A/N: Wow, the 6th installment already! I can hardly believe it myself. Either this story or the next one will be what I'm publishing during the 50th anniversary, a prospect which is exciting in its own right! This first chapter throws a major curveball that I know some people might be turned off by... just stick with me! Things are not always as they seem :) .

Outside the applause was still going full swing. It hadn't died down in the slightest, everyone watching the joyful reunion. Quinn stood just inside the doors of the TARDIS while the Doctor started turning knobs and preparing to take them somewhere, once again.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"The song is," he replied.

"The song is wrong? That's what's got you so upset?"

"It's not wrong because it's bad," he said. "It's wrong because it shouldn't be here!" He flipped a lever and the TARDIS started its characteristic wheezing as they left the stage and went somewhere else. She briefly imagined Robert and Howard and the rest trying to answer the question of how they made that funny blue box appear out of nowhere with so many people inside it, but the Doctor's panic was rubbing off on her, leaving all other thoughts behind.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said. "How can it not belong? I don't know what your beef is. In fact I don't even know what it... said," she muttered the last words, understanding dawning on her. Why hadn't the TARDIS translated the song into English for her?

"Where did it come from, I wonder? How did it get here?"

Quinn knew the answer to that. "He said he heard it in a dream," she said. "I just thought it was a nice story when he told me but..."

"It was a message," the Doctor finished.

"Someone sent Robert a message so he could put it in his play?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No. Someone send me a message. Robert was just the relay."

Quinn wasn't sure she'd heard him right. "To you?"

"Right."

"But the play was already written and finished before we got here. That would have been months ago that he dreamed it up. How do you know it was for you?"

"It didn't translate," he said.

"So what does that mean? Maybe there wasn't anything to translate. Maybe it was just gibberish."

"No, you don't understand. It didn't translate, but I understood it, just fine."

"What do you mean?"

"The song, it wasn't a song at all. It was a coded message, in a language long, long dead."

"What language," she asked, but her breath caught in her throat because she was already pretty sure she knew the answer.

"The language of my people, of Gallifrey. That was old high Gallifreyan, a language nobody but me should know in the whole wide universe."

"Does that mean there's another Time Lord somewhere?" she asked. "What did it say?"

"The lyrics weren't words," he said. "They were data. Coded of course but most definitely spatio-temporal coordinates - a where and a when."

"So what do we do?" Quinn asked, worry gnawing at the pit of her stomach for some reason she didn't fully comprehend on a conscious level. "How do we get away?"

"Get away?" The Doctor said, smiling maniacally. "Quinn Fabray, sometimes I don't think you know me at all."

"Don't play Casanova with me," she demanded. "I can see right through you. This screams 'trap' to me and if I pieced it together, I'm sure you did, too."

"Yes, but what kind of trap? You must admit, as far as bait goes, this is pretty irresistible."

"Do you think it could be another Time Lord?"

"Impossible," he said, shaking his head resolutely.

"But... there must have been someone," she said. "Maybe someone was away from the planet when it happened or-"

"I said no," he said, and his tone said the conversation was closed.

She came up to stand next to him, and quietly asked, "Then who else would know your peoples' language?"

"We'll find out soon enough," he said, and the TARDIS gave a resounding clang. "We've landed."

He made for the door, and she was right behind him, when he turned around. "No. Not this time. I need you in here."

"If there's something dangerous out there then I'm going to help you with it!" she said. "That's how this thing works," she made a 'back-and-forth' gesture between the two of them with her hands. "You support me, I support you. We face things together."

"And I would love your support," he said, looking into her eyes intently. "Really, I would, trust me."

"Great! Problem solved," she said. "Let's go. Allon-"

He held up a finger to stop her. "I'd love it, but I'll have to do without it."

"I can take care of myself," she said. "I don't need you to protect me."

"No, you don't," he agreed. "But that's not what this is about. Whoever called us here knows my language. Who knows what else they might know? If I don't come back within an hour, I need you to get the TARDIS out of here. It's the last TARDIS in the universe, I can't let it get into the wrong hands." He showed her a control on the console next to him. "This one is the fast return switch," he said. "It'll take you to the last place the TARDIS went, which is the theater. We've got friends there, we've just seen to that. Talk to Captain Sanders, tell him I wanted you looked after as thanks for what we did for them, and take care of your daughter."

"Doctor..." she said, grasping one of his hands. He'd never talked about the possibility of not being around anymore, not seriously like this anyway. They didn't even know what they were - or rather he was - walking into, but he was as good as saying his goodbyes, like death was a sure thing. "No, Doctor, don't go. Don't leave me. Please, don't leave me, not you too..." she stammered, holding his hand to her heart with both of hers.

"Quinn, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But I have to find out. I have to." There was something beyond the fear in his eyes... was it hope? Anticipation? Whatever was waiting out there might be terrible... but maybe it was wonderful instead. Maybe it was the trap they feared... maybe it was some lost remnant of home. And she couldn't keep him from it.

She settled for pulling him into a tight embrace, squeezing him as tight as she could. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you for everything you've done for me."

"Thank you," he said. "For the same." They stayed that way for a minute, then he pulled away from the embrace. Time to go. "I'm locking the doors down," he said. "The TARDIS knows who it can let in. You'll be safe in here."

She nodded. "Be safe out there." she said.

"I will," he replied simply, then he turned to the door and opened it, looking out. A red, dusty sort of light spilled in as he gazed out at the landscape, then stepped through the door and closed it behind him.

It seemed darker in the console room than it had whenever else she'd been here. She hadn't been alone in here since that first morning, waking up in the bedroom in the back after she'd broken up with Finn. By then she had only seen a few rooms. Now that she'd seen how much of a world there was in here, it seemed utterly desolate and lonely to be here without the Doctor.

She sat down on the bench next to the console and absentmindedly rubbed her stomach. "It's okay little one," she said. "He'll be back. He'll be fine. Just you wait and see."

She didn't know how long she had sat there, but it wasn't long, no more than fifteen minutes, when she heard the commotion outside. It sounded like shouting, and then there was a tremendous crash against the doors, like a body hurling itself against the Police Box facade, that nearly made her jump out of her skin. She looked to the doors, watching an eerily bright yellow light shimmer through the frosted glass windows. It lit the whole console room, casting an almost blinding light through the room. Then all at once it was gone, just as quick as it had come. There were a few moments of interminable silence, then she heard the key start to shake and rattle in the lock.

The door opened and he spun around, slamming it closed and leaning against it, breath ragged and shaky. He was hunched over, with both his hands over his head and braced against the door, like he was trying to keep it closed by sheer force of will more than by his leaning on it. She couldn't see anything but his large brown coat hanging off him like a coat hanger.

"Doctor!" she called, but he waved back dismissively, a keep back gesture, without turning to look at her.

She skidded to a stop after just a couple of steps. He took a deep ragged breath and said, "Fast return! Go!" around a series of deep coughs that reduced his voice to a gravelly roar.

She slammed her hand down on the switch and the central column started to move as the ship shuddered into motion as usual. He lost his balance as the ship pitched, and landed on his back, still coughing up a fit. She gave him a quick look over. Same brown coat, same pinstriped suit, same tie and sneakers, but when she looked at his face...

The man lying on the floor of the TARDIS was wearing all the right clothes, but didn't look right himself. His nose was flatter, his eyes wider apart, and most of all, he had a shock of red hair where the brown spiky mess should have been.

She stopped dead in her tracks, mouth hanging open as she stared at him and gasped. "What... who..."

He opened his eyes with great effort, still looking like he was in pain and possibly a bit dazed, but when he saw her surprised expression he took a deep breath and rolled onto his side, leaning up on one elbow to get a better look at her. "Quinn," he said. "It's me. It's the Doctor, it's me." He was seized by another coughing fit, but in and around the heaving spasms he managed to choke out the words, "I've regenerated."

DAVID TENNANT

DIANNA AGRON

DOCTOR WHO

CRUSH DEPTH