The Doctor dove beneath a flurry of laser fire above him. He looked up and saw the TARDIS was still a good distance away. There was no way he could make it without being shot. He pulled his sonic screwdriver from his jacket and checked how many attackers were around him. He was surrounded and there was no way out, but he’d been in this position before.

“I’m warning you,” The Doctor shouted confidently, “Come one step closer and my TARDIS defense mechanisms will kick in. You’ll be incinerated on the spot.”

“We do not fear you or your box Doctor,” the Sontaran leader yelled, “And we don’t believe you either.”

“Well it was worth a try,” The Doctor popped up from cover and raised his arms in surrender, “You caught me. Take me away.”

“Not this time Doctor, this time you die,” the Sontaran glared at his opponent and the Doctor only looked back disinterestedly, “Why are you so calm?”

“If you shoot me you’ll never find out,” the Doctor shrugged.

“You are bluffing again.”

“Are you certain?” the Doctor raised an eyebrow and the Sontarans looked at each other. He needed a species of warriors to be too curious or too wary to attack him; it was a long shot.

“I say we should kill him anyway,” one of the soldiers called out and the other others shouted in agreement. He raised his gun and the Doctor sighed.

“Wonderful.”

Suddenly there was a high-pitched screeching noise and the Sontarans began to dissolve. The Doctor looked just as confused as they did. The Sontaran leader finally called to the Doctor, “Alright, stop. We will let you go, just stop whatever you’re doing.”

“I wish I could,” the Doctor looked around for the source of the attack. Then the Sontaran leader dissolved right in front of him and there was a young man standing behind where the Sontaran had been.

“Hello Doctor,” He smiled and his teeth glinted a bright white in the sun.

*Title Sequence*

“What did you think you were doing?” the Doctor took a few violent steps toward the young man and his eyebrows furrowed into a deep V.

“It’s amazing, they really are attack eyebrows,” the young man replied offhandedly and then straightened his suit. The Doctor realized that the man opposite him was wearing an identical outfit to his but it was completely black, “I think, actually I know, I was saving your life.”

“I had it handled,” The Doctor continued to glare at the young man, “You didn’t have to kill all of them.”

“You’re right,” the man nodded absentmindedly, “One of them could have run away to warn the others of your new ‘TARDIS defense mechanisms.’”

“Who are you?” the Doctor finally said.

“You know what I am, don’t you Doctor?” the man in black smiled as he started toward the Time Lord, “but you haven’t seen a weapon like that in a long, long time.”

“You can’t be.”

“Say it,” the man had a giddy light behind his eyes. He was meeting his hero, “I want to hear you say it.”

“You’re a Time Lord,” the Doctor’s glare hadn’t left his face, “But which one.”

“I’m not The Master if that’s what you’re worried about,” the man shrugged, “You wouldn’t know me.”

“I don’t have time for this,” the Doctor turned toward his TARDIS and began striding quickly to the doors.

“Headed off to meet with Clara?” the Time Lord called across the clearing and the Doctor stopped in his tracks, “Yes I know about her and Rose and Amy and Donna. I even know as far back as Romana.”

“What do you want?” the Doctor gritted his teeth and turned back toward the other Time Lord.

“I just wanted to meet you,” the Time Lord seemed disappointed, “I’ve been following you for quite some time. I’ve even been gently nudging you from the background.”

“What do you mean?”

“Believe me Doctor; no one in the universe is as lucky as you,” the man laughed, “Did you really think you always got out of situations because of your own wit and ingenuity? That’s awfully arrogant of you.”

“You’ve been helping me?” the Doctor asked. He wasn’t sure what to think of this new Time Lord. He desperately wanted there to be another good Time Lord still living.

“I don’t think you would always say so, but yes,” the man in black shrugged and watched the Doctor, “I do what is necessary to keep you going.”

“Why have you kept to the shadows?” the Doctor’s glare remained on his face but it seemed like a softer glare, “Why didn’t you come to me sooner?”

“I wasn’t sure you would like my input and my former regenerations were more timid than this new one,” the Time Lord laughed, “Besides it wouldn’t have made as good of a story.”

“As good of a story?”

“Up until recently you thought you were the only Time Lord left,” the young man explained, “Watching you struggle with the turmoil of what hangs over your head. Not only was it necessary for who you became but it was more interesting.”

“You let me wander alone because you thought it was interesting?” The Doctor was beginning to sound angry again.

“You needed to be alone. You’ve always been alone but you needed to be truly alone to understand who you are Doctor,” the Time Lord replied, “But yes, I mostly didn’t speak with you because I thought your inner demons were interesting.”

“I’m going to leave now,” the Doctor started to walk away again.

“Wait, don’t you want to know who I am? The name I took?”

“Not particularly,” the Doctor unlocked his TARDIS and stepped inside. He closed the door behind his and sighed deeply. Time to visit Clara again; he’d had enough adventures on his own for a while.

The TARDIS door opened and the other Time Lord walked in and ran up to the console and ran his hands along the controls. He stared around the room, “I like what you’ve done with the place.”

“How did you get in here?” the Doctor asked and the other Time Lord ran up more stairs to look through the bookshelves.

“Come on Doctor,” the other Time Lord looked at the Doctor patronizingly, “You didn’t really think you were the only Time Lord to steal a TARDIS did you?”

“Get out,” the Doctor said calmly.

“You’re right,” the man slid down the bannister, “I’ll go get my TARDIS and follow you somewhere safer than here. Then we can carpool.”

“Carpool?” the Doctor stared at the other Time Lord who stared obliviously back, “You’re not coming with me.”

“Sure I am,” the man laughed, “I always go where you go anyway, this way we don’t have to bring two TARDIS’s. That’s just dangerous.”

The Doctor stared at the bubbling younger man in disbelief and then finally, “Fine.”

“I knew you’d say that,” the other Time Lord smiled, “You couldn’t resist two Time Lords in the TARDIS again.”

“Just get out,” the Doctor rubbed his temples, “Please.”

As soon as the door closed the Doctor threw the switch and the TARDIS was headed to Earth. He half hoped that this new Time Lord wouldn’t be able to follow him quickly enough. He vaguely remembered being silly once and wondered how he had handled it.

The TARDIS wheezed to a stop and the Doctor pulled open the door and stepped out into Britain. He ambled up the steps to the school and threw the door open. He walked down the halls and people stared at him but no one said a word. Then he strode into Clara’s classroom, “Come on Clara, let’s go.”

Clara stared at the Doctor and he waited patiently. She jerked her head toward the other side of the classroom. The Doctor turned and saw thirty kids staring at him. “I see,” the Doctor nodded and took an open seat. The student next to him just stared in horror, “Proceed.”

“Is that your dad?” one of the students asked. The Doctor looked at Clara expectantly.

“Yes, he’s getting a bit senile,” Clara laughed uncomfortably, “Just give me one minute to speak to my…Dad alone.”

Clara stormed out into the hallway. “I think I’m in trouble,” the Doctor smoothed out his coat when he stood. A few of the students nodded.

“I told you that I don’t get done with school until 3:30!” Clara hissed.

“Well…I’m not good with…,” The Doctor trailed off.

“Not good with what Doctor?”

“Nothing.”

“Not good with what Doctor?”

“Time…,” The Doctor said finally.

“You’re a Time Lord,” Clara stared at the Doctor.

“Well,” The Doctor paused for a moment, “That’s just what we’re called.”

“You’re unbelievable,” Clara opened the door to her classroom and the bell rang. She called out the night’s assignment as the students stormed for the door. The Doctor waded through the throng and sat down on a desk, “So what’s new?”

“Senile?” The Doctor asked.

“What?”

“You called me senile.”

“Well, when you’ve lived for two thousand years some things start to go…,” Clara said innocently and the Doctor’s face remained unchanged, “It was a joke Doctor. Now tell me what you’ve been doing.”

“Oh, nothing much really,” the Doctor replied, folding his arms, “I’m just getting tired of talking to myself all the time and I thought you’d want to come along.”

“Come along where?”

“The City of Caesars,” the Doctor explained, “An ancient city of gold said to border Argentina and Chile.”

“So Robin Hood is fake but ancient cities of gold are real?”

“There were two hikers who said they found the city,” the Doctor replied.

“Why do I get the feeling there is more to this than a city of gold?”

“Because you know me too well,” the Doctor grinned and Clara shook her head.

The door to the classroom opened and a flurry of motion flew across and pulled Clara into a hug. “The impossible girl,” the Time Lord cried out excitedly.

Clara stared wide eyed at the Doctor, “Nothing much happened?”

“Oh yes, him,” the Doctor shrugged, like it was unimportant, “Clara this is…well I don’t actually know his name.”

“I’m the Author,” the Time Lord smiled, “At least someone wants to know who I am.”

“The Author? Doctor, is he another Time Lord?” Clara’s voice wavered but the Doctor didn’t notice.

“It would appear so,” the Doctor sighed.

“And you didn’t think that was worth mentioning?” Clara cried exasperatedly.

“I guess in hindsight it was probably important.”

“Yeah, probably a little,” Clara said and the Doctor could see her slapping face coming on. She stayed away from him though.

They both turned toward the other Time Lord. The Author was wearing a burgundy jacket now and had a bow tie on. “Oh, you’re obsessed,” The Doctor sighed and Clara stared at the young Time Lord’s outfit.

“Why are you wearing that?”

“I thought you would like it,” the Author twirled and something about his movements reminded her of the way the Doctor used to be. Clara walked up to the smiling young Time Lord and slapped him instead. Then she ran out of the room with tears in her eyes.

The Author rubbed the side of his face, “Wow, that really hurts. I don’t get it what did I do?”

“That was his. She misses him and you running in here like him was too much for her,” The Doctor said, for once seemingly actually understanding how Clara felt.

“But you haven’t gone anywhere. He is you,” The Author replied, confused.

“I know.”

“Clara,” the Doctor called when he opened the door to his TARDIS. She was sitting on the steps that went up to the console. She wiped the tears from her eyes, “Are you alright?”

“Yeah,” Clara sniffed and folded her arms, “I don’t know what happened.”

“It’s fine,” the Doctor sat down beside her and put an arm awkwardly around her shoulders before quickly withdrawing it, “I know you wish that I was him.”

“I don’t wish you were him,” Clara half-smiled, “I wish you were two different people.”

“The Author is going to be traveling with us,” the Doctor said, “I just wanted to make sure that was okay with you first.”

Clara wiped away her tears and nodded. The door opened and the Author stepped in. He had changed again and was now in a black pea coat and a black tee-shirt beneath it. Clara couldn’t help but notice that he was actually kind of attractive. He had his hands in his pockets and watched the other two to make sure he was alright.

“I’m sorry Clara,” the Author apologized, “Can we start over?” Clara nodded and the Author smiled. “So where are we headed?”

“The City of Caesars,” the Doctor leaped to his feet and started throwing levers.

“I’ll drive!” The Author ran up beside the Doctor and began pressing buttons seemingly at random. Clara watched the two Time Lords work together like they’d done it their entire lives and suddenly Clara had never felt so alone.