Jane turned to face the long open hallway that was completely abandoned. Her thoughts were perturbed by the sudden appearance of the doctor; he shouldn't be here. That universe had ended long ago, this blip in their timeline should never have happened.
She was ancient, immortal, continually living even though the universes around her ended, each one disappearing into oblivion as new universes were created. Now that the doctor had appeared, her secret of immortality might be revealed.
The Doctor was the only one who knew her secret. He had been the first face she had ever seen, and throughout her millions of years of existence on the planet earth and through the course of his time protecting that universe he would visit her. Like everything around her, he had eventually died and she had moved on to the next universe. She had no knowledge of him entering an alternate universe and meeting herself, and she prided herself in knowing every adventure the Doctor went on as she watched him through the years; his faces and companions continually changing as the man himself remained the same.
Time could always be rewritten, which would be a terribly drastic thing should the Doctor die while he was here on this alternate universe. The whole of existence would be jeopardized upon his untimely death should he die here, which was a terrifying concept to realize. Jane knew that she had to do whatever she could to keep him safe from harm and send him back into his own universe and timeline, which would prove to be difficult as her universe was about to end and the Doctor had suddenly been dragged into the mix.
She looked to her right where her tall companion waited, the color of his eyes aquamarine as he waited for her to move forwards. She knew that it was unfair to keep him in the dark concerning who her friends were and who she truly was. He had been honest with her when he explained to her about the colliding universes, which would have been a daunting thing to comprehend for any regular person. Though he had no way of knowing what was in store for him, he seemed determined to go through with whatever she needed him to do.
She couldn't help but feel affection towards his loyalty. He was willing to put his trust in her even though he had just learned that she wasn't originally from his universe. She offered him a wane smile, knowing that her kiss had probably been enough to show him her appreciation. His cupid bow lips reciprocated her smile as they slightly pulled upwards in response, an expression of affection but not of happiness. He was still confused, deep lines were etched into his forehead as he contemplated the strange things that had been revealed to him.
"I suppose you know my name now," Jane remarked. "You can go ahead and call me Jane from now on if you'd like."
She stretched out her hand, brushing her fingertips against his hand. He quickly unclenched his hand and slid his long fingers around hers.
"Damian," he said with a slight smile.
Together, their hands intertwined, they entered the hallway. It was the first hallway that she had led the commander into, the level where the private relaxing rooms were located, the place where they had eaten lunch and where he had explained to her about the Time Gate. The continued down the hallway in companionable silence, both of them knowing their destination. They stopped in front of the door they had first entered together the day they had first met, and before entering Jane addressed him.
"Remember how easily I accepted your explanation of time travel?"
He nodded but remained silent.
"I've been around time travel quite a lot, but I myself have never experienced it. My friends however, whom you are about to meet, are time travelers. They have a ship that allows them to travel anywhere in space and time. The Doctor-the man you saw on the screen-is a Time Lord and the ship belongs to him. Clara is his companion, and she's a human from 21st century earth."
She moved her left hand over the sensor and opened the door.
"You know them from that other universe you were from," the commander-Damian-stated.
Jane nodded, not wanting to explain herself further as she passed through the doorway into the conference room, pulling him towards the locked door that led to the same place where they had their first meeting. A loud whooshing and whirring sound came from behind the locked door.
"Their ship is small and it can appear anywhere, so that is them inside of the room," she explained as she slid her hand out from his in order to unlock the door. As she entered the code the grating sounds began to diminish. The door slid open.
A wide grin spread on Jane's face as she took in the familiar sight that she hadn't seen for such a long time. A large blue relic of 19th century London from planet earth stood in the center of the room wedged between the two red sofa chairs. The blue police box looked big enough for about two people to stand inside, with two tall doors beneath the sign "Police Public Call Box" written in bold letters across the top.
"That's the Tardis, the Doctor's time travelling spaceship," Jane explained as she stepped through the doorway.
"It seems a bit small," Damian replied, eyeing the police phone booth with distrust.
Jane smirked. "It's bigger on the inside, or as Clara would say it, smaller on the outside."
Suddenly the door to the police booth burst open, and Jane's oldest friend popped out. His floppy brown hair hung to the side of his head, his eyes wide and bright as he quickly looked around him. He subconsciously held his hands up to his neck to straighten his bow tie as he stepped out of the tardis, his boots stomping onto the floor. As soon as his eyes alighted on her a bright smile filled his face as he held out his arms. "Jane!"
Jane quickly fell into his embrace and placed her head onto his familiar tweed jacket. She hadn't seen him for a long time. It was strange to think that he might have seen her recently, though it would have been her younger self on his universe. She wondered if he had any idea where he was or how old she was now. They released each other and stood grinning as they looked each other over.
"So," The doctor said, clapping his hands together. "When and where am I, and what are you doing here?" Without waiting for a response he withdrew his sonic screwdriver from his inner coat pocket and pointed it at her. It was a small metal object that let out a high pitched squeal and glowed green as it processed the information. Once finished he held it to his face to examine it, a look of confusion crossing his features.
"That can't be right," the doctor muttered before turning to look over Damian. He walked towards the commander and pointed his screwdriver at him.
Damian stood his ground and allowed the Doctor to wave the screwdriver in front of his body, his muscles tensing to show his uncertainty but remaining calm.
Once finished the doctor held the screwdriver close to his face and peered at the growing green light at the end. "None of this makes any sense!" he shouted, banging the object against his palm before peering at it again.
"For the genius you claim to be you sure do seem to get confused often," Clara staid from her position leaning against the tardis door. Jane hadn't noticed her before and smirked as she strode towards her to envelop her in a warm hug.
"It's a very confusion situation!" the doctor defended, turning to face his companion. "One minute we're falling through a black hole and the next we're in a place that shouldn't exist and the tardis is claiming that we're in an alternate universe!" He illustrated his point with an emphatic use of hand signals. Turning, he pointed his sonic screwdriver accusingly towards Jane. "But that can't be the case because you are here."
Jane crossed her arms across her chest. "I hate to break it to you, but the tardis is correct. You're in an alternate universe, and so am I."
The doctor furrowed his eyebrows. "That's impossible, there shouldn't be any way for any of us to be here." He twirled around to examine his surroundings, his gangly limbs flailing.
"You've crossed into alternate and parallel universes before," Jane pointed out.
Ungraciously, he stopped turning and approached her, his voice lowering. "Yes but I've never met you on one of them." He held out his sonic screwdriver towards her once more.
"So if it's technically impossible for us to be here, how are we here?" Clara asked from his side.
Jane was glad for the interruption. This was only her second universe she had been a part in, but there was no way of knowing how long she would live and how many universes she would enter until she eventually died. Or perhaps she never would die and she would be forced to live through the eternities. There was a possibility that she might have actually been on one of the alternate universes the doctor had been sucked into, like the one where he lost Rose to.
Jane took it upon herself to explain the situation."There's been a large displacement of time energy as our universe collides with another one, and it seems as though the two of you were sucked in through the release of energy."
"Two colliding universes!" the doctor exclaimed excitedly, returning his screwdriver to his pocket and taking a step away from Jane. "I love those! So, what brought about the collide?" He enthusiastically rubbed his hands together.
Jane shrugged her shoulders before explaining; "A misuse of time travel that connected the two universes, and eventually backfired."
"So all of the time energy being used to merge the two universes dragged us into the mix as well!" the doctor said, clapping his hands.
His joviality was a nice respite from the daunting idea of being entirely wiped out as their universes collided. Hopefully Jane would be able to keep the Doctor from being killed as well; he most likely wouldn't become affected-as he wasn't part of this universe-but it didn't mean one of the affected might kill him.
"I wouldn't be too happy if I were you," Damian's deep voice cut through the air. Everyone turned to look at him, the doctor taking on one of his well-practiced confused expressions as he swivelled his head around to look at the tall commander.
"The collide is causing millions upon billions of deaths," Damian continued, his voice grave, "and if we are unable to stop it both universes will be completely destroyed."
The doctor's mouth was agape in an expression that revealed how appalling the news was. He quickly clamped his square jaw shut and stood straighter. "Well, good thing I'm here." He straightened his bow tie. "I've saved dozens of planets, some of them multiple times-" he shot a withering glance towards Clara, who stared back at him innocently. "I've even saved my entire universe, not to mention all of the others I've helped out along the way!" He held out his long thin limbs to encompass the grand scale of his achievements.
Damian glanced at Jane, his eyes searching for reassurance. Jane nodded at him, proving that the doctor's claims were legitimate. His dark eyebrows raised to show his disbelief before turning back to watch the doctor.
A smug expression crossed the doctor's face. "I've never had to save two universes at once, but..." he withdrew his screwdriver and tossed it into the air and caught it easily. "I think I'll be able to pull it off."
"Unfortunately, that will do nothing for your humility," Jane said sardonically.
"Ah-hey!" the doctor complained. "I am very humble, thank you very much." He waved his screwdriver in a condescending manner towards her. "I am the very king of being humble, I'm-"
"Wait, if this isn't our universe, then how come Jane is here when she's also in ours?" Clara interjected.
Jane flinched, upset that the topic had been brought up once again. Hopefully she'd be able to wave it off, but the truth of her immortality might just be revealed. Clara and the Doctor were already aware of it, though they didn't know she was able to continue living even though the universe around her ended.
"Well... I-" the doctor mumbled, rubbing the back of his head with his metal tool. "I suppose it could be... I mean, she is really old, older than I've ever seen-"
Jane bursted out laughing at his awkward attempts of grasping the situation even though he was headed on the right track. "My, Doctor, you really know how to compliment a woman!"
He looked flabbergasted as he began frantically waving his hands to defend himself. "You know what I mean, you must have moved on from my universe to the next one, somehow-though this is all impossible-"
She was amazed that the Doctor had caught on so easily, and decided that instead of being defensive she should just keep the discussion lighthearted. "I guess Clara's not the only impossible girl in your life then, huh?" she asked teasingly.
Clara squinched her face in shock. "What?"
The doctor stammered as he looked between the two women. Jane realized with a start that the Doctor hadn't found out the truth about Clara yet and who she really was. Until then she would be known as the impossible girl, whom he had witnessed die two times before in completely different timelines and yet she was still traveling with him through space. While she was his companion he made it his mission to find out who she was, and apparently he hadn't found out yet.
"I'm sorry, I suppose I don't know where you are in your timeline yet; I spoke out of place." It was a perfectly normal statement for the two of them as they continually met each other out of order, both of them knowing the future in store for the other while both being wary to let any information slip. Jane continued to progress through time in a normal pace while the doctor jumped all over time and visiting her randomly. One day for her she would meet the doctor in his third incarceration with his puffy white hair and opera cloak and the next day she would see his tenth form with his spiky brown hair and long trench coat; thousands of years passing for him while only one day would go by for her.
The opposite could also be true, while in his fourth form he might meet her in 16th century France and then only a few minutes might pass for him when he would meet her in 21st century America. It certainly helped her to have a good memory as she would have to remember what had happened during their meeting several hundred years before.
"Yeah, well, I know what you meant, though I can't say the same for her," he replied, rubbing his large chin thoughtfully.
"So what time is it for you?" she asked, wondering exactly where in his timeline he was.
The doctor began to pace back and forth, "Ah, well, you know, we took two kids to the moon and almost got everybody killed by some cybermen, oh and I got 'upgraded' but eventually stopped Mr. Clever from taking over my mind by using a candy wrapper against him!" he said proudly, "though it only worked temporarily so I won the chess match with a hand pulser instead."
Glad that she now knew exactly where in his timeline the Doctor was and what was still in store for him-even though his explanation might have seemed crazy to anyone else-she glanced towards Damian to see how he was following along. He was standing with his back straight as he watched their bantering with a bemused expression, lines of confusion remaining etched into his forehead. She felt pity towards him for leaving him in the dark, but there wasn't much she could say that could help explain the Doctor's already ridiculous story.
"So are you ever going to introduce me to your handsome friend?" Clara asked, following her gaze to peer towards Damian.
Jane grinned, musing about how handsome the tall commander really was. His dark hair was styled in waves on his head and his slender yet highly muscled was nicely accentuated by his uniform . "I'm certain he can introduce himself."
Damian extended his hand to Clara. "You can call me the Commander," he stated stiffly. Clara accepted his hand with a firm grip of her own, briefly stating her name before the Doctor interrupted.
"All right, now that we all know each other, let's get on with it then! We've got a universe-two universes-to save!" He briskly stepped up to the door and began examining it with his metal tool. Suddenly the door slid open even though he hadn't waved his hand over the sensor.
"What is that thing?" Damian asked, eyeing the screwdriver incredulously.
"Oh this?" The Doctor asked, throwing up the tool with a glowing green tip and catching it. "This is my sonic screwdriver."
"It can pretty much do anything and has infinite amount of uses- but oddly doesn't work on wood," Clara staid by his side.
The Doctor departed through the doorway so Jane hurriedly followed close behind. She walked by his side and led the three of them straight to the elevator as she began to explain the basics of the situation they were in; she explained their mission to the Time Gate and the challenge of the affected going on killing rampages. The Doctor listened with interest as he paced around the close quarters. Clara remained at the side of the elevator, watching them all with a glint in her eyes as she crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. When the lift finally landed on another level, the Doctor immediately burst out of the slow enclosure and set a rapid pace forwards, rubbing his hands in excitement.
"So, when are we going to see one of these affected?" he asked with apparent glee, turning to watch the rest of them exit the lift as he continued to walk, backwards.
"If you will allow me to lead, then I'll be more than happy to show you the way to the cells where we have a few detained," Jane replied with a smirk, stepping past the Doctor who obediently followed.