CHAPTER 8

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BLOODLINES

"What on Earth are you humming over there, Ashy?" Clara said in amusement as she heard Ashildr cheerfully humming the same set of musical notes to herself over and over again for what seemed to be the billionth time that day.

The Doctor had told them that thanks to some especially bad turbulence in the Vortex due to the temporal winds being even worse than usual that it would probably take several hours for them to reach Will's time so Ashildr had decided to make herself useful. She had been dutifully working on repairing her own TARDIS' damaged console ever since.

Luckily Clara had managed to talk the Doctor into materializing his TARDIS around Eleanor's outer shell so that they could take it with them when they left even though having one TARDIS inside of another could potentially lead to catastrophic problems. Naturally the enormous diner has been relocated to one of the TARDIS' many voluminous storage rooms somewhere in its lower levels.

This particular storage room however was huge even by TARDIS standards though Clara thought to herself as she looked around it with undisguised awe. You could easily fit twelve buildings the size of her diner in there and still have room leftover for an extra soccer stadium or two.

Ashildr had to have been working nonstop for at least twelve hours by this point if not longer and yet every time Clara had come downstairs from the Console Room and peeked inside the diner to check on her progress or bring her something to eat she had still found her friend happily humming that same merry little tune to herself. Ashildr's attitude had definitely changed tremendously since regaining her memories because she couldn't imagine her old Ashildr ever having a smile on her face for that long for any reason.

To her surprise, Clara actually found herself wondering if this constant cheerfulness of Ashildr's was going to wind up even getting on her nerves eventually if she kept it up for much longer. She was nowhere near as grumpy as the Doctor, but there was only so much mindless happiness that even she could take before she just wanted to punch a hole in a wall after all.

Maybe Missy had been right after all. Maybe she really had become Mrs. Grim now Clara thought to herself with a wicked smile.

Clara now realized that Ashildr was looking up at her with an absentminded look on her face as if she had completely forgotten that she was there. She really had been lost in her own little world for a while.

Finally Ashildr blinked and came back to reality with a warm smile on her face as she said, "Oh, that? It's just a little something from my childhood that I had completely forgotten about until my memories returned. My mother used to hum it all of the time while she worked when I was growing up. I have no idea what the name of it is though. She never did tell me. I just always assumed that it was some old hymn or war song from her home village. It's very catchy isn't it? I didn't even realize that I was humming it until you brought it up."

"The beat sounds surprisingly modern to come from your home time though doesn't it? In fact it almost sounds familiar to me somehow. It's like I've heard it somewhere before," Clara said with a thoughtful look on her face.

"What?" Ashildr asked curiously as she studied Clara's face closely.

Ashildr knew exactly what that look meant from many long centuries of having lived with her. Clara had just realized that she had stumbled onto something important, but she hadn't quite worked out what it was just yet.

What in the world could be so important about some long forgotten song from her childhood though?

Clara shook her head and quickly dismissed whatever idea that she had been entertaining though as she said, "It's nothing I'm sure. It's just one of those annoying earworms that get stuck in your head and won't leave you alone until you finally figure out what it is. I can't imagine how an old Viking song would get stuck in my head but considering how many times and places that I've traveled to in the last couple of centuries I suppose it's possible that I might have heard it somewhere before and just forgot about it until now."

"Of course it is. I may have even hummed it before without realizing it once or twice and you heard it then. Is it really that important?" Ashildr asked impatiently.

She really wanted to fix Eleanor's shell as quickly as possible so that it would be ready by the time they reached Will's time. She couldn't wait to show it to him. She privately hoped that maybe he'd even want to travel with her a little because she had so many things that she wanted to show him and share with him from throughout time and space. She was sure that Clara wouldn't mind if she went off in the diner by herself for a while.

Clara shrugged as she said, "No, I suppose not. It's just that when I don't know something like that it continues to bug me until I eventually figure it out. That's just the way that I am."

"Yes, I know. Little Miss Know It All has to automatically know everything or it just drives her up the wall. You just can't stand not to be the smartest person in the room can you?" Ashildr said in a teasing tone.

Clara frowned as she did her best to hide the smile that was threatening to come over her face at that moment and said, "Excuse me but I'm nowhere near that bad. I think you must have me confused with the Old Man. That's more his sort of thing than mine. I could care less about showing off how smart I am to everyone."

"Uh, huh," Ashildr said with a knowing grin.

"Shut up," Clara said in a threatening tone that was completely undermined by the warm smile that had finally made its way to her face by this point.

Then Ashildr's own face suddenly became completely serious as she said in a heartfelt tone, "I really like being able to banter this way with you now. This . . . This just feels so right. We're so much closer now just like I've always wanted us to be. This is the way sisters should behave."

"Sisters, huh?" Clara said with a pleased look.

"Yes, sisters. That's always what we've been even when I was an annoying, obnoxious prick who tried to constantly tell you what to do," Ashildr said in a hopeful tone that suggested to Clara that she suddenly wasn't sure if she felt the same way or not.

"You're much too hard on yourself, Ashy. You weren't that bad," Clara said with a reassuring smile.

Then her smile became an evil one as she quickly added without skipping a beat, "I mean you weren't really annoying. An obnoxious prick, sure. Not an annoying one though."

"You little . . . !" Ashildr said in a false tone of anger as she pretended to take a swing at Clara's arm and purposely missed.

Both women laughed and then hugged one another as Clara said, "And for the record I feel like we're sisters too."

"I always wanted a sister. I thought if I had one though that she would probably be blonde like my mother. I always loved her hair. I used to think that it was so beautiful when I was a child. It's one of the things that I remember most about her," Ashildr said with a far-off look on her face.

Clara was definitely intrigued now since up until this moment she had known nothing about Ashildr's mother whatsoever, and she wasn't so sure that Ashildr had either until she had recovered her memories. She certainly had never talked about her at any rate.

"I had completely forgotten about her until now. Just like my father," Ashildr said in a sad voice as she immediately confirmed what Clara had already suspected.

"What do you remember about her now?" Clara asked.

"Not a whole lot unfortunately because she left us when I was very young. I couldn't have been any more than four or five years old at the most. I just have a few vague memories of her that don't really add up to a whole lot. I just remember that she was blonde and very beautiful and she seemed to have a knack for crafting and repairing things just like me. My father always said that I got all of my imagination and intelligence from her but other than that he never talked that much about her so I didn't really learn anything from him either. He just said that she had to suddenly leave us in order to protect us, but he would never go into any detail about it. I was never sure if he didn't want to talk about her because whatever happened to her was so painful for him or if she had sworn him to secrecy for some reason. Either way I couldn't help but wonder if the reason he wouldn't talk about it was because she was going to return and tell me the truth herself one day. I kept waiting for that my entire childhood, Clara, because I never did feel as if she were really gone for good thanks to the way that she left us. I was sure that she would come walking back through our front door again one day if I just waited long enough but she never did. Do you want to know something really crazy? Now that I remember her again I'm still waiting for her even though I know that there's no possible chance that I'll ever see her again now. Have you ever heard of anything that sad?" Ashildr said in an emotional voice.

Clara immediately wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly as she said in a voice filled with understanding, "Yeah, I have. Do you want to know a secret? Part of me is still looking for my mother to do the exact same thing and I actually do know what happened to her."

"Well, we both need to stop it don't we? We're both way, way past childhood by now so we should just stop expecting something to happen that we know for sure is impossible. It suppose it's finally time that we grew up, isn't it?" Ashildr said in a more controlled voice.

"Uh, hello? Do you remember who you're talking to, Ashy? Never going to happen," Clara said with a wicked smile that instantly made Ashildr laugh.

Then Clara became absolutely serious as she said, "You of all people should know there is no such thing as the impossible, Ashildr. I'm living proof of that. Never give up on that dream of yours no matter how crazy it might seem because one day it just might happen."

Ashildr nodded and her eyes teared up as she gave Clara an appreciative look then she began to smile as she said with a chuckle, "Well, I finally did get a sister so I suppose you're right. Anything really is possible."

"There you go. Always think positive," Clara said as she kissed Ashildr's cheek.

It was amazing how their entire relationship had suddenly changed now. Instead of acting like Clara's extremely overprotective mother/older sister as she had for so many centuries thanks to Fenric she had now seemingly slipped into the role of Clara's younger (even if she was far, far older) sister instead. Clara found that she definitely preferred Ashildr in this role and couldn't help but wonder if this was how their relationship would have developed if the Doctor had just taken Ashildr traveling with them in the first place from the day that he had made her immortal.

It was almost as if things had been set right again somehow, and everything was finally as it should be.

"So is my console almost ready?" Eleanor suddenly asked from behind them in such an abrupt manner that it made them both jump at once.

"Well, someone's certainly all jittery today aren't they? Sorry about that," Eleanor said with a chuckle.

Then to her welcome surprise Ashildr immediately rushed forward to hug her causing the former TARDIS to say, "The Doctor was actually right about something for once it seems. You've definitely become a hugger now alright."

"Am I bothering you by doing that? I just . . . I just feel as if I should let everyone know how I feel about them now after acting so cold towards all of you for so long," Ashildr said in an apologetic voice.

Eleanor smiled at her reassuringly as she said in a voice filled with warmth, "It's fine, Ash. I don't mind it at all. I'm just still not used to it yet is all. You hug me all you want though. Unlike some people on this ship I'm not afraid of open displays of affection. Show the Doctor an entire army of Daleks who are all bent on killing him and he's just fine, but just once try to tell him how you feel and he runs for the hills according to Idris. I honestly don't know how she puts up with that man. I definitely prefer my two girls instead."

Both Clara and Ashildr smiled at her in appreciation even as Clara couldn't help but think that maybe they had both gotten their wish after all even if Eleanor wasn't exactly the mother that they had been waiting for.

Eleanor reluctantly ruined what she sensed was somehow a special moment for her two girls as she asked yet again, "So is the console almost ready?"

Ashildr nodded as she said, "Yes, I just need to make a few last minute adjustments, and your outer shell should be as good as new again. It should be ready to travel on its own in no time. I've also finally fixed that broken Chameleon Circuit of yours too while I was at it. At least I think I have anyway. I'm still not quite an expert on that particular piece of equipment just yet."

"Ashy, I thought I told you that I never wanted you to fix that. I like the diner just as it is," Clara said with a frown.

"It's almost impossible to land it properly in that form though. How many times have we almost wiped something out by almost materializing on top of it or too close to it over the centuries, Clara? Now we can finally control the shape and size of this ship at last so it's not so incredibly unwieldy anymore. We should make her into something smaller like the Doctor's police box from now on I think," Ashildr proposed.

"You just have no sense of nostalgia at all do you, Ashy?" Clara said with a sigh.

"It's alright, Clara. I don't mind if you change my appearance. I was getting a bit tired of being that diner anyway. A little diversity will do me some good I think when I return back to normal," Eleanor said.

Both Clara and Ashildr looked at her in stunned surprise now as she said in a nervous voice, "Yeah, I probably should have mentioned that before now shouldn't I?"

"You can't do this," Clara said with a devastated look.

"Clara," Eleanor said in a soft voice as she started to embrace Clara.

"No! You're not doing it I said," Clara said defiantly as she moved away from her.

"You don't need to do this, Eleanor. Your outer shell will work just fine even without this portion of your mind being there to help guide it. You still have a connection to your Matrix even now after all so there really is no need to merge back together again. You could stay this way for good with no ill effects as far as I can see," Ashildr said in a much calmer voice as she tried to reason with her.

"And then I'll die in a few decades after this human body of mine finally wears out and leave both of you with a TARDIS that's only half as efficient as it should be. What's left of me will never be the same again if that happens and you know it. I need to be whole again so that I can continue to look after both of you properly," Eleanor explained.

"We don't even need your shell anymore anyway though. We're both with the Doctor now. He can take us wherever we need to go from now on and the Old Cow can look after us. So you see you're just fine as you are aren't you?" Clara protested.

"And how do you know that you won't somehow get separated from the Doctor again someday after I'm gone? It happened once before so it could easily happen again one day. No, I need to be sure because Victoria was right, Clara. Traveling with the Doctor is practically inviting disaster to come your way on a daily basis, and you're all too willing to ignore that fact just to be with him again. I always need to be there to look after you myself so that you don't have to find out the hard way whether you can still die or not," Eleanor said stubbornly.

"You can't. I . . . I won't be able to talk to you anymore or to know how you're feeling. If you do this, I won't . . . I won't have a . . ." Clara said as she dissolved into tears.

Eleanor began crying too now as she realized what Clara was trying to say. She felt the exact same way but she hadn't been certain if Clara and Ashildr had until that very moment.

So this was what being a parent felt like.

Somehow Eleanor managed to control her emotions just enough that she was able to speak once more (which was no mean feat since she was still so new to this whole being human thing) as she said, "I'll miss being able to interact with you like this too, Clara. Don't think that I wont."

Then she grabbed Clara and Ashildr's hands and squeezed them tightly as she said, "I love being able to do something like this. It's such a simple thing but it means the world to someone who was once unable to have any sort of meaningful relationship with the people who traveled with her. I knew that I loved you and cared for you but I never truly understood you until I became one of you. I don't want to risk losing that understanding or the ability to tell you whatever is on my mind at any moment. I truly don't."

"Don't then. Stay with us. Please," Clara said in a frightened voice as she held onto Eleanor's hand tightly.

Eleanor shook her head even though part of her wanted to give in if only to take that horrifying look of loss out of Clara's eyes as she said, "It needs to be done though no matter how hard it will be on all of us. My outer shell will probably die as soon as my human self does one day and even if it doesn't it will never be as efficient as it once was. It will basically be just an ordinary lifeless machine without my consciousness there to guide it."

"We've still got a few decades left before that happens though so maybe we can come up with some other solution before then, yeah? Why don't we at least give that a shot before you do anything rash?" Clara pleaded.

"Clara," Eleanor said with a sigh as she realized that she was never going to change her mind about this.

"I can't lose you and neither can Ashy. We both need you. Don't worry. I'll find some way to make your human self immortal somehow. I'm sure I can find something. Maybe I can look for some more Mire technology somewhere," Clara suggested hopefully.

"Fine. I'll give you a little longer to look. I'm not waiting until I'm an old woman though," Eleanor warned.

"Thank you. That's all I needed," Clara said happily as she eagerly hugged the former TARDIS tightly.

"I'm not sure how you could have merged together again anyway. I thought it was impossible for you to go back again judging by the way that you were acting before," Ashildr said in a confused voice.

Eleanor's eyes and hands briefly glowed for a moment then as she said, "I was always able to go back again. I have just enough Vortex energy left over even in this form to do the job. I just didn't want to do it while both of you were in danger from Fenric and Akhaten, and I certainly didn't want to become a helpless part of a shell that they fully controlled. Now that that threat is finally over with though I could return as soon as the console is fully repaired again. I'll wait though until Clara has had some time to think of another way. I won't wait forever though."

"I understand," Clara said even as she could see that Eleanor was definitely not a fan of this idea.

She didn't care though. She liked Eleanor just as she was now, and she didn't want that to ever change. Not for anything.

A sudden burst of inspiration hit her in that moment as she thought that maybe she already knew of a way to help Eleanor . . . or at least she knew someone who would surely know of one anyway.

"No," Ashildr said in a defiant voice as she instantly realized what Clara was up just from the look on her face.

Clara couldn't help but smile at Ashildr's uncanny ability to read her thoughts. They really were sisters weren't they?

"What do you mean no? I haven't even said anything yet," Clara said in a completely innocent tone even though she knew exactly what she was talking about.

"You don't have to. I already know who you're going to talk to and I said no. You're not bringing her into this. She's nothing but trouble, Clara, plus she never takes no for an answer. I would have thought that you would have had enough of her the last time that we saw her," Ashildr said in an exasperated voice.

Clara sighed as she said, "I guess it was too much to hope for that you'd stop trying to be my extra bossy older sister completely wasn't it? Listen, Ashy, I have to do this. She's the only one who might know how we can help Eleanor. I mean she's his daughter and he was there when they created the very first TARDIS wasn't he? Surely she has to know something about them that the average Time Lord on the street doesn't? She's helped me out plenty of times before so why not give it a try? It's worth all of the irritation and annoyance that it's going to cause if it keeps Eleanor with us isn't it?"

"Don't tell me. She's the one who helped you break into the Matrix without getting caught all of those times isn't she? I should have known. You don't know that she's going to be that helpful this time around though. She might not know any more about this particular situation than we do, and then we'll have to put up with her for who knows how long until she finally decides to leave again. It's not worth it, Clara," Ashildr protested.

"Who are the two of you talking about and why does she already sound like the most unpleasant of guests?" Jane asked as she suddenly entered the room.

"Maybe that's because she is. If Clara is actually foolish enough to call her, she'll wind up driving both her and Ash completely mad before she's through. That is if the Doctor doesn't throw her out into the Vortex first. In fact you might just help him yourself once you see what she's like," Eleanor said with a look of deep despair on her face.

"Exactly what is it about this woman that is so reprehensible?" Jane asked in confusion.

"Reprehensible, eh? That's a new one. I'll have to add that one to my mental checklist. I've been called a lot of things before but never reprehensible. That's definitely more high class than I'm used to. I must be moving up in the universe," A woman's voice said in amusement from behind them.

"I'd rather you just move out of the universe instead," Ashildr mumbled to herself in a low voice.

"What was that, dear? I don't speak jealous prick I'm afraid so I'm going to need a translator," The woman said with a chuckle.

"I'd be glad to translate with my fist, you little . . . !" Ashildr said in a furious voice.

"Ashy, let's not do anything rash especially since we need Arissa's help," Clara said with a tight smile on her face as she immediately placed herself between the two women while Arissa smirked at Ashildr in triumph.

It took all of Ashildr's willpower to keep herself from wiping that look off of her face by knocking her unconscious as she said to Clara in a furious voice, "You activated that temporal homing beacon that she gave you the first time you met didn't you? That's the only way that she could have found us this quickly. Thank you so much for that. I knew I should have thrown that thing into the heart of the nearest star as soon as I had the chance."

"You're in your usual good mood I see. Never change, Ashildr. Your jaw might just fall off and hit the floor if you ever decided to smile," The woman said with a chuckle.

"Actually she's been smiling quite a bit more lately because she's regained her old personality along with her memories, Arissa. Wait until I tell you all about it. You might just end up changing your mind about her," Clara said in a defensive voice.

"Really? Are you sure about that, dear? She hasn't even come close to having an actual expression once since I've been here," Arissa said in a voice dripping with disdain.

"Maybe that's because unlike you I actually have to have a reason to smile, and I certainly don't have one now," Ashildr quickly shot back.

"Yeah, just ignore her, Time Princess. I have something much more important to talk to you about than Ashildr's sense of humor," Clara said with a good-natured smile.

She actually did like Arissa despite Ashildr's frequent clashes with her because despite her sometimes clingy and obsessive nature and an inability to take no for an answer she really wasn't that bad of a person. She just wanted someone in her life who truly cared about her and apparently had never found them from the way that she acted. That was hardly surprising with a father like hers though. It was a wonder Arissa had turned out as well adjusted as she had after being raised by that tyrant.

Arissa quickly nodded as she said in a much more genial tone, "I gathered as much. What can I help you with, my sweet Clara? You know I'd do anything for you . . . and I do mean anything. Or did you call me here to finally admit your true feelings for me at last? Is this the day that I can finally make a special announcement about us to my father?"

Clara immediately backed away from her as she said in a disturbed voice, "Uh . . . No, sorry."

Arissa instantly gave her a warm reassuring smile in response because she didn't want to push her luck as she said, "Oh, well. I had to try didn't I?"

Then as if she were only just noticing them for the first time Arissa turned to look at Jane and Eleanor with an undeniable look of jealousy on her face that seemed especially aimed towards Jane as she said, "Who are your new friends, dear? Anyone special that I should know about?"

As Ashildr noticed the open expression of stunned disbelief on Jane's face at Arissa's behavior, she whispered to her, "It isn't you. She's always automatically jealous of any new person in Clara's life, male or female. She's been like this towards all of Clara's traveling companions. She made poor Osgood so nervous that she would always go and hide in her room every time that she visited. I can't really say that I blame her too much for that. Arissa was even jealous of me the first time that I met her."

"And here we go. Like I didn't see this coming a mile away. Listen, Clara, I really don't care to be a part of her little games anymore. I'll be upstairs once this has all blown over and she's gone back home again," Eleanor said with a frown as she started to walk away.

"Wait, Eleanor. You're the reason I called her here in the first place," Clara said as she tried her best to keep the ex-TARDIS from leaving.

"Oh, is she? And who would she be exactly?" Arissa asked once more in an intrigued voice.

"Believe it or not she's my capsule's Matrix who's been given a human form, Time Princess. She still has a connection to her shell though so it's not like she's completely lost all of her abilities. I want to make her body immortal so that she can stay this way for good because I actually prefer her this way, and I think she does too even if she's too stubborn to admit it. Do you have any ideas on how to do that?" Clara asked in a hopeful tone.

"I might," Arissa said enigmatically in a way that clearly told Clara that she wasn't going to give that information away for free.

No, this time she definitely expected something in return, and she had a very bad feeling that she knew exactly what that something was going to be. She really should have listened to Ashildr this time.

This was not going to go well at all.

Jane meanwhile had said nothing up until now as she used this time to get a good look at their latest guest even as she fought the urge to ask her how she had entered the TARDIS in mid-flight. She had long ago grown used to the idea that practically anything could happen once you entered the Doctor and Clara's world whether it made any actual sense or not and had given up trying to figure out the how or why of it all.

Basically she just accepted things for what they were now and quietly moved on without dwelling too much on the imponderable nature of it all. That was the only way to keep your sanity intact on a journey in the TARDIS she had found.

Jane couldn't help but feel a sense of jealousy similar to Arissa's own (even though she already knew who Clara truly loved) as soon as she saw that the TARDIS' latest inhabitant with her seemingly ageless features, long lustrous red hair, and bright blue eyes was unnaturally beautiful. So much so in fact that if she had suddenly stated that she had descended from Mount Olympus Jane wouldn't even have blinked an eye. She was every inch a goddess even though she suspected that she came from a much more terrestrial origin.

Jane now finally decided to speak at last as she said to Arissa with a curtsey, "You are a Time Lady I take it based on what little that I've been able to discern about your background from your conversations with one another? The daughter of Rassilon as well if I'm not mistaken. I am Jane Austen of Earth. It's very nice to meet you, my lady."

She instantly got an extremely grateful look from Clara in response that she couldn't help but smile at. It had been obvious to her that Clara was becoming extremely uncomfortable with the direction of this conversation and was more than happy to have a little break from it for a while.

As soon as Jane spoke, Arissa immediately began to look her up and down and study her closely as if she were committing every inch of her to memory. The Time Lady had such a degree of intensity on her face that Jane almost felt as if she had just become an unwitting specimen in some sort of inhuman lab experiment.

Finally Arissa spoke to her at last after a tense moment of uncomfortable silence between them as she said, "Yes, I've heard of you, Miss Austen. Clara talks about you all of the time and I can tell that she thinks very highly of you. Did you know that you're her favorite writer of all time? I'm not so sure that's just because of your literary talents however. You are quite attractive after all. I can definitely see why you'd constantly be on her mind."

"Thank you, my lady. You're quite beautiful yourself," Jane said with a forced smile as she began to wonder if the Time Lady was about to launch some form of verbal assault against her based on the look of pure, undiluted fury that slowly started to creep across her face at that moment.

Then almost as if she could sense Jane's discomfort Arissa immediately smiled at her reassuringly in what Jane thought was an actual heartfelt smile despite the Time Lady's earlier behavior. It seemed that even though she was extremely possessive of Clara that she truly didn't mean Jane any harm.

Or at least she was trying her best to control her anger in front of Clara at any rate.

"Why, thank you, Miss Austen," Arissa said with a hearty laugh.

Then the Time Lady quickly shifted her attention back towards Clara as she asked in a playful manner that contained no trace of malice or anger, "Is she the reason that you always refuse to take our relationship any further, Clara? I suppose I can't blame you really. She seems sweet enough and she's obviously far more intelligent than the average human. I'd like to know the truth though once and for all. Just be honest with me and I promise you that I'll never bring the subject up again. Are you in love with her?"

Jane immediately gasped in surprise at the Time Lady's bluntness as she began to see exactly why Ashildr didn't like her. Was she always this bold?

Clara sighed as she said, "I told you before that I'm just not interested in you in that way, Arissa. I do care about you but only as a friend. Why can't you just accept that and move on?"

"Just answer the question, Clara, and don't even try to lie to me because I'll know. Are you in love with her?" Arissa asked once more in a hard voice as she let the genial smile that she had been wearing slip just a little.

Clara noticeably looked away from both Arissa and Jane as she said in a stern tone, "I already told you why we can't ever be anything more than friends, Arissa."

"Because your heart belongs to another. Yes, I understood that long ago. What I want to know is does it belong to her?" Arissa said as she refused to let the matter drop.

"I warned you that this would happen," Ashildr said to Clara under her breath as she did her best to keep her growing anger towards the Time Lady under control.

"The nature of our relationship, whatever it may be, is none of your business, Lady Arissa," Jane said in a hard voice as she came perilously close to losing her own self-control in that moment.

"I'm making it my business, Miss Austen, because I want a definitive answer once and for all before I'll even think about helping her out with her latest little problem. Why do you really keep refusing my advances, Clara? You seem to enjoy my company and yet whenever I make my intentions toward you clear you always say that you love someone else. Who is it, Clara? I know that it has to be a living flesh and blood person because it can't possibly be this enigmatic Doctor of yours that you've talked so much about. Just be honest with me and I'll gladly let the entire matter go for good. Show me some respect and stop lying to me. You couldn't possibly stay true to the memory of someone that you lost centuries ago for this long. No one would," Arissa said in a defiant tone.

"Clara Oswald would. That's just the kind of person that she is because unlike you she doesn't have a fickle heart. She'd love that man for the rest of eternity and never let anyone else in her heart once if she had even the slightest hope of finding him again. Luckily she doesn't have that problem anymore or haven't you noticed that we're now traveling around inside someone else's capsule?" Ashildr pointed out with a look of pride on her face.

Arissa now looked around her in surprise which only proved that she hadn't noticed since she had materialized inside of the now familiar diner first as she said, "Whose ship is this then?"

"I was wondering when someone would finally remember me. I've been feeling more than a bit neglected up in the Console Room all by myself while everyone else was down here fighting over you, Clara," The Doctor said in an annoyed voice as he suddenly entered the room with a smug looking Eleanor by his side.

Jane's face turned bright red with embarrassment while Clara frowned and talked back to the Time Lord in an equally annoyed voice, "No one is fighting over me, Doctor. The Time Princess here is just being her usual jealous self despite the fact that I've never once lied to her about how I felt about her despite what she thinks."

Clara couldn't help but shake her head at Eleanor. TARDIS Girl had gone off and called in the cavalry it seemed.

"Hello. I'm the 'Time Princess' as Clara calls me. My actual name, if anyone cares to know it, is Arissa and I'm Lord President Rassilon's daughter. I hope that doesn't frighten you too much. That information usually seems to have a particularly undesirable effect on most people for whatever reason whenever I mention it so I thought that I might as well get it out of the way right now. And you are?" Arissa asked the Doctor with a growing tone of uncertainty in her voice because she was sure that she already knew the answer to that question based off of what Ashildr had said earlier.

"I am the Doctor. I believe you've heard of me. I'm the same man that you've just been trying to convince Clara that she couldn't possibly still be in love with a second ago," The Doctor said in a voice that made it clear to her that he was rapidly losing his patience with her.

Especially if she was his daughter.

Clara held her breath now as she waited for the inevitable explosion from Arissa that she was sure was coming.

To her complete and utter astonishment however Arissa looked far from angry or upset though. Instead she actually began to laugh with joy as she said in a voice filled with disbelief, "You actually found him, Clara?"

"Yeah, I did. You see? He's not just a figment of my imagination after all, Princess," Clara said in a chipper tone as she began to smile once more.

"Yes, I can see that. I'm so happy for you, Clara," Arissa said in a voice that was now filled with what Clara could tell was genuine joy.

Then the Time Lady immediately gave Clara an apologetic look as she said with an unmistakeable tone of regret, "I'm sorry, Clara. I was being unbelievably petty. I know that. It's just that . . . I find it extremely hard to let go of my feelings for you, and I thought that maybe you were lying to me in order to keep me from becoming angry with you. I could take anything else but not being lied to because that would mean that you thought so very little of me and only wanted to use me. And I've had enough of people who I thought I could trust using me and lying to me . . . especially my father."

Clara sighed as she realized that her reputation for lying, whether it was deserved or not, was still causing her trouble even now. Even when she was being absolutely honest people still didn't believe her it seemed.

"It's alright. I know that you have trust issues thanks to your not so dear old dad, Princess, so I'm willing to let the whole thing go, okay? Just stop with the psychopathic ex routine and we'll pretend this never happened. Deal?" Clara said in a soft voice as she gave Arissa a hug that immediately brought a smile to the Time Lady's face.

"It's a deal. I really am sorry," Arissa said in an earnest tone.

"I know," Clara said with a small smile as she gave the Time Lady a kiss on the cheek that instantly made her blush.

"I think you're giving her mixed signals, Clara," The Doctor said with a worried look on his face.

"Let's give her a perfectly clear one then," Clara said with a wicked grin as she suddenly wrapped her arms around the Doctor and gave him a long passionate kiss.

As Jane studied Arissa's face closely in that moment, she could actually see a look of resignation slowly settle over the Time Lady's otherwise emotionless features. It was quickly followed by what she was certain was a genuine look of happiness as the Time Lady began to smile from ear to ear.

"Do you think that they'll come up for air sometime soon?" Arissa joked to Jane as she finally noticed her watching her at last.

"Actually Clara doesn't really need to breathe any longer," Jane found herself answering to her instant regret because she couldn't think of anything better to say.

Did it have to be something so unbelievably inane though?

Arissa immediately started to laugh at her as she whispered to her, "You're nervous and unsure of how to act while watching this, aren't you? And yet despite that feeling you're actually grateful that he's with her once more because you want her to be happy no matter what. I know that feeling all too well. Trust me. It bothers me just as much as it does you even if I'm not openly admitting it for Clara's sake. I was right about you after all then it seems. You are in love with her. It appears that I am not the only one whose feelings for her have gone unrequited."

Jane said nothing in response. She really didn't have to after all.

Arissa finally cleared her throat loudly after she realized that Jane wasn't about to admit anything out loud as she said, "Alright, Clara, I get the point. You can stop now. That is if you actually want to listen to what I have to say about your capsule. If you really don't care though, then continue snogging his brains out by all means."

"Snogging?" Jane asked in a questioning tone.

"It means kissing. It's a slang expression from 21st Century Earth that I picked up from Clara. I find a great deal of her time's vernacular has seeped into my everyday speech lately. It drives Father absolutely mad because he says that he can't understand half of the things that I say anymore. I'm honestly not sure why he cares though since he never seems to listen to me anyway. You'd better be careful, Jane, or you might just wind up suffering my fate and have your novels become completely incomprehensible to your Nineteenth Century readers," Arissa said with a chuckle.

"I'll be sure to stay on my guard then. My sister already thinks that she's a negative influence on me as it is," Jane said with a warm smile.

"Now why would she ever believe a thing like that?" Arissa said with a smirk.

It seemed as if the Time Lady were already trying to reach out to Jane in an earnest attempt to let bygones be bygones between them even if she had shifted to addressing her on a first name basis a little faster than she might have liked.

Clara looked at them both in disbelief now as she said to the Doctor, "Well, that was quick wasn't it, Old Man? A few minutes ago they were at each other's throats, and now they're both teaming up against me like they've been doing it all of their lives."

The Doctor couldn't help but laugh at the incredulous look on her face as he said, "I'm just glad that it's happening to somebody besides me for a change."

"Keep laughing, Grimmy, and I'll make sure that Queen Elizabeth has an extra special present for Christmas one year. I'll leave you all tied up outside her castle with a cute little bow on your head. I'm sure she'd just love to see you again after you raced off the way that you did right after marrying her," Clara said with an evil smile.

The Doctor looked at her in surprise as he asked, "How do you know about that?"

Clara couldn't help but look hurt as she said in a numb voice, "I was there."

The Doctor gave her a blank look in response which only made her even more anxious to talk to him and jog his memory as she asked him in an almost desperate voice, "I watched Sandshoes marry her alongside Chin Boy and Granddad. Then we all ran off in the TARDIS together. Sandshoes said that he didn't like how Chin Boy had decorated the TARDIS. Surely you remember that, right? Oh, and a few hours before that you had me scare Elizabeth's men off by pretending to be The Witch of the Well. I threatened to turn them all into frogs. What about how I convinced you not to use the Moment? Do you remember any of that?"

That was a very important memory for her and she had hoped that it would be for him too. Surely he hadn't forgotten that had he?

"Yes, I remember the rest of it but I . . . I don't remember you being there for the wedding for some reason. Why wouldn't I remember that?" The Doctor admitted with a troubled look on his face.

Clara immediately let out an audible sigh of relief as she said, "It's alright, Doctor. If that's all you've forgotten about that day, I'll just consider myself lucky and let it drop, yeah?"

"What else have I forgotten about your travels with me though? I thought that I at least still remembered everything that we did together even if I didn't remember you, but apparently I don't even have a firm grasp on that either," The Doctor said in an upset voice.

"It's no big deal, Doctor. So you forgot that I was at your wedding? Maybe you unconsciously wanted to forget everything about that wedding. I mean she did force you into it," Clara said dismissively.

"It's a big deal to me, Clara, because I've already lost enough information about you as it is. What if I've lost even more than I ever realized?" The Doctor said with a devastated look on his face.

"Doctor, it's alright," Clara insisted as she gave him a tender kiss.

The Doctor shook his head as he said, "It wasn't a moment ago though was it? When you thought that I might have completely forgotten your role in those events you were extremely upset, Clara. All of those things that we did together really do matter, Clara. They matter to both of us so don't even try to convince me otherwise."

Clara nodded in agreement even as she said in an upbeat voice, "Yes, that did upset me but I would have eventually gotten over it even if it had been true because we're together again. In the end that's all that's important to me. I have you back in my life again, Doctor, and that's where you're going to stay from now on. When it's all said and done that's the only thing that really, truly matters to me is being with you. Understand?"

The Doctor smiled at her and kissed her in response as he said, "Yes, I think I do."

He couldn't help but think to himself that it wasn't all that mattered to him however. Every moment that he had spent with Clara was precious to him and the thought that he had lost any of that time with her for any reason, no matter how inconsequential that it might seem to be on the surface, bothered him a great deal. He wanted those memories and that time back again. All of it.

He would never settle for anything less.

"Clara, is everything alright?" Arissa whispered in Clara's ear.

"I'm not sure. I think so," Clara whispered back as she studied the Doctor's face closely for any signs that she might be wrong.

It always bothered her when he gave into her too quickly. It always meant that he was up to something.

"So are you finally ready to hear how I can help your new friend here?" Arissa asked Clara out loud as she pointed to Eleanor.

"Help her with what?" The Doctor asked as he looked at Eleanor with concern.

Clara couldn't help but smile as she realized that the Doctor was starting to care about Eleanor despite how much he claimed not to like her. He really was an old softy deep down despite how much of a grouch that he could be at times.

"She wants to make this human version of her immortal so that she won't have to merge back with her shell again, and she thinks that I can help her with that," Arissa explained in an almost conspiratorial tone.

The Doctor gave both her and Clara a surprised look now as he said, "Ah, I see. And can you?"

Arissa became extremely serious then as she looked more at Eleanor herself than at the others while she said to the Doctor, "There is a way, yes. It involves considerable risk though. Have you heard of the Block Transfer Computations used by the people of Logopolis?"

The Doctor smiled proudly as he said, "I probably know more about them than you do."

Arissa nodded as she said, "Good. Then I don't have to explain the process of how they used mathematical equations in order to create or remake objects and events do I? That's just as well because that whole thing gives me a headache just thinking about it even if it is my particular field of expertise."

The Doctor gave her a renewed look of appreciation then as he said in an excited voice, "Wait a moment. Arissa. Arissa. That's it! You were so brilliant that they called you Arissa the Magnus or Arissa the Great, didn't they? You were the first Block Transfer Engineer on Gallifrey, weren't you? I knew that name sounded familiar. I remember you from my history classes at the Academy."

"Doctor, I'm not sure that you should tell her any more. I'm not even sure that you should have told her that much," Clara said in a warning tone as she quickly interrupted him.

Arissa however looked extremely impressed by what the Doctor had just told her as she said, "So I make it into the history books, huh? Won't Dad be glad to hear that? He always said that he was afraid that I wasn't going to amount to anything. Clara's right though. Don't tell me anymore. I don't want to know anything about my own future.

"Yeah, I didn't either. I wound up finding out anyway though unfortunately," Clara said in a sympathetic tone.

The Doctor frowned as he said, "The point is that I know that you were the first one to figure out how to use block transfer matrixes to completely reshape a TARDIS' outer plasmic shell and its interior configurations. We take that technology for granted now, but back then it was revolutionary. You truly are a genius and I don't use that word lightly."

Arissa looked at him oddly as he kept using the word TARDIS to describe the TT Capsule but decided that it was probably something about the future that she was better off not knowing too much about. She was going to wipe her memories of everything that she learned from him anyway as soon as she went back to her own time again, but it was probably better that she not find out too much in the first place just to be safe.

"Thank you, Doctor. I'm starting to see why Clara likes you so much now. You certainly know how to flatter a girl don't you? It's good to know that my work actually leads to something useful one day. You know I really wasn't sure if it ever would or not, but I went ahead with it anyway because I've believed in the power of what Block Transfer Mathematics could do ever since I learned about it during a trip to Logopolis to fix a local temporal anomaly there. The good news for you, Clara, is that I believe I can use my knowledge to remake a human body's biodata and reshape it into a walking, talking sentient capsule or TARDIS I suppose if I'm using that word correctly whose natural state would be its original human form. It would still be dimensionally transcendental on the inside of course and fully capable of doing everything that a regular capsule can do. In theory it should work perfectly. In theory," Arissa said with a hint of warning in her voice.

"I know I'm risking altering the future here but I can confirm that it's much more than just a theory. I actually have seen a human being become accidentally turned into a TARDIS before. It happened to one of my friends during her travels with me. Her name was Compassion," The Doctor said.

Arissa looked intrigued by this even as the Doctor started to have a thoughtful look on his face whose meaning that Clara couldn't quite decipher. Was he trying to think of a way to help Eleanor . . . or was it something else entirely?

"So it is possible. Good to know but that knowledge really doesn't change anything I'm afraid. That still doesn't mean that I'll be successful because this is all still brand new to me, and I don't have any information on exactly how your friend transformed. I doubt you do either if it was an accident. All that I know for sure is that if I'm even just a little bit off in my calculations I could wind up killing your capsule or turning her into some kind of grotesque abomination, Clara. Is it really worth that risk?" Arissa asked as she stared at Eleanor intently.

Clara hesitated now even as Eleanor said, "I'll need some time to think about this, Clara."

"I'd take all of the time that you need. You're the one who has to live with whatever happens after all," Arissa said in a compassionate voice.

Clara shook her head though as she said, "No, Eleanor. You can't. Not for me. It's not worth the risk. I'd rather have you be a regular TARDIS again any day. Don't even think about doing this."

Eleanor smiled as she said, "It wouldn't just be for you, sweetie. It may surprise you but I've come to actually like being human. Maybe I don't want to give that up so quickly. I'll think about it and get back to you, Arissa."

"Good," Arissa said with approval.

"You know she's not so bad now that she seems to have finally gotten over Clara. She's almost halfway decent when she's not acting like a lovesick stalker," Ashildr said in a low voice to Jane.

"Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment, Ashy. You're not so bad yourself when you're not acting like a pompous git," Arissa said with a wicked smile.

"Bloody super sensitive Time Lord hearing," Ashildr grumbled as she gave Arissa a dirty look.

Luckily before the two of them could start fighting, which seemed to always end up happening more often than not whenever Arissa visited Clara, the Doctor's TARDIS finally started to materialize at long last. Ashildr completely forgot about her feud with Arissa at that moment as she started to race towards the Console Room in excitement.

After all she was about to see Will again.

Within minutes Ashildr was the first one out of the TARDIS doors as she emerged from the interior of the ancient ship to find herself in the middle of what she instantly recognized to be the Globe Theatre. In what might almost be a serendipitous moment (although she suspected that it had happened more by the TARDIS' design than it had by some lucky happenstance) she also found herself literally face to face with her son who was staring at her in absolute astonishment as if he couldn't believe that she was actually there.

In a way it was the perfect commentary on their relationship sadly enough.

"Mother?" Will asked in a surprised voice.

He was half convinced that he might be hallucinating but unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately was the better term since he hardly wanted to be mad) he couldn't confirm that since he was all alone in the theatre at that moment. He had stayed behind long after everyone else had left for the night once they had finished their rehearsals for tomorrow's play. He hadn't been sure why he had done this exactly, but some inner voice had just told him that he had to be there and luckily he had listened to it.

Ashildr smiled and hugged him tightly as she said in a voice filled with love, "Yes, it's really me. Hello, Will."

Will's shocked look became even more pronounced now as his jaw dropped open and he said in a weak voice, "Are you actually displaying affection towards me?"

Ashildr's heart filled with sorrow at his comment as she said in an emotional voice, "The very fact that you even have to ask that question of me makes what I came here to do even more imperative, Will."

"And what was that exactly?" Will asked in an uncertain tone.

Ashildr clasped his hands in hers now and said in what she hoped he would know was an earnest voice, "I wanted to apologize to you for never showing you one moment of love while you were growing up. I made sure that you had a good home and the best education that I could give you, but I know that could never truly make up for my almost total lack of involvement in your life. Yes, I would sometimes visit you in the guise of your distant cousin in order to avoid any troublesome questions about our relationship and tell you many stories of my travels and the places that I had been to, but I know that wasn't what you really wanted to hear from me. You wanted me to tell you that I loved you didn't you? I'm so sorry that I never could. That's going to change from now on though. I promise. I love you, Will."

Will looked absolutely thunderstruck in that moment as he said in a voice filled with amazement, "You've changed. It's almost as if you're a completely different person now. Before whenever you would visit me you would always act so cold and distant towards me that I sometimes wondered if you resented my very existence, but now you have a heart so filled with love that it seems as though it will suddenly burst at any moment if you don't continuously tell me of it."

Ashildr laughed as she said, "You can tell that you're a writer alright. That description is a little overly melodramatic, but I suppose it's a basically accurate one."

"This is the first time that I've seen you since I was a child and yet somehow you still look exactly the same as you did back then. How is that possible?" Will asked as he continued to look at Ashildr as if he wasn't sure if she was really there or not.

Ashildr began to become a bit nervous now as she remembered that she had stopped visiting Will long ago for this very reason. She had known that he would inevitably start asking questions about her appearance one day if she continued to visit him past a certain age.

"Oh, well obviously I use tons of makeup so that you don't see what a wrinkled old crone that I've become now. That's hardly a mystery, Will," Ashildr said with a smirk as she attempted to deflect the question with humor.

It seemed to have at least partially worked because Will started to laugh as he said, "I would much rather believe that explanation than the one that I used to hear about you when I was a boy. I actually heard my adopted father say that you were a witch once. I never believed that of course since I consider myself a rational man and despite your frequent coldness towards me growing up I've never once considered you to be evil or a bad person."

Tears welled up in Ashildr's eyes at his words because she could tell that he meant them as she said, "Thank you, Will. I'm honestly not sure why you didn't think the worst of me though after the way that I treated you."

Will looked deep into her eyes then as he said, "There were many times that I would doubt whether you truly cared for me or not growing up but there were moments when I would see the faintest hint of a smile on your face when you looked at me. I would just catch a fleeting glimpse of it but it was there all the same. It was an undeniable smile of pride. I was always delighted to see that ghost of a smile on your face as a child because that was when I knew for sure no matter how you acted that somewhere deep down you truly did love me."

"Of course I did. I always loved you and I was always, always proud of you," Ashildr said as she eagerly hugged him once more.

It was Will's turn to tear up now as he said, "I've waited my entire life to hear you say that."

"And now you'll get to hear it as often as you like for the rest of your life . . . if you'll let me visit you that is. I'll understand if you never want to see me again though," Ashildr said in an anxious voice.

To her immense relief, Will smiled and kissed her cheek as he said, "I will always be glad to see you, Mother. I've come to realize the true importance of family in recent years and how we should do our best to enjoy their company while they're still with us."

Ashildr looked at him sadly because she knew exactly what he was referring to by that statement. She had continued to watch over him even after she had stopped visiting him after all so she knew everything that had happened to him . . . and to the ones that he loved.

"Yes, I heard about your son Hamnet's death. I'm so sorry about that, Will. I wish that I had told you that at the time," Ashildr said in a voice filled with regret.

Will nodded at her and gave her a brief smile of gratitude before he suddenly changed the obviously painful subject as he pointed to the TARDIS and said, "And is this strange blue box that you just appeared out of the cause of your sudden change in behavior?"

That was when Ashildr realized that the TARDIS had sent her too far back in Will's timeline. He hadn't even met the Doctor yet much less seen the TARDIS itself before.

No wonder he had looked so shocked earlier.

"It's times like this that I really appreciate how remarkably efficient Eleanor always was. She was nothing like this miserable excuse for a ship. It seems that Clara was right about you, Idris. You really are a miserable old cow," Ashildr said to the TARDIS as she gave it a dirty look.

"Mother, are you feeling quite well?" Will asked in concern as he watched his mother carry on a conversation with the mysterious blue box as though it were alive and perfectly capable of understanding her.

He had seen such behavior before from his friend Peter just before he was sent to Bedlam, and he hoped that it didn't mean that his mother was about to suffer a similar fate. It would certainly explain her sudden complete change in personality however.

That was when the Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and said to Ashildr in an irritated voice, "I was about to tell you that the TARDIS went back a little too early and that we're several months before Will's meeting with Sandshoes and Martha, but you were in such a hurry to race outside that I didn't get the chance. If you're this reckless when you're traveling with Clara, it's a wonder you're still alive. Sometimes it actually does pay to stop and listen to me for a minute before you go mindlessly charging off somewhere. You might just learn something important that way."

"Yes, well I suppose I was just used to traveling on a ship that actually works and takes me to the exact time and place that I want it to go. I took it for granted that all TARDISes functioned that way. I can see that that seems to be a bit of a problem with your ship though. I'm just glad that we actually managed to arrive somewhere within Will's lifetime and that I didn't end up coming here when the entire area was underwater instead," Ashildr said with a frown.

Will couldn't help but smile at their exchange. It was almost as if this strange old man thought that he was his mother's father based on the way that he spoke to her. His mother obviously didn't appreciate being placed in such a role judging by her comments to him.

"This is one of those times when it's painfully obvious to me that you've spent several centuries living with Clara," The Doctor said as he rolled his eyes at her.

"And what's that supposed to mean exactly, Old Man?" Clara asked in an angry voice as she stepped out of the TARDIS behind him.

Thankfully for the sake of his continuing good health the Doctor never had a chance to attempt to answer that question. Before he could even think about speaking Will had already raced up to Clara with a look on his face like that of a thirsty man who has just found an oasis in the middle of the desert.

"And who might you be, my dark haired beauty?" Will said with an enormous smile as he automatically began flirting with Clara.

"Will, don't. Not with her," Ashildr commanded in a stern tone.

Will wasn't even listening to her however as he continued to shamelessly flirt while he said, "I know an excellent tavern nearby that we could visit together after I've finished speaking with my mother if you're feeling thirsty. There's also a very nice inn that just happens to be located right next to it if you'd care to check into it for the night. I know that you must be exceptionally weary after all of your travels especially after having to spend them all cramped up in such a tiny little box. I have no idea how the three of you ever fit in there together."

"Somehow I don't get the impression that Clara getting a good night's sleep is very high on your list of priorities," The Doctor said in an angry voice.

Will briefly flashed the Doctor a look of annoyance as he said to Clara, "You can always get a separate room for your dear old grandfather here of course so that he won't be bothered by what I'm sure will be many hours of delightful conversation between us. I'm sure someone as advanced in years as he obviously is needs all of the sleep that they can get after all."

"'Conversation', eh? Is that what they call it in this day and age?" The Doctor said with a snort as he glared at Will for calling him Clara's grandfather.

Surely if he was going to be mistaken for someone, he should have been thought of as her incredibly handsome slightly older brother instead.

Clara had been watching the Doctor's growing jealousy in silent amusement up until this point but she finally decided to do something about that at last now as she said to Will, "Sorry but I'm afraid that I'll have to decline that selfless offer of yours to spend the night 'talking' with me. You see my wife Ashildr over there, otherwise known as your mum, probably wouldn't appreciate that too much. I mean technically you are my step-son aren't you?"

Will's eyes almost burst from their sockets now as he said, "Mother, is this true? Are the two of you . . . ?"

That was nothing compared to the utterly miserable look on the Doctor's face at that moment. Apparently he had actually believed her even though he of all people really should have known better. Clara knew that she should feel terrible for putting him through the wringer like that, but that look alone had instantly made this entire joke worthwhile for her.

Ashildr immediately began violently shaking her head no with a look on her face that was such an odd mixture of horror, embarrassment, and disgust that it quickly made Clara burst out laughing at the sight of it.

Clara reluctantly let Ashildr off the hook then as she said to Will with a mischievous smile, "Just winding you up, Shakespeare. Your mother and I are actually more like sisters to be honest. That tiny little white lie of mine certainly got your attention though didn't it? Maybe next time you'll think twice before you start hitting on some random person that you've just met. You might just turn out to be related to them."

"Or she might just be proving why she's a doctor of lies instead," The Doctor said with a furious look on his face as he glared at Clara.

Will immediately started to smile once more now as he said to Clara in a jubilant voice, "Oh, I can already tell that I'm going to like you. That was very clever, my dear. I for one am very glad that we're not related however or I would surely be condemned for what would otherwise be some very unnatural thoughts at this moment."

"That's enough, Will. Leave Clara alone. I mean it. I don't ever want to hear you talk like that to her again," Ashildr said in a no nonsense tone that Clara instinctively knew just had to be her 'mum voice'.

She had heard that tone much too often from her own mother for her to ever mistake it for anything else.

Will certainly hadn't mistaken it either as he immediately looked visibly chastised and said in a defensive tone, "I was only joking with her, Mother. I never meant to offend anyone."

"That may be but you certainly offended me so don't do it again. Am I understood?" Ashildr said in a stern voice.

"Yes, Mother," Will said with a dejected look on his face.

Then to his immense surprise Ashildr actually started to laugh as she said in a voice filled with joy, "Isn't it wonderful? I just disciplined you for the first time. I'm actually starting to feel like a proper mother now."

"And you didn't even have to change his diapers, burp him, or do any potty training, Ashy. You skipped right over the worst parts and fast forwarded straight to adulthood instead," Clara joked.

"Yes, lucky me," Ashildr said with a forlorn look on her face that Clara had in no way meant to put there.

"And people say that I'm rude. I'll remember this the next time you make fun of me for saying something that I shouldn't," The Doctor said with a frown.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you," Clara said to Ashildr in an apologetic tone as she pointedly ignored the Doctor who she could tell was still mad at her for her little joke earlier.

"I know you didn't. You just don't think before you speak sometimes. It's one of your many loveable little quirks isn't it?" Ashildr said with a wicked smile.

Clara gave her a cold look at first and then eventually smiled back at her as she said, "I'm going to let that slide just this once because I made you upset. Don't count on it happening a second time though, Viking Girl."

"Yes, I can definitely see a strong sibling relationship between the two of you, Mother," Will said as he watched with undisguised amusement while his mother stuck her tongue out at Clara.

"What he means is that you're both acting like children," The Doctor interjected.

"Okay, Doctor, I get it. You don't have to keep making your snarky little remarks. You're angry about my little lie earlier. I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to scare you," Clara said with a sigh.

"You did far more than just scare me, Clara. I think I may have actually lost a couple of regenerations," The Doctor complained.

"Well, considering that I helped get you those regenerations in the first place I'd say I'm owed at least a few of them wouldn't you?" Clara said with a smirk.

The Doctor suddenly looked visibly disturbed once more which caused Clara to say, "Don't tell me. You don't remember that either, do you? Of course this time that's not as bad as it sounds. You weren't actually there when I talked to the Time Lords, Doctor. I told you about it later."

This didn't seem to help the Doctor's mood any though as he said in a weary voice, "You've done so much for me and I probably don't even remember half of it now."

"It's not important, Doctor," Clara said in a reassuring voice.

"Of course it's important. It's all important. You're the woman that I love, Clara. Everything about you is important. Everything," The Doctor said in a frustrated voice as his eyes began to fill with tears.

"Doctor, it's alright. It really doesn't bother me," Clara said in a gentle voice as she did her best to calm him down.

"It bothers me though," The Doctor said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.

That was when Jane finally left the TARDIS at last because she simply couldn't contain herself any longer. She had decided that Ashildr had had more than enough time to say what she wanted to him. She just had to meet THE William Shakespeare.

"And yet another magnificent beauty emerges from this fantastic wooden box I see. How on Earth did so many of you manage to fit together inside of it? If I didn't know any better, I would swear that it was a portal to the land of the fairies instead of just a cramped wooden box. I certainly could be forgiven for mistaking you for the beautiful Titania, Queen of the Fairies, I think," Will said with a face wide grin as he rushed over to kiss Jane's hand.

Jane instantly blushed in response and started to giggle like a schoolgirl as she said, "I thank you for your kind words, sir. A Midsummer Night's Dream has always been one of my favorite plays since I was a little girl."

Will looked at her quizzically now as he said, "Since you were a little girl? That can hardly be possible. You must be thinking of some other play because this particular play would not have even existed that far back in time."

Jane mentally kicked herself for her mistake as she said, "Yes, I'm afraid that I really must be. I do enjoy the play though nonetheless. You have no idea just how important that you've been to my life and how great of an influence that you've been on me. In fact you've helped inspire many of my own stories. I just wanted you to know that."

"Your stories? So you're a writer as well then?" Will asked intrigued.

"Yes, I've written several novels but . . . none of them are under my own name," Jane admitted.

"Ah, I see. This absurd idea held by so many people that women shouldn't be writers and that it's somehow unladylike to do so is definitely one that I do not support. If I had my way, female writers would never have to be published under a male name again, and you would get all of the credit that you deserve," Will said in what Jane was sure was an earnest tone.

"Don't worry. One day she will," Clara added with such an air of certainty that Will couldn't help but wonder if she knew something that he didn't.

In fact he was beginning to suspect that nothing was as it seemed to be regarding his mother's strange new traveling companions. She may not be a witch but she was definitely something far from ordinary. He had always known that about her.

His thoughts were completely justified a moment later when Eleanor and Arissa finally left the TARDIS as well. He knew that there was no natural way that six people could have all fit into such a small space as the cramped wooden box that he currently saw before him.

It simply wasn't possible by any normal means that he knew of.

"Mother, tell me the truth about that wooden box that you arrived in out of thin air and how you all fit inside of it. Is it some sort of elaborate magic trick? If it is, I have yet to understand how it all works," Will asked in a confused voice.

Ashildr now gave the Doctor a questioning look since he was the authority on what Will should and shouldn't know about the future. To her surprise, he actually nodded to her in encouragement and was basically telling her to tell Will the truth.

And why shouldn't he? It add made perfect sense to him now in hindsight as to how Will seemed to know so much about him and the TARDIS when Sandshoes had met him months from now. He knew because he had already found out the truth from his current self but had had to pretend that he had figured it all out for himself instead in order to keep Sandshoes from knowing too much about his own future.

He should have known that not even Shakespeare would be that brilliant.

As soon as Ashildr finished telling him the basic facts behind the TARDIS and the Doctor, Will started to practically beam with excitement as he said, "This is extraordinary and yet it's the only explanation that helps make sense out of everything that I've seen here today so it must be true. So the old man is actually a shape-shifter capable of wearing a multitude of faces, and he comes from another world that possesses a technology far in advance of our own. He uses this box, which is somehow bigger on the inside, to travel through time and space, and he's brought you, Clara, and the others here from the future. Is that correct?"

"Actually I'm from the distant past from your perspective since my people were traveling through time long before yours ever left their caves and are far superior to yours in every way. No offense meant of course. I'm simply stating the facts," Arissa said with a grin.

"None taken, my lady, because I'm certain that it's all too true," Will said with a reassuring smile.

Then a thoughtful look came over his face as he asked his mother, "And does this advanced technology of the Doctor's somehow explain why you don't appear to age then? It's somehow allowed you to retain your youth indefinitely hasn't it?"

"Very good. This one's definitely not as bad as all of the other pudding brains, Ashildr. He's your son alright," The Doctor said proudly.

"He called you Ashildr and so did Clara earlier. I always knew you only as Me which I assumed must be your initials since it could hardly be a proper name. Is Ashildr your true name then?" Will asked his mother curiously.

Ashildr nodded as she said, "My name was Ashildr Einarrsdottir originally, but I have had many other names in the past."

"The name Ashildr is Viking in origin isn't it? Is that what your ancestors were originally?" Will asked.

Ashildr took a deep breath as she considered her answer for a brief moment and then decided that she wanted to always be as honest as possible with him from now on as she answered, "I was born a Viking actually several hundred years before your time because the technology that the Doctor used on me did more than just make me eternally young. It also made me immortal. Me was the name I ultimately ended up choosing for a long time because after a few hundred years I completely forgot my own name and quickly tired of using false ones. I am Ashildr once again though because for the first time in a very long time I finally remember who I am."

She wrapped her arm around him then as she said, "And I mean that in more ways than one, Will. This is the person that you should have known grown up. You deserved that."

"You're hundreds of years old?" Will asked in astonishment.

"More like billions actually or possibly even trillions. Even I'm not sure to be honest. I highly doubt that she is either," The Doctor said in a nonchalant tone.

Ashildr was now beyond angry because the Doctor was throwing too much at Will all at once. She had wanted to slowly ease him into the full details of her history so that it didn't completely overwhelm even his highly imaginative mind. As usual the Doctor didn't even consider how knowing the whole story about her all at once might completely overwhelm Will though.

Will looked absolutely shocked now as he said, "Evidently there is still so much about you that I don't know even now, Mother."

"You will eventually, Will. I promise. Are you alright?" Ashildr asked with concern as she continued to give the Doctor angry looks.

"I'd say based on those death stares that Ashildr keeps giving me that I said something that I shouldn't have, but I can't imagine what that might have been," The Doctor asked Clara.

"Oh, yeah. You definitely did alright. I'll explain it to you later, Old Man," Clara answered.

"I probably still won't understand it even then but you're welcome to try anyway," The Doctor admitted.

"Is he always like this?" Arissa asked Eleanor as she gave the Doctor a look of disbelief.

"You have no idea," Eleanor said with a chuckle.

Then she smiled and said, "I call myself Eleanor by the way."

Arissa nodded as she said, "It's nice to meet you, Eleanor. I'm sorry if I was a bit standoffish to you earlier by not speaking to you directly, but I'm not used to thinking of a capsule as a person. Then again my father didn't even think of our fellow Time Lords as people so I suppose it's really no wonder. I'm not even sure he thought of me as a person come to think of it."

"I'm sorry. I've always heard so many unflattering stories about Rassilon but I suppose I didn't really even begin to understand just how bad he truly was until now," Eleanor said meaning it.

Arissa laughed as she said, "Unflattering is a very nice way of putting it. Monstrous and/or horrible is probably much more accurate though. I'm here to assure you that everything that you've heard is true and then some."

"You're not there now though so just try to forget about it for a while," Eleanor said in a sympathetic voice.

Arissa looked at her with such a look of overwhelming despair in her eyes at that moment that Eleanor visibly cringed as the Time Lady said, "I wish I could."

Then she turned to Ashildr and said, "I'm sure you'd disagree but I actually think if I could lose all of my memories that I'd be so much better off. I might actually be happy for once."

Ashildr shook her head as she said, "Our memories are what make us who we are, Arissa. For better or worse we need them or we'll never truly be whole. Look at what happened to me. I couldn't even tell my own son that I loved him until I regained my full identity again. No matter how much you think you would like to forget your past right now you have to trust me when I say that you definitely don't. It's a fate worse than death."

Arissa began to smile from ear to ear then which caused Ashildr to say, "What?"

"That's the nicest that you've ever been to me," Arissa said as she began to actually properly smile at her for once.

"Yeah, well you're not so bad when you actually act like a normal person," Ashildr admitted with a brief smile of her own.

She couldn't resist adding, "Too bad it doesn't happen very often."

"Why am I not particularly surprised that that touching little moment between you two didn't last longer than two seconds?" Clara said with a groan.

"I'd still consider it one of the Wonders of the Universe that it even happened at all, Clara, so I wouldn't knock it. I would have thought that the Daleks would have suddenly become best friends with the Time Lords long before those two would have ever said anything even remotely civil to one another," Eleanor said with a smirk.

Clara couldn't help laughing despite the angry looks on her friends' face in response to Eleanor's teasing because she knew that it was all too true. That was when she turned to the Doctor in order to see his reaction . . . and noticed that he was gone.

"Are you looking for the old man? I saw him go back inside of his blue box a moment ago with a determined look on his face," Will said as he noticed that Clara was looking for him.

"What? Why would he . . . ?" Clara started to ask.

Then her heart filled with terror as the sudden realization of what the Doctor must have been thinking about hit her all at once like a thunderbolt. He had just been listening to a discussion about how important memories were.

"Don't you dare!" Clara screamed as she rushed back towards the TARDIS before it could disappear off to who knew where.

To her surprise however it was actually still there when she arrived. If he wasn't leaving, then what was he up to? She tried to open the doors to find out but quickly found that they were locked from the inside.

Clara fought back a rising surge of panic in that moment because she had to get inside there. She needed to know what that daft old git of hers was doing so that she could save him from himself if she had to.

"Clara, there's something that you need to know," Eleanor said with a clear look of concern in her eyes.

Clara became even more panicked now as she said in a worried voice, "The Old Cow just told you what he's up to didn't she?"

Eleanor frowned as she said, "Actually she didn't. He's completely blocked her telepathic network from having any access to the outside world so that she can't tell me anything."

"He knows exactly what he's doing then. The daft old man actually has a plan for once. Now I really have to get in there so that I can kick his . . ." Clara said in a voice filled with venom.

Eleanor interrupted her as she said, "Clara, that's what I was trying to tell you. Just before the Doctor cut Idris off she told me that he had just activated an isomorphic lock on the TARDIS doors."

"What? He once told me that there was no such thing as isomorphic anything?" Clara said in disbelief.

"Do I really have to explain Rule Number One to you?" Eleanor said with a frown.

"So in other words he's the only one in the universe who can open those doors now because they'll only respond to his genetic code, right? I am so going to kill him the next time that I see him," Clara said in a voice that was quivering with raw, unrestrained fury.

Then her voice filled with sorrow in the very next moment as she said, "That is if he doesn't wind up killing himself first instead."

"Maybe you could use the device on your wrist to find an earlier version of the Doctor and convince him to open the doors," Jane suggested.

Clara hesitated for a moment as she considered the possibility and then said, "No, they'd never do it because they'd all think that our Doctor must have a good reason for not wanting to let anyone else in there. The Doctor trusts himself too much to do something like that even if he usually can't stand himself. Maybe I could try tricking him into opening it but I doubt he'd ever believe that anyone but him could ever be smart enough to put a lock like that on the TARDIS."

Tears began to rapidly fall down her cheeks then as she said in a voice filled with emotion, "I don't know what to do. There's no way that I can get inside there now in time to keep him from doing something stupid."

"How do you know that he's doing something stupid though?" Ashildr said in an encouraging voice.

Clara gave her an icy stare that immediately made her answer, "Well, it's possible that he actually has a decent highly intelligent plan in mind that's not completely off the wall, right?"

Clara continued to give her that same withering look until she finally admitted, "Okay, you're right."

"What do I do, Ashy? Who can I turn to?" Clara asked in a voice filled with uncertainty.

That was when Ashildr suddenly began humming that same odd tune from before once more and something clicked in Clara's mind.

She finally knew what that tune was now.

"867-5309," Clara said as her heart suddenly began to fill with hope once more.

"What?" Ashildr said as she looked at her as if she had just lost her mind.

"It's the name of an old pop song from the 1980s. That's what you've been humming all of this time. It can't be a coincidence though. Not now because the other name of that song is . . . !" Clara said in an excited voice.

Clara was interrupted before she could finish though as the very song that she had been talking about started playing out of nowhere while a large pink box that looked eerily similar to the Doctor's TARDIS began to materialize out of nowhere.

"What the?!" Clara said as she looked on in amazement.

"What is that? Is that something to do with you?" Will asked Ashildr.

"I don't think so," Ashildr said as she stared at the rapidly materializing object in utter disbelief.

"You know what it is don't you, Eleanor?" Jane asked as she realized that the ex-TARDIS didn't seem to be surprised at all by what was happening.

Arissa looked at Eleanor closely and then said, "You do know don't you? I think I do too. I've heard of them before but I never thought I'd actually see one."

"See what? What is it, Princess?" Clara demanded.

"It's a CORDIS," Eleanor said without hesitation.

"A what? Are you speaking another language now?" Clara asked in absolute confusion.

Eleanor smiled at her patiently as she explained, "It's called a CORDIS. That stands for Conveyance of Repeating Dialogue In Space-Time. Basically they're a third rate copy of me and my sisters. A group of beings called the Word Lords created them to travel through time and space just as we do. Unlike us though they disguise themselves as common words or phrases spoken throughout the universe and will suddenly appear when that word or phrase is said out loud. This one was obviously disguised as the name of the song that Ashildr was humming. The song itself has apparently become the CORDIS' materialization sound. That's very clever actually with the way that songs become earworms like they do. Someone was bound to sing it somewhere eventually."

"Especially if someone used to hum that particular song around an immortal girl day in and day out back when she was a child," Clara mused to herself as she began to think that none of this could be a coincidence.

That belief was all but affirmed a moment later when the CORDIS finally finished materializing at last and its doors opened. A young blonde woman stepped out with a relieved look on her face and immediately dropped to her feet and kissed the floor in gratitude.

"Now I know that it's not a coincidence. I knew it was her! It had to be," Clara said in triumph.

"Finally! I'm so glad to be someplace else again. Anyplace else. I thought I'd never get out of that stupid ship. I've been trapped in there for who knows how long just waiting on someone somewhere to say the name of that song. I guess I really should have picked out some other phrase to disguise the ship as, but I didn't really have a whole lot of time. Besides it was the first thing that came to my mind, and I was only seconds away from being blown up. It wasn't until I dematerialized though that I realized that the controls had been damaged, and the only thing that could bring me back to the real world again was a song that wouldn't even be written yet for several hundred years. Embarrassing, huh? Anyway I'd really like to thank you whoever you . . ." The blonde woman said and then she stopped speaking as she looked closely at Ashildr.

"Ashildr?" The blonde asked in an uncertain voice.

"M - Mother?" Ashildr said as she stared at the woman in stunned disbelief.

Clara looked towards the TARDIS with a sly grin as she said, "I totally called it. I don't know how exactly but you planned all of this didn't you? I know you did. This has your non-existent fingerprints all over. You looked into the future and saw what the Doctor was going to do, and then you found a way around it."

"Ashildr. I can't believe that it's really you," The blonde said with a look of pure joy as she raced forward and began to hug her daughter tightly.

"How is this possible? I thought you were . . . I don't understand," Ashildr said in a numb voice.

"It's a long story but I'll do my best to explain it, sweetie," The blonde said as she began to cry with joy at being reunited with the daughter that she was sure that she would never see again.

After all no one in Ashildr's time would have possibly known the name of that song.

"We don't have time for that right now, Jenny. You have to open those doors before it's too late to save your father, and right now you're the only one here who can," Clara said in an anxious voice as she pointed to the TARDIS.

"Who are you and how do you know who I am?" Jenny said suspiciously.

Then she stopped in her tracks as she finally looked in the direction that Clara was pointing and saw a blue box standing nearby that she instinctively recognized even though she'd never actually gotten to see it before. After all her father had promised her that she would travel with him in that very same ship one day, and she had never let go of that hope no matter how many long grueling years had passed for her since then.

"Dad's here? I finally found him?" Jenny asked in excitement as her heart filled with joy.

"Dad?" Ashildr asked as the full realization of that statement hit her in the gut like a pile-driver.

So that meant that she was the Doctor's granddaughter? It couldn't be!

That would explain so very much about their relationship though, wouldn't it?

"Yeah, and if you ever want to see him alive again you'd better hurry up and get in there before he does who knows what to himself. Go, Blondie! Go!" Clara ordered.

"Okay, okay. Talk about bossy," Jenny said with a deep frown as she began to rush towards the TARDIS.

"You don't know the half of it yet," Ashildr said with a huge smile on her face.

"I'm sure you'll tell her all about it later though," Eleanor said with a chuckle.

"I don't understand. I thought you said only the Doctor could open those doors now," Jane asked Eleanor.

"She can too though because in a way she is the Doctor. She's not just his daughter. She's also his clone," Clara explained with a smug grin.

"So that means in some way that I don't quite understand that she's somehow a copy of him and therefore can open the doors," Jane reasoned.

"You're good," Clara said as she looked at Jane with renewed appreciation.

"You're definitely more in your element here than I then since I have no idea how that young girl could possibly share anything in common with the doddering old man that I met before," Will said to Jane in a voice that clearly said that he didn't believe it for an instant.

"I'll explain later, Ashy, Jr. Open those doors now, Blondie!" Clara commanded.

"Ashy, Jr.?" Will asked in puzzlement.

"I can't open them! I don't have the key," Jenny said in an irritated voice as she tried to push on the doors and they refused to budge.

Clara smiled as she said, "You don't need one. You are the key. Just snap your fingers, Jen."

"What?" Jenny said as she looked at Clara as if she had just lost her mind.

"Just trust me," Clara encouraged her.

Jenny nodded and then she quickly snapped her fingers as loudly as she could. She gasped in astonishment a moment later as the two doors instantly fell open.

"I was right. It works for you too because genetically you're him," Clara said with a smug smile of victory.

Then all traces of a smile vanished from her face as she looked into the Console Room and saw a strange woman with red hair who was dressed all in black standing over a now prostrate Doctor who was lying unconscious on the floor.

At least she hoped he was only unconscious anyway.

"I wasn't fast enough. We're already too late," Jenny said in a heartbroken voice as she automatically assumed the worst.

"What have you done to him?" Clara demanded from the stranger.

The mysterious woman held up her hands in surrender and said in a placating tone, "It's not what it looks like. I came here because he called me. He wanted my help in retrieving his lost memories. It's what I do. I'm a specialist in restoring even the most deeply buried memories. I've had a great deal of success with it in the past and the Doctor thought that might mean that I'd have a better chance of helping him than anyone else could especially since we once shared such a deep connection with one another."

"What kind of connection? What are you talking about?" Clara asked with a slight hint of jealousy in her voice.

"The same kind of connection that Idris has with him if I'm not mistaken. You're a TARDIS too aren't you? And yet somehow you're different from my sisters and me," Eleanor said as she stared at the woman with a furrowed brow.

"Let me guess. Your name is Compassion, right?" Arissa asked as she remembered what the Doctor had told her earlier.

The woman looked at her in surprise at first and then swiftly nodded as she explained, "Yes. For a brief time I took the place of the Doctor's TARDIS when he thought that he had lost her for good. We established the same sort of mental connection between us as he has with her although obviously it was nowhere near as strong. The Doctor had hoped that thanks to that bond between us and my unique abilities that I could retrieve his lost memories of a woman named Clara Oswald from deep within his subconscious."

"Apparently it didn't quite work out that way though did it?" Clara asked in a worried voice as she gently touched the Doctor's face with concern.

Compassion noticeably avoided looking directly into Clara's eyes as she said in a voice filled with guilt, "I . . . I'm not sure what happened. It seemed as if I was actually helping him at first because I could see a flood of memories, all of them featuring you, returning to him all at once. And then he began to scream and flail about as the connection between us was suddenly severed. A moment later he completely lost consciousness and fell to the floor before I could catch him. I was about to attempt to go back into his mind once again to see what had happened when you opened the front doors."

"He's still alive at least but I can't seem to wake him," Clara said with growing concern as she checked his pulse and felt a reassuring double heartbeat there.

"Should I attempt to go back into his mind once more?" Compassion asked cautiously as she looked to Clara for consent.

Clara hesitated because she really didn't know this woman and wasn't sure whether to trust her or not. What if she had actually been trying to kill the Doctor and wanted to finish the job she had started instead of helping him? Then again the Doctor had just talked about someone named Compassion so it was possible that that was what that weird look on his face earlier meant. Maybe that was when he had gotten the idea to call her for help the first chance he got.

"Clara, we have to give her the benefit of the doubt and at least let her try. Something's wrong with him. Even Idris can't reach him now. His mind has become completely closed off. It's as if he's retreated into himself for some reason," Eleanor warned.

"He must have undergone some kind of tremendous psychic attack while he had let his mental defenses down to allow Compassion access to his memories. That's the only thing that would explain a sudden mental retreat like that," Arissa said as she stared at Compassion with growing suspicion.

"Don't look at me like that. It wasn't me. The Doctor is my friend," Compassion protested in what Clara thought was an earnest voice.

Could she really be sure of that though?

And then a horrible thought filled her mind as she said, "No. It couldn't be him could it?"

"Who? What are you talking about, Clara?" Arissa asked.

"Clara, Fenric is dead. I felt him die," Ashildr said as once again she displayed her almost uncanny ability to read Clara's mind.

"Are you sure though? I mean the Doctor thought he was dead before and obviously he survived. What if what's left of him just tried to kill the Doctor when his defenses were down?" Clara reasoned.

I see that you're as brilliant as always, Clara Oswald. You were so very close to the truth. You have the right idea but the wrong entity I'm afraid. An all too familiar voice suddenly said in Clara's mind that sent shivers down her spine.

"Akhaten," Clara said out loud as her stomach began to feel as if it had been twisted inside out.

Akhaten's heartless laughter filled Clara's mind as soon as she identified him and caused a cold rage to begin to overtake her in response.

Yes, Clara, despite Fenric's attack on me somehow I survived. I was left so weakened by his assault however that I was completely unable to do anything to help myself regain even my former greatly diminished level of power. I thought that I would always remain as nothing more than a shadow of my former self doomed to float around your two TARDISes for all eternity until the Doctor so graciously offered up his memories of you to me on a silver platter! Now that I've had a taste of them I want more. It doesn't matter how far he goes within himself to escape me I will have more. I will feast upon the untapped potential of several lifetimes within him and use them to regain my former power and strength. Once I do I will finally crush you once and for all in the very next moment. Then my revenge upon you will finally be complete at last as I rob you of both your lover and your life in one fell swoop. Akhaten threatened with malicious glee.

"No, that's never going to happen, Parasite Boy. Not if I have anything to say about it," Clara said out loud as she balled her hands up into fists.

This was her fault. She should have made sure that he was really dead somehow. Now the Doctor had paid the price for her negligence.

"Clara, you can't possibly blame yourself for this. There's no possible way that you could have known," Eleanor said in a compassionate voice.

"There's no time to try to ease my guilty conscience, TARDIS Girl. I have to get inside of the Doctor's mind and find a way to stop Akhaten from getting any further inside of it than he already has. Do any of you have any ideas on how I can do that?" Clara asked in a determined voice.

"I can help with that but I have to warn you that it's going to be extremely dangerous. He could easily feed on your memories too," Arissa warned as she gave Clara a worried look.

"In fact you might say that this whole thing is a trap in order to do exactly that, Clara. We have to think about this first before we just go charging in," Eleanor advised.

"She won't though. So when do we go?" Ashildr said with a knowing smile.

"We? We aren't going to do anything. I'm going in there alone, Ashy," Clara insisted.

Ashildr shook her head as she said, "I don't think so. If you're going to do something this unbelievably stupid, then I'm going in there right alongside you and do my best to keep you safe. Whether you like it or not."

Clara shook her head as she said with a faint smile, "So instead of trying to be my mother and stop me now the new you is just going to join me, huh?"

"What else are sisters for?" Ashildr said with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"I don't think so," Jenny said as she gave Ashildr a defiant glare.

"Mother, I have to. She's my . . ." Ashildr said as she tried to explain herself.

Jenny smiled and nodded as she interrupted her and said, "Yeah, I get that. What I meant is that the two of you aren't going in there alone. I only just got you back again, Ashildr, and I'm not about to lose you now. Besides he's my father and I've finally found him after years of searching through all of time and space for him. I'm not about to just stand by and lose him now when I've finally gotten this close. I'm going in there too and don't even try to talk me out of it."

Arissa laughed at Jenny's stubborn expression as she said, "So is anyone else joining in? The more the merrier I say. It really doesn't make any difference to me. I mean I think you're all absolutely insane, but I'll gladly give Clara all of the help that she can get. It just increases her chances of surviving."

"This isn't the time for jokes, Princess. This is serious," Clara admonished her.

"Who's joking? I'm completely terrified right now. I really wish that you'd reconsider this, Clara," Arissa said in an emotional voice as she became extremely upset.

Clara was the only person in the universe who she could actually call her friend after all.

"I'll be fine. I've been through worse than this before. Besides I've already defeated Parasite Boy before, Princess. He's a pushover. Trust me," Clara reassured her in a soft voice as she wrapped her arms around Arissa and gave her a hug.

"Liar," Arissa said even as she smiled through her tears.

"It's not a lie. It's a promise. I'm coming back. Don't ever doubt that. There's no way that I'm going to give up now when I finally have everything that I've always wanted," Clara said as she looked around the room at all of her friends who were all equally as worried for her even if they wouldn't admit it at the moment.

No, they were more than just friends. They were her family and it was a family that just kept growing it seemed she thought with satisfaction as she looked at Jenny and Will.

Then Clara turned to look at the Doctor and said, "Do you hear me in there, Old Man? I'm coming to save you and I don't care if there's a hundred Akhatens in there with you. I'll slap them all into next week. In one life or another I've kept you safe for an eternity now and I'm not about to stop. Love is a promise. You taught me that."

Then she kissed him and after pulling away from him said in a cold voice, "And after I save you, I'm going to drop kick you into next week too right alongside Parasite Boy for putting me through all of this."

"Come on, Clara. Let's wait until he's conscious first before you threaten him anymore. Then you can see the look of pure terror in his eyes while you're threatening to pound him into oblivion. I know you always enjoy that part," Ashildr said with a chuckle.

"That's true," Clara said with a wicked smile.

"I think I liked you better back when you were playing substitute mother. There's a difference between backing her up and actively encouraging her, Ashildr," Eleanor said in disapproval.

"True, but we have you now so I figure I can retire," Ashildr joked even as her eyes told Eleanor that she would watch out for Clara.

"Okay. That's enough chin wagging, everyone. Let's do this. I'm ready whenever you are, Princess," Clara said as she turned to give a visibly uncertain Arissa one last reassuring smile.

"Everyone that's going in needs to hold Clara's hand. I'll do the rest," Arissa said with a deep sigh as she placed one hand on Clara's forehead and the other on the Doctor's.

As Ashildr and Jenny each grabbed one of Clara's hands, they were both taken by surprise when Will suddenly grabbed Ashildr's hand and Jane grabbed Jenny's.

"No, Will. You're not going," Ashildr ordered.

"That goes double for you, Writer Girl," Clara said as she looked at Jane with undisguised concern.

Instead of backing down though, Will smiled at his mother and said, "Once more unto the breach."

Jane was equally defiant as she said, "Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way."

"Oh, so you're going to quote yourselves to us now? Is that it? Fine. We might as well take them with us, Ashy, or your son is just going to quote the rest of Henry V to us. If I have to listen to that again, I might just let Akhaten put me out of my misery. I had enough of that in high school," Clara said with an evil smile.

"I always liked that play myself. It was The Merchant of Venice that I found to be lacking. I once attended a performance of it at Drury Lane. I found the parts to be ill-fitted and the play heavy. The afterpiece in particular had little merit in my eyes," Jane commented.

Will now glared at Jane until she smiled at him and said, "Just because I'm a great admirer of yours doesn't mean that I can look past your faults, sir. Although admittedly my displeasure with the play may have been more the fault of the actors than the words themselves. Perhaps you could change my mind sometime . . . if we live through this of course."

Will nodded and began to smile back at her as he said, "I believe I shall take you up on that offer, dear lady."

Clara shook her head at the two writers and said to Arissa, "Let's go right now before these two start debating Chaucer or something. Ready?"

"Ready. Good luck, Clara," Arissa said as she started to send the consciousness of the others into the Doctor's mind.

As soon as she could sense that they had all entered, she turned to Eleanor and Compassion and said, "We need to talk. I have a back-up plan in mind to help them in case they fail, but I'm going to need the help of both of you. In order to pull this off, we'll have to make you just like Compassion as soon as we can if it's in any way possible, Eleanor."

Eleanor nodded in understanding as she said to Compassion, "Tell us everything that you know about how you changed from a regular human into a TARDIS. Clara and the others don't have any time to waste."

Next: It's Clara and her crew vs. Akhaten for the mind of the Doctor. Can they manage to stop Akhaten in time or will his lost memories of Clara become the least of the Doctor's concerns? Also what is Arissa planning and can she actually succeed in changing Eleanor into a TARDIS with the appearance of a human? Plus what exactly happened to Jenny during Ashildr's childhood anyway? We'll find out the whole story along with a full explanation as to exactly how the Doctor's TARDIS managed to bring her back again in the next chapter.