The Pond Girls

by WritersBlockNotWelcome

Eventual 11/OC. What if Amelia wasn't the only Pond to meet the Doctor? What if her English cousin, Lillian Pond, had been there, too? How will the girls react when their imaginary friend returns, twelve years after he said he would? Will they continue to lead ordinary lives or agree to travel with their Raggedy Doctor? Starts with the Eleventh Hour. First in The Other Pond Series.

2. Chapter 2

The Other Pond, Chapter Two:

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Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the characters, places, or things mentioned in the television show. I only own my OC and any of other adjustments or additions made to the original story line.

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Chapter Two: The Eleventh Hour, pt. 2

"What is this place? Where am I?" the Doctor asked, as they hurried down the road.

The girls had no idea where they were heading, having decided that it would be wiser to just follow the Doctor rather than to stall with questions, considering how much time they had until the entire planet Earth and the human race went up in flames - unless of course they were able to prevent the end of the world before the clock ran out.

The Doctor looked around, surveying his surroundings, looking for anything that could be of help to them. He sighed, seeing nothing but rows of old, stone houses.

"Leadworth," Lily answered, a little out of breath as she struggled to keep up. Amy, who appeared to be about an inch, maybe two inches shorter than the Doctor, was eight inches taller than Lily, which made Lily have to do a funny sort of half-walk, half-jog thing to keep pace with their long strides.

"Where's the rest of it?"

Amy had often wondered the very same thing. In her opinion, Leadworth was painfully small and quiet. For as long as she'd lived there, the most exciting thing that had ever happened was when the Doctor had crash-landed in their backyard twelve years ago - and up until recently she'd convinced herself that the whole thing had been a game of pretend that had gotten a little out of hand.

Growing up in Leadworth, the girls had felt like outcasts, due to the constant teasing and bullying they underwent because of their imaginary friend the Raggedy Doctor. Lily, wanting to be normal, ended that phase of her life in sixth year. Amy couldn't move on so easily. After Lily told her that she didn't want to be known forever as being one half of - as the other children had oh so kindly dubbed them - the 'Potty Ponds,' Amy had dug her heels in even more, simply refusing to move on. It was finally in secondary school that Amy decided that it wasn't worth it anymore. It wasn't worth putting strain on hers and Lily's relationship for something as childish and silly as an imaginary friend. However, even after Amy had given up on the Doctor and been accepted in by her peers, she still hadn't felt like she belonged in Leadworth. Still to that day, Leadworth didn't feel like home. And, even though Amy thought the opposite, Lily had always felt the very same way.

The two of them would never feel like they truly belonged in Leadworth.

"This is it," Amy grumbled.

"Is there an airport?" the Doctor inquired, still maintaining his brisk pace.

"No," Lily shook her head.

"A nuclear power station?"

"Ha. No," Amy scoffed.

"Even just a little one?"

"Sorry," Lily shrugged.

"Nearest city?"

"Gloucester, half-an-hour by car," Amy informed him.

"We don't have half-an-hour. Do we have a car?"

"Can't . . ." Wheeze. ". . . afford . . ." Wheeze. ". . . one," Lily said, in between gasps of air.

Gosh, was she out of shape! She could barely keep up with Amy, and boy could Amy pack away a box of chips. Not that you could tell by looking at her. Amy was a tall, thin glass of water. Lily was quite slim too, but she was also quite short. As many people had put it, she was petite - which was the polite way of saying that she was short and small and often mistaken for someone much younger than she actually was.

"Well, that's good!" the Doctor exclaimed, sarcastically, "Fantastic, that is. Twenty minutes to save the world, and I've got a post office. And it's shut!"

"How about we focus on what we do have?" Lily suggested, trying to stay positive, "Like that funny little gizmo you used earlier. What did you call it again? A sonic something or other?"

The Doctor didn't bother to comment, instead rushing over to a nearby pond - the small body of water, not one of the girls.

"What is that?" he asked, looking at the pond strangely.

'Aren't there any ponds where he's from?' Lily wondered, then, with a start, she realized that she had no idea where that was. For all she knew he could be an alien himself. And judging by the strange way he talked, the vast knowledge of aliens and alien technology, and the apparent time-travelling, she had a feeling she wasn't far off base.

"It's a duck pond," Amy responded, as though the answer to his question should've been quite obvious.

"Why aren't there any ducks?" the Doctor asked, stopping in front of the pond and turning around to face the girls.

"I don't know. There's never any ducks," Amy said, tousling her ginger hair and looking at the Doctor oddly.

"Then how do you know it's a duck pond?" the Doctor shot back, seriously.

"It just is!" Amy exclaimed out of exasperation, "Is it important, the duck pond?"

All of a sudden, the Doctor jerked back, his body convulsing, "I don't know. Why would I know?"

Lily quickly took a hold of his arm before he fell, carefully helping him sit down on the ground. "Are you alright?" she asked worriedly, "Maybe you should rest a moment."

"This is too soon. I'm not ready, I'm not done yet," the Doctor hissed in frustration, speaking to himself.

"What's happening? Why's it going dark?"

The Doctor and Lily looked up at the sky to see that something had gone and blocked out the sun, casting a shadow over the Earth, the sun's rays trying to sneak through the opaque grey screen.

"What's wrong with the sun?" Lily asked, turning to the Doctor for answers.

Before the Doctor could answer her question, the sun changed again. Right before their very eyes, the sun went from being a dark grayish color to an unnatural, blazing orange color in a matter of seconds.

"Nothing. You're looking at it through a force field. They've sealed off you're upper atmosphere, they're getting ready to boil the planet."

Both of the Pond girls heads snapped in his direction, wide-eyed and pasty-faced. Suddenly the whole 'disintegrate the human residence' thing had become entirely too real.

The Doctor stood up, "Ah, and here they come; the human race."

Lily watched him warily, making sure that he wasn't going to fall over again, before she too stood up, brushing the dirt off the back of her jeans.

The girls followed his gaze to see that people had started to gather in the park, looking up at the sun and whipping out their cell phones, snapping pictures.

"The end comes, as it was always going to, down a video phone!" the Doctor sneered, looking at the people and their phones in disgust.

Lily pursed her lips and crossed her arms across her chest, not appreciating the slight against the species that she just so happened to belong to. Of course humans had their faults, but what race didn't? Lily wondered how many humans the Doctor had known, the way he talked about them suggested that he'd known quite a few. It saddened her to see someone, an outsider no less, who'd probably known lots of humans, talk about their species with such disdain - no, not disdain - disappointment. It made her want to prove him wrong. To show him that humans really could surprise you if given the opportunity.

"This isn't real, is it? This is some kind of big windup," Amy said to herself, shaking her head in disbelief and clasping her hands under her chin, trying to push down the panic that she could feel creeping up on her.

"Amy, just relax, alright? Everything's going to be fine," Lily said soothingly, laying a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.

"Why would I wind you up?" the Doctor asked them, genuinely confused.

"You told us you had a time-machine," Amy retorted.

"And you believed me, you both did."

"Then we grew up," Amy countered.

"Oh, you never want to do that," the Doctor said ruefully, knowing that it was his fault. If only he'd been on time - "No, hang on, shut up, wait! I missed it," Wack. The Doctor slapped his palm against his forehead, quite hard too, startling Amy, who stared wide-eyed at him in alarm.

Lily cringed, thinking about how he'd probably have a splitting headache the next day - that is, if they even lived to see the next day.

"I saw it and I missed it," Wack. "What did I see? I saw . . . What did I see?" the Doctor wondered, thinking back to what he'd seen, remembering all the people with their cell phones raised to the sky and one man in nurses scrubs with his phone pointed instead at a man and a dog. But not just any man and dog. No, no, no, no, that man and dog was Prisoner Zero in one of his disguises.

The Doctor glanced at a nearby clock hanging from a post, seeing how much time they had left.

The Doctor whipped around to face the girls. "Twenty minutes. I can do it. Twenty minutes, the planet burns. Run to your loved ones and say goodbye, or . . . stay and help me," the Doctor said, that same glint in his dark green eyes that had been there the night they'd first met, all those years before.

"I -" Lily had just opened her mouth to speak when she was interrupted by Amy, "No."

"I'm sorry?" the Doctor said, thinking he'd heard Amy wrong. Perhaps this new body of his was hard of hearing. He couldn't be sure, not much road testing as of late.

"No!" Amy shouted defiantly, grabbing him by the tie and spinning him around, the Doctor nearly toppling Lily over as he accidentally knocked shoulders with her, causing her to stumble.

"Amy, no, no, what are you doing?!" the Doctor protested as Amy shoved him up against a nearby car, sticking his tie in the door just as the driver got out and slammed it shut. She snatched the keys out of the elderly man's hand and pressed the lock button, trapping the Doctor for the second time that day.

"Amy! Let him go!" Lily cried, stalking over to them, having recovered from her near fall after having been barreled into by the Doctor - who of course didn't mean to, as Amy had been dragging him around by his tie, like a dog on a lead.

"Are you out of your mind?" the Doctor hissed, trying to pull his tie out of the door in vain.

Lily made a grab for the keys, but Amy held them out of her reach, sending her a withering glare.

"Who are you?" Amy demanded, turning her glare on the Doctor, getting in his face and pushing him farther up against the side of vehicle.

"You know who I am," the Doctor replied tensely. All he could think about was how much time was being wasted. He could hear the seconds ticking by in his mind; a countdown until the end of the world.

"Amy, please," Lily pleaded with her cousin, thinking the exact same thing the Doctor was.

"No, really, who are you?" Amy persisted, far from satisfied with the Doctor's answer.

"Look at the sky! End of the world, twenty minutes," the Doctor hissed, reminding her of their impending doom.

"Better talk quickly, then!" Amy replied hotly.

"Amy, I am going to need my car back," Mr. Thompson, the owner of the car, who they'd briefly forgotten was still standing there, interrupted.

"Yes, in a bit. Now go and have coffee," Amy snapped, still glowering at the Doctor.

"I'll be sure to return the keys to you, Mr. Thompson," Lily assured him, mustering up what she hoped appeared to be a reassuring smile. Although, she was afraid that she seemed less 'reassuring' than she wanted to, and that her 'smile' had appeared more like a grimace than anything else.

"Yes, right," Mr. Thompson hesitantly agreed, knowing that there was no use arguing with Amy Pond - especially when she was in one of those moods. However, he knew how responsible Lily Pond was, and that she was always true to her word. He could trust her with his car if not Amy. So Mr. Thompson, if a little reluctantly, left his car and keys with the Pond girls, and went to go have a cup of coffee across the street, shooting the Doctor a pitying glance as he left, thinking, 'Poor bloke doesn't know what he's in for.'

The Doctor stuck his hand in his pocket and threw something up into the air in one fluid motion, "Catch."

Amy stuck her hand out just in time to catch what he'd thrown. Looking down, she realized that it was an apple with a smiley face carved into it. The very same apple she'd given him twelve years ago.

Lily gasped, her hands flying to her mouth in shock.

"I'm the Doctor. I'm a time-traveler. Everything I told you two twelve years ago is true. What's happening in the sky is real, and if you don't let me go right now, everything you've ever known is over," the Doctor said gravely, looking Amy right in the eyes, hoping that she'd see the truth in his.

"I don't believe you," Amy replied after a moment's pause.

The Doctor grabbed her wrist. "Just twenty minutes. Just believe me for twenty minutes," he begged, shaking the arm holding the apple, "Look at it. Fresh as the day you gave it to me. And you know it's the same one, you both do." He could practically see Amy's resolve crumbling as she glanced between him, the apple, and then over at Lily, who was watching with bated breath, praying that Amy would do the right thing and let him go.

"Amy, what've you got to lose if you let him go?" Lily said, drawing Amy's attention over to herself. Amy seemed to be waiting for more, so she continued. "But if you don't let him go . . ." she trailed off, unable to put into words what would happen if the Doctor wasn't released, she didn't even want to think about it, "Please Amy, we need the Doctor."

Amy thought about it for a moment, before she slowly raised the keys in the air, clicking the unlock button, "What do we do?"

Lily let out a small breathy laugh in relief, giddy from nerves.

"Stop that nurse!" the Doctor shouted, taking off running.

The girls exchanged a look before following him, Lily shaking her head and muttering as they ran, "Always with the running."

The Doctor hopped over the low chain fence encircling the park, continuing to speed towards the nurse. Without notice, the Doctor snatched the phone out of the man's hand, lifting it up to look at the pictures he'd taken. "The sun's going out, and you're photographing a man and a dog. Why?" the Doctor demanded, flipping through the nurse's photos.

Lily skidded to a stop beside the Doctor, resting her hands on her knees and hunching over, taking a moment to catch her breath.

Not far behind Lily, Amy stopped beside the man that the Doctor had taken the phone from - who just so happened to be their close friend Rory.

"Amy? Lily?" Rory said, looking between the girls and the Doctor in confusion.

Lily straightened up, her breath returning to her, "Rory?"

"Hi!" Amy exclaimed, a little out of breath herself, smiling at Rory and hanging off his arm. Then, realizing that the Doctor was still standing there, she quickly let go of Rory's arm and introduced him, "Oh, uh, this is Rory, he's a . . . friend."

"Boyfriend," Rory corrected, rolling his eyes good-naturedly, trying to play it off as just playful banter between the two of them.

"Kind of . . . boyfriend," Amy added, making both Rory and Lily frown and cry out in protest, "Amy!"

"Man and dog, why?" the Doctor interrupted their little 'lovers spat,' getting straight to the point.

Rory stared at the Doctor for a moment, until his eyes widened in recognition, "Oh, my God, it's him."

The girls internally groaned. Not again . . .

"Just answer his question, please," Amy said quickly, wishing that everybody would just stop saying that.

The Doctor looked over at Lily, raising an eyebrow questioningly, silently asking her what Rory was going on about. Lily pretended not to notice, feigning sudden interest in her sneakers, scuffing the toe of her left shoe in the dirt.

"It's him, though. The Doctor. The Raggedy Doctor," Rory babbled on, staring at the Doctor in a mix shock and disbelief.

"Yeah, he came back," Amy said plainly, not knowing what else to say. She was still in shock herself. How do you explain the sudden appearance of your childhood imaginary friend?

"But he was a story. He was a game -"

The Doctor lunged forward, grabbing Rory by his sweater and shaking him, "Man and dog, why? Tell me now."

"Sorry," Rory stammered, "Because he can't be there . . . Because he's -" Then, in sync, the Doctor and Rory finished together, "- in a hospital, in a coma."

Rory nodded his head, a little unnerved by that, ". . . Yeah."

The Doctor grinned, "Knew it. Multi-form, you see?" He released Rory, straightening out his sweater for him. "Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a live feed. A psychic link with a living but dormant mind," he explained, poking Rory in the forehead when he said 'dormant mind,' making Lily roll her eyes and smile a little, in spite of all that was going on.

A dog started barking, making the four of them whirl around to see a bald man, snarling and growling at them, his Rottweiler doing the same.

"Prisoner Zero," the Doctor drawled, stepping forward, his hands in his pockets.

"What, there's a Prisoner Zero, too?" Rory questioned, looking to the girls for an answer. But the girls were a little too distracted by the hostile alien in front of them to bother answering his question.

Prisoner Zero looked up as a spaceship flew over-top a nearby church; it resembled a snowflake with a huge blue eye - Prisoner Zero's guard - in the center, and crystal-like spires sticking out in all directions. A spotlight projected by the Guard roamed over the area, scanning for the escaped prisoner.

The Doctor took his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket, "See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology. And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver."

The Doctor raised his screwdriver to the sky, pressing the button on the side. All of a sudden, the streetlights started exploding. Car alarms blared as the headlights flashed and the windshield wipers worked autonomously. An electric mobility scooter had gone haywire, the poor woman riding it, screaming 'Stop!' as the machine zoomed down the street, completely out of her control. On the other side of the road, the sirens of a fire-truck wailed, as the machine appeared to be driving itself, two fire-men chasing their rogue vehicle, yelling, "Hey, come back here! Oi, come back here! Come back!"

It was safe to say that all hell had broken loose in the town of Leadworth.

Prisoner Zero growled, the man's eyes darting around nervously.

"I think someone's going to notice, don't you?" the Doctor said wryly, grinning at the multi-form in triumph.

Prisoner Zero started to bark again, and the Doctor dropped his arm, aiming the sonic screwdriver at a nearby telephone box, causing it to blow up in a flurry of sparks and shards of glass. But, unfortunately, so did the Doctor's screwdriver. He dropped his screwdriver as it exploded above him. It fell to the ground, now nothing but a charred and smoking stick of metal.

"No, no, no, don't do that!" the Doctor protested, dropping to his knees, carefully picking up what remained of his sonic.

Someone yelled out, "Look, it's going!"

The Doctor stood up and whipped around, seeing that the spaceship was in fact retreating.

"No, come back, he's here!" the Doctor yelled, throwing his arms up into the air, "Come back! He's here. Prisoner Zero is here. Come back, he's here! Prisoner Zero is here."

The Doctor was too busy shouting after the spaceship to notice that Prisoner Zero had gone and dissolved into billions of glowing particles of dust, escaping down the gutter.

"Doctor! The drain. It just sort of melted and went down the drain," Amy told him.

"Well, of course it did," the Doctor said, as though that was the most obvious thing for the alien to do.

"Well, what do we do now?" Lily asked, looking at him expectantly.

"It's hiding in human form. We need to drive it into the open. No TARDIS, no screwdriver, seventeen minutes. Come on, think. Think!"

Rory bent down, looking at the sewer, while the Doctor, Lily, and Amy stood over it, thinking.

"So that thing, that was in our house for twelve years?" Amy asked, understandably freaked out.

"Multi-forms can live for millennia. Twelve years is a pit stop," the Doctor replied nonchalantly.

"So how come you show up again on the very same day that lot do, the same minute?" Amy demanded, narrowing her eyes at him in suspicion.

"They're looking for him, but they followed me. They saw me through the crack, got a fix. They're only late, 'cause I am."

"What's he on about?" Rory asked, completely lost.

"Nurse boy give me your phone," the Doctor said, holding out a hand for Rory's cell phone.

Instead of doing as the Doctor said and handing over his cell phone, Rory became hysterical, "How can he be real? He was never real!"

"Phone, now, give me!"

Lily sighed, taking Rory's phone from him and handing it to the Doctor. "You know, a please and thank you would be nice every once in awhile," she said casually, subtly implying that he was being rude once again.

"Right, yes, thank you," the Doctor said quickly, a little of distracted as he looked through Rory's pictures.

Lily shook her head, a small, smug smirk playing at her lips, very pleased that she'd been able to get a 'thank you' out of the Doctor - even if it wasn't the most sincere thank you she'd ever received. But the Doctor didn't seem like someone who was very polite, so it still felt like a bit of a victory.

"He was just a game. We were kids. You two made me dress up as him!"

"These photos they're all the coma patients?" the Doctor asked, ignoring Rory's ranting.

"Yeah," Rory confirmed.

"No, they're all the multi-form. Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero," the Doctor told them, continuing to flip through the photos on Rory's phone.

"He had a dog though," Lily pointed out.

"Yeah," Amy agreed, "What, is there a dog in a coma?"

"Well, the coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog," the Doctor clarified, "Laptop! Your friend, what was his name. Not him, the good-looking one."

"Thanks," Rory said sarcastically.

"Jeff," Amy answered immediately, without even a moment's hesitation.

"Oh! Thanks," Rory exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air in exasperation.

Lily patted Rory on the shoulder, consoling him, "Don't worry, I think you're good-looking too, Rory."

"Big bag, big laptop!" the Doctor shouted, pulling Lily away from Rory so that he could put his arms across hers and Amy's shoulders, "I need Jeff's laptop." Then, rather carelessly, he pushed Amy away, pointing at her and Rory, and ordering them, "Amy and Rory, you two get to the hospital, get everyone out of that ward. Clear the whole floor. Phone me when you're done."

The Doctor started heading in the direction they'd come from, back to Mrs. Angelo's house.

"Wait!" the Doctor stopped in his tracks when he heard Lily call after him, "What about me? What do I do?"

"You're with me, blondie," the Doctor said, grinning and motioning for her to follow, "Now c'mon!"

Lily turned back to Amy and Rory, pointing a warning finger at them, "You two be careful. I want to see you both back safe and in one piece. Alright?"

Amy and Rory nodded mutely, dumbfounded, as they watched their best friend run off with hers and Amy's imaginary friend to nab Jeff's laptop and potentially save the world from incineration.

Amy shook herself out of her stupor, knowing that they had their own work to do.

"Your car, come on," Amy said to Rory, running off in the direction that he usually parked his car when he was working.

"But how can he be here? How can the Doctor be here?" Rory yelled after Amy. He sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to get a full explanation, so he followed her to his car. Sliding in the driver's seat, he put the car in drive and drove off towards the hospital, the tires screeching as they pulled away.

~DW~

The Doctor, for the second time that day, burst through Mrs. Angelo's front door, brushing right past the old woman.

Lily shot the elderly woman an apologetic smile, as she hurried after the Doctor.

The Doctor barged into Jeff's bedroom, not even having the decency to knock first.

Jeff looked up from his computer, stunned, glancing between the Doctor and Lily, who was standing right behind her 'imaginary friend' in the door frame.

"Hello! Laptop, give me!" the Doctor ordered, crossing the room and seizing the laptop from Jeff, who desperately gripped on to it, his eyes wide in horror.

"No, no, no, no, wait," Jeff protested.

"Jeff just give him the laptop please," Lily sighed tiredly, also stepping into the room.

"Hang on!" Jeff shouted, trying to pull the laptop away with one hand and half-closing the lid with the other.

"Give it here," the Doctor said, finally prying the laptop out of Jeff's grip and going to sit down on the end of the bed, Lily sitting down beside him. Jeff peered over their shoulders anxiously, as the pair looked down at the screen, their eyes widening and cheeks flushing.

"Blimey!" the Doctor exclaimed, quickly turning the screen away from Lily so she didn't have to look at it anymore, and exiting out of the open browser, "Get a girlfriend, Jeff."

Lily rubbed her eyes, trying to rid herself of the explicit image that was now stuck in her head, saying feebly, "Honestly . . . I could've done without seeing that."

"Shut it, Lily!" Jeff barked, his face now resembling a tomato, more than thoroughly embarrassed.

Just when Jeff thought that things couldn't possibly get any worse, the door opened and his grandmother walked in. "Gran," he croaked, his eyes widening even more, if possible.

"What are you doing?" Mrs. Angelo asked the Doctor and Lily, shutting the door behind her.

The Doctor was busily typing away on the laptop, Lily watching intently, "The sun's gone wibbly, so right now, somewhere out there, a big old video conference call. All the experts in the world panicking at once, and do you know what they need?" Mrs. Angelo, Jeff, and even Lily were silent, blank expressions on their faces. "Me," the Doctor answered his own question, "Ah! And here they all are. All the big boys; NASA, Jodrell Bank, Tokyo Space Centre, Patrick Moore."

"Ooh! I like Patrick Moore," Mrs. Angelo piped up.

"I'll get you his number," the Doctor pointed a finger at the elderly woman, warning, "But watch him, he's a devil."

"You can't just hack in on a call like that," Jeff argued.

"I think he just did, Jeff," Lily said, just as the Doctor flashed his psychic paper in front of the camera and six windows appeared on screen, each with a different spokesperson representing their respective organizations.

The experts looked puzzled at the sudden appearance of an unknown man and woman, appearing to be broadcasting out of a bedroom.

"Who are you? This is a secure call, what are you doing here?" the experts clamored.

"Gentleman, hello," the Doctor greeted, "Yeah, I know, you should switch us off."

"It's here, too, I'm getting it," Patrick Moore said to the others, the Doctor ignoring them as he continued typing.

"Fermat's theorem, the proof, and I mean the real one, never been seen before."

"Oh, I remember that theory! Couldn't fit the proof in the margins. Then he was killed before he got the chance to write it down," Lily blurted out, then flushing at the strange look Jeff was giving her, she weakly defended, "What? We learned it in school."

"Exactly! Poor old Fermat, killed in a duel. 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," the Doctor said, finishing his typing.

"A joke? Really? At a time like this?" Lily questioned, trying to suppress a smile.

"Why not? I certainly can't think of a better time," the Doctor grinned at her, before turning back to the experts who were looking at him expectantly, "Look at your screens. Whoever I am, I'm a genius."

"Clever and modest, excellent qualities," Lily remarked wryly, smiling a little at her own joke.

The Doctor, not seeming to catch on, said, "Thank you Lily, but could we discuss my many good qualities later? I'm trying to save the planet. Anyways, back on topic. Gentleman, look at the sun. You need all the help you can get . . . Fellas, pay attention."

The Doctor took Rory's phone out of his pocket and began typing away again.

"Sir, what are you doing?" the man from NASA spoke up.

"I'm writing a computer virus. Very clever, super-fast, and a tiny bit alive, but don't let on. And why am I writing it on a phone? Never mind, you'll find out. Okay, 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 is your lady friend?" Patrick Moore asked, sending Lily a flirtatious smile and a wink.

Lily blinked in shock, flustered, "I-I - er . . ."

"Patrick, behave!" the Doctor scolded.

"What does this virus do?" the man from Jodrell Bank asked a serious question.

"It's a reset command, that's all. It resets counters. It gets in the WiFi and resets every counter it can find."

Lily glanced behind her at the digital clock on Jeff's bedside table.

"Clocks, calendars, anything the chip will default at zero at exactly the same time."

Lily grinned, catching on to what he was doing, leaning over and whispering in his ear, "You're going to let the Guard know exactly where Prisoner Zero is, aren't you?"

"Well, that's the plan," the Doctor said, winking at her and then turning back to the computer, "But, yeah, I could be lying. Why should you trust me? I'll let my best man explain."

There was a moment of silence, Jeff ignorant to the fact that he was the man the Doctor was referring to.

Lily elbowed Jeff in the ribs.

"Ow!" Jeff hissed, "What was that for?!"

Lily sighed tiredly, "He's talking about you, you git."

"What?!" Jeff croaked.

"Jeff, you're my best man," the Doctor whispered, giving Jeff a pointed look.

"You what?!"

The Doctor shut the lid of the laptop, turning to Jeff, "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."

Jeff looked like he was about ready to pass out, "Why me?"

"It's your bedroom," the Doctor retorted, "Now go, go, go."

Turning back to Lily the Doctor took her hand, running off and tugging her along with him.

"Wait," the Doctor stopped abruptly, Lily running straight into his back. He opened the door to Jeff's bedroom again, poking his head inside, ordering, "Oh and delete your internet history."

Lily shook her head, grabbing the Doctor's hand and dragging him outside.

They needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Lily looked up and down the street for some form of transportation that they could use. A bike? No, not fast enough. Plus, it only sat one - unless one of them sat on the handlebars. Bus? No, they didn't run consistently until after one o'clock. Car? She didn't own one and she doubted that anyone had been daft enough to conveniently leave their keys inside, "How are we going to -"

Before Lily could even finish her sentence, the Doctor had already dragged her off in the direction of a - "No. No, absolutely not. We couldn't," Lily protested.

The Doctor's grin faltered, whining, "Why not?"

Lily stuttered, unable to come up with a convincing enough reason to dissuade him, "B-because! It's - It's stealing!"

"Yeah, well, I certainly don't think they'll mind after we've saved their lives," the Doctor retorted, "Now, c'mon!"

Lily sighed in defeat, climbing into the big, red fire truck, "Honestly, couldn't you have just picked a normal vehicle? Why'd it have to be a fire truck?"

"Because it's close, it's big, it's red, it has sirens, and I like it!" the Doctor said, sounding more and more like a little boy.

"Fine, but if they decide to, oh, I dunno, press charges for thievery, I'm blaming you."

"Yes, yes," the Doctor said dismissively, handing Lily Rory's cell phone, "Now, I need you to send Amy a text message. Ask her how the hospital is coming."

Amy, how's the hospital coming? Have you gotten everyone out of the coma ward yet?

Lily sent the text message and then turned to the Doctor, "Have you even driven a fire truck before? Wait, have you even driven before?"

The Doctor rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and rubbed his hands together, "First time for everything."

Lily blanched, "I'm about to be killed by my imaginary friend."

"Oh hush, this can't be too difficult. You have the, er, the steering wheel here. It . . . steers . . ." the Doctor trailed off lamely, turning the wheel side-to-side. "And there's the gas pedal down there. Or is that the brakes? We'll find out. And, uh . . . you've got this lever here, which I suspect is for operating the ladder . . . Oh! And that button up there must be for the sirens! Love the sirens!"

Lily was becoming more and more worried by the second, "Perhaps I should drive."

"Nonsense, I know what I'm doing!" the Doctor said, waving her off.

At the disbelieving look on Lily's face he added, "Well . . . for the most part."

Lily wanted to object, but before she could, he'd already turned the keys in the ignition and the fire truck had purred to life. For a fire truck it sure did have a good engine in it.

"Alright, here we go," the Doctor said, grinning at Lily, who smiled back nervously, clutching onto her seat belt for dear life.

The Doctor, a little jerkily, managed to pull out of the parking spot on the side of the road and turn the fire truck in the direction of the hospital. Lily's confidence in his driving ability (if she'd had any to begin with) was quickly diminishing.

Just then, Rory's phone began to ring.

"It's Amy," Lily said, looking at the caller ID.

"Answer it," the Doctor ordered, making a sharp left turn that had them driving up over the curb.

"Amy?" Lily answered the phone, putting it on speaker.

"Lily? We're at the hospital but we can't get through," Amy's voice came from the other line.

"Look in the mirror!" the Doctor answered, as they went over a nasty pothole, jostling them around.

Lily groaned.

"Oh," came Amy's dull reply.

"What did they say?" they heard Rory's distant voice.

"Look in the mirror," Amy repeated, looking at her reflection in a window, realizing that he meant her police uniform, "Haha! Uniform!"

There was a bit of rustling from the other line as Amy gave the phone to Rory to hold up to her ear as she put her hair up in a bun, "Are you on your way? You're going to need a car."

"Don't worry. We've commandeered a vehicle," the Doctor grinned, slamming his hand down on a button, turning on the sirens. He laughed madly, shouting, "Love the sirens!"

Lily hung up the phone. She closed her eyes and clasped her hands together, "Please, please, don't let us crash."

"We aren't going to crash," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes. Just then, a van came out of nowhere, making the Doctor have to swerve to avoid it.

"Please, please, please, don't let us crash. I'm much too young to die. I'm only nineteen! I've got my whole life ahead of me!"

"We aren't going to -"

"Don't say anything!" Lily snapped, "You'll only jinx us."

The Doctor weaved in and out of traffic, actually making pretty good time.

The phone rang again and Lily quickly answered it.

"Are you in?" the Doctor asked.

"Yep. But so is Prisoner Zero," Amy replied.

Lily's eyes widened in fear for her cousin's and friend's lives.

"You need to get out of there," the Doctor ordered.

There was a long pause, neither Amy nor Rory saying anything.

"Amy? Amy, what's happening?" Lily demanded, a little frantic.

Lily heard what she thought was the faint sound of something screeching and rapid footsteps, possibly running, "Amy? Amy, are you there? Speak to me!"

Finally Amy answered, after having finished barricading the door, "We're in the coma ward. But it's here, it's getting in."

"Which window are you?" the Doctor asked.

Lily gave him an incredulous look. Window?

"What, sorry?"

"Which window?" the Doctor repeated, louder.

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

Before anything else could be said the call ended, Amy having hung up when Prisoner Zero had broken in.

"Which window?" Lily questioned, asking why he'd wanted to know which window Amy and Rory were.

The Doctor didn't answer Lily's question, instead ordering,"Text 'duck' to Amy's phone."

"Duck? Why -" Lily asked, still confused. But then it hit her. "Oh no, we're not going to -" she began to protest.

"Do it, now!"

Amy's phone vibrated in her hand. A one word text from Lily and the Doctor, saying:

DUCK!

Behind them, the sound of sirens grew nearer and nearer. Amy ducked just in time, pulling Rory down with her, as the end of the fire truck ladder broke through the window behind them.

The Doctor climbed up the ladder, Lily right behind him. Once he was in through the window, he jumped down, landing beside Amy and Rory, "Right! Hello! Are we late? No. Three minutes to go. So still time." He turned back around, helping Lily down, who was a little too short to reach the floor.

"Thank you," Lily said, brushing her jeans off, "I'll tell you what, at least I learned that I never want to be a fire fighter."

Amy looked her cousin over, making sure that she was okay, "Are you alright?"

Lily nodded, "A few minor hearts attacks due to the Doctor's rubbish driving . . . but other than that I'm grand."

"Time for what, Time Lord?" a middle-aged woman with short brown hair, wearing a blue blazer and pencil skirt combo, sneered, two little girls each holding onto one of her hands. But it wasn't a middle-aged woman at all, because the same woman was occupying one of the many hospital beds in that very ward. No, that woman and the girls were just another one of Prisoner Zero's many disguises.

"Take the disguise off. They'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies," the Doctor proposed.

"The Atraxi will kill me this time. If I am to die, let there be fire," Prisoner Zero said, the woman's eyes flashing with a dangerous light.

"Okay. You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again. Just leave."

"I did not open the crack."

"Somebody did," the Doctor said lowly, growing impatient.

"The cracks in the skin of the universe, don't you know where they came from?" The Doctor's confidence wavered, his gaze flickering to the floor.

Prisoner Zero smirked, "You don't, do you?" Then, Prisoner Zero's voice changed from the woman's to one of the little girls voices, taunting in sing-song, "The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know. Doesn't know, doesn't know!"

The old clock hanging above the doorframe made a loud noise as it changed from 11:49 to 11:50, the Doctor glanced up at the clock.

Prisoner Zero switched back to the woman's voice, "The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall."

A shiver ran up Lily's spine.

There was a moment of silence, and then the sound of the clock again.

The Doctor grinned, "Aaand we're off! Look at that." He pointed behind Prisoner Zero, "Look at that!"

Prisoner Zero's heads swivelled around to look at what he was pointing at, to see the old clock, now displaying all zero's.

"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?"

At the alien's silence Lily mocked, "Prisoner Zero doesn't know. Doesn't know, doesn't know."

Prisoner Zero's heads snapped in her direction, growling at her and showing it's long, pointy teeth. Lily instantly regretted opening her mouth.

"The word is 'zero,'" the Doctor said, drawing the alien's attention back over to him, "Now, me, if I was in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd probably take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able to track a simple old computer virus to it's source in, what, under a minute?"

Lily took Rory's cell phone out of her pocket, tossing it to the Doctor, who caught it and held it up in front of him, "The source, by the way, is right here."

Just then, a blinding white light shone through the hospital windows, "Oh! And I think they just found it."

Lily, Amy, and Rory went the nearest window, poking their heads out to see that the Guard had arrived, hovering right above the hospital.

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

"Yeah, but this is the good bit. I mean, this is my favourite bit," the Doctor smiled, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here. Ooh, and being uploaded about . . . now. And the final score is no TARDIS, no screwdriver, two minutes to spare," he flung his arms up in the air, shouting, "Who da man?!"

The Doctor's exclamation was met by silence, Amy internally cringing while Rory just stared at him, a part of him thinking that it wasn't the worst phrase he'd ever heard. In fact, he might've gone used that one day if it hadn't have been a flop for the Doctor.

The Doctor looked to Lily for support, knowing that she would probably the most compassionate of the trio, but it had been so pathetic that even she looked embarrassed for him.

Lily shrugged sheepishly, shaking her head, "Sorry Doctor, not your best line."

"Alright, fine, I'm never saying that again. Fine," the Doctor sulked, sounding disappointed.

"Then I shall take a new form," Prisoner Zero said, smoothly.

"Oh, stop it. You know you can't," the Doctor said dismissively, thinking that the alien was bluffing, "Takes months to form that kind of psychic link."

"And I've had years," Prisoner Zero glowed bright orange, and then Amy dropped to the floor.

"Amy? Amy!" Lily shouted, kneeling down beside her older cousin.

"No! Amy?" the Doctor dropped to his knees, shaking her shoulders, "You've got to hold on, Amy!"

"Doctor what's it doing to her?!" Lily demanded, sounding properly frightened.

"Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake, please!"

"Amy, please, listen to me, you've got to stay awake," Lily begged.

"Doctor! Lily!" Rory interrupted, pointing at Prisoner Zero, who had morphed into . . . the Doctor?

The Doctor sat up, "Well, that's rubbish. Who's that supposed to be?"

"What do you mean? Don't you know what you look like? That's you," Lily said, gesturing to the copy that Prisoner Zero had morphed into of him.

"Me? Is that what I look like?" the Doctor asked, confused.

"You don't know?" Rory questioned.

"Busy day. Why me? You're linked with her. Why are you copying me?"

"I'm not," the voice of a much younger Amelia Pond said, stepping out from behind the fake Doctor. "Poor Amelia Pond. Still such a child inside. Dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will save her. What a disappointment you've been."

The Doctor's eyes dropped to the floor out of guilt.

Lily stroked Amy's fiery red hair. She knew how it felt. She knew what it felt like to be abandoned. Abandoned by the Doctor. And she knew that Amy had been more hurt by it than she had. Lily had gotten used to being left behind. To her, it was a bit of a given. Her life seemed to have a revolving door in it; the people who entered could easily leave. Amy, on the other hand, she'd grasped onto that little bit of hope. That little tiny glimmer of hope that the Doctor would return, and she'd held onto it with all her might.

The Doctor's head shot up, realization dawning on him, "No, she's dreaming about me 'cause she can hear me." He knelt by Amy's side again, cupping her cheeks, each hand almost covering half her face, "Amy, don't just hear me, listen. Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see. Remember you went inside, I tried to stop you, but you did. You went in the room. You went inside. Amy. Dream about what you saw."

"No, no, no!" the young Amelia and the Doctor - Prisoner Zero - began to glow, morphing into its true form; it looked like an eel with slimy silver scales, yellow eyes, and long pointed teeth. It hung down from the ceiling, showing its off fangs to the Doctor.

"Well done, Prisoner Zero. The perfect impersonation of yourself."

Prisoner Zero began to struggle, screeching loudly.

"Prisoner Zero is located" the Guard's voice boomed, "Prisoner Zero is restrained."

"Silence, Doctor," Prisoner Zero hissed, "Silence will fall."

The white light intensified and then Prisoner Zero was gone.

The Doctor rushed to the nearest window, sticking his head outside, seeing that the Atraxi had left and that everything had gone back to normal. But there was still one more thing he had to do . . . He pulled out Rory's phone.

"The sun, it's back to normal, right?" Rory asked, "That's . . . That's good, yeah? That means it's over."

"Amy!" Lily exclaimed as Amy began to stir.

Lily threw herself over her, hugging her tightly, "Oh my god, Amy!"

"Amy are you okay? Are you with us?" Rory questioned, going into nurse mode as he checked her over for any injuries.

"What happened?" Amy asked groggily, "Lily, you're crushing me, I can't breath."

Lily flushed, getting off of her cousin sheepishly, "Oh, sorry 'bout that."

"He did it, the Doctor did it," Rory said, helping Amy sit up.

"He saved us," Lily added, smiling gratefully at the Doctor's turned back.

"No, I didn't," the Doctor interjected from across the room, where he was messing around with Rory's cell phone.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked incredulously, standing up and going over to look over his shoulder.

"Tracking the signal back," the Doctor informed Lily, he glanced over at Rory, "Sorry, in advance."

"About what?" Rory asked, confused.

"The bill."

Lily stifled a laugh, seeing the look on Rory's face.

"Oh! -"

"Oi, I didn't say you could go!" the Doctor shouted into the phone, cutting off any objection that Rory was about to make, "Article fifty-seven of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established, level-five planet, and you were going to burn it? What? Did you think no one was watching? You lot, back here, now!" He hung up the phone, tossing it back to Rory, "Okay. Now I've done it."

The Doctor grabbed Lily's hand, taking off for what felt like the millionth time that day. Her leg muscles ached with every step, and the rest of her body felt like a lead weight. It was like her entire body was being carried by only her legs.

Amy quickly got up, running after them.

"Did he just bring them back?" Rory shouted after them in disbelief, "Did he just save the world from aliens, and then bring all the aliens back again?"

Receiving no answer, Rory sighed and got up off the floor, going after them. It was all he could do. After all, he couldn't just leave Amy.

Rory Williams would be chasing after Amy Pond until the day he died - and he wouldn't have had it any other way.

~DW~

The Doctor burst through a set of doors, Amy calling out after him, "Where are you going?"

"The roof," the Doctor answered. He veered off to the right, walking through a door that lead to the locker rooms. He picked up random articles of clothing, tossing the ones he didn't want behind him.

A pink dress shirt landed on Lily's head and she shook it off, "What are you doing?"

"I'm saving the world. I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show," the Doctor said, grabbing a navy coat and twirling around with it. He threw away a striped purple dress shirt that hit Rory in the face.

Rory pulled the shirt off his face, "You just summoned aliens back to Earth. Actual aliens, deadly aliens, aliens of death . . . and now you're taking your clothes off."

The Doctor shrugged off his tattered blue dress shirt, throwing it down on the ground.

Lily's cheeks flushed. She turned her head, staring unblinkingly at the lockers beside her, willing herself not to look.

"Amy, he's taking his clothes off," Rory complained.

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you," the Doctor shot back, completely unashamed of his half-nakedness.

"Are you stealing clothes now? Those clothes belong to people, you know," Rory grumbled, turning his back.

"Are you not going to turn your back?" Rory asked Amy, who still hadn't turned away from the sight of the Doctor undressing.

"Nope," Amy answered, her gaze never leaving the Doctor.

Lily shook her head, grabbing Amy's arm and forcing her to turn around, scolding half-heartedly, "Have some decency. Your boyfriends right there."

"Oh come on, Lily! You're no fun!" Amy whined.

"Thanks Lily," Rory said tensely, a little annoyed and offended by Amy's blatant disregard for his feelings.

"No problem, Rory," Lily assured him.

Lily really hoped that Amy would realize - sooner rather than later - how special Rory was to her, how much he meant to her. If she didn't, Lily was afraid that Amy would lose him for good.

~DW~

When the Doctor had found a pair of pants and a shirt, he draped several neckties around his neck (not sure about which one he wanted yet) and headed towards the roof.

Behind him, Lily and Amy followed, Rory right behind them carrying a bunch of coats.

The Atraxi floated above them, looking even more intimidating up close.

"So this was a good idea, was it? They were leaving," Amy said, questioning the Doctor's decision.

"Leaving is good. Never coming back is better," the Doctor retorted, "Come on, then! The Doctor will see you now!"

The eye shot out of its spiky armour, curving downward to float in front of the Doctor, the iris shifting back and forth before it focussed on the Time Lord.

Rory pointed at the eye in disbelief, but he didn't say anything. Judging by the looks on Amy's and Lily's faces, the eye was just one of many freaky things they'd seen that day.

The Atraxi scanned the Doctor, confirming Lily's theory about the Doctor not being from Earth when it announced in that booming voice, "You are not of this world."

"No, but I've put a lot of work into it," the Doctor said, pulling up his burgundy suspenders. He held up one of the ties that he'd hung around his neck, asking the alien's opinion, "What do you think?"

The Atraxi ignored the Doctor's question, "Is this world important?"

"Important? What's that mean, 'important?' Six billion people live here. Is that important?"

The Doctor turned around, holding up the same red tie and looking at Lily for her opinion.

Lily scrunched up her nose, giving him a thumbs down.

The Doctor shrugged, tossing the nixed tie over his shoulder. Rory caught it one-handedly, his other arm full of coats.

"Here's a better question," the Doctor faced the Atraxi again, getting back on track, "Is this world a threat to the Atraxi?"

The alien was silent.

The Doctor tossed a navy-and-white-polka-dot tie behind him, the tie landing over Amy's shoulder.

"Well, come on. You're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?"

The Guard projected a 3D-version of the planet Earth, about the same size as the eye was. Images of humans and their history on Earth flashed through the projection; the First and Second World Wars, among others, world disasters; both natural and at the hands of man, and world leaders; both political and religious, "No."

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

More images flew by, most depicting different cultural celebrations, "No."

"Okay," the Doctor said, adjusting his shirt collar, "One more. Just one. Is this world protected?"

Metal men stomping through streets, flying robots multiplying by the thousands, a red spider-like woman . . .

"Because you're not the first lot to come here. Oh, there has been so many!"

Creatures with tentacles protruding out from where their nose and mouth should've been, aliens that had faces that resembled rock, humanoid fish creatures . . . Were all among some of the images that were playing out in front of them.

"And what you've got to ask is, 'What happened to them?'"

Suddenly, the projection changed from displaying the many visits of hostile aliens to Earth, to showing images of different men, old and young. Each of them were different, whether it was due to their faces, or their clothing, or their ages. But they all had the same eyes. Well, not physically; they weren't necessarily the same colour or shape, but they had that same look in them. A look that said that whomever it was that the eyes belonged to, the owner had witnessed some of the most beautiful things and the most terrible. The owner of those eyes had felt pure joy, but also felt crippling pain. They had lived more than any of the humans standing there in front of the Atraxi put together. And those eyes, strangely, they reminded Lily of the Doctor's. She thought that she remembered the Doctor saying something about a new face to Mrs. Angelo . . . Lily gasped, it was him. It was the Doctor! All those men, they were the Doctor! The Doctor was them!

The Doctor stepped through the projection, the sphere disappearing, "Hello. I'm the Doctor. Basically . . . Run."

And the Atraxi did just that - well, technically it flew.

The eye returned to its spaceship, and as quickly as possible the Guard left, leaving to warn the other Atraxi about the last of the Time Lord's and the planet that he protected called Earth.

The Doctor took out his key to the TARDIS, having heard the familiar whooshing sound of his time-machine. The key glowed orange, signalling him that the TARDIS was now ready for flight.

"Is that it? Is that them gone for good?" Amy asked, a little breathless.

"Who were they?" Lily whispered. Receiving no answer she turned around, looking for the Doctor but seeing only Amy and Rory, who were also looking around for the alien who had saved their lives - not to mention the entire planet's, "Doctor?"

Then, almost completely in sync, all three of their heads turned to see the door to the hospital's roof was wide open.

"C'mon!" Amy shouted, pulling Lily along with her, Rory right behind them.

They arrived just in time to see the TARDIS dematerializing from its spot in the middle of their back garden.

They were too late.

The Doctor had left them . . . again.

~DW~

Two Months Later, Mid-August 2008

"Do you think he's coming back for us," Amy asked for the billionth time during breakfast, gazing out the window longingly, wishing that one morning she'd look out and see that magic blue box standing there in their back garden once more.

Lily sighed at the question that was growing to be a habitual part of their mornings, trying to come up with an answer that she hadn't used before; an answer that wouldn't give Amy too much hope, and yet, not crush the hope that she still had, "I don't know, Amy. I really don't know. I mean, he was twelve years late last time, and he's been gone for two months already. Who knows when he'll show up next . . . if at all."

Amy turned away from the window,"What's that supposed to mean, 'if he comes back at all?"'

Lily pinched the bridge of her nose, "Amy, listen, I know you want to believe that the Doctor is coming back for us -"

"Since when were you the cynic?" Amy interjected, taking her plate (which had, had eggs, bacon, and toast on it before she'd eaten it all) and putting it in the sink to be washed, looking back at Lily with her brows knitted and a frown on her face.

A tense silence engulfed the kitchen as Lily tried to find the words to tell Amy what she'd been struggling to say for weeks.

"Amy, I-I - I'm going to university in a few weeks," Lily blurted out, her grey eyes downcast as she wrung her hands out of nervousness. She knew exactly what she'd see if she looked up. And if she looked up into Amy's eyes and saw what she thought she would see; disappointment, hurt, and - worst of all - betrayal, she'd cave for sure.

"What do you mean you're going to university? What if the Doctor comes back?" Amy demanded, clearly not understanding what Lily was trying to say. She'd thought that they were on the same page, that they both wanted to travel with the Doctor more than anything! But, sadly, that didn't seem to the case, "Oh . . . I see. So you want to move on, is that it? You want to move on from the Doctor? To go back to pretending that he never existed?!"

"No, I don't -" Lily tried to explain, only to be interrupted by Amy, who shouted, "This is just like you, Lily! I should've saw this coming, after all you were quick to give up on the Doctor the first time, weren't you?!"

"Amy, I was twelve! I was twelve years old when I stopped living my life only to wait every day, hoping and praying that the the Doctor would return. I waited for him for six years! Six years doing nothing with my life but waiting!"

"Yeah, but you got over him pretty quickly, didn't you? Once you'd befriended the bloody dobbers who teased us and called us names for all those years!"

"Amy, in case you've forgotten, we were the laughingstock of the school! If I had've held grudges then I would've had no one to talk to except for you, Rory, and Mels!"

"And that's so bad?!" Amy challenged, quirking a brow and crossing her arms across her chest.

"Of course not! But you three weren't even in the same year as me. I had no one to talk to in class. The only time anyone talked to me was to make fun of me. At least you had each other," Lily said dejectedly, recalling how lonely those classes had been without her friends.

"So that's what this is all about, having friends?!" Amy asked, anger and disbelief in her green eyes, one hand perched on her hip.

"No, this is about me wanting to go to university, just like I always wanted," Lily said firmly, resolute determination apparent in her pale grey eyes; she was unwavering, there was no changing her mind. "Amy, I'm not going to sacrifice my plans, my future, for the Doctor! It's ridiculous for us to just wait around for him and not live our lives."

"Fine," Amy shrugged, sounding the complete opposite of 'fine,' "Fine, I suppose we have nothing more to talk about then."

Lily nodded her head curtly, staring down at the floor, willing herself not to cry, "I-I suppose so."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"I've got work," Amy said hollowly after a while, grabbing her keys and purse off the table (rather forcefully), and storming out the door - not even bothering to say so much as a quick 'goodbye' to Lily.

Lily winced at the sound of the door slamming behind Amy, dropping her head into her hands in despair.

Lily hated fighting with Amy. It wasn't often that they fought with each other - of course they bickered, but bickering was much different than fighting. And besides, bickering was to be expected considering how contrastive their personalities were. Nevertheless, even though they did butt heads occasionally, normally they got on quite well. In fact, they felt more like best friends or even sisters to each other than they did cousins.

However, the Doctor was a bone of contention between the girls. Amy was so willing to believe that the Doctor would come back for them, but Lily wasn't so hopeful. Perhaps Amy was right, maybe she was being cynical. Normally, Amy would've been the one looking at the glass half empty and Lily vice versa, but for some unapparent reason, they seemed to have switched roles. Lily wanted to believe that the Doctor would come back - for Amy's sake if not for her own - but she just couldn't. After all, how could she with his track record? Last time, he'd promised to be back in five minutes and he was twelve years late. Who was to say if he'd show up at all this time? And she couldn't put her life on hold to wait for him. Not again.

~DW~

A Few Weeks Later, Beginning of September 2008

"You've got everything, right? Clothes, bedding, towels, toiletries, dishes, food . . . Mr. Bear," Amy teased, holding up the old, worn teddy bear that Lily had slept with every night since she was three.

Lily snatched the bear out of Amy's hand, clutching it to her chest and playfully glaring at her. Lily put the bear in an open cardboard box marked 'important stuff,' duck taped the box closed, and then loaded the box into the boot of the rental car, "Yes, I have everything, Amy."

The girls were silent for a moment, thinking about how everything was changing with Lily going away to university. They had always been so close; both metaphorically and literally. Amy wondered what it would be like, not having Lily right there. The only word that came to mind was 'lonely.' But she kept reminding herself that this was what Lily wanted.

After their fight a few weeks back, things had been tense between the two girls. They spoke to each other only when absolutely necessary. And when a situation arose where they had to communicate, they spoke in sentences with a maximum of five words or less. Mels had thought that they were being ridiculous, but she knew how Amy and Lily were, they were both as stubborn as an ox - or, in this case, oxen. They wouldn't make amends until they were both ready to - and no sooner than that. There was no use pushing them to make up faster, it would be a waste of time.

During this period of mutual silence between the two girls, Amy had done some thinking. And she realized that through the years, she had almost always gotten her way.

Since they were children, the girls had been like sisters to each other. Amy assumed the role of the older sister on account of her being eighteen months older than Lily was, and also because of her bold, assertive, and strong-willed personality, which was the exact opposite of Lily's shy nature. But after reflecting on the past, Amy felt that perhaps she'd been a little too bossy, maybe even a little controlling. Like that time in second year when they both wanted to be in Leadworth Primary School's production of the Wizard of Oz and Amy convinced Lily not to go out for the part of Dorothy because she wanted to be Dorothy - regardless, Amy didn't get the part. Even so, that wasn't the point.

When she thought about it, there had been many more instances just like that time in second year, where she'd been selfish and used her sisterly role in Lily's life to get what she wanted. Amy had never meant to take advantage of Lily, Lily was practically her baby sister! To tell the truth, she had just never stopped to consider that maybe she was being selfish and inconsiderate of Lily's feelings.

After coming to this conclusion, Amy decided that it was only fair that she held her tongue and allowed Lily go to university. Forcing Lily or even trying to guilt her into staying and waiting for the Doctor with her was selfish and unfair.

And, in all honesty, even before Lily had said anything, a seed of doubt had begun to grow in Amy. She'd never admit it to Lily - or, at least, not while they weren't on speaking terms - but long before their disagreement, Amy had started to feel discouraged about the Doctor ever returning for them. But when Lily announced that she was done waiting for the Doctor, that she was going off to university, Amy had just felt overwhelmed and even a little scared. She was afraid that Lily was leaving her, just like everybody else had - the Doctor included. So she did what she usually did when she was scared - she got angry.

"Listen, I'm sorry about what I said a couple of weeks ago. And I'm sorry for yelling at you. It wasn't right of me," Amy apologized, breaking the silence that had settled between them.

Lily smiled sadly, pulling her cousin in for a tight hug, "It's okay, I'm sorry too."

Amy scoffed, "What for? You weren't the one who had a tantrum like an eight-year-old because you weren't getting your way."

Lily breathed out a laugh, "Well, tantrum or not, I still shouldn't have just sprung it on you like that."

"Still . . . it wasn't fair of me to try to pressure you into staying. Honestly, I think it was less about the Doctor and more about . . . me not wanting you to go," Amy confessed, looking down shamefully.

"I know what you mean, I'm a little frightened myself. Frightened that maybe things are going to change for us," Lily admitted.

Amy nodded in agreement, Lily taking the words right out of her mouth, "I'm afraid that maybe we're going to lose each other."

"But that's the thing, if we're this scared that we're going to lose each other, then how could we?" Lily rationalized.

Amy smiled, "And that is why you're the one who's going to university."

Lily smiled, truly happy that they'd made amends before she left, "I'm glad that, that's settled. Not speaking with you was starting to drive me mad."

Amy's laughed with her, but then her expression turned serious, "You'll call every day, right? And you'll come visit whenever you can squeeze in a break between studying and on the weekends? I know you're only going to be a two hour drive away but I'm going to miss you."

"Of course, Amy," Lily assured her, "Every chance I get I'll be popping in. Whether you want me to or not."

"I'll always want you to, you're my little cousin. We grew up together, we're practically sisters," Amy said, ruffling Lily's blonde curls.

"You're only a year-and-a-half older than me!"

"That's still older, half-pint," Amy teased, bumping into her side with her hipbone, and then bending down to pick up one of the other boxes left to be packed into the car.

"And you're now taking cheap shots about my height, lovely," Lily muttered sarcastically, also taking a box.

And just like that the Pond girls were the best of friends once more.

~DW~

A Year-And-A-Half Later, End of December 2009

Lily was in her dorm room working on a paper for her 'English Literature and History' course when she got Amy's call. She hadn't even gotten the chance to say 'hello' before Amy had jumped into excited chattering.

"Amy, could you just - Amy, just - hold on - speak slower - I can't understand - a word - you're saying," Lily was able to say, in between Amy's rapid fire speech.

"Sorry," Amy took a deep breath, trying to contain her excitement and pausing for a moment before she shouted, "I'm engaged!"

In shock, Lily's jaw fell open and her cell phone slipped through her fingers, clattering to the floor.

"Lily? Lily, are you still there?" Amy's voice came out of Lily's cell phone's speaker, jolting her out of her daze.

Lily hurriedly picked up the phone, gasping "What?!"

"I'm engaged! Rory popped the question last night!" Amy squealed, looking down at the beautiful diamond ring that was now firmly placed on her ring finger.

"And what did you say?" Lily asked dazedly, still in a bit of a stupor from Amy's shocking news.

"I said yes, of course," Amy rolled her eyes at the silly question.

"How did he propose?"

"We were at dinner last night and he just sort of blurted it out, said he'd bought the ring months ago and was just waiting for the chance to ask me."

"Wow," Lily breathed, "Wow, I didn't know Rory had it in him!"

"I know!" Amy laughed.

"So when is it? When's the wedding?" Lily asked, starting to really get excited now that it was all starting to sink in.

"Er - we haven't really discussed a date yet," Amy answered a little tensely.

Lily's smile faded, "Oh . . ." Then, trying to continue to sound excited, she asked, "Well, what have you thought of?"

"Not much at all, really . . ." Amy trailed off, "But, I did think about one thing; who to choose as my Maid of Honor."

"Who?" Lily asked, already having a name in mind. Mels was their oldest and dearest girlfriend, of course Amy would choose her to be her Maid of Honor. It was a no-brainer.

Lily was pleasantly surprised - well, maybe surprised isn't a strong enough word. She was pleasantly shocked when Amy said, "You."

Lily inhaled so fast that she began choking on her own saliva.

"What?!" she exclaimed, once she had stopped coughing and caught her breath.

"Lily, I want you to be my Maid of Honor. Well, if you'll say yes."

"Of course I'll be your Maid of Honor! Amy, I'm touched. I'm truly - well, I'm truly honored," Lily beamed, "But what about Mels? I thought you would have asked her."

"Lily, Mels is my best friend, but you're my sister. Besides, you know Mels, she's got a very firm no weddings policy," Amy laughed.

"Still, she'll have to bend that rule this once. It's you and Rory who are getting married, her best friends! I'll convince her myself if I have to."

"Thanks Lils, I'm going to need all the help I can get," Amy confessed. Honestly, she knew less about planning a wedding than she did about physics - if that were even possible, "If anyone could pull this wedding off, it would be you."

"Thanks 'Melia," Lily smiled, using the old nickname she had given Amy when she was little and couldn't pronounce 'Amelia' properly, "Alright, I've got to go, I've got an essay to work on."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later. Love you."

"Love you, too," Lily said, hanging up the phone.

After hanging up with Amy, Lily had trouble focusing on writing her essay. She just couldn't stop thinking about the wedding and how happy she was for Amy and Rory. Even so, she couldn't help but feel a little worried. She had this unshakable feeling like maybe this wasn't the right time. Maybe Amy and Rory weren't supposed to be getting married just yet . . .

Lily shook her head, she was being ridiculous.

And she really needed to get to work on this paper.

~DW~

One Year Later, Christmas Break 2010

"Urgh, what's taking so long?" Amy groaned in frustration, as she stood outside in the snow, waiting anxiously for Lily's bus to arrive.

It had been almost a month since they'd last seen each other, what with Lily being too busy with mid-terms and all to come down for a visit.

"The buses are probably just taking a little longer 'cause of all this snow we're getting," Rory assured her, putting his arm around her shoulders for warmth.

Amy hit Rory in the stomach with the back of her hand, "I told you we should've picked her up!"

"Ow! That hurt!" Rory protested, rubbing his stomach, "Besides, she said that it wouldn't be any trouble to take the bus!"

"And you listened to her?" Amy asked, raising a brow in question, "Lily, the girl who once caught pneumonia after she walked home in the rain instead of calling aunt Sharon for a lift because she 'didn't want to be a bother?'"

"Well . . . yeah," Rory said lamely, feeling a little stupid now that she put it that way.

Amy rolled her eyes, "You're such a dunce sometimes."

Just then, a bus pulled into the lot.

The bus driver opened the door and passengers began filing out of the bus one by one, carrying their bags and luggage with them and walking off towards their family and friends who had come to meet them.

Lily was one of the last people to unboard the bus. Amy would've missed her, if she hadn't caught a glimpse of Lily's familiar blonde hair poking out of the hood of her big, navy parka.

"Lily!" Amy shouted across the lot, making Lily's head shoot up at the sound of her name and her hood fall down, revealing her curly blonde locks, and her red nose and cheeks from the cold winter weather.

"Amy! - achoo!" Lily sneezed loudly, the sound echoing through the now nearly empty parking lot.

Rory rushed over to help her with her bags, which she seemed to be struggling with.

"Thanks Ror - achoo!" Lily sneezed again into her sleeve.

"Bless you," Amy said with a frown, taking in Lily's appearance and handing her a tissue, "You look terrible."

"Thanks Amy, that's just what I wanted to hear," Lily remarked dryly, her voice sounding scratchy and hoarse due to her stuffy nose.

"You're sick," Amy stated the obvious.

"Well spotted," Lily sniffled, opening one of Rory's car's doors and sliding into the backseat.

"You always did get overly sarcastic when you were sick," Amy laughed, leaning against the side of the car, recalling how when they were younger whenever Lily got sick how she used to force feed her turkey soup to help her get better - Lily's least favorite meal, "Want me to make you a nice, hot bowl of turkey soup when we get home?"

"No way!"

Rory and Amy chuckled, opening the front doors of the car and getting inside, where it was nice and warm.

Amy turned around in her seat, smiling at Lily, "It's good to have you home, Lils."

"It's good to be home, Amy."

~DW~

A Few Days Later, Christmas Break 2010

Unfortunately, for most of Lily's Christmas break, she was laid up in bed sick with the flu.

It wasn't so bad. It was better than being stuck at university over the holidays - and, of course, Amy made it a little more bearable by keeping her company. They spent most of their time together alternating between watching their favorite Christmas movies and wedding planning.

Lily had become Amy and Rory's unofficial wedding planner; doing everything from corresponding with the florist about the flower arrangements to booking the reception venue. And she was doing all that planning on top of her university assignments and still achieving above average marks.

If it had been anyone else, she probably wouldn't have agreed to help. She had enough on her plate already with university, she didn't need to add planning a wedding (something that she had no experience with!) to her list. But this was Amy and Rory, the closest thing to family that she had! There was no way she'd deny them of her help if they needed it. And they really, really needed her help with this wedding. Saying that Amy and Rory were clueless when it came to weddings was being generous. They were completely hopeless! Amy didn't even know that they needed to get a marriage licence, for God's sake! If Lily hadn't stepped in when she did, the future of the wedding would've been uncertain.

Not that Lily even knew the first thing about planning a wedding! However, one of her greatest assets was that she was a quick learner. When Amy called her up late one night, panicking about how she thought that she was making a right mess of the wedding plans, as soon as they hung up Lily got out her laptop and searched 'how to plan a wedding.' She researched all night. In fact, she almost slept through her early morning History lecture. By the end of the night, she knew the ins-and-outs of planning a wedding. Well, at the least if the writing thing didn't work out she'd have wedding planning to fall back on, right?

Anyways, almost a week after Lily's arrival, she was starting to feel much better. The girls had relocated all the wedding plans from Lily's bedroom to the sitting room, scattering papers all over the coffee table.

Amy was currently yelling at the caterer over the phone. They'd just gotten the bill in the mail and it was definitely not the figure that they had discussed, "No, you listen here you git -"

"Amy, give me the phone!" Lily gasped in horror, snatching the phone out of Amy's hand, hastily apologizing to the man on the other line, "I'm so sorry, sir - really, she didn't mean it - oh, yes, I understand, sir - yes, but I'm afraid that she's right - no, that was not price we originally talked about - yes, okay - uh huh, that's . . . doable, I suppose - hold on, let me talk to her." Lily put her palm over the receiver, turning to Amy and mouthing, 'Fifteen-hundred?"

"Fifteen-hundred?! Lily, that's still a good deal over my budget!"

"I know, I know, but if we get cheaper invitations then we can afford it," Lily reasoned, then putting the phone to her ear again she said, "Okay, it's a deal. Now, don't you be going back on your price, trying to squeeze more money out of us, 'cause we won't stand for that. Either your price is solid or we take our business elsewhere. So, do we have a deal or not?"

A grin spread across Lily's face. "Great, you'll be seeing Amy in a few weeks to discuss the menu. Alright, goodbye," she hung up the phone, then speaking to Amy she jokingly chastised, "There, you see? You don't have to raise your voice or insult people to get your point across."

"I am so tired of wedding planning. Apart from your wedding and obviously my own, I don't want to have to go to another bloody wedding ever again!" Amy exclaimed, ignoring Lily's little jab at the way that she had flown off the handle with the caterer.

Lily laughed dryly, "My wedding? And who would that be to?"

"Oh, I don't know, some good-looking bloke with a high IQ, perhaps?" Amy quipped, giving Lily a little shove to the shoulder.

Lily scoffed, "Like I'd find someone like that in Leadworth. Besides, I don't need a bloke, I've got you and Rory and Mels . . . and my career! I think I'm doing alright on my own, you know? And right now I think I just want to focus on my schooling. I don't need any distractions."

Amy quirked a brow, muttering, "You need a bloke worse than I thought . . ."

"Oh, shut it," Lily blushed, "Can we focus on you and your wedding now, please?"

Amy sighed tiredly, "Fine, if we must."

Lily rolled her eyes at that. Truthfully, she was starting to feel the same way about this wedding. At this point, she just wanted to get it over with. And they still had six months to go! Six more months of endless planning! Why couldn't Amy and Rory have just decided to elope?! But, she knew that when it all came together, that it would be brilliant! As long as Amy and Rory were happy, Lily was happy.

~DW~

Six Months Later, June 25th 2010

"Alright, it's nine o'clock, off to bed you go. You've got a big day ahead of you," Lily said, ushering Amy down the hall towards her bedroom.

"Go to bed? At nine o'clock? Are you joking?!" Amy protested.

Lily gave her a stern look, "I will not have you falling asleep in the middle of your wedding tomorrow. I put too much work into planning it for that! Now, c'mon, off to bed."

Knowing that Lily was not going to relent, Amy sighed in defeat, holding her hands up in surrender, "Alright, I'm going, I'm going! Keep your hair on!"

Amy was dragging her feet, so just to get on her nerves, Lily shoved her a little to get her to hurry up, "Oi! Watch it, you!"

Lily snickered.

"Well, goodnight, I suppose," Amy said, once they had reached her room.

"Yes, goodnight," Lily said, pulling her in for a quick hug, "Now get some rest, you're going to need it."

"Yeah . . ." Amy trailed off, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Are you alright?" Lily asked.

"Yes . . . No . . . Oh, I dunno, it's just . . . I'm a little scared, you know? Is that . . . normal, do you think?"

Lily pursed her lips in thought. "I think so. You've just got the wedding jitters, you'll be alright," she reassured Amy, who didn't look all that convinced.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right. It's just the wedding jitters, just nerves, right?" Amy asked, sounding more like she was questioning herself rather than Lily.

Lily nodded her head, now a little unsure herself, "Right . . ."

Amy laughed nervously, "Okay, I'm off to bed."

"Yeah, me too," Lily agreed a little distractedly, "Nighty night."

"Night," Amy replied, equally as distracted, lost in her own thoughts about the next morning - the day that she was supposed to marry Rory Arthur Williams in front of all of their friends and family. And, in all honesty, she was starting to wonder whether or not she could go through with it.

~DW~

Lily was lying in bed wide awake, staring up at the ceiling, when she heard it . . . A sound that she had committed to memory, a sound that she had listened for everyday for six years, a sound that had her almost completely sure that she was dreaming, even though a small voice in her head thought different.

'I must be dreaming,' Lily thought, sitting up in bed and turning her head to stare wide-eyed at the window, in shock and disbelief, "It can't be . . ."

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh . . .

Lily's hand moved of its own accord, pushing up the sleeve of her nightgown to her elbow and pinching the pale flesh of her arm. She winced, hissing in pain, "I'm not dreaming . . ."

Without a second thought, she flew to the window. She almost couldn't believe her eyes . . . There, in the middle of their back garden, stood a big, blue police box, appearing almost out of nowhere in the middle of the night, just like it had fourteen years before.

"Amy," Lily called out, her voice quivering from both shock and unbridled excitement, slowly backing away from the window, "Amy!"

"Lily!" Amy sprinted down the hall to Lily's room, throwing open the door, "You see it too, right?"

"Yeah," Lily croaked, nodding her head rapidly, eyes the size of dinner plates, "Yeah, I do. Unless I'm hallucinating . . ."

"C'mon!" Amy grabbed her wrist, yanking her along behind her as she raced downstairs and out the back door to the garden.

At the sound of the back door closing behind the girls, the Doctor turned around, "Sorry about running off earlier. Brand new TARDIS, bit exciting."

Lily stared at him from where she was standing on the patio, slack-jawed.

The Doctor didn't seem to take any notice of the stunned expressions on both the girls faces, continuing to speak, "Just had a quick hop to the moon and back to run her in. She's ready for the big stuff now." He grinned proudly and patted the side of the time-machine affectionately.

"It's you. Y-you actually came back," Lily shook her head in disbelief, crossing the yard to stand beside him, Amy right behind her.

"'Course I came back. I always come back. Something wrong with that?"

"And you kept the clothes," Amy said, noticing that he was still donning the tweed coat, suspenders, and bow tie that he had nicked from the hospital.

"Well, I just saved the world, the whole planet, for about the millionth time, no charge. Yeah, shoot me. I kept the clothes."

"Including the bow tie," Amy mocked, putting on a posh voice.

"Yeah, it's cool. Bow ties are cool," the Doctor said, adjusting his bow tie and shooting Lily a wink, making her giggle a little despite the fact that she felt like her head was going to implode.

"Are you from another planet?" Amy questioned.

"Yeah," the Doctor answered casually.

"Okay."

"So what do you think?" he asked, looking from Amy to Lily.

"Of what?" Lily asked, confused.

"Other planets. Want to check some out?"

"Huh?" Lily said dumbly, immediately wanting to smack herself for opening her mouth.

"What does that mean?" Amy demanded.

"It means . . . Well, it means, come with me, the both of you."

"Where?" Amy and Lily blurted out at the exact same time, glancing at each other in surprise.

"Wherever you like," the Doctor replied, unfazed.

"All that stuff that happened, the hospital, the spaceships, Prisoner Zero . . ." Lily trailed off, looking the TARDIS up and down, having not been able to really take it in the first time. Although, she noted that it looked exactly like any other police box would; from the roof light down to sign beside the door. She couldn't spot one dissimilarity.

"Don't worry, that's just the beginning. There's loads more," the Doctor assured them.

"Yeah, but those things, those amazing things, and all that stuff . . . that was two years ago!" Amy shouted.

"Oh," the Doctor said, finally realizing why the girls had been so shocked to see him, "Oops."

"Yeah, 'oops,'" Lily agreed, "Very, very big 'oops.'"

"So that's -"

"Fourteen years!"

"Fourteen years since fish custard . . . Amy and Lily Pond, the girls who waited, you've waited long enough."

"When we were kids, you said there was a swimming pool -" Lily said, dragging her eyes away from the 'magic box' to look at the Doctor.

"And a library," Amy added.

"And that the swimming pool was in the library!"

The Doctor rubbed his neck, his head had been snapping from one girl to the other, as though he had been watching a tennis match, "Yeah. Not sure where it's got to now. It'll turn up. So, coming?"

"No," Amy answered, sounding uncertain.

The Doctor frowned, then he turned to Lily, looking hopeful that maybe she'd take him up on his offer.

Lily bit her lip and looked down at the ground, shaking her head 'no.'

"You both wanted to come fourteen years ago."

"We grew up," Lily shrugged, the words tasting sour on her tongue.

"Don't worry. I'll soon fix that," the Doctor promised, leaning against the TARDIS. He snapped his fingers and the door opened, bathing the girls in orange light.

The girls peered inside the box, their curiosity getting the better of the both of them.

Amy stepped inside first.

Lily glanced over at the Doctor first for permission, he nodded his head, smiling at her and saying, "Go on."

Lily gasped, her heart stopping when she stepped into the police box and saw what it looked like on the inside.

The tiny police box was huge. It was round, sort of like a dome, with metal stairs and platforms all over, some leading to doors. There was one large glass platform in the middle of the room, some kind of console rising up from it all the way to the ceiling.

"Well? Anything you'd like to say? Any passing remarks? I've heard them all," Lily registered the Doctor's voice close by, but she didn't bother to look, her eyes too busy darting all over the place, trying to take it all in, to even spare him a glance.

"It's - It's amazing!" Lily laughed in delight.

"Glad you think so," the Doctor grinned, gazing up at the console with pride, "She is pretty amazing, isn't she?"

Lily wanted to ask who 'she' was, but she wasn't sure if she could take the answer, so she kept quiet.

"I'm in my nightie," Amy blurted out.

"Oh, don't worry. Plenty of clothes in the wardrobe. And possibly a swimming pool. So, all of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will . . . Where you do want to start?"

"You are so sure that we're coming," Amy said, walking up the platform to stand with him at the console.

"Yeah, I am."

"Why?"

"'Cause you two are the Scottish girls in the English village," the Doctor told them matter-of-factly, "And I know how that feels."

"But she's not Scottish," Amy corrected, jabbing a thumb in Lily's direction.

"No, no, no, it's a metaphor -" At the vacant look on Amy's face, the Doctor sighed, "Oh, forget it. The point is neither of you have ever felt like you've belonged, right? You've both always been the outsiders, the odd ones out, the -"

"'The Potty Ponds,'" Lily mumbled, thinking out loud.

"Hmm, what was that?" the Doctor asked.

"'The Potty Ponds,' that's what the other kids used call us," Lily explained.

The Doctor snapped his fingers in Lily's direction, "'The Potty Ponds!' Exactly! And you," he pointed at Amy, "All these years living here, most of your life, and you've still got that accent. Yeah, you two are coming."

"Actually, we can't," Lily said, after a moment of silence, sounding almost regretful.

"I'm sorry, what?" the Doctor asked, thinking he heard her wrong, continuing to busy himself with the many knobs and buttons on the console.

"I said, we can't come with you," Lily repeated, much stronger this time.

"And why not?" Amy demanded, crossing her arms.

"In case you've forgotten, you've got a prior engagement tomorrow, you're wed -"

"Oh . . . that," Amy groaned, rolling her eyes. Suddenly, an idea struck her and she rounded on the Doctor, "Can you get us back for tomorrow morning?"

"I can get you back for five minutes ago. Why what's tomorrow?"

"Nothing. Nothing. Just . . . You know, stuff," Amy shrugged.

"Amy!" Lily protested.

"All right, then. Back in time for stuff," the Doctor agreed.

"Can you even do that? Have us back for tomorrow? Honestly, I'm starting to think that you can drive a firetruck better than you can drive this thing," Lily said, thinking back to the two times before that he had been ridiculously late.

"She's not a thing, she's a TARDIS," the Doctor corrected. Before Lily could question him anymore a ding went off, distracting him. "Oh! A new one! Lovely," he said, holding up his new and improved sonic screwdriver. "Thanks, dear," he whispered to the TARDIS.

The Doctor typed out something on a typewriter that was apart of the console, the TARDIS starting to make that familiar whooshing sound, making the girls hearts skip a beat.

Amy turned to Lily, pleading, "C'mon, one trip, please!"

Lily sighed in defeat, "Fine, one trip, alright? You've got that right, space-boy? Only one trip!"

The Doctor wrinkled his nose, "Space-boy? I've never been called space-boy before. Space-man, Martian, and a few other names not worth mentioning, but never space-boy!"

"Oi!" Lily interrupted his ranting, "Did you hear me? One trip?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath, "And now I see the resemblance."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing," the Doctor waved off her question, "One trip. Yes, I got it."

"Why me? Why us?" Amy questioned him.

"Why not?" the Doctor shot back with a grin.

"No, seriously. You are asking me to run away with you in the middle of the night. It's a fair question. Why me?"

Lily frowned, not liking the way that Amy had phrased that.

"I don't know. Fun. Do I have to have a reason?"

"People always have a reason."

It was almost like Amy wanted the Doctor to have some kind of ulterior motive . . .

"Do I look like people?" the Doctor asked, repeating the same question that he had asked the girls fourteen years before, right before he'd left the first time.

"Yes," Amy and Lily answered together.

"Been knocking around on my own for awhile. My choice. But I've started talking to myself all the time. It's giving me an earache."

"Then bringing Amy along is a bad decision, she'll literally talk the ear off you," Lily quipped.

Amy elbowed Lily in the ribs, "Ow!"

Amy ignored her, saying to the Doctor, "You're lonely. That's it? Just that?"

"Just that. Promise," he assured them.

"Okay."

"So, you're both okay, then? 'Cause this place, sometimes it can make people feel a bit . . . You know . . ."

"Overwhelmed? Crazy? Queasy?" Lily suggested.

"Yeah . . ." the Doctor watched her warily. He really didn't want to have to clean up her vomit.

"We're fine. Fine. It's just . . ." Amy trailed off, staring up at the ceiling, "There's a whole world in here, just like you said. It's all true. I thought . . . Well, we started to think that maybe you were just like a madman with a box."

"Amy and Lily Pond," the Doctor turned serious, "There's something you'd better understand about me, 'cause it's important, and one day your lives may depend on it."

The girls stared at him, waiting for this so called 'important' information that may one day save their lives.

"I am definitely a madman with a box."

Lily tried to hold back a laugh, but she couldn't help it. She cracked up at the same time that Amy did.

A broad grin spread across the Doctor's face, laughing with them, "Ha ha! Yeah."

The Doctor rushed back over to the console and taking a hold of a big lever. "Goodbye, Leadworth. Hello, everything!" he shouted, pulling down on the lever, sending them into the Time Vortex.

The girls grabbed onto the console to keep from falling, laughing in delight as the TARDIS took off, taking them to God knows where. And even though Lily kept reminding herself 'just one trip' over and over, a small part of her, deep, deep down inside, knew that, that wasn't true. How could you limit yourself to just one trip when you had a time-machine at your disposal?! Even so, they couldn't just leave Rory for too long, regardless of the fact that they could be back five minutes before they'd even left or not. It was the principle of the thing.

Lily wouldn't let traveling with the Doctor go to her head.

---

A/N: Hey, there! I know, I know, it's been awhile. I am really sorry that I've kept you guys waiting for so long for an update. A close family member of mine hasn't been well lately, so I've been kind of busy. Don't worry, I fully intend on continuing this story, and hopefully I'll be able to get the next chapter up sooner. Also, I wanted to thank everyone who has taken the time to read, follow, favorite, or even review this story. Honestly, your support means so much to me! Anyways, I really hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter! Stay fantastic!

Sincerely,

WritersBlockNotWelcome