Emend

by loulouflowerpower

11/OC-Time Lady. For centuries the Doctor and the Hatter have lived with the belief that the way the Time War ended was simple, but what a shock they're in for when holes in time open and they come face-to-face with their past lives. The Zygons, the Moment, and a toddler...the next great adventure awaits, but can Gallifrey be saved?

5. Chapter 5 To Right A Wrong

To Right A Wrong

The talks between Zygone and human began, at long last both Kate's sat across the table from one another and actually attempted to form a fair negotiation between them, even covering the table at one point with maps and sheets of paper, some screwed up into balls and tossed aside when it was deemed that the initial plan that had began to form on them simply wouldn't do after all. However, it would seem that such talks would not be over and done with quickly, and while the Eleventh Hatter did attempt to provide them with support and her own wisdom, she had to admit that her own lack of patience quickly began to wane after less than twenty minutes of listening to the humans and Zygons seemingly go over the same thing for the fourth time. It didn't help matters that Astra's patience was even shorter then her mother's, the Time Tot quickly growing tired of playing with her number blocks or colouring, so the Hatter decided that it would be wiser to take a little stroll around the place, allowing Astra to pull her along with an indulgent smile through the rows of shelves of the room.

The War Doctor had already disappeared to a corner of the room, taking up a seat in an old leather, winged armchair that had once belonged to the Seventh Doctor, sipping a cup of tea...he had been the first amongst them to step back, claiming that he'd had enough of political negotiations. Clara and Jen had also grown bored rather quickly, heading off to take a better peek at the collection, while the Tenth and Eleventh Doctor had taken up a watch over the Zygons and humans, standing back and observing the talks, though they seemed to be busier chatting and bickering between them, then they were listening to talks. The Eleventh Hatter spared them both a rather fond grin as Astra pulled her passed them, both Doctors pausing to watch them go with grins of their own, the Eleventh Doctor bopping Astra's head with a fond look in his eyes.

On Astra tugged her, not even pausing to look at any of the objects that sat upon the shelves as they went, though the Eleventh Hatter did cast them looks, spying River's red high heels as they went, along with a startling number of alien guns of varying shapes and sizes, a rather charred looking hat that even she couldn't quite indentify from what version of her it must belong to, as well as many other memorable artefacts. She recognised most of them, but there was the odd few that must have come from adventures that she hadn't shared with the Doctor. It was quite the trip down memory lane, though Astra didn't seem the least bit intrigued by any of it...and then, quite suddenly, Astra released her hand and went running off around the corner, disappearing around it before the Hatter could even blink.

"Astra!" she exclaimed in slight exasperation, internally groaning...honestly, she was far too much like herself and the Doctor, once she set her mind on something she was usually dead set on doing it, having the ignorance and confidence that only a child could have, even in the face of danger. And in a room that was filled with any number of alien guns and other junk, that was not something the Hatter wasn't overly comfortable with, even if it was unlikely that Astra could find too much trouble...hopefully. She moved to follow after her, sighing slightly to herself.

"...Mummy!" Astra's excited voice carried easily from around the corner, seemingly from the next row over.

"Oh," a rather startled, Scottish voice gasped slightly, just as the Eleventh Hatter rounded the corner, pausing, her eyebrows lifting very slightly at the sight that greeted her.

The Tenth Hatter looked almost as if she had frozen in place in the middle of the aisle of shelves that she had seemingly been ideally walking down just moments ago, a rather startled, very slightly unsure expression on her face as she stared wide eyed down at the Time Tot currently hugging her legs. The Eleventh Hatter considered the scene before her, weighing up her options...she decided to stay back, just for a moment, allow her past self to get to know Astra. She was curious to see what would happen, after all, it was her, the Tenth Hatter would positively adore Astra as much as she did Jen, if only she overcome whatever fear she had over getting close to the toddler that was, technically, her own daughter. It was...complicated, of course, but Time Lords always recognised their children, they felt it in their very hearts when they laid eyes upon one of their own young, no matter if they hadn't even birthed or conceived that child yet, but would do so in the future. It was only fear and uncertainty that fuelled the Tenth Hatter's very slightly distant attitude around Astra.

Astra lifted her head to look up at the Tenth Hatter, and the Eleventh Hatter could just imagine the curious look she was likely sporting as she seemed to examine the past version of her mother intently. It was not so different from the same way that the Eleventh Doctor seemed to intently examine people, looking at you as if he could read all of your secrets.

"You look like Jen-Jen," Astra announced, finally, once her assessment was seemingly completed.

Something relaxed in the Tenth Hatter's face, then, her features softening as she automatically crouched down before Astra, smiling at her gently, "Yes, I do, don't I?" she agreed, flashing her a gentle smile.

"You're pretty".

"And so are you, sweet girl," she playfully bopped Astra's nose, no doubt, laughing as Astra probably scrunched up her face. It made the Eleventh Hatter smile to herself, "And I do love your rainbow shoes," she went on with a grin, "Rainbows are very special things, do you know why?"

Astra shook her head, reaching up to fiddle with the rainbow bowtie the blonde was wearing, "Why?"

"Because rainbows are symbols of hope, and hope is very, very important".

"I couldn't have said it better myself," the Eleventh Hatter commented with an amused smile, rounding the corner completely and stepping into the same aisle as them, the Tenth Hatter looked passed Astra with a small, suspicious look.

"Have we really been reduced to spying?"

"When it concerns my far too curious Time Tot and a room full of weapons," she lifted her eyebrows with a pointed look, "Can you blame me for not allowing her out of my sight?" the Tenth Hatter gave her a small nod of agreement, smiling faintly back down at Astra. The brunet shook her head slightly, forcing a mildly stern expression onto her face, "Astra".

Astra turned quickly at that tone, eyeing the Eleventh Hatter with a small, sheepish little pout as she slowly edged closer to her, toying at the edge of her skirt. The Eleventh Hatter struggled not to smile, finding her expression far too much like the Doctor's own guilty, sheepish look when she caught him out on something he shouldn't have done...usually something related to tinkering with the TARDIS.

"Now," she forced herself to remain firm, leaning down slightly so that they were more at eye level, "You know that you're not allowed to just go running off like that".

She dropped her eyes to her rainbow trainers, her bottom lip sticking out slightly, "Yes, Mummy..." she mumbled in a small voice.

The Eleventh Hatter sighed and pulled her into a tight hug, squeezing her tightly as she immediately curled her arms around her legs. It was very slightly awkward, given how little Astra was, but she ignored the discomfort in her lower back.

"We just want to make sure you're safe, darling," she told her tenderly, pulling back slightly to kiss the top of her head, smiling gently at her, "That's all, so no more running off without asking first, okay? Otherwise..." she gave her a mock stern, pointed look.

"No more adventures".

"Exactly," she nodded, unable to maintain her stern frown any more, her lips curving into a smile, "Now, how about you go and play with Clara, yeah? And I will be watching, so I'll know if you try to sneak off anywhere".

Astra gave her a bright grin, one that might have looked rather cheeky, if she was a little older, before turning on her heel and skipping off down the aisle...the Eleventh Hatter watched her go, peering carefully through the selves to make sure that Astra did go directly to Clara's side and nowhere else, which the little girl did do. She watched with a fond smile as Clara looked down as Astra tugged at her dress, breaking into a surprised smile as she said something to the Time Tot, Jen turning around from where she was eyeing a large gun curiously to see. It brought a warm glow to her hearts, it truly did.

"She's beautiful," the Tenth Hatter remarked softly, also peering through the shelves and bits and pieces on them to watch.

"Of course she is," the Eleventh Hatter replied instantly, grinning proudly.

"She truly is delightful," she went on, almost sounding wistful. The brunet glanced sideways at her, finding her looking almost sad, "I...I'm sorry. I want to...to be like you are with her, I feel it in my hearts that...that she's my...child, but I just..."

"Hey, it's alright," she cut her off hastily, her eyes widening very slightly in concern as her face began to screw up in something close to despair and pain. She looked truly miserable and guilty. She reached out and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile, "I get it, I do, believe me. You have nothing to be guilty about, Astra' sensitive and very intuitive with people's emotions, but she's still only a toddler. She's fine".

The Tenth Hatter eyed her closely, frowning, "I don't even understand how she came to...be..." she almost instantly fixed her with a dark, warning glare when she noticed the Eleventh Hatter's eyes flash with wicked delight and her lips parting with a teasing remark on her tongue, "Don't go there. You know what I mean, how could you have a baby, knowing she'll be alone in the Universe? Just...how?"

The Eleventh Hatter sighed, moving to lean her back against one of the shelves, watching her past self closely...after a moment, she nodded, "We didn't exactly plan it, truth be told," she told her softly, "It just...happened, one of those amazing, incredible things. I was so terrified that it wouldn't last, how could it? We'd already lost so much, it seemed impossible that we should be that lucky, but...she was so strong and she pulled through..."

"She's most assuredly is half of the Doctor," the blonde said quietly, smiling faintly.

She laughed, "She is certainly is as tough as him," she agreed, glancing over her shoulder, back through the shelves...she could see her Doctor still chatting with the Tenth Doctor, seemingly describing something with large hand gestures. She smiled fondly, "But she's also rather like us, too, I think. A mixture of the two, of course, it is perhaps a little early to say," she sighed, then, remembering the rest of her past self's worried words, glancing back to her, "You're not wrong to be worried for her future, too. Of course, we fear for what will become of her, once we're gone".

"But?"

"But..." she gave her a long look, taking a deep breath, "We will raise Astra to be as strong and independent as possible. And she won't be alone; she'll have our friends and the friends she'll make along the way, as well as Jen. It might not be the same as Gallifrey...but we can give her the Universe".

The Tenth Hatter watched her for a long moment, frowning faintly as she seemed to consider her words, before sighing heavily and looking away, "Whatever happens to her and to Jenny..." she said, after a long pause, finally turning her gaze back to her future self, there was a look of steely determination in her baby blue eyes, "I have no doubt that they'll be well prepared for whatever may come their way. Half Doctor, half Hatter...how could they not be?"

The Eleventh Hatter smiled at that, though it didn't fully meet her eyes, for she knew in her hearts that those words were spoken in an attempt to console them both when neither of them could truly say anything else. Jen and Astra, truth be told, would likely be possibly burdened by their parentage, they would have all of their parents enemies, after all, and once they truly found themselves alone in the Universe, those enemies would turn their full attention onto them without the Doctor and the Hatter there to protect them. But they would have each other and the friends they made along the way, of that there was little doubt...even if it wasn't the same as Gallifrey. The Hatter and the Doctor had had Gallifrey, though, and in the end they had been forced to make do without their home and people, their girls would have to do the same thing.

...

Jen liked to think she'd come a long way since she had first started out on Messaline, but she had to admit that there were times when she struggled with her own programming, for a lack of a better word to put it. She had been born to be a fighter, to be a warrior, to fight in a war...but there was also so much to her that went beyond just merely that. Her parents had made sure she had seen that, she was learning every day new things about herself, things that had nothing to do with fighting or being the perfect solider, but she had to admit. She did have a soft spot for a nice, shinny gun.

She could just imagine her parent's disapproval, but she couldn't help considering one of the many guns that seemed to be stored about the curious, almost warehouse-like room they stood in. It was a massive weapon, a little more bulky then she preferred, mind, but it would certainly get the job done...her fingers itched very slightly to reach out and touch the cool, metal surface. To grasp it between her hands and hoist it up onto her shoulder, anchoring it into just that right spot. She hadn't held a weapon in ages, but she knew it would feel comfortable. Even as those thoughts spun through her mind, a surge of guilt washed over her. What would her parents say if they could hear her right now? They'd be so disappointed and if there was anything Jen couldn't stand, it was the idea of disappointing either her mum or dad, especially not when she had only just got them back.

"Clara!" Astra's excited cry broke through her thoughts, jolting her back to the present. She turned in time to see Clara whirl around to catch Astra, who had seemingly flung herself at Clara without any hesitation of whether or not Clara would catch her.

"Astra!" Clara blinked very slightly, though she was smiling as she steadied the Time Tot.

"Mummy told me to find you, and I did!"

She laughed, "Good job," she said with a bright, cheerful sense of pride to her words, reaching down to take Astra's hand in her own, the toddler instantly swinging her arm back and forth.

Jen looked back over towards where Astra had come running from, spying through the shelves of the room the bright pink hat of her mother, seemingly speaking to the Tenth Hatter, her blonde hair visible easily through the shelves. She couldn't see them clearly enough to get a read of what they were discussing, but she could sense a slight sense of wryness in the Eleventh Hatter's posture, while the small glimpse of the Tenth Hatter's face showed a deep, almost anxious frown. She wondered what they were talking about, it seemed rather important...nosy, she was. She couldn't help being curious.

Astra seemed perfectly content, however, to hang out with her sister and Clara, swinging Clara's hand as they slowly began to walk past the shelves containing guns and other mysterious trinkets. Jen gave up trying to guess what most of the objects meant to her parents, she bet her dad could spend all day pointing out each one of them and regaling her with stories, each more outlandish then the next, but Jen supposed there was more important matters to be attending to. She glanced back over towards the humans and Zygons, watching with mild interest as they seemed to be still deep in heated negotiations. Politics, yeah, that was not an area that Jen had any interest in, but she hoped that the humans and Zygons would resolve things soon and peacefully. The alternative sounded rather horrible.

She turned her attention back ahead of her, only to blink, catching the eye of the War Doctor. She hadn't realised that they had wondered so far from the main area of the room, having managed to find themselves just a few feet away from the old armchair that the old man had taken up for himself. He peered back at them with his tea cup partly raised to his lips, looking rather startled himself at his peace and private little corner being suddenly invaded by them, but he didn't seem unwelcoming. Just...a little distant. She stared back at him, Clara coming to a stop beside her, looking back at the physically older Time Lord with a suddenly, very slightly, apprehensive expression. Silence stretched on, no one moved, Jen, for her own part, wasn't quite sure what to do. She sensed her dad when she looked at him, she felt it was him, but yet...there was something missing.

"Daddy!" Astra, evidently, had little reservation, almost instantly dropping Clara's hand and dashing the short distance forward towards the War Doctor.

The War Doctor's eyes widened to an almost impossible size and he made an odd, almost chocking noise of shock as the Time Tot threw herself at him, showing little concern for anything as she immediately moved to settle herself on his lap, just like she would if it was the Eleventh Doctor. Jen's lips parted and she had to fight back the sudden urge to laugh at the alarmed look that swiftly crossed his aged features, the poor man almost seeming to turn to stone as he looked down at Astra. He didn't even seem to notice any little sharp elbows or heels of her trainers digging into him as the toddler settled herself comfortably, grinning broadly up into his face without any trace of fear of shyness.

"Astra," Clara sighed with a slightly strained, awkward smile, shifting slightly on the spot. She almost looked sheepish for having allowed Astra to escape her.

"No, no..." the War Doctor surprised them all by speaking, then, his voice steady, even though he was still staring down at the Time Tot in his lap with a rather stunned expression. He almost seemed to be examining her intently, some of his shock fading, if very slightly. He frowned very faintly, not taking his gaze from Astra, "It's...alright, perfectly alright..." he attempted a small, gentle smile, "Hello...Astra".

Astra gave him a brilliant smile, "You're cheeks are funny, Daddy," she told him with a very knowledgeable, curious eye. His eyebrows rose, but his lips lifted very faintly.

"How so?"

She reached up to poke at his left cheek with one little finger, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully as she considered him almost as intently as he looked at her, "They're all...wrinkly," she eventually said.

Jen couldn't hold back her snort of amusement, while Clara barely bit back a smile. The War Doctor laughed very slightly, carefully placing his tea cup off to the side on a small table. He reached up to absently touch his cheek, nodding to himself, suddenly looking rather thoughtful. One might have thought someone had just asked him to decipher a rather tricky puzzle.

"You have you mother's eye for details, my dear," he remarked with an almost fond, warm gaze on Astra, his eyes running across her features, taking them in closely. There was an almost wistful sense of longing in his voice, sighing sadly as he looked away from her, "And her ability to make me smile".

Astra frowned at him, looking rather concerned as an odd, uncomfortable sense of sorrow suddenly filled the air around him, almost coming off him in waves.

"Sorry for...interrupting," Clara cleared her throat. She gave him a small smile as he looked up at the sound of her voice, his eyebrows lifting as he regarded them both carefully, almost seeming to have forgotten their presence. She grabbed the back of a nearby office chair and wheeled it a touch closer to him, not dropping her eyes from him as she sat on it, bracing her wrists on the back of it, "I'm Clara," she introduced herself, toying with her fingers as she watched him, "We haven't really met yet".

"I look forward to it," the War Doctor replied with a pleasant smile at her, his eyes darting over to Jen. He seemed to consider her as intently as he had Astra, Jen could practically feel him tracing her features, "Jenny, isn't it?"

"Jen's fine," Jen shrugged, giving him a small, awkward grin. It was so odd, it was her dad, she felt that, but he also wasn't, and the fact that he looked at her with only a vague sense of recognition made it all the more harder for her to quite know how to approach him, unlike the other versions of him she had met. It reminded her a little of how her dad had first been around her.

"It's a lovely name," he told her with a gentle smile, but there was still something missing in it, something that his future selves had that he didn't quite possess yet. He seemed...distant, set apart from them all, somehow, as if he was forcing himself to be present with them, when his mind was focused on something else. Perhaps something in the way Clara and Jen eyed him made him realise that something wasn't quite right, because he frowned lightly and lifted his eyebrows, "Is there a problem?"

"I guess..." she glanced at Clara, who looked back to her with a deep frown. She turned her gaze back to him, watching him closely, sighing very slightly when he merely gave her a politely curious look in return, "You know...my mum and dad have told me about the War," she said with a slight narrowing of her eyes, her tone light, but grim, watching as his eyes widened very slightly at her words, "They didn't really want to, mind, but they reckoned I deserved to know. That I needed to. They don't like talking about it much around Astra..." her eyes dropped to Astra, who seemed content to simply toy with one of the War Doctor's brass buttons on his waist coat, "But they still told me, all about how bad the Time Lords got towards the end, how my mum built and gave you the Moment, the Time Lock...They talk about it a lot, actually, when Astra's not around".

He eyed her with a guarded expression, "One would".

"You wouldn't," Clara said instantly, her voice soft as she regarded him knowingly, "Because you haven't done it yet. It's still in your future".

"That's why mum...eh, the brunet one," Jen cleared her throat slightly, internally wincing at how bloody complicated this whole thing was, even as a Gallifreyan, "That's why she looks at you differently from the others. She knows you haven't done it yet".

The War Doctor was silent for a long stretch of time, his eyes darting carefully between both girls, almost as if he was weighing them up, but he looked almost impressed, "You both seem very sure of yourselves," he remarked quietly, at long last.

Jen shrugged, giving him a small smile, "Well, you are technically my dad," she said, trying not to sound as awkward by it as she was, because while he might be her dad in the future, he wasn't right now and that just added a weird layer to this whole conversation. What was she even supposed to call him? Dad? Seemed kind of weird, "I've gotten pretty good at reading you, and I know that they regret it," her expression growing sad, her voice growing softer as she looked into his lined face, "They carry all that guilt and shame and pain every day, always. They'd do anything they could to change it".

"Including saving all these people," he sighed heavily, nodding slowly, not fully denying her words. He frowned faintly, then, "How many worlds has their regret saved, do you think? Look over there..." he inclined his head over towards the humans and Zygons still carrying out their heated debate with each other, utterly oblivious. Something familiar and bright sparked in his eyes, his lips lifting in admiration, "Humans and Zygons working together in peace," he shook his head slowly in wonder...Clara ducked her head slightly, her expression growing sad, while Jen frowned faintly.

He made it sound as if it was somehow a good thing, that his future self and love of his life would suffer such a horrible, terrible thing, as if all the good outweighed all the suffering and sorrow that they felt. Jen just...couldn't see it that way, she had seen her own mother openly cry as she had recounted how she had been driven to the brink of insanity from grief during the War and had built the Moment, her father shedding tears as he had hugged his wife and spoke about how he had believed that the only thing that could be done to end the War was to actually destroy his own people. It was a moment in Jen's brief existence that would live with her forever, her parent's urgings ringing in her ears for the rest of her days to remember their mistakes and to never do as they had. That sort of guilt and pain, it wasn't worth it, not in her eyes.

"You're really not my dad," Jen found herself whisper, staring at the man that would one day become the man that she would admire and respect like no one else in this Universe, the man that she knew was better than anyone else, who would fight harder and better than anyone else, this man...this man sitting before her seemed to have just given up. He wasn't the Doctor.

Her words seemed to shock the War Doctor briefly, his eyes widening and his lips parting, but Jen found herself unable to take back what she had said, meeting his gaze with a level look in return. Clara looked almost stricken in horror, practically gaping at Jen in shock, eyes comically large. Even little Astra, unable to fully understand just yet what was happening, seemed to be giving her big sister a deep frown, but still Jen refused to back down and apologise, and slowly, the War Doctor visibly swallowed and smiled sadly.

"No, I'm not," he agreed heavily, "But I will be, one day, and it's time I start taking those steps to ensure that, my child. To make sure that I am worthy of the title," he allowed his eyes to drop to Astra, who looked back up into his face with a deep frown. He smiled tenderly and gently stroked her cheek, before looking back up, passed Jen and Clara, "I've seen all I needed. The moment has come," he sighed and almost bowed his head, resigned, "I'm ready".

He lifted his head and seemed to look at something past the girls, into thin air, no less. Jen stared at him in confusion...she knew the bloke was physically older, if not numerically, but no one had mentioned that Time Lords lost the plot when they were physically older. Might explain a few things, mind...

"Um..." Jen frowned at him blankly, looking to Clara, who seemed to find this whole thing just a whacky as she did. Boy, that was kind of a relief, the other girl returning her look with a baffled frown.

"Who's there?" Clara shook her head, turning her head to look off in the direction he was looking, "Who were you talking to...?" she trailed off.

Jen blinked as she also turned back towards the War Doctor...only he had utterly vanished, leaving Astra happily sitting on his armchair, looking terribly small as her legs barely even dangled over the edge of the chair, sitting comfortably in the corner. She was smiling happily, sucking on a bright red lolly-pop, of all things.

"Astra..." Jen said slowly, eyeing her with a slight frown, "Where did...um, other, older daddy go?" she struggled not to trip over the word 'Daddy' when referring to that man, but, hey, Astra clearly considered him to be their father.

Astra pulled the lolly pop from her mouth, her tongue and lips already starting to stain red, and smiled toothily up at them, "Not-Mummy took him away," she told them, as if it was a simple fact, and stuck the lolly-pop back in her mouth, cheeks bulging from it.

Jen opened her mouth to ask...but hastily closed it, again, blinking slowly as she turned to give Clara a look. Well, if that wasn't all kinds of almost creepy, she didn't know. All they needed was a thunder storm and a scary, dimly lit big house and they'd have it all. Little kids seriously couldn't just answer a question simply, could they? This was clearly an issue for her parents to deal with now.

...

The War Doctor found himself standing back inside the barn, his hearts heavy and still filled with so much sorrow, he feared he may just burst from it if he had to bare one last bad thing, but there was also a sense of relief. Of joy and gladness, because he knew now that the Hatter not only lived, but she would thrive, they would be together and have a family and friends, bright and brilliant and beautiful. It was more then he could have dreamed for, but he had to carry out the final price to make sure that happened. He stared down at the Moment as it stood before him, a large, red jewel –like button now lifted above the machine on a golden spike, ready for him to simply press and it would all be done with. He watched as golden flecks swirled around the jewel, it was lovely, and deadly, and he was prepared to do what must be done, but yet...he hesitated. Even now.

"Don't say I don't listen to you, Doctor," the corporal Moment said in a sing-song tone, standing on the other side of the device, but her youthful, sweet face was full of something close to sorrow, "You wished for a handy-dandy, big red button...and I delivered, as always".

"So you have," the War Doctor sighed, his voice barely a whisper on the wind, eyes fixed on the button.

She tilted her head, a gesture he recognised from the corner of his eye to belong to the Tenth Hatter, and regarded him with sharp, bright blue eyes, "Well, Doctor..." she seemed to pause briefly, taking an almost bracing breath, her voice flat, "Here we are...at the end of the line, just one little tiny push and that'll be it. No more Time Lords, no more Daleks...no more Gallifrey. You really sure about this? Truly?"

"I was sure when I came in here. There is no other way".

"You've seen what it will do to you, the men it will make you".

He smiled, "Those men..." he paused, and his smile widened in wonder, "Extraordinary. And the Hatter...I never thought I would see that light back in her eyes again, but it's there! She glows with it. Our family..." he swallowed, thickly, feeling tears of pride and admiration prickle at the corners, "I never imagine, never dared to hope...but it happened, it will happen. Those girls are truly the very best of the Hatter and the Doctor".

"The best of you and the Hatter," the Moment insisted firmly, a small, gentle smile playing across her lips as she looked at him, "Those men you speak so highly of, they are you, still you, Doctor. That future is the one you will help to build".

"No," he smiled sadly now, shaking his head lightly, "They are the Doctor. That future belongs to them".

"But you're still the Doctor, no matter what you say or do. You can't change that".

"Yes, I can," he told her firmly, a sense of resigned sadness practically coming off him in waves, but he also felt oddly at peace now, "Great men are forged in fire, it is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame..." his eyes fell on the button and he swallowed, hard, and pulled in a deep, bracing breathe as he brought his hand slowly up, poised just over it, "Whatever the cost..."

Still, his hand hesitate, still he couldn't quite bring it down onto the button. A flash of a long since passed memory flashing through his mind, the memory of watching children dancing and giggling around the Gallifreyan version of a maypole. His eyes shut for a moment, thinking back to the many hours he had watched his own children dance around that pole, even joining them at times, much to their shrieking delight. He remembered how joyful they had been when they had been little, he wondered how differently being a father to Astra and Jen must be for him in the future? Those two girls seemed to positively flourish, even without Gallifrey, they seemed to want for nothing, but yet...his hearts ached. He was taking Gallifrey from them right now and in turn, destroying how many innocent, precious little lives that had barely even begun yet? Lives just as young and tender as Astra, who had smiled up at him without any fear or confusion, but simply took him for her father, even though he didn't look anything like the man she knew as her father. That was an innocence that only a child could possess, and he was about it destroy all of that, two point forty seven billion lives. Taken at his hand.

What choice did he have? Gallifrey was not like it was when his children had been young, and even then there had been seeds of corruption and evil lurking in the hearts of his people, he recognised that now. Living centuries of long, long lives and believing themselves to be partially all powerful had led them to this point, he hadn't been to immune to it himself, and it was either Gallifrey or the Universe. That hadn't changed. Jen and Astra would be the legacy of his home, his people, the last children of Gallifrey...he would do what must be done to protect them, even if in doing so it cost destroying the innocent lives of all the other children he was failing to save. His eyes opened and he brought his hand just a fraction closer to the button...

"You know," the Moment broke through the deathly silence of the barn, making him pause, listening. There was a tiny, almost panicky edge to her voice, though she tried to conceal it. She smiled, trying to hide it, but her smile looked fragile, "The Hatter has always loved teasing you about leaving the TARDIS breaks on, but didn't you ever find it strange that she never did anything to fix it?" she lifted her eyebrows as he glanced up to her, then, eyeing her with a thoughtful frown, his hand stilling. A flicker of confidence sparked in her face at his obvious attention being on her, instead of the button, "That funny, wheezing, groaning the old girl makes? She never once turned it off...why is that, do you think?"

The War Doctor gave her a curious frown, "I don't know," he said slowly, a flicker of surprise flaring inside him, "I suppose...I never thought on it".

Her face filled with a knowing grin, "Men," she clicked her tongue at him, almost like she was gently scolding him, "All the same, even Time Lords. Why do you think?" her expression grew serious, softening around the edges, her eyes growing gentle as even her smile softened, voice dropping, "It's because it made her smile. It brought hope and joy to her, whenever she heard it, because she knew you were coming, Doctor. And she's not the only one who feels that way, that sound brings hope to everyone that hears it".

"I never..." he stopped himself, feeling a lump in his throat and his hearts warming at the thought, seeing the sincerity in the Moment's eyes, "Yes," he murmured, looking back into her eyes, "Yes, I like to think it does".

"I have a theory, too, Doctor," she continued with a growing grin, her eyes sparking with something bright, "A theory...that that sound would even work to bring hope back to you. Shall we test it?"

She finished with a positively dazzling grin, winking at him. He frowned at her, processing her words...when the faint, distant sound of wheezing began to reach his ears. He blinked slowly and began to turn around as the wheezing, groaning noise grew louder and more present, almost sounding like not just one TARDIS, but two, a light breeze picking up dry leaves littering the ground and blowing them about. The shadows of two slightly different shades of dark blue began to form at the end of the barn, growing more solid with each almost pulse of wheezing. His eyes widened in shock as they soon landed properly and the doors of both time machines swung open, the slightly faded one having the Tenth Doctor and Hatter calmly step out with grim expressions, while from the second, brighter coloured machine, came the Eleventh Doctor and Hatter, followed by Clara and Jen.

"I apologise if we're a tad late," the Eleventh Hatter said with a oddly cheerful expression, her eyes roaming the barn with great interest, if very slight wariness that didn't match her tone, "We had to drop Astra off at Sarah Jane's for a tick".

"I was right, wasn't I?" Jen frowned deeply as she eyed the War Doctor, keeping close to her father's side as they wondered closer to where the War Doctor stood, staring at them, "He really hasn't stopped the Time War yet, has he? It's all happening right now".

"Good pick-up, Jen-Jen," the Eleventh Doctor flashed her a proud smile, briefly throwing his arm around her shoulders and tugging her into his side, hugging her firmly, before dropping his arm. Jen almost stumbled on her own feet at the sudden loss of balance.

The War Doctor glared at them all, anger flaring in his eyes, "Go away now, all of you," he ordered them sharply, almost growling. His anger deflated slightly as he turned back around to the Moment and the button, lifting his hand back up to hover over it, "This is for me".

"We shouldn't even be here right now," the Tenth Hatter breathed with a horrified expression, looking worriedly around the barn with an almost frightened look in her eyes, "We can't be...it should be impossible".

"These events should be time-locked," the Tenth Doctor agreed with a dark glance around the room, one hand already firmly holding his Hatter's hand. He looked back across to his future self and Hatter, giving them a pointed, sharp look, "How are we here?"

The Eleventh Doctor nodded in agreement, "Something let us through," he said slowly.

"Ha!" the corporal Moment laughed from where she suddenly perched herself on a box off to the side of the room, swinging her legs over the side, smirking proudly as she looked at the Doctors, "Not just a pretty face, this lot! Hatter..." she pointed at the two Hatters, "Fantastic taste in men, this time around, anyway. Not that you can really be blamed for the first bloke...or was the Master technically the first, since you did snog him and he kind of, sort of, might have had a bit of a thing for you..."

The Eleventh Hatter winced as she felt suddenly incredibly relieved that only three people in this room could actually hear the Moment prattling on. She didn't think she wished to explain to Jen and Clara who the Master was, or see the looks on the Doctors faces at hearing the Moment bring up the Master's weird, possible interest in her, from back in the day. Today was full of enough awkward encounters and moments, no need to go adding the Master into that mix, too, thanks.

"Go back," the War Doctor almost sounded as if he was pleading now, his back turned to them, but his voice cracking as he stood straight and tall, "Go back to your lives, your families. Go and be the Doctor that I could never be..." his voice dropped to a near whisper as he lifted his hand up again, right over the button, his hand trembling, "Make it worthwhile".

"All those years, burying you in my memory," the Tenth Doctor sighed heavily, a weighty, grim sound as he looked darkly at his past selves back, his voice soft, but easily heard.

"Pretending you didn't exist," the Eleventh Doctor added softly, his expression filled with pain, "Keeping you a secret, even from myself".

"Pretending you weren't the Doctor, when you were the Doctor more than anybody else".

The Eleventh Doctor walked up to the War Doctor's left side, giving him a fiercely determined look, "You were the Doctor on the day to wasn't possible to get it right," he said firmly, his expression softening as he peered into his face.

"But this time..." the Tenth Doctor said heavily, stepping up on the right side of the War Doctor, swallowing as he reached out and placed his on hand over his on the button.

The Eleventh Doctor covered his hand, too, giving them both a bracing look, "You don't have to do it alone".

"Never again," the Tenth Hatter breathed, stepping up to them, tears sparking in her eyes as she seemed to be blinking them back. She gave the Doctors a watery smile as she moved to stand opposite the War Doctor, lifting her own hand up, looking at each of them as she said, "I made the mistake once to force you, Doctor, to endure this vile day alone, I will not stand for it again..." and she placed her hand down, over the Eleventh Doctor's, "Together. As always it should have been".

The War Doctor looked up to her, his eyes shining with tears, "Thank you," he whispered, a heart breaking sound in itself.

The Eleventh Hatter shut her eyes, barely swallowing down the sob that had risen in her throat. She felt an arm move around her waist and the gentle pressure of a head drop down onto her shoulder, and knew it was Jen...in the moment that she ought to have been comforting her daughter or husband; she was standing back and barely keeping herself together. But this whole situation was just wrong...plain and simple, it was wrong. She couldn't, she just...couldn't.

"What we do today is not out of fear or hatred," the Tenth Doctor said quietly, looking at each version of himself and the Tenth Hatter as he spoke, "It is done because there is no other way".

"And it is done in the name of the many lives we are failing to save," the Eleventh Doctor nodded solemnly, his voice barely above a whisper.

"It is done without choice," the Tenth Hatter murmured, tears freely slipping down her cheeks, licking her lips, "And without justice for those that deserve it most, but for the sake of the rest of the Universe...we are doing what we believe must be".

"No," the Eleventh Hatter's voice seemed to ring out, or perhaps that was merely an illusion of her own brain, it certainly felt as if it did in the deathly silence that swiftly followed her words. She stepped forward and felt Jen release her, felt everyone's eyes on her...she wasn't crying now, she realised absently as she blinked, her breath remained steady and even, even her hands were perfectly steady. She looked at each person in turn, before her eyes landed to fix on the War Doctor, "No".

"Hatter..." the Eleventh Doctor gave her a worried frown, but he didn't move from his position.

She shook her head, her eyes growing harder, "I said no, Doctor," she repeated, more firmly and hasher then perhaps needed, hearts pounding in her ears as she stepped forward again. She lifted her chin higher, glaring at each of them, "This is not happening. I will not allow it".

"No one wants this," the Tenth Hatter sighed, giving her a troubled frown, tears still running down her cheeks. She shook her head, almost throwing her a desperate look, "But it must happen this way, you know that!"

"I know more then you," she snapped, turning her glare onto her past self, who actually looked briefly shocked by the sudden icy fury in her eyes, "Do not tell me what I can and can't do, because you have no idea! No idea! And this is not happening!" she turned on her heel and look directly at the corporal Moment, staring back at her with big, wide eyes...even the Moment seemed stunned by her actions. She fixed her with a hard glare, not caring if she likely looked utterly mad right now, "I created you, Moment, and I will determine when and how you are used, as your creator, and today is not that day. I order you to disarm yourself immediately".

"What?" the Tenth Doctor exclaimed, throwing her a shocked look.

"You can't do that!" the Tenth Hatter shouted, practically throwing herself away from the button, which immediately began to retract back into the device, far to swiftly for any of them to even attempt to lung for it. She spun on her heel to glare at the corporal Moment, "I'm the Hatter, too, and I counter-order that order!"

The Moment gave her a slightly awkward smile, "Um...she kind of outranks you," she said with a wave towards the Eleventh Hatter, "Sorry".

"You've got to be kidding me!"

The Eleventh Hatter grinned and clapped her hands together, throwing her past self a smug look, "Told you I know more then you," she said cheerfully.

"Hatter..." the Eleventh Doctor moved to her, reaching out to take her hand as he stared at her. He looked almost as shocked as everyone else did, but he seemed to be trying to figure out what was going on, frowning at her worriedly, "What are you doing?"

"Fixing one of the biggest mistakes of my life, Doctor," she told him grimly, any hint of humour utterly disappearing in an instant.

"You can't just fix this, Hatter," the Tenth Doctor shook his head, moving around the now seemingly deactivated Moment to join his past self, giving her a worn frown. He looked as if he had just aged centuries, the weight of guilt and pain and grief plain to see in his features as he looked at her, "There isn't anything else we can do, we have to use the Moment the finish this".

"He's right," the Eleventh Doctor nodded, giving his Hatter an almost pleading, desperate look to understand. He looked as if it was almost physically paining him, and she felt her hearts breaking as she looked into his face, his hand moving up to cup her cheek, his thumb running along her jaw line, "There isn't another way, you know that, Hatter. There never was..." he closed his eyes and hung his head, swallowing thickly, "Either we destroy our own people or let the Universe burn".

The Eleventh Hatter brought her hand up to cover his on her cheek, closing her eyes briefly at the feel of his touch. God, she loved him so much, she loved everything about him, even the things about him that drove her up the wall and made her want to whack him over the head with a pillow, he was just such a good man. He was fully prepared to destroy their people, to press the button, for the sake of the Universe, and sure, that was something she was prepared to do herself, as evidence by her own past self, but not her. Not this version of her, because she knew better now. She understood things that her past self hadn't.

"This isn't us, Doctor," she said softly, shaking her head gently, keeping his hand pressed to her own cheek, "Genocide has never been an option for us...and yet it is when it comes to ending our own people? We didn't destroy the Daleks when we had the chance, we didn't commit genocide on them, why are we now about to do it to our own people? To innocent children, Doctor?"

"There isn't another way," the War Doctor insisted.

"No," she shook her head, more firmly again, and gently pulled the Doctor's hand from her cheek. She looked around at them all, "Moment...show me Gallifrey right now, show me Arcadia".

It was almost as if the very backdrop of the barn had melted away all around them, and suddenly they were standing within a war-torn city, filled with crumbling builders, few left standing, while rubble littered the ground of the street they stood on. The sky was filled with the cries of pain and death, all around them the screams just seemed to echo. The sky was utterly black, no stars to be seen, filled with too much pollution from the smoke and dust that filled the sky. They stood like ghosts in the middle of the street and watched as people ran back and forth, some desperately seeking shelter, others trying to find loved ones amongst the rubble, even while the war raged on all around them. Many of them were children...a teddy bear rabbit was left lying on the pavement, still with flames burning it slowly, but no one even spared it a second glance on the street, not even the children that desperately ran through the rubble and wreckages of space ships and dead Dalek's, clinging to siblings out of fear of losing them, most without a single adult by their side.

"What's happening?" Clara gasped, looking around in fright, tears staining her cheeks.

"Nothing," the War Doctor replied as he looked around, "It's a projection".

A horrible, terrified scream of a child rang out, then. Just up ahead of them a woman in a long dress, frayed now at the edges with burns and marks, her long, fair hair dirty and a tangle mess around her head, stopped and stared at something happening off in the distant. A look of pure horror filled her features as she briefly seemed to double up, her hand flying up to cover her mouth, as if trying to stop a scream of her own from escaping. The Eleventh Hatter barely held back the urge to vomit.

"This is Gallifrey," Jen breathed, her face paper white and eyes wide with horror, slowly turning on the spot, taking in everything.

"What became of her," the Tenth Hatter said faintly, her features twisted up with an almost agonised grimace. She flinched as a loud echoing noise of a nearby explosion went off, followed by an almost slowed down version of a distant explosion of a still standing building off in the distants, sending bits of rubble and stone flying everywhere.

Clara turned to stare at the Doctors and Tenth Hatter, tears falling down her cheeks, "These are the people you were planning to burn?" she almost demanded, her voice chocked by tears and outrage, a sense of disbelief practically radiating off her.

"What else can we do?" the Tenth Doctor shook his head, his face filled with pain and sorrow and guilt.

"Anything else," the Eleventh Hatter very nearly snapped, rounding on him with a furious glare. She waved a hand back around her, towards the destroyed buildings, the terrified people, running frantically for their lives, at the children scrambling for any tiny bit of shelter that they might be able to find, utterly alone, "Look at them!" she almost shouted, almost reached out and grabbing them by their shoulders and shook them, "These are children, we're talking about! Innocent children, just like Astra!" she turned on the Eleventh Doctor, then, fixing him with a sharp glare, "I don't know about you, Doctor, but if I allowed this to happen today, I couldn't look Astra or Jen in the eyes again, I just couldn't. Will you be able to?"

"No!" the Eleventh Doctor exclaimed, looking almost shocked by the question, he even stepped half back from her. He swallowed and reached out towards her, taking her hands as he gave her a miserable look, one full of despair, "But I don't know what else to do, either, Hatter. I just...don't".

"Look at you," Clara said slowly in almost wonder, shaking her head, her eyes roaming from the Eleventh Doctor to his past and future self, to even the Tenth Hatter, silently weeping, "The six of you. The Warrior..." she looked to the War Doctor, then to the Tenth Doctor and Hatter, "The hero, the wise...and you two..." she turned her gaze to the Eleventh Doctor and Hatter, her voice trailing off as a sad smile filled her face.

"And what are we?" the Eleventh Doctor looked to her, almost looking resigned.

"Have you forgotten already?"

"Yes. Maybe...yes".

She gave him a long look, before sighing, "We've got enough warriors," she told him, her voice soft, "Any old idiot can be a hero. Being wise can mean loads of things".

The Eleventh Hatter gave her a wide smile, "So what would you advice we do, Clara Oswald?" she lifted her eyebrows, waiting, even though she already seemed to know just what Clara was going to say.

Clara gave her a small smile, "What you've both always done," she looked to her, "Be a mother..." and to the Eleventh Doctor, her expression softening, "Be a doctor. You told me the name you chose, Doctor, was a promise. What was the promise?"

All around them, it was as if the fighting had come to a pause, almost as if time had been shifted forward by a few hours. Slowly, from out of the rubble and smoke and dust, children began moving out from their hiding spots, helping one another as they looked around, fear and relief etched into their dirty, dust and soot streaked faces, hair and clothing mused. Flecks of ash, like snow drifted through the slowly dawning morning air. These were the children that had survived through the night, the lucky ones that had lived to attempt to seek safer shelter, not yet knowing that in just a few minutes, Gallifrey ought to be destroyed, if events happened as the Time Lords and Universe had been led to believe.

"Never cruel or cowardly," the Tenth Doctor finally spoke.

"Never give up," the War Doctor added, "Never give in".

"And always..." the Eleventh Doctor finished quietly, looking to his Hatter, "Always...be kind".

She smiled at him gently, warmth and affection in her eyes as slowly, they were back in the barn once more, the scenario of Gallifrey disappearing from around them. It was almost disconcerting, to suddenly return from such a horrific battle scene to the near silence of the barn, just the gentle chirping noise of distant bugs in the desert outside. She kept her eyes over the Doctors and her past self, seeing that at long last they finally seemed to have given in. It wasn't that any of them had wanted to destroy Gallifrey, not at all, never that, but they simply couldn't see any other way but to destroy Gallifrey and their people. She couldn't blame them for that, she just couldn't, but she had the advantage over them. She had spent centuries trying to think up another way that she could have changed things, Astra's birth, quite honestly, had only triggered those thoughts all the more. The idea of Astra never going to the Academy, never having the chance to even see Gallifrey for herself, it had broken her hearts, so standing here today, having the chance to change that for her daughters...you better believe she was going to change things.

"Alright," the Tenth Hatter sighed heavily, her tears finally coming to end, though her cheeks remained stained from them. She eyed her past self warily, "So how are we meant to do this? You do realise that you're literally asking us to change our own personal history right now? Breaking the Laws of Time, of all things".

"Technically, we're not changing anything," the Eleventh Hatter smirked at her, eyes sparkling with an almost knowing, teasing glimmer, "After all, we'll all still think that Gallifrey is gone, the Universe will think that...we, however..." she gestured between herself and the Eleventh Doctor pointedly, grinning widely now, "Will know the truth, as you will, too, once you're us. So...technically, not breaking any Laws".

"There is some who would disagree with that logic, my dear," the War Doctor remarked, giving her a deep frown.

She shrugged dismissively, laughing, "Always a few critics".

"There's still a billion, billion Daleks up there, attacking!" he reminded her, giving her a slightly bewildered look, now, when she only laughed again and shrugged.

"Yep. Well aware of that, thanks. No biggie".

The Tenth Doctor's eyebrows rose, then, and a look of dawning realisation filled his face, "But there's something those billion, billion Daleks don't know," he said with a finger raised, suddenly breaking into a smile.

The War Doctor turned sharply to stare at him in shock, his eyes only widening when the Tenth Hatter smiled fondly and high fived her Doctor. He almost gaped at them...since when did suddenly everyone come on board with this whole mad, insane plan that seemingly only the Eleventh Hatter knew, unless he had utterly missed something. A big something, by the feel of it.

"Because if they did," the Eleventh Doctor cut in brightly, grinning almost as cheekily as his wife, throwing her a dazzling look and wrapping his arm around her waist, "They've probably send for reinforcements".

"Wait, why?" Jen frowned deeply, looking to her mum and dad with a puzzled, curious expression, "What don't they know?"

"This time..." he looked over to her, positively smirking, "There's five of us".

The Eleventh Hatter laughed and looked back to her past self and Doctors, giving them a raised eyebrow, pointed look, "So...figured it out yet?" she asked them in a slight teasing drawl, "Or shall I attempt to drawer a picture...I don't expect that could help much, but I could probably handle a few stick figures".

She watched as their past selves looked at her blankly, the Tenth Hatter toying with her bowtie with a deep frown, while the Tenth Doctor looked off into the distance, lips parted, and the War Doctor frowned...and then, just like that, she saw it hit each of them at almost exactly the same moment.

"Oh, my...!" the Tenth Hatter gasped out, very nearly jumping on the spot as it hit her, almost like a sledge hammer, her eyes immediately snapping up to her future self, "You...I...brilliant!"

"Oh!" the War Doctor cried out next, his entire face positively lighting up in sheer delight. He brought his hand up to cradle his face and threw his head back, cheering up at the ceiling, "Oh...yes, that is good! That is brilliant!"

"Oh!" the Tenth Doctor suddenly exclaimed, and began bouncing up and down on the spot, pointing at the Eleventh Hatter, "Oh, oh, I'm getting that too!" he backed away, almost stumbling out of excitement, "That is brilliant!"

"That's my beautiful, stunning, brilliant wife," the Eleventh Doctor called loudly, looking at the Eleventh Hatter with such a fierce look of pride and love, he was almost glowing with it. He pressed his lips against hers, even while she laughed into the kiss; unable to fully return it...she even squealed as he suddenly picked her up by her waist and began twirling her around in his arms, feet several inches off the ground.

"Well, sweetheart..." she giggled, cheeks bright red and a wide, beaming smile on her face. The Tenth Doctor kissed the Tenth Hatter, too, out of delight, while Jen and Clara laughed. She let him settle her back onto the ground, though he made little move to step back from her, his arms still around her waist, "I have had centuries to consider it...and a very, very good motivation..."

Her eyes travelled over to Jen, then, and she gave her eldest daughter a glowing grin. This was for her daughters; everything she did was for them. And for the innocent children that would have a chance to live now, children just like Astra. This wasn't even about the Time Lords or Gallifrey anymore, she had long since come to terms with the fact that the Time Lords had largely brought a lot of the War onto themselves, their corruption and arrogance had led them to it, and while it grieved her terribly the loss of her home world and her people, she had centuries to come to grips with that. Forced herself to accept it, but she could never accept the deaths of those children. That was the one thing she had never been able to move past. Now, she could finally right it.

"Oh!" the War Doctor laughed loudly, shaking his head in disbelief and joy, smiling wider than the Eleventh Hatter could ever remember seeing this version of him smile before, "She didn't just show me any old future, she showed me exactly the future that I needed to see!"

"Of course I did, silly," the corporal Moment laughed, rolling her eyes playfully at the old man, still lightly swinging her legs from her position on the box, "Honestly, for a clever-clogs like you, you are rather slow sometimes, Doctor-dear".

"Eh?" the Eleventh Doctor blinked slightly in confusion, turning to give him a puzzled, slightly tense smile...in his experience, mysterious 'She's' or 'He's' or 'Persons' typically didn't end well, "Who did?"

"Oh, Ariana, I could kiss you!"

The Tenth and Eleventh Doctor immediately gaped at him, looking utterly thrown by that, while the Eleventh Hatter laughed and exchanged a grin with the Tenth Hatter.

"Well, maybe when you're older," the Moment smirked at the War Doctor, winking at him and mock flicking her long, black plait back over her shoulder.

"Sorry," the Tenth Doctor frowned at his past self, bewildered, "What do you mean 'Ariana?' She's right here..." he pointed to the Tenth and Eleventh Hatter's, truly seeming utterly perplexed.

"He's not referring to us, Doctor," the Tenth Hatter told him with an amused smile, reaching up to lightly pat his cheek with a fond look, "He's talking about the Moment. She looks just like our First body".

"What...?" he simply blinked at her blankly, looking only more confused by that answer.

"So what are we doing?" Clara cut in eagerly, stepping closer to her Doctor and Hatter with Jen, looking around at them all with bright, excited eyes, "What's the plan?"

"The Dalek fleets are surrounding Gallifrey," the War Doctor began quickly, turning to her, while the Tenth Doctor gave the Eleventh Doctor a puzzled frown...his future self simply shrugged and gave him a smile, as if to say 'What do you expect?' "Firing on it constantly".

"Of course, things are looking pretty bleak for Gallifrey..." the Tenth Hatter picked up easily, smiling broadly at the young, brunet girl, "But the Sky Trench is still holding, but..." she paused for dramatic effect, holding up a finger an giving the girls a pointed look, "What would happen if the entire planet was to just...vanish, right in the midst's of the battle?"

"Okay," Jen said slowly, her eyebrows lifted in thought, frowning deeply, "So if Gallifrey was to just disappear...well; the Daleks would just end up firing on each other, wouldn't they? Oh!" her eyes widened, then, and she gasped in amazement as it suddenly seemed to hit her.

"Exactly, Jenny!" the Tenth Doctor cheered proudly, pointing at Jen with a wide smile. He turned to Clara, then, who still looked rather lost, "The Daleks would destroy themselves in their own crossfire".

"Gallifrey would be gone," the War Doctor nodded, his eyes bright and full of life again, "The Daleks would be destroyed, and it would look to the rest of the Universe as if they'd annihilated each other".

"But where would Gallifrey be?" Clara shook her head, smiling slightly at their excitement.

"Frozen and hidden away," the Eleventh Hatter told her with a grin, "Tucked safely into just an instant of time, safe and sound".

"Exactly..." the Eleventh Doctor gave the War Doctor a slightly pointed, knowing look.

"...Like a painting," the War Doctor finished, laughing.

Clara and Jen looked at each other in amazement, smiling widely. This might actually, shockingly, impossibly, work, after all.

...

And so, the plan was set into motion. The Eleventh Doctor and Hatter swiftly took off in their TARDIS, Clara and Jen joining them, while the War Doctor went to collect his own time machine, and the Tenth Doctor and Hatter went in theirs. It would be a joint effort on quite a scale, but the Eleventh Hatter knew that no matter what, they would all come together for this, all work together to fight for something as important as this. She smiled up at her Doctor as they moved around the controls of their TARDIS, working and keeping an eye on what simple tasks they had set for Jen and Clara to perform at the other control panels. He grinned widely back her, eyes bright and glowing with energy. She wanted to kiss him, but that would have to wait until later. The message 'Gallifrey Stands' flashed across the monitor screen, while they waited for it to be received on the other end.

"Do you think they got it, dear?" the Eleventh Doctor shot her a smile as he came to join her before the monitor, lifting his eyebrows.

"It would be terribly hard to miss," she said with a small laugh, "Shall we make sure?" she hit a button.

Static briefly filled the screen, before it began clearing, revealing a rather large, circular chamber that she recognised very, very well from her many boring meetings within the War Council's halls. A large, black table stood in the heart of the chamber, while Time Lords in ceremonial robes worked frantically, but they all paused as they evidently spotted their image flicker across the screen of the chamber, turning to look up at them. Distant noises of expulsions going off in the distant rang out over the feed.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen!" she called over the speakers, giving them a broad grin and a little wiggle of her fingers, "This is the Doctor and Hatter, calling the Gallifrey High Command..." she paused, frowning faintly, "Oh, and yeah, I am alive. Surprise!"

"Hello!" the screen parted, becoming two screens with the War Council on one half, while in the other the Tenth Doctor and Hatter appeared on the screen from their own TARDIS. The Tenth Doctor gave the Council a nod, "Also the Doctor and Hatter. Can you hear me?"

The screen split for a third time and the War Doctor popped up in a box on the screen, looking perfectly in his element now as he gave his camera a stern, almost commanding stare, "Also the Doctor," he called over the speakers, "Standing ready".

"Dear God..." a bald Time Lord in elaborate, dark red armour stared up at the screens from his side with something close to horror written across his face, lips parted very slightly, "Three Doctors and two Hatters," he grimaced as he glanced sideways to the Time Lord standing beside him with a very large, black collar attached to his robes, "All my worst nightmares at once".

"Oi, General!" the Eleventh Hatter mock glared at him, pointing a stern finger at him through the screen, "I thought we were closer then that! I once let you borrow my pen and never once complained when you didn't give it back...not that I'm holding onto a grudge or anything..." she trailed off with a sniff, looking pointedly away from the screen.

"Dame Hatter..." the General sighed tiredly, a very, very wry, tight smile crossing his slightly lined features. He bowed his head respectfully to her, "I see you have not lost your...unique sense of humour".

"Who said I was joking? I meant it, I liked that pen, it was great..."

"General," the Tenth Doctor cut in hastily, giving his camera a stern look, "We have a plan".

"We should point out at this moment, it is a fairly terrible plan," the Eleventh Doctor added with a light, almost blissfully cheerful tone...until he suddenly felt the searing glare being aimed directly at him by his Hatter, "Um..."

"And almost certainly won't work," the Tenth Doctor agreed with a nod, evidently missing the exchange on the next side of the screen.

"Doctor," the Eleventh Hatter growled warningly, crossing her arms firmly across her chest, eyes narrowed angrily, "Care to repeat that?"

"No!" the Eleventh Doctor exclaimed in a high-pitched, alarmed voice, very nearly coming close to being considered squeaking, his eyes wide as he leaned slightly back from the Time Lady beside him, "I...I didn't mean...terrible, I meant wonderful and exciting and...and..."

She held up her hand to silence him, rolling her eyes, "You are so lucky you are the father of my daughters," she hissed, leaning slightly closer to him, forcing him just that little bit further back from her with a rather frightened expression.

"Ow!" the Tenth Doctor suddenly yelped, and flinched on the screen. They all looked to him, only to see him grimacing and rubbing the back of his head, eyeing his Hatter with a rather confused frown, "What did I do?"

"It's what you will do, Doctor, that caused that," the Tenth Hatter told him with a huff, turning back to the screen, "But that's beside the point presently," she flashed the camera a brilliant smile, ignoring the still slightly gaping man beside her, "General, we are currently flying our three TARDISes into your lower atmosphere, as you will note if you take a quick peek at your screens to your...left?" she tilted her head thoughtfully, screwing up her nose slightly as she struggled to recall, "I think it's on your left".

The Tenth Doctor quickly recovered, nodding along with her, "We're positioned at equidistant intervals around the globe," he called over the speaker, leaning very slightly out of view of the camera and off the screen as he clearly hit a few buttons. He stepped back into frame, then, swinging his hand and grinned at his Hatter, "Equidistant," he repeated with a slightly delighted scrunch of his face, "So grown up!"

The Tenth Hatter laughed at him, "Just focus, you," she lightly poked at his arm, before moving out of frame, likely off to ready their TARDIS for the final approach, leaving him grinning cheekily after her.

"We're just about ready to do it," the War Doctor remarked from his side, his head ducked as he seemed busy fiddling with his own controls.

"Ready to do what?" the General demanded with a rather apprehensive glare through his camera.

"Isn't that obvious?" Jen suddenly sidled up beside the Eleventh Hatter, practically pressing herself up against her mother's side to get into view of the camera, "We're going to freeze Gallifrey..." her brief, cheerful grin seemed to grow rather bemused, however, staring at the screen, "Hang on...you guys actually wore those weird, collar things? I thought Dad was joking!" she exclaimed with a rather mortified expression.

On the screen of the War Council chamber, all the Time Lords and Ladies turned to look at each other in confusion and disbelief, before turning to the General, as if to actually check with him that they had heard that correctly. The Eleventh Hatter couldn't help laughing slightly and wrapping an arm around Jen's back, hugging her to her side. Oh, bless her darling, slightly too blunt, daughter. She had wanted to make a remark about what a joke those damn collars were for centuries and never managed to do so so publically before. It made her rather proud.

"I'm sorry, what?" the General blinked, spluttering very slightly, frowning, "And who are you, miss?"

Jen lifted her chin proudly, "I'm the Doctor and Hatter's daughter," she announced with pride.

A look of horror filled his face, "Oh, dear God..." he breathed weakly, reaching out to steady himself almost on the edge of the table, his face seemingly paling, "Will this nightmare never end?"

"Now's probably a bad time to mention that we have two daughters," the Eleventh Hatter remarked lightly, smirking at the screen...a rather curious, almost pained groan came over the speaker, but considering that the General was a first-rate Time Lord, she imagined that she had likely just misheard. The General would never stoop to such an undignified level, so she smiled brightly, "But never mind that! Of course we're going to freeze Gallifrey, using our combined TARDISes we'll place the planet into a single pocket of time".

"You know, like those stasis cubes?" the War Doctor said helpfully, lifting his head to look up at his camera directly now, "A single moment in time, held in a parallel pocket Universe".

"The whole planet," the Eleventh Doctor nodded, bringing his hands up to form something of a circle with them at the camera, just to make his point.

"And all the people on it," the Tenth Doctor finished with a determined expression.

The poor General looked from one screen to the next, or so it appeared, shaking his head slowly as an utterly baffled expression filled his face, "What?" he shook his head, "Even if that were possible, which is isn't, why would you do such a thing?"

"Why wouldn't we?" the Tenth Hatter gave him a confused frown, "This is Gallifrey, our home and people, and even if it wasn't, how could we simply let it burn without doing all we could to save it?" she gave the camera on her end a suddenly very grave, serious look, "Because that is what will happen, General, unless we do this. That is the alternative..."

"And we've seen that," the Tenth Doctor cut in grimly, casting his Hatter a troubled glance. She met his eyes and gave him a hard look in return, her jaw locked tightly.

"And none of us want to see it again," the Eleventh Doctor said firmly, giving the camera a hard, steady stare.

The General stared up at them from his screen, his eyes wide, "We'd be lost in another Universe," he breathed, looking quite shocked and appalled by the very notion, even if it meant saving their lives, "Frozen in a single moment. We'd have nothing".

"You would have so much more than that," the Eleventh Hatter insisted immediately, shaking her head firmly, her tone sharp, "You would have hope, General, hope. When was the last time Gallifrey even had a flicker of that?" she gave him a bracing smile, "We can give that back to you, because you need it. Desperately".

"It's delusional! The...the calculations alone would take hundreds of years!"

"Oh, hundred, and hundreds," the Eleventh Doctor agreed, though he wave a dismissive hand and almost seemed to shrug.

"But don't worry," the Tenth Doctor smiled at his camera, shaking his head, too, at the General's words. He looked back to his Hatter, giving her a wink, "We started a very long time ago".

"If you thought five of us were bad..." the Tenth Hatter laughed, grinning widely at the camera. She even lifted a finger up to point warningly, "You'd best brace yourselves".

Suddenly, there was a crackling noise over the speaker system and the General's eyes widened in shock, just as on their screen another box opened up to reveal the rather blurry, slightly static filled live feed of the First Doctor's TARDIS, the old man dashing about the controls with far too much vigour for a man of his apparent physical age.

"Calling the War Council of Gallifrey!" the First Doctor called, not even bothering to glance up from his task, "This is the Doctor".

The Eleventh Hatter laughed in delight, a thrill running through her at just hearing the First Doctor's voice after so long, "Didn't we mention that we'd been doing this our whole lives?" she smirked at the General, grinning broadly as more and more Doctors and Hatters began popping up across their screen, each one busy at their consoles, some Doctors and Hatters together, others on their own.

"Good luck!" the Second Doctor called out with a brief flash of a smile up at them, while the blonde, glasses wearing Second Hatter popped up over his shoulder and waved.

"Let's get a shift on!" the Second Hatter cheered brightly, and wiggled her fingers at them, before ducking back out of sight.

"Standing by," the Third Doctor announced from his own little box on the screen, concentrating quite hard on his controls.

The Third Hatter shifted very slightly into view, the side of her face revealing the deep look of focus she wore, "Let it never be said that we do nothing to help our fellow Time Lords..." she briefly lifted her gaze up to fix the camera with a narrowed eyed glare, "Even when they often don't offer the same in return," and she ducked back out of sight again.

The Eleventh Hatter grimaced slightly as she felt Jen and Clara looking at her with raised eyebrows, "Ah, my Third self," she muttered with an almost embarrassed shift, "She had...some issues with the Time Lords, never did quite get over it, honestly. She was a tiny bit bitter towards them".

"Ready!" the Fourth Doctor said cheerfully from his box.

"I really do need more hands then just two!" the Fourth Hatter groaned from seemingly her own TARDIS, frowning deeply as her hands flew about her controls, "My wrists are starting to hurt, but we're good on my end!"

"Commencing calculations," the Eighth Doctor added next, very clearly lifting his arm above the Seventh Hatter's head, while she seemed to be bent slightly double over the controls, her hat almost being knocked askew...it seemed to go unnoticed just how closely the Doctor stood behind her, though the Eleventh Doctor and Hatter noticed, exchanging knowing grins with each other.

"Soon be there, Hatter!" the Fifth Doctor remarked confidently, flashing his auburn haired Time Lady a brilliant grin.

"Just give us another tick!" the Fifth Hatter pointed into their camera, before smiling happily and moving out of sight of the camera.

The Seventh Doctor looked across to someone out of side of his camera, "...across boundaries that divide one Universe to the next," he seemed to be in the middle of saying, his voice sounding oddly darker.

"Well, that sounds right cheerful, Doctor," in contrast, the voice of the Sixth Hatter was positively chirpy, seemingly standing out of frame of their camera, "Reminds me why I never let you tell me bed time stories any more. Still, almost there..."

"Just get a lock on his coordinates..." the Sixth Doctor seemed to frown very slightly.

"And for my next trick...!" the Ninth Doctor seemed to cheer, pulling a large lever down.

"I didn't know when I was well off," the General seemed to gape around the Council Chamber, looking rather stunned and horrified, but a little impressed, all at once. He glanced sideways to the Time Lord beside him, grimacing, "All twelve Doctors and eight Hatters!"

"No, sir," a second Time Lord called out from the other side of the table, just before a large explosion went off nearby. He cried out in pain as he was almost knocked off his feet, the room shaking from the force, dust falling from the ceiling, "All thirteen Doctors and nine Hatters!"

There was a brief flash, then, in the final box that popped up on the screen. The Eleven Hatter tried not to look...but she couldn't help herself from peeking, her eyes widening slightly. She barely saw anything, really, but for a flash of a pair of very stern, silver-blue eyes glaring up into the camera from beneath a set of very impressive, bushy grey eyebrows, while a flair of what might have been strawberry blonde, curly hair briefly flicked by the screen. She looked sharply to the Doctor beside her to see him staring at the screen, too, his eyes wide in disbelief. It had to be a mistake. Another loud bang and sound of glass shattering sounded from over the speaker, pulling the Eleven Hatter's attention away from the strange sight she had just witnessed. She winced as she saw the Council room practically shaking from the force of the explosions outside, sending the Time Lords inside almost sprawling onto the floor.

"Sir!" the second Time Lord shouted out over the noise, then, sounding positively frightened, "The Daleks know that something is happening! They're increasing their fire power!"

The General seemed to swallow, hard, and looked quickly up to the camera, "Do it, Doctor, Hatter," he told them firmly, a look of resignation filling his features, "Just do it. Just do it!"

The Eleventh Hatter looked to her Doctor, who met her eyes and gave her a grim look in return, before turning his gaze back to the camera. His expression hardened.

"Okay," he said slowly, and the Eleventh Hatter glanced back to the screen, seeing all of their past selves looking back up to them, waiting and ready. He straightened his bowtie, "We're ready," he turned to watch with a smile as the Hatter grabbed a lever and pulled it sharply down. He threw his head back, "Geronimo!"

And off they went, their TARDIS hurtling towards Gallifrey...

"Allons-y!" the Tenth Doctor cried from his ship as he went them off, too.

"Oh, for God's sake," the War Doctor sighed in exasperation, seemingly rolling his eyes, "Gallifrey stands!"

Just like that, almost like one great wave, all of the TARDISes, Doctor and even Hatter alike, hurtled towards Gallifrey as one, and a while field swiftly began to form around the burnt orange and yellow planet, right before there was a very suddenly great explosion of white, blinding light that emitted right out into space and a great bang...And Gallifrey was gone, Dalek spaceships and rock sent spewing out into the vastness of space.

The Time War was over and Gallifrey was safe.

So I decided to end this chapter here, even though I know the next one is going to be oddly short, considering, but I just felt like it was a really nice to end this chapter on and I just kind of felt like that achievement deserved to have a standalone chapter, you know? Been a while, I know, I apologise. We've been so short staffed at work, I've been picking up extra shifts over my contracted three a week.

I really, really hope you guys like this chapter and that I did this moment justice, I've had it spinning around in my head for so, so incredibly long now, it's kind of weird to see it actually written down, but also a massive relief. I just feel like this Hatter would be the one who would one-hundred percent stand up and say 'No, not happening, time and the Laws be damned,' especially as a mother. The Tenth Hatter would have gone along with it, because she felt as if she owed it to the Doctor to stand by his side and do it with him, as she should have, and even if she wasn't happy about it, she still didn't have that need to change things like I feel like the Eleventh Hatter would. The Eleventh Hatter sees everything through the lens of a mother of a baby/toddler/teenager. It only made sense to me.

I hope you guys liked it, we're almost finished the fiftieth! Tell me what you thought and please review :)

Guest Reviews:
Guest (1): I am so frigging excited to see Russell back writing for Doctor Who, like it's the first time in three, four years that I've actually felt truly hopeful for the show. I'm just so bloody excited and over with what we've been getting these past few years. Bring it on!

Guest (2): I actually kind of really enjoy Dan, he's quite amusing. I feel like he'd be the type of bloke the Hatter would pick up as her companion, very unassuming guy with a quirky sense of humour, who kind of uses it to just go with the flow of weird situations. He's a good one thus far.

Guest (3): My opinion of this latest season if very confusing. I feel like it's been mashed up with a lot of characters and different plots way to quickly, episode two is one big frustration to me. It could be great...but the plot holes are just so massive, I can't even. But it's a lot less political feeling this season, which I'm delighted with, so...we'll see.

Guest (4): I like Dan, but Yaz...honestly, I find Yaz boring. I really do, and even the Doctor is just kind of...meh to me. I used to really like Yaz, but I just feel like she's got barely any personality and that she's just kind around to scold or demand answers off the Doctor, causing weird, tense but really not very tense, moments between their characters that just come off feeling bland. I just honestly don't think I'd be upset if they kill of Yaz in the next episode, and that's horrible to have to say. Even the Doctor feels horribly lacking to me, and I can't pin-point what it is, but I just want...something more from her.

Guest (5): I hadn't considered doing Thirteen for 'What if?' mainly, probably, because I'm just kind of tired of Thirteen in the first place, but it's a possibility. With my own spin :)

Guest (6): Horror, she would be truly horrified by the Flux, but it's kind of hard to know. I don't know enough about Flux yet to fully know how she would feel about it.

Guest (7): I could kind of see the Hatter maybe teasing the Doctor about having a secret best friend or wondering aloud how the Master would feel about not being the Doctor's first best baddie, but underneath all of that, she'd be horribly worried and concerned for the Doctor. I could see her trying her uttermost to kind of place herself between the two of them, much to the Doctor's frustration, but she would be very unsettled by Swarm and his possible past with the Doctor.

Guest (8): I'd like to see Russell bring back an actual companion with their own personality and actual life outside of the Doctor. That would be great! I'm not even joking...I wish I was. Aside from that, I'd love to see some new, actually scary baddies come into play or story lines that don't have a political agenda. I just...I just wanted anything but what we've been getting, thanks.

I kind of really don't want to see the Slitheen back. I feel like they were a monster of that time and place, farting aliens hiding in the body suits of overweight humans? I think we've moved passed that.

Guest (9): I'd like to see anything but the Daleks or Cybermen as Thirteen final showdown. We've done that way to much.

Guest (10): I'd really enjoy watching the Doctor being stuck on Earth, even if it was for a few episodes. I feel like that helped to make the Third Doctor's era so interesting and different, made it refreshing. I see what you mean, I probably would like the Timeless Child arc if I hadn't been a fan since Ten, and honestly it makes me happy to think that it's at least made people want to see Classic Who...I just don't feel that way myself, and I really hate that I don't like it. The show, I think, needs a thin balance between classic, old school Who fans, new Who fans (Like me), and now this New, New Who fan's of the Chibnall era, cos I kind of feel like that's what these people are, and that's not a bad thing. Just...we need a thin balance there and we're missing that. If Chibnall had managed to get that balance right, I would have loved his seasons...but he failed, in my eyes, and I found myself simply dishearten and frustrated by them instead.

Guest (11): Oh, bloody hell...the Doctor as God?! No, no, no! Hate that idea so, so much, why can't he just be a damn Time Lord? Why does he have to be special? Why?!

Guest (12): Yep, I've heard of the Other. I've mentioned him before in this series, actually, but not as a past version of the Doctor, as I know they alluded to him being during Classic Who.

Guest (13): No, I didn't know, but I'm not surprised, since Seven's final season was kind of full of attempts to allude to the Doctor being something bigger and better than just a Time Lord. I was so happy they didn't go down that path...until now!

Guest (14): I feel like...the Timeless Child could have worked, it even could have worked with the Doctor, but...I don't know. Let me explain why I hate it, okay? It felt kind of out of nowhere to me, plus, I really don't like how it makes the Doctor "Special" when the point of his character has been, in a lot of ways, that he's just this bloke that flies around the Universe and time and gets mixed up into crazy adventures. I don't want him to be "Special" because of his species or his past, frankly, I don't care about his past, I just want the Doctor to be a mad man with a box, getting into trouble, helping people, and occasionally having moral and ethical dilemmas that remind us that he's not human.

To me, the Doctor's past is just...it should be secret. I don't want to know his real name, I don't want to know loads about his childhood, just give me tiny snippets or throw away lines. The thing that most interests me about the Doctor as a character, his how little we know about him, quite honestly. I makes you think and make up stories about him in your head, how many other characters out there let you do that? Sure, you can argue that this opens up a whole, brand new load of secrecy about his/her past, but I just...there has to be some known facts about a character! Like, I liked knowing he was a Time Lord, but give me a chance to know his real name? Nope, don't want to know. I'm probably making no sense, but I just liked the old ways, okay?

I agree, every change to Doctor Who has people who love it and people who hate it, but for the most part, even if people hate it at first, they eventually come to see it as being something great. Like Matt Smith, I hated him as the Doctor first off...he's no one of my favourite Doctors. I will concede that we're still very in the early days of the whole Timeless Child plot and it may, if it's explained, improve and become something actually great to and for the show, but at this stage I stand by my dislike of this change in the Doctor's character and story. And, from what I've seen from many other older fans and from the ratings themselves, people are not happy, either.