CHAPTER 14

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A SECRET REVEALED AT LAST

Romana, I'm not sure that I can make it much longer. Reinette thought as loud as she could in the hope that Romana could hear her.

She honestly wasn't sure if she would be able to or not. She could already feel herself weakening more and more by the moment and Romana seemed to be far more focused on fleeing from the oncoming Dalek than she was on her. Not that she could really blame her at that moment.

Just hold out for a little bit longer. I promise that everything will be alright soon. Romana replied in a comforting tone.

Don't lie to me just to be kind, Romana. There's no possible way that you can stop that Dalek in time before my brain burns out and kills us both. Reinette replied in a sad voice.

Who was being kind? I was just telling the truth, Jeanne. This really is going to all be over soon. Trust me. Romana responded in an almost jovial voice.

Oh, no. You're just as mad as the Doctor aren't you? Reinette answered in disbelief.

I can be . . . on occasion. He's been a very bad influence on me I'm afraid. Romana admitted with a chuckle.

He has been on me as well. I like to think that I'm not quite so far gone though as to think that I can take on a Dalek by myself and live to talk about it however. Reinette responded.

I wouldn't be so worried, Jeanne. You've taken on far worse in your time. Romana reassured her.

No, I really haven't. I'm very good at what I do but nowhere near up to your level I'm afraid. If your plan is depending on me in some way, I'll certainly do my best but don't expect me to be something that I'm not. It may wind up getting us both killed especially if you don't do something soon. My brain feels like it's about to completely disintegrate at any moment now. Reinette warned.

Trust me, Jeanne. You're far more capable than you realize. Romana replied.

How can you possibly say that with such certainty? You don't even know me. Reinette responded in confusion.

Let's just call it information gained from a very similar vantage point and leave it at that for now. Romana replied cryptically.

Suddenly Clara faded away right before their eyes as Romana said, "Interesting. It appears your friend has just been snatched completely out of her timestream by someone or something with great power. I wonder if that was intentional. Perhaps she has a plan to rescue us."

"Negative. The Mistress seems to have been forcibly relocated," K-9 observed.

"Don't worry. Clara will be back. I know she will," Josette said in a voice that sounded just a little too hopeful.

"It doesn't look like it. The tin dog's right. She definitely didn't go of her own free will," Sally noted.

Then she saw the worried look on the child's face and quickly added, "That doesn't mean that she's not alright though. Clara's tough. I'm sure she'll be just fine."

Josette smiled at her as she said, "You're a terrible liar, Aunt Sally. Thanks anyway though."

Suddenly almost as quickly as she had left Clara returned and started running beside them once more as Romana asked, "Reinette wants to know what just happened. She's asking if Clara snatched you away or not. I thought your name was Clara though."

"It's a long story. Just tell her that the other Clara was much too busy to come and help. She's got more than enough troubles of her own right now. She was trying to keep our old friend the Half-Face Man from getting the last segment of something called the Key to Time. I just came back from helping her out with that while doing my best to keep us both alive and straight back into this mess again because I wasn't about to leave you all in the lurch like that. You know with all of the time that I spend bailing both Reinette and the other Clara out of trouble I really should be getting paid. This has become far more than just a hobby now. Not even Louis has enough money in the treasury to cover all of this aggravation though," Clara complained with a small smile.

Romana laughed as she said, "Reinette is saying that all she can offer is her eternal friendship and enough supplies to make all of the soufflés that you can . . . attempt to eat for the rest of your life. Attempt to eat? Did I miss something there?"

Clara shrugged as she said with a mischievous smile, "Ignore her. That's a little remark on my lack of cooking skills. Unlike the other me, I'm not too proud to admit that I can't cook though. That doesn't mean that I won't stop trying. Tell her it sounds good to me. I have a feeling that it'll take the rest of my life just to perfect that recipe."

Suddenly Clara realized that she had been spending just a little too much time concentrating on talking to Reinette as a Dalek shot just barely missed her. Part of her dress was actually burnt away from around her as a result leaving her wearing what now looked like the world's first mini-skirt.

Clara didn't have time to appreciate the humor in that though. She was far too busy running for her life to care.

"Uh, Romana? Jeanne? Whoever's in charge in there . . . if you're going to do something, you'd better do it now!" Clara shouted.

Romana suddenly stopped now and turned around to face the oncoming Dalek as she smiled and said, "Yes, you're quite right of course. The time for running is definitely over now."

The Dalek now hesitated and hovered in front of her as she smiled and said, "You don't know what's going on do you? You're uncertain if you should try to attack me or not now that I'm openly confronting you like this. I know exactly what you're thinking of course. What's she up to? What sort of trap is she about to spring on me? Does she even have a plan at all? Or is she just bluffing? I could be you know. Ah, but what if I'm not though?"

"What are you doing, Time Girl? If you're going to do something, just do it already!" Clara shouted.

Impatient sort isn't she? How on Earth do you put up with her? Romana said to Reinette telepathically.

I think the better question is how on Earth does she put up with me? Reinette responded.

Yes, those kinds of friends are hard to find aren't they? They're the ones who will always stand with you through thick and thin. Those are the kinds of friends that you're willing to do anything for and will go to any lengths in order to protect. I found a friend like that once and I still regret leaving him to this very day. I had to though. Don't ever let yours go, Jeanne. Ever. No matter what happens. Always remember that. Romana advised.

"YOUR BLUFF WAS ALMOST CONVINCING BUT THE HUMAN FEMALE IS RIGHT. IF YOU WERE GOING TO DO SOMETHING, YOU WOULD HAVE ALREADY DONE SO BY NOW. THEREFORE THE LOGICAL CONCLUSION IS THAT THERE IS NO PLAN. YOU WERE ONLY STALLING FOR TIME. THAT TIME IS NOW OVER. I WILL NOW USE A PSIONIC DISRUPTION WAVE TO DRIVE YOU FROM MADAME DE POMPADOUR'S BODY AND BACK INTO THE WATCH AND THEN YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!" The Dalek shouted as he aimed his gun stick at Romana.

Romana only smiled as she said, "You mean this watch? Funny you should mention it because this is the plan. It always was you see because it was always far more than just a receptacle for my consciousness."

At that very moment back in the Order of the Sun Queen's secret headquarters, the mysterious alien machine that they had stood guard over for so many decades now suddenly came to life out of nowhere as it became lit up all around it with a corona of unearthly energy. Then it immediately shimmered and changed forms as it became a featureless cylindrical object just before it began to rapidly dissolve into thin air . . . right in front of the startled gaze of Monsieur Nemo!

"No! This can't be happening!" Monsieur Nemo screamed in disbelief.

"Monsieur, why would it do this? Why would it suddenly burst into life like that after staying silent for so long?" One of the Order said in a shocked tone.

"Madame de Pompadour. It has to be. She found out about it after all despite our best attempts to hide it from her and took it from us anyway. She'll regret this. I promise you that, brother. She'll regret the day that she ever crossed swords with me," Monsieur Nemo said in a cold voice.

At the exact same moment as Nemo was making this rather ominous threat, the air around Romana/Reinette was suddenly filled by a distant wheezing groaning sound as Romana said to the Dalek with an evil smile, "It's also a remote control."

"EXTERMINATE!" The Dalek shouted as it finally fired its gun stick at last.

It was already far too late though. Romana's TARDIS had quickly materialized around her and the others and swiftly dematerialized long before the Dalek's bolt would have ever reached them. Then before the Dalek could even think about trying to locate them it was immediately struck by a massive torpedo that had been launched by the TARDIS just before it had left. The Dalek didn't even have time to scream before the torpedo completely destroyed it as soon as it touched it.

"Good thing I had an extra Time Torpedo still leftover," Romana said as she watched this on the TARDIS monitor with a sense of grim satisfaction.

"W – What is this place?" Josette asked in astonishment as she looked around in amazement at the TARDIS' Console Room.

"This is Romana's TARDIS, sweetie. It's her ship that she uses to travel through time and space like the Doctor does. This is what she was waiting on for so long by the way. She was using the remote in the watch to call it to her, but it was taking a while to come for some reason. What? Oh, I see. Romana says it was because the TARDIS had been inactive for so long that it had gone into something called hibernation mode which sounds like sleep from what I can understand of her explanation of it. Basically it took it a while to fully wake up. Well, you could have told me that, Romana. It would have saved me a lot of needless worrying," Reinette said with a frown as Romana now gave control back to her.

Clara started to laugh now as she said with an amused grin, "You look so ridiculous doing that, Jeanne. It looks like you're arguing with yourself."

"She does look funny," Josette said as she too began to laugh now.

"Thank you so much," Reinette said with a frown before she began to smile.

Then her smile quickly turned back into a frown once more as she said to Sally and K-9, "And what exactly do the two of you have to say for yourselves? You were supposed to keep her safe and out of danger."

"It's not my fault. I told him to watch her until I came back!" Sally protested with a guilty look on her face as she pointed to K-9.

Then she sighed as she said in an emotional voice, "It is my fault. I was only gone a moment but that was all the time that she needed apparently. I was going to get Gabrielle to watch her so that I could come and help you. I should have known that the stupid tin dog couldn't be trusted to carry out a simple order though. I'm so sorry, Jeanne. It'll never happen again. I promise. I'd never intentionally put Josette in danger. I'd rather die myself first."

She found to her welcome relief that she truly meant those words. This human child that she had only known for such a brief time really had come to mean as much to her as her own family once had. She had actually come to love a human being when once she had thought of them as being completely and utterly beneath her.

She really had changed it seemed. Maybe Josette was right about her after all.

Maybe.

Reinette could see the earnestness on her friend's face and smiled as she said, "I know. Just don't let it happen again, alright?"

"Never," Sally promised.

"It wasn't her father, Mother. It was mine. I wanted to protect you. I thought that if I came that I could keep you safe somehow. I know it was stupid but I had to come. I . . . I couldn't just stand back and lose another . . . another . . ." Josette said before she degenerated into tears unable to finish.

Reinette immediately put her arms around her and she too began to cry then as she said, "I know exactly what you mean because I've gone through the exact same thing myself, Josette. Believe me I know and I don't want to go through it again either. That's why I don't ever want you to endanger yourself like that anymore. Please promise me that you won't."

Josette looked properly guilty now as she said, "I promise . . . but only if you promise that you'll always do everything that you can to come back to me no matter what happens."

Reinette hesitated for a moment as she briefly thought of what she already knew was still to come for her on the day when her original Lonely Angel returned for her. Then she finally nodded as she resolved to herself that if destiny could somehow be changed that she would find a way to overcome even that.

For Josette, she would even fight Time itself.

She smiled now as she finally said, "I promise."

Josette smiled and then hugged her tightly. She knew that her mother always kept her promises to her after all.

"Mistress, I also apologize for my small part in all of this," K-9 said as he watched this.

"Small part? You let her run off!" Sally said in anger.

"I say we deactivate him and turn him into kibble," Clara said as she too became furious once more.

"I actually had something quite different planned. Or at least Romana does anyway," Reinette said as she pushed a button on the TARDIS' console.

Suddenly K-9 let out a noise that almost made him sound like he was surprised for a brief moment before he said, "Memory core updating via wireless TARDIS interface. I – I remember now. I was Mistress Leela's K-9 unit. She and I were companions to the Doctor Master on his journeys through time in a ship much like this one. She's . . . gone now though. I left on my own journeys afterwards and then suffered almost irreparable damage to my memory unit in battle sometime later. I was unable to repair the damage by myself but this TARDIS has now apparently done the repairs for me."

"It was the least that Romana could do for you. She lost her K-9 in the Time War just as you did Leela after all. The two of you could now have each other though . . . if that's what you'd want," Reinette offered.

K-9 wagged his tail happily now as he said to Reinette, "Thank you, Mistress. Yes, I'd like that."

Clara and Sally both smiled simultaneously at the thought of getting rid of K-9 as Clara said, "Where is Romana's body anyway, Jeanne? Let's go find it if you know. The sooner we get rid of Metal Boy here the better I say."

"With all due respect, the feeling is more than mutual, Mistress," K-9 said with no trace of humor in his voice whatsoever.

Reinette suddenly looked confused now as she said, "What? Are you sure?"

"What is it? What is she saying?" Clara asked with concern.

Reinette frowned now as she said, "She doesn't want us to help her find her body. She said that she'll have K-9 help her reunite with it. She wants me to leave the watch and TARDIS with him."

"With Tin Boy? He'll just screw the whole thing up. It's better just to let us do it," Clara protested.

"That's basically what I told her except for the nasty remarks about K-9 of course," Reinette said.

"Thank you, Mistress. At least someone here appreciates me," K-9 said even as he turned up his nose at Clara who sneered at him.

"She's insisting on letting you help her with it though, K-9. She said that we're going to be far too busy with our own problems and that she doesn't want to take up anymore of our time. I wonder if she knows something that we don't," Reinette pondered.

"If she's anything like the Doctor and Clara she probably knows a lot of things that we don't. I never did learn exactly what was going on with Half-Face Man or where that missing segment was after all. I wonder if I ever will," Clara said.

Reinette's frown deepened even more as she said, "I could swear that Romana's laughing. She says that she's not but it feels like she's laughing at us."

"Wonderful. That definitely sounds like Clara has something huge planned for us soon I bet. I think maybe Romana's right. Let Tin Boy handle this. I have a feeling that we're going to need all of the rest that we can get," Clara said with a groan.

As if on cue, the TARDIS suddenly landed at that moment and its doors opened.

"I suppose it's time for us to leave then. Here, K-9. Take good care of her," Reinette said in a reluctant tone as she handed the watch and the watch box to K-9.

"I will, Mistress. I'll make sure that she's properly reunited with her body as soon as I can," K-9 reassured her.

"Poor Romana. I hope Tinny doesn't mess things up for her too badly," Clara said as she started towards the TARDIS doors.

"I wouldn't count on it," Sally said as she shot the metal dog a withering look.

"Stop it, Aunt Sally. He wasn't so bad . . . except for being a huge liar that is," Josette said in an angry voice as Clara laughed at her.

"That's my girl," Clara said proudly.

"He was just trying to protect you," Reinette said.

"I don't care. He's still a liar," Josette protested.

Reinette shook her head as she said, "I'm sorry, K-9. It appears that you don't have any admirers here at all. For the record, I truly didn't think that you were that bad however. I honestly hope that I see you again sometime."

"I can guarantee it, Mistress," K-9 said surprising her.

"Really? You sound very certain of that," Reinette said with a questioning look.

"Mistress Romana insists on visiting you again," K-9 said.

Reinette nodded and smiled as she said, "I hope she does. I'd like to see what she looks like."

"You definitely will before anyone else does, Mistress," K-9 said in an almost smug tone that made Reinette look at him suspiciously.

It seemed that Romana had told K-9 something that she hadn't told her. Maybe Clara was right about the Time Lady knowing more than they did after all.

That was when they heard what Reinette instantly recognized as the voice of one of the guards from Versailles call out, "Marquise, are you inside that strange vessel?"

Reinette smiled as she yelled, "Yes, don't be alarmed. It's only dropping us off. It'll be gone in a moment."

"As you wish, Marquise," The guard said in a now completely nonchalant voice.

"You really do have those guards used to anything now don't you?" Sally said with a chuckle.

"With all that we've put them through, I doubt that they'd even as much as blink if the entire Royal family suddenly turned out to be Zygons. We're not of course," Clara said with a grin.

"What are . . . ?" Josette started to ask.

"They're shape changers like the Rutans," Reinette explained.

"Ah. I bet the Rutans are better," Josette said proudly which caused her mother to look at her strangely for a moment.

She had absolutely no idea why Josette would like Rutans so much now especially after all of her bad experiences with one. It seemed to be a day filled with unexplainable strangeness however.

"We are," Sally whispered to Josette in a low voice as soon as the others had turned away from her making the little girl smile at her conspiratorially.

"Good bye, K-9. Wish Romana good luck from me," Reinette finally said as she shrugged all of the craziness of this day off.

"Affirmative, Mistress," K-9 said as Reinette and the others started to leave the TARDIS.

As soon as they had gone, K-9 used his new connection to the TARDIS to automatically dematerialize it as he said, "I will do as you ask immediately, Mistress."

Then just as he had been ordered, he was now headed straight to the day that Romana had been patiently waiting for a very long time now: the day that Jeanne Poisson would finally breathe her last. That would also be the day when Romanadvoratrelundar would finally live again once more.

That is a story for another time however.

Next: And that story isn't next time unfortunately. No, next time we're about to have a visit from Clara Idris and the Doctor as we find out exactly where the missing segment of the Key to Time is. Will Reinette discover its location before the Half-Face Man does however?