Author's Note: This story takes place after Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel and before The Idiot's Lantern.
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any recognisable characters therein.
Madam Kovarian let out a noise that was half growl and half screech as Demon's Run fell, and the Roman retrieved the actual baby instead of the Flesh duplicate she had been preparing. Her plan, all of it, had fallen apart, but failure was not an option. She was an agent of the Papal Mainframe, and she had a mission to save the universe from The Doctor, The Time Lords, and Trenzalore. It was time for Plan Cardiff. "Ready the machine. Prepare funereal absolution for those who have fallen and those who must die."
The two closest Silents nodded and Kovarian reminded herself that the lives cost now were to save them all. She reminded herself of that again when she stood on top of a hill, watching the fiery wreckage of a car. She was not heartless, but the grater good came first. "Retrieve the child." She ordered. "And prepare the base in Cardiff. Amy Pond can't save him from himself if she's not there when he crashes into her garden."
Amy Pond had lived alone most of her life in a small house in Cardiff. She never really thought about how her life didn't make sense, she just lived it. The only thing that really changed was that she was tall enough to reach the cooker. No one else seemed to question the little redhead living alone, and if they did, they quickly forgot their inquiries. Now, at twenty, no one blinked. Amy sometimes had a sense of being followed, but she dismissed it just as quickly. Coming home from her internship at Buzz one night, however, she stopped and stared. There, by the Millennium Centre was an old police box.
Amy had a thing about police boxes. She stopped and inspected every one she saw and she didn't know why. Well, she did, but it was silly. She dreamed about a police box. A living one. Every night when she fell asleep there would be a comforting hum, like a sing song, or a happy little symphony of warbles, trills, dings and beeps. In her dreams, the inside of a police box wasn't really a police box at all. It was brand new and ancient, and the bluest possible blue. She knew it was silly, but she couldn't help investigating them.
This one was especially strange, as she knew that when she went to work that morning, there had most definitely not been a police box in that spot. Mentally chiding herself for being ridiculous, she crossed the plaza anyway, and reached out to touch the door, bracing herself to be disappointed again. She pressed her hand against the door and was startled when it felt warm under her fingertips.
Blinking in shock, Amy looked up at the police box. She found herself wondering if she had finally gone completely mental, feeling a strange hum under her fingers. "Hello?" She said quietly, making sure passerbys and the homeless man on the park bench couldn't hear her.
As if in response, the door creaked a little, and she took several steps back in surprise. She blinked again, in awe, as the door swung outward, completely of their own volition, or so it appeared. "I've lost it." Amy said to herself, staring. "Police boxes are just boxes, they aren't bigger on the inside..." Despite her statements, however, she moved forward, stepping into the box and looking around, eyes wide with shock.
Amy leaned on a strut of something that looked rather like coral or some sort of banyan tree, and barely noticed when the door snapped closed behind her. As if she was in a dream, the redhead moved over to the central console, running her fingers over the strange buttons, knobs and levers. The entire thing seemed alive, and as she touched a lever, the entire room seemed to purr like a kitten.
"Hello." Amy said, happily. "I dreamed about you, did you know?"
There was a pleased little gurgling noise, and the lights seemed to get brighter over by the hallway.
Laughing, Amy headed in that direction, and the lights continued on, like a game of tag, through the impossibly large and spacious hallways, until it stopped at a doorway. The door read 'Amy' in golden, curlicue script. Amy stared at it for a moment, almost more shocked that her name was on a door than by all the rest of it, living police box included. She carefully cracked the door open and stepped inside, her heels sinking into the plush cream-coloured carpet. This room was hers, it couldn't be more hers if she designed it herself. The open wardrobe contained her clothes, her shoes, the vanity in the corner held her large collection of nail polish and perfume, her nightie was laid out on the dusky violet comforter, a picture of her parents was on the nightstand, and her print of van Gogh's sunflowers over the bed. "It's beautiful." She breathed, taking it all in. She pet one of the coral struts right inside the door with a smile. "I love it."
The room purred around her, and an attached door swung open, exposing a large claw-foot tub and large fluffy towels, her striped robe hanging on the door.
At the sight, Amy felt the tired ache in her body from a week of too much work and too little sleep. It seemed the police box was prescribing a long bath and sleep. It sounded like the best idea she had heard in years. "You are brilliant." Amy said, kicking off her heels and letting her toes sink into the carpet. "You know that?" The room let out a little whistle, and the bedroom door snapped shut, leaving the redhead to her bath.
The TARDIS felt very happy with herself. The Pirate-Enemy had tried to take her Orangey One away. And well, the TARDIS couldn't have that. Thief needed the Orangey One. While all of the strays went away eventually, she could hardly let the Pirate-Enemy take away the Orangey One so that Thief never met her, it would unbalance the timestream too much. The ache in her temporal balancer had been going on for quite long enough already. The Orangey One was home, where she belonged.
Thief and Bad Wolf had quite the surprise when they got back. Or was it would have? Tenses are very confusing things. Still, she had won against the Pirate-Enemy and her Silent Ones. Or was that would win?