"Alright… so what do we do?"

She stood by the door watching The Doctor pull levers and throw switches. The Tardis jerked slightly. "Shouldn't we be there by now? We weren't that far from the school."

"I'm not sure we should go back to the school just yet." He pulled a screen closer to him and swiveled it so he could see it better. "We have to talk."

"Ugh… I'm sorry that was uncalled for but you know it was true!"

"Not about that. About following directions… you have a pattern of not following them. Since you know who I am you know that if I say something I mean it. You managed to talk your way back on to the Tardis."

"I do to follow directions."

"Only the ones you like. You're going to listen to me. Alright?" He looked up from the screen and stared right into her eyes.

There it was.

Her mouth fell open a bit. The depth of his brown eyes was painful. But she couldn't look away. His beautiful brown eyes weren't just beautiful. There was so much there.

The power. The authority. The years… the pain… The agony of loss, the guilt of responsibility for everyone he couldn't save. Of course that isn't how he saw it.

They stood in silence for a minute. Their gazes were locked on each other's eyes. Harley started to feel dizzy and realized she had stopped breathing. She inhaled deeply and slowly. She closed her mouth and nodded.

"I'll try. I won't make any promises. But I will try. I know you and obviously you know me. So we have to find some middle ground… you don't give any instructions I won't follow and I'll follow the ones you give me…" she was still staring shocked into his eyes. She attempted to smile, but she couldn't be sure if she'd even moved, forget whether she smiled or not.

The Doctor looked back to the screen and then started pulling levers again. Then the Tardis whirred. A minute later it jerked and stopped whirring.

"Plan?"

"You stay here-"

"I came to help."

"Let me finish!" He shook his head and commented to himself, "You're worse than I thought." Then he continued, "You stay here and make sure that this monitor stays blank." He pointed to the screen he had been looking at. "I'm going to see who were up against and how many of them there are. When I get back we'll go from there."

"What if the screen doesn't stay blank?" She asked glaring at him. Did he really think she would fall for that?

"Uh…"

"The screen isn't even on is it? You just want me to stay here." She crossed her arms and leaned on the railing by the door.

"Please stay? I won't be long. Then I should have more for you to do when I get back."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Harley turned her gaze to the floor while she considered his offer. She looked up with a dangerous smile. She turned to face him. She was still smiling. He blinked once in surprise at her reaction.

"If you're lying I get your converses!"

"What!"

"That's the deal... or I could just follow you out." She crossed her arms again. Still smiling triumphantly.

"You don't even like converses!"

"How—oh yeah… So what? That's the deal take it or leave it, Mister!"

"But… they… my… What!"

"Time's a wasting and if you are telling the truth then you don't have to worry about it!"

"Fine! I'll have something for you to do when I get back." He was shocked at how this turned out. He couldn't believe that his shoes were on the line! After this was over she was definitely going home. And she was fine with that. She just wanted to help out now… she didn't care to get into anymore trouble than she was in now.

"Well, are you going to go find out what we're up against, or are you going stare at me all night long like I've lost my marbles?" Harley stepped out of the way of the door.

Just then there was a huge explosion and the whole Tardis shook. She fell sideways into the railing. She definitely bruised a rib or two. She stood back up, wincing slightly. She ran a hand over her side nothing hurt to bad, and she didn't feel anything move that shouldn't move. The Doctor was slightly off balance but other wise appeared undamaged.

"Maybe we should get reinforcements."

"There isn't anyone."

"Jack?"

"No! D-"

"'Don't. Just… no… don't.' I know. I was just making a suggestion. I'm not remotely interested… besides I'm sixteen…" she twisted her face in disgusted. "Isn't there anyone?"

"Nope. I'll be back in a minute or two. Stay here!"

"It's your converse if I don't have a job when you get back." But there was no humor in her voice and she didn't smile. She was still holding her ribs when he closed the door.

The Doctor ran down the hall. At every corner he stopped and looked around, expecting Harley to be standing behind him. When he was certain she wasn't going to be there he pulled out the sonic screwdriver and twisted it. He followed the reading to the far end of the school. It looked like an office area. There wasn't anything there. He walked around the desks and counters. Nothing.

He pulled up a computer tower out from under a desk and pointed his sonic screwdriver at the back. The monitor came on and lights flashed on the tower as the system came up. When the system was fully loaded the Doctor pulled up the surveillance system. He watched the screen. Each camera showed something different. The office showed him standing at a computer. One hall showed the Tardis, the door cracked open, Harley Alice stuck her head out. She looked up and down the hall, then straight up at the camera. She took a deep breath shook her head and shut her self back in the Tardis.

The other cameras showed figures moving around. They all had thick clouds of smoke billowing around the rooms and halls. One of the cameras view suddenly cleared. The Doctor was looking into the cafeteria. The figures seemed to congregating.

They all seemed to be gathering around a single form. It appeared to be female. Her eyes were snakelike. Her mouth was twisted into terrible smile, her teeth were razor sharp. She lifted her hands, to silence the crowd. On her right hand she had a nasty gash across the palm.

There was no sound. If the doctor wanted to hear what she was telling the others he was going to have to find the cafeteria. He ran out of the office and continued down the hall away from the Tardis.

He could hear the final whispers of conversations in the crowd. The female was becoming impatient. "Silence!" Her voice was deep and echoed through room. Everyone fell silent. The authority that radiated from her was unmistakable. She was in charge and no one questioned her. That was obvious.

"We are starved. We are tired. Some of you have started to doubt." Her eyes slid to certain individuals. "By all rights those of you who doubt should be dead, but what would that prove to you? I knew we were close to new feeding grounds. How could I teach any of you anything you if I have to kill you before we get there?"

Some of the crowd stirred. The doctor could see that almost all of them had gashes on their palms, like their leader. He stood by a side door. He was leaning around to see hoping he wouldn't be seen.

"Now that I have your confidence back, I know that you trust your queen again. If you don't then you should know that you won't be feeding with the rest of us." Her eyes came to rest on one of the members in the front row.

"I am not one to doubt my Queen. If you think I am then so be it, but know that I never did."

"Very well then." She nodded to someone off to the side, "Then tonight, our starvation ends!" Her right hand shot in to the air. Where there had been a gash there was now an opening in her palm. The edges of the opening had teeth going all the way the around it.

Several of the gathered group cheered and others shouted, "Bring them in!" Soon the whole group was parting making a path to a far door. The door opened and people were being pushed through. They looked terrified. Some of them were teenagers.

"Some one has escaped, my queen." Some one said above the noise. "She vanished from their storage facilities. She was seen in the parking lot; we followed her to a road then lost her in the traffic."

"Harley," the Doctor whispered to himself. He turned and headed back down the hall toward the TARDIS.

Harley was pacing around the center control panel; she walked to the door. She started to push it open then stopped and pulled it shut again. She had done this twice since he left. She returned to pacing. He had been gone for five minutes. She was getting antsy. Every time she passed the door she huffed, clenched her fists, and averted her eyes in the other direction.