Interest

If Adelaide was going to be honest, she had no idea if she liked or disliked Missy. They had met, in total, four times. During the first, she'd helped a child reborn as a weapon escape a war. During the second, she'd been trapped in a human body, watched the Master take over every person on Earth and attempt to bring Gallifrey back before sacrificing themselves to save everyone. During the third, Missy had tried to turn the Doctor into the man Adelaide feared and knew him to be. During the fourth, she'd tried to help, tried to show the Time Lords the truth of duality.

Merely from those encounters, Missy would have been Adelaide's friend. If she was working purely off how they had interacted in the past, she would have a small issue with the Master's attempt to take over the world, but that likely would not have overpowered their initial close friendship, for the pair had been friends, even if just for the small time they'd spent together running from the war.

But Adelaide had heard stories from the Doctor, particularly after the second time. She knew the Master's true history, the Master's true impact on the universe. The Master's true adoration of entropy and cruelty.

She thought she had an understanding of her opinion on the other last Time Lord. She thought she knew that she was, for the most part, indifferent. Thankful for the Master's role in helping her escape the war, regretful of her part in helping someone so destructive back into the universe. Curious about Missy's newfound obsession with revealing the truth of the Doctor's character to her, as though Missy actively desired the split that had occurred.

But then the Doctor had explained that Missy was in the Vault. Then, the Doctor had explained that Missy had expressed interest in turning good.

If anything, it made Adelaide feel guiltier, if guilty was the proper word.

Missy was already someone who interfered without question. Turning good simply meant that the interference would be directed closer to the Doctor's tendencies, towards helping. And if that's what good was, if that's what goodness meant...what did that make Adelaide?

Yes, she'd never been overly concerned if she was a good woman or not. It wasn't something that mattered to her. She wasn't cruel. She was true, she was impartial, she wanted knowledge. She may not have been good by the Doctor's definition, but she was not bad.

Was goodness what Adelaide was meant to be striving for? Was this, her current state, the true incorrect one? Was the mess of emotions and interference and incompatibility that had been her previous regeneration actually what she was meant to be? Was she kidding herself now, forcing herself to be something that was, ultimately, destructive?

Adelaide didn't like to think about that, although she knew she must. She already fought with herself in this regeneration, trying to balance wanting to help and wanting to hide. She didn't want to also come to the conclusion that she had been wrong in all of her regenerations.

It was different to go and see the Vault and know that Missy was inside. The Doctor and Adelaide decided to walk there so that Adelaide could properly see the defenses from the outside. "The door is set..." the next word caught in the Doctor's throat, but he forced it out. "For friends only."

Adelaide looked it over. "Then it is quite good we've established that we are friends." She didn't look at him, didn't let herself move closer to him. Didn't let herself touch him. Didn't let herself admit that she actually wanted to. "Friends only."

"Yes." His voice was quiet. "Friends only."

The vault itself was dark, but the idea of approaching Missy was enough to distract Adelaide.

If Missy was aware that Adelaide was there, the other Time Lady did not signify that. The vault was silent.

"I trust you heard us earlier," the Doctor called to Missy, moving past Adelaide to the vault door. "Adelaide is here." Silence. "I've told her that you're here." Silence. He glanced back at Adelaide, frowning. "She's not normally this quiet."

"She'll have to share you now. Perhaps she's throwing a tantrum."

The teasing was enough to earn them a knock of acknowledgment.

"Hello, Missy." Another knock.

The Doctor turned around properly. "Would you like to go in?"

"Is it wise to open the door?"

"Nardole would advise against it."

"And you?" Adelaide already knew the answer, but there was something beautiful about the grin that blossomed on the Doctor's face. It almost hurt to crush it. "I want to speak with Nardole about the situation first."

As she expected, the Doctor's face fell. "You don't trust me?"

"I do. But he is far more dedicated to the task than you. It would be beneficial to understand it from his perspective." She looked to the door, although Missy couldn't see her. "I'm sorry, Missy, but I trust you understand." There was a knock. "Thank you for showing me, Doctor."

"I said I would."

She let the response hang in the air.

|C-S|

The next time the Doctor saw Bill, he knew that he needed to explain his and Adelaide's history to the human. It had been established that the human was not going to stop asking them about it until she was told something, and he knew that Adelaide would far prefer that he tell her the truth.

He just hoped that they had the same understanding of their relationship.

The Doctor was sitting at his desk when Bill arrived, having just sent Nardole off to give them some privacy. If Bill knew what this conversation was going to be about, she didn't show it.

"So..." Bill took her typical seat. "Are you two a...thing? Were you a thing?"

The Doctor made himself stay seated. He wished he'd made Adelaide stay with him. She would have been able to help. "It's complicated."

Bill raised her eyebrows, scoffing. "Yeah, that'd be a word for it."

He frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well..." Bill leaned forward. "Adelaide said you have a 'history'. But she refused to tell me what that history was."

"We needed to determine how we stand now before we told you about our past."

Bill nodded. "How'd you two meet?"

"It's complicated." Bill opened her mouth to speak again, but the Doctor cut her off. "When we met, Adelaide had used a machine to turn herself into a human in order to escape a war. She called herself Caroline Attwater. We ran into each other while investigating Adipose Industries. We were...drawn together."

"Sexually?"

"No." He spoke sharper than he meant to, but the Doctor couldn't help himself. "There are points in our lives when we will always meet, regardless of the choices we make in between. Adipose Industries was one of those moments. Our people called it Aligning."

"Did you realize what she was?"

"No, the machine she used hides itself from everyone, even the person it transformed. But I was still interested in her. Caroline was quiet, but she was observant. Scientific. We, and another friend, a human, traveled together. Caroline and I grew closer. Too close. Our other friend left, but Caroline..." he sucked in a breath. "I couldn't let Caroline go away.

"When Adelaide originally ran from the war, she ran with someone else. We encountered that someone else and they were who revealed that Caroline wasn't a human. She became Adelaide again. But she was...she was uncomfortable. The machine she'd used wasn't entirely effective, it had let too much of Adelaide into Caroline. Eventually, Adelaide began to think that it let too much of Caroline back into Adelaide. She was too human."

Bill frowned. "You say that like it's a terrible thing."

"To Adelaide, it was. We had what you would call a relationship then, more romantic than we'd ever dared before. But she hid her worries from me. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know what. Eventually, it built and she was forced to tell me everything. After that...we became friends again, or, at least, we tried to be."

"It didn't work."

He nodded. "No, it didn't. We grew close again. We were happy, really happy. And then..." he swallowed. "Something Adelaide and I have always struggled with is a fundamental disagreement in our philosophies for traveling. I think that we have a right, a responsibility to interfere and help where we can. Adelaide doesn't." He had to give her perspective the respect it was due. He had to do that for Adelaide when she wasn't here to speak for herself. "Adelaide believes that the universe is larger and stronger than anything that lives in it, even us. That though we play at understanding it, we know nothing. We were able to manage that disagreement, for a time. But then...it reached a point where we couldn't. A point where Adelaide refused to do anything to mess with time, even save her own life, and a point where I was willing to do anything to save a life, even destroy time. We had to separate."

Bill was quiet for a few seconds. "And that's where you were when you ran into each other here? That separation?"

"Yes."

"You still care about her, though?"

"Deeply." His throat felt tight.

"Do you love her?"

It was the Doctor's turn to go silent. He had to be honest. Adelaide would want him to be honest. "Yes. I loved Caroline, and I have loved Adelaide for centuries. I still do."

It felt wonderful to say. The Doctor hadn't expected that level of relief. Even on his bad days, even when he hated her, Adelaide...Adelaide was beautiful. Adelaide was lovely.

He still loved her.

"Thank you for telling me this," Bill said, moving forward more in her seat.

"It needed to be said."

She smiled, though it was small, and let the silence hang for a moment before speaking again. "You know that I've been looking for a new place to live recently?" He nodded. "Can you use your ship to help me move?"

"I have an even better idea."

|C-S|

When Bill requested a TARDIS's assistance in moving, it was actually the Doctor who had the idea that they use Adelaide's TARDIS. Not only was it exactly what she had described, a terrestrial jump, but it would also give the Doctor the chance to see her ship.

He was far more excited about that concept than Bill.

Adelaide tried to restrain her pride as she brought the Doctor to her office. It was smaller than his, a similar enough style if with only one level, but it was neat. Far neater than his.

The Doctor frowned as he examined the room. "Where's your TARDIS?"

"My Chameleon Circuit never broke," Adelaide reminded him, moving towards the door that held her TARDIS. It looked just like a closet, hidden between bookshelves in the back corner of her office. She passed by her desk to collect her copy of the Doctor's TARDIS key. Once her own TARDIS was unlocked, she stepped aside to let the Doctor see.

He approached it slowly.

A few of the walls of her TARDIS were still flickering with her latest writing, some organization of old research she'd recently uncovered in the depths of her TARDIS databanks, but they cycled to plain white as the Doctor approached.

"Hello," her interface said, appearing beside the console, and made the Doctor jump. Adelaide had to stifle a laugh. "I am the interface of this TARDIS. I am here to assist you in any way possible."

The Doctor's eyes went wide. "You made your TARDIS..."

"Technically, you did it," Adelaide said, nodding to her interface.

"In my repairs after I was recovered, I located a patch in my index that allows my pilot to make use of a voice interface for ease of communication. The patch was signed with Who, originally from a Type 40 ship."

Adelaide moved to stand beside the Doctor. "You never told me that you developed a voice interface."

"It never worked quite right."

The interface nodded. It's face still resembled Adelaide's first regeneration, although she swore the eyes had turned a closer shade of green to the center of her TARDIS console. The green that had peppered the Doctor's timeline, marking their fixed events. "I adapted it to suit my higher capabilities. I am closer tapped into the heart of the ship."

The Doctor turned, looking around the room more properly. "It's so...white."

Adelaide nodded. "Yes, Doctor. And clean."

"Would you like me to change the color?" the interface asked. Adelaide swore it was restraining a smile.

"No, thank you," Adelaide told it, moving past the Doctor to the console. "Do you have Bill's address?" The Doctor nodded and Adelaide gestured to the console. "If you should like, you can help pilot. The controls are approximately the same, you should be fine."

"I've piloted a Type 70 TARDIS before."

"Really?"

"Theoretically."

"That doesn't count." She looked over to the interface, which was now next to her. "Can you get the address from him?"

"Of course." The interface's eyes shimmered for a moment, turning a shade closer to black. "We are prepared for flight."

Adelaide flicked the switch and watched the Doctor's face brighten, watched him return to the idiot with a box that he always claimed to be. She'd lost that in the Time Lord Victorious. It was beautiful to see it return. To see him truly become the man both she and Caroline had fallen for.

The flight was steady, easy. Especially with the Doctor nearby to flip a few switches for her. Her TARDIS was designed for a single pilot, but the console was still round, designed for movement. Adelaide tried not to seem too proud at the comparison between her ship and the Doctor's.

Once they arrived at Bill's old room, Adelaide's TARDIS materialized around the human's collection of boxes. The human had, as instructed, piled them into two stacks. Adelaide went to her door to open it once they'd settled. "Hello, Bill." They'd warned the human that they'd be using Adelaide's TARDIS instead. "Are you ready?"

Bill nodded. "Thanks for helping." Adelaide knew that the Doctor had already spoken with Bill about their history, though the Time Lord had neglected to share the specifics of what that conversation had entailed.

Adelaide glanced at her TARDIS's outside as she moved to the side to let Bill enter. The TARDIS had returned to its blank shell, not bothering to use the Chameleon circuit now. "It's no problem, Bill." When she ducked back in, she was glad to see that the interface had vanished. Bill likely would have been fine, but it would be easier to introduce Bill to the interface later.

"You should hire this out, like a removal service," Bill said, waving at the Doctor as he moved towards her piles of belongings.

"Removals?" the Doctor made a face. "Bill, we're Time Lords." He picked up a stuffed bear from the pile.

Bill looked to Adelaide, already knowing that she was more likely to answer a question easily, though both Time Lords could be blunt. "Time Lord? What's that, your job?"

"Partly. But it is mostly a term for adults of our species – Gallifreyan."

"Doesn't sound like a species. Sounds posh, like," Bill put on an accent, "yes, my lord. Doff my cap."

The Doctor shrugged. "Oh, well, that's why we gave it up. Ran away. Both of us. Though, not together."

Bill stopped at the console. "Time Lords," she repeated. "That's hilarious. Do you wear robes and big hats?" Both Time Lords grimaced at the memory, but it seemed to be Adelaide's face that made Bill let out a laugh.

"No," the Doctor said. "Big collars mostly." He gave Bill back the bear.

"Postcode?" Adelaide asked, going up to her console.

"What, just a postcode? You don't use a multi-dimensional space-time coordinate?"

"It does. But that requires your postcode." She gestured to the console. "Input it."

Bill hurried to do so. "Do you sleep here?"

"If I need to." Bill stepped back. "Finished?"

"Yeah."

Adelaide looked over to the Doctor. "Want to help again?" the man didn't have to speak for Adelaide to know the answer.

Bill stepped back so that she would be more out of the way. "'If I need to'? What does that mean?"

The Doctor grinned. "Sleep's for tortoises."

"Not Time Lords? Or, not Gallifreyans?" Bill spoke the longer word a bit slower, though she pronounced it just fine.

"No! Unless we've regenerated or had a big lunch."

Bill's eyes widened. "Regenerated?"

Adelaide looked to the Doctor. "Regeneration didn't come up?"

He waved a hand. "Oh, the questions, the questions, the questions. Just remember Time Lords. That's enough for now."

Adelaide looked at Bill. "Ask as many questions as you'd like. Always question. Notice everything." The TARDIS settled. "We've arrived."

Bill blinked. "That was steady."

"The Doctor's TARDIS requires six pilots and he tries to manage it with one or two. Mine is meant for one, and we had two."

They all moved towards Bill's boxes together, each taking one as they left Adelaide's TARDIS. The home they'd arrived at was, in all honesty, much larger than what Adelaide had expected. Bill had made it quite clear that she and her friends, one of which was Shireen, were struggling for money. This house was old, but it was large. And it creaked. Settled.

"We can use the TARDIS, take it all to your room," the Doctor suggested, speaking first.

Bill turned to him. "Firstly, I don't know which one my room is. And secondly, that's weird and I want to make a good impression."

"Understandable," Adelaide cut in. "I can remove everything from the TARDIS and you can take it in yourself."

"Thanks for the lift, though," Bill said, grinning.

Adelaide turned to the Doctor, avoiding looking at the house. She knew that if she looked at the house for too long, like he was, she would be attracted by the mystery and it would be hard to just leave Bill here. But they had to respect Bill's boundaries. They couldn't solve this mystery. "Doctor?"

"That's your house?" the Doctor said.

Bill nodded. "Sharing, yeah. Six of us, renting."

"I thought you were students?"

"Yeah. I was like, 'what's the catch', but, actually, it's fine, just a bit draughty."

"Draughty?" the Doctor licked his finger and tested the breeze, even as the leaves on the trees behind him were motionless.

"I meant draughty inside."

The Doctor nodded and looked to Adelaide and seemed invigorated when she didn't say anything. "Interesting. We'll help you in." He started towards the house.

"No, no, no, it's fine. You really don't have to. It's not..."

"Really not a problem."

Bill started after him. "No, wait, honestly. Um, if you just...er...if you just go and do history or science or whatever..." But the Doctor was already out of earshot. Bill spun to look at Adelaide in desperation.

"It's mysterious," Adelaide offered and, if Bill hadn't been holding a box, the human would have thrown her hands in the air. Adelaide was the reasonable one, the respectful one, the one who didn't interfere in a companion's life just because their house was strange.

But the house was strange. Even Adelaide couldn't help herself.

She and Bill caught up to the Doctor just as he entered the front hallway. The moment she was inside the house, Adelaide knew something was off, but she forced it away. Thankfully, Shireen was the first person the Doctor encountered, though the human saw Bill first. "Hey. Where have you been?" she looked up to the Time Lords. "Professor Noble? The Doctor?"

The Doctor nodded, pushing more into the house. "Yes. Hi. Can I get past?"

Bill moved out of the way. "Er...yes, they're just helping with the move."

"Helping?"

"He's just my..."

"Friend," the Doctor said, at the same time Bill finished with, "grandfather. She's his friend."

The Doctor frowned. "Wait, I don't look old enough to..."

"To hold that box for very long," Bill said, taking the box and putting it on the table. "There. Me."

Bill's other housemates walked up. Adelaide recognized a few of them from seeing them around campus with Shireen. "How exciting is this?" one of the women said, smiling.

"Oh, wow. Doctor. Legend." One of the men raised his hand for a high-five, which the Doctor only stared at.

"He's my grandfather, she's his friend."

"Hey, Professor Noble," the other boy said, grinning at her. "You dating the Doctor?"

"No," both Time Lords spoke sharply, clearly shocking all of the humans, including Bill.

"All right, grandfather, Adelaide," Bill said, turning to face them properly. "You really can go now, though. Thanks for the help." She gave them a thumbs up. "Job done."

Adelaide nodded at the humans. "Goodbye." She took the Doctor's arm as he turned, forcing the Time Lord to leave the building. Once they were outside, the Doctor made them stop again.

"We can't leave her there."

"It's not our place."

"Why not?" Adelaide blinked at the question. "We agreed to question each other in moments like this. That's my question. You tell me why it's not our place, I'll tell you why it is."

Adelaide stepped away from him. "It is Bill's private life. She asked us to leave and step away. We have to respect that decision, even if we don't agree with it."

"She could be in danger."

Adelaide glanced up at the house. "It's just a house."

"You can't believe that." He shook his head. "You're far too clever to fall for that."

"And you're far too foolish for..."

"For what?" He held her gaze. "I know that Bill told us to leave, but I can't leave her here. I can't let something happen to her."

Adelaide let the rest of his statement hang in the air. "And if us interfering is what leads to something happening to her?"

"I am willing to take that chance. I can't do nothing." He stepped closer. "If something goes wrong, if anyone gets hurt, I will take responsibility."

"I can't do that to you."

"And I can't let you blame yourself for not stopping me." He looked like he wanted to take her hand. "Please, Adelaide. We can't leave her in there without trying to do something."

Adelaide wasn't meant to do anything. She was never meant to do something. It wasn't her place...but she had to.

"All right." Part of Adelaide wondered if she agreed just to see the Doctor's face brighten. She hoped that wouldn't become a pattern. "But I maintain the right to make us leave."

He nodded and reached out a hand and let his fingers brush against hers. The action seemed thoughtless. A reflex after so long together. So long of relying on each other. "Thank you."

|C-S|

Before the Time Lords actually let Bill know that they were back in the house, they decided to look around the home to see if they could find an obvious source for the mystery without involving Bill.

Adelaide's ideal would be if they could fix it without Bill ever knowing they were there. She knew that wouldn't likely happen, but it didn't hurt to try.

They started with searching the outside of the home, looking for anything that stood out as strange. What they found was just wood.

Too much wood. And barely any technology – the things they did find were at least fifty years old.

Adelaide tried to pass it off as simply an old home, but then the trees creaked as though they were being blown, and both Time Lords knew there was no wind.

She did manage to get the Doctor to agree to enter the home through the front door, knocking.

Bill was the first one who opened the door, though her other housemates crowded into the hallway behind her. "Hello, Bill," Adelaide said, nodding. "May we come in?"

"Adelaide?" the human asked, looking at her first. "Doctor? I thought..."

"Can we look at your central heating?" the Doctor asked, though he moved past Bill and into the home before the human could speak, going straight to the kitchen pantry. "We've been looking around, mostly outside. Very interesting. Lots of wood."

Bill looked at Adelaide. "Er...why are you still here?"

"There's no central heating!" the Doctor announced as they joined him in the kitchen. "Do you know what that is?" he held up a heater. "That's an oil-burning heater. You might need it. The hob is from the Thirties, and I doubt there's a washing machine." He handed the heater to Bill, who passed it to one of the other housemates.

"Thanks very much."

"I'm sorry," Adelaide said. "We were concerned."

"The power sockets will not take your devices," the Doctor continued.

"You were concerned about power sockets?"

Shireen, meanwhile, frowned. "Oh, I thought it was just my room."

"No, no, no," the Doctor waved his hand. "They're out of date." He sniffed. "What's that smell? Is that Chinese food? I love Chinese." He moved to go past the humans again, but Adelaide stopped him with a look. "May I come eat the Chinese food?"

"Can I speak with them in private?" Bill asked. Her housemates nodded, moving back to the room they must have all come from. She turned back to the Time Lords. "There might be a few old things, but it just needs updating. It's not like there's some massive mystery going on."

Adelaide crossed her arms. "Did you hear the trees creaking outside?"

"Yeah. It was the wind."

She shook her head. "There was no wind."

The Doctor moved past Bill, drawing the attention of everyone else. Adelaide didn't bother making him stop that time. "You should find another house."

Shireen, mid-bite, shook her head. "Mmm, I don't think so."

"The rooms are really big."

The other man nodded. "Exactly. And it's still the best place for the money. I'll just call the landlord, sort it out."

"You can't," Shireen reminded him. "No reception."

"Okay, so I'll go down the hill." The man stepped out of the room but immediately stopped. An elderly man had appeared, dressed in the same brown as the wood of the house. "Oh, hi."

"Didn't hear you come in."

The elderly man, who must have been the landlord, smiled. "For a man such as myself, discretion is second nature." He looked around the group. "So, a gathering. You're all here. No, except one."

"Pavel's upstairs," Shireen explained.

"And two in addition." The landlord turned to the Time Lords. The Doctor, for whatever reason, decided to take that moment to pick a prawn cracker.

"She's Professor Noble, he's the Doctor," one of the men explained.

"Doctor?"

"Yeah," Bill nodded, "er...he's...he's my grandfather. She's his friend. Prefers Adelaide."

"You're both assisting with the relocation?"

Adelaide nodded. "Correct."

"It's a heart-breaking experience, to leave one's charge behind, all alone in the big wide world." The landlord caressed some of the paneling close to his hand.

"Indeed, yes," the Doctor said. "You got children?"

"I..." the landlord seemed shocked by the question, "yes, a daughter. But I'm most fortunate, she's still under my protection. So long as that's the case, I'm most content." He turned to the humans. "So, I was calling to see if everything's satisfactory?"

One of the women stepped forward. "Actually, there are a few things."

"Yes, I see. Go on."

"No central heating?"

"The power sockets are wrong," Shireen added.

"And a landline."

"Some new furniture."

"I need some curtains, carpets..."

"Have you got a cat?" Bill asked, just as the Doctor made to take a bite of his cracker. The look Adelaide shot him made him stop.

The landlord, of all the complaints, picked Bill to focus on. "A cat?"

The human seemed taken aback by his attention. "Er...er...yeah. Er...Harry said that he heard some...some noise upstairs, like walking around?"

"No cats. No pets." He looked at Bill a moment longer before looking to the humans. "You understand I won't be able to do any of this tonight. But as soon as possible, yes. Knock on wood." He knocked, making the wood creak. "Do what I can."

"That's another thing," Shireen said. "This house is really creaky. Everything you touch, it's like uuuurrr!"

The landlord shrugged. "It's unavoidable, my dear."

"How do you get into the tower?"

The landlord's face hardened. "You don't. The tower is specifically excluded from the terms of our agreement."

The man who'd asked the question held up his hands. "Oh, right, well, thank you. No tower. Got it."

"Right." The landlord moved to leave, but his gaze fell on the Time Lords again. "Oh, are you two staying here tonight?"

"Yeah," the Doctor said.

Bill's eyes widened. "Er...no, they're not."

"Well, I'm not sure."

"There's no reason to."

"We probably will."

"There aren't two beds, so..."

The landlord nodded. "All right." He made to leave again, but the Doctor stepped forward.

"Sorry, excuse me," the Doctor said. "Sorry, sorry, sorry. Who...um...who's the Prime Minister?"

The landlord blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"Margaret Thatcher?" the Doctor offered. "Harriet Jones? Wilson? Eden?"

The landlord lowered his voice, though Adelaide was still able to hear him. "I think it's better to leave your granddaughter here with her friends. They seem respectable, and I'll keep an eye, of course." He nodded and turned, tapping a tuning fork against the wall. "I'll attend to your requirements in the morning. In the meantime, sleep well." He placed the fork against the wall and enjoyed the hum, smiling before leaving.

A/N: Adelaide never could resist a good mystery ;)