To Be Forgotten

Chapter 13 - The Big Bang

The Big Bang, part 3 -

The Oracle woke up in a bright light in what she made out to be a nursery. The baby in the cradle started to cry at the intrusion of his sleep. Her motherly instincts kicked in and she jumped into action to calm him. When she picked him up and rocked him, she recognised the boy as her godson.

"Oh, hello there, August Jones", she whispered with a smile, "It's your Aunt Jane, remember me? I'm the one with all the brilliant stories. Will you go back to sleep if I tell you one?"

Before she could continue Martha in comfortable daytime-clothes came into the room. When she registered the figure in the room, holding her son she was wide awake and was about to jump into action before she noticed who it was.

"Jane? What the hell? How did you get here?", she whisper-yelled at her.

"I don't really know. I was a Roman Soldier", she turned it into a nap-time story for August, "Your Aunt Jane pretended to be a man so she could join a Roman legion. She didn't know why she had to do that but later realised that she had fallen through a crack in the universe and wasn't even real. She had been brought back as plastic to fight against the end of the universe."

She kept rocking August as Martha leaned against her, closing her eyes as well as she listened. August was now staring up with wide eyes, making some baby noises that sounded like babbling to Martha but were a "What happened then?", that the Time Lord understood very well.

"Well, turns out the people who had brought her back were actually the bad guys who had no idea what they were doing. But Aunt Jane couldn't fight them because they controlled her."

The next little babble sounded like a gasp to her. She smiled and continued.

"But guess who saved the day", babble, "Yeah, that's right, the madman saved the day. But he wears a bowtie now and has very floppy hair, no more trench coat and spikes. But that's a story for another day, sweetie. You need to go back to sleep now."

She leaned down to kiss his forehead and when she leaned back up the infant was fast asleep in her arms, ready to be put back into his crib. The Oracle led Martha out of the room, keeping the door just a smidge open.

"I'm sorry to barge in on you like that. I think I need to get to Leadworth", she explained quietly when they were out in the hall.

"What's in Leadworth?", Martha asked with furrowed brows.

"Friends who are getting married. Bet you'll get to know them some time. But do you still have some of my things?"

"Oh, yeah", Martha led the way, "We've got a new guest room since Auggie's been occupying that one and we put your things in there."

She opened the top drawer of a larger cupboard, presenting it half full with just the clothes she had left last time she'd stayed with them. She picked out a tight, mid-thigh-length red velvet dress with long sleeves.

"Were you serious about the Roman-story? Why aren't you wearing a Roman uniform, then?", Martha pointed to the mirror behind the Oracle.

She turned around to see herself in the hanger dress, vans and black coat she'd worn when the crack had absorbed her in the Silurian cave, covered in dirt.

"I'm not a Roman now. That was a Nestene duplicate of me. None of that actually happened to me", she shook for a moment, thinking back to that time, "Anyway, can I take a quick shower?"

Martha stepped out of the way to let her dash to the bathroom. In under ten minutes she was by the front door in her fresh dress and her coat on, "Thanks, Martha! I'll come back soon, love you!"