Author's Note:

Thanks for the favorites, follows and reviews! Here's a nice long chapter for the weekend. A special nod to readers in the UK and the EU on this historic day as the UK leaves the EU. Best wishes for all as we step forward into what's next.

Chapter 4

23 June 2016, the day of the Brexit Referendum Vote

She picked a fight with Danny on their way home from the polling station. It had a been a very long day. Here they were participating in a historic decision for England, and with all that as a backdrop she decided today was the day she needed to let him know she didn't appreciate his patronizing comments when he introduced her to an old school friend of his that they ran into over the weekend.

Of course, that wasn't really what the argument was about, whether Danny knew it or not.

That led to tense minutes of sniping at one another on the walk to the tube and on the ride once they boarded the train, finally leading to Danny getting off at his stop instead of hers.

Mission accomplished.

The truth was, Clara really did love Danny. Her Gran often said, especially when Clara and her father had just had a row, or when Clara was crying over a best friend who had treated her badly, "We always seem to treat those that we're closest to worse than everybody else." And Clara knew that was the dynamic here but seemed helpless to stop herself.

Over the past few years, it felt like her life had been gradually taken over by an insidious parasitic infection that made her say yes to everything and conform as much as possible. Before Danny, Clara had known herself and was spoken of by others as an intelligent, confident, assertive, decisive woman. One to be reckoned with. Even a two-thousand-year-old time lord could not buffalo her into submission.

But it seemed as if when she decided to have a real go at the relationship with Danny, Clara began operating in a dumbed down state driven by fear of not being accepted by him. Of losing him.

And the sad part was that no one in Clara's life seemed to notice. Her father and Gran said on more than one occasion how happy they were that Clara had finally settled down with a nice man. Gran hadn't done it yet, but Clara knew it wouldn't be long before she started asking if they'd talked of marriage yet.

She'd been doing things because of how they looked to others—Gran, her father, Armitage at Coal Hill School, the parents of her students, and Danny. Most importantly, Danny. After telling off the Doctor after their final adventure to the moon with Courtney, she really thought he would eventually come back. But then he didn't.

Left back in her day to day human life with no Doctor and no Wednesday afternoon adventure through time and space to look forward to, Clara decided she needed to turn over a new leaf and embrace what Danny had to offer, no matter the cost. If the Doctor were looking on, Clara thought, he would wonder what alien imposter had taken over her place in the world, and where it had stowed the original. She realized now that she let fear of losing Danny drive her for far too long.

Over time she grew more and more uncomfortable – both with Danny and even more so with herself. Clara caught herself saying or doing things to sabotage their relationship while at the same time desperately trying to be the woman she thought Danny wanted her to be.

And that was the central issue that really triggered today's argument. On the walk to the tube station Danny had brought up the topic of their upcoming holiday to Nicé for Bastille Day. The trip was originally Clara's idea, but now she had an increasing fear that he was going to use the trip to propose to her, and she had to find a way to say no.

What are you doing, Clara? She'd asked herself this question so many times. Doctor, why didn't you come back?

Danny was a solid Remain vote on the Brexit question, had shared his rationale for that position many times with Clara, and Clara had agreed, at least outwardly. The more he discounted the position of friends and colleagues in the Leave camp, the more reluctant Clara was to discuss politics with him at all.

But today was a turning point. After countless hours watching and discussing news coverage of the Brexit decision with Danny and many others and going along with their perspective on things, Clara had entered the private voting booth, sloughed off the thick carapace of compliance and passivity, and voted with her heart.

From the journal of Brigadier Alistair Lethenbridge-Stewart

8 May 1968

I had the most extraordinary adventure these last few days. The chaps and I were down in London to address an unusual occurrence. The underground kept filling up with a web-like substance. Very odd. Turns out it was an alien species called "ice warriors" trying to take over the planet. Nearly succeeded, too. I lost some good men today and would have snuffed it for sure myself if it weren't for this curious bloke who showed up in the nick of time. Calls himself "the Doctor," but he doesn't look or act like any physician I know.

I've suspected there was life on other planets, and now it's confirmed. The ice warriors are Martians, according to the Doctor. And although he looks human, the Doctor himself is something else entirely.

Heading back to Bristol tonight by rail. We're lucky the trains are up and running again after this fiasco.

21 December 1968

Talks went well in Geneva, and I am on my way back to London by rail. It's been a busy week, and I haven't had time to pause and think, much less write in this journal. UNIT is solidifying as an international organization, but the political dynamics are still a bit of a challenge. It helped that we managed to tie up a crucial investigation right before I left for the Geneva summit, so England had a significant victory to report. As a result, I secured additional funding for our operation.

We were getting very close to the turning point with UNIT surveillance of International Electromatics (EI), when who should walk right into the mix but the Doctor – that bloke I met during the ice warrior incursion back in May of this year. He was still traveling with Jamie and Zoe – no idea what these young people see in him, but then again, he can be charming enough when it suits him. Frankly, I was worried that he might undo months' worth of work, but the Doctor smelled a rat right away and proved deucedly useful.

I wish I could say the same for his companions. Like typical young people these days, they ignored instructions to stay out of the sewers and instead put themselves right in harm's way. Zoe and Victoria, the daughter of Professor Edward Travers wanted pictures of the cybermen as proof of their existence. Jamie just went along. I lost a man over it, so I can't say I was any too pleased with their photos, which looked staged and unconvincing.

I had a word with the Doctor about it, but he failed to see his responsibility to shape these young people and make them mind their elders. I'm beginning to think he's a bit of a rebel himself. Still, he's clever like a fox, and I'm not sure what would have happened if he hadn't been close to hand. UNIT England has come a long way under my leadership, but cybermen are new to our experience. Benton added them to our growing catalogue of outside threats.

I'm out in the Hampshires for a fortnight with Doris and Kate. It will be good to set aside all of these competing priorities and get reacquainted with my daughter. Poor Doris – she's been a trooper and thank goodness her Mum is nearby and willing to lend a hand. I turn forty at the end of the month, and I am feeling old. Some dedicated family time is just the ticket.

Earth, Royal London Hospital

02:00, 19 December 2025

Kate walked the length of the basement, her torch pointed discretely toward the ceiling so as not to awaken any sleeping group members. It was 2 AM, and other than Jax, who was guarding the basement entrance, Kate was the only person up and about.

It was a recurring nightmare that got her up and patrolling the basement. In the dream, Kate woke up to the sound of something moving stealthily through the sleeping area. In the dream, she rose and followed the sound, her pistol drawn.

After a while of following the sound, she heard other furtive noises followed by a scream at the entrance to the basement. She ran to the source of the scream to find it was Osgood in the grips of what could only be described as a zombie. The woman with her hands around Osgood's throat was very dead, skin white and hanging off of her, covered in sores. The overwhelming smell of decomposition made Kate gag.

She sobbed as she stared at the horror in front of her. Osgood, glasses askew, neck bent at an unnatural angle, already dead. Her eyes were still open and seeming to stare accusingly at Kate.

Another scream from behind her snapped her out of her shocked trance. There were other zombies. They were infiltrated. And how could you kill the dead?

When she startled awake, bathed in sweat, there was no going back to sleep. She was just grateful she hadn't screamed and roused everyone else.

Not surprising that she'd had that nightmare. It had been a long and eventful day.

After the Doctor left, she'd assembled the group for the daily post-dinner briefing. Jax reported out from the salvage team. The big find of the day was two full trays of bread and a case of frozen chicken they found in a part of the city that still had power. It was in a grocery store that had its cold storage in the basement, making the food measurably safer due to less exposure to high doses of radiation than what one might find at the ground floor.

Other than that, they acquired additional petrol stores which would ensure a few more days' worth of generator time. While they were still looking for a communications set-up that was old enough to work without the Internet, they had so far been unsuccessful.

Dr. Harrison reported on the patient census and status from the ward on the lower level. Two patients were near death from radiation poisoning and a third had developed post-operative sepsis and was not expected to survive. He handed off a list of critical supplies to the salvage team.

Bradley gave an update from the search and rescue team. While they had found no more individual survivors, they saw evidence that another large group was living and operating close to Piccadilly Circus and Charing Cross stations. As a group, they discussed their ongoing goal of getting a census up and running.

Bradley and Dr. Li discussed ongoing concerns about what to do with the uninterred dead. Jax and Bradley's teams came across bodies regularly while above ground on missions and did their best to bury or burn the remains. With such a small team and an estimated 500,000 or more corpses, though, it would be years before all of the dead had been found and put to rest. So far the cold weather worked in their favor, but as temperatures rose those bodies would begin to decay and disease would flourish.

While they hoped that somewhere, possibly in Westminster, additional remnants of the government survived and were working to get things in hand, Kate felt strongly that they had to assume help was not coming and no one was trying to get anything organized. After all, it had been two months since the bombing ceased.

Finally, to wrap up the meeting on a positive note, Kate gave her update on the Doctor's visit. Knowing someone was working outside to investigate the double timeline seemed to boost everyone's spirits. The radiation sensors, high-capacity water purifier and extra rations were a huge morale boost.

Kate had Osgood distribute the radiation tablets. Unlike Russian Blue, which was administered after radiation exposure and helped capture ionizing radiation and purge it from the body through excretion, these tablets were preventative.

The Doctor had explained that one tablet could enhance a person's radiation tolerance for a full day. The radiation levels were increasing gradually, and they were already reaching the point where any time above ground even in a radiation suit resulted in mild radiation sickness. And they had a limited supply of Russian Blue. Kate, Jax, Bradley and Doctors Sullivan and Li were already talking about stopping all above ground missions by the end of the week to minimize exposure. These tablets might buy them more time.

There were enough for each person to get five tablets. Since the supply was limited, Kate cautioned people to save their tablets for when they needed to go above ground for salvage or rescue work.

Completing her circuit of the basement, Kate returned to the entrance of the basement. Jax sat at the desk reading a large telecommunications manual.

"Found anything yet?" Kate asked.

Jax looked up and set down the manual, stretching her back.

"I wish. Very dense reading. While it would be nice to think we could find an amateur radio setup and get it up and running, I'm skeptical."

Kate tried to hide her disappointment. If they had a radio setup, they might discover that other parts of the world were in better shape and able to bring in aid to London. "Well, there's always Morse code. We should be able to find a telegraph key easily enough in the Museum of London, the Science Museum, or the defunct UNIT HQ under the Tower of London. Technically, you could get a telegraph key on Amazon and have it delivered by drone until just a few months ago."

Jax laughed, but it was not a happy laugh. It was a laugh Kate had grown accustomed to. It was a sound she associated with the way the world used to work compared to the horror they lived in now.

"Go to bed, Jax, I can take over."

"You're going out with the salvage team tomorrow, Kate. You should get your rest."

"I'm done with sleep for tonight. Go on."

The UNIT operative finally relinquished her chair and left Kate to finish the night watch. Spying the green ledger, Kate smiled a little. Dad, what would you think of this whole surreal situation? She knew the stalwart Brigadier would have handled things calmly and decisively, as he had on untold missions in his military career and later with UNIT. The man was unflappable up to the day he died. Wish you were here, Dad. No, strike that – glad you got to miss this one.

In the TARDIS

"Holy shit!"

"Language, Peter."

The Doctor busied himself with the controls while covertly observing the boy's first reaction to the TARDIS. Still encased in his radiation suit, Peter turned in a circle, taking it all in.

"How did you fit all of this in here?"

The Doctor smiled and joined Peter at the entrance to the console room, assisting him with unzipping and removing the hood of his radiation suit.

"It's called dimensional transcendence. Google it."

Peter stepped out of the rest of the suit, dropping it on top of the Doctor's already cast-off suit in a corner by the door.

"I can't Google anything, Doctor, the Internet is gone."

The Doctor gathered up both radiation suits and tossed them into the decontamination chute.

"Okay, fair enough. This is the TARDIS. It travels through space and time. TARDIS stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space.

"The interior of the TARDIS is actually located outside of time. The inside is in a different dimension than the exterior is. When you are in here, you are outside of normal space and time."

"That sounds pretty bogus to me, but okay." Peter circled the console, taking in all of the dials and levers. The Doctor stood poised to act in case the boy decided to randomly pull a lever.

"There's a lot of math involved."

"Huh." Peter ascended the few stairs to the upper level of the console room.

"So, how big is it in here, anyway?"

"As big as we need it to be. There's the upper level, the lower level, and through that door over there are lots of other rooms and spaces. Any other questions?"

The Doctor listened with half an ear as he pulled up the coordinates for Coal Hill School in the current time zone.

"Sure, loads. What's your power source? Does it have any weapons? Is it hard to drive? How does time travel really work? Can you go forward and backward? Are there rules you have to know? Did you ever go back and meet your ancestors? Do you have a toilet? If so, where does the – you know – go when you flush?"

"That's quite a lot to address. I'll answer a few of them later. Right now, I want to check on a thing."

The Doctor pulled the dematerialization lever and the console came to life. That gave Peter another opportunity to express wonder and curiosity, which normally would have cheered the Doctor considerably. Given their next destination, though, the Doctor barely took it in.

They landed with a boom. The Doctor pulled a monitor over to check out the local environment. Peter joined him at the console.

The readings were not good. Gamma radiation here was even above the Doctor's higher tolerance. The monitor showed a grainy image of destruction and desolation. Building materials lay strewn as far as the eye could see. It was already dark out, but infrared lighting enabled the Doctor to pick out the partially intact sign for Coal Hill School.

"Why did we come here?" Peter asked, somewhat disappointed.

The Doctor opened the chute by the door and retrieved his decontaminated radiation suit.

"I need to check something before we go off world. I will only be a minute. Don't touch anything while I am gone."

"I want to come with you." Peter opened the chute to retrieve his own suit, but the Doctor stopped him with a hand on his arm.

"Not this time. I need to do this alone, Peter. And the radiation levels here are too high for you, even with the suit. I won't be gone long, I promise. You can watch me on the monitor."

"Okay," the boy said skeptically. The Doctor saw fear on his face and wondered again about everything the boy had experienced since Earth decided to go crazy.

It was worse than he expected. Nearly the entire structure of the school was levelled. The Doctor navigated his way through the rubble to what was, until recently, the main entrance. The steel framework of the doorway still stood, but all of the cinderblock lay on the ground. He approached the doorway with his torch held high, trying to get a glimpse of the interior. What he did see in the meager light confirmed what Kate told him. Anyone who had been in this building when the bomb hit was likely dead.

He spotted the shrine when he turned back toward the TARDIS. On one nine-foot section of intact brick someone had spray painted the message "Students and faculty of Coal Hill School. You will not be forgotten." People had taped pictures of students and teachers on the wall surrounding the words. The ground underneath the message was buried under a collection of wilted flowers, crosses, stuffed animals, and other mementos.

The Doctor swallowed hard, took a deep breath and stepped closer to the wall so he could search the pictures for people he knew. Well, one in particular. It didn't take long to find her. Just below the message was an 8" X 10" glossy picture of Clara Oswald. Scrawled in adolescent cursive at the bottom of the picture was "Mrs. Pink." The Doctor's eyes grew hot.

An equally large picture of Danny Pink was taped right next to Clara's picture. The photos were encircled by a spray-painted heart. The graffiti artist had taken the time to add pretty flowers twining through the heart.

"PE. You made an honest woman out of her, then." The Doctor smiled a little. He wondered how long they were married. He wondered if there were any children.

He studied the pictures a little longer, locating a few other teachers he knew. None of the children looked familiar, but the Doctor hadn't been to Coal Hill since 2014 or so. All of the children he knew – Courtney Woods, for example, would have finished school long before now. He wondered if Courtney had survived and was out there, somewhere. I hope so, he thought. That girl had attitude.

Reluctantly, he turned back to the TARDIS, aware that even with the radiation suit he felt a flush of heat and the prickly sensation that probably meant he was getting more radiation than he should.

Back in the TARDIS, he found Peter sitting in the jump seat near the console, feet pulled up onto the seat and a book balanced on his knees. He steadied the book with his stump while using his remaining hand to turn the page.

"Nothing like a good book to pass the time!" The Doctor said more cheerfully than he felt. Peter, who had been engrossed, looked up, startled, then shut the book and joined the doctor in the vestibule.

"Treasure Island. It's pretty good so far, but I'm only on chapter one. Did you find what you were looking for out there?"

The Doctor stepped out of the radiation suit and returned it to the decontamination chute. An alarm chirped sharply, and the TARDIS exhaust system kicked on. Peter looked up at the source of the sound.

"What's that?"

"That's the emergency ventilation system. The TARDIS detected ionizing radiation That came in with me and is neutralizing it. It should kick off in a moment or two."

The Doctor felt a little lightheaded. It must have shown, because Peter was suddenly at his side, peering into his face.

"You've gone all pale. Are you okay?"

The Doctor took a breath. The dizziness passed as quickly as it came. His stomach felt a little queasy, but he was confident that would pass, too.

"I'm fine. Are you ready to go, then?"

"Yes! Can I help drive it?"

Peter followed him to the console, where the Doctor began setting coordinates.

"Give me a minute. Read another page of your book, and then we'll see."

The boy ignored the Doctor's suggestion, instead standing next to him and watching everything he did. The Doctor didn't know whether to feel irritated or pleased at Peter's curiosity. Finally, once the coordinates were set and verified, the Doctor pointed to the dematerialization lever.

"Pull that for me."

"What does it do?"

"Well, pull it and see."

Peter pulled the lever and the console came to life.

"Wicked!"

They materialized only a few seconds later, to Peter's obvious disappointment.

"Are we already on Sagacity?" he asked.

The Doctor pulled a monitor over so they could have a look.

"No. We're in near Earth orbit. I just wanted to check something."

They both studied the image of Earth on the monitor. The Doctor wondered if the boy would notice it.

"Wow, that's really cool. It's like what the astronauts would see from the Space Station back when there was a Space Station. But what's all the black stuff?"

The "black stuff" swirling thickly around Earth was what the Doctor had been worried about since Kate and Osgood told him about the two versions of their memories. No wonder I couldn't land the TARDIS beyond this date and time.

"Those are Reapers."

"What are Reapers? Is that like the grim reaper?" The Doctor's patience was wearing thin from the incessant questioning, but he also didn't want Peter to have something new to worry about. He took a breath and counted to three before answering. Clara would be proud of him.

"They are creatures that live in the time vortex. They feed off of temporal paradoxes. Think of them as bacteria on a wound, where the paradox is the wound. They move in and eat everything on the surface of the paradox."

"I don't understand," Peter said.

"That's okay. We can't do anything about the reapers right now, but once we get the time audit done and set things right, things will be back to normal and the Reapers will be gone."

To take the focus off of that lame explanation and his own very real fear of what it meant that the biggest swarm of Reapers he'd had ever seen was descending upon Earth, the Doctor let Peter help with inputting the coordinates for Sagacity and also pull the dematerialization lever.