The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, holding a handkerchief over his mouth and nose to block out the fumes, and looked around in confusion. Something felt… off.

"Evy! Amelia!" he called out, but no response.

"I worked out what it was," he yelled running to the door and reached into his pockets to get his blue, worn out sonic.

"I know what I was missing! You've got to get out of there!"

It took him a few tries, but the sonic eventually unlocked the door and he flung it open, rushing inside.

"Evy? Amelia? Are you alright?" he leapt up the stairs and ran over to a specific door and scanned it.

"Prisoner Zero is here," he muttered, reading the results on his sonic, "Prisoner Zero is here! Do you understand me? Prisoner Zero is-"

He immediately stopped when he heard a loud creaking noise coming from behind him. He spun around, only to see a brunette- er… red-head? On closer inspection, her hair was a dark brown ginger. Well, nearly ginger. Is there such a thing?

Her nearly ginger hair was tied into a bun, she wore round, geeky glasses, a white shirt, skinny jeans, and black high-heeled boots. Although, something about her was so odd. So oddly familiar. And then it hit him. It was her.

"Evy!" the Doctor happily exclaimed, opening his arms wide for a hug, only for her to jerk back.

Her expression quickly turned to anger as she muttered, "You."

"Yes, it's me." He grinned, before pointing a finger at her, "I like your new look by the way. Ooo… glasses. Glasses are cool."

"You," Evy repeated, her voice getting louder as she slowly started walking towards him.

"Yes. Lovely to know that, thanks. What's wrong? Have I got something on my face?" he asked, touching his jaw.

"As a matter of fact, you do."

"Oh. What is it?"

Evy immediately punched his jaw right across, knocking him out cold as he fell on the ground.

"Pain."

~x~

"…white male, mid twenties. Yes, I caught him breaking and entering," a voice said, whom he later recognized as Evy's.

"Right," a woman then spoke up. Well, a girl probably. Maybe a bit younger than Evy. "I'll bring in back-up."

The girl had pale skin and red hair pulled up underneath a police hat. She had been questioning , writing down thing in a notepad before speaking into a radio, probably to other policemen.

Once Evy had seen that he was conscious, she told him, "Oi! You, sit still."

"Blimey, hell of a gun arm you're packing there," he said, focusing on the blurriness and the dull ache in the back of his head.

"You were breaking and entering."

The Doctor tried to stand up, only to fall back, having being handcuffed to the radiator behind him.

"Oh that's much better. Brand-new me. Whack on the head, just what I needed."

The policewoman finally spoke up, a bit annoyed, "Do you want to shut up now? I've got back-up on the way."

"Hang on," he said, putting together the pieces, "Evy, you knocked me out."

"And you're breaking and entering," Evy said, putting her hands on her hips, "You see how this works?"

"B-but… weren't you and Amelia expecting me? You wouldn't give me a thumper for no reason. Something's wrong and you've got to tell me," he said, looking straight at her with worry.

She stood silent, but the woman's eyes widened as she fidgeted where she stood.

"Amelia?"

"Pardon?" he asked, eyes not leaving Evy.

"Amelia Pond? You said Amelia."

The Doctor snapped right to attention and immediately turned to the woman.

"Right. Yes. Amelia. Little Scottish girl. Where is she? I promised them five minutes. But the engines were phasing. I must've got a bit far," he explained, "Is she alright? Where is she? Has something happened to her because I know there's something you lot aren't telling me."

"Amelia Pond hasn't lived here in a long time," she said quietly and his face fell. That couldn't have been right.

"How long?"

"Six months."

"No! No, no, no, no! I can't be six months late!" He sounded somewhere between laughing and devastated, "Evy, I am so, so, sorry. I truly am. Six months… Six months you've been waiting and I said five minutes. I promised," he said, his voice slightly cracking as he looked up to meet Evy's eyes. Her expression remained calm but he saw her stiffen as she swallowed thickly.

The policewoman turned away from him and began to speak into her radio again as he jerked up, "What happened to her? Where is she?"

"Sarge, it's me again. Hurry up," she said into the radio, ignoring him, "This guy knows something about Amelia Pond."

"Hello? Yes, listen. I need to speak to whoever lives in this house right now," he said, his tone very serious.

"I live here," Evy spoke up, "And so does she."

He paused for a moment, wanting to say more. But he knew he couldn't. Instead, he could only ask,

"How many rooms?"

"What?"

"On this floor. How many rooms are on this floor. Count them for me now."

"Five," the woman answered instead, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Six," Evy breathed out, looking to the Doctor in disbelief, "How could I forget? There has always been six rooms. Argh! Why didn't I realize sooner…"

"W-what? What do you mean?"

He grinned at Evy before turning to the girl and told her,

"Look."

"Look where?"

"Exactly where you don't wanna look. Where you never want to look. The corner of your eye. Look behind you."

She turned, very, very slowly and looked. And she finally saw it. The sixth room.

"It's just like you said, Evy. It's really there. Oh my god, how's that possible. I've never been able to see it," she gasped as she began to panic.

"Sensed it the first time a was here. Should've seen it."

"Perception filter," Evy mumbled, "Picked up it's readings on my sonic. But I didn't remember it. I should've remembered it. Thought it wasn't even real, for a while."

"That's what it does. Directs attention away from the object or its bearer, rendering them unnoticeable. Like it wasn't even there…" he trailed off before turning back up, "If you know it, then tell me, what's in there?"

The policewoman ignored their conversation, slowly walking towards the door unnoticed by either of the two.

"I- I put something in there once… To forget it. But I can't seem to remember what…"

The woman turned the handle, creating a squeaky noise that attracted their attention. Evy and the Doctor immediately turned to her.

"Listen to me! Do not open that door! Why does no one listen to me? Do I just have a face that nobody listens to?" He warned before quickly turning to Evy, "Listen to me, you have to remember. You have to tell me what's in there!"

Evy closed her eyes shut, concentrating hard. Just then, her eyes opened wide and her jaw dropped forming an 'o' as she clutched her hair in frustration.

"What? What is it?"

"My screwdriver," she breathed out, "I put my sonic screwdriver in there…"

"Your what?" the policewoman called from inside the room.

"My sonic. Silver, purple at the end. I kept it in a wooden box and hid it in that room."

"Nothing's here," she replied, "I don't see anything."

It could hide the whole room, what makes you think you'd be able to see anything?" the Doctor explained, rolling his eyes, "Now please, just get out!"

"No- Wait. Evy, the silver thing you put in that wooden antique box before?"

"My screwdriver, yeah."

"It's here."

"Must've forgotten about it and left it there."

"Yeah," she called out, "Must have. And then the box must have opened itself."

The Doctor and Evy froze and looked up at the door.

"Get out of there," she said in a calm, but ice-cold tone.

"Listen to me, you have to get out of there!" the Doctor yelled, less calm, "Get out!"

Evy began to yank on his handcuffs, but it did no good.

"Get out of there!" he was up on his knees, trying to see the room while basically still stuck in one place. There was silence, and then they heard footsteps shuffling about in the room.

"What is it? What are you doing?"

"There's something here. I can feel it, but…" her voice was breathy and nervous.

"Corner of your eye," Evy said softly, "Don't try to see it. If it knows you've seen it, it will kill you! Don't look at it!"

It was then they heard a loud gasp.

"Do. Not. Look."

And then there was a hissing, growling sort of noise, followed by a shrill scream. The woman came running out, slamming the door behind her. She held Evy's sonic tightly before handing it over to it's owner with shaking hands.

Evy fiddled with the settings, trying to ignore the sticky slime that covered it for it was currently dripping onto her pants and onto the floor. It took a few tries, but eventually heard the door lock.

The sonic began to malfunction, it's lights turning on and off as she began to tap it on her palm, attempting to fix it.

"Come on, what has the bad alien done to you?"

The woman turned to her with wide eyes, "Will that door hold it?"

"Oh yeah," the Doctor said sarcastically, "Yeah, of course. It's an interdimensional multiform from outerspace. They're all terrified of wood. So can someone please just get me out of these cuffs!"

She glared at him, but made a squeaking noise, looking at the door, which had begun to glow around the edges.

"What's happening?"

He looked up. "I dunno. Getting dressed?"

"Run. Just go. I'll get him out," Evy told her, wiping the goo off her sonic before working on his cuffs.

"No, no, no. You go as well," the Doctor insisted, "You heard her. Backup's coming. I'll be fine."

"There is no backup," the woman spat at him and he looked up.

"No, I heard you on the radio. You called for backup."

"She was pretending," Evy explained impatiently, "Do you really think cops dress like that?"

"But she's a policewoman!"

"She isn't!" she finally snapped before pulling out a badge from her pocket. It read, 'Scotland Yard: Detective Inspector Evelyn Pond'. "But I am."

He stared at her, completely dumbfounded before the door swung off its hinged and landed on the floor. A man with a dog on a leash stepped out and on top of the used-to-be door. With one swift move, Evy pulled out her gun to point it at… what ever the hell that was.

The woman was just shocked. "But, it's just…"

"No, it isn't," he told her, staring at it, "Look at the faces."

Sure enough, when the creature growled and barked, the dog's face did not move. The human was the one barking.

"What? I'm sorry, but, what?"

"It's all one creature, disguised as two," Evy explained, returning her gun, "Clever old multi-form."

When the man turned his head, the dog turned the same way, and at the same way. The woman backed up, pressing herself against the wall.

"A bit of a rushed job, though," the Doctor continued, "Got the voices a bit muddled, did you?"

The said creature barked and the heads turned to glare at him.

"Mind you, where'd you get the pattern from? You'd need a psychic link – a live feed. How'd you fix that?"

The creature growled, exposing it's teeth. It's long, sharp fangs were dripping with the sae alien goo they found on the sonic screwdriver.

"Stay, boy. Her, him and me," Evy called before turning to the Doctor. "Give me your sonic."

With the tiny space between his arms and legs, he reached into his pocket and tossed it to Evy, who fiddled with both their sonics. With a smirk, she pointed the sonics to each other.

"Evy," the Doctor warned, "What are you doing?"

"Calling for backup."

Without warning, she activated the sonics and they emitted the usual whirring sound of the sonics, but this time, it was fifty times louder. The screech like sound made the floor vibrate a bit, causing the creature to step back.

The woman immediately put her hands up to her ears, attempting to block out the sound as much as she could. But the Doctor on the other hand, not being able to use his hands, winced and ducked his head.

Once the sound was over,the Doctor's blue sonic sparked and went up in smoke, rendering it useless now. Evy tossed it back to the Doctor before clutching her head. Note to self – never do that again because blimey, that is one hell of a headache…

"A distress signal has been heard," called the voice of the guard, interrupting her thoughts. "Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded."

"What's that?" the woman asked, ears still ringing from earlier.

"Well, that would be backup. And you, Evelyn Paris, you are just…" he turned to Evy, grinning before trailing off mid-sentence.

"Just had to get through the prison's audio channels and send a distress signal," she explained, making the Doctor's grin even wider. "We'll be safe now."

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

"Well… Safe from apart… you know… incineration?"

"Incineration?!"

The creature walked into a different room and Evy crouched back down next to the Doctor, furiously tapping the screwdriver against her leg. The stunt she had done earlier must have fried the circuits a bit.

"Come on, work," she growled when it refused to work, "Come on!"

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

"Evy," the Doctor started, "Might want to hurry up a bit."

"I'm trying! Just give me a mo!"

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

It finally lit up purple and she pointed it to the cuffs, unlocking them. The Doctor jumped to his feet and grabbed hold of Evy's hand as she pushed the woman in front of her.

"Run! Run!"

The woman yelped and began to run, both Time Lords right on her heels. Through the hallway, down the stairs, past the living room, through the kitchen, and out through the door into the garden.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

He grabbed Evy's screwdriver from her hand and sonic'd the door shut before looking at Evy, still running. "You're a policewoman?!"

"Detective Inspector," she corrected, speeding up, "Head of Metropolitan Police in Gloucestershire. Our base is here, in Leadworth and… it's my job."

He stared at her in shock, but slightly nodded before turning to the woman beside him.

"Why did you pretend to be a policewoman?"

"I'm a kiss-o-gram!" she snapped as she took off her hat and flung it into the air, revealing lots of red hair.

"You broke into our house! It was either Scotland Yard here," she gestured to Evy, who rolled her eyes, "This, or a French maid. Now, what's going on? Tell me!"

He stopped by at the TARDIS and turned to look at her, exasperated. "An alien convict is hiding in your spare room, disguised as a man and a dog, some other aliens are about to incinerate your house, and Evy's Scotland Yard."

The said woman opened her mouth to speak but was immediately cut off by the Doctor.

"Any questions? Me too," he asked and quickly answered it before anyone could protest.

He turned back to the TARDIS, trying to unlock it, but it- er… she wouldn't let him in.

"No, no, no! Don't do that now!"

"It's still rebuilding," Evy stated, "It'll take at half an hour, at least."

The woman grabbed the Doctor by the arm and pulled him away, yelling, "Come on!"

But he had different plans. He stopped short just as fast, pulling her back.

"Hang on. Wait, wait, wait. That shed. I destroyed that shed the last time I was here. I smashed it to pieces."

"So, we got a new one. Listen, we've got to go." Evy explained, now a bit annoyed herself, "Now, would be a good time!"

"Yeah, but the new one's got old! It's ten years old, at least!" he sniffed it, then licked it – much to Evy's disgust – and his face froze.

"Twelve years. I'm not six months late, I'm twelve years late!" he walked over to Evy, who looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"He's coming," the woman interrupted, attempting to direct his attention to her but he ignored it and kept his gaze locked on Evy's.

"You said six months! You waited for twelve years!"

"It doesn't matter," she finally replied, eyes locking with his. Her tone was calm, but her gaze was like ice. "It's not a big deal when you've lived for two hundred and twenty six years, Doctor. Who cares?"

"I do."

He took hold of Evy's hand and gave a small smile before turning a bit serious. "Don't you ever doubt yourself, Evelyn. You are extremely important which makes this situation important as well. Why did you say six months?"

The woman suddenly snapped, seeming to be affected by his response and turned on him.

"Why did you say five minutes?!" she yelled, her face turning red.

With that, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped, stunned. "What…"

"Come on!"

"What…" he repeated, but his time to Evy. "What?"

Although, he only earned a glare from her before she grabbed the Doctor's and the woman's arms, dragging them with her. "Come on!"

"What?!"

They began to run, Evy pulling both of them along easily in his absolutely stunned state.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

The woman screamed, but Evy immediately pulled them to the other way as they nearly ran right into the creature itself. She pulled to them past her house and out of the yard and out of the neighborhood, but the woman yanked her hand out of Evy's as the Doctor stopped them on a little sidewalk-road once he regained the ability to think.

"You're Amelia."

"And you're late!" the woman said, ignoring his response.

"Amelia Pond – the little girl, that's you."

"She's Amelia Pond, I'm Evelyn Pond, and you're late," Evy agreed, walking away from him, but he followed her.

"What happened?"

"Twelve years."

"You used an upper-cut to knock me out."

"Twelve years."

"Upper-cut!"

"Twelve years!" the two women shouted in unison and annoyance.

"Twelve years since you left," Evy continued as she angrily grabbed his shirt. "Twelve years since you left me to deal with a little girl's broken heart, as well as my own, and it wasn't easy. So don't you go complaining because you don't know who we are anymore nor what the hell we've been through."

He suddenly felt that pang of guilt in his chest. What was I thinking? Why I am acting so immature? I deserved all that came to me. I promised them five minutes. I promised…

Her hazel eyes bore their way into his. And for the first time, he saw all the pain, the anger, and all the sadness in her eyes. But despite all of these, no tears were evident – as usual.

All he could do now was nod. And with that, she let go of his shirt, as well as his gaze. I should just shut up… What would she think of me now..?

But unexpectedly, he felt warm arms wrap around him. Evy was hugging him.

"But… I forgive you."

He immediately froze. Why? Why would she forgive me? Why isn't she pissed? After all they've been through, why would she still show compassion?

He pulled away, searching her eyes. "Evy, I -"

"Don't. Just… Don't," she put a finger to his lips, making him slightly blush. She was still furious – no doubt – but there was no need to put that on his shoulders as well. Even if it was his fault.

"All that matters now is that you're here. I'm glad you're back," she said, finally showing a small smile and he smiled back.

He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by something coming over the speaker of an ice cream truck.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

The vendor looked confused, fiddling with the speaker.

"No, no, no, no. We're being staked out… by an ice cream van!"

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

The Doctor and Evy ran over to the truck, Amelia hot on their heels.

"What's that?" he asked the vendor, who looked more than confused. "Why are you playing that?"

"It's supposed to be Clair de Lune," he defended, looking around, unsure what to do when the Doctor took his speaker and put it to his ear, listening.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

He set it down and looked around the whole park area, listening. An old woman's phone was playing the warning from the guard. And a girl's iPod. And someone's car radio.

"Doctor," Amelia asked, using his name for the first time. "What's happening?"

He didn't respond, running away and jumping a short fence in someone's yard. Evy sighed and muttered a curse under her breath before running after him, jumping over the fence as well. Not bad for a woman in heels, she thought. Amelia followed them, but went around the fence instead of going over it.

He swung open the front door to find an old woman pressing buttons on her television remote, looking at the screen, which showed the guard's eye and was playing the warning over and over.

The Doctor went in front of the screen and started scanning the television set with his- well… Evy's sonic, completely ignoring the old lady in the room. Evy quickly followed behind him, recognizing the woman.

"Hello, Gran! Sorry to burst in like this. We're doing a special on television faults in this area," Evy explained to her, showing her badge.

Amelia came up at her shoulder and the Doctor looked between Evy's badge and at her 'policewoman' attire before finishing Evy's sentence. "Also… crimes! Let's have a look."

He walked over and took the remote from her rudely, examining it and the television.

"Why, hello, Evy, dear! I was just about to phone. It's on every channel," she gestured to the image of the guard's eye. The Doctor patted her on the shoulder and she let out a sigh before noticing Amelia.

"Oh, Amy! It's always nice to see you two together. Are you a policewoman now? Like your sister?"

She smiled fakely and bobbed her head, seeming a little awkward. "Well, sometimes."

"I thought you were a nurse."

"I can. Be a nurse," she said, tense. Evy fake coughed and gave her a warning glare as the Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"Or, actually, a nun?" the old woman questioned but as Amelia opened her mouth to respond, Evy slapped her hand on her mouth, shutting her up.

"She dabbles. Still jumping from one job from the other," Evy said with a fake laugh.

The woman nodded, but the Doctor could tell she could see through their lies. "So Evy dear," she continued despite the awkward situation. "Who's your boyfriend?"

The Doctor stopped was doing and turned to her, face red as a tomato. "Boyfriend?" he asked before turning to Evy, who was blushing as well. "Boyfriend?!"

"Gran, he's not my boyfriend! I've already told you, I don't do that sort of thing."

"Oh, I've got to get you a bloke someday," the woman muttered, "Is he yours and Amy's friend, then?"

"Who's Amy? You were Amelia," the Doctor said in an accusatory tone and Amelia glared at him.

"Yeah, and now I'm Amy."

"Amelia Pond," he said incredulously, "That was a great name!"

Ey pursed her lips. "Bit fairytale."

"I know you, don't I? I've seen you somewhere before," the woman interrupted, asking the Doctor and he just grinned.

"Not me. Brand new face," he stretched his jaw, as if to demonstrate. "And what sort of job is a kiss-o-gram?" he asked Amy.

"I go to parties and I… kiss people," she said, trying to defend herself. "With outfits. It's a laugh."

He looked at her, stunned before turning to Evy. "And you just let her? She was just a little girl five minutes ago!"

"God, you're worst than our aunt!"

"I'm the Doctor, I'm worse than everybody's aunt," he looked at the old woman in front of him. "and that's not how I'm introducing myself," he told her, shaking the sonic screwdriver in the air.

The woman nodded, sort of unsure as she watched him sonic her radio, which began playing the same message in multiple languages.

"Korean, German, Italian, Swedish, French, Spanish," Evy stated before he shut it off. "It's everywhere in every language. They're broadcasting it to the whole world."

He dropped the radio and ran to the window, opening it before looking outside and up.

"What's out there? What are you looking for?" Amy questioned from inside, but he ignored her, pulling his head back inside a few moments later.

"Okay. Planet this size, two poles, basic molten core. What do they need?"

"A forty percent fission blast," Evy answered for him, making him grin.

"Brilliant."

The front door slammed shut and a tall, buff man waked in, carrying a bag with a laptop inside. The Doctor ran right over to him and began to speak up in his face, looking up at the taller man.

"So, assuming a medium-sized starship, that's twenty minutes." He bobbed up and down, trying to be at the man's height. "What do you think, Evy? About twenty minutes?"

"Twenty two," she corrected.

He stopped tip-toeing and walked over to her, confused. "What?"

"Twenty two. The little ships up there, they've got to communicate to make sure they all fire at the same time before they burn the whole planet. Adds a bit of time."

"What?" he asked again, but this time in shock. "How did you know that?"

"One ship can't transmit that warning all over the Earth. They'd have to use satellites. "

He was completely blown away. "Evy, that's… that's amazing! How did you manage to work that out?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed loudly. "Simple astrophysics, extragalactic astronomy, bases on electromagnetic spectrum- You should know these things, Time Lord."

"Twenty two minutes 'till what?" Amy interrupted, her hands on her hips.

"Are you the Doctor?" asked the buff man from behind him, and the old lady – whom they had forgotten about, agreed.

"He is, isn't he? He's the Doctor! The raggedy Doctor!" she looked at Evy. "You remember? You used to tell Amy stories about him all the time! You both used to go on and on about him!"

"Shut up," Amy said, turning bright red.

"We remember, Gran. Everything was always about the imaginary friends when we were kids."

"Shut up, sis. Twenty minutes to what?"

The Doctor had plopped down on the couch, ignoring them while they talked about him.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

He stared and the television, thinking hard. "Human residence. They're not talking about your house, they're talking about the planet. Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship. And it's going to incinerate the planet."

He looked at the television again. Which was still repeating the warning.

"Twenty two minutes until the end of the world."

~CHAPTER 2 END~