Discovery

by LizzeXX

11/OC -Time Lady- The Doctor has lost all his people again after his confrontation with House...or has he? When a mysterious contact appears that leads to an old friend, the Doctor might just find himself with more than he bargained for. A dear friend who went Mad at the Untempered Schism, a friend of his AND the Master's. What will happen? First in the Mysteries of Space and Time.

10. The Betrayal of River Song

The Betrayal of River Song

As the Doctor was led through the halls of the Senate house, dressed in traditional Roman garb more suited for ancient times, his hair long, a beard grown in, two guards on either side of him, chains around his wrists and ankles, the only thing he could think about was that the Detective was probably going to make Winston Churchill die in an incredibly slow and painful manner and he should probably figure out some way to calm her down...maybe with cake.

Time had fallen apart.

It was two minutes past five in the afternoon, the 22nd of April, 2011…and it always had and always would be, according to lesser minds not altered by time travel, such as Winston Churchill, who was now the Holy Roman Emperor. All history was happening at the very same time, the past, the present, the future too. The underground had become an elevated steam rail, cars whizzed about attached to hot air balloons and steered via propellers, pterodactyls flew through the sky, Roman chariots rumbled down the streets, the War of the Roses was still happening, and Charles Dickens was alive and well and writing away, all the while Cleopatra was dancing around Gaul while people rode Wooly Mammoths around while speaking to Silurians.

It was complete and utter chaos.

The Detective, of course, had the time of her life in the middle of it all while HE had, at least, been trying to get people to listen to him about how time was going wrong...until she'd grabbed a tomato and began throwing other veg at him, booing him loudly enough to draw futuristic robo-cops to them.

No, she wasn't going to kill Winston Churchill for that, he wasn't to blame for all this chaos, she was loving the chaos, it was more that, when the robo-cops had taken him, they'd grabbed her too and she did what she always did when she wanted to get out of trouble. She talked, a lot, so much so that there was a rule about having her gagged unless she was eating and even THEN she didn't stop talking.

So she was quite abgry about that…and about the fact that they 'only' got fed three times a day, which was, in her words, cruel and unusual punishment.

So yes, he had been privy to every thought that whizzed through her head about the various methods she could use to murder Winston Churchill and maybe get away with it. Oh, there were ways to get away with it completely, but she always did like that threat of getting caught.

If Winston was any sort of smart man, he would not release the shackles on her arms or legs…or dare to get near her or she'd be liable to strangle him with her cuffs anyway.

He glanced over at her as she was literally carried down the hall with him, four guards struggling to keep a hold of her as she twisted and jerked, trying to get free. She'd put the kicking and screaming in, 'you'll have to drag me there kicking and screaming' he was sure of it. She wasn't going to make this easy for Winston after their 'treatment.' But, then again, neither was he. He had made it clear to the man that he would not speak a word unless the Detective was with him. He didn't trust the guards to be left alone with her and not hurt her, some of them were from the more brutish periods of history. Thankfully none had laid a finger on them in such a way, but he wouldn't risk her, ever.

Nor would it have been smart for any of them to try, the lack of snacks and more substantial food had made her cranky as anything and she'd be more likely to bite someone's finger off if they tried.

The Doctor was so caught up in checking on the Detective that he stumbled when he was shoved forward into the Emperor's office, the Detective practically dropped to the ground on her knees by the other soldiers as she glared at them.

"Leave us!" Winston ordered, gesturing the soldiers to leave the room while he turned to the Doctor and the Detective, "Don't. Move," he called to the Doctor, who had immediately turned to try and pull the gag out of the Detective's mouth. The woman had her hands chained behind her back while the Doctor's were tied in front of him. He waited till the Doctor held his hands up and stepped back, the Detective huffing and shifting on the floor to sit with her legs crossed, looking very petulant, before he continued to speak, "'Tick tock goes the clock,' as the old song says. But they don't, do they? The clocks never tick. Something has happened to time. That's what you say. What you never STOP saying," he shot a narrow eyed look at the two. For as much as the Detective jabbered on, she never talked only about time, and for all that the Doctor would make claims about time, the man would refuse to speak unless the Detective was there, "All of history is happening at once. But what does that mean? What happened? Explain to me in terms that I can understand. What happened to time?"

"IvrSng!" the Detective tried to speak around her gag.

"You," Winston pointed at the Doctor, trusting him to speak less nonsense than the Detective.

The Doctor sighed, rubbing his forehead, "A woman."

~8~

The Doctor stood off to the side, the Stetson on his head, arms crossed, his face grim and serious as he watched the Detective approach their fallen enemy with a wide, maniacal grin on her face. It was times like this that he was reminded of her closeness with the Master, her own madness, and how it was beneficial to be on her good side. Right now, they had settled on a plan for him, how to beat the Silence a third and final time at their own game, they had two last things to see to to be sure it would work. They needed to be fast, get the information quickly, and make sure no one would talk, they couldn't risk this getting out to their enemies.

He was weak, in that way, he knew, never wanting to get his hands dirty, to threaten, to kill.

The Detective was all too happy to do it for him, which she was proving right now.

She'd had no qualms at all with taking charge of a Chula warship, firing at the Dalek saucer, and threatening the only Dalek survivor. Well, he SAID only survivor, it was…now. Once the Detective was through with the others. He should have stopped her, he knew that, reined her in or something. It was easier said than done when it came to the Detective. It was never more apparent to him, in moments like this, in her willingness and ease with causing destruction, the truth behind her comments that he didn't know what she was capable of, since he had never been her enemy before. If she could do THIS to their true enemy, he never wanted to cross her.

With one ship, she'd destroyed a Dalek saucer, decimated the remaining survivors, and seemed very eager to toy with the last one as well if her grin was anything to go by.

"Ooh, poor baby," the Detective mockingly cooed as she stepped up to it, "You're afraid aren't you? Dying such a long way from home? In pain? Well, it's about to get worse," she reached the Dalek's eye stalk, leaning in, "Hello scum."

"Emergency, emergency!" the Dalek struggled, trying to get away, "Weapon system disabled, emergency! Emergency! Emergency!"

"Oh shut up," she muttered, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a crowbar, slamming it against the lens of the eyestalk, cracking it to obscure its vision, "You showed us no mercy, you'll get none from me," she turned, using the bar to pry the top casing of the Dalek open, completely unperturbed by its screams as she peeled its skull-equivalent away, "I want information about the Silence, and you're gonna give it to me whether you like it or not."

The Doctor winced as she ripped something out of the inside of the Dalek's suit, its data core, where all its memories were stored, before tossing a lit stick of dynamite (really, he thought he'd cleared out her supply from her pockets after visiting Craig) into the casing and walking away towards him, ignoring the explosion behind her. He let out a long whistle as she tossed him the core, leaning down to pick up the eyestalk as it skid across the floor to her feet.

She grinned, "Told you I'd be humane."

The Doctor could only shake his head at her treatment of the Dalek…it wasn't as humane as he would have been to the creatures, not that he'd reprimand her for it. He would have only been slightly better using a sonic instead of a crowbar. He turned for a moment to watch her skip off towards the TARDIS, the eyestalk resting on her shoulder, and sighed before following her.

~8~

The Detective sighed as the Doctor yanked her back from where she'd been about to storm over to a hooded figure walking down the docks of Calisto B that night. He held up a finger, signaling for her to wait, before they followed the man into a nearby bar. It would be better to confront the man in a crowded, public setting where he couldn't risk exposing himself or breaking the cover they knew he was trying to keep.

Looking around at the other patrons, they couldn't see the man they were looking for, so the Detective moved over to the bartender, an alien with very red skin, safely set up behind a grate, "I want to see Gideon Vandaleur, NOW."

"Who says he's here?" the bartender challenged.

"Better question, do you like apples?"

"What?" the man was thrown.

"Do you?"

"Um…yes?"

The Detective merely smirked and slammed the Dalek eyestalk against the grate to show the man, "How do you like them apples?" she asked, "I tore this off a Dalek, I'll do worse to you through this grate if you don't get me Gideon Vandaleur NOW."

The bartender swallowed hard and scampered off to find the man in question, not seeing the Detective move the eyestalk into one of her pockets before the Doctor took her hand and led her over to a table to wait.

"I think it's three now," the Doctor remarked easily, sitting down and flipping through a magazine that had been left at the table.

"What is?"

"You," he looked at her, "Making grown men wet their nappies."

The Detective smirked proudly, breathing on her nails and rubbing them on her hoodie, "Ooh!" she cheered up when a passing waitress placed a small bowl of beer nuts between them, pulling it to her to scoop a handful into her mouth. The Doctor chuckled as he watched her in her glee, reaching out to snag one, only for her to slap his hand and glare at him, pulling the bowl towards her protectively. He laughed heartily at that, he hadn't actually wanted any, not a big fan of nuts, but he knew how she'd react and it always got a laugh from him. He knew she was playing it up even more for his benefit, to cheer him up.

Everything was going wrong, everything was serious and dangerous now, coming down to the wire. The fact that he'd even agreed to go after a Dalek for information told her that he wasn't doing well, that it was getting to be too much. She wanted him to know she was there, and no matter what else changed, she wouldn't. She was on his side, she was AT his side.

The Detective hissed like a feral cat, jerking the bowl back and even closer to her chest when a man in a monk's robe sat down at their table, warning him not to dare take her food.

The man, blonde, pale, with an eyepatch just like Madame Kovarian's, held his hands up in peace.

"Father Gideon Vandaleur," the Doctor greeted, "Former envoy of the Silence. Our condol…" the Detective cleared her throat, "MY condolences."

"Your what?" the man asked, sounding hesitant and caught out.

"Look," the Detective leaned forward, "You know that we know that 'Gideon Vandaleur' died six months ago. We were there for the funeral just to make sure, moving ceremony, very touching," the man was very much about to make a break for it, when she reached out to grab the front of his robe and yank him forward, "Oh, you don't want to do that," she warned, her voice low and dangerous, "You take a single move away from us, and Theta will destroy all your teeny tiny systems and you'll have to explain to the Agency how you managed to destroy a Teselecta beyond repair. So, we can do this the hard way," she loosened her grip and patted the wrinkles now in the robe, "Or the easy way. Which will it be?"

The Teselecta tensed, but didn't move as it had been threatened not to do.

"Poo," she pouted, "I was hoping it would be the hard way," she huffed and sat back in her chair, slumped and petulantly eating her beer nuts.

"Can I speak to the Captain, please?" the Doctor patted her arm, leaning forward to speak to the people within the robot, "Hello again! The Teselecta, time-travelling shape-changing robot, powered by miniaturized people. Never get bored of that! Long time since Berlin."

"Doctor!" the captain spoke, though it sounded like Gideon's voice, "What do you want?"

"Isn't it obvious?" the Detective let out a long, drawn out sigh, rubbing the side of her head, considering if it actually might not be obvious to others besides her, "The Teselecta can become anyone, but you specifically chose an agent of the Silence, a group you didn't know anything about before but found out were behind the Doctor's death and using River Song to do their bidding. Clearly you'd investigate them now."

"Tell me about them," the Doctor continued, ignoring the startled look on the robot's face at how the Detective had worked that out. It was one of his favorite things to witness, when she shocked someone with her keen observations. So many wrote her off as being silly or not paying attention, they didn't take her seriously. And when she revealed all she'd learned, usually at a glimpse, it was the best thing to watch them realize how much they underestimated her, how easily she could fool them. He loved seeing her brilliance shine through.

"Tell you what?" the robot sighed.

"One thing. Just one. Their weakest link."

~8~

The Doctor did his best to hold in his laugh as he sat across from Gantok, an alien who looked quite a bit like a wizened Earth Viking, wearing an eye patch, while they played a game of chess for the screaming masses. The chess game wasn't just any old chess game, no, every piece on the board was electrified, it was often, quite literally, a game to the death. The crowds were very excited to see who would kick the bucket when they lost, which appeared to be Gantok, despite being a reining champion. Everyone always liked to see the best topple at one point.

But that wasn't why he was trying not to laugh. It was the fact that the Detective was in the crowd, with a megaphone, shouting insults and distracting words at Gantok, wearing a shirt that said '#TeamTheta!' and a foam finger that said '#1 Doctor!' and a large baseball cap reading 'Go Theta!' while also throwing popcorn and other small food items at Gantok. She certainly was getting into this baiting she was doing because he had never known her to part ways with food so easily unless it was to annoy someone else.

It was irritating Gantok, and amusing him greatly, though it was for the best, this set up. The Detective didn't know how to play chess and even if she had, she would have probably gotten carried away by the competitiveness of it and let the man before him die and there would go their lead.

"The crowd are getting restless!" the Doctor spoke calmly to Gantok as he hesitated, "They know the Queen is your only legal move. Except you've already moved it 12 times, which means there are now over four million volts running through it."

"Boo!" the Detective was shouting more abuses', "You suck, Gantok!"

"That's why they call it live chess. Even with the gauntlet you'll never make it to bishop four alive."

"Down with Gantok!"

"I am a dead man," Gantok agreed, "Unless you concede the game."

"Do it!" the Detective called, "Just do it!"

"But I'm winning," the Doctor argued.

"Name your price," Gantok gave in.

"Make your move!" the Detective insisted.

"Information," the Doctor decided.

"I work for the Silence," Gantok frowned, "They would kill me."

"Not if that kills you first!"

That time the Doctor couldn't keep in the snort that escaped, of course she could hear them.

"They're going to kill me too, very soon," he reminded the alien, "I was just going to lie down and take it, but you know women, happy wife happy life and all, not that the Detective's my wife, but if she's not happy, she'll make my life miserable, and she'd be very, VERY unhappy if I just go out without a bang. And, well, Detective. It's in her name. She wants to know why I have to die."

"Go away Gantok, nobody likes you!"

"Dorium Maldovar is the only one who can help you," Gantok told him.

"Dorium's dead," the Doctor argued, "The Monks beheaded him at Demons Run."

"We're all aBUZZ with excitement here!"

"I know," Gantok winced at that last booming shout from the Detective, "Concede the game, Doctor...and I'll take you to him."

The Doctor nodded, leaning forward to tip one of his pieces over, giving up the game.

"Oh come on!" the Detective booed along with the crowd.

~8~

The Doctor shook his head as he watched the Detective skip ahead of him, just behind Gantok who led the way down a catacomb tunnel of the Seventh Transcept, a torch in hand, the woman utterly unperturbed by the skulls set into every available surface and the broken ones littering the ground.

"The Seventh Transept," Gantok informed them, "Where the Headless Monks keep the leftovers. Watch your step, there are traps everywhere."

The Doctor shuddered when he heard a scampering noise near the floor, not wanting to look down, "Eww! I hate rats."

"Better than squirrels," the Detective shrugged.

"There are no rats or squirrels in the transept," Gantok told them.

"Oh, good," the Doctor nodded, very relieved.

"The skulls eat them, don't they?" the Detective hummed in a guess, watching absently as the skulls on the shelves turned their heads to watch them walk past.

"The Headless Monks behead you alive, remember?" Gantok nodded, speaking more to the Doctor who looked startled at the thought of the skulls being able to eat anything.

The Detective let out a whistle when they came to an open room, very bare, filled with skulls too, with simple wooden boxes resting on top of a set of pedestals, "You'd think this would be a bit more comfy," she shrugged, for all the money people paid the church there should have been more simplicity and comfort.

"Why are some of them in boxes?" the Doctor eyed them.

"Because some people are rich and some people are left to rot," Gantok shrugged, "Dorium Maldovar was always very rich."

"Not rich enough," the Detective mused, pulling out her magnifying glass to examine the room while the Doctor soniced the boxes, "Or he'd have bought another body."

Gantok put the torch he'd been holding in a sconce on the wall, watching the Doctor open the box and see Dorium's head sleeping inside, letting out a small cough.

"Thank you for bringing us, Gantok," the Doctor called.

Gantok smirked, "My pleasure," and pulled a gun from his furs, turning it on the Doctor, for he had a weapon in hand while the woman had a glass, "It saves me the trouble of burying you. Nobody beats me at chess!"

The Detective rolled her eyes and strode towards Gantok, slightly behind him, and slammed her foot down on the floor near his foot, triggering a trap her glass had picked up, opening the floor beneath him, sending the Viking falling through it and into a pile of skulls. She looked down at him, "I'M the only one gets to kill him, jerk!" she shouted, before stomping next to the opened part to trigger the floor back into place as the alien screamed, not batting an eye as the skulls started to eat him.

The Doctor moved his arm around her shoulder as he came beside her, tugging her close to press a kiss to her temple in thanks of her defense of him. Even if it wasn't quite how he would have handled Gantok, for her it was always more about the thought and intention than the action and she had wanted to protect him.

"Hello?" Dorium called as he woke up to the noise, "Is someone there?" the two Time Lords turned and made their way over so the head could see them, "Ah, Doctor! Thank God it's you and the Detective and not…listen, the Monks, they turned on me."

"Well...I'm afraid they rather did a bit," the Doctor nodded, ignoring the Detective's snort of 'Understatement.'

"Give it to me straight, Doctor! How bad are my injuries?"

"Well..."

"You're a head without a body," the Detective bluntly said, which only made Dorium laugh…

~8~

"This is absurd!" Winston shouted in interruption, needing to be louder than he normally would be, the Detective kept trying to talk through the Doctor's retelling of events, seeming to want to put a different spin on things or argue about what happened, and she was causing a ruckus, "Other worlds, carnivorous skulls, talking heads. I don't know why I'm listening to you."

"Ecsyrntncmptidit," the Detective spoke.

"Because in another reality, you and I are friends," the Doctor explained, thinking it best not to remark about how the Detective had implied the man wasn't a 'complete idiot' as in he was still partly an idiot, "And you sense that. Just as you sense there is something wrong with time."

"You mentioned a woman..." Winston said after a moment.

"Wsntme!" the Detective rolled onto her back and kicked one of her feet up as much as she could, as though she was trying to raise her hand but had to make due, the chains dragging her other leg up with her.

"Yes," the Doctor patted her knee as she rolled back to a sitting position, mentally grumbling to him about how she was getting twisted up in her toga, "I'm getting to her."

"What's she like?" Winston wondered, glancing at the Detective a moment and back, "Attractive, I assume."

The Doctor chuckled as the Detective preened at the praise, "Hell. In high heels."

"Tell me more."

~8~

"Oh, it's not so bad really," Dorium spoke once he'd had his fill of laughing, "As long as they get your box the right way up. I got a media-chip fitted in my head years ago, and the wi-fi down here is excellent. So I keep myself entertained."

"Yeah, I really don't care," the Detective cut in.

The Doctor snapped his finger and pointed at her nodding, "We need to know about the Silence."

"Oh," Dorium's head moved slightly as though he was trying to nod, "A religious order of great power and discretion. The sentinels of history, as they like to call themselves."

"Yeah, still don't care," the Detective repeated, "Why do they want Theta dead?"

"They don't REALLY want him dead, they just don't want him to remain alive."

"Oh, that's ok," the Doctor scoffed, "I was worried for a minute there."

"You're a man with a long and dangerous past. But your future is infinitely more terrifying. The Silence believe it must be averted."

The Detective snorted, "Him? HIM? HE's the one with a terrifying and dangerous future?"

"No," the Doctor turned to point at her, "Don't even think about it."

"But it would…"

"No!" he was firmer now, "You are not going on a rampage through the universe!"

She pouted, "Always spoiling my fun."

It wasn't a bad plan, she felt, not really. She'd always tried to keep a rein on her manic tendencies, because she had to keep the Master in check or the Doctor was keeping her in check. But if she was truly left to her own devices? If the Silence thought HE was dangerous and frightening, they hadn't even begun to grasp how much of a handful she could be. It had been one reason why she'd sent that email to the Doctor, because she'd focused on finding the Master, and she knew, without that focus, she'd go off the rails without him around. And as soon as anyone got wind that a 'Time Lord' (Lady) was out there causing havoc, they'd blame the Doctor. Because she'd stayed out of their crossfire, she wasn't as known…and that was so much more dangerous because no one knew what she was capable of.

If it meant turning the Silence's attention to her and not the Doctor, she would cause unbridled destruction and chaos without hesitation or concern. He'd seen it in her mind, that very plan, and he was too noble to let her do that.

"You know you could've told me all this, the last time we met," the Doctor turned back to Dorium.

"It was a busy day and I got beheaded," Dorium pointed out.

"What's so dangerous about my future?"

"What's more dangerous about his future than mine?" the Detective corrected.

Dorium sighed, before reciting the prophecy that part of the church was built on, "On the fields of Trenzalore, at the fall of the Eleventh, when no living creature could speak falsely, or fail to answer, a question will be asked. A question that must never, ever be answered…"

"Yes, yes, silence will fall when the question is asked, heard that before. WHAT question?"

"Silence MUST fall would be a better translation. The Silence are determined the question will never be answered. That the Doctor will NEVER reach Trenzalore."

"Look, Blue, if you don't tell me what question, I will gouge your wi-fi chip out with this pen," she held a fountain pen up from her pocket, leaning in to look Dorium in the eye.

The head swallowed hard, "The first question. The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight. Is…"

~8~

"It's not my fault!" Dorium cried out.

The Detective, who had been carrying his box while the Doctor and her rushed back to the TARDIS upon hearing the question, tossed the box to the side, onto one of the captain's chairs, not caring how it landed.

"Put me back!" the box stopped rolling, "Ow! I've fallen on my nose."

The Detective moved to the console, to the monitor and brought up the Teselecta's information from the Doctor's death date and time, frowning at it as he came to join her, his hand on her shoulder as her mind processed all the final clues they needed.

"Have you got wi-fi here?" Dorium just wouldn't shut up, "I'm bored already and my nose is hurting! We all have to die, Doctor...but you more than most. You do see that, don't you? You know what the question is now, you do see that you have to die!"

"Ok," the Detective turned, duct tape in hand, already yanking a strip of it, when the Doctor reached out to hook his hand around her elbow and tug her over, pulling her into a hug. She had protected him, in her own way, from the Master over the years, protected the Master from him, and now another threat was trying to hurt him and she did NOT want to be reminded of it until they had dealt with this threat too, because until it was over, they wouldn't know for sure if he would actually survive this.

She would believe he would, of course he would survive, but that didn't mean she wanted to hear anyone question it.

~8~

The Detective glared at the Doctor as they walked along the halls of the Senate with Winston, the man keeping a hand on her upper arm to keep her on his left side while Winston was on his right. Her hands and ankles were still bound, her mouth still gagged, she was starting to think that the Doctor was enjoying her not being able to speak…or kill Winston.

Jerk.

"But what was the question?" Winston asked as they absently meandered into a large room, "Why did it mean your death?"

"Ndmrdta," the Detective muttered.

"Suppose there was a man who knew a secret," the Doctor spoke, "A terrible, dangerous secret that must never be told. How would you erase that secret from the world? Destroy it forever, before it can be spoken?"

The Detective made a sound like she was trying to make a raspberry sound but it couldn't get around the gag.

"If I had to, I'd destroy the man," Winston declared.

"And silence would fall. All the times I've heard those words, I never realized..." he looked over at the Detective, recalling her ironic words of what was one of her top five questions, "It was my silence. My death. The Doctor will fall…" he trailed off when the Detective suddenly stopped walking, and turned to her to see her frowning, based on how her brow was furrowing, and looking around, 'What?'

'Why are we here?' she asked him, 'Why did we leave the office? There was no reason to. Tubby just up and started walking.'

The Doctor nearly snorted at her name for Winston, but her question got to him and he looked around too. He hadn't even realized he'd gone along with it, that he'd followed. The Detective had been a little more aggressive as they'd walked, trying to slam into them as they went, he'd thought it was just her dislike for Winston and the gag…but maybe she had been trying to stop them while he'd rambled on.

"Why are we here?" he asked Winston quickly, starting to fear the worst about why they'd done something without realizing it, it was far too much like when Canton had straightened his bowtie.

"This?" Winston looked around, "This is the Senate Room."

"But why did we leave your office?"

"Well, we wanted a stroll, didn't we?"

"No," the Detective managed to get that word out, by dragging it out, "Yjststrtdwking!"

'Gun, Theta,' the Detective pointed out in his mind.

The Doctor looked down to see that Winston did in fact have a revolver in hand now, that he had just nonchalantly pulled it out, "I think I've been running. Why do you have your revolver?"

"Well...you're dangerous company, Soothsayer, especially that one," he waved the revolver at the Detective who shot him a glare.

The Detective turned so she could use her hands to pinch the Doctor's arm, drawing his attention to a black tick mark that was now drawn there, "Yes. I think we are..." he began to move his hands behind him, the Detective turning to 'guard his back' or so it would seem, though he was reaching for her binds…

Winston huffed, "Resume your story."

~8~

"Doctor, please open my hatch!" Dorium's muffled voice cut through their moment of vulnerability, "I've got an awful headache..."

The Doctor sighed, dropping a kiss to the top of the Detective's head, before he moved over to the box and reached for the latch.

"Which to be honest means more than it used to," a moment later Dorium was revealed…upside down, with his eyes closed, "It's like some terrible weight pressing down on my..." he paused when he opened his eyes and realized why that might be, "Oh, I see!"

"Why Lake Silencio?" the Doctor asked the blue head, "Why Utah?"

"It's a still point in time," it was the Detective who answered though, back at the monitor. She'd looked into that very question just after Berlin, why there? Of all the places in the universe? There were some places much more dangerous and likely to kill him far more easily than this convoluted plan of stealing Melody Pond and raising her as a psychopath. The answer was glaringly obvious once she ran the temporal scans of the location, "It's easier to take a still point and make it into a fixed point, make it difficult for someone to go back and save you."

"Impossible," Dorium corrected, swallowing audibly when the Detective sent him a murderous glare for it, "It's impossible to change a fixed point…"

"It's dangerous, you mean," the Detective moved over towards Dorium, "It would rip time apart, it would cause it to disintegrate, no one in their right mind would ever risk doing such a thing," she squatted down to peer Dorium in the eyes, rolling her own before turning his box over the right way, not wanting to catch the glimpse of up his nose she had just then, "I haven't been in my right mind since I was 8 years old, what makes you think I would care a lick about the laws of time if it means saving him?"

Dorium's eyes widened as her words registered, realizing it wasn't an idle threat or a hypothetical, she was being fully serious now. She was saying she would risk all that to save the Doctor, when he knew the Doctor wouldn't do the same to save himself due to the risk involved.

…perhaps Kovarian SHOULD have been targeting the Detective instead.

"That's if we even get there," the Doctor put a hand on her back, sending her a warning thought to ease up, reminding her of their plan, to not give away too much, "Been running all my life. Why should I stop?"

"You can't run away from this," Dorium looked up at him, breathing a little easier when the Detective stood and stepped back, leaning into the Doctor's touch, "Because now you know what's at stake. Why your life ends."

"Not today," the Doctor turned, moving to the console and grabbing the phone.

"What's the point in delaying? How long have you delayed already?"

The Detective snorted, "I'm pretty sure he's been delaying handing in his paper on the history of farming for…ooh, near 1,000 years now?"

The Doctor pointed a finger at her, beaming, as he put in a number, "Been knocking about. Bit of a farewell tour. Things to do, people to see, there's always more. Had A LOT to catch Sigma up on. Still WAY more to do yet. I could invent a new color…"

"Have some toast with honey on Melissa Majora," the Detective began to tick off her own list.

"Save the Dodo."

"Try some of that funny blue stuff on Akhaten."

"Join the Beatles!"

"Have dinner with Julia Childs…"

"Hello!" the Doctor suddenly turned to the phone when it was answered, "It's me. Get him! Tell him, we're going out and it's all on me, except for the money and driving," he spun around to face Dorium, his hand pressed to the bottom of the phone, "We've got a time machine, Dorium, it's all still going on. For me and Sigma, it'll never stop."

"Though we MAY have to avoid some other places," the Detective agreed, "Like that glade," she smirked at the Doctor, "Where Bessie's still waiting to elope with you."

"Should probably avoid anywhere Jack's having a stag party too…"

"Time catches up with us all!" Dorium cut in.

"Well, it has never laid a glove on me!" the Doctor snapped, lifting the phone when he heard someone speaking again, "Hello?"

"Doctor," a woman spoke, her voice kind and regretful, "I'm so sorry, we didn't know how to contact you. I'm afraid Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart passed away a few months ago. Doctor?"

"Yes," he swallowed hard, "Yes, I..."

"It was very peaceful. He talked a lot about you, if that's any comfort. Always made us pour an extra brandy in case you came round one of these days."

"Theta," the Detective stepped forward, taking the phone from him, "Time machine," she reminded him, setting the phone down, "You can still go back and have all the brandy you want with him, every day if you want. I won't tell the teacher."

The Doctor managed to crack a smile at that. Once the Master had snuck a bottle of some sort of alcohol into the school, something about it being a gift from his father for his coming of age day. The two boys had gotten so sloshed they'd thought they should start a boyband and the Detective had the pleasure of recording the entire situation, even when they'd stripped down to their underthings because 'that could be their theme!' and decided they should call themselves 'the Boxer Boys!' to her great amusement. She would often threaten them, when they were sober and swore off any sort of alcohol for the rest of their long lives, with showing the head teacher what they'd done if they didn't agree to do whatever mad thing she wanted to do.

Not that she ever actually went through with the threat, it was always more a teasing remark, she never had to really work hard to convince them to do something bonkers.

He looked at her, reaching up to touch her face, before saying, "It's time," he told her, not that he was resigning himself to this fate, but…the Brigadier had been one person they'd thought to recruit for the final envelope, that he would be someone River might have heard about with all her travelling and she would trust him if he just suddenly appeared with a can of gasoline. They'd have to rework that last part, but they had a backup in mind. No, it wasn't him going to his death, it was the rest of the plan falling into place, "It's time."

~8~

The Doctor and the Detec…well, actually, just the Doctor, stood before a table the Teselecta was sitting at, the Detective had wandered off the moment they entered in search of more beer nuts. Which was fine, she didn't really need to be at his side for this, he was just sliding four blue envelopes to the robot with a request to deliver them to the people marked on it, at the exact times and dates listed.

"Surely you could deliver the messages yourself," the robot spoke, still in the guises of the Silence's associate.

"It would involve crossing my own time stream," the Doctor said, "And while Sigma would be all for it…it's really best not to this time."

The robot nodded, taking the envelopes, "According to our files, this is the end for you. Your final journey. We'll deliver your messages. You can depend on us."

"Thank you," the Doctor smiled, glancing around for the Detective and nodding her over when he caught her eye as she was (likely threatening) the bartender for more nuts.

"Doctor," the robot stood, "Whatever you think of the Teselecta, we are champions of law and order, just as you have always been. Is there nothing else we can do?"

"Well…" the Detective began with a smile as she arrived at their table, "Since you offered…"

The Doctor was quite sure the little people within the robot were now regretting their words at how widely the Detective's smile was growing...

~8~

"Why would you do this?" Winston asked, cutting into the Doctor's memories of how Amy, River, and Canton received their envelopes shortly after they'd left the bar, "Of all the things you've told me, this I find hardest to believe."

"Rlly?" the Detective snorted, turning to stand beside the Doctor instead behind him, though she kept her now-free hands behind her to keep up the illusion she was still bound, "THSsdhrdst? Ohtbby…"

Winston, wisely, chose to ignore her, "Why would you invite your friends to see your death?"

"I had to die," the Doctor shrugged, "I didn't have to die alone," he smiled fondly, thinking of how he'd seen the Ponds in Utah, surprised them after they'd gotten off a bus, "Amy and Rory. The last Centurion and the girl who waited. However dark it got, I'd turn around, and there they'd be. If it's time to go, remember what you're leaving. Remember the best," he looked at the Detective just then, "My friends have always been the best of me. Even if the very best of them couldn't be there."

The Detective moved her head to rest it, a little firmly, on his shoulder for a moment in a show of reciprocation. She HAD been there, but, as always, off to the side and in the shadows, watching from a distance while he went and did something stupid. She'd wanted to wear a perception filter, be out there, unnoticed, but they didn't know if the Silence would be able to see through it, so she'd had to remain behind. The Ponds hadn't recognized her when they first met, which meant she hadn't been with him at the lakeside.

Look at him, joining in on fooling his past self into thinking she was still dead, too. He couldn't be angry with River any longer for not saying something in the Library or the Byzantium now, not when he was guilty of the same.

"And did you tell them this was going to happen?" Winston asked.

"It would help if you didn't keep asking questions," the Doctor cut in, looking down when the Detective bumped her hip against his arm, to see two more tally's there, "We don't have much time," he whispered to her.

"And this woman you spoke of," and, of course, Winston didn't do well with orders and continued to ask his questions, "Did you invite her?"

"Yes," he nodded, thinking of how River Song had shot the Stetson right off his head, "She was there."

Oh the Detective had been fuming when they'd gone to a nearby diner to discuss his plans with the Ponds, all three of them, subtly telling them he was older than their version of the Doctor. All that food, that delicious looking milkshake, those gorgeous chips, and she hadn't been able to touch or try a single one. It was even worse when they got to the lakeside, to the picnic he'd packed, even more food for them and none for poor old Sigma.

"River Song came twice," he added. He'd looked to the lake and seen the 'astronaut' slowly rising, a younger River Song trapped within, just after he'd spotted a much older Canton there with the gasoline he'd requested, "Everything was in place. I only had to do one more thing. I only had to die."

So he'd given the order to the Ponds not to approach, not to interfere, to do nothing but stay back. And he'd gone to meet his fate, standing right in front of the astronaut, the visor opening to see a sobbing River within. She'd warned him she couldn't stop the suit, it was forcing her hand…which was really odd, according to the Detective, because if it could do that then why did it need anyone inside in the first place and it was even more of a convoluted plan than the Silence needed and how stupid were they? WHY were these arch-nemeses of his so set on big complicated plans!?

He'd done his best not to laugh at how she'd gone off in a rant in his head about it. He had to be serious or River would know and fire too easily. She had to look like she was fighting or the Silence he knew were watching would never believe it. He'd tried to reassure her though, because it was cruel, that part of the plan, even if it was necessary. She'd wanted him to run, but he couldn't. He'd spouted some of Dorium's nonsense, about it being fixed and how she'd be ok, because she was there with her parents just a few feet away in her future. It probably hadn't been great of him to tell her she was serving time for his murder as a means to convince her to actually kill him…but he was under stress!

He'd forgiven her, refused to let her rewrite time, and closed his eyes to wait for the blast, readying himself for what would come after…when the shots River fired missed him completely as she drained her weapon systems and a bright flash of light destroyed every aspect of time.

And there they were, back here, causing havoc in the streets and getting arrested and ignored, till now.

"Well?" Winston asked when the Doctor didn't say anything for a while, lost in thought, "What happened?"

"Nothing," he said simply.

"Nothing?"

"Zp!" the Detective casually took a few steps away, "Nda. Zlch! Zro!"

"Nothing happened," the Doctor agreed, "And then it kept happening. Or, if you prefer, everything happened, at once, and it won't ever stop. Time is dying. It's going to be 5:02 in the afternoon for all eternity. A needle stuck on a record."

"A record?" Winston grumbled, "Good Lord, man, have you never heard of downloads?"

"Said Winston Churchill."

'Smell that?' the Detective called to the Doctor in his mind.

He sniffed deeply a few times, frowning, which made Winston do the same, the Emperor frowning, "Gun smoke," Winston identified, "That's gun smoke!" he looked at his gun, checking it, "I appear to have fired this."

'He did,' the Detective turned to the Doctor with a frown, 'Are you both really not remembering this? Why else have you got a pike in your hand?'

The Doctor looked down, startled to see he was, indeed, holding a pike, "We seem to be defending ourselves."

The Detective rolled her eyes. She knew, the Doctor told her, that the Silence could affect the memory, but this was a bit ridiculous.

"I don't understand…" Winston sounded genuinely frightened now.

"The creatures that lead the Silence," the Doctor gripped the pike tightly, preparing himself, "Remarkable beings...they're memory-proof."

"But what does that mean?"

"Oh, for god's sake," the Detective huffed, having enough of these stupid questions, and ripped her gag out with her free hands, "It means you can't remember them. Honestly, it's not THAT hard to work out. And for that matter, it's not THAT hard to remember there are Silence on the ceiling!" she pointed right above her for more effect.

The Doctor's eyes widened as he and Winston slowly looked up, following the direction of her arm…to see a massive amount of Silence hanging from the ceiling, upside down, like bats.

The Detective crossed her arms, "Bet you wish they let me keep my hoodie now, hmm?" she challenged the Doctor, who had told her he'd 'get her a new hoodie with bigger pockets' when this was all over after she'd spent 4 days straight complaining about it. But the fact was, it had a lot of useful things in it that could have blown those Silence to smithereens right now, and she didn't have any of it.

She had just finished thinking that when a small canister rolled into the room, tossed in through the open window, and rolled across the floor, beeping.

"Ooh, what's that?" she perked up, reaching for it.

But the Doctor grabbed her hand and yanked her to the side, far away from it, "Go!" he shouted, trying to get her and Winston out of the room, but they only made it a few feet away from the door when the bomb went off, a flash bomb, so bright it made it hard to see, with smoke also filling the room from it.

There was a crashing noise as something rammed into the side of the wall, demolishing it, allowing armed soldiers to rush in, weapons drawn.

"I want that for Christmas!" the Detective shouted to the Doctor, pointing to the wall where they could just barely see the device that had torn the wall down through the smoke and the residual of the bomb.

"Go!" one of the soldiers shouted orders, "Go! Keep the Silence in sight at all times, keep your eye drives active."

Winston, who had had his back to the bomb as he was pushed on by the Doctor, hadn't had as much damage done by the flash, and could see a woman with long red hair in a pantsuit striding through the smoke, an eye patch over one eye, "Who the devil are you?! Identify yourselves!"

"Pond," a familiar voice said, and the Time Lords could finally make out a somewhat blurry image of Amy approaching, "Amelia Pond."

"No!" the Doctor reached out to push Winston's arm down when the man tried to fire at her, "She's on our side, it's o…k…" he trailed off when Amy got close enough for him to see the black blur on her face wasn't just some sort of weird shadow from her hair, but an eye patch just like the associates of the Silence wore, "No! No, Amy, Amy. Why are you wearing that?"

Amy merely aimed a dart gun at him and fired, knocking him out, before turning to the Detective, "It's much more fun my way," the Detective told her, "You see, I…" only for Amy to fire a dart at her, too, to shut her up.

"Finally," Amy muttered as the Detective's world went black, "Some quiet."

~8~

The Doctor slowly came to to the sound of a radio playing, an announcement reporting on the solar flare and sun spot activity that had been affecting many things lately. There was a ceiling fan above him, he was lying on a couch…and the Detective was set up beside him, tied to a chair with duct tape across her face. He took one look at her and burst out laughing.

"Karma," he murmured, sitting up and leaning over to begin untying her first.

"Oh, why would you do that?" a voice sighed and he looked over to see Amy leaning in the doorway, "We did that for a reason!"

"Which was?" he asked.

"She woke up hours before you, destroyed the plumbing system in three cars, and nearly derailed us, all the while going on a tangent about all the mistakes humans have made in our very long histories."

The Doctor had to nod at that, "Sounds like her."

As soon as the Detective was free, she reached up and ripped the tape off her mouth, sitting there for a moment and frowning at it, "Wow, that even got that one hair I was going to pluck from the middle of my chi…OWWWW!" she winced, her other hand coming up to rub around her lips and cheeks as the sting of it caught up with her, "Is that what that feels like?" she looked at the Doctor, knowing he had more experience with her taping his mouth shut than Amy would.

"Yes," he deadpanned.

"Huh," she considered it, before she shrugged, "Didn't hurt that bad."

The Doctor snorted, knowing she was saying it so she'd have an excuse to keep using that method when she deemed appropriate, though he hoped she might use it a bit less than before. He looked over at Amy, who hadn't entered the room and was just watching them, her eyepatch catching the minimal light of the car.

Amy sighed, "Those stun guns aren't fun, I'm sorry. I wanted to avoid a long conversation. You need to get ready though, we'll be in Cairo shortly."

"Amy Pond!" the Doctor froze, hearing her speaking so clinically, "Amelia Pond from Leadworth, please, listen to m…" the Detective reached out to cover his mouth.

"She knows, Theta," she told him.

"Whht?" he managed to mumble from behind her hand.

The Detective nodded to the side, where there was a wall filled with pictures and drawings Amy had done, of all the adventures she had shared with the Doctor over the years. SHE had recognized some of them, like the minotaur or the wooden dollies, others she guessed about based on memories the Doctor had shown her, vampires in Venice and Weeping Angels. There was even a small TARDIS toy that looked like it was paper mached sitting on the desk.

"Oh," he nodded, reaching up to take the Detective's hand off his mouth, absently entwining their fingers together to continue holding it.

Amy's gaze flickered down to their joined hands, and up to him, taking in his appearance compared to the Detective's unchanged one, "You look rubbish."

"You look wonderful," the Doctor smiled, relieved that Amy was actually Amy, memories and all.

"So do you," she agreed, her gaze flickering between the two of them, both dressed in Roman garb, "But don't worry. We'll soon fix that," she turned and held up a tweed jacket hanging over a shirt with a bowtie on a hanger, and another with a hoodie, "I know they don't have bigger on the inside pockets, but I thought it would make you both feel more like you.

"Oh, brilliant!" the Detective leapt up to grab the clothing, seeing a pair of shorts hanging on the hanger inside it, "Togas, really, a bigger crime than the lederhosen," she glanced at Amy, "And I'm not just saying that because the last time I wore one I got struck by a stray javelin."

That had been a rather embarrassing moment. She'd only just got to Ancient Greece, accidently landing in the middle of one of their Olympics and scrambled to get a disguise to blend in. She'd been trying to get to a wider space to reconfigure the Vortex Manipulator and get to Samos when she was supposed to...and been hit with a stray javelin, ended up regenerating, being hailed as one of the gods by the people, and managed to teleport out once she got to the temple they'd carried her to.

It had been a mess.

The Doctor could only shake his head at that, only she could manage such a death, only her.

~8~

It took a bit longer for the Doctor to get back to sorts than the Detective. He'd also wanted to shave his beard though his hair was still quite long. But they were both dressed and ready before they made it to Cairo so Amy had no complaints.

"Ok," the Doctor strode into the room from where he'd gotten changed in a small bathroom down the hall, "How do I look?" he held his arms out wide and spun around, not commenting on how he'd walked in on the Detective in the middle of a critique on Amy's art while the ginger sat at her desk, rubbing her temples, and appearing like it was a true test of her patience not to murder the Time Lady in front of her.

"Cool," Amy answered, at the same time the Detective made an 'Eh' noise and so-so hand motion.

"Really?!" he beamed, more at Amy's answer than the Detective's.

"No."

He shrugged it off, "Cool office though. Why do you have an office?! Are you a special agent boss lady? Not sure about the eye patch."

"It IS weird," the Detective agreed, "Makes your face look too narrow."

Amy shot her a look and rolled her eyes, "It's not an eye patch. Time's gone wrong. Some of us noticed. There's a whole team of us working on it. You'll see."

"And you've got an office on a train," the Doctor beamed, "That is so cool. Can I have an office? Never had an office before! Or a train. Or a train slash office."

"If he gets one, I want one too!" the Detective called out, "I could do LOADS in an office on a train and…"

"Ok, second thought, no office for either of us," the Doctor negotiated, his mind already racing with the trouble the Detective could get to if she had her own office that was just hers with no one to watch out for her…the Earth and at least 7 other planets would probably fall under her domination in little over a week. She wouldn't care about Pluto, it wasn't a planet anymore, though he very much disagreed with that sentiment.

"God, I've missed you!" Amy laughed, getting up to hug him, thrilled beyond belief that he was awake now to rein in the Detective. She never would have ever thought she'd find someone MORE excitable than the Doctor, but the Detective proved her wrong.

"Ok, hugging and missing now…"

"Group hug!" the Detective called out, leaping over to join in, before pulling back, "This feels wrong. Missing something. Ooh! Where's Thing 1?"

Amy looked focused for a moment, before something got through to her, "You mean Rory! My husband Rory, yeah?" she turned and shuffled through some papers before she found the one she was looking for, the one where she'd drawn Rory, "That's him, isn't it?"

"Well," the Detective eyed it, "If I tilt my head and close one eye and squint…maybe it's him? You got the nose wrong…"

Amy snatched the drawing back, turning more to the Doctor as he was less likely to insult her drawing than the Detective, "I've no idea, I can't find him. I love him very much, don't I?"

But even HE seemed amused by her drawing, "Apparently."

Amy shook her head at them, turning her back to gather up some more loose papers, "I have to keep doing this. I have to keep writing and drawing things. It's just so hard to keep remembering..." she let out a long breath and turned, leaning against her desk to face them.

"Yes, well, if your daughter had just done as she was told and killed Theta, none of this would be happening," the Detective pointed out, irritated more with the fact that River had ruined their plans than that she hadn't succeeded in killing the Doctor.

"She was supposed to kill you, but she didn't," Amy nodded, remembering that, "I remember it twice, different ways."

"Two different versions of the same event," the Doctor nodded, "Both happening in the same moment. Time split wide open. Now look at it," he pointed at the window, "All of history happening at once."

"Does it matter? I mean can't we just stay like this?"

"Well, it could," the Detective considered, "But the longer it does the more time will disintegrate and spread all across the universe until everything just falls apart and we all die," she looked at Amy, "I'm game to see how long it takes."

"I'm not," the Doctor told Amy.

The ginger girl looked about to speak when a knock sounded on the door and Rory, of all people, poked his head in, dressed as a soldier, an eyepatch of his own on his face, "Ma'am, we're about to arrive. Eye drives need to be activated as soon as we disembark."

"Good point," Amy nodded, "Thank you, Captain Williams."

"Hello!" the Doctor positively beamed at Rory, reaching out with the hand around the Detective's shoulder to cover her mouth as she pointed at Rory excitedly, a noise that sounded something like 'ThnUn!' escaping her.

"Hello, sir, ma'am," Rory greeted, "Pleased to meet you."

"Captain Williams, best of the best, couldn't live without him," Amy told them, eyeing the aliens oddly as the Doctor seemed to struggle with keeping his hand over the Detective's mouth while she squirmed to try and escape, the Doctor only letting go when Captain Williams had shut the door and left.

"What is wrong?"

"What's his first name!?" the Detective managed to blurt out before the Doctor could say anything, actually using her hands to push him and his face away from her as he tried to cover her mouth again.

"What?"

"Captain Williams. What. Is. His. Name?"

"It's just…Captain Williams."

"Seriously, who would name a baby 'Captain?'"

"No, I mean, I don't know."

"Well he looks like a Rory to me."

Amy gave her an odd look, glancing from the sketch to where Captain Williams had been, and shook her head, no, no the Detective was just having her on, the sketch was Rory and Captain Williams wasn't, they didn't even look alike, and, "Why are you older?" she asked the Doctor, desperately needing a change of topic so she wouldn't continue to dwell and spiral about how she hadn't found her husband yet, "If time isn't really passing, then how can you be aging?"

"And that's why she's Thing 2," the Detective told the Doctor pointedly.

He chuckled and patted her arm, answering Amy, "Time's still passing for me. Every explosion has an epicenter. I'm it. I'm what's wrong."

"What's wrong with you?" Amy asked, seeing the Detective opening her mouth and not wanting to know what the Time Lady would say about it all, assuming it would be blunt and insensitive.

"I'm still alive."

~8~

The Detective let out a low whistle as she and the Doctor watched from the windows as the train, the Orient Express, rode directly into the Great Pyramid of Giza, now turned into Area 52, with a large spire set up on top of it. Once the train had stilled, Amy led them out of the car, near the front, and onto the platform set up with a set of narrow stairs leading down into the pyramid. Rory appeared then and took over lead, bringing them further into the pyramid as Amy gave them both an eye drive to use.

"You have to put it on, sir," Rory told the Doctor, as the Detective seemed alright with wearing it, but wasn't quite managing to get it to stick to her face.

"An eye patch?" he asked, "What for?"

"It's not an eye patch," Amy said.

"It's an eye drive, sir," Rory corrected, "It communicates directly with the memory centers of the brain, acts as external storage."

"Only thing that works on them. Because no living mind can remember these things, let me show you," Amy gave Rory a nod and he turned down a different hall, bringing them to a large room with tanks set up in the walls, just large enough to submerge a Silent in water, suspending them, in their suits, to be observed.

There were quite a number of them.

"The Silence," Rory began to explain, "We've captured over 100 of them now, all held in this Pyramid."

The Detective walked up to one of the chambers and reached into the pocket of her hoodie, before sighing when she only felt her other hand, "Anyone got a stick?" she called out, turning to the other soldiers that had joined them, but no one did.

The Doctor patted her on the shoulder as he joined her, eyeing the creatures, "I've encountered them before. Always wondered what they looked like."

The Detective gave him an odd look, "Are they really THAT hard to remember?" she had to ask, because she was quite sure she was remembering the Silence in the Senate room and not seeing them 'for the first time here.' So she took her eye drive off, and looked at the Silence, before turning to face the corner of the room, the solid wall.

"Um…Sigma, what are you…" the Doctor began.

"Huge, like HUGE head, with Voldemort's nose, and teeny weeny eyes, in a really outdated suit. I mean they could have at least gone with a bowtie if they're that obsessed with you, Theta."

The Doctor blinked, seeing the eye drive in her hand, "You can remember them?"

She turned around, tossing him her drive, "Apparently," she shrugged, "Madness, who knew it would be a good thing one day."

The Doctor eyed her closely, peering into her mind and saw the Silence there, memories of them, images of them. He didn't know if it was truly her madness protecting her or how her entire life had built up to her title, all her tricks to remember clues and piece together things. It could be that her mind just would not let go of any clue she came across, or that her mind was just too fast from the madness to not process the information and store it away before it could be erased. Either way, it really did seem like she could observe them without forgetting.

He tucked the eye drive into his pocket to look into later.

"Whenever we put our eye drives on we can retain the information," Amy told them, "But only as long as we're wearing it."

A thought seemed to strike the Detective as she turned to Amy, allowing the Doctor time to peer more closely at the aliens once more, "Patchy wore one," she remarked.

"She'd have to."

"Please tell me you tied her up," the Detective nearly whined, the Doctor spinning to face her at the implication that Kovarian was there, "The only way you'd have this is if you got your hands on one of theirs. And I'm guessing River would be gunning for Patchy more than anyone else."

Rory stared at her, "How did you…"

"Detective," she cut in.

Rory nodded, glancing at Amy and waiting till she gave the ok to continue on, "This way," and led them through the room, ignoring how the Silence all turned to watch the Doctor as he passed, putting his eye drive on, "They seem to be noticing you," he remarked.

"Yeah," he scoffed, "They would."

"Why wouldn't they, better question," the Detective pointed out, earning a wink from the Doctor.

"So why aren't the human race killing them on sight anymore?" Amy wondered.

"We DID say this was a completely separate reality, didn't we?"

"What are the tanks for?" the Doctor asked, looking at the fluid.

"Fail safe," the Detective guessed and Rory nodded, "Anything with electricity isn't safe to use with water. They'd kill themselves trying to escape. Which would actually be pretty cool to witness…"

Rory nodded at first, but then gave her an odd look for her last words, turning to explain more to the Doctor, "They can draw electricity from anything, it's how they attack. The fluid insulates them. And I don't like how the way they're looking at you."

"Me neither," the Doctor sighed.

"Ma'am, I'm sure it's nothing," Rory turned to Amy, "But I should check it out. They haven't been this active in a while," when she nodded her approval he turned to two other officers, "You two, upstairs, check all the tank seals. Then the floors above, get everyone checking. You go ahead, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Captain Williams," Amy called, moving on, "This way."

The Doctor moved like he was about to talk to Rory, when the Detective pulled him back by the back of his jacket, "Oh no, my turn."

"Sigma…"

"I can give good advice, too!" she countered, knowing he'd given Rory quite a lot of advice through the course of the man's relationship with Amy. She hadn't been there to 'assist' and now she was, and it was HER turn.

"Fine, fine," he sighed, waving her on, because…sometimes, once in a blue moon, she did give rather insightful and meaningful advice…

"Thing 2 likes you," the Detective said the moment she strode up to Rory, "Give her a chance and she will climb you like a tree. Best of luck!"

…and this was clearly not one of those times.

"Come on, Theta!" she called, grabbing his hand as she passed and yanking him on with her after Amy, catching up to her easily moments before she entered the king's chamber, which had been converted into some sort of lab/war room.

"Attention, all personnel," Rory's voice came over the speakers, "Please check all assigned containment units."

The Time Lords approached, following Amy, as a scientist in a white lab coat, was speaking to none other than River Song, "You were right. Just his presence in the building caused the loop to extend by nearly four chronons!"

There was a large digital clock on the wall that read 5:02:57, though the last second was rapidly fluctuating between 7 and 8.

"River!" the Detective cheered, hurrying down the last few stairs to hug the woman, "How are you, lovely to see you, what's this?" she asked, reaching past the woman to pick up some sort of equipment that was resting on the table behind her, with what looked like a large clock cracked open with a few tools to examine it lying about, "Ooh, it buzzes!" she cheered, clicking the tool to see a small wave of electricity between two tiny points on the end of it, she tapped it on the palm of her hand to see what charge it was, and nodded to herself, "I'm keeping this."

River laughed and patted her arm, "Glad you like it?" she offered, not entirely sure why the woman was so thrilled with the thing but not about to ask about it. She and the Detective had met up a number of times while she was at school, she'd learned quickly to be careful with her questions if she didn't want a rant or a ramble about something.

"River, what's going on?" the Doctor called as he came to join them, stopping short when River stepped to the side to reveal Kovarian tied to a chair.

"The death of time," the woman sneered, "The end of time. The end of us all. Oh, why couldn't you just die?"

"You went too big," the Detective told her, "I always say it, big complicated traps? He loves puzzles almost as much as I do. Give him simple and he'll bore himself to death first."

"I tried my best," the Doctor defended, "I showed up. You just can't get the psychopaths these days. Love what you've done with the pyramids. How did you swing all this?"

"Ooh!" the Detective threw her hand up even as she moved around River to sit at the desk and fiddle with the other tools, "Threat? Force? Hypnotism? Drugs? Se…"

"Hallucinogenic lipstick," River cut in, "Works wonders on President Kennedy. And Cleopatra was a real pushover."

The Detective sighed, "I have so much to teach you."

"We should have taken you," Kovarian muttered, "Your spawn would have done a far better job than…" she blinked rapidly when a crumpled up ball of paper was thrown at her face.

"You see these?" the Detective held up a somewhat large tweezer in one hand and a scissor in the other from the desk, "Keep talking and we'll see how long it takes to cut through the human tongue."

While the others looked mildly uncomfortable with what she'd just threatened, River smirked down at the bound woman, "It was such a basic mistake, wasn't it, Madame Kovarian? Take a child, raise her into a perfect psychopath, introduce her to the Doctor, to the Detective? Who else would I be friends with than someone madder than me?"

"It's not funny, River," the Doctor sighed, rubbing his head, "Reality is fatally compromised. Tell me you understand that."

"Dinner?" River offered instead.

"Fried rice and chicken please!" the Detective called out, now using the tools to fiddle with the little electrical pen she'd found, "With a side of ketchup if you don't mind."

"We don't have the time," the Doctor gave the Detective a firm look, ignoring her mouthing 'spoilsport' to him, "Nobody has the time, because as long I'm alive, time is dying. Because of you, River."

"Because I refused to kill you?" River scoffed.

The Doctor saw her about to cross her arms and lunged forward to try and grab her arm while it was moving, but Amy saw him, "Get him!" she shouted out, and soldiers rushed forward to restrain him, pulling him away from River as she, too, backed away from him.

"I'm not a fool, sweetie," River warned, "I know what happens if we touch."

The Doctor let the soldiers think he'd given in, and then ripped himself out of their hold to grab at River's wrist, holding on even as she shouted out, "Get off me, get him off me!"

"Doctor, no, let go!" Amy tried to pull him back, "Please, Doctor, let go!"

"It's moving!" the scientist from before shouted when the clock moved to 5:03, "Time's moving!"

"I like to move it, move it," the Detective began to sing, putting the tools down to watch the struggle going on before her, the Doctor latched on, River pulling away, Amy trying to tug him, "I like to move it, move it…"

And, for one brief moment, everyone was back where they had been just before River fired her shots, the Doctor and River, Amy and Rory, at the lake…

When more soldiers rushed forward to pry the Doctor away, handcuffing his hands behind his back when River gave the order to do so.

"Oh, why do you always have handcuffs?" the Doctor huffed.

"We stole them from the cops that tried to arrest us," the Detective answered, nonchalant.

"What?" he rounded on her.

She blinked and looked up at him, "I mean…we bought them at a novelty store?" her eyes looked left, then right, then at him, "That's a thing right?"

River could only shake her head behind his back, still at a complete loss as to how she could sometimes come up with the most brilliant excuses and other times fail so badly.

"River," he put that aside for now, honestly not sure he wanted to know what she and River had gotten up to that caused them to nearly be arrested, and turned to the woman, "This is the only way. We're the opposite poles of the disruption. If we touch, we short out the differential, time can begin."

"And I'll be by a lakeside, killing you," River argued.

"And time won't fall apart. Reality will continue. There isn't another way."

"I didn't say there was, sweetie. There are so many theories about you and I, you know."

"Idle gossip."

"Archaeology."

"Same thing."

The Detective chuckled at their banter, "I like you more and more, River! You remind me a lot of myself when I was a kid."

"I'm not a kid," River huffed.

The Detective snorted, pointing the electro-pen at her, "That pout says otherwise," before she turned to the Doctor, "She does have a point though, SO many theories. And yes, I did look into it too, Theta, some say she marries you, others say she murders you, one person thinks she's a mutation of you though I think they were trying to say incarnation but who cares what Elton thinks…the only Elton that matters is John."

"This is no fun at all," the Doctor huffed, honestly contemplating whether having the Master around would make this situation better or worse, he was currently being ganged up on by the Detective and River and having another man on his side would be helpful...but, knowing him, the Master would only be on his side because it would 'result in his death' or he might oppose him for the sheer chaos a universe falling apart would cause. Probably best the man wasn't here, seems like he'd lose either way.

"It isn't, is it?" River agreed on that at least.

Amy frowned when she looked up, having felt something wet touch her face, "Doctor...what's that?"

The Detective got up from her seat, the tiny electric pen in her hand, and wandered over, "I'm guessing that's the remnants of the Silence escaping."

The humans and the Doctor looked over at her for that.

"What?" she shook her head, "The only reason anything leaks is if it's broken, and the only large amounts of fluid around are their tanks…"

No sooner had she spoken, Rory ran back into the room, slamming the doors shut behind him with a shout of, "They're out! All of them," he gave an order to two nearby soldiers to bar the door with a thick plank of wood and hurried over to Amy, "Ma'am, my men out there, should be able to lock this down we have them outnumbered."

"And you're wearing eye drives based on mine, I think," Kovarian laughed, "Oops!"

"What do you mean?" the Doctor frowned.

"May want to take them off…" the Detective began, when one of the scientists screamed as her eye drive electrocuted her, sending her to the ground.

Kovarian laughed as every eye drive around the room began to 'malfunction,' trying to electrocute their wearers, but they had heard the Detective's words and had already begun pulling them off, even before the Doctor, too, shouted, "Eye pads off, now, remove them!"

"The Silence would never allow an advantage, without taking one themselves," Kovarian continued, "The effects will vary from person to person...either death or debilitating agony. But they will take you all, one by one."

The Detective meandered around the room, bypassing the humans still struggling to get theirs off, till she was right behind Kovarian…just as the woman's eye drive began to buzz too.

"What are you doing?" Kovarian gasped, starting to feel the voltage, "No, it's me…don't be stupid, you need me. Stop it, stop that! Get it off me!"

"Hmm…" the Detective mused, reaching out to tilt Kovarian's head back a bit, her hand beneath the woman's chin, "No."

With her other hand, she pressed the electrified pen down on Kovarian's patch, shorting it out, upping the voltage, causing the woman to scream in even more agonizing pain, while the others watched, horrified, as the woman began jerking and shaking in her bindings. But the Detective didn't stop, didn't let up, until Kovarian's screams cut short and the woman's body slumped. She pulled the pen back and shifted the hand under Kovarian's chin to touch the woman's neck, nodding to herself when she felt no pulse.

She crouched down to whisper to the woman, "That's what you get for hurting my friends."

She stood straight, tossing the pen in the air and catching it with her other hand before she looked over and noticed the gaping looks the others were sending her, "You're lucky we're in a bit of a rush," she told them simply, "What I had planned for her would have been much longer."

"That was…" Amy shook her head, for the first time realizing how…dangerous the Detective actually was.

The woman was so manic and scatterbrained, so energetic and distracted, hungry or tired, that it was almost comical. She herself had gotten her fair share of headaches and exasperation when dealing with the Detective. She was always laughing and joking, not taking things seriously...but she HAD seen glimpses, small though they were, of how serious and threatening she could be. Whether it was a vocal threat or hitting someone with something, it was always followed by something a little more light hearted so she never put much thought to it…but there the Detective was, she'd just murdered someone in front of them as though it was nothing, not even a glimmer of remorse in her eyes, like she was just asking about the weather.

She shivered a bit, crossing her arms as she glanced at the Doctor and back to the Time Lady. She had seen him angry, she had seen him willing to go to extremes, those times when his fury got the best of him and he was willing to do things so against who he was. It was understandable then, anger could make anyone do things they never thought themselves capable of. This was different though. The Detective wasn't angry, she wasn't furious, hell she wasn't even being arrogant, she was just...herself. There was no warning, no hint that that was coming, she just...did it, without blinking, without flinching...without hesitating

She was starting to understand something she'd only barely started to guess before...it was so easy to underestimate and brush aside the Detective, to not take her seriously or to think she was just some sort of comedic relief to the Doctor's stress. But she could, and would, do whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. Whether that was fall asleep or eat...or kill someone before their eyes.

And that was a disturbing thing to realize.

She knew the woman was friends with 'the Master' and that he wasn't a good man, from how the Doctor told it, she saw exactly why the Detective was now.

Because the Detective saw nothing wrong with what she'd done.

Glancing at the others, she could at least take some comfort in knowing she wasn't alone in that troubling realization, truly only the Doctor and River didn't look alarmed though the Doctor looked disappointed.

"Thank you," River whispered out, alarmed by what she'd seen but looking more like she wished she could have done it herself but could never muster the strength to stand against Kovarian, it was hard for people to face their abusers.

"Ma'am!" Rory cut into the moment, hearing a banging noise on the doors, knowing the Silence had reached them, and they had to get back to the matter at hand, "You need to go, now!"

Amy shook herself out of her shock and turned to the Doctor, swallowing hard, she wanted to speak out, chastise the Detective, maybe even restrain her, but there was no time. The Silence were right outside the doors and after the Doctor, "We've been working on something, you need to let us show you."

"There's nothing you can do," the Doctor argued, not as stunned as the others for he had seen this side of the Detective before.

He could see the hesitation, the wariness in Amy's eyes as she cast glances at the Detective, but he didn't even have time to reassure her about anything. They didn't know her like he did, they didn't know how she was. Unlike with the Master who seemed to take glee in hurting people at times, the Detective only did so when that person deserved it. To be fair, she sometimes thought people deserved bodily harm for eating the last ice pop, but she would never intentionally do what she did to Kovarian with malice in her hearts unless that person was truly despicable. Her mind often worked so fast, made connections so quickly, she could react swiftly to stop another person who was about to cause harm. Like with Hitler or Buzzer, she could see the smallest movement and know what was coming, and attack accordingly. Other times, she knew what someone had done and would not weep or cry to give them what she deemed they deserved. Amy was safe, he was 98 percent sure of that, Kovarian had caused too much harm not just to the Ponds and River but created too much of a threat to HIM as well and she would not stand for that. Kovarian wasn't the Master, there was no leeway or forgiveness there because she had no care or consideration for Kovarian the way she did one of her triumvirate.

"My time is up."

"We're doing this for you!"

"Then people are dying for me. I won't thank you for that, Amelia Pond."

"Just let us show you!" River pleaded.

The Detective sighed, "We might as well just see what it is," she told the Doctor, her murder of Kovarian already brushed aside in her mind to return to the next major threat, "They won't let up till we do."

The Doctor sighed, but ultimately nodded his head to Amy, knowing the Detective was right, the sooner he saw whatever it was, the sooner her could tell them it wouldn't work and maybe they'd listen then.

Amy turned to Rory, who had yet to remove his patch, still staring the door down, "Captain Williams, how long do we have?"

"A couple of minutes," he replied.

"That's enough," River agreed, "We're going to the Receptor Room right at the top of the pyramid. I hope you're ready for a climb," she turned and headed for a set of steep stairs, leading them up, the Detective just behind the Doctor with her hand on the middle of his back to keep him from toppling over as he couldn't use his hands to balance.

~8~

"Ooh!" the Detective beamed, nearly shoving the Doctor to the side as she caught sight of something on the top of the pyramid, a device set up under the spire that was very out of place, and hurried over to look at it, "Oh, that is beautiful!"

"What's this?" the Doctor came to look at it, too, nodding to himself, "Oh, it's a timey-wimey distress beacon. Who built this?"

"Sigma and me," River answered.

The Detective looked up, recognizing it now, "It was an extra credit project in her one science course."

"Ok," the Doctor looked at the others, "This is it? THIS is what you wanted to show me? A distress beacon?"

"I've been sending out a message," River nodded, "A distress call. Outside the bubble of our time, the universe is still turning, and I've sent a message everywhere, to the future and the past, the beginning and the end of everything. 'The Doctor is dying, please, please help.'"

"River, River, this is ridiculous. That would mean nothing to anyone, it's insane. Worse, it's stupid! You embarrass me."

"We barricaded the door!" Amy called as she and Rory arrived, the man now without his eye drive, "We've got a few minutes…just tell him. Just tell him, River."

River swallowed and looked at the Doctor, "Those reports of the sun spots and the solar flares. They're wrong, there aren't any."

"None," the Detective agreed.

"It's not the sun, it's you, the sky is full of a million, million voices, saying yes, of course we'll help."

"Gonna do it."

"You've touched so many lives, saved so many people. Did you think, when your time came, you'd really have to do more than just ask?"

"Ask and ye shall receive!"

"Sigma!" River huffed, shushing her, before finishing what she was saying, "You've decided that the universe is better off without you, but the universe doesn't agree."

"River, no one can help me," the Doctor tried to explain, "A fixed point has been altered, time is disintegrating."

"I can't let you die!" River argued, though there was an odd energy about her as she said this, as though she was holding something in that was threatening to escape.

"But I have to die."

"Shut up!" River snapped at him, "I can't let you die without knowing you are loved by so many, and so much. And by no one more than..."

"Who?" the Doctor cut in with a scoff, "You?"

"No," River said firmly, startling him as that was not what he thought she'd say, "Sigma."

The reaction was instant, the Detective gaping at her, her eyes wide, her mouth hanging open, looking completely and utterly horrified.

"You pinky swore, you traitor!" she pointed an accusing finger at River, "Is nothing sacred?!"

She and River had gone out on a girl's night quite a few times over the last two centuries, a few times had been while the girl was at school. She had, probably quite stupidly, let River trick her into getting drunk by wondering what the alcohol tolerance was for a Time Lady of her considerable age, and she'd ended up blabbing about how much she loved the Doctor, and then swore River to secrecy the moment she was sober enough, making her PINKY SWEAR not to tell the Doctor.

River had just broken that promise.

River Song had betrayed her.

But while the Detective was having an external fit about it, the Doctor, on the other hand, was having an internal crisis. He was stood, in much the same manner, gaping, wide-eyed, mouth open, but completely and utterly bewildered, staring at the Detective as his mind short circuited when the woman didn't deny it but instead seemed to confirm it in her righteous anger with River...and she would not be this angry if it was just a friendly sort of love because of course he knew that already so it had to be the other kind.

"You...what?" he stuttered.

It was that exact moment that the Detective seemed to realize he was still there, and froze, turning half to him in an awkward pose as she'd grabbed River's hand to try and show her the pinky she'd made the promise with, and stared at him.

And, of course, because she was a well adjusted adult who could maturely handle anything life threw at her...the Detective panicked.

And used her free hand to grab the Doctor's, forcing him and River to touch hands and didn't let go till time resumed and they ended up back where they were, River in her astronaut suit, firing at the Doctor as they stood on the lakeside, with her watching from the monitor in the TARDIS that was set up within the Teselecta the Doctor had rigged up to look like him, a connection to the TARDIS controls and its telepathic link to the Doctor allowing him to control it singlehandedly from where he was waiting just outside the doors in the main control center. She had been kicked out of the box when time fell apart, but now she was back in it.

She looked up as the doors slammed open, to see the Doctor pointing his own accusing finger at her, "You killed me!"

"Only technically," the Detective waved it off, moving to pull a lever and send the box off now that the Teselecta was on fire, leaving anyone there to think the Doctor had died and burned while time healed itself, those elements of the past and future fading away back to their proper times.

"Sigma," he came around the console and pulled a lever to stop the process, "We need to talk about this. What River said..."

"Ooh, look, Dorium's box!" she cut in, "Should probably get that back where it belongs..."

"Sigma."

She let out a breath and turned to face him, fidgeting with her fingers, picking at the skin next to her thumb in a way she only ever did when she was truly reluctant and worried, "Later," she nearly begged, "Can we talk about this later? We have...a lot still to do..."

His lips pursed, not happy to wait, but she did have a point, the sooner they got things sorted and returned Dorium to his resting place, the sooner they could finally put this behind them and talk, "Fine."

~8~

Two figures in robes made their way through the seventh transcept, one carrying a box, through which Dorium's voice could be heard shouting, "Who's carrying me!?" they reached his pedestal and the box was handed over to the second figure, "I demand to know!" …who proceeded to shake the box near their ear as though listening to guess the gift inside, "I'm a head, I have rights!" before turning the box upside down and placing it on the stand.

"I want my doors open this time!" the box shouted, "I demand that my doors are open."

The first figure reached out to slide open the box, before turning to walk away.

"Is it you?!" he called after them, "It is, isn't it?" they slowly stopped, though only one turned around, "It IS you, I can sense it. But how did you do it? How could you possibly have escaped?!"

A moment later the robe dropped to the floor, revealing the Doctor standing there with a grin. He looked over when a flapping noise sounded to see the Detective appeared to be trying to get the robe over her head and was just getting tangled and caught in it. He watched in amusement as she finally managed to get one part of the robe in hand and use it to bundle the rest up till she could throw the robe to the floor.

"The Teselecta," he told Dorium, "A Doctor in a Doctor-Suit. Time said I had to be on that beach so I dressed for the occasion barely got singed in that boat."

"So you're going to do this, let them all think you're dead?" Dorium frowned.

"And if you know what's good for you, you'll keep that tale quiet," the Detective sent him a look and he pursed his lips closed tightly and tried to nod.

"It's the only way," the Doctor sighed, "Then they can all forget me. I got too big, Dorium, too noisy...time to step back into the shadows."

"Which is special code for the Dark Side, where I operate," the Detective whispered loudly, "And he came all by himself, didn't even need to break out the cookies."

The Doctor snorted, "As if you'd share them even if you had them."

"True."

"And Dr. Song?" Dorium cut in, "In prison all her days?"

"We have an invisible, silent time machine," the Detective reminded him, "And, if that fails, I've yet to meet a wall I couldn't get through."

The Doctor shook his head at her, fond, "We'll have to swear her to secrecy though," he remarked, "Can't have her telling her dear old mum and dad what happened. Defeats the purpose."

"And makes your death far less dramatic."

"So many secrets," Dorium sighed, "But rest assured, Detective, I'll help you keep them."

"Well, you're not exactly going anywhere, are you?" the Doctor quipped.

"Except into the skull pit if you do fail to keep the secrets secret," the Detective remarked.

Dorium swallowed hard, looking more to the Doctor, "You're a fool nonetheless. It's all still waiting for you...the fields of Trenzalore, the fall of the Eleventh. And the question!"

The Doctor nodded, not wanting to hear any more about this bloody question, before he turned to go, "Goodbye, Dorium!" he called.

"Don't let the skulls bite!" the Detective added, moving to join him, literally skipping down the catacombs beside him.

"The first question!" Dorium's voice continued to follow them, bouncing off the walls, echoing down the halls, "The question that must never be answered, hidden in plain sight. The question you've been running from all your life. Doctor who? Doctor who? Doc...tor...WHO?!"

The Detective slammed the doors to the TARDIS shut, finally cutting off the man's yelling, "Now, I believe I was promised a pear tart."

The Doctor crossed his arms, "And I believe I was promised a conversation."

The Detective mimicked his stance, "After the pear tart. I haven't eaten anything since we were released from the tower."

The Doctor stared her down for a long moment, before sighing and nodding, moving to the console, understanding River didn't get all her stubbornness from Amy. Anything that would get her to actually talk to him about what River had let slip, he'd do.

He had something he needed to talk to her about too after all.

A/N: Lol, I hope you liked the little tease on the title. With how overdramatic the Detective is, that title should be taken with a grain of salt ;)

So, a lot happening here! Lol :) River let slip that Sigma actually love-loves the Doctor TO the Doctor, Sigma technically 'killed' the Doctor in a mini-freak out, Sigma flat out murders Kovarian, and more.

I feel like I need to start with Sigma and Kovarian. I've tried to hint in little bits through the story, those 'darker' sides of Sigma that aren't really 'dark' but just her. She's stood by while people are killed in front of her, unconcerned with their fate, she's hit people in the head with bats and shovels, just because it was fast and retaliatory, she's made threats about carving people's spines out of them, even if no one takes her seriously, and she's made it clear to the Doctor that even he doesn't know what she's capable of. Parts of those are her madness presenting and peeking through. She genuinely does not care for humans as much as the Doctor does. She's truly ok with causing bodily harm if it is fast and effective, she feels no remorse if she seriously injures someone with her shovel or bat. To her, if you're about to hurt the Doctor or herself, then you're fair game to BE hurt in return, and even then no regrets at all for doing so. She really would carve someone's spine out of them, she doesn't get affected by screaming, as seen with the Dalek she basically tore the skull off of to get information. It's that lack of consideration or compassion for those beyond her triumvirate, or at a stretch the Doctor's companions (and even then because of who they are to him not to her), that sort of gets pushed to the side and unnoticed until moments like this.

Here we see another one of the very alarming parts of her madness, that similarity to the Master, in how she handles Kovarian. It is alarming, it is dangerous, and it is frightening, because this isn't the Fury of a Time Lord or something like Time Lord Victorious. It's just Sigma, being Sigma, doing what she wants. She said it herself, she has NO rules, there is no rule in general she wouldn't break for the Doctor, there is no length she wouldn't go for him. But it's so basic for her, it's just an everyday thing, it's normal, it's a part of her.

To her, there is nothing wrong with maiming or torturing someone like Hitler, there's nothing wrong with slamming a shovel to Buzzer's head, there is nothing wrong with electrocuting Kovarian in an even more painful and powerful voltage than the Silence were to others. Before she even knew the eye drives would work that way, she was working on that tool and upping the voltage to it for that reason, to use it to kill Kovarian. That she did it while the woman was already being tortured meant nothing to her. And, as she said, if they hadn't been in a rush, it would have been worse. She once asked Amy what she thought she'd do to the ones who took Melody once she found them, Amy seemed to sort of feel some comfort from that but didn't really take her seriously...she probably should have, because Sigma proved she was deadly serious.

That's one of the great dangers with Sigma, so many people don't take her seriously and that allows for things like this to happen.

The Master had his charm to trick people into lowering their guard, Sigma has her sort of silliness to her, one of the perks of her perkiness as she calls it. We saw the Master kill people with the flick of a button or with a casual order, because they were tools or obstacles or meant nothing to him. The Detective shares that, to a point, she won't just kill random people, but she won't hesitate to do it for revenge or defense or if she needs to get from point A to point B. The Doctor would give someone a chance, she will not.

Which sort of makes you wonder...what would Sigma be like if she ever got truly to the Fury of a Time Lord level if she can do that without being angry O.O

Ok, moving to a somewhat lighter note, the Doctor knows! And Sigma knows he knows! But seems like now that it's at that point she's a little scared of actually having that conversation. We'll see much more about her mindset and reasons why in the next episode, but I think part of it is like with the Ponds calling them back before they found Melody. It's an incomplete investigation, she doesn't have all the answers, she doesn't have all the data, so she's floundering, because she doesn't KNOW. She hasn't worked it out yet, how the Doctor feels and so she's now in that limbo of wanting the answers but also dreading that they may not be what she wants to hear :(

Another lighter note, we got a bit of a look into River and Sigma's friendship :) She's been popping into River's life for a very long time, building up the friendship, especially after the near 200 years, stopping in while she's at school for some fun adventures :) I wanted to sort of show a similarity to River and Sigma's personalities, how their friendship influenced River to be the sneaky, observant, and eager for adventure woman we see :) Brings up a question, if she's as good as she has been keeping secrets, like Sigma being alive, WILL she actually tell the Ponds the Doctor isn't dead? Would she even know? And how? Questions to be answered very soon ;)

And another peek into a past regeneration :) Done in by a stray javelin, oh Sigma, only you :)

I would normally put the minisode Last Night as the next chapter, but since we missed the first two parts of the minisode series, I'm going to hold off and move right to the Christmas Special, which will be 3 chapters ;)

I know this chapter cut out a good chunk of the top of the pyramid moment, but Sigma was genuinely panicking and she knows the Doctor is safe in the Teselecta, she'd want something big and distracting to take away from all of it and hopes that it'll be enough to get the Doctor to forget what River said. It's not a wedding, River doesn't need to know he's alive to take his hand because Sigma is forcing that issue. And, girl code, she wouldn't marry him anyway due to knowing how Sigma feels about him. I take her past kisses with the Doctor to be more of a 'well I just want ONE kiss and really he's kissed EVERY companion since the war, so it's ok' sort of thing, and just her messing with him :) I felt like it was sort of in character with Sigma to do that, to just get caught and have no plan and then just react tot he quickest thing she could find to put an end to it lol :)

For this chapter there are 3 intentional quotes and 3 little references :) One of the quotes could be considered more a reference though ;)

Quotes from the last chapter:

Fine: Freaked out, insecure, neurotic, and emotional - The Italian Job

To 'bravely go' where no one's gone before - Star Trek

You get hurt, you hurt them back. You get killed, you walk it off - Captain America, The Avengers: Age of Ultron

The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love, and be loved in return - Nature Boy by Nat King Cole (was also in the Moulin Rouge! movie)

The game is afoot - Sherlock Holmes

References from the last chapter:

I'm not asleep, my mind is alive - A video of Taylor Swift after she got eye surgery and nearly fell asleep eating a banana ;)

I'm a whole lotta woman - Gwendoline Christie, in an interview talking about how she sat on the Iron Throne and broke it

Congrats to anyone who spotted them! :)

Some notes on reviews...

The Doctor has some reasons when it comes to who Sigma loves, we'll see more of it in the next few chapters just why he immediately thought it was the Master and not himself ;) I'm glad you liked her moments with Alfie! :D

Lol, yup :) Craig became James because of the actor :) I kept trying to nudge her away from that since it was too close, but she kept insisting 'it'll be funny!' Her and Alfie were some of my favorite things, she was being very serious when she had those moments with him, talks of world domination. She WAS the Master's friend too after all ;) I think she saw a tiny bit of the Master in him :) Lol, I loved that tiny jealousy moment too, I think, once they finally get together he'll be even more obvious about it ;)

SO oblivious! I agree :) As I was writing the story, I kept going 'oh, come on, you're not THAT dense are you, Doctor?' and then Sigma would just jump in and go 'yes, yes he is.' lol :) We'll find out more about how much the Master may have known or not known when Missy comes around, but I can say I don't think someone who's main goal is always finding the Doctor's weaknesses would miss a pretty big one right in front of him ;) It just so happened that that weakness was the same one he had, if in a different manner, and so he couldn't really capitalize on it ;)