"Explain this instant!" The Doctor passed the centurion an irritated look as he brandished his sword in our direction. He still had a death grip on my elbows, which was probably a good thing since I was starting to think it was the only thing keeping me upright.

"Hey at least it's not a gun," I murmured under my breath. His look turned unimpressed as he looked at me and I offered him a weak smile.

"I will explain out in the hallway," the Doctor said tightly.

"No, you will explain here!"

"I thought she had the pox," the other centurion said, and I rolled my eyes, before I ordered my knees to not fail me and started marching towards the door.

"Skewer me then! I am leaving this room," I snapped. To my surprise the two centurions almost dove out of my way and I felt the Doctor follow me out. As soon as we were beyond the door I whirled on my heel, crossed my arms over my chest and raised my eyebrow up at them challengingly.

"Really Emma?" The Doctor whispered teasingly into my ear as the centurions scuttled out of the room with a faint look of embarrassment on their faces.

"Well it worked didn't it?" I locked my knees against a wobble as I studied the centurions. "Got any bright ideas for an explanation?"

"I was considering the truth," he said.

"Okay cool, you do that. I am going to sit down." I didn't wait for a reply and slid down to the floor to get off my feet. The Doctor's concerned look followed me all the way down and I waved a hand at him dismissively once I was settled before I shifted my gesture towards the centurions.

"Yes all right," he said with only a small hint of begrudging in his tone before snapping his attention back to the romans instead of me, and began telling them how we had ended up in the room and what had happened to their compatriot. Judging by the look on their faces they weren't buying the truth and I took a deep breath while idly wondering if this could somehow manage to get messier.

"Which is how we ended up in a locked room with a ravenous swarm of - Emma? Are you alright?" The Doctor asked when he noticed my pained expression.

"I just jinxed us," I said as I shook my head. He raised an eyebrow up at me. "I was just wondering if this whole scenario could somehow get messier and there is no way the universe is going to let that one slide."

"Have some optimism," he chided gently. "I think the universe still owes us one."

At his words one of the centurions took off running away from us towards the front door screaming at the top of his lungs about invisible invaders. I shot the Doctor a pointed look and he shrugged.

"Yes, alright you win this time." The slightly disgruntled look on his face faded away in an instant and his hand shot down to wrap around mine and yank me to my feet. I groaned loudly before I saw the number of centurions were spilling into the hallway behind us.

"I'm so sorry," I said morosely as we started running and the Doctor shot me a mildly panicked look, which confused me for a moment before I realized that I usually apologized like that when I was about to do something he would hate. "For jinxing us."

"It's alright Emma it happens," he said, though I didn't miss the way his hand tightened around mine. I just smiled and squeezed his hand back as we weaved through the shelves, trying to avoid Roman soldiers and I was hoping that he was working on a plan.

"Please tell me you have a plan," I said.

"Not as such."

"Great. The one time we need a plan on the fly you don't have one," I teased and then shrieked in alarm as we rounded a corner and came face to face with the business end of a sword. And because the day was just going that way, this was one of the few moments where the Doctor and I weren't on the same wavelength because he leapt forward at the same time as I jumped to the left, while we were still holding hands.

My arm jerked against the Doctor's momentum and I waved my free arm around wildly in an attempt to regain my balance causing my hand to slap an oil lamp off its hook on the wall, spraying oil everywhere and sparks went flying when the lamp bounced off the floor. I watched in horror as the sparks hit the oil and the nearest shelf went up in flames which spread quickly to the rest of the shelves.

"Oh my God," I breathed weakly. "I set the Library of Alexandria on fire."

"Emma is now the time?" The Doctor asked as he grabbed my hand again and started pulling me towards the way we had come from.

"I think I need to throw up," I said. "Either that or cry."

"We are currently standing in a burning building," the Doctor said sharply, and I shook my head.

"Right sorry. I can have a good cry later." He gave a pointed tug on my hand and we were running again, though the smoke that was beginning to fill the air was making it harder. We made it about halfway to the front door when a thought occurred to me about how we'd ended up in this situation in the first place and immediately following that thought I heard a dangerous creaking noise and reacted on pure instinct.

I jerked my hand out of his and jumped backwards just as one of the burning shelves tilted away from the wall and crashed on the floor between us.

"Emma!" The Doctor shouted and I took a deep breath that I immediately regretted.

"I'll meet you outside! I promise!" I yelled back at him and before he could protest, I took off running. I scooped an armful of unburnt scrolls from the floor on the way and skidded to a stop in the room with the Vashta Nerada. I started unrolling scrolls so that the ends touched the shadow by the crate they'd arrived in.

"Okay here's the deal. You get on the scrolls, you don't eat me, and I carry you out of here and the Doctor takes you back to your forest," I said.

"Deal." I jumped at the sound of my voice and took the opportunity to grab my phone from where the Doctor and I had left it. I watched three of the four scrolls roll up by themselves and then I nodded.

"Okay let's do this," I said to myself, shoved my phone in my pocket and picked up the scrolls. I mentally crossed my fingers that I would remember the way out and headed out the door. I raced past a rather large amount of centurions who were also on their way out, but they were ushering scholars out of the building in front of them, and usually I wouldn't have weaved through them but I was worried that if I was in the building too long then the Doctor would come back in after me.

"Emma!" The Doctor was next to me as soon as I burst through the doors and coughing as I was suddenly aware of the fact that I had been breathing pretty smoky air and the adrenaline was leaving me. I smiled at him through my coughs.

"Hi," I wheezed out and he took a step towards me with a frown and I held up a hand awkwardly. "Wait be careful I forgot to include you in the deal."

"Deal?" He repeated as he steered me away from the library without actually putting his hands on me. I shifted to demonstrate that my arms were full, and his eyes went wide. "You-"

"Went back for the Vashta Nerada. Yes." I shoved my face into my shoulder as I coughed again harshly.

"Emma if you were not holding them I would kiss you senseless," he said and carefully rested his hand at the small of my back to lead me towards the TARDIS. I smiled at him.

"You would have done the same," I said, and he shook his head sadly.

"I'm not so sure."

"You have no idea how inspirational you are do you?" I asked and he shot me a look. "No, I'm serious. How many people have travelled with you, or Hell even just met you, and gone on to do really good things that they wouldn't have had the courage to do before?"

"Great men are forged in fire, it is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame," he murmured after I had watched him open and close his mouth a few times as he tried to think of a good response. I smiled and shook my head at him fondly.

"And where do you think that lesser man got the fire to light the flame in the first place? Truly great men don't consider themselves great." He stared at me for a long time as we walked up to the TARDIS and he unlocked the door. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because I think I just somehow managed to fall even more in love with you." He paused as he closed the door behind us and moved towards the console hands hovering over the controls before continuing. "I regret too much. I regret so much that it makes me forget the good that I have done. But you've always seen the good, Emma, and I don't think I realized how much I take it for granted until this very moment."

"I saw the regret first," I said softly. "You were full of it when I was six. I couldn't figure out why you were so sad. And then when I was twenty-six you were still full of it."

"You told me to make it count," he said, knowing that I would know he was talking about the Krillitanes and I cracked a sad smile with a shrug.

"You were my childhood hero, I'm pretty sure I was neck deep in hero worship at that point, so I didn't want you to fail or feel bad." He gave me a smug smile.

"You knew I could think of something," he said, and I shook my head.

"No, I knew you might be able to think of something if someone challenged you," I teased, and he laughed as we landed. I blinked in surprise because I hadn't heard the TARDIS start up, and the Doctor certainly hadn't moved.

"I don't think the TARDIS wants to entertain our guests for any longer than she has to," he said with a head tilt towards the scrolls I was still holding.

"Sorry Old Girl," I said and moved towards the door. They opened for me and I squatted down to roll them a few feet away from the TARDIS without actually stepping out. I straightened and closed the door and this time I did actually hear the Doctor start the TARDIS. He must have set us to drift in the Vortex because I had barely made it up the ramp to the console when his hand was at the back of my neck to drag me into a deep kiss.

"You've got soot on your face," he whispered as his thumb stroked over my cheek once we separated. I laughed even as it got caught in my throat slightly.

"Well I could have done worse."

"Yes, that's true," he said mostly to himself as he ducked down to press his ear to my chest. "Your lungs sound alright, but your voice sounds raspy."

"Inhaling smoke will do that to a girl," I said before I groaned. "Oh God how much water are you about to make me drink?"

"Quite a lot."