No matter where the Doctor looked, River wasn't there. The TARDIS twisted her corridors around the pair, sending them to dead ends and empty rooms. Eventually, even the Doctor had to stop and face the facts; River had outsmarted him, and had run to hide from the fallout.
He stopped in the middle of a corridor, hand still firmly clasped around Danni's, as he tried to clear his brain of the anger he was feeling. He knew she was too smart not to know the damage she had caused. That would have been her aim all along. To cause enough chaos for her to escape and hide until the timeline sorted itself out and the change became permanent. Until he forgot all about his Danielle. Until he was in love with her again.
"Not again. Never," he muttered to himself. Danni looked up at him, brows furrowed.
"What's 'never'?" she asked.
"Nothing," he quickly replied. "She's done this on purpose. She's trying to ruin my life on purpose. I knew she didn't like me, but this is falling into absurd territory even for her."
"She doesn't just like you, she loves you," Danni corrected. "It's the only thing she actually ever had any type of focus on. I'm surprised you believed her when she said she was going to help fix it."
"No, no, that's not it. This isn't obsession, or devotion. It's… It's… It's defiance!" he exclaimed. "I hate it when people don't listen to me! What it is it about this face?!" Danni let out a little chuckle and he looked at her, a little insulted that she'd laughed at him. "What?"
"You expected River to listen to you? River Song?" she asked. "That's on your head, pops. She doesn't listen to herself half the time just because she hates being told what to do."
"That's why she was supposed to be doing it!" he raged. "What am I supposed to do now? Is it not bad enough that I've got a wife who doesn't remember me and a time line that doesn't make sense? Now I've got to fight River bloody Song as well?"
Danni shrugged. "As much as you two argue, you do love her," she replied. "Maybe it's not a fight worth fighting."
The anger in his eyes was immediate, and rather startling. "No," he said. "There is no other fight. This is it. I will collapse the universe before I let her keep it this way."
First, and foremost, Danni felt a little unnerved by the certainty of his claim. It was her step-dad, after all. It was a little weird for him to be so passionate.
Of course, it was also rather nice to have someone care for her that much. No one had, really, in such a long time. The last time she'd felt that important had been the moment before Koschei has turned to attack Rassilon and send the Time Lords back into the Time War. When he'd sworn he'd protect her always. When they'd kissed for the last time…
Still, that wasn't a feeling she wanted to confront, so she shot him an incredulous look. "Alright, pops, no need to get so worked up," she retorted. "It was a suggestion, not a command."
"It's a suggestion you shouldn't even be making."
"Oh?" she asked, a little quietly, in a tone that made his anger disappear for a moment and be replaced by the fear of someone who knew they'd done something wrong. "And what should I be suggesting, then?"
"Uhh…"
She smirked slightly, enjoying how she was making him flustered. There really was something very fulfilling about causing chaos in the world. "That's right," she replied. "Do you really speak to your Danni like that?"
"Usually she tells me off when I do," he admitted. "She points out when I'm being rude."
"And you listen to her?" she asked.
It was strange to talk to her. She had his wife's face, her voice, even the little knowing look she would send his way, but it was obviously not his Danielle. It was very jarring, but he would get over it. He needed to, because apparently he was the only one trying to set the time lines straight again.
"Where would your mother go?" he asked instead.
She didn't question him, which he had expected. Instead, she looked thoughtful. "Well, I guess, she'd go somewhere you wouldn't," she replied. "Somewhere you wouldn't even consider an option."
"Like…" he tried leadingly.
"I seem to be doing all the work here," she pointed out.
"Did you expect any different?"
"No, I am the best," she stated. "I need a minute to think. She's not exactly predictable." Now she was the one falling into her head, and she started pulling him along, as if she had forgotten he had hold of her hand. "I can't think in a hallway. No one does anything good in a hallway."
The Doctor could think of many good things that he and Danni had done in a hallway, but even he knew it would be inappropriate for him to bring it up.
The console room was around the next corner and the Doctor frowned as she walked up to the console. She patted the top fondly. "You know, this would be a lot easier if you told me where she'd gone," she pointed out to the TARDIS.
"How are we here?" he asked, looking around. The room made no sense. "We were nowhere near here."
"Probably," Danni agreed offhandedly. "The TARDIS loves me. She always helps me when she can." She looked up at the time rotor. "We're family, aren't we sweetie?"
The rotor flashed and Danni smiled warmly. It was a flash of his Danielle he wasn't expected and the pain over missing her overwhelmed him for just a moment before his brain latched back onto the thing that he had noticed in the first place. "If she helps you when she can, then why did she let your mother get away?"
"I don't know, maybe because she couldn't help. Or maybe she didn't want me to find her. Maybe she wants the universe this way as well." The console sparked next to her and she yelped in surprise, jumping back. "Alright, alright! It was just a suggestion. Geez, what's with all the moods around here today?"
"What did you do?" he asked, quickly rushing over to check over the controls. "What did you touch?"
"I didn't touch anything," Danni snapped, a little offended. "She's just on your side." She frowned to herself. "Which probably means that something really is wrong with the time lines. Huh."
He couldn't help but feel a little smug that the TARDIS was on his side, so much so that he ignored her little slight. "So? Your mother?"
She shot him a look. "Let me see…" She turned, leaning against the console. "Stormcage, immediately, would be too obvious. It would be the first place you would look for her, considering she lives there as well."
He watched her turn thoughtful again, propping up her chin with one hand whilst holding that arm up with her other. She chewed on her lip, another mannerism that he recognised. When she was thinking, or noticing, it was best to let her work it out. He couldn't help but look her over, spotting every single thing that was different about her. She held herself differently, if anything she seemed to be over confident in herself. Probably hiding some sort of overwhelming self-doubt, but he wasn't exactly qualified to dig too deep into the psyche of a woman who was only going to exist for a very small and finite time.
His eyes were drawn to her finger, where there was the very painful reminder that she wasn't who she should have been; there was no ring sat there, no diamond twinkling in the lowlight.
"She might have gone to my dad?" she offered before grimacing to herself. "Nah, that'd be stupid. Why go there? He'd just call me and let me know. Mum's too clever for that."
He was listening, one part of his brain was agreeing with her. The other, though, was firmly on the lack of a ring on her finger. He shifted on the spot, feeling like he was pining over his childhood sweetheart. "Yeah, yeah, that's true," he tried to encourage.
"She wouldn't have gone too far, though. She'd want to go somewhere I would be able to find her."
"Uh huh," he agreed.
She paused, looking at him suspiciously. "Are you even listening to me?" she asked.
"Uh huh," he repeated, proving that he very much was not listening to her. "You didn't get married."
She stared at him like he had two heads. "I'm sorry?"
"Well, my Danni, she married me," he rambled. "But you didn't."
Still confused, she wondered for a moment if he was feeling alright, or if this was a sign that the time lines were sorting themselves out. "No, I didn't," she said slowly. "I thought we'd already established that." He nodded again, but she was now certain he wasn't listening. "Are you trying to remind yourself?" she asked him. She wasn't hopeful, or concerned. She was just curious. "Are you starting to remember this time line?"
He looked absolutely disgusted that she'd even suggested it. "The only time lime to remember is the correct one; my one."
"Says you. I'm rather fond of my time line."
"It's only existed for an hour. You won't miss it," he snapped. "When you're back to being Danni again, you'll understand."
Her face lit up in understanding. "Oh, I get it, you're jealous," she crowed, absolutely amused. "You're wanting to know if I married anyone else, aren't you?" She shrugged. "I don't blame you, I mean, I'm pretty fantastic."
"I am not jealous, because you're not my wife," he grumbled before shifting on the spot slightly, almost admitting his guilt. "I know the difference."
"You say that, but you're still wondering," she teased. "But you don't have to worry. You have my mum, but I'm free and single. It's the best way to be."
He wasn't particularly happy about the idea of her dating, but there was also something that was making him feel slightly better just by talking with her. Plus, sometimes she did her best work when she wasn't thinking about it. Maybe that's just what she needed – a distraction.
"So, all partying and one-night stands?" he drawled. "Don't want to get dragged down into a relationship?"
She wrinkled her nose up. "No, who would?" she dismissed. "I've never understood the whole commitment thing. There's much too happening in the universe to be tied down to one person, or one place. Give me adventure over marriage any time."
He chuckled slightly. "Well, my Danielle certainly agrees about the adventure, but I am surprised you've never found a single person to hang around with who isn't your mother or your step-dad. Someone a little more like you than a stuffy old Time Lord and an archaeologist."
Immediately he realised that he'd said something wrong. It was as if a memory flickered across her face, like he'd reminded her of something she had be trying not to remember. "Danielle?" he asked lowly.
She cleared her throat. "There-There was someone," she whispered before shaking her head. "But it doesn't matter. People come, people go, but the stars last forever, and I have a lot of forevers to explore them in." She shot him a look he could tell she only partly meant. "You're always the one reminding me that no one needs to conquer the universe, they just need to see it."
He recognised her behaviour well, because it was one of his tried and tested moves. She was running away, hiding behind a smile and a thirst for adventure. He had always been like that, but when she was jumping and his hearts were aching, it used to come out with reckless abandon.
"I don't believe that at all," he told her.
"You don't have to believe it," was her reply. There was no denying that, of course, but she wasn't going to continue the conversation on her own. In fact, as she bit her lip as if she was focusing on finding her mother, it became more apparent that she was just trying to squash away the pain.
"I'm sorry," he said sincerely. "I don't mean for my curiosity to hurt you."
She seemed to genuinely believe him, once again shooting him a smile that reminded him of the Danni he was missing. "I know," she replied. "And it's probably really fascinating, being in an alternate timeline, trying to figure out all of the differences." She shrugged. "I'd probably be doing much of the same. I mean, your Danni grew up in another universe? You said it was to protect her, but how? And how did she make it back?"
"Ah, that is an interesting story," he replied. "The Time Lords brought her back in the hopes that they could take over the universe and destroy it for their own gain."
"Oh, was that Trenzalore?" she asked, her own interest piqued. He shook his head.
"No, it was long before that. They sent a vortex manipulator through the universes so they could link her to my time line, but it was broken. She would jump about my time line in any order. We had no idea why until Rassilon broke back through and told her." He sneered. "The arrogance. I should kick him off that planet."
"In Naismith's manor? With Wilfred Motts?" she asked, her voice suddenly rather timid and he realised he'd hit a nerve.
"Yes," he drawled, a little confused. "Why?" She bit her lip once again, but her eyes were wide like the idea brought her pain. He straightened slightly. "Danielle, what is it?"
She didn't reply for a moment as she fought with herself, but then she nodded. After all, he really didn't know, did he?
"The Silence had me for years," she explained softly. "It's this long period of my life that I just don't remember, or come in bit and pieces that I can't quite place. But I remember being told stories." She used her hands to push herself up onto the console. Her legs dangled in her air, and he couldn't help but think about how adorable it looked. "They were stories from a book, about a dashing Time Lord and the woman who changed him. It was like a fairy tale, and I don't remember the details, but I remember being intrigued. I remember them being very important. And for the longest time, when I tried to think back on it, I thought they were about you and my mum. And I did until I started to hear it."
"Hear it?" he repeated.
"It was this noise. Like the sound of my hearts beating, but not in my chest. It was everywhere. When I told you about it, you explained that the stories I'd loved so much weren't about you. They were about someone else, another Time Lord."
"The Master," the Doctor breathed, suddenly very confused about where her story was going. He'd had a terrible feeling from the moment she'd started telling the story, the moment she'd said the word 'book'. "The Books of Saxon."
"That's them," she replied softly. "The Silence used the stories about the Master and pumped the noise into my head. They drove me insane so I would try and kill you. And it worked. But once we came out the other side, I wanted to find out all about this man who had this drumming. You all tried to dissuade me, but there was this fascinating story that I didn't know the end to."
"Don't tell me; you became an archaeologist," the Doctor drawled, partly because he really hoped she hadn't followed in his mother's footsteps, but his hands were clenching at the thought of where her story might have led to.
"Oh, no, archaeology is pointless. Why dig up history when you can see it?" she retorted. "I did research, though. I found the Books of Saxon, but it was all myths and fantasy. Nothing actually told me who he was. And then we ended up on the Valiant."
He knew how his Danielle had ended up on the Valiant. She never had much of a choice at the time, after all, on where and when she landed. She'd appeared and had to go on with whatever was happening at that moment in his life, and that moment had taken them both to the Valiant.
"How did you end up there?" he asked.
"I was visiting Dad, and he heard the TARDIS and chased you. I didn't follow, but I waited for him to return and when I heard about another Time Lord being on the loose, I couldn't exactly stay away, could I? Lucky for me, you were so young you didn't know to keep me away."
"Yes, lucky," he replied sarcastically. "So you just ran straight at him the moment you saw him?"
She shook her head. "Actually, I couldn't quite believe that this was the guy who had shaped my childhood," she replied. "He was stood there, in front of the world, having killed the president of the USA and he told everyone his evil plan. Just prancing about, rambling like some sort of Bond villain, all camp and manic and I couldn't help it; I just started laughing. It was ridiculous. He was ridiculous. And he hated that." She smiled, almost wistfully and it made his stomach turn. "He was so angry, but I just couldn't take him seriously. He demanded to know why an ape such as myself thought it was a good idea to mock him. I told him that I wasn't an ape, I was something new. At first he didn't care, he just decided to make me serve under him until I 'learnt my place'. All that meant was him getting more and more annoyed at me because I just didn't care. I mean, he wanted to take over the universe. Who does that?"
"Let me guess; you act like his maid, just playing along, not throwing up a fuss until he finds out that you also heard the drumming noise?" the Doctor chucked at her.
She nodded. "Yeah, how did you know?"
"Lucky guess," he drawled. "Continue."
She stared at him for a moment, suspicious, before continuing on. "He was really interested in that. He wanted to know how I heard it, if I knew what it was. How come I didn't hear it anymore. He pushed and pushed, but I refused to tell him anything because there is nothing more fun than knowing something that the smartest man in the universe doesn't. Eventually he pumped it into my head, and we ended up having sex, but I still refused to give him anything. It was all just too much fun."
She looked down at her feet. "I'm not proud, you know?" she told him. "He started to show me what he could do, he started blowing things up, hurting people, and I stood back and watched. He was doing to because of me, for me. No one had ever given me that much attention before and I absolutely loved it. All my life people had wanted me to destroy for their benefit, but he was doing it to impress me. His attention shifted from destroying the universe to destroying the universe for me, and so I encouraged it. I tempted him, teased him, for all that time until you broke free and Lucy shot him.
"I looked around, as you begged him to regenerate so you wouldn't be alone, and I knew that I had to stop us both. So, I told him not to. I told him that regenerating would mean that you would win, and that was the worst thing he could do. So, he died, and I cried, and I thought that was the end of it." She shook her head to herself. "Until those stupid humans decided to resurrect him. I had been living linearly for a while, and seeing him again was the best thing that ever happened to me. He sent Naismith's men for me and I was dragged to this giant mansion without knowing what the hell was going on. Then he came for me, burning with energy, and told me that he was going to take over the universe again, but he needed my help. He needed me. That he…"
"That he loved you," the Doctor finished and she nodded.
"We were terrible for each other," she said. "For some reason, I just drove the hate in him. And he, in turn, could twist any strength I had into a weapon for him. Together, we could have destroyed the universe and I would have happily watched it burn at his side. When he found out what the Time Lords had planned for me, something changed."
She looked back up at him. "And that's it, really. He took the Time Lords down with him, sent them all back into the Time War for driving us both insane. His last act was one of goodness, and I like to think that it was because of me. But, I'm guessing it all went down a little differently for you if your Danni fell in love with you instead."
There were tears in her eyes, but unlike his Danielle she didn't start crying, where he knew that his Danielle wouldn't hold it back. He also knew just how terrified of the Master she should have been, and how River had twisted that into something it shouldn't have been as well. How that changes she had made had driven her to find love from a man who just wasn't capable of it, no matter how much he pretended to get her to bend to his will.
"That's something that will definitely change for the better when we fix this godforsaken time line," he replied, although that in itself probably wasn't exactly true, either. His head hurt from all the twisting and turning. "You'll go back to hating him just like you should…"
She slid back off the console. "Hang on a minute, I don't want that," she snapped. "You never did approve of him, I get it, but you can't just take him from me!"
"Danielle, I know you think you love him, that's what he does," he replied. "He twists and turns everything you think you know until you're thinking just like him. It's not love, it's obsession, and the longer you entertain that idea the more it's going to hurt you."
"It might not be perfect, but it's mine!" she retorted. "Not everyone is like you. Not everyone gets a happy ending. Not everyone can find their true love, settle down, have kids and live happily ever after. Not everyone is my grandparents." Her eyes widened as she realised what she'd just said. "Oh my god, that's it."
"What's it?" he asked.
"My grandparents. That's where she's gone. She's gone to see Gran." She turned to the console. "She knows you don't like going back on yourself, even if it's family, and especially if it is someone who chose not to travel with you anymore. But she's my family, I grew up there, I'd go home eventually." She set the TARDIS into flight. "She's going to meet me there. Where it all started. Where it all went wrong. Where they took me."
"There it is," the Doctor praised, glad to be changing topic and back onto the task of saving his wife. He hated the idea that if she had been raised in this universe she would have fallen willingly into the arms of the Master. He knew that, in a different life, they could have been the same person but even as he tried to not focus on it, all he could see was Danni and the Master dancing together.
He shook his head. This was a dead time line. All he had to do was find River, fix what she changed, and none of it would have happened. She wouldn't have been taken by the Silence; she wouldn't have been driven to kill him. She wouldn't have fallen in love with…
"How did they manage to get hold of you?" he asked her suddenly, doing his hardest to change his train of thought. Danni shot him a look.
"Oh, you can't bring that up," she warned him. "You don't want to upset Gran? Don't bring that up. She hates talking about it."
He really didn't want to upset Amy. He remembered her wrath well, and he knew that it was hard for her to lose Melody so losing Danni wouldn't have been any easier. "I'll ask Rory," he replied. "He usually had a calmer head."
"No, that's why you can't ask her," she replied, to his confusion. "She hates being reminded of Grandad."
"Reminded?"
She looked uncomfortable, as if she was realising that this Doctor didn't know what she was talking about. "Look, I know you say it wasn't my fault, but they wouldn't have been there because of me," she explained softly. "I-I never meant for anyone to get hurt. I never wanted anyone to get hurt. We knew they were going to come for me eventually, but we always thought… I don't know, I don't…" Her brows furrowed. "I don't remember much," she continued, her voice quiet. "It's such a mess, they twisted so much. I just remember being scared. And Grandad telling me to run, to just run. I was only young, I didn't know what else to do. And then…" She swallowed hard and met his gaze. For the first time, he felt he was looking at a Danni that finally resembled his wife. She looked so sad. "He was dead. Just like that."
When she'd finished speaking, he couldn't quite find his voice. In his time line, Amy and Rory had lived a long, happy life together. Sure, it was in the past, but he knew they were okay, he'd made sure of it. Danielle had even taken Brian back to be with his son. He couldn't see either of them living without the other.
He reached out, taking her hand. He knew it was weird, he knew that she wouldn't appreciate it the way that his Danielle would have, but he hated to see any version of her in pain. "I'm sorry," he told her honestly. "But the other me was right. You're not to blame."
"It's me they wanted. It was me he was trying to protect," she said firmly. "Gran doesn't like to be reminded of it. She had gone shopping when it happened. I think she feels to blame as well."
"That does sound very much like Amelia," he agreed. "No talking about the Roman, I think I can manage that."