It took approximately twenty seconds for Grace to regret agreeing to an adventure.

The TARDIS suddenly slammed to a halt, pitching Lee to the ground and the Doctor across the console; glad to already be clinging onto one of the girders she winced as she received a bruised knee and what was probably a strained shoulder, her fingers dented with painful grooves. Momentarily winded by the lever that had just stabbed him in the stomach, the Doctor reached for a section of multicoloured switches and flicked them quickly one after the other. The unearthly wheezing of the engines started up again but it was too soon to breathe a sigh of relief; mere moments later the whole room began to tilt, eventually coming to rest at forty-five degree angle, furniture sliding across the floor and books toppling from their shelves. As three clocks flew past her ear, all chiming the hour, followed by a pot plant and a ukulele, Grace yelled, "Was that supposed to happen?!"

"A bit of turbulence; just hold on," came the reply as the Doctor clambered hand over hand up the console, dodging a flying copy of The Complete Works of Jane Austen and hanging onto the time rotor, stretching his way round to get to the controls on the other side. Grace wound her feet around the girder's metal supports, feeling ridiculously like a sloth dangling from a branch.

"Oh, great. Do you even know how to fly this thing?" she asked, her voice all but drowned out by the horrible vibrating noise the TARDIS was now making and the ear-splitting crash as one of the bronze statues that flanked the door toppled over.

Amidst all of this he still found a moment to shoot her a look, somehow managing to appear hurt through the glass and a tangle of curls. "Grace, I wish you would have more faith in me."

In response Grace would have liked to gesture to the chaos currently surrounding them but she didn't dare let go in case she joined the ever-growing pile of detritus on the other side of the room. She couldn't see Lee anywhere; hopefully he hadn't ended up underneath that lot as they'd never be able to find him. "Do you blame me?" she screamed.

"This isn't like driving a car, you know," the Doctor retorted, now sounding rather annoyed and somehow not needing to shout. "The TARDIS is temperamental, she needs coaxing, persuading..."

"Well, how about you 'persuade' her to put the floor back where it belongs?"

A steely blue glare came in her direction. "Precisely what do you think I'm trying to do?"

"Whatever it is you're doing can you get a move on?" another voice called plaintively and Grace looked down to see Lee curled around the base of the console; he must have grabbed it as he slid past and clung on for dear life. "This really isn't comfortable."

"Working as fast as I can, Lee." There was series of random bleeps and bloops and a somewhat disgruntled-sounding gurgle as the Doctor manipulated the controls, pulling this, smacking that, twiddling something else. One foot was now planted between the destination controls and the handbrake, the other precariously on the ledge that surrounded the console. With impressive dexterity, he leaned round and yanked on the chain that brought the hanging monitor down from the ceiling; from this angle Grace couldn't make out his expression when he saw whatever was flashing up on the screen but she definitely heard a mutter of "Oh, dear, that's not good" before he ducked down and started attacking the switches again with a speed that might just have been fuelled by panic.

"Doctor," she said, "Can you get us out of this?"

"Of course, of course," he replied, obviously distracted and moving out of the way just in time to avoid being hit on the head by the begonia that had just decided to launch itself from one of the shelves. "It might just take a while, that's all... talk amongst yourselves for a bit."

"Oooohhhh!" Grace fumed impotently. "I should have guessed something like this would happen. I can't believe I actually agreed to come with you!"

"Well, to be fair we didn't really have much choice," Lee reminded her as the contents of the Doctor's toolbox finally succumbed to the forces of gravity and clattered past his head.

"Precisely," the Time Lord agreed before Grace could open her mouth. "I presume you wouldn't have wanted to be dropped off twenty years after you left?"

"What? No! But what would have been wrong with taking us home a few days before New Year's?" she demanded.

He stared at her, wide-eyed, and emphatically shook his head. "And risk you bumping into yourself? Oh, no, no, no. The universe has had quite enough of potential destruction for the moment. The fabric of time is far too delicate."

"You mean we could destroy the universe if we met ourselves?" Lee asked, interested despite their current situation. "That's crazy, man."

"Indeed. The Blinovich Limitation Effect is in place for a very good reason; it doesn't do to cross your own time stream. Well, unless you're a Time Lord and there are even greater stakes," the Doctor said, half to himself. Still awkwardly balanced on the console he glanced up at the time rotor and mumbled something under his breath that sounded to Grace remarkably like a prayer, crossing his fingers behind his back where he probably thought she couldn't see before leaning over and spinning the time wheel, hard. Grace almost lost her grip on the girder as the TARDIS gave an almighty lurch and something extremely heavy fell to earth; she closed her eyes, stomach turning upside down as though she'd just done ten loop-the-loops at Disneyland, and was sure she was about to be very, very ill when all of a sudden the shuddering stopped and the sound of the engines evened out to their apparently normal asthmatic groaning.

Nothing else happened, but she didn't want to let go or even look. Eventually, after what seemed like hours had passed but was probably only a minute or so, someone tapped her on the shoulder. Cautiously Grace opened her eyes, half expecting to see Armageddon, or at the very least a trail of destruction across the console room. The latter was definitely there, but the floor was back where it was supposed to be and the world was apparently still intact, certainly if the grin the Doctor was wearing was anything to go by. Ignoring him, she carefully unwound herself from the girder, palms feeling as though they'd been shredded and muscles quivering from the exertion of holding on for so long, and staggered towards the armchair that had by some miracle remained upright, collapsing into the cushions. The rest of the room looked as though an angry giant had grabbed hold of the TARDIS and given it a good shake.

"What was all that about?" Lee had emerged from under the console, rubbing the back of his head. "Did we hit something again?"

"Probably some more of that distortion in the vortex. It can spread like wildfire but it usually settles down once history decides on the path it wants to take. I expect we hit some bother around the time of the Reformation; that's always a bumpy ride and takes about two centuries to finally sort itself out," the Doctor said, peering at some readouts. "Everyone all right?"

"Oh, fine, just fine," Grace retorted. "I'm battered, bruised and still recovering from being possessed and killed, but otherwise everything is just peachy-keen, thanks."

"Good, good." He hadn't been listening, frowning at whatever the console was showing him. "How very odd; there's no record of any temporal distortion registering in this section of the vortex. According to the TARDIS we're precisely where we're meant to be."

"I was right, then: it was your lousy driving."

She knew he'd heard that; she saw his mouth twitch in annoyance. "It's probably down to some residual effect of the Eye of Harmony being open too long. I'll look for the relevant manual; see if it can shed any light on the subject... oh, dear." The Doctor turned and surveyed the state of his library in dismay. There were books scattered all over the floor, some in the garden and the fishpond, others smouldering from where their pages had been caught by toppled candelabra. "We'll have to clean this lot up first."

With a sigh he began to gather up books and cushions, rescuing an astrolabe and an antique telescope from under an upturned ottoman. After a few moments Lee started to help, uncovering the gramophone and wincing as he discovered a stack of broken LPs. Grace pushed herself unsteadily to her feet. "Is there a bathroom on this tub?" she enquired.

The Doctor blinked at her in surprise. "Yes, of course. Third door on the left down the hallway; look for the yellow duck."

"Good." Wobbling only slightly, she headed in the direction of the interior door, half-hidden behind a pair of red velvet curtains. Stopping on the threshold and surveying the mess, she announced, "I'm going to clean myself up; do not disturb me under any circumstances."

"None whatsoever?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow.

Grace thought for a moment. "Only if the universe actually is ending," she conceded, adding as she turned back to the doorway, "And then give it half an hour."