CHAPTER 10

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WHO IS SALLY SPARROW?

As soon as she was informed of her arrival by the guards, Reinette immediately came to see the woman who had stumbled into Versailles in a half-dazed state. She was certain that the Rutan had just claimed yet another victim and wanted to see if this woman would have any leads on her whereabouts.

As soon as Reinette entered the spare bedroom that the guards had assigned to their temporary guest, she realized that the woman was extremely weak. She could barely hold her head up to look at her much less stand.

Not that that stopped her from trying. The young woman instantly attempted to get to her feet to curtsey but wound up almost falling over instead. Reinette barely caught her in time to keep her from smashing her head on the floor.

"I'm sorry, Marquise. I meant no disrespect," The woman Reinette had learned was named Sally Sparrow said with an embarrassed look on her face.

"I know. Don't worry about it, Mademoiselle. There's no need for you to follow proper decorum with me when we're in private especially not in your condition. Just lie back down. I can definitely talk to you much easier that way than I can with you lying in an unconscious heap on the floor," Reinette said with a warm smile.

Sally laughed nervously and then immediately lay back down as she said, "If you're coming to ask me about what happened, I'm afraid that I honestly don't remember. I don't even remember where I live. All I know is my name. At least I think it's my name. I seem to remember someone calling me that before so it certainly sounds right anyway."

Reinette tried to hide her disappointment as she said, "So you really remember nothing? Not even how you were hurt?"

Sally had a distant, faraway look in her eyes as she said, "I – I seem to remember a bolt of lightning and a loud noise. It was so loud that it was deafening. I almost feel as if I was hit by something. Maybe it was lightning only that's not quite right because there was no storm."

Reinette nodded to herself with her suspicions all but confirmed now by Sally's words as she said to her, "That's because it wasn't lightning. You were attacked by a creature called a Rutan that can generate the same kind of power that can be found in lightning. You're lucky to have escaped with your life because she's extremely dangerous."

Sally looked at her in horror as she said, "Then it was one of your monsters? You . . . You don't think that she might try to attack me again, do you?"

Reinette immediately smiled at her reassuringly as she said, "No, I don't believe so. She was probably in a wild panic to get away from my Musketeers, and you had the misfortune to be in her way at the time. You won't ever have to worry about her again, Sally. Not you or anyone else. I can promise you that."

Sally looked concerned now as she said, "Are . . . Are you going to kill her when you find her?"

Reinette looked at her oddly as she said, "Why are you so concerned about a creature that you can't even remember that evidently attacked you?"

"You said that she was on the run, Marquise. Perhaps she was just frightened and didn't mean me any real harm. I just don't want anyone to die on my account."

Reinette gave her a warm smile as she said, "You're a good woman, Sally Sparrow. Not many people would be so worried about this creature's safety especially after being so badly hurt by it. Don't worry though. I promise that I won't kill the Rutan if she surrenders peacefully. I don't want her to die any more than you do. That's not my way."

Sally nodded with what to Reinette's surprise actually looked like a relieved look on her face as she said, "Good. I know it sounds like I'm being overly sentimental but I just . . . I truly hate violence in all forms."

"As do I even though I frequently have to use it to save lives despite that belief. I never take a life unless I have to however," Reinette said with conviction.

Sally nodded and said, "Do you wish me to leave then, Marquise? I'm certain that I'm well enough to travel home now."

Then she looked about her in confusion as she quickly added, "As soon as I remember where that is."

Reinette sighed and shook her head as she said, "You don't even know where you live and you almost fell over less than five minutes ago, Sally. You're not going anywhere until your memory has returned and my physicians pronounce you capable of traveling on your own."

Sally looked extremely worried now as she said, "I have no money."

"You don't have to worry about that. There won't be a bill. These are my personal doctors," Reinette assured her.

"I – I don't like doctors though. I never have. Do I really have to be seen by one?" Sally said in an anxious tone.

Reinette hesitated at first and then finally said, "Not if you start to improve. If you don't, however, then I'm afraid that I'll have to insist."

Sally immediately looked relieved as she said, "Thank you, Marquise. Thank you. I'm certain that I'll be able to leave by tomorrow or the day after at the most."

"We'll see. Until then, just lie still and relax. You're completely safe here I assure you," Reinette said as she started to leave.

That was when the door to the room suddenly burst open and Josette came running inside. She immediately hugged a completely surprised Reinette so tightly that she instantly started to cut off the circulation in the lower part of her body.

"Marquise, I'm sorry. I tried to stop her but when she woke up and heard that you were here no force on Earth could keep her from you," One of the guards said as he came into the room gasping for breath after having evidently chased the child all the way there.

"It's alright. From now on, she's always allowed to see me wherever I am. From now on, she's to have full and unrestricted access to the entire palace except for the King's private quarters of course," Reinette said.

The guard looked at her in surprise for a moment and then nodded with a warm smile as he said, "Yes, Marquise. I'll spread the word to the others immediately."

Well, it was about time. The guard thought to himself as he hurried off.

"Jeanne, I'm so glad that you're okay. When I thought that you were dead, I . . ." Josette started to say before she stopped because she was crying much too hard to speak.

"No, I'm fine, dear. I'm perfectly fine. If I can survive being constantly hunted by clockwork men most of my life, then a Rutan isn't going to be what does me in now. I promise you that," Reinette said as she hesitantly put her arms around the little girl and began to return her hug for the first time since she had known her.

"I love you, Jeanne," Josette said as she continued to cry.

"I love you too. In fact, I love you so much that I . . . I'd like to adopt you," Reinette said.

Josette looked at her in absolute shock as she said, "You want me to be your daughter?"

"Yes, of course. Is that something that you'd like? I know that we've never discussed it before," Reinette asked hesitantly.

Josette's instant smile became so wide that her entire face seemed to be swallowed up by it as she shouted, "Yes, yes, yes!"

"Can you give us that answer again, Josette? I'm not quite sure that we know how you feel about the whole thing," Clara said as she walked into the room with a huge smile on her own face.

"Yes!" Josette shouted with joy as she hugged both Reinette and Clara in rapid succession.

"I'm still not sure yet, Jeanne. What do you think?" Clara joked as Josette continued to scream at the top of her lungs.

"I think I need to hire a tutor to teach Josette proper manners as soon as possible. Right after my ears stop ringing," Reinette said in a loud voice in order to be heard over the shouting.

"I'm so sorry, Jeanne. I didn't mean to act so rude. I'm just so happy. I can't believe that it's really true. I've dreamt of this for so long now, but I never actually thought that it would ever happen for real," Josette said in an extremely excited voice as the smile never left her face.

"I'm so sorry, dear. I should have done this a long time ago. I know I should have," Reinette said in a guilty voice.

"It's fine. I understand. You were hesitant because of the King and how he would react. I'm not angry. I could never really be angry at you . . . Mother," Josette said as she said the last part with a hesitant but hopeful look on her face.

Reinette could tell that she was uncertain whether she should call her that or not. So she immediately put her mind at ease about it as she put her arms around the girl once more and kissed her forehead.

"It's okay. You can call me that. That's what I am to you now after all. I suppose I have been for some time now whether I was ready to admit that or not. And for the record, I feel exactly the same way about you," She said in a loving voice.

"Can I be Aunt Clara? I want to be Aunt Clara," Clara said eagerly.

"You seem more like her little sister at the moment," Reinette said with a grin.

"I won't even dignify that with a response. You know all of this monster hunting is going to your head, Jeanne. You beat a few hundred alien invaders or so and all of a sudden you think that gives you the right to make smug wisecracks about my lack of maturity. Just because it's all completely true doesn't give you the right to say it. That's just rude," Clara said with a mischievous smirk.

"J – Mother, who's that?" Josette asked as she suddenly noticed Sally lying on the bed nearby.

Reinette now realized that Sally had been as quiet as a mouse and hadn't made a sound the entire time that Josette had been there. It was almost as if she had been afraid of being seen by her.

Or at least that was the impression that the look on her face gave Reinette anyway. She looked as if she were completely terrified as soon as the little girl noticed her.

"She's a victim of the same Rutan who attacked you, Josette. She's going to be staying here until she recovers," Reinette said as she watched Sally's strange reaction curiously.

"I was attacked? What are you talking about?" Josette asked with a confused look on her face.

Reinette now looked at her with concern as she said, "You don't remember?"

"Remember what?" Josette asked.

"Didn't it occur to you that you were passed out cold in your mother's room for a reason, Josie?" Clara asked with a grin.

"Josie?" Both Reinette and Josette said with the exact same look of disdain on their face.

Clara laughed as she said, "You two really are meant to be mother and daughter alright. You even have the same reactions to everything. I was just trying out a new nickname for you, Josette. You don't like it I take it?"

"No," Josette said with a frown.

"It was just a thought. Nothing serious," Clara said as she patted the little girl on the head affectionately which made her smile at her.

"So you don't remember the creature either? Neither do I. I wonder if it did something to us in order to make us forget it," Sally said to Josette with what almost looked like a relieved look on her face instead of the frustrated one that her tone suggested she should be wearing.

"That's possible I suppose. Jeanne's monsters have all kinds of strange abilities," Clara admitted.

Reinette shook her head as she said, "No, not the Rutans. They don't have any such abilities as far as the Doctor knew. It could be temporary amnesia brought on by the creature's sudden attacks on both of you. I'll have to have my physicians look at you soon, Josette. I don't want to have to worry about you."

"I'm fine, Mother. I don't have a mark on me. I did wonder what I was doing in your room though. The last thing that I remember was following the Rutan while looking for you because she said that you were still alive when everyone else insisted that you were dead. I thought that if I followed her that she would lead me to you. Then I . . . I don't remember anything after that. I guess it'll come back to me sooner or later though, right?" Josette asked with a worried look on her face.

"It should, yes. I'll be sure to ask my physicians about it so don't worry. I don't ever want you to worry about anything anymore, alright?" Reinette said as she kissed Josette's forehead and put her arms around her.

Reinette thought she could see Sally immediately start to look worried once more. Perhaps she was only imagining it though because the look seemed to be gone almost as soon as it appeared.

As her new mother held her, Josette closed her eyes and smiled with a look of peaceful contentment on her face such as Clara had never seen before. It was obvious that Josette loved Reinette just as much as she obviously loved her. Clara was so happy for both of them. She definitely couldn't think of two people who deserved it more.

She was glad that Reinette at least would get the life that she herself would never have. She had always known that she would never live long enough to have a family of her own. The life expectancy of the original Clara's echoes was notoriously short, and she was sure that hers wouldn't be any different.

She had resigned herself to that idea a long time ago despite the fact that Reinette had saved her life once. She was determined that when her time finally came that she was going to make her death count for something though by doing it in the line of duty helping to save her home from the many dangers that constantly threatened it.

"Stop that," Reinette chastised her immediately breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Stop what?" Clara asked in an innocent tone.

"You know what. You're not going to die, Clara. Not on my watch," Reinette said with a determined look on her face.

"What's wrong with Clara? Is she sick?" Josette asked in alarm.

Reinette smiled at her reassuringly as she said, "No, she's fine. She's just convinced herself that she's going to die young but she's wrong about that. Believe me I know."

"Don't do that," Clara said as she shuddered.

"Do what?" Reinette asked.

"Now you're the one who's playing Miss Innocent all of a sudden. Stop it with the whole 'I know exactly what's going to happen in the future' routine, Jeanne. That always bothers me. You know that," Clara said in an upset tone.

"Why should it? It's not like I've ever told you anything," Reinette said.

"No, but your eyes speak volumes sometimes, Jeanne. I don't like what they have to say either," Clara said.

As Reinette looked away from her with a mournful expression, Clara sighed. She had always suspected that Reinette had accidentally found out from the Doctor's memories the exact details of her death including the time and place. That knowledge seemed to be there in her eyes from time to time, and it was moments like this that always did all but confirm that suspicion for her.

"You're both extremely morbid sometimes. Did you know that?" Josette said with a frown.

Both women looked at her with guilty expressions now as Clara immediately said, "I'm sorry, Jo. I didn't mean to ruin your special day. Do you forgive me?"

Josette smiled at her and said, "I will if you stop coming up with stupid little nicknames for me."

Clara smiled and said, "Aw! It was so much fun too. Okay. I guess you've got yourself a deal then."

"Thank you," Reinette said with such a sense of relief that it instantly caused Josette to burst out laughing.

That was when a messenger from the King suddenly knocked at the door before coming into the room and saying, "A message from the King for you, Marquise."

Reinette and Clara immediately looked at one another in surprise. Neither of them had any idea what this could be about unless it was about the Rutan.

Or was it something much worse?

Reinette immediately started to worry that the King had found out about her intention to adopt Josette and was going to attempt to talk her out of it because of the girl's social status. She made up her mind that that was not going to happen no matter what Louis had to say however.

She would give up everything if she had to in order to keep Josette in her life even her title and position. Even Louis himself if need be but she so hoped that it would never come to that.

That would completely tear her apart.

"Yes? What is it?" Reinette asked the messenger with a heavy heart as she awaited his answer with an ever increasing sense of dread.

The messenger actually began to smile now as he said, "The King says that he's glad to hear the news of your impending adoption of the child, Josette. He says that he already has the official papers drawn up and ready for you to sign whenever you wish. He only wonders why you didn't do it sooner."

"What? Of all the cheek! He knows very well why," Clara said with a frown.

The messenger actually laughed at her response as he said, "Even the King knows better than to try to change the Marquise's mind once it's been made up, Baroness. Everyone knows how much the girl means to her."

"Well, I wish that someone had told Jeanne that. She's been worrying herself sick over it," Clara said.

Reinette looked at her in surprise as she said, "I never said a word about that to you."

"You don't have to. I know, Jeanne. I know exactly what you're thinking at all times. I can read you like a book," Clara said with a smug smile.

"Yes, just as I know you, sister. Just as I know you," Reinette said as she smiled at her warmly.

The messenger looked at them both with anticipation now as he said, "How should I respond to his majesty, Marquise?"

"Tell him that I'll be there to sign the papers shortly and tell him . . . thank you," Reinette said with a heartfelt smile.

"I will," The messenger said with a deep bow of respect before he quickly left her presence.

Barely a moment later, yet another knock came at the door however which caused Clara to sigh and say, "Now what? What could he possibly have forgotten to say?"

Reinette immediately opened the door to see that it was someone else standing there now instead of the guard. It was someone that she didn't recognize in the slightest which instantly caused her concern.

Who could penetrate this far into Versailles that she wouldn't automatically know on sight?

"Yes?" Reinette asked even as she secretly grabbed the sonic pen in her pocket in preparation for a fight.

"May the sun's rays shine down brightly on the uncrowned Queen," The man said as he covertly looked around him to make sure that he wasn't being watched.

"Who is that?" Josette whispered to Clara as soon as she saw Reinette's eyes widen in reaction to those words.

"He's a knight in The Order of the Sun Queen," Clara whispered back.

"The what?" Josette asked in surprise.

"They're a secret order of knights created by King Louis XIV's second wife to investigate and deal with all potential threats to the state that no ordinary soldier could handle," Clara explained.

"But he had no second wife," Josette said.

Clara smiled at her as she said, "Not one that the history books would ever acknowledge, but she was still his wife nonetheless because he married her in secret. Other than the secret marriage, does that remind you of anyone you know?"

Josette immediately smiled and nodded.

Reinette meanwhile invited the mysterious man inside and shut the door behind him as she said, "France only has one Queen, sir, and she is married to the King."

"We all know who truly holds the key to his heart however, Marquise, even if you are too gracious to ever admit it. You are the true heir to Madame de Maintenon, the uncrowned queen of Louis XIV, in spirit if not in blood, and that is why we now work with you without hesitation," The man said.

Then he suddenly stopped with an alarmed look on his face as he said, "Is it safe to speak of matters of vital importance to the state here?"

He gestured to Sally as he did so which instantly made Reinette frown as she suddenly remembered her presence there. She had been so quiet this entire time that she had forgotten all about her once more and had been conversing in front of her about personal matters the entire time as though she had been an old friend.

She would have to watch that in the future.

"I'll leave, Marquise. I really shouldn't be here anyway. Rest assured that I won't say a word about anything that I've seen and heard here," Sally said as she tried to slowly stand on her feet once more.

She immediately fell over once more and barely managed to keep from seriously hurting herself as she quickly grabbed the side of the bed to keep herself from hitting the floor hard. Reinette smiled at her reassuringly as she helped her back into bed.

"It's alright, Sally. You just stay here. We'll all just leave you alone to rest in peace," Reinette said as she signaled the others to follow her outside.

As soon as they left, Sally sighed in relief. She had been so afraid that Josette would expose her. She was still afraid of it actually but not as much as before. She was sure after watching Reinette with her family and studying her reaction when she had asked her about it earlier that she wouldn't kill her even if she did eventually discover the truth about her.

That didn't mean that she wanted to become her prisoner for the rest of her life though. She would definitely have to get out of there as quickly as possible once she could walk properly again. She only wished that her shape shifting abilities hadn't been somehow taken away from her by the Scottish girl's attack. At least then she could have changed her appearance to one that Josette didn't recognize before Reinette saw her. Hopefully though luck would be on her side and either her strength or her powers would return before Josette remembered once more.

Killing Josette in order to protect herself never even occurred to her as it might once have not too long ago. Being around humans even for such a short time was already changing her in ways that even she didn't realize yet.

One day soon she would find out exactly how much.

Meanwhile Reinette had led the others back to her private quarters where she continued her conversation with the member of the Order in private.

"Now it's safe for us to speak, Monsieur," Reinette reassured him as soon as she closed the door.

"You can call me Monsieur Nemo if you must give me a name. It's better for both of us if you don't know my actual name," The man from the Order said.

Reinette laughed at that as Mr. Nemo gave her a questioning look. He had no idea that he had just reminded her of a character from a book that wouldn't even be written for another hundred years.

"Never mind her. She sometimes has her own very . . . unique sense of humor that none of us mere mortals could possibly understand," Clara said in amusement at his reaction because she knew full well that whatever Reinette was laughing about had something to do with the future.

Mr. Nemo nodded and then looked at Josette hesitantly as he said, "Are you certain that we can talk freely around her? She . . . doesn't exactly belong here, does she?"

Josette's face turned bright red with embarrassment, and she quickly got up and tried to leave the room. Before she could move more than an inch away however, Reinette immediately grabbed ahold of her hand tightly and pulled her back towards her.

Clara couldn't help but grin evilly at the look on Reinette's face. She knew exactly what was coming next and how it would all turn out after all.

Mr. Nemo knew that he had just made a huge mistake when Reinette immediately gave him a furious look that instantly made him regret his words as she said in a cold voice, "She is my daughter and you can say anything in front of her that you would say to me. In the future, she is to be treated with the exact same respect and courtesy that you would show me. Do you understand?"

"Y – Yes, Marquise. I'm truly sorry, child. I meant no disrespect," Mr. Nemo said in a nervous voice as he backed away from her.

Clara couldn't help but chuckle at that. Reinette had just given the man her most potent death stare. Even the King knew never to cross her when she had that face on. That stare always meant that someone was going to have their heart ripped out if they continued to press their luck.

"Thank you," Josette whispered to Reinette who immediately smiled back at her and put a protective arm around her.

"Marquise, I'll get right to the heart of the matter. We have heard several strange reports coming from the recently rediscovered Roman ruins in the southern part of the city," Mr. Nemo said.

Reinette's ears immediately perked up as he spoke. The Order of the Sun Queen involved themselves in many covert operations dedicated to the protection of the state against powerful enemies that an ordinary soldier or Musketeer couldn't hope to stand against. Many of them were things that even she didn't know about since they liked to mostly keep to themselves. In fact, they usually only reported to her about one thing and one thing only.

Alien invasions.

"Oh, come on! I still haven't had a chance to rest from all of that traveling through time that we did yet. Is the universe out to turn me into a complete nervous wreck or what?" Clara complained.

Mr. Nemo looked at her with a smile then as he said, "So I see that the rumors of the two of you doing the occasional bit of traveling through time are correct."

"You say that as if your Order is no stranger to time travel, Monsieur," Reinette noted.

Mr. Nemo smiled but said nothing. That told Reinette everything that she needed to know about the rumors that she had heard about the Order. They had once been an organization with lofty but noble goals, but with the death of their founder decades ago they had since degenerated into something much darker and almost sinister that answered only to themselves. They were in fact very similar to a group that the Doctor knew of called Torchwood, and Reinette trusted the Order about as much as the Doctor did them.

"What reports have you heard from the ruins, Monsieur Nemo?" Reinette finally asked as she sought to get the conversation back on track once more.

"We have several reports of mysterious disappearances in the area from just the last twenty-four hours. These people always disappear when they go too near the ruins especially the area where the strange statues were unearthed recently," Mr. Nemo said.

"Oh, no! No, no, no. I really didn't need this today," Clara said with a groan.

"Monsieur Nemo, were there any reports of these statues . . . moving?" Reinette asked as she gripped Clara's hand in silent support.

Mr. Nemo looked at her with surprise as he said, "I was just getting to that. I wasn't sure if you would believe me or not so I was trying to ease you into it. Some of the people in the area have reported that several of the statues that were unearthed seemed to move when no one was looking at them and then return to their original positions the next time that they were looked at again. I wasn't sure what to make of that if anything, but I thought that it could possibly be some of your monsters disguising themselves as the statues in order to prey on the people of the area."

Reinette nodded as she said, "You're right, Monsieur. That's exactly what they're doing. They're called Weeping Angels and they're one of the most dangerous creatures that I've ever come across. I will travel there right away to investigate as soon as I finish some very important business with the King. I need to know that Josette will be taken care of first before I go."

"Mother, please don't talk like you don't expect to come back," Josette said in a frightened voice.

Reinette smiled at her reassuringly as she said, "I'm certain that I'll be fine, sweetheart. I just want to make sure that everything is set up properly for you just in case so that you'll always be well cared for by Clara."

"What?" Clara asked in surprise.

"You're to be her guardian in case anything happens to me," Reinette said.

Clara looked touched as she said, "I – I would take care of her just like she was my own if that ever happened . . . which it won't. I'll make sure of that."

Reinette smiled at her in gratitude as she said, "I'll be just fine then. Nothing would dare to try to kill me with you around. You'll quickly slap it into submission instantly."

"You bet I will. I'll turn these things into powder if they even dare to try anything," Clara said with a chuckle.

Both women knew better from their previous experiences with the Angels to think that Clara could stop them quite so easily of course. They had to put on an act to reassure a very frightened Josette that everything would be just fine however.

The problem was that they weren't even sure that she bought it or not because they were certain that the expressions on their faces told the little girl the real truth of what they were up against. They couldn't completely control the growing dread in their hearts at having to face the Angels alone without the Doctor and the original Clara on hand to help them this time after all.

Despite their witty banter, they were both completely terrified of what was to come.

Meanwhile back in the room where Sally lay unable to walk, the Rutan had gone to sleep after she finally began to feel as if she were safe for now. As it turned out, she wasn't quite as safe as she thought however.

The door to Sally's room slowly opened now as she was spied upon by yet another strange visitor to Versailles. Unlike Mr. Nemo, this one definitely didn't belong there in any way because as it turned out Reinette didn't need to leave Versailles in order to see the Angels.

They were already right there at her very doorstep.

The Angel at Sally's doorway would have gasped in surprise if he were able because he recognized the sleeping woman immediately as soon as he saw her. This was Sally Sparrow, the woman who would one day deny them the power of the Doctor's TARDIS in the twenty-first century. She had become something of a boogeyman in Angel circles ever since then.

The Angel smiled to himself now as he slowly started to open the door wider and wider so that he could go into the room. If he could only kill Sally now in what he could sense was obviously her own past, then that event would have never happened in the first place. Not only would it create a wonderful paradox, but it would also keep her from being there to deny them the TARDIS.

Their entire history would change in one fell swoop, and the Angels would gain more than enough power from a pre-Clara Idris version of the TARDIS to sustain themselves with forever. All he had to do was kill the weakened, sleeping figure before him.

Nothing could be easier.

Next: Will Sally be rescued in time or will not only the Doctor's but also the Angels' history be completely changed for good? Will Reinette and Clara really be able to stop the Angels on their own or will they have to accept help from a very unlikely source? Even if they do, will anything be able to keep the Angels from completely taking over Paris in time? How did the Angels, who are presumably from the far future, wind up buried underneath Paris anyway? All will be revealed in the next chapter.