A/N: new chappie! enjoy!

Chapter 11: Return

"We're locked on!" Olivia shouted over the energy surrounding them and engine's noise as they flew through space on the console.

"They'll have to lower the shields when we're close enough to phase inside!" Idris explained as they all worked on the console.

"Can you get a message to Amy?!" the Doctor asked her. "The telepathic circuits are online!"

"Which one's Amy?!" Idris asked. "The pretty one?!"

"Sure!" Olivia called before being thrown back into the half wall around the console as Idris positioned herself in front of the mirror.

"Liv! Be careful!" the Doctor warned. "If you're thrown off the edge—!"

"I know!" Olivia called back. "I'm dead!"

"Hello, Pretty," Idris began, talking into the mirror and Olivia hurried up next to Idris to speak into the mirror.

"What the hell is that?" Rory said from the mirror.

"It's ok!" Olivia explained. "Telepathic messaging. That's Rory, not Amy."

She was tossed back again but gripped the console as the Doctor came up between them to look into the mirror as well.

"You have to go to the old control room," Idris explained to Rory. "I'm putting the route in your head. When you get there, use the purple slider on the nearest panel to lower the shields."

"The pretty one?!" the Doctor questioned before being thrashed back again.

"You'll have about twelve seconds before the room goes into phase with the invading matrix. I'll send you the passkey when you get there. Good luck."

"How're they gonna get the shields down?!" Olivia wondered. "House will be in the control room!"

"I directed him to one of the old control rooms!" Idris explained.

"There aren't any old control rooms!" the Doctor argued. "They were all deleted or remodeled!"

"I archived them for neatness! I've got about thirty now."

"But I've only changed the desktop, what, a dozen times?!"

"So far, yeah!"

"You can't archive something that hasn't happened yet!"

"You can't!" Olivia grinned, giving an exaggerated wink to Idris.

"Keep going!" the Doctor called to Idris as they all worked. "You're doing it, you sexy thing!"

"See you do call me that!" Idris observed as he helped her on a panel. "Is it my name?!"

"You bet it's your name!" he replied before the console thrashed again.

"Theta!" Olivia screamed, making him look up in time to see her stumble off the edge.

"Olivia!" he shouted, rushing toward the edge and gripping a nook in the wall to steady himself when he saw her hands gripping the edge of the floor. He reached out and gripped one of her hands as her feet kicked just above the barrier of energy. "I've got you! Hold my hand! Pull yourself up! Come on!"

Olivia did as he told her, both ignoring Idris speaking into the mirror again, giving Rory the passkey. The console thrashed and Olivia was thrown up and onto the floor again, making the Doctor stumble back, still holding her hand.

"Grab onto the console and don't let go!" he shouted, pulling her hand toward it so that she could grip it as they both stood.

"They did it!" Idris reported. "Shields down!"

She spoke to Rory again as the two worked on the console, and Olivia looked ahead with a grin.

"There it is!" she shouted.

"It's not going to hold!" Idris shouted as the console sparked and smoked.

They were thrashed around again before the console halted, sending them all to the floor and as the smoke cleared, Olivia gasped and coughed at the sight of the room they'd landed in. A control room she knew well. The first control room she'd been introduced to when the TARDIS had landed in her room years ago.

"Doctor! Olivia!" Amy called as they stood and the Doctor shot to his feet to hug Amy tightly.

"Not good," Idris gasped as Olivia helped her up. "Not good at all. How do you walk around in these things?"

"We're not quite there yet, just hold on," the Doctor told her before looking back to Amy and Rory, saying, "Uh, Amy, this is…well, she's my TARDIS. Except she's a woman. She's a woman and she's my TARDIS."

"She's the TARDIS?!" Amy squeaked in disbelief.

"And she's a woman. She's a woman and he's the TARDIS."

"Did you wish really hard?" Amy wondered, making Olivia burst into laughter so hard she doubled over.

"Shut up!" the Doctor retorted as Idris stood. "Not like that. Liv! Stop laughing!"

"Hello," Idris panted. "I'm…Sexy."

Olivia's laughter howled even harder through the room as the Doctor groaned and turned to Amy.

"Still, shut up," he warned her.

"The environment has been breached," a familiar voice rang through the room, ceasing Olivia's laughter and making all of them freeze. "Nephew, kill them all."

Their eyes shot around in terror before Rory questioned, "Where's Nephew?"

"He was standing right where you materialized," Amy reported.

"Ah, well, he must've been redistributed," the Doctor replied.

"Meaning what?" Rory asked.

"We're breathing him," Olivia blanched, making the others give disgusted faces.

"Another Ood I failed to save," the Doctor murmured.

"Doctor, I did not expect you," House confessed, cordially.

"Well, that's me all over, isn't it?" the Doctor replied, pacing around the console. "Lovely, old, unexpected me."

"The big question is, now you're here, how to dispose of you. I could play with gravity…"

They all gasped when their bodies instantly became heavier, sending them all to the ground with painful grunts each. They all groaned as they tried to get up, and a moment later they were released from their own weight to stand, but when Idris stood, she fell to the floor again, and Rory rushed to her side to aid her.

"Or I could evacuate the air from this room and watch you choke."

They all grabbed at their throats out of reflex when the air rushed from the room, making them gasp for breath.

"You really don't wanna do that!" the Doctor managed to call and the air returned to the room, unstantly.

"Why shouldn't I just kill you now?"

"Because then I won't be able to help you," the Doctor panted, making Olivia whip a wide-eyed gaze of disbelief at him. "Listen to your engines. Just listen to them. You don't have the thrust, and you know it. Right now I'm your only hope for getting out of your little bubble through the rift and into my universe. And mine's the one with the food in it! You just have to promise not to kill us. That's all. Just promise."

"You can't be serious!" Amy snapped at the Doctor.

"I'm very serious," he replied. "I'm sure it's an entity of its word."

"Doctor, she's burning up," Rory reported, making the three look to him and the Doctor ran toward Idris. "She's asking for water."

"Hang in there, Old Girl," he murmured. "Not long now. It'll be over soon."

"I always liked it when you called me Old Girl," she replied in a weak voice before the Doctor looked to Olivia over his shoulder as she stood behind him.

"Look after her," he ordered and she nodded before switching places with him.

"You want me to give my word? Easy. I promise."

"Fine, ok," the Doctor replied. "I trust you."

"I don't," Olivia ground out, making him meet her eyes with a warning gaze.

"Just delete thirty percent of the TARDIS rooms. You'll free up thrust, enough to make it through. Activate subroutine Sigma Nine."

"Why would you tell me this?"

"Because we wanna get back to out universe as badly as you do…and I'm nice."

"Yes. I can delete rooms. And I can also rid myself of vermin if I delete this room first. Thank you, Doctor. Very helpful."

"Oh…" Olivia breathed in realization, making Rory frown at her.

"Oh, what?" he asked.

"He's a genius," she whispered.

"Goodbye, Time Lord. Goodbye, little humans. Goodbye, Idris."

A bright light shone brightly above them, blinding them, and a second later…they were in the main control room.

"Yes, I mean you could do that, but it just won't work," the Doctor began, pacing around the console.

"Fail safe, hardwired into the TARDIS," Olivia grinned, standing to step toward the console. "Any living thing in a room that's deleted get automatically dropped in here…the main control room."

"But thanks for the lift!" the Doctor grinned.

"We are in your universe now, Doctor. Why should it matter to me in which room you die? I can kill you just as easily here as anywhere. Fear me. I've killed hundreds of Time Lords."

"Fear me," the Doctor murmured. "I've killed all of them."

"Doctor?" Olivia frowned at him before he held up a hand to silence her.

"Yeah," he continued. "You're right, you've completely won! Oh, can kill us in oodles of really inventive ways. But before you do kill us, allow me and my friends to congratulate you on being an absolutely worthy opponent."

He began clapping, urging Olivia to do the same as she stood with him and she frowned at him in absolute confusion before beginning to clap.

"Congratulations?" she called, then noticed the Doctor glancing at Idris and Rory.

"Yep, you've defeated us, me and my lovely friends here," the Doctor continued. "And last, but definitely not least, the TARDIS matrix herself, a living consciousness you ripped out of this very control room and locked up into a human body! And look at her."

"Doctor, she's stopped breathing," Rory reported, making Amy kneel next to him as Olivia shot her gaze to Idris' body before looking back at the Doctor.

"Enough. That is enough."

"No!" the Doctor snapped. "It's never enough! You forced the TARDIS into a body so she'd burn out safely a very long way away from this control room. A flesh body can't hold the TARDIS matrix and live! Look at her body, House."

"And, you think I should mourn her?"

"No. I think you should be very, very careful about what you let back into this control room."

As the Doctor spoke, Idris' body arched, her mouth opening to release golden, huon particles that began flying around the room. The TARDIS matrix.

"You took her from her home, but now she's back in the box again she's free."

They all stared in awe as the lights dazzled around the room, House objecting and sounding as though he were struggling.

"Look at my girl," the Doctor grinned, admirably. "Look at her go. Bigger on the inside! See, House, that's your problem. The size of a planet, but inside you are just…so…small! Finish him off, girl."

House shouted in agony as the green lights in the TARDIS faded, something shone behind the Doctor as he leaned on the console. Olivia looked to where Idris' body had been only to find it was gone and when she looked up behind the Doctor she saw her on the stair.

"Doctor," Idris called, making him turn. "Are you there? It's so very dark in here."

"I'm here," he smiled, stepping closer to her as she looked to him. "Hey."

"I've been looking for a word. A big, complicated word, but so sad. I found it now."

"What word?"

"Alive. I'm alive."

"Alive isn't sad."

"It's sad when it's over. I'll always be here, but this is when we talked, and now, even that has come to an end. There's something I didn't get to say to you."

"Goodbye," the Doctor guessed in a murmur, tears in his eyes as he swallowed.

"No. I just wanted to say…Hello. Hello, Doctor. It's so very, very nice to meet you."

Olivia felt tears gathered in her eyes as Idris shuddered from crying, but kept a smile as he Doctor reached for Olivia's hand and she gripped it tightly without a word.

"Please," he shuddered. "I don't want you to."

Her body became brighter as the engines sounded and she disappeared with a final whisper of, "I love you."

The lights came back on as Amy and Rory held onto each other and Olivia looked to the Doctor as he sniffled, turning to the console and still holding her hand. She reached up without a word and brushed a tear from his cheek.

Later...

"How's it going down there?" Rory asked, looking down at the Doctor through the glass floor as the Time Lord sat in his swing beneath it the console.

"Yeah, just putting a firewall around the matrix!" he called back. "Almost done."

"Are you gonna make her talk again?" Amy wondered through the glass as well, half serious, half in jest.

"Can't," the Doctor replied.

"Why not?" Rory wondered, heading down the stairs to stand next to Olivia as she watched him as well.

"Spacey-wacey, isn't it?" Amy guessed.

"Well, actually, it's because the Time Lords discovered that if you take an eleventh dimensional matrix and fold it into a mechanical, then—"

Brilliant sparks went off around him when Rory touched a circuit.

"Spacey-wacey," Olivia confirmed, grabbing Rory's sleeve and dragging him back toward the stairs where she sat.

"Sorry," Rory blurted, then added, "At the end, she was talking. She kept repeating something. I don't know what it meant."

"What did she say?" the Doctor asked as he examined the circuits.

"The only water in the forest is the river," Rory recited. "She said we'd need to know that someday. It doesn't make sense, does it?"

"Not yet," Olivia smirked, making him look to her with a slight smile before she tapped his arm in a friendly gesture, asking, "You alright?"

"No," he admitted, drawing the Doctor's attention to them as well as Amy came down the stairs to meet them. "I watched her die. I shouldn't let it get to me, but it still does. I'm a nurse."

"Letting it get to you," the Doctor replied. "You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive, right now. That's all that counts. Nearly finished. Two more minutes, then we're off. The Eye of Orion's restful."

"If you like restful," Olivia smirked, knowingly.

"I could never really get the hang of restful," the Doctor admitted, looking to the circuits of the TARDIS and asking, "What do you think, dear, huh? Where should we take the kids this time?"

"Look at you pair," Amy chuckled. "It's always you and her, isn't it? Long after the rest of us have gone. A boy and his box, off to see the universe."

"Well, you say that as if it's a bad thing," the Doctor noticed, wiping something down with a yellow handkerchief. "But, honestly, it's the best thing there is. The House deleted all the bedrooms. I should probably make you two a new bedroom. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"Ok, um, Doctor," Amy called. "This time, could we lose the bunk beds?"

"No! Bunk beds are cool! A bed…with a ladder. You can't beat that."

Olivia couldn't help but smile when his case was met with frowns from the two.

"It's your room. Up those stairs. Keep walking till you find it. Off you pop."

"Doctor, do you have a room?" Rory wondered, but Amy quickly grabbed his arm to drag him up the stairs to find their room before the Doctor could answer, Olivia remaining on the stair, watching him work.

"You're quiet again," he noticed, not looking at her.

"We can have bunk beds in our room, if you want," she smiled, sweetly.

"Cheers!" he grinned at her as she watched him. "Thinking again?"

"Not really. Just watching you work." He turned back to his work and they were silent for a moment before she said, "Amy's right, isn't she? It'll always be you and her."

"Don't be jealous, Liv."

"I'm not jealous," she sighed in exasperation. "Why do you think I'm jealous?"

"Well, considering your track record with the women in my life, I'd think jealous is a good guess."

"I have no right to be jealous of this one. She was here way before me."

"She likes you, Liv," he assured her. "She liked you the moment you boarded."

"I remember," Olivia smiled as he carefully stood from the swing and headed toward the stairs, taking Olivia's hand to pull her with him toward the console. "Fixed?"

"Fixed," he answered, using the Sonic on the console before leaning on it, Olivia stepping to the other side, waiting for his instructions, but he whispered to the console, "Are you there? Can you hear me? No, I'm a silly old…"

Olivia hid her sad smile as she stroked the console, not saying a word.

"Ok," he sighed. "The Eye of Orion, or wherever we need to go."

The launching lever moved on its own and the engines came alive, making them both grin before the Doctor ran around the console excitedly.

"Someone's in a better mood!" Olivia laughed, before shouted in delight when he grabbed her hand and Waltzed her around the console.

"Of course, I am!" he grinned, taking a turn around the console. "Everything's sorted! Both of my sexy girls are back in the box and by my side where they belong!"

"Our Doctor," Olivia smiled before giggling in delight when he dipped her back before pulling her upright and hugging her close, still grinning.

"My girls."

Later...

"Where are you taking me?" Olivia giggled as the Doctor pulled her through the halls of the TARDIS, stopping at a door and grinning down at her.

"Our room," he announced, opening the door and pulling her inside. "What do you think?"

Olivia grinned as she looked around the room that was designed exactly like her room at her mother's house in Los Angeles…but with bunk beds.

"I love it!" she grinned, hugging his arm and kissing his cheek.

"I call top bunk!" he grinned, running toward the bed to climb the ladder and flop onto the mattress on the top.

"You're such a little boy!" Olivia giggled, as she made her way to the bathroom while he adjusted in the bed. "I need a shower. That junkyard was almost as bad as being in that Star Whale then being puked up. Almost."

"Ah! Wait! Liv!" he called, hurrying off the bed to climb back down and hurry toward her as she turned to lean on the frame of the bathroom door. He lifted a hand and leaned his forearm on the frame, standing over her as he crossed one ankle over the other and placed a hand on his hip, showing off his suspenders and smirking, "Why don't we…have a shower together, eh?"

"Oh, sweetie, I wanna come out of this shower feeling clean, not dirty," she smirked, stepping closer to press a kiss to his cheek and whispered, "But if you wanna give up the top bunk for the night, I can make it up to you."

"But…top bunk," he muttered with a slight pout, making her smile, slyly.

"Oh, well," she shrugged casually, turning to head into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her, leaving the Doctor staring at the door in thought.

When she came out of the shower fifteen minutes later in a fluffy purple robe, rubbing her hair dry with a towel, she couldn't help but giggle when she found the Doctor lying on his back in the bottom bunk.

"Changed your mind, did you?" she smirked, stepping toward him to sit on the edge of the mattress, smiling down at him.

"I'm going to ask you a question, Mrs. Sigma, and you are not allowed to be cross," he told her, making her lift a brow at him as she sat up straight.

"Well, that depends on the question, Mr. Sigma," she retorted, resuming in drying her hair with the towel.

"What secret was she talking about?" he asked, knowing she would understand his meaning. Her hands froze in her hair, making the Doctor sit up as they kept each other's gazes. "Is it the one I'm not supposed to ask you about?"

"No…" she breathed, her eyes shifting over his face before she stood to head toward her dresser. "But it may as well be. Don't ask me about it again, Theta."

"Liv—"

"Please," she cut him off in a desperate tone as he swung his legs off the mattress, facing her as he froze on the bed. "You heard her yourself, you'll find out eventually, and when you do, everything will change. You'll hate me forever, and you'll leave me back with my mother, in tears."

The Doctor frowned at her back as she changed into pajamas made of silk, shorts and a matching tank top. She went to hang her fluffy robe in her closet as he stood and stepped toward her, making her freeze when she heard his footsteps. She hung up the robe and didn't stop him when his arms slid around her waist to pull her against him, setting his chin on her shoulder.

"I could never hate you, Liv," he murmured. "No matter what it is, we'll get through it together, and I won't leave you. I love you."

"I love you, too," she sighed, resting her cheek against his, aligning her arms with his to hold his hands in front of her. It did nothing to ease her nerves, but she said nothing else, not wanting to start an argument since they were both still raw from this latest adventure.

"Come to bed," he whispered, hugging her before gripping one of her hands and turning to pull her with him toward the bed.

A/N: for the record...bunk bed ARE cool. reviews?