This was a slow update, I know. Don't be getting your hopes up for the next one, though, my life is a burning pit in Hell right now. Or at least close enough to such an example to defy explanation. Commissions, horseriding, switching schools...fanfics are most definitely on the back burner. On a better note, once I have switched schools I'll have three extra days a week to fit all my crap into! So that's...wonderful.

Oh, and I loved the reviews! Thanks to everyone who liked this enough to talk back. I definitely got Amy into this one, Alex, and after a magically explosive plot bunny attack I decided upon the exact way I think the circuit works for Doctor Who. Hopefully this chapter will clear things up for you, Ace and Tennoko, because when I wrote the first chapter I honestly hadn't decided how I wanted that whole bit to work. So here it is!

Okay, now I'll stop talking. Enjoy!

The Doctor had his head buried inside the TARDIS when Amy came in...or rather, his entire upper body had been consumed by the ship. Amy wasn't completely certain how he was holding himself up-or maybe he was just balancing on his head-but it didn't look particularly comfortable. Still, he seemed to be satisfied with the situation. He was singing what sounded like a Beatles hit in complete gibberish-doing it very loudly, in fact-and his voice echoed oddly in the belly of the ship. Amy frowned to herself. So this was what had sent Rory running off to hide! But she was much, much braver than he and she liked to believe that she'd already seen the Doctor at both his best and his worst. So she sauntered over to the hole in the TARDIS' floor and began tapping her foot on the glass in as annoying a fashion as possible.

Oh dear. He was singing much too loudly for the subtle approach. She'd have to try something else. Amy pursed her lips and leaned over to peer into the hole, managing to fling her hair about in a tantalizingly sexy way as she did. Luckily the Doctor was already looking in her general direction from down there; unluckily, he took no notice of her (not such) subconscious efforts. "Amy!" he shouted, interrupting his helter-skelter song and twisting around so he could come out and say hello. He had indeed been balancing on his head and as he crawled out he almost toppled right back into the belly of the ship. Amy quickly backed out of squashing range, rolling her eyes as she did.

"Good lord, Doctor, how long have you been down there? An hour? You are purple!"

The Doctor grinned. "All day, actually! Two hearts, makes for great circulation. What do you want?" Then he narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Did Rory send you?"

Amy frowned. "Er...yeah, actually, he said you were speaking in gibberish and he got scared. Two hearts?" She raised an eyebrow.

The Doctor grabbed his tools off the floor and jerked upright again, hair flopping. He looked positively indignant. "It wasn't gibberish. If I wanted to speak gibberish, I would have done." He turned away and started poking around with the console. "Two of them, yes. One for every occasion. It's really a language you know, gibberish is. Used by small children so they can pretend that they are being secretive when they're really not. Also, they speak it on Hgda-alvada-ringda. Halvarin." He took two long strides to the other side of the console and pressed a few more buttons. "It's not really something you could call a language, but the Halvarinies are so proud of it that no one's bothered to tell them how horrible it really is. The problem here though is, the translation circuit's broken and I actually have to speak English now. It's very annoying." He paused, then looked at Amy. "Where did Rory go, exactly?"

"So that's why you've got the funny accent..." Amy teased. "Rory went upstairs. He said he was going to get all packed up for Rio, and he hopes that you'll actually find it this time. Oh, and that you'll get your head straight once we get there, but I honestly don't think that's possible."

The Doctor had just pulled off a rather large piece of the console and begun tugging on the wiring beneath. "Thanks very much, Amelia...no need to be snide."

"Oh, shutap."

The phone rang then, and the Doctor gave a shout as it did and jerked back like he'd been whacked. "Amy, can you get that please-I've got the wrong panel. This one is for the phone."

Amy walked over and pulled the phone out of the thick tangle of wires the Doctor was holding, giving him a look that said, 'no kidding', as she did. After she had made her way around to the other side of the console he tried to drop the panel back into its place in the TARDIS, but it just slid off and landed on his foot.

"Hello, Amy Pond here, who is it?" Amy said politely into the phone as the Doctor cursed in Gallifreyan.

"Uh, it's Jack. Can I talk to the Doctor?"

The man in question was busy lifting the telephone panel off the floor at that very moment, using some kind of handle along its side. As Amy watched, the handle snapped off and the panel landed right back where it had started...on his foot. The Doctor howled in pain.

"I don't really think this is the best time. He's actually cursing in gibberish right now-"

"It's not gibberish!"

"-and he's not being very polite. You should call back."

"All the Earth's oceans have been drained. I'll be damned if I'll call back."

"Oh." Amy held out the phone to the Doctor. "Earth's oceans drained. He won't call back."

The Doctor just stared at her with a pained expression; he'd started trying to pull his foot out from under the heavy panel, but he wasn't having much success.

Rory suddenly popped in at the top of the stairs, wearing a pair of Bermuda shorts and a salmon pink polo. "Would anyone care for some tea?"