Author's note: Again, very long, but it seemed like such a shame to chop it up. After this chapter, there's one more chapter to wrap up the story, and then we're done! I was thinking of adding an extra chapter on at the end that's sort of a behind the scenes sneak peak. See, in the next chapter, you get a tiny little snippet of a much longer report. Well, I wrote a lot more of that report than I wound up using. It isn't anywhere near as polished as this story (in fact, it's pretty rough because it's background), but I thought it might be interesting.

If I do include it, I'll probably chop it up a little because a lot of it recaps what was already said here, and I was writing it out in report form to better understand the legal side of time travel crime and how it would be investigated and/or charged.

I found Kardeni to be a very interesting character. I feel like there's more to explore with her. Perhaps I'll stick her in another story.

Several hours later, after a good deal of interviews and explanations had been conducted, the Doctor and Jenny were in the break room having a cup of tea. They looked up as the door opened, and the Director of the Time Agency walked inside.

He looked very shaken.

"You'll be happy to know that we got Mr. Watkins — or Hoyer, as you know him," the Director informed them both. "He and Mr. Stenman are now in custody and speaking to their counsel. In light of all the evidence against them, we expect guilty pleas." He folded his hands on the table. "In terms of Galia-4, we've checked and there's no trace of it — nor Galia-3. There isn't even a gravity dent left over."

"And the vaults?" Jenny checked.

"Are up and running," the Director told them. "Everyone is alive — confused, but alive. We don't really know what to do with them, to be honest. If you know how the Apos'alu managed to allow them all to coexist with each other in the same space-time continuum..."

"A function of the Battle TARDIS we ejected, unfortunately," the Doctor explained.

The Director grimaced. "I was afraid of that."

"So there really is no way for them to leave the vaults, then?" Jenny asked the Doctor. She cringed. "I assumed you'd be able to do something clever."

"Yimi's people could just about manage it — since they're the latest iteration," the Doctor replied. "But... no. No clever ways out of this. Each species is a different temporal fold of the same piece of space-time. It is physically impossible for them to coexist in the same universe."

"Exactly our problem," the Director confirmed. "We've found the Patasi a home world already. But as for the others, well, it's tricky." He paused. Then, in a quiet voice, added, "I'm sorry about your loss, by the way. Miss Yimi sounds like an incredible person. What she did for the people of Galia-4 — it's remarkable. She deserves a hero's burial."

"I'm sure the Patasi are very glad to hear how important she was," Jenny said.

The Director cringed. "Actually, if I were you, I wouldn't bring up her name around the Patasi. There's a bit of an internal politics thing going on there, at the moment. I believe they've branded her a traitor and are burning her in effigy."

Jenny's jaw dropped.

"Just — if that other friend of yours, the injured one, asks to visit the Patasi," the Director advised, "tell her they've built a beautiful memorial and don't get her within 500 lightyears of the place. Trust me. Bad idea."

"Noted," the Doctor said. "And... Mrs. Kardeni?"

The Director bowed his head. "Ah, yes. Mrs. Kardeni. I knew you'd ask about her sooner or later."

For a long time, no one spoke.

Jenny and the Doctor exchanged a look. They both knew this was a bad sign.

"Mrs. Kardeni is in a lot of trouble," the Director said, at last. "And I honestly don't think even you can dig her out of it."

"But the plea deal...!" Jenny insisted.

"The more we look into this whole 'fob watch' business, the worse it seems to be," the Director explained. "We're still trying to retrieve the expunged data from the Mark 12 you gave us — but there's already enough there to establish Mr. Craig Kardeni as the primary suspect in multiple murders, arsons, and burglaries — including that of Mrs. Kardeni's parents. His children may have been involved as well. It isn't clear. What I can tell you is that Mr. Kardeni has already been here to see his wife, and he is certainly prepared to use the potential criminality of their children against her."

The Doctor said nothing.

"We'll see what our investigation finds," said the Director, "but I suspect this is going to get very ugly very quickly. Mr. Kardeni isn't going down without a fight." He looked between Jenny and the Doctor. "And I haven't even started on the evidence mounting against Mrs. Kardeni's other close friends and acquaintances. A lot of people are in on this, Doctor. They'll protect Mr. Kardeni and blame Mrs. Kardeni just to save their own necks."

Jenny and the Doctor looked at each other.

"I can't say more at the moment," said the Director, "except to warn you to lay low for a bit. One of the last things Agent Lantro did before he died was to issue Craig Kardeni with a full description of you, your TARDIS, and its temporal signature. And before you brush that off — Mrs. Kardeni has admitted that she not only knows how to break into a TARDIS, but once gave Lantro a set of written instructions on it. We're fairly certain that information was passed on."

"Oh my God," Jenny said. She shook her head. "Are you serious?"

The Director nodded. "If you would like protection or relocation, we can arrange..."

"No, no, no — none of that nonsense," the Doctor dismissed with the wave of his hand. "If I had to change my identity every time someone wanted to kill me, I'd never get anything done. I probably wouldn't even know who I was half the time!"

The Director spread open his hands. "Just — if you change your mind, the offer's always open. Well, long as I'm director, anyways." He glanced up at the clock. "Which, to be honest, is another three hours and thirty-one minutes. Handed in my resignation notice earlier today."

Jenny stared at him. "You're resigning? But...!"

"Plate Cracking is a hot button political issue right now," said the Director. "And Agent Lantro clearly used his position at the Agency for corrupt and criminal purposes. This investigation's only just opened, and we're already getting reporters knocking down our doors. We're going to get raked through the coals for this. Me most of all. This is what I have to do."

Jenny cringed. This hadn't turned out anything like what she'd expected.

"But we're free to go?" the Doctor checked.

The Director gave a wry smile. "Doctor, from what I've read in your file, it wouldn't matter if you were free to go or not. If you want to go, you'll go. Laws and investigations be damned."

The Doctor grinned.

Jenny rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the side.

"So I'm assuming, since you've stuck around this long," said the Director, "that you want us to do something for you. The boys have been taking bets on what it could be."

The Doctor shot him a strange look, but gave a small shrug. "All right, then. I was hoping to have a quick word with Mrs. Kardeni."

The Director grumbled. "Hang on." He walked to the door, opened it, and shouted, "Mubbins! You got it. Everyone pay up." Turned back to the Doctor. "Sure you don't want something named after Yimi of the Olingi? I got ten bucks that says you do."

Jenny grinned. "Ooh! Dad! You should ask for that. That sounds way better."

"I'll stick with the chat, if it's all the same to you," the Doctor decided, getting up. "Where is she?"

"I was hoping it'd be you," Kardeni said as she slid into the seat across from the Doctor. They were separated by a wobbly stretch of air that was the 53rd century's space-time bending version of bulletproof glass. She clasped her hands on the table before her. "I wanted to ask you to do something for me. A favor."

"Depends what it is," the Doctor said. "Probably can pencil it into my calendar."

Kardeni looked around herself. Swallowed hard. Then leaned forwards and whispered, "Open it."

"Open...?" The Doctor stared at her. A wave of sadness washed over him. "Oh, Zeera..."

"Doctor, I'm desperate, here," Kardeni insisted. "Craig told me he brought the children along with him when he went into my past. I don't know what they did. I don't know what the investigators are going to find. All I know is — I'm not able to handle this. I need to be Bivazeer to save my children." She leaned in a little further. "So don't be nice and pretend you don't have it. I know you do. Just do it. Open it."

The Doctor sighed, leaning in towards her. "Zeera — I don't have it. It doesn't exist."

"Then... then... prove that I'm not Bivazeer," Kardeni decided. She put her hands against her chest. "Prove I'm Ashley. That's who I really am, right? A multiple-personality of Ashley's that went rogue and took over? So prove that. If there's no watch, prove to the world that I'm not a Time Lord, and that the only thing that ruined my past was my own insanity."

The Doctor sighed. "Zeera..."

"Don't just sit there feeling sorry for me!" Kardeni snapped at him. "Do you know how many people were threatened, tortured, beat up, or killed over this? Do you know how many of my friends and family are implicated in this? Do you know how many times I've helped Andrew lure unsuspecting survivors to Galia-4, just so he could shoot them down and hand me their stuff as some kind of trophy? Do you have any idea how sick that makes me feel?" She slammed her hands down on the table. "What was it all for, Doctor? If there was no watch, what did it all mean?! Why did it all happen?!"

The Doctor didn't know what to say.

"If everyone I know is going to jail — I just want it to have been for a reason," Kardeni said, practically begging him. "Please. Tell me you have the watch. Tell me it exists. Tell me there was some kind of point to this all."

The Doctor ran a hand down his face. "I think your friends and family would say they were protecting you. And clearly, Professor Denoring and others really did intend you harm." He rested his elbows on the table. "But you were never in the kind of danger they seemed to believe. And the level of hatred, fury, and malevolence they felt by the end..." He opened his empty hands in front of her. "Some things defy rational explanation."

"But..." Kardeni ran her hands through her hair, sucking in a sharp breath. "You said yourself that you couldn't tell when the watch-writer burnt out on the chameleon arch. There might be a watch. There might have been a point to all this."

"Oh, well, sure," the Doctor agreed. "If that's your sole criteria, then yes, there might be a watch." He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. "I mean, it'd be empty. But it might exist."

"Empty?"

The Doctor threw open his hands. "Empty! Blank! Magician bunny-in-hat trick sans bunny!" He pointed at her. "You're proof of that."

Kardeni shook her head, confused.

"You're sort of..." the Doctor tried to mime doing a Rubik's Cube that was in seventeen dimensions, but didn't do a very good job. He abandoned the mime and dropped his hands. "You could see me past my regenerations. You could hear Biv's TARDIS inside your head. And you certainly shouldn't have been able to feel what you did when Yimi wiped Biv's symbiotic nuclei from his TARDIS. It's just not possible with a human brain."

"It felt like I was strangling someone to death," said Kardeni. "And I looked into her face and found out she was me."

"Exactly," said the Doctor. "But your medical scans..."

"...say 100% human." Kardeni put her hand on her heart. "One heart. Normal body temperature. No regenerations."

"And that's what I mean," the Doctor said. "You're sort of all... jumbled up. Bits of Bivazeer. Bits of Zeera." He folded his hands on the tabletop. "So no. There's no watch. No way back. Well, no way except the obvious — stay off those nasty, nasty drugs." He made a face. "Vile things. Probably did a lot more than just cutting your connection to the TARDIS. Let's just hope it's not permanent."

"So you're saying that my family is going to jail," said Kardeni, staring into the distance, sadly, "over nothing. Protecting me from an evil boogieman 'Biv' who was in a watch that never existed."

"Sorry. But — yep. Looks like it." The Doctor tapped his hands on the table, watching her get more and more distressed and not sure what to say to get her to feel better. Before he realized it, he'd already started rambling, "They warn you in the manual not to use the chameleon arch when it's damaged. But I've never heard of anyone actually doing it. Just that propaganda back during the War, warning that if you used one to hide from your duty, it could turn you purple and backwards..."

"...like a Farxoloth who'd had his nose clipped," Kardeni muttered. "I remember."

The Doctor blinked. "You do?"

"Twenty foot tall posters," Kardeni said, her face bent into a frown, "in big, neon colors, with a horrible mutated Time Lord in the middle and a glaring Rassilon in the corner." She closed her eyes, miming the placement of text. "'Chameleon Arching is a Victory for the Daleks. Do Your Duty!' I don't know if they ever convinced anybody but they scared the pants off me."

The Doctor regarded her curiously. "You remembered all that?"

"It just came to me, out of the blue," Kardeni said, hand on her head. Her eyes opened wide. "Oh, God, lots of things are coming to me. All at once. Like an overload." She pointed at the Doctor. "That song they taught in basic. The marching one. You remember how everyone used to snicker when we got to the part about 'Time marches on the boots of war?' I remember telling... oh, what was his name?... Mandazar! That's it. I remember telling Mandazar that Rassilon could boost the morale of the troops tenfold by hiring a better poet."

The Doctor gave her a small smile. "Mandazar. The short bloke."

"Short? You must have met him when you were in a tall incarnation," Kardeni said, waving her hand. "No, he was tall. Broad shoulders. Kind of dirty blondish hair with the start of a mustache on his upper lip. We talked together all through basic. Got in trouble over it, too. A lot of trouble."

"Yes! Sorry," the Doctor said, hitting himself on the head as if he'd somehow forgotten. "Tall. Definitely tall." He was grinning ear-to-ear now.

"And the Academy!" Kardeni said, her eyes bright. "Oh, God, how could I have forgotten about the Academy? So many long, boring lessons. I must have fallen asleep a thousand times."

"You remember your Academy nickname?" the Doctor asked.

Kardeni shook her head. "No. Not yet. Maybe that's coming next. But — yes. Yes! I remember sneaking this book out of the Panopticon." She laughed. "I got caught at the entryway and had to stuff the book down my collar. And then there was that time when Mandazar and I found a canoe and went..."

Kardeni stopped in mid-sentence.

Her enthusiasm melted away into a horrible, bottomless well of sadness, and she looked away.

"No," she muttered. "No, I can't do it. I thought I could, but I can't." She scooted out her chair. "I'm sorry."

The Doctor held out a hand. "No! Wait! What's...?"

"I made it up, Doctor," Kardeni told him, standing up. She couldn't meet his eyes. "My parents studied you guys. I studied you guys. I know enough to bluff you. I know what you need to hear to get your hopes up." She ran her hands down her face. "Mandazar's just some dead guy my parents wrote a paper about. I've seen his photo. I doubt he even knew Biv." She glanced at him and cringed. "I just thought — if I could make you believe I was Biv, you'd bust me out of here. Then I could steal your TARDIS and..."

For a moment, she let the possibility dangle in midair.

Then she turned away.

"Never mind," she said. "It was a stupid idea to begin with."

The Doctor jumped to his feet. "Zeera!" He banged on the divider between them, making it vibrate and send out a loud WUMF noise. "Zeera! Wait!"

Kardeni stopped in place. Hesitated, glancing back at him.

"How much of it was a lie?" the Doctor asked — because, to be honest, he had to know. It'd just keep gnawing at him if he didn't.

Kardeni shook her head, unable to hear him. Came back a bit closer. "How much was pie?"

"How much of it was a lie," the Doctor repeated. "Where did you start making it up? With the propaganda posters? With that thing about the SeaBurc? With your telepathic connection to the Battle TARDIS? Or all the way back when you said you recognized...?"

"I don't know. Probably all of it."

"All of it?"

"Or most of it or... I don't know!" Kardeni slumped down in her chair. "My head is so screwed up right now. I don't know who I am or what I've done or what I might have hinted at someone to do that they took literally for some reason. One moment, I could swear I remember my parents speaking Gallifreyan to me, and the next, I'm sure I must have made that up as some kind of lame excuse for having known it. I just...!"

She leaned over, hands around her head.

The Doctor nodded, slowly. He supposed it was only natural, considering all that had happened to her today.

"And then I thought, what would Andrew advise me to do, if he were here? And I know what he'd say. 'Lie, cheat, steal — anything you have to, Zeera, just so long as it lets you get back to Craig and the kids. It isn't murder if it's self-defense.' So I thought..." She trailed off, her eyes losing focus. Then, almost as a sigh, she whispered, "But he's dead now..."

The Doctor looked down at his hands on the table.

"I've lost so many people, Doctor," Kardeni explained to him. "First Ashley, then my parents, now Andrew... and every time Craig gets sick, I..."

She fell silent for a few long seconds, pain etched across her face as she thought about what she'd learned about Craig.

Then she looked up and met the Doctor's eyes.

"We leave so much stuff unsaid," she said, at last. "We never think we'll have to say it. We always think there'll be another time..." Shook her head. "But there isn't, Doctor. You can't tell me all the stuff you wished you'd said to Bivazeer — any more than I can tell you all the stuff I wished I'd said to Andrew. To make you think I was Biv, to give you that chance when I knew it was all a lie... I couldn't do it. It wouldn't have been fair to you."

The Doctor stared at her. Then gave a hint of a smile.

"You know, you're a remarkable person, Zeera Kardeni," the Doctor put in. "Sort of wish I could have gotten to know you back before all this Galia-4 business."

"Really? I don't."

The Doctor cringed. That stung a bit.

"No — not like that," Kardeni insisted. "I just mean — don't go back into my past. My life's screwed up enough as is. The last thing I need is another time traveler making a mess of things." She paused. Then, softly, added, "Besides, I think my family wants you dead."

The Doctor grinned and waved that off. "Few death threats never did me any harm. As I keep telling Jenny — some of my best friends have tried to kill me at some point or other."

"Jenny..." Kardeni's eyes lit up. "The song!" She fumbled around, and found the pen and paper she'd brought in. Began scribbling something down as fast as possible. "I know it's not much — but I thought it might help." She handed it to one of the security guards, who took it off for examination — before it could be passed on to the Doctor. "I was so looking forward to teaching it to her in person. I always hoped my children would take an interest in these things. I never understood why they didn't." She dropped her eyes to the ground, as she added, in a soft voice, "Although I guess I understand a bit better now..." Then, with a bitter laugh, "I guess this is what I deserve. I mean, I knew I was going to Hell — I just expected it to start after I died."

"Don't say that," the Doctor protested. "This isn't the end for you. You can make a new start."

"Are you just saying that?"

The Doctor leaned in. "Zeera, when I asked you to give up your TARDIS to save the people of Galia-4, you said yes. You said so long as it saved the species in the vault, you'd give up anything. That was before you knew what Lantro and your husband did to your past. Before you believed they'd killed people over this. You chose to give up something precious to you, simply because you knew it was the right thing."

"Yimi gave up her life willingly," Kardeni argued. "I gave up my TARDIS reluctantly. And at the end, I begged Jenny to reverse it." She fidgeted with her hands. "No, Doctor. I'm not a victim — not like Yimi or Branden. I did this to myself. I knew it was illegal. I knew it was immoral. And I did it anyways." She stared off into the distance, her eyes sad. "I was born to backstab. First thing I ever did was kill Ashley. And she was my best friend. The very best."

"Zeera..."

"Your companions are a good judge of character, Doctor," Kardeni cut in. "Jenny trusted Branden. Seo trusted Yimi." She scooted out her chair. "Follow their example. Don't trust me."

"I want to help you," the Doctor said. "You don't realize..."

"I wish I could have been Bivazeer," said Kardeni, getting up. "I would have liked being a Time Lord. I guess I'll have to make due with getting all the Time Lord drugged out of me so that I'm back to being Ashley. At least that way, she'll get her life back. I'll feel good about that."

"Zeera," the Doctor said, also getting up, "what you said earlier about Mandazar..."

"...was a lie," Kardeni said, turning away. "And a bad one. I was just rambling — I didn't think about if any of it made sense." She walked towards the door out. "Look it up, Doctor. Mandazar went through basic after the Battle of Nitvenah. So he and Biv can't have met each other in basic. The dates don't match."

She turned around and began to walk out.

"The dates don't have to match," the Doctor called after her, banging on the divider. "Because Mandazar was...!"

Kardeni didn't turn back.

Just left.

"...your brother," the Doctor sighed.

"I guess we'll have to tell Seo about Yimi," Jenny said, as they headed back into the TARDIS. She grimaced. "She is not going to be happy. You know how Seo gets when she decides she wants to protect someone."

"Yimi made her choice — and it will make a difference," the Doctor said, opening the double doors and ushering Jenny inside. "It's like I was saying back when we first landed, Jenny — everything changes after Galia-4. Nothing like this will ever happen again. And that's because of Yimi." The Doctor ran up to the central console, rubbing his hands together. "Right! Back to the real work." He began flipping switches and pulling levers. "First thing the investigators will have done is lock down her whole timeline while they try to sort out what happened." He raced around the console, pushing buttons as he went. "Temporal barrier. Impossible to get through." Stopped long enough to pull out a knob and adjust the zigzag plotter. "Well, not if you're clever." Threw a lever. "Well, not if you're me."

The TARDIS wheezed and groaned into life.

Jenny shot the Doctor a dark look. "Dad — she's had too many people running through her past as it is. Let it go."

The Doctor ignored her, as he kept working.

"Dad," said Jenny, a little louder.

The Doctor didn't look up at her, just flicked three switches. "I have to." He checked the scanner screen, then adjusted a knob. "When Biv and I were running away from the Daleks — that was the first time he admitted that he knew the encryption code. He made some crack about 'good thing we won't make it out of this alive'. And then he was shot, and I just thought... maybe it's better this way. I don't remember if I checked."

Jenny walked over to the central console. "What? That he was dead?" She leaned against it. "Wow," she said flatly. "I am so surprised. That is so unlike anything you've done since."

The Doctor looked up at her, surprised.

Jenny waved at him. "Messaline?"

"Oh, you were fine!" the Doctor said, fiddling with the controls. "Better than fine! Are you still going on about that?" He ran to the other side of the console and adjusted a series of switches, checking the scanner screen. "This isn't anything like that. What's the worst that ever happened to you? Nothing!"

"Uh..." Jenny said.

The Doctor raced past her to the next set of controls on the console. "I left Biv behind." He frantically began to fiddle with them. "Thought he was dead. Then, the moment I find her again — I ruin her life. Destroy her ship."

Jenny dropped her head down. "Why do I even bother?"

"She'll let her husband shut her up in an asylum, just so she can save her kids," the Doctor said, as he wound up a crank and began pushing a series of buttons. "He'll make sure they drug every last shred of Time Lord right out of her. And I'm starting to suspect there's a lot more of Biv in her than either of us know."

"Yeah — I'm done with this, now," Jenny decided, heading past the console and towards the far doors. "You destroy Zeera's life a little more if you want. I'm going to make sure Seo's okay and not randomly tearing apart the universe again."

Second Author's Note: Jenny's backstory (in my universe) can be found in more detail in the Jenny Trilogy ("The Totos and the Vanguard", "Green-Eyed Monster," and "Butterflies"). Most of the backstory is in "Butterflies" but that story picks up from the end of the previous story in the trilogy, so I wanted to give you the names of all 3.