Chapter 33 The One with Neil's Foot

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They were back at the warehouse, where it had all begun, Florence watching the Doctor and River Song hard at work examining the spacesuit they had found, River running her scanner over it while the Doctor pulled the wiring out. Rory stood off to the side, still cradling the only connection he had to his wife, while Florence shifted her weight from foot to foot next to the table holding a torch up to the suit, feeling rather useless. She knew they had much more to worry about than her own feelings of inadequacy, but she couldn't help it. She missed Martha and Rose, she was big enough to admit it. She missed their joint cluelessness when the Doctor was rambling, their comforting hands that held hers when she was scared. She was so happy to be reunited with this version of her Doctor, but she forgot what it was like to be around companions she didn't know too well. Sure, she had met Amy a few times now, and Rory a couple, but she didn't really know them, she didn't know what they studied at school, what their biggest fears were, what they used to want to be as children. That came with time, quality time.

Then there was River Song, who knew everything, she knew how to fly the TARDIS, she knew how to work the scanner, how to make her invisible then visible again, she had fancy gadgets and air of confidence that just made Florence want to curl under her blanket and sleep. She felt like a child compared to the fantastic woman, and the Doctor didn't help with his persistent need to give her a babysitter or be her own personal bodyguard at every turn.

She had three months with nobody, just running and hurting. She was back with the people she had missed, but had never felt more isolated.

"Who was she? Why put her in here?" He was asking River, distracting Florence out of her musings.

"You put this on, you don't even need to eat." River told him. "The suit processes sunlight directly. It's got built in weaponry, and a communications system that can hack into anything."

"Including the telephone network?"

"Easily."

"Why phone the President?" He asked.

"It defaults to the highest authority it can find. The little girl gets frightened, the most powerful man on Earth gets a phone call. The night terrors with a hotline to the White House."

"Florence, torch." Florence looked at him, her torch having drifted to the left slightly, scowling slightly.

"Sorry." She mumbled, a little cross that the first time he had noticed her in the last twenty minutes had been because of a damn torch. Shit job anyway. She shook her head slightly, this wasn't the time to be petulant. "What are they doing with her, anyway?" She asked instead. "Raising her? Moulding her?"

"Keeping her safe." River suggested. "Even giving her independence."

"The only way to save Amy is to work out what the Silence are doing." The Doctor said, pacing the warehouse floor slightly.

"I know." Rory agreed.

"And every single thing we learn about them brings us a step closer!" He continued.

"Yeah, Doctor, I get it. I know." Florence was pleased to see she wasn't the only one mildly annoyed at the Time Lord, though she would admit Rory perhaps had a better reason.

"What if she's not human?" Florence suggested, and the Doctor shook his head, shooting her idea down.

"No, she's human, going by the life support software." Florence frowned, feeling a bit put out.

"Well…" River began, and the Doctor turned to her quickly.

"Well what?"

"She climbed out of this suit. Like, she forced her way out… She must be incredibly strong." The Doctor smiled at the suggestion, and Florence had to really bury down the sudden resentment.

"Incredibly strong and running away… I like her."

"We should be trying to find her." River reminded him, and he nodded slightly.

"Yes, I know. But how?" He suddenly shrugged, backing away from the suit. "Anyway, I have the strangest feeling she's going to find us."

"Apollo 11, this is Houston." A fuzzy voice came from the TV in the corner, drawing the Doctor's attention. "How do you read? Over."

"Why does it look like a NASA spacesuit?" Rory asked.

"Because that's what the Silence do. Think about it." The Doctor told them. "They don't make anything themselves. They don't have to. They get other life forms to do it for them."

"So… parasites?" Florence asked, and the Doctor clicked a finger at her.

"Superparasites! Standing in the shadows of human history since the very beginning."

"What, and they do what you did with Canton?" Florence suggested. "With the bowtie?"

"Exactly, Flossie!" The Doctor grinned.

"Florence." She corrected, still pretty annoyed at him and he faltered slightly at her sudden sternness.

"They'd been doing that on a global scale for thousands of years." He continued.

"Then what?" Rory asked.

"Then why did the human race suddenly decide to go to the Moon?"

"Ten, nine." Came from the TV once more. "Ignition sequence start. Six, five, four-"

"Because the Silence needed a spacesuit." The Doctor pointed out, and they all looked at the TV screen, watching one of the most important moments in human history happen right before their eyes.

"One, zero. All engines running. Liftoff. We have a liftoff. Thirty-two minutes past the hour, liftoff on Apollo 11."

The Doctor grabbed River's scanner from her, holding it up as it beeped.

"You should kill us all on sight." A voice hissed from the screen, and Florence frowned when she heard it.

"What is that?" The Doctor grinned, triumphantly.

"A plan." He told her simply, not taking his eyes off the screen.

"This suit…" River called over to them. "It seems to be repairing itself. How's it doing that? Doctor, a unit like this… would it ever be able to move without an occupant?"

"Why?" The Doctor asked, finishing what he was doing with the scanner and focussing back on the suit.

"Well, the little girl said the spaceman was coming to eat her. Maybe that's exactly what happened…"

"I love you." Florence looked to the right slightly, Rory sitting in the corner cradling the nano recorder. "I know you think it's him. I know you think it ought to be him." She caught the Doctor's eye, was there something she had been missing all this time with the Doctor and Amy? What had happened between the two of them? The Doctor shook his head minutely. "But it's not. It's you, and when I see you again, I'm going to tell you properly, just to see your stupid face." The endearment caused a knot to form in her stomach. "My life was so boring before you just dropped out of the sky. So get your stupid face where I can see it, okay? Okay?" Florence turned away from the Doctor, who left the suit to go and comfort Rory. She instead tried to busy herself with anything she could find, which unfortunately left her with shining the torch once more to where River was still looking at the suit.

"You don't have to worry, you know." River muttered, and Florence raised an eyebrow.

"Worry about what? I'm not worried about anything."

"Sure you're not." River smiled, a knowing smile that made Florence's stomach turn.

"I'm not."

There was a moment of silence before River spoke again.

"You taught me, you know." Florence looked at the curly haired woman.

"What?"

She smirked.

"Did you really think that joyrider would have the patience to teach anyone other than you how to fly the TARDIS?"

Florence shook her head. "But I don't… I don't know how to fly the TARDIS." As soon as she said it she realised how stupid she sounded. "Right, but I will in the future." River nodded.

"You will."

"Isn't that spoilers or something?" River tutted slightly.

"Oh spoilers, spoilers. I've always hated that word." Florence smiled at that.

"Me too."

A short conversation with Rory was all it took for the Doctor to decide it was time to put his plan into action, and, more importantly, rescue Amy from wherever she was. The suit was abandoned, and Florence and River were ushered into the TARDIS by the two men, Rory excitedly whispering to the recorder while the Doctor rushed around the console, shouting about locking onto the signal. Florence watched River follow after him, helping him plug in coordinates, and Florence watched them work with less irritation than she had done before, imagining herself doing the same, like a child would sit in the driver's seat of a car while it was parked and play with the steering wheel.

"Amy Pond, here we come! Florence, grab the telly!" The Doctor called as the TARDIS landed with a thump, clapping his hands together, before grabbing Florence's hand as he ran over to the doors. She grunted as he pulled her along with him, the weight of the TV they had taken from the warehouse weighing her right arm down. He opened the doors quickly and poked his head out, slipping out with a friendly grin.

"Oh, interesting. Very Aickman Road." He looked to Florence for support, only for her to shake her head with a shrug. "Oh, well, we've seen one of these before. Abandoned. I wonder how that happened? Suppose I'm about to find out." He turned round to see Rory and River exiting the TARDIS, the latter holding a gun ready. "Rory, River, Florence, keep one Silent in eyeshot at all times." He turned back to the suited creatures that occupied the room. "Oh, hello. Sorry, you were in the middle of something. I just had to say, though, have you seen what's on the telly?" He took the TV from Florence's hand, shaking it slightly as he showed it to the creatures, before noticing the ginger tied to a table off to the side of the room. "Oh, hello, Amy. Are you all right? Want to watch some television? Ah. Now, stay where you are." He told the Silence, who had started to close in on them. "Because look at me, I'm confident. You want to watch that, me, when I'm confident." River approached from the side with her gun aimed at all of them. "Oh, and this is my friend River. Nice hair, clever, has her own gun, and unlike me, she really doesn't mind shooting people." He smiled smugly, and River gave them a little wave.

"He gives me a free pass every once in a while." She told them, and the Doctor nodded in agreement,

"She'll definitely kill at least the first three of you."

"Three?" River argued. "Oh, sweetie, the first seven, easily." She told him.

"Love her confidence!" He told the Silence, jokingly.

"Well, you trained me well." River laughed, and Florence felt suddenly uncomfortable with their weird flirty banter.

"Is this really important, joking around?" Florence burst out, while Amy nodded in agreement, shaking her shackled wrists slightly.

"Thank you! I feel like I should be higher on the list right now!"

He shot Amy an apologetic look, and clapped his hands together.

"Yes, right! Sorry, as I was saying, my trigger happy friend will happily kill the lot of you if you attack, so maybe you should draw lots or have a quiz!" He circled the central console. "Or maybe you could just listen a minute. Because all I really want to do is accept your total surrender and then I'll let you go in peace. Yes, you've been interfering in human history for thousands of years. Yes, people have suffered and died, but what's the point in two hearts, if you can't be a bit forgiving, now and then?" He gave one of them a pat on the chest, and Florence groaned at his cockiness. "Ooo, the Silence. You guys take that seriously, don't you? Okay, you got me. I'm lying. I'm not really going to let you go that easily. Nice thought, but it's not Christmas." He turned the TV on. "First, you tell me about the girl. Who is she? Why is she important? What's she for?" The live footage began to play from NASA, showing them the surface of the moon. Florence had to take a moment to look at it in wonder, she had seen the footage online, of course, but this was live. "Guys, sorry, but you're way out of time. Now, come on. A bit of history for you." He pulled the antennas from the TV, smacking the screen to make the picture clearer. "Aren't you proud? Because you helped. Now, do you know how many people are watching this live on the telly? Half a billion. And that's nothing, because the human race will spread out among the stars. You just watch them fly. Billions and billions of them, for billions and billions of years, and every single one of them at some point in their lives, will look back at this man, taking that very first step, and they will never, ever forget it."

He leaned against the TV, pushing his jacket back slightly as he placed his hand on his hip, and Florence took back her groan of annoyance at his cockiness, sometimes he just had something about him, his coolness in the fact of danger, she wouldn't lie and pretend it wasn't also a little bit sexy. As if he read her mind, he turned away from the Silence and shot her a little wink. She took it back and rolled her eyes. Cheeky shit.

"Okay, engine stop." The shuttle had landed on the moon. "ATA on the descent… Modes control both auto… Descent engine command off." The Doctor snapped his fingers, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his communicator.

"Oh, but they'll forget this bit." He flipped open the communicator, holding it to his ear. "Ready?"

"It's one small step for man…" Neil Armstrong began his famous line, before being interrupted by static, before a clip of the Silence appeared on the screen.

"You should kill us all on sight."

"You've given the order for your own execution." The Doctor informed them. "And the whole planet just heard you."

The static appeared again, before tuning back into the footage of the moon.

"One giant leap for mankind."

"And one whacking great kick up the backside for the Silence." The Doctor finished with a laugh. "You just raised an army against yourself and now, for a thousand generations, you're going to be ordering them to destroy you every day. How fast can you run? Because today's the day the human race throws you off their planet. They won't even know they're doing it. I think, quite possibly, the word you're looking for right now is oops." Suddenly electrical currents spread through the room, and the Silence straightened and closed in on them menacingly. "Run!" The Doctor waved his hand behind him to get their attention. "Guys, I mean us. Run!" The Silence growled and began to shoot electricity from their long arms, and in response River began to shoot.

"I can't get her out!" Rory called, and Amy shouted at him to leave her.

"Doctor!" Florence called, ducking slightly behind the console as River shot, pointing towards the redhead still tied up.

"Run! Into the TARDIS, quickly!" River told her, and Florence nodded, hurriedly running to the TARDIS doors, holding them open from Amy to join her once she was freed. Rory half-carried his wife to the ship, passing her along to Florence, who accepted her hands happily and helped her inside, briefly turning back to see the Doctor waving his screwdriver around as if it was going to do anything to the Silence, fighting back to back with the curly haired woman - which caused a frown to involuntarily cross Florence's face.

She turned back to Amy, leading her up the stairs so she could lean against the leather pilot chair, refusing to sit.

"I'm fine, Florence, really." Florence smoothed her hair back and gave her a reassuring smile.

"I know you are."

"Thanks for coming to get me." Florence shook her head at the younger girl.

"Are you really surprised?" Amy smiled at her.

"No, we've trained our boys well." Florence scoffed automatically, immediately thinking of the curly haired woman's words earlier. "What?"

"Nothing." Amy gave her a look. "It's nothing!" She sighed at Amy's persistence. "Just something River said earlier… I don't know… I just, " Amy laughed, and Florence looked at her in shock. "What?" The ginger shook her head in disbelief.

"You're jealous!"

"No I am not!"

"You are so jealous!" Florence crossed her arms, huffing. "I'm sorry, Florence, but it's so funny. River swans in all chirpy and flirty and you get all stroppy! You have been since she got here!" She put her hands on Florence's shoulders and gave her a little shake. "And I know you're trying not to take it out on River, but let's be honest, she doesn't always help the situation… Just admit it! You fancy that big stupid alien who has no idea what he's done wrong!"

Before Florence could deny it even more, the Doctor ran in and began piloting the TARDIS, flipping switches and preparing them for a quick getaway, the door still left slightly ajar in wait for Rory and River. Amy smirked in victory at Florence's half open mouth. The woman in question suddenly entered with a flourish, looking rather pleased with herself, while Rory snuck in with a mildly confused face. River immediately headed for the controls, pushing the Doctor out of the way with a laugh at his perturbed look.

"You can let me fly it!" The Doctor protested.

"Yeah, or we can go where we're supposed to!"

Amy noticed the look on her husband's face, walking down the steps towards him. "What's the matter with you?"

Florence once again felt very out of place all of a sudden, everyone else branching off into their own conversations while she waited on the sidelines. For the first time in a long time a small part of her wished she felt the usual tingles associated with jumping, just to get away from them. She watched the Doctor and River work in unison with each other, the Doctor pushing her away from him playfully while she threw her head back and laughed. Florence scowled, gratefully when the Doctor landed them with a shout.

"Back where we began!" He flew down the stairs, past Amy and Rory who were still holding tightly to one another, and opened the door with glee. "Come on then!"

The four remaining TARDIS occupants followed him into the Oval Office, where Canton and President Nixon were waiting for them, and all lingered at the doorway while Doctor greeted the most important man on Earth with a proud,

"Tricky Dicky!"

"Ah, Doctor…" Nixon greeted, shaking the alien's hand. "So… we're safe again?" The Doctor made a 'so-so' face.

"Safe? No, of course you're not safe. There's a billion other things out there just waiting to burn your whole world." Florence coughed deliberately and the Doctor gave her a nod. "But, Florence is correct, if you want to pretend that you're safe, just so you can sleep at night? Okay, you're safe." He moved to turn away before turning back. "But you're not really." He finally turned away from the shocked President, shaking Canton's hand jovially. "Canton! Until the next one, eh?" Canton gave the Doctor a half smile,

"Looking forward to it."

"Canton just wants to get married." The Doctor told the President, giving him a disapproving stare. "Hell of a reason to kick him out of the FBI."

"I'm sure something can be arranged." The President conceded, and the Doctor gave him a friendly tap on the chest.

"I'm counting on you."

"Er… Doctor." Nixon began, halting the Doctor from his departure. "Canton here tells me you're… you're from the future. It hardly seems possible, but I was wondering…?"

"Should warn you, I don't answer a lot of questions." The Doctor told him, and Florence had to stifle a laugh at him, too right you don't.

"But I'm a President at the beginning of his time." Nixon tried to argue. "Dare I ask, will I be remembered?"

"Oooh, Dicky, Tricky Dicky." The Doctor gave him a reassuring, if slightly mocking smile. "They're never going to forget you." He gave him a friendly pat on the arm before turning away and back to the TARDIS. "Say hi to David Frost for me." Florence rolled her eyes good naturedly as Nixon looked at him in confusion. The Doctor gestured for the others to enter the TARDIS, placing his hand on the small of Florence's back as he ushered her in.

River had already started to type in the coordinates for their next destination, Amy and Rory holding hands and leaning against the railings of the console together.

"So, where to next?" Amy asked as the Doctor closed the door behind him, throwing his arm around Florence's shoulder while River clicked her tongue, and pulled the lever to begin take off.

"Oh, Amy, sweetie… It's hometime for me!" Florence frowned as there was a distinct lack of tumbling and flailing about involved in River's flying of the TARDIS, but no-one else seemed put off by it. "The guards will be very angry if I miss another meal."

"You could come with us." The Doctor mentioned, casually. River laughed and landed the TARDIS with a soft thump.

"Oh, I escape often enough, thank you. And I have a promise to live up to. You'll understand, soon enough." She turned to Rory and Amy, holding her arms out to hug them. "Until next time, Ponds!" She hugged them both tightly, Rory sighing tiredly.

"It's Williams." He complained, and River pulled back, shaking her head.

"No, it's really not."

"No, it's not." Rory agreed.

She skipped down the stairs, stopping in front of the Doctor and Florence with a smile.

"Goodbye, you two." She winked at them. "Always a pleasure."

"It was nice to meet you, River." Florence told her, while she still couldn't quite work out her feelings towards the woman, she was still glad to have met her, especially since it was clear that they had a close relationship in the future.

River simply smiled kindly at the younger woman, pulling her into a tight hug.

"If you're ever in the Stormcage area… you know where to find me." The Doctor pulled Florence away from the other woman, shaking his head.

"Not on my watch." River stepped towards the Doctor despite his words, and wrapped her arms around him, causing him to stiffen slightly, before awkwardly patting on the back. "Ah, hugging."

River pulled back in confusion.

"Why are you being weird? You're acting like we've never hugged before!" She laughed slightly, before trailing off when she realised he was looking at her in mild confusion. "Oh my god. Our first hug." She pinched his cheek fondly. "Oh, you're adorable." She sauntered away from them, raising a hand in farewell. "Don't be afraid to write!"

Amy let out a loud laugh the moment the doors swung close behind her.

"Your face!" The Doctor frowned at his companion, shaking his head slightly before clapping his hands together.

"Enough of that, Pond! Onwards!" He bounded up to the console, Florence following behind him, she couldn't help but be amused by what had just transpired. "Rory, I'm going to need thermocouplings. The green ones and blue ones."

Rory nodded. "Okay, hold on." He wandered off downstairs, murmuring 'green and blue, green and blue' to himself. The Doctor waited a moment before he left before turning to Amy. "So."

"So…" Amy replied.

"You're okay?" The Doctor asked.

"Fine. Head's a bit… weird." She admitted. "There's lots of stuff I can't quite remember."

"Aftereffect of the Silence. Natural enough. That's not what I was asking." The Doctor told her, and Florence looked at Amy questioningly. "You told me you were pregnant."

"What?!" Florence asked, and Amy shushed her.

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Sorry, pregnant?"

"Because, I was. I thought I was.. turns out, I wasn't." Florence felt like she was experiencing whiplash.

"Hold on, so no baby?"

"No." The Doctor corrected Amy, seemingly everyone was ignoring Florence. "Why did you tell me?"

Amy gave him a smile.

"Because you're my friend. My best friend." She looked over at Florence. "And Florence was in the sewers." Florence stuck her tongue out at her.

"Did you tell Rory?" The Doctor asked, and Amy looked away slightly.

"No."

"Amy, why tell me and not Rory?" The Doctor asked, and Amy gave him a 'really?' look.

"Why do you think? I travelled with you in this TARDIS for so long. All that time. If I was pregnant for some of it, wouldn't it have had an effect?" Florence had to admit, she had a point. "I don't want to tell Rory his baby might have three heads or, like, a timehead, or something." Florence huffed a laugh slightly. "What?"

"What's a timehead?" The Doctor asked, smirking in amusement.

"I don't know! But what if it had one?"

"A timehead." The Doctor chuckled, and Amy slapped him on the stomach.

"Shut up." She turned her head to the bottom of the stairs, where Rory had still yet to appear. "Oi! Stupid face." Florence raised an eyebrow at the same endearment as what they had overheard on the nano recorder. Rory appeared bashfully from the entrance to the hallway.

"Er… Hello?"

"I'm taking that away from you, if you're going to listen in all the time." Rory nodded.

"Okay, that's a fair point. But you should've told me that you thought you were pregnant. I'm a nurse." Florence filed that away under 'random facts about companions she should already know'. "I'm good with pregnancy."

"Not, as it turns out, that good. So please stop being stupid." She gave him a hug, and she was lifted with a squeal.

"Er, no, never. I'm never, ever, going to stop being stupid!" The Doctor laughed at the two of them, before jumping into action, running around the console and swinging the scanner back towards his and Florence's side.

"So, this little girl. It's all about her. Who was she?" He looked at his companions, smiling secretly. "Or we could just go off and have some adventures… Anyone in the mood for adventures? Because I am. You only live once." Amy and Rory shared a look before smiling and nodding at him, while the Doctor fiddled with a button on the scanner, an image coming up that made Florence's stomach drop.

The Doctor's hand fell to hers, silently instructing her not to react.

Not to react to the results that were showing up on the screen. Flashing from positive to negative to positive.

What was wrong with Amy Pond?

Told you, another short one!

See you for chapter 34!