Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Doctor Who franchise... I do own a sonic, shirt, and a large ego though!

Part 2 of your late Christmas gift! Once again, I'm sorry, my lovelies, and there probably won't be another chapter up for a while.


"My TARDIS won't last for long in this universe. The only thing that is keeping her going is the Power Jumper. We're going to be stranded if we don't find the Doctor or someone else I know soon."

"You mentioned someone before when you were telling us about your past… a Jack Harkness?" Anya reminded her.

"Ah, yes! You're right. However, I don't know how to track him down."

"Just run a scan using the TARDIS. Surely an anomaly like him would show up on the scanner."

"Ordinarily, I would, but the scanner isn't going to be functional when she's this low. I'll be lucky if I can land Sexy properly. I want to be able to salvage her consciousness without leaving that consciousness fragmented. I can't leave her drained to the point of death. She's been my best and only friend for years."

Anya sighed, she was trying to think of any viable option to get them to their, most probably, constantly moving destination.

"Why don't you just land her near the location where you knew this Harkness guy was at last except for just a tad bit into the future?" Amy asked.

"Ah! Yes! Brilliant, excellent, fantastic idea! You are wonderful Amy! I knew bringing three of you along would be helpful! You see, a lot of times the Doctor only brings one person along… well, except for those times with Mickey and Jack, not the point… and that is why we always ended up in trouble! Multiple minds make for an excellent adventure!"

"So where'll we be going then?"

"Cardiff, 2010," Rose flung a lever upwards.


The Doctor was in a mood, Clara noticed.

Well, not exactly a mood, but he was down, down farther than she'd ever seen him.

"Oi, Chinboy, what're we doing today?" Clara asked, closing her book coming into the TARDIS control room.

"Hm? Oh, sorry, Clara. I actually have plans for today. I'm meeting River at the Singing Towers."

"Well, that explains why you're all gussied up, Singing Towers sounds fancy."

"Yeah, sure… sure. I'll see you later, Clara," he said solemnly before walking out of the TARDIS.

Clara walked over to the TARDIS monitor. Outside, his sad demeanour was gone; he was acting quite happily around River, strange, almost. The TARDIS' lights dimmed, she was sad too.

"Hey, you can't be down in the dumps too! I may not like you, and you don't like me, but that doesn't give you the right to be upset that he left me here with you alone. I'm not a bad person, you know."

"Clara!" a voice said behind her. "I haven't seen you in ages!"

Clara turned around. It was River in all her big-haired glory. "River, what're you doing here? Shouldn't you be in the Library? Or… with the Doctor, outside?"

"I've come to tell you something, Clara. Someone's coming, a woman. Someone from the Doctor's past."

"What? Who is it?"

"They loved each other, but she has changed so much since the last time he saw her, then again, it goes both ways."

"But, what about you? You're his wife!"

"That doesn't matter, it never has. I wasn't the one who held his hearts, he held mine, but I never came close to the hold that this woman had. But she was lost and then found and then shoved down with the other humans, abandoned. Ones like you who will fade with time, as all do."

"River, you're starting to weird me out."

River ignored her, "She's not human anymore. And she has friends coming with her, companions, like what you are to the Doctor. And when she and the he meet, when they travel, trouble follows. Be careful, Clara. You mustn't tell the Doctor about this, about her returning. He'll find out soon enough."

"River! Who is she!?" Clara yelled at the older, no longer living person.

"She's the Valiant Child, the Defender of the Earth, his Pink and Yellow Human Girl, she is the Wilting Rose, but most of all she's the woman who took in the heart of the TARDIS to save her Doctor."

"You're making absolutely no sense," Clara said blatantly, shaking her head slightly.

"Don't be afraid of the big, Bad Wolf, Clara, or it might just bite."

And with that, River was gone, lonely gods and goddesses and those who hold their secrets only know where.

"What do you mean? River!" Clara shouted futilely.

"Clara? Are you okay? You look pale as a ghost. Did something happen?" She hadn't even noticed when the Doctor walked in. She had been standing by the console for what seemed like an eternity. Maybe it was since the Doctor was already back from his date with River

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. I'll be fine. I just need to rest. I think my iron is low or something. I just need some sleep," Clara started to head towards her bedroom.

"You do that Clara. When you wake up, I'm thinking that we'll go take a visit to an orphanage on Raxacoricofallapatorius, I have someone I need to check up on."

"Okay, Doctor." She turned at the doorway to the hallway. She stared at her Doctor. "Is there any reason to be afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, Doctor?"

The Doctor stopped in his musings on the TARDIS console. "What? Where did you hear that?"

"Someone I… know. Just," she breathes heavily, "is there?"

"No, absolutely not. There is never a reason to be afraid of her."

"Her?" Clara knew, in a way, who he was talking about. "Why not? Why shouldn't I be afraid?"

"Because the Bad Wolf brings life, she creates herself and she will do anything to protect those she loves… and she is fantastic and brilliant and magnificent."

The Doctor had his head turned so that Clara couldn't see his tears. Ever since Clara started saying those weird things before (and after) his run-in with his past selves, the Warrior and the Hero, he has been thinking of… her a lot more.

"Well… I'm going to bed then, Doctor. We can go to that planet Raxacor-… oh, never mind, after I wake up."

"Alright, Clara. Sleep well."

The Impossible Girl left, shaking her head. Bad Wolf, she thought, where have I heard that name before?

And so he was alone. Alone, with nothing but his thoughts and his newly remembered memories to keep him company.

"Oh, look at you, stuck between a girl and a box. The story of your life, eh, Doctor?"

"You have no idea," he replied to the memory.

"I hear you, all of you, jangling around in that dusty old head of yours. I chose this face and form especially for you. It's from you past… or is it your future? I always get those two mixed up."

"At the time, it was from my future, now it is my past. If only it could be both still."

"I think I'm called… Rose Tyler…"

"Ah, Rose, you beautiful girl."

"… no, yes, no, no, sorry. In this form, I'm called…" she pauses on the words, "Bad Wolf."

"No, no. You'll always be Rose Tyler as long as you stay that loving creature, not the one who would destroy an entire race without even blinking."

"Are you afraid of the big, Bad Wolf, Doctor?" the Moment had said.

"Of course not. Not anymore. I never was, because the Bad Wolf was created to protect me... and Jack," he said the name with slight disgust but with a caring undertone, for he had been Rose's friend too, "So, maybe you can be both at the same time. I wouldn't know, I'm not you."

"Doctor!" he heard Clara's voice screaming at him from somewhere inside the TARDIS, bringing him out of his reverie. "Could you stop talking to yourself! It's getting a bit annoying! I am trying to sleep!"

Oh, how she reminded him of Amy, sweet little Amelia Pond, with her constant yelling at him to put him straight.


"You know the sound the TARDIS makes? That… wheezing, groaning. That sound brings hope, wherever it goes," she said.

"Yes. Yes, I like to think it does," he replied

"To anyone who hears it, Doctor… anyone, however lost… even you," she smiled like the greatest thing in the world just happened… and maybe it did.