Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, or any of its character, I only own my OC Time Lady, the Hatter.

This if the fourth instalment of the series, so I suggest that if you are just finding this one now that you go back and read the first three instalments first. Any questions, feel free to PM or ask, and I'll be more than happy to answer them…if I can.

Now, the Hatter is in her Tenth regeneration. She has straight blonde hair with a side fringe, baby blue eyes, stands around 5'9 in height, has quite pale skin, high cheek bones, and has a Scottish accent.

And she usually always wears on a day to day bases a plain white button up shirt, military green leather trousers that she has tucked into a pair of brown, lace up riding boots with a small heel that come to just below her knees, a military style green brass button up waistcoat, a rainbow bowtie, and matching rainbow braces, not to mention her military green Pork-Pie hat. She also wears a silver pendent with Gallifreyan markings on it at all times and an engagement ring with a single rounded White-Point Star diamond sitting in the middle of the band that's also covered all around with smaller, White-Point Stars.

Anyway, on with the story :)

The Next Doctor, Part 1.

The Hatter sighed…or as much as she could sigh in her current outfit that the Doctor had somehow managed to talk her into wearing. She blamed it on the puppy dog eyes he gave her, something that she would never admit to actually having any effect on her, and the promise of wearing a top hat for their wedding, something she had been trying to get him to agree to for months without too much successes.

She titled her head as she looked at her reflection in the mirror and had to stop herself from storming out of the room and smacking the back of the Doctor's head for getting her to agree, but she knew that it would be no use. He would simply whine at her and she would end up smacking him again. In any case, he would still end up whining, and he could whine worse than a three year old.

The outfit he had managed to talk her into wearing was a Victorian style dress with a dark purple full skirt that went all the way to the floor, over the top of half a dozen annoying, frilly petticoats that she was forced to wear, and little ruffles going around the bottom of it, a lavender coloured bodice with long sleeves, high neck, and matching purple buttons that went up the front of it. Her hair was up in a Victorian style bun, parted down the middle with a braid going around the crown of her head while little curls hung around the side of her face.

She had decided to keep her usual boots, since they already matched the time period as it was, and they were mostly covered up by the skirts, and…she knew it was cheating, but she honestly couldn't care less, she had kept her usual trousers on, just so that if they ended up climbing ladders or tripping over (both being quite likely), she wouldn't have to worry about showing off everything. She knew that she should have been wearing a pair of stockings, but they really wouldn't have helped save her from embarrassment. Her engagement ring and pendent were staying, of course, even though neither suited the period, and she had replaced her hat with a dark purple bonnet with a feather on it, and long silk ribbons to tie under her chin, and to top it all off, a pair of rounded, silver hanging earrings.

And she felt ridicules just looking at her reflection with so much fabric surrounding her legs that she knew from past experience was going to make things hard to run, and the tight corset that was currently reducing her already small waist a good couple of inches less, making it almost feel as if she was being squizzed by a large snake…not a very pleasant thought, she realised.

There was just so much fabric and bits of frilly things that she personally thought that she probably resembled a great, big purple cupcake. She was so going to get the Doctor back for this, she didn't quite know how she was going to do that yet, maybe she would get Jack to take him on that pre-wedding party thing that she knew that the Doctor would hate, since she could already imagine the type of clubs they would end up in.

The Doctor almost had a small coughing fit when he accidently walked inside her bedroom only last week when she was wearing a bathrobe and nothing else. The bathrobe had been completely closed and went down to her knees and he still almost scrambled out of the room as if he had been told he was going to live with the Daleks for a month, blushing a rather amusing but unpleasant red colour as he did so.

Honestly, she had no idea what he was going to do when they got married and started sharing a bedroom…or the wedding night. Oh, dear, now she was blushing. Still, she guessed that he…well, both of them would get used to such things, at the moment it was still just a little awkward and new for them, since they had been friends for so many years, it wasn't as if they would be able to simply get over old habits.

"Hatter?" the Doctor's voice called through the closed door, knocking a couple of times, "Have you finished yet?" he asked, a touch of a whine entering his voice.

The Time Lady rolled her eyes, feeling tempted to start lecturing him on just how long it took to put an outfit like this one on, but knew that he wouldn't understand it, not really. He may have been a Time Lord with a very good understanding of the workings of the Universe, on time travel, and many number of other things that most wouldn't have a clue about at all, but he was still such a man. He probably wouldn't even be able to tell her the difference between a petticoat and a slip. Even she hated to admit that she knew what the difference was, and she was a woman…well, Time Lady.

"Yes, coming," she shook her head and walked over to the door, throwing it open to find the Doctor leaning against the opposite wall, his hands stuck in his pockets. He hadn't bothered to change out of his usual brown suit, and she only just stopped herself from making a comment about it, "Happy?" she asked, making sure that he could hear the annoyance in her tone as she made a sweeping gesture down her front.

The Doctor paused, his eyes widening as he looked her up and down, his mouth falling open slightly, "You…" he coughed, a touch of pink colouring his cheeks as she raised an eyebrow at him, "…look stunning," he finally settled on.

"If I was a cupcake for a six year old girl's birthday party, perhaps," the Hatter replied, rolling her eyes slightly, but she couldn't help a smile spreading across her face.

"You think you look like a cupcake?" he blinked at her before grinning broadly at her, "Well, good thing I like cupcakes," he grabbed her hand, lifting it up and placing a kiss on it before he was off, gently pulling her along with him down the hallway.

"Sweetheart, are you going to tell me exactly what we're doing today?" she asked curiously as they reached the console room and stopped at the doors, his hand on the door handle as he glanced back at her, his brown eyes sparkling with excitement.

"What's wrong, don't you trust me?"

"With your past history of solo driving and trying to surprise me, I would be a fool not to feel a little nervous. Wasn't the last time you did that we ended up in Pompeii?"

The Doctor sniffed, pretending to look offended, "Volcano day's not going to happen this time," he informed her, sounding so sure of himself that she almost believe him. Almost, "Anyway, come on!" he grinned broadly again, throwing open the doors, linking his arm through hers, putting on an almost arrogant tone, "Shall we, my Dame Hatter?"

Unable to stop herself, the Hatter smiled and gave him a mock curtsey, which actually worked well with the outfit, "Oh, my Lord Doctor, how could I refuse?" she pretended to gasp, making her voice higher the normal.

They stepped outside and found themselves seeming to have parked under a stone bridge with straw and snow that had blown in from both sides of the small tunnel that they were in scattered on the ground, snow still clearly falling outside. Real, proper snow, and as the Hatter caught sight of it, her eyes lit up, and her smile turned into a full blown grin as she turned to the Doctor and hugged him tightly.

"Oh, this is brilliant!" she laughed, delighted as he grinned broadly back at her, slowly pulling apart as they looked back out at the snow.

"Do you forgive me for the dress?" he asked hopefully.

She paused and cast him a long, thoughtful look, "Hmm…almost…" she said after a moment, "But there are quite a number of petticoats under this skirt…"

"So, not even real snow can make up for petticoats?"

"Doctor, I'm currently wearing six very frilly petticoats under this skirt just so that this bloody thing looks so full. Real snow only makes up for two of them, possibly only one if I end up tripping, which I probably will".

"Good thing I didn't take you to the 18th century France," the Doctor sighed, thinking about how upset she would have been having to wear one of those even bigger and wider skirts that most woman had to turn sideways just to walk through a door.

The Hatter's eyes widen with horror at the very idea as she looked at him sharply, "Don't even talk about it!" she hissed at him, her hand going to rest on her hip, wincing at the very thought of wearing one of those dresses…again. It was bad enough that one time she wore one, she would not do it again, "I almost tripped down a marble staircase at a French ball and meet my Fifth regeneration a couple of years early, " she told him, "If Michael hadn't grabbed my arm and yanked me back…" she trailed off, shuddering.

The Doctor put his arm around her, pulling her closer to his side…or as close as the skirt would allow. He really was starting to regret that dress now, "Remind me to shake his hand out our wedding," he remarked seriously as he began to led her out of the tunnel and into falling snow, both breaking into grins again as they looked around.

It was a busy market street that they had managed to stumble across, people wondering around everywhere, woman wearing similar dresses to the Time Lady's as they looked at the items that the market stalls had out for offer, along with men in Victorian dress, and even children running around. There also seemed to be quite a bit of garlands and ribbons decorating the place.

"Good afternoon," a policemen in a top hat greeted them as they passed by, tapping his hat.

"Afternoon to you too!" the Hatter smiled back at him as they continued making their way through the market place, looking around at all the stalls as they passed.

"What do you think?" the Doctor asked, looking at her taking in everything with a huge smile.

"It's wonderful, sweetheart," she replied, looking as if she was about to start jumping up and down on the spot, but was only just containing herself, "It's beautiful. I always tend to forget that about the Victorian era and just think about all the industrial aspects of it, about how the poor children were forced into workhouses, and about the class system divided between the wealthy and the poor, but there was good parts of it," she smiled as she looked up at him.

"Ah, but you still have that reformist spark in your eyes," he commented, smiling fondly.

"Of course. Just because I may be able to see past the bad, doesn't mean that I forget all the injustice that is still going on in this time".

"No wonder you and I make such a good pair," the Doctor laughed as they continued on their way, pausing to listen to a group of carollers.

"Oh, tidings of comfort and joy," they sang together, "Comfort and joy. Oh, tidings…"

The Doctor smiled before he glanced over at a market stall, "You there, boy," he called to a boy with curly brown hair as they approached him, "What day is it?"

"Christmas Eve, sir," he replied.

"What year?"

"You thick or something?" the boy frowned at him.

"Oi!" the Doctor raised his eyebrows at him as the Hatter chocked back a laugh, looking highly amused.

"You're quite cheeky, aren't you?" the Time Lady smiled at the boy, looking almost approving as she leaned closer to towards him, giving him a wink, "That's a good thing, never lose that cheekiness or life will be awfully boring, yes?"

"Ah, Hatter, I don't think that's what adults are supposed to say," the Doctor whispered in her ear as she straightened.

"Well, good thing that I'm still a child trapped inside an adult body, then," the Hatter replied, completely serious.

"Anyway," he cleared his throat, shaking his head as he turned back to the boy, "The year?"

The boy sighed, "The year of our Lord 1851, sir".

"Right," he nodded, turning away from the boy, "Nice year. Bit dull".

"Good thing we're here, then," the Hatter grinned at him, making him grin back in return.

"Doctor!" suddenly, a woman's voice shouted from somewhere, making them look around in surprise, trying to see were the voice came from, "Doctor!"

"Who, me?" the Doctor asked aloud, raising his eyebrows as he and the Hatter exchanged a look.

"Goodness, it would seem that your reputation has grown to an even larger scale than ever before," the Time Lady commented, pretending to sigh, "Well, that's certainly not going to help your already massive ego," she shook her head, grabbing his hand, "Come on!"

They turned and ran off in the direction of the shout, the Time Lady muttering curses under her breath as she grasped a handful of her skirt to make it easier to run. They turned a corner into an alley were a young, dark skinned woman in a red dress with a white blouse backing away from a metal door, looking rather nervous as something banged against it from the inside.

"Doctor!" she shouted again, her voice urgent.

"Don't worry, don't worry!" the Doctor told the woman as they reached her, the Hatter grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the way of the door, "Stand back! What have we got here? Ooh," a loud growling sound meet them from behind the doors as more banging continued, "Okay, we've got this," he glanced back at the woman, "Whatever's behind that door, I think you should get out of here".

"Yes, whatever it is certainly doesn't seem to be in a very good mood," the Hatter agreed, eyeing the shaking doors with a frown.

"Doctor!" the woman ignored them both, shouting again, looking back towards the way they had come.

"No, no," the Doctor frowned, "I'm standing right here," he gave her a wave, "Hello".

"Don't be stupid," the woman glared at him, looking at him as if he was insane as the Hatter blinked, trying to work out exactly what was going on, "Who are you?" she demanded.

"I'm the Doctor," he replied.

"Doctor who?"

"Just…the Doctor".

"Well, there can't be two of ya," the woman rolled her eyes, looking annoyed when a man suddenly appeared, running towards them, dressed in Victorian clothing, "Where the hell have you been?" she shouted at him.

"Right, then," the man called as he reached them, the Time Lords blinked, looking at him in confusion, "Don't worry! Stand back," he lightly moved the Doctor and the Hatter out of the way, focusing on the doors, "What have we got here, then?"

"Ah…is anyone else feeling confused?" the Hatter asked aloud, looking around, frowning.

"I know the feeling," the Doctor nodded, eyeing the new man, "Hold on, hold on," he frowned at him, "Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor," the man replied proudly, turning to them as both Time Lords eyes widened in shock as they stared at him, "Simply the Doctor. The one, the only, and the best," he gave them a wink, looking at the woman, "Rosita, give me the sonic screwdriver".

"The what?" the Time Lords gaped, looking to slowly as the woman, Rosita, passed something to the…well, to the man who was apparently the Doctor. A future him, anyway.

"Now quickly, get back to the TARDIS," he continued to Rosita.

"Back to the what?" the Doctor asked, narrowing his eyes, still quite shocked.

"Stand back, sir, ma'am," the Next Doctor ignored there questions, flashing them a bright smile as he lightly moved them a step back, "This is a job for a Time Lord".

"Job for a what Lord?" he asked, his eyes still wide as he leaned towards the man, when the door suddenly burst open, causing them to reel back as a black, furry creature with a Cyberman-like face appeared, growling at them, "Oh, that's different," he reached inside his pocket for his sonic.

At the same time, the Next Doctor said, "Oh, that's new".

"And this is really starting to freak me out," the Hatter remarked quietly, her eyes wide as she looked back and forth between the two men before she shook herself and focused on the creature, titling her head curiously at it, "Oh, how interesting".

Both men…well, Time Lords pointed there screwdrivers at the creature, "Allons-y!" they both called in unison, glancing at each other sideways when they realised what they had done.

"I've been hunting this beast for a good fortnight," the New Doctor informed them, trying to move the Doctor out of the way, "Now step back, sir".

The creature suddenly leaped over them and clung onto the wall of the building behind them as they all ducked.

"It's definitely a Cybermen conversion," the Hatter commented as she straightened, taking a step closer towards the building, staring up at the creature, "A rather primitive one, probably the brain of a cat or dog," she frowned, looking rather sad, "Poor things".

"Well, talking's all very well," the New Doctor glanced at her, seeming surprised by her apparent knowledge, "Rosita?"

"I'm ready," the woman replied, jogging back to his side with a large coil of thick, strong looking rope in her hands, handing it to him.

The man took the rope, grinning, "Now, watch and learn!" he said as he began swinging the end of the rope around his head like a lasso, making the Doctor lean further away, ducking slightly to avoid being hit. With a cry, he let go of the end and it caught around the creatures head, "Excellent," he remarked happily, "Now then, let's pull this timorous beastie down to Earth".

He tugged at the rope, wrapping it around his arm to get a better, stronger grip on it when the creature suddenly began climbing up the wall of the building, pulling him along with it as if he weighed nothing.

"Oh, dear," the Hatter sighed, shaking her head, "Well, it's nice to see that you're still an idiot," she glanced at her Doctor beside her.

"Or not," the Doctor remarked, staring up at him, silently agreeing with the Time Lady.

"I might be in a little trouble," the New Doctor called back to them as he was continued to be dragged.

"Nothing ever changes," the Time Lady rolled her eyes slightly, looking more fond then anything.

The Doctor sighed and stepped forward, "I've got you!" he called up to him, grabbing hold of the rope…only to end up being dragged right up the building, too.

"You idiots!" Rosita shouted after them, annoyed.

"You took the words right out of my mouth," the Hatter told the other woman, sounding amused as she looked back up at the two men being dragged up the side of the building.

"Perhaps you could pull?" the New Doctor suggested down to the Doctor.

"I am pulling!" the Doctor replied, glancing back down at the ground where he could see the Hatter, "In this position, I couldn't not pull, could I?"

The creature reached a window at the top of the building and leaped through, disappearing from sight. The Hatter winced as she suddenly realised what was probably going to happen now and began looking around, when she caught sight of an axe that someone had left behind. She grinned as she ran over to it, grabbing hold of it, and ran as fast as she could in her dress, one hand grasping a handful of fabric so she wouldn't trip…too much, at least, as she ran up a set of stairs that she noticed run into the building, Rosita right on her heels.

"Then I suggest that you let go, sir," the New Doctor called back down to the Doctor as they simply hung there.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight, Doctor," the Doctor told him, frowning, "Don't you recognise me? And what about the Hatter? You've got to recognise her…"

"No, should I?" the man replied, looking back down at him, "Have we met? This is hardly the right time for me to go through my social calendar…argh!"

The creature suddenly began moving again, pulling the two man along with it, racing across the warehouse floor, causing them to cry out in surprise and pain, dust billowing up around them.

"It's gonna jump!" the Doctor shouted, spotting the creature running towards an open window ahead of them, his eyes wide.

The Hatter darted into the room, ignoring the uncomfortable way her corset was digging into her, cursing quite violently in Gallifreyan that would have earned her a startled look from the Doctor as she tripped over the edge of her blasted skirt, almost sending herself crashing face first into the floor before she managed to right herself, still grasping tightly to the axe as she forced herself to run faster.

"We're gonna fall!" the New Doctor cried.

And just at the last moment, the Hatter reached the window and swung the axe, cutting the rope in half. Both Doctor's stumbled at the sudden stop, tumbling over ungracefully, groaning and wincing as the Hatter, panting for breath, dropped the axe and leant heavily against the wall.

"Oh, I am going to bloody kill you, Doctor," she gasped painfully, covering her face with her hands, "And I'm going to do it with my bear hands. It would be so, so easy to just give you a little shove into a passing black hole, or…or 'accidently' slip something into you tea…"

The Doctor and the Next Doctor, still groaning and wincing, began climbing slowly back to their feet, grabbing painfully at their wrists and back. They looked at each other and broke into mad laughter, hugging each other before the Doctor let him go and walked over to the Hatter, flashing her a smile, "Still planning my murder?" he asked teasingly.

She shot him a dark look, regaining the ability to be able to breath properly again, "You're lucky I got here save you two idiots lives in the first place," she informed him, annoyed as she smacked his arm, causing him to wince, "This damn dress kept getting in the way and I'm lucky that I'm a Time Lady, or else I probably would have feinted from lack of oxygen because of this corset!"

"I'm sorry," the Doctor tried soothing her temper, giving her a small smile, "And we're both very grateful for saving us. Thank you, my dear".

"You had better be, sweetheart," she muttered, casting him one final dark look.

….

As they headed back outside the stairs, Rosita glared angrily at both Doctors, "Well, I'm glad you think it's so funny," she snapped at them as they continued chuckling, "You're mad! Both of you. You could've got killed!"

"But evidently we did not," the New Doctor replied calmly, still looking amused as they reached the bottom of the stairs, "Oh, I should introduce Rosita," he seemed to remember suddenly that he hadn't properly introduced them to her as the woman rolled her eyes, folding her arms across her chest, "My faithful companion," he smiled, glancing at them, "Always telling me off".

"Well, they do, don't they?" the Doctor grinned, earning a raised eyebrow look from the woman, "Rosita," he repeated, nodding, "Good name. Hello, Rosita," he wrapped an arm around the Hatter, "This is my fiancé, the H…"

"Hattie," the Hatter quickly corrected him, shooting him a look before she flashed Rosita and the Next Doctor a friendly smile, "But most call me the Hatter".

"The Hatter?" the Next Doctor repeated, frowning slightly, eyeing her, "Strange, I could have sworn that I once knew someone who went by such a name," he remarked, the Time Lords exchanged looks, before he seemed to shake himself and smiled at her, "A pleasure to meet you, Miss Hattie".

"Please, just Hattie," she told him, hating having to use formalities.

"Now I'll have to go and dismantle the traps," Rosita huffed at the Next Doctor, shaking her head as the Time Lords watched on in amusement, "All that for nothing. And we've only got twenty minutes till the funeral, don't forget," the Time Lords raised a curious eyebrow as she turned and began walking away, calling back, "Then back to the TARDIS, right?"

"Funeral?" the Doctor asked, turning to the Next Doctor.

"Oh, long story," the other man replied, trying to wave them off as he rubbed his shoulder, "Not my own, not yet," he grimaced as he bent, stretching, "Ooh, I'm not as young as I was".

"Well, not as young as you were when you were me".

The other man frowned, glancing up at him, "When I was who?"

The Doctor glanced at the Hatter, frowning, "You really don't recognise me?" he asked, his smile fading, "Not even the Hatter?"

"Not at all," he shook his head, a frown crossing his face, "And the Hatter…well, as I said, I thought the name sounds vaguely familiar," he shrugged.

"But you're the Doctor," the Doctor said slowly, still frowning as he looked him up and down, feeling quite worried that he didn't seem to remember who the Hatter was. She had played a massive part of his life, he couldn't imagine what not having her in his life would be like, so it was extremely alarming to think that his future self might not know her. And if he didn't know her, then were was she? "The Next Doctor," he continued, "Or the next but one. A future Doctor, anyway…"

"Oh," the man opened his mouth.

"No, no!" the Doctor jumped back from him quickly, holding up a hand, "Don't tell me how it happened. Although…" he paused, frowning, "…I hope I didn't just trip over a brick. That'd be embarrassing," the Hatter coughed, struggling to hold back a laugh, "Then again, painless. Worse ways to go," he titled his head, "Depends on the brick".

"You're gabbling, sir," the Next Doctor remarked, eyeing him, "Now might I ask, who are you both, exactly?"

"Oh, this Is John," the Hatter smiled brightly, nodding at the Doctor, "John Smith," she exchanged a quick look with her Doctor before glancing at the other man, "We have heard quite a bit about you, Doctor," she told him.

"Bit of a legend, if I may say so myself," the Doctor added, unable to help himself.

"And there goes the ego again," the Time Lady muttered under her breath, nudging his side.

The man smiled at them, "Modesty forbids me to agree with you, sir," he nodded, "But yes, yes I am".

The Hatter raised her eyebrows at him, having to bite her bottom lip to stop herself making a comment about how this new him actually seemed to have grown modest, which was rather startling, "But…a legend who appears to have lost a great number of memories," she titled her head, watching him closely.

He looked at her sharply, "How do you know that?"

"You've forgotten me," the Doctor replied, eyeing him just as closely as the Time Lady, "And you've forgotten the Hatter, which is…very, very wrong".

The Next Doctor took a deep breath, "Great swathes of my life have been stolen away," he told them grimly, "When I turn my mind to the past…there's nothing".

"How far back does this go, exactly?" the Hatter asked, sounding concerned.

"Since the Cybermen. Masters of that hellish wall-scuttler and old enemies of mine, now at work in London town," he stepped closer to them, looking very serious, "You won't believe this, Mister Smith, Miss Hattie, but they are creatures from another world".

"Really?" the Doctor raised his eyebrows, pretending to be surprise and doing a very poor job at it as the Hatter rolled her eyes at him, "Wow…"

"It's said they fell onto London," he continued, eyeing them seriously, "Out of the sky in a blaze of light. And they found me…" he trailed off, looking down as if he was remembering, "Something was taken. And something was lost," the Doctor looked sharply at the Hatter, thinking that it was her, but she shook her head slightly, her eyes focused on the other man's face, "What was I like, in the past?" he asked hopefully, looking up at them.

The Doctor hesitated, exchanging a look with the Time Lady, "I don't think we should say," he told him after a moment, "Sorry. Got to be careful with memory loss. One wrong word…"

"It's strange, though," he commented, eyeing them almost suspiciously, "I talk of Cybermen from the stars and you don't blink, Mister Smith, Miss Hattie".

"Ah, don't blink, remember that?" the Doctor jumped at the chance to hopefully get some recognition, maybe spark a memory of the Hatter, "Whatever you do, don't blink?" he tried, simply getting a blank look in return, "The blinking and the statues? Sally and the angles?"

"Huh, that sounds like a band name," the Hatter remarked, sounding amused.

"Huh, not bad," he nodded in agreement, turning back to the Next Doctor, "No?"

The Next Doctor simply shook his head at him, frowning, "You're a very odd man".

"Hmm, I still am," he hummed thoughtfully, eyeing him closely, pretending not to notice the laugh that the Hatter covered with a cough, "Something's wrong here…"

"Oh, the funeral!" the man suddenly exclaimed in realisation, "The funerals at two o'clock!" he gave them both a bow, "It's been a pleasure, Mister Smith, Miss Hattie," he gave them both very serious looks, pointing sternly, "Don't breathe a word of it".

"Oh, but can't we come with you?"

"It's far dangerous," he shook his head firmly, "Rest assured, I shall keep this city safe," he promised, turning to hurrying away before he turned back to them, "Oh, and…er…merry Christmas, Mister Smith, Miss Hatter".

"Merry Christmas, Doctor," they both called after him as he disappeared around the corner.

"You know, I really do hate formalities," the Hatter grumbled in annoyance, thinking about how even though she had told him otherwise, he continued to call her 'miss'.

The Doctor's mouth twitched in amusement as he glanced at her, "Oh, I know, Dame Hatter…ouch!" he yelped as she smacked the back of his head, and quickly started rubbing it, "Okay, I'm sorry!"

"Oh, I'm sure that you will be if you try something like that again," she replied, her voice pleasant, which only made her words all the more frightening. She shook her head, turning serious as she glanced towards where the Next Doctor had disappeared, "This whole thing doesn't make sense," she sighed heavily.

"He said something was taken…" he began thoughtfully, looking sideways at her, worry etched across his face.

"I know what you're thinking, sweetheart," she took his hand, giving him a comforting look, "But it wasn't me that he was speaking of".

"How can you be so sure? He doesn't even know".

"Because I know the look of a person who has recently lost a child," she replied calmly, but sadly, earning a startled look from him, "I could see it in his eyes, the grief that only the loss of a child can cause. That's was what he lost, a child, which may also be a reason behind his memory loss…"

"A child?" the Doctor repeated, swallowing thickly as he looked at her carefully, "If he's me then…then that would mean…"

The Hatter smiled at him, "That would mean that you would become a father again in the future," she nodded before sighing, frowning, "But that's only if he is actually you".

"You don't think he is, then?"

"I don't know quite what to think right now. He's got huge gaps in his memory, he doesn't even seem to remember his own childhood, otherwise he would have known me, wouldn't he? That doesn't make sense. And then there's the fact he's human…I couldn't sense anything Time Lord about him".

"I noticed that he was wearing a pocket watch," the Doctor remarked thoughtfully, "He could have hidden himself in there".

"Perhaps," the Hatter agreed, looking just as thoughtful as him, "But he wouldn't believe himself to be you," she paused, glancing at him, "Still…it's certainly worth a look".

"Shall we?" he held out his elbow towards her, raising his eyebrows, a playful spark in his eyes.

"We shall," she grinned back at him, linking her arm through his as they turned and hurried after the Next Doctor.

….

It didn't take them long before they had caught up with the Next Doctor, watching from a distance as he and Rosita observed a rather large funeral procession pass by them slowly, a number of clearly wealthy men, all dressed in black and wearing top hats, looking grim, following just behind a black hears carrying the coffin, led by four horses.

"The late Reverend Fairchild, leaving his place of residence for the last time," they could hear the Next Doctor remarked solemnly, "God rest his soul. Now," he glanced at the young woman beside him, "With the house empty, I shall effect an entrance at the rear while you go back to the TARDIS," she frowned at him, "This is hardly work for a woman".

"If I ever hear you try to tell any woman that, Doctor, I will move in with Captain Jack," the Hatter threatened the Doctor, standing beside her quietly, giving him a look to make sure he knew just how serious she was.

The Doctor blinked, looking horrified by the very idea, "Well, that just goes to prove that he can't be me," he swallowed, glancing uneasily at her, "And…you wouldn't really…"

She looked at him, completely serious, "Doctor, I promise you that I would," she told him firmly, "And I always keep my promises".

"Oh, don't mind me saving your life all those times before," Rosita scoffed at the Next Doctor, looking annoyed, "That's work for a woman, isn't it?"

"Ooh, I knew I liked her," the Time Lady commented softly, exchanging a smile with the Doctor.

The Next Doctor turned back to her, saying sternly, "The Doctor's companion does what the Doctor says…"

"You wish," she coughed, nudging his side.

"…off you go," he continued, giving her one final look.

They watched as Rosita, still looking annoyed, walked away from him as he headed off around the back of the house, and out of sight.

"Shall we, Doctor Watson?" the Hatter asked teasingly, raising an eyebrows at her Doctor, putting on a British accent for a moment.

The Doctor grinned back at her, winking, "Whatever you say, Holmes".

They hurried out of there hiding spot and around the front of the house, flashing the sonic at the door, and stepped through into a typical Victorian style entrance hall with a big, sweeping wooden staircase that lead up to the upper floors, and doors leading off to other rooms in the hall.

Not pausing to take a look at the other rooms, since that was what they were going to do, anyway, they quickly made their way through to the back of the house, locating the back door easily enough, and threw it open to find the Next Doctor bent over as he fiddled with the lock…well, the lock that was no longer there.

"Hello," the Doctor smiled happily at the other man as he jumped back up, looking startled.

"Long time no see," the Hatter laughed, her eyes twinkling with amusement as she eyed the man's face.

"How…how did you get in?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"Oh, front door," the Doctor replied, jerking his thumb back towards the way they had come, "We're good at doors," his eyes travelled down to look at what he was clutching in his hand, "Er…do you mind me asking…is that your sonic screwdriver?"

The Next Doctor laughed slightly, still seeming quite shocked, "Yes," he smiled as he held up a completely ordinary looking screwdriver, nothing sonic about it in the slightest, "I'd be lost without it".

"Indeed…" the Hatter blinked slowly, having to force the urge to laugh away as she eyed it, "But…well, it's only a screwdriver," she began carefully, "How is it sonic?"

"Well…er, it makes a noise," he answered, seeming to be a bit disappointed and a little confused himself as he tapped the end of it against the doorframe, "That's sonic, isn't it?" he shrugged before glancing over his shoulder and back to them, "Now, since we're acting like common burglars, I suggest we get out of plain view".

They stepped back, exchanging looks as he walked through the doorway, and off further into the house, "You know…I think it's getting harder and harder to tell the difference between you two," the Time Lady commented playfully as they closed the door.

"Hush you," the Doctor nudged her side playfully, a smile on his face, "You never know, he probably think's that he used to own a hat stand that he called 'Hatter,'" he shot her a sly look.

Unable to stop herself, she burst out laughing and quickly clapped a hand over her mouth to try and stop herself, "Oh, that would be such a typical thing to happen, wouldn't it?" she giggled, knowing that she should probably feel offended if that was the case, but it was simply far to amusing.

They exchanged broad, highly amused grins with each other before quickly turning serious and hurrying after the Next Doctor, finding him just as he opened the door to what appeared to be rather large room that might have been the library with the amount of bookcases that lined the walls. As they moved further into the room, looking around, the Next Doctor walked straight over to a desk and began rifling through the draws.

"This investigation of yours…what's it about?" the Doctor asked curiously, glancing around the room for sign of clues.

"It started with a murder," the other man informed them, not looking up from his search.

"Oh, good," he nodded slowly, quickly stopping at the look at the Hatter threw him and the frown that the Next Doctor shot him as he paused, "I mean bad, but whose?"

"Mr Jackson Lake," he began to explain, returning to his search, "A teacher of mathematics from Sussex. He came to London three weeks ago and died a terrible death".

"Was it the Cybermen?" the Hatter questioned, titling her head.

"It's hard to say. His body was never found. But then it started. More secret murders, then abductions…" he paused, something changing in his face as the Time Lady immediately focused intently on him, "Children…stolen away in silence".

"So whose house is this?" the Doctor asked, glancing around again.

"The latest murder," he replied, moving away to flick through a couple of books, "The Reverend Aubrey Fairchild, found with burns to his forehead," he looked up at them, "Like some advance form of electrocution".

"Dear me," the Hatter winced sympathetically, "Not the most pleasant way to die, still…it could have been worse, I suppose".

"Who was he?" the Doctor frowned, "Was he important?"

The Next Doctor paused and looked at them again, his eyes narrowed slightly, "You ask a lot of questions".

The Time Lady smiled at him, nudging her Doctor's side, "That's because we're your companions," she replied, "And a companion who doesn't ask questions is not doing their job right".

That seemed to do the trick as he lowered his eyes, "The Reverend was the pillar of the community, a member of many parish boards," he told them, "A keen advocate of children's charities".

"Children again…" the Doctor commented, frowning as he exchanged an uneasy look with the Hatter, "But why would the Cybermen want him dead?" he wondered, "And what's the connection to the first death, this Jackson Lake?"

"It's funny…" the Next Doctor took a step closer towards them, eyeing them both, "I seem to be telling you both everything, as though you engendered some sort of…trust," he looked at them intently, "You seem familiar. I know your face…both of you," he frowned, looking lost, "But how?"

The Time Lords exchanged looks, "I wonder…" the Doctor said quietly, "I can't help noticing you're wearing a fob watch".

"Is that important?"

"There's a very old legend," the Hatter informed him, making sure it sounded as if she had heard about it from a story, rather than from actual real life experience, "A legend that says that all the memories of a Time Lord can be contained within a watch".

"Do you mind?" the Doctor held out his hand. Still appearing somewhat confused, the man handed him the watch, looking hopeful, "It's said that if it's opened…" he clicked the watch open and suddenly all the contains sprung out, falling to the floor, "Oh," he blinked, glancing down at the bits of clock now littering the floor, the Hatter coughed, seeming to be holding back a laugh, "Maybe not".

"It's more for decoration…" the Next Doctor told them, smiling slightly.

"Yeah," he nodded, taking a deep breath, "Anyway, alien infiltration".

"Yes," he agreed, calling as they walked towards the back of the room to search, "Just look for anything different," he instructed as he went back to searching, "Possibly metal. Anything that doesn't seem to belong," the Doctor glanced back at him and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, carefully setting to work using it to scan the room as the Time Lady pretended to search through a pile of books, "Perhaps a mechanical device that could fit no earthly engine. It could even seem to be organic, but unlike any organism of the natural world…" he stopped suddenly, "Shush!" he hushed, frowning, "What's that noise?"

The Doctor quickly hid the sonic back inside his coat as the Hatter laughed, "Oh, that was just…John whistling," she invented easily, casting a look at the Doctor, "He's got a habit of doing that".

"Drives her mad," the Doctor nodded, and did an impression of whistling a similar sound as the sonic, earning an annoyed look from the other man, "I wonder what's in here, though…" he gestured to a scroll top desk behind him and turned around to open it, the Hatter right beside him, "Ah…" he pulled out a silver metal cylinder like object, holding it up as the Time Lady eyed it closely, "Different and metal, you were right," he glanced at the Next Doctor.

"An infostamp," the Hatter remarked thoughtfully, taking the device as the Doctor pulled out another one, quickly adding, "Well…I can only assume so," she smiled over at the other Doctor, "And I would also assume that they work like this…" she pressed the end of the one she was holding and multiple images were projected onto the wall, changing rapidly.

"Compressed information," the Doctor added, slipping his glasses on as he eyed the ever changing images, "Tons of it. That is the history of London, 1066 to the present day".

"Handy if you need to learn about something quickly," the Time Lady nodded slowly, glancing at the Next Doctor, "It's like a disk, a Cyberdisc…" she trailed off, frowning as she looked at the Doctor, "But why would the Cybermen need these? I mean, they're handy but a little simple, they wouldn't need these when they already have wireless, unless…" her eyes widened in realisation, "Oh, of course," she breathed, "They've landed in the wrong century, which means that they don't have much power".

"Of course," the Doctor nodded also, looking thoughtful, "They need plain old basic infostamps to update themselves".

The Hatter frowned as she looked over to see the Next Doctor sitting in a chair a short distance away from them, looking pained as he stared down at another infostamp in his hand, "Are you alright?" she asked him gently, moving to his side.

"I'm fine," the Next Doctor breathed, trying to wave her concern off as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

"No, you're not," she shook her head firmly, glancing over at the Doctor as he moved towards them, "And there's no point in trying to pretend that you are. We both have far too much experience to simply drop it," she looked back at him, giving him a comforting smile, "Please, what's wrong?"

"I've seen one of these before," he admitted gravely, twisting the device in his hand as he meet her eyes, "I was holding…this device the night I lost my mind. The night I regenerated," his eyes moved away, as if he was seeing something neither she nor the Doctor could, "The Cybermen…they made me change. My mind, my face, my whole self," he took a deep, shuddering breath as he looked at the Doctor, "And you were there," he frowned at him, "Who are you?"

"We're friends," the Doctor assured him softly, "I swear".

"Then I beg you, John, Hattie," he looked at them desperately, "Help me".

"Oh, and those are two words that we never could refuse," the Hatter smiled at him, giving his shoulder a comforting squiz as the Doctor took her other hand and helped her to straighten.

"But it's not a conversation of a dead man's house," the Doctor told them, looking around the room again as he slipped the inforstamps he was still holding inside his coat pocket, "It'll make more sense if we go back to the TARDIS. Your…" he pointed at the other man, "…TARDIS. Hold on," he turned and began moving away, taking the Time Lady with him, "We just need to do a little final check. Won't be a tick," he exchanged a look with the Hatter, opening a door, "There's one more thing I can't figure. If this room's got infostamps, then maybe, just maybe, it's got something that needs infostamping…" he pulled open another door, only to find a Cyberman standing there, "Okay!" he said, sounding surprisingly calm as he slammed the door shut, spinning back around to the other man, "I think we should run".

The Hatter groaned, looking as if she very much wished to slap him, "Oh, I am so going to kill you for making me wear this blasted dress," she grasped a handful of the skirt and ran over to the Next Doctor, grabbing his arm, pulling him up, "Come on! No time to lose!"

The door behind them smashed open as the Cyberman moved inside the room.

"Run, Doctor!" the Doctor called as he grabbed his shoulders, pushing him forward while the Time Lady tried pulling him, "Now, Doctor!"

"Delete," the Cyberman said from behind them.

They darted outside the room, the Doctor slamming the door closed behind them and giving it a quick sonic, and turned to run down hallway, when a second Cyberman stepped out in front of them, blocking the way, "Delete".

"This way!" the Hatter raced down the other way, the two men following right on her heels as they found themselves in the entrance hall, "The stairs!" she gasped, pushing the future Doctor towards them, "Use the stairs!"

"We can't lead them outside!" the Doctor agreed, trying to move himself in front of the Time Lady as both Cybermen approached them. He looked around, trying to find something, anything he could use to fight them off when he grabbed at a coat stand, "Hatter, upstairs!" he called to her urgently.

She looked back and forth between the possibly future Doctor and her Doctor slowly backed up a couple of steps, watching as he pulled out something…only to manage to open an umbrella, "Great, more bad luck," she muttered as he chucked the umbrella away, looking around for something else, just as she spotted a sword hanging on the wall. She quickly grabbed it, "Doctor, use this!" and chucked it at him, sighing in relief when he caught it and didn't end up hurting himself.

The Doctor waved the sword in front of him at the Cybermen, "I'm a dab hand with a cutlass," he warned them as they continued to approach him, "You don't want to come near me when I've got one of these. This is your last warning. No?" they simply moved closer to him, making his eyes widen, "Okay, this is really your last warning! Okay, I give up!"

"Delete".

He started backing further up the stairs, quickly turning back to the approaching Cybermen as the Hatter, growling under her breath in frustration as her dress almost caused her to trip, moved further back, "Listen to me properly!" he tried again, "Whatever you're doing stuck in 1851…" one of the Cybermen slashed at him, and he used his sword to deflect his attack, still backing up, "We can help! I mean it!" another slash out at him and he deflected it once more, "We're the only two people in the world who can help you! Listen to me!"

"Delete".

The Cyberman raised its arm and the Doctor caught it against his sword, his hands shaking with the effort, "I'm the Doctor and she's the Hatter," he tried again, the Hatter's eyes snapped over to the Next Doctor, who was staring at the Doctor, wincing slightly, "You need us," he continued, "Check your memory banks. My name's the Doctor and she's the Hatter. Leave this man alone!" he grimaced as he was slowly forced to lean back, "The Doctor is me!"

"Must I be the one to do everything?" the Hatter grumbled as she rushed forward, or as much as she could, and shoved as hard as she could against the Cyberman's chest, sending it crashing back into its little friend, and giving the Doctor enough time to scrambled to his feet, sending her a grateful look.

"Oh, I could kiss you!" he called to her.

"I'm quite certain that you probably will if we survive this," she replied, giving him a small, cheeky smile.

However, it didn't last long, and the Cybermen were quickly back to advancing on them again, "Delete".

"The Doctor, remember?" he turned back to the Cybermen, using his sword again to deflect any attacks, "I'm the Doctor! You need me and the Hatter alive!" he swung it and the Cyberman managed to catch it, "You need the Doctor and the Hatter, and that's us!"

Not listening to a word he said, the Cyberman shoved the Doctor away and he landed on his back on the ground, sword still in hand. The Hatter bit her bottom lip, trying to look around for something, anything to use, but there was nothing that she could see that might help.

"Delete".

Suddenly, a bright beam of energy shot over the Doctor, missing the Time Lady by inches, and hit the Cybermen. Both stopped in there attack, crying out as they moved their hands towards their heads. The Time Lords blinked and looked back to find that the Next Doctor was standing there, holding an infostamp with one end opened, pointed at the Cybermen.

Both Cyermen collapsed onto their knees, shaking violently, when their heads suddenly exploded, sending bits of metal and other things that the Hatter really didn't wish to think about around the room.

"Well, that was…exciting," she remarked slowly, sounding a little breathless as she glanced back at the Next Doctor, her eyes going to the inforstamp still in his hands, "Cyclo-steinham core, nice. You ripped open the core and broke the safety…"

"Zap!" the Doctor laughed, smiling broadly as he turned around, "Only the Doctor would think of that…well…" he paused, wrapping his arm around the Hatter's waist, kissing her cheek, "Only if the Hatter hadn't done it first".

The Hatter rolled her eyes at him, "Yes, well, I didn't have one on my person, I'm afraid," she informed him, frowning slightly in concern as she noticed how pale and shaky looking the Next Doctor was, "Are you okay?" she asked him gently.

"I did that…last time," he looked up at them.

"Shh, it's alright," she walked over to him, putting a comforting arm around his shoulders, "Everything's going to be okay".

The Doctor gave him his own comforting smile and moved towards him, "Let me just check something…" he murmured as he pulled out his stethoscope.

"You told them you were the Doctor," the Next Doctor frowned at him, "Why did you do that?"

The Hatter rubbed soothing circles on his back, "Oh, he was only saying all of that to protect you," she told him calmly and gently, glancing at the Doctor, "You're the Doctor. You have to have someone who can keep an eye on you".

He shook his head as the Doctor placed the end of his scope against his chest, listening, "You're trying to take away the only thing I've got, like they did," he took a deep, shuddering breath, staring at the Doctor, "They stole something, something so precious…" he broke off, shaking his head painfully, blinking back tears as the Hatter winced, knowing the look in his eyes all too well, "But I can't remember," he looked up at them, "What happened to me? What did they do?"

"We'll find out," the Doctor told him, "You and us together".

"We promise," the Hatter added.

You know, I kind of feel bad for putting the Hatter into that Victorian dress, but I just couldn't help myself. Hmm, I wonder if it will meet the same fate as he high heels in The Lazarus Experiment did, if not then the Doctor just might for talking her into wearing it…

The link for her outfit is on my profile, anyway. I hope you liked it, tell me what you thought, please review :)