Right, so I took rather a long time to update ... really, really sorry about that! I know you guys have been waiting patiently though, so here it is for you to enjoy :) Longest chapter so far! Not too sure about it though ... please let me know what you think with a review! Thank youuu :D

"Well I am utterly confused, to be quite honest. This whole situation, according to what you have told me, Doctor, is impossible. Now either you have been lying to me, which is NOT a good move, let me tell you, or something has happened which is beyond even your understanding. And that possibility, quite frankly, is bloody scary. So I'm looking for some answers. Pronto." Amy Pond finished her rant and inhaled deeply.

The Doctor rubbed his forehead and covered his eyes. The room was silent again, and he could tell that both Amy and the TARDIS were waiting for him to say something. Something clever, probably. He couldn't, though. Not a thing. He couldn't even come up with some idiotic and pointless waffle, a tactic he often relied on in awkward situations. He ran a shaky hand through his flamboyant mess of brown hair, carefully squinting his eyes so as not to let too much light in and set his head searing in pain again. After what seemed like an age he felt he could take the peculiar atmosphere no longer and opened his parched mouth to say something. Anything.

"Ahh, the thing is … did you know that in the galaxy-"

But he was cut short by a gleeful exclamation by the TARDIS.

"…And it is now safe for you to stand without risk of vomiting!"

The Doctors mouth hung open mid speech as he stared at the dark haired woman in front of him, still dressed in the shabby Victorian party dress she had been wearing when they said goodbye two weeks ago. She had a habit of leaving it until the very last minute to rescue him, annoyingly. Truth was though, he kind of … liked it.

"Oh for God's sake! Here." Amy Pond thrust her arm impatiently at the Doctor, who snapped from his reverie, glanced at her outstretched hand, and eventually took it gingerly.

"I hope your predictions are right. I better not be … ugh." He groaned, clutching his stomach with his free hand as he was pulled to his feet. "I feel …"

"Dreadful. Yes, I did warn you. You'll feel much improved in a matter of hours however. Trust me, I'm the TARDIS" And the TARDIS shot him the most dazzling grin.

"Hah!" The Doctor laughed sarcastically, but he couldn't help his mouth turning up at the corners in a very small smile. "Right, well. So…" He scratched his chin and looked from Amy, to the TARDIS, and back to Amy. He noticed he was swaying slightly, his head still a little fuzzy. "If I'm honest, my head hurts. A lot. And its full of these annoying little niggly things, called questions, which aren't really helping. Amy?"

Amy moved closer to the Doctor. She had noticed he was swaying, too. "Yeah?"

"May need some help. Walking. I think it would be best to find somewhere more comfortable where we can, well, talk, I suppose… and find you your answers." And his hearts did this strange little somersault at the word 'talk'. The TARDIS. And him. Actually talking again. He felt himself grinning stupidly, despite the throbbing in his skull and the aching in his legs.

Amy snaked her arm around the Doctor's. "Where did you have in mind?"

The Doctor opened his mouth, but before he could reply the TARDIS cut in.

"I have the perfect room. Excellent for talking. And sitting. Give me just a moment." She closed her eyes, and a slight frown creased her brow.

Amy leaned in closer to the Doctor.

"Er… what's she doing?" She whispered.

"… not a clue" The Doctor replied, peering at the dark haired woman with interest.

After several moments, the TARDIS opened her eyes and smiled pleasantly at the Doctor and his companion. "This way." She turned swiftly on her heel and led the way towards the main corridor. The Doctor shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "She knows best."

Amy shook her head, but moved to follow the TARDIS, careful to support the still swaying Doctor as they walked. They didn't have to walk far, however, as the TARDIS stopped abruptly at the spot where Amy remembered the Doctors rock collection room had been.

"Aww what!" She dropped the Doctors arm in annoyance. "We have to go sit amongst a load of old rocks in dusty cases? Ugh. Great."

"Brilliant!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Yes, for you, you freak of the cosmos. Just give me a comfy sofa with big squishy pillows. That's all I want. Not flippin' rocks in cases. I can't believe-"

"No, Pond, you muppet!" The Doctor grinned at Amy manically. "Don't you see? She's moved the rooms around! So we didn't have to walk far. Remember how I told you she did that?" He turned to the TARDIS. "You have to tell me how you're still doing that, you clever, clever girl!"

The TARDIS immediately opened her mouth to explain, but the Doctor pushed a finger to her lips before she could speak. "Not yet. I need to sit down first. Shall we?" he removed his finger and gestured for her to lead the way into the room. Amy peered at the door as she followed the pair inside, and noticed that rather than stone as it had been previously, it was now in fact a deep mahogany. The Doctor was right.

The room in which they found themselves was, much to Amy's delight, actually filled with mismatched sofas and chairs, all spread around a huge fireplace, within which a modest fire crackled merrily.

"Perfecto." The Doctor grinned cheerily, though this soon turned to a grimace as he attempted to lower himself into an armchair. Amy gripped his arm.

"Thanks Pond. Woozy head still. Achy legs too." The smile returned to his lips as he settled himself. Amy merely nodded, returning the smile.

"Wonder if Rory's still asleep?" The Doctor pondered as Amy and the TARDIS made themselves comfortable in chairs either side of him. "I'm guessing we made quite a bit of noise back there. Wouldn't surprise me if it woke him, you know. Maybe you should-"

Again, the TARDIS cut across the Doctor.

"The pretty one is still sleeping in the Ponds bedroom. He is making peculiar noses through his nose. It does sound rather like he is in a lot of pain, he's very loud, but I can assure you he is quite alright."

Both Amy and the Doctor stared at the TARDIS. The Doctor was smiling. Amy was not.

"You can still see?" The Doctor enquired. "See the whole ship? But how … ah, this is going to take a while."

"You can see into our bedroom?" Amy spoke through gritted teeth. "But that's private! You can't just-"

"I created it." The TARDIS said simply.

"What?" Amy replied.

"Your bedroom. I created it. It's part of me. An element of my structure. I have always been able to see into it."

Amy clamped her mouth shut and blushed hard.

The Doctor glanced nervously between the two women. He knew where this conversation was headed, and what with the TARDIS being the loose cannon she was in this new body, he did not want to go there. What the Ponds did in their spare time on his ship was just … ugh. Most definitely their business.

"Well … aha. Now that we have established that Rory is quite alright, let's … have some answers." He looked at the TARDIS pointedly. "I mean you. You need to tell me… how in the name of Rassilon are you sat here, in front of me, a woman? You're a TARDIS. Not a woman. You're not supposed to belong in that body." The Doctor rubbed his head again. "I need to know how you did it."

"Ask the question, then." The TARDIS said simply.

The Doctor looked up, catching her eyes. He twiddled his thumbs. "How did you put your soul back into that human body?"

The TARDIS grinned excitedly, blinked several times, adjusted her skirts, and then launched into her tale, which she was clearly eager to tell.

"This speaking business is fun, isn't it? I had forgotten just how much so. To answer your question, my thief … I can call you that can't I? I know they call you Doctor, but you're not my Doctor, are you? No, you're my thief! My thief that I stole" She gave a little giggle and what he was sure was a wink.

"Yes, alright, if you like" The Doctor said impatiently, rolling his eyes slightly. "I'm you're thief. Now go on."

"Good. Now listen carefully, because I am only going to tell you all of this once." The TARDIS cleared her throat. "As my pure self; my soul, if you like, was saying farewell to you in the control room, taking on the image of the human body I had been occupying…"

"You mean when you were all gold and shiny and stuff after you kicked House's butt?" Amy cut in.

"Yes, correct, now do not interrupt," The TARDIS said sternly, before continuing. "As this was occurring, I was also transporting the physical human body, which I had left moments earlier, to another part of my structure. I was curious as to how House had managed to … silly words, which one am I looking for? Insert? Not quite right, but it will have to do! Yes, insert my soul into such a body. Additionally, I thought it quite a pretty human body. Nice eyes, don't you think?" She opened her eyes wide at the Doctor and Amy.

The Doctor blushed slightly. "Quite," He murmured almost inaudibly.

"Seemed such a waste to just dispose of it, a great shame really. So I created a sort of … again, what word is it …mmm … gosh it is hard to think with such a tiny space in your head isn't it? Store! I created a storage room for the body. To keep it fresh, you see? Dead human flesh creates an awful stench, it really does. Didn't want that wafting through my corridors!"

Amy wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"I didn't intend to actually use it, not at first, anyway. But you still talked to me, my thief. As you always have." She smiled at the Doctor genuinely. "But for the first time, it made me exceptionally sad. You see, something had changed. I know now what it feels like to answer your words. To have you hear my reply. But I could no longer speak to you. I had lost my voice. And it hurt me to see you trying to give it back, and failing."

The Doctor glanced sideways at Amy, who was listening with interest. He swallowed quietly. He was never going to live this down.

"I have watched you working so hard, hours and hours every night, or any spare moments you have had, to create a speech device or source of output for me. I heard every word you said to me, felt every touch of your fingers, but I could not tell you I felt your pain, or understood your words. I never realised our meeting had such an impact on you, Time Lord."

The Doctor was blushing crimson. He dared not even look at Amy for fear of what she would say to him. As he listened, he realised what a fool he sounded. The crazy old Time Lord, in love with his time machine. His big blue box. To his surprise, however, Amy had leaned across the gap between their chairs and was now gently squeezing his hand. He looked across at her hesitantly, and she gave him a knowing smile.

"You crazy old fool." She teased. "I knew that's what you were doing. You were talking to her tonight, weren't you? And trying to make her speak. I could tell by the way you dropped your screwdriver when you saw me. Oh, Doctor!"

The Doctor, in an effort to retain at least some of his dignity, opened his mouth to protest. The TARDIS got in there first, however.

"Why is your face red, thief? Are you unwell?"

"Ugh. Quite." The Doctor muttered, sinking into his chair. "It's just … er … I had stuff that I wanted to ask you, on reflection. Things I wanted to know, about you … well, TARDIS's in general really … and about things that have happened, in the past … or will happen in the future." He glanced nervously at Amy, and wondered if she believed it was really all as simple as that. She had an eyebrow raised sceptically.

"Well now you can my thief!" The TARDIS beamed. "and I am also curious about many things."

"Hang on, hang on …" Amy interjected. "are you sure you didn't want to speak to her again because you are a lonely old genius who fell in love with his time-machine-turned-human, and whose hearts were broken when her soul got trapped back in the big blue box, and you never had chance to tell her?"

The Doctor spluttered in surprise, followed by a distressed hiccup. Damn it, how did she do that? Damn pond.

"Don't be ridiculous Pond" He scoffed. "She's a TARDIS. Time-and-relative-dimensions-in-space. I am a Time Lord. Honestly, I don't know where you get these ideas sometimes. That's just silly." He waved his hand dismissively, and winced as he sat back in his chair and crossed his legs.

"Whatever you say …" Amy replied, clearly unconvinced.

The TARDIS merely watched the pair, her face unreadable.

"Anyway, Pond, you've gone off topic." He cleared his throat, turning to the TARDIS. "What I really want to know, is actually how you managed to squeeze your entire soul back in there," he pointed at her, "and why you needed to make me feel so incredibly ill in the process."

"Well actually, I didn't squeeze my entire soul back in here." The TARDIS placed a gentle finger to her temple. "I split it."

"Split it? In half?" The Doctor frowned.

The TARDIS nodded slowly. "In. Half. You helped." She smiled at him again.

"Ouch." Amy remarked.

"Yes, ouch." Said the Doctor. "It was very painful, let me assure you."

"Not you, you idiot. I mean her. It's gotta hurt, splitting your soul in half, right?" She asked the TARDIS.

She nodded, although she was still smiling. "Yes, I suppose it was … painful. I'm not entirely sure TARDIS's feel pain in the same way as humans do, but it was not a pleasant experience. There are no human words that describe it accurately enough, I'm afraid …" She seemed to think for a moment. "No, unfortunately not."

The Doctor immediately felt guilty. He watched her, this beautiful creature in front of him. It was deeper than the mere human beauty visible on the surface. She had split her soul for him.

"I stole time energy belonging to you," She nodded at the Doctor, before turning to Amy. "Time Lords are rife with it, as are TARDIS's. You have a little now, too, Orange one. It's time travel; it does that to a being. You will lose it eventually though when you leave us." She looked sad for a moment, before continuing. "I needed the superfluous energy from my thief for the split. Once my soul was halved, it was easier to insert into the human body, and it ensured that I was still able to remain connected to my true physical structure via the other half. I needed to … hmm … make the human body, what word did I use previously? Words are silly. Re-boot! I needed to re-boot the body before I inserted the soul. In order to do this, I stole Time Lord DNA from my thief, specifically genes responsible for … oh, what is it you do? You know, with all that gold light, and you change your face to something new and more silly, oh you do it all the time! What is the word for it?" She demanded in frustration. "I can't process efficiently with this tiny human brain!"

"Regeneration," The Doctor informed her. "And what do you mean 'more silly'?"

She ignored his last comment. "Ah yes, I used the genes responsible for regeneration, and re-programmed the human DNA, so that there is now capacity for partial regeneration. I then used more time energy from my thief to kick-start the partial regeneration, allowing the human body to …" the TARDIS appeared to be searching hard for the right word. "live again. With me inside." The beaming smile was back.

"Wait, wait, wait." The Doctor shook his head. "Hold on just a moment. Does that mean, then …"

"You're part time lord as well!" Amy cut in. The Doctor sighed in annoyance.

"Yes." The TARDIS nodded enthusiastically in the manner of a teacher praising a student. "My physical body is approximately one eighth time lord."

"But then, surely that means…" the Doctor tried again, but was once again interrupted by Amy.

"You can regenerate!" She exclaimed.

"Not precisely." The TARDIS shook her head, and Amy slouched disappointedly. "Partial regeneration. The body is able too … a moment, searching for correct word … repair itself to a certain extent, but it does not create a different form, as a Time Lord's body would."

The Doctor frowned. "Ingenious. No wonder it was painful for me." He ran a hand through his unruly hair. "So this body is now able to contain your soul without any side effects?"

The TARDIS appeared to think for a moment. "I believe so. The bridge to the second half of my soul whilst I am still inside or near to my original body enables the energy to be stabilised, preventing excess energy rapidly degenerating the body, as it did previously when that ridiculous thing House attempted to contain my whole sole in this body."

"Good. Good." The Doctor nodded. "And the TARDIS … I mean, well, the ship, you …" He folded his arms. "This is stupidly confusing." He thought for a moment. "What I'm trying to say is, we can still travel? While you're like this? You can still do everything you could do before?"

"Yes." The TARDIS said simply.

"… yet you're here, in front of me." He remarked.

"Yes." The TARDIS repeated.

"… and you can see Rory fast asleep in bed, and my rock collection gathering dust, and the control room with the parking break I accidentally-maybe-on-purpose left on, and my lucky bow tie I left on the floor of my room this morning, all at this very moment?"

"Yes."

"And you can move the library with the swimming pool next to the kitchen with the trampoline, pretty much … right now?"

There was a slight pause.

"Location changed."

"Bloody outstanding!" The Doctor exclaimed, making Amy jump suddenly. "Seriously, old girl, I am impressed!" He was beaming now.

"You can't call her that." Amy remarked.

"Why not?" The Doctor and his TARDIS asked in unison.

Amy rolled her eyes. "I know she is really, well, old … but look at her. She doesn't look old. That body can't be a day over thirty five. That's not old. It sounds, well, ridiculous, to be fair." She raised her eyebrows at the pair. "She needs a name."

"I have got a name." The TARDIS replied, sounding slightly irked.

Amy waited expectantly.

"Oh yeah, you have?" The Doctor asked nervously.

"Yes. My name is sexy."

Amy giggled as the doctor smacked his hand to his forehead.

"No, no, no. Only when we are alone, remember dear?" He said in exasperation.

"Are you …" The TARDIS frowned in thought. "I think the word is …"

"Embarrassed?" Amy suggested, glancing pointedly at the Doctor.

"Pond, I think it's time you checked on your husband. In bed." He said in an 'and-I'm-not-even-joking' manner.

"But Sexy said he's-" Amy began, but the Doctor stopped her short with a look usually reserved only for the likes of the Daleks. "Oooh –Kaaay. I'll just be off to bed then. Beauty sleep and all that malarchy." She rose out of her arm chair. "Hope you're feeling a little better in the morning, and you can manage to make Rory and me some more of that burnt toast you're so good at." She stuck her tongue out at him as she reached the door. "Oh, and Sexy? Make sure he doesn't keep you up all night, won't you?" And with a suggestive wink and a giggle she was gone before the Doctor had chance to give her a second helping of 'the look.'

The Time lord and his TARDIS listened quietly as Amy's footsteps grew quieter, and before long they were left with only the quiet crackling of the fire to break the silence. Glancing sideways, the Doctor noticed the TARDIS staring at him contentedly, her head cocked to the side. She was obviously deep in thought about something.

"Well…" He began, but broke into a large yawn before he could continue.

"You are tired." The TARDIS stated.

"Me? Oh no, no. I'm fine! Time Lords don't slee-"

"Time Lords require sleep," She interrupted. "Perhaps not as much as humans do, but it is still necessary." She raised her eyebrows at him. "You forget who you are speaking to, my Thief. I know just as much as you, and perhaps more. I am not human in here," She pointed to her temple. "Don't forget."

She was right. He was so used to saying it to everyone. He denied himself sleep, because sleep meant being alone, lying in the dark, with nothing to preoccupy his mind, and when his thoughts were free to drift, they often arrived at unwanted places … memories of a war, and a decision that had ripped at his hearts.

"You did the right thing." Her voice was quiet, but incredibly firm and full of confidence.

"What?" He glanced at her, and he wondered if she could hear inside his head, too …

She did not repeat herself, but merely stared at him a little while longer before reaching up to touch her face. She ran a slender finger over each eyebrow, down her perfectly formed nose and across her pale lips. The Doctor wondered what it would be like to touch those lips with his own fingers, but immediately scolded himself for being so idiotic. Still, she was a woman now. And yes, he supposed he had wished really hard. She had her hands over her eyes now, and was peeking through her fingers at him.

"Faces are strange," She remarked. "All these little separate parts with their own functions! Eyes for seeing, Noses for tasting …"

"Smelling," The Doctor corrected, chuckling slightly. "You should have no problem remembering what your mouth is for."

"Yes, that's right!" She smiled. "Mouths for kissing!"

And that's when she did it. She leaned over from her chair, nearly falling out of it in her excitement, clutched his face between her hands and just kissed him. Kissed him full on the lips. It was short and very sweet, and she smiled brightly as she pulled away.

"I was going to say talking," The Doctor said breathlessly, his eyes locked on her face and a blush creeping across his cheeks where she had grabbed him.

"Oh yes, and talking. Aaaand tasting. Gosh mouths are handy, aren't they? You can do so much with them!" She remarked.

The Doctor swallowed hard. Good lord, his TARDIS was a woman. She was a woman, and she was his TARDIS. His TARDIS, and a woman. It was hitting him all over again. He resisted the urge to poke her face just to check she was actually real. "So much," he agreed, nodding.

"Oh I missed one! You can bite! Biting is fu-"

He clamped his hand over her mouth before she had chance to finish. She needed to shut up, seriously. God only knew what Amy would say if she could see them now. Oh Rassilon what this was doing to him!

"Do you sleep?" He blurted.

The TARDIS frowned, thinking. She reached up and removed his hand from her mouth, but didn't let go of it, seemingly subconsciously. "Sleep? I hadn't really considered …" She glanced down at her body. "Time lord and human DNA … both species require sleep…" She looked back up at him, smiling again. "I would predict, based on the evidence, that this body requires sleep, yes."

Thank the Lord.

She finally released his hand.

"Do you have a, ah, room?" The Doctor asked.

"Unfortunately not. I can fix that though, but will need your assistance." She looked him up and down. "You're far too exhausted to be of any use to me now, though. You need to rest."

The Doctor began to protest, but the TARDIS was up out of her chair and by his side before he could string a decent argument together.

"Come on, my Thief, you'll be needing my assistance to your room."

"I can assure you I'm quite-" The Doctor began, but his attempt to lift himself from his chair failed miserably as his head spun and his knees buckled.

"Trust me, I'm the TARDIS." She winked at him and smiled.

"I'm sure that's my line." The Doctor muttered as he allowed her to drape his arm around her shoulders and grip his waist, hoisting him up gently. It didn't take long for the odd pair to reach his room, as she had conveniently moved it a few doors down from the sitting room. She pushed open the door and helped the Doctor inside. He was feeling pretty dreadful again as he fell onto his bead.

"Ahh my head feels like it's been put in a galaxy-9 blender," he groaned.

"That's because-" the TARDIS began as she retrieved his lucky bow tie from his bedroom floor.

"Yes! I know Sexy, you don't have to explain!" The Doctor exclaimed, his hand covering his eyes.

"You called me…"

"I know." He sat up on his elbow, squinting as his head ached. "We are alone, aren't we?" He managed a wink and a smile.

The TARDIS gave a small smile back. "Are you pleased, time lord?" she asked hesitantly.

The Doctor's smile faded. "What do you mean?"

"With me. Like this. In a body … now we can talk." For the first time she appeared nervous.

The Doctor's hearts seemed to melt. He made the effort to rise from his bed, even though his whole body ached and the room span dizzily. He hobbled over and for the first time since he laid eyes on her that night, he hugged her. Properly and tightly, his arms wrapped around her waist. To his surprise, she didn't respond; her own arms merely hung limply at her sides. He put his mouth to her ear, and was intrigued to find that her dark hair smelled like deep space, the sparks of supernovas and the dust he found in the pit of the control room, even though this was just the body of an ordinary Victorian girl.

"I think this is the part where you put your arms around my neck and squeeze," He whispered, smiling.

He heard a small 'ahh' from somewhere beside his own ear as she rose on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"It's a small word," He began, speaking again into her ear. "It starts with a 'h' and means a great deal more than just 'pleased'."

She released her arms from around his neck and pulled back to look at him, frowning for a moment. Then a beautiful smile broke over her face.

"Happy." She whispered.