Although the Doctor was eager to show off her guitar skills, I found it incredibly difficult to pay her very much attention. She was an excellent player, but my mind was focused on other matters. Any time my eyes closed for more than a moment, I could see the Fisher King advancing on me and prepared to strike me dead.

I sought out the familiar smoothness of my necklace, fiddling with the string before letting it drop on my chest again. Not even my necklace would help qualm my worries. I knew something was wrong. Everything had felt wrong since the moment I first woke in the Drum, but I had pushed all aside as a dream or because we were being attacked. But with a few minutes mostly to myself where I could reflect on everything that happened? Well, that gave my brain free range to point out every horrible thing that could have happened to me.

"Hey, you okay?"

Clara's voice drew me from my thoughts and I stared at her, blinking rapidly as I tried to regain my composure. "What? Yeah, I'm fine," I said quickly.

She briefly squeezed my hand and smiled. "You sure? You've been really quiet ever since we left."

"You look upset," the Doctor noted. "Are you upset?"

I noticed then that she wasn't playing anymore and the guitar simply hung off her shoulder, a little light feedback sounding from the amp. I shook my head, brows furrowed. "No? Why would I be?"

"I think you mean distraught, Doctor," Clara suggested. "What's wrong?"

"I thought I was going to die," I muttered.

Both women looked away guiltily. "I never would have let that happen," the Doctor said seriously. "Neither of us would. It's important you know that."

"No." I clasped my necklace tightly, the semi-sharp points digging into my skin enough to be mildly uncomfortable. "I thought I was going to die," I said again.

"I'm sorry," the Time Lady said. "I never meant for any of this to happen, certainly not for your first time."

I shook my head in frustration. "You don't understand! I thought I was going to die. I've had dreams as scary as this before, dreams where I'm being attacked by zombies or I'm falling to my death or I'm in a car crash. And every time, right before I die, I manage to wake myself up. I've always been able to wake myself from a scary dream when I know I'm about to die, but that didn't happen. This whole dream, I haven't been able to wake myself and that's never happened to me before!"

"Diana," the Doctor sighed, "I think maybe it's time I explained." She extended her hand to me with an inviting, yet strained smile. "Come here."

I eyed her hand warily. "Why?"

"I'm not going to bite, not even if you asked me to. Just come here," she teased. I took her hand and found myself being led up to the main level of the console room. The Doctor guided me over to the console, stopping me directly in front of a panel of what looked like squishy gelatin with holes carved into it. "This is the TARDIS's telepathic interface. Anything you think will either show up on the screens or the ship will take you to wherever or whoever you're picturing in your mind."

"Okay…"

The Doctor took both of my hands and placed them on top of the interface; it was cool to the touch, but dry and relatively smooth. She placed her hands over mine and slid our fingers into holes, withdrawing herself once all my fingers were in place. I looked up at her, silently questioning what this was all about.

"Close your eyes," the Time Lady instructed. "Think of your grandmother. Picture her in your mind. Think of the last time you saw her, what she looked like, where she was, what time it was."

"Why?" I asked again.

"Just think of her."

I let out a resigned sigh and shut my eyes, recalling the previous afternoon when I visited her before my work shift started. I pictured sitting down on her mostly red sofa, eating a snack, and talking about the book I had just bought. I could see her perfectly in my mind: her hair loosely curled, glasses perched on the bridge of her nose, worn slippers on her feet, and wearing one of her casual outfits. The TARDIS's groaning broke through my mental image and I opened my eyes to see the time rotor bobbing up and down in front of me, lights flashing as the ship materialized.

The Doctor pulled the scanner over so it was between the two of us. "Beaumont, California," she said with a gesture to the screen.

I pulled my hands out from the interface and gaped at the screen. "That's my city," I gasped. "My mom, my grandma, we all live here. How-?"

"Ye of little faith." The Doctor smiled, but there was something sad in her eyes that I couldn't understand. "Would you like to see the information the TARDIS has on your grandmother?"

"Um, sure?"

With just the press of a few buttons, the image of my hometown disappeared and a page of writing appeared instead. In the top left corner was a picture of my grandmother, looking almost exactly as she had the last time I saw her. Her name was printed in all capital letters next to the photograph with a list of her personal details below. Her birthday, age, and name were all normal, but I noticed something odd under the 'spouse' category.

"It says she's married. That's not right. She divorced her husband years ago." I narrowed my eyes slightly. "Wait. It says her husband's name is Johnathan Masserby. This isn't right at all. Her husband's name was William O'Connor."

"What else?" the Doctor asked.

I stared up at her for a few moments, searching her face for something - I didn't know what. "No, this is all wrong. This says she only had one child, but she had three. Doctor, what's going on?"

"What do you think?"

"I don't know," I said lowly, "but whatever this is, it's not funny."

"I want you to think of your mother now."

"Why? So you can pull another joke on me?"

The Doctor inhaled sharply, her eyes screwed shut and her mouth set in a firm line. "Diana, I need you to trust me right now. Just think of your mother, alright? Please."

I hesitantly stuck my fingers back into the interface, closing my eyes again and picturing my mother instead. Her image was much clearer than that of my grandmother. I could see her on the sofa with the dog, her feet propped up after a long work day while a football game played on the TV. She was asleep, snoring, with one hand draped over her stomach and the dog curled up in the bend of her knees.

The TARDIS whirred, then groaned, and then stopped. I opened my eyes and looked at the scanner. The words 'UNABLE TO LOCATE' were scrawled across the screen in black, blocked letters.

"Why can't it find her?" I asked. When nobody answered, I grabbed onto the Doctor's sleeve and turned her towards me. "Doctor! What is going on? Why can't it find my mom?"

The Time Lady said nothing, did nothing. She barely even breathed. Shouldering her aside, I went to the console keyboard and typed my mother's name out: Sofia Scott. Again, the scanner showed no results, the same three words as before blinking before my eyes. I tried her name again. And again. Growling in frustration, I typed out my grandmother's name and began scrolling through the information that popped up.

Everything was wrong. The TARDIS's information said that my grandmother had gotten married to a sailor at the age of twenty one and they had their first child nearly a year later. That child was named Michael Masserby. There was no Sofia, no Samuel, just Michael. I had only ever met my Uncle Michael once.

I typed in my grandfather's name. William O'Connor existed, but he had never met my grandmother. He had married some girl four years younger than him who hadn't graduated high school because she got pregnant. They had four children together and after the fourth child left home, he died in a drunk driving accident.

My hands were trembling and my head was pounding. I quickly typed in my father's name and felt relief flood through my body when the scanner said that he existed. He was almost exactly the same as he was back home, married to the same woman, living in the same city, and working at a nearly identical job.

I looked back at the Doctor. "What's going on?"

She smiled sadly again. "I think you know, Diana."

"Why can't I find my mom?"

"She doesn't exist in this universe."

I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. "Don't say that. Don't say that."

"Things are different here, Diana. Your mother was never born, so she never met your father, so you were never born."

"Doctor, stop," Clara said, resting a hand on the Time Lady's arm. "You're scaring her."

"Clara, how else am I supposed to tell her?"

I looked back at the scanner where my father smiled at me. The longer I looked at his picture, the less he looked like himself. I could see parts of his face that didn't seem right or they weren't how I remembered.

"Diana, I know this is… impossible and scary, but you need to understand what's going on."

"No," I snapped. "Stop."

"Diana-"

"Stop. Shut up. Just stop talking." I typed out the name of one of my best friends, waiting anxiously while the TARDIS loaded her results. "No. No, god, please, not her." The words 'UNABLE TO LOCATE' flashed at me again and I felt tears prick at my eyes. I rapidly typed out the name of my other friend, her twin, and felt something inside me shatter when the same result appeared. "No."

Clara reached out to touch my arm, but I wrenched away from her with a sob. "No, this- this is just a dream. A vivid dream," I said to myself.

"Diana, it's not," Clara said.

"I've had a dream like this before. A long time ago. I dreamed that my best friends died. It was so vivid that I thought it was real. That's all this is." I cupped my necklace in my hand, holding it close to my heart as I stared absently at the scanner. "It's just a dream."

The Doctor put an arm around Clara's shoulders as she gazed sadly at me. They both looked so impossibly sad. "This isn't a joke. We would never play a prank like this on you. Diana, this is real. I know you've been through enough already and perhaps I didn't go about it the right way, but you need to know what's happened to you."

"Nothing's happened to me! Stop saying things like that," I begged. "Look, maybe I'm sick or-or I'm in a coma or something. I don't know! But there has to be a logical reason, a-a real reason why I can't wake up, why this is all so vivid."

"Diana-"

"No. I know what you're going to say. Don't think I haven't been considering it in the back of my mind this entire time. But it's not possible. It's not possible and it's cliché and I know this is a dream. It's too much like a dream to be anything else, okay? Don't you dare say it's anything other than a dream."

I brushed past the two and started for the doors, my heart pounding with determination. The Doctor called after me, begging me to stop and come back, but I ignored everything she said. I had recognized the block the TARDIS had landed on. I could find my way home, to my house or to my grandma's house, and then everything would be fine. I would be with my family and we'd go back to bickering every afternoon like parents and children do.

As I stepped outside, I felt a wave of warm air blow against my face. Typical Southern California weather, not below freezing and ridiculously cold Scotland weather. The ship had materialized several miles away from my house on the main street in town, right by the library. But as I looked around, I felt a wave of nausea come over me as I began to realize that everything was somehow off.

The buildings were identical, but something about them wasn't the same. The streets were worn and patched up with faded paint, the same streets I had driven on countless times, but they looked wrong. Everything looked the same, yet a dozen differences screamed out at me, telling me that I wasn't in the right place at all.

And no matter what logic dictated or what reasonable excuses my brain created, I still knew why nothing seemed right anymore.

"Diana," the Doctor said behind me, "come back inside."

I stood frozen on the sidewalk, tears welling in my eyes and catching in my eyelashes. A sob caught in my throat and I coughed. The Doctor said my name again and then I felt her hands rest on my shoulders, but I didn't pull away.

"Come on," she said softly.

I vaguely remember being led back inside and sitting down. Both Clara and the Doctor tried talking to me, but I couldn't even hear them. My entire world felt like it was crumbling and falling apart. In a way, it already had.

"I want to go home," I croaked.

Clara rested a hand on my knee, drawing me partially from my thoughts, and I realized that she was kneeling in front of me. "What do you need?"

Tears spilled down my cheeks. "My mom," I sobbed.

She immediately drew me into her arms, resting her cheek against my head as I cried into her shoulder. I slipped off of the chair and fell into heap in front of the schoolteacher, curling in on myself. Clara gently ran a hand through my hair as she whispered comforting nonsense in my ear.

Through my sobs, I heard the TARDIS wheeze and groan. I hiccuped, opening my eyes for a moment to see the time rotor moving and the lights flashing. Clara rubbed my back as she moved to sit next to me, stretching her legs out in front of her. I stared at her plaid skirt, following every crease in the fabric as it draped over her thighs and splayed out onto the grated floor. It suddenly seemed like the most interesting thing in entire world.

I saw her hand creep into view, but I ignored it. She twirled a strand of my hair around her index finger and then tucked it behind my ear. "Di? What are you thinking?" she asked.

A switch in my mind suddenly flipped and I burst into tears again, falling back against the chair as sobs racked through my body. Clara pulled me towards her and pressed her lips to my temple, running her hands over my hair and neck in an attempt to soothe me. A part of me wanted to run far away from both of them so I could cry in solitude, but the other part wanted desperately for someone to take care of me and tell me everything would be okay.

Perhaps Clara could read minds because she enveloped me in a warm, tight hug and whispered in my ear that everything would be okay. I buried my face in her shoulder as the ship wheezed again and a gentle thud sounded shortly after. I felt Clara move her head to look past me, at the Doctor most likely.

"Where are we?"

"Rosakur. About a million billion lightyears away from Earth, more or less." The Doctor's voice cracked on the last few words. I looked up and, through the tears blurring my vision, I saw her leaning against the console and pointedly looking away from me. She coughed. "I thought perhaps a change of scenery might help."

Clara played with the ends of my hair. "Do you want to go outside?" she wondered.

I sniffled and rubbed my cheek against her shoulder, suddenly feeling very self conscious. I sat up quickly and wiped the tears off my cheeks with the back of my hand. I couldn't look at either of them; I felt too ashamed. But I knew I didn't want to be stuck in the TARDIS.

"Yeah," I said as I got to my feet. I made a beeline for the doors and hurried outside without a second thought. A blast of cool air blew in my face as I stepped onto soft, grassy ground and I realized then that I hadn't put any shoes on after I woke up. I looked up at the sky and felt my breath catch in my throat. "Woah."

The sky was a pale shade of pink dusted with little white clouds and two yellow, bright suns. A bird of some kind flew overhead, its wingspan easily equal to my height, and swooped into a grove of trees several yards away at the base of a hill. The hill that the TARDIS had landed on, more specifically. And just beyond the grove was an endless stretch of dark blue water.

"Rosakur is known for two things," said the Doctor as she stood in the open doorway. "Its rose pink sky and its great, singular ocean that never ventures deeper than about ten feet. I thought you might appreciate coming here."

I managed to spare the Time Lady a glance, but couldn't say anything. She looked at me for a moment and then gestured to the planet with a nod of her head. "You can stay out here as long as you want. We won't follow you. Come back when you're ready." Then she went back inside and closed one of the doors behind her.

I started down the hill, letting the grass crumple under my feet and brush against my ankles. The breeze was light and cool, not enough to make me shiver but enough to equal out the heat from the two suns partway to the center of the sky. A bird called from somewhere in the grove and its song was sweeter than any I had heard on Earth. The tree leaves rustled in the breeze and as the sunlight shimmered on them, I noticed that they weren't green but a dark teal.

The grove was small and smelled of cinnamon. Dead leaves were scattered across the ground amongst twigs and fallen trees. I could see through the trees to where the water met the land in a black sandy beach, not unlike one I had visited several years ago in New Zealand. When I stepped into the grove, the leaves crunched under my feet and the twigs snapped but nothing scraped or pierced my skin like I had anticipated. I made my way through the grove, gazing at the treetops and listening to the leaves whisper as the birds chirped.

There was no trail that led to the beach, just a slow progression from grass to dirt to sand. The sand only reached a few feet out from the edge of the grove and it was still slightly damp. A gentle wave rolled onto the beach and tickled my toes, the water sparkling with grains of sand as it retreated. I sighed as the water washed farther up my feet, closing my eyes and focusing solely on the sound of the waves and the birds and feel of the wind in my hair.

It was at least an hour later when I returned to the TARDIS, if the moving of the twin suns were anything like Earth's sun. My skirt was still slightly wet after I had trailed into the water up to my thighs and then laid down on the sand to dry. And I was still reeling from the realization of exactly where I was, but the sea air and grove of cinnamon trees had cleared my mind.

When I stepped inside the ship, the doors closed behind me and the TARDIS hummed softly. Neither Clara nor the Doctor were in sight, so I assumed I had the room to myself. I walked over to the console and smiled despite myself when the lights blinked and the ship whirred at me. I moved to the second level of the room, curious to see what books the Doctor had on display. But even with countless books to distract me, my mind kept returning to the telepathic interface on the console. There was one person I hadn't looked up before.

I hurried down the steps, my feet patting softly on the grating. My hands hovered over the interface as I considered what I might find if the TARDIS took me where I wanted to go. Instead, I moved to the keyboard and typed out a name: Cassandra Tangotango Mészöly.

The scanner was blank for a few seconds until a picture appeared next to the name I had written. Fresh tears welled in my eyes and I let out a sob of relief as I saw the face of my friend and ex-partner, a face I hadn't seen in over a year. They were born in the same city and on the same day, to the same parents, and in the same home that I remembered. But instead of having a younger sister, they had a fraternal twin brother: Hemi Roland Mészöly. Both siblings had the same upbringing that my Cassandra had, going to the same schools and being in the same kapa haka group. Cassandra was genderfluid, just like I remembered, and Hemi was pan like my Cassandra's little sister.

I rushed to the telepathic interface and slid my fingers in, picturing this Cassandra in my mind. The ship wheezed and dematerialized a few seconds later. I looked at the scanner, staring only at the picture of the person I had fallen in love with years ago. The TARDIS landed with a jolt and a final wheeze. I ripped my hands away and bolted for the doors, ripping them open and stumbling outside.

I was in Te Aroha, New Zealand, a place I had only visited once. The TARDIS had parked on a city block right next to a chip shop. Through the window, I could see Cassandra and their brother with a third person standing next to them. I pushed open the door, a smile on my face as I started towards them, but I stopped when I saw Cassandra holding hands with the stranger. It was a girl with waist length dark hair and light brown skin, of a similar build to myself and about my height.

"What's taking so long?" Cassandra snapped at one of the workers. "I'm kind of busy."

I stared incredulously at them. They were never rude to anybody, let alone food service workers. Cassandra was always polite to workers.

One of the workers hurried over to the counter with a nervous smile. "I'm so sorry. Here's your order. Is there anything else I can get for you?"

"No, not if it's going to take another ten fucking minutes."

The worker tried to continue smiling. "Alright. Well have a nice day," she said.

Hemi grabbed the chips and started for the door, shouldering rudely past me when I was too stunned to move out of the way. Cassandra met my eyes and didn't even blink when they saw me. They looked me up and down once, flashed me a patronizing smile, and left with the other girl holding tightly to their hand.

The worker at the counter smiled tiredly at me. "Can I help you, miss?"

I stammered wordlessly for a few seconds. "A-Are they always like that?" I asked, not caring that my American accent and lack of shoes made me stick out like a sore thumb.

The worker nodded. "I'm afraid so. Is there anything I can get you?"

"I-I…" I shook my head. "No, I'm sorry. I don't have any money."

I stepped out of the shop in a daze, replaying the scene over and over in my mind. I pushed the TARDIS door open and stepped inside, immediately met with Clara and the Doctor waiting for my by the console. The Doctor frowned when she spotted me.

"What's wrong?" Clara asked as I sat down.

"They didn't even recognize me," I said, holding onto my necklace.

"Who, them?" the Doctor wondered, pointing to the scanner.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Who are they?"

I took a shaky breath as tears welled up in my eyes again, spreading to my eyelashes and sticking to my glasses. I tugged lightly on my necklace and choked back a sob. "They gave me this necklace. In Māori culture, pounamu- greenstone, it's sacred. You give it to loved ones and friends as a gift and it's supposed to mean something. I haven't taken this necklace off since they gave it to me and… they didn't even know who I was. They looked right through me." I looked up and my gaze flickered between Clara and the Time Lady. "That wasn't my Cassandra. They were horrible."

Clara rested a hand on my shoulder and I resisted the urge to shake it off. "I'm sorry," she said.

"Can we go back to-to that planet?" I asked. "I don't want to be here right now."

Clara smiled. "Of course."

The Doctor typed something out on the keyboard and pulled on a lever. The ship dematerialized and I heaved a sigh of relief. I looked down at my necklace, tracing my thumb over the familiar shape and wishing more than I had ever wished for anything that I was back home where everything was right and normal.

"We're back," the Doctor said after the TARDIS landed.

"Thanks," I muttered halfheartedly.

I was through the doors in a flash, racing down the hill and into the grove in a matter of seconds. Birds cawed and flew away as I trampled through the trees. I ran to the water, splashing up to my hips and then halting. I looked up at the sky where the twin suns shone down on me. Was it the same day, the same hour? I grabbed hold of my necklace and sunk below the water, squeezing my eyes shut and blocking out the rest of the world, the rest of the universe. I screamed.

I rolled onto my side and blinked wearily for a few seconds, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dim light shining through my window. I sat up, looked around, and fell onto my back again, staring emptily at the ceiling. A gentle whirring noise sounded from the ceiling.

"Go away," I mumbled.

I leaned over and grabbed my glasses off the bedside table, then sat up and leaned back against the headboard. My room was mostly bare, only decorated with a bed, a desk beneath the window, a few bookcases, and a closet. There was a lamp on the desk with a black shade with no opening on the top, just pinpricked all over in the shape of constellations. My bedsheets were a pale turquoise and the bookcases were white, balancing nicely with the cream colored walls.

"At least this room isn't a total fucking disaster," I sighed. "Not like…" Not like my old room.

Sliding out of bed, I shuffled over to the closet and pulled out some clean clothes. I took my glasses off and tossed them onto my bed, then headed into the hallway. The bathroom was just opposite my room, the door just a plain white door with white trim. I looked back at the bedroom door and sighed. White with a silver handle and my name written in silver, cursive letters.

I took very long, steaming hot shower. Some of the pale blue coloring in my hair washed out with shampoo. I considered driving to the local beauty parlor for some more hair dye and bleach until I remembered where I was. Then I grabbed the soap and started cleaning my face. Maybe the TARDIS has some hair dye, I thought. I've been meaning to change the color. Purple would be nice.

After I dried off and got dressed, I blow dried my hair and padded back into the hallway barefoot. I considered just going into my room and not coming out again, but there were only so many books and no food. I grabbed my glasses and map, and started for the console room.

The Doctor doesn't have very nice handwriting, I noted. She had given me the map after showing me to my room. According to her, the TARDIS often moved rooms around when people got lost but hardly ever any other time. The map showed the way from the console room to the wardrobe, kitchen, library, mine, Clara's, and the Doctor's rooms, and to the swimming pool. "I thought I should put down the most important places," she had told me.

My stomach rumbled and I quickly located the kitchen. Wonder what time it is. How does that even work? My internal time schedule is different from Clara's and the Doctor's. Do I just guess? Should I get a watch? Would that even work? Don't certain things not work inside the TARDIS, like guns?

The kitchen was very pretty. The walls were painted a pale sunflower yellow and accented with white cupboards and appliances. There weren't any windows, but there was a painting above the sink of a grassy field and a mildly cloudy sky. I folded the map up and stuck it in the back pocket of my jeans, then started searching the refrigerator for something appetizing. A few minutes later, I was leaning against the kitchen counter munching on cereal while I waited for my bagel to finish toasting.

I had barely taken my first bite of buttered bagel when the Doctor appeared in the doorway. "Diana!" she exclaimed.

I half choked on my food. "Hi," I said after swallowing.

"Sorry, I know you probably wanted some time to yourself. I was getting very fidgety just sitting in my room and I wanted to check on you, make sure you were alright." She glanced at the empty bowl behind me and then at the bagel in my hand. "I see you found food."

"Uh, yeah. That's okay, right?"

"Of course! This is your kitchen too, you know," she said. I noticed then that she had one hand hidden behind her back. "I, er, I actually wanted to-to give you something, if that's alright. The TARDIS and I worked on this while you were asleep."

I set the bagel down on the counter and wiped my hands on my pants. "You made something? For me?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yes. I thought- well, we thought that these might help you." She stepped forward and set a few things down on the kitchen table. There was a set of glasses identical to mine, a very fancy looking cell phone, and a book that looked remarkably like River Song's diary. "The TARDIS made this herself," she said as she picked up the phone. "It's made from a special type of glass found on the planet Zirkam. It's unbreakable by just about anything, except for lasers. It's got my number, Clara's number, and a few other people you've yet to meet. This way if you ever get lost and you need help, you won't be alone."

"Thank you. That's really nice of you. You didn't have to do that," I said.

"Of course I did." The Doctor extended the phone to me. "It's just like Clara's phone, apparently. I think she called it an iPhone?"

I turned the phone over in my hand and then quickly slipped it into my pocket when the Doctor picked up the book. She looked at it for a few seconds and then handed it to me. "The TARDIS made this for you, as well. It's a journal. Since you and I end up going on a number of adventures, I suppose this is something you'll need," she sighed.

"And this," she said, picking up the glasses, "this is what I made for you. Sonic shades. Except, well they're not always shades. They're sonic glasses that can turn into shades if you need them to."

"What, like your glasses?"

The Doctor grinned. "Exactly like them! All the functions of your basic sonic screwdriver tucked inside a pair of normal looking glasses. Oh, and they can access the wifi so you can go on the internet without your phone if you need to."

I titled my head to the side, repressing the urge to laugh. "Is that why you seem to know everything? Do you just look things up as you go?"

The Doctor scoffed, brushing my comment aside with a wave of her hand. "I would- I would never stoop so low," she said casually. "I'm just naturally intelligent."

The TARDIS made a noise that sounded more like laughter than just whirring.

"On, and your phone and glasses are linked. Sort of like bluetooth, I suppose. Only, not." She shook her head. "Your phone is also linked to your internal clock. The TARDIS started scanning you the minute you appeared" - she winced at the word, but continued anyways - "and so your phone will be able to tell you what time it is as if you were still on Earth and had never time travelled at all."

I raised my eyebrows as the Doctor handed the glasses to me. "Wow. You thought of everything, didn't you?" I said as I switched the glasses.

"Actually you were the one who suggested it."

I paused mid motion, the glasses halfway tucked behind my ears. "No, I don't think I've ever suggested anything like this."

The Time Lady shrugged and glanced away, lightly scratching her cheek. "Well, you gave me the idea, so to speak. But that's not important." She smiled excitedly. "Do you like them?"

"The glasses?"

"Everything."

I pushed the glasses up my nose and they beeped softly. The lenses turned black and I jumped in surprise. "Woah! They're sunglasses!"

"Touching the bridge makes them switch to shades or just regular lenses." She skirted around the table and moved to stand in front of me. "If you touch them here," she said, pressing a finger to part where the frames met the metal that hooked over my ears, "and think about what you want to do, they go sonic. So they're also a bit telepathic."

"So they work like your screwdriver?"

"Mm hm." She stepped back then, her hands gesturing as she talked. "For example, you need to fix a bulb that went out. You just look at the bulb, hold the glasses the right way, and look at the bulb, it'll get fixed just like that!" she said, adding a snap at the end for effect.

I pressed the bridge of the glasses and switched them black to regular lenses. "These are- They're amazing. Thank you."

The Doctor shoved her hands into her pockets and shrugged. "It's nothing. I wanted to help you, Diana. I know this universe isn't your home and I know you probably don't want to talk about it right now, but these things will help you. They'll make things easier for you."

"You didn't have to go through so much trouble," I said as I ran my hands along the journal. Its cover was textured into little boxes with ridges around them, like the TARDIS doors were. "But still. Thank you."

"Of course."

I turned around to grab my bagel and bowl, trying to ignore the awkward silence floating between us. I set the bowl in the sink and ran some water to rinse it out, casually munching on the bagel while I waited. My throat went dry suddenly and my last bite of food stuck in my throat as a sharp pain ran from my chest down my limbs. The bagel fell into the sink and I lurched forward as my muscles seized up.

"Doctor!" I felt her hand rest between my shoulder blades as I somehow managed to swallow my food. "I-I-I can't move," I stammered. "My muscles are cramping or something."

"It's okay. You're going to be okay."

I groaned, my eyes squeezing shut as a vein in my temple started pulsating and my lungs constricted painfully. "What's happening?"

"You're fading."

I managed to turn my head so our eyes met. "What?"

"I'm sorry," she said as her eyes welled with unshed tears. "I thought you had more time. I was going to tell you-"

"Tell me what?" I shrieked.

"You're time jumping. I'm sorry! There's nothing I can do to stop it. But wherever you go, I'll be there, Diana." Her hand cupped my cheek. "I'll find you. I promise."

The Doctor's face began to fade away like late morning mist. Her body and the entire kitchen disappeared and faded into the same swirling vortex that had taken me to the lake. Suddenly, I was free falling as golden tendrils of light wrapped themselves around my body. I was still holding onto the journal and my old glasses, but then my body was jerked to the side and the glasses were ripped from my fingers. Lightning crackled around me and then, I fell hard onto a patch of grass.

My vision was a little blurry for a second and my head had already started aching. I sat up, moaning about the ache in my bones, and nearly had a heart attack when a person ran over to me and knelt at my side. It was a woman with dark black skin, a semi shaved head, and a leather jacket. She had big, dark brown eyes and incredibly long lashes.

"Diana," she breathed. "Are you alright?"

A/N: This chapter was a lot of fun to write. Now all the people Di mentioned as being either her friends or family are actually based on real people in my life. Di's grandma, for example, is based off of my grandma and this was my way of giving her a better life than the one she has. And Cassandra is based on my real life partner, who is also named Cassandra and is partially Māori & Hungarian.

Anyways, I hope you guys liked this chapter and don't forget to leave a review telling me what you thought! As for the next chapter, here's a sneak peak. It's called 'The Beast of Babylon'!