Danni had to be grateful, at least, that when she reappeared back in the universe she remembered that she'd been wiped out to begin with. Like every other time she had been erased, she felt as though she had not lost a moment but time had continued ticking around her. However, this time she had known it was coming and it made the reappearance much easier to deal with.

Instead of being terrified, she was furious. Absolutely fuming. Someone had killed Jack, killed her father, her family just to get to her. Well, it had worked. They'd gotten to her. She'd make sure they never forgot her.

She hadn't been left alone. It took only a second but she noticed the men around her with their communications devices. The sight of the eyepatches they wore actually irritated her more. She didn't need reminders of her past. It was her future she was more concerned about.

She didn't have a lot of time, she knew. They'd continue to kill Jack as long as it took to keep her erased. She just had to use the time she had to her advantage.

She surprised everyone by turning and running away from the building, back towards the TARDIS. She knew that whatever trouble the Doctor was in couldn't be helped by a woman who could barely continuously exist anymore.

"River!" she cried, hand to her ear to activate her communications device. "I need you to do something! I need you to find a camera!"

"A camera?" River asked, sounding as confused as she felt.

"Yes! Something we can record video on!"

"What about your phone?" River replied. "Danni, what's going on?"

But it was too late. Danni's foot left the ground and then her entire person left the time line.

~0~0~0~

The Doctor rifled through the pile of papers that he'd been handed. Each one detailed eye witness accounts of her wife running around, gun in hand and causing havoc. There was a body count. He couldn't believe it, yet there it was in front of his face. An attack on the city with so many causalities and Danielle seemed to be neck deep in it all.

"Why did she, supposedly, do this?" the Doctor asked, keeping the attitude that he didn't believe anything at the front to hide his genuine concern.

"There was peace on our planet, but that didn't mean that crime wasn't an issue," the man explained. "We had a few crime families hanging about, keeping the police busy. I can't say I'm ashamed to admit I was one of them."

"There's the surprise of the day," the Doctor murmured to himself sarcastically.

"But, unfortunately, not every family was as happy to toe the line between mischief and carnage as the others. One family became particularly too headstrong and tried to take over our city hall. In retaliation, the police came out in full force. We very rarely would have a stand-off situation like it. A lot of good and bad people died. It wasn't particularly pleasant to watch." The man riffled through some of the folders until he found the one he was looking for. "But no matter what happened, nothing seemed to work. For every person gunned down in the Gagliardi family was just replaced almost instantly. The police, eventually, were overwhelmed and brought in the military." He pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to the Doctor.

It was what appeared to be an internal memo from the city hall, proclaiming how the city was now under military control until the Gagliardi family was under control. There were plenty of details that the Doctor discarded – all about press releases and other public affair business. He knew to go straight to the signature.

"I'm guessing Mayor Johnston was on the take?" he retorted.

"Mayor Johnston was the head of the Gagliardi family," the man replied. "The military was under his thumb, and soon they were taking over the next town over. And then the next. There was resistance, of course, but nothing ever stuck. They had too much power."

"I'm still not sure what this has to do with my wife," the Doctor told him, putting the memo down. "And I'm very swiftly losing what little patience I have with you."

"About two years ago there was an uprising. A lot of the dismembered crime families banded together to fight the Gagliardi syndicate. We may not be the best people, but what we had before worked for everyone. Our attempt was foiled, though. We were caught because your wife tipped the government off. And, to top it all off, she was part of the raid."

The evidence in front of him suggested that the man in front of him was telling the truth, and with open talk of his less-than-lawful past the Doctor was inclined to believe him. Trouble was, he knew his wife. Even if it really was Danielle in the photographs then there would have been a reason she was siding with mobsters.

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked the man in front of him.

"Jason McDonald," he introduced. "I was once married to Jack Harkness."

~0~0~0~

Danni reappeared once again, continuing to run down the street and away from the people watching her. They were going to keep giving commands and Jack was going to keep dying. Those were two things that she wasn't currently in control of at the moment. She had to work with what she had.

"River!" she called. "Get the bloody TARDIS here!"

"Doing it now," River's voice replied in her ear. Danni caught the sight of the TARDIS fading into existence before disappearing…

Then reappearing. Was it getting darker? Probably. She didn't have time to worry about that. She rushed into the TARDIS. River was waiting by the console.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"The Doctor's been Doctor-napped, I'm being watched and Jack is being killed every time I'm seen. I can't stop it so you have to," Danni explained, panting slightly as she leant against the console for a moment.

"But I can't leave the TARDIS," River reminded. "The moment I do I'm going to forget you when you're erased."

"That's what the video is for," Danni explained. "And the eyepatch."

"The eyepatch?" River repeated as Danni pulled open a hatch on the TARDIS console. She started rummaging through, discarding everything in her path. She found the small black eyepatch almost instantly, though, and knew that it was down the TARDIS's want to help her.

"Thanks, sweetie," she said gratefully before holding it out to River. "Record a video of you explaining everything. Then you're going to leave the TARDIS and save Jack."

"Why don't you?" River asked in reply as she popped the eyepatch on. The sight of it felt so familiar that she didn't question what it would do, even though she didn't have any memory of ever seeing the small device before.

"Because they don't know when I've popped back into existence now they can't see me," Danni explained, pulling the monitor around to her. River watched her type on the console. "So they'll fall back on their plan of just keeping Jack dead. There's no guarantee that I'm going to be around much longer, nor will you believe some random blonde woman talking to you when you don't remember me."

"Danni, I don't think…"

Danni shot her a look. "I know you, River. I've known you since I was a little kid and since you were too. If some random woman told you she was your daughter you'd dismiss it, even if it was being fed to you through an eyepatch you were wearing."

River couldn't argue with that. "What do you want me to say?" she asked.

"That you're there to save the Doctor," Danni explained. "That your husband is in danger and to save him you have to save Jack Harkness."

River's nosed wrinkled up in displeasure. "No way. I'm not pretending to be his wife."

"The River without Danni loves the Doctor more than anything in the universe," Danni snapped. "I don't have time for this, River. Tell yourself about your husband and get on…"

And that was it. Danni disappeared in front of her and River could only stare at the spot she had been standing at with dread pulling in the pit of her stomach. She'd seen Danni's face before she'd blinked out of existence. The anger and the fear were very much real, and suddenly River realised that her daughter might never come back to life.

She popped the eyepatch on and turned to the part of the console she'd set the camera up on. "Mels, listen up," she started firmly. "We've got big problems and, as always, we're the only one who is competent enough to fix them…"

~0~0~0~

The Doctor let out a bark of a laugh. "Oh, I get it," he sneered. "This has nothing to do with my wife, does it?" He chucked the memo onto the desk. "This is some jilted lover act of revenge. I'm not in a crime drama, I'm in a bloody rom com."

Jason didn't look best pleased to be dismissed so readily by the Doctor. "He told me about his daughter," Jason explained. "She wasn't at the wedding, though, was she? She doesn't care. She never cares, that's what got our planet into this state."

"Let me tell you something very specific about Danielle," the Doctor replied. "She goes to every single event she is ever invited to. Every wedding, funeral and birthday party. She is absolutely awful about wasting time on these stupid parties. If she didn't go to your wedding, it's because Jack didn't think that it was important enough for her to be there. You should take it up with him, not taking it out on my wife." He took a step forward, eyes glowering. "You are lucky that Danielle believes that I am merciful man," he said darkly. "And you are lucky it's me here and not her mother. You only get one chance."

"So people keep telling me," Jason replied. "And yet I do still seem to be standing. Funny, that, isn't it?"

"What did Jack say when he realised his ex was trying to wipe out his family?" the Doctor countered. "I can imagine he wasn't best pleased about that. Probably regretting the entire relationship, I would think."

"Harkness knows that it's nothing personal," Jason retorted. "Your anger is understandable, Doctor, but it will also be short lived. The process will be permanent soon. Danielle won't ever have existed." He unclipped his communicator from his belt. "How long until the ceremony?" he asked his crony on the other side.

"Just under four hours, boss," the voice replied and Jason grinned.

"You'd be best just sitting back, Doctor," he said. "I have no reason to fight you."

The Doctor just stared him down. "Let Harkness go," the Doctor warned. "This is your one chance."

The sympathetic look Jason sent him had the Doctor's blood boiling. "You know it's not going to happen," he replied. "Four more hours, Doctor, and this won't be a problem for you anymore. You'll have your life back, your TARDIS. I'd say you'd be thankful but you won't even remember."

The Doctor turned, heading for the door. "One chance," he repeated. "That's all you get."

Behind the door stood some more of Jason's men, just as he had suspected. He hadn't thought, for a moment, that he was going to get away. "And the cavalry has arrived," he drawled.

"I wish this could have gone differently, Doctor," Jason said remorsefully. "Lock him up with Harkness."

~0~0~0~

As the two men in suits walked past her, River pressed herself deeper in the shadows. Breaking into buildings was second nature to her so this part was rather ordinary. She knew all the tricks, she knew how to get herself out of trouble if she needed to, and she knew how to get herself right into the middle of it should the situation call for it.

The problem was; she didn't know why she was doing it in the first place. She'd pushed herself into the shadows not just because she knew she was breaking into the building ahead, but because she wasn't entirely sure why she was there in the first place. The Doctor was in there… she thought, was that right?

Probably. He did get himself in the worst of situations when she wasn't paying attention. He didn't like to make it easy for her to love him, but then again she had known what she was getting into.

She also wasn't quite sure why her eye was covered. The moment she was in the clear she reached up to take whatever was stuck to her off. Her fingers brushed against it and suddenly it was activated. She hid her surprise well, but the sound of her own voice did startle her.

"Mels, listen up," her voice spoke. The image of herself in the TARDIS filled her mind. "We've got big problems and, as always, we're the only one who is competent enough to fix them. First, yes, I am you. I don't have time to prove it, you're just going to have to accept it."

The version of her in her head paused, as if waiting for her to argue. River sighed heavily to herself. As if she had much choice, anyway.

"The Doctor is in danger," the image told her. "Someone is killing Jack Harkness and the Doctor has gone in to save him. Like usual he's managed to get himself caught and it's up to us to save him."

"Nothing new there," River murmured. "What did Jack do this time?"

"I'm not sure how much you know, but today is when we graduated. Or, rather, where Past-Us is graduating. We need to save the Doctor and Jack before the end of the ceremony, which I've calculated is in about four hours from when I'm recording this. The most important thing in the universe rides on you saving Jack. Our daughter."

"I'm sorry?" River retorted before she could catch herself.

"You're not going to believe me. The moment I step out of the TARDIS I'm going to forget. That's what this is. It's a rescue attempt but not for the Doctor, or for Jack. You have to save our daughter. You have to save Danni. Don't screw this up."

The image died as the recording ended. River wasn't sure what to think. She couldn't remember having a daughter which was, she knew, something she would have remembered. However she also knew that she was good enough to not fall victim to a fake version of herself. But a daughter?

She needed answer. And that answer came in the form of a runaway Time Lord and his omnisexual friend. The building she was in front of seemed so easy to break into that it seemed laughable, but she didn't take any chances. With a quick scan of the area, she headed back the way she came. She needed to do a loop back around and head in the back.

~0~0~0~

In true villain fashion, the Doctor was pushed into the room before the door was slammed shut behind him. Luckily they didn't chain him up to anything, only locking the door behind them. Honestly, he had gotten used to a better class of bad guys. They had tried to take his sonic screwdriver off him but a quick bit of pickpocketing had fixed that.

"Hey, Doc," Jack greeted. He was chained to the ceiling, which again wasn't anything new. "Was wondering when you were coming to visit?"

"Yes, well, you do like to get yourself into trouble when I'm not around to look after you," the Doctor retorted. He walked over, pulling out his sonic screwdriver. "You really need to pick your boyfriends better, Harkness. I can't go around stopping them whenever they get into a temper tantrum because you've moved onto better things."

Jack frowned. "Boyfriend?" he repeated.

"Well, husband," the Doctor corrected, undoing one of the cuffs around his wrists. Jack groaned slightly as his weight shifted to one side, but he was grateful to be let down. "Well, ex-husband," he continued. "He's erasing Danielle, but I think it's more down to you dumping him."

"I know I get around a bit, but I do think I'd remember marrying…" Jack started before trailing of. "Oh."

The Doctor shot him a look. "'Oh' indeed," he drawled. "Just how many people have you married, Harkness?"

"Not many," Jack dismissed, rubbing his wrists when the Doctor unlocked the other cuff. "I did have a three-month trip on Titan 7, though, that I don't have much memory of. I did have a lot of paperwork after, though. A couple of divorces, some quick pay-outs…"

He looked rather proud of this fact, but the Doctor couldn't say he agreed. However, there was sound outside the door and both of them realised just what it meant.

"Danielle's back," the Doctor commented. "How are they treating you?"

"Usually just a quick shot to the head," Jack replied. "We're not going to be able to escape with me alive. Quick, lock me back up again."

The Doctor did as he said and Jack was hanging from the ceiling again. The door opened and the Doctor stepped out of the way as a gunshot rang out. Jack barely made a noise but the Doctor turned his head, grimacing at the blood splatter. The door was quickly locked again, leaving Jack hanging from the ceiling, dead.

It wasn't that the Doctor didn't care that his friend had been killed, he just knew that getting upset by it wasn't going to solve the issue they had at that moment. So, he just waited it out until Jack took that deep breath that said he was alive again. The bullet wound was gone.

"We're not going to be able to get out while they're still trying to kill me," Jack stated. "We need a clear run out. I can only leave when there's no one else left out there."

The Doctor nodded in agreement. "I'll be back as soon as I can," he promised. "River is in the TARDIS."

Jack groaned again. "Isn't there enough of my ex's here, Doc?" he retorted.

"You have no one to blame but yourself," the Doctor replied. "If you could stop flirting with every single person you come across, maybe we could get about our lives."

"Yeah, yeah, so you've said," Jack grumbled.

The Doctor quietly unlocked the door, wondering if they were just letting him escape. For some reason they really didn't want to keep him contained for too long.

"Doc?" The Doctor turned around. "Hurry up, yeah? If we cross the moment where I should have met River without me being there, the universe is going to correct the mistake. I can't lose Danni."

"Neither can I," the Doctor replied. "Hang tight, I'll be back."