A/N: I lied again. This is my favourite chapter. If you want to review, tell me what you think about at the end- I wasn't planning on doing this twist, but I got the idea in an earlier review from Azreael! Hope you enjoy x

Disclaimer: GUESS WHAT! I DON'T OWN DOCTOR WHO! I bet you didn't know that.

*CHAPTER REWRITTEN 02/06/12*

The Doctor pressed a light kiss on my forehead and withdrew from the hug. He smiled warmly at me and tried to encourage a smile back on my face, and the remnants of one managed to tug at the corners of my mouth. I quickly cleared my face from any tears with the edge of the rainbow scarf and took a deep breath, aiming to compose myself.

"Sorry," I muttered, fidgeting with the loose end of the scarf. "Usually… Those don't really affect me. My memories, I mean. I've grown to forget about them."

"No. It's me who should be apologising." the Doctor insisted, "I don't normally go through people's memories, Ava. It's wrong- like reading someone's diary. But you, I couldn't resist. You act so tough on the outside, so invincible. I just had to delve underneath your hard exterior and shuffle through the more delicate things."

I looked up, grabbing the Doctor's sincere eyes. "It looks like we've both got something in common, then." she paused. "I saw inside your head too…"

The Doctor's eyes snapped wide open. "What, Ava? What exactly did you see?"

I glanced back at 'The Core'. For some reason, it didn't look as beautiful anymore. All that glittering was beginning to give me a headache and my giddiness from earlier had totally dissipated. It really is funny how you can go from being so overly ecstatic to deadly serious in a matter of minutes.

When I failed to reply, the Doctor leaned forward and gripped my shoulders. To me, he looked almost desperate. Frighteningly desperate. "What did you see?"

I cupped his cheek in my palm, his skin surprisingly cool. "Your parents sent you away when you were young. Too young- barely even a child. They didn't want you."

The Doctor kept his grip crushingly tight on my shoulders.

I caressed his skin gently with my thumb. "You were so lonely, Doctor. So, so lonely. And now… Even more alone. The last of your kind. The rest of your race perished, along with your whole planet…"

The Doctor's eyes flashed with pain and remembrance. I could see the fires burning right in the back of his eyes, from the last day of the war that he'd fought in. The war that tore his whole life apart.

"But Doctor," I began to say, to the Doctor's surprise. "You don't need to think about them anymore. Because all that pain, all that suffering, was only part of what I saw."

The Doctor was intrigued. "What else did you see?"

"I saw how many people love you." I bit my lip to hide my smile. "Jesus, Doctor, there's a whole load of girls milling around your brain; and all of them love you just as much as the last. They cherished you; they would do anything for you, even now. You get around a bit don't you?"

The Doctor's grip instantly loosened when my mood had lifted. "Well. Some would call me a bit of a silver fox."

I clicked my tongue, "Despite your old age, you still manage to get the ladies. Does Rose know how many girls you've been with in the past?"

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. He pointed his finger at me disapprovingly. "Don't get those sort of ideas into your head, Ava Jackson. I liked none of them like that. None of them. They were just friends."

I grinned and raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that, Doctor? Are you really, really, sure?"

The Doctor suddenly looked really uncomfortable and started rubbing his hands down his legs and refused to make eye contact. "Yes. Of course I'm sure. You should know that- you were the one who managed to get inside my head. Somehow. Don't know how. Wish I knew how. Because if I end up doing that again, which I probably won't in a hurry, chances are that I won't want them taking a nosey through my private thoughts."

I sniggered. "That's kind of two-faced, don't you think? And anyway, I didn't look through your thoughts on purpose. It kind of just happened."

"The mind is a very delicate thing." the Doctor said. "So very, very delicate. One pull on the wrong thread and the whole thing can just fall apart. Like a really badly made Christmas jumper." the Doctor shuddered. "I really badly made Christmas jumper made out of that horrible itchy wool. Maybe, when I looked into your mind, you seeing my memories was a sort of side-effect. Human minds are a lot more fragile than Time Lord minds- they're not as, well, full. My brain, for example, is brimming with nine-hundred years of memories; yours only nineteen. Sometimes the pressure is too much… Oh, hello!"

I shot the Doctor a puzzled look and I noticed that the Doctor was looking behind us. I snapped my neck backwards so I could see over my shoulder.

Uh oh. This didn't look good.

A group of The Glass Planet's scary security guards were pacing right towards us, each one of them brandishing a very big and dangerous looking sword.

The Doctor stood up and greeted them with a grin and a wave. "Hello there!"

"Well," I muttered as I realised that the guards did not look happy. "If you're in the wrong, do it strong."

I shot up next to my new companion and I too offered them a wave and erratic grin. "Yes! Hello!"

"Might I say, before you think about using those big swordy things," the Doctor began gesturing wildly, "That this planet truly is amazing! Isn't it A… Empress Cordell of the Muluminan Peninsula? Wouldn't you give it a ten out of ten?"

I nodded and gave a little spontaneous round of applause. "I would go as far as to say eleven out of ten, Emperor Finchley of the Muluminan Peninsula."

"You know what I am going to do?" the Doctor questioned, the guards staring back at him, totally deadpan. "When I get back home to the Muluminan Peninsula, I am going to tell all my people just how great this place is. Honestly, this time tomorrow, you'll have flocks of Muluminan… Um… Peninsulans… Yeah, Peninsulans, raging to get to these doors. Believe me when I say that. Oh, they do love their leaders at the Muluminan Peninsula, don't they, Empress?"

"Oh yes," I swore, beginning to enjoy the whole lying-through-my-teeth-to-some-potentially-deadly-guards thing. "They hang on our every word, they do. Every word."

"Now, guys, do you mind putting those big swordy things down?" the Doctor smiled, miming putting a weapon on the floor. "Because, you know, I'm beginning to feel rather threatened by them. And if my people find out about this, they will not be happy. Oh no. They will be like 'No! I will not go to the Glass Planet, Emperor! Not if they carry big swordy things!'"

I nodded sincerely, trying to ignore the fact that the guards were looking more and more furious by the second. "Us Muluminan Peninsulans are very trigger-unhappy, if you get my drift."

The Doctor snapped his fingers. "Very trigger-unhappy! That's it. We're all peace loving, tree hugging…"

But he was cut short by one of the guards roaring, "SHUT UP!"

The Doctor pulled a face. "Oh. This does not sound good."

I stifled a giggle.

"Both of you have abused the terms of service of The Glass Planet." one of the guards said, one nearer the back of the group of six, "You are neither of aristocratic origin or from the Muluminan Peninsula."

The Doctor gasped quite comically, "What? No! Yes we are! I think you'll find that I've ruled…"

Two very small, red-skinned, wrinkly (Golem like, I thought. You know. From Star Wars. Or Lord of the Rings. Or… Never mind) emerged from the back of the group of guards. Both of them were fuming- whether they were that red skinned naturally, I had no clue.

I wanted to laugh so badly. But now was not the time.

"No, we are the Emperor and Empress of the Muluminan Peninsula!" one of them screeched- both of them looked the same, so it was impossible to tell which was the Emperor or the Empress.

"What?" howled the Doctor, "How? When? The Muluminan Peninsula is over thirty billion light years away!"

"We've been travelling for hundreds of years to get here!" the other one screeched then turned to the guard. "Execute these impostors!"

"Ah. Well. Worth a try, I suppose." the Doctor gave a quick shrug.

The guards growled and began to approach closer, their swords positioned correctly.

"Okay, Ava," the Doctor grinned, slipping his hand in mine. "This is where the fun starts. Run!"

I grinned back as our hands intertwined, only the thudding of the guards running behind us coming between our laughter.

-x-

The sun was shining, bright and crisp, above the Powell Estate. The temperature was a little cold, but enough for me to survive in just a T Shirt. The clouds were just thin wisps up in the blue sky- this really was as good as it got around East London. The grass and the plants dotted in and around the Estate were a voluptuous green, and everywhere looked generally as cheerful as a rundown council estate could.

Wait a second. Something about this wasn't right.

"Are you tired?" the Doctor asked, distracting me from looking at my surroundings. "I mean, we've just ran. A lot. And you haven't slept."

I thought about this for a second. "No. How can I possibly sleep after that? I'm worried that if I close my eyes, I might miss something."

I didn't wait to hear the Doctor's reply.

It was snowing when we left.

And if this, presumably, was the morning after I had left… The snow should still be here. It shouldn't be sunny. It shouldn't even be vaguely warm.

I gulped. "Doctor… Just what time is it now? What day is it?"

The Doctor's brow creased. "It's the 26th of… Oh."

All the colour drained from my face. "Oh what?"

It was the Doctor's turn to look anxious. "The 26th of April."

This information took a few seconds for me to register it.

I clamped my hand over my mouth. "Oh my god! Shit! We're four months late! I thought you said you're driving was accurate!"

"It is!" the Doctor exclaimed in his defence, "Usually!"

"Oh," I scoffed, "And I bet that's what you said when you brought Rose back a year bloody late."

The Doctor didn't need to answer, as we heard the footsteps of someone running down the Estate.

I almost died when I saw who it was.

Rose.