Note to readers: I promised you it would get interesting, and it has. And it still will do. Trust me, I surprise myself some times. Probably not something to boast about, but there we have it. So enjoy this. Speculate. Because I bet none of you will be able to guess it. Hear that challenge? I'm willing to be proven wrong. Surprise me, like I surprise you!
The Doctor straightened up, surprised by the sudden outburst.
"Sorry, yes: wife. I don't know. I'm sorry." He said nervously, "But I will do everything I can to find her."
"Was she pregnant?" Amy asked abruptly, causing everyone to turn and face her, especially the Doctor and River. The crying of the little girl had subsided enough for them to be able to speak at a normal level as Merry sang gently to her, and now she was simply whimpering.
"What?" the Doctor asked incredulously, stepping towards the Scot slightly.
"Yes. She was. How did you know?" the young man said, a frown creasing her forehead.
"Long story." Amy replied, trying to avoid the suspicious glares of her daughter and the Doctor, "Do you… live in Paris?"
"Well, no. We only came here for the weekend to visit family." The tall man stuttered, "Look, what does this have to do with Elise?"
"Yes, what does this have to do with anything?" the Doctor asked, now circling the red-head as he tried to work out what she was on about. So, the woman was carrying a child: why would that make her more susceptible to being kidnapped? But Amy completely ignored his question and, instead, walked past him, taking the crying girl from Merry as she went. She stopped by the tall man and handed him his little daughter.
"Where are you staying?" she asked.
"Pierre's Inn, not far from the River Seine." He said unsurely, receiving the girl gratefully. The Doctor watched in awe as Amy clearly made a mental note of it.
"We'll find your wife." She assured him, gently squeezing his arm, "But there's nothing you can do now. We'll let you know when we find her." With that, the Scot turned from him and walked straight past the Doctor and over to a small woman that he hadn't noticed before. She had been watching the situation with a reserved expression on her face. Once the tall man had disappeared around the corner of the alley, the Doctor turned on his friend.
"What the hell was that?" he cried, "We can't make promises like that!" But, yet again, Amy decided to ignore him.
"Doctor, River, this is Jeanette." She said sternly, "She has some information that might interest you."
The aforementioned Jeanette took the five of them back to her house and told the Doctor and River what she had told the others. The Doctor listened with sceptical interest. It seemed, to him, unreasonable that the Commune would be taking children, simply to experiment on them; what would they gain?
"I still don't think it's the Commune." Merry argued from her place on the sofa, lying across her mother's lap with her legs dangling off the arm.
"Well, who else would it be?" River asked, pausing the stroking of her daughter's hair to tilt her head questioningly at the young girl across her lap.
"I don't know." Merry answered, "But something's telling me that it's not them."
"Like an instinct?" the Doctor asked doubtingly. The young Time Lord turned her head to him so he continued, "I wouldn't trust them, if I were you; they've never been very reliable."
"Actually, my instincts have served me very well. They're pretty consistent." She said defensively. The Doctor snorted.
"Except at the horse races." River commented.
"Well, alright…" Merry shrugged.
"And hide and seek." The archaeologist added.
"I s'pose…" Merry mumbled.
"And when predicting test questions." River said.
"Alright, alright! I said 'consistent', not 'infallible'." The young girl snapped, pulling herself into sitting position and making to get off the chair. River laughed, pulling her back down again.
"I'm only teasing." She said gently, resuming stroking Merry's hair.
The Doctor smiled at them, slightly distracted by their playful banter. Shaking his head, he tried to focus on the conversation.
"And besides, who else could it be?" he said. Merry simply gave him a noncommittal shrug from her mother's lap.
"So, what are we going to do?" Amy asked, adding eagerly, "Are we gunna go scope it out?" The Doctor grinned, about to reply, when Rory – who was sat beside River – interrupted.
"No way." He said flatly. Amy looked to him in unimpressed confusion, so he continued, "No way am I going to let you run about and throw yourself into the heart of the danger."
"Why not?" Amy cried from her armchair, across from her husband.
"Because you wouldn't just be endangering your life, but the baby's too." He said, the tone of finalisation undeniably present in his voice. The Scot simply pouted childishly, looking down at her belly and stroking it gently. Rory, seeming pleased that he had for once silenced his wife, turned to the Doctor, "Is it really worth checking out? I mean, it could just be a coincidence that the Commune was disbanded at the same time as the disappearances started."
"Like I said, it's the perfect cover." Merry muttered. But the Doctor ignored her, dismissing her comment as he answered Rory.
"Well, yes. But at the moment it's the only lead we've got to go on. And we have to start somewhere." He said, rubbing his hands together as he tried to keep warm, "Something's not quite right about this whole situation. It's like it's too obvious."
"That's what I've been saying!" Merry cried, flapping her arms and nearly hitting River in the face, "Does no one listen to me?"
"No." the entire room answered in unison. The Doctor grinned at River as Merry got up, pulling herself from her mother's lap and wandering over to the window as she "harrumphed" loudly.
"Too obvious or not, we have to do something." The Doctor decided. Turning to Jeanette, he spoke again, "Is it only pregnant women who have gone missing?"
"Yes." Jeanette said simply, "They're usually quite far along, too; only weeks or days away from giving birth."
"So, supposedly, the Commune, or whoever's taking these women, need the children for something." He added thoughtfully.
"For experiments?" River suggested.
"Perhaps." The Time Lord said slowly, "Or maybe they're trying to make a point."
"What point would they be making?" Rory asked.
"A very dangerous one." The Doctor replied, "That they aren't afraid to hurt women and children."
"This is 1872; the slaughter of the innocent could cause uproar." River exclaimed.
"Or fear." He corrected, "Maybe that's what they want: to rule through fear. If you think about it, it must be pretty effective. Everyone would be scared stiff that they would be kidnapped and killed if they disagreed with the Commune, so they would naturally do as they're told. The perfect tool…"
The room went silent as each and every person fell into their own thoughts on the matter. But within a few minutes, Merry broke the silence.
"Pappy?" she called as she stood looking out of the window. It took the Time Lord a little longer than it should have to realise that she meant him; he wasn't used to anyone calling him that any more. In fact, he only remembered when everyone turned to look expectantly at him.
"Oh, that's me!" he said as he jumped, turning to look at his daughter, "Yes?"
"You know you were saying that there was something weird about this…" she said slowly.
"Yes?" he said, frowning as she continued to stare at something outside.
"Well, does a big glowy, flashy lighty thingy count as weird?" she asked in sarcastic amazement. The Time Lord bounded to the window, looking out and following Merry's eye line. Not twenty metres away, a huge bluey-white glow was emanating from the street. Without thinking twice, he ran outside. He could hear his friends hot on his heels as he raced towards the light. It was pulsating and some sort of energy within it was causing gale-force winds. He paused at the edge and he heard them stop as well.
"What do we do now?" Amy cried over the sound of the wind, as the Doctor whipped out his sonic and began scanning it.
"No idea!" he replied.
"What is it?" Rory asked.
"Not sure. Some sort of energy beam, or teleport?" the Time Lord answered, his voice beginning to hurt from the shouting.
"I have an idea." Merry yelled, "But it's very dangerous, very stupid and probably life-threatening."
"Those are the best." The Doctor said cheekily.
But without warning, Merry grinned at him and then threw herself into the centre of the light. The glow shone brighter and, before the Doctor could follow angrily, it disappeared completely.
"Merry, no!" he cried, trying pathetically to chase the last remnants of the energy. Cursing, he spun around to face his friends.
"Doctor, where has she gone?" River asked, panic clear in her voice. The Time Lord was about to respond when there was a crackling thumb from behind him. His friends gasped as their attention was drawn towards what was behind him.
"What the…" Rory muttered in disbelief.
The Doctor spun around, only to be met with the face of his teenage daughter, sporting a battered time vortex manipulator on her wrist.
"Excellent! I knew reading the manual would come in handy one day, even if it was mind-numbingly boring." She commented, grinning at them all, "Now listen up, because I only have the patience to explain this once."