Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Galaxies were splattered across the black canvas known as space. Everywhere she looked, the colours were never-ending.  Blues, purples, reds, all scattered across the universe, each holding countless civilisations. Amidst the rainbow of life drifted a small blue box with an enormous personality.

And in the entrance sat a youthful woman, foot dangling off the edge. In her hand she fondled a small golden ring adorned with three scarlet rubies; that wasn't the part she focused on though. Gently, her thumb caressed the circular engravings inside the ring - cherishing the memories that came with. To any regular person, it would just look like some art, but to the woman, these were the most important symbols ever. The message that came with it was seared into her heart for eternity: 'Forever and Always'.

Memories would rush back with the mere thought of those words. Images of snow-capped mountains flooded her mind. The feeling of the red grass and broken dirt beneath her bare feet made the memory feel real. Twin suns basked her face in glorious warmth. For a moment, she was living her childhood all over again - surrounded by the people she loved the most. Reality hit her like a brick as she opened her eyes - Cassiopeia was alone and adrift.

Cassiopeia never liked to blend in; she always had to be standing out. That's the reason her hair was a bright shade of violet, cascading down past her ears yet not quite reaching her shoulders. Contrasting the chaos atop her head, an oversized plaid button-u p draped over her petite figure. Her legs fit snugly into her jeans and midnight-black ankle boots covered her feet. Cassiopeia's eyes, however, were the most intriguing thing about her. She was obviously a youthful woman - couldn't be older than 22. And the eyes themselves were rather basic - ocean blue surrounded by a ring of darkness. It was more about the secrets and truth they held. They had seen things - things of great horror and tremendous joy. Those eyes contained lies that protected and secrets that killed.

This lonely life was never something Cassiopeia had hoped for herself; she didn't seek it out. This, however, was something that stuck with her. Few truths remained constant in her life. The worst by far was that Cassiopeia Smith could never return to her family.

Chapter Text

Somewhere near the Orpheus constellation drifted a blue police box some would instantly recognise as a TARDIS. Inside the TARDIS lived Cassiopeia Smith, who was curled up in a chair reading John Carter by Edgar Rice Burroughs. She was right on the edge of her seat (figuratively, not seriously) when her mobile phone started ringing all the way on the console.

"Ugh," Cassiopeia groaned. Unwillingly, she placed her bookmark in the novel and made her way towards the console to answer the phone. "This better be good. I just got to the part where John wakes up on Earth."

"Is this Cassiopeia Smith?" the man on the other end inquired.

"Yes, tell me what's happening that was so urgent you had to disturb my reading." She was getting fed up with this phone call.

"This is UNIT. You're needed on Earth, ma'am. An alien spaceship has crashed into the St. Stephen’s Tower and then the River Thames." This immediately piqued Cassiopeia's interest.

"Is it all right?" Concern and worry laced her voice.

"Immediate repairs have started on the tower-"

"Not the tower! The spaceship! That tower's been through a lot. It'll survive this too." Cassiopeia knew that if the ship had sustained too much damage, the aliens wouldn't be able to take off again. She gave UNIT her number as an alien consultant, not an old landmark consultant.

"We've been able to salvage the alien from the wreckage but are unsure how much damage the spaceship has sustained," the man reported. Knowing humans, Cassiopeia gathered this meant they were about to experiment on the aliens and weren't scientifically advanced enough to understand their technology.

"Fine, I'm coming in. What's the date and place you need me."

"6th March 2006 at 10 Downing Street."

"See you soon." Cassiopeia was a mix of curious and perturbed. It seemed she wasn't getting back to her book for a while.

Alexandra Knight was walking down an unusually quiet street, fresh from work. She was lucky enough to land a short shift today and made a bee-line home the second it finished. Olivia had practically begged her sister for help with her homework and Alex wasn’t one to break a promise. A light leather jacket protected against the breeze, fully zipped up with only a grey shirt underneath. Dark blue jeans led down to her black converse. The beige handbag by her side jumped with each step as Alex briskly walked home to avoid the cold.

As Alex made her way down the street, something happened that made her stop in her tracks. A blue police box materialised, fading in and out of existence. It created a breeze, causing Alex's bouncy, brown hair to blow across her face. It didn't take long for the box to appear stable in this dimension, which is when something even more unexpected happened. One door of the mysterious box opened and a head with bright purple hair stuck out.

"Excuse me," the strange girl addressed Alex, not seeming to explain the sudden appearance of the box, "you wouldn't happen to know the date, would you?" Everything in Alex’s body wanted to know more about this person, but her parents made Alex practise respectful manners as a religion, so she answered questions first.

"It's the 6th of March," she answered hesitantly.

"And the year?" If everything wasn't already confusing about this woman, now she didn't even know the year? It may be just the third month, Alex thought, but surely she knew the year. Good manners kicked in and the girl's question was answered.

"2007." This seemed to be the wrong answer as the girl rolled her eyes, groaned and stormed back into the box.

"Oh, for fuck’s sake. I asked you for one thing. I saved you from that planet, I didn’t have to. All I ask in return is for you to take me to the right place and you can’t even do that. Stupid box.” Alex was taken aback by the girl’s sudden outburst of anger… at a box.

“Excuse me, what’s tha-” Alex began to ask the girl, walking round to the entrance, only to be distracted by what must have been impossible. Without a second thought, she too entered the box.

Alex thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. It must be an optical illusion.

The box was bigger on the inside. Her eyes were initially drawn to the column in the centre of the room as it seemed to glow with a dull blue light. It was encompassed by what seemed to be control panels, all brassy metallic and covered in an assortment of buttons, switches and levers. Then Alex noticed the rest of the room. Bronze pillars around the perimeter dwarfed her. Upon closer inspection, they were each covered with strange circular markings. Just beyond them lie shelves upon shelves of books with a small reading nook not too far from the controls. A spiral hardwood staircase stretched up yet another open floor filled with even more books. If Alex weren’t in as much shock, she’d be racing around trying to find what books were here, and whether there were more hidden even further beyond.

This couldn’t be real. This sort of science couldn’t possibly exist. Before Alex had a chance to voice her disbelief, the box began to whir again. Alex was thrown off her balance and caught the attention of the girl.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” she shouted. “I sure as hell didn’t let you in.” She started messing around the centre column and looking at screens. “We’ve already set off now, I don’t have time to take you all the way back.”

“Wait, set off? Set off where?” Alex looked around frantically, trying to get the slightest clue of what was going on.

“2006.”

“2006!” The girl simply nodded. “I can’t stay in 2006! My sister needs me. I have a job. And a family. You have to take me back right now!” The girl merely rolled her eyes.

“You’re not staying in 2006. You’d cause too much damage to the timelines if I just left you there. Anyway, I only have a bit of business to do there. Then I’ll happily set you back in your timeline and be rid of you for good.” The malice in her voice was obvious. She wanted nothing to do with Alex.

The box quietened down and the girl turned to Alex. “We’re here.” Alex watched as the girl moved past her and threw open the doors. “Come on then,” she looked at Alex expectantly. “Well, I can’t leave you unsupervised in the TARDIS, you’ll break something. And I’m not letting you roam 2006 alone. You’ll have to stay with me.”

Alexandra and Cassiopeia walked amid the chaos of London on their way to 10 Downing Street. She couldn’t believe that she’d been forced into looking after another human.

“Alexandra.”

"Huh?"

"My name’s Alexandra. Or Alex for short.”

“Okay?

“Well, if you’re gonna drag me around with you like some kind of prisoner, we may as well get to know each other.” Cassiopeia rolled her eyes.

“Cassiopeia.”

“Is that it?”

“Well, what more do you want?”

“A blue box materialised on the path on my way home, a strange girl jumps out, argues with said box, which turns out to be bigger on the inside, and transports me a year in the past. Forgive me if I want the slightest bit of clarification.” Alex circled around and stood in Cassiopeia’s way, causing the girl to let out a huff.

“Fine. My name’s Cassiopeia Smith. I got a call from the government asking me to use my skills as an alien consultant to help them out. Better?” Cassiopeia continued storming off in the direction of Downing Street, leaving Alex still standing and confused.

“Wait, alien consultant?” Alex ran to catch up with Cassiopeia. “I think I remember this. Last year that thing crashed into the Thames. Is that what you’re here to help out with?”

“Yeah.” Cassiopeia couldn’t believe her luck in getting stuck with yet another human. She’d have to get rid of this one as soon as possible.

“If you’re being called in as an alien consultant does that mean you’ve met aliens before?”

“Oh, would you look at that, we’ve arrived.” Alex looked ahead to see they had made it to Downing Street with police blocking their entrance to the street. She didn’t even have the opportunity to ask how they were meant to get through before Cassiopeia started approaching them. “Hi, Cassiopeia Smith,” she showed an ID card to the officers. “This is my companion Alexandra. Can you let us pass?”

Without question, one of the officers stepped aside. “Of course Miss Smith.” Cassiopeia quickly continued towards the front door, leaving Alex to once again rush to catch up.

“While we’re here, just shut up and let me do the talking, okay?” Cassiopeia didn’t wait for a response before entering 10 Downing Street.

Chapter Text

As soon as they arrived, the pair were directed to a room brimming with people. The inside of 10 Downing Street was simultaneously what Alex expected and what she didn't expect at all. Professional wooden architecture and intricate red carpet almost seemed a given for the place. Although, a horde of scientists was something unusual for Alex to see in 10 Downing Street. While she stood stationary, admiring the house in awe, Cassiopeia made a beeline for said scientists. They seemed to be the last arrivals as a man announced that they were ready to convene, seemingly for a conference of some sort.

"Miss Smith, I'm glad you could make it," said the man, approaching Cassiopeia.

"Yeah, glad I could be here." She grabbed Alex, pulling her to her side. "This is my companion, Alexandra. She’s coming in with me."

"Oh, um, hi. That's me." Taken off-guard, she awkwardly waved her hand, feeling completely under-dressed.

"This is your ID card." He didn't seem to pay Alex any attention until... "Your companion will have to stay out here; she doesn't have clearance to go in." Cassiopeia felt her insides about to explode in a flurry of fire but kept it cool like Vesuvius - well, excluding that one day.

"No, she'll come in with me," Cass insisted. "She'll be fine."

"Miss Smith, I must insist-"

Alex didn't want to cause a fuss, so decided to butt in. "It's okay Cassiopeia. I can wait out here for you." Cassiopeia seemed unconvinced but, once Alex flashed a reassuring smile, decided to calm down and let it slide.

"Alright." Cass moved to address Alex. "While you’re here just don’t talk to anyone and don’t mess with anyone. I don’t want to take you back to find out you derailed a whole year of politics." Alex was mildly offended Cassiopeia thought she’d be so reckless around time travel.

"Sure thing." Cassiopeia entered what supposedly was a briefing room. Not that long after, Alex noticed a man and woman left behind, who did not look like they were in the right place.

The woman seemed too young to be here - 20 at the oldest - but Alex was also here so she couldn't really judge. A bright white jacket hung from her shoulders failing in covering the neon pink shirt that lay beneath. She paired the offending colours with a, thankfully, bland pair of jeans, almost neutralising the chaos of the outfit. Blonde hair hung down to her shoulders gently brushing against the jacket.

The man, on the other hand, seemed much older. His dark leather jacket matched his dark black trousers which were paired with a wonderfully dark purple shirt. If it weren't for the well-lit hallway, Alex wasn't sure she'd be able to tell him apart from the shadows. Alex was sure of one thing though - she pulled off the leather jacket look way better than this guy. Then the same guy who forced Alex to stay out the briefing room approached the pair with a singular ID badge in hand. One of these two was about to be forced outside with her.

"Here's your ID card." It was handed to the man. "I'm sorry, your companion doesn't have clearance."

"I don't go anywhere without her." It seemed, like Cassiopeia, this guy was going to put up a fight.

"You're the Code Nine, not her." What on earth was a Code Nine? "I'm sorry Doctor. It is the Doctor, isn't it? She'll have to stay outside." Here we go with this speech again, Alex thought. However, at least she had somewhat of a name to put with the new mysterious man. Standing before Alex was the irritable worker, the young woman, and the Doctor.

Despite the man's insistence, the Doctor, yet again, was also insistent. "She's staying with me."

"Look, even I don't have clearance to go in there. I can't let her in and that's a fact." The look engraved on the Doctor's face told Alex that he refused to let this go. Luckily, the girl could also tell he wasn't backing down.

"It's all right. You go." Alex now saw a chance to not just outside by herself looking like an idiot.

"Yeah," she joined the conversation. "You could stay with me."

The Doctor seemed sceptical. "Who are you?"

"I'm Alex. Alex Knight." She extended her hand and the Doctor shook it. "I have a friend in the briefing room so I'm stuck out here too."

"Excuse me, are you the Doctor?" An older woman had walked over to the little group. She had a distressed look on her face which immediately concerned Alex.

"Sure," the Doctor replied, apparently oblivious to her distress. Before the conversation could go any further, the annoying man, who apparently hated everyone, decided to speak up.

"Not now. We're busy." Clearly this wasn't the first time she'd annoyed this man today. From what Alex had seen, it wasn’t the hardest task to accomplish. "Can't you go home?"

"I just need a word in private." This woman was determined to speak with the Doctor.

"I suppose so." Then the Doctor addressed the girl. "Don't get in any trouble." The Doctor walked into the briefing room, leaving the four of them in the hallway.

"You haven't got clearance now leave it." The grumpy worker, as Alex was now calling him, turned towards Alex and the, still unknown, girl. He started walking them over to the opposite end of the hallway. "I'm going to have to leave you two with security."

"It's all right. I'll look after them," the older woman suggested, stopping them. "Let me be of some use." She started taking the girls down the hallway.

"I'm Rose Tyler, by the way," the younger girl mentioned.

"Walk with me." The woman's voice was even more terrified than before. "Just keep walking." The trio of women had reached the entrance hall, hidden from the gazes of all security. "That's right. Don't look round. Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North." Finally, Alex had a name to call this person. "These friends of yours, they're experts, is that right? They know about aliens?" Alex immediately remembered why Cassiopeia was here. However ridiculous it seemed, she knew more about aliens than Alex. Therefore, she went for a defensive response.

"Who's asking?" she interrogated, a subtle scowl showing her scepticism.

Rose, on the other hand, went for a slightly kinder reply. "Why do you want to know?" It was then Harriet began to shed tears. Rose, being the more sympathetic of the two, began to comfort her. Alex was just stuck in an awkward position; she was never the best at comforting people.

Cassiopeia stood at the back of the briefing room, waiting to hear the best plan these experts could come up with. She was just about to leave out of boredom when another man walked in. Cass took in his appearance, instantly recognising him. Compared to everyone else, this man didn't seem to be in the right place, but Cassiopeia knew better. Marching towards the man, she grabbed his arm and yanked him to the side.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded. For a moment, he looked at Cassiopeia as if they were strangers to each other. Then he recognised her; his face matched her level of confusion but not her level of outrage.

"I was called in. They need an extra-terrestrial expert," he said, talking down to her as if she were a child. "Why are you here?"

"I was called in too." He gave Cass a look of disbelief. "Why shouldn't they? They have my number. And I am the best extra-terrestrial expert, after all."

"You wish you were the best. You still have a lot to learn, Cassie."

"Don't call me Cassie. I'm not that girl anymore. And stop using that condescending tone, I'm not a little girl anymore. " Now she was getting annoyed.

"You'll always be a little girl to me," he muttered, just loud enough for Cassiopeia to hear. Before she could come up with a retort, however, the briefing began.

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention, please," another man Cassiopeia knew to be General Asquith said. He was in his green military uniform and, in Cassiopeia's opinion, rather overweight. He stood alongside another man at the front in a suit. From what Cassiopeia had gathered, this guy was acting Prime Minister Joseph Green. "As you can see from the summaries in front of you, the ship had one porcine occupant."

"Of course, the really interesting bit happened three days ago," Cassiopeia's 'friend' interrupted. "See, filed away under 'Any Other Business'."

"Here we go again. The great Doctor, always showing off whenever he has the chance," she groaned, sauntering to the front of the room to be next to the Doctor.

"First of all, this is proper work that matters. Secondly, since when did you demote me to Doctor?"

"A: Then get on with your little speech. B: Since you decided to end it the way you did."

"The North Sea. A satellite detected a signal, a little blip of radiation, at one hundred fathoms, like there's something down there." The Doctor clearly decided to prioritise Cassiopeia's first point and ignore the second for now. "You were just about to investigate and the next thing you know, this happens. Spaceships, pigs, massive diversion. From what?"

OK, she thought, that's peculiar, odd and something worth exploring.

Harriet guided Rose and Alex into a meeting room and removed a human body suit from a cupboard to lay down on the table.

“What is this?” Alex asked, staring down at the grotesque suit.

“They turn the body into a suit, a disguise, for the thing inside,” Harriet explained, quickly breaking into tears. Rose, once again went to immediately comfort her.

“It’s all right, we believe you.” Alex investigated the suit, this must have had something to do with why Cassiopeia was brought here. But if the ship crashed in the Thames, what were aliens already doing in Downing Street?

“Looks alien,” Alex commented, trying to be somewhat useful.

“Yeah, they must have some serious technology behind this.” Rose started looking around the room. “If we could find it, we could use it.” Alex liked how this girl worked, joining her in searching the room. Just as she was starting, Rose opened a cupboard on the other side of the room, revealing a body falling onto the floor. “Oh my God. Is that…?” Harriet and Alex ran over to Rose.

“Harriet, for God’s sake.” Alex rolled her eyes as the grumpy worker entered the room, immediately starting to berate the women. “This is beyond a joke, you cannot wander…” His eyes caught the body laying dead on the floor. “Oh my God. That’s the Prime Minister.”

“Has someone been naughty?” Another woman entered the room, shutting the door behind her. Alex noted the unnerving lack of concern for the dead body. Harriet looked at the woman with fear, grabbing Rose.

“But that’s not possible,” the grumpy worker continued. “He left this afternoon. I mean, the Prime Minister left Downing Street, he was driven away.”

“Clearly he wasn’t,” Alex murmured.

“And who told you that?” the woman addressed the grumpy worker. “Hmm?” She started to approach the small group. Alex grew uneasy. “Me.” The woman’s face held a sickly smile. Alex started to step in front of Harriet and Rose to protect them as the woman reached her hands up to her forehead.

“If aliens fake a crash,” the Doctor continued, “and an alien pilot, what do they get?” A wave of realisation and dread washed over Cassiopeia.

“Us.” The Doctor looked at her with the same horrified realisation. “The smartest minds we’ve got to offer, all gathered in one room.” Cassiopeia and the Doctor locked eyes.

“It’s not a diversion, it’s a trap.” Well, shit. “This is about us! Alien experts, the only people who know how to fight them. Like Cassie said,” she rolled her eyes, “gathered together in one room.” As the Doctor started to figure everything out, the acting Prime Minister farted. “‘Scuse me. D’you mind not farting while I’m saving the world?” 

“God forbid someone ruin your precious moment,” Cassiopeia grumbled.

“Would you rather silent but deadly?” Joseph Green asked, leaning forward. General Asquith started chuckling, tossed his hat to the side and reached his hands up to his forehead. He started to pull back what seemed to be a zip embedded in his skin, filling the room with a sparking purple glow. He pulled his skin over his head, revealing a large, green, bug-eyed alien. 

Cassiopeia stared in shock and horror. All she could think about was Alexandra. She brought an innocent life into this again. She should’ve just taken the few extra minutes to send Alexandra home. But, of course, Cassiopeia made the irresponsible decision. Again.

“We are the Slitheen,” the alien said.

“Thank you all for wearing your ID cards,” Green addressed the room, removing a switch from his jacket pocket. “They’ll help to identify the body.” Cassiopeia felt a surge of electricity burn through her body. The pain was excruciating. Asquith and Green stared down the room, they’d killed their only opponents.

Chapter Text

The woman that once stood in front of Alex was gone, leaving behind a giant green monster. Alex had always heard the conspiracy theories about aliens: they were real, the government were covering it up, they were not alone in this universe. Now here she was, the evidence stood right in front of her, but she still couldn’t believe it. The monster grabbed the worker with one of its giant claws and lifted him high against the wall. He shouted and tried to fight back but it was futile; the scene made Alex sick to her stomach.

Suddenly, the monster was being electrocuted giving Alex, Rose and Harriet an opportunity to escape as it screamed in pain. Alex started running past the monster towards the door. Rose wasn’t far behind, grabbing Harriet’s hand.

“Wait!” Harriet stopped them. “They’re still in there - the Emergency Protocols, we need them.” She immediately started running back. Alex and Rose shared a look and started running back to make sure Harriet didn’t get herself killed. However, by the time they got back, the monster had recovered and started to give chase. They ran through Downing Street, with the monster hot on their tails.

The Doctor used all his might to reach up and grab his ID badge.

“Deadly to humans maybe.” He took the deadly badge and stuck it on the Slitheen. Both Slitheen were affected by this, being electrocuted themselves. He then ran over to Cassiopeia, ripping off her ID badge. “Come on,” he urged, helping her up, “we need to get out of here.”

The pair ran out into the hall, where they found police officers standing around. The Doctor immediately started to get their attention.

“You want aliens, you’ve got them,” he shouted. “They’re inside Downing Street.” He immediately started running back towards the meeting room, officers in tow, leaving Alex to catch up.

When they returned to the room, Cassiopeia looked around to see all the other attendees dead in their seats and Asquith back in his human suit.

“Where’ve you been?” Green asked the officers. They immediately started checking on everyone else in the room. “I called for help, I sounded the alarm… There was this… lightning, this kind of um, electricity, and they all collapsed.”

“I think they’re all dead,” one of the officers said.

“That’s what I’m saying,” replied Green. He then pointed towards the Doctor and Cassiopeia. “They did it! Those two there!”

“The Prime Minister is an alien in disguise,” the Doctor calmly defended himself. Cassiopeia turned to look at him, a look of disbelief on her face.

“Really? That’s what you’re going with?” The Doctor looked around nervously.

“That’s never gonna work, is it?”

Another officer looked at him and simply said, “No.”

“Fair enough.” The Doctor and Cassiopeia shared a look and immediately legged it out of the room. The officers all ran after them. As the pair ran down the corridor, they ran into even more officers, backing them against a wall.

Asquith came barging through shouting, “Under the jurisdiction of the Emergency Protocols, I authorise you to execute these two!” Cassiopeia and the Doctor put their hands up in surrender.

“You see,” Cassiopeia started, “the thing is, if I was going to execute someone by backing them up against the wall, little word of advice, don’t stand them against the lift.” The lift doors behind them opened and they stepped in. The Doctor then used his sonic screwdriver to shut the lift doors.

The doors opened to another Slitheen chasing down Alexandra and two other women, struggling to open a door.

“Hello.” The Doctor grinned and nodded at the women. The alien paused in front of the lift giving them a chance to hide and the Doctor swiftly closed the doors again, going up another floor.

Alexandra burst the door open and quickly started trying other doors, quickly finding they were locked.

“Hide,” Rose said as she crouched behind a cupboard. Harriet grabbed Alex and they hid behind a screen.

Not much later, the door opened and the alien had followed them in. Alexandra could feel her heartbeat in her chest. Her family didn’t have a clue where she was right now. Would they ever know what happened to her if she was to die today?

“Little human children,” that voice made her skin crawl, “where are you?” Alex put a hand over her mouth to silence her heavy breaths. She couldn’t die today. She wouldn’t.

“Sweet little humie-kins, come to me. Let me kiss you better.” Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw Rose run to a different hiding spot behind a curtain while the creature was looking the other way. 

“Kiss you with my big green lips.” Alex felt tears prickling in her eyes. Cassiopeia would come and save her. She had to, right?

Upstairs, the Doctor and Cassiopeia ran from the lift and down a flight of stairs. They walked back towards the lift in hopes of helping their human companions when the lift dinged again. The two quickly hid between the wall and the door. She would complain about the close proximity forced upon her if it weren’t for the imminent danger.

“It does us good to hunt, it purifies the blood.” Cassiopeia couldn’t place the voice but she’d bet her TARDIS that it was the general and the prime minister down the hallway. The two Slitheen walked right past them.

“We’ll keep this floor quarantined as our last hunting ground before the final phase.”

Just as Alex thought things couldn’t get any worse, two more aliens walked into the room. Now they truly had no hope of escape.

“My brothers.”

“Happy hunting?” one of the newcomers asked.

“It’s wonderful. The more you prolong it, the more they stink.”

“Sweat and fear.”

“I can smell an old girl. Stale perfume and brittle bones.” Shit, they must have an amazing sense of smell, Alex thought. Harriet looked offended by the comment. There was no way they could stay hidden for long.

“And a couple of ripe youngsters, all hormones and adrenaline.” The first alien was moving uncomfortably close towards Rose. There had to be a way to save her. “Fresh enough to bend before they snap.” The curtain was ripped away revealing Rose as she let out a horrified scream. Without thinking, Alex jumped out from behind the screen.

“Stop!” she screamed but before she could get another word out, Harriet jumped in front of her with her arms out.

“No!” she shouted. “Take me first! Take me!”

Right at that moment, Cass burst into the room alongside a fire-extinguisher wielding Doctor.

“Alexandra!” Cass screamed.

“Out, with us!” the Doctor shouted at the three women. They all ran behind the Doctor, dodging giant green claws. Cassiopeia grabbed Alexandra’s hand and pulled her next to her.

“Who the hell are you?” the Doctor looked towards the older woman confused.

“Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

“Enough with the chit chat, let’s get out of here,” Cassiopeia interrupted. 

“Seconded.” Alex said and they ran out the door.

“We need to get to the Cabinet rooms,” the Doctor said, quickly making his way to the front of the group.

“The Emergency Protocols are in there. They give instructions for aliens,” Harriet replied.

“Harriet Jones, I like you.”

“I think I like you too.”

“Can we do this when we’re not getting chased through Downing Street?” Cassiopeia was becoming more disgruntled by the second. A quick glance behind confirmed that the three Slitheen were hot on their tails.

Making their way through the labyrinth that was Downing Street, they arrived at a locked room. The Doctor took out a small pen like device, scanned the lock and opened the door. As Rose shut the door behind her, The Doctor opened another just to be greeted by their pursuers. He grabbed a decanter from a side table and held his device up to it.

“One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof, we all go up. So back off.” The Slitheen heeded his warning, taking one step back. The Doctor in turn lowered the decanter. “Right then, Question Time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?”

“They’re aliens,” Harriet said, holding on tightly to the Emergency Protocols.

“I think we got that much,” Cassiopeia quipped back, growing more annoyed with every lifeform in her vicinity.

“Who are you two, if not human?” one of the Slitheen asked.

“Who’s not human?” Harriet asked.

“He’s not human,” Rose confirmed, pointing towards the Doctor.

“Wait,” Alex turned towards Cass, “are you human?”

“We’ll talk about this later, can we be quiet right now?” If Cassiopeia survived this day, she was going to find a way to change her number so UNIT could never contact her again.

“Sorry,” Harriet and Alex said in unison.

“So, what’s the plan?” the Doctor attempted to continue his interrogation only to be interrupted by Harriet again.

“But, he’s got a Northern accent.”

“Lots of planets have a north.”

“Can I have a bit of hush?” The Doctor turned back to the aliens again. “Come on. You’ve got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It’s transmitting a signal. What for, invasion?”

“Why would we invade this God-forsaken rock?”

“Then something’s brought the Slitheen race here. What is it?”

“The Slitheen race?”

“The Slitheen is not our species,” another one clarified. “Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer-Day-Slitheen at your service.”

“So, you’re family.” Cassiopeia piped in, growing more confused.

“A family business.”

“Then you’re out to make a profit. How can you do that on a god-forsaken rock?” she continued.

“Ah, excuse me?” the Slitheen turned to the Doctor. “Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability?”

“Is that what I said?”

“You’re making it up.”

“Ah, well. Nice try.” He handed the decanter to Cassiopeia. “Cassie, have a drink. I think you’re gonna need it.”

“You pass it to the left first,” Harriet interjected.

“Sorry,” the Doctor said, passing it to Rose instead, who murmured a thanks.

“Now we can end this hunt with a slaughter.” The Slitheen bared its claws.

“Shouldn’t we be running?” Alex asked.

“Fascinating history, Downing Street. 2000 years ago, this was marshland. 1730, it was occupied by a Mr Chicken. He was a nice man. 1796, this was the Cabinet Room. If the Cabinet’s in session and in danger, these are about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain. End of lesson.”  He presses a button by the door and metal shutters crash shut across the windows and the doors.

“You moron,” Cassiopeia muttered under her breath. She couldn’t roll her eyes hard enough.

“Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They’ll never get in,” the Doctor boasted with the usual smug grin on his face.

“And how do we get out?” Cassiopeia fired back.

“Ah.”

“Dear God, I hate you.You’re always pulling off dumb shit like this.”

“C’mon, Cassie. Where’s this attitude come from? You never used to be like this.”

“I grew up.” She stared bullets at the Doctor, seconds away from ripping his head off.

“Before we resort to murder,” Alexandra interjected, “ we still need to talk about your lack of being a human.” Cassiopeia locked eyes with her and immediately felt her gaze soften. 

“If the time machine and alien consultant didn’t tip you off, I don’t know what will.”

“Wait, you have a time machine too?” Rose was getting involved now. “I’m confused. Doctor, do you know this girl?”

“Wow, Doctor. You never mentioned me? Not once?” Cassiopeia’s tone was thick with sarcasm and hatred. “What more could I expect from a monster like you?”

“Oi, he’s not a monster. Leave him alone. You don’t know what he’s like.” 

“I know him a lot better than you, sunshine.”

Just as Rose was about to fight back again the Doctor interrupted with, “Rose, leave it.” He looked to her then towards Cassiopeia. “This is Cassie, my daughter.”

“I’m sorry, your what?” Rose couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Doctor, why did you never tell me you had a daughter?”

“Probably because he thought I was dead or too insignificant to even bring up. And for the last time, my name is Cassiopeia. Not Cass. Not Cassie. Cassiopeia.”

“Fine. Cassiopeia.” The Doctor finally gave in.

“Thank you,” Cassiopeia returned.

“I knew I was getting into some weird alien stuff with you,” Alex sat down, “but not this much family drama.” With the conversation dead, the Doctor noticed the body of the grumpy worker from earlier.

“What was his name?” he asked, picking the body up and moving it to a cupboard.

“Who?” Harriet asked from her seat.

“This one. The, er, secretary or whatever he was called.” Harriet got to see who he was on about.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I talked to him. I brought him a cup of coffee. I never asked his name.” She walked back to her seat. Cassiopeia watched as he said a simple sorry to the man and walked back to join the rest of them.

“Right, what have we got? Any terminals, anything?”

“Nope,” Rose responded, “this place is antique.”

“Why didn’t they use the Prime Minister as a disguise?” Alexandra queried. “Surely, his position would be the most valuable to them.”

“Too slim,” Cassiopeia quickly answered before the Doctor could get a chance to say anything. “You saw the size of those things. They need to fit inside big humans.”

“But the Slitheen are about 8 feet,” Rose piped in, looking between the Doctor and Cassiopeia as they were both inspecting the metal shutters. “How do they squeeze inside?”

The Doctor got ahead of Cassiopeia this time, answering, “That’s the device around their necks, compression field. Literally shrinks them down a bit. That’s why there’s all that gas. It’s a big exchange.”

“Wish I had a compression field. I could be a size smaller,” Rose commented.

“Excuse me, people are dead,” Harriet chastised her. “This is not the time for jokes.”

“Au contraire,” Cassiopeia said. “Just because people are dead, doesn’t mean it’s not a good time for jokes.”

“Has anyone ever told you can be really callous sometimes?” Alexandra quickly replied.

“Harriet Jones.” The Doctor changed the subject. “I’ve heard that name before. Harriet Jones. You’re not famous for anything, are you?” Harriet laughed at the notion.

“Hardly!”

“Rings a bell though. Harriet Jones?”

“Lifelong backbencher, I’m afraid. And a fat lot of use I am being now. The Protocols are redundant. They list the people who could help and they’re all dead downstairs.”

“Look on the bright side,” Cassiopeia said. Harriet looked over at her. “You’d also be dead downstairs right now if it weren’t for us.”

“Charming,” she responded.

“Hasn’t it got, like, defence codes and things?” Rose chipped in, trying to diffuse the tension and be of help. “Couldn’t we just launch a nuclear bomb at them?”

“You’re a very violent young woman,” Harriet commented.

“I like it.”

“Of course you would, Cassie-” Cassiopeia glared at the Doctor. “Cassiopeia.”

“Either way,” Harriet attempted to remain on topic, “there’s nothing like that in here. Nuclear strikes do need a release code, yes, but it’s kept secret by the United Nations.” This piqued the Doctor’s and Cassiopeia’s interest.

“Say that again,” they spoke in unison.

“What, about the codes?”

“Anything, all of it,” the Doctor urged.

“Um, well, the British Isles can’t  gain access to atomic weapons without a Special Resolution from the UN.”

“Like that’s ever stopped them,” Alexandra joked.

“Exactly, given our past record… And I voted against that, thank you very much. The codes have been taken out of the government's hands and given to the UN. Is it important?”

“Everything's important.” Cassiopeia looked at the Doctor sceptically.

“If we only knew what the Slitheen wanted,” Harriet continued. “Listen to me. I'm saying Slitheen as if it's normal.”

“What do they want, though?” Rose asked.

“Like the Slitheen said themselves,” Cassiopeia interjected. “This is business, not an invasion. They’re out to make a profit. That means they want to use something. Here on Earth. Some kind of asset.”

“What, like gold? Water? Oil?” Alexandra posited.

“You’re surprisingly good at this.”

“Thank y-”

“For a random human I picked off the streets.”

“Nevermind.” Suddenly, a phone beep went off.

“Oh, that’s me,” Rose said, taking her phone out of her pocket.

“But we’re sealed off,” Harriet pointed out. “How did you get a signal?”

“He zapped it. Super phone.”

“Then we can phone for help.” 

“One of you must know someone we can call for help,” Alexandra pleaded.

“Dead downstairs, yeah,” the Doctor put it bluntly

“It's Mickey.” Rose was looking down at her phone.

“Oh, tell your stupid boyfriend we're busy.” Finally, a human that seemed to annoy the man, Cassiopeia thought.

“Yeah, he's not so stupid after all.” Rose handed her phone to the Doctor. Cassiopeia walked over to them and saw a picture of an electrified Slitheen. Rose took the phone back and called, seemingly, Mickey. It was refreshing to finally see the Doctor be angry at someone’s existence, maybe he could even begin to understand how she felt right now.

Cassiopeia blocked out most of the conversation until she heard, “I might just choke before I say this but… I need you.”

“Wow, the almighty Doctor admitting he needs help for once.”

“This would be a lot easier without your constant attitude, you know.”

“No chance.” The Doctor plugged the phone into the conference phone speaker and asked Mickey to repeat whatever he had just said.

“It’s asking for the password,” a voice came from over the phone.

“Buffalo. Two Fs, one L.”

“You’re letting a random person have access to UNIT?” Cassiopeia looked at the Doctor horrified.

“What’s UNIT?” Alexandra asked.

“Unified Intelligence Taskforce. That website is giving him access to top secret information: military, weapons, and more concerning, aliens.”

“This lot just kept us in the dark.”

“Mickey, you were born in the dark.”

“Oh, leave him alone,” Rose sighed. Clearly, this was a constant battle.

“Thank you,” Mickey replied. “Password again.”

“Just repeat it, every time.” Cassiopeia rolled her eyes at this.

“You’ve seriously just given this random human access to all of UNIT?”

“Why are you so concerned about that?” Alex probed.

“I still have a job with them, and I won’t be too happy if they start prodding around all my information.”

“Not now, Cassiopeia,” the Doctor cut off her grumbling. Focusing in again, he walked to the head of the table and addressed the group. “Big Ben. Why would the Slitheen go and hit Big Ben?”

“You said to gather the experts, to kill them,” Harriet suggested, her and Rose following the Doctor.

“They would’ve gathered for a weather balloon.” Cassiopeia was quick to counteract. “A crash-land in the middle of London just resulted in us,” she gestured to herself and the Doctor, “also being here. And that’s clearly worked out worse for them.”

Rose piped up, “The Slitheen are hiding but then they put the entire planet on red alert. Why? What would they do that for?”

“Oh, listen to her,” another woman, probably Rose’s mother Cassiopeia assumed, said from the other end of the phone.

“Oi! At least I’m trying,” Rose snapped back.

“Come on.” Cassiopeia placed her hand on Alex’s elbow, guiding her to the other end of the room. “We don’t wanna get involved in this.” The pair walked together, Cassiopeia still deep in thought while Alex’s mind was swimming with more questions than she’d ever had before.

“What’s going on?” Alex whispered.

“Family drama, it always happens around him.” Cassiopeia glanced at the Doctor. “He comes into some poor person’s life, turns it upside down and, if you’re lucky, he leaves you but no one’s life can ever be the same. It’s like a black hole in your chest that you can never fill.”

“...what happens if you’re unlucky?” Alex dared to ask.

“You die.” A somber silence fell over the couple. Alex understood though. For the short time that she’d known Cassiopeia, she’d come closer to death than ever before. Between being chased through Downing Street by actual aliens and locked in the Cabinet Room with no clear escape, a dark thought ran through Alex’s mind that there was a chance she might not make it out alive. But as quickly as that thought manifested, she pushed it from her mind.

The silence was suddenly broken by Mickey’s voice. “We’re in.” The room immediately zoned in once more.

“Now then,” the Doctor directed Mickey, “on the left at the top, there’s an icon, little concentric circles, click on that.” A bizarre noise filled the room.

“What is it?” Mickey asked.

“The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea and it’s transmitting that signal,” the Doctor said. “Now, hush, let me work out what it’s saying.”

“It’s some sort of message,” Cassiopeia noticed.

“Saying what?” Alex asked.

“Not sure, it’s on a loop, keeps repeating.” Suddenly a loud buzzing noise interrupted the sound. “Shut up!”

“That’s not me,” Mickey defended himself. “Go and see who that is,” he directed towards the other person with him.

“It’s beaming out into space, who’s it for?” The Doctor scoured his brain searching for an answer, a way to make sense of the message.

“They’ve found us,” Mickey informed them. Shit.

“Mickey, we need that signal,” Cassiopeia said.

“Nevermind the signal, get out!” Rose urged. “Mum just get out!”

“We can't, it's by the front door.” Double shit.

“You’re the experts,” Harriet shouted. “Think of something!”

Rose looked towards the Doctor, “That’s my mother.”

“Ok,” Cassiopeia started, hoping a plan would start to form by the time she finished her sentence. “We need to know how to defeat these things, what’s their weakness.”

“So,” the Doctor continued, “we need to know what planet they’re from. So, judging by their basic shape, that narrows it down to 5000 planets nearby.” He was rushing by now; these humans were important to him. “What else do we know about them? Information!”

“They’re green!” shouted Rose.

“Narrows it down.”

“Good sense of smell.”

“Narrows it down.”

“They can smell adrenaline.”

“The pig technology!” Harriet pointed out.

“Narrows it down.”

“The spaceship in the Thames,” Cassiopeia realised. “That would’ve needed a slipstream engine.”

“Narrows it down.”

“They hunt, like a ritual,” Alex shouted out.

“Narrows it down.”

“Wait a minute,” Harriet started, “did you notice..? When they fart, if you’ll pardon the word, it doesn’t just smell like a fart, if you’ll pardon the word, it’s something else?”

“Like bad breath,” Alex added.

“Calcium decay!” It dawned on Cassiopeia.” That narrows it down.” She walked the length of the room, her brain working too quick for her mouth to keep up. “Calcium phosphate. Organic calcium. Living calcium. Creatures made out of calcium.”

“That’s perfect, Cassie. What else?”

“They have a hyphenated surname,” Alex offered, not sure it was of any importance.

“Yes!” the Doctor shouted out. “That narrows it down to one planet. Raxacoricofallapatorious!”

“Raxa-what?” Alex was 100% sure that was not a real thing.

“Get into the kitchen.” The Doctor told Mickey, and just in the nick of time by the sounds of it. “Calcium weakened by the compression field… Acetic acid!”

“Vinegar!” Cassiopeia shouted.

“Just like Hannibal!” Harriet shouted.

“Just like Hannibal,” the Doctor echoed. “Mickey, have you got any vinegar?”

“How should I know?”

“It’s your kitchen.”

“Cupboard by the sink, middle shelf,” Rose was quick to help.

“What do you need?” Rose’s mum asked.

“Anything with vinegar.” The woman proceeded to grab gherkins, pickled onions and pickled eggs, causing the Doctor to ask Rose, “You kiss this man?”

All of a sudden, they could hear the Slitheen enter the room. Mere moments later, they heard the Slitheen explode and were finally able to take a breath.

“Hannibal?” Rose finally asked.

“He crossed the Alps by dissolving boulders with vinegar.” The room turned to look at Alex with a mix of surprised and impressed. “What? I like my history and fun facts.”

“Well, there you go then,” Rose said, raising a glass in toast. The rest followed in kind.

“And Doctor,” Cassiopeia called out, “call me Cassie again and I’ll do something we’ll both regret.”

The group had been able to take a moment to recollect themselves, heart rates returning to normal. Mickey had held his phone up to a TV so they could hear the ‘acting Prime Minister’ give a press conference.

“Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads and they have found massive weapons of destruction capable of being deployed within 45 seconds.” The room was immediately confused at this. “ Our technicians can baffle the alien probes, but not for long. We are facing extinction, unless we strike first. The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mothership. I beg of the United Nations, pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes. A nuclear strike at the heart of the beast is our only chance of survival, because from this moment on it is my solemn duty to inform you planet Earth is at war.”

“I should’ve realised,” Cassiopeia growled in frustration. “That’s why you want a country on red alert. Declare war, get the nuclear codes and blow us all to hell and back.”

“But why?” Harriet asked. The Doctor and Cassiopeia alike were infuriated by how long it had taken them to realise. He opened the metal shutters to reveal a trio of Slitheen, waiting.

“You get the codes, release the missiles. But not into space because there’s nothing there. You attack every other country on Earth. They retaliate, fight back. World War Three. Whole planet gets nuked.” The female Slitheen from earlier made her way past the trio, still in her human disguise.

“And we can sit through it safe in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed, just parked. Barely 2 minutes away.”

“But you’ll destroy the planet,” Harriet countered. “This beautiful place. What for?”

“Profit.” Cassiopeia stepped up, maintaining eye contact with the disguised Slitheen. “That signal isn’t a message, it’s an advert. Like you said, it’s a family business”

“Sale of the century,” she explained. “We reduce the Earth to molten slag, then sell it. Piece by piece. Radioactive chunks capable of powering every cut-price starliner and budget cargo ship. There’s a recession out there, people are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel.”

“At the cost of 5 billion lives,” the Doctor interjected.

The Slitheen chuckled and said, “Bargain.”

“I give you a choice,” he said calmly. “Leave this planet, or I’ll stop you.” The group of Slitheen laughed.

“What? You? Trapped in your box?”

“Yes. Me.” With a final sickening smile from the Slitheen, the Doctor closed the metal shutters once more and for the first time, seeing the look in both Cassiopeia’s and the Doctor’s eyes, Alexandra was scared.

“Alright, Doctor,” Rose’s mum said over the phone. “I’m not saying I trust you, but there must be something you can do.”

“If we could ferment the port, we could make acetic acid,” Harriet suggested. The Doctor and Cassiopeia just stood to the side. Cass knew there was nothing she could do. If she wanted to be able to get Alex home safe, there was nothing. The humans were talking, trying to figure out what to do next, but it was futile.

“There’s a way out,” The Doctor said, catching Cassiopeia’s attention. 

“What?” Rose asked.

“There’s always been a way out.”

“Then why don’t we use it?”

“Because I can’t guarantee your daughter will be safe,” he directed towards the phone. No, he couldn’t. Cassiopeia couldn’t let him do this again. Rose was arguing with her mum about whether or not they could do it but it was like static to Cassiopeia’s ears. All the years of pain, the memories of the last time she’d seen the Doctor, everything came rushing back in one moment. And worst of all, she brought Alex into it. Quite frankly, Cassiopeia couldn’t care less if she was going to die on any given day, but she was not going to risk another innocent life. No matter how many more it would save.

“I command you. Do it,” was the next thing to grab her attention. Harriet was demanding that the Doctor do it. The Doctor immediately jumped into action.

“How do we get out?” Rose sat on the table.

“We don’t, we stay here.” The Doctor rifled through the emergency protocols until he found exactly what he was looking for. “Use the buffalo password, it overrides everything,” he told Mickey.

“No.” The Doctor turned to look at Cassiopeia. Slowly, she looked up to meet his gaze. “I can’t let you do this. Not after last time.”

“Cassie, I know-”

“No, you don’t!” Tears began to brim at her eyes. “It’s fine for Rose, her family knows exactly where she is. Alex isn’t even in the right time.”

“What?”

“Cassiopeia picked me up in 2007.This was all last year for me.” Alex approached Cassiopeia, attempting to defuse the situation. “But, it’s fine. If this is to save the rest of the world, I can live with that choice.”

“You don’t understand what you’re saying.” Cassiopeia turned to face Alex for the first time since their last encounter with the Slitheen. “I’ve been here before. I’ve lost everything and I’d give up entire civilizations to get it back.”

“Cass, please, this isn’t your choice to make,” Alex pleaded. “My little sister is out there, she’ll get another year with me. But I refuse to stand back and let her die if there was something I could to do to stop it. Please.” Cassiopeia looked deep into her eyes. That sentiment was something she understood. That’s what drove her those last few years, protecting her family. 

So, with a heavy heart, she turned back towards the table and said, “Mickey, we need to select a missile.”

“We can’t go nuclear, we don’t have the defence codes,” he argued.

“All we need is an ordinary missile,” the Doctor chimed in, taking his place at the desk next to Cassiopeia. “What’s the first category?”

“Sub harpoon, UGM-84A.”

“That’s the one! Select!” The Doctor and Cassiopeia took a moment to look at each other. They were really doing this. Again. “Ready for this?” Cassiopeia nodded.

“Yeah,” Mickey answered.

“Mickey the idiot, the world is in your hands… Fire.” 

Harriet approached one of the metal shutters. “How solid are these?”

“Not solid enough,” The Doctor answered. “Built for short-range attack, nothing this big.”

“No,” Cassiopeia said, looking around. “I’ve faced death a million times and won, I refuse to lay down and die for it now. Any ideas?”

Rose approached the cupboard in the corner. “It’s like what they say about earthquakes. You can survive them by standing under a doorframe.”

Alex rushed over. “Small cupboard so it’s gonna be strong.” Harriet and Cassiopeia immediately rushed over to help the girls but the Doctor remained where he was. They cleared it out and Cassiopeia started ushering them under a small shelf.

“Doctor,” she called out the door, “get in here before I drag you in here myself.” With that, he quickly followed suit sitting under the shelf.

“Well, nice knowing you all,” Harriet said.

“Oh, don’t you worry, Jones,” Cassiopeia said with a reinvigorated confidence. “We’re all getting out of here.” She held onto Alex’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m sure of it.”

The missile hit. The cupboard around them shook like it was an earthquake, but all living the terrible knowledge that there was something far more deadly causing this. What papers remained in the cupboard were thrown around. The room itself was also thrown around causing the group to be thrown like the very papers inside. Once a calm had seemed to settle, the Doctor led the charge out of the cupboard and eventually out of the Cabinet Room. The group stepped out onto what remained of Downing Street. Nothing but rubble and fire. To Alex, it was like she had straight stepped onto the set of an apocalypse movie. 

The sergeant from earlier who had initially tried to execute the Doctor and Cassiopeia approached them asking if everyone was alright. Cassiopeia didn’t really pay attention to the conversation, too shocked by the fact that she’d actually been able to get Alex out alive. It wasn’t too long before Harriet ran off to let everyone that ‘Earth is safe’.

“Well, then Doctor,” Cassiopeia turned towards him. 

“Is this you off?”

“Off, and hopefully never back.” The Doctor kept a straight face but Cassiopeia could see a twinge of hurt in his eyes.

“Ok,” Rose stepped forward. “I get that you don’t get along with him, family drama, whatever, doesn’t matter. But he just saved your life. Doesn’t that count for anything?”

“Rose, when travelling with the Doctor you’ll see that he’ll do everything to save everyone. It’s not because he wants to. It’s because he needs to. But the truth is, no amount of atonement could make up for what he took from me.” Cassiopeia looked the Doctor dead in the eyes. “The kindest thing he could’ve done was left me for dead.” With that, she took Alex and started leading her away, back to her TARDIS.

“What are we doing next?” Alex asked. “Or should I ask when are we going next?” A giddy smile spread across her face. Over the past few hours, not only had she time travelled but she’d come face to face with aliens, multiple species at that. Now, she was excited to meet everything, go everywhere, do anything.

“2007. I’m taking you home like I said I would.” Just like that, the smile disappeared off her face.

“Wait, what?” She stood in Cassiopeia’s path to stop her. “You can’t do that. You’ve just shown me the impossible, you can’t leave me to go back to my boring life again.”

“This is the safest option, remember.” Cassiopeia reminded her of their earlier conversation. “It’s this or die, and today we got way too close for comfort.” She moved past Alex and continued towards her ship.

“Oh, come on. Not even one little trip?”

“No.”

“But, we almost died!”

“My point exactly.” They’d now arrived back at the TARDIS. Cassiopeia got her key out and unlocked the door. She held it open, gesturing for Alex to go in first.

“Hear me out.” Alex stood opposite her beside the TARDIS. “That first adventure, total buzzkill. Death aliens trying to sell the planet, not good. So , am I not entitled to one free trip with no death?”

“And I’d do that because…?”

“Because if you don’t, I'll assume all aliens are evil. Forever.”

“That’s racist.”

“You really wanna lecture the black girl about racism?” Cassiopeia rolled her eyes.

“Fine. One trip. That’s it.” Alex could almost explode from glee. “Nothing else. One trip then it’s back home.”

“That’s an agreement I can get behind.” Alex finally walked back into the TARDIS, Cassiopeia close behind. “So, where to next?”

Cassiopeia walked to the central console and took a moment to think. “Have you ever been to a marketplace?”

“Yeah?” Alex got suspicious that she was just about to be sent somewhere like York instead of Mars.

“Ever tried an alien one?” All suspicions flew away as Cassiopeia flipped up a handle sending the pair off on their next adventure.

Chapter Text

Alex slowly opened the TARDIS doors. She tentatively placed one foot on the rough ground, not quite believing her eyes. Last time she travelled, it was in the same place just a year out of time. This was completely different. 

They’d landed in a quiet spot, tucked between some buildings. Alex could just hear the tempting noise of the market Cassiopeia had promised her. But for now it was just out of sight.

“So, what do you think?” Alex turned around to see Cassiopeia leaning in the doorway, a smirk on her face. While she wasn’t happy about having to entertain the human, Cassiopeia didn’t think she’d ever get bored of this. The childlike wonder on Alex’s face reminded her of a better time she’d spent centuries trying to forget.

“This isn’t London.” Cassiopeia rolled her eyes.

“No, shit.” She pushed past Alex. “You coming or what?” Alex rushed after Cassiopeia round the corner. 

She almost stopped in awe again. 

The bazaar was bustling with aliens of all sorts. There were some pale blue bug-eyed aliens with what looked like fins on their heads. Alex spotted one that had a head like a bee hive and eyes like a tarantula. She was quite taken with the fine safron-coloured dress they were wearing. A pale white humanoid walked past with shocking white like poodle hair, looking like they belong in Rocky Horror Picture Show. There were all shapes and sizes around the pair. Some aliens had bulbous heads, others had enormous ears, one looked like it was made of metal. However they all had one thing in common.

“In a market of all sorts of alien creatures, it feels odd they’re bipedal,” Alex pointed out.

“Evolution, it’s a crazy thing,” Cassiopeia brushed it off, picking up some sort of food from a stall. “Now, these are the Rings of Akhaten.” They slowly started to make their way through the crowds, stopping to stare at random stalls along the way.

“Where are all these aliens from?”

“Mostly the local system. Eukanians, Lucanians, Hooloovoos,” Cassiopeia said, pointing to different species along the way. “All of them believing life began in Akhaten. But this lot have gathered for a very special event.”

“Oh?”

“Look at that.” Cassiopeia immediately got distracted, pointing to a large alien with red eyes embedded in a flattened face with ridges.

“What is it?”

“That is an Ice Warrior outside of its armour. Incredibly rare that is.” Cassiopeia turned to look at Alex. “Ice Warriors are a reptilian species from Mars. Literal Martians. Great dishonour to be seen out of their armour so savour this. If you ever see one again, run.” Alex’s eyes were fixed on the alien in question until she was tugged away by Cassiopeia.

“You never finished telling me why everyone is here.”

“The Festival of Offerings. The rings align about every thousand years. The Queen of Years sings the Long Song to the Old God. It’s a whole thing.

“Can we watch the festival?” Cassiopeia stopped dead in her tracks. She turned around to face Alex, who suddenly felt like she was about to told off like a schoolgirl who rolled her skirt up.

“That’s literally why I brought you here.” The pair started to walk through the crowds again.

“Will I be able to understand it?” Alex suddenly thought. “Like, obviously the entire universe doesn’t speak English.”

“Don’t worry about that. TARDIS Translation Matrix. It will translate every single language, whether it’s ancient Latin or futuristic alien. Everything gets translated. Well… everything except for Gallifreyan.”

“Galli-what?”

“I’ll explain later.” As they walked, Alex saw all sorts being sold. Exquisite clothes, glowing foods, strange technology, something that looked strangely like a moped. 

“So, what’s the currency here?”

“This place works in sentimental value. It’s psychometry; the more treasured it is, the more value it holds.”

“Love that,” Alex said, grinning wide and looking over at Cassiopeia who was returning the same grin. However, Cassiopeia’s face quickly fell, a familiar storm covering her features instead. Alex quickly had to keep up with her, as Cassiopeia stormed over to a strange looking man.

“What the hell are you doing here?” she growled out. The man in question was tall and lanky, looked like he was in his late 20s. The thing that made him strange was definitely his fashion sense: a tweed jacket, braces and a bow tie. Even for a human, this guy was extremely out of place. Next to him was a young woman that Cassiopeia paid no mind to. She was also wearing a leather jacket but paired it with a dark blue dress and a red bag.

“Cass,” the eccentric man exclaimed, “long time no see!” He plastered a large smile on his face as Cassiopeia’s face grew darker.

“Don’t Cass me.”

“Hi, sorry,” Alex interrupted before she witnessed manslaughter, “Cassiopeia here obviously seems to recognise you but I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Alex.”

“Clara,” the young woman replied. “Is your friend okay?” Clara looked over at Cassiopeia with growing concern.

“Don’t bother with introductions. We’ve already met. Haven’t we, Doctor ?” This confused Alex. Back in Downing Street, the Doctor was a Northener with an affinity for leather jackets and definitely older than the man standing before her.

“Right, Alex,” the ‘Doctor’ started to explain, “given Cassiopeia’s reaction and your confusion I’m guessing you just came from the Slitheen. I’m still the Doctor you met, just a different face. I regenerated, that’s all.” This Doctor, Alex decided, was much more fatherly and soft-spoken.

“That’s not gonna cause any problems in the future, I’m sure.”

“Wait, Doctor, you know these two?”

“Ah, Clara, meet Cassiopeia, my daughter, and Alex, her companion. Good chance you’ll meet them again. We have a tendency of meeting out of order.”

“You’re telling me I’ll have to see you again ?” Cassiopeia couldn’t believe her luck. Out of all the places of all the times in the entire lifespan of the universe, she ran into the Doctor twice in a row. “Come on, Alex. The song is about to begin.” Cassiopeia grabbed Alex by the arm, dragging her away.

“It was very nice to meet you both,” Alex shouted behind her.

Cassiopeia took Alex to the Amphitheatre grabbing seats to the right of the entrance, a couple of rows up. From here, they could see Akhaten and the Pyramid of Akhaten. It looked like an island with a single temple floating in space set to a background of an enormous fiery planet.  Alex thought it was beautiful. Not too long after, a young girl dressed in a red gown was brought out and stood on a pedestal.

“That’s the Queen of Years,” Cassiopeia explained. Alex couldn’t help but wonder how young she was. “She’s going to sing the Long Song to the Mummy in the temple. It’s a lullaby to keep him asleep” Soon after, the Doctor and Clara ran in, rushing to find seats on the opposite side to them. “Always late,” Cassiopeia muttered under her breath. Alex nudged her to shut up as the singing started.

A sweet angelic voice filled the atmosphere. Calm washed over Alex at the music. She never knew that an alien tradition could be so beautiful.

“How long is the Long Song?” Alex asked without tearing her eyes away from the young singer.

“Millions of years, handed down through the generations,” Cassiopeia answered in a similar trance. Suddenly the audience held out objects in front of them.

“Let me guess,” Alex said, looking around. “Sentimental value?”

“You’re good at this,” Cassiopeia returned. “It’s to feed the Old God, uh, the Mummy.” The items in their hands turned into flecks of gold whisping away to Akhaten. Then everyone around them joined in on the singing.

“This is wonderful,” Alex sighed, resting her head on Cassiopeia’s shoulder. Cassiopeia tensed up for a second but quickly relaxed into the feeling.

“Yeah, yeah it is.” Cassiopeia had almost forgotten how beautiful the universe could be, why she travelled to every far corner. But this, she thought, this was worth it.

The singing stopped.

A low rumbling could be heard from the temple. Everyone was looking around. The young girl had turned around with a panicked face. Cassiopeia stood up.

“What’s going on?” Alex asked, worried.

“Something’s gone wrong.”

A golden energy beam from the temple lifted the young girl up and started to take her away. Cassiopeia immediately leaped into action running towards the girl, Alex hot on her tail. She was too far by the time they got to the front but they could still hear her begging for help. Cassiopeia immediately ran back towards the marketplace. Seemingly, the Doctor had the same idea.

When he eventually caught up to her, Clara and Alex weren't far behind.

“I’m guessing we had the same idea,” Cassiopeia said

“What idea?” Clara asked, clearly new to this.

“Moped,” Cassiopeia and the Doctor said in unison.

“Dor’een, we need the mopeds,” the Doctor said to the merchant. Clara’s bewildered face told Cassiopeia the TARDIS didn’t like her. They could unpack that later. “I need something precious,” the Doctor said, turning around to the group. The humans looked at each other to figure out what they could give up, but Cassiopeia didn't have time for this. She’d be damned before she let another innocent child die because of her.

Pulling off her ring she said, “Take this, it’s worth more than my life. Just let us have the mopeds.”

“Cass-”

“Shut up, Doctor!” She turned to Dor’een with tears brimming in her eyes. “Please.”

The Doctor and Cassiopeia, with their respective companions, were racing on their mopeds towards the Queen of Years. Alex was praying they’d be able to grab her before they reached the temple.

“Merry!” Clara screamed, reaching forward as far as she could. Their hands touched but they couldn’t hold on. A force pushed them apart and the Doctor averted his eyes to avoid being blinded. When he looked up, Merry had been taken into the temple and the door shut behind her. Cassiopeia slammed on the brakes, coming to a somewhat smooth landing gliding the moped across the ground, Alex holding onto her firmly enough to not be thrown off but not so tight as to impact Cassiopeia’s ability to drive safely. The Doctor had what was best described as a crash landing with Clara holding onto him for dear life.

When he finally got Clara off him, the Doctor ran towards the door Merry had just been taken through, scanning it with his sonic screwdriver. At the same time, Cassiopeia took a bulky looking tablet-like device out of her pocket.

“What are you doing?” Alex asked.

“Scanning the door,” Cassiopeia and the Doctor replied in sync again. Cassiopeia shot a glare towards the Doctor. “It’s a frequency modulated acoustic lock,” she explained.

“The key changes ten million zillion squillion times a second,” the Doctor continued.

“Fairly certain you made some of those words up,” Alex joked.

“Can either of you open it?” Clara urged.

Cassiopeia looked at the Doctor for his answer, as he tossed his sonic screwdriver in the air.. “Technically, no. In reality, also no. But still… let’s give it a stab.” He began to throw his body against the door, scanning it over and over again in hopes of it opening.

“How can they stand there and watch?” Clara complained.

“Sacred ground,” Cassiopeia answered bluntly.

“She’s just a child,” Alex retorted.

“And he’s a god,” the Doctor returned. “Well, he is to them, anyway.” From behind the door they heard Merry scream, causing the whole group to go into overdrive trying to find a way to open the door.

“Merry!” Clara shouted. “Merry, hold on! We’ll be there soon!”

“Doctor, you better have figured something out,” Cassiopeia hurried him. Alex could sense something in her but couldn’t quite place her finger on it.

“Oh, yes. The sonic’s locked on to the acoustic tumblers.”

“Meaning?” Clara asked.

“Meaning I get to do this.” The Doctor stood back and scanned the door again from the bottom, but this time lifting the door up with the sonic. Once the door was fully opened, he stood in the doorway, screwdriver still pointed at the door. In the temple, they could see Merry stood in front of the glass case that held the Mummy, a Chorister draped in the same red knelt in front of it, still trying to sing it back to sleep. “Hello there,” he addressed Merry. “I’m the Doctor, this is Cassiopeia and Alex. And you’ve met Clara. She was supposed to be having a nice day out. Still, it’s early yet.” He briefly moved the sonic to scratch his head only to quickly return to its previous position as the door started falling again. “Are you coming, then? Did I mention that the door is immensely heavy?”

“Leave,” Merry fretted. “You’ll wake him.”

“Really quite extraordinarily heavy.” Cassiopeia didn’t have time for the Doctor’s chit-chat. She ran past him into the temple. Alex, not one to miss out on the drama, wasn’t far behind. The Doctor was pushed to his knees

“Merry, I know you don’t know me,” Cassiopeia started, “but we need to leave. Like, now.”

“No. Go away,” she protested.

“Not without you,” Clara said, having also entered the temple.

“You said I wouldn’t get it wrong and then I got it wrong,” she stressed, constantly looking back at the Mummy behind her in fear. “And now this has happened. Look what happened!”

“You didn’t get it wrong,” Cassiopeia reassured.

“How do you know?” Merry interrogated. The Doctor was struggling more and more to keep the door open. “You don’t know anything. You have to go! Go now, or he’ll eat us all.”

“Cassiopeia knows more than she lets on,” Alex piped up. “And anyway, that guy,” she pointed to the Mummy and approached his case, “is ugly. And to be honest, I don’t think he looks big enough.” She turned her back on the box to look at Merry again.

“Not our meat. Our souls.” Cassiopeia spared a glance behind her and realised it wouldn’t be long until that door came crashing down again. Alex reached a hand out to Merry. Merry lifted her fingers to her temples and a purple energy stuck Alex to the case, with her back to the Mummy. “He doesn’t want you, he wants me. If you don’t leave he’ll eat you all up too.”

“Yes, and you don’t want that, do you?” the Doctor called over from the doorway. “You want us to walk out of this really quite astonishingly heavy door and never come back.”

Merry took a second before replying, “Yes.”

“I see. Right. The girls are right. Absolutely never gonna happen.” The Doctor readied himself before rolling out from underneath the doorway into the temple, only just grabbing his sonic screwdriver before the door slammed on it.

“This is a repeat of Downing Street all over again,” Cassiopeia sighed, head in her hand.

“What does that mean?” Clara asked.

“He’s locked us inside with no way out,” Alex explained, starting to understand Cassiopeia’s constant exasperation towards the man. “But this time with the soul-eating monster.”

“Can Time Lords seek forced adoption?” Cassiopeia asked, genuinely starting to consider the idea. “Is there a way to get out before it eats our souls?”

“Ideally, yes.” His answers were not helping Cassiopeia’s opinion of him. “Possibly, Probably. There usually seems to be.”

“Oh, good,” Alex exclaimed. “It’s not like I’m stuck to the monster’s cage !”

“Doctor, why is he still singing?” Clara asked, gesturing to the Chorister.

“He’s trying to sing the Old God back to sleep.” Cassiopeia couldn't help but let out a laugh at this.

“That’s not gonna happen, mate,” she addressed the Chorister, crouching down in front of him. “He’s waking up. You’re better off running.” With that, the Chorister stopped singing, looking at Cassiopeia with fear in his eyes.. “Well,” Cassiopeia stood up and turned to look at Clara, “I’ve gotten that insufferable singing to stop.”

“That’s it, then?” the Doctor said. “Song’s over?”

“The song is over,” the Chorister confirmed. He stood up. “My name is Chorister Rezh Baphix and the Long Song ended with me.” He stepped back and revealed a thick golden bracelet on his wrist. With a simple touch to the bracelet, he disappeared from the room.

“That’s it, then! Song’s over!” the Doctor said, clearly exhausted with the Chorister. He quickly whipped around and pointed his sonic screwdriver at the monster’s box and the monster roared in response.

“You’ve woken him!” Merry exclaimed.

The Doctor got up close to the box and started examining the monster with childish glee. “Ah ha! Look at that!”

“Did you have to do that while I’m still stuck to this thing?” Alex complained through gritted teeth.

“Stop worrying, Alex.” The Doctor did his best to calm Alex, especially with the glare he was receiving from Cassiopeia. “I didn’t wake him and you,” he started addressing Merry, “didn’t wake him either. He’s waking because it’s his time to wake. And feed. On you, apparently. On your stories.”

“You weren’t paying attention, she said souls,” Alex interrupted, getting increasingly worried by the second.

“Hate to admit it but he’s right,” Cassiopeia chipped in. “Souls aren’t made of atoms, they’re made of stories. Everything that ever happened to us. People we love. People we lost.” She looked towards the Doctor and saw a sliver of guilt on his face, but as fast as it had appeared it had gone away again.

“People we found again against all the odds,” he chipped in.

“Right, ugly threatens to wake up, they offer him a pure soul. The soul of the Queen of Years.” Cassiopeia continued.

“Stop it, you’re scaring her,” Clara whispered seeing Merry back away.

“She should be scared. She’s sacrificing herself like a lamb to slaughter. Do you know what that means, Merry?”

“A god chose me.”

“It’s not a god.” The Doctor walked closer to the young girl. “It’ll feed on your soul, but it doesn’t make it a god. It is a vampire, and you don’t need to give yourself to it.” The Doctor’s face and tone softened. “Hey, do you mind if I tell you a story? One you might not have heard. All the elements in your body were forged many, many millions of years ago, in the heart of a far away star that exploded and died. That explosion scattered those elements across the desolations of deep space. After so, so many millions of years, these elements came together to form new stars and planets. And on and on it went. The elements came together and burst apart, forming shoes and ships and sealing wax and cabbages and kings. Until eventually, they came together to make you. You are unique in the universe. There is only one Merry Gejelh. And there will never be another. Getting rid of that existence isn’t a sacrifice. It is a waste.”

Cassiopeia had to turn away. This was a tone of voice she hadn’t heard in years. It took her back to the way everything used to be. Before the war. Before she lost everything. Before she watched everyone she loved die. But things could never go back to how it was. Never again.

“So, if I don’t, everyone else…” Merry began hesitantly.

“Will be fine,” Cassiopeia finished. She turned to face Merry and the Doctor. “We’ll make sure of it. We have a knack for saving the day.”

“Promise?”

“Cross my hearts.” Merry tentatively looked over at the Doctor who gave her a smile and offered a hand. She took it then looked towards Alex and freed her from whatever was holding her to the glass box.

“Oh, thank God.” Alex ran from the box to Cassiopeia. “Remind me never to follow you into creepy temples again.” Cassiopeia simply threw an arm around Alex in comfort, when a cracking sound came from the box. Where Alex had been standing moments ago, a hole had been punched through the glass by the monster’s constant aggression.

The group moved to leave the temple when a loud rumbling surged through the building. “Something’s coming,” Clara said.

“The Vigil,” Merry explained.

“And what’s the Vigil?” Cassiopeia asked, not looking forward to the answer.

“If the Queen of Years is unwilling to be feasted upon,” Merry said hesitantly, “it’s their job to feed her to Grandfather.” There was a sudden puff of black smoke, and three robot like beings emerged from it. They looked like they had gas masks for faces while dressed in long black coats. Moving in absolute synchronicity, they approached the group, dead set on getting Merry. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry,” she cried out as the Vigil got closer. Cassiopeia and Clara moved in front of her, blocking their path.

“Don't you dare,” Clara warned.

“You’ll have to kill me first if you even want a chance to get to Merry,” Cassiopeia threatened. Alex hadn’t seen Cassiopeia get this protective before. It was like something deep within her had been awoken.

“Yeah, stay back. I’m armed!” The Doctor did his best efforts to be intimidating, but was somewhat hindered by the fact he could only threaten them with a sonic screwdriver.

“Oh, come off it,” Cassiopeia complained. She reached under her jacket at her back and pulled out a futuristic gun. “I’m actually armed.”

“Cass, you can’t shoot them!”

“Oh, I’m sorry, let’s just sacrifice a child to the god, shall we?”

“Oi!” Alex shouted to get their attention. “Can we argue over different strategies later and focus on the actual threat?” The two stopped their bickering and, as Alex requested, focused on the problem at hand. 

But before anything else could be done, the lead Vigil sent out a blue pulse of energy knocking both the gun and screwdriver out of hands and away to the ground. Another Vigil sent a similar pulse out, this time throwing the Doctor and Cassiopeia backwards in a somersault. The final Vigil did the same but towards Alex and Clara, leaving Merry standing alone, with no one around to help. The Vigils grabbed ahold of her, slowly leading her back towards ‘Grandfather’.

The group slowly started to come to. “Clara. Sonic,” the Doctor was able to get out. Clara runned over, grabbed it and threw it towards him. He started sonicing the Vigils, who turned around at the sudden movement, and was able to put up a shield against their powers. With the Vigils distracted, Merry ran back over into Clara’s arms. Cassiopeia swiftly got up, grabbed her gun, placed it back under her jacket, and went to check on Alex.

“Are you good?”

“Got one hell of a headache. Have any paracetamol on ya?”

Cassiopeia let out a small laugh. “We’ll get you fixed up when we get back to the TARDIS.” She lifted Alex up and made sure she was solid on her feet. Their attention was pulled away from each other when they heard the Doctor shout in pain. “Merry,” Cassiopeia rushed over to the girl, “you know all the stories. You must know if there’s another way out.”

“There’s a tale. A secret song. The Thief of the Temple and the Nimmer’s Door.”

“And the secret songs open the secret door?” Merry nodded. “How does it go? Can you sing it?” Merry looked to the other side of the room and started singing a series of notes, and as they’d hoped a secret door slid up in the wall, just beyond the Vigils and the monster.

“Go!” the Doctor shouted. They all ran, while the Vigil’s were distracted with the Doctor.

They all got outside and back round the front to the mopeds. Clara ran back to look through the secret door and called for the Doctor to join them. He was able to get out just as the Vigils reappeared outside the temple, pointing the sonic screwdriver at them once again. Clara hugged Merry close, and Cassiopeia did the same to Alex. Then, without warning, the Vigils disappeared.

“Where did they go?” Clara asked.

“Grandfather’s awake. They’re of no function anymore,” the Doctor answered with an air of dread about him.

“You could sound happier about it,” Alex commented. Another rumble sounded around them.

“Actually, I think I may have made a bit of a tactical boo-boo. More of a semantics mix-up really.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Cassiopeia exhaled.

“I thought the Old God was Grandfather, but it wasn’t. It was just Grandfather’s alarm clock.”

“Sorry, a bit lost,” Clara said. “Who’s the Old God? Is there an Old God?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” The ground rumbled even more. The group looked up to see the sun pulsing with energy.

“Oh, my stars,” Clara said in awe. “What do we do?”

“Against that? I don’t know,” the Doctor exclaimed. “Do you know? I don’t know. Any ideas?”

“But you promised,” Merry’s voice was shaking. “You promised!”

“We did. We did promise,” Cassiopeia said, pacing, desperately trying to think a way out of this.

“He’ll eat us all. He’ll spread across the system consuming the Seven Worlds. And when there’s no more to eat, he’ll embark on a new odyssey among the stars.”

“I say leg it,” Alex suggested.

“Leg it where, exactly?,” the Doctor asked.

“Don’t know. Lake District?”

“Oh, the Lake District’s lovely. Let’s definitely go there. We can eat scones. They do great scones in 1927.”

“You’re going to fight it, aren’t you?” Cassiopeia said.

“Regrettably, yes,” the Doctor replied. “I think I may be about to do that.”

“It’s really big,” Clara added in.

“I’ve seen bigger.”

“Really?”

“Are you joking? It’s massive!”

“I’m staying with you.”

“You can’t,” Cassiopeia jumped back in again.

“But-”

“Cass is right,” the Doctor interrupted.

“What about the stuff you said. We don’t walk away.”

“He was right about that,” Cass started, “but when you’re holding onto something precious, you run. I’m not keeping Alex here and I won’t be able to take Merry back too. You’ll have to be the one to take her back.”

“Clara, she’s right. Now, off you pop. Take the moped. I’ll walk.” With that, the Doctor walked off towards the sun, leaving Clara, Cassiopeia, Alex and Merry to get back to the amphitheatre.

They were able to make it back swiftly and without crash landings. Cassiopeia ran up to the edge of the amphitheatre to watch what was happening as best she could.

“Isn’t he frightened?” Merry asked.

“I think he is,” Clara said. “I think he’s very frightened.”

“I want to help.”

“So do I.”

Merry stood back on the pedestal where this whole chaos had started and began singing. It wasn’t too long before the entire crowd joined in with her. Alex and Clara looked around, amazed at how everyone was so willing to come together to try and do something to help. But Cassiopeia could only think of one thing in that moment. The song seemed to be helping for a while, the sun started to roll in on itself. Cassiopeia started to let herself relax until she saw the sun simply grow in size again. She couldn’t just stand here and do nothing.

“Clara,” Cassiopeia called out. “Look after Alex. I’ll be back soon.”

“Wait, where are you going?” Alex asked as Cassiopeia moved to get back on the moped.

“To help.” And with that, she sped off back towards the temple, hoping to make it in time.

When Cassiopeia finally got back to the temple, she saw the Doctor on his knees. He looked like he’d had his life drained out of him, which, she guessed, he had in a way. She looked towards the sun to see a horrifying face on it.

“Still hungry?” she yelled towards it. “Well, why don’t you try me on for size?” She stepped towards the sun, full of anger. “He may have had an extraordinary life but I never wanted that. I wanted something so ordinary and dull and basic. And that’s even more magical than anything else you’ve ever seen.” Golden tendrils of energy started to reach into Cassiopeia as she bared her soul to the monstrous sun. “I had a whole life that was never lived. Memories that I’ll never get to make. Family and friends I’ll never get to see. I’m a whole future that never happened. An infinity that never came to be. So eat up!” Cassiopeia had tears streaming down her face as she remembered every aspect of her life before and imagined a life she would never see.

The Doctor got up to his feet. “Well, come on then. Eat up! Are you full? I expect so, because there’s quite a difference, isn’t there, between what was and what should have been. There’s an awful lot of one, but there’s an infinity of the other. And infinity’s too much, even for your appetite.” Cassiopeia collapsed to the ground. The sun once again collapsed in on itself, but this time, for good. The Doctor went to check on Cassiopeia. Her eyes slowly opened.

“Did it work?” she asked meekly.

“It worked,” he confirmed, then hugged her close. “And I couldn’t be prouder of you.”

Cassiopeia quickly shoved him away. “Alright, don’t get all mushy on me.” She picked herself up off her feet and brushed herself down. “Come on, the humans will be wondering how we are.”

“Yes, right.”

“I’m driving.”

“Why?”

“Because you’ll crash it.”

Safely back on the amphitheatre, Alex consumed Cassiopeia in an enormous hug.

“Don’t scare me like that again.”

“I’ll do my best.”

“Right,” the Doctor started, “I should probably get you back home.”

“Home sounds good,” replied Clara.

“I should also be getting you home,” Cassiopeia said to Alex.

“That’s fair,” Alex said. “Though there are some things we need to talk about.”

“I was expecting that,” Cassiopeia sighed. She started walking back towards the TARDIS with Alex in tow, when someone shouted her name.

“Cass!” the Doctor shouted. “I’ve got something for you.”

“Let me guess, a lecture on how I shouldn’t go running into danger despite you making it your whole personality?”

“No. This.” The Doctor opened his hand to reveal a golden ring adorned with three rubies; it was the ring she’d traded for the mopeds.

“What? How?”

“They wanted you to have it. You saved them.” Tears formed in Cassiopeia’s eyes.

“Thank you.” She took the ring, smiled at the Doctor and made her way back to the TARDIS.

“What’s that ring?” Alex asked once they were safely back in the TARDIS.

“It was a gift,” Cassiopeia replied.

“From?” Cassiopeia stayed silent. “See, I have so many questions now. Why does the Doctor look different? What is this box? And what’s a Time Lord?”

“Sit down, Alex. I think it’s time we had a conversation.”

Chapter Text

Alex took a seat in one of the soft armchairs in Cassiopeia’s reading nook.

“Well?” Cassiopeia took a seat opposite her.

“As you know, the Doctor is my dad, but we’re not on good terms.”

“How come?”

“It’s a long story.” Alex looked at Cassiopeia expectantly. “The Doctor and I are Time Lords from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. The main differences: we have 2 hearts and we have significantly longer lifespans.”

“The regenerations?”

“Yeah. First of all, our bodies as a whole last significantly longer. Old age will probably catch up to us in like 300 years.” Alex’s eyes went wide at that. “Secondly, when Time Lords are dying, our bodies regenerate. Basically a whole new body, new face, everything.”

“So what body number are you? And how old are you?”

“Uhhhh, about… 900 years old? I think? And body number 13.”

“Unlucky for some.”

“Especially us. We only get 13 bodies. After that, no more regenerations.”

“How did you get through so many bodies so quickly?” Alex’s tone switched from interrogatory to concerned.

“There was a war. The Time War. I fought. I regenerated. I survived.”

“So the Time Lord’s won.”

“No one won. You see the Doctor and I?” Alex nodded, not liking the way this was going. “We’re the only survivors. Everyone else died. Not even our planet survived.”

“Wait, what?”

“The Doctor decided to end the war by killing everyone. Mass genocide on his own people. My brothers, my sisters, my children, all dead.”

“Children?”

Cassiopeia took off her ring and fiddled with it in her hands. “I had a partner, I think she would’ve been my wife when she died.”

“You think?”

“We’re very loose on the whole gender thing. I’ve been a man before, so had she. I’m pretty sure I fell for her when we were both women. But the faces are just the aesthetics, all that mattered was that it was her. This ring,” she held up the ring for Alex to see, “was basically a wedding ring. We were both fond of human traditions so she decided to give me this. See these engravings on the inside?” She handed the ring over to Alex so she could get a better look.

“Yeah?”

“That’s Gallifreyan. The language of our people. That spells out ‘Forever and Always’.” A tear ran down Cassiopeia’s face remembering when she first got the ring. Andy could barely hide her nerves, worried Cass would just throw it away and laugh in her face. She could remember the relief on Andy’s face when she threw her hands around her body instead, tears of happiness in her face.

“Why doesn’t the TARDIS translation thing work on it?”

“The TARDIS is Gallifreyan. It’s not exactly designed to translate something we should already read.”

“Fair enough. Stupid question.”

“No, it’s not stupid. This is all alien to you. Quite literally.” The women shared a small laugh over that.

“So, not to bring the mood down, but I’m guessing the way the war ended is why you don’t seem to have a great relationship with the last of your kind.”

“No, shit.” A smile stayed plastered on Cassiopeia’s face. The pair stayed in comfortable silence for a while before Alex decided to break it.

“What was Gallifrey like?”

“Hmm?”

“Well, we can’t visit it so could you, like, tell me what it was like?”

“Um, yeah, sure. Let’s see.” Cassiopeia looked off, deep in thought. “There was this red grass, kind of a rust colour, you know? And there’s these snow-capped mountains, they would glisten in the suns. It was so beautiful.”

“Suns? As in multiple suns?”

“Oh, yeah, two suns. Two moons, too.”

“Damn, two hearts, two moons, two suns. You guys were really greedy weren’t you,” Alex joked.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that. The trees were silver. And the sky, god, the sky. At night, it would go this beautiful burnt orange. Against it, you could see the Citadel, the capital city. It kinda looked like, god, how do I describe this?” Cassiopeia thought long and hard. “Right, you know snowglobes?” Alex burst out laughing.

“Your capital city was a snowglobe?” Cassiopeia found herself infected with laughter too.

“No. I’m trying to describe how it was in this dome like thing. And then you had the towers and spires and all sorts inside.”

“You lived in a snowglobe!” Alex was dangerously close to falling off the chair with how much she was laughing.

“Shut up!” Cassiopeia couldn’t contain her laughter as she threw a cushion at Alex’s face. That turned out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back as Alex tumbled to the ground. 

After a while, the laughter slowly died down and the pair were just staring towards the ceiling catching their breath. Cassiopeia looked over at Alex. “I wish I could show you Gallifrey. You would’ve loved it.”

“Yeah.” Alex looked over at Cassiopeia. “I think I would’ve loved it, Cassiopeia.”

“Cass.”

“Huh?”

“Call me Cass. Cassiopeia is a bit of a mouthful. Especially if you’re gonna be traveling with me.”

“Travel with you?”

“If you want to. You don’t have to. It doesn’t have to be permanent. Like once a week or something if you like. I know you have a family at home.”

“Cass, shut up.” Alex stopped Cassiopeia as she started spiralling. “I’d love to travel with you.” 

“Awesome.” Cassiopeia’s eyes suddenly grew twice as big as she clumsily got up from the chair and rushed over to the main console. Alex looked up to see Cassiopeia ducked into a compartment under the console.

“What are you looking for?” Alex asked, as she slowly walked over to Cassiopeia’s hunched figure.

“This!” Cass exclaimed. In her hand was a thread with a key at the end. “This is a key to the TARDIS.” Cassiopeia stood up and handed it to Alex.

Alex stopped for a moment. “Wait, for- for me?”

“Well, wouldn’t want you to get locked out of the TARDIS now, would we?”

“Thank you.” Alex tentatively took it in her hand and placed the thread over her neck, wearing the key like a necklace. “So, time to go home?”

“For now, yeah, we can do.”

“Awesome. Should probably let my family know I’m safe.”

“Yeah, of course.” Cassiopeia ran around the console, flipping switches, turning knobs, moving levers. “Oh,” she stopped her frantic nature for a moment, “remind me to teach you how to fly this at some point.”

“You’re getting into this quick.”

“Well, I’ve been alone for a long time. It gets pretty boring. And,” Cass looked at a screen with more of those weird circular markings, “we’ve arrived. 2007. Exactly where I picked you up.”

“Pick me up in a couple days?”

“Sure. What day?”

“Thursday 8th March?”

“See you then, Alex.”

“See you then, Cass.” With that, Alex walked through the doors and made her way home. It seemed her life was about to get more exciting than she thought.

Back in the TARDIS, Cass thought about the adventures she just had. Maybe she’d spent enough time alone. Maybe it was time to start letting people back into her life again. Cassiopeia walked over to the controls and set 8th March 2007 as the date.

Chapter Text

“I completely forgot to tell you where to find me!” Alex exclaimed as she walked through the TARDIS doors two days later. “The look on my parents’ faces when I told them I had to run out. God. Next time, by the way, I live at the Parkside Estate, do you know where that is?”

“I have an all knowing time machine from an alien planet made by one of the most technologically advanced civilizations in the known universe. I think it can find a housing estate,” Cassiopeia retorted from the opposite side of the console. She walked over to the quite frazzled human. “Now, where do you wanna go next?”

“I was thinking, we’ve been to an alien planet,” Alex said, excitedly, “what about some human past?”

“Good choice.” Cass smiled over at her. “What time period were you thinking?”

“My mum absolutely loves Shakespeare. So I was thinking how cool would it be to go back to the Globe Theatre and watch an actual Shakespearean performance?” Alex had a Cheshire cat smile plastered on her face.

“Alexandra, I love your thinking.” With a manic smile, Cassiopeia pulled Alex towards the console and started to input their desired year. However, Cass’s smile quickly turned to a frown with a mere look at the console’s screen. “One small problem, we need to make a pit stop first.”

“What do you mean a pit stop?”

“Like putting petrol in your car, or charging your phone. I haven’t used the TARDIS like this in awhile so we’ll need to refuel it before any other trips.”

“Ugh, fine.” Alex went to take a seat. “How do you refuel a time machine, anyway?”

“Time rifts. There’s a few scattered around. Like earthquake fault lines but for time and space. Energy leaks through, completely harmless to you lot, but perfect for a TARDIS. All we have to do is park on top of it, soak it up and hey presto, we’re ready to go.”

“So where do we find a time rift? Siberia? The Project Manhattan testing sites? Ooh, Antarctica!”

“Cardiff.”

“Cardiff?” Alex got up from her seat in disbelief. “As in basic Wales, Cardiff?”

“Yep!” Cass finally focused back in on Alex, tearing her attention away from the screen. “We’ve arrived.”

“I forget this thing is just absolutely quiet.”

“I’m a good pilot, come on.” Cass walked over to the doors and threw them open. Alex followed behind, a bit disappointed in the lackluster destination.

Looking straight ahead, Alex could see they were parked opposite the Wales Millenium Centre. It was just an ordinary day, in the modern year, adding to Alex’s disappointment. Cassiopeia had walked a couple feet away going on some ramble about the history of Cardiff and some rebellion that had happened here or something. Alex quickly lost interest in whatever Cass was saying as she saw a very similar blue box parked next to them with a couple of very familiar faces staring at her.

“Hey, Cass,” Alex called over but Cass was still not paying attention. “Cass, you might wanna see this.”

“But, of course, the really interesting bit is-”

“CASSIOPEIA!” This finally got her attention as she spun around and immediately had her day ruined.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered under her breath. She stalked over to the group before them. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Nice to see you too, Cassie,” the Doctor responded.

“Opeia. Cassiopeia.” The Doctor that stood before them was the Northener Alex had met in Downing Street. Rose was by his side again, but he was also joined by two men. One of them was wrapped up in a scarf and gloves to protect him from the cold, paired with a khaki coloured jacket and beige trousers. Alex thought he seemed to have caught more sun than the average Brit. The other wore a massive black parka coat for warmth with just a basic shirt and jeans underneath.

“Alex, great to see you again,” Rose said, going forward to talk to her.

“Last I saw you was a couple days ago, how’ve you been?”

“Couple days? Been quite a bit longer for us.” Rose looked over to the Doctor.

“Time travel, sweetheart,” Cassiopeia answered. “We’re gonna meet each other out of time. And different amounts of time will have passed for each of us.”

“Aren’t you going to introduce us, Doctor?” The first man spoke up with an American accent. He approached Alex. “Hey, ladies. Captain Jack Harkness.” He extended his hand.

“Cool.” Alex was definitely not impressed with this man. Absolute flirt and not her type.

“I’m Cassiopeia Smith, this is Alexandra. And you,” Cass poked Jack in the chest, “will stay out of our way.”

“Why do you have your own TARDIS?” the final unknown man asked.

“Because it’s mine,” Cass blatantly spelled out.

“But, the Doctor’s got his ‘cause he’s all alien and stuff.”

“So is Cass,” Alex answered. “She’s a Time Lord, like the Doctor.”

“I thought you were the last of your kind?” the unknown man asked the Doctor.

“He likes to pretend I don’t exist since I pretend he doesn’t exist,” Cassiopeia answered, voice thick with snark.

“Can we go get lunch?” Alex decided to change the conversation to save the group from the tension. “Had to leave before I could grab a bite.”

“Ooh, we could as one big group,” Rose suggested.

“Depends what Cassiopeia says.” The Doctor looked over at her.

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes. “If Alex is happy, I’m happy.” With that, Cass linked arms with Alex and led the way through the city of Cardiff.

Eventually the group had found a nice little restaurant to relax with seating by the river.  Luckily it was built like a conservatory so they could still get the view of the river while being protected from the harsh elements. Jack, Rose and Cassiopeia sat on one side of the table, with Mickey (the previously unknown person, Rose introduced them on the walk), the Doctor and Alex opposite them respectively. They were all sharing stories of their previous travels, with laughter and smiles all around. Alex was happy to see Cass, even if for a moment, be able to be happy in the company of her father. Their joy was cut short though as something from across the room caught the Doctor’s eye. He walked over to an old man and snatched a newspaper out of his hand.

Cassiopeia was the first to notice. “What’s wrong?”

The Doctor looked up from the paper. “And I was having such a nice day.” He turned the paper around to show the group the front page with the title ‘New Mayor, new Cardiff’. Alex immediately recognised the woman in the picture. She had her hand up, as if to block the camera from getting a good shot of her but it didn’t matter. Alex would always remember the woman that almost killed her in Downing Street.

“Here we go again,” Cassiopeia complained.

The group had quickly made the decision to ambush Margaret (the human name the Slitheen was going by according to the paper) at City Hall. They marched forth into the foyer in a line: Jack, Alex, Cassiopeia, the Doctor, Rose, Mickey.

“Okay, plan of attack,” Cassiopeia started, “we assume a basic 57-56 strategy, covering all available exits on the ground floor. Doctor, you go face to face. That’ll designate Exit One. Alex and I will cover Exit Two. Jack, you get Exit Three. Rose, Exit Four. And Mickey, you take Exit Five. Have you got that?” The Doctor looked to Cassiopeia.

“Excuse me. Who’s in charge?”

Cassiopeia refused to look at the Doctor. “Currently, me.”

“It’s a good enough plan so I won’t argue right now.”

“Present arms,” Jack said. Everyone, except Cassiopeia, pulled out a mobile phone.’

“Cass, where’s your phone?” Alex asked.

“I don’t own one, that’s why you’re with me.”

“Fair enough.”

“You lot ready?” Cassiopeia asked the group. After receiving a chorus of yes’s, they all set off to their positions.

“How’d you know all that army talk?” Alex asked Cassiopeia while they were waiting.

“I told you, I fought in the war. I got pretty good in the army. One of the most infamous soldiers.”

“One of?”

“Unfortunately, I had the Doctor to compete with for most infamous.”

“You two really have your fair shares of battle scars.” Before Cassopiea could respond, the Doctor’s voice came over the phone.

“Slitheen heading north.”

“F.A.B.”

Cass looked over confused. “F.A.B?”

“What? My parents showed me Thunderbirds growing up. Plus my sister dragged me to the movie a few years ago.” Cass merely shrugged in response. The pair ran off to intercept the Slitheen, having to vault over a tea trolley on the way.

They burst through the doors to get outside, spotting Margaret on the other side of a car park. The pair chased after her, noticing Jack and Rose do the same. The Doctor was climbing down a ladder that was up against the City Hall. However there was one exit, Mickey’s exit, that wasn’t covered. Mickey emerged moments too late letting Margaret get away. When they looked over, Margaret had teleported away.

“She’s got a teleport!” Jack shouted.

“That’s cheating,” Alex whined, catching her breath.

“Oh, the Doctor’s very good at teleports,” Rose reassured the group. The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver and Margaret reappeared. She quickly realised what happened and turned away to teleport again. 

The pair went through this song and dance a few more times before the Doctor said, “I could do this all day.”

“This is persecution,” Margaret complained. “Why can’t you leave me alone? What did I ever do to you?”

“Try to kill us and destroy the planet for profit,” Cassiopeia offered up.

“Apart from that,” Margaret glared at her.

The group had marched Margaret back into City Hall to figure out what her plan had been. They’d walked into a large room with a table in the centre. On the table was a model of Cardiff except with a nuclear power station in the centre. At the back of the room was a podium with a banner above saying ‘Blaidd Drwg’.

“So, you’re a Slitheen,” the Doctor started, “you’re on Earth, you’re trapped. Your family get killed, but you teleport out. You have no means of escape, what do you do? You build a nuclear power station, but what for?” They’d gathered round the table by this point, all looking at the model.

“A philanthropic gesture,” Margaret claimed, remorse in her voice. “I’ve learnt the error of my ways.”

Cassiopeia rolled her eyes. “And it just so happened to be right on top of the rift?”

“What rift would that be?” Margaret asked.

“A rift in space and time,” Jack answered. “If this power station went into meltdown, the entire planet would be,” Jack made a sucking noise then a boom while gesturing that the plant would implode in on itself then explode the planet.

“This station is designed to explode the minute it reaches capacity,” the Doctor observed.

“Didn’t anyone notice?” Rose asked. “Isn’t there someone in London checking this sort of stuff?”

“We’re in Cardiff,” Margaret complained. “London doesn’t care! South Wales could fall into the sea and they wouldn’t notice.” She had a moment of realisation. “Oh. I sound like a Welshman. God help me, I’ve gone native.”

“But why would she do that? A great big explosion, she’d only end up killing herself,” Mickey weighed in.

“She’s got a name, you know,” Margaret bit back.

“She’s not even a she , she’s a thing ,” Mickey responded.

“Oi!” Cassiopeia shouted back. “Aliens are people too. Just because we’re not your high and mighty human beings doesn’t mean we’re not owed respect.” Cassiopeia looked over at the Doctor. “Is this the idiot that was on the phone back in Downing Street?” The Doctor nodded. “Should’ve known, you were right, he is an idiot.”

“Oi,” Rose argued back.

“Don’t,” Alex said, already exhausted with the Doctor’s current companions, "I didn't come here for you lot to get into a fight.”

“Exactly, Alex,” the Doctor said. “Anyway, she’s clever.” The Doctor pulled the power plant section of the model up to reveal it was a piece of alien tech. “Fantastic!”

“Is that a tribophysical waveform macro-kinetic extrapolator?” Cassiopeia asked, walking over to it with a face full of glee.

“Couldn’t have put it better myself,” the Doctor responded.

“Oo, genius,” Jack said with just as much excitement, taking the tech out of the Doctor’s arms. “You didn’t build this.”

“I have my hobbies,” Margaret explained. “A little tinkering.”

“No, no, no,” Jack said. “I mean, you really didn’t build this. Way beyond you.”

“I bet she stole it,” Mickey quickly added in.

“See, now we’re getting into racism,” Cassiopeia said.

Alex stood by her saying, “I think Cass is right, very quick to dismiss aliens, aren’t you?”

“It fell into my hands,” Margaret defended herself.

“Is it a weapon?” Rose asked.

“Try transport,” Cassiopeia said. “Reactor blows, rift opens, phenomenal cosmic disaster. But this thing,” she snatched the tech off Jack, “shrouds you in a forcefield, makes you safe. Feed in the coordinates, stand on top and ride the concussion all the way out of the solar system.”

“It’s an interstellar surfboard?” Alex asked with a smile.

“Pan-dimensional, but close enough,” Cass responded with a smile.

“And it would’ve worked,” Margaret added. “I’d have surfed away from this dead-end dump and back to civilization.”

“You’d blow up a whole planet, just to get a lift?” Mickey asked, incredulously.

“Like stepping on an anthill.”

“You still wanna defend her?” he asked Cassiopeia.

“Just because she wants to blow up the planet, doesn’t mean she doesn’t deserve basic decency. Not my fault you have your prejudices.”

“How’d you think of the name?” the Doctor asked, seemingly out of nowhere. No one had noticed that for the last bit of the conversation the Doctor had been somewhat entranced by the name of the project.

“What?” Margaret asked, for the first time actually confused. “Blaidd Drwg? It’s Welsh.”

“I know, but how did you think of it?”

“I chose it at random, that’s all. I don’t know. It just sounded good. Does it matter?”

“Blaidd Drwg.”

“What’s it mean?” Rose asked.

“Bad Wolf,” Cassiopeia answered.

“But I’ve heard that before,” Rose said. “Bad Wolf. I’ve heard that lots of times.”

Cassiopeia let out a loud groan. “Can you deal with your overarching bullshit in your own time? Right now, we need to be getting her,” she pointed at Margaret, “on the TARDIS and getting her home.”

“Hold on, isn’t that the easy option,” Jack complained, “like letting her go?”

“Well, what else are we gonna do? Kill her?” Cassiopeia reasoned.

“I don’t believe it,” Rose said excitedly. “We actually get to go to Raxa…” She struggled to sound out the name of the planet.

While Rose was attempting to say it, Cass simply looked over at Alex. “Do you know how to say it?”

“Raxacoricofallapatorious, right?”

“Yep.”

“They have the death penalty,” Margaret interrupted, sending the whole room into silence. “The family Slitheen was tried in its absence many years ago and found guilty with no chance of appeal. According to the statutes of government, the moment I return, I am to be executed. What do you make of that, Doctor? Take me home and you take me to my death.”

“Not my problem,” the Doctor said, ice in his voice.

“You can’t be serious,” Cassiopeia argued. “You’re just gonna send her to her death like that?”

“Yeah.”

“I was right, you haven’t changed a bit.”

They walked back to the TARDIS, Cassiopeia actively staying as far away from the Doctor as possible. Once they got inside his TARDIS, Alex noticed it was very different from Cassiopeia’s. Instead of the futuristic book nook Cassiopeia had, the Doctor’s was best described as futuristic steampunk and grunge. It was all brown metallic, with a bright green column in the centre of the control console. Brown root-like structures twisted from the base to the top of the room and roundish screw-like holes covered the walls.

“I see you’ve redecorated since I was last here,” Cassiopeia noted. “I don’t like it.”

“Wait,” Rose said, “you’ve been here before?”

“Oh, honey,” Cassiopeia started, “you’re far from the first human he’s taken on trips around the universe, the only difference is I’m not tagging along this time.”

“Doctor kicked you out?” Mickey assumed.

“No, I settled down,” Cassiopeia bit back, subtly showing off the ring on her left hand. It evidently seemed to shut Mickey up, much to Cassiopeia’s peace of mind, but they’d already annoyed her enough. She went to sit on the very far side of the TARDIS, away from everyone else, not paying attention to the conversation. Alex silently slipped down next to her.

“Ignore him,” Alex reassured her. “He’s being a right prick.” Cass let out a small laugh at that.

“I know,” Cass said, “but it’s hard being here. Especially with the Doctor acting like this.” Cass took a breath.“If I knew how to save Margaret, I would.”

“But no one says no to the Doctor.”

“I did.” Cass let out a sigh. “And I ended up floating around in space with no family because of it.”

“How long were you alone for?”

“About a hundred years.”

“Yikes.” Cass just nodded. “Well, look on the bright side, you don’t have to deal with that anymore, you have me.”

Cass let herself smile. “You’re right, I do.” She rested her head on Alex’s shoulder. Not much time later and Mickey and Rose left the TARDIS, seemingly not wanting to be around Margaret. Jack walked over to the pair on the floor.

“How are you two holding up?”

“Annoyed for the most part, still hungry,” Alex answered. Cass took out her bulky tablet and started pushing some buttons. “What is that?”

“A scanner,” Cass answered. “And right now it’s telling me that you, Mr Harkness, are hiding something from us.” Alex looked up at Jack, surprised. “Where are you from?”

“You’re smart,” Jack laughed. “Boeshane Peninsula, 51st century.”

“And your parents called you Jack?” Alex tilted her head.

“No, just a cover I used in World War Two London. That’s actually where I met the Doctor and Rose. Thought they were a couple of Time Agents, tried to scam them.”

“Time Agents?”

“The Time Agency is a whole thing,” Cass explained. “They have time-vortex manipulators, cheap and nasty time travel. Basically supervising the timeline. I don’t really like them. But what was your grudge against them.”

“I used to be one,” Jack sighed.

“Enough said, I’ve heard about some of their practices and I see how that could drive you to that.”

“You know, I was the first in the Boeshane to be signed up, kinda became a poster boy,” he remembered wistfully. “Face of Boe, they called me.”

“Explains the vanity,” Alex joked.

“You’re not wrong there,” Jack joked back.

“As much as I’d love to stay in the room with Mr. Judge, Jury And Executioner over there, and his latest victim, I might get out for a bit.” Cass looked over to Alex. “What do you think, we could grab some dinner?”

“Dinner sounds perfect,” Alex replied.

“Have fun, you two,” Jack said as the pair stood up. He bid them goodbye as they stepped out into the harsh Welsh night.

Eventually the pair found a nice little restaurant, not too far away, got sat down and ordered their food.

“Do you reckon there’s a way we could help Margaret?” Alex asked.

“Nope, once the Doctor has made up his mind, he’s made up his mind. Trust me, I’ve tried to change it before.”

“On Gallifrey?”

“Yeah.” Cass looked off remorsefully.

“When was the last time you talked about all that stuff?”

“A long long time ago. While it was happening, I guess.”

“So for a hundred years you’ve just stayed there with all that bottled up?” Alex couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Yeah. Why?”

“I’m impressed you haven’t strangled the man already.” Cass let out a laugh at this.

“That’s the thing about our relationship, I may not like him, but he’s the only other Time Lord left. I’m not in a hurry to make myself the last.”

“Fair point.”

“And with this whole Margaret thing, I get it. She can’t stay on Earth, but she’ll die if she goes back.”

“Bit of a ‘you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here’ kind of situation?”

“Exactly. Anyways, enough of my depressing shit. I’ve told you about my family, tell me about yours.”

“Yeah, got my mum, she’s a physics lecturer. My dad’s a doctor. Still live with them at home, cheaper than renting in London. My little sister, Liv, is back home too. She’s only in Year 2 right now, but she’s already got an eye for maths.”

“Good, maths is far better than English.”

“Oi, English was one of my favourite subjects,” Alex laughed, mock offended.

“One of, what was your favourite?”

“History.”

“Good subject, great when you have a time machine.”

“Exactly.”

Eventually their food arrived and conversation continued like so. Cass was amazed at how easy it was talking to Alex and laughing with her. She never thought she’d find someone like that again. Slowly, over the course of the meal, she found out that Alex also worked at a local bookshop, happy to surround herself with literature most of the day, a bit like Cass. Likewise, Alex found out about some of the adventures in Cass’s earlier life, about Zygons and Cybermen and going bowling with Jane Austen. Even when there wasn’t much talking, it was a comfortable silence. Neither woman felt forced to fill the gap; they were both content as was. Before they knew it, Cassiopeia was paying the bill, and the pair were slowly walking arm in arm back towards the TARDIS.

“You stole that money, didn’t you.”

“Obviously, where else would I have gotten it from.” Alex couldn’t hold back her laugh. “I’m sorry, do you expect me, Cassiopeia Smith, Time Lord, to get a boring mundane job. No!” They were both laughing at this point. “Anyways, you highly underestimate how easy it is to steal money on this planet.”

“God, you’re gonna get me in so much trouble,” Alex said, laughter dying down.

“I already have,” Cass joked. The pair stopped and looked at each other for a moment. It may have been cold as ice, but it was a beautiful night. A slight breeze made Cass tuck violet strands of hair behind her ear. Before either of them could say another word though, a deep rumble came from the ground.

“Unless, that was another sun god that wants to eat our souls, please tell me you know what that was,” Alex said, holding onto Cass just in case.

Suddenly the streetlights were sparking and going out, while shop windows were shattering. The pair ran as fast they could back towards the TARDIS.

When the TARDIS was back in sights, it wasn’t a pretty view. By that point, the ground was rumbling like an earthquake. Blue lightning was going from the sky straight to the Doctor’s TARDIS, thankfully leaving Cassiopeia’s alone. Unfortunately, this very obviously pointed to the conclusion of sabotage from having Margaret on board.

“Shit.”

“What’s happening, Cass?”

“The rift’s opening.” That’s all it took for the pair to start running again towards the TARDIS. The ground beneath started to crack open. Luckily, they were just behind Margaret and the Doctor, who was able to open the TARDIS for them.

All four rushed inside to figure out what was going on. Lights were flashing. The centre column was making noise. Things were just as bad in the TARDIS as they were outside.

“What the hell are you doing?” the Doctor shouted at Jack.

“It just went crazy!”

“It’s the rift!” the Doctor explained over the chaos. “Time and space are ripping apart, the whole city’s going to disappear!” Sparks started flying off the console, making it almost impossible to work on.

“It’s the extrapolator,” Jack figured out. “I’ve disconnected it but it’s still feeding off the engine. It’s using the TARDIS. I can’t stop.” Both Time Lords and Jack were working furiously at the console to try and stop the rift from opening up again.

“Never mind Cardiff,” Cassiopeia said. “It’s going to rip open the planet.”

Rose ran into the TARDIS, no Mickey in sight. “What is it? What’s happening?”

“Oh, just little me!” Margaret said. She rid herself of one of the arms from her flesh suit to reveal the horrific Slitheen arm underneath. Before she could think about what she was doing, Alex pushed Rose away from the obvious danger while putting herself into it. In a flash, Margaret had the giant Slitheen hand around Alex’s throat. The group rushed to save Alex. “One wrong move and she snaps like a promise.”

“I might have known,” the Doctor said.

“I’ve had you bleating all night, poor baby, now shut it!” Margaret looked at Jack. “You, fly boy, put the extrapolator at my feet.”

Cass, filled with fear, put on her best brave face for Alex. “We’ll get you out of this.”

“I know,” Alex replied. Cass couldn’t believe the faith Alex had in her, but she damn sure wasn’t going to waste it.

Jack returned putting the extrapolator at Margaret’s feet. “Thank you,” Margaret said with a sickly sweet smile. “Just as I planned.”

“I thought you needed to blow up the nuclear power station,” Rose said.

“Failing that, if I were to be… arrested, then anyone capable of tracking me down would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would be captivated by the extrapolator. Especially a magpie mind like yours, Doctor. So the extrapolator was programmed to go to plan B. To lock onto the nearest alien power source and open the rift. And what a power source it found. I’m back on schedule, thanks to you.”

“The rift’s gonna convulse, you’ll destroy the whole planet,” Jack urged.

“And you with it!” Margaret stepped onto the extrapolator. “While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno all the way to freedom! Stand back, boys. Surf’s up.” The TARDIS was going more heywire by the second that one of the console panels suddenly lifted up, shining a bright light onto Margaret’s face.

“Of course, opening the rift means you’ll pull this ship apart,” Cassiopeia said, weirdly calm.

“So sue me.”

“It’s not just any old power source,” the Doctor explained. “It’s the TARDIS. My TARDIS. The best ship in the universe.” Even in these circumstances, Cassiopeia couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“It’ll make wonderful scrap.”

“What’s that light?” Alex asked, starting to be more concerned about the light than the claw against her throat.

“It’s the heart of the TARDIS,” the Doctor continued. “This ship’s alive. You’ve opened its soul.”

Margaret looked directly into the light. “It’s… …so bright…”

“Look at it, Margaret.”

“Beautiful…”

“Look inside, Blon Fel Fotch. Look at the light.” Margaret’s grip on Alex relaxed, allowing her to get free. Cass quickly reached over to pull Alex into her arms and stop her looking at the light.

“You’re safe now,” Cass whispered in her ear as Alex held tightly onto Cass.

Margaret smiled, looked up at the Doctor and said, “thank you,” before disappearing into the light leaving an empty flesh suit where she stood moments ago.

“Don’t look,” the Doctor quickly warned everyone. “Stay there. Close your eyes!” He went over and shut the console so no one else would be hurt. The Doctor went on to bark orders to shut down the TARDIS but Cass stayed holding onto Alex. Quickly, everything stopped as they were able to get the Tardis under control and close up the rift again.

“What happened to Margaret?” Alex asked as she turned her head to look at the flesh suit.

“Must’ve got burnt up,” Jack guessed. “Carried out her own death sentence.”

“Nothing’s ever that simple with the TARDIS,” Cassiopeia said. “Ship’s telepathic, gets inside your head.”

The Doctor crouched down next to the flesh suit and pulled an egg with roots on the top out of it. “Here she is!” he exclaimed with glee.

“She’s an egg?” Rose asked.

“Regressed to her childhood,” the Doctor explained.

“Now she can start again,” Cassiopeia added. “Live a life from scratch. Take her to a good home with a good family, tell them to bring her up properly, she might be alright.”

“Or she might be worse,” Jack countered.

“Her choice,” the Doctor said.

“Now, if we’re quite done here,” Alex started, “I was promised a trip to the Globe Theatre.”

“Your wish is my command.” Cassiopeia turned to the Doctor. “I would say I hope I don’t see you again, but now that I’m back in this life I fear it’s an inevitability.”

“Until the next, Cassie.”

“It’s Cassiopeia.” Alex all but had to drag Cass out with rushed goodbyes before another life was almost ended. While Alex did always enjoy being able to save people, she was hoping that for now she could just relax with some theatre.

Chapter Text

“Morning, Lex,” Megan Knight called out, upon seeing her eldest daughter enter the kitchen. “You’re never normally awake this early on a Sunday.” It was only 10am, usually Alex didn’t see the light of day until noon.

“Morning,” Alex turned on the kettle to make herself a cup of coffee. She was already dressed in a Queen band tee and a pair of black jeans, excited to get the day started. Resting against the counter, she saw her mother, father and little sister all sat around the kitchen table having breakfast.  “I’m going out with a friend today. She told me to be ready early.”

“Oh?” Alex’s dad, Liam, had his interest piqued at this. Alex hadn’t had much luck making friends since they had to move to London, so hearing that she’d made plans with a friend definitely made a change.

“Yeah, her name’s Cass. We met a few weeks ago.” Alex turned around to get a mug out of the cupboard to start making her coffee.

“Is that the girl with the funny hair from last week?” Liv asked, innocently.

Alex froze.

Normally they would meet up on a Thursday on Alex’s day off, she just had to make sure she could drop Liv off to school and pick her up afterwards. But last week, after a near escape, Cass walked with Alex to explain the new technology they stole.

“We can go travelling, you said!” Alex screamed over the sound of gun fire. “It’ll be fun, you said! I’ll make sure nothing bad happens, you said!” She risked a look out from their current position to see how close the soldiers were, quickly retreating again. “This is not what I signed up for!”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Cass said from her spot next to Alex, more concerned with the item in her hands than the bullets being fired at them. “But this will make everything safer in the long term.” Alex just glared at her. Cass ignored her, fiddling with the item in her hands more. “Yes! I think I’ve got it. We just need to get back to the TARDIS.”

“And how do you suggest we do that?” Alex grumbled. 

“When I say run, run.” Cass had a manic grin on her face, something Alex had quickly gotten used to seeing.

“Fine.” They held hands, Cass squeezing in reassurance. She hesitantly lifted her head over the box they were hiding behind, waiting for the perfect opportunity.

“RUN!” The girls fled from their position, back towards the safe haven of the TARDIS. Cass threw the device to Alex, as she reached under her jacket for her gun, in order to provide cover for Alex.

By some miracle they’d made it back to the TARDIS in one piece. Cass had thought if they were going to continue traveling together, they should get some insurance that Alex could always make it back home safe. She knew that at some point in the near future, UNIT would come into possession of a time-vortex manipulator. Despite Cass’s disdain of the technology, she’d rather have it if it meant Alex would be guaranteed a way back home. So the most logical conclusion was break into the one of the most secure places in the world to steal what looked like a high tech wristband to Alex.

“Here we go,” Cass said, putting the manipulator on Alex’s wrist. “Now, I’ve inputted your home coordinates as default, so it should be quick and easy to use.” She checked the TARDIS screen. “We’re right on time, not far from Liv’s school, let me walk you to explain some more.”

“Sure,” Alex replied, intrigued by the object put on her wrist. They left the TARDIS towards the primary school.

“So, this is a last resort only. If we can get away without using it, I’d much prefer that.”

“How come?”

“It’s cheap and nasty.” Cass left a pregnant pause. “And can basically make you high.”

“What!”

“It’s not like I’m giving you cocaine, don’t worry. It’s just much better to use the TARDIS,” Cass reassured her. “Anyway, worst case scenario, you only ever have to use it once.” 

They had arrived outside Olivia’s school, Cass bid her goodbyes, and only a few moments later Liv had run over to tell Alex all about her day. 

If Olivia had seen Cass, she hadn’t mentioned it at the time. This was the first Alex was hearing about it.

“I didn’t know you’d seen her, pumpkin,” Alex said, pouring the boiled water into her mug.

“What does she mean ‘funny hair’?” Megan asked her.

“Oh, Cass has like bright purple hair.”

“Ah, quite out there.”

“You have no idea.”

Alex sat down with the rest of her family, coffee in one hand, apple in another. They exchanged pleasantries and plans to take Liv swimming that day. Alex got through her drink and food swiftly before her phone had gone off.

“It’s Cass,” she informed her family. After their Shakespeare adventure, Cass had done something to Alex’s phone so it could be used anywhere in time and space to contact her family. It also had the perk of having Cass’s ‘number’, Alex was fairly sure any messages went either to the TARDIS or the scanner. “Got to go, love you.” She put her mug in the sink, grabbed her jacket, and kissed her parents goodbye.

Cass was fiddling with random switches in the TARDIS when Alex came barrelling in. “There you are!” she addressed the newcomer.

“Where we off to today?”

“I’ve gotten a message.” Alex tilted her head in confusion.

“How do you get messages? Been giving other people your number?” Cass pulled a wallet with a single piece of paper on display inside of it. On the paper, the message ‘Ward 26 - please come’ appeared as if it was just then being written down. “What’s that?”

“Psychic paper, tells someone whatever you want them to see. Great for getting into places.”

“And why couldn’t we use this to get the stupid manipulator?”

“UNIT knows my face, would’ve been harder that way.”

“Harder than being shot at?”

“Do you want to go to New Earth, or do you want to stay here arguing about the past?” 

“Fine,” Alex surrendered. “Take me away, space girl.”

“As you wish, Earth girl.”

Chapter Text

“So, back in five billion, Earth gets burnt up, eventual heat death of the sun and all that. But humans gonna human and they persist. You spread across the universe and refuse to die. When the Earth dies, humans get all nostalgic, massive revival, then find this place. It’s the same size, same air, even same orbit as Earth. Enter into the picture, New Earth.” Cass held the door of the TARDIS open for Alex.

Alex stepped out onto the fresh grass. On the other side of a serene river, she beheld a sprawling metropolis. The skyline was crowded with metallic skyscrapers circling a central citadel. High above them, cars flew past them, all filtering into the city. And all around her, Alex could smell… apples?

“I forgot about this,” Cass said, crouching down and ripped some grass up. “Smell that.”

“Apples?”

“Apples.” Cass looked around and pointed to a building by the shore, completely separated from the city. “That’s where we’re heading.”

“What is it?”

“Hospital, see that green sign?” Alex noted a green circle with a crescent moon. “That’s the universal sign for a hospital.”

“Like the red cross symbol we have back in my day?”

“Exactly.”

Cass and Alex walked into a large echoing lobby. Everything seemed fairly familiar, apart from the cat people dressed head to toe white, reminiscent of nuns’ wimples and habits, that were walking around.

“What’s with all the cats?” Alex asked, looking around.

“Nursing staff, I believe. Not 100% sure of the nun attire, though.” They looked around for the elevators, Cass finding them over on the left side of the room.

“Guess I should tell Dad he might be out of a job?” Alex joked.

“Hmm?”

“You’re not the only with a doctor for a dad, remember?” The lift doors opened and they walked inside.

“Ward 26,” Cass told the elevator. The doors closed behind them.

“Commence stage one disinfection,” a speaker in the lift said. Before Alex got a chance to question what that meant, she was showered with water. Cass stood there, taking it in as if this was normal, while Alex couldn’t help but shriek at the surprisingly cold water. When it had finally stopped, they were met with a gush of hot air that dried them both completely and swiftly. The lift doors then opened again, allowing them to go searching for Ward 26.

“You could’ve warned me about that,” Alex said, slapping Cass in the arm.

“Shit, yeah, forgot you don’t have those yet. Sorry.”

“What do you mean ‘yet’?” Alex called out, but Cass was already walking away, asking one of the cat people where Ward 26 was.

They were led into a long room, sterile white as far as they could see. Down each side of the room, were different patients, none immediately recognisable to Cass. One person had red skin, suspended in the air with their arms out.

“That,” Cass pointed to the patient, “is Marconi’s disease. And that,” she turned around to point to a man, pale as a ghost, “is Pallidrome Pancrosis. Interesting, actually. I thought it killed someone in 10 minutes?”

“It used to, but we’ve found a simple remedy to help him,” the nurse escorting them explained.

“What is it?”

“Patient confidentiality, I’m afraid.” The nurse quickly turned the subject away from Cass’s curiosity. “Is there no one in the ward you recognise?” Cass and Alex looked around, completely none the wiser.

“I don’t think so, never really kept any friendships that would be here now.” As they continued to look around aimlessly, another nurse approached them.

“Excuse me, I believe my patient knows you.” The pair looked towards where the new nurse was gesturing. The patient in question was a face the size of Alex sat in a massive see-through container.

“Who is it?” Alex asked.

“The Face of Boe,” the nurse responded. For a moment, the pair thought they had misheard. Last time they had heard someone be referred to as the Face of Boe, he looked very different.

“Jack?” Cass asked, approaching him.

“Hello, Cass,” he responded telepathically.

“Why did you call us here?” Alex asked, now standing next to Cass.

“I thought you would’ve known,” the new nurse said. “The Face of Boe is dying.”

“I have a million and one questions.” Cass was absolutely astounded. How could the man they’d met in Cardiff a few weeks ago be here in New Earth as a massive head?

“Unfortunately, those questions will have to wait,” the nurse said. “The Face of Boe was just about to sleep when you walked in.”

“Of course,” Alex said. “As my dad always says, rest is one of the best forms of medicine. What was your name by the way, I didn’t catch it?”

“Novice Hame.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Alex and this is my friend Cassiopeia.”

“Let me grab a couple chairs,” Cass said. “You’re working hard, you probably need a bit of a rest.” Cass touched Novice Hame’s arm then went off to go grab some chairs for the small group.

The three women sat around talking happily. It was mainly Novice Hame and Alex comparing their personal experiences of hospitals and how much had changed over time. Cass would contribute with some of the differences she knew about different species and over the past five billion years that the others didn’t. However, for the most part, she was sat silently, looking at the Face of Boe. She was wondering what her future had in store. She doubted that Jack would want her by his side on his deathbed based on one chance meeting in Cardiff. No, they must meet again at some point. That was the problem with time travel, you never meet people in the right order. Speaking of that, an unfamiliar face, with a very familiar vibe, approached them.

“Novice Hame, can I leave this gentleman in your care?” the nurse from before asked. The man accompanying her was tall and a bit lanky. He wore a navy blue pinstripe suit with a light brown overcoat and a pair of Converse.

“Oh, I think my friend got lost,” he said to the nurse. “Rose Tyler. Could you ask at reception?”

“Certainly sir,” she replied and walked off.

“Hello, Doctor,” Cass said.

“Seriously, a new face?” Alex couldn’t believe it.

“Face of Boe’s asleep right now, has been since we got here,” Cass said, brushing over Alex’s comment.

“Are you a friend?” Novice Hame asked.

“We met just the once on Platform One,” the Doctor responded. Alex was about to interrupt him but Cass quickly stopped her. “What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s dying,” Cass said, somber.

“Of what?”

“Old age,” Novice Hame answered. “The one thing we can’t cure. He’s thousands of years old. Some people say millions, although that’s impossible.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I like impossible,” the Doctor said, crouching down next to the Face of Boe. “I’m here. I look a bit different, but it’s me, it’s the Doctor.”

“Alex,” Cass said, “would you go get me some water?” She nodded her towards the Doctor to indicate her ulterior motives.

“Yeah, I’ll be right back.” Alex walked off, giving the two Time Lords time together.

“When was the last time you saw me?” the Doctor asked. “Given Alex’s reaction, she’s already experienced the regeneration part.”

“Cardiff with Jack, Rose and Mickey.”

“Same here, I’ve only just gotten this face really.”

“Makes sense, sounds like you’re still with Rose.”

“Yeah.” The Doctor smiled thinking about that. He looked over at Cass. “Weird to have you be civil for once.”

“Our friend is dying, figured we could put the family drama to the side for now.” Cass met the Doctor’s gaze and smiled. 

“How do you know the Face of Boe?”

“Same as you, we met once, that’s all.” Cass turned to look back at the Face. “Besides, I think we both know better than anyone that no one deserves to die alone.”

The Doctor smiled sadly. “You’re right.”

Soon after, Alex returned, balancing four cups of water in her hands. She carefully handed one to Cass, the Doctor and Novice Hame.

“That’s very kind,” Novice Hame said. “There’s no need.”

“You’re the one working,” Alex said, understanding in her voice.

“There’s not much to do, just maintain his smoke. And I suppose I’m company. I can hear him singing, sometimes, in my mind. Such ancient songs.”

“Are we the only visitors?” Cass asked.

“The rest of Boekind became extinct long ago,” Novice Hame explained. “He’s the only one left. Legend says that the Face of Boe has watched the universe grow old. There’s all sorts of superstitions around him. One story says that just before his death, the Face of Boe will impart his great secret, that he will speak those words only to one like himself.”

“What does that mean?” the Doctor asked.

“It’s just a story.”

“Tell me the rest.”

“It’s said he’ll talk to a wanderer. To the man without a home. The lonely god.”

Cass let out a small laugh. “I’ve always hated stories like that. Especially ones about magicians.”

“Why?” Alex asked.

“Because they always turn out to be him.” Cass pointed at the Doctor.

The Doctor had one of the most genuine smiles Cass had seen in a while. “I’m going to call Rose, she should’ve been here by now.”

The Doctor decided to investigate all of the patients on the ward suffering from what should be fatal illnesses that were making miraculous recoveries. When Alex started asking questions, Cass discretely explained it was like having the cure for cancer in 1907. It wasn’t too long before Rose finally appeared and the Doctor immediately took her aside to talk about the remedies. Initially, Cass decided to just let them go explore the mystery by themselves. That was until she looked over to see Rose grabbing onto the Doctor’s head and kissing him.

“Oh my god, that is so wrong,” Cass said. Alex went to look around to figure out what she was talking about but Cass just grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the ward. Rose wandered away, but before the Doctor could follow, Cass grabbed him. “What the fuck was that?”

“Cass,” Alex jumped in to mediate, “maybe this isn’t the highest priority right now? Let’s just take a breather.”

“Yeah, something’s up with these nuns,” the Doctor said, finally pulling himself back together. “Terminals this way.” He started walking the same way Rose went. And there was no way in hell Cassiopeia was letting them be left alone.

The four of them were gathered around a screen in the waiting room, inspecting it thoroughly.

“Nope, nothing odd,” the Doctor said. “Surgery, post-op, nano-dentistry. No sign of a shop. They should have a shop.”

“You’ve always been on this little shop crusade, I’ve never understood it.”

“No, it’s missing something else,” Rose said, sounding a bit posher than last remembered.

“Yeah,” Alex said, “ICU. I basically have my dad’s hospital layout memorised with the amount of times I’ve had to drop off his lunch. And I don’t care what year it is, this hospital should have an ICU.”

“This is why I like you,” Cass said, beaming with pride.

“Why would they hide a whole department?” Rose asked. “It’s got to be there somewhere. Search the sub-frame.” Cass shared a side glance with Alex.

“What if the sub-frame’s locked?” the Doctor asked, already with his sonic screwdriver out.

“Try the installation protocol,” Rose said, sounding annoyed.

“Yeah, of course, sorry.” He started scanning the screen. “Hold on.” The whole wall slid down to reveal a dark hidden corridor, completely out of place against the sterile white of the hospital.

“There’s not one of these at Dad’s hospital,” Alex joked, making her way down the corridor. Rose led the way forward, with the Doctor and Cass straying not too far behind.

Intensive care was polar opposite to the hospital they’d just come from. The walls were damp and dingy, covered in exposed wiring. Harsh yellow was all that lighted their way as the group descended the metal staircase. All there was was a series of walkways hugging the walls, nothing but some flimsy metal railing to stop them falling the hundreds of levels down. Along the walls were clouded up green doors as far as the eye could see. It was like a whole secret laboratory hidden beneath the hospital facade. The Doctor approached one of the doors and soniced it open.

The sight that beheld them equally as eerie. It was a man in an incubator-like space, standing room only. The walls in there had sickly green glow to them with medical tubing all around. The man himself was covered with welts, boils, scars and scabs everywhere there was skin. The only thing covering him was a dirty dark hospital gown.

“That’s disgusting,” Rose said. “What’s wrong with him?”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” was all the Doctor could say before slowly and silently closing the door. He went over to the next door to be faced with a woman in the exact same state. Alex and Cass just stood there in shocked silence.

“What disease is that?” Rose asked.

“All of them,” the Doctor said. “Every single disease in the galaxy. They’ve been infected with everything.” Cass could hear the growing anger in the Doctor’s voice. Alex couldn't take it anymore and left the group to go stand by the railing.

“What about us?” Rose asked, caring more about herself than the situation they were faced with. “Are we safe?”

“The air’s sterile,” Cass reassured her. “Just don’t touch them.” The Doctor closed the door.

“Why would they do this?” Alex shouted, turning around. Tears filled her eyes as her voice shook with rage at the lack of humanity. “This is a hospital, they’re meant to be caring for these people. Instead they’re infecting these people with everything. They’re farming people for medicine, with no care for the suffering caused along the way.” Cass had never seen this side of Alex before. It wasn’t just sadness or fear, it was rage on a level she’d only ever seen on the Doctor.

“Why don’t they just die?” Rose asked.

“Plague carriers,” Cass said. “The last to go.” She looked at how many cells there were, how many levels. It must’ve been hundreds, if not thousands, of people destined to suffer. Nothing but lab rats for the actual patients.

“It’s for the greater good.” The group turned around to see Novice Hame standing only a few metres away from them.

“Novice Hame.” The Doctor’s voice was thick with disgust and anger. “When you took your vows, did you agree to this?”

“The Sisterhood has sworn to help,” she tried to justify but the group was having none of it.

“By killing?” Cass shouted.

“But they’re not real people,” Novice Hame continued her feeble attempt to excuse their actions. “They’re specially grown. They have no proper existence.”

“What’s the turnover, hmmm?” the Doctor interrogated her while approaching. “Thousand a day? Thousand the next? Thousand the next? How many thousands? For how many years? How many?” His voice started composed, getting increasingly angrier by the word.

“Mankind needed us. They came to this planet with so many illnesses. We couldn’t cope. We did try. We tried everything. We tried using clone-meat and bio-cattle, but the results were too slow, so the Sisterhood grew its own flesh. That’s all they are. Flesh.”

“But they’re living, breathing human beings,” Alex argued. Out of the corner of her eye, Cass saw Rose roll her eyes at that.

“But think of those humans out there, healthy and happy, because of us.”

“No life is worth this much suffering,” Cass said.

“But who are you to decide that?”

“I’m Cassiopeia. I’ve seen enough of the universe to know that no life is worth this . If you want to argue that, tough. I have the final say.” Cass was now right in Novice Hame’s face.

“Just to confirm,” Rose chipped in, “none of the humans in the city actually know about this?”

“We thought it best not.”

“Hold on,” the Doctor interrupted. “I can understand the bodies. I can understand your vows. One thing I can’t understand, what have you done to Rose?”

“I was thinking that she’s been acting different,” Cass commented.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Novice Hame said.

“And I’m being very, very calm,” the Doctor said, not sounding calm in the slightest. “You want to be aware of that. Very, very calm. And the only reason I’m being so very, very calm is that the brain is a delicate thing. Whatever you’ve done to Rose’s head, I want it reversed.”

“We haven’t done anything.”

“I’m perfectly fine,” ‘Rose’ tried to claim but the Doctor wasn’t having it for a second.

“These people are dying, and Rose would care,” the Doctor said.

“Oh, alright, clever clogs,” ‘Rose’ said, finally giving up the jig, “Smarty pants. Lady-killer.”

Cass scrunched up her face. “Lady killer?”

“What’s happened to you?” the Doctor asked.

“I knew something was going on in this hospital, but I needed this body and your mind to find it out.”

“Who are you?”

“The last human.”

“Cassandra?”

Alex leaned over to Cassiopeia. “Who’s Cassandra?”

“I have absolutely no idea,” she replied.

“Wake up and smell the perfume,” ‘Rose’ said. She sprayed some perfume in the Doctor’s face and he instantly passed out. 

“Dad!” Cass shouted, immediately running over to make sure he was okay.

“Ugh, I guess I’ll have to deal with you too,” ‘Rose’ complained, spraying both Cass and Alex with the perfume. Then the world went dark.

Alex’s head felt hazy. She slowly opened her eyes, her vision filled with a green glow. The horror dawned on her though, as she realised she’d been locked in one of the cells.

“Cass!” she screamed, fear pumping through her veins, barely able to have a cohesive thought.

“Alex!” she heard in response. “I’m right here!”

“Looks like your little friends have woken up too,” the pair could hear from outside. It was ‘Rose’, or Cassandra, as the Doctor called her. “As I was saying, they pump the patients with a top-up every ten minutes. You’ve got about three minutes left. Enjoy.”

Whatever sense Alex had gotten from hearing Cass next to her went immediately out of the window again. She knew travelling with Cass was dangerous. She’d seen that they could get into tight situations. But now she was stuck, without Cass right next to her for comfort. Sure, she was just in the next cell, but that did nothing to calm Alex. She couldn’t look into her eyes and get that reassuring look Cass always seems to manage. She couldn’t see that stupid smile Cass got when she’d thought up the most idiotic plan. She couldn’t hold her and know everything would be just fine. Instead she had three minutes until she was infected with every disease ever, from the past five billion years that she’d never lived. Basically, three minutes before she died. Before she could spiral further, the door opened and she ran out. The moment she laid eyes on Cass, she pulled her into a tight hug, like her life depended on it.

“As much as I appreciate us both not being dead,” Cass started, “I would like to continue that by running away from that.” She turned around and pointed at the rest of the doors which had also opened, letting all of the infected people free.

“Yeah, running sounds like a good idea, right now.” 

They took off running away from the infected, right behind the Doctor, Cassandra and a third person, seemingly this Cassandra’s minion. As they ran past all the doors, the locks started exploding and malfunctioning, releasing everyone in Intensive Care, not just the people that were on their row.

“Oh my God,” ‘Rose’ said when she realised what had happened.

“What have you done?” the Doctor got out through gritted teeth looking at chaos before them.

“It wasn’t me.”

“One touch and you get every disease in the world, and I want that body safe, Cassandra.” The Doctor looked around at the infected walking towards them from all angles.

“We’ve got to go down,” Cass said.

“But there’s thousands of them!” ‘Rose’ tried to argue but the Doctor wasn’t having any of it.

“Run! Down! Down! Go down!” Everyone ran down the stairs, barely escaping the reaching hands of the infected as they yearned for touch. 

They ran down levels and levels stairs through the labyrinthine Intensive Care to the sound of a tannoy announcing the building was under quarantine. Another obstacle thrown at what was meant to be a simple hospital visit. 

It felt like they’d been running forever with no end in sight until finally reaching a basement like area. What little paint was left on the exposed brick was peeling away. Slim rays of light from outside made their way into the room from high windows. 

‘Rose’ immediately made a dash for the lifts before the Doctor informed her that the lifts wouldn’t be working during a quarantine. She then ran to the other side of the basement with the others in tow. Unfortunately, her minion lagged behind at the back of the group and was cut off by the infected coming through the door.

The Doctor tried to go to help him. “Someone will touch him.”

“Leave him,” ‘Rose’ said. “He’s just a clone thing. He’s only got a half life. Come on!” With that, ‘Rose’ ran off. Cass felt bad for the person, but in that moment her priority was keeping Alex safe.

“Come on,” Cass urged Alex, running out the exit. Surprisingly, the Doctor wasn’t too far behind them. Normally he would always try to save everyone.

They ran into another room in the basement, the Doctor slamming the door behind them. ‘Rose’ went to open a different door but immediately shut it when she saw the infected just outside.

“We’re trapped!” she cried.

Cass had to think quickly. There had to be some way out of here. She looked over at Alex and a feeling of guilt overwhelmed her. 

“Alex.” Cass motioned for the pair to step to the side of the room as the Doctor and ‘Rose’ started arguing. Alex walked over with a bewildered look on her face. “Give me your wrist.”

“Have you got a plan?”

“Yes, use the vortex manipulator to get you home.”

Alex blinked. “Is that it?” Cass ignored her to continue her quick work. “What about the people upstairs, we can’t leave them to be infected. And there must be a way to save the infected?”

“Yes, but if they touch you, you’ll die.”

“Then we’ll use the manipulator to go to the TARDIS, come back and grab the others.”

“I don’t know how much use we can get out of this, might be a one way journey and I’m not gonna waste it like that. Anyways, never take the TARDIS into battle. Right, just press this button and you’ll be home safe.”

Alex held Cass’s arm. “I’m not leaving you.” Cass looked up. Just as she started to argue, Alex asked, “Do you think there’s a way to get out of this alive?”

“Well, yes, but-”

“Then I’m staying,” Alex said firmly. “I’m staying by your side through all of this. If I’m about to die then you can use this.” Alex held up her arm with the vortex manipulator on it. “But otherwise, you’re stuck with me, ok?”

“Ok,” Cass gave in after much consideration. “But the second you’re in real danger, you go.” Alex nodded. Cass turned around to rejoin the other two in the group and saw the Doctor flirting with Rose. “I don’t even want to know what’s going on.”

Suddenly, one of the doors burst open and the infected people started walking into the room.

“What do we do? What would he do? The Doctor, what the hell would he do?” ‘the Doctor’ started asking in a panicked flurry. Cass and Alex could only watch on in complete confusion.

Rose quickly looked around and pointed out the ladder just behind them. “We’ve got to get up.”

“Out of the way, blondie!” ‘The Doctor’ pushed past Rose to get himself to safety first. Rose, Alex and Cass quickly made their way to the ladder at the sight of the approaching swarm. 

Making their way quickly up the ladder through the elevator shaft, Cass called up, “Rose, what’s going on with the Doctor?” 

“Cassandra left my head and got into his.”

“What?” Alex and Cass exclaimed, briefly stopping in shock before remembering the danger looming behind them. 

“Look, Cassandra,” Cassiopeia started, “I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but don’t you dare try and get into my or Alex’s head!”

“Or what?” ‘the Doctor’ asked.

“Get into my head and I’ll throw myself off this ladder before you can even think of escaping,” Cass quickly replied.

“And you can bet I’ll be doing the same,” Alex added on. Cass was about to argue but something grabbed onto her ankle.

“All of our good work.” Cass looked down. It was one of the nurses. She kicked her foot to make her let go. “All that healing. The good name of the Sisterhood. You have destroyed everything.” 

“Go and play with a ball of string,” ‘the Doctor’ called up from up ahead.

“Everywhere, disease,” the nurse continued. “This is the human world. Sickness!” Her rant was cut short when one of the infected grabbed her. Cass watched on in horror as the nurse developed welts and boils and scabs all over in mere seconds. She died in an instant, falling from the ladder.

“Move!” Cass screamed, urging everyone up in a quick step.

They came to a door that ‘the Doctor’ tried hitting to open but was clearly not working. “Now what do we do?” he said in a panic.

“Use the sonic screwdriver,” Rose said.

“You mean this thing?” He pulled the screwdriver out of his inside jacket pocket.

“Yes. I mean that thing.”

“Well, I don’t know how. The Doctor’s hidden away all his thoughts.”

“Cassandra, go back into me. The Doctor can open it. Do it!”

“Here we go again,” Alex muttered under her breath. They watched as Cassandra went back and forth between the two. She was unable to open the door as the Doctor but he refused to open it while she was Rose. Cassandra briefly considered going into Alex or Cassiopeia, but when the latter drew her gun as a threat both options were quickly ruled out. The choice was eventually made for Cassandra to go into the mind of one of the infected, the easiest way to make all parties happy. The Doctor finally agreed to open the lift doors, letting the group out of the elevator shaft. However, just as the group got back onto solid ground, Cassandra quickly jumped into Rose’s mind again.

“That was your last warning, Cassandra!” the Doctor shouted.

‘Rose’ was just sat on the floor looking into the distance. “Inside her head.” She sounded more disturbed than Cass had heard before. “They’re so alone They keep reaching out, just to hold us. All their lives and they’ve never been touched.” The Doctor offered his hand and she pulled herself up.

The group walked to the end of the hallway and the Doctor soniced another door. This led them back to Ward 26, a place where they’d be safe. Well, if it weren't for the woman charging at them with a metal stand. On instinct, Cass pointed her gun at their attacker.

“We’re safe! We’re safe! We’re safe!” The Doctor was quick to diffuse the situation. “We’re clean! We’re clean! Look, look.” He turned around and saw Cass with the gun out. “Put it away, Cass.”

“I’m sorry for going on the defensive when I’m being threatened,” Cass replied, voice thick with sarcasm.

“Show me your skin,” the woman demanded.

“Look, clean,” the Doctor said as the group were showing their hands, flipping them back and forth to show no illness or disease. “Look, if we’d been touched, we’d be dead.” This seemed to calm the nerves of the woman as she put down the metal stand.

“What’s the status up here?” Cass said, immediately going into soldier mode.

“There’s nothing but silence from the other wards. I think we’re the only ones left,” the woman explained. “And I’ve been trying to override the quarantine. If I can trip a signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad.” She was holding some beeping device that was clearly trying to send the signal.

“No can do.” Cass immediately shut down the idea. “If they force entry, they’d break quarantine.”

“I’m not dying in here,” the woman argued.

“We can’t let a single particle of disease get out,” the Doctor intervened. “There are 10 million people in that city. They’d all be at risk. Now turn that off!”

“Not if it gets me out.”

“Alright, fine. So I have to stop you lot as well,” the Doctor complained. “Suits me. Rose, Cass, Alex, Novice Hame, everyone!” The Doctor called to action. “Get me the intravenous solutions for every single disease. Move it!”

“Oh, that’s genius,” Cass said under her breath as she ran to collect drip bags.

“What is?” Alex asked, following suit.

“The elevators.”

“What about them? They’re broken.”

“They’re not moving, what else do the elevators do though?” 

Alex took a moment to think and then it dawned on her. “The disinfection.”

“The disinfection.” Cass had her Cheshire cat smile on again as she ran to the Doctor with arms full of drip bags.

By the time all the drip bags had been collected, the Doctor had rigged up a piece of rope wrapped around him like some kind of harness. From it hung all sorts of drip bags for all different diseases. Cass and the Doctor had also both grabbed a metal wheel from surgical equipment for later use. He opened up one of the lift shafts and jumped onto the lift cable. 

“What do you think you’re doing?” ‘Rose’ asked.

“I’m going down,” the Doctor answered. “Come on!” He attached the metal wheel to the lift cable.

“Not in a million years.”

“I need another pair of hands. What do you think? If you’re so desperate to stay alive, why don’t you live a little?” 

At that point, the infected started to make their way out of the ICU and towards Ward 26. The woman backed up and said, “Seal the door!”

“Hurry up, love,” Cass said to ‘Rose’. “We still need to get on there yet.” The encroaching danger of the infected seemed to be motivation enough though as ‘Rose’ was already jumping onto the Doctor’s back. As soon as they were going down, Cass repeated the Doctor’s actions, incredibly thankful the infected were slow walkers. “You ready to go,” she asked Alex.

Alex jumped onto Cass’s back and said, “Like you wouldn’t even know.” The pair went flying down the lift cable to the sound of screams of delight. 

Before too long, Cass was able to apply the brakes and come to a gentle stop just before the lift. “Best. Rollercoaster. Ever,” Alex shouted, still holding onto Cass.

“Glad you enjoyed.” The pair hopped off, joining the Doctor and ‘Rose’. Cass immediately got to work helping the Doctor pour the contents of the drip bags into the disinfectant tank.

“What do you want me doing?” Alex asked. 

“The lever is going to resist,” the Doctor said. “Might need the both of you to keep it in position.”

“You got it, Doctor. Cass, what about you?”

“We’ve got an appointment,” the Doctor replied first. He dropped down into the lift, Cass following soon after. The Doctor opened up the lift doors and started yelling to all the infected people in the hospital reception to bring them near. “Pull that lever!” he called up to their human companions. 

“Come on, you lot!” Cass yelled out. “We’re right here!” 

Just as the people started to enter the lift, the tannoy called out, “Commence stage one disinfection.” The contents of all those drip bags they’d just emptied showered over the Doctor and Cassiopeia.

Soon enough, it started to spray the infected people as well. They stopped in the spray as they looked at themselves finally beginning to heal. As they realised what was happening, they left the lift and passed it on to all the other infected. The Doctor and Cass shouted in absolute glee, grinning like maniacs. 

Alex, feeling incredibly left out, decided to leave ‘Rose’  with the lever and jump into the lift. She looked at the reception in awe of what she saw. The infected were healing each other. As they went to touch each other, welts were disappearing, boils evaporating. Any traces of past infection were completely gone. 

“What do you think?” Cass asked behind her.

“We just helped cure an entirely new sub-species,” Alex smiled. “Not too bad for a run of the mill hospital visit.”

“Speaking off,” Cass said, “I think there’s someone we should get back to.” Cass walked over to a different elevator and used her scanner to open it up and get over the quarantine lockdowns allowing the pair to speed back up to Ward 26.

“Face of Boe!” Cass called out when they’d returned to the floor. She ran over to him, Alex not far behind. “You’ve given us quite the adventure, Jack.”

“One thing I don’t get,” Alex said. “How did you end up as just a face? Like, how’ve you ended up living this long?”

“I think that’s a story for us to figure out another time,” Cass said. “I’m glad I got to see you again, Jack. Don’t know if I will again, or if you’ll see me again for that matter.”

“You’ve always been a difficult one to meet, Cassiopeia,” the Face of Boe said telepathically.

“Don’t you just know it. One thing I am certain of though, if you ever need to see the Doctor again, he’ll be there when you need it. I have a feeling that’s what you need to hear right now.”

The Face of Boe laughed. “You’ve always known more than you’ve let on.” 

“That’s the day job.” Cass looked at Alex. “I think it’s our time to go, I hope we’ll see you again.” The Face of Boe simply smiled and watched the two girls walk away arm in arm.

“So,” Cass said, opening the TARDIS with her key, “hospital visit over, what do you want to do today?” She held the door open for Alex.

“Go home?” Alex looked exhausted. “Quite frankly, I think that was enough adventure for me today without playing tennis with Caesar or whatever you wanted to do.” The pair walked into the TARDIS, sharing the same tired smile.

“How dare you. I would never suggest tennis with Caesar, he’s a sore loser. Now, cricket with Arthur Conan Doyle? That’s a fun day.” Alex simply shook her at Cass’s antics. “You’re right. Home it is.” She started to fiddle with various controls on the main console. Alex thought she made it up half the time.

“See you next week?”

“See you next week.”

Chapter Text

“Yorkshire?”

“Cass, I’ve spent so much time in London. If I’m gonna be staying in England, I at least wanna see a different part of the country.”

“Fine.” Cass was happy enough to be going to Victorian England so she was willing to acquiesce to Alex’s request for Yorkshire. “But you can’t go walking around Victorian anywhere dressed like that.” Alex looked down at her outfit. It was somewhat warm out, so she had settled for a black skater pinafore dress with a simple white tee underneath. She’d paired it with a pair of black Doc Martens and a black denim jacket to tackle any light breeze.

“Well, same would go for you.” Alex pointed to Cass’s outfit: a grey shirt with purple art and a pair of faded black jeans. “Who is ‘Olivia Rodrigo’ anyway?” Alex asked, pointing to the name on Cass’s shirt.

“Just you wait until the Covid-19 pandemic, the music is great. Let’s go to the TARDIS wardrobe, she’ll be able to whip us up some outfits. Corsets, bustles, pocket pouches, the works.”

“The what pandemic?” Cass had already disappeared down a corridor before Alex could get any answers. “Wait for me!” Alex ran after her.

“The TARDIS will be able to make it to your measurements too, so no wrong corset sizes.” Cass was happily walking down to the wardrobe, barely paying attention to Alex’s confusion.

“Wait, the TARDIS has had a wardrobe all this time and you never told me?”

Cass stopped and turned to look at Alex. “We’ve never been to the Victorian era before.”

“But why didn’t we dress up when we went to the Globe?”

“I prefer Victorian clothing to Tudor,” Cass brushed her off. “Anyways, standing in the Globe, no one cares. Victorian high society is totally different.”

“Fine,” Alex said, mimicking Cass’s response to Yorkshire. “But I’m definitely going to be abusing this power in the future.”

“I’d expect nothing less,” Cass said, smiling wildly.

After much deliberation, Cass eventually settled on a blush pink morning dress. It was pinstriped with pink and floral fabrics and adorned with frilled cuffs and collar. In order to fit in with the 1893 silhouette, the dress had long leg-of-mutton sleeves and a bell skirt that went to the floor, plus the corset underneath to help bring in her waist. It had been a long time since Cass wore this dress, and she never thought she would again. She was glad to have a reason to.

“What do you think?” Cass turned around to see Alex, finally changed into her own outfit. Alex had the same features to create a similar silhouette, however, instead of a dress, she opted for a blouse and walking skirt. The colour scheme was the same as the outfit she was wearing before, replacing the black denim jacket with a black suit jacket. Cass didn’t realise how long she’d been looking until Alex said, “That bad, huh?”

Cass quickly snapped out of it. “No, you look great. The spitting image of a modern Victorian woman.” Cass saw Alex instantly relax and brush down her skirt.

“Perfect.” She extended her arm. “Shall we go exploring?”

“We shall,” Cass said, beaming.

Alex didn’t think she’d ever get bored of this. Stepping out of the TARDIS, she was always transported to a new world, whether figuratively or literally. This time it was like walking into a history book. It was a proper Victorian industrial town they’d gone to. They walked arm in arm, Alex constantly stopping to take in the history and stopping off in as many shops as she could. Unfortunately, it wasn’t too long until something caught Cass’s attention.

“Excuse me,” she said to a passing woman, “do you know what that is?” Cass pointed to a grand building with a tall central chimney off in the distance on a hill.

“That’s Sweetville, ma’am.”

“Sweetville?”

“Yeah.” The woman turned around and pointed to a poster nearby. “You can find out more there.”

“Thank you,” Cass said before quickly closing in on the poster. It was an advertisement for a meeting: Mrs Winifred Gillyflower on the Present Moral Decay and the Coming Apocalypse. “My dear Alex, would you mind joining me for this meeting?”

“Does it always turn to danger with you?”

“Not always.” Alex gave her a disbelieving look. “I try my best, not my fault danger loves me.”

“Let’s go,” Alex said, grabbing Cass and heading towards the meeting.

“Bradford, that Babylon of the moderns with its crystal light and its glitter, all aswarm with the wretched ruins of humanity. Men and women crushed by the devil’s juggernaut,” Mrs Gillyflower loudly proclaimed from the front of the chapel. She was on a platform, placing herself physically above everyone and separated with a railing. To her sides were perfectly groomed men and women all dressed in black, looking devoid of all spirit and personality. It was like their humanity had been taken from them. Below her was a tall red curtain, clearly hiding something. Cassiopeia and Alex were able to get seats toward the front as they’d arrived early. The pair were quite shocked at how quickly the chapel filled up with people, rows upon rows listening with eager ears to Mrs Gillyflower. “And moral turpitude can destroy the most delicate of lives,” she continued. “Believe me, I know. I know.”

The red curtain was pulled back to reveal a young woman sat down with her face turned away from the audience. She was dressed in a simple grey frock and held a cane. Slowly, she turned towards the crowd revealing her disfigured face. Her eyes were clouded with white and her face covered in red scarring.

“My own daughter,” Mrs Gillyflower explained, “blinded in a drunken rage by my late husband.” It was clear to Alex and Cass that the daughter was being used as a prop for shock factor more than any actual sympathy. “Her once beautiful eyes, pale and white as mistletoe berries.” The daughter stood up and, using her cane to tap along the floor, walked over to a board covered up by red fabric. “And what, my friends, is your story? Will you be found wanting when the End of Days is come, when judgement rains down upon us all? Or will you be preserved against the coming apocalypse? Do not despair. I offer a way out. There is a different path. Sweetville!”

Her daughter pulled the fabric off the board to reveal a picture of Sweetville. An idealistic community of terraced homes, gardens and a factory. 

“Finally, what we came for,” Alex muttered under her breath so only Cass could hear.

“Join us!” Mrs Gillyflower called out. “Join us in this shining city on the hill.” The whole congregation started to sing something neither girl recognised. Alex merely chalked it up to be something Victorian and religious.

Later, after the meeting had finished, people were lining up in front of the pulpit, each raring to sign up to join Sweetville. “You’re gonna make us sign up, aren’t you?” Alex asked.

“The fact that you have to ask means we haven’t spent nearly enough time together,” Cass replied. She pulled Alex into the queue.

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

“You wish to join us, my dear?” Mrs Gillyflower asked when they got to the front of the queue.

“We’re all too eager to get into Sweetville,” Cass said, a smile plastered onto her face.

“You’ll do quite nicely,” she replied and Cass wrote Alex’s and her own name into the big book.

As the pair left the chapel, Alex piped up, “I don’t like the way she said that we would be preserved.”

“No. I picked up on that too. This whole thing sounds worse every second.”

Alex and Cass had successfully gotten into Sweetville. The next thing on Cass’s agenda was to find where the danger was at. They were waiting in a line for prospective employees and residents of the famed town. There had already been a commotion further up the line, but neither girl was close enough to figure out what was going on. The most they could figure was that a girl had fainted.

“So, what’s the plan?” Alex asked, not fond of not knowing exactly what or why she had been dragged into this.

“Simple, get behind the scenes and figure out what’s really going on in this place.” Cass acted as if the answer was obvious.

“And we’ll be able to do that once we’ve been approved?”

Cass seemed to be distracted by looking around and scoping the place out. “My dear Alex, I’m not expecting us to even get to the end of this line.” The pair was able to move up as the line shuffled them along, placing them right in front of a door. “Here we are.”

Before Cass could make any move to open the door, Alex rushed to stop her. “Hold up, we can’t just walk into a clearly off limits area in broad daylight.”

Cass couldn’t help but smile. “You still got the TARDIS key I gave you?” Alex nodded holding the necklace chain it was connected to out from her shirt collar. “The TARDIS has a perception filter. Hence why people walk past it everyday without trying to break in. You just don’t notice it. The keys have a similar effect for us. Plus how many times have you actively called out someone doing something obviously wrong.” Alex begrudgingly gave in and followed Cass through the door, hoping no one would be quick to follow behind and arrest them.

The pair found themselves in a completely empty hallway. Cass went to the nearest door. It was a massive green door and, given the sounds coming from behind it, appeared to be the door to the factory floor. However, upon opening the door, Alex and Cass saw nothing on the floor except three large gramophones broadcasting the factory sounds and an equally confused woman holding her hands up to her ears to block out the deafening noise. When the mystery woman turned around, she seemed worried that she’d been caught but quickly realised that Alex and Cass were also breaking in. Before any party had the chance to start asking questions, a group of Sweetville employees walked in. The women were able to dive behind the enormous gramophones to avoid detection. From their hiding spots, they were able to see that the group were carrying large bottles of red liquid and went into a lift. As soon as it was safe, the women went in the lift too.

“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” the woman asked Cass. Cass could tell she wasn’t local given her thick Cockney accent.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Cass, that’s Alex. I’m guessing you already knew that though, we’re time travellers and still very much alive. Unless you’ve been deceived by my dad.”

“Why are you willingly giving up information to a stranger?” Alex asked, dumbfounded at Cass’s trust.

“Because this is the woman who picked the lock on the door we went through.” The woman looked shocked.

“How did you-”

“The fainting woman, interesting that it happened just outside the door. You needed a distraction. Thanks for giving me less work by the way.”

“You know you’re not Sherlock Holmes, right?” Alex said, always ready to make sure Cass didn’t grow more of an ego.

“You’re still just as cocky,” the woman noted. “Jenny.” She held out her hand and Cass shook it. “Since I’m apparently a stranger to you. I’m here to find a friend. You?”

“General trouble searcher,” Cass answered.

The lift stopped. The trio got out onto a corridor that was distinctively darker than where they were before. At one end of the corridor was a door with a circular window and a red glow coming from behind it. Cass approached the door to try and see what was behind it but couldn’t make out anything for the red smoke behind the window. Suddenly, there was a crash in the distance.

“I don’t like this,” Alex said. “This feels like a moment in the horror movie where we’re about to find out who’s been killing everyone.” Despite Alex’s protests, Jenny and Cass went to the other end of the hallway. They found a spiral staircase as another crash sounded above. Alex could only follow in frustration. 

At the top of the spiral staircase, they found yet another green door but this time locked and with a hatch at the bottom. Jenny got down on the ground and lifted the hatch to see what was in there. Before she could get any good look, a red shackled hand reached out and grabbed her. Alex let out a small scream and all but jumped into Cass’s arms. The hand retracted back into the room as quickly as it appeared and Jenny dropped the hatch.

“I take it you don’t do well with horror movies,” Cass said.

“What tipped you off?” Alex responded, still as sarcastic as ever even when terrified.

“Alright, mate,” Jenny said, ignoring the antics of the other two. She had now stood up and was talking to the door. “You just stay calm now.” There was a response of thumping and chains rattling from the other side of the door. “I could open this door. Would you like that?” A single thump sounded.

“Don’t open the door for the monster,” Alex complained.

“Thought you might.” Jenny had seemingly taken to ignoring her newest companions. “But you and me has got to come to an arrangement, savvy?” Thump. Jenny got out her lockpick set and started to make work of the door. “Now, you stand well back, do you hear me? I don’t mean no harm to you, but you try anything funny and I’ll leave you here to rot. Is that understood?” Many thumps responded. “Right.” 

“I don’t like this,” Cass said. “This gives me a bad feeling.”

“Oh, so now you start listening to me?” Before Cass and Alex could get into further argument, Jenny got the door open.

As they opened the door slowly, they saw a room with barely any light, only that which was peaking out of the boarded up window. A man stood shackled in the centre, his skin dyed red. A man that looked all too familiar.

“Doctor!” Jenny cried out.

“Ugh, I knew we shouldn’t have opened that door.”

Whatever had happened to the Doctor, it had left him somewhat paralyzed. He was still able to make some movement though extremely stiff and limited. Likewise, the most noise he could make was guttural grunts. If it weren’t for the group, he could’ve been left like that until his next regeneration. He was also dressed in white full body long johns with his clothes folded in a corner. Alex and Jenny were helping the Doctor walk out of the room and trying to find a way to reverse his condition while narrowly avoiding detection from Mrs Gillyflower’s henchpeople. This was made especially hard for Alex as she also tried to balance his clothes (“Why can’t you carry them, Cass?” “He got himself into this mess, he should get himself out without us.”).

The group made their way back down the spiral staircase, planning to use the lift, however Mrs Gillyflower’s daughter was coming up. Thinking quickly, they decided to go through the mystery red door instead. It was another corridor with windows out into a factory floor. The women could only look on in shock as they watched six of the wannabe Sweetville residents be dunked into a vat of the red liquid they had seen before. That solved the mystery of what had happened to the Doctor. He was able to point to the other side of the corridor, towards a row of massive lockers. They were not too dissimilar to what Alex had seen in New Earth, she thought.

“What is it? You wanna go in there?” Jenny asked. The Doctor just grunted louder.

“If he’s being this persistent, just let him,” Cass said. She walked over, opened up the massive locker door and practically shoved the Doctor in with his clothes.

“Oi, be careful,” Jenny shouted.

“She’s normally like this,” Alex tried to explain. Cass slammed the door shut.

“You were much nicer last time I saw you,” Jenny complained, but they quickly had to hide as they saw some henchmen pass the corridor. The locker the Doctor was in made strange metallic thrumming noises and began to glow green. Then, just as suddenly as he went in, the door burst open and the Doctor jumped out.

“Ah! Missed me?” the Doctor exclaimed.

“Doctor!” Jenny exclaimed, mirroring his enthusiasm.

“Woo! Doctor!” Cass said, mocking his enthusiasm.

“What is up with you?” Jenny asked.

“Are you sure you met me before?”

“Jenny, you’ve met Cassiopeia and Alex. My daughter and her girlfriend.”

“I’m not her girlfriend,” Alex and Cass said in unison, practically jumping apart from each other.

“Right, yes, when did we last meet?”

“In our timeline,” Cass started, “New Earth, Face of Boe. For you, best guess is Akhaten.”

“Perfect, that’s where we left you off too.” The Doctor perked up like he remembered something important. “Right. Mrs Gillyflower. We’ve got to stop her. And then there’s Clara. Poor Clara. Where’s Clara?” The Doctor was backing up, clearly eager to be on his way to search for his missing companion.

“Clara? Doctor, wait,” Jenny called out.

“Can’t. Clara. Got to find.”

“What happened to you? How long have you been like that?”

“I gotta agree with Jenny on this one,” Alex said.

“Days, weeks, don’t know. Long story. I’ll keep it short.” With that, the Doctor stalked off leaving the rest of the group to just trail behind in confusion.

As the group made their way through the factory corridors, the Doctor regaled them with the story of how he and Clara ended up in Yorkshire 1893. They’d found a bright red body in a canal only to discover this wasn’t the first time this had happened. A man called Edmund shared with them his theory that the bodies were coming from Sweetville: Mrs Gillyflower was a prize winning chemist and mechanical engineer, so why did she open a match factory in Bradford. The Doctor had deduced that these bodies were being exposed to a bright red organic venom. They then decided to infiltrate Sweetville but were swiftly captured and dunked in a tank like the group had seen earlier. Clara had survived the process they’d been put through, however the Doctor wasn’t so fortunate. He was still alive though and was rescued by Ada, Mrs Gillyflower’s blind daughter. The Doctor was chained up as they found him and would have likely stayed that way if Edmund hadn’t come bursting through the door one day covered in red.

“Poor Edmund must have come looking for us and then fallen into a vat of the pure venom,” the Doctor said. “Or was pushed. Didn’t stand a chance.”

“What is that stuff, though?” Jenny asked.

“Deadly poison. And Mrs Gillyflower’s been dipping her pilgrims in a dilute form to protect them. Preserve them. Process didn’t work on me. Maybe because I’m not human. I ended up on the reject pile.”

“Oh, what a huge relief,” Cassiopeia said, her voice laced with the type of sarcasm that Alex came to understand was reserved for the Doctor. “When we end up getting captured because of your idiocy, I won’t die, I’ll just end up like the movie monster we saw upstairs.”

“Is she always like this?” Jenny asked Alex.

“She has a name and no. I’m only like this for the Doctor.”

“What are they being preserved for?” Alex asked, trying to avoid another family argument in enemy territory.

“Well, according to her, the coming apocalypse,” the Doctor said, then waved his finger and whistled to indicate she was crazy.

“When the End of Days is come and judgement rains down upon us all,” Alex said quietly.

“What?” the Doctor asked, spinning around to look at her.

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“No, no, no. What?”

“It was something Mrs Gillyflower said,” Cassiopeia answered. “At one of her sermons.”

“Madame will come looking for me. We’d best get on,” Jenny interrupted.

“Yes, Clara. Got to find Clara.”

“But, Doctor. Clara’s dead. Isn’t she?”

“Wait, Clara’s dead?” Alex exclaimed.

“It’s complicated.”

The group had made their way outside, walking down a row of terrace houses. Jenny was arguing with the Doctor about Clara’s current state of being (seemingly another person she’d seen die) with the Doctor running to look in every house between sentences.

“What did Jenny mean when she thought you were dead?” Alex asked Cass.

“You know time travel, we tend to meet people in the wrong order.”

“Yeah, but, you? Dying? That can’t be right, right?”

“Well, everyone dies eventually, Alex. You’re human, you should know that.”

“Cass, if Jenny has seen you die then does that mean you die when we’re on one of these missions?”

Cass stopped walking and turned to Alex.

“Listen to me, I won’t let anything bad happen to either of us on a mission like this of any kind. Ok?”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

The pair heard glass smashing just a bit up the way from them. They ran and saw the Doctor holding Clara in one of the houses. The glass in question seemed to be from a massive bell jar that she was in as opposed to a window.

“Dare I ask?” Cass said upon seeing the scene.

“We need to revive her,” the Doctor said, immediately in a protective mode. And so they all walked back where they came from towards the metal cubicles where they’d restored the Doctor.

“Can she be revived, like you were?” Jenny asked once they started the process on Clara.

“I hope so,” the Doctor said. Cass hadn’t seen him looking this worried in a while. But there was no time for worry as a group of the henchpeople, all dressed in black, entered the corridor.

“Cass,” Alex said.

“Oh, great,” the Doctor replied, seeing the danger. “Great. Attack of the supermodels. Time for a plan.” He got out his sonic screwdriver, ready to fight.

“Nah, Doctor,” Jenny interrupted. “This one’s on me.” She took off her bonnet and dress to reveal a leather outfit Alex could best describe as Victorian ninja assassin.

The first man approached her and she swiftly threw him onto his back, planting a foot on his chest to keep him down. Then two more men approached her but she was able to elbow them and incapacitate them just as easily.

“That is a plan!” Alex exclaimed in absolute envy of the scene before her. More of the henchpeople advanced but this time with rounders bats.

“Ok, time for a new plan,” the Doctor called out. “Run!”

“This is why I always carry a gun,” Cass said, reaching into a secret pocket into her skirt and pulling out her favoured weapon.

“Where were you storing that?” Alex asked.

“Why do you have that?” the Doctor asked.

Before yet another argument could break out, a battle cry of “Sontar ha!” rang through the corridor. An alien with a round brown head and metallic armour came running from the other side of the corridor firing recklessly at the henchpeople. Following behind was a lizard woman in a black dress brandishing dual swords.

“What the fuck is happening?” Alex screamed getting behind Cass as she fired at the henchpeople.

“I have no clue, but I fucking love it!” It wasn’t long before all the henchpeople had retreated from the sudden onslaught and the armored alien had returned to the main group.

“So, Cass, you gonna explain?”

“He is a Sontaran,” Cass pointed to the armoured alien “clone race, bred for war, never been allied with one before. She is a Silurian, original inhabitants of Earth, plenty still living right beneath our feet.”

“Wait, only one of them is an alien.”

“Yep.”

“What are they doing in Victorian England?”

“No fucking clue.”

“Okay, I think she’s about done,” the Doctor said. He opened up the metal cubicle to reveal Clara. “I know who you think she is, but she isn’t. She can't be.”

“I was right, then,” the Silurian said. “You and Clara have unfinished business.” Clara then all but fell into the Doctor’s arms.

Cass rolled her eyes. “Again with this B plot bullshit. Can we go and deal with the real threat? Mrs Gillyflower? Or have we all forgotten about that?”

“My people once ruled this world, as well you know, but we did not rule it alone,” the Silurian, Vastra as she’d been introduced, said. The group were walking through the factory corridors on a battle march. “Just as humanity fights a daily battle against nature, so did we. And our greatest plague, the most virulent enemy, was the repulsive red leech.”

“Ooh, the Repulsive Red Leech,” the Doctor perked up. “Nah. On balance I think I prefer the Crimson Horror.”

“Do you always have to act like a child?” Cassiopeia complained. “What was this leech, exactly?”

“A tiny parasite,” Vastra answered. “It infected our drinking water. And once in our systems, it secreted a fatal poison.”

“If it’s been hanging around, lurking in the shadows, maybe it's evolved. Or maybe it’s had help,” the Doctor theorised.

“This is all great and all,” Alex interrupted, “but what’s Mrs Gillyflower’s plan here? It would take ages to get everyone into Sweetville. And it does not have the capacity for Bradford, nevermind England.”

“That, my dear Alex, is where I come in,” Cass jumped in. “You never asked me why we’re in Sweetville.”

“Well, the whole poison thing.”

“We didn’t know that going in.”

“Ok, then. Impress me with your knowledge, Sherlock.”

“We’re in a factory, except we now know it isn’t a factory. But this is meant to look like a factory right?” Alex nodded. “Including the large chimney.”

“What’re you getting at?”

“If there’s a chimney, where’s all the smoke?”

Alex’s eyes grew wide. “Judgement will rain down on us all.”

“Exactly.” Cass grabbed Alex by the arm and ran off leaving the group to follow behind them.

They found themselves hidden behind metal piping and junk on the main factory floor near the chimney chute. Henchpeople were working hard around the chute, clearly preparing for something.

“She’s going to poison the air,” the Doctor said.

“How?” Jenny asked. One of the henchmen pulled a lever open an exhaust vent at the base of the chimney. The light shining through revealed the base of a rocket in the chimney. It was clearly rudimental with its bare grey metal plates all bolted and welded together. But rudimentary for the modern day was still extremely advanced for the Victorian era.

“Probably with that,” Alex answered. “And their weirdly good timing.”

“And there’s the poison,” Cass said as the henchman lifted a cover of a massive bottle filled with glowing red liquid.

“Alright, gang,” the Doctor said, “I’ve got a plan.” The group stood up but too quickly and something metal clanked near them. They quickly ducked back down again as some henchpeople turned towards the sound.

“You idiot,” Cass sighed. They then got up again, much slower this time, and snuck out of the room.

Alex, Cass, Clara and the Doctor went about finding Mrs Gillyflower. On the way, they had to go through the corridor with the lift and spiral staircase. When they got to the corridor, they found Ada crying in the corner.

“Who is that? Who is there?” Ada asked. The Doctor knelt in front of her, took her hand in his and ran it over his face. “You, It’s you. My monster. You’ve come back. But you’re…”

“Warm. And alive,” the Doctor replied, “thanks to you, Ada. You saved me from your mother’s human rubbish tip. Now then, what’s wrong?” Cassiopeia couldn’t stomach the sight. There he was, the great Doctor, acting like a father to everyone except the people who mattered. She had to fight the urge to punch him in the face.

“She does not want me, monster,” Ada cried. “I am not to be chosen. Perhaps it was my own sin, the blackness in my heart that my father saw in.”

“Well, that’s complete bullshit,” Cass blurted out.

“Who is that?” Ada looked around in worry.

“A friend. I have a couple more friends here as well, Alex and Clara,” Cass answered.

“Then you are fortunate indeed. It isn’t good to be alone.” Cass noticed scarring around Ada’s eyes, presumably from the same incident that cost her her sight. But the way the Doctor was inspecting them told her it might be something more.

“Now, Ada, I need you to tell me something,” the Doctor pleaded. “Who is Mr Sweet? Ada?”

“Oh, dear monster.”

“Please, tell me.”

“I cannot,” Ada admitted. “Even now, I cannot. I cannot betray Mama.”

“Well, come with us, then,” the Doctor said. “There’s something you need to know.” When he stood up, Cassiopeia saw a fire behind his eyes. Mrs Gillyflower didn’t know what was coming her way.

Alex, Cass, Clara and the Doctor barged into Mrs Gillyflower’s drawing room. On the far wall sat a large control board, which was also where Mrs Gillyflower stood.

“Oh, you do seem to keep turning up like a bad penny, young man,” she said.

“Force of habit,” the Doctor replied.

“Can I offer you something? Tea? Seed cake? Oh, a glass of Amontillado?”

“No, thanks. We’ve had a skinful already, as you might say.”

“Ha, ha, Very funny.”

“Ugh, can we stop with the witty back and forth?” Cass cut in. “We’re here to stop you, so just give up the jig.”

“I’m afraid Mr Sweet and I cannot allow that.”

“Ah, yes,” the Doctor jumped back in. “Would it be impolite to ask why you and Mr Sweet are petrifying your workforce with diluted prehistoric leech venom?”

“So when do we get to meet him,” Clara asked, “this silent partner of yours? Why’s he so shy?”

“Mr Sweet is always with us,” Mrs Gillyflower answered.

“Is that supposed to be some cryptic riddle?” Alex asked.

“You seem to have a very close relationship, you and your pal,” the Doctor noted.

“Oh yes, Doctor.” Mrs Gillyflower had a sickly sweet smile. “Exceedingly close. Symbiotic, you might say.” She pulled back the bodice of her dress and revealed an engorged red leech attached to her chest.

“Gross,” Alex said impulsively.

“Doctor, what is it?” Clara asked.

“A survivor,” Mrs Gillyflower answered. “He has grown fat on the filth humanity has pumped into the rivers. That’s where I found him.”

“And you willingly let him attach himself to your chest? I stand by my comment of ‘gross’.”

“His needs are simple, and in return he gives me his nectar,” Mrs Gillyflower explained.

“Mrs Gillyflower, you have no idea what you are dealing with,” the Doctor tried to plead with her. “In the wrong hands, that venom could wipe out all life on this planet.”

“Do you know what these are?” Mrs Gillyflower asked, holding out her hands. She smiled and said, “The wrong hands.” She went up to the control panel and pulled a lever.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” Cass said, turning to look at the Doctor, “you are way too quick to give people second chances.”

“It was worth a shot,” the Doctor said sheepishly. He marched up to Mrs Gillyflower. “Planning a little fireworks party, are we?”

“You have forced me to advance the Great Work somewhat, Doctor, but my colossal scheme remains as it was.”

“Oh, we get it!” Cass shouted. “You’re evil, you do evil things. Poison in rocket, poison rains down. You bring about apocalypse and only your chosen ones survive. Not that original, love!” Cass rolled her eyes. “I hate villain monologues.”

The room went silent for a moment before the Doctor broke it with, “Tell us about Ada, Mrs Gillyflower.”

“What?” 

“Your daughter. You do remember your daughter? Tell us about your daughter.”

“How can you speak of such trivia when my hour is at hand? The child is of no consequence.”

“Is that why you experimented on her?”

The question hit Cass like a freight train. “Of course, how did I not see it?” she said as realisation smothered her. “The signs are all there. The pattern of scarring. You’ve been using her as a guinea pig, you sick bastard.”

“Sometimes sacrifices must be made,” Mrs Gillyflower excused her actions.

“Sacrifices? You want to call that kind of torture a suitable sacrifice?” Cass was almost screaming at the top of her lungs at this point.

“It was necessary. I had to find out how much of the venom would produce an anti-toxin to immunise myself. Don’t you see? It was necessary!”

“Mama?” Ada walked out from behind the door. Cass’s heart broke, she’d almost forgotten that Ada had to listen to her own mother talk about her with such contempt. “Is it, is it true?”

“Ada.”

“It is. It’s true. True.”

“Ada, listen to me.”

Rage overtook Ada and she made a beeline for Mrs Gillyflower. “You hag! You perfidious hag! You virago! You harpy! All these years I have helped you, served you, looked after you! Do they count for nothing, nothing at all?” Ada began hitting Mrs Gillyflower with her cane. The Doctor looked like he wanted to stop it, but Cass held him back from doing it. Ada needed this. And Cass knew it.

In the chaos, Clara grabbed a chair and rushed over to the control panel. “Hang on,” the Doctor stopped her, “I’ve got a sonic screwdriver.”

“Yeah? I’ve got a chair.” Clara smashed the chair into the control panel. A shower of sparks surrounded the panel, a much more satisfying shower than the poison.

“No!” Mrs Gillyflower cried out. Ada had stopped hitting her, allowing her to see what had become of her plans.

“Sorry, Mrs G,” Alex smirked, “don’t think your rocket’s going anywhere now.”

“Please, come to me, Ada,” Mrs Gillyflower beckoned. Ada began to cry and let herself collapse into her mother’s hold. “Oh, my child. You have always been so very useful.” Mrs Gillyflower’s demeanor changed in an instance. She grabbed Ada and put a revolver to her head.

“No, Mrs Gillyflower,” the Doctor sighed.

“Please, Mama. No more. No more,” Ada begged.

“And now, if you’ll please forgive us, we must be going. It is long past Ada’s bedtime.” Mrs Gillyflower opened a door behind her, forced Ada out of the room and locked the door behind them.

Clara immediately went to follow but the Doctor and Cass stopped her. “No, no, Clara,” the Doctor said. “If we follow straight after her, she’ll shoot Ada on the spot.”

“She wouldn’t,” Clara gasped.

“Trust me, she would,” Cass replied.

“What now?” Alex asked.

The Doctor rushed to grab the chair wedged in the control panel, turned around, said “Chairs are useful” and threw the chair through a window. The group rushed off through the new exit, desperate to save Ada.

They ran through Sweetville to get to the chimney chute. When they got there, it only took seconds for Cass to spot Ada being dragged up a staircase that ran along the rocket. Cass and the Doctor dashed up the stairs with Clara and Alex not far behind. It wasn’t too long before they caught up, not able to get too close for fear of something happening to Ada.

“Just let her go, Mrs Gillyflower,” the Doctor pleaded. “Let Ada go.”

“Secondary firing mechanism, Doctor. Mr Sweet and I are too smart for you after all.”

“Just let your daughter go, Mrs Gillyflower,” Cass pleaded further. Ada was able to get loose from the hold and stumbled down the stairs towards the Doctor. Mrs Gillyflower pointed the gun right at Ada.

“Shoot if you wish, Mama,” she cried. “It is of no matter, for you killed me a long time ago.” The Doctor tried to reach for Ada to bring her to safety but Mrs Gillyflower shot at him and he retreated. Cass attempted the same action and was met with the same result. Mrs Gillyflower started singing and opened a control panel on the wall, allowing Cass to save Ada without being shot at.

“Evil monologue, bad parenting and now creepy singing. I think I’ve almost got supervillain bingo,” Cass joked. Alex couldn’t help the smirk. Mrs Gillyflower pulled a lever and the rocket’s engines ignited. As the rocket took off mere inches away from them, Cass covered Alex’s body to protect her, even going so far as to cover her ears to deafen the roar.

“Now, Mr Sweet, now the whole world will taste your lethal kiss.”

“Celebrating victory too soon! BINGO!” Cass exclaimed, throwing her hands up in victory. The Doctor snapped his fingers and Vastra and Jenny appeared above them. They were disguised as henchpeople and were holding the bottle of venom.

“Very well, then. If I can’t take the world with me, you will have to do.” Mrs Gillyflower pointed her gun at Ada and the Doctor. “Die, you freaks. Die! Die!”

“Put down your weapon, human female.” Everyone looked up and saw Strax at the top of the chimney pointing his gun down at Mrs Gillyflower. She tried to shoot at him but her revolver was no use against war bred Sontaran. Strax shot in response, sending her tumbling over the railing to the floor below.

“Ouch,” the Doctor said.

Mrs Gillyflower lay splayed out on the floor. Whatever life was left was draining from her. Everyone filed down the stairs and watched as Mr Sweet detached himself. He crawled away from the dying woman. Ada made her way to kneel down beside Mrs Gillyflower. They shared some words then Mrs Gillyflower took her final breath. Above them, the rocket exploded in the sky and they were safe in the knowledge it would cause no harm.

“What will you do with that thing?” Jenny asked, pointing to the pathetic red leech crawling beneath them.

“Take it back to the Jurassic era, maybe,” the Doctor suggested. “Out of harm’s way.” Before anyone could take any action, Ada found the leech with her cane and smashed it until it was nothing but goo on the floor.

“I think I prefer Ada’s idea,” Cass said.

“So, let me get this clear,” Alex said. After the events of Sweetville, everyone made their way out, stopping off at Cass’s TARDIS first to bid farewells. “You’ve been friends with a badass lockpick/ninja/assassin that disguises herself as a chambermaid. Who’s married to an equally badass lizard woman from the dawn of time. And an alien literally made for war, who acts as their butler and nurse. And you’ve never introduced us before? I think I’m starting to agree with your daughter.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” the Doctor asked, feeling slightly affronted.

“You are useless.” Alex laughed at the Doctor’s disappointed face and strolled into the TARDIS. “Until next time, Doctor.”

“Well, another run in with you, another attempt at apocalypse, another foiled plan,” Cass said.

“We really should stop running into each other like this,” the Doctor said.

“We should stop running into each other full stop,” Cass countered. “Goodbye, Doctor.” Cass stepped into the TARDIS and away they went.

Chapter Text

“Finally, an uneventful trip,” Alex sighed. “For a moment I was worried that travelling with you meant danger around every corner.” Cass and Alex had just finished a trip to New Earth. This time less hospital visit and more picnic just outside the city.

“Not everything we do involves saving the world,” Cass replied. “Sometimes it’s just stuffing as much cake in your mouth as possible.”

“I still think I won that.”

“Dream on.” The pair laughed but soon their fun was cut short as they landed back in 2007. “Well, this is your stop. I’ll see you next week?”

“Walk me home.”

“What?”

“Ever since Downing Street, you’ve always landed the TARDIS here. Walk me home and you can find out where I live. Then maybe you can land closer next time.” Alex fiddled with her clothes. It took a moment for her words to sink in but once they did a smile grew on Cass’s face.

“Yeah, okay.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Alex returned the smile and the pair left the TARDIS arm in arm.

It wasn’t a long walk to get Alex’s estate. As they got close to Alex’s building, ghostly figures emerged from thin air. Cass stopped and looked around.

“You don’t have to worry, Cass. I’m not gonna force you to meet my parents,” Alex joked.

“You’re being unusually calm given these things,” Cass said, gesturing to the ghosts up and down the street.

“You mean the ghosts?”

“Ghosts?”

“Yeah, they showed up a couple months back and we’ve just sort of learned to live with them.”

Cass turned to Alex with a deadly serious look. “Alex, this isn’t meant to happen. These aren’t ghosts.”

“What?”

“I don’t wanna fearmonger but this is very wrong and possibly alien.” The ghosts disappeared. Cass went over to where one was standing moments ago and knelt down. “Anyway, what sort of ghost leaves boot prints?”

Cass had run back to the TARDIS, leaving Alex to follow her. When she got back, she ran to a storage room digging around for something.

“Hey mum.” Alex got on the phone to explain why she wouldn’t be home as quickly as she had once hoped. “Yes, I’m fine. Something just… came up. I’ll be home as soon as I can, we just need to deal with something first. See you later. Love you.” Alex hung up the phone and went over to Cass. “Now that my mum has been calmed down, will you please tell me what you’re doing?”

“Why didn’t you tell me about these things sooner?”

“I was going to, they first showed up just after one of our trips. Everyone was panicking. But I forgot to bring it up as we got thrown into another life or death situation and I just kinda forgot. Everyone got used to them, and they don’t seem to be doing us any harm.”

“Seem being the operative word. Nothing about this is good, I should’ve been paying attention. When do they show up?”

“In shifts, the next one’s at quarter to. Why?”

“These,” Cass emerged, balancing three copper looking cones in her arms, “are gonna help us triangulate the point of origin.”

“And we can go kick some ghost arse.”

Cass ran past her and straight outside. “Exactly!” When Alex got outside, the cones were placed in a wide triangle, all linked with wire, and Cass was standing nearby with her scanner out. A power cable ran from the cones into the TARDIS console. “If all goes to plan, we’ll have stopped these ‘ghosts’ before they get the chance to even try something.”

“How often do things go to plan?” Alex smirked.

“Shut up,” Cass laughed. “Ooh, it’s almost time, stand back.” Cass held out an arm in front of Alex, as if to protect her from the ghosts.

“Anything you need me to do in the TARDIS?”

“Nah, anything that needs doing I can control from right here.” Cass waved her scanner. Then, just as predicted, the ghosts appeared again, one of them right in the middle of the cones. Electricity crackled between the cones and up to a point to form a pyramid prison. The ghost started to writhe in pain, gripping its head. “Come on, tell me where you’re from.” Cass studied the screen intensely. Then the ghost started to fade again

“That’s weird, the shift ended early.”

“I suspect they know we’re onto them.” Cass rushed to pick up all the cones and get all the equipment back into the TARDIS. “Come on, I’ve got a signal. We can go straight to the source.” Cass pulled some levers and off the TARDIS went into the eye of the tornado.

When the TARDIS landed, Cass turned to Alex. “I don’t know what’s out there. I don't know what danger we could face. So I’m gonna ask you to stay here.”

“You can’t be serious?”

“At least until the coast is clear?”

“Agreed.” Cass and Alex shook hands on it. Cass made sure she had her scanner and gun on her, gave one last reassuring look to Alex, and walked out the doors.

She was immediately met with guns in her face and military men. Cass held her hands up in a surrender. “We all know you’re not gonna shoot me. So why don’t you take me to who’s in charge?” The men parted and started to lead her away. 

Cass was led through a practical warehouse of alien goods. “That’s a Jathaa Sun Glider,” she noted, pointing out a massive flying saucer. All around them were other military personnel going about their business and scientists in lab coats testing out different technology.

Eventually she was led to a large room. The only alien tech in there was a giant golden sphere floating in the air. Unfortunately, she wasn’t the only alien in the room.

“Oh, come on! Seriously?” The people ahead of Cass turned around to see what caused the commotion.

“Hello, Cass!” the Doctor called out with a stupid grin. Next to him was not Rose, though she did look like her, just older. “I was expecting you to show up, I did see them taking two TARDIS’s away.”

“Taking what? You stole my TARDIS!”

“If it’s alien, it’s ours,” declared a woman. She was blonde and wore smart black business clothes.

“I’ll assume you’re in charge here. Don’t bother with the TARDIS, you won’t get into it and you can’t destroy it.”

“I’m Yvonne. Yvonne Hartman. And we’ll see,” she replied.

“Love, it’s a ship designed to travel through space and time and survived a war against the Daleks. I’m hardly gonna be worried about a few humans from 2007.” Cass approached the sphere. “What’s this thing anyway?” The Doctor also approached it and put on a pair of 3D glasses.

“We were just talking about that, they don’t know,” the Doctor said.

“We tried analysing it using every device imaginable,” piped up one scientist. He seemed to be the leader of at least this project. “But according to our instruments, the sphere doesn’t exist.” Cass pulled out her scanner. “It weighs nothing. It doesn’t age. No heat, no radiation, and has no atomic mass.”

“Void Ship,” Cass said.

“What?” Yvonne asked.

“It’s a Void Ship. Designed to travel through the Void. Exist outside time and space. Small problem, it’s impossible.”

“She’s right,” the Doctor confirmed. “I always thought it was just a theory.”

“What’s the Void?” the scientist asked.

“The space between dimensions,” the Doctor explained. “There’s all sorts of realities around us, different dimensions, billions of parallel universes all stacked up against each other. The Void is the space in between, containing absolutely nothing. 

“Imagine that. Nothing. No light. No dark. No up. No down. No life. No time. Without end. My people called it the Void. The Eternals call it the Howling. But some people call it Hell.”

“God, you’re dramatic,” Cass sighed. “Honestly, I forgot how much you loved theatrics and monologues. Oh, New Earth, by the way.”

“New Earth?” Yvonne asked.

“Where I last saw him. Well, this version of him.”

“So someone built the sphere,” the scientist said, getting the conversation back on topic. “What for? Why go there?”

“Exploration? Escape?” Cass offered up. “You could sit inside that thing and eternity would pass you by. The Big Bang, end of the universe, start of the next, wouldn’t even touch the sides. You’d exist outside the whole of creation.”

“You see, we were right,” Yvonne gloated. “There is something inside it.”

“Oh, yes,” the Doctor said.

“So how do we get in there?” the scientist asked.

“We don’t!” the Doctor shouted. “We send that thing back into Hell. How did it get here in the first place?”

“Well, that’s how it all started,” Yvonne explained. “The sphere came through into this world, and the ghosts followed in its wake.”

“Show me.” The Doctor walked out of the room and turned to the left.

“No, Doctor.” He turned around and went to the right.

“How am I related to him?” Cass asked herself.

Yvonne led them to a large white room. At one end, there was a main office separated by glass. In the main area, there were some desks dotted around. Yvonne walked them over to the other end of the room, where there was nothing but the large white wall.

“The sphere came through here.” Yvonne pointed at the wall. “A hole in the world. Not active at the moment, but when we fire particle engines at that exact spot, the breach opens up.”

“How did you even find it?” the Doctor asked.

“We were getting warning signs for years,” Yvonne explained. “A radar black spot. So we built this place, Torchwood Tower.”

“So this place is called Torchwood. Interesting,” Cass noted.

“The breach was 600ft above sea level, it was the only way to reach it,” Yvonne continued.

“You built a skyscraper just to reach a spatial disturbance? How much money have you got?” the Doctor asked in disbelief.

Yvonne simply replied,”Enough,” and walked over to her office.

“Hold on a minute,” the Doctor’s newest companion said. She was looking out a window. “We’re in Canary Wharf. Must be. This building, it’s Canary Wharf.”

“Well, that is the public name for it,” Yvonne said. “But to those in the know, it’s Torchwood.”

“So you find the breach,” the Doctor said, walking up behind Yvonne. “Probe it. The sphere comes through 600ft above London, bam. It leaves a hole in the fabric of reality. And that hole, you think, oh, shall we leave it alone? Shall we back off? Shall we play it safe? Nah, you think let’s make it bigger!”

“It’s a massive source of energy. If we can harness that power, we need never depend on the Middle East again. Britain will become truly independent. Look, you can see for yourself. Next Ghost Shift’s in two minutes.” Yvonne walked out of her office and back into the main room.

“Cancel it,” Cass said simply.

“I don’t think so,” Yvonne said.

“I’m warning you , cancel it,” Cass doubled down.

“You’re just like him, lording it over us. Assuming alien authority over the Rights of Man.”

“Let me show you,” the Doctor said. He walked into the main office and stood behind one of the panes of glass. “Sphere comes through.” He pointed his sonic screwdriver at the glass and cracked it. “But when it made the hole, it cracked the world around it. The entire surface of this dimension splintered.” The cracks grew larger and larger as the Doctor spoke. “And that’s how the ghosts get through. That’s how they get everywhere. They’re bleeding through the fault lines. Walking from their world, across the Void, and into yours. With the human race hoping and wishing and helping them along. But too many ghosts and,” he tapped the glass and it shattered completely.

“Well, in that case we’ll have to be more careful,” Yvonne said. Cass was really starting to hate her. “Positions! Ghost Shift in one minute.”

“Miss Hartman, I am asking you, please don't do it,” the Doctor pleaded. Cass rolled her eyes.

“We have done this a thousand times.”

“Then stop at a thousand!” Cass shouted.

“We’re in control of the ghosts,” Yvonne insisted. “The levers can open the breach, but equally they can close it.”

“Okay,” the Doctor said, taking a 180. He took a chair from Yvonne’s office and sat down. 

“Sorry?”

“Never mind. As you were.” Cass decided to just stand back and watch the theatre play out.

“What, is that it?”

“No, fair enough. Said my bit. Don’t mind me. Any chance of a cup of tea?”

“Ghost Shift in 20 seconds,” one of the workers said.

“Mmm, can’t wait to see it.”

“You can’t stop us, Doctor.”

“No, absolutely not. Pull up a chair, Rose, Cass. Come and watch the fireworks.”

“Ghost Shift in 10 seconds. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two-”

“Stop the shift,” Yvonne shouted. “I said stop.”

“Thank you, the Doctor said.

“I suppose it makes sense to get as much intelligence as possible. But the programme will recommence, as soon as you’ve explained everything.”

“I’m glad to be of help.”

“And someone clear up this glass! They did warn me, Doctor. They said you like to make a mess.”

“That’s the first thing you’ve said that I agree with,” Cass said.

Not long after Cass left the TARDIS, Alex felt a rumbling as if someone was moving the TARDIS. She dared not open the door to check in case someone would see her. Eventually, the rumbling stopped and everything settled. After a minute, to make sure no one was lurking around, Alex tentatively poked her head out. She’d been taken to a massive warehouse looking room. She walked out of the TARDIS as quietly as possible and looked around. Unfortunately, there was no sign of Cass. Fortunately, there was a different familiar face.

“Rose?” Alex whispered.

Rose whipped her head around. “Alex? What are you doing here?”

“Probably the same thing you’re doing here.”

“Good point. I saw a lab coat round the corner. I was thinking if I can grab it, I can go look around.”

“You’re good at this plan thing.”

“Looks like there’s only one though.”

“Oh, I know what to do. You go grab that one.” Alex went back into the TARDIS and ran to the wardrobe. As she thought, Cass did have a lab coat lying around. Alex threw it on and ran back out the TARDIS. “What do you think?” she asked Rose.

“You just had that lying around?”

“Time Lords,” Alex replied and shrugged. Rose agreed. 

The pair walked off through the warehouse, trying to find their respective aliens. Rose spotted a scientist walking through a door and followed him. They walked through corridors, following the same man until they came upon a large room. The door was locked but Rose was ab;e to use the Doctor’s psychic paper to get them in. There was some scientific equipment around but the main attraction was the giant golden sphere hovering a few feet in the air. Rose and Alex couldn’t help but be transfixed by the strange object.

“Can I help you?” a scientist asked, coming up from behind them.

“I was just…” Rose said, still transfixed by the sphere.

“Try not to look. It does that to everyone,” he said. “What do you want?”

“Sorry,” Rose said, finally breaking her gaze. “They sent us from personnel. They said some man had been taken prisoner. Some sort of Doctor? I’m just checking the lines of communication. Did they tell you anything?” Alex just stood next to her nodding.

“Can I see your authorisation?” Shit.

“Sure,” Rose said, handing over the psychic paper.

“Well, that’s lucky,” the scientist smirked. “You see, everyone at Torchwood has at least a basic level of psychic training” Rose’s smile dropped. “This paper is blank, and you’re a fake. Seal the room and call security,” he said into his communicator. “Samuel, can you check the door locks? They just walked right in.”

Samuel turned around and the girls saw that it was Mickey. “Doing it now, sir.” He gestured at the stay quiet and gave them a thumbs up.

“Well, if you’d like to take a seat,” the scientist said to the girls.

“So these ghosts, whatever they are, did they build the sphere?” Yvonne asked.

“Must have,” the Doctor replied. “Aimed it at this dimension like a cannon ball.”

“I don’t know,” Cass said. “Something about all this gives me a bad feeling.”

“Yvonne?” said a voice from her laptop. “I think you should see this. We’ve got a couple of visitors. We don’t know who they are, but funnily enough, they arrived at the same time as the Doctor.” Yvonne turned her laptop around to show the scientist from before, Rose and Alex on the screen.

“Are they either of yours?” Yvonne asked.

“That’s Alex,” Cass said casually. “Harm her in any way, shape or form and Torchwood will promptly stop existing.”

The Doctor, however, shook his head and said “Never seen them before in my life.”

“Good,” Yvonne said. “Then we can have the other one shot.”

“Oh, alright then,” the Doctor gave in. “It was worth a try. That’s… That’s Rose Tyler.”

“Sorry. Hello,” Rose said meekly. The Doctor waved back at her.

“Hey Cass,” Alex said, seeming more annoyed about the situation.

“Well, if that’s Rose Tyler, who’s she?” Yvonne asked, pointing to the Doctor’s companion.

“I’m her mother,” she said.

“Oh, you’re Jackie,” Cass said. “I remember you from over the phone.”

“You travel with her mother?” Yvonne teased the Doctor.

“He kidnapped me,” Jackie corrected.

“Please, when Torchwood comes to write my complete history, don’t tell people I travelled through time with her mother.”

“I’ll give you all the money you want and let you continue your Ghost Shifts if you tell people he travelled with her mother,” Cass immediately counter offered. 

Suddenly, there was a clunk. Yvonne and Cass immediately looked over to see what was going on. As Yvonne left the office to deal with it, Cass took the opportunity to talk to Alex.

“You doing ok over there?”

“Oh, you know, just been taken prisoner, no biggie,” Alex joked. “I jinxed this when I said we were able to have an uneventful adventure, didn’t I?”

“Dangers of the TARDIS,” Cass said. “Look, keep your phone on you. If something starts going wrong, call your family, tell them to stay safe. I don’t have a clue what we’re facing here.”

“Ok. You’ll stay safe too, right?”

“Always,” Cass smiled, then went back to join the Doctor. When she actually took in what was happening, she saw that the Ghost Shift was happening, and none of the workers responsible were listening to them.

“They’re overriding the system,” the Doctor realised. “We’re going into Ghost Shift.”

In the sphere lab, the scientist had just realised that they were going into Ghost Shift too. He was confused, trying to ask Yvonne questions, but not getting any response. Then there was a banging and a rumble coming from the sphere’s direction. 

“It can’t be,” the scientist said. He ran over to it, with Alex, Rose and Mickey hot on his heels. There were more rumbles, shaking the room.

“It’s active,” Mickey said.

“It’s the earpiece. It’s controlling them,” the Doctor said. “I’ve seen this before. Sorry. I’m so sorry.” He zapped one of the workers' earpieces with the sonic screwdriver. She screamed in pain, and then so did the other two, like it was a hive mind. They then all collapsed on their desks.

“What happened?” Yvonne demanded. “What did you just do?”

“They’re dead.”

“You killed them,” Jackie said.

“Oh, someone else did that long before I got here.” The Doctor immediately got to work trying to shut down the Ghost Shift. Cass pulled out her scanner to see what she could read about the situation.

“But you killed them!”

“Jackie,” Cass said frustrated, “you’re really missing the bigger picture, they weren’t alive already.”

“What are those earpieces?” Yvonne asked.

“Don’t,” the Doctor said.

“But they’re standard comms devices. How does it control them?”

“Trust me, leave them alone.”

“But what are they?” Yvonne reached over and pulled an earpiece out. Along with it came a rope of grey matter. “Urgh! Oh, god! It goes inside their brain,” Yvonne exclaimed, throwing the earpiece to the ground.

“What about the Ghost Shift?” the Doctor asked.

“90% there and still running,” Cass said. “Can’t you stop it?”

“They’re still controlling it. They’ve hijacked the system.”

“Who’s they?” Yvonne asked.

“Might be a remote transmitter but they’re close by,” the Doctor said. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started using it as a locator. “I can trace it! Jackie, stay here!”

“I’m going to check on Alex!” Cass yelled, running from the room. Her only thought was that of protection.

`As the scientist was trying to tell Yvonne what was going on, the sphere kept rumbling. It was getting louder and more intense, alarms stopping Alex from being able to make any coherent thought. But one sound was able to cut through the chaos.

“Alex!” Cass shouted as she sprinted across the room. Alex started running towards her as well, meeting in the middle with a furious hug. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, what’s going on?”

“Whatever those ghosts are, they’re hijacking the system, forcing the Ghost Shift.” Cass looked around and had a brief moment of surprise. “What’s Mickey doing here? Nevermind, I can’t be bothered with that right now.”

“Yeah, the sphere is looking active.” They heard the doors clunking behind them.

“The door’s sealed,” the scientist said. “Automatic quarantine. We can’t get out!”

“Don’t worry, Alex, I’ll make sure you’re safe.” Cass pulled out her gun and got it ready to attack any oncoming threat. The sphere kept shuddering and became more violent, shaking the whole room.

“We had them beaten but then they escaped,” Mickey explained. “The Cybermen just vanished.”

“Wait, the Cybermen?” Cass looked horrified. “This is bad. Alex, I’m sorry I’ve brought you into this.”

“What are the Cybermen?”

“People. Humans like you. But all their emotions, everything that makes them human has been stripped away. And they’ll try and turn you into one. You should call your mum, tell her to grab the family and hide.”

“Ok,” Alex said, and then went to make the call. It only took a couple of rings before her mum picked up.

“Hey Alex, how are you?”

“Mum, I don’t have time. Grab Dad and Liv. Barricade yourselves in one of the rooms and stay away from the ghosts.”

“What are you talking about? Alex-”

“Mum, please. The ghosts are dangerous. I don’t want you to get hurt. I’m safe, don’t worry, Just look after yourselves, please.”

“Ok, darling.”

“Thank you.” Alex let out a sigh of relief. “I’ll call you when this is all over, ok?”

“Alright. I love you.”

“I love you too, mum.” Alex hung up the phone.

Mickey took off his jacket and earpiece. “Here we go.” The sphere started to separate and open. Cass subconsciously placed herself more in front of Alex. “I know what’s in there,” Mickey said. “And I’m ready for them. I’ve got just the thing.” Mickey grabs a massive gun he had hidden in the lab. “This is going to blast them to hell.”

“Samuel, what are you doing?”

“The name’s Mickey. Mickey Smith. Defending the Earth.”

A blinding light came from the sphere as it opened, making it almost impossible to see what it contained. Then a horrific sight came out of the sphere.

“Oh, god,” Cass said. “It’s so much worse than I thought.” Tears threatened to spill out. “This shouldn’t be possible. None of this should be possible.” Four robot looking things flew out from the sphere. Their bodies were covered in spheres, like the one they travelled in, they had a plunger and a gun, and they each had a blue eyestalk.

“Cass, what are they?”

“They’re the Daleks.”

“Location, Earth. Life forms detected. Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!”

Chapter Text

“Stop!” Cass shouted. “You won’t come any closer if you know what’s good for you.”

“Why would we listen to you?” the main Dalek asked. It was the only black one, the rest were brown.

“Scan the hearts, sweetheart. Then check all your records. You know who I am.”

“You are a Time Lord. You are the Soldier.”

“You know it, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll keep us alive.”

The black dalek stared Cass down for a moment, then moved on to one of the other Daleks. “What is the status of the Genesis Ark?” 

“Status, hibernation.”

“Commence awakening. The Genesis Ark must be protected above all else.” Behind the Daleks was some sort of contraption that was similar in shape to them.

“The Daleks. You said they were all dead,” Mickey whispered to Rose.

“Nevermind that,” she replied. “What the hell’s a Genesis Ark?”

“Cass,” Alex said. When Cass turned around, Alex swore she hadn’t seen that much fear on her face before. Sure, she was acting brave and she put on the face to match it, but the eyes gave everything away. “What are the Daleks?”

“They’re the reason my family is dead. They’re who we lost the Time War against.”

“Which of you is least important?” the black Dalek asked.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rose asked.

“Which of you is least important?”

“No, we don’t work like that. None of us.”

“Designate the least important!”

“This is my responsibility,” the scientist said.

“No, don’t.” Rose tried to stop him but it was futile.

“I, er, I represent the Torchwood Institute,” the scientist said, stepping forward. “Anything you need, you come through me. Leave these four alone.”

“You will kneel.”

“What for?”

“Kneel.” The scientist kneels with his back to the black Dalek. He was surrounded by three Daleks. “The Daleks need information about current Earth history.”

“Yeah, well, I can give you a certain amount of intelligence but nothing that will compromise Homeland security.”

“Speech is not necessary. We will extract brainwaves.” The three Daleks extended their plungers and enveloped the scientist’s head.

“Don’t! I, I’ll tell you everything you need! No! No!” The scientist tried to beg for his life to no avail. Alex had to look away and buried her head in Cass’s shoulder. When they were done, all that was left of the scientist was a dried and aged corpse. It dropped to the floor.

“His mind spoke of a second species invading Earth infected by the superstition of ghosts,” the black Dalek said.

“You didn’t need to kill him,” Alex said, barely louder than a whisper, pure shock at the absolute disregard of life.

“Neither did we need him alive.”

“Dalek Thay, investigate outside,” the black Dalek said.

“I obey.” Dalek Thay left the lab.

“Estabish visual contact. Lower communications barrier.” A screen appeared, showing what Dalek Thay could see. Eventually a pair of Cybermen came into view

“Identify yourselves,” Dalek Thay demanded.

“You will identify first,” the Cybermen replied.

“State your identity!”

“You will identify first.”

“Identify!”

“Immovable object meets unstoppable force,” Cass said. “With any luck, they’ll take out each other and give us an easier time for it.”

“Aggression is wasteful and illogical,” the Cybermen said. “You will modify.”

“Daleks do not take orders.”

“You have identified as Daleks.”

“Outline resembles the inferior species known as Cybermen,” the black Dalek said.

“We followed in the wake of your sphere.”

“Long range scans confirm the presence of crude cybernetic constructs on worldwide scale.” Rose’s phone started ringing.

“We must protect the Genesis Ark,” another Dalek said.

“Our species is similar, though your design is inelegant,” the Cybermen said.

“Daleks have no concept of elegance.”

“This is obvious. But consider, our technologies are compatible. Cybermen plus Dalek. Together, we could upgrade the universe.”

“That sounds like an actual living nightmare,” Cass said. She was trying to keep a smile on her face and stay as upbeat as she normally was, but Alex saw right through it.

“You propose an alliance,” Dalek Thay asked.

“This is correct.”

“Request denied.”

The Cybermen raised their arms, ready to shoot. “Hostile elements will be deleted.” They shoot at Dalek Thay.

“Exterminate!” Dalek Thay easily destroys the two Cybermen. The screen switched to show a Cyberman in the main office.

“Daleks, be warned. You have declared war upon the Cybermen.”

“This is not war. This is pest control.” Alex couldn’t help but let out a snort at that.

“We have five million Cybermen. How many are you?”

“Four.”

“You would destroy the Cybermen with four Daleks?”

“We would destroy the Cybermen with one Dalek. You are superior in only one respect.”

“What is that?”

“You are better at dying. Raise communications barrier!”

“I know they killed your family and planet and all,” Alex leaned over to Cass, “but, damn, do they have sass.”

“Annoyingly, I have to give it to them,” Cass agreed. “I’m gonna have to up my game.” 

Just before the screen went blank, one of the Daleks screamed, “Wait! Rewind image by nine rels.” Behind the Cyberman, there he was, clear as day, the Doctor. “Identify grid Seven Gamma Flame. This man registers as enemy.”

“The female’s heartbeat has increased,” the black Dalek said, turning to Rose.

“Yeah, tell me about it,” Mickey joked.

“Gross,” Cass grimaced.

“Identify him.”

“Oh, come on,” Cass said. “You really thought I’d be alone. You know my pattern. Where I go, the Doctor goes.” The Daleks rolled back in fear. “Five million Cybermen, walk in the park. Two Time Lords? You won’t make it out alive. Especially with us two.”

Not too long later, Dalek Thay returned from its victory against the Cybermen. “Cyberthreat irrelevant. Concentrate on the Genesis Ark.” The Daleks started attaching themselves to the Genesis Ark.

“Why are we being kept alive?” Mickey asked.

“Probably because of me,” Cass replied. “I’ve got them scared.”

“They also have the Doctor to be scared of,” Rose said.

“You really don’t get it, love,” Cass laughed. “Yeah, your Doctor may have ended the Time War, but I’m the one that taught Daleks how to fear.”

“So why not just kill the rest of us?” Mickey asked.

“They must have sussed out that you’re important to me. A Time Lord with no qualms about killing is a terrifying thing. That same Time Lord with nothing left to lose is a creature of pure nightmares.” This was the first time Alex felt scared of Cass. Not of who she was now, but of who she used to be, and what she could still become.

As the Daleks were distracted with the Genesis Ark, Cass pulled Alex aside. “This is getting way too dangerous now. You’re using the vortex manipulator.”

“Will you come with me?”

“Can’t, I’d be leaving the TARDIS with a legion of Cybermen and Daleks. The universe itself is at risk if they get their hands on it.”

“Then I’m staying.”

“Alex-”

“No. I’m sorry, Cass, but you don’t get to make choices for me. I told you in New Earth, and I’ll tell you again, I’m not leaving you alone like this. I get that they killed your people, I really do, but I’m not going home just to never hear from you again.”

“You really don’t like making this easy for me, do you?”

“Would you keep me around if I did?”

“Good point.”

“So, why do the Daleks need us?”

“I was just thinking,” Rose said, joining the conversation, “when you travel in time in the TARDIS, you soak up all this background radiation.”

“Yeah, in the Time War, the Daleks evolved so they could use it as a power source,” Cass explained.

“Right, so if the Daleks have got something inside that thing that needs waking up…”

“They need you,” Mickey finished Rose’s sentence.

“Well, realistically, any of us would do,” Cass said.

“Why would they build something they can’t open?” Alex asked.

“The technology is stolen,” the black Dalek said. “The Ark is not of Dalek design.”

“Then who built it?”

“The Time Lords. This is all that survives of their home world.”

“I am right here,” Cass joked but then her face went serious as she slowly realised what the Ark was. “Shit, you were right Alex.”

“What about?”

“If that’s what I think it is, it doesn’t matter if I send you home or not, because soon enough this world will be invaded by Daleks.”

The four Daleks disconnected from the Ark. “Final stage of awakening.”

“Your handprint will open the Ark,” the black Dalek said to Cass.

“In your dreams, Rusty.”

“Obey or the female will die.” The black Dalek aimed at Alex.

“Fine.”

“Cass, don’t,” Alex tried to stop her.

“Place your hand on the casket,” the black Dalek urged Cass.

“Fine, I’m doing it!”

“Don’t you wanna know what happened to the Emperor?” Rose shouted, trying to stall the inevitable.

“The Emperor survived?” the black Dalek asked.

“‘Til he met me,” Rose said. “Because if these are going to be my last words, then you’re going to listen. I met the Emperor. And I took the time vortex and poured it into his head and turned him into dust. Do you get that? The God of all Daleks. And I destroyed them.” Rose laughed in its face.

“You will be exterminated!”

“Oh now, hold on, wait a minute.” The group turned around and saw the Doctor standing in the doorway.

“You took your sweet time,” Cass complained.

“Alert! Alert! You are the Doctor!”

“Sensors report he is unarmed.”

“That’s me. Always.”

“Then you are powerless.”

“Not me. Never. Sorry I was late, Cass.”

“Well, at least you’re here now.”

“How are you?” he asked Rose.

“Oh, same old, you know.”

“Good. And Mickity McMickey. Nice to see you!”

“And you, boss.” Mickey fist bumped the Doctor.

“Alex, glad to see you’ve stuck with Cass this long.”

“She can’t get rid of me that easily.”

“Social interaction will cease!” one of the Daleks demanded.

“How did you survive the Time War?” the black Dalek asked.

“By fighting. On the front line. I was there at the fall of Arcadia. Someday I might even come to terms with that. But you lot ran away!”

“We had to survive.”

“The last four Daleks in existence. So what’s so special about you?” the Doctor asked.

“They’re the Cult of Skaro,” Cass answered.

“What?” Alex asked.

“Did I not mention that?”

“No!” Alex complained. “And you wonder why I didn’t tell you about the bloody ghosts!”

“Is that why they’ve got names?” Rose asked. As the Doctor looked around, the Daleks introduced themselves. They were Dalek Thay, Dalek Sek, Dalek Jast and Dalek Caan.

“What’s the Cult of Skaro?” Alex asked.

“A secret order above and beyond the Emperor himself,” the Doctor explained. “Their job was to imagine, think as the enemy thinks. Even dared to have names. All to find new ways of killing.”

“But that thing,” Mickey said, “they said it was yours. I mean, Time Lords. They built it. What does it do?”

“I don’t know. Never seen it before.”

“But it’s… Time Lord,” Rose said.

“Both sides had secrets.”

“Cass, you seemed to recognise it,” Alex pointed out.

“It’s dangerous, let’s leave it at that,” Cass said. “One touch from a time traveller will wake it up.”

“Technology using the one thing a Dalek can’t do. Touch.” The Doctor started to taunt the Daleks. “Sealed inside your casing. Not feeling anything ever, from birth to death, locked inside a cold metal cage. Completely alone. That explains your voice. No wonder you scream.”

“The Doctor will open the Ark,” the black Dalek, Dalek Sek, insisted.

“The Doctor will not,” he laughed.

“You have no way of resisting.”

“Well, you got me there. Although, there is always this.” The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

“A sonic probe?”

“That’s ‘screwdriver’.”

“It is harmless.”

“Oh, yes. Harmless is just the word. That’s why I like it. Doesn’t kill, doesn’t wound, doesn’t maim. But I’ll tell you what it does do. It is very good at opening doors.” 

The doors to the lab blew open. Men and Cybermen stormed in, working together to bring down the Daleks. Gunfire was immediately exchanged both ways and Cass dragged Alex down. The pair rushed out of the lab. Everyone else was able to get out of the lab easily, except Mickey. He got knocked as a Cyberman was killed and tried to rebalance himself. As he put his hand out to steady himself, he touched the Genesis Ark. Mickey then ran out of the room, leaving the Daleks to slaughter the Cybermen. The Doctor shut the door and the group ran off.

The group ran through the corridors of Torchwood.

“Mickey, you have no clue what you’ve just doomed us to!” Cass shouted as they ran.

“I just fell, I didn’t mean it!”

“You need to start giving us answers, Cass,” the Doctor demanded. “What is the Genesis Ark?”

“You really don’t know,” Cass said. She slowed down, forcing the rest of the group to match her. “Time Lord technology, it’s bigger on the inside. It’s not a ‘Genesis Ark’. It’s a prisoner ship. They’re about to unleash millions of Daleks on this planet. We may have just restarted the Time War.” The graveness of the situation finally hit the rest of the group and they began running again, ten times faster than they were before.

As they ran, they came across two Cybermen. One of the men that joined them shot them down and saved Jackie, who was just on the other side. They had an emotional heart to heart and Cass realised that the man was Pete Tyler, Rose’s dad from a parallel universe. Cass was definitely going to lecture the Doctor on universe hopping after all this was over.

The Doctor insisted that they stop off at the warehouse so he could grab some tech. When they opened the doors, there was an all out massacre. Torchwood and the Cybermen were up against four Daleks, whose only interest was protecting the Ark. And the Daleks were winning by a landslide. They watched as the Daleks overrode the roof mechanism and flew up with the Genesis Ark. The group followed up in the elevator to see what was happening.

When they got to Yvonne's office again, Cass looked out the window just in time to see the Genesis Ark open. It spat out a Dalek. Then it started spinning and spat out Daleks left, right and centre. Millions of Daleks, all with one goal. Exterminate all life forms.

“Cass, my family’s out there,” Alex said. Cass looked over and saw Alex looking more scared than before. Every other time they’d done something like this, it was a different planet, a different time. Nothing that would put her family in the line of fire. But now, Alex’s family was here, and she was powerless to stop any of it.

All Cass could do was hold her close. “We’ll figure this out, I promise. I won’t let any harm come to them.” It felt like empty promises but it was the best she could do. Eventually, Cass let go and turned to the Doctor. “What’s the plan?”

“We’re gonna close the breach.”

“But what about the Daleks,” Alex immediately argued. “We can’t just leave them here.”

“That’s the great thing,” the Doctor started. “The Cybermen travelled through the Void and the Daleks were hiding in it. They’re covered in all this Void stuff. Like background radiation. If I just open the Void and reverse, the Void stuff gets sucked back inside.”

“Pulling them all in!” Rose said.

“Pulling them all in!” the Doctor repeated.

“But it’s like you said,” Rose said with a sad realisation. “We’ve all got Void stuff. Me too, because we went to that parallel world. We’re all contaminated. We’ll get pulled in.”

“That’s why you’ve got to go.” The Doctor started running around, putting his plan into action, as Rose was arguing about not wanting to leave the Doctor behind. The plan was to keep her safe, she’d go to the parallel world, while the Doctor risked his life closing the breach. Once the breach was closed, Rose couldn’t see him ever again. 

Cass felt for them, she really did, but she was more concerned with Alex at that moment. “Come on,” she said to Alex.

“What’s happening?”

“We’re going back to the TARDIS. If you can’t get through to your family, we’re going to grab them.”

“You’d really do that for me?”

“Alex, there’s almost nothing I wouldn’t do for you.” With that, she let the Doctor know that they were going, and left with Alex.

It didn’t take them too long to get back to Cass’s TARDIS. Alex had to lead the way as Cass had no clue what Torchwood had done with her baby. As soon as they got in, Alex was immediately on the phone to her mum.

“Mum, are you okay?”

“Oh my god, Alex! Are you safe?”

“I’m fine, don’t worry, how are you? Are Liv and Dad ok?”

“We’re all fine. There were these metal men. They were in the flat and in the street. But they left now.”

“I know, I know.”

“But now there’s these different robots flying around outside.”

“Stay inside. Don’t go near the windows.”

“Alex, what’s going on?”

“I- I can’t explain it right now. If anything starts to go wrong, tell me immediately.”

“Ok. Stay safe.”

“I will, Mum. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Alex hung up the phone.

“How’s your family?” Cass asked.

“They seem to be safe for now. The Cybermen didn’t upgrade them or anything.”

“That’s good.” Cass looked at the screen on the TARDIS console. “Looks like they’ve gotten the Void open. We shouldn’t have to worry about the Daleks hurting anyone else.”

Alex finally allowed herself to relax for the first time that day. She took a deep breath and took the time to unpack everything she’d learnt.

“Cass?”

“Yeah?”

“Why did the Daleks call you the Soldier?”

Cass had to stop herself from groaning. She’d spent so much of her life running away from the war, she never expected to have to revisit her past. “Time Lords are weird. They have… titles? The Doctor, the Master, the Rani, etc, etc. That was mine. But I left that behind a long long time ago.”

“You looked scared.” Alex dared a glance at Cass as she said that. “More scared than I’ve ever seen you before.”

“The Daleks aren’t meant to be alive. When the war ended, everyone died. I was meant to die. But I didn’t. And now that they’re back. It’s like the war, losing my entire planet, was all for nothing.” Cass turned away from Alex to hide the tears.

“I’m sorry.” Alex was at a loss for words. She knew she’d never be able to relate to Cass’s situation, both hoped she’d never have to, but it killed her to not know how to be there for Cass.

“It’s ok,” Cass said, sensing Alex’s internal struggle. “You don’t have to force yourself to find words that aren’t there.”

“Just wish there was more I could do.”

“You’re here, that’s enough for now.” Cass turned around and Alex opened her arms to offer a hug. Cass practically collapsed into her arms, allowing herself to process everything. All the fear, stress and pain that came with seeing the Daleks survive the Time War. After a few minutes of this, Cass came back up and said, “They should have the Void closed by now, I should go check on them.”

“You go do that, I’ll be right here waiting.”

Cass made her way back to the Void room only to be met with the site of the Doctor alone at the wall.

“Doctor?” He didn’t move. “Doctor? What’s happened? Where’s Rose?”

“She’s gone.”

“Gone? As in into the Void?”

“They were able to take her to the parallel world just in time.”

“Well?”

“Well, what?” For the first time, the Doctor turned to look at Cass, his face a mess of confusion and sadness.

“Are you going to try and see her? Even if it is just one last time?”

“The breach between the worlds is sealed shut, you know I can’t do anything!”

“You know as well as I do, if there was a way to see her again, you’d do it. Even if it meant burning up a planet to do it. God knows I’d do it for Alex.” Cass took a moment to let her words sink in, not just with the Doctor but with herself. “I should get back to Alex, she’s probably desperate to get back to her family. I’ll see you another time, Doctor.”

The second Alex opened the front door, three sets of arms rushed her. Different versions of ‘I love you’, ‘You’re ok’ and ‘What happened’ filled her ears. All she could was hold on tight and be thankful they made it through this. Eventually, Alex was able to detach herself from the mess of limbs and shut the door behind her. 

“What happened?” Liv asked. Alex walked over to the kitchen and started to make herself a cup of coffee.

“Oh, you know, killer alien robots.” As she looked out the window, she was able to see the TARDIS fade away down below. Cass had finally taken Alex’s advice to land nearer to home. “The main point is,” Alex turned to look at her confused family, “we’re all alive.” This seemed to be enough for her family, at least for now.

Chapter Text

“Oh, Alex!” Megan called out. Alex stopped just before she opened the door.

“What is it?” she shouted back.

“Are you going to be near the hospital at all?”

“Why?”

“Your dad forgot his lunch again.” Alex walked back out into the kitchen.

“I’ll get it to him, don’t worry.” Alex grabbed the tupperware from her mum and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you later.”

“You going out with Cass again?”

“Yeah, why?” Alex grew suspicious of her mother’s ulterior motives.

“You know, it’s been almost a year since you two started hanging out. I’m just wondering when we’re going to meet this mysterious Cass.”

“Mum,” Alex groaned. “I’ve already told you, Cass isn’t really a people person.”

“I know, I’m just taking an interest in my daughter’s life.”

Alex finally conceded to Meghan’s nagging. “I’ll talk to her about it today, no guarantees.”

“Thank you.”

“I’m going now, I’ll see you later.”

“Bye, sweetheart.” Alex finally opened the door and left.

Alex opened up the TARDIS doors and saw Cass, as usual, running around the console, getting ready to head off to the far corners of the universe. When she heard the doors open, Cass lifted her head and a wide smile broke out on her face, a smile reflected on Alex’s face.

“Where are we off to today?” Cass asked with the same enthusiasm she had for the past year. “Karaoke with Marilyn Monroe? A disco in 3879? Ooh, I know, a museum in Apalapucia.”

“As much as I’d loved to do all of those,” Alex cut off Cass, “our first stop is the hospital.”

Cass’s smile quickly faded. “Why? Did I do something wrong? This is Yorkshire all over again.”

Alex laughed. “Don’t worry, I’m not intending to spend the whole day there. Just need to drop this off for my dad.” She waved the tupperware.

“Oh, thank god,” Cass sighed. “We can definitely do that. Come over here.” Alex walked around the console. “Put your hands here.” Cass gestured to a slightly open bit of the TARDIS console.

“Not until you tell me what the hell I’m doing.”

“Don’t worry, it’s not going to chop off your hands,” Cass laughed. “The TARDIS is like a living thing, and it can understand memory. Basically, if you put your hands in there, we can get there based on your memory instead of me having to put in coordinates.”

“Ah, so you’re being lazy?”

“A girl can rest once in a while.”

“Ok, ok, I’ll do it, just for you.” That made Cass smile. Soon enough, the pair were off.

Cass and Alex ended up landing just a little down the way from the hospital. They walked over arm in arm as they always seemed to nowadays. Cass had tried to convince Alex to let her stay in the TARDIS (“But what if I end up running into your dad?” “Cass, just because you have a bad relationship with your dad, doesn’t mean they’re all evil.”) but Alex simply put her foot down and forced her to join. She’d still yet to breach the subject of meeting the family, like her mum asked her to. Mainly because she didn’t know how to bring up that she’d been travelling time and space with an alien over ten times her age naturally. As they entered the hospital, Alex simply navigated with ease around all the twists and turns of the building, traversing sterile corridors and passing all sorts of nurses, doctors and patients, eventually spotting a familiar figure.

“Hey dad,” Alex said. She handed over the tupperware. “Mum mentioned you’d forgotten this.”

“Alex,” he went to hug her. “Thank you so much, sweetie. Hope I didn’t take up too much of your day.”

“Not at all, it was on our way anyways.” Alex gestured to Cass, not too far behind them.

“Ah, so is this the famous Cass?”

Cass walked forward and held her hand out. “Cassiopeia Smith, pleasure to meet you Dr Knight.”

“Please, call me Liam,” he replied, returning the gesture and shaking her hand. “It’s nice to meet you too. Alex’s mum has been dying to have you over for dinner at some point.”

Cass laughed nervously as Alex looked down embarrassed. “Um, we’ll see. I’m not really the domestic type.” Cass moved to lean on a nearby chair, but quickly recoiled from the nasty electric shock she got.

“Watch out, that’s been happening all day. All the nurses have been complaining.” Alex saw Cass immediately switch to what she playfully coined her ‘Time Lord mode’. In the corner of Cass’s eye, she spotted someone dressed in a leather and a helmet, like they rode a motorbike.

“Curiouser and curiouser,” Cass said under her breath. She looked outside and saw that it was pouring rain, when it had been sunny just moments ago. “Alex, check the forecast, is there meant to be any rain today?” Cass and Alex slowly approached the window.

“There definitely wasn’t,” Liam said. “I checked it just in case I needed to bring an umbrella. It’s meant to be clear skies all day. Is everything ok, Cass?” Cass simply ignored the question. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad was about to happen.

“Please don’t tell me this isn’t going to end like our last hospital visit?” Alex begged.

“Well, I don’t think this place is breeding a clone race just to infect them if that’s what you mean,” Cass replied.

“What are you two on about?” Liam asked, feeling very much like he was on the outside of this inside joke.

“Dad, look at the rain,” Alex said. “It’s going up.” The three of them looked out the window as what should’ve been a simple weather phenomenon defied the laws of physics.

Suddenly, there was a massive crash of thunder and a screech of lightning. The entire hospital was shaken around. Alex and Cass could barely stand up, being thrown to the ground anytime they regained even a semblance of balance. Everyone was being thrown in any and every direction they could be. It was complete chaos. Then it stopped.

“What on earth was that?” Liam asked as he slowly got to his feet again.

“I think you mean ‘what on the moon’,” Cass said. She was already upright and staring out the window. Alex and Liam stood behind her. One watched in awe, while the other watched in horror, as they stared out at the Earth from the moon. Cass spun round to Liam. “First things first, do you have a balcony?”

Cass marched through the hospital between terrified doctors, nurses and patients. Alex knew where to find the nearest balcony and was leading Cass there. Liam simply followed in disbelief.

“I don’t know what you think you’re going to do,” Liam said. “We’re on the moon. Plus, you can’t be any older than Alex.”

Alex and Cass stopped in their tracks. 

Cass took a deep breath. “You know, I really wish I had more time to prepare for this moment but I think we have to get it over with now.”

“Regrettably, I have to agree,” Alex replied. The pair spun around to face Liam.

“What’s going on?”

“Hi, I’m Cassiopeia Smith. I’m a Time Lord from the planet Gallifey. I have two hearts, my body can regenerate and I’m over 900 years old. I have a time machine that I travel in with your daughter. We go to all the far corners of the universe, stopping evil when we see it. I’d love to show you it right now, to help prove all this, alas it’s stuck on Earth. All you need to know right now is that I’m the best shot anyone has of getting back to Earth. Understood?”

Liam gawked at Cass.

“Maybe we should send your friend to the psych ward after all this is over.”

“Ugh, Dad, now isn’t the time. Look, we just have to help Cass, ok?”

“Fine, but I won’t let her delusions get you hurt.”

“If you’re quite done, debating my mental stability,” Cass chimed back in, “I believe we’re not too far from the balcony.” Alex continued to lead Cass toward the fabled balcony.

“Here you go, one balcony.”

“Perfect.” Cass went to open the balcony.

“Wait!” Liam shouted. “Won’t we lose oxygen if you do that?”

“Are these windows and doors normally air tight?”

“Well… no.”

“Perfect.” Cass pushed the doors open with no further thought. “Well, would you look at that?” She walked out onto the balcony. “Are you coming?” Cass looked back and held out a hand for Alex. She enthusiastically took it and ran out onto the balcony. Liam slowly walked, as if he was walking onto a glass floor in a skyscraper.

“How is this possible?” he asked.

“Someone must’ve put a bubble around us,” Alex offered. “So they want us on the moon, but they want us alive?”

“Or they just want us off Earth,” Cass suggested. “The question is why?”

“If there’s a bubble, that means we’ve got limited air,” Liam noted.

“Even more of a reason to solve this all the sooner,” Cass said. “I may not know the full situation yet, but I promise you, I will get you back home, whether it’s the last thing I do.”

“You seem determined.”

“She always is,” Alex said, a look of pride on her face. A loud rumbling came from overhead. “You might get answers sooner than you thought.” Three giant cylindrical spaceships flew overhead, landing in front of the hospital. From each came a small troop, all marching towards the hospital.

“Are those aliens?” Liam asked.

“Probably,” Cass said. “What do you say we go get a closer look?” Alex had a manic smile similar to Cass’s while Liam still looked apprehensive about the whole thing.

Cass, Alex and Liam gathered on the first floor mezzanine overlooking the hospital reception. When the aliens entered the hospital, Cass pulled them down so they remained hidden. The aliens were heavily armoured, no part of their skin visible. People in the reception began to scream and run, hiding behind chairs. One of the aliens took off his helmet to reveal a rhinoceros head.

“First lizard people, now rhino people?” Alex said.

“Judoons,” Cass said. 

The Judoon shined a blue light onto someone’s forehead and said “Category human.” He then marked a cross on the person’s hand and ordered the Judoon to catalogue everyone.

“That doesn’t seem great,” Alex said.

“Nope,” Cass agreed. “Best guess, they’re looking for someone non-human and that’s definitely not good for me.”

“What are Judoon?” Liam asked.

“Think space police but more thuggish.”

“So space police,” Alex said.

“Yeah, basically. That’s why they brought us to the moon, neutral territory.”

“Neutral territory?” Liam looked more confused by the second.

“Galactic law. They have no jurisdiction over Earth, so they isolate the hospital and dump us on the moon.”

Alex looked up and immediately met eyes with someone she knew things would not end well with. “Cass, don’t look up.”

“Huh, why?” Cass looked up. “Oh, for fuck’s sake.” Cass crawled along the floor to get to the other side of the mezzanine, Alex and Liam in tow. She then slowly stood up and walked into the corridor. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, hello to you too, Cass,” the Doctor said. It was the same skinny doctor they'd come across in their last hospital visit, but with a new companion.

“Am I allowed even a day of peace?”

“In fairness, Cass, even by my estimation this is only like the seventh time we’ve run into him,” Alex said.

“Don’t you go defending him now.”

“Hi, sorry, what’s going on?” There was a woman with the Doctor. She was dressed in a white lab coat indicating that she also worked at the hospital.

“Martha, this is my daughter, Alex, and her friend, Cass,” Liam introduced them. “Though I’m not sure how Cass knows this man.”

“Hi, I’m the Doctor.” He reached out a hand for Liam to shake. “I’m Cass’s dad.”

“Barely,” Cass snapped back. “Anyway, those Judoon down there are looking for a non-human, it’s probably you. We should just feed him to the lions and be done with it.”

“Don’t you mean rhinos?” Alex joked, but Cass simply glared back.

“Why do you assume I’m the cause of this trouble?”

“Because you usually are.”

“Fair enough. Admin office?”

“Obviously.” Cass marched off, before realising she had no clue where the admin office was and let Alex take the lead.

Martha and Liam had just come back from scouting out where the Judoon were. The Doctor was using his sonic screwdriver on the computer, while Cass was trying to use her scanner to hack into the hospital records.

“They’ve reached the third floor,” Liam informed them.

“What’s that thing?” Martha asked the Doctor.

“Sonic screwdriver,” the Doctor, Alex and Cass all replied with the same monotone voice.

“Well, if you’re not going to answer me properly,”

“No, really, it is,” the Doctor said, sounding like a kicked puppy. “It’s a screwdriver. And it’s sonic. Look.” 

“What else have you got, a laser spanner?”

“I did, but it was stolen by Emmeline Pankhurst, cheeky woman.”

“I’ve just learnt to roll with whatever these two say,” Alex whispered to Martha.

“Oh, this computer!” the Doctor shouted, hitting the computer.

“Trouble in paradise, dear?” Cass joked.

“The Judoon must have locked it down. Judoon platoon upon the moon.” Cass rolled her eyes. “Because I was just travelling past. I swear, I was just wandering. I wasn’t looking for trouble, honestly, I wasn’t.”

“I find it hard to believe that,” Alex said.

“But I noticed these plasma coils around the hospital, and that lightning, that’s a plasma coil. Been building up for two days now, so I checked in. I thought something was going on inside. It turns out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above.”

“But what were they looking for?” Martha asked.

“Something that looks human, but isn’t,” Cass said.

“Like you two, apparently.”

“Ok, I get that you don’t believe we’re aliens. Because apparently, even though we’re on the moon and the hospital is overrun with Judoon, that’s the most unbelievable thing. But you don’t need such a tone with it. You can question us once we’ve gotten you safely back on Earth. Ok?” Cass had had it with these humans questioning her entire species.

“Haven’t they got a photo?” Alex asked.

“Well, might be a shape-changer,” the Doctor explained.

“Can’t you just leave the Judoon to find it?” Liam asked.

“If they declare the hospital guilty of harbouring a fugitive, they’ll sentence it to execution,” the Doctor said.

“All of us?” Martha asked.

“Yep,” Cass answered. “If I can find this thing first. Argh!” Cass screamed. “Stupid fucking Judoon! They’re all fucking idiots! They wiped the records.”

“What are you looking for?” Liam asked.

“Not sure. Patients admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms?”

“Maybe there’s a back-up,” the Doctor suggested.

“Keep working,” Martha said. “I’ll go ask Mr Stoker. He might know.”

“I’ll join you, Martha,” Liam said. “Make sure nothing bad happens.” And both actual doctors (or at least doctor in training in Martha’s case) left the office.

It wasn’t too long at all before Cass and the Doctor were able to restore the backup. They went out to tell Martha and Liam, but they came running back with news of their own.

“We found her,” Martha said.

“You did what?” Cass asked.

The motorcycle men Cass noticed before broke down the door behind them.

“Run!” the Doctor shouted. All four of them ran through the corridors.

“What about Alex?” Liam asked.

“As long as she’s not with us, she’s currently safer,” Cass shouted back.

They went to run down the stairs but the Judoon were heading up the stairs. They quickly diverted off to a different floor, running through the labyrinths of hospital corridors followed by one of the motorcycle men.

They ran into the radiology room and the Doctor soniced the door shut. Cass grabbed Liam and Martha and dragged them behind the radiation screen.

“When I say now, press the button,” the Doctor instructed.

“Got it,” Liam said.

The Doctor started messing with the x-ray machine while the man outside smashed the door off its hinges. The Doctor pointed the x-ray machine at the motorcycle man.

“Now!” Liam hit the big yellow button, giving the leather clad man a massive dose of radiation. The man fell down face first and Liam turned the machine back off.

“What did you do?” Martha asked.

“Increased the radiation by 5000%. Killed him dead,” the Doctor said.

“But isn’t that going to kill you?”

“It’s only roentgen radiation,” Cass brushed off. “We’d play with roentgen blocks in the nursery.”

“Everything you say is completely mad,” Liam said.

“Your daughter is the one that stuck around.”

“It’s safe for you to come out,” the Doctor said. “I’ve absorbed it all. All I need to do is expel it.” The Doctor started jiggling about. “If I concentrate, I can shake the radiation out of my body and into one spot. It’s in my left shoe.” The Doctor started hopping and kicking his left foot out, complaining about the radiation and trying to get it out. He ripped off his shoe and sock and threw it into the bin. “Done.”

“You’re completely mad,” Martha said.

“Tell me about it,” Cass sighed.

“You’re right,” the Doctor agreed. “I look daft with one shoe.” He got rid of the other shoe and sock. “Barefoot on the moon.”

At that moment, Alex burst through the door. “There you guys are. Do you know how hard it is to find you idiots,” she panted.

“Not that hard, just follow the chaos,” Cass said.

“Shut up. What’s that?” Alex pointed to the body on the floor.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s just a Slab. Basic slave drone.” Cass kicked the body to prove her point.

“It was that woman,” Martha said. The Doctor went to grab his sonic screwdriver from the x-ray machine. “Miss Finnegan. It was working for her, just like a servant.”

“My sonic screwdriver.” Cass looked over to see that it was completely fried by the machine.

“She was one of the patients, but-”

“Oh, no. My sonic screwdriver.”

“-she had a straw like some kind of vampire.”

“I loved my sonic screwdriver.”

“Dad!” Cass shouted.

“Sorry,” the Doctor said, throwing his sonic screwdriver behind him. “Did you call me Dad?”

“Miss Finnegan is the alien,” Martha continued. “She was drinking Mr Stoker’s blood.”

“Weird time to have a snack,” Alex commented. “You’d think she’d be trying to hide.”

“Wait, that’s it!” Cass called out. “She is a shape changer. An internal shape changer. She wasn’t drinking blood, she was assimilating it!” Cass grabbed Alex’s head and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “If she can assimilate Mr Stoker’s blood, mimic the biology, she’ll register as human. We’ve got to find her and show the Judoon. Come on!” Cass grabbed Alex and ran out of the room. The Doctor, Martha and Liam were not far behind.

As the group was about to walk around a corner, they noticed another Slab so they hid in a doorway round the corner.

“That’s the thing about Slabs,” the Doctor said. “They always travel in pairs.”

“What about you?” Martha asked.

“What about me what?

“Haven’t you got back up? Other than Cass over there?”

“It’s so nice to never be acknowledged when he’s around.”

“Oh. Humans,” the Doctor complained. “We’re stuck on the moon, running out of air, with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal, you’re asking personal questions? Come on.”

“It’s very rare I agree with the Doctor,” Cass said.

“I like that. Humans,” Martha said. “I’m still not convinced you’re an alien.” As the Doctor stood up, he ran directly into three Judoons, one of which scanned him.

“Non-human.”

“Oh my god, you really are.”

“We have been trying to tell you.”

“And again.” The Doctor grabbed Martha’s hand, and Cass did the same with Alex and Liam. Just as they got round the corner, the Judoons fired their weapons. They ran up the stairs again, into another room and locked the door.

All around them, people were starting to slump to the floors from lack of oxygen.

“They’ve done this floor,” the Doctor said. “Come on. The Judoon are logical and just a little bit thick. They won’t go back to a floor they’ve checked already. If we’re lucky.” 

Liam took Cass by the arm and motioned for her to hang back for just a second. Before Alex could join them, Liam said, “You go up ahead, Lex. We’ll join you in a second.”

“You want a word?” Cass asked.

“Look, I have faith that you and the Doctor can figure this out, but oxygen is running low.” He looked to check that Alex wasn’t listening to their conversation. “Just promise me, whatever happens, you’ll make sure Alex gets through this alive.”

“Liam-”

“Please.”

“I promise. Even if it means giving up all my own oxygen, I’ll make sure Alex gets through this. Alive.”

“Thank you, Cass.”

“Oi, you two!” Alex shouted down the corridor. “Are you joining us or not?”

“Coming!” Cass called back.

They went into Mr Stoker’s office and found him dead on the floor. His body was pale white, like he’d been drained of all colour.

“You were right, Cass. She’s a Plasmavore,” the Doctor said, inspecting the body.

“What’s she doing on Earth?” Liam asked.

“Hiding. On the run,” the Doctor explained. “Like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro. What’s she doing now? She’s still not safe. The Judoon could execute us all. Come on.”

“Wait a minute,” Martha said. She went over to Mr Stoker’s body and closed his eyes.

“Think, think, think,” the Doctor said, racking his brain as they left Mr Stoker’s office. “If I was a Plasmavore surrounded by police, what would I do?”

Cass looked around, racking her brain equally as hard, when her eyes fell on the sign to the MRI. “Doctor.” She hit him and pointed to the sign.

“Ohh… She’s as clever as me. Almost.”

“You mean us.”

Then, from the other end of the corridor, came crashing and screams. They looked over and saw a troop of Judoon heading their way. “Find the non-human. Execute.”

“You lot, stay here. We need time,” Cass said. “Doctor, you go up ahead, I’ll catch up, don’t worry.” The Doctor trusted Cass to know what she’s doing, so left her to her plan. “Alex, you’re going to distract them.”

“How?”

“Like this.” Cass grabbed Alex by the face and kissed her, long and hard. When she finally let up, she said a final, “Sorry,” and ran off to join the Doctor.

“No problem,” Alex said to thin air, still in a slight daze.

Cass eventually caught up with the Doctor in the search for the MRI. Following the signs, they eventually made it to the doors of the MRI and an awful feeling came over Cass.

“You’re going to go in there and play dumb human so she’ll drink your blood and fail the scan, aren’t you?”

“Yep.”

“And you want me to hide round the corner so the Judoon don’t identify me as the alien.”

“Yep.”

“Why do you always get to be the main character in these plans?”

“Go ahead, then. Be the one to get sucked dry of blood and very nearly die.”

“Good point.” Cass hit the Doctor on the back. “Good luck in there, try not to stay permanently dead.”

“I’ll do my best.” The Doctor entered the MRI room and Cass went and hid in the room next door.

“Find the non-human. Execute.” The Judoon marched through the corridors. It seemed like their speed had increased since they were actually able to find the Doctor, even if he was the wrong alien. Alex stood in the middle of the hallway, the confidence unwavering, even as the Judoon got closer.

“Hey,” she called out. “I know who you’re looking for. She’s a woman. Goes by… What’s her name, Martha?”

“Florence.”

“Goes by Florence.” The Judoons scanned Alex.

“Human. Wait! Non-human trace suspected! Non-human element confirmed! Authorise full scan!” The lead Judoon pushed Alex up against the wall. “What are you? What are you?”

“She’s human!” Liam called out.

After a moment, the Judoons agreed and marked a cross on her hand. “Confirm human. Traces of facial contact with non-human. Continue the search.” The Judoon handed Alex a booklet in an alien language. “You will need this?”

“What for?”

“Compensation.” The Judoon moved on, Alex, Martha and Liam followed them to the MRI.

They burst through the door to find Mrs Finnegan sucking the blood out of the Doctor. She dropped him just as the Judoon entered. They scanned him to confirm he was deceased. Martha rushed to his side, not believing him to be dead. When Martha realised that she’d drank the Doctor’s blood, she grabbed one of the Judoons’ scanners and aimed it at Mrs Finnegan. The result came back non-human. They confirmed that she was a Plasmavore, charged with murdering the child princess of Padrivole Regency Nine. Mrs Finnegan confessed to the crime, plugged in the MRI scanner and was swiftly executed.

“Scans detect lethal acceleration of monomagnetic pulse,” the Judoon said as they scanned the MRI.

“So, stop it!” Alex cried out.

“Our jurisdiction has ended. Judoon will evacuate.

“What? You can’t just leave it,” Martha called out. “What’s it going to do?”

“All units withdraw.” And with that, the Judoon left.

Martha ran out into the corridor. “You can’t go! That thing’s going to explode and it’s your fault!”

“I think this is my cue to come back out,” Cass said, emerging from her hiding spot. She rushed Martha back into the MRI room. “You start on CPR, and I’ll do my best to stop this.” Cass ran over to the cables and had no clue what to do at first glance. She pulled out her scanner to figure out what was actually going on and realised she just had to disconnect the red wires. Just as Cass did that, the Doctor woke up and the MRI machine turned off. “Hey, Alex, we did it.” Cass turned to Alex, only to see her passed out on the floor. “Alex. Alex!”

The Doctor picked up Martha and carried her away, but Cass could only stay with Alex. She manoeuvred Alex so that she was lying on Cass’s legs. Cass couldn’t help but cry. She had one job, only one, keep Alex safe, and she couldn’t even do that. She’d failed again. 

Then there was a massive crash of lightning. 

Alex woke up.

“Is this how your days out normally go?”

“Well, that’s the closest to death we’ve ever gotten,” Alex said.

“Closest by a long shot, just to be clear,” Cass said, trying to stay on Liam’s good side.

“Well, there was that one time with the Daleks and the Cybermen in Torchwood,” Alex argued.

“I don’t even know what half those words mean,” Liam laughed. “Well, I don’t know how your mum’s going to pick me up. Looks like the entire city’s been shut down.”

“Well, Cass could help us with that.” Alex and Liam looked over to Cass.

“Fine, come on, you two. What’s one extra Knight in the TARDIS anyway?”

“What’s the TARDIS?” Liam asked.

“This,” Cass said, stopping in front of her blue box, “is the TARDIS.”

“Looks a bit small.”

“Take a look.” Cass opened the door and let Liam walk in. Just as quickly he walked out again. He did a circle of the TARDIS and walked back in again. “You know what, that never gets old.” Cass and Alex followed him inside.

“It’s bigger on the inside.”

“I hadn’t noticed that. Alex, had you noticed?”

“No, Cass, I hadn’t.”

“I believe the alien stuff now.”

“Ready to go home?” Cass ran around the console and sent the TARDIS flying. Only seconds later did it land, just outside the Knight’s building.

“Oh my god,” Liam said as he opened the door. “This is amazing.”

“Thank you,” Cass said. Liam left the TARDIS and made his way back to the flat.

“Cass,” Alex said, “can we talk?”

“Right, yes, I was worried about this. Look, the kiss didn’t mean anything and I’m sorry for crossing any boundaries. I know I’m definitely not your type.”

“Oh, no, that’s fine,” Alex rushed to shut Cass down.

“Really? I am, you know, quite female right now.”

“Oh my god, that’s the least of my worries.”

“Really?”

“Cass, I’m a lesbian.”

“Oh. Cool. Like, I’m totally cool with that.”

“I know, we’ve spoken about your wife.”

“Right. Yes. Is there something else we need to talk about?”

“Mum’s definitely going to be expecting you for dinner now.”

“Ugh, fine. Your dad wasn’t that bad, I’m sure your mum and sister won’t kill me.”

“You haven’t met them yet. Anyway, Saturday, come over around 6pm?”

“I’ll be there.”

“Cool.” Alex left the TARDIS, a small feeling of disappointment weighing on her heart.

Chapter Text

Alex stood anxiously by the window, anticipating the sight of the blue box. Her parents had already noticed and teased her mercilessly for it. But Alex couldn’t care less. After hearing about the hospital situation, her mum had been rightfully worried out of her mind, which led to Alex having to explain what she’d actually been getting up to in her free time. Megan had been the most upset knowing Alex was in the eye of the hurricane during the Cybermen vs Dalek war. She was also horrified to learn about what Daleks were and that her daughter was locked in a room with them. It had taken the combined force of Alex and Liam to convince her to not shout at Cass and ban Alex from seeing her again. As she was imagining all the ways the night could go wrong, the familiar sight of the blue police box appeared outside.

“She’s here!” Alex shouted. Without waiting to hear for a response, she dashed to the door and out of the apartment to see Cass. Alex moved at such speed, that it was barely a few minutes before she burst through the TARDIS doors.

“Tell me the truth,” Cass said. “Am I going to get slapped by your mother?”

“Of course, not. Well… I don’t think so. Probably not.”

“You’re not great at this reassurance thing.”

“Dad and I did our best to calm her but learning where I was during the whole Dalek thing didn’t help.”

Cass sighed. “That’s fair. This is going to be a long night.”

“Yep. Come on, we don’t want to keep them waiting.” Alex held out her hand and Cass gladly took it. At least Alex would be there to calm her thoughts.

As soon as Cass walked through the door, she was hit with the sight of pure domesticity. Liam and Alex’s mum stood in the kitchen prepping dinner together, laughing and smiling together. When the door shut, a small child came running round the corner to gaze at the newcomer.

“Leave her alone, Liv,” Alex said, shooing the girl away. The girl begrudgingly left in a strop, going to sit at the dining table. “Sorry about her,” Alex whispered to Cass. “She’s been a bit obsessed with you since she caught a glance of you.”

“When did that happen?”

“After we got this.” Alex lifted her hand to show off the time vortex manipulator on her wrist.

“And I walked you back, yep, that tracks.”

“Cass!” The girls’ attention was drawn to the kitchen where Liam had seen them. “So glad you could make it. Take a seat, we’re just about to serve up. Hope you like carbonara.”

“Sounds good,” Cass said. Alex led her to the table and they sat down next to each other. Liv moved so she could sit across from Cass.

Soon enough, Liam and Alex’s mum were handing out bowls of carbonara and sitting down themselves. “I’m Megan, by the way,” Alex’s mum introduced herself. 

“Nice to finally meet you,” Cass said with a polite smile. 

For a while, they all sat with an awkward tension. It had been an extremely long time since Cass had to make nice with somebody's family. Luckily, the tension was eventually broken when Liv couldn’t keep her questions in any longer.

“Are you really an alien?”

“Liv, be polite,” Megan immediately scolded her but Cass assured her it was ok.

“Yes, I am.”

“Then why do you look human?”

“Why do you look Time Lord?”

“Time Lord?” Megan asked. “Bit full of itself.”

“Yeah, my people were pretty full of themselves.”

“Were?” Megan looked sad for Cass, or at least what she was implying.

“Umm, yeah. There was a war. They didn’t make it.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine. It was a long time ago.”

“What’s your planet like?” Liv asked. Cass liked her, she had a curious mind.

“Gallifrey? It was the most beautiful planet you could ever imagine.”

“Woah. Did you have like 20 moons or something like that?”

“Not quite 20,” Cass laughed. “Just the two. We also had two suns.” Liv’s eyes grew bigger.

The rest of the dinner went by with a much lighter tone. Liv kept on having more and more questions about Cass’s life, which then turned into wanting to hear about all of her adventures with Alex. Even Liam and Megan got into all the questions, everyone engaged about life outside their planet. Eventually, Cass had to move on to stories from before she met Alex, back when she travelled with the Doctor.

All of this led up to the key question.

“Can we go in the time machine?”

“Liv.” This time it was Alex’s turn to groan.

“What? Dad got to go in it. You get to every week. I wanna see it too.”

“Liv-”

“It’s ok, Alex,” Cass interrupted her. “Kid has a point, anyway, what’s a couple more Knights?”

“Wait, you’re being serious?” Megan asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, if we’re done eating, I can take you all down to it.” Cass had never seen a group of people so quickly decide they were done with their food. “I’ll take that as an enthusiastic yes.”

Cass had led the excited family to the TARDIS. When they got to the doors, she pulled out her key and unlocked the door. She opened up the door and let Megan and Liv have the same giddy realisation everyone always had when they first saw the TARDIS.

“It’s bigger on the inside.”

“Impressive, right?” Cass let Liam and Alex head in before her. “It’s called the TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimension In Space.”

“Do you have a license for this thing?” Megan worried, seeing how complicated the console actually was.

“Oh, yeah, I passed my test, don’t worry. And it’s not like it’s actively being flown into war nowadays.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Did the Doctor pass a test?” Alex asked Cass quietly.

“Nope.” Alex snorted.

“Can we fly?” Liv asked, getting more excited by the second.

“I don’t think we can be going on any journeys quite this soon,” Cass said, trying to diffuse the situation. “But I could take you back to the flat in it?”

“I don’t think this thing will fit through the windows, nevermind the doors,” Megan said, voice laced with doubt. 

“Don’t worry, Mum. That won’t be a problem,” Alex said.

“Are we good to go?” Cass asked. After getting a unanimous yes, Cass ran around the console, flipping switches and pressing buttons as she went. Alex couldn’t help but break into a huge smile. It was truly a gift to see Cass in her element. Dinners with the family may not have been her thing, but fighting aliens, discovering new planets and flying the TARDIS definitely was. In no time whatsoever, the TARDIS took off and landed just as quickly. “We’re here.”

“Really? There wasn’t any noise or anything,” Liv asked skeptically.

“Open the doors.” Liv, still unsure, opened the doors and was met with the apartment they’d all been in just minutes ago.

“This. Is. Awesome!” Liv shouted.

“That is very impressive,” Megan said. “Alex, can you take Liv to go clear up everything?”

“But Mum-”

“No arguments, Liv.” She turned back to Alex. “Please.” Alex could see the ulterior motive.

“Ok. Be nice.” Alex took a begrudging Liv out of the TARDIS, leaving Cass to deal with her parents.

“Cass, I want to preface this with I’m happy for what you’ve done for my daughter,” Megan started. “She’s happier than she has been. She goes out more. She’s more outgoing, if that’s even possible.” Cass laughed, remembering strongwilled Alex was, even when they first met. “But I also know that what you do is dangerous. And I get that it’s not your fault that bad people do bad things, but I’m a mother, and I have to think about my daughter’s safety first and foremost.”

“I get that,” Cass said. “More than you think. Before the war, I had a family, a partner, children. Then the war broke out.” Cass got choked up. “I was on the frontlines for them. If they could be here right now, I would sacrifice myself in an instance. I understand. And I’ll guarantee you, no matter what, she’ll come home at the end of the day. I got her a time vortex manipulator, um, a small time machine… thing, to use if things are getting too dire for me to deal with.”

“I’m glad to hear.”

“Alex never mentioned your family before,” Liam said. “Of course, I met your dad, but I didn’t know you had more family.”

“Yeah, the Doctor and I are all that’s left.”

“Why don’t you get along?” Liam asked.

“It’s… complicated.”

“That’s fair,” Liam said. “Just know that, you’re welcome around our place whenever. You make Alex happy and you clearly have her best interest at heart.”

“You can even start landing here if you like,” Megan said. “Save Alex the walk. Especially when she seems to do so much running with you.”

“Thank you, it means a lot to get your guys’ seal of approval,” Cass said, truly touched.

“We’ll let you say goodbye to Alex,” Megan said. “I hope we see you around again.”

“You definitely will,” Cass smiled. “Pleasure to meet you guys.” She waved them off and waited for Alex.

“Please don’t tell me they were too mean,” Alex pleaded when she entered the TARDIS.

“Quite the opposite,” Cass said. “I’ve got the seal of approval, and I think I’m going to be around the house a lot more from now on.” 

Alex was shocked. “Did you hypnotise them or something? That’s far better than I could’ve imagined this going.”

“Well, I best be off now.”

“Yeah, I guess. I’ll see you again soon?”

“Always. Wait, give me your phone.”

“Why?” Alex asked, handing it over. 

“This is why.” Cass took the phone and plugged it into the TARDIS. She hit a few buttons and handed the phone back. “There you go. You can now use that phone from any planet or time period and you can still call home.”

“Wow, really? Every time I think I’ve seen it all, you show me another amazing thing.”

“Go on, I’ll see you tomorrow or something.”

“Bye, Cass.”

“Bye, Alex.”

Chapter Text

“Good morning, everybody!” Cass called out as she exited the TARDIS. The entire Knight family was gathered around the dining table, still in their pyjamas. “Breakfast? I’m not that early am I?”

“We’re doing a full English,” Liam said. “Grab a chair, I’ll get you some.”

“Thank you, Liam.” Over the past few weeks, Cass had learnt better than to argue with the Knight family when it came to food. Normally, if they offered something, it wasn’t an offer, it was a demand.

“What’s the plan for today?” Megan asked.

“I was thinking alien bazaar or Live Aid.”

“Ooh, both good choices,” Alex said.

“If you go to an alien bazaar, will you get me something?” Liv asked.

“If you ask nicely,” Cass said.

“Please?”

“Ok, we’ll bring you something back.”

“Here you go, Cass,” Liam said, putting a plate down in front of her. “If you end up at Live Aid, make sure you don’t run into me.”

“Good point. I think there’s a few versions of me we’d have to avoid.”

“How many times have you been?” Alex laughed.

“What can I say, it’s a good concert,” Cass replied, shoving a forkful of bacon into her mouth. Breakfast continued quite uneventfully until someone’s phone started to ring.

“Who’s phone is that?” Alex asked, looking around the table.

Cass patted her pocket. “Oh, that’ll be me.”

“Wait, what? You told me you didn’t have a phone.”

“I don’t. UNIT forced me to have this for my ‘job’.”

“But you are capable of having. God, I thought it was just an alien thing.”

“I need to take this.” Cass stood and took the phone call in the living room.

“Mum, do we still have any old phones lying around?” Alex asked, standing up to look in the junk drawer.

“I don’t think so. Might be best to take Cass out and get her a new phone anyway. God knows what it’ll have to put up with on your adventures.”

“Good point,” Alex said. Cass returned to the kitchen looking forlorn. “What did UNIT want?”

“The Doctor’s dead.”

Alex had no words. She just walked over to Cass and embraced her.

“It’s fine. It’s not like I liked him anyway.”

“He was still your dad, Cass. Is there going to be a funeral or anything?”

“Um, yeah. UNIT Base Five. They gave me a date, time and coordinates. Of course, we’ll need to get a vehicle when we’re there. Stupid thing is in 2010. This phone never gets the year right.”

“Why a vehicle?”

“If you think I’m letting UNIT get near my TARDIS, you must be joking.”

“Good point.” Alex let go. “Look, I’ll go get dressed and pack a bag. Then we can head over to the UNIT base, yeah?”

“You don’t have to come, Alex.”

“No. I’m not leaving you alone. Not now.”

“Thank you.”

Alex had gotten ready and packed in the speed of light, hating every second she had to leave Cass’s side. It wasn’t too long until she was saying goodbye to her family and in the TARDIS. After that, it was a hop, skip and a ridiculously long car ride to the UNIT base. 

UNIT Base Five was situated inside a mountain. It literally looked as if someone had gutted the mountain and stuck a few metal towers on it for good measure. Alex and Cass were met by Colonel Tia Karim. She was a short woman, with flowing brown hair, dressed in the UNIT uniform of black with a red beret, and apparently the one Cass had spoken with on the phone. She led them through the UNIT base that was still covered with UNIT soldiers going about their daily business. It was all metal corridors and top secret doors the girls weren’t allowed through.

“We’ve allocated bedrooms,” Colonel Karim told them as they walked through the corridors. “The funeral will take place at 0900 hours tomorrow, so that gives you time to acclimatise. The doors to the funeral wing will be sealed at 2100 hours. This is still a working military base, so you’ll only have access to the specified areas.”

“Fair enough,” Cass said. “Will the Brigadier be coming? He still works for you lot, doesn’t he? And Liz Shaw.”

“It’s all been a bit of a rush,” Colonel Karim explained. “The Brigadier’s stranded in Peru, and Miss Shaw can’t make it back from Moonbase until Sunday.”

“What’s that?” Alex asked, pointing down a hallway. She was pointing at a small blue alien, shorter than even Liv. It had three tendrils coming out the back of its head and wore the black UNIT uniform, just without a beret.

“That is a Groske. They were stranded on Earth in 2006. We took them in, and they’ve been earning their keep as workmen.”

“Interesting,” Cass said. “Anyway, bedrooms. I don’t know about Alex, but I’m knackered after that journey.” Alex could tell something was wrong.

“Yes, right this way. The Shansheeth are holding a gathering of remembrance if you’d like to join.” Colonel Karim led them to their room and left the two to get settled in. 

“Something isn’t right,” Cass said as the colonel was out of earshot.

“What?”

“Time Lords have these things called confession dials.”

“Okay?”

“When we’re about to die, we give our confession dials to the person we trust the most. So, either he isn’t dead or he trusts someone more than me. Me . The Last Time Lord. ”

“Cass,” Alex could tell she was spiralling, “isn’t there a chance that it was lost on Gallifrey? Like everything else?”

“Maybe, but… Look, I don’t know, none of this feels right.”

“Of course it doesn’t. Your dad died. I’d be more worried if you were functioning normally.”

“You’re probably right,” Cass conceded. “Just, do me one favour?”

“Anything.”

“Your key, don’t take it with you, keep it extremely hidden, please?”

“Ok. What’s a Shansheeth?”

“Remember the cat people?”

“Not more cats!”

“No. Vulture people. Intergalactic undertakers.”

“Bit on the nose.”

“That’s the universe for you. Come on, wanna get a good look at these Shansheeth.”

When Alex and Cass went to the chapel for the gathering of remembrance, there were two great big space vultures standing by the doors and one at the front. Also at the front was the coffin that held the Doctor. It wasn’t a traditional chapel, more of a simple room with a few rows of pews. There were some people dotted around dressed in black, but not as many as Alex would have thought.

“Not a big turn out,” Alex whispered, trying to be respectful.

“No, there wouldn’t be,” Cass said a lot louder, respect be damned. “I mean, how are you gonna find all the companions? I doubt Susan would show up, don’t even think she’s on UNIT’s database.”

“Who’s Susan?” Alex asked, still attempting to be somewhat respectful.

“My niece.”

“But I thought you said-”

“It’s complicated. Don’t even know if Ian and Barbara are still alive, human life spans are tricky. Mel might still be in Australia. Ace is a complete wild card. Rose is in a parallel universe. We don’t even know what came of Martha and Clara yet.”

“Excuse me,” a woman at the front said. She stood up, quite annoyed with the loud voice, but her annoyance immediately turned to amazement. “Oh my, I didn’t know if you’d make it.” She went up and hugged Cass.

“Sarah!” Cass shouted. “Oh, am I glad to see you here!” The two women let go. “I’m guessing you’ve already met me in this body.”

“Both of you,” Sarah replied.

“Great, keep it to yourself. Time travel, you know how it is. And, is that, oh my god, Jo Grant!” Cass went up to another woman behind Sarah.

“Do I know you?” Jo asked.

“Oh, come on. Mad girl who knows way too much about the Doctor’s past and shows up at his funeral.”

“It can’t be. Cass?”

“Of course.” Cass and Jo embraced just as she had done with Sarah before. “Oh, let me introduce you to Alex. I thought if the Doctor’s allowed so many companions, why can’t I get one of my own.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Alex said awkwardly.

“This,” Cass started up again, “is Jo Grant.” She gestured to a woman with short platinum blonde hair dressed in blue with a giant red wrap around her. “Used to be a lab assistant for the Brigadier at UNIT. Mad as a box of crackers but, god, I love her. And this,” Cass gestured to the other woman, “is Sarah Jane Smith.” She was dressed much more simply with jeans, a shirt and a brown leather jacket. “Investigative journalist extraordinaire. Honestly, if you’re ever stuck in a crisis, you’d wanna be stuck with these two.”

Alex shook their hands. “I’m guessing you both travelled with the Doctor.” They both said yes. “Great, I’ll leave you three to reminisce about the old times.” Cass, Jo and Sarah Jane all sat at the front on the left. On the right were three more people also not dressed in black. Alex decided to sit with them. “I’m guessing you three are with those two.”

“Yeah, I’m Rani, this is Clyde,” said the girl sat in front of Alex, gesturing to the boy also in front. “We’re friends with Sarah Jane’s son.”

“Santiago,” the boy sat next to Alex introduced himself. “Jo’s my gran.”

“Cool, have any of you met the Doctor?” Alex asked. None of them could’ve been older than Alex herself and she started having a horrible feeling she’d been relegated to the kids table.

“We met him once,” Clyde said. “You?”

“Seven times, each time as chaotic as the last,” Alex answered.

“How did you meet the Doctor seven times?” Rani asked.

“Travelling with Cass.” Alex pointed over to the purple haired girl talking up a storm with the two older women. Though, Alex thought, Cass was much older than the both of them combined.

“How does Cass know the Doctor?” Rani asked

“I thought you’d met the Doctor,” Alex said, genuinely confused.

“Yeah, and?”

“God, they’re both as bad as each other,” Alex groaned. “Cass is his daughter.” Clyde and Rani looked gobsmacked.

“He’s never mentioned a daughter before.”

“I don’t think Cass would’ve mentioned him if we hadn't run into him, in fairness,” Alex reasoned.

“So you travel with Cass?” Santiago asked.

“Yeah, she’s got her own TARDIS. Just a few weeks ago we were on the moon with a Judoon platoon.”

“Judoon are trouble,” Clyde said.

“Tell me about it.”

Both girls went through the whole remembrance, chatting away with old friends and new. Before they knew it, it was over.

Cass had spoken with Sarah Jane and Jo about how none of them thought the Doctor was dead, so they decided to go to Sarah Jane’s dormitory to plan.

“Right. We need to make a list,” Sarah Jane said, “because we need to work out who’d fake the Doctor’s death, and why.”

“I could give you a hundred names off the bat,” Cass said. “He has a surprising number of enemies that aren’t Daleks.”

“These can help us to think,” Jo said, pulling a selection of candles out of her bag. “They’re scented with jatamansi oil. It’s a herb from the banks of the Ganges. It helps to focus the mind.”

“What did I tell you, Alex? Crisis. These two.” Alex, Clyde, Rani and Santiago just watched the three women desperately try to prove that the Doctor could somehow still be alive. Alex felt bad for Cass in a way. She’d spent the last years of her life hating the Doctor and now he was dead, no chance of reconciliation. It was an almost tragic scene.

“We’ll just go get some tea,” Rani said. The ‘kids’ and Alex all started to make a break for the door.

“No, no, no, just hot water for me, please, sweetheart,” Jo said. “I’ve got some powdered lapacho. You know, the Doctor took me to this planet once, called Peladon, and the smell of lapacho, well, it reminds me of the Royal Palace.”

“I went to Peladon,” Sarah Jane said.

“You never did.”

“With the great beast Aggedor?”

“Same planet.”

“Okay, laters,” Clyde said, and the four took their leave.

“It’s tragic,” Rani said once they were further away from the dorm. “He’s dead, but they just can’t accept it.”

“I don’t know,” Alex said. “Cass tends to be right. And if anyone should want him dead, it’d be her.”

“I never met the Doctor,” Santiago said. “I always wanted to, but, too late.”

“I wish he was here right now,” Clyde said.

“Yeah, me too,” Rani said.

“No, I really wish he was here right now,” the group stopped and turned to Clyde, “because then he could explain this.” Clyde held up his hand. It was glowing with blue electricity.

“It’s happening again,” Rani said.

“But I can’t say anything, can I? Not inside UNIT. They’d lock me up and dissect me.”

“Hold on. What do you mean, it’s happening again?” Santiago asked.

“I’ve seen this sort of thing before,” Alex said. “It was from the TARDIS.”

“Yeah, the Doctor called it artron energy,” Clyde said. “I think it was from the TARDIS, the Doctor’s time machine.”

“Maybe we should grab Cass?” Alex suggested.

“Smelly getting closer,” said a voice from behind them. It was one of the Groske.

“What do you know about this stuff?” Clyde shouted at it.

“Closer and closer,” was all the Groske said and then it ran off.

“Oi, come back here, blue boy,” Clyde yelled then ran after it.

“Here we go again,” Alex muttered as she gave into the constant running in her life. As they were catching up with the Groske, it dived into the ventilation shaft.

“He’s like a mouse in a skirting board,” Clyde complained. “You coming?”

“Yeah,” Rani immediately agreed. “Honestly, it’ll be fine. We do this kind of thing all the time,” she reassured Alex and Santiago.

“My gran once handcuffed herself to Robert Mugabe. I’m loving it,” Santiago said.

“I first met Cass while locked in Downing Street with Slitheen and imminent death, this is just a regular Thursday,” Alex said. They all ducked into the ventilation shaft: Clyde, Rani, Alex and then Santiago.

“Oi!” Clyde called out, leading the group through the maze of vents. “Groske. Where are you?”

“Clyde, keep it down,” Rani complained. “This is a top secret military base and they might shoot us dead.”

“They once tried to shoot me dead,” Alex said wistfully.

“What?”

“Oh, we broke into UNIT and stole something, no biggie.”

Cass, Jo and Sarah Jane were sat on the floor gathered around the candles. Soft music seemed to flow into the room, helping the women to remember their past adventures with the Doctor.

“The Doctor took me to this planet once called Karfel,” Jo remembered. “And they had a leisure garden. And the plants could sing.”

“He took me to Italy, once,” Sarah said. “San Martino, 1492. I remember this magnificent garden. It smelled of oranges, vanilla.”

“Dad took me to the Rings of Akhaten for my birthday one year,” Cass recalled, pulling the memory back from her deep subconscious. “It was so loud and bustling. And he got me the nicest gifts.”

“Drashigs, Axons, Ogrons.”

“Cybermen, Zygons.”

“Sontarans, Silurians, the Daleks.”

The three women were lulled into a deeper and deeper trance.

“What have we stopped for?” Santiago asked.

“Hush a minute,” Clyde said.

“Clyde, I’m staring at your bum,” Rani complained.

“No, seriously, shush.” Clyde was staring through a ventilation grill, obviously watching something. After a moment, he said, “Guys, back up. We have to get out of here.” Then something seemed to go wrong and he desperately urged them to back up again.

“There’s no room to turn around,” Santiago said.

“Shuffle!” Alex shouted. They all started to shuffle backwards, just in time to avoid the Shansheeth opening the shaft.

“Faster. Shuffle for your life,” Clyde urged.

Cass suddenly woke up and saw Sarah Jane and Jo still in their trances. “Sarah. Jo. Wake up.” She shook them slightly.

“What?” Jo woke up with a jump.

“Where is everyone?” Sarah asked. The women stood up and went to the corridor. “Rani? Clyde?”

“Something is very wrong,” Cass said.

“Wrong?” Jo asked. “As in you mean just like the old days sort of wrong.”

“Exactly like the old days,” Sarah Jane said.

“Groovy.” They ran through the corridors and it wasn’t long until they found the children and Alex.

“Sarah Jane, it’s the Shansheeth,” Clyde explained. “They’re lying through their beaks. They want you, Jo and Cass. This whole thing’s a trap.”

“I knew it,” Sarah Jane said.

“Hold on,” Jo said. “If they’re lying, that means the Doctor’s still alive. Yes!”

“Of course I’m still alive, Jo,” Clyde said, but in a very different voice. “I thought that was obvious. Catch up.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“Tell me this isn’t happening,” Cass muttered.

“Clyde, is that you?” Sarah Jane asked.

“‘Course it’s not,” Clyde(?) continued. “It’s me. I’m using Clyde as a receiver. I’ve keyed into his residual artron energy so I can organise a very complicated biological swap across ten thousand light years. Hold on.” Artron energy ran through Clyde’s entire body and looked very painful. “That wasn’t me,” the real Clyde said. “That wasn’t me speaking. I’m getting…” Clyde noticed his hand. It was a large white hand. “That’s not my hand, because my hand’s not white.” Artron energy burst through his body again until his body was being overtaken by a tall white man, fighting for control of the space.

“Sorry. Clyde, but…” He spoke in bursts as he fought for control of the space. “This… space… is… taken!” The tall white man won out. “Good. So, gosh. That was different. Hello, everyone.”

“Who are you?” Rani immediately went on the attack. “Where’s Clyde?”

“Come on, Rani, use your brain. Clyde and I swapped places. I’m where he was, he’s where I was. Which means, right now, ooh, he’s in a lot of trouble.”

“You complete utter moron.” Cass folded her arms and looked at Alex. “See, I’d never do that to you.”

“You bring him back,” Rani continued,” whoever you are!”

“No, no, no, Rani, don’t you see?” Sarah Jane calmed her. “It’s you, isn’t it? You’ve done it again.”

“Hello, Sarah Jane.”

“Doctor.”

“That’s the Doctor?” Rani asked.

“What Doctor? The Doctor? My Doctor?” Jo couldn’t believe it.

“Woo, the Doctor’s back everyone,” Cass interrupted. “Yippee, let’s all go skipping.” She glared at the Doctor. “I was having such a nice day and then you show up and ruin it.”

“Nice? It was my funeral!”

“My point exactly.”

“Did something happen between you two?” Jo asked.

“Two words,” Cass said, her death glare still fixed on the Doctor. “Time. War.” The confrontation was cut short however as the Shansheeth approached from behind.

“Ah, yes,” the Doctor said, approaching them. “The Claw Shansheeth of the 15th Funeral Fleet. I’ve been looking for you. Have you been telling people I’m dead?”

“I apologise,” the lead one said. “The death notice was released a little too soon. Though I can rectify this. Immediately.” He held out his claw and a beam of red energy came out of it and directly into the Doctor. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Doctor. Rest in peace.”

Cass immediately pulled out her gun and shot the ground near the feet of the Shansheeth. They stopped their attack in surprise.

“You brought your gun?” Alex shouted.

“A thank you would be nice!” Cass screamed back.

The Doctor switched back to a very confused Clyde. “But I was on a planet…”

“Ugh, humans. Run!” The group ran away from the Shansheeth back towards their dormitory.

“Come along, Smith,” the Doctor said, having switched bodies again. “In! In! In! In! In!” he shouted. Everyone ran into the dormitory as Colonel Karim approached.

“I’m sorry, is there a problem?” she asked.

“Sorry,” the Doctor said, “I was slamming it.” He then slammed the door in Colonel Karim’s face.

As the Doctor was working out his plan, Cass went to Alex. “Take the scanner.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m far more likely to be kidnapped than you.” Cass shoved the scanner into Alex’s hands and turned back around. She saw that the Doctor clearly intended for there to be another body switch and to take Sarah Jane and Jo with him so she ran up to him. “Oh no, you don’t.” She put her hand on him and was transported to another planet.

Sarah Jane, Jo, Cass and the Doctor stood on a red desecrate wasteland. There was nothing but rubbish, mountains and desert. The Doctor immediately started fiddling with a beacon like device. It was making a thrumming noise that was slowing down.

“No, no, no, no. Let’s get you working properly,” he said.

“Where are we?” Sarah Jane asked.

“The Wasteland of the Crimson Heart,” the Doctor said. “Planet Earth’s that way.” He pointed in an arbitrary direction. “Bit of a long walk. Sonic, please.” Sarah Jane handed over her lipstick.

“Sonic lipstick, much better than a screwdriver,” Cass said.

“Can I help? Is there something wrong?” Colonel Karim was asking from the other side of the door.

“But she’s on our side, isn’t she?” Santiago asked.

“Think about it,” Rani said. “The Doctor’s been avoiding her, but why? Because someone inside UNIT had to fake the DNA results. Colonel Karim. She’s in league with the Shansheeth.”

Alex sat down, fiddling with the scanner, trying to figure out how it worked. After pushing many random buttons and hitting it a few times, it started working. She was somehow able to pull up a schematic for UNIT Base Five.

“Look,” Alex said. “We’re right in the middle of the base. There has to be a way of getting help.” A klaxon blared throughout the place.

“What’s happening?” Santiago asked. Parts of the schematic started turning red.

“Karim’s sealed off the entire Funeral Wing. We’re trapped.” Before the group could start panicking, the Groske from before kicked off the ventilation shaft grill.

“Hurry, hurry! Follow me!” With no other options available, the group followed the Groske into the vents.

The Doctor, Sarah Jane and Cass knelt next to the beacon, trying to fix it, The Doctor instructing Sarah Jane on where to use her sonic lipstick.

“Did it hurt?” Sarah Jane asked. “I mean, the regeneration. That last body of yours, was he okay in the end?”

“Regeneration always hurts,” Cass answered for him. “Whether it’s murder or old age, regeneration makes sure you feel the pain.” The Doctor silently agreed.

“So how did you end up in this place,” Sarah Jane asked instead.

“The Shansheeth lured me,” the Doctor explained. “A mighty old battlefield, just begging to be explored. Because I’m travelling with Amy now. And Rory.”

“What happened to Clara?” Cass asked.

“Who?”

“Nevermind, don’t worry, I said nothing.”

“Amy and Rory got married,” the Doctor continued his explanation. “I dropped them off at a honeymoon planet, which isn’t what you’d think. It’s not a planet for a honeymoon, it’s a planet on a honeymoon. It married an asteroid. Then they nicked the TARDIS. The Shansheeth, not Amy and uh… Fortunately, I had all this wreckage to build a space swapping doo-dah thingummy wotsit.”

“So, you’ve a married couple on the TARDIS,” Jo said. She was sat down on one of the rocks just a few feet away.

“Mr and Mrs Pond.”

“I only left you because I got married. Did you think I was stupid?”

“Why do you say that?”

“Well, I was a bit dumb. Still am, I suppose.”

“Now what in the world would make you think that? Ever, ever, ever?” the Doctor asked in that voice he always put on when he was comforting someone. Cass remembered that voice being used on her so much throughout her childhood. Even when she left Gallifrey to go gallivanting with the Doctor, he never stopped using that voice on her. He walked over to Jo and sat next to her.

“We’d been travelling down the Amazon for months,” Jo said, “and we reached a village in Cristalino, and it was the only place in thousands of miles that had a telephone, so I called you. I just wanted to say hello. And they told me that you’d left, left UNIT, never came back. So I waited and waited, because you said you’d see me again. You did, I asked you and you said yes. You promised. So I thought, one day, I’d hear that sound, deep in the jungle, I’d hear that funny wheezing noise, and a big blue box right in the middle of the rainforest. You see, he wouldn’t just leave. Not forever. Not me. I’ve waited my whole silly life…”

Cass couldn’t help but smile sadly. That was the curse of travelling with the Doctor. You either die in the process, or make it back just to wish that he would show up again. But he never does. Because he doesn’t look back.

“Oh, but you’re an idiot,” the Doctor laughed with Jo.

“Well, there we have it.”

“No, but don’t you see?” the Doctor tried to explain. “How could I ever find you? You’ve spent the past forty years living in huts, climbing up trees, tearing down barricades. You’ve done everything from flying kites on Kilimanjaro to sailing down the Yangtze in a tea chest. Not even the TARDIS could pin you down.”

“Hold on. I did sail down the Yangtze in a tea chest. How did you know?”

“And that family. All seven kids, twelve grandchildren, thirteenth on his way. He’s dyslexic but that’ll be fine. Great swimmer.”

“So you’ve been watching me all this time?”

“No. Because you’re right. I don’t look back. I can’t. But the last time I was dying, I looked back on all of you. Every single one. And I was so proud.”

“We get it, you’re a big softie!” Cass shouted. “But we’ve kinda got a Shansheeth problem to deal with right now!”

“Yes, yes.” The Doctor snapped back into action. “And I still need you, Jo. Now that bag of yours, I can smell blackcurrant. Is it buchu oil?”

“Hand picked in Mozambique.” Jo handed the small bottle to the Doctor.

“Oh, perfect. These circuits need connectivity.” He took the top off the beacon and put some of the oil in. “Wonderful. Little tiddly drop. That’s it. What a team.”

The kids and Alex had followed the Groske to a little den he’d made in the ventilation shafts. It had fairy lights and pillows and drawings on the walls and a little stuffed panda in the corner.

“Nice den,” Alex said. “What’s all the hurry for?”

“Pizza go cold,” the Groske said, picking up a pizza box.

“What? I thought you had a plan?” Clyde complained.

“Shansheeth too scary. We hide.”

“No, we’ve got to do something,” he argued.

“Yeah, but hiding’s not too bad,” Rani reasoned, “because we’ve got to keep you safe, Clyde. Whatever the Doctor’s doing, he needs you for that body switcheroo.”

“Oh, great, great! Stuck in Groskeville.”

“Pizza good.”

“Calm down, Clyde, we could be chilling with the Shansheeth instead,” Alex said.

“I can’t believe you get to do this all the time,” Santiago marvelled. “Like aliens and chases and stuff.”

“You can talk, Santiago,” Clyde said. “You’re off to Paraguay and Mount Everest.”

“Dude, you just zapped into another planet.”

“Yeah, that was pretty cool.”

“Yeah, we’ve been to parallel times, dream dimensions, limbo. And then we go home for tea,” Rani said.

“We see all this, then my mum’s like ‘what did you do today?’, I’m like, not much,” Clyde laughed.

“Went to the library.”

“Played a bit of footie.”

“Stayed behind after Drama Club.”

“And I’ve fought off a platoon of Judoon in my spare time.”

“My family knows about everything now,” Alex said. “But for about a year I couldn’t say anything. I’ve been to New New York on New Earth, an alien market with sun that is a god and fought off Slitheen in Downing Street. And they just thought I was shopping.”

“I’ve not seen my mum for six months now,” Santiago said.

“How come?” Rani asked.

“She’s in Japan, organising a rally. I mean, that’s great, you know. It’s really good work.”

“Yeah, of course it is,” Clyde said.

“Before that, she was in Africa, finding shell flower plants. My father’s with the Gay Dads Organisation hiking across Antarctica. We haven’t all been together since about February?”

“When are you going to see them next?” Alex asked.

“Soon. I don’t know. Soon though.” Suddenly a shutter came down over the vent access.

“What’s that? What’s happening?” Clyde asked, panicked.

“Trapped,” the Groske said. The temperature rapidly increased in the den. “Heating. Hot, hot, hot.”

“They’re trying to boil us!” Rani cried. They started trying to move the shutter to escape but it was no use.

“It won’t budge,” Clyde said. “Come on, Groske, there’s got to be a way out.”

“No. We die like rotisserie.”

“On any other day, I’d agree with the pessimism,” Alex said, “but I’m not in the mood to die today.” They started screaming for help. Begging for anyone to come and save them.

“There. That should work,” the Doctor said. “Intergalactic molecular streaming with just a hint of blackcurrant.”

“Oh, but what will happen to Clyde?” Sarah Jane asked.

“No, no, no, I’ve fixed it. All I needed was you two.”

“Three.”

“Yes, three, thank you, Cass. Now we can go back and Clyde can stay where he is. Hold tight.” They all grabbed on to the Doctor again and were transported back to UNIT Base Five. However, when they got back, the kids and Alex were nowhere to be seen. But their screams for help could be heard through the vents. “Oop. Then again, maybe leaving Clyde in the same place wasn’t such a good idea.”

“You don’t say,” Cass shot back.

“Look out, stand back,” Sarah Jane said. She soniced the grill off the wall.

“Ah! Ventilation shafts,” the Doctor said. “That takes me back. Or even forward.” He ducked into the vent and started making his way towards the distressed calls. Cass was about to follow him in but got snapped up by one of the Shansheeth along with Sarah Jane and Jo.

Alex felt like she was burning alive. The heat was unbearable. Luckily, she could hear the Doctor working away, trying to get the vent access open again.

“And… release,” the Doctor said. The shutter went up, and the familiar face poked through the vents.

“Blimey,” Clyde said. “You really have changed faces, haven’t you? I couldn’t see you before, I was too busy swapping.”

“Oi, we’re still cooking back here!” Rani called out.

“Where’s my gran?” Santiago asked.

“And Cass?” Alex asked.

“Right, yes, sorry, they’re in danger, so we’d better, uh… Can’t turn around.”

“You’ll have to shuffle backwards,” Clyde said.

“Oh, yes, okay. Thank you, Clyde.” The Doctor started shuffling backwards and everyone clambered into the vents once again.

The Shansheeth took the women to the chapel. However instead of a coffin and seating, there were now three enormous contraptions (the Memory Weave) that they were each strapped to, a control board and the Doctor’s TARDIS.

“Hang on, then,” Sarah Jane said. “Tell us, what exactly does a Memory Weave do?”

“Because I warn you, darling,” Jo said, “the memory’s going at my age.”

“You need only remember one thing,” the Shansheeth said.

“What’s that?” Cass asked.

“The TARDIS key.”

“The Weave takes the memory out of your head, and makes it real,” Colonel Karim explained. “This device can build a physical key out of your thoughts.”

“And then, we will have access to the TARDIS. The most miraculous machine in creation will be ours.” Cass couldn’t decide which was worse. Giving the TARDIS to the Shansheeth or giving the TARDIS to UNIT. On the bright side, at least it wasn’t her TARDIS at risk.

“No, you can't,” Jo protested.

“We have seen so much of death. The Shansheeth have presided over infinite funerals. We see the pain and the suffering again and again and again. But with the TARDIS, we can stop this. We can intervene to prevent the loss of life on a universal scale.”

“You think you’ve seen suffering, you know nothing,” Cass said. “I watched my planet burn, but I wouldn’t go back and change it because it was the only way to stop even more suffering. We need death to give meaning to life, you oversized bird brains.”

“Accelerate the Weave,” Colonel Karim demanded. Pain pierced into Cass’s brain and infected every part of her body.

“Jo, Sarah, Cass, can you hear me?” They heard the Doctor from the other side of the door.

“They want the key. They’ve got the TARDIS, and a Memory Weave,” Sarah Jane called back.

“Too late,” Colonel Karim said. “Full activation.”

“Concentrate. Think of the key,” the Shansheeth instructed.

Outside the chapel, the Doctor was trying to find a way in to no avail. “I’ve got the original here. You can have it if you let them go!”

“You let the Doctor inside this room and he will destroy us,” Colonel Karim warned. “Keep going!”

“Think of the TARDIS,” the Shansheeth urged.

Cass tried her best to fight against it but she couldn’t. The memories of all her adventures with the Doctor ran through her mind. All seven faces taking her to the farthest corners of the universe. Travelling around in that stupid blue box. She’d become so enamoured by it as a child that when she finally got her own TARDIS, she took it to the 60s, got it to disguise as a police box, and smashed up the chameleon circuit, a decision she now regretted. It felt like there was nothing she could do to fight it. No hope. This was where Cass would take her final stand.

“The memories coalesce,” the Shansheeth said. “The key, it takes shape.”

“Cass!” Alex shouted. “What do we do, Doctor?”

“Yes, because… The Shansheeth are making them remember.”

“We know,” Clyde said.

“Then don’t you see?”

“We also make them remember,” Alex realised.

“Exactly,” the Doctor said. He started pushing buttons on a computer situated just outside the chapel. “Opening comms. Cass, Sarah, Jo, can you hear me?”

“The key, it’s almost ready,” Sarah warned.

“Listen to me. I want you to remember.”

“We are doing! That’s the trouble!” Jo cried out.

“No, no, no, no. I want you to remember everything. Every single day with me. Every single second. Because your memories are more powerful than anything else on this planet. Just think of it. Remember it. But properly. Properly. Give the Memory Weave everything. Every planet, every face, every madman, every loss, every sunset, every scent, every terror, every joy, every Doctor. Every me.”

Cass could hear the Doctor and the Memory Weave overloading, but she couldn’t do it. Because every memory hurt too much. Eventually, a voice was able to cut through the fog of emotion.

“Cass, can you hear me?” It was Alex.

“I can’t do it, Alex.” Tears started running down her face. “I can’t go back to then.”

“Remember Gallifrey. The suns and the mountains and the sky and the snowglobe Citadel.”

Cass remembered and laughed. “It’s not a snowglobe.”

“You described it like one. Remember your family, your wife, your kids, every single one of them, back when things were good. Remember my family, them forcing you to eat with us because who could possibly be feeding you in that blue box. How Liv laughs every time you tell her a new story. Remember when you first met my dad.”

“The Judoon platoon upon the moon.”

“Exactly,” Alex laughed. 

Cass remembered.

Every single moment she spent with her family. Every single moment she spent with Alex. They all came flooding to her mind. Every laugh, every smile, all of it. The Weave started to self-destruct. The circuit had blown and all three women were able to get out and run to the doors. But the doors were still sealed shut. Sarah Jane tried to use her sonic lipstick on the door but they’d drained it.

“Doctor, we can’t get out!” Sarah Jane called.

“I can’t open it,” the Doctor said.

“What about your sonic?” Cass asked.

“It’s inside the TARDIS.”

“And we can’t get in, because guess what? We stopped ourselves getting the key,” Sarah Jane said. “Oh, that was clever.”

“Doctor,” Cass said, “take care of Alex. Send her back home.”

“Don’t talk like that,” Alex said, tearing up.

“Why not, it’s my funeral,” Cass joked.

“My funeral?” the Doctor said. Sarah Jane started saying something akin to her last wishes but the Doctor cut her off. “No, no, no, no, but listen. My funeral. Don’t you see? It’s my funeral.”

“With a lead lined coffin!” Sarah Jane and Jo exclaimed at the same time.

“Why is it lead lined? You need to burn it,” Cass complained as she followed the two women and climbed into the coffin.

On the other side of the door, the Doctor, Alex, Rani, Clyde and Santiago took cover round the corner just in time. A massive fireball blew the doors straight off the chapel. The group stood up, coughing everywhere from the smoke. The chapel itself was basically burnt to a crisp. No sign of the Shansheeth or Colonel Karim anywhere.

“Now then,” the Doctor said, walking over to the coffin. “Smith, Smith and Jones.” He opened up the coffin to reveal the three women safe, not even a scratch on them. “The coffin was the trap. The coffin was the solution. That’s so neat, I could write a thesis. Come on then, you three. Out you get.” Cass climbed out of the coffin and went over to Alex.

“Scanner please.” Alex happily handed it over. And she became shocked when Cass opened up the back to reveal three TARDIS keys.

“That was there the whole time?”

“Alex, it’s future technology. It doesn’t need to be this bulky. I just had a secret compartment made. Anyway, key for you,” she handed a key to Alex, “key for me,” she put a key round her neck, “and a key for that.” She walked over to the Doctor’s TARDIS.

“You’ve got a key to his TARDIS?”

“I travelled with him for literal decades, it would be weirder if I didn’t have a key. Come along, you lot.”

“Why was that so bumpy, and what was that noise?” Alex asked.

“That’s the result of failing your test,” Cass said. They walked out of the TARDIS and into Sarah Jane’s attic. “Oh my god, is that a Xylok embedded into a computer?”

“Nice to meet you, Cassiopeia,” said the giant computer embedded into Sarah Jane’s wall.

“That’s Mr Smith,” Rani said.

“I love Mr Smith. Can I move in?”

“Is my family not enough for you?” Alex joked. Cass’s eyes grew wide.

“Your family! Doctor!”

“Yes,” the Doctor said, sticking his head out of the TARDIS.

“Sonic, now.” He handed his sonic screwdriver to Cass, confused as to what the problem was. “Now, if I get the right frequency and, oh, I know,” Cass pulled her key out and held it against the screwdriver, “proximity always helps, and…” Cass used the sonic and before their eyes, a second TARDIS materialised in the attic. “There we go!”

“Is that your TARDIS?” Clyde asked.

“Yep!”

“Why does it look like the Doctor’s?”

“Long story.”

“I’m heading in,” Alex said. “It was so nice meeting all of you.”

“I’ll be right there,” Cass said. She walked into the Doctor’s TARDIS and saw him getting ready to go off. “You’re not flying off already, are you, space boy?” The Doctor turned to look at Cass.

“Cass, what can I do for you?”

“We need to talk. Because I almost died today.”

“I think you’re being a bit dramatic-”

“No, you don’t understand. I’m on my last body. After this one dies, that’s it, no more regenerations.”

“How is that possible?” The Doctor walked over to Cass.

“I could tell you what I told Alex, that the war took a lot out of me. But if I’m being honest, the aftermath took more out of me. And nothing makes you appreciate life more than realising that you’re not gonna come back next time.”

“Oh, Cass…”

“And I thought you died. Like, I thought you were still alive because there was no confession dial, but there was this small voice in the back of my head. What if you’d lost it on Gallifrey? What if you trusted someone more? But then none of that mattered because you were alive.

“Then I almost died. And I realised, I’ve spent so long being angry, at the Daleks, at the Time Lords… at you. But you’re all I’ve got left. Sure, I’ve got Alex now, and I love her, I truly do, but she’s not a Time Lord, she won’t get me like you. You’ve been there for me through all of it, every nightmare, every birthday, all the smiles and the tears. And all my best parts, I got them from you. The absolute love for humanity and that need to save the day, I got that from you. 

“But for the last few centuries, I’ve been awful. Just the absolute worst. I’ve just been mean, and I’ve hated you and why? Because you did the only thing that would stop the war? I know I wasn’t planning on making it out alive, there’s no way you were planning to. So yeah, I’ve been a dick. So, I’m sorry. For everything. For ignoring you for so long, even when you’re right in front of me. And, if you could find it in yourself to forgive me, I’d love to try and rebuild what relationship we have left.” The Doctor embraced Cass. Cass embraced him back and just fell apart. Tears were flowing out against Cass’s control. The Doctor just stroked her hair, like he did when she was younger.

“Oh, Cass, there is nothing you could do that I wouldn’t forgive you for. You’re my daughter and I love you more than anything. And I’m so proud of what you’ve grown into.”

“Thanks,” Cass let out a tear ridden laugh.

“I’d be more than happy to rebuild a relationship, but just so you know, I never stopped loving you and you’ve got nothing you have to rebuild with me.” He kissed Cass’s forehead. They stayed there for a while longer until Cass realised that Alex was still waiting to go home.

“I should head off, don’t wanna keep Alex waiting.” Cass tried to wipe away all the tears, doing her best to look put together.

“Of course not,” the Doctor let Cass go and went back to the console.

“I’ll see you around.”

“Until next time, Cass. I love you.”

“I love you too, Dad.”

Chapter Text

The TARDIS landed in the Knight’s apartment.

“We’re back!” Alex called out with a giddy smile.

“You’re awfully chipper for a girl who just came back from a funeral,” Megan said.

“About that,” Cass said, leaving the TARDIS, “he’s not dead. It was a trap to steal his TARDIS and destroy the universe.”

“Fun,” Liam said, dryly.

“It was actually, I ran into some old friends,” Cass said.

“Tell us the story,” Liv begged.

“I think Alex got a more hands-on role this time, you should tell the story.” 

“Well, it started in this enormous UNIT base,” Alex started. She picked up Liv and went into the living room. Liv wriggled out and sat on the sofa, looking up in awe as Alex recalled their latest adventure. The family watched on like they were watching a movie. Liam beckoned Cass over to sit with them so she did.

Cass looked around and thought about how much her life had changed over the past year. She’d found a new companion. No, a new friend. She’d started going on her normal adventures again. She’d even started to forgive her father.

She’d found joy. She’d found happiness. She’d found a reason to live, not just survive.

Cassiopeia Smith had found her family.