Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, I wish I did.

Chapter 1

The Doctor leaned against the TARDIS as he studied the psychic paper in his hand. His forehead creased slightly as he frowned at the note. Along with the usual coordinates there was a message:

"Hello Sweetie. There is someone you need to meet. Oh, and pick up Mum and Dad on the way. X X River"

The Doctor set the paper down and frowned again. Amy and Rory were supposed to believe he was dead. What was the point of laying low if he was just going to pop in to visit his friends whenever he wanted? Plus, what would the shock do to them if he just materialized in their back yard after they thought they watched him die.

Of course River probably ignored that. The woman was eternally frustrating; leave it to her to just expect him to drop everything he was doing and cause an unknown amount of pain to his best friends. Of course he wasn't exactly doing anything at this exact moment. He was really just floating around in the vortex until he came up with a place he wanted to go; simply catching his breathe after a narrow escape on the planet Farlax. How was he supposed to know that big important-looking button would make the reactor explode? Everyone in the universe should know how he reacted to important-looking buttons by now. Well….anyway….the point was, he wasn't exactly busy at the moment…

But what about the Ponds? He couldn't do that to them. They thought he was dead; he remembered what happened last time he just showed up after they watched him die. Maybe if he picked just the right time….but then they might not know River was Melody. He would have to be very careful about the point in their timeline. Wait, no that wouldn't work. He couldn't do that; he'd hurt them so much already.

It would be nice to see them again before he got to deep into his self-imposed obscurity…

The Doctor finally stopped thinking about it. He had reached a decision and bother the consequences. The Time Lord began running around the TARDIS console as he frantically flipped switches, turned knobs, and spun the thing that he didn't really remember the name of (it was probably in the manual. Oh well). Finally he paused in front of the monitor.

"Geronimo," he said to himself as he pushed the lever that sent the TARDIS spinning towards her destination.

An unmistakable scraping sound echoed in the quiet afternoon. A redhead and a Roman looked up from their movie before running into the backyard just as a large blue box finished materializing.

With an unbelieving look on his face Rory watched as a man in a bowtie stepped onto the grass. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh nothing much. Just stopping by to say hello. Also, there is somewhere we need to be apparently. Nothing to worry about. Probably." the Doctor replied. He rubbed his hands together as he walked closer. "Permission to hug?"

"Fine, but I'm not sure you really want to…" Rory trailed off as he looked at his wife. Up to that point Amy Pond had been looking at the Doctor with an indistinguishable expression. As he held his arms out and stepped closer-

*slap*

The stunned Time Lord was left with a red handprint across the side of his face. "I guess I deserved that didn't I?"

"Definitely." Amy stated, "you made us watch you die even though you didn't. You didn't tell us, and now you just show up again."

"Eh…Right. Well. Sorry Pond." The Doctor struggled to think up a clever response to the accusations so he decided to change the subject. "I got, well we got, an invitation from your daughter. We're to meet someone important apparently. Maybe a king or a queen or a new species. Who knows? Well we won't unless we go, so come along Ponds." With that the Doctor turned back towards the TARDIS, took two steps, and finally processed something he realized earlier. "You just slapped me. If I landed in a time where you knew I was dead then you would think I was dead." The Doctor turned back towards Amy and Rory and fixed them with an intense look. "Why did you slap me instead of wondering why I was dead?"

"River told us," Amy answered. Her earlier flash of anger was gone just as quickly as it had appeared.

"Of course she did," the Doctor muttered to himself. "That woman, willing to go to prison so I can hide and then she goes and tells her parents the secret. Does she never make sense?"

Rory decided to interrupt the oddly dressed alien's discussion with himself. "So where are we supposed to be going?"

The Doctor looked. "I don't quite know exactly. I never quite do with River but that's what makes her so interesting. And infuriating."

"Oi, watch it! That's my daughter you're going on about." Amy might not be completely comfortable with her new role as an alien's mother in law, but that didn't mind she was going to listen to him talk about her daughter that way.

The Doctor looked repentant. "Right. Sorry. WELL! What do you say? One last trip before I have to disappear?"

Amy and Rory looked at each other. Their adventures with the Doctor in the past had been exciting, frightening, and occasionally deadly, but things always seemed to work out eventually. Besides, they had been through so much it would take a lot to surprise them now. Rory shrugged, and Amy turned back to the Doctor with an excited grin. "One last time."

The Doctor returned the grin. "Well, come along Ponds." The trio ran into the TARDIS, a few seconds later the police box disappeared.

A.N.- I've been reading fanfiction for years, but I'm new to writing it. I'm open to all the advice I can get. I really love Doctor Who and I'd like to write something worthy of it. I don't really know where this story will end up, but the idea has been in my head for months and wouldn't go away. Please read and review.

I'm going back to fix (way more than) a few typos in these first chapters. Don't know how I can expect other people to read this if I don't even edit properly. It's a learning process I guess.