Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who that goes to the BBC
It was night as a fierce thunderstorm blew outside a remote manor house in Britain. Inside the house, a young woman with light skin, brown hair and eyes, wearing a brown blouse over a red and white vest and a brown skirt walked into the house's parlour to see an older man with light skin, brown hair and blue eyes. He was dressed in a white dress shirt, brown tie, a greyish waistcoat and jacket along with grey trousers and a pair of glasses over his eyes and was surrounded by tables of electronic equipment.
"How are we looking?" The woman asked him.
"Oh…" The man said nervously as he turned around towards her, "About ready I think."
"Any thoughts on the, er, interference?" The woman asked him as he sat down on the chair around the equipment.
"Um, Australia FM broadcast possibly, but I've fitted some ferrite suppressors and some RF chokes," the man answered as he pointed at one of the pieces of equipment with his right hand as the woman crossed her arms, "Just in case." He then stood back up and put a camera around his neck, "Are you sure you want to go through with this? I mean, the last time was very…"
"But she's so lonely," the woman protested.
"Excellent then," the man replied, "Excellent." He then chuckled as he sat back down and put on a pair of headset and tapped on a microphone with his left hand a couple of times before speaking into it, "Caliburn House. Night Four. November 25th, 1974. 11.04pm."
He then nodded to the woman before she took a few steps forward towards the archway at the base of the stairs. The man then stood up and held up a parabolic microphone with both of his hands and aimed it towards the arch.
"I'm talking to the spirit that inhabits this house," the woman announced, "Are you there?" As she spoke, the parabolic microphone began to receive static, "Can you hear me? I'm speaking to the lost soul that abides in this place." The man then looked over to one of the machines that records energy levels as it's needles were moving over the paper, "Come to me. Speak to me. Let me show you the way home."
A high-pitched whine suddenly came over the man's headphones, causing him to shout out and pull them away from his ears. As this happened, the machinery reacted, registering the sound. They suddenly heard a distorted screaming sound from the dark corridor.
"Let me show you the way home!" The woman pleaded as she backed out of the dark corridor.
The man picked up the camera with both of his hands and began snapping photos with it as he faced the archway. At each click, a misty white figure appeared with a right arm stretched out towards them. It came closer towards them, causing the woman to gasp as the figure appeared to pass through her before she fell against a chair.
"Emma?" The man called out to the woman as he went over to her and held her as he helped her stand as he put his hands over her shoulders, while she gripped his jacket's lapels.
"Ugh, she's so…" Emma began to say before she gasped again.
"So… So what?" The man asked her.
"Dead," Emma answered.
Suddenly, there was a knocking at the front door, causing them both to turn their heads. They slowly walked over to the main door. As the man approached the main door, he pulled it open with his right hand and saw that there was no one there.
"Boo!" The Doctor laughed as he stuck his head out from behind the other door, "Hello, I'm looking for a ghost."
"Actually, the four of us are," Rose corrected her husband as she stuck her head from behind the other door as well with a smile on her face.
"And you are?" The man asked them when Clara and Sydney suddenly appeared behind both older Gallifreyans with the nanny holding a collapsed umbrella in her right hand.
"Ghostbusters," Clara answered as she placed her left hand over the top of the umbrella.
"I'm the Doctor," the Doctor introduced himself as he pulled out his psychic paper from his jacket's pocket with his right hand and flashed it in front of the man.
"Doctor what?" The man asked the Time Lord.
"If you like," the Doctor muttered as he put his psychic paper away, "And this is my wife, Rose, our son Sydney and our friend, Clara." He then walked past the man in an excited manner as he ran over to the machines with the others following him, "Ah, but you are very different." He then turned around towards the man, "Ha. You are Major Alec Palmer. Member of the Baker Street Irregulars. The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare." He then whispered to him, "Specialised in espionage, sabotage and reconnaissance behind enemy lines. You're a talented water-colourist, professor of psychology and ghost hunter." Alec removed his glasses from his eyes as the Time Lord spoke before he shook Alec's left hand with his right hand, "Total pleasure. Massive."
"I've always wanted to meet you too, Major Palmer," Rose told Alec with a smile on her face, but not as wide or exuberant as the Doctor's, "Your work is fascinating."
"Yeah, my mum's been talking about you for ages," Sydney stated with a hint of Gallifreyan teenage nonchalance, "Nice to finally put a face to the name."
"Actually, you're wrong, sir," Emma stated as she looked at the Time Lord, "Professor Palmer spent most of the war as a POW."
"Actually, that's a lie told by a very brave man involved in very secret operations," the Doctor told her before he turned back towards Alec, "The kind of man who keeps a Victoria Cross in a box in the attic, eh?" He then looked at Emma again, "But you know that, because you're Emma Grayling." He then walked over to her and air-kissed both of her cheeks, causing Rose and Sydney to shake their heads as Alec placed his glasses back over his eyes, "The Professor's companion."
"Assistant," Emma corrected him.
"It's 1974," the Doctor muttered as he looked at Alec, "You're the assistant and non-objective equipment." He then looked towards Clara who was standing by the equipment, "Meaning psychic."
"Getting that," Clara told him, "Bless you, though."
"Relax, Emma," Alec assured Emma as the Doctor walked past him with Rose and Sydney over to the area by the equipment as the Time Lord patted his upper left arm with his right hand, "He's Military Intelligence." He then looked at the Doctor, "So, what's all this in aid of?"
"Health and safety. Yeah," the Doctor answered as Clara sat down on the desk, while Rose crossed her arms, "The Ministry got wind of what's going on down here. Sent me to check that everything's in order."
"They don't have the right," Alec told him.
"Don't worry, Governor, I'll be out your hair in five minutes," the Doctor assured him before he looked at the equipment and snapped his fingers, "Oh. Oh, look. Oh, lovely." He then sat next to Clara as Rose lowered her arms as he played with a switch with his right hand's index finger, "The ACR 99821. Oh, bliss. Nice action on the toggle switches. You know, I do love a toggle switch." He then stopped messing with the equipment, "Actually, I like the word 'toggle'." He and Rose then chuckled to themselves, "Nice noun. Excellent verb." Clara then touched a switch around the equipment with her right hand, only for the Doctor to slap her hand, "Oi, don't mess with the settings."
The Doctor then stood back up and pulled his sonic screwdriver out from his jacket's inside pocket and activated it as he scanned Alec and Emma with it.
"What's that?" Alec asked him.
"Gadget," the Doctor answered as he flicked it open and looked at the screwdriver's readings as he walked away from them, "Health and safety. Classified, I'm afraid." He then stopped under the arch, "You know, while the back room boffins work out a few kinks." He then turned back around and scanned the archway with his screwdriver.
"Well, what's it telling you?" Emma asked him.
"It's telling me that you haven't been exposed to any life-threatening transmundane emanations," the Doctor answered as he looked at his screwdriver's readings again before he closed its casing and put it back inside his jacket's inside pocket, "So…" He then spun around and clapped his hands, "Where's the ghost?" He then walked over to them and picked up a lit candelabrum with his left hand, "Show me the ghost." They suddenly heard a faint banging sound, causing the Doctor to smile, "It's ghost time."
A while later, the Doctor was walking down a dark corridor with the candelabrum that was in his hand as the only source of light with Alec on his heels as he, Rose, Sydney, Emma and Clara followed them.
"I won't have this stolen out from under me," Alec told the Time Lord, "Do you understand?"
"Um, no," the Doctor answered with confusion in his voice, "Not really. Sorry."
"I will not have my work stolen and be fobbed off with a pat on the back and a letter from the Queen," Alec explained, "Never again. This is my house, Doctor, and it belongs to me."
"This is actually your house?" Clara asked him with shock in her voice.
"It is," Alec confirmed.
"Sorry," Clara chuckled with disbelief as she looked at him, "You went to the bank and said, 'You know that gigantic old haunted house on the moors, the one the dossers are too scared to doss in. The one the birds are too scared to fly over?' And then you said, 'I'd like to buy it, please, with my money'"
"Yes, I did, actually," Alec confirmed.
"That's incredibly brave," Clara told him as she crossed her arms.
"Oh, right. I forgot this is your house, Alec," Rose chuckled, softly with a playful smile on her face, "You bought it a few months ago. Makes sense now."
"Yeah, Mum, you do always tend to forget the important details from time to time," Sydney stated with a smirk on his face.
"Oh, Sid, what would I do without you or your father?" Rose laughed as she tousled his hair affectionately with her right hand.
"Probably get lost in time and space, Mum," Sydney teased with a grin as he shrugged his shoulders, "But don't worry, Dad and I have got your back."
As the young Gallifreyan boy finished speaking, Clara heard a door creaking sound and looked around nervously.
"Listen, Major, we just need to know what's going on here," the Doctor told Alec.
"For the Ministry?" Alec asked him.
"You know I can't answer that," the Doctor reminded him.
"Very well," Alec relented as he scoffed, "Follow me."
With that said, Alec walked down the corridor with the Doctor and everyone else following him.
A while later in the house's parlour, Alec had his glasses back on and had set up a board with pictures and notes of the history of the house and the ghost. As he was doing that, the Doctor held the camera in his left hand and was using it to take pictures of himself. Rose and Sydney sat at a desk nearby as they were examining through an old journal of the history of the region of where Caliburn House was situated, while Clara sat in front of Emma and was talking with her.
"So what's an empathic psychic?" Clara asked Emma as the Doctor walked between them to a small bar and began looking at the bottles.
"Sometimes I... sense feelings, the way a telepath can sense thoughts," Emma answered as the Doctor sniffed one of the bottles before he grabbed a bottle of milk with his right hand and took a drink from it, "Sometimes, though, not always."
"The most compassionate people you'll ever meet, empathics," the Doctor added as he turned towards them, "And the loneliest. I mean, exposing themselves to all those hidden feelings, all that guilt. Pain and sorrow and…"
"Doctor?" Clara said as she saw a look of discomfort on Emma's face and placed her right hand over the Doctor's left arm.
"Yes?" The Doctor asked her as he looked at the nanny.
"Shh," Clara urged him before the Doctor looked at Emma and saw the look of discomfort on her face.
"She's right, Doctor," Rose said, agreeing with Clara as she looked up from the journal and looked at Emma's face, "Emma looks really comfortable. Maybe we should give her a break from all the heavy talk."
"Yeah, Dad. Let's ease up a bit," Sydney stated, agreeing with them as he glanced from the journal, "Emma's been through a lot."
With that said, the Doctor looked at Emma and saw the look of discomfort on her face.
"Would you, uh, care to have a look?" They suddenly heard Alec ask everyone as he rotated the board around before the Doctor, Rose, Sydney, Clara and Emaa walked over to him and the board as he and the Doctor crossed their arms, "Caliburn House is over 400 years old, but she's been here much longer. The Caliburn Ghast." They then saw a photo on the board of what resembled a ghost standing in front of a couple of portraits behind her, "She's mentioned in local Saxon poetry. And parish folk tales. The Wraith of the Lady, the Maiden in the Dark. The Witch of the Well."
"Is she real?" Clara asked him, "As in, actually real?"
"Oh, she's real," Alec confirmed, "In the 17th century, a local clergyman saw her. He wrote that her presence was accompanied by a dreadful knocking as if the Devil himself demanded entry. During the war, American airmen stationed here left offerings of tinned SPAM. The tins were found in 1965 bricked up in the servants' pantry along with a number of handwritten notes, appeals to the ghast, 'For the love of God, stop screaming.'"
"She never changes," Clara realised as she looked at the pictures of the ghast on the board, "The angle's different, the framing, but she's always in exactly the same position. Why is that?"
"She's right," Rose said, agreeing with Clara as she looked at the pictures, "It's like she's frozen in time."
"Yeah. It's weird," Sydney added, agreeing with them as the Doctor walked over to a desk behind them and grabbed the candelabrum with his left hand and held it closer towards the photos and examined them with it, "Why doesn't she move?"
"We don't know," Alec answered, "She's an objective phenomenon. But objective recording equipment can't detect her."
"Without the presence of a powerful psychic," the Doctor realised.
"Absolutely," Alec said, agreeing with him as he removed his glasses from his eyes with his right hand, "Very well done."
"She knows I'm here," Emma sighed, causing everyone to turn to look at her, "I can feel her. Calling out to me."
"What's she saying?" Clara asked her.
"Help me," Emma answered.
Behind them, suddenly a shadow passed by the doorway quickly. Clara turned her head, sensing something, but saw nothing.
"The Witch of the Well," the Doctor repeated as he looked at one of the photos on the board before he looked at Alec, "So where's the well?"
"A copy of the oldest plan that we could find," Alec said as he led the Doctor, Rose and Sydney over to a table on which rested the plans of the house, "There is no well on the property. None that we could find, anyway."
As Alec was showing the three Gallifreyans the plans of the house, Clara was staring at the photographs when the Doctor suddenly came up behind her and tapped her on the head with his right hand's index finger, causing her to gasp as she turned towards him.
"You coming?" The Doctor asked the nanny in a whisper-sounding tone.
"Where?" Clara whispered back at him.
"To find the ghost," the Doctor answered.
"Why would I want to do that?" Clara asked him.
"Because you want to," the Doctor answered, "Come on." He then looked at Rose and Sydney as he began heading towards the door, "Rose, Champ, we're going to find the ghost."
"Right behind you, love," Rose told him with a smile on her face before she looked at their son, "Ready for another adventure, Sid?"
"Always, Mum," Sydney answered with a grin on his face as they followed the Doctor.
"Well, I dispute that assertion, Doctor," Clara whispered to the Time Lord.
"Eh?" The Doctor muttered as he stopped and turned around towards her as he, Rose and Sydney saw Emma watching them before he nodded his head to get Clara to move, "I'm giving you a face. Here. Can you see me? Look at my face."
"Fine," Clara relented before she walked over towards them, "Dare me."
"I dare you," the Doctor replied as she smiled at them, "No takesy-backsies?"
"So do I," Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"Me too," Sydney added, agreeing with his parents.
Clara then shook her head and took the candelabrum from the Doctor with her left hand and headed through the door with Rose and Sydney following her. The Doctor clapped his hands and laughed before following Clara, Rose and Sydney.
"The music room is the heart of the house," Emma stated as she and Alec looked at the four time travellers.
The Doctor, Rose, Clara and Sydney looked back at them before they continued down the corridor.
"Say we actually find her…" Clara began to say in a whisper-sounding tone as she, the Doctor, Rose and Sydney walked down one of the house's dark corridors, "What do we say?"
"We ask how she came to be," the Doctor answered in a whisper-sounding tone, "Whatever she is."
"And we try to understand what she wants," Rose added, agreeing with her husband in a whisper-sounding tone, "Maybe there's a way to help her find peace."
"Why?" Clara asked them.
"Because we don't know," the Doctor answered before he looked at the three of them, "And ignorance is, um, what's the opposite of bliss?"
"Carlisle," Rose answered.
"Yes," the Doctor muttered, "Thank you, love. Yes, Carlisle. Ignorance is Carlisle."
"Dad, you're always forgetting that one," Sydney chuckled, "Maybe we should make flashcards for these important life lessons."
"Flashcards, eh? Not a bad idea!" The Doctor replied as he grinned and ruffled Sydney's hair affectionately with his right hand, "But where's the fun in remembering everything? Sometimes, it's the surprises that make life interesting."
"All right, but when you forget something crucial like where we parked the TARDIS, don't say I didn't warn you," Sydney retorted, causing Rose and Clara to giggle.
"All right, all right, enough giggling, you lot," the Doctor ordered them as he rolled his eyes playfully, "We're on a ghost hunt, remember? Focus!"
"You have to admit, Doctor, that was pretty funny," Rose told her husband with a playful glint in her eye.
"Fine, it was funny," the Doctor sighed with a hint of a smile on his face, "Now can we please get back to the ghost hunt?"
"All right, back to business then," Clara said, agreeing with them, "Let's find this ghost."
With that said, the Doctor, Rose, Clara and Sydney left the corridor as unbeknownst to them, there was a snarling and scraping sound behind them and a part of something could be seen in the shadows behind them.
Soon the Doctor, Rose, Sydney and Clara entered the house's kitchen and examined the room by candlelight. The Doctor then ducked under a cobweb before he checked the teapot sitting on the table.
Back in the house's parlour, Emma was standing by the fireplace with her arms crossed, while Alec was at the desk, looking at the plans with his glasses back over his eyes.
"Is he really from the Ministry?" Emma asked Alec, causing him to turn around and look at her.
"Uh, I don't know," Alec answered, "He's certainly got the right demeanour. Capricious. Brilliant." He then chuckled to himself.
"Deceitful," Emma added as she walked over to him.
"Yes!" Alec said, agreeing with her as he laughed, "He's a liar. But, you know, that's often the way that it is. When someone's seen a thing or two. Experience makes liars of us all. We lie about who we are about what we've done…"
"And how we feel?" Emma asked him as she lowered her arms.
"Yes," Alec confirmed with a smile, "Always. Always that." Emma then walked her fingers along the desk towards Alec's right hand, causing him to become nervous, "You know, I have to, um... I have to be getting on with things. The, um… the equipment and so forth."
"Of course," Emma replied with a smile before he walked away from her.
Back with the Doctor, Rose, Sydney and Clara, they entered the house's music room. A harp stood in one corner of the room and there were music stands placed around the room.
"Ah. The Music Room," the Doctor muttered as he pulled his screwdriver back out from his jacket's pocket with his right hand and scanned the floor with it as Clara stopped in the centre of the room and looked around, "The heart of the house. Do any of you feel anything?"
"No," Clara answered.
"Nothing here," Rose said, agreeing with Clara as she glanced around the room, "Feels just like any other room."
"I don't sense anything either, Dad," Sydney stated, agreeing with them as he moved closer towards one of the music stands, "It's oddly calm for a place that's supposed to be haunted."
"Well, maybe the ghost is just shy," the Doctor suggested as he looked at them, "Let's keep looking."
Clara then walked further into the room until she was standing by the Doctor, Rose and Sydney. The Doctor's sonic screwdriver suddenly began to stop working properly, causing him to tap it against his left hand and blew on it. After a few seconds, the screwdriver suddenly started to work again as he reactivated it and stepped forward a bit before he flicked it open.
"Do either of you feel like you're being watched?" Clara asked the three Gallifreyans.
"Now that you mention it, yeah, I do feel a bit of a chill," Rose answered.
"Yeah, me too," Sydney said, agreeing with his mother, "It's like someone's just out of sight, watching us."
"What does being watched feel like?" The Doctor asked them, "Is it that funny tickly feeling on your neck?"
"That's the chap," Clara answered.
"Then, yes, a bit," the Doctor confirmed, "Well, quite a big bit."
The Doctor then walked towards the door and stopped just in front of it. Clara, Rose and Sydney suddenly heard a whoosh, causing the three of them to gasp and turn around. The Doctor then took a step closer to the door and exhaled before Clara heard creaking and scraping sounds around them.
"I think she's here," Clara told them as the Doctor stepped forward and exhaled again before he got nothing and stepped back before he exhaled yet again.
"Cold spot. Spooky," the Doctor muttered before he turned around, "Cold." He then stepped forward, "Warm." He then stepped back, "Cold." He then stepped right, "Warm." He then stepped back again, "Cold." He then stepped left, "Warm." He then stepped back, "Cold." He then stepped towards the door, "Warm." He then stepped back, "Cold."
As this was happening, a creaking could be heard before the Doctor drew a piece of chalk and made a circle on the floor with it to mark the cold spot.
"Doctor?" Clara called out to the Time Lord before he stood back up as she looked at him, "Doctor!"
"What?" The Doctor asked her.
"I'm not happy," Clara answered as the Doctor scanned the circle that he drew on the floor with his screwdriver and flicked it open and looked at the screwdriver's readings.
"No," the Doctor muttered.
"Cold spots usually mean there's something around, right?" Rose asked them as she stepped closer towards her husband, "Energy fluctuations. This could be key to understanding what's going on here."
"Yeah," Sydney confirmed before he looked at his father, "What are you finding with the sonic, Dad?"
"It's definitely a temporal anomaly," the Doctor explained as he continued to look at his screwdriver's readings, "We're not just dealing with a ghost, there's something much bigger at play here."
With that said, the Doctor left the room with Rose and Sydney, while Clara was looking the other way before she turned back around and saw them leaving.
"Hey!" Clara called after the three Gallifreyans before she quickly ran across the circle and followed them out of the room.
Back in the house's parlour, the needles on the machine started moving, which Alec, who was sitting on the chair again noticed and looked over. It suddenly stopped for a second before it started moving again. He then stood up and walked over towards the machine and looked at the measurements.
Back in the house's music room, steam suddenly rose from the chalk circle before the line disappeared.
In one of the house's corridors, the Doctor, Rose, Sydney and Clara were walking past a window when they suddenly heard a thudding sound.
"What was that?" Clara asked them.
"I have no idea," Rose answered.
"Nor do I," Sydney said, agreeing with his mother.
Suddenly, there were two more thuds before the four of them breathed out. A gust of air suddenly blew out the candles. This caused them to gasp and look at each other, stunned.
"Does it seem colder?" Alec asked Emma as she walked into the parlour as he looked at her before he looked at the thermometer before its mercury dropped to zero.
Back in the corridor, the Doctor blew on his hands and rubbed them together as he, Rose, Sydney and Clara looked at the window as it froze over.
Back in the house's parlour, Emma looked towards the archway as she sensed something nearby.
"She's coming," Emma announced.
Back in the corridor with the three Gallifreyans and Clara, a loud thudding sound echoed throughout the corridor.
"Okay," Clara muttered, "What is that?"
"It's, uh, uh… It's a very loud noise," the Doctor answered as he leaned his right elbow against the wall next to him, "It's a very loud, very angry noise."
"Yeah, I can feel that," Rose said, agreeing with her husband, her voice tinged with concern, "It's definitely not friendly."
"Definitely angry," Sydney added, agreeing with his parents as he glanced around warily.
"But what's making it?" Clara asked them.
"I don't know," the Doctor answered, "Are you making it?"
Suddenly, there was another loud thud, startling the Time Lord, causing him to rush over to stand beside Rose, Sydney and Clara.
"Doctor? Rose? Sydney?" Clara whispered to the three Gallifreyans.
"Yes?" The Doctor asked her.
"What is it, Clara?" Rose inquired, agreeing with her husband.
"Yeah, what's wrong?" Sydney asked the nanny.
"I may be a teeny, tiny bit terrified," Clara admitted.
"Yes?" The Doctor asked her with a smile on his face.
"But I'm still a grown-up," Clara told them.
"Mainly," the Doctor said, agreeing with her, "Yes, and…"
"There's no need for any one of you to actually hold my hand," Clara told them, causing the Doctor, Rose and Sydney to hold their hands out in front of them.
"Clara?" The Doctor muttered.
"Yeah?" Clara asked them.
"I'm not holding your hand," the Doctor told her.
"Nor am I," Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"Me neither," Sydney added, agreeing with his parents before they slowly looked behind them as a flash of lightning sounded before they saw the outline of something, causing them to scream and run down the corridor.
Soon, the Doctor, Rose, Sydney and Clara ran down the stairs in the parlour. Alec looked over at them. A whirling dark dish suddenly materialised behind Alec and Emma just as the Doctor and Rose reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Has this happened before?" Rose asked Alec as she pulled out her screwdriver and activated it as she began scanning the whirling dish with it.
"Never!" Alec answered as Rose stopped scanning the whirling dish with her screwdriver.
"Camera! Camera!" The Doctor called out Alec as he turned around towards him and took the camera from his unresisting hands with both of his hands.
The Doctor then began taking pictures of the spinning dish with the camera. It then began to spin faster as cracks began to form inside it. Emma was still looking at the archway as she gasped as the figure appeared in what seemed to be wood and saw that the ghost appeared to be human with dark skin, brown eyes and black hair, wearing a white coloured type of spacesuit. There was an eerie, distorted shouting as Clara, Rose and Sydney turned their heads and saw it as well.
"Doctor?" Clara and Rose called out to the Time Lord at the same time.
"Dad?" Sydney said as he looked at him before the Doctor turned around and continued to take photos with the camera as Emma was becoming overwhelmed with the contact with the figure.
"Help me!" They heard the ghost plead with them.
Emma suddenly collapsed as Alec caught her when there was a sudden crash from upstairs, causing Rose, Sydney and Clara to look up.
"Doctor…" Clara called out to the Time Lord.
The Doctor, Emma and Alec then follow their gaze up the stairs. The Doctor slowly walked up the stairs where a message glowed on the wall with the words reading, 'Help Me.' After a few seconds of looking at the message, the Doctor looked away from it as it faded away before the spinning disc disappeared as well.
About half an hour later, Clara poured a cup of a whisky for Emma and one for herself before she sat down in that area beside the bar.
"Oh," Emma muttered as she took a sip of the cup of whiskey and made a face, "I'd rather have a nice cup of tea."
"Me, too," Clara said, agreeing with her as she chuckled before she stood back up and took the glass from Emma, "Whisky is the 11th most disgusting thing ever invented."
Emma then sighed as she put her head over her left hand.
In a dark room within the house, as Alec was developing the new photos, the Doctor, Rose and Sydney looked at the ones that were already developed and clipped to a string criss-crossing the room.
"I had a little peek at your records," the Doctor told Alec, "Back at the Ministry. Well, you've certainly seen a thing or two in your time. Disrupting U-Boat operations across the North Sea. Sabotaging railway lines across Europe. Operation Gibbon. The one with the carrier pigeons. Brilliant. I do love a carrier pigeon."
"As do I," Rose said, agreeing with her husband, "That was amazing work that you did during the Second World War."
"Yeah," Sydney added, agreeing with his parents, "From what they've told me, your bravery and ingenuity are really impressive."
"I did my duty but… And so did thousands of others," Alec told them as the picture that the Doctor took of the ghost was developing in the background, "Millions of others. I was just lucky enough to come back."
"Yes but, how does that man, that war hero end up here?" The Doctor asked him, "In a lonely old house, looking for ghosts?"
"It's quite the change of pace from your wartime exploits," Rose stated, agreeing with her husband.
"Yeah, it makes you wonder," Sydney muttered, agreeing with his parents as he looked at Alex with intrigue, "Why ghosts?"
"Because I killed. And I caused to have killed. I sent young men and women to their deaths," Alec explained, "But here I am, still alive. And it does tend to haunt you. Living after so much of the other thing."
"So, you and Professor Palmer, have you ever... you know?" Clara asked Emma as she was preparing a cup of tea for her.
"No," Emma answered.
"Why not?" Clara asked her before she picked up the kettle with her right hand, "You do know how he feels about you. Don't you? You of all people."
"I don't know. People like me... Sometimes, we get our signals mixed up," Emma explained, "We think people are feeling the way we want them to feel. You know, when they are special to us when, really, there's nothing there."
"Oh, this is there," Clara assured Emma as she handed Emma her a cup of tea.
"How do you know?" Emma asked her as she looked at the nanny.
"Because it's obvious," Clara explained, "It sticks out like a... big chin."
"See, I was alone and unmarried and... I didn't mind dying," Alec told the three Gallifreyans as the photo was nearly finished developing, "I mean, not for that cause. It was a very, very fine cause. Defeating the enemy."
"And if you could contact them, what would you say?" The Doctor asked him as he crossed his arms.
"Well, I'd very much like to thank them," Alec answered.
"Ah," the Doctor muttered to himself.
"That's a very good reason to want to contact them," Rose stated as she looked at him with understanding on her face.
"Yeah, it really is," Sydney added, agreeing with his mother.
"Ping," the Doctor muttered as the photo finished developing before he took it from the tray and clipped it up onto the string clip-crossings.
"What do you think she is?" Alec asked the three Gallifreyans as they looked at the picture.
"Not what I thought she'd be," the Doctor answered.
"Me too," Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"Same here," Sydney added, agreeing with his parents.
"What did you three think she'd be?" Alec asked them.
"Fun," the Doctor answered as he, Rose and Sydney exchanged a look before he looked at him, "Can I borrow your camera?" Alec then handed the camera to him, "Ta." He then left the room with Rose and Sydney following him.
"What about you... and Sydney?" Emma asked Clara as she sat in front of her with a cup of tea in her hands.
"Oh, I don't think so," Clara answered.
"May I ask why not?" Emma asked her.
"Well, despite appearances, Sydney's a lot older than I am," Clara explained, "He's an alien, and he would outlive me by centuries. It's just… complicated."
"Oh, I see," Emma muttered to herself, "But don't trust his father though. There's a sliver of ice in his heart."
"Clara!" They suddenly heard the Doctor call out to the nanny from one of the nearby corridors.
As they left the house, the Doctor, Rose, Sydney and Clara ran down the back of the steps in the rain. Clara had her umbrella opened and was huddled under it. They soon stopped a few feet from the TARDIS.
"I've got this weird feeling it's looking at me," Clara whispered to the three Gallifreyans, "It doesn't like me."
"The TARDIS is like a cat," the Doctor explained, "A bit slow to trust." He then ran towards the TARDIS, "You'll get there in the end." He then opened the TARDIS' door and went inside.
"He's right, Clara," Rose said, agreeing with her husband, "It just takes some time."
"Yeah, the TARDIS will warm up to you eventually," Sydney assured Clara with a smile on his face before he and Rose followed the Doctor into the TARDIS with the Time Lady closing the door behind her.
Clara then looked back at the house before she ran up to the TARDIS and knocked on the ship's door with her right hand.
Inside the TARDIS, Rose was working at the console, while Sydney was sitting on one of the steps as the Doctor hurried from the console towards the door as he opened it for Clara before he headed back to the console on the opposite side of Rose.
"Hey!" Clara called out to the Doctor as she entered the TARDIS before she closed the door behind her and looked around for a place to put the umbrella, "You three need a place to keep this."
"I've got one," the Doctor stated as he pointed towards the area next to the ship's doorway with his left hand;s index finger, only to see that nothing was there, "Or I had one. I think I had one." He then began looking around for an umbrella rack, "You three, look around, see if you find it. Did I have one? Am I going mad?"
"You're not going mad, love," Rose chuckled softly as she shook her head and looked at him, "When you were Scottish, you did have one."
"We'll find it," Sydney assured him as he stood up and went to look for the hatstand.
Suddenly, Clara began shaking the umbrella on the floor and dumping the rain it had collected from outside onto the TARDIS' floor.
"No! not in here," the Doctor told Clara as he walked up to her and took the umbrella from her, "How do you expect her to like you? She's soaking wet. It's a health and safety nightmare." He then set the umbrella on a chair next to him and went back towards the console near Rose.
"He's right, Clara," Rose said, agreeing with the Doctor from the console, "The TARDIS is quite particular about these things."
"Yeah, she's got her own way of doing things," Sydney added as he approached the console.
"Sorry," Clara whispered to the TARDIS as she looked up at the ship's ceiling before it seemed to gurgle in response before she followed them over to the console, "So, where are we going?"
"Nowhere," the Doctor answered, "We're staying right here. Right here on this exact spot, if we can work out how to do it."
"So, when are we going?" Clara asked them as Rose worked a few more controls on the console.
"Oh, that is good," the Doctor laughed as he and Clara held their hands out towards each other, "That is top-notch." They then high-fived each other before the Doctor walked away from her.
"Yeah, it really is, Clara," Rose said, agreeing with him with a smile on her face.
"Mum and Dad are right, that is very, very good," Sydney said, agreeing with them.
"And the answer is?" Clara asked them.
"We're going always," the Doctor answered as he stopped in front of a flight of steps and spun around before he went down the steps.
"'We're going always,'" Clara repeated.
"Totally!" The Doctor confirmed, causing Rose and Sydney to giggle as he walked down a corridor below the console and reached up for something out of their view.
"That's not actually a sentence," Clara told him.
"Yeah, but it's still brilliant," Rose added with a chuckle.
"Makes sense in its own way," Sydney stated with a smile on his face.
"And it's got a verb in it," the Doctor added as he came back with one of the orange spacesuits before he held it up towards them and spun around, "What do you think, Clara?"
"I haven't seen you with one of our spacesuits since we went to Mars a few regenerations ago in 2059," Rose chuckled, "When we met Adelaide Brooke."
"Uh, colour's a bit boisterous," Clara answered.
"I love it, Dad," Sydney told his father.
"Thanks, Sydney," the Doctor replied as he looked at him, "I think it brings out my eyes."
"Makes my eyes hurt," Clara told him, causing the Doctor to drop his arms, dejected by her comment.
Soon, the TARDIS dematerialised as Alec and Emma watched from a window.
"Did you see where they went?" Alec asked Emma, "I could hear an engine, but I can't see any lights."
There was a flash of lightning as behind them in the next window was the ghost reaching out to them.
The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, wearing the spacesuit. The surface of the planet was rocky, molten and volcanic with a dark grey sky and appeared to resemble a protoplanet. He held his screwdriver in his right hand as he scanned the area with it before he picked up the camera to take a few pictures.
A few moments later in the TARDIS, Clara took a step towards the door, while Rose and Sydney stood by the console just as the Doctor burst in with his hands up before the door closed behind him as steam rose from the suit.
"Back off! Hot suit!" The Doctor warned them as he walked over to the console, "Hot, hot, hot!"
"When are we?" Clara asked them.
"The coordinates show that we're in the Hadean period," Rose answered as she looked at the coordinates on one of the TARDIS' monitors.
"And four and a half billion years ago," the Doctor added, "It's a Tuesday, I think."
"And just a million years after Theia impacted Earth," Sydney added as he glanced at the monitor.
"I just hope we didn't accidentally disturb the Racnoss while they're still in their long sleep," Rose joked as she chuckled.
"Let's hope not," the Doctor replied with a smile on his face, "We've got enough on our plates as it is." He then flipped a lever on the console down with his left hand.
A while later, the Doctor, Rose, Sydney and Clara walked through a prehistoric jungle during the Carboniferous period on the continent of Laurasia of where the Caliburn House would eventually be built. Large dragonflies flew around them. The Doctor held the camera in his hands before he took another photo with it.
They soon stood at what appeared to be the late Victoria era, the Caliburn house had already been built as the Doctor took a photo of the back of the house before he spun around towards Rose, Sydney and Clara and walked past them.
A while later back inside the TARDIS, the Doctor was wearing the spacesuit once more as he stood near the TARDIS' door, while Rose and Sydney stood near the ship's console.
"Back in a mo," the Doctor told Rose, Sydney and Clara before he opened the door with his left hand before he looked back at Clara, "Are you all right?"
"Totally," Clara assured him as she turned around towards him, "Peachy keen."
"Okay, then," the Doctor replied as he pointed at her with his left hand's index finger, "Well, don't press any buttons or pull any levers or make any funny faces. Actually, don't move. Stand completely still. Don't breathe. Well, you can breathe but shallow breaths." He then looked at his wife and son, "Rose, Sydney, watch her."
"No worries, love," Rose assured him with a smile on her face, "We've got it covered. Sydney and I will make sure Clara doesn't accidentally send us to the Jurassic period or something."
"Yeah, we'll keep everything under control," Sydney added, agreeing with his mother, "You can count on us!"
Rose, Sydney and Clara then gave him a thumbs-up with their left hands, which he returned with his right hand before stepping outside as he closed the door behind him. He saw the planet's surface and that it was rocky and dead with no trace that life ever existed on the planet. The sun was large and brighter than ever before, its hydrogen almost depleted and nearing the end of its life.
Back inside the TARDIS, Rose, Clara and Sydney watched the Doctor on the monitor.
Back outside the TARDIS, the Doctor held the camera in both of his hands as he took a photograph with it.
Clara sighed as she watched the Doctor head back towards the TARDIS. Suddenly, the door opened as the Doctor reentered the ship before he closed the door and removed his spacesuit's helmet as he walked up to the console. Clara didn't look at him as he approached the console and was still looking at the monitor.
"What's wrong?" The Doctor asked the nanny as he looked at her, "Did the TARDIS say something to you?" He then slapped the console with his right hand, "Are you being mean?"
"She didn't say anything mean to Clara, love," Rose assured her husband as she chuckled softly and shook her head, "She's been perfectly well-behaved."
"Rose is right, it's not that," Clara said, agreeing with the Time Lady, "Have we just watched the entire life cycle of the Earth, birth to death?"
"Yes," the Doctor confirmed.
"And it's not everyday that we do that," Rose added with a smile on her face.
"Yeah," Sydney added, "It's pretty mind-blowing when you think about it. We just saw the entire history of your planet unfold right before our eyes."
"And the three of you are okay with that?" Clara asked them with shock in her voice.
"Yes," the Doctor answered as he walked past them.
"Absolutely," Rose stated, agreeing with her husband.
"Totally," Sydney added, agreeing with his parents.
"How can you three be?" Clara asked them.
"The TARDIS, she's time," the Doctor explained, "We... Move through the vortex. And so on."
"That's not what I mean," Clara told him.
"Okay," the Doctor muttered, "So help, context. Cheat sheet. Something?"
"I mean, one minute you three are in 1974, looking for ghosts, but all you have to do is open your eyes and talk to whoever's standing there," Clara explained, "To the three of you, I haven't been born yet. And to you three, I've been dead 100 billion years. Is my body out there somewhere? In the ground?"
"Yes, I suppose it is," the Doctor surmised as he walked away from the console.
"It's a lot to take in, Clara," Rose told her as she glanced at her, "We've been through it before, seeing time in ways most people can't imagine."
"And it's all part of travelling with Dad," Sydney added, "You start to see things differently."
"But here we are, talking. So I am a ghost," Clara told them, causing the Doctor to stop walking, "To you three, I'm a ghost. We're all ghosts to you. We must be nothing."
"No. No. You're not that," the Doctor argued as he looked at her with the corner of his eye.
"Not at all," Rose added firmly, "You're everything to us."
"Yeah, Clara," Sydney said, agreeing with his parents, "You're real to us, just like anyone else."
"Then what are we?" Clara asked them as the Doctor walked down the stairs, "What can we possibly be?"
"To us, you are the only mystery worth solving," the Doctor explained as he turned back around towards her before he left them to change out of the spacesuit.
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