When you love how easy the beginning of your school day is. :) I need it after yesterday. We found out just how hard it is to learn AP Calculus when your teacher isn't there. Thank God for the AP Honors teacher who had a class of six so she could come in and help. :)

Anyway, there's a ghost but not really a ghost, a bit of innuendo, and the Doctor is a bit of a battering ram. :P Also, never really realized just how much I really like the pairing of Alec and Emma. :)

Enjoy "Hide!"

***

"I might have preferred the obstacle course," Pietro looked up at the house they were approaching.

"We can always put it on the list," Jessie smirked.

"I believe I will pass for now.

"Suit yourself."

The Doctor knocked on the door of Caliburn House, then grinned and ducked off to the side. Jessie sighed and rolled her eyes before doing the same on the opposite side of the door. The Maximoffs joined her side, Clara with the Doctor. A man opened the door and frowned, looking out. The Doctor then jumped out with a shout of "BOO!" The man jumped, startled, and the Doctor laughed. "Hello. We're looking for a ghost."

"And you are?" the man sputtered.

Clara spun out next, grinning and tapping her umbrella against her palm. "Ghostbusters!"

"Actually, they're the Doctor and Clara," Jessie clapped them on the shoulders as she came out. "I'm the Bad Wolf, this is Pietro, and his sister, Wanda."

The Doctor held up his psychic paper, and the man frowned. "Doctor what?"

"If you like," he shrugged. "Ah, but you are very different," he ran inside to investigate the man's equipment, a young woman looking at him, startled. "You are Major Alec Palmer, member of the Baker Street Irregulars, the ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, specialized in espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance behind enemy lines. You're a talented watercolorist, professor of psychology, and ghost hunter. Total pleasure, massive."

"Actually, you're wrong," the young woman said. "Professor Palmer spent most of the war as a POW."

"Actually, that's a like told by a very brave man involved in very secret operations," Jessie corrected.

"The type of man who keeps a Victoria Cross in a box in the attic, eh?" the Doctor rocked on his heels. "But you know that, because you're Emma Grayling, the Professor's companion."

"Assistant," she corrected.

"It's 1974. You're the assistant and non-objective equipment, meaning psychic."

"Which means he thinks that's cool," Jessie patted Emma's arm, the poor woman looking terribly confused.

"Relax, Emma," Alec told her. "They're Military Intelligence. So, whats is all this in aid of?"

"Health and safety," the Doctor went with the classic excuse, Jessie sighing and hanging her head at it. "Yeah, the Ministry got wind of what's going on down here. Sent us to check that everything's in order."

"They don't have the right!"

"We'll be out of your hair in five minutes," Jessie shook her head.

"Oh!" the Doctor started examining the equipment. "Oh, look. Oh, lovely! The ACR 99821. Oh, bliss! Nice action on the toggle switches. You know, I do love a toggle switch. Actually, I like the word toggle. Nice noun. Excellent verb." Clara went to investigate, only for the Doctor to poke her away. "Oi! Don't mess with the settings!"

Alec frowned when the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver. "What's that?"

"Gadget," he answered. "Health and safety. Classified, I'm afraid. You know, while the back room boffins work out a few kinks."

"And what is the health and safety gadget saying?" Pietro raised an eyebrow.

"It's telling me that you three haven't been exposed to any life-threatening transmundane emanations. So, where's the ghost?" he grinned at Alec. "Show me the ghost. It's ghost time!"

***

"I will not have this stolen out from under me, do you understand?" Alec hissed to the Doctor as the Time Lord led the way, using a three-pronged candelabra.

"Er, no, not really," he shook his head. "Sorry."

"I will not have my work stolen, then be fobbed off with a pat on the back and a letter from the Queen. Never again. This is my house, Doctor, and it belongs to me."

Clara blinked. "This is actually your house?"

"It is," Alec nodded.

She shook her head, confused. "Sorry, you went to the bank and said, you know that gigantic old haunted house on the moors? The one that dossers are too scared to doss in? The one the birds are too scared to fly over? And then you said, I'd like to buy it please, with my money?"

He nodded. "Yes, I did, actually."

"Incredibly brave of you, mate," Pietro clapped him on the shoulder.

Something creaked nearby, and as Wanda turned to find where it had come from, the Doctor turned to Alec. "Listen, Major, we just need to know what's going on here."

"For the Ministry," Alec tilted his head.

"You know I can't answer that."

He sighed. "Very well. Follow me."

***

Jessie shook her head as she watched the Doctor dart about the living room, photographing himself. Pietro was no help - he just kept sniggering in amusement. Clara and Wanda joined Emma off to the side. "So what's an empathic psychic?" Clara asked.

"Sometimes I sense feelings the way a telepath can sense thoughts," Emma answered, and Wanda nodded her understanding. "Sometimes, though. Not always."

"The most compassionate people you'll ever meet, empathics," the Doctor nodded. "And the loneliest. I mean, exposing themselves to all those hidden feelings, all that guilt, pain and sorrow and - OW!"

Clara raised an eyebrow as Jessie headslapped him. "Doctor, shut up," the blonde ordered.

"Yes, dear," he agreed almost automatically.

"Would you care to have a look?" Alec gestured to a board, several photographs pinned to it. The Time Lords walked over to see. "Caliburn House is over four hundred years old, but she has been here much longer: the Caliburn Ghast. She's mentioned in local Saxon poetry and parish folk tales. The Wraith of the Lady, the Maiden in the Dark, the Witch of the Well."

"Nope, got two better ones right here," the Doctor clapped Jessie and Wanda on their shoulders.

"Watch it," Wanda warned.

"Is she real?" Clara asked. "As in actually real?"

"Oh, she's real," Alec assured her. "In the seventeenth century, a local clergyman saw her. He wrote that her presence was accompanied by a dreadful knocking as if the Devil himself demanded entry. During the war, American airmen stationed here left offerings of tinned spam. The tins were found in 1965, bricked up in the servants' pantry, along with a number of handwritten notes. Appeals to the Ghast: for the love of God, stop screaming."

"She never changes," Pietro noted, tilting his head. "The angle's different, the framing, too, but she's always in exactly the same position. Why?"

"We don't know," Alec shrugged. "She's an objective phenomenon, but objective recording equipment can't detect her - "

"Without the presence of a powerful psychic," the Doctor finished.

"Absolutely. Very well done."

"She knows I'm here," Emma nodded. "I can feel her calling out to me."

"What's she saying?" Clara asked.

"Help me."

The Doctor tapped Clara's head, and she jumped before turning to him. "You coming?" he asked quietly.

"Where?"

"To find the ghost!"

"Why would I want to do that?!"

"Because you want to. Come on."

"Well, I dispute that assertion."

The Doctor snorted. "Eh? I'm giving you a face. Can you see me? Look at my face."

"Fine," she seethed. "Dare me."

"I dare you. No takesies backsies."

Clara snatched the candelabra from him and marched off. "The music room is the heart of the house," Emma told them.

"Any other takers?" the Doctor turned around.

Pietro raised his hand, but Wanda shook her head. "I will stay. I might be able to sense something."

"I'll stay with her," Jessie added.

"Suit yourselves," the Doctor shrugged, heading off with Clara and Pietro.

The girls watched them go before Jessie muttered, "And maybe do something about the rest of the sexual tension in this room."

"Did you say something?" Alec blinked, looking at her.

"Nothing at all, Major," Jessie said innocently as Wanda snickered. "Nothing at all."

***

"Say we actually find her," Clara said as they went through the house. "What do we say?"

"We ask her how she came to be whatever she is," the Doctor shrugged.

"Why?"

"Because I don't know, and ignorance is . . . what's the opposite of bliss?"

"Carlisle."

"Yes, yes, Carlisle. Ignorance is Carlisle."

Pietro paused before they went into the kitchen, looking behind him. He swore he saw something move, but he brushed it off and walked through with the others.

***

Jessie was checking behind a few other doors, working quietly enough so that she could hear Emma and Alec talking together. "Are they really from the Ministry?"

"Er, I don't know," Alec answered. "They've certainly got the right demeanor. Capricious, brilliant."

"Deceitful."

"Yes. Ha! They're liars, but, you know, that's often the way that it is when someone's seen a thing or two." Jessie and Wanda exchanged looks out of the corners of their eyes, knowing exactly what Alec meant when he said that. "We lie about who we are, about what we've done."

"And how we feel?" Emma asked quietly.

"Yes," Alec nodded. "Always. Always that." Emma tilted her head, almost expectantly, when Alec cleared his throat. "You know, I have to . . . have to be getting on with things. The, er, the equipment and so forth."

Emma tried not to look disappointed as he hurried on. "Of course," she nodded.

It took everything in Jessie's power not to laugh. At the moment, it was so easy to compare the two of them to herself and the Doctor way back before they actually decided they felt the same for each other.

***

"Ah, the music room," the Doctor said as they entered the room with a harp in it. "The heart of the house. Do you feel anything?"

"No," Clara answered a bit too quickly.

The Doctor smirked. "What's the saying?"

"Liar, liar, pants on fire," Pietro recited.

"Yours are so on fire," the Doctor sniggered.

Clara watched his sonic screwdriver sputter, then asked quietly, "Do you feel like you're being watched?"

"What does being watched feel like?" the Doctor asked. "Is it that funny tickly feeling on the back of your neck?"

"That's it," Pietro nodded.

"Then yes. A bit. Well, quite a big bit."

Clara looked around with the candelabra when there was a creak. "I think she's here."

"Cold spot," the Doctor muttered, and they turned to see him see his breath by the door. "Spooky. Cold . . . warm." He started jumping about, trying to find out exactly where the spots were. "Cold. Warm. Cold. Warm. Cold. Warm. Cold." He took a piece of chalk and drew a circle around the cold spot.

Pietro raised an eyebrow. "Doctor?"

"Doctor!" Clara spat.

"What?" he looked at them.

"I'm not happy," she declared.

"No," the Doctor ran off.

"Hey!" Clara went after him, stepping into the circle in the process. Pietro processed steam rising from the edges of the circle before grabbing her and taking off.

***

Wanda spun around when she heard the paper graph make a noise. "Bad Wolf!" she called, and the blonde spun around. "Major!"

***

Clara turned around when she heard a slamming noise. "What was that?"

The candles in the candelabra were blown out, and she and Pietro exchanged looks before running to find the Doctor.

***

"Does it seem colder?" Alec asked.

Emma, however, was looking at the windows, ice forming on the insides. "She's coming," she whispered.

Jessie and Wanda exchanged looks before Jessie put a hand on her sonic blaster, Wanda playing with the rings on her fingers.

***

"OK, what is that?" Clara demanded when they reached the top of the stairs.

"It's a very loud noise," the Doctor answered. "It's a very loud, very angry noise."

"What's making it?" Pietro asked.

"I don't know. Are you making it?"

"I think you know the answer to that."

The bangs kept getting closer, and Clara took a deep breath. "Guys?"

"Yes?" the Doctor asked.

"I may be a teeny, tiny bit terrified."

"Yes?"

"But I'm still a grown-up."

"Mainly yes. And?"

"There's no need for either of you to actually hold my hand."

Pietro dropped his gaze to said hand. "Clara."

"Yeah?"

"Neither of us are holding your hand."

The three of them looked behind them, screamed, then ran down the stairs. When they got to the hall, they heard Jessie and Wanda shouting, and emerged to see them staring at a black thing gyrating in midair. "Has this happened before?" the Doctor asked Alec as he ran out.

"Never," he shook his head.

"Camera. Camera!"

As Jessie tossed it to him, Wanda turned to see Emma was staring out the window. "Emma?" she walked over.

Emma trembled, obviously able to see something, and Wanda cautiously put one finger to Emma's temple. Her eyes widened in horror when she saw a shimmering figure in the woods. "Wanda!" Pietro ran over, eyes wide, Alec not far behind.

"Help me!" a woman's voice went through Emma's and into Wanda's head.

Wanda staggered away as Emma collapsed into Alec's arms. Pietro hugged his sister as Jessie took a deep breath. "Well . . . got the message loud and clear."

"What?" the Doctor turned from the camera, and his eyes widened.

The words Help Me were frozen into the wall by the staircase, only to evaporate once they saw them, and the black concave vanished.

***

"We had a little peek at your records, back at the Ministry," the Doctor said as he and Pietro helped Alec with the film. "You've certainly seen a thing or two in your time. Disrupting U-boat operations across the North Sea, sabotaging railway lines across Europe. Operation Gibbon. The one with the carrier pigeons, brilliant. I do love a carrier pigeon."

"I did my duty," Alec shrugged. "But then, so did thousands of others. Millions of others. I was just lucky enough to come back."

"So how does a war hero end up in this place looking for ghosts?" Pietro raised an eyebrow.

Alec sighed. "Because I killed, and I caused to have killed. I sent young men and women to their deaths, but here I am, still alive, and it does tend to haunt you. Living after so much of the other thing."

The Doctor and Pietro nodded sympathetically. The Doctor could speak for a lot of wars. Pietro could speak for Sokovia. They both knew exactly what the Major meant.

***

Jessie cringed and spat her whiskey back into her cup. "I hate whiskey."

"I'd rather have a nice cup of tea," Emma agreed.

"Me, too," Clara nodded as Wanda just nodded absently. "Whiskey is the eleventh most disgusting thing ever invented."

"So, you and Professor Palmer," Wanda looked up. "Have you ever . . . you know?"

"No," Emma shook her head.

"Why not?"

"You do know how he feels about you, don't you?" Jessie grinned. "You, of all people?"

"I don't know," Emma said miserably. "People like me, sometimes we get our signals mixed up. We think people are feeling the way we want them to feel, you know, when they are special to us, when really, there's nothing there."

Jessie snorted loudly as Wanda and Clara snickered. "Oh, it's there."

"How do you know?" Emma blinked.

"Because it's obvious," Clara laughed. "It sticks out like a big chin."

"Or big ears," Jessie grinned. "Or the last one's hair."

"What?" Clara blinked.

"Nothing," Jessie shook her head as Wanda laughed, knowing exactly what Jessie meant. "Inside thing."

"The Doctor," Emma said, and Jessie nearly choked on air. "You mean the Doctor."

***

"You see, I was alone and unmarried, and I didn't mind dying," Alec shrugged. "I mean, not for that cause. It was a very, very fine cause, defeating the enemy."

"And if you could contact them, what would you say?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, I'd very much like to thank them."

"Got it!" Pietro held up one of the photos.

"Aha!" the Doctor grinned, seeing the ghost behind himself in the photo. "Ping!"

"Who do you think she is?" Alec asked.

"Not what I thought she'd be," he answered.

"What do you think she is?"

"Fun! Can I borrow your camera?" Alec shrugged. "Ta!" he snatched it and ran out, Pietro shrugging apologetically and following.

***

"Yeah, me and the Doctor," Jessie looked at her. "How did you know? We don't exactly always flash these wherever we go."

Emma took in the sapphire ring on one hand, the amethyst on the other, before she shook her head. "You have ice in your hearts. That is enough to know. But the ice in yours have grown, Bad Wolf. I pity the one who thinks he could get away with harming those you love."

Jessie bristled, her eyes narrowed, when the Doctor and Pietro ran by, heading out the door. "Come on, girls!" the Doctor shouted, and the three of them scrambled to get outside.

***

The Doctor and Clara were using the umbrella while Wanda created an energy shield over herself, Jessie, and Pietro. "I've got this weird feeling it's looking at me," Clara couldn't help but say as they looked at the TARDIS. "It doesn't like me."

"The TARDIS is like a cat," the Doctor shrugged. "A bit slow to trust, but you'll get there."

"Besides, I think she likes you just fine," Jessie said as they headed over. "Bit weird, though. Took her a while to accept Martha. Liked the Maximoffs right away. Maybe it's just because I like you so much."

"Didn't like someone and loved someone else, too," the Doctor looked at her, silently willing her to talk about the Ponds.

She didn't. "Right."

The Doctor sighed, Clara seeming confused as she looked back and forth between the two. She turned to the Maximoffs, only to see both of them make slashing motions across their throats: the sign not to say anything. "OK," Clara said as they headed inside, then sighed. "You need a place to keep this."

"We've got one," the Doctor said as she held up the umbrella. "Or . . . we had one. I think we had one. Look around, see if you find it. Did we have one?" he asked Jessie. "Am I going mad?"

Clara was about to shake the water off the umbrella, but Wanda shook her head. "Do that in here, then she won't like you," she said. "She's already soaking wet."

"That would be a health and safety nightmare," the Doctor nodded, taking the umbrella from her and leaning it against a railing.

Clara bit her lip, then looked up at the TARDIS ceiling. "Sorry," she apologized quietly. The TARDIS made some kind of noise, and judging by the smirk from Jessie, it was either a funny noise or a noise that was teasing her. "So where are we going?" she asked.

"Nowhere," the Doctor shook his head. "We're staying right here, right here on this exact spot, if I can work out how to do it."

"So when are we going?" Wanda figured it out.

"Oh, that is good," the Doctor grinned. "That is top-notch."

"You didn't answer her," Clara pointed out.

"And that is, too," the Doctor told her. "We're going always."

That got him three blank looks. "We're going always," Clara repeated.

"Totally."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that's actually a sentence," Pietro looked at the girls.

"It's not," Clara shook her head.

"Well, it's got a verb in it," the Doctor shrugged as he pulled an orange spacesuit from under the console and putting it on with Jessie's help. "What do you think?"

Clara tilted her head. "Color's a bit boisterous."

"I think it brings out my eyes."

Clara squinted. "Makes my eyes hurt."

The Doctor pouted, making the Maximoffs snicker as Jessie shook her head, grinning as she set the TARDIS in motion.

***

"Back off," the Doctor waved the companions off as he scurried back into the TARDIS. "Hot suit. Hot, hot, hot."

"Yes, you are," Jessie smirked.

"When are we?" Clara asked.

"About six billion years ago," Jessie answered. "And it's Tuesday."

***

Jessie went out for the next few photos, the Doctor piloting. Clara had resolved herself to leaning against the console, absently tapping the handle of a lever. When Jessie came back, though, and took the controls, the Doctor took the camera from her, back in the orange suit. "Back in a mo," he said. "Are you all right?"

"Totally," Clara nodded. "Peachy keen."

"OK, then. Well, don't press any buttons or pull any levers or make any funny faces. Actually, don't move. Stand completely still. Don't breathe. Well, you can breathe, but shallow breaths."

Jessie rolled her eyes as the Doctor headed outside, then walked over when she noticed Clara had seen on the scanner exactly where they are. "You know what we've seen, don't you?"

"Have we just watched the entire life cycle of Earth, birth to death?" Clara's eyes were wide.

"Yes," Jessie didn't sugar coat it.

"And you're OK with that?"

"Yes."

"How can you be?"

"I need more to work with than that, Clara. Context, please."

"OK," she took a deep breath, Pietro and Wanda watching. "I mean, one minute, you're in 1974 looking for ghosts, but all you have to do is open your eyes and talk to whoever's standing there. To you and the Doctor, we haven't been born yet, and to you now, we've been dead one hundred billion years. Are our bodies out there somewhere, in the ground?"

Jessie looked at the screen. "Yes, they more than likely are."

"But here we are, talking. So we are ghosts. To you, we're ghosts. We're all ghosts to you. We must be nothing."

"I was nothing, too, before I met the Doctor," Jessie told her. "I started off as you, just a ghost. Then the most remarkable thing happened, and then I started seeing ghosts wherever I went. Humans aren't nothing. No one I've ever met is nothing anymore."

"Then what are we?" Clara asked, gesturing around. "What can we possibly be?"

Jessie raised an eyebrow. "You are the only mystery worth solving."

While Clara seemed suspicious, Pietro and Wanda exchanged worried looks. Clara took that sentence as the entire human race.

What they heard, however, was that Clara was the only mystery worth solving.

***

Emma greeted them at the door of Caliburn House, and the Doctor and Pietro went with Alec to develop the film. "What's wrong?" Emma asked when Clara came inside.

Clara took a deep breath. "I just saw something I wish I hadn't."

"What did you see?"

"That everything ends."

"No, not everything," Emma shook her head. "Not love. Not always." She nodded at Jessie. "Just ask her."

Clara blinked, when Pietro poked his head out of the room. "We're done," he said. "I believe the Doctor thinks it's lecture time."

***

"The Ghast of Caliburn House," the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to turn on the projector, the photos they had now in slides. "Never changing, trapped in a moment of fear and torment. But, what if she's not? What if she's just trapped somewhere time runs more slowly than it does here? What if a second to her was a hundred thousand years to us? And what if somebody had a magic box? A blue box, possibly."

"A blue box with an incredibly gorgeous pilot," Jessie smirked.

"Well, now, that depends on which one we're talking about," the Doctor smirked back, Pietro groaning and leaning his head back as Wanda giggled at the aghast looks on Alec's, Emma's, and Clara's faces.

"The one I've got in mind is the one who saved me a good few hundred years back."

"Funny, I'm thinking that, too. Are we thinking of the same pilot, angel?"

"I'm wondering, dearie."

"If we could cut the flirting?" Pietro cleared his throat. "You can discuss that later."

"Right, yes," the Doctor switched gears instantly as Jessie winked at Wanda, who was outright laughing now. Emma and Alec were both blushing. Pietro just smirked and leaned over, using a finger to lift Clara's jaw back into its correct position. "And what if said somebody could take a snapshot of her, say, every few million years?" He pulled up a picture of a dark-skinned woman in a white coverall, running. "She's not a ghost, but she's definitely a lost soul. Her name is Hila Tacorian. She's a pioneer, a time traveler, or at least she will be in a few hundred years."

"Time travel's not possible," Alec shook his head. "The paradoxes - "

"Resolve themselves, by and large," the Doctor interrupted.

"How long has she been alone?" Emma asked.

"Well, considering time travel," Jessie checked her watch. "Three minutes."

"Three minutes?" Clara blinked.

"She crash landed, too, I suppose that's important to mention."

"Crash landed?" Emma repeated. "Where?"

"She's in a pocket universe," the Doctor answered. "A distorted echo of our own. They happen sometimes, but never last for long." He blew up a blue balloon first. "Our universe." He blew up a red one. "Our universe. Hila Tacorian's here, in a pocket universe. You're a lantern, shining across the dimensions, guiding her home, back to the land of the living."

"But what's she running from?" Wanda asked.

"Well, that's the best bit," the Doctor grinned, batting the balloons over to Jessie. "We don't know yet. Shall we see?" He went to the next slide, and blinked. "Oh."

Clara squinted, seeing a creature behind a tree. "What is that?"

"I don't know," the Doctor admitted. "Still, not to worry."

"So what do we do?" Emma asked.

"Not we," the Doctor shook his head. "You. You save Hila Tacorian because you are Emma Grayling. You are the lantern. The rest of us are just along for the ride, I'm afraid. We need some sturdy rope and a blue crystal from Metebelis Three, plus some Kendal Mint Cake."

"Rope," Pietro nodded, standing up.

"I can get the crystal."

"What do you need Kendal Mint Cake for?" Clara complained, even as she hurried to follow the two men out of the house.

Jessie pulled Wanda along, only to stop her in the entrance hall. "What are we doing?" Wanda blinked.

Jessie just held a finger to her lips, then toed the door shut as if they had left. A moment later, they heard Alec. "Don't do it."

"I'm sorry?" Emma asked.

"Nobody asked her to risk her life. This woman, she doesn't deserve . . . whoever she is, however brilliant, however brave, she's not you. She is not worth risking a single hair on your head, not to me."

"Tell me what I'm thinking."

"I can't. I don't have your gift."

"You don't need it. Just look at me and tell me." Jessie used the screen of her phone to see around the corner, and she and Wanda smiled when they saw Alec and Emma smiling at each other. "There you are. You read my mind."

Jessie winked at Wanda and took her arm, silently phasing them through the door, and together, they ran through the yard. "You eavesdropped on them!" Wanda hissed.

"Sexual tension fixed," Jessie shrugged. "About time, too."

"Can't you just, you know?" Clara was asking when they got into the TARDIS.

"What?" the Doctor looked up from where he and Pietro were messing around with stuff.

"Fly the TARDIS into the parallel universe?"

"It's not a parallel universe," Jessie shook her head, doing the explaining as Wanda helped the Doctor and Pietro with getting supplies together. "It's called a pocket universe. Hard to explain, but it's collapsing, and that's the important bit. The TARDIS could get in there, but entropy would bleed out her power sources and trap her there until the entire universe decayed back into the quantum foam. Which would take about three minutes, give or take."

***

"Hold down the fort," the Doctor told Jessie as they finished making their device.

"You bet," she nodded. "But you're taking Wanda with you."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"Yes, I am," he agreed, sighing.

"What is that?" Clara was eyeing the blue gem in the headset the Doctor was holding.

"A subset of the Eye of Harmony," the Doctor answered.

Clara blinked. "I don't - "

"Of course you don't. Be weird if you did. We barely do ourselves. Right, you, sit down," he told Emma, she and Alec in thick coats. "All the way from Metebelis Three."

Emma sat down, and the Doctor put the headset on her. "What does it do?" she asked.

"It amplifies your natural abilities like a microphone, or a pooper scooper."

Jessie made a face. "Go with microphone, dearie."

"Yeah, I think I will."

"What exactly is this arrangement?" Alec looked around at the clocks all around the room.

"A psychochronograph," the Doctor answered.

"A psycho what now?" Pietro's eyebrows shot up.

"Don't ask," Jessie waved a hand.

"Forgive me, but isn't it all a bit . . . " Alec chewed his lip. "Well, make do and mend?"

"Non-psychic technology won't work where we're going," the Doctor shook his head as Jessie helped Wanda into a parachute harness, he doing the same. "Listen, all we need to do is dive into another dimension, find the time traveler, help her escape the monster, get home before the entire dimension collapses, and Bob's your uncle."

"Doctor, will it hurt?" Emma asked quietly.

"No," the Doctor lied.

"Yes," Jessie headslapped him. "Thing is, we don't know how much."

Emma looked over at Alec, who gave a hesitant nod. Emma took a deep breath and called out. "I'm talking to the lost soul that abides in this place. I'm speaking to Hila Tarcorian."

The clocks started spinning backwards, and the black disc reappeared. "See?" the Doctor grinned as Jessie looped a line of thick rope through Wanda's harness, then hitched the end of it to the Doctor's. "The Witch of the Well! It's a wormhole! A reality well! A door to the echo universe." He held out a hand to Wanda. "Ready?"

"No," she admitted truthfully, but took his hand anyway.

"Ready?" he asked Emma.

"Ready!" she confirmed.

"Geronimo!" the Doctor whooped, tugging Wanda's hand. Together, the two of them leapt into the wormhole.

The rope started unwinding from the winch immediately. "Doctor!" Clara called. "Wanda!"

Jessie squeezed Emma's shoulder supportively as Alec stood at his assistant's other side.

***

"This is tiny," Wanda blinked as they removed their harnesses, taking in the pocket universe, which resembled a black and white, foggy forest. "Very tiny."

"Hila?" the Doctor called, looking around. "Hila!"

"Hila Tacorian!" Wanda called as well as they ran further into the universe.

The Doctor grabbed Wanda's hand, hearing someone moving. "One," he told her quietly. "Two. Three."

They spun around, hearing Hila's voice. "Help me! Help!"

The Doctor grinned as the woman herself ran into view. "Hila Tacorian, I presume."

Hila panted, looking at them. "Who are you?"

"Collapsing universe, you and us, dead, two minutes," the Doctor rattled off. "No time complete sentences. Abandon planet."

"Just nod when he stops to breathe," Wanda advised as Hila looked confused.

"Wait," Hila looked behind her. "There's something in the mist."

"Then run," the Doctor gestured. "Run!"

"Doctor!" Emma's voice called. "Wanda! Come home! Doctor, Wanda, come home!"

"Not that way," the Doctor shook his head, looking around. "Which means . . . er . . . probably . . . "

"What's wrong?" Hila asked.

Wanda closed her eyes. "Do not tell me you forgot where the exit is, Doctor."

"OK."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "You did, didn't you?"

"You told me not to tell you!" he defended himself. "And misplaced sounds much better."

"Doctor!" Emma's voice called again.

"This way," the Doctor gestured, running off.

"Wanda! Come home! Doctor, Wanda, we're here!"

Wanda skidded to a stop when a look-alike of Caliburn House faded into view. "Whoa."

"What's that?" Hila blinked.

"An echo house in an echo universe," the Doctor grinned. "Clever psychic. That is just top-notch."

"Doctor! Wanda!" Emma called once again.

The Doctor opened the doors and ushered them in, then locked the doors behind them, wincing when something large scratched at the doors. "It's looking for a way in."

***

Emma whimpered, grabbing at the headset. "I'm not strong enough!"

"Just a few more seconds," Clara urged.

Emma screamed, and Alec grabbed one of her hands supportively, Jessie's eyes fixed on the wormhole.

***

"Grab the rope," the Doctor hurried the girls into the harnesses. "Give it three quick tugs, quick as you like."

"What about you?" Wanda looked over her shoulder.

"I'll be next," he shrugged.

"You better be."

The girls tugged, then the rope was winded in. They went through the wormhole, and the Doctor jumped when the creature hammered on the doors. "Oh. That's what that noise was. Lovely."

***

Wanda and Hila sprawled onto the floor, and Emma gave one last scream before collapsing onto the floor, Alec scrambling to help her. "No!" Clara screamed as the wormhole disappeared, Jessie running to help Wanda and Hila up, closing her eyes as she heard the TARDIS Cloister bell start to toll, Alec taking the headset off Emma.

***

The Doctor blinked, seeing that the house had disappeared, and he was now alone, back in the woods. "Oh, dear," he swallowed, looking around. "Oh, dear. Where are you?"

***

"But how do we get the Doctor back?" Pietro demanded as Clara tried to wake up Emma.

"Wake up!" Clara shook Emma awake. "Wake up! Open the thing!"

Emma swallowed hard. "I'm sorry," she croaked.

"Don't be sorry," Alec shook his head. "Don't be. What you did - "

"Wasn't enough," Clara interrupted. "She needs to do it again."

"She can't! Look at her!"

"She has to!" Clara shouted.

"Clara!" Jessie snapped, and startled, Clara turned to see her helping Wanda up, her stormy grey eyes almost black. "Head to the TARDIS, now. I'll be back there in a moment. All three of us will be." Clara swallowed, then nodded and left. Jessie walked over to Emma and crouched down. "I'm not going to tell you to open that back up," she said quietly. "Because despite what I say, I think I might be mad after all. I'm mad because I love someone so much, I would do anything to get him back. If our places were exchanged, and if it was the Major inside that pocket universe, I imagine you would be screaming for me to open it back up. After all . . . what would you do to save the person you love?"

Emma swallowed. "Anything," she answered quietly.

Jessie nodded, then headed out with Wanda and Pietro. As Emma sobbed quietly, Alec bent down and hugged her. "I know that you feel you can't do this, Emma, but look at that woman over there," he nodded at Hila. "You saved her. She's only here because of your strength . . . and so am I," he admitted. "I was as lost as her, but being with you, you gave me a reason to be, Emma. You brought me back from the dead."

Emma swallowed, then nodded and gestured for the headset. Alec helped her put it on, and Hila came over to hold their hands as Emma concentrated.

***

"Oh, come on!" Clara was banging on the doors to the TARDIS, not having a key. "Let me in, you grumpy old cow!"

"Grumpy old cow?" Pietro guffawed in amusement as the rest of them ran out.

"She wouldn't let me in!"

"Oh, come on, Idris," Jessie sighed as she approached. "Come on, give us something here."

A hologram flickered, then a look-alike of Clara appeared. "Whoa," the real Clara blinked. "What's this now?"

"The TARDIS Voice Visual Interface," it answered. "I'm programmed to select the image of a person you esteem. Of several billion such images in my databanks, this one best meets the criterion."

"Oh," Clara narrowed her eyes. "Oh, you are a cow. I knew it."

"Onto a more important subject," Jessie threw Clara a warning look. "We're going to rescue the Doctor."

"The Doctor is in the pocket universe."

"I know, and you're going to take us there anyway," Jessie snapped her fingers, and the TARDIS doors opened. "Thank you for your cooperation, Idris."

The hologram flickered out as Jessie ran to the console, the companions spreading out across it to help her.

***

"Doctor! Doctor, we're here! Come home!"

The Doctor paused, seeing the echo house appear again. "Emma?" he asked, before blanching when he heard a snarl. "What do you want?" he shouted, turning around. "To frighten me, I suppose, eh? Because that's what you do. You hide. You're the boogeyman under the bed, seeking whom you may devour." He swallowed when he heard laughing. "You want me to be afraid? Then well done. I am the Doctor, and I am afraid."

"Doctor, hurry!" Emma begged.

"So why am I still here, huh?" the Doctor asked. "Why not just eat me? Ha? Come on, because you still need me." He looked at the bizarre quadruped behind a tree. "Yeah, you need me to piggyback you across. To which I say . . . come on, then, big boy! Chase me!"

The Doctor ran through the woods, running for the Caliburn House, when the creature pounced on him, knocking him down. When he heard a familiar wheezing, however, he looked up.

The TARDIS came whizzing through the air, and the Doctor jumped up, grabbing onto the outside as the TARDIS traveled back. They landed back in Caliburn House, Emma screaming and collapsing in Alec's arms as the Doctor tried to catch his breath.

***

Emma was looking out the windows when she stiffened. "You wanted a word."

"I did," Jessie confirmed.

Emma turned to look at her. "That's fine. You didn't come here for the ghost, did you?"

"No, though that was intriguing. The Doctor couldn't resist."

"You came here for me."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I needed to ask you something."

"Then ask." Emma was willing to answer. After all, the girl had helped her and Alec confess their feelings for each other.

"Clara," Jessie said simply.

"Yes?" Emma prompted.

"What is she?"

"She's a girl."

Jessie refrained from rolling her eyes. "Yes, but what kind of girl, specifically?"

"She's a perfectly ordinary girl," Emma shrugged. "Very pretty, very clever, more scared than she lets on."

"And that's it?"

"Why?" Emma tilted her head. "Is that not enough?"

***

"Where will you go?" Emma asked as she hugged Hila goodbye.

"He can't take me home," Hila shook her head. "History says I went missing."

"But he can change history."

"No, no, no, I can't, actually," the Doctor shook his head. "There are fixed points in time, you see - "

"Hi," Jessie said sweetly before clearing her throat and glaring at the Doctor.

"What?" he protested, even as she dragged him off.

Hila smiled at Emma. "I knew you were there. I could feel you."

"I know," Emma nodded.

"Have we - ?" she gestured between them.

"We can't have," Emma shook her head. "You haven't even been born yet."

"No, you can't have met, but she can be your great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter," the Doctor butted in again. "Yours, too, of course," he added to Alec, not seeming to notice both humans sort of blush at that. "But you guessed that already, didn't you?" Jessie coughed, marching over and headslapping him once again. The Doctor squeaked and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh. Apparently not."

"The paradoxes," Alec began.

"Resolve themselves, by and large," the Doctor reminded him. "That's why the psychic link was so powerful. Blood calling to blood, out of time.

"Not everything ends," Jessie smiled at Emma's adorable blush. "Not love. Not always."

The Doctor winked and turned to leave, Jessie behind him, when Alec called, "Bad Wolf?" The girl turned back as the Doctor went on. "What about . . . what about us?" he gestured between himself and Emma. "Emma and me?"

"What about you?" Jessie tilted her head.

"Well, what's supposed to happen? I mean, what do we do now?"

Jessie walked over, smiling, and took their hands, putting them together. "Hold hands," she answered, smiling when they did just that. "That's what you're meant to do. Keep doing that, and don't let go. That's the secret. It's worked for me and the Doctor so far, and it's been a few hundred years."

"Oh, I'm so slow!" the Doctor suddenly shouted from behind her, making the humans jump; Jessie just turned and coolly raised an eyebrow. "I am slow! I'm notorious for it. That's always been my problem. But, but I get there in the end. Oh, yes!"

"Doctor?" Clara asked slowly, wondering something.

Pietro just flat out asked. "Are you OK?"

"I'm perfect!" he cheered. "Question: how do sharks make babies?"

"Carefully?" Clara asked.

"No, no, no, happily!"

"Sharks don't actually smile," Clara frowned. "They're just . . . well, they've got lots and lots of teeth. They're quite eaty."

"Exactly," the Doctor grinned. "But birds do it, bees do it, even educated flees do it. Every lonely monster needs a companion."

"Which means there's two of them," Jessie smiled, seeing movement in one of the upper windows of Caliburn House.

"Exactly," the Doctor grinned, putting his arm around her shoulders. "It's the oldest story in the universe, this one or any other. Boy and girl fall in love, get separated by events. War, politics, accidents in time. She's thrown out of the hex, or he's thrown into it. Since then, they've been yearning for each other across time and space, across dimensions. This isn't a ghost story, it's a love story!"

Jessie ducked under his arm and went back to the trio of humans. "Sorry about interrupting your lives," she smiled apologetically. "Really, I am, but turns out there's still one last tiny favor to ask."

***

"I'm sorry!" the Doctor ran through the pocket universe, Emma having sent him back in. "I understand now! I can take you to her! I can take you to a safe place far away from here! You can be together!" He frowned when he didn't see anyone. "Well, come on, then! She's waiting!" All of a sudden, he heard heavy breathing behind him, and he slowly turned, seeing the crooked creature standing there. "Well, hello again, you old Romeo you," he tried to smile. Really, this was just one of the most bizarre creatures ever. But, who was he to deny love to creatures separated by time and space? "Now, here she comes!" The TARDIS broke back into the pocket universe, and the Doctor grinned. "Get ready to jump!"

***

I cannot stop laughing about that Romeo line. I just find it remarkably hilarious, for some reason. XD

Anyway, there might be an interlude coming up. I haven't decided. What I do know is that the next episode is "Rise of the Cybermen" for Anna!