Journey to the Centre of The TARDIS, Part 1

The Hatter smiled as she glanced up from where she stood, leaning back against the console, her ankles crossed, reading from an old magazine with a very shinny, highly polished looking sports car splashed across the front of the glossy pages. She couldn't help laughing very slightly as Clara shot her a dark look as she circled the console, her arms crossed over her red, flower patterned dress, while the Doctor trailed along behind her, looking positively outraged. The pair of them had been at it for the past five minutes, poor Clara had barely stepped foot in the TARDIS before the Doctor had began his lecture about the proper way that one ought to speak towards his beloved time machine, in fact he had been so preoccupied by his lecture that he had pretty much left it up to the Hatter to send them off into space, choosing to have them simply fly slowly through a random part of space and time, with no destination in mind.

"You just had to tell him, didn't you?" the girl huffed at the Time Lady, stepping around the Hatter.

"You called the TARDIS a 'Grumpy, old cow,' Clara," she reminded her with a disapproving look of her own, peering down her slim, upturned nose at the shorter woman, "Need I also mention that she's practically my mother-in-law…" she reached out and lightly pattered the edge of the console as she spoke, earning a soft hum from the ship and a narrowed eyed glare from Clara, "I'm sorry, but even I wasn't willing to risk that impending tantrum, it seemed likely to beat even one of Astra's".

"You still didn't have to tell him!"

"Yes, she did!" the Doctor cut in, practically right on Clara's heels as he followed her back around the console, "We don't keep secrets from each other, right, dear?" he paused long enough to look back around the Time Rotor to the Hatter, giving her a grin.

The Hatter hesitated and he instantly frowned at her, his smile slipping clean off his face, making her sigh, "About nothing of importance, Doctor," she told him, smiling innocently back at him.

His mouth slipped open, shocked, "Well, that's just…just…" he searched for the right word, throwing his hands in their air, shooting Clara an annoyed look as he noticed her smirking in the reflection of the glass Time Rotor.

"I'm a Time Lady, sweetheart, I'm allowed to have a few secrets, even from you".

He scowled deeply, evidently not overly happy with that idea, though he also couldn't seem to find any way of arguing with it, either, "Yeah, well…that's not the issue here," he turned back to Clara, pointing an accusing finger at her as he quickly began following after her again, dogging her heels, fixing her back with an scandalised glare, "Don't go changing the subject, Clara!" he huffed, as though it was all Clara's fault, while the Hatter shook her head in amusement and closed her magazine to watch, "You said…"

"I know what I said," Clara rolled her eyes, passing by the Hatter once again, "I was the one who said it!"

"You said it was looking at you funny," he pouted slightly, crossing his arms across his chest, casting the console a slightly hurt look.

He truly had taken this whole matter quite personally, the Hatter felt bad for having said anything, but in the end the TARDIS had forced her…the old girl had be throwing a small tantrum for the past two days, slamming doors at random, making doors disappear completely…the Hatter had even gotten lost three times just trying to find the kitchen and in the end, she thought it best to simply tell the Doctor before she ended up waking up in the swimming pool or duck pond. Of course, he had no idea what was going on, having been growing increasingly confused and alarmed by why the TARDIS suddenly seemed so cross with the Hatter, who she usually liked better than him.

"I was tired, overwrought," she tried to dismiss it, lightly shrugging her shoulders as she uncrossed her arms to briefly touch the console, giving it a slightly wary pat, "I didn't mean it…" she smiled slightly as she eyed the Time Rotor, making the Hatter sigh slightly, knowing that whatever was to come out of her mouth next was likely going to only rise the Doctor's blood pressure even more, "It's an appliance," she continued lightly, "It does a job".

"Oi!" the Hatter exclaimed, frowning as she straightened and quickly turned around to place a hand over the glass of the Time Rotor, "Now, now, she didn't mean it…" she cooed at the ancient blue box, throwing Clara's back another disproving look, feeling the TARDIS give a low, annoyed hum.

"It's a pretty cool appliance!" the Doctor glared indignantly at Clara, patting the console as he rounded the controls after the girl, "We're not talking cheese greater here!"

"Please, just speak to her, Clara," the Time Lady sighed, looking back around the Time Rotor to fix Clara with an almost pleading look, "It's alright for you, you don't sleep and live here most of the time, but I've already gotten myself locked in the bathroom twice and had every single one of my hats suddenly vanish from our wardrobe in the bedroom, all because the old girl's huffy with you and apparently taking it out on me," she frowned, crossing her arms across her chest, "Locking me in a bathroom, okay, I can accept that, but you mess with my hats and I'm going to get cross, so just have a nice little chat with her and apologise…"

"I'm sorry, Hatter," Clara shook her head, her tone firm, "But you're not getting me to talk to your ship," she spun back around to fix the Doctor with a look, still walking backwards, "That's properly bonkers".

The Doctor leaned closer to the console, running his hands across the edge of one of the panels, lovingly so, "It's okay," he said soothingly, stroking the metal, almost sounding as though he was trying to console Astra right before a massive tantrum…or the Hatter, that time her hat caught on fire when she was trying her hand at a bit of cooking…, "It's okay…"

Clara looked back over her shoulder to eye him stroking the metal and mock cringed, "You're like one of those guys who can't go out with a girl unless his mother approves," she commented, giving the Hatter a pointed look as she walked by her again.

"That's fairly accurate, actually," the Hatter smiled, amused as she peered around the edge of the Time Rotor to see the Doctor straightening with an exasperated look. After just two days of the TARDIS being huffy with her, she truly did wonder how much longer she could cope before she ended up needing to perhaps go and spend a little extra time with Astra away from the blue box, hopefully the time machine would warm towards her a little more before she needed to do that, though the chance to spend time with Astra was hardly something she was about to complain about. But this whole thing had made her realise just how much the TARDIS had always been so lovely towards her, rarely cross towards her, save for a few rare instances, this was by far the longest and worst reaction she had received from the TARDIS, and it wasn't even something she had done. Apparently, the TARDIS was just blaming her because she was the closest to Clara.

The Doctor sighed heavily, "It's important to me, to us, that you get along," he tried to explain to Clara, giving her an almost pleading look. He couldn't say he was overly fond of the way that his ship was seemingly taking her frustration with Clara out on the Hatter, it just wasn't right. He loved a bit of chaos and excitement when they were out and about, being all clever and saving the Universe, but since having Astra he had also grown rather fond of living a slightly calmer, more relaxed sort of lifestyle behind closed doors of the TARDIS. This whole ordeal was disrupting that peace and his ability to simply spend time with the Hatter without something about to explode…well, most of the time. His eyes lit up, then, an idea striking him and he eagerly pointed at Clara, "We could leave you alone together," he suggested brightly, and gestured back over towards the Time Rotor with a hopeful look at Clara.

Clara stared back at him for a brief moment, her arms folded over her chest, "Now you're creeping me out," she said with a slight grimace, eyeing him still with a look that clearly said that she thought he was mental.

He didn't seem to listen, however, while the Hatter laughed lightly, "Take the wheel…" he muttered, before cringing and shaking his head at himself, glancing at the Time Lady, "Not the wheel! I…you know what I mean, dear?" he sighed, waving a hand at her.

"Yes, sweetheart," the Hatter smiled reassuringly at him, not even trying to conceal her amusement, "Shall we make it easy for her?" she lifted an eyebrow, casting Clara a mock thoughtful look, knowing it would only make the girl more curious. Just as she expected, Clara's expression melted into reluctant intrigue and her arms fell to her sides. She turned around to face the console, considering the controls, "There ought to be a student setting for the old girl still programmed into the database, just shut it down to the bare basics".

"Ooh!" he grinned broadly at her, clapping his hands and pointing at her, his bright green eyes lit up, "Good idea, dear! Basic mode it is!" he moved to the controls and immediately began hitting different buttons and levers, even grasping one control and winding it rapidly.

"Basic?" Clara instantly cut in, moving to the Hatter's side and giving her a playful, offended look, "Because I'm human or something?"

"No," he paused, straightening to glance sideways at her, his mouth twitching upwards slightly.

The Hatter rolled her eyes and purposely elbowed his side, earning a overly dramatic grunt from the Doctor and a mock pained glare, which she naturally ignored to smile innocently at Clara, "Don't be absurd, Clara," she said lightly, her eyes drifting back over to the Doctor, regarding him with obvious fondness and amusement, "If being a Time Lord automatically made one an excellent pilot, then what's the Doctor's excuse?"

"Oi!" he instantly pointed a firm finger at her, frowning deeply in mock offence, "That's really rude, Hatter!"

She grinned and stuck her tongue out at him, while Clara laughed, "Oh, shut up and get on with it already, sweetheart," she told him cheekily.

He huffed slightly, still frowning faintly as he looked between the girls, Clara grinning widely in delight, while the Hatter simply smirked cheekily back at him with a far to knowing and challenging look in her eyes, a look that immediately made his pulse race and his head briefly light headed. But still he did as he was told, because he was more then used to doing as the Hatter ordered by now, and reached out to grasp the large end of a key that stuck out from the controls, the word 'Smiths' engraved along the flat side of it. He twisted the key and it clicked into place, before looking almost excitedly back to Clara and the Hatter.

"All yours," he grinned at Clara, waving a hand towards the console as he stepped back, before frowning and fixing her with a suddenly stern look, "Well, I say 'all yours,' but really it's only a quick test ride…"

"I think she's got it, Doctor-dear," the Hatter interrupted him fondly, reaching out to lightly move him just a little bit further off to the side, before reaching out to tug Clara closer. She gave the young girl, who suddenly looked caught between excitement and nervous, a reassuring grin, "Right, Clara, you just grasp this lever here…that's it, then with your other hand you'll need to be able to reach these switches just up here, and when I tell you I want to flick them, one after the other, from right to left…"

Clara seemed to take all in very intently, listening to every word with a look of rapt concentration written across her features, even the occasional word from the Doctor didn't seem to throw her off as she took command of the ship, the Time Lords standing on either side of her, watching her every move closely, but with wide smiles on their faces. The Hatter felt oddly proud as she gently instructed Clara on what control she needed to hit next, gently reminding her to keep this lever straight or to check that gages levels. She had taught a few of her companions in the past how to drive her own TARDIS, though to a very basic extent, but it was different with Clara. She was her niece, for everything but the fact that Clara was human and without those memories of that life, and that made everything different. The Hatter felt oddly as though she was teaching her niece how to drive the TARDIS for the first time, she felt the pride of seeing Clara slowly starting to relax into it, she felt the nervous excitement of it radiating off the girl beside her, and it made it somehow more special then when she had taught her companions in the past. She tried hard not to allow herself to be wrapped up in all those nostalgic emotions, tried so hard to remind herself that Clara wasn't Os, but in this moment she just couldn't stop herself.

"You're doing so well, Clara," she grinned proudly at the girl, "Now, you're going to need to flick that switch right here…" she reached slightly across Clara to lightly tap her finger on top of the little silver switch, though not actually switching it herself, withdrawing her arm.

Clara nodded, smiling brightly as she reached out to toggle the switch…only the second she activated it, something very strange happened. There was a low humming noise that suddenly filled the air and all the lights around them went out, save for the emergency lights around the side of the room, but the Time Rotor instantly stilled and the gentle hum of the engine cut out abruptly, plunging them into silence. The Doctor and the Hatter instantly looked at each other in confusion, blinking slightly, while alarm and panic filled Clara's features. She pulled her hands away from the controls as if they had just burnt her and looked frantically to the Hatter.

"What have I done?" she asked worriedly, just as red lights began pulsing around the room, bathing them in brief spurts of red light. She brought her fingers up to her lips, her eyes wide and frightened.

"Er…" the Doctor looked around slowly, straightening with a slightly blank expression, "Okay".

"It's not your fault, Clara," the Hatter reassured the girl slowly, frowning distractedly as she looked around the room in puzzlement, feeling oddly thrown by whatever was going on, "You didn't do anything…certainly not whatever this is," she vaguely reached out to pat Clara's arm without looking at her.

Music suddenly began filling the air, muffled though it was, the Time Lady frowned deeply as she realised it was some sort of rock song that she was completely unfamiliar with, but how it was bleeding into the room and where it was coming from was completely lost on her. She looked at the Doctor with an unsettled look, feeling a sense of unease wash over her, and he met her eyes with a similar look mirrored in his gaze. He moved around to the scanner and the Time Lady immediately joined him, Clara edging next to the Time Lady, just as the screen cracked and began flickering, obscuring the picture. The Time Lords exchanged a worried look.

"Hatter?" Clara looked between them nervously, "Doctor?"

The Doctor swallowed, dropping his gaze from the Hatter to desperately try several of the controls on the console, just trying to get something, anything, to work, "All the electrical impulses are jammed," he told them as the Hatter knocked her knuckles against the scanner screen, frowning deeply as she tried to get it to work…it only made the crack bigger. He shook his head, unable to stop some of his fear from creeping into his tone…his wife was on board and he had no idea what to do to keep her safe right now, "I can't get the shields back up," he dashed around to another control panel and grasped two levers, grunting with effort as he tried to push them upwards, the Hatter immediately moved to his side and wrapped her hands around the levers, just under his, trying to add her strength to his, but they might as well have been trying to move a mountain. He gritted his teeth as the Hatter screwed up her face, "She's completely vulnerable!"

Clara backed away from the controls, her eyes wide with terror and horror, "I swear I just touched it!" she insisted, evidently blaming herself for whatever had happened.

"Not…your…fault…!" the Hatter managed to get out, just before the levers suddenly moved upwards, almost causing both Time Lords to go face first into the panels, though thankfully they didn't.

The moment the levers moved, the entire console erupted in sparks that flew everywhere and the room jolted violently. The Doctor and the Hatter, just out of share instinct and centuries of well-honed reflexes from dodging just managed to throw themselves backwards in time, the Time Lady doing a funny little twirl on the tip of her toes and catching herself on the railing behind her, placing her back to the console before she could end up getting burnt. She looked quickly back to check the others, finding the Doctor had been thrown backwards towards the doors, while Clara was just a few feet away from herself, her hands still shielding her face.

"Oh, this really isn't good!" the Time Lady called loudly, squinting her eyes against the brightness of the sparks still flying from the console, smoke billowing up from beneath the controls as the entire room shook horribly, enough to rattle her teeth. She tried to stumble herself over to the console as the Doctor moved towards it, only to be forced to duck as sparks came close to getting her, "It's a magnetic hobble-field!" she grimaced, uncovering her face, one hand grasping the railing behind her, "And we're heading straight for it! There's chance of avoiding it, Doctor!"

"Hatter!" the Doctor set his expression into a hard mask, meeting her eyes from across the console with obvious worry and alarm, "We need to stay together! No matter what…!"

The Hatter swallowed and nodded firmly, letting go of the railing to stumble her way over towards the controls, ducking more sparks as she found herself coming to grasp the edge of the console just by Clara, who was grasping the railing behind her with a frightened expression, looking around at the chaos as the Time Lords tried in vain to fix whatever was going on.

"No matter what, Doctor!" the Hatter agreed, raising her voice to be heard as she looked across to the console to him, meeting his eyes with a worried, but determined expression, truly quite concerned about just what they might be flying straight into right now. She glanced back over her shoulder to Clara, giving her a strained look, "Same goes for you, Clara! You must stay with us, understood?"

Clara's eyes only widened more at the grave, deadly serious look that the Hatter was giving her, a look that sent ice coursing through her veins, "Please tell me there's a button you can press to fix this?" she shouted hopefully, clutching the railing even tighter, watching the Time Lords struggle with the controls.

"Oh, yes!" the Doctor called back, his face screwed up with effort, just as more sparks began raining down from the ceiling, "Big friendly button!"

"You're lying!"

"Yep!"

"To stop me freaking out?"

"It's not really working, is it?" the Hatter called back over her shoulder to her, flashing her a rather strained smile, still clutching the edge of the control panel before her. There was no hope of stopping themselves from being pulled, they could only hope to not crash to badly at this point.

"Not so much!"

The Time Lady could only wince at that, just as there was another loud crash of sparks from only a few feet away from her, making her yelp and duck slightly. She was so distracted that she almost missed seeing Clara, who had seemingly let go of the railing to bend down to pick up something from the floor, flinch and drop something silver, but she didn't have a chance to even think on it before the TARDIS gave another terrible jolt and a great bang sounded from within the console, and suddenly she was being thrown backwards clean off her feet, a cry on her lips as she tumbled backwards and into darkness. Her last consciousness thought was that they truly did have the worst luck in the Universe.

…

His head hurt, why did his head hurt? Did someone whack him over the head with a cricket bat…again? He was kind of getting cricket bat vibes just by the way that he seemed to have a dull, pulsing sensation at the back of his head. Blimey, it hurt…and kind of baffled him, why did people always seem to like hitting him with stuff? Mother's especially, they always seemed to enjoy whacking him one, or the Hatter if she was angry enough with him, though he was positive he hadn't done anything stupid enough lately to earn even one of her fond smacks that never actually hurt, but he liked to pretend as if they did just to see her amused, indulgent smile that she always gave him, no matter how silly she found him. Just thinking about the Hatter brought a tired smile to his lips, his eyes still closed, allowing just the image of the Hatter's smile and gentle, warm eyes to bring a tingle of warmth that spread throughout his entire body, making even the dull headache fade. He twitched his right hand outwards, searching for her, wanting to feel the reassuring warmth and presence of her by his side…only he was met by nothing but some sort of sharp edge of cold metal that very nearly sliced his fingers open.

And then it hit him with ice cold dread.

The Doctor's eyes snapped open in horror and he barely stopped himself from immediately sitting bolt upright, his hearts feeling almost squeezed tightly in his chest as he carefully peered around himself, finding that he had seemingly been thrown from the TARDIS when it had been snatched midflight, his last clear memory being the console exploding and himself being thrown backwards before slowly coming to again. He desperately tried to spy the Hatter, any hint of her anywhere amidst the piles of scrap metal and old, selvage junk that had been seemingly been taken on board the salvage ship he seemed to be on, if the faint humming of the floor beneath him was any indication of that. He couldn't see her, he couldn't even see a hint of her bright yellow shoes beneath any of the coils of old cables or the bright pink of her top, not even her fallen hat was anywhere to be seen. He felt almost panic stricken for a second without her, not knowing where she was, if she was safe or hurt, if she was in danger, he had no idea if she had hit her head or if she had been burnt during the explosion…He had to suck in a sharp breath and squeeze his eyes shut briefly, almost growing frantic with all the possible things that might have happened to her. He knew that if she had been seriously hurt he would sense it, so she must be okay, or at the very least not so seriously hurt that her life was in danger, but that didn't mean that she wasn't in pain right now.

He swallowed, hard, at that thought and opened his eyes again to take another quick scan of his surroundings. He could hear what sounded like a whispered argument going on just a few feet away, so he wasn't completely alone…but he might as well have been without the Hatter by his side. He couldn't even see Clara anywhere, that was another concern. Hopefully both Clara and the Hatter had ended up together, at least then neither of them would be alone and he knew that the Hatter would take care of Clara, no matter what, but who would take care of her? He pressed his lips together in a hard, grim line, his mind immediately resolving to ensure that no matter what that he must find the Hatter, that was number one on his list of things to do. Then he would make sure she was safe and well, then he would kiss her soundly…then thirdly, or fourthly, depending on how you looked at it, he would find Clara and make sure she was okay…if the Hatter hadn't already done that, then he would have to revisit kissing her soundly again, before they could then figure out what the hell had happened and how to fix it. He rather liked that list, though he did think he might need to jot it down, just to make sure he got the order right, but it was a plan. The Hatter would be so proud of him, making plans like a proper grownup…actually, no, she'd probably just laugh and call him cute.

The whispered arguing was still going on, so very slowly and without making a single sound the Doctor managed to pull himself free from some of the rubber coils that had fallen across his upper legs, pulling himself from beneath the edge of the TARDIS that had seemingly landed on a tilted angle on the pile of junk. He sighed grimly at the sight of his beloved time machine in such a state, steam still billowing from the cracks of the door, but he had to admit that the old girl had been through a lot worse and would no doubt go through even more before their partnership was through…still, he'd have to make sure to make it up to her, once he had found his wife and companion. He easily spotted three, dark skinned men standing with their backs to him and the TARDIS a few feet away, dressed in dark brown overalls, the man in the middle seemingly giving out most of the orders as he waved a stern finger at another, slightly younger looking man. The Doctor crept up behind them silently, only wishing that the Hatter was here to see that he could actually be graceful when he tried, managing to catch the last few words the man in the middle was saying.

"…we did nothing," he was saying in a low, very stern and authoritative voice to the two men, though he was curiously directing it mainly towards just the younger man. Perhaps he wasn't quite as on board with what had happened as the other two, "If anyone asks, that ship was already busted. You got that?" he suddenly glared at the younger man, grapping his shoulder rather tightly, almost threateningly, "And you…make sure you keep your oily mouth shut, right?"

The Doctor had seen about as much as he could bare, his desperation to find the Hatter and Clara winning out, and he fixed a cheerful smile to his lips as he squeezed between the middle man and the second man, who had simply nodded in agreement, slapping a hand on the middle man's back, making all three men start.

"It's rude to whisper," he told them in a low tone, grinning rather obliviously as he looked brightly around at the men, instantly recognising that the younger looking man was clearly an android, though that was only of minimal concern right now. He kept up the act as all three men stared at him with looks of shock and confusion, knowing that people tended to let their guard down best if they thought you were an idiot…which he was, sure, but he was also pretty great at playing that fact up, still, the less they thought he was a threat or in any way actually inwardly panicking over the Hatter, the more likely they would be to help just to try and get rid of him quickly, "Hi! I'm the Doctor," he introduced himself, not allowing the men to even try to figure out where he had come from as he grabbed their hands swiftly, shaking them before moving on to the next, "And you are?" he peered at their chests and the nametags stitched to their overalls as he did so, "Er…Van Baalan and…Van Baalan," he frowned faintly, though still smiling pleasantly as he straightened to eye the two human men, "Van Baalan and Van Baalan. That's going to get confusing later".

The middle man, evidently the leader, seemed to recover from his confusion to give the Doctor a slightly wary look, though he seemed to try hard to conceal it, "We found you drifting," he lied, and the Doctor barely held back the urge to scoff, actually a little pleased that the Hatter wasn't here for that…he wouldn't have been able to stop himself from giving her a look at that one.

"Yeah," the second man, taller than the leader, nodded in agreement, "Your ship was junked up pretty bad".

The Doctor looked between the two human men for a brief moment, debating with himself exactly how he was going to play this…honesty seemed like a good method, just to see how they would react, get a read off just what sort of people he was truly dealing with here. The Hatter was better at reading people then him, but he could do it fairly decently himself, and manipulating people into digging themselves into an even deeper hole to see how they would react was usually a fairly good way of getting a read off people, their morals and ethics, what motivated them. He already knew that these men were liars and criminals, but what more than that? Just what would be the best approach for him to get them to help him find the Hatter would he need to lean on, because foremost that was his one and only goal right now, the rest was just details that could be solved once he had her back by his side, safe and sound…and if something had happened to her as a result of these men's actions, he would not be kind, nor forgiving in the slightest. But, for now, he could play the fool, until he got what he wished.

"What broke my ship was a magno-grab," he informed the men casually, his tone light and still pleasant, though his eyes had hardened very slightly as he peered between the human's carefully, almost smiling dangerously as all three men seemed to instantly tense. He reached into his back pocket and slipped a silver device from it, red lights running around the base of it and a curved, rounded top, holding it up for them to all see as he continued smiling lightly, "Found this remote in your pocket. Eh?" he lightly tapped the device against the leader's chest as he shifted uneasily and avoided making eye contact. It was almost too easy, he could have rolled his eyes at just how guilty they looked as he walked past them, lightly tossing the magno-grab remote up in the air and caught it, "What are the chances?" he went on lightly, wondering back over towards the TARDIS, "Outlawed in most galaxies, this little beastie can disable whole vessels unless you have shield oscillators…" he broke off with a cringe, whirling back around to smack his own forehead with his open palm, "…which we turned off so that Clara could fly…," in his frustrated and anger at himself he began tossing the device backwards and forwards between his hands, "Damn it".

It was always something, always something little and seemingly insignificant, wasn't it? And because of that the Hatter was possibly hurt and Clara lost right along with her. If he could have gotten away with throwing the magno-grab remote at the wall in his agitation, he would have done so in a heartbeat, but he imagined the disapproving look the Hatter would have given him, and restrained himself, though barely. He blamed himself, naturally, for this whole mess, it was his TARDIS, after all, it had been his idea to let Clara fly the old girl and he had happily stood by while the Hatter had helped teach Clara without a second thought for the consequences or how vulnerable doing so would make them. He forced himself to take another deep, calming breathe and fixed his sharp gaze on the three men before him, deciding that he had enough of playing the fool, for the most part. He needed to find the Hatter and Clara; he needed to know if they were okay.

"Have you seen them?" he asked the three men, his eyes narrowing on the men, making them actually blink slightly at the sudden shift in his mood, how deadly serious he had grown in seemingly a second, "Two woman, both brunets. One is just a bit shorter than me, Hatter. Beautiful, cheeky…probably fussing over her hat?" he almost smiled at the mental image that sprung into his mind at the thought of the Hatter, though he didn't allow it to distract him, "And the other, Clara, is about so high…" he lifted his hand about five foot, two inches off the ground, "Feisty…" he trailed off as the three men simply looked blankly back at him, confirming his worst fear as he slowly looked back over towards the TARDIS, "They're still on board".

He immediately moved to run for the doors, just needing to get to them, his mind once again filling with horrific images of the Hatter hurt and alone somewhere in the ship that was supposed to be their safe haven from the rest of the Universe, but had barely taken more than a few steps before the youngest man and android dashed forward, grabbing his arm and stopping him.

"No, wait!" the android cried, moving around to block his path, making the Doctor blink, "Your pod is leaking fuel. If they're still in here…they're dead".

"No," the Doctor said at once, his expression hardening and his eyes growing colder, "No, not the Hatter, she isn't…I'd know. And you better hope Clara isn't either," he added with a brief, warning look over his shoulder towards the two human crewmembers. His eyes landed on something behind them, however, sitting on the shelf of the row of two lockers that made his hearts instantly lift with hope, "Ah, respirators!" he broke into a grin and immediately moved towards the masks sitting on the locker shelves, ignoring the men staring at him as he pushed passed them.

"We can open the doors for a split second, reach in and grab them," the leader offered, rather reluctantly as they watched him grab the respirators.

"Trust me, we can't," he shook his head firmly, so focused on what he was doing that he couldn't even summon up the urge to laugh at the idea. He whirled back around and shoved two masks at the human men, before immediately moving back towards the TARDIS, "Now please, help me get them out…"

Once again the android grabbed his arm, trying to stop him, but the Doctor easily shrugged him off, "I'm telling you, they're fried…" he tried, a note of desperation lacing his tone now, but the Doctor ignored him and continued moving for the time machine without a backwards glance.

"Shut it, tin-mouth," the leader snapped at the android, glaring at him angrily, and instantly the android fell silent. The man stepped closer to the Doctor, eyeing him closely, "What sort of fee are we talking?"

The Doctor paused before the front doors of the TARDIS, standing on top of the mountain of coils that the time machine was perched sideways amidst, looking back to the men with a very grave expression. If it was a matter between the Hatter's life and the TARDIS…he would always chose the Hatter, it wasn't even a question, but it wouldn't come to that. He wouldn't allow himself to lose any of his girls, including Clara. For starters, he would never forgive himself and secondly, the Hatter would never forgive him, which was even worse, but he was desperate and it was the only motivation he could think of right now that might get these men to help, and he needed their help right now.

"If you help me get them out," he began, gesturing back towards the TARDIS, "You get the machine, all the scrap, eh?"

"It's not worth the risk," the taller, human man shook his head dismissively, "Four feet of metal? Nah".

"What if I can guarantee you the best haul you've ever had?" the Doctor really, really hoped the Hatter never found out he had just described her like that, he could almost feel the slap echoing back through time right now…

The leader eyed him briefly, "Bram," he glanced at the taller man, "Open the bay doors".

"No, no!" the Doctor's eyes widened in horror and panic, "Please, stop! Listen, listen…" he held his hand out towards them, making the two men pause as they went to open the bay doors, while the android looked quite startled. He looked desperately at the men, not even trying to conceal how much he needed them to agree right now, far too worried for that, "Right behind those doors is the selvage of a lifetime".

He knew he had got them at that, he could see the spark of greed in the leader's eyes; he just hoped that it would be enough to get them moving quickly. He needed to get to the Hatter.

…

The Hatter slowly came to, lying sideways with one hand cushioned beneath her head, while the other was still flung out across the metal flooring, her eyes slowly adjusting as she opened them. She groaned painfully as she realised she seemed to be lying in one of the corridors of the old girl, bits of cable that was still sparking in places surrounding her as it spewed down from the ceiling and broken bits of metal scattered around her, thankfully missing actually landing on top of her. The red light illuminating the hallway stung her sensitive eyes and the smell of smoke filled her nose, while the Cloister Bell rang out mournfully through the air. The familiar, instinctual sense of alarm gripped her at that sound and it pushed her to sit upright, grasping the wall beside her to pull herself up off the floor, a brief wave of dizziness momentarily forcing her to pause and breathe. Absently she was aware that she was missing her hat and that sense of loss made her all the more apprehensive as she peered up and down the hallway, trying to get her bearings.

The TARDIS was her home, her safe place, the one location in the Universe that she and the Doctor could be completely themselves with their daughter without fear of anything interrupting that peace, but even she could never pretend to know all of the old girls hallways, not even the Doctor could know that, and sadly, this hallway, in the mess of cables that it was in, could have been any corridor in the ship to even her ancient eyes. She tried to search for any clue as to where she might have been thrown through the ship, but she knew that the TARDIS would have removed any trace of even room markings as part of her defence mechanism to try and protect not only herself, but those within her, even if it did tend to place the Hatter at quite a disadvantage right now.

The Time Lady sighed heavily and instead tried to reach out for the Doctor, but she couldn't sense him anywhere close by, in fact she could barely sense him at all, save for the fact that he wasn't dead, for she would have felt that, nor did she believe him to be gravely injured, since she ought to have been able to have gotten at least a sense of that. But obviously the TARDIS was also affecting her psychic ability right now, yet another not so handy defence mechanism. Kicking the wall right now in frustration was looking really appealing…but she held back, since the old girl had been through far too much already and it was hardly her fault. She shook her head and began to carefully pick her way down the hallway ahead of her, just hoping it might turn up something promising, hopefully she would come across Clara and be able to ensure that the girl was okay. It was logical to assume that she had been thrown in a similar direction, too, but really in a ship like this one couldn't be completely certain. The Hatter couldn't have been walking for more than a few feet, before a voice called from just up ahead of her, a very familiar, very welcome voice.

"Doctor?" Clara's voice echoed up the hallway to the Time Lady, sounding very confused and alarmed, "Hatter?"

"Clara?" the Hatter called back, and hastily picked up her pace, rounding the curved bend in the hallway, just in time to spy Clara sitting slightly upright beneath a heavy piece of metal work that had fallen on top of her lower body, "Clara!" she grinned, relief blooming inside her chest, and she hastily dashed over to the girl to help her grasp the metal and push it off her.

"Hatter," Clara sighed in relief, closing her eyes briefly, before quickly helping shove the metal off herself. The moment it was off her, she leaped onto her feet and threw her arms around the Time Lady, who laughed slightly and hugged her back just as enthusiastically.

"Yes, yes, Clara," the Time Lady smiled widely, pulling back slightly to peer intently at her, making sure she wasn't hurt, though she seemed quite well and healthy, "You're safe now…you are well, aren't you?" she frowned then, narrowing her eyes on the girl and regarding her with a very careful, searching look.

"I think so. Hatter, what happened? Where's the Doctor?"

She sighed slightly at that, her frown still firmly in place as she glanced back up and down the corridor once more, almost as if she was searching for the Doctor herself, "I'm not sure about the Doctor," she admitted grimly, glancing back to meet Clara's worried eyes, "But I think we can only assume that wherever he is, he's likely doing everything within his power to find us, which is very sweet. Now, as to what happened…" she turned to start walking down the hallway, forcing Clara to hastily fall into step alongside her, both carefully stepping over bits of metal and wires as they went, "I'm afraid that I do believe we've been grabbed by a magno-grab, which is a rather horrible piece of technology and very rude, not to mention outlawed by most galaxies with access to the technology".

"And it made us…crash?" Clara asked slowly, flinching slightly as a wire sparked violently just up ahead of them, though the Time Lady didn't even blink, "This…magno-grab?"

"We didn't crash, Clara," she smiled grimly, her eyes growing very slightly darker as she glanced back to the girl, "More….pirated, in a manner of speaking. A magno-grab is terribly useful if one is intending to take complete control over a spaceship and then, once you've done that, you can drag it into the hold of your own ship and merrily go about stripping it bare of anything worth money. However…" she briefly held up her left index finger, stepping lightly over a rather large piece of metal, "A magno-grab can't get through a shield oscillators defences…which we unfortunately took down," she paused mid-step and closed her eyes briefly, just barely holding back the urge to smack herself, "Damn, I didn't even think about that".

Clara was staring at the Time Lady in horror when she opened her eyes again, her face very pale, "You turned off the shields so I could fly," she said softly, guilt riddling her features, making the Hatter's expression soften, "This is all my fault".

"No, it isn't," she shook her head, her expression still soft, but her tone very firm as she reached out to grasp her arm reassuringly, "No one's blaming you, Clara, I most assuredly am not. It was myself and the Doctor who are unaccountable, we knew the risks taking the shields down and we did it without a second thought. That isn't your fault. Now…" she gave her a slightly encouraging smile, "Come on, let's see if we can get back to the console room from here. It shouldn't be too hard…"

She reached out to take Clara's right hand, but the moment she grasped her hand Clara hissed in pain and snatched her hand back, making the Time Lady jump slightly.

"Ow!" Clara winced, automatically moving to cradle her hand against her chest.

"Clara?" she frowned worriedly, alarm washing over her.

"My hand…" she shook her head, slowly pulling her hand away and opening her palm, her eyes widening slightly. Gently, the Hatter stepped closer to delicately take her hand between her own, frowning in concern at the sight of a rather inflamed looking burn covering her open palm, and though it wasn't very deep, it was likely rather painful still. Clara looked up to the Time Lady, frowning, "I must have burnt it back in the console…there was something on the floor and I picked it up, then it burnt me…"

The Hatter eyed her briefly, concern filling her features, before she dropped her graze back onto the burn, "Well, whatever it was," she said with a slightly suspicious tone, though she decided to keep her thoughts to herself for now as to what might have happened, it seemed rather odd and convenient, though not for Clara, "It hasn't done too much damage…"

"It hurts!"

"Which is a excellent sign that there isn't any nerve damage," she replied with a small smile, letting go of her hand and giving her rather indignant expression another encouraging look, "Don't worry, Clara, we'll find the infirmary and I'll fix it up for you. Come on, I'm sure it's around here somewhere".

Clara fell into step alongside her once more, frowning and cradling her hand slightly, "You mean you don't even know where it is?" she questioned dubiously, "How can you not know? I know this place is like a maze, but this is your…house?" she made it sound almost like a question.

"TARDIS defence mechanism. If the old girl senses an attack to herself or those on board her at the time of said attack, she'll make it near impossible for even her own pilot to find their way around, including moving rooms around and wiping very convenient room labels, so we could literally walk straight past the infirmary and not even know it".

"So how are we supposed to find it?"

She smiled, seemingly completely calm and unconcerned, "With a lot of luck and probably a number of wrong doors," she shrugged.

"Great," Clara muttered, and the Hatter laughed, acting far to calm and casual over this whole ordeal for Clara's tastes. Still, she followed behind the Time Lady, who looked more like she was out for a nice stroll in the park right now, frizzy, tangled hair and torn, bright orange tights at the knees aside. They soon came across a door ahead of them that was closed and had a red, flashing light fixed to the wall over the doorframe, both women pausing to consider it, "Red flashing light…means something bad".

"In my experience, usually, yes," the Hatter nodded, regarding the door with slightly narrowed eyes. She had no idea where they might be in the TARDIS right now, after all the old girl was more than likely also trying to play tricks on them, she could have easily have made up this red flashing light to try and distract them, warn away off when behind that door was nothing more harmless then a bathroom, but still…there was a chance it was bad.

"Get out of here fast?" she lifted an eyebrow, frowning slightly as she eyed the light, "Or possibly, whatever you do, don't open this door," she glanced sideways at the Time Lady, who was still looking at the door closely, "Hatter, what do we do? I mean, do you recognise it?"

"I haven't the foggiest what might be behind it, Clara," she admitted with a long sign, her gaze fixed steadily on the door, "Could be a broom cupboard…or it might be a trap designed by the TARDIS defence mechanism to try and stop us".

"How do we find out, then?"

She glanced at her, then, giving her a smile that instantly made Clara straighten, "We gamble the odds," she gave her a wink, almost laughing as Clara looked nervous, "Get ready to run".

And with that she reached out and hit the button on the wall next to the door, and the door slid open. Almost immediately they were hit by an intense wave of heat and the sight of a giant fireball heading straight towards them.

"Bad decision, Hatter," Clara sighed, seeming rather calm, considering.

"Very bad decision, indeed," the Hatter nodded, wincing slightly at the heat rolling off the fire coming straight for them, "Come on, run!"

She grabbed her hand, her uninjured hand, and they spun back around and took off running as fast as they could down the hallway, feeling the heat of the flames on their backs and the thundering noise of the fire echoing in their ears. The Hatter pulled them off down another hallway, just before the flames could get them, and they continued jogging at a steady pace down the next hallway, until they reached a small intersection with one hallway leading off behind them and another ahead of them. The Hatter briefly considered their options, before shrugging and setting them off down the hallway ahead of them, dropping Clara's hand as they stepped through an open doorway. She hit the button by the door, hopefully as a reminder of where not to go, should they find their way back near the fire again.

"Okay," the Time Lady sighed, pressing her back against the door, frowning faintly, "So perhaps we should rethink opening anymore doors with flashing lights above them…no matter how tempting".

"Hatter," Clara spoke suddenly, her voice sounding oddly sharp and alarmed, enough to make the Hatter straighten and look over to her. She was staring at something on the wall just up from the door, her eyes wide, and the Time Lady came to stand beside her. Deep claw marks had been scratched into the very metal panel of the wall, running across it like fingernails, made all the more apparent as Clara slowly lifted her hand up and traced the scratches with her own hand. It matched. She swallowed and looked at the Hatter, "Hatter, what the hell are these?"

The Hatter didn't answer as first, glancing warily at the claw marks and then at Clara, before reaching out to lightly trace the deep marks with her fingertips, feeling the ridges of the metal that almost seemed to have been burnt, as though whatever had made the scratches had been burning hot enough to melt metal. She felt a bubble of anxiety creeping up her spine as she examined the marks, marks that matched Clara's hand perfectly, from measurements and even the distant between her fingers. Could it be possible? Yes…yes, it could very easily be possible, but that would have to mean…She pressed her lips together and carefully concealed how unsettled she truly was, instead looking back to Clara with a reassuring smile.

"They look pretty old to me," she lied easily, shaking her head dismissively, "Probably centuries old, maybe even before the Doctor's time. The old girl was a museum piece once upon a time, after all, who knows what sort of original pilots she might have had, but it's of little concern now. Let's keep moving, Clara".

She reached out and took her hand again, before Clara had a second to even protest, and firmly began pulling her along passed the claw marks and down the hallway. They needed to get to the infirmary, first, hopefully find something to patch up Clara and something that might give them both a little extra time against the poisonous gas that she knew must be starting to leak through the vents, if the very faint bitterness to the air was any indication of that. Then, once they had that sorted out, they could find the console room and hopefully the Doctor. However, mentioning the fact that the very air around them was possibly only hours away from being toxic for them seemed rather counterproductive, not to mention the truth of the claw masks. She loathed having to lie…but it could very well keep them both alive right now.

…

The Doctor knew that he needed to focus and try and keep his emotions at bay, if he had any hope of getting to the Hatter and Clara, but it was a struggle. It didn't help matters that he was being forced to work with men who obviously cared little for anything but the money they might get from their 'haul,' a haul that they had no comprehension of. He didn't like it, he liked knowing that there was at least one person in the room who he could count on, he was used to that and the Hatter had never let him down in that department, but here he was. He frowned slightly to himself as he grabbed a spare respirator from one of the lockers and pulled it over his head to hang around his neck, glancing back over his shoulder to where the two human men were speaking quietly, obviously unaware of his sensitive hearing.

"Hey," Bram was saying softly to the leader, Gregor, as the Doctor had learned from observing the men, "Are we really going to risk it? That thing is spewing poison," he looked back over towards the TARDIS as he spoke, frowning deeply, "We should blow it back into space".

Gregor didn't seem to care, however, "Get your gear," he ordered him, gesturing back over towards the lockers, before turning to walk away.

"Hey," he said sharply, though with a note of playfulness to his words, making the shorter man pause to look back to him, "I don't take orders from my kid brother".

"Don't try and form sentences, all right?" he told him with a great deal less fondness, handing him what looked like a small pickaxe, "Stick to what you do best," he reached up and lightly slapped his cheek with his gloves hand, making Bram scoff slightly, before turning to walk away.

The Doctor watched the interaction with interest, his eyes narrowed very slightly with curiosity. He wished the Hatter was here to have seen it, she probably could have read a hundred different things in just that one small exchange between the men, but from what he had gathered Gregor seemed to be something of a bully, while even his big brother didn't seem to try and fight with him, evidently simply used to it, even if the Doctor got the sense that Bram didn't exactly enjoy it. His attention was caught by the android, or Tricky, who stood a few steps away from him, pulling thick, black gloves on and with a respirator hanging around his neck, but what was the point? How did the android fit into this whole little family unit? He eyed him carefully; he was the most realistically human android he had ever seen.

"Tell me," he remarked without taking his gaze off Tricky, considering him closely as the android continued preparing himself, "Since when does an android need a blast suit and a respirator?"

"Flesh coating, same as us," Bram spoke up from just behind him, and the Doctor glanced over his shoulder to see the other man standing by his locker, "He'd burn up".

"No fear, no hate, no pain," Tricky said with a faint, electronic buzz to his voice, pulling his respirator up over his mouth and nose, turning away from the Doctor.

The Doctor frowned slightly, watching his back with a dubious expression. If Tricky was an android, then the Hatter and the Master were a perfect match and destined to be together, there was no way that an android required a respirator, a blast suit, perhaps, with a flesh coating, but not a respirator. They really did think he was an idiot, though that had been the impression he had tried to give them, to a degree, still it confused him as to why Tricky seemed to think he was an android and why no one had pointed out the fact that he wasn't, why were they going along with it? They had to know. But that would have to be something to deal with later, he thought as he pulled his own respirator up over his mouth and nose. First, finding the Hatter and Clara, then they'd deal with this lot and he was quite certain that the Hatter would have a great deal to say about this whole Tricky mess, he was rather looking forward to it, actually. He shook his head and crossed the room to the TARDIS, easily stepping up onto the coils she was lying sideways in and stepping up onto the bottom ledge, bracing his left leg up against one of the doors as he slipped his key into the lock.

"Salvage of a lifetime?" Gregor spoke from behind his mask, though his eyes were narrowed almost threateningly on the Doctor, standing just below the box.

He looked back down to the crew, inwardly smirking, "I feel pretty confident I can deliver on that," he replied easily, thinking of the Hatter. Blimey, it really was lucky she wasn't he; he would have been so slapped for that one. He turned the key and felt the lock reluctantly turn open, "Here we go!"

He lightly kicked the doors open and was immediately greeted by a great plum of very bitter smelling smoke that stung his eyes. He hastily reached up to slip a pair of goggles down over his eyes before stepping down into the box, immediately finding himself standing perfectly upright within the console room, as though he had just walked in normally, even though from the outside the TARDIS was lying on an angle. Time Lord science truly was a brilliant thing, dead complicated, but so very convenient. He walked into the console, waving the smoke away with his hands as he went, while his eyes scanned the room hopefully for the Hatter…she wasn't anywhere to be found, which was a small relief in one way, because at least she hadn't been exposed to directly to the poisonous gas filling the room, hopefully both she and Clara had been thrown deep enough into the ship that they hadn't been exposed to greatly. The Hatter, he knew, could endure it for a while, but Clara would probably last on a few minutes under direct exposure. Behind him, the rest of the crew followed, one by one, holding lit torches as they walked inside.

"I don't get it," Gregor said as he came through the doors, shinning his torch around the room as the Doctor made straight for the console without a backwards glance at them, "I thought she was lying on her side".

"The TARDIS is special," the Doctor called over his shoulder, pausing to wave his hands around. The air was thick with the smoke, making everything very hazy in the dimness of the room, "She has her own gravity," he shrugged slightly, peering at the controls, trying to find the right one through the haze, "I'd explain if I had some charts and a board pen, mind you, the Hatter could probably explain it better," he smiled behind his mask, pausing briefly as he stood before one of the control panels to think fondly about his clever wife, "She'd probably use fruit or hats to describe it".

"It's…it's bigger…" Gregor stared around in amazement, for once apparently lost for words, which the Doctor doubted happened very often.

"On the inside," he finished with a smug grin behind his mask, looking up from the panel, "Do you know, we get that lot," he returned his attention to the controls, rapidly tapping a couple of the buttons.

"Whoa," Tricky said as he came in after Bram, looking around in shock, taking it all in, "Awesome".

"Well put," the Doctor commented, smiling behind his mask as he hit a couple of buttons, "Whoa and awesome," he twisted a final dial and immediately a low humming noise filled the room as the vents around the room switched on, sucking out all the smoke and poison with it. Within a matter of seconds, the very air itself was cleared of the smoky haze and he eagerly reached up to pull the goggles off his eyes, "Safe to breath," he announced, disregarding the goggles onto the console, followed by the respirator mask, while the others removed their own to hang around their necks. He paid them little mind, however, immediately reaching into his pocket for his sonic screwdriver, "Okay, now, the last thing I remember, the Hatter was right here…" he moved around to the next panel of the console, scanning the spot with the sonic, before lifting it up to his eyes, "Clara was just behind you, clinging to the other railing…" he sighed, his chest tightening briefly with anxiety, "Come on, Hatter, talk to me. Talk to me, dear…." he closed his eyes, reaching out with his mind…

He could sense that the Hatter was near, he could almost feel the vague brush of her mind against his, like a warm hug from her very arms, but it felt almost as if he was standing behind a glass wall that had been frosted over. He could only get a vague impression of her, sense that she was close, sense that she wasn't seriously hurt, but he could get little more than that. He couldn't feel exactly where she was or if she was trying to reach out to him, just that she was still there, close but certainly not just down the hallway, uninjured but not the exact condition she might be in. He opened his eyes slowly, disappointment welling up inside him, followed by the intense wave of worry that seemed to almost chock him, before he dispelled it to the back of his mind in order to just try and focus. He knew her, he knew that the Hatter could take care of herself, she was probably already making her way back to the console room right now, but until he could see her, he would fret over her.

"How big is this baby?" Bram asked in wonder, holding a scanner device in his hand, staring around the room in amazement and disbelief.

The Doctor turned back around to face them, lowering the sonic screwdriver, since it had proven of little use to finding either girl, "Picture the biggest ship you've ever seen," he told them, his expression grim as he walked passed them, rounding the console until his back was to the doors, "Are you picturing it?"

"Yeah," he nodded, watching as he began tapping away at the controls.

"Good. Now forget it, because this ship is infinite".

"It could take you hours to find the girls," Gregor said as he looked around the room. The Doctor could practically see him already picking out what he was going to cash in first, as if he had any sort of clue as to what he was actually looking at.

"Days," the Doctor corrected him, lifting his head from the controls, regarding the man with a cool expression. He had about enough of playing the fool now, this was his ship, after all, and this was his wife and their companion at risk, it was about time that he turned the tables on these men who had risked the Hatter's safety. He would not allow that to stand, "Plus this whole place is toxic," he continued, "Clara could be dead by the time we reach her, not that the Hatter will allow that to happen if she has any say in it, but…" he hesitated, frowning deeply, "We can't know for sure that they're even together right now, and the Hatter could be getting sick herself as we speak. So…" he held up a finger, "Here's the mission. We're going to find both of them in one hour".

"'We?'" Gregor repeated, scoffing as he gave him a look of disbelief.

He didn't even blink, his expression not wavering, "You're my guys for this".

"That wasn't the deal".

"'Tis now".

"What makes you think we'll help?" Bram demanded, his eyes wide.

The Doctor very calmly grabbed two levers on the console and pulled them down in unison, making a timer pop up across the scanner screen as it laid across the top of one of the console panels, set for just under an hour and counting down. He didn't take his hard glare of the humans, however, his expression darkening.

"I just activated the TARDIS self-destruct system," he informed them coldly, "One hour until this ship blows," he didn't even blink when Bram tried to make a dash for the doors, just simply flicking another switching and making the doors close, before he could reach them, "Don't try to leave," he warned, not turning around to see the man almost face plant the doors, "The TARDIS is in lockdown. I'll open those doors when the Hatter and Clara are by my side. Safe".

"You crazy lunatic!" Bram shouted, pounding on the doors and desperately shaking the lock, just trying to escape.

He simply whirled around to fix him with a dark look, "My ship, my rules," he snapped angrily, narrowing his eyes on the man, who flinched slightly at the shout. His eyes grew colder, almost icy and his voice dropped to a low, chilling tone, "And if any harm has come to my wife, I assure you that it will get a great deal worse for each of you. You haven't seen crazy yet".

"You'll kill us all!" Gregor exclaimed, moving around the console to stare wide eyed at the Doctor, looking truly shocked, "And the girls, your own wife!"

"Clara is going to die if you don't help me," the Doctor turned towards them, his tone unwavering, nor his dark expression softening in the slightest, his eyes still icy as he glared at the man, "And as for the Hatter…she would understand, believe me," he struggled not to react at the fact that they actually thought he would ever place the Time Lady in danger like that, his own daughter's mother and his best friend, but they had no idea who he was or what he was capable of, and he rather liked to keep it that way for the time being, "Don't get into a spaceship with a madman. Didn't anyone teach you that?" he lifted an eyebrow, sighing as Gregor and Tricky hurried passed him to join Bram at the doors, desperately trying to force them open, "Okay…" he shook his head and turned back around to the console, "A little gentle persuasion…" he flicked several switches on the controls, glancing back over his shoulder to the men, "Say thirty minutes".

He hit another button and the timer jumped to thirty minutes and counting down, but it finally got their attention, and all three men whirled around from the door with looks of horror filling their features.

"They'll die even quicker now!" Bram shouted, moving several steps closer to the Doctor.

He simply smiled and held out his hands on either side of himself, "We all perform better under pressure," he said, almost brightly, before his expression darkened and he clasped his hands together once more. He lifted an eyebrow and made a show of reaching for the button on the console once more, "Anybody want to go for fifteen minutes?"

"Whoa!" Gregor and Bram cried out, almost frantically holding their hands out before them in an almost surrendering gesture.

The Doctor paused, his finger hovering over the button to regard them, smirking darkly, "It's your own time you're wasting," he commented lightly, though his expression remained cold and a dangerous edge had crept into his ton, "Salvage of a lifetime. You meant the ship. I meant the Hatter and Clara".

….

The Hatter really wasn't a fan of having to wonder around her own home on edge like this, nor was she very happy about the fact that she had no idea where she even was in her own safe space, or whether or not the Doctor was safe. She desperately missed his silly face and beautiful green eyes, his flirty smiles and his warm hand in hers or his arm wrapped around her waist. She just missed him…which was a little absurd, given that they hadn't been separated for very long, but perhaps it was just because she had no idea what state he was in right now. She hoped desperately that wherever he was, that he was okay and that he wasn't worrying too much about her and Clara, he could get so easily swept up by his own emotions sometimes in this regeneration, it could blind him, cause him to act in ways that she knew he wasn't always proud of. But she also knew that he was a big boy and far too clever for his own good at times, so wherever he was, whatever he was doing, she knew that he had it handled. And they would see each other soon and she would very gladly kiss him silly, which would be rather awkward for Clara, but one of the downsides to being their companion, she supposed.

"Hatter!" Clara said suddenly, pulling the Time Lady from her thoughts, "Look! A door".

The Time Lady followed her gaze to find a very plain, metal door just in the wall ahead of them, just like the one that had held the ball of fire behind it, though without any flashing light above it. But there wasn't any indication as to what might be behind it either, just a door. The TARDIS truly had taken this whole threat against herself very seriously, annoyingly so, though in one respect the Hatter supposed it was a good thing.

"And no danger lights to be seen," the Hatter nodded as they paused before the door, eyeing it briefly, before glancing sideways at Clara, "That is a big plus".

"Do you think it's safe?"

"Well, there's really only one way to find out".

Clara sighed, giving her a slightly wary look, obviously not quite ready to forgive her for the last time the Hatter had decided to try opening a mysterious door, but nor did she try to argue with her as the Hatter reached out to hit her open palm against the button beside the door. It immediately slid open and thankfully, no fire greeted them, nor a wave of water or slime, which the Hatter had half expected to find herself covered in, if she was being honest. No, what they found was something else entirely.

The room before them was large and spacious, the walls painted in a lovely, bright shade of yellow with white panelling running around the lower half of the wall, pictures of different animals, both Earth and alien alike dotted around the walls in cartoon like drawings in a rainbow of different coloured picture frames, each sitting on slightly different levels, but somehow it managed to work. The floor was a deep, TARDIS blue carpet that was so thick and cushioned that their feet actually sunk into it as they stepped into the room, Clara staring around in wonder, while the Hatter smiled softly and immediately crossed to the middle of the room, which had a white, circular bed sitting in the very heart of the room, beneath a huge mobile that had that had stars and moons hanging from it, while the doomed ceiling was covered with an imitation of Gallifrey's burnt orange sky, which when the lights were turned off would be filled with the same stars that had once filled Gallifrey's night sky. The bed was very low to the ground and to short for a child to sleep in, but large enough for a toddler, covered in an assortment of teddy bears and dolls on top of the bright pink covers. Off to the right of the room there was a whole wall made up just simply of books shelves and a number of books, all suitable for a very small child, while a small table and chairs was positioned before the shelves, still littered with a child's messy drawings and pencils, while on the other side of the room a large, wooden rocking chair sat angled towards the bed and a large dollhouse in the shape and design of the TARDIS sat against the wall, little handmade wooden dolls that looked very much like the Doctor, the Hatter, and a small, brown haired girl in a pink tutu stood still positioned in the mock console, while other dolls of other people had been left in other rooms of the dollhouse. One dressed in a big, dark blue coat with dark hair, while another seemed to have a mop of curly, blonde hair. On the far wall across from the door, in a large lettering that curved above a large rainbow, a name was spelled out in large letters: Astra.

"This…this is Astra's room?" Clara blinked slowly, still taking it all in as she looked around in fascination.

The Hatter bent down and plucked a teddy bear in the shape of a Silurian from off the bed, cradling it to her chest as her eyes roamed around the room, "Quite so," she said softly, suddenly sounding almost sad as she seemed to almost hug the bear, "The Doctor made it himself, he spent months planning every inch of it, he even handmade her cot for her," she smiled and met Clara's eyes, "He managed to keep it a secret from me, too, which is quite the accomplishment".

"I bet," she smiled, moving further into the room, eyeing the mobile above the tiny bed curiously. She reached out to delicately touch one of the stars hanging from it, "It looks like a kids paradise in here, save for no ball pit".

"Do not go giving him any ideas, Clara," she suddenly pointed warningly at her, her expression very serious, "I've already had to say no to a slide. It's hard enough to get Astra to sleep without giving her that distraction in here too".

She laughed and the Hatter smiled softly, her eyes travelling around the room again, something close to a bittersweet smile gracing her lips, "Hatter," she said, making the Time Lady glance back to her, her eyebrows lifted slightly. She gave her a gentle smile, "When did you last see her?"

The Hatter sucked in a deep breath, before releasing it slowly, "To her, only five minutes ago," she replied, still cradling the teddy bear to her chest, "For the Doctor and I it's been about…a week? But it feels like forever," her shoulder slumped slightly at that confession, her expression crumbling very slightly with something close to grief, before it was gone in a second and she suddenly straightened, flashing Clara a small, if strained smile, "But we really ought to keep going, this is hardly the console room or infirmary, and we need to see to that burn of yours, Clara".

"It's not too bad," she shook her head, briefly glancing at her burnt hand as the Time Lady delicately placed the teddy bear back onto the bed, her hands lingering on the soft, dark green fur of it before she straightened completely, "Honestly, Hatter…" she continued, eyeing the Time Lady with obvious concern now, "I'm okay. If you want to stay here for a bit longer, I don't mind…"

"Clara," she cut across her firmly, but her expression was gentle as she looked at the girl, "I won't pretend as though I don't miss my daughter every second that she isn't with me, but I'll never get to see her again if we don't leave. I'm good, I promise".

Clara nodded, giving her a small, sympathetic smile as the Hatter took one last glance around to the nursery before moving for the door once more. Clara followed her out into the hallway and the door slid down behind them, neither speaking as the Hatter set off again down the hallways that seemed to never end, but just twist and curve onwards forever. They came across a few more doors along their way, but all they contained was a bathroom that looked as though it was taken directly out of the 80's and a broom cupboard that smelt oddly like cats, setting the Hatter off into a sneezing fit for a good few minutes. But on their walked until they came across a door that looked slightly different from the others, this one with an old, wooden door that curved and had stone running around the outside of the frame. It looked it belonged in an ancient castle. The Hatter glanced at Clara and shrugged, before pulling the door open and stepping inside.

The room seemed to be something like a storage room, quite large and full of just…stuff. An ancient looking wooden cot immediately seemed to drawer Clara's attention as it sat on an old table beside the door, and the Hatter smiled faintly at the sight of it. The Doctor's old cot, she had wondered where he had hidden that away, Astra had used it almost as much as her own cot as a baby, until she had outgrown the Doctor's. She had loved it, especially when she had found out it had been her daddy's cot as a baby, she even cried when she no longer could fit in it. Clara smiled at the sight of the cot and reached out to touch the misshaped star hanging off the metal mobile, glancing at the Hatter.

"Astra's cot?" she asked curiously.

"The Doctor's, actually," the Hatter replied, grinning widely as Clara's mouth slipped open.

"Seriously?"

"He's a bit of a hoarder," she remarked fondly, slipping further into the room, her eyes roaming around the room, nostalgia sweeping over her at some of the familiar objects she could spy, stuff even she had forgotten about. She plucked a recorder from one of the shelves that filled the room and gently brushed her fingertips across it, thinking back to the Second Doctor and his love for the instrument, "He hates throwing anything away," she continued, gently placing the recorder back on the shelf, her eyes lighting up as she caught sight of something else, "Ooh! Now, that's what I'm talking about!" she practically skipped across the room to pluck a purple fedora hat off one of the shelves, briefly dusting some dust off it before plopping it on top of her head, whirling around to grin brightly at Clara, "What do you think? Still me?"

Clara looked up from where she had been looking at a model of the TARDIS that, if the Hatter recalled correctly, had once belonged to a young Amelia Pond, "You used to wear that?" she asked, regarding the Time Lady's outfit a bit dubiously.

"Oh, yes, back when I was all red hair and purple. I used to wear a T-shirt with a smiley face on it, too, very bright and cheerful," she spotted her own reflection in a very old looking mirror that was sitting on another shelf, considering herself and her Ninth selves hat curiously, before smiling in approval, "Well, I think I can still pull it off pretty nicely, she'd probably disagree, but thankfully I'm the only me here, so who cares?"

"I…don't even know where to begin with that whole sentence, Hatter".

She laughed and spun back around to face her, reaching up to just adjust her hat a bit more comfortably on her head, "Try being inside my head," she commented lightly, before her eyes lit up in delight, "Ooh, look! Look!" she darted slightly ahead of Clara and snatched a black umbrella from off another table with a large, bright red handle that almost looked like a large question mark, holding it almost as delicately as the recorder, while Clara simply blinked back at her in bafflement, "Oh, I'd forgot Seven used to get around with an umbrella!" she breathed in excitement, seeming positively thrilled as she stared down at the umbrella with affection, "I mean, it's a bit of a shame he had to go with boring black, Six had a rainbow one at least…not that that man needed any more colour to his outfit, mind you, but still! And it's got the question mark handle!"

Clara laughed slightly at how childlike and excited she was getting over an umbrella, cradling it between her hands almost as carefully as she had Astra's teddy bear, which was rather awkward given the size and shape of the umbrella. But the Hatter didn't seem to care, grinning widely with very bright, delighted eyes and a slight flush to her cheeks…and then a low grow filled the air and they instantly froze.

"Clara…" the Hatter murmured, clutching the umbrella even more tightly, suddenly very, very serious, "I think we should leave now…as in right now".

All the colour seemed to drain from Clara's cheeks then and her eyes widened in horror, "Oh!" she gasped, stumbled backwards, looking at something between the shelves towards the back of the room, "Hatter, there's something…something's…"

"Run, Clara!" the Time Lady shouted, grabbing her uninjured hand and pulling her out of the room, dropping the umbrella on a random shelf as they bolted back out into the hallway and away from the room.

A low growl followed them.

….

The Doctor flashed the sonic at a doorway beneath the lower half of the console room, forcing it open as he continued to desperately try and find a trace of the Hatter or Clara, though he hoped that he might find the Hatter a little more easily. The door slid open and he began to lead the selvage crew through it and down the corridor beyond. He was so focused on his task of trying to track down the Hatter that he only vaguely noticed when Gregor lagged behind slightly, holding a scanner device in his hand, but he needed to focus on finding the Hatter or Clara. However, they had barely turned a corner and began heading down another hallway when he was forced to admit that perhaps the sonic wasn't going to help right now, pressing his lips into a tight line as he reluctantly slipped it back inside his pocket. Perhaps if they got close enough…

"Guys, guys," Gregor called suddenly, swiftly rounding the corner and jogging up to them as they paused in the hallway with the scanner still in his hand, glancing back to him. The Doctor eyed him with barely concealed frustration, "Look," he looked directly at the Time Lord, "I think we should split up. It's our best chance of finding the girls. You know it is".

The Doctor frowned, still eyeing him carefully, not at all liking the idea of leaving these humans to wonder around unsupervised when they had already proven to have dubious morals…but he couldn't help feeling the weight of time passing far too quickly for his liking and with still little sign of the Hatter or Clara's whereabouts to be found. He pressed his lips into a tight line and checked his watch, but it only further proved just how long they had wasted already. He saw little other choice, though he still hated the idea.

"Don't touch anything," he warned the man firmly, pointing at him sternly, "The TARDIS will get huffy if you mess, and the Hatter will be very, very cross if she finds out someone was meddling with the old girl. Understood?"

Gregor gave him a nod, "Understood".

He lingered for a moment longer, regarding the man with a very stern look, before turning on his heel and marching away down the hallway. Tricky quickly fell into step behind him, leaving the other two humans to their own devious. The Doctor just hoped they were smart enough to keep their sticky fingers to themselves, regardless he'd know if they didn't.

…..

"What the hell was that thing?" Clara panted as she threw frightened looks back over her shoulder, jogging along behind the Time Lady through the winding, turning corridors of the time machine, just trying to put as much distance between them and that thing she had seen back in the strange storage room as possible.

"Forget about it, Clara," the Hatter told her, keeping her eyes ahead of her and her pace swift, though not so fast that she might accidently become separated from Clara. Her expression, however, was very grim and her eyes guarded, "Just…put it from your mind, it's not important".

"Not important?" she exclaimed in disbelief, and the Time Lady could feel the look she was giving her back burning her neck, "There's some sort of…of monster on board with us, Hatter! I saw it! It's got red eyes and grey skin and…"

The Hatter stopped suddenly and whirled on her heel, reaching out to grasp Clara's shoulders before she could slam straight into her. She met her wide, startled eyes with a very stern, almost harsh gaze, "Clara," she said softly, though her tone carried a note of steal to it, "There are something's in this Universe that are best not known, not many, mind, but some…some that the truth would drive you mad knowing. Just…if you've ever trusted me, trust me in this and put it from your mind, please".

Clara blinked slowly, staring back at her with something close to fear and shock, but the Hatter didn't allow her a second longer to try and come to terms with what she had just said. She dropped her hands from Clara's shoulders and grasped her uninjured hand firmly, whirling back around to continue jogging down the corridor, just as another low growl broke the air from the corridor behind them. On they went, pausing briefly before the open door of a very large room that held a massive, steam punk style telescope in the middle of it, Clara only having a brief chance to glance at it before the Time Lady was tugging her quickly passed the door. They came across more open doors, one that held a ballroom that looked like it was taken directly out of a Disney movie, another that had a huge swimming pool that stretched out far across the room, another that looked like a movie theatre, but the Hatter didn't once pause or slow her pace.

Low growls and grunts seemed to grow louder, and the Hatter kept throwing quick looks back over her shoulder, frowning worriedly as the shadow of a humanoid figure appeared at the end of the hallway, just as they rounded the corner and dashed off down another hallway. Even from just a brief flash it was evident to see that the creature was covered in an almost ash grey, leathery skin that looked as though it had been burnt, while the red, glowing of its eyes seemed to shimmer with heat in the dimness of the hallways, while it seemed to run slightly hunched over and almost lopsidedly. But despite this, the creature was fast, very fast.

Suddenly, the Time Lady tugged Clara off to the side of the hallway they were running down, pulling her straight through a slightly ajar, wooden set of doors and, without pausing to allow the girl to even see where they were, pulled her further into the room and swiftly behind a bookcase, a very large, well-stocked book case made of dark stained wood. The Hatter pressed a finger to her lips as they pressed their backs against the bookcase, giving Clara a pointed look, and Clara nodded breathlessly in understanding. They stood there for another few seconds, just waiting, until the Hatter slowly edged closer to the end of the bookcase and peered out, her shoulders relaxing as she saw the shadow the creature lumber by the doors and out of sight.

"Okay," she whispered, turning back to Clara, giving her a small smile, "I think we should be alright in here for a little bit. And it just so happens to be my favourite room, to boot," her smile grew into a wide grin and she winked at Clara.

Clara gave her a slightly blank look for a moment, before the Hatter laughed softly and made a gesture towards the room around them, finally drawing Clara's attention to their surroundings. Her reaction didn't disappoint, either, her eyes widening as she took in the massive, six story high library they currently stood in, and even though it was quite shadowed, it was still easy to see that the room was very grand and beautiful, made up of ornate detailing and rich fabrics. Shelf after shelf loaded with books filled every level, while the very heart of the room, on the ground floor, held a massive table that ran down the very middle of the room, antique lamps sitting along the middle of the polished, dark surface of the table, while red, velvet upholstered chairs sat up and down the table. There were more comfortable armchairs sitting dotted around the room, too, each in a slightly different shade of red or orange, while a large fireplace, currently empty of flames, sat along the left hand wall with a number of picture frames sitting proudly along the ancient, stone mantelpiece, most featuring men and woman that Clara didn't recognise, though she could suspect who they might be, given that the women all wore hats and the men seemed to all look simply thrilled to have the women by their sides. Sitting in the middle of all the pictures was one featuring the current Doctor and Hatter, smiling proudly beside each other as the Doctor cradled a bundle of blankets in his arms.

"Welcome to the TARDIS library, Clara," the Hatter smirked at the girl, who was staring around with obvious wonder, "Arguably only the second best room in this ship".

"I can see why," Clara said with a slightly stunned expression still filling her features, peering around with obvious amazement. She smiled faintly and shook her head, "Now that's just showing off".

She laughed at that, before briefly casting another quick glance back towards the door, before relaxing again when there was no sign of their stalker, "Oh, you're only seeing a fraction of this place," she remarked with pride clear in her voice, turning to stroll off down the room, leaving Clara to hastily follow, "There's much more to this place, not to mention more than a few secrets".

"What sort of secrets?"

"Hidden doors, naturally," she threw her a cheeky wink over her shoulder, and Clara smiled back at her, looking a great deal calmer now. The Time Lady couldn't blame her, even though she was desperately missing the Doctor and more than a little worried about just what might have happened to him, she couldn't help feeling lighter being in the library, surrounded by some of her most favourite things in the Universe and all the memories that this room held in her mind, how could she not feel instantly relaxed and calm, even while everything else was going on? The only thing that could make it better was for the Doctor to be here with her, along with Astra, just as it was meant to be.

Clara's eyebrows instantly lifted with interest, "Secret doors in the library?" she asked with a small laugh lacing her words, "Seriously?"

"No decent library should be without at least one secret door, and if my memory serves correctly from my school girl days, even an ancient Type 40 TARDIS ought to have a hidden door leading from the library to the console. The trick is to actually finding it, though I've got an idea…"

And with that, the Time Lady wondered deeper into the library, leading Clara along with her with a thoughtful frown.

…

The Doctor stopped sharply in the middle of the corridor he had been swiftly marching down with Tricky on his heels, his hand flying straight for his pocket, fishing the sonic screwdriver out. His eyes widened slightly at the readings coming off the humming sonic, while the tip of it flashed rapidly. He looked sharply up to Tricky, who was eyeing the device curiously.

"I warned them not to meddle with anything," he said grimly, his expression darkening with anger, "I tried to tell them…" he shook his head and whirled sharply on his heels, taking off in a run back down the hallway they had just come down.

He moved as swiftly as his own legs could carry him, almost skidding across the floor as he came to an open door that most assuredly shouldn't have been open right now. A great, almost tree-like structure stood in the very heart of the room with large metal branches and cables with large, globe-like crystals hanging from the ends of the cables like giant fruit, each one glowing bright white and with Gallifreyan symbols engraved across the curved sides of them. His eyes widened in horror, however, at the sight of Gregor standing amongst the cables with a large laser cutter lifted above his head, about to cut one of the crystals from one of the cables.

"No!" he shouted urgently, rushing into the dimly lit room with his hands held out before him to try and stop the other man, feeling an almost frantic sense of panic sizing his chest, "No, no! Stop! Please, don't!" he lightly touched another one of the crystals, stroking it as Gregor lowered the laser cutter with a slightly cautious expression, "Don't touch it, please," he almost pleaded with the human man, still gently grasping the crystal between his hands, though his eyes roamed worriedly around the room, "She won't let you touch it. I can feel a TARDIS tantrum coming on," he looked back to the crystal and lightly cooed at it, reminding him vividly of all the times he had tried to sooth Astra.

"What the hell is this place?" Gregor demanded, eyeing him warily.

"Architectural Reconfiguration System. It reconstructs particles according to your needs".

"A machine that makes machines?"

"Yes," the Doctor nodded, turning his attention back onto the crystal, gently stroking it, "Basically," he continued fussing over the crystal, sensing the anger and pain rippling through his beloved ship, sensed the fear she had felt at these men basically violating her. If the Hatter was here right now…boy, would there be trouble, he was just grateful in this moment that she didn't share the same link with the TARDIS that he did, she wouldn't be able to feel what he was feeling, though she might sense that something was off, knowing how sensitive she was. He was so wrapped up in just trying to sooth the old girl, that he jumped slightly when he saw from the corner of his eye Gregor lift the laser cutter up again, his forehead creasing in confusion, "What are you doing?" he asked sharply, when, much to his horror, Gregor reached up to grasp one of the other crystals again, preparing to pull it down, like it was just an apple on a tree, "No, no, don't! Don't!" he tried desperately again, making the other man pause to glance back at him, "If you walk out of here with that circuit, the TARDIS will try to stop you. Now listen to me…" he lowered his voice to a forced, level tone, looking pleadingly at Gregor, "Look, the clock is ticking. We must find the Hatter and Clara".

He held out a hand towards him in a pleading gesture, but he saw it in Gregor's eyes the second he made his choice, and it instantly made his hearts sink. Gregor roughly tugged at the crystal and it disconnected from the cable, causing all the other crystals to immediately flicker out and a high-pitched squeal to break through the air, causing the Doctor to wince and coverer his ears, Tricky doing the same beside him, but Gregor simply screwed up his face and kept his hands firmly around the crystal. The other orbs lit up once more and the noise died down after another few seconds, but the Doctor could feel the TARDIS practically shouting in his mind, sense how much pain it had caused her, her anger and grief at having a piece of her literally ripped from her, and not gently, either. It made a wave of nausea wash over him as he slowly uncovered his ears, looking over to see Gregor slipping the crystal into his backpack that he pulled over his shoulders, turning to head for the doors…only the doors were gone, replaced by just another wall. His hearts broke for his beloved time machine, how was he supposed to make up for putting her through this?

"What the…?" Tricky trailed off, frowning deeply in confusion as he moved to stand next to Gregor before where the door had once been, "Where's the door gone?"

"Ever seen a spaceship get ugly?" the Doctor asked them grimly, his tone flat and his expression utterly miserable. Not only was he separated from the Hatter, but he now had to practically feel his beloved time machines distress? It truly was shaping up to be a very horrible day, indeed.

Tricky shook his head and tried to examine the wall, "This isn't happening," he said with a deep frown, clearly trying to find the door as he ran his hands across the patch of wall, as though it was just hiding.

"She won't relinquish it," he told them warily, sighing heavily, feeling a dull ache in the back of his head that had little to do with him, and everything to do with the TARDIS, "Her basic genetic material. It's like trying to take a baby away from its mother," his eyes grew harder and his tone took on a slight edge, "And trust me, there's nothing more dangerous than that. She'll fight tooth and nail to get it back".

His mind immediately went to the Hatter and just what she would do if anyone forcibly separated her from Astra without her consent, it was unbearable enough for her to separate herself from Astra even for her own protection, let alone if someone took their daughter from them. There wouldn't be a single line she wouldn't cross, nor anything that she wouldn't do if it meant keeping Astra safe, and he felt exactly the same way. Astra was and would always be there number one priority. He could sympathise entirely with the TARDIS right now with her anger and pain, and he desperately wanted to put it right. But if he tried to force the humans to give it back, he could risk making it worse, and he couldn't afford to do that, not for the sake of his TARDIS.

Gregor remained completely unmoved by any of it, slipping one hand inside his blast suit pocket and pulling a grenade-like device out, "Torch it," he ordered Tricky, tossing the device to him, which he caught. He glanced at the wall, his expression growing torn, and Gregor immediately grew angry, "I said, torch it!" he snapped, gesturing roughly towards the wall.

"Can't you feel it, Gregor?" Tricky asked instead, glancing upwards and around the room, his expression twisted with something close to pain. The Doctor looked at him curiously, "The ship, the ship's in torment, like a living thing," he looked back to Gregor, "You can't hurt it".

Gregor roughly snatched the explosive device out of his hands and, without a word, began to prepare it to be detonated, moving to place it on the wall…however; he only took a step forward when the door was suddenly back and sliding open for him, as though it had never disappeared. The Doctor sighed heavily, knowing that this was just the start.

"What's the matter, TARDIS?" Gregor seemed to smirk at the ship, his voice full of smugness, "Scared to fight me?"

He strolled through the doors with a very obvious arrogant swagger to him and Tricky hastily moved to follow after him. The Doctor, however, watched them go with a miserable frown, gently stroking one of the remaining orbs as he moved for the door, too, offering up his deepest apology to his ship and promising, silently, that he would make this right.

…

"So how come the TARDIS has secret doors leading back to the console?" Clara asked as she looked around at the high book shelves that surrounded them, the Hatter having led her all the way to the very back of the library and into a corner area. She had almost walked completely past the section that was labelled 'Gallirey' in a high, golden sign that hung from metal links from the ceiling of this section, seemingly beneath all the other high levels, but the Hatter had easily grabbed her hand and pulled her into the section, looking faintly amused before instantly busying herself by examining every inch of the back wall, covered by more shelves.

"A library is like an arsenal to a Time Lord," the Hatter replied as she pressed her left ear against one of the shelves, while she lightly knocked her knuckles against the wooden shelf next to her cheek, "Does it not make sense for one to make a short cut from the console to the library?" she smiled faintly, closing her eyes as she shifted her hand a inch away from her face, knocking lightly again, "The Time Lords were clever people, Clara. Dreadfully dull, mind you, terrible at parties, shocking taste in hats, and quite frankly ethically questionable at times, but very clever. They were also rather practical".

"Okay," she nodded, casting a quick glance back over her shoulder, before glancing back to eye a bookcase that had a number of very curious bottles sitting along the shelves of it, all very neat and labelled in circular script that, surprisingly, she could understand, the bottles seeming to contain different volumes of the Encyclopaedia Gallifreyica, "So how come you don't know where this mystery door is hidden?" she questioned, daring to actually reach out and lightly touch one of the bottles, watching as something smoke-like seemed to spiral on the inside of the glass, "I mean, you seem to know all about it, just not where the door actually is, how does that work?"

"Well, every TARDIS has its own secrets," she straightened, shrugging slightly as she moved along a bit further up the shelf to repeat the same knocking and listening process as before, "My TARDIS used to have a door that took me directly into the politics section of the library, though it did original belong to my highly political family, so it makes sense. As for this TARDIS…well, the door could be located anywhere in the library, but it makes sense to try the Gallifreyan section first, before trying any of the others…" she smiled faintly, looking amused as she lifted her head to cast Clara a quick look, "It'll be hilarious if it turns out to be in the romance section".

Clara grinned back at her, before turning her attention back to the curious bottles. Suddenly, the Hatter gave a loud gasp and she whirled around to find the Time Lady looking very pale, grasping the edge of the bookcase with white knuckles and an alarmed expression.

"Hatter?" she edged closer to her, reaching out to grasp her arm worriedly.

"I'm okay," the Hatter reassured her, though she was still frowning deeply and her eyes looked very trouble, glancing worriedly up at the ceiling, "But…I think something's upset the TARDIS, very, very badly. She feels…tormented, pained, angry, sorrowful…"

"You can feel what the TARDIS feels?"

"More like an impression. I can't actually feel it, not like the Doctor, but I can get a vague impression if the old girl is feeling something very strongly or if she wishes me to know".

Clara eyed her slightly, while the Hatter gave herself a sharp shake and slowly, some of the little colour she usually held in her cheeks returned and she gave Clara a small, weak a smile, a smile that didn't match with the troubled look in her eyes. She was worried, really worried about the TARDIS, whatever it was that had just happened obviously unsettled her and if it unsettled the Hatter; it was enough to put Clara on edge. She might not have travelled with the Time Lords for that long, but she had come to figure out pretty quickly that the Hatter was pretty good with picking up on subtle things, things others didn't notice or just weren't sensitive enough to see. If the Hatter was troubled, then they should all be troubled.

"Do you think…the Doctor's okay, Hatter?" she asked in a low voice, trying to think of what might have caused the TARDIS to feel tormented or sorrowful. If something happened to the Doctor, would the time machine react to it the same way that a friend or family member might?

The Hatter met her gaze firmly, then, "It wasn't about the Doctor," she told her, her voice strong and full of convection, "Whatever it was…it wasn't that. I'd know, I'd feel it, Clara. He's…he's okay, I know he is. He's far too strong and impossibly determined to go down without me by his side," she lifted the corner of her mouth at the end, making it clear that she was joking, if only partly, before she sighed and shook her head again, "But still, best that we do find him quickly. I would very much like to make sure for myself that he is alright".

Clara nodded and let her go back to her search for the mysterious door, though she couldn't help noticing that she seemed much more determined and focused then before, her lips pressed together in a tight, firm line and a crease between her eyebrows. Perhaps she ought to give her some space to concentrate, get back to focusing on the task at hand, obviously whatever she had felt from the TARDIS had been enough to set her resolve on finding this hidden door as fast as possible, and Clara honestly couldn't blame her. So she found herself looking around at the shelves contained within this little corner of the library, seemingly devoted to the Time Lords and Gallifrey itself, the Hatter had made a small comment about how no human was typically allowed in this part of the library, though why, she honestly didn't know. There was just loads of books, a heap of ancient looking scrolls, too, bundled up in stacks in holders, and then the weird bottles that seemed to swirl with pale blue smoke within them. And then she saw it and for a moment she was baffled by how she had failed to see it in the first place, sitting on a handsome, grand wooden stand in a alcove at the end of the section was a book. It was huge, at least four inches thick and the cover was covered in intricate swirls and golden detailing along the leather corners, while in the very middle of the cover was the name, written, shockingly, in English:

The History of the Time War

Slowly, Clara approached the book, glancing carefully back over her shoulder to the Hatter, only she was busy listening closely to book shelf, her expression screwed up in concentration and her eyes closed firmly, while her fingertips lightly ran along the spines of the books just on the shelf above from where she had her ear pressed, listening. She turned back to the book…she knew she shouldn't, something about it just seemed like it was completely off limits, but if it truly was so off limits why have it on display like this? Even if humans didn't normally have access to this part of the library. Still, with another quick glance back over to the distracted Hatter, she reached out and very quietly opened the book to a random page in the middle of the book.

It startled her to find herself looking down at the image of a woman, her hair cut short and into a bob style, almost as though she had walked out of the 20's, and it seemed to be quite dark, even though the picture had been drawn in black ink. But it was the woman's expression that chilled Clara, strong cheek bones and jaw line, while dark eyes seemed to glare coldly back up at her, her expression tense but tired, while from what little of her clothing that had been drawn she seemed to be dressed in a dark coloured blouse with all the buttons to the collar buttoned, while a small, circular style pin had been drawn just on the breast of the woman, the same symbol that Clara had seen on several of the books around this section, in fact, so obviously it was something important to the Time Lords. A name had been scrawled beneath the picture, a name that made Clara almost gasp aloud: Dame Hatter of the Great House of Blyedge. But it was what was written beneath this name in loopy script that made Clara's eyes widened, realising that it was her name, her actual, proper name, not just a name she had chosen or a nickname, but her name.

Clara glanced back over to the Hatter in amazement, her heart pounding, but still the Hatter remained utterly oblivious to what was happening not five feet away from her. Slowly, with slightly shaky fingers, Clara turned her gaze to the next page and had to stifle another gasp. It was a man, an older man with lined features and tired, sad eyes that seemed to peer back up at her, but though they were full of grief, they had a determination to them. He looked like he had been a fighter and as though he'd been through just about everything that could be thrown at him, and survived it all. Just like with the Hatter, beneath his image was a name: Lord Doctor of the Great House of Lungbarrow, followed by another name, his true name.

"So that's who…" she breathed in wonder.

Suddenly, a loud thump sounded from a short distance away, followed by a low, guttural growl. Clara hastily flipped the book shut, just as the Hatter straightened sharply, looking worriedly off in the direction of the growl, thankfully completely oblivious to what Clara had just been doing. She looked across to the girl and gestured for her to follow; lifting a finger up to her lips to warn her to stay quiet as she quickly moved to duck out of sight around the edge of another bookcase, just ahead of them. They pressed their backs against it, shelves digging into their backs, and listened tensely as heavy footsteps sounded from down the rows of bookcases, before they seemed to pause just at the entrance of their section and a low growl sounded again.

The Hatter carefully edged closer to the end of the bookcase and, very carefully, leaned around the edge of it to catch a glimpse of the creature tracking them. Her expression pressed into a grim frown as she hastily shifted back out of sight again, glancing warily at Clara, who stared wide eyed back at her. The creature was just how she imagined it to be, skin like leather, but also oddly burnt at the same time, almost a deep, charcoal grey, with glowing, deep red eyes. The creature was short, barely five two and petite, beneath the obscured, charred body that carried little other detail, no clothing, no jewellery, just ash. The Time Lady carefully concealed how she was feeling from Clara, keeping her expression hard and wary as the footsteps began to thump against the wooden flooring, coming towards them. They would have to move…they had perhaps a five second window before it would round the bookcase and find them…

The Hatter didn't hesitate, they couldn't afford to, reaching out and grabbing Clara's hand tightly and tugging her down the opposite end of the bookcase from where the creature was coming, managing to tug Clara around to the other side of it, right before the creature lumbered level with the shelf. The Time Lady didn't slow, nor drop Clara's hand, practically pulling her along like a ragdoll behind her, not even bothering to try and hush their footsteps as she immediately dashed for the bookcase she had so attentively studied mere moments ago. A loud growl sounded behind them.

"Hatter!" Clara shouted, looking frantically back over her shoulder, "It's coming!"

She glanced back over to see that the creature was coming for them, just appearing around the edge of the bookcase and coming for them very quickly. Clara went to try and pull the Hatter away, but the Hatter held firm and, without taking her eyes off the creature, reached up to knock her knuckles along several of the books in the shelf just eye level to her, almost seeming to be in a sequence of tapping, and suddenly a golden light began to glow and shimmer, and within a blink of an eye the entire bookcase was gone, revealing a stone archway that opened up directly into the lower half of the console room.

"I'm sorry," the Hatter said sincerely to the creature, hastily pushing Clara through the archway, giving the creature a heartbroken look, "I am so sorry…"

"Hatter!"

The Time Lady jumped backwards through the archway, just as the creature, with a loud, angry hiss went to take a swipe at her, missing her by inches. The second she was safely over the threshold, the Hatter hit a button on the wall next to the door and almost instantly the door shimmered out of existence once more, taking with it the button. Nothing but an ordinary patch of wall was left behind.

"Blimey," the Hatter glanced at Clara, releasing a sigh of relief, while Clara looked almost close to collapsing out of sheer relief of escaping. She gave her a small smile, "I'm so glad that actually worked, who knew ancient Time Lords could love a lullaby so much that they would turn it into a secret code?"

Clara lifted her head to blink at her.

….

Down the hallway they walked, the Doctor leading the way, while Tricky and Gregor followed behind him, walking through an intersection that had four different hallways branching off it. He walked straight through it and ahead…only to suddenly find themselves walking straight through the same intersection again just a moment later, having done just a small loop of the same section. They came to a stop in the middle of the intersection, looking around, while the Doctor sighed. This really wasn't helping him find the Hatter and Clara.

"It's the same," Tricky frowned deeply, and looked in confusion at the Time Lord, "It's just the same!"

"It's diverting us, spinning a maze around us," the Doctor said grimly, sighing slightly as he turned back around to face the two men. His hearts sunk, but he found that he couldn't bring himself to ne angry at the TARDIS, she was only trying to defend herself the only way she could, it wasn't her fault that he and the Hatter were wrapped up in that. Still, he could get angry at Gregor, his eyes narrowing on the shorter man with a sharp glare that would make most flinch, "We will never reach the Hatter or Clara in time," he almost growled at the man, who stared back at him with a brief flash of fear, before he turned to start storming off down another hallway on the left, "Hey!" he called after him angrily, marching after him, "Hey!"

Once again, after just a few more feet, they found themselves back in the same interception again, the Doctor's expression thunderous as he came to stand by Gregor, who looked around with something close to concern now.

"It's just the same," Tricky shook his head, stepping up beside Gregor to frown at the Doctor, "Again".

"No point in building walls," the Doctor remarked coldly, turning his hard glare on Gregor, "You'll just know how to smash them down. It's found other ways of controlling you," he smirked very slightly, though it wasn't a pleasant smirk in the least, "Smart bunch, Time Lords. No dress sense, dreadful hats, as the Hatter would agree whole heartedly with, but they were smart," he fixed both men with a very steady, sharp gaze, "If you want to get out of here, let that circuit go. It is creating a labyrinth".

For his credit, Gregor managed to hold his glare without flinching or lowering his eyes, but the Doctor could see that he was struggling. It was only slightly satisfying, though, given the fact that due to this humans stubbornness to do the right thing right now they were all trapped and being punished, not to mention the fact that he was still separated from the Hatter with no way of knowing if she was okay or not. Tricky, however, did seem quite alarmed and immediately reached for his comm. device in his ear, reaching up to activate it.

"Bram?" he called urgently over the link, seemingly smart enough to recognise just how serious this whole situation was, "Bram, can you hear me?" he allowed for a brief pause, but no answer came, and he continued even more urgently, "Bram, this ship is alive. Get out of there. Bram, don't touch anything…"

…

"You mean you didn't know that was going to work?" Clara demanded, almost gaping at the Time Lady in disbelief and gesturing widely towards the blank wall before them, which apparently was actually a secret door.

The Hatter winced slightly at her tone, giving her an apologetic look, "Well, I had a fairly decent notion that it might," she said with a slightly sheepish smile, reaching up to straighten her Ninth selves hat, "Time Lords have a bit of a thing for picking nursery rhymes for secret codes, if my past experience is anything to go off, why not in this case? It was more of a matter of getting the right rhyme…"

"And if you hadn't?"

"Ah, yes, well…I suppose I would have been forced to throw a book at the creature and run, while apologising profusely, naturally…"

"Naturally!" Clara exclaimed in disbelief, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

The Time Lady frowned very slightly, looking vaguely offended, "I'm many things, Clara, but rude isn't one of them…" she paused, considering her words, "Well, not intentionally so. But thankfully it didn't come to that, so let's not get worked up over what might have been," she smiled brightly and turned on her heel, "Come on, the present and future is far more pressing in this moment, anyway".

The Hatter continued walking, while Clara stared after her for a moment long, before shaking her head and quickly moving to join her. The door had, indeed, opened up directly into the console and the Time Lady instantly felt relaxed upon finding herself in the dimly lit room, though she was very disappointed to find little evidence of the Doctor anywhere as she climbed the steps up to the main level of the console, which was in quite a state itself, bits of cables littering the room and even the floor, while it was plain to see that the controls themselves were in a great deal of attention. Still, even without the Doctor, it was a better place to be then they had been before now, and hopefully now she might even be able to tend to Clara's burnt hand.

"Home sweet home," she sighed in relief as they reached the console, reaching out to place her open, flat palm against the Time Rotor, "Oh, I'm so very sorry, old thing. Don't worry about the mess, the Doctor and I will make it all better, I promise…"

Clara seemed to also relax upon reaching the console, reaching out to grasp the edge of the controls with a relieved, bright smile, "I can't believe I ever said a mean word against you," she told the controls, seemingly her own delight at being back in the console, surrounded by everything familiar to her, pushing aside everything else for the time being, "You're the best, you really are…" she laughed and bent over slightly to kiss the control panel, making the Hatter smile fondly…until Clara lifted her head and her smile seemed to freeze in place, her eyes widening with horror, "No! Hatter, the doors!"

The Hatter blinked slightly and her head immediately snapped up to look across the controls to the doors, only to find that they were completely gone. She sighed heavily, reaching up to rub her forehead as Clara dashed around the controls and over to the blank patch of wall that the doors ought to have been, hitting at the wall frantically.

"Where's the door gone?" she knocked rapidly against the wall, before whirling around to look slightly anxiously back over to the Hatter, who had moved around the console to take a closer look, "Hatter…" she stepped back over to her, "Where's the door gone? You can get it back, right?"

"I'm sorry, Clara," the Time Lady reached out to gently place a comforting hand on her arm, her expression full of sympathy, "But there's nothing I can do, this is all down to the TARDIS".

"No! It can't do that!"

"She's just protecting herself," she said calmly, squeezing Clara's arm a bit tighter, trying to ease the frightened look in her eyes, "She feels threatened, attacked, and what do people do when they feel attacked? They do whatever they must to try and guard themselves. It isn't her fault".

"But now we're trapped!"

The Hatter paused, then, her forehead creasing slightly, "Yes, we are, aren't we?" she slowly glanced back over to the Time Rotor, eyeing it thoughtfully, "But that doesn't make sense, protocols should determine that if there are any life forms detected on board, they should have at least one means of escaping…that's standard health and safety, so why remove the doors?" she looked back to Clara, giving her a slightly pointed, encouraging look, and Clara realised through the haze of panic and fear that she wanted her to answer.

"I…" she blinked, shaking her head slowly, "I…well, I guess, if the TARDIS was trying to stop those…those creatures from getting out…"

"Exactly," she nodded, before pausing, throwing another thoughtful look towards the console, "But I think it's more than that, those creatures have little interest in escaping, so why stop us from leaving? No…there's something else going on, I think someone else has come on board…" she frowned deeply, "Someone who has really upset the old girl, someone who would be desperate to escape".

Clara was silent for a moment, eyeing the Hatter, "Who?"

….

"Bram?" Tricky continued calling over the comm. link, his expression growing increasingly concerned, "You've got to get out of there fast…"

Suddenly, a horrible, pained scream rang out from down the corridor ahead of them, and the Doctor instantly whipped the sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and flashed it up the darkened hallway, while Tricky and Gregor flinched at the noise, pressing their fingers against their earpieces.

"Channels dead," Gregor remarked with a deep frown, listening to his own comm..

"We've got to help him," Tricky said worriedly, looking expectantly at Gregor, while the Doctor continued trying to get a reading of what was ahead of them. There was silence behind him, Gregor making little move to jump at the chance to help his brother, making Tricky frown, "Gregor, do something. Do something!" he roughly grabbed the other man's arm and forced him to look back to him as he went to walk away.

"It's too late," he snapped, stepping right up into his face, forcing Tricky back a couple of steps, "He's gone! Let's just worry about the selvage".

The Doctor barely held back the disgusted scoff that threatened to escape him. He and his own brother had hardly been what you could call close, even when the Doctor had been a boy he had barely had anything much to do with his elder brother, who was a good few centuries older than him. But even he sincerely doubted that his brother would have been so cold when it came to his safety, or the Hatter's own sister, for that matter, who had seemed constantly jealous and apathetic, at best, towards the Hatter. But this lot…they seriously did take the whole notion of complicated sibling relationships and put a whole new spin on it.

Tricky angrily shoved Gregor away from him, "You care more about that circuit then you do about him!" he shouted, glaring furiously, not backing down in the slightest as Gregor went to take a threatening step towards him.

The Doctor quickly darted between the pair, pushing them back from one another before someone got a punch in or get any more physical, "Your concern for your brother is really touching," he said sarcastically to Gregor, not even bothering to conceal his own disgust as he glared at Gregor, glancing across to Tricky, "The android is more cut up about it then you! Now…" he fixed them both with a stern, angry look of his own, well and truly through with dealing with their antics today when he just wanted to find his wife, "Will you stop bickering and listen," he paused briefly and lowered his voice, "There is something else down there".

A low growl filled the air, echoing down the corridor to them as they fell silent, listening closely as the sound came through their comms., too. The Doctor held the sonic up and activated it, trying to get a trace on the strange growls, when the noise and a scuffing noise suddenly came from just down the hallway from them, though the shadows obscured much of the hallway ahead of them. Still, he swiftly turned the sonic in that direction, scanning.

"We've got to get out of here," Tricky said with a note of panic filling his voice. He looked urgently back to Gregor, who was peering down the corridor that the growls were coming from, "Gregor, give it back! Give it back to her…" he tried to grab for the backpack on his back, trying to forcibly pull it off him.

"What are you doing?" Gregor demanded, wrestling briefly with the other man as the Doctor focused on trying to trace the growls….though he couldn't help glancing back when he heard Tricky's back hit the far wall, Gregor holding him firmly by his front of his blast suit and looking ready to kill the other man, "You're always on the side of the machines!" he snarled in his face.

"Fellas!" the Doctor called loudly over his shoulder, checking the sonic's results as he began to back back from the hallway, "Multiple life-forms on board the TARDIS with us," he swallowed slightly, still eyeing the results warily…Clara and the Hatter was out there right now, "I am getting a massive signal".

Tricky quickly moved to stand beside the Doctor, "Where are they?" he asked hurriedly.

"Oh, you're really not going to like the answer. About two steps away. One step…"

A low, animalistic growl rumbled through the air, much closer than ever before and slowly, feeling all the hair on the back of his neck standing on end, the Doctor began to turn around. There is was, a creature coming towards them from out of the shadows of the hallway behind them, looking almost charred, but yet still vaguely humanoid, fused together by the shoulder and right arm to another of the same creatures, glowing red eyes burning as it came stumbling towards them. The three of them jumped backwards and out of the way as fast as they could, but Gregor very foolish attempted to strike at the creatures, running towards them and trying to hit them. His hit didn't even seem to make the creatures pause, but their blow was strange enough to send Gregor onto the floor of the opposite hallway, landing with a heavy thump.

"Gregor, look out!" the Doctor tried to warn him, seeing the creature going towards him again as he lifted his head from the floor, looking slightly dazed. Tricky went to try and hit the creatures, too, but the Doctor grabbed his arm and pulled him back, "Careful! Gregor!" he looked back over to the other man, his eyes widening as he saw the other man jump up from the floor and turn to take off running down the opposite hallway, "No! We have to stay together!"

Gregor kept running, not even glancing back, and the Doctor shook his head grimly and pushed Tricky back up the hallway behind him, throwing a quick look back to the creatures as they ambled towards them now.

"Come on, run!" he told the other man, shoving him back up the hallway again, when he lingered, "Tricky, run!" thankfully, Tricky listened and took off running, but the Doctor hesitated, glancing back to the creatures before him with deep, sad eyes, full of regret, "I'm sorry".

He turned on his heel and took off down the hallway after Tricky, regret and guilt heavy in his hearts.

Wow, I feel like it's been ages…probably because it has been, but honestly life for me has been pretty difficult. I had to go on my acute placement last week, which was supposed to go for four weeks…I lasted two weeks before I had to leave, just because of how horrible the hospital educators were treating me, asking me questions about my childhood and if I had mental health issues, just because I'm very reserved. It was just horrific, honestly, I've never been treated like it before, just disgusting. Even my teacher was appalled when I discussed it with her, seriously one of the hardest weeks of my life, I ended up being so stressed by it that I had to force myself to even eat because I was just so upset, I couldn't sleep, either, let alone try and focus on studying while I wasn't on the ward. It's taken me a full week of being at home just to try and get over it, honestly. However, I have got back to my writing, which I think has helped make me feel a little like myself and I got to learn a lot in those two weeks, I even got to see a blood transfusion and performed two ECG's myself! Very exciting stuff.

Anyway, so that's my bit of drama. I kind of feel bad separating the Doctor and the Hatter, since I did it in the last chapter, but…I also really wanted to have Clara and the Hatter together for this episode, so we get this. Also, I've waited for a chance to show Astra's nursery for a long while now, I kind of see it as looking as though someone had a colour wheel and just went around, throwing different shades of colours around at random, but I also feel like the Doctor and the Hatter would want to include a lot of Gallifreyan references to the room, too.

I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I've also decided that as a thank you from me, that if we manage to get to Three hundred reviews I'm going reveal a upcoming story on my Tumblr that I've been writing for years now, but have yet to actually announce yet. It's not going to be posted until after I finish my Sherlock story, but you can get a chance to find out what might be coming in the future, because I do have other stories in the works!

Guest Reviews:

Izzy (Review 1): Ooh, if the Hatter ever got to meet the actual actors and actresses that played the Doctor and the Master, I feel like she'd have a ball, honestly. I kind of feel like she'd be so fascinated to learn all about their lives and I could so see her chatting with Tennant about his kids and happily chatting about Astra with him, though she'd probably have a bit of a pause upon learning that he married the same woman who played Jenny. As for the Classic Doctor's, I kind of feel like she'd get along best with Tom Baker, I could see her just spending hours sitting with him, delighting in swapping stories, because how could Tom Baker not have a million stories to tell? I also feel like she'd be very relieved to discover that John Simm isn't at all like the Master.

Izzy (Review 2): I feel like the Doctor's age has been debated since the start of the show, personally I feel like he probably lost count before he even left Gallifrey and just started sprouting ages that seemed close to what he thought it might be. But yeah, I could so see him starting again once he got to the War Doctor, but honestly I truly don't think he has any clue how old he actually is or not.

Izzy (Review 3): I can certainly understand the appeal of the Doctor and the Master, I mean, I don't ship it myself, but I get why people would. There is a certain chemistry between them that comes from having two people from such opposing ends of a spectrum and with such a complicated, ancient history that they share. I'm just personally more of a fan of them as being enemies and friends, myself, I just feel like while they could have so much potential as an amazing match, I just couldn't see it ever working on a romantic level. I like them being on opposing sides of each other, the Master is who the Doctor could have been, likewise the Doctor is who the Master might have been, and I enjoy that without any romance, but that's just me personally.

Izzy (Review 4): In one way I'd love, love to see flashbacks to the Doctor and the Master as kids, I love any tiny reference we get to their childhoods, but…I also feel like it could take some of the mystery away if they were to do that sort of thing. If it was handled right, I think it would work really great for an episode, but I also kind of would worry that it would end up feeling like any other TV show that has those flashback episodes that then have a parallel situation playing out throughout the episode. Mind you, Doctor Who has does episodes with flashbacks before, so it could work, done in the right way.

Izzy (Review 5): Ooh, I love that theory about the Master destroying Gallifrey due to learning what the Time Lords had done to the Doctor, rather than just because he discovered that he had a distant connection to the Doctor. That makes so much more sense, a lot better than the one that the Master gave in the episode, anyway, and of course he wouldn't admit to that, either. Brilliant.

Izzy (Review 6): Yes, that does make me feel quite sad to think of how desperate the Doctor was to have Missy and the Master stand by him, how he was so dubious about Missy changing, only for when she finally went to step up and take his side for her to die before she could. It's just such a pity that the Doctor will never know, but I hope that he at least saw a shift in Missy and saw that she was trying, but I suppose he'll never know for certain and that's really quite heartbreaking.

Izzy (Review 7): Huh, I hadn't even thought about the parallel in that scene before the portal to Gallifrey, but now that you've pointed it out it does make sense. It really would be a nice throw back if that is the case by the writers. Thank you for pointing that out.

Izzy (Review 8): I think that the new Master is post John Simm's Master, while I'm not sure if Missy truly is the final Master there ever will be and that her death scene was it completely for the character, but I do feel like the new Master is before Missy. Missy makes a few references to things that actually seem to have occurred with this new Master, Paris, for instance, was referenced to by her to Twelve, so that's what I'm basing it off. But yeah, it would be nice for them to clarify the time line a little bit in the future.

Izzy (Review 9): My favourite Master would have to be…John Simm's Master, but honestly, it's so closely tied with Sacha Dhawan that I might as well just say both of them. I just love how both actors just gave it their all and really went crazy with the role, and I feel like they nailed it so brilliantly. Just the right amount of manic energy.

Izzy (Review 10): Well, I would ideally wish that Sarah Jane could come back, but since that's not exactly possible any longer and I feel like it wouldn't work with another actresses stepping into the role, I would really, really love to see Ace come back into the show. I feel like she was such a modern style companion for her time, I'd love to see how she's grown from being that street kid that was so eager to blow stuff up, plus I'd like to see how the Doctor would react to seeing her. I do rather feel as though Ace got treated pretty roughly during her time on the show, I wonder if the future Doctor feels guilty for it?

Izzy (Review 11): The reason for the Hatter and her first husband breaking up is complicated, and honestly if I was writing the series today I would have done it differently. First of all, he was a really horrible man, complete opposite of the Doctor, but a lot less charming then the Master, he also did become physically aggressive towards the Hatter a few times…something that I really wish I hadn't written, but sadly thirteen year old me did. He was just a really horrible man; they also just really didn't get along with each other, to the point that even being in the same house together was enough to cause the Hatter to feel miserable. In the end, she escaped from that environment and was happier for it, greatly so, but like I said, I wish I had done it differently. I feel like the way I wrote it originally just doesn't match the Hatter's personality…the second any man touched her without consent would have been enough for her to bring Gallifrey itself raining down upon him.

As for her relationship with her kids, that is also a whole other story. Basically, the Hatter's marriage fell apart and all of Gallifrey, naturally, knew the rumours surrounding the divorce. The Hatter's mother, however, was the one who was mainly behind the Hatter's children distancing themselves from their mother. She urged them that this sort of public scandal could possibly damage their own careers and futures, and that they should basically consider just stepping away from their own mother until it all died down…yet another reason for why the Hatter dislikes her mother so much, and of course it was only made worse when thee Hatter ran away from Gallifrey, creating an even bigger scandal that would even further distance her children from her. The kids listened to their grandmother, because they believed that she only had their best interests at heart, and the Hatter ended up losing them.

The Hatter's mother was called Lady Rosslyn, and she hated the Doctor for so many reasons…just breathing in her presence was probably good enough. There's a lot of history between the Doctor and the Hatter's parents, history that I've kind of alluded to in the past and plays a role in the story that features their childhood, and it plays a role in Rosslyn's initial dislike of the Doctor, but her hating him is mainly due to many other things, for instance him leading her daughter astray, the obvious affection they had for each other, how he encouraged the Hatter to be herself and speak up for herself. There are many more reasons, but those are just as few.

Izzy (Review 12): Sadly, no, the Hatter didn't have any alien companions, she did have several from different eras of Earth, but not alien…she came close, once, to having an alien companion, but that's a whole other story. Personally, I'd love to see a companion from another time or planet come into the show, they did it before, why not do it again? I mean, I understand why they always have a companion from our century on board, but I'd love to have a companion from the Victorian age or something tagging along. Just look at how successful Jaime was as a companion. I'd love to see that again.

Izzy (Review 13): The Master is…a very difficult man, and in a lot of ways I feel like he's kind of his own worse enemy. He's always come off as being that super possessive friend, also like that spoilt rich kid who always got his way and was never told 'no'. I kind of think of him like that whenever I write him, and I feel like that comes through regarding his relationship with the Hatter and the Doctor. He just couldn't handle what he viewed as being a rejection, which of course wasn't anything of the sort, so he started acting out…just in a really big way.

Izzy (14): Ooh, I like that theory, I kind of hope it turns out that Tecteun is the Other, that way we then have that nice little tie back to those theories about the Doctor being the Other. That would be great.

Izzy (15): Yes! She would so punch Tecteun if they ever met, I could just see the Doctor actually having to physically restrain her. There is nothing worse in the Universe to her then someone who hurts a child, let alone that someone being the kids own parent, and then on top of that it was also the Doctor! No where would be safe for Tecteun.

Izzy (16): Yep, I knew all about the Doctor's big bro from ages ago, before I even started writing, actually. I've made several references to Irving before and I was very happy to get the chance to do so again for this chapter, since it fitted in nicely.

Izzy (17): Well, the Master once believed that he could have whatever he wanted if he had the Hatter by his side for different reasons. One reason was because he could see how intelligent she was, how she looked at things slightly differently from others, and how they gave her a slight edge on others at times. He admired that about her. Secondly, she came from a very powerful family with very strong ties that ran very deep in Gallifrey society, that allowed her a certain edge in regards to having people respect her and listen to her. Thirdly, she was the Gifted One, which ties back into the other two I've just mentioned. And fourthly, she was, seemingly, someone he felt that he could manipulate easily…of course, he was completely wrong about that and proven so when he tried it, but he truly was arrogant enough to think that he would be able to seduce her into helping him and doing his bidding. I'm kind of happy it's a bit confusing, it's not meant to make a lot of sense, this was the Master's delusion, after all :)

Izzy (18): She might get her TARDIS back one day…or she might not. I've got an idea in mind for it, but things might change. We shall see :)

Izzy (19): Ooh, I do like the idea of one of the Hatter's first children managing to survive the Time War, I really do. I think I did toy with that idea in the past, years ago, but I sadly just couldn't see how I could make it work without feeling a little like a soap opera reveal. But not all of the Hatter's lost children truly did die, did they? So that's food for thought right there…

Izzy (20): If the Hatter had been there during the whole Children of Earth saga it would have gone down differently…I'm just not sure how I would do it. I haven't seen the episodes in ages now and I don't have access to them right now to even try and watch them, so I very sadly feel like I can't answer this question as well as I wish. I'm sorry. But yeah, basically, Jack wouldn't have sacrificed his grandson, the Hatter and the Doctor would have found another means, probably one of themselves, in order to do it, but like I said I feel like I don't have a very clear memory of the events.

Izzy (21): I'd be delighted if we got to see Susan back on our screens, original actresses and all. I'd love it so much; I hope we see that in the 60th anniversary, even if it's just a small glimpse of something. I love Susan; just thinking about her character makes me feel nostalgic.

Izzy (22): I could see the Third Doctor and Delgado Master being a thing, but more than likely because it is due to their good friendship. But yeah, I can see what you mean.

Izzy (23): I didn't really like Clara that much at first, mind you I was pretty broken hearted over the Ponds, so that easily could have something to do with it. But I came too really like her when she got with Danny, I really loved them together. I kind of feel like it bothered me a little how they sort of had this flirty thing going on between the Eleventh Doctor and Clara, and I felt like they were pushing that angle, when I just didn't see it or feel it.

Guest: There has been a bit of a debate going on, yeah. Aww, thank you so much, I'm delighted you like it so much, I've tried really hard to have as many references to Classic Who as I possibly can. Trust me, I know all about the typos, I desperately want to go back and really go through all of those early stories and fix them up and polish them up a bit, I just wish I had the time. I also think the Timeless Child plot could work, just with a different writer, but I do think that the way that they did it with the episode with Ruth and Jack was really great, not perfect, it could do with a few little details smothered out, but I did think it was very entertaining and I was certainly on the edge of my seat the whole episode. Don't apologise for rambling, you're bringing up everything that I've thought, too, it's a bit of relief to know that I'm not the only one. Yes, exactly, how does River work with the whole Timeless Child plot? These pesky plot holes are just very annoying.