10 Downing Street

"I can't believe we're really doing this," River muttered as she stood beside LJ, dressed in more modern earth clothes as they were on modern day earth, circa the early 1990s, LJ holding a slightly large briefcase.

"Why not Riv?" he glanced at her as they stood outside the famous doors of 10 Downing Street, "It's not the strangest adventure we've gone on."

"No," she agreed, "It's just the most sensitive one yet," she sighed, eyeing the doors.

"It's not really."

"Oh?" she raised an eyebrow, "J, if you do what you're planning, you'll be creating the future!"

"No I won't," he countered.

"Really? How is adapting the plans for the reconstruction of 10 Downing Street to alter the steel lining in the walls so your father will be safe when he faces the Slitheen not creating the future?"

"Ah," he grimaced, rubbing the back of his neck, "Well…it's…"

"You didn't think that far ahead did you?"

"I did!" he insisted, "I have. I…" he snapped his fingers, shouting, "Oh!" making her jump beside him, "I've got it!" he grinned at her, "We won't touch the linings, we'll just adapt the storage cupboard."

"The storage cupboard?"

"Remember?" he nudged her, reminding her of the stories he'd told her about his parents, ever since she'd found out who they were a few months ago, "Dad hid in the storage cupboard to avoid the blast of the missile," he snorted, "There's no way a room like that wouldn't be obliterated while the steel lined rooms were," he nodded, "Yeah, it had to have been adapted at some point, by someone knowing what sort of blast was coming. It makes sense!" he grinned at her, "So, in a way, we've already adapted the storage cupboard because it was adapted in the future. Which means we have to adapt it now to maintain the timeline!"

River shook her head, muttering about how she probably should take those physics classes LJ had recommended, but sighed, "Well, let's get this over with then."

He beamed and knocked on the door, waiting only a moment before it opened to reveal a construction worker, "Hello!" he held up a small wallet for the man to squint at the blank paper, "Js. Smith and Mist, Prime Minister's assistants," he put the wallet away, "Just here to check on the restoration and construction."

The man nodded, seeing their credentials, and stepped back to let them in. LJ grinned, winking at River, silently thanking his parents for the psychic paper they'd given him.

"As you can see," the man gestured around, "We're nearly done, just finishing the meeting room this way," he led them down the hall to the conference room where various men and women were standing by the walls, the panels removed, to install the steel lining LJ knew would one day help save his father and his companion from the Slitheen.

"Very nice work," LJ commented, resting a hand on a sheet of the steel lining, "Sturdy."

River rolled her eyes, "What about that?" she nodded at the storage cupboard a few feet away, walking over to it to peer inside, it was empty, save for a few building items. She knew they should probably be quick about this, security had been heightened on the entire street, it would only be a matter of time before someone figured out they were not the Prime Minister's assistants.

"That's just the storage cupboard miss," the worker remarked, "Not much to do there. Don't think the extra paper and cleaning supplies need to be kept that safe."

"Still," LJ cut in, agreeing with River, "If it's alright with you, Miss Brooks and I would like to be in charge of securing the cupboard."

The man stared at him, "The cupboard sir?"

"Yep," LJ beamed, "Prime Minister's orders," he nodded, "Every room is to be secure."

The man frowned, "Even the cupboard?"

"Especially the cupboard."

The man blinked but shook his head, "If it's the Prime Minister's orders…"

"Come on then, Mr. Smith," River cut in, taking his arm, "Let's get a preliminary examination of the room, shall we?"

He grinned and nodded, following her into the cupboard, laughing as she shut the door behind her.

"What?" she asked, shaking her head, not sure what he was laughing about.

"Nothing, nothing, it's just…" he gave a chuckle, "Remember the last time we were in a cupboard together?"

She rolled her eyes, "Honestly I have no idea how that boy thought we were ever doing that!"

"Well, we were making some strange noises," he had to admit, thinking about the boy who had discovered them in a cupboard of the university a few weeks ago.

"Because you got trapped in Harry Houdini's straightjacket," she countered, deadpanning, "And I was struggling to get you out of it," she rolled her eyes, "As though that boy could confuse us trying to free you with us…"

"Dancing?" LJ cut in with a smirk.

River rolled her eyes, whacking him on the arm, making him pout and rub it before she got back to looking around the room, "Right, so how are we going to secure this room without that lot realizing we're adding alien technology to it?"

"Well, we won't be adding alien technology," he explained, he'd already given a lot of thought to how he'd secure the walls in a way that others wouldn't notice, "We'll be using alien supplies though."

She frowned, "Like what?"

He just set his briefcase down on the ground and opened it up to reveal it was, as all things were with Time Lords, bigger on the inside. And, sitting inside it, was a thin sheet of black...something...which LJ proceeded to flash with the sonic he'd pulled from his pocket, disengaging a sort of light that was filtering around the edges of the slab, an anti-gravity device River realized...which meant whatever the slab was had to be heavy.

River knelt down and looked at it, touching it a moment before frowning, "Can I borrow your sonic?" she asked, she'd left hers at the school when LJ had rushed her out that morning, wanting to get this taken care of before classes.

He flipped the sonic over but didn't give it up, "Come on Riv, you can guess," he nudged her. She'd grown far too used to using the scanners at the school or their sonics. He wanted her to be able to at least give a best guess if she ever got stuck without one or the other.

She sighed, eyeing it closely, "Well it's dense…"

"Densest material in the Universe," he added, helping her, hinting at it.

She blinked, "Dwarf Star Alloy?"

"Spot on!" he cheered.

"How'd you manage slabs of Dwarf Star Alloy?"

He shrugged, "Well I wasn't going to settle for something cheap like sheet rock."

This was his father, and not just his father, but his father's companion and the future Prime Minister that would be hiding in this room. He was not about to take any chances on any sort of material short of something he knew would protect his dad from anything, Dwarf Star Alloy. Nothing got in, nothing got out…except a TARDIS, because they were just incredible like that.

He reached into the case to lift it, "Little help?" he asked, struggling. She rolled her eyes but helped him pick the slab up, looking around the room that was also stripped of its paneling, ready for new wood to be set up. Luckily there wasn't much light in the room and the empty panels looked black, so setting the slabs up behind the beams wouldn't be too noticeable to the humans.

They got to work, setting up slab after slab around the room, the cracks in the slabs sealing against themselves as they worked, borrowing a ladder from the workers as they got up higher and to the ceiling.

They stepped back and admired their work, the alloy set up behind the wooden beams that made up the structure of the room, masking their existence in the natural dark of the small cupboard, lit only by a single light bulb above them. The humans would never know it was there once they put the wall panels back up, and neither would the Time Lord that would one day hide in it.

It would probably seem strange to the Doctor, in the future, that the steel lined walls outside this small room were demolished in the blast of the missile that stopped the Slitheen, while this little room remained completely standing, not even touched on the inside. He'd chalk it up to a stroke of luck, his companion to the smallness and sturdiness of the cupboard.

River and LJ smiled at each other, they knew the truth though. It was oddly nice to know that they would be responsible for the Doctor seeing another day, long before he had his reasons to live and to fight returned to him. LJ wondered if his father would ever know the truth, but, then again, it was nice to share this secret, this triumph and adventure with River.

As they walked out of 10 Downing Street, having given the construction workers their approval, he couldn't help but wonder, what other adventures had his father had where he'd mysteriously lived when the circumstances were against him, like in the cupboard?

Would he and River have a hand in his survival like they had just then?

He didn't know, but, as he draped his arm over River's shoulders absently, he knew he couldn't wait to find out.

A/N: I always thought it was strange that the entire building, the room with the steel-lined walls, was destroyed, but the little room they hid in remained entirely intact. If you watch that episode of Series 1 closely you can see that the Doctor, Rose, and Harriet step out of what looks like an intact box, with black panels. I just thought it would be interesting for LJ to have had a hand in it :)

Next chapter seems like it's shaping up to be a touching one that will echo into some things River will say in The Angels Take Manhattan :)

And...just wanted to make a little announcement...tomorrow I will be posting a new Sherlock/OC series, The Jackie Holmes Chronicles, starting with my new story Holmes, Sweet Holmes, a little play on Home, Sweet Home :)