Chapter 16 - Noticed Truths

The Doctor took a deep breath before speaking, he knew he couldn't avoid this for very long, besides, his friend had a right to know that everything he knew was lost.

"There was a war. The Last Great Time War between the Daleks and the Timelords that lasted over 400 years. On the last day of the war, the Daleks had ten million battle ships, they took Arcadia, and the whole war was time-locked. Everything was destroyed." the Doctor looked dejectedly into the dregs of his tea, "Everything is gone Lock, Gallifrey, the Timelords, everyone." Then he looked up and met his friend's eyes, they were unreadable as he processed this new information. Lock moved suddenly, snatching the now empty mugs from the two other men and taking them into the kitchen when they were unceremoniously dumped into the sink. He supported his weight with both of his arms on the front of the sink and bowed his head low. Back in the living room John and the Doctor exchanged a look.

"Everything?" John asked in disbelief, the Doctor nodded solemnly.

"The whole planet was destroyed, we're the only ones left John." The Doctor gave him a sad smile moving inside the TARDIS, "I'll give him a minuet." John got the feeling the Locksmith wasn't the only one who needed it; he moved into the kitchen, Lock was running one had through his dark curls. John put an arm around his friend, squeezing his shoulder gently in comfort, the hand that had been in his hair joined it, replying with a thankful pat. He sighed deeply.

"He's been by himself John, all this time." He said quietly, still looking at the dirty mugs in the sink; he finally looked up at his friend and gave a small laugh that contained no humour. "I knew things were going to change, but I wasn't expecting this." He shook his head "Playing with time has its consequences, I suppose there is nothing I can do now." He turned from the sink to lean his back against the countertop, taking a deep breath. "I was hoping I could somehow be both men and not have to choose one over the other like the Doctor had said, not have to lose my life here, not when it just got so good."

He thought for a moment before letting out a low laugh, "I bet Mycroft knew about all this somehow, if not I can't wait to see his face." John laughed with him and rolled his eyes.

Lock turned, heading back into the living room and into the TARDIS; the Doctor stood at the console with a sombre expression. Walking up to alien best friend he saw tears stuck in his eyes, he pulled him into an all-enveloping hug.

"You're not on your own anymore Doc. It'll be alright." He said quietly.

"800 years, could've used you in more than a few situations I got into." The Doctor said with a smile, leaving the hug.

"I don't doubt it. It'll be like old times, I get you out of whatever mess you've gotten yourself into, then when that invariably goes wrong, John will just have to get us both out of trouble."

"Alternatively… If you can't beat them join them?" John chipped in, entering the TARDIS. They all laughed, just as a gentle dinging started coming from the monitor next to the two Timelords. Lock moved around to the screen, before sighing and letting out a soft chuckle, "One guess each, where did my TARDIS hide itself and what as? Doc?"

"Scotland Yard as a deerstalker?" the Doctor guessed, Lock gave him a glare.

"No. John?" he looked over to John who had joined them around the console.

"Well it needed to fit in with the flat, and with you so…" he thought for a moment, before sighing with a chuckle "It's the skull isn't it."

"Ding ding, and Doctor Watson takes round one!" he laughed, "Still on the mantle?"

"Should be."

"Good it's been safe there all these years, I don't see the harm in leaving it there. It's given me enough trouble for the moment, you think you can fix it so its workable Doc?"

"Don't see why not." Lock nodded in approval.

"Good. In that case, I'm starving. Chinese?" he asked John as they walked back out of the TARDIS "I still have a lot of questions. Time to spare for an old pal Doctor?"

"Well…" he made a mock debating face, "I suppose I can fit you in." He laughed as he followed them out.

"Sherlock Holmes! What is that ruddy great thing doing on my carpet!?" Mrs Hudson's stern motherly voice came from the doorway. The Doctor shot an expression to John that said "oops!"

"Sorry Mrs Hudson, it's my friend's time machine. It could be worse, he could have made it look like anything, and quite honestly, this is best case scenario seeing as you don't like my skull either." Lock replied, trying to keep a smile off his face, the Doctor waved cheerily.

"What's he been taking then?" she asked John, who just smiled and shook his head, the Doctor shot him a quizzical glance towards his friend who rolled his eyes in reply.

"Goodbye Mrs Hudson, if you don't want to join us for a takeaway that is." He added. She simply rolled her eyes muttering something about those Holmes boys and went back down to her flat. Lock slumped back into his arm chair picking up his phone.

"Nǐ hǎo Angúo, the usual order for 221B please … yes … of course she's stealing from the till, just check her sock drawer..."

"Sherlock!?" John gave him an exasperated look and taking the phone and putting it up to his ear, before withdrawing it quickly as the man on the other end was shouting, Lock rolled his eyes. "Mr Zhāng… he didn't… I … ok." He took the phone away from his ear again and handed the phone back to Lock. "Chinese if off the table then."

"There is a great restaurant on Agora in Centraxis system in the year 2203, or at least there was when I was there." The Doctor mused aloud, "Not very interesting for a first outing though, what about Delphon? The people there only communicate with their eyebrows." He said raising his own eyebrows up and down, "Oh oh oh, or Deva Loka, the touristy bits are perfect for a beginner!"

"A beginner?" John asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, have you been to Deva Loka before?" the Doctor stopped what had become an excitable bounce on his heels, looking at John with amusement.

"Wait, you want me to come with you to a different planet?" John asked in surprize.

"Of course!" he replied cheerily.

"What would I do without my blogger?" Lock grinned standing, "Deva Loka then?"

"Let's go! Shouldn't leave my "Ruddy great box" on the carpet anyway." They all piled back into the TARDIS.

"I'm pretty much a beginner as well John, we haven't all had 800 years to travel the universe causing trouble." He and the Doctor started flipping switches and turning dials, John resumed his perch on the console seat.

"No, you just cause trouble in London instead." John smirked at his friend, who shrugged, grinning mischievously.

"Anyway, I don't cause trouble, it finds me and then I have to sort things out." The Doctor said defensively, Lock raised his eyebrows. "Ah, I see you speak the language of Delphon."

"You are a magnet for trouble, you always have been." Lock argued.

"Oh, I thought you said" the Doctor raised his eyebrows in various complex ways, "I'm flattered really." He said sticking his tongue out childishly before noting John very perplexed expression.

"Wait, he just said "You're the most handsome Timelord ever", but… you were just moving your eyebrows, how did I understand that?" Lock chuckled.

"The TARDIS is translating for you, she has a telepathic field that gets inside your brain and translates."

"Doesn't work if I'm unconscious apparently, I'm part of the system." the Doctor chimed in.

"Interesting." Lock mused.

"I've got a lot to get used to." John muttered, Lock came to sit next to his friend on the console's seat.

"Tell us about Deva Loka, Doc."

"Oh, it's beautiful, as close to paradise as you'll ever get. It's a tropical jungle planet, the people are called Kinda and they speak telepathically, the seas are super warm and there are no big scary predators to worry about."

"Sounds ideal, why do I get the feeling it's never going to be that simple?" John said sceptically, Lock gave him an approving smile.

"He's a quick learner, that'll come in handy." the Doctor laughed.

"We're also well versed in running." Lock chuckled.

"An essential for a time traveller." The Doctor agreed, flicking a few more controls of the gently rocking TARDIS, he caught sight of John's expression out the corner of his eye, "You have questions."

"Too many to count Doctor." John conceded, "You gave a business card to Andrew Aiden?"

"Yeah, I wanted someone in Scotland Yard to keep an eye on Sherlock, I didn't realise he was an alien, or that we happened to be looking for the same person." The Doctor explained with an awkward laugh.

"Sherlock couldn't see anything on the paper, and it changed when I read it, how is that possible?" John queried.

"It was blank to me for some reason." Lock chimed in.

"The psychic paper isn't fool proof, it could be that it was blank to you because you were effectively an anomaly, human with bits of Timelord, confusing the psychic field. Or you were just too clever to be fooled by it anyway." He shrugged, moving around the console. "The Celestial Intervention Agency created psychic paper, the user can make it say whatever they want, comes in handy."

"And what about the memory the watch showed you? With the city being attacked?" John asked, looking at Lock.

"The attack on Acadia when we were kids? It showed you that?" the Doctor asked, his eyebrows knitting together. Lock looked at the floor and thought for a moment before answering.

"Timelords are powerful, and Gallifrey was always well protected, but that only meant it was the more powerful enemies stood any chance. I couldn't have been more than 6 or 7 years old, I had gone outside the city limits, against my parents' wishes. I knew the academy would take me for the initiation soon, so I wanted to explore outside whilst I had the chance. Then the city was attacked and I thought I thought I would lose everything right there and then. The Timelord's managed to stop the attack before it got out of hand, but many still died. That's why I worked so hard at the academy, so that I could help prevent anything like that happening again, why I had to improve my mechanics skills, and ultimately what lead me here. It's a tipping point in my timeline, that's probably why that particular memory came out of the watch, because of what it meant."

"Were your parents ok?" at John's question, Lock stood up and walked in silence around the console. John caught the eye of the Doctor who shook his head solemnly. "I'm sorry."

"Its fine, not your fault." He shrugged absently, "If I hadn't of run off I would have just died too."

"Is that why you worked on the Vortex manipulator for so long? You were thinking about going back in time?" John asked.

"I won't lie to you, it crossed my mind more than once. If I had ever gotten it working the way I wanted it to, it would have been undetectable space/time travel." He looked up and chuckled lightly at his friend's sombre expressions, "Probably for the best, seeing as I somehow skipped 800 bloody years! These things happen for a reason, I understand that now. Don't mess with time."

"You survived the Time War because of your experiment, I'm certainly not complaining." Lock walked around the console and clapped with friend on the back.

"Well, you're stuck with me now." He said with a grin.

"Tragedy." The Doctor replied sarcastically, making them all laugh lightly, as the mood in the console room improved.

Just then the TARDIS came to a stop with a contended thump. "Here we are. Lock should John do the honours?" he said, raising his hand towards the doors.

"Oh, absolutely." He raised his eyebrows at John "Go on then." He followed John down the metal ramp, giving him a reassuring smile. He opened the door and stepped outside in one swift motion, the Doctor and Lock followed him out onto one of the most beautiful jungle-side beaches the universe had to offer.

A/N - Ta daaaa! The end. Let me know what you thought, thank you so much for reading, this was a blast!

Yes. Sequel. Give me time to write a bit more and it'll be up. Follow for more, and i'll definitely work on longer chapters next time. Thank you again for your support ! SR x