Victory of the Daleks: The Bomb

"You're bluffing," the Doctor shook his head at the Dalek, "Deception's second nature to you. There isn't a sincere bone in your body. There isn't a bone in your body! There..."

"Doctor…" Angel breathed, cutting in gently, and he looked over at her, "They're not bluffing," she told him, hoping he'd believe her. Had he still been able to read her mind she could have showed him the vision she'd had, of the panel on Bracewell's chest, of himself crying out that he couldn't stop the bomb. But he couldn't hear her, his mind had completely blocked her out, she could hear him, yes, but the reverse wasn't true.

The Doctor, however, seemed to believe her as his eyes widened in horror. Well, she supposed he would believe her, Rule Two and all. She didn't lie, she wasn't a fan of it, she didn't like doing it, it always felt wrong to her. She would rather be honest than fake. She wouldn't lie about this, not about the Daleks.

"His power is derived from an Oblivion Continuum!" the White stated and the Doctor looked back at the screen in alarm, "Call off your attack, or we will detonate the android."

"No!" he glared, "This is our best chance ever! The last of the Daleks! We can rid the Universe of you, once and for all!"

"Then do it. But we will shatter the planet below! The Earth will die screaming!"

"And if we let you go, you'll be stronger than ever. A new race of Daleks."

"Then choose, Doctor! Destroy the Daleks or save the Earth. Begin countdown of Oblivion Continuum!" it ordered another Dalek, a countdown appearing on the screen, "Choose, Doctor! Choose! Choose!"

The Doctor looked at Angel, who could only look at him sadly, closing her eyes a moment and taking a breath, before she picked up the microphone, making the decision for them, "The Angel to Danny Boy. The Angel to Danny Boy. Retreat."

"Say again, ma'am," Danny Boy replied, sounding unsure of whether to follow her orders over the Doctor's, "Over."

"Retreat," she repeated, looking at the Doctor as he solemnly stared at her, "Go back to Earth. Over and out."

"But…"

"There's no time," the Doctor took the radio, giving the order himself, feeling something flash in him at Angel being ignored by someone else, he didn't like it, her opinion and direction should be given just as much say as his, "You have to return to Earth now! Over!"

Angel ran to the other side of the console and set the coordinates for Earth as Danny Boy retreated. She swallowed hard, knowing what she'd just done...she'd done for the Doctor. To choose between the Earth or the Daleks...he wouldn't be able to make it, he wouldn't be able to live with himself afterwards. If he went to Earth and the bomb went off, then he'd lost Earth and the Daleks, even then going to Earth meant losing the Daleks. If he went after the Daleks, the Earth would be destroyed, and there was no saying the Daleks would even be finished too. So she'd made the decision for him, she would deal with the consequences of whatever happened, if they lost the Daleks because she picked the Earth.

Her family was on Earth, Rose and Jack and the 9th Doctor could be out there right at that moment, and even then, Rose's family, her grandparents were probably out there, along with Martha's and Donna's and Mickey's. If London was destroyed, their past would be rewritten. And she refused to do that, she refused to lose anyone else, to leave them as just memories in her head. So she'd made her choice, and she knew, whatever happened, it would be on her head.

But at least the Doctor hadn't had to decide, at least it wouldn't be on his already burdened conscious.

~8~

The TARDIS materialized in the storage room of the secret Cabinet base, barely completely solid when the Doctor bolted out of the doors, running out of the room just as Angel stepped out and closed the doors behind her, following after him, her mind racing at if the bomb would be stopped. The vision had cut out too suddenly, all she knew was the Doctor struggled to stop it, might not have in the end even. She didn't know if it would go off or if it was a false bomb or a ploy (though she doubted it) or if they'd stop it. She had to try and help.

But what could she possibly do? How could she help stop it if the Doctor hadn't been able to?

~8~

"The Doctor and his Mate have failed," the White Dalek turned to his soldiers, "Their compassion is their greatest weakness. Daleks have no such weakness."

~8~

The Doctor ran into the war rooms, not bothering to say anything to anyone or even explain what was going on as he swiftly punched Bracewell in the face, knocking him to the ground before shaking his hand in pain.

"Doctor!" Amy shouted, startled and alarmed at the violent and sudden action. She knew that Bracewell was Dalek technology but that was no reason for the man to be hit or attacked!

"Ow!" the Doctor cried, "Sorry," he looked around, apologizing for his behavior before looking down at Bracewell, "Professor, you're a bomb! An inconceivably massive Dalek bomb."

"What?" Bracewell gaped, his eyes wide.

"There's an Oblivion Continuum inside you, a captured wormhole that provides perpetual power," the Doctor explained as Angel finally reached the room, having nearly tripped in the hallway. She took only a moment to see the man on the ground, the fear in his eyes, before she ran over and knelt beside him, "Detonate that, and the Earth will bleed through into another dimension!" the Doctor knelt on the man's other side, pulling out the sonic and opening Bracewell's shirt, "Now keep down!" he flashed the screwdriver over it, opening it to reveal the mechanics underneath the skin.

Bracewell tensed at the sight so Angel took his hand, squeezing it to try and reassure him.

~8~

"Detonation sequence activated," the White ordered, "Time corridor establishing..."

"Time jump in thirty rels!" the Blue called.

~8~

A circular pad divided into five sections on Bracewell's chest glowed blue, but then one turned yellow, and they all knew that had to be the start of the countdown to the bomb exploding.

"Well?" Amy shifted nervously.

"I dunno, I dunno, I dunno!" the Doctor fiddled with the sonic, "Never seen one up close before!"

"I've never even heard of one," Angel remarked lightly. That wasn't really all that shocking to her though. She was trying harder to remember things, to learn things and be useful beyond just fixing the TARDIS or having visions, but she truly couldn't remember if she'd ever heard of something like that before. She didn't have the faintest idea of how to help.

"So, what, they've wired him up to detonate?" Amy shook her head.

"Not wired him up!" the Doctor countered, "He is a bomb. Walking, talking," he made an exploding noise, "Exploding! The moment that flashes red."

"There's...a blue wire or something you have to cut, isn't there? There's always a blue wire," the Doctor stood, "Or a red one."

"You're not helping!" and then he spun around, "Angel!" he pointed at her, "You diffused the bomb in Jack!"

Angel frowned, "But that was a separate bomb," she shook her head, "The bomb is Bracewell, Bracewell is the bomb. If I do that now, it'll kill him too!"

And the man was still alive. A robot yes, but he had thoughts, he had consciousness, he had memories and feelings and emotions and she couldn't do that to him. And there was no saying that shutting him down would stop the bomb, it would just make the man realize he was a bomb and make him think he was only a bomb. She didn't want to do that...she didn't like death, she didn't like people dying, but equally she did not EVER want to be the cause of that death. She had fought in the War, yes, she'd fired at Daleks, and she'd likely killed a few. But she hated it, every moment of it. She didn't ever want to do that again, no matter what, no matter the species or the danger.

She was starting to think the Dalek in Van Statten's had been accurate in what he'd called her, in what she was called in the Dalek Prophecies, the Life Bringer. If she was that, she couldn't be the thing that brought death.

"It's incredible," Winston remarked, "He talked to us about his memories. The Great War..."

The Doctor tossed the sonic from hand to hand, thinking, as Angel squeezed Bracewell's hand, seeing the man growing more alarmed and scared at all their talk, "Someone else's stolen thoughts, implanted in a positronic brain. Tell me about it. Bracewell! Tell me about your life!" he knelt back down.

"Doctor, I really don't think this is the time!" Bracewell cried.

"Tell me and prove you're human. Tell me everything."

~8~

"Countdown proceeding," the White Dalek reported.

~8~

The first yellow section turned red, the second slowly turning yellow as Bracewell began to speak, "My family ran the Post Office. It's a little place just near the abbey. Just by the ash trees. There used to be eight trees but...but there was a storm..."

"And your parents?" the Doctor encouraged, trying to think of the most human emotions, the most human bonds, "Come on! Tell me!"

"Good people. Kind people. They...they died. Scarlet fever."

"What was that like? How did it feel?"

"Please..."

"Doctor…" Angel began softly, shaking her head.

This felt...wrong. This wasn't right, this wasn't the right way to go about doing this. It hurt Bracewell to think of them, it devastated him, she could...she could swear she almost felt the man's pain. Couldn't the Doctor see that all it would do was make him more upset? It would make him not want to be human, it would make him want to be the bomb, because if he wasn't real then the memories weren't either and it wasn't real pain. She understood all too well what it felt like to not want the pain.

The Doctor, though, just waved his hand, cutting her off, she'd admitted just a moment ago that she hadn't heard of the sort of bomb in Bracewell before, she wouldn't know how to stop it, "How did it make you feel, Edwin? Tell me! Tell me now!"

"It hurt," he breathed, tears in his eyes, "It hurts, Doctor, so badly. Like a wound," the second section was red, the third yellow, "It was worse than a wound. Like I'd been emptied out. There was nothing."

Angel squeezed his hand tighter, so tight both their hands were turning white as he returned it just as much.

"Good. Remember it now, Edwin! The ash trees by the Post Office and your mum and dad and losing them and men in the trenches you saw die...remember it! Feel it, because you're human," the third section was red, "You're not like them. You are not like the Daleks!"

"It hurts! Doctor, it hurts so much!" the man started to cry, actual tears pooling in his eyes.

Angel's eyes filled with tears at his pain as well, this was torture. Why couldn't the Doctor see his plan wasn't working and stop?

"Good! Good! Good! Brilliant! Embrace it," the fourth section went red, "That means you're alive! They cannot explode that bomb, you're a Human Being! You are flesh and blood! They cannot explode that bomb! Believe it! You are professor Edwin Bracewell! And you, my friend, are a Human Being!" the last section turned yellow, "It's not working, I can't stop it!"

Angel bit her lip, her hearts breaking for the man, just wanting him to feel comforted, to not be sad, to be happy and smile again. And there was only one thing she could think of that could do that, "Bracewell?" she called softly, reaching out to stroke the man's hair comfortingly with her other hand, "Have you ever been in love?" Amy looked at her sharply, hearing a crack in her voice, "I mean, really, truly loved someone, with your whole heart…but then…you lost them? To distance or to someone else or just…things getting in the way?"

"W...what?" Bracewell stared at her.

"And it hurts, doesn't it?" Angel continued, the last section staying yellow, "But kind of a good hurt. Because…at least you had them for a while. Or, maybe they didn't even know you loved them. But that feeling, that love," she gave a sad smile, "Have you ever felt that?"

It hurt, it hurt so badly to love the Doctor and have him look through her. But the thing was, she wouldn't have changed the past for anything. Not a thing. She loved the Doctor and every moment she'd spent with him before his last regeneration was treasured, was beautiful. She realized she had been honest when she'd spoken of the Star Whale, she would not give up the pain for anything. Because to not feel pain now meant that she wouldn't have felt anything at all, she wouldn't be able to feel the love she'd felt then, she wouldn't be able to think of how she felt at that moment, so loved. It was the best feeling in the world, to be loved and to love someone else, truly the most powerful thing in the Universe.

If anything could stop a Dalek bomb, it was love.

"I really shouldn't talk about her…" Bracewell whispered.

"Please," Angel said as the last section turned blue, "Tell me about her. What's her name?"

"Dorabella," he smiled.

"Dorabella?" she smiled as well, sniffling as she held back tears, "That is a brilliant name, she must have been a beautiful person, a name like that. Wasn't she?"

"Oh...such a smile," he began dreamily, "And her eyes...her eyes were so blue...almost violet. Like the last touch of sunset on the edge of the world...Dorabella..."

Angel wiped a tear away as all the sections reverted back to blue as Bracewell spoke and thought of his beloved.

~8~

"Oblivion Continuum...inactive," the Blue Dalek reported as their own circular device turned white.

"Impossible!" the White cried.

"Time jump imminent! Prepare!"

~8~

"Welcome to the Human Race," the Doctor smiled at Bracewell before glancing at Angel to see her sniffling, trying to hold in the rest of her tears, likely feeling for Bracewell's pain.

He should have expected this, really he should have, wouldn't have even needed to be Angel to do it too. She'd always had such a...human quality to her, even more so in her last body. This one was like...a Time Lady, more like a Time Lady at least, but still with all the best traits of humanity, odd though it was as they weren't human at all. She'd always been able to connect with the companions more, comfort others, understand them even if she didn't understand other things. He should have known that she'd work out what to say to help Bracewell, that was what she did.

"You're brilliant," he told her softly before standing up, "Now, gotta stop them! Stop the Daleks!"

He turned and ran out of the room as Bracewell cried out, "Wait! Doctor! Wait...wait," Angel helped him sit up, "It's too late."

~8~

"You will never defeat us, Doctor, we will return!" the White remarked as they flew past the moon.

"We will return!" Blue cheered, the other Daleks picking up the chant.

~8~

"Gone," Bracewell frowned, rubbing his chest, "They've gone."

"No, no, no!" the Doctor shook his head, turning to him, "They can't! They can't have got away from me again!"

"No, I can feel it, my mind is clear," he squeezed Angel's hand as she helped him to his feet in silence, "The Daleks have gone."

The Doctor leaned heavily against a pole, his energy gone, "Doctor," Amy tried to reassure him, "It's ok! You did it. You stopped the bomb. Doctor?"

"There was a choice," he whispered, "And they knew the Earth would be chosen. The Daleks have won. They beat us. They've won."

"But the Earth was saved. Not too shabby, is it?" he looked up at Winston and the people in the room, smiling at him, "Is it?"

"No," he began to smile, "It's not too shabby."

"It's a brilliant achievement, my dear friend," Winston cheered, "Here, have a cigar!"

"No..." the Doctor shook his head, laughing a bit.

No one, it seemed, save Amy, saw Angel slowly step back from the crowd and make her way out of the room in tears. She frowned, watching the woman step past the door, deeply concerned for her friend. When she'd been speaking to Bracewell, she'd heard it, there was a similar pain in her voice as the one she was describing to the man. But she recognized those tears, they were the tears of someone who needed to be alone for a moment and so, she stayed with the Doctor, distracting him, giving Angel the moment she needed to gather herself again.

~8~

The warden and a group of marines raised the Union flag the next morning, a show of strength and survival.

~8~

"So, what now, then?" Amy asked as she sat in the war rooms across from Winston, Angel beside her, leaning on the map table, her arms crossed, distracted and quiet.

"I still have a war to run, Miss Pond," he replied.

"Prime Minister," a woman handed him a document.

"Oh, thank you," he read it, "They hit the Palace and St. Paul's again. Fire crews only just saved it."

Amy looked at Angel to see her gaze had been pulled over her shoulder and followed it to where Breen was crying, another woman speaking to her sadly, "Is she ok?" Amy asked.

"What?" Winston looked up.

"She looks very upset."

"Oh, Miss Breen? Her young man didn't make it, I'm afraid. Just got word. Shot down over the Channel."

Angel frowned at that and Amy watched as she pushed off the table and went to the back of the room, speaking quietly to Breen before she hugged the woman tightly, Breen crying on her shoulder. She felt a bit...bad...that she hadn't thought to do that. The woman had just lost someone she loved dearly and was devastated and unable to try and mourn him with the war on. But there was Angel, ignoring all that, trying her best to comfort the woman in question. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to lose someone you loved like that, though...she got the feeling Angel did, and if she was right then Angel was just what Breen needed at the moment, an empathetic soul.

She sighed as Angel led Breen out of the room and looked around it, "Where's the Doctor?"

"Tying up loose ends," the Doctor grinned, walking in, "I've taken out all the alien tech Bracewell put in."

"Won't you reconsider, Doctor?" Winston asked, "Those Spitfires would win me the war in 24 hours!"

"Exactly," he picked up a tea cup and sipped it, letting the tea fall back out of his mouth and into the cup as he sat on the table beside Amy.

"But why not? Why can't we put an end to all this misery?"

"Oh, it doesn't work like that, Winston. It's gonna be tough. There are terrible days to come. The darkest days. But you can do it. You know you can."

"Stay with us, and help us win through! The world needs you."

"The world doesn't need me."

"No?"

"The world's got Winston Spencer Churchill," he made the victory sign.

"It's been a pleasure, as always."

"Too right," he hugged him.

"Goodbye, Doctor."

"Oh, shall we say adieu?"

Winston pulled away, "Indeed. Goodbye, Miss Pond."

"It's…it's been amazing," Amy said, "Meeting you."

"I'm sure it has!" he laughed as Amy gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Oi, Churchill!" Amy called as he turned to leave, holding out her hand to him, as though SHE wanted something this time, "TARDIS key. The one you just took from the Doctor."

The Doctor spit out his tea with a cough, nearly choking on it, before he patted himself down, searching for the key.

"Oh, she's good, Doctor," Winston chuckled, handing her over the key, "As sharp as a pin! Almost as sharp as me!" he puffed on his cigar, "KBO!" and turned to leave.

A moment later the Doctor held out his hand and Amy gave him back the key.

~8~

Bracewell stood solemnly in his office, waiting for the inevitable, now wearing a leather glove over the stump that was his hand, "I've been expecting you, Doctor," Bracewell said as the Doctor and Amy entered, "I knew this moment had to come."

"Moment?" the Doctor asked.

"It's time to deactivate me."

"Is it?" he turned at Amy, "Oh...yeah."

"You have no choice," he faced them, "I'm Dalek technology. Can't allow me to go pottering around down here where I have no business."

"No, you're dead right, Professor. 100 percent right. And by the time I get back here in...what," he glanced at Amy, "Ten minutes?"

"More like 15," she supplied.

"Fifteen minutes, yeah. That's exactly what I'm going to do. You are going to be so deactivated. It's going be like you've never even been...activated."

"Yeah."

"15 minutes?" Bracewell repeated.

"More like 20, if I'm honest," he shrugged, "Once Pond, Angel, and I see to the urgent thing…"

"Yes!" Amy nodded.

"…we've got to see to. The...the...see?"

"Very well, Doctor," Bracewell swallowed hard, "I shall wait here and prepare myself."'

"That Dalek tech's a little bit slow on the uptake," Amy whispered to the Doctor before turning to Bracewell, speaking more emphasizingly, "That thing we've got to do. Gonna take half an hour, realistically, isn't it, Doctor?"

"Easily!" he smiled, "So no running off, that's what I'm saying," he pointed at Bracewell, giving him a look, "Don't go trying to find that little Post Office with the ash trees or that girl...what was her name?"

"Dorabella," Bracewell said, slowly catching on to what they were trying to say.

"Dorabella. On no account go looking for her. Mind you, you can get a lot done in half an hour."

He grinned widely, realizing what the Doctor was doing, "Thank you, thank you, Doctor!"

"Come along, Pond!" the Doctor cheered, motioning Amy on as they turned and left, Bracewell packing a suitcase.

~8~

"You alright?" Amy asked Angel as she and the Doctor approached her standing by the TARDIS, leaning around a small flag and looking at the wall behind it.

"Yeah," she spun around, the tears gone, though her voice sounded a little thick, "Fine."

Amy nodded, eyeing her a moment before looking around with a sigh, "So…you have enemies then?"

"Everyone's got enemies," the Doctor shrugged.

"Yeah, but mine's the woman outside Budgens with the mental Jack Russell. You've got, like, you know, archenemies."

"Suppose so."

"And here's me thinking we'd just be running through time, being daft, and fixing stuff. But no, it's dangerous."

"Yup. Very. Is that a problem?"

"I'm still here, aren't I?" she gave him a look as they fell silent, Angel shifting, her gaze sneaking back to the flag, "You're worried about the Daleks."

"I'm always worried about the Daleks."

"It'll take time, though, won't it? There's still not many of them. They'll need a while to build themselves up."

"It's not that. There's something else. Something we've forgotten. Or rather you have."

"Me?"

"You didn't know who the Daleks were Amy," Angel explained softly, putting a hand on the girl's arm, "You should have seen them before, when they invaded Earth, you had to have, but...you haven't."

The Doctor nodded and entered the TARDIS, Amy following after him along with Angel, but, as the TARDIS disappeared, a small crack could be seen on the wall behind it, a white light spilling out of it.

~8~

Angel knelt down by the console, working on something under one of the panels while the Doctor sat on the jump seat, having been ordered there when he'd tried to 'fix' something and ended up cutting off the power to half the controls.

"Angel…" he began softly, watching her with concern.

"Yes?" she called, working on twisting two wires together.

"What you said to Bracewell…"

"What about it?" she stiffened a bit, hesitating a moment to ask.

"Has that happened to you? Did you lose someone?"

She swallowed hard, "Yeah."

"Someone on Gallifrey? During the war?" he paused, "Someone you loved?" it might be why he hadn't been able to connect to Bracewell, to think to use that emotion instead, he couldn't remember ever being in love like that.

"Yeah," she repeated, blinking quickly, trying to keep the tears in her eyes, "Someone from Gallifrey," she looked down at the wires, not really seeing them anymore as she got lost in her thoughts, "He…he was probably one of the only people who wasn't scared of my abilities. He…he treated me like I was special. He was a great man, the best. So kind and curious and mad," she laughed, "God the things we used to get into…" she trailed off, "He would just gob on and on about technology or science or history, damned if I could ever keep up with him, but it didn't matter 'cos, just the sound of his voice…" she smiled, touching her hand a moment, "And, he used to hold my hand when we walked, give me little kisses on the back of it. And he was just…so understanding, he felt so much for others even though he felt so sad inside. He…he used to call me his angel, his guardian angel, his guiding light…" she glanced over at the Doctor...only to see him looking at her with a sad understanding but nothing more and frowned, "He was the first man I'd ever loved and will probably be the last man I ever love. But…he's gone now," she looked back at the wires, "He's gone and…I don't think he'll ever come back."

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

She quickly wiped the back of her hand under her eye, trying not to let him see how upset she was. She'd found something behind the flag in the Cabinet's secret area, another crack in time, and had been able to get that closer look she needed. It was just like she feared, it was a crack in time and space that was bleeding Time Energy, which had the ability to erase entire things from existence. The small cracks, they were too small to do much damage, you couldn't fit much through them, the larger cracks, if fallen through, would make it like you'd never been born. But the small cracks could be just as dangerous, they could still erase things...like memories.

Like how Amy didn't remember her parents, she'd been sleeping with the crack on her wall for ages.

She'd felt a small stirring of hope, that...that maybe the cracks had had something to do with the Doctor and how he'd forgotten their Mating and all those moments between them. But there were two problems with that theory. In order for the Doctor to have forgotten that much that deeply, he would have had to be exposed to the cracks for quite a long time...and he hadn't. His amnesia had seemed to start right from regeneration, before they'd found the first crack, and she'd been with him, at his side, through it all and SHE hadn't forgotten.

And the second issue...the one she was truly scared might be true though...was that...well, with Donna, the metacrisis had been so powerful that it echoed back to Donna, letting her hear that heartbeat.

What if...what if something happened to her in the future?

What if, at some point, SHE was erased from time? What if that moment was so powerful it was echoing back to the Doctor? He couldn't have Mated to her if she was never born! Mating was the most powerful event on Gallifrey, it made sense that it would be so powerful a moment for it to be erased as to echo back to a time when she was still there. But...how? Why now? Why this regeneration? His old self and his old old self hadn't reacted like this. She was so confused, she just...she didn't know and now, to have to talk about the Doctor, with him sitting right there, not realizing she was talking about HIM, just...staring through her with pity in his eyes...she couldn't do it.

She gave a final twist to the wires, putting them back in the panel, and shut the door. She pulled herself up and flicked a knob, turning the power back on, "She's all fixed up," she looked at the Doctor, "I'm just…going to go sleep now. Catch up on some."

He nodded, watching her leave the room before sighing, feeling terrible for having brought that up, and stood. He set the controls and piloted them back to the Vortex before leaving as well.

A moment later though, Amy stepped out onto the steps from under the glass floor and frowned. Angel's love, he seemed very familiar…very, very familiar…

A/N: Hmmm...seems dear Amy is now suspicious of something :) Poor Angel though, to say all that, to describe the Doctor so well...and him not even have an inkling that it's HIM :(

I really wanted Angel to be the one to connect to Bracewell and stop the bomb, remind her she's still useful and she can still save the day and help even if it seems like she can't save/help the Doctor. I also wanted it to show that, here, in this story, the Doctor is unable to help because he can't empathize with Bracewell, he can't make the connection between love and stopping the bomb because, with his memories of Mating and all things associated with it, he truly doesn't remember ever having loved Angel. How could he talk about love if he's (as far as he's aware) never experienced genuine love like that :( It seems his amnesia is affecting more than we thought :(

Bue we all know what's coming next...River Song O.O Oh boy. But we've got even more theories now! Two in one chapter! Did the cracks affect him the way they affected Amy? Or is Angel's fear a reality? Will she be the one erased from time? We'll have to wait and see }:)

And...the polls are officially closed for the J/Link spin-off for the Lunar Cycle. The winner is...Impossibly Yours, Captain! I'm going to try and get that story up by the end of the month or a little earlier. Recollections will also be posted around the 20th or a little earlier.

Some notes on reviews...

I think Fading might be a blur because it was just so powerful a time for him, almost his every thought and action and time was spent with Angel and worrying about her as his Mate and planning to not continue on if she died. So, in his mind, it's so full of holes that it's just sort of compressed to a blur of a bad time :)

Lol, I have a twist in mind for Torchwood that might make it a bit hard for the Doctor to get punched, but we'll have to see what it is :) I could totally see Gwen punching him though lol :)

I can say the Doctor and Rory will have BIG reactions to the Pandorica episodes :) I'm not sure if it can heal broken hearts though, I sort of interpreted the light to be more of a physical healing, but you never know :) And no worries, I love any sort of review :)

Lol, I can say the chapters are all at a minimum 5,000 words so far :) So I don't think they're getting shorter, maybe it's just the anticipation of seeing what happens that helps it be read faster? I have no idea lol :)

I've definitely noticed I write more details because of the 3-chapter an episode thing :) Which is great because it gives me a chance to really look deep into the characters thoughts and feelings. I'm hoping, after doing it for about half a year year, I can carry it into whatever stories I write after this and really have length and detail too :) I'm glad you like the stories! I definitely try to add more to the chapters because of the OCs, I agree, we've seen the show, we know what happens and what is said, but we don't know the thoughts and reactions and feelings of the OCs and what their presences does to the Doctor's own thoughts so I try to incorporate that as much as I can :) I'm not sure. I think...by then...by that chapter we'll have hit at least the 50th and (hopefully) find out what happened to her as a result of the time tunnel officially and I can go from there. I'm honestly not sure if I'd make her a Time Lady in this story too, I sort of feel like it wasn't a very popular twist in ATOTL, lol I got an 'ask' on tumblr about how I 'pulled a Rose' by making Clara a TL. I literally had NO idea what they meant by that, I refuse to read Rose fanfics (hate her) so I legitimately couldn't say if I had or not (I didn't know how she became one or what she was like after or anything). And no worries, I feel like I write such long A/Ns that it wouldn't be fair not to like long reviews :) I love every size one :)

I can say there'll be plenty of protective Doctor to come, and even some jealous Doctor and he really is just too funny in trying to work out why he feels that way, he really is just too oblivious for his own good lol :) I can say, not sure if it will mean much though, that the Wedding of River Song WILL have another name to it. Not saying that means he won't 'marry' her (I don't count it as a real wedding even in the show so it could be that) but I'm not saying he does either }:) I have a section of my tumblr 'Episode Covers' that feature Rachel Weisz in scenes from the episodes :) I try to use younger images of her, from around her 30s so she's closer to Matt's age, (try to at least) but it might help picturing her there :) But then again, AK in about 50 so River's older than Angel so it sort of works better for RW lol :) It's really more a guide, like I picture Angel to look something like Rachel Weisz, a bit younger than she is, around 30 or so, so only about 10 years, but I also sort of wanted someone who could fit both 10 and 11 :)

Oh if you think the plot bunnies are bad now...mating seasons coming up ;) (lol, see what I did there? Mating? :))

Oh the TARDIS made me laugh :) I can say River takes a leaf out of Clara's book in the very first chapter of that :) I can say there's definitely a twist about who taught River to fly ;) And that's cool, I followed the review just fine :)

I feel like she might be a bit afraid to use the Vortex on the Doctor. We don't know if his memories are locked away for sure, they could be completely missing, literally, so the Vortex wouldn't help. I can say there'll be a bit in the next chapter about why she hasn't told him about the Mating, mostly it boils down to...in her mind...she DID tell him and he brushed her off. He also has no memories of it whatsoever so she can't really expect him to believe it entirely. If she tries to prove it by saying what he's thinking or feeling, he can argue that she's psychic, she would be able to guess what he's thinking/feeling. It's a big old mess for poor Angel :( And she's admitted before, she's not the most clever Time Lady, so she might not think that something simple like that would work, or think to try again, but we'll see her trying to work it out and get through to him in some ways :)

Lol, I think they have internet in heaven :) They must get good connections with it being so high :) But yeah...there will be even more things coming that might really kill you }:)

Flesh and Stone will have some things in it that will both break your hearts and possibly give you hope }:)

I think witches can be very scary too, because you can't see them coming most of the time :) That's a great reason for him to hate witches (he really does seem to hate them a lot doesn't he? lol :)) Maybe the hex could involve pain? Like she feels little prickles of it and it just gets worse and worse to the point of torture...or maybe it brings her nightmares to life? I'd imagine, being a hunter, you'd be terrified of your family dying/getting hurt. They could have forced her to 'watch' her brothers and father being killed in the worst ways? Just a thought :) I think that's a great change for Dean to not be completely worshipping of his father and stick up to him a bit for his sister :) Maybe, to balance her and Sam, you could limit the sort of research she does? Like...Sam's great at internet searches or library searches and she's good at the opposite? Or one's good at monsters and the other at myths? Or one's good at translating Latin while the other has another language? That way they both have their unique areas they're smart in? :) You could also make it that she's more sensitive around certain victims and Sam with others, like...children or mothers, where as Sam is more the sons and fathers? Just a thought :) (lol, now I'm thinking of Gertie :)) I haven't seen season one in SO long lol :) I think I literally watched it once when it first aired and that as about it, so I can't really offer any episodes for that season, I'm sorry! :( As for a Dean-daughter fic, I'm not sure, I have an idea for a Dean/OC story, it might one day lead to a daughter, I gave him one at the end of my Supernatural Trilogy but not much beyond that. I feel like I'd have to watch more of Supernatural (beyond season 5) to see how his character develops and where the show is going to add a child to it...like if I can't picture a child being around in the future episodes, I wouldn't be able to get them there in the past ones :) I might write more Supernatural stories in the future, for now I've got a set of Merlin/Big Bang Theory/Once Upon a Time/DW stories I'd like to get through first. But you never know, one day :)