Episode placement: For Blackadder - After Goodbyeee… For the Doctor - After The Christmas Invasion.

BLACKADDER AND THE DOCTOR

Part Four

Ypres, Belgium

October 30th 1917

"Bollocks!"

Captain Edmund Blackadder lay on his back in the waste that was No Man's Land. He was injured and knew he had only moments to live.

"What utter bollocks!" he declared to no one. "They can't even kill me properly. The bastards!"

He looked around him at his fallen comrades. He remembered all the moments he had ridiculed George, verbally sparred with Darling and physically harmed Baldrick and he realised that he would miss them. Despite everything he had said and done to them over the years, they were the closest things he'd ever had to friends. He had never told them that.

Soon, he thought as he looked down at his blood-stained uniform, he would be following them. That thought frightened Blackadder. He realised that this was it. The end. No more of him. Not just that, but no more Blackadders. There was no one to carry on the family.

Then he saw the strangest sight of his life. Just a few yards in front of him, a large blue box slowly materialized from nowhere, accompanied by a grinding sound. Blackadder stared at it curiously. Then a door opened in the side of the box and a man stuck his head out.

He looked quite young, had brown, messy hair, and wore a dark pinstriped suit with a large brown coat over it. When he spotted Blackadder, he ran quickly over and crouched beside him.

His eyes showed that he was concerned with Blackadder's injuries, but his voice did not betray it. "Ah, Captain Edmund Blackadder, I presume?" He spoke with a Cockney accent.

"Who… Who are you?" croaked Blackadder.

"Shhh. Try not to speak, Captain. You've lost a lot of blood. I'm called the Doctor, by the way."

"I'm not going to make it, am I?"

The Doctor looked Blackadder in the eye and shook his head heavily.

Blackadder sighed. "Oh well. I suppose it's time to make my peace with God and repent for all my sins… Unfortunately, I enjoyed them far too much."

The Doctor laughed.

"My only regret," he continued, "is that I never had any children. No one to carry on the Blackadder legacy."

"I've got good news for you," said the Doctor. He reached into his coat and produced an envelope. "This is for you, but unfortunately, you went over the top before it could be delivered." He handed it to Blackadder. It was addressed to him and he opened it. He read the letter inside.

Dearest Edmund,

I doubt that you will remember me for it was so long ago that we met. My name is Leia and I had just moved to England from Hungary when we met in August of 1914. I have since settled in very well, though some aspects of British culture still confuse me. The Post Office alone is baffling.

When we met, I was a young girl of 19 and I believed you when you told me you were leaving for the War the next day. Unfortunately for you,your lie was founded in fact.Since then, the years have matured me. The years and motherhood. You see, Edmund, our brief union left me with-child. You have a son, Edmund. My mother insisted that we give him away, being born out of wedlock, but I simply could not. Now that he is 3 years old, she tells me that she is glad for my decision all the time. His name is Edmund, after his father. I have decided that when he is old enough I will tell him all about you.

I don't know how you will react to this news, but if you could respond I would be much obliged. I just could not keep it a secret much longer. I only hope that you survive this terrible War and return home to us safely.

Yours with love,

Leia.

Blackadder lowered the letter. "She tells him all about you, y'know." said the Doctor. "And, at the age of eighteen, he runs away from home and takes your surname. So you see, Edmund, you are not the last of the Blackadders. You are integral to human history. There's always been a Blackadder. You family lives on for a very long time."

Blackadder looked up at the stranger. "Who are you?" he asked for the second time.

The Doctor grinned. "Just an old friend of the family."