thing we know more about than everyone else, doesn't it?" she smiled at Maebh, drawing a smile from the girl in return.
"That's not entirely true," the Doctor called, "I, for instance, have no idea why, when the terrestrial navigation starts up, it closes down all the other systems."
"You should ask somebody who knows," Maebh remarked.
"I did," the Doctor looked over, smiling at Angel.
Angel leaned over to whisper, a bit loudly, to Maebh, "That's the one thing I know that he doesn't," she winked at the girl, before getting up to move to help him, Maebh pushing herself up to follow, "Because the other systems aren't needed," she explained, "If you're using the navigation for a specific planet you're already on, it's assuming you're not going to use the other components right at that moment and they shut down to save power and allow resources to go to the nav."
The Doctor grinned at her, "Brilliant," he leaned in to kiss her temple, before turning to pull a lever to dematerialize…only for nothing to happen.
Well, not nothing, the navigation system reported, "You have reached your destination."
The Doctor frowned, turning to focus on the controls as Angel stepped back to Maebh, picking the little girl up to sit on one of the side controls, "No, we haven't. We're supposed to be in the middle of London."
"You have reached your destination."
"Oh, stop saying that!"
"What do you think, Maebh?" Angel turned to the girl, "Why's it saying that?"
"Cos it's true," Maebh said with all the simplicity of a child, "We ARE in the middle of London."
"We're in the middle of a forest," the Doctor countered.
Angel nodded, "We're in the middle of a forest that's grown up in the middle of London."
"Come and see!" Maebh cheered, hopping down to take his hand and lead him to the doors, outside to the middle of the forest, where she pointed to something vaguely visible through the foliage, "Nelson's Column. Do you like it?"
"Do I...sorry, what?" the Doctor floundered a moment, turning in a circle and seeing more signs that they were exactly where they'd set down, only there were trees everywhere now.
Angel slowly followed, coming to stand a few feet away from him, turning in a slow circle with a cautious frown on her face…this was familiar. Not just the trees, but their shape and positions and heights…it was like what she'd seen in the TARDIS.
"Do you like the forest being in Trafalgar Square?" Maebh clarified with a gentle smile, "I think it's lovely."
The Doctor turned, looking up to see one of the lions at the base of Nelson's Column, leaves and vines all around it. His gaze traveled farther and farther up, before he reached out a hand behind him, not needing to say anything for Angel to take his hand.
"How many?" he asked.
Angel could only squeeze his hand and answer, "They're everywhere, my love, all over the world."
~8~
Tailor was practically buzzing with excitement as she nearly hopped in place waiting for Clara and Danny Pink to decide it was time to get the kids up and going. They seemed to be delaying it, unwilling to wake the kids as they slept in the natural history section of the museum in their little sleeping bags. She was just excited to have something to DO. Being a younger Time Lord, she did need a bit more sleep than her parents did, but she had been so excited to be on this adventure (not a trip, Aunt Clara, thank you very much!) that she'd been awake all night even while Clara and Danny had fallen asleep. She'd wandered around the museum and read every plaque and every display…and then written a detailed letter to the head of the museum about some factual inaccuracies, and now it was FINALLY time to get up and do things again.
The two adults were whispering to each other about who should wake the kids and which kids to start with because, apparently, the wrong kid woken in the wrong way could mean constant complaining.
It seemed, though, that the decision had been taken out of their hands as she could see one of the boys through the door way was already awake and flashing his torch on the face of other kids…waking one of them.
"Bradley!" the boy shouted at his friend, his hands up to block the light, "Sir!" he cried out to Danny, "Tell him, sir! He's blinding me."
Danny sighed and headed over to break them up, Clara and Tailor close behind.
"Give me that, Bradley," Danny held out his hand for the small torch in Bradley's hand.
Bradley frowned and clutched it closer, "I'm allowed a torch, sir. I've got a note. I'm darkness phobic!"
"Just because he's scared of the dark, sir, is he allowed to blind me?" the first boy grumbled.
"You're allowed a torch, Bradley, not a pocket supernova," Danny explained.
Tailor snorted, "That's hardly supernova. You want to talk about blinding?" she asked, and pulled a large ultra violet light out from the inside of the light jacket she was wearing, "Take a look at this!"
The two boys gaped at her, "How'd you do that?" the first boy stared, not sure how she got that huge light from that tiny coat.
"Pockets," she said simply, before clicking it off, "Don't worry Bradley, I'm not very fond of the dark either," she gave him a wink.
"Lucky for all of us," Clara cut in, "It's morning, no need for the torch."
"That's right, up and at 'em, everyone!"
Slowly the other kids began to wake up on their own, rubbing their eyes and grumbling to themselves about how early it was.
Danny shook his head, more at Tailor than Clara…that girl was like an endless ball of energy, no one had the right to be so cheerful so early, especially not after dealing with these kids all night, "Ok, listen up," he called to them, "A few things to run through before we head home…"
"No, phones Bradley," Tailor cut in unintentionally, having tried to be quiet as she spoke to the boy.
"How'd she DO that?" Bradley muttered, putting his phone away. Tailor had turned to help one of the girls start to roll up her sleeping bag, her back was to him!
"Eyes on the back of our heads," Clara covered, "All girls can do it."
"Um, thanks," Danny offered to Tailor, before continuing, "First, collect any rubbish you may have generated through midnight feasts or whatever…"
~8~
Tailor walked at the rear of the line of students as they began to make their way through the museum, all dressed and ready for the day. Danny was at the lead, with Clara in the middle, following the man down the hall.
"Hello?" Danny was speaking into his own phone, calling the school to let them know they were ready to leave and all was well, but the reception wasn't the best, "Hello?"
Tailor glanced to the side as she passed a stuffed tiger, eyeing it a moment, before shaking her head and hurrying to catch up to the group. One of the girls had lagged behind, stopping to look at a cross section of a tree trunk, a very large one with many, many rings coming out from the center of it.
"Alright there?" she asked, coming up beside the girl.
"Why is this one so fat?" the girl asked, frowning and using her arms to try and measure how big the trunk was.
"It's lived a long time," Tailor said simply, "The longer something lives, the bigger it is…" at least that was what Aunt Clara said about her father's ego all the time.
"This ring, though," she pointed to it, a brilliant red streak compared to all the other browns, "All the other rings are thin, but this one's fat and red, see?"
"I do, and that is an excellent question," Tailor nodded, "If you want, I happen to know a doctor that might know the answer."
"A tree doctor?" the girl looked up at her.
"Among other things," she smiled at the girl, "Come on," a gentle nudge had them hurrying after the group again, catching up right as the rest reached the foyer where the overnight security guard was waiting to escort them out.
"I should have been relieved, you know," the guard pointed out.
"Oh, Coal Hill School," Danny reminded him, "Sleepover."
The Guard rolled his eyes and shushed him, well aware, before he turned to remove a bar from the door to let them out. He turned to a keypad on a plinth nearby to put the code in, beginning the release of the mechanical lock. He hurried over to the door, ready to get them out of the museum so he could go home himself, only to find the door stuck.
"Hang on," he muttered, "There's a knack to this," he moved back to the plinth, thinking the code might have gone in wrong.
"No, no, no," Danny called, moving to the door, "It moved. It moved. It's jammed, not locked. Come on, team!" he called, starting to push on the door.
"What team?" Bradley asked.
Tailor looked at the kids, "I'll be on the team!" she cheered, her hand in the air like she was waiting to be called on in a class, and moved to the door, Clara close behind as the two pushed on it. Though she couldn't help but notice that Clara made sure to be on the other side of her, the two humans on either side. She had noticed a bit of tension between Clara and Danny during this trip, she just wasn't sure what sort of tension it was, a good one or bad.
"It's going!" Clara called out as they finally managed to push the door open completely, Tailor, being awkwardly placed, nearly stumbling out first with the motion.
One of the boys followed after her, looking around at the massive trees set up all around them, "Wow! Sir, where are we?"
Danny, ever the gentleman, held the door open for the kids to file out after Tailor, "What do you mean, where are we?"
"I think he means this doesn't look like it did last night," Tailor remarked, her own eyes wide as she looked around her, eyeing the portico just outside the door that was now overgrown. And just down a narrow path to the street, sat an abandoned school bus.
"We can't have been asleep for that long, can we?" one of the girls gaped.
Tailor moved over to one of the trees, reaching out to touch one, looking up at the leaves, then to the others around it, and back to Clara and Danny, both humans completely lost, and beamed, "Oh, isn't this wizard!?"
~8~
All over the city of London, all over the world, various news stations were broadcasting the same thing, the sudden appearance of trees just everywhere.
One woman was standing at a set of train tracks, "Well, you've heard of leaves on the line. This is going to be slightly harder to clear..."
Another man had come to stop in front of a football field in Africa, "In three hours' time, the Ghana Black Stars are due to play Sierra Leone in the African Cup of Nations..."
A second woman spoke rapid French to her viewers, "Est-ce que c'est bien le Bois de Boulogne? Non, c'est le centre-ville..."
Even an American man was reporting on a baseball field, "It does not look like the pitch will be ready."
The Doctor and Angel glanced at each other, the TARDIS picking up on all the news bulletins filtering in about the current crisis.
~8~
"What do you think?" Clara asked as she and Tailor spoke of to the side, Danny trying to keep the kids together while Clara clutched her mobile to her ear, calling the TARDIS, "Have I got a shot?"
"I dunno," Tailor shrugged, "Dad isn't easily surprised," especially not with a Mate who was a psychic, though there might be a chance given her mother was still recovering. She hadn't completely wanted to go on this trip because she was still worried for her mum, but when the woman insisted she was fine and her father seemed to finally believe her, it was hard to argue.
Clara moved to reply, when the Doctor, in a shocking turn of events, actually picked up the phone, "You're always showing me amazing things. Well, I, Doctor, have finally got something amazing to show you!"
"There are some things I've never seen, but that's usually because I've chosen not to see them," the Doctor countered, "Even my incredibly long life is too short for 'Les Miserables.'"
Tailor rolled her eyes, able to hear him over the volume of Clara's mobile, "Dad just doesn't give it a chance because he knows it'll make mum cry, she hates death."
Clara nodded, "Oh, Doctor," she turned back to the conversation, taking the fact that he hadn't immediately brought up the forest to mean he may not have noticed it, "You're going to love this!"
"Yes, well when you come to collect this child, you can tell Angel and I then."
"Huh?" Clara nearly did a double take, "What child?"
"Young female human. Standard defenseless little girl. Your friend, Mr. Pink, was supposed to be looking after her…"
There was a bit of a shuffle and Angel came on the line, "Hello, Clara, sorry about that. Maebh Arden's with us."
"What?!" she nearly shouted, "Maebh?" she spun around to look at the kids, noticing now that Maebh really wasn't there, and sighed, "Where are you?"
"Still in Trafalgar Square."
"What, seriously? You didn't move?"
"The Doctor wanted to take a rest," Angel said, and Clara could almost hear the eyeroll in her voice, even she was well aware of the Doctor's extreme attempts to make things calm and easy, "Maebh made her way to us, walked right through the forest."
"…the forest?" Clara sighed, realizing they knew.
"Mhmm," Angel hummed, "The forest that sprang up overnight all around the world."
"Sorry, was that the amazing thing you wanted to show us?" the Doctor's voice called, a bit distant, not directly into the phone, "It IS amazing, but Angel saw it first. Quite literally I'd imagine."
Clara shook her head, "Just…tell me Maebh's alright?"
"Of course she is," Tailor was the one to answer, "She's with mum and dad."
Clara had to nod, better with them than wandering around the forest getting lost, "Can you bring her over?"
"Actually, it might be best to come to us," Angel told her, "We have the space, the TARDIS is the safest place to be in any event, and we can pop the kids home one at a time instead of trying to trek through the forest to get them home."
Clara nodded to herself, ignoring the Doctor grumbling in the background about not being a childminder and the global rapid afforestation crisis he had to deal with, and ended the call. She turned to Tailor, "Would you be able to get us to the TARDIS?"
Tailor just gave her a look.
"Right, of course you can, enough with the Doctor look," Clara teased her a bit, just then Tailor had gotten that exact expression the Doctor always got when someone was being a 'pudding brain' around him. She lowered her mobile and turned to head over to Danny to tell him the new plan.
"What did they say?" Danny asked her before she could say anything.
"Who?" Clara blinked, she hadn't realized he'd seen her on the phone.
"School. Parents. You were just on the phone."
"Well, she called MY parents," Tailor remarked, coming to join them, "Mum says we should meet them in Trafalgar Square."
Danny fell silent at that.
"Look," Clara sighed, trying to salvage this, "No matter if I travel with them or don't, they will always be my family, and when London is taken over by a gigantic forest that can't possibly be a normal human occurance, who do you think I'm going to call for help?"
"I don't care if you call them or not," Danny cut in, "I care about whether it will interfere with our jobs. I don't know about you, but my job is to look after these kids."
"You…DO realize you're missing a kid, right?" Tailor asked cautiously.
"What?"
"Where's Maebh Arden?" Clara asked, crossing her arms, waiting till he looked to the girls to see Maebh was missing, "She's with the Doctor and Angel."
"What? No, no, no. Maebh is a vulnerable kid!" he grew frantic, "She's on medication. She's had an emotional trauma. Have they even been CRB checked?"
Tailor laughed, "Mum is like walking medication," she reminded the man, "If Maebh had to be anywhere on the planet, lost, or with anyone while she's suffering an emotional trauma, mum would be the one to tend to her best. She's got a 'thing' for emotions and healing."
Clara shook her head at the allusion, "Maebh wandered off and went straight to them. I don't know why, but I know I'd rather have the parents and the school see us with ALL the kids instead of having to tell them one is somewhere else."
Tailor looked over at the kids when she heard Bradley attempting to speak quietly to one of the other girls, "I thought you said they were in love. Why are they shouting at each other?"
"That's what people do when they're in love," the girl huffed, "Don't you know anything?"
"Right then, going to get Maebh?" she asked Clara and Danny, the man having to sigh but nod. She beamed at them and turned to the kids, "Andiamo, everyone!"
"What?" Bradley shook his head.
"Come on!" Tailor laughed, going to lead them on.
~8~
Danny frowned as he walked with Clara, the two of them in the back of the line of kids, making sure none of the others wander off, while Tailor walked ahead of them seemingly aimlessly but also with a purpose.
"You're SURE she knows where she's going?" Danny asked Clara quietly, tempted to have one of the kids help him as a navigator just to make sure.
Clara snorted, "I'm pretty sure Tailor could lead us to the TARDIS halfway across the globe with her eyes shut. Not sure about anywhere else, but definitely to the TARDIS."
"That's their…" he glanced at the kids and lowered his voice, "Spaceship, right?"
Clara nodded, "It's their home too," she reminded him, "It's all they have left of it, really."
"I thought we were getting a coach!" one of the girls complained, "Where's the coach?"
"Well, Ruby, it seems there are a lot of trees in the way," Danny called over.
"Why can't we just wait here until they've gone?"
"Trees don't just disappear, Ruby."
"At least not yet," Tailor added, "They won't evolve into the Trees of Cheem for…a while yet," she spoke, checking her watch, checking the date to be sure.
"What?" one of the boys asked.
"Just a…scientific theory of evolution," Danny supplied, trying to come up with an excuse for something he had absolutely no idea what it was.
"I just don't get it," Ruby continued, "They just came. Why wouldn't they just go?"
"Ooh, that's not the question," Tailor turned to face the kids, walking backwards, expertly avoiding walking into anything as she went, "The question is, how did they get here? How can a forest grow overnight?"
"No," Danny huffed, "The question is, how are we going to get these kids home?"
"The Doctor and Angel," Clara answered, "They've offered to give the kids a lift."
"No," he shook his head, "We are not taking them home in a spaceship!" he hissed at her. It was enough that they had to trust someone else to drive a bus full of kids and hope that nothing happened on the way, asking two aliens to give them rides home in a spaceship was even worse!
"Do you have another idea other than trekking through a forest multiple times?" Clara countered.
"We'll discuss this later, once we've got Maebh safely back," he told her, before calling out to the kids, "Ok, team. It's crucial we stick together. If you start to fall behind, don't. We are making a small detour to collect Maebh from Trafalgar Square, then we'll work on contacting your parents."
Clara eyed him, noticing how, despite the kids being in front of them, Danny DID keep glancing over at the forest around them. It made her feel like maybe, just maybe, he had a bit of an interest in what was going on. For all his shouting and insistence, she felt a little flicker of hope that he was as curious as she was and, maybe, it could mean he might be interested to hear a little more about her own adventures.
"You are enjoying this a little bit, aren't you?" she commented, "Are you not even a little bit curious about how? Who? Why? When?"
Danny sighed, "I am curious. I am bewildered. I am, in fact, enchanted," he admitted, though he couldn't help but tense even as he did so, "But I'm not the priority. The kids are."
"See, now, that attitude is...actually very attractive," Clara told him.
He gave her a half-smile, turning go fix his attention on the kids, Tailor having turned back to lead them on again. It was…an amazing thing happening around them, it truly was. But the fact that they were heading to Angel and the Doctor meant this was probably some sort of alien occurrence. And that meant everyone, especially the kids, were in even more danger, and he had a sinking pit forming in his stomach at how much more responsibility it was. His anxiety was starting to rise within him the further away they got from the museum where they should have been.
He just kept thinking about the war now, what happened, and what it meant for him and these kids, for Clara…
~8~
Angel sat on a rock, her arm absently around Maebh as the girl watched the Minister on her mobile giving a news broadcast, the Doctor standing on one of the plinths in Trafalgar Square, sonicing around for any clue as to what was going on.
"'The Government emergency committee, COBRA, has formulated an action plan," the Minister was saying, "We will create pathways through the trees, using carefully controlled fires. This will facilitate the movement of essential services. We are therefore asking you to stay in your homes. Fill your baths, sinks, and any buckets with fresh water...'"
"Trees never do anything wrong, and yet people are always so keen to cut them or burn them down," Angel sighed sadly, Maebh nodding and turning the broadcast off, feeling terribly for the trees.
"Why would there be no reading?" the Doctor huffed a bit above them, bashing the sonic on his hand.
"They're trees, my love," Angel reminded him, "And the sonic doesn't do…"
"Wood," he muttered, hopping off the plinth to the ground, "No circuits. No mechanism. Wood."
"What's that magic wand for?" Maebh asked, turning to Angel for an answer.
Angel smiled a bit, having noticed Maebh tended to do that, turn to HER instead of the Doctor. Each time she did, she got a faint flash from the girl, that she preferred her answers, feeling she would be more gentle and kind while doing so, "It's called a sonic screwdriver," she told the girl, "It does quite a few amazing things."
"It interacts with any form of communication you care to mention," the Doctor explained, "Sadly, trees have no moving parts and don't communicate."
"They will one day," Angel remarked, "Cheem," she gave him a look, recalling his stories of the Forest of Cheem, how that lovely Jabe had helped him save the day oh so long ago.
"They do now," Maebh argued, "A bit."
"What?" the Doctor turned to her.
"Otherwise they wouldn't all grow at the same time, would they?"
"So, what, you think that's how spring begins? With a group message on Tree Facebook? You think they send texts to each other?"
'Not all communication is digital, my love,' Angel reminded him in his mind.
"You don't need a phone to communicate, do you?" Maebh added, "I haven't phoned home, and I know my mum is worried about me," she looked between the Doctor and Angel, "And you two say loads to each other without saying a word."
"Noticed that have you?" Angel smiled at the girl, "As I said, very clever."
Maebh smiled a little at that, the Doctor returning to scanning around, though this time more in the air than at the trees.
~8~
In a lovely little home, a middle-aged woman had her mobile pressed to her ear using her shoulder as she hurried through the different rooms of her house, searching for something while she spoke to Miss Oswald, the teacher calling with an update about the school trip and her daughter.
"You said YOU'D collect Maebh?" the woman shook her head even though Miss Oswald couldn't see, "It's alright, I'm collecting her. Soon as I find my car keys. I can't see a thing…ha!" she grinned, finding them, "Next door have planted bloody Hydrangeas and they've gone mental! I've had words with her about it before. She's..." she moved to her front door and threw it open, her eyes widening as she reached up to take the phone in her hand, "Oh. I'll call you back."
She quickly clicked the phone off, staring at the trees everywhere.
What had her neighbor done?
~8~
Clara sighed as she lowered her mobile from her ear, scrolling through her contacts for the next parent she needed to contact and reassure that the children were fine.
"Miss," Ruby began, interrupting her, "In the museum, right, I was reading about reproduction..."
"Oh, Ruby, this really isn't the right moment..." Clara tried to ward off the question.
But Ruby wouldn't be stopped, "And that said trees have blossom and then, that turns into fruit or seeds or nuts. Right?"
"Correctamundo!" Tailor shouted from ahead, earning a slight chuckle from Clara for it.
"These trees have got blossom AND nuts," Ruby pointed out.
Clara glanced over at one, noticing that too, "Oh, yeah. That is strange."
"That's like mum and dad," Tailor joked, sending Clara a look that had her laughing a little more. In a way, it was quite true. The Doctor was as mad as they came, and Angel was just so sweet and lovely, like nuts and blossoms.
"Nuts?" one of the boys perked up at the mention, turning to look at Bradley, "That's unfortunate for you, isn't it, Bradley? You have an allergy, don't you? What if one of them falls on your head? Do you die, or swell up like a massive melon?"
"Shut it!" Bradley shoved the other boy.
"Boys, come on, break it up," Danny huffed, reaching out to separate them.
Trafalgar Square couldn't be near enough.
~8~
Mrs. Arden hurried out of her home and over to where the sidewalk should have been, joining one of her neighbors as they were looking up and down the street.
"I think we should have been consulted," the neighbor huffed to her, just imagining the group that had gone so overboard as to plant so many trees so quickly, "What's it in aid of, even?"
"How far does this go?" Mrs. Arden looked around, but it was so thick she couldn't even see the houses across the street, "I need to collect Maebh."
She just couldn't shake the feeling that her daughter was in terrible danger.
A/N: No detailed note to come here, I really am just wiped for today. Plagiarism never feels good and finding out someone who favorited you, who may have seen other people do this to me, could do this to me too is upsetting :(
So for this chapter, a tease about TL6 is that I put a tiny bit of a hint of something she will have as a running sort of joke above, I'm very excited to see if anyone might guess her quirk or if it'll pop out at people once I eventually get to her story ;)
Angel definitely needed a lot of time to get back on her feet, but I thought it was sweet how the Doctor and even Tailor acted in worrying over her. I feel like this episode will be a real turning point for Danny and his outlook on things, though it may just make him feel more conflicted ;)
I'm going to keep my poll up for what 3 stories people are most looking forward to, until probably the Christmas episode of this story, where I should hopefully have an idea of what will be updated after this story is over to announce ;)
Some notes on reviews...
Oh Missy will be very cross that her armies won't be as high a number as she wanted ;)
Lol, overprotective Doctor is my jam, especially when his significant other is pregnant ;) I'm very excited for the AU too. I have a plan in mind for next year that might see some of the current AUs updating, but I need to see if I can keep up a good pace this year first, don't want to make promises I can't keep :) It probably will be quite a way off to get to that AU, sadly :( But I am currently debating ending the stories with 12 since I just couldn't get into him and while I hear good and bad things about 13, there are some things I've seen on youtube that makes me feel like the show's destroyed itself and I don't want to reach the point of finding out if it has :/ That would mean the stories would be finished though at a certain point, which means more time to put towards AUs ;) We'll have to see, but I'm very happy you're looking forward to it :)