A/N: Whoop whoop for quick updates lol. I'm posting quick cos I'm writing quick... duh, sorry for stating the obvious. I'm having a dense day. Although wtf is up with FF? The alerts aren't working and I can't even read the reviews you lovely people have left :( Thankyou anyway, you lovely cherubs. It'll probably all be back to normal in the morning... so I'm off to freak myself out with some Stephen King (The Mist is frickin' scary O.O)

Chapter Three

Lord and Lady

The two new arrivals made their way up the grand corridor, Ashley's arm through the Doctor's. She was getting more and more used to the heels and hopefully it wouldn't be long before she could walk unaided. The sound of soft, classical music mixed with polite laughter and chatter floated down towards them. It sounded almost ghostly. Ashley couldn't help but smile.

'And this is a hotel?' she asked for about the fourth time.

'Yup,' the Doctor replied, his grin matching hers. 'One of only two hundred space hotels in the universe. We're not even orbiting anything; it's completely self-reliant. Doesn't float off or anything. Fantastic, isn't it?'

'That's an understatement. It's… I don't have any words for it. It makes the Hilton Hotels look like the gutter.'

They turned the lavish corner and came to a halt, their grins disappearing. The Doctor frowned in disappointment. 'Aw would you look at that? All the effort of getting all dolled up and we have to wait in line like… like peasants!'

In front of two huge wooden, intricately carved doors stood about fifty or sixty people, each of them dressed in beautiful dresses and smart suits. They were all lined up, gradually getting through the large doors by flashing the suited men stationed there small cards, presumably their invites. The Doctor clicked his tongue in annoyance.

'Well at least you know it's good if even the rich and powerful have to queue.' Ashley shrugged.

The Doctor's eyes lit up and he turned to her with a grin. Ashley looked at him suspiciously, knowing that he was planning something that would either get them into deep trouble or… actually that was the only thing they would get into.

'What are you going to do?' she asked warily.

He only continued to grin and pulled her towards the queue. He made his way through the waiting guests with various polite utterings of 'excuse me' and 'pardon me' until they finally reached the front. He grinned broadly at the suited man who was checking the invites.

'Hello there.' The Doctor beamed.

The man frowned slightly. 'I'm sorry sir, but you'll have to wait in line like everyone else.'

The Doctor shook his head. 'Ah, well you see, we were told we wouldn't have to wait. We have a Speeder ticket.'

The man eyed the two of them for a moment. 'I'm afraid I need to see an invite.'

'We're on the list,' the Doctor insisted, pointing at the clipboard in the man's hands. Before he could pull the clipboard back, the Doctor spotted two names crossed out on the bottom of the list. 'There we are!' He flashed the psychic paper, which displayed an invite addressed to Lord and Lady Thoruborn.

The man's cheeks flushed slightly. 'Oh… Oh I do apologise sir. We were told that yourself and your Lady wouldn't be attending this evening.'

The Doctor grinned and shrugged. 'Must have been a mix up. Happens to the best of us.' He nodded ahead. 'Alright if we just head on in then? It is? Thanks.'

Ashley managed to smile briefly at the man on the door before being dragged through by the Doctor. She stumbled briefly, but managed to regain her balance by grabbing tightly onto the Doctor's arm. 'Not so quick,' she hissed.

'Sorry,' the Doctor replied, eyes wide and glittering with excitement. 'I just get carried away with myself sometimes.'

'So who are we?' Ashley whispered, eyeing a woman passing in a rather luxurious fur coat and an extravagant hairdo.

'I'm Lord Thoruborn,' the Doctor replied. 'If I remember rightly, he's the CEO of Rapturecorp. Specialises in building, architecture, that kind of thing.'

'Rapturecorp?' Ashley snorted. 'Sounds like a glam rock band. So who am I?'

'Well, it says on the invite that you're Lady Thoruborn. Or, if you're feeling adventurous you could be an escort, they're pretty popular even amongst the married. It's your choice.'

Ashley scowled. 'Excuse me?'

The Doctor raised his eyebrows and hands defensively. 'What? I said it's your choice.'

'I think I'll stick with Lady Thoruborn rather than your hussy,' she replied tartly. 'Expect a lot of nagging on my part.'

'As if that's anything new.' The Doctor muttered.

Ashley shot him a look that could have frozen fire. 'As if anyone would believe that I would marry you anyway-'

'Ah, greetings!' a polite but loud voice announced suddenly, catching both the Doctor and Ashley off guard. 'I'm so glad you could join us on such a wonderful occasion. Mr and Mrs…?'

'Actually,' the Doctor replied, smirking at Ashley's bewilderment. 'It's Lord. I'm Lord Thoruborn.'

The man who had greeted them was tall and thin, with a neatly groomed brown moustache above his thin lips. He was elderly, but held himself like a man in his prime. He seemed to fluster slightly when the Doctor told them 'who' they were, but then his polite smile quickly returned and he shook the Doctor's hand with a surprisingly strong grip.

'Ah, Lord Thoruborn, I was told you weren't coming. I'm Jacobi Leville. It's absolutely fantastic to finally meet you. I heard you have always been quite interested in architecture. So,' He gestured to the room around them. 'What do you think?'

The Doctor glanced around at the grand high ceilings, the sparkling chandeliers, and intricate detail in everything down to the door handles, and then caught sight of a waiter passing with a tray. He plucked up two canapés and handed one to Ashley whilst putting the other in his mouth. 'Well, it's all a bit flashy for my liking,' he replied, brushing his hands together. 'Very nice though. If you're into that kind of thing.'

Leville looked bewildered at the response. He spluttered for a moment, unsure how to proceed, and then turned a slightly relieved smile onto Ashley. 'I'm sorry, but we haven't been introduced.'

Ashley held out one hand gracefully and smiled. She probably would have looked more like she had intended if she hadn't had a mouth full of canapé. The Doctor answered for her.

'This is Lady Thoruborn.' He said. 'It's the first time we've been out together. The wedding was only… recent. So I suppose, in theory… this is our honeymoon!' He winked at Ashley, but she just rolled her eyes briefly.

Leville's eyes lit up. 'Oh how wonderful! Congratulations to you both. I think some complimentary champagne is in order.'

Ashley forced the canapé down her throat and smiled. 'Thank you. You couldn't make it two bottles, could you?'

The Doctor laughed a little too loudly and pulled Ashley closer. 'Oh you're funny, sweetheart,' The Doctor nodded to Leville, smiling too broadly. 'It's why I married her. She's very funny.' Ashley looked at him in confusion, but Leville only smiled politely.

'Well once again, congratulations,' he half bowed to them. 'If you have any queries about Eleven Stars, don't hesitate to come and find me. I'd like to recommend for you to go up on the observation deck to see the anomaly. I'll call ahead and see if I can get you both a um… private deck.' He nodded, winked, and then began to leave. The Doctor leaned forward and grabbed his arm.

'I'm sorry, um… anomaly?'

Leville looked at him warily for a moment, and then smiled politely. 'I'll call up straight away. If you head towards the elevators they will be ready programmed to take you straight up.' He half bowed to Ashley, and then disappeared into the crowds of elite.

'Private deck?' Ashley asked with a cocked eyebrow. 'Was he implying what I think he was implying?'

The Doctor was frowning thoughtfully. 'I wonder what he means by anomaly…'

'Well he said it's on an observation deck,' Ashley shrugged. 'So it must be outside. I hope the champagne will be there when we get wherever it is.'

The Doctor didn't reply and began to head away through the crowds. Ashley was too busy looking around to notice at first, but then she realised he had left her side and she hurried after him, teetering unsteadily in her heels.

'Oi!' she hissed. 'Wait there! I can't move quick in these heels!'

She caught up with him at a row of silver plated doors. There were people queuing all along it and being shown into their own little booths by smartly dressed attendants. The doors would zip shut, and then shoot upwards. Ashley leaned against the Doctor and rubbed the back of her leg.

'You could wait,' she told him. 'It's not going anywhere.'

The Doctor glanced to her. 'You know I move quickly. If you can't keep up I'll just leave you down here,' he told her. 'You can prop up the bar or something.'

Ashley frowned and then noticed a short mousy looking woman eyeing her from beside her gargantuan partner. Ashley smiled politely. 'It's our honeymoon.' She smiled.

The Doctor frowned at her and then tugged her towards the waiting elevator. The attendant stepped aside automatically and allowed them to enter. Ashley looked up irritably at the Doctor as she removed one shoe and rubbed her foot.

'Some honeymoon this is turning out to be,' she muttered. The doors closed with a whoosh.


The two of them were in the middle of squabbling about Ashley's choice of footwear when the doors of the elevator opened again. The Doctor stepped out, frowning back at Ashley.

'Well if you knew you couldn't walk in them, why did you put them on?'

'Because the only other pair of shoes I own are those boots, and you wouldn't let me wear them.'

'Well do you think they would let you come in here in those giant bug crushers of yours…' He trailed off when he looked around the observation deck. It was about the size of the console room in the TARDIS, also having a domed ceiling. But it was all glass, looking out into space. The Doctor stood and stared while Ashley prodded him in the arm.

'There's nothing wrong with my boots.' She insisted. 'They're comfortable and… I don't know what you're talking about anyway; you're still wearing those bloody Converses…' She frowned as the Doctor grabbed her face with one hand and made her look up. Her scowl instantly dissolved and her mouth dropped open at the absolutely magnificent sight before her.

'It's… I…' She stopped. 'I've gone brain dead.'

The Doctor nodded in agreement. 'Amazing, isn't it?'

The light anomaly took up half of the black space above them. It was a stunning, vivid white – but not bright enough to hurt the eye. The edges of it flickered and rippled like fire and colours swirled in the centre like oil on wet concrete. It seemed to be pulsating, and Ashley almost thought she could feel heat coming from it.

'What is it?' she asked, unable to take her eyes from it.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. 'I'm not sure,' he replied. He pulled his glasses out of his breast pocket and slipped them on, squinting and scrunching up his nose at the sight above. 'To be completely honest, I've never seen anything like it. And that's not something I say often.'

Ashley cocked her head. 'It's really beautiful,' she said, her voice slightly dreamy. 'Kind of almost makes me forget that my feet are absolutely killing me.'

The Doctor rubbed his chin thoughtfully. 'It could be a white hole.'

'That's the other end of a black hole, isn't it?'

'Pretty much,' the Doctor nodded. 'Instead of sucking in matter, it spews out matter. But this one doesn't seem to be doing much spewing.' He thought quietly for a few moments. 'You know what, this has actually got me stumped. And I don't like being stumped. It makes me feel… well, it reminds me that I don't know everything. Which is annoying because I like to tell everyone I know everything.'

'Well if it's not doing anything then there's nothing to worry about,' Ashley shrugged, pulling her eyes away from the light. 'Instead of looking for something to get ourselves killed over, we should enjoy ourselves.'

The Doctor was still looking at the anomaly. 'We might as well make the most of being here.' He agreed, although Ashley knew that he now had a completely new agenda than he had had when they first landed. He turned and smiled at her. 'I'll take you down to the free bar if you want.'

Ashley eyed him. 'You're not trying to keep me out of the way, are you?'

He laughed and held his arm out for her to take. 'Of course not. Why would I try to keep you out of the way? You said we should enjoy ourselves and enjoy ourselves we will. After all, it's not every day you find yourself in the most famous hotel in the universe.'

Ashley eyed him sceptically, but allowed herself to be led back into the elevator.