Death of the Doctor

"You know, when you mentioned wanting to explore the battlefield of the Wasteland of the Crimson Heart, having the Shansheeth steal the TARDIS and strand us here wasn't anything that came to mind."

The Doctor grumbled under his breath at the Ambassador's words as he crouched down before a small pile of rubbish he was currently using to try and create a transporter. 'Try' being the operative word. The Wasteland was full of junk and it was taking quite some time to sort through what was junk-junk and what was useful-junk.

He hadn't PLANNED this. It wasn't like he'd intentionally gone to the Wasteland so that he could hand the TARDIS over to the Shansheeth. He'd really just been curious! The TARDIS had picked up a beacon, a report of a battlefield just after a war had been fought and won and how the spoils of the field were up for grabs for whomever came upon it. One man's trash was another man's treasure, the saying went after all. He hadn't been able to resist seeing what might have been left behind.

The Ambassador had been less than pleased to hear about the trip, reminding him that she had just come from a battlefield, she didn't want to see another one.

He'd compromised with her though, crossing his hearts that he would set down weeks after the battle happened instead. The broadcast had been coming from an asteroid drifting past the TARDIS as it floated in space so he was fairly certain not many people would have heard about it, he didn't fear that most of the rubble would be gone weeks later. But he had hoped the dust would settle, so to speak, enough where the Ambassador could handle being there.

As soon as they stepped out the doors, it became very clear, to the Ambassador at least, that something was wrong.

It wasn't a battlefield in the slightest.

She'd told him as much, saying it looked more like someone just scattered rubbish around and left it instead of a battle having actually been fought there. She'd just come from battle, she'd reminded him again, and she knew what they looked like. This was NOT it.

He'd taken a closer look and saw what she had.

They hadn't even turned around to get back to the TARDIS when a teleport activated and snatched the TARDIS right in front of their eyes. The only luck they'd had was the energy expended to make the transfer revealed it to be a short-range one, and they could spot the ship that stole it in the sky above them, clearly Shansheeth in make.

"Didn't come to my mind either," he huffed, sitting down on the dust and crossing his legs to get more comfortable as he continued to work.

The Ambassador sighed, shifting among the rubble for a few more bits and bobs he'd need to finish his work. Mostly she was looking for some better wires as the ones the Doctor found were too frayed for her to feel safe using them, and also oil to help with the connectivity. It would be difficult to get it to work in the first place. For some reason the Doctor had left the sonic in the TARDIS, apparently wanting to examine the battlefield without cheating for once. It would truly be a miracle if it worked at all.

He was hoping to get the teleporter working enough where one or both of them could appear on Earth and alert either UNIT or Torchwood, apparently two organizations aware of aliens, of his plight to stop the Shansheeth.

"I suppose they finally snapped then," she remarked, absently ripping the side off some sort of container to see if there might be any lubricant in it.

The Doctor paused, frowning as he looked over at her, "What do you mean?"

She glanced back at him, "There were some…complications, that came up when the War was first starting, before every able-bodied person was recruited," she explained, "Ambassadors were sent out to handle the Shansheeth, educate them on the laws of time and so on. When the war began to spread out, when more worlds were affected by it, the Shansheeth became even more unstable. You can imagine why."

He nodded, guessing it. The Shansheeth were the funeral directors of the Universe, collecting the dead and seeing to it that they had proper send offs, respecting each culture they came across and handling the funerals according to their customs. They were similar to the Ambassadors in that sense, never to judge or contradict a culture, but to accept it. The war had gotten so terrible later on that more and more worlds were affected, more and more species began to die out. To see that much death, it would drive even those who dealt in nothing else mad.

The Ambassador sighed, turning back to her rummaging, "They kept requesting TARDISes, wanting to go back in time to warn the planets and evacuate the ones who would later die. The High Council refused. And now the only TARDIS left is yours…"

Now it made sense why they'd created such a trap for the Doctor, all to get access to his time travel.

"I'm sorry," she said, pulling off a glove and tipping another canister to the side, letting something drip onto her hand to examine.

He shook his head, hitting the device before him slightly, "It's not your fault they stole it."

"I'm at least partly to blame," she countered, nodding to herself that the liquid would work, before slipping her glove back on and walking over to him to hand him the container, "I was the one who suggested the honeymoon planet for Amy and Rory. I was the one who practically flew us straight there after Kazran."

He chuckled a bit at that, recalling how she hadn't even let them change out of their costumes when they'd all gotten back into the TARDIS. They had wanted to go to their rooms, freshen up and be ready for their next destination. But the Ambassador utterly refused, stressing they had to go on their honeymoon now, and had actually flushed a bit when the humans asked her why the rush.

"I've never heard of the background radiation explained quite that way before," he teased her.

The Ambassador hadn't shied away from explaining her reason for the haste. She'd just gotten very clinical and technical in her explanation, he could see that professionalism of Ambassadors coming out as she handled the situation. He honestly wasn't sure how he would have told the humans that any intimate activity in the TARDIS should be avoided by non-Time Lords. But he probably would have stuttered through it or made it some vague warning with too many metaphors for them to understand the true danger of it.

The Ambassador had told them exactly what the background radiation of the Vortex could do to someone too young or still developing. When she began to talk about mutations that could occur in fetuses, that was when Rory had gotten it, his eyes wide, his face a bit mixed in a flush of embarrassment and a green hue of sick. Amy had taken a moment or two longer to grasp what the Ambassador was saying, taking until the Time Lady had gone onto possible infertility that Amy finally got it.

No sex in the TARDIS.

That was exactly how the Ambassador had finished it, he'd had to rush below the console so as not to burst out laughing in front of the two humans.

Given it was their honeymoon, and getting a sense of the woman Amy was, the Ambassador didn't doubt that their honeymoon would be quite an intimate affair. She hadn't wanted to risk them going off to 'freshen up' and doing something dangerous. He could see the benefit in telling them the way she had, though. Rory, being a nurse, would be the one more on top of any health related issues, even if Amy wanted to, Rory would now never allow that to happen while in the TARDIS.

She'd also gone even further to say that, if they did conceive on earth, they MUST tell the Time Lords as soon as they knew, so that the travel would be put on hold till the child was born so as to protect them from any complications.

He had never seen the humans more mortified, they had practically run out of the TARDIS the second they'd set down, barely waiting long enough for him to give them a special card to use for money to buy clothing and a room on the planet. Then they were off.

The Ambassador had merely crossed her arms and told him that they were going to have to routinely scan Amy after this to ensure they caught any possible pregnancy as early as possible.

He'd actually agreed with her, especially about calling off the travels the second Amy conceived. For a Time Lord child, that was one thing, their people were built to be exposed to the Vortex and all that radiation, but not a human child. He would never want that radiation to affect a human baby the way it could. Ages ago the Time Lords had done experiments, tests, on various species to see if any others had the potential to handle the Vortex radiation. Few did. For a human to be exposed to the Vortex in such a way? It could be a minimal reaction or it could be a terrible end for both mother and child. He would not risk Amy to see which it would be.

...which had given him a flush of empathy for the Ambassador, understanding what she meant about their connection, how it was too much of a risk to both their lives to try and see if the High Council had lied about it.

"I had to get through to them somehow," the Ambassador murmured, before sighing, "But it was because of my suggestion we even ended up anywhere near that asteroid. We would have never heard the broadcast if not for that."

They'd been drifting in space in roughly the vicinity of the honeymoon planet, just hanging around and waiting for the Ponds to call that they were finished. They originally planned to use the time to just talk and get to know each other...and then they'd picked up the broadcast and all bets were off for the Doctor.

"You couldn't have known," he reassured her, taking the container and tipping its contents into the top of the device, beaming as it began to pick up speed, "Now, come on, hold this," he reached out to the wrist of her coat, moving her hand to one part of the device to hold onto while he held the other one, "It should key into our Artron energy and swap us on Earth with two people who have some residual energy on them…"

"You don't know who?" she frowned, "You should probably check where we'll end up first," she warned him, "What if they're in the middle of some danger?"

The Doctor opened his mouth, about to say something, when he realized she was right. While he didn't want to ever think of his past companions, for who else would have enough Artron energy lingering to be swapped, being in danger…it would be better to know who they would end up around and what sort of state they were in.

He reached out and pressed a few buttons in the machine, activating the telecommunications feature first…

"Sarah Jane!" a voice echoed out from the device.

"Clyde?" the Doctor vaguely recognized the voice from when he had crashed Sarah Jane's wedding.

"Who?" the Ambassador looked at him.

"It's the Shansheeth," Clyde continued, "They're lying through their beaks. They want you and Jo, this whole thing's a trap."

"Jo's there too?!" the Doctor's eyes widened.

"Who's Jo?" the Ambassador tried again, "And Sarah Jane?"

"My old companions," he told her, "But why are they together?"

"I knew it!" a woman's voice cheered from the device.

"Well, he mentioned the Shansheeth," the Ambassador reminded him, not very surprised, the Shansheeth, given their profession, had access to very fast transport, they could have made it to Earth within seconds of stealing the TARDIS, and they'd been trapped there a couple hours now, plenty of time to initiate a trap if they'd already set it up on Earth, "They must have set a trap to lure your companions. But for what?"

"That's what I'd like to know," he frowned, reaching out to fiddle with the device once more, not at all happy that the Shansheeth had endangered his companions. They were going to get quite a talking to from him.

"If they're lying that means the Doctor's still alive!" another woman gasped through the device.

The Doctor huffed, hitting a final button and spoke into the device, "Course I'm still alive Jo, I'd have thought that was obvious, catch up."

"…I beg your pardon?" the woman, Jo, spoke up.

"Clyde, is that you?" the other woman, likely Sarah Jane, asked.

"Are you speaking through Clyde?" the Ambassador whispered at him.

He nodded, "Course it's not, it's me! I'm using Clyde as a receiver. I've keyed into his residual Artron Energy so I can organize a very complicated biological swap across ten thousand light years hold on…" he hit a button to cut off the telecommunications, and reactivated the teleporter, "Ready?" he asked the Ambassador, "This might take a few goes…"

She nodded, holding onto the device tightly as he hit a button and an electrical jolt shot through the both of them, but they were still on the planet. The Doctor reached out and bashed the device a few more times, causing a number of bursts and jolts, before finally it was over…

And they were both standing in the middle of a hallway, a group of two older women and a young boy behind them.

"Good," the Doctor gasped, straightening, looking over at the Ambassador to make sure she was alright too, before grinning at the small group, "So, gosh that was different, hello everyone."

"What…what just happened?" the boy asked, the Doctor recognizing him as Jo's grandson Santiago, "Where did Clyde and Rani go?"

"Rani was here?" the Doctor blinked, startled.

"There WERE two of us, Doctor," the Ambassador reminded him, a hand falling to her stomach as it turned a bit queasy from the sudden transportation.

"Right, yes," he nodded, realizing for the two of them to appear, they needed to swap places with two others. Apparently that had been Clyde and Rani, "We've swapped places," the Doctor told them, "Yes, we're where they were, so they're where we were which means right now, oh…" he winced, "They're in a lot of trouble."

"Sorry, sorry," the blonde woman, Jo, shook her head, "Who are you two?"

"Oh, Jo, don't you see?" the brunette, Sarah Jane, grinned, "It's you, isn't it?" she asked the Doctor, "Oh, you've done it again."

"Hello Sarah Jane," he smiled in return.

"Doctor?"

"What Doctor?" Jo blinked, "The Doctor? My Doctor?"

"Yeah, well, he can change his face," Sarah Jane reminded her.

"I know, but into a baby's?"

"Oi!" the Doctor huffed, "Imagine it from my point of view. The last item I saw you Jo Grant you were what? 21? 22? It's like someone baked you."

"And…sorry, but who are YOU?" Sarah Jane asked, as though finally noticing the woman standing beside the Doctor, all bundled up from head to toe.

"The Ambassador," she introduced herself.

"A Time Lady?" Sarah Jane gaped at her, before looking at the Doctor, "But you said…"

"I know," he cut in, his happy smile growing a bit sorrowful at the reminder that Sarah Jane knew of the war, "She fell through a crack in time, from then to now."

"That's incredible…" Sarah Jane breathed, staring at the Ambassador with wide eyes, "Lovely to meet you."

The Ambassador gave a curt nod, "Pleasure," she replied, "But right now, I'd like to meet the Shansheeth. I believe we need to have a chat about theft and violations of their order."

"Looks like you're in luck," Santiago muttered, pointing past them, down the hall…where three Shansheeth had just entered.

The Ambassador frowned as she took in their attire, noticing small details about them that revealed their branch that the humans likely hadn't noticed, "The Claw Shansheeth of the 15th Funeral Fleet," she identified.

"I've been looking for you!" the Doctor huffed as he began to walk down the hall towards them, "Have you been telling people I'm dead?" there would be no other reason for his companions to be so happy that 'the Doctor's still alive' unless they thought he hadn't been, and given who the Shansheeth were, funeral directors and what not, that probably only reaffirmed the trap. He did not appreciate it.

"I apologize the death notice was released a little too soon," the middle Shansheeth spoke, "Though I can rectify this immediately!"

"Doctor!" the Ambassador shouted, reaching out to grab his elbow and pull him to the side as the Shansheeth fired some sort of laser blast at him. All Ambassadors were taught to be on alert whenever they left planet. One never knew when things might escalate or when a situation might be a trap. She was always aware and alert, especially when she knew there was a threat around. Given what the Shansheeth had done, what they were saying, she knew it was very likely they would try to kill the Doctor while they had the chance and had reacted.

This was why they never gave away secrets about their TARDISes or their people lightly. The Shansheeth had no idea that, if they killed the Doctor the TARDIS would begin to die as well, so connected were they to their pilots. Kill him and their access to time travel would be destroyed. And, if by some slim chance the TARDIS survived a little longer…SHE would be utterly useless in getting the ship to go anywhere as she rather got the feeling that the box didn't like her much.

"That's cheating!" the Doctor shouted at the Shansheeth, glaring at them, looking about ready to yell at them some more, when a jolt shot through the two Time Lords and, the next thing they knew, they were back on the Wasteland.

The Ambassador winced, having to hunch over a little and breathe deep from the shock of the travel. She really never traveled that way, ever. It was either TARDISes or other ships, hardly ever teleport. She had learned early on in her life that she got quite motion sick that way.

The Doctor, however, more used to odd travel, was unaffected, rushing over to the device as it seemed to be winding down, "Faster!" he huffed, shaking the device, "Faster!"

"Oh no…" the Ambassador flinched, feeling that familiar jolt...

And they were back in the hallway, able to see Sarah Jane, Jo, and Santiago running ahead of them and quickly moved to follow as the humans rushed through a door Sarah Jane opened for them. The woman seemed a little startled to see the Time Lords were back.

"Come along, Smith!" the Doctor urged her on by the small of her back, to keep running. He turned down a corner, now leading the group, with the Ambassador seeming like she was struggling to keep up at the rear. He moved into an empty room, gesturing them all in, "In, in, in, in, in, in, in!"

"I'm sorry, is there a problem?" a voice asked as a woman with long brown hair, in a UNIT uniform approached.

The Doctor merely shut the door in her face…yanking it open a moment later with a grimace, "Sorry, I was…slamming it," and did just that, before spinning to Sarah Jane, pressing against the door, "Right, now we need to lock it, come on, use the sonic lipstick!"

Sarah Jane pulled the small lipstick from her pocket and headed to the door to do as told, but couldn't help but ask, "Haven't you got the sonic screwdriver?"

"It was in the TARDIS," was the weak reply from the Ambassador, who was resting with her back against a wall, her arms crossed over her stomach, her head back, face going a bit green.

"Wow!" Jo couldn't help but gape at the small, faint buzz the lipstick gave as it began to glow and lock the door, "They do sonic lipsticks now?"

"Well, we're running out of time," the Doctor announced, "I need you, Sarah, and you, Jo…" he moved an arm around their shoulder, not trusting himself to take their hands and not react.

"Need us for what?"

"Remember the old days when I'd go zooming off to far away worlds?"

The jolt was back, depositing the Doctor, with his two former companions, and the Ambassador back on the Wasteland.

The Ambassador immediately turned, dropped to her knees, and vomited.

"Oh dear!" Jo gasped, hurrying over to the woman's side and holding her hair back with one hand, her other lightly rubbing the woman's back, "Are you alright, love?"

"I…" the Ambassador panted, trying not to be sick again, "Hate…teleports…"

The Doctor winced, desperately wanting to comfort her but also a bit sure she blamed him for their current state and not sure if his efforts would be welcome, "Sorry."

The Ambassador just waved a hand back at him, muttering a "Thanks," to Jo, nodding at the woman that she was alright now.

"Where are we?" Sarah Jane asked, looking around.

"The Wasteland of the Crimson Heart," the Doctor answered, glancing around, his gaze lingering on the Ambassador a moment, before he sighed and moved back to the device to examine it, "Planet Earth's that way," he vaguely gestured in a direction, "Bit of a long walk. Sonic please?"

"Wow," Jo looked around as Sarah Jane handed over the sonic lipstick to the Doctor, "Oh, so many years since I was on another planet."

"Me too," Sarah Jane smiled at her, the two humans just taking a moment to embrace that wonder once more.

~8~

The Ambassador was sitting on a small pile of rubble, one arm across her stomach, the other resting the elbow on her knee with her hand pressed against her forehead, her head partly bowed, waiting for the last of the queasiness to pass. Jo was sitting beside her in case she fell sick again, ever the mother and grandmother, while Sarah Jane was crouched over by the Doctor, watching him work on the device with her sonic lipstick.

"Did it hurt?" Sarah Jane asked, the silence that had dragged on after the wonder wore off starting to get to her. She couldn't help but think about the last time she'd seen him, the way he'd looked at her…so wistful and solemn and sad…she knew in her heart it would be the last time she saw him, that him. She could just tell he was going to regenerate. She hadn't expected to see him so baby-faced, with floppy hair and a bowtie, and a Time Lady at his side. So much had happened that she wanted to know about and, well, now was as good a time as any, "I mean the regeneration, that last body of yours, was he ok in the end?"

"You shouldn't ask that," the Ambassador was the one who spoke though, glancing at Sarah Jane as she moved to rest her cheek on her hand instead, "Regeneration means the body has died. It always hurts."

Sarah Jane nodded, understanding that the answer could never be anything but a negative, and so she tried to focus on something else. Looking around, another question came to mind, because it was such a rare thing to happen, the Doctor being the one needing the humans' help, "So how did you end up in this place?"

"The Shansheeth lured me to a mighty old battle field just begging to be explored," the Doctor explained, more comfortable with the safe topic, "'Cos Sa…the Ambassador," he caught himself, trying to respect her preferences more now that Christmas was over, "And I are travelling with Amy now, and Rory, they got married. So we dropped them off at a honeymoon planet."

"It's a planet ON a honeymoon, actually," the Ambassador corrected, feeling slightly better and more settled, "It married an asteroid."

The Doctor nodded, "And they nicked the TARDIS. The Shansheeth. Not Amy and Rory. Fortunately, I had all this wreckage to build a space whopping do-da-thinga-ma-whatsit."

Sarah Jane looked at the Ambassador for clarification but the Time Lady could only shrug herself.

"So you've got a married couple in the TARDIS?" Jo asked.

"Mr. and Mrs. Pond."

"I only left you because I got married," she remarked, thoughtful, thinking back now to the past and her reasons, how maybe it wasn't what she thought it was, how maybe she could have stayed even though she got married and…maybe she'd made a mistake leaving, and maybe he thought it was a mistake, too, and… "Did you think I was stupid?"

The Doctor frowned, stilling in his work to look at her, "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, getting up to go sit nearer to her, his frown deepening to hear one of his companions talk about themselves in such a way.

"We'd been travelling down the Amazon for months and we'd reached a village in Cristalina and it was the only place for 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, I 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 rain forest. 'Cos, see, he wouldn't just leave, not forever. Not me. I waited my whole silly life."

The Doctor did his best not to look over at the Ambassador as Jo spoke, fearful of what he'd see in her eyes, on her face, what she'd think of how he'd…abandoned his companion when she'd waited to see him again. Amy, it appeared, was not the first or only companion to wait for him and that broke his hearts a little to know. He had managed to talk himself into thinking that Sarah Jane, with that whole mess at the school with the oil, was just a fluke, that it couldn't be ALL his companions. And then Amy happened but that was a flub too because he was planning to come back to make sure nothing was wrong and got the timing wrong. To hear it from Jo...it made him reconsider that.

But…he also wanted Jo to know that it wasn't entirely true, what she thought, that he hadn't just completely abandoned her.

"Oh, but you're an idiot!" he huffed with a small smile.

Jo sniffled, "Well, there we have it."

"No, no, no but don't you see? How could I ever find you? You spent the past 40 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," Jo straightened, "I DID sail down the Yangtze in a tea chest. How did you know?"

The Ambassador began to smile a bit, catching on.

"And that family, all 7 kids, 12 grandchildren, 13th on his way, he's dyslexic but that'll be fine. Great swimmer."

"So you've been watching me, all this time?" Jo breathed, startled, stunned, and touched.

"No," the Doctor had to admit, because Jo deserved the truth from him, and he was trying his hardest not to lie around the Ambassador, wanting her to get to know the real him, past the lies he told everyone else, "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."

Jo eyed him with a gentle smile, "It really is you, isn't it?"

"Hello!"

The touching moment was disrupted a few seconds later by a shrill whistle in Sarah Jane's hand, though she sent them an apologetic look, "Sorry, but we've got that lot back at home with the Shansheeth."

"Urg," the Ambassador groaned, her stomach turning at just the thought of another teleport.

"Last one," the Doctor reached out to squeeze her glove-covered hand in promise, before he stood, "And, uh, I still need you, Jo," he told the woman, "Now that bag of yours, I can smell black currant, is it buchu oil?"

"Handpicked in Mozambique," Jo nodded, digging through her pack and pulling out the little vial of it to hand to him.

"That'll definitely work better than whatever that other oil was," the Ambassador sighed, getting up herself, "Maybe this go will be smoother?" she asked the Doctor, now that the sonic had tightened up some loose circuits and the oil would make the connectivity better.

The Doctor could only give her a smile but no real answer, turning instead to the device and pouring the oil into the top of it, "These circuits need connectivity. Wonderful! Little tiddly drop. That's it! What a team!" he tossed the vial back to Jo, "There! That should work! Intergalactic molecular streaming with just a hint of black currant."

"Oh, but what'll happen to Clyde and Rani?" Sarah Jane stood up, not wanting them to be trapped back here till they could get the TARDIS back.

"Oh, no, no, no," he rushed to reassure her, "I fixed it with your sonic. All I needed was you two. Oil and sonic. Now we can go back and Clyde and Rani can stay where they are," he reached out to put his arms around Jo and Sarah Jane's shoulders again, "Hold tight!" he warned, giving the Ambassador an apologetic look as they were jolted once more…

And reappeared in the same room of UNIT they'd disappeared from before.

"Ok," the Ambassador sucked in a breath, "Not AS bad…"

But still pretty bad.

At least she didn't throw up this time.

Though now that the ringing in her ear from the teleport jolt had faded, there was something even worse to be heard.

"Get us out of here!" a young boy, likely Clyde as it didn't sound like Santiago, was shouting, his voice echoing up from a vent on the wall.

"Sarah Jane!" another voice, this time a young girl's, probably that Rani one the Doctor mentioned, joined his.

"Doctor!" and there was Santiago.

There wasn't even time to ask what was going on before the Doctor was rushing over to the vent cover, trying to pry it off with his fingers, "Then again, maybe leaving Clyde and Rani in the same place wasn't such a good idea…"

"Look out!" Sarah Jane half shoved him to the side, holding up her sonic lipstick to flash the corners, loosening the bolts so they could pull it off, "Stand back!" she warned as the cover fell off the vent, catching it enough to move it out of the way.

"Ah!" the Doctor grinned at the sight of the empty space behind the cover, "Ventilation shaft, that takes me back, or even forwards."

The Ambassador moved to follow as the Doctor climbed into the shaft, not about to leave the children in trouble for that was exactly what it sounded like. And, if there was something dangerous at the end, like radiation or something else, she and the Doctor would be able to handle it better than the humans and could warn them to stay back.

"Hurry up!" Santiago was calling, "We're getting boiled alive!"

"Hold on!" the Doctor yelled ahead, "We're coming!"

"Don't worry, Santiago, I'm here!" Jo's voice echoed down to them, before falling quiet, the barest hint of a conversation with Sarah Jane reaching the Time Lords before a shout went up, causing the two aliens to still, listening.

"Doctor!" Rani shouted.

"Jo?" the Doctor tried to look back over his shoulder, but the Ambassador was there, blocking his view, "Sarah?"

The Ambassador looked behind her, "They're not following," she replied, turning back to him, grim. Given that Sarah Jane knew Clyde and Rani, and Santiago was Jo's grandson, she doubted anything short of force would be keeping the women from following them, "It has to be the Shansheeth."

"They're roasting us!" Clyde warned ahead.

"Let us out!" Rani begged.

The Doctor nodded, "They'd want us to get the children safe first," he said, sounding only a little like he was trying to convince himself of that so as not to go back after his companions.

"They would," the Ambassador agreed. She hadn't known them long, didn't know them at all really, but she got the sense of them that they were a protective lot, and children should always come first regardless.

"Right," the Doctor took a breath and continued on, leading the way down the vent, following the sound of the kids and how much louder their voices were getting, until they finally reached the end of the vent, where a red light was shining on the wall and a sealed cover was all that separated them from the children.

"It's ok," she called out, even as the Doctor struggled to shift the cover enough to free them, "We'll get you out in just a moment."

The Doctor, seeing the cover locked, turned and began to fiddle with the red light, managing to get a few wires out of it.

"Here," the Ambassador offered, pulling out some odds and ends from her pocket, some pieces of rubbish she'd taken from the Wasteland, small salvageable bits that might be adapted for the TARDIS or to keep on her in emergencies.

"Perfect!" the Doctor cheered, seeing what looked like a broken part of some small blade, just what he needed to cut the wires. He quickly turned back to the light, using the blade to strip the wires and cross them, "And release!" he announced, the light turning green.

The vent covering slid open, revealing the three children and…a Groske? The Ambassador shook her head, that was the least of their problems right now.

"Blimey!" Clyde breathed, his eyes wide as he gaped at the Doctor, "You really have changed faces, haven't you? I couldn't see you before, I was too busy swapping."

"Yeah, me too," Rani grumbled, "Was that your fault?" she gave the Ambassador a narrow eyed look. Santiago had mentioned, while they'd been trapped, that the Doctor hadn't been alone, but had another Time Lady with him, the Ambassador.

"To be fair, we didn't know who would be swapped for us," the Ambassador told her.

"Where's my Gran?" Santiago cut off any further questions, trying to see past the Ambassador for the woman but, not seeing her, was only growing more concerned.

"Right, yes, sorry, uh, she's in danger," he told them, "So we better uh…" he shifted, looking back and forth for a way to turn around in the shaft, "Can't turn 'round…"

"You have to shuffle backwards," Clyde answered.

"Or you could hop out and get back in," the Ambassador pointed out.

The Doctor blinked, not having considered that, but nodded, hopping into the room with the kids, moving to the side to let the Ambassador out after him before getting back in in the right direction.

"Go on," the Ambassador motioned for the kids to follow him, not feeling comfortable going in while the room was still boiling. She could handle extreme temperatures better than a human child, she'd rather they get out first. She even let the Groske through before she finally followed.

It shouldn't have surprised her that the kids would start talking as soon as they were safe in the shafts, it was her experience that children of any species were quite talkative, especially when they were frightened, excited, or curious and it seemed these kids were all three at once.

She just hadn't expected for them to not ask about the current situation or danger.

"Even your eyes were different!" Clyde was speaking, clearly to the Doctor as he'd never seen her before to compare a past incarnation with, "It's weird 'cos I thought the eyes would stay the same. Can you change color or are you always white?"

"No, I can be anything," the Doctor, with a patience she wasn't sure she would have had if her 'companions' were in danger, answered.

"And is there a limit? I mean, how many times can you change?"

"507."

"Oh."

"It's 12," the Ambassador called ahead, not sure why he'd lied about that one, "We change 12 times, 13 bodies."

"Cool!"

The Ambassador shook her head, wondering what else the boy would ask about, but they, thankfully, came to the end of the shaft and crawled out back into the room. She frowned as she looked around, "They knew we were in there," she pointed out, the Shansheeth would have caught Sarah Jane and Jo right in front of it, "They knew there was only one way back…why was no one waiting to seize us?"

"You WANT us to be captured?" Rani frowned at her.

She shook her head, "I want to know why they didn't want us," she corrected, before it hit her, "Because they already got the ones they wanted," she looked at the Doctor, "Sarah Jane and Jo."

The Doctor nodded grimly at that, having worked it out as well. He had just opened his mouth to say something, when a rumbling noise sounded down the hall and his eyes widened, "It's started!" he realized, turning to rush off.

Whatever it was they had taken Sarah and Jo for, it was happening now.

~8~

The small group ran up to a door, behind which they could hear the rumbling sound, machines whirring, and Sarah Jane and Jo yelling.

The Doctor tried the door even though he knew it was likely to be locked, banging on it, "Oh they've sealed it off!" he huffed, starting to shout, "Jo, Sarah can you hear me?"

"They want the key!" Sarah Jane responded, "They've got the TARDIS and a memory weave!"

"That's why they wanted your companions," the Ambassador realized. At first she'd thought it was a ploy of the Shansheeth to use Sarah Jane and Jo as leverage to trade the Doctor for access to the TARDIS. But the main part of that that didn't make sense was that would mean getting the Doctor involved and they clearly had wanted to avoid that, otherwise they would have taken the Doctor with them when they stole the TARDIS.

Now it made sense. The companions would be the only ones on the planet who knew what the key looked like. So long as there was even one memory of it in their minds, the weave could recreate it as a physical copy.

"Try and find a way in," the Doctor grew frantic, trying to get in, the kids rushing up and down the hall to try and find another way.

"There's nothing!" Santiago told him, "We're gonna need a bulldozer!"

"There's something else we can try," the Ambassador looked to the Doctor before calling through the door, "This is the Ambassador, representative of Gallifrey, I have a key of my own, I will trade you it for the release of Sarah Jane and Jo."

"What?!" the Doctor turned to her, his eyes wide.

"Even if they get in," she said quietly, "They won't be able to pilot the TARDIS, she's a smarter ship than that. She's connected to you, Doctor," she reminded him, "So long as you don't want it to, that box won't move an inch for them. It's more likely she'll lock them in a false console room or an archived one till you can safely remove them."

The Doctor's mouth, which had dropped open to retort, snapped shut. That was…genius. He hadn't expected that from her though, being what she was, her role on Gallifrey. She was always going on about how both sides of a conflict could come to a peaceful solution, yet here she was willing to trick the Shansheeth under the guise of negotiation.

"Don't give me that look," she huffed, looking away, able to tell just from his expression where his mind had gone, "Ambassadors, first and foremost, were always to uphold the laws of Gallifrey. Access to time travel, the restrictions on it, falls under this."

He nodded, that made more sense. Ambassadors were always to represent Gallifrey and Time Lords, meant to observe the cultures of others or, when requested, assist with settling disputes between parties by acting as an Ambassador between the feuding sides. But they were Time Lords first and adhered to the laws of their people. The consequences of just anyone being given access to time travel would be disastrous. In this instance, protecting that access came before everything.

"Once we have Sarah Jane and Jo, we can try to talk them around their aim for a TARDIS," she added, "Or we can return them to their planet, not ALL the Shansheeth were affected by the war the way the 15th Fleet was."

The Doctor glanced back at the door, not having heard a response to the Ambassador's offer, and could only assume it meant it was rejected.

That was only confirmed further when he heard Jo shouting, "Fight it Sarah Jane! Try to think of something else."

"I can't!" Sarah Jane cried, her voice only slightly muffled through the door.

"Neither can I!"

"The memories coalesce!" that time they could hear the Shansheeth's exclamation of joy.

"Don't! Don't!"

"I can't stop!" Sarah Jane yelled.

"What do we do?" Clyde turned to the two aliens, "What do we do?"

"If the memories have already begun to coalesce, we can't shut down the machine," the Ambassador frowned, recalling what she knew of memory weaves, "Severing the connection could be dangerous for the humans."

"What?!" Rani gaped at her.

"We can't shut it down because the Shansheeth are making them remember…" the Doctor muttered, before a thought struck him, "So we do more than that," he turned to the Ambassador, "Overload the system."

She blinked, "Do they have enough powerful memories for that?"

He grinned, "They were my companions," he told her, before turning to the door and shouting through it, "Sarah, Jo, can you hear me?"

"The key!" Sarah Jane yelled back, "It's almost ready!"

"Listen to me both of you. I WANT you to remember."

"We are doing it," Jo sounded near tears, "That's the trouble."

"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," he sent a small wink to the Ambassador in reassurance, "Just think of it Sarah, remember it Jo. But properly, properly. Give the memory weave everything. Every planet, every face, every mad man, every loss, every sunset, every scent, every terror, every joy, every Doctor. Every me."

"I remember!" Sarah Jane gasped.

Followed soon after by Jo, "I remember!"

"Come on!" the Doctor urged the children, hearing vague alarms through the door but not sure if it was enough, "All of you! Tell them! Tell them!"

"Think of us Sarah Jane!" Clyde called out, "Remember Maria and her dad. And all the stuff we did. Like the gorgon."

"And the clown!" Rani added, "And the zodiac. And the Mona Lisa!"

"Just think Gran!" Santiago yelled to his grandmother, "All the countries you've been to!"

The Ambassador nearly held her breath as she listened for any sign that it was working, and nearly sagged with relief when Sarah Jane exclaimed, "We've broke a circuit!"

"They did it," the Ambassador murmured, though her tone was more thoughtful than anything.

"Now we're in trouble," the Doctor warned, frowning deeply as he fidgeted, "The weave's gonna to blow up and we can't get them out."

"What?" Rani cried.

"Doctor!" Sarah Jane's voice sounded, much closer to the door now, "Doctor! We can't get out!"

"I can't open it!" the Doctor told them.

"No sonic screwdriver," Sarah Jane realized.

"It's inside the TARDIS," the Ambassador repeated.

"And we can't get in 'cos guess what? We stopped ourselves getting the key. Oh, that was clever."

"I just want to say," Jo began, "I'm so glad I saw you again. I waited all this time and it was worth it. Every second. Funny thing is though, your funeral turns out to be ours instead."

"My funeral…" the Doctor stiffened, an idea hitting him.

"Doctor, all of you, you'll look after Luke for me please?" Sarah Jane begged.

"Doctor?" the Ambassador frowned at him, the man's eyes were so wide his rather delicate eyebrows were lost in his hairline.

"No, no, no, no!" he suddenly yelled, "But listen! My funeral! Don't you see! It's MY funeral!"

"With a lead lined coffin!" both Sarah Jane and Jo exclaimed.

The Ambassador's eyes widened now, catching on to what he'd thought. If the Shansheeth had organized this to lure his companions over, they had to have produced something for the companions to mourn or to think held the Doctor's remains. They'd want to make it difficult to investigate such a coffin, they'd have to have some sort of extra layers or protections to keep anyone from seeing inside of it.

"That's genius," the Ambassador breathed.

The Doctor beamed at that, "Yes!" before he turned to the Groske, knowing its hearing would be much better than theirs, it would be able to hear through the door to whatever countdown might be happening, "How much time have they got?"

"Big bang 10 seconds," the Groske replied.

"Right," the Ambassador turned and immediately began to shoo the children back as the Groske began to count down for them, "We need to get back, go!"

As soon as the Groske hit one, ducking around the corner after them, the door was blasted off its hinges by the explosion within. They waited a few seconds more before rushing back into the hall, looking at the rubble.

"What do you mean the Mona Lisa?" the Doctor asked the kids.

"Come," the Groske cut in, heading right for the now-open chamber, "Smells like roast chicken."

"Oh my stars," the Ambassador breathed as she saw the state of the room, and immediately began to look for the coffin, "There!" she spotted it, looking largely unaffected.

The Doctor moved over to it, lifting the lid and smiling down when he saw Sarah Jane and Jo nestled within, hugging tightly and laughing at how they were still alive, "Now then, Smith and Jones. The coffin was the trap, the coffin was the solution, that's so neat, I could write a thesis," he looked to the Ambassador with a grin, "Well, come on you two, out you get. Yes."

The Ambassador could only look on with a small smile as the two women sat up and immediately began to hug each other and the kids, relieved.

~8~

"Everything alright?" Sarah Jane asked, coming to stand beside the Ambassador in the TARDIS. The Time Lady was watching the Doctor working on setting down the old box in her attic, a ride home after a long day, but she'd noticed the woman seeming thoughtful and quiet.

"I should be asking you that," the Ambassador shook herself and offered Sarah Jane a smile, "You were the one nearly blown up."

"Hazards of the job," Sarah Jane joked lightly, offering a shrug.

The Ambassador nodded, but fell silent again.

Sarah Jane glanced over as the Doctor opened the doors to let the kids out, and back to the Ambassador, "I don't mean to pry," she began, hesitating when the Ambassador tensed at what might be coming, "I'm not going to ask about how you escaped," she reassured the woman, "I just wanted to say…I'm glad you did."

The Ambassador looked at her.

Sarah Jane smiled, "I've known quite a few Doctors in my time," she sighed, wistful and nostalgic, "The last him…he was sad. He didn't say it, but he also says a lot in what he doesn't say, you know?" she shrugged in response to her own question, "He was so alone," she looked back at the Ambassador, "And now he's not. So thank you."

The Ambassador glanced at the Doctor, speaking with Clyde just before the boy stepped out, seeming to be answering more questions, and back to Sarah Jane, "You and Jo…" she began, "You overloaded the memory weave. You had that many memories of the Doctor?"

Sarah Jane laughed, "I don't think it even got halfway through the memories, to be honest."

"And…they were good ones?"

Sarah Jane blinked, her smile falling a little at how that sounded, like she wasn't sure she fully believed it. She nodded, "There's always some sad," she admitted, "You can't avoid them no matter where you go or who you know. But yes, they were, overwhelmingly, good ones. I don't know about Jo, but I think she'd agree, we're better for having known him."

The Ambassador nodded slowly, "If the Doctor destroyed the Earth, and everyone on it, to save the rest of the Universe…would you hate him?"

Sarah Jane looked startled at her question.

"Don't answer," the Ambassador cut in before she could speak, "I shouldn't have asked that."

"Do…do you hate him?" Sarah Jane asked, understanding enough of the question and how it related to the last great time war.

"I wanted to," the Ambassador admitted, "I tried to. Everything is gone…" she trailed off a moment, having to look away to collect herself, before she could continue, "But he keeps proving, over and over, that he's a good man at hearts. That he's kind and compassionate and he cares…"

Sarah Jane nodded, understanding even more. It was hard to hate a good person who made a mistake and regretted it, especially after seeing what that person was like. And, to her, though she might be biased, there was no one better than the Doctor.

"He regrets it, what he did," Sarah Jane told her, though she was sure the woman already knew that, "And because of what he did, he will never let another make the same mistake. He suffers for it, every day he was the last. And, even with you here, he'll still suffer with it. I don't think he'll ever stop."

The Ambassador nodded, knowing that was true. He suffered being alone, because it was a reminder of WHY he was alone. And he suffered with her there too, seeing her and knowing she knew what he did, it was a reminder that what he'd done had affected others of his people, forced them to be as alone as he was, the last.

"I'm glad the memories were good," she said in the end. She learned more and more about the Doctor every day, she saw the sort of person he was, and she knew it wasn't an act. Because while someone you care about is in danger, you aren't thinking about keeping up a charade. Hearing that the memories had been good ones…it meant he'd always been that way, a good person.

"Come on," Sarah Jane nodded towards the Doctor and Jo, the kids having stepped out.

"Still the same old TARDIS," Jo was saying, taking a deep breath, "Doesn't matter what's changed. Still smells the same," she sighed, "Nope. Gotta say goodbye or else I'd stay with you forever. Besides I probably couldn't keep up anymore. Get you into trouble with the Time Lords."

"They…" the Ambassador began, about to explain they weren't alive any longer.

But the Doctor cut in, "Yeah, we probably better go…" he gave the Ambassador a pleading look, "You know me, stuff to do."

The Ambassador gave him a nod, understanding he didn't want to tell Jo about the war. And this time she knew it wasn't because he wanted to hide what he'd done from her, to stay the hero in her eyes, but because it did hurt him to remember and talk about it.

"It's daft though because we were both saying," Sarah Jane stepped up, linking arms with Jo, "We had this theory that if, you ever died, we'd feel it somehow, we'd just know. That's just silly, isn't it?"

"I don't know," the Doctor shrugged, "Maybe not, 'cos between you and me, if that day ever comes I think the whole Universe might just shiver," he looked between them a moment before shouting, "Boo!" earning a laugh from them.

"Time Lords are fairly telepathic beings," the Ambassador remarked, looking between the women, "The longer we're around someone, the more our brain wants to reach out to that mind. Humans aren't as receptive but, perhaps, some sort of minor connection could be made. And when that connection is cut off, some part of your mind knows it."

It seemed to comfort the women, to know that they WOULD know if he really died one day.

"Well, it was lovely to meet you, Ambassador," Jo spoke, "And to see you again, Doctor."

The Doctor gave the two women a nod as they headed for the door, waiting till they'd stepped out to turn to the Ambassador.

"So those were your companions?" she asked, following him to the console where he put in coordinates to send them to the Vortex.

"Two of many," he confirmed.

She glanced at him, "Are there any others we could visit?"

He stilled at the controls, looking at her, "You…want to meet more?"

She considered it a moment, before nodding, "If that's alright. You've been so many different people," she explained, "I'm getting to know this one…but what about the others?"

He just smiled and nodded, reaching out to pull a lever to send them off.

He wouldn't be able to show her all his Companions, but…there were a few that would be happy to see him and ready to share stories. He didn't often look back, he hadn't lied about that, but…anything that would help him gain the Ambassador's trust and friendship…he really would do.

Perhaps he would start with the Brigadier…he owed the man a drink after all.

To be continued...in...Coalition!

A/N: I felt like that would be a good title for the next story as coalitions are usually connected to the idea of two sides coming together and working towards a common goal. We got a tiny hint of it in the last couple chapters but I like to think the next story will really be the Doctor and Sadie finding common ground, really getting to know each other, and really starting to work together. Especially with certain things that come up, they're both going to have a common goal and 'enemy' to work towards stopping ;)

As for this chapter...the Ambassador struggled a little, near the end, to keep herself from bringing up what the Doctor did when she asked Sarah Jane that question. She's going to try and she's going to get better, but sometimes small things might slip past before she realizes it. The more she gets to know the Doctor the less it'll happen though. It's not an instant 'ok, I get it, you had to, moving on' thing, it's a process to come to terms with something and someone who has caused you harm, even for a good reason. But she IS trying to work on it which is a step in my book ;)

I tried to balance the Ambassador's personality and views with what the Shansheeth were trying to do. She is very much about learning both sides of an argument, but here she already knows what the Shansheeth want and are trying to do. It had already been settled by other Ambassadors and they were sort of breaking the agreement. First and foremost, an Ambassador is a representative of Gallifrey and meant to uphold everything Time Lords are about, maintaining time and keeping the laws right is one of them. The other times the Ambassador was involved, it didn't involve using the TARDIS to alter large points of time or huge events, but trying to work subtly, within the laws of time, to make things work. Here, she knows the Shansheeth want to specifically use time travel to alter the course of events for numerous planets/species/lives and, as a representative of the Time Lords, she cannot allow that to happen. Here she has to stop them first, and then she can try to get through to them.

I also tried to balance Sarah Jane and Jo meeting the Ambassador with the danger going on. For Jo, she's sort of just another Time Lady, since she's unaware of the war and doesn't know how important it is Sadie's even alive right now, so she's sort of just a passing acquaintance. For Sarah Jane, she's aware what happened, but she also caught the Doctor's words about how Sadie fell through a crack from the war to now, and I think she'd be very cautious of bringing too much up or asking about it, she'd be sensitive to the fact that the woman JUST fought in a war and is probably already overwhelmed with everything. She'd just give a few kind words, a listening ear, and not make a big thing out of it for the Doctor and Sadie's sake sort of thing.

Sadie though...she seemed very against any hanky panky in the TARDIS didn't she? I wonder what that will mean for River Song...I wonder who she will be to the Time Lords? }:)

Another tiny little tease...in the next story we'll find out what the Ambassador's name is! :D

On a slightly sadder note, I can't believe the story's over! O.O It took a much longer time than I wanted or planned to get to this point :( But I'm glad it at least got there :) Keep in mind, I cannot say when the next story in this series will be posted. I have to get through Angel and Claire first and then reevaluate where I am and what to update/catch up on next. I will do my best to try and work out some sort of idea and, when I do, I'll post it on my tumblr or on my FF profile a date that a story should be picked up again. I'm going to do my best to get Sadie going strong, but I do have 5 other TL stories to catch up to also and a couple ideas for how to do that without making everything just the same series for each TL one after another, with some variation between. We'll have to wait and see.

The next story I'll be updating will be 3 chapters of Angel's story, the episode Flatline, and then I'll be finishing up Claire and Sheldon for my BBT story, and finally wrapping up the rest of Angel after.

And I just want to end by saying thank you guys SO much! Really, I give each and every reader/reviewer/favoriter/follower/ko-fi giver/anythinger a virtual hug because you guys are amazing :) I write for all of you guys and I'm just so touched that you all liked the story and am truly thankful that you're enjoying Sadie :) I'll do my very best to keep it up in the future, because you guys most definitely deserve it. I love you all :')

Some notes on reviews...

I'm glad Sadie started to come around too :) I think she really just needed time to process things. Being an Ambassador, one major role for her was to observe and learn about new cultures and planets. It took a little back seat with the trauma from the war and finding out what the Doctor did, but it started to kick in with him and she's noticed things that others might have overlooked, especially if they don't have that grief the Doctor feels at the loss of the planet like Sadie does :( She's not holding onto that anger and betrayal any longer, but it also can't be just a switch flipping and her suddenly being ok with it all, so a thought or two might slip through, like with Sarah Jane earlier, but she's coming to terms with it in her own way :)

9 was definitely tricky to read. I always got a sense he'd been alone for a while, but I also hadn't thought it was almost a century till the War Doctor said he was about 800, and 9 said he was about 900. He could be lying, of course, but it could also mean he was alone even longer :( That theory breaks my heart, to think of the Doctor fighting that long :'( I've probably spent more time than I ever wanted to trying to research and figure out his age with Proffy lol, and if all else fails, I go with 'he was lying at some point' we just don't know which incarnation was lying, they probably all were at some point lol :) I haven't seen much of Jo either, mostly just the Death of the Doctor episode, but what I did see (and later read about) I loved, she really does seem so sweet. I think, in a way, on some level Jo understood why Sarah encountered the Doctor more than her. Jo was off in the jungles and traveling and fighting for human rights, while Sarah was investigating literal aliens and working to stop them to protect humans, of the two, with the Doctor being an alien and with his habit of saving the earth, Sarah would have had more of a chance running into him in her career than Jo would. It still got me in the gut when she put herself down though, so I was really happy when the Doctor tried to cheer her up, how proud he was of her :)

I'm glad you're excited! :D I wanted her to come in earlier too, but she kept insisting she had a 'super cool way' of reuniting with the Doctor and it would only work later in the show, after the Master got trapped on the other side of the Gate :/ I can say though that I do have AUs planned for almost all TLs where they appear earlier than in their series (except Angel since she started in Series 1 already). There's one for Proffy, Evy, and Mac set for series 1 (Proffy's already started), and one for the Judge at the start of Series 3 ;) Who knows, Sadie and TL6 might end up with an AU one day of them appearing earlier too ;)