Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who that goes to the BBC
In London, 1892, it was around Christmas time as a pub known as 'Rose & Crown' was doing a good business with one of the barmaids, with light skin, brown hair and eyes named Clara, wearing a barmaid's uniform coloured in different shades of red, collecting empty tankards on a tray with her left hand as she held the tray in her right hand before she placed her left hand over her hip and walked away from the counter.
As she left the pub's back entrance, Clara brought the tankards outside. She heard a noise and set the tray down on a bench next to her. She looked around and saw a snowman standing there as a man, woman and a teenage male walked past her.
The man was dressed in Victorian finery, complete with a loose-collared shirt, high-waisted trousers, and a velvet waistcoat adorned with a fob watch. A Persian lamb fur frock coat draped over his shoulders, and a top hat over his head. The woman was wearing a Victorian velvet dress, supported by stiff petticoats. She had her hair styled with curls and had a ribbon over her hair. The teenager on the other hand was styled similarly to that of the man with high-waisted trousers, a loose shirt with a waistcoat and coat.
"Did any of you make this snowman?" Clara asked them.
"No," the man answered as he kept walking past her.
"Nor did I," the woman said, agreeing with him as she followed the man.
"Do I look like I have time for making snowmen?" The teenager retorted as he continued to follow the man and woman.
"Well, who did?" Clara asked them, "Because it wasn't there a second ago. It just appeared, from nowhere."
As she said that, the three of them stopped and turned around to reveal that the man was the Doctor, the woman was Rose and that the teenager was their son, who had light skin, brown hair and eyes named Sydney. The three of them walked back over to Clara as he slipped on his glasses. He looked at the snowman and pinched some snow off it with his right hand.
"Maybe it's snow that fell before," the Doctor suggested, "Maybe it remembers how to make snowmen."
"Or maybe it's a snowman with a sense of spontaneity," Rose surmised, "After all, isn't that the beauty of snow? It's unpredictable, just like life itself."
"From what you've told me about your adventures, it sure is, Mum," Sydney told her.
"What, snow that can remember or be spontaneous?" Clara said with disbelief in her voice, "That's silly."
"What's wrong with silly?" The Doctor asked her.
"Nothing at all," Rose said, agreeing with her husband, "In fact 'silly' is often where the most extraordinary things begin."
"Nothing," Clara answered, "Still talking to the three of you, ain't I?"
"What's your name?" The Doctor asked her as she smiled before the three Gallifreyans smiled back at her as he removed his glasses from his eyes.
"Clara," the barmaid answered.
"Nice name, Clara," the Doctor told her, "You should definitely keep it."
"I couldn't agree more," Rose said, her eyes twinkling with amusement, "Clara, it's a name that suits you."
"Indeed," Sydney muttered, agreeing with his parents, "It's a name that carries certain… mystery. Like there's an adventure waiting to unfold."
"Goodbye!" The Doctor told Clara as he walked away from her, "Come along, Rose. You too, Champ."
"Coming, Love," Rose replied as she followed him.
"As am I, Dad," Sydney said, agreeing with her as he followed his parents before Clara chased after them as they walked around the corner.
"Oi!" Clara called out to them as she placed her hands over her hips, "Where are you three going? I thought we were just getting acquainted."
"For now, those were the days," the Doctor stated as he, Rose and Sydney turned around towards her with a smile on his face.
"Indeed, those were the days," Rose muttered with a hint of nostalgia in her voice.
"Mum, Dad, shouldn't we head back to the…" Sydney began to suggest.
"I guess you're right, Sydney," the Doctor said, agreeing with him.
"I guess you're right, Sid, let's head back to it," Rose muttered, agreeing with them as they continued walking away from Clara.
Clara turned back for the pub and stopped for a second when she heard a carriage driver call to the horses. She looked down the way the Doctor, Rose and Sydney walked before she threw down her shawl and ran after them. She soon spotted the carriage and ran after it.
The Doctor, Rose and Sydney were sitting in the carriage with an old-fashioned speaker hanging from the roof.
"How refreshing to see you two taking an interest again, Doctor and Rose," they heard Vastra's voice say from the speaker, "Was she nice?"
"We just spoke to her," the Doctor told the Silurian.
"Yes, Vastra, she seemed like a very interesting person," Rose stated with a small smile on her face.
"And you two made your usual impact, no doubt," Vastra surmised.
"No, no impact at all," the Doctor argued, "For now, those days are over."
"We're taking a bit of a step back these days, Vastra," the Time Lady told the Silurian, "But don't worry, we're still the same old us, just a bit more… low-key."
"You two can't help yourselves," Vastra stated.
Inside Vastra's conservatory, the Silurian was sitting on a chair and speaking into a disguised communication device.
"It's the same story, every time, and it always begins with the same two words," Vastra added.
"She'll never be able to find us again, she doesn't even have the name Doctor, Rose or Sydney," the Doctor stated, "What two words?"
Just as he said that, Clara dropped her head through the flap at the top of the carriage, causing the three Gallifreyans to look up at her with surprise on their faces.
"Doctor?" Clara repeated, "Doctor who?"
In an alley, a man with light skin, blue eyes and black hair named Dr. Walter Simeon, who was wearing Victorian attire, including a coat and top hat, walked along the alley with a cane in his left hand when he was blocked by a woman clad in figure-hugging black leather, who was none other than Vastra's maid, Jenny and had her hands over her hips.
"Well, Dr. Simeon, you're out very late tonight," Jenny told Simeon.
A second figure then suddenly walked up behind Simeon and was dressed in a black gown with her face hidden behind a veil and was none other than Vastra.
"Almost makes you wonder what you've been up to," Vastra added, "But then, I have often wondered about the activities of Dr. Simeon and his exceptionally secretive Institute."
"Well, I am honoured this evening," Simeon told them, "The veiled detective and her fatuous accomplice."
"At your service," Jenny stated as she curtseyed him in a mocking manner.
"You realise Dr. Doyle is almost certainly basing his fantastical tales on your own exploits?" Simeon told them, "With a few choice alterations, of course. I doubt the readers of The Strand magazine would accept that the great detective is, in reality…" He then switched his cane into his right hand as he walked over to Vastra and lifted up her veil with his left hand, "A woman and her suspiciously intimate companion."
"I resent your implication of impropriety," Vastra told him, "We are married."
"More than can be said for you, eh, dear?" Jenny added.
"Now then. this snow is interesting, don't you think?" Vastra asked him as she picked up some snow from the top of a barrel nearby with her right hand, "The ice crystals seem to have a low-level telepathic field. Almost as if it can detect and respond to the thoughts and memories of the people around it. Memory snow. Snow that learns."
"How fascinating," Simeon muttered to himself as the Silurian let the snow fall through her fingers.
"I hope it's listening to the right people," Vastra told him, "It could be a terrible weapon in the wrong hands, don't you think?"
"I think winter is coming," Simeon stated, "Such a winter as this world has never known. The last winter of humankind. Do you know why I'm telling you all this?"
"I am intrigued," Vastra told him.
"Because there is not a single thing you can do to stop it," Simeon explained as he began walking away from them.
"Perhaps I can't, but I know a man and woman who can," Vastra told him.
"I look forward to meeting him," Simeon stated as he continued to walk away from them, "And I doubt a woman could stop me."
"Do you mean the Doctor and Rose?" Jenny asked her wife, "They won't help us, they never help any more from them being temporarily retired to raise their child, you know that."
"Yes, my dear, I do, so pray for a miracle because I think we are going to need them," Vastra explained.
Back with the Doctor, Rose and Sydney, the institute that Vastra was talking about with Simeon was under observation with futuristic binoculars by Strax, who was wearing the uniform of a butler over his armour as he saw that both of the institute's gates had the letters 'GL' on them before he lowered his binoculars.
"They've taken samples from snowmen all over London," Strax told the Doctor and Rose as the Time Lord was squatting and held a handful of snow in his right hand with Rose and Sydney standing next to him as the Sontaran turned towards them, "What do you suppose they're doing in there?"
"This snow is new. Possibly alien," the Doctor surmised, "When you find something brand new in the world, something you've never seen before, what's the next thing you look for?"
"A grenade?" Strax suggested.
"I'm sorry, what?" Rose said with surprise in her voice as she and her son looked at him with confusion.
"Exactly, Mum," Sydney said, agreeing with her, "A grenade is definitely not the first thing that comes to mind."
"A profit, Strax," the Doctor told the Sontaran as he stood back up, "That's Victorian values for you." He then turned to face him.
"I suggest a full-frontal assault with automated laser monkeys, scalpel mines and acid," Strax suggested.
"Why?" The Doctor asked him as he stepped towards the Sontaran and placed his hands over his hips.
"Why would we need those?" Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"And it's not like we would attack that institute," Sydney added.
"Couldn't we at least investigate?" Strax asked them.
"It's none of our business," The Doctor answered.
"We're not ready to come out of retirement," Rose added, "Sydney still has a while till we can. He's still just a teenager after all."
"I understand, Mum," Sydney said, nodding his head, "I'm still learning after all. But when the time comes, I'll be ready. And until then, we can always keep an eye on things from a distance, can't we?"
"Sir, ma'am, permission to express my opposition to your current apathy," Strax requested both older Gallifreyans as the Doctor and Rose walked in front of a shop's window.
"Permission granted," the Doctor answered as he leaned against the shop's window.
"Like he said, you have your permission, Strax," Rose said, agreeing with her husband as she crossed her arms.
"Sir, ma'am, I am opposed to your current apathy," Strax told them.
"Let me out of here!" they heard Clara yell from inside the carriage behind them with her voice being muffled as she began rocking the carriage back and forth.
"Thank you, Strax," the Doctor replied before he began walking back towards him, "And if ever either of us are in need of advice from a psychotic potato-dwarf," he then grabbed Strax's head from the sides with both of his hands, "you'll certainly be the first to know."
"And we'll be sure to remember that, Strax," Rose added as the Doctor released Strax.
"But if the snow is new and alien, shouldn't we be making some attempt to destroy it?" Strax asked them, "Be reasonable!" The Doctor then put his right hand's index finger to the Sontaran's lips.
"Let me out!" Clara yelled again, "Help!"
"It is not our problem. Raising Sydney to be a good Time Lord and his education are more of a priority to us right now than saving the universe," the Doctor told the Sontaran.
"He's right, Strax," Rose said, agreeing with him, "Our priority right now is Sydney. There are barely any more of our people left, so we need to ensure he grows up to be a good Time Lord. The universe has managed without us before, and it can do so again for a while."
"...in a cab," they heard Clara say from the carriage, "Oi, Doctor! Rose! Let me out!"
"Now, we have a problem of our own to worry about," the Doctor stated as he, Rose and Sydney walked over to the carriage.
"Let me out! Oi!" Clara demanded when the Doctor suddenly opened the carriage door as Clara pressed against the opposite side with the Doctor sitting across from her, while Rose and Sydney stood in front of the carriage.
"Don't worry, No one's going to hurt you," the Doctor assured her.
"What is that thing?" Clara asked them as she saw Strax.
"Silence, boy!" Strax ordered the barmaid.
"That's Strax and as you can see, he's easily confused," the Doctor answered.
"Silence, girl," Strax told her, "Sorry, lad."
"You sure have changed quite a bit since Demon's Run, Strax," Rose muttered to herself.
"Sontaran. Clone warrior race, factory produced, whole legions at a time," the Doctor explained to Clara.
"Yes, and they're known for their militaristic culture," Rose added, "Sontarans live for battle. In fact, they consider it an honour to die in combat. But despite their aggressive nature, they're also quite disciplined. And Strax here, he's a bit of an exception. And Strax here, he's found a new purpose with us, hasn't he, Strax?"
"Two genders is a bit further than he can count," the Doctor added.
"Sir, ma'am, do not discuss my reproductive cycle and culture in front of enemy girls," Strax pleaded with both older Gallifreyans, "It's embarrassing."
"Typical middle child of six million," the Doctor whispered to Clara.
"Don't worry, Strax," Sydney said with a playful grin on his face, "We'll make sure to only discuss your reproductive cycle and culture when there are no 'enemy girls' around. Wouldn't want to embarrass you, after all."
"Who are you?" Clara asked the three Gallifreyans.
"It doesn't matter because you're about to forget that you and us ever met," the Doctor told her before he looked at Strax, "We'll need the worm."
"Sir," Strax replied as he left them.
"You'll need the what?" Clara asked him with confusion, "The worm? What worm?"
"Don't worry, it won't hurt," The Doctor assured her, "But one touch on your bare skin and you'll lose the last hour of your memory." Strax then suddenly returned empty-handed, "Where is it?"
"Where's what, sir?" Strax asked the Time Lord.
"I sent you to get the memory worm," the Doctor reminded him.
"Did you? When? Who's he? What are we doing here?" Strax asked him with confusion in his voice as Sydney quietly chuckled to himself.
"Strax, you didn't lose the worm again, did you?" Rose asked the Sontaran with amusement in her voice.
"Look, it's been snowing!" Strax said as he looked up at the sky.
"You didn't use the gauntlets, did you?" The Doctor asked him.
"Why would I need the gauntlets?" Strax inquired with confusion in his voice as all three Gallifreyans shared a look before the Sontaran realised what he meant, "Do you want me to get the memory worm?"
"You…" the Doctor muttered to himself as Rose chuckled.
A while later, Strax was under the carriage looking for the worm as the Doctor, Rose, Sydney and Clara stood by and watched.
"Can you see it?" The Doctor asked the Sontaran.
"Yeah, can you?" Rose said, agreeing with him.
"I think I can hear it," Strax answered.
"Well, that's a start, Strax," Sydney said, trying to stifle a laugh, "Just be careful not to touch it. We don't want you forgetting what you're looking for."
"Oi, don't try to run away, stay where you are," the Doctor ordered Clara as he looked over at her with his right hand's index finger as she was trying to hide a smile.
"Why would I run?" Clara asked him "I know what's going to happen next and it's funny."
"What's funny?" The Doctor inquired.
"Like he said, what's so funny?" Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"Your little pal, for a start," Clara answered, "Ugly little fella, isn't he?"
"Maybe," the Doctor said, agreeing with her, "He gave his life for a friend of ours once."
"And it was before Sydney here was born," Rose added.
"Then how come he's alive?" Clara asked them with confusion in her voice.
"Another friend brought him back," the Doctor answered, "I'm not sure all his brains made the return trip!"
"Yes, you could say that," Rose said with a hint of amusement in her voice, "Strax has never been the same since. But despite his quirks, he's a loyal friend, despite being a Sontaran."
"From what I heard about him, he's quite the character," Sydney muttered with a smile on his face, "Despite his… unique approach to things, he's proven himself to be brave and loyal. And his… let's call them 'quirks', certainly make life more interesting."
"Neither am I," Clara said, agreeing with the three Gallifreyans.
"I can see it!" Strax announced.
"Ooh, can you reach it?" The Doctor asked the Sontaran as he looked down and under the carriage at him, "Have you got it?"
"Got what, sir?" Strax asked him as he grabbed the worm as it squeaked.
"Because these are the gauntlets, aren't they?" Clara asked all three Gallifreyans as she grabbed a pair of large gloves from the front of the carriage with her right hand and placed her left hand over her hip before they looked at her as they realised that Strax suddenly forgot the last hour of his memory again.
"Sir! Ma'am! Emergency!" Strax exclaimed as he held his hands up and away from the worm, "I think I've been run over by a cab!"
A while later, the Doctor stood up with the squirming worm in the grasp of the right gauntlet as he wore both gauntlets over his hands.
"There you go. One touch and you lose about an hour of your memory," the Doctor explained to Clara, "Let it bite you and you could lose decades." He then shoved the worm into a jar, "And you're still not trying to run."
"Yeah, why is that?" Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"It is curious, isn't it?" Sydney said, looking at Clara with interest, "Most people would be running for the hills by now. But you're still here. You're braver than you look, Clara."
"I don't understand how the snowman built itself," Clara explained, "I'll run once the three of you have explained."
"Clara who?" The Doctor asked her.
"Doctor who?" Clara countered.
"Oh, dangerous question," the Doctor stated.
"That is indeed a dangerous question," Rose said, agreeing with him.
"What's wrong with dangerous?" Clara asked them.
"The snow emits a low level telepathic field," the Doctor explained when a snowman suddenly appeared next to Clara, which now noticed.
"The snowman!" Clara muttered as she looked at the snowman.
"Seems to reflect people's thoughts and memories," the Doctor went on as Rose and Sydney noticed the snowman as well, "And because it's unusual, somehow it carries a previous shape and…"
"No, Doctor!" Clara said as she grabbed the Doctor by his right arm with her left hand before she pointed at the snowman with her right hand's index finger, "My snowman!"
"Doctor, we have more important things at stake!" Rose told her husband.
"Mum's right, dad!" Sydney said, agreeing with his mother.
"Ah! Interesting," the Doctor muttered as they began to approach the snowman, "Well, Clara, were you thinking about it?"
"Yeah, were you, Clara?" Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"Yes," Clara answered as another snowman appeared next to the first.
"Well, stop," the Doctor ordered her as they turned around and ran in the other direction and found a third snowman, "Clara, stop thinking about the snowmen!"
"Like he said, Clara, you must stop thinking about them!" Rose said, agreeing with her husband as more snowmen then suddenly appeared and opened their mouths to reveal sharp teeth.
"Get down!" The Doctor ordered Clara as snow flowed from the mouth of the snowmen, causing all three Gallifreyans to kneel down as the Doctor gripped Clara's head in his hands, "Clara, listen to me, the snow is feeding off your thoughts."
"I don't understand," Clara admitted with confusion in her voice.
"You're caught in their telepathic field, they're mirroring you," the Doctor explained, "The more you think about them, the more they appear. Imagine them melting, picture it. Picture them melted!"
"Yes, Clara, you need to imagine them melting," Rose said, agreeing with her husband, "You have to break the connection. Picture it in your mind, see them turning into puddles of water. You can do this, Clara."
"You've got this, Clara," Sydney said, agreeing with his parents, "I may be young and still learning myself, but I know you can do this. Just focus on the image of them melting. You're stronger than you think."
With that said, Clara and the Doctor closed their eyes and within a few seconds of closing their eyes, they were splashed by melted snowmen as they melted into puddles of water.
"Well, very good," the Doctor told the barmaid as he stood back up, "Very, very good! Ha!"
"Is that going to happen again?" Clara asked them.
"Possibly," Rose answered.
"And if it does, you know what to do about it," the Doctor added.
"Unless I forget," Clara told them as she stood back up.
"Given what just happened, I believe that Dad decided against it," Sydney stated as they walked her to the carriage.
"You're right, Sid," Rose said, agreeing with her son, "Through our bond, your father just shared with me that he's decided to not have Clara's memory of the half our and her meeting us wiped."
"Don't come looking for us," the Doctor told Clara as he opened the carriage's door with his left hand, "Forget about us. You understand?"
"What about the snow?" Clara asked him, "Shouldn't we be warning people?"
"For now, it's not our problem," the Doctor answered as he closed the carriage's door, "Merry Christmas!" He then looked at Strax as he began to leave the area with Rose and Sydney following him, "Take her back where we found her."
"Sir," Strax replied before he drove off and as the carriage pulled away, Clara stood on the street on the other side of the carriage as she had somehow gotten off the carriage and began to follow the Gallifreyan family.
The Doctor, Rose and Sydney all jumped a wrought-iron fence into a park. The Doctor looked around cautiously.
"What is it, Love?" Rose asked her husband.
"Is there something wrong, Dad?" Sydney said, agreeing with his mother.
"It's nothing," the Doctor answered before he slipped his hands into his pockets as they began sauntering while he whistled the Christmas carol 'Silent Night.' He then looked around again before jumping up and catching on an invisible ladder. And as he pulled it down with both of his hands, Clara appeared behind a tree and peered out at the Gallifreyan family from behind it.
"Aha!" The Doctor muttered as he lowered the ladder to the ground, "Alright, you two. Up you go."
"Thank you, Love," Rose replied with a smile on her face before she looked at their son, "Come on, Sid."
"Right behind you, Mum," Sydney said as she began climbing up the ladder before he began climbing up the ladder as well before the Doctor followed them up the ladder as it retracted and became invisible once again.
Clara then walked over to the spot where the ladder appeared and looked up at the empty sky. She jumped up in an attempt to reach the ladder, but fell to the ground. She then tried a second time and grabbed hold onto it.
"Oh, come on," Clara muttered to herself before she finally pulled the ladder down and climbed up it before she reached a small landing and looked down at the street and the passers-by and waved at them with her right hand, "Hello." No one saw her, "Invisible." She then looked at the spiral staircase behind her, "An invisible staircase." She then climbed up the staircase.
She climbed up the staircase as it reached high above London. As she climbed the ladder, it retracted as the staircase ended up in the clouds. Clara soon reached the top of the staircase and looked around at the stars before she saw the TARDIS. She tentatively stepped forward, finding herself on solid footing and walked over to the TARDIS and touched it with her right hand before quickly pulling her hand away. She then reached out towards the TARDIS and knocked on the door with her right hand. She heard a noise from within the TARDIS and hid on the side as the Doctor, who had his top hat removed, opened the door and peered out.
"Hello?" The Doctor said, calling out to the person who knocked on the TARDIS' door before Clara moved towards the back of the TARDIS as the Doctor stepped out and walked forward as he looked around, "Hello?" He then went around the TARDIS, but as he reached the back of the TARDIS, Clara reached the front and ran down the stairs, "Hello?" He then made his way to the front and over to the staircase where he spotted Clara's shawl and looked down the staircase and saw her.
The next morning at the Rose & Crown, Clara, who was wearing a white coloured nightgown, woke up and smiled before she then sat up in bed and looked at a bag on a chair in front of her.
Clara, who was wearing her dress again, walked out of the door to see no snowman with the bag in her right hand as a man with light skin, brown hair and green eyes, who was the innkeeper of the Rose and the Crown named Bob Chilcott.
"Look at that," Clara muttered to herself as Bob stood in the doorway, "Must have thawed in the night."
"I'm begging you, Clara, I'm on my knees," Bob pleaded with her.
"Elsie is back this afternoon," Clara told him, "I was only helping out. I've got my own work to get back to."
"What work?" Bob asked her, "Why won't you ever tell us?"
"You'd never believe me," Clara answered before she blew a kiss with her right hand and left the area.
Clara sat inside a carriage as she pulled down the shades and opened the bag and pulled out a gown before letting down her hair and began to unbutton her dress as it travelled down the streets of London.
The carriage soon pulled up in front of a large house before Clara alighted as she was now wearing a gown befitting someone of a higher station coloured blue and green with a hat over her head.
"Alice, how smart you look today," Clara greeted a maid with light skin, brown hair and blue eyes in a posh accent as the maid stood in front of the house's entrance.
"Governess should enter by the back door, unless accompanied by the children," Alice told Clara as she stepped down from the carriage and closed its door with her right hand as the two women smiled at each other.
"And how are the children?" Clara asked her, "Excited about tomorrow?"
"Francesca, same as ever," Alice answered, "Digby says he missed you every day. Captain Latimer wants to see you."
"Of course," Clara replied as she picked up her bag with her right hand and walked inside before she stopped in the doorway and looked back at her, "Every day?"
"Twice on Saturdays," Alice answered.
"That's better," Clara muttered as she continued on into the house.
Inside one of the house's rooms, which appeared to be a study, a man with light skin, dark brown hair and eyes with a beard, wearing a Victorian suit, who was none other than Latimer was holding a card with the letters 'GL' on it when Clara suddenly knocked on the door as she entered the room with her hat removed to reveal that she had styled her hair short.
"Captain Latimer," Clara greeted him.
"Ah. Miss Montague, you're back," Latimer said, greeting her back.
"In time for Christmas!" Clara added, "Apologies for my brief absence. Family illness is so unpredictable. You wanted to see me?"
"Francesca has been having nightmares," Latimer explained.
"Young girls often do," Clara stated.
"Every night this week, she says," Latimer added, "Won't tell me about them."
"Perhaps if you asked her in the right way, there's no-one she'd rather tell," Clara told him.
"Children are not really my area of expertise," Latimer stated.
"They are, however, your children," Clara reminded him.
"You have, if I may say, a remarkable amount of wisdom in these matters, for one so... very pretty, Miss Montague," Latimer said as he leaned against the fireplace in the room before realising what he said, "Young, I mean."
"I'll see to the children now," Clara told him as she left the room.
In the back garden of the Latimer house, two young children, one a boy and the other a girl with light skin, light brown hair and dark brown eyes, who were none other than Digby and Francesca laughed as they were playing a game of tag.
"Miss Montague!" Francesca greeted Clara as she and Digby rushed over to her as they saw her exit the house into the back garden.
"Miss Montague, you're back!" Digby said, happily at the same time.
"Ah, ah, ah!" Clara protested as the two children stopped in front of her.
"Good morning, Miss Montague," Digby told her.
"Good morning, Miss Montague," Francesca repeated what her brother said.
"Good morning, Francesca," Clara greeted her as she shook her right hand with her own right hand, "Good morning, Digby." She then shook his right hand with her right hand as well, "Christmas Eve is the most thrilling day, don't you think? Now, what have you two been up to while I've been away?"
"I did seven drawings," Digby answered, "And we saw a dead cow."
"Well, how exciting!" Clara muttered with a disturbed look on her face.
"Do your secret voice," Digby requested.
"'Ello, mates!" Clara told them as she bent over after looking around and bent over as she spoke in her real voice and cockney accent, causing the children to laugh.
A while later, Clara was sitting next to Francesca on a bench in the back garden, while Digby was playing with a ball.
"They're not exactly nightmares," Francesca assured her, "Just dreams."
"About our old governess, the one who died," Digby added as he stopped playing with the ball and approached them before he taunted his sister, "She's haunting Frannie from beyond the grave."
"Haven't you spoken to your father about this?" Clara asked her as she looked to the window of Latimer's study.
"You can't talk about things like that to Daddy," Francesca explained.
"You could try," Clara told her.
"Do you want to see where she died?" Digby asked her.
"She fell in there," Digby stated as he approached a frozen pond in the front of the house with Clara and Francesca following him as he pointed at it with his left hand's index finger, "And then it froze." He then lowered his left arm, "She was in the ice for days and days. I hated her. She was cross all the time. In Frannie's dream, she's still down there, waiting to come back."
"Everything else has thawed, but this pond is still frozen," Clara stated as she kneeled down towards the frozen pond and tapped on it with her right hand's index finger before she remembered what the Doctor and Rose told her about the snow before she sat down on the edge of the frozen pond, "Frannie, this is important. You dream about her. What do you dream?"
"She's cross with me," Francesca answered, "She says I've been bad and she's going to come out of the pond and punish me."
"When?" Clara asked her.
"She said she'd come back for Christmas," Francesca answered, "Tonight."
"I think Frannie's gone mad, don't you?" Digby asked Clara, "I think she needs a doctor."
"Doctor! Rose!" Clara called up to the sky as she hurried into the park and stopped at the tree she hid behind the previous night when people stopped going about their business to watch her as Jenny began to approach the park's gate.
"What's she looking at?" A man asked another man.
"She's asking for a doctor and a rose," another man answered as Clara jumped and tried grabbing the invisible ladder with her right hand and grunted as she did so, only to fail as she landed on her feet.
"Doctor!" Clara yelled again as Jenny rushed inside the park to stop her from attracting more attention, "Rose!"
"Now then, that's enough noise," Jenny told her, "We don't want to attract attention, do we?"
"I'm looking for the Doctor and Rose," Clara stated, "Do you know about them, the Doctor and his wife, Rose?"
"Doctor and Rose who?" Jenny asked her as Clara looked at her, knowing they both shared the same secret.
About half an hour later inside Vastra's conservatory, Strax blocked the entrance to the conservatory.
"Do not attempt to escape or you will be obliterated," Strax told Clara as she stood in front of him, "May I take your coat?"
Clara then gave Strax her coat and hat as he stepped aside as Vastra was sitting on a high-back cane chair and sipping on a red drink with her left hand and a chair in front of her before Clara stopped walking and stared at Vastra as she saw her non-human appearance.
"Sit," Jenny ordered the governess.
"There are two refreshments in your world the colour of red wine," Vastra told Clara, "This is not red wine." She then set the glass on a table next to her with her left hand as Clara sat down on the chair in front of her..
"Madame Vastra will ask you questions," Jenny told the governess, "You will confine yourself to single word responses. One word only, do you understand?"
"Why?" Clara asked the Silurian.
"Truth is singular," Vastra answered, "Lies are words, words, words. You met the Doctor, Rose and their son, didn't you?"
"Yes," Clara confirmed.
"And now you've come looking for them again," Vastra stated, "Why?"
"Take your time," Jenny told her, "One word only."
"Curiosity," Clara stated.
"About? " Vastra asked her.
"Snow," Clara answered.
"And about them?" Vastra asked her.
"Yes," Clara confirmed.
"What do you want from them?" Vastra asked her.
"Help," Clara answered.
"Why?" Vastra asked her.
"Danger," Clara answered.
"Why would they help you?" Vastra asked her.
"Kindness," Clara answered.
"The Doctor and Rose are not kind," Vastra told her.
"No?" Clara said with confusion in her voice.
"No. The Doctor and Rose don't help people. Not anyone, not ever," Vastra stated, "They stand above this world and don't interfere in the affairs of its inhabitants. Neither of them are your salvation, nor your protectors. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"
"Words," Clara told her, causing Jenny to smile.
"They were different once, a long time ago before they became parents. Again. Kind, yes. Heroes, even, savers of worlds," Vastra stated, "But they suffered losses which hurt them. When they became parents after that, they decided to stop saving worlds and raise their son so they couldn't be in constant danger while raising their child. And at times, they prefer isolation with each other and their son to the possibility of pain's return. Kindly choose a word to indicate your understanding of this."
"Parents," Clara told her, causing the Silurian to look over at Jenny, who nodded her head.
"We are the Doctor and Rose's friends. We assist them in their temporary retirement, but that does not mean we approve of it," Vastra stated, "So... a test for you. Give me a message for the Doctor and Rose. Tell them all about the snow and what fresh danger you believe it presents, and above all, explain why they should help you." Clara then took a deep breath as Vastra placed her right hand's index finger to her lips, "But do it in one word. You are thinking it is impossible that such a word exists, or that you could even find it. Let's see if the gods are with you."
Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was reading in a muted blue light on one side of the console with his glasses over his eyes. Rose was sitting on the other side with Sydney with a Gallifreyan history book in her hands with her glasses over her eyes and speaking to him as she was teaching him the history of their people. The three of them suddenly stopped what they were doing when the TARDIS' phone next to the Doctor suddenly rang.
"Yes, what?" The Doctor asked as he answered the phone in frustration, "I'm trying to read. And Rose is trying to teach Sydney history."
"Miss Clara and her concerns about the snow," Vastra answered from the phone.
"I gave her the one-word test," Vastra added from her conservatory with a phone over her right ear.
"That's always pointless," the Doctor stated, "What did she say?" She then looked at Jenny, who was now sitting on the chair that Clara was previously sitting at, "Well? Well?"
"Pond," Vastra answered.
As the Doctor heard Vastra say that, he stares ahead, stunned as he recalled when Amy and Rory left him and Rose all those years ago and removed his glasses. Rose noticed his expression as she looked up at him with a worried look on her face and removed her glasses from her eyes as well before she closed the Gallifreyan book as she and Sydney got up and began to approach him.
"Strax has already suggested where to start investigating," Vastra added.
Inside the institute and Simeon's study, Simeon was sitting at his desk.
"Danger," a deep masculine voice announced from what resembled a large snow globe in the centre of the room with snow inside of it, "Danger."
"What's wrong?" Simeon asked the snow globe as he stood up and began to approach it.
"There is danger here. Two intelligences," the snow globe answered, "Intelligences beyond anything else in this time and place."
"Dr. Simeon, sir," a clerk with light skin, brown hair and blue eyes, wearing glasses and the uniform of a clerk, greeted Simeon, "There are two people demanding to see you."
"No callers, not in here, not ever," Simeon told him, "Did they leave their names?"
"Sir... it's Sherlock Holmes and his associate, John Watson!"
Just as he said that, the Doctor entered the office wearing an outfit similar to one that his fourth incarnation once wore in Victorian times, which included an Inverness cape, a deerstalker hat and carrying a cane with Rose, wearing a Victorian-styled walking suit with a bustle and a matching skirt coloured navy blue with a small handbag in her right hand.
"Ooh, nice office. Big globey thing," the Doctor muttered to himself, "Now, shut up, don't tell me!" He then pointed at Simeon with his cane, "I see from your collar stud you have an apple tree and a wife with a limp. Am I right?"
"No," Simeon answered.
"But you've got a wife?" The Doctor asked him.
"No," Simeon answered.
"Bit of a tree?" The Doctor suggested, "Bit of a wife? Some apples? Come on, work with me here."
"Please forgive my associate," Rose said as she extended her left hand towards Simeon, pretending to be Watson, "Sherlock does get carried away with his deductions. What he means to ask is whether there's anything unusual you've noticed recently, anything at all that might explain the… peculiar phenomena we're investigating."
"I enjoy The Strand magazine as much as the next man," Simeon told the Time Lord couple, "But I am perfectly aware that Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character and his associate, John Watson is a man, not a woman. Get out!"
"Do you have a goldfish named Colin?" The Doctor asked the clerk as he pointed at him with his cane.
"No," the clerk answered before he left the room.
"Thought not," the Doctor muttered to himself.
"Well, Love, you certainly made an impression," Rose chuckled to herself as she shook her head at her husband's antics, "But I must say, your detective skills could use a bit of work like always."
"Now... Ooh! I see this is one of your business cards!" The Doctor went on as he walked over to Simeon's desk and picked the card up with his right hand's index finger and thumb and held it in front of Simeon's face, "It says so on the front."
"Who are the two of you?" Simeon asked both Gallifreyans, "What are you doing here?"
"This," the Doctor answered as he ran over to the snow globe, "Wakey, wakey!" He then began swinging at it with his cane.
"That is highly valuable equipment, you must step away now," Simeon ordered the Time Lord as he gripped the Doctor's cane with both of his hands.
"Highly valuable, indeed," Rose retorted with curiosity on her face, "And quite advanced, don't you think? Far beyond what one would expect for the year 1892."
"Quite right, Love," the Doctor said, agreeing with her, "This equipment is indeed a bit too advanced for the 19th century."
"We are the Intelligence," the snow globe introduced itself to both Gallifreyans.
"Oh! Talking snow," the Doctor muttered, "I love new things."
"So do I," Rose said, agreeing with him.
"You both are not of this world," the Intelligence told them.
"Intelligence… and snow…" Rose muttered to herself as she recalled hearing about those elements in a few of the Doctor's adventures while she was still chameleon-arched as she pondered the connection between the two words, not quite putting the pieces together yet.
"Takes one to snow one!" The Doctor joked before he and Rose chuckled at his joke for a few seconds, "Takes one…" He then regain his composure from his joke, "Right, let's see." He then walked around the snow globe, "Multi-nuclear, crystalline organism with the ability to mimic and mirror what it finds." He then tapped on the glass as Simeon held onto it to protect it from breaking, "Looks like snow, isn't snow."
"So, it's not just snow… It's something more," Rose mused with curiosity in her voice as she stared at the snow globe, "Something that can mimic and mirror. Interesting…"
"You both must leave here now!" Simeon demanded.
"Shut up, we're making deductions, it's very exciting," the Doctor told him, "Now, what are you, eh?" He then paced around and twirled his cane around, "A flock of space crystals? A swarm?"
"It has to be something more than that, Love," Rose stated, "As a flock of space crystals and swarms don't usually act like this. It's more like it's own being."
"You're right, Love," the Doctor said, agreeing with her, "Whatever this is, is more than that." As he said that, Simeon went to a panel on a wall nearby and turned a handle with his right hand, which rang a bell for help, "The snowmen are foot soldiers, mindless predators. But you, you're the clever one. You're Moriarty. So you turn up on a planet, you generate a telepathic field to learn what you can." Rose then removed her sonic screwdriver from her bag and aimed it behind her as she activated it and used it on the door behind them, "And when you've learnt enough, what do you do? You can't conquer the world using snowmen. Snowmen are rubbish in July. You'll have to be better than that. You'll have to evolve."
"Sir!" The clerk said from outside the door with his voice being muffled, "It appears to be stuck!"
"What have you two done?" Simeon asked both Gallifreyans, "Have one of you locked the doors?" He then went to the door and pulled on the door's handles with both of his hands.
"Maybe," Rose muttered to herself with a smile on her face as she tucked her sonic screwdriver back inside her bag.
"You need to translate yourself into something more… well, human," the Doctor went on.
"Kick it down!" Simeon ordered the clerk.
"To do that you'd need a perfect duplicate of human DNA in ice form," the Doctor added, "where do you find that?"
"Where indeed," Rose muttered, agreeing with her husband as he turned around as they looked at Simeon's desk.
"Sir!" The clerk yelled from outside the door.
"Get in here, quickly!" Simeon ordered the clerk.
"I've got a master key somewhere, sir," the clerk told him.
"Now. Let's see. Most opened file…" the Doctor muttered as he and Rose approached Simeon's desk as he tossed files in the air, "Most viewed page." The file then fell to the floor open, "You really should delete your history!" Simeon walked away from the door and towards his desk as the Doctor pointed at a newspaper with his cane, "'Governess frozen in pond.' Gotcha!" Both Gallifreyans then looked at Simeon with smiles on their faces.
"We better investigate that pond," Rose suggested, "Don't you think?"
"Got it, sir!" The clerk announced from the other side of the door.
"Get in here!" Simeon ordered as the door suddenly opened as four footmen entered the room, "Take them downstairs." They then turned around to find the Doctor and Rose were both gone and had slipped through another door.
Please review.
And if any of you are wondering, Sydney's name was inspired by Sydney Newman, one of the original creators of Doctor Who all the way back in 1963. I thought it was a fitting tribute, especially considering that this episode and Series 7 leads into the show's 50th anniversary.