Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Will you stop?"

I snapped my head up and looked towards my mom. She was sitting in a plastic chair off in the corner of the small room and was glaring at me, her phone forgotten in her lap.

"Stop what?" I asked. Without even thinking about it, I cracked my knuckles. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.

"That! Stop that!" She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Look, I get it. You're nervous. But you've been coming here for years going through god only knows how many tests. One would think you'd be used to it by now."

I rolled my eyes in exasperation.

"You know I don't like hospitals and that I don't trust doctors! They're all sweet and calm and then suddenly a nurse is stabbing your arm with a needle. And then there's the smell. That god-awful smell of bleach and various other cleaning products. Who knows what they're hiding with that stuff. Plus, you've seen Kill Bill! There are ass-hats out there that rape coma patients! I don't understand how you can allow these doctors to be in a room with your only daughter, while she's unconscious, and have things probe her to look inside!"

My mom sighed, having heard this argument before.

"You, missy, have been watching way too much tv. Carli, sweetheart, if I believed for a second that the doctors would cause you any problems, I would never let you in there. Besides! It is a quick procedure and you'll be awake and going home in no time! So just calm down," She said, going back to her phone.

"Easy for you to say when you don't have a needle sticking out of and taped to your arm as blood slowly trickles down the tube attached to it," I grumbled under my breath. But, she was right. By now I should be used to it. I had been suffering from lactose intolerance and Crohn's Disease since the 5th grade. We only recently discovered it after finally trying a colonoscopy on top of various other invasive tests. Today, after about 2 years of taking 6 pills a day on top of the lactose supplements I take with practically everything I eat, I was here to see how the problem areas are doing, thus subjecting me to this torture again.

A minute or so later, the nurse came in.

"Hiya sweetie! So, the doctors are ready for you now. If you'll just follow me to the operating room," She said in a toothache worthy sugary sweet voice. I looked to my mom for help, but she only smiled and waved goodbye to me.

'Traitor.'

When we reached the operating room, the doors opened and I did a quick glance around. It was the usual sterile white with machines crammed against the walls. In the center of the room was the examination table surrounded by about 5 doctors and nurses. I noticed immediately that a couple of them were males. I shifted uncomfortably, suddenly very conscious of the fact that I was only wearing a pitiful excuse for a gown and a pair of hospital issued blue socks. Looking at the ground, I followed the nurse and sat down on the table.

"Alright, sweetie. Now, I'm going to need you to lie back on the table. Good! Good! Now, I'm going to hook up your tube to this machine and it's gonna pump you with this fluid that will make you have a nice nap. Doesn't that sound fun?" My eye twitched. This lady was getting on my nerves. For god's sake! I'm not 5!

Almost a second later, I felt the tell-tale chill ender my veins as the machine injected the stuff into me. However, there was something else. Something that shouldn't be there. The feeling of pins and needles flowed from where they put in the needle all the way to my fingertips. The feeling soon began to burn. Before I could voice the problem, my vision went black and I was gone from the world.

As I slowly came back into awareness, my ears picked up on the sound of shouting.

"You think I... this?! I didn't...wasn't me!"

"This...exactly you. All...it..."

Confused as to what was happening, I opened my eyes to a surprisingly dim room for a hospital. Usually, the fluorescent light bulbs would be blinding me by now. Blurry figures moved in front of me, probably a couple of yards ahead. It was then I noticed that I was standing on rather wobbly legs. Ok, red flag. Normally I'd be on a recovery bed.

"Carli! Doctor! It's Carli!" That's weird. That sounds like Rory from Doctor Who. Do hospitals even get BBC America? And since when was there an episode during the Pond era where there's a character with my name? Suddenly my eyes came into focus only for me to have a heart attack.

'This...this is no hospital...' I thought looking around in panic. It was a futuristic-looking version of a warehouse. There were crates strewn about and what looked like abandoned guns lying here and there. In a large opening in the middle of the surrounding wooden boxes were a group of people. People I only know from tv. Except for the one with the space hair and the one in the roman get up, as I had met them at a Con earlier this summer. Off to the side, was a big blue box titled Police Public Call Box.

'What...the...fuck...' It was then that I became aware of the bow-tie wearing man storming towards me, a look of absolute fury in his eyes. I stumbled backward as he came closer. He stopped when he was about 3 inches from my face.

"You. Where the bloody hell have you been?" He seethed. I was so confused.

"W-what?" I stammered trying to lean back without toppling over from my still unstable legs.

"What good is having knowledge of the future when you don't use it?!" He spat in my face.

"I-I don't know what you mean, I-" His hands suddenly latched onto my arms, gripping them tight enough that I could feel bruises forming.

"Don't. Don't think for a minute that you can fool me. You knew! Where the hell were you?! We needed you and you weren't here! Now Melody is gone and it's your fault!" He shook me twice before a shout came from behind him.

"Doctor!" It was the woman with the space hair. "Doctor! Look at her! Really look at her!"

His eyes went from glaring intensely into mine to looking me up and down. He took in the gown I was wearing and the needle still embedded into my arm and immediately let go, his face paling and taking on a look of absolute horror. I collapsed on the ground, as my legs had given up holding me.

"No. No no no no no. This? This was your first time ever meeting me?!" He rubbed his hand over his face in complete shock and horror. "I never even considered...and you never said... why didn't you say?" he said looking heartbroken at the purple and shaped bruises forming on my arms. His eyes then snapped to my neck, as if he was looking for something there as well. I wasn't all that surprised about the bruises as I was slightly anemic. However, I still couldn't grasp what was going on around me and I could feel my breaths becoming shorter and shorter. Heat flushed through my body and I could hear my heart pounding in my ears. My hands shook and tears flooded my eyes as I grasped at my hair.

"Oh no. RORY!" The man yelled. The man dressed as a roman ran over, followed by the ginger woman wearing white.

"Alright, Doctor, you need to back up. She is not reacting well to your presence" The man stepped back out of my sight immediately. "Carli? I need you to focus on me ok? Take deep breaths with me. In. And out. In. And out. I'm going to ask you some questions and I want you to do your best to answer them, ok?" I nodded, gasping sobs erupting from my throat. "Right. What are five things you can see? Take your time and if you can't say them out loud, just point"

Chest heaving, I looked about the immediate area. I shakily pointed at Arthur, the ginger woman, space hair, a green figure standing to the side, and a…baked potato? Arthur nodded.

"Ok, that's good. You're seeing me, Amy, River, Vastra, and Strax. Now, what are four things you can touch? Again, you can just touch them if you can't form any words."

I shakily touched my hair, the fabric of my hospital gown, the hospital socks, and the tape holding the needle in place. Though still shaky, I was starting to breathe easier. He nodded encouragingly.

"Great, now three things you can hear?" I gulped and tried to speak this time.

"My-my breathing, you, and-and, humming?" I gasped out. He nodded again, smiling.

"That's the TARDIS. What are two things you can smell?" I inhaled a few times, the breaths slightly stuttered.

"My sweat and… and iron?" Arthur looked uncomfortable at the second smell. I looked around slightly and my breath hitched at a red puddle coming out from behind a crate. He quickly snapped his fingers in front of my face, drawing my attention back to him.

"Hey, hey, focus on me, alright? We're almost done. One more question. What is one thing you can taste?" I smacked my lips together, uncertain.

"Spit?" He shrugged.

"That works! Now that that is out of the way, tell me what you're feeling right now."

"I-I'm…confused, a-and scared, and I, I want my mom," I whispered, my lower lip wobbling. He grimaced.

"It's ok to be scared and confused. I can't do much to help with that, but what I can do is take that needle out. I know these don't help your nerves much." At my nod, he pulled out the stupid thing and then turned back to me. "Now, do you know who I am?"

"You're...you're Arthur Darvill...from Doctor Who...but why...?" I trailed off as he shook his head.

"My name isn't Arthur. It's Rory. Rory Pon-Williams. Rory Williams. And this is Amy," He pointed to the ginger woman, "and this is the Doctor," He said pointing to the bow-tie man who came back into view.

"But...but that's...not possible! You're...you're a British tv show!" I exclaimed as panic rose again, trying to get a grip on reality. It suddenly dawned on me. "Oh. I get it. The doctors must have found something wrong with my brain and admitted me into the psychiatric ward. That's great, just great. I've finally lost it!" The panic continued to grow, but the man, the Doctor, quickly sat down beside me and maneuvered my body so I was lying down and then pulled my head into his lap, running his fingers through my hair. It was a lot like how my mom did it to try to calm me down when I was close to tears or in agonizing pain from a flare-up. I sniffled, nose running.

"Shh. You are not crazy. If anything, you're the sanest out of all of us in this Jetson-esque family." He chuckled at that. "So that's where that came from," He muttered to himself. Just then, the tingly feeling in my arm started up again. I looked down in confusion.

"What...?" I muttered looking down at it. I saw nothing out of the ordinary except a bit of blood from where the needle came out. The man followed my gaze and a look of understanding dawned upon his face.

"It looks like you're off on a new adventure," He said, smiling in remembrance.

"Adventure?" I said, confused out of my mind.

"Yeah, and it was a great one too. Just remember, everything we told you is the truth, ok? Oh! Here!" He shoved a hand into his pocket, going about elbow deep. This startled me. There is no way he should have fit that much of his arm into that tiny thing. He pulled out his hand, bringing with it what looked like my old Polaroid camera from when I was 4. I used to go around the house with it taking pictures of the most random of things. I looked at him in confusion.

"You told me that your first time meeting me was coming soon and that I gave you this. Use it well," He said, winking at the Harry Potter reference. There was a look on his face that shined with remembrance of something. I groaned a bit when the tingly sensation became a burning one.

"See you soon," He whispered. He then blurred out of sight.

When my eyes came into focus again, I could tell I was back in the hospital. Sighing in relief, I wiped my face of tears and snot and began to look around for my mom. Other than a couple of beds and a few people milling around, there was no sign of her anywhere. I went to stand up, but something in my hands stopped me. Suddenly noticing the weight, I looked down and saw, to my absolute horror, that it was the Polaroid. Panicked, I immediately ran to a woman in a doctor's frock.

"Excuse me?! Can you please tell me where my mom is? Her name is Lydia Steinberg. She was supposed to be here when I woke up." The woman looked at me in confusion for a moment, eying the polaroid, before looking at her clipboard.

"There is no one listed as a visitor on here with that name. And who are you? I've been monitoring this room all day and I've never seen you around here before." Her eyes narrowed at me in suspicion.

"What do you mean? I'm Carli Steinberg. I was here because of my Crohn's. My mom signed me in and everything. I remember being in the operating room and then...then I must have been dreaming... But I woke up here! Please! You have to help me," I exclaimed in a rush, tearing up in frustration.

She opened her mouth to say something but a sudden quake in the earth that threw us off balance cut her off. The back of my head slammed against the floor, stunning me for a moment. For a good 10 seconds, the shaking continued, equipment falling everywhere. Finally, it stopped. I laid on the ground in shock, trying to get rid of the ringing in my ears. Soon, the room filled with horrified cries of terror. I could see people running about around me. I pulled myself to my feet and slowly made it to the window, where a crowd had formed. I shoved my way to the front, only to fall back in shock at what I had seen.

We were on the moon.

Chapter Text

Previously:

Chapter Text

Previously:

It was then that I notice who she was. Sophia Myles, the woman who played Madame de Pompadour. This hallucination must be from before the Doctor revealed his name to her. She looked over my appearance and grimaced in shock and outrage.

"Child, what on God's Earth are you wearing?!" I looked down confused and promptly blushed in embarrassment. Oh. Yeah. I'm still in my hospital gown. She shook her head and then turned to a servant woman who stood nearby. It was then I noticed the crowd that had formed.

"Apporter-la quelque chose à se couvrir jusqu'à ce que nous trouvons quelque chose de plus approprié à l'usage. ₄ " The servant nodded and rushed off. The woman then addressed the crowd.

"Vas-y! Tu ne vois pas que la pauvre fille est indécent? Fermer! ₅ " The crowd immediately dispersed. The maid returned a moment later with a large cloak. The woman helped to wrap it around me and helped me up.

"Come along child. Let us get you inside and taken care of."

With that, they led me across the lush green lawns and inside the infamous French palace.

Six. Months.

Six freaking months I have been here and I still haven't woken up. I have to say; my hallucinations are persistent. However, at this point, I'm starting to doubt that I'm dreaming. I had only been to Versailles once on a trip to Europe with my school and we only saw certain areas of the palace. Plus, most of the original furnishings were destroyed in the French Revolution so it had been drastically different from what I've seen in the time I've been here. As if all the ornate designs with unneeded gold literally everywhere wasn't enough, now there's also unnecessary extravagant furnishings and decor. My mind would never have been able to make that up or the rooms that I had never been in during my school trip.

Then there's the fact that I learned French. I've been taking five years of Latin and my repertoire of French consisted only of what was in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. That's not a lot. There is also the fact that I can read. From what I've heard, in a dream, it is impossible to read something because the words and letters become jumbled and illegible. Also, in that one episode of Teen Wolf, a telling factor that someone was dreaming was having extra fingers. I've checked multiple times. Still ten.

Plus, no one would be able to imagine the kind of pain that comes from wearing a corset.

"Carli!" I snapped back to attention as someone called my name. I turned and looked at Reinette and Catherine, both looking at me funny.

"What?" I asked, confused. They gave each other looks and looked at me again.

"You were not paying attention," Catherine explained. I grinned sheepishly at them.

"Sorry. What were you saying?" I asked.

"We asked you if you were excited for the Yew Tree Ball tomorrow." Reinette grinned, already knowing my answer. I groaned.

"Why must I go? I'm not even an official member of the courts! I understand that it is a celebration of the wedding of the Dauphin to Maria Theresa of Spain, but I truly doubt my presence will be missed," I said in annoyance. Reinette rolled her eyes.

"You just do not wish to wear the gown that we had made for you," She said in exasperation.

"Okay, yes. I hate wearing these kinds of dresses," I said gesturing to the one I was wearing. It was a green-blue robe à la française draped over a matching skirt with red flowers decorating the fabric. Pinned to the corset was a stomacher with matching fabric that had pale green bows decorating it. Tying the look together was the pannier3 that was underneath the skirt, giving it the distinctive wide-hipped look of the period. "I feel like a clothed wall! I understand the concept of extenuating the hips, but this is ridiculous!"

"You should be proud to be wearing the height of French fashion. Most would love to be in your position and be able to wear such finery. After all the time spent making it, you could at least wear it this once. Besides, you must go! I've already specified with the cooks to make a separate meal for you so that you do not become ill," Reinette said. I sighed as we turned the corner towards her chambers.

"Fine, I'll go. I hate when you pull the guilt trip card." I grumbled. Catherine laughed quietly at me. Reinette grinned in triumph as we finally entered her chambers.

"Good." She said. She walked over to the mannequin that held her dress and began inspecting it. Catherine and I looked at each other and began laughing. Reinette turned to us with her hands on her hips. "What?"

"You seem awfully concerned with how you're going to look at the ball tomorrow," I said. Catherine continued.

"It doesn't have anything to do with a certain king of France, does it?" Our teasing caused her to blush deeply. She went over to her bed and plopped down.

"So what if it does?" She said defensively. Smiling, I went and sat down next to her, wrapping my arm around her. Catherine sat on her other side and did the same.

"Stop worrying. He's going to love you. He'd be mad not to. By the end of tomorrow night, you'll have him wrapped around your finger," I reassured her. She sighed relaxing against me.

"You're right," she said. She then straightened up out of my grasp and looked at me. "Now then. We must figure out what to do with your hair!" I groaned in dismay as the two laughed.

I shifted uncomfortably in front of the mirror. I lifted a hand to try to adjust the neckline only to have it slapped away. I glared at the attacker.

"Oh, hush you look beautiful. Stop fussing," Reinette admonished as she pinned her last curl to her head. I grumbled in response but obeyed. The dress was beautiful, but that didn't stop me from being uncomfortable in it. It was a pale champagne colored robe à la française embroidered with a delicate floral design. The trim of the dress was lined with a dark pink Point d'Alençon lace that gave the appearance of petals sewn to the dress. The pagoda sleeves ended at the elbow with a pale pink bow tied around the end and layered engageantes that flared out from the tight sleeve. The skirt and pinned stomacher matched the fabric and trim of the draped gown. The pannier was larger than the previous one, likely measuring 3x my shoulder width. A pair of Louis heels in the same color as the dress with pink ribbons and floral embroidery finished the look. My hair was pinned to my head in waves and curls with a few curled coils draped over my shoulder.

Reinette gave us a quick glance over before nodding in satisfaction, placing her arm in mine, and leading us from the room. Catherine had already left for the party. As we walked down the hallway, I saw a figure up ahead enter a room.

"Isn't that the king?" I asked, motioning towards the figure. Reinette, upon confirming that it was, turned towards me pleadingly. I laughed and pushed her towards the room. "Go get your king. I can make it to the ballroom by myself." She grinned and, once she straightened her dress and hair, made her way to the room.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do!" I called after her. She turned and stuck out her tongue at me before disappearing in through the doorway. Laughing quietly, I continued at a slow pace towards the mirror room. A few moments later, the king passed by going in the same direction I was and nodded in acknowledgment at me. Slightly puzzled why Reinette wasn't with him, I opened my mouth to call after him, but he had already turned the corner. I froze as a loud commotion sounded from the room Reinette went into. I spun around and sprinted back the way I came. Slamming the door open, I found Reinette standing in the room with four other people. I rushed over to her and grasped her shoulders as I looked her over.

"Are you okay?!" I gasped out, trying to catch my breath. Finding nothing, I pulled her into a hug. "I heard a loud commotion and feared the worst!" She hugged me back.

"I am fine," She reassured me. The sound of someone clearing their throat reminded me that other people were in the room. I spun around and stood in front of her only to gape in shock. Standing in front of us were Ten, Billie Piper, and Noel Clarke. Or Rose and Mickey. Even though logic told me that this was real, I still had my doubts. They gaped back.

"Carli?" Ten asked bewildered. I didn't respond. Reinette came up next to me and took my arm.

"Carli? Are you alright?" I shook myself out of my daze and looked at her.

"Yeah... I'm fine," I turned back to the group of time travelers. "Hi, Doctor. Rose. Mickey." I waved. Rose and Mickey waved back. I shifted uncomfortably under Ten's gaze, reaching my hand up to rub my arm awkwardly. Reinette, seeing this, stiffened next to me.

"Doctor?" She asked angrily. I turned to her confused but she had already started advancing on Ten. He looked at her confused. She got right up in his face, fuming over something.

"When she arrived here, she had bruises in the shape of handprints littering her upper arms and her neck. She claimed a man who she called the Doctor did that to her. Now you arrive and she is the most uncomfortable I have ever seen her. Are you that Doctor? How dare you lay a hand on her?!" She spat angrily. Ten gaped in shock and looked at me, looking me over in concern. Rose and Mickey stood off to the side unsure what to do but also looking at me in shock and concern.

"Bruises?" Ten asked worriedly. He went to move towards me but Reinette halted him in his tracks.

"Do not even think about going near her you bas-"

"Reinette!" I cut her off. "It... it wasn't him." I stuttered. She looked at me in confusion.

"What?" She asked.

"It was a different man called the Doctor. Not him. And the bruises on my neck were from someone I couldn't see," I explained. She sighed and turned to Ten.

"I apologize then, Fireplace Man. Since she's arrived here we've become good friends and I don't want harm coming to her." She stated. Ten nodded.

'It's fine. I would do the same," He said looking back at me. "When did you get here?"

"Around six months ago. I just appeared one day on the grounds and I've been here since." I said.

"What? Six months?" He asked confused. I nodded. He was about to say something else when a whirring sound came from over by the door. We spun around to see a droid in French attire covered in ice. I grabbed Reinette and pulled her behind me as it began to move. Rose and Mickey raised their fire extinguishers.

"What's it doing?" Mickey asked. Ten walked up and started to examine it.

"Switching back on. Melting the ice." He said.

"And then what?" Mickey asked, eyes trained on the droid.

"Then it kills everyone in the room," As if on cue, the droid lunged out its arm towards Ten. "Focuses the mind, doesn't it? Who are you? Identify yourself." It just tilted its head at him. Ten looked back to Reinette. "Order it to answer me." She looked at him in confusion.

"Why should it listen to me?" She asked, incredulous. He turned and walked towards us, going around me to get to her.

"I don't know. It did when you were a child. Let's see if you've still got it." He said. Reinette stepped out from her spot behind me.

"Answer his question. Answer any and all questions put to you." She ordered. Her eyes were wide with fear. I took her hand offering some form of comfort.

"I am repair droid seven." It stated. It put down its arm.

"What happened to the ship, then? There was a lot of damage." Ten asked.

"Ion storm. Eighty-two percent systems failure." It replied.

"That ship hasn't moved in over a year. What's taken you so long?" Ten asked incredulously.

"We did not have the parts." It stated. Mickey chuckled at that.

"Always comes down to that, doesn't it? The parts." I turned my head and glared at him. His smile dropped and he went quiet.

"What's happened to the crew? Where are they?" Ten asked.

"We did not have the parts." It repeated.

"There should have been over fifty people on your ship. Where did they go?" He asked again.

"We did not have the parts."

"Fifty people don't just disappear. Where." He advanced toward the droid only to stop in realization. "Oh. You didn't have the parts, so you used the crew."

"The crew?" Mickey asked in horror. Rose closed her eyes for a moment.

"We found a camera with an eye in it, and there was a heart wired into machinery." She said weakly.

"It was just doing what it was programmed to. Repairing the ship any way it can, with whatever it could find. No one told it the crew weren't on the menu. What did you say the flight deck smelt of?" Ten asked them.

"Someone cooking." She replied. Mickey looked at the ground in shock and horror.

"Flesh plus heat. Barbeque." I flinched. The idea of smelling people burning made me feel nauseous. "But what are you doing here? You've opened up time windows. That takes colossal energy. Why come here? You could have gone to your repair yard. Instead, you come to eighteenth-century France? Why?" He wondered.

"One more part is required." It stated. Ten looked back at Reinette.

"Then why haven't you taken it?" He asked.

"She is incomplete." I gripped Reinette's hand tighter in mine. She squeezed back.

"What, so, that's the plan, then. Just keep opening up more and more time windows, scanning her brain, checking to see if she's done yet." He mocked.

"Why her? You've got all of history to choose from. Why specifically her?" Rose piped up.

"We are the same." Reinette straightened next to me, her face morphing into one of disgust.

"We are not the same. We are in no sense the same." She claimed.

"We are the same." It repeated.

"Get out of here. Get out of here this instant!" She shouted. The droid pressed a device on its wrist and teleported back to the ship.

"Reinette, no." Ten said, but it was too late. "It's back on the ship. Rose, take Mickey and Arthur. Get after it. Follow it. Don't approach it, just watch what it does." He told them, moving towards the mirror door.

"Arthur?" Rose asked, confused.

"Good name for a horse."

"No, you're not keeping the horse." She said as a mother would to a child.

"I let you keep Mickey. Now go! Go! Go!" He ordered. They ran through and Ten closed the window behind them. He then advanced towards Reinette. I turned and sat down in a nearby chair, waiting for them to finish.

"Reinette, you're going to have to trust me. I need to find out what they're looking for. There's only one way I can do that. It won't hurt a bit." He said placing his hands on her head. She flinched closing her eyes.

"Fireplace man, you are inside my mind." She said in awe.

"Oh dear, Reinette. You've had some cowboys in here." He said concerned.

"You are in my memories. You walk among them." She wondered.

"If there's anything you don't want me to see, just imagine a door and close it. I won't look. Oh, actually, there's a door just there. You might want to cl- Oh, actually, several." She opened her eyes for a moment and winked at me. I snickered quietly.

"To walk among the memories of another living soul. Do you ever get used to this?" She asked.

"I don't make a habit of it." He replied.

"How can you resist?" He ignored her.

"What age are you?" He asked. Reinette's eyebrows raised.

"So impertinent a question so early in the conversation. How promising." She smirked. I rolled my eyes fondly.

"No, not my question, theirs. You're twenty-three and for some reason, that means you're not old enough." Reinette flinched as if in pain, her face screwing up. "Sorry, you might find old memories reawakening. Side effect." He apologized.

"Oh, such a lonely childhood." She said sadly.

"It'll pass. Stay with me."

"Oh, Doctor. So lonely. So very, very alone." She whispered.

"What do you mean, alone? You've never been alone in your life. When did you start calling me Doctor?" He asked in confusion. He looked down at her with his eyebrows furrowed.

"Such a lonely little boy. Lonely then and lonelier now. How can you bear it?" She looked up at him in sadness. He dropped his hands from her head and backed away.

"How did you do that?" He asked, appearing startled yet guarded.

"A door, once opened, can be stepped through in either direction." She stepped towards him. "Oh, Doctor. My lonely Doctor. Dance with me." A smirk grew across her face.

"I can't." He insisted.

"Dance with me." She repeated.

"This is the night you dance with the King." He tried.

"Then first, I shall make him jealous." She stated mischievously.

"I can't." He stated firmly.

"Doctor. Doctor who? It's more than just a secret, isn't it?" She approached him, face solemn.

"What did you see?" He asked, worried.

"That there comes a time, Time Lord, when every lonely little boy must learn how to dance. If you are so insistent on not dancing with me, dance with Carli." My eyebrows flew up in surprise.

"What?" We asked in unison. She smirked.

"I'm not letting up on this. Come dance." She ordered us. After a moment of standing there in confusion, she huffed in annoyance and pulled me from my chair. She then proceeded to grab Ten as well. With a smile, she dragged us to the mirror room, shoved us together on the dance floor, and left us as she went towards the king. We stood there for a moment before I started laughing. He looked down at me for a moment before joining in.

"Sorry about her," I said with a grin. "She's very persistent when it comes to getting what she wants." He shook his head.

"It's fine. I'm used to it," He said giving me a look. I looked at him confused, but before I was able to ask him about it, the song ended and the next one started. Reinette swung by in the arms of the king and gave the two of us a look. I sighed and turned to Ten.

"She's not going to let us leave until we dance," I explained. He laughed a bit and nodded. He took my hand and placed his other on my waist. Before we could even start, Catherine spun by with some lord and waggled her eyebrows at me. I did the mature thing and stuck my tongue out at her. I looked back at Ten when he started laughing. Soon, we were laughing and dancing in the palace of Versailles.

"So, six months! How was that?" Ten asked. We were currently walking back to the room with the portal. I shrugged.

"Fun, I guess. I turned eighteen, I made friends with major people in history, and I learned French! That was interesting. I also had to completely adjust my diet while I've been here. The rich and savory foods that they serve the aristocracy don't react very well with my stomach. Also, since I've been without my meds for six months, my Crohn's has gone to shit." I rambled. He chuckled, nodding.

"I have your meds on the TARDIS. I'll give you some when we get back to it." I nodded and smiled at him in thanks. We were silent for a little longer before he started talking again.

"So, how far along are you?"

"Huh?" I asked. He started making hand gestures.

"You know... How long have you been...going about the universe?" He asked, trying to find the right words for it. I nodded in understanding.

"Oh. Well... I've been here for about six months...so about that long," I said. He gaped at me in shock. "What? I mean I've been two other places since this started up, but I wasn't there too long..." I trailed off.

"You're so new..." He said in shock. By then, we had reached the room. Snapping out of his shock, he walked over to the mirror and opened the portal. He motioned for me to follow him and walked through. I made to go after him only to get stuck in the opening.

"Uh...Doctor?" I called out. He turned around and immediately started laughing at the predicament I was in. I blushed.

"Oh, shut up! Help me out!" Nodding through his laughter, he grabbed my outstretched hands and tugged. In seconds, I was free. However, I lost my balance and fell face-first on the metal grating. This only served to fuel his fire. I struggled to stand up and, once upright, looked at him with my hands on my hips.

"Are you done?" I asked, annoyed. He held up a finger motioning for me to wait a bit longer. I rolled my eyes. "You try wearing this thing. We'll see who's laughing then..." I grumbled. He finally calmed down.

"Oh, I needed that!" He exclaimed. I glared at him. "Right then. Let's go! Where are Rose and Mickey?" He started walking down the corridor. I ran to catch up. We walked in silence for a minute or so before he broke it.

"So... that dress..." He started. I cut him off.

"Yeah yeah... I know. I look like a clothed wall. Hell, I could be a barricade for revolutionaries in this thing!" He smirked.

"No no, you...you look great." He giggled. I frowned and punched his arm. He pouted at me as he rubbed his arm. Giving him the middle finger, I continued. We walked for a minute more before he suddenly stopped. I could hear Rose talking a little further up.

Ten immediately sprang into action. He took off his tie and put it on his head, put on a pair of sunglasses, unbuttoned a few buttons on his shirt, and poured a red liquid into a goblet that he procured from his pocket. He then turned to me.

"Run your hands through my hair." He ordered. I raised my eyebrow at him but complied. Soon his hair became sticky-uppy as it began to defy gravity. Once I finished, he stepped back and struck a pose. "How do I look?"

"Drunk," I deadpanned. He grinned.

"Good." He spun on his heel and began heading down to where Rose's voice was sounding. He began to stumble into things as he walked, creating a loud commotion. "I could've danced all night, I could've danced all night!" He sang in a drunk tone. I followed him. I could hear Rose more clearly now.

"They called him the...They called him the, the..." She said as Ten swayed into the room. I stopped by the doorway and poked my head in to watch.

"And still have begged for more. I could've spread my wings and done a thou-" He cut himself off. "Have you met the French? My god, they know how to party." He said exuberantly.

"Oh, look at what the cat dragged in. The Oncoming Storm." Rose said sarcastically.

"Oh, you sound just like your mother." He replied, annoyed.

"What've you been doing? Where've you been?" She loudly asked.

"Well, among other things, I think just invented the banana daiquiri a few centuries early. Do you know, they've never even seen a banana before? Always take a banana to a party, Rose. Bananas are good." Rose rolled her eyes as he caught sight of the droid holding a blade at Rose. "Oh ho, ho, ho, ho, brilliant. It's you. You're my favorite, you are. You are the best! Do you know why? Because you're so thick. You're Mister Thick Thick Thickety Thick Face from Thicktown, Thickania. And so's your dad." I laughed quietly from my spot behind the door.

"Do you know what they were scanning Reinette's brain for? Her milometer. They want to know how old she is. Know why? Because this ship is thirty-seven years old, and they think that when Reinette is thirty-seven when she's complete, then her brain will be compatible. So, that's what you're missing, isn't it, hmm? Command circuit. Your computer. Your ship needs a brain. And for some reason, God knows what, only the brain of Madame de Pompadour will do." He explained as he sat down by Mickey.

"The brain is compatible." The droid stated.

"Compatible? If you believe that, you probably believe this is a glass of wine." He said as he crawled over Mickey to stand next to the droid. He ripped the mask off it and then poured the contents of the liquid on it. Like most technology when it encounters liquid, it seized up and shut down.

"Multigrain anti-oil. If it moves, it doesn't." He said. Rose sighed in relief. But then the other droids started advancing on them. Leaping into action, Ten lunged across the console unit and flipped a lever that shut them down.

"Right, you two, that's enough lying about. Time we got the rest of the ship turned off." He said as he began to undo Rose's restraints. I came into the room to help Mickey get out. He smiled in thanks when he was free.

"Are those things safe?" Mickey asked.

"Yeah. Safe. Safe and thick, way I like them. Okay. All the time windows are controlled from here. I need to close them all down. Zeus plugs. Where are my Zeus plugs? I had them a minute ago. I was using them as castanets." Ten asked as he searched his pockets. He went around the back of the console to try and shut down the portals.

"Why didn't they just open a time window to when she was thirty-seven?" Rose asked.

"With the amount of damage to these circuits, they did well to hit the right century. Trial and error after that. The windows aren't closing. Why won't they close?" Ten wondered as he and Mickey fiddles around with the controls. They stopped as a bell sounded.

"What's that?" Rose asked.

"I don't know. Incoming message?" He wondered, looking up at the ceiling.

"From who?" Mickey asked.

"Report from the field. One of them must still be out there with Reinette. That's why I can't close the windows. There's an override." He said quickly, trying again to work the controls. Behind him, the droid reactivated and poured out the anti-oil onto his sandshoes.

"Well, that was a bit clever." Ten said, unable to come up with anything else to say. The lever flipped itself back up and the droids reactivated. I jumped away from one of them and moved closer to Ten as they shot up.

"Right. Many things about this are not good. Message from one of your little friends? Anything interesting?" He asked.

"She is complete. It begins." A droid said. They simultaneously pressed a device on their wrists and teleported away.

"What's happening?" Rose asked.

"One of them must have found the right time window. Now it's time to send in the troops. And this time they're bringing back her head." He gravely replied. I shuddered at that. I did not want to ever see any of my friends dead.

"Come on, we need to find the right portal," Ten said. We nodded and followed him out into the corridor. We stopped in front of a large tapestry. "Alright. Rose, I need you to go through here and warn Reinette about the droids."

"Me? Why can't Carli do it? She's friends with her." Rose asked. I nodded in agreement.

"She might have some idea where the portal is. Otherwise, I would ask her to do it," Ten explained. I guess that makes sense. Rose nodded and went through the tapestry to find Reinette. Mickey, Ten, and I continued down the corridor to find the last time window. After a few minutes, we finally found it.

"Is this it then?" Mickey asked. Ten nodded.

"Yes, and we need to hurry. Go find Rose. I'm going to try and set up an audio link," He said as he began working. Mickey and I rushed out of the room back to the tapestry.

"Rose? Rose?" Mickey called out. He went through the tapestry. "Rose! The time window where she's thirty-seven. We found it. Right under our noses." He explained. Suddenly Reinette walked through the portal and onto the ship. Rose ran after her.

"No, you can't go in there, the Doctor will go mad-" Reinette cut her off.

"So, this is his world." She said in fearful awe. She then caught sight of me as she turned around. She gasped out in shock.

"Carli!" Her eyes became glassy with tears. She ran up and pulled me into her arms. "You're here!" I patted her back.

"Of course I am. I left with the Doctor after the ball." I said. She shook her head and pulled back.

"But I couldn't remember!" I looked at her oddly.

"What?" She was about to respond when screams sounded throughout the corridors.

"What was that?" She asked, eyes wide with fear.

"The time window. The Doctor fixed an audio link." Mickey explained looking at Rose.

"Those screams. Is that my future?" She asked, gripping my hand. I squeezed it back, offering some form of comfort.

"Yeah. I'm sorry." Rose said weakly.

"Then I must take the slower path." She said in resignation.

"Are you there? Can you hear me? I need you now. You promised. The clock on the mantel is broken. It is time." Future Reinette's voice flooded the corridor, Reinette looked around.

"That's my voice." She stated, slightly hysterical.

"Rose, come on. We've got to go. There's, there's a problem." Mickey said. Rose turned to him.

"Give me a moment." She insisted. Mickey nodded and left. Rose slowly walked over to us.

"You okay?" She asked Reinette.

"No, I'm very afraid. But you and I both know, don't we, Rose, the Doctor is worth the monsters." She said, calming down. I squeezed her hand again. She turned to me and gave me one last hug before disappearing behind the tapestry.

"Doctor! Doctor!" Future Reinette's voice sounded again. Rose turned to run after Mickey.

"You coming?" She asked. I nodded.

"Yeah, just a moment." She nodded and headed off down the corridor. I turned and went through the tapestry.

It was daylight. I figured that a couple of hours had passed since when Rose had talked to her in the show, it was night. Not sure where to start looking for Reinette, I started down the hall towards her chambers. I was almost to the end of the hall when the clacking of heels sounded. Around the corner came Catherine. She froze at the sight of me. A moment later, tears filled her eyes and she rushed towards me, pulling me into a hug.

"Carli! Oh, thank the Lord you are alright! No one has seen you since the ball and you had left with that man. We were so worried!" She exclaimed. I hugged her back.

"I'm alright. I'm sorry that I've worried you. I didn't mean to do that," I explained rubbing her back. After a moment or so, I pulled back. "I'm looking for Reinette. Do you know where she is?" I asked. She nodded.

"She's out on the grounds reading. I'll take you there," She replied. She linked our arms together and led me out onto the palace grounds. We walked mostly in silence, only talking occasionally about what happened while I was gone. We finally arrived and I could see Reinette sitting on a bench in the shade. I hugged Catherine in thanks and headed over. Reinette looked up when she heard me approaching.

"Carli!" She exclaimed. He put down her book and embraced me. "It has been a long time."

"How long has it been?" I asked confused. I thought maybe only a few hours had passed.

"It has been five years since I last saw you," she explained. I gaped at her in shock. "My birthday is in 5 months."

"But I stepped through seconds after you," I said in shock. Her eyebrows furrowed, but she shook her head.

"It matters not. I have something much more important to tell you." She gestured to the bench and we both sat down. I looked at her confused.

"What is it?" I asked.

"When you disappeared after the ball, the strangest and I believe the most horrific thing happened." My eyes widened in concern.

"What happened? Is everyone okay?" She nodded.

"Yes, everyone was fine. We... every memory we had of you disappeared. It was as if you had never existed." She said sadly. "I only remembered again when I saw you on the ship and again when you walked up." I gaped in shock and horror.

"What?" I asked weakly. She pulled me into her arms. "How could I have just been...erased from all of your minds?!" She shushed me.

"I do not know, but it happened. It was as if the six months you were here had changed in my mind. Events we attended completely rewritten as if you were never there in the first place." She said. I leaned back and looked at her. "I worry that it will happen again but I fear there is nothing that can be done."

"We don't know that," I said. She smiled sadly at me.

"I do hope that this will not continue. For now, I believe you should return to the Doctor's world and help him," she said. I made to protest but she stopped me. "I will see you in five months, right?" I nodded. She smiled. "You being there will be enough of a present. Now hurry before it's too late." She pulled me up and hugged me.

"I'll see you soon," I mumbled into her shoulder.

"See you soon," She agreed. I stepped back and waved goodbye before heading back into the palace and in through the tapestry.

I walked down the corridor trying to remember where they were. I was about to call out when I heard Rose.

"You found it, then?" She asked. Sighing in relief, I followed the voice until I arrived in the room with the last time window.

"They knew I was coming. They blocked it off." Ten said running about. On the wall was a screen that showed the chaos occurring in Versailles.

"I don't get it. How come they got in there?" Rose asked, looking confused at the screen.

"They teleported. You saw them. As long as the ship and the ballroom are linked, their short-range teleports will do the trick." Ten replied as he used his sonic screwdriver on the console.

"Well, we'll go in the Tardis!" She reasoned.

"We can't use the Tardis. We're part of events now." Ten explained. I furrowed my eyebrows. What does being part of events have to do with using the TARDIS? Would it be like when the Master came back to life and as the Doctor traveled there, it was happening simultaneously?

"Well, can't we just smash through?" Mickey asked.

"Hyperplex this side, plate glass the other. We need a truck." Ten replied running about. I stepped out of the way when he almost ran into me. He paused for a second, looking at me in confusion before he continued.

"We don't have a truck," Mickey stated the obvious.

"I know we don't have a truck!" Ten shouted, frantic.

"Well, we've got to try something." I smiled at Rose. She always cared about others. Even if they made her jealous.

"No. Smash the glass, smash the time window. There'd be no way back." He explained, a grave look on his face.

"Could everyone just calm down? Please." We all turned and saw Reinette on the screen. We watched as she calmed the panicking members of the court and talk with the droids. I turned towards Ten as she was forced to her knees, and saw he had made his decision. He rushed out of the room and returned on Arthur. He was about to urge him towards the screen when I held out my hand. He looked at me confused.

"She is my friend. I need to be there for her," I stated. After a second of deliberation, he nodded and hauled me up behind him. I looked at Rose and Mickey. "Be back soon!" I smiled at them. Then, we were off, galloping towards the portal. Arthur neighed as we got closer and soon enough, we were jumping through the glass and landing in the middle of the fray at the palace. We slowed to a stop and Ten dismounted and then helped me down. He turned to Reinette and grinned.

"Madame de Pompadour. You look younger every day." He said. She smiled at him.

"What the hell is going on?" The king exclaimed.

"Oh. This is my lover, the King of France." Reinette explained pointing at him.

"Hi Louis," I said waving. He looked at me, eyes widening for a moment before he nodded in acknowledgment.

"Yeah? Well, I'm the Lord of Time, and I'm here to fix the clock." Ten said as he walked up to one of the droids. He ripped off its mask and everyone around us gasped. It reached up and pointed its blade at him.

"Forget it. It's over. For you and for me." He said looking up at the smashed mirror. Now, instead of the ship, there was a brick wall. "Talk about seven years bad luck. Try three thousand." It creaked and, I assumed, looked at the wall as well. It tried pressing the device on its wrist only for nothing to happen.

"The link with the ship is broken. No way back. You don't have the parts. How many ticks left in that clockwork heart, huh? A day? An hour? It's over. Accept that, I'm not winding you up." As if realizing their defeat, they all wound down and stopped working. One of them fell over and shattered on the ground. some of the women in the crowd cried out in shock. I ran over to Reinette and helped her up. She smiled at me in thanks. Ten ran over and stood next to me.

"You all right?" He asked her.

"What's happened to them?" She asked, looking at the droids.

"They've stopped. They have no purpose now." He said, looking sadly at the broken mirror. I took his hand and squeezed it in comfort.

A while later, we found ourselves at a window in Reinette's chambers. We were all looking up at the stars that glowed across the night sky. I never got tired of seeing the stars like this, before light pollution made it next to impossible to see them.

"You know all their names, don't you?" Reinette suddenly asked. We turned to look at her. "I saw that in your mind. The name of every star."

"What's in a name? Names are just titles. Titles don't tell you anything." He said. I snorted thinking of all the times he confused people with his 'name'.

"Like the Doctor." She teased.

"Like Madame de Pompadour." He shot back, taking a sip of his wine.

"I have often wished to see those stars a little closer. Just as you have, I think." She said wistfully, looking out at the sky.

"From time to time." He responded. She looked at him sadly.

"In saving me, you trapped yourself. Did you know that would happen?" She asked.

"Mmm. Pretty much." He said, looking back at her.

"Yet, still you came." She said with a smile.

"Yeah, I did, didn't I? Catch me doing that again." He said with a smirk.

"There were many doors between my world and yours. Can you not use one of the others?" She asked, trying to make him feel better.

"When the mirror broke, the shock would have severed all the links with the ship. There'll be a few more broken mirrors and torn tapestries around here, I'm afraid, wherever there was a time window." His head snapped towards her. "I'll, I'll pay for any damage. Err, that's a thought, I'm going to need money. I was always a bit vague about money. Where do you get money?" He stammered, completely out of his comfort zone.

"So, here you are, my lonely angel, stuck on the slow path with me." She said with a small smile.

"Yep, the slow path. Here's to the slow path." He said lifting his glass. We both raised ours in response and took a sip.

"It's a pity. I think I would've enjoyed the slow path." She said quietly, looking at the ground.

"Well, I'm not going anywhere." Ten replied. She raised her eyebrows and smirked.

"Oh, aren't you? Take my hand." She said putting down her goblet. We grabbed her hands and, with a resigned sort of sigh, she led us from the room into her bedroom.

"It's not a copy, it's the original. I had it moved here and was exact in every detail." She said, looking at the fireplace behind her bed.

"The fireplace. The fireplace from your bedroom. When did you do this?" He asked as he approached it. We followed behind him.

"Many years ago, in the hope that a door once opened, may someday open again. One never quite knows when one needs one's Doctor. It appears undamaged. Do you think it will still work?" She asked as we stopped next to him.

"You broke the bond with the ship when you moved it, which means it was offline when the mirror broke. That's what saved it." His thinking face appeared. "But the link is basically physical, and it's still physically here. Which might just mean, if I'm lucky. If I'm very, very, very, very, very, very lucky." He said, knocking on parts of the wood.

"Ah-ha!" He suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Reinette asked.

"Loose connection." He replied, excited. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and used it on the fireplace. "Need to get a man in." He banged on the top of it and a loud clunk sounded from within.

"Wish me luck!" He said, activating it.

"No." She replied, squeezing my hand. The fireplace turned, taking a confused Doctor with it. Seconds later, his voice called from it.

"Madame de Pompadour! Still want to see those stars?" He called out. We knelt in front of the fireplace and saw him through the flames.

"More than anything." She replied, smiling.

"Give me two minutes. Pack a bag." He replied, grinning.

"Am I going somewhere?" She asked, bemused.

"Go to the window. Pick a star, any star." He said. Then he got up and disappeared. Reinette grabbed my hand and ran to the window. She looked around for a moment before pointing at a star.

"Which one is that?" She asked, pointing at one. I followed her finger and tried to decipher what one she was pointing at.

"I believe...that one is Sirius, the Dog Star," I replied. She grinned at me and nodded excitedly.

"That one, then." She stated. We then sat down on the couch and waited for the Doctor to return. Two minutes passed. Then twenty. Then two hours. Wondering where he could be, I stood.

"Where are you going?" Reinette asked. I smiled at her.

"I'm just going to see where that idiot has gone. I'll be back in a moment." She nodded and I went over to the fireplace, activated it, and entered the ship. I felt like I was forgetting something as a pit formed in my stomach, but I shrugged off the feeling as Ten ran into the room.

"What are you doing here?" He asked me. I looked at him concerned.

"I came to get you. You've been gone for two hours," I replied. He looked at me in shock.

"I've only been gone a minute!" He exclaimed. Now concerned, we went back to the fireplace and reentered Versailles.

"Reinette? You there, Reinette?" Ten called out. I looked around the room. Something was off. The room seemed colder and darker. The rain was pouring outside. We looked at each other in confusion before leaving the room.

"Reinette?" He called again. We turned a corner only to run into the king. "Oh, hello."

"You just missed her. She'll be in Paris by six." He said. I froze in horror. 'No. Please no.'

"Ah." Ten said, not understanding. The king looked at us and stepped away from the window in shocked awe.

"Good Lord. She was right. She said you never looked a day older. So many years since I saw you last, but not a day of it on your face. And you, Carli! You look the same as you did before you disappeared from the Yew Tree ball all those years ago." He said. I didn't respond, tears beginning to fall down my face. I walked over the window and looked out at the carriage that sat on the road outside. My hand flew to my mouth as a strangled sob escaped. I could hear the king behind me opening and closing a drawer.

"She spoke of you many times. Often wished you'd visit again. You know how women are." He said. A moment or so later, the king stood next to me.

"There she goes." He whispered. We watched as the hearse began to drive away.

"Leaving Versailles for the last time." Ten walked up next to us. "Only forty-three when she died. Too young. Too young. Illness took her in the end. She always did work too hard. What does she say?" He asked Ten. He didn't respond, only put the letter in his coat.

"Of course. Quite right." He said. He turned to me. "She left this for you as well." He held out a rectangular package. I took it quietly. He nodded. "It was good to see you again, Carli. Even though it is during such a sad time." He turned to look back out the window.

Ten quietly took my arm and led me back through the fireplace, through the ship, and into the TARDIS. Rose and Mickey were waiting for us. I walked past them and sat on the captain's chair, in shock.

"Why her? Why did they think they could repair the ship with the head of Madame de Pompadour?" Rose asked.

"We'll probably never know. There was massive damage in the computer memory banks. It probably got confused. The Tardis can close down the time windows now the droids are gone. Should stop it causing any more trouble." he said, fiddling with the controls.

"It was the name," I said quietly. They turned and looked at me.

"What?" Mickey asked. I looked up.

"The ship. It's called the S.S. Madame de...Madame de Pompadour. That's why." I said, my bottom lip trembling. I stared off at a random corner in the room, trying to fight off tears. After a moment of silence, they continued.

"Are you all right?" Rose asked Ten. I didn't take any offense that she only asked him. It was obvious that I wasn't okay.

"I'm always all right." He dismissed. Sensing that he wasn't going to say anymore, Mickey grabbed Rose's arm.

"Come on, Rose. It's time you showed me around the rest of this place." They were soon gone. We sat in silence for a moment, listening to the TARDIS' humming before Ten broke it.

"Why didn't you say anything?" He asked. I didn't answer. How could I say that I forgot that my close friend was going to die? Everything had been going so well that it slipped my mind. He sighed. A moment later, he held his hand out in front of my face. I looked down and saw the four blue capsules that were my meds and a cup of water. Nodding in thanks, I grabbed it and took my meds for the first time in half a year. He then held out a hand again. I looked at him confused.

"I'll take you to your room. I figured since you were so new, you've not been yet." Nodding in thanks, I took his hand and he led me further into the ship. We stopped in front of a purple door. "Here we are." I looked at him for a moment before hugging him. He wrapped his arms around me tightly. We stood like that for a minute before I pulled away, gave him a watery smile, and then entered the room.

When I entered, a dim light came on illuminating the room in a warm yellow light. I walked straight to the bed and lied down, breaking into sobs. This went on for what felt like hours before my eyes ran dry. I turned and looked over at the package that I had placed next to me. Grabbing it, I ripped it open and spilled the contents out onto the bed. Out came a letter and a rolled-up canvas sheet. I opened the letter first.

My dearest Carli,

Even though I was older than you by quite a few years, I had come to consider you to be a very close and personal friend in the time we've known each other. Ever since I discovered you on the palace grounds, we've bonded in a way that words cannot describe. I do wish we could have seen the stars together, but I fear it may be getting too late. I'm becoming quite weak now and feel as if I don't have much time left on this world. I am glad that I was able to see you one last time. You are currently with me as I write this letter. I have missed you dearly and am most grateful I was able to be with you before my time comes. With this letter, I have concealed a painting. It is a painting of you, Catherine, and I that day when we lounged on the grounds having a picnic. I had the painter paint two copies of the original it so that we may all have it to cherish. I will miss you terribly when you leave. I hope you do not grieve for me when I pass on. I do not wish for you to become a shell of yourself. Know that you will always hold a place in my heart as I hope you have done as well. Godspeed, Carli. Travel the stars and remember me.

With Love,
Reinette.

I placed the letter back onto the bed and unraveled the painting. I smiled sadly at the intricately pained image of the three of us under a tree laughing. I lied back down clutching the painting to my chest and fell into a restless sleep.

3rd Person POV:

The Doctor stood in front of the console for a minute before opening the letter.

"My dear Doctor,

The path has never seemed more slow, and yet I fear I am nearing its end. Reason tells me that you and I are unlikely to meet again, but I think I shall not listen to reason. I have seen the world inside your head, and know that all things are possible. Hurry though, my love. My days grow shorter now, and I am so very weak.

God speed, my lonely angel.

Postscript. I thought you should know. When Carli is gone, everyone forgets about her, and it was as if she never existed. But then, as soon as we see her again, our memories rewrite themselves and we remember. I hope it is nothing to be concerned with, but I felt the need to inform you of this troubling revelation."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at that. It had been plaguing him since they first met. For the same happened with him and everyone who had met Carli. He looked and saw the fireplace was roaring away on the scanner. He flipped a switch and turned off the fire. He then set the TARDIS to enter the time vortex and went off the bed, drained from the events of the day.

Chapter Text

Previously:

The Doctor stood in front of the console for a minute before opening the letter.

"My dear Doctor,

The path has never seemed more slow, and yet I fear I am nearing its end. Reason tells me that you and I are unlikely to meet again, but I think I shall not listen to reason. I have seen the world inside your head, and know that all things are possible. Hurry though, my love. My days grow shorter now, and I am so very weak.

God speed, my lonely angel.

Postscript. I thought you should know. When Carli is gone, everyone forgets about her, and it was as if she never existed. But then, as soon as we see her again, our memories rewrite themselves and we remember. I hope it is nothing to be concerned with, but I felt the need to inform you of this troubling revelation."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes at that. It had been plaguing him since they first met. For the same happened with him and everyone who had met Carli. He looked and saw the fireplace was roaring away on the scanner. He flipped a switch and turned off the fire. He then set the TARDIS to enter the time vortex and went off the bed, drained from the events of the day.

I woke up to a pounding in my head that felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing me behind the eyes. I rubbed my temples to try and alleviate the pain as I tried rolling over to fall back asleep but found it impossible to do so. Groaning, I sat up and blew away the hair in my face. Looking down, I found myself still in my gown from the Yew Tree ball.

'No wonder I couldn't roll over.' I thought. 'This wall of a dress won't let me.' I slowly stood from the bed and stood in the center of the room, taking in my surroundings.

The room was small but cozy with pale, heather purple walls. The bed appeared to double as a reading nook as it was in a narrow alcove between two closed doors. Covering the three walls surrounding the bed was white fairy lights that gave the darkened corner a subtle glow. Beneath the lights were multitudes of pictures. I looked closer and saw that they were all me with different people or random moments in time captured on the polaroid film. There were so many that they covered most of the walls. Front and center though, right above the top end of the bed, was the painting from Reinette. I furrowed my brow, wondering how that got there when I distinctly remembered clutching it in my arms when I fell asleep. Deciding to ignore it for now, I continued looking around the room.

Covering the floors were soft, fuzzy rugs and giant bean bag chairs. One wall of the room had bookshelves filled with books. In the center of the room was a coffee table with a laptop and photo frame sitting on it. A decal of Iron Man stood proud over the Apple symbol. I walked over and picked up the frame only to almost drop it. In the frame was a photo of my family. I hungrily looked over the image, finally seeing the faces of my parents, brother, aunt, uncles, cousins, and my baby nephew. This was the first time seeing their faces in half a year. Smiling sadly at the photo, I put it back on the table. As I went to look at the books, my dress hit the edge of the coffee table, causing me to topple over and face plant onto the floor.

"God fucking dammit!" I grumbled, heaving myself up. 'Shower time'. I decided, wanting nothing more than to get out of this dress.

I walked over to one of the doors by my alcove bed and opened it to find myself in a small, yet spacious bathroom. I walked in, stripping out of the dress. I glanced in the mirror over the sink and shrieked. I looked like I clawed my way out of hell. My hair resembled a rat's nest, my makeup smeared all over my face, my eyes were swollen, and I had hints of hives leftover from crying.

"Christ on a boat..." I muttered, poking my face. Shuddering, I continued to strip and was soon standing under the hot spray of the shower.

I stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a fluffy towel about 45 minutes later. I stood under the water for a good half hour before washing anything. The pressure and heat were so nice. As I looked around the room, I didn't see a dresser, so I walked over to the other door by my bed, hoping it was a closet. Thankfully it was! Inside, on a single hanger, hung a white stola that had a blue trim with diagonal gold lines, and a TARDIS blue palla. With it in a small bag was a blue and gold cord that acted as a belt, a white hairpiece, golden fibulae to pin together the stola, and gold-colored sandals. I quickly put it on and walked back into the bathroom to the mirror. Thanking my experience with hair and makeup in my school's theatre department, I set to work on putting my hair in a Roman fashion. Finished, I took a deep breath. 'You can do this. Try to take your mind off what happened'.

Nodding to myself, I left the bathroom and exited my room. Not sure exactly where to go, I turned right and began walking down the hall, hoping to find the console room. Luck seemed to be on my side, and I was soon standing on the grated floor of said room.

"Doctor?" I called out. "Rose? Mickey?" Silence answered back. I furrowed my brows in confusion. 'Maybe they're outside?' I wondered. I walked over to the doors and stepped outside. The sounds of people talking and animals making noises immediately surrounded me. Over the sounds, I was able to make out a distinct voice.

"Ancient Rome. Well, not for them, obviously. To all intents and purposes, right now, this is brand new Rome."

"Oh, my God. it's, it's so Roman. This is fantastic."

"Ha, ha."

Grinning, I threw aside the curtain in front of me and found Ten and Donna standing with their backs to me. I quickly ran up to Ten and jumped on his back. He shrieked in surprise and began flailing about. Donna, once she saw what was happening, began cackling at him. I finally let go of him and began laughing along with Donna. He spun around only to stop in surprise at seeing me.

"Carli!" He exclaimed, hugging me. He then stepped back looking me over. He frowned seeing my still slightly puffy eyes. "Where were you?" He asked, concerned.

"Versailles," I said. His eyes widened in understanding. He opened his mouth to say something else, but I cut him off, turning to Donna. "Donna!" I grabbed her into a hug. "I'm so excited to meet you!" She returned the hug before stepping back and looking at me bemused.

"But, we've already met?" I opened my mouth to explain but she cut me off. "Oh right! Time travel." She said. I nodded, grinning at her.

"Correctamundo! You're quick! Man, I'm glad to see you! You were always a favorite of mine," She blushed.

"String bean over there is glad to see you too. You should have heard him. 'Let's go to ancient Rome! Carli loves roman stuff! You remember Carli, right? She took five years of Latin! Maybe she'll show up?' God, it was getting annoying!" Ten began sputtering, trying to say it wasn't true. I shifted awkwardly.

"Sorry if I'm annoying you..." I muttered. She slapped me upside the head.

"Oi. None of that. He's the annoying one, not you. Now come on, let's look around!" Ten finally calmed down and grinned brightly at us.

"Right. Carli, Donna, welcome to ancient Rome," He said, making a sweeping motion with his arm. Donna began to look around in excitement again.

"I'm here, in Rome. Donna Noble in Rome. This is just weird. I mean, everyone here's dead." Ten looked at her incredulously.

"Well, don't tell them that." Donna suddenly frowned as she looked over his shoulder.

"Hold on a minute. That sign over there's in English." She said pointing. I followed her finger only to frown in confusion. It was in Latin, not English. "Are you having me on? Are we in Epcot?" She continued. He hurried to placate her.

"No, no, no, no. That's the Tardis translation circuits. Just makes it look like English. Speech as well. You're talking Latin right now." He said. I looked at him in confusion? 'No, you're not?' Why would he say that when they're speaking English?

"Seriously?" She asked.

"Mmm."

"I just said seriously in Latin." She said, grinning.

"Oh, yeah." He confirmed, smiling.

"What if I said something in actual Latin, like veni, vidi, vici? My dad said that when he came back from football. If I said veni, vidi, vici to that lot, what would it sound like?" She pondered. Ten pursed his lips.

"I'm not sure. You have to think of difficult questions, don't you?" I nudged him in the ribs.

"Oh, like you don't love it," I said to him, rolling my eyes. He smiled in agreement.

"I'm going to try it." She stated.

"If you are," I started, stopping her. "At least do it correctly. The 'V's have a 'W' sound and the 'C's have a 'K' sound." She rolled her eyes in response.

"Yeah, whatever." She said dismissively. Ten then nudged me.

"You always need to correct things, don't you?" I raised my brow at him.

"What, and you don't?" He held up his hands in surrender and we both turned to watch Donna as she approached a fruit seller.

"Postmeridianum, deliciae. Quid tibi praebeam, mī amor? ₁" He asked her. Donna took a deep breath and glanced back at us.

"Err, veni, vidi, vici." She said. The vendor looked at her in confusion.

"Ignosce mihi? Mē non Celticē loquor. Non possum facere, puella! ₂" He shouted slowly, trying to make her understand. Donna looked at him startled.

"Yeah." She stressed before walking back to us. "How's he mean, Celtic?" She looked at Ten in confusion.

"Welsh. You sound Welsh. There we are. Learned something." He said, continuing to walk. I grabbed him and pulled him to a halt.

"Doctor, I can't hear English," I said, looking up at him. He raised an eyebrow at me. "Like, I'm hearing ancient Latin, not plain British sounding English."

"British?" He asked incredulously. I gave him an exasperated look.

"For some reason, the TARDIS translates other languages into British accented English. Now that I've said that, why can't I hear it?" I asked. He frowned in confusion before his eyes lit up in understanding.

"OH!" He shouted. I flinched away, startled. "Right, I know that! I just don't know why fully, yet. Here!" He plunged his hand into his coat pocket and after a minute of rummaging, he pulled out what looked like a hearing aid.

"What's that?" I asked as he started attaching it to my right ear.

"This is a translator. Works like the TARDIS's translation circuit. Future you uses this on our adventures. Most of the time. And... there!" He stepped back. "Now tap it twice." I reached up and did exactly that. Suddenly, the random chatter of Latin morphed into understandable (British) English. I beamed at him in response.

"Thank you!" I said, hugging him. He laughed and hugged me back. "OH!" Letting go, I looked up at him. "Do you have any Roman money?" He looked at me in confusion but reached into his pocket and eventually pulled out some coins. Grinning, I grabbed the money and walked to the vendor. He smiled at me when he saw my approach.

"Hello, love. What can I get yah?" I looked at the fruits and pointed at the pears.

"Three please," I requested. He nodded and grabbed three, putting them into a small woven bag. I handed over the money and smiled in thanks before heading back to Ten and Donna. I then pulled out a pear and began to eat it. Ten wrinkled his nose in disgust at me.

"What? I'm hungry! Plus, just because you don't like pears doesn't mean others feel the same, banana boy." I then walked ahead down the street, leaving Ten sputtering behind me and Donna laughing at the nickname, all the while feeling the eyes of the Amelia look-alike following us.

"They're waterproof too so you don't have to take them off and risk leaving them behind on accident." He finally added once he caught up, taking the conversation back to the hearing aid. He threw his arm around my shoulder as we walked in silence. I eyed the arm in confusion before a thought occurred to me.

"Wait. So, do you know why the TARDIS doesn't translate for me?" He scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Yes, well... partially? Past for me, future for you. Something with Martha. You'll find out eventually." I frowned but nodded in understanding. This probably falls under the category of 'spoilers', as River would put it. Donna spoke up then.

"Don't our clothes look a bit odd?" She asked, gesturing between him and her.

"Nah. Ancient Rome, anything goes. It's like Soho, but bigger." Donna looked at him curiously.

"You've been here before then?"

"Mmm. Ages ago. Before you ask, that fire had nothing to do with me. Well, a little bit." I cut him off with a snort.

"Please, you were the person who gave Nero the idea in the first place. How are Ian and Barbra by the way? Do you ever visit them?" I asked him.

"Oh...shut up... and they're fine. Chatterton's the head of Coal Hill school now." I smacked him on the chest for the purposeful mispronunciation of the name.

"OW! Anyway...Yeah, I've been here before. But I haven't got the chance to look around properly. Coliseum, Pantheon, Circus Maximus. You'd expect them to be looming by now. Where is everything? Try this way." He took a left and led us into a large piazza. I looked around in awe of history passing right in front of me.

"Not an expert, but there's seven hills of Rome, aren't there? How come they've only got one?" Asked in confusion pointing up. I followed her finger and saw Vesuvius. Almost immediately, the ground began to shake violently.

"Here we go again," someone shouted as everyone went about trying to save their wares. I lost my balance and began falling. Before I could hit the ground, someone caught me and placed me upright. I turned to thank my savior only to find no one there. I scanned the piazza and saw a glimpse of a roman soldier with dirty blond hair and a rather large nose before they were gone.

'Was that...' I mentally wondered before Donna caught my attention.

"Wait a minute. One mountain, with smoke. Which makes this..." Donna started. Ten froze, eyes widening in horror.

"Pompeii. We're in Pompeii. And it's volcano day." He spun around, looking at me in fear. He grabbed my hand and started sprinting back the way we came. Eventually, we reached where the TARDIS was parked. He let go, allowing me to stop. I bent over, hands on my knees, as I tried to catch my breath. God, I hate running. He threw back the curtain only to find the alcove empty.

"You're kidding. You're not telling me the Tardis has gone." Donna uttered in shock. I finally got my breathing back to normal and joined them.

"Okay." Ten uttered.

"Where is it then?" He looked over at her.

"You told me not to tell you." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Oi. Don't get clever in Latin." She snapped.

"Hold on." He then ran over to the fruit vendor from earlier.

"Excuse me. Excuse me. There was a box. Big blue box. Big blue wooden box, just over there. Where's it gone?" Ten asked in a panic.

"Sold it, didn't I?" The vendor said, rather proudly.

"But it wasn't yours to sell." Ten stated incredulously.

"It was on my patch, weren't it? I got fifteen sesterces for it. Lovely jubbly." He grinned happily.

"Who'd you sell it to?" The vendor quickly got annoyed.

"Old Caecilius. Look, if you want to argue, why don't you take it out with him? He's on Foss Street. Big villa. Can't miss it." He replied, pointing off in a direction.

"Thanks." Ten said and started off in that direction before stopping and coming back.

"What'd he buy a big blue wooden box for?" He wondered.

"Modern art" I replied smirking. He looked at me in frustration.

"Come on." He said, grabbing my hand. "Donna, you go that way and look for the house!" He ran off without waiting for a reply, dragging me with him.

Once we found the house, we ran back to find Donna only to end up running into her.

"Ha. I've got it. Foss Street's this way." He said to her, turning to start running back. Donna pulled him to a stop.

"No. Well, I found this big sort of amphitheater thing. We can start there. We can gather everyone together. Maybe they've got a great big bell or something we could ring. Have they invented bells yet?" I looked at her sadly.

"What do you want a bell for?" Ten asked.

"To warn everyone. Start the evacuation. What time does Vesuvius erupt? When's it due?" Ten's face morphed into one of understanding. His eyes began to darken.

"It's 79AD, twenty third of August, which makes volcano day tomorrow." Donna continued, not noticing Ten's change in demeanor. I squeezed his hand.

"Plenty of time. We could get everyone out easy."

"Yeah, except we're not going to." He stated. Donna looked at him in exasperation and confusion.

"But that's what you do. You're the Doctor. You save people." Ten shook his head.

"Not this time. Pompeii is a fixed point in history. What happens, happens. There is no stopping it." He tried to explain.

"Says who?"

"Says me."

"What, and you're in charge?" She said sarcastically.

"Tardis, Time Lord, yeah." He claimed.

"Donna, human, no. I don't need your permission. I'll tell them myself." She started to turn and walk off.

"You stand in the market place announcing the end of the world, they'll just think you're a mad old soothsayer. Now, come on. Tardis. We are getting out of here." He said grabbing her.

"Well, I might just have something to say about that, Spaceman." She sassed.

"Oh, I bet you will." He shouted back, already running ahead. Donna turned to me.

"You'll help me, right? He'll listen to you. He can't deny you anything." I looked at her questioningly before answering her.

"As much as I want to, we can't." I held up my hand to stop what she was going to say. "This is one of the most well-known events in history. This is also the sight of one of the most well preserved ancient Roman cities ever partially excavated. If we do anything to stop this, the history of the world as you know it will change forever. It will create a paradox, and, trust me, you don't want to meet what shows up to fix them." I then turned to follow Ten to Caecilius' house. Donna huffed but followed me.

Eventually, we got to the house right as another earthquake began.

"Positions!" We heard from inside. We rush in to find Ten holding a marble bust that had fallen off a shelf.

"Whoa! There you go." He said, placing it back in its rightful place.

"Thank you, kind sir. I'm afraid business is closed for the day. I'm expecting a visitor." Caecilius said.

"But that's me, I'm a visitor. Hello." He replied, waving. He walked over to Donna and I, grabbing my hand. I eyed him in confusion. 'Why is he so…touchy today? Ten has never been this touchy with me before…'

"Who are you?"

"I am Spartacus." I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose in exasperation.

"And so am I," Donna claimed. I sighed and looked up to find Caecilius looking at me questioningly.

"My apologies. I am Cornelia, daughter of Cornelius and Aurelia. I am honored to be in your home." I smiled at the family. Caecilius nodded and looked between the three of us.

"Mister and Mrs. Spartacus?" He asked, pointing at Ten and Donna. I laughed quietly behind my hand.

"Oh no, no, no. We're not, we're not married." Ten quickly protested.

"We're not together." Donna agreed. Caecilius nodded in understanding.

"Oh, then brother and sister? Yes, of course. You look very much alike."

"Really?" They asked, looking at one another in confusion.

"Yes, it makes sense. You must be married to Cornelia." He nodded in finality, looking at our joined hands. I blushed and went to correct him, but he continued. "Anyways, I'm sorry, but I'm not open for trade."

"And that trade would be?" Ten asked, his cheeks a light pink.

"Marble. Lopus Caecilius. Mining, polishing, and design thereof. If you want marble, I'm your man." He stated proudly.

"That's good. That's good because I'm the marble inspector." Ten said whipping out his psychic paper. The roman's eyes widened in shock.

"By the gods of commerce, an inspection. I'm sorry, sir. I do apologize for my son." Caecilius' wife said, taking her son's wine and dumping it into the pool of water behind him.

"Oi." The boy complained.

"And this is my good wife, Metella. I must confess, we're not prepared for a..." Caecilius said quickly.

"Nothing to worry about. I'm, I'm sure you've nothing to hide. Although, frankly, that object looks rather like wood to me." Ten said, running over to the TARDIS.

"I told you to get rid of it." Metella hissed at her husband.

"I only bought it today." He claimed in confusion.

"Ah, well. Caveat emptor." Ten replied.

"Oh, you're Celtic. There's lovely." Caecilius muttered.

"I'm sure it's fine, but I might have to take it off your hands for a proper inspection." He claimed.

"Although while we're here, wouldn't you recommend a holiday, Spartacus?" Donna said slyly.

"Don't know what you mean, Spartacus." Ten replied, gritting his teeth.

"Oh, this lovely family. Mother and father and son. Don't you think they should get out of town?" She said sweetly, glaring at him.

"Why should we do that?" Caecilius frowned.

"Well, the volcano, for starters," Donna stated obviously.

"What?"

"Volcano." She tried again.

"What -ano?"

"That great big volcano right on your doorstep." She explained again. Ten quickly cut her off.

"Oh, Spartacus, Cornelia, for shame. We haven't even greeted the household gods yet." He quickly steered her towards the shrine with me following behind.

"They don't know what it is. Vesuvius is just a mountain to them. The top hasn't blown off yet. The Romans haven't even got a word for volcano. Not until tomorrow." He whispered angrily.

"Oh, great, they can learn a new word as they die." She snapped.

"Donna, stop it." He warned.

"Listen, I don't know what sort of kids you've been flying 'round with in outer space, but you're not telling me to shut up. That boy, how old is he, sixteen? And tomorrow he burns to death." Donna said pointing towards the boy who was still upset over losing his wine.

"And that's my fault?" Ten asked her. She narrowed her eyes.

"Right now, yes." I decided to step in.

"Donna, look at me," She turned her glare towards me. "I know where you're coming from. Believe me, I do. If I could, I would do anything to save countless people from disasters, natural or not. The Doctor is the same way. The problem is, if he does, it changes everything. Think about it. If the Titanic hadn't sunk that night in 1912, they would believe that lifeboats are no longer necessary and, instead of some lives saved, none would be. Changing important events like this have dire consequences. Especially if it's an incredibly well-known event. This happens to be one of those times. As much as he wants to, he can't without risking fracturing time itself." I said firmly in a hushed whisper. She pursed her lips and went to reply when a servant came in.

"Announcing Lucius Petrus Dextrus, Chief Augur of the City Government." As a man wearing a cloak over the right side of his body walked in pompously, Donna gave me a look that promised this wasn't over. Ten also nodded his head at me in thanks. I smiled in return.

"Lucius. My pleasure, as always." Caecilius claimed, approaching the man.

"Quintus, stand up." Metella hissed, grabbing her son's arm.

"A rare and great honor, sir, for you to come to my house." Caecilius continued. He held out his hand but was met with a blank stare.

"The birds are flying north, and the wind is in the west." He said instead.

"Quite. Absolutely. That's good, is it?" Caecilius said, unsure.

"Only the grain of wheat knows where it will grow," Lucius said in reply.

"There now, Metella. Have you ever heard such wisdom?" Caecilius praised, motioning to his wife. She smiled sweetly.

"Never. It's an honor." She exclaimed.

"Pardon me, sir. I have guests. This is Spartacus and, err, Spartacus. Oh, and his wife, Cornelia, daughter of Cornelius." He said, gesturing towards us. I tried again to correct him, but Lucius spoke again, cutting me off.

"A name is but a cloud upon a summer wind," Lucius replied flippantly.

"But the wind is felt most keenly in the dark." Ten replied with a raised brow. Lucius looked startled for a quick moment before he composed his features and replied.

"Ah. But what is the dark, other than an omen of the sun?"

"I concede that every sun must set." Ten started. Lucius smiled smugly.

"Ha." He said.

"And yet the son of the father must also rise." Ten finished, gesturing to Caecilius and Quintus. Lucius narrowed his eyes, exhaling sharply in annoyance.

"Damn. Very clever, sir. Evidently, a man of learning." He said bitterly.

"Oh, yes. But don't mind me. Don't want to disturb the status quo." Ten replied. At Lucius' look, Caecilius spoke up.

"He's Celtic." He whispered.

"We'll be off in a minute." Ten continued. Donna whirled on him.

"I'm not going." She stated.

"It's ready, sir," Caecilius said to Lucius, ignoring us.

"You've got to." Ten hissed out.

"Well, I'm not." Donna stubbornly replied. Ten grabbed her arm and began to lead her towards the TARDIS, only to stop at Caecilius' words.

"The moment of revelation. And here it is." He pulled off a cloth that had been covering a stone tile carved into what resembled a circuit board.

"Exactly as you specified. It pleases you, sir?" Caecilius asked.

"As the rain pleases the soil," Lucius stated, studying the carving. Ten let go of Donna and walked over to the stone tile.

"Oh, now that's different. Who designed that, then?" He asked. Caecilius motioned towards the augur.

"My Lord Lucius was very specific." Ten raised his eyebrows, frowning.

"Where'd you get the pattern?" He wondered.

"On the rain and mist and wind." He replied vaguely.

"But that looks like a circuit," Donna said, incredulously.

"Made of stone." Ten affirmed. Donna looked towards Lucius curiously.

"Do you mean you just dreamt that thing up?"

"That is my job, as City Augur." He stated. Donna looked at us confused.

"What's that, then, like the mayor?" She asked.

"Oh, ha. You must excuse my friend, she's from Barcelona. No, but this is an age of superstition. Of official superstition. The Augur is paid by the city to tell the future. The wind will blow from the west? That's the equivalent of ten o'clock news." He explained. Just then, Evelina, pale and swaying, came into the room.

"They're laughing at us. Those two, they use words like tricksters. They're mocking us." She said, bringing attention to her.

"No, no, I'm not. I meant no offense." Ten said, trying to placate her. Metella rushed over to her daughter and held onto her upper arms.

"I'm sorry. My daughter's been consuming the vapors." She explained. Quintus looked on in horror.

"Oh, for gods, Mother. What have you been doing to her?" He exclaimed, worried. Metella ignored him.

"Not now, Quintus." Caecilius hissed.

"Yeah, but she's sick. Just look at her." He exclaimed, upset.

"I gather I have a rival in this household. Another with the gift." Lucius interrupted. Metella looked up proudly.

"Oh, she's been promised to the Sibylline Sisterhood. They say she has remarkable visions." She said, petting Evelina's hair. Lucius scoffed slightly.

"The prophecies of women are limited and dull. Only the menfolk have the capacity for true perception." He stated pompously. I proceeded to mime applying lipstick with my middle finger looking straight at him.

"I'll tell you where the wind's blowing right now, mate," Donna exclaimed, insulted. Coincidentally, a small tremor occurred immediately after she said that. Lucius glared at her.

"The Mountain God marks your words. I'd be careful if I were you." He warned. Ten turned the conversation back to Evelina.

"Consuming the vapors, you say?" He asked, looking her over.

"They give me strength." She replied weakly. Ten raised his eyebrows in concern.

"It doesn't look like it to me." He said.

"Is that your opinion as a doctor?" He froze, eyes widening.

"I beg your pardon?" He uttered out in shock.

"Doctor. That's your name." She replied.

"How did you know that?" She didn't answer, instead, turning her attention to Donna.

"And you. You call yourself Noble." She said, eyes lidded. Her head snapped towards me.

"You don't exist. Not for thousands of winters. And even then, you're wrong." She uttered out, sweat dripping down her head. I raised an eyebrow in confusion. Metella turned to her daughter.

"Now then, Evelina. Don't be rude." She simpered.

"No, no, no, no. Let her talk." Ten interrupted.

"You three come from so far away." She uttered, tears pooling in her eyes from the strain she was under.

"The female soothsayer is inclined to invent all sorts of vagaries," Lucius stated, glaring at the girl. Ten raised his brow at him.

"Oh, not this time, Lucius. No, I reckon you've been out-soothsayed." He replied. Lucius slowly turned his head and looked at him.

"Is that so, man from Gallifrey?" The mountain rumbled at these words.

"What?"

"The strangest of images. Your home is lost in fire, is it not?" He asked. He looked at me.

"And you, daughter of a republic, from the land named for a Virgin. So very far away." He stated. My eyes widened, impressed he'd know that.

"Doctor, what are they doing?" Donna asked, slightly scared. Lucius turned to look at her.

"And you, daughter of...London." He stated.

"How does he know that?" She asked, startled.

"This is the gift of Pompeii. Every single oracle tells the truth." He stated. Donna shook her head in disbelief.

"That's impossible."

"Doctor, she is returning," Lucius stated, the ground rumbling with his words.

"Who is? Who's she?" He asked, eyes wide beneath his furrowed brows. Lucius ignored him and looked at Donna.

"And you, daughter of London. There is something on your back." He said ominously. Donna looked towards Ten, touching her shoulder in concern.

"What's that mean?" She uttered out. He suddenly looked at me.

"You, your permanence is not yet concrete. There is a master lording over your fate, and when the universe ripples in the pond, your existence will end with a bang." He spat. I paled in fear.

"What?" I muttered in fear. Ten grabbed my hand tight.

"Even the word Doctor is false. Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the Cascade of Medusa herself. You are a Lord, sir. A Lord of Time." Evelina finished, collapsing to the ground as she fainted.

"Evelina!" Metella shouted. She rushed over and knelt by Ten who also rushed to her aid. Donna made to follow but I stood stock-still.

"I'm... I'm going to die?" I whimpered out. Ten looked up sharply and stood to his feet. In seconds he had his arms around me.

"No. I won't allow it to happen." He said reassuringly. I nodded slowly and smiled weakly up at him. Stepping back, I followed Donna and Metella to Evelina's room, not hearing what he said next.

"Not again."

(AN. I was so tempted to end it here, but I hate cliff hangers, so here you go!)

"She didn't mean to be rude. She's ever such a good girl. But when the gods speak through her..." Metella trailed off. We sat around Evelina's bed, keeping her cool with damp cloths. Donna looked curiously down at the yellow wrap on her arm.

"What's wrong with her arm?" She asked. Metella began to unwrap it in preparation to treat it.

"An irritation of the skin. She never complains, bless her. We bathe it in olive oil every night." She explained. The stone patch caused Donna to get closer.

"What is it?" She wondered. Metella looked between the two of us and a look of desperation entered her eyes.

"Evelina said you'd come from far away. Please, have you ever seen anything like it?" She asked. Donna reached out a felt the skin, only to flinch in shock.

"It's stone." She whispered. Metella looked at her, startled. I quickly caught her attention.

"Hey, don't worry. I promise, your daughter will be fine. Her arm will be back to normal in no time. For now, keep her from consuming the vapors." Metella nodded absently, staring in concern at her daughter.

A while later, Evelina woke up and appeared to back to normal. Metella left to have a servant bring up some dinner for her. Currently, we were laughing as Donna posed in a purple robe and shawl.

"You're not supposed to laugh. Thanks for that. What do you think? The Goddess Venus." She struck a ridiculous pose that caused more peals of laughter.

"Oh, that's sacrilege." Evelina gasped, giggling. Donna smiled warmly at her, sitting down on the bed beside us.

"Nice to see you laugh, though. What do you do in old Pompeii, then, girls your age? You got mates? Do you go hanging about 'round the shops? TJ Maximus?" She teased but was genuinely curious. Evelina shook her head, smiling.

"I am promised to the Sisterhood for the rest of my life." She replied.

"Do you get any choice in that?" Donna asked, slightly concerned.

"It's not my decision. The Sisters chose for me. I have the gift of sight." Evelina responded easily, as though this fact did not bother her.

"Then what can you see happening tomorrow?" Donna asked, serious. I motioned for her to stop, but she waved me off.

"Is tomorrow special?" Evelina asked curiously.

"You tell me. What do you see?" Her smile dropped at the ominous tone. She then closed her eyes.

"The sun will rise; the sun will set. Nothing special at all." She replied, dismissively, opening her eyes.

"Look, don't tell the Doctor I said anything because he'll kill me, but I've got a prophecy too," Donna replied. Evelina immediately covered her eyes with her hands, contacting the sisters of the Sibylline.

"Donna!" I warned. She ignored me though.

"Evelina, I'm sorry, but you've got to hear me out." She continued. When Evelina didn't reply, she tried again. "Evelina, can you hear me? Listen."

"There is only one prophecy," Evelina said, panicked.

"But everything I'm about to say to you is true, I swear. Just listen to me. Tomorrow, that mountain is going to explode. Evelina, please listen. The air is going to fill with ash and rocks, tons and tons of it, and this whole town is going to get buried." Donna stated. I groaned angrily.

"That's not true." Evelina cried out.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, but everyone's going to die." Donna said sadly. "Even if you don't believe me, just tell your family to get out of town. Just for one day. Just for tomorrow. But you've got to get out. You've got to leave Pompeii."

"Donna!" I snapped, angrily. She glared back at me.

"This is false prophecy," Evelina exclaimed, ripping her hands from her face, and glaring at Donna in fear.

Suddenly, a loud rumbling, almost like giant footsteps sounded. We looked at one another and then ran into the atrium.

"What is it? What's that noise?" Metella asked fearfully.

"Doesn't sound like Vesuvius." Caecilius wondered, looking about. Just then, Ten rushed in.

"Caecilius? All of you, get out." He shouted out. He ran up to Donna and grabbed her by the arms.

"Doctor, what is it?" She asked. He looked at her wide-eyed.

"I think we're being followed." Immediately following these words, the hypocaust grill flew off, barely missing me. I jumped out of the way, falling against the pool in the room. Ten ran over and looked me up and down, checking for injuries. Seeing none, he turned back to the group.

"Just get out!" He shouted again. As usual, they ignored him. The room's occupants stood in shock as the floor around the hypocaust cracked. From underground, a Pyrovile rose up and filled the room floor to ceiling.

"The gods are with us," Evelina whispered in awe. Ten sprang into action.

"Water. We need water. Quintus. All of you, get water. Donna!" Donna, Quintus, and some servants ran out the door to get water. Meanwhile, one servant approached the creature, arms out wide.

"Blessed are we to see the gods." He praised reverently. In response, it breathed fire on him, turning him to ash in seconds. I turned away. The family cried out in fear. Ten rushed forward as I stood protectively in front of the three Pompeiians.

"Talk to me. That's all I want. Talk to me. Just tell me you are. Don't hurt these people." He shouted out. I heard a clatter and turned to see figures in red dragging Donna away. I glanced at Evelina.

"Talk to me. I'm the Doctor. Just tell me who you are." Ten shouted out. Just then, Quintus returned with the servants and, upon scooping water from the pool, threw it onto the creature. It roared in pain before burning out. The now-dead rock cracked and crumbled to the ground.

"What was it?" Caecilius uttered out in horror.

"Carapace of stone held together by internal magma. Not too difficult to stop, but I reckon that's just the foot soldier." He explained quickly. Metella glared at him.

"Doctor, or whatever your name is, you bring bad luck on this house." She spat. He turned and glared back.

"I thought your son was brilliant. Aren't you going to thank him?" She froze before turning to worry over her son. Ten turned to me in worry, but I nodded my head, telling him I was ok. He then continued. "Still, if there are aliens at work in Pompeii, it's a good thing we stayed. Donna? Donna? Donna!"

He spun about in a panic, trying to find the redhead.

"Doctor!" He spun to look at me. "She was taken to the Sibylline temple," I explained. "They've accused her of false prophecy." He groaned out in exasperation.

"C'mon!" He grabbed my hand again and sprinted off in the direction of the temple.

We screeched to a stop outside the front doors of the temple. As I struggled to catch my breath, Ten opened the front doors. From inside we could hear Donna and the sisters talking.

"The false prophet will surrender both her blood and her breath."

"I'll surrender you in a minute. Don't you dare." We smirked at each other. She's fine.

"You will be silent!" We slowly began to creep into the temple.

"Listen, sister, you might have eyes on the back of your hands, but you'll have eyes in the back of your head by the time I've finished with you. Let me go!" We could see Donna struggling on the altar. The sister above her lifted a knife above her head in preparation to stab downward.

"This prattling voice will cease forever." Ten quickly moved into action.

"Oh, that'll be the day." The sisters gasped and spun around to face us.

"No man is allowed to enter the Temple of Sibyl." Sister Spurrina shouted angrily.

"Well, that's all right. Just us girls." He said shrugging. I snorted and followed him. He grinned at me before continuing. "Do you know, I met the Sibyl once. Yeah, hell of a woman. Blimey, she could dance the Tarantella. Nice teeth. Truth be told, I think she had a bit of a thing for me. I said it would never last. She said I know. Well, she would. You all right there?" He looked towards Donna.

"Oh, never better." She said sarcastically.

"I like the toga."

"Thank you. And the ropes?" She asked casually, wiggling her tied hands.

"Yeah, not so much." He replied, pulling out his Sonic. Pressing the button, the ropes were cut away freeing Donna. She immediately sat up, rubbing her wrists.

"How're you? They didn't hurt you at all?" I asked, helping her down.

"Nah, I'm fine. One thing though, one of these weirdos has a similar face to a girl in one of your photos in your room. Do you know her?" She asked. I looked at her in confusion before remembering there was a sister played by Karen Gillan.

"Uh..." I started, not sure what to say. Ten, thankfully, saved me from having to say anything.

"Let me tell you about the Sibyl, the founder of this religion. She would be ashamed of you. All her wisdom and insight turned sour. Is that how you spread the word, hey? On the blade of a knife?" He asked scornfully. Some of the sisters looked at the ground in shame. Others, however, glared in defiance.

"Yes, a knife that now welcomes you," Spurrina exclaimed, lifting the knife again. I gave her a funny look.

"You're really knife happy, aren't you?" I asked rhetorically. She glared and opened her mouth to respond.

"Show me this man." A raspy voice called out. Spurrina dropped her arms immediately and spun about to face the sheer curtains on the far side of the room.

"High Priestess, the stranger would defile us." She claimed.

"Let me see. This one is different. He carries starlight in his wake." The high priestess rasped. Ten's eyebrows shot up and he moved forward.

"Oh, very perceptive. Where do these words of wisdom come from?" He asked.

"The gods whisper to me." Was the reply. Ten frowned.

"They've done far more than that. Might I beg audience? Look upon the High Priestess?" Two of the sisters came forth and pulled aside the curtains, revealing the stone priestess. Donna gasped.

"Oh, my God. What's happened to you?" She asked.

"The heavens have blessed me." The high priestess responded with reverence.

"If I might?" Ten asked, reaching out. She lifted her hand for him to examine.

"Does it hurt?" He asked, concerned.

"It is necessary." She answered.

"Who told you that?"

"The voices." She whispered.

"Is that what's going to happen to Evelina? Is this what's going to happen to all of you?" Donna yelled out in shock and horror. Spurrina came forward and revealed her own arm.

"The blessings are manifold." She praised. Donna frowned.

"They're stone." She said aloud.

"Exactly. The people of Pompeii are turning to stone before the volcano erupts. But why?" Ten asked, coming back towards Donna and me.

"This word, this image in your mind. This volcano. What is that?" The high priestess asked.

"More to the point, why don't you know about it? Who are you?" He asked in return.

"High Priestess of the Sibylline." She said indignantly. Ten shook his head.

"No, no, no, no. I'm talking to the creature inside you. The thing that's seeding itself into a human body, in the dust, in the lungs, taking over the flesh and turning it into, what?" He pressed on.

"Your knowledge is impossible." She said in shock.

"Oh, but you can read my mind. You know it's not. I demand you tell me who you are." He shouted.

"We are awakening." She then shouted out, multiple deep voices coming through. Spurrina shouted out behind us as all the sisters began rocking back and forth.

"The voice of the gods."

"Words of wisdom, words of power. Words of wisdom, words of power. Words of wisdom" I cringed at the chanting. It was as awkward in real life as it was on tv.

"Name yourself. Planet of origin. Galactic coordinates. Species designation according to the universal ratification of the Shadow Proclamation." Ten tried again over the chanting.

"We are rising."

"Tell me your name!" He yelled out.

"Pyrovile!"

"Pyrovile. Pyrovile. Pyrovile." The sisters chanted.

"What's a Pyrovile?" Donna asked in confusion.

"Well, that's a Pyrovile, growing inside her. She's a halfway stage." Donna looked between the priestess and Ten.

"What, and that turns into?" She stressed.

"That thing in the villa. That was an adult Pyrovile." He explained.

"And the breath of a Pyrovile will incinerate you, Doctor." The creature interrupted. Ten proceeded to take out a water pistol.

"I warn you, I'm armed. Donna, Carli, get that grill open." He threatened, pointing the pistol at the creature. I nodded and ran over. Donna hesitated.

"What for?" She wondered.

"Just. What are the Pyrovile doing here?" He asked the Pyrovile. Donna finally came over to help me remove the grating.

"Thanks," I panted. "Damn, this is fucking heavy," I muttered. Donna laughed and began pulling.

"We fell from the heavens. We fell so far and so fast, we were rendered into dust." The creature answered the Doctor. He nodded in understanding.

"Right, creatures of stone shattered on impact. When was that, seventeen years ago?" He clarified.

"We have slept beneath for thousands of years." It corrected.

"Okay, so seventeen years ago woke you up, and now you're using human bodies to reconstitute yourselves. But why the psychic powers?" He asked, genuinely curious.

"We opened their minds and found such gifts." It answered.

"Okay, that's fine. So, you force yourself inside a human brain, use the latent psychic talent to bond. I get that, I get that, yeah. But seeing the future? That is way beyond psychic. You can see through time. Where does the gift of prophecy come from?" He asked, getting frustrated at his lack of understanding. At that moment, Donna and I finally managed to pull the grate away.

"Got it!" Donna called out.

"Now get down." He shouted back. Donna looked at him, incredulous.

"What, down there?" She snapped. He sighed in exasperation.

"Yes, down there. Why can't this lot predict a volcano? Why is it being hidden?" He turned his attention back to the Pyrovile. Donna looked at me. I nodded. Groaning, she began to lower herself into the hypocaust.

"Sisters, I see into his mind. The weapon is harmless." Spurrina suddenly cried out.

"Yeah, but it's got to sting." Ten conceded, shooting water at the Pyrovile. It began to shriek and roar in agony. He quickly ran over and shoved me towards the open vent.

"Get down there!" He shouted, fear creeping into his voice. Startled, I quickly jumped down and he followed.

"You fought her off with a water pistol. I bloody love you." Donna exclaimed. I laughed aloud.

"This way." Ten said, crawling down the tunnel. Donna looked after him.

"Where are we going now?" She asked.

"Into the volcano." He responded casually. Donna's eyes widened.

"No way."

"Yes, way. Appian Way." He added, grinning at me. I groaned, rolling my eyes.

"Ugh, why with the puns?" I grumbled. He laughed.

"Ah, you love it." He replied, continuing down the tunnel. I blushed.

"But if it's aliens setting off the volcano, doesn't that make it all right for you to stop it?" Donna asked, bringing up the argument from earlier.

"Still part of history." He sighed.

"But I'm history to you. You saved me in 2008. You saved us all. Why is that different?" She wondered. I'll give her that. For someone who doesn't know about fixed points, it's a valid question.

"Some things are fixed; some things are in flux. Pompeii is fixed." He quickly explained.

"How do you know which is which?" She wondered.

"Because that's how I see the universe. Every waking second, I can see what is, what was, what could be, what must not. That's the burden of a Time Lord, Donna. And I'm the only one left." He said sadly, eyes dark. I held his hand, offering comfort. He squeezed it in response.

"How many people died?" She asked suddenly. We both tensed.

"Stop it."

"Doctor, how many people died?" She pressed on.

"Twenty thousand." He finally said.

"Is that what you can see, Doctor? All twenty thousand? And you think that's all right, do you?" I whirled around in anger at Donna.

"Oh, stop it. You know he doesn't think that's alright. Only psychopaths think like that. He may be a mad man in a blue box, but he's no psychopath. Believe me. Do you know who many people were lost on Gallifrey when he ended the war? Let me give you a number. 2.47 billion. And that was just children. Children, Donna. It fucking killed him to do it, but it had to be done, or else the fate of the universe was at stake. If Pompeii doesn't get buried in ash from Vesuvius, then the entire future will change. Hell, you might not even be born in that case. So, don't you dare think for a second that the Doctor finds sacrificing all these lives alright. He blames himself for every single life lost so don't you dare!" I whisper yelled at her. She looked taken aback and ashamed of her words. She opened her mouth to apologize but a loud roar from a Pyrovile interrupted her.

"They know we're here. Come on." Ten said quietly, moving further down the tunnel. We finally arrived in a large cavern filled with Pyrovile. We quickly hid behind a large rock.

"It's the heart of Vesuvius. We're right inside the mountain." He said, looking around.

"There's tons of them," Donna whispered looking around in fear.

"What's that thing?" He wondered, looking at a distant construct.

"Oh, you better hurry up and think of something. Rocky fella's on its way." Donna whispered anxiously, looking behind us.

"That's how they arrived. Or what's left of it. Escape pod? Prison ship? Gene bank?" He wondered, ignoring Donna.

"But why do they need a volcano? Maybe it erupts, and they launch themselves back into space or something?" She speculated.

"Oh, it's worse than that." He replied darkly.

"How could it be worse? Doctor, it's getting closer." She looked at him in worry.

"Heathens defile us. They would desecrate your temple, my lord gods." We looked up to see Lucius glaring down at us from a ledge.

"Come on." Ten yelled, leaping to his feet.

"We can't go in," Donna exclaimed in protest.

"Well, we can't go back." He retaliated.

"Oh, come on!" I grabbed their hands and began to run to the escape pod.

"Crush them. Burn them." Lucius yelled out.

"OH, SHUT UP!" I called back. A Pyrovile reared up in front of us, only to be extinguished by the water pistol. We finally ran into the escape pod.

"There is nowhere to run, Doctor, Protector, and daughter of London," Lucius called out to us. I made a weird face. Protector? Why'd he call me that?

"Now then, Lucius. My lords Pyrovillian, don't get yourselves in a lather. In a lava? No? No. But if I might beg the wisdom of the gods before we perish. Once this new race of creatures is complete, then what?" Ten asked, looking for the plan.

"My masters will follow the example of Rome itself. An almighty empire, bestriding the whole of civilization." Lucius answered.

"But if you've crashed, and you've got all this technology, why don't you just go home?" Donna wondered.

"The Heaven of Pyrovillia is gone." He replied. Ten frowned at the answer.

"What do you mean, gone? Where's it gone?" He asked.

"It was taken. Pyrovillia is lost. But there is heat enough in this world for a new species to rise." He exclaimed proudly.

"Yeah, I should warn you, it's seventy percent water out there." Ten informed him.

"Water can boil. And everything will burn, Doctor."

"Then the whole planet is at stake. Thank you. That's all I needed to know. Donna." They backed into the pod and once inside, Ten closed the door with his screwdriver.

"Could we be any more trapped?" Donna asked sarcastically. The temperature in the pod began rising exponentially. "Little bit hot."

"See? The energy converter takes the lava, uses the power to create a fusion matrix, which welds Pyrovile to human. Now it's complete, they can convert millions." Ten exclaimed as he looked over the controls. Donna leaned over and looked at him.

"But can't you change it with these controls?" She asked. He sighed.

"Of course I can, but don't you see? That's why the soothsayers can't see the volcano. There is no volcano. Vesuvius is never going to erupt. The Pyrovile are stealing all its power. They're going to use it to take over the world." He explained sadly. I leaned my head on his shoulder.

"But you can change it back?" She asked again.

"I can invert the system, set off the volcano, and blow them up, yes. But, that's the choice, Donna. It's Pompeii or the world." He said quietly. Donna's jaw dropped in horror.

"Oh, my God." She gasped. Ten looked off into space, a dark look in his eye.

"If Pompeii is destroyed then it's not just history, it's me. I make it happen." He said.

"Doctor, the Pyrovile are made of rocks. Maybe they can't be blown up." She worried. He shook her off.

"Vesuvius explodes with the force of twenty-four nuclear bombs. Nothing can survive it. Certainly not us." He replied. Donna waved her hand dismissively.

"Never mind us."

"Push this lever and it's over. Twenty thousand people." He said, nodding at a rectangular lever on the control panel. He placed his hand on it. Seconds after, Donna put her hand on it, me following shortly after. We look at each other and, as one, push it down. We were thrown about the pod as it was launched into the air. It finally settles after a minute or so. Ten quickly opened the door and we piled out. He looked around in surprise.

"It was an escape pod." He stated, grabbing my hand again.

"Doctor!" I called out, looking behind us at the mountain. He took one look at the avalanche of ash rolling towards us and broke out into a run, leading us back into the city. Even though it was morning, the sky was dark as the ash blocked out the sun. Donna began yelling at the terrified citizens, trying to save them.

"Don't. Don't go to the beach. Don't go to the beach, go to the hills. Listen to me. Don't go to the beach, it's not safe. Listen to me." She looked over and saw a little boy crying on the ground.

"Come here." She went to pick him up only to find a woman in front of her.

"Give him to me." With that, she picked up her son and ran off. Ten grabbed her hand and pulled her along.

"Come on." We quickly headed back towards Caecilius' villa and ran to the TARDIS. In the corner cowering in fear was the family.

"Gods save us, Doctor!" Caecilius shouted in terror. Ten looked at him before walking into the TARDIS. He quickly began putting in coordinates to get out of Pompeii.

"No! Doctor, you can't. Doctor!" Donna yelled, running in after him. I turned to the family before entering.

"We'll save you, don't worry." I smiled and then entered the blue box, closing the doors behind me. The TARDIS quickly dematerialized.

"You can't just leave them!" Donna shouted angrily. Ten glared back.

"Don't you think I've done enough? History's back in place and everyone dies." He hissed out.

"You've got to go back. Doctor, I am telling you, take this thing back. It's not fair." She exclaimed.

"No, it's not." He agreed. Donna looked at him sadly.

"But your own planet. It burned." She stated. He dropped his head before looking up at her.

"That's just it. Don't you see, Donna? Can't you understand? If I could go back and save them, then I would. But I can't. I can never go back. I can't. I just can't, I can't." He exclaimed.

"Just someone. Please. Not the whole town. Just save someone." He looked up and stared at her for a moment. He then turned to me.

"This is an important point in your life, Doctor. This will define you later." I said encouragingly. He nodded and sent the TARDIS back to the villa. He ran over to the doors and threw them open, holding out a hand to the terrified family.

"Come with me."

Up on a hill far enough away, we stood and watched the once-great city get buried.

"It's never forgotten, Caecilius. Oh, time will pass, men'll move on, and stories will fade. But one day, Pompeii will be found again. In thousands of years. And everyone will remember you." Ten said. Donna turned to Evelina.

"What about you, Evelina? Can you see anything?" She asked sadly. Evelina looked at her with tears in her eyes.

"The visions have gone." She replied.

"The explosion was so powerful it cracked open a rift in time, just for a second. That's what gave you the gift of prophecy. It echoed back into the Pyrovillian alternative. But not anymore. You're free." Ten explained. Metella turned to him.

"But tell me. Who are you, Doctor? With your words, and your temple containing such size within?" She wondered looking at him and the TARDIS.

"Oh, I was never here. Don't tell anyone." He said conspiratorially.

"The great god Vulcan must be enraged. It's so volcanic. It's like some sort of volcano. All those people." He said, heartbroken.

As they stood looking down at their old home, we moved back into the TARDIS and dematerialized.

"Thank you," Donna whispered.

"Yeah. You were right. Sometimes I need someone. Welcome aboard." He replied, smiling slightly.

"Yeah." She smiled.

A few hours later, I was sitting on the captain's chair reading Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them while Ten worked on the console repairing things. Donna had gone off to shower, claiming that she smelled like Nerys after she curled her hair.

"Are you ok?" I asked, breaking the silence. His head popped up.

"Never better! Why d'you ask?" He asked, grinning. I shrugged.

"I dunno, you just, seemed very…touchy today. I'm usually touchy when I'm looking for comfort so I was wondering if it was the same with you?" I could see him physically close himself off.

"Nope! Nothing wrong! I'm fine." My eyebrow raised in disbelief. 'You only say you're fine when you're not.' He refused to meet my eyes.

"Why did the ash cover the city so quickly?" I asked, seeing a lost cause in our previous conversation.

"Hmm?" Ten asked, looking up. I put the book down and looked at him.

"It took three days for Pompeii to be buried. Why did it happen so quickly?" I asked him again. He looked at the grating thoughtfully.

"Maybe it's a matter of universal differences? Some things in your universe could be greatly different than they are here." He pondered.

"Hmm...welp, that's probably as good of an explanation as I'll get. So, where to?" I asked. He quickly jumped up and spun about the console.

"Well, I was thinking, we haven't visited a planet in a while. Nor have we seen actual snow! Maybe we could go to..." I zoned out as my arm began to tingle.

"Doctor," I called out. He stopped and looked at me sadly.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" I nodded sadly. My arm began to burn.

"I'll see you soon." I smiled at him. Soon, the room blurred away.

Doctor POV:

Donna walked in, drying her hair with a towel not long after Carli vanished. She looked around the room.

"Did she leave already?" I nodded, flipping switches on the console. She crossed her arms.

"You need to calm down." I looked at her, confused.

"What do you mean? I am calm?" She rolled her eyes.

"No, you numpty. Calm down around Carli. You keep initiating physical contact, much more than usual and you keep looking at her like she's going to disappear in front of you, and not in the normal way. If I've noticed, then she's definitely suspicious." I grimaced but didn't answer. After a stretch of silence, she huffed and threw her hands in the air. "Fine, keep moping. I'm going to bed. See you later," she said, walking back down the corridor. I continued to fiddle with the console, wincing as my ears rang with the phantom sound of a gunshot.

"Never again."

Carli POV:

I found myself standing on concrete. Before I could get a good look at my surroundings, the ground fell out from beneath me. I screeched in fear as everywhere below my hips was sucked into the dirt.

"Carli!" My head shot up and I saw Amy running towards me.

"No, don't!" I yelled out, but it was too late. The ground opened beneath her and she was dragged under as well.

"AMY! CARLI!" Eleven rushed over and began trying to pull me out. I struggled.

"No. Get Amy. I'll be fine." I said. He shook his head.

"No, I'm not losing you." I rolled my eyes.

"You'll see me soon enough. Save Pond." I stressed. At this point, my shoulders were under the dirt. Amy still had a bit to go. He looked between us anxiously.

"Keep Ambrose away from her," I said before I was engulfed in darkness.

Chapter Text

Previously:

I found myself standing on concrete. Before I could get a good look at my surroundings, the ground fell out from beneath me. I screeched in fear as everywhere below my hips was sucked into the dirt.

"Carli!" My head shot up and I saw Amy running towards me.

"No, don't!" I yelled out, but it was too late. The ground opened beneath her and she was dragged under as well.

"AMY! CARLI!" Eleven rushed over and began trying to pull me out. I struggled.

"No. Get Amy. I'll be fine." I said. He shook his head.

"No, I'm not losing you." I rolled my eyes.

"You'll see me soon enough. Save Pond." I stressed. At this point, my shoulders were under the dirt. Amy still had a bit to go. He looked between us anxiously.

"Keep Ambrose away from her," I said before I was engulfed in darkness .

I slowly came to, feeling like I'd been placed in a freezer. I opened my eyes and saw that I was in a sort of medical room. As I started to take in my surroundings, I heard pounding and shouting coming from a grey box.

"Let me out! Can anybody hear me?! I'm alive in here! Let me out! I know you're out there! My name is Amy Pond and you'd better get me the hell out of here or so help me I am going to kick your backside!" I opened my mouth to shush her, but her yelling attracted the Silurian doctor. He leaned over and peered down at her.

"Please?" Amy whimpered.

"Shh!" He put a finger to his lips.

"Did you just shush me?" Amy asked, incredulous. The doctor leaned back and began to fiddle with the controls. "Did you just shush me?" A low whistling sound filled the room as gas began to fill the pod holding Amy. "No no no, don't do that. No gas! No gas!"

The Silurian, once confirming that Amy was unconscious, came over in my direction. I then became aware of another person next to me.

"Hey, stop! She doesn't need to be hurt! You've already dissected me, I should be enough!" I turned my head and saw Mo glaring at the Silurian. The Silurian ignored him. The doctor turned on a voice recorder and placed it on an examination table next to me that had a bunch of surgical tools on it. My body flushed with heat as I began to panic.

"This human female appears to differ from the red-headed one. Upon bringing her here, I found she was wearing clothes that suggest an aversion to cold temperatures. Her skin also appears translucent in some areas, as blue veins are visible through the skin." I looked down and whimpered when I saw that my P.J. shirt was gone and I was strapped to the table in my bra. Malohkeh pressed a button on a control panel and the last of the restraints came down on my wrists.

"Decontamination complete. Commencing dissection." He grabbed a scalpel.

"Please," I croaked out, tears forming. "Please don't." My pleas fell upon deaf ears. The scalpel pressed down on my sternum.

I screamed.

3rd Person:

Amy came back into consciousness and found herself upright against an examining board, her arms and legs clasped down. She struggled against them.

"Don't struggle." Her head whipped around and looked at the man next to her. "Close your eyes and don't struggle." He continued in a whisper.

"What? Where am I? Why can't I move my body?" She whispered back.

"Decontamination, they call it. They did it to me. While I was conscious." Amy paled, eyes wide.

"OK, you're freaking me out now. Did what? Who did?" She said quickly.

"Dissected me." He said looking down at his torso. Amy froze.

"No." She whispered. Mo grimaced and nodded past her.

"They did the same to the other girl, but apparently she didn't satisfy what they were looking for." Amy furrowed her brows and turned her head. Her heart froze.

"Carli..." She whimpered. The unconscious girl was sweaty and pale, her damp hair sticking to her clammy skin. Her shirt was on a chair next to her, leaving her torso bare. Running from her naval up was an angry red wound with black stitches holding it together. Blood was slowly weeping from it and staining her plaid P.J. bottoms. Amy could make out tear tracks on her cheeks. The two's heads turned at the sound of approaching footsteps.

"He's coming. I'm sorry. I wish I could help you." Mo apologized. Moments later, a lizard creature came in wearing a surgical mask, an apron, and holding a syringe. Amy began to struggle furiously.

"Don't you come near me with that!" She warned, fearfully. The homo reptilia turned on a recording device.

"From the clothing, the human female appears to be more resistant to the cold than the male and the other female. Perhaps suggesting differences in the genetic makeup of human females. Possible thicker skin which would explain the excessive bleeding from the first female." Amy grimaced, eyes flashing.

"I dressed for Rio! And Carli's anemic!" She exclaimed.

"Leave her alone! You got me and the other one!" Mo pleaded. Again, the Silurian ignored him, and clamps locked into place around Amy's wrists.

"Decontamination complete. Commencing dissection." Amy closed her eyes and tensed as the scalpel drew nearer.

"Area 17 incursion, species diagnostic requested. Area 17 incursion, species diagnostic requested." An intercom caused everyone to freeze. Amy quickly snatched the remote from his pocket. Malohkeh sighed and left the lab.

"Yeah! And stay out!" Amy yelled out. She smirked to herself before unlocking her restraints.

Mo looked at her in amazement as she undid his. "How did you get that?"

"You never picked a lizard man's pocket? Come on, help me get Carli down before he gets back." He nodded and braced himself to catch the time traveler. Once Amy pressed the button for her restraints, Carli fell like a deadweight into Mo's arms. Amy glanced around and found what resembled a wheelchair. She quickly brought it over.

"Put her on this," She said. Mo nodded and carefully placed her on it. Amy grabbed Carli's shirt and put it on her to preserve some of her dignity.

"Come on," She said. Mo got behind the wheelchair and pushed Carli out into the halls after Amy.

"That creature, do you think it was an alien? Any more of them do you think? Do you think the Earth's been invaded?" Mo asked, looking around.

"Don't know. Carli would know, but she's not exactly able to tell us anything. But I know someone else who could have some answers. We need to get back to the surface and find him. Especially before she gets any worse," she said looking to the other girl. She stopped at a door with a small window in it. "I wonder where this leads."

"Maybe it's a way out of here," Mo said, hopefully. Amy put her hand on a panel next to the door and the lights turned on inside. They both look in and find Mo's son, Elliot, attached to wires, out cold.

"Oh, my God, no," Mo said, voice shaking.

"What is it?" Amy worriedly asked.

"It's my son. It's Elliot. What've they done to him?" He frantically began tugging at the door. "No! He's in there! We have to get him out! Elliot! Elliot, it's Dad!" He called out in desperation.

"Access denied. Unauthorized genetic imprint." The computer stated. Amy grabbed Mo's arms.

"Seriously. We can't get in." She insisted.

"That's my boy in there!" He said furiously.

"These screens, they're monitoring something. I think they're vital signs - heartbeats, pulses. Why else would he be wired up? He's still alive." She pointed out, effectively calming the man.

"All right. We find weapons, get that creature from the lab and force it to release Elliot, yeah?" He said. Amy nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, trust me we'll get him out." She replied. She grimaced thinking of what the Doctor would do if he got his hands on the creature that harmed Carli.

They continued down the tunnel. Behind them, the light in Elliot's room goes out. Amy and Mo soon found themselves in a chamber with glass-covered alcoves on either side.

"These chambers are all over the city." Amy wondered. She put her hand over a sensor and the alcoves lit up, showing masked warriors inside. Mo stepped back in surprise.

"Uh! Turn it off quick!" He said in a panic. Amy quickly put her hand on the sensor again and the lights went off. Unknown to the two, the commotion caused Carli to stir.

"They're not moving," Mo said, confused.

"Maybe they're asleep. Let's have another look." She hypothesized. She reached for the panel again, opening the pod doors.

"No, Amy, don't!" Mo protested. She waved him off and stepped inside.

"Amy, what are you doing? Get out of there." He insisted.

"Some sort of suspended animation." She looked down at the disks under their feet. "I wonder what these are. The Doctor or Carli would know. They always know." She whispered.

"Hey, look," Mo said, looking above them. Amy followed his eyes and saw a chute above each Silurian.

"Wait... I've got it. It's how they came up to the surface. Some sort of powered transport discs. It's our way out of here." She said smiling. Mo nodded.

"Even better, weapons. Come on, now we can fight back." He insisted, taking one of the guns. Amy hesitated but took one as well. They stepped out and closed the containers.

"Which way now?" Mo asked.

"Door at the end." A tired voice croaked. The two jumped in fear. Looking at the source, they found Carli looking blearily back at them, eyes glassy. Amy brightened up.

"Carli!" She rushed forward and hugged her friend. Carli whimpered as her wound was jostled. Amy released her immediately.

"Are you ok?" Amy asked. Her friend grimaced back at her.

"Not really, no. Not good with pain. Feel kinda sick. I'll be fine for now." She slowly insisted, voice harsh and wheezy from screaming. Amy and Mo looked at each other, unsure.

"Are you sure?" Mo asked.

"Nope!" Carli answered. "But yeah, door at the end." Mo looked back at Amy. She shrugged and started heading in that direction. Mo followed behind, pushing Carli. They continued down the tunnel and went through another sliding door. They came out to a sort of balcony. Below them stood a large chamber filled with soldiers in suspended animation.

"Wow," Mo whispered. Amy nodded in agreement.

"Yeah."

"We don't stand a chance." He stated in fearful awe.

"We have to find the Doctor," Amy said. She quickly led them from the chamber.

Carli's POV:

Not too long after, we could hear familiar voices.

"You're not authorized to do this!"

"I'm authorized to protect the safety of our species while they sleep." 'Vastra?' I got excited.

"Oh, lovely place, very gleaming." 'Eleven too! Yay!' I grinned widely. Amy and Mo looked at me strangely.

"This is our court and our place of execution." That spurred Amy into action. She rushed through the door, gun raised.

"Let them go!" She said, firmly.

"Amy Pond, there's a girl to rely on." Eleven replied. Mo entered pushing me. He stopped next to Amy and raised his gun as well.

"You're covered both ways, so don't try anything clever, buster," Amy said in confidence.

"Mo!" Nasreen exclaimed.

"Now let them go, or I shoot." Vastra ignored her and moved closer. I slowly looked around in confusion. 'Where's Jenny?' "I'm warning you!" Amy continued. Vastra took her gun and pushed her to the ground.

"Don't you touch them!" Eleven shouted. Vastra ignored him.

"And you," Vastra said, turning to Mo. Soldiers approached us and took his gun as well.

"All right, Restac. You've made your point." Malohkeh stated. I grimaced, scrunching up my nose. 'I don't like him. He's mean.'

"This is now a military tribunal. Go back to your laboratory, Malohkeh." Vastra hissed back. One of the other soldiers jabbed him in the back leading him away.

"This isn't the way." He said before he was gone. I grinned and looked at Vastra.

"Hiya Vastra! Thanks for getting rid of him! He's a meanie. Where's Jenny?" I rasped out with a loopy grin. Vastra looked sharply at me.

"How do you know that name? My sister has been missing for two centuries now." She hissed, getting in my face. I wrinkled my nose in confusion.

"Whaddya mean? That's your name. I love the look by the way," I giggled, winking. She narrowed her eyes at me before turning to the soldiers in the room.

"Prepare them for execution." She ordered. They sprang into action and began tying everyone to pillars. One of the soldiers roughly grabbed me from my roll-y chair and dragged me towards the others. A sharp tugging pain caused me to cry out in agony. Eleven's head whipped towards us, eyes dark with fury.

"What did you do to her?" He yelled, struggling to get free. No one answered him. I was tied up next to him. He looked at me in a worried panic.

"What happened?" He urgently asked. I just kept crying from the pain.

"They dissected her," Amy answered for me. His head snapped towards her. "I think she has some sort of infection. She started acting loopy and feverish soon after she woke up." She explained further. "Also, sorry, as rescues go, didn't live up to its potential."

"I'm glad you're OK." He said but looked at me, worried.

"Me too! Lizardmen, though!" Amy exclaimed

"Homo reptilia... They occupied the planet before humans. Now they want it back." He answered back distractedly.

"After they've wiped out the human race." Nasreen pitched in.

"Right, preferred it when I didn't know, to be honest," Amy muttered. The soldiers lined up in front of us like a firing squad but didn't fire.

"Why are they waiting? What do you think they're going to do with us?" Nasreen wondered, watching them.

There was a sudden buzzing electrical sound that caused the lights to flash. An old computer monitor flared to life. On the screen were Rory, Tony, and Ambrose. Despite the pain, I grinned at the sight of my favorite Roman.

"Oh, my God," Ambrose whispered in fear.

"Who is the ape leader?" Vastra demanded. Ambrose whispered to the other two in a panic and quickly moved off-screen with a tarp.

"Who speaks for the apes?" Vastra pressed further.

The three looked at each other. Rory slowly stepped forward.

"I speak for the... humans. Some of us, anyway." He offered.

"Do you understand who we are?" Vastra demanded.

"Sort of. A bit. Not really." Rory admitted.

"We have ape hostages," Vastra said and the monitor turned towards us.

The view zooms out to show the hostages toed to the pillars.

"Doctor! Amy! Carli!" Rory exclaimed, running to the camera.

"Mo! Mo, are you OK?" Ambrose frantically asked.

"I'm fine, love! I've found Elliot. I'm bringing him home!" Mo shouted back. Ambrose smiled in relief.

"Amy! I thought I'd lost you!" Rory said, staring happily at Amy. She playfully rolled her eyes in response.

"What, cos I was sucked into the ground? You're so clingy."

"Rory! My fave roman! Thanks for the catch in Pompeii! I don't feel so good," I wheezed with a pout. He nodded confused before looking to Eleven.

"What's wrong with her?" He asked, pointing at me. Eleven grimaced.

"She became a science experiment." He said, darkly. Rory's eyes widened.

"Tony Mack!" Nasreen yelled out happily, interrupting us. Tony smiled at the camera.

"Having fun down there?" He asked. Eleven piped up.

"Not to interrupt, but just a quick reminder to stay calm." He said, looking at the group on the monitor.

"Show me Alaya. Show me and release her, immediately, unharmed, or we kill your friends…" Vastra threatened. I tilted my head.

"You have a sister? I didn't know that! Is Jenny with her?" I asked, excited. Vastra hissed at me in response before turning back to the monitor.

"… one by one." She finished.

"No!" Ambrose shouted. I groaned.

"Ambrose..."Rory protested, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Steady now, everyone," Eleven said, feeling the rising tension.

"Ambrose, stop it!" Tony cried out. He made to grab her but she pushed him off.

"Get off me, Dad!" She glared at Vastra. "We didn't start this!"

"Oh, shut up you stupid bitch!" I shouted, voice cracking. Eleven nodded.

"Let Rory deal with this Ambrose, eh! Also, language." He tried reasoning, scolding me for my wording. However, Ambrose was too far gone.

"We're not doing what you say anymore. Now, give me back my family!" She demanded. It was silent for a moment as everyone waited anxiously for Vastra to respond.

"No. Execute the girl." She said, pointing at me. The soldiers immediately untied me and dragged me forward. Eleven and Amy struggled against their bonds and voiced their protests. Rory rushed forward and shoved Ambrose to the side.

"No! No, wait!"

"Doctor!" I whimpered in pain.

"She's not speaking for us!" Rory continued, desperately. They dropped me to the ground in the center of the room. I curled up, arms carefully wrapped around my abdomen.

"There's no need for this..." Eleven cried out in a panic.

"Listen! Listen! Whatever you want... we'll do it!" Rory tried desperately.

"Aim." I looked at Vastra, hurt. 'Did I do something wrong?'

"Carli!" Amy yelled out.

"Don't do this!" Eleven pleaded.

"Fire!" I closed my eyes.

"Stop!"

Everyone froze. Malohkeh reentered with Eldane, an elder Silurian.

"You want to start a war, while the rest of us sleep, Restac?" The elder calmly asked.

"The apes are attacking us!" She hissed.

"You're our protector, not our commander, Restac. Unchain them." He calmly ordered. Vastra protested.

"I do not recognize your authority at this time, Eldane." She furiously hissed.

"Well, then, you must shoot me." He said, opening his arms. Vastra approached Malohkeh, frustrated.

"You woke him to undermine me." She accused. He nodded.

"We're not monsters. And neither are they." I grumbled angrily.

"Yeah, but you are on my shit list, buddy."

"What is it about apes you love so much? Mmm?" Vastra angrily asked.

"While you slept, they've evolved. I've seen it for myself." He insisted. I snorted.

"No shit, Sherlock."

"We used to hunt apes for sport. When we came underground, they bred and polluted this planet." Vastra spat.

"Shush now, Restac. Go and play soldiers. I'll let you know if I need you." Eldane dismissed her. She glared ferociously at him.

"You'll need me, then we'll see." She stormed out of the room. Eldane turned to Malohkeh.

"Release them." Malohkeh nodded and quickly untied everyone. Eleven rushed to me.

"Are you alright?" He frantically asked, examining me for any new injuries. I smiled at him.

"I'm always alright," I whispered. He grimaced before rummaging through his pockets.

"Here," He said, pulling out a reddish looking pill. "Take this. It will help with the infection and blood loss." I grabbed and swallowed it before he finished his sentence. He chuckled weakly. He then stood up and rushed over to the monitor.

"Rory!" He called out. He fiddled with some controls and the screen came alive again. "Hello!"

"Where's Carli?" Rory asked.

"She's fine, look, here, she is." He moved aside so I was visible. I waved.

"Oh, thank God." He said relieved. He grinned at Amy. "Thank God you're safe too, Amy." She grinned

"Keeping you on your toes!" She replied.

"No time to chat. Listen, you need to get down here... Go to the drill storeroom, there's a large patch of earth in the middle of the floor. The Silurians are going to send up transport discs to bring you back down using geothermal energy and gravity bubble-technology. It's how they travel and frankly, it's pretty cool. Bring Alaya. We hand her over, we can land this after all. All going to work, promise. Got to dash! Hurry up!" Eleven stated before turning off the monitor. He turned to us grinning.

"Now then," He clapped his hands together. "Let's get started!"

I hummed the Doctor Who theme happily as I laid down on a bench. Amy and Nasreen sat next to me and Eldane sat across from them. Eleven stood by my head with Mo and Malohkeh stood behind him.

"I'd say, you've got a fair bit to talk about," Eleven said smiling.

"How so?" Eldane asked in confusion.

"You both want the planet. You both have a genuine claim to it." He explained.

"Are you authorized to negotiate on behalf of humanity?" Eldane asked. Eleven shook his head.

"Me? No! But they are!" He pointed to Amy and Nasreen. They looked at him in shock.

"What?!" Nasreen exclaimed.

"No, we're not!" Amy protested.

"Course you are! Amy Pond and Nasreen Chaudhry, speaking for the planet!" He stood behind them, hands on their shoulders. "Humanity couldn't have better ambassadors. Come on, who has more fun than us?" He walked over to the end of the table. Amy stood up and followed him.

"Is this what happens, in the future, the planet gets shared? Is that what we need to do?" She asked in wonder. Nasreen, hearing them, walked over.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Oh, Nasreen, sorry, probably worth mentioning at this stage, Amy and I travel in time, a bit." She looked at him in shock.

"Anything else?" She finally asked.

"There are fixed points through time, where things must always stay the way they are. This is not one of them. This is an opportunity, a temporal tipping point. Whatever happens today, will change future events, create its own timeline, its own reality. The future pivots around you. Here. Now. So, do good. For humanity, and for Earth." He said, smiling at them.

"Right. No pressure there, then." She started to head back to the table before turning back to him.

"Hang on. Carli's human too. Why isn't she speaking for humanity?" She asked, arms crossed.

"I don't think that she's in the right frame of mind to do anything at the moment." He said. They both looked back at me. I grinned goofily and waved.

"Why did the time vortex change color? I liked it better blue and purple," I asked. They only stared back at me.

"...right," Amy nodded. She sat back down at the table.

"We can't share the planet. Nobody on the surface is going to go for this idea. It is just too big a leap!" Nasreen protested. Eleven grinned at her.

"Come on. Be extraordinary." She narrowed her eyes at him, a smile beginning to form.

"Oh...you..." She said. She then joined Amy.

"OK," Eleven said, slamming his hands on the table. I jumped, wincing as my wound was jarred. "Bringing things to order - the first meeting of representatives of the human race and homo reptilian is now in session. Ha! Never said that before, that's fab! Carry on!" He pointed to Mo. "Now, Mo, let's go and get your son. Oh, you know, humans, and their predecessors, shooting the breeze. Never thought I'd see it." He said grinning. Then he, Mo, and Malohkeh were gone.

As the peace negotiations began, I quickly fell asleep.

3rd Person:

Eleven and Mo stood outside of Elliot's door as Malohkeh began to unlock it.

"If you've harmed him in any way…" Mo threatened Malohkeh. The Silurian strongly protested.

"Of course not! I only store the young."

"But why?" Eleven asked, keeping his temper in check.

"I took samples of the young, slowed their lifecycles to a millionth of their normal rate. So, I could study how they grew, what they needed, how they lived on the surface." Malohkeh explained.

"You've been down here, working by yourself, all alone?" The time lord asked.

"My family, through the millennia... For the last 300 years, just me." He looked at Mo. "I never meant to harm your child."

"Malohkeh, I would rather love you right now. One important detail though. One crucial, life-changing detail. You hurt Carli." He glared, the Oncoming Storm making its appearance. Malohkeh appeared to pale in fright. After a minute of staring, Eleven turned away. "It's safe. We can wake him."

Malohkeh quickly entered the room and removed the wires attached to Elliot, hoping to avoid furthering the Doctor's wrath. He turned back to Mo and beckoned him inside.

"Come."

Mo entered and stood before his son as he slowly woke up.

"Elliot? Ell, it's Dad." Elliot blearily looked at Mo.

"What...?" Finally aware, Elliot's eyes lit up. "Dad." He exclaimed. Mo grabbed Elliot into a hug.

"You're safe now." He whispered.

"Where are we?" Elliot looked up at his dad.

"Well, I've got to be honest with you, son. We're in the center of the Earth... and there are lizardmen." He said slowly, nodding towards Malohkeh. Elliot turned and saw the Silurian and the Doctor

"Wow." He whispered. Eleven walked in and leaned down towards Elliot.

"I'm sorry. I took my eye off you." He apologized. Elliot shrugged with a small smile.

"It's ok. I forgive you." He stuck out his hand. The Doctor grabbed it with a smile. With that out of the way, he led the father and son duo out into the hallway.

"You go on, Doctor. I'll catch up." Malohkeh called out. Eleven waved his hand dismissively in response, continuing back towards the main hall.

Carli's POV:

I grimaced as I woke up. Everything hurt and it was way too hot for me to be comfortable. I slowly sat up, biting my lip as my stomach wound pulled. I looked around and spotted Rory. I grinned and was about to call out when I saw the bundle in Tony's arms.

"What did you do?" Eleven's voice cut through the mounting tension in the room.

"It was me. I did it." Ambrose called out, sounding almost proud. Any remaining hints of a smile was gone from my face in an instant. Elliot stepped away from his mother in shock and horror.

"Mum?" He asked. She looked down at him with a tearful smile and reached out for him.

"I just wanted you back." Before her hand could reach him, he flinched away. She froze in despair. She looked around and saw everyone looking at her in pity and shame. She glanced at me and quickly turned away from the glare I was sending towards her. Eleven quickly walked over to Eldane who was watching this in sadness.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. You have to believe me, they're better than this." He pleaded on the human's behalf. He winced when Ambrose found her voice again.

"This is our planet!" She shouted. Eleven whipped around and glared at her.

"We had a chance here." He spat. She ignored him.

"Leave us alone." She cried out. I stood up, gripping the table edge in support.

"No." She looked towards me. "They were here first. Did you never learn about the Silurian period of the earth in school you stupid bitch? It was a piece of history and fact just like the dinosaurs. And even if they didn't have a legitimate claim to this planet, you have no right to take the life of another. How would you feel if they killed Elliot or Mo the way you killed one of theirs?" She flinched, looking at her husband and son. The Doctor strode over to her.

"In the future, when you talk about this, you tell people there was a chance but you were so much less than the best of humanity." He said calmly. She gazed up at him, eyes wide.

Suddenly, armed soldiers entered the room, followed by Restac. I grimaced at the memory of constantly calling her Vastra.

"My sister." She called out. Everyone looked away. She quickly spotted the bundle on the floor. She ran, dropping down beside it. Heart-wrenching wails filled the room as she looked upon her sister's face. Tears sprang into my eyes.

"And you want us to trust these apes, Doctor?" She whispered brokenly, not looking away from the body. Eleven quickly stepped forward, trying to regain control of the situation.

"One woman. She was scared for her family. She's not typical." Restac's head whipped around so she could look him in the eyes. She snarled at him before turning to look at Ambrose.

"I think she is." She hissed. The Time Lord turned to Eldane, pleadingly.

"One person let us down. But there's a whole race of dazzling, peaceful human beings up there. You were building something, here, come on...an alliance could work." He tried. Ambrose cut in.

"It's too late for that, Doctor." He turned to look at her in confusion. Off to the side, Tony ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"Why?" He asked. Ambrose stood straighter.

Our drill is set to start burrowing again in..." She looked at her watch. "15 minutes." Those who didn't know this stared at her in shock.

"What?" Nasreen asked, horrified. She looked towards Tony. He grimaced and tried to give an explanation.

"What choice did I have? They had Elliot." He said helplessly.

"Don't do this, don't call their bluff." Eleven tried.

"Let us go back. And you promise to never come to the surface ever again. We'll walk away, leave you alone." Ambrose reasoned. Restac stood sharply and walked towards her soldiers.

"Execute her!"

"No!" The Doctor grabbed Ambrose out of the way of the gunfire. "Everybody, back to the lab! Run!" He shouted. He then ran to me and before I knew what was happening, I was held in his arms fireman style. He then led the way for the group as we ran towards the main doors.

"Execute all the apes!" Restac shouted out. I reached into Eleven's coat pocket and fished around for his sonic. Finding it, I pulled it out and pressed the button, hoping that I wouldn't end up fucking this up. 'Think and point.' Behind us, the guns exploded. Eleven looked at me surprised. I shrugged.

"You don't exactly have free arms. Unless you're not telling us something." I stated, raising an eyebrow. He flushed, before turning back to the soldiers.

"This is a deadly weapon, stay back." He warned. One of the soldiers lashed out with their tongue. Eleven ducked out of the way and rushed from the room.

"Take everyone to the lab!" He yelled to Rory, passing me to him. He ducked to dodge the beam of one of the guns that survived the sonic. "I'll cover you! Go! Go!" Rory nodded and continued down the hall as the Doctor stalled. I grinned up at him.

"Hey, Roranicus! How's my favorite roman?" He rolled his eyes at me.

"Again, I'm British, not Roman. And I'm alright I guess. Could do without the guns." I snorted. We finally reached the lab. Once inside, he set me down on a chair. Moments later, Eleven rushed in and sonicked the door shut behind him.

"Elliot, you and your dad keep your eyes on that screen. Let me know if we get company. Amy," He said, tossing a stopwatch at her. "keep reminding me how much time I haven't got." Mo and Elliot moved towards the screen and watched the monitor intently for movement outside.

"OK, 12 minutes till drill impact," Amy called out. Tony sat down next to me, panting. A sheen of sweat covered his face. Nasreen stood over him concerned. Frowning, Eleven came over.

"Tony Mack, sweaty forehead, dilated pupils, what're you hiding?" He wondered aloud. Tony slowly pulled his shirt collar down, revealing a green infection spreading across his chest in a web-like fashion. Nasreen gasped in shock.

"Tony! What happened?!" The Doctor sonicked the area.

"Alaya's sting. She said there's no cure. I'm dying, aren't I?" Tony asked, looking at the Time Lord. He looked at the sonics' readings in shock.

"You're not dying, you're mutating. How can I stop it? Decontamination program! Might work, don't know. Eldane, can you run the program on Tony?" He rambled on. Mo suddenly cut in.

"Doctor, shedload of those creatures coming our way! We're surrounded in here!" He called out. Eldane came over and helped Tony to the decontamination chamber.

"So, question is, how we do stop the drill, given we can't get there in time? Plus, also, how do we get out, given that we're surrounded? Nasreen, how d'you feel about an energy pulse, channeled up through the tunnels to the base of the drill?" Eleven asked. Nasreen looked at him in shock.

"To blow up my life's work?" She grimaced.

"Yes. Sorry. No nice way of putting that." He winced in response. Nasreen sighed before pulling herself together.

"Right, well, you're going to have to do it before the drill hits the city, in..." She looked at Amy.

"11 minutes, 40 seconds..." Eleven clapped his hands together.

"Yes! Squeaky bum time!" Nasreen nodded but grimaced.

"Yes, but the explosion is going to cave in all the surrounding tunnels so we have to be on the surface by then." Rory looked at the monitor showing the tunnel outside.

"But we can't get past Restac's troops." He stated. Eldane then stepped up.

"I can help with that... Toxic Fumigation, an emergency failsafe meant to protect my species from infection. A warning signal to occupy cryo-chambers. After that, citywide fumigation, by toxic gas. Then the city shuts down." He explained. Amy looked at him, concerned.

"You could end up killing your own people." She pointed out. He shook his head in response.

"Only those foolish enough to follow Restac." He stated. Eleven strode over to Eldane.

"Eldane, are you sure about this?" He asked, frowning.

"My priority is my race's survival. The Earth isn't ready for us to return yet." He stated firmly.

"No." He agreed.

"10 minutes, Doctor," Amy called out.

"But maybe it should be. So, here's the deal. Everybody listening?" He spun about. "Eldane, you activate shutdown... I'll amend the system, set your alarm for 1,000 years' time." Eldane went towards the controls. "1,000 years, to sort the planet out. To be ready. Pass it on. As legend, or prophesy, or religion, but somehow, make it known. This planet is to be shared." He said, looking at the family. Elliot nodded.

"Yeah. I get you." He confirmed.

"Nine minutes, seven seconds." Amy cut in. Eleven rushed to the controls and joined Eldane.

"Yes, fluid controls, my favorite! Energy pulse timed, primed, and set. Before we go, energy barricade, need to cancel it out, quickly." He pointed his sonic at the controls and seconds later, the barricade went down.

"Fumigation pre-launching," Eldane stated.

"There's not much time for us to get from here to the surface, Doctor!" Rory said, growing increasingly worried. Eleven shook his head with a grin. I jumped in surprise when my arm began to tingle.

"Ah-ha, super-squeaky bum time! Get ready to run for your lives. Now..."

"Doctor," I called out. He spun about to face me. His smile froze in place when he saw me holding my arm.

"Ah," he said. I shrugged, smiling.

"See you soon, I guess. Hopefully less of the blood and stuff, though." I rasped out, wrinkling my nose. I then looked towards Amy and Rory.

"Amy, I want you to know, it's going to be ok. Everything will turn out alright." She furrowed her brows in confusion but nodded slowly. I waved and then I was gone.

I blurred into existence in an ornate hallway painted a pale yellow with white trim. The rug below me was a navy blue. I looked around in confusion.

"Freeze!" A voice shouted out from behind me. The sound of guns clicking rang out. I stiffened, hands shooting into the air. I instantly regretted it as a sharp pain flared up from my wound. One of my hands wrapped around my abdomen as the other stayed up in the air.

"Turn around slowly!" I slowly turned to face the voice and found myself face to face with Crowley. I blinked in confusion.

"Crowley?" I questioned. He looked at me in confusion. The man next to him called out.

"Both hands in the air! Now!" I grimaced but lifted my other hand in the air. The men in front of me gasped at the massive bloodstain on my shirt front. Crowley turned to the man next to him.

"Go get medical, now." The man didn't look away from me.

"Mr. Delaware, you have no official authority in this matter and..." Crowley, or Canton I now realize, cut him off.

"Now!" He barked. The other man grimaced before complying, turning to go down the hall. Canton slowly approached me, gun still up, but slightly relaxed.

"So, miss. Would you care to tell me why and how you ended up covered in blood in a hallway of the White House?" I groaned.

"Fuck."

Chapter Text

Previously:

I blurred into existence in an ornate hallway painted a pale yellow with white trim. The rug below me was a navy blue. I looked around in confusion.

"Freeze!" A voice shouted out from behind me. The sound of guns clicking rang out. I stiffened, hands shooting into the air. I instantly regretted it as a sharp pain flared up from my wound. One of my hands wrapped around my abdomen as the other stayed up in the air.

"Turn around slowly!" I slowly turned to face the voice and found myself face to face with Crowley. I blinked in confusion.

"Crowley?" I questioned. He looked at me in confusion. The man next to him called out.

"Both hands in the air! Now!" I grimaced but lifted my other hand in the air. The men in front of me gasped at the massive bloodstain on my shirt front. Crowley turned to the man next to him.

"Go get medical, now." The man didn't look away from me.

"Mr. Delaware, you have no official authority in this matter and..." Crowley, or Canton I now realize, cut him off.

"Now!" He barked. The other man grimaced before complying, turning to go down the hall. Canton slowly approached me, gun still up, but slightly relaxed.

"So, miss. Would you care to tell me why and how you ended up covered in blood in a hallway of the White House?" I groaned.

"Fuck."

"Son of a bitch!"

I hissed as the nurse dabbed at my wound with an alcohol swab. A loud snort sounded from the side of the room. I glared at the man responsible.

"Oh, don't look at me like that. It's not every day you see a lady cursing like a sailor," Canton said with a smirk. He walked forward as the nurse backed away, seemingly finished torturing me with antiseptic. "Now then, now that we've gotten you medical help, care to share how you managed to make it to the hallway outside the Oval Office?" I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"Um...I plead the fifth?" I responded, chuckling weakly. He sighed, running a hand down his face.

"Look, miss, the only reason I'm allowed to be here interrogating you is due to that fit you threw earlier." I blushed, looking down. I had faked a freak out earlier and exploded when they tried to get me to cooperate with them. I wanted to talk to Canton and acting like a mad lady to do so seemed perfectly reasonable at the time. The other agents had just stood there with their guns trained on me in alarm until Canton "calmed" me down.

"Sorry," I muttered. He sighed again.

"It's fine. Can you tell me anything?" I was silent for a moment. 'It probably won't matter if I told him since he'll find out soon' I thought to myself. I opened my mouth to respond when the door opened. The man from earlier stepped in.

"Mr. Delaware, you've kept the President waiting long enough. You are to report to him now. I will take over with the intruder," he ordered. Canton nodded and headed towards the door.

"Say thanks to whoever's sweater and pants I'm borrowing!" I called out to him. It was nice to not be in bloodstained clothes anymore. Canton gave me a quick smile and then left, shutting the door behind him.

"Now then, miss. Who the hell do you work for?" He demanded. I groaned.

3rd Person:

The Doctor carefully stepped out of the TARDIS into the Oval Office. He froze upon seeing two men conversing at the desk. As silently as he could, he took out a pen and paper and began taking notes of the conversation.

"Hello? Who is this? This is President Nixon. Who's calling? Is this you again?" A recording sounded.

"Mister President?"

"A child?" The man sitting down exclaimed.

"This is the President, yes."

"I'm scared, Mister President. I'm scared of the spaceman."

"A little girl?" The man questioned. The President shook his head.

"Boy."

"How can you be sure?" The recording continued, his question ignored.

"What spaceman? Where are you phoning from? Where are you right now? Who are you?"

"Jefferson Adams, Hamilton."

"Jefferson, listen to me." The recording ended.

"Surely this is something the Bureau could handle, sir." The man questioned. He shot down the suggestion.

"These calls happen wherever I am. How do I know the Bureau isn't involved? I can't trust anyone," Nixon stated as he turned around. He froze at the sight of the Doctor. The other man quickly stood and caught sight of the Time Lord. Oblivious, he waved his hand as if telling them to continue. He then became aware of the situation.

"Oh. Hello. Bad moment. Oh look, this is the Oval Office. I was looking for the err, oblong room. I'll just be off, then, shall I?" He says, backing up slowly. He then sharply turned only to smack into the TARDIS. "Don't worry! It always does that when it's cloaked." He was tackled to the ground as Nixon pressed the panic button.

"Ah, no. Stop that." The Doctor pleaded. The rest of the Secret Service rushed in, guns raised.

"Lockdown! Lockdown!" One of them shouted.

"River, have you got my scanner working yet?" Eleven called out. Then, as if predicting what the space-haired woman said, called out "No, you don't!"

"Get the President out of here. Sir, you have to go with them, now." The secret service man exclaimed.

"River, make her blue again!" Eleven called out. Finally, the TARDIS reappeared, now visible to others.

"What the hell is that?" Nixon wondered. While the spaceship distracted everyone, the Doctor slipped out from under the men and sat himself down in the President's chair.

"Mister President, that child just told you everything you need to know, but you weren't listening. Never mind, though, because the answer's yes. I'll take the job." The agents immediately trained their guns back on him. "Again, with the guns, really? I just walked into the highest security office in the United States and parked a big blue box on the rug. Do you think you can just shoot me?" It was then that the TARDIS opened.

"They're Americans!" River exclaimed as if that explained everything. "Even Carli would agree! They are way too gun-happy here!" As if to prove her statement, the agents turned their guns on her and the Ponds.

"Don't shoot. Definitely no shooting." The Doctor exclaimed.

"Nobody shoot us either. Very much not in need of getting shot. Look, we've got our hands up." Rory commented awkwardly, shaking his hands for further emphasis.

"Who the hell are you?" Nixon asked. The man from earlier, Canton, approached.

"Sir, you need to stay back." Nixon turned to him.

"But who are they and what is that box?"

"It's a police box. Can't you read? I'm your new undercover agent on loan from Scotland Yard. Codename the Doctor. These are my top operatives, the Legs, the Nose, and Mrs. Robinson." The Doctor explained on the spot. River glared at him.

"I hate you." Eleven smirked.

"No, you don't."

"Who are you?" Nixon asked again. The Doctor waved him off.

"Nah, boring question. Who's phoning you? That's interesting. Because Canton Three is right. That was definitely a girl's voice, which means there's only one place in America she can be phoning from." Canton looked at him, eyebrows raised.

"Where?" He asked. One of the agents glared at him.

"Do not engage with the intruder, Mister Delaware. I let it slide before, it won't happen a second time." Eleven looked at them confused for a moment before going back to the topic at hand.

"You heard everything I heard. It's simple enough. Give me five minutes, I'll explain. On the other hand, lay a finger on me or my friends, and you'll never, ever know." He bribed. Canton eyed him for a moment before pointing at the TARDIS.

"How did you get it in here? I mean, you didn't carry it in." He wondered. The Doctor smirked.

"Clever, eh?" Canton smirked back.

"Love it." The same agent from before interrupted.

"Do not compliment the intruder." Canton merely waved him off, looking at the Time Lord.

"Five minutes?" He confirmed, holding up five fingers. The Doctor nodded.

"Five."

"Mister President, that man is a clear and present danger to..." The agent tried again. Canton cut him off.

"Mister President, that man walked in here with a big blue box and three of his friends, and that's the man he walked past. One of them's worth listening to. I say we give him five minutes. See if he delivers. Maybe he can tell us who the intruder from earlier is." Eleven smiled.

"Thanks, Canton."

"If he doesn't, I'll shoot him myself." Canton finished. The smile quickly disappeared.

"Not so thanks." He muttered. Then the rest of Canton's statement registered. "Hold on, another intruder? Does this intruder have medium length brown hair, green eyes, and a scar on her jaw that looks like a pink freckle?" He asked. Canton raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. Another of Scotland Yard's? Since when do they take American operatives?" He confirmed. Eleven grinned.

"Yes! Yes, she is! Where is she?" He asked, excited.

"In medical," Canton replied. The Doctor frowned in concern.

"What's wrong with her? Is she hurt?" He asked, worry growing.

"She showed up down the hallway with blood-soaked clothes on and a long incision going up her abdomen. Medical patched her up and now she is waiting for Peterson to continue his interrogation. Although, I don't think that is necessary anymore." Canton explained. Eleven's eyes widened at this.

"Sir, I cannot recommend..."

"Shut up, Peterson! All right, five minutes." Nixon relented. Snapping out of it, the Doctor nodded and sat back down in the President's chair.

"I'm going to need a SWAT team, ready to mobilize. Street-level maps covering all of Florida. A pot of coffee, twelve Jammie Dodgers, Carli, and a fez." Canton eyed him briefly.

"Get him the girl and his maps," Canton ordered. The Doctor huffed, annoyed. Then, he brightened up at thought of seeing Carli again.

Carli's POV:

"...that's the American, not quite Canadian, most of us are Mexican..." I sang to myself, bored out of my mind. My nose twitched in agitation. Going cross-eyed, I glared down at my itchy nose.

"Seriously?" I huffed. Groaning, I leaned over so that my hands, which were cuffed to the table, could reach my face. "Ah bless!" I praised. At that precise moment, the door opened and Canton walked in. We both froze and looked at each other.

"I swear I'm not picking my nose," I exclaimed quickly. He merely raised an eyebrow at me. "What? You try scratching your nose when your hands are cuffed to a table!" I glared. He walked over to me with a smirk.

"Been there, done that, sweetheart." He unlocked the cuffs, freeing my hands. "Anyways, your colleagues from the Yard are here." I stared at him blankly for a moment before I figured out what the hell he was talking about. I jumped from my seat with a grin and skipped towards the door.

"Yay! C'mon! I wanna see the Ponds!" I exclaimed. Impatient, I started to skip down the hall without Canton.

"Wrong way doll," He called out. I froze mid skip.

"Fuck..." I swore under my breath. "Now I just look stupid..." I pivoted on my foot and trudged back to Canton. I paused in front of him and gestured for him to lead the way. He chuckled and led me to the Oval Office.

"As you asked, here's the girl," Canton called out as we entered the room. I grinned happily, seeing the Ponds first.

"Ponds!" I giggled and ran to them, wrapping them in a bear hug, being careful to avoid contact with my abdomen. They returned it gladly. I beamed up at them.

"How are you guys! Last I saw you was with the Silurians!" Rory and Amy smiled.

"Good, you know? It's good to see you." Rory stated, shrugging his shoulders.

"It's good to see you too!" I exclaimed. I looked over and saw River. I immediately bolted for her, wrapping her in a bear hug as well.

"River! Ahh, this is so awesome meeting you! I mean, I met Alex Kingston at a con once and we did the Charlie's Angels pose, but that doesn't really count does it? What do you use in your hair?" I rambled, bouncing up and down. She looked at me bemused and sad.

"Hello, darling. It's... it's nice to meet you too." She smiled weakly. My smile disappeared in a flash.

"Oh no, shit, what's wrong?" I panicked. She shook her head.

"It's fine, nothing is wrong. I just thought I'd be ready for when you meet me for the first time, that's all. You know of me but you don't really know me." She whispered. She then forced a smile on her face. "But I'm fine, truly. And as for my hair," She leaned in, looking around conspiratorially. "It's all my secrets." I snorted.

"Smooth." I grinned. I squeaked in surprise and slight pain when I was grabbed from behind and spun around. Once on the flat, sturdy ground, I turned to find myself face to face with the Doctor. I grinned again. "Doctor!" I wrapped him in another bear hug.

"Hello, Carli!" He exclaimed. He pulled back. "Silurians? That's where we're at?" He asked. I nodded. He pouted. "You're so young!" I glared at him.

"Hey, just because it's not legal for me to drink in America doesn't mean I'm young." I pouted. It was a sore spot for me. My round face caused many people to mistake me for a twelve-year-old. Eleven smirked and ruffled my hair.

"Of course not." He teased. I smacked him upside the head. "Ow! Stop it!" He whined, rubbing his head. I responded back very maturely by sticking out my tongue. "Anyways, come help us with these maps!" He said, grabbing my hand, and leading me over to the piles of paper on the floor.

"Why Florida?" Canton asked, having been quiet until now.

"There's where NASA is. She mentioned a spaceman. NASA's where the spacemen live. Also, there's another lead I'm following." He explained, placing a large map on the President's desk. I wandered over to Amy and River who were kneeling off to the side over one of the maps.

"A spaceman, like the one we saw at the lake," Amy whispered to River.

"Maybe. Probably." River said, standing. She smiled at me and kissed me on the forehead. I blushed, fighting a smile. I looked back at Amy and found her staring at the doorway.

"I remember." She whispered. I followed her gaze and saw the Silence standing in the doorway. I flinched. They were a lot creepier in person than on tv.

"Amy? What do you remember?" Rory asked, coming up beside them. Amy looked at him and then back to the figure, now gone.

"I don't know. I just..." She broke off, gagging. Rory frowned in concern. I came over and rubbed her gently on the back.

"Amy, what's wrong?"

"Amy?" River called from the couch. Eleven looked over as he crossed the room.

"Are you all right?" He asked, concerned. Amy nodded slightly.

"Yeah. No, I'm fine. I'm just feeling a little sick. Excuse me, is there a toilet or something?" She asked, walking up to Peterson. He shook his head.

"Sorry, ma'am, while this procedure's ongoing, you must remain within the Oval office."

"Shut up and take her to the restroom," Canton ordered, waving his hand. The two glared at each other for a moment before Peterson nodded to the man next to him.

"This way, ma'am." The man said, leading her from the room.

"Thanks," Amy responded. The two disappeared around the corner. Rory stood to follow them but was stopped by Peterson.

"Your five minutes are up," Canton stated offhandedly. Eleven didn't even bother looking up from the map.

"Yeah, and where's my fez?" He quipped. I snorted. He shot me a quick grin before looking back at the map.

Bored, I sat down on the couch next to River and played with a loose string on the sweater. I froze however when a thought came to me.

'Why the hell can I still remember the Silence?' I bit my lip in worry. 'Maybe since I'm from another universe their memory wipe thing doesn't work?' That was the only possible answer I could come up with. So engrossed in my theories, I barely noticed Amy return. However, I jumped, startled, when the phone on Nixon's desk began to ring. Everyone's eyes snapped to the phone.

"The kid?" Canton asked, looking at the President. Nixon stood from his chair.

"Should I answer it?"

"Here! The only place in the United States that call could be coming from. See? Obvious, when you think about it." Eleven shouted, pointing furiously at a point on the map. Canton leaned over and looked where his finger was pointing.

"You, sir, are a genius." He stated in wonder. The Doctor waved a hand flippantly.

"It's a hobby." Canton looked up at the President.

"Mister President, answer the phone." Nixon hesitantly picked up the phone and pressed record on his tape.

"Hello. This is President Nixon."

"It's here! The spaceman's here! It's going to get me! It's going to eat me!" I inhaled sharply at Melody's fear-filled tone. Her words sprung everyone into action.

"There's no time for a SWAT team. Let's go. Mister President, tell her helps on the way. Canton, on no account, follow me into this box and close the door behind you." Eleven called out, hurriedly putting back on his jacket. He grabbed my hand and tugged me inside the TARDIS after him.

"What the hell are you doing?" Canton called out, following us. Eleven dropped my hand and proceeded to assist River in piloting the TARDIS.

"Jefferson isn't a girl's name. It's not her name either. Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton. River." He stated, pointing at the space-haired woman.

"Surnames of three of America's founding fathers." She replied.

"Lovely fellows. Two of them fancied me. They fancied Carli as well," He grumbled the last bit. I quirked my eyebrow at that.

"Wait really? Huh...cool! Guess that means you'll have to take me to see Hamilton then!" I grinned, mentally fist-pumping the air. 'Damn, I want to see that musical.'

"Are you okay? Coping?" Rory's voice rang out. I whirled around, having momentarily forgotten Canton was there. 'Oops...'

"You see, the President asked the child two questions. Where are you and who are you? She was answering where." I could hear from behind me. Canton pointed randomly about.

"It's bigger on the inside."

"Yeah, you get used to it," Rory said offhandedly with his hands on his hips.

"Now, where would you find three big, historical names in a row like that?" The Doctor asked.

"Where?" Amy asked, excited. The TARDIS landed with a thump.

"Here. Come on." Eleven ran down the steps and grabbed my hand. He paused in front of Canton.

"It's err..." Eleven grimaced, looking at Rory.

"Are you taking care of this?" He pulled me towards the door.

"Why is it always my turn?" Rory called out in exasperation from behind us.

"Because you're the newest," Amy stated as she followed us out. "Where are we?" She turned on a flashlight.

"About five miles from Cape Kennedy Space Centre. It's 1969, the year of the moon. Interesting, don't you think?" The Doctor replied, sitting in a chair whilst waving a tiny flag.

"But why would a little girl be here?"

"I don't know. Lost me a bit. The President asked the girl where she was, and she did what any lost little girl would do. She looked out of the window." He said, getting up and looking through the blinds. River held the phone up to her ear testing it.

"Streets. Of course, street names." Amy said in realization.

"The only place in Florida, probably all of America, with those three street names on the same junction. And Doctor Song, Carli, you've got that face on again." He stated. We looked at him in confusion.

"What face?" River asked.

"The 'he's hot when he's clever' face." He replied.

"This is my normal face." We both said, bemused. He smirked.

"Yes, it is." I felt my face begin to burn. I looked away quickly to hide it.

"Oh, shut up." River said, walking away.

"Not a chance." The TARDIS doors reopened and Rory and Canton stepped out.

"We've moved. How, how can we have moved?" Canton asked in confusion stumbling around. The Doctor groaned.

"You haven't even got to space travel yet?" He asked, exasperated. Rory fixed him with a deadpan look.

"I was going to cover it with time travel." Canton's eyes bugged out. He pointed at Rory and then swiveled back to look at us.

"Time travel."

"Braveheart, Canton. Come on." He said, grabbing my hand, and pulling me along after him. I laughed quietly as I heard Canton behind us.

"So, we're in a box that's bigger on the inside, and it travels through time and space."

"Yeah, basically."

"How long have Scotland Yard had this?"

Amy and River shined their flashlight around as we walked through the dark room.

"It's a warehouse of some kind. Disused." River observed.

"You realize this is almost certainly a trap, of course?" Eleven questioned.

"I noticed the phone, yes." River agreed. Amy looked at them confused.

"What about it?" She wondered.

"It was cut off. So how did the child phone from here?" Came the reply.

"Okay, but why would anyone want to trap us?" Amy asked, slightly panicked.

"Let's see if anyone tries to kill us and work backwards." I smacked him on the arm.

"Not helping," I muttered. I glanced over into the shadows where I could vaguely make out the outline of the astronaut suit. I smiled sadly and did a small wave in her direction.

"Now, why would a little girl be here?" River wondered.

"I don't know. Let's find her and ask her." We wandered in further and found ourselves at some sort of operating table.

"It's nonterrestrial. Definitely alien. Probably not even from this time zone." River said in observation.

"Which is odd, because look at this!" Eleven rushed over to the wooden crates that sat nearby. River shined her light on them and revealed they were filled with spacesuits.

"It's earth tech. It's contemporary." River muttered.

"It's very contemporary. Cutting edge. This is from the space program." He said, picking up a helmet. I grinned in excitement and grabbed the second one from inside the box.

"Stolen?" River assumed. Amy looked at her, incredulous.

"What, by aliens?"

"Apparently." The Doctor grinned. He quickly put on the helmet.

"But why? I mean, if you can make it all the way to Earth, why steal technology that can barely make it to the moon?" Amy reasoned. He lifted the visor.

"Maybe because it's cooler? Look how cool this stuff is." He grinned in excitement.

"Cool aliens?" Amy mocked.

"Well, what would you call me?"

"An alien." She deadpanned.

"Oi!"

"Oh, come on! This stuff is sick!" I said, coming up beside them, my own helmet on. "I always wanted to be an astronaut you know? If it wasn't for all the math and science involved, I'd be all for it!" I said. "God, I hate those subjects" Eleven grinned at me. He held up a finger and reached into his pocket. After a moment of searching, he pulled out my polaroid from within. I grinned with glee. I hadn't seen it since the hospital on the moon. I grabbed it.

"Hey, guys! Come here really quick!" Everyone came over, even Canton who was still in slight shock. I huddled us all together and held the camera out in front of us.

"Smile!" I snapped a photo, grabbing it when it printed. I waved it about as I turned back to the Time Lord. "Take one with me?" I asked. He grinned and took the camera from my hands. He held it out in front of us and held up a peace sign.

"Say, Geronimo!" I put up my own peace sign as well.

"Geronimo!" The flash went off again and another picture printed. I grabbed the image while the Doctor placed the camera back into his pocket. He then helped me out of the helmet as I shook the photo.

"I, err, I think he's okay now," Rory said, looking at Canton. Eleven took off his helmet.

"Ah! Back with us, Canton." He asked, walking over to the man. Canton stood there momentarily before flashing his flashlight back in the direction of the TARDIS.

"I like your wheels." I laughed out loud at that. I loved that line. Eleven grinned and patted him on the shoulder as he walked past him.

"That's my boy. So, come on. Little girl. Let's find her."

I wandered over to Amy and River who were standing around the operating table thing. I could barely make out their conversation from here.

"...Time can be rewritten."

"Not all of it."

"Says who?"

"Who do you think? What's this?" River followed a thick wire that flowed down under a manhole cover.

"We can still save them..." Amy tried again. River cut her off.

"Doctor? Look at this." Eleven quickly came over to us. River squatted down and pushed the manhole cover over, revealing a gaping hole.

"So where does that go?" River held out her device to scan the opening.

"There's a network of tunnels running under here." She read.

"Life signs?"

"No, nothing that's showing up." He grimaced.

"Those are the worst kind." River placed both her hands down on the edge of the hole and began to lower herself down into it.

"Be careful," I said, biting my nail. Even though I knew she'd be alright, I couldn't help but worry about the woman. She looked up at me with a smirk.

"Careful? I tried that once. Ever so dull." I rolled my eyes with a small chuckle. Eleven rubbed my back briefly.

"Shout if you get in trouble." He ordered. River got a wicked glint in her eye and she glanced back at me.

"Don't worry, I'll just imitate Carli. She's quite the screamer. Now there's a hell-of-a spoiler for you." She said. I choked on my own spit. Eleven's eyes seemed to bug out of his face as a blush crept up onto it.

"What? Wait...River!" I exclaimed. She merely laughed and disappeared into the tunnel.

"Tell me what's going on here." Canton interceded from behind us. The two of us whirled around, the two of us in various states of panic and fluster.

"Err, nothing. She's just a friend." He said, quickly. Rory walked up to him and whispered in his ear.

"I think he's talking about the possible alien incursion." Eleven looked at him wide-eyed for a moment before slapping on a big grin.

"Okay." He then sped off, slapping his hand on Canton's shoulder as he passed. Amy walked over and wrapped her arm around my stiff shoulder.

"You alright?" I stared straight ahead of me in a state of shock.

"I think I need a nap..." I muttered. Amy laughed.

"Later. C'mon." She grabbed my hand and pulled me over to a table covered with tools to investigate. Canton followed us.

"So, I was in a bar having a drink. Tell me, honestly, Am I still there?" He asked, still slightly dazed. Amy glanced up at him with a smirk.

"Afraid not." We all turned around when we heard a commotion coming from behind us. River appeared from the hole in a state of panic. I started to go over to her when she snapped out of it, suddenly calm.

"All clear. Just tunnels. Nothing down there I can see. Err, give me five minutes. I want to take another look around." She said, looking back down.

"Stupidly dangerous!" Eleven called out from where he stood with Rory. River smirked.

"Yeah, I like it too. Amy, look after them." She replied, looking at the redhead. Amy winked. With one last smile, River disappeared back down into the tunnel. I wandered over to the two men as the Doctor turned to Rory.

"Rory, would you mind going with her?" Rory shifted, looking uncomfortable.

"Yeah, a bit." The Doctor patted him on the chest.

"Then I'd appreciate it all the more." Rory sighed in defeat.

"Hang on, River. I'm coming too." He called out. I smacked him on the arm.

"Oh, don't be like that! Go spend time with her," I ordered. He mock-glared at me, rubbing his arm. 'Go spend time with your daughter.' I thought to myself as he disappeared into the hole after River. Bored, I headed over to Amy and Canton. Canton was looking at a wire hanging over the operating table while Amy was standing next to him.

"So, you were kicked out of the FBI because you had attitude problems?" She guessed. He grimaced.

"No, I just wanted to get married." She furrowed her eyebrows.

"Is that a crime?" She asked, incredulous. I frowned.

"In this era, yes. A lot of people liked to believe gay people didn't exist until AIDs became a thing. Plus, it doesn't help the fact that his partner is a person of color," I told her quietly. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open in an "oh" expression. Canton answered, having not heard us.

"Yes. Doctor who, exactly?" He asked, pointing his finger over at the Time Lord. We looked at the said man who was currently doing an impression of an ostrich by sticking his head in a large crate.

"Ah. That's classified." She replied, slyly. Canton looked at her confused.

"Classified by who?" Amy looked confused now too.

"God knows." I snorted.

"Do you work for him?" He asked.

"He's my friend, if friend is the right word. I haven't seen him in a while. I had something I wanted to tell him, but stuff always gets in the way." Amy muttered, furrowing her eyebrows. Canton held up what looked to be a circular saw.

"Stuff does that." He replied.

"Help me! Help! Help me!" We all startled when a little girl's voice called out from somewhere in the factory. Canton dropped the saw and pulled out his gun.

"That's her." He ran off in the direction of the voice. Amy and I made to follow him only to stop when the redhead doubled over in pain.

"Amy?" The Doctor called out in concern. He ran over to us and grabbed onto her.

"Help me! Please!" Melody called out again. I ran off after Canton, leaving the two behind. I soon found Canton standing face to face with the astronaut.

"Doctor! Doctor, quickly!" Canton called out. The suit knocked him to the ground, unconscious. It then turned to me.

"Hey, baby girl," I said, holding my hands up in front of me. It stood there silently before the arm reached up and pushed up the visor.

"Help me, please!" Melody whimpered. Tears sprang to my eyes at her tear-filled face.

"Don't worry, baby girl, you're going to be alright, okay? Your mommy is gonna be here real soon." I said. She sniffed and nodded. Suddenly her eyes widened.

"Look out!" She called out. I whirled around only to be struck down by a Silence standing behind me. My head slammed into the concrete floor. Winded and woozy, I tried to lift my head. Everything looked fuzzy and out of focus. I could barely make out the suit closing the visor again. The Doctor and Amy then ran into the room, not noticing the astronaut.

"Canton! Carli! Are you okay?" He called out, kneeling beside us. Amy quickly followed.

"Are they all right?" I just groaned in response. Eleven scanned us with his screwdriver.

"Just unconscious, in Canton's case. Got a proper whack."

"Doctor, I need to tell you something. I have to tell you it now." Amy tried again.

"Not a great moment."

"No, it's important. It has to be now." Amy insisted. Melody's voice called out again.

"Help! Help me! Help me!" The two looked around briefly. Amy then knelt in front of the Doctor.

"Doctor, I'm pregnant." He stared at her in shock. They whirled around at the sound of heavy footsteps approaching.

"That's it. The astronaut." Amy whispered. The suit raised its arm at the Doctor and I. Amy suddenly grabbed Canton's gun and aimed it at the suit. The arm began to lift the visor.

"Help me!" Melody called out.

"Get down!" Amy called out. The Doctor's eyes widened in panic.

"What are you doing?!" He exclaimed.

"Saving your life!"

"No!"

Amy shot blindly at the astronaut. She then got a proper look at the girl under the now raised visor and screamed.

Chapter Text

Previously:

"Doctor, I need to tell you something. I have to tell you it now." Amy tried again.

"Not a great moment."

"No, it's important. It has to be now." Amy insisted. Melody's voice called out again.

"Help! Help me! Help me!" The two looked around briefly. Amy then knelt in front of the Doctor.

"Doctor, I'm pregnant." He stared at her in shock. They whirled around at the sound of heavy footsteps approaching.

"That's it. The astronaut." Amy whispered. The suit raised its arm at the Doctor and I. Amy suddenly grabbed Canton's gun and aimed it at the suit. The arm began to lift the visor.

"Help me!" Melody called out.

"Get down!" Amy called out. The Doctor's eyes widened in panic.

"What are you doing?!" He exclaimed.

"Saving your life!"

"No!"

Amy shot blindly at the astronaut. She then got a proper look at the girl under the now raised visor and screamed.

I pulled my hair back into a quick ponytail as I walked down the sidewalk. The beating sun was causing my sunglasses to slip down my nose with sweat. Even though I was alone and hunting hostile aliens that only I could remember, I felt perfectly at ease.

After three months of wandering around the US looking for the Slender Man rejects, I had arrived in the quaint town of Reading, Massachusetts. I had been in Boston with River until I realized how close we were to my mom's hometown. River continued to New York while I stayed behind.

Currently, I was in the center of town. The last time I had seen this place was in 2015, yet, it still looked relatively the same when you ignored the different storefronts. In the dead of summer, the little park area in the center of the area was a lush green with large trees for people to find shade under.

I was looking around, feeling complete nostalgia and a bit homesick when I saw a green ball roll out into the street. Following it was a little girl, obviously trying to retrieve it. I smiled, cooing slightly at the small child over how cute she was. Suddenly, a loud honking rang out. My head snapped to the side and saw a car coming at a speed way over the speed limit; heading right towards the girl.

I didn't even realize I was moving until I felt the wind get knocked out of me from landing on the other sidewalk, arms full of the child. The car honked again as it sped around the corner and out of sight. 'Yeah, fuck you too dude.'

"LYDIA!" As I gasped air back into my lungs, a pair of hands lifted the child out of my arms. I slowly sat up and saw an older woman fussing over the crying little girl.

"Lydia, why did you run into the street? You know better than to just run out like that!" The girl, Lydia, whimpered and pointed to the green ball sitting innocently in the road.

"I wanted ta get ta bawl! I sowwy, Gwam!" She blubbered. The woman shushed her, holding her close.

"It's alright sweetie. You're alright." She kissed her granddaughter's forehead. She then looked over at me.

"Thank you. Thank you so much for saving my granddaughter." I waved her off, coughing a bit.

"It's fine," I coughed again. "No trouble at all." My back and lungs protested in response to that statement, but I ignored it.

"What's your name?" She inquired, propping the little girl on her hip, hugging her close. I stood, brushing the dirt off my light blue Misses' Dress. I extended my hand.

"Carli." The woman took my hand and shook it firmly.

"Lenora. This one is Lydia. Can you say 'thank you', Lydia?" She asked, looking down at the girl. She peeked out at me, eyes puffy from tears.

"Tank you." She whispered. She then proceeded to hide her face back into her grandmother's neck. I smiled at the sight. Lenora captured my attention again.

"I really must thank you. Come back to our home! It's almost lunchtime. Join us for a meal!" I immediately protested.

"You really don't have to. Plus, for all you know, I could be a psychopathic maniac!" I stammered awkwardly. She gave me a look that practically screamed "bullshit".

"Yes, because a psychopathic maniac, as you put it, would jump in front of an oncoming car to save a child." She said sarcastically. I blinked at her.

"...Fair point. But seriously, there is no need. I'm just glad I could help." I protested again. She shook her head.

"You are having lunch with us. That's final. It's the least we can do." She ordered, leaving no room for arguments. I sighed.

"Fine…" I grumbled. She smirked triumphantly and started to walk off, confident that I'd follow. Neither of us noticed a man watch us walk off while talking into a communication device.

For about ten minutes, we walked away from the town center, turning down a street that I instantly recognized.

"Wait, you live on Summerset Place?" I blinked in astonishment. What were the odds of that?

"Yes, in that blue house there. Why do you ask?" Lenora pointed out. I froze in my tracks, jaw hanging. "Carli?"

This… this is my great grandmother's home. Distinctly less worn down, but still, the same 1800's home that I had experienced many of my most fond memories. My eyes snapped to Lenora and Lydia, scanning their faces. Despite how young they both looked, I could see features that easily identified them. That's… holy shit I saved my mom. My mom, who was being held by my great grandmother.

"Carli?" I snapped out of my shock, feeling faint.

"Sorry. Right! Sorry. It's just, my mom and her entire family used to live on this street." I said weakly. Gram...Lenora looked at me in concern.

"Come on dear, that sun and the excitement of the day must be too much. You look ready to keel over." She grabbed my hand and brought me down the driveway that ran alongside the house towards the kitchen entrance at the back end. She opened the porch door and then the sliding door that separated the sun porch from the actual kitchen.

"Beatrice? Dear, I brought company." She called out as she put mo-Lydia down. A young woman who I easily recognized as my grandmother walked down a hallway towards us, a baby in her arms. In one of her hands was a lit cigarette. I wrinkled my nose at the smell it created.

"Who's this ma?" Nana...Beatrice asked, taking a drag.

"This is Carli. She just saved your youngest daughter from being hit by a car downtown." At that moment, the sound of feet running down the hall sounded, bringing with it two small children, looking about 3 and 4 years old. I gaped as I gazed upon my Aunt Dahlia and Uncle John as children. John even had the same giant glasses on that he did as an adult.

"Lydia died?" Dahlia asked.

"No, Dahlia. Obviously not, since she's right here." Gr-Lenora said exasperatedly. Dahlia pouted.

"Aw, I wanted her dolls!" She whined, stamping her foot. I grimaced. Geez. I knew my mom and my aunt hated each other as kids well into their teens, but I didn't know it started this early.

"Lydia! What did I tell you about busy streets! You are in so much trouble." Beatrice shouted, angry. Lydia's eyes started welling up again at the yelling.

"Hey, it wasn't her fault! The car was going way too fast for the normal speed limit. There is no reason to yell." I tried, only to have her ire turned on me.

"Who the hell are you to lecture me on how I discipline my kids? I-"

"Beatrice! Enough!" Lenora firmly stated, cutting her off. Beatrice glowered before shoving the squirming baby into Lenora's arms and storming off down the hall, opening another pack of cigarettes.

"I'm sorry about her. This is her fourth child in the span of five years and she isn't handling the responsibility well. Here, could you take him? His name is Paul. I can whip something up real quick." She asked, holding out the baby.

"No wai-and she's already gone." I protested, staring down at my infant uncle. I probably looked strange, standing stiffly in the kitchen with a baby squirming about in my arms. The only time I had been around a baby that I could remember was my cousin Hayden when he was born, and even then, my mom was always holding him. I would normally refuse to avoid being spit up on. A tug on my dress pulled my attention from my uncle. Looking down, I met my aunt's eyes.

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

"I'm...oh one second…" I grumbled, trying to juggle Paul into one arm. The hand finally free, I held it out to Dahlia. "I'm Carli. What's yours?" She eyed my hand before taking it. I grimaced slightly as the clammy and slightly sticky child hand touched mine. 'What the hell is on her hand?'

"I'm Dahlia. That's John." She said, pointing to the boy who was losing interest and looking towards the exit to the living room. I smiled at them before retracting my hand.

"Nice to meet you two." The conversation ended there, leaving an awkward silence. After staring at me a bit longer, Dahlia shrugged and left the room, followed by her brother. I looked back down at my uncle.

"Just you and me then, huh?" Paul simply looked at me before proceeding to spit up all over himself and my front. My eyes widened.

"...LENORA?"

30 minutes later

Bless my great-grandma. Upon seeing the mess Paul caused, she lent me one of her old dresses while mine was getting cleaned.

"It's no trouble dear. I hope you don't mind borrowing some of my old things. Beatrice's just won't fit right." She had said, handing me a dress that looked like it was from the '40s. I didn't protest considering I felt like Agent Carter while wearing it.

We were all currently sitting in the dining room eating sandwiches and carrot cuts. Beatrice was off in the living room taking drags from another cigarette. Lydia, having calmed down from earlier, was chatting away at me about things like her dolls and their family's cats. I smiled indulgently and nodded every now and then to show I was paying attention.

"So, Carli," Lenora interrupted. I turned and met her inquisitive look.

"Yes?" I asked, shifting awkwardly under her gaze.

"Tell me about yourself. You seem rather young to be out by yourself." She pressed. I grimaced.

"Well, I'm almost 19. I'm from Virginia, and I've been traveling with a group of friends until we recently got separated. I hope to be meeting up with them soon." I nodded, finishing my mini-bio. Lenora hummed.

"Well, that was mighty fine, what you did today. I am truly grateful." She said, smiling. I blushed but smiled back. She opened her mouth again, most likely to ask more questions when a knock at the kitchen door sounded. Lenora looked in its direction, frowning.

"Now who could that be?" She asked rhetorically, standing, and heading to answer it. For a minute or so, we could hear a muffled conversation going on before Lenora came back in.

"There are some government men at the door. Is there some truth to your self-proclaimed psychopathic tendencies?" She asked, slightly teasing, but tense. I shot up from my seat, the chair screeching as it shoved backwards. My eyes widened. The children at the table grew quiet. Paul started to whimper as he felt the tension in the air.

"...I swear, I mean no harm to your family," I promised, hands raised in a placating manner. Lenora stood stiffly in the dining room entryway, eying me. She then stood to the side

"I think it would be best if you go out and speak with these men." I sighed but nodded. As I made my way to the door, I could hear Lenora ordering the children to their rooms. I slowly opened the door to the porch and then opened the door to the outside.

"Hello, Crowley." I greeted. Canton grimaced.

"That's not my name, doll. We've been over this." I smirked slightly at his annoyed look. It disappeared though as I took in his look.

"Is it time?" He nodded. One of his men pulled out a black body bag.

"No more running, Ms. Steinberg."

"Ok. Just… not here. They...they don't need to see this." He nodded.

"Of course." He snapped his fingers at his men. One of them rolled back up the body bag as the other came forward to grab me.

"She'w be alwight, wight?" A young voice called out. I spun around in surprise. Lydia stood in the doorway to the house.

"Lydia!" Lenora scolded, coming up behind her to bring her back in.

"Wiw she?" Lydia asked, looking at Canton. He shifted before smiling placatingly.

"She's in good hands." Lydia scrunched up her face before nodding decisively and letting her grandmother bring her back inside. Lenora looked once more back at me and smiled before she too disappeared inside.

"Let's go" Canton ordered. The man holding my arm made to lead me forward but I jerked my arm away.

"I can walk just fine by myself." I snapped. The man looked at Canton. He rolled his eyes.

"Just make sure she doesn't run. Otherwise, she's fine." Nodding, the man and the other guy with the body bag took spots behind me. We slowly but surely made our way through Reading. If it were not lunchtime, we would have garnered many odd looks from the town residents. After what seemed like forever, we reached an empty field on the edge of town. We slowed to a stop in the center. I closed my eyes and sighed before turning around to face Canton.

"Nothing personal, doll. It's just business." Canton said unapologetically before pulling out his gun and shooting me.

I came to as I felt myself being dragged into a room before being unceremoniously dropped to the floor.

"Is there a reason you're doing this?" I could hear, slightly muffled through the bag.

"I want you to know where you stand."

"In a cell."

"In the perfect cell. Nothing can penetrate these walls. Not a sound, not a radio wave, not the tiniest particle of anything." I could hear boots as whoever dragged me in left, followed by a swish of a door closing.

"In here, you're literally cut off from the rest of the universe. So, I guess they can't hear us, right?"

"Good work, Canton. Door sealed?"

"You bet." The room suddenly burst into action as zippers came undone and fabric and chains fell to the ground. I groaned and squirmed, trying to get feeling back into my limbs. My bag filled with light as it was opened. Once my eyes adjusted, I saw Eleven's bearded face grinning down at me, slightly concerned.

"Are you okay?" I grimaced, sitting up.

"I think so?" His smile grew at my answer. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead before getting up and heading to help Amy and Rory. I sat there gaping, a blush growing on my face.

"Finally!" Amy exclaimed as she came out of her bag

"These things could really do with air holes," Rory added, glaring at Canton.

"Never had a complaint before." Canton shrugged, not caring.

"Isn't it going to look odd that you're staying in here with us?" Amy pondered as she stood up.

"Odd, but not alarming. They know there's no way out of this place." Canton dismissed.

"Exactly. Whatever they might think we're doing in here, they know we're not going anywhere." Eleven stated before leaning to the side. I jumped up in shock only to sigh in relief when he landed on the invisible TARDIS. He snapped his fingers, opening the door.

"Shall we?" He grinned. We all raced towards the TARDIS.

"What about Doctor Song?" Canton asked as he entered. "She dove off a rooftop!" The Doctor waved him off.

"Don't worry. She does that. Amy, Rory, open all the doors to the swimming pool." He ordered. He then landed the TARDIS and opened the front doors. No sooner had he done that, River dived past us all the way to the pool. A resounding splash sounded.

"I give it an 8 for execution. Too much of a splash though!" I called out. River's laugh answered back.

"So, we know they're everywhere. Not just a landing party, an occupying force, and they 'have been here a very, very long time. But nobody knows that, because no one can remember them." A freshly shaven Eleven lectured as River came in, towel drying her hair. She came to stand by me and gave me a grin that I happily returned.

"So, what are they up to?" Canton asked.

"No idea. But the good news is, we've got a secret weapon." The Doctor stated, pulling up an image on the monitor. We all moved closer to see it.

"Apollo 11's your secret weapon?" River asked, incredulous.

"No, no. It's not Apollo 11. That would be silly." Eleven protested. "It's Neil Armstrong's foot." I snorted while River rolled her eyes. He pouted before turning back to the console. He fiddled around with some buttons before suddenly spinning around and injecting Canton's hand with something

"Ow!" Canton yelled out in shock, jerking back. Eleven grinned in triumph.

"Ha. So, three months. What have we found out?" He asked, spinning about, approaching the Ponds.

"Well, they are everywhere. Every state in America. Ahh." Rory hissed in pain as he was injected.

"Not just America, the entire world." Eleven corrected. He then moved towards Amy.

"There's a greater concentration here, though." River tacked on, supporting her dad.

"Ow!" Amy exclaimed. The Doctor rubbed the hand soothingly. The two of them started whispering to one another. Rory approached, looking concerned.

"What's up?" The two broke apart.

"Nothing. Really, nothing. Seriously." She said, rather unconvincingly. Rory let it go, though.

"So, you've seen them, but you don't remember them," Canton stated. I raised my hand slightly.

"Actually, I…" River cut me off.

"You've seen them, too. That night at the warehouse, remember? While you were pretending to hunt us down, we saw hundreds of those things. We still don't know what they look like." I tried again.

"They look like…" Rory this time.

"It's like they edit themselves out of your memory as soon as you look away. The exact second you're not looking at them, you can't remember anything." I rubbed my arm, shrinking back into the wall. 'I guess it's not important…' I thought, looking at the ground.

"Sometimes you feel a bit sick, though, but not always." Amy grimaced.

"So that's why you marked your skin," Canton recalled, suddenly understanding.

"Only way we'd know if we'd had an encounter," Amy confirmed. Canton looked in my direction confused but turned back to Amy.

"How long have they been here?" He asked.

"That's what we've spent the last three months trying to find out," Amy revealed to him.

"Not easy, if you can't remember anything you discover," Rory added. Canton nodded.

"How long do you think?" He wondered. River made her way to the monitor again.

"As long as there's been something in the corner of your eye, or creaking in your house, or breathing under your bed, or voices through a wall. They've been running your lives for a very long time now, so keep this straight in your head. We are not fighting an alien invasion, we're leading a revolution. And today, the battle begins." Eleven said, getting up in Canton's face.

"How?" He asked, confused. Eleven grinned.

"Like this." He spun about and suddenly injected River. She glared at him.

"Ow!" Eleven laughed.

"Nanorecorder. Fuses with the cartilage in your hand." He then injected himself. "Ow!" he hissed. "And it tunes itself directly to the speech centers in your brain. It'll pick up your voice, no matter what. Telepathic connection. So, the moment you see one of the creatures, you activate it," He pressed the center of his palm, "And describe aloud exactly what you're seeing." He explained, repressing his palm.

"And describe aloud exactly what you're seeing." Eleven's grainy voice called out.

"Because the moment you break contact, you're going to forget it happened. The light will flash if you've left yourself a message. You keep checking your hand if you've had an encounter. That's the first you'll know about it." Eleven explained.

"Why didn't you tell me this before we started?" Canton asked. Eleven made his way back to the console and began pressing buttons.

"I did, but even information about these creatures erases itself over time. I couldn't refresh it because I couldn't talk to you." He said facing Canton again. He then glanced behind him. Canton followed his eyes and jumped back in shock. A Silence stood there.

"My God, how did it get in here?" He exclaimed.

"Keep eye contact with the creature and, when I say, turn back, and when you do, straighten my bow tie," Eleven said, completely calm. Canton then looked back to the Doctor and adjusted the Doctor's bow tie. His fear had completely disappeared and he was calm. The Ponds, River, and Eleven were still staring at the image of the Silence. Canton furrowed his brows in confusion.

"What? What are you staring at?" He asked, looking around at us.

"Look at your hand." River ordered, dead serious. I could see a red flash coming from Canton's hand where I stood.

"Why is it doing that?" He asked, confused.

"What does it mean if the light's flashing? What did I just tell you?" Eleven reminded him.

"I haven't-"

"Play it." Eleven interrupted Canton's protest. He stared at the Time Lord, incredulous, but did what he said.

"My God, how did it get in here?"

"Keep eye contact with the creature and, when I say, turn back, and when you do, straighten my bow tie." Canton slowly turned in horror.

"What? What are you staring at?"

"Look at your hand."

"It's a hologram, extrapolated from the photo on Amy's phone. Take a good, long look." He explained before shutting off the image. Everyone blinked.

"You just saw an image of one of the creatures we're fighting. Describe it to me." He ordered, snapping.

"I can't," Canton uttered.

"No. Neither can I." He opened his mouth to say more but I quietly interrupted.

"They're, um, tall and thin. Kind of like Slenderman? But with bulbous heads and three-fingered hands. Their eyes are sunken and they don't have mouths unless they're...using…" I trailed off, uncomfortable by the stares. River smiled at me in reassurance. She already knew I could see them and remember them since we had traveled together originally.

Eleven rushed towards me, sonic in hand. He scanned me up and down before grabbing the sides of my face and looking me dead in the eyes.

"What did you say?" He quietly asked. I gulped.

"Uh, they're tall and th-" He cut me off.

"I know what you said, I just wanted to make sure I heard you correctly." He searched my eyes. "Why can you remember?" He asked.

"We believe it could have something to do with her interdimensional traveling," River interrupted, startling the two of us. She walked towards us and stopped by my side, raising an eyebrow at Eleven. She looked between the two of us for a moment or two.

"Are you going to let her go?" The Doctor's hands jerked from my face like they were on fire. He smiled sheepishly at us, eyes excited.

"Sorry." He then grinned happily at me. "HaHA!" I eeped as he suddenly picked me up in a spinning hug. "Just when I think the surprises stop, you spring something like this!" He placed me down and smacked a kiss on my forehead before bouncing back to the console. I stood there frozen as he continued to explain things to the Ponds and Canton. River laughed at my face.

"Aw, I miss young you!" She cooed, kissing my cheek. She winking at me before following the Doctor.

Carli .exe has stopped working.

I stared out into the storm from the inside of the car as we pulled up to the Graystark Hall Orphanage. Canton had the radio playing the news on the Apollo launch. He put the car in park turned off the engine. Unbuckling, he turned to Amy.

"Ready. Check." Any looked at her palm.

"Clear." Canton looked at his own.

"Clear."

"Clear, since no one asked." I piped up from the backseat. Amy snorted while Canton rolled his eyes.

Once leaving the car, we hurried up to the front stoop and knocked on the door. After a bit of waiting, the door creaked open slightly.

"Hello?" A sunken looking old man asked, eyes shifting about. Canton flashed his badge.

"FBI. You must be Doctor Renfrew. Can we come in?" Renfrew looked concerned.

"The children are asleep." Amy smiled reassuringly.

"We'll be very quiet." Renfrew hesitated.

"Is there a problem?" Canton

"It's about a missing child," Canton answered. Renfrew looked confused

"What are you... Yes, come in, please. This way." He left, leaving us to open the door and enter. We followed him up the winding stairs. "Please excuse the writing. It keeps happening. I try to clean it up." I looked sadly upon the red words written in desperation. Renfrew started to scrub at one of them.

"It's the kids, yeah? They did that." Amy asked. He slowly nodded.

"Yes, the children. It must be, yes. Anyway, my office is this way." We could see 'GET OUT' written on his wrist. We exchanged glances as we followed him further up the stairs.

"We nearly didn't come to this place. I understood Graystark Hall was closed in 67." Canton stated, looking around.

"That's the plan, yes."

"The plan?" Amy asked, confused.

"Not long now." Renfrew sounded wistful.

"It's 1969," Canton stated.

"No, no. We close in 67. That's the plan, yes." Renfrew corrected.

"You misunderstood me, sir. It's 1969 now." Renfrew looked confused. Destress started to grow in his voice.

"Why are you saying that? Of course, it isn't."

"July." Canton further explained. Renfrew looked heartbroken.

"My office is this way. This way." He then ran up the stairs, leaving us behind.

"I'll check upstairs," Amy stated. I raised my hand.

"Me too." Canton nodded.

"Be careful." He ordered, pointing his flashlight at us.

As Amy and I wandered about, we could see more messages from the caretaker on the walls. Amy pushed open a door and the first thing we saw was a rocking horse rocking by itself.

"Nope" I turned to leave but Amy stopped me by gripping my arm.

"You are not leaving me alone up here!" She hissed.

"I don't have to! We can both leave! Let's go! I don't want to be in the first five minutes of a Supernatural episode!" I hissed back. Amy glared at me before rolling her eyes and continuing into the room. I groaned but followed. Amy looked around for a moment before pulling out her phone.

"I think we've found the place she was taken from." As she conversed with the Doctor, I looked around myself. I happened to glance up and gasped in horror at the hoard of Silence hanging there.

"Fuck this shit, I am OUT!" I whispered. As I backed slowly out of the room, I tried to get Amy's attention.

"Because those things have been here. But the whole place is deserted. There's just one guy here and I think he's lost it."

"Amy!" I hissed. She waved me off, an annoyed look on her face. At this point, I was just outside the room.

"Where are you?"

"AMY!" I shouted. She hung up the phone and spun back to face me.

"What?!" Just like that, the door slammed shut, locking Amy inside.

"AMY!" I shouted, pounding at the door. I couldn't hear anything for what felt like forever when suddenly the door swung open and I fell in face first.

"Why are you shouting?" Amy asked. I just groaned in response. Rolling her eyes, she helped me off the ground and led us further up the stairs.

We had reached the attic when Amy suddenly stopped, staring in confusion at a door.

"Hello. Who are you?" She asked, moving closer to the door.

"Amy?" I asked cautiously. Amy went and opened the door and entered the room, looking around inside.

"Hello? I saw you looking through the hatch." She trailed off in confusion. My eyes widened in understanding. I had forgotten that would happen.

"Carli, who was that?" Amy asked, looking at me. I tried to school my face into one of confusion.

"Who was who?" I responded. She looked at me in exasperation.

"That woman! In the hatch in the door!" She exclaimed.

"Amy, there was no hatch or woman," I answered, grimacing internally at having to lie to Amy. She eyed me with narrowed eyes and seemed to be about to respond before something behind me caught her eye.

She walked slowly towards a dresser covered in framed photos. She looked through them and froze at the last one. She spun towards me, photo in hand.

"How? How can that be me?" She asked, utterly confused. I was about to respond but the Astronaut entered the room. Amy spun around and gasped in shock.

"Who are you? I don't understand, so just tell me who you are." Amy pleaded. The astronaut raised its gold visor revealing little Melody Pond. There's a crack in the helmet.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shoot you. I'm glad I missed. But you killed the Doctor. Or you're going to kill him. But who are you? Just please tell me, because I don't understand." Amy continued to plead. I grabbed Amy's arm to hold her back.

"Please help me! Help me! Please!" Melody cried out. Behind her, two Silence entered.

Amy and I screamed.

3rd Person POV:

"Help me! Please, I can't, I can't see. Somebody help me!"

Canton raced up the stairs. He reached the door Amy was calling from only to find it locked. She frantically tried the knob

"Amy! Amy, can you hear me? Is Carli with you? Amy, I'm going to try to blow the lock. I need you to stand back." He stepped back and pulled out his gun, ready to shoot the door open. Eleven appeared out of nowhere, River and Rory in tow.

"Okay, gun down. I've got it." Canton relented and stepped back. The Doctor raced to the door and began to sonic the lock. Rory race over as well, calling out to the inside of the room.

"Amy, we're here! Are you okay?" He worried.

"I can't see" Amy called out. Eleven finally got the door. They burst in, unknowing that the girl they were originally looking for was hiding around the corner.

"Where is she, Doctor?" Rory asked, panicked, not seeing his wife anywhere in the room. The only thing was an empty spacesuit. River raced to it and looked inside.

"It's empty." She called out.

"It's dark. So dark. I don't know where I am. Please, can anybody hear me?" Amy's voice sounded out. They looked down to the floor and found her nanorecorder flashing on the floor. Rory shakily knelt and picked it up.

"They took this out of her. How did they do that, Doctor? Why can I still hear her?" He asked, voice wavering.

"Is it a recording?" River asked. Eleven shook his head.

"Err, it defaults to live. This is current. Wherever she is right now, this is what she's saying." He said, still pacing the room.

"Amy, can you hear me? We're coming for you. Wherever you are, we're coming, I swear." Rory spoke into the recorder.

"She can't hear you. I'm so sorry. It's one way." The Doctor tried telling him. Rory shook his head.

"She can always hear me, Doctor. Always. Wherever she is, and she always knows that I am coming for her. Do you understand me? Always." He protested.

"Doctor, are you out there? Can you hear me? Doctor? Oh, God. Please, please, Doctor, just get me out of this." Rory froze before looking frigidly up at the Time Lord.

"He's coming. I'll bring him, I swear." He stated. River suddenly looked around.

"Where's Carli?" She asked aloud. Everyone began to look around the room trying to find the American girl.

"She was with Amy," Canton stated, eyes slowly filling with horror. The Doctor's face grew stormy. He shared a glance with River and she glared back, nodding.

"Now this. This makes things simple. Very, very, simple." He ground out before storming from the room.

Carli POV:

I slowly came to, groaning aloud at the sharp pain pulsing through my head. I opened my eyes slowly to adjust to the light shining in my face. I could barely make out a Silence standing in front of me.

"Ugh, you assholes." I closed my eyes again to avoid looking at it.

"You are Carli Steinberg."

"No shit Sherlock," I grumbled. My eyes shot open. "Question: How did you fuckers manage to clean up the melted flesh from the floor so fast? You had maybe a minute max before Canton got upstairs."

"You will sleep now." It said pointing at me. I immediately felt tired.

"Well fuck you too" I slurred out before falling back unconscious.

"You will sleep now. Sleep." Ew, them again.

"No." Hey, that sounded like Amy.

"Sleep."

"No. Get off me. No. No!" Yup, that's Amy. I peeled my eyes open and blearily looked over to see Amy strapped to a table with a Silence standing over her.

"Sleep." It ordered again. Amy squirmed in her restraints.

"No!" With that, the TARDIS materialized. The door swung open to reveal the Doctor.

"Oh, interesting. Very Aickman Road. I've seen one of these before. Abandoned. I wonder how that happened? Oh, well I suppose I'm about to find out. Rory, River, keep one Silent in eyeshot at all times." I could see River with her gun trained on the Silence. Rory stood in the doorway behind Eleven.

"Oh, hello. Sorry, you were in the middle of something. I just had to say, though, have you seen what's on the telly?" He asked, carrying around a TV. He then caught sight of me and Amy. "Oh, hello, Carli, Amy. Are you all right? Want to watch some television? Ah. Now, stay where you are." He warned. The Silence creeping up on him stopped as River cocked her gun.

"Because look at me, I'm confident. You want to watch that, me when I'm confident. Oh, and this is my friend River. Nice hair, clever, has her own gun, and unlike me, she really doesn't mind shooting people. I shouldn't like that. Kind of do, a bit." River grinned at him as she came up to cover his back.

"Thank you, sweetie."

"I know you're team players and everything, but she'll definitely kill at least the first three of you." River scoffed.

"Well, the first seven, easily." Eleven's eyes widened.

"Seven? Really?" She smirked

"Oh, eight for you and Carli, honey."

"Stop it." He admonished.

"Make me." She teased. I snickered.

"Yeah? Well, maybe I will." Amy groaned.

"Is this really important flirting? Because I feel like Carli and I should be higher on the list right now." He shook his head, snapping out of it.

"Yes. Right. Sorry. As I was saying, my naughty friend here is going to kill the first three of you to attack, plus him behind, so maybe you want to draw lots or have a quiz." Rory had sped forward and was working on Amy's restraints.

"Or maybe you could just listen a minute. Because all I really want to do is accept your total surrender and then I'll let you go in peace. Yes, you've been interfering in human history for thousands of years. Yes, people have suffered and died, but what's the point in two hearts, if you can't be a bit forgiving, now and then? Ooo, the Silence. You guys take that seriously, don't you? Okay, you got me. I'm lying. I'm not really going to let you go that easily. Nice thought, but it's not Christmas. First, you tell me about the girl. Who is she? Why is she important? What's she for?" He rambled, walking around the room.

"And we're getting a picture on the TV." A voice sounded from the TV.

"Guys, sorry, but you're way out of time. Now, come on. A bit of history for you. Aren't you proud? Because you helped. Now, do you know how many people are watching this live on the telly? Half a billion. And that's nothing because the human race will spread out among the stars. You just watch them fly. Billions and billions of them, for billions and billions of years, and every single one of them at some point in their lives will look back at this man, taking that very first step, and they will never, ever forget it." He said glaring at the slender aliens.

"Okay, engine stop. ATA on the descent. Modes control both auto. Descent engine command off."

"Oh. But don't forget this bit. Ready?" He said, pulling out his phone and calling Canton.

"That's one small step for a man-"

"You should kill us all on sight." Eleven grinned darkly at the Silence.

"You've given the order for your own execution, and the whole planet just heard you."

"-One giant leap for mankind."

"And one whacking great kick up the backside for the Silence. You just raised an army against yourself and now, for a thousand generations, you're going to be ordering them to destroy you every day. How fast can you run? Because today's the day the human race throw you off their planet. They won't even know they're doing it. I think, quite possibly, the word you're looking for right now is oops. Run!" He said, grimacing as lightning began to flash around the room.

"Guys, I mean us. Run!" River began to shoot the Silence.

"I can't get her out!" Rory cried out.

"Go. Go!" Amy tried to order him. He shook his head.

"We are not leaving without you." He insisted.

"Look, will you just get your stupid face out of here." Rory stood there gaping like a fish. I rolled my eyes. I mean, come on!

"Run! Into the Tardis, quickly." River called out, still shooting. The Doctor ran over and freed Amy and me before he and Rory led the two of us into the ship.

"Are you alright? He whispered to me once he got me inside the TARDIS. I nodded, giving him a small smile. He grinned, kissed me on the head, and raced back out to River.

"Don't let them build to full power." He called out.

"I know. There's a reason why I'm shooting, honey. What are you doing?" She asked.

"Helping!"

"You've got a screwdriver. Go build a cabinet." She shouted back Eleven gasped, insulted.

"That's really rude!"

"Learn how to drive!" With one last glare in her direction, he ran back into the TARDIS to get them ready to dematerialize. A minute later, River and Rory came in, closing the door behind them. River immediately took over the controls, shooing the Doctor away.

"You can let me fly it." He insisted.

"Yeah, or we could go where we're supposed to." She teased. He grumbled but let her be. He quickly came to where I was sitting and knelt beside me.

"Are you sure you're alright?' He questioned, looking me in the eye, face filled with concern. I smiled before hugging him.

"I'm perfect. Don't worry so much." I teased. I chuckled softly before hugging me tighter.

"There will never come a day where I won't worry about you." He whispered. I just hummed in response. We hugged in silence for a moment before my arm began to fill with pins and needles. I hissed, backing out of the hug as it started to burn. I looked up at Eleven. He grimaced.

"I guess I'll see you soon," I stated, trying to get him to smile. I worked slightly.

"See you soon." He soon faded out into nothingness.

I slowly came to in a forest. I groaned as awareness came back to me. I made to get up and try to figure out where I was when a voice called out to me.

"Carli? Is that you?" I turned my head towards the voice. My eyes widened in surprise.

"Ianto?"

Chapter Text

Previously:

I slowly came to in a forest. I groaned as awareness came back to me. I made to get up and try to figure out where I was when a voice called out to me.

"Carli? Is that you?" I turned my head towards the voice. My eyes widened in surprise.

"Ianto?"

"Ianto!" I grinned. He looks even more adorable than he does on Torchwood! I named my coffee maker after him. Taped pictures on it and everything. We kept it in my Latin class in high school. He smiled back at me and pulled me into a hug. I squealed internally

"Hello, hyfryd. How have you been?" He asked, pulling away. I shrugged, still grinning.

"You know, met Slenderman, kinda. Got dissected! That was fun... Um... OH, and I learned French!" I said happily. Ianto looked at me, eyes wide in concern.

"Dissec-Dissected?!" I nodded, looking around the wooded area we were standing in.

"Yup. Hey, where is everyone?" Ianto narrowed his eyes at me.

"Back that way," He said, pointing behind him. "But don't think that you can change the subject on something like that!" I hummed noncommittally.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go!" I grabbed his hand and began pulling him in the direction he pointed. I was practically skipping once I saw the tree line and started hearing voices.

"What's the matter with a hotel?" Ooh, there's Owen.

"People are going missing 'round here. Do you really wanna stay in a place run by strangers?" Jack!

"Oh, because sleeping outside is going to be a lot safer." You right.

"No other race in the universe goes camping. Celebrate your own uniqueness." We finally broke the tree line and saw the Torchwood gang. I grinned even wider, practically vibrating in excitement.

"Hey everyone! Look who I found!" Ianto called. I felt my face grow warm when they turned in our direction and look straight at me. Jack grinned widely.

"Shortstack!" I raised my eyebrows at that.

"Excuse you, I'm 5'4"!" I shouted back as he came closer.

"That's still shorter than me sweetheart. C'mere!" He was right in front of us now, arms spread out wide. I squealed happily before rushing to hug him. Jack was always one of my favorite characters in the Doctor Who universe. His character and the actor who portrays him helped me be comfortable with my bisexuality when I was just starting to come out.

"How have you been, short stack?" He asked. Ianto piped up from behind.

"She apparently got dissected." I could feel Jack tense. He pulled away from the hug and gripped me by the shoulders, looking me up and down.

"Owen! Get over here! Carli got dissected." A chorus of "what?!" followed as Owen rushed over, medkit in hand. I rolled my eyes, uncomfortable by their worrying.

"I'm fine, honestly! It happened months ago!" I tried to explain, shifting awkwardly. Owen huffed in annoyance when he heard that.

"Have you seen a proper doctor since then?" I opened my mouth to confirm when Jack jumped in.

"One with a medical degree who doesn't gallivant about the universe?" I deflated slightly.

"No..." I muttered. "But a doctor did see me! Technically, maybe."

"Oh yeah? Who and or when was that?"

"A Silurian. Granted he was the one who did the dissecting but he didn't know any better, I think. Oh, and a nurse at the White House when we met Nixon looked me over!" Owen scoffed, forcing me to sit on a log at the campsite.

"Well forgive me if I don't trust the expertise of an alien who doesn't have knowledge in human anatomy or an outdated nurse," I grumbled, but let him check. I glared at the grin Ianto gave me before flipping him off.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Owen asked, annoyed. He glared down at the tent on the ground before kicking it. Tosh stood up from nailing in a peg and turned to face him.

"Need a hand getting it up, Owen?" I snickered. Owen glared in my direction before looking back at Tosh.

"If I did, I wouldn't ask you." He kicked it again before starting to unravel it. I rolled my eyes before turning back to the peg I was hammering into the ground. Ianto stood up, having finished his last peg.

"Some pieces are missing!" Owen called out in annoyance.

"No. I checked." Ianto replied before going inside one of the other tents. I stopped paying attention for a bit before I tuned back in to hear Gwen whining.

"Oh, come on. It's just a bit of fun. Who was the last person you snogged?" Owen looked up in annoyance from where he was building his tent before stomping over.

"You even sound like an eight-year-old the hell says snog?"

"Mine was Rhys," Gwen said, smiling. Owen raised his eyebrow sarcastically.

"Yeah, well, there's a surprise." Gwen glared at him before turning to Tosh.

"Tosh, your go."

"It's easy for you." She protested.

"Oh, come on. Spill the beans!" Gwen pushed. Ianto walked over carrying a wooden table.

"Owen." Said man looked up in confusion.

"What?"

"Really?" Gwen's playful attitude did a complete 180. Owen grimaced.

"Tosh, love, in your dreams."

"Three am, Christmas Eve, in front of the Millennium Centre, waiting for a cab. I had mistletoe." Tosh finished, smiling slightly.

"Christmas. You've not had a snog since?" He asked, incredulous.

"No." We all sat down on the benches we had placed.

"Wow. Lucky me, eh?" He said, awkwardly.

"So, who was yours?" Tosh asked, smiling. Owen eyed Gwen. I snickered silently at how quickly her face dropped when she realized what he was going to say. He pointed at her with the utensils he was holding.

"Gwen, actually." Tosh's face dropped slightly, her smile becoming more forced.

"When was this?" She turned to Gwen.

"It was complicated." I could feel the tension in the air.

"Didn't take you long to get your feet under the table," Tosh muttered. I choked on my spit.

"What?" Gwen asked. Tosh ignored her.

"So was it just a kiss, or..."

"Tosh, leave it," Gwen demanded. Jack had joined us by this point and sat down next to me.

"Jack?" Owen asked with a smirk. Jack eyed him in consideration.

"Are we including non-human lifeforms?"

"Oh, you haven't!" Gwen laughed. I snorted.

"Please, he goes for practically anything that moves," I smirked at him. He rolled his eyes and ruffled my hair. I scrunched up my nose in annoyance.

"You're a sick man, Harkness. That is disgusting." Owen exclaimed.

"I never know when he's joking," Gwen said in confusion. Jack just sat there laughing with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"It's my turn, is it? It was Lisa." The smiles were gone from everyone's faces. I got up and hugged him from the back, putting my face in his neck. He rubbed my arm in appreciation.

"Ianto, I'm sorry." Gwen tried.

"Sorry she's dead, or sorry you mentioned it?" He replied.

"I just didn't think." Yeah, no shit.

"You forgot," Ianto said, smiling emotionlessly.

"We should get some firewood," Owen said, standing up. Gwen shot up from her seat.

"I'll give you a hand." They rushed off into the woods. There was a tense silence in the air before I broke it.

"If it makes you feel any better, I've never kissed anyone." Ianto snorted, leaning his head against mine.

I grimaced, holding my nose as Owen and Jack examined the corpse we found on the forest floor. I had to look away when a maggot came out of the eye socket.

"Well, it's not Ellie Johnson, that's for sure. This is a male, late forties, fifties. Wasn't killed here. No blood spatter or signs of a struggle. Must have been brought here after he died." Owen stated.

"Why do that? It's not like they've tried to bury him here." Gwen asked.

"Maybe you disturbed them and they ran away," Tosh said snidely. I turned my head to hide my grin.

"Maybe it's a warning. Whoever's responsible marking out their territory." Ianto suggested from where he was putting caution tape.

"Cause of death?" Jack asked Owen.

"Impossible to say. The body's been stripped of the flesh and bodily organs so what is left is the carcass." He explained, gesturing to the body.

"Could the Weevils have come out this far?" Tosh asked. Jack shook his head.

"No, Weevils don't finish off their victims like this." We all looked at each other when we heard a car engine start up.

"Is that ours?" Gwen asked, hesitantly.

"Yeah," Jack said. We all ran back to the campsite. As we reached it, the Torchwood car was driving over the tents and then disappeared off down the road. I bent over, trying to catch my breath as the others stared after the car.

"Argh!" Jack groaned in frustration.

"All right. I've said I'm sorry." Owen said, picking up the broken pegs.

"Basic security protocols, Owen." Tosh scolded angrily.

"Oh, get off your high horse, Tosh. I was carrying that stupid gear."

"What, the whole time?"

"And then I was trying to put that bloody tent up. And then. Well, yeah, I sort of forgot that I'd left them in there. But I'm sorry. I'm human. I ballsed up." He exclaimed angrily.

"Looks like that body wasn't a warning. More of a decoy." Gwen looked at him from where she sat on the ground.

"That would mean we've been watched since we've arrived." Jack turned to Tosh as she walked up next to him.

"Tosh, can you get a tracking signal?" Ianto lifted his GPS thingy and waved it in the air.

"Already done. I took the liberty. It's currently three point four miles west from here." We all walked over to him. I rubbed my arms. I was getting cold and was still in the suit I wore with Amy and Canton. Jack pulled me to his side in an attempt to keep me warm. I smiled at him, grateful.

"Gunning at ninety, no doubt. You steal a piece of equipment like that, you drive straight on till morning." Owen said as he came over.

"Actually, no. It's been stationary for the past four minutes. I'd go so far as to say it was parked." Ianto said, looking at the device in his hands. Gwen opened a map and began looking at it.

"There's a small village in that area. Other than that, nothing for thirty miles." She stated, looking up. Tosh looked at Jack in concern.

"Call me suspicious, but this has all the hallmarks of a trap." Jack nodded slightly.

"Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing. Anyone fancy a walk?" I groaned as everyone began walking.

"Do we have to?" I called out.

"C'mon, Short Stack!" Jack called back to me. I groaned again, but followed.

Over three miles later, we finally got to the village. My knees ached terribly from the amount of walking. On the bright side, I was warm now. We stood on a hill overlooking the village. A single row of six terraced houses sat before us, with a couple of houses scattered further back.

"Why would anyone want to live out here?" Owen asked rhetorically. I shrugged, agreeing with him.

"Has the SUV moved?" Jack asked Ianto.

"Not for an hour now," Ianto replied, looking at his watch. We all started to head down into the village. As we got closer, we could see a water pump running water, a tractor, and a tap house behind it.

"Tosh, Short Stack, Ianto. Follow the signal, find the SUV. Owen, Gwen. Let's see if there's any room at the inn." Jack ordered. The three of them walked off while we walked in the opposite direction. I grimaced.

"Hasn't anyone watched Scooby-Doo? Never split up! It only leads to trouble and at least one person being kidnapped!" Owen and Tosh chucked as we continued forward.

As we got closer to the furthest buildings, Ianto looked back down at the GPS thingy.

"It's just half a mile up here." He said, pointing ahead of us.

"At least we've still got this. The rest of my stuff was in the vehicle." Tosh complained. I smiled slightly before stiffening as the hairs raised on the back of my neck. Someone was watching us. I turned my head in the direction it was coming from, but couldn't see anyone. Nervously, I stuck closer to Ianto. As we approached the building, Tosh kicked at a crate looking thing while Ianto tried the door. It rattled in its frame but stayed locked. We all jumped at the sound of a screech.

"What was that?" Tosh asked, startled.

"Just a fox or something. I'll check 'round the back." Ianto went around one side of the building while Tosh made her way towards the other side. I stuck close to Ianto.

"Yeah," Tosh confirmed as she walked away.

We slowly made our way around to the back. we turned the corner only to find Tosh holding her gun at us. I flinched back, holding my hands up, Ianto doing the same. Tosh relaxed upon seeing us. I grimaced at the dead birds and rabbits hanging around.

"Fuck this shit, I'm out." I sang quietly. Ianto began to walk up the slope behind the building. I followed behind him.

"We should carry on straight up there." He said, pointing further up the slope. Tosh didn't answer. We spun around, finding no one there.

"Tosh! Tosh! Tosh! Okay, okay." He pulled out his gun and cocked it. I took off my healed shoe and held it up as a weapon.

Weapons drawn and ready, we returned to the building. We slowly made our way down the alleyway along the side when something passed behind us. We spun around and made our way slowly back. Suddenly, something hard hit us from behind, knocking us to the ground.

A while after we were thrown into a basement by our masked attacker, Tosh began coming to on the ground. Ianto looked over at her from where he sat, a hook in his hands. I was pacing nearby.

"You know, I never liked camping." He said. I grimaced. I used to like camping. Not anymore. Tosh slowly stood up and began to lift her pant leg up to grab her gun. "Don't bother. They took the guns."

"Charming place they've got," Tosh said, pulling out a flashlight and looking around.

"Judging by the sound reverberations and the air quality, pretty deep underground. Chances of rescue?" He asked as Tosh tried the door.

"We won't need rescuing. I haven't met a cell yet I couldn't get out of." I paused in my pacing, looking at her in shock. Damn, girl. What kinda shit do you get up to in your free time?

"What were they?" Ianto questioned. Tosh made her way towards a source of light.

"I don't know. It happened too quickly. Are you worried?" She asked.

"A little. That body we saw in the forest." Ianto trailed off. I gaged a bit as Tosh pulled her hand away from the shoot to find blood all over it.

"Don't think about it. See if you can get that light to work, huh?" She said quickly. Ianto stood up and made his way over to where she indicated.

"You're used to this, aren't you?" He questioned, fiddling with the bulb. I came up behind him as a spot so he wouldn't fall over. "That facial expression you all share when things get a bit out of control, like you enjoy it. Like you get a high from the danger."

"You want me to apologize for that?" Tosh asked, incredulous.

"Don't you ever wonder how long you can survive before you go mad, or get killed, or lose a loved one?" Ianto stressed, getting closer to her. Tosh whipped around to face him.

"It's worth the risk to protect people." She snapped.

"And who protects us?" He said, just as angrily. I put my hand on Ianto's shoulder, gazing at him in worry. He patted my hand as he and Tosh relaxed from their anger.

"God, I'm hungry," Tosh said, trying to make light of the situation.

"You should have had that cheeseburger," Ianto replied. She scoffed slightly.

"Not that hungry. What's that?" She asked as her flashlight fell on a shoe. Ianto and I came up behind her.

"You've found something?" He asked as we knelt slightly.

"It's just a shoe. Wait, there's another. There's dozens of them." She moved her flashlight along the wall, showing shelves covered in different people's shoes.

"Oh, my God," Ianto said, horrified.

"How many people have been down here?" Tosh asked, shining her light on the massive pile of clothing nearby.

"And what happened to them?" Ianto muttered. I shivered in fear.

"Is that a fridge?" Tosh walked over to a white fridge that we hadn't seen before. She opened it and I started to dry heave. It was full of meat. Human meat. Tosh slammed it shut.

"Tosh, what is it, what's in there? Tell me." He walked over to the fridge. Tosh and I tried to push him back.

"Ianto, don't."

"I want to know." He shoved us out of the way and opened the fridge. He stared, frozen in horror.

"That's why there was nothing left on the body. They need to eat. We're food." Tosh explained, brokenly. Ianto slammed the fridge shut. We began to try frantically at the door.

"Got to be three steel bolts. Top, middle and bottom." Tosh stated, looking around the sides of the door.

"How are you at calculating target stress points? Find the weakest point, bit of brute force?" Ianto tried, looking at her.

"Nice thought, but it's reinforced." She negated. Ianto began to kick at the door. Suddenly a small hatch opened in the door. We quickly moved to the sides as someone peered in. The door slowly opened and a woman came in, shotgun pointing out ahead of her. Ianto grabbed her from behind and tried to wrestle the gun from her. She got the upper hand and backed away, huffing for air.

"Get off. Look at me, you idiot. I'm not gonna hurt you." She scolds. Tosh and I came forward in a defensive stance, hooks as our weapons.

"You've got a gun." Tosh protested. The woman raised her arms up in fear, holding onto the barrel of the gun with one hand.

"I promise, I promise." Tosh eyed her before slowly backing up.

"Okay, okay. Give her some space." Ianto and I backed up as well. The woman lowered her hands.

"Thank you. Were you injured when they took you? Can I see? I'm a nurse." She slowly approached me and began to reach out for my face. Ianto stepped in her way before she got too close. She backed away again. "Okay. Okay, okay. Does anyone else know you're here? Have you managed to call for help?" She asked.

"We don't need any help. There's three more of us in the village." The woman slowly backed up, shaking her head slightly.

"I can't help you. I'm sorry."

"What d'you mean?" I asked.

"I've been sent to collect you. I've got to take you to them." She said, scared.

"Then tell us what's going on. We can help." Tosh tried, but the woman only scoffed.

"No one's safe. Every ten years it takes us again." Tosh inched forward.

"What takes you? What is it?" She asked.

"The Harvest." There was a tense silence after this. Ianto tried to make a break for the door, only to have the gun in the woman's hands pointed in his face. "No, please, you have to come with me." She swiveled the gun to Tosh and I and wouldn't move it until we dropped the meat hooks and followed her out the door.

"In there, please." The woman said, pointing her gun towards the living room. Tosh tried again.

"If you help us, we can stop all this. Please." The woman pushed her back with the gun.

"I'm sorry. Get back." We stood facing her, gun aimed right at us. I started feeling nauseous from a smell that was coming from behind us.

"Oh, God, that stench," Tosh said. We turned around and walked through the plastic covering that separated the rooms. Inside, there were bodies wrapped in plastic that were hanging from the ceiling. On the table, a bunch of tools and a jar with what looked like a heart in it sat, glinting dangerously in the light. My eyes started watering in fear as I clutched at Ianto. He looked just as scared as I feel.

"Tell us what these creatures are. Do they look like us?" Tosh asked, looking around in horror. We jumped in fear at the voice that sounded behind us.

"How else are we gonna look?" A man walked in and stood in the entryway. The woman backed up, grinning evilly at us and giggling. The man brought her into a kiss as we stared on in horror. I looked at Ianto and nodded my head in their direction. Thinking the same thing, he held up is hand and counted to three.

One.

Two.

Three!

On three we rushed at the two to overpower them. Or at least, that was the plan. Instead, the man broke away at the last second and punched Ianto's stomach, knocking him to the ground. The woman lifted her gun and whacked me in the head, sending me to the floor. I groaned as a loud ringing sounded in my ears. I blinked repeatedly to try to get my eyes to focus. At this point, the man had already handcuffed Ianto and was tying a rope around Tosh's hands.

"There are three more out there."

"Not a problem. How are they?" He came over to me and began binding my hands with rope as well.

"They're in a good state. I think they're the best we've ever had." I tried not to be proud of that.

"Yeah? Oh, I forgot to tell you, we caught the boy. Finally. Come on. Come on." The man talked over behind the table and lifted a younger man whilst taking the bag off his head.

"I won't tell anyone." The boy pleaded.

"Who is he?" Tosh asked. The man looked her dead in the eye.

"He's meat. I'm afraid we're all just meat." He walked through the plastic divider, his wife following behind. Ianto lead over to Tosh and I.

"Get ready to run." We stood up shakily as the man came back with a baseball bat.

"What're you going to do, put us on meat hooks?" Tosh asked. The man walked up to her until he was right in her face.

"No, not yet. You see, meat has to be tenderized first." As he said this, he traced down Tosh's front with the blood-covered bat. I gagged in disgust. "Good. Ready?" He moved to stand in front of Ianto. I tensed, prepared for Ianto to give us a signal. He smiled before headbutting the man. Welp. I guess that's the signal. Tosh and I rushed from the room, Ianto behind us.

"Go! Get the others!" Ianto yelled. I could hear a struggle behind us. I glanced behind me and let out a sob when I saw Ianto get punched to the ground by the man. As much as I wanted to help, I knew I had to keep running. Tosh and I ran into the woods next to the property, stumbling as roots tripped us up. We heard fast approaching footsteps behind us. Tosh and I looked around in a panic before seeing a deep ditch behind some bushed. We leaped behind them and settled right in time as we heard the footsteps stop near us.

"I know you're here." My heart pounded in fear as we saw him walk up beside us, machete in hand. He started doing a chirping sound like one would make when calling a cat. He backed away giggling as if this was fun for him. He disappeared from view. I started frantically shaking my head at Tosh as she began to inch closer to where he had stood. I watched, horrified as she got up and started running, only to be grabbed by the man. He threw her to the ground as she screamed.

"No one's coming for you." At that, Tosh kicked him between his legs and got up. I stood as well and we both ran further into the woods. After a few minutes, we hid behind trees as we caught our breaths. I glanced out from behind the tree only to swear when I saw him moving closer, eyes staring straight at me. Tosh and I broke into a desperate sprint. My breathing grew frantic as he started closing in. And then, Tosh tripped.

"Tosh!" I screamed, trying to halt in my tracks, only to slip on the wet leaves and slam my head on the ground. Groaning, I rolled over and looked over to Tosh.

"No more games. Hush now." Crying out as he started choking her, I tried to get up. I could barely do that with my arms tied behind me. I could only watch in horror. Movement caught my eye and nearly sobbed in relief when I saw Gwen and Owen with a police officer.

"Hush now." The man said before pointing a gun and flashlight at his head, nearly touching it.

"Get off her or I'll shoot. Get off her or I'll shoot!" Owen shouted. He didn't move, he only started giggling. Owen kicked him off her and kicked his shoulder down, keeping the gun trained on him. Gwen rushed over to Tosh.

"We saw the torchlight." She said, hugging Tosh to her as she gasped for air.

"They've murdered all the villagers. They're cannibalizing bodies!" Tosh sobbed into Gwen's shoulder.

"Put the gun down." The man ordered Owen. He scoffed.

"You're in no position to negotiate, mate."

"It's all right, it's all right. You're safe. You can arrest him now." Gwen said to the officer. I felt my heart begin to sink as he did nothing. "I said you can arrest him!"

"Are you gonna arrest me, Huw?" The man laughed from the ground.

"That'd be a laugh, wouldn't it? My own uncle." Huw walked forward and pointed his gun at Owen. Gwen shot up from the ground and pointed hers at Huw.

"Put the gun down! Don't you hurt him!" Gwen ordered.

"Shoot the bastard. Split his skull." The man told Huw as he got closer.

"Put the fucking gun down!" Gwen yelled.

"Shoot!"

"I will shoot you! Put it down!"

"Pull the trigger. Kill!" Now Huw had his gun pressed to Owen's forehead. Owen shook his head at Gwen. She hesitated before giving up her gun. Huw took it and then pointed it at her. The man stood up from the ground and walked up to Owen.

"Why don't you give me the gun, mate?" He took the gun and then stroked it down Owen's face.

The door slammed open with a bang and we were pushed back into the makeshift slaughterhouse. We stumbled to a stop and saw a group of people sitting around a table, the woman from before putting beer down with a grin.

"Who are these people?" Tosh asked. The woman giggled.

"This is our village." She said.

"The villagers are dead!" Gwen shouted. The people around the table began to smirk as the woman giggled.

"They're all involved. They've all been doing it." Tosh said softly in horror.

"This is our Harvest." The woman's husband said. Gwen scoffed in disgust.

"Only in the bloody countryside. You sick fuckers." Owen said, gun still pointed at his cheek. The woman's grin slipped from her face as the villagers laughed. Angry, the man grabbed us with the help of Huw and shoved us back into the room behind the plastic cover. They shoved us to our knees in front of the table. I flinched as the sound of a knife being grabbed by one of our attackers came from behind me.

"Help me, help me!" The boy from earlier pleaded to Gwen, who was next to him.

"Where's Ianto? What have you done with him?" Tosh questioned. The man went behind the table and pulled up Ianto. He tugged the bag off his head and showed Ianto, gagged. I sagged slightly in relief when I saw he wasn't dead.

"Wake up, man." I jumped when he slapped Ianto's face. "Time to be bled, like veal. It takes a long time, but it definitely makes the meat taste better." He said, picking up a butcher knife. I started to frantically try and loosen my binds as the knife got closer to Ianto. We all froze, however, when the sound of glass rattling filled the room.

"What now? What the fuck?" The man threw the knife down and stood by Huw, guns pointed at the door. Suddenly, wood went flying as a tractor crashed through the door. I cried out in relief when Jack jumped down, guns blazing. One by one, the cannibals fell to the ground, bullets in their knees. He shot the woman in the shoulder twice when she tried to grab her shotgun. Huw tried to reach for his gun on the floor.

"Oh, really?" Jack shot the reaching hand. He then walked over to Huw's uncle. He grabbed him by the shirt and pointed his gun under his chin.

"No, Jack. Don't do it!" Gwen shouted. I looked at her in shock. Dude. These people were about to eat us. The fuck?

"These people don't deserve warnings!" Gwen stood up and stood by Jack.

"Let me question him. I have to understand. I want to know why. Otherwise this, this is too much." Gwen pleaded. Okay, I could understand that.

"They're injured. They need to get to the hospital." Tosh shouted, looking over the wounded people. 'Oh, fuck them. Let them bleed.' A tiny voice whispered in the darker void section of my mind. I brushed away the thought as pins and needles spread through my arm.

"Owen, you control the bleeding and then phone the police. Jack, please give me an hour with him. Don't tell me you don't want to know too." Gwen pleaded, looking at Jack. Jack hesitated before shoving the man away.

"I sure don't want to know, fuck that shit," I stated, standing while clutching my arm. Jack snorted as he approached me.

"You okay Short Stack?" He asked, concerned. I grimaced at him.

"Other than the pain starting up in my arm telling me my ride is here, I might have a concussion from the number of times I hit my head because of these dickwads. Not to mention the nightmares I'm going to have." He pulled me into a hug.

"You stay safe now, you hear?" I smiled and tightened the hug.

"I'll try. Take care of Ianto, alright? My precious son doesn't deserve this shit." I muttered, vision blurring. He laughed loudly, backing away.

"Never change, Short Stack. See you around." I saw him smiling and waving as I faded away.

I faded into awareness, blinking away the bright light that shined into my eyes. I looked around trying to get my bearings when the cocking of guns sounded from behind me. I tensed before slowly turning around, coming face to face with a black horse. Blinking in confusion I looked above the horse and saw a decorated soldier in red. I turned to the right; more red soldiers. To the left; even more. All pointing guns at me.

"You will explain your presence and your unkempt appearance!" The man on the horse barked. My eye twitched. Guns. In the countryside. Again.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Chapter Text