A/N

Belle: Thank you =) I really wanted to add that bit to show that he and Rose were happy in the end. Who know, they might make an appearance later on it the right moment reveals itself.

Arkytior's song: Thank you so much =)

RK-BD: What does your username stand for? Wow, thank you so so much =D That is the greatest compliment a fanfiction writer can get and I hope I won't disappoint in future chapters. Thank you so much for reading it =)

Baringan: Thank you so much =)

Guest: I'm sorry it's taken so long but here it is =) Thank for for liking it and reading it, it really means a lot =D

Seralina: Then I guess I succeed :-D I know the tension is annoying to bare but the fact that I can elicit that emotion in you is oddly satisfying. Thank you for reviewing :-)

I-Heart-Star-Trek: Then I hope I won't disappoint. The next chapter will be the first of two from that episode :-)

Ok, first of, I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to update but after the last chapter I was just so tired every weekend that I haven't had the energy to write until two weeks ago when I got back home. I've started school now which means that the days are shorter so I should have more energy left to write unless I'm studying for a test which I will be doing next week, but at least I will have time to write and weekdays as well again =)

I hope you haven't given up on me, and now that no matter how long it will take, I will finish this story.

Beta:ed by Sam, who has finally gotten an account in the name of tarree87. Don't know how to link so you'll just have to search for the name if you want to give him your praise, which he highly deserves.


Chapter 9 Beat It


They told him, "Don't you ever come around here.
Don't wanna see your face. You better disappear."
The fire's in their eyes and their words are really clear
So beat it, just beat it

...

Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it
No one wants to be defeated
Showin' how funky strong is your fight
It doesn't matter who's wrong or right

~Michael Jackson


"Rose?" Rose woke to someone softly stroking her hair out of her forehead and she blinked open her eyes to find the Doctor staring down at her with a soft smile from where he sat at the edge of her bed.

"How long did I sleep?" She sat up with her back against the headrest, trying and failing to fight back a yawn.

"Not too long," He stood up and walked over to the mantelpiece and started rummaging through her collection of alien artefacts that she had collected since she began travelling with him. Though she supposed, all but two had actually been collected by the other her, but that was something she was trying to ignore and forget. "About four hours I would say. The Ponds are asleep."

"Does the mighty Time lord not know the exact time?" She teased, slipping out of bed and putting on her robe.

"Of course I know the exact time," He dropped the photo of her and her first Doctor back on the mantel and turned to her with a pout. "I always know the exact time."

"Then why 'ave you started to wear a watch?" She pointed at the big golden watch he for some reason wore on the inside of his wrist instead of the normal way.

"To look cool." He grinned goofily at her.

"Daft old man." She muttered with a shake of her head which only made him grin wider. "Alright, I need to get dressed so where are we going exactly?"

"To a party." He flung himself down on her bed, his legs hanging over the edges.

"Another one?" She frowned, thinking back to the last one only a month prior while she opened her cupboard to look what kind of dresses the TARDIS had provided for her this time.

"Oh, but this one's different." She heard him shuffle around on the bed and peeked a glance to see he had propped himself up on his elbow so he was lying on his side, watching her.

"Different how?" She fought down the blush threatening to erupt when she felt his eyes boring into her back, and forced herself to focus on the dresses.

"It's in Wales." He clapped his hands together, and this time she turned completely around to see him jump off the bed.

"Wales?" She raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

"Wales." He confirmed. "We're going to a royal feast, or more accurately, the engagement party of Prince Joffrey of Wales, second in line to the throne, and," He stuck his hand down into his jacket pocket and fished out the psychic paper. "I just so happen to have an invitation."


"Oh wow." The Doctor took in Rose's awestruck expression as they stepped into the royal hall, having successfully used the psychic paper to get in. They were now Dame Rose of the Powell Estate, and Sir Doctor of TARDIS, so not that far-fetched of a lie for once.

"Rose," He bumped his shoulder against hers, but only enough to get her attention.

"Yeah," She answered absent-mindedly, her eyes still roaming over the large ballroom with the high ceiling and golden chandelier hanging high above them. Couples from different houses and alien worlds were taking turns dancing and talking around them as they waited for the banquet to begin.

"You're gawping." He chuckled when she sent her a glare, snapping her mouth shut immediately.

"Shut up." She muttered, but smiled again as she resumed her gaze over the room. "When exactly are we?" She asked, walking up to one of the paintings on the wall depicting the late King Edmure, Prince Joffrey's grandfather.

"Oh," He took a quick look at his watch, ignoring the bemused smirk Rose was sending him. No matter what she said, he did not need a watch to keep track of time. It was just... easier that way. Plus, it did look cool. "About four hundred years into your future. The human kind is spreading like wildfire through space, but back on Earth the old traditions remain. Well, with one or two aliens coming to visit now and then." He added when one of the royal guests, a Zeedium from the planet Zood, accidentally knocked a glass down with its long tail.

"Is that a Zeedium?" Rose looked at the alien with fondness. "I haven't seen one since that time we..."

"...we got stranded on their moon, yes, I remember." He interrupted her. "Let's see if they remember us, shall we?" He offered her his arm which she took with a graceful curtsy, and together they walked up to the alien in question.


"Doctor!" River practically shouted into her communicator. "Doctor, can you hear me?" No answer. "Damn him." She cursed, and all but threw the communicator down on the desktop of the spaceship she was currently borrowing, doing her best to not lose track of the Sontaran ship in front of her, only visible as a blip on the radar.

Before it disappeared completely.

"Oh no, you don't." She growled, typing furiously on the console to get a reading on the ship, calculating their estimated landing point to a small town in Wales in the 25th century.

Landing just outside of a large mansion like building, River quickly spotted the TARDIS parked behind a dumpster just to the side of the parking lot. Classy, she thought and shook her head at the Doctor's ability to park the TARDIS.

There were at least a dozen different space ships parked here and there on the lot, but no sign of the Sontaran ship.

Taking a second look around, she concluded that the gathering inside the large mansion was a bit fancier than she was dressed for, with her green tank top and khakis. So after a split second decision, taking into consideration that she somehow had beaten the Sontarans there, she headed over to the TARDIS for a change of clothes. Luckily, she just so happened to have a spare key.

River stepped into the seemingly empty TARDIS, but she knew somewhere in the depths her parents were sleeping deeply. She stroked the console as she passed it to get to the wardrobe, sending fond thoughts to the sentient ship and getting a small hum of satisfaction back.

Being a child of the TARDIS meant she had a slightly deeper connection to the old ship than the Doctor, not that she would ever let River take her from her thief and her Wolf.

Now clad in an auburn dress that reached all the way down to her ankles, River strode into the mansion with her head held high, using only a small amount of hallucinogenic lipstick on the two guards, and proceeded into the large ballroom.

Scanning with her eyes, she quickly found Rose and the Doctor dancing very closely together to a slow waltz. She wondered if they had been to Apalapucia yet or if she would have to act clueless.

Pulling out her journal from a hidden pocket on her dress, she walked over to the dancing couple and in one swift move, took over the Doctor's position in front of Rose.

"River?" Rose exclaimed happily, immediately bringing her arms around the older woman's neck and giving her a fierce hug.

"Nice to see you too, Wolf." She grinned at the younger woman before pulling away to give the slightly miffed Doctor a wink and a grin.

"Hello, River." He muttered, pouting. He took off his top hat and started twirling it in his hands.

"Doctor," She nodded once before turning back to Rose. "Now," She opened her journal. "Where are we?"

"Oh, ehm..." Rose started patting down her dress before realising she didn't wear any pockets, so she turned to the Doctor with her hand out who just stood watching it with a confused look. "Doctor." She wiggled her fingers.

"Yes, right!" He clapped his hands together, dropping his top hat on the floor but made no move to pick it up as he started rummaging through his trouser pockets and produced an identical book to her own, except Rose had filled in the top two squares in white markers to make it look more like the TARDIS. "Here you go." The Doctor handed the journal to Rose, who took it with a smile before refocusing her attention on her.

"Have we done Easter Island yet?" River flipped through her diary until she reached the intended page.

"Ehm, no." Rose answered hesitantly.

"Jim the fish?" She quirked an eyebrow, but Rose shook her head.

"Hmm," She decided to change tactics and started at the beginning instead. "How about the teselecta then, have we done that?"

"Erhm," River looked up to see Rose exchanging a look with the Doctor, who shrugged. She then noticed that Rose hadn't even opened her book yet, and a feeling of trepidation came over her.

"Maybe you should tell me how far we've come instead." She closed her book and folded her arms over her chest, hugging the journal to her in an attempt to regain strength and not show weakness in front of her Wolf and the Doctor.

"Well," Rose began, still not opening her book. "We've only met the once. Apollo 11?" She asked hesitantly.

River didn't remember much about her time in the 60s, only that she had met both her mother and her Wolf there. The last thing she remembered was watching her mother shoot the nice woman in front of her while she was trapped inside the suit. Looking at Rose and the Doctor now though, she knew it was still too early to reveal that secret to them so she had no choice but to shake her head in denial.

"I'm afraid not." She gave Rose a weak smile, which the blonde answered with one of her own.

"How about you, Doctor?" Rose asked the Doctor, who had somehow put on his hat again without her noticing.

"I'm afraid my previous adventures with River are still in her future." He held her gaze as he said it, conveying his apology through it.

"Well," She began to say but was interrupted by a loud bang as the doors to the ballroom flew open and a group of ten Sontarans marched in. Damn it, she had forgotten all about them.

"Inhabitants of Earth," The commanding officer said. "We bring you greeting from the sixth Sontaran fleet."

Well, that was unexpected.


The evening would have been perfect if it wasn't for one small detail. Well, maybe not that small, Rose thought as she watched the Doctor chase around after a fly while everyone else stood silent with shock.

Okay, so maybe a fly was a small thing, but... the fly just so happened to be the Zeedomians' warrior chief who had accidentally been turned into a fly when one of the Prince's guards tripped on the Zeedomian Ambassador's tail and fired of his gun who hit the warrior chief right in the chest.

It would have been comical if it wasn't for the fact that the Zeedomians were a very proud and a very militant race, being known to bring their enemies down with one swift attack. Earth so far had stayed on good terms with them, but it could all change now.

"Gotcha!" The Doctor exclaimed happily, having captured the errant fly in his hands.

"You will release our warrior chief or I will declare war on this nation." The Ambassador said with a gnarled voice, his lizard like mouth making it difficult for him to pronounce the words.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, now hang on a minute." The Doctor held his hands up, and Rose wondered for a brief second where he had put the fly. "There's no need for any kind of war, this is just a big misunderstanding."

"Release the warrior chief or your Queen will be disintegrated." The Ambassador waved a hand towards one of his guards who quickly seized the surprised Queen, pointing a blaster at her head.

"Let go of my mother at once!" Prince Joffrey cried out, breaking free from his guards who had acted as a shield as soon as the first shot had been fired. "I will not tolerate such insolence at my own engagement feast."

"I can knock them out with this." River whispered beside her, and when Rose looked at the side she saw her holding a small silver ball with symbols she couldn't decipher written on it, though she did recognise it as a knock out ball.

"Wouldn't that knock us out as well?" She questioned, half listening to the Doctor as he tried to act as a mediator between the Prince and the Ambassador.

"Perhaps," River shrugged. "But with mine and the Doctor's superior biology, we would wake up much sooner that the others and could take care of the fly problem in peace."

"I don't know." Rose worried her lower lip a bit as the thought, but before she had a chance to give River a proper reply a loud shot was emanated from the Zeedium guard's blaster and where the Queen once had stood was only a pile of residual dust.


"No, no, no, why would you do that?" The Doctor raked his hands through his hair in agitation.

"You killed her!" The Prince almost wailed and fell down on his knees in despair. "You will regret this." He hissed at the Ambassador.

"We did not incinerate her." The Ambassador said which made the Doctor stop his pacing and look at the lizard like alien.

"Then where did you put her?" The Doctor walked up to him, the Oncoming Storm just behind the surface.

"She is safe." He stated simply. "She is in what you call, a pet shop."

"A pet shop!?" The Doctor said incredulously. "Why would you put her in a pet shop?"

"You turn our warrior chief into an animal; we do the same to your Queen." The Ambassador smirked.

"You turned my mother into a..." The Prince stood up on slightly shaky legs, shaking his head. "You turned the Queen of the United Kingdom, into a... into a pet." He spit the last word out.

"Turn our chief back and we will return your mother." The Ambassador stated.

"I don't know how." Prince Joffrey threw his hands up in despair. "The blasters aren't supposed to be able to turn someone into a fly in the first place."

"Not our problem." The Ambassador sneered.

"Not your p..." The Prince shook his head. "Now listen here you..."

"Now wait a second, just a tick." The Doctor interrupted him before he had a chance to make things much worse. "Give me a mo, and I will turn your chief here," He patted his pocket. "Back into the fearsome warrior he once was."

"You can do that?" The Prince looked at him with raised eyebrows, relief evidence in his eyes.

"Sure," He waved his hand. "I'm just gonna pop back into my ship and I'll have him back in a jiffy." He rubbed his hands together and took one step back towards River and Rose. "I will need the help of my assistants of course." He smiled at the Prince and Ambassador.

"Assistant?" Rose whispered.

"Not now." He whispered back. "River, coming?" He grabbed Rose's hand before River had a chance to give him a witty retort, and spurted out of the ballroom. "Back in a mo." He called out behind him.


"Which one is it?" Rose eyed the orange fishes swimming in the large tank.

"The one that looks like a Queen, obviously." The Doctor said beside her, and she fought hard not to snap at him when she said her next words.

"How does a fish Queen look like?" She said through gritted teeth, starting to feel fed up with the Doctor's childish behaviour.

First he had accidentally lost the fly inside the TARDIS as they made their way to the pet shop, and then he had spent another ten minutes just staring at the bunnies in their cage when they got there. If River hadn't been there to keep her calm, she would have done something she might regret later.

Still, a happy Doctor was better than a grumpy Doctor even if she had to endure his childish antics.

"Like that one," He pointed at one of the fishes, which to her looked just like all the else, but she was done with arguing for the day and instead told the tired salesman, whom they had woken up in the middle of the night, which fish they wanted as the Doctor picked out a nice bowl for it.

"Do we need fish food?" River called out to them. Rose looked over to her and saw the woman eyeing several different packages of food.

"I don' know." Rose frowned. Was it necessary to buy food for a fish that would be turned into a human again soon?

"Of course we need food." The Doctor shook his head at the two of them and Rose rolled her eyes as she sighed. "The Queen of Britain needs all the food she wants." He said as he looked into the bowl now containing the fish, with a goofy grin on his face.

"She won't know the diff..."

"Hold on!" The Doctor stopped her mid sentence, holding his free hand up.

"Is that a phone?" River questioned.

"I think it's the TARDIS' phone." Rose frowned again.

"I better take it." The Doctor said and quickly ran inside with the fish in its newly acquired bowl.

"We need to pay for her first, Doctor!" Rose called after him but he had already disappeared behind the doors. "Sorry 'bout that." She smiled apologetically at the salesman who just grunted incoherently as he looked at Rose with eyes that screamed of boredom. Not for the last time was Rose happy the Doctor had blown up her old job.

She shared a shrug with River as the man left her to go and sit down, almost letting a laugh slip by when River mouthed something indecent to her.

"So," She walked up to River. "Fish food?"

"I'm deciding between these two." River held up two packages. "They're both for gold fishes, but this one," She held up the more expensive looking one. "Is made of a better brand."

"Who cares?" She groaned. "We're not keeping her." The look on River told her more than she wanted. It was like Arthur the horse all over again. Seriously, what was with time travellers and pets that don't belong on a TARDIS? "No." She shook her head and watched as River deflated slightly.

"Rose, we've got the wrong fish!" They heard the Doctor call out from the open doors before disappearing behind them again for few seconds before stepping out fully, the bowl in his hands and the top hat on his head.

"Great." Rose muttered with a sigh and looked back at the fishes in the tank.


"Um... what year is this?" The Doctor heard Amy say as he stepped into the TARDIS.

"I think that's probably for me!" He called out. "Hold this!" He gave the bowl to Amy as he took the phone from her. "Hello?"

"Have you found her? Have you found my mother?" The Prince's frantic voice was heard on the other end.

"Ah! Yes, everything's fine! Don't worry." He almost flinched as he heard his own words.

"Why should I worry?" The Prince asked, sounding suspicious.

"Well exactly," He started to pace back and forth, forcing Amy to duck from the wire several times. "Why should you be worrying? Who even mentioned worrying?" Good save. "She's fine! No, your mum is, your mum is fine." He removed the phone from his ear as the Prince started rambling something boring to him, and leaned a bit towards Amy. "Don't answer this phone." He said sternly with no hint of amusement. "I answer this phone."

"Where have you been?" Amy whispered.

"A party, just a party." He said and then tuned back into the conversation on the phone. "Um, yes," He answered the Prince's question. "Your mum is here actually, but she can't come to the phone at the moment."'

"Why?"

"Well, she's... busy." He almost grimaced at his bad lie. "Well, you know... the Commonwealth..." He removed the phone a bit from his mouth and leaned down to the bowl to address the Queen. "It's your son, ma'am, he wants to talk to you. We can't let him see you like this... well, hear you, not that he could hear you, you're a fish!" He grinned at his own joke when the phone started ringing again. "Sorry," He said to the Prince. "I've got another call coming in."

"Hello?" His ear almost hurt from the loud voice of the Zeedomian Ambassador.

"Where is my warrior chief?"

"There is not a bit of use yelling, Ambassador, your warrior chief is trapped in my TARDIS and until you've turned her majesty here back into a human being, he's staying put."

"If you harm him in any way." The Ambassador threatened.

"Don't worry. He's perfectly safe..." He trailed of as he caught sight of a rolled up news paper with something suspiciously similar to a fly smashed on it. "Just putting you on hold." He told the Ambassador before he had a chance to object and took up the paper after hanging up the phone. "What have you done?" He turned to Amy.

"I thought it was a fly..." Amy grimaced.

"So much for the slaughterer of 10 million souls." He sighed and threw the paper over his head. How was he gonna fix this?

"What is going on?" Amy frowned.

"I was at a party." He grimaced at her. "There was a slight incident."

"Wait, what, so you sneak out at night to party?" Amy questioned and then seemed to take in his appearance more intently. "Is that why you're dressed up?" He beamed at her for noticing his fancy attire. "You never dress up. Is it because of Rose? Is she at the party with you? Is River there as well?" That last comment ruined his happy mood.

"Oh," He pulled of his top hat. "Why would she be there?"

"Don't," She warned as he made his way around the console. "Just don't lie to me, Doctor." She met him on the other side. "You're rubbish at it."

"Look, I do not sneak out at night to parties with, with... with Rose, and , and River Song!" He put the hat on top of Amy's head just so he could get rid of it.

"Hmm, how is she?"

"Fine." He answered automatically.

"See?" Amy smirked as she caught his lie. "Rubbish."

"Sorry," He took the fish from Amy, not really wanting to get more in depth about his lies at the moment. "But I'm in the middle of a thing." He made his way to the door in long strides.

"Doctor." He stopped immediately by the urgency in her voice. "Doctor." She said again as he turned around. "I..." She stepped won the stairs towards him. "I need to talk to you... there is a reason that I couldn't sleep..."

Oh, no, he knew that serious face and he was in no mood to take care of it. Swallowing once, he decided to call for help.

"Rory!" He called for the Roman.

"What are you doing?" Amy whispered harshly.

"You've got the serious face on. I always shout for Rory when you've got the serious face." He spoke quickly. "Rory! She's having an emotion!"

"What?" Rory came out yawning. "What's wrong, Amy?"

"Why are you calling him?" Amy hissed at him.

"It's his turn." And with that he turned back around.

He heard Amy shout something at him and Rory, but he couldn't be bothered for he just discovered a terrible mistake.

"No!" He cried out, holding the bowl up to his face. "It's the wrong fish..." He looked at Amy. "I've taken the wrong fish." He opened the doors. "Rose, we've got the wrong fish!" He closed the doors again. "Uh, look sorry you two, I've made a mistake. I've got three hours to save the Commonwealth."

"What happens in three hours?" Rory asked as he took back his top hat.

"The pet shop opens."


They did eventually find the right fish much to the relief of the shopkeeper whom they had forced up in the middle of the night.

With the fish in bowl, they headed directly back to the mansion. Rose noticed the Doctor looking around a bit in the console room before almost imperceptible sagging in relief. Why, Rose had no idea but she was glad they were on their way to solve this problem so she could get some shuteye. The four hours sleep she got earlier wasn't nearly enough for dealing with both River and the Doctor in one night, especially during an adventure.

She stood by the side as the Doctor dealt with the Zeediums, who were clearly unhappy about the death of their warrior chief. She couldn't hear what they were saying but she could tell by their and the Doctor's body language that they had threatened him at least twice.

"Do you think he'll be able to solve it?" She asked River, who up to then had been busy with her handheld. She looked up over the rim of it and gave her a cheeky smile.

"He's the Doctor," She smirked before looking back down at the handheld. "I've never met anyone with a bigger gob."

"Try his earlier incarnation." Rose mumbled and leaned back against the wall with a sigh.

"What's that sweetie?" River looked at her again.

"'s nothin'." She shook her head and looked over at the Doctor and straightened up. "Somethin's happenin'."

The Doctor was performing a series of handshakes with the Ambassador, which Rose recognised from their visit to their planet as the official treating gesture.

"Finally!" River exclaimed, throwing her hands up.

It only took another ten minutes for the Zeediums to turn the Queen back, and another ten for them to decided it was for the best not to turn the warrior chief back on account of the way he died

After saying goodbye to River for this time, the Doctor and Rose headed back to the TARDIS, where the Doctor yet again kept looking around for no reason Rose could decipher.

"Are you tired?" The Doctor asked as he sent them into the vortex.

"I was," She confessed and sat down on one of the jump seats. "'m not any more though."

"Do you have anything in mind?" He waggled his eyebrows at her as he pulled down a lever.

"I have a few ideas." She grinned back at him, her tongue poking out just like it used to.

"Lead the way." He entwined their arms and despite his words, was the one to lead her up the stairs.


A/N

I hope you liked it and if you have any questions don't hesitate to either PM me or leave a review =)

Have a great week.