Another talky-talky chapter - hope people don't mind (there's a little more to come yet). To make up for it, in this chapter I introduce a new and reasonably important character, have two fairly crucial character scenes, one big twist (I hope), and throw in a dash of intrigue at the end. I'd say I'm pulling my weight.

As always, review!

"So as soon as the TARDIS is refuelled, we go, yeah?"
"No. There are Time Lords here. I heard them and they need me."
"You told me about your people and you told me what they did."
"Yes, but if they're like the Corsair, they're good, I can save them!"
"Then tell them you destroyed the others?"
"I can explain. Tell them why I had to."
"You want to be forgiven."
(beat)
"Don't we all?"
(a pause and a nod)
"What do you need from me?"

CHAPTER 15. Fireplace Conversations: 23-24 October 2010

The blonde-haired girl awoke with a start to find two people in her room. One the familiar form of Jack Harkness, the other a man she had never seen before, but she had an odd feeling she vaguely recognised.

"Er – hello," she murmured timidly, pulling the white covers defensively up her chest.

"It's OK, Katherine. He's a friend, that's all. He can help keep you safe."

She looked at the man in the bow-tie and tweed jacket. His hands rolled over each other twitchily in a manner that reminded her of a hyperactive ten-year-old, but there was a wise, understanding smile on his face. Why do I recognise this man...

"Hello there. I'm the Doctor. I'm here to help."

She gasped. The Doctor? The actual Doctor? Like, the Doctor that I kept making fun of at school? She reached her hand out nervously and shook it. "I'm Katherine. Katherine Broad."

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Broad. Jack tells me you had a run in with some not-very-nice people the other day. Could you tell me about them?"

"Not much. They wore black, so I had no idea who they were. I thought they were going to... you know." She blushed, unable to say the words. "But they kept asking me about Time Lords. I've no idea why, I've never heard of anything like it. Who were they, escaped mental patients?"

"I wish. But don't worry, I can help sort this out. They won't be asking much longer, don't worry about that. Mind if you come downstairs? There's some friends I'd like you to meet, my, erm, team."

"A – alright," she acquiesced, not really in a position to argue. As the pair moved back through the doorway, she suddenly found herself blurting out the question that had been digging into her mind since she'd seen the enigmatic bow-tie wearing man.

"Are you – are you the Doctor? As in the actual Doctor? With a big blue time machine?"

He turned around slowly, his face riddled with surprise. "The one and only. How did you know me?"

"Someone I knew-" she couldn't possibly use the word friend "-talked about you a lot. I didn't believe her though, thought she was crazy. Turns out I was wrong."

The Doctor chuckled. "Nothing wrong with being crazy, Katherine. You'll learn that in time. Out of curiosity, who was this friend of yours?"

"Well, she wasn't really a friend, but I knew her. I haven't seen her in years. Her name's Amy Pond."

Instantly, the Doctor's face brightened and he skipped over to her, dragging her to her feet and pulling her out of the room, ignoring the shocked expression on Jack's face.

"Well, no time to lose! Come along, Katherine Broad, there's someone I'd like you to meet."

Amy was tapping her foot on the floor again, a sign Rory recognised instantly as a warning that her unusually short patience was reaching its limits.

"Where is he? What's he doing?"

"Come on Amy, relax. It's only been fifteen minutes or so, he might need to convince Jack's friend to come down."

Amy wasn't buying it. "He's up to something. I know he is. I'm going to go get him." She placed both her hands on the armrests of the chair and was about to propel herself upright when the Doctor burst into the room dragging a petite blonde girl behind her, a breathless Jack following in their wake.

"Amy! I believe you might know – oh." He stopped when he registered the expression on Amy's face. She had shot bolt upright, stiff as a board. Her hands were balled into fists and she was shaking slightly. Her radiant emerald eyes were fixed on the girl who was starting to cower behind the Doctor. Waves of shock and hatred rolled off her face and through the psychic field, crashing into the Doctor's mind in thick, heavy bursts.

"What – the hell – is SHE doing here?"

What's the old saying? Jack asked himself. Tension so thick you could cut the air with a knife? Think that applies right about now.

The Doctor, as usual, took it upon himself to be the icebreaker. "Er, yes. Well. Amy, Katherine Broad is the girl who Jacked saved. Katherine, well, erm, you already know Amy and Rory, obviously. I was hoping you'd be friends but clearly... not." He cleared his throat lamely.

Amy seemed to have calmed, the shock wearing off, but the contempt hadn't left her eyes. "Broad. Found out I was right all along, did you?"

The blonde met the red-head's drilling gaze stubbornly, refusing to be cowed. All coming back to bite you now, isn't it? Shame and regret, thick and hot, rose up her throat as the memories assaulted her conscience, but she didn't let it show on her face.

Rory laid his hand on Amy's rod-stiff arm. "Come on, Amy. That was years ago now, even longer for her. I'm sure she feels bad about it now."

She snorted viciously. "Easy for you to say."

The Doctor moved forward, away from Katherine, and laid his hand on the Time Lady's cheek. "Amelia, people change. People do stupid things. You do stupid things, I do stupid things. Don't become bitter and angry over them. That's not you. I know it isn't you."

Their eyes locked, the gentle blue trying to break through the thick crust of suspicion and bitterness in the green. Eventually his imploring gaze won out, and she relaxed slightly.

"OK. OK. I'll try. But I can't guarantee anything more." She shot Katherine another venomous look, filled with mistrust.

"Pond, if it helps at all, I'm sorry. For everything," the blonde said, speaking for the first time since entering the room.

"Don't call me Pond, please."

They decided, with Katherine's permission, to stay at her house overnight before going back to the TARDIS – it clearly wouldn't be safe for Katherine to remain in London whilst time-travelling mobsters were after her. Not until the Doctor dealt with them, anyway. Amy had grumbled about this plan, but eventually relented when the Doctor assured her that Katherine would most definitely not be sharing her room.

Jack found the whole exchange fascinating – especially how generous Katherine was being, given that she was the owner of the house and giving some serious leeway to some less than gracious guests (well that's not quite fair, Jack thought, it's mostly just Amy). He surmised that she felt she had a lot of making up to do. Poor girl. Although a catfight between these two ladies would be great fun to watch... so long as Amy doesn't cheat, and force her to do cartwheels or something.

Katherine quickly left upstairs to return to bed, Jack following to the spare room (despite his own leanings and private urges, taking advantage of a vulnerable woman was something Jack most definitely wouldn't be doing). Rory slept on the couch, leaving Amy and the Doctor in the armchairs in front of the slowly dying fire. Neither particularly felt like going to sleep tonight, having been well rested in the doldrums of their week-long break from adventuring.

"I'm sorry for dragging Miss Broad into the room like that before you were prepared. I didn't stop and consider that you two might not be the best of buddies."

Amy's face remained neutral. "All roses and sunshine in your world, isn't it, Doctor?"

He opened his mouth to retort, indignant, but she smiled and continued before he could reply. "Don't worry about it. Besides, I wouldn't want you any other way."

He blinked, totally at a loss as to how to respond. He decided to change the subject as usual. "You'll be OK with her on the TARDIS? I realise it won't be all giggles, but we can't leave her here."

"I'll manage. I probably should go and apologise to her for being such an arse. It is her house after all. Although it's not like she ever did the same for me."

He was about to reply but again she cut him off. "Yeah, yeah, two wrongs don't make a right, I know. It's just... difficult."

"I understand. You can just be pretty scary when you're angry, that's all."

"Don't worry, I'm not about to mind-control you or melt your brain or anything like that. All under lock and key."

"Ah, so all that reading did come in handy, then."

"I try." She laughed, but then her expression darkened. "But it scares me too, Doctor. Sometimes, I don't know, I just get so mad and then... and then... I don't know what I'm capable of. What I might do to people. Like on that ship. You felt it, right? That day. I had a gun that day, but I didn't need one. Especially given what I know now. If I really wanted to kill him, if I truly meant to, I could have done it without anything at all. Made him point a gun at himself and blow his own brains out, or something. Somehow. And god I wanted to. That freaks the hell out of me, Doctor. That if I become angry, I can kill people just by thinking. What if I become that angry with Rory for some reason? With you?"

She buried her face in her hands, unable to contemplate the possibility.

The Doctor reached across to clasp one of her wrists. "My Amelia Pond. Just remember... whatever happens, however dark it gets, however scared or angry you become, we're here for you. And you'll be fine. Always fine."

A ghost of a smile flickered on her face. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess so. So long as I've got Rory and you, I'll be OK. My boys will be there for me. As it's been my whole life. Thank you for that."

He squeezed her wrist, smiling softly, and released it, leaning back in his chair.

Hours passed in silence, with no sound in the room but Rory's quiet breathing from the couch and the crackling of the orange-yellow flames flickering in the fireplace. The Doctor was in the early stages of drifting off when Amy's voice brought him back to full consciousness.

"What were they like? Before... the end."

"Sorry, Amy? Who?"

"Your people – my people. You told me about them and you told me what they did... but what were they like before that?"

"Oh." The question took him by surprise. "At their peak, they were great. The greatest. They were gods but the non-interference policy meant that they rarely used their power. They just watched."

"Except when there were children crying?"

He smiled, remembering back to his words on Amy's first adventure with him. Little were they aware of what was to come. "Except that." He paused. "Out of curiosity, why d'you ask?"

Amy stared thoughtfully at the dying flames. "I was just thinking... I just thought that, you know, it'd be handy to know what they were like. What I might be like."

He sensed the concern buried between her words. "Amelia Pond, it's like I told you. You're a Time Lady, yes, and no longer human, but you're still you. You'll always be."

She sighed. "I guess so. It's just thrown me a bit, y'know, not being human any more. I thought I was gonna just travel with you, marry Rory one day and... well, to be honest, I didn't really plan beyond that. Maybe go to university, or get a job, or something. But that's all gone now, isn't it? I have to help protect the universe now, like you."

"You don't have to. If you want to go back to Earth and live a normal life with Rory, all you have to do is ask." Despite his best efforts, he couldn't avoid his voice becoming a flat monotone, tinged with bitterness. He knew full well that if Amy ever left the TARDIS, the resulting emptiness would probably crush his spirit.

Amy's eyes flashed star-bright. "No, Doctor. You think I'm really that selfish?"

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Amy, I – I mean – that's not what I meant, but-"

"I know full well what you meant." She snapped. "You really think that I can just go live a happy, normal life, knowing that I'm one of only two Time Lords in existence? In the whole universe? Go and do the domestic shtick whilst you you stick your neck out, alone, saving billions of people countless times over, and be happy knowing what I am? What I should be? What I'm meant to be?"

"You were never meant to be this. You were always meant to be Amy Pond from Leadworth."

"But I'm not any more, am I? Play with the hand you've dealt, that's what I learnt. Life tells me that 'you're now one of the most powerful people in the universe' and you just expect me to have... have kids and a happy little family, and just exist?"

"And so this is your alternative?" The Doctor's temper was beginning to rise too.

"Yes."

"But you're not supposed to be here! You were never-"

"Don't you dare. Don't you dare even think that. Because I'm not leaving the TARDIS, and I'm not leaving you. Ever. Do you understand me?"

"Amelia-"

"Do. You. Un-der-stand. Me?" Her voice was a low, steely hiss, a flame lit within her emerald eyes.

"Amy, I understand, I really do, but this kind of lifestyle – it's dangerous, more than you can ever imagine. And even if – even if you somehow do survive, you have no idea of what's involved. No idea at all."

"Even for you that's arrogant. You think you're the only one who knows pain? With scars in their past? Skeletons in their closet?" Her face softened and her voice became gentler, losing its harsh edge. "I really appreciate the concern. Really. But this is my choice, and nothing and no one will ever change my mind."

"And if you get killed? How am I supposed to feel about that? You're important to me, Amelia Pond, more important that you could ever imagine." It was an affirmation, a statement of wrought of unbreakable, iron-clad conviction.

"Then sleep at night knowing that I died doing what I wanted. What I loved. How many people can claim to have seen what I've seen? What I've done? What I'm going to do? A year of this is better than a millennia stuck on earth."The fervour and intensity of his words wasn't lost on her, but she set it aside for the present. There was a burning sensation inside her she hadn't felt before, a craving that demanded satisfaction, a confirmation of her true identity. She didn't know why, but she just knew that this was who she was, and damn if anyone was going to question her.

He sighed in frustration and flopped his head back on the top of the armchair, eyes fixed on the ceiling. "Why are you doing this, Amelia? I mean, I get it, but – why? Why subject yourself to all that pain? I was doing a fine job of saving the universe on my own, thanks."

"Because you shouldn't. Not alone. I've been through the TARDIS records. I've seen all those people you've travelled with – most of them girls, many of them hot, I noticed. Sly dog." She smirked roguishly and paused, before returning to seriousness. "You've always needed someone else. But you've always borne the pain and suffering yourself. Now you don't have to. I'm doing this for you as much as anything else."

He sat in silence for a minute, eyes closed, his hearts shredded in a melting pot of emotion. Gratitude at the lengths she was going to help him, help everyone, guilty joy that his Pond wasn't going anywhere, ever (and he knew she meant it), frustration at her obduracy, overwhelming concern for her welfare, some other strange feeling in his stomach that he couldn't quite pin down. Eventually, his voice returned, soft, tired. "Thank you. From the bottom of my hearts. But-"

"Doctor," she cut him off. "Shut up. And don't apologise. Never, ever apologise."

And he shut up. For a moment.

"But what about Rory? You're still going to marry him, right?"

No answer.

"Amy..." A warning note entered his tone.

"Look, I need to think about it, alright? I just need to... need to... weigh up my options. On my own. OK?"

She glanced around the chair at her fiancée, lying peacefully beneath the blankets and the couch. His snores had died down, and Amy was struck by his tranquillity, the beauty, his... humanity. Something I can never have. Will never have. Will never be able to give you... Rory, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry.

She'd lied to the Doctor. She'd made her decision several days ago, in the library, when she'd learnt what she was capable of. She had instantly sworn then and there that there was no way she could subject the man she loved, the one who had saved her from oblivion and had held her hand every moment of her life since the age of eight, to that sort of threat. Before that point, her misgivings had swirled in the corners of her mind, in places where she could keep them out, but that sickening moment of realisation had brought all the walls crashing down.

He deserves the world. Everything. Anything. And he definitely deserves better than a murderer and an alien who could kill him just like that if she got sufficiently pissed off.

She didn't know when she'd break the news – maybe tomorrow, maybe in a month, maybe in a year. But not yet. It would be another little secret for her to keep, but she was good at keeping secrets. She had to be. Right now, she was just thankful for his blissful sleep, free from pain, free from burdens, unaware of the life-changing conversation that had just taken place.

But, unbeknownst to her, she was wrong. He wasn't sleeping at all. He was just pretending to, his mind racing and his single heart beating frantically.

He had heard every single word.

The flags flutter proudly in the midsummer daylight, rustling softly in the northerly breeze. They stand atop the battlements of the city walls, displaying their colours for all the world to see. The majority are a vibrant crimson, interspersed with a smattering of earthly grass-green and deep blue. The division of the flags between the three colours changes on an almost daily basis,and the citizens of the city amuse themselves by tracking the changes in the numbers.

The Queen gazes over the city from her castle wall, arrogant, fearsome, watching the small folk mill about, doing their daily business. Shopping. Gossiping. Busying themselves with the vagaries of life. She smiles at the scene, knowing that they could live happily because of her labours. For the walls she had built were strong. Stronger than any other walls in the world. No invader had ever breached these walls. No invader ever would.

It was not invaders the Queen fears, however. It is what is inside the White Room. No one dares go near the White Room, for they know that if the White Room is ever opened, the city will fall, the terror within unleashed upon its citizens. The legions of enemies around the city all seek one thing: they seek to open the room. Everyone knows that. The White Room is the key to the city's power, and it must be protected. So the citizens, if called, work on the wall as their ultimate duty to their city and their Queen. The Room must never be opened.

A messenger exits from the golden doors behind and falls to his knees in a gesture of supplication. "Your Highness, the scouts have returned."

She turns and inspects the young man magisterially. "And what did they find?"

"Tunnels, your Highness. Of a very clever and subtle nature, more intricate and devious than any we have ever encountered."

She considers this development carefully. "I wonder if it's really our enemies doing this. Because this isn't the first time. And they don't seem to be targeting the Room, like normal."

"Enemy or friend, your Highness, we cannot afford anything to breach the walls. A single flaw in their integrity-"

"Threatens the whole wall. And threatens the barriers of the Room. I know." She draws herself up to her full height and nods curtly. "You know the drill. Destroy the tunnels and strengthen the walls at once."

"It shall be done, your Highness."

She turns back to the turquoise-blue sky, her eyes clear and free from doubt, for there is no place for misgivings. The Room must never be opened.

So... any ideas on what that last scene might be?