Into the Darkness

by ComeBackSoonX

'She couldn't see anything. Her ears were ringing. They felt like when you're on a plane, and the altitude is so great that you feel as though your eardrums might burst from inside your head and out of your skull.' Florence Jensson didn't know exactly what was happening to her, and until she found out she would just blame that smarmy, flirty stranger. Eventual Doctor/OC

19. The One with the Groom

Chapter 19 The One with the Groom

21 reviews! Thank you all so much! Enjoy the second part of the festive special and welcome to the most perfectly laid out month on the calendar!

I own nothing recognisable x

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Florence ran through the empty office floors of HC Clements behind the Doctor, almost crashing into the desk as he stopped, fiddling with a computer covered in tinsel for the festive season, bringing up the home screen and clicking through the firewalls.

"To you lot this might just be a locksmiths," he explained to the not-so married couple and Florence next to him, "but HC Clements was brought up twenty three years ago by the Torchwood Institute." Florence frowned at the strangely familiar name, she couldn't remember where she had heard it before.

Luckily, Donna asked the important question before she had to. "Who are they?"

"They were behind the Battle of Canary Wharf." The Doctor explained quickly, giving Florence a quick glance before focusing back on Donna. Florence assumed he was talking about a future event for her, because she most definitely had not heard of such a Battle in all the time she had lived in London. Donna gave the Doctor a similar look of confusion that was etched on Florence's face. "Cyberman invasion…" He told her, but she shook her head. "Sky over London full of Daleks?" He looked incredulously at the ginger, who nodded slightly,

"Oh, I was in Spain." She explained obliviously, but the Doctor still looked at her oddly,

"They had Cybermen in Spain…"

"Scuba diving." Donna clarified, and even Florence had to give her a strange look at that.

"That big picture, Donna. You keep on missing it." The Doctor told her, before abandoning the computer he was at which had frozen and running over to another. "Torchwood was destroyed, but HC Clements stayed in business. I think someone else came in and took over the operation."

"But what do they want with me?" Donna asked desperately.

The Doctor spoke quicker than usual in his explanation to the confused woman. "Somehow you've been dosed with Huon energy." He told her. "And that's a problem, because Huon energy hasn't existed since the Dark Times. The only place you'd find a Huon particle now is a remnant in the heart of the Tardis. See? That's what happened." He turned and grabbed an empty mug from the desk behind him. "Say, that's the Tardis…" He picked up a pencil and held both objects out to her. "And that's you… The particles inside you activated. The two sets of particles magnetised and whap!" The objects 'shook' before he threw the pencil into the mug. "You were pulled inside the TARDIS."

"I'm a pencil inside a mug?" Donna asked blankly, and the Doctor swirled the mug around, making a tinkling noise.

"Yes you are, 4H, sums you up." Florence smirked slightly at the Doctor's words, before trying to get him back to the urgent matter of Donna being hunted.

"So, HC Clements?" The Doctor nodded and put the mug down,

"Yes! Lance!" He turned to the quiet man with them. "What was HC Clements working on?"

"Anything top secret? Special operations? Do not enter?" Florence laughed,

"Bald man in a swivel chair stroking a cat?" The Doctor huffed a quiet laugh,

"Good one."

"Thank you." Florence nodded her head in faux appreciation.

Lance shrugged slightly as the Doctor headed to another computer with his screwdriver ready to bypass the systems. "I don't know, I'm in charge of personnel. I wasn't project manager." He stopped and looked at the strange man illegally entering their company's system. "Why am I even explaining myself? What the hell are we talking about?"

The Doctor had managed to get through to the building plans and had them up on the screen in front of him. "You make keys… that's the point. And look at this!" Florence bent down to look at the screen,

"What is it?" The Doctor just tapped it noncommittally and stood, grabbing Florence's hand.

"Come on!" He dragged her over to the lift they had arrived in, pressing the button and slipping inside, looking at the floor panel. "We're on the third floor." Florence looked curiously at it with him, though she wasn't entirely sure what it was he was looking at, while Donna and Lance stood at the door. "Underneath reception, there's a basement, yes? Then how come when you look on the lift, there's a button marked lower basement?" Florence's eyebrows rose at the revelation. "There's a whole floor which doesn't exist on the official plans. So what's down there, then?" Florence bit her lip and looked up at him,

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" The Doctor looked at her with a glint in his eye,

"I'm saying that HC Clements has one extra floor on the lift that's not on the building plans."

"Secret floor?" The Doctor grinned at her,

"Secret floor." He confirmed, and she returned his grin.

Lance looked between them incedulously. "You're telling me this building has a secret floor?"

The Doctor gave him a sassy look. "No. I'm showing you this building has a secret floor." Donna nodded down to the buttons,

"It needs a key." The Doctor just smirked and held up his screwdriver,

"I don't." He told her simply, sonicking the Lower Basement button. "Right, thanks you two. We can handle it from here!" Florence looked up at the Doctor and rolled her eyes slightly, catching the flicker of excitement that was in Donna's own. "See you later!"

Donna stepped forward and pushed into the lift with the two travellers, "No chance, Martian. You're the man who keeps saving my life." Florence shared a little smile with the Doctor, pleased at their accomplice. "I ain't letting you out of my sight."

Florence clapped her hands together and pressed the button, "Going down!"

Donna looked at her fiance, floundering still at the entrance of the lift.

"Lance!"

"Maybe I should go to the police!" He suggested, but Donna remained firm.

"Inside." She ordered, and the reluctant groom unenthusiastically boarded the lift, and the Doctor raised his eyebrows slightly at the interaction.

"To honour and obey." He stated snarkily, causing Florence to lightly slap him in the stomach whilst stifling her own giggle,

"Stop it." She muttered, and Lance sighed,

"Tell me about it."

"Oi!" Came the only response from the frustrated ginger.

---

The lift doors opened to reveal an eerily green lit corridor, it was a wide open space with industrial pipes running over the ceiling. The group stepped out and Florence peered around curiously,

"Maybe I'm stating the obvious, but I don't like this place one bit…" The Doctor hummed slightly, looking left and right,

"No, me neither."

"Where are we?" Donna asked. "Well, what goes on down here?" Florence shrugged when the redhead looked at her for confirmation, while the Doctor stood assessing the area,

"Let's find out." He told her, heading off to start investigating.

However, the bride wasn't finished with her line of questioning. "Do you think Mr Clements knows about this place?"

"The Mr HC Clements?" The Doctor mused. "I think he's part of it." He suddenly looked to his right and beamed. "Oh, look! Transport!" He raced over, the other three following behind to where he had found three segways leaning against the wall.

Florence shook her head. "Absolutely not." The Doctor motioned for the other two to get on their modes of transport and he smiled at Florence. "Don't you smile at me, I'd rather run alongside you." The Doctor wiggled his eyebrows at her and held out an arm to help her onto the remaining segway. "Oh fine, and I presume we're sharing?"

"Of course, you're the smallest." The lanky alien commented as he pushed her flushed against the front of the machine and hopped on behind her, planting his feet on either side of her own. The four of the them began rolling down the dimly lit hallways, covering a fair bit of ground in silence, before Florence could feel the Doctor's chest contracting against her back as he tried to keep the chuckling at bay but Donna's loud cackle from their left ended any composure the Doctor once had, and Florence shared a look with Lance, his one of confusion, hers one of annoyance. The Doctor pulled them to a stop outside of a bulkhead door with a tattered 'Authorised Personnel Only' sign that he (in the usual Doctor fashion) bypassed by turning the metal wheel with force, pulling it open to reveal a small cubby hole with a ladder.

He turned to his three companions (well, Florence and the couple). "Wait here." He told them. "Just need to get my bearings." He put his finger up and waved it at Donna and Florence. "Don't do anything." He looked at Florence. "I mean it." She folded her arms and rolled her eyes,

"Get on with it." He started up the ladder with a grin, Donna looked warily up at him,

"You'd better come back." She warned him, and he looked down quickly,

"Couldn't get rid of you if I tried." He scurried up the ladder and the moment his feet disappeared from view Florence turned to Donna with a soft grin,

"Don't worry Donna, he has a knack for exploring, getting himself into trouble, and then finding a way out of it."

Donna laughed slightly at her comment, but an echoing voice interrupted her, "Yep, not too far up yet, Florence. I can hear you." Florence laughed.

"Oh keep climbing, you!" She called up at him, leaning against the frame of the bulkhead door, casually folding her arms and looking up where her time-traveller had clambered away. Lance looked between the two women standing with him in confusion,

"Donna, have you thought about this? Properly!" He asked his fiancee, grabbing her arm to make her look away from the ladder. "I mean, this is serious! What the hell are we gonna do?"

Donna gave him a bright smile, "Oh! I thought July!"

"What?" He asked, and she looked at him like he was stupid,

"For the wedding, we'll rearrange for July!" Lance opened his mouth to argue but she turned to Florence. "Florence! You free July? Fancying another dance?"

The woman in question smirked at the redhead's sass. "Of course, always down for a party."

"Perfect!" Donna grinned and turned back to Lance. "A nice summer wedding!" Before Lance could say anything they heard a clang above them and the Doctor's footsteps hurrying down the ladder in record speed. Florence waved her hand to stop anything Lance might want to interject with and called up to the Doctor,

"Anything exciting?!" She heard a little laugh coming from the descending man, one that made her think it was a fun little discovery for him.

He jumped the last few rungs and straightened his suit jacket, grinning at Florence. "Thames flood barrier right on top of us. Torchwood snuck in and built this place underneath." Florence raised her eyebrow,

"So we're underneath the Thames?"

"What, there's like a secret base hidden underneath a major London landmark?" Donna asked, and the Doctor quirked his eyebrows mockingly,

"I know. Unheard of." He dropped Florence a little wink but she frowned at him, causing him to stammer slightly, clearly realising her had nearly spoiled something. "Oh, you'll… you'll find out." He grabbed her hand and pulled them round a corner, where a plastic covered door stood in their path. "What's this then…?" He pushed open the plastic covering and led them into a room that Florence thought to be way out of her comfort zone, full of test tubes and experimental equipment that blew her mind, but seemed like the Doctor's idea of heaven.

"Well this is… very suspicious…" Florence commented, while the Doctor dragged her over to one of the test tubes.

"Look at this! Stunning!" Donna cautiously approached them,

"What does it do?"

"Particle extrusion." The Doctor told her, as if it were obvious, before letting go of Florence's hand and running over to another tank. "Hold on!" He knocked his knuckles against the glass. "Brilliant! They've been manufacturing Huon Particles!" He told the girls as they approached him. "Course, my people got rid of Huons, they unravelled the atomic structure."

"You're people?" Lance called, from slightly further back than where Donna and Florence stood. "Who are they? What company do you represent?"

The Doctor popped his head up from where he was investigating the equipment. "Oh, I'm a freelancer. But this lot are rebuilding them. They've been using the river." He wandered over to another tube. "Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result…" He pulled out a small syringe looking container from the bottom of the device. "Huon Particles in liquid form."

"And that's what's inside me?" Donna asked worriedly, the Doctor looked at her and pulled the top of the syringe up so that the liquid started glowing. "Oh my god!" Donna cried, and Florence began to notice that her body had begun to shimmer a similar gold even through her dress.

"Oh my god!" She echoed the redhead. "Doctor, what is that?"

"It's genius." He told them. "Because the particles are inert, they need something living to catalyse inside and that's you. Saturate the body and then. Oh!" He jumped away from her in realisation. "The wedding! Yes, you're getting married, that's it!" He jumped and spun around like a madman, grabbing at his hair, even Florence wasn't sure she had ever seen him this hyper-active, and felt sorry for the poor woman next to her. "Best day of your life, walking down the aisle. Oh, your body's a battleground! There's a chemical war inside! Adrenaline, acetylcholine. Wham! Go the endorphins. Oh, you're cooking! Yeah, you're like a walking oven. A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away. The particles reach boiling point. Shazam!" He was a second too late to jump back once more as Donna whipped her hand up and slapped him round the face, nearly causing him to spin right back around again. "What did I do this time!"

"Are you enjoying this?" The Doctor looked at Florence for help, but she merely raised her eyebrows at him,

"You were a tad overzealous…" Donna shook her head at the two of them,

"Right, just tell me. These particles, are they dangerous?" She asked. "Am I safe?" The Doctor paused for a split second before nodding quickly,

"Yes!" Florence looked at him sternly,

"Yes they're dangerous or yes they're safe?" The Doctor her an odd look but Donna cut in with a nod toward Florence,

"If your lot got rid of Huon Particles, why did they do that?" The Doctor looked between the two women carefully before answering,

"Because they were deadly." He admitted, and Donna looked a bit faint,

"Oh my God." She breathed, but Florence was quick to put a gentle hand on her arm,

"Donna, look at me." When she did, Florence gave her a firm look. "The Doctor will help you. I promise."

The Doctor nodded gently. "I will, I'll sort it out Donna. Whatever's been done to you, I'll reverse it. I am not about to lose someone else."

"Oh, she is long since lost." Came a voice from somewhere across the room, and the three of them turned sharply to find its source, suddenly the grey wall in front of them began to rise slowly, revealing an even larger room behind it with a large circular cavernous hole in the floor in front of them. "I have waited so long," the voice continued, "hibernating at the edge of the universe until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken!" Florence heard machinery whirring and saw a group of robots in lack cloaks pointing weapons at them.

The Doctor looked over the edge of the hole, Florence had to stop herself reaching out and yanking him back to her. "Someone's been digging. Oh, very Torchwood. Drilled by laser. How far down does it go?" He commented, waiting for an answer from the omnipresent voice.

"Down and down, all the way to the centre of the Earth!"

"Really?" The Doctor wondered, still peering over the edge. "Seriously? What for?"

"Dinosaurs." Donna suggested, and Florence nodded along with her, humming in agreement, while the Doctor turned to the two of them in confusion.

"What?" He asked, and Florence nodded down the hole,

"She said 'dinosaurs'." The Doctor continued to frown at them,

"What are you on about, dinosaurs?"

"That film, Under the Earth, with dinosaurs." Donna shrugged. "Tryna help."

"That's not helping." He told her.

"To be fair Doctor, is it crazy?" Florence asked him, but he was cut off before he could silence her musings as well.

"Such a sweet triad." Called the voice, and the Doctor swung himself around in a circle talking to the ceiling above him, where Florence noticed with increasing dread a large spider's web seemed to be suspended.

"Only a madman talks to thin air and trust me, you don't want to make me mad." He warned the voice. "Where are you?"

"High in the sky. Floating so high on Christmas night." Came the cryptic response.

"I didn't come all this way to talk on the intercom!" The Doctor taunted. "Come on! Let's have a look at you!"

"Who are you with such command?" The voice asked, and the Doctor smirked slightly, hands still casually in his pockets.

"I'm the Doctor!"

"Prepare your best medicines, doctor man, for you will be sick at heart." Florence frowned at the words, confused about what they meant, but before she could ask any questions there was a bright blue glow and they could finally match the voice to a face.

"You are kidding me." Florence muttered, as she looked across the gaping hole in the floor to see a giant red spider-human hybrid preening at the attention, it had multiple beady black eyes covering its face and the same sharp points for hands as the eight legs had. "Always with the alien hybrids…"

"Racnoss." The Doctor murmured. "But that's impossible. You're one of the Racnoss?"

"Empress of the Racnoss." The giant spider corrected, and the Doctor's eyebrows furrowed all the more, if it were possible,

"If you're the Empress, where's the rest of the Racnoss?" He asked, before finally lifting his eyebrows in realisation. "Or, are you the only one?"

"Such a sharp mind." She complimented, and the Doctor nodded sagely,

"That's it, the last of your kind." He turned to Florence and Donna and explained. "The Racnoss come from the Dark Times, billions of years ago. Billions. They were carnivores, omnivores. They devoured whole planets." Florence looked up at the creature, not hopeful for the outcome of this alien's diabolical plan.

"Racnoss are born starving." The Empress argued. "Is that our fault?"

Donna looked mildly nauseous. "They eat people?" She asked, and the Doctor gave her a sympathetic look

"HC Clements, did he wear those, those er, black and white shoes?" He asked, seemingly innocently, and Florence wondered where he was going with his questions, but Donna laughed slightly,

"He did. We used to laugh. We used to call him the fat cat in spats." The Doctor nodded slightly and pointed up at the ceiling, where Florence saw a pair of black and white suit shoes poking out of the web, and her mouth dropped open in shock.

"Oh my god!" Both her and Donna gasped in disgust, while the Empress laughed and hissed slightly,

"My Christmas dinner!"

The Doctor shook his head slightly. "You shouldn't even exist." He told her. "Way back in history, the fledgling Empires went to war against the Racnoss they were wiped out." Florence's eyes darted behind the Empress, where she saw Lance enter the room from the fire escape and making shushing motions to the three of them, as he crept behind her with an axe in hand.

"Except for me." The Empress told them, turning her head slightly, making Donna shout up at her to direct her attention back to them,

"But that's what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing. Oi!" She spoke louder. "Look at me, lady, I'm talking. Where do I fit in? How comes I get all stacked up with these Huon particles? Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me."

"The bride is so feisty!" The Empress mocked, and Donna nodded, faith in her fiance.

"Yes, I am! And I don't know what you are, you big thing, but a spider's just a spider and an axe is an axe! Now, do it!" She signaled to Lance, who lifted the axe to swing it at the Empress' head, and Florence's eyes widened, before she realised what fools she and Donna especially had been taken for, as Lance lowered his axe just as quickly and began to laugh. The Empress joining in quickly.

"That was a good one!" Lance told the Empress. "Your face!"

"Lance is funny." Donna looked between the two of them, confused,

"What?" She asked softly, and the Doctor turned his body towards Donna,

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Donna asked, and Florence knew she was in some state of denial. "Lance, don't be so stupid! Get her!" Lance sneered down at them,

"God, she's thick. Months I've had to put up with her. Months. A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map."

Florence's lip curled at his suddenly bolshy attitude. "Oi!" She yelled up at him. "She's not the one shacking up with a giant red spider! Ya… Freak!" The Doctor gently grabbed her arm to pull her back to him slightly,

"Not helping…" He murmured, but squeezed her arm to show he was slightly amused.

"I don't understand." Donna nearly whimpered to the two of them, still in a state of confusion and denial.

"How did you meet him?" The Doctor asked, and she shook her head slightly,

"I mean… in the office?"

"He made you coffee…" The Doctor told her, and she frowned,

"What?"

Lance smirked. "Every day, I made you coffee." He told her victoriously, and the Doctor explained gently,

"You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months."

Donna's face dropped even further when the penny did. "He was poisoning me."

"It was all there in the job title." The Doctor called up to the smug man. "The Head of Human Resources."

"This time, it's personnel." He quipped, and Florence couldn't resist pulling a face at his pun,

"Oh shut UP!" She yelled, she had never felt such distaste for a man before, his face just made her so furious, and she couldn't even look away, because then she would have to see Donna's and feel even more rage towards him.

"But we were getting married." Donna muttered softly, heartbroken.

"Well, I couldn't risk you running off." He explained. "I had to say yes. And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavour Pringle. Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap yap yap." He groaned with annoyance. "Oh, Brad and Angelina... Is Posh pregnant? X Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me... Dear God, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia! I deserve a medal."

"Oh is that what she's offered you?" The Doctor asked the two of them, sick of the endless jabs at Donna's expense. "The Empress of the Racnoss? What are you, her consort?"

Lance sneered at them again. "It's better than a night with her." Florence grabbed onto the Doctor's sleeve in a tight grip to stop her pouncing,

"Oh, I'm gonna hit him." She muttered angrily.

Donna looked as though she would burst into tears at any moment. "But I love you." She told him simply, and he responded with a pitying look,

"That's what made it so easy." He turned to the Doctor. "It's like you said, Doctor. The big picture. What's the point of it all if the human race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to go out there. To see it. The size of it all. I think you understand that, don't you, Doctor?" The Empress turned her attention on the weasel next to her,

"Who is this little physician and his woman?" Lance shrugged slightly,

"She said Martian." The Doctor waved his hand and started pacing around the hole slightly,

"Oh, I'm sort of homeless, and Florence? She's human!" Florence waved mockingly at the two. "But the point is, what's down here? The Racnoss are extinct. What's going to help you four thousand miles down? That's just the molten core of the Earth, isn't it?" Lance smirked,

"I think he wants us to talk." He told the Empress, who laughed,

"I think so too!"

"Well, tough!" Lance called down, reveling in his position as evil mastermind. "All we need is Donna!"

"Kill this chattering little doctor man and his woman!" The Empress ordered her guards, and Donna stepped forward pointing at the giant creature,

"Don't you hurt him!"

However, the Doctor put a hand on her arm gently. "No, no, Donna it's alright."

"No, I won't let them!" Donna told him, while the Empress readied her robots,

"At arms!" They pointed their guns at the Doctor and Florence, who was getting slightly nervous at his lack of an obvious plan.

"Uhhh, Doctor!" She looked around, ready to run, but the Doctor held up his hands,

"Ah! Now… except!"

"Take aim!"

"Doctor, tell me you have something!" The Doctor still seemed too calm for Florence's liking,

"Well, I just want to point out the obvious."

The Empress looked unmoved. "They won't hit the bride. They're such very good shots."

"Just, just, just, just, just hold on. Hold on just a tick. Just a tiny little, just a little tick!" The Doctor blabbered, and Florence began praying to any deity she knew of that he had something special up his sleeve. "If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So reverse it…" He reached inside his suit and pulled out the container from earlier, "And the spaceship comes to her." Donna and the container began to glow again, Florence heard the Empress shout before she was drowned out by the TARDIS thankfully materialising around them, causing Florence to almost scream in relief. The Doctor ran around the console and began hitting buttons here and there. "And off we go!" He told them, Florence following him and giving the TARDIS a friendly pat in greeting,

"Oh I've never been happier to see you!"

"Oh," the Doctor realised, "do you know what I said before about time machines? Well, I lied. And now we're going to use it. We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet's core, it must've been there since the beginning." Florence grinned listening to the Doctor ramble. "That's just brilliant. Molto bene. I've always wanted to see this. Donna, we're going further back than I've ever been before…" Florence looked over to see the other woman's reaction but only saw the back of her head as she sat on the yellow leather of the captain's chair.

"Donna…" She called gently, and the Doctor seemed to suddenly notice her silence. He peered around the central console as the redhead wiped her eyes quickly, nodded her head slightly, almost as if she were giving herself a pep talk in her head.

"We're arrived." The Doctor told her cautiously, doing all that he knew to do to cheer a virtual stranger up: offering them to see the stars. "Want to see?"

Donna simply shrugged. "Suppose." Florence looked at the grainy screen the Doctor had pulled up an image of the galaxy, sharing a quick look with the gangly man.

"Hmm, bad reception in here…" The Doctor nodded, scrunching his nose,

"Oh, you're right, Florence. And a bit small…" He looked up at Donna. "Maybe your way's best." He nodded towards the door and smiled, beckoning her to follow them, to which she replied with a small huff before standing. "Come on. No human's ever seen this."

"All I wanna see is my bed." She told them, slowly walking their way, and Florence grinned at her,

"Come on Donna, I'll even close my eyes and let you be the proper first first human." Donna smiled weakly, and the Doctor grabbed hold of the door handles and paused for dramatic effect,

"Donna Noble, welcome to the creation of the Earth." He opened the doors with a flourish and the three of them stood in amazement (well, the humans at least) at the beauty of the pink and blue hues of the space in front of them, rocks of various sizes floating around them, and the bright glow of the sunlight casting an orange hue across. "We've gone back four point six billion years. There's no solar system, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas. That's the Sun, over there. Brand new. Just beginning to burn." Florence laughed slightly in astonishment, pressed tightly against the Doctor's side as he angled her to see further out.

"Wow." She whispered, and smiled up at Donna's amazed expression.

"Where's the earth?" Donna asked, looking at all the rocks floating past.

"All around us, in the dust." The Doctor told her, causing her to huff slightly in amusement,

"Puts the wedding in perspective… Lance was right, we are tiny."

The Doctor shook his head, knocking her shoulder slightly, and causing Florence to grip his suit tightly to avoid falling out. "Nooo, but that's what you do, the human race… makes sense out of chaos! Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, but only if it's being observed."

"So I came out of all of this?" Donna asked, and the Doctor grinned again,

"Isn't that brilliant?" Florence shook her head,

"It's just… fantastic." The Doctor smiled softly down at her, before Donna drew their attention to a large lump of rock that floated past.

"I think that's the Isle of Wight." She quipped, causing them all to laugh slightly.

The Doctor sighed blissfully, and Florence looked slightly up at him as he did so, he looked so at peace staring out into the vastness of a new and burgeoning solar system. She almost forgot about the looming threat of an alien invasion, almost being the key word, as she always did with the Doctor. It was strange, to be so close to someone so quickly, to be so comfortable feeling the heat of their front against your back and trusting them not to throw you to the lions without a moment's hesitation - or, in this case, throw you off of a spaceship and to your certain death.

"Eventually, gravity takes hold." The Doctor began to narrate, drawing Florence from her musings. "Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in. Everything, piling in until you get…"

"The Earth." Donna finished, and Florence looked around at the rocks.

"And we're here to…" She wondered, and the Doctor nodded his head absentmindedly,

"We're here to see… what that first rock was…"

Donna pointed at something emerging from the cloud-like shapes in the space in front of them, it was pointed and seemed to glide towards the centre of it all. "Look."

The Doctor squinted as he tried to see more clearly, it was a ship of some sorts, that had a criss cross pattern on the outside, and bits of rocks floated towards it. "The Racnoss." He realised, pulling away from the women and running back into the TARDIS messing with gears and levers on the console.

"The Racnoss?" Florence called back to him, as she and Donna looked at the rocks speeding up and heading towards the star ship. "Like, more than the crazy one in the secret lair?"

"Hold on…" She could hear him running around behind them. "The Racnoss are hiding from the War... What's it doing?"

"Exactly what you said!" Donna cried, as the rocks moved faster and faster, Florence waved her hand behind her to get the Doctor to come back.

"Uh! Not good things!"

"Oh, they didn't just bury something at the centre of the Earth." He realised. "They became the centre of the Earth. The first rock." Just as he finished his sentence an explosion rocked the TARDIS, sending the three of them flying, Florence pushing Donna backwards slightly and quickly shutting the doors.

Donna straightened slightly and looked at the Doctor. "What was that?!"

"Trouble." Was all the Doctor replied, running back to the console as the TARDIS continued to throw them around, sparks flying and the three of them going rolling. Florence looked up at the console whirring into action,

"Doctor, what's wrong with her?"

"What the hell is it doing?" Donna cried, watching the Doctor press buttons and flip switches,

"Remember that little trick of mine, particles pulling particles." He reminded them, and Florence didn't like where he was going with it. "Well, it works in reverse. They're pulling us back!" Florence groaned and held on tightly to the metal railings,

"Okay! And what can you do about it?!" She yelled at him, Donna screaming at him next to her,

"Hasn't it got a handbrake? Can't you reverse or warp or beam or something?!" The Doctor mumbled something under his breath before perking up and grabbing at something underneath him,

"Wait a minute!" He pulled out a very familiar looking grey surfboard complete with wires and flashing lights. "The extrapolator!"

"You're kidding!" Florence yelled at him, as he fussed with it. "How long have you had that thing?!" He laughed and balanced it against the console,

"Good times!" He yelled to her, causing her to roll her eyes. "It can't stop us, but should give us a good bump!" Florence felt the TARDIS shudder once more before the Doctor looked around the central column at her. "Florence, pass my hammer!" Florence let go of the railings and lept to the console, grabbing his mallet and passing it over to him,

"Don't hit her!" The Doctor grinned before flicking one more switch and yelling out,

"Now!" He hit the surfboard with a cry and the TARDIS finally stopped shaking. He stopped for a moment to straighten his jacket before running to the doors and pulling them open, to reveal they had landed in another dimly lit corridor. "We're about two hundred yards to the right. Come on!" They ran, the Doctor and Florence only steps ahead of the bride, who fell behind slightly to lift her dress to run.

"But what do we do?" Donna asked the moment they stopped for breath outside another bulkhead door, the Doctor pulled his stethoscope out from his jacket and shrugged slightly.

"I don't know." Florence nodded,

"He makes it up as he goes along honestly." The Doctor winked at her and turned back to the door, placing his stethoscope against it.

"But trust me, I've got a history."

Donna shook her head. "But I still don't understand. I'm full of particles, but what for?" The Doctor looked at her momentarily before focusing on the door,

"There's a Racnoss web at the centre of the Earth, but my people unravelled their power source. Florence could you turn this to the left." Florence complied, watching him move his stethoscope around as she spun the wheel slowly. "The Huon particles ceased to exist but the Racnoss were stuck. They've just taken hibernation for billions of years. Frozen, dead, kaput." Florence frowned at the silence behind them and turned quickly to see nothing but empty space behind them. "So you're the new key. Brand new particles, living particles!" She tugged on the Doctor's sleeve as he continued talking. "They need you to open it and you have never been so quiet." The two of them jumped away from the door. "Oh!" He finally pulled his screwdriver out and sonicked the door, opening it to reveal a cloaked robot behind it, pointing a gun at them.

Florence raised her hands quickly and glared at him. "Now what?" The Doctor smiled,

"Now… this." He poked the robot with a single finger and it fell backwards with a clang, Florence gave him an incredulous look. "What? You really think I didn't hear it with my little gadget?" He clucked his teeth at her. "For shame." She gave him a deadpan look,

"It's a stethoscope." He winked at her, bending down to pull the cloak off of the robot and holding his hand out to pull her with him through the doorway. "Come on."

---

Florence hid herself out of sight of the action as the Doctor left her, covered head to toe in the black cloak he had stolen from the robot. She ducked behind a metal cask, and watched as the Empress ordered for massacre to begin.

"Stay out of sight." The Doctor had told her, quietly. "I have a plan, and a back up plan. Don't. Run. Out." She had merely given him a look, and he had returned it with a wink before pulling his hood over his head and slowly walking up the staircase, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

"My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them." The Empress cried out. "So you might as well unmask, my clever little doctor man." Florence closed her eyes briefly,

"Fuck." She breathed as she heard movement above.

"Oh well, nice try." She heard the Doctor say with faux disappointment. "I've got you, Donna!" She heard the sound of his sonic screwdriver and Donna screaming from above, and Florence managed to poke her head around her hiding spot to see Donna trapped high above them in the confines of the spider's web.

"I'm going to fall!" She screamed as the web loosened, but the Doctor called out to reassure her,

"No! You're going to swing! I've got you!" The web finally detached and Donna held onto part of it, swinging across the hole she had been suspended over with a scream, landing with a clang on the floor just feet away from Florence's hiding spot in the shadows. "Oh, sorry." Florence finally jumped out and helped the poor woman get to her feet.

"You alright?" She helped her wipe away the excess web and the redhead glared up at the Time Lord.

"Thanks for nothin'!" She called up to him and he winced slightly, before turning back to the Empress who looked unimpressed.

"The doctor man amuses me." She told them, and Florence looked up to see the Doctor's response, he was standing against the railing looking down at the Empress with a stormy expression.

"Empress of the Racnoss, I give you one last chance. I can find you a planet. I can find you and your children a place in the universe to co-exist. Take that offer and end this now." He was diplomatic and stern, but the Empress was unmoved,

"These men are so funny!" She hissed at him, but he met her gaze.

"What's your answer?" He demanded from her, but she turned away dismissively,

"I'm afraid I have to decline!" She let out a cackle and Florence shook her head, she knew he would only offer her salvation once.

"What happens next is your own doing." He told her quietly.

"I'll show you what happens next." She hissed, turning to her robot guards. "At arms! Take aim! And-"

"Relax." The Doctor finished for her, and Florence and Donna looked between the Doctor and the robots in confusion.

"What did you do?" Donna asked.

"Guess what I've got, Donna?" He asked her rhetorically, before pulling a golden controller out from his suit jacket. "Pockets." He answered for her, making Florence smirk, she loved those bottomless pockets.

"How did that fit in there?" Donna asked his incredulously, and he grinned down at her/

"They're bigger on the inside."

The Empress interrupted their fun with a hiss of anger. "Roboforms are not necessary." She warned them. "My children may feast on Martian flesh."

"Oh, but I'm not from Mars." The Doctor told her, making her falter ever so slightly,

"Then where?"

"My home planet is far away and long since gone." He said, power radiating through his speech. "But its name lives on. Gallifrey." The Empress screeched in horror and reared up,

"They murdered the Racnoss!" The Doctor showed no pity, pulling a handful of the exploding baubles that had attacked the wedding reception out of his pocket,

"I warned you. You did this." The Racnoss screamed as her threw them into the air,

"No! NO!" He used the controller to navigate the baubles, sending them soaring across the room, some heading out and towards the Thames barrier that the Doctor had discovered, while others surrounded the Empress. "Don't! NO!" Explosions rocked the building, and the pressure caused sparks and flames to erupt as water burst into the room, rushing past the heightened platform where Donna and Florence stood and flowing into the hole in the centre of the room, the Empress' screams only being drowned out by that of her own children. Florence stood transfixed, looking out at the chaos in front of her, but all she could notice was how little she felt. Maybe the smallest part of her felt some sort of guilt for her part in aiding what was most likely the genocide of the Racnoss, but what outweighed that feeling was the sound of screams she had heard coming from innocent people when the Empress had launched her attack on London. And that worried Florence, she was hit by the realisation that maybe, just maybe, she was too much like the Doctor but without his bravery, she could never physically push the button, but would she always be happy to stand by and watch?

Donna's voice once more tore Florence from her own troubles.

"Doctor!" Florence looked up sharply and noticed that the Doctor had been doing nothing but stare off into the chaos, soaking wet with fire still exploding behind him. "You can stop now!" The trance was broken, and he tore his eyes from the screaming Empress, yelling down to his two companions,

"Come on! Time I got you out." He ran down one flight of stairs while Donna and Florence ran up to meet him in the middle, pushing past the debris and pulling objects out of their way to escape.

"Transport me!" Florence turned around just in time to see the Empress disappear in the same blue light she had arrived in not that long ago, before the Doctor grabbed her wet hand softly with his own.

"Come on." He tugged her after him, as he led the two women down another short hallway and towards a bulkhead door, opening it quickly and motioning the two to go ahead of him, and up the ladder. Donna shot up but Florence hesitated, which the Doctor noticed and pushed her hand gently onto the rung. "I'm right behind you." he squeezed her hand and let go, shutting the door behind him and following her up as she steadily climbed.

"What about the Empress?" Donna yelled down, not pausing for a moment from her climbing.

"She's used up all her Huon energy. She's defenceless!" The three continued climbing for what seemed like an age before Donna finally came to a hald and began to twist a wheel with all her might, opening the hatch as a bright light filled the London sky.

The three climbed out and into the top of, what almost made Florence sick with fright, the Thames barrier gates, and despite her fear she couldn't help joining in with the other two's laughter.

"There's just one problem." Donna told them, when her laughter died down. Florence looked at her, wrapped up in the Doctor's arms and shivering ever so slightly,

"What?"

"We've drained the Thames." She told them, and they burst into laughter once more when they saw the mess they had made below their feet.

---

A little while later, Florence was toweling her hair dry as the Doctor landed the TARDIS to drop Donna home, she had tried to give the Doctor's hair a quick seeing to but had only managed to fluff up the back when he swatted her away with a groan of annoyance. She left the towel on the railing and followed the two of them out the TARDIS doors and onto an ordinary London street, and Donna looked up at the extraordinary man in front of her, who was giving the TARDIS door frame a loving pat.

"There we go. Told you she'd be alright. She can survive anything."

"More than I've done." Donna quipped, and Florence nudged her,

"Oh come on, survived your very first alien invasion, a right of passage that is!" She received a soft smile in return.

The Doctor gave her a quick once over with the sonic screwdriver and nodded at the results. "No, all the Huon particles have gone. No damage, you're fine."

"Yeah, but apart from that, I missed my wedding, lost my job and became a widow on the same day. Sort of." Florence winced minutely at her summary of the days events, while the Doctor looked apologetic,

"I couldn't save him." He told her, and she nodded,

"He deserved it." She told them confidently, but faltered slightly when the Doctor gave her a look. "No, he didn't… I'd better get inside. They'll be worried." She motioned to the house behind her, but the Doctor gave her a smile,

"Best Christmas present they could have." They looked and saw Donna's family hugging. "Oh, no. I forgot you hate Christmas."

Donna nodded again. "Yes. I do."

"Even if it snows?" The Doctor asked cheekily, reaching behind him and pressing a button at the top of the TARDIS doorframe, causing the lamp on the roof to glow and shoot a beam of energy into the air, and snow began to fall over them. Florence laughed and tried to catch some like a child.

"I can't believe you did that!" Donna cried in delight, and the Doctor shrugged casually, throwing his arm around Florence's shoulder.

"Oh, basic atmospheric excitation." Florence scoffed and rolled her eyes,

"Stop making fun nerdy!" Donna laughed at the two of them and smiled gently,

"Merry Christmas."

"And you." The Doctor returned, before looking at her curiously. "So, what will you do with yourself now?"

She shrugged. "Not getting married, for starters. And I'm not going to temp anymore." She sighed, thinking of the endless possibilities life had in store for her. "I don't know. Travel. See a bit more of planet Earth. Walk in the dust. Just go out there and do something." Florence smiled, before looking at up at the Doctor hopefully.

"Wellll…" He drew out, agreeing with Florence's wordless suggestion. "You could always…"

"What?" Donna asked.

"Come with us!" Florence burst out, a part of her wanting to finally take control of the companions she got to meet in the right order. "Please!" She saw Donna's expression shift,

"No." She said simply, and despite her disappointment, Florence nodded in understanding, the Doctor squeezing her shoulder lightly.

"Okay." He told the redhead, who suddenly looked ten times sadder,

"I can't." She told them, and the Doctor nodded too,

"It's fine."

"No, but really." Donna began. "Everything we did today. Do you live your life like that? Both of you?" Florence smiled fondly,

"Yeah, and it's scary, but…"

"But you've seen it out there. It's beautiful." The Doctor finished for her, only Donna shook her head.

"And it's terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying, and you were stood there like... I don't know, a stranger. And Florence was just," She looked at the young woman, "frozen. And then you made it snow. I mean, you scare me to death." She laughed at the absurdity of it all,

"Right." The Doctor said, and Donna suddenly smiled at him to lighten the mood.

"Tell you what I will do, though. Christmas dinner. Oh, come on!" She urged, seeing the Doctor's reluctant face.

"I don't do that sort of thing."

"You did it last year." She disagreed. "You said so. And you might as well, because Mum always cooks enough for twenty." He hummed for a moment before giving in,

"Oh, all right then. But you go first. Better warn them." He dropped his arm from Florence's shoulder to take hold of her hand and pull her into the TARDIS. "And don't say I'm a Martian. I just have to park her properly." He nodded behind him to the inside of his ship. "She might drift off to the Middle Ages. We'll see you in a minute." Florence gave Donna a little wink and a wave, understanding that the Doctor had no intention of coming back for Christmas dinner, and there was no way she would be able to convince him, no matter how hungry she told him she was. He pulled her into the console room, getting as far as flipping one lever before they could hear Donna's voice calling for them outside.

He paused in his piloting and poked his head out of the door, Florence's head appearing below.

"Blimey you can shout!" He told the redhead, who gave him a sad smile,

"Am I ever going to see you two again?" She asked, and Florence grinned,

"Oh, I hope so!"

Donna pointed a finger at the two of them. "Just promise me one thing." She smiled. "Stay with each other, but find someone else to go with you." Florence frowned,

"Okay…"

"We don't need anyone else." The Doctor told her, rather firmly, but she shook her head.

"Yes, you do. Because sometimes, I think you need someone to stop you. And sometimes, it's not Florence." Florence felt the Doctor shift as he spoke,

"Yeah… Thanks then, Donna Noble. Good luck, and just…" He paused to find the right words. "Be magnificent."

"I think I will, yeah." Florence blew a kiss at the redhead as the two of them retreated into the TARDIS, but was stopped once more by the same voice. "Doctor?"

"Oh, what is it now?" The Doctor asked, pretending to be annoyed but turning nonetheless, while Florence stood to the side of the doors inside.

"That friend of yours." Florence saw the Doctor tense slightly. "What was her name?"

"Rose." The Doctor murmured, so gently that had she not been so close, Florence may have missed it, and she felt her whole body go numb. "Her name was Rose." Farewells over, the Doctor closed the door and Florence followed him up the ramp and over to the console, where he began to set the TARDIS into motion.

She hesitated, she knew he couldn't necessarily tell her, and nor did she necessarily want to know. But she couldn't hold it in. It wasn't fair on either of them.

"What happened to Rose?" She asked quietly, before repeating herself louder when he refused to answer. "Doctor… what happened to her?"

"We lost her, that's all you can know." He told her sternly, refusing to meet her eyes.

"No, that's not fair." She shook her head at him. "Not on you, not on me. This one time, please, let me help."

"You can't." He whispered, shaking his head and staring at the console. "I won't let you."

"'You won't let me'?" She repeated, slowly getting frustrated with his obstinance. "Doctor, you're a mess!" He flinched slightly at her honesty which made her falter. "Please! What good is having me around if I can't help you save her!"

"You are more than just a do-over!" He told her angrily, finally looking her in the eye. "It's not your job to do anything! And I'm telling you now, let… it… go." He walked over to her side of the console. "Please." He reached out to grab her face gently and the moment he did she closed her eyes.

And that was when the burning began.

---

Yay! Another chapter done! Looking forward to the next one, a looooot of excitement and perhaps a cheeky new face (or faces…)

See you for chapter 20! xo