The Time of Angels II

"There's a difference between dormant and patient," the Doctor stated. He moved so he was leaning against Callie's table. She let him slide his arm through hers and pull her closer to him.

If she hadn't been so scared of the Angel and what was to come, she would have wondered at the fact that she had only been in this universe for a day and a half and yet she already felt so comfortable with him. She had always been an affectionate, cuddly person, but this was fast even for her.

But, in fact, she was terrified of the Angel and of what was to come, so the thought didn't cross her mind at all.

"What does that mean, it's a statue when you see it?" Amy asked again.

"They turn into stone when a living thing looks at it," Callie said softly. She blinked in surprise when everyone quieted for her to speak. When they listened to her. "When nothing looks at it, it comes alive and can kill you. And you'll never see it coming."

"Cheery," Father Octavian said, less than amused.

"It's a quantum lock," the Doctor added after a moment. "The ultimate defense mechanism."

"So, what do we do?" Father Octavian asked. "We need to get it out and lock it up, yes?"

"There are journals outside," River said. "I nicked them from the ship. We should have a look; there might be something about Weeping Angels." The Doctor nodded. He pulled Callie to her feet.

"Let's go read the journals, then," he said.

"I'll stay here," Callie said numbly. She hadn't blinked yet.

"Callie, come on," the Doctor said lowly. "Let's walk."

"Fine," Callie relented. She snatched up the remote, waited for the blip, and turned the video off. Only then did she let the Doctor lead her out of the camper.

There were a pile of journals dumped onto a table by an unknown cleric, all waiting for them to sift through. Callie's breathing eased a little, now that the video was turned off. She wasn't relaxed by any means, but she felt a little better.

If she'd been in the right mind to think about it, she would have been annoyed over how- how clingy and scared she was. The Doctor's companions were supposed to be tough, brave, resilient! Not clutching his arm and whimpering over the task at hand. But- there was no other ways she could react. Not when she knew what was to happen. The danger they were going to be in; the danger she was going to let them get into.

The Doctor flicked through one of the first books he touched. "The hyperdrive would've split on impact. That whole ship's going to be flooded with drive burn radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms. Deadly to almost any living thing."

"Deadly to an Angel?" Father Octavian asked.

"We should be so lucky," Callie said. The book she picked up was written in such tiny cursive scrawl that she could hardly read it.

"Dinner to an Angel," the Doctor told Father Octavian. "The longer we live it there, the stronger it will grow. Who build that temple? Are they still around?"

"The Aplans," River said. "Indigenous life forms. They died out four hundred years ago."

"Two hundred years later, the planet was terraformed. Currently, there are six billion human colonists."

Callie nearly dropped her book back onto the table. She had not remembered that there were other people on this planet. She'd thought it was empty, void of intelligent life ever since the Aplans died out. But no, there were six billion people here. Six billion people in danger from the Angels, and from the crack in the universe that would keep growing until it consumed the planet itself.

And just like that, she knew she couldn't risk them not going after the Angels. Six billion lives depended on it.

"Whoo," the Doctor whistled. He nudged Callie, giving her a smirk. "You lot, you're everywhere. You're like rabbits. We'll never be done saving you, eh, Callie?"

Father Octavian bristled, offended. "Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the local population-"

"Oh, there is," the Doctor said. "Bad as it gets. Bishop, lock and load."

Father Octavian nodded grimly. He called out to one of his clerics, asking about explosives. "Dr. Song, with me," he added. River waved a hand at him dismissively.

"Two minutes." To Callie and the Doctor she said, "I need you two."

"Anybody need me?" Amy asked by the camper, feeling worse than useless. "Anybody?"

Nobody responded. Nobody even looked at her. Grumbling to herself, she went back into the camper, the door sliding shut behind her. She kicked the leg of the table. Things were bad, she knew that, but she was, admittedly, a little bored. Restless. She wanted to do something.

She plucked the remote to the TV from the table. She flicked the TV back on, eyeing the Angel. No matter what the others said, she just didn't see what was so scary about a statue.

River held up a journal for the two of them to see.

"I found this," she said. "Definitive work on the Angels. Well, the only one. Written by a madman- it's hardly readable, but I've marked a few passages."

The Doctor took it from her, rifling through the pages.

"You're awfully quiet today," River commented, looking at Callie. Callie tucker her hair behind her ear, shrugging.

"Do I normally say more?" She asked awkwardly.

"Ha, you normally talk my ear off," River said, poking her in the side. Seriously, she added, "You're kind of worrying me."

"Me too," the Doctor said, snapping the book shut. "You're scared."

"There are- there's a Weeping Angel in there. It's dark and dangerous. Of course I'm scared."

"I won't let anything happen to you," he swore. The intensity in his gaze made her stomach tighten.

"We'll be right there," River said. "And it's just the one. We'll have plenty of eyes on it."

Callie swallowed. This was her opening, where she should tell them they're wrong. There are so many more than just the one.

"River," she started. River looked at her, and she changed her mind. "How do you know how much to say, when you know more that the Doctor- than we do?"

River paused before saying carefully, "It's different for you and me, sweetie. I know things you both will do, I know things about you that you don't know yet. But you- you know what's happening all around us, the immediate future. It's a hard job, deciding what to share and what to keep to yourself."

"I don't know if it will help or hurt to say what I know," Callie admitted. "I'm afraid more people might get hurt if I say it."

"Better to keep it to yourself then," the Doctor said, not unkindly. "Or wait until the last possible second."

"Even if people could get hurt?" Callie's voice was small, scared. "The people right here?"

The Doctor looked resigned. He took her hand and squeezed it tight. "Even then."

"And you won't hate me if-" She struggled to say it. "If something happens?"

"Never," the Doctor and River said immediately. The Doctor didn't even bother looking put out that he'd spoken in tandem with River. He was too worried about Callie and ensuring she was okay. It was kind of intense; intimidating, being his number one priority. She'd have to have a talk with him about that.

From the camper, Amy called out, "Dr. Song? Did you have more than one clip of the Angel?"

River shook her head. "No, just the four seconds."

"Amy, just leave the video alone," Callie called out. She couldn't see Amy from where she stood, nor could she see the TV through the window. "Just leave it off, okay?"

She heard a faint affirmative from Amy and breathed a little easier. "Okay," she said, "good. We need to keep that video off."

"Why?" River asked.

"Doctor," Callie said instead, "have you noticed anything off with the book?"

"How do you mean?"

She made a decision. "There are no pictures in it."

"What?" River tried to take the book away from the Doctor, but he held it out of her reach and flipped through. True to Callie's word, there were no pictures anywhere in there.

"This is supposed to be a warning about the Weeping Angels, so why no pictures?" the Doctor asked. He looked at Callie, asking her, "Why not show us what to look out for?"

"The image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel," she answered simply.

"What the hell does that mean?" River asked.

"It means if you look away from that video while it's playing, the Angel can crawl right out and kill you just as easily as if you were in the wreckage with it," Callie said, voice hard. "That video, or even a picture, is just as dangerous as the actual Angel itself."

"Doctor! Callie!" Amy's voice was muted from the metal of the camper, but the pounding of her fists on the door was enough to grab their attention. Callie paled.

"Oh, no," she moaned. She bolted towards the door, sliding her backpack around and rummaging for her phone.

"It's in the room! The Angel is in the room," Amy cried. Callie slammed into the wall. Fumbling, she pulled up the sonic screwdriver app on her phone. If she was quick enough, she might be able to unlock the door before the Angel could deadlock it.

"Amy!" the Doctor shouted, right on Callie's heels. He pressed himself on the wall next to the door. "Are you alright? What's happening?"

"It's coming out of the television," Amy replied, her voice cracking. "The Angel is here."

The sonic app was doing nothing. Callie slammed her hand on the door in frustration.

"I told you to leave the video off!" She shouted.

"I had already turned it on," Amy cried. "I've tried to turn it off, but the Angel keeps turning the TV back on."

"Don't take your eyes off it," the Doctor shouted. "Keep looking. It can't move if you're looking. Callie, can't you open it?"

"It's deadlocked," she snapped.

"There is no deadlock," River said.

"Well there is now," Callie bit back. The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started fiddling with the control pad.

"Don't blink, Amy," he muttered. "Don't even blink."

"Blink and you're dead," Callie whispered, so low only he could hear her.

"What are you doing?" River asked. She was yanking at the cords running under the camper, but seemed to have just as much luck as they were having.

"Cutting the power. It's using the screen, I'm turning the screen off." In the same breath, he added, "No good, it's deadlocked the whole system."

"Help me!"

Callie's entire body shook, but she closed her eyes and breathed. She could help Amy. What use was her knowledge if she didn't use it sometimes?

"Amy, I need you to listen to me," she said fiercely. She pressed her forehead to the door and continued. "It's a four second clip, and when it flips back to the start of the clip there's a little blip. Just enough time to press the power button and turn it off."

"And that'll work?"

"I promise."

There was a pregnant pause, and then Callie's sonic app finally opened the door. Callie stumbled into the room. She grabbed Amy, pulling the taller girl into a bone-crushing hug.

"You were right," Amy said into her hair. "I just pushed it on the blip and it worked."

"You shouldn't have turned it on in the first place," Callie said. Her throat was tight with tears. She squeezed Amy tighter, as if to punish her with love.

"I'm sorry," Amy said. She clutched Callie just as tight.

They pulled apart and the Doctor was quick to hug Amy as well. They all took a moment to settle, and the Doctor remembered an interesting line in the book.

"Amy," he said carefully, "you didn't look into its eyes, did you?"

"What? I don't know, I was just looking," Amy said.

Inwardly, Callie grimaced. She'd forgotten the eye bit, hadn't she? It caused so much trouble later and she'd just forgotten. She felt like hitting herself in the forehead.

"'The eyes are not the windows of the soul; they are the doors. Beware what may enter there'," the Doctor recited.

"I don't think I was looking at its eyes," Amy said finally. But Callie knew better. It was instinctive to look in its eyes.

An explosion sounded outside, shaking the camper around them.

"What the hell was that?" Amy yelped, grabbing onto the table for stability.

"Doctor?" Father Octavian poked his head into the camper. "We're through." The Doctor nodded, rubbing his hands together.

"Okay, now it starts," he said. He held his hand out to Callie. After a brief hesitation that everyone was nice enough to ignore, Callie took it and let him lead her outside. Behind her, she heard Amy and River talking.

"You coming?" River asked her lightly.

"Yeah, there's just… something in my eye."

Callie grit her teeth. She just had to remind herself that they were going to get out of this okay. She just had to hold onto that. It was all she could do.

Not for the first time, she wondered whether this whole being-bound-to-the-Doctor's-timeline was a good thing or a bad thing. Blessing or curse.

The clerics had blown a hole in the ground and dropped a rope ladder. The Doctor insisted on going down before Callie so he could help her if she needed. If she weren't so scared of the Angels, she would have resented the insinuation that she needed help. But in the current circumstances, she was more than happy to let him guide her down.

At the Doctor's request, a giant glowing gravity globe was tossed into the air.

"What is this place?" Amy asked, coughing from the dusty air. River landed hard on the ground next to her.

"It's an Aplan Mortarium. Sometimes called a Maze of the Dead," she answered.

"What's that?"

"Well," the Doctor said, "if you happen to be a creature of living stone, the perfect hiding place." As if on cue, the gravity globe brightened and illuminates the hundreds of decaying statues all around. Callie grabbed onto the Doctor's elbow, pulling herself close to him. She knew it was just in her head, but she could have sworn one of the heads turned to stare right at her.

Father Octavian sighed. "I guess this makes it a bit trickier."

"A bit, yeah," the Doctor agreed wryly.

"A stone Angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder than I prayed for."

"A needle in a haystack," River commented. She took a step away from a statue, eyeing it warily.

"A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle of death. A hay-" The Doctor started rambling, until Callie pinched him in the side.

"That's enough," she muttered. Her nerves couldn't take much more, and they'd only just begun.

"Sorry," he said to her. To River, he said, "Your comparison was fine."

"Oh, thanks for that," River said blandly. Amy snickered, and promptly looked angry at herself for doing so.

"Right." Father Octavian sounded less than amused by the Doctor's antics. To his clerics, he said, "Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection."

The clerics nodded and started splitting up.

Tensing, Callie bit her lip. "Watch each other's backs," she called finally. Only one of the clerics looked back at her. "It's very fast and excellent at sneaking." The cleric who looked at her nodded gravely. None of the others paid her any mind at all.

It wasn't enough. She knew she needed to say more, but she bit her tongue. The Doctor and River had both agreed that if she didn't feel confident about the outcome of sharing her knowledge she should keep it to herself. Still, it felt wrong.

"How do we fight it?" Father Octavian asked. The Doctor palmed his screwdriver in one hand and held his flashlight in another. Callie was passed a flashlight as well and immediately flicked it on.

"We find it, and hope," he said. Father Octavian frowned, but nodded. He pulled River to the side and spoke to her in low tones.

"Ready?" The Doctor asked Callie and Amy. Amy was much quicker to nod than Callie. The three of them, with River catching up after a moment, started walking upwards in the maze. Callie felt like such a chicken, clinging to the Doctor and cringing every time she spotted a new statue, but she couldn't help it. They were all around, and soon they would start descending on them.

River and Amy fell into conversation behind them. The Doctor held out his sonic screwdriver, scanning all around them.

"If you want, I can teach you how to use your screwdriver app," he said softly. "It might take your mind off things."

"You're being awfully nice," Callie told him, but she did pull her phone back out from her backpack. She shifted her flashlight to the hand next to the Doctor, her arm still looped around his, and held her phone in the other. The sonic app was still open from her attempts on the camper.

"I'm always nice," the Doctor said, sounding offended. "To you, at least," he amended a second later. Callie gave a small smile, and pressed the button to activate the sonic screwdriver on her phone.

"We are talking about you two," River called over to them.

"What?" Callie asked. "I wasn't paying attention."

"Yeah, we're busy," the Doctor said dismissively. Callie frowned.

"You should be nicer to River," she said. "You and Amy both."

Amy, as if on cue, huffed and stormed away from River. Callie sighed.

"You should go check on her," she told the Doctor. He looked like he wanted to argue, but she pulled away from him and turned to River. After a moment, he walked off, hopefully to calm Amy down. The last thing they needed was her trying to go off on her own or something.

"What was that about?" Callie asked. River gave a little laugh.

"Amy isn't doing so well with the whole 'spoilers' thing," she explained. She had an air of nonchalance, but Callie knew better. She could see it bothered her. "She told me to back off from the Doctor, isn't she silly?"

"Don't let her bother you," Callie said. She patted River's shoulder, then felt kind of lame and dropped her arm. "She's young and she doesn't know what she's doing. It's not an excuse, but…"

"It'll do for now," River said. "I'll be alright."

"I'll talk to her, set her straight," Callie promised.

She nearly jumped out of her skin as one of the clerics let loose with their gun. Running back to the entrance chamber, they all saw a cleric panting in front of one of the statues. The statue was riddling with indentations and chips from the bullets, but no holes.

Because bullets can't kill stone, Callie thought.

"Sorry, sorry. I thought-" The cleric swallowed hard. "I thought it looked at me."

Father Octavian wasn't having it. Sharply, he barked out, "We know what the Angel looks like. Is that the Angel?"

The cleric looked at his feet. "No, sir."

"According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil, so it would be good- it would be very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of decor." Father Octavian's voice was harsh, unforgiving.

"What's your name?" The Doctor asked the cleric. Amy hung behind him, watching. The only sign that she wasn't at complete ease was they way she kept shifting her flashlight from one hand to the other.

"Bob, sir."

Callie's heart jumped into her throat. Sacred Bob.

"Ah, that's a great name. I love Bob," the Doctor said. He patted Bob on the back comfortingly.

"It's a sacred name," Father Octavian explained. "We all have sacred names. They're given to us in the service of the church."

"Sacred Bob," The Doctor mused. "More like Scared Bob now, eh?"

Bob looked sheepish. "Yes, sir."

"Ah, good. Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron," he told Bob. "Look at Callie over there, scared out of her wits. She's probably the smartest person here. Be like her, scared and alert."

Callie wasn't sure she liked being pointed out as being scared, but she supposed it was being used as a good thing. Still, she frowned a little.

"We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes. You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach." Father Octavian clearly didn't like the Doctor taking control over him and immediately started giving commands.

Amy started asking about the ship and if it could cause the temple to collapse, leading the Doctor and River to start speaking about the Aplans and their superior building skills. Finally, there was the mention of the Aplans having two heads. Callie's stomach twisted.

"Two heads?" She choked out. "I wouldn't have thought."

The Doctor looked at her, eyebrows furrowed. Trying to puzzle out what she meant. To River, he asked, "That book, the very end, what did it say?"

River flipped the book open to the end and read, "What if we had ideas that could think for themselves? What if, one day, our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us. The time of Angels."

A/N: I know it looks like Callie really isn't doing much of anything right now, but please believe me when I say there's a reason for it! It's a big character thing for her, and I promise as the story goes on she will be changing so much. Her fear and insecurities now will lead to much more later on.

Please let me know how you're liking it with a review! And if you have any specific episodes you want to see in the near future, be sure to tell me.