A/N: Got some rather amazing news, so I threw all of my energy into writing instead of replying to reviews. This one's a long chapter to make up for failing to do that; I'm sorry :(
Niro, you're a genius. And in answer to your other question, the mansion is rather big...but I'm sure other 'things' will give away what those two are up to.
Again, warning for a slightly 'M' beginning. Don't like it, don't read it! :)
Amy was feeling strange again, but she didn't feel bad this time. Gone was the dizziness and sickness. Instead, she was feeling intense. She couldn't describe it in any other way.
She'd felt like that earlier, in the swimming pool with the Doctor, but it was stronger now. She'd been glad that she'd been given the upstairs to explore with her husband. All she could think about was him again.
It didn't matter to her that they were in a creepy mansion with aliens that could turn up at any point. That problem was insignificant to the fire spreading through her veins.
Of course, the Doctor was oblivious to her thoughts, but he wouldn't be for long. He was currently exploring the master suite of the mansion, scanning furniture with his sonic screwdriver and sniffing the walls.
"Any help Pond?" He called, interrupting her reverie.
Amy couldn't even think about helping him, not when she felt the way she did. "You don't need my help." She replied, stretching her arms over her head.
The Doctor glanced at her, and saw that her shirt had risen up. His eyes widened, and Amy smiled, enjoying his heated gaze.
He blinked, and the spell was broken. He turned away from her to lean down and examine under the bed, and Amy bit her lip.
"Besides, I rather like my view from here." She murmured, leaning against the bedroom wall and gazing at the Doctor's rear.
The Doctor visibly trembled at the fervour in her tone, and he straightened up. "Is it me, or is it hot in here?" He commented, ignoring his wife's remark. Fanning himself with his hand, he moved towards the window and opened it to let the cool air into the room.
The breeze did nothing to cool him down though. Beads of sweat began to form on his hairline, and he touched his forehead with his hand.
The moment he did that, the psychic link between him and Amy flew open, and he was instantly overwhelmed by her emotions. Her mind was red-hot with desire. There was something else simmering underneath that though, and the Doctor whirled around to face her.
The instant their eyes locked, the Doctor was captivated. Everything around them disappeared, and he felt his body gravitating towards her, almost magnetically, and their charged link was the tow.
"I don't understand." He heard himself whisper, but his voice sounded far away.
He reached her then, and his hands, of their own accord, pushed her up against the wall. Amy's eyes fluttered closed, and she smiled.
And then she whispered his name. His real name, in his home language.
Something inside the Doctor exploded, and he crashed his lips to hers. Amy gasped wildly into his mouth, and her hands fisted in his brown hair. But she wasn't close enough.
Raising his hands, the Doctor touched her temples, widening their link. Suddenly they weren't two minds; they were one.
United.
Connected.
Together.
Alive.
They were panting now, engulfed in heat, and desire. Their nerve endings were on fire, ignited by the other's touch, and they couldn't get enough. One of the Doctor's hands trailed to Amy's thigh, and he hitched her leg around his hip.
It wasn't enough. Amy needed more, and she arched her back.
Their roaming hands weren't enough either. They needed to be closer.
Bed.
The word echoed in both of their minds, but neither cared who had suggested it. Somehow they made it over to the bed, and the Doctor pushed Amy down onto it, his timeless eyes gleaming predatorily.
Open your eyes.
Amy's eyes flew open, and her golden irises glowed, radiating her want. Her need.
The barrier of their clothing was instantly taken away, and then they were one again.
United.
Connected.
Together.
Alive.
~I~
The heat disappeared almost as quickly as it had arrived. The Doctor and Amy were both trembling as they put their clothing back on, and they didn't speak. Both of them were confused; they hardly remembered what had occurred between them, even though it had only been moments ago.
And they'd never felt so vulnerable in front of each other. Their minds were open now, their psychic link had finished forming, and they were completely exposed to one another.
They could hardly tell whose thought was whose. They were both thinking the same thing; their minds were full of questions about what had just happened between them.
They left the room in silence, both of them wondering how to break the sudden tension.
Do I ask him what happened or…
Shall I ask her about…
They stopped walking to look at one another, and they laughed nervously.
This will take some getting used to. Amy thought, and the Doctor nodded his agreement.
You're telling me. I have no idea how this happened, or what just happened.
I was feeling weird before. Amy admitted, frowning. But I don't know why we both lost it like that.
"Amy? Doctor? Where are you?"
Jack? They both thought at the same time, confused, and they looked at each other.
How long has it been?
The Doctor looked at his watch. Definitely more than one hour. We'd better go and meet them.
He offered her his hand, and she took it. They were both relieved that there were no more, out-of-this-universe feelings between them when they touched, and they hurried down the stairs to meet their friends.
"Where the hell have you two been?" Jack demanded when he saw them approaching. And then he caught sight of their rumpled clothing, tousled hair, and their flushed faces. "Tell me you two didn't…"
Amy felt the Doctor searching for an excuse, but she squared her shoulders and stared defiantly back at Jack. "That is none of your business." She said haughtily, smoothing her hair back. The Doctor had yanked her hair band out during their incident upstairs, and as a result, her hair was completely dishevelled.
He always did have a fetish for my hair.
The Doctor sniffed. Of course I do. It's red. It's long. It's magnificent.
Amy beamed, and she kissed him, right in front of their friends, who looked confused.
"Are we missing something here?" Rory asked in confusion.
The Doctor withdrew from Amy to smile awkwardly at them. "Uh…yeah. So here's the summary of the story: our link's finished forming, and now we have the same mind."
Everyone looked astonished by that, and the Doctor felt insulted. Don't know why they look so surprised. It's normal to share minds. Well, it used to be.
They're just jealous. Amy squeezed his hand comfortingly, and the Doctor smiled at her.
"That explains the heat." They heard Jack mutter, and they looked at him in confusion.
"What?" The Doctor demanded.
"Nothing." Jack said quickly. "Did you find anything upstairs?"
The Doctor winced. Whoops. "Um…"
"I take that as a 'I was too busy screwing my wife to look for alien signs'." Jack remarked, rolling his eyes. "Doesn't matter. I don't think we'll find anything there. I think we should go to the loft."
The Doctor nodded, and they all followed Jack up the stairs. They passed the master suite on the way, and they paused outside of it.
"What did you two do in here?" Alonzo asked, peering in. Everything inside the room looked as if it had been scorched, and the temperature inside was stifling, despite the open window.
Oh dear. "Who said we were even in that room?" The Doctor asked quickly.
Jack raised his eyebrows at him. "Oh please. It smells of sex."
Kill me now. Groaning, the Doctor buried his face in his wife's hair.
Don't be ashamed. I'm not. Look what's happened because of it.
The Doctor raised his head and met her gaze. But I don't understand what happened.
You know I don't either. But I'm not going to regret it.
"Okay, this will take some getting used to, watching you two converse silently." Jack muttered, and Amy and the Doctor looked away from each other to look at him. "Let's go up to the attic before I pass out from the heat."
They walked past the master suite, and walked through the vast corridors until Hannah spotted a hatch in the ceiling. The Doctor used his screwdriver to open it, and a ladder fell down. To their disgust, the rungs of the ladder were dripping with a pale, viscous substance.
"There is no way I'm touching that." Jack said immediately, holding his hands up.
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes at his friend, the Doctor touched the sticky liquid with his finger. "Human flesh." He told them, examining his finger. Rory heaved behind him, but he continued. "My guess is, these aliens are fabricated from melted skin. There are only two types of species who are made from flesh, and both of them hate light."
He finished his speech by wiping the substance from his finger onto Jack's military jacket.
"Thanks for that." Jack muttered, looking down in revulsion at the stain.
"No, thank you. Your jacket was the perfect hand-cleanser." The Doctor said cheerfully, placing his foot on the first rung of the ladder. "Let's go up, but mind, it will be a slippery ascent!"
He reached the hatch first, and climbed up to help his friends up too. Amy was behind him, and she grimaced when her foot made a squelching sound on one of the rungs.
Oh lovely. Flesh-covered converses. Maybe that should be a brand. Who knows, they might already exist. The Doctor would know; he probably owns his own pair.
The Doctor laughed out loud at Amy's thought, startling their friends. "No Amy, I don't, but there's a pair of crocodile skin shoes somewhere in the TARDIS. Present from my smelly godmother; she said that if I loved humans so much, I should wear the same shoes as them."
Amy laughed as he helped her into the loft. "Trust me, they're not fashionable Doctor."
"Give it a few years, and they will be. I'll buy you a pair if we ever visit that time period of Earth." The Doctor told her, now helping Hannah into the loft.
"That's sweet of you to offer, but no thanks." Amy said, and the Doctor chuckled.
"Well, if we need to run to safety, it's going to be impossible using this ladder." Jack muttered as he climbed up to join them. "Who's going to fall to their death first?"
"Always so negative." The Doctor said, making a tutting sound. "It shouldn't matter to you anyway, you'll be alive afterwards. Maybe you can die jumping down, and then we can all land on your body to cushion our fall?"
"Oh gee, thanks!" Jack exclaimed.
The Doctor glanced at Amy, and shrugged his shoulders. It's actually not a bad idea…
Don't even think about it. She replied silently, grinning.
Spoilsport. Rising to his feet, the Doctor moved away from the hatch, allowing Rory, Hannah and Alonzo the room to climb in.
"Uh…I don't think we should stay up here." Rory muttered, rubbing his arms. "It's cold, and there are no lights."
"There is no electricity or power up here. Strange." The Doctor mused, illuminating the loft as best he could with his sonic screwdriver. "Didn't any of you have the sense to bring a torch?"
"What am I, superman?" Jack retorted, rolling his eyes.
Amy took out her sonic, and began to walk forward, away from them. "Come on guys, let's go! Unless you're chicken, and then I'll have to look around by myself!" She called back to them.
"Not a good idea." Jack muttered, following after her.
"Alonzo, stay by the hatch. If you see the lights from down below switch off, warn us." The Doctor instructed, and Alonzo nodded. "Rory and Hannah, you can come with us."
They agreed, even though Rory was reluctant to, and they followed the Doctor. They met up with Amy and Jack, and the Doctor quickly overtook them, taking the lead.
It didn't take him long to find something. The light from his sonic illuminated a pewter surface, casting a dim reflection, and he stepped forward to take a closer look.
"Jackpot!" He exclaimed, and the others hurried forward to join him.
"You call this a jackpot?" Rory remarked, horrified when he saw what the Doctor had found. "It's a cauldron full of melted humans!"
"Yes, and…"
And then the Doctor trailed off, his eyes wide in shock. "Oh no. Oh dear. This is very not good. Extremely very not good."
Amy frowned, trying to decipher his thoughts, but they were muddled, much like his speech.
"I've made a very big mistake." The Doctor finally whispered. "One huge, whopping mistake. It's not lights they're afraid of…its heat."
"So?" Jack demanded.
"These beings, they're called the Fryicilax, and they haven't returned because of Amy and I. But now I've brought the bait right to the beast." The Doctor replied, looking down at the cauldron in horror. "Back to the ladder, now!"
Everyone followed his instruction, and they all raced to the ladder.
"Alonzo? Where's Alonzo?" Jack cried once they'd reached the hatch, only to see that he wasn't there. "Did he follow us into the loft?"
The Doctor looked down at the floor, and saw a fresh pile of skin. Jack followed his gaze, and his face went white. "Doctor…tell me that's not my boyfriend…"
"It's okay." The Doctor assured him, patting his shoulder. "They've only taken him. They like to tease their victims before melting them down and creating a new Fryicilax."
"How is that any better?" Jack hissed. "We need to find him!"
"First we need to get out of this loft. Amy, go!" The Doctor commanded, and Amy quickly began to descend down the ladder. "You next Hannah."
Once the girls had disappeared down the ladder, the Doctor looked through the hatch, when he realised he'd made another colossal mistake.
"No!" He yelled, realising that the lights were off below. "Amy, use your sonic! Turn the lights on! Now!"
Okay, okay, don't panic! He heard his wife reply in his mind. Just let me—
Suddenly she broke off, and she started to scream. The Doctor's hands flew to his head as her fear overwhelmed his mind, and he staggered backwards.
"Doctor, we need to help them!" Rory cried, hearing Hannah screaming too. Before he could step foot on the ladder, Jack had yanked him back up.
"Let the Doctor put the power on first! We can't help them if we end up captured too!" He hissed. "Doctor…Doctor? Are you listening?"
But the Doctor had secluded to his mind, and he desperately tried to communicate with Amy over her internal screams. Amy…Amy! Listen to me! Amelia! Where are you? Amy? Amy!
Doctor…dark…can't see…
The Doctor shook his head, as if to clear it, and went straight into business-mode. He surged towards the ladder and climbed down it easily. The moment his feet were on the ground, he withdrew his sonic screwdriver and restored the lights, to see six Fryicilax in the corridor, poised as if to strike at him. They were frozen though, and the Doctor grinned.
"Yep, I definitely just added my own version of a 'watt' to the light bulbs to make them emit more heat. Looks like you'll be standing there a long time. Drip, drip, drip! Now, what have you done with my wife?"
Skirting around them, he ran through the corridor, yelling Amy's name, aloud and psychically.
Amy, Amy? Is it still dark?
Do…Doctor? Thank God! Yes, it's dark. And cramped. Where am I?
I don't know, but I'll find you. Are you with Hannah and Alonzo?
Yeah. The waxy things have left us alone now, but I dropped my sonic when they grabbed me and now we can't see anything!
Don't panic. I'm coming for you.
The Doctor spotted Amy's sonic in front of him, and he scooped it up, just as Jack and Rory caught up with him. "Did you talk to Amy? Is she with Alonzo and Hannah? Are they okay?" Jack demanded.
"Yes, yes, and I don't know." The Doctor replied. "It seems like they're in a small space, and its cramped and dark. Any ideas?"
"I have one."
Before the Doctor could stop him, Jack had snatched Amy's sonic away from him and pointed it at the wall, exploding the brick.
"What was that for?" The Doctor yelled, seizing it back.
"For that." Jack nodded at the corridor wall, and the Doctor followed his gaze, to see a narrow passageway. "It occurred to me just now that a mansion like this has to have secret rooms, and voila! Do you think the Fryicilax took them into the passageway?"
"More than likely." The Doctor kicked away some of the rubble, and stepped into the passage. "It fits the criteria. It's dark, cramped, and a perfect hideout for the Fryicilax. They must have retreated into here when we arrived and turned on the lights."
"And they couldn't come out because you and Amy were getting hot and heavy, literally." Jack realised. "Then we went up to the loft, they turned the lights off, and took Alonzo, and then the girls."
The Doctor nodded, but then frowned. "Yes, but I don't understand why Amy and I—"
"Do we have to talk about this now?" Rory demanded, interrupting him. "My wife has been captured!"
"So has mine!" The Doctor reminded him, beginning to walk forward. "We'll find them Rory, I promise."
Using Amy's sonic; he exploded a hole in the passageway wall, allowing some light from the hallway outside to filter through. "The only way we can keep the others safe is if we blast through as much of this wall as we can so that more light can enter through." He told them, aiming the sonic at another part of the wall. "It'll get hot in here soon, but it's the only way to keep everyone safe."
"Good. Here, give me Amy's sonic, and I'll go in the opposite direction to you. We'll get through more of the passageway like that." Jack said, and the Doctor tossed him the sonic.
"Be careful!" He warned, and he heard Jack sigh.
"I'll try!"
"What I meant to say was, 'don't do anything stupid'."
The Doctor saw the gleam of Jack's grin in the dim light. "I know, and I said that I'd try. But if any of the Fryicilax even think about attacking me, I'll shoot them down."
"No weapons Jack." The Doctor said tiredly. "That's not how I work, remember?"
"But that's how I work." Whirling around, Jack headed away in the opposite direction.
"For goodness sake!" The Doctor muttered, shaking his head in anger. "Rory, go after him and talk some sense to that boy!"
"I'd rather stay with you." Rory replied nervously, looking behind him, in case a Fryicilax decided to attack him.
"Well then, looks like it's just you and me Williams." The Doctor commented, exploding another hole in the wall with his sonic screwdriver. "Allons-y! Wow, I haven't said that in a while. Yowza."
"Yowza?" Rory echoed.
"I've never said that before. That's fab." What do you think Pond? 'Yowza'. That could be my catchphrase.
No. Just no.
"Fine then. 'Geronimo' it is." The Doctor muttered, blasting open another hole. "Geronimo!"
"Still talking to Amy?" Rory asked him as they carried on through the passage.
"Yes, and before you ask, they're all fine. They're staying put until they can see the light we're filtering through." The Doctor told him.
The two walked in companionable silence for a few minutes, save for the noise of the Doctor blowing holes into the walls, before he halted to a stop. "Hey Rory, can you feel that?"
"The heat? Yep." Rory sighed, fanning his face. "It's baking in here."
"Not that." The Doctor licked his finger and held it up in the air. "There's something…not…quite…right."
He turned around to look at Rory, and then yelped when he saw his friend's skin dripping to the floor, leaving the skeleton of the body. He blinked, and the mirage was gone.
"What?" Rory demanded, looking around them anxiously. "What's wrong?"
"Perception filter." The Doctor realised. "They're playing with us alright…they're playing with our minds."
"So?"
"So? A very big so. Now hush. Concentrating." The Doctor closed his eyes, and reached out to his wife again. Amy, listen to me. Whatever you see in the next few minutes isn't real!
What do you mean? She demanded, and the Doctor could sense her fear. Because there is one of those things running right towards us!
It's not a Fryicilax, it's Jack! Let him know it's you, before—
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Amy suddenly disappeared from his mind, and the Doctor's eyes flew open. "No!" He cried, whirling around and racing towards the sounds of the gun being fired. "Jack! No! Stop it!"
"Doctor, what's happening?" Rory yelled, sprinting after him. "What has Jack done? Doctor, answer me!"
"Jack, they're not the Fryicilax! They're our friends!" The Doctor roared, praying that Jack could hear him. "Don't shoot!"
Rory realised the situation. "No Jack! Don't!" He cried, his yells joining the Doctor's. "Jack! Stop!"
Raising his sonic to the ceiling, the Doctor disabled the perception filter, filling the passage with his friend's screams. He heard Jack's gun clatter to the floor, and knew they were close.
When they rounded the corner, they saw Jack frozen in the light part of the passageway, his face ashen with horror. "Doctor…I didn't…my military reflexes just…oh God…I think I shot one of them…" Trailing off, he stared ahead of him, into the darkness.
Somewhere in his mind, the Doctor already knew who'd been shot, but he couldn't believe it. Not just yet. "Amy!" He cried, surging blindly through the darkness, exploding holes in the wall as he ran. "Amy!"
As the light shone through the wall, the Doctor saw Alonzo slumped against it. He wasn't hurt, just stunned, so the Doctor ignored him and carried on.
"Alonzo!" He heard Jack cry in relief.
He blasted away another hole, and saw Hannah's body, lying in a pool of blood. "Rory!" He cried in alarm. "Rory, it's Hannah!"
Rory reached him quickly, and pressed his hands to his wife's cheeks. "Hannah, oh God…Hannah!"
"She's been shot above the heart." The Doctor murmured, examining her wound. "Take this, and get her into the TARDIS." He gave Rory his TARDIS key, and Rory took it. "There's a medical bay inside my ship. Hurry!"
"But what do I—"
"Rory, you're a nurse!" The Doctor snapped, his fear for Amy making him impatient. "You can heal her easily using my supplies. Now go!"
Nodding, Rory scooped Hannah's body into his arms. He struggled towards the hole in the wall, until Jack and Alonzo appeared.
"I'll carry her." Alonzo murmured, and Rory placed his broken wife into his arms, before they hurried out of the passage.
"Amy!" The Doctor cried, running ahead again. He tried to focus on finding the sound of her heartbeat, but couldn't because of his own. He was on his way to having a Galifreyan panic attack, like he nearly had the last time Amy had been hurt.
Suddenly he saw a glint of red hair, and he flew forward, falling to his knees beside his wife. He immediately felt for her pulse, and once he'd found it, he exploded another hole in the wall and rolled her over so that her back was to the floor. To his horror, her shirt was coated in blood, caused by a bullet wound to her shoulder.
"Doctor, I'm so sorry. I didn't—"
"Shut up Jack!" The Doctor hissed angrily, unbuttoning her shirt to examine the wound. "Let's see…bullet went right through her skin, so I won't have to remove it. "
"Doctor?"
"The bullet has torn some of her ligaments though." The Doctor continued, ignoring Jack. "Oh Amy…" Trailing off, he closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers.
"Doctor, we need to get out of here!" Jack cried, looking around them worriedly. "This place is going to explode!"
"What?" The Doctor demanded, opening his eyes and sitting up. "Why? What happened?"
"You and Amy happened!" Jack exclaimed, looking at the Doctor incredulously. "The time energy you created is explosive! Once the atoms of that reach boiling point because of the heat from the lights, then—"
"—Say no more. Go!"
The Doctor placed his arms under Amy's body, preparing to carry her, but Jack placed his hand on his arm. "I'll carry her." He told him, and the Doctor glared at him.
"She's my wife. Leave us!"
Jack hesitated, but quickly left the passage when he saw how angry the Doctor was with him.
"Come along Pond." The Doctor murmured, repeating his words from earlier as he picked her up.
He managed to manoeuvre out of the hole in the wall, and began to step over the debris that they'd created from blasting the wall away. As he stumbled through the corridor, he passed the master suite, which was on fire.
He didn't have time to examine it and analyse what had happened between him and Amy in that room. His wife's health was his first priority, so he carried on towards the staircase.
Embers of fire were starting on some of the steps, so he carefully stepped around them as he descended. Pieces of ceiling began to tumble to the floor, and the Doctor quickened his pace as he reached the main entrance of the mansion.
He saw instantly that Jack had blown away the doors with Amy's sonic, and he was grateful, as it made his escape easier. The gap in the wall outside was also larger, and the Doctor ran towards it, to see Jack standing by the TARDIS.
He opened the doors for him, and the Doctor rushed into his ship and straight towards the medical bay, Jack running behind him.
He kicked open the door and rushed in, and Rory looked up at the commotion. "I did it Doctor! Hannah's fine!" He told him, beaming. "Will she be unconscious for much longer?"
"Only for a few more minutes." The Doctor said distractedly, lying Amy down on the hospital bed beside Hannah's. "Take Hannah into the room next door, and you'll find some Xicic cream, which will get rid of the bullet scar."
"Okay, thanks." Rory lifted Hannah into his arms and headed through the adjoining door, and Alonzo and Jack joined the Doctor beside Amy's bed.
"I'll need some Estheric to fix her wound." The Doctor murmured, rummaging through the medical drawers beside the bed. "And then some of that Xicic cream for the scar."
"Doctor, you won't need any of that stuff." He heard Jack whisper, and he shook his head.
"What? Of course I will!" He replied, taking out the jar of Estheric from the drawers.
"No, you won't."
Whirling around, the Doctor turned back to his wife, when he froze, stunned. The wound on Amy's shoulder was emitting small, golden sparks, and the skin was closing, healing by itself.
"I don't understand." The Doctor whispered, touching the skin around the wound, but withdrawing his hand sharply, burnt by the scorching temperature.
"I think you do." Jack said quietly. "Doctor, how can you not see what's going on?"
The Doctor glanced up from Amy to stare at him in bewilderment.
"You're so dense!" Jack sighed. "Look Doctor, think about it. The moment Alonzo and I arrived here, we knew that Amy wasn't herself."
"Of course she wasn't herself, her mind and body was adapting to a Time Lord connection!" The Doctor exclaimed, interrupting him.
But Jack carried on, ignoring him. "You know the legends Doctor, better than I do, about two Time Lords bonding. The heat, the time energy released, the surge in the psychic bond…"
Already the Doctor was shaking his head. "Impossible Jack! Amy isn't a Time Lord!"
"But she's pregnant with one."
The jar that the Doctor was holding fell to the floor, spraying them all with droplets of liquid.
"There's time energy in her blood Doctor, and what happened between you two in the mansion confirmed it." Jack told him firmly. "Her body's changing, adjusting to carry a Time Lord. That's why her wound is healing, and that's why you two have a full psychic link! She's pregnant with your child!"
The Doctor couldn't move, or even react. His mind was whirring with Jack's words. If Amy was pregnant, it answered all of the unexplained questions.
But he couldn't allow himself to get his hopes up. Not over something as important as this.
Alonzo nudged Jack, and the two walked away into the adjoining room, leaving the Doctor alone with Amy.
With trembling hands, the Doctor pulled her shirt up, exposing her stomach. He had noticed that her curves had become more defined, but he'd never even considered the possibility that she was pregnant.
Gently, he rested his head against her stomach, listening for any sound, or any indication that there was a life growing inside his wife.
And then he felt it. The sound was so quiet that even with his Time Lord hearing, he could barely hear it. But there it was.
A small thrum of two fragile hearts beating.
I'll try and get working on the next chapter ASAP. My muse is failing to inspire me...I think it's because this story is getting nearer to the end - and I have to write some rather horrible chapters before it finally ends. Sigh.
Hayley x