The Other Pond, Chapter One:


Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the characters, places, or things mentioned in the television show. I only own my OC and any of other adjustments or additions made to the original story line.


Chapter One: The Eleventh Hour, pt. 1

Lillian Pond couldn't remember the day she'd lost her dad. She couldn't remember what he'd been like, picture what he looked like in her mind, or even recall the sound of his voice. All she knew was that he was a great man. And that the day she had lost her father, was also the day that she had lost her mother.

Ever since Frederick Pond had passed, Sharon Pond hadn't been the same. It was almost like she had lost interest in everything; in life, in love, even in her own daughter. After his death, she didn't have enough energy to care about anyone anymore. Which left poor little Lily without a mother, and her older cousin Amelia, who had recently lost her own parents, without anyone.

Amelia Pond had moved from Inverness, Scotland to Leadworth, England to live with her aunt, uncle, and younger cousin soon after her parents had died. She had been with them for just a few short weeks before her uncle Frederick had passed away. After that everything changed. The girls saw firsthand the pain that a lost love could cause someone. In spite of Sharon's distant and detached front, the girls saw the deep-rooted sadness in her eyes whenever she looked at Lily. It was like she was remembering him, what he had looked like; the wild curly blonde hair, those kind grey eyes, and that bright infectious smile, exactly like Lily. Even if it was just there for a moment, they still noticed the pain that flashed across her face every time she laid eyes on her daughter, who was the image of her father. Sometimes, normally at night when they'd all gone to bed (or so Sharon thought), she even cried. But, most of the time, Sharon did her best to distance herself from the girls - especially Lily, who was a constant reminder of what she had lost.

So Amelia and Lillian were often left to do as they pleased. Amelia, being the eldest by eighteen months, often acted like a surrogate mother to Lily; making sure that the younger girl was always fed, and that she went to bed on time. But Amelia was only a child herself and also in need of a mother. Still, both of the girls felt the absence of their parents - especially at night. Because at night, when they'd all gone to bed, that was when they heard the voices. The voices that came from the crack in their bedroom wall . . .

The night that they met the Doctor was no different than any other. They had been left alone again while Sharon was out late doing God only knows what. But, on this particular night, the girls had never been more afraid of the crack in the wall. For months they had begged and pleaded with Sharon to do something about it, to get it fixed. They insisted that it was not just a normal crack; at night they heard voices coming from it, always saying 'Prisoner Zero has escaped. Prisoner Zero has escaped,' over and over. But Sharon dismissed them, convinced that they were just making up stories, as children tended to do. Besides, they couldn't afford to have it repaired whether she believed them or not. It wasn't easy supporting yourself and two little girls when up until recently you'd been a stay at home mom and your husband had been the breadwinner. So every night the girls dreamt of the crack and wondered how much longer they had before the crack opened up and swallowed them whole.

On the night that the Doctor arrived, the girls were kneeling beside Amelia's bed, their eyes closed and their hands folded in prayer.

"Dear Santa, thank you for the dolls and the pencils and the fish," Amelia began, leading the prayer, as she always did. "It's Easter now, so I hope we didn't wake you, but honest, it's an emergency."

"There's a crack in our wall," Lily tacked on, cracking one of her eyes open to cast a nervous glance at the aforementioned cracked wall.

"Aunt Sharon says that it's just an ordinary crack, but Lily and I know it's not, because at night there's voices, so please, please, could you send someone to fix it?"

"Or a policeman," Lily added.

"Or a -" Amelia said, about to add construction worker to the list, when she was interrupted by an odd whooshing noise and then the sound of something crashing down in their backyard.

The girls exchanged a look, both of them turning around to face in the direction that they'd heard the racket come from.

"Back in a moment," Amelia announced, presumably still speaking to 'Santa,' before grabbing a torch off her bedside table and flying to the window, which looked out onto their backyard, Lily following right behind like a little lost puppy.

The girls peered out the window to find that a large blue wooden box had crash-landed in their back garden, completely destroying their shed. Heavy smoke billowed out of the box, a faint yellow light still flickering inside it.

Amelia turned to her younger cousin. "Stay here," she ordered the little blonde girl, who pouted, wanting to see the mysterious box too. As Amelia rushed off to see about the blue box, Lily stood there waiting like the obedient little girl she was - that is, until her curiosity got the better of her - which, in truth, only took about twenty seconds for her self-control to disintegrate, and for her to go running after Amelia.

~DW~

In the back garden, Amelia stood about ten feet away, gazing at the box in awe. Maybe Santa had heard her prayer, maybe he'd sent the box to help them. "Thank you, Santa" she whispered, looking up at the sky where the box had fallen from.

"'Melia!" Amelia whipped around at the sound of her name, to see Lily running across the yard in a pair of yellow galoshes which must've belonged to aunt Sharon as they were far too big for her. Amelia would've laughed at the comical sight if she hadn't, at the moment, been cross with her cousin for disobeying her.

"I thought I told you to stay inside!" Amelia scolded, as soon as Lily reached her.

Lily recoiled at her older cousins anger. "I wanted to see the magic box 'Melia," she said shakily, on the verge of tears.

Amelia's anger faded at seeing how hurt Lily was. She hated upsetting her, it always made her feel terrible. Lily was just so sweet and innocent, she was never mean or ill-tempered towards anyone. Even when she was really having a bad day, she still managed to be somewhat pleasant. And then there was Amelia, who had a temper as fiery as her hair. She tried not to snap at Lily, she really did. But sometimes she just couldn't help it, and she'd say or do something she'd regret. Like right now. "I'm sorry," Amelia apologized. "But stay back, alright? It could be dangerous," she said in a much gentler tone, casting a wary glance at the box. Of course the box could've been sent to help them, but there was also the possibility of it being unsafe. And if that was the case, she didn't want Lily getting too close. Lily was all Amelia had left and she couldn't afford to lose her too.

Lily nodded her head rapidly, her blonde curls bouncing up and down. "I will, 'Melia, I will!" she vowed, more than pleased that Amelia was allowing her to stay and see what was inside the box.

Amelia nodded, satisfied with Lily's promise to keep back. She approached the box, holding the torch in front of her for light. As she got closer she could see that there was a sign on the box that said, 'POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX,' in glowing yellow letters.

Behind her, Lily's feet remained rooted to the spot, craning her neck to see what was going on and itching to go after her.

All of a sudden, the doors to the police box flew open, and a grappling hook attached to a rope was thrown out, narrowly missing Amelia's head. Lily, unable to restrain herself any longer, rushed over to Amelia's side. Together, they both gazed up at the box in amazement. A hand shot out of the smoke, fingers curling around edge of the box. Another hand shot out, also gripping onto the edge. And then a head appeared, belonging to a man with wet, floppy brown hair. He grinned at the dumbstruck little girls. "Can I have an apple?" he asked after a moment of the three of them just staring at each other in silence. "All I can think about; apples. I love apples! Maybe I'm having a craving? That's new. Never had cravings before," he rambled, making the little blonde girl to smile, while the redhead merely gaped at him. He hoisted himself up so that he could sit on the edge of the police box, so that the girls could take in the rest of his appearance. His apparel wasn't any more normal than he seemed to be; he wore a tie, a tattered blue dress shirt, a pair of brown pinstriped pants, and white converse to finish the look off. Every last inch of him was dripping wet.

"Whoa!" he said, leaning over the ledge and looking down into the box, "Look at that!"

"Are you okay?" Amelia asked, looking at him oddly.

"Just had a fall. All the way down there, right to the library. Hell of a climb back up," he told the little girls.

"You're soaking wet," Amelia deadpanned.

"I was in the swimming pool," he explained.

Amelia's eyebrows furrowed, "You said you were in the library."

"So was the swimming pool," he told them matter-of-factly, making Lily giggle at his silliness. She rather liked the odd man from the magic box. He was silly. He looked at the blonde girl, giving her a smile, glad that she seemed to find this new him funny. Funny was good.

"Are you a policeman?" the ginger questioned.

"Why?" he asked, his expression turning serious, "Did you call a policeman?"

"Did you come about the crack in our wall?" the little blonde girl asked hopefully.

"What crack - ack, ack, ack!" he began to say, before he fell off the ledge, as his body started to go into spasms.

"Are you alright, mister?" the blonde asked once he'd stopped, looking concerned.

"No, I'm fine, it's okay," he said, sitting up, one hand still clutched to his chest. "This is all perfectly normal -" he suddenly went rigid, coughing and retching for a moment, before he threw his head back and breathed some sort of golden energy into the air.

His regenerations seemed to get worse and worse the more of them he went through. 'Must be getting old,' he thought to himself.

Amelia looked at him strangely again, taking a protective step in front of her younger cousin, "Who are you?"

"I don't know yet. I'm still cooking," he informed her, as his hands glowed with the same kind of golden energy. "Does it scare you?" he asked, glancing between the two girls.

"No, it just looks a bit weird," Amelia said hesitantly, at the same that Lily squeaked, "No, the gold light is pretty!" Amelia elbowed her, giving her a look that clearly said that she'd better hold her tongue if she knew what was good for her.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows at the blonde's words, a little surprised by how well she seemed to be coping with everything. The redhead as well, the pair of them were dealing with this remarkably well for two little girls who couldn't have been more than eight years old. Any other little girls would have been frightened half to death by all that had happened. Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of box, and instead of running back inside and hiding under the bed like any other normal little girls would, what do they do? They stayed right where they were, that's what, and practically interrogate him, the mad man from the box. Well, there was his answer then, wasn't it? They weren't just a couple of ordinary little girls. Perhaps they'd even make good travelling companions . . .

"No, no, no. The crack in your wall," he corrected, getting back to the point, "Does it scare you?"

"Yes," the girls answered together without hesitation.

The man grinned, jumping to his feet. "Well, then, no time to lose. I'm the Doctor. Do everything I tell you, don't ask stupid questions, and don't wander off," he spun on his heel and headed towards the house, only to walk straight into a tree and fall flat on his arse.

"You alright?" Amelia asked, leaning over him. Lily leaned over him too, looking down at him with a mix of concern and amusement etched on her face.

"Early days. Steering a bit off," he mused aloud, mostly speaking to himself. He sat up fast, getting to his feet and brushing the dirt off his raggedy clothing. Then, once he was steady on his feet again, he strode off towards the back door of the house, the girls loping after him to keep up.

Who was this man 'the Doctor?' they wondered. And would he be able to fix the crack in their wall?

~DW~

The Doctor stood in the doorway of the kitchen, inside the Pond residence, looking around distractedly.

Lily had taken a seat at the table and was watching the odd man with an amused smile.

Amelia handed the Doctor apple, just as he had requested.

"If you're a doctor why does your box say 'Police?'" Amelia asked, looking at him skeptically.

The Doctor didn't answer her question, instead taking a big bite out of the apple. Without warning, he spit out the half chewed piece of apple, taking Amelia by surprise, who barely had enough time to duck. Behind the Doctor and Amelia, Lily had dissolved into a fit of laughter.

"That's disgusting. What is that?" the Doctor said, glaring at the apple in disgust.

"An apple," Amelia said, looking at him like she thought he'd just lost his mind. Which, truthfully, he had probably lost centuries ago.

"Apples are rubbish. I hate apples."

"You said you loved them," Amelia shot back.

"No, no, no. I love yoghurt. Yoghurt is my favorite. Give me yoghurt," he ordered.

Lily got up from her chair and rushed over to the fridge to get the Doctor yoghurt, while Amelia continued to look at him funny.

Lily handed the Doctor a plastic yoghurt cup. He ripped off the top and squeezed the yoghurt out of the cup and right into his mouth, until the cup had moulded into the shape of his fingers. Again, he spit the yoghurt out right onto the floor as though it was the most repulsive thing he'd ever tasted.

"I hate yoghurt. It's just stuff with bits in," the Doctor told the girls, matter-of-factly.

"You said it was your favorite," Amelia growled, growing exasperated.

The Doctor wiped the yoghurt off his face with the back of his hand. "New mouth, new rules. It's like eating after you've cleaned your teeth. Everything tastes wr-wr-wrong!" he yelled, as he began to twitch and spasm again, as though he were being electrocuted. He slapped himself on the forehead, which surprisingly seemed to stop the jerking. He looked around at the surprised faces of the Pond girls, a little dazed.

"What is it? What's wrong with you?" Amelia asked, a little alarmed by all these 'attacks' he seemed to be having.

"Wrong with me?" he sounded a bit offended, "It's not my fault. Why can't you give me any decent food? You're Scottish. Fry something."

Lily went to the oven and began turning knobs and switches, only partially aware of what she was doing. Amelia nudged her out of the way, "Go sit down. You don't even know what you're doing."

Lily pouted, wanting to argue, but did as she was told anyways. She sat down at the table across from the Doctor, who smiled at her and said keenly, "Hullo again!"

"Hullo," the little English girl returned his smile. Lily regarded him, her eyes trailing down from his face until they stopped underneath his chair, where the water from his clothes had started to pool. Her mother wouldn't be very pleased . . . "You're all wet," she observed.

The Doctor looked down at his wet clothes, and as though he'd only just noticed, said, "Huh? So I am."

"I'll fetch you a towel," Lily said, eager to be of some kind of help, getting up from the table and running off to find him a towel so he could dry himself off a bit.

Lily was back in less than a minute with a big white towel.

"Ah, yes, thank you," he said, taking the towel gladly.

The Doctor stood up and went over to stand by the stove, where Amelia was frying up some bacon for him. He put the towel over his head and began to dry his hair, as he eyed the bacon hungrily.

Amelia placed a plate full of bacon in front of the Doctor and sat down across from him, beside her cousin Lily, smiling expectantly as he took a bite of the bacon.

The bacon had barely touched his lips before the Doctor spat it out onto the plate. Gagging, he wiped his tongue clean with his hand to get the taste of bacon out of his mouth.

"Bacon. That's bacon," he said lowly, "Are you trying to poison me?"

The girls deflated, sighing. Bacon, another food to cross off the list. It was back to the drawing board for them.

The three of them sat there quietly, trying to come up with something that the Doctor would like. Lily suddenly perked up, an idea striking her. "What about beans? Beans are good," she tried.

"Aha! Yes, beans! That's what I need! Beans!" he said, clapping his hands together and standing up out of excitement.

So Amelia got to work boiling some beans for the Doctor. Lily stood beside her, craning her neck to see over the side of the pot, making sure that Amelia didn't over-cook them. She'd done that before and it had given Lily quite the tummy ache.

"Ah, you see? Beans!" the Doctor said, leaning against the side of the oven.

The Doctor sat down at the table again and took a big forkful of beans. Immediately, he jumped up and rushed to the sink, spitting out the beans down the drain. He turned to the girls, who were both looking at him with disgusted expressions on their faces, and said, "Beans are evil. Bad, bad beans."

"What about bread and butter! I love bread and butter. It's always nice, 'specially when you don't know what else to have," Lily suggested.

The Doctor pointed at her, "Yes! Right you are, blondie! Bread and butter, exactly what I need!"

Lily found a knife in one of the drawers, and carefully went to slice off a bit of butter, when it was snatched out of her hand. "Give me that! You'll poke your eye out!" Amelia chided, "Go sit down."

Lily huffed, going to take her seat in front of the Doctor again.

"You alright?" the Doctor asked, seeing the girls disappointed face.

"She treats me like a baby," Lillian said, glaring at Amelia's back, which was supposed to look intimidating, but ended up looking more humorous than anything else on such a small, unintimidating little girl. "And she's only a year-and-a-half older than me!"

"Well, there's nothing wrong with that. She's just trying to protect you, keep you safe. She acts like that because she cares," the Doctor explained to the little girl.

"Does she really?" Lily asked quietly, dropping her glare as her expression softened.

"Yes, of course she does! She's your older sister, isn't she?"

Lily laughed and shook her head, "No, she's just my cousin. I don't have any sisters or brothers. Neither does 'Melia."

"Here ye go," Amelia said, interrupting their little conversation, setting down a plate with a buttered piece of bread in front of him.

"Bread and butter. Now you're talking," the Doctor said, picking up the slice of bread.

The Doctor had barely taken one bite before he stood up, taking the plate with him, and went to the front door. "And stay out!" he shouted, throwing the plate like a disk out the front door and into a hedge. A cat that must have been lurking in the hedge yowled, causing their neighbors dogs to start to bark.

Back in the kitchen, Amelia and Lily were looking through the refrigerator, while the Doctor paced back and forth.

"We've got some carrots?" Amelia proposed, halfheartedly.

"Carrots?" the Doctor stopped his pacing, "Are you insane? No, wait, hang on," he said, striding over to look through the fridge himself. "I know what I need . . . I need . . . I need . . . I need fish fingers and custard," he said, retrieving a box of frozen fish fingers and a carton of pour-able custard from the fridge and making off with them.

Lily and Amelia shared a carton of vanilla ice cream between them, watching, mildly disgusted, as the Doctor sat in front of them, dipping a frozen fish finger into a big bowl of custard and then eat it. He picked up the bowl and lifted it to his lips, chugging down almost the rest of the custard. Lily giggled when he set the bowl back down to reveal a mustache made of custard. Then, he wiped the custard mustache off his face with the back of his hand.

"Funny," Amelia noted.

"Am I?" he asked the other little girl, who nodded her head and giggled.

"Good. Funny's good. What're your names?"

"Amelia Pond," the ginger introduced herself. She jabbed a thumb in the blonde's direction, who had gotten a little distracted by the ice cream she was eating, too busy licking her spoon clean to answer properly, "And her name's Lillian Pond. She's my younger cousin."

"Oh, those are brilliant names," the Doctor said around a fish finger, "'Amelia and Lillian Pond,' sounds like names in a fairy-tale."

Lily beamed. She never much cared for her name. She thought it was too formal, too stuffy. Personally, she preferred to be called Lily. Everybody but her mother, including Amelia most of the time, called her Lily. But it was nice to hear someone say that Lillian was a nice name as well. It made her a little less self-conscious about her full name.

"Are we in Scotland or England, Ponds?" the Doctor asked.

"No," Amelia sighed at the mention of Scotland, "Had to move to England. It's rubbish!"

"Well, it's not so bad," Lily tried to reason with her older cousin, who had set her mind to not like England from the moment she arrived. Although, Lily couldn't blame her. If she was in Amelia's shoes she probably wouldn't be too keen on England either.

"You've lived in Leadworth your entire life, you wouldn't know the difference," Amelia said condescendingly.

"So what about your mum and dad, then? Or would it be aunt and uncle? Are they upstairs? Thought we would've woken them by now."

Amelia shook her head sadly, "I don't have a mum and dad. Or an uncle. Just an aunt."

"Just my mum," Lillian added dejectedly, "No dad. Barely a mum, really."

Seeing that an air of melancholy had surrounded them the Doctor quickly tried to lighten the mood, joking, "I don't even have an aunt."

"You're lucky," Amelia said, wistfully.

"I know," the Doctor said, only half meaning what he'd said. Mostly just saying that to make the girls feel better. Part of him was grateful that he didn't have anyone. There was no one to worry about or keep him from doing whatever he wanted, exactly when he wanted to. But, on the other hand, he was very very lonely. And he missed the family he had, had oh so long ago, before he lost them to the war. True, his companions were like family to him, but he missed the real thing. He missed the unconditional love that you could only get from real, true blue family.

"So, your mum? Where is she?" the Doctor asked, directing his question at Lily, who looked a little surprised that he had addressed her instead of her cousin. She was so used to everyone ignoring her and talking to Amelia instead. It was a natural response; after all, Amelia was older and she was the more outgoing one out of the two of them. People just seemed to look to her for answers, rather than go to Lily.

"She's out," Lily shrugged, as though her mother being out so late at night and leaving them all alone was a normal occurrence.

The Doctor stopped mid-bite of another custard covered fish finger, looking appalled, "And she left you all alone?"

"We're not scared," Amelia retorted defiantly. Lily nodded, trying to put on a brave face for the Doctor, even though on the inside she truly was scared - scared of the crack in the wall.

The Doctor smiled, "Course you're not. You two aren't scared of anything! Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of box, man eats fish custard," he brandished a fish finger dipped in custard, "and look at you two, the both of you, just sitting there. So you know what I think?"

"What?" the girls chorused, finding everything that the Doctor had to say intriguing.

"Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall," he said, a glint in his eye that told them that he'd done stuff like this before - many, many times before. And that each and every time he got a thrill from it, as though he was used to dealing with dangerous situations by now. He'd dealt with some many problems in the past that by now the gravity of a situation didn't even phase him anymore. He had the mind of a child but the eyes of someone who had seen more in his lifetime than even the oldest and most weathered person had. The Doctor was a mystery, Lily was certain of that if nothing else. A mystery she intended to unravel.

~DW~

Upstairs, the girls showed the Doctor to their shared bedroom where the crack was. He quickly got to work examining it, while the girls stood in the doorway, not wanting to get too close to the crack.

"You've had some cowboys in here," the Doctor said offhandedly, while inspecting the wall the crack seemed to be on. "Not actual cowboys, though that can happen."

"I used to hate apples, so my mum used to put faces on them," Amelia said, looking at an apple she'd plucked off her desk that had a smiley face carved into it.

"I wish I had your mum," Lily sighed wistfully. "My mum was never like that. My dad was good though. He used to cut stars out of a piece of paper and tape it on the end of a torchlight. When he'd turn it on it'd look like the stars were on the ceiling."

"They sound good, your parents," the Doctor said, smiling sadly at the little girls. It was very sad that they were growing up without them in their lives. At least they had each other. "I'll keep this for later," he said, taking the apple from Amelia and tossing it up in the air once. The Doctor turned his attention back to the crack, eyeing it carefully, "This wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So here's a thing, where's the draft coming from?" He took an odd looking gadget out of his pocket and pointed it at the crack, the end glowing blue and a high-pitched whirring sound emitting from it. Then he brought it close to his face, reading the results of the scan he just did on the crack. "Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey," he muttered to himself. "You know what the crack is?" he asked the Pond girls, who both shook their heads.

"What?" Amelia asked.

"It's a crack," the Doctor answered plainly. "But I'll tell you something funny," he said, leaning in close to the crack, "if you knocked this wall down the crack would stay put, 'cause the crack isn't in the wall."

"Where is it, then?" Lillian asked softly, glancing at the crack anxiously. She'd been afraid of it before when she hadn't known anything about it, and now he was saying that not only was it a very strange crack, but also that was a very strange crack that they couldn't get rid of?

"Everywhere. In everything. It's a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressed together, right here in the wall of your bedroom. Sometimes, can you hear -" he pressed his ear against the wall.

"A voice. Yes," Amelia answered.

The Doctor went over to their bedside table and grabbed a glass of water off it. He quickly tossed it's contents out over his shoulder and put the cup to the wall, placing his ear against the bottom of the glass.

"Prisoner Zero -" the Doctor mumbled, repeating what he'd heard from the crack.

"Prisoner Zero has escaped," Amelia finished for him, "That's what we heard."

"What does it mean?" Lily asked for the both of them.

The Doctor stood up straight, "It means that, on the other side of this wall, there's a prison, and they've lost a prisoner. And do you know what that means?"

Lily swallowed hard, as she began to realize what was going on.

"What?" Amelia asked, still a little behind.

"You need a better wall," he replied quickly. The Doctor lunged forward, lifting the desk that was pushed up against the cracked wall out of the way. "The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way. The forces will invert, and it'll snap itself shut," he babbled, both girls totally lost. With the percentage of that, that they'd understood, he might as well have been speaking Japanese.

"Or . . ." the Doctor trailed off.

"What?" Lily questioned nervously.

The Doctor was quiet for a moment, unsure about whether or not he should be honest about the situation or not. He certainly didn't want to frighten them but he also didn't want to keep them in the dark. "You know when grown-ups tell you that everything's going to be fine, to make you feel better?"

"Yes," the Pond girls said together, looking worried.

"Everything's going to be fine," the Doctor said, offering them a quick smile and holding out a hand to Lily, who accepted it gladly, and then took her cousin Amelia's hand in her free hand as well. The Doctor pointed the doohickey at the crack and pressed the button on the side, making it whir again. The crack began to glow white, releasing more and more light as it expanded. The crack expanded until nearly half the wall was taken up by the hole of the now wide open crack.

"Prisoner Zero has escaped," a metallic voice rasped, "Prisoner Zero has escaped."

"Hullo?" the Doctor called stepping forward, shielding the girls from sight in case of hostile aliens.

There was a beat of silence before a huge, crystal blue eye appeared in the hole in the wall, spinning out of control, until it seemed to focus on the Doctor and the girls.

"What's that?" Lily whispered, both in awe and terrified at the same time.

A ball of blue light shot out of the eye and right into the Doctor's pocket. The crack started to glow again, and before they knew it, it had closed.

"There. You see, told you it would close. Good as new," the Doctor cheered.

"What was that thing? Was that Prisoner Zero?" Amelia demanded.

"No. I think that was Prisoner Zero's guard. Whatever it was, it sent me a message," the Doctor said, pulling a leather credit card holder out of his pocket and flipping it open. "Psychic paper. Takes a lovely little message," the 'psychic paper' glowed blue, just like the ball of blue light that the eye had sent through the crack. "'Prisoner Zero has escaped,'" the Doctor read, "But why tell us?"

Lily whipped around, thinking that she had heard something behind her. She'd thought that it sounded sort of like a low growling noise, barely audible. But she must have been mistaken, there was nothing behind her - or at least nothing she could see. A shiver ran down her spine, at that thought.

"Unless . . ." the Doctor trailed off, as he got lost in his thoughts.

"Unless what?" Amelia asked, sensing that something was wrong.

"Unless Prisoner Zero escaped through here," the Doctor answered, looking around the room, suddenly more cautious and alert, "But he couldn't have. We'd know." The Doctor rushed out of the room, into the hall, the girls following him. "It's difficult. Brand-new me, nothing works yet," he told them, "But there's something I'm missing . . ." He glanced around, trying to notice as much detail as possible, so he could figure out what it was that he seemed to be missing. He stopped, noticing something out of his peripheral vision that he hadn't before. ". . . in the corner of my eye," he muttered, turning his head to look directly down the hall at a wall - a seemingly normal wall to the untrained eye, but he knew better. After all, he was the Doctor.

The sound of the TARDIS chiming struck him from his light-bulb moment. He looked at the girls and then back out the window, then back at the girls as another chime from the TARDIS sounded. That was not a good sign. "No, no, no, no, no!" the Doctor shouted, racing down the stairs, after his beloved time-machine.

The Doctor threw the back door open and ran towards the TARDIS, the Pond girls right on his tail, "I've got to get back in there. The engines are phasing. It's going to burn!"

"But . . ." Amelia panted, coming up behind him as he fiddled with the grappling rope, "it's just a box, how can a box have engines?"

"It's not just a box, it's a magic box!" Lily corrected, gazing at the police box with a look of pure amazement in her eyes.

"Lillian's right. It's not just a box. It's a time-machine," he said, spinning around to face them, sending the little blonde girl a broad grin. He had to give her some credit for that one, normally people just seemed to assume that the TARDIS was just a police box, nothing more. Of course that had something to do with the Chameleon Circuit, but nevertheless, it was astonishing how little people seemed to think of it. But she was clever, she wasn't blinded by logic. She was able to put the pieces together and realize that his police box wasn't just any old police box.

"What, a real one? You've got a real time-machine?" Amelia sounded doubtful.

"Not for much longer if I can't get it stabilized," the Doctor said, appearing out from behind the side of the box. "Five minute hop into the future should do it," he said throwing the rope over the side of the box.

"Can we come?" Amelia asked.

"Not safe in here, not yet. Five minutes. Give me five minutes. I'll be right back," he promised, jumping up onto the edge of the box and sitting there, preparing to jump.

"People always say that," Lillian murmured, her grey eyed gaze downcast, and her expression exhibiting how truly sad and alone in the world she felt. Her dad used to say that he'd always be there for her and that he'd always love her. She didn't remember much about him, but she remembered that. And he had lied because he wasn't there. He wasn't there for her like he'd said he would be. And her mom, Sharon should've been there for her - for Amelia too, when Lily's father had passed away. She should've been there for them, supported them through those tough times, but she'd let them down. Just, as it seemed, everybody else did. Amelia took Lily's hand in hers to offer her some comfort, understanding the pain she felt.

The Doctor whipped around, jumping back over the side of the box and landing back down onto the ground. Striding over to stand in front of the girls, he leaned down to look Lily in the eyes. She hesitantly allowed her grey eyes to meet his green; to see the promise in them. The promise to return to them.

"Am I people? Do I even look like people? Trust me. I'm the Doctor," he gave the girls a reassuring smile.

The corners of Lily's lips turned up; a smile spreading across her face - one of those rare, infectious smiles that made everybody feel ten times happier just to have caught a glimpse of it. The Doctor wasn't like everyone else, he was coming back for them. He'd be back, she just knew it, and he'd take them with him in that magic box of his. They'd never be alone again.

Lily turned to Amelia, giving her a nod of approval. They turned back to the Doctor and nodded, silently telling him that they trusted him. That was all the confirmation he needed. The Doctor climbed up on top of the edge of the box again. He glanced back at the little Pond girls, shooting them one last smile, before he took a hold of the grappling rope and leap, shouting all the way down, "Geronimo!"

The police box whooshed as it dematerialized. The girls watched until the box completely vanished, leaving behind a splintered shed. Amelia and Lily locked eyes, grinning widely. He was coming back for them, they were leaving!

"C'mon!" Amelia tugged on Lily's hand, "We need to go pack!" Together they ran back upstairs, Lily nearly tripping on the steps twice. Amelia got down on her stomach and reached under her bed, pulling out a child sized suitcase. Amelia set the suitcase on top of her bed, unbuckling the buckles and opening the lid up. Hurriedly, the girls rushed around the room grabbing anything and everything they wanted to take with them and throwing it into the suitcase. When the girls were both satisfied, they tried to close the suitcase, which was overflowing with clothes, toys, and books. Neither of them willing to part with anything, Lily got up on the bed and sat on top of the suitcase, while Amelia tried to close the buckles. When they finally got the suitcase to shut, they ran back downstairs.

Lily was about to open the back door when Amelia stopped her, "Wait, we should bring a hat and coat. We've no idea where we're going." Lily nodded, going to the front hall closet to grab a jacket and a hat. Amelia put on her purple duffel coat and a red bobble hat, while Lily threw on a yellow beret and a blue pea-coat, deciding to keep the two-big yellow galoshes.

Now that they were dressed and ready, they took their shared suitcase outside to the backyard, set it down in front of the broken shed, and sat down on top of it, waiting for the Doctor and his magic blue box to return for them.

Minutes past, hours even, and the Doctor still hadn't returned. But the girls never lost hope. He'd promised them, and his word was good enough for them. Even as the sun began to rise and the girls eyes began to grow heavier, they still waited. "He's - arghhh," Lily cut herself off with a yawn, "He's coming back for us, I know it. He's just a little . . . late," she mumbled sleepily, as her eyes fluttered shut and her head drooped onto Amelia's shoulder. "Yeah," Amelia agreed, resting her chin on top of Lily's hair. "I hope so," she whispered, before she drifted off to sleep as well.

Both of the Pond girls dreamed of the Doctor that night - and almost every night after that.

~DW~

Lily Pond was on her way home from the Leadworth Chronicle printing press, having just delivered another article she wrote about Leadworth Primary School's upcoming fundraiser to her boss, when her phone started ringing. Looking at the caller ID she saw a picture of herself and Amy at a Halloween party two years before. Lily was dressed up as a nurse, she'd borrowed the scrubs from their friend Rory who worked at the local hospital as a last minute costume. While Amy had opted for a more provocative ensemble, donning a tight black skirt, a bulletproof vest, and a police cap, dressed as a 'sexy police officer.' Lily giggled to herself, remembering how Rory's tongue had practically fallen out of his mouth at the sight of Amy in that outfit.

Lily flipped open her cell-phone and pressed it to her ear. "Hello Amy, what's up?" she greeted, mentally preparing herself for Amy's typical antics. One thing was for certain, there was never a dull moment when you were related to Amelia Pond.

"White male, mid-twenties, breaking and entering. Send me some backup, I've got him restrained," Amy's voice said on the other line.

Lily stopped in her tracks, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion, "Amy, are you alright? Why are you talking like that? Is this some kind of joke?"

"Watson," Amy growled over the phone, "Get over her now! And bring back up!"

"Alright, alright. I'm on my way home now, anyways. I'll see you in a few minutes. And when I get there you better explain to me what all this 'send backup and breaking and entering' stuff is about, 'cause if this is some kind of gig you're doing I'm not helping you out. I've told you before I draw the line at dressing up in costumes and kissing men for money, no matter how much I could use the extra bit of cash," Lily stated, convinced that Amy's odd behavior had something to do with her job as a kissogram.

Needless to say, Lily didn't exactly approve of Amy's job. Amy argued that it was easy money and a well-paying job, but neither Lily nor Amy's aunt Sharon thought that a kissogram was an appropriate job for a twenty-year-old woman. Also, quite recently, Amy and their close friend Rory had started going out, and Lily didn't think it was very fair of Amy to continue to be paid to go to parties and kiss other guys while Rory could do nothing about it. He'd been hung up on Amy forever, and he wouldn't risk losing the one chance he got with her by telling her to quit her job. Plus, Rory just wasn't that sort of guy. Lily knew that Amy really did care about Rory, and that it was just her flirty nature and fear of commitment that made her keep him at an arm's length, but she hoped that Amy would realize sooner rather than later how much Rory meant to her, before it was too late and she lost him to some other girl.

"Oi, you! Sit still," Lily heard Amy's muffled voice say, as though she had covered the receiver with her hand to speak to someone else.

"Is someone else there with you?" Lily asked, growing even more confused the longer this phone call went on. She caught the voice of a man saying something about a 'cricket bat.' And then Amy told him to be quiet because she was on the phone.

"Amy, seriously, is everything alright?" Lily asked, starting to get worried. What if this was serious? What if someone had actually broken into the house?

"Just get over here, Watson," Amy commanded, sounding exasperated with all the questions she was throwing at her.

"Okay, I'll be there soon," Lily promised, hanging up the phone.

Lily, being only a few blocks from the house, jogged the rest of the way there. When she finally made it to the front door, she paused for a moment to catch her breath. She reached into her jacket pocket, producing a silver house key. She stuck the key in the lock, and as quietly as she could, so as not to alert the intruder of her presence, she unlocked the door. Lily could hear Amy's voice and a voice that she didn't recognize talking upstairs. She carefully crept upstairs, following the sound of their voices. She stopped a few steps before the landing, peaking out from behind the stair balusters, seeing Amy dressed up in the police officer costume from two Halloweens ago with a man, the intruder, Lily guessed, handcuffed to the radiator.

"Where's Lillian and Amelia?" Lily heard the man ask. Lily froze. How did he know her name? How did he know Amy's name? Nobody called them that anymore, not since they were children. Who was this man?

"The Ponds?" Amelia asked, sounding a little startled herself.

"Yeah. Lillian. Little English girl. Blonde hair. And her cousin, Amelia. Little Scottish girl. Red hair. Where are they?" he asked, glancing around Amy as though to see if they were standing behind her. "I promised them five minutes, but the engines were phasing. I suppose I must've gone a bit far." Seeing the alarmed expression on Amy's face he asked, "Has something happened to them?"

Lily's eyes had widened to the size of dinner plates. This man, this intruder, who Amy had handcuffed to the radiator, the way he spoke he sounded just like the . . . No, no, it couldn't be! He couldn't be . . .

"The Ponds haven't lived here in a long time," Amy fibbed.

"How long?" he demanded.

Amy paused, unsure about whether she should lie again or not. "Six months," she misinformed.

"No! No, no, no! I can't be six months late! I said five minutes I promised!"

"This can't be happening," Lily breathed, leaning closer to try to get a better look at him, making the step she was standing on creak, alerting them of her arrival. Lily internally groaned.

"Watson, finally!" Amy groused, trying to keep up her police officer act, "Get over here and help me."

Lily blinked, not quite sure how to sound like a police officer, "Uh, yes ma'am." She joined Amy in front of the man. She glanced at him nervously. "Er, Officer . . ." she trailed off, not sure what she should call her at the moment. ". . . Williams," she decided to use Rory's surname as it was the first name to pop into her head, "Can I speak with you for a moment? Over there?" She gestured to the other end of the hall, where the man wouldn't be able to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Amy followed her over to stand by the staircase. The Doctor craned his neck, trying to catch what they were saying. There was something they weren't telling him, he was sure of it . . .

When Lily was satisfied that the man couldn't hear them, she hissed, "What is going on?!"

"I don't know, I heard someone breaking in and I just threw on the first thing I could find," Amy said, adjusting her police officer cap.

"What about him? How did you get him handcuffed to the radiator?" Lily asked, glancing between Amy and the man. He wasn't huge, but he was bigger than Amy. He could've easily overpowered her.

"I whacked him with a cricket bat," Amy supplied, looking a little sheepish.

"A cricket bat? Since when do we own a cricket bat?" Lily asked, confused. Neither of them were very sporty. She didn't know why they'd just happen to have a cricket bat of all things lying around.

"I don't know! We just do!"

"Okay," Lily decided to change the subject, realizing that they had more pressing matters to attend to. "So what are we going to do about him then? How does he even know about us? That stuff he said, he sounded exactly like the -"

"I know, I know! But he can't be! It must be someone playing some kind of sick joke on us. After all, the whole town practically knows about - well, you know. Oh, I know who's behind this!" Amy exclaimed, snapping her fingers, having a sort of 'aha moment.'

"Who?" Lily asked, confused, not thinking that anyone would have even thought to have pulled a prank like this on them, considering how much time had past since they'd even spoken about their childhood imaginary friend.

"Veronica Stackmore! She was always jealous of us! Oh, this has got Veronica Stackmore written all over it!" Amy declared angrily, slamming her fist down on her palm.

"Shhh!" Lily shushed her, putting her finger to her lips, and looking pointedly over at the man, who was straining to listen in on their conversation. "This has got nothing to do with Veronica Stackmore and you know it," Lily said firmly.

Amy looked as though she wanted to argue with her, but she ultimately decided not to, knowing that it was pointless. Amy sighed, she knew deep down that Lily was right. "I mean, he can't be real," Amy said, sounding more like she was trying to convince herself than she was Lily, "Can he?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure anymore," Lily said, gazing at the man over Amy's shoulder, who looked up, having felt her eyes on him, to meet her gaze. He held her gaze for a good long time before his gaze drifted from Lily's eyes to something behind her. Lily turned, only to see a wall. "What's he looking at?" she muttered to herself.

"What?" Amy asked, not quite catching that.

"Nothing," Lily dismissed with a wave of her hand, looking back at the man again. Although, a part of her thought that she'd briefly seen something. Something behind her. Something that shouldn't be there . . .

~DW~

After bickering over what to do for a good ten minutes, the girls finally decided that they'd interrogate the man, find out exactly what he knew about them and how he knew it, and then go from there. Phoning the real police wouldn't work, they'd take too long. Leadworth was notorious for how slow everything was, especially the police force. And they couldn't very well throw him out, he'd likely just come back. No, they'd find out what he knew and then they'd decide what their next move was.

The girls stood in front of the man, trying to look like intimidating police women, Amelia pulling the act off easily, while Lily was a bit less convincing. She wasn't very good at looking intimidating, considering her slightly below average stature and small figure. Plus, unlike Amy, she didn't have a fake badge and costume to help her look the part. She was dressed in a plain white T-shirt, a pair of jeans, and an old pair of sneakers, which didn't exactly say, 'tough policewoman.'

The man looked Lily up and down, in a more appraising kind of way than anything. "Where's your uniform if you're a police officer?" he asked, looking confused.

"I was off duty when my partner, Officer Williams, called me," Lily lied, careful to call Amy by her alias rather than her real name.

"I need to speak to whoever lives in this house right now," the man said, very seriously.

"I live here," Amy informed him.

"But you're the police," he retorted.

"Yes, and this is where I live. You got a problem with that?" Amy shot back tersely.

"How many rooms?" the man asked, glancing behind the girls again.

"I'm sorry?" Lily asked, thinking she'd heard him wrong. Why would it matter to him how many rooms there were?

"On this floor. How many rooms on this floor? Count them for me now," he ordered.

"Why?" Amy demanded, not enjoying being ordered about. Usually she was the one who did the ordering, not the one taking the orders.

"Because it will change your life," he said, deadly serious.

Amy paused a moment, contemplating whether she should humor him not. "Five," she said, pointing at each door as she counted them out, "One, two, three, four, five -"

"Six," the man tacked on.

"Six?" Amy asked, confused and a little frightened.

"Look," he instructed.

"Look where?" Lily asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

"Exactly where you don't want to look. Where you never want to look. The corner of your eye."

Both girls turned their heads, looking behind them out of their peripheral vision, to see another door that hadn't been there before.

"That's . . . That is not possible," Amy shook her head in disbelief.

Lily turned to look at the man again. "How is that possible?" she asked him incredulously, pointing at the door.

"There's a perception filter all around that door. Sensed it last time I was here. Should've seen it," he explained.

"But that's a whole room. That's a whole room we've never even noticed," Lily marveled, staring at the door in awe.

"The filter stopped you noticing. Something came here a while ago to hide. It's still hiding, and you need to uncuff me now!" he said, struggling against the cuffs.

Lily kneeled beside him, examining the cuffs. They seemed to be the real thing, they weren't plastic that was for sure. He wouldn't be able to break them.

"Amy where's the key?" Lily asked, looking around to see if maybe Amy had dropped it somewhere. It wouldn't be the first time . . .

Amy was slowly inching closer and closer to the door, not paying attention to them. "I don't have the key I've lost it," she replied absentmindedly, her eyes never leaving the door.

"How can you have lost it?!" the man demanded, struggling harder against his restraint, while Lily continued to feel around for the key. "Stay away from that door! Do not touch that door!" he shouted, Amy completely ignoring him. "Listen to me! Do not open that . . ." he trailed off, as Amy reached for the doorknob. "Why does nobody ever listen to me? Do I just have a face that nobody listens to . . . again?" he ranted, turning to Lily for some kind of response.

Lily scoffed. "No, you just have a face that Amy doesn't listen to. Trust me, everybody does. I should know, I have one of those faces, too," she quipped, as she took a bobbi-pin out of her hair, her blonde bangs falling in front of her eyes. She quickly pushed her fringe behind her ear, and began to pick the lock on the handcuffs. 'If this works,' Lily thought to herself, 'I'm definitely thanking Mels for showing me how to pick a lock. And I thought I'd never actually need touse it. Boy, was I wrong.'

The man pulled against the handcuffs again, making them rattle.

"Stop, you'll only hurt yourself if you keep pulling on the cuffs like that. I've almost got them, if you'd only sit still . . ." she trailed off, focusing on trying to pick the lock.

"What's your name, then? I know it's Officer Watson, but what's your first name. You just seem . . . familiar," he said, staring into her eyes as though he was trying to decide where he knew her from. He'd met a lot of people throughout his travels, it was sort of hard to keep them all straight.

Lily didn't answer his question, instead groaning in frustration, "It's not working, I can't unlock it!"

The man frantically checked his pockets, "My screwdriver. Silver thing, blue at the end. Where did it go?" Hmm, that sounded familiar . . .

"There's nothing here," Amy called from inside the mystery room.

"Whatever's in there stopped you seeing the whole room. What makes you think you could see it? Now, please, just get out!"

"Silver, blue at the end?" Amy called out again.

"My screwdriver, yeah."

"It's here," she told them.

Lily stopped working, listening to their conversation. How would his screwdriver have ended up in there? It's not like it just grew legs and walked off. She went back to fiddling with the bobbi-pin, desperate to release the man as he seemed to be the only one who knew what the hell was going on.

"Must have rolled under the door," he said, relieved that he hadn't lost it or something. He didn't know what he'd do without it sometimes.

"Yeah, must have," Amy agreed, "And then it must've jumped up onto the table."

The man and Lily froze, locking eyes with each other as what Amy had said sunk in. This was not good.

"Get out of there," he breathed, "Get out of there!" He struggled harder than ever against the cuffs, realizing how much danger the police woman was in.

"Amy, please, get out!" Lily begged. She knew Amy, she knew how stubborn she could be. If they were to get out of there safely she'd need to get the man unlocked first. She turned back to the man, putting her hand on his wrist to still him. "I can't unlock it if you keep moving," she told him gently, reluctantly the man obliged. Lily went back to fiddling with the lock, trying to come up with another way to free him at the same time.

"Get out! Get out of there!" he yelled, his other hand twitching, while he tried to keep still so the officer could pick the lock but finding it extremely hard when there was so much going on.

"Maybe we have a saw or - or, maybe we could cut it off with wire cutters," Lily suggested, still working hurriedly on the lock.

"What is it? What are you doing?" the man called to Amy, finding her silence unsettling.

"There's nothing here, but . . ." Amy trailed off.

"Corner of your eye," the man reminded.

"What is it?" Amy asked shakily.

"Don't try to see it. If it knows you've seen it, it will kill you!" he warned.

Lily went rigid, at the words 'it will kill you.' She whipped around, screaming, "Amy get out of there now!"

"Don't look at it. Do not look," the man said sternly.

A moment later, Amy screamed shrilly.

"Amy!"

"Get out!"

Amy ran out of the room, the door closing behind her. She handed the man the 'screwdriver' he'd been talking about. He pointed it at the door, the lock clicking shut. Then he pointed it at the handcuffs. "Come on," he said, talking to the screwdriver, "What's the bad alien done to you?"

"Will that door hold it?" Amy demanded, staring at the door in horror.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, 'course," he replied, sarcastically, "It's an inter-dimensional multi-form from outer-space. They're all terrified of wood!"

Amy shot him a withering glare.

"Hey!" Lily protested, locking eyes with him. "No need to get short with her, it's a decent question," she chastised lightly.

The man nodded, reluctantly saying a quick 'sorry' to Amy, before continuing to work on the cuffs.

Suddenly, the door started to glow orange.

"What's that? What's it doing?" Amy demanded.

"I don't know. Getting dressed? Run. Just go. The both of you. Your backups coming, I'll be fine."

"There is . . . no backup," Lily confessed, sheepishly.

"I heard her on the phone to you, Watson, she told you to call for backup. Why didn't you bring backup?" he interrogated Lily, who shared a nervous glance with Amy.

"She didn't bring backup because she's not a police woman," Amy told him, growing frustrated with all the silly questions. They were in danger for goodness sakes, the questions could wait till later!

"But you're police women," he protested, glancing between the girls in confusion.

"I'm a kissogram!" Amy exclaimed, tossing the police cap, revealing her fiery red hair.

Just then, the door flew off its hinges, a bald man and a Rottweiler standing in the door frame, the dog snarling at them.

"But it's just . . ." Amy started, in disbelief.

"No, it isn't," the man corrected, "Look at the faces."

Lily's eyes drifted from the dogs face, which was surprisingly calm, to the bald mans, who seemed to be growling at them. Then, he started barking, confirming Lily's thoughts.

"Why's the man barking instead of the dog?" Lily asked, turning back to the man, to see him watching the man and the dog, fascinated by them.

"What? I'm sorry, but what?" Amy said, at this point, wondering whether or not she'd lost her mind.

"It's all one creature. One creature disguised as two. Clever old multi-form."

They watched as the man and dog looked from side-to-side in complete synchronization.

"A bit of a rushed job, though," he informed them. "Got the voice a bit muddled, did you?" he asked, his question directed at the so-called multi-form.

The multi-forms heads snapped in their direction.

"Mind you, where'd you get the pattern from? You'd need a psychic link, a live feed. How did you fix that?" the man continued to speak to the multi-form.

The man growled again, sounding much more vicious and animalistic than a dog, and opened his mouth revealing a set of long, sharp teeth that were very much not human.

"Stay, boy!" the Doctor commanded, hoping that maybe the multi-form would respond to someone authoritative; like a dog to his master. Perhaps if the live feed was to the dog then the dogs subconscious would leak through and it would obey him. But, unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case . . . So he tried a different tactic.

"We're safe. Want to know why? She sent for backup," he lied, gesturing to Lily, who shifted nervously due to the unwanted attention from a vicious alien.

"She didn't send for backup!" Amy interrupted, not catching on to what he was trying to do.

"I know. That was a clever lie to save our lives," he hissed. He quickly changed course. "Okay, yeah, no backup," he admitted to the multi-form, "And that's why we're safe. Alone, we're not a threat to you. If we had backup, then you'd have to kill us."

Then, to their great dismay and confusion, backup arrived.

"Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded. Attention, Prisoner Zero," a familiar metallic voice boomed.

"What's that?" Amy hissed.

"I'm not entirely sure, but I think . . . that, that would be backup," Lily said slowly, her voice shaking slightly.

"Okay, one more time. We do have backup and that's definitely why we're safe," the man stated firmly.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated," the Guard announced, making their stomachs drop.

"Well, safe apart from, you know, incineration," he added as an afterthought.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated . . ."

The multi-form disappeared into one of the rooms.

The man frantically tried to get his screwdriver to work, banging it on the floor, "Work, come on!"

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated . . ."

Finally, the blue light on the end of the screwdriver lit up and he pointed it at the handcuffs, the cuffs popping open as though they were merely a set of plastic child's cuffs.

"Run!" he ordered, grabbing Lily's hand and practically dragging her out of the house, Amy right behind them.

Once they'd gotten outside, the man pointed the screwdriver at the back door, locking it so the multi-form wouldn't be able to follow them. "Kissogram?" he questioned Amy.

"Yes, a kissogram. What's going on?" Amy demanded.

"Why did you pretend to be policewomen?" he asked them. Lily suddenly realized that she was still holding his hand and quickly dropped it, a light blush coloring her cheeks. The man looked at her in confusion, wondering why she'd let go, but his attention was soon captured by Amy again as she answered his question.

"You broke into my house! It was this or a French maid! What's going on? Tell me!" she yelled after him as he ran off. The girls followed him, only to see him standing there in front of a blue police box . . .

Lily gasped. "The magic box . . ." she whispered, so quietly that Amy, who was standing right beside her, had barely heard her. It was him. It was the Doctor. He'd finally come back for them . . .

The Doctor turned to them. "An alien convict is hiding in your spare room disguised as a man and a dog, and some other aliens are about to incinerate your house. Any questions?" he asked rhetorically, turning back to his time-machine, fiddling with the door.

"Yes!" the girls chorused. Of course they had questions! They hadn't seen him in, what, twelve years? And now suddenly he appears again out of nowhere, and there are aliens after them. Lily was starting to wonder if she was having some sort of stress-induced hallucination.

"Me too," he said dryly, "No, no, no! Don't do that, not now! It's still rebuilding, not letting us in!"

Behind them, Prisoner Zero was standing in the window, barking. Lily glanced back at the hostile alien, knowing that they didn't have much time. "Come on!" she grabbed the Doctor's arm, pulling him away from the police box.

"No, wait, hang on, hang on, wait, wait, wait. The shed," he protested, pulling out of her grip and running over to the shed, "I destroyed that shed last time I was here, smashed it to pieces."

"So there's a new one. Let's go," Amy remarked, eager to get out of there before they were incinerated along with the house and Prisoner Zero.

"Yeah, but the new one's got old," the Doctor replied, examining the shed, "It's ten years old at least." He leaned in, smelling the wood, dragging a finger across it and then sticking it in his mouth. "Twelve years. I'm not six months late, I'm twelve years late," he realized.

"He's coming," Amy said, panic creeping into her voice, as she looked over her shoulder, waiting for Prisoner Zero to appear.

"You said six months. Why did you say six months?" he questioned her, making Amy shift nervously.

"We've got to go," Lily said, trying to remind him of the urgency of the situation.

"This matters. This is important," he argued. "Why did you say six months?" he demanded.

"Well, why did you say five minutes?!" Amy roared. Her anger faded fast as she realized what she'd said, what she'd just revealed. She shared a glance with Lily, who looked nearly as shocked as the Doctor was.

The Doctor stared at her as though she'd just swung her arm back and slapped him clean across the face. "What?" he breathed, almost not wanting to believe that he'd heard her correctly. She couldn't be . . .

Lily groaned, they didn't have time for this! She grabbed the Doctor's arm again, "Come on!"

"What? What?!" he exclaimed, as Lily dragged him around the side of the house, narrowly avoiding Prisoner Zero, who stood by the back door, barking at them as they past, and right down the street. As soon as she was satisfied with the distance they'd put between them and Prisoner Zero, she dropped his arm and stopped to allow Amy catch up.

"You're Amelia," he said, as soon as Amy had caught up with them.

"You're late," she said brusquely, striding past them.

The Doctor looked over at Lily, looking her up and down again. "And you! You're Lillian!" Lily smiled nervously, sending him an awkward wave, before hurrying after Amy. "Amelia and Lillian Pond. You're the little girls!" he said, jogging to catch up with them.

"I'm Amelia, she's Lillian, and you're late!" Amy replied sharply, continuing to stride quickly down the street.

"You hit me with a cricket bat."

"Twelve years," she said, as though that answered his unspoken question.

"A cricket bat!" the Doctor stressed. Nine-hundred-plus-years of time and space and that was the first time anyone had ever hit him over the head with a cricket bat.

Amy scoffed, "Twelve years and four psychiatrists."

"Four?" he asked, looking at Lily for confirmation. How did someone go through four psychiatrists?!

Lily nodded gravely, mouthing, 'She kept biting them.'

"Biting them? Why?" he asked, looking puzzled.

"They said you weren't real," Amy admitted, sulkily.

Their attention was drawn elsewhere as they heard the metallic voice of the Guard crackle over the PA system of a nearby ice-cream truck.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat. Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated . . ."

"How's it doing that?" Lily asked, looking up at the sky for any sign of the Guard, but seeing nothing. Just clear blue sky and puffy white clouds.

"No, no, no, come on. What? We're being staked out by an ice-cream van?" Amy asked, feeling like she'd gone completely mad.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated . . ."

They ran around the corner to the ice-cream van. "What's that? Why are you playing that?" the Doctor asked the ice-cream man, who had just been messing with the PA wires.

"It's supposed to be Clair de Lune," he said, looking at them, perplexed.

Lily shot him an apologetic smile, as he watched the Doctor take his radio without asking and start fiddling around with the buttons. "Lovely song, Clair de Lune," she commented lightly, trying to distract the poor confused ice-cream man, who looked on the verge of having a mental breakdown due to all the confusion. A second later, the Doctor got the radio working.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated . . ." the radio played, just like the PA system was. "Repeat. Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated . . ."

The Doctor set the radio down, spinning around, to look around and see if the same message was being projected from anywhere else, noticing a woman having trouble with her cellphone. Amy and Lily did the same, seeing a woman who was messing around with her MP3 player, appearing to have the same problem.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Lily's voice brought him out of his thoughts.

Without any notice, the Doctor ran off, hopping over Mrs. Angelo's white picket fence.

"Come on," Amy said, taking Lily's hand and heading after him.

All those years dreaming about what hanging out with the Doctor would be like, Lily had never considered how much running would be involved.

~DW~

The Doctor barged through Mrs. Angelo's door, surprising the elderly woman, who did a double take when she saw him.

"Hullo! Sorry to barge in, we're doing a special on television faults in this area," he quickly covered, noticing that the woman's TV seemed to be broadcasting an image of Prisoner Zero's guard and repeating the same message over and over. Lily dashed to his side, Amy right behind her. The Doctor gave Amy's outfit the once over, adding, "Also, crimes. Let's have a look then." The Doctor hurried over to the television, taking out his sonic screwdriver from his pocket.

"I was just about to phone. It's on every channel," Mrs. Angelo explained to the Doctor, that is, until she noticed the Pond girls.

"Hullo, Lily, dear," Mrs. Angelo greeted Lily pleasantly. Lily smiled graciously, "Hullo Mrs. Angelo, how are you today?" Lily had always liked Mrs. Angelo. While some of the other adults used to whisper about them, thinking them odd, Mrs. Angelo had always been very kind to them.

"Oh and Amy, dear," Mrs. Angelo said, noticing Amy standing there as well. Then, Mrs. Angelo seemed taken aback by Amy's outfit, "Are you a policewoman now?"

"Well, sometimes," Amy said, strained. Beside her, Lily snickered at her awkwardness. It wasn't very often that Amy Pond was at a loss for words. Amy elbowed her in the ribs.

"Ow!" Lily hissed, rubbing her side.

"I thought you were a nurse," Mrs. Angelo said, the Doctor glancing over at them as he fiddled with the her portable radio.

"I can be a nurse," Amy replied tensely, wishing that the old woman would just drop it.

"Or, actually, a nun?" Mrs. Angelo asked, growing more and more confused.

"I dabble," Amy laughed nervously.

Mrs. Angelo seemed to get the message that Amy didn't want to really want to talk about her various jobs and professions, and changed the subject. "Amy, who is your friend?" Mrs. Angelo asked, thinking that the Doctor was another one of Amy's boyfriends.

"Who's Amy? You were Amelia," the Doctor said, sounding a little put out.

"Yeah, now I'm Amy," she retorted.

"Amelia Pond. That was a great name!" the Doctor argued.

"Oh, get off my case. I'm not the only one who changed my name. Why don't you lecture, Lily Pond, over there," Amy said, pointing at Lily, who's eyes widened at sudden unwanted attention from the Doctor.

"You too?" the Doctor asked her, looking exasperated.

"I know you, don't I?" Mrs. Angelo asked, distracting him, to Lily's relief, "I've seen you somewhere before."

"Not me. Brand-new face," he said, leaning down and stretching out his face as though to make his point, "First time on. And what sort of jobs a kissogram?"

"I go to parties and I kiss people," Amy explained. At the look on the Doctor's face, Amy cleared her throat nervously. "With outfits . . . It's a laugh," she defended.

"You were a little girl five minutes ago," the Doctor reprimanded.

"You're worse than Lily and my aunt Sharon," Amy snapped back.

"I'm the Doctor, I'm worse than everybody's aunt," he countered. Then turning back to Mrs. Angelo, he said, "And that is not how I'm introducing myself." The Doctor went back to meddling with the radio. "So tell me, what is it that you do, Lily? And please don't say that you're also a kissogram," the Doctor asked, adding the last part mostly just to get on Amy's nerves.

"Watch it," Amy growled, making the Doctor smirk.

"Well, I'm a freelance journalist, I suppose. I write for the local newspaper, the Leadworth Chronicle, sometimes. But what I really want to do is write novels. I'm going to the University of Gloucestershire this fall for creative writing," Lily told him, sheepishly, looking down at the ground. She didn't really like talking about her writing, she thought it was a little embarrassing. When they were kids Amy used to have her write storybooks about the Doctor and his magic box. And this one time Veronica Stackmore had seen her writing one and took it from her, reading it out loud to the entire class. After that the other kids always used to tease her about it. Ever since then she'd been sort of shy about her writing.

The Doctor stopped what he was doing, turning towards her, a huge grin appearing on his face. "That's brilliant, that's wonderful! Good for you, Lillian Pond! Good for you! When did you start that?" he asked, messing around with the radio again.

Lily let out a little laugh in relief. She'd been so afraid that he'd tell her that writing was an impractical job, just like her mother always did. Like everybody else did. But here he was acting like it was the best thing he'd heard all day.

"Er, not too long after we met you, actually," she replied, a little awkwardly. She didn't really want to tell him that the first time she really ever wrote a story, that it had been about him. He'd probably think she was barmy!

"You see!" he said to Amy. "You should be looking for a job like Lily's. Now there's a good job; writing! Not only is it practical, but it also takes quite a bit of imagination," he said, winking at Lily, who ducked her head and blushed a little.

She wanted to scoff and tell him that her mother would probably debate the 'practical' part of that with him, but decided not to, as they had more important things to see to at the moment.

He held up the radio, pointing his sonic screwdriver at it, making it play the Guards message in multiple languages.

"Okay, so it's everywhere, in every language. They're broadcasting to the whole world," he said, before flying over to the window, throwing it open and sticking his head out.

"What's up there? What're you looking for?" Amy asked, all three of the women moving to stand beside him.

"Okay, planet this size, two poles, your basic molten cores, they're going to need a forty percent fission blast," he evaluated.

The sound of the front door opening made the Doctor whirl around, to see a tall young man looking to be around the same age as the Pond girls were. The Doctor walked right up to him, still talking, standing on his tippy toes to look him in the eyes. "So assuming a medium-sized starship, that's twenty minutes. What do you think? Twenty minutes?" he asked, standing back down on the flats of his feet and then back up on his tippy toes again, the young man looking at him oddly. "Yeah, twenty minutes," the Doctor made up his mind, walking over to stand in front of girls.

"Twenty minutes to what?" Lily pressed.

"Are you the Doctor?" the young man, who just so happened to be Mrs. Angelo's grandson Jeff, asked.

Before any of them could deny it, Mrs. Angelo cried excitedly, "He is, isn't he? He's the Doctor! The Raggedy Doctor. All those stories and cartoons you did, when you were little." Lily looked down, self-consciously, her cheeks going red again. While Amy avoided the Doctor's eyes. "The Raggedy Doctor. It's him!" Mrs. Angelo continued, ignorant to the awkwardness she'd created.

"Shut up," Amy coughed.

"Cartoons?" the Doctor asked, before going over to take a seat on the couch in front of the telly.

"Gran, it's him, isn't it?" Jeff said eagerly, watching the Doctor sit down, "It's really him!"

"Jeff, shut up!" Amy growled.

"Twenty minutes to what?" Lily repeated, pushing aside her embarrassment.

". . . human residence will be incinerated. Repeat . . ." the television repeated the message over and over.

"The human residence. They're not talking about your house, they're talking about the planet. Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship, and it's going to incinerate the planet," the Doctor gave them an explanation.

" . . . will be incinerated. Repeat. Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence, or the human residence will be incinerated."

"Twenty minutes to the end of the world," Lily mumbled, realizing what he was getting at.

". . . or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat. Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat. Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat. Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated . . ."

So they had twenty minutes to save the world, a little bit of a cliche, but there they were. With no one else to count on but the Doctor to save them.

Yeah, just another typical day with the Doctor.