Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

1

The Doctor leaned forward to the door, pulled out his screwdriver, and tested it. He flipped it back, an almost offended look on his face. "Well, that settles it, it's a temporal lock." He turned and walked back down the hallway, his head up and high, his eyes bright and filled with renewed interest.

Donna folded her arms and then gestured to the door, "So, you're just giving up then?"

"Nope." Came his voice from around the corridor.

Donna rolled her eyes, "Brilliant." She quickly rejoined him, where he was staring at yet another doorway in the hall. This one had a bright red 'three' sloppily painted on it. He looked at Donna, his brilliant face perplexed by this new puzzle. They continued down the hallway, their footsteps echoing through the old timbers, raising dust and more questions. Who had left the house? Who had made those markings on the walls? What did they mean?

While the Doctor tested yet another locked door, Donna crouched to survey the little crayon doodles. She brushed her fingers across them, careful not to disturb them too much. She was more curious than anything else. More and more often she saw the sketchy outlines of a little clock, each of them had different times on them, 1:00, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00… all the way up to 10:00. "Well that's odd." She mumbled.

"Yes it is." Said the Doctor from over by another door, scrunching up his nose and squinting as he once more sheathed his Sonic.

Donna shook her head, stood, and dragged him forcibly over by the front of his ridiculous coat, "No, look." She pointed to all the different clocks that were spread out down the hallway.

He knelt to her level, squinted, and then pulled out a pair of squarish spectacles. "Oh! Lovely clocks, those old round ones… kind of cute almost, aren't they? Why isn't there an 11:00 or 12:00?" He said, emphasizing the o'clock by clacking harder than need be on the end of the word. His face became glued in an 'o' as he stared at Donna enquiringly.

Donna just shrugged, "Yes, of all the times they picked to write on the wall… why these? Why not go all the way up to 12:00, why stop at 10:00?"

The Doctor stood with a little half-hop, his coattails flying out from under him, "That, my dear Donna, is a very good question!" He took her hand and pulled her up, "Now, let's recap… what've we got? We've got a TARDIS, locked away in a room with a big fat 'one' painted on it. We're in a creepy old house in 2027…" He paused and laughed, "I love creepy old houses! They're so fascinating!" At a look from Donna that said shut up and get on with it, he did precisely that, "Right, we've got temporal locks and times drawn on the wall that only go up to 10:00, and each doorway has numbers painted on them so far…" He paused, his eyes widening, holding up his finger, "You know what else we've got, Donna?"

Donna looked at him confusedly, she was so going to hit him if he didn't explain, "No, what else have got, Doctor?"

"We had a staircase that was very broken, very broken indeed, so why do we now have one that isn't?" He said softly, his eyes flicking behind her.

Donna turned quickly, "What?"

It was true. The staircase they had passed now, twice, they had never thought of venturing up because of how spindly and termite-eaten it had looked. Before it had been twisted and broken, with bits missing and carpet pieces hanging off it at pathetic angles. There had been no railing, it had just been a spidery ghost of what should have been. What was there was none of those. It was a beautiful staircase, with red and green and purple carpet covering it. Standing sturdily, it was thick and supportive, looking as if it had been placed there yesterday. Pictures hung on the wall next to it, they had once been crooked, yellowed, stained, and cracked. But now, now they were beautiful and colorful, they light glancing off of their glass covers in an oh-so-gorgeous manner. Donna's mouth fell open and she blinked.

"What's that doing there?" She breathed rather lamely.

The Doctor leaned on the old musky wall, "That is a very good question, Donna Noble."

How could a staircase just have risen up out of the old one in a matter of seconds? Mind you, Donna had seen some strange things while with the Doctor… but this was starting to take the cake. She'd been a box that was bigger on the inside than on the outside, she'd seen creatures that held their brains in their hands, she'd waved at fat, she'd stopped a giant Titanic from crashing down on the city of London… but never in her life had she seen a staircase appear out of thin air.

"That's impossible!"

The Doctor grinned, and leaned forward, wagging a finger. "Ah! Not impossible, only improbable. I mean it might just be some sort of classic sublimation," he pulled a rubber bouncy ball from his pocket (Who knows why it was there in the first place!) and threw it up in the air bemusedly, "of all the things, this is exciting! A staircase appearing out of nowhere, I must figure ou-"

"Shut up." Donna exclaimed.

"Donna!" The Doctor looked surprised, "I beg your pardon. Ooh! Why is it that you always feel the need to interrupt me when I'm thinking out loud? You know that's very irritating of yo-"

He was promptly interrupted by Donna clamping a hand over his mouth, glaring her best death glare and repeating, "seriously, shut up. I heard something!"

A look of realization dawned on his face and then he frowned in concentration, gently removing the offending hand from his mouth. Donna was peering at the staircase in a queer fashion. He followed her eyes.

Then he heard it: a slightly waxen tink, muffled by carpet, then another, and another, falling faster and faster. It was followed by a footstep, and then more tinks and tonks. Until finally a deep blue crayon could be seen falling down the stairs. It fell a few more times, and then it hit the wooden floor with a much more harder-sounding thwank, and rolled up to the Doctor's old-man shoes. He bent to pick it up, his brow furrowed and his eyebrow raised as he spun it slowly to see the label on the crayon. Donna peered over his shoulder. Her delicate hand flew to her mouth and a slight hiss escaped her lips when they both read the words on the wrapper.

"Does that say -?" Donna began, choking on her words.

The Doctor squinted, pushing up his glasses as if he wasn't sure he was reading it right. That couldn't be! But, it still was. He looked at his ginger companion in consternation. "TARDIS blue."