Sorry for the wait! Got loads of things to do and on my mind so forgive me if the next update takes as long (or a little more but I hope not). I hoped to finish "Flesh and Stone" in this chapter but I really wanted to update soon but I hope you enjoy! I'm currently planning on a Sherlock fanfiction although I doubt I'll be posting that anytime soon (or even getting round to writing it) and there's still the extras for this I fancied writing along with another fanfiction I'm updating at the minute...SO MUCH TO DO AND NOT ENOUGH TIME! I could really do with a Time Machine...maybe they'll let me borrow the TARDIS for a few days.

And oh yes! Someone did ask me about this, the muddling up of time since Amy kissing the Doctor technically happens after "Flesh and Stone". This chapter shall tell you why ;)

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Loki!


From Leaps to Greater Bounds

Chapter Seven

-Cracks in Space, Time and Hearts-

The angels were breaking through again. Luckily the Doctor managed to open the door and they all hurried inside the control room of the star-liner. The Doctor hurried to the computers in the centre just as the wheel on the door in front of them began to spin. Father Octavian fastened a small device to the door halting the angel's progress.

"That door's magnetised, nothing can turn that handle now."

No sooner had he said that than the wheel began to slowly turn, clicking with each turn. It didn't take long before the other two doors were also being turned by the angels.

"How long have we got before they get in?"

"About five minutes at the most," Loki announced, "now's a good time for your brilliant ideas."

The Doctor grinned at her for a moment, "got any bright ideas?"
"Well…" she trailed off, kicking the large wall behind her that created a hollow 'thunk', "perhaps this way?"

His eyes widened a fraction, pausing before he beamed widely at her. Scooting past her he pulled aside several boxes, using his sonic screwdriver to release the clamps keeping the wall closed. Once released it revealed a huge forest of cyber trees creating oxygen for those onboard. It looked simply beautiful to all of them.

"Not bad," the Doctor raised his eyebrows at her, nudging Loki in the side to which she returned with her elbow.

"Why the tone of surprise?"

"Well it's not like I hadn't noticed it before," the Doctor admitted offhandedly while she merely scoffed.

"As if, you were busy typing away on the computer while I actually looked!"

"Children, children!" River interrupted with a small smile, "maybe you two could carry this on later?"

"It's beautiful…" Amy seemed oblivious to their arguing, "eight."

"Eight?" the two Time Lords looked at her sharply but Amy merely frowned at them.

As Father Octavian mapped out the oxygen forest, the Doctor revealed a small patch on one of the trees.

"Treeborgs! A mixture of trees and technology! A forest sucking in starlight and breathing out air. It even rains!" he darted over to Amy, "A forest in a bottle in a spaceship in a maze. Have I impressed you yet, Amy Pond?"

She grinned, looking at the forest again still looking somewhat gobsmacked, "seven," she laughed lightly.

Loki stared at her shocked, was she…counting down? Sharing a look with the Doctor, angel Bob suddenly contacted the Doctor once again.

"Ah there you are Angel Bob," the Doctor spoke into the communicator as he sat down on the chair in the control room, "how's life treating you? Oh sorry, bad subject."

"The angels were wondering what you were hoping to achieve."

"Achieve? We're not trying to achieve anything. It's nice in here. Consoles, comfy chairs, a forest. How's things with you?"

"The Angels are feasting, sir. Soon we'll be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel. This world and all the stars, and worlds beyond."

The Doctor paused for a moment, "Well, we've got comfy chairs, did I mention?"

"We have no need of comfy chairs."

Grinning, the Time Lord looked back at Amy, "I made him say 'comfy chairs.'"
She grinned back at him, "six."

He leapt from his seat, a hint of anger in his voice as he asked what they had done to Amy. The answer was not one they wanted. Loki stood in front of the Scottish woman with narrowed eyes.

"What the…Doctor, Loki, I'm five," she looked between the two, "I'm fine."

"You're counting down," River announced, looking somewhat worriedly between the two Gallifreyan people.

"Look at me a minute Amy," Loki clicked her fingers in Amy's face much to her annoyance but blinked as said woman pulled her glasses up and down her face, it didn't take her long to see it, "Oh…oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear this isn't good."

"What, what's wrong?"

The dark haired woman said nothing but turned to the Doctor with a serious look.

'It's in her head Doctor, I can see the angel in her eyes.'

'But why is it making her count down?' he thought back with a scowl.

'Why else? To make her afraid.'

For some reason he didn't like that response as Angel Bob returned to the airwaves, explaining that they would take Amy and them, and then the universe. The Doctor rolled his eyes, flopping down into the seat with a sigh.

"Get a life, Bob. Oops, sorry again."

As the Doctor continued to speak with Angel Bob, claiming there wasn't enough energy on that ship for his plans, a suddenly horrid cacophony echoed through the air. The Angels were screeching….no, they were laughing.

"There's something you haven't noticed, sir. Something the Doctor and his TARDIS haven't noticed."

Loki looked around, eyes widening at the glowing, huge crack on the wall above the door, "Doctor…"

He followed her gaze, freezing for a moment before he pushed a desk closer to it as if to climb up and touch it, but Loki was frozen in her place.
"Doctor what the hell is that?"

However he seemed too busy to hear her as Amy asked him how the crack in the wall from her bedroom was there. As the ship began to shake violently, the Doctor leapt up onto the desk using his sonic screwdriver on the crack, yelling at them to go on ahead of him.

"We're not leaving without you!" River yelled as she held onto the desks but the Doctor merely ordered Father Octavian to hurry them along, but Loki didn't move.

"I'm not moving until you tell my why the hell there is a crack in space and time following you around," she almost seethed, stumbling her way towards him, "you know as well as I that something like this could only be created by very few things…one of them being…"
"The TARDIS exploding, yes I know," the Doctor rolled his eyes, "just go on ahead Loki, this is no time to argue!"

However before either of them could continue they noticed they were no longer alone. The Angels had broken through and had surrounded them. He dropped down from the desk, Loki's back hitting his as they both dared not blink, moving swiftly towards the oxygen forest.

"This is why I said you should go on ahead," the Doctor hurriedly muttered through his clenched teeth.

"And what? Leave you to the angels?" she scoffed back at him with a scowl, "two pairs of eyes are better than one."

"Not when you're as blind as a Dalek with its eye stalk blown off."
"Oi!" she mistakenly moved her eyes from the angels and in that second they had grabbed the pair.

One had grabbed the back of the Doctor's tweed jacket, another snagging Loki's scarf. However their deaths were not so imminent as they believed. Glancing back it was to see the angels almost transfixed with the energy leaking from the crack in the wall.

"Good and not so good," the Doctor muttered, his hand finding Loki's as he lightly struggled from his jacket, one arm at a time, "that's pure time energy, you can't feed on that, it's the very fires at the end of the universe," Loki ducked from her scarf's grasp, "and I'll tell you something else," he finally slipped out of his jacket, pulling Loki along as they ran into the forest of treeborgs, "never let me talk!"

The dark haired Time Lady rolled her eyes but carried on running regardless, "I loved that scarf…"
"I'll get you another one," he announced exasperated.

"Going to explain the crack yet?" she asked as she jumped over a large tree root.

"Yes…when I figure it out for myself. There are a lot of things I haven't yet figure out," he suddenly paused to look back at her with a frown, "like seeing Amy kiss me."

Loki narrowed her eyes, "what about it?"

"I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner! Maybe I really have gone thick," he muttered to himself before grabbing her shoulders, searching her eyes thoroughly, "I just accepted it because I saw it in your mind, and no doubt Amy did too, almost like a low level perception filter."
"What?" she almost growled, getting annoyed at where he was supposed to be going.

"That hasn't happened, at least, not yet."

Staring at him for a good few minutes in silence, Loki opened her mouth but closed it several times until her mind finally processed what he had said. Was he suggesting…that she had seen the future? Without actually travelling to the future! Her mind was a blur until the Doctor lightly shook her, the angels beginning to appear in the forest. Running again towards where the others had headed off, Loki was silent. Did it have something to do with these cracks in time and space? She supposed contact with one of those could probably give her a glimpse into the future, but when had she seen one of those glowing cracks before today? Catching up to the others it was to find Amy laying down as if in pain, River attending to her worriedly.

"Alright, lets have a look," the Doctor grabbed the little pad that was hooked up to Amy, reading off her heart rate that was dropping.

River looked at Loki suddenly, "earlier, what did you see when you looked in Amy's eyes?"

The Time Lady snapped from her thoughts, looking between the two, "she looked into the angel's eyes and the angel stared back. Whatever takes on the image of an angel…becomes an angel…there's an angel inside her mind and its killing her."

The Doctor began pacing as he tried to figure out how to stop the angel's advances while Amy's heart rate continued to drop dangerously low. Not to mention the oncoming angels peering in at them all around the trees.

"Close your eyes Amy," the Doctor ordered suddenly, kneeling in front of her.

Amy looked on the verge of tears, tired, dying and fearful, it almost broke Loki's hearts to see the fiery human woman like that. Finally she closed her eyes and her heart rate normalised to their relief. Helping Amy to sit up, River looked at them with a frown, commenting that the girl was too weak to be moved, and unable to open her eyes, they would have to leave her there in the forest.

"We can't stay here," Father Octavian glanced back at them.

"Ok, we're going to get to that command deck, and we're going to stop the angels, we're going to save Amy, and we're going to get everybody home," the Doctor clapped his hands, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"How?" asked River.

"I'll do a thing."

Why was neither of the older women surprised by his choice of words? "What thing?"

"I don't know! It's a thing in progress! Respect the thing."

Father Octavian moved over to them, claiming that he was going with them and that the clerics would take care of Amy. Despite the Doctor's dislike at the idea it seemed they would be stuck with him as he refused to leave River's side. Loki eyed the pair up before sidling up beside River.

"Have you been a naughty girl?"
"What makes you say that?" she asked almost innocently.

Loki shrugged lightly, "Oh I don't know…possibly the fact that the Bishop is keeping close tabs on you…and that small mark on the inside of your wrist is what prisoner's of the stormcage are often given," maybe she'd hung around Sherlock too much, she was starting to notice the little things a lot better.

The blonde haired woman looked at her surprised before smiling slightly, "Ah, as sharp as always my little mischief maker. I'll ask you, when aren't we being naughty?"

Loki couldn't help but grin back at that despite the fact that it seemed that River was hinting at something else. She watched as the Doctor sat next to Amy.

"You'll be safe here, we can't protect you on foot," he told her quietly, "I'll be back for you as soon as I can, I promise."

For an obvious reason this landed a blow to Loki's gut, her eyes narrowing and it didn't go unnoticed by River.

"You always say that…" Amy replied, turning her head away with her eyes still closed.

"I always come back," he purposely looked over at Loki but she merely scowled and looked away, "good luck everyone!" he yelled, standing up and motioning for River and Loki to follow.

Sighing, begrudgingly she followed the others leaving Amy in the clearing with the clerics.

Amy held her hands in her lap until familiar hands lightly grasped hers, the Doctor's voice soft and yet somehow different.

"Amy, you need to start trusting me. It's never been more important."

"But you don't always tell me the truth," she almost whispered back.

"If I always told you the truth, I wouldn't need you to trust me."

Amy frowned deeply, "Doctor. The crack in my wall. How can it be here?"

"I don't know yet, but I'm working it out."

The Doctor seemed to look sideways, something cold grasped in his hand and lightly pressing against the back of her hand, "Now, listen. Remember what I told you when you were seven."

"What did you tell me?"

"No," he sighed, sounding somewhat desperate in a way that worried her, "No, that's not the point. You have to remember," he kissed her forehead before letting go of her hand, moving back and away.

Amy turned her head despite the fact she could see nothing, "Remember what? Doctor? Doctor?"

She ran her fingers over the small dint in the back of her hand, it felt circular, like a ring. Whatever it had been it must have been something important for him to have been gripping it so tightly.


Carrying on through the forest, the Doctor's sonic screwdriver humming loudly as he transferred the readings of the crack onto the data pad. It was then that the Doctor decided to question River on what Father Octavian had said earlier only for it to be revealed, that she had been in fact, released from the storm cage prison. However as the Doctor eyed up River the data pad began beeping at him, showing a date in time and space.

"And for those of us who can't read the basecode of the universe?" River asked with a roll of her eyes.

As the symbols changed to a subtle date, Loki arched an eyebrow as the Doctor stared at it with wide eyes.

"Amy's time…" he muttered.

"Wait," Loki grabbed it to have a look for herself, "isn't that also the date you picked me up?"

He stared at her with wide eyes, not at all liking how the dots were joining up in his head.

Making it to the door of the command deck they found themselves unable to open it just as the lights of the trees began to flicker. The angels were obviously trying to kill the lights. As Father Octavian tried to open the service hatch through the door, the Doctor was pacing once again, ranting on about time being rewritten as River pointed her gun at the trees, ready for any oncoming angels.

"Just think though! No one remembers a giant Cyberman striding across Victorian London, or the Daleks!"

As the service hatch opened, River darted inside while Father Octavian strode towards the Doctor. Loki paused for a moment, half wanting to remain at the Doctor's side but as the lights flickered again she preferred to be amongst the light and followed after River. According to the Doctor there was no shame in running, she'd beg to differ usually but the light of the control deck was most welcoming. However the guilt hit her and she peered back through the service hatch.

"Are you two coming?" she shouted, frowning at the lack of reply until the Doctor was suddenly hurrying inside, slamming the latch shut and staring at it for a moment.

Loki didn't need to ask where Father Octavian was, she merely sighed quietly as the Doctor hurried over to the consoles while River tried to fix the teleports.

"Just leave them!" the Doctor was clearly agitated at the loss of so many lives, not to mention that Amy was out there still, "they're not going to work!"

River looked surprised at his anger until Loki stepped her, ruffling her short hair with her hands.

"They will work," Loki answered shortly as she breezed past him as he grabbed River's communicator, "and we'll bring Amy here."

"They won't work," he almost seethed as he managed to contact Amy, "there's nothing you can do, now please will you two be quiet?"

Now both women looked at him slack jawed before the Time Lady's green eyes narrowed behind her glasses.
"Let's not forget that you're not the only one in this room that's angry at all of this," she glared at him, almost making him wince, "you do what you do, and I'll do what I do best."

She spun out the sonic screwdriver from her pocket and set the work on the teleports, glancing at River for some aid that the woman seemed all too happy to give. For a moment the Doctor was silent, simply staring at the back of Loki's head before he spoke into the communicator, ordering Amy to follow the sound of his sonic screwdriver through the communicator despite the angels that were no doubt surrounding her.

Loki completely ignored him, even ignored his tentative touches against her mind as she glared down at the wires in her hands. It wasn't the fact that he had shouted at them that annoyed her the most, it was that he didn't trust her to fix the teleport pad. Had they truly been apart for so long that he now didn't trust her with such things? Didn't believe that she could fix something that she had built and fixed several thousand times? Working the TARDIS and fixing the time machines up was something she had done for a living back on Gallifrey, something that had made up a main part of her life. Teleportation pads were almost toys in comparison the complexity of those beautiful time and space machines.

"River, could you pass me the bypass cables and the ionic couplings?"

"Which were those again?" she asked while Loki waved a hand.

"The red and blue thick wires and the magnet looking things!"

Said items were suddenly handed to her but the hand that held them was not feminine. The Doctor still had his sonic screwdriver whirring at the communicator now balanced on the desk in front of him, but his eyes were on her. Slowly taking them from him, she said nothing as she continued working, but allowed his mind to reach hers finally.

'I'm sorry I shouted…I seem to be messing things up a lot lately…this hasn't gone according to plan,' he chuckled lightly in her mind, 'I had hoped to show you all our old spots with Amy, maybe impress you with the TARDIS's new look…but then again I suppose we always have this problem. Nothing ever goes according to plan.'

Loki smiled slightly but remained silent, allowing him to continue.

'I trust you Loki, my little mischief maker. There's no one I've ever known that had amazing skill with mechanics like yours…well…apart from myself of course.'

'Yeah right,' she finally scoffed back at him, 'you may make it look like you're fixing the TARDIS when people are looking, but I know the truth. Ninety-nine percent of the time you end up making things worse!'

He pulled a face but didn't disagree with her. Grinning lightly, Loki plugged in the couplings into the large transporter pads.

'Think you can fix that piece of scrap together?'

Loki actually snorted before speaking aloud, "who do you think you're talking to, of course I can," before she shot him a wry grin to which he returned.

River merely looked between the two knowingly with a small yet strangely forlorn smile that the Doctor noticed. Part of him dreaded to think what it meant but he suddenly didn't care when he noticed the glimmer of gold and sapphire from Loki's ring finger. Smiling softly for a moment he shook his head, reminding Amy over the communicator to keep walking. Why should he worry when he had Loki by his side again?

If only he'd known the irony of those words.