Terry landed to find herself standing right between the Doctor and Martha, who - judging from the way they jerked away from each other as she appeared - had been in the middle of a right row. Or about to kiss. But judging by the irate expression on Martha's face, probably the row.
"Doctor." Terry greeted the pair, trying to figure out where she had landed. And not to appear as distressed as she felt after being pulled so abruptly away from chasing after Agatha. "Martha."
"Terry."
Martha gave her a tight smile, clearly attempting to hide her own emotions. The companion hugged the Time Lady and Terry could almost feel the glower she knew Martha was giving the Doctor over her shoulder. Her suspicions that the pair had been arguing was confirmed when, the second Martha let Terry go, the Doctor pulled her into his arms and held her back to his front while Martha folded her arms in front of her chest.
Terry glanced up at the Doctor warily before looking back at Martha as the companion asked, "Where've you come from?"
"1920s. Spoilers, I'm afraid." Terry admitted. Oddly, however, Martha frowned.
"Like, Earth, 1920?"
"Yes." Terry nodded, wondering why Martha looked so confused.
"I didn't know coloured contacts were a thing in the 1920s." Martha commented, staring at Terry's face thoughtfully.
At once, understanding dawned and Terry barely had time to compose herself before the Doctor was spinning her quickly around so quickly the world spun. Terry's vision came back into focus just as the Doctor leaned forward so he was level with her face.
"What happened to your eyes?" The Doctor asked, squinting at her gold irises that looked completely natural. Except they couldn't be, because he knew she had blue eyes. "They've changed colour."
Terry paused for only a fraction of a second before shrugging her shoulders.
"Spoilers."
The Doctor's brow furrowed further in confusion but Terry just continued in a business-like manner.
"Now, for the real question, Doctor. Why are we just standing here in an empty street?"
At once, the tension returned between the Doctor and Martha as the companion glared at the Doctor.
"Yes, Doctor. Please explain, why are we standing in an empty street?"
"You know, the attitude isn't helping." The Doctor complained. "It's not like I did this on purpose-"
"You totally did this on purpose." Martha answered accusingly. "I told you it was a bad idea to bait them, but you and your curiosity just had to see how far you could push, and now we're stuck."
"Okay, so maybe I did push it a little bit, but-"
"Does someone want to tell me what's going on?" Terry interrupted before the fight could start all over again.
Martha gave the Doctor a pointed look. "Doctor?"
The Doctor grimaced before he turned back to Terry in resignation.
"Angels."
With just that one word, Terry understood immediately.
"We were tracking one that was hanging around in London, but it turned out it was a trap." The Doctor admitted. "There was more than one, and they were trying to get the Tardis."
"Which they probably have by now." Martha added.
"Well, it's some years from now, but-" The Doctor cut himself off at Martha's look. "Er, anyway, the worst bit is that they took the Tardis key from me before they sent me and Martha here."
"We probably have some time since we just got here." Martha added for Terry's benefit. "Or, I guess, we technically have loads of time probably, since we've been thrown back in time and all, but we can't exactly wait years to get back and even if we did, who knows where the Weeping Angels could have gone after they took the key from the Doctor."
"Exactly." The Doctor nodded before he looked around the dark street they were on. "I haven't yet managed to figure out what year we're in-"
"It's 1969." Terry answered. Her friends stared at her. Terry shrugged.
"Is it still surprising to you?"
"I guess not." Martha admitted while the Doctor brightened up.
"This is brilliant though. If you already know this adventure, then there must be a way we figure it out-"
"Well," Terry lifted a finger in the air. "I believe there was once a young woman, very pretty with blonde hair, who you didn't recognize but she recognized you and she gave you a folder full of stuff that she said you would need if you should ever find yourself stuck in 1969."
The Doctor's eyes widened as he remembered exactly that Terry was describing. A pretty young blonde woman who had not long ago (from his perspective at least) called out to him in the middle of the London street just when he and Martha had been in the middle of preventing a catastrophic migration.
"Sally Sparrow." The Doctor recalled. "Outside… Sparrow and Nightingale, book and DVD shop. You know, DVDs are all the rage in your time, Martha, but they last almost less time than VR goggles."
"VR goggles?" Martha repeated incredulously.
"Yeah - terrible stuff, gives you such motion sickness. Now, VR contacts, those are much better if you like that kind of stuff to begin with." The Doctor paused to muse, "You humans; only creatures in the universe who actively sought out ways to live in a virtual world rather than live in the one right outside your doors."
"Doctor." Terry called, pulling him back into focus.
"Oh. Right. Here." The Doctor pulled out the folder he'd carried in his inner pocket ever since the day Sally Sparrow gave it to him. In truth, he'd just forgotten about it. But it seemed that for once, his forgetfulness was going to come in handy.
"What is all that?" Martha wondered as the Doctor held up a bunch of papers and a single disk.
"I'm not sure yet." The Doctor murmured as he examined the papers. "This looks like it's a list of DVDs… all with the same 'Easter Egg' inside. This appears to be a transcript of the Easter egg… hang on."
He frowned as he read the transcript.
"Sally and the Doctor?"
The Doctor looked at Terry, who nodded.
"Yes, it's you, and Sally Sparrow." Terry confirmed.
Martha meanwhile was reading the transcript and she asked aloud, "Why are you telling a perfect stranger all about the angels?"
"Maybe because she's the one who'll give us what we need to get out of here?" The Doctor answered as he picked up the disk again. "This must be one of the DVDs with the message. Probably worth looking at."
"In 1969?" Martha asked in disbelief. The Doctor shrugged.
"Oh, all we need is a toaster oven, a kettle and maybe an egg whisk."
Martha continued to look skeptical but the Doctor was reading the rest of the papers again.
"Hm, looks like the rest document Sally's experience leading up to her watching the DVD." He muttered before he looked back at Terry.
"The question is, where do we start?"
Terry smiled and looked at Martha, who tilted her head curiously.
It was dark as Terry and the Doctor snuck into the mansion where the Doctor had last had the Tardis, thirty-eight years into the future from now. Terry peered at Wester Drumlin curiously as they entered the unlocked house. It was newly abandoned, and so there weren't yet any of the signs of wear and tear that Terry knew would come with time. The floorboards barely creaked as they snuck into the room just off the left of the front door and there were only the faintest lines of spiderwebs starting to form in the far corners of the room.
"You know, I think it's actually kind of cosy." Terry mused as she looked around the place. The Doctor chuckled as he pulled out a large piece of charcoal from his pocket.
"Maybe we should suggest to Martha that we move in here." The Doctor mused as he started to write on the wall.
Terry glanced over to watch as the Doctor wrote in large letters: 'BEWARE THE WEEPING ANGEL.'
"I think Martha will kill you if you suggest something like that. She's already mad enough that you managed to get fired from three jobs already."
"You've also gotten fired from two." The Doctor pointed out. "And quit one."
"Oh, yeah… you know, I think that may be why she's cross with me too." Terry winked and the Doctor chuckled as he wrote the next sentence beneath his first.
'OH, AND DUCK!'
Terry sat on a nearby side table and swung her legs absently as the Doctor continued to write, 'REALLY, DUCK!', before he paused.
"What was next?" He asked as Terry bent forward to peer under the table absently.
"You add her name like a creepy stalker and then say, 'Duck, now"." Terry answered.
"Yeah, sounds like me." The Doctor grinned as he moved to the next part of the wall and wrote, 'SALLY SPARROW. DUCK, NOW.'
"Although, it's not my fault that no one listens to me the first time." The Doctor added thoughtfully as he started to stand up.
"Don't forget to sign the message, Sweetie." Terry replied as she hopped off her table.
The Doctor quickly signed off, 'LOVE FROM THE DOCTOR (1969)' and he stood back with a flourish.
"What do you think?"
Terry observed the message thoughtfully and then she grinned. "You know, I think you captured the horror movie effect quite nicely."
The Doctor frowned and looked back at the message that, in hindsight, looked like it was straight out of a thriller.
"Oh… Oh well, she'll have to learn quickly that the angels are not to be taken lightly and this should do the trick." The Doctor dropped his charcoal and strode out with Terry.
"True. I know I'd be terrified if I found a wall in an abandoned, haunted house with my name written on it by a perfect stranger from the past." Terry said. The Doctor laughed.
"No, you wouldn't. You would instantly try to find out who had put the message there."
"Guilty as charged." Terry agreed, although she paused in the doorway to look back at the message they were leaving behind. "You know, I'm kind of sad we'll never really get to know Sally. I think we would have gotten along. After all… she's the same kind of girl. Her and Larry, both."
The Doctor stopped and looked back at Terry as the Time Lady closed her eyes. In her mind, she watched the scene she knew was happening thirty-eight years into the future, a scene she had seen happening countless times: Sally Sparrow, reading the Doctor's message and ducking just in time to avoid being whacked in the head by a vase thrown by a Weeping Angel. She saw Sally exit, looking for her best friend - only Katherine Nightingale wouldn't be there. She would be in 1920, sent back in time by another angel that had stolen her time from her.
Terry could see it all as if she were standing right there with each woman in their respective times.
"Who are you? Why are you here?" Sally demanded, glaring up at the stranger who was trying to stop her from exiting the haunted mansion where Kathy had seemingly just disappeared from.
"I made a promise." Malcolm explained urgently.
"Who to?" Sally demanded, still worried sick for her best friend. Malcolm's face filled with the kind of sorrow that could only be born from deep love.
"My grandmother. Katherine Costello Nightingale."
Meanwhile, in a large field in Hull, Kathy clutched the newspaper she'd been given by the strange albeit kind man who had found her. It didn't matter how nice he was though; nothing could stop the way her world was crashing down around her as Kathy stared at the date stamped on the top of the newspaper.
"1920?" Kathy whispered.
Terry opened her eyes again, letting the vision fade.
'At least she will have a good life.' Terry mused as she looked around the empty room one last time. The place that would be the end of a time together for the two friends who would visit in thirty-eight years. And at the same time, the start of a beginning for both of them.
Turning, Terry walked toward the Doctor as he stood in the doorway waiting for her. She took his hand and the pair disappeared into the shadows at the same time that, thirty-eight years into the future, Sally Sparrow opened the letter Malcolm had delivered to her. A letter that was accompanied by several photographs of who was unmistakably Sally's best friend.
'My dearest Sally Sparrow. If my grandson has done as he promises he will, then as you read these words it has been mere minutes since we last spoke. For you. For me, it has been over sixty years. The third of the photographs is of my children. The youngest is Sally. I named her after you, of course.'
"Come on!" The Doctor called as he ran down the street.
Martha and Terry followed right behind him as the Time Vortex Detector the Doctor had built dinged one last time before it went silent. It was enough, however. Now that they knew someone had traveled in time recently right in their neighborhood, it was just a matter of time before they found who they were looking for.
"He can make a complicated time traveler detector but he can't build a DVD player? Or develop one himself?" Martha grumbled as they ran.
"No, he can't - I thought that much was obvious when he said he would need a kettle to build one." Terry answered.
They rounded the last corner and Terry spotted the man they were looking for. D.I. Billy Shipton was leaning against a wall in the middle of the otherwise empty street, looking quite disconcerted and confused.
"There." Terry pointed at the man just as the Doctor caught up to the other man.
"Welcome." The Doctor called as they watched Billy slide down the wall as though his legs had given way.
"Where am I?" Billy asked groggily.
"1969." Terry answered, making the man snap his head up to stare at her incredulously.
"Not bad, as it goes." The Doctor added blithely. "You've got the moon landing to look forward to."
"Oh, the moon landing's brilliant." Martha agreed excitedly. "We went four times," her excitement dimmed and she then turned to level another accusing look at the Doctor. "Back when we had transport."
"Working on it." The Doctor mumbled sheepishly.
Billy shook his head. "How did I get here?"
The trio exchanged looks before the Doctor sat down beside Billy.
"The same way we did - the touch of an angel." The Doctor explained grimly. "Same one, probably, since you ended up in the same year. No, no."
He gripped Billy's shoulder, pushing him back down as the other man tried to get up.
"No, no, no, don't get up."
Billy sat back down heavily while the Doctor continued to explain, "Time travel without a capsule. Nasty. Catch your breath. Don't go swimming for half an hour."
Billy stared at the Doctor in bewilderment. "I don't… I can't…"
"Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels." The Doctor mused as he leaned back, ignoring the other man's sputtering. "The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely. No mess, no fuss, they just zap you into the past and let you live to death. The rest of your life used up and blown away in the blink of an eye."
He turned to Billy.
"You die in the past, and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had."
Billy groaned, overwhelmed and a little bit nauseous.
"Try to breathe, Billy." Terry advised while the Doctor continued his musings.
"All your stolen moments. They're creatures of the abstract. They live off potential energy."
Billy shook his head and he finally demanded, "What in God's name are you talking about?"
"Trust me. Just nod when he stops for breath." Martha advised.
"Tracked you down with this." The Doctor was still talking as though he hadn't heard them speaking, and he hefted up his detector. "This is my timey-wimey detector. It goes 'ding' when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at thirty paces, whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens."
Billy was starting to look mildly horrified, especially when the Doctor turned to him and said seriously, "It's not pretty when they blow."
"Doctor." Terry said sternly as Billy looked downright freaked. The Doctor noticed the same and he cleared his throat.
"Ah."
"Sorry, Billy - I can call you Billy, right?" Terry asked, making Billy stare at her. "The Doctor can get a bit carried away sometimes but he's just showing off really. He also hasn't had an audience in a while, so you'll have to excuse him for being a bit worse than usual."
"Oh, you know you love it." The Doctor interrupted. Terry grinned at him.
"Don't you know it, Sweetie." She turned back to Billy. "But really, we are very sorry to have interrupted your dinner plans. Well, not that we interrupted them, but since it's our Tardis, it is sort of our fault that you're not going to be able to make your date."
Billy shook his head. "How did you know my name and the fact that I had a date?"
Terry paused. "Ah…"
"You're getting to be just as bad as him." Martha sighed at her friend.
"Oi." The Doctor protested.
Billy just looked away from the trio, and he repeated in a lost voice, "I don't understand. Where am I?"
Terry and Martha exchanged looks and Terry gestured for her friend to speak this time.
"1969," Martha explained gently, "like they said."
She gestured at her friends, and the Doctor added, "Normally, I'd offer you a lift home, but somebody nicked my motor."
With a sigh, he continued, "So I need you to take a message to Sally Sparrow."
Billy's face changed at once at the name of the woman he'd grown to fancy during the short time he'd spent with her earlier in his day. Terry saw the way his gaze had softened, and she reached out to put a heavy hand on Billy's shoulder. He looked at her curiously, not understanding the look in her eyes as she spoke to him in a voice that was far too old for someone who didn't look a day over thirty.
"I'm sorry, Billy." She said quietly. "To do that, it's… going to take you a while."
Billy stared up at the Time Lady and a sense of foreboding washed over him at the sadness he saw in her eyes. Meanwhile, Terry closed her eyes and she watched the scene she knew was coming play out in her mind.
"Billy?" Sally asked, half in disbelief and half in quiet sorrow. The old man on the bed in the geriatric ward smiled at her and he looked toward the window where thick droplets of rain were pelting against the glass.
"It was raining when we met." Billy mused, his voice weak with age.
At his words, Sally swallowed thickly. It was impossible… and yet, she knew it was true. It was all true. Because…
"It's the same rain." Sally whispered.