"Andrew, it's the… it's James. Have you heard from John recently?"

"Actually, now that you mention it, I haven't heard from in since his last text a few days ago. We were supposed to meet up and meet his new friend, but he cancelled at the last minute. Something about going out of town for a bit. I didn't think anything of it at the time."

The Doctor could hear the panic rising in Andrew's voice.

"I'm sure he's fine. I'll sort it out and let you know when I find him."

"Right, thanks, James. John's smart…well, you know what I mean. Keep me posted. Kayla is out right now, but I'll check in with her and see if she's heard from him."

After the Doctor ended the call, he quickly swept the flat for clues. He then checked in on Clara before trying John's mobile again.

This time someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Citana?"

"Doctor! Oh, thank god. I'd been trying to reach you, but I didn't know if the cell phone would work since you were…well, pretty long distant."

The Doctor could hear the levity in Citana's voice. Maybe everything was okay?

"Sorry about that. Everything alright?"

He could hear Citana scoff. "Well, if by alright you mean John and I are still alive. Then, yes."

"What happened?"

There was silence over the phone, then a sigh. "We'll be back at the apartment in like ten minutes… just...don't react too much. It might set him off."

Citana's cryptic phone conversation left the Doctor on edge. He hated having to wait to find out what was going on. He shot up from the sofa when he heard the front door opening.

The Doctor made his way through the kitchen to the entryway to see Citana enter the flat and someone follow behind. Citana's words, "don't react too much," rang in his head. So, the Doctor only allowed his brow to raise a bit as he took in the sight of the small child that he instantly recognised as John.

"Don't say anything," John snapped. He brushed past the Doctor and made his way to the sofa, where he plopped himself down in a lounging position.

"Can I at least ask?" said the Doctor softly so only Citana could hear.

Citana pulled the Doctor aside. "Well, we sort of had a run-in with some chick who was adamant about "resetting him" and taking him to his owners or some bullshit.

"How is he in here?" the Doctor pointed to his own temple.

"Most of the time, he's still typical John, but every so often, something will set him off, and he'll actually behave and think like a five-year-old. I thought that you and Clara would eventually come back and could fix it. He wanted to try and regenerate, but anytime he got close to…well, "injuring" himself, he'd regress to a five-year-old and freak out."

The Doctor rubbed at his face. "Okay. So, there's someone after him and wanting him to be a child and…" the Doctor paused. "Oh…Oh. Oh no."

"What? What is it?"

"It must be the people who created him. UNIT was vague on the details, but apparently, there was a whole warehouse of flesh infants." He paused. "I wonder…" the Doctor ran off to Clara's room, where the TARDIS was parked.

Citana made her way to the living room. "Hey," she said softly.

John opened his eyes. "If you're wondering, I'm currently twenty-one," he said in a sigh.

"John, I told you, the reason I ask so much is that sometimes you think you're five. I know you don't believe me, but…."

"Oh, I believe you. I woke up having wet the bed this morning. Unless I've reacquired that fun habit, I'm pretty sure it was my five-year-old self who gave me that nice surprise," he chuckled. He rubbed at his face. "I'm sorry for being so grumpy all the time."

Citana laughed. "It's okay. I don't blame you. I'd be grumpy too if I couldn't reach the counters anymore."

John threw a pillow at her with a small laugh.

"What's going on?"

Both John and Citana looked to see Clara enter the room. She was rubbing her eyes, having just woken up.

Citana looked back at John and winced. She could see his features instantly change when he saw Clara.

"Clara?" he asked. He jumped off the sofa to run and give her a hug. Clara looked at Citana with a confused face as the small boy began to sob.

"You…you fell and…and I thought you died," he cried.

It was then Clara realised that the small boy was John. "John?" she asked. She knelt down to his level. "What happened?" Clara looked over John's features but directed the question to Citana.

"Someone did this to him. The Doctor is trying to figure out how to fix it."

Suddenly John abruptly stopped crying. "Shit," he said as he wiped his tears. "I did it again, didn't I?" he asked Citana.

Clara was taken aback by John's language.

"Sorry, Clara," said John.

"He only sometimes thinks he's actually five," added Citana.

"Oh, right. Okay," she then let a laugh slip.

"Go ahead. Laugh. Hahaha. I know. It's hilarious," whined John, only making both Citana and Clara laugh harder. "What if I'm stuck like this?" he yelled in annoyance.

"We'll have to send you to primary school," laughed Clara.

…

The Doctor accessed as many files as he could from UNIT regarding John. Much to his frustration, the files stated what he already knew. The Judoon stumbled upon a group of flesh infants, and somewhere along the way, UNIT got hold of John and the few other survivors. The Doctor took a step back.

What happened to the other survivors?

"Hello?"

"Ah, Kate! It's the Doctor. Just had a few questions regarding…regarding my "Zygon" counterpart."

Kate had put two and two together that the odd version of the Doctor she met was one and the same as the Time Lord baby that had been brought in only a few months prior.

"Oh, well, I'll see if I can help, but I'm afraid much of the details were vague when…well when he arrived."

"I was told that there were a few other survivors. What happened to them? I would imagine they're a few months old now."

"I believe they were adopted out. Hang on," Kate began searching her computer for the files.

"Says here that there were four other infants besides, well, yours that were brought in. One passed, and the other three were sent to… Strakh?" The Doctor could hear Kate clicking buttons. "Strakh… I'm… I'm not sure what or where that is."

The Doctor looked into the word and discovered it was a planet humans would inhabit in the next 500 years.

"Does the file say anything else?"

"I'm sorry, Doctor. But that's all I can find. What's this about anyway?"

"Oh, you know me. Curious," he said absently as he continued to read through files regarding the planet Strakh. "Anyway, thanks for the help!"

"Good…bye?" said Kate. He'd had already hung up.

The Doctor continued reading through files about the planet when he stumbled across something unusual. It was a painting of what seemed to be the planet's ruling family. "500 years in the future, and the humans revert back to the dark ages," he mumbled. The painting was of what appeared to be a king and queen of sorts and three small children. Two little girls and a young boy. Something about the boy looked familiar.

The Doctor dug a bit deeper to learn that the boy had died shortly after the portrait was created, and the king and queen were said to have gone mad with their desperation to bring their son back. So they contacted witches, sorcerers, religious folk. Anyone who might be able to perform a miracle.

The wheels started turning in the Doctor's mind. "Parents lose their young child. Try anything to bring him back…" he looked over the boy's features. "Oh…"

The Doctor began to furiously type and watched as more information flooded the screen.

He began to try and connect the word Strakh with 'the flesh' and 'adoption.' Sure enough, he found what he was looking for. But first, he needed to sort John out before telling him the truth.

…

The Doctor now sat with John in the med bay of the TARDIS. "Good news is that whoever did this to you didn't complete the process. Hence why, your mind is still mostly intact. Also, good news is that it's completely reversible."

"Thank god," exhaled John in relief. "What's the bad news?"

The Doctor shuffled a bit. "Well, think about growing pains and then imagine it happening all at once," he winced.

John frowned. "Can't be any worse than regenerating, right?"

"Actually, it will probably feel similar…."

John groaned.

"I mean, it might be similar," said the Doctor, trying to make John feel better.

John laid back on the bed. "Let's just get this over with," he sighed.

…

Citana and Clara sat in the kitchen. They were patiently waiting to find out if the Doctor would successfully return John to his normal state.

"How are you feeling?" asked Citana.

"I'm feeling alright. Learning what helps with nausea. Also, napping does wonders," she laughed. She could see Citana was deep in thought.

"How are you feeling? I mean, living in a different time. And having to babysit John," she said with a grin.

"Oh, good. I…" Citana didn't know how to say it. "I think he has feelings for me, and I don't know what to do about it."

Clara nodded in understanding. "Ah, okay. Well, just tell him you don't feel the same way. He'll get over it. He's a big boy…well, he will be," she laughed, making Citana smirk, but it quickly turned into a frown.

"Oh," said Clara softly. "You do feel the same way."

Citana put her head in her hands. "I…I honestly don't know. I mean. I know I really care about him. And I love being with him…although the past few days have been a bit…rough. But I'm afraid the feelings will fade. Like, they're just an infatuation that won't last."

"You think your feelings for him will fade?"

Citana shook her head. "No. I don't mean my feelings. I meant his. He's going to realise I'm not as great as he thinks I am and be done with me. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened."

"Oh," said Clara in understanding. "Well, if I learned anything by being with the Doctor and by being friends with John is that they are both extremely loyal. Maybe even too loyal. I was afraid the Doctor would get bored of me but, you know what? I'd rather take the risk of heartbreak than never experience what it's like to be loved by someone with two hearts."

Citana nodded in understanding. Moments later, they heard the Doctor enter the room, followed by John.

"Oh, thank god!" cried Citana as she ran up to John and brought him into a hug.

"Miss me?" he laughed.

"Yes," she said softly.

…

They were all back in the TARDIS, where the Doctor had just finished explaining to John what had happened to him and why.

"So, you're saying that some future royal family wanted to get their dead son back and somehow connected with this group of scientists selling baby clones? And they picked me because I resembled him?" John looked over the painting. "I mean. If by resemble you mean he's got brown hair, then I guess I see it," he laughed.

"Well, there's more to it than that. They somehow tried incorporating his, well, mind into you, but it obviously didn't take, or you'd have residual memories of his childhood."

John froze. "Doctor?" he began. "Did you have a period in your life where you spent hours on end learning to sword fight?"

The Doctor cocked his head. "No. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I…I have this odd recurring dream. And I just assumed it was from your memories, but now I'm not so sure."

Citana now spoke. "Wait, so not only are you the Doctor's clone, but you've also got some creepy dead child poking about up there?" she pointed to John's forehead. John frowned and pushed her hand away before chuckling.

The Doctor turned to the console and began typing. "That must be how they were able to find you. You have some residual mark from their son. They must have sent that woman to take you to them, but they still wanted you as a young child. Which is why they tried to "reset" you."

John sat down on the steps and stared blankly. "Are you okay?" asked Clara, who'd been silently listening. She joined him on the step.

"So, I…I sort of have parents?" he asked softly.

The Doctor stiffened. "John, they're not your parents. Strakh is a dangerous and ruthless planet that took one too many pages out of the dark ages. If they were ever to find you, I don't doubt they wouldn't try to mould you into something you're not."

John nodded. "Right. Of course. I…I know that was stupid to ask," he huffed a laugh. "I mean, I wouldn't want to meet the people who sent some psycho to try and make me a baby. People who would stop at nothing just to…to have their son back."

John gave a tight smile. "I'm going to go have a nap. Going through puberty within the span of an hour takes it out of you," he joked.

Citana, Clara and the Doctor silently watched as John exited the TARDIS.

"What is wrong with you?" questioned Citana to the Doctor.

He was caught off guard by her hostility. "What?" he questioned back.

"God, sometimes you Time Lords can be so ignorant," Citana huffed as she stormed out of the TARDIS to check on John.

The Doctor stood facing the door dumbfounded. "What did I do?" he asked Clara.

She made her way next to him. "You completely dismissed John's feelings, Doctor. You just told him that there's a family, albeit a bit barmy, that have been doing insane things to be reunited with their child, aka him. He's never known what it's like to have a mum or a dad, and you just…just glossed over it like it meant nothing."

"I…but Clara, if I didn't shut down that idea from the beginning, it would be far worse than hurting his feelings. I wasn't lying about those people. And I mean…well," he fumbled a bit.

"You don't want him to leave," Clara stated.

The Doctor sighed. "I mean, yes. But, Clara! He can't search for them. Maybe they're his "parents" in a very abstract way, but they don't know him. They didn't raise him! He knows nothing of their culture or how they operate. It would kill him to find out what kind of people they really are."

"And what kind of people are they?" Clara asked.

"The worst kind," he said gravely.