Sorry for the huge delay! I've been busy...and, you know, this story is to fufill my Nine and Daliya muse, which doesn't come around as much as you would think.

Thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter: toavoidconversation, SuperFunkyGirl1, Lexy Summers, Akiza1, readandwrite4evernever20, Allebasii, Mrs. 11th, ZackAttack96, mad eye harry (so great to have you on board!), kie1993!

Now, as they did just get married, this chapter is quite a high T. Nothing explict, but a lot of implied stuff and references. Though there is still quite a bit of physical stuff too, but it kind of fades out before it gets TOO physical...you want more than that, you'll have to imagine it yourself! :P

But still, MAJORLY fluffy and probably the most Daliya ship to ever be seen in one place. So...YAY! :)

Also, randomly, the lipstick mentioned later on, just imagine Queen Amidala's lipstick from Star Wars I.

And this chapter - at the end - starts on the Empty Child/The Doctor Dances AU! Which, is quite different to the original, because, obviously, Aliya isn't stupid enough to accidentally grab onto a barrage balloon. And her and Jack start off on quite a different foot, shall we say...still, I'm so excited to have him in it! :D

Enjoy!

In that moment when they became joined body and soul, his true name fell from his lips for her ears only, and she felt her hearts tighten, the secret, after centuries, was finally hers also to keep. In reply she released her own name in a quiet gasp, and his eyes lit up with a triumph as he began to whisper it fervently…

Aliya was less aware of her growing consciousness than she should have been, her mind was in her dreams, which had been filled with the most wonderful memories of all the Doctors she had known, especially with the one that she could now call hers. But she became aware of soft, large hands lightly brushing across her shoulder and arm, and snapped back to the present.

The Doctor's longer, more muscular body was protectively mirroring hers, one of his arms still possessively wrapped around her waist while the other was preoccupied with getting her attention with the light touches. Aliya realised that he had been able to sense she was awake through their new bond, and being as impatient as ever, was trying to wake her up properly. She stretched her hand up to grab his one, and gave it a gentle squeeze of recognition.

"'Bout time you woke up," The Doctor's voice said in an almost-grumpy-but-not tone.

"Forgive me for sleeping," Aliya murmured, and he chuckled briefly as he began to touch her hair instead, stroking and gently pulling on the blonde locks. "You seem to be very 'touchy feely' this morning."

"I have every right to be," He retorted, not realising how his Northern accent made her want to turn into a puddle of mush in his arms, "You're mine now, by anyone's standards."

"Well, I'm not one for being owned, but you can have partial rights, I suppose," She offered reasonably, feeling a frown come onto her face as he began laughing in a very smug way. "What is so funny?"

"And I thought your hair looked bad in the mornings before," He said with a patronising grin that only got larger as she tilted her head to look at him properly, eyebrow raised. And a split second before she tried to head for the bedroom mirror, he wound his arms around her stomach, his masculine strength forcing her back against his body as he pulled her in. "Nope, you're not going anywhere yet," He whispered, causing her to shiver, as the bare skin of her back was pressed against his bare chest, "Have you forgotten how your hair got like that? How much I enjoyed making it this messy?"

Aliya blinked as she thought back to the night before, remembering how his hands had wound through her hair insistently…and blushed slightly.

"I love seeing your hair like this…knowing it was me who did it," He continued firmly, and used his hand to tilt her chin up so that he was able to press a kiss to her lips. Her hearts started beating faster, and she was sure that he could hear them hammering against her chest.

Aliya kept her eyes closed after his lips pulled away from her, not happy at the loss of contact. "Don't you dare stop kissing me," She demanded, crushing her mouth against his again. His hands ran along her torso, caressing her skin before forcefully flipping her around to face him, and he deepened the kiss while turning them as one so that his body was above hers.

And then he went about making sure that her hair would take days to return to its normal state.

Sometime later, when they were both lying still in the bed, Aliya ran her fingers over his face slowly, intently scoping out every curve and shadow. He watched her, the woman that was lying on his chest with utter contentment. The one that he had long ago given up hope of being able to have.

"You're beautiful," She murmured quietly, her eyes following her hands across his face, eventually meeting his own blue eyes.

"Nice joke," He commented dryly, "I know I've got a daft old face this time around."

"It's not daft to me," Aliya replied with unshakable certainty. "It's wonderful, just like the rest of you. And I think I have proved how I feel about this."

His eyes changed from solemnity to a spark of teasing. "I dunno, you might have to prove it again…" His hands ran up her spine, coaxing another shiver from her.

"As much as I would like to accept," She said with a controlled smile, "I'm strangely hungry, and I would like to actually be able to get out of bed sometime today…and if we keep this up, I'm not going to be able to walk!" She shot him an accusing look. He looked sheepish.

"True," He admitted, "I am kind of hungry as well…I'll make us breakfast, shall I?" He pulled himself up so that he was sitting up and she was forced to shift her position so that she was sitting on his legs, her chest only inches from his. He fondly tucked hair behind her ear.

"Yes please…" She said with a smile, and he pressed a brief kiss to her lips before pulling away and swinging out of bed. She let herself fall back on the pillows as she watched him get dressed in everything except his jacket. As he was walking out the door, she added, "I'll see you in there." He nodded and she let herself relax into the pillows for a few more minutes.

Aliya moved some of her limbs experimentally, and found that she did indeed have some rather tender spots. She sat up and got out of bed slowly, crossing to the mirror where she got her first actual look at her hair. She groaned loudly, not even wanting to look at it. It literally stuck in every direction, making it look almost as though she had been electrocuted, and been hung upside down off a very windy cliff. It looked as though someone had just spent hours with their hands in it, mercilessly pulling it in every direction…which – now that she thought about it – embarrassingly, someone had.

Between their nightly activities, sleep, and their morning repeat of the night before, her hair hadn't stood a chance. She lamely patted some of it down before deciding not to bother with it at that precise moment. She cast her eyes around the room before they landed on his jacket. She quickly found her undergarments on the floor, but after putting them on, she took the jacket and donned it as she left the room.

She entered the kitchen without saying a word, and knew that he could sense her in the back of his mind just as she could feel him there too. She came up behind him – he was mixing something in a bowl – and stood next to him, eyeing the pale yellow mixture in the bowl with uncertainty.

"What is that?" Aliya asked with wide eyes, a childlike curiosity and wonder stirring in her. The Doctor looked down, clearly with the intent of making some clever and snarky remark, but when he saw her, the words dried up in his mouth.

"What are you wearing that for?" He spluttered, his gaze involuntarily running along her bare legs.

"For fun," She shrugged, a flirtatious and teasing smile on her face, "And to see you react like that."

"Well, forget it, there is no way that I can concentrate on this if you're next to me, wearing that. Off you go, get down to the wardrobe and pick something sensible that won't distract me." He said firmly, almost grumpy, "Go on." She rolled her eyes but did as he said, returning 10 minutes later in loose jeans and a t-shirt, her hair half-tamed.

"Spoilsport," She accused as she slid into a stool at the kitchen bench, watching him pour the mixture into a pan on the stove. "Now, what are those?"

"They are called pancakes, an Earth food," He explained as he turned to look at her while it was cooking, his expression very pleased, "And they're fantastic, can have them with almost anything, jam, syrup, citrus, banana…"

"I like the sound of all of those things." She said brightly, "Can I have them all together?"

"I wouldn't recommend it," He said with an amused look, and she took it as a challenge.

"And just because of that, I'm going have all of them together regardless." She said simply, smirking when he rolled his eyes and turned back to the pancakes.

Ten minutes later, he was watching her eat her stack of pancakes covered in mixed berry jam, maple syrup, chocolate sauce, lime juice, icing sugar, strawberries, cream, lemon curd, hazelnut and kiwifruit ice cream, and banana. His own forkful of maple syrup and banana pancake had paused in the middle of its path to his mouth, he was watching her, slack-jawed, as she happily devoured the whole thing, somehow able to not get food all over herself. She caught him staring and raised an eyebrow, caught between amusement and confusion.

"What?" Her eyes travelled from him to his fork to her plate, making the connection.

"You're actually enjoying that?" He asked incredulously, and she laughed.

"Of course I am!" She took another large mouthful of pancake into her mouth as if to prove her point, and after she had swallowed, added, "Why shouldn't I?"

He sighed in exasperation, "That's it, you're officially insane! I knew it was going happen eventually, but there we have it!"

"Why am I insane?" Aliya found it amusing, watching him with fond eyes as he seemed to struggle with his words.

"There are so many things on your plate that were never meant to mix, Ali, let's put it that way. And don't you find a bit too sweet? Not too sickly in your mouth?"

"But that's why I love it! It's so sweet!" She insisted, trailing her finger in a puddle of chocolate sauce and sticking it in her mouth.

"Oh great, Aliyanadevoralundar with a sweet tooth…" He groaned, not looking pleased as he shot her an almost reprimanding and paternal look, "The last thing I need is you on a sugar high." His condescending expression caused her to bristle.

"I take great offense to that comment," She said haughtily, and promptly turned away from him to finish off her food, polishing off the last few pieces of stray pancake, "Don't know why I married you, you're so rude."

"Don't know why I married you, you're insane and you're rude," He retorted, and his remark caused her to snort, getting up from her chair and walking past him.

She flicked the back of his head as she went past – just to irritate him – and made for the door. "That was a fairly repetitive comeback, you're hardly imaginative, are you? If you're going to insult me, do it properly." She then turned away from him completely, only to find his hand latching onto her wrist.

"You're impossible," He said with a large frown, "You're so brilliant, but you're also so infuriating that we manage to get into an argument over pancake toppings, and while I know that it's just a pointless argument, I feel like I should be properly angry at you."

She smirked, eyes rolling up him slowly until they got to his face. "Maybe we should have thought about that before we practically handed each other our hearts on a silver platter, because it's the same for me."

"Wouldn't have been a problem if you hadn't been tempting me," The Doctor said immediately, eyeing her t-shirt while thinking about the fact that he would rather have it off her.

"Tempting you?" She repeated, putting on a fake innocence but not letting the spark leave her eyes. "And how, Doctor, did I tempt you?"

"Just by being there, with your fitting jeans and your lips that were just waiting for me to kiss them," He said firmly, now running his eyes on the lips in question, "But I would have been okay, had you not kept trying to undress me."

"Oh yes, make it all my fault, with your stupidly beautiful eyes and your ears and that leather jacket that was just itching to be taken off…and it wasn't just me, if you remember that time that we were on Delphon, and you practically had my shirt off, so don't make yourself out to be so innocent," She retorted, and he smirked, remembering the time fondly before again becoming serious, his brooding glare once more appearing.

"Oh shut up," He muttered, and she had precisely 1.5 seconds to look offended before he was kissing her and she was wrapping her arms around his neck to pull him closer. "Now, were you saying that I was unimaginative?" His whispered words in her ear caused her to smile, a teasing spark entering her eyes as she met his eyes, breathing slightly heavier than usual in the few seconds between their kissing.

"Are you planning on proving me wrong?" Aliya challenged, and his eyes lit up as he took her hand and led her out of the door and into the corridor.

"Absolutely," He said with his strong, arrogant confidence as he captured her lips once more before pulling her in the direction of his bedroom.

"Is it…bad…that we keep doing this…that we just always want to…" Aliya trailed off awkwardly, biting her lip as she stared at him where he was propped up on the pillows.

The Doctor grinned, smugly raised eyebrows practically mocking her. "Want to shag each other rotten?" He offered innocently, and she blushed furiously before whacking him on the arm.

"Don't put it so bluntly…you make it sound so human, and English. You have been spending far too much time around them…" She reprimanded.

He smirked. "We're newlyweds, Ali, we're allowed to do what we want."

"I suppose…but perhaps we could go out somewhere?" Aliya suggested, shrugging.

"Well, now that you mention it, I do have this invitation to the wedding of Prince Karlon of Talgar, haven't got around to attending yet…and there's a ball afterwards." The Doctor reached for the piece of techno-paper that read the neon message on the translucent screen. She took it out of his offering hand and read it quickly, a smile breaking out over her face as she did so. He took it back as she ran a hand through her hair in an attempt to tame it. "So…sound like a good idea?"

"It sounds brilliant," Aliya said happily, and he grinned at her.

"Come on then, never do something tomorrow you can do today…let's find you something to wear," The Doctor got out of the bed and began to pull his clothes on, forsaking his jacket and pulling her out and next to him, wrapping the leather around her before dragging her out of the door and to the wardrobe.

The two of them wandered hand in hand through the racks and racks of clothes, heading for the dresses section.

"Now, they're a modest species, so something long that doesn't show the bottom half of your figure too much…very much like the early Earth times, really," The Doctor explained, and his wife nodded.

"That's fine…" She murmured, "Any particular colour?"

"Actually, yeah, being off worlders, we should probably wear blue, it would be a sign of respect," The Doctor shrugged, "I'll go and find a blue jumper, you look for a dress."

"You're not going to change?" Aliya asked indignantly, and he turned to smirk at her.

"Nope," He teased, "Works for anywhere, this does. And make sure you give that jacket back to me when you're done."

Aliya rolled her eyes and began to browse through the blue dresses, her hands sliding over the silk and satin, lace and ruffles, until she found one that she liked, with a long, flouncy skirt that would be appropriate, and a boat neckline that would not reveal too much. She eyed the matching corset with distaste, knowing it to be uncomfortable and hard to put on.

Eventually she was forced to get the Doctor to help her, and she stood in front of the wardrobe mirror in her underwear and stockings while he laced up the back of her corset with fervent and adorable concentration, his fingers deftly working and occasionally brushing her skin lightly. When the job was done and she was ready in her dress, and he in his jacket and blue jumper, she turned to leave only for him to stop her.

"No, one more thing…we want to look really good, then they'll invite us back. I'll be right back, just got to grab something." The Doctor said before dashing off, only to return with a box full of small decorative blue flowers. "Now, this will look good." He began weaving them through her hair, and while he was doing so, Aliya picked one up and pined it to his jacket lapel, giving it a slightly more formal air. "Oh, and I forgot, you need this…" He fetched a black lipstick and painted her lips so that the top lip was fully painted and the bottom one only had a centimetre thick stripe down the middle. "It's their custom."

"Why black, though?"

"They usually use charcoal, but this is close enough."

"Oh."

When they were done, they stood back and looked themselves over in the mirror, both pleased by what they saw.

The Doctor dragged Aliya by the hand through the gardens around the palace where the wedding was taking place, while she did her best to swat branches full of fruit that looked like blue cherries out of her face.

"Come on, we're going to be late!" He urged her, and she huffed.

"We have a time machine, why didn't you just land earlier?" He ignored her question because he had no real answer other than an admittance of his occasional inability to fly the machine. Finally they got to the door, where the Doctor flashed his invitation – it was a nice change from the psychic paper – and they then sat down in the front row.

"Why are we in the front?" Aliya whispered, looking around at the other guests, all of whom were natives with pale pink skin only a little different from their own, and pale blue eyes. She noticed that they were all dressed in various colours, though no one else was in blue except for one man in a blue suit at the back, and he looked completely different with dark skin and horns on his forehead; another alien, it would seem.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, and smiled. "Didn't I mention? We're guests of honour, the Prince is an old friend of mine, we went through a spot of bother back in my Sixth Incarnation, and sent me an invite. I've had it for centuries, just never got around to it."

"So he knew you back when you looked like you were from the Rainbow land of Patchwork that was ruled by cats? I don't know if you could have picked two more different incarnations of yourself for him to meet…does he even know about regeneration?" Aliya raised an eyebrow, comparing the arrogant and rude man with the questionable dress sense to the….arrogant and rude man with the less questionable dress sense. Though he was at least considerably more polite, she supposed, though he could be rude and arrogant. Just not quite as much as he had been three regenerations prior.

They then had to be quiet, as silence overtook the guests. The bride and groom were walking up the aisle hand in hand, a piece of ribbon binding them together. They stood in front of the official performing the ceremony, and the vows began.

The ball started soon after the ceremony ended, and the seats were quickly moved to clear the ballroom floor. The Doctor watched the newly married royal couple, waiting for his chance to greet his old friend, while his fellow Time Lord found herself absorbed by the music of the small orchestra in the corner of the room until a jerk on her hand broke her out of her daze.

"Come on, now's our chance!" The Doctor was saying excitedly, and before she knew it, they were face to face with Prince Karlon and Princess Sephina. "It's good to see you again, your highness."

The Prince eyed the Doctor dubiously, frowning. "Have we meet before?"

"Oh, right, regeneration," The Doctor remembered after having forgotten briefly, "It's me, your pal from back in that business in the Gamma Forest!"

The royal's eyes widened. "Doctor? I understand regeneration, but this seems unbelievable…well, I suppose you were not lying about the 'complete' change. How is Miss Perpugilliam Brown?"

The question caused the Doctor's eyes to flash momentarily, but it soon passed. Aliya wasn't even sure that anyone other than herself had seen it. Having been present at the time when the Doctor had been on trial for his life, told that Peri had been killed, then informed that she had actually gone on to marry a King that they had met on their last adventure, Aliya had never been sure if the Doctor fully believed that Peri had survived; it wasn't as though the Time Lords hadn't lied to him before.

"Oh, she's good…got married, all that jazz, that was a long time ago, for me anyway…how long has it been for you?" He shrugged. The Prince hesitated, obviously aware of the Doctor's time travelling but not prepared for the strangeness of the question.

"Three years…may I introduce my wife," It was obvious the term was both new and exciting for him to use, "Sephina." The Prince indicated with his hand, and Sephina nodded to the Doctor in acknowledgement, her ebony locks of hair bobbing.

"A pleasure," The leather clad man said before indicating to the blonde next to him. "My wife, Lady Aliyanadevoralundar." Aliya did a small curtsy and smiled at both of the royals.

The Doctor then stepped forward and clasped the Prince's hand in his own, and the Prince leaned forward to press his forehead and nose against the Doctor's. The two men stayed like that for several moments before pulling away, mutual respect burning in each other's eyes. The Prince reached for Aliya's hand, and she copied what the Doctor had done, realising that it was some form of greeting.

"Thank you for attending, Doctor," The Prince smiled warmly, before something entered his eyes, "And let me say, that I am deeply sorry for your loss, of your planet and people."

The Doctor's cheer instantly vanished along with his smile, his eyes becoming grave.

"Thank you," He said, and Aliya was quick to offer her hand subtly, and he clasped it firmly, squeezing for support, "That's very kind. I'm just glad that I was lucky enough to have this one turn up out of the blue."

The Prince looked at Aliya in a new light, and the Princess's eyes were also full of interest as they gazed at the blonde.

"She is a Time Lord?" He asked, and Aliya nodded slowly.

"My full title is the Lady Angel of the House of Arpexia of Gallifrey, affiliated with the Prydonian chapter, your highness," She explained, and the Prince nodded.

"Ah, the formalities of a lost civilisation. May the two of you live long, prosperous lives and ensure that it is never forgotten." He said proudly.

The Doctor and Aliya laughed at each other happily as a fast waltz was struck up and they tried to find their feet with only marginal success.

"Come on, Doctor, I'm sure that we can do this!" She urged him, and he snorted indignantly.

"Excuse me, Ali, but I think you'll find that you're worse at this out of the two of us, thanks very much!" He retorted, and she shrugged.

"True…"

"Hypocrite."

"Grumpy ass."

"Uncoordinated critic."

"Lousy teacher."

The Doctor pretended to be impressed. "So what, now it's my fault that you can't dance the waltz?"

Aliya smirked, "Of course."

"I'm so getting you for that later," He replied, eyes flashing with the challenge.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm going to enjoy this punishment?" Aliya answered suggestively, batting her eyes with a smile as he raised an eyebrow at her.

"I'll make sure that you don't." He growled, and she inched closer, bringing their torsos closer together as she looked up at his noble face, currently holding a frown of defiance as he stared at her, but his eyes were full of mirth.

"And I'll make sure that we do," Aliya whispered, mouth inches from his ear, and his hands ran up her spine before his mouth descended on hers in a hard kiss that lasted for only a few seconds before he firmly grasped her hand and began spinning her around herself in circles.

"We'll see about that," He said calmly as he watched her go around and around and around like a spinning top, glaring at him every time she went past. Eventually he stopped her, and let her come to a halt with a thump against his chest, and he found amusement in the way that her eyes tried to focus. When they did, they narrowed upon seeing his smirk. She pushed away from him, dancing away from him by herself, poking her tongue out at him before ignoring him completely.

He watched her walk out of the ballroom, and debated internally with himself before approaching the Prince and informing him that he would be leaving. The Prince nodded and wished them both well. The Doctor then quickly made to follow his friend, exiting the palace and wandering the dimly lit gardens in search of her. His eyes caught onto a glint of gold, and he whipped around to see her entering the blue hedge maze, and he quickly did the same.

"Aliyana, I will find you, you know…" He said loudly, and he heard an unmistakable chuckle from nearby, followed by an increased pace of footsteps. He also began to run, following the sound of her movements. Just when he thought he had her, he entered the centre of the maze, and stopped in shock when he saw the Police Box in front of him.

Questions rolling through his head, he stormed in to see Aliya sitting on the edge of the console with her legs crossed, feet bare. He dimly noted her shoes lying on the floor a few feet from him, but was more focused on her.

"How did the TARDIS get in the middle of a maze, exactly?" He asked slowly, already having guessed the answer. Aliya dipped her head back as she smirked.

"I put it there," She replied lazily, "Are you going to leave that door open? There's a breeze."

He shut it abruptly, and she smiled. He glowered at her, but the angrier he looked, the more delighted she became.

"We need to talk." He began walking towards her, his imposing presence approaching, and her hearts skipped a beat, but she didn't show it for a second.

"Let's not."

"Oi! I'm the Doctor, and if there's one thing I can do, it's talk, so…" He stopped in front of her, wavering, thinking hard as she stared at him with wide, intelligent, waiting eyes. It was those eyes that made his mind up. "You know what? Screw it."

The Doctor kissed her fiercely, and she smiled against his lips at his decision.

"So…the bedroom, then?" She breathed in-between kisses, and found her lips occupied for several more seconds before he replied.

His large hands explored her back, and his chuckle them both vibrating slightly due to their immediacy. "No…I don't think so…feeling a bit impatient, me." He said firmly, and she raised an eyebrow as he paused, their faces an inch apart and eyes watching each other with fire burning in them.

"The console room?" She asked simply, sceptical but not adverse, and he answered with a brief kiss and a 'um hmmm'.

Eventually, he gave her a proper response, blue eyes full of both passion and amusement as he gazed at her, "Like you've never been curious in five centuries."

She laughed heartily as her hands explored his shoulders and neck, and he looked satisfied at her response, bringing her lips to hers with a purpose as his hands slid underneath her dress, bunching the fabric up as he went.

"Do you know how many days we can knock around space without bumping into Earth?" The Doctor asked curiously as they stepped out of the police box, having tracked the dangerous mauve object through the vortex to London.

"For you? About a week and a half at the most," Aliya replied as she looked around the alley they had landed in, "For the rest of us…hard to say. But I only went there, what, once, in a whole century of time travelling?"

"Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway, and it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month." He continued, and Aliya shot him an unimpressed look.

"A month," She scoffed, "I know we were jumping time tracks, but we were right behind it! You have to sort out your driving, Theta."

"Oi! You want to drive?" He asked, and she raised an eyebrow, about to open her mouth when, "Actually, no, don't answer that."

"So…shall I scan for alien tech then, and find out where it is?" She offered, and he turned to shoot her a confused look.

"What do you mean 'you', I'm the one with the sonic-" He cut off when he noticed the device being twirled between her fingers, "-screwdriver. How the hell does my screwdriver end up in your pocket?" Again, she raised an eyebrow and he sighed, "Don't answer that either. And we don't need to scan for alien tech, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask. Now, can you open this door?" Aliya pointed the sonic lazily and the door popped open. "Many thanks," He said as he went through it, only to poke his head back out again. "Door, music, people. You coming?"

"No, I'm going to do a scan for alien tech…" She rolled her eyes, "Meet you back here, let's see who gets done first."

"Righteo then, see you later!" He said cheerily before ducking into the building. Aliya walked back down the alleyway when she heard an eerie voice.

"Mummy….mummy…" It was a child's voice, and when she looked up, she could see a kid in a gas mask standing on the roof of a building.

"Oh my lord," She exclaimed, and quickened her pace as she ran up the iron stairs, "I'm coming, hold on!" She was close to the child now, but as she looked around, there was no way of getting to him other than a nearby rope. Aliya looked up to see what it was attached to, and when she saw the barrage balloon, shook her head in irritation. She wasn't that stupid, that was for sure.

Sitting down on the edge of the building in defeat, she watched the child as he continued to stare ahead, motionless, until, "Balloon!" He exclaimed, pointing at the barrage balloon that was now flying away.

"Yep," She said glumly, "Great lot of help that was." She stayed like that for several minutes, just watching. The child didn't say much apart from 'Mummy', she had deducted. But when a noise made her look away, the moment she looked back, the child was gone, causing a shiver to run down her spine that had nothing to do with the icy wind whipping at her. She took out the sonic screwdriver and ran the scan that she had been meaning to get to, and a few minutes later, it began beeping rapidly. She eyed it warily. "What's got you so excited, then?"

The readings told her that there was a spaceship – not the TARDIS – nearby, with an invisibility shield. She crossed her legs where she was sitting and fiddled with the screwdriver's settings, trying to persuade it to create a teleport link with the ship that would let her come on board. Eventually, it worked, and she was unsure if she imagined the sound of the Doctor calling her name as the strange sensation of matter transfer engulfed her.

A few seconds later, she found herself in a small spaceship that was clearly meant for less than half a dozen passengers. Before she could move, however, she found herself in a containment vortex. And it took her less than a second to realise that the vortex had a physic block on it, because the telepathic presence of the Doctor in the back of her mind was suddenly cut off viciously, and she cried out in pain, not used to the feeling of complete mental isolation. She could feel herself growing weaker with every passing minute, and she tried to fight the urge to let herself fall to the floor…

The Doctor sat at the table with the homeless children and their leader, Nancy, thinking about the strange event that had occurred ten minutes prior, when his telepathic connection with Aliya had abruptly been broken, obviously masked by something. To say that he was worried was an understatement big enough to blow up Europe.

Still, it couldn't hurt to ask.

"Oh, and I want to find a blonde in tight trousers with different coloured eyes…a specific one, I mean, I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving…" The children laughed. "Anyone seen a woman like that?"

Though, he thought about it and realised that it had been a slight lie. He had woken that morning with a craving for a blonde with different coloured eyes…

Though the trousers…not so much.

Captain Jack Harkness was staring out across the view from the balcony he was on when his vortex manipulation beeped, alerting him to a teleport breach on his ship. He raised his eyebrows, said a quick excuse to Alfy, and then ducked behind a corner and activated his own homing teleport.

He arrived on his ship to see his holding cell had done its job, perhaps a little too well. A blonde woman with short hair just past her chin was sitting at the bottom of the holding cell dejectedly, head resting against the side while she remained curled around herself, clearly not in the best of shape. He frowned when he saw the expression of great pain on her face, and when she looked up, noticing him for the first time, he could see tears glistening on her cheeks.

All he could register in his mind was total confusion. She was cute, though.

Aliya realised that someone else was in the ship, and she tilted her face slowly to look at them. It was a man, a handsome one – not that she was in the mood to notice. He stood there, watching her curiously. She fought the urge to scramble to her feet and rage at him, rather easily too, because she had little to no energy, and it was hardly dignified.

He pressed a button a device from his wrist and the containment vortex disappeared, letting her hit the floor with a thump, having been leaning on the vortex beforehand. She gasped as the Doctor's presence returned to her head, and felt his mind urgently searching for her, needing to know if she was okay. She closed her eyes, clutching her head and trying to send a thought wave that would assure him of her safety.

Her limbs felt strange and light, it was hard for her to move them, the vortex had drained so much of her strength. The man knelt by her, apparently to try and help her, but she pushed him away roughly, glaring.

"Don't," She growled simply as she pulled herself onto a nearby bunk. She tried to wipe at the stupid tears she had shed inside the vortex. It had hurt so much, being so isolated in her own mind, feeling the vortex drain her of her strength and fortitude. That was the probably with being a telepathic species…when the link was broken, it hurt. A lot.

"I'm sorry…" The man said, "I don't know why it affected you so much, or exactly what it did, but I swear, I didn't mean for it to do that."

She didn't answer, merely fiddled with the device in her hands, examining it, before muttering, "Drained. Typical."

"Look, I'm trying to apologise…" The man said with a frown, and held out his hand, "I'm Captain Jack Harkness."

She eyed his hand warily, mind conflicted. Usually she would take it, but she was grumpy and weak after being drained by his stupid machine, so no, she was not going to be in the mood for being friendly.

"Well, Captain, I don't want your apologies. Perhaps you should be more careful with the devices and procedures you have on your ship." She said harshly, and he raised an eyebrow defensively. "Your damned containment vortex invaded my mind, cut me off…you had no right to do that!"

"Well, excuse me!" He said affrontedly, looking irritated, "But if you're going to break into a spaceship, you have to be ready to face the consequences! You're in no position to lecture me, Miss Houdini."

Aliya opened her mouth to retort, then abruptly shut it when she realised she had nothing to say. He was right, she had made the choice to break into his ship…how could she blame him for any security procedures when they would have been avoided if she had simply tracked him down and asked? She scowled upon realising that he was right and she was in the wrong, and looked away from him.

Captain Jack Harkness raised an eyebrow.

It was going to be a long night.

So, yeah, she's kind of not too happy with him right now...even if she knows that she can't justify it...oh Aliya, how she hates to be wrong...ah well, she's only...well, a person (Was going to say human, but didn't really apply, LOL).

But hopefully you liked? And any closet Daliya fans...this would be a good time to voice your thoughts!

Please drop a review and let me know what you thought!

-MayFairy :)

p.s. I recently started a story in the Wizard101 category. It's a game, but I've taken the challenge of trying to adapt the game world into a fiction world with a story, which has been quite interesting. You don't really need any knowledge of the game to follow it, so if you could check it out (mostly talking to my regulars here), it would be VERY VERY VERY MUCH APPRECIATED. Thanks!