Searching the Stars

by LizzeXX

12/OC -Time Lady- The Doctor and Mac, the Doctor's Chosen, have survived Trenzalore, and now there's a new Doctor rushing about. On top of that, Clara has officially become Mac's Companion, something she's never had before. As the Promise Land looms in the distance, overseen by the mysterious Missy, how will the Time Lords handle all that's to come? Sixth in the Time Lady Memoirs.

1. Deep Breath

A/N: Hello everyone! This story is Searching the Stars, the sixth story in my fourth OC series, The Time Lady Memoirs, for Doctor Who. I would recommend new readers read the first five stories (Losing Hope, Finding Forgiveness, Endeavors in Wooing, Falling in Love, and To Be Chosens) to understand my OC, Mackenzie (Mac) and the Doctor's relationship :) This story will focus on my OC/Time Lady, Mac (Naery), the official pairing name for her and the Doctor being Thaery :) This story will largely follow the events that Mac is aware of and a part of, but will also include some scenes with the Doctor elsewhere and possibly others when they talk about her. This will a Doctor/OC series :)

This will essentially be a revision of Series 8 to incorporate the existence of another Time Lord, Mac. This story will be updated 3x a week (so far I've been managing M/W/F) with each chapter being 1 episode, however the Christmas special will be two chapters ;)

Quick physical description of Mac: she regenerated in Nightmare in Silver and so now she is a curvy strawberry blonde, older-ish woman, with some light wrinkling, not as tall as she used to be, with hair more on the curly side. Her eyes are brown, more like a whiskey color. She's taken to wearing a simple, ¾ sleeved dress, with a bit of a V neckline, that goes down to a few inches above her knees. Professional, but casual too. With flats. Her hair is usually clipped back on either side with a clip but free hanging. It might change a tiny bit in this series though ;) For a reference, an actress that I think is similar to Mac is Lea Thompson ;) She is currently on her 9th incarnation :)

SO sorry this took so long to get back up and running, life just likes to get in the way sometimes :/ But things have calmed down and stabilized for me and I was able to get some stories caught up, so now I'm onto Mac for Series 8 :)

~8~ is a scene break.

"italics" is Gallifreyan.

'italics' is telepathic communication.

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who...or maybe a certain Pink would have been a tad nicer to the Doctor ;)

Enjoy!

~8~

Deep Breath

"Clara," Mac called over to the frazzled human, sounding entirely too calm for the situation at hand.

The TARDIS was thrashing about, smoke was filling the console room, fires had sparked up all around them, the Doctor was shouting at the walls and demanding 'the round things' come back and that was AFTER he turned into someone else before her eyes…and Mac was just calmly reaching out across the console like it was a normal day.

"Could you be a dear and pull that lever there with the red handle?"

Clara flinched when something crashed next to her and ran over, "This one?" she asked, grabbing the first lever she could find that had a red handle.

"Yes."

Clara nodded and yanked it, the TARDIS starting to rumble around her, "What did I just do?" she called over to Mac as another alarm, the klaxon, went off this time.

"The Doctor went a bit mad with adaptations to the TARDIS," Mac said simply, moving over to another monitor and typing things in, "He added some rockets to the base of the box, so it could take off like a rocket and impress people one day…" she absently reached out to take Clara's elbow when she moved around the console to a set of knobs, tugging her to the side moments before a fire shot out of the console where her hand had been resting, "The lever activated it. Should dislodge us from the dinosaur's throat."

"From that WHAT?" Clara gaped at her. Mac just turned the monitor to show they were certainly in something's throat, and flying up quite fast. She grimaced when the monitors picked up the out-trip from a real dinosaur's mouth and onto what looked like the bank of a river.

"Not pleasant, I'd imagine," Mac sighed.

"No!" the Doctor shouted over the noise, "I said the ROUND things! Not the RED things!"

Mac looked over to see the Doctor flicking the sonic at the walls, as though it were a television remote or something that could change the setting, "Could you set the emergency brake?" she asked Clara, having shown her how to do so a while ago, "While I…" she gestured at the Doctor.

"Please, have at it," Clara grumbled, SHE'D been trying to get through to the man for the entirety of their crashing and he'd ignored her.

Mac moved to the Doctor's side, about to speak to him, when there was a knock on the door accompanied with a shout of, "Hello!" by someone who could only be a Sontaran.

"Strax," she murmured, sure it was him.

She'd managed to catch a glimpse of the coordinates for where they'd landed and she was fairly sure there was only one Sontaran in Victorian London. She glanced at the Doctor once more, the man seeming to be bashing the sonic on his hand, "Oh dear," she murmured, before shaking her head and turning to go to the door. The Doctor was distracted for the moment, and the last thing they needed was for Strax to try and blow the door down. The TARDIS did NOT need that right now and neither did she. To be quite honest, she was fairly sure she was hanging on by a thread right now despite her calm demeanor.

"Exit the box, and surrender to the glory of the Sontaran Empire!" Strax was demanding just as she reached the door.

She pulled it open, glancing out at Strax in his butler's uniform, seeing Vastra and Jenny a few feet behind him, "Need just a moment," she told them, wincing when a smashing noise sounded behind her, "Having a bit of a regenerative crisis," she sighed, hearing Clara shouting 'Don't do that!' behind her, "Take care of the dinosaur for us? Thank you!"

She closed the door and hurried over to the Doctor, seeing he was trying, unsuccessfully, to snap the sonic over his knee, "Doctor!" she called.

"Ah, Kenzie," he began, before grimacing, "Mac? Mackenzie? Ken? Z?" he began rapidly shouting out various versions of her 'name' before huffing, "I'll find one."

"I'm sure you will," she began, "But how about we do that outside?" she offered, noticing how thick the smoke was getting. Clara had her nose and mouth in her elbow to try and filter some of it out but the human wouldn't last long at this rate, "Hmm?" she hummed, moving to his side and gently trying to push him to the door, "Some nice fresh air?"

"What's wrong with the air in here?" he frowned, but let himself be guided.

"He's kidding right?" Clara groused behind him.

"It's a bit thick," Mac tried to reason with him, "Not very good. Best air is fresh air, right?"

He chuckled, "You're such a mother hen," he muttered, "Always looking out for me."

"It's a lot of work," she remarked, "Good thing we'll have some more help, eh?"

He frowned, "What extra help?"

"Some old friends are waiting to say hello…" she began, about to tell him about Vastra, Jenny, and Strax, when something seemed to strike him and he instead pushed to the door and strode out, looking around like he was demanding something or expecting enemies.

"Sleepy?" the Doctor zoomed in on Strax, the Sontaran right in front of him, the first one in sight after exiting the TARDIS.

"Sir?" Strax blinked at him.

"Bashful? Sneezy? Dopey? Grumpy!" he announced, figuring out which he was, "Oh, you two!" he added, seeing the lizard woman and her wife, "The green one...and the not-green one," he turned to Mac, the Time Lady ushering Clara out of the TARDIS first, "Or it could be the other way round, I mustn't prejudge!" he added to Mac, before spinning to the trio, "Oh, you remember, er..." he pointed at Clara, "Thingy, the, er, the not-alien one, the asking-questions one?"

"Clara?" Mac offered, sounding both amused and concerned for the state he was in.

"Names," he grimaced, "Not my area."

"Clara!" Clara huffed, crossing her arms.

"Well, it might be Clara, might not be," he shrugged, "It's a lottery."

"Much like regeneration," Mac murmured, eyeing him, "And it IS Clara, Doctor."

"Is it?" he tilted his head, before shaking it and adding, in Gallifreyan, "Not as interesting as Naery."

Mac snorted, "Good to see you remember mine," she teased, moving over to him to try and calm him down, to check him over and make sure he hadn't been injured in all the chaos.

"Oi!" he spun suddenly, yelling up at the dinosaur, a tyrannosaurus who was roaring behind them, "Big man, shut it!"

"It's a she," Mac told him, reaching out to take his hand, moving his arm this way and that to look him over, amused at how he just stood there and let her even while he was focusing on other things.

"Big woman, sorry."

"Good," Mac remarked, "Calm down, Doctor," she continued, hoping that speaking as soothingly as she could would help him to keep that way. Regeneration really was a lottery, but there was more internal damage that could come when the person regenerating got too anxious or stressed or resisted it...and to be given an entirely new set of regenerations had to be even harder still.

"I'm not flirting, by the way," the Doctor continued to speak to the dinosaur, but he was at least standing in one place and not shouting any longer, Mac took that as a win.

Clara glanced at the two Time Lords, Mac now moving on to turning the Doctor's head this way and that and shining a small penlight at his eyes, and moved over to Vastra's side, grateful that this 'friend' Mac had mentioned before was someone she recognized, "I think something's gone wrong."

Unfortunately, the Doctor heard that word, "Wrong?" he frowned, twisting around and starting to look around frantically, "What's gone wrong?"

Mac had to bite her lip to keep from smiling, for just a moment he seemed to be as mother-hennish as she was, growing frantic about some sort of potential danger looming unseen. But she really did have to keep him calm or this process would take longer, "With your regeneration," she clarified, "You're a bit out of sorts."

He frowned at that, "Have you regenerated?"

"Yes, I have," Mac reminded him, "Because of the Cyber-Planner and not a near-natural death," she gave him a frown, "Clara's just worried about you, we both are."

The Doctor looked over at Clara, his eyes narrowing as he eyed her, "I remember you," he declared, moving away from Mac to look at Clara more closely, "You're Handles! You used to be a little...a little robot head, and now you..." he seemed to stumble for how to phrase it, "You've really let yourself go."

"No, that's Clara," Mac came to his side, moving to the other one than she'd been examining before to finish up her assessment. She looked over at Vastra, "Could you reduce the frequency?" she asked the lizard woman.

"I'm sorry?" Vastra blinked.

"The sonic lanterns," Mac nodded at the handful she could see surrounding the dinosaur, "Turn them down. You're giving her a headache, and…"

"Giving who a headache?" Jenny frowned.

"The dinosaur," Mac clarified, "And I think it's making it harder for him," she nodded at the Doctor, "To concentrate, too. It's a bit distracting."

Vastra blinked, appearing a little startled that the Time Lords could apparently hear the sonic lamps, "My apologies," she offered, tapping something onto a device on her wrist to bring the frequency down.

"How do you know it's causing a headache?" Strax asked, moving over to them.

The Doctor, who appeared to have almost fallen asleep standing up as Mac finished her exam, perked up with a scoff, "Come on, Clara! You know that we speak dinosaur."

Clara did not appear amused now that Strax, the short potato thing, was standing beside her and the Doctor apparently thought HE was HER, "He's not Clara. I'm Clara."

"Well, you're very similar heights. Maybe you should wear labels…"

"Oh dear, oh dear," Mac murmured, moving closer to the Doctor as he began to sway and blink rapidly, knowing what was likely coming, "It's ok, Doctor…"

"Why..." his words began to slur somewhat, "Why are you all doing that? Why are you...you're all going dark...and wobbly…"

"Shh," Mac oved to brace him, one arm around his shoulder and lifting her other hand to brush against his temple, sending him to sleep, because, really, he would just work himself up more and more and grow more frantic and he needed his rest.

"Is he ok?" Clara hurried over when Mac struggled somewhat to catch him before he fell and lower him to the ground, "What do we do?"

"He just needs rest," Mac offered, "And probably tea. And a good meal. And some quiet. A decent bed would help and…"

"Whatever you need," Vastra offered, stepping up.

"But I don't understand," Jenny frowned beside her wife, "Who is he? Where's the Doctor?"

"Right here," Clara nodded down at the fallen man, his head nestled on Mac's lap with one of her hands running through his hair to soothe him, "That's him. That's the Doctor."

"Well then," Vastra glanced at Mac, offering the Time lady a rueful smile, "Here we go again."

"Every time," Mac sighed, shaking her head at the Doctor, "It never goes smoothly for him, does it?"

She'd have to keep an eye on him for this round of regenerations. He always had a rough go of them, and she imagined this one would hit him even harder. As though she didn't fret enough about him.

~8~

Vastra was silent as she stood off to the side of a bedroom in her home that night, watching as Mac did her level best to handle the Doctor. Strax had basically dragged the man back to the house and Mac had gotten him ready for bed, gotten him out of the last him's clothing and into a nightshirt, but it seemed like the point of trying to tuck him in had woken him up and he'd leapt from the bed and begun yelling. SHE had stepped in at that point, knowing from tales a version of Mac had told her, that the Doctor could be a bit violent and amnestic after a regeneration and did not want her friend to be in danger from her own Chosen. Mac had merely held up a hand to keep her back and focused on the Doctor.

She honestly hoped that the way the man was right now was not an indication of how he would continue to be. He was frantic and angry and yelling and she could tell this version of Mac already had frayed nerves from how often she worried and fretted over everything. Having the Doctor permanently in this state would not help anything.

"It's simply misunderstandable to me!" the Doctor was ranting as he moved around the room, looking at every inch of it, "I don't know what it is. Who INVENTED this room?"

Mac sighed, having some flashbacks to when they'd been younger and the Doctor would get ill and he'd be an absolute miserable patient. For being a Doctor, he HATED being sick, and would insist he wasn't, and just make himself even more sick as a result of not resting.

He seemed to be heading down this path again.

"Dear, you need to lie down…" she began, trying to calm him enough to HEAR her. Because she knew exactly how to get him to sleep when he was like this, she just had to make sure he was listening to her.

"But it doesn't make sense!" he spun to face her, which she took as a win, because having his focus was one step closer to having his ear, "Look, it's only got a bed in it. Why is there only a bed in it?"

"So you can sleep in it," Mac said simply, her hands held up in peace as she walked over to him slowly, not wanting to spook him into moving again, "In a bed, in the bedroom."

"Ok," he nodded slowly, his very thick brows now furrowed, which meant he was finally listening, "What do you do when you're awake?"

"In the bed?" she asked with a small smile, "Cuddle. Or other things. Or you get out of the bed and leave the room."

"So they've got a whole room for not being awake in?" the Doctor asked and Mac's smile faltered, ok, hearing but not actually listening yet, "But what's the point? You're just missing the room! And don't look in that mirror," he turned suddenly to point at one in the corner, "It's absolutely furious."

"Oh dear," Mac murmured under her breath, losing him now, "Doctor," she moved in front of him, reaching out to put her hands on his upper arms, turning him gently away from the mirror, "Dear, you need to lie down. You passed out before…"

"Well, of course I did, there's all these beds!" but then he frowned at her, "Why do you keep talking like that? What's gone wrong with your accent?"

"MY accent is fine."

"No," he shook his head, "You don't sound like me."

She snorted, "We don't always have the same accent."

"I love it when we have the same accent."

"Well, next time I'll work hard on getting a Scottish one to match," she offered.

"No," he shook his head, letting her lead him back towards the bed, sitting down when his knees hit the edge of it, her hands trailing to take his own, "No next time, never any next time."

She gave him a soft smile now, seeing he was listening now, "But I love matching you," she remarked easily, "Like now, we match," she squeezed his hands.

He looked down at them, noting idly that there were some faint wrinkles on both their hands, and back up to her, "Well, I focused very hard."

Her face scrunched for a moment, looking like she wanted to give him the fondest look ever for his words, but shook it off because, really, this was too important to get distracted, "I'd like to keep matching you," she added, moving to sit on the bed beside him, letting out a breath of relief when he turned to her to face her, good, focus and listening and closeness, "I'd really like a nap," she told him, "It's been…a hell of a time, I'm exhausted."

He frowned, "You should rest."

"I can't, though," she told him, "I can't rest if I'm worrying about you."

He paused for a moment, deep in thought, and she let her thumbs stroke the back of his hands, until he nodded, "Well, then I'll rest with you," he declared.

She had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling too widely at that, knowing he'd say it, because he always did, it was the only trick she really had to get him to rest at any time, have him consider her, having him worry for HER, so he'd do anything to help her, which meant she could help him instead.

"Oh look," she let out a light laugh, relinquishing her hold on one of his hands to pat what they were sitting on, "A bed. Perfect, isn't it?"

The Doctor glanced over at the bed and nodded, "I suppose it'll do."

"Not our bed in the TARDIS," she agreed, "But the old girl needs some time to recover, just like we do."

The Doctor let out what Mac was sure was meant to be a long-suffering sigh, before he turned to stretch out on the bed, "Well, come on," he tugged her down beside him by the hand he was still holding.

Mac nodded, moving to lie down next to him, allowing him to wind his arms around her and rested her ear to his left heart, and counting backwards from 10. She hadn't even made it to 6 before the Doctor zonked out, completely asleep he was so truly exhausted.

She smiled to herself, nodding at a job well done, and carefully began to extract herself from the tangle of his arms, glancing over when the door opened quietly to see Clara and Jenny peeking in to check when things suddenly went silent.

"I love monkeys," Vastra commented, smirking at Mac as she sat up, the Doctor dead to the world in his sleep, "They're so funny."

"Oh, I see!" Jenny huffed, moving to her wife's side, "So people are monkeys now, are they?"

"No, dear. People are apes. Men are monkeys."

Mac shook her head at her as she got up to move the covers over the Doctor to tuck him in, "He always falls for that," she defended, brushing her hand through his hair and dropping a kiss to his forehead as he slept on.

"So what now?" Clara asked, her arms crossed, shuffling on her feet a bit as she watched, worry for the Doctor etched across her face.

"He just needs rest," Mac assured her, though the way she was wringing her hands probably didn't hep Clara feel any calmer, it was her tell-tale sign for nerves and worry.

"So what do we do?" Clara repeated, "How do we fix him?"

Jenny gave her an odd look, "Fix him?"

Vastra tensed, "You don't mean, perhaps, how to change him back?"

Clara gave her a pointed look, "I've seen this before," she reminded the lizard woman with a gesture over to Mac, "They change, that's fine, better they live as someone else than die forever."

Mac gave her a smile and moved over to her side, putting a hand on Clara's tense shoulder, "She means, Vastra, that this regeneration is very different than how mine went. She's worried."

'Yeah," Clara defended, "Mac was all…bright light, boom she's different, but she was FINE. This…" she looked over at the Doctor in concern, "He's…not. Something's gone wrong, hasn't it?" she looked at Mac.

The wobble in Mac's attempt at a smile spoke volumes, "The first change is always the hardest," she tried to reassure herself even more than the others, "I've…I've never really seen someone be given a second cycle and regenerate into that. It happens," she added, "I just haven't seen it personally," she looked over at the Doctor, frowning now, "I don't know what to do."

Clara reached one of her hands up to clasp Mac's on her shoulder, frowning when she felt how the woman's hands were shaking, "First…tea?" she offered, looking over at Vastra pleadingly, not wanting to draw attention to Mac.

The woman had been remarkably calm through this, compared to how nervous and fretting she usually was over just about everything. But she knew how it was, having been a nanny herself, you could be scared out of your mind and worrying to the extreme, but you HAD to be calm or appear to be calm for the children's sake. There was something wrong with the Doctor, so Mac had to step in and be the one in charge. Now that he was safe, now that there was a moment to breathe, she was sure Mac was barely holding her numerous worries together.

"Tea sounds lovely," Vastra agreed, "Jenny, if you could prepare some?"

Jenny nodded and stepped out of the room moments before the dinosaur roared in the distance.

Vastra sighed, "She is not happy," she remarked, understanding the crude language.

"What's wrong with it?" Clara frowned, moving to the window to look out at it while Mac moved back to the bed, taking the Doctor's hand as it rested over the covers.

"I don't suppose anyone would be pleased being so displaced," Vastra remarked, offering them a nod before she left the room to join her wife, sensing that Mac wanted more privacy with her Chosen and Companion.

Clara waited till the door shut behind Vastra before she turned, leaning against the wall next to the window and looking at Mac, at the Doctor, "I never asked…" she began, thinking back to Mac's own regeneration, "Where do you get your faces? Why's it got lines on it? It's brand-new. How can his hair be all grey? He only just got it."

She hadn't realized the questions had been building up so much till now. She'd seen Mac change, yes. It was jarring to step into a room and watch her morph into someone else, but with the kids in danger and Mac in danger and all of them about to die, really she was just glad to still be alive and safe. All she'd needed to hear was it was 'regeneration' and it was how Time Lords healed to be ok with a new Mac, because it meant she was alive.

The Doctor…he wasn't. He wasn't ok, he was alive yes, but he wasn't fine, he wasn't healing, he was off and in pain and she didn't know what to do or what went wrong. And the questions just spilled out of her.

And, maybe, it was a bit of an attempt to keep Mac distracted from worrying too much.

"Regeneration is a lottery," Mac remarked with a sigh, "We're always different after."

"Do you ever worry that…" Clara began, before stopping, because Mac did worry and she didn't want the woman to worry about THIS thought in her mind.

"Hmm?" Mac looked over at her, "Worry about what?"

Clara hesitated.

"Probably," Mac answered with an easy shrug, "This me seems to do nothing but worry."

Clara moved over to the bed and sat down next to Mac, "Worry that you…you may not like the person one of you changes into."

She felt like she had to say it now, because Mac was likely to think about every worry under the sun if she didn't specify just ONE.

"That's the risk we take, being Chosens," Mac sighed, turning to Clara even as she held the Doctor's hand, "You can never be sure you'll always be compatible. But being Chosens means, well, that you CHOSE that person, all of them, any them they could be," she looked back at the Doctor, "It's a promise you make, that you'll find a way to make it work."

Clara opened her mouth to speak when the dinosaur roared again, drawing her attention to the window.

"I am alone…" the Doctor suddenly murmured, "The world which...shook at my feet, and the trees...and the sky, have gone...and I am alone now...alone."

"Why's he saying that?" Clara whispered to Mac, not sure if that was a sign the Doctor might be waking up, "Is he translating?"

Mac nodded, "It's what the dinosaur's saying."

"The wind bites now..." the Doctor continued, "And the world is grey...and I am alone here…"

"Shh," Mac reached over to brush her hand through his hair again, soothing him, smoothing out the crinkle on his forehead, "Sleep, dear, sleep."

"Boy?" Strax called as he appeared in the doorway, startling them, "The tea is ready and to be served in the sitting room."

"Thank you, Strax," Mac offered, before sighing and looking down at the Doctor once more. She leaned in to press another kiss to his forehead, "I'll be back," she murmured in Gallifreyan, before she stood and headed for the door with Clara.

~8~

"Oh my dear friend," Vastra sighed as she watched Mac take a sip of tea, her hand shaking so much as she set it down on its saucer that it made a tinkling noise. She and Clara had just finished recounting what had happened that led to the Doctor's regeneration and it was…quite a tale. She believed every word of it, and she could not imagine the trauma both Mac and the Doctor must have suffered.

It was clear to her now, why this regeneration was particularly hard for them.

The Doctor had been dying for centuries, and then a sudden and new regeneration was triggered, given to him by the Time Lords and not something he naturally had within him. It was not yet assimilated to him, which explained why he was so out of sorts. He had likely come to terms with that last him being the LAST him and now he had a new life he wasn't expecting and didn't know what to do or how to handle it.

And poor Mac. The woman was such a worrier, she had seen it even in the brief time she'd been around the woman during the awful moment with the Whisper Men. To be with the Doctor so long and fret over his failing health and declining mental state and clear death on the horizon? The woman would need much more than a mere cup of tea to settle those nerves.

Still, Mac tried to offer a smile, though it was weak and trembling like her hands were, clearly this was the first breath she'd been able to take, the first respite she'd been given to try and process it all.

"And then we got swallowed by a big dinosaur," Clara finished, "Mac tried to fly us out, seems we took the Dino with us. You probably noticed the rest."

"Ooh," Mac sighed, leaning back on the chair she was sitting on, curling her legs up to wind her arms around them, a comforting position for her, "It was madness," she said, "We were crashing and the Doctor was distracted, the TARDIS was breaking down…"

"I'm not sure if it was normal," Clara began, "Or really different."

Vastra eyed her, "Do you mean the Doctor?"

"He regenerated, I get it, he's different," Clara shrugged, "Like Mac is, but…I don't know this new him and he was just…" she struggled to try and find the words without making herself seem unaccepting or inflexible, "We were in real danger, and he was shouting at the walls."

Mac reached out to take Clara's hand, understanding her question now, her concern for the sort of man the Doctor might be now. They were in a very bad situation, Clara had been scared, and the Doctor had been off on a fit and not helping. Clara was worried that the Doctor wouldn't care, that he was going to just be ignorant when people needed his help.

"It's disorienting," Mac defended, "The first 15 hours especially are hard. There's too much to settle, but once it does…we'll know him better, we'll have time to know him."

Clara looked over at Mac for the way she squeezed her hand just then, the tremble in her voice.

Mac tried to smile reassuringly to the others as they looked at her, concerned. She couldn't quite manage it though, all she could think about were all the things that could go wrong and how she wouldn't know what to do because she'd never been in a situation where someone had a second set of regenerations (or more) given to them right at the end of their cycle, so close to the end of their life. So much could happen. She kept thinking to the reports UNIT got of the Pilot Fish and the Sycorax, the accounts from a Jackie Tyler about how the Doctor had been after that, all that happened.

She hadn't lied, he never had an easy go of his regenerations, he always hated to die and be replaced by someone else and, she felt, he fought it each time instead of letting it happen. It made it worse, it damaged him more, it left more that needed to be healed. And she didn't know what to do.

She just kept thinking about how one of his hearts could give out, or what if one of his organs failed, or if he fell asleep and the healing coma wouldn't allow him to wake up again? What if the dinosaur went on a rampage and somehow attacked the Doctor? What if another enemy was drawn to his regeneration energy again and attacked him? What if he somehow choked on the regeneration energy and died again?!

She closed her eyes, trying so hard to keep her thoughts from spiraling, but she couldn't help it. She tried to remember that he'd been fine, each time he'd come out of it on the other side. But she hadn't actually BEEN there for most of it. Oh she had reports and she had word from his family at times, but seeing it and experiencing it were different things. The last him seemed to have a somewhat easier go than this one, but he'd been constantly moving, using that to burn off the extra regeneration energy. He'd been more open to eating and resting and his mind had fired at a rapid pace that helped him distract himself from the pain.

But this…really, so much could go wrong.

"At least he's older this time," Clara offered, trying to distract Mac, managing to earn a small smile from the woman when she opened her eyes. It really didn't take a genius to see that Mac had been uncomfortable with the perceived age difference between her current body and the Doctor's last one, "You look the same. Which is weird," she tried to tease, "You can go from young to old, or old to young."

"We're really not that young to begin with, Clara," Mac murmured.

"You looked young," she shrugged.

"He looked like your dashing young gentleman friend," Vastra spoke.

"And now he looks like my father," Clara snorted, "My granddad even."

"Fitting," Vastra remarked, "He has walked this universe for centuries untold, he has seen stars fall to dust. If it weren't for a desire to flirt with Mackenzie, he would have reflected that sooner."

Mac gave her an odd look, "He was NOT flirting with me…" at least not in that manner, she knew he and Rory had conspired to help him literally flirt with her, to 'woo her' in his last body. But she didn't see what that had to do with anything, he'd regenerated before he'd even met Rory.

"He looked young. Who do you think that was for?" Vastra teased.

Mac blinked, "Me?"

Vastra smiled, "And now you are older, and so is he, strange how that happened, isn't it?"

Mac gave her a small smile for that, knowing it was Vastra's own way to help her distract herself from her worries, to bring up how one big worry she'd had, the way they appeared different ages, was resolved now, and how the Doctor made it very clear he'd done it on purpose.

"The older something is, the stronger something is," Vastra said wisely.

Clara nodded, catching on now, "And he looks ancient," she turned to Mac, "So he'll be fine."

"I do understand, you know," Vastra remarked to Mac, "The need to keep up a pretense in public, for appearances sake. For instance, Jenny and I are married, but among others we take on the role that she is merely my maid."

"Doesn't exactly explain why I'm pouring tea in private," Jenny grumbled as she did just that, pouring another cup for Mac, making sure not to fill it so much as she'd spilled a bit with her shaking before.

"Hush now."

"Good pretense, isn't it?"

Mac looked away a moment, "I don't mean any offense, Vastra," she sighed, looking back, "But at least, in public, no one is assuming Jenny is your child."

Vastra had to nod at that, understanding from human customs and views that there were some things humans would never, and should never accept. Her and Jenny being married, two women, regardless of species, would one day be accepted, for they were two unrelated women. If she were a human and this was the world Clara lived in centuries from now, it would be normal to see two women together.

But a mother and her child in any sort of intimate relationship, sexual relationship, or married to each other was never, ever accepted nor should it be. She and Jenny could be together one day, Mac and how the last Doctor appeared never would be. They were NOT mother and son, there was no issue there. They could easily just say they were unrelated but in a relationship if anyone assumed or commented. But she knew the age difference, perceived by the humans, having so many of them just assume or guess that the Doctor was Mac's son in public, had truly bothered the woman, as it would anyone.

Perhaps if so many people had NOT jumped to that conclusion, Mac would have been more comfortable being so close to the Doctor in public, others would have just assumed she was an older woman in a relationship with a younger man, acceptable if unbalanced to some.

But far too many people had jumped to 'mother and son' for Mac to feel she could ever even try to be that close to him where others could see. She had begun to assume every human would think that relation existed between them and had shied away from the Doctor for it where others could see.

"That will not be a problem any longer," Vastra reassured her, reminded her.

Mac let out a long breath, knowing she was right, but after so long of hearing it…it would take time to believe she and the Doctor could just be THEM around others once more.

Before her mind could drift more to that, to imagining them being themselves, an agonized roar went out through the night.

"What was that?!" Clara gasped.

Mac was on her feet and rushing to the window to look out of it, Jenny at her side, "That came from the river!" Jenny cried.

"It's the dinosaur!" Mac turned to them.

"Strax!" Vastra was up and shouting out, heading for the door, "Bring the carriage, now!"

~8~

It was a mad dash in the carriage, trying to get to the dinosaur. Mac was tense the entire time, listening to Strax shout at various people to get out of the way as they went. She was sure the others thought it was because something was wrong with the dinosaur that had, somehow, burst into flames and been attacked. But she knew it was something else.

She hadn't noticed at first, that the Doctor's thoughts had started to drift to her. It happened sometimes, especially after Christmas, that his thoughts would reach her even when he was sleeping, that she might catch a wayward dream or two. And with how little sense his thoughts were making, she'd assumed what she was hearing was a dream. Until they'd been flying off into the night and she'd looked back to see his window was open. She knew, then, that the Doctor had, in fact, been awake and had escaped and likely gone to see the dinosaur as well.

No, she KNEW he was going to check on the dinosaur, that's all his thoughts were directed at, getting there.

He had a head start, he had a single horse that could maneuver far better than the carriage, and he was determined. He was also still half out of his mind due to the trauma of the regeneration and she just kept thinking about what would happen if he fell off the horse or the horse crashed or he got there too soon and got attacked and…

"What do you think's happened?" Jenny asked, pulling Mac from her thoughts.

"I don't know," Vastra admitted, "But I fear devilment."

"Should we have told the Doctor?" Clara frowned.

Mac scoffed, "What makes you think he's not already halfway there?"

"He's not ready to leave his bed!" Jenny gaped at her, alarmed at the thought that he'd gotten out and up and about.

Vastra, though, seemed wholly unsurprised by that, "Strax!" she shouted out, "Faster!" she waited, hearing him urging the horses on, "Come on, Strax!" until the speed picked up, "That's better!"

"Hey," Clara spoke quietly, reaching out to take Mac's hands as she wrung them together so much her knuckles were turning white, "It'll be alright."

Mac tried to give her a smile, feeling like she really needed to get herself together. Clara was her companion, officially (she still couldn't believe it), SHE was the one who was supposed to make Clara feel better and feel safe, not the other way around. And she was sure she would, if it hadn't been this particular situation, with the Doctor in such a vulnerable state. It was easier to feel like things would be alright when he was beside her and fine.

"Woah!" Strax's voice shouted out, giving them only a moment's notice before the entire carriage shuddered to a sudden halt, nearly sending them flying into each other.

They quickly hurried out, only Jenny appearing to be surprised to see the Doctor was already there, in his nightshirt, "The Doctor!" she gasped, "What's he doing here?"

"There is trouble," Vastra remarked with a sigh, "It is as Mackenzie said, where else would he be?"

"She was scared," the Doctor was muttering to himself as he looked at the burning remains of the dinosaur, "She was scared and alone. I brought her here and look what they did."

"It wasn't your fault, dear," Mac moved over to his side, taking his cold hand and holding it in both of hers to warm it, "You were a bit occupied. If anyone brought her here, it was me. This is my fault."

He turned to her sharply, about to speak, likely to tell her it was in no way her fault, when Vastra cut in, "Who or what could have done this thing?"

"No," he spun to the lizard.

"I'm sorry?" Vastra blinked.

"No. That is not the question. That is not where we start."

"The question is how," Strax declared, "The flesh itself has been combusted..."

"No, no, shut up!" the Doctor snapped, flailing his arms around in his irritation, not seeming to realize he hadn't let go of Mac's hand which made her one arm flail about with him, "What do you all have for brains, pudding? Look at you. Why can't I meet a decent species? Planet of the pudding-brains!"

"Calm down, Doctor," Mac reached out, putting her free hand on his cheek to guide his attention back to her, hoping she might be able to check his eyes and see if he was suffering any sort of neurological affects from the regeneration. He was still a bit too manic and energetic, he needed to expel his excess energy but it was all bottled up and coming out in his anger, "I know you're upset, but you need to breathe," she took his second hand, taking a deep breath with her eyes locked on his, watching as he subconsciously mimicked her, "Very good."

"Ok, so…what is the question?" Clara asked, seeing him starting to calm down.

"A dinosaur is burning in the heart of London," he said, though it seemed he was speaking more to Mac than them, "Nothing left but smoke and flame. The question is...have there been any similar murders?"

Vastra frowned in consideration before her eyes widened, "Yes!" she gasped, "Yes, by the Goddess, there have!"

"Look at them all," the Doctor muttered, shaking his head, "Gawking!"

Mac could see the people gathered around to watch the spectacle even if she didn't turn her head to look, the corner of her eye had gleamed enough, just as he had for he hadn't looked away either. She wasn't willing to since keeping eye contact seemed to be helping to ease his anxiety more.

"Well, why wouldn't they?" she tried to tease, "Dashing man standing around in a nightshirt? I'd be looking."

He frowned at that and she could see the clear irritation blooming in his mind at the thought that she'd be looking at some random man in a nightshirt, gawking at him and…

"If it was YOU," she added with a gentle smile, reaching up to touch his cheek again, letting out a breath of relief when he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Good, one step closer to calming down.

"Hold on," Clara spoke, nearly causing Mac to sag at the tone of her voice. Because if Clara sounded like she was both concerned and curious, then it was bound to be a question that would set the Doctor off again, "Yeah, everyone's staring, but not that one…"

The Doctor's head snapped to the side so fast Mac nearly winced, sure he must have pulled something, but she turned too, able to catch the sight of a single man just walking along the embankment, past the humans, without a care or concern for the dinosaur or the fire still burning.

"He seems remarkably unmoved by the available spectacle," Vastra remarked.

"Oh, no, Doctor!" Mac shouted, feeling him pull his hand out of hers and turned in time to see him running for the edge of the river and jumping right into it, "Oh dear," she sighed.

"What he's doing?" Clara gaped at him, hearing the splash and turning to look, "He'll drown!"

"I very much doubt it," Vastra mused.

"Why?"

"There has been a murder. The Doctor has taken up the case. If we are to see him again, we must do the same."

"Don't worry, Clara," Mac tried to reassure her, though the growing tension in her voice probably didn't help, "He won't drown, I'm sure of it. Well, reasonably sure of it. He knows how to swim. Or I'm about 95 percent sure he does. One of his incarnations at least had to have known, so he'll be fine. Though…there WAS that one time he regenerated and forgot how to ride a bicycle…actually, have you any floaties in your carriage, Vastra?"

"Floaties?" the lizard woman gave her an odd look.

Mac sighed, "Ok, change of plans," she turned to them, "Clara, could you stay with Vastra and Jenny, help them work out the murder."

"While you make sure the Doctor doesn't actually drown himself?" Clara guessed the rest of it as Mac nodded. She sighed, "Yeah, yeah, I can do that," she nodded, almost relieved Mac had asked that. The Doctor was…a lot to handle on a good day and this new him? Well, she would be the first to say that, while regeneration didn't alarm her, she also didn't understand it fully. It was probably best for Mac, having more experience with it, to handle the Doctor in this state than trust her to do it.

He probably wouldn't listen to her anyway, he thought she was a potato-dwarf-alien-robot-person-thing.

He at least recognized Mac.

"Good luck," she offered the Time Lady as she hurried off along the bank after the Doctor.

~8~

It wasn't very hard for Mac to keep track of the Doctor. In his state, he was too loud and noisy for her NOT to find him easily. That and he'd been dripping wet for a large part of it, worrying her endlessly because there was a literal trail of water leading away from the river bank and what if he slipped on it? And even if he didn't, it was nippy out and he could catch a chill and then he'd be sick on top of having regenerated. He didn't have a coat!

Hmm, maybe she should keep more in her pockets than her odds and ends, there was an unlimited amount of things one could use a rubber band for. Tourniquet, hairband, weapon, yes. As a coat, no.

She'd finally caught up to him and couldn't help but tut at the sight of him literally playing tug of war with a tramp in an ally over a coat and raging about how he was cold.

"Doctor!" she called out, drawing his attention over to where she was standing with her arms crossed and a look on her face she knew reflected a disappointment in how he was acting.

Instantly he released the coat, holding his hands up in innocence, giving the tramp time to scamper off now that he was no longer being accosted by the mad Scotsman in his night clothes.

"Mackenzie!" he called back, before grimacing, "No, no, hmmm," he hummed, seeming thoughtful, his brow furrowed as she walked over to him, "Mac…Kenzie…Mac. Mac!"

She gave him an amused look for that, "So you're finally going to call me what I keep telling people to call me?"

He shrugged, "I like giving you what you want."

It was more than that though, it was…the way he saw her. Mackenzie, as his 10th self had called the first her he travelled with, it was formal, it was distant, a full name, an attempt at being respectful. She wouldn't let him be so familiar with him. Then came Kenzie, for his last self, the one he tried to flirt with and woo, an affectionate form of her name. Now…now they were Chosens, fully and completely Chosens, they were older, in appearance at least, he didn't need formalities or such desperate efforts to woo her. It was a new him for a new her and Mac just felt…more serious. Not severe like her 7th self was, but it made him feel like they were at a more serious place in their relationship, that they would grow to a more mature place as well.

"Is that why you chose this face?" she asked, having caught him shouting about his face before she actually saw him.

"Did I?" he frowned, turning to look at a nearby shop window and poke at his face in its reflection, "It's new but wrinkled. Which is fair, I wanted that..."

"You really did, didn't you?" Mac mused, looking at his reflection in the window, "That's a first."

"Hmm," he hummed, nodding absently. He had never really put any effort into choosing some aspect of his regeneration, he enjoyed the lottery part of it. But this time, there was only one thing he'd wanted, to be older. He didn't care what else happened, what other traits he got, he just wanted to be older than the last him had been.

"You could have focused on being ginger," she remarked, "I know you've wanted to be that for ages."

He scrunched his face up, "More important things in life than being ginger," Mac began to smile at that even as his face grew more confused and cross, "I didn't focus this hard though," he added, "It could be any old face, but I've seen this one before…"

"Now you know how I feel," Mac murmured, moving to his side, "Why this face?" she wondered, eyeing herself in the window too.

"Because it's you," the Doctor said simply.

"How so?' she asked, poking at her own cheek.

"You look like a mother," he explained easily. And it was true, now that he thought about it, how the last hers fit the her she was. One looked very severe and down to business, the other more free and understanding, this one just looked warm and comforting, like she was someone you could turn to when you were upset or scared.

She smiled a bit at that, knowing he didn't say it to make her feel bad, given her history with not really being able to BE a mother, but a way to give her something back.

"You look a mess," she teased, laughing when he rolled his eyes, feeling more at ease now that he seemed to be more back to sorts. She wasn't sure how long that would last though, he would go off on tangents but when she would get his attention for more than a moment, he seemed to stabilize. She didn't know if he'd go back to his distracted moments once he fixated on something else again so she had to be quick now, "We need to get you cleaned up. Maybe you'll work out why this face when it's not smudge with dirt and soaking wet."

He looked down and frowned at himself, "Why am I in a dress?"

She laughed more this time, linking her arm with his and pulling him into the building he'd been staring at the glass of, it was a tailor's shop, they should be able to find something in there for him to wear. She was always sure to carry some human money with her since working at UNIT, from different periods in time as well once she started travelling with him.

And it was probably a good thing she had, for as she settled down to watch the tailor get to work on a few pieces of clothing he'd actually had lying about from a client who had failed to pick up the outfit, she noticed an open newspaper with a very odd advert staring up at her.

From 'the Impossible Girl.'

~8~

Perhaps it was the Doctor's words stuck in her head, how she looked like a mother in this incarnation, that Mac couldn't help but notice how…quiet…the restaurant the advert had led her and the Doctor to was. There were no conversations occurring, there were no children present, and even the noise of things clinking, the utensils on plates and glasses on tables, sounded too…repetitive and measured. In fact, the only noise they could hear that sounded like actual noise was from the back of the room where they could see Clara at a table against the back wall, a newspaper clutched in her hand.

Mac reached out and took the Doctor's hand, leading him over to Clara as he was too focused on frowning around at the people in the restaurant, the two of them sliding into the booth with her, startling her.

"You're here!" Clara breathed, relieved, "Thank god I got it right."

Mac gave her a warm look, "You did."

Clara glanced past her and over at the Doctor, eyeing his new attire, "Where did you get that coat?" she asked, able to really only see that part of it above the top of the table. It was almost like a suit jacket, but more casual, with a collared white shirt under it and no tie. She could see a small bit of red lining the inside of the jacket. He looked…far more put together than he had when she'd last seen him swimming through the Thames in his nightshirt.

"Er...I bought it," the Doctor murmured.

"I bought it," Mac corrected, giving Clara a defensive look when the girl shot her an expression that could only say 'really, THAT'S what you were busy doing?' "What!?" she huffed, "He was soaking wet, he could have caught his death in that chill and that would have been a waste of a regeneration."

They didn't know how many he'd have, whether it was an entire cycle or just one more body. Once the first 15 hours settled, they could probably gauge it, the Doctor should be able to feel some of the regenerative energy just under his skin, but until then…they had to operate like he only had this one more body.

The Doctor reached out and took her hand even as he got distracted by the menu Mac seemed unaware she'd slid in front of him. He couldn't help the small smirk on his face, knowing the next tangent she would probably get onto was about how he needed to eat more because 'this him is almost as skinny as the other him!' and 'he needed more meat on his bones' and 'you're a growing boy!' He almost hoped she'd go for the last one, he had a rather witty quip about how he was not a 'boy' and how he was very much looking forward to proving it to her later.

Hmmm, was that him? Was that the new him? Was he a smooth charmer? Or was he just a fan of challenging others and proving them wrong? He'd have to work on that.

"I suppose I should be glad you're both alive," Clara huffed, fighting a smile as she'd caught the move of him holding Mac's hand, "Though, next time, can you just ring me instead of leaving a cryptic note in…in a newspaper advert?"

"Oh dear," Mac frowned.

"What?" Clara nearly groaned, seeing her expression, hearing her 'oh dear,' which always seemed to come up when something was either quite surprising or going very wrong. And it didn't seem like this was the situation to be surprised at.

"I was hoping you wouldn't say that."

"Say what?"

"That WE put the advert in the paper."

"You did, though, didn't you?"

Mac shook her head, "The Doctor thought it was you..."

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, "It had all the signs of an egomaniac, needy, game-player."

"But it couldn't be," Mac cut in, "Because, in this period, it would take much longer than a few hours to get an advert in a paper. The printing press is quite innovative, but those papers would have already been printing by the time you would have needed to put an advert in."

"And you COULD have done it," Clara realized, "If the TARDIS wasn't still rebuilding. And by the time she's done you'd be crossing your own timeline. And you would have just rung up Vastra anyway," she nodded, knowing Mac would have done that instead of some cryptic thing like that.

"Well, if neither of us placed that ad, who placed...that ad?" the Doctor wondered, looking out at the other guests.

"Hang on," Clara frowned as something caught up to her, "Egomaniac, needy, game-player?!"

Mac rubbed at her head, "He's still a bit…" she tried to think of a word for it and could only gesture at her head, "Settling?"

Clara huffed, not seeming like she believed that at all.

"This could be a trap," the Doctor murmured beside them.

"I did worry about that," Mac sighed.

"Then why did you step into it?" Clara hissed at them.

"Because YOU were already in it, Clara," Mac turned to her, "You're my companion."

The Doctor had to look away for that, knowing what Mac would have likely added onto that, but chose not to say aloud. Clara was HER companion, not his. She'd given him plenty of grief, when she'd been angry at him incarnations ago, about his track record with companions and how he lost his fair share of them. He felt like he'd deserved it at the time, looking back he could see that he HAD needed someone to remind him of the dangers, to be cross with him over certain situations. He felt like he would have been more lax, less determined to prove to her he could keep them safe, and they would have gotten hurt. He knew she'd felt personally responsible for trying to help keep his companions safe and even she had failed at that.

This time Clara was HER Companion, it was all on her, she felt, to keep Clara safe. If Clara wandered into a trap, Mac would be there, running right in, to get her out. And he'd be right there with her.

He knew the pain of losing a companion, he didn't want her to feel that. Because he could tell, this Mac, she really was such a mother hen, but a mother as well. She wouldn't just see Clara as a companion in the end, she'd see the girl as an almost child and it would have nothing to do with Clara's age compared to them. And to lose Clara would hurt her so much worse than to just lose a companion. The first was always the hardest, and it never got easier.

"We need to be careful," Mac added, glancing around the room.

"It's...it's a vanity trap," the Doctor continued, "You're so busy congratulating yourself on solving the puzzle," he reached up to pluck a hair from his head, "You don't notice that you're sticking your head in a noose," and held it up before him, trying to see something in it.

"What are you doing?" Clara asked, before trying to tease, trying to lighten the serious mood they'd both fallen into, a little jarred to see the Doctor being so serious after the last him's reaction to danger, "And that isn't the only grey one, if you are, erm, having a cull."

"What, do you have a problem with the grey ones?" the Doctor asked, turning a frown on Clara that startled her.

But then she caught sight of the way his eyes flickered to Mac and she couldn't help but smile at his reaction. She knew Mac's newfound 'age' had been a sore spot for the Time Lady. Being older and having a partner who looked the same age as her child could be hadn't helped her feel comfortable in her skin or around the Doctor. He was misinterpreting her tease at HIM now being older than even Mac appeared, as seeing her having a problem with how much older Mac had gotten than the last her.

"I'm just saying," Clara crossed her arms and leaned back a bit in her bench, "You didn't age as gracefully as Mac did."

Mac snorted at that, not having expected Clara to say that, "Thanks," she laughed.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, before huffing and dropping the hair, "It's too short," and turned to pluck one right off Mac's head.

She flinched, "Bit of warning next time, dear," she muttered, reaching up to rub at the spot.

He leaned over and dropped an absent kiss to her head where she was rubbing, before he held up the strand to observe.

"What's he doing?" Clara whispered to Mac, so as not to disturb the Doctor, as she leaned forward more to see.

"Trying to measure the air disturbance in the room," Mac murmured, frowning as deeply at it as he was.

Clara was tempted to remark about how similar their expressions were just then, a sign that the Doctor might have picked up more from Mac than just her aging, when she noticed something odd…

The hair wasn't moving.

But that couldn't be right, because even something as small as breathing or moving to eat or talking could cause an air disturbance.

The Doctor dropped the hair, all three of them watching as it fell straight down, before he looked up at the other diners, "There is something extremely wrong with everybody else in this room," he remarked quietly, seeing the repetitive nature of their movements.

Clara moved to look, only for Mac to hold up a menu in front of her face.

"Carefully," Mac whispered to her.

Clara frowned but took the menu, making a show of looking it over, lowering it slowly so she could peer over the top of it, watching the others, "They look fine to me. They're just eating."

"Are they?" the Doctor challenged.

Clara glanced over again, really watching them this time, and could finally see what the Time Lords had, that the other patrons were just lifting the food to their mouths but not eating it, lowering them and repeating the action.

Was the food even real?

"No," she answered, "No, they're not eating."

"You know what else they aren't doing?" Mac leaned over, pretending she was pointing out something on the menu, a move that had Clara tensing because clearly the Time Lords were seeing something dangerous they didn't want to draw attention to them for, "Breathing."

"What do we do?" Clara murmured as she slowly lowered her menu.

"What, you don't want to eat, do you?" the Doctor eyed her, half expecting Mac to go on a tangent about how breakfast was the most important meal of the day and so on.

"Slightly lost my appetite," Clara muttered, "How long before they notice that we're different?"

"Not long, I'd imagine," Mac wrung her hands, or tried to, the Doctor hadn't let go of her one hand so she ended up putting her other on top of his to hold a bit more tightly.

"Anything we can do?"

"How long can you hold your breath?" the Doctor asked.

"We could just casually stroll out of here, like we've changed our minds?"

Mac nodded slowly, "Could work," she murmured.

"Happens all the time," the Doctor agreed.

Clara began to smile, "Course it does."

The three of them stood, ready to leave…only for every single other 'person' in the room to do the same and stand. They glanced at each other, unsure if it was just a reaction, if there was some sort of 'programming' that just said it was 'polite' to rise with other people. But the moment they took a single step forward, all of the other 'patrons' turned towards them. It was very clear that if they took another step, the next likely scenario was that the diners would step towards them.

"We could...take another look at the menu," Clara offered, louder than necessary, but unsure who might be listening and what they might think if they mentioned leaving. It might buy them time.

They slowly sat back down, watching as the other diners did the same.

"Ok," Clara sighed, picking up her menu, the diners not going back to 'eating' till the three of them had, "What are they?"

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

"Some sort of robot," Mac guessed, before perking up as she thought of something. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small black disk, absently placing it on the table, for only a moment before it flew off the surface and seemed to get stuck onto the back of one of the diners' heads. She nodded, "Magnet," she told them, a very sensitive one from a planet they'd visited once, "Definitely some sort of robot."

"Next question," the Doctor added, "What is this restaurant?"

"Ok, what is this restaurant?" Clara looked at him.

"I don't know."

"Factory?" Mac continued to guess, looking at the Doctor, "They could be workers? Or it could be like…like Webley's?" she grew a bit green at that thought, "Or a ship? Or the entrance to a base? Or…"

She was cut off when a waiter approached their table…and just stood there staring at them.

"Er..." the Doctor floundered a little, "No sausages? Do you..." and fumbled, "And there's no pictures either. Do you have a children's menu?"

Mac moved slightly to block Clara when the waiter pulled out a stick, some sort of wand-like device, from its pocket and flashed it at the Doctor.

"Any specials?" he continued to try and play off the situation. The less these people knew who and what he and Mac were the better.

"Liver," the waiter stated, its voice flat and monotone, emotionless.

"I don't like liver."

"Spleen. Brain stem. Eyes."

"Is there a lot of demand for those?" Clara asked.

Mac grew even more green at the thought of the next suggestion she'd been about to make. That this might actually BE a restaurant, only that it would serve humans to aliens somewhere below. She was getting a sinking feeling it might be like that.

"Oh please don't tell me that's us on the menu," Mac nearly groaned.

The Doctor merely reached behind him, not taking his eye off of the waiter, to pat her knee in an attempt at comfort.

The waiter just continued to scan, but this time turned the scanner on Clara, getting Mac instead, "Lungs. Skin."

"Excuse me," the Doctor stood suddenly, realizing the waiter had turned to Mac and not about to let that happen. He reached out and ripped off a piece of the waiter's face, seeing it almost torn at the edge and revealing a bit of something not flesh or bone. Now he could see a sort of pilot light burning behind the mask of its face.

"Robot in a mask," Clara remarked, though now she looked green at the sight.

"It's a face," the Doctor said, passing the 'mask' to Mac to examine.

"Yeah, it's very convincing."

"No," Mac winced, turning to Clara and holding it up, "It's…its an actual face. Human skin and…"

"Oh, god," Clara grimaced.

"Yes," the waiter spoke, pulling all their attention back to him.

"Yes, what?" the Doctor hesitated to ask, honestly not sure if he wanted to know.

"Yes, we have a children's menu."

Mac let out a sharp breath at the implication of that, about to jump to her feet when metal restraints shot out from the chairs, over their upper arms and chest, and wound around them, locking around their waist and lower arms too, pulling them down into their chairs only a moment before the booth began to lower down a shaft.

"Oh dear," Mac huffed, struggling a bit with her restraints.

"You've got to admire their efficiency," the Doctor commented.

"Is it ok if I don't?" Clara muttered, glancing over at Mac, "Any way to get out of this?" she asked the Time Lady.

"A few," she remarked, "But I can't exactly get to my pockets…" she struggled more, trying to twist so she could get her hand to said pocket, but couldn't manage it.

They were forced to wait till they got to the bottom of the shaft, a wall opening up to a very disused room. Once the booth was set, the clamps unclipped, allowing them to scramble to their feet and get away from the booth. They cautiously stepped through the doorway into the disused room, it was…a mess, in all honesty. It was covered in rust and dust and so cluttered. There were humanoid shapes set into some alcoves around the room, likely replacements for the robots above, thankfully all of them seeming to be in sleep-mode. There was one other, a man, with half a face, sitting in the middle of the room, half slumped over.

"Hello?" the Doctor called, moving over to the seated figure, "Hello, are you the manager? I demand to speak to the manager."

"Can we not?" Mac moved over to him, lightly tugging him away from the man, "I'd rather they all remain like this for now."

"So what is this then?" Clara looked around, "Factory? Ship? Restaurant?"

The Doctor sighed, running a hand down his face, "Well...it's more a sort of automated organ collection station for the unwary diner. Sweeney Todd without the pies."

"So exactly like Webley's," Mac added, "Just not Cybermen," she eyed the slumped figure once more.

"So, where are we now?" Clara turned to them.

"Factually, an ancient spaceship," the Doctor assessed, looking around, "Probably buried for centuries. Functionally...a larder."

"So why hasn't somebody come for us?"

"I don't think we're meant to be alive," Mac told her.

The Doctor leaned forward, eyeing a few of the figures in the alcoves, looking at them closely, "Dormant," he warned them.

"How do you know?" Clara turned to him.

"They'd have attacked us by now if they weren't," Mac reasoned, "Which means, they could activate at any time once their sensors pick up that we're here."

"So...is it these guys that killed the dinosaur?"

"Well, if they're harvesting organs, a dinosaur would have some great stuff," the Doctor shrugged.

"And this is like Webley's?" Clara crossed her arms, not having fond memories of that time, "Robots needing spare parts?"

"Droids," the Doctor corrected, because Mac was right, these were not Cybermen, "Droids harvesting spare parts. That rings a bell," he glanced over, moving closer to the slumped figure in the chair, the placement could only mean one thing, "Captain, my Captain."

"Can he see us?" Clara wondered as she and Mac stepped closer to observe it, too.

"Dormant," Mac reminded her, moving around the chair to get a more complete look, "What's more, charging," she added, picking up a wire running along the floor.

"He's asleep," the Doctor confirmed, waving a hand in front of the man's face, "Doesn't even know we're here."

"Are you sure?" Clara couldn't help but ask.

"Sure, not sure, one or the other."

"I know which one I prefer," Mac sighed, making her way back around to their side, leaning in to look at the still figure once more.

"Ok, so half-man, half-robot," Clara eyed it, "A cyborg, yeah?"

"Ish," Mac nodded.

Clara frowned, "Ish?"

"The hands," the Doctor pointed down at them, gesturing from one to the other, both of them not quite the same, "They don't match. These hands don't belong to the same body."

"I don't understand," Clara shook her head.

"I don't blame you. See, this...this is not your normal cyborg. This isn't a man turning himself into a robot. This is a robot turning himself...into a man, piece by piece."

Mac nodded, "If it was a person becoming machine, the human parts would be turned into the cybernetic when they stop functioning. But they look more like human parts that were refreshed, so it's a machine that's replacing some parts with human ones," she straightened, crossing her arms, "Well, this gives Pinocchio a new spin."

"Isn't that what you said the restaurant's for," Clara looked at them.

The Doctor nodded, "It would need a constant supply of spare parts. You can tan skin, but organs rot."

"How long has this been here?" Mac looked around, "I mean, some of that metalwork looks Roman…"

"The eyeballs look very fresh," the Doctor leaned in for a closer look, only to jerk back when the face suddenly twitched and the body moved its arms.

Mac was at Clara's side in an instant, pulling her back from the jerking robot. They watched as the bot moved, putting its hands on the arms of the chair it sat on, as though it were getting ready to stand, they could see clockwork gears turning behind the uncovered half of its face.

"Is it awake?" Clara breathed.

"It's waking up..." the Doctor agreed, "I think."

"We should go," Mac glanced at the Doctor, nodding her head around the room, showing that they were surrounded and all they needed was for the 'captain' to call up his army for them to be in real trouble.

"Ok," the Doctor nodded, "Let's go."

They turned and tried to make it to the only open doorway in the circular room, Mac reaching out to grab his arm and tug the Doctor on when it seemed like he was about to stop.

"But I've seen this before," the Doctor spoke to her, "I'm missing something!"

"I'm sure you'll work it out later," Mac told him.

He huffed, "It's the brand-new head, rebooting!" he started to tap against his head, "Come on! I've seen this before!"

"Oh, just shut up and get out," Clara moved behind him to help Mac push him on now that he'd actually come to a full stop, the two of them managing to get him through the door, one pushing and one pulling him.

Clara looked over her shoulder when she heard a noise to see that the half-faced man had stood up. She turned to follow the Time Lords, wanting to get away from the man, when the door slammed shut, cutting her off from them.

"Mac!" she called out, "Doctor!" she tried banging on the door.

The Doctor quickly pulled out the sonic from his pocket, Mac having grabbed it on the way out of the repairing TARDIS, and flashed it at the door, getting it to rise up somewhat, but not enough for Clara to squeeze through.

"Doctor…" Mac looked at him, worried, able to see the half-faced man now unplugging himself in the glass of the window.

He looked around, "There has to be a switch…a circuit…" he scanned the sonic around, a beeping signifying a matching signal. He looked at her, grim.

"Go," she offered, pushing him off, "I'll wait here."

"Mac…"

"Go!" she nearly shoved him this time, a pointed look on her face. He gave her a nod, swooping in for a quick kiss, before he turned and ran, following the signal.

"Mac!" Clara called through the doorway, looking back and forth from her to the man trying to walk towards her.

Mac looked around herself, knowing that the Doctor would be able to find something to open the door, but there was no telling how long it would take and she wasn't about to just stand there and risk Clara! "Hold on," she told the girl, "I just…there must be something…"

The room, more like a small hall, was cluttered with what looked like discarded items, both mechanical and organic, along with what was probably some items meant to be in the restaurant to keep up appearances. There were was a heap of metal, that looked like robotic parts all fused together into a lump that came to her knees, a beam from some replacement supports, barrels of something, piles of clothing, bones scattered everywhere…

"Got it!" Mac gasped, rushing forward, she dragged the lump of metal closer to her, as near the door as she could get it, leaving just a foot or two of room. She grunted, trying to move the beam, it was heavier than she thought it would be, but that would help her in the end, she knew. She dragged it to the lump, working to shove the end of it through the opening on the bottom of the door, "Clara, move to the side," she warned, not wanting the girl to get hit with the beam.

"Hurry!" Clara called out.

Mac took a breath and moved to the other end of the beam, lifting the end of it, just needing to raise it enough to get part of it on top of the lump of metal, nearly dropping it as soon as she could. She moved to the side, peering at where it stuck through the door and nodded, it would have to do.

"Clara, get down," she told the woman, able to see her on the ground, trying to get through the underside of the door once more, and moved to the beam, dragging the barrel with her. She clambered on top of the barrel and threw herself on top of the beam, using her weight to bear down on it. The sudden weight was enough to force the end of the beam under the door up, slamming against the door. While it sent a painful jolt through her arms and upper body, it did what it was supposed to do, forcing the door up a little bit more, enough for Clara to get her head through.

She repeated the process two more times, slamming the door up again and again, more and more, then leaving her weight on the beam to keep it that far open, enough for Clara to squeeze through to her side.

"Mac!" Clara gasped as soon as she could scramble onto her feet.

Mac jumped off the end of the beam, turning to hug Clara tightly, allowing the door to slowly start falling back down to where it had been when the Doctor used the sonic on it. She looked over, hearing a thumping noise, to see that the half-faced man had reached the doorway and was staring at them through the window.

Mac glanced at Clara, squeezing her hand before she stepped forward to confront the half-faced man through the window, "What?" she demanded, straightening up to face him down, not about to let Clara anywhere near him.

"Where is the other one?" the robot spoke, "There was another. Where is he? Where is the other? You will tell us...or you will be destroyed."

Mac gave him a smirk, "To do that, you would need to open the door."

Clara nearly jumped when the door opened a moment later, the half-faced man stepping through, "Was that him or…" Clara whispered to her as they began to back up.

"Could be either of them right now," Mac answered quickly, before facing the robot.

"You will tell us where the other one is," the robot demanded.

"Or what?" Mac continued to try and keep herself between the robot and Clara, "You'll kill me? My biology may make that a tad difficult for you."

"You will be destroyed," the robot threatened.

"Try me."

"Of course," Clara spoke, on her toes to look at the robot over Mac's shoulder, knowing, for as nervous as the woman could be, she was a true mama-bear when someone she cared about was in danger, and she'd rather not see the woman die in front of her. She could only deal with so many regenerations in a span of time, "If we're dead, then...we can't tell you where the other one went."

"Humans feel pain," the robot continued to walk towards them, but seemed to fail to realize that Mac had managed to turn somewhat as they went and was now walking them backwards towards the larger room where there might be more help coming, or an easier way out, or more objects she could use to stop the robot, "The information can be extracted by means of your suffering."

"You lay a finger on her," Mac began, glaring at the robot, not caring about herself, she could handle pain, but she would not allow anyone to try it on Clara, "And I will rip you apart."

"You can't kill us," Clara tried again, "Because we know where the other one went, but you also can't let us go because we could tell the authorities about your restaurant up there. You can't hurt us, because we COULD tell you information, but you'd never know if it was true. All you can do right now is negotiate."

"We will not negotiate," the half-faced man stated, pulling his right hand off, clipping it to his lapel, before using his other hand to ignite a blowtorch hidden there.

"You don't have a choice," Mac said, still eerily calm, smiling even, "How about this, a trade? You tell me something, I tell you something. And if you tell me something interesting enough, I'll tell you where the other one is."

Clara's gaze snapped to Mac for that last part, managing to catch a small wink when the woman glanced at her a moment and then back to the robot.

"We will not answer questions," the robot spoke, pulling Clara's attention back to it.

"Why did you kill the dinosaur?" Mac asked simply.

The robot seemed to frown, "We will not answer questions."

"Why did you kill the dinosaur?" Mac repeated.

"We will not answer questions!"

"You're two strikes down," Mac warned him, "I've asked you twice already, don't make me ask a third time."

Clara wasn't sure if the 'mom-voice' Mac was using just then, that scolding quality that said the child in question had better answer of face a grounding, would work on a robot, but it would have done her in. She sounded like a parent threatening to turn the car around if the kids didn't behave.

She watched the half-faced man as it stood there a moment longer, staring, before it spoke, surprisingly.

"Within the optic nerve of the dinosaur is material of use to our computer systems," it stated.

Mac smiled, "Very good," she offered it.

"Wait," Clara frowned, something about that striking her as odd, "You know what's in a dinosaur's optic nerve?" she considered it a moment, "Have you seen dinosaurs before?"

The half-faced man ignored her, "Where is the other one?"

"Hmm," Mac shook her head, "Not a good enough piece of information," she told it, "I could have guessed you wanted something from the dinosaur, you only told me what part. My turn again, how long have you been rebuilding yourselves? It's been a good long while, I'd imagine, why keep at it?"

"We will reach the Promised Land."

"The what?" Clara peered over mac's shoulder at it, "The Promised Land? What's that?"

"Where is the other one?" the robot continued to repeat.

Mac smirked, she and Clara now in the middle of the room, the half-faced man halfway in from the doorway. The OPEN doorway.

"Right behind you," Mac told it.

The half-faced man spun on its heel to see the Doctor was casually leaning in the doorway right behind him.

"Hello, hello," the Doctor greeted, "Rubbish robots from the dawn of time," he remarked, entering the room, moving over to Mac and taking her hand to kiss the back of it, "Thank you for all the gratuitous information," he offered to her, though she could see how his gaze flickered over her body to ensure she was alright.

They'd both kept tabs on the other through those last few minutes, but she'd kept him more on mute to ensure she wouldn't be distracted in helping Clara. He just wanted to make sure.

"Um, Doctor," Clara spoke, "Blow torch?"

He turned, glancing over his shoulder to see the half-faced man just standing there with its hand still blazing. He rolled his eyes, reaching out to slap the hand down, "Stop it!" he huffed, before turning fully to scan the robot, "This is your power source," he realized, his sonic beeping in its chest area, "And, feeble though it is, I can use it to blow this whole room if I see one thing that I don't like, and that includes karaoke and mime, so take no chances."

"Why are you here?" the droid asked him.

"Why did you invite us?" the Doctor asked with a shrug, "The message, in the paper..." he added, when the robot just continued to stare, "That was you, wasn't it?"

Mac leaned forward to whisper to him, "How would they know the 'Impossible Girl' would be here and now? WE didn't even know where we'd land."

"Ah," the Doctor nodded, realizing that, "Oh. I hate being wrong in public. Everybody forget that happened," he called out, before glancing over at Clara, "Clara, if you could say the word?"

"What word?" Clara looked over at him.

He rolled his eyes, seeming almost annoyed at the question, "Vastra would never sent you in here without a word."

"I don't want to say it," Clara admitted.

"I'm fairly certain we know what it is," Mac assured her, "And we could use a bit of help."

Clara glanced around, noticing the other robots were starting to come alive and head for them, surrounding them, and sighed, pressing a finger to a brooch on her gown, "Geronimo!" she called out.

Almost instantly a hatch opened on the ceiling and two women who could only be Vastra and Jenny rolled down silk ropes into the room, landing ever so gracefully and whipping out their weapons with ease.

"Remain still and lay down your weapons, in the name of the British Empire!" Vastra demanded, turning her weapon on the half-faced man.

The whole thing would have been very dramatic, and very effective…had Strax not dropped from the ceiling moments later, landing hard on the ground.

"Strax!" Vastra huffed.

"Oh dear, are you alright?" Mac hurried over to his side to help the potato off the floor.

"Yes, yes," Strax brushed her off, glancing at Vastra and offering a, "Sorry," before he, too, raised his weapon.

"I've told you before," Jenny muttered, "Take the stairs."

"Oh, look," the Doctor remarked dryly to Mac when she moved back to his side, "The cavalry."

"I burned an ancient, beautiful creature for one inch of optic nerve," the half-faced man stated, taking a step towards them, unaffected by the entire display, "What do you think you can accomplish, little man?"

"What do you?" the Doctor challenged, before turning to the lizard woman, "Vastra?"

"The establishment upstairs has been disabled with maximum prejudice," she reported, "And the authorities summoned."

"Hang on," Clara caught on to that, "She called the police? We never do that, we should start."

"I'm sure she has some contacts with the police that would allow this to be hushed," Mac reminded her, "I have some pull with UNIT, but with all that he gets up to," she nodded at the Doctor, "They might fire me for how often I'd end up calling them."

Clara had to nod at that, it made sense.

The Doctor pointedly ignored their whispers, focusing on the robot before them, "You see? Destroy us if you will, they're still going to close your restaurant. That was going to sound better."

"Then we will destroy you," the bot signaled to the other robots, which continued to move towards them once more, though this time pulling parts of their bodies off to reveal blades and other weapons hidden within their arms.

A few doors around the room that had been closed to them before, opened now, allowing even more bots to enter, gathering behind the half-faced man as he began to approach, all of them working together to corner the group and surround them.

"No, you won't," the Doctor tried to challenge the robot, "You're logical. You have restraint. You kill to survive, you're not a murderer."

"I don't think that logic is going to apply," Mac whispered to him, "They'll kill to survive, they'll kill us if it means they continue to survive undiscovered."

Because she had no doubt that the robots above would attack the police as soon as they entered, either for more parts or to keep them from discovering everything else.

"This is a slaughterhouse," Clara added, "Of course they're murderers!"

He rolled his eyes, "And how does that make it different from any other restaurant? You weren't vegetarian the last time I checked."

"She's not eating other human beings, dear," Mac deadpanned.

He huffed, not having a point against that, and instead turned back to the half-faced man, "This is over. Killing us won't change that. What would be the point?"

"To find the Promised Land," it stated.

"You're millions of years old, it's time you knew there isn't one."

"I am in search of paradise."

"Yeah, well, me too. Found it, easy," he said, reaching out to take Mac's hand, not even seeming to realize he'd done it or notice the smile that grew on her face for it.

The half-faced man merely made a signal with his hand, the robots shifting, forcing them in one direction to give him a path to the booth, still resting at the base of the shaft to the restaurant, "I will leave in the escape capsule. Destroy where necessary."

"Escape capsule?" Vastra twisted at that, "This ship is millions of years old, it'll never fly."

"It has been repaired."

"What with?"

The half-faced man just stared at her, "You."

"Defensive positions everyone!" Strax cut in when the robots began to surge towards them, pulling Vastra's attention back as she, Jenny, and himself moved closer to the Time Lords and Clara, trying to circle them for more protection.

"He's getting away!" Clara called out, seeing the robot activating the booth to lift up.

"Your friend is intelligent," the half-faced man turned to her, "He'll know better than to follow me."

Mac could only shake her head at that, the robot really had no understand of non-cybernetic individuals, did he? If he actually thought the Doctor would remain there and NOT follow him up somehow.

She was yanked out of her thoughts when she was literally yanked to the side, towards the booth by the Doctor. The man didn't seem to realize he was still holding her hand when he moved to follow after the robot. He had merely reached up to grab onto a bar under the booth with one hand, only seeming to realize his other hand was linked to hers.

"Oh no," she shook her head, tugging her hand out of his when he tried to pull her on after him, "You go."

"Mac..." he frowned at her.

"I'm not leaving Clara alone with a room of robots!" she gave him a pointed look, "I can help more here."

His brow furrowed, displeased, "I don't like this."

"Me either," she said, giving him a light smile, "So you'd better be quick about it."

He smirked, reaching up his other hand to more firmly grasp the bar as he went on.

"Ok," Clara's voice pulled her back, "What do we do?"

"Try to leave, improvise, and hope for the best," Mac murmured to her as they rejoined Vastra, Jenny, and Strax.

"It is our intent to leave," Vastra spoke, her chin high, "If it is your intent to stop us, perhaps we should get down to business."

She and Jenny lifted their swords, Strax readied his gun, and Mac…

"Is that a…is that a magician's hanky?" Clara could only shake her head at the sight of Mac literally pulling the colorful band of handkerchiefs out of her pocket, a seemingly never ending chain of it.

"Yes," Mac nodded.

"WHY are you using that?" Clara gaped, "Don't you have a…an electro-bomb or something in your pockets?"

Mac gave her a look now, "I've got paperclips, this scarf, and a bottle of water," she told her, "I went through quite a lot of supplies on Christmas!" she added as a defense.

"Is it going to help us?"

"Yes."

"How?"

Mac smiled, "Watch and learn," she told her, finally coming to the end of the very long length of kerchief right as Vastra and Jenny launched themselves at the looming robots with gusto, Strax having far too much enjoyment as he, too, attacked.

"What do you need me to do?" Clara asked, trusting her as the other three held off the robots.

"Take this," Mac handed her the bottle of water, "Soak the scarves, make sure ALL of them are sopping," she added, grabbing one end of it and starting to unwind the paperclip to tie it to the end of it.

Clara shook her head and did as she was told. The water bottle was a large one, probably the biggest one she would have seen in a market or a store, but it was fine, it was enough. There was a small bowl near the chair the half-faced man had been sitting on, filled with spare parts it seemed. She dumped it to the side and threw the scarves into it, dumping the water on top of it and pushing them down, doing her best to soak them all.

"Vastra!" Mac called out, just finishing up on the paperclip, winding one end around the scarf with another end sticking out of it like a pin, "How many!?"

Vastra grunted as she swung at one of the bots, turning to her wife, "How many do you estimate, my dear?"

"More than upstairs, about 20, 30?" Jenny called back.

"Get them as close together as you can!" Mac ordered them, moving to get to her feet, only for the room to shake and send half of them stumbling to the side. She nearly groaned, keeping tabs on the Doctor so she knew it was that the 'escape ship' had activated, the main restaurant detaching to float away into the sky, leaving them down in the bottom half stuck on earth.

It wasn't too much a distraction for Vastra though, she and Jenny were back on their feet instantly, though Strax seemed to have fallen onto his back and was struggling to get up. Clara hurried over to his side, getting him to sit up enough to get back on his feet too and assist the other women.

"What now?" Clara moved back to Mac as the woman gathered up the scarves, checking they were sopping but making no move to wring them out.

"Take this end," Mac held the end that didn't have the paperclip tied to it to Clara, "Go around them, bring the scarf back to me."

"Like a rope?" Clara nodded, trying to keep up, "We're tying them together?"

Mac smirked, "Oh much more than that," she assured her, glancing at the bots, seeing Vastra and the others were managing it, maneuvering the bots in such a way that there was enough space to get around them, "Go!"

Clara took the end and ran along the wall, around the room, looping the scarves around the growing herd of robots in the center of the room.

"Vastra, Jenny," Mac called when Clara nearly finished, "Get out of the path! Strax!"

Vastra and Jenny stepped back, Strax somewhat caught in the scarves but managing to duck under it just as Clara reached Mac, handing her the other end.

Mac took hold of it and quickly tied a knot to the other end of the scarf, sliding it along so that it would be firmly bound as close to the robots as she could make it. She moved back to Clara and picked up the end with the paperclip on it, "Best step back," she warned the woman.

"What are you doing?" Clara asked, frowning when Mac seemed to be bracing herself for something as she crouched down by the half-faced man's chair, "Mac?"

"I really hope this works," Mac murmured to herself, picking up the plug that the half-faced man had been using to charge himself up, and held the pinned scarf in her other hand. She took a breath and, as quick as she could, shoved the end of the clip into the charger and dropped it as a massive flare and jolt went through it.

She jumped back, moving in front of Clara as they watched the electrical charge race along the wet scarves, all the robots starting to jerk and twitch as they were essentially electrocuted by the water in the scarves, growing more and more violent as the seconds ticked by…until they finally stopped moving, shorted out.

"Oh, thank god," Mac breathed, rubbing at her hands. Time Lords were made of stronger stuff than humans, she could withstand an electrical jolt like that, but her hands were still tingling from it.

Clara could only shake her head, staring at the powered down bots, "You really need to teach me how to do that," she remarked, offering Mac a smile and a laugh.

Mac shook her head, "Come on," she looked at them, "We need to get out of here and work on a coverup. The restaurant's gone, it was a ship, we need a way to keep the humans calm."

Vastra nodded, seemingly used to that.

"What about the Doctor?" Clara turned to Mac, worried.

She gave her a small smile, "He's fine."

Fine, though, was relative.

The half-faced man had been taken care of, he'd gotten all the useful information he could from the man, and it would be mere moments until the robot would be powered down for good. Right now, he didn't need to worry about what the humans would think, he needed to focus on the robot and then landing that ship.

She could handle this.

~8~

It was a quiet trip in Vastra's carriage for Mac, Clara seemed rather tired, which was understandable, she didn't have the stamina of a Time Lady to help her, and Vastra and Jenny were more speaking quietly amongst themselves for whether the report and the excuse they'd given the police would hold and work. Strax was outside, leading the carriage on.

In all honesty, she was just looking forward to making it back to the TARDIS, which should have repaired itself by now, and getting out of Victorian London. She also wanted to check the Doctor over and make sure he was doing alright, this regeneration had been a difficult one for him, she could tell.

"Whoa!" Strax called out, bringing the carriage to a halt as they reached Vastra's home, allowing them out of the carriage.

"You're sure he'd come back here?" Jenny looked at Mac.

Mac just tapped her temple, "I'm sure," she reminded them, she had a link to his mind, he'd told her so. It had taken him a little doing, he'd stolen a bicycle and raced across London as soon as he'd managed to land (crash) the ship and ensure it wouldn't be discovered (hence the crash). He'd beaten them to the TARDIS by only half an hour though, so that comforted her that he hadn't been alone too long to get into trouble...or insult the TARDIS.

"There was no trace of him in the wreckage," Vastra commented, "They searched all Parliament Hill. Where else would he go?" she reasoned with Jenny. Even if Mac hadn't had that connection to his mind, really WHERE else would he go but there?

Clara could only look down at the ground, where a square stood out among the straw scattered there, indicating the TARDIS had been there but was gone now.

"I fear we have missed him," Vastra frowned at the sight.

Mac rolled her eyes, "He's taken her for a quick pop to the moon and back to run her in. This happened last time. Best test out the repairs before inviting humans in and risking them," she looked at Clara, "He'll be back in a few minutes," she told the girl, "Why don't you go get changed into something more comfortable."

Clara looked down at her Victorian gown and grinned, hurrying into the house to do just that.

~8~

"Clara," Mac smiled, seeing the girl returning a short while later. She'd chosen to wait outside in the courtyard for the Doctor's return, not quite trusting his piloting yet and wanting to make sure he didn't knock into something or accidently crush someone working around. He'd been careful this time, it seemed, appearing right where he'd left, "Ready?"

Clara looked from her to the TARDIS, beaming at the sight of it, almost looking a little startled that he HAD come back for them and not overshot the timing, before hurrying to Mac's side to follow her in.

"Oh dear," Mac breathed, looking around at the new interior of the box. It was more…a cross between a professor's office and a scientists lab, if she had to describe it. There were bookshelves and blackboards and comfy leather chairs, but also the mechanical nature of the TARDIS, the tech, shining through it.

"You've redecorated," Clara commented, following Mac further in as the Doctor, who had been sitting on one of the chairs, turned to them.

"Yes," he nodded.

"I don't like it," she teased.

"Not completely entirely convinced myself," the Doctor considered it, "I think there should be more round things on the walls. I used to have lots of round things. I wonder where I put them."

"Probably archived," Mac remarked, making her way up the stairs and over to him, Clara moving to the console, "Hello, dear," she smiled at him, leaning down to give him a quick kiss.

He reached up to cup her cheek, wanting to make it last a bit longer than she intended, "Hello," he greeted with a smile of his own as he pulled away. He took her hand and stood, the two of them moving over to Clara's side as she examined the new controls.

"So," Clara turned to him, "How do you feel?"

"I'm the Doctor," he began, "I've lived for over 2,000 years and not all of them were good. I've made many mistakes, and it's about time that I did something about that."

"Still SO dramatic," Clara teased, "A simple 'fine' would have been enough, Doctor."

"I have to admit, I'm not quite so fine," Mac spoke, hating to bring the mood down, but her worrying nature didn't let her just stand there when something was bothering her, "I can't help but think about who put that advert in the paper. WHY would they? Was it to help us? Or to lure us to that trap?"

The Doctor grew serious at that, something else niggling him about it, "Who gave Clara my number?" he wondered, turning to Clara, "A long time ago, remember? You were given the number of a computer helpline, and you ended up phoning the TARDIS. Who gave you that number?"

"The woman," Clara said simply, "The woman in the shop."

Mac turned to him, "You think it's the same woman?" it didn't seem to make sense, how would they even know? And, for all the people they'd helped, a number of them did end up with a way to contact the Doctor so it could have been any of them.

He could only shrug, "Could be. There could be a woman out there who's very keen that we stay together," he absently reached out and pulled a lever, setting the TARDIS down, having set it to take off once Mac and Clara were inside, "How do you feel on the subject?"

"What do you mean, how I feel about it?" Clara frowned at him, "Do you…do YOU not like the subject?"

Mac smiled, reaching out to put a hand on the Doctor's arm, stepping forward to speak to her instead, getting the sense the 'touchy-feely' things weren't a specialty for him this time around, "He means…it's hard, when one of us regenerates, but manageable because the other one is the same. Having both of us change so soon after the other, from your perspective…" she gave her an understanding look, "If it's too much…it's ok for it to be too much."

Clara looked between them and shook her head, "It's not too much," she reassured them.

"Ah," the Doctor nodded, "Then this is about to be a bit embarrassing."

Clara frowned, "What is?"

Only for her mobile phone to ring, the Doctor running a hand down his face and gesturing towards the front of the box, "You'd better get that. He won't let up till you answer."

Clara gave them an odd look, noting the exasperation in the Doctor, the amusement in Mac, and turned to go step outside to answer the call.

"I told you she would be fine, dear," Mac turned to him, smiling and laughing at him at the same time, "She handled my regeneration just fine."

"Yes, but I was still there to help," he argued, "How was I to know she'd be ok with me changing too?"

"I can't believe you phoned ahead to beg her to stay," Mac chuckled, crossing her arms as she leaned against the console.

He'd called, the last him had, just before Clara reached the TARDIS, to let her know he was ok, that he was probably a little frightened, but that she shouldn't be frightened. That it was just a change, like all things did, and there was no universe where they (he) wouldn't want her to keep travelling if it was something she wanted.

"I…" she began, "I also can't believe you did this," she gestured at him.

"What?" he frowned, looking down at his clothing and tugging at it, "I thought the pop of red would…"

"Not the clothing," she gave him a pointed look, "You always hated being 'too old,'" she remarked, knowing that about him. While they could be relatively young, by their people's standards, they could regenerate into bodies that appeared old or vice versa. She knew he never liked being older in body, because it was literally an old body, it felt old. He wasn't as spry when he was old, there were certain pains that came with an 'old body' than a young one, and he never had as much fun when he was a grumpy old man. He really never liked being one, he'd grown younger and younger as he regenerated, almost as proof of it.

"I hate you being sad more," he said simply, reaching out to take her hand, "We couldn't be US, the way I was before, before Christmas at least. Now," he gave her a smile, "Now we can be us. We can go out there, and be Chosens."

She tilted her head, "Are you asking me on a date, Theta?"

"I think we're way past dates, Naery," he joked, "But it would be about time we got to one," he added.

Oh their relationship was always so backwards and out of order. It would be just like them to go on a date after they were already married, Chosens, and had a child together. And in these new bodies, it would be like the first time, because now they were both different people and who knew how different their relationship would be. A date would be a good way to start, to gauge it.

"Coffee," she suggested, "I could go for a coffee right now."

"Brilliant," he grinned, leaning in to give her a quick kiss before pulling her to the door by the hand he was holding. Clara should be done with her talk by now. He didn't think he'd rambled on that long over the phone. And, as it turned out, just as he stepped out of the box, Clara was hanging up the phone, wiping below her eyes, "Well?" he called as they headed over, pretending he hadn't seen that slip of emotion, women were often anxious when they were caught crying, he learned.

"Well, what?" Clara asked, her voice wobbly, before she cleared it.

"Are you going to stay?" Mac clarified, "That was what he asked, wasn't it?"

Clara shook her head at them, "You shouldn't have been listening."

"I wasn't," the Doctor defended, "I didn't need to. That was me talking. That was me, asking you to stay with us."

Clara smiled at them, "I know. And thank you," she wiggled her phone at him, "I needed that. I know you wanted me to keep on," she looked between them, "I just felt like…"

"Like you needed to know the other him would be ok with it?" Mac supplied, it was a common occurrence, that lingering thought of whether the other him would be ok with things happening with the new him. She'd felt it herself, that the version of the Doctor she'd travelled with first had been gypped out of a chance at being with her because of her own anger and resentment. She'd worried she was betraying him by giving the last him a chance. Sometimes you just needed to know people were ok, so that you could allow yourself to move on.

"Yeah," Clara nodded.

"So that's a…yes?" the Doctor tried to guess her answer, not sounding sure.

Clara rolled her eyes, "Of course it's a yes!" she huffed, moving in to hug him, "I'm not gonna leave my pilot with some old grouch!"

Mac snorted out a laugh at that assessment of the Doctor even as the man himself held up his hands and seemed like he wasn't sure what to do with a hug.

"I..." he began, "I don't think that I'm a hugging person now."

"I'm not sure you get a vote," Clara told him.

He chuckled, "Whatever you say."

"How about now?" Mac asked, stepping in to make it a small group hug.

He smiled at her over Clara's head, "Better."

"About that," Clara winced slightly as she pulled away, knowing that they were all at a good place, happy, but that there was something very wrong, "This isn't my home."

"Sorry, I'm sorry about that, I missed."

"I should have double checked the coordinates," Mac tried to defend, the Doctor smiling and winding an arm around her shoulders as thanks.

"Where are we?" Clara looked around for a clue.

"Glasgow, I think," the Doctor offered.

"Ah!" Clara laughed, "You'll fit right in," before putting on a more Scottish accent, much like the one he had developed, "Scottish."

"Well, I think it's the perfect place for some coffee," Mac smiled, moving her own arm around the Doctor's middle, "Or we could do chips," she offered for Clara as well.

"Coffee," Clara determined, "Coffee would be great. You're buying!"

"I don't have any money!" he called as Clara began to lead the way down the street in search of a shop.

"You're fetching, then."

"I'm not sure that I'm the fetching sort..."

"I suppose we'll find out," Mac laughed, the two of them heading on after her.

A/N: I know the Doctor might seem a bit less old and grouchy here, we WILL see his usual semi-callous self come out through the story. Here, it's a combination of his regeneration settling and Mac being there to take care of him and fret over him that kept him a bit more in line. He's still working out who he is and once he does, he'll be more like what we see in the show. We'll also see a bit more of Mac settling and shifting and adapting along with a new him, which is sort of the reflection of the 'Chosens' aspect, they choose each other, no matter what, so as he learns who he is and she learns who he is, they both have to learn how to be with each other as they go :) Mac certainly had a heck of a time here, balancing a dino, the Doctor, Clara being her official companion, and so on, so I'm very excited to see how the Doctor develops as we go.

He may be even worse, in a sense. Because Mac is there and SHE'S the one who frets and cares and worries about the companions and the humans and everyone else. Which may, in a way, give him more leeway to be more distant and harsh at times, because Mac makes up for it. He doesn't have to put as much effort into it with Mac there to take care of it. But, then again, it might make things worse for Mac in the long run if his distance pushes her closer to Clara :'( I suppose we'll have to wait and see how that goes }:)

I actually found myself liking 12 in this story, because of how well he balanced and contrasted with Mac's mother hen tendencies :) We might see a slightly different take on why 12 is the way he is in this story compared to Proffy, Evy, or Angel :)

Lastly, just putting this here because I've promised my sister I would always put it in at least one chapter, I made a page called ko-fi, where people can show support of a person by contributing a 'cup of coffee' to them. It's not a real cup of coffee, it's a donation that is roughly the cost of a cup of coffee, or about 3 dollars. The link is up on my profile or on my tumblr's LINKS page if anyone is interested. There's no obligation, requirement, or commitment, it just sort of feels to me like a little 'let's talk about your work over a cup of coffee' ;) They should really make one for tea though, I love tea :)

Some notes on reviews...(from the end of To Be Chosens...)

Just want to start by saying I am SO sorry this took so long to get back up and going, life seemed to hate me for a while :/ But I'm back and I'm so happy you all enjoyed Mac's Series 7, I hope I'll do justice to Series 8 ;)

I'll probably take a stab at Classic Who with the TLs as an AU that begins on Gallifrey for a number of the Time Ladies, but it'll be a very long while before I get to that point, have too many series to finish and other AUs to get through first ;) The Curator could have been very obvious, I am a very oblivious person lol, like it literally took me 9 years (I'm being serious, I just worked it out this weekend) to realize that the 'Camilla' Rose was referencing in Girl in the Fireplace was Charles/Diana/Camilla so...what is very obvious to other people I am very bad at picking up on lol :) That's understandable about the aging, I try to make it different and unique in each story, how the aging works, so one might follow the show where it's just super duper slow, and another might be they only age in the first body and so on. Could always take a bit of artistic liberty and say the Doctor ages in the show because he gets exposed to things on adventures that maybe cancel out the not-aging aspect, I just like playing around in each series :)

In Evy's story universe the Master's name is Terrin, yes. I tend to follow canon of the TV show and not novels or audio adventures for the most part. I think there was an episode of DW where the Doctor was called Theta Sigma as a nickname where the Master's name was from a book (I think?), so since most of the fanfiction I do is based on the show I took a bit of a liberty with the Master in Evy's story since, in that universe, the family names of Gallifrey have themes to them :) His name could be something different yup, until it's confirmed in the show (for me at least) it's Terrin just for Evy's fic :)

That sounds like an awesome idea for where a TL could come in, I encourage you to write it! :) No one will know an idea as well as the one who thought of it ;)

The more I look at and write Jex's chapters the more I'm certain he wasn't honorable either. It felt sort of like a coward's way out, instead of facing the consequences and the person he hurt, he took that choice and that closure from the Gunslinger :( If he was so worried about his afterlife and carrying a burden up a mountain and so on, I'd think he'd face one of them and make that burden less :/

I'm not sure I'd do a spin-off for the War Doctor's POV so we can see River, but I am very strongly considering making it a tweak to the 50th Anniversary when I get to Mac's AU ;) She'll have met the Doctor earlier and, I like to think, would be more open to a mental link with him, and if the War Doctor IS him, then maybe, with two people linked to his mind, they'd get more of a sense off the War Doctor and we'd see more of him and River ;)

I am! I'm destroying the whouffle lol, mostly because this story is listed as a Doctor/OC and has that warning in the first note of the story so it's sort of clear it won't be a whouffle story ;)

Since I've added more TLs since this story was updated, TL7 was the Judge, TL5 was Sadie, TL6 is Sigma, TL? is going to be the TL I'll be introducing later this year, and TL4.5 is a Time Lady (likely up next year) who will appear in the 10-specials ;)

We'll have to wait and see what Mac will do with Heaven Sent and Hell Bent, there may be a significant change by the end of this story that might alter those events somewhat };) I can say she will very much be even more disillusioned by the Time Lords and the High Council in the end though ;)