A/N: Well, Merry Christmas to you all! I received a PM from a reader asking if I'd be able to do a "Christmas Present" by posting the next chapter. Granted, my creativity has been sapped recently due to school, I'm off until the twelfth of next month, so I might be able to get some real work done!

Also, this might seem really rushed and the tone of the chapter might change in the middle but only because it was half-way done when I re-started this and I had no interest in changing the whole thing. Sorry about that, but I plan on doing as much as I can with this in the time I have. :D

Thanks to all you lovely readers and reviewers! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Questions, Answers, and Even More Questions

I came to when my back slammed against a very solid wall. I had a moment of peace, then every muscle in my body began screaming at me. Groaning, I doubled over, tilting to the side with my stomach almost in full revolt.

Just like that day in the bathroom at work.

A familiar thrum vibrated through the floor and into my bones, taking away almost everything. I was still very sore, but no longer in danger of throwing up or passing out.

"Oi! How'd you get in here? No one can teleport inside, I'm sure of it."

Hang on, I knew that voice.

I winced, trying to ease myself into a sitting position. Though the pain was a lot less, it made moving very difficult. "Oh, ow." Great first words. Not the scathing the guy so deserved, but something that made me sound like I'd been through a meat grinder.

A part of me realized that he wouldn't recognize me right away. I'd cut my hair since he'd seen me last. Still long enough for Jack to play with, but at least several inches shorter.

The annoyed huff of breath and heavy footsteps warned me of his approach. "Hold on. Don't move." The whirring sound made a reappearance. Even more of the soreness vanished.

"Huh. That thing's more useful than I thought, Doctor," I muttered, tossing my hair way from my face. I didn't glare at him. Not yet. Best see his reaction first.

The stunned, blank expression was priceless. "What?" The Doctor yelped, nearly skidding backwards. "How can you be in here? I made sure you wouldn't have time to catch up because I didn't want you to come with me." Now the anger and irritation came out full blaze as the man jabbed his finger in my direction.

I didn't get really angry that often, but bald-head Doctor Dude really knew how to push my buttons. Lurching to my feet, I marched over and finally acted on the thought I'd harbored for nine months.

I punched him.

Not slapped upside the head.

Not a good smack on his face.

A real, solid, punch that sent him stumbling back.

My hand felt like it had hit the wall. At the same time, my guilt began rising a thousand fold. He probably didn't deserve that. Then again, I corrected myself, thinking about what his future self did to keep me behind and the fact that the Doctor in front of me had wanted to outweigh it. Mostly.

"What ... what the ... what the h ..."

"That was for ditching me and for ... for something you did, but won't do for a while," I finished lamely. There went all of my anger. My barriers had parted enough for me to feel the Doctor's clear shock and hurt. I couldn't keep that up in the face of that. "Sorry, but I've wanted to do that for a long time now."

Massaging his jaw, the Doctor glanced at me up and down several times. "Hold on. You changed your coat and you're not dirty."

"Are you saying I was ..."

"How did you get here? From when?" He stalked closer with the presence of an oncoming storm. A smell I couldn't even begin to name washed over me when he came to a stop mere inches away. "And why the hell did the TARDIS let you in?"

"Stop, stop, stop." My hand snapped up, almost like a barricade between us. A barricade that wouldn't do a darn thing if the Doctor truly wanted to get at me. I had to struggle to catch my breath, to get my mental feet back under me. "One, I have no freaking idea. This dragged me here from several months … well, almost a year … in the future."

I'd only showed the blasted Manipulator to him for a few seconds before he made a grab for it. His hand, much larger and firmer than my own, wrapped around my wrist. The lack of recognition in his eyes set off alarm bells in my head. Had he even heard of one before?

"This isn't Earth technology."

"No duh, genius-who-abandoned-me-for-no-good-reason." The urge to tell him what happened, to demand answers, almost overpowered the common sense not to let the Doctor know about his own future. Clenching my jaw, I yanked my hand away … and actually managed it. "Look, if the TARDIS let me in, doesn't that mean she wants me to be here?"

A flicker of intense curiosity managed to free itself from the Doctor's dark look. His head actually tilted like a bird's. As if the man couldn't get any stranger. "Since when do you call the TARDIS a she? And you still haven't answered my questions as to when you …."

"Don't," I sighed, poking him in the chest despite the dislike that washed out of him because of it. All of the anger just drained away before I could hold onto any of it. "Don't ask questions you can't have the answer to. Time-travel and all that."

With no anger to distract me, I couldn't stop thinking about Jack. How would he ever find me when the Manipulator wouldn't even give me more than a few seconds' warning? If I met Jack again, which one would it be? Why did my life have to be so non-linear? Why couldn't it be just in a straight line with no surprises whatsoever? Why ….

"Are you all right?" The rough, awkward question pulled me out of the hole I'd begun to spiral into.

I blinked, the Doctor coming back into focus. Although, from the sudden lack of hostility and frustration, it could've been a different man. I hesitated. If I met his eyes, I had to be sure of myself. Someone like the Doctor would be able to tell. I gnawed on my lip. Did I lie as the Doctor would, or tell the truth? Lying would keep him from worrying, but in the end, it would still be lying. Telling the truth would help me feel better, but it could put too much pressure on the Doctor's shoulders when I didn't even know how much he already carried.

Taking a deep breath, I glanced into those eyes that seemed so old. "A little wierded out and mad that you tried to leave me, but … I'm fine." Although my brain couldn't even hope to match his in brain power, I sealed away everything except what the Doctor would expect to see.

For a few moments, some suspicion remained in the Doctor's frown, a reaction that had begun to seem almost second nature to him. "Right. So …."

I couldn't help it … I sniggered. "Of all the times to be speechless, Doctor, this is probably one of the worst." There, that should bring some of the normal Doctor back. Snap him out of the emotional pit he didn't seem ready for.

Sometimes, my own hunches scared me. The Doctor snorted and sauntered back to the console. "So, when do I leave you? Can't have you running into yourself …."

"I'm not going anywhere." Those words escaped me before I could even think about them. They were true, though, so I didn't take them back. "This thing dragged me across time and space after being dead for months. I had freaking aliens try and kill me with no warning … not that I'm going to tell you about that yet," I added when he opened his mouth to say something. "And you abandoned me, so I think that means you owe me."

"I'm not abandoning you," the Doctor grunted with a violent jerk of his head as he fiddled with the console. The TARDIS hummed to life beneath his hands. "Leaving you behind was the best idea I've had since I found you."

"Why?"

"Because you'd have been safe!"

"And how safe will I be if this thing keeps jerking me from one point in time to another with no way to control it?" Crossing my arms, I met his scowl with a blank one of my own. "With you, I think I stand a better chance of figuring this thing out than on my own."

The Doctor stared at me, leaning his full weight on the console. I could practically see him withdraw to safety. Close himself off from everybody and everything. A defense mechanism I'd seen Jack resort to only a few times. With the Doctor, those walls would be abnormally thick. Too much for me to break through. Not yet.

"All right, fine, you can stay. But only because the TARDIS likes you."

It could've been my head still aching from the sudden time-travel or even wishful thinking, but the sudden acceptance left me … well … shell-shocked. No questions. No last-ditch effort to pry into what I knew or what I'd been doing. I could come with him.

"Although, I'm picking up Rose in a few minutes, so it won't be the two of us. Thankfully." There, the smart-alek Doctor had returned, though it troubled me more than it reassured.

Through my rising giddiness, I managed to crack a smile. My feet started to carry me towards the back. I had to find my room. To think. To gather myself into a normal state of mind before having to deal with the two of them again. "Scared to be alone with me for too long? Afraid I might show you up?"

"Ha! As if you could even come close, which you can't." A faint twitch of his lips gave away the humor I tasted in the air. "Don't touch anything while you're back there."

I tossed a mock two-fingered salute and a grin. "Oh, I won't be gone for too long. I'm not letting you out of my sight."