Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

2023

“Aunty Hilda?” A childish voice shouted through the control room door.

Ashildr put down the oil and clambered to her feet.  She wiped her hands on a rag as she made her way out to the closed café.

“Hello Morgan!” Ashildr smiled as she accepted the warm hug from the rambunctious four years old.  “How’s my favourite person today?”

“I’m fine, thank you for asking,” Tony quipped from his position at the door helping Pepper out of her coat.

Morgan rolled her eyes.  “She means me Daddy!”

“Of course, she does,” Tony agreed, grinning, “you’re everyone’s favourite!”

Pepper hugged Ashildr.  “It’s so good to see you.”  She sighed.  “I wish you’d move to the cabin with us.”

“This is my home,” Ashildr pointed out.  Her eyes caught on the baggage and a hovering Happy by the door, Goose winding her way through his legs.  The Flerken had gone to live with the Starks when they’d moved out to their cabin.  “What’s going on?”

“We need a favour,” Tony said soberly.  He crouched down to look at his daughter.  “Hey, Morgan, how about you take Happy and show him your room?”

Morgan gave a deep sigh but ran over to Happy and grasped his large hand in her tiny one.  She pulled him towards the control room door babbling about her room and how awesome it was.  They were followed by Goose who adored Morgan. 

“We need you to put up with some house guests,” Tony straightened.

“What will you be doing?” Ashildr asked.

“If I’ve worked the theory of Time out correctly, saving everyone who blipped away five years ago,” Tony threw a small device at her.

Ashildr caught it. 

“Fully functioning time-space GPS system,” Tony said. 

The first generation of the time watch River Song wore.  Ashildr shook her head.  How had she never known that it was Tony Stark who had invented it.  Maybe she had.  Stupid human memory.

“You worked out time travel,” Ashildr said out loud.

“Yes, and without taking apart your fancy whatsit,” Tony gestured around the café to encompass the TARDIS.  It had once been an American diner, but it had redecorated itself as a café in 2397. 

Ashildr tossed the device back to him.  “What’s the plan?”

“I gather the team, we get the stones from the past, reverse the blip,” Tony listed off dispassionately.  “That’s it.”

“And you want Happy, Pepper and Morgan here because the TARDIS is removed from normal time-space and will continue to be a safe haven if anything goes wrong,” Ashildr deduced.

Pepper nodded, folding her arms over her chest.  “Once the Avengers start removing the stones from the time stream…”

“You really don’t know what’s going to happen to this universe,” Ashildr nodded. 

The TARDIS was the safest place for Tony’s family, for her family.

Ashildr surprised Tony with a hug.  “Stay safe and come home to us, Tony.”  She stepped back and patted his arm.  “If you run into trouble, call.”

She didn’t stay for the private goodbye Tony and Pepper needed.  She wandered back into the control room and resumed her previous work under the console.

“Hilda?”

Pepper had her scrambling back from underneath the console again. 

“It’s going to be fine,” Ashildr comforted her. 

“It just feels like this time…” Pepper sighed heavily, “…that he might not make it home.”

“Tony’s a smart man,” Ashildr assured her, “and he loves you.”  But she suddenly couldn’t remember if Tony made it or not. 

Time was already in flux.

Ashildr hustled Pepper back to the café for tea while they waited for news.  She’d barely poured a second cup before a noise sounded like a bell tolling.

Suddenly the TARDIS began to make a wheezing, groaning sound…

“What’s happening?” asked Pepper alarmed.

They raced for the console room.  Morgan ran in and Pepper picked up her daughter who handed her a phone.  “JARVIS called TARDy, Mommy!  Daddy’s in trouble!”

The café landed with a thump.  Ashildr brought up the monitor.  They’d landed right on the edge of a battlefield where a lone Captain America was facing down Thanos with an army of aliens at his back.   Orange portals started to appear; Avengers, heroes…coming to the defence of the planet.

“Morgan,” Pepper smoothed a hand over her daughter’s head, “Mommy has to go help Daddy.”

She kissed Morgan’s head and handed her daughter to the lurking Happy.  She reached into her purse and brought out a circular device which she slapped onto her chest.  The blue suit rippled out from the advanced nanotechnology Stark had invented.

Pepper slapped her mask down and left the TARDIS.

Ashildr glanced at the monitor and the battle raging outside and sighed.  She nodded at Happy before she went to the cupboard and plucked one of the alien stun weapons she and Clara had picked up during their year of travel.  She headed out into the battlefield.

It was chaos outside the café. 

Ashildr fired at a Chitauri before using her weapon to club another.  She made her way across the field slowly but surely, and just in time for Thanos to send Carol Danvers flying with the power stone. 

Thanos affixed the stone back into place on the gauntlet and Ashildr could see Tony readying himself to do something and…

She stepped forward and caught the purple alien’s attention.  “You really don’t want to do that.”

Thanos looked down at her as though she were an ant beneath his foot.  She probably was, Ashildr considered.  “I am Thanos, I am…”

The sound of the TARDIS arriving filled Ashildr with hope just as it had filled everyone the Doctor had ever saved with hope…

The blue police box materialised beside Ashildr.  The Doctor emerged from the police box with a dishevelled River following him. 

Ashildr’s breath caught.  No wonder Clara hadn’t been able to look at Anthony Williams; he looked exactly like his father.

The Doctor looked around, sized up the situation, and straightened his bow tie.  “Sorry I’m late.  I was…” he looked at River and blushed furiously.  “Well, never mind that.”

River didn’t look surprised to see Ashildr, but rather triumphant.  “You’re not stuck in the paradox anymore.”

“Not anymore,” Ashildr confirmed cheerfully.

“What is this?” asked Thanos angrily.

“Hush,” River said, “we’re having a reunion.”

“Are we?” asked the Doctor, a hint of bemusement on his mobile face. 

Pepper landed by Tony.  The couple immediately gravitated together, their arms going around each other.  Their eyes were glued to the Doctor; he was a version they’d never met before.

“The last time I saw River she was trying to steal the TARDIS,” Ashildr motioned back to the café.

“You have a TARDIS?” The Doctor looked at her fascinated.  “But you’re not a Time Lord.”

“Spoilers,” River remarked cheerfully.

“Why do I get the feeling I’m going to forget this when the time-streams align?” The Doctor questioned. 

“Doc?” Tony asked urgently, looking towards the Sorcerer Supreme who’d taken over after the Ancient One had died.

“I don’t know how this is possible,” Stephen Strange admitted, “I didn’t see this.”

“Time,” the Doctor remarked, “it’s a very fluid thing.”

“ENOUGH!” Thanos thundered.  “I have heard enough of your inane mutterings!  You will not stop me from doing what I must.”

“And what’s that?” The Doctor said, gesturing wildly with his sonic screwdriver.  “Future you already blipped away half of the Universe…”

“Only because you got yourself stuck in an alternate dimension…” River muttered.

The Doctor ignored her.  “Why come back now?”

“To eliminate all life,” Thanos said.

The Doctor put his hands behind his back, rocking back on his heels.  “Well go ahead then.”

Thanos stared at him distrustfully.  “You cannot stop me.”

“Clearly not,” the Doctor cheerfully agreed.

“I am inevitable,” Thanos roared and clicked his fingers.

Nothing happened.

Thanos turned his hand over to examine the gauntlet and the stones…were gone. 

The Doctor slowly brought his hands to the front.  Spinning around the sonic screwdriver were the six Infinity stones. “Looking for these?”

Thanos made to grab them and River fired her weapon.

The purple alien looked gobsmacked as he froze in place.

“There!” River said brightly.  “That should hold him for a while.”  She turned to the Doctor.  “What’s the plan?”

“Someone needs to use the gauntlet to remove Thanos from this world and place him back into his proper time,” the Doctor informed them.

“I can use it,” Pepper stepped forward. 

“No,” Tony shook his head and caught hold of her hand, “it will kill you!”

“But I told you, I am…” Pepper argued.

“Spoilers!” Ashildr grabbed the suit device from Pepper and slapped it onto her own chest, swiping the stones in the same movement.

“Hey!” protested the Doctor.

“The device inside me has always healed me,” Ashildr argued.

“But I’m guessing you’ve never used the Infinity stones before,” the Doctor posited. 

“No,” Ashildr said, “but all things must end.” 

And she clicked her fingers.

1958

“Aunty Hilda,” Anthony Williams barrelled into the control room, “there’s a weird lady in the café.”

Ashildr put down her instruction book.  Determining how to redecorate the café would have to wait.  “It’s not River?”

“Nope,” Anthony shook his head emphatically.  He scuffed his tennis shoe against the floor of the TARDIS.  “She kind of looks like a monk?”

“Right,” Ashildr said, “you stay in here while I go check this out.”

Anthony’s brown eyes widen. 

He wouldn’t stay in the control room, Ashildr noted with a hint of amusement.  The twelve years old had far too much of both his biological parents’ personalities not to go running headlong into trouble.  But she might have ten minutes before he ventured out.  He adored his adoptive father and emulated Rory a lot.

He was right about the monk look.

And about the weird.

Ashildr had a nagging feeling she should know who the woman was.  She pushed the thought away and greeted her unusual guest with a small nod. 

“I’m afraid the café is closed today.” She motioned at the table in the corner littered with Anthony’s homework.  “I’m childminding for a friend.”

“I’m the Sorcerer Supreme,” the bald-headed woman replied.  “I’m known as…”

“The Ancient One,” Ashildr smiled. 

“Yet I am in the presence of one even older than I,” the Ancient One allowed.  She tilted her head and examined Ashildr as though she was a specimen to be examined rather than a living being.

“What brings you to the café?” Ashildr asked bluntly, crossing her arms over her chest and giving the woman a scolding look.

The Ancient One did have the grace to look a touch apologetic.  “A temporal anomaly in the city.”

“A bit late for that,” Ashildr noted.  “The temporal anomaly has been in place for years.”

The Ancient One sighed.  “The Guardian of the New York Sanctum informed me this morning.”

Ashildr frowned.  “I think you need a new Guardian.”

“Unfortunately, you may be right,” the Ancient One concurred. 

“Tea?” proposed Ashildr, walking to behind the counter.

“I thought the café wasn’t open?” There was definite amusement colouring the Ancient One’s tone.

“I’m being polite since I want a pot,” Ashildr said dryly. 

“Then, yes, a pot of tea would be nice,” the Ancient One agreed. She waited a beat.  “To be polite.”

Anthony barrelled back into the control room.  “Can I come out now?”

“Anthony Brian Williams,” Ashildr said sternly.  “Gather your things and work in the back.”

Anthony grimaced, shot the Ancient One a curious look, but grabbed his books and left the café.

“An unusual child,” the Ancient One murmured. 

“He’s off limits,” Ashildr said mildly.  “He has nothing to do with the temporal anomaly.”

The Ancient One bowed her head, but when she raised her eyes, there was a clear command in them.  “You will tell me what this anomaly is.”

“Of course,” Ashildr waved her towards a table and brought the tea-tray. 

She played Mother for a moment pouring out cups of fragrant Jasmine tea.

“The temporal anomaly began with an invasion of aliens called the Weeping Angels,” Ashildr began.

The Ancient One grimaced. “They are a blight on the Universe.”

“They used New York as a trap for people,” Ashildr continued, “until they stole a man named Rory Williams from the year 2012.”  She sipped her tea.  “Rory and his wife travelled with the Time Lord called the Doctor.”

The Ancient One looked momentarily vexed.  “I see.”

“You’ve come across the Doctor before?” asked Ashildr.

“He offered me a jelly baby,” the Ancient One replied. 

Ashildr recalled the story she’d been told. “When Rory and his wife saved themselves in the past, they created a temporal paradox that engulfed New York making time travel within the area almost impossible.”

“Almost impossible, but not impossible,” stated the Ancient One.

“This café is a TARDIS,” Ashildr told her, “we arrived by accident and there is a traveller who comes and goes, but the technology which allows her to do so is very limited.”

“I could undo the paradox,” the Ancient One offered.

“Only if Amy and Rory do not save themselves,” Ashildr pointed out.

“You’re NOT hurting my parents!!” yelled Anthony, leaping up from behind the counter where he had been hiding.

The Ancient One was startled.

Ashildr wasn’t.  She’d been aware Anthony had crept back in.  “Nobody is going to hurt your parents, Anthony,” she stared at the Ancient One, “isn’t that right?”

The Ancient One stared back at her, but finally conceded with a bow of her head.

“Now, Anthony…” Ashildr turned to the young boy, “apologise for rudely eavesdropping and return to your homework.”

“I’m sorry,” Anthony offered grudgingly.  He ran off back to the control room. 

The Ancient One looked at her.  “If time has been altered…”

“The paradox is a fixed point in time,” Ashildr said.  “I’m certain even if you used the Time Stone to try and undo it, it wouldn’t work.”

The Ancient One hummed.  She picked up her tea.  “Then I will leave the anomaly alone.”  She breathed in the scent of Jasmine before taking a sip.  “What of your presence here?”

“What of it?” Ashildr shrugged.  She’d made her peace with staying in New York years before. 

“You’re not a native New Yorker,” the Ancient One pointed out wryly.

“’Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,’” quoted Ashildr. 

“And which are you?” asked the Ancient One.

“’Tempest-tost,’” replied Ashildr.  “We may not have intended to come here, but it has become home.”

“And the boy?” enquired the Ancient One.

“Family,” Ashildr said firmly.

The Ancient One bowed her head.  She slipped out of her chair.  “I believe I have concluded my business here.  If you continue to do no harm, my people will leave you and yours alone.”

Ashildr got to her feet and bowed.

The Ancient One lifted her hands and golden symbols streamed out to create a portal to what appeared to be an old library.  She stepped through it and it collapsed.

“Has she gone?” River’s voice came from the control room. 

“Yes,” Ashildr said.  “Anthony called you?”

River breathed in sharply.  “The TARDIS called me because Anthony was upset.”

Ashildr sighed inwardly.  She really, really didn’t understand the strange relationship River had with the TARDIS.

“Is she dangerous?” River asked bluntly, and with the obvious intent that if the answer was yes, River would kill her.

“Not to us,” stated Ashildr firmly. 

River grimaced.  “That’s a fine line.”

“But one she won’t cross,” Ashildr said firmly.  “Now, come on.  You can help me work out redecorating the café with the TARDIS and comfort Anthony.  He always prefers it when you do it.”

River sniffed.  “Well, of course they do.” 

And Ashildr didn’t know if she meant both Anthony or the TARDIS…or both.  Probably both, Ashildr decided.

1997

The bell tinkled.

Ashildr yelled out over her shoulder, intent on clearing the last table of its dirty plates from Rory’s wake.  “We’re closed!”

“Hello.”

“I said, we’re…” Ashildr whirled around to give the customer a piece of her mind and stopped.

That was a cat.

A cat.

Clearly the TARDIS was translating the language.

Ashildr sighed. “This is a café.  No cats allowed.”

The cat opened its mouth and a tentacle snagged a plate with half a sandwich left on it.  It swallowed it whole.

Ashildr raised her eyebrows.  “Rude, and still, this is a café: no feline species allowed.”

“Aunt Hilda, where do you want…” Anthony stopped suddenly at the sight of the cat.  “Oh, God.  Look at the gorgeous cat!”

“Not a cat,” Ashildr said as Anthony plucked it up off the floor and cuddled it.

“It looks like a cat,” Anthony remarked, scratching behind its ear.

“A tentacle just came out of its mouth,” Ashildr said dryly. 

“An alien cat then,” Anthony allowed with equanimity.  His time in SHIELD hadn’t been without the weird and whacky.

Ashildr hefted the crate of plates and walked them around to the other side of the counter.  She pushed them into the dishwasher slot the TARDIS had created for dirty cutlery and crockery.

Anthony sat down on one of the chairs.  He didn’t look over fifty.  His face looked impossibly young and grief-stricken. 

Ashildr made a fresh pot of tea and went to sit beside him.  She pushed a cup over to him.  She took a spare saucer and filled it with milk, popping it on the ground.

“That’s not supposed to be good for cats,” Anthony said.

“You’re a SHIELD agent not a vet,” Ashildr said, “and besides, this isn’t a cat.”

Anthony picked up his tea.  “You know I think I’ve spent half my life in this café, drinking tea.”  He smiled sadly.  “Dad admitted to me once they used to send me round when he and Mum wanted some alone time.”

“Rory was a good man,” Ashildr said.  He’d been a good friend.  She was going to miss him.

“I’m glad River came,” Anthony said, “Mum needed her.”

So did Anthony.  The Williams’ had a complicated relationship, and River was as much his mother as the grandmother who had raised him and who he called ‘Mum.’

“She loved Dad so much,” Anthony murmured.

“He loved her,” Ashildr said.  “The legend of the Pandorica is told throughout history until the final days of the Universe.  The tale of the Lone Centurion who guards the box with his love inside for two thousand years.”

“I’ve never loved anyone like that,” Anthony sighed. 

“Before you came out, you used to have such a crush on Clara,” Ashildr remembered.  Not that she blamed Anthony, Clara was a beautiful woman, like a perfect butterfly caught in amber.  Clara had sent her apologies at missing the funeral; she’d been tied up with work.

Anthony gave a small laugh.  “I was stupid.”

Ashildr shook her head.  “You were adorable.”

“Well, my crush died a death when I realised that every time she looked at me she saw my Dad,” Anthony said.  “I mean, my bio-dad.”

“Clara was very close with him,” Ashildr allowed. 

“You know I always wanted to meet him,” Anthony said.  “River won’t tell me whether she ever told him or not.  All she says is ‘spoilers!’” He pulled a face.  “I just…” he sighed and shook his head as the cat jumped back up into his lap.  “It doesn’t seem important anymore.”

He stroked the cat who rubbed its head against his chest.

“Rory Williams was my Dad,” Anthony said firmly.  “He’s the man who raised me…”

“And he did a very good job of it too,” Ashildr said.

Anthony reached across the table and Ashildr took his hand.  They sat there for a long moment simply taking comfort in each other.

“I should get back,” Anthony sighed.  “Mum and River will need me.”  He set the cat down on his vacated chair.  He took his coat from the rack by the door and waving to her, left the café.

The not-cat looked at Ashildr.

“You’re not a stray,” Ashildr noted, narrowing her eyes.  “You have a tag.”  She stared at it in the dim lighting.  “Goose.”

“Someone had an odd sense of humour,” Ashildr said.

Goose meowed in agreement.

“So,” Ashildr focused on the alien creature again, “what’s your plan?  World domination?  You want to steal the TARDIS?”

Another tentacle snapped out and grabbed the leftover cherry cake on the counter.  It swallowed it whole.  It meowed again.

“You wanted to pay your respects?” Ashildr frowned.  “I didn’t realise you’d met Rory.”

Her eyes caught on a man running across the street towards the café.  She sighed.

“I have a feeling they’re here for you,” Ashildr said.

The man took no notice of the ‘closed’ sign and burst into the café with enough force to set the bell ringing.

“Fury, how lovely to see you again,” Ashildr greeted him calmly.

“Ma’am,” Fury drew himself up.  “I’m here for the Flerken.”

“Is that what it is?” Ashildr asked.  “Is it yours?”

“I’m looking after it for a friend,” Fury said evenly.  He glared at the cat.  “You were supposed to stay in the car.”

Goose stared back at Fury with only the arrogance a feline species could muster.

“She said she knew Rory,” Ashildr said. 

“She did,” Fury sighed.  “Williams treated me for my…” he waved at his eye-patch.

“Right,” Ashildr got up.  “I’ll make more tea.”

Fury took a seat at the table and glowered at Goose.  “If you’d just told me you wanted to attend the funeral, I would have taken you.”

Ashildr went to organise the tea-ray and left Fury and Goose locked in a stare-down with each other.

1948

The café door opened with a tinkle of its overhead bell.  Ashildr had installed it herself, wanting to put an end to people just walking into the TARDIS without warning.

Well, River mainly.

Not that installing the bell had actually stopped River from entering without warning.  A woman with a time-watch and a favoured child of the TARDIS apparently could just jump in regardless.

Ashildr looked over and smiled at the woman walking in.  “Peggy.”

Margaret Carter had been a boon since their arrival in the past.  River had introduced them and it had been Peggy who had helped them arrange papers and backstories.  She’d become a frequent visitor to the café.

“Hilda,” Peggy greeted her with a happy smile.  “Clara not in today?”

“She’s babysitting Anthony for the Williams,” Ashildr informed her cheerfully. 

Clara had taken to the Williams’ like a duck to a pond.  She and Amy were often in cahoots with each other to get into as much trouble as they could.  Frankly, much of Melody Malone’s last adventure had been based on the shenanigans that the pair had gotten into taking down a mob boss on the Lower East Side.

Ashildr liked Amy, but much preferred Rory.  Rory was sensible, pragmatic, and in his own way, as much of a kick-ass warrior as his wife. 

Their son, a boy named Anthony Brian Williams, was adorably cute.

Two years after Ashildr and Clara had arrived in New York, River had turned up one day with the baby and no explanation.  The Williams’ had rolled their eyes and simply adopted the little boy.  If Ashildr suspected who the actual parents were, she knew she wasn’t alone in her thoughts since Amy often grew contemplative when River visited.

Weirdly, they’d all settled into some kind of extended family relationship without talking about it or about the Time Lord who they all had in common.

“And where are the Williams’?” asked Peggy, a shadow of concern flitting across her expression.

“A book signing,” Ashildr said.

Peggy breathed out a sigh of relief and slid into her favourite table by the window which also had a good view of the TARDIS door at the back.  “Well, one hopes they can’t get into too much trouble at one of those.”

“Tea?” Ashildr offered.

“A full afternoon tea, if you don’t mind, Hilda,” Peggy instructed.  Her face broke into a warm smile.  “I’m celebrating.”

“Celebrating?” prompted Ashildr, already smiling back at her friend.

“I’m being made Director of SHIELD,” Peggy announced brightly. 

“That’s wonderful,” Ashildr abandoned her place behind the counter and hurried out to wrap Peggy in a warm hug.

She was sure there was something she should warn Peggy about, something to do with snakes.  The notion whispered in and out of her head like smoke.  Human memory, Ashildr comforted herself; billions of years, not enough headspace. 

Peggy beamed at her and resumed her seat.  “Will you join me for tea?”

“I will,” Ashildr promised. 

It didn’t take very long to gather everything onto a tea-tray.  A pot of good Darjeeling with milk and sugar joined the tiered presentation plate with its slices of Victoria sponge with proper English strawberry jam, real cream and powdered sugar, trimmed brown cucumber and tinned salmon sandwiches, and a crumbly raisin and date scone with real butter.

Ashildr lifted her cup in a toast.  “Cheers,” she said, “and good luck in your new role.” She smiled.  “Remind me, what does SHIELD stand for again?”

“Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division,” Peggy pulled a face.

“Who thought of that?” Ashildr asked, amused.

“Somebody who really wanted to call it SHIELD,” Peggy said dryly.

“Stark then,” Ashildr concluded.  Howard Stark was an infrequent visitor.  He’d popped in with Peggy a few times and had visited subsequently mainly to flirt outrageously with Clara who cheerfully shot him down every time.  Ashildr figured that was half the attraction for Stark.

Peggy bit delicately into a sandwich.  “You would make a good agent.”

“I’d make a terrible agent,” Ashildr countered.  “Clara, on the other hand…”

Peggy hummed thoughtfully and regarded Ashildr over the rim of her teacup.  “I could do with some back-up in Washington.”  She sipped her tea and set it down.  “I’m still not certain the role isn’t anything more than a glorified secretary to Colonel Philips.”

“Stark appreciates you for more than your typing skills,” Ashildr reminded her.  He and Philips wouldn’t have selected you if they didn’t have confidence in you.”

“I feel like the last three years have been nothing but one fight after another to prove my worth,” Peggy admitted.  “People seem to think being female means you’re not capable as though we didn’t spend two World Wars holding everything together.”

Ashildr smiled and reached for the scone.  “When do you leave for your new position?”

“Tomorrow,” Peggy said.  “Howard’s arranged a place till I can find something.” She smiled.  “I think I might like a house, a pale yellow house with white trim.  Something in the suburbs.”

“That sounds nice,” Ashildr murmured politely, inwardly shuddering.

“Do you think Clara would be interested in coming with me?” asked Peggy abruptly.

“You won’t know until you ask her,” Ashildr pointed out.  She figured Clara would be ecstatic.  She hated being stuck in New York.

Peggy nodded.  “And what about you?”

“I’ll be fine,” Ashildr stated firmly.  She looked around the TARDIS café fondly.  “I like running the café.”

And she did.  She liked baking and she enjoyed watching her customers come and go; the regulars with the news of their lives; the occasional tourist finding the café quaint and unusual in a sea of New York diners.

“And you’ll be fine with or without Clara,” Ashildr said, lifting her teacup again.  “You’ll be the best Director of SHIELD they’ll ever have.”

Peggy smiled widely.  “You say that like you know it for a fact.”

Ashildr smiled, fully aware of the enigmatic and mysterious air a billion years of living had left her with.  “I do.”

Peggy tapped her teacup gently against Ashildr’s.

2015

Ashildr yawned and put her book down.  She should have put the lights off and gone to sleep an hour before, but she’d gotten caught up in re-reading the last adventure of Melody Malone.

Something crashed.

Ashildr frowned.  It was highly unlikely someone had broken into the TARDIS who was sentient and perfectly capable of locking her doors to those she didn’t want to enter – the Chitauri had been unable to get through the doors much to the relief of most of the neighbourhood who Ashildr had bundled into the café during the attack.

She clambered out of bed, pausing to pull on her dressing gown.  She padded her way back out to the control room and stopped at the sight in front of her.

Amy and Rory with River.

A very young Amy and Rory with River.

“Here we go!” River said triumphantly and pulled a lever.

Nothing happened.

River frowned.  “That should have worked.”

“Unless the TARDIS doesn’t want to go where you want to send it,” Ashildr commented from her place by the doorway to the living quarters.

All three heads whipped around to her location so fast it almost made her laugh.

Ashildr folded her arms over her chest and regarded them all with her best raised eyebrow.

Rory ducked his head first.

It didn’t surprise her.  He was honest to a fault and a genuinely nice guy; she missed him terribly.

Amy stared back at her defiantly before Rory shot her a look and made her subside with a huff.

River beamed at her.  “Ashildr!  It’s so lovely to see you…”

“River, why are you stealing my TARDIS?”

“Your TARDIS?” River tried an innocent expression she couldn’t quite pull off.

“This is your TARDIS?” Amy enquired a heartbeat later.  She frowned at River.  “I thought you said this was the Doctor’s TARDIS?”

“There’s more than one?” asked Rory, bafflement creasing his face.

Ashildr raised her eyebrow at River again. “I can’t believe you thought you could just steal the TARDIS!”

“I steal the Doctor’s all the time!  He never notices!”

“That explains a lot,” Ashildr sighed.  River was as much a child of the TARDIS as she was Amy and Rory’s.

River gestured at her.  “Look,” she began, “the Doctor is in trouble, we just need to borrow the TARDIS and get him out of trouble and then we can come straight back and…”

There was a spark by her hand and River jumped as the jolt of an electric shock ran through her.

“I think you should apologise to the TARDIS,” Ashildr commented.

River grimaced but nodded sheepishly.  “I’m sorry, but this is important, the Doctor is in real trouble and…”

Amy’s phone rang. 

Ashildr sighed.

“Hello?” Amy answered grumpily.  Relief swamped her face and she closed her eyes.  “But you were…” she opened eyes and glared at the man at the other end of the phone.  “Fine.  We’ll meet you in Central Park.” She disconnected the call and put the phone back in her jacket.

“I take it emergency over,” Ashildr stated.

“Yes,” Amy confirmed and winced.  “I’m, uh, sorry for trying to steal your TARDIS.”

“Yes,” Rory jumped in, “very sorry.” He glanced around.  “Why do you have a TARDIS?  I mean, are you like the Doctor?”

“Spoilers,” Ashildr said with exaggerated sweetness, looking pointedly at River.

River sighed heavily.  “I’m sorry, I just…”

“Panicked,” Ashildr noted dryly, “like you always do when it’s him.”

Amy snorted.

The control room doorway suddenly burst open and Iron Man stormed in, repulsors ready. 

Rory simultaneously attempted to step in front of his wife and raised his hands.  River’s fingers twitched over the gun she’d left on the console.

Ashildr fought the urge to close her eyes and return to bed where she could put the covers over her face and pretend events were not happening.

“Hilda,” Tony’s voice resonated in its Iron Man tones through his mask, “are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” Ashildr reassured him. 

Tony’s head cocked to the side.  “Hilda, are these…”

“Younger versions of Amy and Rory Williams,” Ashildr said, “along with Professor River Song.”

River gave him a jaunty wave.

Ashildr sighed and motioned at Tony to land.  “Did you alarm the café?”

“No,” Tony stopped hovering and landed.  The mask flipped open.  “TARDy told JARVIS someone was trying to steal her.  JARVIS…” he grimaced suddenly, “actually, I came on ahead, we should probably prepare for…”

The control room doorway flew open and Pepper ran in, dressed in pyjamas and a long wool coat, only to stop at the ridiculous tableau in front of her.

She glared at her fiancé.  “You left me behind!  I had to take a car!”

Tony turned to her, hands raised.  “Honey, you should calm down, I mean I fixed Extremis but let’s not tempt fate and have you blow up.”

“They might have been Hydra agents and she’s my aunt!” Pepper interjected.

“Who is very important to you!” Tony argued back.  “I wasn’t going to wait and let her get hurt!”

Pepper huffed and crossed her arms.  “That actually makes sense.”

“Are we still arguing then?” asked Tony, tentatively.

“No,” Pepper shook her head, “we’re not arguing.” She turned toward the three intruders.

They stared back at her with unabashed curiosity.

Ashildr hurried over to Pepper and put an arm around her.  “This is Pepper Potts.  Pepper, this is Amy and Rory, and River.”

“Pleased to meet you,” River glanced at Ashildr with a silent question in her eyes of who Pepper was to them all.

“Spoilers!” Ashildr said firmly.  “Tea?”

“We’d love to,” Amy said honestly, “but we should probably get back before His Lordship comes looking.”

“She’s right,” River said, picking up her gun and sliding it into its holster.  “Somehow I don’t think we want to complicate things by having Himself here.”

Tony stared at them, confused.  “Is there are a reason why are you’re talking about someone as though they’re He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?”

Amy laughed.  Ashildr had missed hearing that sound, and from the pained look on Pepper’s face, she’d missed it too.

“Sorry, again,” Rory said awkwardly as River hustled them out.

Pepper slumped down to sit on the step, Tony left the armour, revealing his own sleep pants and old band t-shirt, and followed her.  He wrapped an arm around her.

“So those were…”

“My grandparents,” Pepper confirmed, “although I always called them Mum and Dad.” She smiled sadly.  “And my bio-Mum.  And my bio-Dad is He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, although really I think he’s Professor Dumbledore.”

Tony hugged her.  “They seemed nice.”

“They were,” Pepper frowned.  “Are.”  She shook her head.  “I can’t believe I forgot that with the temporal anomaly gone, we might see younger versions of them visiting New York now.”    

Ashildr noted with satisfaction the way Tony comforted Pepper and slipped by them to the café.  Tea, she determined.  Tea would make it all better.

1963

“This might be your best cake ever,” moaned Clara.  She scooped up more of the red velvet cake Ashildr had made and stuffed it in her mouth.

Ashildr smiled, a warm feeling suffusing her at Clara’s praise.  She’d worked hard to make the café a success.

As if she’d heard Ashildr’s thoughts, Clara glanced around the empty café. 

It was lit up with festive lights; red, green and white light glinted off the tables and chairs, over the walls and reflected in the windows.  Beyond the glass, snow was falling in a picturesque way that made Ashildr loved. 

She wasn’t so fond of the slush that would bar the pavement.  Just the thought of it had her huddling into her flannel dressing gown.  Both of them were dressed in pyjamas with fluffy slippers adorning their feet.  She and Clara had deemed New Year’s Eve a sleepover night.

“I’m glad you could make it back,” Ashildr said.  “It sounded like everything went crazy after the President’s death.”

“SHIELD has been on high alert for weeks,” Clara agreed.  “Peggy has it handled though.”

“Not Howard?” teased Ashildr.

“I’m just glad he met Maria,” Clara said with a laugh.  “She keeps him in order.”

“So, what about you?” Ashildr probed gently.  “I thought you were seeing someone.”

Clara shook her head.  “I was, but it didn’t work out.  He wasn’t Danny.”

“Danny,” Ashildr repeated.  She’d heard that name before…

Clara smiled a touch too brightly.  “He died saving me from the Cybermen.”

“I’m sorry,” Ashildr reached over and grasped her hand. 

“I miss him,” Clara said.  She smiled again.  “Five minutes every day.”

Ashildr squeezed her hand and Clara squeezed back.

“What about you?” Clara asked.

Ashildr shrugged.  “I’m fine on my own.”

Clara cocked her head to the side and rested her chin on her fist, elbow on the table.  “But are you?”  She waved a hand at the café.  “I mean, you haven’t left the café in almost twenty years, Hilda.”

“I like the café,” Ashildr said, “and I like living here.  It’s home.”

Clara shook her head.  “I don’t know how you can stand staying in one place for so long.”

“Twenty years is a blink of an eye,” Ashildr said dryly.

The alarm suddenly sounded; lights flashed and a klaxon sounded from the control room.

“What the…”

Ashildr ran for the control room.  She and Clara skidded to a halt as they took in the sight of a heavily pregnant River bent over the console.

River glared at them from over her shoulder.  “Don’t just stand there!”  She yelled.  “I’m having a baby!”

Clara looked at Ashildr, panic lighting up her dark eyes.  “I’m going to get Rory!”

She was off before Ashildr could stop her.  But it made sense; Rory was a nurse.

River patted the console.  “I think you can turn the alarm off now.” She waved frantically at Ashildr as the TARDIS stopped the blaring sound.

Ashildr sighed and hurried over to River.  She helped her to take a step away from the console.

“No,” River declared, “that’s far enough.  I think we’ll just…stop here.”

Ashildr lowered her gently to the floor.  She took off her dressing gown and folded it up to provide River with a pillow. 

“I’ll get some blankets!”  Ashildr went to her own room and dragged a set of spare blankets out of the wardrobe.

She made her way back to the control room.

River was huffing and blowing in a Lamaze pattern that had never gone out of fashion.  “I am never doing this again!”

“So…” Ashildr stopped for a second as she processed what River had actually said.  “River, is this your first baby?”

“Of course it’s my first baby!” River declared.  “What do you mean is this…” she stopped for a contraction.  She panted.  “What do you mean?”

“Spoilers,” Ashildr said firmly.  She wasn’t going to give Anthony’s identity away.  She thanked all the stars that Anthony was out with his friends at a party and wasn’t around to see River giving birth to him.

She flicked one blanket over River and helped the other woman out of her top layer of clothes; her skin-tight stretchy pants were soaked with fluid from her water breaking.  Ashildr cleaned her up as best she could.

“Should I call him?” asked Ashildr. 

River shook her head.  “He doesn’t know.  He doesn’t even remember conceiving her, there was something of a time hiccup in the universe; multiple time-streams all existing for a second.”  She waved a hand.  “Spoilers…uh, ah!”

Ashildr held River’s hand as she panted through another contraction.

She heard the café doorbell and footsteps running towards them and turned partially to defend River if she needed to, partially just to see.

Amy and Rory burst into the control room.  They wore heavy winter coats over their pyjamas and they cast them off, dumping them at the door as they ran to help their daughter.

“River,” Rory crouched down beside her and stroked her hair.

“Daddy,” River leaned into her father’s touch.

“I’m going to kill him,” Rory declared.

Amy shot him an annoyed look.  “She’s married to him!  It’s not like he knocked her up without making an honest woman out of her!”

“Then where is he?” asked Rory tersely.

“Trying to make sure the two of you don’t break up,” River snarled.  She cut off as she grimaced with another wave of pain.

“Rory,” Amy instructed him briskly, “do something!”

“Right,” Rory kissed River’s head.  He shuffled down to her lower half and rolled up the blanket to lie over the tops of her thighs.  “River,” he cleared his throat, looking horrendously embarrassed, “I’m going to have to examine you.”

“Just…get on with it!” River declared, turning her face into her mother’s lap.

Rory spent a moment under the blanket.  “You’re fully dilated.  The baby’s coming!”

The next half an hour was exhausting.  Ashildr had forgotten the strength required for a birthing and the glory of it.  She alternated between helping Amy coach her daughter through the birth, running errands for Rory in preparation of the baby coming, and panicking a little.  Clara helped make tea.

Finally, the squall of a baby filled the control room. 

Rory’s face was filled with awe as he cradled the messy, slippery infant.  “It’s a boy!”

River’s expression rippled with surprise before she shook it off and accepted the baby from her father.  She cradled her child carefully, examining his tiny hands and feet before placing a loving kiss on his forehead.

“You are perfect,” River declared.  “My perfect baby.”

“I take it you didn’t know the gender?” Ashildr asked.  “You seemed surprised.”

River shook her head.  “I just thought it might be a girl.”  She smiled.  “Maybe next time.”

“Let me get the little one cleaned up,” Amy offered.

River reluctantly let her mother take the baby.  A few minutes later, Rory went off to help his wife and Ashildr helped River clean-up as best she could.

River looked over as her mother and father entered with the baby.  There was longing and grief on River’s face as she took in the trio, but she wiped it away as Amy looked over at her.

Ashildr watched as River accepted the baby back into her arms, at the way she cooed over him so lovingly.  She knew without a doubt that River had given Anthony to her parents to raise because she loved him so much.

1944

“We’re coming in hot!” Clara yelled out, desperately trying to slow the TARDIS down.  She tugged one control after another; nothing worked.

Ashildr rolled her eyes, side-stepped Clara and pushed a button.

The TARDIS changed trajectory just a touch and landed with a thump that sent them both to the floor.

Ashildr got to her feet and brushed off her outfit.  She mostly enjoyed comfortable twentieth and twenty-first century clothing.  She’d dressed for their intended destination of early 1940s New York; comfortable wide pants, tight sweater, pretty blouse underneath, and a heavy jacket belted at the waist.  Her hair was clasped back in shiny waves, her make-up immaculate with a bold red shade of lipstick.

Clara was similarly dressed, although she’d gone for more colour than shades of the muted black, grey and white that Ashildr enjoyed. 

“Wait!” Ashildr called out as her gaze caught on the readout.  She walked swiftly up to the monitor and tapped it.  “Damn it.”

“What?” Clara asked impatiently. 

“We’ve overshot,” Ashildr frowned.  “It’s 1944.”  She reached for the TARDIS instruction booklet to remind herself of how to run the diagnostic report she wanted.

Clara’s shoulders slumped.  “Damn it.”

Ashildr’s lips twitched.  She wasn’t certain Clara was aware that she’d repeated Ashildr’s own words.  She inputted the commands steadily. 

They’d been travelling for almost a year.  Clara was still grieving the Doctor, mourning not only the loss of his company, but the knowledge that he no longer remembered her.

Ashildr had spent the time wondering whether travelling with Clara was the right thing for her to do. 

She was immortal and Clara was time-locked at the moment just before her death. 

The Doctor had told Ashildr once to travel with humans was to remember how precious life was; immortals tended to lose sight of the vulnerability and fleetingness of life.  Perhaps there was symmetry, Ashildr noted; every day spent with Clara was a reminder that Death was but a single heartbeat away.

Ashildr enjoyed travelling with Clara though.  Clara was smart, feisty and very young.  She reminded Ashildr of herself as a child, when their roles had been reversed.  Clara was also used to travelling with someone very old and someone who needed reminding every so often to be human.   

“Well, we can stay and explore,” Clara determined brightly, “just…”

“You won’t get to see Steve Rogers before he gets to be Captain America,” Ashildr finished dryly.

Clara sighed and slumped against a console.  “The Doctor never took me to meet the Avengers.”

“That’s because they attract trouble but are capable of dealing with it usually,” Ashildr pointed out.

And for the few hundred or so years that the Avengers had protected Earth, the Doctor’s trips had been reduced to a sparse minimum.  She’d wondered once if he’d been jealous at someone else stealing his thunder, but she had quickly realised he only turned up when he was needed. 

She twiddled a dial and the report sprang into life on the main monitor.

Clara stood in front of it and frowned.  “There’s some kind of temporal anomaly.”

Ashildr scanned the results herself and sighed heavily.  “Weeping Angels.  They did something to distort the temporal stability of New York during this period.”

“Weeping Angels…” Clara bit her lip.  “That sounds familiar.  Why does that sound familiar?”

“Well,” Ashildr murmured, “they do keep popping up and causing trouble.”  She vaguely remembered one run in of her own with them in the late thirty-second century.  Luckily, she’d been able to fool it and sidestepped being sent back in time. 

Clara clicked her fingers.  “The Ponds!”

Ashildr raised an eyebrow expectantly.  “Who are the Ponds?”

“The Doctor’s companions before me,” Clara’s bright tone contrasted with her tense body language.  “They were taken by the Weeping Angels back in time in New York.”

“Well deduced,” a voice declared at the TARDIS control room door.

They both whirled around to face their intruder.

Ashildr clinically noted the older woman standing in the doorway.  She was mature, early to late forties; curly light brown hair, almost blonde, styled in the period of the time, her lipstick was a deep mauve.  She wore a hat in the same colour as her stylish jacket, a wonderful green dress underneath, silk stockings and shoes which made Ashildr wince.  She’d never liked high heels.

“River Song,” Clara said.  “You’re River Song.  We’ve met.” She turned to Ashildr.  “I’ve met her before, she’s the Doctor’s…”

“Spoilers!”  River looked at with a sharp grey-green eyes.  “Hasn’t he told you anything?”  She held Clara’s gaze until Clara blushed.  “You and I have definitely not met yet.  I’d remember you.”

“I’m Ashildr,” Ashildr introduced herself.  It still felt strange to have reclaimed her original name, but she liked owning it once more.  “We’ve never met.”  She’d made it a point never to engage with the Doctor’s known companions or the woman rumoured to be his wife (or his assassin depending on who was telling the tale).

River looked at her evenly, before she broke the stare-down and cast a look around.  “Nice TARDIS, a bit on the new side, isn’t she?”

“She?” Ashildr asked.

“Oh, definitely a She,” River walked up to the console and stroked it.  “Hello.”

The TARDIS made a whining sound. 

River smiled warmly.  “I do like the café front, it’s very cosy, although it may have been better to have gone with a diner here no matter how bored you got of it.”  She patted the console and frowned as it made another sound.  “Yes, the chameleon circuits can be a pain, but at least you’re not a telephone box.”

Clara looked over at Ashildr and raised both her eyebrows asking mutely if Ashildr could believe what she was seeing.

Ashildr raised her own in response; clearly there were things about the TARDIS they didn’t know.  Her heart gave a beat of excitement.  It wasn’t often Ashildr encountered something she didn’t know anymore.

River whirled around to face them.  “So, where is the Doctor?”

“He’s…”

“We dropped him off in the desert,” Ashildr interrupted Clara. “He was making his own way home.”

Scepticism was written all over River’s face.  “And he just left you two to roam around in a shiny new TARDIS on your own?”

Clara and Ashildr exchanged a look.

“He might have a memory problem?” offered Clara. She lifted her chin, looking adorably defiant. “He forgot me.”

“And because he forgot her, he forgot me,” Ashildr tilted her head, “mostly.”

River hummed but conceded with a nod.  “That must be new.  I haven’t seen him for a while.  He doesn’t like endings.”

“Oh, he’s like an entirely new man,” Clara joked.

River’s gaze sharpened.

Ashildr cleared her throat.  “Not that you dropping in isn’t lovely, but how may we help you?”

Amusement rippled over River’s face.  “More like how can I help you.”  She lifted her arm and showed off a time-watch.  “This is the only device capable of time traveling in New York until 2002.”

“The TARDIS…”

“Is stuck,” River informed them.  She shrugged lightly.  “I don’t know how you managed to get in.”

And that did not sound good.

“Why does your device work?” asked Clara.  “Can’t we make the same adjustment to the TARDIS?”

River looked at her pityingly.  “Different technology.” She grimaced.  “Besides, I’m not entirely certain what he did to make it work.” She touched her watch lightly.

“Brilliant,” said Clara with a hint of despondency.  “So, what are you suggesting?” She waved at the watch.  “You take us to the future so we can leave?”

River shook her head.  “That’s not possible, only one traveller per watch.”

Ashildr felt her heart sink.  That was not what she wanted to hear.

“Then, how are you going to help us?” asked Clara.

“By helping us integrate here,” Ashildr stated.  She folded her arms over her chest.  “I think we’ll be fine.”  She had lived through it once before, although she’d spent most of time after the war in England.

“But after 2002 we’ll be able to leave?” Clara checked. 

River nodded.

“Why 2002?” asked Ashildr.

“Because that’s when the temporal complication disappears,” River answered tersely.  She shifted position.  “You could leave and go elsewhere, of course.  You’re not stuck in New York itself, just the TARDIS.”

Leaving the TARDIS with River sounded like a very bad idea.

“We’re staying with the TARDIS,” Ashildr stated firmly.

River smiled as though she’d read Ashildr’s mind.  “Only one psychopath per TARDIS,” she quipped, incongruently enough to make Clara stare, but with enough meaning that Ashildr inclined her head in agreement.  “Well, if you change your minds my parents wouldn’t mind looking after it for you.”

“Your parents?” asked Clara.

River lifted her eyebrows.  “Are you sure you travelled with the Doctor?”

“The Ponds,” guessed Ashildr.  The Ponds had been nabbed by the Weeping Angels in New York; it made sense.  And likely 2002 was the year they died, removing the source of the temporal disturbance.

River stared at her challengingly.

Ashildr stared back, but deliberately lowered her eyes.  She wouldn’t kill the Ponds to get out of New York any sooner.

River nodded back, and something eased and loosened the tension between them.

Clara sighed heavily, breaking the silence.  “We’re going to be stuck here for over fifty years.”  She looked over at Ashildr.  “We may need some help.”

Ashildr battled the want to keep River out of their business with the reality that some help might be useful.  She surrendered with a sigh and a nod.

“Then it’s settled,” River said with false cheerfulness.  “I’ll make arrangements.”  She gave the console another stroke.  “It really would be better to be a diner.”

The TARDIS made another dull sound.

“That’s alright, darling,” River said, sighing heavily.  “I’m sure an English café will be a lovely change for the Americans.”  She started to pull on her gloves.  “I’ll be back, keep the closed sign up.”

She swept out before either Clara or Ashildr could stop her.

Clara sat down on the step.  “Damn it.”

Ashildr sat down beside her and searched for something to say.  She had billions of years of experience; she should be able to find something to say.  She sighed.  “Damn it.”

2002

Ashildr woke with a gasp.

Something was wrong.

Goose lifted her head from the bottom of the bed and yowled.  “Smell blood.”

Blood?

Ashildr pushed back the covers and hurried into her dressing gown.  She belted it and ran from her bedroom, barely aware of Goose following.

She hit the control room just in time to see River carrying a bleeding Anthony into the control room, her arm around his waist, and one of his slung over her shoulder that she was using for balance.  “What’s going on?”

She felt her heart skip at the idea of Anthony dying.  They’d lost Amy just a month before…

“Help me!” River instructed harshly.

Ashildr went the other side of Anthony and helped carry him inside the control room.  He staggered and they lowered him carefully to the floor.

“He needs a doctor,” Ashildr said, taking in the bleeding wounds on his torso.

“They shot him!” River snarled.  “His fellow agents turned on him and shot him!”

“Are they alive?” Ashildr asked.

River shot her a furious look.  “What do you think?”

That would be a no then.

Ashildr couldn’t bring herself to care.

“Is Clara here?” asked River.

Ashildr shook her head. 

She’d been expecting Clara when she’d sent news of Amy’s death.  With the temporal anomaly gone, they had the option of taking the TARDIS and leaving.  But instead she’d received a postcard from Clara saying she’d stumbled into an old friend and gone travelling.  Ashildr took that to mean she’d come across one of the incarnations of the Doctor.

She went to get the first aid kit but she didn’t think it was going to help.  She ran back to the control room and sat beside Anthony. 

River was stroking his hair.  “He’s my son.”

“I know,” Ashildr said, comfortingly.

“I’ve never told him I love him,” River rambled.  “I just…I couldn’t take him with me.  My parents…”

“It was a good choice,” Ashildr put her hand on River’s shoulder and squeezed comfortingly.  “He’s had a happy life.”

“I don’t want to lose him!” River sobbed.  “I thought…”

A bright orange glow suddenly started emanating from Anthony’s body.

River gave a gasp.

“What’s going on?” asked Ashildr, wanting to confirm if her suspicion that Anthony was regenerating was true.  She’d never seen the phenomenon herself.

“He’s regenerating!”  River said.  “Thank God!  I thought he might because, well, spoilers!”

River pulled her away and hustled her over to the other side of the console.  They watched as Anthony’s body lit up with bright golden energy.

Ashildr shielded her face and lowered her hand slowly as the light faded. 

The faint sound of their breathing echoed through the control room. 

There was still a body on the floor where Anthony had been placed but it was smaller, swamped by the clothes Anthony had been wearing.

“I really hoped that worked,” River murmured.

The body on the floor moved and River hurried over.

Ashildr made her way more carefully.  As far as she knew regeneration would create a new person, one that might not immediately remember everything that their predecessor had experienced.

Her eyes widened at the sight of the young woman wrestling with the clothes to try and sit up.  She was pretty; freckled face, delicate features, and bright red hair reminiscent of Amy.

“Easy, darling,” River murmured. “Easy.”

“Mum?” Anthony – was he Anthony anymore? – patted his-her face.  “I’ve…”

“Regenerated,” River confirmed, smiling through her tears.  She hugged her child to her before easing back, cupping the young woman’s face in her hands.  “You’re so beautiful!”

Ashildr cleared her throat.  “I’ll get some clothes.”  She gathered up some of the things from her wardrobe and left them by the mother and son-daughter.  She went back to bed and fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

She woke the next day, tired and a little bit grumpy.

Goose had disappeared into the depths of the TARDIS. 

Ashildr wandered through her ablutions and dressing.  She made her way into the café to start her preparation and paused at the control room doorway at the sight of the young redhead sitting at one of the window seats drinking a mug of tea.

Ashildr made herself a cup and walked over to Anthony.  “May I join you?”

He-she waved at the chair next to her and Ashildr sat.

“This must be confusing for you,” Ashildr commented, feeling rather confused herself.  Was Anthony still Anthony?  Should she use different pronouns?  She felt hesitant.

Anthony smiled sadly.  “Surprisingly, I’m not confused.  I feel like me?  Just…female and young.”

“Is River still sleeping?” asked Ashildr.

“Gone,” Anthony grimaced, “she’s got an assignment in some library that she needs to complete.”

“Well, if you need any help…” Ashildr shrugged.  “I’ve never changed my gender but I have changed my identities enough through the years if you need any advice.”

“Thanks, Hilda,” Anthony reached out and grasped Ashildr’s hand.  “I called Peggy this morning.  She’s sorting new papers for me.”  She blew on her tea and sipped it.  “Agent Anthony Williams will be reported as KIA with the rest of his team.”

“What happened?” asked Ashildr.  “River said they turned on you.”

“Just turned on me; I think they found out I was gay,” Anthony shrugged.  “Guess liking men will be easier for me now I’m in this body.”

“Do you think that played into your change?” asked Ashildr interested.

Anthony shrugged again.  “Given how much I look like her, maybe I just really loved Mum.” She smiled.  “Amelia Pond was a kick-ass woman.”

“She was,” confirmed Ashildr.  She missed Amy.  

“I don’t think I’m going to be an agent,” Anthony mused out loud.  “I think I’m going to get into business.  I like administration and I’ve had enough running around chasing bad guys.”

“Business?”

“My major was in economics and social science,” Anthony reminded her.  “I just…I thought I should join SHIELD, and then…I was good at it so I stayed.”  He shifted position.  “But I was always fascinated by Howard talking about Stark Industries when he was alive and now I have a second chance…”

Ashildr felt her heart ache a little for Howard’s son.  She’d lost track of Tony after Howard and Maria had stopped visiting, but she knew he had a good heart underneath the playboy persona he wore.

“I figure I’ll get work experience elsewhere before I approach Stark Industries though,” Anthony said.  “It’s not like Tony Stark knows about SHIELD.  Howard never really exposed his son to the organisation or its wackiness.  And I can hardly turn up and tell him who I really am.”

“Yes,” Ashildr sighed. “I can see how that might be difficult.”

“Howard wanted his son to have a normal life,” Anthony said.  “He told me once that he didn’t want Tony mixed up in any of it.”

Ashildr frowned.  She knew Tony would get caught up in SHIELD and superhero-ing eventually. 

“Anyway, Aunt Peggy said Phil Coulson would be by with everything later today,” Anthony smiled.  “Apparently River chose the name.”

“What did she choose?” asked Ashildr.

Anthony stuck his hand out and grinned at her.  “Virginia Potts, pleased to meet you.”

“Pleased to meet you too, Miss Potts,” Ashildr said, almost dazed. 

Well. 

Even after billions of years, she guessed the universe could still surprise her.

fin.