There was only one sound and it was annoying me to pieces.

The steady beep… beep… of a heart monitor rolled through my ears as my eyes opened groggily, only to tightly shut themselves again at the blinding whiteness of the room. Hoping to be able to use at least one of my senses, I tried clenching my hands in and out. I immediately wished I hadn't. Aching muscles were the last thing I needed, but they came anyway. Groaning, deciding that my "feel" sense wasn't currently at it's best, I slowly opened my eyes and let them adjust to my surroundings.

I was on a medical bed of some sort, the scanners showing my medical data to my right.

Not wanting to be as useless as a rock, I tried sitting up, only to have my body scream in protest and my head hit something full force.

"Owww…" I griped after collapsing back onto the bed. Looking up, I could see a glass half-cylinder over me, and looking down, I could see a bandage on my right foot. Looking even further down while lifting up my shirt, I found that my midsection had been bandaged as well.

Of course. I must've been burned.

But I was more concerned with my being trapped at the moment. I knocked on the glass as though it were a door. "Hello? Anybody home?" Nothing. "Doctor?" Still nothing. "Sexy? Please tell me that at least you are out there." A few seconds passed, and I nearly jumped out of my skin when the TARDIS interface showed up at the entry door to the med bay in the image of the Doctor. "Oh jeez, give me a warning next time."

"It is not within my programming to deliver messages before materializing." The apparatus replied robotically.

Cue the eye roll. "Ok, you know what? Forget about that, just- can you alert the Doctor to the fact that I am very much awake and very much trapped in his medical equipment?"

"Understood" was all it had said before disappearing.

When the Doctor did walk through the door, he merely glanced my way before heading straight to the computers. He pressed a few keys and the glass cylinder- which I now assumed to be a stasis chamber, slid open.

I did my best to appear leisurely despite the shooting pain dancing through my body as I sat up and shifted myself so that my legs were dangling off the side of the bed. Damn my shortness. Looking up to the only other person in the room, I was taken aback by his guilty look. What did he have to feel bad for?

The Doctor seemed to have other plans when I tried to ask him, and the questions "are you okay" and "how are you feeling" ended up overlapping.

"You go first." I ordered.

"No.. you."

"It wasn't a suggestion, Doctor."

He tried convincing me that it'd be better the other way around, but I wasn't letting up. He needed to learn to talk about his feelings.

In the end, he sighed and answered first. "That shock was stronger than I meant for it to be. You were lucky, I'm not sure how many of the others made it out of that with as little injuries as you did."

I closed my eyes and clenched my teeth. My hands balled into fists and my face twitched as a scowl crossed it. It was just so… unfair. It was so unfair; the way the universe worked. Why did I always survive when those with an actual future ahead of them got their lives cut short? Why did the universe always choose me, when all I did was trudge through the days; barely even living. Just surviving. My mind turned back to those ferals- those people in the church. Did they have any conscious? Any idea of what had happened to them? My thoughts were flooded with the images of how when the Doctor and I cleaned up this mess - because we would finish this - how families would be torn apart; how children would be suffering; how people would wake up with second or third degree burns, broken bones, or countless other injuries, with no idea of how they got them. Or how some of them wouldn't wake up at all.

"Although," the Doctor's voice broke me out of my thoughts and I looked up at him curiously, "saying you have overall minimal injuries would be far from the truth."

"Really?" I asked, exasperated, knowing where this was headed. "Now? We're going to have the 'you need to take better care of yourself' talk now?"

"Well, seeing as we're currently positioned in the time vortex, I think now is a perfect time, yeah. And besides, you still haven't answered my question."

"Whoa whoa whoa, back up. We're in the time vortex? Why?"

"Why do you think?"

My jaw dropped slightly. "How long was I out?!"

"Oh, a few weeks."

I rubbed my forehead. Shit.

Just then, another thought came to mind. "You haven't already gone to the fairground, have you?"

"I.. might've.. done a little sweep of the place."

"What?!" I was about ready to strangle him. I couldn't believe he had gone ahead and had all of the fun without me!

"Slow down there, tiger! I only looked about to see where the controller would be. I didn't confront them yet. I figured you'd probably beat me to a pulp if I did that. Severely injured or not."

I nodded, thankful for his restraining himself, when that dreaded question came up again.

"So, how are you feeling?" He clasped his hands in front of himself.

"Rather good for being severely injured." My lie was wondrously smooth if I do say so myself. "Fine enough to deal with this goddamn controller."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. He was giving me that look again. The unreadable look that sent chills down my burnt back and unanswerable questions popping up all over in my head. It was driving me crazy - not knowing. I could read the Doctor as well as River Song could, but this look of his that he was giving me… it was completely unidentifiable. I couldn't stand it.

Trying to pivot my attention to something slightly less infuriating, I stood up, internally cringing from the aches and pains, and headed out of the med bay, saying: "Let's hit the road. We've got a job to finish."

With the Doctor as a guide, we walked through corridor after corridor until we reached the console room.

The console room really gave off a sci-fi vibe this time around. Fairly bright, the walls were a light shade of blue, with sea green "round-thingies" on the walls. The center console was also different shades of blue with circular screens showing writing of circular Gallifreyan. On one side of the wall, there was a huge screen providing a view of what was outside. Along the edge of the room were cushioned chairs and behind those: a railing. Part of the floor surrounding the console was grating, and across from where the Doctor and I entered stood the TARDIS doors.

"So," I began, "you've redecorated."

"Mmhmm."

I couldn't help but grin as what I said next came out. "I don't like it."

"Oh, they never do." The Doctor pretended to sound upset, but in reality he was smiling. He patted the console. "Don't listen to her; you look amazing."

I smiled at the interaction. The Doctor + the TARDIS = Brotp.

"Alright," the Doctor started his usual way of pushing buttons and pulling levers, "let's crash this party."

After one or two painful minutes of being thrown about like a tennis ball thanks to the Doctor's less than superb flying skills, we landed in the fairground.

"So, where is the transmitter, exactly? Is it the ferris wheel?"

"Nope." He pointed to a different ride full of horses in front of us. "It's the carousel."

Following his finger, I was able to see where the carousel stood. Only, I could see it moving around, but no sound came from it. I figured that the controller must've destroyed the sound box in order to keep the place discreet. I couldn't really blame them. I would smash that thing to bits in aggravation as well.

But even as it got closer, I couldn't see a single living thing in sight.

"So… where is the controller, exactly?"

"Around the back."

But when we walked around the carousel, I found it to be empty on that side as well. "So much for that. They must've moved since you were here last. Are you sure you got the timing right?"

At that last part, I had looked up to where the Doctor was standing, only to find him gesturing to my feet.

Taking the hint, I looked down, finding that I was standing on top of an entrance to the town's sewage system.

"You're kidding me, right?"

He wasn't kidding.

It's always the nastiest places. I thought with a sigh as I kneeled down and lifted the hatch.

It took about a second for me to find the controller, seeing as the equipment was positioned right in front of us as we climbed down. Staying near the carousel must've been necessary to operate it.

But when I saw who the controller was, exactly, I was mentally hit with a hard smack in the face.

A Dalek would have been no surprise. A Cyberman was to be expected. But a familiar, and friendly, face was the worst thing I could've imagined.

It was Caleesu. I knew her. Hell, did I know her. She had been around since I was born, for heaven's sake. She was probably the only person left that I knew and trusted in the universe, and here she was. Doing the exact thing I despised most.

"Caleesu?" I could only whisper.

"Emma! What a pleasant surprise! I definitely didn't expect you."

"You." The Doctor stated as he came forward to stand beside me. "What are you doing? You're a loyal Time Lady! You've sworn to never interfere!"

"I've been given a pardon."

"Since when do the Time Lords give pardons?"

"Since it's practically become my job to interfere." Caleesu said, staring right at me.

So this is my fault…

"Things have changed since you last came to visit us, Doctor."

"So I've heard." I could see him glance at me out of the corner of my eye and my heart skipped a beat.

Crap. Does he know? Please tell me he doesn't know.

The Doctor didn't give any more attention to that topic, however. "But why? Why are you doing this? What do you need our artron energy for?"

"As a power source, of course. For a weapon."

"A weapon? What weapon?" I jumped in.

"It does molecular separation by electrophoresis. But of course, a job of this scale will require a better power source. What better than artron energy?"

"And what is this weapon going to be used for?" The Doctor inquired.

"To wipe out every last bleeding Dalek in the universe." She said. Her voice was filled to the brim with hate, and it was thanks to that that I figured out what this was all about.

It was about her husband, Fortun. He had been shot and killed by a Dalek when I was seven years old. This was for revenge.

I frowned; my heart feeling heavy. This was not the Caleesu I knew.

"Are you crazy?!" The Doctor erupted. "If just one tiny thing goes wrong with whatever your ridiculous plan is, then the second Time War could be upon us!"

"Oh, Caleesu…" I said with pity, "what happened to you?"

She stared at me coldly. "You did, Emmy." Caleesu spoke my old nickname with disgust, and at that, my pity turned to rage.

"You… you're blaming this on me?! How dare you? I did everything you ever told me to and what do you do to thank me? You leave! You abandoned me! I haven't seen you for seven years!"

"How long do you think I've been here?" The Time Lady replied calmly. "Patience sure does pay off."

I gaped at her.

"Now, the Doctor, he was who I was waiting for. I had sent that spike of artron energy up through the carousel knowing he wouldn't be able to stop himself from checking it out. You, on the other hand, were just a bonus. Aren't you supposed to be in another dimension, missy?" She asked sweetly.

"Don't talk to me like that." I grit my teeth together. "You lost the right to long ago."

"Oh well, I suppose. But I must say: I'm sorry, Emma. I truly am. We had some wonderful times together, didn't we? But now that you've met the Doctor, we're going to have to kill you."

Sorry that this chapter is so short! The next might be short as well, but I'll be sure to have it up soon. Also, credit for the new TARDIS design goes to markpilb on DeviantArt. Here's his design if any of you are curious: art/Time-Ship-73440084