Okay. I want to say in advance that this was not the chapter I was going to publish next. I still am working on the Twelve-character-reflection chapter I promised. It's just taking a while. Sorry.

But until then, please enjoy this one! And now that my grad school application is done, I (hopefully) will have more time to write!

Thank you all for following this and for your comments and kudos. You're all the best.

Missy sat in an armchair inside the Vault, wondering once again if she could translate her latent telepathy into pyrokinesis.

It wasn't working. She'd been focusing hard on the piano for almost an hour and hadn't created so much as a spark.

But just as her mind wandered to what the Doctor had yet remove from the Vault could be used as an accelerant to kickstart the process, there was the sound of whirring and a loud clang behind her as the Vault door opened.

"Finally," she said with a sigh, rolling her eyes as she stood up and stretched. "I've been waiting for ages. Will you please remove the parental controls from Netflix? I am tired of watching nothing but cartoons."

She turned to look at her visitor and found not a grumpy Time Lord or even the Egg, but the Doctor's most recent pet. Bill her name was.

"Oh," Missy said, smirking. "I'm sorry, dear. I was expecting someone else."

"Uh...yeah," Bill said slowly. "The Doctor and Nardole were doing something in the TARDIS when the takeaway guy got there, so he asked me to bring it down."

Then, as if she was offering a sacrifice to some kind of angry god, Bill put the takeaway bags she held on the floor in front of her and backed away towards the door.

"Are you leaving so soon?" Missy asked in mock hurt as Bill backed all the way up to the door. "I thought you and I could chat a little. You know… just us girls."

Missy gave Bill her sauciest wink and was delighted when the young woman's eyes widened in horror.

"Uh, no. Definitely not," Bill said quickly, shaking her head.

"But why not, dear? Not even for five minutes?"

Missy heaved a huge sigh and began pouting. When that didn't seem to work, she heaved another sigh and threw herself dramatically back into the chair.

"No offense," Bill said, still frozen. "But you really scare me."

Missy's pout immediately turned back into a smirk. She shrugged and waved Bill away, flashing her a coquettish grin.

"Oh, stop it dear. You flatter me."

Missy winked again and that was enough to snap Bill out of her trance.

She began feeling around behind her for the latch on the Vault door. When she found it and pulled, Missy sat up, all of her playfulness gone in an instant.

"Okay, I'll stop, I'll stop. I promise," Missy begged. "Please. Just talk to me for five minutes. It's been so long since I had a conversation with someone who wasn't the Doctor or the Egg. Please."

Bill froze again, but didn't release the handle.

Maybe it was the fact that she was feeling really nice today or perhaps it was the sincerity in Missy's voice, but something made her reconsider her quick exit.

"Fine," she sighed. "Five minutes."

Missy lit up and jumped from her chair. But before she could take a step forward, Bill raised a finger threateningly.

"But," Bill stated with more confidence than she felt. "You have to go back into that- that cage thing you were in last time. Up there. With the piano."

"It's not a 'cage thing'. It's a containment field," Missy snapped. "And I will not-"

Bill's brow rose, and she pulled on the door again. Missy stopped herself, and rolled her eyes, sighing.

Giving in, she walked up the small platform to the piano and dropped onto the bench. Almost immediately, a force field rose up around it.

"Happy now?"

Bill paused, waiting for the field to suddenly drop and the woman in front of her to lunge for her throat, but it didn't happen. Instead, she exhaled deeply and released the handle. The door shut behind her.

"Well then…" Missy smiled, her voice high and fake. "How was your day, dear?"

"Oh no," Bill said, shaking her head and taking a step forward towards the field. "If we're gonna chat, I'll be the one asking the questions. I'm not telling you anything about myself."

Missy's sly smile faded.

"That's probably smart," she remarked, though any compliment to Bill was lost in the overwhelming tone of defeat. "Fine. Do you want to know how my day was then?"

Bill took another tentative step forward towards the containment field. When it was clear that Missy wasn't going anywhere, she took a seat in the armchair that Missy had vacated earlier.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Missy. Short for 'the Mistress'. As in 'the Doctor's'." Missy flashed Bill a coy smirk, but it only earned her a raised eyebrow in reply. She rolled her eyes and leaned her elbow against the piano. "Fine. That hasn't quite caught on yet, but not for lack of trying."

Bill leaned forward unconsciously as she considered the strange mad woman in front of her.

"You're a Time Lord," Bill stated. "Like he is."

"Time Lady, thank you very much. But yes, that is the standard species identifier," Missy sighed. "Two hearts, three brainstems, thirteen faces."

"Thirteen?" Bill frowned. "Thirteen faces?"

"Yes. Every Time Lord gets thirteen faces. I haven't used all mine yet because frankly, I don't have a death wish," Missy explained. "Unlike some people I know."

"But thirteen of them?"

"Yes. Twelve regenerations, thirteen faces," Missy said, before glancing up at the ceiling and adding "special circumstances notwithstanding."

Bill took a moment to think, looking first at Missy before glancing around the Vault. It was far more spacious than she had originally thought it was, and Bill figured the words "bigger-on-the-inside" had something to do with it.

"What did you do to get put inside a Vault?"

Bill hadn't meant to actually ask it outloud, but it was too late. Luckily, Missy didn't seem to take offense to the question.

"Bad things," she answered, leaning her head in her hand. "I'll spare you the details. I know how you humans cry."

"Right," Bill muttered. "And while you're in here, you're supposed to learn how to be good, yeah?"

Missy said nothing, but sniffed derisively, which was enough of an answer.

"Is it working?"

"Well," Missy said, her voice high-pitched and mocking again. "It's been seventy-two years, eight months, twenty-six days, and eleven hours since I killed anyone, so you tell me."

"Not that anyone's counting though, yeah?" Bill asked with her own derisive sniff. "And lemme guess… not for lack of trying either, yeah?"

Missy clicked her tongue, fixing Bill with a look of irritation.

"Is it my fault that the Egg makes it so damn easy?" she hissed.

Bill chuckled and nodded, smirking.

"Okay, I'll give you that one," she admitted. "He does make it easy, doesn't he?"

Missy raised her brow as if to say "well, there you go" and the pair fell into a moment of silence. Bill tapped her fingers on the armrest, thinking.

She had been down here too long, and there was a chance the Doctor was going to start to worry. Better wrap this up.

"Alright. One last question."

"Oh, has it been five minutes already?" Missy said in a rather hurt voice, which Bill honestly couldn't tell was sincere or not.

"The Doctor introduced you as 'the other last of the Time Lords'..." Bill began slowly.

"Yes? And?"

"Well…" Bill considered Missy carefully. "Why?" Why are you two the last of the Time Lords?"

"Because there are no other Time Lords left. Think it through," Missy stated, rolling her eyes yet again. "And here I was thinking you were a bit clever."

"No, I mean," Bill said, ignoring Missy's rude quip. "Why are there only two of you? What happened to the Time Lords?"

The way Bill looked at her, Missy couldn't help but smirk.

Oh, Theta could certainly hold an audience, maybe even deliver a monologue, but he was notoriously terrible at educating his pets on important matters.

"A long time ago, there was a war," Missy began. "A war that threatened the whole of reality between our people and the Daleks. It was called the Time War and the larger it grew, the more star systems it burned and the more it threatened to tear the entire Universe asunder. Eventually, it became clear that neither side was going to give in, so the only thing that could be done to save the Universe was to kill all the Daleks and all the Time Lords."

"But… But that's…"

The word was right there, but Bill struggled to get herself to say it.

"Take your time, dear," Missy encouraged.

The calmness of her voice made the words taste that much worse.

"That's… genocide," Bill choked out.

It was only then that it hit her why Missy could be so calm about it, why it didn't even seem to phase her.

"Oh… my… God," Bill said in a low, shaky voice. "That's… that's why you're in here, isn't it? You- you killed your own people."

Missy's nostrils flared and her eyes flashed dangerously.

"I didn't say it was me," she hissed. But then she relaxed and straightened up. When she continued, her voice was slower, more measured. "I didn't say it was me."

Bill felt a sliver of ice drop into her stomach.

"But that means…" she said, her breathing growing more and more rapid. "That's means… if you didn't…"

Her heart was now pounding so loudly that even if she could get words out, she wouldn't have been able to hear them.

"If you want to know what happened to the Time Lords, dearie," Missy said cooly. "Then go ask the Time Lord upstairs."

Bill didn't know how long it had taken her to walk from the Vault up to the Doctor's office.

Weeks? Months? Years? She didn't know. All she knew was that every step she took made her legs heavier, like her legs were slowly being filled with lead.

"Ah, Bill," the Doctor greeted from his seat behind his desk. "You're in one piece. That's good."

"Was… was that not expected?" she asked slowly, closing the door behind her and leaning back against it.

The Doctor's mouth worked wordlessly for a moment before he just shrugged and waved her away. But when she didn't chuckle or even react at all, he sat up.

"What's wrong?" The Doctor jumped up from his chair and circled the desk. "Did Missy do something? Did she say something to you?"

Bill wanted to tell him everything Missy had just told her, but she just knew that Nardole was listening from just inside the TARDIS.

"Yeah," she breathed. "She said… some things."

"I knew it," the Doctor muttered darkly. He turned his head towards the TARDIS to shout. "Nardole! Go make room to take the piano out of the Vault. I'm putting Missy in timeout."

Nardole stepped out of the TARDIS less than a second after the Doctor shouted, looking utterly dejected at the order. Had Bill been capable of forming full sentences at that moment, she would have shouted at him herself about the consequences of eavesdropping on conversations he wasn't part of.

"Again, sir? But it's so heavy," Nardole whinged.

"And I didn't mechanically augment your muscles for nothing," the Doctor snapped. "Now go."

Nardole sighed and turned for the door, mumbling under his breath. Bill managed to step forward to let him out, but the moment he had passed through, her legs forgot how to support her weight and she fell back against it.

"What did she say to you?" the Doctor asked, his voice low and urgent. "Bill, tell me. What did Missy say?"

"She…"

Bill's words caught in her throat. Her chest heaved.

"Tell me," the Doctor asked again. "Please."

"She said that you killed all the Time Lords," Bill croaked.

Saying the words aloud made the dam break. Tears began pouring from her eyes and she was unable to keep herself from sobbing.

It couldn't be. It just couldn't be true. But the way the color drained from the Doctor's face when she said it meant it was. And that only made it worse.

"She… said that?"

"She said there was a war," Bill told him through her tears. "She said there was a war and- and… and that's how it ended. How it had to end. By killing all the Time Lords…. And she said she didn't do it."

The Doctor closed his eyes, breathing deeply.

"Is she lying?" Bill seethed, her jaw clenched despite her continued tears. "Because if she is, I'm gonna kill her."

The Doctor sighed.

"She's not lying."

Bill's chest tightened to the point where she thought she had stopped breathing. When she spoke, it was so low that the Doctor could barely hear her, despite standing right in front of her.

"You… killed... your own… people."

"No. I didn't."

Bill's breathing kicked back into gear as the rush of anger swept over her.

"SOMEBODY IS LYING TO ME," Bill roared, stepping forward so fiercely that the Doctor recoiled. "You can't both be right. So, which one of you is lying?"

The Doctor raised his hands defensively.

"We… we're both right," he said in a small voice. "Neither of us are lying. We're both telling the truth."

"That's not possible," Bill hissed.

"It is," the Doctor sighed. "Please… why don't you have a seat? I'll make you a cup of-"

"Explain," Bill commanded. "How could you both be right?"

She lunged forward again as she said this and the Doctor took another step back, right into his desk. He flinched, but didn't take his eyes off of Bill.

"There was a war," he said weakly. "Neither side would stop at nothing. It didn't matter how much they lost or how much collateral damage there was. They wouldn't stop. And if nobody stopped them, then the rest of the Universe would pay the price. Even though it wasn't their war, they'd have to die for it.

"I stayed out of it as long as I could. I believed it wasn't my war either, but I couldn't run from it forever. So, I did what I had to do. To save the Universe."

"So, you killed your own people."

The words were no more than a whisper. Spoken in fear.

"Yes," the Doctor admitted. "Yes, I did. I made the choice to end the Time War and it was a choice I would never wish upon my worst enemy. A choice that I had to live with. That I… have to live with."

"If… if you really did…" Bill's voice faded. She took a deep, shaky breath. "If you did that, then why did you tell me that you didn't kill them."

"Because…" The Doctor gave her a small smile. "I got another chance."

"To- to change it?" Bill asked, her breathing steadying for the first time in the entire conversation. "To save them?"

The Doctor's small widened ever so slightly as Bill relaxed, even just a little.

"I think it was the Universe paying me back," he confessed. "For all the times I saved her. I got to go back to that moment, the Moment as it were, and find another way. All of me, all my faces… we came together and we did it. We figured out a way to save Gallifrey."

"And- and Missy knows that?"

"Oh, yes," the Doctor confirmed, nodding. "Missy knows that. I think she told you otherwise to get a rise out of you."

Coming from him, the thought was reassuring, but she still felt overwhelmed with guilt.

"Yeah," she muttered, squeezing her eyes shut. "I should have known that. I shouldn't have let her- let her get to me. Sorry."

"Don't be. She is a master manipulator. It's on her resumé," the Doctor said. "Trust me, weaker than you have been fooled many a time before."

"Isn't it 'stronger than you'?" Bill asked between taking deep breaths and wiping her eyes. "Like, "stronger than you have been fooled before'?"

The Doctor's brow rose.

"I know what I said, Miss Potts."

Bill gave a watery chuckle and took another deep breath.

"Sorry I yelled at you," she said quietly, looking down at the floor.

To her surprise, the Doctor put his hands on her shoulders. She looked up and found him gazing intensely at her, but not angrily as she expected.

"Listen to me, Bill," he said in a low, sincere voice. "I never wanted you to learn about that. But since you had to, I wouldn't have wanted you to react any other way."

"You - you wouldn't?"

"No," he assured. "Because if you learned that about me and didn't react with abject horror… well, let's just say I would have to reevaluate what we're doing here. Okay?"

Bill nodded. The Doctor squeezed her shoulders warmly and smiled.

"Now," he said in a gentle tone, raising a hand towards the chair in front of his desk. "Will you please sit down and let me get you a cup of tea?"

Bill nodded again and dropped into the chair as the Doctor disappeared into the TARDIS. When he returned a few minutes later, he set two steaming mugs in front of both chairs at the desk. But before he took his own seat, he draped a blanket around her shoulders. Unusual, but certainly not unwelcome.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked sincerely as she pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders and sipped her tea.

"I feel like I should be asking you that question," she replied. "Given that it was you who… well…"

"Ah, don't worry about me," the Doctor said, waving her away.

He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands on his lap. Bill took another sip of her tea.

"So," she began slowly. "Your planet."

"Yes?"

"It's okay?" she asked hesitantly. "Like… the people and all that. The Time Lords… They're okay?"

"Yep."

"Have you been back? Since then, I mean."

"Yes, I have."

"How did they…" Bill paused, searching for the right word. "Take it?"

"They seemed to have mixed feelings," the Doctor said, trying to sift through the gaps in his memory to remember what happened that day on Gallifrey. "Started with them pointing big guns at me and ended with them appointing me Lord President so, ultimately, I think they were grateful."

"Lord President?" Bill chuckled. "Does that mean you're president of two planets then?"

The Doctor stopped, considering her words, and then let out a hearty chuckle of his own.

"I hadn't considered that. But I guess you're right," he said, smiling. "Though by the time I left, I'd stolen another TARDIS and ran off again, so I doubt I'll be invited to any High Council meetings anytime soon. Probably better that way. I doubt my old robes would fit. Hell, I don't even know where my old robes are."

Bill returned his smile and continued to sip at her tea.

The blanket around her shoulders was making her very warm and sleepy. The anger and fear that had washed over her had sapped all her energy. But no matter how a little nap in the TARDIS sounded, she had class soon.

"I should go make sure Nardole's alright," the Doctor sighed. "And have a talk with Missy. This… this isn't okay. She needs something more than just timeout from her piano."

It wasn't meant to be a question or even to open up discussion on the subject, but Bill had an answer regardless. A smirk devious enough to rival Missy's own spread across her face.

"I think I have an idea."

"I told you. It was accident," Missy moaned as the Doctor dragged Nardole's unconscious body out of the Vault. "He snuck up on me. I acted out of self-defense."

"I won't argue that he probably brought it on himself," the Doctor grumbled as he shut the Vault doors. "But knocking out my assistant is certainly not something a good person would do."

Missy shrugged, lounging on the piano that was definitely still in her possession.

"You're late," she said flatly. "The food's nearly gone cold."

"I had a matter to deal with."

The Doctor dusted off his hands and made his way back towards the containment field. Missy rolled over onto her stomach, watching him as a smirk curled her lips.

"Was it your pet? Did she cry?" she asked, her tone much too cheerful to indicate actual concern. "I know how humans cry."

"I just watched you cry last night."

"And I told you we were never going to speak of that!" Missy hissed.

The Doctor just rolled his eyes.

"Actually…" He pulled out his sonic sunglasses from his inside pocket. "She wanted me to come down and thank you."

The enmity on Missy's face disappeared immediately and was replaced with a look of puzzled surprise.

"She… did?"

"Yeah," the Doctor said. He slid the sunglasses onto his nose. "She wanted to thank you for having her come talk to me. Actually, she was so grateful, she asked I come do something for you."

Missy watched as Doctor circled the containment field around to her television. When she recognized that was his destination, she slid off the piano.

"What are you-"

She didn't have time to complete the sentence before the Doctor raised a finger to the side of his glasses and pressed. They whirred to life for a moment before he slid them off and tucked them back in his pocket. Then he turned back to her, smiling.

"There you go," he said brightly. "Parental controls removed from Netflix."

Missy stared, mouth agape, as he started back towards the doors again.

"You're… serious?"

"Mmhmm," the Doctor said. "Have fun."

"Aren't you staying? For lunch?"

"Sorry, I would," he said, turning to face her and shrugging. "But I have to go revive Nardole since someone was not being very nice."

And with that, he spun on his heel and left. When he did, the force field dropped and she was free to leave her little platform again.

But she didn't.

Not at first, least. She just continued to stand there, frozen in shock, for a few more moments. But eventually her excitement overtook her and she clamored off the platform for the television.

Good gods old and new, a voice that strangely resembled her blonde Harold Saxon body said somewhere deep in her subconscious. Is this what we've been reduced to? Getting excited over not having to rewatch Paddington again?

But Missy ignored it, instead turning the television back on and selecting Netflix.

As the screen came up, she read the words across it under her breath.

Parental controls removed. Your Netflix password has been updated.

Please enter your new Netflix password.

She stared at them for a moment before her face twisted into a maniacal grin.

"Oh, you clever, clever girl," she chuckled darkly. "I will make you pay for this."

They can't all be really happy, right? Yes? No? Maybe? Well, in my book, you can't have all the happy without the sad. But maybe that's just me.

Part of this series is missing scenes and conversations we never saw on screen. This is a conversation that sort of happened in Thin Ice, but didn't get into specifics. I hope I did Bill justice in this one. She's very much someone who will call Twelve out on any BS or anything that doesn't mesh with how things should be. I think her finding out about the Time War would be one of those times where she wouldn't let him off the hook. Feel free to let me know what you think about this.

Again, thank you all so, so much for reading. I hope to get another chapter ready to go within the next week!