Disclaimer: If I own Doctor Who, that gives me a connection to Sherlock, which gives me a connection to Benedict Cumberbatch. :D

Ch. 26:

The Phoenix followed the Doctor into the Flesh room as he took out his screwdriver.

This is not a good idea, Theta. She told him.

We need to try. He replied.

He pointed the screwdriver at the vat and turned it on. The liquid began to bubble and the Doctor grabbed Lily's hand and they ran out of the room.

They didn't see the mouth that appeared on the surface, nor did they hear the words it spoke.

"Trust me."

The couple ran outside and found the TARDIS submerged in the ground.

"Oh." The Doctor exclaimed. "What are you doing down there?"

Lily groaned and grabbed her head.

"Alyssy?" the Doctor said, worriedly reaching for her.

"I'm alright." She told him breathlessly. "She fighting. She knows I can't get to the parts I need."

"You have to hold on." He told her. "I'll get us in."

He reached into his pocket.

"Theta, move." Lily ordered, grabbing him and pulling him back.

He looked down and saw that his shoes had started to melt due to the puddle of acid he had been standing in.

"We need a new plan." Lily told him.

The Doctor sighed and started taking off his boots.

Rory walked across the courtyard with Ganger Jennifer.

"Are you sure you're feeling better?" he asked. "No more super-elastic punches?"

"I'm…different now, stronger." She told him.

"The Doctor won't hurt you." He assured her. "And the Phoenix loves picking up strays to protect. I should know! They want to help, Jennifer, okay?"

Jennifer stopped.

"You used my name." she marveled "You used my name! Thank you!" She reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "Amy's a lucky girl."

"Yeah…she is." Rory agreed with a sigh. "Let's go."

They walked past a stairway, not noticing Cleaves, who waited for them to pass before running out.

Amy wandered down the tunnels, which ended at a large wooden door.

"Rory." Amy called. "Rory."

She slowly opened the door and peered inside. In the wall was an opening where a woman with an eye-patch looking at her. The panel slid closed and Amy gasped, slamming the door shut.

"Amy!"

Amy turned with a gasp, but sighed when she saw it was Rory.

"You're okay." She said. "What happened?"

She walked towards him, but stopped when she saw Ganger Jennifer.

"She needs protecting." Her husband told her.

Amy opened her mouth, but Buzzer and Dicken chose that moment to join them.

"Jen?" Dicken asked.

"No, it's a ganger." Amy answered. "Rory, listen – "

"No, you listen – nobody touches her!" he ordered.

The Doctor and Lily found themselves in the acid room and looked around, spotting the acid suits.

"Hello." Lily said, focusing on the Gangers in the room. "Are we all okay?"

"Why don't you tell us?" Ganger Cleaves demanded.

"Well, we have two choices." The Doctor told her. "The first is to tear each other apart – not my favorite – the second is to knuckle down and work together. Try to work out how best we can help you."

"Now, I know it's hard for you to hold your fully human form," the Doctor said as they all walked down the tunnels, "that's why you keep shifting between the flesh stages, but do try – it'll make the others less scared of you."

Unnoticed by them, the human Cleaves watched them as they walked past. Her Ganger stopped and she ducked back as Ganger Cleaves' head spun 180°.

Ganger Jennifer sat at the table, with Rory standing behind her. Across from her sat Buzzer, Jimmy, and Dicken, with Amy standing behind them.

"Where's Jen?" Buzzer demanded. "What have you done with her?"

"I haven't seen her." Ganger Jennifer told him earnestly. "I swear. But, look, I'm her. I'm just like her. I'm real."

"You're a copy." Jimmy told her. "You're just pretending to be like her."

"Rory," Amy whispered, "um, we don't really know anything about them yet – "

"Well – " Rory interrupted.

"And – " Amy continued.

"I know that she's afraid and she needs our help." Rory said over his wife.

"Rory – " Amy tried again.

"Jimmy, Buzzer, come one, you guys." Ganger Jennifer said. "We've worked together for two years."

"I worked with Jennifer Lucas, not you." Buzzer said angrily.

"Okay, let's not do anything at all." Amy told them, "Until the Doctor gets here."

The last was said in tandem as the Doctor and the Phoenix entered the room.

"Hello." The Doctor said brightly.

"What am I?" Lily demanded. "Chopped liver?"

The other four gangers entered behind them.

"This is – " Jimmy trailed off, staring at his ganger.

"You're telling me." The ganger replied.

"All right, Doctor," Ganger Cleaves said, "you've brought us together – now what?"

"Before we do anything, I have one very important question – " he said seriously, "has anybody got a pair of shoes I could borrow? Size 10. Although, I should warn you – I have very wide feet."

They all stared at him.

"I want a new mate." Lily said with a sigh.

The Doctor sat on the edge of the table, new brown boots on his feet, with his arm around the Phoenix's waist and Amy behind him. To one side stood the Originals, while on the other stood the Gangers, while Ganger Jennifer stood apart with Rory.

"The flesh was never merely moss." The Doctor told them. "These are not copies. The storm has hardwired them."

"They're people now." Lily finished.

"With souls?" Jimmy asked.

"Rubbish." Dicken said before sneezing.

"Bless you." His Ganger said, making Ganger Cleaves look at him. "What?"

"We were all jelly, once." The Doctor said. "Little jelly eggs, sitting in goop."

"Yeah, thanks." Amy said. "Too much information."

"This isn't some accident that needs to be fixed." Lily continued over her. "Mistake or not, life has been created here, and that is sacred. Do you understand that? You don't have the luxury of sweeping this under the rug."

"Now, the TARDIS is trapped in an acid pool." The Doctor told them. "Once I can reach her, I can get you all off this island, humans and gangers, eh, how does that sound?"

"Can we get home for Adam's birthday?" Jimmy asked.

"What about me?" his Ganger demanded. "He's my son, too."

"You?" Jimmy replied incredulously. "You really think that?"

"I feel it." Ganger Jimmy replied.

"Oh, so you were there when he was born, were you?" Jimmy shot back.

"Yeah." Ganger Jimmy answered. "I drank about 8 pints of tea and they told me I had a wee boy and I just burst out laughing." He laughed to himself. "No idea why. I miss home. As much as you."

"Look, no one is saying that this isn't insane." Lily told them. "It is insane, but it's also reality."

"It's a right odd mess, this." The Doctor said. "But, as you might say up north, 'Oh, well, I'll just go to t' foot of the stairs'."

He laughed awkwardly and Lily shook her head as he glanced at him.

"Shh, babe." She told him patting his arm. "Accents aren't for everyone."

"Right." He said with a sigh. "Anyway, the first step is we get everyone together, then get everyone safe, then get everyone out of here."

"But we're still missing Jennifer and Cleaves." Amy pointed out.

"I'll go and look for them." Jimmy said, heading for the door.

"I'll give you a hand, if you like." His Ganger offered, joining him. "Cover more ground."

"Yeah." He replied slowly. "Okay. Thanks."

"This circus has gone on long enough!"

They all turned to find Cleaves behind them, holding a device in her hand that was crackling with electricity.

"Oh, great." Her Ganger sighed. "You see, that is just so typically me."

"Doctor, tell it to shut up." Cleaves ordered.

"Please, no." The Doctor pleaded with her. "No! No!"

"Circuit probe." She told them, motioning to the device. "Fires about, oh, 40,000 volts. It would kill any one of us, so I guess she'll work on gangers, just the same."

"Can we talk about the fact that used just used 'it' to describe living beings, but used 'she' for a glorified cattle prod?" Lily asked. "Cause I think that may speak to some sort of psychosis you may want to have checked out."

"Perhaps we shouldn't antagonize the person holding the glorified cattle prod on us." The Doctor muttered.

"If you don't let me antagonize people threatening us, I'll never get to antagonize anyone." She shot back. "And it's so much fun."

He grabbed her arm and made her look at him. The cruel smile on her lips fell away and she staggered.

"I didn't even feel her." She whispered.

"Cleaves, what are you going to do with them?" Amy asked, taking attention away from the Time Lords.

"Sorry, they're monsters, mistakes." Cleaves replied. "They have to be destroyed."

"Give me the probe, Cleaves." The Doctor said, moving away from Lily, leaned against the table heavily.

"We have to take charge, don't we, Miranda?" Ganger Cleaves said. "Even when we don't really know what the hell is going on."

Ganger Buzzer charged at Cleaves before the others could stop him and she promptly shot him three times. He fell to the ground and the Doctor and Rory ran to him.

Lily took a step forward and Amy stopped her with a hand on her arm. The Time Lady turned and Amy flinched away from the look in her eyes but held herself in place. After a moment, Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Thank you." She said softly.

"Stop." The Doctor told Cleaves as Amy stopped Lily and he checked Ganger Buzzer. "Oh! Ah! He's dead!"

"We call it 'decommissioned'." Cleaves replied.

She waved the probe around in the air and Ganger Jennifer gasped and ducked away from it.

"You stopped his heart." The Doctor told Cleaves. "He had a heart! Aorta, valves – a real human heart! And you stopped it!"

"Jen?" Rory questioned the woman across from him as her eyes shifted.

"What happened to Buzz will happen to us all, if we trust you!" she shouted.

"Wait, wait." The Doctor said, standing up. "Just wait!"

"No!" Rory said, jumping Cleaves and knocking her to the ground.

As he wrestled the probe away from Cleaves, the Gangers took the opportunity to escape from the room.

"Wait!" the Doctor shouted after them.

Lily went to Rory and pulled Cleaves to her feet as he climbed to his.

"You idiot!" Cleaves hissed.

"Hey." Lily said, shaking her before letting her go. "You are alive only because I have control at the moment. Don't push me."

"Look what you've done, Cleaves." The Doctor told her.

"If it's war, then it's war." She replied. "You don't get it, Doctor. How can you? It's us and them now."

She turned to Jimmy, Dicken, and Buzzer.

"Us…and them." She stressed.

"Us and them." Dicken agreed.

Jimmy hesitated for a moment and then sighed.

"Us and them." He agreed.

The Doctor sighed unhappily and Lily came over and wrapped her arms around his waist. He wrapped his arms around her and simply held her.

"Don't be like that." Rory said as he and Amy covered Ganger Buzzer with a sheet. "She's real."

"You killed him." Jimmy whispered to Cleaves.

"The most fortified and defendable room in the monastery?" the Doctor demanded. "Cleaves! The most fortified and defendable room in the monastery!"

"The chapel." She told him.

"Thank you." He replied.

"Only one way in, stone walls, 2 feet thick." She continued.

"You've crossed one hell of a line, Cleaves." The Phoenix told her. "You killed one of them and I doubt they're going to take it well. They're going to come back, and I would guess in a big way."

She strode past Cleaves and towards the Doctor, only to stop halfway there, clutching her head.

"Lily-girl?" the Doctor asked hesitantly.

"I'm okay." She said, breathing heavily. "She's just fighting me."

The others froze as the air around Lily grew hazy.

"No!" she hissed. "Let me out! I can't! Let me free and I will kill them all. He will be protected."

"Doctor, what's happening?" Amy asked.

Rory started towards Lily, but the Doctor stopped him.

"Don't touch her." He ordered them all. "She's fighting. Any distraction could kill us all."

They watched in silence as the Phoenix fell to her knees.

"This is my body, I will not let you spill blood with my hands!" they heard Lily growl.

"You don't have a choice."

"I always have a choice. I am a Time Lady and the mate of the Doctor and you do not control me!"

Lily looked up at the Doctor and in an instant he was kneeling in front of her, his forehead against hers.

I'm here. He told her silently.

Help me. She whispered.

He threw himself into her mind and sought out the brilliant darkness.

Let her be. He told it. You must let her be. You're destroying her.

I'm protecting you. The Dark Phoenix told him harshly. You must change this course. The path you tread will lead to your death.

I have no choice, and neither does Lily. The Doctor told her. Our companion is in danger, we must save her.

Your companion leads you to your doom.

What are you protecting us from, really? Lily asked.

The day of the fall. The Dark Phoenix replied. The day you will call for me freely and I will answer.

You say I will call for you. Lily said. Then sleep until I do.

The time is nigh at hand. The Dark Phoenix replied.

But it is not now. Lily said. Go to sleep.

With the Doctor's help, she pushed against the Dark Phoenix until she was contained in the farthest reaches of the Time Lady's mind.

The others watched in fear as Lily finally sagged against the Doctor.

"I can't keep doing this." She whispered. "She's going to beat me one of these times."

"We'll get you back to the TARDIS." The Doctor told her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "We'll fix the collar."

"But how long until she's stronger than the collar?" Lily asked, pulling back to look at him.

The Doctor didn't answer; he just climbed to his feet, pulling her after him.

"We need to move." He told the others. "Rory, help the Phoenix."

Rory came over and wrapped his arm around Lily's waist, taking her weight from the Doctor, as the Time Lord headed out the door.

The group rushed through the tunnels towards the chapel, the Doctor in front and Rory and Amy, helping Lily, taking up the rear.

"What about the flares?" Jimmy asked.

"We'll worry about the flares when we're locked inside." The Doctor replied.

Rory transferred Lily back to the Doctor, who held his mate close as a scream ran through the tunnels.

"Rory Pond, get in here." Lily ordered, but he hesitated.

"Rory?" Amy questioned. "Come on."

"Jen's out there." Her husband told her. "She's out there and she's on her own."

He moved a little further down the hall. They could see the Gangers approaching in the distance.

"Well, if she's got any sense, then she's hiding." The Doctor told him, but he still hesitated. "Rory!"

"I can't leave her out there!" he told them.

"Rory!" Lily said sharply.

"I know you understand that." He told her.

"Get in here." Amy ordered. "Get in here!"

The Gangers approached the hallway and Rory took off down another hallway.

"There they are!" Ganger Cleaves called.

"Amy." The Doctor said, grabbing her arm and pulling her inside.

"Rory!" she yelled, fighting as the Doctor slammed the door.

Lily grabbed the other woman's arms and made her face her.

"Amy, they are not after him, they are after us." She told her friend.

"Why?" came a voice from the darkness. "Why?"

The humans braced the door as the Doctor and Lily moved away, Amy standing behind them.

"Show yourself." The Doctor said. "Show yourself!"

"Ah!" the voice groaned.

The others built a baracade against the door and Lily linked her fingers with the Doctor's and they approached the dark corner.

"Doctor!" Amy hissed.

"Pass me the barrel." Cleaves ordered.

"We need something heavy." Dicken said. "Anything you can find."

"This is insane." Jimmy said, laughing. "We're fighting ourselves."

"Yes, it's insiane and it's about to get even more insanerer." The Doctor told them. "Is that a word? Show yourself! Right now!"

"Doctor!" Amy said sharply. "We are trapped in here and Rory is out there, with them. Hello! We can't get to the TARDIS and we can't even leave the island."

"Correct, Pond." Came the Doctor's voice, but his lips didn't move. "It's frightening, unexpected, frankly, a total, utter, splattering mess on the carpet, but I'm certain, 100% certain, that we can work this out."

They watched in confusion as, from the shadows, a half-form Ganger Doctor appeared.

"Trust me." He told them. "I'm the Doctor."

A/N: HEY! I'M BACK!

So I know, I'm the wost author ever. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me.

I could give you lots of excuses about how I have been super busy, how I have a full time job now where I actually have to work, how my life has been insane with health issues lately, and they would all be true. But here's the thing… I've found while writing this that I just really hate this story line.

I'm sorry to any of you who like River Song and her story, but I absolutely detest it, and I hate writing it. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why either. I mean, I love Rory, I love Amy, I even like River's snarkiness at times. But then I read something and it put it totally in perspective for me.

This story line is the same story line as Twilight.

Think about it. Girl has to chose between two men, chose one, has baby that grows quickly and is perfect for the other man, eventually marries the man she didn't chose. Yes, there are differences, but the basic plot structure is the same.

So, I am writing this, but I really want to deviate totally from this story line and try to figure out a way to make it work so that I don't want to hurt someone.

Please bare with me.

Abbey