"Hurry up, Doctor!" I called as I struggled to get the TARDIS key to turn in the lock, "They're gaining on you!" I felt the key suddenly turn and stumbled through the doors into the TARDIS control room.

"Whoooooooa!" I heard the Doctor yell as he approached the TARDIS. "Abbigail! Open the doors! I'm coming in!"

I jumped as I realized that the doors had closed behind me and rushed to get them open, the Doctor climbing in just as a large man wearing an equally large sombrero came hurtling around the corner. I glanced down at the Doctor's hands as I slammed the doors shut, and realized that he was carrying a box filled to the brim with fezzes.

"I thought you ditched those a long time ago!" I exclaimed.

"No, I didn't. Why would you even think that? Never ditch the fezzes! Fezzes are cool."

I rolled my eyes at his insanity. "But they almost caught you. And they would have killed you."

"Ah, yes. The good people of the planet of hats can get a little touchy about their hats... But it was all in good fun! They couldn't have really killed me, don't you remember?" he winked. I kept forgetting the fact that he was a Timelord and could regenerate when he was about to die, which, incidentally, was one of the only things that I could get him to reveal. That, and that he was the last Timelord in the entire universe. "Anyhow," he continued, "I needed a new fez. My last one was getting a bit worn. And now I have enough to last me a few more centuries! How cool is that?" I had to roll my eyes. To this man, if I could even call him that anymore, everything was cool.

"Again with the eyes! I'd think they were following a quantum exterior loop if I didn't know any better. Can we count that as eye roll number 189? I should be getting a free hug by now!" the Doctor complained.

"Alright, alright!" I cried as I threw my arms around him familiarly. I felt his arms slowly come around me and I realized that this was the first time that we had ever hugged. A little ashamed of my forwardness, I began to pull away, but the Doctor tightened his grip and prevented me from ending the embrace.

"Ahhh, Abbie. It's been so long since I've had a right and proper hug. In fact, I..." he trailed off and deciding to leave it be, I buried my head in his tweed jacket.

We stood there for several minutes, neither one of us willing to break the quiet peace of the hug. It wasn't until the TARDIS began to shake that we hurriedly separated.

"Doctor! What's going on?" I shouted as I watched him run around the console, trying to find an answer to my question.

"I haven't the slightest idea. Well, I have a bit. The TARDIS has entered the time vortex all on her own, which means that we were either in immediate danger or something is messing with her engines. And seeing as the people of the planet of hats wouldn't be able to get violent enough to even put a scratch on the TARDIS, I'm thinking that I'll go with the second option." He punched a few more buttons in a desperate attempt to stop the interference, but to no avail. "Whatever is causing this to happen is extremely powerful. I haven't seen this much power since the one time the TARDIS was taken over by a hostile asteroid, and that was after it had drained the TARDIS out of itself. Clearly the TARDIS is still here with us," he said, pointing to the lights, "so that can't possibly be an explanation."

"But what are we going to do? We can't just let whatever is doing this capture us!"

"Well why not? Seems like the perfect way to figure out what's going on." My startled look did nothing to faze him, and a few seconds later, the TARDIS landed. "Right then," the Doctor said as he stepped toward the doors, "Geronimo!"

I followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS and into a dim light. I glanced at the Doctor for an explanation, but his face had frozen in a look of almost horror. He spun around, surveying the room we had entered, but I couldn't tell how he could gain any knowledge from it. The lighting was dull, and the only structure in the room was obscured by the TARDIS. I watched as the Doctor pulled up his sleeve and checked his watch.

"How is knowing the time supposed to help us at all, Doctor?" I asked, eager to break the silence.

"Oh, it's not the time I'm worried about." he said, as he held out his wrist to me. I saw five concise tally marks drawn on his skin. "I'm more worried about the creature- or creature- that we've been seeing."

"But we haven't..." I began to stammer, but before I could finish my sentence, my eyes fixed upon a gruesome figure in the corner.

"D-d-doctor... What is that?" My eyes had caught on a huge, white, suit-wearing alien. The alien began to make a strange clicking sound as it tilted its head and met my gaze.

"That, my dear Abbigail, is one of the Silence," he answered after he had turned. "Look away, and you'll forget they are even there. They've been influencing human history since the wheel and first fire."

"What is it doing here then? We're not even on Earth!" I exclaimed loudly, which seems to disturb the creature to some degree.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that... I've seen one of these consoles before, in an upstairs apartment that wasn't really even there. Perception filters are very tricky things... And then there was that time when I visited 1969. I saw one of these ships then, too. But why here? Why now? The Silence believe that I'm dead..."

"Could we have possibly been abducted at an earlier point in the, uh," I paused while trying to remember what he had called them, "Silence's time line? Maybe they don't know that you're dead yet."

"Oh, Abbie, you are absolutely brilliant!" the Doctor exploded. "That would also explain the museum incident. AND the large bolts of electricity that the Silent is beginning to form... RUN!" The Doctor dashed away, just as a humongous bolt of electricity flashed at the place that he had previously been standing. But I couldn't take my eyes off the creature. What would I do if I couldn't remember what I was running from? What good would it do at all?

An energy bolt flashed too close for comfort and woke me from my panicked stupor. Keeping my eyes on the creature, I ducked and scooted along the side of the TARDIS to the protected corner that the Doctor was crouching in. We had a clear visual of the Silent from our protected alcove.

Images of van Gogh's paintings flashed through my mind. I could see myself running through the halls of the museum, trying to follow a bow tie wearing... It hit me like a ton of bricks.

"Doctor," I whispered, "that day in the museum, the day you took me to meet van Gogh... That wasn't the first time we had met was it?"

He studied me for a long time before replying. "No, Abbie, it wasn't."

"And you and I, we were... fighting... these things. For an entire month. An entire month just wiped from my memory. How did that happen, Doctor? How?"

"The Silence mess with your memory. That much exposure to them, in that period of time, without prior knowledge... That must have done wonders for your mind."

"But I remember now. How am I remembering?"

"Look at me, Abbie." I glanced at him and immediately forgot what we had been discussing before.

"Doctor, why are we even hiding over here? The room is completely empty." The look in the Doctor's eyes was one filled with sadness.

"I had another companion who couldn't remember any time with the Silence, either. They held her captive and she only thought she'd been there for a few hours. Oh, but it was much longer than a few hours."

"What are you even-" I stuttered to a stop as I turned around and caught sight of the creature again. Memory of the past few minutes, as well as that long-lost month, sprang back into my head. "How... how does that even work, Doctor?"

"They seem to- for lack of a better word- edit themselves out of your memory as soon as you look away. Have you ever had a strong feeling to do something and not had the explanation as to why you felt that way? They've been using this power for centuries to influence human history. Most people can't remember the first time they see a Silence; every time is a new experience to them. That's where you're special, Abbie. You remember. And I only bring the most special people with me.

"There was a month. In that museum. You helped me fight these creatures, keeping them from destroying some of the most important human legacies, day by day. And we did it. It took a while, but we did it. But you didn't remember, and I had been afraid that you wouldn't. There were times, right in the middle of it, where I could see you stop short, like you had forgotten everything, but then you'd turn right back around and keep fighting. That day, when I took you with me, was the first day that I approached you after the ordeal. You once mentioned something about not knowing why you were coming with me. It was your memories, Abbie. You remembered. Somewhere, deep in your heart, you remembered me, and came."

I kept my gaze firmly fixed on the creature. "What happens when I look away? Am I just going to forget all over again?"

"Not if you don't want to," the Doctor answered. "You've already proven that your mind is exceptionally brilliant. I've always said that if something can be remembered, it can come back. Meaning, if you can remember that you have something to remember, you will be able to remember. I have faith in you. Look at me." I braced myself to forget and turned to look at the Doctor.

No sooner had I turned than my mind went blank. There was something nagging at the back of my mind, but I couldn't quite place what it was. Suddenly, a wonderful warmth began to fill my head: I remembered, just like the Doctor had said. A small smile crossed my face as I smiled at him and said, "Don't we have some aliens to defeat right now?"

"I knew you could do it!" he shouted as he jumped to his feet. "Now then, shall we find out what these aliens want with us?" He turned, and sprinted out into the open. I ran after him and looked defiantly into the face, if you could call it that, of the Silent. In my mind, it was already defeated, but the battle had only just begun.