Journey to the Centre of the TARDIS! This episode is slightly shorter, so it's all in one chapter. As always, leave a review, and if you have any requests...

Zuri woke to a surprisingly calm TARDIS. The pleased hum in her head let her know the old girl was happy she was okay, and Zuri took a moment to rub the door frame appreciatively.

"Where would I be without you, sexy?"

"Oh, well if that's how you feel about me." The Doctor's voice came from the hallway.

Zuri let out a rather undignified squeak, then turned to face him. "I was speaking to the TARDIS, but now that you mention it..." She trailed off with an elevator stare. Starting at his head and enjoying his embarrassment as his joke backfired, she trailed her eyes down his lanky frame. "Is that what you think of me, Doctor?"

"Oh, well, I- I- I've dropped off the Ponds to process and left River her journal. Are you keeping up with yours?" He sputtered before swiftly changing the subject. He wasn't expecting this Zuri to flirt back at him.

"Yes." She had been. Every spare moment was spent writing down her future knowledge, trying to retain it. If she was here for any real length of time, Zuri knew her memories of the episodes could fade, and someone could die. She was not going to let that happen.

"Right. Well, what would you like to do now? I would suggest something simple, so you can rest a bit more." The Doctor broke into her musing.

"Well, first; we are going to the kitchen to make some food. I'm starved. And second, we are going to sit, and you are going to explain what happened back there. Why I can suddenly feel other peoples emotions to the point of incapacitation."

"Ah."

The pair of them walked slowly to the kitchen, each caught in their own thoughts. When they arrived, Zuri quickly set about making pancakes, while the Doctor whipped up some omelets. They ate in relative silence, but when the food was gone, the Doctor sighed.

"Alright. You already know that the Artron energy is making you more Time Lord esque, but how much do you know about our physiology?"

"Ummm... Not much really. Regeneration, obviously, nerve cluster in the shoulder, slight differences in body temp. Two hearts. Touch telepathic. That's about it." Zuri lay down her fork and focused her attention on the man in front of her.

"Well, that's a better grasp than I thought. The main things that will change for you relate to most of that. You are going to regenerate, which will give you a second heart. The nerve cluster, touch telepathy, although you are stronger now than most ever achieve. You already can communicate without the touch over certain distances. I think that has to do with the fact you didn't know beforehand. Many Time Lords never make it past touch, simply because we coined it touch telepathy. They never thought it could go beyond that.

"But what you experienced with Melody... That was Empathy. It's rarer among Time Lords since the Looming came into practice, but you were created by the Vortex, not a loom."

Zuri leaned back in her chair. "So I can feel emotions. Can you?"

"No." The Doctor looked at his empty plate like it held all the secrets in the Universe. "So I can only attempt to guide you in this ability. That's why the blocks I put up didn't hold very long. I don't actually know what I'm doing in this area."

"Right."

"You do figure it out. I promise. Your next body... She seems a natural at it."

"Okay. I need to process. In the meantime, let's bake." Zuri stood up from the table.

"Bake?"

"Yup, fetch the flour, I'm making chocolate chip pumpkin bread."

And the two spent the rest of the day baking. The TARDIS cupboards were well stocked with muffins, bread, and scones by the time Zuri admitted she was too tired to go on. She bid the Doctor goodnight, and never noticed the fact they had been baking for 72 hours.

She crawled into bed, still slightly floury, and let out a sigh. "Oof." Was all she said, then her eyes closed, and she was out.

Zuri spent almost a month with this Doctor and loved every second of it. They went to a bazaar in the 25th century, and he won her a giant stuffed whale, which she kept at the foot of her bed, and she won him a large stuffed owl, "To keep an eye on you when I'm gone."

She was having so much fun, that she didn't notice how long she'd been in one place until they were stationed at the console, the Doctor explaining the many buttons functions, though she knew them already, and her arms began to glow.

"Doctor."

"Hmm?"

"I'm leaving," Zuri announced with a pout.

He glanced up from his fiddling, and a soft smile covered his face. "Wherever you go, I'll be there."

She nodded, and then the glow took over. She barely had time to thank heavens the Vortex was warm, and not ice-cold when she landed with a thump.

The TARDIS had given a grumpy rumble right as she landed, and the floor was not steady. As such, she promptly fell on her butt with a cry of indignation.

"Zuri?"

It was still the Eleventh Doctor? Did she not leave after all? Could the vortex just change it's mind, mid-jump?

"Here, Doc!"

He appeared around the corner with a cry of joy. But he looked different. Older. Definitely jumped then.

"Zuri, I'm glad you're here. Clara has just said something that needs addressing."

"Oh, Clara. I've not met her yet." She took the Doctor's offered hand and he pulled her to her feet.

"Oh. Do you know..?" He trailed off awkwardly.

Zuri sighed. "Yes, I know. She keeps appearing and you're trying to figure her out. I promise, she's fine."

Either taking her word for it or letting it go, for now, he took her hand again and dragged her around the corner to Clara.

"You said-" He began to continue a previous conversation.

"I know what I said, I'm the one who said it. Hello, Zuri." Clara offered a wave.

"You said it was looking at you funny." The Doctor finished.

"I was tired. Overwrought. I didn't mean it. It's an appliance. It does a job." The short woman spoke in clipped sentences like she was trying more to convince herself.

"It's a pretty cool appliance. We're not talking a cheese grater here." The Doctor stroked the console, and Zuri realized what they were talking about.

"Oi! You'd best not be insulting the old girl!" said Zuri.

"You're not getting me to talk to your ship." Clara glanced carefully a Zuri. "That's properly bonkers."

"It's okay, it's okay." The Doctor said, sounding more like he was soothing the TARDIS than Clara.

"You're like one of those guys that can't go out with a girl unless his mother approves!" Clara shook her head.

Zuri took to stroking the console as well. Insulting your ride through space and time is just poor manners.

"It's important to me that you get along." The Doctor protested. "I could leave you alone together?"

"Now you're creeping me out." Clara's eyebrows would have brushed the roof if they rose any higher, and even Zuri let out a snort of amusement.

"Take the wheel, not the wheel." The Doctor began to flip switches on the console. "I'll make it easy- shut it down to basic mode for you."

"Basic!" Clara exclaimed. "Cause I'm a girl?" She leaned on the console next to him.

Zuri gasped softly as she realized what episode this was. She subtly wrapped her hands around the console, having no idea which phase of TARDIS she would end up in.

Clara was smiling as she followed the direction given to her, knowing that she was the first companion in a long while he was trusting to drive. Zuri had popped that bit of knowledge in her head accidentally, she was trying to create a link between them in case she ended up with the Doctor.

She flipped a switch, and the lights went out. "What have I done?" She asked hesitantly.

Lights began to flash, an angry red color. "Camp?" Zuri asked though she knew that wasn't it.

"Er... Okay." The Doctor said. "No, Zuri. Not camp. Basic takes it to a standard system set for the driver. In this case Clara, who is human. Red means..." He trailed off, but Zuri got the message.

He sidled over to the screen, which flashed information, then cracked.

"Doctor?" Clara didn't get it yet.

"All the electrical impulses are jammed. I can't get the shields back up. She's completely vulnerable!" He grunted as he rammed his shoulder, trying to move a lever.

"I swear, I just touched it." Clara was beginning to see the problem. The Doctor succeeded in moving the lever, but sparks flew and the TARDIS lurched.

Zuri kept tight hold of the console, but something flew across the room, striking her in the head, and everything went dark.

When Zuri woke, she could still see the console. "Doctor?" Nothing.

"Well, this could get fishy, real quick. Clara?" No response. "Right. Okay Sexy, I know you're trying to help get us back together, but don't focus on me, you got that? You get Clara and the Doctor safe before you even think about me."

There was a low, protective hum. So Zuri did what she felt was needed. She pulled herself to her feet, circled the console, and deleted the readings of her existence from the drive. The TARDIS now couldn't register her life signs.

And then she set off. In theory, all Zuri had to do was avoid the melted zombies, and she would be fine. So she headed for the library to see if she could hear the echo of Clara.

"Clara?" She tried calling softly. She spotted the Doctor's cot, and Seven's umbrella on the nearby table. She snatched up the umbrella, just in case. Then she heard it. Or rather, felt it. Clara. Her fear was reverberating in the space between.

Zuri followed the trail like a dog follows a scent. It led her around near the console, and she heard the Doctor's voice. "-salvage of a lifetime. You meant the ship, I meant Zuri and Clara. We will rescue them."

Clara was heading back towards the library. Zuri tiptoed in just as a bottle on the shelf wobbled. Dumping its contents directly on Zuri's head. She coughed, but the sharp breath needed to cough drew more vapor into her lungs. She saw flashes of words before her eyes and heard a deep whisper.

Then it was gone. Clara flickered into view for a moment, and Zuri focused on reaching her mind. Clara. Clara if you can hear me, we must head for the console room. We can't get out. Not yet, but we must be there so the Doctor can find us.

"Zuri?" The faintest of whispers.

Think to me, Clara. I can hear you. Don't touch the monsters.

Zuri, where are you?

I'm coming right behind you. I'm in another dimension, of sorts. But I can hear you, and I know what must be done. Please, head for the console.

Alright. I trust you.

Zuri tried to send a feeling of warmth and a smile. They would get out of this. Zuri made her own way to the console room, only to sense an overwhelming frustration.

Zuri! Zuri there's no door, and it won't let me leave!

Zuri leaned on the console, no Clara in sight. Clara, she won't let you leave because she is protecting you. The Doctor will be here soon. Just wait, and calm down.

A piece of the TARDIS flew past Zuri, only to vanish before it hit the ground. She felt Clara's surprise, and then the Doctor's relief. Doctor?

Zuri! "Hey, look, look!" His voice bled through for a second. "The TARDIS has them safe! That was Clara! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

"Why can't we see them?" Another voice, the brother who thought he was an android. Tricky.

"It's like a light switch. Two positions. Flickering at super infinite speeds. We're only together for a brief second."

There was a growl, then Clara screamed. Then all sound faded away. But she could still feel the panic. As new as she was to this ability, Zuri was overwhelmed. She clutched at her head and fell back into the console, banging her head again. Not pleasant.

"I've got you." The Doctor's voice, but still too far away. He was speaking to Clara. "Where is she? Where's Zuri?!" Ah, there's the realization.

Doc, I'm in a different time pocket. But you have to hurry, the engines are going to blow. Don't worry, I know what the creatures are, I won't touch them.

Be careful- The connection cut off jarringly. She was on her own. Well, if the Doctor managed to find Clara and pull her through, surely Zuri could figure it out. She did occasionally pay attention when he spoke. She pulled herself from the floor and fiddled with a few switches on the console, but nothing happened. Oh right, he used the Sonic. Crap.

"Sexy?" said Zuri. She peered up at the ceiling. Nothing. "Right, I shut off the sensors looking after me."

Zuri rubbed gently at the knot on the back of her head, where she hit the console twice, but winced as her vision went fuzzy. Right, then, no touchy. Her hand came away sticky with drying blood, gross.

"Alright, if you can't see me, then I can get to the engine room no problem. No snarl, no cliff to jump off, just avoiding the half-melted corpses of my friends. I can do that." she mumbled to herself, looking for the manual she kept hidden under one of the floor panels. But it seems the Doctor had found it, and thrown it out the doors again since it wasn't there.

She scrubbed her hand over her face. Right. The hard way then. She found the correct panel and pulled up the grating in the floor. There was a long dark tunnel underneath. Wishing desperately that she had a Sonic of her own if only to light the way, she crawled into the tunnel.

Zuri was rapidly beginning to feel afraid of the dark. Apparently emotions were stronger than thoughts, as all the fear and chaos the others were experiencing bled through to the other side, but thoughts did not. She couldn't get a link to the Doctor or Clara. When you're alone, in the dark, crawling through a small tunnel, and all you can sense is terror... You'd be afraid of the dark too.

It was as she came to a cross tunnel that she heard a low growl. "Crap." She began to crawl faster, praying she wasn't being too loud. But the growls only came closer, and she quickly abandoned any attempt at silence for speed.

The creature half shuffled behind her, thankfully half-melted bodies couldn't crawl very fast.

She found another cross tunnel, shielded by thick grating on the other openings. Yanking one out of place as quickly and quietly as possible, Zuri pulled herself through and hoped it led to the engine room in a roundabout manner. She propped the grate back in its slot just as the creature was shuffling into view. Barely daring to breathe, she scooted down the new tunnel.

The walls seemed to tighten around her, like a massive fist, the gaps between its fingers the seams in the piping. The air was thick and vaguely smelled of some form of fuel, though Zuri could not immediately identify which kind. She spared a brief thought for wondering how she could see at all this far in but decided not to question small mercies.

The tunnel eventually led to another set of cross tunnels, and she made it to the engine room. Glowing white, there was a blinding flash, and she heard the Doctor's pained scream.

"Doctor!"

The Doctor was polishing the center column when Zuri opened her eyes. Clara descended the staircase next to her, seeming fresh from the shower.

"I feel exhausted," said Clara. "I feel..."

"We've had two days crammed into the space of one?" The Doctor asked.

Zuri nodded and sent a subtle glance his direction. I know you remember more than you're saying.

"Why would you say that?" Clara asked.

"I don't know." He fiddled with a few switches, but Zuri could tell he wasn't actually doing anything.

"I say stuff. Ignore me." He paused. "Do you feel safe?"

"Of course," said Clara.

The Doctor spun around to face her, surprisingly serious. "Give me a number out of ten, ten being whoo-hoo! one being aarrgh!"

"You're being weird." Clara stared. Zuri nodded but kept her silence.

"I need to know if you feel safe. I need to know... You're not afraid."

"Of?" Clara prompted.

"The future. Running away with a spaceman and his time jumper in a box. Anything could happen to you."

Clara smirked. "That's what I'm counting on. Push the button!"

The Doctor grinned and tossed the rag he'd been polishing with, in a hook shot to nowhere. Then he yanked the dematerialization lever, and they were off.