The End Is Where We Start From

by loulouflowerpower

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

28. Chapter 28 NOTDAH, Part 1

The Name of The Doctor and Hatter, Part 1

"I know what you're planning," Os told the other women, making her freeze on the spot as her eyes went straight to her nieces brown ones, "Did you really think you could run away from Gallifrey without me noticing something was up with you? Come on, Aunty Hatter…" she rolled her eyes, fixing her with a knowing look, her lips lifted in a small smirk, "You taught me everything you know about sneaking around and finding information out".

"I assure you, Os, I have no idea what you speak of," the Hatter said firmly, turning away and walking over to her window, looking out over her family grounds as the twin suns began to set, causing the silver leaves on the trees to look as if they were on fire. It truly was a stunning thing to witness, even after four centuries of witnessing it happen, each and every night and morning.

"And now you're lying to your own niece," Os walked over to her and looked outside the window, still with the same smile playing across her face, "Well, trying to, more like failing miserably," she glanced at her Aunt, who didn't even attempt conceal the small frown that crossed her lined features, "You know, you can tell me the truth, you don't need to hide it, I won't tell anyone. Actually, I want to help you".

"No," the Hatter frowned, shaking her head as she glanced at her, "I don't want to drag you into this, I can handle it, my dear".

"Oh, right," she nodded, but there was something about the way she spoke that made the Hatter narrow her eyes at her, "So, I guess you won't be needing these, then?" she held up her hand to show a key, and not just any key, a TARDIS key, swinging on a silver chain on her finger.

The Hatter blinked as she looked from the key and back to Os, "Is that…" she trailed off, shaking her head, "Is that the family TARDIS key?"

"Yep," Os grinned, swinging the key around her finger again, "Surprised?"

"And how, may I ask, did you get that, young lady?"

"I'm very clever".

"Or perhaps you have a death wish," the Hatter replied, giving her a half-stern, half-concerned look, "If your Grandfather, my Father finds out you stole that from him, then he's going to be furious".

"Exactly," Os shrugged, not looking concerned in the slightest, "Hence why you have to take it from me right now, so that he won't be able to link it back to me, and I won't end up in trouble and you won't feel guilty about me getting in trouble".

The Hatter stared at her for a moment before slowly smiling, "Well, it would appear that the pupil has out done the teacher," Os grinned broadly at her, "It seems that my work here is done," she held out her hand and shook the other woman's hand.

"So, you'll take the key, then?" Os asked her, raising her eyebrows as they dropped the hand shake.

The other Time Lady hesitated before slowly reaching out and taking the key, closing her hand around it, "Thank you," she said gratefully.

"Don't mention it," Os shrugged it off, giving her a bright smile, "Just go out there and…run and remember me, you clever girl".

"Oh, I would hardly call myself a girl anymore," the Hatter laughed, before pulling her into another hug, "But I promise, I'll always remember you, Os," she whispered in her ear as they pulled back and she smoothed Os's hair down, peering gently into her face, "No matter how long or far I may travel, I'll always remember my sweet niece, and I do hope you'll remember your old, favourite Aunt?"

Os laughed, "Aunty Hatter, trust me, I'm always going to remember you," she grinned.

….

"This is stupid," Jen huffed, crossing her arms firmly over her chest, which, she was very proud to say wasn't being constricted by some absurd torture device that was considered fashionable in the Victorian era. Instead, she had completely ditched the long, silly dresses for men's fashion, much to Jenny and Vastra's exasperation and the shock of the rest of humanity, too, who happened to catch sight of her out on the street in her long, dark blue cotton trousers and white shirts, she had even decided to be a little more frivolous with her usual style and added a waistcoat in, too, varying from shades of blue, dark grey, and even red, what did it matter if it didn't match the trousers? She wasn't here to mix and match fabrics. All of this was topped off with a long, dark grey men's morning coat, that she had tailored to fit her slim figure better, forgoing a hat all together (Her mother was going to be so disappointed), and she had added a silk, peacock blue knot-bow tie, because heavens forbid if someone caught too much of an eyeful of her neck, of all things.

She missed her old trousers terribly, she had to admit, they were much easier to run about in and climb over walls, while the cotton did tend to breathe easier and was comfortable, it did flap about slightly more than she was used to, since she had, reluctantly, conceded to go for a pair of rather wide legged trousers, over the more fitted ones she had had originally tried to wear. That pair had mysteriously vanished from her rooms at Vastra's the same night that she had got them, though Jenny and Vastra insisted they had no idea what could have become of them. Liars. Still, fashion aside, she had to admit…the Victorian era was pretty interesting, there was way more alien stuff going on, she'd even had a near accidently run in with a alien hunting group known as Torchwood, though she'd been advised by some good looking, dark haired bloke that she probably would want to get somewhere else for a little while when she'd tried poking around, trying to find out what they were doing. Oddly, she'd actually listened to him…he had been kind of hard to look at, not because he was just that good looking, please, but just…well, it was odd. Like he was wrong or something. She'd made a note to ask her parents about it when she saw them next.

Alice Rogers sighed heavily and briefly cast her exasperated gaze up towards the ceiling, "You are as stubborn as your mother," she muttered, lightly shaking her head, her copper curls neatly arranged on top of her head, "If you are going to remain in this time period, you ought to attempt to fit in, even just a little bit".

Jenny crossed her arms across her chest, not caring if she was looking like a sulky kid as she sat on the oddly comfortable sofa in the very homey, warmly lit living room of the modest, but rather nice terrace house that Alice Rogers shared with her husband, Max Rogers. They were her mum's first companions, her first ever, companions, actually, and she'd made their introduction a few weeks ago now. They were nice people, though that wasn't very shocking. Alice was actually a famous sci-fi writer, though she wrote under a fake, male name, her books were widely beloved and adored by many people who simply loved her stories…which all had a very clever, mysterious alien that could travel throughout time and space, having mad adventures with his (because only a man could be the hero of the story, of course….) human companions. Sound familiar, huh? Then there was Max, who was a school teacher who spent most of his weekends providing basic English and mathematical lessons to some of the local orphanages in the area. The two of them had stopped travelling with the Hatter, from their perspective, over ten years ago now, but they hadn't had any kids of their own…Jenny hadn't asked much about their personal lives, though. She figured it probably wasn't her place, but they had been very quick to take her in, even offering her a place to stay if she ever wanted and a Sunday roast every week, if she was free.

"I fit in!" she exclaimed, before deflating slightly, under Alice's stern look, "I…stopped wearing my old, leather trousers, didn't I?"

"Only after you caused that elderly couple to almost walk into oncoming traffic from the sight, yes, quite. But must I remind you that ladies do not wear trousers in this day and age, not even while riding horses".

She rolled her eyes, "You're being over dramatic, honestly," she sighed heavily, leaning her head back against the top of the couch…the pins keeping her hair up in a simple, Victorian bun dug into her scalp and she had to fight the urge to simply take them out, "My mum and dad never dress up when they go to different time periods, do they?" she paused, then, remembering her mum wearing that white and blue dress the last time she'd seen her in this era, "Well, my mum never used to, you even said so. What's the difference?"

Alice sighed heavily, again, "The difference…" she began carefully, giving her a pointed, though patient look, "Is that your mother didn't live in this period, nor did she spend a great deal of time wondering around the streets in her trousers or short dresses. Most of the time, people hardly had a chance to notice, before she was dashing off somewhere else, and those who did, I can assure you, reacted no less outraged by the sight as though who witness your dress today".

"I am not wearing a stupid, frilly, corseted dress, Alice," Jenny glared at her, her tone flat.

"Who said anything about frills?" she asked innocently, giving her a light smile, "I rather thought perhaps you might enjoy a touch of fur trim?"

"I can see why my mum liked you so much, but right now…you're seriously not funny".

"Just try to dress more for the time period when you go out," Alice tried, giving her a hopeful look, "I have a few that you are more than welcome to borrow. You just need to get used to the feel for it, that's all…."

Jen pressed her lips together into a hard line, just barely keeping herself from telling her, bluntly, that she would never wear another one of those stupid dresses again, and that she didn't care about if she had to get used to wearing them…why did she have to get used to wearing them? She was used to wearing her trousers, that was enough for her, thanks. Personally, she thought that there was loads more worrying things about this world to focus on then whether or not she was wearing a bloody skirt or showing too much neckline in public and during the day, no less, but no, let's all fuss about fabric, why don't we? She was starting to feel herself getting a little hot under the collar…or the tie, if you will, when the front doorbell trilled. She and Alice both looked towards the open living room, which opened to the hallway. Odd…it was early evening, dark outside, but late enough to stop anyone from calling in.

"Did Max forget his key again?" Jen asked curiously, standing, too, as Alice also rose, absently smoothing the pale blue skirts of her dress down as she did so.

"Perhaps," Alice frowned, though she didn't look convinced. She left the room and opened the door, her voice muffled, even to Jen's sensitive hearing. She returned a moment late, holding a small envelop in her hand, "Telegram for you, Jen," she said, holding it out towards her, which took with a small frown and a curious glance over the envelope, "It's marked as urgent".

She opened the telegram and read the very short, but to the point message, and swiftly looked up to Alice, "Do you mind if I have a lie down in your spare bedroom?" she asked her suddenly, utterly calm and relaxed.

She blinked, "Excuse me?" she eyed her with a concerned look, "Why, have you taken ill?"

"Oh, not at all. Vastra just wants to have a conference meeting, urgently, apparently, and I'll need to put myself into a trance for a little bit to take it. It's psychic, you see, all in the mind".

Alice, for her credit and likely years of dealing with the Hatter very suddenly sprouting random things in a similar vein as this, didn't so much as blink, "Well…. Of course, you're more than welcome," she nodded, her features smoothing out, "Take all the time you need…is there anything I can do to…help?"

"Probably not, maybe stick downstairs for a while, yeah? I kind of need to concentrate. Thanks".

Jen gave her a little smile and turned, leaving the sitting room and making her way out into the hallway outside, where the carpet covered, wooden stairs stood slightly down the hall from the front door. She swiftly climbed it, making her way to the far back bedroom, kept for guests and her baby sister, since it was the room furthest from the noise of the street outside. It had a small, white wooden toddler bed set up off to the side of the room, a couple of teddy bears sitting on the neatly made pink, woollen blankets, while a large, wood frame bed sat in the middle of the room, covered in a patchwork blanket. Jenny immediately kicked her long, lace-up boots off, which were hidden beneath her billowing trouser legs, and tossed her coat, waistcoat, and necktie off, draping them carelessly over the end of the bed. She slipped the small candle from her pocket, something she had taken to keeping on her person these last few months, and lit it, sitting it on the bedside table on a candle holder. Once it was lit, she moved to lie down directly in the middle of the bed and closed her eyes. She focused on breathing, slowly, in and out, following each breath until it ended, just as Vastra had taught her. Mediation wasn't something that had come easily to Jen, her mind tended to jump about the place to much, but she had gotten better, and slowly she felt her consciousness beginning to slip and drift away…

Her eyes opened and she briefly peered around, finding that she had completely left behind the spare bedroom, only to wake up in a circular room, designed almost in a Japanese theme with screens around the room, while different coloured lights moved across the screens in spiral patterns. Jen was sitting at a large, octagon shaped, dark wooden table in the heart of the room, while across from her Vastra and Jenny already sat, seemingly waiting.

"Ah, Jen," Vastra greeted her, and smiled as she inhaled briefly, "The tea should be superb," suddenly, a tea tray appeared directly before her, containing five tea cups with little white flowers on them. She picked up the teapot and moved to start pouring the tea, "It's drawn from one of my favourite memories".

"Sounds yummy," Jen commented brightly, watching as she gracefully poured the tea, like the perfect, Victorian host she kept hearing that women were supposed to be like, "I love tea".

Just then, Strax appeared in the chair beside Jen's, his arrival rather abrupt and slightly noisy, evidently he had decided to enter this little conference call with far less care then Jen had. Or calm. She suspected, knowing him, he'd probably had someone whack him over the head…multiple times, too. Vastra barely even spared him a glance as she continued her tea preparations.

"Strax," she said lightly, "Good of you to join us".

"It had better be important," he huffed, thoroughly annoyed, "I was in the middle of destroying some very pleasant primitives".

"Glasgow again?" Jen frowned at him, looking slightly offended, "You didn't ask me to come along!"

He suddenly became quite intent on avoiding her gaze, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like 'Competition,' in there. She narrowed her eyes on him, silently accepting her tea cup that Vastra hastily handed her, still looking rather put out by the fact that she hadn't been asked to join him. She might not take the fight to the same level that Strax did, but she enjoyed getting to flex and practice her skills.

"I apologies for the interruption," Vastra continued smoothly, levelling Strax with a pointed look as she handed him a second tea cup. She glanced warily over to Jen, who paused, just having lifted her cup to her lips to frown at her…she didn't like the way she was eyeing her like that, "But there is urgent news concerning the Doctor and Hatter".

"What?" Jen's eyes widened, dread washing over her, "What's happened to Mum and Dad?"

Vastra hesitated, considering her carefully, "I think it would be best to wait before I explain fully," she replied cautiously, fixing her with a briefly warning look, just as Jen opened her mouth to insist that she explain.

Jen frowned worriedly, but she sat back against her seat, suddenly not at all interested in her tea. Instead, she found herself anxiously toying with the slim, curved handle of the cup. It could be anything and nothing, honestly, knowing her parents lifestyle, but it had to be fairly serious if Vastra had decided to gather them all together so urgently, but what? She had only seen them a few times since she had decided to stick around in the Victorian era, spent some time getting to know them better and learning more about what it was to be a Time Lady, she had loved it. They'd laughed and smiled and she heard so many stories about her parents from when they were growing up, and she'd spent more time with Astra. Astra and Jen had even spent some time painting together in the TARDIS garden, before the Doctor and the Hatter had surprised them with practically a feast of food. It had been everything Jen had imagined it would be like to be around them and she had truly felt a part of their family, the Hatter had still cried when they had dropped her off and gave her a big, long, rather tearful lecture about staying safe and being careful. Jen had loved it.

Strax sighed, "Who else is coming?" he asked, sounding almost bored.

Vastra gave him a pointed look, "The women," she said, as if it ought to have been perfectly obvious, placing a cup down in front of Jenny, before taking her own from the tray. Jen gave her a confused look…just as Clara Oswald suddenly, very literally, dropped into the seat around the table from the blonde. She lifted her head and slowly looked around the table, her eyes widening slightly, though Vastra merely passed her a tea cup, "So glad you could make it".

"Where am I?" she asked, taking the cup absently.

"Exactly where you were, but sleeping," Jenny explained, giving her a reassuring smile.

"It's just another form of time travel," Jen added, shrugging lightly as she took a sip from her cup, before carefully placing it back down onto the saucer, "It was actually mum's idea, she thought it would be a good idea for us to be able to chat over distance, including time and space, and time travel is apparently actually possible while in dreams," she grinned slightly, her eyes lighting up, "How cool that?"

"Er, yeah, I guess," Clara said slowly, before glancing down at her tea cup, as if just remembering she had it.

Vastra peered around the table, lifting her own cup, "We are awaiting only one more participant," she informed them, taking a small sip from her cup.

"Oh, no," Strax instantly scowled, looking at her sharply, "Not the one with the gigantic head?"

"It's hair, Strax," Jenny told him patiently, though she rolled her eyes as she exchanged a look with Jen.

"Hair," he repeated in disgust.

Just then, almost as if on cue, there was a great puff of white smoke in the last and final chair, before it slowly cleared, revealing River Song and her wild curls. Jen blinked in surprise and lowered her cup, eyeing the woman who had actually helped her out a few months back, sitting right in front of her. She'd asked her parents if they could find River and thank her for helping her out…but they had, rather oddly, exchanged a quick look and very quickly brushed off the subject. She still found it rather strange, it made her wonder just what the deal was with River Song…someone very close to them, she knew that much, and someone who obviously had spent a lot of time with them and Astra, someone who was very, very clever and strangely knowledgably about time travel, for a human…but she just couldn't figure out who she was, exactly. River looked slightly different from the last they had seen each other, dressed in a light, golden flowing dress with a cream coloured, long, rather light style coat over the top of it.

"Madam Vastra," River said in mild surprise, her gaze immediately falling on the lizard woman. She then noticed Jen and gave her a cheeky little smile, "Sweetums".

"'Sweetums?'" Jen sighed in exasperation, "Again?"

River laughed and winked cheekily at her, while Clara looked between them in complete bafflement.

"Professor Song," Vastra said, drawing the woman's gaze back to her, smiling lightly as she indicated down towards the tea tray, "Help yourself to some tea".

"Why, thank you," she inclined her head towards her, and reached forward…only to suddenly lift a champagne flute up in a small, silent toast, rather than a tea cup. She grinned cheekily and Jen barely held back a snort of amusement. Okay, if this woman wasn't somehow related to her mum, it would be shocking.

Jenny gaped at River in disbelief, "How did you do that?"

She smirked playfully, "Disgracefully," she replied lightly, and took a long sip from her glass. She paused, then, when she seemed to finally notice Clara sitting in the chair beside her, and her eyebrows rose in interest.

"Ah," Vastra said as she watched the exchange, Clara looking curiously back at River, "Perhaps you two haven't met. This is the Doctor and Hatter's companion," River looked over to her, her eyebrows lifted, "That is…their current travelling assistant".

"Assistant?" Clara repeated with a small, almost amused expression. Assistant, huh? Yeah, she supposed you could kind of her call her that, she actually kind of like how it sounded, though bit old fashioned. Friend, travel buddy, part-time babysitter in a pinch? Yeah, that kind of sounded like an assistant to her….just without the pay, though the Hatter and Astra had made her a box of slightly burnt cupcakes the other day, just as a nice surprise, so she guessed that was kind of a form of payment. She'd had to cut around the burnt bits…

Strax narrowed his eyes on Vastra, eyeing her suspiciously, "Have you gone a darker green?" he questioned, earning himself a stern glare from Vastra.

Jen peered closer at her, too, "You do look a little greener than normal, Vastra…" she agreed with a small, amused smirk, taking a small sip from her cup.

Vastra shot her a sharp look, too, and shifted slightly uncomfortably in her chair as she turned to nod pointedly towards Clara, "Clara Oswald," she introduced, seemingly deciding to ignore their comments.

"Professor River Song," River turned to face Clara in her chair, giving her a polite, pleasant smile…though there was something pointed about it, too, or so Jen thought as she watched the exchange curiously, "The Doctor and Hatter may have mentioned me?"

"Oh, yeah," Clara nodded at once, her eyes widening very slightly in realisation, staring at the curly haired woman, "Oh, yeah, of course they have. Professor Song…" she paused briefly, shaking her head lightly, "Sorry, it's just I...I never realised you were a woman..."

There was a long, rather awkward pause as River's smile slipped very slightly and Clara gave her a look caught between embarrassment and apology. Jen lifted her eyebrows slightly and decided that she was going to keep holding her tea cup, for fear of risking a noisy clink of china meeting and ringing painfully loudly in the suddenly silent room. She'd just keep holding it for a bit longer...her eyes darting quickly between each woman, who stared at one another. River really did look almost...hurt, she would have to say, and quite surprised by that news, while Clara, for her credit, did seem terribly sorry and embarrassed, though she probably could have kept that last part to herself. Jen was a bit of a blabber mouth herself, but she thought she probably would have.

"Well, neither did I," Strax commented with an oblivious shrug, breaking the silent stare-off, at least.

River looked up to him quickly, her expression suddenly guarded, while Clara blinked and hastily dropped her gaze, awkwardly adjusting her grip on her cup, held in both hands. She looked rather sheepish now, seeming to realise that she probably shouldn't have said that last part and the impact it had left. Jen didn't know who River was to her parents, but she could guess that they were incredibly close. Hearing that they hadn't even referred to her by gender had to hurt.

Vasted cleared her throat delicately, "Perhaps we should get down to the business at hand," she cut in, her blue eyes darting warily between Clara and River.

"That might be good, dear, yes," Jenny agreed quietly, giving her a slightly tense smile.

Vastra lifted her hand up into the air ahead of her and made almost a throwing motion, making tiny-grains of almost sand like substance suddenly swirl into the air above the middle of the table, before the grains formed a translucent image of a balding man, his expression twisted into a cruel, mean snarl that revealed missing and blackened teeth. Jen eyed the 3D image with a small frown, she'd heard about this guy, seen his picture in the paper only that morning, actually. He had been arrested for the horrible, brutal slayings of a number of women and was currently awaiting trial, likely to be hanged for his crimes. Jen didn't exactly agree with the death penalty, once, she would have, but she had to say...this bloke was quite the nasty piece of work.

"Clarence DeMarco," she explained to the room, "Murderer, under sentence of death. He offered us this in exchange for his life..." she waved her hand again and the grains shifted again, forming a moving image of what looked like a map of the stars, with lines and circles woven throughout it.

"Wait a minute..." Jen said quickly, her eyes narrowing as she peered up at the image, "Those...well, they can't be, can they?" she frowned deeply, confusion filing her features, "I mean, they look like space time coordinates, but that's not possible. How'd a human murderer in Victorian London give you that?" she looked sharply over to Vastra.

Vastra nodded lightly in agreement, "That is just one part of the mystery," she told her, her gaze moving back up towards the coordinates, considering them grimly, "This, Mister DeMarco claims, is the location of the Doctor and Hatter's greatest secret".

"Which is?" Clara asked with a glance around the table, while Jen's eyebrows lifted in surprise. That...wasn't what she was expecting.

"We don't know," Jenny replied, slightly pointedly, "It's a secret".

She frowned and looked over to Jen, "Well, you'd know, wouldn't you?" she asked her, clasping her tea cup between her hands, "If anyone here would, it would be you, right, Jen? You're their daughter".

Jen shrugged slightly, "They've never mentioned anything about a secret to me," she replied with a slightly awkward smile, wondering if they should have...was that normal for parents to keep secrets from their kids? She guessed it must be, about some stuff, but she wasn't all that sure. She was still trying to get used to having parents, in the first place, so what did she know? As far as she knew, her mum and dad were pretty honest with her, they'd never not answered any question she'd asked, her mum seemed to actually love to teach her stuff about the Time Lords and time travel, especially.

"The Doctor and the Hatter do not discuss their secrets with anyone, my dear," Vastra said firmly, fixing Clara with a very serious look, glancing briefly over to Jen, "There are certain secrets even their children are not at liberty to know," she fixed Clara with another, grave look as Jen shrugged lightly to herself. She was sure her parents had their reasons for keeping their secrets to themselves, she trusted them enough to understand that, "If you're still entertaining the idea that you are an exception to this rule..." she continued, "Ask yourself one question. What are their names?"

Clara froze and her eyes widened very slightly, while Jen blinked, taken aback that their big secret could be as simple as that...but it was something she had wondered, she supposed. After all, Astra had a normal sounding name; she doubted very much if her parents had been born with the names 'Doctor' and 'Hatter'. So how did that work? After all, Jen went by her very human sounding name, but was it a Time Lord thing to call yourself by some title once you hit a certain age or something? Her parents had never explained it to her, it made her wonder if it eve mattered; surely if it did then they would have said something? But if so...then why was it such a big deal that their names stayed a secret? She was still puzzling over it when she noticed Jenny shift very slightly from the corner of her eye, her face screwing up with discomfort and her hand flying up to touch her cheek. Jen looked at her with a small frown, but Jenny shook her head lightly, silently dispelling her questioning look. It didn't take the frown from Jenny's face, though.

"Well, I know it," River said suddenly, her tone light and casual, but it instantly pulled everyone's gaze to her.

"What, you know their names?" Clara glanced at her with a small disbelieving smile, "They told you but not Jen?" she nodded over towards Jen, though she was eyeing River with a frown.

"I made them".

"You can't have," Jen shook her head, laughing slightly at the idea, "I mean, if it's that big of a deal, then there's no way they would have told anyone. Mum and Dad are way too stubborn for that, you'd have to...I don't know, threaten to destroy the Universe or...or kill one of them..." she paused, her eyes narrowing very slightly in worry and alarm as River merely smiled lightly, "You didn't actually do that...did you?"

"It's a long story," she replied mysteriously, giving Jen an annoying little smirk. Jen rolled her eyes in irritation, which only made her smirk widen. Most infuriating bloody person...How did her parents cope with it?

"So..." Clara began slowly, briefly glancing down into her teacup, looking slightly, almost...awkward, "So you're a...friend of theirs, then?"

She smiled, then, her expression softening, though no less annoyingly knowing and mysterious, "A little more than a friend," she told her lightly, before her expression grew a touch sadder, and Jen frowned faintly, eyeing her closely, "A long time ago…"

Okay…so River really wasn't a companion of theirs, then, or at least not just any old one. Jen still couldn't figure out what to make of it, though. Why not just say? Why did it have to be a big mystery? And why did she, of all people, know her parents real names? She wasn't…she couldn't possibly be their daughter, right? Jen briefly considered that, she didn't know a huge amount about Time Lords, but spending time hanging out with her parents, hearing them talk about their people and home, reading a few books that her mum had given her about the Time Lords and Gallifrey, had taught her one thing. Time Lords could sense one another, especially if they were related by blood, to the point that parents could practically sense their kid's emotions for the first few decades of their kid's lives, until they matured and developed their psychic abilities to the point that they could close off their minds. But it still lingered, the ability for close familial bonds to continue to allow Time Lords to recognise their kids instinctively, even centuries and centuries and multiple regenerations on, always remained. And it was same for siblings, not quite as strong, but there was still a heightened degree of recognition there between siblings, allowing them to feel connected to one another. It was why Jen had felt as if she recognised Astra the moment she saw her, she hadn't understood it then, but sensed it whenever she was around Astra now and Astra, as a toddler who was still heavily driven by her own developing psychic abilities, had instinctively known and had been calmed by it…even if she hadn't understood it herself, either. But Jen didn't feel that way about River. She wasn't Time Lord, nor Gallifreyan, because apparently there was a difference, be it mainly an educational level one, so…who was River Song to the Doctor and the Hatter?

Vastra regarded River with surprise, her scaled forehead creasing, "They still haven't contacted you?" she asked her, seemingly almost shocked, "Even the Hatter?"

River smile was full of sadness, but a resigned sort of sadness, as if she had long come to terms with it and was simply…accepting it, for a lack of anything more that she could do, "He doesn't like endings," she said softly, shaking her head lightly, "And she…I suppose, in the end, it breaks her hearts too much".

"I still don't get it, though," Jen eyed her in confusion, just…stumped, completely stumped by who River Song could be to her mum and dad. And she didn't like not knowing, she was as curious as they were, always had been, but she also didn't completely have all the facts to even begin to try making sense of it all, either, which was just plain frustrating on top of also of it all, "Who are you, River?" she watched her intently, just waiting to pick up on the slightest shift in her expression…but River simply turned her sad little smile onto her. She sighed in exasperation and gave her a look, "Oh, come on. They're my parents, surely they means you can tell me, right?"

"Why should I?" she asked her pleasantly, her expression lightening and a flicker of amusement replacing her sad smile. Clearly, someone was enjoying this little game, "I never told them, they had to learn for themselves".

"But that's…different," she shook her head instantly, huffing slightly and pouting. Jenny shivered in her seat and shifted uncomfortably, making Jen glance at her from the corner of her eye. Was she coming down with something? Humans got sick all the time…right?

River laughed, winking cheekily at her, before she looked back across the table to Vastra, "So what else did this DeMarco tell you?" she questioned, her tone growing suddenly brisk and very serious, her eyes narrowing very slightly. Curiously, no one else seemed to notice Jenny's odd behaviour…so Jen also decided to put it aside, for now, turning her attention back to the main discussion, "He didn't just buy his life with some coordinates," she continued sharply, "How did he prove their value?"

"One word, only," Vastra replied grimly, suddenly looking almost…worried. It instantly set Jen on edge, because rarely did anything worry Vastra. Not outwardly.

"What word?"

"A word I've heard in connection to the Doctor and the Hatter before…Trenzalore".

The meaning of that word was utterly lost on Jen, her lips parting in confusion and her forehead creasing as she stared openly at Vastra, just trying to figure out what it meant. It sounded like a planet to her, though not one she'd ever heard or gone to, but she was also positive her parents had never spoken of that place to her before, ether. But while she might be utterly in the dark, River seemed to instantly tense and slowly straighten in her chair, almost as if she was trying to brace herself for something horrible, while her expression just seemed to grow guarded, as if she was doing her uttermost to conceal her true feelings. Jen licked her lips, something close to dread pooling in her stomach.

"How exactly did he describe what he was giving you?" River asked, her tone oddly controlled now, as if she was just trying to keep it level.

Vastra eyed her for a brief moment, before she swept her gloved hand through the air above the table once more, causing the grains of sand to reform into another transparent image of DeMarco. It wasn't just a picture this time, rather a recording, and his voice rang out through the silence of the room:

"The Doctor and the Hatter have a secret, you know. They have one that they will take to the grave. And it is discovered".

Jenny frowned in puzzlement, looking curiously over to River, only to find her suddenly looking quite horrified, the colour draining from her cheeks and her gaze fixed on the hologram, her lips parted slightly. It made a cold shiver down her spine, because during the short time that she had known River, she knew her well enough to know that she didn't scare easily. Far, far from it, she seemed more like the type to laugh or flirt in the face of danger.

"You misunderstood," River breathed, making Vastra frown slightly on confusion, while even Clara looked to the curly haired woman, her expression shifting slightly in concern.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry," Jenny cut in, slightly shakily, "I...I just realise I forgot to lock the doors".

"It doesn't matter, Jenny," Vastra told her without even glancing at her, staring at River in increasing confusion and alarm, "What misunderstanding? Tell me".

"No, ma'am, please," she tried, even more desperately then before. Jen looked at her in alarm, she actually sounded close to tears, "I should've locked up before we went into the trance..."

"Jenny, it doesn't matter!"

"Jenny, what's wrong?" Jen asked urgently, gripping her knees beneath the table, clenching the rough cotton in her fists as she looked worriedly to the girl, "What is it?"

Vastra looked quickly to Jenny as everyone around the table turned their attention to the girl, too, seemingly finally realising that something was, indeed, very wrong. Jenny's eyes were shining with tears now and she sat stiffly in her seat, looking as pale as paper.

"Someone's broken in," Jenny gasped shakily, her gaze growing distant, her voice sounding almost...chocked, but not by tears. It almost sounded as if someone had their hands around her throat, slowly pressing down..., "Someone's with us. I can hear them..." she broke off with a weak little breath.

"Jenny," Vastra leaned slightly closer to her, eyeing her in concern, "Are you alright?"

"Sorry, ma'am," she managed to gasp out, struggling not to completely burst into tears, "So sorry. So sorry. So sorry..." she inhaled sharply, staring off into space with a horrified, haunted look, "I think I've been murdered..."

"What?" Jen exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock. Murdered? How...? Was that even possible? Of course, sure, it was still possible to die while in the trance, but the idea that someone might have actually murdered one of them was just...it was unbelievable. And Jenny, of all people, why kill her? Why not go for Vastra, the leader of their little group? Jenny was...Jenny, important, of course, but Vastra held the power, but yet they had gone after Jenny. Why? To send a message? Make an impact?

A tear slipped down Jenny's cheek and she just seemed to slowly fade, right before their very eyes, growing more and more transparent. It was almost as if she truly was turning into a ghost.

"Jenny," Vastra breathed, looking quite stunned.

"What's happening to her?" Clara asked quickly, looking to Jen for answers...but Jen could only stare in horror and shock as Jenny completely faded from the table, leaving no trace of her beyond.

"Jenny, can you hear me?" Vastra called loudly, a note of desperation and fear colouring her tone.

"Speak to us, boy!" Strax urged, lightly thumping the table with his fist.

"Jenny!"

"You're under attack!" River said hurriedly to Vastra, who looked at her, almost frantic, "You must wake up now. Just wake up! Do it!" she rose from her chair and slapped Vastra right across the face.

Vastra disappeared immediately, hopefully waking up back in the real world, but Jen couldn't help fearing just what she might find once she did. She tried to use her own senses to feel if there was anyone around her in the real world, but she couldn't feel anyone, not even the slightest breeze against her to warn her that a door or window had been opened, but that meant nothing. A horrible thought crossed her mind, then...Alice. She was downstairs, hopefully well away from whatever might be hunting them down, but if they went after her, she would have no clue as to what was going on and that would be on Jen's head. She had been there visiting, she had asked to use their spare room to lie down in. If anything happened to Alice, or Max, for that matter, what would her mum say? It would all be her fault...

"You too, Strax!" River turned to look across the table to Strax, "Wake up!" she grabbed her champagne glass and chucked the contents directly at his face.

He spluttered briefly in shock, before disappearing before their very eyes, but it was too late. Suddenly, in a blink of an eye, their little dreamscape was invaded by the most creepy looking creatures Jen had ever seen, their skin almost a grey, chalky pallor and with just slight indents were the eyes ought to be, the sockets covered over with skin and with black lips, open wide to reveal sharp, uneven teeth as they released a horrible, hissing growl. They were all dressed in the same black, Victorian style suits and top hats, and they quickly surrounded the table, River, Jen, and Clara leaping out of their seats and edging closer to one another, cornered from both sides.

"Oh, my God," Clara gasped, looking quickly from the creatures moving in on them from the left and then the others on the right, effectively trapping them completely.

"Er...it's going to be alright," Jen found herself saying, though her voice sounded slightly uncertain and nervous as she placed herself slightly in front of Clara, looking wide eyed at the creatures. She wasn't so sure how they had even managed to get inside the dreamscape, it ought to be impossible, but yet...here they were. She doubted if she would even be able to engage with them in physical combat.

"No offence, Jen, but you're not nearly as convincing as your mum".

"Yeah," she sighed, grimacing slightly, not in the slightest bit offended, "To be fair, Mum's had loads of time to practice lying...Um," she briefly closed her eyes, practically feeling the sharp look Clara shot the back of her head, "Please don't tell her I said that".

"Tell the Doctor and Hatter," a low, haunting whisper filled the air, instantly silencing the girls, "Tell the Doctor and the Hatter. Tell the Doctor and the Hatter…"

"Tell them what?" Clara demanded, looking around at them in confusion.

The grains of sand seemed to swirl in the air above the middle of the table, forming the image of a man in his early fifties, his expression blank of any emotion as his cold eyes stare directly back at them. So very, very empty.

"Their friends and child are lost forever more," the hologram told them, his voice echoing through the air, "Unless they go to Tenzalore".

"No!" River cried, suddenly almost frantic as Jen looked at her sharply, "You can't say that! They can't go there. You know they can't".

Clara flinched suddenly and her eyes widened.

"The Doctor and the Hatter can never go to Trenzalore!"

"Clara?" Jen looked at her curiously, eyeing her worriedly.

Clara blinked slowly, her forehead creasing, "I...I think I can hear them," she breathed, meeting Jen's baby blue eyes, "The Doctor and the Hatter".

And just like that, she was gone.

"Jen," River suddenly grabbed Jen by her shoulders, managing to actually throw her slightly off balance as the blonde looked at her quickly, finding the older woman giving her a deadly serious look, "You need to wake up and run! Run as far and as fast as you can!" she shook her slightly, making Jen gasp slightly in shock, "If they get you, they'll use you to lure the Doctor and the Hatter to Trenzalore and they'll come for you, even knowing what they'll be facing! Run!"

She slapped her, clean across the face, and in the next second Jen was jolting upright on the bed that she had been lying on, gasping and her eyes widening, while her hearts pounded and a sick sense of dread filled her stomach. She immediately leapt up and dashed for the door, knowing that River was right…if her mum and dad found out she'd been taken, then they'd come for her, no matter what the risks or what Trenzalore might mean to them, they'd come for her. Always. She threw the door open and stopped short, her lips parting in horror.

The low whispers of those creatures filled her ears as she found her path blocked before her, three of them standing directly outside the door and one glance over her shoulder showed another three of them stepping forward, almost as if they had literally just appeared within the room. They had found her.

"Just to make things clear here," she licked her lips, looking squarely at the creature in front of her, "If anything happens to my mum and dad…I'm coming for you myself".

It was a nice thought…and the last one she had before everything went utterly black.

….

"Angie?" the Doctor called throughout the Maitland house, wondering around blindly, from room to room, with his hands out stretched before him and a light blue and yellow stripped blindfold covering his eyes, "Artie?"

The Hatter struggled not to giggle as she sat on the floor by Clara, who remained peacefully sleeping on the rug of her bedroom floor, seemingly very much out to it. She had tried waking her, though only half-heartedly…she figured that if the girl was tired enough to fall asleep on her bedroom floor and not on her bed, then she must need the sleep. And so the Hatter had found herself amusing herself by rearranging her book shelf, it was far to organised before and it was annoying her, the order of it was almost painful, so she'd taken it upon herself to mess it up a bit, put a few books upside down, even amongst the shelves, but with that done with…she found herself just sitting on the floor, crossed legged and waiting for Clara to wake up so that she could tell her what amusing antics the Doctor was up to now. Astra was sitting on the floor next to her, leaning against her side as she struggled to try and hold a rather thick book up, her little arms struggling to keep it upright for her to read, but she seemed to be enjoying it. You were never too young to start learning about astrophysics, even the basic, human level that the book covered.

"Angie? Artie?"

Clara's eyes suddenly flickered open and she gasped slightly as she sat up quickly, blinking slowly in confusion. The Hatter gave her a brilliant smile.

"Clara!" she said brightly, making the poor girl jump and her head whip in her direction, staring at her with big, wide eyes, "Good morning, sleepy head!"

"Clara!" Astra cheered excitedly, dropping her book and practically lunging directly at Clara.

Clara hastily wrapped her arms around the overly enthusiastic two and a half year old, hugging her, almost automatically as she stared back at the Hatter, who slowly began to lose her smile.

"Hatter?" she said slowly.

"Clara, are you alright?" the Hatter asked worriedly, eyeing her as it hit her…Clara looked alarmed, almost frightened. Astra pulled back, too, frowning up at Clara.

"Am I getting warm?" the Doctor's voice rang back up to them, and Clara glanced over to the door, confused, "Am I getting warm?"

She looked back to the Time Lady, "What's going on?"

"Look, I'm pretty sure you have to tell me if I'm getting warm. I'm...I'm pretty sure that's in the rules…"

The Hatter eyed her closely, "I think you ought to see it, rather than me explain it," she told her lightly, but she was still looking at her in concern, "Clara, are you alright?"

Clara hesitated, she could see it in her eyes that there was something she wished to say, but she didn't. She sighed heavily and instead dropped her gaze to Astra, giving her a strained smile, "Let's go and see what you dad's up to, hey?" she suggested, moving to stand.

Astra grinned and immediately jumped up off the floor, "Silly, Daddy!" she cheered, grabbing Clara and the Hatter's hand as they both stood, practically tugging them towards the bedroom door.

They found the Doctor downstairs, on the floor below Clara's attic bedroom, wondering around through the upstairs hallway with his arms outstretched and very nearly bouncing off the walls by walking into them, his eyes still very much covered by the blindfold. Clara threw the Hatter a strange look as they stepped down onto his level, just behind him, and the Hatter grinned cheekily and shrugged innocently, as if to say 'Well, don't look at me, I didn't do anything'. Yeah, sure.

"Am I getting warm?" he asked, pausing by the base of the stairs, looking off down the hallway ahead of him, blindly, of course.

"Doctor?" Clara eyed him slightly.

"Ha!" he cried, grinning, "Clara! How are you? Don't worry, everything is under control".

"Silly, Daddy!" Astra giggled, swinging Clara and the Hatter's hand...she had been very keen to show them just how fast she could run downstairs, but the Hatter had hastily reminded her that they walked downstairs when they weren't being chased. She seemed to have very quickly got over her disappointment.

"What are you doing?" Clara asked him, staring at him with slightly parted lips.

"Oh, um..." he turned around towards the sound of their voices, flashing them a bright grin, "Mister Maitland went next door, so we said we'd look after the kids. They wanted to go to the cinema, but I said 'No,'" he held up his finger firmly in the air before him, shaking his head as Clara watched him with a slightly exasperated look and the Hatter grinned, "I said 'No, not until you wake up'. I was very firm".

"At which point they suggested Blind Man's Bluff".

"Oh, no, that was the Hatter's idea," he replied brightly, still smiling brightly. Clara turned to give the Hatter a knowing, flat look, which the Time Lady returned with a large smile and a small wink, "Thought it'd be best to keep the kids busy, suggested that I should go first blind folded..." he frowned very slightly then, looking puzzled as he glanced blindly back down the hallway ahead of them, "Haven't found them yet..."

The Hatter simply couldn't hold it back any longer, breaking out into loud giggles as Clara continued to eye her with a knowing, though slightly amused look. She stepped down the last step to stand on the same level as the Doctor as he whipped back at the sound of her laughter, slipping her hand free from Astra's grasp to reach up and gently lift the blindfold up over his head, giving him a grin as he blinked slightly at the light.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," she said with little guilt or true apology, making him immediately narrow his eyes on her. She slipped the blindfold off his head completely and reached up to smooth his hair, lessoning his glare considerably, though he was still regarding her suspiciously, "I just couldn't help myself, the kids looked so disappointed when you told them they couldn't go...so I may have let them," she paused, throwing Clara a quick, thoughtful look, "Two hundred pounds ought to be enough for the cinema, right?"

"You gave them two hundred pounds?" Clara blinked, her eyes widening slightly in horror.

"They did seem a little stunned by it, too...why, was that not enough?"

"I..." she shook her head, sighing heavily, "You know what, never mind," she dropped her gaze to floor, her expression growing grim, "At least someone's enjoying themselves".

Astra frowned up at her, her little faced scrunched up in worry, "Why are you so sad, Clara?" she asked worriedly, peering up at her with big, green eyes.

The Hatter frowned, too, eyeing Clara. She did certainly look quite upset, her sad, brown eyes darting down to Astra, but she didn't try to deny the fact that she was sad, she just sighed and lifted her gave up to the Doctor and the Hatter, giving them a terribly grave look. She didn't like it, not one bit, usually Clara was so bright and lively, she probably would have laughed at the Hatter tricking the Doctor like that, but she didn't even crack a smile, and she most certainly would have very quickly reassured Astra that she wasn't upset, even if she was sad, just to make the little girl happy. Her silence spoke volumes.

"Clara..." the Time Lady said gently, giving her a kind look, "What is it? What's wrong?"

Clara sighed and looked at them sadly.

...

The Hatter's mind was still spinning, she felt almost disconnected from her own body as she sat on the sofa in the Maitland's sitting room next to the Doctor, both of them staring blankly ahead of them, sides pressed together in silence and their hands joined. The coffee table was covered with bits of paper with messy, childish drawers scribbled across them, while Astra was sat on the Hatter's lap, frowning worriedly up at her mother as she sat perched beneath her chin, her bright purple tutu surrounding her as her yellow gumboot covered feet dangled over the side of the Hatter's legs. The only noise in the house came from the kitchen as Clara made tea, British as ever, and a small cup of apple juice at the kitchen table, casting the small family little glances every few moments. It was disconcerting to see the usually lively, hyperactive Time Lords just so still and silent.

"So who was she?" Clara asked, once the silence became too much to bear any longer, calling through the open archway between the sitting and dining room, pouring tea into the cups, casting them another quick look through the doorway, "The lady with the funny name and the space hair?"

"She was...a friend of ours," the Hatter said quietly, but she felt disconnected from even the sense of sadness that always filled her thinking about River Song these days, her brain already clouded by so many other emotions...fear, horror, pain, grief...she was on the tipping point of being swept up in a great tidal wave of it all, but she had to cling onto to herself for a bit longer. She could break down completely, she had to stay strong, for the Doctor and Astra, she had to keep it at least partly together.

"She seemed like a pretty close friend".

"River asked Vastra for the exact words," the Doctor cut in, his tone slightly off, too, not even sparing the doorway a glance as he held himself rigidly, "What were they?"

The Hatter barely stopped herself from sobbing, hearing his voice waver with tears as he finished speaking. She looked at him and her expression crumbled with grief, her eyes filling with tears at the sight of him trying so desperately to keep it all together, to hold his own grief and fear at bay...for her sake or for Astra's, she couldn't say for certain, but she could see that he was losing the battle. She just wanted to take him in her arms and hold him and never let go.

Clara sighed slightly, "The Doctor and the Hatter have a secret they will take to the grave," she told them, and she stepped into view of the lounge room, holding a small tray with the cups of tea and apple juice, "It is discovered..." she stopped short, then, catching sight of the look of grief on their faces, the tears shinning in their eyes. Her eyes widened slight in alarm as the Doctor lowered his head, "Doctor...Hatter?"

"It's...it's going to be okay, sweetheart," the Hatter murmured, pressing her head against his shoulder, feeling a tear slip down her cheek. She squeezed her eyes shut and took a shuddering breathe, as if trying to calm herself, "It has to be..."

"It's too soon, Hatter," he shook his head, his voice trembling with tears, and she lifted her head from his shoulder to look into his shinny, tear-filled eyes, full of grief and fear, "I...I always thought we'd have more time, that..." he broke off with a chock, barely stifled sob and hastily reached up to run a hand down his face.

The Hatter knew what he meant...Astra; he had thought they'd have more time with Astra, before their end would near. She was still only a toddler, just a baby, and after having escaped the clutches of the Silence and the looming possibility of their deaths back then, they had thought that they had been free to finally raise Astra, to see her grow up and enjoy their time with her, parenting and loving her throughout every stage of her life. They hadn't quite imagined that their morality would approach this swiftly, when Astra was simply so young and still needed them so desperately. And Jen, of course, they had only just found her again, only just began to know her as the young, bright, excited young woman that she was, only just began teaching her about who she was, where she came from, her history and legacy. They had even been talking about starting her lessons on how to pilot the TARDIS the next time they picked her up, and now...it felt as if it was all slipping away from them, completely and utterly gone. She wanted to tell him that it wasn't so, that they'd get through this, but even her throat felt to tight and chocked to say the words, because deep in her hearts, she couldn't even pretend to believe it. Not about this.

"Sorry," he breathed, after a moment, his voice wobbly as he uncovered his face to look up to Clara, who stood before them, watching them with a horrified, worried expression, "You're sure it was Trenzalore? Definitely Trenzalore?"

Clara blinked slowly and nodded very slightly, staring at him in shock, "Yeah," she said quietly.

He covered his eyes again, before briefly lifting his head up towards the ceiling, inhaling long and slow, "Oh, dear," he gasped, sniffing slightly as he gave himself a rough shake...but it couldn't dispel his tears, giving Clara a brief glance, "Sorry," he hastily rose and moved to pick up Astra, who frowned deeply with worry, practically hugging her to him as he practically fled the room, while the toddler clung to his neck.

The Hatter swallowed thickly and reached up to roughly brush her cheeks of tears, "Just...give us a moment," she said without looking at Clara, moving to drag herself onto her feet, her knees feeling weak and she could practically feel all of the thousand plus years weighing down upon every inch of her, "I'll...I don't know," she sighed, her own voice trembling with tears, "But I'll do...something".

"Hatter," Clara said softly, just as she went to follow the Doctor out, making the Time Lady stop in the doorway, her back to the room, "There's something else you need to know..." she hesitated, sounding almost torn, before she drew in a deep, resigned breath, "Jen was there".

"What?" she instantly whirled around, her tearful eyes widening in alarm, while she had to reach out and hastily grasp the edge of the doorframe, her knees feeling frighteningly close to buckling beneath her, "Jen...my Jen?"

She bit her lip, but nodded, and the Time Lady's knuckles turned bone white against the doorframe, what little colour she had left in her cheeks draining utterly away, "I don't know what happened to her," she went on, gently, in much the same tone that the Hatter usually used when trying to sooth someone, "But she was there with River just before I woke up".

The Hatter just...well, she could barely breath, she was quite positive that she had stopped breathing all together and that her entire Universe had just tilted to one side. Jen...her bright, clever, fiercely determined daughter had more than likely been taken by the same beings that had snatched Vastra and the others away, which in itself was bad enough, but Jen, too? It was almost too much for even she to bare, she felt a prickling of panic welling up in her chest and the frantic, desperate need to find Jen, right then and now, no matter how far or the risk, Jen was her baby girl, just as much as Astra, even if she might not have carried her or birthed her, she was her baby. Plain and simple, and someone had taken her from her and whoever was reasonable for doing so, for placing Jen in any hint of danger, would pay for doing so. She wasn't blinded by overwhelming, maternal desire to protect right now, it was just plain and simple fact that they would pay for doing this. It was perhaps the one and only thing keeping her remotely calm, and she clung to that thought as she turned silently on her heel and marched out.

She didn't even remember leaving the house, not really, but her feet carried her easily from the short distance of the front door to the TARDIS, parked in the driveway. She unlocked it on auto-pilot and slipped inside, her gaze, now oddly dry from tears, but still stinging from the prickingly sensation of having been crying, sweeping the console. The Doctor and Astra were nowhere to be seen, but she knew where he would go, where he always went when he wanted an escape. So she made her way down to the lowest level of the console room, finding the Doctor sitting on the floor, his back leaning against the storage cupboards that were on this level, while cradling Astra to his chest. He was humming to her, a soft, beautiful, sweet Gallyfreyan melody, while Astra clung to him, looking significantly calmer then she had back in the house, but she was a clever girl. She knew something very bad had upset them.

"Doctor," the Hatter said softly, and moved to his side. He stopped humming to look at her as she moved to sit next to him, pressing her side close against his and wrapping an arm around him, dropping her head onto his shoulder. She took a deep breath, "There's something else".

The Doctor briefly closed his eyes, also as if bracing himself for the next blow, "How much worse can it get, dear?" he sighed heavily, and it frightened her slightly to hear how disheartened he sounded.

She hesitated, but he needed to know, he deserved to know, "They likely took Jen, too," she said in barely above a whisper, her voice breaking as she finished, while her eyes shimmered with a fresh wave of tears.

His eyes widened and even Astra looked up worriedly, her lips turning down in a deep frown, "Jen-Jen's in trouble, Mummy?" she asked in a frightened voice.

"Possibly, darling," the Hatter gave her a gentle, soothing smile, knowing that the Doctor would need a moment to process. She pressed a kiss to her cheek, smoothing a hand down over her bobbed hair, "But you don't have to worry about anything, Astra, okay?" she gave her a firm look, "Mummy and Daddy are going to make sure everything turns out alright, and that Jen-Jen's nice and safe, so you leave that to us to worry about, understand? You don't have to be frightened, not one little bit".

Astra nodded in agreement, though her little forehead was still screwed up with a concerned frown, and the Hatter hated it. She wished she wasn't here to witness any of this, that she was far removed from any of this worry or stress, because Astra had no right to be frightened or worried about grownup stuff like this, but she was. She might not fully understand what was going on, but she was clever and highly sensitive, she knew that something bad had happened and that Jen had somehow been caught up in it all. There was little to be done about it now, but the Hatter was going to do her very best to make sure that Astra knew that no matter what, none of this was for her to worry about. Nothing at all.

"Are you sure?" the Doctor asked softly, staring at the Hatter with big, frightened eyes, while his arms clutched Astra tighter to his chest, as if afraid someone would pluck her away from them, too.

The Time Lady met his eyes, "She was there with River and the others, Clara confirmed it," she said softly, keeping her voice as level as she could, as calm as she could, for Astra's sake, while inside her hearts pounded and she felt almost physical ill from fear for her child, "She doesn't know what happened to her, exactly, but...I'd say it was safe to assume".

"Are you..." he hesitated, his gaze roaming her face, "We're going to be okay, right?"

"Yeah," she sighed, before forcing herself to sound stronger, lifting her chin higher, "We're going to be okay, sweetheart, and we'll get through this and when we come face to face to whoever is behind this...they will regret it. I promise".

"Yes, they will," he agreed instantly, determination filing his features, and a touch of his usual spark flashed through his eyes as he held her gaze steadily, "We'll face it together, Hatter, everything that comes next, like always".

"Like always, sweetheart".

The sound of footsteps padding against the floor above them sounded, then, and they instantly glanced upwards, before the edge of Clara's shoe appeared on the stairs, leading down to their level. Slowly, Clara began to step down them, her gaze soon finding them as she descended the stairs, her arms practically hugging herself and concern written across her features. She tried to give them a small smile as she reached the bottom of the stairs, but it dropped quickly.

"Well?" she asked them quietly.

The Doctor sighed, "Trenzalore," he began after a moment, sounding resigned as he glanced at the Hatter, "We've heard the name, of course. Dorium mentioned it. A few others".

"We've discussed it so much," the Hatter added, looking back to him, her expression grim and sad, "What it might be? When we might find ourselves there...? But I always hoped we may avoid it, somehow," she shook her head slowly, looking over to Clara, "Of course, River would be fully aware of what it meant," she smiled, but it was heavy and full of a lingering sense of grief, "She was always like that, far too clever and annoyingly knowing for her own good, that one, though I imagine people would say the same about me, so who am I to judge?"

"She'd probably find that funny, dear," he commented lightly, giving her a similar, sad little smile, and she nodded in agreement. He sighed and move to stand, gently settling Astra down on her own feet as he straightened and turned to Clara, "Right, come here," he gestured for her to come forward, while reaching up into the mess of wires and cables above their heads. He quickly grasped one and flashed his sonic at it as Clara instantly moved towards them, "Give me your hand," she did as he instructed and he opened her palm up towards the ceiling, his other hand pulling the cable down, "Now, the coordinates you saw will still be in your memory," he explained, "I'm linking you into the TARDIS telepathic circuit. Won't hurt a bit".

He pressed the end of the cable swiftly into her palm, and she flinched.

"Ow!" she yelped, fixing him with a sharp frown.

"I lied".

"Okay," Clara eyed them curiously, while the Doctor began fiddling with more of the wires above their heads, while the Hatter took Astra's hand, the little girl immediately leaning against her side, leaning her head up against her hip, "What is Trenzalore? Is that your big secret?"

"Not in the least," the Hatter told her, though she hoped that her slightly firmer tone would end the discussion. It didn't.

"Okay, what then?"

The Doctor frowned deeply, looking resigned as he exchanged a look with the Hatter, "When you are a time traveller," he began with a deep sigh, turning his gaze back to Clara, "There is one place you must never go. One place in all of space and time you must never, ever find yourself".

"Where?"

The Hatter smiled humourlessly, "Our secret isn't what was referred to in the threat, Clara," she said with a light shake of her head, "Yes, indeed, we do have a secret, many, in fact, but that isn't what was discovered," she hesitated and glanced down at Astra, who peered up at them curiously, listening to everything intently...she turned back to Clara, dropping her voice to a hushed whisper, "It's our graves, Clara," she said, making her eyes widened, though she was forced to lean forward slightly to hear, "Trenzalore is our final resting place".

She turned, then, lightly guiding Astra over towards the base of the stairs leading up to the upper and main level of the console, while the Doctor instantly fell into step, just behind them. Clara seemed to briefly linger behind, processing that little bit of information, no doubt, but her own footsteps soon followed.

"How can you have a..." Clara said from behind them, only for the Time Lords to hiss and stop part way up the stairs, turning to give her a sharp look and a pointed one towards Astra. She grimaced, "Eh, sorry, I mean...how can you have a...you know..." she trailed off awkwardly, for a lack of any other way of saying 'Grave' without Astra understanding.

Thankfully, they understood perfectly, the Doctor frowned darkly and turned away from her, lightly resting his hand on the Hatter's lower back, urging her to keep going up the stairs.

"Because we all do," he said uncomfortably, his tone almost short. He evidently had little desire to speak of the subject, for which the Hatter completely understood...she couldn't say she liked the thought much, especially with Astra at such a tender age. Hopefully, they would not meet that end until Astra was grown and old enough to care for herself, but even then, the idea of leaving her was almost unthinkable, "Somewhere out there in the future," he continued as they reached the console, scowling down at the controls, "Waiting for us..."

The Hatter grimaced slightly, turning to settle Astra into her baby seat on one of the jump seats, fussing over strapping her in tightly and double and triple checking that it was completely secure...she even pulled the small, toddler sized crash helmet from beneath the seat out and put it safely over Astra's little head, making the toddler frown and pout. But it was for the best, the ride was going to be a very uncomfortable one and while they would ordinarily have sent Astra away at a time like this, the Hatter couldn't bear the thought of being parted from her, either. She needed to have her within her line of sight for the time being, they couldn't afford these enemies to get a hold of their other daughter, too, and at least Jen had a chance of defending herself, Astra had absolutely no defence, but her parents. She would remain with them, even if it was the very last place in the Universe they would have liked for her to go. Aside from Skaro, of course.

"It's one of the great down sides of time travel, Clara," the Time Lady said gravely, straightening once she was positive that Astra would be safe for the journey, turning around to face Clara with a deep, troubled frown, "There's every chance you may end up going to that one place you should never. Best intentions of avoiding doing so, aside".

"But you're not going to," Clara frowned, following her over to the console, where the Time Lady began flicking a few switches, "You just said it's the one place you must never go".

"They have our daughter, Clara," she stopped and turned to her, fixing her with a steely look, "They didn't just take Jen because she was there; they did so knowing we would always come for her. If anything, Vastra, Strax, and Jenny were the ones who were unfortunate enough to be present," she frowned, her gaze moving over to the Doctor, who caught her eye around the side of the Time Rotor, "But even if Jen hadn't been taken, we would still go, for the sake of the others. They're our friends".

"And we owe them," the Doctor added, sighing heavily as he lowered his eyes to the controls before him, "They...they cared for us during the dark times. Never questioned us, never judged, they were just...kind," he looked back up to Clara and the Hatter, smiling sadly, "We owe them that much. We have a duty".

The Hatter eyed Clara carefully, "I don't suppose we can convince you to stay home, nice and safe?" she asked her with a touch of hopefulness to her tone, but a knowing glint in her eyes.

She smiled, "Nope, not happening," she replied instantly, and the Time Lady gave her a fond smile, if very slightly resigned. It didn't shake her confidence, "How can we save them?"

"Apparently..." the Doctor began, sounding much more like himself as he straightened, giving Clara a brief grin...it soon faded, though, his bravado growing a touch sullen, "...by breaking into our own tomb".

"Words I had hoped to never hear from your lips, sweetheart," the Hatter commented lightly, though she was frowning as she grasped the edge of the console tightly.

He looked at her, his expression grim, "I couldn't agree more, dear," he said, right before he grabbed the handbrake and the TARDIS gave a great jolt, setting them off into flight immediately.

Clara yelped as they were jolted back from the controls, the flight easily rougher and jerkier than normal, even the Doctor and the Hatter seemed to be struggling to move with the flow of each sudden movement of the time machine, and they usually handled every shift and jerk like it was some sort of complicated dance. Not this time, the Hatter even had to hastily reach up and straighten her hat, having been slipping down her forehead from the sharp movement, while still trying to hit buttons at the controls.

"What's that?" she shouted over the loud noise of shaking the grinding of the engines, just barely managing to cling to the console.

"She's just figured out where we're going!" he called back, grimacing as he grasped another lever and seemed to struggle to pull it, almost as if an indivisible force was attempting to pull it back. He managed, after a moment, "She's against it! We're about to cross our timelines in the biggest way possible!"

"And she's really not keen on the idea!" the Hatter added, raising her voice to be heard as she had to practically slam her hand down on one button, just to try and get it to go down, having suddenly become quite resistive. All of the controls felt ten times harder to work than usual, all because the TARDIS was trying everything within her power to stop them, but it was still the Doctor's ship. He still had final say, even if the old girl would try very, very hard to challenge his judgment, "Blimey, she's putting up a decent fight, I'll give her that," she grimaced as she had to use all of her strength to just pull a lever herself, her hands actually hurting from the force, "We just need to...hang on! Hang on!"

She quickly rounded the console, seeing the Doctor struggling to pull two levers at the same time, and hastily wrapped her hands around them, too, just below his hands, gritting her teeth as they tried to use their combined strength to pull them...the TARDIS gave a great, horrible jolt and the familiar sound of a explosion going off beneath them filled the air, followed by a crashing of sparks that seemed to filled the air above them, spewing from the Time Rotor as they just clung to the console for dear life. The Hatter was just grateful that Astra would be protected. The console sparked even more violently and the Time Lords and Clara were forced to practically fling themselves away from the controls, catching themselves on the railings behind them, practically swinging on them, before dropping to the ground as the jolting and shaking all just seemed to die down suddenly. The lights grew dim and the air filled with smoke, while the loud, angry hum of the engine dying down thundered.

"Now what?" Clara looked across to the Time Lords, her voice slightly chocked by the smoke.

"She doesn't want to land," the Doctor looked back up to the dull controls, though the Time Rotor was still illuminated, pulling himself up off the floor and offering the Hatter a hand up. They practically stumbled back over to the controls, and Clara hastily followed. He tried toying with some of the controls, "She's shut down".

"So we're not there?"

The Hatter glanced back over her shoulder to her, having left the controls to move to check Astra, "I'd say we're pretty close," she said thoughtfully, before turning her attention back to Astra, giving her a gentle smile through the protective visor of the crash helmet...she could practically see Astra grinning broadly. She was so their daughter, "You're alright, darling. Just a little bit longer..."

She straightened and moved to join the Doctor as he moved towards the door. He waited, his hand on the door handle, until she was by his side, meeting her gaze through the gloom and smoke...She gave him a bracing smile and a nod, and he returned it, before finally swinging the door open. They moved to peer down, only to find themselves looking down upon an almost volcanic looking planet. It was large and seemed to be encrusted with grew rock, with large veins of yellow running through it, with something almost like steam possibly spilling through it. It looked angry and desolate and just plain and simply...unpleasant, to be perfectly honest.

"Okay," the Doctor blinked slightly, frowning down at it as Clara came to join them, "So that's where we end up".

"It's...not anything at all that nice to look at," the Hatter said softly, her chest growing a touch heavy with sadness and disappointment, peering down at the angry planet below them, "I had hoped...perhaps for a garden, trees and flowers and an open sky full of stars. Not...this".

"I wanted that, too, dear," he nodded, his voice almost as soft. He sighed, "I'd also hoped we might retire, one day," he smiled sadly, looking back to her, "Take up watercolours, for me, of course..." he gave her something close to a teasing look as she raised an eyebrow...art was never one of her talents, "Or maybe bee-keeping, or something..."

"That sounds so idyllic, sweetheart," she murmured, her gaze moving back to the planet, "But...evidently fate had a much different path for us, as always".

"So..." Clara cut in, eyeing the planet with a frown, too, "How do we get down there?" she looked back to them, "Jump?"

"Don't be silly," the Doctor shook his head, while the Hatter laughed slightly. He gave Clara a bright grin, "We fall".

She stared at them in confusion, but the Hatter simply pushed her lightly back from the doors, allowing the Doctor the room to swiftly shut them.

"There's but only a few systems still at work in the old girl," the Hatter explained lightly, looking thoughtfully back towards the controls, while the Doctor reached inside his pocket and fished out the sonic screwdriver. She smiled calmly, "One of which being the anti-graves," she threw Clara a wink over her shoulder, "Looks like we'll just have to turn it off for the old girl ourselves. Doctor..." she turned back towards the console, her expression determined, "Please do the honours".

"Of course, dear".

And with that, the Doctor aimed the sonic screwdriver at the console and activated it, and suddenly the time machine gave a sharp jerk sideways and Clara screamed, barely catching herself on the edge of the nearest railing as they felt themselves tumbling very quickly towards the surface of the planet below them, Clara's screams filling the air and the Hatter laughing as she clung to a railing next to the Doctor. Now this was a much more interesting way to spend an afternoon, perhaps a little to interesting, even for the Time lords, but interesting, nonetheless.

And done! I also started nursing, officially, I've already done three shifts at the time of writing this, the last one was pretty hectic, honestly, but that's kind of the job most of the time. But, as you can see, I've still been writing.

I really wanted to bring Jen into this episode and it just fitted so well, since she's hanging out with Vastra and I thought it'd give us a nice perspective into how she's going and insight into her parents. So I'm happy I had the chance to do that. Also, the first section of this chapter comes from 'The Five Doctors and Hatters,' a Classic Who spin-off I did years ago and I alluded to who Clara was originally in that chapter. I kind of cut a section of that scene out of that chapter and put it here, since I felt like it suited well.

I hope you guys enjoyed it. Tell me what you thought. Please review :)

Guest Reviews:

Guest 19: I do feel like I would just have to set my mind to one Doctor and one companion, and then follow their series with audio dramas, and just go from there. That would probably help to not be completely overwhelmed by the vast selection. I've heard a bit about Luci Miller, so I'd probably start with her, too.

Guest 18: Lungbarrow is worth a look, if you're interested in that sort of thing. I enjoyed reading it myself. I think there are similarities with the Timeless Child plot and it's plot, but not hugely. Mind, it's been ages since I read it.

Guest 15, 12, 14: I'm afraid that none of the links worked for me. You could try sending them through Tumblr. This site is pretty strict about website links and tends to cut them off or completely erase them, once you try posting/sending/linking.

Guest (1): Yes, that's the book I was talking about! I love that book; I've got it on my bedside table right now, actually. Yeah, I heard about the same guy doing both, it made me more intrigued for the episode. I feel like I should read it again, I remember liking the concept of the Fifth Doctor's mini story, but not much more about it or how it ended.

Guest 11: God, Seven really is a dark bloke, isn't he? I mean, I knew he was the darkest out of all the Doctors and the most manipulative, but he sounds positively frightening. Even so, I feel like the Hatter would be the one person to see through his tricks and manipulation, I just feel like she knows him to well, but I could see them getting into a fight about it and the Hatter basically telling him that unless he stopped treating people like pawns, she wouldn't wish to have anything to do with him. That one-hundred percent would happen, and then I could see her meeting the Eighth Doctor and being relieved that he was a much sweeter, gentler natured Doctor then his previous self. She'd so say it to his face, too.

Guest (2): These links really aren't working out, huh? All well.

Izzy: Yes, I heard about Rory, I think I got an ad for it somewhere, can't remember where, but it made me really happy to see it. I love Rory.

Guest (3): It's vaguely familiar; I think I've read about that story with Five, maybe on Wiki while researching his personality more. Sounds interesting.