((French Proposals: Part II))

~~OO~~II~~OO~~

Despite my protests at the idea of dancing in a ball, I have to admit that it is fun. The Doctor was surprisingly good when it came to dancing, and nobody seemed to think twice when they saw us two and Clave there. It worried me for a few minutes, but I quickly relaxed when the Doctor distracted me by playfully poking at my side, making me gasp in surprise and clasp my hand over the spot.

The Doctor grinned, eyes flashing playfully as he bowed along with the rest of the dancing men in the room. I bowed my head, making myself curtsy along with the women, then giggled when he ruffled his hair to make it "fluff up" again. His gaze suddenly flickered to a point behind me and I turned my head to find out who he was looking at.

To my complete and utter horror, it was the prince. His gaze seemed almost careful as he respectfully bowed to the Doctor. "Greetings, Doctor," he said as if picking his words with particular care. "May I ask Lady Levine for a dance?"

I glare at the Doctor when he isn't looking, my eyes daring him. Don't you do it, don't you dare do it-

"Of course, Claude," the Doctor said cheerfully, not noticing my glare at all. I scowled at him, then hurried to put a smile on my face when Prince Claude straightened and offered me his hand. I expected it to be cold to the touch for some reason, but found it warm and gentle. I shot a final scowl at the Doctor when he wasn't paying attention before saying lightly, "Would you make sure Clave is alright for me while I dance with Prince Claude, Doctor? I wanted to check on him after this dance..."

The Doctor pouted at the mention of the pet I'd brought to the ball. I'd made sure to stock him up on biscuits, but... He's Clave. There's no way he has any left to munch on. "Of course, Ali."

And with that, he vanished.

I took a deep breath and heaved a massive sigh, carefully using my free hand to tuck some loose hair behind my ear before bowing my head to the prince as the people the king had hired began to play more music. "Shall we dance, Prince Claude?" I was just as cautious in choosing my words. If I offended this man, I might as well be dead.

"Of course," he replied just as smoothly.

A few moments later, we were dancing. I was very much aware of how many people stopped and stepped off to the side to allow the prince to have his spotlight, and it quite honestly made me want to cry. I didn't want to be in the spotlight with this guy in particular!

"You do not like me."

I stumbled at the sound of his voice and quietly cursed under my breath, glancing up at the prince in surprise. A furious blush rose to my cheeks as I stammered, "Err, I...It's not th-that I don't like you, it's j-just-"

"It's alright." To my surprise, Prince Claude looks amused and I feel my face flush even more. "I am quite used to it. It's not easy to trust very many people when you are in a position such as I."

I blinked in surprise, tilting my head slightly as I replied hesitantly, grimacing when he spun me around, "Err, I suppose it wouldn't be. If the Doctor and I have people after us, it must be worse for a prince." Severely doubt it. Apparently I was the most wanted in the universe, in all of time and space. There couldn't possibly be anyone with a bigger bounty on their head than me...

He grinned in response and the look startled me. Okay, so maybe the guy wasn't too bad...maybe he just seemed a bit off and really wasn't...the Doctor made those kind of mistake, too, didn't he? I seriously hoped he did.

Finally the song ended. About time! Polite, the prince smiled kindly and stepped back, bowing respectfully as I bowed my head and curtsied. "If you would excuse me..."

"Of course," I replied in relief, searching around the people for the Doctor. But he was nowhere to be found, and neither was Clave. I sighed. Little guy must have decided he wanted to play a game with the Doctor or something.

"Lady Levine, would you entertain me with a dance?"

My eyes snapped wide and I turned to face the king. "O-of course," I stammered with wide eyes. Cursing myself, I bowed my head. "I would be honored, King Gerald."

King Gerald chuckled. "Just Gerald is fine, my dear." He offered me a hand and I took it, forcing myself not to shake. There was no reason to be as surprised and as in shock as I was. The music started back up again and I bit back a moan of frustration as I fought to keep from stepping on the king's feet. Why must the musicians be so cruel?

"It appears my son has taken a liking to you." I look at him in surprise. Prince Claude? Like me? How hilarious. Seriously, look. I'm crying inside. Gerald doesn't seem to notice my grimace, instead smiling brightly at me as he added, "It's not often that he joins in on events such as this."

"I'm honored he did," I tell the king, grumbling in the back of my mind. The constant presence that is the TARDIS is amused, and I silently yelled at her to shut up. Damn police box needs to mind her own business...

After what seemed like eternity, the king finally stepped away, bowing. This time I was willing to curtsy and as soon as the man had walked off, I hurried to find the Doctor before anyone else could ask me to dance. When I did find him, he was watching curiously from a sitting position on the floor beside Clave. I carefully fell down beside him, grumbling, "I hate you right now."

He smiled cheerfully. "So you say. But you don't really."

"Of course not." I lightly shoved at him, rolling my eyes before saying firmly, "I will say that you are an idiot though. Seriously. Never dancing again. I'm completely done for tonight and all nights."

"But I wanted to dance some more..."

I snorted in amusement. "No you didn't," I replied, "Now how do we leave without being rude or getting ourselves into serious trouble, Doctor? I want to go back to the TARDIS."

He frowned. "You and my ship...never had anyone else like you."

"We've been over this," I reminded him warily, "That's because you haven't had someone like me before, Doctor." Trying to skip over the conversation, I added, "So when can we go back? I want to get back to visit Catie. I owe her a visit...haven't seen her in a while."

The Doctor furrowed his brow thoughtfully. "We can't leave until the king and queen do, but as soon as we can we'll head out. We'll take a few hours or so for you to sleep and then we can go visit Catie and Drevan if you want."

I beamed at him. "Thanks," I said happily.

He grinned back at me, then turned his attention on Gerald when the king suddenly returned to his throne with a flourish. Chanelle had her head raised proudly beside him in her own throne seat and the king cleared his throat before beginning to speak. "I thank you all for coming to celebrate the visit of a close friend and his companion." Hm...he even knew the "term" that was used for the Doctor's partner in crime.

Murmured words rippled through the room at this and the Doctor quietly stood, helping me to my feet. "We should be able to leave soon," he murmured as Clave hauled himself up onto my shoulder, nuzzling my cheek happily.

"Good," I whispered back. Getting out of here seemed like a wondrous thing that would never happen.

But the king continued to speak. "My son, wife, and I have enjoyed this wonderful occasion," he continued and I silently moaned in frustration. Stop talking so we can vanish off into the wonderful world of nowhere in particular! "And we are honored to have the Doctor visit despite his...busy lifestyle." He had no idea.

A few people cast us curious looks and I glared at every single one of them until the Doctor rested a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it gently. Huffing, I settled back to continue listening.

"We are also lucky to be in the presence of Lady Levine, the Doctor's current companion." Gerald's lips tilted into a full blown grin and I sighed quietly. Clave whined softly, tilting his head before nudging my head with his own. Gerald's eyes flickered to Clave. "And Lady Levine's pet." I smugly smirked and glanced at Chanelle. She didn't like Clave and her husband had acknowledged him. "Along with bidding you all good night, I have a request for Lady Levine."

I stiffened and the Doctor's eyes became wary. Whatever the request was, there'd be no way we could follow through with it. And when I say we, I mean I, because obviously, the Doctor wasn't needed in his request. Otherwise, the Doctor would be the one being asked...

"Marry Claude for me? He's young, but I'm sure he would make a good match for you..."

Immediately, the Doctor went still behind me and I choked on air. "You're kidding, right?" I choked out, my head snapping around to look desperately at the Doctor. How the hell do I answer this without making the king of France angry! From where Prince Claude was standing, he looked just as startled.

Gerald frowned, looking annoyed. The Doctor narrowed his eyes with a furious look for a brief moment before saying firmly, "She can't, Gerald. You know that. You, especially, Chanelle." He locked gazes with the stone eyed queen, who glared back at him. She looked away.

"Are you challenging my authority?" Gerald gritted out.

"No, we're not," I said quickly when the Doctor opened his mouth to speak sharply. "I apologize for my rude words and the Doctor's. Perhaps you would give us- me, the night to think it over, King Gerald? I do have other responsibilities that need to be taken care of."

"Of course," King Gerald said coolly, eyes narrowed. Without another word, he waved a pair of soldiers forward. "Escort them to rooms."

Damn. Fail plan immediately...

The Doctor carefully pushed his way in front of me and I glowered as Clave hissed angrily, his small teeth bared angrily. "There's no need for this, Gerald," he said sharply. If he was beginning to sound worried...then there was a reason to worry.

"My son needs a wife," Gerald replied just as sharply. "Chanelle agreed to be my wife when she was a companion of yours, why shouldn't Lady Levine agree to be Claude's?" Well that was certainly new.

"Ali is completely different from Chanelle. For one, Chanelle was originally from this time period. And two, she's not a fixed point in time like Ali is. I explained that to you, Gerald. Fixed points, remember? Can't change them, not even if I wanted to." I found myself giving a dry smile at this. I would hope he'd want to change this fixed point even if he couldn't...

"Doesn't matter," Gerald practically growled, then waved his guard forward. "Escort them to their rooms."

Furious, the Doctor fell silent and I fell into step beside him, my hands shaking slightly with anger and maybe just a little bit of fear. But who wouldn't be shaking? Clave tucked himself tightly around my neck though not enough to choke me, and I muttered to the Doctor, "What are we going to do? I'm not marrying into their family."

He sounded annoyed. "Of course not," he whispered back, and I fought back a smile at his irritation. Who knew the Doctor could get annoyed over such little matters. Well, not such little matters- damn. I've started thinking like him. Kinda creepy... He glanced to the two that were "escorting" us and frowned. "If they had guns, it would be completely different..."

I patted my sonic keychain. "I could have Clave knock 'em out," I suggest.

"Too much noise," he sighed. "I have an idea, but you'll have to trust me, alright?" He tucked a hand into his pocket, then pulled out a familiar piece of technology. "I'll explain it to you later."

I nodded in relief. He wouldn't leave me in the dark about whatever he was planning. "Well, contact me as soon as they've left us alone," I murmured back. He nodded just as we reached a room. A guard opened the door, then lightly grabbed my arm. It was still enough to make Clave hiss as I was pushed into it.

"I am sure you will be released after tonight, Lady Levine," the guard said apologetically. "Good night."

I exchanged one more look with the Doctor before the guard closed the door.

~~OO~~II~~OO~~

Sitting cross legged on a hard bed with my dress carefully arranged and Clave dozing beside me, I stared at the sketchbook before me, my brow furrowed in confusion. I'd done it again. Woken up from a light sleep and just started drawing. And the image before me semi-worried me, quite honestly.

It was a girl I'd never met before. Her dark eyes showed her exasperation for the man before her, who was none other than the Doctor. Well, more like bowtie man. He was peering into a glass case that held a fez with a look of pure happiness on his face.

Some would ask why I was worried.

That would be because he somehow got the fez that is currently sitting on a shelf in my room back at the TARDIS. With a sigh, I rubbed my temples before setting the sketchbook aside and checking my phone. Again. As I'd done fifty million other times until this moment. "Doctor!" I hissed under my breath, "You owe me big time for this..."

He promised to call!

Someone knocked on the door and Clave gave a low growl of warning as the door opened to reveal a girl that I hadn't met before. She had her head bowed as she murmured, "Excuse me, Lady Levine. King Gerald requests your presence."

"Where's the Doctor? I'm not going without him with me," I said firmly.

The girl, obviously a servant of some sorts, bit her lip and avoided my gaze. "Err, Lady Levine, you don't know? A guard went to fetch him earlier and the Doctor was gone..."

My heart stopped for a brief second, fear flashing through me. The Doctor had abandoned me! Despite his promise back on Earth, he'd abandoned me!

Then I frowned, thinking this over. He'd told me to trust him. He'd had some kind of idea, so I needed to trust him. And trust him I would. It wasn't like he'd left in the TARDIS, I had no doubts that he was around here somewhere. Putting a neutral look on my face, I said carefully, "Alright. Take me to see King Gerald then." I tucked all my possessions into my bag, then stood. Clave purred, winding himself around my neck and gently nuzzling my cheek as I followed the girl out of the room, stretching and popping my back.

He would be back. The Doctor wouldn't leave me.

Upon reaching the throne room again, my gray eyes hardened to a stony flint and I found myself planting a smirk on my face as Clave draped his head on top of mine, resting his chin on the crown of my head. Weirdo. In their thrones sat Gerald and Queen Chanelle, whose eyes were slightly apologetic though not as much as I would've liked. I was alone for now, no Doctor to save me. So I curtsied and murmured, "What can I do for you, King Gerald?"

"I gave you the night to think and it's time for you to give your decision," Gerald responded, voice cautious. I tilted my head in curiosity. He didn't seem to want to upset me, just like I didn't want to upset him. Interesting. I could feel the prince's wary gaze on me as well, and my cheeks flamed red for a brief moment.

Just as I opened my mouth to answer, however, a tone that was familiar to me and me along exploded from my bag. My ringtone. I grinned, digging around in my bag as I said, "Excuse me for a moment, need to take this call." Ignoring the frown and look of annoyance on the king and queen's faces, I hit the talk button on my phone. "Hello?"

I flinched and jerked the phone away when I was met by the loud sounds of machinery followed by the Doctor yelling over it, "I'm sorry for leaving without warning, had some business to take care of."

I let a smile slide across my face and slapped a hand to my forehead. "Idiot," I said with a slight affection. Then, under my breath so only the Doctor could hear, I muttered, "That business better include getting me out of here."

"Working on that. As soon as I finish building this thing...the TARDIS can't land at the moment..."

I felt my eyebrows raise in response. "And what are you building?"

"Something to help the TARDIS. Something's wrong and she's sluggish. It's why I'm taking so long..."

I bit my lip with a flash of worry for the police box. "Make sure she gets better," I demanded, letting a hint of pleading tint my tone. Then I glanced up at the king, who was watching silently with no emotion. "When can you be here?" I murmured.

"Next two minutes, most likely days."

"Oh that's just wonderful," I said sarcastically as Clave hissed on my shoulder in disapproval. "I don't have that much time!"

"I'm very aware of that, that's why-"

"Get off the phone and get to work if you're in that much of a hurry!" another voice interrupted.

My eyes narrowed warily. "Err, who's that?"

"An old friend, you two can meet later. I have to go now, have some nonsense to do before we can pick you up...we'll be there in a little bit, don't do anything bad until then!" Click!

That jerk. He'd just hung up on me. Stashing the phone quickly into my pocket, my eyes ablaze with annoyance and a flush gracing my cheeks, I turned to the king again, apologizing, "Sorry, King Gerald, just a friend..."

The queen was glaring at me now. "What is that device?"

"A futuristic one that you will never live to see," I stated bluntly. To hell with it all, these people were keeping me prisoner here! Clave hissed at her and I patted his head in praise. Good! Let them hate me, gives me a better chance at getting out of here!

The king rose from his seat, looking angered. But his voice was calm as he asked, "Now that...that is taken care of, what is your response to my request?"

I shook my head, pursing my lips as I said in a firm tone, "I apologize, King Gerald, but I can't agree to do what you wish. Not only was the Doctor right about me being a fixed point in time, but I have friends back home who would worry about me. I know you want what's best for your son," I glanced warily at the prince, "but I'm not a marrying kind of woman. Don't think you'd want your son's wife to die in a few months anyway."

That made him sit down with a thoughtful look on his face. To my surprise, it was the prince who said slowly, "You are to die?"

"Yes," I said firmly, "and it's nothing anyone can change, not even the Doctor." I needed to move on quickly from this. "So I'm sorry I can't help you in this situation. Can I go now? Please? Something's wrong with the TARDIS, and I'm worried about-"

I was interrupted by the familiar sound of wheezing. The TARDIS was back! I whirled around with a happy expression...only for my mouth to drop in surprise when the Doctor stepped out.

Except...

...it wasn't exactly my Doctor.

It was bowtie man. Why didn't this surprise me? But seriously, why would he show up now? I don't need the guy or anything... and wasn't there some kind of rule of meeting up with two versions of the same guy?

Rather then hissing as he usually did, Clave made a strange squeaking sound and scrambled down to greet him warmly, startling me. Usually they were bickering like an old married couple. So why were they so-

Wait. Clave had vanished during the ball the night before.

The Doctor had run off, too, but I knew by the normalness of the Doctor's face the night before that he hadn't come across this Doctor...so what exactly had happened?

The Doctor's gaze turned on me and I knew immediately that I was right. He'd told Clave something about him showing up today. Why hadn't he come and found me to let me not suffer through a painful night of silence? As much as I loved Clave...he wasn't exactly a fun creature to snuggle with like a pillow on a hard bed...

And then Amy popped out, her eyes amused. "Doctor," she said in her exotic accent that matched her perfectly. "You got her?"

...wait.

What?

"Got me? What do you mean "got me"? You're not even supposed to be here, your other self is going to show up at any second-"

"He's going to find you in a rundown ally in approximately six hours, all after you've helped us find these things," came another voice from inside the TARDIS. Okay, what the hell is going on?! River, too? Was Rory and that girl I'd dreamed about here, too?

Clave easily slid into the TARDIS, which brought my attention to another fact. Myself. This TARDIS...was myself. I couldn't step into it without causing a paradox. Not that that had stopped me from touching my younger self...but this was different- "Hey!" I snapped when the Doctor grabbed my wrist, dragging me past the TARDIS. The royalty in the room seemed to be in too much shock to do anything as the Doctor called, "River, you had better not mess up my ship!"

River gave a dramatic sigh, loud so that we could hear her. "I know how to drive, and I'm sure she'll help! Just hurry up!"

I ripped my wrist free as the TARDIS began to vanish. "What is going on?!"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, seeming rushed. Bowtie man was surprisingly serious about this today... "You were the one who said something was wrong here, and you were right. It's caused myself and Martha to have problems with the TARDIS. While they're fixing it, you and I are going to help River and Amy get rid of what's causing the problem." He leaned closer. "Bet you can get who they've chosen as an ally."

"...the prince," I guessed sarcastically, my heart thudding.

Things were happening very, very quickly, and I didn't like it at all. I'd decided that last time would be the last time I saw this man, yet here I was. Again. Dealing with someone I shouldn't ever know like this.

Guess things are a tad bit different for the Successor, eh?

~~OO~~II~~OO~~

A/N: ...I just...this is WAY different how this was originally supposed to go. |D Originally, the Doctor was going to vanish during the ball and to anger him, Ali was going to accept the proposal. This just went WAY off course and I don't know anymore. Anyhow!

Maren the fangirl: Thank you! I try seriously hard to entertain you people, so. :3 I'm glad you liked the TARDIS and Ali, love writing those. XD

BrainStormer: Your reviews entertain me every time you post them. XD Clave is turning out to be one of the best parts of the fanfic. ^_^ I'm seriously glad you like him, I should DEFINITELY go do some art for the little guy...