Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who
The Crimson Horror – Part Two
The Doctor stood in the small space, holding his clothes, and with groans of pain, managed to pull the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and switch it on. Jenny shut the door and they hid as two men walked past the window. As they watched, the ominous red glow shining from the top of the stall turned bright green, and a fully dressed, perfectly healthy Doctor bounded out, grinning. "Ha! Missed me?"
"Not really, it's only been one night and day" Charlotte quipped, "And you're welcome".
"You brought Jenny here?"
"We brought Vastra and Strax too" Charlotte nodded, "And don't even think about kissing Jenny, she's married".
Jenny blinked, and stared at the Doctor, hands on hips. "You were gonna kiss me?!"
The Doctor just pulled her into a tight hug, then Charlotte, and then Laura. "You have no idea how good that feels" he grinned happily, before clapping his hands and announcing, "Right. Mrs Gillyflower. We've got to stop her. And then there's Clara. Poor Clara. Where's Clara?" he asked Laura and Charlotte, who shrugged. They honestly didn't know where she was, just that she was in one of the houses.
"Clara?" Jenny asked, bewildered, "Doctor, wait"-
"Can't, Clara, got to find" he said, pulling out his sonic and scanning for her.
"What does he mean, Clara?" Jenny asked the other two women.
"Uh…we might have glossed over a few things…" Laura admitted awkwardly. They followed the Doctor into the factory, hiding behind some crates as 'pilgrims' walked past, carrying yet another flask of the red liquid.
"What is that stuff, though?" Jenny whispered, pointing at the flask as it was taken away.
"Deadly poison" the Doctor replied, "And Mrs Gillyflower's been dipping her pilgrims in a dilute form to protect them. Preserve them. Process didn't work on me. Maybe because I'm not human. I ended up on the reject pile".
"It didn't work on other humans" Charlotte reminded him, "Being alien must've had let you survive it".
"Hmm, good point".
"Preserve them against what?" Jenny wondered.
"Well, according to her, the coming apocalypse" the Doctor told her, making a 'cuckoo' gesture. Charlotte and Laura stifled sniggers, but Jenny looked more thoughtful.
"When the End of Days is come and judgement rains down upon us all…"
"What?"
"Nothing…"
"No, no, no. What?"
"Something Mrs Gillyflower said" Jenny shrugged, "One of her sermons. Madame will come looking for me. We'd best get on".
"Yes, Clara, got to find Clara. Are you sure you don't know where she is?" he asked his companions.
"Just that she's in one of the houses, but we don't know which one" Charlotte shrugged.
"But how can it be Clara?" Jenny wondered aloud, confused.
/
Strax was driving the carriage, Madame Vastra sitting within, when the horse decided to halt. Strax glared down at it and declared, "Horse, you have failed in your mission. We are lost, with no sign of Sweetville. Do you have any final words before your summary execution?" The horse, naturally, made no response. "The usual story" Strax grumbled, hefting a large gun, "Fourth one this week, and I'm not even hungry".
"Sweetville, sir?" a young urchin standing at the side of the road inquired. Strax paused and lowered the gun, eyeing the boy.
"Do you know it?" he asked.
"Turn around when possible. Then, at the end of the road, turn right" the boy described, in an oddly specific way.
"What?"
"Bear left for a quarter of a mile and you will have reached your destination" he finished. Strax gave him a considering look, and then gestured for the boy to join him up on the driver's seat of the carriage.
"Thank you. What is your name?"
"Thomas, sir" the boy replied, "Thomas Thomas".
"I think you will do well, Thomas Thomas" Strax remarked, before flicking the reins and sending the horse on.
/
"Are we talking about the same person? About that Clara?" Jenny asked, as the Doctor ran over to one of the terraced houses and looked inside.
"Not really" Laura shook her head, "Our Clara doesn't know anything about her other lives".
"Yeah, and it's probably best if we keep it that way" Charlotte added.
"But I don't understand, Clara died" Jenny frowned, "The Ice Lady killed her".
"It's not the same Clara" Charlotte rolled her eyes, they'd just explained that! The Doctor finally found the right house, with a preserved and frozen Clara sitting beneath a bell jar with a stranger standing behind her, his hand on the back of her chair. The Doctor looked around, spotted a chair and hefted it up, throwing it through the glass, shattering it. He stepped over the shards and picked Clara up into his arms, carrying her back to the red glow room.
/
Whilst they'd been searching for Clara, Mrs Gillyflower had gone to the red glow room…only to hear crying coming from up the staircase in the corner. She went to investigate, and found Ada on her knees in a small room, sobbing her heart out. "What is the meaning of this?" she demanded; there was great work to be done, and this wretched girl was sitting there snivelling!
"Oh, Mama, I have been foolish" Ada cried, "I have formed a…sentimental attachment".
"An attachment?" Gillyflower frowned suspiciously, "To whom?"
"A young man. Unlike the others, he survived rejection. He must be strong. Worthy of salvation…" Ada tried to explain, to plead, but Gillyflower would hear none of it.
"Wrecker, berserker!" she shouted, furious, "You have loosed a reject onto the outside world!"
"I have disappointed you…" Ada sobbed.
"My plans must be accelerated" Gillyflower realised, ignoring Ada completely, "Nothing must interfere with the Great Work".
"But please say there is still room for me in your new Eden, Mama. Promise me that" Ada begged tearfully.
"I'll set my pilgrims onto him".
"No!" Ada cried, grabbing at her mother's skirts, but Gillyflower pulled away from her grasp.
"Kindly do not claw and slobber at my crinoline. You know I cannot bear to look at sick people" she ordered with a tone of disgust.
"Promise me you will not abandon me, Mama. Promise me that" Ada pleaded, miserable and desperate. Gillyflower looked down at her imperiously, though Ada couldn't see her expression, and scoffed.
"Do you not yet understand?" she demanded, "There can be no place for people such as you. That only perfection is good enough for myself and Mister Sweet. The bright day is done, child, and you are for the dark" she told her daughter coldly, before turning and leaving the room, forgetting her original intention in favour of heading off to order her pilgrims to search for the escaped reject. He couldn't have gotten far…left behind, Ada cried in the dark, her heart breaking.
/
Having avoided running into Gillyflower almost by the skin of their teeth, the Doctor, Clara, Charlotte, Laura and Jenny made it back to the red glow room. They placed Clara in a metal cubicle; unlike the Doctor, who had been so stiff he could barely move, Clara was manoeuvrable, almost as if the poison had transformed her into an actual doll. Laura really hoped that she wasn't conscious beneath her blank, serene stare…she must have felt so helpless.
"Can she be revived, like you were?" Jenny asked the Doctor, who was watching the cabinet intently. He'd tried so hard to keep this version of Clara safe, having failed to protect Oswin and Victorian Clara…he didn't want to fail again. "I hope so" he replied.
They looked up as the door opened, and three well-dressed male pilgrims entered, clearly having been sent by Gillyflower to apprehend them all. The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Oh, great. Great. Attack of the supermodels" he scoffed, "Time for a plan".
"Nah, Doctor" Jenny grinned at him, "This one's on me" she declared, pulling off her bonnet and her dress to reveal a black, leather cat-suit underneath. Before the pilgrims could even move, she'd incapacitated all of them in three moves, and grinned at the others.
"That was awesome" Charlotte declared bluntly. Before they could celebrate, however, six more pilgrims advanced, armed with…rounder's bats?
"Okay, time for a new plan" the Doctor decided, "Run!"
Before they could do that, there was a triumphant cry of "Sontar-Ha!" – Strax barrelled onto the scene, in full armour, firing his massive gun at the pilgrims who scattered and fled. Charlotte wasn't sure if his aim was off or if he wasn't actually trying to kill them…when it came to Strax, both options seemed almost equally unlikely. Madame Vastra was close behind the Sontaron with a sword in hand; but much to her relief, Edmund wasn't with them. She'd asked Vastra beforehand to make sure Edmund stayed away, and it seemed the Silurian had done so.
"Let's go!" Vastra said hurriedly.
"No, ma'am, we're not escaping" Jenny told her, "We've got to help the Doctor with Clara".
At Vastra's bewildered expression, the Doctor quickly waved her off and said, "Long story".
"No, it isn't" said Charlotte, before turning to Vastra, and taking a deep breath…"Clara has lived more than one life and no I can't tell you how and we found a version of her who doesn't know anything about being a barmaid or governess so please don't bring it up" she rattled off, before grinning at the Doctor and adding, "See?"
"Show off".
"What now, madam?" Strax inquired, before suggesting "We could lay mimetic cluster mines".
"Strax"-
"Or dig trenches and fill them with acid!"
"Strax!" Vastra snapped, "You're overexcited. Have you been eating Miss Jenny's sherbet fancies again?"
The Sontaron blinked, and hesitated. "…No…"
Madame Vastra, to judge from her less than amused expression, clearly didn't believe him. "Go outside and wait for me until I call for you" she ordered.
"But madam, I"-
"Go!"
Strax frowned…one would almost say he pouted…and grumbled, "I'm going to go play with my grenades".
He stomped off, and the Doctor turned back to the cabinet that Clara was inside. "Okay, I think she's about done" he decided, reaching out to open the door. He paused before he did so and looked over at Jenny and Vastra. "I know who you think she is, but she isn't. She can't be" he told them.
"I was right, then" Vastra smiled at him, "You and Clara have unfinished business".
The Doctor nodded, and pulled open the door. Clara stumbled forward and fell into his arms, blinking up at him. "There, there. Hello, stranger" he smiled at her.
"Doctor…" she said dazedly, trying to stand up.
"Ah ha" he laughed, helping her.
"Hi…what's going on?" she asked, looking around at them all, and spotting Vastra, staring.
"Oh, haven't y'heard, love?" the Doctor asked in his Yorkshire accent, "There's trouble at t'mill. She's a Lizard" he added, in response to her questioning stare between him and Vastra.
"She's a Silurian" Laura corrected, "They're friends of his. Can you walk?"
Clara nodded, and they made their way out of the red glow room. Out in the corridor, Vastra began explaining to the Doctor what she'd discovered. "My people once ruled this world, as well you know, but we did not rule it alone. Just as humanity fights a daily battle against nature, so did we. And our greatest plague, the most virulent enemy, was the repulsive red leech" she revealed.
"Ooh, the Repulsive Red Leech" the Doctor grinned, trying the name out, before shaking his head and deciding "Nah, on balance I think I prefer the Crimson Horror. What was it, exactly?"
"A tiny parasite" she explained, "It infected our drinking water. And once in our systems, it secreted a fatal poison".
"If it's been hanging around, lurking in the shadows, maybe it's evolved. Or maybe it's had help" the Doctor mused.
Clara looked out of a window at the chimney stacks of the factory and commented, "Doctor, I've been thinking. The chimney"-
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah" the Doctor waved her off, "Way past that now. Yucky red parasite from the time of the dinosaurs pitches up in Victorian Yorkshire. Didn't see that one coming" he admitted cheerfully.
"Yeah, but the chimney"-
"But what's the connection to Mrs Gillyflower? Judgement will rain down on us all. An empty mill"- he frowned and looked down, going cross-eyed, as Charlotte clamped a hand over his mouth. She nodded to Clara, who smiled in thanks and told the Doctor, "A chimney that doesn't blow smoke".
Charlotte took her hand off his mouth, and the Doctor smiled widely at Clara. "Clever clogs".
"Missed me?"
"Yeah, lots".
They found their way to the boiler room, and hid behind crates, watching the pilgrims at work. "She's going to poison the air" the Doctor whispered to them, working it out from the closed off chimneys and Gillyflower's talk of 'judgement raining down'; she was preserving people to create some kind of utopia, heaven on Earth…it would be more like hell, if they didn't stop her.
"How?" asked Jenny. They watched as a pilgrim pulled a lever, and doors opened to reveal…the base of a large rocket, stretching up to the ceiling in a hangar.
"With that, I should think" Clara commented, stating the obvious somewhat. She wondered how Gillyflower and her pilgrims had managed to build a working rocket in Victorian times…suddenly the idea of steampunk didn't seem too far away from reality.
"And there's the poison" the Doctor noted, his eyes trained on a large glass flask of the poison that two pilgrims were carrying between them, setting it down near the rocket ready for launch. "Alright, gang, I've got a plan" he nodded, standing up…only to knock some pipes with his foot when he stepped back, forcing him to duck back down as the pilgrims looked over at the noise. Charlotte pressed a finger to her lips and stared pointedly at him, before peeking out to see if the coast was clear.
Once they'd made it out of the boiler room, the Doctor turned to the others and explained, "Jenny, Vastra, you steal that poison. On no account let it be loaded into the rocket. Clara, Charlotte, Laura, you're with me. We're going to pay Mrs Gillyflower a little visit".
"Okay, but we've gotta go back to that hidden room first" Charlotte told him.
"Why?"
"Ada's there…she can help us".
The Doctor nodded; Ada might have chained him up, but she'd saved his life, and he'd been suspicious about her blindness and her scars ever since he'd seen her…he wanted to return her kindness. The five of them split up, the Doctor and his companions heading up to the secret room.
Back in the drawing room of her living quarters, Mrs Gillyflower smiled happily as she pulled out all the stops on a pipe organ tucked into an alcove in the wall. Then she pulled a lever, and the organ spun around to reveal the control panel for the rocket.
/
Ada was sitting on some boxes – there were an awful lot of old crates and boxes around, Laura wondered what they were all full of…then decided she probably didn't want to know. She looked up, startled, at the sound of the door opening. "Who is that? Who is there?"
The Doctor walked over and knelt down before her, taking her hand and running it over his face, so she could recognise him. "You" she gasped, "It's you, my monster, you've come back, but you're…"
"Warm" he finished for her, "And alive, thanks to you, Ada. You saved me from your mother's human rubbish tip. Now, what's wrong?"
Ada sniffled, despairing. "She does not want me, monster. I am not to be chosen" she revealed, guessing "Perhaps it was my own sin, the blackness in my heart that my father saw in me".
"Ada, no" the Doctor frowned, hating to hear the poor woman talk about herself so hopelessly, "That's nonsense. Stupid, backward nonsense, and you know it. You know it…" he trailed off, realising that perhaps she didn't know, that perhaps she couldn't remember what had been done to her. If the…it made him almost sick to think about, but if the process had affected her memory, or she'd buried the memory in horror…it would explain why she believed her father had blinded her.
Clara frowned, seeing the Doctor gently tracing one of the scars on Ada's face, and asked quietly, "What is it?"
"Who is that?" asked Ada, turning her head towards the sound of Clara's voice.
"I'm…we're friends" replied Clara, letting Ada know there were more people present, "We're friends of his".
"Then you are fortunate indeed" Ada smiled sadly, "It isn't good to be alone".
"Now, Ada, I need you to tell me something. Who is Mister Sweet? Ada?" the Doctor asked gently; but Ada shook her head, unwilling, or perhaps unable…after all, it occurred to Charlotte, considering her blindness (how she hated Gillyflower for that alone), Ada had probably never realised what Mr Sweet really was.
"Oh, dear monster" she cried.
"Please, tell me" he implored her.
"I cannot. Even now, I cannot. I cannot betray Mama" she cried, shaking her head. The Doctor sighed, and stood up, taking Ada's hand.
"Well, come with us, then" he said solemnly, "There's something you need to know".
/
With Ada's help, they found their way to Gillyflower's drawing room, where the mad old woman was busying herself with the control panel for the rocket. She turned when they entered, sans Ada, and remarked far too cheerfully to the Doctor, "Oh, you do seem to keep turning up like a bad penny, young man".
"Force of habit" he replied with a calm smile.
"Can I offer you something?" she asked casually, "Tea? Seed cake? Oh, a glass of Amontillado?"
"No thanks. Clara and I've had a skinful already, you might say".
"Ha, ha! Very funny" she chuckled.
"Yes" he nodded, before bluntly stating, "I'm the Doctor, this is Clara, Laura and Charlotte, you're nuts, and we're going to stop you".
"I'm afraid Mister Sweet and I cannot allow that" Gillyflower responded in a faux-concerned voice.
"Ah, yes" the Doctor nodded, "Would it be impolite to ask why you and Mister Sweet are petrifying your workforce with diluted prehistoric leech venom?"
"So when do we get to meet him, this silent partner of yours?" asked Clara, "Why's he so shy?"
"Mister Sweet is always with us" the madwoman replied with a smile that sent shivers running up the girl's spines.
"You seem to have a very close relationship, you and your pal" the Doctor observed; he already suspected he knew what 'Mr Sweet' really was, based on what Vastra had told them, but he wanted it confirmed…even if it did turn out to be disgusting.
Mrs Gillyflower nodded in agreement, patting her chest. "Oh yes, Doctor. Exceedingly close. Symbiotic, you might say" she remarked with a smirk, before pulling open the top of her corseted dress to reveal a repulsive red leech…it certainly lived up to its name… clinging to her front. The Doctor's companions stared at it in revulsion; Charlotte's verdict was simply, "Eugh!"
"Doctor, what is it?" asked Clara, feeling a bit sick at the thought that she'd been dipped in…that thing's venom. She made a mental note to have a very long, hot shower when she got home…
"A survivor" Gillyflower answered before the Time Lord could, "He has grown fat on the filth humanity has pumped into the rivers. That's where I found him" she explained.
"Very enterprising" the Doctor nodded; he felt a bit queasy himself, and they were all glad when she fastened her dress up again.
"His needs are simple, and in return he gives me his nectar" she smiled, as if the leech were some kind of helpful pet and not a horrible, prehistoric parasite.
"Mrs Gillyflower, you have no idea what you are dealing with" the Doctor tried to warn her, "In the wrong hands, that venom could wipe out all life on this planet!"
The old woman simply held up her hands, palms out, and grinned at them. "Do you know what these are? Ha, ha! The wrong hands!" she laughed, before turning to the control panel and pulling a lever. Outside, Thomas spotted red lights appearing all the way up the factory chimney. He pointed them out to Strax and the Sontaron grinned excitedly, before heading off to a glorious battle…for really, what else could the red lights mean?
"Planning a little fireworks party, are we?"
"You have forced me to advance the Great Work somewhat, Doctor, but my colossal scheme remains as it was. My rocket will explode high in the atmosphere, raining down Mister Sweet's beneficence onto all humanity".
"And wiping us all out" Clara realised, horrified, "You can't!"
"My new Adam and Eves will sleep for but a few months before stepping out into a golden dawn. Is it not beautiful, Doctor?" she asked, ignoring Clara. The girl was no threat to Gillyflower, or so the woman thought; after all, soon she would be a pretty doll once again, and her two little friends...as for the Doctor, there was no room for living rejects in her paradise.
He gave her a hard look and instead said, "Now, tell us about Ada, Mrs Gillyflower".
"What?"
"Your daughter. You do remember your daughter? Tell us about your daughter".
"How can you speak of such trivia when my hour is at hand? The child is of no consequence" Gillyflower said unconcernedly.
"Is that why you experimented on her?" the Doctor asked, anger creeping into his voice.
Clara stared at Gillyflower and then at the Doctor in alarm. "Experimented?"
"The signs are all there" the Doctor revealed, "The pattern of scarring. You used her as a guinea pig, didn't you" he said to Gillyflower; it was a statement, not a question.
"God…" Now Clara definitely felt sick. What kind of twisted person experimented on her own daughter?
"How could you do that?" asked Laura, having similar thoughts.
"Sometimes, sacrifices must be made".
"Sacrifices?" the Doctor repeated angrily.
"It was necessary. I had to find out how much of the venom would produce an anti-toxin to immunise myself. Don't you see? It was necessary!" Gillyflower exclaimed in her own defence.
Charlotte glared at her and snapped, "No, it wasn't! You're supposed to love your child, not hurt them, you despicable crazy bitch" she spat, seething. Of all the low down, rotten – she'd known from the beginning what had happened to Ada, and she'd been waiting for a chance to lay into Gillyflower for ages.
The old woman glared right back, and was just about to tell the insulting girl that she needed to be taught some manners, when Ada called out from the doorway, "Mama? Is it, is it true?"
"Ada…" Gillyflower didn't know what to say, she didn't know Ada had been listening…
"It is" Ada realised, "It's true. True!"
"Ada, listen to me…"
Ada was consumed with a rage she'd never felt before; she advanced on her mother, shouting, "You hag! You perfidious hag! You virago! You harpy! All these years I have helped you, served you, looked after you. Do they count for nothing, nothing at all?" she demanded furiously, raising her white stick and bringing it down on her mother, who cringed and quailed under the onslaught, scrambling away.
"No, stop. Stop!"
Clara took advantage of the distraction to grab a chair and move towards the control panel. "Hang on, I've got a screwdriver!" the Doctor reminded her, holding it up.
"Yeah?" she smirked, "I've got a chair!" With that, she drove the legs into the panels, shorting the whole thing out in a gratifying burst of sparks.
"No!"
"Yeah, that worked" the Doctor admitted; messy, but effective nonetheless. "I'm afraid your rocket isn't going anywhere, Mrs G" he told the woman. Ada had stopped trying to beat her mother at the sound of the panel being smashed; she hoped it was all over…
"Please, come to me Ada" Gillyflower begged…and in spite of everything, part of Ada felt a deep rooted obligation to listen to her, 'honour and obey', but then Laura called out, "No, don't!"
"Oh, my child, you have always been so very…" Gillyflower pulled out a small revolver and grabbed Ada, holding it to her head, "Useful".
"No, Mrs Gillyflower" the Doctor warned.
"Please, Mama, no more. No more" Ada cried fearfully.
"Let her go!" Charlotte commanded firmly, taking a step forward; only for Mrs Gillyflower to fire a shot off in front of her feet; the Doctor yanked her behind him as she shrieked, eyes wide in terror.
"You, my dear, really must learn to respect your elders" Gillyflower tutted, "And now, if you'll please forgive us, we must be going. It is long past Ada's bedtime" she declared, before forcibly dragging her daughter out of the room, locking it behind her.
Clara ran forward to try and go after them, but the Doctor warned her, "No, no, Clara. If we follow straight after her, she'll shoot Ada on the spot".
"She wouldn't…"
"She would" he nodded, before turning to Charlotte and asking, "Are you alright?"
"Y-Yeah, I think so" she replied shakily, looking a bit pale. The bullet hole was so close to where she'd been standing, if the Doctor hadn't pulled her back she might have been… "Thanks".
"You're welcome. Now…ah!" the Doctor grinned, "Chairs are useful!" he agreed with Clara, hefting one up and throwing it through the window.
/
Gillyflower pulled Ada into the factory, where the rocket was waiting. "Come along, Ada!" she scolded the struggling young woman.
"Please Mama, stop!"
Ignoring Ada, the old woman turned to a pilgrim and demanded, "Has the venom been loaded?"
"Yes, ma'am" he replied.
"Then heaven awaits you" she grinned triumphantly, before pulling Ada onwards. They reached the rocket, and she hauled Ada up the steps beside it, to a box in the wall. The Doctor, Clara, Laura and Charlotte rushed in, the latter three with their dresses torn from climbing out of the broken window. Gillyflower spotted the Doctor rushing up the stairs and shouted, "Stop!"
They skidded to a halt and the Doctor yelled, "Just let her go, Mrs Gillyflower. Let Ada go!"
"Secondary firing mechanism, Doctor. Mister Sweet and I are too smart for you, after all".
"Just let your daughter go, Mrs Gillyflower".
Ada managed to break free of her mother's tight grip, and stumbled down the steps to the lower level, falling back against the wall.
"Ada!"
She glared defiantly in her mother's general direction. "Shoot if you wish, Mama. It is of no matter, for you killed me a long time ago".
Rather than shoot at Ada, Gillyflower fired a shot off at the Doctor, forcing him to jump back. She smiled and started to sing as she worked on the controls. "I'll labour night and day to be a pilgrim…"
Whilst she was distracted, the Doctor rushed up the steps to Ada, reaching her just as the rockets engines ignited. He shielded her as it rose into the air just a foot or so away from them, able to feel his hair singing and skin blistering from the fierce heat that poured from the flames beneath the rocket.
"Now, Mister Sweet, now the whole world will taste your lethal kiss!" Gillyflower crowed jubilantly.
"I don't think so, Mrs Gillyflower" the Doctor told her, snapping his fingers…and pointing at Jenny and Vastra, disguised as pilgrims, holding a bottle of venom between them. High above them, the rocket soared into the atmosphere…but every bit of poison within it had been sequestered away by the diligent pair.
"Very well, then" Gillyflower glared at them, "If I can't take the world with me, you will have to do. Die, you freaks. Die! Die!" she shouted, aiming her gun at Jenny and Vastra, who both tensed, ready to dodge…
Strax aimed his large gun down the chimney at Gillyflower and ordered, "Put down your weapon, human female".
Instead she fired at him, or tried to, but missed by a mile…so naturally he retaliated, with a blast that sent her tumbling over the railing and down to the floor; Charlotte, Clara and Laura looked away, cringing at the sound of the thud. "Ouch" the Doctor winced, grimacing. The red leech detached itself from her, and started to crawl away. "No. No. Mister Sweet, where are you going? You can't leave me now, Mister Sweet" Gillyflower pleaded, even as she lay dying.
"What's it doing?" Clara asked as the Doctor came back down the steps to join them.
"It knows she's dying. She's no longer of any use to it" he explained.
"Mister Sweet" moaned Gillyflower, "…Ada?" she called weakly. Ada tapped her way down the stairs and over to her mother's side. "Ada, are you there?"
"I'm here, Mama".
"Forgive me, my child. Forgive me".
"Never" Ada whispered. Her mother was strangely pleased by this… "That's my girl" she breathed, her head lulling to the side in death.
Jenny gestured to the leech, still trying to crawl away, and asked the Doctor, "What will you do with that thing?"
"Take it back to the Jurassic Era, maybe. Out of harm's way" he suggested…but then Ada tapped her stick around until it hit the leech, frowned, and began to beat it to a pulp as it screeched. "On the other hand…" the Doctor trailed off, as the young woman took all her pent up frustration out on the leech that had ruined everything.
He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked at Charlotte, who hesitantly asked, "Can…can you cure her?"
The Doctor thought about it, and remembered he had some medicine in the TARDIS that should clear up Ada's blindness. "Ada?" he called out; she stopped bashing the now thoroughly squished leech and looked over at the sound of his voice. "Yes, uh, I think you've got it, well done. Now, we still need to revive everyone else, but after that, I'd like to repay your kindness"-
"There's no need, dear monster" Ada smiled brightly, "You and your friends have done more than enough".
"Then please, let us do this one last thing" Charlotte implored her, "Trust me, you won't regret it".
/
It took all night to revive all the pilgrims and prisoners, explain what had happened and send them all home. Edmund and Effie came up, insisting on helping, and did a grand job of comforting the bewildered survivors. The next morning found the companions and the Paternoster Gang, busy distracting Ada, Thomas and the Thursdays, whilst the Doctor ducked into the TARDIS in the nearby alley to fetch the medicine for Ada's eyes.
Strax clapped Thomas on the shoulder; the small boy held up remarkably well considering Strax's less than gentle touch. "Madam, this human boy proved to be a valuable asset in our efforts to bring down Sweetville. Permission to induct him into our elite corps?" he asked Madame Vastra.
"He's only a boy, Strax" Jenny shook her head, "He's not old enough to join our…err…elite corps" she explained.
Thomas scowled a bit and protested, "I'm nearly thirteen, I'm plenty old enough to help!"
"What we do is very dangerous" Vastra informed him, "And it is no place for children. Besides, I hardly think your parents would be very pleased if we took you back to London with us".
The young boy hung his head and scuffed a shoe across the ground. "I don't have no parents" he admitted, "I were living in Bradford before I hitched a ride up 'ere".
"Oh, you poor boy" Effie cried sympathetically, "No wonder you're so thin! How would you like to come home with us, have some lovely soup and bread, eh?"
"Err, Effie, dear, I don't think…"
"Oh, hush, Edmund. We can't just leave him out on the streets…oh, and you'll need somewhere to stay as well, won't you, Ada dear?"
Ada smiled demurely and said, "I wouldn't want to trouble anyone…but your offer is very kind, Mrs Thursday".
Just then, the Doctor came running up, beaming all over. "Sorry it took so long! Now, Ada, could you please close your eyes?" he asked her. Puzzled, Ada did as she was told. The Doctor carefully sprayed a mist, which was actually comprised of advanced nanogenes, onto her eyelids. "Just keep them closed for a minute" he instructed, before turning to his companions, specifically Laura and asking, "Right, London. We were going to London, weren't we?"
"Actually, I think I've had enough of Victorian times for now" Laura admitted.
"And I've had enough of these dresses" Charlotte grumbled, trying to straighten the restrictive clothing.
The Doctor nodded, and went to shake Edmund's hand. "Thanks for all your help, Edmund, old chap" he smiled gratefully.
"I wish I could have helped more" Edmund admitted, before adding, "And thank you, Doctor, for putting an end to this whole ghastly business…and thank you, Miss Richards, for your advice. You were quite right…it wasn't a chance I wished to take" he admitted, smiling at his wife, who was talking to Thomas and Jenny…he looked back at Charlotte and finished, "I believe you may have saved our lives".
"Well, I'm just happy to help" Charlotte smiled modestly, shaking his hand. The Doctor frowned slightly, but before he could ask her how she saved their lives, Ada inquired, "Can I open my eyes now, dear monster?"
"Oh, yes! Yes, sorry…it, err, might be a bit of a shock…" he warned as she opened her eyes…blinked…and blinked again. Rather than a dull white haze, she saw…colours! Faces! Ada gasped in surprise, dropping her cane in shock as she realised, she could see! Her beautiful monster had restored her sight…and now that she could actually look at him, she realised with a bit of a blush that he was no monster in looks; he was actually a bit handsome.
"Good lord" Edmund breathed, his eyebrows flying up to his hairline in surprise, "It's a miracle".
"Well, not really, it's actually thanks to sub-atomic" – the eager Doctor was about to launch into a rambling explanation of just how he'd cured Ada's blindness, when Clara tugged him down and whispered in his ear, "It's 1893!"
"Oh, right, yes…yes, it is a miracle. Well, Ada, how does it feel to see?"
"It…it's incredible. I thought I'd lost my sight forever…thank you, my dear monster…you look much better like this" she laughed lightly.
He smiled and asked her, "What will you do now?"
"Oh, there are many things a bright young lady can do to occupy her time. It's time I stepped out of the darkness and into the light" she smiled, feeling confident and happy for the first time in years.
"Good luck, Ada. You know, I think you will be just", the Doctor kissed her on the cheek, "Splendid. Right, you three, go on ahead, I'll catch up" he told his companions, who bid the others goodbye and walked back to the TARDIS. "Thanks a million, as ever. Have some Pontefract cakes on me. I love Pontefract cakes. See you around, eh, I shouldn't wonder" he told the Paternoster Gang, before bidding goodbye to the other humans, and heading back to his time machine.
/
First they dropped Clara back at the Maitland house; Charlotte was grinning widely, feeling very pleased with herself. "Wasn't that great? I thought I'd hate that adventure, but it was actually really good! See, I told you having someone on the outside would pay off" she told the Doctor, beaming…her smile dimmed when she noticed his rather serious expression. "What's up?" she frowned.
"What did Edmund mean, you saved their lives?"
"Oh, I told him he shouldn't try to go into Sweetville looking for you, that was all" Charlotte shrugged.
"Did you know he was going to go into Sweetville?"
"Well, in the episode he"- Laura began; Charlotte shushed her quickly, but it was too late.
"That was an episode? So you knew what was going to happen to them, and you changed it".
"You're acting like that's a bad thing" Charlotte frowned, "We've changed a few things here and there before, and the universe hasn't collapsed. I saved their lives, Doctor…I thought you'd be happy about that".
"I am! It's good, great even…but you promised, Charlotte, you both promised to ask me before you tried to change anything".
"No, we agreed to ask you if we weren't sure about something.I was sure. Thanks to me and Laura, you were only trapped for a day or so! Then I gave you the idea to cure Ada, and I think Effie might adopt that kid Thomas…you're not seriously getting mad at me for fixing everything, are you?"
"I'm not mad at you" the Doctor shook his head, "I just wish you'd told me. Charlotte, you could have summoned the Reapers".
"But I didn't. Everything's fine. I worked it all out, even if they hadn't died in the episode, it still wouldn't have been a paradox; you and Clara would've just been trapped longer. I knew the Reapers wouldn't turn up. I know time!" she said confidently. The Doctor raised an eyebrow pointedly, and she faltered, "Not as well as you, but…"
"No, you don't know time as well as me. I do understand why you saved them, and that's good, that is so human" he smiled at her, "But please, tell me next time. No matter how well you think you've worked things out, there are factors you don't know how to account for".
Charlotte sighed…she didn't feel like she ought to be apologising, but arguing would get them nowhere. "I'm sorry" she said grudgingly, "I promise I'll tell you next time I want to save people from an untimely demise…uh, I'm kind of tired. I'm gonna go have a nap, if that's okay".
"Sure, you two go on, get some rest. I'll just be here…fixing stuff".
/
Clara had opened the front door, walked into the front room with a smile on her face…it dropped away when she spotted an open laptop, with pictures on the screen…old black and white photographs of her and the Doctor, Laura and Charlotte, on a few of their adventures. The Firebird, Caliburn House...
"It's you, isn't it?" asked Angie from behind her, making Clara jump. "It's from the seventies, but it's definitely you".
"Of course it's not" Clara said hurriedly.
"And that's you too, from 1983" said Artie, pointing at the picture of them with the captain and crew of the submarine, "I found it at school".
"No, that's just someone who looks like me".
"And those are people who look like those friends of yours" Angie said sarcastically.
"Is he an alien?" asked Artie, pointing at the Doctor.
"Why would he be an alien?" Angie scoffed.
"The chin" her brother shrugged, as if it were obvious.
"And the time travel?" she retorted, clicking on a third image, this one of only Clara…but dated London, 1890.
"That's not right" Clara murmured, frowning in bewilderment at the image.
"You were in Victorian London" Angie accused her.
"No, we were in Victorian Yorkshire" she replied without thinking…she had to resist the urge to face palm as Angie and Artie grinned excitedly, having caught her out.
"How come you didn't tell us?"
"Time travel, that's so cool!"
"Can we have a go?"
"Can you have a what?"
"We want a shot at the time machine".
"No, no, no, no" Clara shook her head emphatically, "Just listen"-
"Okay?" Angie insisted stubbornly, "Or, we'll have to tell Dad that our nanny's a time traveller" she added. Clara stared at them both, realising that they weren't going to let up about this. What have I gotten myself into?