Minerva stared at her hands with utter disappointment. She closed and opened her mouth then glanced at her wedding ring that sat beside her. The Doctor walked into the room with a strawberry milkshake in hand and happily declared, "Craving fulfilled!"
Minerva looked at the milkshake with terror and quickly shook her head and scooted back on the bed, "N-n-n-n-no! No more!"
The Doctor stared at her with confusion, and frankly quite startled with the abruptiveness, "No?"
"No!"
"But...but you always like having milkshakes in the morning," the Doctor thought about it just in case he was wrong. But no, he distinctly remembered waking her up when she was human with a nice milkshake for breakfast.
"Not anymore," she declared and would've pulled her knees up if her stomach wasn't as big as it was.
Her fear was now concerning him. He knew she was starting to get into the emotional phase of the pregnancy since she was midway through her eighth pregnancy month. However, being afraid of a milkshake? That didn't quite sound right.
"Clever Girl...what's going on...?" the Doctor cautiously approached the foot of the bed and put a knee on it to get closer. He spotted the wedding ring on the bed stand beside her and frowned, "Are we afraid of the wedding ring too?"
Minerva's answer came in the form of a very harsh hit of a pillow on the side of the face.
"Sorry," he mumbled and cleared his throat before he looked at her again. She was staring at him with narrowed eyes and arms crossed.
He was in trouble.
"You want to tell me what's wrong?" the Doctor tried again, holding out the milkshake he'd made for her, "You told me you wanted one of these earlier, remember?"
Minerva looked to the side and rubbed her head. Of course she remembered, she still wanted the milkshake!
The Doctor leaned closer and held out the milkshake for her, "I need you to eat, Clever Girl. You know you have to, so what's wrong?"
Minerva slowly looked at him then held out a hand which she opened and closed, "My hands are swollen..."
"Hm?" he blinked and looked at her hands.
"My hands are swollen, my feet are swollen and nearly everything I eat is giving me heartsburn."
The Doctor considered the problems but still held the milkshake to her, "Now I am very sorry you're going through all that but...and remember...you need to be completely healthy."
"Theta, my wedding ring doesn't fit anymore," Minerva whispered sadly and nodded to her wedding ring behind the Doctor.
"But that's temporary," the Doctor tried cheering her up, "and that has nothing to do with you eating your breakfast."
"Drinking," Minerva corrected and scooted off the bed, "and it's partly responsible for this. You don't understand, okay? I can't wear my ring right now so I won't be able to hear you in my head anymore. Maybe if I stop eating so much the swelling will go down."
"Minerva, sit," the Doctor had properly sat down on the side of the bed and was patting the spot beside him.
"No."
"Minerva," he pointed.
"No."
"Kaeya, please sit down," the Doctor pleaded softly and held a hand for her. With a sigh, Minerva returned and took his hand, allowing him to sit her down beside him, "Now then," he turned to her and put the milkshake in her hand, "the swollen hands and the feet will go away I promise you. No amount of eating is going to stop it nor increase it. So I want you to drink this," he tapped the side of the glass she held, "and enjoy your craving. Go on," he motioned and slowly Minerva began taking sips of it through the straw, "Delicious?"
"Very," she admitted with a sheepish smile.
"Good, haven't lost my touch yet," he proudly announced then glanced back where her ring laid and picked it up. He turned it around and stared at it a moment.
"It doesn't fit today," she whispered sadly and once again looked at her hands, "I tried it on all my fingers and it...it doesn't fit."
"Hey, that's okay," the Doctor tried to comfort but she shook her head, refusing such statement.
"It's not okay. It's our wedding bands," she looked at him, "If I can't wear it it means I have no way of showing that I'm your wife, that you're my husband."
"You don't need to show them, love," the Doctor chuckled.
"I do, because everyone always want you and it's not fair," she declared with a huff, "Without the wedding ring I'll just look like some mistress - and that's if they're going to be polite with the wording."
"Anyone who calls you a mistress I will gladly punch," the Doctor declared seriously.
"I won't be able to hear you," Minerva repeated in a hushed tone, clearly more upset about that than anything else.
"My Kaeya, do you remember all those years when I visited you on the Monsoon?" she nodded silently, "When did we ever need telepathy to communicate?"
"Well..." Minerva looked around as she thought, realizing there hadn't been one moment they'd used their abilities together, "...never, I guess."
"We were fine without it before, so we'll be just fine with it right now," the Doctor assured her and took her hands, "Besides, just because your hands are swollen today doesn't mean they'll be swollen next week."
"This doesn't last forever?" she blinked at him, honestly surprised.
The Doctor laughed and shook his head, "Nope."
Instantly, Minerva sighed of relief and took a big sip of her milkshake, making the Doctor laugh again. She lowered her glass and shyly gripped his hand, "I'm kinda stupid with all this pregnancy stuff."
"No, you're not-"
"Yes, I am. I barely know what's going on half the time," she shook her head, "You're the one that's telling me what I shouldn't do and what I can do."
"Kaeya, this is just your first pregnancy. I've...got some more experience with it," the Doctor didn't like to bring up the fact he'd already had children with another woman. He would never deny his children, ever, but he wasn't very comfortable talking about his late wife with his current wife - the actual wife he'd wanted since he could remember.
"Yeah, I know," Minerva agreed with a small nod, still unable to help so useless, "But I'm the mother. I'm supposed to know what the hell is going on with my own body. I'm supposed to know everything about my baby and the truth is...I don't. I don't have one single clue. All I know is that minty leaves make my nausea stop - that's it! Theta, I'm useless!"
"You are not," the Doctor pointed at her, almost warning her not to say that again, "All of this is perfectly normal and you'll see that when we have our second baby."
"Second?" Minerva blinked with wide eyes, "You're already thinking about the second baby? How about I pop out this one first," she pointed at her stomach and earned a chuckle from him, "and then wait a couple years to see how we did. Because I have an extreme fear of not being a good mother."
"I can assure you that you will be-"
"No, no you can't, none of us can," Minerva cut him off and sighed, "except for our baby," she set the milkshake on the nightstand and placed both her hands on her stomach, "Only he or she will be able to tell me if I was a good mom."
"Point taken," the Doctor conceded and took her hands once more, "but in the meantime, I say you're doing just fine. The only thing I can say is stop worrying so much. So your wedding ring doesn't fit, big deal. Just because it doesn't fit doesn't mean you stop being my wife. So you're feet are swollen, no problem. I can massage them!"
"You wouldn't mind?" Minerva raised her eyebrows, seriously staring at him with surprise.
"Well, never done one before, hopefully I won't be too bad," the Doctor shrugged, "You're allowed to smack me if I get it wrong, though."
And then...Minerva started sniffling, tears in her eyes freshly made.
"Why are you crying, Clever Girl?" the Doctor tried to wipe her tears before they completely took over her face.
"Cos...cos you're too good for me," Minerva tried to say through her sniffles, "Cos I know I'm getting to be one hell of an annoying pregnant woman and I'm driving you completely bananas."
"Being too harsh on yourself again," the Doctor wrapped his arms around her for a hug. He kissed her head and rested his chin over it, "I'm just doing my part in making this slightly easier for you."
"Thank you," Minerva hugged him tighter, "Thank you so much. And I promise," she stopped her sniffles and looked up with a new smirk on her face, "That when I'm looking far better than right now, I will make sure to thank you very kindly," she leaned up and kissed his lips.
"Now what are you talking about, Clever Girl?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, dropping his hands to her waist, "You are looking mighty attractive today, just like yesterday and the day before and then the day before that, etc."
"Oh stop it," Minerva rolled her eyes. She appreciated his effort to make her feel good, feel better about herself. But the truth was, she was eight months pregnant, nearly nine now, was the size of a boat, and had swollen hands & feet...not to mention heartburn and ongoing cravings - and the occasional vomiting experiences.
Things had changed.
"No, no, I mean it 100%," the Doctor admitted honestly, "You're as sexy as ever," he smirked, resting his forehead over hers, "Don't you ever think otherwise," before Minerva got a word out, she was attacked with a passionate kiss that was sure to leave more than enough proof of his words.
~ 0 ~
On Earth, something peculiar had occurred overnight - something that Brian Williams noticed before his son and daughter-in-law. At half past six in the morning, he was up and knocking on Amy and Rory's door. Both grumpy, Amy and Rory opened their bedroom window and peered outside.
"Dad, it's half-past 6:00 in the morning," Rory grumbled and fought the urge to snap at his father.
"What are you doing lying around?" Brian held up a black cube in his hand, "Haven't you seen them?" he turned to the street and gestured for them too look out into their neighborhood.
Black cubes were everywhere.
Alarmed, the two travelers dashed out of their home to inspect. They made it out to the street and looked around - much like anyone else who was outside.
"What are they?" Rory held his father's cube in his hands as he studied it.
"Nobody knows," Brian shrugged, simply awed by the occurrence, "But they're everywhere"
"Well," Amy crossed her arms, "where have they come from? Wait," she spotted something across the street - in a park. She ran for the park, leaving Rory and Brian to follow, "Doctor? Minerva?"
The Doctor had propped himself over a children's jungle gym where he was busy examining a cube with a magnifying glass. Minerva, on the other hand, had sat on a swing instead.
"Cubes on Earth?" she tilted her head and thought, "Never heard of that one before..."
"How's about an invasion of the very small cubes?" the Doctor offered, both taking a while to think on it.
"That's new too," they concluded a minute later.
~ 0 ~
Once moved to the TARDIS, the examination of the cubes continued with more force. Although, the Doctor was pretty contempt to conclude, "All absolutely identical. Not a single molecule's difference between them. No blemishes, imperfections, individualities."
"What if they're bombs?" Brian interjected, making everyone look at him, "Billions of tiny bombs. Or transport capsules, maybe, with a minirobot inside. Or deadly hard drives. Or alien eggs. Or messages needing decoding. Or they're all parts of a bigger whole. Jigsaw puzzles that need fitting together."
"I like the way you think, Brian," Minerva pointed at him, "It's so...refreshing," she motioned with her hands and chuckled to herself.
"Hey," Amy caught the empty wedding hand and took it into her own, "Where's the ring?"
And suddenly laughter was over as Minerva snatched her hand back, "It doesn't fit anymore," she muttered and walked away, back to the Ponds' house.
Startled, Amy turned to the Doctor, making a gesture to explain what she did wrong. The Doctor raised a finger for her to wait and looked at Brian, "She was right though. Watch these," he handed Brian his cube, "Yell if anything happens," he called as he headed for the doors, taking Amy along with him, "Now then, ring - don't ask for it."
"What? Why?" Amy blinked and stopped when the Doctor did.
"Because she's not happy, clearly," he picked up some equipment on the way and handed it to her and Rory after he'd caught up, "Her hands, have, well, swollen a bit."
"But that's normal," Rory shrugged, not understanding what it meant quite yet.
"Yes, completely normal," agreed the Doctor with a nod of his head, "But, for my Clever Girl, it also means that she won't be able to communicate with me telepathically."
Amy raised her eyebrows, "Like...nothing?" she sounded doubtful, "Zero?"
"When she had the meta-crisis with our friend, Donna - you remember her right?" the Doctor asked and both Ponds nodded, "Well, some of the things that Minerva lost was her telepathic abilities for communication. It's not completely gone but it's far from what it used to be," he turned and carried his share of equipment out the door with the two behind him.
"Okay, but still don't get what this has to do with swollen hands," Amy said as they stepped into their living room.
The Doctor turned around and bumped into them, "I altered her wedding ring to help enhance her abilities, help her use them."
"But since she doesn't have the ring anymore she can't use them..." Rory concluded and looked for the confirmation in his wife and the Doctor.
"Exactly," the Doctor pointed at her.
"But swollen hands doesn't last forever," Rory reminded for a cheerful aspect of the problem.
"Well, yes, but the point is it's happening and she's not one bit happy about it," the Doctor shrugged, though it did make sense in what ever way one thought about it, "So let's try not to bring that up again."
"Got it," Amy raised a hand in understanding, "Plus, there's a lot more things to go over with anyways."
"What? Like what?"
"Uh, hello," she waved her hands in front of his face, making him blink, "baby's going to be here in less than two months! What do you mean 'what'!? You've got to start prepping!"
"Right..." the Doctor tried not to seem as terrified as he actually was.
Yes, Minerva was halfway through her eighth month...but they hadn't exactly been stocking up on anything. The only thing officially done was the nursery room on the Monsoon - but that had been done centuries ago when the palace had been reconstructed. The nursery room in the TARDIS was halfway done, but it still needed to be stocked up on furniture as well.
Plus, the name.
They still didn't have a name for their baby. Granted it was difficult since they didn't know whether it would be a girl or a boy...but they had nothing in the end.
Basically, they were unprepared in all aspects.
~ 0 ~
Minerva was watching the Doctor set a cube into a boiling pot over the stove with the least bit of interest. She was still rather upset by the loss of her ring but she did apologize to Amy for her rude behavior. It wasn't Amy's fault she was pregnant and moody and swollen.
"Right. I'm due at work," announced Rory as he backtracked out of the kitchen.
"What?" the Doctor stopped him, "You've got a job?"
"Yeah," Rory nodded slowly, "of course I've got a job. What do you think we do when we're not with you?"
"I imagine mostly kissing."
Rory shrugged in acceptance and made Amy sigh, "I write travel articles for magazines and Rory heals the sick."
"Super Ponds," Minerva chuckled.
"My shift starts in an hour," Rory looked at Amy, "You don't know where my scrubs are?"
"In the lounge," she pointed, "where you left them."
"Look at you being all domestic. The journalist and the nurse, long way from Leadworth," Minerva remarked with genuine surprise. She was no stranger to it herself but out of everyone she'd met in her life she hadn't quite seen the Ponds at it. Whenever she saw them it was all about the running and escaping and whatnot.
Amy smiled sheepishly and put down some of the equipment she'd been holding, "We think it's been 10 years. Not for you or Earth, but for us. 10 years older, 10 years of you. On and off."
"Look at you know, all grown up," the Doctor gestured to the not-so 7 year old little girl.
They heard the front door bursting open followed the by hasty stomps of boots, "Block the rear entrances," a man ordered.
"Clear!" another went.
"Cut the power line."
Finally, a group of soldiers entered the kitchen with guns aimed at the trio, "Trap one, kitchen secured."
They turned back to see the backdoor being covered by soldiers as well.
"Trap three. Back garden secured."
And then they turned back to the kitchen to see Rory being forced inside with no trousers on, "There are soldiers all over my house and I'm in my pants."
Amy raised her eyebrows, "My whole life, I've dreamed of saying that, and I miss it by being someone else."
A blonde woman made her way through the soldiers towards the kitchen, calm as ever, "All these muscles, and they still don't know how to knock," she flashed a smile to the group, "Sorry about the raucous entrance. Spike in artron energy reading at this address. In the light of the last 24 hours, we had to check it out and, uh, the dogs do love a runout. Hello. Kate Stewart, head of scientific research at UNIT," she looked directly at the Doctor while pulling out a scanner, "And, with dress sense like that..." she held it to the Doctor and got a view of his two beating hearts, You must be the Doctor. I hoped it'd be you."
"Oh goodie, UNIT," Minerva spoke up and flashed a fake smile.
"Not a fan?" Kate looked at her, bemused by the expressions on the ginger's face.
"Well, this is the institution that wanted to prod and poke me with a stick like I was some lab experiment," Minerva took a mock pause and sighed for effect, her hand rubbing her stomach while she thought, "Nope, can't find it in myself to be happy about their presence."
"You're case unidentified case 407," she recalled such closed case and smiled.
"Oh, even better," Minerva flapped a hand at the woman, her fake smile vanishing, "I even have a pet name!"
"Am I missing something?" Amy made a face and looked at the alien pair in confusion.
"Long story short when I was a human UNIT wanted to find me because I was an unidentified alien," Minerva shrugged.
"Which was closed in 2009," reminded Kate who walked further into the kitchen.
"Sorry," Minerva said while looking at the Doctor, sensing his comical amusement of her, "I'm pregnant and moody, paranoia is bound to happen somewhere in there."
"Congratulations by the way," Kate was polite to say, taking in the ginger's attitude with amusement much like anyone else in the room, "Due date?"
"Less than 2 months," the Doctor wrapped an arm around his very paranoid wife, "And I can't say I care for the way you entered this house. She's moody enough."
"Hey," Minerva elbowed him in the ribs, "Only I can say that," she pointed at him then looked at Kate, "Since when does UNIT run with military force?"
"Since me. UNIT's been adapting. Well, I dragged them along, kicking and screaming, which made it sound like more fun than it actually was."
"Well then we can assume that you know something about these cubes?"
Kate swayed her head and delayed the answer for a minute, "Not as much as we'd hoped. I've been freighting them in from around the world for testing. So far, we've subjected them to temperatures of +/-200° Celsius, simulated a water depth of 5 miles, dropped one out of a helicopter at 10,000 feet and rolled our best tank over it. Always intact."
"That's impressive," the Doctor frowned, "I don't want them to be impressive. I want them vulnerable, with a nice Achilles's heel."
"We don't know how they got here, what they're made of, or why they're here."
"And yet all around the world people are already taking them into their homes," Minerva sighed, "Well, except my family - I've phoned them not to dare bring them in."
"Good call," commented Kate and sighed, "People are taking them to work, taking pictures, making films, posting them on Flickr and YouTube. Within 3 hours, the cubes had 1,000 separate Twitter accounts."
"Eugh," the Doctor groaned, "Twitter!"
"I've recommended we treat this as a hostile incursion," Kate explained, "Gather them all up and lock them in a secure facility, but that would take massive international agreement and cooperation."
"And you don't have that because there is no such evidence it's needed," Minerva assumed and crossed her arms, "Meaning we've better get some."
"The cubes arrived in plain sight, in vast quantities, as the sun rose," the Doctor reviewed what they knew so far, "So what does that tell us?"
Amy made a thinking face, "Maybe they wanted to be seen, noticed."
"More than that," Minerva helped, "They want to be observed. So we observe them. Stay with them, round the clock. Watch the cubes. Day and night. And that's good news for me because nowadays I can't really say I enjoy walking around nor running..." she said midway towards the living room.
"We hadn't noticed," the Doctor chuckled lightly.
Her response to that was a cube thrown at his chest.
"When did you say the due date was?" Amy whispered.
"I've gotta get an exact date," the Doctor hung his head and let them laugh at him.
~ 0 ~
Minerva's plan was good, sensible, easy...and completely boring. The group had joined Minerva on the living room couch to watch the cubes on the table in front of them. The Doctor was lying upside down with his head hanging down, "Four days...Nothing!" he snatched a cube from the table and turned it over, "Nothing! Not a single change in any cube, anywhere in the world," he set the cube back in its place and sat upside on the couch, "Four days! And I'm still in your lounge!" he looked at Amy and Rory.
"It was her plan," Amy pointed at Minerva on his other side.
Minerva raised her hands in an uncaring motion, "It's a good plan, I just never said it was an exciting plan."
"It's a patient plan," the Doctor rubbed his face in frustration, "And you know I hate being patient! Patience is for wimps!"
"Think it's the other way around, dear," she mumbled and earned a hard look from him. She sighed and motioned for him to get up, "Go do something if it'll make you feel better. We'll watch the cubes."
"That's why I married you!" he grabbed her face and planted a kiss on her lips before jumping up and rushing off to do some tasks around the house.
Minerva sighed and got comfortable on the couch, "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the man I married," Amy snickered while Rory shook his head in equal amusement.
By the time Doctor returned to the group the leftover trio had rearranged their seating arrangement to Amy sitting in between Minerva and Rory. Amy held a notepad in her hands with a pen and had both Minerva and Rory peering over her shoulders.
"No, see, I don't think that one's good," Rory was pointing at something on the paper.
"Why not?" Amy frowned and looked at him, "It's a good one."
"Michael? No thank you."
"What's going on?" the Doctor sat on the armrest by Amy.
"Oh, back in the game?" Minerva looked up from the notepad to her husband.
"Yes," he beamed and fixed his jacket, "Nothing like a bit of activity to pass the time. How long was I gone?"
"One hour," she informed and laughed at his face, "Oh shush, come and look at this instead." The Doctor took a seat beside Minerva. "Look," she scooted grabbed the notepad from Amy, "Isn't it amazing? Amy and Rory made a list of names for us!"
The Doctor took the notepad to study the boys and girls names his companions had come up with, "When did you guys do this?" he curiously asked.
"In our free time," Amy shrugged, "We've circled ones we think you could like but it's all open."
"And please side with me and say the name 'Michael' is not a good one," Rory added while giving Amy a hard look for the option.
"I think...blimey, I don't know what to think," the Doctor admitted and made Minerva chuckle as she took the notepad back from him.
"I agree," she sighed, "There's just so many I don't know what to choose. The list we made is just as big as this one and we couldn't decide on anything either."
"Well I really like the name Michael," Amy said.
"I think something more common, normal," Rory shrugged, "Like Tristan, remember? You said you liked that one. Riley?"
"What about you, Rory?" the Doctor thought to ask.
"Well," Rory thought about it for a moment, "For a girl, maybe Amaya? Amaya's nice."
Minerva shared a glance with the Doctor, both agreeing it wasn't a bad name. Minerva marked a little dash on the name Amaya in the list, "That's one," she mumbled, "And I don't know but I like Chantal?"
"Always girl names, hm?" the Doctor teased her preference, "And a boy? What about boy names?"
Minerva raised her eyebrows and gazed at the list again, "Um...don't know..." she tilted her head and studied the list, so unsure of it all it made her feel sick, "...okay, I think I need some minty leaves..."
And then she recalled she had finished up her stock one day ago.
"Uh oh," Minerva made a face, "Martian-"
"To the Monsoon we go," he declared and took the notepad from her to place on the table.
Minerva moved to stand up but came to the conclusion, after three futile attempts, that she couldn't get up on her own, "Um..." she remained still, "...I think I have reached the point where I can no longer stand on my own..." she looked around and tried not to show her clear disappointment.
"It's alright," the Doctor reached for her hands and gently pulled her up - with the help of Amy who was closest to them.
"No, it's not," Minerva sighed, "I can't even get up from a freaking couch? Are you kidding me!?" she scoffed and hastily made her way to the TARDIS.
"Get the due date, get the due date," Amy coughed 'discreetly' and went to follow Minerva.
"Wish I could say mood swings stop like swollen hands, but..." Rory patted the Doctor on the arm, "...yeah..."
Minerva would've stayed more upset if she hadn't ran into Brian inside the console room, "Brian, what are you doing here?" she blinked.
"The Doctor told me to watch the cubes," he shrugged.
"You are too good of a man, Brian," Minerva chuckled, "That was four days ago!"
"Oh!" the man stood up, "Doesn't time fly when you're alone with your thoughts."
"Clever Girl," the Doctor entered the TARDIS and made the ginger turn around, "Let's get you to the Monsoon, yeah? Some relaxing time and a restock on mint leaves."
Minerva crossed her arms, "Well, I guess, but you'll have to stick by me 24/7 because I probably won't be able to stand up from anywhere."
"You're going to be okay," he lightly chuckled and pecked her lips, "That's what I'm here for. Hey," he looked back at the others, "why don't you two come along?"
"They can't just go off like that," Brian frowned.
"Can't they?" the Doctor repeated, slightly confused, "Can't you?" he asked the Ponds, "That's how it goes, isn't it?"
"I've got my job," Rory raised a hand as he reminded.
"Oh, yes, Rory, the universe is awaiting, but you have a little job to go to."
"It's not little," Rory frowned, taking offense to something the Doctor had said without thinking and certainly without bad meaning, "It's important to me."
"It's alright, Rory," Minerva assured and leaned on the Doctor, "We'll go on our own - and hey, I'll even bring back the list of names the Doctor and I made."
"I'll have the TARDIS set to every Earth newsfeed," the Doctor announced as the Ponds and Brian began to leave.
Minerva moved up to the console and set them to de-materialize, "It's okay, Martian," she flicked a couple switches and turned to him with a smile, "You still have a very pregnant and moody wife with you," she gestured to herself.
The Doctor knew she was being sarcastic and chuckled, "You're my lovely, sassy, clever wife," he corrected but earned a scoff in response, "I mean it," he lifted her chin with a finger and placed a kiss on her lips.
"You've got a wife with swollen hands," she wiggled her fingers for show, "One who needs freaking leaves so she doesn't vomit and one who can't even stand on her own anymore," she sighed and shut her eyes, her voice falling to a whisper, "How the hell can you stand me?"
"You're talking about this like it's some job I have to do. I love you, Kaeya," the Doctor set his hands on either side of her head, "and none of those things make me love you less," he proceeded to pepper-kiss her entire face until he got her to smile - even a small laugh broke out!
Minerva opened her eyes and smiled brightly, "Take me away, Martian," she pleaded and rested a hand on his cheek, "Forget the Monsoon, just take me out. I really need it."
"What my Clever Girl wants she gets," the Doctor declared his famous saying and kissed her again before following through.
~ 0 ~
It was 9 months before Minerva and the Doctor would make an appearance on Earth. Of course, the 9 months was for Amy and Rory...for the pair it had been merely a week.
"You've got flowers?" Minerva called as she headed for the doors of the TARDIS.
"Got 'em!" the Doctor exclaimed as he followed his wife out the blue box holding a massive bouquet of flowers in front of him.
"Then out we go, it's their anniversary, after all," Minerva beamed and shut the doors after them. They'd left the TARDIS upstairs in the Pond's home and were planning on leaving very soon so no one would notice it.
Once they were nearing the back yard they started hearing Amy's voice carrying through, apparently she was leaving them some message over the phone, "...he's here tonight. Being as it's our wedding anniversary, we thought you might've dropped by. I left you messages."
"We know!" Minerva exclaimed behind the ginger with excitement, "Happy anniversary!"
Amy turned around in time to be handed the flowers, "Come with us," the Doctor motioned to be followed with Minerva, "And bring your husband!"
Confused, yet curious, Amy looked at Rory by the grill and hurried after the alien pair.
~ 0 ~
The Ponds were brought to a lovely hotel room in the 19th century, both dressed in period clothing. The Doctor was motioning around the room while babbling on the explanation and background of the place, "26th of June 1819. The recently opened Savoy Hotel. Dinner, bed, and breakfast for two. Bonjour, bonjour, merci, Auguste. You'll be back before the party's over. They won't even notice you went. No complications, I promise."
Rory grabbed the Doctor and placed a kiss on his cheek, leaving an amused Doctor, "Ooh!"
"You'll love it!" laughed Minerva as she took the Doctor towards the TARDIS to let the Ponds enjoy their anniversary.
And then the night passed...
The group of travelers sat along the edge of a road, Amy and Rory's clothing in a disheveled manner. The Doctor let out a big breath, "Bit of a shock, Zygon ship under the Savoy, half the staff imposters. Still! It's all fixed now, eh?"
He received hard looks from the Ponds.
And so came the next attempt of an anniversary present.
Bit of a shock...it didn't go so well either.
The travelers burst into a royal room and the Doctor went for a leap on the bed. Crossed, Amy shut the doors behind them, "I thought we were going home!"
"You can't miss a good wedding, Amy," Minerva tried to be cheerful about it...until the Doctor said his next words.
"Under the bed. Under the bed!" he hopped off and started crawling under the bed.
"Oh no, no, no, no!" Minerva shook her head and flapped her hands about to show her utter refusal, "No! I cannot and will not doing that!"
"Minerva!" she heard the Doctor's call from underneath the bed, now joined by Amy and Rory.
"No!" she snapped and put her hands on her hips as she went for the side of it, "I'll face them myself!"
"It's the KING OF ENGLAND!"
"And I'm bloody Queen of a planet," she scoffed loudly and turned to face the door, "We'll see who wins this argument."
"This is your fault," the Doctor hissed to Amy.
"What? Somebody was talking and I just said "yes."
"To wedding vows," Rory corrected, "You just married Henry VIII on our anniversary."
"And now my wife's about to face them!" the Doctor groaned and started wiggling himself out from under the bed.
Minerva stood straight and tall as King Henry VIII entered the room with a sword in hand, "Henry, sit down," she began with loud yell that did manage to freeze the King and even his soldiers, "I am pregnant, I am moody and I am one Queen you do not want to mess with," she warned.
The King looked at his soldiers genuinely in question. The Doctor, standing from the other side of the bed, made a cutting motion on his neck - the poor human King was in for it.
~ 0 ~
The ending of the anniversary gift attempts would see the return of the Ponds back in their home to finish celebrating their anniversary party with a toast. Minerva and the Doctor watched it all happen from the threshold of the kitchen with smiles.
Brian came towards them looking troubled, "How long were they away?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Brian," Minerva looked around innocently.
"Because they're wearing totally different clothes from earlier."
"Oh..." yes, Minerva now accepted her attention span had reached a zero.
"Seven weeks," the Doctor answered the question, "We got a bit sidetracked...a lot."
Brian sighed as he asked his next question, "What happened to the other people who traveled with you?"
Minerva looked up at the Doctor with uneasiness, knowing the previous companions were a delicate topic for him, "Look Brian, what happens in the end is just...what always happens," she lightly shrugged, "Before them was my friend Donna, and she left because she wanted a life on Earth. Before her was Martha, and she left because she wanted her life. Before her was...Rose, and, um, she stayed back because...she realized her place wasn't here anymore. And before her...so many people, but in the end they all leave for some reason. And yes, we're not going to lie, some do get left behind but never because we choose to, it's because it's what happens. And a few..." she reached for the Doctor's hand, knowing that was the worst truth of it all, "Rare, but...some died."
"Not them," the Doctor spoke up with determination as he looked at Amy and Rory, "Not them, Brian. Never them."
~ 0 ~
After the party was over, the travelers remained to help with the clean up. While Minerva did the light work like clearing a table, the Doctor came over to her with a hesitant look on his face.
"What's the matter?" she grew concerned the moment she saw him.
"Do you think...do you think we could stay here for a while?" he asked in a low whisper that Minerva nearly missed what he'd said.
"You want to stay? Like, actually live through regular time...inside a house? With doors?" she pointed a finger to the backdoor.
The Doctor nodded, "Yeah, I mean, we still have to ask but...I need to know if you're okay with it."
"Me?" she pointed at herself and chuckled, "Of course! But...can I ask why?"
"I know the Ponds are trying to wean us off a bit...and I understand they want a human life too, I just miss them..."
Minerva had to chuckle at how nervous he seemed while explaining. "Well don't let me stop you. I think it's good for us to take a stop. I'm not, uh-" she rubbed her stomach, "-exactly in the condition to be running a lot, so count me in."
"Really?"
"Mhm! Let's go ask them right now, then," she dropped the rag she held and took his hand, giving him a peck on the lips, "Come along, Martian, we might be getting a third home!" she chuckled and led him off.
~ 0 ~
And so passed the days the Ponds remained living at home, with the Doctor and Minerva. They sat on the couch watching television like normal people did on Earth. The Doctor had prepared his famous fish fingers and custard for himself and anyone else who wanted - save for Minerva, she still detested the combination.
"If I had a restaurant, this would be all I'd serve," the Doctor declared with a mouthful of food.
"That's because it's the only thing you can do without burning down a building," Minerva remarked and laughed to herself.
"Let me remind you I've ran restaurants before!"
"No way," it was Amy who shot him down that time, earning a hard look.
"Who do you think invented the Yorkshire pudding?"
Rory chuckled, "You didn't."
"Pudding, yet savory. Sound familiar?"
Minerva sighed as he continued to eat.
~ 0 ~
The next day would find another calm day for everyone (or so they thought). Minerva sat alone in the living room with a Wii control tennis racket in her hand. The game was paused as the Doctor had gone out to the kitchen on a request from Minerva - again. There were three empty glasses set on the side table by the side of the couch, all having contained milkshakes she had asked for one hour ago.
"Here we go!" the Doctor ran into the living room holding a fork and glass with mangoes and powder chili over it, "Racket! Racket Racket!" he wiggled his fingers for the racket Minerva held.
Minerva could have cared less for the racket as she let it drop to get her glass, "Mmm," she savored the taste already.
"Why's it in a glass again?" he made a face as she stuck her fork into one of the pieces of fruit, "Rory asked, not me," he quickly added afterwards, making her roll her eyes.
"Because my grandmother used to put it in a glass when I was younger," Minerva shrugged, "It's just a Souza tradition - mm, and a good one!" she chewed her fruit with delight.
Seeing she was satisfied for the moment, the Doctor returned to his tennis match on the television. He soon got into it and was jumping and babbling all about, occasionally getting a word from Minerva about his childish behavior over a video game.
"Oh!" he put his hands in the air after winning, "That's second set: Doctor! Ha ha! Oh, if Fred Perry could see me now, eh? He'd probably ask for his shorts back."
"You're so stupid," Minerva laughed then put a hand on her stomach, "And I'm pretty sure your unborn child agrees with me."
"Perhaps," he pointed at her then quickly dropped his head to her stomach to feel a kick from the baby, "or perhaps he's warning me he's going to beat me at a round later!"
Minerva couldn't help laugh at that, "Yeah, that's it!"
The Doctor gave her a kiss before returning to his game, continuing practicing for his child could later beat him and he wanted to put up a good competition. He was so focused on the game he didn't realize a cube hovered in front of him for a moment, "Third set, decider. Come on, then. Out of the way, dear, I'm trying to-" he blinked and straightened up, "Whatever you are, this planet, these people, are precious to me. And I will defend them to my last breath. Is that all you can do, hover? I had a metal dog could do that," the cube opened up to reveal a gun, "Ooh! Ooh, that's clever. What's that?" but it fired and made him duck, "Whew!"
"Ah!" Minerva cried as her cup of fruit fell on the cushion beside her, "Hey!" she frowned at the cube, "That was my fruit!"
"And we're off!" the Doctor declared and yanked her off the couch to run out of the room.
"What's going on?" Minerva caught her breath and leaned on the wall while he peered back into the room.
"They've woken up, my guess," he gathered from the cube downloading information from the television.
Rory dashed to them from the kitchen, wearing the same confused yet awed face the two aliens had, "Minerva, Doctor! Hi. The cube in there, it just opened?"
"Hey!" Amy called as she ran down the stairs, "The cube upstairs just spiked me and took my pulse!"
The Doctor laughed, excited for some reason, "Really?! Ours fired laser bolts and, now, it's surfing the net!"
"Not really a reason to be happy about dear," Minerva reached for his arm, "We've gone over this, remember?"
Brian came in from the front door and hurriedly went to the group, "You're never going to believe this. My cube just moved. It rattled," and the Doctor laughed again, giving Minerva a kiss on the head and re-entering the living room.
"Are you kidding me?" she called but didn't follow.
The home phone rang which prompted for Rory to go answer it meanwhile the rest figured out what was going on.
Minerva leaned off the wall and straightened herself up, "Well then, I guess we're in business now," she put on a fake smile for the humans, "Anyone want to take a crack at what's happening?" no answers came from either Amy or Brian, "Yeah..." Minerva sighed, "...me neither."
"I have to get to work," announced Rory as he returned from the call, "They need all the help they can get."
"Let me come help out," Brian volunteered.
"Take your dad to work night, brilliant!" Rory shrugged and looked at Amy next, "Okay, are you going to be all right here?"
She gave him a kiss and warned, "Keep away from the cubes."
"All right," Rory motioned for Brian to follow out the house.
"And why are you grinning?" Minerva sighed when the Doctor returned with a toothy grin on his face.
The Doctor showed them the psychic paper, "We're wanted at the Tower of London."
~ 0 ~
At the Tower of London, Kate Stewart was bringing the trio down a hallway while she explained the situation, "Every cube across the whole world activated at the same moment."
"Now we're in business," the Doctor rubbed his hands together, "You sent me a message to my psychic paper. You know, I'm almost impressed."
"Don't be rude," Minerva elbowed him and flashed an apologetic smile at Kate.
Amy walked behind them looking slightly nervous of their whereabouts, "Secret base beneath the Tower? I hope we're not here because we know too much."
"Yes, I've got officers trained in beheading," Kate quipped, "Also, ravens of death," she added before leaving.
"I like her," Amy concluded.
"Yeah," the Doctor agreed.
Kate brought them into a lab room where many cubes were trapped in sealed rooms to be monitored, "There are 50 being monitored and more coming in all the time. I don't know how useful it is. Every cube is behaving individually. There's no meaningful pattern. Some respond to proximity, some create mood swings."
"What's this one?" Minerva had stopped in front of a cube that seemed still.
"Try the door," Kate gestured.
Minerva shrugged and opened it, only to let the Chicken Dance be heard all around the room, "Gotcha," she blinked, expecting anything else but that.
"On a loop!" Kate called and Minerva quickly shut the door.
"This stays closed at all times," Minerva pointed and hurriedly left.
Kate then led them out the room to be brought into the computer room where several scientists were working on different screens. "This is the latest," Kate said upon entering.
The Doctor headed up to a computer and typed on its keyboard, "Oh, dear. Systems breach at the Pentagon, China, every African nation, the Middle East."
"I've got governments screaming for explanations and no idea what to tell them. I'm lost, Doctor," Kate stressed, "We all are."
The Doctor looked back at her with a smile, "Don't despair, Kate. Your dad never did," Kate blinked and stared, "Kate Stewart. Heading up UNIT, changing the way they work. How could you not be? Why did you drop "Lethbridge"?"
"I didn't want any favors," she shrugged, "Though he guided me, even to the end. "Science leads," he always told me, said he'd learnt that from an old friend."
"We don't let him down. We don't let this planet down."
As an alert beeped, the nearby technician called to the others, "They've stopped. The cubes. Across the world. They just shut down."
Kate was stumped, "Active for 47 minutes and then they just die?"
"Perhaps dormant," offered Minerva, "They wouldn't just die with nothing gained."
"Then why shut down?" Amy asked, equally confused as them.
"I don't know. I don't know. I need to think," the Doctor declared and turned to leave, frustrated with it all, "I need some air. Who has an underground base? Terrible ventilation!"
Minerva raised a hand to Kate, "I'll take care of it," she assured and went after the Doctor, "Amy! I'm going to need your help up the stairs..."
Amy chuckled and followed, "That's what I'm here for."
~ 0 ~
Up above ground, on a wall overlooking the Thames, sat the trio of travelers. The Doctor was pretty glum about the situation, not to mention guilty, "The moment they arrived, I should've made sure they were collected and burned. That is what I should've done."
"I don't think you could've if you wanted to, dear," Minerva shook her head, "We needed evidence and we didn't have any."
"Absolutely nobody would've listened," Amy agreed with Minerva.
The Doctor considered the perspective but was looking at Amy sadly, taking him away from the current problem, "You're thinking of stopping, aren't you? You and Rory."
It was easy to see Amy was startled with the change of subject as she stuttered, "N-no, no, I mean...we haven't made a decision."
"But you're considering it," Minerva said quietly, a sad smile wearing down on her face.
"Maybe. I don't know. We don't know," Amy shrugged, unable to find the right words to describe the situation, "Well, our lives have changed so much. There was a time - there were years - when I couldn't live without you two. Um, when just the whole everyday thing would drive me crazy. But since you dropped us back here, since you gave us this house, you know, we've built a life. But I don't know if I can have both."
"Why?" the Doctor curiously asked.
"Because they pull at each other. Because they pull at me and because the traveling is starting to feel like running away."
"That's not what it is."
"Oh, come on, look at you. Four days in a lounge and you go crazy."
"But that's not what it is," insisted Minerva, "When we were younger traveling is all we thought of. This spot right here is merely one corner of one country, in one continent on one planet that's a corner of a galaxy, that's a corner of a universe that is forever growing and shrinking and creating and destroying and never remaining the same for a single millisecond and there is so much, so much, to see - and we want to see it all," she reached for the Doctor's hand, gripping it tightly, "All of us together."
The Doctor sighed lightly, "Amy, we're not running away from things. We are running to them, before they flare and fade forever. It's all right. Our lives won't run the same. They can't. One day, soon, maybe, you'll stop. We've known for a while."
"Well, it's not like we want complete out of your lives," Amy tried to intervene politely, "We want to see our God child grow up, remember?" she offered a sad smile up, "We want to be part of your lives, just..."
"Without the constant traveling," Minerva guessed. Amy gave a sheepish nod and looked to the side, feeling incredibly guilty for hurting her two friends like this, "It's alright, Amy," Minerva said quietly, "You've got lives to make on this beautiful planet. Don't worry, you always get what you want from us so start making your little schedules for us to follow and come by for visits."
While Amy laughed the Doctor became pensive over his wife's words, "They got what they wanted..." he whispered, attracting both ginger's gazes.
"Who did?" Amy asked, glancing at Minerva to see if she was confused as well.
"The cubes!" he jumped to his feet and turned to them with wide eyes, "That's why they stopped. Come on."
Minerva groaned and held her hands up, "Help, please?" she asked shyly. She severely hated not being able to get up on her own anymore.
~ 0 ~
As it turned out, the Doctor was right about the cubes getting what they wanted. Each cube had taken a different observation of the human life aspect. All the cubes now decided to have a number on its side: a countdown. A countdown that would probably lead to some catastrophic event for the planet. Kate was promptly ordered to spread the word out that all the cubes had to be disposed of before the countdown reached zero. And then came the Doctor's last idea...one that Minerva was no where near happy about.
"I swear to God, get out of there!" Minerva repeatedly pounded on the glass of the chamber in which the Doctor had locked himself in with a cube that now had a '2' marked on its side. He apparently wanted to experience what the effect the cube would set loose upon reaching zero. But Minerva wouldn't have it...so the Doctor sneaked inside the chamber when she wasn't looking.
"Minerva, calm down," Amy was beside her with Kate on the other side, all three of them watching the Doctor wait for the cube inside the chamber.
"I can't calm down!" Minerva snapped, "How do you want me to calm down when my idiot of a husband locked himself with a killer cube!" she gestured to said husband and cube.
"But it's not good for the baby," Amy tried to remind without further provoking Minerva. Nowadays Minerva was more irritable and with almost anything.
"Oh, sorry, but having the father purposely stick himself inside a room with a killer cube is much better," Minerva crossed her arms with a loud huff, "If he dies, I'll kill him - and then I'll kill him again."
The cube changed to '0'.
Inside the chamber, the Doctor watched the cube slid its lid open, "Geronimo," he muttered.
"What's happening?" Kate asked and leaned forwards on the glass.
The Doctor did the same on the table to see inside the cube, but it was empty. Amy tried peering through the glass with her nose nearly pressed up against it, "Well, what's in there?"
"There is nothing in here," he finally answered, sounding disappointed.
"Then get out of there!" Minerva slammed a hand on the glass. The Doctor obeyed and stood up from his chair, exiting the chamber all the meanwhile staring at the cube in case it did anything behind his back. Minerva rushed up to him as fast as she could, "I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!" she mumbled incessantly as she hugged him tightly.
The Doctor felt incredibly guilty for pushing her emotions when he knew it was dangerous, "I'm really sorry, love, but it was necessary."
"Screw you," she pushed him away from her, glaring him down, "It was not. Kate told you it wasn't. I told you it wasn't. The entire bloody team told you it wasn't. If this baby," she pointed to her stomach, "would've been born right now it would have been your fault."
"Minerva," the Doctor sighed. She was more angry than necessary but he couldn't blame her; her emotions were radical by this point and he seemed to always push them.
"No, screw you," she declared once more and walked off, "Kate!" she yelled and immediately the blonde woman ran after her.
They returned to the technician room where all monitors were set to view the streets. Minerva was studying them along with Kate when the Doctor and Amy caught up.
"They're all acting the same," Minerva spoke coldly when the Doctor stopped beside them, "The cubes are doing nothing."
"They're empty so we're safe, right?" Kate looked at the pair for a comforting answer.
"No, Kate," Minerva sighed, rubbing her forehead and trying not to snap at the innocent blonde, "We are actually very far from being safe. The cubes have all acted in a deliberate manner so all this is also part of their plan."
"Minerva, Doctor, look," Amy pointed at the screens, apparently seeing that something was wrong. All the monitors showed people seemingly having problems with their chests then falling to the ground.
"They're CCTV feeds from across the world, showing the same," the tech near them explained as more monitors turned on to show the same events.
"People are dying," Kate scowled.
"But why?" Minerva asked the important question, "And how? Tech," she pointed at the man, "We need information on how the people are being affected."
The Doctor started to pace while thinking outloud, "The cubes brought people close together. They opened and -" he yelped in sheer pain from his chest.
"What's the matter?" Amy asked as he fell onto a chair behind him.
He held his chest and struggled not to yell, "Uh! Ah! I don't know!"
"Posters are logging a global surge in heart failure, cardiac arrest," the tech gave answer to Minerva's order.
"That's it!" the Doctor pointed at him, "Ah! Ah! Oh! Only one heart. Other one's not working," he pounded on said side of the not-working-heart.
"This is what I meant about completely unnecessary," Minerva crossed her arms, "If you hadn't gone into that chamber none of this would be happening. Once again, I am right."
"Okay, maybe we should forget about who's right and wrong and get him to a hospital," Amy gestured to the Time Lord in distress.
"No, Amy, never ignore the fact you are right," Minerva shook her head, "always acknowledge it."
"You're a real jerk right now," Amy accused and yet didn't sound rude at all.
Minerva shrugged with acceptance, "When you carried a baby you were outcold - never feeling anything save the contractions. That has not been my case," it was Amy's turn to accept that fact.
While the two women had talked, the Doctor had slipped back to the monitors. He intended to figure out how the cubes had managed such a powerful move against the humans. It was the light power. They had cut it and used it. Not too later, they had discovered where the closest power station was to them and discovered it was Rory's work; the hospital.
With Kate's aid, they drove to the hospital to hopefully find Rory and Brian before something happened to them. Kate was sent back to the tower to stop more attacks from occurring. Getting somewhere within the hospital was hard enough with all the chaos between incoming patients and the employees but the most difficult thing was the Doctor's incapability of taking two steps before shouting in pain and stopping there and then.
Minerva was still fairly upset with him for his earlier action in the chamber but it was difficult to remain indifferent to his pain, "Remind me again how long you can last with one heart?" she scratched her head.
"Not much longer," the Doctor managed to answer while trying to locate the wormhole portal with his sonic, "But I need to locate the wormhole portal. Hello. Hello!" he turned to a small girl standing on the side next to the wall, holding a cube in her hands, "Oh. Hello. You are giving off some very strange signals," the girl's response was changing her face and eyes to a glowing blue.
"Oh my God," Amy held onto Minerva's arm.
"Outlier droid monitoring everything. If I shut her down, I can..." the Doctor lifted the sonic to the girl's neck, "Ah. It's all right. It's all right," with the girl swaying as if weak, the tried to balance her but his own pain took him over, "Minerva, I can't, Minerva!" and he slid to the floor, "I can't do it. I need both hearts. Ah! Aah!"
Minerva tried bending down to aid him but she found it completely impossible, "Ooh, I can't either!"
Meanwhile, Amy had found defibrillator across the hall and nabbed it to use on the Doctor, "All right, desperate measures."
"What? No!" the Doctor saw her intentions and outright refused it, "No! No no no no. That won't work. I'm a Time Lord! Minerva tell her!"
Amy stopped in front of him and Minerva and looked at the ginger woman, "Your call but I do remind you that you can't bend down and we have an alien invasion to stop."
Minerva's eyes flickered to hers and the Doctor, "Do it fast."
"What!? No!" the Doctor shouted while Amy got on her knees and did her job, "No, Amy!" he cried as she opened his shirt.
"Alright, clear!" she applied the charge to his chest and got him back.
Like a reflex he jerked upright, "Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!" he jumped to his feel, suddenly full of energy, "Welcome back, Lefty. Whoa-hoa! Two hearts. Whoo! Back in the game," Minerva was surprised with the abrupt kiss she received on her lips, "Never agree to that again!"
Minerva lifted an eyebrow, "I'll stop when you stop putting yourself in unnecessary situations."
The Doctor opened his mouth then took the easy way out and turned away, "C'mon!" he pointed and walked off. Minerva rolled her eyes and and followed after him with Amy beside her.
Finding the portal with the Doctor back to normal turned out to be not that difficult. It was located inside the lift and unsurprisingly led into some sort of spacecraft room. The room was filled with several gurneys and two Williams lying unconsciously at the end of the row.
"Rory!" Amy ran towards her husband.
The Doctor called for her and tossed a small jar to her he'd fished from his pocket. At the confused face he elaborated, "Seborean smelling salts. Outlawed in seven galaxies."
Amy shrugged and used the jar to wake Rory up, getting effective results within a second.
"Welcome back Rory," Minerva chuckled at the comical expressions Rory had on his face.
"Get them out of here," the Doctor ordered Rory and Amy, "You too. Now. Minerva-"
"Nope," she covered his mouth and stared at Amy, "Use the salt on Brian and do what the Doctor told you."
Amy used the salts on Brian and Rory started getting off the gurney, "But what about you and the Doctor? What are you going to do?"
"Absolutely no idea," the Doctor managed to push Minerva's hand down, "Now get him through the portal," he helped push Brian's gurney towards the lift while urging Minerva to take leave as well. However, they were stopped upon being fired by a mysterious man in a black cloak. He was rather tall with cracked and wrinkled skin - and bald.
"So many of them, crawling the planet, seeping into every corner," the man said, his voice sounding like a projection. Amy and Rory kept going with Brian who was more than alert and stunned at his environment. The man disappeared and reappeared in front of a computer screen.
"Should've left," the Doctor mumbled to Minerva as he took her hand and gripped it tightly before moving to the other side of the screen.
"Haven't done that since you regenerated," Minerva whispered back, "never happening again so dream on."
The Doctor sighed and studied the man before them, "But I preferred you not to be in front of this..." he trailed off, swallowing hard, "The Shakri."
Minerva raised her eyebrows at that, "But you said they were a myth."
"A myth to keep the young of Gallifrey in their place," the Doctor agreed with her words, "but apparently not..."
"The Shakri exist in all of time and none. We travel alone and together," the Shakri elaborated, "The Seven."
"The Shakri craft, connected to Earth through 7 portals in 7 minutes," the Doctor finally understood that importance of the number '7', "Ah, but why?"
"Serving the word of the Tally."
"But why use cubes?" Minerva asked curiously, "And more importantly, why choose Earth?"
"Not Earth - Humanity," the Shakri corrected her, "The Shakri will halt the human plague before the spread."
"Erase humanity before it colonizes space," the Doctor said, slowly bringing himself and Minerva to the same side of the screen where the Shakri stood, "We thought the cubes were an invasion, the start of war."
"The human contagion only! Must be eliminated."
"Excuse you," Minerva scowled, "They are not contagion and if you call them that you're going to feel the wrath of an angry pregnant woman. I don't care if you're some myth my husband was afraid of as a kid you do not scare me, buddy. I'll eliminate you."
The Doctor used his grip on her hand to pull her back from the steps she'd taken towards the Shakri. At that moment, Amy and Rory came running back, pretty much hearing everything said, "And we'll help eliminate you," Amy declared.
"Oi! Didn't I tell you two to go?" the Doctor looked between the couple.
"You should've learnt, by now," Rory answered as if it were obvious.
"Yeah, and what is this "Tally," anyway?" Amy stared at the Shakri, expecting to be answered fast.
"You'd recognize it as Judgement day," Minerva shrugged, "or the Reckoning."
"What? Don't either of you know?" Amy raised an eyebrow.
"Don't look me, to me this was all just a myth and the Doctor never wanted to find out!"
"Before the Closure, there is the Tally. The Shakri serves the Tally!"
"The pest controllers of the universe," the Doctor relayed, "That's how the tales went, isn't it?"
"Wow, that's a seriously weird bedtime story," Amy stared at the couple in front of them with scowl, "Can you not tell my godchild one of those?"
"Oh so you'd prefer we tell him about the wolf in your grandmother's nightdress?" the Doctor countered, making Amy think about her previous statement, "So! Here you are," he gestured to the Shakri, continuing where they left off, "depositing slug pellets all over the Earth, made attractive so humans will collect them, hoping to find something beautiful inside. Because that's what they are. Not pests or plague - creatures of hope, forever building and reaching. Making mistakes, of course, every life form does, but - but - they learn. And they strive for greater and they achieve it. You want a tally? Put their achievements against their failings, through the whole of time. I will back humanity against the Shakri every time."
"And so will I," Minerva added without a doubt.
The Shakri didn't look the least bit moved, "The Tally must be met. The second wave will be released," he declared and got to work on keyboard by him.
"Um, what does that mean?" Amy nudged Minerva.
"That probably means more cubes are going to be released," sighed the ginger, "which will then kill more people."
"The human plague, breeding and fighting. And, when cornered, their rage to destroy. You're too late, Doctor. The Tally shall be met," and the Shakri disappeared.
"He's gone?" Rory frowned.
"He was never really here. Just the ship's automated interface. Like a talking propaganda poster," the Doctor ran over to the computer with the sonic in hand, "I can stop the second wave. I can disconnect all the Shakri craft from their portals, leave them drifting in the dark space. Ah, but all those people who were near the cubes, so many of them will have died."
"I restarted one of your hearts," reminded Amy which instigated for a proper plan.
"You'd need mass defibrillation," Rory pointed out but it didn't look like it was a problem for the Doctor.
"Of course," the Doctor beamed, "Ah, beautiful! But, Ponds, Ponds, we're going to go one better than that. The Shakri used the cubes to turn people's hearts off."
"So then turn them back on again," Minerva shrugged and sighed.
"Bingo!" the Doctor clapped then placed a kiss on her forehead, "Clever Girl!"
"But will that work?" Amy asked with the evident doubt in her tone.
"Well, creatures of hope. Has to," the Doctor returned to his work with the sonic and the computer, "30 seconds. Don't let me down, cubes. You're working for me, now."
The ship shook the group violently, alerting them the plan was well on its way, "Em, should we get out of here?" Minerva stumbled into the Doctor.
"There's going to be a terrible wave of energy ricocheting around here, any second. Run," the Doctor yanked his wife out of the way and ran out of the ship with the Ponds right behind.
Once again, the day was saved - and the Ponds had their last adventure...or so they thought.
~ 0 ~
Later that day, the Ponds, with Brian as well, had dinner with Minerva. It was Chinese food - a craving of Minerva no one seemed to mind caring to. The Doctor arrived a little later after taking care of some things with Kate Stewart. He came in time to listen to a wild conversation of...names?
"No, no, not that one!" Rory was saying while Minerva laughed and Amy snapped.
"Why not that one?" Amy was asking her husband.
"Because it's not normal!" came the response in a slight shout.
"Now calm down you two," Brian was trying to put order from his spot but it didn't seem to be working.
"What's going on?" the Doctor slowly asked upon entering the kitchen. He saw the Chinese boxes spread around the table followed by pieces of paper. Minerva herself was holding a clipboard in hand with Amy and Rory scooted as close as possible to see.
"They're trying to name your baby," Brian explain and deeply sighed, "but they keep getting into arguments."
"I think it's funny," informed Minerva with a shrug, "But sit," she gestured, "We've managed to narrow it down."
"Really? And what are they?" the Doctor asked as he took his seat by Brian.
"Well, I kind of like the name Irina for a girl now," Minerva said sheepishly, "And for a boy, perhaps Kai?"
"All good names," the Doctor nodded with a pensive look.
Rory took a forkful of Chinese food into his mouth yet still tried to communicate his opinion, "Mm, I really like the name Elias now," he glimpsed at the paper, "And for a girl the name Yael."
"Well," Amy dropped her fork on her plate with a thud, clearly irritated the conversation was still the way it was, "I really like the name Michael for a boy, and for a girl I like Regina now."
"No, she actually likes the name Olivia for a girl," Minerva revealed to the Doctor, seeing Amy's sheepish glance, "she just doesn't want to admit it anymore because she knows it's my sister's name."
"But it's okay," Amy quickly waved off.
"What do you think?" Minerva asked the Doctor.
"Frankly...I like them all," the Doctor chuckled, "I love what ever name my baby will have, I just don't know which one I love more."
"Well that's helpful," Minerva sighed and lowered the clipboard to the table, "This baby's going to be born soon and we've got...nothing," she suddenly let a yawn slip from her mouth.
"You've got sleep to get," the Doctor declared and stood up, "That's one thing you need."
Minerva sighed, not even going to argue because she truly did feel worn out, "I'm sorry guys," she said instead and rose to her feet, "But maybe sleep will help me think about the names," the Doctor came over to her side and led her away from her seat, "Are you coming with us?" Minerva asked the human pair. Amy exchanged uneasy glances with her husband and neither said anything. Minerva sighed, "Sorry, I should've known."
"Just, let us know when the baby's born, okay?" Amy glanced back at them with a sad smile.
"Of course," the Doctor agreed, "We understand you both have lives here, beautiful, messy lives. That is what makes you so fabulously human. You don't want to give them up. We won't fault you for that."
"Actually," Brian spoke up, "it's you they can't give up. And I don't think they should. Go with them," he said to Amy and Rory, "Go save every world you can find - and witness the birth of an alien baby," he chuckled, "Who else has that chance? Life will still be here."
"You can come, Brian," Minerva said honestly, "There's more than enough room, believe me."
"Somebody's got to water the plants. Just bring them back safe," Brian remarked with.
"Of course," she promised and so all started out of the house.
Brian followed them out and remained at the doorway watching the group head into the TARDIS. The group waved Brian goodbye before entering the blue box, ready to continue their adventures for years more.
Or so they thought.
Author's Note:
So sorry for the tardiness of this chapter! Lots of homework that includes essays *groans*. But anyways, here you guys go! Do you know...what is...next? *starts crying already*
For the Reviews:
Lmao that's not a bad idea, the Amy pain! ^.^ It's next chapter and oh dear I wanna cry! Oh my god imagine that!? I'm pretty sure Amy would snatch that gun and smack the Doctor with it xD.
Thank you! And so am I, but it's finally time to say goodbye to them *sniffles*
So, um...next chapter has some...things...sad things, surprising things...oh boy, see you guys next week! :)