"How would you feel about attending a royal ball?"
"Like in the 1500's or something?" Amy asked excited.
"More like the 52nd century on the planet Oldine." the Doctor replied, "I may have helped out with a giant, city-smashing, lizard robot issue once, so now the King owes me a favor. It's his family's two hundredth year in the monarchy and I've been invited to the celebration. You get to be my plus one, or do you count as plus two?"
"Hey! I'm only four months along!" Amy slapped his arm, "I'm not that big, you jerk."
The Doctor dodged out of the way before she could hit him again. "Just joking, Pond. So what do you say? Do you want to go to the ball?"
"I've been waiting for a man to ask me that since I was four years old." Amy said, mock fanning her face.
"Really?" the Doctor asked. He couldn't imagine there being any balls in Leadworth in Amy's time period.
"Please don't tell me you've never seen Cinderella?"
"The Disney film?"
"Yes! Ok first things first, we are watching Cinderella and then we are going to the ball. How do you manage on Earth without watching Disney movies?" Amy took off in the direction of the living room.
"Ta da!" the Doctor cried throwing open the TARDIS' doors dramatically.
"Doctor, either your friend owns a really shabby palace or we're in the wrong place." Amy said gazing out.
Before them stretched a barren wasteland that looked like the aftermath of an apocalypse. Thick dark smog filled the air and the gray earth was split with acidic yellow streams. A millennium's worth of space junk littered the surface; twisted and burned metal forming the land's monuments.
"Definitely not Oldine." the Doctor choked on the bitter air.
"Rory always said you couldn't - Oh my god!" Amy clapped her hands over her mouth. "I-I remembered something!"
"What exactly do you remember?" the Doctor asked trying to sound calm. If Amy could remember Rory it could change everything. He put his hands on her shoulders, scrutinizing her face.
"Just that he said you couldn't steer." Amy whispered. Her brow furrowed in concentration. "That's it. I don't remember his face or anything else. I just know he said that to me! How can that be possible?"
Pulling her into a hug the Doctor said, "Nothing is ever truly forgotten. No matter what the universe says. You loved him and he's buried somewhere deep in your mind."
"Do you think I'll ever be able to remember him fully?" she asked looking up at him hopefully.
"Maybe someday." the Doctor smiled. He switched topics not wanting to upset her. "Now I think we better figure out where we are."
"Hell?" Amy muttered sardonically.
"I certainly hope not! I think we're on one of the failed terraformed planets of the Xegean system. Need to run some scans to be sure though." the Doctor rambled. He started waving the sonic screwdriver at the ground, wandering back and forth.
"The Xegean system is a collection of micro planets each smaller than the Earth's moon. They tried terraforming them for colonization, but it didn't quite work. The atmosphere is breathable but, well, look at this place. Would you want to live here?" he said.
The Doctor continued examining the terrain for several minutes before confirming that they were indeed in the Xegean system, on the planet 28X to be exact. Standing above a cliff face, he was trying to determine the oxygen content when Amy interrupted his thoughts.
"I think someone's coming this way! Fast!" she yelled.
A hovercraft was speeding in their direction at an impossible pace. It was just a blur. Looking past the vehicle, the Doctor realized there was an entire semi-underground structure not far ahead of them. The smog and space junk almost completely disguised it. He doubted anyone who chose to live on 28X was a law-abiding citizen and certainly not anyone they wanted to meet.
"He's going to be here in seconds. Get back inside the TARDIS n-" Suddenly the ground gave way beneath his feet sending the Doctor tumbling down the side of the cliff.
"DOCTOR!" Amy screamed.
Smashing into the rocks at the base, Amy's cry and the engine of a hovercraft were the last sounds he heard before losing consciousness.
When the Doctor woke he knew he'd been out for at least an hour if not longer. The sun was in a completely different location. Spitting out dirt he sat up. Thank goodness Time Lord body structure was stronger than humans, if not he would probably have several broken bones. As if was he was just severely bruised.
"Amy!" he yelled, "Can you hear me?"
No one responded. The Doctor was afraid of that. Amy would have already made it down to him if she could. Clearly whoever was driving the hovercraft had taken her. He growled in frustration. Protect Amy and the baby! That was all he had to do! Anyone else in the universe could manage it except him. No, he put their lives in constant danger! The Doctor knew he was kidding himself thinking he could keep his unexpected family safe. He was the reason Jelly Bean didn't have a father in the first place!
A switch flipped inside him. The Doctor was suddenly completely calm, completely devoid of emotion. There was a reason he was known as The Oncoming Storm, The Destroyer of Worlds. A reason the monsters in the dark ran at the sight of him. He was going to get them back and damn anything which got in his way.
"Fresh meat!" a tall humanoid announced, laughing as he shoved Amy into the room. "She's a feisty one though, hasn't stopped cussing since I grabbed her."
Amy, her mouth muffled by a gag, kept up her rant about what she was going to do to all of them the moment she got her hands free. The hovercraft arrived just after the Doctor went over the ledge. The driver got more than he bargained for when he tried to subdue her, though. Amy fought like a hellcat, busting the man's lip and bruising his face. Yet the gray-skinned, cat-eyed alien was a lot stronger than her. He managed to overpower Amy and throw her in the back of the vehicle.
He then hooked an anti-gravity clamp to the TARDIS so it could be towed behind them. Interrogating Amy got him nowhere. Every time he demanded she tell him why she was on 28X and how her ship operated, Amy just continued to scream obstinacies. Eventually he resorted to gagging her.
Amy was keeping up a brave face, but she was terrified. Her baby's life was at stake. She didn't know what these people wanted or what they would do to her. If anything happened to her daughter she would never forgive herself. They dragged her into what looked like an old fashioned gentlemen's club. The Victorian earth style furnishings clashing with futuristic alien technologies. There was an assortment of men in the room. One she recognized as Slitheen, but the others Amy had no clue what they were.
Several of them were the same species as her initial captor including the man in charge. He rose out of his velvet chair to inspect Amy closely. She didn't like the way his eyes roamed over her body, like she was something to eat. It took all her willpower not to shiver and continue glaring at him.
"She's certainly a looker, even for a human." he said removing her gag and grabbing Amy's chin roughly to examine her face better.
"Get off me!" she screeched kicking him in the shin.
The man started laughing apparently unable to feel the kick. "You were right, Garrett, this one is a hand full."
The other men laughed darkly. A few of them got up for a closer look. The whole situation, from their manners to the way the men were dressed, reminded Amy strongly of one of those American gangster films. A thought which was far from reassuring.
"She's knocked up!" said one of the men looking at her stomach. Amy bristled at the term.
"Two for the price of one. I've always loved a bargain." said the leader. He barred his teeth in the facsimile of a smile. "I'm Mr. Renton, welcome to my humble facility."
"I demand you let me go!" Amy spat.
"Let you go? When you so conveniently fell into my hands, I think not. I'm in the business of making money." Renton said. His eyes greedily slid up and down Amy's body. "And you my dear, I think someone will pay a lot for."
A/N - Sorry for the late update everyone! New episodes in less than a month, who else is freaking out?!