"Doctor! I thought you were dead." Rosita ran up and hugged the next Doctor as the Time Lords walked into an alleyway with the man.

"Now then, Rosita. A little decorum."

"You've been gone for so long." She exclaimed then looked at the Doctor and the Stone. "He's always doing this, leaving me behind. Going frantic."

"Reminds me of someone." The Stone glanced at her Doctor slightly smirking as he rolled his eyes at her.

"What about the TARDIS?" The next Doctor then asked.

"Oh, she's ready. Come on." Rosita walked off.

the Doctor looked at the Stone. "I'm looking forward to this."

"You and me both." The Stone replied, grinning.

They followed the next Doctor and Rosita into the stables. "You were right though, Rosita. The Reverend Fairchild's death was the work of the Cybermen." The next Doctor told her.

"So, you live here?" The Doctor raised a brow.

"A temporary base, until we rout the enemy. The TARDIS is magnificent, but it's hardly a home." He stated making the Doctor and the Stone both blink.

"He can't be you I know you adore and love the TARDIS."

"Almost as much as you." He grinned at her jokingly. "But your right..." "And where's the TARDIS now?" The Doctor then asked.

"In the yard."

"Doctor, what is all this luggage?" The Stone asked eying the cases scattered around.

"Evidence. The property of Jackson Lake, the first man to be murdered." He said. "Oh, but my new friends are fighters, Rosita, much like myself. They faced the Cybermen with a cutlass."

"I didn't really do much." The Stone shrugged. "Only threw him the sword, I'm lucky it didn't take off your hand." She winced at the thought.

"You did better than I did, I'm not ashamed to say, that you both were braver than I. Quite the brilliant pairing." He commented making the Stone blush and look down as the Doctor beamed wrapping his arms around the Stone pulling her closer. The next Doctor then walked over messing with a case as the Stone and the Doctor headed in the opposite direction. Eyeing the cases the Stone brought out her sonic and scanned the luggage as quickly as possible.

"Are you whistling again?" The next Doctor asked over his shoulder.

"No that was me, sorry." The Stone gave a sheepish grin as the Doctor mouthed for Rosita to not say a word to the next Doctor when he noticed her eyeing them. The Stone then moved over to a pile of the suitcases and moved one from the top with the Doctors help.

"That's another man's property." Rosita looked at the Doctor seeing that he was helping the Stone.

"Well, a dead man's." He retorted opening up the suitcase.

"How did you two meet, then?" The Doctor asked searching through the case.

"He saved my life." She said making the Doctor grin. "Late one night, by the Osterman's Wharf, this creature came out of the shadows. A man made of metal. I thought I was going to die. And then, there he was. The Doctor. What about the two of you?" She looked between the Doctor and the Stone.

"He was friends with my cousin, we were all kids, I was in the library one day and they both came running in causing a right racket." I glared at the Doctor a moment. "Made me so angry that I hit them both over the head, haven't stopped hitting him over the head since." She chuckled the Doctor grinned to himself. "How long ago did you meet the Doctor?" She questioned Rosita.

"Not that long ago, can you help him, sir, ma'am?" She asked. "He has such terrible dreams. Wakes at night in such a state of terror." The Time Lords glanced at each other knowing fully well that they both had horrible nightmares the Doctor more so than the Stone. She had found the Doctor whimpering, muttering in his sleep about the Time War, quite frankly scaring her with how terrified he sounded often hearing her own name come up with him mentioning about her going missing during the final days making her feel even more guilty than she already felt about what she did, even when he had told her that she was justified for what she had done.

"Come now, Rosita." The next Doctor waved her off. "With all the things a Time Lord has seen, everything he's lost, he may surely have bad dreams."

"Yeah." The Doctor slowly nodded before seeing something. "Oh, now. Look." He brought out the cylinder device. "Jackson Lake had an infostamp."

"But how?" The next Doctor frowned. "Is that significant?"

"Doctor, the answer to all this is in your TARDIS." The Doctor said. "Can we see it?"

"Mister Smith, Miss Stone, would be my honour." He headed out the Time Lords following.

"There she is. My transport through time and space. The TARDIS." He held a hand out showing them.

"You've got a balloon." The Doctor said as they walked toward it. The Stone having to bite her lip to not laugh.

"TARDIS, T-A R-D-I-S." He told them. "It stands for Tethered Aerial Release Developed In Style. Do you see?"

"Well, I do now. I like it. Good TARDIS. Brilliant." He nodded.

"Is that a rock?" The Stone raised a brow looking into the basket attached to the ballon.

"Ah yes, that is the Stone." The next Doctor nodded. The Doctor stared at him as the Stone looked between mortified and shocked. "Don't know why I have a stone... but still." He shrugged.

"Nice one." The Doctor said trying to stop his laugher seeing the look on the Stones face.

"Don't even think about it." She warned him.

"Yes dear." He replied, quickly nodding. "And is it inflated by gas, yeah?"

"We're adjacent to the Mutton Street Gasworks. I pay them a modest fee. Good work, Jed." He patted the mans back and gave him a five-pound note.

"Glad to be of service, sir."

"You've got quite a bit of money." The Doctor eyed the money now in Jed's hand.

"Oh, you get nothing for nothing. How's that ripped panel, Jed?"

"All repaired. Should work a treat." He replied. "You never know, maybe tonight's the night, Doctor. Imagine it, seeing Christmas from above."

"Not just yet, I think. One day, I will ascend. One day soon." He said Jed nodded then left the group.

"You've never actually been up?" The Doctor raised a brow.

"He dreams of leaving, but never does," Rosita replied.

"I can depart in the TARDIS once London is safe. And finally, when I'm up there. Think of it, John, Rita. The time and the space."

"The perfect escape." The Doctor nodded. "Do you ever wonder what you're escaping from?"

"With every moment."

"Then do you want me to tell you?" He asked the man. "Because I think I've worked it out now. How you became the Doctor. What do you think? Do you want to know?"

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The Doctor and the Stone sat side by side on one of the cases their feet perched up on a couple others as the Doctor started to explain to Rosita and 'the next Doctor' sitting beside her. "The story begins with the Cybermen. A long time away, and not so far from here, the Cybermen were fought, and they were beaten." He said calmly. "And they were sent into a howling wilderness called The Void, locked inside forever more. But then a greater battle rose up, so great that everything inside the Void perished. But, as the walls of the world weakened, the last of the Cybermen must have fallen through the dimensions, back in time, to land here. And they found you."

"I fought them, I know that." He nodded. "But what happened?"

"At the same time, another man came to London. Mister Jackson Lake. Plenty of luggage, money in his pocket. Maybe coming to town for the winter season, I don't know. But he found the Cybermen too." The Doctor explained. "And just like you, exactly like you, he took hold of an infostamp."

"But he's dead. Jackson Lake is dead. The Cybermen murdered him."

"You said nobody was ever found. And you kept all his suitcases, but you could never bring yourself to open them."

"We told you that the answer was in the watch. Can I see it?" The Stone asked. He held out the watch which she took and turned it around showing the back with a plain case except two initial. 'J L'

"J L. The watch is Jackson Lake's."

"Jackson Lake is you, sir?" Rosita looked at him confused.

"But I'm the Doctor."

"You became the Doctor because the infostamp you picked up was a book about one particular man." The Doctor said before he projected the infostamp on the wall. All of the Doctors incarnations then appeared on the projection, the Stone in view of some however not all. She appeared for only a moment as well as only half in shot. "The Cybermen's database. Stolen from the Daleks inside the Void, I'd say, but it's everything you could want to know about the Doctor." The Doctor explained before his current incarnation appeared with the Stone standing beside him in her current incarnation. "And that explains why you only knew the Stone by name, this isn't her infostamp, not all of her information is on here and what is shown is very little and weak information.

"That's you." He looked at the Doctor.

"Time Lord, TARDIS, enemy of the Cybermen. The one and the only." He smirked.

"And you're the Stone." He then looked at her.

"Brilliant with doors and computers, you got me there." She chuckled.

"Is that an ego I see?" The Doctor raised a brow at her.

"Nowhere near as big as yours sweetheart." She grinned before explaining to Jackson Lake. "You see, the infostamp must have backfired. Streamed all that information about the Doctor right inside your head."

"I am nothing but a lie," Jackson muttered.

"No, no, no, no, no." The Doctor shook his head. "Infostamps are just facts and figures. All that bravery. Saving Rosita, defending London town, hmm? And the invention. Building a TARDIS. That's all you."

"And what else?" He begged them. "Tell me what else."

"There's still something missing, isn't there?"

"I demand you tell me, sir. Tell me what they took."

"Sorry. Really, we are so sorry, but that's an awful lot of luggage for one man." The Doctor looked at him sadly. "Because an infostamp is plain technology. It's not enough to make a man lose his mind. What you suffered is called a fugue. A fugue state, where the mind just runs away because it can't bear to look back. You wanted to become someone else because Jackson Lake had lost so much."

A church bell then rang and the group looked up as Rosita muttered. "Midnight. Christmas Day."

"I remember. Oh, my God." He gasped holding a hand to his mouth. "Caroline. They killed my wife. They killed her."

Suddenly there was a beeping and the Doctor jumped up looking in more of the cases to see multiple of the infostamps inside and flashing. "Oh, you found a whole cache of infostamps."

"But what is it?" Rosita asked comforting Jackson. "What's that noise?"

"Activation. A call to arms."

"The Cybermen are moving!" The Stone jumped up the two of them running outside seeing the shadow of marching figures against a wall. The figures moved around showing children marching past them.

"What is it?" Rosita ran up to them. "What's happening? That's Mister Cole." She said a man walking past. "He's Master of the Hazel Street Workhouse. Maybe he's taking them to prayers."

"Oh, nothing as holy as that." The Doctor muttered the Time Lords running to catch up with him. "Can you hear me? Hello?" The Do for asked clicking his fingers in front of the man's face. "No? Mister Cole, you seem to have something in your ear." The Doctor said. "Now, this might hurt a bit, but if I can just..." suddenly there was a growl nearby making the Stone pull the Doctors hand away as they both looked over to it. "

"Ah. They're on guard." The Doctor nodded. "Can't risk a fight. Not with the children."

"But where are they going?" Rosita asked.

"They all need a good whipping if you ask me." Jed piped up eyeing the marching children. "There are tons of them. I've just seen another lot coming down from the Ingleby Workhouse down Broadback Lane."

"Where is that?" The Stone asked looking at Rosita.

"This way." She ran ahead, the Doctor and the Stone following.

  ----------------------------------------------------------------

From afar they watched as two Cybermen stood guard as the children slowly walked in. "There's dozens of them," Rosita said.

"But what for?" The Time Lords both muttered.

"That's the door to the sluice. All the sewage runs through there, straight into the Thames." Rosita said.

"Yeah, that's too well guarded." The Doctor said. "We'll have to find another way in." They then turned a corner and then stopped seeing two more Cybermen stood. "Whoa! That's cheating, sneaking up. Do you have your legs on silent?"

"So, what do we have here?"

"The Stone will be deleted!" The one of the Cybermen shouted as the Stone backed up raising her hands, "oh great," she muttered.

"Listen." The Doctor held up a hand placing himself in front of the Stone who raised a brow not seeing the Cybermen moving. "Just walk towards me slowly." He said to the woman. "Don't let them touch you."

"Oh, but they wouldn't hurt me, my fine boys." She grinned. "They are my knights in shining armour, quite literally."

"Even if they've converted you, that's not a Cyberspeech pattern. You've still got free will. I'm telling you, step away."

"There's been no conversion, sir." She said continuing to grin. "No one's ever been able to change my mind. The Cybermen offered me the one thing I wanted. Liberation."

"Who are you?" Rosita asked.

"You can be quiet." She looked at Rosita. "I doubt he paid you to talk. More importantly, who are you, sir, with such intimate knowledge of my companions."

"Oi!" The Stone glared at the woman. "If you're going to use sass at least use it properly."

"I'm the Doctor, this is the Stone." The Doctor announced.

"Incorrect. You do not correspond to our image of the Doctor." One of the Cybermen spoke up.

"Yeah, but that's because your database got corrupted." He said. "Oh, look, look, look. Check this. The Doctor's infostamp." He tosses it to the Cyberman which then caught it.

"Plug it in. Go on. Download."

"The core has been damaged." It announced. "This infostamp would damage Cyber units."

"Oh, well. Nice try." The Stone shrugged.

The infostamp then beeped. "Core repaired. Download." It then plugged it into its chest.

"You are the Doctor and the Stone."

"Hello." They both waved.

"You will be deleted."

"Now they want to kill us." The Stone groaned as the Doctor raised his hands. "No, no. Oh, but let me die happy." He muttered. "Tell me, what do you need those children for?"

"What are children ever needed for?" The woman asked. "They're a workforce."

"But for what?" The Stone asked.

"Very soon now, the whole Empire will see. And they will bow down in worship."

"And it's all been timed for Christmas Day. Was that your idea, Miss...?"

"Hartigan." She said then nodded. "Yes. The perfect day for a birth, with a new message for the people. Only this time, it won't be the words of a man."

"The birth of what?"

"A birth, and a death. Namely, yours. Thank you, Doctor, Stone I'm glad to have been part of your very last conversation. Now, delete them." She ordered.

"Delete." The Cybermen announced as they stomped forward before their heads lit up and they collapsed after they exploded.

"At your service, Doctor, Stone." He announced wearing a load of the infostamps on his body.

"Shades! Shades!" Miss Hartigan shouted.

"Run!" The Doctor grabbed the Stones' hand. "Come on!"

"Shades!"

"One last thing." Rosita stopped and hit Miss Hartigan in the face.

"Can I say, I completely disapprove." The Doctor said taking her hand and pulling her away. "Come on."

"As much as I also disapprove of it, nice punch!" The Stone laughed.

  ----------------------------------------------------------------

"That stronghold down by the river. We need to find a way in." The Doctor said as they stood in an alleyway.

"I'm ahead of you. My wife and I were moving to London so I could take up a post at the university." Jackson explained. "And while my memory is still not intact, this was in the luggage. The deeds. Fifteen Latimer Street." He held the paper up. "And if I discovered the Cybermen there, in the cellar, then-"

"That might be our way in." Both Time Lords finished. "Brilliant."

"There's still more," Jackson added. "I remember the cellar and my wife, but I swear there was something else in that room. If we can find that, perhaps that's the key to defeating these invaders. So, onwards!"

"Maybe you should go back-"

"Don't even try," Rosita warned making the Stone chuckle as the Doctor groaned.

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"Delete." A Cyberman announced as the Doctor opened the door before ducking, Jackson then zapped it with the infostamp making the Cyberman fall dead. The Doctor and the Stone ran over to a large device in the centre of the cellar.

"It must've been guarding this."

"A Dimension Vault." The Stone identified eyeing the device. "Stolen from the Daleks again."

"That's how the Cybermen travelled through time." The Doctor nodded. "Jackson, is this it? The thing you couldn't remember?"

"I don't think so." He shook his head. "I just can't see. It's like it's hidden."

"Not enough power." The Doctor muttered "Come on! Avanti!" He ran.

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The three travelled through the sewers not finding a rat in sight. "What do the Cybermen want?" Rosita asked.

"They want us. That's what Cybermen are. Human beings with their brains put into metal shells. They want every living thing to be like them." They then continued to move and looked through the gal in the sewers seeing the children from before working.

"Upon my soul." Jackson gasped.

"What is it?"

"It's an engine." The Doctor said. "They're generating electricity."

"But what for?" The Stone frowned.

"We can set them free." Jackson went to go and help as the Doctor pulled him back shaking his head. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no."

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"Power at ninety percent." The Doctor said eyeing a device attached to the wall. "But if we stop the engine, the power dies down, the Cybermen'll come running."

"Hold on." The Stone frowned. "Power fluctuation. That's not meant to happen."

"It's going wrong," Jackson said.

"No, it's weird." The Doctor shook his head. "The software's rewriting itself."

"It's changing." The Stone muttered.

Suddenly the control panel went bang making the Time Lords both jump back.  "Whoa! What the hell's happening?" The Doctor said. "It's out of control."

"It's accelerating," Jackson said. "Ninety-six percent, ninety-seven."

"When it reaches a hundred, what about the children?" Rosita asked.

"They're disposable. Come on!" He ran out the Stone quickly behind him right on his heels as Jackson and Rosita followed the Time Lords.

"Delete." A klaxon then sounded as the children stopped what they were doing looking around in alarm.

"Delete. Delete." Another Cyberman then walked in.

The Doctor and the Stone both ran in shouting. "Right. Now, all of you, out! Do you hear me? That's an order!" He shouted.

"Every single one of you, run!" The Stone added as the children started to scramble.

"All of you, come on, as fast as you can," Jackson said pointing in the direction of the exit. "Come on!"

"There's a hot pie for everyone if you leg it!" The Doctor said making the children go faster.

"Go!"

"Rosita, get them out of sluice gate." The Doctor ordered her. "Once you're out, keep running. Far as you can! Come on, come on, come on."

"Turn right at the corner! Fast as you can." Rosita told them. "And don't stop! Keep running! Keep running!"

They continued ushering the last of the children out. "

"Go! Quick, quick." They then both ran over to the control panel the Doctor slipping his glasses on. "Some sort of starter motor, but starting what?"

"That's my son." They heard Jackson mutter. "My son. Doctor, Stone, my son!"

"What?" The Doctor turned around.

"They took my son. No wonder my mind escaped. Those damned Cybermen, they took my child!" He shouted then pointed up. "But he's alive, Frederick!"

"Come on!" The Doctor shouted up at the terrified boy.

"No, he's too scared. Stay there!" Jackson shouted then ran for the stairs. "Don't move! I'm coming." The stairs suddenly were blocked by an explosion making Jackson fell to the floor. "I can't get up there. Fred!"

"They've finished with the motor. It's going to blow up." The Doctor said.

"What are we going to do, Doctor, Stone? What are we going to do?"

The Stone then drew the cutlass from her pocket making the Doctor blink. "Come on sweetheart you know how I enjoy stealing from you." She winked at him grabbing a nearby rope. "Jackson you will see your son again." She promised then sliced the rope dropping the cutlass before being pulled into the air hearing the Doctor laugh from below as she landed on the platform by the young boy.

"Never thought I would be doing that when I walked out the TARDIS she muttered then looked at Fredrick. "Right now I need you to get on my back, hold on tight I promised your father that he would see you again and I'm not breaking that promise." She said as she then swung on the rope across the vault landing beside the Doctor. She then handed the boy to Jackson who had tears in his eyes.

"Merry Christmas." The Doctor laughed before tightly hugging the Stone lifting her into the air and spinning around. Suddenly there was an explosion making the Time Lords snap their heads in the direction then look at each other. "Time to go." The Doctor grabbed her hand them both running away from the explosion as Jackson ran with them his boy in his arms.

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"Head for the street." The Doctor said as they ran back through the cellar before he quickly stopped taking a long thin piece from the Dimension vault. "Gotcha!"

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"It's a CyberKing." The Doctor looked up seeing the giant metal creature in the Thames.

"And a CyberKing is what?"

"It's a ship." The Stone told them. "Dreadnought class. Frontline of an invasion. And inside the chest, a Cyberfactory, ready to convert millions."

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They took off again rubbing through a street. "Just head south. Take him south. Go to the parkland." The Doctor told Jackson.

"But where are you going?!"

"To stop that thing."

"But I should be with you."

"Jackson, you've got your son. You've got a reason to live."

"And you haven't?" He looked at the Doctor.

"I have the Stone."

"If one of us goes, we both go, whether the other likes it or not." The Stone said as the Doctor took her hand entwining their fingers together.

"God save you both." Jackson nodded to them as he ran off with his Son.

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The Doctor and the Stone searched through the luggage in the stables as Jed gasped looking at them. "What the hell is that thing, sir?"

"Oh, good man." The Doctor looked over. "Jed, wasn't it? Jed, we need your help!

"I'm not going out there." He protested.

"I'll give you five-pound note if you help us." The Stone looked up.

"Er. All right." He agreed. "What do you want me to do?"

"The TARDIS is going to fly." The Doctor said before climbing inside the air balloon basket before helping the Stone in.

"You're flaming bonkers, sir, ma'am," Jad told them both.

"It's been said before." The Doctor glanced at the Time Lady who nodded. "Now give me."

He handed the device to the Doctor who then grimaced at it. "Not enough power. Come on! Jed, let her loose."

"Ever flown one of these before?" He looked between them.

"Nope, never." They both replied.

"Can I have my money now?" Jad asked looking at the Stone.

"Oh, get on with it." The Doctor groaned.

"Good luck to you both, sir, ma'am!" Jad said letting the balloon lose as it slowly rose.

"You know we should have thrown that rock out before we took off..." the Stone glanced down at the rock on the floor of the basket.

"It's a stone." He looked at her. "Never leaving a stone." He grinned. "Especially you."

"You're so cheesy." She rolled her eyes starting to throw out sandbags that were in the bottom of the basket before throwing out the rock. "Bye stone!" She joked making the Doctor laugh before he started to help her make the balloon rise.

They looked at the CyberKing which then turned facing the two and the hot air balloon.

"Excellent. The Doctor and the Stone, another man come to assert himself against me in the night bringing his woman."

"Miss Hartigan?" The Stone shouted to her. "We're offering you a choice. You might have the most remarkable mind this world has ever seen. Strong enough to control the Cybermen themselves."

"I don't need you to sanction me."

"No your right." The Stone spoke up. "But such a mind deserves to live. The Cybermen came to this world using a Dimension vault."

"We can use that device to find you a home, with no people to convert, but a new world where you can live out your mechanical life in peace." The Doctor added.

"I have the world below, and it is abundant with so many minds ready to become extensions of me." She looked between them. "Why would I leave this place?"

"Because if you don't, we'll have to stop you."

"What do you make of me, sir? An idiot?" She looked at him.

"No. The question is, what do you make of me?"

"Destroy them." She then looked at the Cyberman.

"You make me into this."

"No." The Stone looked at him placing her arm on his. "She made us do this." They then fired the info-stamps into Miss Hartigan completely using up the remainder of them.

"Then I have made you a failure." Miss Hartigan mocked after absorbing all of the infostamps. "Your weapons are useless."

"We weren't trying to kill you." The Stone explained. "All we did was break the Cyber-connection, leaving your mind open."

"Open, I think, for the first time in far too many years." The Doctor added. "So you can see. Just look at yourself. Look at what you've done."

"I'm sorry, Miss Hartigan, but look at what you've become." He said as her eyes returned to normal not looking empty and black as they did before. The woman then screamed.

"I'm so sorry." The CyberKing then began to sway as electricity danced around the Cybermen as they all exploded.

The dimension vault then beeped as the Doctor picked it up and glanced at the Stone as they both held it aiming it towards the CyberKing, energy then began to swirl around it before the CyberKing vanished.

"Not the relaxing time you expected eh?" The Doctor grinned wrapping an arm around the Stones waist as she laughed.

"With you, it doesn't matter where we go or what we do." She grinned at him before looking down seeing Jackson and a group of people behind him looking up at the Time Lords clapping and applauding them. 

"Bravo! Bravo! Bravo, sir, ma'am, bravo!"

They both laughed waving before the Doctor rang the bell on the balloon. "Merry Christmas dear." He grinned at her resting his head on hers.

"Merry Christmas sweetheart." She grinned back lightly kissing him.

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The Doctor and the Stone walked through the market arms linked as Jackson Lake walked beside them. "The city will recover, as London always does. Though the events of today will be history, spoken of for centuries to come."

"Yeah. Funny that." The Doctor nodded.

"And a new history begins for me. I find myself a widower, but with my son and with a good friend."

"Now, take care of that one." The Doctor nodded. "She's marvellous."

"She can handle just about anything." The Stone chuckled watching Rosita not so far away with Jackson's son.

"Frederick will need a nursemaid and I can think of none better," Jackson said. "But you're welcome to join us." He looked at the two as the Doctor looked away avoiding looking at Jackson as the Stone rubbed soothing circles on the back of his hand. "We thought we might all dine together at the Traveller's Halt. A Christmas feast in celebration, and in memory of those we have lost. You won't stay?"

"Like I said, you know me."

"No I don't think anyone but the Stone knows you," Jackson replied nodding at the Time Lady beside the Doctor as he softly smiled nodding.

"Yeah, she knows me like the back of her hand, scares me from time to time."

"Oh! And this is it." Jackson beamed seeing the real TARDIS and running up looking at it. "Oh! Oh, if I might, Doctor, Stone. One last adventure?"

"Oh, be my guest." The Doctor smiled as the Stone unlocked and opened the door allowing Jackson to look inside.

"Oh." He gasped looking around in awe as he walked inside the Time Lords grinning from ear to ear at the door. "Oh, my word. Oh. Oh, goodness me. Well. But this is, but this is nonsense." He laughed.

"Well, that's one word for it." The Doctor shrugged with the Stone laughing.

"Complete and utter, wonderful nonsense." Jackson continued. "How very, very silly. Oh, no. I can't bear it. Oh, it's causing my head to ache. No. No, no, no, no, no, no." He walked out holding his head. "Oh! Oh, gracious." He leant against the brick wall. "That's quite enough." He shook his head then looked between the Time Lords. "I take it this is goodbye."

"Onwards and upwards."

"Tell me one thing." He looked at the Doctor. "All those facts and figures I saw of the Doctor's life, you were never alone. All those bright and shining companions. But not anymore?"

"No." He shook his head.

"Might I ask why not?"

"They leave." He swallowed the Stone squeezed his hand. "Because they should. Or they find someone else. And some of them, some of them forget me. I suppose, in the end, they break my heart, but I have the Stone." He looked at her softly smiling.

"That offer of Christmas dinner. It's no longer a request, it's a demand." Jackson stated. "In memory of those we've lost."

The Doctor raised a brow at the Stone who shrugged not minding. "Oh, go on then." The Doctor looked at Jackson who blinked.

"Really?"

"Just this once." The Doctor nodded. "You've actually gone and changed my mind. Not many people can do that, only the Stone can really change my mind. Jackson, if anyone had to be the Doctor, I'm glad it was you."

"The feast awaits." He then nodded. "Come with me. Walk this way."

"We certainly will." The Doctor nodding linking his arm through the Stones.

"Merry Christmas to you, Jackson." They both smiled.

"Merry Christmas indeed, Doctor, Stone."