Chapter Text
Zelena’s time portal had faded away, but there was no sign of Emma, Hook, or the others. The last they’d heard from Emma and Hook was that they were talking, and the Doctor had taken his son, Clara, Belle, and Mr. Gold to monitor the portal, to assess the damage it might cause to the timeline—and to the Time Vortex.
That was hours ago. Since then, nothing.
Leroy came bursting into the station, covered in grime from working in the mines. “I heard roaring! Loud, angry roaring from the edge of town!”
“Roaring?” Regina arched an eyebrow. “What kind of roaring? Don’t tell me one of your dwarves got lost again.”
“No,” Leroy shot back. “This is different. Like... bigger.”
David's face tightened in concern. "Bigger how?"
Leroy shook his head. “Bigger, bigger. Just come and see!”
They followed Leroy to the edge of Storybrooke, where the dense forest gave way to open countryside. And that’s when they saw it.
A massive figure loomed in the distance, swaying its head slowly from side to side. As it stomped forward, the ground trembled with each step.
It was a Tyrannosaurus Rex.
“See?” Leroy's voice was shaky. “Told you I heard something.”
“Is that ... from the time portal?” David asked.
“I don’t know,” Regina muttered, her eyes narrowing at the creature. “But I don’t intend to let it hang around long enough to figure out what it's doing here. Imagine what it could do to the town.”
“Or Doc’s Miata,” Mary Margaret added. She glanced from the dinosaur back to the others. “Big fellow, isn’t he?”
Regina sighed, and folded her arms. “Yes, dinosaurs were typically this size.” She caught the incredulous looks from the others and rolled her eyes. “What? I’ve brushed up on dinosaurs with Henry when he was younger.” Then, with a sigh, she waved her hand and placed a containment forcefield around the dinosaur.
“How did the time portal brought it here. Why now?” David asked.
The T-Rex swayed its head again, this time with a deep, guttural sound. It looked like it was choking.
Regina tilted her head. “Is it ... choking?”
Mary Margaret squinted. “Maybe it swallowed something it shouldn’t have?”
The creature bent low, coughing and retching. With a final, violent heave, something large shot out of its mouth and landed with a heavy thud near the entrance to the woods.
Regina waved her hand, transporting the group closer to the mysterious object. Her eyes widened as they arrived. There, sitting upright, was a familiar blue box.
“The TARDIS...” David breathed in disbelief.
“I don’t believe it,” Regina murmured. “It has to be him. I mean, it’s not every day a dinosaur vomits up a blue police box.”
“ The Doctor,” Mary Margaret whispered.
Regina turned to Leroy, and gestured toward the TARDIS. “Would you do the honours?”
Leroy gave her a resigned look but stomped over to the doors and knocked loudly with his fist. “Alright, Time Lord. Open up.”
There was a moment of silence. Then, one of the doors creaked open, and an unfamiliar face popped out for a brief moment—brows furrowed, eyes blazing with intensity. “Shush!” the man hissed, waving his hand as if to dismiss them before retreating back into the box and slamming the door.
Leroy blinked at the shut door. He turned to the others. “Doctor?”
The door flew open again, and the same man appeared, more irritated this time. “Yes, yes, what is it now? I was being chased by a giant dinosaur, but I think I managed to give it the slip. Can’t be too sure.” He glanced suspiciously around before disappearing back into the TARDIS.
Leroy took a step back. “What the hell is going on?”
The doors opened a third time, but slower now. The Doctor emerged, still dressed in his previous incarnation’s clothes. He squinted at Leroy like he was trying to recognise him from a dream. “Strax?” he muttered, tilting his head. “No... wrong height. Bashful? No, wait—Grumpy!”
The Doctor’s face lit up in mock realisation. He walked past Leroy, his coat flapping behind him as he surveyed the others. His eyes locked on Regina and Mary Margaret. “Ah, yes. The evil one,” he said, pointing at Regina, then pointing at Mary Margaret. “And the not-evil one. At least, I think. Could be the other way around, mustn't pre-judge.”
“Doctor?” David stepped forward. “Are you alright?”
Before the Doctor could respond, the TARDIS doors opened wider, and the Professor stepped out, followed by Clara, Belle, and Mr. Gold.
The Doctor squinted as he pointed toward the group standing a few paces away. “Oh, you remember, uh… thingy.” He paused, clearly at a loss. “The not-me ones... Names, not my area...”
The Professor raised an eyebrow. “Family,” he finished for him.
“Maybe family, maybe not,” the Doctor muttered, clearly distracted. “It’s a lottery, you know.”
The Professor shot him a look, one eyebrow arched in quiet amusement. “We are family,” he replied.
Before the Doctor could respond, a deafening bellow erupted from above, causing everyone to flinch. The dinosaur, still restless, swayed its head menacingly.
The Doctor looked up at the towering creature. “Oi! Big man! Shut it!” he barked, then froze, his eyes narrowing in confusion. A dinosaur? He glanced at the TARDIS behind him and then bolted back to it. “Oh! You’ve got a dinosaur too!” he exclaimed.
He ran a quick circle around the TARDIS, eyes wide, finally skidding to a stop and squinting up at the dinosaur again. “Big woman, sorry!” he corrected, waving his hand apologetically.
Clara approached him carefully. “Doctor, listen to me,” she said. “You need to calm down.”
The Doctor waved her off. His focus still on the dinosaur. “I’m not flirting, by the way!” he added, as though this was a perfectly logical thing to say to a prehistoric creature.
Clara shot a worried glance back at the Professor. “I think something’s gone wrong.”
The Professor shook his head slightly, his eyes fixed on the Doctor with a mix of understanding and patience. “Regeneration is complex,” he said. “He has to get used to a new body. A new personality. Give him time.”
The Doctor’s eyes snapped back to Clara. “Wrong? What’s gone wrong? Have you regenerated? I remember you!” He jabbed a finger in her direction. “You’re Handles! You used to be a little… a little robot head, and now you… you’ve really let yourself go.”
The dinosaur let out another earth-shaking roar. The Doctor unfazed, turned to Regina. “The forcefield …”
Regina blinked. “I’m sorry?”
“That magical forcefield,” he repeated impatiently. “Make it bigger. She feels trapped.”
“She?” David frowned. “Who feels trapped?”
“My lady friend,” the Doctor replied casually, nodding up at the dinosaur. “Just an expression, don’t get any ideas.”
David exchanged a bewildered look with Regina, while Leroy folded his arms. “How do you know she feels trapped?”
The Doctor rolled his eyes as if the answer were obvious. “Come on, Clara! You know I speak dinosaur.”
Clara, standing beside Leroy, raised a hand slightly. “He’s not Clara. I’m Clara.”
The Doctor’s brow furrowed as he stared between the two. “Well, you’re both the same height! Maybe you should wear labels,” he said, swaying on his feet as though the ground beneath him had become unstable.
Clara’s concern deepened as she stepped forward. “Doctor?”
The Doctor blinked rapidly, his face growing pale. “Why… why are you all going dark? And wobbly? Stop that.”
The Professor stepped closer. “We’re not,” he said.
“Never mind!” the Doctor snapped, suddenly dismissive. “Everyone, take five,” he muttered, before his legs gave out beneath him and he collapsed, unconscious, onto the grass.
“Doctor!” Clara gasped, immediately rushing to his side. She knelt down, and grabbed his hand.
The Professor was beside her in an instant. He took the Doctor’s other hand, his sharp eyes scanning the man’s face for any sign of consciousness. “It’s okay,” he murmured, though it was unclear whether he was reassuring Clara or himself.
David and Mary Margaret exchanged uneasy glances as they stepped forward. “What do we do?” David asked.
Mary Margaret shook her head slowly. “I don’t understand. Who is this? Where’s the Doctor?”
The Professor didn’t look up, his focus still on the unconscious Time Lord beside him. “He’s right here,” he said firmly, motioning toward the man on the ground.
“This is the Doctor,” Clara added. She tightened her grip on the Doctor’s hand, willing him to wake up.
Mr. Gold finally stepped forward. “Here we go again,” he muttered. He glanced down at the Doctor’s limp form. “Regeneration always leaves a bit of a mess.”
Belle stood beside him, her hand resting on his arm. Her eyes were soft with concern as she looked at the Doctor, then back at the Professor and Clara. “Is he going to be alright?”
The Professor gave a brief nod. “He’ll be fine. He just needs time.”
Belle bit her lip, her gaze flicking toward Mr. Gold. “Time is something we don’t always have.”
Mr. Gold let out a low chuckle, his fingers brushing against Belle’s. “Oh, believe me, sweetheart, if anyone has time to spare, it’s him.” He gestured toward the Doctor. “But let’s hope he wakes up soon. We’ve got bigger problems to deal with than a fainting Time Lord.”
Regina stepped closer as she looked from the Doctor to the Professor. “And what exactly are we supposed to do in the meantime? Wait around for him to get his act together while there’s a dinosaur roaming the countryside?”
The Professor glanced up at Regina. “I’ll handle the dinosaur. Right now, I need you all to trust me. He’s still the Doctor. And we’ll need him before this is over.”
Regina scoffed but didn’t argue. She turned her gaze back to the towering T-Rex, still pacing within the forcefield. “You’d better be right,” she muttered.
Clara looked up at the Professor. “What if he doesn’t wake up in time?”
“He will,” the Professor said quietly. “He always does.”