Relict

by LizzeXX

12/OC -Time Lady- The Doctor and his Bonded, the Professor, have escaped Tenzalore with their lives, new regeneration cycles, and their unborn child surviving their 'Fall.' But with the Promised Land being sought and another woman vying for the Doctor's attention in the Nethersphere, what will become of the Time Lords? What of their child? Or…children? Ninth in the Academic Series.

7. Kill the Moon

Kill the Moon

The Professor was leaning against the TARDIS as it sat in a slightly larger cupboard in Coal Hill school, rubbing her back with one hand and rubbing her stomach with the other in an effort to try and lull the twins back to sleep in her belly. They were…active. It seemed like ever since they'd found out there were two of them instead of just one the babies were trying to remind her of it every second of the day, as though they were commenting on the fact that she hadn't realized there were two that whole time. She'd managed to get more sleep though, that was nice, it turned out the Doctor made quite a nice pillow too and she found herself out for the count within minutes of lying down and cuddling up to him. He never complained either, when she woke, all too aware that he'd likely been up for hours before her. He just smiled at her and gave her a kiss, an arm around her running up and down her back to keep her sleeping longer. He'd taken to making breakfast for her as well. She'd been ordered to sit at the kitchen table or sit up in bed and not touch anything lately. It wasn't that she was a bad cook, it was just…well, she was starting to get more and more distracted and the last time she'd tried to make tea, she'd been hit by a lingering bout of morning sickness and rushed out…and then forgotten she was making tea and nearly set fire to the kitchen. Since then the Doctor had taken over the cooking duties.

She winced, twisting her hand on her back into a small fist and kneading her knuckles into her back in an effort to try and stop the pain there. She kept getting these zinging pains. Nothing terrible, nothing bad, just more irritating than she wanted. It was like she had a sore muscle but couldn't quite reach it or, when she finally managed to work it out, another appeared in a different spot. It hurt, sometimes, if she moved too quickly or twisted too much, but it wasn't terrible.

What WAS terrible, however, was the migraine she was starting to get as Clara continued to whisper-hiss at the Doctor across from her, trying not to be overheard by Courtney Woods as the girl sat inside the TARDIS. Probably NOT the best place to leave a teenage girl, but there was little else that could be done about it at the moment. Clara had wanted to talk to BOTH of them and was rather adamant about it.

"Courtney Woods," Clara was saying, "She has gone crazy! She's uncontrollable. She took your psychic paper. She's been using it as fake ID…"

"To get into museums?" the Professor asked hopefully, knowing what sort of trouble the Doctor could have gotten into if he'd had a psychic paper when he was Courtney's age.

"No, no, no," Clara shook her head, "To buy White Lightning or alcopops or whatever."

The Doctor gave her a blank look, clearly very confused as to what Clara was going on about, and told her so much, "I've no idea what you're talking about. What…what is Courtney Woods?"

"The little girl from last time," the Professor called with a sigh, "The one that had that spill, wanted to get into the TARDIS," but the Doctor still looked very confused, "The disruptive influence."

"Oh, right yes," he nodded, now understanding who Courtney was.

"Also threw up after we sent the Blitzer off."

"Look," Clara cut in, "She says that you told her that she wasn't special," she crossed her arms and gave the Doctor a pointed and equally irritated look. She glanced over at the Professor for that, dropping her arms and opening her mouth in a gape as she saw the Professor didn't look offended at all, or angry, or chastising of the Doctor which could only mean one thing…the Professor knew exactly what the Doctor had said…and did nothing about it, "Not you too!" she huffed, crossing her arms again, trying to convince herself that it was because the Professor was pregnant, that she was emotional and conflicted and less focused and that HAD to be the reason she'd go along with the Doctor saying such a cruel thing to the young girl, it HAD to be, the Professor would not allow a child to think they weren't special.

"Rubbish," the Doctor waved Clara off, though the fact that the Professor hadn't denied he'd said that was just more evidence that he HAD.

"She says that's what sent her off the rails."

"Pffff," he scoffed at that.

Clara took a deep breath, praying for patience, because the Professor wasn't getting involved now either and it was severely putting her off to know that the Professor seemed to agree with what the Doctor had said to Courtney, "Doctor. I know, I know. But…you say something like that to somebody, it hurts. Especially if you're somebody of her age, especially if you're you. Doctor, it can affect her whole life."

"Bah," he shook his head, denying that.

So Clara fixed him with a hard look, "So you're gonna tell me that all the things the Professor's dad said to her had no impact on her life at all?"

And in a single instant, Clara knew she'd gone too far.

The Time Lords went very still at that for all of a moment before the Doctor rounded on Clara, taking a stalking step towards her, actually forcing her to step back in slight fright at the rather angry look on his face, "Do not DARE compare me to that monster," his words came out as a hiss, barely escaping through his clenched teeth.

He was NOTHING like the Professor's father. They hadn't said much about the man around Clara, but there had been enough in small slips and passing remarks for her to gather the man had been a brute and utterly disinterested in his daughter, harsh and cruel and always putting her down and hurting her in numerous ways. For her to even try to say that his one single remark to Courtney compared in the slightest to the mental and emotional abuse that the Professor's father had put her and her self-esteem through was a bigger exaggeration than saying his eyebrows were only slightly bushy.

"Sorry," Clara murmured softly, looking down, she knew she'd taken it too far in saying that, one single remark that someone wasn't special wasn't the same as the years of neglect she was sure the Professor had suffered, and she should NOT have said that.

"Believe me Clara," the Professor spoke quietly, making them look over to see her struggling to rub that spot on her back, the Doctor moving over to her with one more look at Clara, "What he said was nothing, truly, and he said it for a reason," she winced again, about to move her knuckles behind her back again to knead her muscles when the Doctor beat her to it, knowing where her pain was and working it out with the press of his thumb.

"What possible reason could he have to say THAT to a child?" Clara frowned, she was, and not for the first time, feeling like she couldn't read the two Time Lords before her. The last thems, she could always guess what they were thinking or planning or why they were saying something. But the new thems, it was like they were a book in another language, one she'd read before in English, one she could get the general idea of what was going on because she knew the original book but the words just didn't make any sense to her. She couldn't tell why they did what they did anymore and it was very disconcerting.

The Professor sighed, smiling a content smile as she reached behind her to stop the Doctor's hand, the knot in her back worked out. She gave him a kiss in thanks before looking at Clara, "Let her in, one trip with us, and you'll see why the Doctor said that."

Clara eyed them a moment longer before she sighed this time and turned to go to the door. She'd just barely gotten it open when Courtney was walking in, a small bit of paper towels in her hand and a wide grin on her face as she hurried to the console, "I got stuff to clean up with!" she held up the towels as she ran to them, the Professor turning to the controls.

"What?" the Doctor blinked.

"And I got these from the chemist," she held up her wrists to show a small black band around them.

"Vortex manipulators?"

The Professor reached out and touched one, shaking her head, "Magnetic bracelets," she corrected.

"Travel sickness," Courtney nodded, clearly the girl had been eavesdropping on their conversation and very hopeful she might get another trip in the box as well.

"Good," the Doctor crossed his arms, "Because I don't like people being sick in my TARDIS."

"Pregnant, husband," the Professor reminded him, her hand resting on her stomach, reminding him very much of her morning sickness that had plagued her.

"Exception, wife," the Doctor countered instantly.

Clara would have rolled her eyes at that, the Professor seemed to be the Doctor's exception to everything. No soldiers in the TARDIS? Well, except for the Professor. No getting sick on the TARDIS, except for his pregnant wife.

"No being sick," the Doctor pointed at Courtney again, before his moving finger turned to Clara, "And no hanky-panky."

"Doctor!" Clara huffed, blushing, knowing it was a reference to Danny Pink.

The Professor, however, snorted at that, "Well then you're going to have a very boring rest of your life then if there's no hanky-panky allowed…"

"Exception," he spun around to her, "You are my exception, wife, my exception to just about everything."

"Just about everything?" she raised an eyebrow.

"Well," he considered it, "Yes, just about everything," he nodded, "There are some rules I will always hold to and never ever change when it comes to you."

"And what are they?"

"That I will always protect you and love you and stand by you," he told her, recalling various promises he'd made to her over his life, "Anything I promised you, any rule I have about you, I will never ever make an exception for. All my rules, revolve around you," he took her hand, "Therefore, you are my exception to other rules."

"Using logic against me," she commented softly, though smiling at him, "Maybe one day I will make a soldier out of you."

Clara's small smile that had bloomed at seeing them being so sweet on each other again, faded slightly, seeing a small teasing yet pained look in the Professor's eye. The last thems had joked about it all the time, that the Professor might turn the Doctor into a soldier one day, it was meant to be a joke about how utterly horrid he'd been as a soldier the last time he'd been one, that she could make a REAL soldier out of him one day, like a commanding officer or a training officer. But every since Danny had gone off on them about being soldiers it seemed like the playfulness that had usually come of the joke was gone, and now they were left more pained by it than anything. And she felt so badly for that, that something her um, well, boyfriend, had said had been able to hurt them so badly.

"Put you in danger," the Doctor murmured, "And you'll see just how much a soldier I can really be."

The Professor blinked at that, that was a new response to her teasing, but she couldn't help but feel her smile grow at his promise, at how his hand had drifted down to her stomach.

"You or our children," he continued, "If Kovarian thought I was dangerous for them taking Melody…" he shook his head.

The Professor reached out and placed her other hand on his over her stomach, she could remember that as well, how he'd been when she and Amy had been taken. But then SHE hadn't been pregnant, she'd been capable of fighting and, as much as she knew it pained him to think, the Doctor hadn't been quite as on a rampage to get them back as he could have been if it had been THEIR baby taken and in danger instead of Amy's. He cared for Amy, for Melody, she knew that and he did as well, but it was different when it was your own child in danger.

"Would it be terrible of me to say I'd actually be curious to see that?" she remarked quietly. She knew it was horrible to think it, she didn't mean it in the sense that she WANTED her or the children in danger, not ever, never ever. But…the idea of REALLY seeing the Doctor like that, of really seeing how far he was willing to go…there was something thrilling in thinking about what he'd do…

She shook her head, "Forget I said that."

Bloody hormones.

She was all over the place now.

At times she felt like she could cry thinking back on the things the Doctor had done to protect her in the past, the things he'd lost, the actions he'd taken. She felt so heartsbroken to think he might fall into the darkness she had during the war, that he could possibly become like she'd been, that he'd be willing to hurt and torture and kill to get to her again. But then, at other times, the thought that he loved her that much, of imaging him standing there all tense and primal and aggressive made her shiver in a not-bad way and she found herself thinking that it would be rather…sexy…to see him like that.

She really, REALLY needed these babies to be born quite soon, they were doing her head and body in, clearly they were. She should NOT find the Doctor falling to darkness like that so appealing.

'Nor should I you with your blaster,' the Doctor reminded her, making her blush as she realized he'd heard all that through their Bond.

She shook her head hard and turned around to the controls, moving to set them while the Doctor grinned, watching her go.

This time Clara DID roll her eyes, guessing that he'd just said something flirty in his head to the Time Lady. Half the time she felt irritated that he did that, flirted with the Professor in her head, because then she couldn't hear it and she couldn't comment on how they were 'so being old cute people' and doing their old people flirty thing. But the other half of the time she was thankful, because now that the Doctor knew it was twins he seemed to be twice as flirty and touchy with the Professor and she didn't need to hear ALL of it.

"That's the rules," the Doctor continued, looking over at Courtney as though just recalling that the girl was still with them.

Clara sighed, shaking her head, "Doctor, she really shouldn't be traveling," she tried to argue, she'd only opened the door before in the hopes that Courtney would have gone to her last class and not been there so she could continue to talk to the Time Lords in private, she had no intention of actually LETTING Courtney go on an adventure, "Will you just...just tell her?"

"Tell her what?" the Doctor moved over to the Professor, sliding his hand onto the small of her back by the monitor, looking at what she was setting the coordinates for.

"Tell her that she's special," Clara just barely managed to get that out through her clenched teeth.

The Doctor snorted at that, "Have you gone bananas?"

"Mmm..." the Professor mumbled, "Bananas, I really want a banana milkshake now."

The Doctor smiled at her, "We'll make a quick stop before heading there," he nodded at the monitor, at her coordinates.

Courtney frowned at them, at how flippant they were at Clara's request that they call her special, as though it were so unimportant a thing, "Do you really think I'm not special? You can't just take me away like that. It's like you kicked a big hole in in the side of my life. You really think it? I'm nothing? I'm not special?"

The Professor looked over at the girl, she knew that feeling, she knew what it really felt like to not think you were special, and she knew exactly what needed to happen next, "How'd you like to be the first woman on the moon?" she asked, "Special enough for you?"

She knew exactly what the girl needed and, luckily for her, the Doctor was in.

Courtney smiled at that, "Yeah, alright."

"Ok," the Doctor nodded, "Now we can do something interesting!" he reached out and grabbed a lever, pulling it down, his arm sliding more around the Professor to hold her steady from the jostling as the TARDIS took off, the two Time Lords ignoring Clara as she shouted at them, pretending the roaring of the engines was too loud to hear her…despite her being two feet from them and the Professor's hearing being better than most.

~8~

Clara would have likely laughed when she stepped out of the TARDIS with the Doctor and Professor, if not for how the Doctor had fixed the Professor's orange spacesuit then for the pout on the Professor's face as she half glared down at a container in her hand. The Doctor had made good on his promise to stop and get her a banana milkshake before they set down there on the moon. Unfortunately the Professor had set the controls so well that it had taken them no time at all to actually get to the moon and, before the woman could even take a sip of her beverage, they had to suit up. Right now the Time Lady was looking at the sealed container of her banana milkshake, unable to drink it even now because of her helmet and the way the container was literally sealed to keep the beverage in till they got somewhere with oxygen. That had added to the first part of her near-laughter, the Doctor hadn't seemed to know what to do about the woman's spacesuit. Apparently it was an old one that they'd had lying about, the others had to be procured elsewhere, but he hadn't known whether to strap the Professor's bindings around her stomach secure which, he was sure, would be uncomfortable to her to be so tight, or leave it loose. However, to leave it loose was not only unsafe, but well, he seemed to truly adore how big the woman was.

And she was, big that is.

It felt like every time Clara saw her the woman was bigger and bigger. She honestly didn't even know HOW pregnant the Professor was at this point, the last time she'd seen the woman she'd been about 6 months along and looked nearly 9 months pregnant with just a single baby, but now knowing it was TWO babies, she didn't know what to make of it. And the woman seemed to be carrying her weight rather well, there was barely a gain of weight in her arms or legs or face, seeming to be concentrated mostly around her stomach though her cheeks seemed a slight bit fuller. She also seemed to be growing, well, sideways instead of straight out as most women did when carrying a baby. If she didn't know any better she might think that the twins were side by side instead of one in front of the other. It was probably much easier on the Professor if that were true though. She'd been around enough women who were pregnant to know how painful it was to carry something that was pressing and squishing your organs, to have TWO, she could only imagine that it was relatively easier if the babies were side by side. Though…she wasn't quite sure how that rated in terms of safety when the birth eventually came around.

Still, the Doctor was very fond of whenever the Professor's pregnancy was glaringly obvious to others, she always saw him smiling smugly when others noticed his wife and her stomach. The enormous amount of black the Professor wore tended to temper that, even more with the red jacket she normally kept on. Black was such a deep color, playing in with the shadows and, sometimes, hiding the pregnancy if you looked at the Professor straight on. So she knew the Doctor was very much in favor of strapping the Professor into her suit in such a way where it was only too clear that the woman was pregnant, but she saw the conflict on his face for the discomfort it would cause the Professor. The Time Lady had, thankfully, settled it quickly, reminding him that she'd endured far less favorable and comfortable situations and that she'd be fine, that she'd rather be secure than end up with air getting sucked out of her suit.

To which the Doctor had just reminded her that she seemed to have less patience with discomfort and less than favorable conditions as of late.

Clara could admit she'd laugh and quickly disguised it as a cough when the Professor fixed him with a glare for his comment on her temper and hormones during her pregnancy. It was true though, the woman DID have less patience the longer the pregnancy went on, less focus as well. She was honestly considering that she might want to nick the woman's blaster from her very soon so as to perhaps give the Doctor a better chance of surviving should HE end up trying the woman's now-limited patience. But, then again, HE had gotten himself into this situation with the Time Lady, and perhaps being target practice from his wife might be enough of a kick in the pants to get him being more considerate to others.

She nearly snorted at that thought, as though the man he was now would be that considerate to anyone besides the Professor. He was barely considerate to HER, let alone other humans.

She shook her head and looked around as Courtney stepped out after the Professor, the Doctor behind her, closing the door of the TARDIS behind him. She frowned though when she saw they were not standing on the moon's surface but in what appeared to be some sort of man-made storage unit, filled with quite a few cylindrical objects, more than half stacked up on racks along the wall, all of them had the American flag on them with some sort of writing beneath that had faded with age.

"This isn't the moon," Courtney had, apparently, realized that they weren't on the moon's surface either, "Where are we?"

The Professor looked around, recognizing the structure and, judging by how the lights were working just fine, a still-operational unit as well, "On a recycled space shuttle," she answered, reaching up to try and pull her helmet off…and failed miserably as she refused to let go of her banana milkshake in the process, "2049," she added as the Doctor chuckled and came over to pull the helmet off for her, "Judging by that prototype version of the Bennett oscillator."

She took a deep breath as the helmet came off, popping open the clasp of her milkshake and taking a long sip of it, a bit…silent now. It was…odd, very odd. She should have just put her milkshake down and taken her helmet off herself, or given the shake to the Doctor to hold while she did it. But she hadn't. She hadn't and, because of that, the Doctor had had to take her helmet off for her. They'd done it before, helped each other dress in the suits and get out of them, but it just…it felt different this time. It felt less like a mutual sort of playfulness and checking and more like she was being taken care of. The Doctor always had done that, take care of her, it wasn't anything new but it felt like it.

It felt different and odd, she wasn't used to being taken care of because someone thought that she couldn't do something. It hadn't happened in so, SO long now that she'd almost forgotten what that felt like, and she didn't mean someone helping her get up because it was difficult to get out of a seat recently, but just, something she STILL could do on her own and someone else doing it for her. She had expected it though, she knew, in the back of her mind, she knew that the Doctor would want to take care of her because of her pregnancy, more than normal because of it, but she just felt a rare flash of irritation when he'd done that just now.

Bloody hormones.

Half the time she cried because he didn't help her, the other half she was irritated when he did.

"Where's the gravity coming from?" the Doctor looked around, his own helmet off and tucked under his arm.

Clara, however, was trying to make out the scribbles on the cylinders, "What are they?" she called to the Time Lords as she and Courtney took off their helmets too.

The Doctor glanced over at the containers and pulled the sonic out of an inner pocket of the suit through the neckhole, flashing the cylinders and tensing at the reading, "About a hundred nuclear bombs."

Not a moment later an alarm began to blare above them.

The Professor looked up with a frown, "Can't be intruder alarms," she murmured, "They'd have gone off the moment we stepped out of the TARDIS, at the very least as soon as we took off our helmets."

The Doctor nodded at that and glanced out a small window beside him, "Ah," he nodded, "Bit of a small nudge in the steering, have to check that," he added, "We're on our way to the moon."

The Professor moved over to his side, looking out as he rested a hand on her back, that was another thing. The Doctor downplayed the things she did wrong now. Granted, the last time he'd pointed out when she'd gotten something wrong, a few hours later he'd found her sobbing into a carton of double chocolate ice cream about it so she could understand why he wasn't pointing out that her coordinates hadn't been as spot on as normal and THAT was why they were on the shuttle towards the moon instead of ON the moon already. But, at the moment, it annoyed her that he didn't call her out on what she'd done wrong. He was blaming the TARDIS when he knew very well that it was HER fault, because he thought if he pointed it out she'd start crying…and she knew she would, and she was irritated with both the fact that she would have started crying and at the fact that he hadn't brought it up when she hadn't had issues pointing out his mistakes in the past.

Damn bloody hormones.

"Check that," she grimaced, her hand flying to her back over his hand as a spasm of pain struck her from trying to lean over and peer out the window. She hadn't leaned for long, shooting straight up when the spasm hit, but it had been enough to see that they were not just 'on the way' to the moon, but, well… "We're about to crash into it! Assume the position!"

Clara immediately turned to Courtney and grabbed her, hauling her over to the Time Lords as they grabbed onto a set of cargo nets dangling a foot away.

"Hold on!" the Doctor shouted, his arm moving around the Professor more firmly, one hand tangling in the net while he gripped her with the other, "Hold on!"

"Why didn't you just tell her you didn't mean it?" Clara hissed at them moments before the room shook as the shuttle hit the surface of the moon, a horrible screeching noise hitting them as the shuttle skid across the rocky terrain, nearly rolling onto its side only to flop back to its correct position moments later, causing them all to let out a breath of relief.

"Well," the Doctor murmured, slowly straightening with the Professor, immediately checking on her as Clara rolled her eyes and did the same to Courtney, not faulting the man for checking on his wife first, "Let's not do that again."

"Crash into the moon?" the Professor remarked.

"Stop my hearts for a second," he corrected, double checking her straps, a small smile flitting across his face when she just took another sip of her shake, not a drop having been spilt even with the tumble, "Only you're allowed to do that."

The Professor smiled as she swallowed her sip, "Give it time," her other hand untangled from the net and drifted to her stomach, "I can almost guarantee that these two will cause both our hearts to stop repeatedly."

He chuckled at that, his gaze growing fond as he touched her cheek, just imagining the trouble their children would undoubtedly get into as they grew older and imagining him and the Professor teaming up to keep them under control.

Clara smiled faintly at that, at their little moment, and opened her mouth to comment on it, when a door opened and three people entered, two men and a woman with short blonde hair in the lead, "Who the hell do you think you are?!" the woman gaped at them, shocked by their appearance, quickly lifting her arm, the men following her, with a gun in it in defense.

"Why have you got all these nuclear bombs?" the Professor sniped right back, irritation flaring even though she knew that the woman did have a valid excuse to ask them that, she was rather peeved her little moment with her husband had been interrupted. It was only the Doctor's hand on her back that kept her from reaching for the blaster attached to her hip.

The blonde woman just shook her head, eyeing them carefully, "I'm not going to give you another chance."

"Oh?" the Doctor snorted at that, "Well, you're just going to have to shoot us, then. Though," he paused, considering that, "I doubt you'd be able to actually manage that with my lovely and rather irritable wife standing right here," he nodded at the Professor whose hand was resting on her hip now, just inches above her blaster.

"That and you'd have to shoot him first," the Professor nodded at the Doctor in return, "Because he's just daft enough to try and jump in the way if you try to shoot me, and then he'd just keep regenerating so…" she trailed off a moment before looking at the Doctor, "I want pudding again."

He laughed slightly at that, "What?"

"I was just thinking that you'd jump in front of me…"

"I would," he agreed.

"And that it would be rather daft as, even though I'm pregnant I'm not THAT slow yet as to not be able to pull this," she gestured at her hip, "On them first and it would be rather pointless and much like a human would do instead."

"Ah," he nodded, "And the humans are pudding brains so you want pudding."

"Exactly," she took a sip of her milkshake.

"Um, hello," Clara whispered over to them as they got distracted, "People still with the guns pointed at us!"

"Right," the Professor nodded, "Yes," and turned to the three other humans, not seeing the grin growing on the Doctor's face at that. For so long now HE had been the one that got distracted and had to be pulled back to the conversation, usually by the Professor, it was wonderful to see it needing to be done for her now, "Pointless, because of regeneration, though it would give me more time to kill the three of you and at least save Courtney and Clara. Though I'd appreciate it if you'd not be shooting any of us, it's already going to be odd enough explaining why the twins won't look like either of us for him to go changing again."

Clara frowned at that, "Your children won't look like you?" she glanced at the Professor's stomach, "Not even after, you know?" she threw her hands out slightly, vaguely imitating the regeneration.

The Doctor shook his head, "They'll look like our first selves," he explained, "Genetics, it resets to the first incarnation when children come into the picture."

The Professor smiled at the thought, not even the Time Lords really understood why it happened like that, why the children often looked like the first incarnation DNA had mixed of the parents, but she was infinitely happy about it. She'd spent so long imagining a little boy that looked like the Doctor when they'd been younger, on their first bodies, and now she might get it. And, even if that wasn't true, the children would only be able to look like the incarnations that created them or their past DNA to pick from at most, they wouldn't bear any resemblance to her or the Doctor as they were now.

"Which is quite good," the Doctor continued, "If it's girls, they'll be the most beautiful in the Universe," he smiled at his wife.

She rolled her eyes, "They're boys and they'll be the most handsome."

"You don't know the gender yet?" Clara shook her head.

"We can't get a proper read," the Professor sighed, "They're turned in a way where our scans can't exactly see anything, we've no idea what they are."

"Could be one of each," Clara offered.

"Could be," the Professor agreed.

Clara's attention, however, had drifted to the Doctor as the man began to hop in place, "Jumping in excitement of the prospect, Doctor?"

"Gravity test," the Professor explained.

"And speaking of tests and intelligence," the Doctor picked up.

"We weren't speaking of intelligence," the Professor cut in.

"You were talking," he countered, "Therefore the nature of the conversation was one of intelligence," he turned to the three humans with their guns quickly, keeping the Professor from saying anything more, "You may want to put those down because I think we might just possibly be able to help you. You see, my wife and I are super-intelligent alien beings who fly in time and space," he eyed the trio, "Are you going to shoot us?"

The blonde woman looked at them a moment longer, her gaze flickering to the Professor's stomach, before she lowered her gun, gesturing for the others to do the same, "No."

"Good," the Professor smiled, "Now, the question, why have you got all these nuclear bombs?"

"No, no, no," the Doctor cut in gently, "Easier question, they're pudding brains," he added when he saw the Professor give him a look, "What's wrong with my yo-yo?" he pulled out a yo-yo from a pocket on his suit and began to flick it up and down.

"Doctor, it goes up and down," Clara stated the obvious, giving him a look as though he'd actually gone mad.

"Clara, use your eyes," the Professor told her gently, speaking through a sip of her milkshake, making an obnoxious slurping noise when she reached the last of it, before swallowing hard, "Notice that it IS going up and down. So what isn't it doing?"

Clara frowned at that and glanced at the yo-yo once more, before her eyes widened, "It's not floating!"

"Correctamundo!" the Professor pointed at her, before grimacing, "That really IS a terrible word," she muttered at the Doctor who laughed but nodded at Clara's observation.

"We should be bouncing about this cabin like little fluffy clouds," he agreed, "But we're not," he looked at the trio, "What is the matter with the moon?"

"Nobody knows," the blonde woman sighed.

Clara leaned in closer to the Time Lords, "Do you know what's wrong with the moon?"

"It's put on weight," the Doctor shrugged, "It happens."

"Oi!" the Professor frowned, "Is that a reference to me? Are you trying to say that I've swallowed a planet like Amy did?!"

The Doctor just blinked at her and quickly turned to the trio, "It CAN happen," he said quickly, "Grav…"

"Gravity bombs, axis alignment systems, planet shellers," the Professor huffed, crossing her arms awkwardly over her stomach with a small pout, making the humans look at her questioningly, "I…may have destroyed a few planets," she offered quietly, dropping her arms to more around her stomach than over it, "Back then."

The Doctor stepped closer to her, his arm moving around her in comfort, he knew the war upset her, doubly so now, "It's not you this time," he told her, pressing a small kiss to the back of her head.

The Professor nodded and took a breath, "It must be causing chaos on Earth," she glanced at the trio as though it would explain why the three were there on the moon, "The tides will be so high that they will drown whole cities."

"Yeah…" the blonde woman agreed hesitantly, eyeing the Professor as though not sure what to make of her remark that she'd destroyed planets in the past. If their plan was to go through then they might need the woman's help, but that didn't make her feel better to think that the woman could just as easily destroy Earth after it was over.

"So what are you doing about it?" the Doctor rolled his eyes, knowing that the Professor's pointed look at the humans was her asking them what their plan was to end the chaos.

The blonde woman moved over to a case on the wall, a thick black box, and pulled it off, into her arms and gave him a pointed look.

"This?" the Doctor asked, his voice oddly neutral which made Clara frown to hear.

"That's what you do with aliens, isn't it?" the woman defended, "Blow them up?"

"Or poison their water," the Professor countered, "Or snap their necks, or tear out their throats, or shoot them, or…"

The Doctor put a hand over her mouth a moment, her speech sometimes was just a bit TOO free now that she was pregnant, not only did she say what was on her mind without a filter at times, but she let just a bit too much out.

Because he knew all that she'd just said, had been ways SHE had taken out other aliens in the past as well.

~8~

It was a good thing the Professor had finished her milkshake as the small group stepped out onto the moon's surface, their helmets back on. The Time Lords had insisted that Courtney step out first though, maintaining their promise that she be the first woman (girl) on the moon. They wouldn't tell her that Martha Jones had gotten to step on the moon once before, still being the first girl was quite an accomplishment. It was…beautiful, but the Time Lords could tell right away, just by stepping onto the rocky terrain that there was something wrong. If not the desolate site, the moon's surface actually looking sickly in comparison to the other times they'd been to the moon, then it was the feel of the moon below them. It was hard to feel while in the shuttle, but all too clear now that they were ON the moon. It felt much like when they'd dealt with the Silurians and the blue grass, the ground just felt wrong.

Courtney, however, unlike Clara who had seen the aliens exchanging wary glances, was completely oblivious of the danger and more awed by the site she was standing on, "Wow. Wow! One small thing for a thing. One enormous thing for a thingy thing."

"So much for history," the blonde woman, Lundvik they'd learned her name was, rolled her eyes at that.

"Step, man, leap, mankind," the Professor corrected Courtney lightly, looking around with a frown on her face, squinting. She sighed and shook her head, glancing at the Doctor who was looking back at the shuttle with a frown of his own, making her take in the shuttle as well. It was utterly destroyed, truly she wasn't even sure how the air hadn't managed to leak out of it while they'd been in there, it was still smoking slightly.

The Time Lords looked over as the trio of astronauts began to move, heading for a crater nearby, what appear to be a sort of module placed within it as a base of operation. The Professor smiled and rolled her eyes slightly as she spotted Courtney taking photos of the moon and the Earth, she reminded her a bit of Amy and how she always wanted her camera phone with her.

Her smile faded as she thought about that, about one particular incident involving a camera phone and Amy getting trapped elsewhere, an incident where she'd donned just such a spacesuit in order to help. She put her hand to her back, feeling a twinge of pain there, her other hand moving to her helmet as she blinked rapidly, feeling just a bit lightheaded for a moment. She shook her head, her mind clearing enough, taking a deep breath to steady herself. She looked over to see the Doctor staring at her intently, having noticed her actions while the humans ahead of them had not. She gave him a soft smile and a nod of her head that she was just fine, just a momentary pregnancy pain it appeared.

He stared at her a moment longer before nodding as well, though she could tell it would mean he'd watch her even more closely, before he turned to the humans as Lundvik began to speak, "There was a mining survey, Mexicans. Something happened up here. Nobody knows what. That's when the trouble began back on Earth. High tide everywhere at once. The greatest natural disaster in history."

They followed her around the module, pausing when they spotted the airlock was open, some white webbing dangling around the corners of the door.

"Cobwebs?" Clara frowned, not having expected that to exist in space, but she supposed it just meant the door had been open for a good long while.

"Henry," Lundvik turned to one of the other men, slightly older than her, "Go back and prime the bombs."

"Er, is there any instructions?" the man asked, making the Time Lords look at him, what sort of species sent someone on a mission they clearly were NOT prepared for or knowledgeable about? If you were going to blow up something, wouldn't you need to know how to operate the things that would be blowing it up?

"There's a switch on each of them," Lundvik seemed equally exasperated, "The light goes red."

"They won't go off?"

"No, not till I fiddle with this thing," she held up the black case for him to see.

"Ok," the man nodded, hesitating a moment before turning to head back to the shuttle.

"Shall we?" Lundvik turned back to the small group, gesturing at the doorway.

The Professor frowned at it, not exactly keen to enter, much like the Doctor. It was typical human nature that when something was open that shouldn't be, you'd want to go into it and see what was around or what had opened it. But it was smarter to wait, to not enter unprepared and, well, it appeared only three of their group were qualified and prepared for danger, and one of them was pregnant with an increasingly itchy trigger finger.

"Is that the best you could get?" the Doctor jerked a thumb back at Henry, his other hand resting on the Professor's back, absently stroking the area she'd felt the twinge before, trying to reassure her, lighten the mood, not let on to Clara or the others that there was something more wrong than they thought here.

"Second-hand space shuttle, third-hand astronauts," Lundvik muttered.

"I know that feeling," the Professor murmured, "Second-hand time travel capsule, third-hand pilot," she nodded at the Doctor.

"Oi!"

"I passed my pilot's test," the Professor gave him a pointed look, "And it's a Type-40."

NOT that it was a bad thing, no, she adored that old box, their 'mother' as it had come to think of them as her children. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it, but, in terms of their people, a Type-40 really WAS considered second-hand, especially adding on that the Doctor's particular TARDIS was a museum piece once upon a time. And the Doctor really was an abysmal pilot.

"Yeah," he rolled his eyes, "Bring THAT up again," he muttered, entering the module after the humans, "Not all of us can be absolute perfect like you, wife."

The Professor smiled, "I'm not perfect, husband."

The Doctor tugged her back slightly, "You really are," he looked her deeply in the eyes, making sure she saw that he truly thought that, "And so will they be," his hand rested on her stomach.

She glanced down at her bump and smiled more softly, "I can at least agree with you about the second part."

Clara glanced back at them having their little moment, smiling…until she walked right into what appeared to be a wall of cobwebs and began to grimace and swat at them, trying to knock the webbing off her.

"Just like your grandfather," the Professor mumbled, moving over to help Clara pull the webbing off her as the Doctor shut the door behind them.

"Thanks," Clara nodded at her, both for the help and, well, the compliment as well. She liked to know that, despite the Time Lords being different now, there was still similarities to who they had been, and hearing comments about who the Doctor had been even before this version or the last was reassuring, reminded her he had changed in the past, would change again in the future, it wasn't the first or last time for him and she just had to keep that in mind.

"How many people here?" the Doctor called to Lundvik, glancing around at the darkness.

"Four," she answered, moving ahead carefully, "Minera Luna, San Pedro. It was privately financed. They were doing a mineral survey up here."

"Did they send a message?" the Professor wondered, trying to work out why a shuttle that was only barely functioning and a team only a step above incompetent had been tasked to this unless it was some danger that HAD to be seen to soon, "A mayday? SOS?"

"Pretty much all the satellites had been whacked out of orbit," a second man, even older than Henry, Duke, shook his head at them, "They managed to send back some screams."

"So then you came up here to rescue them with your bombs?" the Doctor deadpanned.

"Not quite…"

"The state of this?" the Professor looked around, "I'd say at least a decade."

Lundvik nodded, "They disappeared ten years ago."

"Nobody came?" the Doctor frowned at her.

"There was no shuttle."

"You had one," he pointed out, ignoring the Professor's remark of 'you call THAT a shuttle?'

"It was in a museum," Lundvik countered with a roll of her eyes, though she cast an odd look at Clara who laughed slightly at that before covering it with a cough and sending a meaningful look at the Time Lords that they ignored, "They'd cut the back off it so kids could ride in it. We'd stopped going into space. Nobody cared. Not until…"

She was cut off suddenly when Courtney screamed just a few feet ahead of them.

"Courtney!" Clara took off, running towards the scream only to find Courtney in the next room, looking more like the storage room of the shuttle with a few computers and control panels to the side, staring up at what appeared to be a spacesuit hanging in a cocoon on the wall, "Oh, my God," she breathed, tugging Courtney back, "Doctor, tell me there wasn't anyone inside that thing."

The Doctor reached into a strap on his suit and pulled his sonic out, scanning the cocoon and grimacing at the results, "I could, but it wouldn't make it true."

"I'll get some power back on," Duke offered, rushing over to the control panels.

"Come on," Clara turned to try and tug Courtney farther back, "Now, Courtney, come here. Don't look. You alright?"

"I'm ok," Courtney nodded, grim as she watched the Professor use her blaster to cut the corpse down, the Doctor catching it to lower it to the ground.

"Hey," Clara tried to tug Courtney's attention away again, "Look. Look at me. Look. It's alright if you're not."

"I'm fine," Courtney swallowed, focusing on the Time Lords as they crouched by the body, seeming to be whispering slightly, "What did it?"

"Maybe something trying to find out how you're put together," the Professor shrugged, thinking about Skaldak. Without being able to really touch or examine the body she couldn't say for sure and…well…with her stomach at the moment she wasn't sure she could handle touching or prodding the body without being sick all over it.

"Or maybe how you tasted," the Doctor added before the Professor nudge him and shook her head that it was, perhaps, not a good thing to add to her already rather negative suggestion.

"Do we have guns?" Courtney frowned.

"Not unless you brought some," Lundvik remarked, pointing at her own gun.

"So one for us," the Professor gestured to her blaster as the Doctor reached out to help her stand.

The Doctor looked up as the lights began to flicker on, "Save the air," he ordered the others, taking off his helmet, doing the same for the Professor. With her suit strapped like it was, her arm movement was a bit limited, she couldn't stretch as high up as normal but still had a majority of motion otherwise.

The Professor smiled her thanks at him before she moved over to one of the computer consoles, sitting down in the dusty chair beside it, not about to admit to anyone (though she could tell from the Doctor's small smirk that he likely knew already) that her feet were starting to hurt and she was getting a bit tired of standing and walking so much. That last crouch and stand had taken more out of her than it should, causing a bit more lightheadedness and made her ears ring slightly. Now she could at least relax slightly as she began to try and access the records of the last crew.

She frowned, "They didn't find anything," she called.

"Eh?" Lundvik looked over.

"The Mexicans," she clarified, "They didn't find any minerals on the moon, at all," she added after a moment, a frown growing on her face, that wasn't right, there should have been SOMETHING, there always was on moons.

"Hmm, there's this," the Doctor remarked, reaching out to pick up a photo lying on the desk outlining points on the moon, "Lines of tectonic stress," he held them up for the Professor to see.

"The Mare Fecunditatis," she murmured, taking the photo and looking closer at it.

"It's been there since the Apollo days," Lundvik shook her head, waving it off, "It's always been there."

"Yeah," the Professor mumbled, "We're aware, but these are much, much bigger."

"Sea of Tranquility," the Doctor began to sift through the photos with her, finding similar outlines for other areas of the moon.

"Sea of Nectar."

"Sea of Ingenuity."

"Sea of Crises."

"Ok, stop that," Clara cut in, knowing there were likely even more areas that they'd both just switch off talking about and wanting to get to the point, "Meaning?"

The Time Lords looked up as the lights flickered, but it was the Doctor who spoke, "Meaning, Clara, that the moon, this little planetoid that's been tagging along beside you for a hundred million years, which gives you light at night and seas to sail on, is in the process of falling to bits."

Before Clara could ask more about it there was a loud rumble as the room began to shake as though an earthquake were striking it, a high-pitched scuttling noise mixing into the rumbles, only to calm moments later.

"What the hell was that?" Courtney gasped, clutching the edge of the desk for balance.

"Duke, is that you?" Lundvik called into a comm. on her wrist.

"I don't sound anything like that," Duke's voice replied, echoing in the room.

"Can you try and get the lights back on?"

"That's what I'm doing."

The Professor pushed herself to stand slowly, her hand pulling the sonic blaster from her holster and flicking it so that a small light turned on at the tip of it, a torch she'd added to it for efficiency, and began to aim it around the room, "All of you quiet," she hissed, hearing something, hearing the scuttling noise again, it was faint, so faint she knew the humans wouldn't hear it just yet, but SHE could, "Whatever it is, it's in here."

"What is it?" the Doctor moved closer to her, trying to listen as well, but knowing that she could identify it based on the sounds it made.

"Sounds like a spider…" she murmured, not wanting to say Racnoss, but it DID sound remarkably like that, like the sounds she and the Doctor had heard coming up from that hole in the ground that the Racnoss Empress had hidden her eggs down, it sounded that size, larger than normal.

The Doctor nodded, "I think we've found your alien," he called to Lundvik only moments before a giant spider with bright red joints and eyes raced at them from down a corridor ahead of them.

The Professor quickly focused her blaster on it and rushed forward, "Back! Behind me now!"

Clara immediately leapt to action, pulling Courtney and Lundvik back with her, obeying the order given by the soldier ahead of her because she knew that the Professor never sounded like that, so commanding, unless it was serious and she needed to focus without worrying about others at the same time.

"Duke!" Lundvik shouted when the man stepped into the very corridor that the spider was racing down, the spider leaping onto the man's face with wide, razor-sharp fangs, as the man screamed, "Shoot it!" she cried to the Professor, but Duke had already fallen to the floor, dead, the spider back on track and racing for them once more.

A moment later, just as the spider leapt at her, focusing on the light, using it as a beacon just as the Professor intended, she fired, blasting it to smithereens.

She looked down at the slightly smoking pieces on the floor and frowned, "Well that was rather anticlimactic."

The Doctor nearly snorted at that as he moved beside her, flashing the sonic over the pieces, "I seem to recall you being a bit exasperated with ME when I had that reaction to the ATMOS trying to drive us into the river."

The Professor smiled slightly at that, she hated to think back on how she'd been during that incarnation, so close to how she'd been during the war but yet not QUITE so bad, but it was amusing. She HAD been exasperated with his remark of 'is that it?' when the ATMOS just sparked and sputtered instead of blowing up, it HAD been very anticlimactic now that she thought back to it.

"I should have waited," she remarked after a moment, "Tested it a bit more than just firing at it," and she should have, learned more about it, how it saw, how fast it was or what senses it relied on. It had numerous eyes, but what if they didn't work after all this time in the dark and alone?

"It's that trigger finger," he shrugged, "I'm thinking I may need to confiscate your blaster sometime soon to ensure I live to see them," he nodded at her stomach.

"Still," the Professor glanced over at Duke's body, Clara doing her best to keep Courtney from actually seeing it while Lundvik rushed over to try and find a life sign, but it was too late.

"Henry?" the woman started to call into her comm. wanting to check her other comrade, "Henry?!"

"Courtney…" Clara began as Courtney slowly approached the pieces of spider, moving around the other side to block her sight of Duke and Lundvik.

"It's a spider then?" the girl asked, grimacing at the slime and odd-colored goo leaking from it, "It's gone off pretty quick," she pinched her nose.

"It IS a strong smell," the Professor agreed, looking back at Duke and to the spider, "We need to clean this up," she murmured, "If there are more of these things, chances are it would smell this and come to investigate."

"Here," Courtney quickly pulled something out of a little pack she was wearing, the cleaning solution she'd brought with her in case she was sick in the TARDIS again, "Kills ninety nine percent of all known germs."

Clara took it from her, not about to let the Professor inhale the fumes or have to touch the pieces, knowing from experience the woman's stomach wasn't quite as strong as it had been. She knelt down, taking some paper towels Courtney handed her and sprayed the spider.

But, as it turned out, she had no need for the towels after all as the spider seemed to literally dissolve before their very eyes the moment the spray hit it.

"That's…not supposed to happen is it?" Clara frowned.

"No," the Doctor agreed, before the sonic beeped and he looked at the readings, his eyebrows rising in shock, "Did you say germs?" he looked at Courtney and back at the readings, "Oh, God, this is incredible," he held the sonic up to the Professor whose own brows rose as well, "Look at the size of it!"

"It's the size of a badger," the Professor remarked offhandedly.

"What…" Clara shook her head, not getting it.

"It's a prokaryotic unicellular life form with non-chromosomal DNA," the Professor stated.

"Which, as we all know…well, not we all…well, you, certainly not…" the Doctor began.

"Doctor," Clara gave him an unamused look, telling him to get to the point.

"This is a germ," the Doctor gestured at it.

Courtney's eyes widened as she looked down at the liquid the 'spider' now was, "I'm scared, Miss," she murmured to Clara. She learned about germs, they were supposed to be microscopic! NOT this big! It was terrifying to think of, because she also knew that germs could have millions in just a single inch and if there was one there…there had to be more…

"Ok," Clara reached out to pull Courtney to her.

"He'd just had a grand-daughter," Lundvik remarked quietly, pulling their attention over to her and Duke's body, "Elina. She was his first. He was my teacher. He taught me how to fly. We were both given the sack on the same day."

"Which way to the Mare Fecunditatis?" the Doctor cut in, sentiment, right now, was not going to help them, nor was guilt. Right now, they needed to investigate what was going on…so that the lives lost by the germ wouldn't be in vain.

"Please can I go home now?" Courtney whispered, "I'm really…" she swallowed, "I'm really sorry, but I'd like to go home."

The Time Lords looked at each other over Courtney's shoulder.

~8~

The Professor sorely wished she was not wearing her helmet even as they walked across the moon's surface as she was starting to get a migraine from Lundvik. The woman was constantly reaching out through the comms. To try and reach her other companion, Henry, had been ever since before they'd left the module to try and reach the shuttle not just to put Courtney in the TARDIS, but to check if Henry had even made it there to 'arm the missiles' as Lundvik had ordered him. The Professor couldn't understand the woman's constant calls to the man though, if he hadn't responded the first or thirtieth time then the chances were the fiftieth time wouldn't be any different.

"Henry, come in," and yet Lundvik kept trying, "If you don't mind, Henry, come in."

"Doctor," Clara moved closer to where the two Time Lords were leading the way, she and Courtney between them with Lundvik behind, though she left Courtney slightly behind her so that the girl wouldn't hear her whispering to the aliens, "This is dangerous now."

"It was dangerous before Clara," he countered.

"Everything's dangerous if you want it to be," the Professor murmured, thinking back to the many, MANY dangers she'd faced in her life, even the ones that were all in her head like in her first incarnation with the Doctor after the war, how afraid she'd been of everything, of thinking.

"Eating chips is dangerous," the Doctor agreed, you could choke.

"Crossing the road."

"It's no way to live your life," he glanced back at Courtney, "Tell her."

"You're supposed to be teaching her," the Professor agreed.

Clara just rolled her eyes, "Look, I have a duty of care, ok? You know what that is?"

"I AM a Professor, Clara," the Professor reminded her.

"And I'm a Doctor," the Doctor nodded, "Course we know what a duty of care is. What are you suggesting?"

"She's fine, Clara."

The Doctor eyed Courtney, "What are you, thirty five?"

"Fifteen," Courtney huffed.

Clara shook her head at them, "She's a human, Doctor, not a Time Lord."

The Doctor just waved it off as they reached the shuttle, "Ah, here we go, you, disruptive influence," he pointed at Courtney, "Come on," he turned and led her further in, towards the TARDIS in the little room with the bombs in it, leaving the three women waiting out for him.

The Professor was pacing, more so from a phantom need to use the loo than nerves. She was suited and strapped up so tightly that she was sure if she started thinking about actually needing to use the loo she'd be running into the TARDIS and then struggling to get out of the suit and then have to get back into it and it wasn't worth it. If she could just…hold it for a bit longer. She'd taken to rubbing her stomach, humming lightly under her breath, knowing that the vibrations within her would carry to the children without needing to be excessively loud. If they relaxed a bit and stopped shifting, stopped jabbing her organs with their little arms and legs she might be able to make this trip without a loo break. Maybe.

Ooh she shouldn't have had that milkshake before.

And now she was thinking about milk…and cookies…mmmm…

She looked over, her thoughts cut off, when the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, sparing a glance at Lundvik off to the side working on arming the nuclear bombs, before he turned and shut the door to the TARDIS, locking it.

"Why are you shutting her in?" Clara frowned, not sure why the door was being locked, why he was keeping Courtney in there and THEM out there, "We don't need to stay, do we?"

"Eh?" he glanced at Clara.

"It's obvious, isn't it? The moon doesn't break up."

"How do you know?" the Professor countered, moving over to them, leaning against the TARDIS slightly to try and keep some weight off her legs, her feet really were starting to hurt…and that was saying something given some of the exercises and training that the High Council had forced her to go through.

~/~\~

She winced as her foot dug into something jagged, not able to pay more mind than that to the pain throbbing and shooting up her leg and into her very spine. She'd stepped on something sharp, she knew it, something had cut into her foot she could tell…but she couldn't stop, the others were coming and she needed to get to the check point before they reached her.

So she ran, as fast as she could, needing to get farther away.

It was a test, yet another endless, bloody test the High Council was forcing them through, needing to weed out the weaklings from their numbers. The Academics…she didn't know how they were making it this far, they were just trying to survive at this point. None of them WANTED to use the skills the Council was trying to force into their skulls, but they found themselves using them regardless, it was almost turning to instinct and that scared her more than anything.

They'd been drugged, knocked out in their dorms. Dorms? More like over sized bookshelves with a blanket if they were lucky. But that wasn't the point. They'd been sleeping, deeper than normal. They'd all been trained to wake instantly to the slightest change in sound, in temperature, in feel of the air. So they had to be drugged.

They'd woken up at the edge of a forest in nothing but shorts and a shirt, no socks, no shoes, none of their training weapons, no jumpsuits they'd been confined to. They couldn't even tell if it was a very detailed hologram or some sort of artificial forest. Whatever it was, they were trapped there, water of an ocean behind them. It could have been an island for all they knew, the whole lot of them, all the remaining Academics gathered together at the edge, not sure what was coming or what they were meant to do.

It was answered quickly though when a boulder near them exploded, something firing at it from behind them. They turned to see ships, ships with guards and soldiers racing towards them, aiming and firing for them. The boulder had been a warning shot. Without even needed to think, they'd all taken off towards the forests, running through them, trying to get ahead of the soldiers hunting them from behind. And, of course, it couldn't be that easy, for right in the middle of the forest another line of soldiers was waiting to fire at them again, causing them to scatter.

It wasn't till they'd all been divided so far that they couldn't see each other that a sound rose above the trees, telling them of the location of three checkpoints, telling them if they reached the checkpoint alive they could remain so. If they arrived injured, they'd be punished more when they were returned to the training facility. She already knew she'd be punished for her foot, she could feel the warmth of her blood squishing between her toes as she ran, the dirt caking to her as a result.

She gasped, nearly skidding to the ground as a blast went off beside her, one of the soldiers having found her. She scrambled to her feet and took off, weaving in between the trees, trying to avoid the blasts. She could tell that the more you were injured, the harsher the punishment would be. If she could just keep it as her foot she'd be ok…

And, of course, her foot caught in an upturned root, sending her pitching forward and not just to the ground, but over the edge of a steep hill, very nearly like a dirt cliff if the angle had been only a bit more steep. She fell down it, rolling, trying to duck into a controlled roll, trying to keep her limbs and head closer to her body, but it was too hard, she was too sprawled out from the fall. Her limbs were getting tangled as she rolled, her arms and knees and elbows hitting various things as she rolled to the base of the hill.

She was winded, out of breath, her ribs hurting fiercely. She managed to lift her head enough to look at her arms and legs, covered in scratches that she knew wouldn't have been there had she been wearing her jumpsuit, much like the cut on her foot wouldn't be there if she'd been wearing her assigned boots. That had been why they'd been so barely covered, easier to be injured then, more punishments to deal out.

She half-flew to her feet when another shot blasted a hole in a stump just by her head. She spared only a single glance up the hill, spotting the soldier aiming once more, and took off into the trees once more.

She just had to find the checkpoint…

~/~\~

The Professor shook her head from the memory, she'd been badly injured by the end, punished severely, but she'd made it to the checkpoint alive, her foot nearly numb by the end of it. If she could survive that, endure that, this should have been nothing but it had to be said that the little tykes inside her were certainly taking a lot out of her now.

"Because I've been in the future, and the moon is still there. I think," Clara added after a moment, "You know the moon is still there, right?"

" Maybe it isn't the moon," the Professor offered.

"Maybe it's a hologram," the Doctor agreed, "Or a big painting."

"Or a special effect, an artificial creation."

"Maybe it's a completely different moon."

"Maybe…"

"Ok, really," Clara held up her hand, "Stop that. I just meant…you would know."

"We would?" the Doctor frowned, confused.

"If the moon fell to bits in 2049, somebody would've mentioned it," Clara explained, "It would have come up in conversation. So it doesn't break up. So the world doesn't end. So, let's just get in the TARDIS and go."

"Clara," the Professor sighed, "There are actually some moments in time that we simply can't see, no matter how much we use our eyes or how much we notice."

"Little eye-blinks," the Doctor nodded, "hey don't look the same as other things. They're not clear. They're fuzzy, they're grey. Little moments in which big things are decided."

"And this is one of them. We can't tell what happens to the moon, because whatever happens to the moon hasn't been decided yet."

"And it's going to be decided here and now. Which very much sounds as though it's up to us."

"Neither of you are going anywhere," Lundvik agreed, straightening, "I've lost my crew. We were the last astronauts, this is the last shuttle, these are the last nuclear bombs. We're the last chance for Earth, and you're staying to help me."

The Doctor gestured at Lundvik, "Decision made."

"Yeah," Clara sighed.

"If we could just hurry it up slightly," the Professor offered, making them look at her.

The Doctor moved to her side, frowning, "You ok?"

She nodded, "Just…tired," she smiled at him, "Hungry, achy, pregnant," she gestured at herself, she didn't want to admit all that, but if it made it faster then she'd share.

"You can stay…" he began, pointing at the TARDIS.

"And leave it to YOU?" she joked, lifting an eyebrow, "One time I tried that, you ended up with your mind swapped with a puppy's."

"That only happened once!" he huffed.

"Let's see to the moon, and then I'll rest, I promise," she crossed her hearts.

~8~

The Doctor frowned as he stood on the moon's surface once more, the Professor on one side, Clara on the other, staring down at the sample equipment that the Mexican's had left in the Sea that Lundvik had led them to. The Professor had a few papers in her hand, the survey information, a frown on her face as well.

"What is killing the moon?" the Doctor wondered as he peered from the equipment to the papers to the moon itself.

The fact that not even the Professor had an answer to that was disconcerting but, then again, it wasn't like she could really pull her glove off and touch the ground to let them know.

"How can the moon die, though?" Clara asked.

"Everything does, sooner or later," the Doctor shrugged.

"Can we save it?" Lundvik glanced over at them.

"Depends what's killing it," the Professor answered diplomatically, not making any promises.

"There are the other three," Lundvik spotted a few feet away, a set of spacesuits and mounds of cobwebs just a head of them near what appear to be cracks in the crust of the moon, what had to lead down to a chasm or something.

"Is it those germ things, then?" Clara glanced at the Time Lords as they followed the woman to the suits, all of them looking just like the one in the module, nothing but a skeleton left, "Are they like cockroaches? Is it…is it an infestation?"

Lundvik paused to consider it before she too looked at the aliens, "Is it?"

"We've only seen one of them," the Professor shook her head, "It would take an awful lot more to cause the moon to put on one point three billion tons."

The moment she finished speaking one of the spider-germs all but leapt out from one of the cracks under a rock and flew at the Doctor, attaching to his helmet and causing him to fall back onto his bum as he struggled to get it off.

"Doctor!" Clara moved to whip out the cleaning spray that she'd kept on her since they'd realized it caused the germs to liquefy, but the Professor was faster, pulling her blaster and carefully shooting the germ off the Doctor.

"It's a vacuum, Clara," the Professor reminded her, hurrying to the Doctor's side as he sat up, panting, checking his helmet to make sure it hadn't cracked or been torn, "The spray wouldn't work. You ok?" she asked the Doctor.

He just looked at her, "Well, that makes two," he remarked, before he started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" the Professor asked.

"It's just…" he shook his head, "All those times you got cross at ME for all those sentences I should keep away from, and now it's happened to YOU."

The Professor blinked at that, "Your children," she put a hand on her stomach, "Still partly your fault if it's happening to me now."

Still, it WAS rather laughable that it had finally happened to her.

"Sunlight," Clara said suddenly.

"Sunlight?" Lundvik gave her a look.

"If they're germs. My nan says it's the best disinfectant there is."

The Doctor nodded, "Shine your light down there, wife," he gestured at the deep crack under the rock.

"What are the magic words, husband?" the Professor countered, fixing the setting on her blaster to turn the torch on.

"I love you," he said instantly and without hesitation.

She paused, giving him a look, seeing on his expression that he knew very well she was asking for a 'please' and smiled, "Good enough," she mumbled, a faint blush on her cheeks as always seemed to grow there whenever he so blatantly declared his love for her around others. She turned, bracing her hand on the rock to shine her blaster down below, revealing numerous other red-jointed germs crawling all over each other inside the crack, most certainly an infestation.

"Where have they come from?" Lundvik gaped in horror at the sheer amount of them.

"They could have been there all the time," the Professor murmured.

The Doctor nodded, "It's warmish. They're multiplying, feeding, evolving," he stood up from where he'd crouched to get a better view of them and the small group quickly headed away from the horde.

"If the moon breaks up," Lundvik began, thinking, "It'll kill us all in about 45 minutes."

"47 and a half actually," the Professor remarked, frowning at the ground beneath her, if a rock the size of the moon broke up, it would undoubtedly kill everyone on earth.

"Unless something else is going on," the Doctor mumbled, moving over to another crack in the ground, flicking his yo-yo into it, grimacing when it came back wet with some rather disgusting substance which he quickly scanned with the sonic.

"There's no water on the moon," Lundvik gaped at it, utterly shocked.

The Professor, however, reached out to take the string, dangling the yo-yo at her eyeline, catching the Doctor's thoughts on the sonic's readings, "It's not water, it's amniotic fluid," she absently put a hand on her stomach at the thought, she could tell just from the sight that it was too thick to be water.

"The stuff that life comes from," the Doctor mused, glancing at the crack, "I've got to go down there."

"Doctor!" Lundvik spun to look at him.

"Back to your shuttle," the Doctor just ushered her off, "Get your bombs ready. You," he turned to Clara, "Get to the TARDIS. Get safe. Get Courtney safe. You," he then moved his finger to the Professor, who crossed her arms over her stomach and narrowed her eyes, just daring him to order her off, "Shine your light again, wife?"

The Professor smiled at that and nodded, following him towards the crack.

"Good, I'll be back soon."

"What?!" Clara followed them, "No. Doctor. Doctor!" but it was too late, he'd just jumped into the crack, "Professor!" she turned to the woman, "Why are you letting him go down there?!"

"Because I can't exactly fit any more," the Professor sighed, that was another thing she had a hard time dealing with. She…she had been expecting a new size, weight gain, she looked up statistics and pictures and so much information about how big she'd get, about what she'd be able to do or not do once she was that size…and she'd reached that size months in advance and surpassed it and she wasn't even done yet. She hadn't been prepared to be THIS big and it was throwing her off.

It should be her down in that crack, not the Doctor, but she couldn't go and if she even tried, she knew the Doctor would lock her in the TARDIS and get their mother to not let her out till it was all over. She'd rather be there, slightly on the side, to help than to be away and leave the Doctor alone.

"Will he?" Lundvik wondered quietly, "Will he be back?"

"If he says so, I suppose he will," Clara mumbled.

"He will," the Professor nodded, "Time Lords, notoriously hard to kill."

"Miss?" Courtney's voice called from a comm. on Clara's wrist, "Come in."

"Courtney?" Clara blinked, a bit startled that Courtney had been able to communicate with them.

"I'm bored. When are you coming back?"

"We're on our way," Clara winced, knowing that they should probably be heading for the shuttle and the TARDIS, but the Professor wasn't about to leave where she was shining her light for the Doctor and she was not about to leave her granny in the middle of a moonite infestation, "What you doing?"

"Putting some pictures on Tumblr."

"No!" Clara cried, "Courtney, don't put any photos on Tumblr!"

"My granny used to put things on Tumblr," Lundvik offered, only for a small moon-quake to nearly send them stumbling to the ground before it calmed. She quickly got to her feet and moved to help Clara and the Professor up…when something a few feet away, just down a short hill caught her attention, "There he is!" she gasped, rushing down it to another suit on a small cocoon, Henry.

Neither Clara nor the Professor had to look or follow the woman to know that the man was likely just a skeleton now, just as the others had been, the look on Lundvik's face was enough for them to know.

Clara looked past the woman, to what appeared to be a ravine with the ship sitting on the other side, "Was that where we landed? It looks so different."

"It was the moon-quake," the Professor explained, leaning over the much wider crack to try and spot the Doctor, "It's creating ruptures, the surface is shifting so it looks different. That ravine wasn't there before."

Just as she finished speaking, more cracks began to form in the surface of the moon, the ravine that had formed growing wider as the shuttle began to shake and tilt towards it.

"It's going down!" Lundvik jumped to her feet as the shuttle indeed fell into the ravine, the crack only getting wider and wider.

"Courtney!" Clara gasped.

"Clara!" the Professor just barely managed to grab the girl's arm to stop her, "She's fine, Clara, she's fine, she's in the TARDIS, she's protected."

"We're going to have to take cover," Lundvik ran up the small hill towards them again, "We're running out of oxygen," she gestured at her arm where a small dial was keeping track of oxygen.

Clara rounded on the crack and squatted down, shouting into it, "Doctor!"

"Today's the day, humankind!" the Doctor shouted behind them, actually succeeding in making the Professor jump with how he'd snuck up behind her, grinning like the madman he was.

~8~

"Where's the TARDIS?" Clara all but demanded as she followed the Time Lords into the module, wanting…no, needing…to know where Courtney was. She'd heard the Professor mention once, talking about some sort of Titanic replica, that the TARDIS would go to the nearest source of gravity if it was adrift in space, but it fell through a chasm! Was it still there? Was there a way to get it here? Were the HADS still in place?

"She's in the shuttle, isn't she?" the Doctor asked with a huff, pulling his and the Professor's helmets off and hurrying to one of the computers to check the records, "She'll turn up."

"Last time you said that, she turned up on the wrong side of the planet."

"You two have never gotten on, have you?"

"They get on better now," the Professor shrugged, sitting on the chair by the computer, the Doctor making it very clear he wanted her to sit on it given that he pointedly walked past it and was half hunched, half-leaned against the computer as he typed into it.

"Look," Clara rubbed her head, having followed their example and taken her helmet off, "We need to know where Courtney is."

"Clara, I told you, Courtney is safe."

"Do you have her phone number?" the Doctor rolled his eyes as Clara moved to open her mouth to keep arguing.

"No, no, no," Clara shook her head, "Of course I don't have her phone number."

"Well, what about the school? Does the secretary have her number?"

"I can't. The secretary hates me. She thinks I gave her a packet of TENA Lady for Secret Santa. Look," she sighed, "Courtney's posting stuff on Tumblr. Doesn't that know where you are?" she looked at the three others around her, all of whom didn't seem to know.

"I don't know," Lundvik remarked, "I'm not a historian."

"Phone," the Doctor held up his hand to Clara who reached into the top of her suit to retrieve it instead of her pockets, not about to risk it falling out somewhere, "I know what the problem is. Oh…" he grimaced, getting on tumblr and spotting some of the pictures that Courtney had put up of the moon and the TARDIS and the lot of them in space suits, "She can't post that. She can't put pictures of us online," he pulled the sonic out and flashed it on Clara's phone, using it to hack into tumblr and delete the photos, he was not about to let anyone use that information to track him and the Professor down, especially not now, not when there was too much, so much more, at stake if they were found by the wrong enemy.

He turned and flicked the sonic at one of the monitors on the wall and, after a small bout of static, Courtney appeared, the console room behind her, "Yeah?"

"Courtney, you can't put pictures of us online," the Professor told her, right to the point.

"Are you ok?" Clara hurried over to look at Courtney.

The girl seemed confused as to why she wouldn't be, "Er, I'm fine. What's up?"

Lundvik rolled her eyes and moved closer to the Time Lords, not quite caring at this point now that the girl was ok, but much more focused on what this all meant for Earth, "You said you know what the problem is."

"Yes, yes," the Doctor nodded, "It's a rather big problem."

"Then you may want to SAY what it is, husband," the Professor leaned back in the chair, moving one hand to her back and kneading it, the other moving to her forehead and massaging it, smiling softly when the Doctor put his hands on her shoulders and began to gently massage them absently too. Her husband was too good to her.

"Right, so, I had a little hypothesis," he began, "The seismic activity, the surface breaking up, the variable mass, the increase in gravity, the fluid. I'm sure you're getting where I'm going, wife?" he glanced down at her.

The Professor nodded slowly, "Started to at amniotic fluid," she agreed, there was really only one thing it could be whenever it was fluid like that.

"I scanned what's down there," he gave the Professor's shoulders one more squeeze before he turned and moved to the middle of the room, pushing a small mobile console with him, flicking it to create a 3D projection of the moon, complete with all the small cracks, "The moon isn't breaking apart. Well, actually, it is breaking apart, and rather quickly. We've got about an hour and a half. But that isn't the problem. It's not infested."

"What are they, then, those things?" Courtney called from the monitor, watching them.

"Bacteria," the Professor answered, her hands pulled to her stomach now, wincing slightly as the twins moved.

The Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed at her, "Tiny, tiny bacteria living on something very, very big. Something that weighs about 1.3 billion tons. Something that's living. Something growing…"

"Growing?" Clara stiffened at that.

"That," the Doctor flicked the sonic once more and the image shifted to what could almost pass for a baby dragon of some sort curled up, inside the moon.

"That lives under the moon?" Courtney leaned closer, wanting to see more.

"No," the Professor frowned at it.

Clara spun to look at her, "What?"

"That doesn't live under the moon. That is the moon."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Lundvik scoffed, as though it were so hard to believe there was something else alive in the moon while they knew there were billions of germs alive ON the moon.

"The moon isn't breaking apart."

"The moon is hatching," the Doctor grinned widely at that.

Clara just appeared lost, "Huh?"

"The moon's an egg!"

Clara blinked at that, "Has it, er, has it always been an egg?"

"Yes," the Professor gave her a look, it was quite obvious that it didn't just turn into an egg at random and decide to host life within it.

"For a hundred million years or so," the Doctor pondered that, "Just…just growing. Just getting ready to be born," he shot a smile at the Professor, a soft look in his eyes as they drifted to her stomach.

"My belly is not an egg," the Professor remarked, pulling his attention to her eyes instead, "If these children end up 'hatching' we'll have more to worry about than what trouble they'll get into," she joked, because if they 'hatched' then they wouldn't exactly be Time Lords would they? They'd be some other sort of alien and she'd be forever traumatized and wondering if Kovarian had indeed done something to her like they had to Amy.

"Speaking of eggs though…"

"No," she cut in, giving him a look.

"But…"

"No."

"You didn't even let me ask," he very nearly pouted, a very manly and old-man pout really, but the Professor could tell it was a pout.

"I don't need to," she remarked, "I KNOW what you'd ask and we are NOT going to take whatever that is," she gestured at the creature in the hologram, admitting without saying that even SHE had no idea what sort of creature it was it was so old, "And keep it as a pet. And you are NOT," she pointed firmly at him, "Going to towrope it to the TARDIS like a leash either."

"I wasn't going to do that," he crossed his arms, lifting his chin.

She just continued to stare him down, "I know how you get with eggs and the unknown, husband."

"I'm not THAT bad!"

"So explain to me how the Academy ended up with a baby T-Rex running around the halls because you 'accidently' managed to snag an egg from the Jurassic field trip?"

The Doctor had no response to that save for a, "That only happened once."

"Did it?" she challenged, before starting to tick things off on her fingers, "Giant Eagle, Basilisk, Griffin…"

"You're using the human terms for them," he defended, knowing they were all alien species that he may or may not have picked up as eggs, curious for the surprise of what would be within, and had them hatch and cause havoc everywhere.

"Helen of Troy?" she fixed him with a much more pointed look for that one.

He winced recalling that, they'd been tasked with transporting a princess of an alien species that literally abided to the ideal of a 'stork' bringing them a child. They were a rather infertile species that created children using DNA and test-tubes and incubation pods on a sister-planet and would bring it to their home-planet for the birth. He'd accidently crashed into Ancient Sparta, lost the egg, and, when he'd tried to use the TARDIS to track it down again, he'd ended up years in the future where 'Helen' had already been born, along with her twin brother, adopted by another family, and the Trojan War was already well on its way. It was a good thing that the scientists often made a secondary set of a child in case something happened during the transportation and he'd been able to use the TARDIS to get the second child to its parents without them knowing he'd accidently lost the first and sparked a war on Earth.

The Professor STILL didn't know how he'd managed to get them ended up on Earth when the sister-planets were literally right next to each other.

"Didn't hold a candle to you, wife," he tried to smooth the situation over with a compliment, "I'd launch 10,000 ships to get you back."

"You wouldn't need 10,000 ships," she remarked back, starting to smile as she rubbed her stomach, "Just the TARDIS."

"She's worth 10,000," he shrugged, "You, though, are worth an infinite number of Helen of Troys."

"Even though I'm old and fat now?"

"Timeless and pregnant," he corrected, "Glowing and…"

"Ok!" Clara called, cutting into their (admittedly adorable) old-people flirting thing, now that she knew there was some sort of creature in the heart of the moon she was far, FAR more focused on that and worrying about what was going to come next to listen to their catalog of egg-hatched creatures, "So the moon has never been the moon?"

"No, no, no, it's never been dead," the Doctor sighed, turning to her, "It's just taking a long time to come alive."

"Is it a chicken?" Courtney asked.

"No," the Professor shook her head, she might not know exactly what it was, but it was certainly not an intergalactic chicken.

"Cos, for a chicken to have laid an egg that big…"

"Courtney, don't spoil the moment," the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Professor," Clara looked over at the woman, "You…you really don't know what it is?"

The Professor sighed, "I really don't," she hated to admit it, she really, REALLY hated to admit that, "But I do think that it's unique. That it's the only one of its kind in left the universe," her expression grew sad at that, thinking about how many other things were the 'only one of its kind' left in the vast universes, it was a terrible and lonely existence.

She winced, pushing herself up to move to the Doctor's side as they looked at the image, taking his hand, at least they weren't alone any longer. And at least there would be more of them very soon.

"And I think that that is utterly beautiful," the Doctor murmured, a small smile on his face as he observed the slumbering creature.

And, of course, someone had to ruin the beautiful moment.

"How do we kill it?" Lundvik demanded.

"Why'd you want to kill it?!" Clara looked at the woman, horrified.

"It's a little baby!" Courtney agreed.

The Doctor, however, was looking at the Professor when she tensed her grip on his hand at that, her other hand now protectively resting over her stomach. By rights…in a certain situation they were both too aware of had come close to happening…there were species out there that would stop at nothing to kill the Professor and their unborn children if they found out she was pregnant, many of them.

And humans, well…they'd proven in more than one occasion that they had no qualms killing what they didn't understand or what they thought might be different or a threat.

And, well, the Professor was all three as was he and so would their children be, even if they were only ever dangerous in just the power of their minds.

"How do we kill it?" Lundvik turned to them, repeating her question.

For some reason, the human woman seemed under the impression that the two clearly to-be-parents would be ok with killing an unborn creature.

Humans.

The Professor shook her head at that, feeling a bitterness rise in her at that, a faint ringing starting in her ears once more to hear the woman so determined and focused on killing the creature she didn't even understand.

"Kill the moon?" the Doctor scoffed at that, but Lundvik just nodded, "Kill the moon," he frowned, flicking his sonic to end the hologram, knowing that the Professor would feel more upset staring at the image of the innocent creature while someone else talked of killing it. It was hard, it was hard to know what to do about this. Adipose were benign, their babies so, SO innocent, but the Racnoss were deadly and dangerous, needing to be exterminated…what was this creature? They didn't know, "Well, you have about a hundred of the best man-made nuclear weapons, if they still work," he tried to sound more condescending, tried to sound like he doubted even that would work, not wanting to say anything concrete about killing the thing. If the Professor wasn't saying how to definitely kill it, which he knew she was capable of working out within seconds of Lundvik asking the question, then he knew it meant she didn't WANT to kill it either, and he would NOT do anything that would cause his Bonded, his pregnant Bonded, his wife, distress, "If that's what you want to do."

"Doctor, wait…" Clara shook her head.

"Will that do it?" Lundvik continued resolutely.

The Professor let out a breath at that, frowning, feeling a firm kick against her hand, the twins were growing agitated and that ringing in her ears was getting louder…it was almost like she could start to hear her hearts beating in her ears.

"A hundred nuclear bombs set off right where we are, right on top of a living, vulnerable creature?" the Doctor frowned, "It'll never feel the sun on its back."

"And then what? Will the moon still break up? You said…you said we had an hour and a half?"

"Well, there'll be nothing to make it break up," he reasoned, though he kept glancing at the Professor out of the corner of his eye, she wasn't saying ANYTHING. Normally, by now, she'd have said something, she'd be finishing his sentences with him, but she was silent, completely silent, not even her thoughts were drifting to him, it was worrying, "There will be nothing trying to force its way out. The gravity of the little dead baby will pull all the pieces back together again," he cut off suddenly, feeling the Professor's grip on his hand tighten at that, recognizing a wince in her even if she gave no outward appearance of it besides that squeeze. He swallowed hard, this was NOT a conversation to be had around her, but now that he'd started, the humans wouldn't stop till he'd finished, "Of course, it won't be very pretty. You'd have an enormous corpse floating in the sky. You might have some very difficult conversations to have with your kids."

"I don't have any kids," Lundvik countered.

"Just because YOU don't…" the Professor began, her voice sounding raw, as though she'd been shouting or was trying to contain tears…the Doctor knew it was the latter.

But Clara cut in, sensing a fight on the horizon, "Stop. Right, listen. This is a…this is a life," she couldn't stop her glance from drifting to the Professor before she forced it to lock on Lundvik, "I mean, this must be the biggest life in the universe!"

"It's not even been born," Courtney agreed.

"It is killing people," Lundvik argued, "It is destroying the Earth."

"You cannot blame a baby for kicking," Clara crossed her arms.

The Professor let out a deep breath at that, feeling the twins kick just then, as though agreeing with Clara…but also reminding her of it. Babies couldn't help it, and they didn't know what sort of creature this one would be. If…if they'd had the chance to get the baby Racnoss away, to a distant planet where they could live and grow and die on their own, without influence by the Empress…it might have been possible not to kill them. But the Empress wouldn't give up her babies without a fight and she would raise them into the right terror her people had been. This creature…could they really say what it would be or do? It was just trying to be born right now, it had no knowledge of what was happening on Earth.

"Let me tell you something," Lundvik's tone turned harsh as she rounded on Clara, "You want to know what I took back from being in space? Look at the edge of the Earth. The atmosphere, that is paper thin. That is the only thing that saves us all from death. Everything else, the stars, the blackness, that's all dead. Sadly, that is the only life any of us will ever know."

"There's life here," Courtney called, "There's life just next door."

"Look," Lundvik rolled her eyes, sparing the girl only a glance, "When you've grown up a bit, you'll realize that everything doesn't have to be nice. Some things are just bad. Anyway, you ran away. It's none of your business."

The Professor closed her eyes at that, her grip on the Doctor's hand nearly white from what Lundvik was saying. It was too much, it was too much like she'd been, no regard for life or considerations, just a single-minded mission. And her remark about Courtney running off? It was too much like the Doctor, like what he'd done on Gallifrey and during the War. It was too close to home. She swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry.

"I want to come back," Courtney's voice called, forcing the Professor to open her eyes, the girl was defiant, wanting to be able to have a say now that she was being told she had to BE there to be heard.

"Courtney, you'll be safer where you are," Clara shook her head, so focused on Courtney that she missed Lundvik moving to the small black case she hadn't let go of to put in a code.

The Doctor should have stopped her, or the Professor should have, but neither was focused on that at the moment. The Doctor was looking at the Professor, who had gone unnaturally pale in the span of mere seconds…and the Professor was focusing on trying to breathe, it felt like there was something contracting her chest, like she couldn't get enough air in her, like her suit was too restrictive…

"Look, I'm sorry," Courtney argued with Clara, "I want to come back, ok? I want to help."

"There's some DVDs on the blue book shelf," the Doctor called, moving closer to the Professor, his eyes on her but his words for Courtney, "Just stick one into the TARDIS console. That'll bring you to us."

He didn't care, right now, he knew Clara would argue, but he didn't care. He needed the TARDIS there, and he needed it there NOW.

Something was wrong with the Professor.

"And make sure you hang on to the console, otherwise the TARDIS will leave you behind," he added, knowing that if Courtney wasn't IN the console, then the box would just shut down and get caught halfway to them.

"So what do we do?" Clara looked at them, her gaze flickering to the Professor who seemed a bit white but not something she hadn't noticed of the woman during the course of her pregnancy, "Doctor? Huh? Professor? What do we do?"

The Doctor focused on the Professor a moment longer, she was blinking rapidly and he could see small beads of sweat starting to form on her forehead. Something was very wrong, something was wrong with his Bonded, and that…that would ALWAYS come above everything and anything else.

Until their children were born, she would always come first.

Over even the Humans.

"Nothing," he stated.

"What?!"

"We don't do anything," he stepped closer to the Professor, his arm winding more around her, turning her slightly so that Clara couldn't really see her face as he cradled her to him slightly. He knew that she hated to appear weak around others, hated it with a passion, this was all he could do at the moment to guard her against that feeling while in the middle of whatever sort of attack was happening to her, "I'm sorry, Clara. We can't help you."

HE couldn't help her, not now, not with his wife in his arms, his pregnant wife who needed him so much more than the humans did right now.

There were billions of them, everywhere, on millions of planets, but there was only one Time Lady, there was only ONE Professor.

"Of course you can help," Clara argued.

"The Earth isn't our home," the Doctor shook his head, tightening his arms around the Professor, feeling her shaking against him, "The moon's not our moon. Sorry."

"Come on," Clara tried to smile, tried to make it seem like he was joking, because he HAD to be joking, "Hey…"

"Listen," the Doctor cut in, a harshness in his tone that shocked her, "There are moments in every civilization's history in which the whole path of that civilization is decided. The whole future path. Whatever future humanity might have depends upon the choice that is made right here and right now. Now, you've got the tools to kill it. You made them. You brought them up here all on your own, with your own ingenuity. You don't need Time Lords. Kill it," he swallowed hard, feeling a shaky breath on his neck at the Professor's reaction to that, "Or let it live. We can't make this decision for you."

"Yeah, well, I can't make it," Clara argued.

"Well, there's two of you here," he nodded at Lundvik.

"Well, yeah. A school teacher and an astronaut."

"Who's better qualified?" he was talking quicker now, speaking almost before Clara could finish talking, he just…he needed the TARDIS to get there faster. He could feel the Professor's gloved-hands curling on his suit, she was clinging to him, he could practically feel the wrongness of what was happening to her radiating off her.

"I don't know! The President of America!"

"Oh, take something off his plate. He makes far too many decisions anyway."

"She," Lundvik corrected absently.

The Doctor though, would have laughed, because the Professor had murmured the same thing against his neck. She was still there with him, but her voice…it was weak, it was breathy and that was not a good sign. Every time he heard her voice like THAT it meant she was inches away from completely collapsing into unconsciousness, "She. Sorry," he squeezed the Professor tighter, trying to offer her strength to hang on till he could get her into the TARDIS and see what was wrong. The tools of humans were utterly useless right now, "She hasn't even been into space. She hasn't been to another planet. How would she even know what to do?"

'Liar,' the Professor's voice murmured in his head.

It was bad, it was bad now, very bad. Even her mental voice was weakening, fighting to cling to consciousness, sending his hearts racing with fear, he could almost feel her body starting to slacken against him, her hearts racing against his own in his chest.

"I am asking you for help!" Clara shouted, seeming completely frazzled, completely…betrayed that they were forcing this decision on her.

But the Doctor couldn't bring himself to care, not with the Professor in his arms in such a state and Clara just shouting at them and not even seeming to realize WHY he had to leave, why he couldn't be a part of this, why they couldn't, "Listen," he nearly snapped, "We went to dinner in Berlin in 1937, right? We didn't nip out after pudding and kill Hitler. I've never killed Hitler. The Professor's not even killed Hitler. And you wouldn't expect either of us to kill Hitler. The future is no more malleable than the past."

"Ok, don't you do this to make some kind of point!"

"It's time to take the stabilizers off your bike," he grew harder now, hearing the faint wheezing of the TARDIS approaching, and just in time, the Professor was blinking faster, he could feel her eyelashes on his neck, he needed to get her to the med-bay, "It's your moon, womankind. It's your choice."

"And you're just going to stand there?" Clara gaped.

"Absolutely not," his voice was certainly far more deep and harsh than he intended, sounding almost offended and deadly to his own ears, but it didn't matter. The TARDIS was there and he set off, guiding the Professor towards the doors and through them the moment Courtney stepped out of them.

"Doctor?" Clara frowned at them, completely disbelieving that this was actually happening, that they were both leaving, that the Professor wasn't even putting up a fight to stop him.

"A teenager, an astronaut and a schoolteacher," he waved behind him, just managing to get past the door way, keeping the stumble of the Professor hidden.

"Hang on a minute!" Lundvik rushed over, "We can get in there, can't we?" she nodded at the TARDIS, "You can sort it out with that thing."

"No," he turned to look at the humans from the other side of the doorway, "Some decisions are too important not to make on your own."

Some decisions he couldn't be a part of, because other things were more important to attend to.

His gaze flickered to Clara only a moment before he slammed the door shut to Clara's shouts at them…

A single moment before the Professor collapsed in his arms.

~8~

The Professor slowly came around to a faint beeping noise, her face scrunching as she heard a secondary sound, slightly faster in beating, and doubled. Her eyes opened to see that her suit had been pulled down to the waist with an elastic band around her stomach, a monitor keeping track of the twins' heartsbeats while another monitor affixed to her finger was keeping track of her own. She looked to the other side of the examination bed of the med-bay, not even really needing to to know that the Doctor was sitting beside her. Not only because he was holding her right hand in his own, but because he wouldn't be anywhere else, especially not after she all but collapsed in his arms, likely scaring half his regenerations out of him.

"Theta," she murmured, squeezing his hand. She didn't need to talk, he was staring right at her regardless, "What happened?"

"Your blood pressure," he explained, knowing that he had to reassure her, knowing she wasn't asking about the moon but about her brief bout of something and their children, "It got too high, something was causing you enormous stress and your body shut down to protect you from getting more stressed. And of course, you being you, you tried to fight against it and stay awake which just stressed your body out more," he reached out his right hand to rest on her stomach, "They're alright, little fighters just like their mum," he leaned over, pressing a kiss to her forehead before he sat back down, "Now…stress?"

The Professor let out a breath of relief at being alright for the moment, but knew she had to return an answer for an answer, "The…dragon, in the moon, hearing Lundvik speaking about killing it, thinking about all the other aliens I've killed, children and…" she swallowed hard, tears collecting in her eyes as the monitors began to speed up slightly.

The Doctor reached out a hand to stroke her hair, trying to soothe her.

The Professor's mind was racing, she couldn't have focused back then. It was strange and it had hit her so suddenly, so hard, that she hadn't had time to even begin to try and fight against the fear that had clutched her. It was crippling, her emotions were all over the place and things she knew shouldn't have affected her THAT much now were, twice as badly, she had no control over her emotions, over her thoughts, over her own body even and it was terrifying.

And then to think about that baby in that egg, helpless, and comparing it to the twins in her stomach, equally as helpless and Lundvik wanting to kill the alien so quickly and…

"Kata," the Doctor's voice cut through her thoughts as the monitor began to beep rapidly again, "Calm down," he murmured, getting up to sit on the edge of the examination bed.

"It's too much," she mumbled, swallowing hard as she looked at him.

"What is?"

"Everything," she sniffled, not wanting to cry, not over this, "I…I love our children, Theta, I do, inordinately, more than…more than I ever thought I could love someone besides you," she offered him a smile, "But I feel like…like I have no control. It's frightening. What if we face something like this again, is this always going to happen? Am I always going to be this weak and…"

"You are NOT weak," he cut in gently, "You are the strongest woman I have ever met Kata."

"But I don't FEEL strong," she argued, "I got scared, I got scared for one second and my body overreacted and made me pass out!" she took a breath, not wanting to shout at him, it wasn't his fault…entirely, "I was ready for it, for the changes, for the…the appetite and cravings and soreness and weight gain and…and everything. For ONE child," she paused, trying to gather her thoughts as he let her, "I read everything about it, I was ready for that, and now there's two and it's all happening twice as fast and twice as strongly and I'm…I'm trying to take it in stride, I am, and I don't regret this," she squeezed his hand, needing him to understand that, "But I don't know what's going to happen and I feel like every time I come to terms with something and accept it, something new comes up. I knew that stress was bad, to be calmer, but now it feels like if I get remotely stressed I'll faint and I don't want that…"

"Then we'll just have to make sure you don't feel stressed," he countered lightly, lifting her hand to his lips, "Kata…all our lives, you've been taking care of me, now it's my turn, quite literally, to take care of you. Please, let me."

"I'm trying but…"

"But?"

"It's hard," she admitted in a whisper, "It's hard because…leaving it to you means I have no control over it and I DO trust you, Theta, with my life, with our children's lives, I trust you with everything. But…" she shook her head, reaching up her other hand to wipe away a tear before it could really fall, "More than half my incarnations in my last cycle, they were all trapped, they all had barely any control. I had barely any control."

It was true. Her first, second, third, and fourth incarnations were reasonably in control, but three of them were SO affected by the Doctor's departure that it might as well have been her trapped in her sorrow, her anger, and her work. Then the War came, her fifth, sixth, and…well, what she'd thought had been her sixth before they'd tried to save Gallifrey had all been part of the High Council's experimentations and training, she was subjected to their control. Then one incarnation existed for only hours in trying to escape. Before she was next a captive of the Krillitanes, then too scared to function, then a soldier again and she'd lost an incarnation helping Donna.

"The last time I was truly in control in centuries was my last body and it was good," she smiled softly, "I had a good few centuries as her, but then I regenerate and…and now I'm STILL not in control."

"It's only for a short while more," the Doctor tried to reassure her, understanding how she felt. To be pregnant, her body, the one thing that had been controlled by others, that she had been trapped in, was not being occupied, essentially, by yet another force that was using her for its own purpose. Admittedly it was for a grand purpose and didn't mean harm, it was a wonderful and beautiful thing, but it WAS affecting her, it was causing a lack of control.

And after having spent a majority of her lives being controlled by others and having a lack of it in her own power…this was truly a hard way to start a new regeneration cycle.

"I know," she whispered, "I just…" she took a breath, "I don't want to be a liability to you," she looked at him, "If I get too scared or stressed and I collapse sooner, it would distract you, and don't you dare deny it," she pointed a warning finger at him, "You would and then you'd die and I…I want YOU to be able to see these babies," she half-ordered that, "If I'M carrying them, then YOU had better be there to see them."

He let out a soft chuckle, "I will, and I will take care of you," he crossed his hearts lightly, "You don't have to worry about me Kata, not now. Because now I have more than just one thing to live for but three," he smiled, "I will not fail you like I have in the past," he swore it, "I will make sure that you aren't stressed or scared ever again…"

"Liar," she murmured, though she was smiling more.

"Alright," he conceded, knowing that it was likely a promise he wouldn't be able to fully keep, "I promise I can manage that till the children are born then," he amended and she nodded, "We will BOTH see these children born and then, when they've come, your body will regulate again, and YOU will be in full control and, if it helps, I promise not to get you in this situation again."

"Liar," she started to laugh now, this time only half-cursing herself for her hormones sending her from crying mess to laughing smiler in seconds, though she was sure part of it was because of her wonderful Theta.

"True," he laughed as well, "I want as many children as we can manage," he told her gently, "But we ARE Time Lords, we have all the time in the world, literally," he gestured around, "I can wait till you're ready. And next time I'll try for only ONE child at a time."

The Professor just smiled at him, tugging him by the hand till he leaned over so she could kiss him in thanks.

"Liar."

Next time he'd probably aim for triplets.

~8~

For how relieved and reassured the Doctor had managed to make the Professor…she found herself to be THAT irritated (not upset, not stressed, but irritated) when she stepped out of the med-bay and headed back to the console room…only to find the monitor displaying Clara putting out a call to the Earth for help in the decision whether to kill the creature in the moon or not and realized that the Doctor had taken the TARDIS off and left Clara on the moon, alone, with Courtney and Lundvik for help, with the weight of the creature's life on her shoulders.

Well, she'd been that irritated and half-demanded what he'd been thinking! And when he'd explained it, his reasoning, only partly (though a very large part) being his concern for her overruling and overriding every other thought in his head for anyone else, she'd submitted that he HAD had a decent reason. But she still wanted to get to the moon and help Clara as soon as possible.

She didn't trust that Lundvik woman. Really, it felt like every blonde woman they came across was some sort of soldier intent to kill things. She'd been like that, Jenny, the captain on Hedgewick's World, Lundvik, even Rose had submitted to the 'call of the warrior.' She was starting to think blonde hair was cursed now.

Blonde…blondies…brownies…

Mmm…she could go for a brownie right now, or perhaps chocolate cake, maybe chocolate cake sandwiched between a brownie and a blondie…

She shook her head, trying to focus on the controls and not her stomach, now was not the time. Knowing her, if she didn't really focus she'd start to want eggs or omelet's because the dragon-thing was in an egg.

Scrambled eggs would be nice too.

No! She shook her head once more, throwing a glare at the Doctor as he chuckled, catching her thoughts continuously turning to food, and pulled a lever to set the TARDIS down. They'd been watching Clara on the TARDIS monitors as they tried to hurry back to her. Lundvik had been trying to detonate the bombs, apparently the earth had decided to destroy the creature, but Clara had just barely managed to leap forward and stop the detonation moments before the wheezing of the TARDIS would sound signaling their arrival.

Good on you Clara, she couldn't help but think as the girl made the right choice to save the creature instead.

The Doctor ran for the doors, knowing the Professor was in no condition to be running about after her brief time unconscious, he'd only allowed her to help him pilot when she'd pulled her blaster on him (yes he really would have to confiscate that rather soon), "One, two, three," he called, pointing to the three females standing just outside the doors, "Into the TARDIS."

"What's happening?" Lundvik shouted, a rumbling noise reaching the Professor even from the console, the hatching was increasing, she could tell. The TARDIS was also monitoring the activity…the creature was about to come, and SOON.

"Let's go and have a look, shall we?" the Doctor just grinned, shutting the door behind them, ignoring Clara glaring at him as he hurried back to the console, helping the Professor pilot the TARDIS back towards the Earth.

"Bloody idiots!" Lundvik grumbled as she hurried after him, "Bloody irresponsible idiots."

"Oi," the Professor shot her a look, "Mind your language, please," she put a hand on her stomach, "There are children present," she patted her belly.

"And what am I?" Courtney pouted, moving to the console as well, "Chopped liver?"

"I thought you were a young woman," the Professor countered, "Not a child."

Courtney blinked at that and smiled a bit.

"You should have left me there," Lundvik continued to grouse, "Let me die. I wanted to die up there with the universe in front of me, not being crushed to death on Earth."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at her negativity, "Nobody's going to die."

"Could you please let us see what's happening?!"

The Professor sighed and looked at the Doctor, "If I ever get that impatient with our children, give me a flick or something."

The Doctor chuckled at that and pulled another lever, landing the TARDIS on Earth and taking her hand to lead her to the doors, her half of her suit still turned down to just below her stomach, the arms swaying beside her as she walked, almost dragging on the floor. They stepped out to reveal they were on a beach on Earth, Clara, Courtney, and Lundvik behind them, with a clear view of the moon in the cloudless blue sky.

They could all see it now, the moon tearing itself apart, chipping away and cracking, falling apart as something inside it stretched out, what looked like wings spreading from either side of it.

"What's it doing?" Courtney whispered, staring in awe at the larger than life creature, truly looking like a dragon, but with a bit of tentacles it appeared to it, a roar actually echoing down to them.

The Professor smiled, "It's feeling the sun on itself. It's getting warm."

"The chick flies away and the eggshell disintegrates," the Doctor nodded, moving an arm around the Professor's shoulders, watching, "Harmless."

The Professor gave a nod of her own at that. They'd been worried about that, that if the moon had really been solid rock that it would cause devastation on Earth to be hit with the remains. But the moon couldn't be entirely solid rock with that creature in it. And even if it WAS rock and not some advanced sort of eggshell, the pieces breaking apart would be so thin that they'd burn up easily in the atmosphere, keeping Earth safe regardless.

Clara, who had been more looking at the Time Lords than the creature, took a deep breath, trying to steady her shaking voice, keep the tears out of it. She could tell the Professor would be able to tell if she didn't really TRY, and she was NOT going to have this conversation or breakdown before Courtney, "Did you know?" she demanded.

"You made your decision," the Doctor commented, not answering, "Humanity made its choice."

"No," Lundvik frowned, "We ignored humanity."

"Well, there you go."

"So what happens now, then? Tell me what happens now."

The Doctor smiled and looked at the Professor, "Care to do the honors?" he asked, knowing that, after her little moment before, she needed to feel in control, she needed to feel like she could contribute something, that she was still useful.

The Professor took a breath and closed her eyes, letting her senses out, letting her Time Lord sense tell her what 'might be' of the future of mankind now, using also what she knew of the humans from her lessons in the Academy as well, "In the mid-21st century humankind starts creeping off into the stars, spreads its way through the galaxy to the very edges of the universe," she let her breath out, thinking about Donna for a moment, about how they'd seen the evidence of the humans spreading out, thought of Adelaide and her family legacy spreading out as well, "And it endures till the end of time," she patted her stomach at that, her mind briefly turning to the Master, to Utopia and the Toclafane, the proof that the humans would endure to the end.

"And it does all that because one day in the year 2049," the Doctor picked up, "When it had stopped thinking about going to the stars, something occurred that make it look up, not down," he gestured at the moon, taking a bit of 'artistic license' in describing the future. It wasn't exactly something the others wouldn't be able to guess would happen next, "It looked out there into the blackness and it saw something beautiful, something wonderful, that for once it didn't want to destroy. And in that one moment, the whole course of history was changed."

The Professor glanced back at Courtney, "Not bad for a girl from Coal Hill School," and then at Clara who was standing rigidly beside the girl, "And her teacher."

"Oh, my gosh!" Courtney gasped, pointing at the sky, "It laid a new egg!" and indeed it had, a new moon hung in the sky, looking remarkably similar to the one that had just broken apart save for lack of craters, "It's beautiful. It's beautiful."

"I've seen better," the Doctor shrugged, squeezing the Professor closer to her, looking at her pointedly even if she wasn't looking at him. He smiled, seeing her shake her head at him, all too aware of his actions.

"That," the Professor nodded at it, "Is what we call a new moon."

Courtney looked over at Lundvik, the woman staring at the new addition to the sky with tears in her eyes, "You can be the first woman on that!" she cheered, knowing how important it was to the woman to do something like that, to be something special. She paused a moment at that, smiling to herself as she realized SHE was special too, not only had she been one of the first women to the moon…she'd helped SAVE that creature, she'd saved something's life in the future…and that was awesome.

"I think that somebody deserves a thank you," the Doctor murmured, shooting a look at Lundvik.

"Yeah, probably," the woman let out a breath and looked at Clara, "Thank you," she told her sincerely, "Thank you for stopping me. Thank you for giving me the moon back."

The Professor's small smile started to fade as she glanced at Clara to see the girl was still silent, no remark, no sass, not even a smile for Lundvik, not even a 'you're welcome.' While she'd been quite like the Doctor in walking into the cobwebs earlier, she could see a bit of herself in Clara.

When she wasn't talking, it was time to worry.

"Ok, Captain," the Doctor looked at Lundvik, "Well, you've got a whole new space program to get together. NASA is er," he looked around, trying to get his bearings, till the Professor pointed in one, "It's that way," he mimicked her direction, "About two and a half thousand miles."

"Have you still got those magnetic bracelets?" the Professor turned to Courtney, knowing it was time to get back.

Clara was clearly distressed about something and the sooner they left the sooner they could talk to her about it.

~8~

The Time Lords were still in their space suits, though both now had them hanging from their waists, setting the TARDIS down back in the cupboard of Coal Hill, as Clara and Courtney came up from beneath the console where they'd stored their clothing from before, both of them dressed and ready to return to the school.

Clara moved over to the edge of the console, her arms crossed over her chest, the opposite end of the console, seemingly as far away from the Time Lords as she could get, Courtney taking one more picture of the TARDIS and promising the Professor she wouldn't show anyone it.

"Not that it's any of our business," the Doctor began, looking at Clara, "But the Professor and I both think you did the right thing."

"Yeah, you're right," Clara gave him a hard look, her voice matching it, "It's none of your business. Come on, Courtney," she looked at the girl, "Off you go. Double Geography."

"Can we do it again?" Courtney asked even as she headed past Clara and towards the doors.

"Go," Clara shook her head, "Go, go. Chop chop," she waited till Courtney had left the box before rounding on the Time Lords, fixing them with a glare, "Tell me what you knew."

"Nothing," the Professor crossed her hearts.

"We told you," the Doctor rolled his eyes, seeming exasperated, as though Clara hadn't paid enough attention, "We've got grey areas. Even the Professor."

"Yeah," Clara almost spat, startling them enough to make them exchange a concerned glance, "I noticed. Tell me what you knew, or else I'll smack you so hard you'll regenerate. BOTH of you," she threw a glare at the Professor.

All it served to do was make the Doctor take a protective step in front of her, something none of them had expected was Clara to threaten them, even if it was just talk of a slap, but any mention of regeneration used as a threat against his wife was not something the Doctor would stand for.

"Clara," the Professor put a hand on the Doctor's arm, stepping beside him, trying to reassure him while also see what was wrong with Clara. She hoped the Doctor hadn't said something horrid when he'd left her on the moon, that whole moment from when Lundvik had begun to ask how to kill the creature was a bit of a blur to her, "We knew that eggs are not bombs. And, of all the creatures we've encountered, hardly any destroy their nests."

"Essentially," the Doctor added, "What I knew was that you would always make the best choice. I had faith that you would always make the right choice."

He gave her a look, as though she should understand something with what he'd just said.

But Clara's gaze only grew harder, colder, "Honestly, do you have music playing in your head when you say rubbish like that?"

The Doctor frowned, "It wasn't our decision to make. I told you…"

"Well, why did you do it?!" she snapped, "Was it for Courtney, was that it?"

"You wanted us to prove she was special," the Professor argued, "First woman on the moon, saved the Earth from itself, and becomes the President of the United States."

"She met this bloke called Blinovitch…" the Doctor began to add when Clara cut in.

"Do you know what?" she nearly shouted, tears forming in her eyes, "Shut up! I am so sick of listening to you two!"

"We didn't do it for Courtney," the Doctor amended, "We didn't know what was going to happen on the moon."

The Professor frowned, catching sight of a glimmer in Clara's eyes, "Do you think we're lying?"

"I don't know!" Clara raged, "I don't know. If you didn't do it for her, I mean. Do you know what? It was…it was cheap," she pointed accusingly at the Doctor, "It was pathetic. No, no, no. It was patronizing," for some reason her pointing finger spun to the Professor for that as well, as though she still hadn't realized the Professor hadn't been silent in an attempt to teach a lesson or agree with the Doctor, "That was you two patting us on the back, saying 'you're big enough to go to the shops by yourself now. Go on, toddle along!'"

"No," the Doctor shook his head, his expression hardening at how Clara was starting to shout and accuse the Professor of something she hadn't done, "That was me allowing you to make a choice about your own future. That was me respecting you."

It was, it was a sign of respect to CLARA alone more so than the others, but it was still a sign of respect to the girl, to give the decision to her. To allow HER to make a decision HE or the Professor would have made. It was an incredible show of trust and faith in her judgment…and she was throwing it back in his face as though it were a punishment?

"Oh, my God, really?" Clara scoffed bitterly, "Was it? Yeah, well, respected is not how I feel," she didn't even allow them a chance to respond to that, "I nearly didn't press that button. I nearly got it wrong. That was you, my friends, my grandparents, making me scared. Making me feel like a bloody idiot!"

"Language," the Professor muttered weakly, startled from the utter venom in Clara's voice.

"Oh, don't you ever tell me to mind my language," she rounded on the Professor now, her rage and anger and hurt at the Doctor pouring over to the Professor as well. She knew she shouldn't be shouting, not at a pregnant woman, especially considering she'd felt so badly when Danny had shouted at her before, but she just…she couldn't stop, she was on a roll and not a good one, she was too worked up, to lost in her feelings of utter betrayal at the both of them to be tempered into minding her tongue and volume with the Time lady, "And you!" she glared at the Doctor, "Don't you ever tell me to take the stabilizers off my bike. And don't either of you dare lump me in with the rest of all the little humans that you think are so tiny and silly and predictable. You walk our Earth, the both of you, you breathe our air. You make us your friend, and that is your moon too. And you can damn well help us when we need it!"

"We were trying to help!" the Professor very nearly shouted, only a kick against her hand on her stomach preventing her from doing so, trying to mind her blood pressure and stress.

"What, by clearing off?" Clara scoffed.

"Yes," the Doctor cut in, he HAD been trying to help. He'd been trying to help BOTH the Earth and his wife at the same time, but the thing was HE couldn't personally help the Earth at that point, but he HAD made sure that the earth did receive their help…through Clara.

"Yeah, well, clear off!" Clara ordered, spitting her rage at them, "Go on. You can clear off. Get back in your…your…your bloody TARDIS and you don't come back!"

She spun around and stormed for the doors as both Time Lords called after her.

"You go away!" she hissed as she reached the doors, openly crying now, tears of anger and betrayal pouring down her cheeks, breaking their hearts more than any of the words she'd shouted at them, "Ok? You go a long way away!"

And with that, Clara ran out of the doors, slamming them behind her, leaving to very confused, bewildered, and hurt Time Lords in her wake.

A/N: I have to start by apologizing profusely, I am so, so, so, so, SO (times infinity) sorry :'( My dad's 'trip' took longer than he thought, he overestimated how long we could drive for and the day we were supposed to be back by was the day we actually GOT there :( And, on top of that, we spent Thanksgiving at a relative's house and drove straight there from our trip...and, while there, I ended up smacking my hand on a side-view mirror of a car and somehow hit it so hard that it managed to break my knuckles on my left hand, it hurt SO MUCH :( I still don't know how I managed it, I'm not THAT strong :( But after the break was confirmed and splinted my parents decided that, for my own well-being, I shouldn't have access to a computer where I'd undoubtedly try to keep writing even with a broken hand and, I'm sad to admit, they were probably right in doing that. For once I could actually understand them taking my computer because I really would have tried to write through the pain and probably made it all worse. We agreed though that I'd get the computer back when the doctor (one of my mom's friends) confirmed my break was healed, which, sadly, took about 4 weeks on top of that :( I only just got the confirmation late on Friday but my parents had another trick up their sleeve too :( Because my dad's trip took longer than planned, I ended up losing my job for missing too much work, so my parents agreed they'd give me my computer back under 1 condition, I had to spend the weekend looking for and applying to jobs first and Monday going out to local businesses and leaving applications there too, and THEN I could do what I wanted (which I understand, there's only so many jobs listed in a local paper). So I sucked it up, and did that, and spent last night editing this chapter and working on the notes on reviews and FINALLY get to post it!

I really am SO sorry that there was such a delay between updates and that I wasn't able to get word to you all that I was still alive and let you know what was going on :'( But I'm ok now, and I'm back and, hopefully, nothing like this will happen again. Not fun starting the new year with a partially broken hand :(

There's actually a few things I have to say here though, some small announcements (#6 is a bit of an important one for this story):

1. Bedtime Stories (Once Upon a Time) will be updated in about 6-7 hours (to give time between posts).

2. The Wibbley-Wobbley, Timey-Wimey part 2 crossover will be posted on February 14th (I wanted it on some sort of holiday and that was the closest one).

3. I'll be posting 'sneak peeks' for upcoming stories for this year on tumblr starting today, 2 a day, which were meant to be my December holiday gifts like I did last year. (I'll be on tumblr in a few hours to try and sort through my inbox there.)

4. I'll be resuming the tumblr takeover days where you can talk to the OCs, but next week (for Kona, Leena, Angel, and Marayna, which I missed in being cut off from the internet) so that I have time to sort through everything and make announcements so that people are aware of the days.

5. I'll be posting an outline of upcoming stories for this year on my tumblr, including the dates and length and number of stories that new ones will be posted. This includes Star Wars, Once Upon a Time (Hook/OC), Lord of the Rings, Big Bang Theory, Dracula Untold, Forever, Captain America (Steve/OC), Scorpion, Star Trek (Bones/OC), Firefly/Serenity, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Doctor Who TL5/TL6/TL4.5, continuing Evy/Angel/Mac/Judge for DW, Athena for Thor, and Once Upon a Time also, and even 2 AUs (Rewritten-Doctor Who and Merlin's modern-reincarnation story). AND! 2 possible special treats (one for Thor and one for the Hobbit, maybe).

6. This story (and Mac's) will be updated every other day. There's a lot of editing for the 1-chapter per episode stories and with all the other stories and writing projects I've got planned for this year, it'll help me be less stressed to post them every other day :) But, to make up for that, I'll be posting TWO chapters of whatever story is being updated alongside Doctor Who (so Once Upon a Time and then Star Wars) on those days that we don't get a DW update.

I think that's about it for now lol :)

I hope everyone had a lovely set of Holidays and that all your New Years are starting off well :)

Some notes on reviews...

The spin-off is mostly focused around the Doctor and Professor so we might not see the Keta-Twins then with River, but we'll hear her mention them more once they're born ;) I can say that there'll be a conversation coming with the Professor and Danny about soldiers that'll go more in depth for his thoughts about it ;)

Yup Leto and Leia as their 'human' names ;) I can say that the conversation that leads to their names is a bit ridiculous too. It's not their actual names, more like their nicknames/codenames on earth :)

Clara will definitely defend the Time Lords to Danny in the future yup ;) He'll also have a very deep conversation with the Professor about his actions and words too ;)

Leia is spot on for the Matron yup. But Leto is actually from another sci-fi series, the Dune Saga, where another set of twins is Ghanima (the girl) and Leto (the boy), so it's more a reference to two sets of fraternal sci-fi twins ;)

It'll depend on the show for how fast the twins will grow. I might want to challenge myself and have them jump around, a bit like how Ayla went from 10ish in appearance to about 16ish due to being on Christmas. If the Doctor confirms a time-jump, like 10 and 11 used to every year or so, we'll probably see them age to that point when Clara sees them. But till they confirm time's been skipped, they'll be a certain age for that period of time...if that makes sense lol :)

I can say that the girl's day will definitely happen in Recollections yup ;) You never know, they could be future incarnations one day ;)

Yup, the twins have appeared in the Adoption of River Song as two scientists that the Professor glimpsed. River identified them vaguely as 'our sergeant and matron' ;)

Oh having twins will definitely cause the Professor quite a few issues still to come ;) I tend to write the old series as the show is airing, about a week after it's aired I start writing that episode. So I'll hopefully have my future TLs written entirely by the time Series 9 airs, and then I'd just focus on catching them up after :)

I wasn't fond of Clara acting the way she did in this episode :( But we'll see more on her thoughts and what the Time Lords may or may not understand of why she acted that way very soon ;)

That's my plan for Clara, to have her regenerate when she's officially off the show, so IF she dies in the show, she'd 'regenerate' in the Lunar Cycle :) Oh Angel's was actually my favorite to write overall because of so many reasons I can't say without spoilers }:)

I think it's mostly because this story, without the background scenes, is largely from the Doctor/Professor's POV, so it's how they interpret Danny to be. If he's not good enough for Clara or too shouty, it seems more so because they don't know him like Clara does. And this Doctor is more than a bit unfair to many people, including Clara, so it comes out more here because he's also more focused on his family above all others, so he's even less cordial to others than in the show. I think Danny shouted too because he could tell, what with the Professor being pregnant, that the Doctor WILL pick and save the Professor over Clara if the situation came down to it, and he was too angry at the time to really realize he was shouting at a pregnant woman :( But I can say that Danny will come around and he will apologize for his shouting to her, and eventually at least one of the Time Lords will form something of a friendship with him ;)

Oh I plan things out to the extreme. I always knew that Keta would have twins ever since (I think) Martha's time, when they were talking about how they used to picture what their children might look like, a little girl like her for the Doctor and a little boy like him for the Professor ;)

The Time Lords will mention the need for honesty in relationships to Clara about her lies, yup ;)

In this story, the War Doctor didn't age, he regenerated into the man he was during the war and he died/regenerated due to the stress of the war and all the time strains around him in saving Gallifrey :)

Permission to squeeeeee granted ^-^ I'm glad you're excited for the Professor :)

I'm glad I didn't give up too. I'm still a bit wounded that it's still being denied that plagiarism happened, despite the literal underlined evidence on my tumblr, but I'm trying to move on and keep spirits up :) I'm really happy that you're enjoying the stories so far ^-^

There was timing issues and then a matter of a broken hand that kept me from updating :( But I'm back now! :)

The Sergeant picked Stewart mostly because it's a code name that connects him, jokingly, to his mother and the Brig and the 'soldiers' in the family. The Professor went by Stewart, and she's the 'sergeant' of the family so he uses that name after his mother while his sister picks the Doctor's favored surname ;)

I hope you're able to find a relationship like Keta one day, it's a beautiful one to have :') I'm really glad that the stories are able to brighten your day a bit :) Everything's ok now, I had to wait for a broken hand to heal before my parents would give me my computer back :( But I'm back now! :)

I can say I have a plan for Danny when it comes to J and Clara ;) But we'll have to wait and see what it is }:)

I'm ok now, my hand was broken since about Thanksgiving and took a few weeks to heal, my parents kidnapped my computer to keep me from doing more damage to my hand in trying to write but I'm back now :)

I'm actually glad you saw it coming with the Twins :) I sort of wanted it to be an ironic joke that everyone could see who the twins were except the Doctor and Professor so I'm glad that I managed it :)

I SO wanted to at least post something on tumblr, but my parents went so far as to change our wi-fi password so that even if I tried to connect on my phone (it's really old and only lets internet if it has a wi-fi password) I couldn't :( I was literally freaking out of not being able to even put a note there, I'm so sorry :( But I'm back now, and I'm ok :)

I'm alright! Sorry to worry you :'( My family and I are ok, besides a bit of drama with my brother and a particular ex-girlfriend, I broke my hand and my family attempted to help me heal by stealing away my computer :( But I'm back! :)

I can say that Jara will remain strong in TLC, I've got plans for Mr. Pink, no worries ;) But we'll have to wait and see what's coming }:) I'm ok too, a bit of an incident with me stupidly breaking my hand kept me from the computer, but I'm ok and back to updating ;)