CHAPTER 73

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WHO'S SHORT NOW?

"D – Donna, w – what's wrong?" Lee asked as Donna stared down at the floor of her grandfather's kitchen so intently that he was surprised that it didn't catch on fire.

Not that he was brave enough to tell Donna that.

"What makes you think that something's wrong? I mean can't I just be lost in thought for a while without someone automatically assuming that something's wrong?" Donna said in a slightly angry tone.

"Y - You just look upset about something lately, Donna. Is it because I - I couldn't make it to Joan's wedding?" Lee asked.

Donna smiled as she said, "No, of course not. It's got nothing whatsoever to do with you."

Then he smile faded as she admitted, "It's because of the other person who wasn't there."

"The Doctor. I - I thought that might be it," Lee said in an unsurprised voice.

"Yeah, it's really been bothering me a lot lately. I really want him to be there when Lauren's born, Lee. It just won't feel right without him. I know that Gran can't tell me what she knows about the future, but it would have really been such a relief to know for sure either one way or another whether he'd be there or not," Donna said in a frustrated voice.

"Calliope's been upset too, D – Donna, because she knows how unhappy you are from not knowing. S – She's tried to hide it but I can tell. She really l - loves you and it's been bothering her that she can't be completely honest with you," Lee said.

"I know that. I know she's not doing it out of meanness. Just like I know that it's all of that stuff about breaking the laws of time and endangering the future that's the cause. None of that makes me feel any better though. I want my Spaceman back so that I can smack him for ever getting himself lost in the first place," Donna said.

"Well, that's a wonderful incentive for him to return I must say. If you keep that kind of talk up, I may just have to wind up having to force him to come and see you," Calliope suddenly said as she walked into the house with a huge smile on her face.

Donna's face instantly lit up as she said, "Do you mean . . . ?"

"Yep, the Doctor and Rose are both back, safe and sound. Well, as safe as any of us can be now that the Matriarch has stolen Rose's powers and is on the loose somewhere doing who knows what with them," Calliope said.

"Oh, well that's just wizard. It's not like the universe hasn't taken enough of a beating lately what with that even crazier version of the Master playing around with its laws like she did. Lilith's really going to have to buckle down and fix things now before Super Boss decides to tamper with them too now that she has Rose's mojo," Donna said.

"If s – she does, she could possibly destroy the entire Web of Time," Lee said in alarm.

Calliope looked at them both with concern especially Donna as she said in a soothing voice, "Let's not worry about that right now, okay? Until Lilith can fix things or someone finds the Matriarch, there's really nothing that any of us can do. That means that there's no use in worrying about it is there? At least there isn't at the moment anyway."

"Yeah, I appreciate what you're trying to do, Gran, because you're worried about Lauren, but I am concerned about it. I can't exactly have a baby if there's no bloody universe left to have her in can I? I need to talk to Lilith about this. Do you know where she is?" Donna asked.

"I haven't seen her lately I'm afraid. Then again I've been just a little bit busy with something else. I had a promise to keep after all. One that I've left unfulfilled for a very long time," Calliope admitted.

"I swear that you're getting just as bad as Rose these days with the cryptic act. What are you talking about? What promise?" Donna asked in confusion.

Calliope smiled as she went back to the front door and called out to someone standing outside, "Crystal, will you come in here already? I want you to meet my family. Come on, Crys. They're not going to bite. Well, I don't think Donna will anyway as long as you don't make her angry."

"Very funny. Gran, what is this about? Who is this Crystal person?" Donna asked with a frown.

"My sister," Calliope said as she looked back towards someone that Donna couldn't see and gestured for her to come in once again.

"What? What sister? You never told me about a sister. What is it with you and keeping secrets from me lately?" Donna said in anger.

"That ends now, Donna. The only reason that I did was because I didn't want to change my own timeline by mistake. It was the younger still human me who found the Doctor and Rose, and they had to stay there with me just long enough for my future husband, Theta's father, to arrive and find me while looking for the cause of the temporal disturbance that their return to the future created. Now that everything in my past happened exactly like it was supposed to I won't ever have a reason to keep anything from you again. Never again, Donna. I promise," Calliope said while looking straight into Donna's eyes.

Donna smiled and nodded as she said, "I believe you, Gran."

A young woman walked into the room then with an extremely nervous look on her face as she said, "Hello. I'm Crystal Newman. I'm Eliza's sister."

"I brought her here from my past. I didn't want to leave her there all alone without me so she's going to be staying with me and your Granddad. She's a little nervous right now because this whole thing about me being a Time Lady living in an alternate reality to hers is just a little bit too much for her to process," Calliope explained.

"I'm trying, Eliza. It's just so strange. This world is just like ours in so many ways and yet it's also different. We didn't have a prime minister named Harriet Jones for one thing. I've never even heard of her," Crystal said.

"Eliza? As in Elizabeth? Do you mean that actually was your first name after all, Gran?" Donna asked in surprise.

"Yep. I always preferred Eliza though back then. It feels a little weird to be called that now. I'm used to Callie or Calliope," Calliope said with a distant look in her eyes.

"Eliza, she called you Gran. Have I really missed that much of your life?" Crystal said in a troubled voice.

"I'm afraid so, yes. It's okay though. You'll catch up in no time and I still have several centuries left to me before I use up all of my remaining regenerations. We'll have plenty of time to spend together," Calliope reassured her.

"Regenerations. Yes, you tried to explain that to me before about how you can become another person and that that was the reason why you look so different now, but I still don't quite understand it," Crystal said.

"Don't worry. You will. That comes later though. Right now I want you to meet Donna. She's my husband's granddaughter, but I feel like she's my own. Don't let her attitude fool you. She's really a sweetheart deep down," Calliope said as she smiled at Donna.

"Yeah, way down," Ileana said as she came into the house followed by Lilith and Emmy.

"You'd better be glad that I'm in a good mood now that the Doctor and Rose are back, Lana, or I'd be punching those fangs of yours right down your throat," Donna said with a frown that quickly turned into a warm smile as she turned to look at Emmy.

"Lana, I don't like the way that she's looking at me," Emmy said warily as she quickly hid behind the vampire.

"It's called a smile, Em. You may just not be used to seeing one on our fearless leader's face lately," Ileana said with a chuckle.

"It was you that found them, wasn't it?" Donna said to Emmy as her smile widened.

"Yeah, it was with Lily's help. I did a good thing, Donna, so please don't hurt me," Emmy said.

"Hurt you? I'm going to hug you. Come here," Donna said as she walked towards her.

"No, it's a trick. I know it is. Stay back," Emmy said.

"Oh, stop joking around already. Now come over here and hug me before I make you," Donna said with a frown.

Emmy reluctantly walked towards Donna and then she immediately hugged her tightly as she said, "Thank you. I owe you one."

"I missed them too, Donna," Emmy admitted as she finally returned her hug.

"When someone hides from your mother behind a vampire and thinks that's a safer place for them, I think that pretty much says it all, Lilith," Ileana said with a chuckle.

"Vampire?" Crystal said with a frightened look.

"Yes, but she's a nice vampire," Calliope reassured her.

"Nice?" Crystal said in disbelief.

"I wouldn't say that I'm nice exactly," Ileana said.

"That's for sure," Donna muttered making Ileana shoot her a dirty look.

Ileana continued as she said, "Friendly would be a better world I think. Wait till you meet Katherine. Now she's nice. She's so nice she'll make you want to throw up. You'd never believe that she was a vampire. She's far nicer than some Time Ladies I know."

"Mother Donna isn't that bad, Lana. She's actually quite warm and pleasant most of the time," Lilith said defensively.

"Yeah, to you maybe. The rest of us aren't quite so lucky though," Ileana said with a grin.

"Now stop that, Lana. My Donna's as sweet as they come and you know it," Wilf said as he came into the room holding Kimberly.

"This is Wilf and this is my little girl, Kim," Calliope said as she took the toddler from Wilf and gave her to Crystal.

"Hello, Kim," Crystal said as she smiled at the child who immediately smiled back at her warmly and laughed.

"Why don't you hold her for a while, Crys? She seems to like you," Calliope said.

"She's beautiful," Crystal said with a delighted look in her eyes.

Calliope grinned as she saw that Crystal was finally starting to relax and accept her new life now. Good old Kim. She knew that she would do the trick. No one could stay upset or worried while she was around.

She knew that she certainly never did.

"Lilith, are you any closer to fixing the universe yet? If Super Boss is on the prowl, we don't have a moment to waste anymore," Donna said now that Lilith was finally there at last.

"I feel as though I'm getting closer to it every day, Mother. I can't do it just yet though. I'm sorry. I really am trying. The universe has been so heavily altered that it's taking me a lot of time to find all of the damages done to it so that I can try to compensate for them. As soon as I know everything that I need to fix though then it shouldn't take too much longer to bring things back to normal once more however," Lilith said in a nervous voice as though she were afraid of letting Donna down.

Donna nodded and said in a reassuring voice, "Don't let me rush you then because you need to do it right or you might make things worse. Just do the best that you can, Lilith. That's all that I ask, okay?"

Lilith began to look relieved now as she eagerly said, "I will, Mother. I will. I'll make you proud."

"You've already done that," Donna said with a warm smile.

Lilith immediately hugged her with gratitude as Donna couldn't help but marvel at just how much things had changed between them. Once she had been her mortal enemy but now Lilith really was becoming just like a daughter to her more and more each day.

It was funny how life worked out sometimes Donna mused.

"When can I see that son of yours, Gran?" Donna asked Calliope.

"I've already made sure to tell him to come and report to you as soon as possible, Donna. I made sure that he knew how important that was," Calliope said.

"You told Rose too, right?" Donna asked.

"Of course," Calliope said with an evil grin.

"Good. She'll make sure that he comes if she has to drag him here herself," Donna said with a smirk.

"I think you're confusing Rose with yourself," Ileana said with a snicker.

"Don't think I won't knock you out just because I'm happy, Fang Gal," Donna threatened.

"This is what she's like when she's happy?" Crystal asked in disbelief.

"That's right. Welcome to the family, Aunt Crys. Aren't you glad you're here now?" Emmy said with a chuckle.

"Oi! Now don't you get started with the wisecracks too!" Donna said in an annoyed voice.

"Is this everyone? Where are the other Wolves?" Calliope asked as she tried to change the subject so that her sister didn't wind up thinking that Donna was much worse than she actually was.

"Dorothy's still recovering from having her baby. She's at home with Alex. I think he feels guilty that he wasn't there when Sylvester was born thanks to having to work so he's really overcompensating. He's waiting on her hand and foot right now. It's kind of hilarious actually. She just keeps ringing her little bell and he comes running every time like a trained puppy," Ileana said with a grin.

"I figured as much about Dorothy, Fang Lady. What about the others though? Where are they?" Donna asked.

"Well, our Victoria went back to her own world. She's much too busy ruling her werewolf subjects to stay here for long. She just came to marry Joan and John. She really wanted to make sure that Joan had a happy ending," Ileana said.

"Werewolves too?" Crystal said in shock.

"Yep and Lilith is a witch. Sort of. You get used to the weirdness of this world after a while, Crys," Calliope said with a small smile.

Ileana continued now as she said, "Joan and John are on their honeymoon of course. I think that they may actually consider joining us from time to time in the future though. Who knows? Victoria Waterfield went back to the Doctor's group now that we've finally found him. Alina and Stefania left again because both of them were pretty traumatized by what happened to them at the hands of Nightshade and Missy. I can't say that I blame them really. I think that they'll be there if we ever need them though. Katherine, Amanda, Kallista, and Tori all wanted to take some time off for a while. Again who could blame them after everything we've gone through lately? As for Michelle . . ."

"What? I know that look, Lana. Something's up. What about Mirror Girl?" Donna asked.

"I think that she may be about to finally talk about marriage with Mark now that she doesn't feel as guilty as she used to about what she did in the past," Ileana said in an excited voice.

"Good for her. She deserves some happiness no matter what she thinks," Donna said with approval.

"I totally agree. That's why I didn't bother her," Martha said as she appeared at the door.

"Uh oh. I can tell already that there's another case by the worry in your eyes, Martha. What weird thing is it this time? Mummies? Giant Squids? The Loch Ness Monster again? Frobisher?" Donna asked.

"It had better not be Penguin Boy. I had enough of him last time. He just kept hitting on Emmy and Lilith non-stop the entire case. He never quit even though I threatened to take his shape changing powers away for good . . . after I turned him into a ferret," Calliope said.

"He was just kidding around, Mum. He's a nice guy really. It's not like he's Jack," Emmy protested.

"Shape changing penguins? What kind of world is this?" Crystal said as she shook her head.

Martha smiled as she remembered feeling that exact same way once while she said, "This is your sister I take it, Callie. Nice to meet you, Crystal. I'm Martha."

"It's nice to meet you too. You actually seem normal. I could use normal right now," Crystal said.

"Is she saying that we're not normal?" Donna asked in an insulted voice.

"Uh, I'm a vampire, Donna. You're an alien who used to be human. We're about as far from normal to her as it gets," Ileana pointed out.

"I'm as normal as they come," Donna protested.

"Sure you are, Ginger. So what is the case anyway?" Ileana asked Martha as she tried to get the conversation back on track again.

"Masada," Martha said.

"Again? It was already blown to bits. What more trouble could they have? Can't those people solve their own problems for once?" Donna asked.

"They're being constantly attacked by vampires again, Donna. They don't want them to rebuild it apparently. They're trying to make sure that never happens. From what Mina Harker said, they seem to have a new leader again but she doesn't know who it is. We need to go in there and find out what's going on," Martha said.

"Alright, Boss Lady, but I'm really getting tired of that place," Donna complained.

"Donna, I owe Mina about a million favors so you're going to help her and like it. Got it?" Ileana said.

"Don't get pushy, Lana. I'll do it but I definitely don't have to like it," Donna said.

"Donna, if you're worried about the baby, I could always let someone else lead this one. Ileana could do it," Martha suggested.

Donna hesitated since she had been more than a bit worried about being like Dorothy and having Lauren at the worst possible time. She just hadn't wanted to admit that and disappoint Martha and the others.

"No, I'll be alright. We're already down too many people anyway. Let's do this then. My TARDIS is just outside," Donna finally said as she started to lead the way out of the house.

"Sorry, Crys, but I'm afraid that I have to go with her. You stay here with Lee, Kim, and Wilf. You're definitely not ready to fight vampires yet," Calliope said.

"Eliza, I'll never be ready for something like that," Crystal said as she looked at her as if she were mad.

"You say that now but you may just change your tune later when you see how much fun that it is," Calliope joked.

Crystal looked at her with widened eyes as she said, "You really have gone completely mad haven't you?"

"I have news for you, Crys. I was always mad. I just never admitted it. See you later," Calliope said as she kissed her sister's cheek and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't you worry about her, Crystal. She'll be fine," Wilf reassured a stunned Crystal as the Wolves immediately left the house.

"I know. She is right you know? She always was completely around the bend. I always knew that no matter how hard she tried to hide it. No wonder she likes this mad new world of hers so much," Crystal admitted with a smile.

Wilf simply laughed at her in response.

Even as the Wolves rushed to Masada, Michelle was having an important talk with Mark. This was finally it for her. She knew that today was the day that she was finally going to ask him about marriage.

They were in a restaurant together when Michelle finally gathered up the courage to say, "Mark, I'm ready now. Are you?"

"Ready? You mean ready for marriage?" Mark asked with a hopeful look.

"Yes. I – I've finally come to a good place in my life. I've forgiven myself. Well, I have for the most part anyway. I'm ready to try to have a nice normal life now. Or as normal a life as I can have anyway. How do you feel about that?" Michelle asked.

"Oh, I'm definitely ready," Mark said in an excited voice as he pulled a ring out of his pocket.

Michelle laughed as she said, "Yes, I can see that. Been carrying that long?"

"Long enough," Mark said.

Then he got out of his chair and went down on one knee on the floor while everyone in the surrounding area looked at him and smiled in anticipation.

"Michelle Jones, will you marry me?" Mark asked.

"Yes. You know I will and I'm so sorry for making you wait so long," Michelle said.

Mark smiled as he said, "I would have waited for the rest of my life."

"Well, I'm not that bad," Michelle said with a chuckle.

Then they kissed as the entire restaurant broke into cheers.

The rest of the Wolves were getting a very different reception at that moment as they arrived in Masada just in time to see that it was already under another new attack. As soon as Donna went outside, she could see several vampires doing their best to tear what little had been rebuilt of Masada back down again as the vampire hunters desperately tried to stop them.

"They really don't fool around do they? They're already at it I see," Donna said with a sigh.

"What? Did you think that they'd give up and go home just because Martha brought us in?" Ileana asked.

"I have to admit that something like that would be nice for once, Fang Gal," Donna admitted.

"Yeah, like we'd ever get that lucky," Emmy said.

Suddenly they heard a very familiar voice say, "You certainly won't while I'm around, whoever you are. Wipe them all out, boys."

The Wolves all turned their heads in unison to see a huge vampire around fifty feet tall who was leading the other vampires against them. This wasn't just any vampire however. This one looked exactly like someone that they all knew very well.

This vampire looked exactly like Clara Oswald.

"Another evil Clara?" Calliope said with a sigh.

"That's no surprise. What are there about a billion of them now?" Ileana asked.

"This Clara is actually tall though. I mean really tall. Now that's definitely a surprise," Emmy said with a grin.

"Yeah, that's our usual kind of luck alright. We get an evil Clara of our own and she's a giant vampire who wants to stomp us all into dust. Why doesn't this kind of thing ever happen to River Song? She'd probably enjoy it," Donna said.

Next: A giant vampire Clara? It's not quite as unbelievable as it sounds. We'll explore the secret history of this new Great Vampire in the next chapter and it's definitely a tragic one. Speaking of evil Claras, the Matriarch will also appear before everything is through as sweeping changes come over the entire universe and the Wolves all find their lives completely different as a result. These changes lead to a massive weakening of the structure of reality however that may just endanger everything. Can Lilith find a way to stop this in time to save everyone or will she be too busy lost in her brand new life to even notice until it's far too late?