Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who

Chapter 20: I Could've Danced all Night

"That's the spirit. Now smashing through a time wall could get a bit hairy."

"Is it safe?"

"Dunno. Never tried. Best hold on to something."

-The Doctor & Rory William's

"Amy! Amy wake up!'

Amy wrinkled her nose, and flashed her eyes open. Rose? What, where are they?

"Amy..." Rose let out a breath of relief, "Where's the Doctor?"

"I-" Amy tried to take in her surroundings, "I don't know."

"Don't know!" Amy's eyes snapped to the other side of her to see Mickey. They were all strapped down to tables, thick metal constraints around their wrists. Mickey looked like he was gonna hyperventilate, "You we're with him! They're gonna chop us up. Just like the crew - they're gonna chop us up and stick us all over their stupid spaceship. And where's the Doctor? Where's your precious Doctor now? He's been gone for flipping hours, that's where he is?"

Amy felt a stone drop in her stomach. He never came back from France? He's been there for hours? But he wouldn't have just left them, would he? He'd seen how sick she'd been. How dangerous this ship was? He'd just left them?

She could see the look on Rose's face and knew that she was going through a very similar mental process.

One of the droids walked over beside Rose, "You are compatible."

Rose gapped at it, "Well...you...you might wanna think about that." She started, trying to stall for time. Amy took her cue and immediately tried to pull her hands from the restraints. She knew if she pulled hard enough she might beak the skin. It would be unpleasant, but she could use the resulting blood as a sort of lubricant.

"Careful." Mickey whispered under his breath and Amy nodded, pulling harder.

Rose coughed slightly and continued, "You really might because...me and Amy and Mickey...we didn't come here alone, oh no! And trust me - you wouldn't wanna mess with our designated driver."

Amy hand to hand to hand it her, Rose's speeches had really gotten a lot better. She could see the Droid pause and run through deliberations. Amy wondered for a moment if information about the Doctor was in the Droids. Knowledge of him was pretty rampant in the 51st century, especially with the Kovarian chapter running whole Galaxies. But that was knowledge of 'her' Doctor. They might not recognize this Doctor as a threat.

But then again. The Doctor had gone around erasing all mention of himself from all databases in the known universe. So there was a good chance that they might not know about him anymore.

That might have been the case because instead of backing off, the Droid extended a blade over Rose's neck. The girl jumped and tried to back away, but the manacles were too strong.

Amy yanked harder, wincing as the metal cut in her hand. She could feel the blood running down her hands. Mickey saw what she was doing and shot her an incredulous look. Amy winced.

Rose swallowed, keeping one eye on the blade as she continued, "Ever heard of the Daleks?" She whispered, "Remember them? They had a name for our friend. They called him the-"

She was interrupted by a loud bang and a crash from the other room. Amy paused the working of her hand to look where it came from.

"-I could've danced all night, I could've danced all night..."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Amy growled, stopping the pull of her manacles. Now she had cuts in her hand that had been for nothing.

Rose looked beyond exasperated, but continued, "They called him the...they called him the - the..."

The Doctor staggered into the room, stumbling around as he grabbed a pole and twirled. His tie was wrapped around his head, and he wore a pair of sunglasses, "And still have begged for mooooooore! I could've spread my wings and done athou - have you met the French?"

Amy stared at him open-mouthed. They were here, dying, and the Doctor had been partying?

The Doctor giggled slightly, "My...God, they know how to party."

Rose was not impressed. She narrowed her eyes, "Oh, look at what the cat dragged in. The Oncoming Storm."

"Oh, you sound just like your mother." He wrinkled his nose distastefully.

Amy shared her lack of enthusiasm about the Doctor's current condition. But the closer he got the more she realized he wasn't as drunk as he was trying to make out. Her work as a kissogram taught her to point out drunk people.

Rose didn't notice thought, and stared at him beyond cross, "What've you been doing? Where've you been?"

"Well...among other thing, I think I just invented the Banana Daiquiri a few centuries early."

"What other things?" Amy narrowed her eyes at him, thinking of the rather disgusting amount of flirting Reinette had been sending his way.

He shrugged, humming under his breath. Rose laid back, staring at the ceiling, exasperated.

"You know, they've never even seen a banana before?" He leaned over to Rose, "Always take a banana to a party, Rose. Banana's are good."

He spotted the droids and straightened up, looking at them delighted, "Oh ho ho ho ho, brilliant. It's you! You're my favorite, you are, you are the best! Do you know why? 'Cause you're so thick. You're Mister Thick Thick Thickity Thick Face from Thicktown, Thickania...and so's your dad!"

He pulled away and address Rose and Amy again, "Do you know what they were scanning Reinette's brain for?" He sniggered under his breath, "Her milometer. They wanna know how old she is. Know why? 'Cause this ship is thirty-seven years old. And they think that when Reinette is thirty-seven, when she's 'Complete', then her brain will be compatible. So, that's what you're missing, isn't it?"

"And it took you what, 3 hours to figure that out?" Amy bit at him.

He ignored her and walked up to one of the droids, looking at it mockingly, "Hmm? Command circuit. Your computer. Your ship needs a brain. And for some reason - God knows what - only the brain of Madame de Pompadour will do."

"The Brain is compatible."

"Compatible?" The Doctor narrowed his eyes, looking much less drunk, "If you believe that, you probably believe this is a glass of wine."

And with that he pulled the mask off the droid and poured the wine inside. Whatever it was, it slowed the clockwork and the droid failed. He put the mask back on.

Rose leaned back in relief, but Amy could still see her clenched jaw and worried eyes.

The Doctor grinned, very much sober now, "Multigrain anti-oil. If it moves, it doesn't."

Another droid started to approach, but the Doctor pressed a lever on the computer and it deactivated.

"Right, you three, that's enough lying about..."

He released the manacles and Amy jumped out Immediately Mickey ran over and looking at her wrists, which had identical rings of cuts of bruises on them. "You okay."

Amy nodded, looking at them. She'd deal with it later. Luckily spaceships tended to be very clean, so mater how busted up, so there wasn't much chance of infection.

Mickey nodded, then glared at the Doctor, "What're you thinkin'. Running off on Amy. She's real sick if you hadn't noticed! And you just left her there!"

"Mickey." Amy put one of her hands on his arm, "It's okay. The time window closed off. He wouldn't have been able to get back if he wanted to."

"It closed?" The Doctor stared at her, "It was open when I got back."

"Oh..." Amy said, raising both eyebrows, "Three hours later?" Then she shook her head, "It doesn't matter. The droids closed the window, then grabbed me. They didn't want me to escape out it. They must have opened it after I left."

Mickey was still glaring at the Doctor, who looked sheepish. He cleared his throat, "Time we got the rest of the ship turned off."

"Close the windows?" Amy asked.

The Doctor paused, then shook his head, "Yes."

Mickey turned to the droids, "Are those things safe?"

The Doctor pulled the tie down his head and fixed it around his neck, pushing the sunglasses up. "Yep. Safe and thick. Way I like them. Okay, all the time windows are controlled from here. I need to close them all down." He felt into his pockets with a frown, "Zeus plugs. Where are my Zeus plugs? I had them just a minute ago. I was using them as castanets..."

Amy raised an eyebrow at him, "Castanets, huh? Well you probably left them at your little party you were enjoying while we were here, drugged, unconscious and about to be cut into spare parts."

The Doctor was about to retort, but Rose jumped in, looking like she didn't want to hear any excuses he could come up with, "Why didn't they just open a time window to when she was thirty-seven?"

"With the amount of damage to these circuits, they'll be lucky to hit the right century. Trial and error after that." He tried to do something, but it wasn't working, "The windows aren't closing. Why won't they close."

"We must still be connected somehow." Amy moved up to another screen and turned it on.

The Doctor gave her a strange look, "What're you doing?"

"Checking the droid status. How many are there, where are they et cetera, et cetera..." She trailed off, typing rapidly as the TARDIS translated all the text on screen.

The Doctor straightened, looking a bit put out, "But...how?"

Amy smirked. She'd picked up a lot of things traveling with the Doctor. Operating future technology - easy. Especially 51st technology. They landed here quiet often, probably something to do with a certain prison being located in this time.

"Spoilers." She smirked at him. He bristled and then started to work.

Rose came up behind Amy and watched the screen, leaning over and whispering in her ear, "You've gotta teach me how do this."

Amy laughed softly, then pointed at the screen, "There we go. One of the droids is still in France."

Then a pinging sound echoed in the room.

"What's that?" Rose looked around as the alarm continued.

The Doctor frowned, "I don't know...incoming message?"

Mickey narrowed his eyes, "From who? The other Droid?"

Amy looked at the screen, "Looks like it. But why...?"

The Droids all sprung to life again. Rose gasped and jumped back and the Doctor gripped his sonic threateningly.

The droid extended it arms and poured out the Doctor's anti-oil all over his shoe.

The Doctor looked down, "Well, that was a bit clever." All the other droids around the room sprung back to life, and the Doctor looked worried, "Right...many things about this are not good."

"Thank you, Sherlock." Amy whispered, looking at the various droids.

The Doctor swallowed, "Message from one of your little friends? Anything interesting?"

"She is complete. It begins."

Then they teleported out.

"What's happening?" Rose asked.

The Doctor turned back to the computer, his eyes wide and terrified, "One of them must've found the right time window, and now it's time to send in the troops. And this time they're bringing back her head."

"What?" Rose looked at him horrified, "But we need to do something."

"I am." He growled, and Rose looked taken aback. Amy did as well. She couldn't remember the last time he'd snapped at Rose, never in this body to be sure.

Rose back away slightly, but Amy wasn't going to take it. She stepped forward, "Doctor. What do we need to do."

The Doctor rubbed his hand over his face, "I need time. I need to go find the right window. But we need to warn her."

"Alright." Amy told him, "We'll warn her, you go find the right window, alright."

The Doctor looked a bit hesitant, like he wanted to be the one to warn her, but in the end he nodded and went back to work.

"Yeah..." Rose's voice shook slightly, "We'll go warn her, yeah?"

"Mmm." The Doctor gave a small sound, not acknowledging Rose as he continued to work on the computer.

Without another word, Rose turned and stalked away.

Amy moved to follow her, not before slapping the Doctor over the head.

"Ow!"

But Amy didn't stick around long enough for him to whine, and she followed Mickey and Rose to go talk to Reinette.

"Rose!" Amy called, trying to catch up to the girl who was half running, her head down, "Rose, wait up."

Rose stopped, letting Amy catch up. Mickey looked between them for a few moments before clearing his throat, "I'll just go make sure the window is open."

And he ran towards the tapestry.

Rose gave Amy a tearful look, shaking her head, "I'm being stupid." She whispered.

Amy wished she could agree with her. Tell her that she had nothing to be worried about. But she couldn't.

Amy groaned, "Rose..." She looked down at the girl seriously, "I'm about to tell you something. And if you tell another living soul, I will end you."

Rose let out a croaked laugh, but nodded all the same.

Amy wrung her hands, wondering if this was the best idea. But it would make Rose feel better, and that was worth it.

"When the Doctor asked me to travel with him, the first time. It was the night before my wedding. And I was so...terrified of settling down and starting a life that I just, ran off with him. Now a few days later, I...something happened." Amy swallowed, "I was so scared and alone and so incredibly sure I was going to die...But then I didn't, the Doctor saved me and saved the day like he always does."

Amy felt a thick blush appear on her cheek as she remembered the next part, but just cleared her throat and continued.

"And when I got home. I was still so hyped up and scared and...thankful that I sort of...kissed him."

Rose started a sort of coughing hack, and Amy patted her back until she straightened up.

"You what!"

"Just...let me finish." Amy waved her down, "Yeah, I kissed him. I pinned him against the TARDIS and I snogged the living daylights out of him."

"Is this supposed to be making me feel better?" Rose asked, confused.

Amy laughed, "Yes, let me finish. Now, he didn't respond, he didn't do anything. He just pushed me away and...berated me. Then he ran off to get my fiancé and sort me out as soon as possible."

Rose stared at her, waiting for her to get to the point.

"Reinette is me, Rose." Amy whispered, "Her childhood was the same as mine. I told you before. I met the Doctor when I was a child, my imaginary friend who came back when I was older. Me and Reinette are the same. The reason the Doctor rejected me was because he still saw me as that little girl."

Rose snorted, "Or because you were getting married."

"Well." Amy giggled and Rose joined her. Amy patted the girl's head, "He see's Reinette as that little girl and he wanted to save her."

Rose stared at her for a few seconds before nodding, smiling slightly as walking towards the tapestry.

Amy stood there for a few seconds, watching Rose walk away with guilt pooling her stomach. She swallowed, looking down, and wondering what had convinced her to lie.

Amy and Rose sat together in France, in front of Reinette trying to explain the seriousness of the situation. They had arrive five years too early, but they didn't have time to find another window.

"We've come to warn you that they'll be here in five years." Rose told her softly.

Reinette looked at her, worried, "Five years?"

Rose nodded, "Some time after your thirty-seventh birthday. I um...I can't give you an exact date. It's a bit random. But they're coming. It's gonna happen. In a way, for us, it's already happening. I'm sorry, it's hard to explain...the Doctor does this better."

"Then be exact, and I will be attentive." Reinette bit, sounding annoyed that the Doctor hadn't come himself.

Amy stood up, "There isn't time for this. We need to go."

"There are Five years." Reinette argued persistently.

"For you. We haven't got five minutes." Rose grumbled.

"Then also be concise."

Amy narrowed her eyes at her, "In five years, those clockwork men will come through one of these portals and they will try to kill you. The Doctor will come through then and save you. Concise enough?"

"Where do these portals go?" Reinette asked.

Rose leaned forward, "Erm...there's say, um...a- a...a vessel. A ship. A sort of sky ship. And it's full of...well, you. Different bits of your life in different rooms, all jumbled up. I told you it was complicated, sorry."

Reinette paused, "There is a vessel in your world...where the days of my life are pressed together like the chapters of a book so that he may step from one to the other without increase of age...while I, weary traveller...must always take the slower path."

"Story of my life." Amy grumbled, crossing her arms.

Rose just stared at Reinette, shock at her eloquent words, "He was right about you..."

Reinette continued, "So, in five years these creatures will return. What can be done?"

Amy stepped forward, "Distract them. Keep them occupied, keep them talking. They're programmed to respond to you, so they'll listen. It won't stop them, but it will slow them down long enough for us to get there."

"He's coming then?" Reinette asked, sounding a bit brighter.

Rose nodded, "He promises.

Reinette stilled, "But he cannot...make his promises in person?"

"Yeah, well." Amy rolled her eyes, "Last time he came through here he went to a party and we all got attacked and nearly killed, so we figured it would be better if we came this time."

Reinette blinked at Amy's bluntness, and Rose smacked her in the leg. Amy just rolled her eyes. Reinette bugged her, rubbed her the wrong way.

Rose shook her head, "He'll be there when you need him. That's the way it's gotta be."

"It's the way it's always been." Reinette smiled softly, "The monsters and the Doctor. It seems you cannot have one without the other."

Rose gave her silent laugh, "Tell me about it." Rose paused before looking at Reinette again, "The thing is...you weren't supposed to have either. Those creatures are messing with history. None of this was ever supposed to happen to you."

Reinette narrowed her eye, "Supposed to happen? What does that mean? It happened, child. And I would not have it any other way. One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel."

"Okay One." Amy turned to Reinette, holding up a finger, "Don't talk down to us. Two. Don't call Rose a child, you may be Madame de...whatever, but she's lived through things that you couldn't ever dream of. She's saved my life and the Doctor's life dozens of times and right now she is here trying to save your life."

"Rose? Amy?" They both heard Mickey calling from behind the tapestry. Amy tore her angry gaze away from Reinette and turned.

"We should go." She urged Rose.

Mickey pushed through the mirror, "Guys. The Time Window when she's thirty-seven. We found it. Right under our noses."

Amy nodded, "Alright, let's go."

But before they could leave, Reinette pushed past them and went through the mirror.

"What- No!" Amy tried to grab her, but she slipped into the other world.

Amy wondered what she was thinking as she gazed at the metal interior of the spaceship. The dress, which had seemed perfectly normal back in the decorative palace at Versailles, now looked extremely lavish and out-of-place

"So..." Reinette looked scared, "This is his world."

"Sort of." Amy whispered.

Somewhere in the ship, the sounds of screaming echoed. Her thirty-seventh year Amy guessed.

Reinette looked worried, "What was that?"

Mickey looked at them nervously, "The time window, the Doctor fixed the audio link."

"Those screams...is that my future?" Reinette asked, looking very much like she didn't want to know the answer

"Yeah..." Rose whispered, looking at her sadly, "I'm sorry."

Reinette steeled her face and nodded sharply, "Then I must take the slower path."

"Are you there? Can you hear me? I need you now, you promised. The clock on the mantel is broken. It is time."

Reinette gasped, looking horrified, "That's my voice."

"Rose, Amy, come on." Mickey urged them, "We've gotta go. There's - there's a problem."

Amy didn't like the sound of that, "Rose maybe we should-"

"Give me a moment." Rose held up her hand.

Mickey nodded, and rushed back to the Doctor. Rose walked over to Reinette, concerned, "Are you okay?"

"No." Reinette answered, honestly, "I'm very afraid. But you and I both know, Don't we, Rose? The Doctor is worth the Monsters."

Rose paused, contemplating Reinette's words, before she gave her a soft nod, and Reinette walked back through the tapestry.

"Doctor! Doctor!"

They pushed into the room where the Doctor was working frantically on the mirror.

"You found it, then." Rose confirmed.

The Doctor nodded, growling, "They knew I was coming. They blocked it off."

Amy peered into the window, it looked like a mirror over a giant ballroom. "Then how did they get in?"

The Doctor hissed, still working, "They teleported - you saw them. As long as the ship and the ballroom are linked, their short-range teleports will do the trick."

"Well, we'll go in the TARDIS." Rose suggested.

"We can't use the TARDIS, we're part of events now." The Doctor grumbled.

Mickey looked at the mirror shaking his head, "Well, can't we just smash through it?"

"Hyperplex this side, plate-glass the other. We need a truck."

"We don't have a truck."

"I know we don't have a truck!" The Doctor snapped, shouting at Mickey.

Rose rolled her eyes, "Well, we've gotta try something!"

"No, smash the glass, smash the time window, there'll be no way back." The Doctor told them.

Rose stared at him, realizing that this was something he was seriously considering.

"Can everyone just calm down!" Reinette's voice called through the ballroom. Amy turned her attention to the room where Reinette was standing between two droids, "Such a commotion. Such distressing noise. Kindly remember that this is Versailles. This is the Royal Court And we are French. I have made a decision. And my decision is 'no' - I shall not be going with you today. I have seen your world, and I have no desire to set foot there again."

"We do not require your feet."

They pushed her down onto her knees and pointed a blade to her neck, the same one they had pointed at Rose.

The Doctor watched in horror, before standing and running down a hall.

"Doctor!" Rose called, "Where're you going?"

There was no answer, so she solemnly came back over and watched the events through the mirror, unable to stop them.

"You think I fear you. But I do not fear you, even now. You are merely the nightmare of my childhood. The monster from under my bed. And if my nightmare can return to plague me, then rest assure - so will yours."

"Out of the way!" the Doctor ordered from behind them.

Turning, Amy saw the horse and her first instinct was to grab Rose and pull her aside as the Doctor continued, pulling the reigns so that the horse's front hooves smashed through the window and he forced his way into the other time.

Amy waited for the sound of breaking glass to finish before raising her head. She looked down at Rose.

"You okay?" She asked, checking the blond girl for cuts.

But Rose just pushed to her feet, and looked towards the time window in horror.

Amy turned, and she understood. All around them shattered glass littered the floor. Where the window used to be, only the wall of the ship remained. The link had been broken.

And the Doctor was stuck on the other side.

A/N: Something which I meant to mention a few chapters ago is that I've taken to calling the Silence the 'Kovarian Chapter' in relation to the Silence that we see in Series 5 and 6. Mostly because as it was stated in TOTD they were a rogue element.

And with Amy's use of the computer. That's mostly based on Dinosaurs on a Spaceship where she had no problem operating the computers, so I figured she would be able to use other forms of technology easily enough as well.

Anon Review Replies

Snickers: Haha, that wasn't intentional but it's definitely like that isn't it?

Gecoma: Wow three days? I'm glad you stuck with it! Thanks for the review!

Guest: Thanks for the review! I love this episode mostly because of how unique it is.

You guys rocked so hard last chapter! Special thanks to Molly-Pond-Holmes who was my 250th reviewer! You are so awesome! Also I don't know if this is a big deal to you guys, but for me it is: But All the Stories we Never Told is almost at 100,000 views, which is just amazing. Even more big news is that I'm currently about half way through doomsday which means I'm almost finished writing this story, which is freaking insane.

Hope you liked the chapter! Review with all Thoughts, questions or concerns! I love hearing from you guys!

Until Next Time,

-Ash