Hello! Another chapter and the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, I've just watched the episode actually and I have to say that I love it, Stephen Moffat's best, I think. It's extremely very good, and I don't think I can criticize that at all. Watch it...although you probably have. Love to hear opinions.

Thank you to all that reviewed, sailormajinmoon, skidney, DragonRose4 and sweetortonlover86. You've all upgraded from cookies to chocolate. Thank you to those that favourited/followed the story, TimeLordPrime, bright eyed writer, Kuroshitsujilover01, Virginia I, cupcakejenny, Uzumaki Rin, and setsuna1415. Thank you so much :D

And now on with the story.

Disclaimer: Not Mine, unfortunatly.

The Girl in the Fireplace: Part 4

We ran through the palace towards the mirror that we had entered through. I felt a brief pang of guilt for not saying goodbye to Reinette, but she had been entwined with the King at that point so I didn't feel terribly sorry for her, "Why is it that every time I go off everyone has to get into trouble?" The Doctor questioned as he closed the mirror up, "I mean I understand curiosity but getting into trouble is just just plain asking for it," I rolled my eyes, "So those repair droids will most likely have Rose and Mickey which means...multi grade anti oil!"

He sounded so excited that I almost hated to burst his bubble, "I'm not trying to slow us down in any way, Doctor," I said patiently, "But what exactly is multi grade anti oil? And how exactly is it going to help us?"

"Mary Anne Tyler...you are looking at the person who invented the banana daiquiri four centuries early," I narrowed my eyes at his words. So that's what he had been doing with the banana. Perhaps he had drunk more than I had thought. Maybe so had I? I shook those thoughts off, "Multi grade anti oil causes something to stop moving if it, itself, is moving on the object in question," we reached the TARDIS and I saw him fiddling around with a tool box, "And I think I'll need the Zeus plugs as well," he clicked them together, "You could make a musical instrument out of these,"

"You'll have invented two things for the French in one night," I proposed, and he pulled out a large golden goblet from his pockets, "You are going to have to show me how you make your pockets bigger. Always useful in a situation," he poured red liquid into the cup, "Sure that's not just alcohol you've left around,"

"No, it's definitely anti oil," he disagreed, "But it's a good disguise," he sniffed it, "Hopefully fool those droids from the spaceship," he ran outside to the scanner, "So now we've just got to find Rose and Mickey...save the day and hopefully close down all those time window," he raised a finger, "And of course find out why they're so obsessed with the idea of Madame de Pompadour's brain as being part of their internal structure,"

I leaned next to him, "All in a good day's work," I laughed, before watching the screen carefully, seeing two blips on the screen, "So...what's the plan then, Doctor?"

He looked down at me, "How well can you play drunk?" He inquired.

"I have no idea, usually it's the other way around," I replied, "Why do you want me to pretend that I'm drunk?"

"Fun," he pulled out a pair of sunglasses, placing them on his head, "Come along Mary Anne," he took my hand as we walked through the ship. This was going to be rather amusing in for all involved, "Know any good songs as well?"

I thought back, "Well..." I smiled.

"I could have danced all night..." The Doctor crooned very badly as we walked into a room where Rose and Mickey appeared to be strapped to what appeared to be operating tables, "I could have danced all night," I snorted with laughter at his singing, "And could have begged for more," both my sister and her boyfriend were staring at us as if we're completely insane. Maybe we were, "I could have spread my wings and..." The Doctor waved his hands looking at the two, "Have you met the French?" He asked them, looking actually...quite like he was drunk. "My God, they know how to party,"

My sister rolled her eyes, "Oh look what the cat dragged in," she snapped, "The Oncoming Storm...and my sister," she looked between the two of us, disgusted, and I had to burst into giggles at that, "Where have you been? It's been hours since we last saw each other," she stared at me, "And what are you wearing?"

"Oh..." I shared a look with the Doctor, "You sound just like our mother," I informed her, grinning at her, "But Rose...we've been to France, and the Doctor may have rewrote history a little bit with the banana daiquiri. But France.." I looked down at my clothing, "And this is not my fault...Reinette stole my clothing and stuffed me in this. I can't really breathe and now my boots are in eighteenth century France most likely not to be returned to me. I liked those boots..."

"You know, Rose," the Doctor pulled out a banana, "The French have never even seen a banana," he leaned closer to her, "Always take a banana to a party, Rose, bananas are good," I smiled at that reminder. The Doctor suddenly seemed to register the presence of the repair droid standing next to Rose, it's arm outstretched, "Ahh it's you! You're my favourite, you are. You are the best!" He staggered slightly over to the droid, "Do you know why? Because you're so thick. You're Mister Thick Thick Thickity Thick Face from Thicktown, Thickania. And so's your dad. Do you know what they were scanning Reinette's brain for? Her milometer,"

"They want to know how old she is," I finished for him, "Want to know why?" I pointed at the ceiling, "Apparently this ship is thirty seven years old, and they think that when Reinette is thirty seven, then her brain will be compatible with the ship. And then when she's thirty seven...they swoop in and...well," I thought for a bit, leaning against a control desk, "Bring it back with them,"

"That's what you're missing, isn't it?" The Doctor looked at the droid, "Command circuit. Your computer. Your ship needs a brain. And for some reason, God knows what," he looked at the ceiling, "Only the brain of Madame de Pompadour will do," he sighed as he looked at the droid, "And if you think that...then you'll probably believe that this is just a glass of wine," he took off the mask that the robot was wearing before pouring the multi grade anti oil over its head. The droid immediately seized up, "Multigrade anti oil," the Doctor grinned, "If it moves, it doesn't,"

The other droids around the room suddenly started towards us, and I pulled down a lever next to me. They seemed to immediately shut off, "That was lucky," Rose said to me, and I smiled at her.

"Come on you two," the Doctor sonicked their restraints, "That's enough lying around, time we got the rest of this ship turned off before it causes any more damage to the universe," Mickey poked one of the robots, "They're safe at the moment...safe and thick, just the way I like them," he placed the sunglasses on top of his head, and I hugged Rose gratefully. It was one thing after another at the moment, "Ok, all the time windows are controlled here, I need to close the, all down," he rummaged through his pockets, "Zeus plugs...where are my Zeus plugs?"

"You were using them as castanets earlier," I muttered, "Perhaps this is why one person shouldn't have pockets that are bigger on the inside," I raised my voice, "Here's a question for you, Doctor, if they do want Reinette's head when she's thirty seven? Why didn't they just go straight there instead of jumping around like they have?"

He looked over to me, "Amount that this ship has been damaged, I am surprised that they even hit the right century," he informed me, "It's just trial and error after that," he pressed another couple of buttons, "The time windows aren't closing down...why aren't they closing down?"

There was a pinging from above us, "What's that?" Mickey asked.

"Incoming message?" The Doctor guessed, "Report from the field most likely. Ahh!" He fiddled around on the control desk, "That's why I can't close the time windows, one of them must be still out there with Reinette. There must be an override," the first robot suddenly became active pouring out the anti oil on the floor, "Ahhh, that was a bit clever," he admitted. The lever suddenly slammed up again, "Right...many things about this are not good," the pinging suddenly changed to what sounded like a cogs clicking, "Message from one of your little friends?" He asked, "Anything interesting?"

"She is complete. It begins," and with that all droids teleported out of the room. Not good.

"Dammit," the Doctor tried to work around the desk, "One of them must have found the right time window, and now it's time to send in the troops. And they're going to bring back her head,"

I leaned back, "There has to be a way to warn Reinette," I proposed and he looked at me over the desk, "This place is full of time windows. We just have to find a time window that happens after the Yew Tree Ball but before her thirty seventh birthday. Tell her that they're going to come so she'll be prepared when they do. Make her give enough time so that we can be there to stop them killing her and the rest of the French aristocracy,"

He looked at the screen, "You know that could work," he said, and then pointed to the screen, "There...there's a time window on the deck below us, one of us could do it as we search for the window where she's thirty seven,"

"I'll go," I volunteered before Rose could open her mouth, "No offence but if anyone ran into the two of you in France then they would be having some questions about your clothing. And although this dress is uncomfortable, no one will really notice me," I checked the time on my pocket watch, "I'll give myself about five minutes?"

"Good," he looked up at me, "Tell her to keep talking to them...they should respond to her voice. She can't stop them, but she can delay them. Rose, Mickey," the other two turned to him, "We've got to find that other time window," I nodded at the three of them before hurrying out of the room and down onto the floor below.

I had to say that this whole place seemed much more frightening when you were walking it alone. I was just lucky that all the droids had decided to vacate the ship. I smiled faintly as I found a tapestry hanging on a wall. I pushed the heavy fabric aside, finding a corridor behind it. I stepped through, looking around. If this was here then Reinette had to be close by. I wandered down the room, pausing by the open door of a room, with a woman inside. I smiled faintly at the sight.

"Reinette," She turned sharply to see me and then stepped back suddenly at the sight of me, "I'm sorry," I said to her, "I know this can't be easy to see me here again but I had to talk to you again. And it's not going to be a particularly pleasant conversation for you...or for me, thinking on that matter," I swallowed back my misgivings, "But it has to be done, and I'm sorry for that. We didn't mean it to be quite like what this is but it's happened and there's nothing we can do about it now,"

She stared at me, "You're wearing the dress that I gave you last time I met you," she told me, "That was many years ago for me but it looks like it is not for you..." She narrowed her eyes, "Why are you here? And...without the Doctor?"

I smiled humorlessly, "Well...meeting you doesn't really work like what you probably think," I answered, before taking a breath, "And there isn't a lot of time to talk...so we have to be quick about this," she gestured for me to sit in the chair opposite her and I sank down into it. Harder than it looked in this dress, "Do you remember the figure from when you were a child? The night that you met the King?" She nodded, "Well...they're going to come back when you're thirty seven,"

"In five years?" She questioned.

"I'm sorry I'm not being very good at this," I sighed, "But I'll try to explain it all clearly. The place where I am from...where the Doctor is from, well we're quite a bit further than you would probably think, but those clockwork figures are after you, and sometime after your thirty seventh birthday...they will come for you," I grimaced, "I can't be exact...I don't know the date, but I can tell you that they will be there, it is going to happen and we can't stop it," I leant back, "In a way...it's already happening for me. In ten minutes time, I'll probably see you again...five years later,"

She shook her head, "Then be exact and I will be attentive," she stated, "And also be concise,"

"I don't have that much time," I insisted, "In five minutes I have to go back and find out how to stop these things from taking your head away with them," she looked taken aback, "In my world there is a ship that floats through the sky so far away. Three thousand years and two galaxies separate you from us, and that ship is..." I rubbed my eyes, "Full of you...rooms of your life jumbled up and rearranged. Different pieces of your life played out in front of us over and over again," I sighed, frustrated, "It's complicated, I'm sorry,"

"There is a vessel in your world, where the days of my life are pressed together like the chapters of a book, so that you and he may step from one to the other without increase of age, while I, weary traveller, must always walk the slower path?" I nodded at her words, "The last time we met...you said nothing about this to me. Said nothing about how..." She broke off, "You know I always did wonder why you both...always looked the same. Some wild theories entered my head but I...I never believed that you had only known me for such a short time...how long have you known me?"

I was reluctant to answer the question truthfully, "A few hours...give or take," I answered and she slumped back in her chair, "Time travel...it's a very big world to try and contemplate. Things never seem to happen in the right order and most things just end up coming at us from the side," I smiled, "But just because I have known you for less time than you have known me does not make our...friendship any less the same. We have lived a lifetime in those hours, and I do not regret a moment of them,"

"Apart from when I...kissed him," she queried and I considered the statement, silently agreeing with her but not wanting to say, "If it is any consolation, I did not mean to make you feel awkward about it, or him for that matter," I cleared my throat, deciding not to delve too deeply into that, "So in five years time these creatures will come for me. What is to be done?"

I sighed, "You can't stop them..." I informed her, "But the droids should be sort of...programmed to your voice and brain waves now," I rubbed my eyes, this day had been far too long already to try and explain this. I hated to have to give her such bad news. Five years was such a long time to anyone. She had to wait five years for this to happen to her, "The Doctor said that ought to delay them long enough until..." She looked up, hope in her eyes, "Until the Doctor can get there,"

"You'll be coming then," she insisted and I nodded at her words, "But the Doctor cannot make these promises in person,"

"You've seen inside his mind," I told her, "You know that's not how he really does things. He'll do the most extraordinary things and then walk away never looking back. You and I know that," I took one of her hands, "We'll be there when we have to, and you know...you know that's the way it has to be. It can't be anything else,"

"It's the way it's always been," she said, "The monsters and the Doctor...it seems you cannot have the one without the other," I patted her hand sympathetically, withdrawing it, "You have to go now?"

I bent my head slowly, "I'm sorry...this isn't the way I really wanted to tell you. Your whole life has been manipulated by these robots and you've lived in the shadow of them, never really escaping them," I stood up, brushing down the dress, "History is being played around here, and none of this was supposed to happen, but you know I can't really find it in my heart to be totally upset about it. It does happen rather a lot with the Doctor, everyone falls in love with him, I know that...even if it's just a little bit,"

"One may tolerate a world of demons for the sake of an angel," I smiled at her analogy, "In his mind I saw...so many things,"

I raised a hand to stop her before I heard Rose calling my name. I frowned, running through the corridor to see her, "Sorry to interrupt," she apologised, "But the time window where she's thirty eight," she looked for a moment at the French aristocrat next to me, "Well...we've found it and it was right under our noses," Reinette looked at the tapestry which Rose was holding open and walked through it, "No...you can't," I stepped into the spaceship, "The Doctor will go mad,"

There were screams echoing all around us and I could see that this frightened Reinette a great deal more than she was letting on, "Give us a second," I murmured to Rose, "Just keep the time window open, we don't really want questions from France if we accidentally jump a couple of months with her," she nodded, holding the thick tapestry, "Are you all right?" I murmured to Reinette.

"So this is your world," she turned around, and I watched her carefully seeing that this world must have been so alien to her, so different from the world of Paris and everything else. They hadn't even invented plastic back then, Lord knew what she was thinking. The was another loud scream echoing around us, "What was that?"

"The Doctor fixed an audio link," Rose explained to us from where she was standing, "Of the time window when you were...are going to be thirty seven. In five years time." She shot me a look, "There's a problem though...which I need to tell you after she's back in her own time,"

"Those screams," Reinette looked around the spaceship, "Is that my future?" I nodded as another scream came from down the corridor, "Then I must walk the slower path," she murmured.

"Hello!" I sighed as Reinette's voice came on the intercom, presumably from when she was thirty five, "Are you there? Can you hear me?" Reinette jumped back and I placed a comforting hand on her shoulder to try and calm her, "I need you now, you promised! The clock on the mantle is broken! It is time! Mary Anne! Doctor?! Help me!"

"But that's my voice!" Reinette sounded so pained at those words, "I'm so scared, Mary Anne...I'm so scared," I smiled sadly at her, "But I know what I have to do now...and you and I know that the Doctor is worth the monsters. I want to go back," I escorted her from the spaceship back into the corridor, "How can you bear that world?"

I shrugged, "I'm used to it," I admitted, "Mostly...not all the time but close," I folded my arms, "It's a life like no other and I would never exchange it for anything else in the universe,"

"Yes, I saw that determination in the Doctor's mind," she said, "Mary Anne...you were so lost down the rabbit hole. I think that you might be still be lost," my smile froze on my face, "Always hiding behind another name...Alice. You perhaps are more like the Doctor in that respect than you think," I shifted uncomfortably at her words, "You are lucky, I think, to have him forever. No one else might have that pleasure apart from you,"

"Nothing lasts forever," I turned back to look at the tapestry, "And I better be off...see you in five years, Reinette. Make them count," I ducked back through into the spaceship, "Come on...we've got history to save," I linked arms with Rose, "Where did you find the time window?"

"Flight deck where the TARDIS is parked," we came into the room, "But there's a problem, they've blocked the time window off. We can't get through it," I stared at the large mirror showing the ballroom on the other side, with droids terrorising the people, "Right...how did they get through?" Rose demanded.

The Doctor looked briefly up from where he was sonicking, "You saw them," he insisted, "They teleported, as long as the spaceship and the ballroom are linked, their short range teleports will work, but we can't use the TARDIS, we're part of events now,"

"Well can't we just smash through?" Mickey suggested, "Alice could use her squareness gun and just erase it from where it is before placing it back,"

"No! Hyperplex this side, plate glass the other. We need a truck," the Doctor snapped.

"We don't have a truck,"

I ignored that comment from Mickey, "Doctor we've got to try something. We can't let them just kill her and bring her back her brain to plug into their stupid ship!" He looked up at me, "Doctor...what do we do?"

"We can't do anything," he said dully, "Smash the glass, you smash the time window. They'll be no way back," I stared at him, "What would you do?"

I didn't move for a second, "I promised her that we'd help," I said to him, "That we'd be there... When the time came,"

There was a whinny behind me.

So what did people think? Tell me everything :D And as we've reached another ten reviews that's another sneek peek. Aren't we so lucky.

Sneek Peek, (And I'm not telling what episode it's from)

I traced my hands over the pictures, so many of them, and all my sister and the Doctor, "What do you think it means?" she asked me, and I looked at her, "Why is someone so interested in you?"

"That's not the question," I murmured, holding one up to the light, "The question is...where am I and also ho did they manage to take a picture like this without us noticing?"

Reviews:

skidney: I loved the Night of the Doctor, I wasn't expecting the arrival of that particular Doctor at all! :)

DragonRose4: Hiyah :D Glad you liked the chapter, I should include the dance in a little deleted scene at the bottom, I did have one in but I took it out later. Thanks for reviewing! :D

sailormajinmoon: Night of the Doctor was absolutely awesome and the 50th anniversary was extremely impressive as well! Loved all of it, it well exceeded my expectations! Glad you liked the last chapter :)

sweetortonlover86: Don't worry, this story is almost over :D just one more chapter after this one. Thanks for the review as well, it was, like always, wonderful to read. I think I could definitely put Alice in some of the episodes that you've mentioned, I always want to include other episodes than the ones that have been out recently. And don't worry, I was distracted by everything that's been on today but I did manage to get the chapter up :D.

See you next Saturday. Smiley face people #savetheday

:D