DAY 6,574

Parents & Guardians

Martha

An hour later, the house was swarming with people, and Martha was on her second cup of high-caffeine coffee after her busy evening of toenail lancing. Mattie's birthdays were one of the few occasions they actually got so many members of the old TARDIS crew in a room together. It was bizarre to think they had been flatmates for so long, all of them a stone's throw apart in next-door rooms or across the hall, and then they had all dispersed so suddenly… she had gone off and had a baby and finally got herself a legitimate career. Amy and Rory had done the same thing – they'd adopted a son in recent years but being without means of time travel and in the 1940s it was a bit tricky for them to reunite. She heard Donna visited them sometimes, but since Eleven's regeneration they had drifted away from the TARDIS. Though every few Christmases they could be enticed to put in an appearance, depending on who was hosting. Everybody made the effort at Christmas.

Rose had, as Martha had predicted, arrived first of all. Minus the TARDIS, she brought herself, the Tenth Doctor, Donna and Jack with her through the time vortex, a look of excitement on her face like she hadn't seen them practically twice a week every week for the last two decades. Aside from she and Mickey, Martha thought Rose was the most present adult influence in Mattie's life. Every Saturday, without fail, Rose was there for dinner, and had been ever since Matilda had been born. Even when Martha was on call and working, she would still come and eat with Mickey, and would be sure to show up again later in the week to make sure she didn't miss Martha too much. To think they had been somewhat sceptical about assigning her as the godmother – but she had taken on far more than the expected duties. Jack, too, visited fairly often, as the godfather. Nowhere near as often as Rose because he and Ianto did have an issue when it came to keeping track of time, still behaving like insufferable newlyweds. Jack was there that day, but Ianto wasn't; likewise, Jenny was there, having provided an enormous Nutella-covered birthday cake, but Ravenwood was absent. It was part of some weird truce or agreement between them and Martha had never bothered to question it. Mattie wasn't too fond of vampires, and neither was Martha – not after all the trouble with Sally Sparrow…

Clara Oswald, on the other hand, was entertaining Mattie with a myriad of sleight-of-hand, telekinetic tricks, solving a Rubik's cube in mid-air (with guidance from Thirteen sitting in the chair by her side, since Clara wasn't very good at solving Rubik's cubes). Jenny was with her mother, Rose hovered near Matilda, Mickey was back in the kitchen sticking eighteen tiny candles into the top of the intricately decorated cake. Adam and Oswin lurked quietly in a corner, watching and smiling and whispering to each other – sometimes Oswin made a snide comment directed at Clara, but was otherwise placated, possibly because Esther was with them and Esther had a knack for keeping Oswin in check. The Ninth Doctor was absent and had been absent from all of their lives practically since the end of Ten and Rose's wedding, and that list of lives apparently included River Song's because she had returned to her old, roguish ways a long time ago now, but she had never missed one of Mattie's birthdays. They were both children of the TARDIS, after all, and River was concerned about Matilda having a better upbringing than she herself was allowed. Nios, also, was elsewhere, probably keeping Ravenwood and Sally company wherever they happened to be, hopefully keeping them out of blood-related trouble, though she could just as easily be hanging onto Dr Cohen.

However, as far as Martha's actual blood-relatives went – well, it was a long-standing precaution that none of her family knew where she lived. It was something she hated, but was necessary, since so many cosmic threats knew her family and how to get to them. Martha's mother was always particularly agitated by it, but Rose was set to take them to visit her tomorrow, and possibly drop by on Mattie's cousins – along with Leo and Tish.

"Now that I'm a grown up…" Matilda began, talking to Clara. Martha listened carefully.

"Mmm?" Clara asked her.

"Can I smoke one of your cigarettes?"

"No, I shouldn't think so."

"Why not?"

"They're bad for you, I'm sure your mummy's told you that plenty of times."

"Yes, she says they make you stink," said Matilda. Clara raised her eyebrows at Martha across the room.

"They do," said Martha.

"She's right, you reek," Rose quipped, "You don't want to be smelly like Clara, do you, Matts? And, you might get lung disease."

"What happens when you get lung disease?"

"Lots of things," said Martha, "There's lots of different types of lung disease."

"I hope I get a lung disease one day."

"Why do you want a lung disease, sweetheart?" Martha inquired. Matilda shrugged and picked the Rubik's cube out of the air in front of Clara (who was sitting on the floor amidst Clara's many presents, the only person who hadn't managed to find some kind of chair) and twisting it around to make it mismatched again.

"It would be interesting to see what it would be like."

"I'm sure Clara will tell you all about lung disease when she inevitably develops one of her own," said Thirteen snidely. There was a smattering of laughter and Clara grimaced. "You could dissect her."

"Let's not dissect Clara," Clara muttered. Martha was surprised to see Mattie favouring playing with Clara and an old Rubik's cube over some of her other presents, but she did never seem to get tired of watching Clara do mindless 'magic' tricks. She distinctly remembered one Christmas, a decade ago now, where Mattie had asked in her babbling, three-year-old way that she wanted the superpower to fly that Christmas. So Clara and Eleven had got her a cape embroidered with an 'M' and told her it would grant her superpowers. Clara had spent all of that Boxing Day making Mattie float around the room. Martha was sure she had photographs somewhere…

"Oh, god – I just remembered, I have another present for you," said Thirteen, sitting up in the armchair she was in (Clara at her feet and Jenny on the arm) and searching through her jacket pocket. Donna was more involved in watching episodes of the 2030s Hotel Inspector reboot, as was Jenny who rather fancied herself a hotelier. Despite the fact she didn't have much of a hand in running The Lost Cosmonaut as far as Martha knew – it was almost entirely operated by Ravenwood and Nios – with Sally helping out from time to time. And Esther, now that the Manifest Crisis had finally been ended two years ago by themselves eighteen years in the past. Well, not by Martha, she had been in bed with morning sickness having unknowingly been pregnant with the bundle of joy on the other side of the room.

"Hold on, what are your giving her? Is that-?" Martha stared as Thirteen pulled a watch out of her pocket. A fob watch. The kind of fob watch with circular Gallifreyan writing across the back of it.

"It's a new one, it's just a watch," the Doctor told her seriously, glancing up from Mattie to meet Martha's eyes, "Promise."

"Why have you never given me a watch?" Jenny questioned.

"Well, that would be… because I… because…" Jenny raised her eyebrows at her mother. "Because… do you want a watch?"

Jenny shrugged, "Maybe."

"I'll give you a watch," the Tenth Doctor interjected from Rose's side. Jenny didn't even look at him.

"No thanks, it would be a meaningless gesture now."

"I got you that psychic paper," Thirteen told her, "And that old Gallifreyan tome."

"Mm…" said Jenny, "I'll be bringing this up again later. Try and think of an excuse before then."

"You have so much attitude sometimes… anyway. Mattie. You're eighteen now, so you're grown-up enough to have one of these." Matilda actually loved watches and clocks. It was a major issue, because she was always taking apart the clocks they had in the house that weren't digital. Resetting them so they were always wrong, sometimes breaking them, taking them apart and only rarely managing to put them back together again.

"You're not going to break that, are you, Matts?"

"Oh, don't worry," said the Doctor, "It's alien, it puts itself back together, all the cogs. Try not to damage the pieces, though."

"What else is special about it?" Mattie asked, taking the watch.

"It always tells you the right time no matter where or when you are," she explained, "Always. And one day, you'll learn how to always tell the right time, too." Martha was sceptical of this implication that Mattie was going to be time-travelling but didn't think now was the right moment to bring that up. As much as she and Mickey strived to protect their daughter, it was in her genes to go off adventuring like that one day. She just hoped it wouldn't be for a long, long time. Mattie took the watch gratefully and hugged Thirteen, who picked her up onto her knee. Matilda distracted by the watch, the room's attention waned and was drawn back to the television again.

As Clara struggled to work out which way to turn the Rubik's cube, her phone started to buzz. Martha wouldn't have paid any note were she not watching Matilda closely to make sure she behaved and didn't break anything.

"It's for you," Clara said, holding out her phone to her wife.

"I'll answer it," offered Matilda, reaching for it.

"No, you won't," said Clara calmly, moving it away from her.

"Who is it?" Thirteen asked.

"Missy."

"Ugh. Don't answer. Block the number."

"I've tried blocking it, she always finds a way around," Clara said, "Won't you talk to her? She probably only wants to tell you another Penguin joke."

"Penguin jokes aren't funny, and no, I won't answer it."

"She's just going to keep ringing…"

"Let her," Thirteen shrugged, "Now, look, there's a woman on TV trying to make fried eggs in a microwave, that's significantly interesting than looking at the caller ID on your phone." Clara rolled her eyes and rejected the call, putting her phone away. A woman was trying to make fried eggs in a microwave in fairness, and unsurprisingly it didn't go very well at all. The tiny frying pan made the machine explode.

"Can I put a pan in the microwave?" Mattie asked.

"Absolutely not," said the Doctor, "You just forget you ever saw that, now."

Mickey clapped his hands behind Martha and made everybody – including her – jump.

"Who wants cake?" he asked. There were resounding 'yesses' from everyone present, all of them eager to try Jenny's Nutella-flavoured birthday cake. Matilda almost dropped the watch she was so excited wriggling around on the Doctor's knee. "Help me light the candles?" he entreated Martha, who was sipping her coffee.

"You can't light candles on your own?"

"I've lost the lighter," he said. That was worrying – she hoped Mattie hadn't been at the lighter. Again. For her 'experiments.'

"Yes, alright," Martha sighed and followed him back into the kitchen where the very large cake was perched on a tray ready to be brought over to the small table in the living room and cut into. Martha personally couldn't wait, because it looked delicious. Jenny had worked in that bakery in Hollowmire for a good six years, after all, and apparently had deigns to open a restaurant one day. Whenever she got bored of hunting down alien drug dealers for Scotland Yard, that was. The cake had a ring of eighteen candles perfectly arranged on top of it. "I think we'd better put the microwave a big higher."

"Like where?" he asked.

"On top of the fridge?"

"But then you can't reach it if it's on top of the fridge," he pointed out, "Not unless you go get Mattie's plastic step out of the bathroom." It was a step she used so that she could reach to brush her teeth.

"Yes, but our ingenious daughter in there just watched a woman blow up a microwave by putting a pan in it, so I think we should put it on top of the fridge."

"…Alright, I'll do it later. Better light these candles." It took only a wave of Martha's hand to light all eighteen of them, flames blossoming on top of the wicks.

Swearing and a rather loud commotion started up in the next room, alarming both Mickey and Martha. The woman had probably just blown up another kitchen utensil in a surprisingly dramatic way, she assumed. Mickey picked up the cake while Martha turned to go back into the living room.

"What's going on?" she asked, entering. Eleven panicked faces stared at her. But there had been twelve people in the room less than a minute ago.

Matilda Smith-Jones was nowhere to be seen.

"Martha…" Rose began slowly. The mug of coffee slipped from Martha's hands and splashed out across the carpet.

"What is it?" asked Mickey, behind her, holding the burning birthday cake. "Where's Mattie?" Silence from the room.

"Where is she?" Martha asked through gritted teeth, looking at them all in turn.

River, closest, muttered, "I'll take that," and took the birthday cake from Mickey.

"She disappeared," Esther Drummond finally answered.

"What do you mean 'disappeared'? She 'disappeared'? A five-year-old girl in a room of eleven adults all with superpowers disappeared?"

"She was right there, and then she was – she was gone," Donna pointed at Thirteen, who was staring into space in shock.

"Gone?" Martha persisted, "How can she be gone?"

"Maybe she teleported?" Jack suggested, standing up, "She could just be upstairs – maybe she has another power outside of the longevity – I'll go look now."

"No, I'll do it," Esther volunteered. Esther proceeded to disappear, too, only she did it in a vivid flash of blue electricity which immediately streaked off like lightning through the air. They heard the whooshing of her light-speed movement for just a few seconds before she was back in the room in front of them looking pale. "…I looked ten times over," she said, though she had hardly been out of sight for the blink of an eye, "I'll go around the block, through the trees." She shot off again, a living lightning bolt.

"If this is some kind of joke, Oswin-" Martha began very pointedly while Mickey had staggered into the wall.

"What!?" Oswin exclaimed, "I'm not going to do something like this! What do you think's wrong with me!?"

"Well you're not giving me any answers, 'smartest girl in the universe'!" Martha shouted at her. The light bulb above them exploded and the lampshade set itself spontaneously on fire, in step with Martha's fury. Clara waved a hand to telekinetically put it out then did the same to the steadily melting birthday cake at the back of the room.

"She just disappeared! She was there, then she was gone, like that," she snapped her fingers loudly.

"But how can that possibly happen!? Rose can stop time! Control the universe! What happened!?" Martha demanded of her.

"I don't know!" Rose protested.

"She's your goddaughter!"

"I know that!" Rose shouted back at her, "And she's gone!"

"I don't think shouting is going to help anybody any," Jack said loudly.

"You can fucking talk – you didn't do anything either!" Martha yelled at him. Mickey was hyperventilating behind her. "Is this that watch!?" she demanded of the Doctor when Jack didn't say anything else, "Does it do something!?"

"No! It's just a watch, an inscribed watch that self-repairs and auto-assimilates! It can't teleport people!"

"No Doctor could possibly be involved in this," Rose said, "I'm telling you, she just vanished. There wasn't even a flash of light, it was like a bad special effect. Just gone."

"I gather that she's gone, I'm asking why none of you were capable of doing anything!"

"For god's sake, pay attention to Mickey," Donna said, waving a hand at him as she stood up from her chair. Martha turned to look at him – he was losing his mind, and Martha didn't know what to do.

"It's gonna be okay," Jack stepped up to the plate and held Mickey's shoulders, "Just breathe. People don't just cease to exist, she has to have gone somewhere, been taken – we'll get her back."

"Yeah – if you two just stay here, then the lot of us can-" Clara began.

"Absolutely not," Martha cut across her coldly, "You were all here. You didn't do anything."

"There was nothing to do, I'm telling you-" Rose reiterated, and then the chair behind her spontaneously set itself alight, engulfed in flame almost immediately. Rose teleported a few metres away in horror.

"Fucking hell!" Clara shouted. Donna came to the rescue this time, using her dimensional powers to cover the chair in a blue, static-like mirage, and then restoring it to its former, unburned state. Jack was telling Mickey over and over again that they were going to get Mattie back if it was the last thing they did.

"What about you two?" Martha turned on River and Jenny, "You're always hanging around criminals."

"I work for the police," said Jenny. Martha lit a fireball in the palm of her hand. "I haven't done anything! I've babysat her her entire life, she's practically a sister to me, you two are some of my best friends – and you're accusing me of betraying you like this?"

"She's right, you need to calm down," said Rose.

"CALM DOWN!?"

"You're going to set your house on fire!" River shouted at her.

"How could this possibly happen!? There are defences, measures in place – this should be impossible!" She glowered at Oswin as she spoke, the so-called genius who had designed all the security around their house, and who notably refused to meet Martha's gaze

"Well it's happened now," Rose declared, "So? We need to do something about it."

"We need to do something about it," she indicated herself and Mickey, "Not you lot."

"Don't be rash," Rose argued, "We all want to help-"

"Martha's right," Mickey said hoarsely.

"What?"

"You should have helped when you had the chance. I can't believe you'd let this happen."

"Nobody let anything-"

"No, just… leave. All of you. We are capable of protecting our own daughter, when you lot obviously aren't," he said quietly.

"That's just not sensible," River told them, "We should all work together, we'll have more ideas, we can cover more ground – you can't go to the police, so this is the best chance we have."

"You've all proved that you're incapable," Martha continued.

"Well you two were only in the next room!" Donna said. That clinched it. It was the worst thing she could have possibly said, and everybody else knew it.

"You're implying that we can't look after our own daughter?" Martha asked, moving on from shouting to an ominous, grow-like way of talking. "Right, get out. I'm serious. All of you. Every last one. And you," she indicated Jack, "Hand over the vortex manipulator." He narrowed his eyes at her, protective of his wrist band. Martha stepped towards him. "Hand it over willingly or I'll take it. Don't think I won't. That's my little girl who's gone missing without any of her family or either of her godparents doing a single fucking thing about it." Jack hastily unstrapped the vortex manipulator, handing it to Mickey rather than her.

"…I don't want you melting it…" he mumbled. "Look, what are you going to do? Where are you going to go?"

"To the only person cocky and amoral enough to waltz into this house and steal a child under our noses," Mickey said, on exactly the same page as Martha, "If 'person' is even the right word…"