"There's no point trying to do anything tonight. People need sleep," Aderyn snapped. As though it were routine, Rita and Howie collected bedding from a room opposite the reception, while Gibbis and Aderyn moved tables and chairs. "Everyone grab some bedding and find a space." Aderyn said when Rita and Howie returned. She then stormed moodily to the door and sat down on the floor, staring into the reception area.

The Doctor took an uncertain step towards the door, but thought better of it. Instead, he took a few blankets and stretched himself out on the floor. Amy, Rory and River, all confused, mimicked his actions.

"What's going on?" Amy whispered.

"I really don't know," the Doctor said "I don't like not knowing."

"What are we going to do?" River whispered.

"You three are going to get some sleep. She's right on that one at least," The Doctor said and fell into a thoughtful silence. He then propped himself up on his elbows and hissed quietly. Howie, who had been stretched out not far from them, rolled over and looked at him. "Who's idea was it to sleep everyone in here?" The Doctor whispered.

"It was Addy's idea. She said it was safer. She never sleeps though. She always sits on guard. We don't get attacked at night. What else were we meant to do? Sleep in the rooms?" Howie hissed.

"Fair point." Amy muttered. The Doctor lead back down. He listened to Amy and River muttering, passing ideas back and fourth between them, with the occasional input from Rory, until Amy and Rory fell asleep. River and the Doctor stared at the ceiling. Both too uncertain and worried to even contemplate sleep. They stayed still and silent until movement across the room caught their attention. Rita was walking towards the door with a cup in each hand. The Doctor rolled over so he could see the door. He could just about make out Aderyn's shadow where she was sat against the wall.

Aderyn grasped her sword as she heard footsteps approach her, but lessened her grip when she saw Rita stood in the doorway, offering a cup of tea.

"You should be asleep." Aderyn said.

"Couldn't sleep," Rita said, sitting on the other side of the door and sipping her own tea "Do you ever sleep?"

"Sometimes when the occasion calls for it." Aderyn smiled.

"So who are they? The Doctor and River and the Ponds?" Rita asked.

"The Doctor is a screaming genius...Well he has his moments. The others are just friends." Aderyn said quickly.

"That woman in your room, she said something about them didn't she?"

"Yeah, she did. And she's right. I never really did believe they care. Still don't. I think keeping an eye on me has become a force of habit more then anything else." Aderyn shrugged. They fell into an oddly comfortable silence, listening to the clock tick past the seconds.

"Outside of all this, back in the real world, what's your life like?"

Aderyn smiled "It used to be about fun and adventure. It was mostly running."

"Running?"

"Running. When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it will never end. But however hard you try, you can't run forever. You run as long as you can, as far as you can. Sometimes you run to save someone's life. Sometimes you run just to save yours. But no matter what you do, you stop running. I've seen whole armies turn and run away. And he'd just swagger off back to his TARDIS and open the doors with a snap of his fingers. The Doctor in the TARDIS. Next stop, everywhere," Aderyn said, with an excited glint in her eyes. But that vanished quickly "Whenever the Doctor makes friends with someone I always feel the need to notify their next of kin."

"What about your next of kin?" Rita asked gingerly.

Aderyn looked down at her now empty cup "It's just me."

"Don't you have any family?"

Aderyn shook her head "No. It really is just me. I was adopted when I was two by people who didn't care. Speaking of next of kin, what's with your room?" Rita didn't answer. Instead she looked helplessly at her hands, which were folded in her lap.

"Don't worry about answering that. The disappointed parent is easy to translate." Aderyn felt guilty about asking. It was obviously a tetchy subject.

"It's not just him," Rita replied quietly "I've always been a disappointment to both of my parents. Everyone really. I never had good enough grades or a good enough job or I'm not as clever or a pretty as my sister. My sister was married by my age. She's got a husband and a child. My parents are disappointed that I'm still single. I've made too many choices that they disagree with. Mostly for religious reasons."

"I know what it's like. Living this long makes me a disappointment to my so called parents, I had girlfriends instead of boyfriends, I always wanted to be an author and they never considered that a real job, I learnt to defend myself, I made a friend. The list goes on. But they had no religious reasons to fall back on."

The silence between them remained comfortable. Aderyn found it oddly relaxing to have the company there. Even if they weren't talking, just having someone sat there was enough. She was too used to living in a cottage by herself. River couldn't be there as often as Aderyn would like and she really didn't want to spend all of her time in the TARDIS. As much as she liked running, she didn't want to do it all the time.

Rita cleared her throat politely "The woman in your room, who is she?"

Aderyn smiled sadly "I don't think you'd believe me if I told you."

Rita raise an eyebrow at her "Really? I'm sat on the floor of an alien hotel that is haunted by a monster who kills people who praise him. Try me."

"Ok, then. Her name is Madame Korvarian. The Doctor is a time traveller. I used to travel with him through time and space. The TARDIS I mentioned is his time machine. River is Amy and Rory's daughter. When she was born, Madame Korvarian took her and turned her into a weapon to use against the Doctor. She was meant to kill him. I believed she did. I thought he was dead for two years. But it wasn't her fault. She'd been brainwashed."

"See," Rita smiled kindly at her "That's actually easy to believe. How about we go for a drink if we get out of this alive?"

"That sounds like a plan," Aderyn said "When we get out of this the drink is on me." For the first time in two weeks, Aderyn's smile was one of genuine happiness and hope.

"Well then, that's a date." Rita smiled.

"You should try and get some sleep. I'm going to get us out of here as soon as possible." Aderyn said kindly. When Rita had retreated back to the bar, Aderyn cast a glance round the doorframe at River and the Doctor. She knew they would be awake. The Doctor never slept and River would have chosen to stay awake. She felt a small pang of guilt and silently prayed that neither of them had heard her conversation with Rita. She had believed she wouldn't see the Doctor or River again. Had almost hoped she wouldn't. She had been able to take on many aspects of this hotel, or whatever it was, as they had happened. She had proven to herself that she's as good as the Doctor. But she had quickly realised that Madame Korvarian had a point. She really needed to stand on her own two feet now. There was no guarantee they would keep helping her.