Declaimer: I do not own Doctor Who

"Party's over, Doctor Song. Yet still you're on board."

The Doctor watched the monitor closely, unwanted curiousity growing inside of him as he glimpsed the human woman he'd met only once before – in The Library.

"Sorry, Alistair," River smirked, the black satin of her long gown swaying as she turned on her heel. "I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down there? Any of you? Because I'll tell you something, this ship won't reach its destination."

"Wait till she runs," The Doctor watched as the man in the tuxedo sneered, raising an eyebrow at the plain dislike in his eyes, "don't make it look like an execution."

His spine straightened at those words.

"Slash three, four, nine by ten, zero, twelve slash acorn," River rambled off suddenly, making his eyes widen as he shot around the console, beginning to flick switches and press countless different buttons. "Oh," The blonde smirked, "and I could do with an air corridor."

Of course she could.

"What was that? What did she say?" Amy squawked from the other side of the console, trying to make eye contact with him.

"Co-ordinates," The Doctor answered with a dramatic flourish, pulling a lever.

"Like I said on the dance floor," The recording continued, "you might want to find something to hang on to." And with that, River Song blew a kiss as the airlock opened behind her, sucking her out into space.

"Whoo!" He laughed, leaping down the steps and sprinting towards the TARDIS doors, pulling them open.

The minimal weight of the human woman felt like a sledge hammer as the force of her collision drove them both backwards, River falling on top of him.

"Doctor?" Amy called sharply, an almost annoyed tone in her voice.

"River?" He asked, his nose twitching as her blonde, frizzy hair passed in front of his nose as she leapt to her feet.

"Follow that ship!" She instructed, pointing after the departing space-liner.

Rolling his eyes, the Doctor climbed to his feet, glaring at the woman as she promptly ran up to his console and began hitting all kinds of instruments, her actions too confident and familiar for him to feel at ease with her presence.

"They've gone into warp drive," She called out, shooting him a frustrated look as he bound up to her side, sweeping her hands aside so he could continue navigating the TARDIS as she had been doing a second earlier, "we're loosing them! Stay close!"

Mouth dropping at the impudent way Dr Song exasperatedly swept to his other side, beginning, once again, to take over the controls, he quickly reached out to slam down the big button right at the top he'd seen her heading for, supressing his pleased smile when he saw her roll her eyes at his childish action.

"I'm trying."

"Use the stabilisers," She told him, already busy with the countless controls she was operating.

"There aren't any stabilisers," He countered quickly, happily doing his own thing as he always did.

They always got there in the end when he piloted, didn't they?

"The blue switches," River indicated with an exasperated nod of her head.

"Oh, the blue ones don't do anything," The Doctor shook his head, unable to decide whether he was more annoyed at the woman's seeming ability to pilot his TARDIS, or reluctantly impressed, "they're just blue."

"Yes, they're blue!" She said loudly, unapologetically reaching over him to press those very switches she'd nodded at moments before, "They're blue stabilisers!"

As soon as Doctor Song pressed them, the TARDIS settled, and she turned to him with a wide grin.

"See?" The remark was cheeky, as was the look in her eyes, and he felt just the smallest stirring of irritation.

"Yeah, well," He searched for an excuse to justify his lack of gratitude, knowing it he was practically sulking, "it's just boring now, isn't it? They're boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers."

"Doctor," Amy skipped to his side, grinning ear to ear, "how come she can fly the TARDIS?"

"You call that flying the TARDIS? Ha!"

"Okay," Ignoring his juvenile response, River turned the monitor towards her, unperturbed; "I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold-back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to its destinations, and…parked us right along side."

That got his attention.

"Parked us?" Leaping to his feet, the Doctor strode towards her. "We haven't landed."

"Of course we've landed," Her tone was so simple, so casual, he was momentarily lost for words. "I just landed her."

"But, it didn't make the noise."

River turned to give him a look, actually confused. "What noise?"

"You know," Shooting Amy a look, he quickly turned back to the blonde, frowning, "the," and proceeded to make the wheezing sound the TARDIS always made.

And with his impressive sound effects, if he did say so himself, a devious twinkle entered River's eyes and she smirked.

"It's not supposed to make that noise," She informed him happily, "You leave the breaks on."

Straitening up, practically able to feel Amy's threatening laughter at his back, the Doctor scowled.

"Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise. I love that noise," He stated loudly, turning on his heel. "Come along, Pond! Let's have a look."

"No, wait!" The protest from the console didn't slow him, "Environment checks."

"Oh yes, sorry. Quite right." Without warning, he yanked the TARDIS door open, sticking his head outside. "Nice out."

"We're somewhere in the Garn Belt. There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest that-"

"We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra System," He spoke over her, unable to stand the boredom of standing there listening to her list information he was already well aware of, "Oxygen rich atmosphere, all toxins in the soft band, eleven hour day, and…chances of rain later."

He watched as River leaned over to a sniggering Amy, speaking loudly enough for him to hear, "He thinks he's so hot when he does that."

Amy turned to the blonde, clearly intrigued. "How come you can fly the TARDIS?"

"Oh, I had lessons from the very best."

Crossing his arms, not even about to try to pretend that comment hadn't stroked his ego, the Doctor smiled, "Yeah, well."

"It's a shame you were busy that day," River continued on, pretending she didn't see the comical way his face fell. "Right then, why did they land here?"

And with that comment, most of his good humour drained away.

"They didn't land."

"Sorry?" River frowned.

"You should've checked the Home Box," He tsked. "It crashed."

As soon as the blonde was on the other side of the doors, the Doctor was flinging them shut, sprinting up to the console with purpose.

"Explain," Amy stated flatly. "Who is that, and how did she do that museum thing?"

Avoiding eye-contact, he fiddled with one of the levers on the console. "It's a long story, and I don't even know most of it," He said shortly. "Off we go."

"What are you doing?"

"Leaving," He told her strongly. "She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we want to go."

"Are you basically running?" Amy scoffed, leaning her hip against the railing.

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Because she's the future," The Doctor said quickly, not liking the words even as he said them, "…My…future."

"Can you run away from that?" She asked, pressing.

Looking up, he frowned at her warningly, not willing to discuss the topic any longer.

"I can run away from anything I like. Time is not the boss of me."

But it seemed Amy's mind was already on other things.

"Hang on," She grinned coming around the console, "is that a planet out there?"

Looking up, he couldn't help the annoyed look from sweeping his face, "Yes, of course it's a planet."

The redhead smiled widely, eyes dancing. "You promised me a planet," She reminded him, pointing her fingers at him. "Five minutes?"

Battling against the good sense that was telling him he was better off flying away and his own increasing intrigue with Doctor Song, when Amy turned the full power of her pleading expression on him, the Doctor crumbled.

"Okay!" He conceded. "Five minutes."

"Yes!" Squealing, she raced to the door.

"But that's all," He called after her, feeling his shoulders already beginning to sag, "because I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging me into anything!"

But Amy was already half-a-dozen paces ahead of him, scampering along the rocks in a bid to catch up to River.

Sighing, the Doctor removed his key from the breast pocket of his tweed jacket, pulling the doors shut and locking the TARDIS.

"Watch out for her, girl," He murmured lowly, knowing he didn't need to say her name for the ship to know whom he was speaking of.

There was only one 'her' he ever meant.

…

Darkness. It was so dark. So quiet.

Where was she?

As if the thought itself called others, her mind slowly began waking up, mindless drifting becoming more focused, more conscious.

What…What happened?

Where was she?

…

"But there was only one Angel on the ship," River's eyes seemed to plead with him to believe her. "Just the one, I swear."

"Could they have been here already?" Amy asked quickly, looking anxiously at the immobile statues surrounding them.

Scowling, the Doctor suddenly turned to River, stalking forward.

"The Aplans. What happened? How did they die out?" He demanded.

Shaking her head, the blonde could only shrug. "Nobody knows."

The air left his lungs. "We know," He murmured softly, his gaze returning to the reforming Angels around them.

"They don't look like Angels," Father Octavian denied, face carefully stoic.

"And they're not fast," Amy stepped up beside him, her tone almost hopeful now, "you said they were fast. They should have had us by now."

"Look at them," He stated, striding forward until he was staring an Angel straight on, never blinking. "They're dying, losing their form. They must have been down here for centuries, starving."

"Losing their image?" Amy deadpanned, clearly unsure whether what he was saying was reliable right now.

But his mind was already miles ahead, racing through scenario after scenario. "And their image is their power," He said slowly, thinking out loud. "Power. Power!"

"Doctor?"

"Don't you see?!" He cried, spinning back around to face his human company, seemingly the only one able to understand just how bad their situation really was. "All that radiation spilling out the drive burn. The crash of the Byzantium wasn't an accident. It was a rescue mission for the Angels!" He could see the horrible realisation beginning to dawn on their faces, but knew he didn't have time for the humans to work through the inevitable denial he knew would soon overtake them. "We're in the middle of an army," The truth in his voice was irrefutable, "and it's waking up."

…

"The statues are advancing along all corridors. And, sir, my torch keeps flickering."

Octavian threw a long, hard look around the cave, nodding at his men's words. "They all do," He observed quietly.

"So does the gravity globe," Doctor Song stated rigidly.

Closing his eyes at the unwelcome, but not all too surprising, news, the Doctor walked quickly into the cavernous area, making sure he could still hear Amy's hurried footsteps behind him.

"Clerics," Father Octavian called, firm, "we're down four men. Expect incoming."

"Yeah, it's the Angels," He told them swiftly, not willing to allow panic to freeze all common sense by allowing the humans to dwell on their approaching killers, "They're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves."

"Which means we won't be able to stay here."

"Which means we can't stay here," He spoke aloud; only half-noticing the annoyed look the Bishop shot him at his words.

"Two more incoming!"

River leaned forward, anxious. "Any suggestions?"

"The statues are advancing on all sides," Octavian called out, making the Doctor's hands clench into fists at the superfluous, very not helpful, information. "We don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium."

Why did humans insist on always pointing out the obvious? He knew they didn't have climbing equipment! He'd already thought of that idea and discarded it as a possibility five minutes ago! He needed to think!

"There's no way up," River said, moving closer, "no way back. No way out. No pressure," She gave a helpless little laugh here, almost as if she knew she was being unfair but couldn't help it, "but this is usually when you have a really good idea."

"There's always a way out," He told them seriously, hiding his growing frustration as best he could.

"Doctor? Can I speak to the Doctor, please?"

The static of the radio was loud in the cave, and he was ripping the Bishop's radio from his suit before the humans even had a chance to debate the wisdom of answering and engaging the enemy pursuing them.

"Hello, Angles," He greeted jovially, eyes darting wildly about the cave as his mind raced, trying desperately to figure out a solution to the dead-end they'd run into, "What's your problem?"

All eyes were on him as the radio spluttered, the static clearing.

"Your power will not much last longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly," The voice of the young cleric the Angels were speaking through had his hand tightening around the radio, anger sparking. "I'm sorry, sir."

He spun, pacing across the dusty ground, needing to keep moving, to do something, to keep thinking of a way out of this!

"Why are you telling me this?" The Doctor demanded, unable to keep the anger from his voice any longer.

He despised games.

"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end."

"Which is?" He shot back, the beginnings of an idea dragging his attention away from the conversation.

"I died in fear."

He frowned. "I'm sorry?"

"You told me my fear would keep me alive, but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down."

"What are they doing?" He heard Amy whisper behind him, but he couldn't bring himself to turn around.

River's solemn voice was her only answer; "They're trying to make him angry."

"I'm sorry, sir," Angel Bob continued, still using that horribly young, innocent voice of the cleric they'd murdered, "The Angels were very keen for you to know that."

A low, short chuckle left his lips.

"Well then," He spoke quietly, voice intense, "the Angels have made their second mistake because I'm not going to let that pass. I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier," He promised furiously.

He wasn't expecting the answer he received.

"The Angels believe that it is you who shall be sorry by the end of the day, sir," Angel Bob continued, as if oblivious to the very real threat in the Doctor's words. "Your TARDIS, Doctor, the Angels know what you have hidden inside."

His hearts froze.

"…Doctor?" River frowned, worried.

"Don't you-!" Ruthlessly, the Doctor forced his jaw shut, forced his mind to start working again, to push aside the very real fear that had flared to life at the Angles' words. "You haven't the power to threaten my TARDIS," He hissed furiously into the radio, all effort to control his anger gone with the vocalisation of their new threat. "You've been down here for centuries, starving. Do you really think me so naïve, so stupid; as to believe you have the power to carry out your threat? Don't make me laugh," The dark, dangerous words seemed to hang in the air, even giving the Angels pause.

"You're trapped sir," Angel Bob eventually replied, "and about to die."

"Yeah. I'm trapped," He smirked darkly, eyes narrowed on the approaching statues. "But you know what? Speaking of traps, this trap has got a great big mistake in it. A great, big, whopping mistake," With effort, he recalled his rage, forcing it down, seeing the evidence of the humans' unease on the faces surrounding him.

"What mistake, sir?"

Swallowing, he turned to Amy. "Trust me?"

"Yeah," She smiled shakily.

He nodded, turning to River.

"Trust me?"

"Always," There was no hesitation in her answer, no lie, but he could see the concerned confusion informing every crease in her brow as she watched him closely.

And that surprised him.

It was almost as if…she didn't know. Didn't know what the Angels threat had been about. Why he'd reacted so violently to it. But how? Surely, if she was, indeed, from his future, if she was as entwined with his life as her comments had led he and countless others to conclude…surely, she'd know about the woman currently lying, trapped in a coma, within his TARDIS?

…Why didn't she know?

"You lot, trust me?" Turning to the clerics, determinedly pushing aside the riddle for another time, he watched as Octavian and the other men exchanged glances, fingers clenching and unclenching around their guns.

"Sir, two more incoming!"

Octavian's gaze locked with his. "We have faith, sir."

He smiled. "Then give me your gun," He instructed, hand outstretched. "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do…jump."

…

Small, tiny prods at her mind, a confusing annoyance amidst the dark blackness that surrounded her, suddenly morphed into urgent jabs, pulling her from the darkness.

It was hard.

It was so hard to swim upwards, to find the energy, the drive, to want to reach the surface of the black abyss.

But whatever power nudged at her mind, growing steadily more demanding, more concerned, allowed her no rest. Insisting she comply. Insisting she awaken.

Sound broke like a dam around her ears, and suddenly, Jana's eyes were open.

With a cry, she slammed them closed, the unexpected lights piercing like knifes through her retina's, burning.

But she was awake.

And it hurt.

…

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