Screeching To A Halt (Book Eight of The Bad Wolf Chronicles)

The Snowmen

Final episode, guys! The Doctor and Jessie have no plans to save the world, but can a familiar barmaid/governess convince them otherwise?

Here's "The Snowmen!"

***

When Jessie said she wouldn't give another damn, she sure meant it. And it was beginning to affect the Doctor, too.

And I thought the 200 years was horrid, the Time Lord thought as they walked outside a bar nearby in period clothing. Not to say that Jessie didn't give a damn to everyone. She still immensely cared for him and for the trio in Victorian London, and he knew the Maximoffs practically had her around their fingers. To anyone else, Jessie was just who she appeared to be in public: a blonde (she had finally dyed her hair completely blonde, now wearing it in a braid over her shoulder) and emotionless woman who had nothing left to lose.

"Did you make this snowman?" a voice asked.

The duo stopped, and the Doctor frowned, seeing a brunette woman standing by a toothy snowman, putting down a tray. "No," he answered.

"Well, who did?" she asked. "Because it wasn't there a second ago. It just appeared from nowhere."

The Doctor walked back to look, Jessie frowning as she watched. "Maybe it's snow that fell before. Maybe it remembers how to make snowmen."

"What, snow that can remember?" the barmaid snorted. "That's silly."

"What's wrong with silly?"

"Nothing. Still talking to you, ain't I?"

Jessie tilted her head. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Clara," she answered.

"Nice name, Clara," the Doctor nodded. "You should definitely keep it."

"Oi!" Clara ran after them as they went around the corner. "Where are you going? I thought we were just getting acquainted!"

Jessie chuckled darkly. "Those were the days."

The Doctor mouthed an apology before running after his wife, Clara watching them curiously.

***

"How refreshing to see you taking an interest again. Was she nice?"

"We just spoke to her," the Doctor looked at Jessie as she sat with her legs crossed, keeping one eye out the window as she ran the flat edge of a knife across her palm. "Well, I mainly spoke to her."

"And made your usual impact, no doubt."

He could almost see Vastra smirk. "No. No impact at all. Those days are over."

"You can't help yourself. It's the same story every time, and it always begins with the same two words."

"She'll never be able to find us again. She doesn't even have the name. Doctor. What two words?"

Jessie suddenly stood up and punched the hatch in the carriage up, then reached up. Her fingers grabbed curly hair, and a young woman screeched as Jessie yanked her head inside the carriage. "Doctor?" Clara asked nervously, eyeing the knife Jessie held close to her. "Doctor who?"

The Doctor sighed. Apparently, those two words.

***

"They've taken samples from snowmen all over London," Strax said as he lowered his binoculars, dressed in a tux. "What do you suppose they're doing in there?"

The Doctor let snow drift through his fingers as Jessie leaned on the rocking carriage, watching. "This snow is new," he mused. "Possibly alien. When you find something brand new in the world, something you've never seen before, what's the next thing you look for?"