Fans Fiction The Eternal Diamond: Part Two The Key to Everything by S. Florence

 

6pm came just as Cook finished setting the dinner table in the dining room for 3 people. Lady Christina, The Doctor and himself seeing as he was an integral part of everything that occurred within the manor walls. The sound of wheezing engines broke the silence and a warm gust of wind blew the swan like origami napkins from the place settings and into the pea soup warming on the serving sideboard. Cook huffed with resignation as the dining room door flew open and Lady C came bustling in in her dressing gown and pyjamas, not wanting to give the new lady Doctor anything to fancy about her seeing as she had snogged her once when she was a man! Waiting with baited breath for the Tardis doors to open and slightly unnerved that all she was thinking about was that kiss! She gave a sideways glance at the sideboard and pulled a confused face. 

“Cook, why are their napkins in the pea soup?”

“Erm, no idea MI ‘Lady, must ‘ave been Hugo. I’ll flog the silly old git later”

“Well, I’m not eating it. Go fetch the steak whilst I greet the Doctor” 

Cook nodded and left the room mumbling under his breath. “If by steak yer mean fish ‘n’ chips from the chippy down south street then yeh alright”

Cook left and the Tardis doors opened and an old man stepped out looking very frail and slightly confused, not only at his surroundings but at the woman in front of him who seemed to be dressed for bed. 

“Hello, did you call? I’m the Doctor! Well, what is it girl?”

Christina stared slightly open mouthed for a bit and frowned, trying to respond to the dodgy looking pensioner in front of her feeling slightly nauseous as she tried to push the image of that snog out of her mind before she spoke.
 “You’re the Doctor? Really? Oh dear, what happened? I know it’s been a few years since we last met but has it really been long enough for you to have aged so much and you’re a man again I see. Did you get my message, the one about the key?”

Unknown to Christina, phoning the time vortex to reach the Doctor was a very fractured experience in that there were so many versions of him zooming about in space and time that it was impossible to know which version of him you would get! And, unbeknown to her, she had reached the very first version of him, a man so old and yet so young by comparison that he had never met nor heard of Lady Christina de Souza before and in fact in his time she hadn’t even been born yet!

“Oh, that was you was it? Yes, I got the message. It’s the year 2021 isn’t it? Very futuristic I must say although not as advanced as I imagined. Still using a basic cellular device for contact when its very easy to establish mind to mind connections, you just need to concentrate more. If you’re looking for the Omnia Clavis then you’re out of luck, it was stolen from me some time ago. It is strange though because as soon as I received your message the Tardis locked onto the Omnia and brought me here, to this house and in this time. It is said that the key will only present itself when an acceptable trade is offered for it, so what do you have my dear?

   Christina stared somewhat confused as the old man rattled on in what seemed to be a very old-fashioned dialect and offered him one her of best educated responses…. “huh?”

“My dear, what have I stumbled into? It seems the human race has travelled backwards and not progressed forwards. I am the Doctor, the original you might say and by the look of confusion spreading across that pretty face of yours I would say you were not expecting me but possibly a newer version of me, is that Correct?”

Christina nodded

“Your primitive communications devices found me in the time vortex, it is how we travel through time and space and on a day when I myself was looking for something valuable to me so the two connections have been made and here I am. You called me and I arrived. That is how it works but not in the order one wishes it would. Are you in possession of an eternal diamond by chance? One you wish to trade for the Omnia Clavis? The key to everything?”

   Understanding slightly more than she originally did, Christina nodded, still open mouthed and possibly dribbling but she managed to regain her composure as the mention of the key.

“Yes! Yes, I have the diamond but I am confused, the key has been in my family for years, at least 100 or so and it has been passed down to me by my family lastly my father who left it to me in his will. I had no idea what it was until you, or a future you turned up here 2 years ago and took it from me claiming it was some kind of key to the universe and would only be returned once I returned to you the diamond which I had stolen from you, namely the eternal diamond. The thing is, I hadn’t actually stolen it from anyone at that time and I had to go looking for it and literally only came across it last week and stole it from a jeweller last night so none of this is making any sense”

   The Doctor listened with great interest and great boredom and wondered why he bothered to save the human race anymore when all they did was babble on and dribble down the front of their bed clothes.

“I have no idea what you are talking about, I would just like to know if you have the diamond? If you do then bring it to me, if it is indeed the eternal diamond then the key shall be returned to you”

“But you said the key was stolen from you, so you don’t have it do you?”

“That is true but as I said before if you had cared to listen, the key will present itself when there is a compatible trade for it. I do not know who stole it from me, only that it was and it ended up within your family meaning you had it all along”

   No one ever said time travel was easy and the inconsistencies of jumping time were starting to show. Nothing ever ran in a smooth straight line so nothing ever would make sense, a situation the Doctor had come to terms with long ago and now never questioned but one the humans would never get their tiny brains around.  Before he could insist she bring him the diamond, the dining room door opened and Cook walked in with 3 bags of fish ‘n’ chips and large box containing the diamond which he placed on the table and opened.

“The eternal diamond. Thought to be alien in origin but no beggar knows. Whats’it do then?”

   The Doctor stepped forward and took a closer look and smiled before reaching out for it and placing it inside his coat.

 “It is the heart of a storm on my home planet of Gallifrey. Without the storm our crops cannot grow and we cannot feed ourselves. It was lost during the Autumn Rains of Never, and we feared it had gone forever and how it turned up on earth I do not know but with our last stocks diminishing from the 5 years without the storm, we can now farm our lands again”

“It was Cooks turn to look confused” You’d be better off getting’ yerselves a Tesco I reckon”

Once he had the diamond safely in his possession the strangest thing happened. The sound of wheezing engines followed by a warm familiar wind brought another Tardis into the dining room making Cook step back with fear and panic so he was using Lady C as a human shield just in case the Time Lords had come to invade Earth. Instead, the door opened and a woman with a blonde bob stepped out sinking Christina’s heart completely as she was still hoping her Doctor, the man she had met on the bus, would one day come back for her and take her travelling among the stars whilst they did some more snogging.

“Brilliant!” The second Doctor explained as she looked round the room. “No 13, or is it 14? I never know but hello number 1, got the diamond I see? That’s so cool! I knew we wouldn’t all starve to death cos well, future stuff and all that but I had forgotten a lot of it which is why I made a mental note to myself, bit like an alarm clock, to come here at various points in time to set this all up. The eternal diamond originally fell through a crack in time landing in the jewellery shop just 2 days ago. Obviously, no one reported it stolen cos no one knew it was there but I needed a thief to get it for me and I needed me to come at the right time to get it back, the right time being just a few days after it was lost. With me so far? In order to do that, I had to convince Christina here to get it for me and not try and sell it on herself so I went back in time to another me, number 10, the handsome one with the hair? Took a valuable family heirloom which was the key then travelled back in time again to me being number 1, left it in his Tardis with a note telling him what it was and that he was to keep it safe and then a few regenerations later when I remembered cos, I do sometimes forget stuff, I went and stole it back off him leaving him with the memory of a fabled key to everything that would present itself at the right time to its rightful owner. Then, I gave it to a young woman called Angela de’ Castiel as a wedding present to the 5^th earl of Norway and told her to keep it safe as it was a magic key that could open anything which then became a family fairy story and something of a mystery that would reveal itself at the right time to the right person, then I stole it back off Lady Christina here 2 years ago and when I knew it was time for her to steal the diamond, I did a bit of jiggery pokery on the internet so she would find what she was looking for, and here I am to give the key back now I have the diamond back! Bit of time stuff in-between but it got the job done otherwise Gallifrey would have died long before the time war and nothing I’d done since then would have made any difference to the universe and the earth would have died too”!

   Finished rambling she took a very deep breath and looked very proud of herself, grinning happily as everyone including the other Doctor looked on in complete fascination.

“What time war? What do you mean?” He bellowed at her with etched concern that furrowed his brow in shock.

“OH bugger, erm yeah nothing for you to worry about gramps, you’ll be long gone by then especially if you don’t get the diamond back to the heart of the storm”

   The first Doctor assuming his beloved home world was under attack, left as quickly as he arrived without so much as a thankyou or a nod of appreciation to lady C and her butler leaving lady C and her butler to turn to the new lady Doctor for questioning with one of the questions from Cook wanting to know if she was single which was met with a hard look of menace from her ladyship causing him to lower his head in shame and mumble… “Well, you snogged her so why can’t I?”

“SO, the key? Do you have it? What does it do exactly? I was never left any instructions as to what it opened by my father only that he said it would open something one day when the time was right and I would never want for anything every again, so do you have it?”

The Doctor took the key from her coat pocket and handed it to Christina with a genuine look of remorse on her face.

“I’m sorry Lady C, it’s just a key and one I planted in your family history as a decoy so that I could convince you to get my diamond back. It really doesn’t do anything, it’s just an heirloom now with a bizarre history attached to it. It is alien though, cos I got it from a market stall on the planet Diarumous, but I’ve scanned it and it really is just a key, probably to an old relic of a castle somewhere judging by its size but I really couldn’t tell you where.”

Shrugging, she spied the bag of fish and chips on the table and grabbed one for herself. “Cheer’s mate, love a bit of fish, anyway gotta be going now, planets to save and all that. Laters!”

   Before anyone could say anything more, she left and the Tardis disappeared into the night leaving Cook rather red faced at his indecent proposal and Christina rather red faced from her burning anger at being taken for a fool, used and cheated out of something magical and wonderful that had filled her head with wonder for all of her life, The Key to everything!

She slammed it into Cook’s hand with disgust and took her own fish ‘n’ chips to bed with her to sulk away the night as she attempted to plan a way to get the Doctor back. Cook took his own meal into the kitchen and dumped the key in the bin knowing the bin men would be arriving in the morning and as he sat outside the kitchen door on an old wooden chair eating his fish supper, in the bin unknown to him, the key had stared to glow!

 

The End

Fans Fiction The New Adventures of Lady C - The Eternal Diamond, Part One by S. Florence

 

Breaking News!

Thieves steal £500,000 of gems from London jeweller in 'audacious heist'

 

*A Burglary at George Attenborough & Son bears similarities to 2015 Hatton Garden robbery. Scotland Yard’s Flying Squad are hunting the mysterious thief behind the heist on the shop, which specialises in diamond rings, necklaces, pearls and other expensive jewellery. Last Friday evening a lone thief caught on CCTV wearing head to toe black clothing broke into an upmarket central London jeweller’s and stole an estimated £500,000 of gems and valuables in an audacious heist, police said on Wednesday. The burglary at George Attenborough and Son jewellers happened just before 10pm, just a few hours after it the shop had closed for the weekend, and has led to claims the thief must have tunnelled in, sparking comparisons to the 2015 heist in Hatton Garden. Police will only say that the thief broke in through a wall to gain access to the jewels inside, and that the burglary lacked the sophistication of the Hatton Garden heist. *

The following story is based on true events, but some of the details have been changed.

Christina huffed with annoyance as she read the line… lacked the sophistication of the Hatton Garden heist.  The reporter working on the newspaper article obviously had no idea that it was the Hatton Garden lot that copied the idea from her one boozy weekend at the manor where guests were invited and secrets were divulged. She shook her head, rolled her eyes, took a gulp of gin and carried on reading. 

*Det Supt Alan Moring, leading the investigation, said: “This was an audacious burglary, and there are elements that appear to have been planned with some precision by the suspect. They broke through a wall in order to gain access to the store. At this stage we are not releasing any further details about the methods used” * 

Christina scoffed this time and snorted a short burst of laughter. “You don’t have any further details that’s why!” 

*Moring added: “The estimated loss is £500,000. This is a theft of high value which warrants thorough and determined investigation. We know that the raid took place just before 10pm on Friday evening. I would urge people who were in the area to think back. It may be that you saw something and now realise it may have been out of place. If this is the case, please make contact with us, even if that is anonymously.”  Detectives were securing and studying footage from CCTV systems in the area for clues. A breakthrough via CCTV ultimately snared the Hatton Garden gang. Unlike the 2015 heist, establishing the estimated value of the items stolen in the weekend raid was relatively simple. In Hatton Garden, safety deposit boxes kept by private clients were broken into and their contents stolen. Establishing their value was a long and complex process, as well as working out what exactly was stolen, with some owners declining to come forward. George Attenborough and Son Jewellers would have had a better idea of what they had in stock, what was missing and an estimate of its worth. As well as breaking into the shop, which was established in 1843 and describes itself as “one of the United Kingdom’s most iconic, traditional jewellers”, the thieves would have had to bypass alarms and security once inside. Moring also laid speculation to the fact that the notorious and so far, unidentified jewel thief, The Lucky Cat, may be a suspect as, and I quote: “This sort of thing is right up her alley” But because the thief remains at large, investigations are still ongoing and we can’t speculate anything at this early stage”*

Article written by B.M.Lunn  

Lady C closed the newspaper and laid it on the side table next to her lounge chair with a loud disappointed sigh. Upon hearing her rattling disgust through the manor corridors, Cook appeared as if by magic with another large gin on a silver serving tray which he handed to her before picking up the paper and reading the front-page news for himself.

He was a great butler; an even better friend and he knew exactly what to say in times like this when all Lady C’s efforts seemed to go unnoticed by the worlds press.  
“Lacked the sophistication my arse! Bet the bleedin’ ‘Atton Garden mob didn’t get away with the priceless Eternal diamond did they say? Basil’s been after that for donkey’s years. He’ll be havin’ a right fit once he knows it was being kept safe in that back-street jewellers all this time and not where he thought it was!” 

Cook let out a large laugh which made Lady C smile. He was right, of course. The jewellery had been taken just to cover up the real reason she was robbing the joint and she smiled smugly to herself knowing exactly what was now sitting rather pretty in her secret underground vault.

“Exactly!” She proclaimed after draining the first glass of gin and taking a sip from the other. “As expected, there’s no reports of the diamond being stolen anywhere which just goes to show that we may have been right about its origin after all. No wonder they were keeping it a secret.”

She got to her feet and smiled as she tossed back her long brown hair from her eyes and handed Cook her phone.  “Call The Doctor Cook, tell him what I have and tell him I expect him to be here by 6pm this evening for dinner. If we are right about this, he will want to know we have it and if he wants it back, he will have to return the item he stole from me last year. I’d call that a fair trade, wouldn’t you?”

Cook nodded and took the phone, mumbling to himself as he wondered which version of the Doctor would turn up this time and if he’d know anything that was going on or if he’d know too much. It was always the way with him, and a her once, that totally threw both of them that day.

Lady C left the room and headed to the vault. The jewellery she had stolen would be sold off in dribs and drabs to those she knew within her dark circles and they would make her a fair amount of money, but as she typed in the code to the safety box buried deep within the vault which was made of a type of wood that couldn’t be opened by a wandering Time Lord’s sonic screwdriver, she laid eyes on her most valuable prize to date, knowing that within a few hours, she’d once more have the key to everything!

 To be continued….

Fans Fiction The New Adventures of Lady C - The Early Years by S. Florence

Chapter 1

After the Doctor! 

Where do you go when you are in a flying bus? That was the question that went around and around in Christina's head as she flew the skies of London. She had just escaped the clutches of Detective Inspector Macmillan, and was now flying a number 200 route master bus to freedom! As surreal as it was, she had no time to marvel at her present situation and had to think fast. The only option was to go back home and get working on an alibi. If she got the bus moving quickly enough, she could have it done by dawn and it would be like she had never left the house that evening. There would be no proof she'd been anywhere near the International Gallery, let alone another planet, and no charges could be brought against her. Pushing the bus into top gear, she slammed her foot on the accelerator and to her relief, it shot off at high speed.

   Less than 10 minutes later she was landing a huge double decker bus on the dark but vast grounds of her home. There was no point trying to hide it, it would be visible wherever she put it so she just parked it up under the trees that ran the perimeter of her home, shielding it from public view for the time being, and decided to deal with it later, she could always claim ignorance if anyone asked, it seemed to work for most people who were caught red handed, and wondered if dyeing her hair blonde would have a better impact. Grabbing her rucksack, she jumped out of the driver’s seat and ran up to the main house calling out for assistance from her long serving butler John Cook as she went. Cook wasn't at all surprised to see her coming home so late, what had surprised him was catching a glimpse of the bus as she came in through the door.

   "I trust you had an engaging night mi'lady. Everything went according to plan?"

   Throwing her bag onto the sofa as she walked into the main living room, she flopped down next to it looking exhausted. "I wouldn't say that Cook, actually I'd say the plan failed completely and I nearly ended up in jail this time."

   Cook brought her a drink without being asked. He had worked for her long enough to know what she needed and when she needed it.  "Shall I arrange the alibi for you ma'am? There was a party at Lord Mitchell's house this evening, I can arrange for at least six guests who will testify under oath that you were there all evening, including Lord Mitchell himself. He is such a name dropper that he wouldn't know if he'd invited you or not, or if you had turned up! Having your name and title mentioned to him would be enough for him to confirm."

   She nodded and drained the glass of vodka he'd given her..."Yes, but do it now as it won't be long before Macmillan comes knocking." Cook tipped his head in agreement and left the room to make the arrangements.

   Christina rested her head back against the soft cushions of the sofa and closed her eyes. What a day it had been, definitely the strangest day of her entire life, without question. The robbery was one thing but a different Planet!!...That was something else entirely. She had actually left Earth and flown through a worm hole in time, to another world, in a double decker bus! The more she thought about it the more ridiculous it sounded and that made her laugh to herself. Who was going to believe her? Who could she tell that would even understand what she had been through today? She'd stolen a golden chalice worth tens of thousands of pounds and then watched it being hammered by a mad man to the steering wheel of the bus. She'd been attacked by alien stingrays, been on a space ship that belonged to giant flies and she had met the most wonderful man in the world! None of it seemed real now as she sat in the darkness of the living room. None of it seemed possible, yet it had happened, it had most definitely happened and she had no one to share that with. The man, "The Doctor" as he had called himself, was a traveller, but according to him travelled on his own, and when he left, she knew that she might never see him again. She couldn't recall who the other people on the bus were. The whole day had been wasted, miraculous, frightening and magical, yet here she was, back at home on the sofa alone.

   Cook re-entered the room around 20 minutes later with a tray of food and set it down on the table next to her. Picking up the remote control he turned the tv on and switched it over to the late night news.

   "Something you might be interested in m'lady."

   She opened her eyes and quickly sat up as the picture on the screen came into focus. There were news readers everywhere standing outside the entrance to the queen’s gate tunnel.

   "The air force have dismissed the claims of a flying bus, or of an attempted alien threat, and put it down to a training exercise that went wrong. They also insist that such claims are not only dangerous rumours, but the work of internet UFO enthusiasts. Torchwood representative Ianto Jones said earlier that if there had been anything remotely off world about tonight, then his team would have been the first to know about it. We interviewed UNIT who were believed to be witnesses to tonight’s events and they have recently confirmed the statement from the Air Force saying that they were asked to come out as a matter of courtesy to help dismiss the ridiculous claims. Detective Macmillan from Scotland Yard who was also present at the scene said he couldn't actually remember why he was there, and went home."

   Cook turned off the TV and went to leave the room...." If that is all for this evening, I shall retire ma'am. I don't think you'll be needing those alibi's now do you?" He smiled knowingly at her and closed the door behind him.

  

   So that was that? According to the news the whole day never happened? The problem was, that it did and as her reason for leaving the house this morning hadn't quite gone the way she had hoped so, there really was only one thing for it. She lost the chalice she had stolen, the one thing that would have gotten her out of the mess she was in, and so she would have to steal something else, and keep stealing until things were sorted. If the news, the police, the government and the Doctor were going to deny her part in today’s events, if she was to be overlooked and ignored in such a life changing matter then she would use that to her advantage. She wasn't going to hide in the shadows anymore. As from now, she was going to take back her life and live it in the best way possible. She might be prepared for everything, but was the world prepared for her?

   Christina slept well that night and for most of the next day. It was 5pm before she finally managed to rouse herself and get out of bed. The events of the previous day had obviously had more of a physical impact on her than she had realised because she felt so tired. Maybe travelling from one world to another did that to you, some kind of Intergalactic jet lag?

   Although still quite drowsy she had in her mind a plan of action about what to do next, what she would do with her life and how she would improve it. Pulling on her dressing gown she left her bedroom and headed downstairs to the kitchen to find Cook brewing some coffee and toasting a muffin for her.... funny how that man always seemed to know her needs as she was just thinking of those two things! She smiled at him and sat at the large, well worn wooden table as he placed her breakfast, in front of her.

   "You slept well m'lady? Forgive me for not waking you sooner, but I guessed with the news reports and your lack of treasures that last night didn't go as planned, and you might need some time on your own to recover and regroup!"

   She nodded gratefully at him whilst sipping the hot coffee. Her mind too preoccupied with plans to give him a direct answer. Plans that she would need to go over and over with a fine tooth comb before she put them into action. She could do that this evening in her office. She could search the internet for a list of local businesses and.....; She sighed heavily, no she couldn't, not tonight at least. Tonight, Cook was due to drive her to Kenilworth to attend a party in the large stately home of Lady Pensworth, a social butterfly of the Midlands who had known her parents for many years before they had died. It was going to be quite a noticeable party and she could start to build the de Souza reputation there as she would meet and make a lot of useful contacts. It had to be that evening as Lady Pensworth was due to leave for Germany the next morning for a planned vacation.

   She almost resigned herself to starting her new life a day later than anticipated but was interrupted by the sudden thoughts and flashes of inspiration that seared through her mind, and for several moments, she stared like a zombie into space as a plan unfolded before her eyes.

   Perhaps she could kill two birds with one stone? Maybe this would be the perfect opportunity, the perfect robbery? No one would suspect her, surely?

   More moments passed in a blur of madness as she thought more and more of the possibilities of the evening and, she left the table and gave instructions for Cook to have the car ready for 7pm. The party would be in full swing by the time she got there at 9pm, and she could work her way through the guests whilst surveying the place, checking the security and planning the job as she went along. The thought of mingling with people of such nobility whilst secretly planning to steal from them sent shivers down her spine. This was it! This was the feeling she wanted and craved for! This was the stomach churning nervousness of excitement that raged through her body as she dressed in a black evening gown, the urge not to laugh or to cry as she placed some useful items in a bag, things she would probably be needing to carry out the job....a lock pick, gloves, torch and a stop watch, all small enough to fit into the black diamante clutch bag she would carry.

   Feeling sick with excitement as she made her way down the spiral staircase to the awaiting car and checked herself in the hallway mirror before she left. Oh yes, this was it! This was the night that Lady Christina de Souza made her comeback to the world of aristocracy, and the night that The Lucky Cat, (the alter ego she had given herself) would make its entrance into the world of crime. This was her night, and she intended to see it through to the last!

  

In and out the guests she weaved, polite conversation made as eye contact dipped from one person to another, eyes flitting round the room, an alarm above the door, a panic button under a desk, staff that looked too burly to be just servers, could also be trained in combat, seven security locks on all doors, windows fitted with alarms, it was a high security place and one a little out of her reach for a first time heist, better start small, better get her reflexes and intuition sorted first and foremost. More conversation, condolences about the death of her parents, questions about the disappearance of her sister, a slight tear, and an excuse to leave the ballroom and take a few minutes to herself, an excuse to search the upstairs rooms and take what she wanted.

   Bracelets, necklaces, rings, gold, diamonds, rubies, she needed a bigger bag, but she hid them well and took whatever she could conceal. Back in the ballroom, feeling better, mingling again, polite chats, exchanges of addresses, invites to more parties, more chances to steal, more chances to make contacts and take these stuck up suckers for all they were worth. Oh, they could say they were sorry about her parents dying, but where were they when it had happened? When she and her home needed saving, when at the age of 24, she had been called home to take on the debts of her father’s estate and face the persecution and prosecution he had left her with. They all turned their backs and refused to help, so now she would help herself!

Extract from the London Daily Newspaper

"Thieves steal a selection of valuable jewellery from Kenilworth home."

Police are investigating a burglary in Kenilworth in which a car and a number of valuable items were stolen. The burglary occurred sometime last night during a party hosted by lady Pensworth, the founder of the Midlands heritage charity who's fundraising allows for historic places of interest to be rebuilt and maintained.

Lady Pensworth was hoping to raise awareness for her charity at last night’s event which saw a guest list that boasted many famous and influential names. Instead she had to cancel plans to travel overseas this morning, to answer police questions whilst they investigated the crime.

   The thieves apparently entered the property through an open kitchen window and searched through many of the stately homes rooms whilst the party was in full swing. stealing items worth several thousands of pounds. There were no clues and as yet, no evidence to work on.

   Officers investigating the incident would like to hear from anyone who was in the vicinity of Fieldgate Lane in the hours leading up to 2am and saw any suspicious activity.

   Police wanted to question every guest at the party but Lady Pensworth refused stating that she was positive that no one she had invited into her home would do such a terrible thing.

   "This was not just any party, this was "The party".......She said in a public statement to the press, early this morning......."I can assure you that among the carefully screened guest list of, Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen of the aristocracy that I did not invite a common criminal into my home. This was obviously a chance robbery and I have no illusions that I will be seeing my valuables again!"

   Anyone with information about this or any other crime is asked to contact Warwickshire Police on 01926 415000 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.

   Christina folded the paper and placed it on her lap smiling. Looking over to the bag on her dressing table chair, she lay back down in bed and snuggled under the warmth of the duvet, closing her eyes she began plotting her next heist.

   She spent the rest of the week sorting through the collection of Jewellery she'd stolen from Lady Pensworth's house. There were quite a few items that looked as though they could be worth a bit of money, but to be absolutely sure that she wasn't going to be wasting her time or exposing herself to the criminal underworld for nothing, she decided to dig out her father’s old gold testing kit. She had seen him use it several times in the past when she was growing up, to authenticate pieces he had brought or had been given, and it was now packed away in the cellar with the rest of her parents things, things she didn't want to part with just yet.

   Making her way through the old-fashioned kitchen, she pulled opened a large heavy wooden door that revealed several stone steps leading downwards to the very bottom of the Manor. The coldness of the stale air hit her lungs as she trod carefully past empty dusty wine bottles, worn boxes stacked in cobwebbed corners and broken bricks which had fallen from the dilapidated walls of a building that had not been loved in a very long time. Finding the light switch as she ran her hand down the cold damp wall, she flicked it on and shuddered as a dim light filled the area.

She didn't come down here much, there wasn't really much point as what was stored here wasn't needed anymore, but when she did, she always had the feeling that there was more to the room than what she could see. It was almost like something was hidden, but she could sense it, feel its presence even though she couldn't see anything beyond the cold stone walls.

She quickly grabbed the box she was after, a blue box file labelled "FdS", and hurried back up the steps to the warm comforting glow of the kitchen and placed the box on the table, where she carefully opened it and found more than she was looking for.

   Inside, under the gold testing kit was a small note book containing a list of names and numbers. Reading through them she recognised some as friends of her fathers, people he had associated with over the years for business matters, but this wasn't a phone book as the names were not listed next to an address or company name. It looked to Christina like it was a book of contacts as next to each name and number was a word and a maximum price. For example: James Wentworth - 18crt Gold - max £8000. M. Carter. - Gold and opals. max - £30,000. There was also a list of names written in red with a cross next to each one. She assumed that these must be people not to deal with, maybe they had bad reputations or didn't pay the full asking price for things?

   Tapping the book against her chin as she leant on the kitchen table, she smiled coyly to herself. This was exactly what she needed, a list of contacts willing to buy the gold she had acquired. Packing everything away back in the box, she took it to her office to get started.

Several hours passed as Christina sat in the small hot office reading through the instructions on how to use the kit properly. It wasn't as easy as she had hoped it would be and using acidic elements in the hot weather was beginning to irritate her eyes and skin, and so deciding enough was enough, she left the Manor and went for a stroll in the sun to clear her head and fill her lungs with something less toxic.

   Her mind wandered in and out and her thoughts flipped from one thing to another as it had been doing for several days now. Planets with 3 suns, stingrays, buses, stealing, a skinny man in a suit who claimed to be an alien!.....it was no wonder that she hadn't paid much attention to where she was going and she was quite surprised to find that she had wandered into town. Stopping suddenly to get her bearings, she found she was staring mindlessly through the window of an old high street Jewellers and almost immediately something caught her eye. What looked like an 18th century 24ct gold locket, sparkled at her in the sunlight behind the dusty glass. It stood proudly on its display stand, standing out from the rest of the items that were for sale. The more she stared, the more transfixed she became and almost instantly as if it had always been part of her, as if some hereditary gene had suddenly activated, she hatched a plan to steal it right there and then, and without a second thought, almost hypnotised by the adrenalin rush that had started to build, she pushed open the door and walked into the shop.

   The Jeweller greeted her by name having known the family for years, and proceeded to show her some of his finest pieces to which she gracefully declined asking instead to be shown a diamond encrusted bracelet that was advertised in the brochure and kept in the safe. Nodding in agreement he obliged and walked through the dividing curtain and into the back of the shop after asking her to please be seated. She sat down and crossed her legs with a smile and continued to browse through the brochure.

Immediately as he disappeared, she jumped up and pulled on some slim black gloves and removed a small lockpicking device she kept on her key chain, from her pocket and casually walked over to the display window and started working on the lock.

   "Do you want both sizes Lady Christina?"...came the call from the back of the shop

   "I most definitely would!” She called back with a smirk on her face as the lock became free. Carefully sliding open the glass door and slipping her hand inside, she picked up the locket. She then moved a few pieces about to disguise the gap that had been left in order not to bring it to notice to soon and slid the door shut. Re-locking it she pulled off her gloves, pulling the locket inside them at the same time and put them and the Lock picker back in her pocket and sat back down on the chair. Crossing her legs, she took up reading the Brochure once again just as the Jeweller came back through the curtain and into the shop.

   She looked up at him smiling sweetly as he placed both bracelets on a velvet cushion on the counter. She Ummm'ed and Ahhh'ed and politely told him that they were not what she was looking for, and left.

   Hurrying out of the shop, heart pounding in her chest she walked quickly along the busy street and turned a corner, out of sight. Was it that easy? Had she really just stolen something in broad daylight and got away with it?

   The adrenalin surged through her as she struggled to keep herself calm. Many people in the town knew her and the last thing she wanted was for them to see her acting this way and put two and two together when news of the theft got out. Being present at two robberies a few days apart might arouse suspicion and get the cops asking her questions. She counted to ten, took several deep breaths and then merged back into the flow of people walking along the street going about her business. Putting her hands in her pockets she nearly burst out laughing as she felt the locket and quickly made her way back home.

   Back at the Manor and back in her office she gratefully flopped into her chair, glad to be sitting down before her legs gave way and she fell down. The last two thefts had been planned, she had known what she was going to do and had gone over it several times in her mind before hand, this was something else. Stealing on impulse was not only dangerous but a little too exciting. She'd nearly fainted with nerves, had felt light headed and sick but compelled to take the item she had seen. This was not the way to go she told herself. If she didn't do this properly then what she had done so far would be for nothing.

   Removing the locket, she held it up before her and watched it twirl around on its chain, catching the light as the small diamonds fell into the rays on sunlight pouring in through the small office window. It was pretty though and if her amateur guess at what it was, was indeed correct, it would be worth in the region of £500. That would be enough to get the boiler fixed at least. The rest of the gold she had estimated was probably worth between £6-£9000. If she could convince her father’s old contacts to buy from her that would get the heating sorted, repair the roof and probably refit the kitchen to a more hygienic standard. This was the reason after all that she was doing all this. Step 2 in rebuilding the family reputation was to fix up the de Souza Manor and make it fit for a Lady to live in.

There were 10 names in all on the list and so taking a deep breath, she started from the top, a name she at least recognised, and dialled the number. It rang several times before it clicked when answered and a deep voice spoke to her from the other end of the line...

   "Hello, Mike speaking!"

   "Hello, is that Michael Winchester?"

   "Yes, it is, who's calling, please?"

   "It's Lady Christina de Souza, Lord Felipe's daughter. I was hoping to speak to you about some business, the sort you and my father used to talk about?" 

   A few pleasantries were exchanged along with the passing of condolences on the death of her parents, followed by a short trip down memory lane that Christina had come to expect when talking to friends of her parents. Within a few minutes though she managed to steer him back onto the conversation of buying the gold she had stolen and when he showed a keen interest in her list of items, she talked him round into negotiating a price with him. It wasn't as hard as she had imagined but it was every bit as nerve wracking as she had thought. He could have laughed at her and scoffed at her amateur selling technique, or refused to confirm he was in that business at all, and for the first time in her life, Christina gained an insight into her father’s lifestyle before he died.

   "I take it you have acquired these goods in the same way your father did? Ask no questions and get it for a cut of the selling price?"

   "Well let's just say that I don't exactly have receipts for everything and leave it at that shall we?"

   He had laughed heavily down the phone. "You're your father's daughter alright, he would have been damned proud that his daughter was following the family tradition."

   She wasn't sure she should be proud of what she was doing, nor should she be congratulated for it. It was a means to an end and a short one at that. As soon as she had made enough to fix the Manor back up enough to earn its title back and re-established herself back into high society, she would stop and do things legally.

   They agreed a price that Christina found most pleasing and Winchester told her to expect a courier the next morning to collect the gold and pass on the money which would be cash as cheques were too traceable, and that was it!

She'd done it!

   Not only that, but Winchester had also given her a few more names that she would find useful. One for the locket and another, a man called Henry J. Lawler. He only dealt in original art work, paintings from famous artists that hung in galleries around the world. If she was interested in making some serious money then this was the man to call.

   Hanging up the phone, she decided that call him, she would!

Fans Fiction The Mystery of Mayhurst Manor part 2 by Sarah Cambridge

The heat was well and truly beating against the cellar door as the Doctor spoke, revealing the truth he was trying to get through to his shocked companion.

   She had always hated the thought of being trapped in a building that was on fire, ever since she had watched the film The Towering Inferno, one night when she’d had the prison TV room to herself after Trish the Snitch got everyone in trouble on C wing for helping themselves to extra potatoes at dinner, leaving them all confined to their cells for the night. Lady C, as it was well known, was very allergic to potatoes and hadn’t had so much of a crisp since she was 5 years old and had blown up like an air balloon during one of daddy’s parties which ended abruptly with the sound of ambulance sirens and mummy crying into her wine glass as her baby girl looked like the Sloth from the goonies.  Now here she was, living her nightmares and once again in a life and death situation courtesy of the Doctor.

   “That’s it! I’m leaving right now and going home!  You can stay if you like Doctor but I will not become part of the fire and rescue service for an empty house!  I took that pendant knowing the lady of the manor had died and there was no one, not one living member of her family left and it was all due to be sold at auction. I just got there first and saved myself some serious money. Its my retirement fund and you can’t have it. I won’t let you!”

   She was almost in tears at this point. Scared of the fire raging against the door knowing that was all that was standing between her and death, and angry that her beautiful pendant might be taken from her when she had gone to great lengths to protect it and keep it hidden.

The doctor shook his head in confusion and shouted at Christina who nearly dropped the phone she was holding as she was about to text herself in the past.

   “You don’t understand, do you? Is it because you have smoke in your ears or have I not explained it properly? That pendant is the reason Mayhurst Manor is on fire! This house, the Mayhurst family, they weren’t just a load of posh people who had some money. They were witches! Well, Lady Jane was and from a very noble family line too. Lord Harry took her name and title when they married, albeit it for the money but he had no idea who she really was, but they had a daughter. Harriet-Jane Mayhurst, or as you and I know her, Harri the witch? That pendant had a protection spell on it to keep Harri safe after her mother had died because she knew that once her husband discovered her magical heritage and in turn his daughters, he might not be too pleased to know he’d married a witch, and as it happened, he wasn’t!  He killed Lady Jane himself and locked Harri in the cellar, this cellar for 5 years when she was 7 years old so that she could never receive the gifts her mother would bestow upon her when she became of age. Lord Harry’s death was the only reason Harri was found by the staff who had ventured into the cellar in search of his will. You taking the pendant from here after her mother had died, made her vulnerable and she became tortured, twisted into her magical beliefs, believing her father’s rantings that she was as evil and as vile as her mother, until she became cursed by her magic, not gifted.”

   Lady C listened in silence, her fury and impatience growing more each second as the Doctor’s tale of the one person in the world that gave her more hassle than Hugo ever did, was Harri the useless witch. She had worked at the manor around 10 years ago, turning up on her doorstep days after Lady C had returned from the planet San Helios, claiming the Doctor had sent her to help out.  She was to cook, clean and protect the manor with her magic and although Lady C had never really believed in that sort of thing before, having just returned from an alien planet and arrived home by flying bus, she had resigned herself to every possibility in the hope that nothing would shock her anymore. Unfortunately, the only thing Harri helped with was herself to lady C’s vodka supplies and spent most of her time in the stables with Hugo showing him how to turn knackered ponies into dead ponies with the flick of her magic wand. Harri was the bane of Lady C’s life but the Doctor insisted she stay there because as he told her repeatedly whenever she complained…

   “One day, you’ll thank me” …. So far, she had not!

  

   “Oh, so what you’re saying is that the reason Harri is so bad at magic, so unbelievably lazy, useless and rude is my fault? That stealing the pendant made her the way she is? That if somehow I could go back in time and leave the pendant for her in this very cellar when she was trapped down here that it would enable her to receive her magic properly and then she’d become the good wonderful witch she was always meant to be?”

   Lady C scoffed at the idea and muttered under her breath about how ridiculous all this was, but then, suddenly had an amazing idea! Take the Tardis back in time to when Harri was here and leave her the pendant. They could literally drop it off 10 minutes after her father had left her here and she would never go through 5 years of hell meaning she would never turn up on her doorstep years later in the mood she was in and give her 5 years of hell. It was an ingenious plan. Before she could open her mouth and tell the doctor just how clever she was, he grabbed her hand and pulled her back towards the portal, shouting behind him over the roar of the fire.

   “We’ll go back to the Tardis and take the pendant back in time to the moment Harri was put here by her father. That way she’ll get the protection her mother left for her and she’ll get the magic in the way she was supposed to get it, not all backward and twisted. Maybe she’ll turn out to be a better person and the two of you might actually get along. Might save all that nasty business with the ponies too.”

   Before she knew it, she was back in her own vault stepping in spilt gin, and the Doctor picked up the pendant case and opened it carefully, his eyes full of admiration as he looked at it.

   Lady C however was full of annoyance at having her plan and pension plan stolen. Deciding to let it go, she slipped her mobile phone back in her pocket after pressing send seconds before she was dragged through the portal, her look of annoyance now turning to one of quiet smugness.

   “Didn’t you ever wonder why it glowed the way it does or why it vibrated as you held it Christina?” The Doctor asked softly as his eyes lit up with the magical light the pendant omitted.

   “It’s full of magic, literally bursting at the seams waiting to be set free to its rightful owner. You keeping it here for so long could potentially have caused a catastrophic explosion of immense power that the world would never be able to cope with. It’s a wonder you don’t get yourself killed from time to time.”

He was as furious as he was concerned for her, but that was how it was with lady C, she would never learn her lesson.

   “Yes whatever.” she said airily pretending she didn’t care anymore and made her way over to the Tardis waiting to be let in where her mood became a lot darker.

   “But I swear to god Doctor, if we succeed and we get back here and she’s miss magical bloody mega witch with a billionaires fortune living the high life, famously flouting her magical talents all over the news for all to see whilst I have to scrape by on what I can steal, you will feel my wrath until your never ending dying days!”

It would be just her luck to return to an alternate universe where Harri was loved the whole world over and she wasn’t.

   The Doctor looked confused once more and glared at her thoughtfully as he opened the Tardis door and let her saunter in, wondering how women managed to change their moods and their minds so quickly. He dashed in after her and placed the pendant on the console and tapped in some coordinates.

   “Right! I’ll land, you go in, give Harri the Pendant and then leave again. No talking, no helping, no remarking on the smell or mess or giving her any indication who you are or where you’ve come from. In and out, do you hear?”

   Lady C nodded and shrugged and sat herself down impatiently waiting to do as she was told and hoped that by the time she got back, if all was well and Nelson’s column hadn’t been turned into Harri’s Column, she would be walking back into a world where she would never have to go begging to the Queen again, in fact…..she might even be the Queen!

   Seven years in the past, in the year 2012, the notorious cat burglar known as the Lucky cat was about to leave her house the deSouza Manor and go on one of the biggest diamond heists of her life when she received a text from an unknown number. It read….

   “GN 2013/14 Auroras Encore. Pineau De Re. £1000,000 on each. Stash the winnings in Hugo’s clean sock drawer.”

She then gave her past self a name with instructions on what to do with it.

   “Take the Koh I noor you’re about to steal to the Queen and tell her if she wants it back, she’ll have to give you the throne or you’ll tell the world who your real mother is.”

To be continued…….

Fans Fiction Luck be a Lady in Time by Sarah Cambridge

Lady Christina de Souza, (Or Lady C as she was better known) heiress and last living family member of the de Souza estate, renowned socialite and 200th in line to the throne of England give or take a minor royal or two, sat in her favourite armchair, staring gloomily out of the large window in the drawing room of her home, the de Souza manor, clutching the one thing she had been dreading receiving ever since IT was announced on the news.

Her invite to the wedding of the prince of something or other, her distant cousin a few 100 times removed, and his smug looking actress wife to be.

   Hers wasn’t a generic invite as posted to the other guests, hers was a hand-written invite from Her majesty the Queen herself, which after a brief note that welcomed her home after her 5-year holiday, simply stated as though she had anticipated the reluctance already, “Yes you do have to come, no you can’t bring that ridiculous friend of yours and yes you do have to wear a hat!”

   It was fair to say that Lady C wasn’t one of the Queens favourite relations but as there was something in her late father’s will and a letter currently in the hands of solicitors that had something to do with her heritage, the Queen had no choice but to keep her relationship with Lady C as amicable as possible and vice versa, which meant she had to do at least one royal duty per year and as per the invite, this would be this year’s obligation and one she’d have to fulfil.

   Luckily, she was only invited to the evening do as the Queen didn’t want the press knowing she was home and knew that if Lady C was spotted in public before the palace had the chance to make a statement regarding her most recent activities, it would take the spotlight off the happy occasion, so she had been banned from the wedding itself but was expected at Frogmore house By 7pm.

   Lady C decided she would grin and bear it, wear something outrageous and get so drunk that she wouldn’t mind answering all the questions that would no doubt be asked as to her whereabouts in the last 5 years which she had been forbidden to discuss publicly by order of the Queen. It was fair to say though that the press and the public already knew that Lady Christina de Souza was the notorious jewel thief known as the lucky cat, who stole a fortune in order to clear the debts her late father had left her with, but when the debt had been paid, she had carried on stealing just because she liked it so much and had been caught 5 years ago and sent to prison for her crimes. This of course made international news until the palace put a ban on it, but even then, over the last few years the stories continued to leak into the press who were later sued until the stories of Lady Christina became lost and forgotten and she wasn’t spoke of any more. This suited her fine as she was able to remain anonymous in prison using her pseudonym of Tina Smith, a small tip she picked up from the doctor, the ridiculous friend the Queen had referred to in the invite.

   He was of course very ridiculous and had taken to wearing a bow tie and a fez the last time she had seen him during a prison visit which was some time ago now, but she didn’t have time to dwell on a time traveling face changing alien, she had a party to go to.

   The day arrived and past in a blur as she refused to watch or listen to the big day on tv, keeping it on mute as the images flickered away in the background. Instead she spent her time walking around the manor which had been stood abandoned for 5 years wondering where her life, the staff and all her money went. The secret underground vault was empty, the stables were empty, even her faithful butler and best friend had left to live a new life with his family and had no doubt taken some of her most prised possessions. She was in fact, penniless and she was in fact about to have a tantrum in a bid to clear some pent-up emotions when something on the tv caught her eye making her smile more in that second then she had done in years.... she was formulating a plan.

   The tiara the new bride was wearing was said to be Queen Mary’s diamond bandeau which contained diamonds dating back to 1839, but Lady C knew from experience and royal knowledge, that all royal Jewellery, no matter who owned it, had a fake counterpart. The fakes would be worn on certain occasions for security and insurance reasons, and on this certain occasion especially, the bride would most likely be wearing the fake tiara as the Queen wouldn’t have considered her worthy just yet of wearing the real thing. This meant that the real tiara would still be in the royal collection room within the tower of London and this meant that whilst everyone was jitterbugging to Wham’s wake me up before you go-go at Frogmore House, Lady C could steal the tiara, sell it and as well as raise some much-needed funds, release the lucky cat back into the world, although quite possibly under a new name.

   Maybe this wedding wouldn’t be as bad as she thought it would.

Leaving the manor that night with everything she needed for her first heist in years contained in a small back pack that she would hide somewhere before she made her low key appearance, she arrived at the heavily guarded location and watched as all kinds of important, famous and highly influential people made their way up the grand steps to celebrate the magical day with high spirits and free champagne, and as she wondered who the hell invited Posh and Becks, she decided that a grand spot light stealing entrance was much more her style.

   Lady C sauntered in with her head held high and grabbed a glass of the bubbly that was handed to her. Wearing a nude coloured very tight-fitting dress that almost made her look naked and judging by the second looks and gasps from several members of the party, they obviously thought she was, she mingled for a while, making sure she was seen and most definitely heard. She laughed with a chat show host and politely refused her request to do a bare all interview as she was banned from talking about herself, and she bowed politely to the newlyweds, ignoring the new brides look of contempt as the groom introduced her, but smirked whilst trying to stifle a loud laugh as he made a comment to his wife that she should get a dress like Christina’s, and then had to spend several minutes apologising to the Queen for wearing such a dress in the first place.

   She had no money and had lost every part of her inheritance, it was all she had left. It wasn't, but the Queen didn’t know that, and decided it probably wasn’t that bad after all and changed the subject rapidly saying how it was actually quite lovely when Lady C asked her where the contents of her vault were? She knew of course that they had been seized by the police in the raid the day she was arrested and possibly returned to their rightful owners seeing as just about everything was stolen, but she also knew that some things would have been retained by the palace and that one day, she would most probably have to steal it all back.

   "I need funds to clean up the manor." She informed the Queen who eyed her suspiciously as she sipped her G&T. "You can’t possibly expect me to go out to work on a minimum wage. My father made it clear in his Will that I was to receive a monthly sum of £5000 for the duration of my life but I’ve not received a penny since I’ve been...well. away. Surely, I’m owed that as back payment which by my estimation should be £300,000? Yet my bank account says different"

   "You'll get it." the Queen assured her. "When you can prove......"

   "Who my mother really was?" Lady C interrupted her, making her splutter her drink so she had to wipe her chin. "Oh I know all about it” She continued, "and I know what I’m entitled to which is far more than the title of Lady!"

   The Queen would have had her arrested for daring to blackmail her, but she knew she was right and she knew that if this scandal became public, the next in line to the throne and her crown wouldn’t be her eldest son at all, in fact the whole family would be ruined and the only reason it had remained a secret all these years was because she honestly had no idea that Christina knew. Lady C didn’t know if the truth be told, she knew her mother’s name was a secret and not even on her birth certificate and she knew that she wasn’t supposed to ask and never had, but the Queen didn’t know this.

   "Fine" She retorted draining her glass and ordering the butler to bring her a double this time. "I'll have it paid into your account tomorrow, if you leave now." Lady C smiled, thanked her majesty for her kindness and left, not to go home, but to head to the tower of London and claim her new tiara.

   The brand new Jaguar E-Type she had decided to help herself to that was parked outside Frogmore house, pulled up around the corner of the Tower of London, and now dressed head to toe in a black cat suit sporting the small back pack she had recovered before she left and a balaclava, Lady C made her way to the back entrance of the tower and using her skills as the world’s most famous cat burglar, got inside and ran as quickly as she could to the guards room to trip the alarm before it had time to go off.

   The tower wasn’t heavily guarded tonight as all forces had been pulled into patrol the grounds of the party, and only one guard was on duty for insurance reasons, so it was going to be an easy job by all accounts. The guard as predicted was asleep with his feet up on his desk, so Lady C crept past him, turned off the alarm and all the CCTV cameras using the base code gadget she had lifted from her bow tie wearing doctor friend and making sure Alan, as per his name badge, was fast asleep, made her way into the entrance hall and towards the cabinet containing the real tiara.

   It was lit up like Christmas with all kinds of invisible laser beams pointing at it ready to trip the palace alarms they were hardwired into and therefore unable to shut off without 2 keys being activated at the same time, and she knew in that instant that she’d have to be pretty clever to remove the tiara from the case before the alarms went off.

   There was only one thing for it, a smash, a grab and a quick exit and as the glass shattered with the force of the neuron pulse she aimed at it that she had also lifted from the ridiculous doctor, grabbed the tiara and shoved it into her bag, she suddenly felt a warm breeze wash across her shoulders and the sound of engines filled the room.

   "Oh bugger!" Lady C exclaimed out loud and not so ladylike and pulled the balaclava off her head taking a deep breath as the Tardis appeared behind her, the doors opening allowing the single hooded occupant inside to step out.

   "Look, I know what you’re going to say Doctor so don’t bother OK, you don’t need to be here protecting me like before, I can handle myself so be a good boy and run along will you. In fact, why don’t you head over to Frogmore and join the royal party, I’m the sure Her Majesty would love to see you again, especially after last time…." Her voice trailed off as the figure who stepped out, wasn’t the one she was expecting and as she came further into her line of vision, Lady C almost screamed with fright as the Doctor spoke to her in a voice she was sure she would never be able to accept!

   "Come with me, if nothing else let me save you from another 5 years behind bars. The room has been momentarily time locked and frozen, we'll have seconds to leave before it unfreezes again so please Christina, be quick."

   Lady C opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again. It was no use arguing especially when she had other questions that needed answering first, so she did as she was told and headed into the Tardis with the Timelord following her in, closing the doors behind them. Buttons were pressed, and levers were pulled, and the mighty time machine left the tower just as the shattered glass hit the floor and the alarms went crazy, waking the guard and causing the cameras to flicker back on.

   "You obviously have questions so please ask away." the Doctor invited.

   "You’re a woman now?" Lady C shouted at her unable to hold back anymore. “A bloody woman? Did something go wrong or is this how things are now? I don’t know whether I’m annoyed with you for leaving me to rot in that cell for the last 5 years or slightly nauseated by the fact that you can change your gender as and when you feel like it. I had a crush on you, you know? It’s all just very weird I mean, what if we had, well you know? Oh my god, I kissed you, does that make me a lesbian now?"

   The Doctor had regenerated again this was true and as she had not been around to help Christina when she had needed her it was hard for her to now have to explain how regeneration worked and that Timelord gender wasn’t as specific as it was for humans, nor did she want to. Yes, she was now female, for how long wasn’t certain but she was tired and knew better than to argue with the world’s most argumentative woman or try and get her to give back what she had stolen.

   The Tardis came to land and the Doctor opened the doors leading Lady C outside. They had landed in the de Souza manor gardens by one of the boundary walls that had crumbled over time from the neglect of being unloved and uncared for.

   The Doctor lowered her hood revealing a mass of blonde hair that skimmed her shoulders. “I’m sorry Christina, I really am but I can’t explain it to you now. I will come back, soon I promise but for now I’ve brought you home and I hope you can at least think about what you’ve done until I get back and know that you don’t have to do this anymore. I know about your mother and I’ll help you find her I promise, but not now, I have to be somewhere."

   "You said that last time remember?" Lady C now shouted angrily. "I did time for you Time Lord, I got caught doing the one heist you asked me to do and as a consequence I lost everything and after your one and only visit, you never came back and you said you’d literally only be 2 minutes and that was 5 years ago and now here you are, a woman, asking me to reconsider the only lifestyle I’ve ever known that I was forced into without choice, just to make you feel better for what you’ve done as if it will reform me and void you of all blame? Please leave, I can find my own way and my own information about my mother myself"

   She was angry and rightly so in the doctor’s opinion as she had failed her, and she would forever feel guilty for the way Lady C’s life had turned out. Apologising again, she turned and walked back towards the Tardis, leaving the manor and Lady C behind as she always had done, but had never wanted to.

   Lady C huffed as the Tardis disappeared and stomped angrily up to the manor not sure what was upsetting her the most. She had loved and lost the Doctor and now the only man to ever truly have her heart was a woman, it was her who now needed the large G&T.

  She barely slept that night and by the time morning came in a flood of blazing sunlight, she was already up sipping tea in her favourite chair by the window of the drawing room, wearing her dressing gown and a rather fetching tiara, flicking through a small black book of contacts that she could sell it to. She switched the TV on and was just in time to catch the end of the morning news.

"The new bride of his Royal Highness faces questioning by police as her car was found abandoned near the Tower of London during the robbery which took place this morning shortly after 2am. Officials are reluctant to say what was stolen but it is speculated the bride is involved as many guests claim she had not been seen for a few hours from 11pm onwards when she made her excuses and left to have a lay down, claiming she had a migraine. More on this story later"

   Lady C smirked, she was back in business.