"Doctor, what are you gonna do to me?" Melody asked nervously.

"Follow me," the Doctor said grabbing Melody's hand and pulling her behind a large pile of boulders; she reluctantly ran behind him, with an occasional spurt of pain running up her leg from the too-high heels that were strapped to her feet. He swiftly pulled her down next to him on the ground, causing her silky white dress to cascade in ripples around her legs.

He retrieved his psychic paper from his breast pocket, holding it close to his face, studying it carefully until it showed him whatever it was he needed to see. He pulled his sonic out of his pocket, eyes still locked on the image the psychic paper was displaying.

"Will you hold this for a quick minute?" he asked, handing he the psychic paper to her as he fiddled around with the handle of the screwdriver. "Ah! There we go. Okay just hand it back to me please, thank you much." He said, as she did as he told her. He waved the his contraption over the paper, but instead of the usual futuristic, green light that Melody expected, a darker light, almost blue, came out.

"What are you doing?" she wondered aloud as she watched him.

"I just downloaded the image onto the circuit. Now…" He began fiddling with the settings again.

Melody crossed her arms, watching him struggle with his toy. "But I don't understand how this-''

Melody's thought was cut short. The Doctor quickly looked up at her with a furrowed brow that showed his concentration as he pointed the sonic at her face. The screwdriver produced a deep blue light and he continued to move the light down her body. Melody assumed the light was scanning her, but she wasn't completely sure. She could tell something was different about her.

"Doctor, what the hell did you just do?" she asked tempestuously . Something was not right at all- her body felt out of whack and she felt wider and more filled out than normal. "Doctor, this isn't my voice! This. Isn't. My. Fucking. Voice. And this definitely is not my body! WHAT DID YOU JUST DO TO ME," she barked in his face.

"Don't worry," he said, trying to calm the hysteric girl who seemed to be on the verge of tears. "I transported the queen's image into you so would 'become her,'" he continued. " Well, in a manner of speaking, anyway…. You aren't actually her, don't worry. It's simple enough."

"Not really, Doctor! You didn't even ask! You actually thought this wouldn't be a big deal? How long am I going to stay like this?" She asked becoming flustered.

"Well it's not permanent, if that's what worried about. I'll switch you back after we get inside the city." He got right in her face now, pushing his eyebrows and hairline so far up his forehead that she wasn't sure if they were still attached to his head. "But for now, it is vital that you don't act like yourself so we can get in." he said to her.

Melody rolled her eyes at him and quickly stood up from her spot in the wet grass. When she stepped out from behind the pile of rocks, she didn't realize how exposed they had been. Had she or the Doctor have been one inch in a different place, they would have been seen. Now that she had gained almost three inches to her height, she was happily surprised when she found that she could walk much faster than the Doctor; he literally had to run to keep up with her rushed pace.

Now I regret changing her, too, he said to himself, huffing and puffing like an angry old man.

When he reached the line of people which she had reached about 15 seconds before him, she was practically swimming through the line because she was recognized as the queen. The Doctor was still jogging to keep up, holding his psychic paper up to people so he could get through as well.

"Sir Doctor, queen's bodyguard, please excuse me," he would say to anybody who wouldn't part the way.

He finally caught up to her at the end of the line, and to his dismay, he found that she had been in a deep conversation with two of the surgeons.

"Ah, and here he is now. Hello, Sir Doctor!" she said, motioning at him. He was still panting from the short marathon he had just ran, slicking his hair back and trying to tuck his shirt back into his trousers discreetly.

"Hello, Your Majesty," he bowed slightly at the waist when he had caught a breath. "And hello, er, doctors! Well, I hope you had a good time talking to her majesty, but if you don't mind, we are in a bit of a rush, so if you could let us through now…"

"Oh yes, sir. Sorry Sir. We just wanted to be sure her majesty had an escort to go through with." The stockier doctor replied dutifully.

"Well, here I am- her extremely reliable bodyguard. Now have a fine day, gentlemen," The Doctor said undiplomatically, as he took hold of Melody's shoulders and pushed her through the gates.

"Don't ever walk away from me again!" He whispered furiously in her ear.

"Oh come on, Doctor! I was only having a little fun!" she said, taunting him, turning her head 80 degrees to look at him out of the corner of her eye.

"Yeah well something isn't safe about this place. So don't wander off to have 'fun' unless I say it's safe. Can you do that?"

"Ugh… You sound just like my dad. Whatever, yeah, sure. Change me back now please," Melody said stepping behind a large bin.

The Doctor switched the setting on his sonic and waved it back over Melody. She felt her body return to its natural state.

"Thank you, Doctor."

"Don't mention it," he said, making no eye contact as he returned the screwdriver to its home in his pocket. "Now come on! We have a queen to meet!" he grabbed her hand and began running down the street, energy pumping through Melody's bones; the Doctor felt her pulse as he squeezed her hand, and the thrill of his new companion made his hearts jump in his chest.

"Doctor," Melody said panting from the exercise and starting to slow down, "do you really know where you're going? We've been running forever!"

"Yes, Melody, I know exactly where we're going," he lied. "And by the way- forever feels a lot longer than this." He muttered, looking at her struggling to keep running.

They continued sprinting down the unknown streets of New Paris. After a final turn, the Doctor and Melody came to a halt at the base of a huge marble structure, radiant and colossal; superior to any building she had ever seen before.

"Is that…" Melody trailed of at the sight of its beauty.

"The Palace of New France! Otherwise known as Le Palais du Soleil," he said finishing her sentence.

"It's amazing!" She said breath taken. "If we had anything like this on earth-"

"It wouldn't be earth." The Doctor looked down at Melody with concerned, caring eyes. "Now come on."

He started walking up the polished marble steps with little Melody following behind him. Her shoes clip-clopped all the way to the top, making her sound like some sort of ungraceful horse.

When he got to the top, he straightened his fez, took out his psychic paper and held out his arm for Melody to take. Then, as if he visited palaces every day, he knocked on the door with a big smile and waited.

After standing silently for far too long, someone finally came the door.

"Bonjour, Monsieur!" that was the moment when Melody realized the Doctor spoke worse French than her. He continued: "Sir Doctor and Lady Melody from the planet Sorita- We're here to see the queen."