NOTE: Last chapter I'll get to post before the upcoming Christmas Special where it will be time to say good-bye to Eleven. I'm excited and sad all at the same time!

Chapter Nine

Waiting for the Doctor to return River paced around the console while Amy stood by the open doors watching the sun set on the strange crystalline world. As an experiment River reached out and put her hand on the controls to see if the TARDIS would protest the way it had before. The TARDIS didn't react negatively, but River didn't try to see if she'd actually fly for her. Suddenly feeling very tired River wandered over to the edge and sat down on the glass floor.

Dangling her legs over the side River cross her arms over the middle bar of the metal railing. With her hearts sluggishly pushing blood through her heavy lungs River felt like she may fall asleep at any second. Resting her chin on her crossed arm River closed her eyes and nearly drifted off until she snapped back awake from that falling sensation that sometimes happens right before sleep takes you. Amy heard River gasp and walked over to her. River stared down over the edge of the dais as the fatigue lifted and was replaced by an uneasy feeling.

"I love you too, Sweetie." River whispered.

"River?" Amy asked concerned.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." River shook her head to clear it. "Just...I hate waiting."

"The Doctor should be back by now, shouldn't he?"

"If he was better with his timing he would have been back seconds after he left."

"It's been over an hour." Amy said anxiously.

"For a Time Lord that man is always late." River tried to sound light hearted.

"You don't have to tell me that." Amy managed a smile.

"I'm sure he will be here soo..." River stopped as the Doctor snapped into time just outside the TARDIS doors. "Speak of the Devil."

"Doctor!" Amy exclaimed happily.

"Ameli..."

After taking a staggering step into the TARDIS the Doctor dropped to his hands and knees. Amy helped River up from her place on the floor and they both rushed over to the Doctor. Trying to get to his feet the Doctor swayed and fell again as though he was on the deck of a ship that was pitching in a heavy storm. Crashing to the floor again didn't deter him from trying once more to stand. Looking disoriented he continued to force himself up until River arrived and after guiding him onto his side she gently held him down.

The Doctor didn't fight being kept on his side instead he reached his hand up and sought out someone to take it. Amy took his hand and he held on to her tightly. She was alarmed by the glassy look in his eyes that made him appear sightless. River snapped her fingers in front of his face a few time to try and draw his focus without success. Welding his eyes shut he ground his teeth together as his stomach jerked in the beginnings of a violent dry heaving spell.

"What's wrong with him?" Amy asked.

"He spent too much time out of phase." River replied with a sigh. "I told him he was going to make himself sick."

"What do we do?"

"Help me get him to the Zero Room."

River and Amy managed to get the Doctor up on his unsteady feet. They each slipped in under one of his shoulders to help keep him there. River tried to ignore the pain in her own shoulder that was still nagging at her as they started to walk. He tried to speak several times but only managed a strangled gurgling sound. Like leading a profoundly drunk friend home they weaved their way down the hall towards the blank wall that hid the entrance to the Zero Room. When they got there River just shoved him through the wall knowing that the modified gravity on the other side wouldn't let him hit the floor.

"You have to stay here, Amy."

"Why?"

"He's specifically set it to keep humans out the last time he was looking to be alone. Wait here, we won't be long."

"He's going to be okay though, right?"

"Phase sickness is not pleasant, but not often fatal."

"'Not often'?"

"He'll be fine."

River kissed Amy's forehead the same way the Doctor often did before she turned and stepped through the wall. On the far side the Doctor was already trying to get back up. The gravity kept him from actually falling, but if anything it made it even harder to maintain an upright posture. The severe delusional state was a common side effect of trying to reenter proper time after prolonged exposure to being out of phase. The micro Universe of the Zero Room would help him stabilize. It was clear that it was already helping him already as he locked his previously blind eyes with River's.

"Ri...River..."

"Easy, Sweetie." River said soothingly.

"Fi...five billon years with this thing...not fun." The Doctor slurred as he tugged at the Vortex manipulator on his wrist.

"Just lay down." River instructed as she guided him. "I've got you."

"No...River, you can't be in here..."

"I'll be fine."

"The Zero Room is selfish," the Doctor panted "it will do anything to help me and it doesn't care who it hurts, it doesn't care about consequences."

"I take it the Valeyard is Aleena's son." River said knowingly. The Doctor had already told her that he'd guessed that the Valeyard had started right here in the Zero Room.

"Yes." The Doctor replied miserably as he tried to sit up and failed. "His youth was a nightmare because of what this Room did to him before he was even born. Now please, go."

"I'll take my chances, Doctor."

The Doctor glared at River, but that did little to dissuade her from staying. He made a clumsy move to try and push her away before passing out. River shook her head sadly and rolled him over onto his back. With them both floating above the floor she was easily able to place him in what looked like a comfortable position. Even though it wasn't necessary she sat so that he could use her lap as a pillow.

River brought the Doctor's arm over his chest so that she could remove the Vortex manipulator. Taking off the thick leather band revealed a nasty time burn that ensnared his wrist. She slipped the device in her pocket as she looked at the wound. He had said something about five billion years and from the burn mark she guessed that was how far he'd traveled to get back to them. Having a thought River used her teeth to pull off one of the long gloves that she wore. The golden spirals were not spreading as quickly as they had in her shoulder but they were certainly growing.

River wrapped her hand around the Doctor's injured wrist and concentrated. River winced against the pain that tightened around her wrist as the golden marks flared brightly. Unlike the shoulder wound that never quite went away the pain in her wrist quickly faded and when she released the Doctor his wound had healed.

"I don't understand it," River remarked as she put her glove back on "but it is certainly useful."

River thought about trying to use her energy to reverse the Doctor's phase sickness, but since he was already recovering from that on his own she decided against it. While he slept River noticed that the Nova Diamond around his neck was glowing gently through his shirt. River fished the necklace out and inspected the powerful jewel. While she was looking at the brilliant stone the Doctor woke. He looked up at her with an brief smile.

"What are you doing?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm just looking at it."

"Once I fix everything else I'll work on getting rid of that. I haven't really had time to worry about the bio-force cascade issue since this all started."

"As long as the Nova Diamond continues to work it does seem like a low priority."

"My first task is getting you back together again."

"No, your priority is helping the Valeyard and finding a way to put time back to the way it was."

"That's another thing that's been bothering me. This Timonic Fusion hasn't really effected time in the way I thought it was going to. I expected there to be chaos everywhere and everywhen."

"The Earth is frozen, paradoxes can exist, and as far as well know there are countless other side effects. Isn't that chaos enough?"

"I suppose. In the end priorities don't matter, helping the Valeyard and helping you are one in the same...the trouble is finding either of them."

The Doctor sat up and rubbed at his temples as though trying to work out a headache. When he went to get to his feet River got up first to help. He was almost recovered from the phase sickness but still looked a little shaky on his feet.

"How did you know 'I' was on Alkinar?"

"What?"

"You came back from being in the Matrix and you just seemed to magically know where I was."

"I heard you." The Doctor said with a thoughtful nod. "I was in the Matrix and I heard you. You were trouble, and I just knew when and where you were."

"Well I'm probably still in trouble if I didn't show up to any of the places we agreed on."

"It might work again." The Doctor lit up. "Brilliant, you are just brilliant!"

"I know."

"Yes you do, and I love it."

The Doctor took River's hand and headed for the wall that acted as the doorway back to the TARDIS and the real Universe. Before they stepped through River stopped him. The Doctor looked at her alarmed as she pulled on his jacket lapel to make him face her. With a mischievous grin she used her hold on his jacket to pull him into a deep kiss. As usual the Doctor awkwardly fought her at first before becoming more comfortable with the idea and returned the affection. Eventually River released him and her hold on his jacket.

"What was that for?" The Doctor asked with a flush.

"Just for fun, Sweetie."

The Doctor blushed harder causing River to chuckle. Even though the Valeyard's aggressive passion had been exciting at first she had quickly begun to missed the Doctor's coy demeanor during. The Valeyard had offered obsession and desire, which had been tempting in the short term, but she was delighted to have the Doctor's loyalty and love back. Stepping through the wall they met with Amy who was looking anxious.

"Doctor?"

"I'm fine, Amy." The Doctor pulled Amy into a hug. "Better than 'fine', I actually have a plan."

"A plan?" Amy asked hopefully.

"Well...part of one. But better than nothing! Let's go!"

The Doctor squeezed Amy once more, after he released her he twirled around before heading off down the hall like an excited child on Christmas morning. River and Amy exchanged a meaningful glance that was a mixture of exasperation and relief. The Doctor's energy could be hard to deal with at times, but at the same time it was nice to see him back on track.

Getting to the main chamber the Doctor landed the TARDIS in the tunnels of LMC-7/11MAH-Zed. He went over to the doors and opened them cautiously and looked around for a moment. When nothing happened he turned to River and Amy.

"Okay, you two stay here." The Doctor instructed.

"You must be new here." River replied with a raised eyebrow of disapproval.

"Riv..."

"No arguments," Amy said taking River's side "we are coming with you."

"In fact it might even make more sense for me to connect with the Matrix." River added.

"Absolutely not, you'll never be able to control it."

"Sweetie, Time Lord technology loves me. More often than not I just have to touch it and it seemed to *want* to teach me."

"The Matrix isn't like the TARDIS, in a lot of ways it's malevolent creation."

"And Vale Blades aren't?" River pointed out.

"Oh...be quite." The Doctor huffed.

"He hates it when I win." River explained unnecessarily to Amy.

"You have not won. I'm not letting you near the Matrix, and certainly not without the Crown of Rassilon."

"Let's get to the Matrix and make our decisions from there."

"Fine, but the decision is already made."

The Doctor lead Amy and River out into the twisting tunnels that had been built into the world. The rounded tunnels were large so they didn't give off the traditional claustrophobic feel that many underground compounds did. The walls were smooth like they have been carved but the floor was dirty like a natural cave. The light came from rounded glowing half spheres set into the walls. As they walked through the halls River thought she heard a noise from behind them.

River lagged behind for a moment and looked back. She didn't see anything at first but then she noticed a shadow being cast on the ground at the intersection that was about fifteen feet back. She took a step towards it while Amy and the Doctor continued on ahead. River looked over her shoulder to call to Amy and the Doctor when she felt a cold chill. Tuning back River gasped sharply at the stone Angel that suddenly stood just a few feet from her.

"Doctor!" River exclaimed.

The Doctor and Amy turned around and were both momentarily frozen in shock at the sight of the deadly creature. River glanced into the Angel's eyes, but quickly switched her focus to its lips instead to keep it from getting into her head. The Angel's mouth was slightly open as though it was trying to say something, but as far as River knew Angels had no voice of their own. The only way to get one was to steal it from the dead and even that was only a temporary means of communicating.

"River!" The Doctor cried. "Amy keep your eyes on it. River I'm going to get the TARDIS we can keep a line of sight on the Angel while we back into it. I will be right back, just don't blink, and don't look directly into its eyes."

"I know what to do and not do with an Angel, Doctor." River said with a touch of irritation as she took a slow step back. "I also know that once you're this close to one it's almost impossible to get away."

"I'm not losing you like this, I'm not going to lose anyone to one of these things." The Doctor said firmly. "It's just one, we can..."

The Doctor stopped as the unusual lighting in the tunnels flickered as the Angel worked to draw the power from system and restore darkness. River yelped in fright knowing that it would only take the second of dark for the Angel to reach her. However when the lights stabilized the Angel was still the same distance away. However it had taken advantage of the darkness to change its pose. River stared at the creature in disbelief, it had actually dropped to its knees and spread open its immense stone wings.

"Doctor," River whispered as though speaking to loud would wake the stone creature "what is it doing?"

"I don't know." The Doctor admitted. "I've never seen one with its wings open...it's beautiful."

"Stunning, but somehow even more terrifying."

"Doctor," Amy said as she tugged on the elbow of his jacket "what do we do? It's turning off the lights, we don't have time to get the TARDIS."

As if to illustrate Amy's point the lights sputtered once more. River knit her brow in confusion when the Angel suddenly appeared with its hands clasped in front of itself. If it had wanted to it could have just reached out and touched her. River was about to mention this when the Doctor came up behind her to pull her away. He was saying something about keeping watch on the frozen Angel but River knew there was no point, they had already lost, it was too close and the lights were fading.

The lights failed again and she could see through the flickering as the Angel reached out for her. The Doctor cried out for her to run as the lights blinked for them. In the heartbeat of darkness River felt the Angel's lightining fast hand grab the front of her blouse. Without thinking she threw her hand up to push the Angel away. The lights came back up just as she slammed her palm against the Angel's chest.

When the Angel disintegrated before her eyes River just assumed that it had been an illusion caused from being sent back in time. It didn't matter if the Angel touched you or you touched the Angel, the results were the same. The Doctor still had his arms around her waist and even with the Angel gone he pulled her back further from the spot where it had been.

"Amy," River breathed in panic "we left Amy alone..."

"I'm right here." Amy replied.

River and the Doctor turned to look at Amy who was a few feet behind them before they both looked back to the dusty floor. There was so much dirt debris on the floor already that it was difficult to tell if there was more of it now where the Angel had stood or not. The Doctor released River and looked back between Amy, River, and the empty space.

"What?" The Doctor asked in confusion.

"Doctor, what the hell happened?" River demanded. "How did Amy come with us?"

"We didn't travel anywhere." The Doctor announced in a perplexed tone as he consulted his watch. "We are right were and when we should be, the Angel turned to dust."

"Why?"

"I think..." the Doctor paused long enough to scan with his sonic before looking to River with awe. "I think you killed it, you killed an Angel just by touching it."

"What? No." River shook her head. "That's impossible."

"Facts are facts, the Angel is dead. So either you killed it or it just happened to drop dead of natural causes the moment it touched it."

"Why was it on its knees like that?" River asked still staring at the dust remains.

"It look like it was praying." Amy noted.

"No, not praying," the Doctor shook his head "the hands were interlaced not pressed together."

"If it wasn't praying then what was it doing?"

"Begging, it was begging."