Chapter 1:

POV: Jenny

Date: October 23, 2022

Although we had plenty of practice moving through the Vortex this way, I never quite could manage a decent landing with Mara in tow. I did my best to twist us so I would take the brunt of the fall as we crashed and slid across a smooth floor. I gritted my teeth, and tried to send Mara comfort as she cried out in pain despite my best efforts.

It was then that I felt it—that song I hadn't heard in so long that it brought tears to my eyes. Mum's crystal hummed to life against my skin, and my eyes widened as I scrambled to get to my feet. I looked around wildly until my eyes locked with brown ones in a face that was just as shocked and horrified as mine.

No, we shouldn't be here. It shouldn't even be possible. The walls should be too tightly sealed for us to get through, though I supposed the Time Lords chasing us proved that the walls weren't as well sealed as we'd hoped. But still, Dad was supposed to be dead. We hadn't gotten a message from him in more than a century.

My hearts constricted as I took in the woman before me. She was short—about as tall as me—with blonde hair that reminded me of Mum's and wrapped up in a long coat. I would know her anywhere.

The blood seemed to drain from her face and her eyes flashed as she took a step towards us. "What are you doing here?" Her tone was harsh, but our link was already in place, and I could feel the deep-rooted fear beneath her voice.

I fought to swallow down the whirlwind of emotions that threatened to pour out of me. Feeling her so close to me, hearing the TARDIS in my mind, and feeling mum's crystal humming to life against my chest was all too much and I stumbled forward as tears pricked at my eyes.

"Mara's hurt," I croaked out, and fell to my knees as exhaustion overtook me. Any feelings of betrayal I might have had towards her leading us to believe she was dead were at least momentarily pushed aside. I wanted to rush forward and have her take me in her arms. I wanted to feel her soothe my mind with her own and to fill me with that warmth that was so distinctly hers, but now wasn't the time. I had a promise to keep. "It was blaster fire."

"Doctor?" My eyes shot past Dad—or should it be Mum now?—to the woman behind her. I didn't recognize her companion, and my hearts panged at the thought that Clara must be long gone. "What's going on, who are they?"

"Please," I begged, and reached back to take Mara's hand. "I know you can feel her pain. Please help her first. I'll explain everything."

Her eyes flicked over to my sister then, and softened immediately as she rushed forward. "Yaz, help me get Mara to the infirmary."

"But what about the—"

"Never mind that, Yaz, time machine, remember?"

To her credit, the companion—Yaz—rushed forward immediately, despite the continued wariness I could see in her face, to help prop my sister up to her feet. Mara hissed when her wound brushed against Dad's jacket, but she obediently moved forward toward the hall I knew would lead to the infirmary.

I took a moment to catch my breath and furiously swiped a tear away from my cheek as I looked down at the Vortex Manipulator. The coordinates on the screen were not the ones that I had originally inputted, and I felt one of my eyebrows raise as I looked up at the TARDIS.

"Thank you, old girl," I whispered as I forced myself back up to my feet. "You saved us."

The TARDIS hummed low in response and urged me to follow the others with a flash of her lights. I nodded and followed the path she created into the infirmary. It was much larger than I remembered, and I let out a small smile. The old girl had been upgrading.

Dad glanced back at me as she continued to treat Mara's wound with antiseptic. "Yaz, hand me the dermal regenerator, would you?"

Her companion obeyed and took a moment to turn her eyes from Mara to me. "Okay, someone needs to do some explaining. Who are you people? How did you get on the TARDIS? How do you know the Doctor?"

I briefly locked eyes with Mara, who nodded. "We're…it's a long story," she said.

"They're my daughters," Dad said without ever taking her eyes off Mara.

Yaz's eyes widened. "Your what now?"

I tempered my surprise at Dad's direct response and turned back towards her companion. "Name's Jenny," I said, and nodded toward my sister. "And that's Mara. We're the Doctor's daughters, though I'm not surprised you haven't heard of us. We haven't been in this universe for a while."

"Hold on—been in this universe? As in, you've been in another one?" Yaz sank down into a nearby bio-bed, and her eyes flickered with betrayal. "More secrets, Doctor?"

"This one is for good reason," Mara said, and hissed when Dad applied the dermal regenerator. "What have you told her about the Time Lords?"

Dad stepped back from her work but continued to keep her eyes firmly away from any of us. I tried to reach out to her empathically to get a read on what she was feeling, but she dampened our bond just as quickly.

I gasped and recoiled at the loss of contact. So many years without our bond had apparently made me sensitive to feeling its loss again. Dad's eyes met mine then, and I felt her stab of guilt. "She knows about Time Lords. We had a run in with the Master not so long ago. But it couldn't be the Time Lords who are after you now, they…" she trailed off, and even through our dampened link I could feel pain rippling through her hearts.

I looked at Yaz. "What happened?"

She swallowed and glanced between me and Dad. "The Master…he got angry with the Doctor, and he—well—he turned the Time Lords into Cybermen."

Mara and I gasped. "But what about the rest of the planet?" I demanded. "The other Gallifreyans, what about them?"

"Scattered," dad croaked. "I was able to do some scanning—it's possible some of them escaped, but…Gallifrey itself is lost. It's under the control of the Cybermen now."

Mara stopped Dad's work with a hand over hers. "I'm so sorry."

We both were sending Dad comfort and strength, and there was a long pause before she straightened up. "Still, could be worse, though. I've lost them before—it doesn't mean it's the end."

Yaz shifted on her feet. "Sorry, getting back to the why you two have been in another universe?"

"What does she know about our history?" Mara asked with a wary glance over Yaz.

Dad sank into a nearby chair. "Nothing. I told no one after I lost…" she trailed off, and even through our dampened bond I could feel her pain rise up yet again. "It was the only way to keep you safe."

"Safe from who?" Yaz demanded.

"The Time Lords," I supplied. "Our mum…she was special; she could see the future. She had a vision that the Time Lords would use us to force her and Dad's hand and that would lead to the end of everything." I swallowed around a lump that began to form in my throat. "Guess there are no Time Lords to cause that now. None but General Hass, it would seem. He must have escaped with the other Gallifreyans."

"Or maybe he helped them in getting off the planet," Mara postulated.

Dad snorted. "I somehow doubt that."

If it was possible, Yaz's eyes widened even more as she registered some of what I'd said. "Your…isn't the Doctor your mum?"

Dad chuckled. "Oh, come on now, Yaz. You remember I was a man once." She nodded towards me, and then Mara. "I certainly was when these two came along."

Yaz's brow furrowed. "But I thought you lost all your family in the Time War."

"Her Gallifreyan family," Mara corrected. "Not us. We came long after she lost them." She chuckled. "Or during, or before. It depends on how you look at it."

Yaz shot me an even more confused look, and I shrugged. "Time travel," I explained. "Never do anything in the right order, us. Which reminds me…" I turned to dad. "How long?"

She swallowed, and her eyes looked down to the floor again. "Oh, a handful of centuries or so. Maybe more, maybe less. You know how it is—I get a little lost when I…"

She didn't need to finish that sentence. Memories of the last time she thought she'd lost our mum flashed through my mind. I could only imagine how much worse it had been to lose all three of us. And Clara—what had happened to poor Clara?

Dad squared her shoulders then and looked to me. "How long for you?"

I glanced over at Mara, who bit her lip. "Dad…or should we call you Mum, now?"

She flinched. "No," she hissed. "There's only one person you should ever call Mum. Now tell me. How long?" Her eyes locked on me. "I can feel her crystal on you, and I knew when it happened. I could feel that, too. You don't have to sugarcoat it."

I swallowed, and Mum's crystal felt heavy against me. "Three-hundred sixty-four years."

"And eleven days," Mara finished.

It hung in the air for a long while, and the tension grew. Finally, Dad's shoulders dropped. "How?" she asked. "How did it happen?"

"Peacefully," Mara responded. Dad didn't need to elaborate for us to know what she was asking. "On Earth. About eighty years or so after we arrived. John had died a couple years before her—we think she just…"

"She couldn't go on without either of you." My voice was bitter, and I tried to reign in the anger that flared up when I thought of those last days with my mum. "I was with her when she died. She spoke of you."

Dad's breath hitched. It was subtle—I doubted her companion would notice, but I did.

"Who was your mum?" Yaz asked.

"Rose Tyler," Dad breathed, and I felt her deep ache wash over me. She smiled. "One of the bravest women I ever knew. Did she ever tell you girls about the time we faced down the devil?"

"Don't do that," I said. "Don't try to deflect." I turned to Yaz. "Rose was our mum, but before then she was Dad's companion. They met when she was working as a shop girl on Earth in 2005."

Mara chuckled. "Dad blew up her job."

Yaz's eyebrows raised. "She was human?"

"Oh yes," Dad whispered. "It's all she ever wanted to be." She jumped up to her feet then and clapped her hands together. "Come now! Mara needs to rest, and so do you, Jen. Anyone up for tea?" True to form, she didn't wait for an answer and simply marched out of the infirmary. "Come on! I may still have some of those Jammie Dodgers you loved so much."

I snorted. "That was you!" I glanced back at Mara and reached out to grab her leg. "Will you be okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, Dad patched me up good and I could use a little sleep. I'll eat when I wake up."

Worry made my brow crinkle, but I nodded. I knew there was no point in arguing even though neither Mara nor I had eaten for longer than even our biology would normally allow without consequences. "Okay." I turned then and followed Yaz out of the infirmary toward the galley.

"So…" Yaz hesitated, and bit her lip. "Your mum…how long were they together?"

"Oh, well that's a complicated question," I said with a chuckle. "Time travelers, remember? Toward the end of our time here, Mum and Dad were out of sync for a while with their timelines. Even with all that considered, though, they were together a couple of Millenia at least."

"Millenia!" Yaz stopped in her tracks and stared at me open mouthed. "I—I couldn't imagine." Her eyes flicked past me toward the open galley door. "She must miss her."

I let out a slow breath. "Dad misses everyone she loses." I turned quickly before Yaz could respond and marched into the galley where the woman herself was already laying out items for tea. "So, have your cooking skills improved with this regeneration?"

Yaz laughed. "Oh no, I've never even seen her use this room. She's always whisking us off for meals." A shadow passed over her face. "Well, I guess just me now."

I felt the small spike of sadness come from Dad before she covered it with a smile and a full bowl. "Thankfully we have the TARDIS to take care of us tonight. Here, Jen, your favorite."

I took the offering and looked down at a bowl of what appeared to be Mum's stew. I swallowed down my own moment of sadness to smile back. "I'm glad she remembered." I looked up at the ceiling. "Thanks, girl."

"You talk to her, too?" Yaz asked as she dug into her own bowl. "I've caught this one having whole conversations with the time rotor as if the TARDIS is alive."

"Well, she is," I said, and laughed at Yaz's expression. "Can't you feel her? It's like a hum in the back of your head."

"I just thought that was the hum of the engine."

I let out another laugh, and felt the TARDIS call out an indignant chirp of her own. "I'd be careful, Yaz. The TARDIS is like a cat. One wrong look and you'll end up with all your white socks turned pink."

"Oi, I warned Amy not to try the washer after they had a spat over the hot water." Dad sipped at her bowl of soup.

I swallowed down another mouthful and glanced over at Dad's companion. "Yaz, could you take a bowl to Mara? I know she wanted to wait until after she'd slept, but I'd like her to try to eat something. It's been a while since we've had a decent meal."

Yaz nodded, as I had hoped that she would, and stood to grab another bowl. I waited until she'd left the room to turn back to Dad.

I allowed my previous emotional upheaval at seeing her alive come back up toward the surface. "We thought you were dead," I said flatly. "We would have come for your help sooner, but you'd stopped sending messages and we knew how dangerous it would be to go looking for past versions of you. And yet, the TARDIS brought us here, which leads me to think our timelines are more in sync than I thought. And…" I tipped my head to the side and let my Time Lord senses take over. "I can see it. Our timelines are running nearly in sync. You know I can see it."

She nodded, and her shoulders hunched. "When…when your mum died, I…it was around the same time I last regenerated. I'd just lost more friends, and it was just—it hurt." Her eyes found mine again and even if I couldn't feel her emotions through our bond, I would have been able to read them in her face easily enough. "I stopped sending them because…they went two ways. I caught glimpses of all of you just like you caught glimpses of me, and I saw your grief, but I couldn't do anything about it. It broke my hearts to think that those glimpses might be holding you all back. I thought that if you believed I was gone, it would be easier to get on with your lives."

"It wasn't," I said. "It was harder."

"Yeah, I can feel that." Dad let out a slow breath and reached over to take my hand. As much as I wanted to stay still, I couldn't help but lace my fingers with hers. "I am so, so sorry Jenny. If I had known, I wouldn't have stopped sending them. If I had known the Time Lords had found you two, I would have come."

Any anger I felt dissipated, and instead tears took its place. "I know." My voice broke and my shoulders shook. I leaned forward, and Dad brought her chair around so she could wrap me up into her arms.

"I'm so sorry, my brave girl," she whispered, and kissed my cheek. "So sorry." Her own voice broke, and I leaned deeper into her embrace. There it was—all the warmth and the love I had been craving. She opened our bond and poured all her care into me, and I felt my tears pick up in speed until I let out a sob.

She held me silently and rubbed my back as I continued to sob down into my soup. All the years without her came rushing forward, and the pain I had been running from gripped onto both my hearts and squeezed. I cried for my loss, for my sister's, and for my mum's.

"It was so hard," I whispered between tears. "When you left us there. It was crushing—at first to be completely cut off from our whole network, and then once we had it back, to feel not just my own grief but Mara and Mum's, too—and to know that there was absolutely nothing I could do. And after Mum died and then…thinking you were gone, I did all I could to look after Mara, but with the Time Lords finding us, I couldn't…"

My dad let out a slow breath, and I could feel her own grief and guilt reflected back at me. "I know."

"I promised Mum that I would keep her safe," I said so quietly that even Dad's Time Lord ears could likely barely pick up on my words. "She told me—she reminded me that I have a duty of care. I promised I would take care of her, but…I'm not sure how much longer I can keep general Hass and any of the other Time Lords who have survived away from us."

Behind us, I felt Yaz's presence in the doorway, and jumped in my seat so my back straightened. Dad stared at me with worry as I furiously wiped the tears away from my face and schooled my expression back into something more neutral.

"Mara is asleep," Yaz said softly. "I left the bowl on her nightstand."

"Thank you, Yaz," Dad said, and glanced up at her companion.

I stood. "We should, ah. We should plan for when the Time Lords track us down. We don't know how long it'll take them to find us, we need to be ready."

Dad stood and grabbed my wrist. "You need to sleep," she said firmly. "When was the last time you rested?"

I shook my head. "I'm fine." I stumbled though when I took a step toward the galley door.

"No, you're not, and you're no good to me or your sister if you can't think through a foggy head." Dad gently helped me out of the galley and away from the console room—my intended destination—toward another door a few steps down. "Get some sleep, and then come find us."

"I can wake you as soon as Mara is up," Yaz promised.

Every instinct I had wanted to fight them on this, but my exhaustion had taken root and I found I suddenly could barely keep my eyes open. "Fine," I grumbled, and allowed Dad to guide me into my old room. I ignored the feelings emanating from us both at the sight of my room, untouched from the time I'd left, and instead collapsed onto the bed.

Dad stopped at the door and gave me a lingering stare before tapping the wall to lower the lights. "Sleep well, Jen."