Hello once again readers! Picking up right where we left off, we're back to James and the Ponds. I haven't really got much to say until the end of this chapter, but let's just say that I will surprise a lot of you, and for the rest of you, well, you've waited long enough I think. :) So please enjoy this update (which is miraculously on time! :D )

James' mind was working overtime. He needed to get them out of there now. For some reason, Mr. Boots showed no indication to want to harm him, but Rory and Amy were a different matter. He wasn't sure what he would do with them.

"Oh... hello," James said, looking between Mr. Boots and the large Silent standing beside him. "You know, I just saw you only a few hours ago... weeell, hours for me, but for you it was a very long time ago."

"Yes, I know," Mr. Boots said. "Thirteen years. But enough about the past. Let's talk about the future, shall we?" he said, his amber eyes falling on Amy and Rory.

James took a subconscious step in front of them, raising his hands in a submissive gesture and offering an awkward smile, hoping to defuse the situation as much as he could. "Oh, wait, wait, you don't really want to take them, do you? They'd just be a hassle."

Mr. Boots arched a brow at him, idly toying with his blaster. "Is that so?"

"Oh, absolutely. They're both like toddlers in their terrible twos. Terribly fussy. Whiny. Perpetually hyper. Trust me, you'd save yourself a lot of trouble if you just left them here."

"We're not leaving you, James," Amy said defiantly, attempting to take a step forward, but James kept himself in front of her.

He pointed his thumb at her. "See? There's the whiny bit."

"Amusing, but pointless," Mr. Boots said darkly, then raised his gun, pointing it at Rory's head. "Now unless you'd like to see Rory die for the -what would it be now- third time? I'd suggest you cooperate."

James' hands rose even higher and he positioned himself in between the gun and Rory. "Wait, wait, wait, stop. Take me, do what you want with me, just leave them out of this. This has nothing to do with them."

"He's not going anywhere," Amy said, glaring daggers at Mr. Boots, just daring him to make a move.

"So you want me to take you prisoner, then?" Mr. Boots asked with an amused smirk.

"No!" James said, then looked at Amy severely. "No. Amy, stop helping."

"James, we don't know what he wants with you," Rory said. "We can't just let him-"

"This isn't about what you can and can't do," James said. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we're very much cornered and there's no point in taking both of you down with me," James said, then turned to address the hit-man, who appeared to be content for the moment to watch them consider their options, "Now, please, let them leave."

Mr. Boots stared at him thoughtfully, a small smile on the corner of his lips, as though everything that was happening were amusing to him. Finally, after several seconds, he said, "Give me a reason."

James stared at him for a few seconds before he realized he was actually giving him the opportunity to earn Amy and Rory's freedom; an opportunity he had no intention of wasting. He considered his answer carefully before replying. "Because you could've involved them at any time you wanted, but you didn't. They're not part of the plan."

Mr. Boots' smile widened, then gestured James to come forward with his gun-free hand. "Come here."

"Don't, James," Amy said, her hand unconsciously grabbing his arm.

James hesitated. "Give me your word that you will let them go."

Mr. Boots didn't relent, just stared at him expectantly.

"James-" Rory started.

"Once we're gone, you two go to the TARDIS," James said, gently removing Amy's hand from his arm and stepping forward cautiously.

Mr. Boots suddenly glanced down at his wrist when a small, rapid beeping noise emitted from what looked like a watch. His eyes flashed and before Amy or Rory could do anything, he'd taken a step forward and smacked James across the head, effectively knocking him unconscious.

"James!" Amy screamed, making to rush to his aid, but Rory held her back, watching the Silence cautiously as they raised their hands at her sudden movement.

"Amy, he's alright," Rory said reassuringly, looking at James' unconscious form. He knew he would likely have a concussion, a major headache, and a bruise, but Mr. Boots had been careful not to cause any significant damage.

"What did you do that for?" Amy shouted hotly. She would have pounced on him if Rory hadn't have been holding her back.

Mr. Boots didn't acknowledge her with his eyes, but instead showed her the very complicated-looking watch on his arm. "He was telepathically communicating with the Doctor. I've made it very clear that I won't tolerate that," he said, looking down at James. He took in a deep breath, then finally rested his eyes on Amy and Rory, smiling again. "Well, I suppose its your lucky day," he said with a grin, then walked up to them, pulling something from his pocket.

Amy and Rory both took a step back, but not before Mr. Boots could grab Amy's hand and turn it palm-up. She flinched back, but couldn't pull away. Before she even had time to be really worried, he'd pulled out a marker and was writing on her hand. He wrote a short note there, then returned the writing utensil to his pocket, backing away from them. "There. You two can go," he said with a disinterested tone. He gestured at the Silent behind them, which moved out of their path, allowing them a path out of the alley.

Both of them hesitated, struggling with the idea of leaving James behind, particularly in his current state. Amy was completely against the idea, and she stood stiffly, refusing to leave him.

Mr. Boots chuckled. "Grown fond of him, have you? I can see he feels the same, but really, there's no point in the two of you being stubborn. I have no real use for you and believe me, that's not a good position to be in. Now, don't let his sacrifice go to waste," Mr. Boots said, then he continued dangerously, "Leave, before I change my mind."

"Amy, we need to get the Doctor," Rory whispered to her gently, trying to pull her back. "He's right. We have to go."

"But-"

"We'll get him back, I promise," Rory assured her, slowly backing the two of them out of the alley, watching as the Silent in front of them bent down and picked James up. "Come on, Amy."

With one last look, they both turned and ran out of the alley and immediately forgot everything that had just happened.

"Gaahk!" The Doctor shouted in pain, hand snapping up to the side of his head and falling to a knee.

"Doctor!" River said in alarm, kneeling down beside him and trying to see what was wrong. "What happened? Are you alright?"

The Doctor's eyes were pinched shut in pain, but he nodded. "Ow! That's not good."

"What just happened?" River repeatedly urgently, removing his hand to look at his head, but was surprised to find nothing there.

"Oh... did I mention James and I share a telepathic link?"

River blinked at him. "What?"

Gunfire interrupted them and River had to pull the Doctor to his feet to get him running again, shooting behind them with her free hand.

The Doctor held the side of his head with his teeth bared as he ran alongside his wife, trying to clear his head. "A telepathic link. Our sensory and emotional responses are transmitted in varying degrees depending on where we are in correlation to each other. In other words, we feel and experience-"

"I know what you mean," River said. "How did that happen?"

"Well, I don't know, River. I can't know everything," the Doctor said. "He's the first meta-crisis to have ever existed. There's probably a lot I don't know about him, but I don't have time to worry about that, because I think he just got knocked out by something very hard and very metal." The Doctor blinked a few times, trying to shake the dizzy, fuzzy feeling from his senses.

River glanced at him with concern. "Will you be alright?"

The Doctor nodded, then straightened up and looked around thoughtfully. "We need to find James and your parents."

She nodded in agreement. "We should probably lose these three first though, sweetie," she said, firing off several shots that drove their pursuers back a few feet.

The Doctor made an abrupt turn left, then right behind a building, then right again, then once more, making each sharp and short. When they came out onto the the alley they had been, they had ended up behind their pursuers, who were now running willy-nilly down streets and behind buildings in search of them.

The Doctor smirked at his own brilliance, then grabbed River's hand and ran back the way they had come.

They had barely been running a minute when they were nearly sideswiped by Amy and Rory, who had run out from behind another building straight into their path.

The four of them came to a sharp halt and turned to each other.

"Doctor!" Amy exclaimed in relief, grabbing his arms and looking at him urgently. "Doctor, we lost James! Is he with you?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I thought he was with you."

"He was," Rory said. "He was in front of us and then... he wasn't."

"The Silence," River said to the Doctor.

He nodded in agreement, then looked at Amy's hand. "What's on your hand, Amy?"

Amy gave him a puzzled expression. "What are you-" she started, bringing her hand up to look at, then stopped at the bold, black message written there.

The Doctor took her hand and read the note;

14-999-7563-97563,

02-22-2298

Amy looked at it, confusion etched on her features. "What does it mean?"

The Doctor frowned deeply. "Coordinates and dates. For the final showdown."

Amy's face paled.

"The final showdown?" Rory asked. "What do you mean? Wh-what does that mean?"

"It means he's ready to end it," the Doctor said. "He's ready to face off with me."He turned on his heel and started walking.

The three of them looked at each other and followed after him hurriedly.

It didn't take them long to return to the TARDIS, as they were no longer being followed. The Doctor assured them that Mr. Boots goons wouldn't pursue them, as they had achieved their goal and left, the Silence along with them.

The Doctor stomped up to the TARDIS doors with a determined gate when he stopped abruptly, dug through his jacket pocket and pulled out the psychic paper as though it had shocked him. He flipped it open and read the contents. His eyes widened.

"Oh, dear..."

River, Amy and Rory stopped in front of him, looking on in bewilderment.

"What is it now?" Amy asked, wondering if this day could get any worse.

The Doctor stared at it for a long time with a mixture of emotions that furrowed his brow. Quickly, he put the psychic paper back into the inside pocket of his jacket and whirled around on his toes, throwing the TARDIS doors open while saying, "James is going to have to wait."

Amy shook her head at him, flabbergasted. "Excuse me? He can't wait!"

"He can and he will," the Doctor said, running up the TARDIS console and starting up the engine, watching as it pumped slowly up and down.

River watched him work, waiting for him to explain his reasoning, but not arguing with him.

Rory and Amy, on the other hand, were quite distraught.

"Doctor, James is missing. We can't just-" Rory began, but the Doctor interrupted him.

"Mr. Boots doesn't want to hurt James. He needs him for something, I haven't worked out what just yet, but for now he's safe. And right now there's a potentially big problem that needs solving right this very minute or it could permanently damage the universe."

"What was in the psychic paper, Doctor?" River asked.

The Doctor continued his rampage around the TARDIS console, flipping switches, pulling levers, slapping buttons and honking horns. "A message. For me."

"A message from who?" River asked.

The Doctor didn't answer, just kept working, then finally started to land her, the whole of the TARDIS jerking, forcing its passengers to grab hold of whatever they could find.

The Doctor stepped off the glass deck and went to an conclave where he kept a variety of different, mostly useless doodads. He pulled forth a thin screen that looked very much like the one situation about the console, then stalked off to the doors, throwing them open.

The view was something of a surprise to the rest of them, as it was nothing but a fitful ocean, waves crashing in on each other for miles on end, creating a strong breeze that blew the Doctor's hair and jacket as he stood at the door, playing with the knobs on his computer screen.

"Where are we?" Rory asked in confusion.

"Bermuda Triangle," River answered, walking up next to the Doctor to look at what he's doing. "Sweetie, what's happened?" When he didn't answer, she put her hand on his arm gently. "Tell me."

He stopped and looked at her, smiling, though she could see pain behind it. He then showed her the screen.

River's eyes widened.

The Doctor looked at the young, blonde woman on the screen and smiled softly, love and sorrow etched on his features.

"Hello, Rose."

And enter Rose! Another cliffie sort of. :) Next chapter will mostly be Rose-centric, unless its too long, in which case it will be Rose-centric along with the POV of the Doctor. Chapter after will be entirely James-centric. :) Next chapter is nearly done and I plan to post it this coming Monday.

Thank you for all of your support thus far and I look forward to hearing from you all. Hope you enjoyed! 3