Emily seemed to be fine, watching him with wide green eyes. He had been too busy arguing with the older woman to see who had saved her, but he witnessed the carriage disappear. A brief temporal shift, and then it was pulled back away. He didn't have to be a genius to figure out that this was meant to kill Emily, and he regretted letting his attention be pulled away from her. She didn't seem any worse for wear, but she didn't seem to want to talk about who had helped her. She said it was just a man, and he felt another memory fighting to return.

He wouldn't be able to check and see if he time locked something until they returned to the TARDIS but he was fairly certain that was the case. And if it was then it apparently wasn't time to remember the details just yet. It made him wonder if the one who had rescued her had been one of the previous hims. It made sense.

He wanted to get them back to the TARDIS, but somehow he knew that they weren't ready to leave yet. Something else had to take place first. He supposed it was time to get their stories straight. He had information he needed to share with Emily about her mother and he needed some details from her as well.

He led them to a small cafe, and while he and River had a drink called Fara, he recommended something milder for Emily. She drank a smoothie like drink, flavored with Lightberries. When they were settled he leaned back, she was watching him carefully, and he felt the words slip out without preamble.

"What's your full name, Emily?"

"Why?" She sipped through the straw, and he could see her mother's stubbornness written in her features. Instead of annoying him he found it endearing.

"Please, humor me." He took another large drink of the Fara, hoping that it would help to calm his nerves.

She sighed, swallowed, and answered, "Emily Rose Noble."

He was pretty sure a tear slipped out at her admission. He didn't care. Not only was she Donnas child, Donna had used Rose's name. Even if she didn't know what she was doing, that was his Donna. Even now, she was his Donna. He had left her thinking that he was still hurting over Rose, but if he had told her that she was far more than that, he didn't know if her leaving would have hurt more.

"Your mother is Donna Noble."

It wasn't a question and she seemed to understand that. "Yes, you know her?"

He swallowed hard, and River held his hand under the table. He had told her about Donna, and finally about his love for her. River had understood then, as she did now. "Yes, she used to travel with me."

With that opening he started the story, keeping out some of the hardest details, but having to explain what he had to do to save her life. He didn't know what he was expecting, but he leaned away a little. She might slap like her mother, he wasn't sure. Although she had yet to show that particular aspect of fire, he could see it burning away inside of her. Perhaps her father was a calmer man, and she inherited that side of him.

Without warning Emily started laughing, almost choking on her smoothie. He reached around, patting her gently on the back, trying to calm her. Finally she took in a steady breath, and smiled at him. "You're the Nurse."

He looked at her in surprise, "No, I'm the Doctor."

Emily shook her head, still smiling, "No, I know that. I mean my Mum used to tell me stories when I was real little. Stories of a man called the Nurse, and his magic traveling time car."

Emily seemed to think this was quite amusing, and a quick glance to River cleared up that she in fact thought it was funny as well. Women! He knew really it didn't matter, but his pride was on the line.

"I am the 'Doctor' and the TARDIS is not a 'magic traveling time car'," he insisted. Donna remembered- at least a little. That was good, right?

Emily broke out in a laugh again, River joining her freely. He knew there was a reason he usually didn't take multiple woman with him. It never seemed to work out well for his male pride.

"Relax, Doctor." Her voice was incredibly tender, though her smile wasn't fading. "It's not like she could really remember. They were good stories, I hadn't heard one in years, or I might have made the connection sooner."

"Yeah," the Doctor grumbled, finishing off his Fara.

"Sweetie," River was giving him a stern look. He sighed, she was right. And he supposed it was a little funny, but only just a little.

"So, Emily Rose Noble, why didn't you get your fathers last name?"

She tilted her head just a little, and he though he saw a flash of discomfort in her eyes. "I don't have a father."

He knew from checking in on Donna from time to time that her marriage hadn't worked out, but seeing Emily he had assumed that something had changed. He came less often now, then he used to do, and he thought at some point she must have found someone else. Someone she loved enough to have a child with them.

"Oh," he said quietly.

"I guess, I have one," she reasoned, quietly. "Just never met him."

The Doctor understood, and he felt a memory that should have slid in with this conversation, but it seemed the time still wasn't right. He wondered when it would be.

He reached over and took her hand and rubbed it gently with his thumb. "Sorry."

She shrugged. "Don't be, I was happy, I am happy."

He smiled at her, and there was the strength he knew in Donna all those years ago. Emily might be her own woman, but she carried the best traces of Donna, he could tell.

"Well, I suppose we should explore, figure out why we are here," the Doctor stood, leaving money for their drinks. "Stay close, Emily."

She nodded, and they left the cafe, turning right. He was trying to keep a careful eye on her, she was clearly marked. Whatever was coming he knew that it depended on her being alive, and whoever the opposition was, they seemed to know this.

He should have felt the air change, should have known that she was about to be transmatted, but he missed it somehow. In a blink she was gone, and in her place was empty air. River took his hand and they ran back to the TARDIS. The universe was at stake if they didn't find her and save her.

DW

Emily opened her eyes, feeling a wave of nausea overtake her, but she fought it back. She was alone in a room, at least for the moment, and she crawled over to the wall to lean against it for a moment. She heard a sound, and then all of the sudden there was a TARDIS filing the room. She managed to stand, and waited until the door opened.

"That was-" she looked at the man, not her Doctor, or even the other one she had seen.

She was going to say that was fast, but now she didn't know. He was looking around the room.

"Who are you?"

"Emily," she took a step towards him. He was looking at the TARDIS running his hand along the outside gently.

"What's wrong with you," he asked, but he was talking with the TARDIS.

He sighed, and turned back to Emily, hair cut close to his head. His eyes were blue, his ears and nose big but he was handsome in his own way.

"Doctor?"