Sorry that I STILL haven't updated DS, but I've got it planned and I promise that I will update it next. But I didn't exactly get a particularly inspiring amount of reviews last time...not that anything like that will ever stop me. :)

So, this one-shot is FULLY dedicated to the wonderful, incredible 'toavoidconversation', who has stuck with me through everything, always been there when I needed advice, or when I had doubts about anything, and she even took my own Harry Potter story 'I Am Sam' into her own hands when I no longer had the time for it. And she's done a much better job than I was doing, I recommend that you check it out, you'll find her in my Fave Authors.

It's her birthday today, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY! XD You're the best, hope you know it. *sings Happy Birthday*

So, this story is basically a crossover between my own series and her 'The Lover, The Friend and The Foe'. Even if you are not familiar with her story (or mine), you should still understand, but possibly not about my character.

Basically, Lucie comes from a universe where Rose travelled with the Doctor after Journey's end, but Lucie and the Doctor are together, and Aliya is a Time Lady who went to the Academy with the Doctor, Master and Rani. She's also Romana's cousin, and is still very sensitive about her death.

For new series fans, Romana was a Time Lady assigned to help the Doctor in his quest for the Key to Time, who later became the President of Gallifrey. Presumably, she died in the war, though it suspected that she may possibly be the Woman from TEoT. And the Rani (also known as Ushas) is basically a female version of the Master, except that she's a scientist who doesn't care who gets hurt during her experiments, and thinks the Master is stupid for always trying to own the universe. Basically, she's a BAMF (Bad Ass Mother F***er).

So...I think that's it? Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything vital...Oh, yes, I did. This story is set AFTER the end of Deafening Silence, which, yes, is still in progress now. Set in the future of what you know, basically, River has died from the Doctor's POV, so he's still mourning her, and he and Aliya have a strictly platonic relationship (well, PRETTY much, you'll understand when you read this). Yes, so you Daliya fans will just have to wait for the sequel, but you will get little tidbits like this ocassionally.

Also, the talk of other parallel universes are hints towards other crossovers I plan to write. :) Try and guess which fandoms, and if you get them right, I will give you a virtual cookie :)


The TARDIS console shook violently in flight and caused its occupants to exclaim in surprise, pain and shock as they were thrown across the room and to the glass floor where they continued to groan.

"You're doing it wrong!" The Doctor told his female companion as he tried to grab a nearby rail and use it to get to his feet with only partial success.

"I didn't do anything! I was simply flying her normally, and then she just went mad!" The blonde woman objected indignantly while clutching the hexagonal console like a lifeline and doing her best to flick her short blonde curls out of her face so that she could see properly, something that was near impossible as every three seconds they would displace themselves all over again. "And I don't want to be the first to say it, but this has happened before and I think we both know what it means by now…"

"No!" The Doctor interrupted her as he caught on to her suggestion. "No more parallel universes! They're annoying and tricky, and above all, boring! I think that after all we've done, we deserve to just be able relax in our own universe and go where we want, without constantly living in fear of being deposited into any parallel that happens to decide it wants us to visit!"

"You can get angry all that you like, it doesn't change the fact that we're heading into one!" Aliya argued and had barely finished her sentence when another jolt caused her to land on the floor again, this time with her rear becoming the source of the bruising.

"You know, I wish that you would stop being so happy whenever this happens! You've been loving this…" He accused the blonde woman, who raised an eyebrow and immediately began to argue.

"Loving it? I hate it just as much as you do-"

"We end up in a parallel, I take you to an opera, a skeleton falls through the roof, and because you suddenly feel pity for it, you start cradling it and studying it, and you get us into trouble with that bunch of forensic anthropologists!"

"I didn't love that at all, because all everyone did was tell me what I was doing wrong!"

"And then, in another parallel, I get sick, but no, you go off on your own and party with a vampire-"

"Oh, you're just edgy about that because he was good-looking and mysterious-"

"And nearly get yourself killed…"

"Yeah, because that's such a change, travelling with you is sosafe-"

They both continued to argue pointlessly, getting more and more agitated and their voice levels rising, eyes glaring, until both of them snapped.

"Oh, just shut up!" Aliya yelled angrily, sick of his nagging reprimands.

"Don't you tell me to shut up, this is my TARDIS, and I'm in charge, so I'm telling you, for once in your lives, Aliyanadevoralundar, shut your mouth and listen to me!" The Doctor shouted in a commanding tone that she didn't listen to.

"No, why should I?" She retorted, her different coloured eyes challenging him to continue fighting with her.

He began to answer and she immediately started talking over him to drown out his voice and annoy him, and it would have not ended for hours had the TARDIS not wisely chosen that moment to stop hurtling through time and space at galaxies per minute and crash land with a jerk that sent both Time Lords flying through the air.

The TARDIS had landed on a 30 degree angle to the right, meaning that the entire console room was stuck on a lean, with both of them having been thrown down past the far end stairs to the lower level of the TARDIS, near the underneath of the glass console floor.

The Doctor had landed on his back none too gently, but had not had enough time to register any pain properly before he gasped and jerked reflexively as Aliya landed on top of him, sprawled sideways across his stomach while on her own.

He couldn't help himself; he began to chuckle, and as his chest rose and fell with the laughter her body also went up and down a little. She craned her neck up to look at him and shot him a glare that he knew she didn't really mean.

"I hate you," She told him.

"Yeah, well, I hate you too, so we're even, aren't we?" He answered without missing a beat, and Aliya gave him a weak smile which he returned as they worked on getting up, all arguments and irritation forgotten as quickly as all the others they had had in the past, and all the ones they would have in the future.

The tilt of the TARDIS meant that they almost lost their balance the moment they did so, but there was a wall to catch them.

"This is going to be fun…" Aliya muttered as she ran her eyes over the once normal room that was now a twisted playground that they had to climb.

"I think if we keep close to the floor, we can crawl up and then use the console floor and railing to pull ourselves up." The Doctor strategized and Aliya nodded, agreeing and not having a better plan.

After over five minutes of extreme gravity defying, curses, scoldings for aforementioned curses, a slight detour for the retrieval of a beloved denim jacket, and just a little playful teasing and verbal abuse, the two Gallifreyans had managed to get to the wooden door. They clutched the handle so as to not fall back down the tilted room, and pushed the door open and forced themselves through the gap as quickly as possible, struggling against each other to get through.

They finally burst through, with Aliya getting propelled off on a diagonal where she stumbled and barely managed to gain her balance by grabbing the side of the police box, and the Doctor landing on the sandy ground with a thud.

"We are neverdoing that again!" He said to his friend firmly. She laughed and walked over to him to help him up.

"You don't have to tell me." She replied with a smile.

"Yes, well, let's just look around and see if we're the only ones here, after all, you never know if behind the nearest rock there will be an unexpected lizard…" The Doctor said with a solemn nod as his eyes scanned the barren landscape. It was like a desert, dry with sand and rocks for as far as the eyes could see, only without the blazing heat, though it was warm enough for the Doctor to remove his tweed jacket and push his sleeves up to the elbows while his companion tied her denim jacket around her waist after it had become apparent that she would not be needing it. They walked for a while, but found nothing.

"I think we'll be lucky to even find a lizard…" Aliya muttered as her eyes followed the same path as his had taken. She was about to continue talking when an incredibly familiar noise rang through the air, one that made the two Time Lords sharply turn to look at each other with equally alarmed expressions. They both watched, wide-eyed, as a blue police box materialised with a wheezing noise right in front of their eyes.

A man poked his head out of the door. He had brown hair that stuck up in attractive tufts and intense brown eyes that were warm and friendly, while he wore a pinstripe suit.

"Oh…hello," He said in slight surprise as he noticed them, a grin breaking out across his face regardless of how he had not been expecting it. "I was just, um, doing a routine-" He then quickly scanned their surroundings for his next word, "-desert inspection. Nothing fancy, just…" His eyes flicked between the two of them, a frown beginning to appear as suspicion began to rouse in his eyes. "Hold on…have we met?"


Lucie Pagliari watched with fondness as the Doctor raced around the console in his usual manic manner, flicking switches at a speed which could only be rivalled by his mouth.

"…fascinating place, Bagora, the people who live there have very long lifespans for their physiology, which, would be great, but they don't really do much, they just sort of laze around. Well, I say laze, I mean relax. Well, relax while doing work. Same difference, really. However, they are very friendly, so allons-y!" He threw down the dematerialisation lever and the TARDIS took off, with less turbulence than usual. This however, did not last long. It began to shake so violently that even the Doctor got a little overly worried, and Lucie gripped the console immediately as the time machine shook so much that, had she not known better, she would have thought the TARDIS were doing it deliberately.

After what seemed like an endless battle against gravity, the TARDIS stopped suddenly, the lights slightly dimmed.

"What was that? What happened?" Lucie asked, warily casting her eyes around the now still console room.

"I've no idea," The Doctor admitted, "Though, saying that," His hand travelled up to scratch the back of his head, "I do have one theory. Well, two."

"What are the theories?"

"Something like this happened before, when I was travelling with Rose the first time…there is a chance, Lucie, that we may be in a parallel universe." He said slowly and gravely, intently watching for her reaction.

"Is that bad?" Lucie shifted under his gaze, trying not to get distracted by his chocolate brown eyes.

"Very." He replied, and just when Lucie thought that the urge to lean that little bit closer and kiss him would win over, he suddenly leaned away and began heading towards the door, grabbing his trench coat from over the rail. "I mean, back when Gallifrey was still around, parallel worlds were no big deal, we had complete control over travel to and from them, but now that the Time Lords are gone it should be completely impossible."

"But obviously it's not," Lucie put in. "Because you said that you went to one with Rose, and she travelled with you after the Time War, not before."

"But it should be impossible, the times with Rose were a fluke, the walls of reality were breaking down, but then they were fixed, so it shouldn't be physically possible for us to be able to travel into a parallel universe!"

"But have we?" Lucie asked pleasantly.

"Well, yes, but-" He admitted, but she cut him off.

"Then why don't we just go outside?" She suggested.

He coughed. "Yes, right, but maybe just in case-" He was about to gesture to some part of the TARDIS console when Lucie, impatient, kissed him to shut him up, an action which proved successful. "As…persuasive…as that may be, it might not be the best way to make me want to leave." He said, running his eyes down her body with a lazy smile on his face. She chuckled.

"Allons-y, Doctor." Lucie reminded him with a teasing smile as she purposefully stole his phrase, and his smile turned into a huge childlike grin.

"Allons-y!" as he ran to the door like the hyperactive child he was, and stuck his head out.

The Doctor found himself staring at a bemused man and woman, who were standing in the desert landscape where the TARDIS had landed. The man was young with floppy brown hair, yet wore clothes like an elderly Earth professor. Meanwhile, his female companion, a blonde who seemed about the same physical age, wore casual 21st century Earth clothing.

"Oh…hello," The Doctor said with a friendly grin, trying to hide his surprise and slight confusion, "I was just, um, doing a routine-" He looked around for ideas, "-desert inspection. Nothing fancy, just…" He looked at them again, and frowned as he felt a strong sense of familiarity hit him as his eyes ran over the two strangers. "Hold on…have we met?"

The strangers exchanged a look that he couldn't interpret, and the woman bit her lip indecisively while the man adjusted his bowtie awkwardly. Before he could ask again, Lucie came up behind him and pulled the door open further so that she could step out of the TARDIS and onto the sand. Her arrival caused both of the strangers to frown in what seemed to be a confused way, and the woman whispered something to the man, who hissed a reply that didn't seem to qualm her in the slightest.

"Sorry, have I missed something?" Lucie asked, looking between the three other people as the man and woman continued to whisper, arguing about something. The man appeared to win, for the female didn't look pleased.

"This may come across as a weird question, but is this your original universe?" The man in the bowtie asked with interest, and the Doctor felt himself feel even more confused than he had been previously.

"Funny you should mention that, no, it's not, actually," He replied warily, and the blonde woman visibly relaxed.

"Well, now that there's no chance of the universe blowing up," Bowtie said happily, "Hello, I'm the Doctor."

The Doctor in the pinstripe suit gaped, merely staring for a few seconds as though trying to decide if he believed it. The Doctor in the Bowtie opened the physic link between them and acceptance flooded the other Doctor's face.

"So," He said as he stepped out of the TARDIS to examine his counterpart more closely. "You're one of my successors, then?"

"Your successor, to be exact. But, we're not from this universe either. Now, introductions, perhaps?" Bowtie suggested, and Pinstripes looked surprised.

"So," He frowned, "You don't know Lucie, then?"

"It depends…how did the two of you meet?" Bowtie questioned.

"Well, I was travelling with Rose, and-" Pinstripe was cut off by his other self, who frowned and invaded his personal space to survey his eyes in a calculative manner.

"No, that's not right, because your eyes are full of sorrow, I know those eyes, I looked in the mirror every day and saw those eyes for months, and in a thousand years, I am never going to forget that those are the eyes of the Doctor who has lost Donna Noble." Bowtie said gravely.

"When I lost Donna I began travelling with Rose again." Pinstripes replied, clearly fighting the urge to let Donna's mention affect him. "We were parked in the Natural History Museum, and then in wandered Lucie here, who interrupted our water fight, and haven't been able to get rid of her since." He winked at Lucie, who blushed and shot him a glare, looking as though she didn't know whether to be offended by the comment.

"Ah, well there we have it then," Bowtie said, clapping his hands and pointing. "I never travelled with Rose a second time, I did land in the Natural History Museum, but I was alone and bored so I moved on. Sorry, Lucie," He said to the woman with long auburn curls, who shrugged mildly.

"It's hardly your fault, Doctor." She replied.

"Well, at least she knows about regeneration, that saves a lot of time," The blonde said, looking upon Lucie with approval. "But let's just call you Ten and Eleven to avoid confusion, shall we?"

"Ten and Eleven?" Lucie echoed in confusion.

"Regeneration numbers." Eleven explained, and she nodded. Meanwhile, Ten was frowning at Eleven's companion.

"Yes, sorry, and you are?" He asked, and she smiled.

"Aliya." She held out her hand and he shook it, something old passing through his eyes at the name.

"Lovely name, Aliya, I had a friend once, long time ago…she was called Aliya." He said thoughtfully, nostalgia filling his eyes. Aliya and Eleven exchanged a significant look.

"You know that she doesn't just have the same name…she is Aliyanadevoralundar." Eleven told Ten, who froze as he stared at the blonde in a new light.

"But, but you died, all those centuries ago, you died!" Ten said urgently, disbelief more than anything taking over his voice.

"When?" Aliya inquired, her voice calm with an unidentifiable undertone.

"At the Academy…the Master, he…he killed you. Always claimed it was an accident. And being, well, being me, I believed it. That and knowing how rough he was, how easy it would have been for him to have accidentally pushed too hard. I never forgave him though. Not properly." Ten said bitterly. Aliya felt her hearts speed up a little, her fear and hatred of the Master blooming as her mind processed the information. Instinctively she stepped closer to Eleven, who saw her distress and pulled her into a hug.

"You saved my life," She shivered as the words fell from her lips, "If you hadn't helped me get out when I did, he would have killed me."

"I know. But I did and he didn't." Eleven told her reassuringly while Ten watched them.

"You got her away from him, before it was too late," Ten said, both surprised and touched.

"The Master killed your friend, and you never said?" Lucie asked Ten, who frowned.

"I've lived a long time, Lucie, telling you everything that ever happened to me would take a while." He said, not unkindly.

She nodded. "I get that. It's just weird to think that she's dead but she's right here."

"She has a name." Aliya said patiently, smirking. Lucie blushed slightly but when she saw that the other woman wasn't bothered, they shared a grin.

"So, are either of you aware of anything unusual going on? Anything that would let the walls between the universes weaken enough for us to travel through?" Ten asked Eleven and Aliya, who nodded.

"Ah, yes, that," Eleven said, and smiled awkwardly before shrugging. "Spoilers."

Aliya smirked when Ten groaned. "Oh, you haven't been talking to that River Song, have you?" He asked.

Eleven and Aliya shared a look of fondness for the woman mentioned, even though both also looked mournful.

"You might enjoy her company more than you think," Eleven grinned at Ten, who frowned and looked at Lucie.

"Well, we'll see about that." He said firmly. Eleven's eyes flicked rapidly between the two of them and comprehension dawned on his face.

"Ah," He said. Aliya's reaction was more belated, but eventually she let out an 'oh'.

Ten shifted uncomfortably. "And you?"

Eleven coughed and adjusted his bowtie while Aliya's cheek's flushed and she looked awkwardly at her own Doctor.

"No, no! We're just friends." Eleven assured them, and she nodded insistently.

"Nothing wrong with that," Ten said, almost looking as though he didn't believe them.

Before anyone could say anything more, a wheezing sound split through the air as yet another police box materialised nearby .

"You have got to be kidding me." Aliya said in disbelief.

"What?" Ten said simply, staring at the now solid police box.

"Doesn't this violate the laws of time of something?" Lucie asked, and Eleven shrugged.

The four of them watched as two people stumbled out of the box, lips locked. The man was dressed in Victorian clothing, with long reddish brown curls of hair, and the woman in his arms wore a flowing green dress that contrasted with her long black hair.

"Oh no." Aliya breathed. Eleven looked equally embarrassed, as were the couple when they realised that they were not alone.

"Sorry, um, hello. I'm the Doctor." The man said.

"You don't say," Ten said sarcastically, but grinned. "Hello, it's good to see you again."

"I wish that I could say the same," The Eighth Doctor said with a smile, partially hiding his confusion good-naturedly.

"Doctor, meet Doctors Ten and Eleven." Aliya said with forced cheer. His eyes widened, and he looked at his successors with awe, while his companion scrutinised Aliya.

"Hello Aliya," The black-haired woman said with a gentle smile, "You're blonde again."

"Hello Aliya," The blonde Aliya countered, "Yes I am. Do you travel with him?"

The younger Aliya nodded, and Lucie looked between all the Time Lords that she was surrounded by, and tried not to be overwhelmed.

"This is just too wibbly-wobbly for me," She said, and Ten looked at her fondly.

"No, not you, Lucie, you can handle anything!" He gave her a reassuring side hug.

Meanwhile, the two Aliya's were deep in discussion.

"But what about the Time War?"

"What Time War?"

"The war between the Time Lords and the Daleks!"

Eight got wind of their conversation, and gladly joined in. "The Daleks? They don't exist anymore, I made sure of that back in my fourth body, with Sarah."

"So this is your home universe?" Ten asked, and Eight and the younger Aliya nodded.

"Is it not yours?" Eight asked, and all the others shook their heads. "Well, I know that I wouldn't have mine any other way." He smiled at his Aliya and wound his arm around her waist. The blonde Aliya watched with an unreadable expression, and when Eleven met her gaze with a worried enquiry in his eyes, she bit her lip and turned on her heel before walking away, tears pricking at her eyes.

Eleven turned to the others with an apologetic expression. "Sorry, um, I should probably follow her, women, you know how it is," He shot them what he hoped was a reassuring grin and abruptly made to follow his friend.

"Was it something I said?" Eight inquired worriedly. Aliya stared after where her older self had gone, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I think, perhaps," She began slowly, "That in their universe things between us are not the same. Seeing us together must bother her."

"But why?" Eight asked, and no one had an answer.


"Aliya!" Eleven called as he walked through the desert. Somehow she had disappeared out of his sight, but then he saw a converse clad foot protruding from behind a nearby rock. He walked up to it and cast a shadow over his friend, who looked up.

"Go away," She muttered, doing her best to not look at him.

"Not a chance," He told her, and despite herself, she felt her lips twitch at his usual stubbornness. "Now, tell me what's wrong." Aliya tensed as he lowered down to sit next to her. There was no way to explain what it was that was bothering her without completely crossing the line that had been wordlessly established between them from the moment she had regenerated.

Unable to think of any way to even begin to explain, she said the one word she knew would be a start. "Romana." It was then his turn to become slightly unnaturally silent. Taking a deep breath, she continued. "She'll be alive in this universe, somewhere."

"Yes," He agreed, "Most likely. She's probably still President."

"I wonder where Ushas is…probably off experimenting on some planet the Daleks would have conquered, using that as an excuse. It's so strange, I want to see her, we were friends, of a sort. It would depend on the regeneration." Aliya speculated, looking up at the blue sky and imagining all the worlds beyond it, Gallifrey standing tall.

"She never liked me much." The Doctor said, and they both chuckled. "But you're stalling."

Aliya looked at the ground and said nothing for several moments. "They're married."

"Who? Lucie and-" The Doctor asked, and she shook her head.

"Us. The other us. They were wearing rings." The moment she said the words, the Doctor searched through his memories, analysing them like a computer, and suddenly the image was there, the interlocked hands of their other selves, both with golden rings on their fingers.

"I made a promise to myself, before the Time War, that if we both got out of it alive, I would leave Gallifrey and travel with you, no matter who tried to stop me." Aliya said quietly, and met the Doctor's eyes for a brief moment before looking away once more.

"But it's more than that," He said, analysing the profile of her face worriedly, "Something about this world has upset you."

"This world is perfect!" She snapped, and felt a tear run down her face. "Everything here is the way I want it, and the fact that now it is so close to me, but I can never have it…" Her voice trailed off into a sob that she tried to hold back.

The Doctor felt as though he did not know what to say, he merely wrapped an arm around her, and she did not resist his advance this time.

"Romana is alive. The Time Lords stand tall, pompous, irritating and as strangely comforting as ever, there are no Daleks, and the Doctor and Aliyanadevoralundar are together. It's not fair." Her words were a whisper, and the Doctor tensed as he realised what she meant. Subconsciously he leaned away from her.

"Ali…" He said, and stood up so as to put distance between them, "I…I don't feel…like that…River…"

"You don't understand what I mean," She countered, also climbing to her feet, "I don't want…this…" She gestured between them, briefly wiping at her eyes, "I want that." She pointed in the direction of the Eighth Doctor and the younger Aliya in the distance. "She loved him, he loved her. You love River, and even though she's gone, you'll never stop." Her eyes were grim, sure of the truth.

The Doctor flinched when she talked of River's fate. Despite the time that had passed, River's death was still far too raw, and the feelings he had for her had barely begun to dim even the tiniest bit.

"And I don't love you." She said the words forcefully, her expression firm before softening a little. "But I want to be her. That's my twisted wish."

"We always want what we can't have," The Doctor said eventually, and she let out a slightly bitter laugh that he didn't quite understand.

"Always," She agreed. He held his hand out to her in invitation, gesturing for them to head back to the others, and she nodded but did not take his hand. He was glad for it; after such a conversation like the one they had just had, physical contact of any kind seemed too noticeable, too meaningful. They walked back, close but not touching.


It was Lucie who finally saw Eleven and the blonde Aliya returning, and she sighed with relief. "It's alright, they're coming." She told the others. Eleven and Aliya came to stand with them, both looking tired.

"Are you alright?" The younger Aliya asked her older self, who nodded.

"You have things in your world I can never have, so savour them and know how lucky you are," She replied, and the black-haired woman nodded.

"Well, I think that we'll leave sooner rather than later to avoid certain catastrophes," Eight said with a charming smile. "Goodbye, all the best to what could have been."

"Know that you're lucky." Eleven told him. "You have each other and lot more."

"So do you. So it looks as though you are lucky also." Eight countered. Aliya and Eleven didn't bother to try and correct them, their past selves would not understand. Eight went into the police box.

"Goodbye, Doctor," The younger Aliya said to Ten and Eleven. "Goodbye Lucie, Aliya." Lucie said goodbye back.

"Goodbye, Aliya." Her other self said slightly sadly, watching with longing eyes as the woman entered the police box. It began to dematerialise while the others watched silently, Aliya and Eleven in particular both in their own way longing for the world their other selves had.

"Well, there's something that doesn't happen every day." Ten exclaimed with a grin. "And I think that I'm rather lucky too. Lucky three times over, it seems." He gave Lucie a fond squeeze.

"Yes, who'd ever think that the Doctor would be lucky?" Eleven said, and he and Ten exchanged a look that only the Doctor could interpret. "Goodbye."

"Good luck for the future," Ten said as Eleven and Aliya began to walk away.

"Right back at you," Eleven replied with a grin.

Aliya looked at Lucie. "Take care of him. Don't let him do anything stupid."

"I won't," Lucie replied with a grin, and Aliya smirked at Ten's affronted look. The two Time Lords walked off back to their TARDIS teasing each other as they went, leaving Ten and Lucie alone.

"Come on, then," He said suddenly, looking at her, "Allons-y!" He pulled her inside the TARDIS.

"What are we-" Lucie began, but he kissed her suddenly, and she stopped trying to talk.

"I think we have some unfinished business, Miss Pagliari," He said in a low whisper, and she giggled, nodding as he took her hand and led her towards the bedroom.


Aliya sat in her room in the TARDIS some hours later, having spent the last of those hours attempting to get away from the Doctor rambling about camels and how well they would go with his fez. She sat at her desk, opening her diary. It was such a human thing to do, but travelling with the Doctor like this, alone, she needed some way to vent. She sighed and put the fountain pen to paper. It didn't start with 'dear diary', as she found it ridiculous to talk to a book, but with a Gallifreyan symbol used for 'start'. After drawing it in, she wrote the following with a shaky right hand.

I lied to him again today.

That's three times I've done it now. It's not that I want to, quite the opposite, but he can't know. He can never know. I said it once, and look at where that got me. But I don't know how to keep it in anymore.

River knew. She always did. I hope it isn't blatantly obvious. But I suppose River was just brilliant like that. It's in no way surprising that the Doctor loved her so much. I can still see her ghost in his eyes, every time he thinks that I'm not looking. I wish she were here. Somehow, I think it would be easier. And at least one of us would be happy again.

Aliya sat there, staring blankly at the wall in front of her while her mind was in a completely different place, reminising and wishing for things it couldn't have.

She didn't notice where a couple of the words on the page had been smudged by a single tear.


Hope you enjoyed it! Happy Birthday again, and hopefully I will see you guys soon with a long overdue update on the main story.

Love you all, and please drop in a review and let me know what you thought of it...

-MayFairy :)