A/N: I am sorry, so very sorry. It's been, what, over 3 months?

I have reasons. Reason-y reasons. Did anyone notice that reasons sound a lot like raisins?

Did anyone notice how incredibly awesome Capaldi is?

Did anyone notice that I'm just asking all these questions to distract from the unavoidable reality of HOW LONG IT'S BEEN?

See, I'm angry at me too. No sense in both of us being angry.

I will tell you my reasons. But first, we read.

"Eyebrows," the Doctor muttered under his breath, as he leaned his back against the TARDIS console.

"What was that?" asked River, who was sitting beside him.

"What was what?"

River glared at him. "You just said 'eyebrows' for no particular reason while I was in the middle of describing the awfulness of those prison lunches."

"Believe me, I was paying attention to every excruciating detail, and was most certainly not having wacky daydreams while I didn't zone out."

River's glare hardened. "Listen!" she snapped. "Now, like I was saying, on every Saturday..."

A/N: Actually, let's do the reasons first.

I was away. On a holiday.

A very long holiday.

And I hadn't expected I would return.

In fact I meant... oh, forget it.

Anyways, I had incredibly limited WiFi access. Ten miles in a snowstorm just to check my email, etc. (I'm possibly exaggerating just a teensy bit.)

But now, I'm back!

...

What, no applause?

Anyway, this is Chapter ELEVEN, so it's going to be a special one.

I'd recommend re-reading Chapter 1 before proceeding, at least if you haven't done so recently.

Even I had to re-read it, and I'm still cringing at my writing.

The bright side is, eleven chapters in and my writing is absolutely perfet.

"...and then I said 'Oatmeal? Are you insane?', but the main problem was actually the fact that-"

"River," the Doctor said sharply, cutting her off, "When did you become so... boring?"

"What do you mean, boring? I haven't had much of a choice, have I? Boredom springs eternal."

The Doctor cleared his throat and took a deep breath. "Boredom, like all other things is a choice. We all have to keep moving on through our lives, but we can never forget who we were, but we will forget if who we were was boring. It's better to fail while doing the exciting thing as opposed to succeeding in doing the boring one. After all every life is a pile of boring things and-"

"Doctor?"

"Yes?"

"You're bored too, aren't you?"

"Yeah..."

River sighed. "I don't get it. You rescued me from Stormcage, you promised something new and exciting, and then... nothing. We've just been sitting here."

The Doctor scratched his nose thoughtfully. "Actually, you're right. I had something planned. A once in a lifetime opportunity, and I just let it pass for no reason." He looked up, and his eyes narrowed. "River, why did I do that?"

River shrugged. "You changed your mind."

"No!" The Doctor stood up suddenly. "I don't change my mind, not now, not ever!"

"What are you talking about? You change your mind all the time."

"Well, yes... but not like that. Not when Universes are threatened and sanity hangs in the balance."

"Whose sanity are we talking about? I already know one that's a lost cause."

The quip was lost on the Doctor, who was already running to the other side of the console, pulling nearly every lever and twisting every knob as he did. "Buckle up," he advised.

"The TARDIS doesn't have seat belts. Or seats, really." River reminded him.

"Yeah, but I've always wanted to say that. The point is, we're going somewhere incredibly dangerous."

"And where would that be?" River asked. The last time the Doctor had said 'incredibly dangerous', they had ended up trying to catch meekfish in the Still Lake of Baraneous V Sipraneous. And they hadn't even caught any.

"Right here. I'm piloting the TARDIS into the TARDIS of five hours ago. Straightforward in theory since we haven't exited since, but-" There was an enormous shake and he was flung across the room. "Oh, come on!" he shouted at the console as he picked himself up. "It's not that dangerous, I'm sure you can handle it!"

"But why would you even want to do that?" asked River, who had also been flung over, and was trying to untangle her hair from some protruding wires.

The Doctor looked at her. "I don't just change my mind, River. Something happened, something went horribly wrong. I don't know how, and I don't know why. But I will find out."

With the smallest of ding sounds, the TARDIS suddenly stopped shaking. The Doctor slowly walked towards the doors, and gently pulled one of them open just enough to peek outside. There was nothing outside but darkness.

"Well, that worked," said River flatly.

"I think it did," the Doctor replied, "We appear to be inside one of the storage panels."

"How exactly are we fitting inside a storage panel?" she asked, "Wait, it's-"

"Bigger on the inside," they both said together.

The Doctor gave a small cough. "Right, I'm going to take a quick look outside."

He tiptoed towards the dark wall, carefully avoiding large piles of junk as he did so, and pressed against it with his hand. A small panel gave way and he was able to peek outside.

When he pulled himself back in, his face was a mixture of both fear and boyish glee. "We're in the TARDIS... in the TARDIS," he whispered excitedly at River. "The Doctor is there... and he's in here!"

"Right, let me see," River said, not entirely convinced. She pushed the panel slightly open, looked out and gave a wide grin. "Ooh, this is excellent. I could never get a proper look at myself from this angle."

"Well, now that you're here, we should probably start on the... on the thing I had planned." The Doctor outside was saying happily.

"Is that seriously what my voice sounds like?" River jumped as she realized the Doctor was standing next to her again.

"You can feel them, can't you?" he asked her.

"Feel what?" she asked, though she had a feeling she knew what he meant.

"Your memories, and mine as well. Hovering just out of reach. I know I hadn't told you about the storage panels, and yet I get the feeling I did."

"But that probably means we're on the right track, right? If there is something wrong, and we stop it, everything should go back to normal."

The Doctor stroked his chin thoughtfully, "I wish I had my beard back," he said.

"Doctor!"

"Sorry, erm... let's see. Two possible scenarios," he held out one hand, "You are right, and we set things straight, or," he held out his other hand in a closed fist and put his first hand around it, "Our alternate timeline selves are converging with our regular selves because my TARDIS inside my TARDIS is about to cause the entire Multiverse to explode." His hands flew apart while he made explosiony sounds with his mouth.

River's eyes widened slightly, but she showed no other sign of stress or fear. "Okay... let's say it was possibility two. How long before it... happens?"

The Doctor checked his watch. "Fifteen seconds, give or take two. Oh, look. My TARDIS started a countdown." Sure enough, all of the monitors in the TARDIS had gone blank except for a counting down timer at 00:14.

River gave the tiniest of gulps. "Doctor..."

"Hmm, yes?" he replied casually.

00:11

"If the Universe does explode, I just need to tell you..."

"Tell me what?"

00:07

River sighed. "I need to tell you that I'm not falling for it."

The timer froze at 0:03.

The Doctor gave a wistful sigh, "Well, it was worth a shot."

River gave him a playful smile. "What exactly were you hoping I'd say in our final moments? Some deep, dark secret? I've certainly got plenty to spare."

The Doctor shifted his feet uncomfortably. "Well, not exactly a secret of the deep dark nature but, erm..." His eyes told her the whole story.

River was taken aback, and slightly embarrassed. She looked down at her feet as she spoke her next words. "Doctor, did you want me to say 'I love you'?"

There was no reply.

River looked up. The Doctor was gone.

She gritted her teeth. "I swear, I'd kill that man if I hadn't already."

The Doctor was moving to the back of the storage panel. There had been something wrong about the place, and he had figured it out.

Him and River weren't alone in here. And the memories which were growing stronger and stronger told him why.

A white piece of plastic was gleaming in the darkness at the top of one of the junk piles. The Doctor picked up the Spork, and entered the shadows.

River was glaring into the darkness, searching for the Doctor when suddenly the panel behind her opened and a long arm in a tweed sleeve reached inside and began fumbling around.

She could hear the other Doctor's voice. "Basically, think of the multiverse as a very large neighborhood with millions of houses..."
Even as she heard the words she could remember hearing the Doctor say them from the other side. But what had happened next?

Suddenly, the arm reached further in and nearly grabbed her leg, but she swiftly moved it out of the way and slid a large book into its place in one deft motion. The other Doctor grabbed the book and she winced as she recalled ducking it.

While the arm was away, she quickly retreated to the back of the panel, where a strange sight met her eyes.

There was a girl sitting against the wall, legs clutched to her chest. She was pretty, and her dress was well made, but her face was tightly scrunched up and her eyes were closed as though she was concentrating hard on something, making it difficult to tell her age.

Standing across from her was the Doctor. He held something white and shiny in his hands, and was staring at it thoughtfully.

A Spork, River realized. So that girl must be a Mary Sue.

"It's a trap," the Doctor said quietly, interrupting her thoughts. "A trap so simple, so clever that I fell for it the first time. That's why the timeline changed, and we forgot."

River was confused. "What do you mean, the first time? And what exactly is the trap?"

The Doctor sighed. "It's a... well I guess the best way to put it would be a recurring paradox, a time loop of sorts. We keep passing through it, and my only hope is that I've retained memory enough from the previous times to get it right this time."

River looked curiously at the Sue. "What's she doing?"

"She's incredibly powerful," the Doctor replied, "and unlike most of the powerful ones she has very precise control over it, despite her age. She's young, probably has no idea of the consequences of what she's doing."

"So why is she doing... whatever it is?"

"I'm remembering more and more of what we did, and it seems we struck some pretty hard blows against the Sues. So much so that they sent one of their best to stop us before we even start."

River was also remembering more of their adventures. "I got possessed by one of them," she said slowly. "They probably used what they found out to plan against us. What do you think she's trying to do?"

"Best case scenario, she's just trying to change my other self's mind." The Doctor was grim. "Worst case, she'll destroy the TARDIS."

"She can do that?"

"From the inside, yes. I've got exactly what I need to stop her," he held out the Spork, "but using it is what they want me to do."

At last, River understood. "You, the other you, is searching for that right now. If you use it, he won't find it-"

"And that, combined with these temporal waves the Sue is sending out will convince him, me, to give up." the Doctor completed. "And I'm almost entirely sure that's what I did last time. It's what I would do if I didn't know not to."

River looked at him, saw the uncertainty in his eyes. "But you don't know you shouldn't," she said softly, "If she succeeds, she could destroy the TARDIS, killing you, me and possibly herself. You said it yourself: she probably doesn't know what she's doing."

The Doctor looked right at River, his eyes wide. "We're almost out of time," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper. "I don't know what to do."

River looked back at him and gave him the smallest of smiles. "And that's why you don't have to do anything, sweetie."

She walked towards the young girl and put her arm around her. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I'm risking a lot on you being able to. So listen, if you can." River's voice was soft, but it carried a hint of urgency. "I know exactly what you're feeling right now. All your life, you've been told to do this, and do that. Carrying out orders and being told not to ask questions. People not seeing you past your powers and how they can benefit from them, how they can use you to their own ends. I was brought up the same way."

The girl did not move, or even open her eyes, but she spoke, her young voice filled with fear. "What did you do?"

River tightened her arm. "One day, I was ordered to do something I simply couldn't. Something cruel, something unfair. It was well within my abilities, I could even see the vaguest shadow of logic behind the decision. I held on till the last second, but when it came down to it, I couldn't do it. So I didn't."

The girl's eyes remained shut. "But didn't they hurt you?" she asked.

"Oh, they tried." River said with a smile. "And they've been trying ever since. But the day I stood up to them, I gained something that was completely worth it. I gained my freedom. And that freedom is more than enough to protect me, because whatever they try to do, they'll never have any hold over me again."

The girl opened her eyes. They shone, blazing with a golden light. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice trembling. With a swirling flash of white light, she vanished.

The ground began shaking and the Doctor ran to River and grabbed her.

He held her tight in her arms as the storage fell apart.

The world crumbled around them, but River could have sworn the last words she heard before everything was gone were 'I love you.'

River opened her eyes. She was in the TARDIS, lying flat on her back. The Doctor was strolling around the console, readjusting monitors and twirling dials.

"It worked," she called out to him, not entirely certain herself.

The Doctor offered a hand to help her up. "It did." he replied. "Technically, it never happened."

"I still remember it though," River replied, accepting his help to stand up.

"Not for long. It'll slip out soon, nothing more than a wacky daydream. I'm sure the girl will be fine too, with that kind of power it's really the other Sues I'm worried about."

He began beaming suddenly. "But we have a bit of time, just enough for me to tell you, River Song, you were brilliant. Completely and absolutely, really, you should have my job."

River beamed back at him. "I should really. Let's face it, I already fly the TARDIS better."

He grabbed her hand, twirled her round and accidentally dropped her. She pulled him to the ground and they sat, side by side against the TARDIS console, laughing till they had forgotten why.

When I was halfway through this, I felt a sudden urge to stop. It was too serious, too long, it felt more like a story finale than a simple special chapter. Then I was tempted to make this the finale. But the problem is, I still have so many ideas for this story bubbling away at the back of my brain.

Then I realized. It's been three and a half months, and I owe it to myself and to all of you valuable readers to write and post this chapter. My only hope is that you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

My other only hope is that you review. Come on, I wrote nearly three thousand words, I deserve at least two lines of positive or negative feedback, anonymous or otherwise.
TwentyRings

PS-For those of you reading Elementary, I hope to start on a new chapter soon.