A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews on my A/N. Your words of support meant a lot to me, and they managed to snap me out of the mood I was in. A lot of things happened, and I was rather stressed, but knowing I have so much of you behind me made my week. Thank you.
Lil Todds, you're forgiven. I'm sorry too. Maybe I over-reacted. I don't know. Hope you're okay.
The moment his wife's body hit the ground, the Doctor was running, his hearts thumping frantically in his chest, screaming her name. He fell to the floor beside her, his fingers instantly feeling for the pulse point in her neck.
He couldn't find it.
No…no...no!
He was blind now, a film of tears covered his eyes, and he blinked furiously, trying to evaporate the moisture. His fingers fumbled down the expanse of her neck, desperately hunting for her pulse, but to no avail.
"Let me." He heard River murmur as she crouched down beside him.
"You've done enough!" The Doctor hissed at her hatefully, without taking his eyes from his wife. "Amy…Amy…please…"
River reached out for Amy's hand, and placed her thumb gently over the pulse point in her wrist. After a couple of moments, she felt a tiny throb. "She's alive." She announced, and the Doctor snatched Amy's wrist away from her to feel her pulse for himself.
When he felt the faint thrum of her pulse, he closed his eyes, and pressed his lips to the back of his wife's hand. "Thank Rassilon." He whispered, clutching Amy's hand tightly.
"You should have known she was alive." River scolded him gently. "You can hear human heartbeats from miles away."
She was exaggerating of course, though she was still partially right. But the Doctor didn't feel comfortable disclosing that the sound of his own frantic heartbeats had drowned out everything else. He'd been very close to having a Galifreyan panic attack, a dangerous overload of emotions for Time Lords. Their panic attacks could render them unconscious for days, while their vast minds worked furiously to bring them back to reality.
Opening his eyes, the Doctor saw River approaching the chamber door. "No!" He yelled at her. "Don't open that door! It's too dangerous!"
River raised her eyebrows at him. "I didn't know you cared Doctor."
"I don't." The Doctor said coldly, his eyes boring into hers. "If you open that door, whatever harmed Amy will be unleashed, and I won't let her get hurt again."
River nodded in understanding, and then sat down beside Amy's body. She reached out to hold her hand, but the Doctor wrapped his fingers around her wrist and wrenched her hand away from his wife. "Don't touch her!" He snapped, his grip tightening around her wrist.
"Alright, calm down!" River hissed back, yanking her wrist out of his grasp. "Shouldn't you be checking your wife for injuries?"
The Doctor's face paled; horrified that he'd forgotten to do that. He immediately withdrew his sonic screwdriver and began to scan Amy's body, stopping when he heard a light beeping.
He didn't notice River's eyes widen in realisation, and he frowned as he examined his sonic. "That's strange." He mumbled.
Before he could scan her again, he felt his wife move, and he quickly put his screwdriver away. "Pond?" He whispered, placing his hands on her cheeks.
Amy's eyes fluttered open, and then focused on him. "Hey." She whispered hoarsely, her lips rising into a smile.
The Doctor was torn between laughing and crying with relief. "Hey yourself." He murmured back, leaning down to nuzzle his nose against hers. Amy chuckled faintly, which made him smile.
"Welcome back to reality." They heard River say, and Amy sat up slowly to look at her.
"Thanks, I think." She muttered, touching her forehead. Worried, the Doctor took out his screwdriver and began to scan her face, but Amy whacked his hand away.
"You woke up quicker than I expected." River commented, her eyes calculating.
"Well I am wonder woman." Amy joked weakly, and the Doctor kissed her forehead.
"Wonder woman indeed." River mused, rising to her feet.
The Doctor stood too, and tenderly scooped Amy into his arms to lift her up from the floor. She scowled, but didn't moan until he'd placed her on her feet. "That was unnecessary." She muttered to him. "I'm completely fine! I can stand on my own two feet, you kn—"
Before she could finish her sentence, she swayed unsteadily, and the Doctor caught her as she collapsed against him.
"You were saying?" He asked her, going to lift her again, but Amy stopped him.
"You don't need to do that." She said crossly, although she didn't sound very angry, due to her weak voice.
Knowing how stubborn she was, the Doctor didn't attempt to lift her, but he wrapped his arms tightly around her. Amy twined her arms around his neck, hugging him back just as forcefully.
"As much as I hate to break up this lovely reunion, you need to tell us what you saw in the chamber Amy." River said, and Amy reluctantly released the Doctor to look at her.
"River, I can't." She sighed, touching her forehead again.
"Why not?" River demanded, and the Doctor glared at her. "Now is not the time to get protective Doctor, we need to know what we're up against."
Amy bit her lip, and much to the Doctor's anguish, her eyes filled with tears. He began to rub soothing circles on her back, and after relaxing slightly, she took a deep breath. "I can't tell you River…because I can't remember." She finally whispered.
The Doctor's hand stilled as his whole body froze in fear. Amy didn't need another threat after her, but it was clear there was one. First the cracks in time wiping parts of her memory…and now this…
Cradling his wife's face in his hands, he kissed away the tears that were beginning to stream down her face. "I can't remember." Amy kept whispering, and the Doctor ended up covering her lips with his, to stop her from panicking. Or maybe to stop himself from panicking.
"There's only one thing to do then." River said briskly. "I'm going in."
Amy tore her lips away from the Doctor's to gaze at her in horror. "No River! You can't! It's too dangerous!"
"I like danger." River shrugged.
"Don't be stupid!" The Doctor hissed. "At least let me come with you!"
"No! Don't go in there!" Amy cried, fisting her hands in his shirt. "Not without me!"
"Amy, I nearly lost you to whatever's in there. I need to go and find out what it is, and scare it away." The Doctor said to her gently. "I can't let you come with me because I can't let you get hurt again. You're too much at risk."
"You have too much at risk as well." River muttered, but Amy and the Doctor weren't listening to her.
Amy's shoulders slumped in defeat, knowing that whatever she said wouldn't stop the Doctor from going into the chamber. "Okay." She whispered, raising her hands to his cheeks. "Come back soon."
The Doctor grinned at her. "Oh, I will. You won't even notice I've gone."
"I doubt it." Amy mumbled gloomily, and the Doctor placed his finger under her chin to tilt her head up.
"Gotcha." He whispered, leaning down to kiss her softly.
Before Amy could respond, the Doctor was walking into the chamber with River.
Amy went to take a step forward after them, but the Doctor called, without turning around, "Don't even think about it Pond!"
Sighing, Amy slid down against the wall of the corridor, waiting for them to return.
~I~
To say that there was unbearable tension between River and the Doctor was an understatement. Not even a knife could have cut the atmosphere between them, so the pair walked in silence through the chamber corridors.
River decided to break the silence first. "So, thanks for coming with me."
"Don't thank me, I'm not in here for you." The Doctor replied coldly, and River nodded slightly, unsurprised by his frosty response.
This unnerved the Doctor and he whirled around to face her. "I swear, if you do anything else to harm Amy—"
"Anything else?" River demanded, interrupting him. "I haven't done anything!"
"Liar!" The Doctor hissed, his eyes blazing with anger. "You force us here, you manipulate Amy into wanting to stay, and then she's attacked and part of her memory is wiped. I'm only in here to keep you away from her!"
He stopped, but River knew he wasn't finished.
"I will harm you if anything has happened to my wife." He said finally, his tone coated with venom.
River studied him for a moment, before she smiled. "And there it is."
"What?" The Doctor demanded, tensing.
"The oncoming storm." She replied quietly, and the Doctor inhaled sharply. "Thought your marriage to Amy would have softened you, but I see that's not the case. I'm glad."
The fire in the Doctor's eyes became a full-on inferno. "Shut up. Just shut up!" He roared, his fists clenching.
Unfazed by his fury, River glared back at him. "Don't you dare tell me what to do!" She thundered, her eyes narrowing angrily.
Suddenly, they heard the door of the chamber slam shut, and they exchanged panicked glances, their rage at each other instantly forgotten.
"Amy!" They cried at the same time, spinning around and racing back through the chamber corridors.
The Doctor surged ahead of River, and he reached the door first. He aimed his sonic at the door, but it wouldn't open. "Amy!" He yelled through the door, banging on it furiously. "Amy!"
"Deadlock is complete." A chillingly, familiar voice announced, and the Doctor felt his blood run cold at the sound of his archenemies: the Daleks. "Take the girl."
"No!" The Doctor cried, now throwing his weight against the door in his desperation to get it open. "Amy! Amy!"
"Get away from me you metal freaks!" He heard Amy yell, and he almost breathed a sigh of relief when he realised she was still alive.
"Amy, run!" He bellowed, relinquishing his banging to press his ear against the door, allowing him to hear more. Running footsteps indicated that Amy had taken his advice.
"Follow her!" He heard one of the Daleks command, and he prayed that Amy would be able to hide from them until he could find a way to get out of the chamber.
River finally reached him, just as the Doctor began to examine the door with his screwdriver, searching for anything that could help him open it.
"There's nothing you can do, it's a deadlock. You can't even explode the doors." River told him, grabbing his arm. "Come on."
"I'm not leaving Amy." The Doctor said firmly, pulling his arm out of her grasp. "I need to get to her."
"Doctor, you can't leave this chamber, and neither can I. We're going to have to make the best out of a bad situation." River commented, and the Doctor glared at her.
"The best out of a bad situation?" He echoed incredulously. "My wife is being chased by one of the deadliest species in the whole Universe!"
"Look, the Daleks can't hurt her!" River exclaimed.
"Are you mad?" The Doctor hissed. "Of course they can! She's human! Frail! Vulnerable!"
"Amelia Pond is not just an ordinary human, and you and I both know that." River said steadily. "She'll be fine. We're in more danger here, so you need to be strong, and focus!"
The Doctor was paying no attention to her, still scanning the door desperately. "Why did I leave her out there?" He muttered to himself. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"
"Stop wallowing!" River commanded sharply. "Let's go! Now!"
"You go. I'm staying here!" The Doctor told her, and from the certain tone of his voice, River knew she couldn't persuade him.
"Suit yourself. I'm going to go and find the missing crew." River replied, turning around and walking back down the corridor.
The Doctor, now giving up with his sonic screwdriver, began to bang on the door again.
~I~
Amy couldn't run for much longer. Her encounter with the chamber had left her weak, and she didn't have the energy to keep running from the Daleks.
Her only option now was to hide from them.
Using her sonic screwdriver, she opened up one of the crew's bedroom chambers and hurried inside. She looked around the room for a hiding place, and saw a hatch on the ceiling.
After securing the door, she unlocked the hatch, and a ladder fell down. Sighing in relief, she ascended up the ladder swiftly, pulling it up once she was safe.
Just as she secured the hatch shut, the door of the bedroom exploded open. Amy peered through the grates of the hatch, and saw the Daleks entering the room.
"Scan the girl." One of them commanded, and Amy's eyes widened in fear.
There was nowhere else to hide. The hatch had only led her into a small box room, and there were no exits, except for the way she'd come up.
She held her breath, and prayed.
To her surprise, nothing happened. She knew the Daleks were still in the room, but they weren't attacking her.
Taking a chance, she peered back through the hatch, and saw the Daleks looking up at her. She expected them to start firing at her, but they did nothing.
Suddenly she felt them in her mind, and she clutched her head, crying out as they began to rift through her memories.
"Phase is almost complete." She heard them announce.
And then she blinked, forgetting instantly what they'd just done to her, just in time to watch them teleport out of the room.
As soon as the coast was clear, she threw the ladder down and descended out of the hatch.
"I'm coming Doctor!" She yelled, leaving the bedroom and sprinting towards the chamber.
She heard her husband yelling her name, and she raced up to the door. "I'm here Doctor, I'm here!" She cried, banging on the door too.
"Thank the Universe!" She heard him sigh. "Amy, where are the Daleks?"
"They've gone!" She called, grinning.
She could picture the Doctor's astounded expression in her head when he replied, "What? Didn't they hurt you?"
"They didn't do anything to me! They just looked at me and then teleported away!" She told him earnestly. "I'm as shocked as you."
The Doctor was silent then, and Amy began to worry. "Doctor, are you okay?" She yelled, knocking on the door again.
"Amy, they didn't teleport away, as such." She heard him reply, though his voice was faint.
She gasped in horror, realising that the Daleks were now in the chamber with him, and now it was her turn to scan the door with screwdriver, looking for a way to open the door.
~I~
The Doctor could do nothing but stare his enemies down, twiddling his screwdriver in his hands. "About time we met again." He said calmly. "I never did get around to congratulating you for failing to destroy the Earth, again."
"Destroying the Earth is no longer our primary priority." The white Dalek replied.
"Yeah right." The Doctor snorted, his confidence growing. "So what are you lot doing here?"
"Amelia Pond will be ours." All of them announced, and the Doctor's confidence was shattered instantly. He expected Amy to react from behind the door, but there was no response from her.
"What have you done?" He whispered, raising his arm and pointing his sonic at the Daleks. "What have you done to my wife?"
They were silent, and the Doctor saw River coming up behind them. As much as he disliked her at the moment, he didn't want the Daleks to see her and harm her. He jerked his head to the right, and River knew that he wanted her to edge around them while he talked to them, until she got to his side. She nodded back, and the Doctor continued.
"If you've hurt, or will hurt Amy, I will wipe you all out." He hissed threateningly.
Again, the Daleks didn't reply, and their silence began to make the Doctor worry.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" He demanded. "Why aren't you doing anything?"
River reached him then, and rested her hand on his raised arm. "Doctor, I found the crew. They're dead. And I also found—"
"Not now River." The Doctor commanded impatiently, without taking his gaze from the Daleks. "You lot should have tried to kill me by now! Why haven't you?"
This time the Daleks reacted, but not in the way the Doctor had hoped for: they teleported away.
He didn't even have time to blink before there was a loud rumble, and a large crack began to appear along the corridor wall. It didn't even have to finish forming: the Doctor knew exactly what it was.
River took a step towards it, but the Doctor yanked her back. "Don't go near it!" He commanded, beginning to back away.
The crack suddenly widened, and light began to filter out, blinding them temporarily. "Don't step into the light!" The Doctor yelled, shielding his eyes.
And then as his back hit the chamber wall, something clicked in the Doctor's mind. The light from the crack in time was the light that had temporarily wiped Amy's mind. If she'd looked at it for much longer, she wouldn't be alive.
"What do we do?" River cried, pressed up against the wall beside him. "We can't get out!"
As if her words were a command, the chamber door swung open, revealing Amy.
"No Amy!" The Doctor cried, just as her gaze fell on the crack in time.
"Amy…Amy…" A voice from inside the crack crooned, much to his horror.
Amy's head tilted to the side, and she reached out with one hand towards the light. "Mum?" She whispered, her eyes filling up with tears.
"No!" The Doctor roared, easing himself as fast as he could towards the door. "Amy, listen to me!"
But she took a step forward. "Mum!" She cried joyfully. "I'm here! I'm here!"
The Doctor reached her then, and he pushed her away from the light, and out of the chamber.
Sobbing, Amy began to thrash around in his arms, hitting him and screaming to be let back into the chamber. The Doctor managed to restrain her, and River slammed the chamber door shut behind them. Amy collapsed the moment the light vanished from her sight, and the Doctor caught her in his arms.
"We need to leave! Now!" The Doctor yelled to River, lifting Amy's limp body into his arms.
River didn't need telling twice, and she ran after the Doctor towards the direction of the TARDIS. He couldn't reach for his keys, but he was able to snap his fingers, and the door swung open.
Hurrying into the console room, he lowered Amy's body onto the blanket that the TARDIS had provided for her, and then turned his attention to the console.
River sat down beside Amy, and tenderly brushed her auburn hair out of her face.
The Doctor eyed the affectionate gesture with raised eyebrows, and River met his gaze. "What?" She demanded. "I'm taking care of her. Amy's my family. We're not blood-related, but she's like a sister to me. Or, she will be."
The Doctor shook his head in confusion. "I'm not interested in knowing who you are River, not right now. I have bigger problems, like the fact that my wife just went into a trance and tried to kill herself in the light."
River lowered her gaze to her pocket, and withdrew a piece of scrunched up paper from it. "I think I can—"
"And I have an even bigger problem than that! Gigantic! Colossal!" The Doctor continued, now ranting his frustration. "Those Daleks should have killed me! But they retreated! Why would they do that?"
"Just let it go Doctor. You're alive. Amy's alive. That's all that matters." River replied distractedly, looking down at the paper.
"But you don't understand!" The Doctor exclaimed, banging the console with his hand. "Daleks are my enemies. They should have killed me instantly!"
"Of course they didn't kill you. You'd only regenerate." River told him, rolling his eyes.
"It's probably safer to trap you than kill you." They heard Amy whisper, and River and the Doctor turned to gaze at her in bewilderment.
But to their astonishment, she was fast asleep.
River shoved the piece of paper away, and carefully lifted Amy's eyelids. "She's definitely asleep." She murmured, confused. "But how could she—"
She broke off when the Doctor began to kick the console, furious. "What is going on?" He roared, fisting his hands in his hair. "River, please tell me you know what's happening!"
River smiled at him sadly. "The one time you choose to trust me and I don't know anything." She said softly. "I'm sorry, I'm just as clueless as you."
"River, I can't lose her." The Doctor said brokenly, dropping to his knees beside his wife. "Please, please help me."
River gazed at him, and then nodded. "Of course I will. But if you want me to help, I need to go to Earth. Now."
The Doctor looked at her quizzically. "Why? Do you know something already?"
"I'm not sure yet." River replied, reaching into her pocket and touching the paper, choosing not to show it to the Doctor. "But I might do."
The Doctor was about to rise to his feet to go back to the console, but River placed her hand on his arm. "Doctor, I can fly the TARDIS." She said gently. "Stay with your wife.."
At the Doctor's nod of consent, River rose and walked over to the console.
The Doctor watched her cautiously for a few moments, before turning his attention to his wife. "Oh Pond." He whispered, cradling her face in his hands and pressing his forehead to hers. "Magnificent, brilliant Amelia Pond. What are we going to do?"
This plot arc gets more confusing every time I think about it. Don't worry, I'll hammer it out. Hopefully. This story will be finished by 70 chapters time! At least, I hope it will. It's been dragging on for too long. If I'd been sensible and started out writing 4,000 words per chapter instead of 1,500 words, we'd only be thirty chapters in. Sigh. Oh well! I'm not going to re-edit this story. I thought about it, but decided against it.
Because some of you reviewed the A/N which was chapter 51, you can't leave a signed review. As long as you leave your fanfiction username, I can still reply to your review and give you a preview of the next chapter.
Hayley x