Shackles of Responsibilities

by noblecrescent

Minerva's coronation is finally set for her to become Queen of the Monsoon in a year. However, her grandfather, Mayar, still disagrees with her marriage to the Doctor - like many other Moontsays. With a new prince and royal family in their lives, turmoil will happen. Minerva wants to stay true to her responsibilities, but at what cost? *Third in the Monsoon Seasons*

1. Beginnings

Author's Note:

Welcome to my third story of the Monsoon Seasons: Shackles of Responsibilities. The story involves my OC (and other minor OCs') Minerva Souza (aka Kaeya Louvier) and the Doctor (now the 11th). This story will involve the entire 5th season long with the Christmas special ;)

For any new readers taking a chance on this story I suggest you go back and read the 2 previous stories: Next Stop Everywhere & Star-Crossed. They have important history you'll probably need to understand what goes on in this story and its characters. But if you don't, that's cool too :)

My main OC, Minerva, is on her 2nd incarnation and her appearance is...well you'll have to read the first chapter to see what she looks like now ;)

---

Minerva tilted her head back as she felt that queasy feeling taking her over, "Ah...ah..." she opened her mouth, "Doctor!" she cried and threw her head back as the silver glow turned into a blast of energy that engulfed her entire body.

With the new energy added, the TARDIS flung without control. The Doctor was sent back in one of those while the console sparked with several small fires that were also set around the room. When the silver glow faded, out stumbled a woman who seemed - and was - terrified beyond belief. Her long, ginger hair fell over her face and when she quickly pushed it back she looked to meet the Doctor's gaze.

"Ginger," he breathed in awe and shock.

But Minerva's fear won out her own confusion, "Doctor!" she cried and touched her new face, "What's going on!?"

The Doctor wanted to tell her what it was, how to fix it...but he had no idea. He moved to her when the doors of the TARDIS blasted open and let in the noises of a city from below. The Doctor charged for the doors in an attempt to get them closed, but due to his new feet - and balance - he fell out.

Horrified even more, Minerva screamed and tried to go for the doors, "Doctor!"

The Doctor started pulling himself back inside but stopped upon the sound of a bell, seeing they were about to hit Big Ben. He used the screwdriver on the controls and slipped out as the TARDIS sped up, barley missing the structure. He pulled himself inside and closed the doors, falling against them with a deep sigh.

Minerva was still getting to him and apparently was struggling on her new feet and balance thus she fell forwards, right onto the Doctor. The Doctor placed his hands on either side of her face and lifted her head to be inches apart. For a moment, the TARDIS wasn't about to crash, it wasn't on fire, and they were not new people. It was just him and his Clever Girl, just inches from kissing.

Minerva blushed under his gaze and swatted his hands from her then quickly scooted back from him, "Stop staring at me!" she cried and sheepishly covered her face with her hands. She really didn't know how to feel about this sudden change, regeneration, whatever it was…it was not normal - even for aliens like herself. She just wanted to know what was going on!

The Doctor leaned forwards and gently reached for her hands to pull them down to from her face. He could feel the woman shaking under his hands, even apart from the currently crashing TARDIS. He smiled and stroked her cheek, "You just get even more insanely beautiful with each change. And you have ginger…"

"It's not ginger!" she snapped lightly, "It's brown with a tint of orange...okay maybe a bit more orange," she corrected then quickly picked up a large strand to study it.

The Doctor smiled, "You can be whatever you want but all I'm seeing is a ginger who's my wife. Someone's been peeking at my wish list."

She blushed and stood up, helping him up as well, "Let's take care of the crashing box."

He nodded, "And then I promise we'll head over to the Monsoon and ask Mayar to help."

He really didn't understand what was going on. Why had Minerva changed? Was it regeneration? If it was, why had it happened? So many questions and honestly he didn't know one answer. He preferred to endure Mayar's hatred just as long as Minerva was checked over and declared healthy.

~ 0 ~

A young ginger girl, Amelia, was sitting on the side of her bed, her hands together and her eyes closed as she prayed, "Dear Santa, thank you for the dolls and pencils and the fish. It's Easter now, so I hope I didn't wake you...but honest, it is an emergency. There's a crack in my wall," she opened an eye again to look at the big crack spread across her wall then returned to her prayer, "Aunt Sharon says it's just an ordinary crack, but...Tabetha 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. Or..."

The sound of the TARDIS materializing interrupted her, followed by the great big crash that made her get up and look back at the window, "Back in a moment!"

Amelia grabbed a torch from her nightstand and headed for her window, pulling the curtain back to see the TARDIS on its side in her backyard, part of her shed destroyed. There was smoke coming out from her box.

Amelia looked at her side as if someone stood beside her, "I told you it'd work, Tabetha," she grinned, "Santa's real! C'mon!"

~ 0 ~

Amelia ran out of her back door wearing a red jacket with matching wellies. She guided herself with her torch all the way to the crashed TARDIS.

"Yes, Tabby, I know there's a branch," Amelia grumbled as she stepped over the branch her imaginary friend warned her about.

Suddenly, the doors burst open and out came a rope with a grappling hook that latched on to a lawn mower. Amelia watched as one hand and another came over the edge of the box followed by the Doctor popping his head out, "Can I have an apple? All I can think about - apples. I love apples. Maybe I'm having a craving. That's new - never had cravings before," he straddled the box and looked back inside.

"That's not a craving, stupid!" Amelia heard another voice, that of a woman and apparently an American by the sound. The Doctor leaned into the TARDIS and pulled Minerva out, also soaking wet like him, "The last thing you saw was an apple with my younger self," she reminded then ran a hand through her hair as she thought, "Actually...an apple doesn't sound bad right now. Can we have one?"

Amelia blinked with wide eyes, no actual response for the pair at the moment. Two strangers dropped out of the sky and wanted an apple? She looked at the box they were on and saw the smoke billowing out, "Are you two okay?"

The Doctor swung his legs over to one side of the box and smiled, "Just had a fall. All the way down there, right to the library. Hell of a climb back up."

"You're soaking wet."

"We were in the swimming pool," Minerva explained.

"But he said you were in the library," Amelia made an irritated face. Were they really going to lie?

"So was the swimming pool...apparently," Minerva shot a look at the Doctor, "My library better be okay, Martian - as well as my art room."

"Well, um..." the Doctor looked to the side, slightly afraid of his wife, "...the TARDIS does have a tendency to rearrange some rooms..."

"Are you policemen?" Amelia asked, oblivious to the martial problems.

The Doctor jumped on the distraction, "Why? Did you call for policemen?

"Did you come about the crack in my wall?"

"What cra...?" but the Doctor fell forward to the ground, "Agh!"

Minerva hopped off the box and went to the Doctor's side. Amelia just watched with her big green eyes at the fiasco, "Are you all right, mister?"

Minerva helped him kneel, "No, I'm fine, it's OK. This is all perfectly norm..." the Doctor tried to say but his mouth opened to release regeneration energy.

"Who are you?" Amelia asked the only thing she could really ask.

He raised his hands that glowed with golden energy "I don't know yet. I'm still cooking. But she..." she looked at Minerva with a soft smile, "...she's done, came out of the nowhere, but…blimey."

Minerva blushed and looked to the side. She didn't have a clue as to how she looked but it was a bit comfortable to know her hair had reverted back to a long, straight style. Although its colors were completely gone. It was brown with a tinge of orange that made it shiny.

"Does it scare you?" the Doctor had asked Amelia, bringing Minerva out of her thoughts in the meantime.

"No, it just looks a bit weird," she shrugged as she looked at the Doctor.

"No, no, no. The crack in your wall," Minerva corrected, "Does it scare you?"

"Yes."

"Well, then, no time to lose," the Doctor jumped to his feet and pulled Minerva up, "I'm the Doctor, this is my wife, Minerva. Do everything we tell you, don't ask stupid questions and don't wander off," he strode away with purpose.

"He's wrong about the questions," Minerva informed Amelia, "Always ask questions because how else will you le-" the sound of a smack made her spin around to see the Doctor had walked straight into a tree and fell back on his back on the ground, "Doctor!" she exclaimed and ran over, "Oh you idiot," she dropped to his side.

Amelia ran over and looked at the man on the ground, "Are you alright?"

"Early days. Steering's a bit off," he responded.

Minerva scoffed, "Please, you were always a walking klutz. That'll never change even with regeneration!"

"Thank you, love," he mock-glared.

Minerva tilted her head at the new word. He always called her 'dear', never 'love'. She wondered if this was something new that would become a norm for them in the future...

~ 0 ~

The pair stood inside Amelia's kitchen and looked around, unaware of Amelia staring at them as she came back with two apples, "If you're a doctor, why does your box say "Police"?" she asked.

"Because he broke it," Minerva sighed in amusement as she took her apple.

Both she and the Doctor bit into their apples and while Minerva happily chewed on hers the Doctor spit it out and coughed, "That's disgusting. What is that?" he demanded.

"An apple," Amelia frowned, she and Minerva eyeing him oddly.

"Apples are rubbish. I hate apples."

"You said you loved them," Amelia said.

"No, no, I love yogurt. Yogurt's my favorite. Give me yogurt."

Minerva looked at him rather sadly, "But...you always loved apples with my grandmother."

The Doctor softy smiled at her and reached to touch her face, "New rule, I hate apples...unless they're from Isadora's backyard and/or from the hand of my wife."

Minerva gave a small smile upon hearing his last two words that made her heart flutter knowing he didn't reject her for the moment. It was actually a slight fear of hers that upon being a new man, he would start to see little quirks and/or traits that he didn't like about her anymore. She herself wasn't very sure with the current "doctor" she had in front of her. She loved him, yes, and a lot, and she just needed a good five minutes to really look at him and see who her husband now was.

Amelia returned to the pair with a container of yogurt. The Doctor snatched it off and chucked out the lid to the side before pouring it into his mouth. As soon as it hit his throat he spit it out as well, "I hate yogurt, it's just stuff with bits in," he tasted the remnants in his mouth with a crinkled nose.

"You just said it was your favorite," Amelia scowled.

"New mouth, new rules," he declared and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

"You're being rude," Minerva reminded as she munched on her apple, pretty much content with the fruit.

"I just changed bodies, I think it's allowed," he pouted.

She mock-glared then gestured to herself, "Are you forgetting something here?'

"Right...we'll look into that later," he tried to show he was upset about the fact like she was, but...she looked beautiful. How could he be upset of that? Personally, he loved her in all her bodies, but this was one was ginger. Ginger, ginger, ginger...ginger! While it was completely unfair, she was working it rather nicely...

His sudden jerk snapped him out of his thoughts while scaring Amelia and putting Minerva into concern.

"What is it? What's wrong with you?" Amelia tried moving forwards to help him like Minerva was but he shooed her off.

"Wrong with me? It's not my fault," he mocked glared, "Why can't you give me decent food? You're Scottish - fry something."

Minerva shook her head as the little ginger girl ran to the stove to get on that frying, "Doctor, you're really being ru-" but the man hurried out and left her speaking on her own, "Where's he going?" she looked at Amelia and walked over to the girl.

"I dunno know," she shrugged and moved to get bacon out of the fridge.

"You sure seem calm about having two complete strangers in your house," Minerva remarked as she watched the girl calmly move around.

"Tabetha says you're not dangerous," Amelia informed while she went to the stove to start cooking that bacon.

"Who's Tabetha?"

"My imaginary friend," Amelia shrugged, "She says you're safe and that you look nice with ginger hair."

"Oh," Minerva smiled and instinctively ran a hand through her hair, "Kinda new hair...but tell her thanks." "

A couple minutes later the Doctor returned with a towel he used to dry his hair, "Ah! Bacon!" he took a whiff of the scent in the kitchen.

"Did you go through people's things for that?" Minerva walked up to him, "Doctor, that's ru-" he had flopped the towel over her hair and started drying her next, winking at Amelia who chuckled at Minerva that was grumbling underneath, "Doctor!" Minerva exclaimed and finally got the towel off her head, throwing it to the side, "This you is far more rude!"

He simply kissed her hair and moved to the table to take a seat. Amelia set a plate for him with bacon which he happily took. Though, as he chewed he made some faces that made Amelia laugh, "Bacon. That's bacon," he'd spit out the food back to the plate, "Are you trying to poison me?"

The next minute would find Amelia baking beans on the stove with the Doctor beside her, intently watching. Minerva was cleaning up the mess he'd made so far with the apple, yogurt and bacon in the room.

"Ah, you see, beans," the Doctor grinned and took the new plate from Amelia, taking a forkful of them into his mouth...and then spat that out into the sink, "Beans are evil. Bad, bad beans."

Amelia made a face and looked back at Minerva for help. Minerva looked at her husband with an irritated sigh, "Here, let me try," she moved around the kitchen, taking out bread and butter.

The Doctor hovered over her like a hawk, Minerva still being smaller than he was which was all the more better for him because it meant he could hug and hold her easier...plus protecting her, which was always a favorite of his.

"Try this, and please refrain yourself from spitting this out on the floor," Minerva turned to him with a plate of bread and butter, blinking rapidly as she saw how close he was to her, "H-here you go," she held the plate.

"Bread and butter. Now you're talking," he declared and bit into his toast.

He made a face and opened his mouth...when Minerva gave him a look...and not just any look, but the look. It appeared she had a new, dangerous look that would put any child and adult (including a 907 year old alien) to silence.

Silently, he stood up, holding his plate in his hands, and promptly walked out the kitchen.

"What just happened?" Amelia turned and watched the Doctor leave.

"Take notes, ginger, this is how you take control of your husband," Minerva smirked and crossed her arms.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor opened the door of the house and threw the plate outside, ignoring the crash noise and a very angry cat meowing, "And stay out!" he shouted and shut the door behind him.

~ 0 ~

"All done, love," the Doctor returned to the kitchen with a bright smile.

"You're married?" Amelia looked between them.

"Yes," the Doctor answered at the same time Minerva said 'unfortunately'.

"Oi!" he shot her a pout as Amelia laughed.

Minerva shrugged, "You have a baby face now...I think I look a little older now, do I?" she looked at Amelia with curiosity.

Amelia studied them intently then shook her head, "Nope."

"Really? Cos I think I do," Minerva lifted a piece of her new hair and studied it, "I need a mirror!" she declared and tried hurrying out of the room.

Instead, the Doctor caught her by the waist and brought her back, her back to his chest, "Nope, I want to keep it a surprise for you."

"I have a mirror..." Amelia tried to say but the Doctor shook his head.

"Yes!" Minerva exclaimed.

"Don't you worry my queen, you look as beautiful as ever," he kissed her cheek.

"I'm no queen, I'm a princess," Minerva huffed and wiggled herself out of his arms.

"Soon-to-be queen," he reminded with a pointing finger as he walked over to the fridge.

"What's he talking about?" Amelia looked at Minerva, confused.

"I'm sort of a princess of this kingdom...planet," Minerva explained with a sigh, missing the awed face Amelia now wore.

"No way," Amelia shook her head in disbelief, "Princess? Like an actual princess?"

"I am," Minerva turned to her with a small smile.

"Wheres's your crown, then?" Amelia challenged, crossing her arms. She was studying Minerva head to toe, looking for any royal traits. She was dressed regularly and frankly had messy hair with no make up on. That didn't seem like a princess.

"Mm, she's good," Minerva glanced at the Doctor as he chuckled to himself while he searched the freezer.

Minerva faced the small ginger again and gave a small shrug, "I don't wear it unless I'm at home. But I'm sort of in the process of setting up for coronation. I don't get another crown until I'm queen."

"That's cool," Amelia remarked, as long as she had the crown it meant she was princess, "But right now you don't have it on, so you can't really tell people you're a princess. But still cool."

"Yeah? I'm cool," Minerva turned to the Doctor with a giddy smile, walking over to him.

"I always thought so," he said as he took out fish fingers and custard from the fridge and freezer.

"What are you doing?" Minerva immediately made a face at the items.

The Doctor smirked and got to work.

~ 0 ~

Later on, the trio sat at the table with their chosen snacks in front of them. Amelia had a container of ice cream, Minerva a plate of oranges and the Doctor with his bowl of custard and fish fingers. Nearing the end of his snack, he picked up the bowl and drank the remaining custard and drank it all down. After setting it down, he bore a custard mustache that he was about to wipe away with his hand...

"Don't you even dare," Minerva grabbed a napkin and cleaned him up, "That is probably the last suit you'll be wearing and I'd like to save it."

"You'd really keep it?" he raised an eyebrow at her, watching her pat his skin with the napkin.

"This is the first time you regenerate where I'm myself and...your wife..." she blushed and set the napkin down on the table, "...I want to keep something from each of you now that I can."

"But you've already have my hearts," he took her hand in his.

She scoffed, "That was so cliche, Martian and you know it," they both laughed.

"It was," Amelia agreed with a nod. She'd seen a lot of those corny lines being thrown between her friends' parents and she didn't like them at all.

"Cliche? I'm still cliche?" the Doctor frowned for a minute then swayed his head as he considered it more, "Yeah, alright."

Minerva shook her head and looked over to Amelia, studying the girl for a moment as she took a spoonful of ice cream, "What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Amelia Pond."

"Ah, that's a brilliant name. Amelia Pond, like a name in a fairy tale," the Doctor pointed out.

"Are we in Scotland, Amelia?" Minerva questioned.

"No," Amelia said glumly, "We had to move to England. It's rubbish."

"I know, you should try America, we're way better," Minerva shot a smirk at the Doctor.

"You're not even American anymore!" he exclaimed, "You're alien!"

"And yet you still bear an English accent. It's who we are my darling, the American and the English."

"My American," he winked and made her chuckle. He glanced at Amelia then the doorway where he could catch a glimpse of the stairs, "So what about your mum and dad, then Amelia? Are they upstairs? Thought we'd have woken them by now."

"I don't have a mum and dad. Just an aunt," she shrugged but smiled, "And my imaginary friend."

"I don't even have an aunt," he empathized.

"I have a mom and dad," Minerva spoke up, "Well...sort of..." she shrugged, not about to drop a whole story on the little girl.

"So, your aunt. Where is she?" the Doctor asked.

"She's out."

Minerva, surprised, and a bit irritated with the woman, shook her head, "How could she leave you alone like that? That's dangerous!"

"I'm not scared," Amelia said to her.

"'Course you're not," the Doctor agreed, "You're not scared of anything! Box falls out of the sky, man and woman falls out of box, man eats fish custard, and look at you, just sitting there. So you know what I think?"

"What?"

"Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall."

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was taking a look at that crack on Amelia's bedroom wall with Minerva and Amelia by the doorway, the little ginger girl holding an apple in her hand.

"You've had some cowboys in here. Not actual cowboys, though that can happen..." the Doctor turned for them.

"Yes, it can, when you don't know how to fly a machine," Minerva smiled.

"I said I was sorry," he waved her off.

"I used to hate apples, so my mum put faces on them," Amelia came further into the room and turned her apple around to show a smiley face carved on it.

The Doctor took the apple from her and tossed it in the air. Minerva moved up and set a hand on the girl's shoulder and smiled, "You're mom sounds really nice, far better than the one I had around this planet."

The Doctor sadly stared at his wife, that rage he felt for Sophia Souza still as fresh as ever. He didn't think it would ever fade with a regeneration. It was simple, someone hurt his wife then he'd be furious. Simple as that. Sophia had done way more than just 'hurt' Minerva.

"Doctor?" Minerva brought him out of his thoughts. She'd actually been calling him for a couple of minutes but the man had been staring at her in silence without moving. She was blushing like mad with each time she called for him and got no response.

"Yes, yes!" he blinked and put on a smile.

"We were wondering about the crack...?" she pointed at the wall.

"Right! Yes! This wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So here's a thing - where's the draught coming from?" he headed back to the wall and ran the sonic screwdriver along the crack, checking the readings afterwards, "Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey," Minerva breathed at those familiar (yet still as stupid as ever) words, "You know what the crack is?" the Doctor asked.

"What?" Amelia blinked.

"It's a crack," he ran his fingers along said crack.

"I think we got that, now what's really wrong with it?" Minerva eyed the wall with weariness. They really had just finished with so much trouble and now and now when they were to the brink of rest...there was a bad crack.

"I'll tell you something funny, love. If you knocked this wall down, the crack would stay put, 'cos the crack isn't in the wall."

"Where is it then?" she raised an eyebrow.

"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," he pressed his ear against the wall and tried listening, " Sometimes, can you hear…"

"A voice? Yes," Amelia immediately spoke up. These two were possibly the only one who would believe her seeing as no one else, not even her own aunt, would.

The Doctor could only hear the faint echo of voices behind the wall and so grabbed a glass of water on Amelia's nightstand, poured the water out, then pressed it against the wall with his hear on the other side.

"Prisoner Zero has escaped."

"Prisoner Zero?" the Doctor made a face.

But then Amelia confirmed his hearing, "Prisoner Zero has escaped. That's what I heard. What does it mean?"

"Prisoner Zero has escaped."

The Doctor stepped back from the wall, "It means that, on the other side of this wall, there's a prison and they've lost a prisoner. Do you know what that means?"

"That she can't stay in this room," Minerva offered, discreetly moving in front of the girl.

"Well that and...she needs a better wall," he smiled softly at her protection of the child.

"How exactly can we...fix...that?" she eyed the wall with a bit of fear herself.

"The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way," he said and started moving Amelia's desk out of the wall, "The forces will invert and it'll snap itself shut. Or..."

"What?" Amelia dreaded the answer.

"You know when grown-ups tell you everything's going to be fine and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better?"

"Yes."

"Everything's going to be fine."

Minerva reached for Amelia's hand then moved over to the Doctor, taking his hand with her other, "Please make this quick, I'm tired," she whispered to him.

"I'll try my best," he assured her, giving her a kiss on the temple. The poor woman really did seem tired as she claimed to be.

He often forgot that Moontsays, while not needing the same amount as humans, did need just a bit more sleep than Time Lords. That...sometimes put a damper on the Doctor when he had ideas of places they should go and he'd find his wife fast asleep in their room. He didn't mind, though, cos sometimes when she was sleepy and he wasn't, he got to hold her for all the hours she slept.

The Doctor held his screwdriver to the crack and out emerged a blinding light. Amelia peered around Minerva to see the crack widening and the faint image of prison cells.

"Prisoner Zero has escaped," went the voice from the other side as the Doctor stepped closer, "Prisoner Zero has escaped."

"Hello? Hello?" the Doctor called and a blue eye powered through the crack.

"What is that?" Minerva pointed in horror.

Before the Doctor could answer, a ball of light shot towards him from the crack, making him fall against the bed as the Crack sealed up.

"Doctor! What happened!?" Minerva dropped to his side.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he assured her with a kiss on the forehead. He looked at Amelia behind them who actually didn't look so afraid as a moral little girl usually would, in fact it looked like she was looking at someone else, "There. You see, told you it would close. Good as new."

"What was that thing?" Amelia stepped forwards with caution, "Was that Prisoner Zero?" she turned her head to the side as if someone spoke to her. She quickly retracted to her original spot by the pair.

"No. I think that was Prisoner Zero's guard. Whatever it was, it sent me a message," the Doctor took out his psychic paper and stood up, pulling Minerva up, "Psychic paper, takes a lovely little message. 'Prisoner Zero has escaped.' But why tell us? Unless..."

Minerva stiffened, "Unless Prisoner Zero escaped through here."

"But he couldn't have. We'd know," the Doctor pulled her out the room and stopped in the hall way.

"What are we doing?" Minerva looked around as he did.

"It's difficult. Brand-new me, nothing works yet. But there's something I'm missing..." he stopped and really focused, "...in the corner..." he was just barely turning to face a door at the end of the hall, "...of my eye..." and then the distant cloister bell of the TARDIS came into play, The pair bolted down the stairs at the noise, the Doctor shouting, "No, no, no, no, no, no!"

Amelia followed them back to the backyard, stopping a few feet from the lopsided box.

"We've got to get back in there! The engines are phasing, it's going to burn!" the Doctor peered inside the TARDIS.

"But... it's just a box! How can a box have engines?" Amelia stared at the box with doubt.

"It's not just a box, sweetheart," Minerva explained while the Doctor freed the grappling hook and gathered the rope behind her, "It's a time machine."

"What, a real one? You've got a real time machine?"

"Mhm, the box of wonders," Minerva half-smiled and looked at the Doctor for their current state, "How's it...?"

"We need to stabilize her," he looped the rope through the door handles.

"And a five minute hop into the future would do it, right?" she moved beside him.

"Clever!" he cheered.

Amelia had been looking between them and the box, more awed as the seconds ticked by, "...can I come?" she dared to ask, already on her toes to see if she could look inside.

"Not safe in here, not yet. Five minutes. Give us five minutes, we'll be right back," the Doctor answered as he helped Minerva onto the edge of the box.

Amelia stood straight again, disappointed, "People always say that..."

"Amelia, I'm a princess, and a good princess always keeps her word," Minerva began, "And I promise to make sure that my idiot of a husband-"

"Oi!" the Doctor frowned. Was every incarnation of her going to call him an idiot?

Minerva covered his mouth with her hand and continued like nothing, "I promise to make him get the right coordinates and come back in five minutes."

"Am I really an idiot, still?" the Doctor had practically ignored her words and worried over the 'idiot'.

"Am I still sassy?"

He made and face that indicated a big 'yes' but this time, oh this time, he was smart and said, "No."

"Mm, someone's getting smarter in this marriage thing," Minerva laughed and glanced at Amelia, meanwhile the Doctor climbed on the TARDIS beside her, "Take notes, Amelia. Always have the upper hand in marriage."

While Amelia smiled the Doctor gave Minerva a sharp look, "You will never be a marriage counselor," he declared.

"Oi, a princess must always have the upper hand in everything," was her sly response before jumping inside.

"Do not ever listen to her," he gave Amelia one last look and jumped in, "Geronimo!"

"That better not be another stupid word!" Amelia heard Minerva's distant voice demand.

Amelia laughed and watched the TARDIS dematerialized. With an excited sigh, she dashed back inside her house, all the way to her room. She took out a suitcase from under her bed and started packing really any clothes she could find, rambling on to her imaginary friend everything they could see now! Once done, she headed out to the backyard again in a warm coat and hat. She set her suitcase on the spot the TARDIS had just been at and plopped down, ready to wait.

~ 0 ~

The TARDIS materialized on Amelia's garden and it's doors opened up to release smoke and it's two inhabitants with cloths over their noses and mouths.

"Amelia!" Minerva frantically shouted for the ginger girl, "Amelia!" she threw her cloth to the ground and rushed towards the doors.

"Minerva, hold on!" the Doctor called after her while he closed the door of the TARDIS. They'd figured out the danger of the house and Minerva was adamant that they'd get the ginger out of the house at once.

Minerva knocked open the door with a hard kick and ran inside, "Amelia! We figured out what was missing! We need to go, c'mon!"

She rushed up the stairs and stopped at the door they'd missed earlier, a bit fearful but her main focus was Amelia, "Prisoner Zero is here. Prisoner Zero is here! Prisoner Zero is here! Do you understand me? Prisoner Zero is..." as she turned around she found herself knocked out cold with a cricket bat.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor was barely heading for the door when he froze and looked around...seeing it was broad daylight. He'd...he'd gotten it wrong again, hadn't he? Oh and this time it was worse because Minerva had promised five minutes...and she'd feel awful when she realized the time error.

~ 0 ~

Minerva groaned as her eyes fluttered open, her vision slowly coming to a clear which allowed her to get a glimpse of a female officer wearing a very short skirt that was speaking into a radio pinned on her shoulder.

"White female, mid-20s, breaking and entering. Send me some back-up, I've got her restrained," she finished up and glared, "Oi, you! Sit still."

"Nice skirt..." Minerva laid her head back, "...do me a favor and stay away from my husband."

"Oi, shut up!" the officer ordered.

"Why'd you hit me with a cricket bad, you rude officer."

"I'm rude? You were breaking and entering! You kicked my door open!"

"It was locked," Minerva shrugged, slowly coming around. When she tried standing up she found herself handcuffed to the radiator and groaned, "Seriously?"

"Have I mentioned 'breaking and entering'?"

"Minerva!? Amelia!?" the Doctor was coming up the stairs.

"Doctor! Doctor! I'm here!" Minerva banged her handcuffed wrist on the radiator, "Doctor!"

"What the...hell did you do?" the Doctor glared and stormed up to the officer in anger.

"She was breaking and entering!"

"You know that's getting kind of old," Minerva said calmly, "Doctor, if you could please?" she pointed to her handcuffed wrist, "And you," she shot a look at the officer, "In the meantime, can tell us where little Amelia is."

"You wouldn't have her handcuffed in another room, do you?" the Doctor muttered as he bent down beside Minerva and took out his sonic.

"Amelia Pond?" the officer asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah. Little Scottish girl," Minerva sighed, "Look, I didn't mean to enter the house like I did but Amelia was in danger. Now please, where is she? I promised her five minutes but...things were wrong."

"The engines were phasing," the Doctor clarified, not wanting her to feel guilty over something she really couldn't control, "We probably went a bit far, but nothing that was your fault."

Minerva could have sworn she'd heard a small scoff from the officer but then again she'd just been smacked in the head with a cricket bad so she probably wasn't thinking very straight.

"Amelia Pond hasn't lived here in a long time," the officer explained.

"How long?" Minerva dreaded to think she'd made void her promise to the little girl.

"Six months."

"No..." Minerva looked at the Doctor with shiny eyes, "...I promised her..."

"N-n-n-n-no," he stopped tampering with his screwdriver and cupped her face, "It wasn't your fault. The TARDIS isn't working properly right now, it's nothing you can control."

"But I talked about being a good princess..." she whispered, swallowing hard, "I told her only five minutes."

The officer stared with a rather uneasy look before she turned around and spoke into her radio, "Sarge, it's me again. Hurry it up, this guy knows something about Amelia Pond."

"Ah! Why isn't this working!?" the Doctor had picked up his screwdriver to free his wife but the darn little thing wouldn't work.

Minerva, in her guilt moment, was looking around in silence when her eyes fell on the door at the end of the hall. Her eyes flickered to the officer who had also fallen silent for some reason, her back to the pair.

"Officer, you said you lived here, right?" Minerva asked.

"Yeah."

"Then how many rooms are in this house?"

"What?" she turned to the pair, giving them a weird look.

"It's really important," Minerva reasoned.

The officer gave the Doctor a look. He looked up and nodded in agreement, "It really is and since you oh-so-kindly batted my wife, the least you could do is answer her question," he glared again.

"How many rooms are on this floor?" Minerva asked again, "Can you please count them?"

"Yes," the officer rolled her eyes, believing the ginger woman had been talking to her like a child, "There are five rooms on this level. Hear that?" she put a hand behind her ear, "Five. One, two, three, four, five," she pointed at each room.

Minerva ignored the woman's sarcasm and focused on the dangerous problem, "You're wrong."

"What?" the officer scoffed, "Lady, I don't know how you count things in America but here, we count with our eyes. Five rooms!"

"Six," Minerva reiterated with a serious look, "Look."

"Look where?"

"Can you just look, please?" the Doctor gave the officer another glare.

"Look where?"

"Exactly where you don't want to look," he replied, "Where you never want to look, the corner of your eye. Look behind you."

Finally listening, the officer turned to the direction of the unseen door and gasped, "But that's...that's not possible. There were five rooms..."

"There's a perception filter round the door," the Doctor sighed, really only half paying attention to the her as his primary focus was getting his stupid screwdriver to work again so he could free his wife, "Sensed it the last time we were here. Should've seen it."

"But that's a whole room. That's a whole room I've never even noticed," the officer was still in shock as she stared at the closed door.

"The filter stopped you," Minerva explained, "Something came in a while ago to hide and it's still hiding. So please, just go away. Get out of this house for your own safety."

"Actually, she could do with giving us the key to this thing," the Doctor motioned to the handcuffs restraining her, "Cos this thing doesn't want to work."

Minerva turned her head and looked at the screwdriver, a sad look on her face, "It's all frazzled. Dead, too..."

He knew her double meaning and half-smiled, "I'm here, I'm here with you," he stroked her cheek, sensing her skin begin to warm at his finger.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that..." she quietly apologized.

But he wasn't upset at all with her thoughts. This was the first time he'd regenerated in front of her and was actually her husband, complicating a lot more than when they had just been friends in his previous incarnations. She didn't have to live with his past incarnations, kiss them, be a wife to...it was strange for her and he understood.

With their small moment, they hadn't even realized that the officer had gone to the new door and actually opened it. She'd been curious to know what was inside that room she'd never even knew existed! She figured she could take a peek inside, what's the worst that could happen? As far as she could tell, the room was awfully dirty with old boxes lying here and there. The curtains were really just scraps of cloths hanging in front of the window and the walls bore spots of water damage. What exactly could be hiding in here?

"Oi, you!" the Doctor called, though he remained with Minerva, "Get out of that room!" but the officer gave no response nor move to head back to them, "Can you hear me? I said get out of there!" he sighed in irritation, "Do I just have a face that nobody listens to?"

Minerva giggled, "Looks like that didn't change."

He playfully rolled his eyes, "Ha, ha, your sense of humor hasn't changed either."

She smiled then glanced ahead, "Officer, please, listen to my husband and get out of that room!" she called, "Whatever's there stopped you seeing the whole room. What makes you think you could see it?"

But the officer remained inside the room, intently trying to figure out the mysterious hider. The only thing out of the ordinary was a spot of good on top of a table, "Does this hider spit out...icky goo?" she crinkled her nose the closer she got to the table.

"Goo?" Minerva whispered to the Doctor, growing frantic as the officer refused to come out of the room.

"Get out of there!" he shouted to the woman.

"You should go get her," Minerva tried pushing him up with her free hand.

"I am not leaving you," he declared earnestly.

"But the officer-"

"Made the choice of going in there and currently made the choice not to listen to me," he finished for her, "Plus, she smacked you unconscious. Not exactly on my good side," he mumbled and got to work on the screwdriver again.

Inside the room, the officer was busy looking at the goo from one angle to another when suddenly she felt like she was being watched from behind. Little did she know that an eel-like creature had squirmed down from the roof covered in the good she was trying to look at, its mouth bearing sharp teeth like a shark. She stopped and straightened up before looking one way and another, the creature dodging her gaze every time she turned.

"Officer?" she heard Minerva call from the hallway, "Everything okay in there? We'd really rather you just leave the place..."

"There's nothing here..." the officer answered, not too convinced however.

"Still, we'd rather you come out of there," Minerva said.

"Don't try to see it. If it knows you've seen it, it will kill you. Don't look at it," the Doctor called a moment later, still crossed with her but not wanting her dead either.

But unfortunately, the officer had finally turned and caught sight of the creature and screamed.

"Get out!" Minerva shouted at her, fanatically trying to get free from her cuffs.

The officer dashed out of the room back towards the pair, out of breath, "What...the hell?" she panted.

"Will that closed door actually hold it back?" Minerva peered around the officer to the door.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, course! It's an inter-dimensional multi-form from outer-space - they're all terrified of wood," the Doctor sarcastically, and a moment later regretted it.

"Excuse me?"

"Uh..." he looked up with an apologetic smile.

"What's that?" the officer pointed at a bright light that flashed around the edges of the room across, "What's it doing?"

"Please just go, your backup is on the way," Minerva sighed to her, "We'll be fine."

"There is no back-up."

"I heard you on the radio, you called for back-up," Minerva argued.

"I was pretending. It's a pretend radio," she wiggled the radio on her uniform.

"But you're a policewoman!"

"I'm a kissogram!" the officer took off her hat and let down her ginger hair.

Minerva's mouth half-opened at the news, "Stay away from my husband!"

Suddenly, the room at the end of the hall opened up its door and out came a man in coveralls with a leash to a large Rottweiler.

"But it's just..." the ginger woman stared in confusion.

"No, it isn't. Look at the faces," the Doctor nodded her to look closer as the man growled and barked while the dog stayed quiet.

"What? I'm sorry, but what?" the ginger looked back at the pair.

"It's all one creature. One creature disguised as two," Minerva tried to explain in simple terms.

"Clever old multi-form. A bit of a rush job, though. Got the voice a bit muddled, did you?" the Doctor called to it, trying to make time as he made his screwdriver work, "Mind you, where did you get the pattern from? You'd need a psychic link, a live feed. How did you fix that?"

The creature advanced towards the trio while snarling and opened its mouth to show very sharp teeth.

"Doctor, get me out of here!" Minerva shook her handcuffed wrist in an attempt to flee.

He banged the screwdriver on the floor until it finally whirred and set her free. He quickly stood up with her and kept her, with an arm around her waist and the other on her back, very close to him.

"Stay, boy!" he ordered the creature, "Them and me, we're safe. Want to know why? She," he nodded to the fake officer, "Sent for back-up."

"I didn't send for back-up!" she whisper-shouted to him.

"I know, that was a clever lie to save our lives!"

"Okay, okay, b-but that's good, that's okay, because...if we're alone then that means we're not a threat to you," Minerva tried mending their error to the creature, "If we had back-up, then you'd have to kill us!

"Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded. Attention Prisoner Zero. 'The human residence is surrounded."

"What's that?" the kissogram asked the pair.

"Crap, that would be back-up," Minerva bit her lip.

"OK, one more time. We do have back-up and that's definitely why we're safe," the Doctor nodded, although not very convinced when they heard the voice again.

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

"Well, safe apart from, you know, incineration," Minerva sighed, "We never seem to catch a break, do we?" she glanced at the Doctor.

As soon as creature headed into a different room, the Doctor pulled Minerva towards the stairs, "Run! Run!"

The other ginger woman quickly followed them into the backyard. They stopped momentarily at the door so the Doctor could lock it with the screwdriver.

Meanwhile, Minerva looked at the ginger up and down with a frown, "Kissogram?"

"Yes," the woman, exasperated, crossed her arms.

"Why'd you pretend to be a policewoman?"

"You broke into my house! It was this or a French maid!"

"Well the maid probably could've stopped me without a bat," Minerva spat and moved off with the Doctor.

"Oh n-n-n-no, you don't get to leave like this!" the ginger followed after the pair, "I demand you tell me what's going on!"

The Doctor stopped in front of the TARDIS, "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?"

"Yes!"

"Us too," he tried the key on the door but found it didn't work, "No, no, don't do that, not now! It's still rebuilding, not letting us in!"

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

The creature watched from the top window and barked at them.

"Doctor, we need to leave!" Minerva exclaimed, really disliking the idea of leaving the box of wonders but she knew it would be alright. She pulled the Doctor away and froze at the sight of the shed, "That shed..." she lifted her finger.

The Doctor realized the shed was completely refurbished and also stopped and stared, "We destroyed that shed last time we were here, smashed it to pieces."

"So there's a new one," the ginger said, a bit nervous as she tried going off, "Let's go."

"Hold on there, miss," Minerva yanked her back by the arm while the Doctor hurried to the shed, "That shed looks old..."

The Doctor sniffed the wood and ran a finger along the wood before tasting it, "12 years," he whispered, shocked and even more irritated with the ginger. He turned around and stalked up to the woman, "We're not six months late, we're 12 years late."

"What?" Minerva blinked, stunned.

"He's coming," the woman looked at the window of her house, the creature no longer there.

"You said six months. Why did you say six months?" the Doctor had the woman locked between him and Minerva.

"We've really got to go!" she looked between the pair.

"But this matters, it really matters," Minerva insisted, "Why did you say six months?"

The officer spun to face her and blurted, "Why did she say five minutes!?"

Minerva gasped, "What?"

"Come on," the woman headed for the street, leaving the pair in their stunned moment.

"What?" Minerva blinked and looked at the Doctor, "What!?"

The Doctor pulled her out of the backyard and into the street, intent on getting to the bottom of it.

~ 0 ~

Now in a village roadway, the Doctor forcefully stopped the ginger woman and faced her, "You're Amelia?" he demanded, through his anger he was also a surprised and a bit disappointed Amelia had, apparently, grown up.

"You're late," Amelia spat and continued walking, clearly upset on their tardiness.

"But Amelia Pond...you're the little girl," Minerva sadly followed her.

"I'm Amelia and you're late!"

"What happened?"

"12 years!" Amelia held a hand to Minerva's face as if to stop the Moontsay from talking.

"You hit me with a cricket bat!" Minerva felt the need to remind that detail, "That's kind of rude, you know?"

"12 years!"

"But a cricket bat?"

"12 years and four psychiatrists."

The Doctor, bemused, smiled a little, "Four?"

Amelia made a face and crossed her arms, "...I kept biting them."

"Why?" Minerva raised an eyebrow.

"They said you weren't real," Amelia mumbled.

They all stopped when they heard the speakers of an ice cream van uttering the same words they'd heard in Amelia's house, "Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

"No, no, no, come on… What? We're being staked out by an ice-cream van?" Amelia shook her head while the Doctor hurried up to the van.

"What's that? Why are you playing that?" he demanded from the vendor.

"It's supposed to be Claire De Lune," the vendor shrugged, confused as well.

The Doctor picked up the player and listened, "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."

Minerva looked around and found that the same voice was being heard from anything technological: an MP3 player, cell phones, tablets, etc.

"Doctor, what's happening?" she looked to him with dread, half-guessing the answer.

He simply took her hand and pulled her over a low white fence into a garden, leaving a very confused Amelia to follow them through the front of the house. The pair entered a house of an elderly woman who was busy fiddling with her TV remote, all of the channels were showing a big blue eye!

"Hello! Sorry to burst in, we're doing a special on television faults in this area," the Doctor quickly made up but was nudged by Minerva to look over to Amelia's costume, "Right, also crimes. Let's have a look," he snatched the remote from the woman and tried the channels.

"I was just about to phone. It's on every channel," she said then saw Amelia behind Minerva, "Hello, Amy, dear. Are you a policewoman now?"

"Well, sometimes," Amelia nervously shrugged.

"I thought you were a nurse..." the elderly woman eyed her suspiciously.

"I can be nurse," Amelia quickly said and smiled.

"Or, actually, a nun?"

"I dabble..."

"Clearly you don't know what a nun is," Minerva eyed Amelia's short skirt.

"Amy, who are your friends?" the elderly woman asked curiously as she studied the Doctor and Minerva.

"Who's Amy?" the Doctor looked up from the remote.

"You were Amelia," Minerva reminded the ginger.

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

"But...Amelia Pond - that was a great name!"

"Bit fairy tale," Amy looked to the side, "What with princesses and crowns and imaginary friends, didn't fit me anymore..."

"But you were a little girl, you had an imaginary friend!" Minerva insisted, unable to believe the little girl was just gone and replaced with a full grown woman, "What was her name?"

Amy looked to the side, completely uninterested, "She's gone."

"I know you, don't I? I've seen you somewhere before," the elderly woman looked the pair over continuously.

"Not us, brand new faces," the Doctor pointed at his and Minerva's, "First time on. And what sort of job's a kissogram?"

"I go to parties and I kiss people," Amy cleared her throat, "With outfits. It's a laugh."

"Excuse me but a little girl five minutes ago did not kiss people," Minerva made a face.

"You're worse than my aunt!"

"Clearly you haven't met my uncle," Minerva countered and looked at the elderly woman politely, "I'm Minerva, nice to meet you. Sorry about the bursting in..." she glanced at the Doctor with an expectant look, "...dear, you want to introduce yourself? You are just using the woman's belongings without her permission after all."

"I'm the Doctor," he waved them off as he picked up a radio and used the screwdriver on it, allowing everyone in the room to hear the same message about Prisoner Zero in different languages, "OK, so it's everywhere, in every language," he turned off the radio, "They're broadcasting to the whole world," he rushed to the window and opened it up to look out.

"What's up there? What are you looking for?" Amy asked, from her stance she could see just a blue sky.

"Okay, planet this size, two poles, your basic molten core..." he turned and thought, "They're going to need a 40% fission blast," a young man entered the house and was greeted by the Doctor walking up to him while rambling and eyeing him, "But they'll have to power up first, won't they? So assuming a medium-sized starship, that's 20 minutes. What do you think, 20 minutes? Yeah, 20 minutes. We've got 20 minutes."

"20 minutes? Are you kidding me?" Minerva shook her head, "Did we not we just get through saving this planet?" she was amazed at how much one planet could get into trouble.

"Are you the Doctor?" the young man pointed at the Doctor then saw Minerva standing beside Amy, "And that's Minerva, right?"

The elderly woman gasped with realization, "They are, aren't they?" she looked them over again, "The Raggedy Doctor and the Princess! All those cartoons you did when you were little. The Raggedy Doctor, the Princess, it's them."

Amy gazed upon the pair and softly spoke, "I know..."

"Cartoons?" Minerva looked at Amy with a bemused smile, "You draw?"

"Gran, it's them, isn't it? It's really them!" the young man exclaimed in awe.

"Jeff, shut up!" Amy snapped and directed herself to the pair, "20 minutes to what?"

"The human residence," Minerva sighed, for once understanding from the start, "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 added, "20 minutes to the end of the world."

Amy's eyed widened with shock while the pair just looked at each other with tired expressions, Minerva being the most tired.

~ 0 ~

The Doctor, Minerva and Amy were back on the road to start saving the world...again.

"What is this place? Where are we?" the Doctor questioned as he took a check of his surroundings.

"Leadworth," Amy answered.

"It's a bit small," Minerva remarked at the same time the Doctor asked, 'Where's the rest of it?'

Minerva glanced at him and shook her head, "You will never stop being rude, will you?"

"Wouldn't be me," he pointed with a grin.

"Moving on," she declared, "Is there an airport, Amy?"

"No."

"A nuclear power station?" the Doctor tried.

"No."

"Even a little one?"

"No."

"Um, nearest city?" Minerva asked, seeing this wasn't going so well.

"Gloucester, half an hour by car."

"We don't have half an hour!" the Doctor reminded, "Do we have a car?"

"No."

"Well, that's good! Fantastic, that is. 20 minutes to save the world and we've got a post office!" the Doctor exclaimed, "And it's shut! What is that?" he pointed a violent finger at a small pond which he ran up to.

"It's a duck pond," Amelia said as she and Minerva followed.

"Why aren't there any ducks?" Minerva made a face as she looked at the empty pond.

"I don't know. There's never any ducks."

"Then how do you know it's a duck pond?" Minerva raised an eyebrow.

"It just is. Is it important, the duck pond? Seriously?"

"Oi, don't be rude to my wife," the Doctor snapped, "You already hit her with a cricket bat, now be polite!" he moved beside Minerva and rested an arm around her waist.

"It's alright," Minerva assured him, making him take a double-look at her.

"What!?" he nearly shouted, "She hit you!"

"Well in her defense I did promise her five minutes and instead gave her 12 years...I had it coming."

"No, no you did-Ah!" he jerked forwards and forcefully sat on the floor while clutching his chest, "I'm not ready, I'm not done yet," he studied Minerva as she bent down in front of him to check him over, "What about you, love? Are you okay?"

She nodded, "Funny, cos it doesn't really feel like regeneration," she admitted, "Clearly, I changed but...I don't feel those petty side affects like the last time."

"I promise you we're going to the Monsoon as soon as we're done here," he cupped her cheek, "I promise."

The sky darkened above them and ended the moment. Amelia was also looking up, "What's happening? Why's it going dark?" the sun seemed gray and flickered before it returned to normal, well close to normal, "So what's wrong with the sun?"

"Nothing. You're looking at it through a force-field. They've sealed off your upper atmosphere, now they're getting ready to boil the planet," the Doctor stood with Minerva and looked at the green field where the villagers were busy snapping pictures away of the sky, " Oh, and here they come, the human race. The end comes, as it was always going to - down a video phone!"

"I still hate cellphones," Minerva sighed.

"And yet you still own one," the Doctor tapped her nose.

"Technically it's Martha's and it's only used to call our family. But I don't use it."

"This isn't real, is it? This is some kind of big wind-up," Amy said, oblivious to the talk beside her.

"Why would we wind you up?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, confused.

"You told me you had a time machine."

"And you believed us," Minerva defended.

"Then I grew up," Amy shrugged.

"Oh...don't do that," the Doctor groaned, "You never want to do that. No, hang on, shut up, wait! I missed it!" he smacked his forehead, startling Minerva, "I saw it and I missed it!"

"Stop doing that!" Minerva exclaimed at his second smack, "Just tell us what you saw."

He calmed and focused, "I saw...what did I see?" after a moment he turned to a nurse on the field, still dressed in scrubs that wasn't taking a photo of the sky but instead of something ahead of him, "20 minutes. I can do it-"

"We can do it," Minerva cut in, more tired than irritated of his usual way of leaving her out of situations like these because it was 'too dangerous'.

"20 minutes, the planet burns," he continued, wincing at her reminder. He didn't like to say 'we' because then the possible deaths would also involve her and he didn't want that. He faced Amy, "Run to your loved ones and say goodbye, or stay and help us."

"Oh, really, so you let her help but you can't even include your wife in your little speeches?" Minerva crossed her arms, now angry.

The Doctor found it a tad rude to say that he'd rather take Amy because if something bad happened...it wouldn't be Minerva that suffered. That was rude...right? Yeah...

"20 minutes, love," he reminded Minerva, creating an excuse to keep his thoughts with him.

"I'm helping too," she declared to both him and Amy, "Got it?"

But Amy had other ideas...she grabbed the Doctor by the tie and forced him (and consequently Minerva) to a car. He pushed him against it just as the driver was getting out and slammed the Doctor's tie into the door which she locked with the car remote.

"Amy! That's rude!" Minerva exclaimed, "And I loved that tie!"

"Your concern for me is touching," the Doctor mock-glared at her..

"Shut up, Martian," she snapped, "Amy, give me that remote right now!" she lunged for the key but Amy dodged her and moved behind the driver, leaving the poor man in the middle of the battle, "Amy!"

"Who are you?" Amy demanded as she moved side to side with the driver as her shield.

"Amy, I swear to God!"

"You know who we are!" the Doctor tried to answer but the women were too in dept with that little fight of theirs.

"No, really, who are you?" Amy demanded again.

"Look at the sky! End of the world, 20 minutes," Minerva pointed up.

"Better talk quickly, then!"

The driver awkwardly managed to move to the side, "Amy, I am going to need my car back," he informed her.

"Yes, in a bit. Now go and have coffee," she shooed him off.

"This is ridiculous," Minerva shook her head and returned to the Doctor, "Give me, now," she held her hand out. Knowing what she needed, the Doctor took out the carved apple from the inside pocket of his jacket, "Thank you," she turned to Amy, "Think fast, Pond," she said before chucking the apple at her.

Amy caught the face and turned the apple around to see the carving she'd shown them as a kid, the carving still fresh.

Minerva sighed, "My name is Minerva, this is my husband, the Doctor. We're time travelers and everything we told you 12 years ago is true. We're real, we're not fairy tale, we're proper people. Up there," she pointed up at the sky, "Is also real and the only one who can stop it the Doctor. Now could you please set him free?"

"I don't believe you," Amy tried to sound convinced.

"Just 20 minutes. Just believe us for 20 minutes," the Doctor tried reasoning with her, "Look at it. Fresh as the day you gave it to us. And you know it's the same one. Amy, believe for 20 minutes."

Amy sighed and unlocked the car, "Fine, what do we do?"

"Stop that nurse!" he pointed to the field and pulled Minerva with him as he ran. He stopped in front of the nurse and snatched his phone, "The sun's going out, and you're photographing a man and a dog. Why?" he questioned.

"Rude!" Minerva exclaimed.

"Amy...?" the nurse looked at the second ginger in confusion.

"Hi!" Amy gave him a short wave, "Oh, this is Rory, he's a... friend."

"Boyfriend," Rory, a bit offended, corrected her.

"Kind of boyfriend," Amy mended...or not.

"Amy!"

"Okay now you're being rude," Minerva gave Amy a sharp look. If the man was her boyfriend, a man she chose to be a girlfriend to...why would she deny him like that?

"Man and dog, why?" the Doctor questioned Rory again. He could care less what went on with the two humans and their relationship, he had 20 minutes to save Earth (again), he had to get his wife to rest then figure out why she had also changed faces...so he had a lot on his plate!

"Oh my God, it's him," Rory blinked as the realization hit him. He looked at the second ginger behind the Doctor and continued to look in awe, "And her...the princess."

"You really stuck to that title, didn't you?" Minerva made a distasteful face at Amy.

"Just answer his question, please," Amy ignored Minerva's question for the sake of time.

"It's him, though. The doctor. The Raggedy Doctor," Rory pointed at the alien in front of him, "And that's the princess, the princess without a crown."

"Thanks for informing everyone of that, Amelia," Minerva shot the ginger a mock-glare.

"But they were just a story. They were a game!"

The Doctor, frustrated, grabbed Rory by the shirt, "Man and dog, why?" Tell me NOW!"

"Sorry, because he can't be there. Because he's..."

"...in a hospital, in a coma," both men said together.

Rory nodded afterwards, "Yeah."

"Knew it. Multi-form, you see?" the Doctor let go of Rory's shirt and looked at the women, "Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a live feed, a psychic link with a living but dormant mind."

"That's creepy," Minerva shook her head.

A snarling noise made them turn to see the man with the dog across them, clearly the creature, "Prisoner Zero," the Doctor announced, not too fond of it actually being out in the open.

"What, there's a Prisoner Zero too?" Rory stared at Amy with shock, "This is too much!"

A spaceship flew over the sky with an electric buzz noise following it, a great big, blue eye on the bottom that looked from side to side.

"That's creepy," Amy corrected, Minerva sending a small smile her way.

The Doctor took out his screwdriver again and spoke to the creature, "See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology. And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver," he held the screwdriver above and turned it on.

The three standing behind him flinched as streetlights shattered all around them with the car alarms blaring at a max volume and the citizens of Leadworth running around while screaming.

"I think someone's going to notice, don't you?" the Doctor questioned with a smug smile. He lowered the screwdriver and aimed it at a phone box, making it explode followed by the actual screwdriver which then made him throw it to the ground, "No, no, no, don't do that!" he stared at the screwdriver frazzling and sparking, missing the ship in the sky leave.

"Doctor, it's leaving!" Minerva exclaimed.

He looked up and waved his arms in an attempt to be seen, "No, come back, he's here! Come back! He's here, Prisoner Zero is here. Come back, he's here! Prisoner Zero is..."

"Gone," Minerva finished for him as she watched the creature turn into mist and go down the drain.

"Did it just...melt?" Amy blinked, nearly rubbing her eyes in case she'd imagined that.

"It's hiding in human form so we need to drive it back to the open," Minerva sighed, "And we've got nothing..."

"No TARDIS, no screwdriver, 17 minutes. Come on, think. Think!" the Doctor lightly tapped his head as he headed for the drain, the rest behind him.

"So that thing, that hid in my house for 12 years?" Amy couldn't get over the fact as they stared down at the drain.

"Multi-forms can live for millennia. 12 years is a pit-stop," the Doctor lightly scoffed.

"So how come you show up again on the same day that lot do? The same minute?"

"They're looking for him, but followed us. They saw me through the crack, got a fix. They're only late cos we are."

"Still so sorry about that," Minerva sincerely said to Amy, "Believe me when I make a promise I keep it."

"She really does," the Doctor agreed, "Which is more than I can say for myself..."

"You make an effort and that's what counts," she said to him with truthfulness.

"What are they on about?" Rory was tired of asking questions but none of it was really making sense to him.

"Now, sport, give me your phone," the Doctor held his hand to Rory.

"Rude again," Minerva murmured.

"How can they be real? They were never real," Rory was looking at Amy and missed the Doctor wiggling his fingers for the needed phone.

"Phone, now, give me!"

Rory handed over his phone without an argument as he continued talking to Amy, "They were just a game. We were kids. You made me dress up as him!"

"Aw, I bet you looked adorable," Minerva chuckled and glanced at Amy, "And what about you? Did I have the honor of getting little Amelia to dress up like me?" she laughed when she saw the faint blush on Amy's cheeks.

"Yes," Rory then replied in a huff, "It was annoying!"

"You have pictures, right?"

"Minerva, focus," the Doctor called as he looked at the photos in Rory's phone, "Now, these are all the coma patients, right?" he looked up at the nurse.

"Yeah."

"No, they're all the multi-form. Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero."

"He had a dog, though. There's a dog in a coma?" Amy asked.

"The coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog. Laptop!" he pointed again, violently, "Your friend, what was his name? Not him," he nodded to Rory, "The good-looking one."

"Thanks," Rory frowned.

"Jeff," Amy responded, a bit quick for Rory's like.

"Oh, thanks!"

"Oi, you're very good looking," Minerva tried to mend her rude husband's words and Rory's rude girlfriend.

"Minerva!" the Doctor frowned, how could she think another man was good looking?

"What?" she faced him, hands on her hips, "You're being rude and I'm trying to apologize for you."

"...still!" he reached for her and pulled her to his side, "You can't tell another man he's good looking...that's only for me."

"Anyways, let's focus," she patted his cheek and looked at Amy, "What I believe the Doctor was trying to say was the he needs Jeff's laptop."

"Yes, that's exactly what I wanted to say!" the Doctor nodded, "You two, get to the hospital, get everyone out, clear the whole floor. Phone me when you're done," he took Minerva's hand and ran them off back to Jeff's house.

~ 0 ~

Jeff was in his bedroom sitting on his bed with his laptop on his lap when the Doctor burst inside the room, "Hello! Laptop, give me!" he ran to the side and grabbed Jeff's laptop.

Jeff was not having it and tried pulling it back, "No, no, no, no, wait, hang on!"

"It's fine, give it here," the Doctor finally took the laptop and sat at the bottom of the bed, looking at the screen. His eyes widened, "Blimey!"

"Doctor!" Minerva hurried inside, "What are..." she noticed the pale face of Jeff and the wide eyes of the Doctor, "...what's going on?"

"Nothing," both men quickly answered, the Doctor tapping on the keyboard to shut off the screen while keeping his eyes on his wife, solely on her.

"Are you sure?" she came further inside and sat down beside him, trying to look at the screen only to see the background, "Nice background, Jeff," she remarked with a smile at the man, "And because I know he was rude about it, sorry."

"What are you doing?" Jeff's grandmother entered the room, seeing the Doctor on her grandson's computer.

"The sun's gone wibbly, so right now, somewhere out there, there's going to be a big video conference call," the Doctor answered, "All the experts in the world panicking at once, and do you know what they need? Me."

"Rude and cocky," Minerva playfully rolled her eyes.

"Yet still not ginger..." he eyed her beautiful hair, "You are unfair."

"Yes because I chose this hair," she shook her head, "Let's focus on the problem, dear," she nodded at the screen where several chat windows were opening up.

"Ah, and here they all are," the Doctor got comfortable on his spot, "All the big boys. NASA, Jodrell Bank, Tokyo Space Centre, Patrick Moore."

"Ooh, I like Patrick Moore," Jeff's gran admitted with a sly smile.

"We can get you his number," Minerva offered, "But he's a bit of a flirt..."

"Hm," she heard the Doctor's huff beside her.

"Oh come now you jealous idiot, you really thought I was into him?"

"Focusing on the problem," he reminded, making her scoff, "What? I'm following your instructions," he held his psychic paper to the screen with a smug smile.

"Who are you? This is a secure call. What are you doing?" an expert demanded.

"Hello. I know, you should switch me off. But before you do, watch this," the Doctor started typing again, "Fermat's Theorem, the proof, and I mean the real one, never seen before. Poor old Fermat, got killed in a duel before he could write it down. My fault, I slept in. Oh, and here's an oldie but a goodie - why electrons have mass. And a personal favorite of mine, faster-than-light travel with two diagrams and a joke. Look at your screens. Whoever I am, I'm a genius. Look at the sun. You need all the help you can get. Fellas, pay attention," he cracked his fingers before they started, unaware of the longing gaze Minerva was giving him.

~ 0 ~

"Sir, what are you doing?" an expert asked while the Doctor typed on the laptop.

"I'm writing a computer virus. Very clever, super-fast, and a tiny bit alive, but don't let on. Why am I writing it on a phone? Never mind, you'll find out. OK, I'm sending this to all your computers. Get everyone who works for you sending this everywhere. Email, text, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, radar dish - whatever you've got. Any questions?"

"Who was your lady friend?" Patrick Moore slyly asked.

"Patrick, do behave!" Minerva scolded.

"What does this virus do?" another expert cut in.

"It's a reset command, that's all," the Doctor answered, "It resets counters, it gets in the wifi and resets every counter it can find. Clocks, calendars, anything with a chip will default at zero at exactly the same time. But, yeah, I could be lying, why should you trust me? I'll let my best man explain," they awaited for certain best man to cut in but nothing ever happened, "Jeff, you're my best man," the Doctor looked at the man.

"Your what?"

The Doctor sighed and partly closed the laptop, "Listen to me. In ten minutes, you're going to be a legend. In ten minutes, everyone on that screen is going to be offering you any job you want. But first, you have to be magnificent. You have to make them trust you and get them working. This is it, Jeff. Right here, right now. This is when you fly. Today's the day you save the world."

"Why me?"

"Because he was rude to you and this is your room," Minerva answered as the Doctor pulled her up.

"Now go, go, go," the Doctor urged as he ran out with Minerva, only to come back a second later, "Oh, and delete your internet history," he rushed out only to bump into Minerva.

"What happened before I came in?" she put her hands on her hips.

"...w-we have a world to save..." he pointed and forced her outside.

"Your distractions are so poor," she remarked while he looked around the street for a mobile.

"Excuse me but I recall my distractions being very..." he eyed her with a smirk, "...wondrous..."

She blushed, "Shut up!"

He laughed and pulled her along to find that needed transportation.

~ 0 ~

"Cannot believe you stole this," Minerva continued laughing in her current seat on the firetruck the Doctor had acquired for them.

"Technically I didn't steal it, I borrowed," he corrected, loving her laugh.

"Like you borrowed the TARDIS?"

"Exactly!"

She laughed again until they heard the phone ringing and so picked it up, "Amy? Where are you now?"

"We're in the hospital, uh...in a ward, but so is Prisoner Zero!"

Minerva pulled the phone off her ear for a second as Amy's voice rang through, "Ouch, okay. It's urgent," she looked at the Doctor, "Can you tell us what window you're in?"

"...why?"

She smirked and when the Doctor saw her he smirked right along with her, "My husband has terrible driving skills. What window?"

"First floor on the left, fourth from the end."

"Thank you!" Minerva hung up, "First floor on the left, fourth from the end," she repeated to the Doctor.

"Gotcha! Now hang on!"

Minerva nodded but returned to the phone and texted Amy 'Duck!' before actually holding on.

~ 0 ~

Amy and Rory fell to the floor as the firetruck's ladder crashed through the ward's window, the Doctor and Minerva climbing through a moment later.

"Is everyone okay?" Minerva immediately asked, noticing a woman with dark hair and brown eyes holding the hands of two twin girls standing across them, Prisoner Zero.

"Are we late? No, three minutes to go," the Doctor checked the clock on the wall behind the woman, "So still time."

"Time for what, Time Lord?" prisoner Zero asked, sounding rather proud as it called the correct species.

"Take the disguise off. They'll find you in a heartbeat," the Doctor ordered.

"And nobody dies," Minerva added, "Sounds really good to me."

"The Atraxi will kill me this time. If I am to die, let there be fire."

"OK. You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again - just leave," the Doctor offered the alternative.

"I did not open the crack."

"Well obviously someone did," Minerva crossed her arms, not too convinced the creature was speaking the truth.

"The cracks in the skin of the universe - don't you know where they came from?" the creature eyed the pair for a second, "You don't, do you? The Doctor and the Queen in the TARDIS don't know," the little girls chanted together, "Don't know, don't know!" the woman then took over the voice again, "The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall."

"Queen?" Minerva whispered, her eyes half-wide as she dared to think that perhaps…it could be her?

A clicking sound cut everything off, the Doctor looking up at the clock on the wall, "And we're off! Look at that. Look at that!" he pointed at the clock that read '0:00', "Yeah, I know, just a clock, whatever. But do you know what's happening right now? In one little bedroom, my team are working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world, quantum fast. The word is out. And do you know what the word is? The word is zero. Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able track a simple old computer virus to its source in, what, under a minute?" he took out the cellphone from his pocket, "The source, by the way, is right here," a bright light shone through the windows, "Oh! And I think they just found us!"

"The Atraxi are limited. While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me," prisoner Zero pointed out, "They've tracked a phone, not me."

"Yeah, but this is the good bit. I mean, this is my favorite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of?" the Doctor held the phone out, "Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here. Oh, and being uploaded about now. And the final score is - no TARDIS, no screwdriver - two minutes to spare," he held out his arms in success, "Who da man?"

Minerva just blinked and sighed, "You know that phrase is being added to the never-saying-again-list, right?"

He nodded, lowering his arms, "I know."

"Then I shall take a new form," prisoner Zero declared.

"Oh, stop it, you know you can't. Takes months to form that kind of psychic link."

"And I've had years," it smiled smugly as a bright light took over its form.

"Amy!" Rory called as Amy dropped to the ground, unconscious.

The Doctor and Minerva rushed back to the ginger on the floor, the Doctor putting his hands on her face, "You've got to hold on. Amy! Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake, please."

"Doctor?" Rory was looking past the pair to prisoner Zero.

The pair looked back, both frowning, "Who are they supposed to be?" they looked at each other with odd expressions, "That's you," they said to each other and frowned again, "What? Really?" they looked ahead again to see each other standing across them.

"That's how I look?" Minerva blinked at herself.

"Is that how I look?" the Doctor tilted his head.

"You mean you don't know?" Rory raised an eyebrow, "You two are so...weird..."

"We've had a busy day," Minerva waved him off, "But why us?" she asked prisoner Zero, "If you're linked with Amy why are you portraying us?"

"I'm not," little Amelia came between the pair, holding hands with each, "Poor Amy Pond. Still such a child inside. Dreaming of the magic Doctor & Princess she knows will return to save her. What a disappointment you've been."

"No, she's dreaming about us cos she can hear us," the Doctor snapped and looked back at Amy, "Amy, don't just hear us, listen. Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see? Remember you went inside. We tried to stop, but you did. You went in the room. You went inside. Amy…dream about what you saw."

Prisoner Zero glowed and once again transformed, "No! No!" and it reverted back to its eel-like form.

"What an amazing accuracy you have of the impersonation of your own form," Minerva crossed her arms.

The creature was caught in a light and writhed in its restraint, "Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained."

Before the creature disappeared, it spoke a few last words, "Silence, Doctor. Silence will fall."

After it disappeared, the Doctor ran to the window and dialed the phone, "The sun - it's back to normal, right? That's... That's good, yeah? That means it's over," Rory had seen the sky back to its blue tinge when he felt Amy waking up, "Amy? Are you OK? Are you with us?"

"What happened?" Amy made a face as she woke up.

"He did it. The Doctor did it," Rory nodded.

"No, I didn't."

"Actually you may want to hold on on saying that," Minerva cut in with an apologetic smile as she nodded to the Doctor.

"Why? What's he doing?" he looked over to see the Doctor on the phone, "What are you doing?"

"He's tracking the signal back...hope you don't get too cross for the bill..." Minerva backed away as Rory's mouth fell open.

"Oi, I didn't say you could go! Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation," the Doctor spoke into the phone, "This is a fully established, level 5 planet, and you were going to burn it? What...? Did you think no-one was watching? You lot, back here. Now!" he tossed the phone back to Rory, "Now I've done it."

"C'mon," Minerva chuckled and rushed out the room with him, Amy following behind them, leaving Rory on the floor.

"Did he just bring them back? Did he just save the world from aliens and then bring all the aliens back again?"

~ 0 ~

"Where are you going?" Amy asked as the Doctor and Minerva walked ahead of them through the corridors.

"The roof," Minerva answered and was suddenly pulled into a room, "Or maybe not!"

"Sorry, love," the Doctor said as he sifted through the racks of clothes, tossing what he disliked out.

"This is not time for shopping," Minerva said, "That's what you tell me!"

"What's in here?" Amy frowned in confusion.

"We saving the world - I need a decent shirt," the Doctor gestured to his worn out buttoned-up shirt, "To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show!"

"Oi, I like that shirt," Minerva reminded him, rather sadly as she looked him over, "I liked your suits..."

"Don't be sad, love," he cupped her cheek, "This is a new beginning for us. Plus, here," he took off his tie and folded it up before placing it in her palm, "I'll always be here with you," he pressed a kiss on her hand before closing it over the tie.

She smiled sadly, a tear strolling down her cheek, "I'm sorry," she sniffled.

"N-n-n-no! That's not what was supposed to happen!" the Doctor looked at her in horror, "Don't cry!"

She lightly laughed through her sniffles, "Sorry," she took a deep breath and moved back with the humans, feeling just fine in her clothes for the moment. What she really wanted was a shower and a goodnight sleep.

Rory, so completely done with the pair, focused on the very big problem they so easily forgot, "You just summoned aliens back to Earth. Actual aliens, deadly aliens, aliens of death, and now you're taking your clothes off..." he stopped with a look to the side as the Doctor had began taking off his clothes, "Amy, he's taking his clothes off."

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you," was all the alien said.

"Are you stealing clothes now? Those clothes belong to people, you know," Rory called as he turned his back on him, "Are you not you going to turn your back?" he asked Amy who was simply watching.

"Nope," she smirked.

"Yup!" Minerva held her palm to the ginger woman and splattered her with water in the face, "Turn, now," she ordered, rather snippy but she didn't care. Even she herself was turning her back because after all it was a new Doctor for her.

"Did you just spray water on my face?" Amy, dumbfounded, turned as well.

"Did I mention I'm a princess with powers?"

"No!"

"Oops, well there you go."

~ 0 ~

The group walked out on the hospital roof, the Doctor now changed into a light pink buttoned-up shirt, brown trousers with red braces and numerous ties around his neck. He strode up ahead, having practically forced Minerva to agree to stay back with Amy and Rory.

"So this was a good idea, was it? They were leaving," Amy whispered to Minerva.

"He likes the 'never coming back' thing better," Minerva said, "So do I, actually."

"Come on, then! The Doctor will see you now," the Doctor called.

The eye from the spaceship disconnected and scanned the Doctor, "You are not of this world."

"No, but I've put a lot of work into it," the Doctor was casually looking over a tie, "I don't know, what do you think?" he held it to the eye.

"Is this world important?"

Minerva scoffed loudly, unable to watch this go on as another human any longer. This was not it, this was not her anymore. The Doctor had to understand that she wasn't going to be the wife who stayed on the sidelines while he took on the confrontation.

No.

No more.

"Important?" she raised an eyebrow and started heading over.

"Minerva," the Doctor, with concern, eyed her.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Minerva ignored his concern and continued on, "'Is this world important'? 6 billion people live here, is that important? How about you check your little scanners to see if this world's a threat to you?"

The Doctor let out a small smile as Minerva spoke so comfortable and in-place. Perhaps...she could stand with him...

He threw another tie back and landed on Amy, "Well, come on," he looked at the big eye in front of them, "My wife's asked you a question, more like ordered and what she wants she gets. You're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?"

The Atraxi projected a hologram of the Earth's history in front of them and after a moment responded, "No."

"Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?" Minerva questioned.

"No."

"OK. One more. Just one. Is this world protected? Because you're not the first lot to come here," the Doctor reminded, certain enemies of his started showing up in the projection.

"Oh, there have been so many! And what you've got to ask is... what happened to them?" Minerva, with pride, asked as she looked at the Doctor, "Cos something always got in the way of it. Would you like a guess?"

The projection started showing all the Doctor's previous incarnations all the way through his tenth before the Doctor himself walked through the hologram, his hand holding onto Minerva's hand, "Hello. I'm the Doctor and just because my wife isn't up in your little holograms doesn't mean she'll be a white little dove to you. You've threatened her second home and she doesn't stand for that."

"My name is Kaeya, princess of the Monsoon," Minerva narrowed her eyes, "Together we make quite the team. Basically... run!"

With that, the ship zoomed off, making the humans cheer behind the alien pair. Minerva turned and hugged the Doctor, "Oh, thank you," she whispered to him, touched he'd finally gotten her first true chance to stand with him through thick and thin.

He was about to respond when he felt something warm in his pocket and parted to reach and take out the TARDIS key that glowed. Minerva swiped the key from him and yanked him off before the humans could even tell they'd gone.

They ran back to Amy's backyard and stood in front of the TARDIS, immediately noticing its brighter blue exterior.

"Okay, box of wonders, I've never seen you change in front of us..." Minerva excitedly unlocked the box and looked at the Doctor, "You ready?"

He held onto her hand and nodded, "Ready," he pushed the doors open and stepped in with her.

They both looked at the bright orange and yellow interior the console room had taken. The console was up on a glass platform, slightly raised with stairs leading up to it. More stairs were off to the side that led up to the second level, with another staircase leading below the console. The walls, however, still bore that coral design like a trademark.

"Wow!" Minerva gasped and ran up to the console, "Martian, look!" she laughed, unaware of the gaze the Doctor had on her, "Oh my god, look at you! Oh, you sexy thing! Look at you!" she sent a smirk to the Doctor, "Think I didn't know about your little nickname before I came along?"

"Um..." he closed the doors and headed over to the console.

Minerva suddenly yawned, "I'm really tired..."

He smiled softly and started up the box, Minerva beginning to make a round on the console, "Off to sleep you go," he called as he followed her around.

"Stop," she unexpectedly ordered.

The Doctor froze in his spot, a small frown on his face, "Did I do something?"

She stood across the console with a hand going over the controls which de-materialized the TARDIS from the garden outside. She eyed the Doctor with curiosity while he stood silent, practically nerve-wrecked thinking she was angry. She slowly came up to him and stared from head to toe her new husband. She could remember some of the details of when she actually first saw him back in the desert all those years ago, though now she had a much better view.

"Minerva, what ever I did I'm so-"

"Sh," she held a hand to his face and quieted him down. Gently, she laid a hand on his face and stared at him. She smiled softly, "You're an even bigger geek now."

He raised an eyebrow, "I'm...what?" he wasn't very sure of what was going on so he wanted to be very careful of what he said before he made her really angry.

"The bow-tie, I told you," she lower her hand to the bow-tie he now wore around his neck, "I told you you'd wear it one day and you denied it."

"I guess I changed my mind," he slightly shrugged.

"You still have good hair," she raised her hand and touched the tips of his hair that flopped over his head, "Bigger hair, mind you."

"Do you like it?" he genuinely asked, making her chuckle.

"I love it," she assured and let her hand drop to his cheek again, "And your eyes..." she whispered, "...they're jade now, you copycat."

"I liked them so much I figured why not try it," he joked and got another laugh.

"Overall," she rested her hands on his jacket's lapels and opened them to see his braces, "You're a bigger geek than you were before. Tweed, bow-tie's, braces...wow," she leaned on him with a cheeky grin, "I can hear Martha's new remarks about you."

"And you?" he took her hands off him and held them between them, "...what do you think about me?"

She knew what he meant, did she still love him in this new incarnation? That was actually her question for him...did he still love her despite this sudden change of hers?

She nodded, "I love it, I love you," she whispered. He beamed and leaned down to kiss her...but she leaned away from him, "...what about me?" she genuinely questioned, "This was so sudden. I mean, I was already used to my last one and now I'm..." she looked down at her tarnished clothes, "...I'm not so sure."

He lifted her chin and allowed her to see his soft smile for her. His answer, he thought, should've been quite easy to see from the start but then again he should know better than to think his Clever Girl would ever be that self-conscious. He ran a hand down her new light ginger hair. It was still long but it had lost its curliness. It was completely straight once more. She was slightly shorter but to her luck not that same height she'd been when they'd originally met on Earth; she was up to his nose, really. Her dark brown eyes had lightened up to a different shade, a light, amber brown that he knew would be his downfall if she came to master the puppy-dog eyes. Her jade ones only needed to batter and shine to get him to do what she wanted…he could only wonder what these would hold for him. Her lips had turned to a shade of pink and her cheeks seemed to be a bit fuller now. Overall, she was…

"I've got one word for you, Clever Girl," the Doctor began with his finger stroking the side of his face, "Beautiful."

She blushed and slid an arm around his neck, "Tell me you love me," she pleaded in a whisper, "I haven't heard you say it since I got this new face. Do you love me?"

The Doctor saw it was a genuine concern for her and instead of telling her how she shouldn't worry over that he went ahead and obeyed, "I love you."

She breathed in with joy and looked at him for a minute, realizing something else he hadn't done, or rather they hadn't done since they'd changed. With a pull, she brought the Doctor to her lips for a kiss, a kiss that he immediately responded to and even deepened in a frantic hurry. He'd realized they hadn't shared a kiss together and now he wanted to make up for it. They remained kissing for quite a while, uncaring of anything else until it was time to breathe.

The Doctor stroked small circles on Minerva's cheeks, softly smiling as she lazily blinked, "You should rest," he whispered to her, "We can go to the Monsoon after you sleep."

"What about Amy? You know with that crack on her wall she can't really be left on her own," she sighed.

"She hit you with a cricket bat," he reminded.

"I'm okay with that, honest. She was angry and with good reason, 12 years late Martian. We owe it to her to show her some wonders out there."

"Alright, yes, we'll pick her up as well but after you get sleep and we head to the Monsoon."

"Don't forget my grandmother," she pointed, "We should probably go and introduce ourselves since we're...new people now."

"Yes, her too."

She smiled and draped her arms around his neck again, "Can you carry me, please? I'm so tired."

"Up you go, then," he scooped her up bridal style, "Anywhere in mind?" he joked as he headed for the corridors.

"Our bedroom where the comfy bed is would be nice," she rested her head on his chest, her eyes already halfway closed.

He dropped a kiss to her forehead, smiling afterwards, "Sleep well, love. And remember, I love you."

"I love you, Martian," she whispered before she fell asleep, "No matter what face you have..."

---

Author's Note:

Ta-da! Hope you liked the first chapter of this new story! Sorry we didn't get to the explanation of the sudden change of Minerva but I felt it would be too much in one chapter so I made it a chapter of its own - the next one! I have to say it's so great to be back after 3 weeks of no computer and barely wifi. I just got back home today and I am running on about 4 hours of sleep so this will probably be the last thing I do before falling asleep ^.^

Also, I picture Minerva's current appearance to be like the actress Adela Noriega.

Due to my remaining vacation, the updates of this story may be twice a week (maybe) because I'm bored and I like writing :D

For Reviews (of the last chapter of Star-Crossed):

Ronin Kenshin: Thank you! I promise the next chapter has the explanation of Minerva's sudden change! Look for it in the next couple of days!

PondLake: Why thank you! I'm glad you like the pair so much! It's been a good year then lol. Hopefully this story will become another one you'll continue reading!

CJ/Oddball:Okay seriously, you entertained so much while I was away. It bugged me that I couldn't really answer any of your reviews because of no laptop but I did receive and read them all. That goes to answer your question in one of your later reviews asking if I put the reviews up or not. My current setting is all reviews are automatically posted when someone presses the post button. I can tell you right now Minerva did not actually regenerate (since I posted up above she was in her 2nd incarnation, her last proper regeneration being the one the Doctor sort of kick-started before Minerva nearly died). You're onto something about the Link though ;) Hmm, sorry to tell you that the desert prologue does not take place during these events. It's actually a much later thing that'll be explained in the next story after this one!
-And as for your song recommendations I did listen to them all & I think the best ones representing the Doctor and Minerva are 'Saturn' by Sleeping at Last and 'At the Beginning'. I looked at the lyrics and it just screamed to me it was their songs ^.^ As for Minerva I think Katy Perry's Roar is the perfect description of her character's foundation. Nothing better than that one!
-Happy late New Years to you too!
-Well, I can't really give 12 a fair judgement on his protectiveness because I haven't reached him yet. I'm on season 7 right now so I only have judgement on 10 & 11. I don't think I can properly choose which one is more protective. We saw 10 in his ugly moments when Minerva was in trouble and he was quite good at it too. 11 will have a terrible event happen with Minerva that will really push him to be protective but I don't know which one I'd qualify as THE most protective . I'm so sorry for not answering your question aaagh - both have a fierce protective instinct over Minerva.

Also, to answer the reviews of Worth It (since I can't answer the reviews in that story as a chapter of its own):

Anonymous Guest: Thank you! I really want to expand on it but I don't know if I should continue it now or wait until I have more ideas on it.

CJ/Oddball: Really? You are!? While I don't have a clear idea about her next regeneration I can tell you for sure she is still pretty upset with the Doctor. Not like furious but kind of cross.

So, so, so sorry for such a long A/N but there's a lot of things I wanted to answer for 3 weeks and couldn't Stay with me now, we're almost there! I wanted to introduce the idea (again) for an official ship name of Minerva and the Doctor. I just don't know if you would prefer the names being Minerva/Doctor or Minerva/Theta or 'Minnie' (since I see a lot of you write her like that) and Doctor (or Theta) or Kaeya/Theta? I don't really mind because they're all their real names (and yes in these stories the Doctor's name will be Theta). So...leave a ship name for me will you? :)

Thank you all who continued to read into this third story! I promise this story will have some cute/fluff/angst moments! Leave your comments/suggestions if you'd like and see you next week! :)