Cogs turning in Theodore's head, he decided that the best way to resolve this adventure's easier than rallying the whole castle into believing that Mary made a deal with the Devil, rather, something that shows how foolish Mary was concocting this plan without forethought.
It's quite easy once he worked out the optics.
Mary wants to be the queen so badly, she turned on her own cousin, and used Cole, but she forgotten the hard truths of becoming queen.
So, rather than play into religion, Theodore's playing into business.
Mary wants to be queen?
She can be queen.
But she doesn't get a choice in who she marries.
Cue the cogs turning where he decided that she'll taste the bitterness of her failures.
Having Cole marrying her would've put him in harms way and Theodore didn't want him converting and reproducing his species on Earth, that's too much headache for one adventure, and Cole adamantly wanted nothing to do with earth politics.
That said, he agreed to help with whatever Theodore concocted to finally resolve this adventure and allow him a chance to find somewhere else more hospitable to his like.
David helped add the finishing touches to the plan, pulling from memory of all his previous adventures, pouring resources into ensuring that Mary can't escape from this even if she tried.
It won't be pretty, but she'll keep her head, so it's fair.
"You're serious," Lila shared a conversation with Catherine while the men argued amongst themselves.
Nodding, Catherine stated that she doesn't want the title anymore, it's not worth it, give it to Mary, see how she likes it.
"What're you gonna do when you're not next in line?" Lila inquired what Catherine planned on doing once Mary's situated as queen and she no longer has claim to the throne.
Not much for her to do in that situation.
Shrugging as she exhaled, Catherine said she had some thoughts on what she wanted to do, but she wanted to see this through before she decided.
Fair enough, not everyday that a runaway princess runs into the TARDIS and becomes ensnared in a conspiracy.
"We've concluded our assessment," Theodore called out to them, turning their heads as he walked over with David and Cole behind him.
Lila asked what the men have planned and Theodore tells her that they're going to trap Mary in the throne room in the family castle, there, they can give her a rude awakening for this mess.
His hands in his pockets, David says their idea involved something of a gambit.
"And if this gambit doesn't pan out, we're going to the gallows," Lila pointed this out to David and he assured her that they talked it out enough that they can write stereo manuals.
Growing curious, Catherine pressed for details on this gambit, and Theodore tells her that they're going to force Mary to rule as queen, until her natural passing, and if she abdicates her rule for any reason, she'll be punished for the conspiracy.
Blackmail, if you will.
Crossing her arms, Lila summed with a raised brow, "You're going to blackmail her into becoming queen and if she gets cold feet, you're threatening to sic the church on her?"
Well, one way of solving things.
Nodding, David affirmed that they concluded that it's the best course of action for them and just in case Mary tries anything, they have backup plans.
Pleased, Catherine demanded they enact this plan, and quickly, which Theodore rallied them, before Catherine led them back to her family's castle.
She'll be in charge luring Mary to the throne room, something that Catherine says won't be a problem.
Lila's part involved closing them inside the throne room so Mary can't escape or call for help, which Lila says that it's her job description.
David and Theodore's going to force Mary into an ultimatum.
She can't talk her way out of it, can't call for help, she'll get to spend time explaining herself to them while they remained unconvinced.
"Well, what're we doing, let's go!" Catherine insisted they start the plan right then, before Mary rebounds back to her castle, and gets suspicious if she hasn't already.
With the plan, the five worked in tandem, Catherine leading them on a hidden path back to her and her family's castle, where she suspected Mary going there after the dinner ordeal to prepare for the ceremony.
Her knowledge proved invaluable as she's able to bring them on the path leading right up to the hidden passageway into the castle.
Mary's castle wasn't the only one with hidden passageways, these ones, she wasn't even aware of because Catherine never told her about them.
"Why's that?" Lila asks why Catherine kept the information on the hidden passageways from her cousin and learnt that Catherine didn't tell her because of the spiders.
They loved nesting in the passageways, worse's in the spring and summer months.
"I can agree with her on that," Theodore winced at the mention of spiders, as he hated bugs more than anyone, even if they're useful for the balance of the ecology.
Shaking her head disapprovingly as she walked beside him, Lila says that any time there's even a butterfly in the library that she or Bill's in charge taking it out because Theodore couldn't stand the sight of it.
Theodore!
Hammond's no better, but coming from an aloof giant with wild hair that he has to keep matted with enough gel to make the roads a slip n' slide, here's something strange, indeed!
"I told you why," Theodore pointed out that he's told Lila the stories of why he and his siblings weren't fond of bugs.
Hearing their parents' stories of encountering a species of essentially sentient space cockroaches that implant eggs via bites and finding nothing but a pair of legs afterwards' enough to nix any interest or intrigue in insects.
"But butterflies, though?" Lila questioned the prejudice against butterflies, that are nothing like the space cockroaches that erupted from their hosts in their adult form like Xenomorphs.
Which, thankfully, do not exist, since Lila started adventuring with Theodore, so it's only coincidence, nothing more.
Even ladybugs aren't safe from Theodore's hate and they're furthest from cockroaches and have benefits for gardens everywhere!
"I hate bugs!" Theodore hissed that no matter what, benefits or not, he'll never accept them. Cute as some may be in Lila's eyes, they'll never be in his, and that's putting it mildly.
They're fortunate they haven't encountered the annoying skittering beetles under numerous names, but Theodore heard "Ruet" more than once.
Let's just say, their bulbous eyes are the earliest warning systems of when they're in a provocative mood.
White's when they're dead, red's when you'll be dead, and they're known to infest ships like bedbugs.
Worse than bedbugs, if Theodore's more precise.
Al keeps them at bay every step of the way because once they get in, getting them out's taking centuries.
It's better if they avoid areas infested with the aggravating bastards, because they'll ravage his and Lila's bodies into nothing more than pearly white bones, if that.
Sun's setting when they arrived back at the castle, with Catherine's guidance, they snuck inside, and with careful timing, avoided the guards that kept watch, while Catherine led them through the decorated castle.
Upon arrival, David and Theodore took point, checking for Mary, finding that she hadn't arrived, yet, and there's no guards. Lila took her spot with Cole and Catherine sat on the cold throne that her father once sat.
Fury in her eyes, Catherine patiently waited while the others hid, the darkness loomed outside the glass windows.
The candle wax slowly melting indicated the time and the four thought this plan didn't work, that Mary wouldn't come to the castle, but Catherine wasn't deterred, she said she knew Mary, and she knew her enough that if there's one thing she can say about her cousin, she's always predictable.
Her assumption's correct, about half an hour after, the large wooden doors opened inward, someone came through them, closing from behind, and when they turned around, they leapt in the air in shock.
"How dare you!" Catherine's voice boomed as it echoed throughout the throne room. "My own blood, no less!"
Her forest green eyes glistened in the candle light, Mary's shocked as she sees Catherine seething in front of her, wearing unfamiliar clothing.
Mary's reddish lips pulled back as she tried greeting the irate princess, but it wouldn't work, Catherine called her out on everything she did to her, including the death of her father.
"You don't understand, the baron insisted I—"Mary stammered, before Catherine showed her the necklace she gifted Mary, not around her neck as it should've been.
Her voice raising, Catherine's dismayed that Mary would do such a thing, that her actions led to the death of Catherine's father.
It's difficult explaining how the series of events went, but Catherine let Mary have it, refusing to let Mary talk her way out of it, by the time she finally stopped shouting, Catherine's face looked redder than Theodore after finding a loose "Bedroom Games" card stuck somewhere aboard the TARDIS.
Mary's left in a devastated state that she couldn't recover in time before Theodore and the others came out of hiding, leaving her to try on them, but failed miserably.
"Now, the winter of your discontent," Theodore held his hands together as he and David began reading the riot act to Mary, informing her that she'll get to be the queen she so coveted, but with a catch.
Under no circumstances can she leave her position except her natural passing, if she tries to abdicate, she'll face punishment for the conspiracy, the men will ensure this.
Mary's confused, but when elaborated further, she's shocked that they're making her a prisoner in her own castle, which Theodore says is better than having her head lopped off, or rotting in a jail cell for the next twenty years.
"Take it or leave it," David summed that Mary didn't have much of a choice.
Take the deal or rot.
Gripping her blue dress tightly as she's restraining her anger, Mary chewed on her inner lip until it bled, before agreeing to the terms that she'll become the queen of Scotland, but before she had any thoughts, the men reminded her that trying to kill them will also cause her to suffer punishment.
Her plot destroyed, her crimes exposed, she's forced into ruling Scotland, until she dies of natural causes, and can't do anything short of ruling it fairly, else her crime's exposed, and she'll see execution for her trouble.
"And I hope he makes the doilies important!" Catherine sneered at her cousin that she hopes Mary's future suitor, whom she can't pick, won't let her so much as sneeze in his presence, and find even mundane things more important than her.
The adventure concluded with the ceremony, solidifying Mary's reign as the queen of Scotland, her face devoid any joy, as she's entering in the dark periods of her life, carefully monitored for any infraction.
Sneaking away from the excitement, the group found their way back to the two TARDIS waiting for David and Theodore's return, respectfully.
Remembering the conversation earlier, Lila turned her head towards Catherine.
"You sure this is what you want?" Lila asked Catherine if her answered changed, seeing the look on her face as she affirmed that she didn't want to be queen, it wasn't worth the mess that it caused.
Blinking, Lila inquired what Catherine would do since she's abdicated from her line of succession with Mary taking her place.
There's a pause before Catherine says that she doesn't know for sure, but she surely doesn't want to spend her remaining years as the queen, like Mary's going to endure.
"I've noticed there's something missing from my life that I hadn't realized until, now," Catherine asserted that she wanted to do more than yearn to become queen.
Fleeing from her cousin's guards, the intrigue, there's something about the whole thing that's giving Catherine pause on what she should do with her renewed interest in life.
She noted that Lila and Theodore treated each other with respect and a strange friendship between them, something almost unheard of here, and that's something she wanted.
"Everything you told me, I quite like the idea," Catherine declared that she wanted to become a companion herself, as she decided it's just what the… doctor ordered.
Her chestnut eyes glistening under the spotty branches, Lila remarked that Catherine shouldn't boldly proclaim something like that, warning that being a companion isn't always peachy.
An example Lila had on hand's the one and only thing that is hell on ears and it's the Daleks, which Catherine's going to deal with constantly, oh and she's going to do a lot of running.
A lot.
"I've had to stock up on runners and memory gel paddings," Lila warns that Catherine's going to experience pains of running constantly.
This thing with her cousin paled in comparison to what Lila and Theodore had to deal with every day of their lives when they weren't working at their jobs.
By the end of the year, Catherine's feet would kill her if she hadn't already made investments in proper shoes and memory gel paddings.
"Well, you never said it was easy, did you?" Catherine pointed out that Lila never said her adventuring with Theodore's easy, but it didn't deter Catherine.
Compared to her life as a prim princess, it's a dream to do the things they do, the fact that she's wearing something that isn't another dress's something unheard!
Hearing Catherine pine for their lives instead of living as another princess, waiting to be married off, and have no say in much of the goings, this adventure changed her tune completely.
To hell being a queen, that's Mary's unfortunate job, now, until she croaks on candy!
Catherine wants to be a companion, she can go anywhere, not having to wait around while expected to birth children until the cows come home.
Lila admired her wanting to branch out in life, but warned that by taking up the job, she's likely not coming back to her original time for a while. Everything she'll experience thereafter will inevitably change her permanently, to the point that she'll feel out of place in her own home, in her own time, and even risks her remaining family ostracizing her because of it.
It's enough to give Catherine pause, once again, but she shook her head, declaring that it's an acceptable risk.
No explorers leave without accepting the chances of things going wrong, as she pointed out.
"If I can go anywhere, it won't matter, right?" Catherine pointed out that she won't necessarily have to come back here, she'll be traveling in the far reaches of the world, if she can't come home, doesn't mean she can't find a new one.
Besides that, she doesn't have much of a reason to stay, anyway, so it isn't like she'll miss much, at all.
In her reasonings, her mother died after she was born, her father, well, they know the rest, she's likely to kill Mary herself if she stays, and not much else to do since she's abdicating her duties.
No point staying if she's not doing anything else, really.
It's a good thought, Lila gave her that.
Acknowledging that Catherine grew as a person overall on this adventure, Lila mentioned that poor Theodore's going to have a lot on his plate once Catherine settled in, but she revealed that she had a different idea.
"Wait, you wanna go with him?" Lila raised a brow as Catherine said she wanted to adventure with David, over coming with Theodore and Lila, and Catherine affirmed this with a nod, before she explained her reasoning.
As she gestured, Catherine underhandedly said that it'd be best she go with David, because she didn't want to get in between the two of them.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lila raised her brow at Catherine as she mischievously smirked at her, claiming that "they couldn't fool a nun."
Crossing her arms agitatedly, Lila raised her voice slightly as she rejected Catherine's claim, stating, "I can't divulge further, but it'd be a very bad idea if that were true, let it be known, there's someone as short as us who'll box my ears the moment, he hears that. I like my ears, princess."
Hammond's already agitated as it is about Theodore's side job as the Doctor, the last thing Lila needed to cause the man's blood pressure to spike north of critical if she and Theodore were as Catherine implicated.
Very bad idea.
Not to mention… well… let's say Lila hadn't been forthcoming with Theodore, she hates herself as it is for keeping it from him, and it's a constant struggle not to breakdown and come clean, but Hamon's just as equally scary when set-off, so she's keeping her mouth shut, her mind a maze.
Let's just say, it's a complicated mess, she doesn't want to involve Theodore in, because he's a good man who already has a lot on his plate, and Lila did not want to incite family drama.
It's just not a good idea.
Catherine wasn't convinced, but Lila couldn't elaborate further and it's evident that Catherine wasn't fooled about David and Theodore being the same person with a new face.
"Trust me, I'm lucky I get out of bed every morning," Lila summed the internal struggles she deals with when Theodore isn't looking nor she want him to know, because she knows what'll happen afterwards.
She received a hard jab by Catherine's finger, as the former princess reminded her what happened.
If Catherine can overcome a plot to overthrow her spot as queen and come out clean enough that she can do what she wants, Lila can overcome whatever's bothering her.
"You should write inspirational books!" Lila muttered under her breath while David and Theodore strolled towards them, Theodore asking Lila if she's ready to leave with him.
David's taking Cole somewhere he'll have a better chance, without risk of being used, and Cole wanted to apologize to Catherine for everything that happened, especially her father, which Catherine forgave him, by saying it wasn't his fault, that it was Mary's.
"Well, I'll be seeing you next time I'm dealing with Daleks," David glimpsed towards Theodore as he crossed his long arms.
Sighing, Theodore replied that he'll be ready for when David calls for his help, as it's only fair that he helps him.
"Hang on just a moment, you're not leaving me here!" Catherine spoke up, getting the men's attention.
Their brows raised, David and Theodore tell her that one of them can take her somewhere she's safe, but she insisted that she go with David on his adventures.
Shocked, David blabbered as he expressed concern that she wouldn't like where he goes, but she demanded he take her with him on his adventures, anyway, insisting that she's just as capable as him.
"It's not like we're going to a mall," David shakes his head disapprovingly at Catherine's insistence that she go with him, but she asserted that he needs a companion, too!
Chortling, Theodore mused that Jenny would've wanted someone to keep David from getting into trouble since her father certainly would never allow her to adventure with David, immediately David fumbled as he asserted that he can handle himself, alone.
It's what he's been doing since he started his adventuring!
Instead of the usual begging, Catherine forcibly asserted that she wants the adventures, the dangers, the whatever, if he can do it, why can't she?
"She makes a fair point, Doctor," Cole mused that Catherine isn't wrong, but David remained adamant, until Theodore mentioned that whatever tasks that needed doing, he could always fob to Catherine.
Mulling it over, David adamantly tells Catherine that he's difficult, but the fiery princess spun him around and started pushing him towards his TARDIS with Cole trailing behind with a look on his face, to the bemusement of Theodore and Lila.
David's TARDIS disappeared, leaving Theodore and Lila.
Blinking, Lila turned her head towards Theodore as she asks, "What were the odds of that happening?"
Scratching the side of his head, Theodore responded with a dull, "With the external circumstances, exceptionally high, but with historical context, slightly less."
Well, no new companion for them, but at least David got his first one, so, hopefully Jenny's ecstatic once she hears the news, knowing that someone like Catherine's keeping David in line.
Catherine's adventures as his companion started, now, what she'll do on them, they'll hear about it on the telephone, or when David pops up at the library after visiting Jenny and her father.
Yawning, Theodore says this adventure did a number, more, he's hungry.
Oh yeah, everything they did, they never got a chance to get something to eat, well, wasn't like they could've eaten anything in this period without to the unfortunate side-effects that came after.
Clasping his hands together, Theodore cheerfully says that with their adventure resolved, they can have dinner in peace, now.
Snorting, Lila says that they're better off taking a trip to the edge of the universe and go to a diner, but Theodore tells her that the food's middling compared to hers.
He offered to help her cook up more of the army base stew and exhaling sharply, Lila accepted his offer, as they disappeared into their respected TARDIS.
THE END