A/N: This takes place when the twins are sixteen years old, and therefore living on Earth.

"Mum?"

Clara glanced towards the door to her classroom and saw Alison poking her head into the classroom. It was lunchtime, meaning that she had no students and her daughter was free.

"What is it, dear?"

The teen came all the way into the room and closed the door. "Is it alright if I bring a friend over for dinner tonight? We were talking and figure that tonight's a good night."

"Which friend?"

"Will Holbert," Alison replied, unable to hide the grin on her face. "I'm very fond of him, and I want to bring him home to meet everyone properly."

"This will drive your father bananas, you understand this, right?"

"Well, yeah, but Da's always a bit… odd when it comes to us not living in the TARDIS, so I'm not worried about him. I just want to know what you think."

"I don't see a problem with it," Clara said. She remembered the young man from when she had him in Year One and as long as puberty hadn't messed him up too much, he was far from being the worst her daughter could drag home. "Dinner will be at six and homework comes right afterwards. Is that clear?"

"Crystal." Alison gave her mother a kiss on the cheek and left to return to the lunch room. Her plan was going perfectly.

"I still don't understand how you cannot tell us who Aly is bringing to dinner," James frowned as he set the table. He watched his mother cook through the doorway to the kitchen, seeing that she was still happily staying silent. "Come on—it's not going to be a big deal, is it?"

"It's not my fault you don't keep tabs on who your sister associates with," she replied. Her son grouchily finished with the table and retreated to his room. They had been lucky that there was a flat within the Coal Hill catchment area with bedrooms enough so that the twins did not have to share, though it also meant that they were both prone to vanishing into their rooms for hours at a time and not coming out unless it was to eat or use the loo. The Doctor was worried at first, but Clara assured him that it was completely normal for human teenagers. At least they weren't sneaking into their parents' bedroom to gain access to the TARDIS, running away across all of time and space.

As it grew closer to six, the Doctor walked in the front door and made a beeline straight for his wife, hugging her from behind as he kissed the top of her head. He was dressed in her favorite jacket of his—the red velvety one—and smelled of odd chemicals from experiments he conducted in and around UNIT. It was a good thing that he was still on their payroll, since she could not afford the flat on her salary alone, though the only catch to being able to access his account would be to actually work with an office and desk and reporting in on a regular basis. Kate Stewart almost seemed to take pity on the Time Lord when he said he wanted to return to UNIT so that he could provide for his children, but proved him wrong when she made it clear that she understood as a fellow parent the amount of sacrifice one was willing to go through when it came to raising a family. A grounded Doctor was not often a happy Doctor and for him to be grounded willingly—he must have had a very good reason to put himself, and the world, through that.

"How was work?" Clara asked.

"I'm not allow to commit 'genocide' on a one-celled organism even though I've proven that it's a creature that's only going to cause problems in a few years; how about you?"

"Flu bug's going around, so I had two pukers and a fainting and that was all before lunch."

"You get to have all the fun," he murmured. He bent down and kissed her neck, catching sight of the table out the corner of his eye as he did so. "Who's the extra plate for?"

"Alison's bringing a friend," she said. "James is sulking because he doesn't know who it is, but I told him everything was fine."

"I better keep an eye on him or he's going to turn out a bit too much like me for my own comfort," the Doctor chuckled. He kept on kissing his space-wife and caressing her fondly, disengaging quickly when they both heard the front door open and their daughter's voice filter through the flat.

"I'm home!" Alison announced. Within moments she appeared in the kitchen, holding hands with a boy her age. "Mum, you remember Will, yeah?"

"Of course I do—good to see you again," Clara said. Alison then turned towards her father, who was busy pretending to get a glass of water. "Da, this is Will Holbert—Will, my da."

"Glad to meet you, Mr. Oswald-Smith," the boy added.

"Likewise," the Doctor nodded curtly. He excused himself from the conversation and immediately headed towards James's room, entering without so much as knocking. It startled the young man, who was only glad that he was doing homework.

"Dad, what's wrong?" he asked.

"You have to tell me everything you know about a 'Will Holbert' and if we need to push him out the TARDIS into the time vortex or not," the Doctor said. James groaned loudly and ran his hands over his face in exasperation.

"Will Holbert? That's who she brought over? What is she pulling?"

"Something that involves holding hands, apparently."

"Ugh, that prick? Really? I need to start vetting the guys she interacts with at school…"

"Tell me more." The Doctor placed his water glass on his son's desk and perched himself on the edge of the bed, ready for information.

"Just this knob who's a total suck-up to the teachers when he's really just some guy who thinks he's all that because his dads run some tech firm that they nurtured from a startup before he was born," James scowled. "Most of his good marks are because of honest smarts, but I don't think they're all because he's some dashing golden boy."

"Hmm… interesting," the Doctor mused. "Does your mam know that?"

"I dunno—he's got most of the faculty fooled."

"Alright then; I'll be in the TARDIS if you need me." The Doctor went towards the bedroom door, spun back around, and fetched his water glass. "Stay in proper brother form, will you?"

"Sure thing," James said. He waited until he heard the sound of his parents' bedroom door close before putting down his reading and going out into the sitting room, only to find something truly disgusting there.

Alison and Will were sitting on the couch, arms around one another and tongues fighting for dominance. Attempting to keep his appetite, James grabbed the television remote and sat down on the couch, breaking up his sister and her beau while turning on the news.

"What do you think you're doing, Jim?" Alison frowned.

"Catching a bit of telly before dinner," he said honestly. "Current events are sometimes brutal to keep up with, you know?"

"Absolute murder," Will replied. He folded his arms and slouched into the couch in defeat. Alison merely bristled, rolling her eyes in a huff before standing.

"I'm going to see if Mum needs any help," she said. This left James and Will alone with the television, the two boys sitting together awkwardly. When the story on the news changed, James leaned over and muttered lowly at his sister's guest.

"I'm on to you," he warned. "One wrong move and I'll make your life a living hell."

"What if it's Aly who makes the move?" Will asked smugly. James only strengthened his glare, not backing down.

"Then it's your responsibility to be mindful enough to back down," James insisted. "Touch any girl and I'll be cross; touch my sister and you'll instantly regret it."

"Is that a threat?"

"That's not only a promise, but a warning… and not something I'll carry out."

"Oh…?"

"That's what a father's for, lad," the Doctor chimed in. The teens looked over to where he was standing, noting the wicked-looking grin he was wearing. He held a large knife in one hand and a small sharpener in the other. "Brothers are for helping to hide the evidence though, so you're not wrong about that."

"Erm… what are you doing, Mr. Oswald-Smith?" Will asked nervously, his eyes trained on the knife.

"My wife was complaining about her kitchen knives getting a bit dull, so I thought I'd help her out," the Doctor explained. He brought the blade to the boys and presented it, allowing them to see the sharpness. "What do you think?"

"Looks good, Dad," James said.

"Yeah…" Will gulped. Suddenly he didn't exactly feel like coming over for dinner was a good idea anymore.

"Good, I'm glad. You know, I'm also working on this cleaning agent over at work, and we're attempting to develop something that can wholly and completely clean objects, which would next to eliminate cross-contamination in restaurants and the home."

"You work for a chemicals firm?" Will asked.

"No, the government… sort of… you will keep quiet about it, won't you lad?" The Doctor flipped the knife in the air, catching it deftly by the handle, and gave his son a wink. "See you at dinner."

"Okay, Dad," James smirked. He leaned back in the couch and began watching the news in earnest.

As it turned out, dinner didn't escalate into a family disaster, but then again, it was only because Will did his utmost to not be noticed. It was only because he was able to make it out of dinner alive did he stay long enough to do homework with Alison, but it was only that and none of the "extras" the young woman was hoping for. She got a kiss by the door when he left, and that was it.

Alison was livid with her brother and father. It had to be them, she just had a feeling, and catching the two giving one another a high-five confirmed her suspicions. Storming into the TARDIS, she refused to come out for the remainder of the weekend.