Waking up on the ground was not a fun thing and unfortunately for Eleanor she could attest to that.
She groaned and rolled over, her back creaked and made a cracking noise as she winced.
"Damn, that's going to hurt tomorrow," she whispered to herself.
Eleanor opened her eyes, only to find herself in front of a strangely familiar house.
'Where's my family?'
She was confused, how did she end up here? The last thing she remembered was her family watching Doctor Who. The only logical explanations she could think of were:
A) She was kidnapped and drugged so she couldn't remember.
B) She was dead.
C) She was dreaming
She easily ruled out A when she found her phone in her pocket and a bag on her hip, why would a kidnapper leave her phone with her?
The other two were harder to rule out but Eleanor soon realised that if she was dreaming, her surroundings wouldn't be as vivid.
Luckily for Eleanor, she realised she couldn't be dead when she got a notification from her phone, why would she get texts when she's dead?
Upon unlocking her phone, Eleanor realised the texts she received were from her families group chat.
Cecelia: Am I the only one in a completely different place or..?
Thomas: You too!? Where are you?
Cecelia: I think im in a forest? And I'm wearing like a medieval dress?
Dad: what do you mean?
Cecelia: im literally in a forest. And my clothes are old. How did you not understand that
Kellan: im in a field
Thomas: im in like a big house. Its all run down though.
Mam: I'm on a beach.
Fionnula: I think im on something flying
Mam: you think or u know
Fionnula: There is literally clouds below this thing
Eleanor: yeah I think that can be defined as flying
Mam: don't be sarcastic. Where are you?
Eleanor: if I knew I'd tell ya ngl.
Dad: i think I'm in America, but everyone is dressed like their in the 50s.
Eleanor: okay we know where nobody is and we don't know what's going on. Any other assets we dont have?
Mam: don't be sarcastic
Eleanor rolled her eyes and looked around not expecting to find much, but to her surprise directly behind her past a fence and beside a red swing, stood a very familiar blue box. She suddenly realised why the house was so familiar, it was Amelia Ponds house.
With her hand shaking, Eleanor rose her phone and took a picture of the box.
Eleanor: (picture attached) is this what I think it is?
Dad: yeah I think so (picture attached)
Slowly her whole family sent pictures of either a police box or something that would suggest a certain Time Lord was nearby.
Eleanor: at least we know how to find eachother
Suddenly a loud voice played through the speaker of her phone.
"Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded. Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded!"
Knowing that she wouldn't have time to check the contents of her bag, Eleanor dropped it onto the ground beside the TARDIS, she knew she'd be back later so she didn't really mind.
The voice repeated itself over and over and it wasn't even 2 minutes before a man and a woman ran out of the house.
The man uses a device on the door and Eleanor expects she knows what it is.
He turned to the other woman, "Kissogram?"
"Yes!"
"Why'd you pretend to be a policewoman?" He continued.
The woman looked exasperated at him, "You broke into my house! It was this or a French maid!"
She followed the man to the TARDIS, "What's going on? Tell me! Tell me!"
He stood outside the TARDIS, "An alien convict is hiding in your spare room disguised as a man and a dog, and some other aliens are about to incinerate your house. Any questions?"
"Yes."
"Me too," He tried using his key but it wouldn't work, "No, no, don't do that, not now! It's still rebuilding, not letting us in!"
"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."
A creature (the multiform Eleanor presumes), in the form of the man and dog, watched from the window and barked at them.
The woman grabbed the Doctor by the arm, neither noticing Eleanor yet, "Come on."
He resisted, "No, wait, hang on, wait, wait, wait. The shed." He looked over the shed bemused, "I destroyed that shed last time I was here, smashed it to pieces."
"So there's a new one. Let's go."
Eleanor decided to speak, wondering if they'd ever notice the strange girl in the woman's back garden, "But the new one's got old. It's ten years old at least."
The Doctor turned to Eleanor and smiled, "Eleanor, didn't expect to see you here,"
She shrugged and decided to play along with whatever wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey thing was going on, "I didn't expect to see you either, Doctor."
He sniffed the wood before rubbing his finger along the shed and tasting it, "She's right, 12 years. I'm not six months late, I'm 12 years late."
He approached the woman.
"He's coming." She said.
The Doctor looked at her intentively, "You said six months. Why did you say six months?"
"We've got to go," she protested.
"This matters. This is important. Why did you say six months?"
She looked hurt, "Why did you say five minutes?!"
"What?"
"Come on."
"What?"
"Come on!" Eleanor rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm and pulled him along.
"What?"
"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."
The group ran out of the back garden and past the creature who was standing at the door.
The Doctor stopped and faced the red haired woman, "You're Amelia."
She kept walking, "You're late."
"Amelia Pond, you're the little girl." He continued.
"I'm Amelia and you're late."
The Doctor looked at her sadly, "What happened?"
"12 years."
"You hit me with a cricket bat." He retorted.
"12 years."
"A cricket bat."
"12 years and four psychiatrists," She shouted. Eleanor put a hand on her shoulder to calm her.
"Four?"
Amelia responded with little shame, "I kept biting them."
"Why?"
Eleanor rolled her eyes, "For the same reason she got sent to them in the first place, Doctor."
Amelia looked at him, "They said you weren't real."
The voice from earlier sounded over the speakers of a nearby ice cream van, "Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."
Amelia groaned, "No, no, no, come on… What? We're being staked out by an ice-cream van?"
The trio ran towards the ice-cream van.
"What's that? Why are you playing that?" The Doctor demanded.
The confused vendor could only sputter out, "It's supposed to be Claire De Lune."
The Doctor picked up the player and listened.
"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated. Repeat, Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."
They stepped away from the van and saw a jogger with a MP3 player receiving the message as well as a woman hearing it over her mobile.
Eleanor held out her phone and showed the Doctor, "It's on mine, too."
"Doctor, what's happening?" Amelia asked.
The Doctor turned around and leaped over a low white fence into a pretty front garden. Amelia and Eleanor ran around to the front.
A large blue eye filled a TV screen and an old woman tried to use the remote to change the channel but they all showed and say the same thing. The Doctor, Amelia and Eleanor enter the house through the front door.
Upon noticing the old lady, the Doctor turned on the charm, "Hello! Sorry to burst in, we're doing a special on television faults in this area." He suddenly remembered Amelia's choice of clothing, "Also, crimes. Let's have a look."
He took the remote off the woman and she began talking, "I was just about to phone. It's on every channel. Hello, Amy, dear. Are you a policewoman now?"
Amelia winced, "Well, sometimes."
The lady continued, "I thought you were a nurse."
"I can be a nurse."
"Or, actually, a nun." The woman said, baffled.
"I dabble."
"Amy, who are your friends?"
The Doctor turned around, "Who's Amy? You were Amelia."
"Yeah, now I'm Amy."
"Amelia Pond - that was a great name." He complained.
"Bit fairy tale." Amelia sassed.
Eleanor grinned, "That's the best part, though."
"I know you, don't I?" The Doctor turned to the woman, "I've seen you somewhere before."
"Not me. Brand-new face…" He put on a funny face, "First time on."
He turned to Amy, "And what sort of job's a kissogram?"
"I go to parties and I kiss people." She cleared her throat, "With outfits. It's a laugh."
"You were a little girl five minutes ago." The Doctor replied.
"You're worse than my aunt!" She groaned.
"I'm the Doctor, I'm worse than everybody's aunt." He remembered the old lady and turned to her apologetically, "And that is not how I'm introducing myself."
The Doctor picked up a radio and used the sonic screwdriver on it. They all heard the same message about Prisoner Zero in French and German before it turned off.
Eleanor looked at the Doctor, "It's everywhere."
"Exactly! It's everywhere, in every language. They're broadcasting to the whole world." He ran to the window and looked up into the sky.
Amy was confused, "What's up there? What are you looking for?"
The sky was a clear blue with a few white clouds. There couldn't have been anything wrong with it, could there?
The Doctor climbed back in, "OK, planet this size, two poles, your basic molten core... They're going to need a 40% fission blast."
A handsome young man entered the room and the Doctor walked up to him, "But they'll have to power up first, won't they? So assuming a medium-sized starship, that's 20 minutes."
The man was taller than the Doctor so he stood on his tip-toes and then back down, "What do you think, 20 minutes? Yeah, 20 minutes. We've got 20 minutes."
Amelia was still confused, "20 minutes to what?" She turned to Eleanor, "Is he always like this?"
She smiled back at the woman, "This is the first time I meet him, but from what I gathered he has met me before."
"How does that work? And you seem to know him well," The red-head replied.
Eleanor looked well-chuffed after the comment, "Time travel is iffy, he might have met a future me. He never meets people in the right order. And as for how I seem to know him, where I'm from he's a story, a legend even."
Amelia realised she probably couldn't have gotten a vaguer response so she left it.
The man who entered looked at the Raggedy Man, "Are you the Doctor?"
The woman got excited, "He is, isn't he? He's the Doctor! The Raggedy Doctor. All those cartoons you did when you were little. The Raggedy Doctor, it's him."
"I know." Amelia softly said.
The Doctor looked bemused as he sat on the couch, "Cartoons?"
"Gran, it's him, isn't it? It's really him!"
Amelia glared at the man, "Jeff, shut up!" she turned to the Doctor, "20 minutes to what?"
The "eye" was still on the telly, broadcasting its warning to the world.
"The human residence. They're not talking about your house, they're talking about the planet. Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship and it's going to incinerate the planet. 20 minutes to the end of the world."
The warning repeats.
Outside Amelia, Eleanor and the Doctor walked as fast as they could.
"What is this place? Where am I?" The Doctor questioned.
"Leadworth." Amelia responded.
"Where's the rest of it?"
"This is it."
"Is there an airport?"
"No."
"A nuclear power station?"
"No."
"Even a little one?"
"No."
"Nearest city?" He asked.
"Gloucester, half an hour by car."
Eleanor groaned, "We don't have half an hour."
"Do we have a car?" The Doctor asked.
Eleanor looked at the Doctor incredulously, "Let's just assume all the answers to your questions are no."
He glared back, "Less of the cheek, Eleanor."
She laughed harshly, "You sound like my mother."
The Doctor stopped and looked at her, "How many times have we met before?"
She looked at him confused, "What are you on, Doctor. I should be the one asking you that."
He grabbed her shoulders, "How. Many. Times?"
She gulped, "Today, today is the first time I met you. Why does it matter?"
The Doctor pulled her into a hug, "I'm so sorry, I'm so very very sorry. Please, just know that I can't stop it."
Eleanor was confused but accepted the hug nonetheless, "Stop what?"
He smiled sadly, "Spoilers."
Knowing that was the farthest the Doctor would take the conversation, Eleanor brought Amelia back in the loop, "So, no car?"
"No car."
The Doctor shouted in frustration, "Well, that's good! Fantastic, that is. 20 minutes to save the world and I've got a post office. And it's shut! WHAT is that?"
Amelia saw what he was looking at, "It's a duck pond."
"Why aren't there any ducks?" He asked.
She didn't know, "I don't know. There's never any ducks."
"Then how do you know it's a duck pond?" The Doctor demanded.
"It just is. Is it important, the duck pond?"
The Doctor seemed in pain, "Why would I know?" He sat on the ground, clutching his chest, "I'm not ready, I'm not done yet."
The sky darkened and they looked up.
"What's happening? Why's it going dark?" Amelia questioned.
The sun appeared grey and flickered before it returned to close to normal.
"So what's wrong with the sun?" Amelia asked.
"Nothing. You're looking at it through a force-field. They've sealed off your upper atmosphere, now they're getting ready to boil the planet." The Doctor stood up to look at all the villagers taking pictures, "Oh, and here they come, the human race. The end comes, as it was always going to - down a video phone!"
Doubt grew in Amelia's mind, "This isn't real, is it? This is some kind of big wind-up."
"Why would I wind you up?"
"You told me you had a time machine." Amelia accused.
"And you believed me."
"Then I grew up."
The Doctor groaned, "Oh, you never want to do that. No, hang on, shut up, wait! I missed it." He slapped his forehead, "I saw it and I missed it."
He smacked his forehead again, "What did I see? I saw... What did I see?"
He turned to Amelia, "20 minutes. I can do it. 20 minutes, the planet burns. Run to your loved ones and say goodbye, or stay and help me."
"No."
"I'm sorry?"
"No!" She grabbed his tie and dragged him across the green, Eleanor following closely behind.
"Amy! No! No! What are you doing?" The Doctor yelled.
Amy pushed him against a car as the driver stepped out. She slammed his tie into the door and locked the car with the keys.
"Are you out of your mind? Eleanor go get that nurse." The Doctor demanded.
She nodded and looked around for Rory before running to him and taking his phone.
"Hey!"
She looked at him, "Hi, friend of Amy's. Sun's going out and you're taking pictures of this man."
She showed him the picture he took, "Why?"
Rory shook his head, "What?"
She took a deep breath and accentuated her words, "Why. Are. You. Taking. Pictures. Of. That. Man."
Rory looked at her oddly, "Why are you interested? The sun's going out."
"I should be asking you the same question."
The doctor and Amy ran up.
"Amy?"
Upon realising who it was she looked sheepish, "Hi! Oh, this is Rory, he's a... friend."
He looked offended, "Boyfriend."
"Kind of boyfriend."
"Amy!"
"Man and dog, why?" The Doctor demanded.
Rory looked slightly starstruck, "Oh, my God, it's him."
As the Doctor and Eleanor put up with Rory's ramblings, they took a look at the pictures and came to the same conclusion. (Well Eleanor watched the Doctor come to the conclusion, she just knew it).
The Doctor grabbed Rory by the shirt," Man and dog - why? Tell me now."
"Sorry," He said, "Because he can't be there. Because he's…"
"… in a hospital, in a coma." Continued the Doctor and Eleanor.
He nodded, "Yeah."
"Knew it. Multi-form, you see?" The Doctor confirmed as he let Rory's shirt go, "Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a live feed, a psychic link with a living but dormant mind."
The man snapped and snarled like a dog and the Doctor walked closer, "Prisoner Zero."
"What, there's a Prisoner Zero too?" Rory asked.
Amy nodded, "Yes."
There was an electrical buzzing and they looked up only to see a spaceship fly over the green. Its eye began to swivel around.
The Doctor took out his sonic, "See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology. And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver."
He held it above his head and activated it. There was chaos as streetlights shattered, car alarms blared, sirens wailed and everyone began shouting. A fire truck drove away on its own, being chased by the firemen.
"I think someone's going to notice, don't you?"
Prisoner Zero barked.
The Doctor lowered his screwdriver and aimed it at the phone box, which exploded. The screwdriver itself then sparked and fizzled, causing the Doctor to drop it on the ground.
He groaned," No, no, no, don't do that!"
The ship leaves.
Rory pointed it out, "Look, it's going."
"No, come back, he's here! Come back! He's here, Prisoner Zero is here. Come back, he's here! Prisoner Zero is…"
Prisoner Zero melted and escaped down the drain.
Amelia caught the Doctor's attention, "Doctor! The drain. It just sort of melted and went down the drain."
Eleanor groaned, "Typical."
So did the Doctor, "Well, of course it did."
"What do we do now?" Amelia asked as she was unsure.
"It's hiding in human form. We need to drive it into the open. No TARDIS, no screwdriver, 17 minutes. Come on, think. Think!" The Doctor yells at himself.
Amelia looked shocked, "So that thing, THAT hid in my house for 12 years?"
"Multi-forms can live for millennia. 12 years is a pit-stop," The Doctor explains.
"So how come you show up again on the same day that lot do? The same minute?" Amelia accused.
Eleanor spoke up, "They're looking for their prisoner, but followed the Doctor."
"They saw me through the crack, got a fix," the Doctor continued, "They're only late cos I am."
"What's he on about?" Rory asked.
He turned to Rory, "Now, sport, give me your phone."
Poor Rory was still trying to figure out how the Doctor was real.
"Phone, now, give me!"
"He was just a game," Rory said while handing the phone over, "We were kids. You made me dress up as him."
The Doctor went through the pictures with Eleanor looking over his shoulder, "These are all coma patients?"
Rory nodded, "Yeah."
"No, they're all the multiform," the Doctor denied, "Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero."
"He had a dog, though," Amy supplied, "There's a dog in a coma?"
Eleanor shook her head, "The coma patient dreams he's walking a dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog."
The Doctor snapped his fingers, "Laptop! Your friend, what was his name? Not him, the good-looking one."
"Thanks," Rory said, sounding offended.
"Jeff," Amelia answered, almost immediately.
"Oh, thanks."
"He had a laptop in his bag, a laptop," The Doctor explained, "Big bag, big laptop, I need Jeff's laptop. You two," He pointed at the couple, "Get to the hospital, get everyone out, clear the whole floor. Phone us when you're done." He grabbed Eleanor's hand and ran off.
The Doctor and Eleanor entered Jeff's bedroom where he was lying on his bed using his laptop.
Eleanor smiled at him, "I'd suggest closing those tabs, right now. We're going to need your laptop."
It gave the man a few seconds before the Doctors less polite approach, "Hello. Laptop, give me!"
"No, no, no, no, wait, hang on!" Jeff refused.
"It's fine, give it here," He took Jeff's laptop and sat on the end of the bed beside Eleanor, unfortunately Jeff wasn't able to close all the tabs, "Blimey! Get a girlfriend, Jeff."
The door opens and Jeff's Gran entered.
"Gran."
"What are you doing?" She asked, bemused.
"The sun's gone wibbly," the Doctor explained, "So right now, somewhere out there, there's going to be a big video conference call. All the experts in the world panicking at once, and do you know what they need? Me. Ah, and here they all are. All the big boys."
Eleanor smiled wide, "NASA, Jodrell Bank, Tokyo Space Centre, Patrick Moore."
Jeff's Gran grinned, "Ooh, I like Patrick Moore."
The Doctor nodded, "I'll get you his number, but watch him, he's a devil."
Jeff looked scandalised, "You can't just hack in on a call like that."
"Can't he?" Piped Eleanor.
The Doctor held his psychic paper up to the Web cam.
"Who are you?" Someone asked, "This is a secure call. What are you doing?"
"Hello," Said the Doctor, "I know, you should switch me off. But before you do, watch this."
"It's here too," another expert said, "I'm getting it."
"Fermat's Theorem," the Doctor listed, "The proof, and I mean the real one, never seen before. Poor old Fermat, got killed in a duel before he could write it down. My fault, I slept in. Oh, and here's an oldie but a goodie - why electrons have mass. And a personal favourite of mine, faster-than-light travel with two diagrams."
"And a joke!" Added Eleanor, slightly more excited than necessary, "Look at your screens. Whoever he is, he's a genius. Look at the sun. You need all the help you can get. Pay attention, lads."
The Doctor typed his code onto the mobile.
"Sir, what are you doing?" Asked one of the men.
"I'm writing a computer virus. Very clever, super-fast, and a tiny bit alive, but don't let on. Why am I writing it on a phone? Never mind, you'll find out. OK, I'm sending this to all your computers. Get everyone who works for you sending this everywhere. Email, text, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, radar dish - whatever you've got. Any questions?"
Patrick Moore spoke up, "Who was your lady friend?"
Eleanor grinned, "Patrick, if you behave we'll give you her number!"
"What does this virus do?" Asked someone.
The Doctor began, "It's a reset command, that's all. It resets counters, it gets in the wifi and resets every counter it can find. Clocks, calendars, anything with a chip will default at zero at exactly the same time. But, yeah, I could be lying, why should you trust me? I'll let my best man explain."
A beat passed, "Jeff, you're my best man."
"Your what?"
The Doctor half closed the laptop and looked at Jeff, "Listen to me. In ten minutes, you're going to be a legend. In ten minutes, everyone on that screen is going to be offering you any job you want. But first, you have to be magnificent. You have to make them trust you and get them working. This is it, Jeff. Right here, right now. This is when you fly. Today's the day you save the world."
"Why me?"
Eleanor smirked, "It's your bedroom. Now go, go, go."
The duo left.
Jeff opened the laptop and began typing, "OK, guys, let's do this."
The Doctor quickly re-entered, to give Jeff one last piece of his wisdom, "Oh, and delete your internet history."
The Doctor got a phone call, it was from Amy, "Hello? Oh Amy… What do you mean you can't get through? Look in the mirror!"
A few beats passed with Eleanor looking at him in amusement.
The Doctor smiled in that childish way of his, "Don't worry. I've commandeered a vehicle."
He turned on the sirens, which only made Eleanor smile brighter.
The phone rang again, and immediately upon answering it the Doctor said, "Are you in?"
Eleanor couldn't hear the other half of the conversation but she remembered a decent amount from the show. Amy was probably telling him that Prisoner Zero was in the hospital.
She found herself correct when the Doctor said, "You need to get out of there."
He looked worried, "Amy? Amy, what's happening? Amy, talk to me!"
Another beat passed when the Doctor asked, "Which window are you? ... Which window?"
After receiving his answer he hung up and quickly asked Eleanor, "Could you text Amy 'duck'."
When she did they were only seconds away from the hospital and Eleanor brace herself for the crash.
The Doctor held his hand out to Eleanor to help her out of the firetruck and they both climbed up the ladder to join Amy and Rory.
"Right! Hello! Are we late?" The Doctor asked, "No, three minutes to go. So still time."
"Time for what, Time Lord?" Prisoner Zero asked.
"Take the disguise off," Eleanor says, "They'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies."
"You're just a human, girl, what do you know about intergalactic laws?The Atraxi will kill me this time. If I am to die, let there be fire."
The Doctor relented, "OK. You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again - just leave."
"I did not open the crack," The Prisoner said as if it was obvious.
"Somebody did."
"The cracks in the skin of the universe - don't you know where they came from?" Prisoner Zero asked, "You don't, do you?"
She changed her voice to the young girls, "The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know. Doesn't know, doesn't know!"
They changed back to the mothers voice, "The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall."
There was a clicking sound.
The Doctor looked at the wall, "And we're off! Look at that. Look at that!" He pointed at the clock that read '0:00', "Yeah, I know, just a clock, whatever. But do you know what's happening right now?"
The Doctor lost all amusement in his face, "In one little bedroom, my team are working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world, quantum fast."
Eleanor grinned up at the alien, "And do you know what the word is? The word is zero. Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd take that as a hint. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able track a simple old computer virus to its source in, what, under a minute?" The Doctor handed her the phone," The source, by the way, is right here. But what do I know of intergalactic laws, I'm just a human," At that moment a bright light shined through the windows, "Oh! And I think they just found us!"
"The Atraxi are limited. While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone, not me."
"Yeah, but this is the good bit," the Doctor said, "I mean, this is my favourite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here. Oh, and being uploaded about now. And the final score is - no TARDIS, no screwdriver - two minutes to spare."
He threw out his arms, "Who da man?"
He was greeted by silence and a disgusted look from Eleanor, "Oh, I'm never saying that again! Fine."
"Then I shall take a new form."
The Doctor looked at the Prisoner, "Oh, stop it, you know you can't. Takes months to form that kind of psychic link."
She smirked, "And I've had years." She began to glow.
Amy fell to the floor and the Doctor and Eleanor rushed over to her.
"No! Amy?"
The Doctor put hands to Amy's face, "You've got to hold on. Amy! Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake, please."
Rory, who was watching Prisoner Zero, spoke up, "Doctor?"
Looking up at the shapeshifter, the Doctor looked confused, "Well, that's rubbish. Who's that supposed to be?"
"It's you."
"Me? Is that what I look like?" The Doctor asked.
"You don't know?"
Eleanor came to his defense, "He's had a busy day."
The Doctor stood up, "Why me, though? You're linked with her. Why are you copying me?"
Zero looked smug, "I'm not. Poor Amy Pond. Still such a child inside. Dreaming of the magic Doctor she knows will return to save her. What a disappointment you've been."
"No," the Doctor realised, "she's dreaming about me cos she can hear me," He ran to Amy, "Amy, don't just hear me, listen. Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see? Remember you went inside. I tried to stop, but you did. You went in the room. You went inside. Amy…dream about what you saw.
"No... no... No!" The alien shouted as they transformed into a copy of themselves.
"Well done, Prisoner Zero." Said the Doctor, "A perfect impersonation of yourself."
The Prisoner was caught in the light of the Atraxi and writhed.
"Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained."
"Silence, Doctor," the serpent-like creature hissed as it disappeared, "Silence will fall."
There was a whoosh of air as the ship left. The Doctor ran to the window and dials the mobile.
"The sun," Rory said, "- it's back to normal, right? That's... That's good, yeah? That means it's over."
Amy woke up and Rory fused over her, "Amy? Are you OK? Are you with us?"
"What happened?"
"He did it," Rory said, "The Doctor did it."
Eleanor shook her head, "No he didn't."
Rory ignored her and looked at the Doctor, "What are you doing?"
"Tracking the signal back. Sorry, in advance."
"About what?"
"The bill." Replied Eleanor.
The Doctor nodded in agreement before taking into the phone, "Oi, I didn't say you could go! Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established, level 5 planet, and you were going to burn it? What...? Did you think no-one was watching? You lot, back here. Now!" He tossed the phone back to Rory, "OK. Now I've done it."
The Doctor left with the two girls following.
"Did he just bring them back?" Rory asked, "Did he just save the world from aliens and then bring all the aliens back again?"
The Doctor strode down the corridor, determinedly, followed by Eleanor, Amy and Rory.
"Where are you going?" Amy asked.
"The roof." The Doctor answered, "No, hang on."
He entered the changing room and began to sift through clothes and threw unappealing items aside.
"What's in here?"
"I'm saving the world," the Doctor announced, "- I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show!"
"You just summoned aliens back to Earth," Rory couldn't get his head around it, "Actual aliens, deadly aliens, aliens of death, and now you're taking your clothes off... Amy, he's taking his clothes off."
Amy just watched appreciatively. Eleanor grinned, "I didn't notice."
"Turn your back if it embarrasses you."
"Are you stealing clothes now?" Rory asked "Those clothes belong to people, you know." He turned around, "Are you not going to turn your back?"
Amy smirked, "Nope."
Eleanor smiled, "And miss the fashion show?"
The Doctor now wearing a long-sleeved shirt, trousers with braces and a number of ties draped around his neck, arrived on the roof. He strode over to where the Atraxi ship was waiting.
Amy, Rory and Eleanor stood back a bit.
"So this was a good idea, was it?" Amy asked, "They were leaving."
"Leaving is good. Never coming back is better. Come on, then! The Doctor will see you now."
The "eye" disconnected from the ship and scanned the Doctor.
"You are not of this world." It stated.
"No, but I've put a lot of work into it." The Doctor replied as he examined a tie, "I don't know. What do you think?"
"Is this world important?"
"Important?" The Doctor scoffed, "What's that mean, important?" He tossed a tie back, "6 billion people live here - is that important? Here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the Atraxi?" He threw another tie back, "Well, come on. You're monitoring the whole planet. IS this world a threat?"
The Atraxi projected a hologram of the Earth with scenes from history.
"No."
"Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?"
It hesitated, "No."
"OK. One more. Just one," the Doctor said "Is this world protected? Because you're not the first lot to come here," As the Doctor spoke, the projection showed Cybermen and Daleks, the Queen of the Racnoss, Ood, Sycorax, a Sontaran, a Sea Devil, Reapers, the Hath and the Vashta Nerada in the spacesuit," Oh, there have been so many! And what you've got to ask is... what happened to them?"
The projection cycled through his regenerations from the first incarnation through the tenth before he walked through it, "Hello. I'm the Doctor. Basically... run!"
The ship departed in a hurry. Amy and Eleanor laughed. The Doctor felt something in his pocket. He reached in and pulled out the glowing TARDIS key.
"Is that it?" Amy asked, "Is that them gone for good? Who were they?"
She looked away from where the Atraxi once were only to see the Doctor was gone.
Amy, Eleanor and Rory run up just as the TARDIS dematerialized.
"He might be gone a while," Eleanor said, "And I have nowhere to live."
Amy turned to the girl, "You can live with me, finish school. I could say that you're a cousin from Ireland."
She looked up at the older woman with tears in her eyes, "Really? You'd do that for me?"
Amy smiled down at the girl, "Of course."
Eleanor's smile dropped, "It's 2010, right."
Amy looked at her with confusion, "Yeah, why?"
"I'm from the year 2020, I'd only be 7 this year, I don't even have a valid birth cert, they'll think I'm a fugitive or something!"
The older woman put her hand on Eleanor's shoulder, "Relax, we'll figure something out."
She nodded, before remembering, "My bag."
Rory looked up, "Bag?"
Eleanor nodded, "When I woke up, I had a bag with me, I left it beside the TARDIS for safe keeping."
Amy spotted it immediately, "Is that it?"
Nodding, Eleanor walked up to where the TARDIS used to be and picked up the item.
She looked inside only to find the documents she needed, a birth cert saying she was born in '93, a passport, medical records and several other things that she could ever possibly need, including something she had to assume was psychic paper and an apparently solar powered portable charger.
She smiled widely when she realised it was essentially bottomless, 'Time Lord technology,' she thought to herself, 'What can't it do?'
Eleanor turned back to Amy, "Never mind about the documents thing, someone out there has my back."
Later that night as she laid in bed, Eleanor texted her families group chat.
Eleanor: i just met Prisoner Zero and the doctor accidentally abandoned me for two years in 2010 so that's fun.
Fionnula: id love to say what happened to me but spoilers apparently
Eleanor: really? For who
Fionnula: can't say
Eleanor: damn. Did you lot get a bag too?
Kellan: yeah, it's weird apparently I was born in 1893.
Eleanor: hundred years older than me? I'm 1993
Kellan: i guess that's makes you a 90s kid now.
Eleanor: shut up old man gen z for life
Dad: ... I worry for you
Eleanor: :(
Eleanor: weren't u in the 50s or something?
Dad: yeah I met Rosa parks and the 13th doctor and co
Eleanor: you lucky bastard.
Mam: don't call ur dad a bastard, he can't help it.
Dad: ouch
Mam: well i guess bc of something I didn't see that means I also have spoilers.
Eleanor: nooo :(
Cecelia: oh lol I guess I do but I could just leave it out. I met Robin Hood.
Eleanor: oof 12th Doctor? F
Thomas: yeah well I was in Blink and I almost died
Eleanor: oof
Eleanor: also apparently my doctor met me before so… I know you guys can't say anything but a hint would be nice.
Fionnula: surprisingly you don't die.
Eleanor: wow thanks that really helped, must have been a real moral dilemma for you to decide to tell me that.
Mam: don't be cheeky
Eleanor smiled, she couldn't wait to see her family again. At least they're phones became pandimensional transmitters so they could communicate during their time apart.
Throughout the two years, Eleanor spent in the house with Amy they became great friends.
They would often go into Gloucester together and go to the shops. And when Amy asked her to be a bridesmaid at her wedding she accepted, immediately.
Eleanor also got all A's in her A-Levels a year after she first met Amy, although she was disappointed that she couldn't do the Leaving Cert instead, even the exams made her miss home.
But after her results came back, Amy and Rory brought her home to Ireland for 2 weeks on holiday.
When she was handed the tickets she cried of gratitude.
She knew that the Doctor would come back on the night before Amy's wedding and take her and hopefully Eleanor away, but she couldn't help but feel anxious for that night. She knew the Doctor knew her future self, but she didn't know how far that future is, for all she knew it could be 40 years into the future, and that's not even accounting the fact that she needed to find her family.
She just didn't know what would happen to her.
Eleanor woke up when she heard the TARDIS. She jumps out of bed and immediately ran to the window where she saw the TARDIS once again in the back garden. She put on her dressing gown and slippers and ran out.
When she got there she found that Amelia was already outside the TARDIS talking to the Doctor.
"When I was a kid, you said there was a swimming pool and a library, and the swimming pool was IN the library."
"Yeah," He replied, "Not sure where it's got to now. It'll turn up. So... coming?"
"No!"
"You wanted to come 14 years ago." He said.
"I grew up," she said.
Eleanor spoke up, "I haven't."
The Doctor look at her and he soon realised that two years really did pass, Eleanor was slightly taller, probably about 5'8' or 9, she looked older and really grew into her looks, 'Not that she wasn't pretty before,' the Doctor argued to himself, 'She's just more like the Eleanor I knew, more elegant.' Her comment about not growing up was probably more incorrect than 2 plus 2 making 5.
He smiled brightly at Eleanor before turning to Amy, "Don't worry. I'll soon fix that."
He snapped his fingers and the door to the TARDIS opened, bathing the girls in a warm orange glow. Overwhelmed, Amy enters.
"Well...?" The Doctor pressed, "Anything you want to say? Any passing remarks? I've heard them all."
Amy gasped out, "I'm in my nightie."
The Doctor brushed it off, "Oh, don't worry. Plenty of clothes in the wardrobe. AND possibly a swimming pool. Eleanor anything you want to say?"
She smirked to herself before walking in then out of the TARDIS and looking in amazement, the Doctor seemed to have a smug look on his face, "It really is Dimensionally Transcendal!"
The Doctor's smug look dropped and a pout formed, Eleanor continued, "I mean it's the only explanation I can think of that makes sense, how can a large, possibly infinite space fit in a tiny box unless it's not really in the box and the box is just a portal or entrance to another dimension. How does walking through the door not cause the universe to rip in half? Also if this dimension isn't in the box, where is it?"
The TARDIS hummed in response to her.
When the Doctor saw the smirk on Eleanor's face, knowing that she knew what he wanted to hear, he pouted even more,before turning to Amy, "So... all of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will... Where do you want to start?"
"You are so sure that I'm coming."
He nodded, "Yeah, I am."
"Why?" She asked.
He smiled, "Cos you're the Scottish girl in the English village, and I know how that feels."
"Oh, do you?"
"All these years living here most of your life... and you've still got that accent. Yeah, you're coming."
Suddenly Amy remembered, "Can you get me back for tomorrow morning?"
"It's a time machine," the Doctor scoffed, "I can get you back five minutes ago. Why, what's tomorrow?"
"Nothing. Nothing," she said, ignoring the glare Eleanor gave her, "Just... you know, stuff."
"All right, then. Back in time for stuff."
A new sonic screwdriver extended from the console's surface.
"Oh! A new one!" The Doctor said as he grabbed it and tested it, "Lovely. Thanks, dear," he said softly, before setting the TARDIS controls.
"Why me? Why us?"
The Doctor shrugged, "Why not?"
"No, seriously. You are asking us to run away with you in the middle of the night. It's a fair question. Why us?"
"I don't know. Fun. Do I have to have a reason?" He asked.
"People always have a reason," Amy said sceptically.
"Do I look like people?"
"Yes."
"Been knocking around on my own for a while - my choice - but I've started talking to myself," He said, "It's giving me earache."
"You're lonely," Amy asked incredulously, "That's it? Just that?"
"Just that. Promise."
"OK."
The Doctor switched off a monitor, "So, are you OK, then? Cos this place, sometimes it can make people feel a bit... you know."
"I'm fine. It's just... There's a whole world in here, just like you said. It's all true. I thought...well, I started to think that maybe you were just like a madman with a box."
"Amy Pond, there's something you'd better understand," the Doctor said, whilst looking at her intently, "It's important, and one day your life may depend on it. I am definitely a madman with a box," the two laughed.
Eleanor looked up, "Doctor?"
"Yes, Eleanor Myres?"
She wrung her hands nervously, "When did you first meet me? How old was I? Because I can't live the rest of my life not having at least a general idea of when I'll see my family."
Grabbing her hands the Doctor said, "Eleanor, you know I can't tell you everything, it would ruin the space-time continuum, but I will tell you that we met in Utah 2012 and you were 19 years old."
She sucked in a breath, "This year? I'll see my family again soon?"
The Doctor winced, "I can't tell you that, but it's not this year, it's now. I was hoping to get a trip or two in before you left to meet a younger me but I realise now that would have been cruel."
"Now?" He nodded, "I can't believe it," she pulled him into a hug, "Thank you."
Amy who was standing off to the side was listening in, "So you're leaving?"
"Not forever," she pulled the other woman into a hug and whispered in her ear, "I'll make it to the wedding don't worry and if I don't you can punch me after you send the Doctor to pick me up."
Amelia burst into laughter.
The Doctor took that as a sign to start the engine, "Goodbye, Leadworth. Hello, everything!"
The Doctor hit the dematerialization switch and the trio held onto the console.
A/N please comment and review