"Do what I do.

Hold tight and pretend it's a plan."

-Eleventh Doctor (from The Doctor, The Widow and the Wardrobe)

TARDIS Escape Pod, The Wastelands, Karn

"Sienna open your eyes. We've landed. We've made it."

It took her a moment to realize that the roar that had accompanied them upon entry into Karn's atmosphere had suddenly halted.

Her eyes flew open and she saw the Doctor was across the room studying something on the control panel.

Sienna blew out a breath. "Well that was the single most terrifying experience of my entire life." She unbuckled herself from the jumpseat and climbed to her feet. "At least that I can recall." she added pointedly.

He glanced up from the stone console and gave her a look that plainly said Seriously? But for the moment at least, Sienna wasn't in the mood to fight.

She joined him at the console. "So, where we at? And more importantly, where's the Master at?" She crossed her arms and squinted down at the computer screen. It appeared to be shut down.

He chewed on his bottom lip and looked thoughtful. "It would seem that when we separated from the rest of the ship, we lost a great deal of our instrumentation. The geolocator system is offline. All communications are down. Even the scanner isn't working."

Sienna blinked. "Yeah, but... you knew that would happen right?"

He raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "Not at all. As I said. I've never had to utilize the Tertiary Console Room for such circumstances before. We're learning as we go." He grinned at her and continued his assessment of the instruments.

Sienna felt a knot forming in her stomach. That was quite possibly the least reassuring thing she'd ever heard. Wasn't he supposed to be the big, bad hero after all? The hero was supposed to reassure you that he had everything under control. And the damn hero was always supposed to have a plan. Sienna had a sinking feeling the Doctor did not have a plan at all.

"My immediate concern is with our lack of visual orientation." He added. "Without the scanner, I have no way of seeing what's going on outside these walls."

He narrowed his eyes at the control panel and tapped a few keys. Nothing happened. He sighed. "It appears that I can't even do a simple atmosphere check." He rubbed at his chin for a moment, then seemed to come to a decision. "Right. Guess it'll have to be the old fashioned way then."

He strode to the door and placed his hand against the palm plate. The doors slid open and a horrid, howling sound filled the escape pod. Sienna peered outside and didn't understand what she was seeing. The sky, the entire outside world was shrouded in an opaque orangey-red haze. What the hell? It didn't look like fog... it wasn't smoke...

The Doctor quickly stepped back and closed the door. He turned and looked at her, his expression annoyed. "Dust." he stated simply.

"What the hell do you mean dust?" She sputtered.

He rubbed his hands against his coat and shrugged. "The ground-the dirt and even the rocks-here on Karn is mostly red. So when the winds pick up you'll see the occasional red dust storm. Or Blood Wind as the Sisterhood like to call it." He rolled his eyes. "A bit on the melodramatic side if you ask me."

Sienna threw up her hands. "So what do we do now?"

"We wait of course. We certainly can't go out in that." The Doctor pressed a button in the wall and the jumpseat he'd been buckled into before slid back out of the wall. He sat down like he didn't have a care in the world.

She stood froze in place, staring down at him incredulously. "You mean that we're going to walk to wherever it is we're going?"

He grinned at her in a charming way. "Well why not? A nice brisk walk is good for you."

"But you don't even know where the hell we are?" She asked.

"Correct." he confirmed.

She felt like her head was about to explode. He was quite possibly the most frustrating man she'd ever met. She took a deep breath and tried to find her chill. It would do her no good to get mad at him all over again.

And besides, he had to have something up his sleeve. The great genius Time Lord. "Doctor, I know you must have a plan. You must know exactly how to get us out of this mess. You probably have backup coming. You have some space gadgets and weapons stashed around in here somewhere." Sienna gestured around the room.

What she'd hoped for was a confident declaration from the great hero. Of course he had a plan! He was ready to kick some Karn ass!

Instead he merely fixed her with an amused look. "My goodness but you don't remember me at all, do you?" He sat further back in the chair, crossed his legs and continued to study her curiously.

Sienna just blinked. "So... is this your thing then? You just show up someplace totally unprepared and fucking improvise, hoping you're clever enough to figure it out in the end?"

The Doctor chuckled. "So you do remember me." He stood back up and walked the length of the wall. He found a switch and a door Sienna hadn't noticed before popped open.

He gestured toward the open door. "Fortunately there's a bit more to this place than meets the eye. The TARDIS spared enough room for some storage and a restroom. He grinned. "Even a shower."

Sienna was speechless. She watched as he dug through the closet and came out with blankets and water and food. There was even some type of fancy looking fold out cot.

She narrowed her eyes. "How long exactly does one of these Blood Wind things last?"

He shrugged. "Could be a few days." She gasped but he went on, clearly trying to get her to see the half full portion of the glass. "Fortunately for us, the TARDIS, and by proxy this pod would have been undetectable to the Sisterhood's telepathy as they entered Karn's atmosphere. I timed our landing to be sure we'd land in another region of the planet altogether, away from their caves. Don't you see? We still have the element of surprise."

Sienna was near tears at this point. This was too much. She went and sat back down in her seat and put her face in her hands. She stayed silent like that for some time until the Doctor grew concerned.

"Sienna?" he called to her. She heard him approach.

She looked up, hoping he couldn't see that she'd almost started to cry. "So what you're telling me is we are stuck here. Wherever here is. Just me and you, in this room. With a couple blankets and fucking weird space food. We can't communicate with anyone. And nobody knows we're here. Nobody is coming to help us. And you have no plan at all. No vehicle. No weapons. The only thing we have going for us is the element of surprise?"

He came and knelt down beside her, for the moment not acting smug or nonchalant. He gazed at her with an inscrutable expression on his handsome face. "I'm not what you expected I take it?"

Sienna crossed her arms over her chest, now feeling aggravated at her physical reaction to his proximity and piercing blue eyes. She didn't answer. She just chewed at her lip trying not to appear as flustered as she felt.

He looked away and smiled sadly. "You're disappointed with me." A statement. Not a question.

She gave a little humorless laugh. "You're seriously worried about me being disappointed?" She ran a hand through her hair and made a frustrated noise. "I feel like you're expecting me to just roll with the punches and be okay with all this craziness." She shook her head. "I don't know what kind of person you think I am. What kind of person you knew before. I'm not sure what I told you or what sort of badass act I put on, but it turns out I'm not all that brave." She closed her eyes, hating to admit this. "I'm fuckin scared to death."

When she opened her eyes she found he was smiling at her, a look of warmth in his eyes. He reached over and took hold of her hand. She looked down at their hands for a moment, fascinated by the tingling sensation she felt at his touch.

"Sienna Woods, if you weren't afraid under the current circumstances I would question your intelligence." He very gently brushed a stray lock of dark hair off her face. Her heart stuttered a bit as he continued. "And as for what kind of person I think you are, I happen to think you're the kind of person who is quite brilliant. The kind of person able to think outside the box to solve problems. A tremendous asset in tough situations. And I also think you're the kind of person who would crawl through a pitch black tunnel alone despite being deathly afraid of the dark."

She made a derisive sound at that last part.

"Sienna, I think you're being rather hard on yourself. Bravery only means something if there's something to fear in the first place. There's a misconception that brave means unafraid. The very fact that you can face your fears shows bravery."

His words brought comfort and reassurance. His proximity, however, brought butterflies and confusion. His face was quite close to hers now and he had not let go of her hand. She had the sneaking suspicion that he might try to kiss her. She was caught somewhere between pushing him away and throwing him down on the floor and humping his brains out. She cleared her throat and stood up quickly, leaving him knelt down beside an empty chair with a startled look on his face.

"You mentioned there was a shower..." she reminded him.

The Doctor stood and adjusted his coat. His face was a mixture of amusement and annoyance when he pointed toward the door. "Through there." he said.

The remainder of the first day on Karn had been rather uneventful. The first night on the escape pod was a different story. The wind was merciless and at night so fierce that it actually pummeled the capsule a bit. It was disconcerting feeling the ground beneath you shift. The Doctor would know because he'd given Sienna the cot and slept on the floor.

Not that she seemed particularly appreciative to him for being a gentleman. If there was one thing that drove him quite mad about this woman it was her inability to adapt to circumstances with grace. She complained about the water pressure in the shower, the lack of entertainment and the scratchy blankets.

He tried to be patient because he understood she was scared and out of her element but he came very close to pointing out what a spoiled brat she was being. Her behavior actually brought to mind a certain past companion of his from Australia.

Sienna had woke several times that first night, each time startled out of her sleep. All the stress, he supposed. Once she actually fell out of the cot and spent the next several minutes saying every curse word she could think of. He suspected she even made up a few of them. Her swearing spree went on for so long that the Doctor finally threatened to lock her in the closet if she didn't let him get some rest. He had only been half joking.

The second day was at least less tense. It ended up being quite a history lesson. She wanted to know everything he knew about Karn and the origins of the Sisterhood.

He felt it best to start with a detailed history of Time Lord society on Gallifrey. He also explained a bit more about the matriarchal society that had existed before, led by the Pythia.

He told her all about the sacred flame and the elixir of life that kept the Sisterhood of Karn immortals for all intents and purposes.

They sat together having a little picnic for lunch. He noticed that she didn't seem to mind the 'weird space food' when she was hungry.

"So what have your experiences with these women been like?" she wondered taking a sip of water.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows and thought about that. "I came to Karn once before a long while ago and encountered a rather insane human called Solon. He turned out to be a fanatical follower of a long dead Time Lord named Morbius. Now, Morbius was evil incarnate. Made the Master look positively altruistic by comparison."

"Yikes." Sienna murmured.

"Anyway, this Solon was a renowned scientist and surgeon. He was something of a genius in the field of microsurgical grafting and tissue transplants. Somehow he managed to attain the still living brain of Morbius and preserved it. He intended to construct a body out of dead tissue and resurrect Morbius. He actually had quite a good start on the body when we met. Just needed a head." He noticed that Sienna was looking a bit nauseous. She dropped her fork and wrinkled her nose.

"So basically you're saying you met Dr. Frankenstein. Dr. Friggin Frankenstein lived on Karn."

The Doctor chuckled. "If you like. So, long story short, I had to stop him of course. And along the way I encountered the Sisterhood. My interactions with them during that fiasco could best be described as... conflicting."

"Conflicting?" Sienna smirked.

"Yes well. You know how it goes. They stole my TARDIS, they accused me of conspiring to steal their elixir, I insulted their superstitious belief structure, they tried to kill me, then they saved my life, then I repaired their sacred flame."

Sienna nodded. "Conflicting. Gotcha."

"The High Priestess, or Reverend Mother as she is called, was something of a puzzle to me. Maren." His brow furrowed. "Her mind was quite brilliant of what I could see of it. But there was bitterness and darkness there. Her disdain for Time Lords in general went much deeper than a historical grudge. It was personal to her. She was quite reluctant to assist me in any way. Her next in command was a young woman called Ohica. She seemed to have a lot to do with the Sisterhood helping me that day. Aside from her general peculiarities, she actually seemed like a good person. She was compassionate and had a sense of right and wrong."

Sienna's eyes were narrowed and she was shaking her head. "Ohica." she whispered, Ohica!" She looked up at the Doctor. "That's her! That's the one who helped Theia!"

The Doctor nodded. "It's as I suspected. She is who I intend to seek out. I have a feeling there's much I can learn from her. And she might even be willing to help us."

Suddenly a story he'd heard long ago occurred to him.

"You know, many Gallifreyans claim that Maren had fallen in love with a Time Lord, even had his child."

Sienna narrowed her eyes at him. "I thought all Time Lords were cursed with sterility by the Pythia chick."

The Doctor nodded. "Yes, but this was to have taken place just before that happened. In the midst of the fallout between Pythia and Rassilon, it is rumored that Maren began a relationship with Anteros who just so happened to be the son of Apeiron.

Sienna raised her eyebrows as she chewed her food. Then she said "I suppose this Apeiron guy was a super important time dude."

The Doctor chuckled. "You might say that. Along with Rassilon, Apeiron was one of the six founders of Time Lord society. They even have a statue of the man right in the Panopticon."

Sienna peered at him curiously. "Are you suggesting that this Anteros character might have been Theia's father?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I suppose there's always the possibility."

Sienna made an impressed face. "Hmm. So that would make me part Time Lord then?"

He rolled his eyes. "Time Lady if you want to get technical about it." He stood to throw his trash away.

"Interesting." Sienna said suddenly. He turned back to see a look of intrigue on her face.

He raised his eyebrows at her. "What? That you might be part Time Lady?"

"That Maren should feel so strongly about my falling in love with a Time Lord if she herself had done the same." She chewed at her thumb. "There really must be something more to that."

"I'm certain there is." The Doctor agreed. Interesting indeed.

When Sienna stood up to throw away her trash, she accidentally brushed against him and moved away as if she'd been burned.

She had been behaving like that ever since the day before when he'd knelt down beside her and held her hand. Being that close to her, the Doctor had felt the sudden urge to kiss her. It was clear that Sienna picked up on it and escaped as quickly as she could.

Strangely though, he wasn't offended. Because he knew Sienna. He knew her body language and her facial expressions. And he knew that she had been affected by his closeness to her. That she was still attracted to him.

The Doctor had absolutely no intention to push the matter. There was a time and place. For the time being, he needed to concentrate on resolving the issues here on Karn. Things between he and Sienna could be resolved afterwards. Or so he hoped.

Later that night when he was very nearly asleep, Sienna whispered. "Doctor?"

"What is it Sienna?"

"What would you have done?" she asked him cryptically.

The Doctor sat up and squinted in her direction. "Done when?" he wondered.

"If you hadn't gone to the Malum Star System. If everything had turned out okay. I wasn't about to die. You weren't about to die... what would you have done?"

The Doctor was frankly surprised she was bringing this up. He thought he knew just what she was asking but wanted to be sure.

"What would I have done about what Sienna?"

"Well...me. If we were so in love... I mean...would you have stayed with me?" she sounded nervous to even be asking the question but obviously her curiosity on the matter had trumped all that.

"No." he told her quite honestly. "I would not have stayed on Earth. I would have resumed my normal life in the TARDIS."

Sienna seemed caught off guard by his honesty. "Oh." she replied awkwardly. She cleared her throat. "Just curious."

He laid back down on the floor and pulled the blanket over him. "I would, however, have asked you to come away with me." he added, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

This admission seemed to stun her into silence and she didn't utter another word for the rest of the night.

When he woke the next morning he went to the door to check on the storm. He was pleasantly surprised to find the winds had died down, the skies were clearing. He stepped outside and took in his surroundings. He was also relieved to find that he had a very good idea of where they'd ended up.

"Is the storm over?" He turned to find Sienna standing close behind him, peering out of the doors.

"Indeed." He clapped his hands together. "Alright. I suppose we need to pack up a few things and set out."

Sienna looked a little anxious. "Does that mean you know where we are?"

"Of course I do. We're in the wastelands." He headed to the closet to look for some type of rucksack to bring along.

"So we are gonna just go wandering through the scenic wastelands lugging around bottled water and food rations? Sounds like a dystopian nightmare. Sign me up!" she murmured.

He chuckled. "You'll be pleased to know that I actually have a destination in mind. One might even be tempted to call it a plan." He found two good sized back packs and held one out to Sienna who sighed and joined him in dealing with supplies.

"You're going to say caves aren't you?" she grumbled. "I just know this involves caves."

He grinned. "I believe castle is the word you're looking for."

She dropped the backpack. "Wait, Karn has a castle?"

He shrugged. "Well of course. It's Dr. Solon's old place. It's deserted now. And it has one feature that I think we'll find quite useful."

"Wait. Frankenstein's castle?" Sienna stared at him in open mouthed disbelief.

"Yes, well Frankenstein's castle just so happens to be the very best place on Karn for you to hide. And that's because the stone that it is primarily comprised of is matricite. Matricite is a rare mineral that actually blocks telepathy naturally."

Sienna looked intrigued if a little nervous. "So the Sisterhood wouldn't be able to detect me. That's what you're counting on right?"

He patted her on the back. "I think you'll feel much better once we're there. You can make yourself comfortable and be perfectly safe while I go try to contact Ohica."

She sighed, clearly resigned to her fate. "Well, I guess hanging out at a castle with a gruesome history beats whatever the hell the Sisterhood has in mind for me."

"Quite right." The Doctor encouraged. "All we have to do is figure out how to get across Moira Swamp to reach the castle."

Sienna looked up at him with murder written all over her face. "Wait. What do you mean swamp?"