Fanfic / Children of Time

One Time Lord. One Great Detective. Two obsessed fanfiction writers…

There are things called Fixed Points in Time. They're events—births, deaths, decisions— that must always happen. They must always happen, no matter what... or Time will start to fold in on itself. Things like the signing of the Magna Carta, or Columbus's discovery of the New World... Or a certain meeting at St. Bart's, in 1881.

— the Tenth Doctor

Children of Time is a Sherlock Holmes/Doctor Who crossover series, providing an AU to Season or Series 3 of Nu Who, "exploring what might happen if Holmes and Watson were substituted for Martha Jones as the Doctor’s full-time companions". The series is a collaboration by Aleine Skyfire and Riandra, under the shared account Wholmes Productions.

The series is currently in-progress on FF.N. Most of the following pages here on TV Tropes contain spoilers to kingdom come, as the groundwork for the series was laid out well in advance of the publishing. Read at your own peril.

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This Series Provides Examples of:

entire series

• Aerith and Bob: Sherlock and Beth, and then their surnames make a flip: Holmes and Lestrade.
• Animal Motifs: Used sometimes in-universe. Holmes is described as alternately aquiline and feline (as per Canon), Ten's Puppy Eyes get mentioned a fair bit, Moriarty retains his serpentine qualities, and Moran is as much the tiger as ever.

• Author Appeal:
  • Skyfire and Riandra are known for their active female characters — Mary Watson herself gets near-Action Girl status in Riandra's A Study in Regret.
  • Darker and Edgier is also a favorite of the pair.
• Beauty Equals Goodness: We know David Tennant and Matt Smith, and "Child of Time" and "Fractures" make it clear that Holmes and Watson strongly favor their attractive acting counterparts, Jeremy Brett and David Burke. Of course, Sally is a beautiful young woman, and then there's Beth, be it her canonical design, the illustrations, or her face-claim. Beth also teases Holmes by mentioning that Inspector Lestrade is not bad-looking, himself. Moriarty and Moran are never described in very great detail, other than both often wearing malicious expressions.
• Black-and-White Morality: Even with certain character developments, the lines between Good and Evil remain very discernible, with lines that should not be crossed.
• Broad Strokes: Most notably with the TARDIS, who is an active character in these stories.
  • Also the plasmavore, who shape-shifts her appearance.
  • Elements from Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century get some reworking for the sake of realism.
• The Chain of Harm: James Moriarty's backstory is one that is all too common for the era in which he grew up — abusive father, eventually-lost mother, bullying brother. From there, the harm moves down to Holmes, which then moves down to Watson and Beth, who are vital in bringing about Moriarty's demise.
• Character Title: Children of Time, "Smith and Holmes", "Men of England", "Child of Time", "Watson and Sparrow", "The Dying Detective".

• Emotional Torque: The series as a whole, the first season's finale as a trilogy, each episode of the finale themselves, and the first episode of the second season.
• Fairy Tale Motifs: All over the place, and rightly so, considering that the love stories especially read like dressed-up fairytales with time travel.
  • The final episode of the first season plays this trope quite blatantly with the title "Every Good Fairytale".
  • One extracanonical idea of one of the authors has Katherine Watson traveling far back in human history and telling people the stories of her parents and her godparents in a way that they will understand, making those love stories the Ur-Example for fairytales.

• Genre Roulette: As befits a daughter work of Doctor Who, adventure to near-horror to romance — and, yes, sometimes all in the same episode.

• It Runs in the Family: Beth is initially a standard, isolated example. It gets more complicated later.
• It's All My Fault: The Doctor's sentiment regarding the various fates of his Companions — makes another Motif.
  • Eventually espoused by Holmes and Beth, also, for different reasons.

• Literary Allusion Title: Several referencing the Canon itself, currently: "Dynamics of a Point," "The Dying Detective," and "A Study in Family".

• Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Well, we don't have just the Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes characters here. We also have Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, Robin Hood, and tantalizing hints that fairytales and other myths might be truer than most people think...
• May–December Romance: The Doctor and Rose, of course, as well as the Watsons and especially the Holmeses.

• Name and Name: "Smith and Holmes", "Watson and Sparrow".

• One True Love: Interestingly, this seems to apply to only one couple, even though the series involves multiple couples. The Doctor is explicitly stated to have had other loves before Rose (including his wife, the mother of his children), and Watson had Mary before Sally. It is heartbreakingly easy, however, to see that Sherlock and Beth are the only lovers each other will ever have.

• Only a Flesh Wound: Regularly averted. If a character is shot, he/she is screwed.
• The Power of Friendship: The Central Theme — the overriding elements of the story are friendship, biological and spiritual family, and enduring romantic love.
• Realism: Some episodes undergo significant changes from the originals in the authors' quest for believability.

• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: The Doctor, of course, casually bends or breaks whatever rules stand in his way, and his Companions follow suit.
  • Dr. Kit Bennett has no problems in shielding a trio of civilians on a top-secret military base and investigating disappearances with them.
  • Beth appears at first to have been inspired in her rebellious tendencies by Holmes, but meeting her father makes it clear that the original Inspector Lestrade's strict adherence to rules faded out of the gene pool somewhere along the line.
• Stable Time Loop: Some do occur, "Watson and Sparrow" being the worst offender until you learn about Beth's full heritage in Season 2.

• With a Friend and a Stranger: With the Doctor and Holmes switching back and forth between The Kirk and The Spock, leaving Watson purely as The McCoy.
• The X of Y: Children of Time, "Men of England", "Child of Time", "Dynamics of a Point".

season one

• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Sally (though unquestionably a Smart Gal), Beth (carries shades of The Heart at times), and the TARDIS, respectively.

• Big Bad: Torchwood is revealed in episode 5 and rears its head again in episodes 9 and 10. (Only, at the end of episode 10, you find out who is really behind it all: Professor James Moriarty.)
• Break the Cutie: Oh, dear heavens. The Doctor earliest in the season, but also Holmes and Beth, Beth's case going on to Kill the Cutie.
• Broken Bird: Kit in spades by the end of "Manhattan". Beth, mid-"Together Or Not At All".

• Character Development: This season is a characterization-heavy set of stories, all very linked and leading to the hugely character-driven events of the finale.
  • More specifically, the season is really about Holmes's development as a person, from a good man to an even better one to not so good to better than ever.

• Deconstruction: This season follows both the Davies and Moffat lines of thought regarding the darker side to the Doctor and his adventures.
  • Holmes becomes a heartbreaking example of just how far a Companion can go wrong, and Beth becomes another by showing how completely a Companion can be devastated and even destroyed.
  • Watson calls out the Doctor just once, but Moriarty viciously, mercilessly deconstructs the Doctor every chance he gets and with very little falsehood.

• First Love: Holmes is this for Beth, to the point where she's certain he'll be her only love.
• Foil:
  • Sally to Beth — a little older, a little wiser, a little more knowledgeable, and possessed of considerably better luck with her love life.
• Foreshadowing: In the tradition of the Nu Who seasons, the "episodes" contain quite a bit of foreshadowing for the finale.
• Foregone Conclusion: Season 1 is just retelling NuWho's Season 3 with Holmes and Watson, right? What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: It's a motif in this season, and truly lovely to see...
  • Holmes and Watson, of course... and this season delves into why their friendship is important.
  • Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse. The series upgrades their real-life friendship to best-friendship, and it's really very precious.
  • Beth and Sally, who quickly become best friends and who are both already in love (and, in Sally's case, soon married).
• Humans Are Good: Espoused frequently by the Doctor, as per normal, which makes his meeting Moriarty all the more shocking for him.
• Man Hug: The Doctor likes to dish these out to his boys when he's very happy and affectionate — or after particularly harrowing experiences.

• Snow Means Love: Subverted in the final episode: Sherlock Holmes and Beth Lestrade are already married when London receives her first snowfall of the season. Sherlock looks at his bride, standing enraptured in the snow, and tells her that he's just fallen in love with her all over again.
• Time Paradox: A recurring concern, considering that the Doctor has taken on two Companions who truly have destinies to fulfill.

• Wham Episode: "Child of Time", wham. A teenage Beth Lestrade from Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century makes her debut and makes the series a three-way crossover. "Watson and Sparrow", wham. Sally Sparrow is about to become the mysterious second Mrs. Watson. "Dynamics of a Point", wham. Holmes and Watson have a terrible break-up, Holmes is quite visibly darker, and Moriarty is Back from the Dead. "Every Good Fairytale", wham. Holmes and Beth end up marrying, and Beth is killed. ...it would almost be easier to give examples of episodes that don't deliver a wham.

season two

• Celebrity Paradox: Actually averted. Doctor Who and Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century do not exist as TV shows in the story's universe, but Granada, Sherlock, etc. do.

• Good Is Not Nice: NSY and cryptnosis. To be fair, not all Yarders are jerks like Chief Inspector Grayson.
• Iconic Outfit: Beth kind of likes the deerstalker-and-Inverness look, and insists that the Inverness, at least, should be kept for familiarity purposes.

The TARDISodes

• Bigger on the Inside: Beth postulates that the TARDIS isn't so much bigger on the inside as that she's simply an entire universe inside. (Which, actually, is Tom Baker's sentiment.)
• Cool Ship: The plot-less format of the minisodes allow more of the TARDIS to be explored.

• Historical Hero Upgrade: Right after this trope has been applied to Tesla and Westinghouse, Bram Stoker gets in on the action... in Paris, of all places!
• Lighter and Fluffier: On the whole. They definitely start out on a light note with a tour of the TARDIS, but the second TARDISode plunges right into good ole gut-wrenching angst.
• Noodle Incident: What happened when the Doctor & Co attended a cinema event in Paris is never actually shown (taking place between "The Icarus Experiment" and "A Study in White"), but much discussed later on.
• Ship Tease: The pre-finale TARDISode for Season 1 has Holmes giving Beth a tour the best he can... with alternating moments of awkwardness and cuteness.
  • The final non-TARDIS minisodes for season 1 show the Doctor and Mrs. Hudson going on a couple of sort-of dates... and it's exactly as adorable as you'd expect.

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