Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who
The Bells of Saint John – Part Two
Hot chocolate with cream was just the thing soothe frazzled nerves. The four of them sat on the terrace of a rooftop café, overlooking St Paul's Cathedral, and in the distance, the Shard. Charlotte and the Doctor were on one side of the small table, with Laura and Clara sitting opposite them. "So, I take it the whole 'stick to the shadows' thing wasn't working out?" Charlotte smirked at the Doctor.
He glanced at her, and then looked back at the laptop he was working on…but he seemed to be blushing a little. Before he could come up with a retort, Clara inquired "So if we can travel anywhere in time and space, why did we travel to the morning, what's the point in that?"
"Whoever's after us spent the whole night looking for us" the Doctor reminded her, "Are you tired?"
"Yes" she replied bluntly. The Doctor gave her an incredulous stare; she'd been asleep for hours!
"What? Then imagine how they feel. They came the long way round".
Laura wiped a hot chocolate moustache off her upper lip and reasoned, "Plus, if they've been busy looking for us, they might not have uploaded too many more people".
The Doctor nodded in agreement, although he was distracted by trying to find their enemy's location. "They've got to be close" he muttered, "Definitely London going by the signal distribution. I can hack the lowest level of their operating system but I can't establish a physical location. The security's too good". Charlotte wondered just how good it really was; did they really have security that even someone as clever as the Doctor couldn't hack, or was this his way of testing how much Clara knew now that she'd been 'downloaded', in a way, with knowledge of computers?
Not for the first time, Laura wondered what would happen when another Spoonhead arrived, and if she should protect Clara. As far as she could figure out, Clara not being uploaded again wouldn't negatively change the timelines…the Doctor could still send the Spoonhead disguised as himself to the Shard, and upload that woman to make them download everybody; it would make up for her failure to save the Victorian Clara, and if anything could assuage her lingering guilt, that would be it.
Clara lowered her cup of coffee and asked, "Are you aliens?" The Doctor had mentioned he was an alien on the plane, and she hadn't really believed him, but he did have a time machine…she had wondered if the other two women were aliens as well.
"I am" the Doctor replied, "They're not".
"Nope, completely human" Charlotte agreed with a smile, "Born in Scarborough and Fleetwood, to be exact" she added, gesturing to herself and then her best friend. Clara turned to Laura and smiled, "Looks like we've got something in common, we're both from Lancashire".
"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked, seemingly out of the blue. "With me being an alien, I mean" he added in response to her quizzical look.
"Oh, yeah…think I'm fine".
"Oh, good" he nodded.
"So, what happens if you do find them? What happens then?"
"I don't know. I can't tell the future, I just work there".
"Except on Sundays, because they're boring, right?" Charlotte asked jokingly. The Doctor nodded, apparently thinking she was serious.
"How'd you two get involved in all this?" Clara asked them. Charlotte and Laura looked at one another, debating how much to tell her; it might not have been the best time to bring up the whole 'parallel universe where you're a fictional character' thing. "It's err, a bit of a long story" Laura hedged, "We kind of just…came across him, and things just…escalated, I suppose".
Clara nodded in understanding; then she paused and gave the Doctor a disbelieving look. "Wait, hang on. Don't you have a plan?" she asked, recalling that he'd admitted he didn't know what they'd do if he tracked these people down.
"Oh, you know what I always say about plans".
"What?"
"I don't have one".
"People always have plans".
"Yes. Yes, I suppose they do" the Doctor nodded, "So tell me, how long have you been looking after those kids?"
At first she hesitated. "…About a year" she answered, "Since their mum died".
"Okay. Why you? Family friend, I get that, but there must have been others. Why did it have to be you? You don't really seem like a nanny" he commented. Clara looked slightly offended at that remark. "Gimme" she declared suddenly, trying to pull the laptop towards her. The Doctor immediately tugged it back and protested, "Sorry, what?"
"You need to know where they physically are, their exact location" she stated, pulling it towards her.
"Yes" the Doctor agreed, pulling it back, the two Whovians simply watching the tug of war with amusement.
"I can do it" Clara said confidently, managing to pull the laptop out of the Doctor's hands and turn it around to face her.
"Oi, hang on. I need that".
"You've hacked the lower operating system, yeah? I'll have their physical location in under five minutes. Pop off and get us a coffee" Clara said casually, nodding towards the café proper as she began typing. Charlotte stifled a snigger at the indignant expression on the Doctor's face.
"If I can't find them, you definitely can't" he insisted.
"They uploaded me, remember? I've got computing stuff in my head".
"So do I!"
"I have insane hacking skills".
"I'm from space and the future with two hearts and twenty seven brains".
"And I can find them in under five minutes plus photographs" Clara retorted, before adding, "Twenty seven?"
"Okay…slight exaggeration".
"Coffee, go get" she bossed, "Five minutes, I promise".
"I'd like another drink" Laura remarked idly, "Why don't you go with the Doctor?" she suggested to Charlotte, who raised her eyebrows sceptically. Laura glanced over at Clara and the Doctor, and mouthed 'Trust me' to her best friend. Charlotte sighed, and then pushed her chair back and stood up. "Alright; c'mon, Doctor, just let Clara have a go" she suggested, tugging at his sleeve. He sighed and got to his feet, warning Clara, "The security is absolute".
"It's never about the security, it's about the people" Clara replied with conviction. She looked up to see the Doctor eyeing her with an odd expression, as if he was looking at her but not really seeing her. He'd done that a few times, she'd noticed. "Why do you keep looking at me like that?"
"Sorry, no, it's nothing. It's just, you're a nanny. Isn't that a bit, well, Victorian?"
"Victorian?"
"You're young. Shouldn't you be doing, you know, young things, with young people?" he asked, doing a pretty bad impression of dancing; even Charlotte and Laura knew that dance style had gone out of style years ago, and they weren't exactly with all the trends going on.
"You mean like you, for instance? Down, boy" Clara smirked, teasing. The Doctor blushed a bit and objected, "No, no, I didn't… Shut up".
/
The Doctor and Charlotte walked into the café, where the Time Lord was immediately distracted by the array of scones and cakes on display. "Two cappuccinos over there, please" he smiled at the elderly man behind the bar. "And a couple of hot chocolates too, please" Charlotte added man smiled and nodded, "One moment". The Doctor went back to looking at the cakes, debating whether to buy one, but Charlotte kept her eye on the barista.
Sure enough, there was a flash of blue light and the man stiffened. "You realise you haven't the slightest chance of saving your little friend" he said bluntly; the Doctor looked up and frowned at him. "I'm sorry, what?"
"One moment, sir" the barista told him, moving to the coffee dispenser. Charlotte nudged the Doctor and muttered to him, "It isn't him talking".
There was another slight flash, and the barista turned to them again. "I said, there's not the slightest chance of saving your little friend. And don't annoy the old man. As your other little friend has worked out, he isn't, in fact, speaking".
"I'm speaking" a waitress said from behind them, "Just using whatever's to hand" she smirked. The Doctor eyed her suspiciously, moving so that Charlotte was behind him. The woman looked over his shoulder towards the terrace and remarked, "Oh, she's rather pretty, isn't she? Do you like her? Make her like you too, if you want". There was a flicker and the waitress blinked at the strange man staring at her. "You alright, sir?"
"Err, yes, yes, fine" he said quickly, pulling back out of her personal space. The waitress gave them both an odd look and walked away; the Doctor then grabbed Charlotte's hand and ran back out to the terrace with her. Both Clara and Laura were still there, the former typing with rapid speed. "You okay?" the Doctor asked them.
"We're fine" Laura replied. Clara nodded, and said "Sure. Setting up stuff. Need a user name".
"Learning fast" he commented.
Clara grinned. "Clara Oswald for the win – Oswin!" she exclaimed, coming up with a user name. For a moment the Doctor flashed back to the Dalek Asylum. "You can always call me Oswin, seeing as that's my name".
He swallowed, and headed back into the café; Charlotte made to follow him, but then paused. "Are you sure you're okay, Laura?" she asked; she had a suspicion about why Laura had asked her to go with the Doctor, but she couldn't confirm it with Clara being there. She just really hoped Laura knew what she was doing.
"Yeah, I'm okay".
"Kay – call us if you need us" Charlotte added, before going back inside the café. The Doctor was facing a little girl with a dark expression, although she knew it wasn't directed at the child but at the person using said child as a mouthpiece. Charlotte didn't blame him; she thought these people were despicable.
"Just let me show you what control of the Wi-Fi can do for you. Stop!" the little girl ordered. Charlotte had been walking towards the Doctor, but she froze in place with all the rest. He didn't notice that her expression wasn't quite as blank as the others.
"I saw what you can do last night" the Doctor glared, "Now stop controlling them".
"And clear!" the little girl commanded instead, before she and everyone else filed out of the café, including Charlotte. Once the entire room was clear, a newsreader on a TV over in the corner spoke up, "We can hack anyone in the Wi-Fi once they've been exposed long enough".
"Well, that explains me" Charlotte commented, striding over to the Doctor, having stopped the charade as soon as she stepped foot out of the café. "I haven't been on the web recently, so I can't have been affected, if it only works with people exposed to the Wi-Fi around here" she worked out. The Doctor grinned at her, both for her deductions and seeing that she was alright.
"Aren't you quite the actress" the newsreader remarked dryly.
"I'll take that as a compliment…Miss Kizlet".
"You know who I am?"
"We do now, you just told us".
"And you're a comedian, too. You couldn't have guessed my name, it's hardly common".
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I don't know your first name. Your parents would know, of course. You do remember your parents, right?"
"I don't have time for foolish questions" Miss Kizlet replied via the newsreader. The Doctor wondered why Charlotte had asked the woman about her parents, but dismissed it; he had other things to worry about. "So there's one of your walking base stations here, somewhere close" he stated, wanting to draw attention away from Charlotte, worried that she was making herself a target.
"There's always someone close. We've released thousands into the world. They home in on the Wi-Fi like rats sniffing cheese".
"I don't know why you're doing this" the Doctor scowled, as he strode past the tables and towards the TV, "but the people of this world will not be harmed. They will not be controlled. They will not be"-
"The people of this world are in no danger whatsoever. My client requires a steady diet of living human minds. Healthy, free-range, human minds. He loves and cares for humanity. In fact, he can't get enough of it".
"It's obscene. It's murder".
"It's life" she replied dismissively, "The farmer tends his flock like a loving parent. The abattoir is not a contradiction. No one loves cattle more than Burger King".
"Human beings are not cattle!" the Doctor fumed, staring angrily at the woman. "They're not livestock, but you're still slaughtering them. That ends today".
"Slaughter? Such emotive language" the woman smirked, "The people we upload are really quite unharmed. We're providing them immortality…the only catch is that it's fatal".
"No offence" said Charlotte as she came up beside the Doctor, "But has anyone ever told you you're completely insane?"
"Don't" the Doctor interrupted before Miss Kizlet could reply, giving Charlotte a warning look, "Just don't". She would make herself a target if she kept antagonising the woman like that; she probably didn't intend that to happen, but he still felt obliged to warn her away. Fortunately, Charlotte didn't question him; instead she simply nodded and stepped back slightly.
He looked back at the television, where the newsreader was smirking at them. "This ends" he repeated, "I'm going to end this today".
"How?" she asked disbelievingly, "You don't even know where we are".
"Who's doing this? Who is your client, hmm? Answer me" the Doctor demanded.
Charlotte suddenly remembered the second Spoonhead, the one disguised as the Doctor. Like Laura, she too had concluded that Clara not getting captured wouldn't aversely change the timelines; so she cleared her throat and said, "I'm err, going to check on the others", backing away from the TV and then hurrying towards the terrace.
When she emerged, Clara was grinning triumphantly at her laptop. "I did it!" she said excitedly to Laura, "I really did. I did it. I did it. I found them".
Before Charlotte could say anything, the Doctor's voice behind her stated "You found them". She stiffened and spun around, alarmed at how the Spoonhead had sneaked up on her. Quickly she backed away and to the side, trying to get out of its range.
Clara was oblivious. "The Shard" she told the robot that she mistook for the Doctor, "They're in the Shard, floor sixty five".
"You two, come away from it" Charlotte ordered urgently. Laura quickly scrambled out of her chair, but Clara just frowned in bewilderment. "What…?"
"Clara, it's a robot" Laura told her, pointing at the 'Doctor' – whose head began to revolve. Clara's eyes widened in alarm, but she made no move to leave her seat. "Clara, run!" Laura said frantically; that got her moving, jumping up and hurrying towards Charlotte. The three of them fled into the café; Clara called out for the Doctor, and he ran over. His eyes widened at something behind them and he shouted, "No!"
It all happened so quickly – there was a flash of light, Laura screamed, and then collapsed to the ground as her image appeared in the server's 'head'. Charlotte immediately knelt down next to her best friend, panicked. "Oh no, no, no, no! Laura! No! Laura!"
"W-where am I? Did it get me? Can you guys hear me? Please, help me!" Laura pleaded, "W-where am I? Did it get me? Can you guys hear me? Please, help me!"
Charlotte's mind was clouded, but the Doctor's was clear. "Clara, get your laptop, now" he ordered. She quickly ran to fetch it, and as soon as she did he began trying to download Laura back into her body. It was too late though; the upload completed and her image disappeared from view – much to Charlotte's horror. "Get her back" she demanded, standing up to face the Doctor, "Do something!"
"Charlotte, calm down"-
"Calm down? My best friend's trapped, and you're telling me to calm down?!"
"Look out!"
As part of the 'training' that the two Whovians had undertaken during their stay with Madame Vastra, they had practiced what Charlotte called 'The Drop'. Whenever someone shouted 'Look out', 'Duck', 'Down' or any other variation of 'take cover', they would drop into a crouch as fast as they could. Whilst their reactions weren't exactly swift, they'd gotten good enough at the technique.
The moment she heard the words "Look out!" leave Clara's lips, Charlotte dropped into a crouch – the Doctor pulled her down faster, having realised a split second before what was going on. The beam of light shot over their heads; the Doctor raised his sonic and flashed the robot, temporarily disabling it without getting rid of the disguise. He'd just come up with a plan, but there were two things he needed to know first.
"Are you okay?" he asked Charlotte. She nodded, but he could see her shaking. He squeezed her shoulder comfortingly before getting to his feet and turning to Clara. "Did you find out where they were?"
"Oh, yes! They're in the Shard, floor sixty five".
"Okay then" he nodded, serious, "Now for something I'm not always able to say".
"What?"
"I have a plan".
/
The Doctor raced towards the Shard on the motorbike, sidecar removed. He came to a stop on the street outside it, and a man eating chips remarked "Really, Doctor. A motorbike? Hardly seems like you".
"I rode this in the antigrav Olympics, 2074" the Doctor boasted, before admitting, "I came last".
"The building is in lock-down. I'm afraid you're not coming in".
He scoffed. "Did you even hear the word, antigrav?" Then he pressed a red button on the fuel tank, and roared away…straight up the side of the building. He pulled out his sonic and aimed it at a window on floor sixty five, shattering the glass as he reached it. The Doctor had dismounted the bike and sat down at the desk with his feet up by the time someone walked in. A middle aged, severe looking woman entered; Miss Kizlet, presumably. "Do come in" she remarked casually.
"Download her".
"Sorry about the draft" she added, gesturing to the now glass-less window.
"Download Laura back into her body right now".
"I can't" Miss Kizlet replied. It was a shame they'd captured the other one instead of Clara Oswald, but no matter.
"Yes, you can".
"She's a fully integrated part of the data cloud, now. She can't be separated".
"Then download the entire cloud. Everyone you've trapped in there".
"You realise what would happen?"
"Yes, those with bodies to go home to would be free" he replied, getting up from the desk.
"A tiny number; most would simply die".
"They'd be released from a living hell". The Doctor checked his watch. "It's the best you can do for them", he tapped her nose, "so give the order".
"And why would I do that?"
"Because I'm going to motivate you, any second now" he smirked, walking around her.
"You ridiculous man" Kizlet scoffed, "Why did you even come here? Whatever for?" she demanded.
"I didn't".
"What?"
"I'm still in the café. I'm finishing my coffee" he took a sip, "Lovely spot". He was sitting at a table in the abandoned café; Clara was sitting opposite him, and Charlotte was sitting on the floor beside Laura's unconscious form, holding her hand. The Doctor could see everything his robot duplicate was seeing; Miss Kizlet was staring at it in bewilderment and worry. "What are you talking about?" she asked suspiciously.
"You hack people, but me? I'm old fashioned. I hack technology" the robot replied, taking off its helmet. "Here's your motivation". It stiffened, whirring, its head starting to revolve. Miss Kizlet's eyes widened in fear; she backed up and cowered against her desk, pleading "No, not me! Not me!"
It was futile – the base station uploaded her to the data cloud, and she found herself trapped. Turning to where she knew her second in command Mahler would be watching, she ordered "Put me back. Put me back! Download me at once! That is an order. That is an order!"
"But she's fully integrated now" Alexi, one of the staff frowned, "We'll have to download the entire cloud. We can't do that".
"No, we can't" Mahler agreed. Miss Kizlet continued to shout, "Download me! Download me!"
In her office, the base station returned its head to the forward position, and picked up Kizlet's iPad. It flicked through the staff members until it came to Mahler, and turned the 'Obedience' slider up to maximum.
"Download me!" Kizlet screamed. Mahler was just about to insist that they didn't, but then…he changed his mind. "Do as she says" he instructed Alexi, who headed to his computer. One by one, all the faces of the people they'd trapped disappeared off the screens, with Miss Kizlet being the last to disappear.
/
Back in the café, Laura stirred slightly. Charlotte immediately perked up, searching her face for any sign that she was waking up. "She'll be fine" the Doctor reassured her, getting to his feet. He started walking away and Clara frowned, asking "Where're you going?"
"To fetch the TARDIS" he replied, "All the base stations will have shut down, and I sent the motorcycle with robot me…it'll be a bit of a walk. I've left the rest of the money; you can take the bus home. There's something I need to take care of" he explained, before walking away.
A few moments after he'd left, Laura stirred some more and blinked. "Hey, sleepy head, welcome back" Charlotte smiled down at her, relieved. Laura sat up and rubbed her head, feeling a bit woozy. "Uh…what happened?"
"The Spoonhead got you. It almost got me too, actually" Charlotte informed her, "But I ducked. Guess you need to practice the drop technique a bit more, huh?"
Laura bit her lip. "I um…I didn't duck on purpose" she admitted, looking askance. Both Clara and Charlotte's brows furrowed a bit. "You…let the robot get you?" Charlotte asked incredulously.
"Why would you do that?" Clara inquired next.
"Well, I…I knew it was going after you" Laura told her, "But I didn't want it to get you again, so I…I just sort of…stepped in the way".
Clara wasn't sure whether to be disturbed that she'd come so close to being uploaded again, or touched that Laura had sacrificed herself… "You did that for me? Why?"
"You're my friend" Laura replied simply. Charlotte helped her to her feet, and hugged her tightly, saying "You did good – don't ever do that again".
"Okay" Laura nodded in agreement, before looking around, just realising someone was missing. "Say, where's the Doctor?"
"He said he was going to fetch the TARDIS" Clara explained, "But he has to walk back so he might be a while. He left us some money for bus fares".
"Do you know which bus we need to take?" asked Charlotte. Clara checked her watch and replied, "Yeah, there's one in about…ten minutes".
"Ah…better get a move on, hadn't we?"
/
Clara introduced Laura as two friends she'd made, who had come down from the north for a weekend trip from London. Mr Maitland was a nice, polite man; he invited them to stay for dinner, and they didn't want to refuse. Neither of them remembered if the Doctor had come back for Clara in the episode before or after they'd had dinner, so sticking around seemed like the best option.
Artie seemed to take after his father; Angie seemed less interested in their guests, giving a cursory "Hello", and going back to texting on her phone. Her father's admonishments and Angie's exasperated eye-rolling reminded Charlotte of herself and of her little sister Lucy. A pang of homesickness washed over her; what was her family doing now? How much time had passed for them? Were they still searching for her and Laura, or were they mourning?
In the end, the Doctor came back after dinner, when all the dishes had been cleared away. All three women walked up to the TARDIS, and Clara knocked on the door. "Come in" the Doctor's voice called, muffled by the wood. They stepped inside; Clara walked up to the console, and the Whovians stood to one side, waiting.
"So, he comes back does he?" asked Clara, smiling. The Doctor was sitting on the steps, reading a book with Amy's spectacles on. "You didn't answer my question" he said without looking up.
"What question?"
"You don't seem like a nanny".
"I was going to travel. I came to stay for a week before I left, and during that week…"
"She died" the Doctor finished for her, "So you're returning the favour; but a hundred and one places to see, and you haven't been to any of them, have you? That's why you keep the book" he said.
"I keep the book cos I'm still going" Clara replied with conviction.
"But you don't run out on the people you care about" the Doctor murmured, taking the glasses off, "Wish I was more like that. You know, the thing about a time machine, you can run away all you like and still be home in time for tea, so what do you say? Anywhere. All of time and space, right outside those doors" he offered Clara. He didn't want to lose her again, not after finding her and keeping her safe…besides, she and Laura had formed a friendship, and he figured his other companions would like her company.
Clara laughed, and asked "Does this work?"
"Eh?"
She giggled. "Is this actually what you do? Do you just crook your finger and people just jump in your snog box and fly away?"
"It is not a snog box" the Doctor insisted, ignoring the snorts of amusement from Laura and Charlotte.
"I'll be the judge of that".
"Starting when?"
Clara smiled softly. "Come back tomorrow. Ask me again" she suggested.
"Why?"
"Because tomorrow, I might say yes. Sometime after seven okay for you?" she asked brightly, heading for the door.
"It's a time machine, any time's okay".
"See you then" Clara nodded, before adding "It was nice meeting you all".
"Clara?" the Doctor called, and she paused. "In your book there was a leaf. Why?"
"That wasn't a leaf" Clara replied cryptically, "That was page one". With that, she opened the door and left. The Doctor was confused, but intrigued…more layers of the mystery that was Clara. "Right then, Clara Oswald. Time to find out who you are".
He set the TARDIS into flight, with no set destination in mind. When the slight turbulence of dematerialisation wore off, Charlotte stepped forward with a nervous, guilty expression. "I'm sorry" she said quickly, before the Doctor could ask her what was wrong, "I should have let you talk to Kizlet in the café. I guess I was just being over-confident, and…trying to look brave" she admitted in a small voice.
The Doctor sobered. "You were trying to impress me" he realised. Charlotte nodded.
"People have died trying to impress me".
She cringed, hanging her head, ashamed. "I know, I'm sorry" she repeated, before looking up at him with fear in her eyes. "You're not gonna kick me out, are you?" she asked worriedly.
"No…but you've both made mistakes that could have cost you so much" the Doctor said seriously, looking between them, "If you make another one, I might have to reconsider" he warned. He could let them stay with Madame Vastra, or buy them a small flat somewhere and let them stay safe on Earth whilst he worked on finding their home universe.
Charlotte looked worried at this prospect. "We won't make another big mistake like that" she promised, and Laura nodded emphatically in agreement. "From now on, we'll let you handle all the alien stuff. I think…we need rules, for our foreknowledge, I mean".
"Yes" the Doctor agreed, leaning back against the console. "How much foreknowledge do you have, exactly?"
The two Whovians looked at one another, and Laura replied "Not…not that much, actually. We just know about some of the future adventures".
"I think, from this point on we know about…" Charlotte counted on her fingers, "twenty-two adventures. Which isn't much, considering all the 'off-screen' adventures you must have; it'd probably be easier if we didn't have that foreknowledge, but I kind of want to know what's coming, you know?" she asked the Doctor, who nodded in understanding.
"I could make you forget safely" he offered, "I'd have to go into your minds and store the memories away, but I could do it, if you let me".
Both of them shifted uncomfortably. "I…I dunno" Charlotte said hesitantly, "I don't think I could keep my thoughts hidden, and well, there's a lot of weird stuff in here" she explained, tapping her temple. "Plus some of it's about you" she mumbled, not meeting his eyes. The Doctor had good hearing though, and he was about to ask her what this 'weird stuff' about him was, then decided that he probably didn't want to know. "What about you, Laura?"
"Um, I'm alright. I don't think I want my memories changed again…uh, no offence".
"None taken" the Doctor replied. He walked around the console, thinking hard. "Okay" he said at last, "Here's the plan – three rules. One, no spoilers; not to me, or to Clara, or to anyone, understand?"
"So…no telling people about their personal futures?" Charlotte guessed. The Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed at her. "Exactly! Rule number two, no saving people. If you know someone is going to die it becomes fixed, and changing it could summon the Reapers. Do you know what the Reapers are?" he asked, waiting until they'd both nodded before continuing, "Rule three, if in doubt, ask me. As long as it doesn't involve my future, tell me what you want to do and I can tell if it's safe to tweak the timelines a bit. Don't tell me too much beforehand though; I want to be surprised".
"Got it" Laura nodded, "We'll follow the rules, we promise".
"Yeah, we promise. So, I guess there's just one thing left to say then", Charlotte smiled at the Doctor, "Geronimo".
/
A/N: Thus ends 'The Bells of Saint John'. Just to note, Charlotte's fear of being 'kicked out' will be brought up and addressed in a later chapter.