As they walked off the upstairs patio and down the narrow stairwell that led to the second floor of the house, the Doctor walked close behind the Archivist, accommodating their linked hands that kept them from being too far apart. According to custom, they couldn't cut the ribbons—which weren't so tight as to be uncomfortable on their individual wrists, but tight enough that they had to hold hands—until they'd united physically.
They had made it to the second floor of the house and walked down the hallway past the bedrooms and to the flight of stairs that led to the main floor of the house. As they walked down the stairs, the Doctor looked at the family pictures that remained there, of Christine Madison and her husband Greg, and their two children Titus and Jane."
As they reached the final steps, the Doctor slowed as he saw a picture of he and Christine. "I'd forgotten you took that picture on your phone of us!"
"Yes, the night we made pizza together I—"
She had been tugging him along until she suddenly stopped talking when suddenly the pull on his wrist went slack. He immediately turned, the sensation in his head as shocking as the feel on his wrist. And he found—
Nothing.
She had disappeared.
The ribbon hung slack around his wrist.
"Hey what are you playing at, Arch!" He yelled as he hopped down the final stairs and gasped.
Standing just around the corner, hand pointed towards him—towards where the Archivist had just stood—was a Weeping Angel.
He stood, wide-eyed, staring, not blinking—no, not even blinking—at the stone statue frozen before him. "What have you done!?" he shouted. "What did you do with her!? Where did you send her!? Tell me! Where? Where did you send her?"
He started to back away, gasping at the loss of her presence in his mind, trying to calculate how he was going to get out of this and get back to Archie. His only hope was that there wasn't another Angel behind him as he walked backwards, staring at the angel, as he moved through the open floor plan of the house and towards the back door where the TARDIS was parked in the garden. He had to get to the TARDIS. Had to figure out how to find her.
When he reached the door, tears now streaming down his face as he wept over the loss of his beloved, he saw in his peripheral vision the floor length mirror Christine had kept there. He snatched it up and slid it to his back so that it faced outward behind him. He knew having a Weeping Angel look at itself in the mirror held danger, but used in a pinch, for a short amount of time, was exactly what he needed to make it the last 50 feet to the TARDIS.
He ran. Awkwardly with the mirror held behind him, but he ran. He approached the TARDIS and once to the door, he let the mirror drop and slid in, slamming the door behind him.
Once in the safety of the ship, he collapsed to the floor, gasping through sobs as he held onto the ribbon still loosely hanging onto his wrist.
"Doc!" Jack yelled out
"Doctor!" yelled Donna.
They, along with Martha, Mickey, Shaun, Wilf, Sylvia, and Lucille, all ran towards him. Donna reached him first.
"Doctor! Where is she? Where is the Archivist?"
His mind was spinning, struggling to grab hold of any one thought. He was relieved his friends were safe. He was tormented at the loss of his new bride. He was furious at the Angel somewhere outside his TARDIS that had taken her away.
"Doctor, take a deep breath before you pass out." Martha said as she pushed through the others to get to his side and check him over.
"Martha—it was—it was the Angels. A Weeping Angel. Took her."
"Oh my God. No." Martha whispered.
"We were—we were coming down the stairs and—she made it to the bottom a step ahead of me. Just enough for it to get a look at her and touch her. She was gone. Right out of my grasp."
He lifted up his hand, revealing the hanging ribbon. Donna gasped at the sight, a tear running down her own cheek.
"She's—she's gone?" Sylvia said from a few feet away where she, Wilf, Lucille, and Shaun all stood—unsure of how to help with their little experience at this type of thing.
"Gone, but not dead," Jack said. "Which means we'll find her Doc. You managed not to get taken. And we've got your TARDIS, so we can go back in time and find her."
The Doctor took a deep breath and finally got to his feet with the help of Donna and Martha.
"I don't understand, Doctor. Who are these Weeping Angels? And how did they take her? Did they kidnap her?"
As the Doctor slowly walked up to the console he began explaining. "Weeping Angels are quantum-locked humanoids. They appear to be angel statues frozen with their heads buried in their hands—as long as you're looking. But as soon as you look away or even blink, as soon as they aren't being looked at, they move, and they attack. But not to kill—well, not usually. No, they attack and just by touching their victim, they send them back somewhere to sometime in the past."
"What does that do for them?" Donna asked as she stayed close by the Doctor's side, keeping a close eye on her hurting friend.
"The Weeping Angels live off of time energy. By displacing a person out of their current existence, that person leaves behind the potential energy energy form the life they would have lived."
"The life of a Time Lord must have a whole lot of potential time energy with as long as you live and as much as you do," Jack considered.
"Precisely. And with our wedding, I can only imagine it must have multiplied our potential life energy, thus attracting the Weeping Angel."
"So, what now, Doctor? What do we do to get her back?" Sylvia Noble questioned, coming to her daughter's side.
The Doctor gave a bittersweet smile to Sylvia. "It's kind of you to consider helping, Sylvia, but I can't ask you to do that. I can't ask any of you to do that," he said as he glanced around the room, before leaning against the console and looking down at his sneakers to avoid their gaze. "I'll just take you all back to your proper places then begin my search."
Martha was the first to scoff, her face scrunched up. "Pardon? I don't think so."
"Yeah, not a chance, Boss," Mickey added.
"I have to echo that sentiment, Doc. There's no way I'm letting you do this without me," Jack said.
"Or us—right Shaun." Donna looked to her fiance for affirmation.
"Quite right," Shaun nodded and joined the rest of the group that was starting to circle around the Doctor. "I reckon, from all the stories I've heard so far, you've done plenty enough for all of us. It's only right we help you now. You helped make my love whole, Doctor. I owe you the same favor to help you find yours."
"And the more of us there are, the quicker we can find her! Right Dad?" Sylvia spoke up again.
"Right! Remember, Doctor, how I rallied my team together to find you! All of us, we'll do the same now to find Her Ladyship!" Wilf exclaimed.
"Doctor, it seems to me, you need us. Now isn't the time to refuse the help of those who you call friend. And I can't possibly walk away and leave Christine—I mean, the Archivist—I can't leave her now, when she needs us most," Lucille was the last to speak her opinion.
The Doctor slowly raised his head, turning to meet the gaze of each of his friends. "I—I can't thank you all enough." He then turned around to face the console and the computer screen and the rest of the group surrounded the console. "I'm not sure where to even start, how to know when—or where—she's at."
"The Archivist—she's awfully smart, Doctor—I can't imagine she isn't already thinking of a way to contact you or leave a message for you somehow."
"It's true, Doctor—she figured out how to save Donna!" Wilf spoke up.
The Doctor had gotten distracted by the ribbon around his wrist again. He thought to himself as he rubbed the ribbon between his fingers, his resolve growing. He looped the ribbon and placed the extra length around his wrist again. There wasn't a chance he was taking it off. "You're right. You are all right. She's the smartest person, the smartest Time Lord I ever knew. She'd do something to leave behind a trail of where she's at."
Martha was the first to ask what everyone was thinking. "But what?"