AN: This was a very difficult chapter to figure out, considering the relationship between Reinette and the Doctor in the show and now with the addition of Clara, it made things a bit complicated with me for a while. I do hope, with what I produced, that you enjoy and that it made some form of sense and was realistic enough to believe. Anyway, on with the chapter.

The Girl in the Fireplace

Versailles
1759

Reinette looked at the broken clock on the fireplace mantle with a shaky breath, but she closed her eyes and fought it down to calm herself. The monsters from her childhood had returned and all she could do, right now, was wait. Don't worry, Reinette. They will be coming. They promised. Oh please, let them come back. Let me see them again.

"We are under attack!" A man, her lover, King Louis XV, called to Reinette as he entered the room, sweat on his forehead and fear in his voice but neither could distract them from the terrified screams of everyone inside the building, which flooded every room and hallway. "There are creatures storming this building! I don't even think they're Human. We can't stop them!"

"The clock is broken." She said, still staring at the clock on the mantle. "They are coming."

"Did you hear what I said?!" Louis exclaimed, walking up to stand by Reinette, who turned to look at him.

"Listen to me. There are two people, a man and a woman coming to Versailles. They have watched over me my whole life and they will not desert me tonight."

"What are you talking about?! What man, and what woman?!"

"The only people…that I have truly loved." Louis gave her a scorching, accusing look but she interrupted sternly, "No, don't look like that, there's no time!" She admonished, and he blinked. "You have your duties. I am your mistress. Go to your Queen." Quickly ignoring any look he may have given her, she quickly knelt before the lit fire, gazing through but she couldn't see anything. There must be something wrong with this link. There must be. "Are you there?! Can you hear me?!" She called but she received no answer, making her anxiety start to rise to the surface. "I need you now, you promised! The clock on the mantel is broken! It is time!" Still no answer. "Doctor?! Clara?! Doctor?!"

51st Century

The TARDIS materialised at their new destination and the group exited one by one. The room they found themselves in had a dark colour scheme, complete with black, greys and even a small bit of dark green. It didn't help that the room was not only barely lit but also a complete mess. Chock full of strewn wires, repair equipment, broken circuits, so forth. Beside the group was the main console, and it too, despite it running on proper power, was covered in repair work, which made the Doctor and even Clara blink in puzzlement. Rose however gave an "Okay" expression at the interior while Mickey's eyes widened. "It's a spaceship." He marvelled. "Brilliant! I got a spaceship on my first go!" He squealed in childish excitement.

"Looks kind of abandoned." Clara mused. "Where is everyone? Are they even on board?"

"Nah, nothing here. Well…nothing dangerous. Well…not that dangerous." Clara raised her eyebrows at the Doctor, and he cleared his throat. "You know what? I'll just do a quick scan…in case there's anything dangerous." He moved over to the console as Clara rolled her eyes.

"So, what's the date?" Rose asked, leaning back against the TARDIS. "How far we gone?"

"About three thousand years into your future, give or take." The Doctor answered. Inspecting the console, he saw a small round open pod with a lever. Taking fate, he took hold of the lever, lifted it, and twisted it to its side. It caused a bright blue light to radiate from the capsule within. This action caused the ship to spur into life, the room lighting up with white lights and the ceiling above opened, revealing thick glass that allowed them to stare into the brilliance of space. "51st Century…" The Doctor stared at the blue, orange, and red star cluster above them while Clara, Rose and especially Mickey, stared in amazement. "The Dagmar Cluster, you're a long way from home, Mickey. A full two and a half galaxies."

"Mickey Smith meet the universe." Rose grinned as Mickey went to a window to stare out into space. "See anything you like?"

Mickey beamed. "It's so realistic."

Clara leaned into the Doctor. "That's two words you don't wanna take out of context." The both of them giggled, making the other pair blink.

"What are you laughing at?" Rose asked.

"Nothing." They squeaked in unison.

Before Rose could poke them further, the Doctor began picking up the repair equipment off the main console, inspecting every piece with furrowed eyebrows. "Dear me, had some cowboys in here. Got a ton of repair work going on." He tossed the equipment aside while Clara scanned the computer with the sonic. It brought up a blue schematic of the ship, radiating a red circle that went from the south end to the north.

"What?" Clara muttered. The Doctor was also intrigued, taking out his "Brainy Specs" to gaze at the monitor.

"That's odd." The Doctor mused, their curious tones making the other pair come to join them. "All the warp engines are going. And…full capacity?" The Doctor questioned as he stared back up at the ship around them. "There's enough power running through this ship to punch a hole in the universe…and we're not moving. Where's all that power going?" He muttered.

"Better yet, where are the crew?" Clara asked again, flicking more switches on the console but getting nothing. "There's no life readings on board, nothing."

"Well, we're in deep space." Rose reminded. "They didn't just nip out for a quick fag."

"I'm not going to mention that the smoking pods are empty." Clara grumbled, earning a snort from Rose.

"Wait." The Doctor interrupted, and he started to sniff. "Can you smell that?"

Everyone started to echo his actions and they blinked. It smelled a bit like a barbecue, or a roast. "Yeah, someone's cooking." Rose nodded.

"Sunday roast, definitely." Mickey inputted.

Clara shook her head slightly. "It's a bad idea to leave a roast going unmonitored." She muttered.

The Doctor didn't input into their conversation, instead he flicked a large lever, opening a large door by the TARDIS, sliding away with a loud grinding like metal on metal. The group turned to gaze through, seeing another cramped room with the exception of the far wall. That wall was clean, but it was…French. A properly authentic 18th Century French fireplace, complete with deep, dark red, gold, and brown, with unlit candelabras and a broken golden clock. "Well…there's something you don't see in your average spaceship." The Doctor mused, and the group moved through, staring with wide eyed curiosity at the fireplace. "18th Century. French." He took out his sonic to scan the wood with Clara moving up to his side.

"Nice mantel." Clara awed, stroking a hand along it. Rose and Mickey moved to a small window by the fireplace, staring out into the deep vastness of space.

The Doctor nodded in agreement before he finished scanning and pocketed the sonic again. "Not a hologram. Not even a reproduction. This actually IS an 18th Century French fireplace."

"Someone's definitely got a hobby. Or a fascination." Clara mused as she knelt in front of the fireplace. Looking through past the lit orange fire, she could see a dark bedroom. "It's double sided. There's another room through here." Clara said, making the Doctor blink in puzzlement.

"There can't be. That's the outer hull of the ship. Look." Rose pointed out.

"Oh, hello." Clara said suddenly. Moving to sit in front of the fire opposite her was a young girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a white nightdress. The Doctor knelt beside Clara and he blinked in puzzlement too.

"Hello." He echoed.

"Hello." The girl responded.

They stared at the girl in amazement for a moment and the Doctor took Clara's hand. "Well, she's obviously French." The Doctor spoke telepathically.

"And she's pretty."

He nodded. "Very pretty. Could grow up to be someone beautiful." Clara, to his own surprise, nodded at that. To avoid further confusion, they looked back at the girl. "What's your name?"

"Reinette." The girl responded, confusion on her face but she also bore a beaming smile of awe.

"Reinette?" The Doctor and Clara slowly grinned. "That's a lovely name."

"Can you tell us where you are at the moment, Reinette?" Clara asked as Rose and Mickey knelt behind them to gaze through.

Reinette blinked, looking around in confusion at her words. "In my bedroom." She said obviously.

Clara cleared her throat slightly to avoid self-embarrassment. "And…where's your bedroom? Where do you live, Reinette?"

Reinette shrugged. "Paris, of course."

"Paris, right." The Doctor nodded. Both him and Clara were starting to feel really stupid right now.

"Oh, I love Paris." Clara grinned, earning another beaming smile from Reinette. Then, her face quickly morphed into puzzlement.

"Monsieur, madame, what are you doing in my fireplace?"

"Oh, it's just a routine…fire check." The Doctor stuttered out, earning more blinks from Reinette.

"Wait, what does madame mean again?" Clara asked.

"Aren't you two married?" Reinette asked back.

The pair shook their heads fervently with burning faces. "Wha-no." They said in unison.

"But you act like you are." Reinette pointed out.

The Doctor and Clara didn't know what to say to that, so Clara quickly stammered out, "Can you tell us what year it is?"

Reinette had to hold back a light scoff. "Of course I can. 1727."

"Right, lovely. One of my favourites." The Doctor quickly said. His face quickly grew into distant seriousness for a second. "August is rubbish though." Reinette's face now became completely bewildered. "Stay indoors."

"What's wrong with August?" Reinette asked.

Clara sighed, and the Doctor gulped. "Snow." Clara answered simply. "There'll be lots of it." Reinette slowly nodded despite her new-found puzzlement.

"Okay, that's all for now." The Doctor squeaked. "Thanks for your help. Hope you enjoy the rest of the fire. Night-night." He quickly pulled a blinking Clara back up to her feet, Rose and Mickey following suit.

"Goodnight monsieur, mademoiselle." Reinette called.

"You said this was the 51st Century." Mickey pointed out, him and Rose bearing fading smiles from the interaction they just watched.

"I also said this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the universe. I think we just found the hole." The pair pulled "Oooh" faces at that. "Must be a spatiotemporal hyperlink."

"What's that?" Mickey asked.

"He doesn't know." Clara informed.

"Well, I didn't want to say, "Magic door"." He defended with a small whine.

"In all fairness…" Clara started honestly, then she grinned wolfishly. "It's better than "Anti-plastic"."

"Stop it." He warned playfully, and Clara just waggled her eyebrows at him in retaliation.

"Back to the point." Rose growled, and they shuddered.

"Sorry." They said in unison.

"So, on the other side of the "Magic door"," Rose said dramatically, "is France in 1727?"

"Well, she was speaking French." The Doctor shrugged. "Right period French, too." The Doctor quickly took off his overcoat and threw it back onto the main console of the ship as he re-joined Clara, who was investigating the fireplace closer.

"She was speaking English. I heard her." Mickey pointed out.

"That's the TARDIS. Translates for you." Rose quickly answered.

Mickey's eyes widened even more. "Even French?"

"Yep."

"Okay, technically, the TARDIS only translates languages you don't know." The Doctor pointed out. "I mean…what's the point of translating English when you already know English?" That made them slowly nod and shrug to themselves.

"Ooh." Clara said like a kid getting their first pocket money. "What's this do?" She grasped a large lever hidden beside the fireplace and wrenched it up. Said action caused the fireplace to spin around on the spot, taking the Doctor and Clara with it and leaving the others behind.

"Doctor!"

"Clara!" They heard the pair yell but too late. The fireplace revolved completely, finding themselves in Reinette's bedroom. Said girl was fast asleep in her small, single bed, her head lying on her two cushions, one pink and one green, wrapped in light blue sheets. Her breathing was the only sound in the room other than the clock on the mantle ticking away. It was rather loud, they noted. The Doctor and Clara shot each other an awkward look and they decided to sigh a bit of the tension out. Gazing around, they could actually see the room now as opposed to before. Beside the fireplace was an empty dollhouse, the doors, and walls still open. In front of the fireplace was a couple of steps that led to the bed, along with a bedside table that had a family picture, a small watch, and a single unlit candlestick. Opposite the bed was a table and a chair, with a large mirror framed in silver that sat opposite to it. There was only one other entrance besides their "Magic door" and that being a proper door at the far end of the room. Moving to the window beside the table, they gazed out through the sheer white curtain, seeing the snow-covered city of Paris gleaming in the moonlight.

"That's beautiful." Clara said in awe and the Doctor smiled at her.

"Clara Oswald, welcome to Paris." The two moved back from the window, their movements making the floorboards creak under their feet. The sound caused Reinette to gasp, shooting up out of the bed and looking at them with a frightened face.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Clara quickly reassured. "It's okay, don't scream." Reinette still looked frightened at them. "It's us. It's the fireplace duo. Look." She quickly took out her sonic and used it to light the candle, allowing Reinette to see their faces properly. "We were talking, just a moment ago. We were in your fireplace."

Reinette somewhat relaxed visibly but she was still a bit frightened. "Mademoiselle, that was weeks ago. That was months."

They both blinked at that. "Really?" The Doctor asked, turning back to the fireplace. "Must be a loose connection." He tapped a few times, hearing the hollow knocking from the room beyond. "Need to get a man in." He quipped lightly.

"How did you get here?" Reinette asked.

They both found themselves gulping at that. "Through your…fireplace." The Doctor stuttered.

Reinette briefly had a look of awe that went back into trepidation. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"I'm Clara." She greeted. "Clara Oswald."

Before she could introduce him, the Doctor quickly drew a shaky breath. How had I just realised that now? Clara and Reinette looked at him in confusion. He was staring at the broken clock on the mantle in fear.

Clara gazed back and forth between them, the only sound being the loud ticking. Wait. That sound made her shiver. She glanced around quickly, but the only clock in the room was the broken one on the mantle. "Okay, that's scary." She quickly added.

"You're both scared of a broken clock?" Reinette asked in puzzlement.

"Just a bit scared, yeah." The Doctor nodded. "Just a little tiny bit. Cause, you see, if this clock's broken…" He quickly gazed around the room. "And it's the only clock in the room…" They let a bit of silence slide in to focus on the ticking. As they did, they felt themselves shiver as they listened to it, the ticking almost growing louder as they focused on just that and they turned to Reinette. "Then what's that?" Reinette gazed back at them in a new-found fear, which they noticed was slowly turning into terror. "Cause, you see, that's not a clock. You can tell by the resonance. Too big." The Doctor paused, listening carefully to the ticking with furrowed eyebrows. "Six feet, I'd say. Size of a man."

"What is it?" Reinette asked fearfully.

"Now, let's think." The Doctor said as he paced about the room, checking every nook and cranny for an unwanted presence. "If you were a thing that ticked, and you were hiding in someone's bedroom, first thing you do: Break the clock. No one notices the sound of one clock ticking but two?" They both gazed at each other, giving a knowing nod as they slowly turned to look at Reinette's bed. More specifically, the underside of her bed. "You might start to wonder if you're really alone." Reinette followed their gaze, her terror growing even more as she shifted in the bed.

Clara gave her a soft look. "Reinette, it's okay to be afraid."

Reinette gave a shaky breath. "Why?"

Clara smiled. "Fear is a superpower." Reinette blinked at that, and her look went soft for a brief moment.

"Will you be all right?" Reinette asked. They both blinked at her worry, but they just beamed.

"We're always all right." The Doctor said cheekily. Reinette gave a small smile of relief at that, but it quickly faded as Clara approached the bed and knelt beside it.

"Stay on the bed, right in the middle." Clara said. "Don't put your hands or feet over the edge." Reinette gave a quick nod at that.

"Be careful, Clara." The Doctor quickly said. Clara just winked at him and he somewhat relaxed.

Clara drew back the sheets and blanket off the bed, showing her the darkness beneath. Clara squinted but she still couldn't see anything, except maybe a glowing bit of hair floating in the darkness. But whatever the source was, it was here, for the ticking got even louder. Taking out her sonic, she tentatively reached out and pressed the button. For a second, she saw a pale face with hollow eyes but whatever it was, it lashed out at her and Clara recoiled, stumbling away from the bedside on the floor. The Doctor quickly went to her side but just as he grasped her shoulders, they stopped. The source of the ticking was now standing up on the other side of Reinette's bed and was staring straight at them. It was indeed 6ft tall, but it bore a pale white mask, eyes completely hollow and black with a plastered smile made of red lipstick and black painted on, fiery eyebrows. Its mop of black hair was a completely mess and obviously a wig. The clothes were time and region accurate to a tee, completely with frill, colourful button vest, white stockings, and shoes. "It must be a droid from the ship." Clara said in her mind.

"Explains the ticking." The Doctor returned, and they quickly glanced at Reinette, who was staring at them with wide eyes. "Reinette…don't look round." Her eyes grew even wider at that and they slowly stood up, staring straight at the droid. "You stay exactly where you are." The Doctor warned. The droid didn't respond, still staring at them. They found themselves confused at its silence, exchanging furrowed eyebrows. The Doctor contemplated for a moment and his gaze began to flicker between the droid and Reinette. "If the droid's still here, then it must want something with Reinette." He said to Clara, who nodded at his words. Letting go of Clara's shoulders, he knelt at the bedside by Reinette. "Hold still for a moment." He said gently, reaching out and taking a soft grasp of Reinette's head in his hands. She blinked repeatedly, still staring at him with terrified eyes. The Doctor searched the surface of her mind, finding it completely fine but the very tip of the surface had a strange ebb and flow to it, like someone took a comb and gently smoothed out a very thin part of her brain. He let go of her face with a completely bewildered look and stared straight back at the droid. "You've been scanning her brain." He said, the words making both Clara and Reinette exchange confused looks. "What, you crossed two galaxies and thousands of years just to scan a child's brain? What could there be in a little girl's mind worth blowing a hole in the universe?"

"I don't understand." Reinette perked up, making the TARDIS pair stare at her. "It wants me?" For a split second, amongst the fear in her eyes, they saw a spark of…defiance? They both blinked again in surprise as Reinette turned her head to stare straight at the droid, her expression never changing. "You want me?"

Adding to their surprise, the droid responded. It clicked its head to look at her, even the smallest of movements created ratcheting noises like gears and socket wrenches that grinded together. Another gear slowly started up and it said in a deep and monotone male voice, "Not yet. You are incomplete. "The gear slowed back to a stop and they summarised that it was the speaking gear.

""Incomplete"?" The Doctor repeated. "What does that mean, incomplete?" The droid didn't answer, and he clenched his jaw, but Clara was the one that responded.

"You can answer her, then you can answer us. What do you mean, incomplete?!" She demanded, standing up and raising her sonic towards the droid. The droid turned its head, quickly walked around the bed to stand in front of Clara, who was joined by a quickly moving Doctor. The droid raised out its arm and a blade stylized in gears and clockwork mechanics extended out of its hand, finishing barely inches from their faces.

"Monsieur, mademoiselle, be careful!" Reinette quickly said in worry. They sent reassuring looks her way before focusing back on the droid.

"Don't worry about us, it's just a nightmare, Reinette. Everyone has nightmares." The Doctor reassured. The droid advanced on them and began to swing its arm, making them dash back, pressing their backs against the fireplace mantle. "Even monsters from under the bed have nightmares, don't you monster?" The Doctor taunted cheekily as they let it approach. The droid raised its arm above its head and brought it down, the pair darting out of the way, letting the sharp blade dig deep into the mantle. The droid started to pull its arm back, trying to wrench its blade out, but only caused the it to dig in deeper.

"What do monsters have nightmares about?" Reinette asked as she sat up on the bed, watching them with a beaming grin as the droid got stuck.

"Us! Ha!" They said in unison as Clara wrenched up the lever, causing the fireplace to rotate around, bringing them back into the ship and towards the concerned looks of Rose and Mickey.

"Doctor!"

"Clara!" They both exclaimed.

"We'll be all right!" The Doctor quickly said as he rushed over to the wall and grabbed off it one of the large guns that were suspended on racks. He then turned to the droid as Clara dodged away and he fired, spewing a hazy, white mist that completely covered the resisting droid. He kept firing, waiting, and waiting as the droid's movements started to slow completely to a halt, ending with a good wrench that freed its blade from the now scratched mantle. However, it didn't move, completely covered in frozen ice flakes, the mist from the gun still steaming off its mask and clothes.

"Excellent. Ice gun." Mickey said with a smile.

"Fire extinguisher." The Doctor corrected as he tossed the gun to Rose, who caught it with a few confused blinks.

"Where did that thing come from?" Rose asked.

"Here."

"So, why is it dressed like…that?" Mickey asked.

"Camouflage." Clara answered.

The Doctor nodded. "It was on a field trip to France. Nice needlework." He gave a quick compliment to the clothes. "Shame about the face." Moving over, he grasped the chin of the mask and pulled it off, taking the wig with it. Underneath was a small glass dome with a small hole at the top, that protected a series of gears and golden machinery, all constructed to work together and creating a harmony of ticking, like a clock. The ticks began to restart, but they were slow, and the droid's movements echoed it, so the droid just stood still. If it could, its expression would've been a shadow of curiosity. Said expression was echoed by everyone…except for the Doctor, whose jaw dropped, and he beamed at it. "Oh, you are beautiful!" The head slowly began to tilt on its side, as if it was staring straight at the Doctor in puzzlement. Said man took out his "Brainy Specs" and leaned in, still beaming. "No, really, you are! You're gorgeous!" He quickly sent everyone a childish look. "Look at that! Space age clockwork, I love it! I've got chills!"

"Down boy." Clara interrupted sternly.

"Sorry." The Doctor responded with a small cough. "Listen, seriously, I mean this from the heart, and by the way count those." He indicated to his two hearts. "It would be a crime; it would be an act of vandalism to disassemble you…" He quickly took out his sonic and held it up. "But that won't stop me." They filled in the blanks, guessing that if the droid had eyes, it would be flickering its gaze between the Doctor and his sonic. Then, without warning, the droid's head slowly turned around to stare at the group before it turned back to the Doctor and it raised its arm straight up, the clockwork machinery within restarting to its normal, loud pace. This time, the blade disappeared, and it pressed the fingers of its left hand into its right wrist. The action created a loud clicking noise before the droid disappeared in a hazy flash before their eyes. Everyone quickly looked about for any sign, but there wasn't any, so the Doctor and Clara both made sure their sonics were pocketed safely again. "Short range teleport." The Doctor informed. "Can't have got far. Could still be on board. Or…" He trailed off, him and Clara sharing worried looks that made them rush back up to the fireplace.

"What is it?" Rose asked.

"It's a clockwork droid." The Doctor answered before he raised his finger at them. "Don't go looking for it." He ordered.

"Where are you two going?" Rose asked with blinking eyes.

"We'll be back in a sec." Clara answered, and she wrenched the lever again, causing the two to disappear out of sight from Rose and Mickey.

Rose shrugged, briefly running her gaze over the large fire extinguisher in her hands. "They said not to look for it." Mickey quickly said, guessing her intention by her actions.

"Yeah, they did." Rose responded but she didn't nod. Mickey blinked a few times in bewilderment at her words before he slowly smiled. He then rushed over and grabbed the other remaining extinguisher and Rose grinned. "Now you're getting it. Come on." With that, they quickly rushed out of the room to search the ship.

The Doctor and Clara stood in Reinette's room, looking around in confusion. Unlike their previous visit from only mere minutes ago, the room was now bathed in the light of the bright, warm yellow sun that streamed through the windows, uncovered by the curtains. The bed was tidy and the table opposite it bore candelabras, a small vase, and a blue purse. However, the doll house was gone and in its place was a large golden harp. Even the clock on the fireplace mantle was fixed and ticking away, filling the silence of the room with its almost soft melody. The Doctor and Clara shot each other confused looks as they took a few steps away from the fireplace. "Reinette?" The Doctor called but he received no answer.

"Reinette? We're just checking if you're okay. Reinette?" Clara called but she also received no answer. Clara gave a small sigh and turned to the Doctor, who was standing in front of the harp. "Go on." Clara urged with a smile. "Try it."

The Doctor tentatively reached out a hand and started strumming on the strings for a few seconds. Clara blinked as he played, for the song was achingly familiar. When he finished, he turned back to her with a smirk. "Know the song?"

Clara blinked a few times then furrowed her eyebrows. "Uhhhhh…d…Demons?"

He beamed at her. "Yeah. You got it."

"You know you can't play that song in public in this period?" Clara admonished playfully.

"Well, Clara…we're not in public." He winked, and Clara bit her lip to hold back a grin. "Come on, give it a try." He urged.

Clara's eyes widened in nervousness. "Oh no, no, no, no." She squeaked. "I don't think I can-"

"Nonsense!" He drew her over to the harp and placed her in front of it, standing right behind her and grasping her shoulders. "Go on. Give it a try."

Clara tentatively reached out and stringed a small tune but they both winced at it. "I tried to tell you; I can't play musical instruments." She tried to excuse.

"Oh, we've got all the time in the universe for that."

"What, like you've played an instrument before?" Clara poked.

He nodded, taking the quip seriously. "Yeah. 2nd face had a flute. And let me tell you, my 8th face loved to sing in his spare time."

Clara relaxed her shoulders and leant back into him, allowing him to hug her from behind. "Can you sing now?"

"Ehhhh." He said simply, and she giggled. "Could be better, but I could be worse."

"*Clears Throat*"

They both jumped at the sudden sound, turning to see a woman in an embroidered, golden dress, her blonde hair tied up in a bun behind her head. She had her hands clasped in front of her in patience, but her eyes gleamed mischievousness. They felt like she was familiar somewhere, but they couldn't place it. Beautiful. They both thought at the same time and inwardly cursed 18th Century French fashion for having dresses showing a distracting amount of collarbone and cleavage. They had to blame it on the fashion and not her beauty, surely. Still, her eyes bore into the both of them and they found themselves getting a bit nervous.

"Oh, sorry!" Clara quickly said, the Doctor pocketing his "Brainy Specs". "Hello." The lady nodded in greeting.

"We…um…we were just looking for Reinette." The Doctor tried to explain. "Uh…t-this is still her room, isn't it? It's just…we've been away, not sure how long."

The pair both felt like the woman was trying her hardest not to beam but they couldn't explain- "Reinette!" The voice of an older woman sounded from the front doors of the home. "We're ready to go!"

The lady now beamed brightly at them. "Go to the carriage, mother, I will join you there!" Silence followed that as the pair felt their eyes widen as they truly saw her. It was Reinette, all grown up. Well…judging by her youthful nature, she had only turned 18. Still, they found themselves slowly returning her smile, despite their nervousness. "It is customary, I think, to have imaginary friends only during one's childhood. The both of you should be congratulated on your persistence."

"Reinette?" Clara muttered. She smiled at them. The Doctor and Clara both nodded, almost shyly gazing up and down her figure quickly to take it in. "Well…goodness how've you grown." Clara finally said and Reinette's look turned playfully admonishing.

"And the both of you do not appear to have waged a single day." Reinette said as she walked up to stand before them. "That is tremendously impolite of you."

"Right, yes." Clara blinked. "Sorry."

Reinette glanced at the Doctor, who found himself stuttering for a moment. "Um…uhh…listen, lovely to catch up, but uh, better be off, eh? Don't want your mother finding you up here with a couple of strange people, do we?"

Reinette blinked at that, furrowing her eyebrows. "Strange? How could you be strangers to me? I've known the both of you since I was 7 years old."

The Doctor smiled nervously. "Yeah, I suppose you have." He gave a small chuckle at that. "We came the quick route."

"That you did." Reinette returned, but her gaze turned scrutinising, not in accusation but more in curiosity. She reached out and placed a hand on the Doctor's cheek, said man staring at her with wide eyes as she surveyed his face. Then, she turned to Clara, reaching a handout to stroke her cheek while Clara echoed the Doctor's expression. Reinette was actually looking at them, in the same manner the Doctor taught Clara on Christmas. She was seeing them, and they felt their nerves rise, as they both inwardly and playfully damned the woman for blossoming into a beauty. Reinette gave a small sigh, taking her hand away, noticing that Clara's eyes were almost pleading for it back. "Well, you both seem to be flesh and blood at any rate, but this is absurd. Reason tells me that the both of you cannot be real."

"Oh, pfft, you never want to listen to reason." The Doctor said with a smirk.

Reinette glanced between them and she beamed. "Mademoiselle!" A servant called who had entered the house and Reinette almost groaned. "Your mother grows impatient!"

"A moment!" Reinette called back and the servant walked back out of the house, but the front door didn't close. Reinette glanced back at them with wide eyes and…was her breath hitching up? "So many questions, so little time." Reinette said and then, she smirked. "So, who goes first?"

They both blinked. "Goes first on what-" Reinette interrupted Clara by grasping her shoulders and pulling her into a passionate kiss, Clara's eyes widening as her body shot up in shock for a few moments. She glanced at the Doctor out of the corner of her eyes, who just shrugged at her, almost allowing Clara to relax into and return the kiss until Reinette mercilessly pulled away. Then, without a word, she turned, grasped the Doctor's suit, and pulled him into a kiss, even going as far as to push him up against the fireplace mantle. He too shot up in shock, and Clara blinked at the sight as the Doctor also willed himself to relax and return the kiss.

"Mademoiselle Poisson!" The servant called, who they could hear was moving into the house, his footsteps getting closer. Reinette pulled away, rushed over to grab her purse, and moved to the door, shooting them both a warm grin before she disappeared.

They both leaned against the fireplace and onto each other's shoulders, sharing a bewildered yet breath taken look. "What was that?" Clara asked as she regained breath.

"No idea." The Doctor returned.

Then, Clara's eyebrows furrowed. "Wait." At that moment, the servant, a middle-aged man in a brown vest walked into the room, staring at them with bewildered, wide eyes. "Reinette Poisson?"

The servant blinked at her words, but the Doctor caught on and his eyes widened in childish glee. "No! No, no, no, no, no way! Reinette Poisson?!" He exclaimed, rushing up to the servant. "Later Madame d'Etiolles?! Later still, mistress of Louis XV, uncrowned Queen of France?!" He turned to pace back up to Clara and the fireplace. "Actress, artist, musician, dancer, courtesan. Fantastic gardener!" At that, him and Clara started to laugh heartfully.

"Who the hell are you two?!" The servant demanded.

"I'm Clara Oswald." Clara introduced through her giggles.

"And I'm the Doctor, and we just snogged Madame de Pompadour!" Clara lifted the lever up again and the fireplace revolved back into the ship with the giggling pair. They quickly moved away from the fireplace, their laughter slowly subsiding as they found no sign of Rose or Mickey. "Rose?" The Doctor called.

"Mickey? Rickey?!" Clara called.

"Ugh, every time." The Doctor groaned as they moved out of the room into the main console room. "Every time! It's rule one: Don't wander off. I tell them, I do, rule one! Even you told them, Clara, rule one!"

They moved into a forked hallway and took the foremost right path. "There could be anything on this…ship." Clara trailed off. Standing there, in the middle of the hallway, was a white horse. The horse glanced at them and neighed in greeting, then sniffed, shook its hair about, and looked at them in expectation. "Where did you come from?" Clara asked. Of course, the horse didn't respond, except for a small neigh.

"It's not our fault that the ship is a mess." The Doctor retorted.

Clara blinked, turning to look at him incredulously. "What?"

"He just blamed us for trashing the ship."

Clara blinked again. "How-"

"I speak horse." He said dryly.

*Neigh*

"His name is Arthur."

Clara rolled her eyes a bit. "Of course you can speak horse."

Mickey raced through the corridors, holding his gun tight as if he were playing a first-person shooter. Do a barrel roll! He moved to a pair of stairs and rolled over it, crouching on his right knee and looking around, pretending to pant. Of course, nothing was actually happening, and he was alone, so he took a moment to roll his shoulders a bit and click his neck. Then, he gazed about the hallway he found himself in, seeing the floor before him clean and clear but the walls were strewn with wires and even faint marks like scratches. For a split second, he thought he could hear a heartbeat, but chalked it up to his own heart beating away. Up near the ceiling was a bronze camera with a blue eye, staring down and blinking at him. "Are you looking at me?" Mickey asked in faint toughness. The camera dove out of its spot on a long wire and descended down, hanging mere inches from his face. Mickey flinched with a small squeak at the motion, but the camera did nothing, still staring at him. Mickey quickly blinked as he stared, for the eye was a proper, actual, Human eye. Hesitant footsteps came up from behind him and he didn't need to glance back to know that it was Rose. "Look at this." He ushered, and Rose moved to stand beside him. "That's an eye in there. That's a real eye." The camera, having found them both to be of ill consequence, slithered back into its socket and continued its surveillance of the room. Rose blinked at that, looking around the room as she heard the faint sound of a heartbeat, and it wasn't hers or Mickey's. Looking down at the pipes before them, she saw a small grate over a vent duct and a little bit of steam coming out. Kneeling down and reaching out tentatively, she grasped a few fingers around the grate. She winced a bit at the sudden heat and decided to wrench it out quickly, feeling her fingers burning for only a few seconds until it became numb. Both her and Mickey looked inside, seeing a real Human heart within that was plugged into wires and machinery, beating, and throbbing away. "What is that?" Mickey asked as he squinted to look properly. "What's that in the middle there? Looks like it's wired in."

"It's a heart, Mickey." Rose said with a small hint of bitterness. "It's a Human heart."

"Rose?" Clara called as her and the Doctor walked through the ship, the hallways now lit green and, to their slight annoyance, still followed by Arthur.

"Mickey?" The Doctor called but they both received no answer. They came to a stop by a pair of white doors, which made them blink. Any contemplation they had was interrupted when Arthur nudged his head against their arms. "Will you stop following us? We're not your parents." He whined. Arthur snorted, and he rolled his eyes. "Yes, we're not your parents. Completely different species." Arthur sniffed, and the Doctor's eyes widened. "You can't call Humans that. Not all of them are that thick."

"What?" Clara asked.

The Doctor breathed out slightly. "He just called your kind "Pudding brains"."

Clara's jaw dropped incredulously, and she gave a small glare to Arthur, holding up her finger in warning. Arthur did nothing, and she just shook her head, deciding to move to the door. "So then, Arthur, is this where you came from?" Walking through the door, Clara found herself at a small stone wall with potted plants strewn all over it. Past the wall was a massive garden and an equally big house, complete with green grass, long ponds and even a bright, warm, and yellow sun to accompany it.

"Well now…" The Doctor started as he walked past the doors to join her. "This is a nice sight." Clara nodded as they surveyed the garden. There was a small handful of people wandering about except for a pair of women, isolated and walking alone. From their backs, the pair could tell that one was a dark-skinned woman while the other had blonde hair and the pair of girls were laughing away, their arms linked.

"Oh, Katherine, you are too wicked." A familiar voice giggled. They both smiled as they recognised her, even with her face turned and the pair bearing cream coloured sun umbrellas. Reinette quickly turned her head and the pair had to duck behind the wall to make sure she wouldn't see her. After a few moments, they stood slowly back up again, knowing she had turned back.

"Oh, speaking of wicked, I hear Madame De Chateauroux is ill and close to death." Katherine said.

"Yes. I am devastated." Reinette said in fake sorrow.

"Oh, indeed." Katherine retorted and Reinette giggled again. "I myself am frequently inconsolable." Katherine said in mocking haughtiness, making them giggle harder. "The King will therefore be requiring a new mistress. You love the King, of course?"

Reinette smiled. "Maybe not in a truly romantic sense, but definitely in a love sense."

Katherine huffed. "That makes no sense."

"I'm afraid not. It sometimes happen when your heart is taken by…" Reinette blinked, stopping her confession and she turned around to look back at the wall, briefly missing the blur of the TARDIS duo ducking behind it again. Are they there? She thought of that mad, childish duo she adored. Are they watching?

"Is something wrong, my dear?" Katherine asked as they stopped walking.

Reinette gave a small glowing smile. "Not wrong, no." She shook her head, getting rid of a faint blush as they continued to walk.

"Who's on your mind?" Katherine teased.

Reinette bit a lip. "More like a pair of people that I-" She stopped, looking at Katherine who grinned like a cat that got the canary. "Katherine!" Katherine laughed at her and Reinette shook her head. "Besides, it's not like I can marry them. I may be taken by the King."

"Well then, every woman in Paris knows your ambitions." Katherine said, and they returned to their calm walk.

"Every woman in Paris shares them, for he is the King and we love him with all our hearts. And even then, I am looking forward to meeting him."

"You know of course that the King is to attend the Yew Tree Ball?"

"As am I." Reinette nodded.

The Doctor and Clara just watched Reinette's back as she moved away, her conversation with Katherine drowning out. "Well then, this is going to make things a bit…weird." Clara commented.

"You don't sound like you're against the idea of her with us." The Doctor retorted playfully.

Clara huffed. "It's not my fault she got so pretty." The Doctor just rolled his eyes at her. "Besides, it won't be the first time."

The Doctor blinked incredulously. "First time in a three-"

"No." Clara growled. "First time I had a girlfriend."

His eyebrows raised at that. "Really?"

"Name was Rory."

He frowned. "Rory?"

"Actually, she was called Nina. We were both going through a phase at the time."

"When was this?"

Clara sighed. "After Danny."

The Doctor nodded slowly. "Riiight." Then, he frowned again. "So…what was her phase?"

Clara bit her lip to hide a blush. "She liked to play…well…" The Doctor put it together and his jaw dropped, making Clara blush furiously. "Shut up." She squeaked, and he laughed.

"Have you seen a horse?!" A new presence demanded from behind, making them jump. They turned, seeing a black-haired manservant with a 5 o'clock shadow, dressed in a black and unkempt coat, and carrying a threaded straight whip.

They both blinked as they remembered his words after standing there gawking dumbly for a few moments. "Well…um…" The Doctor started.

"I think there was…uhh…" Clara tried but she too couldn't get past their shock of his sudden presence.

"Damned animal!" The manservant growled, interrupting them. "I'll whip it within an inch of its life as soon as I find it!" He informed before stomping away.

The pair exchanged a look as Clara glared at the back of his head. "I wish he hadn't said that." The Doctor muttered.

"Why?" Clara growled.

"Because we have to babysit another person now." The Doctor said simply. Clara blinked a few times at that and then sighed, letting her glaring melt away as they walked back to the white doors, closing them as they re-entered the ship. They found Arthur still there, looking at him in expectation, blinking his large brown eyes. The Doctor glanced back and forth between Clara and Arthur for a few moments before he cleared his throat. "Okay, rule one: Don't wander off."

*Neighs* "Sure thing, boss."

The Doctor cocked one eyebrow at that. "That's right. I am the boss."

"What?" Clara snapped.

"He said I'm the boss." The Doctor grinned smugly.

Clara clenched her jaw. "You bloody smug foxy bastard." She growled.

"And you love it." The Doctor winked. Clara rolled her eyes, but the ghost of a smile flickered across her lips.

"Maybe it wasn't a real heart." Mickey tried to argue as he and Rose continued walking through the lonely ship.

"Course it was a real heart." Rose argued.

"Is this, like, normal for you? Is this an average day?"

"Life with the Doctor and Clara, Mickey, no more average days. Just watching a pair of children going to work." She said simply before clenching her jaw. "Not like that." She growled, knowing Mickey was grinning.

"Sorry." He muttered but he was still smirking. They came to a stop by a full-bodied mirror, framed and intersected into squares by white gold. Through the mirror, they could see an empty room, with its candles lit and the doors closed. "It's France again! We can see France." Mickey said.

"I think we're looking through a mirror." Rose informed. As she spoke, a black-haired man with a freshly shaven face and dressed in a royal white vest came strolling into the room, followed by two servants, both wearing frill coats and white wigs. They rushed to catch up with the King, but he stopped them with an arm raised and motioned them out of the room while he walked up to the mirror to rearrange his outfit.

"Blimey, look at this guy. Who does he think he is?" Mickey asked sarcastically.

"King of France." The Doctor answered, the pair jumping as he and Clara came up from around a corner to join them.

"Oh, here's trouble." Rose said playfully, her tongue between her teeth. "What've you been up to?"

"Oh, this and that." The Doctor shrugged. "Became the imaginary friends for a future French aristocrat, picked a fight with a clockwork man."

*Neighs* "Wait up!"

"Oh, and we met a horse." Clara finished for him as Rose and Mickey looked at Arthur, who just rounded the corner to join them with wide eyes.

"What's a horse doing on a spaceship?" Mickey asked.

"Mickey, what's pre-revolutionary France doing on a spaceship? Get a little perspective." The Doctor poked.

"Doctor." Clara warned.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Sorry, Rickey." He apologised sarcastically, and Clara punched his back. "Ow!"

"You asked for it." Clara retorted.

"Children." Rose growled.

"Sorry." They said in unison.

"You need to teach me how to do that." Mickey muttered, and Rose winked at him.

"See these?" The Doctor tapped on the mirror, quickly moving on from their playful banter. "They're all over the place, on every deck. Gateways to history. But not just any old history. Hers." He pointed to King Louis's new intruder, a person by the name of Reinette, who curtsied for the King before walking up to engage in conversation. "Time windows deliberately arranged along the life of one particular woman."

"That sounds wrong." Clara muttered with furrowed eyebrows. "A spaceship from the 51st Century is stalking a woman from the 18th."

"Yeah, but why? They needed something from her, they were scanning her brain, but what can she give them that they need?"

"How come we can't hear what they're saying?" Clara asked as they couldn't hear a single word that is being spoken in Reinette and Louis' conversation.

"Probably something to do with the audio link." The Doctor shrugged. "I did say that this ship has had some cowboys in it. You never know what could've been damaged."

"Who is she?" Rose asked, still staring at Reinette.

"Clara, you can have a go. You did recognise her name." The Doctor whispered in Clara's ear and she swooned playfully into him.

"Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson." Clara informed, going into "Teacher" mode. "Also known to her friends as "Reinette" and one of the most accomplished women who ever lived."

"So, has she got plans for being the Queen, then?" Rose asked.

Clara shook her head. "No, he's already got a Queen. She's got plans on being his mistress."

Rose slowly nodded. "Ohhh, I get it." Clara cocked an eyebrow. "Camilla." Rose said playfully, and they shared a chuckle.

"I think this is the night they met, the night of the Yew Tree Ball." The Doctor continued. "In no time flat, she'll get herself established as his official mistress, with her own rooms at the palace, even her own title: Madame De Pompadour." The conversation had apparently finished on a warm note as Louis left the room with a smile while Reinette moved to the mirror to check her own look.

"Queen must've loved her." Rose commented.

"Oh, she did." The Doctor responded, making them blink. "They got on very well."

"The King's wife and the King's girlfriend?" Mickey quipped.

The Doctor shrugged. "France. Different planet."

"What's that relationship called again?" Rose asked.

"A poly…polya…p-poly…polymorph." Clara stuttered.

"Polyamory." The Doctor corrected.

"Polyamory, sorry."

He shrugged. "Eh, you were getting there."

For Reinette, she simply finished fixing whatever fault she found in her look with a smile, glancing at the reflection of the broken grandfather clock at the corner of the room. Let's hope the King will be impressed. Shame though, I wish they were here. She fought off a blush, thinking of her favourite duo. Stop it, Reinette! You're acting like a schoolgirl. It's not their fault that you fell for them- Reinette blinked in sudden shock, gazing back at her reflection. The clock! She turned around to gaze at it, seeing the glass broken and standing in the very edge of the corner of the room was a silent figure with their back turned, dressed in a red frock dress. But they were ticking. Incredibly loudly and it made Reinette shiver in fear. "How long have you been standing there?" She demanded but the figure didn't respond. "Show yourself!" The figure turned, and it was wearing another pale mask with painted makeup as it stared at Reinette. Reinette flinched, moving back to the mirror, but found that it was revolving, and it nudged her shoulder. She glanced back, seeing Clara there holding a large, strange weapon in her hands while the Doctor followed, joined closely by a girl and a boy in very strange clothing.

"Hello Reinette. Hasn't time flown?" Clara greeted as she walked towards the advancing droid.

"Clara! Fireplace man!" Reinette beamed at their sudden entrance. Clara then sprayed the fire extinguisher at the droid, smothering it in ice flakes until it was completely frozen, its joints creaking and cracking from the sudden temperature drop, its clockwork heart ticking very slowly, at least one tick every five seconds. She then tossed the extinguisher back to the empty-handed Mickey, who caught despite a blink of his eyes. The droid's head was filled with the audible sound of gears clacking away as it slowly tilted its head at everyone.

"What's it doing?" Mickey asked.

"Switching back on." The Doctor answered as he stepped up to the droid. "Melting the ice."

"And then what?"

"Then it kills everyone in the room." The droid raised out its fist and the Doctor recoiled, him and Clara taking their hands in a grasp as they moved away from the droid. "Focuses the mind, doesn't it?" He quipped lightly.

"Well, you were the one that approached it." Clara poked.

"So did you." The Doctor retorted, and Clara huffed. "Who are you?" The Doctor demanded, refocusing their attention to the droid. "Identify yourself." The droid just tilted its head, as if it couldn't comprehend his order.

Clara rolled her eyes and looked at Reinette. "Order it to answer us."

Reinette looked at her incredulously. "Why should it listen to me?"

"I don't know, but it did when you were a child. Let's see if you've still got it." Clara whispered and Reinette nodded slowly.

"Answer their question." Reinette ordered. The droid did nothing, but they guessed that it would've been blinking at them. "Answer any and all questions put to you." Reinette ordered again.

For a moment, it looked as if it was fruitless, then the droid tilted its head back straight again. Followed with a loud grinding that made them wince, it slowly lowered its arm and responded in a feminine yet monotone voice, "I am repair droid seven."

"What happened to the ship, then?" The Doctor asked. "There was a lot of damage."

"Ion storm. 82% systems failure."

"That ship hasn't moved in over a year. What's taking you so long?"

"We did not have the parts."

Mickey sniggered. "Always comes down to that, doesn't it? The parts."

"What's happened to the crew? Where are they?" The Doctor continued.

"We did not have the parts."

"There should've been over fifty people on your ship. Where did they go?" The Doctor continued in irritation.

"We did not have the parts."

"Fifty people don't just disappear. Where-" Then, he stopped. His shoulders slouched, and he sighed, suddenly gaining a tired look. "Oh. You didn't have the parts, so you used the crew."

"The crew?" Clara asked, her voice low, making the Doctor glance at her. "What do you mean?"

They heard Rose clear her throat and they glanced over at her, who suddenly had an incredibly nervous look. "We…we found a camera with an eye in it. And…there was a heart…wired into machinery."

Clara got a sad and disgusted look at that, making the Doctor grasp her hand tighter. "It was only doing what it was programmed to. Repair the ship any way it can with whatever it can find. No one ever told it that the crew weren't on the menu."

Clara gave a small sigh and glanced a weary look at Rose. "What did you say that the flight deck smelt of?"

Rose blinked, her and Mickey getting downtrodden looks. "Someone cooking."

"Flesh plus heat…barbecue." The Doctor said grimly and even Reinette had to breathe a sigh to control the disgust boiling in her stomach. "So, what're you doing here?" The Doctor continued, everyone refocusing on the silent droid. "You've opened up time windows. That takes colossal energy. Why come here? You could've…gone to your repair yard, instead you've come to 18th Century France. Why?" The Doctor asked.

"One more part is required." The droid tilted its head to the right, and everyone could tell that it was staring at Reinette, who gained a shocked look at its words.

"So…why haven't you taken it?" Clara asked, regaining control over her own self.

"She is incomplete."

Clara furrowed her eyebrows. "What, so, that's the plan, then? Just keep playing time window roulette, scanning her brain to check and see if she's done yet?" She asked sarcastically.

"Why her?" Rose perked up. She blinked a bit as everyone stared at her. "You've got all of history to choose from. Why specifically her?"

"We are the same."

Reinette gained a profoundly offended and insulted look of rage. "We are not the same. We are in no sense the same!"

"We are the same."

"Get out of here!" She growled, and the droid tilted its head back again. "Get out of here this instant!"

"Reinette, no-" The Doctor was cut off as the droid touched its fingers to its wrist and teleport away in a flash. "It's back on the ship. Rose, take Mickey and Arthur. Get after it and follow it. Don't approach, just watch what it does."

Rose blinked. "Arthur?"

"The name of the horse." Clara interjected.

"No, you two are not keeping the horse." Rose protested.

"We let you keep Mickey." The Doctor retorted. "Now go, go, go!" He ushered them back through the window then closed it behind them and turned back to Reinette. "Reinette, you're going to have to trust me. We need to find out what they're looking for and there's only one way I can do that."

"What way?" Reinette asked.

Clara quickly moved behind Reinette and placed her hands on her shoulders. "It won't hurt a bit." Clara reassured. Reinette slowly relaxed with a sigh and gave a small nod. The Doctor then placed his fingers at her temple and closed his eyes.

Her eyes closed instantly in a flash with a slight recoil of shock. "Fireplace man. You are inside my mind." She muttered.

"Oh dear me. Clara, she's had some cowboys in here." The Doctor quipped, and Clara bit her lip to hold back a snigger.

"So, those two clowns, eh?" Mickey smirked as he and Rose walked alone in the empty corridors of the ship.

"What are you talking about?" Rose asked.

"Well, they hooked up again after their little episode with Sarah Jane, and I couldn't sleep on the TARDIS last night, thank you very much." He growled lightly at Rose.

"I did warn you to soundproof your room." She muttered.

"And now, they're wanting to add Reinette into the mix." Rose blinked at that in bewilderment. "Seriously, Rose, you notice how they've been worried sick about her? And don't even get me started on those longing, glowing looks Reinette sends the both of them."

"Reinette and those two?" Rose asked properly.

Mickey grinned. "I'll tell you when you're older."

Unknown to Mickey, a clockwork droid in a white vest snuck up behind him with its arm raised. "Mickey!" Rose exclaimed but too late. The droid, with its raised arm, grasped Mickey by the neck and hauled him to his knees. Rose quickly moved to aim her gun at the droid but another in a black and white vest snuck up behind her, grasping an arm around her neck and hauling her back into it, causing her to lose grip on her gun. The two droids then raised their unused arms above their heads and emerged a pair of drug injectors, then pressed the needles against the pairs heads and submitted the drug into their system, sending them spiralling into forced unconsciousness, their tensed limbs flapping down as their bodies dropped to the floor.

"Clara, he's in my memories. He walks among them." Reinette gasped as the Doctor searched through her mind.

"Don't ask how he can. It's…it's a long story." Clara said.

"If there's anything you don't want me to see, just imagine a door and close it. I won't look." After a moment, the Doctor began to show surprise on his closed face. "Ooh, actually, there's a door just there. You might want to clo-ooh. Actually, several."

Clara craned her head around, and could see that Reinette was smirking wolfishly, quickly sending Clara a playful wink. "Reinette!" Clara mouthed in mocking offense and Reinette bit her lip to hold a snigger.

"To walk among the memories of another living soul. Do you ever get used to this?" Reinette asked.

"I don't make a habit of it." The Doctor responded.

"How can you resist?"

The Doctor smirked. "Clara's the one that should be asking me that."

"Shh." Clara warned.

"What age are you?" The Doctor asked Reinette.

Reinette's eyebrows flew up in surprise. "So impertinent a question so early in the conversation. How promising." She flirted a bit.

"Now THAT is something he makes a habit out of." Clara whispered and Reinette couldn't help the snigger.

"It's not my question, it's theirs." The Doctor responded to the two. "Reinette, you're 23 and for some reason, that means you're not old enough. Maybe it's to do with the age of the ship." He muttered to himself. "How old is that ship anyway?" Before anybody could continue with that, Reinette flinched suddenly and her breathing hitched. "Sorry, you might find old memories reawakening. Side effect." He quickly reassured.

Reinette however had walked through one of the doors into his mind and suddenly found herself not in the palace, but instead in an old wooden barn at night, where a boy lay crying in bed. "Oh, such a lonely childhood." She lamented.

"It'll pass." The Doctor reassured. "Stay with me."

"Oh, Doctor. So lonely. So very, very alone."

"What do you mean, "Alone"?" Clara asked. "Reinette, you've never been alone in your life-" She stopped herself, realising Reinette's words while the Doctor's eyes opened to look at her.

"When did you start calling me "Doctor"?"

"Such a lonely little boy." She lamented. Then, back in the barn, she felt a warm, comforting presence surround her just as she realised that the boy had stopped crying. She saw a figure on the bed, whose hand was stroking the boy's hair. She couldn't see the figure properly in the darkness but the voice…

"Fear is like…a companion. A constant companion, always there. But that's ok. Because fear can bring us together. Fear can bring you home." Clara reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, unarmed toy soldier. "I'm going to leave you something, just so you'll always remember. Fear makes companions of us all." She said, slipping it into his hand and placing a kiss on his forehead.

Reinette left the memory, sniffing at the sudden realisation of tears prickling her eyes as she gazed at the Doctor. "She's done so much for you." She choked.

"What did you do?" He recoiled with a sad face. "What did you see?"

""Fear can make you kind"." Reinette quoted.

Clara stepped around, as she echoed the Doctor's shocked expression. "How did you do that?" She asked.

"A door, once opened, may be stepped through in either direction." Reinette simply said. Clara closed her eyes to fight back a small hitch in her breath, making Reinette take her hand. "Oh, Clara. The impossible girl." She smiled gently at her. "You've both done so much for each other."

The Doctor walked up to take Clara's other hand. "You know it's rude to intrude in someone's mind without asking." He muttered.

"I could say the same to you, for you didn't truly ask." Reinette returned. The Doctor just smiled sadly. "Oh, Doctor. You and her, so lonely, yet always together. It's more than just a secret, isn't it?" She asked. "It's a promise."

The Doctor blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Your name." Reinette quickly put up a hand. "No, I didn't go that far." She said before the Doctor could interrupt. "But is that it? Why you don't say your actual name?" The Doctor sighed and just simply nodded while Reinette was given a small smile from Clara. Reinette thought for a few moments as to what to do now, and then, she smiled…quite mischievously. "Dance with me."

That did the job, making their sad expressions melt away into shyness. "No, we-we-" Clara protested.

"No, we can't." The Doctor finished.

"Dance with me." Reinette flirted.

"This is the night you dance with the King." The Doctor reminded.

"And I don't think they'd be up with you dancing with another woman." Clara inputted.

"Then first, I shall make the King jealous. And the court can't say who I dance with, only I can." Reinette said stubbornly.

"We can't." The Doctor protested.

"Then you both shall dance while I watch."

"Why are you so eager for us to dance?" Clara asked.

"There always comes a time, Time Lord," She nodded to him, "and his impossible girl," she nodded to Clara, "that every lonely little boy and girl must dance with each other." Then, without earning anymore protests from the pair, she took their hands and led them out of the room.

Rose groaned loudly in her throat, failing to roll over in her sleep as she slowly blinked away the blurring vision in her eyes and the ringing in her head. As it slowly faded away, she saw, staring down at her, was a clockwork droid. The same one that the Doctor and Clara first encountered much earlier. Rose flinched as she tried to move away, but found as she looked down at herself, her wrists and ankles were restrained in iron clasps on the raised bed. Looking over to her right, just out of the corner of her eyes, she could see the struggling form of Mickey, who too was restrained to another bed. "What's…what's going on? What's going on?! Doctor?! Clara?!" She exclaimed.

"Rose?" Mickey called. They both now realised the ticking of all the droids present, which amounted to eight, as they all stared at the pair. "They're gonna chop us up. Just like the crew, they're gonna chop us up and stick us all over their stupid spaceship!" Mickey whimpered. Rose couldn't exactly fault him for being afraid, as she was too. "And where's the Doctor and Clara? Where are they now?! They've been gone for flipping hours, that's where they are!"

The droid beside Rose stepped properly into her line of sight, still staring down at her. "You are compatible."

Rose gulped slightly. "Well, y-you-you might want to think about that. You really, really might because, me and Mickey, we didn't come here alone, oh no. And trust me, you wouldn't want to mess with our designated drivers." The droid clicked its head to the side but also craned its neck, as if it was insulted by her comment. It responded by raising its right arm and sending out a blade to hover only inches from Rose's face, one of the clockwork wheels on the blade spinning as if to taunt her. Rose flinched when the blade appeared, not taking her eyes off the blade as she gulped. Bloody hell, that looks sharp. She glanced back up at the unmoving, unemotional droid and tried again. "Ever…you ever heard of the Daleks? Remember them?" The droid didn't answer, and Rose guessed that it was waiting for her to continue. "They had…they had a name for one of our friends. They had myths about him and a name. They called him the-"

What cut her off was the sound of items falling down outside in the hallway, crashing, and smashing to the ground, which made the droids slowly turn their heads to the door, as if they were as equally bewildered as Rose and Mickey. Then, the voices of the pair in question came rolling through into the room. To Rose and Mickey, they noted that their voices sounded slurred and giggly, which started to make Rose tremble in anger. "Not for all the jewels in the crown! I could've danced all night!" They sung horrifically in unison.

"They c-c-they called him the-" Rose stopped herself as the pair entered the room.

Clara was holding a large glass and their arms linked. The Doctor had a ridiculous pair of small, rounded glasses on, almost like something a poor man's Elton John would wear. Clara, to their ever-increasing bewilderment, had the Doctor's tie wrapped over one of her eyes and his "Brainy Specs" on top of the tie. Even though she could tell where she was going, she was still leaning onto the Doctor, her steps stumbling more so than his. "And still have begged for more! I could've spread my wings and done a thousand things!"

"Oh, hello there!" The Doctor stopped, beaming brightly as he looked at everyone in the room. "Have any of you dudes and dudettes met the French?!" Mickey shot Rose his newfound look of disbelief while Rose clenched her jaw. "My…GOD, they know how to party!"

"Oh, look at what the cat dragged in: The Oncoming Storm." Rose growled.

"Wait! Jackie?! Is that you?!" Clara called, turning around until she spotted Rose, giving an exaggerated look of disappointment on her face. "Oh, never mind! It's Jackie's little girl!" Clara giggled in her failed imitation of Jackie's voice.

Rose quickly took notice of the blade still in her face and she glared. "Oh, piss off with that." She growled at the droid, which just ticked its head to the side again in curious bemusement. "What have you two been doing?! Where the hell have you been?!" She demanded.

"Well," The Doctor started, sitting onto the console with Clara in his lap, "among other things, which may or may not have included accidently stealing the spotlight at a dance party, I think I just invented the banana daiquiri a couple of centuries early." Rose huffed, placing her head back flat onto the bed. "Do you know, they've never even seen a banana before." The Doctor inputted, getting up off the console to waddle over to Rose, somehow still hugging a giggling Clara from behind.

"Always take a banana to a party, Rose." Clara inputted. "Goddamn, bananas are good."

"Oh-ho ho ho ho, brilliant!" The Doctor beamed, staring at the droid who still had his blade out in Rose's personal space. "It's you!"

"Who?!" Clara asked.

"Him!" The Doctor pointed to the lead droid. "He's our favourite, that you are! You are the best! Do you know why?! Cause you're…so thick!" The droid still said nothing to that. "You, my good sir, are Mr. Thick Thick Thickety Thickface from Thicktown, Thickania!" He went to move away, then stopped and leaned back over to the droid. "And so's your Dad!" He then walked with Clara to the other side of the main console.

"Hey, Rose!" Clara called, turning to look over at Mickey. "Wait, nope. Uhh…" She kept turning until Rose was in her line of sight. "Ah, there you are. Do you know what they were scanning Reinette's brain for?! Her milometer!" Rose and Mickey scrunched their faces ever so slightly in puzzlement. "They want to know how old she is. Know why? Because, this ship is 37 years old." She indicated upwards to the ship around them, spinning around and stumbling just a tiny bit on her feet as she did. "And they think when Reinette is 37, when she's "Complete"," she said with quotation marks on her free hand, "then her brain will be compatible. Cause that's what you're missing, eh?" Clara asked, moving to walk around the group, earning the attention of all the droids and the pair restrained on the beds. "Command circuit, your computer. Your ship needs a brain, and for some reason, god knows what, only the brain of Madame De Pompadour will do." Then, Clara giggled, walking up the droid that, to Rose's final ounce of bewilderment, was STILL holding out its blade to Rose as a threat. "Listen to this. All said by the girl who on her first trip in the old girl, couldn't understand how to connect to the Wi-Fi."

"The brain is compatible." The lead droid interrupted.

"Compatible?!" Clara exclaimed, getting up close to the droid. Then, she cleared her throat, straightened her posture, and took off the droid's wig and face. "If you believe that, then you'll believe that this is a glass of wine." Clara said, her drunken attitude suddenly evaporated as she reached the glass up and poured the red contents through the hole in the droid's glass head, the liquid rolling down through every circuit in its head, causing the droid to stutter and jerk before it doubled over, bending at the waist completely still, not even making a single ticking sound.

"Wait, wha-"

"Multigrade Anti-oil." The Doctor explained, interrupting Rose. Both her and Mickey realised that the Doctor had been using the sonic on the main console and now had his hand on a large lever. "If it moves…" He pulled the lever down, causing the rest of the droids in the room to stutter and shake before they mimicked the position of their leader, doubling over and their clockwork hearts came to a stop. "It doesn't." The Doctor finished with a grin.

"Right, you two, that's enough lying about. It's time we got the rest of the ship turned off." Clara said, pulling out her sonic and using it to free Rose and Mickey from their shackles. "Besides, it's actually really pissing me off having only one working eye right now." She then pocketed her sonic away and gave back to the Doctor his "Brainy Specs" and tie.

The Doctor immediately put them back on, tossing his other glasses to the side, which shattered somewhere in the room. "Hated those bloody things." He muttered to himself.

"Are those things safe?" Mickey asked, him and Rose moving to join the Doctor and Clara, rubbing their aching wrists as they did.

"Yep, safe. Safe and thick, way we like 'em. Okay, all the time windows are controlled from here. We just need to close them all down."

"Zeus plugs." Clara held out a hand. The Doctor's eyes widened as he began searching his "Bigger on the inside" pockets, but not finding said items. "Doctor, where are the zeus plug?" Clara growled.

"I'm sure I had them a minute ago. I was using them as castanets." The Doctor groaned childishly while Clara rolled her eyes. "Left them back in the ballroom. Ah well, we'll have to do this by hand." So, him and Clara took out their sonics and began to fiddle around with the console's computer.

"Why didn't they just open a time window to when she was 37?" Rose asked.

The Doctor scoffed. "Amount of damage to these circuits, they'd do well to hit the right century. Trial and error after that."

"Doctor." Clara interrupted, who was flicking one switch back and forth to no avail. "The windows aren't closing."

"They should be." The Doctor said.

*Ding*

They all jumped at the light sound from the console. The Doctor used his sonic to scan the computer and brought his sonic up to eye level. ""Subject is complete"." The Doctor read. At that, his and Clara's eyes slowly widened in realisation. "One of them must still be out there with Reinette. That's why we can't close the windows, there's an override."

"Doctor!" Clara exclaimed. He turned to see the lead droid standing up, staring straight at him. Before the Doctor could say anything, the droid pointed its right arm to the floor, the clockwork tickings in the droid sending out the Anti-oil through a small hole in its glove, the liquid streaming onto the floor, creating a small red puddle.

"Well…that was a bit clever." The Doctor muttered. The droid ticked its head to the side and then moved slowly up to stand beside the Doctor. It then grasped the lever and raised it back up to full height, allowing the remaining droids to return to life. Then, the lead droid brought out its sharp blade and used it, right as the Doctor recoiled away, to slash the lever at the hilt, causing sparks to fly from the console and causing the group to flinch in shock. Then, as it was still staring at the Doctor, it tossed the useless metal rod aside, creating a loud clanging sound as it bounced on the floor and then rolled away. "Right." The Doctor gulped. "Many things about this are not good." The dinging sound in the console returned, but this time, it was higher pitched and on a repeat. "Message from one of your little friends? Anything interesting?"

"She is complete. It begins." The lead droid then pressed its fingers against its wrist and teleported away, the remaining droids quickly following its example, leaving the TARDIS group alone in the room.

"What's happening?" Rose asked.

"One of them found the right time window." Clara answered. "Now it's time to send in the troops. And this time, they're bringing back her head." She finished grimly.

"We need to find the right time window before they can kill her." The Doctor informed, him and Clara rushing to work. "Rose, we're going to need you to deliver a message."

"What kind of message?" Rose asked.

"A warning."

Reinette, having changed into a new look of a dark red dress, with a matching necklace and flower in her hair, stood alone in her room, the pale light of the moon gleaming in through the windows, overshadowing even the brightest candle. Reinette however wasn't looking at the moon, she was looking at the stars surrounding it. Such beauty and yet, so very far away. Reinette almost smirked at her unconscious comparison to her favourite duo. She gave a small relieved sigh, the only sounds in the room being her own breathing, the soft ticking of a working clock on the table beside her and the footsteps of a figure approaching the room. Wait. Reinette flared up in alarm, turning around to see a young blonde girl in rather strange clothing, quite like the angelic duo.

"Madame De Pompadour." Rose said, and she quickly held up a hand to stop her from doing anything rash. "Please, don't scream or anything. We haven't got a lot of time."

Reinette gave a small hitched breath at the sudden presence. "Who are you?" She asked.

"Rose. Rose Tyler. I…um…I travel with the Doctor and Clara."

Reinette couldn't exactly help the sudden flare of jealousy in her. "In what-"

"Not like that." Rose quickly interrupted. "That's a rather disgusting image, if you were going to suggest…that."

Reinette blinked a bit, but mainly from relief. "Oh. Sorry."

Rose smiled. "It's all right."

Reinette nodded. "So, why are you here?"

"Can I first just ask, how old are you right now?"

Reinette frowned a bit. "32."

Rose gave a small nod of approval, then her tone went serious in an instant. "I've come to warn you that they'll be here in five years."

"Five years?"

"Sometime after your 37th birthday. I…um…I can't give you an exact date, it's a bit random, but they're coming. It's going to happen. In a way, for us, it's already happening." Reinette blinked at that, which made Rose sigh. "I'm sorry, it's…hard to explain. The Doctor and Clara do this better."

"Then be exact and I will be attentive." Reinette simply said.

"There isn't time." Rose informed.

"There are five years." Reinette said, slight irritation in her voice.

"For you, yes. But I haven't got five minutes."

"Then also be concise." Reinette grabbed her hand and led her to sit down with her at the two chairs in the room, Rose giving a slight worried glance back to the door she had entered through.

Rose gulped, really finding it hard to explain it properly. "Um…there's a, um…a-a vessel. A ship. A sort of sky ship. And it's full of…" Reinette raised her eyebrows in a motion for her to continue. "Well…you. Different bits of your life in different rooms all jumbled up." Reinette's look slowly turned into shock and realisation at her words while Rose ran her hands over her face. "I told you it was complicated. Sorry." She muttered.

Reinette swallowed slightly and gave a small breath. "There is a vessel in your world…where the days of my life are pressed together like the chapters of a book so that they may step from one to the other without increase of age, while I, weary traveller, must always take the slower path?"

Rose gave a small, fond smile. "They were right about you."

Reinette returned the smile but only for a moment. "So, in five years, these creatures will return. What can be done?"

"They both said to keep them talking. They're kind of programmed to respond to you now. You won't be able to stop them, but you might be able to delay them a bit."

"Until?"

"Until they can get there."

Reinette felt some hopeful excitement glimmer up inside her. "They're coming, then?"

Rose nodded. "They promised."

"But they cannot…make their promises in person?" Reinette concluded.

"They will be there when you need them. That's the way it's got to be."

Reinette gave a sad smile. "It's the way it's always been. The monsters and that…mad, childish and…lovely, adorable, wonderful, char-" Reinette cut herself off at that, Rose spotting a small blush on her face. "It seems you cannot have one without the other." Reinette finished.

Rose gave a small smile at that and then she went serious again. "The thing is, you weren't supposed to have either." Reinette blinked. "Those creatures are messing with history. None of this was ever supposed to happen to you."

Reinette's look quickly became offended. ""Supposed to happen", what does that mean?" Rose gave a small sigh, but it was more in self-defeat. "Rose, it happened, and I would not have it any other way. One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel. In this case, a pair of them." Reinette stood up and took a few paces away from Rose to calm herself.

Rose decided to let the truth out and moved to stand up to join Reinette. "Reinette…" Rose started, earning a stern look from her but she continued. "What I really meant was, they didn't want it to happen to you…because those things want to kill you." Reinette blinked again. "They want something from your body and to get it, it will kill you. They didn't want…that to happen, especially not to you."

Reinette's look softened. "Why?"

"Because they care too much." Rose simply said. Reinette choked out a breath, having to close her eyes to stop herself from melting too much. Rose decided not to say anything, just so she can calm down.

"Rose?" Mickey called, drawing their attention. "Rose!" Rose moved back through the door into the hallway, where a large drawn tapestry stood, Mickey quite literally poking his head through it to look for her. "Rose, the time window where she's 37. We found it right under our noses."

"Okay." Rose quickly said but too late. Reinette was watching and she rushed past them, moving through a backing off Mickey and past the tapestry. "No, you can't go in there!" Rose protested. "They will both go mad!"

Reinette ignored Rose, stepping through and into the grey, dark bowels of the ship. Reinette kept glancing around at her new surroundings, both in awe and in fear. "So, this is their world." She deducted in a small voice. Rose couldn't carry on with that, due to the figurative chorus of loud screeches coming from one of the time windows from a large group of people, men, and women alike. Reinette simply gazed around with wide eyes and then turned back to Rose and Mickey. "What was that?" She asked fearfully.

"The time window. The Doctor fixed the audio link." Mickey explained.

"Those screams…" Reinette swallowed. "Is that my future?"

"Yeah." Rose nodded sadly. "I'm sorry."

"Then I must take the slower path." Reinette concluded dejectedly.

"Are you there?!" Reinette glanced up with wide eyes, now of disbelief. That was her own voice, calling out in the same fear she felt right now. "Can you hear me?! I need you now, you both promised! The clock on the mantel is broken! It is time!"

"Th-that's my voice." Reinette stuttered out.

"Rose, come on, we've got to go." Mickey quickly motioned. "There's-there's a problem-"

"Give me a moment." Rose interjected before she moved up to Reinette. "Are you okay?" She asked gently.

"No." Reinette admitted. "I am very afraid. But you and I know, don't we, Rose?" Rose blinked. "In our own ways, the Doctor and Clara are worth the monsters." Rose gave a small nod, which Reinette returned as she quietly returned to her world.

"Doctor?! Doctor?!"

Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock. Screaming. Endless screaming in these halls. Why do these Humans scream? And they run. Why do they run? It's pointless. But it doesn't matter. The leader had already teleported through into the Versailles with its company, all searching out to corner everyone into the ballroom.

"No sign of the target." A fellow droid called through mobile communication.

"Contain all the Humans into the ballroom. I will find the target." The leader said. The leader stopped moving in an empty hallway and scanned the building for the girl. There she was. In a bedroom, standing alone and a man was walking to the door. The leader sheathed its blade, for the girl was too weak to fight them, and it moved swiftly through the building, approaching the door. Scanning additional occupant. The leader gazed straight at the man's head; his brainwaves full of…worry? Yes, worry, for his…mistress and…Queen? Additional occupant: King Louis XV. Occupant must be left alive, for it does not perish until 1774. Cause of death: Smallpox. It then pressed its fingers to its throat. "Two to extract Louis into the ballroom and restrain him. Warning: Do not kill. Only the target shall be killed." It said, and two more droids came quickly up to the door as the girl yelled and screamed into the fireplace. Fireplace was original but has been moved. As a result, it is disabled. The man with two hearts and the girl with none will not be able to come through there. Then, once the droids paired up behind the leader, they walked through the door, the alarming sound of their ticking hearts quickly alerting the pair in the room. Louis simply stared at them in horror while Reinette stared back in a mixture of fear...and defiance. "You are complete. You will come." The leader stated. The two quickly moved and seized the protesting yet fearful Louis by his arms and hauled him out of the room while the leader moved up to Reinette, seizing her right arm and moved to lead her out of the room. When Reinette tried to struggle, the leader clicked its head towards her as if it was burning daggers into her skull, which made her shakily submit and he led her out.

"Where are we going?" Reinette demanded.

"The teleport has limited range. We must have proximity to the time portal." The leader answered.

"Your words mean nothing." Reinette growled despite its tight grasp on her arm. "You are nothing."

"You found it, then?" Rose asked as she and Mickey rushed back into the main console room, where the Doctor and Clara were working frantically. At the very front was a large glass panel, playing a live surveillance video of its mirrored time window in the ball room of Versailles, large and spacious and filled with a warm, golden light.

"They knew we were coming. They've blocked it off." The Doctor answered, Rose and Mickey having to stand back as the two of them rushed around the room.

"I don't get it. How come they got in there?" Rose asked.

"They teleported; you saw them. As long as the ship and the ballroom are linked, their short-range teleports will do the trick."

"So, we'll go in the TARDIS." Rose suggested.

"We can't use the TARDIS." The Doctor groaned. "We're part of events now."

"Can't we just smash through?" Mickey interjected.

"Hyperplex this side, plate glass the other. We'd need a truck."

"We don't have a truck-"

"We know we don't have a truck!" Clara roared, making Rose and Mickey flinch. "Now shut up!"

"Could everyone just calm down?!" Reinette ordered above the commotion, everyone in both rooms turning their attention to the girl who stood alone in the centre of the ballroom. "Please. Such a commotion, such distressing noise! Kindly remember that this is Versailles! This is the royal court and we are French!"

While Rose and Mickey were focused on the commotion, Clara grasped the Doctor's arm and led him aside. "You lied, right? That glass is just glass." She whispered.

"Yes, but if we smash through, they'll be trapped here."

"And if we don't go through, Reinette will die." Clara argued.

The Doctor went to argue further, but he noticed she didn't have her sonic. "Clara-" Clara just put her finger to her lips and mouthed "Just like last time". The Doctor slowly nodded in realization and then he clasped her hand. "Together?" He whispered.

Clara smiled. "Or not at all."

Reinette stared at the leader, straight into its empty black eyes, feeling both fearful anxiety and hateful defiance in her heart. She listened to the latter. "I have made a decision. And my decision…is no. I shall not be going with you today." The leader just stared at her and readied its arm. "I have seen your world and I have no desire to set foot there again."

"We do not require your feet." The leader said. On that, two droids moved up to Reinette, placed a tight grasp on her shoulders and forced her to kneel. The leader then unsheathed its sharp blade and placed it at Reinette's head.

Reinette just gazed up, still staring straight into the leader's eyes. "You think I fear you. But I was taught by two people I love very much that it is always okay to be afraid. But everyone has something to be afraid of. You are my childhood nightmare, the monster from under my bed. But if my nightmare can return to plague me, then rest assured, so will yours." Reinette taunted, only answered by a horse neighing. Wait, what? Reinette blinked and she gazed away, realizing that everyone also heard it, including the droids, who began tilting their heads up to the time window. What followed was the quickening sound of horse hoofs, getting closer and closer with each passing second. Then, without warning to the shrieking occupants of the room, the time window shattered, and a horse dove out and into the room. And, to Reinette's relieved, beaming smile, thanks in no small part to the droids who had released her shoulders, it was obvious who was mounted on the horse. The Doctor and Clara, who led the horse around a large space in the ballroom and their eyes quickly fixed onto Reinette and sent her a playful wink. Come on, Reinette, now's not the time. Don't blush. Don't blush! She mentally reprimanded, letting only a small slip of said blush escape before she reigned it into control, hoping the TARDIS duo didn't notice. They quickly reigned the horse back into calm control before the Doctor slid off and then grasped Clara's waist to help her off and onto her feet beside him.

"Madame De Pompadour." The Doctor started, beaming at Reinette.

"You look younger every day." Clara finished and Reinette felt her face burning.

Damn those two idiots. They DID notice!

"Your majesty." Clara curtsied to Louis, who's arms had been released by the droids.

"Sorry about the interruption." The Doctor finished, and they moved up to the leader of the droids. "We just came to fix a clock." The Doctor grasped the wig and mask of the droid and pulled it off. The leader raised its blade up to their faces, but they didn't even flinch, just sending it exhausted looks. "Forget it. It's over."

"For all of us." Clara sighed. "Talk about seven years bad luck. Try three thousand." She nodded up to the wall. The droid looked up to the wall and then, utter silence fell through the room, only filled with the unified ticking of the droid's hearts. The leader, twice, turned its head back to the duo and up towards the wall. Then, it pressed its fingers to its wrist, but nothing happened. It tried over and over again, but still, nothing happened, and it looked back to the duo.

"The link with the ship is broken. No way back." The Doctor informed. The droid just stared at them, almost in defeated sadness. "How many ticks left in that clockwork heart, huh? A day? An hour? It's over. You don't have the parts. Accept that." The droid still didn't do anything, other than continuing to stare.

"For once, and we mean this wholeheartedly, we're not winding you up." Clara inputted. The droid, after a few more moments, sheathed its blade and slouched. Then, the ticking within its own body began to slow down, right to a silent, echoing halt. It was now just…off. Just off. The other droids in the room followed this last order and switched themselves off. One of the droids was rather unfortunate, for as it switched off, its dead body lost balance and fell to the floor with a smash, causing the people in the room to shriek as pieces of glass and clockwork mechanics strewn about the floor around its broken head. Clara felt a hand on her waist, and she smiled, looking at the Doctor before they moved over to Reinette and the Doctor held out a hand to help her up.

"You okay?" He asked, Clara's eyes echoing his question.

"Yeah. I am now." Reinette stood up beside them, gazing in puzzlement at the droids. "What's happened to them?"

"They've stopped." The Doctor said simply. "They have no purpose now."

"What happened?" Mickey asked as him and Rose stood alone in the console room, looking at the broken, vacant space where the time window was, now only filled with wiring and smashed glass. "Where did the time window go? How are they going to get back?" Mickey continued, anxiety in his voice as Rose just stared.

"I don't know." Rose said simply, putting her hands in her pockets. At that, she blinked. Grasping onto the object, she pulled out a small rod wrapped in a thin bit of paper. Unwrapping the paper away, she found that it was Clara's sonic, bearing the command "Emergency Program One". The paper also bore a message saying…

Use this if we don't get back.

Love, Clara, and the Doctor

Rose blinked a bit, needing to close her eyes just to remain calm. "We'll wait."

"What do you mean, we'll wait?" Mickey asked. "We can't fly the TARDIS without them."

"There's always a way out." Rose simply said. "Maybe they will get back. If they can, then we'll wait." Mickey sighed, moving to distract himself at the console while Rose looked up through the glass roof, staring into the empty beauty of space.

The Doctor and Clara stood alone in Reinette's personal room at a window, wrapped in a loose hug as they stared up at the stars. "Do you regret it?" He asked.

She just leant her head back into his chest. "A bit. We might not see Rose or Mickey again. Or even the TARDIS." She said as they heard Reinette enter the room, her reflection in the window showing her carrying a tray with three glasses filled with champagne.

"Oh, you never know. London is only a small step away." He quipped lightly, and Clara smiled.

Reinette placed the tray on the table near them, grabbed two glasses and walked up to them. She gave one to the Doctor, while she held out the other glass for Clara. "Champagne?" She offered.

Clara held an indecisive expression. "I-I've never-"

"Champagne doesn't kill you." Reinette reassured. "It's just a drink."

"Well, it can-"

"Quiet." Reinette admonished. "You're ruining the mood."

"Sorry." The Doctor breathed, making Clara snigger a bit. Reinette gave them a smile as she handed the glass to Clara. The Doctor took a decent gulp, enjoying the taste of the drink while Clara stared at it apprehensively. She swirled the drink around a tiny bit and then took a small sip. She let the taste savour in her mouth before swallowing and gave an impressed shrug. "Oh dear." The Doctor muttered. "That's another thing Victoria liked." He quipped.

"Are you done with Victoria references?" Clara asked with a fake growl.

He beamed. "I've got no idea." Clara just rolled her eyes before beaming, letting a small snigger pass her lips as she reclined back into him.

Reinette just smiled at them as she moved back to the tray to take the final glass in her grasp and stood beside the pair, staring up at the stars. "You know all their names, don't you?" She asked. They glanced over at Reinette who just smiled. "I saw that in your mind." She nodded to him. "The name of every star."

"What's in a name?" The Doctor asked rhetorically. "Names are just titles. Titles don't tell you anything."

Reinette cocked an eyebrow. "But sometimes, a name is a promise." She returned. "Just like "The Doctor"."

"Like "Madame De Pompadour"." The Doctor quipped, the three sharing a small chuckle.

"I have often wished to see those stars a little closer, just as you two did, I think." Then, she sighed and stared back at the two. "In saving me, you trapped yourselves. Did you know that would happen?"

"Pretty much." Clara said simply.

"Yet still you came."

"Yeah, we did, didn't we?" The Doctor said, looking back down at Clara, who just gazed back up at him. "Catch us doing that again."

"There were many doors between my world and yours. Can you not use one of the others?"

The Doctor shook his head. "When the mirror broke, the shock would've severed all the links with the ship. There'll be a few more…broken mirrors and torn tapestries around here, I'm afraid, wherever there was a time window."

"And we'll…pay for any damages." Clara quickly inputted, making Reinette giggle.

"Oh blimey." The Doctor said, as if he just let it sink in. "That's a thought…we're going to need money. I've always been vague about money. Clara, where do you get money?" He asked.

Clara bit her lip to hide a smug grin. "You work."

His expression turned into horror. "No. No-no, I-I-I-I can't." The two girls laughed at him. "Oh, blimey, I'm gonna have to, aren't I?" He muttered to himself as the girls calmed down.

"So here you two are." Reinette mused sadly. "My lonely angels stuck on the slow path with me."

"Yep." The Doctor said, popping the "P" playfully. "The slow path."

Clara smirked, shaking her head and raised her glass. "Here's to the slow path." They quickly clinked their glasses together and took a good drink from them.

Then, her expression turned sad, and they couldn't understand why. "It's a pity. I think I would've enjoyed the slow path."

"Well, we're not going anywhere."

"Oh, aren't you?" Reinette retorted and for a split second, they could hear her voice break before she breathed out shakily, placed her glass down on the windowsill and reached out her hands. "Follow me." At that, when they quickly placed their glasses down, they followed her out of the room, into the hallway and entered Reinette's bedroom. It was, to their noted playfulness, almost romantic in the lit candles, a large, comfy bed, and a lit fireplace. However what caught their eye really was the fireplace. "It's not a copy." Reinette explained. "It's the original." They blinked at her and she smiled softly, holding back her own sorrow. "I had it moved here and was exact in every detail."

"The fireplace." The Doctor muttered, him and Clara moving up slowly to the fireplace, not taking their eyes off it. "The fireplace from your bedroom. When did you do this?" He asked.

Reinette gave a distant smile as she walked up to follow them. "Many years ago…in the hope that a door, once opened, may someday open again. One never quite knows when one needs one's Doctor. Or even their carer."

""Carer"?" Clara repeated, and the Doctor had to contain his own smile. "I like that. Carer. Car-rer." She rolled it about and grinned. "Oh, I love that. The Carer."

"Well, that is what you are." The Doctor said earnestly, and she just stared up at him in adoration for a few moments.

"It appears undamaged." Reinette said, returning their attention back to the fireplace. "Do you think it will still work?"

"You broke the bond with the ship when you moved it, which means it was offline when the mirror broke. That's what saved it."

"But it's a physical link." Clara said, and she moved up to the fireplace. She went to take out her sonic and then she rolled her eyes, just remembering it wasn't with her.

"And it's still physically here." The Doctor continued. "Which might just mean, if we're lucky…" He knelt down and began tapping on the mantle with his ear pressed against the wood. "If we're very, very, very, very, very lucky…" He continued tapping until he got to the edge and then, it began echoing. He tapped three times, hearing the sound reverberate through the wood and into the ship on the other side. That made him laugh. "Aha!"

"What?" Clara asked in her own excitement.

"Loose connection. Need to get a man in." The Doctor echoed as he took out his sonic to re-activate the fireplace. Then, he smacked his hand down on the mantle top and the mechanical door whirred into life. Quickly pocketing his sonic, he took Clara's hand in his and placed his other hand on the lever. "Wish us luck." He said, and he lifted the lever.

"No." Reinette protested as the fireplace completely revolved.

However, they heard her, making them feel just a little bit of guilt. But they needed to make sure that the TARDIS was still there. And Rose and Mickey. But still, they couldn't help the tiniest bit of guilt in them. So, Clara knelt before the fireplace with the Doctor. "Madame De Pompadour!" Clara called and said girl knelt before the fireplace with a worried look. "Do you still want to see those stars?" She asked.

Reinette beamed. "More than anything."

The TARDIS pair beamed back with radiating smiles. "Give us two minutes. Pack a bag." The Doctor said.

Reinette's own grin grew warmer. "Am I going somewhere?"

"Go to the window." The Doctor said. "Pick a star, any star." At that, they stood up and raced for the main console room. "Mickey!"

"Rose!" They called. Rushing into the main console room, they saw a patient Rose and a dozing Mickey.

"Oh, finally, they come back." Rose said sarcastically, making Mickey draw up to his feet in full attention.

The pair blinked. "Sorry." They said in unison.

Rose quickly let it melt and they almost felt mad at her for faking her anger and she held out her hands. "Come here." She smiled. Clara quickly went up to Rose and wrapped her in a hug, the Doctor doing the same to Mickey before they switched over.

"How long did you wait?" Clara asked as they parted.

"Five and a half hours."

Clara blinked at that. "Oh. Sorry for that."

Rose waved them off. "It's fine. Although…" She pulled out Clara's sonic with a sly grin. "It was nice having this."

"Rose…" Clara squeaked.

"I can tell you're going to go back there." She said simply. They blinked in surprise at her and she rolled her eyes. "Fucking hell, I can hear you two from the other side of the TARDIS. This ship is no exception. Now, hurry up." She admonished.

"Yes mum." They said in unison as they rushed back to the fireplace. They knelt before it, but the room beyond was dark, lit only by moonlight.

"Reinette?" The Doctor called but there was no answer. "You there, Reinette?" They moved up to the mantle and the Doctor pulled the lever, allowing them to revolve around into Reinette's room. To their surprise, the room was empty, the bed made, and the candles blown out. "Maybe it's not proper night-time yet." The Doctor whispered to Clara as they took each other's hands and moved out of the room.

"Reinette?" Clara called, and they rounded into a small sitting room, seeing King Louis standing by the window, looking out into the rain drenched Paris.

"Oh. Hello." The Doctor quickly greeted.

"Hi." Clara waved.

Louis nodded in greeting. "You just missed her. She'll be in Paris by 6."

"Ah." They quickly said. They allowed themselves to look at Louis, who was wearing a white-haired, curled wig and unlike the last time they met, he was now wearing a cream coloured, royal vest. Almost like a mirror, Louis mimicked their studying, turning to properly look at them with wide eyes.

"Good lord." He muttered. "She was right. She said neither of you ever looked a day older." The pair shrugged at that. "So many years since I saw you last, but not a day of it on your faces."

Silence fell, and with it, Clara's own expression of bliss, which now turned into sorrow. "What'd you mean, "She was right"?" She asked, and the Doctor's face began to fall, mimicking her own.

Louis didn't answer them. Instead, he walked over to a nearby drawer, opened it and pulled out a small folded letter. "She spoke of you two many times." He started in his own tone of sadness. "Often wished you'd visit again. Reinette always had lovers but none she adored quite like you two. I guess, even after all that time, she was still a one of a kind." He held out the letter and the Doctor took it slowly. It was blank, but they could tell it carried a message inside. They heard a whip crack, the whine of horses and the rolling wheels of a drawn carriage, moving away from the building. Louis went back to the window to look outside. "There she goes. Leaving Versailles for the last time. Only 43 when she died. Too young." He sighed shakily, needing to close his eyes. "Too young." He said, his own voice starting to break but he drew another breath to hold himself. "Illness took her in the end." He gave a small, fond smile. "She always did work too hard." At that, he turned around to look back at the pair. Clara, he saw, was struggling to contain her own sorrow, while the Doctor was simply wearing a mask but his eyes…his old, ancient eyes, their sorrow matched Clara's. The Doctor looked up at Louis and back to the letter, and then he slipped it inside a pocket within his suit. Louis nodded in silent respect. "Oh course. Quite right." He didn't need to say anything further and the TARDIS duo didn't say anything either. They just walked away and out of his life, letting him silently bid his loving farewell to Reinette.

The TARDIS duo just walked back inside their home and up to the console, Rose and Mickey were already waiting patiently for them. "Why her?" Rose asked, and they looked up at them with their sad eyes. "Why did they think they could repair the ship with the head of Madame De Pompadour?"

The Doctor shrugged. "We'll probably never know. There was massive damage in the computer's memory banks. Probably got confused." The Doctor walked up the console and began to flick the levers at switches at the monitor, which was already showing the surveillance of the room outside. "The TARDIS can close down the time windows now the droids are gone. Should stop it causing any more trouble."

Rose's gaze flickered between the pair, the Doctor who worked absentmindedly on the console with Clara moving up to join him. Already she could feel the awkward tension, but it wasn't that of a fight. It was more of a unified sorrow that she didn't know of. Still, she had to ask, "Are you two all right?"

They gazed up at her, giving brief flashes of a fond smile. "We're always okay." The Doctor reassured. At that, they went back to their work, but the awkward silence fell once again. Rose decided another approach, pulling out Clara's sonic and placed it before said person.

"Thank you." Clara said grateful and she took it back and pocketed it again. And just like before, they returned to work, the room once again filling with the awkward silence.

Now, it was Mickey who took the initiative. "Come on, Rose. It's time you showed me around the rest of this place." He said. The pair quickly sent grateful looks in Mickey's direction as he led Rose out of the console room. Rose sent them another worried look, but they just gave her a reassuring smile as they left. Once they did, their sorrow returned, and they stopped working on the console, as the Doctor pulled out the letter. He drew Clara into a hug, said person already having their breathing hitched as they opened the letter.

My dear Doctor and Clara.

The path has never seemed slower, and yet I fear I am nearing its end. Reason tells me that you and I are unlikely to meet again, but I think I shall not listen to reason. I have seen the world inside your head, Doctor, and I have seen in even the briefest glimpses of how much you care for him, Clara, so I know that all things are possible, no matter how unlikely. Hurry though, my loves. My days grow shorter now and I am so very weak. Godspeed, my lonely angels.

Love, your girl in the fireplace, Reinette.

They finished reading, the Doctor pocketing the letter and he turned his head to the monitor. Pressing a few keys on the keyboard, the fireplace on the monitor flickered and died away. Then, he brought Clara back into their hug again.

"Is this what it's like?" She whispered with a broken voice. "To watch someone you love die before your eyes?"

"Yes." He answered simply. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way, Clara."

Clara breathed out harshly and she sniffed, making him draw her in tighter. "I really liked her." She whimpered.

"I know."

"I really did."

"So did I." He whispered as he stroked her hair. Clara just let it out, beginning to silently sob into his chest as he kissed her head. Glancing out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the TARDIS produce the name of the ship they had landed in. "SS Madame De Pompadour". That made him sigh. Now it all made sense. Reaching a hand back to the console, he pulled the dematerialisation lever, the TARDIS leaving the ship to forever drift away in space, empty, lifeless, and alone.

AN: Blimey, that was rough. If you were in anyway wondering why I did the relationship between the three like that, it's basically an outline, test run blueprint for me, so I know what I would be able to do when we get to…well…spoilers. XD Anyway, as always, thank you for reading and leave a review if you wish. :)