The Pandorica Opens: Stonehenge
Vincent Van Gogh's tormented cries echoed out into the night as he laid on his sofa, gripping his head in pain with his one hand curled around his short red hair, his other hand clenched in a fist, pressed against his temple. His doctor, Gachet, knelt at his side, trying to quiet him. Madame Vernet, his housekeeper, was there as well, "Vincent, can you hear me?" Gachet called, placing a gentle hand on the man's shoulder, trying to snap him out of his latest bout of agony, "Please, Vincent!"
"It's not enough he goes drinking all round the town," Vernet remarked, not seeming at all affected by the man's screams, "Now the whole neighborhood has to listen to his screaming."
"He's very ill, Madame Vernet!" Gachet snapped, completely disgusted by the woman's lack of concern and empathy. He seemed to be one of the few who realized that Vincent was truly ill and suffering, that it wasn't just an imaginary pain he felt.
"Look at this," she held up a painting, "Even worse than his usual rubbish," Gachet stood and went to look at the painting, "What's it supposed to be?"
Gachet shook his head, returning to Vincent's side as his screams turned to sobs, reaching out to put a hand on the man's arm...only for Vincent to grab his hand, holding it tightly. He swallowed hard, squeezing the man's hand back, placing his other hand on top of Vincent's, wishing he could take the man's pain away, but sadly...all he could do was hold the man's hand as he suffered.
~8~
A man in a white lab coat strolled down the corridor, a wrapped parcel under his arm. He entered an office and went straight over to Winston Churchill as the man sat behind his desk, "It was found behind the wall in an attic in France," Bracewell held up the painting and showed it to him, "It's genuine...it's a Van Gogh..."
"Why bring it to me?" Winston asked, shaking his head, puffing on his cigar.
"Because it's obviously a message...and you can see who it's for," he turned the painting around to show him what was on the canvas.
Winston stared at it a long while before sighing, "Can't say I understand it."
"You're not supposed to understand it, Prime Minister. You're supposed to deliver it."
~8~
A phone on the wall of Stormcage rang and a lone guard crossed the corridor to answer it, "Cell 426," he listened a moment before looking at a cell where River Song was sitting, reading from a dark blue book, "The Doctor? Do you mean Dr. Song?"
River stood quickly and turned to grab the bars with both hands, her eyes wide, "Give me that!" she reached out a hand but the man hesitated, "Seriously, just give it to me. I'm entitled to phone calls," the guard walked over and handed her the phone, "Doctor?"
"No, and neither are you," Winston replied, "Where is he?"
"You're phoning the Time Vortex, it doesn't always work. But the TARDIS is smart, it's rerouted the call. Talk quickly. This connection will last less than a minute…" she turned away from the guard, listening intently to the instructions Winston Churchill was leaving her.
"Dr. Song?" the guard called as she nodded and lowered the phone, "Are you finished with that?"
River reached into her shirt and pulled a tube of something out, the guard unable to see as her back was to him. He frowned, waiting till she turned back and handed him the phone, "You're new here, aren't you?" she eyed him.
"First day," he nodded, not even noticing the lipstick she was wearing even as she drew closer.
"Then I'm very sorry," she smirked, before pulling him towards the bars and kissing him.
~8~
Alarms were blaring through the prison as guards ran down the hall, stopping outside River's cell. The new guard was inside, his gun aimed at something, "Stay exactly where you are," another guard called to him.
"She had the lipstick, the hallucinogenic lipstick," he replied, "She tried to use it on me!" the guards looked at each other, puzzled, as the guard wiped his lips and smiled, "Your tricks don't work in here, Dr. Song!"
Little did he know that he was aiming his gun at a stick figure River had drawn on the wall, the real River nowhere to be found.
~8~
River stealthily moved along the hallway of the Royal Collection at night, carefully eyeing all the paintings and portraits around her. Some of the paintings were falling from their frames while other frames were just completely empty. She turned her torch on a particular painting and stopped when she saw it, when she saw what it was a painting of. She yanked it from the frame and headed back up a set of stairs, rolling it up as she went. Halfway up though, the lights came on and a woman at the top, dressed in a red cloak, held her gun at her.
"This is the Royal Collection," Liz 10 said, "And I'm the bloody Queen. What are you doing here River Song?" she asked, a hard note in her voice as she recognized the woman standing before her. She was the bloody Queen, there wasn't much she didn't know about the people important to her reign and her family's history, the Doctor and Angel were LARGE parts of both, of course she knew who this woman was, what she'd do.
She cocked her gun, "I asked you a question," she stared at her, narrowing her eyes.
"It's about the Doctor, Ma'am," River held up her hands, "You met him once, didn't you? I know he came here."
"With the Angel," Liz added, her lips pursing as she saw River's own eyes narrow at the mention of the girl.
River swallowed tensely, "They're both in trouble. I need to find him...them."
"Then why are you stealing a painting?" Liz eyed her suspiciously, no one who knew who Angel was trusted River Song, not at all, not given the way the woman treated her.
"Look at it," she handed the Queen the painting, "I need to find the Doctor, and I need to show him this. Him and Angel," she admitted.
Liz looked at the painting in alarm, finally lowering her gun.
~8~
River sat in a bar across from a very large, very blue, humanoid, bald man, a salesman if ever there was one, "Now, word on the Belt is, you're looking for time travel," he remarked.
"Are you selling?" she asked.
He snapped his finger and an alien came forward with a box, "A Vortex Manipulator, fresh off the wrist of a handsome Time Agent," he opened the box and sighed, "I said OFF the wrist," the alien scuffled away with the box to fix the mistake, "Not cheap, Dr. Song. Have you brought me a pretty toy?"
River took off one of her jeweled earrings, "This is a Calisto Pulse. It can disarm micro-explosives from up to 20 feet."
"What kind of micro-explosives?" he asked, sipping his drink.
"The kind I just put in your wine," she smirked as the man stiffened, having already swallowed his sip.
~8~
Amy sat in the harness under the console floor, looking at the engagement ring in the box she'd found. Just...staring at it intently, she hadn't been able to let go of the box since she found it in the Doctor's coat pocket. Every time she tried to bring it up, ask the Doctor why he had the box, she just...froze up, because she knew that it belonged to the Doctor (why else would it be in his pocket) and that he'd likely take it away if she showed him she had it...and she didn't want that. For some reason...she couldn't give up that ring.
She pulled it out and had just started to slip it onto her finger...
"You alright Amy?" Angel asked.
Amy gasped and quickly put her hand down, hiding the box and the ring behind her, "Fine!"
"Are you sure?" she eyed her intently, a knowing look in her eyes.
Amy said nothing for a few moments before frowning, knowing better than to argue with the psychic or lie to her, and even if she tried, even if she somehow managed to lie successfully to Angel...the TARDIS would likely rat her out to the girl. Angel always seemed to have a way of understanding the box when it hummed, "Have…have you ever felt like you've forgotten something really important? Like there's a great big thing in your head, and you feel like you should remember it, but you can't?"
Angel smiled at her sadly, knowing exactly what she was forgetting, "No," she shook her head, "But I've been the thing forgotten."
Amy frowned, "What?"
Angel shifted, crossing her arms as she bit her lip, hesitant to say anything more. It had just sort of...slipped out. She and Amy...their relationship had gotten better, between bonding over the last few trips and the lessons on how to pilot the TARDIS...or at least HELP pilot the TARDIS (she'd learned VERY early on that Amy should NOT be allowed to pilot the old box on her own...at all...ever. And the Doctor had been worried about Donna leaving dents in the 1980s!)...they'd grown closer, their relationship had gotten closer. And this Amy...she had to admit, she'd been a bit afraid that, with Rory gone, Amy would go right back to how she'd felt for the Doctor before, obsessed and attracted to him, but this Amy...this Amy was different. It was like...she knew, deep down, that she belonged with someone else now and that the Doctor was just a very good friend. It put her mind at ease SO MUCH to know that Amy felt that way for him now. It was one less woman she had to worry about.
And Amy...she looked genuinely concerned for her at the moment. She'd told Rory what had happened, or at least she'd agreed to tell him, had been prepared to tell him...and Amy was going to be Rory's wife at one point...it wouldn't have been fair to tell Rory but not tell Amy or ask him to keep it from his wife after they'd been married. And, maybe, Amy could help her. She really did need someone to talk to about this. She'd run some scans after coming back from Craig's, she'd been so afraid that the baby would have been hurt by all the time distortion, but it was ok, for now, but she was starting to feel overwhelmed. It was like...she knew something big was coming, something bad, and...it was getting to her.
She didn't want to tell her family about it, they'd all settled into their lives on Earth and she didn't want to drag them back into the life of a time traveller just because of her. No. And if she told them, she knew they'd constantly worry about her, not being there, not knowing if she was ok...but Amy was there, Amy would still be there, with her, so...maybe she could help her.
She took a breath, opening her mouth to answer...
When the Doctor suddenly poked his head down from above the console's glass floor with a cry of, "Vavoom!"
"Va-what?" Amy shook her head, looking up at him.
The Doctor beamed and pushed himself up, running around the console, flicking switches as Angel sighed, shaking her head, before waving Amy's questioning gaze off, turning to head up the stairs, Amy following, the two of them joining him at the controls.
"I can't believe I've never thought of this before," he spun around in circles in his excitement, hitting various controls, "It's genius. Right! Landed, come on," he turned and raced to the doors.
"Where are we?"
"Planet One?" Angel frowned, seeing the coordinates on the monitor.
The Doctor spun around as he reached the doors and pointed at her, "The oldest planet in the Universe. There's a cliff of pure diamond and, according to legend, on the cliff there's writing, letters 50 feet high, a message from the dawn of time, and no one knows what it says, 'cos no one's ever translated it. Till today."
"What happens today?" Amy started to smile as Angel walked over to join them by the doors.
He tapped Amy's nose, "Us."
Angel blinked, starting to nod, "You want to use the TARDIS translation circuits to find out what the message is?"
He beamed, tapping her on the nose as well, making her go cross-eyed and him laugh at that, "Correctamundo!"
He blinked...
~oOo~
"See? Compressed information. Tons of it."
"That is..." Angel squinted at the images racing by, "The history of London," she guessed, though she sounded a bit more certain that just guessing, him putting on his specs to examine it as well, "1066 to now."
He beamed, "Correctamundo!" he cheered, seeing that it WAS 1066 to the present day, oh he loved that about Angel.
She had been right, in the Crucible, she DID seem to have a natural affinity with time. She was always guessing the date, the year, even the time left for something, LONG before she'd taken in the Vortex. She'd done the same since he'd met her, guessed the date when they took Adam on his first trip, guessed how long before the Dalek fleet invaded the Game Station, and you know what, she hadn't been wrong yet. And that was just brilliant, SHE was brilliant.
"Thought you hoped to never say that again," Angel smiled up at him, the blush back on her cheeks having heard his praises in his mind.
"For you," he took her hand, kissing the back of it, "I'd say anything."
~oOo~
He shook his head, seeing Amy staring at him, "All we have to do is open the doors and read the very first words in recorded history," he grinned widely and opened the doors, stepping out onto a tropical planet with a huge cliff face.
Angel sighed, her smile dropping at the words 'Hello Sweetie' with Greek looking symbols underneath it.
Amy chuckled, realizing who'd written the note, "Vavoom!"
~8~
The TARDIS appeared on a hill, the Doctor, Angel, and Amy coming out of it, "Right place?" Amy glanced at them.
"Just...followed the coordinates on the cliff face," Angel sighed, not looking forward to this at all.
She hated to admit it, she really did, but she didn't want to see River Song. And it wasn't even because of River's personality or how she often treated her, coldly and shortly, River had apologized for that in the Library, she'd apologized for everything she would do to her. Or at least that was something she interpreted about River's apology, that it was about how she acted around her. So it wasn't that...
It was how she felt about herself every time River was involved. Every time she saw River...it just made her doubt herself all the more. This incarnation of herself, it had started out so...confident, but every time River came along...it was like the woman's mere presence just chipped away at that, made her feel like she was just someone standing at the sidelines, unable to contribute anything. And she hated that, she didn't want to feel that way, she didn't want to let it affect her like that. She tried, she tried to help but...River was smart and brave and resourceful and skilled and so many other things she wasn't.
And every time the Doctor encountered River, he seemed that much closer to her, that much more intrigued by her, that much more noticing of the woman where as he barely noticed her at first. She didn't know how this would go, how it would affect the Doctor to see River again. He HAD seemed to notice her more, to be more...affectionate...around her, but...how would that be with River in the picture too? She had promised, she would be ok if the Doctor didn't remember her...and that had to mean if he chose River in the long run too. She dreaded that, she knew it would kill her if he did...but she had to worry about the baby at the moment, not the Doctor, not River, not the two of them...just her and the baby.
And she knew that River being there...it would just make her feel worse about herself no matter how much she tried to ignore it.
"Earth," she continued, shaking herself from her thoughts, "Britain."
The Doctor looked at his watch, "1:02am. No, pm."
"AD."
Amy's stared as they looked out over a large Roman encampment, "That's a Roman Legion."
"Well, yeah," the Doctor nodded, "The Romans invaded Britain several times during this period..."
"Oh, I know," Amy smiled, looking at Angel, "My favorite topic at school. Invasion of the hot Italians," Angel laughed, recalling their talks about what sort of students they'd been in school, "Yeah, I did get marked down for the title."
A breathless Roman soldier ran up to them, saluting with a bow and fist to his chest, "Hail, Caesar!" he dropped to his knees.
"Hi…" the Doctor eyed him.
"Welcome to Britain. We are honored by your presence."
"Well, you're only human. Arise...Roman person."
"Why does he think you're Caesar?" Amy asked quietly.
The soldier stood up and they could see there was a smudge of lipstick on his face, "Cleopatra will see you now."
He turned and led them down to the encampment, Angel hesitating before following, watching the Doctor and Amy go for a moment. Her hand rested on her stomach, she knew the history of Caesar and Cleopatra, the romance they'd had, the child that had been conceived...she swallowed, hoping that this wasn't one of River's spoilers...that she was subtly trying to hint that she and the Doctor would have THAT sort of relationship, that, one day, River would bear his child.
That hurt. That hurt more than any word River could say to her, because she knew that life with the Doctor was hell, it was terror and running and danger and NOT at all the right place or the safest place to be pregnant. Every single second with the Doctor was dangerous in her current predicament, every moment was just another one where she might lose the baby. If River was in Stormcage, she'd be safe, she'd be protected and her baby would be just fine. She didn't have that luxury.
She closed her eyes, feeling like the most terrible person in the Universe that she was actually hoping River was NOT nor would she EVER have the Doctor's child. Because if River had one with him...and she lost her own...she shook her head, she did NOT want to think about that at all. Worrying about the future, she'd promised not to, so she wouldn't, because she could already feel the tears gathering in her eyes at the mere thought and given her emotional state, she wouldn't be able to stop crying if she started.
"Angel?" Amy called, pausing to look back when Angel didn't follow.
"Coming," she took a breath and headed after them.
They followed the Roman soldier through a row of tents and into one in particular where River, dressed as Cleopatra, was sitting, being waited on by two servants, "Hello, sweetie," she grinned at the Doctor.
"River," Amy gave a little wave, "Hi," River nodded at Amy, steadfastly ignoring Angel.
"You graffitied the oldest cliff face in the Universe," the Doctor chastised.
"You wouldn't answer your phone," she countered, clapping her hands for the servants to leave before she turned and held out a roll of canvas to him.
"What's this?"
"It's a painting. Your friend Vincent," he grabbed it from her hands and unrolled it as she stood, "One of his final works. He had visions, didn't he?" she glanced at Angel, "Your doing I assume?"
Angel frowned, "I didn't do anything."
Or at least she didn't think she had. No...no she hadn't. She'd only tried to give Vincent a bit of comfort, nothing on the level of giving him visions. She hadn't done this...had she?
River rolled her eyes and looked back at the Doctor, "I thought you ought to know about this one."
"Doctor?" Amy asked cautiously, seeing him freeze and Angel walk over to his side, both of them starting to look at it in horror, "Angel, what is this?"
The Doctor put the painting down on a desk to reveal it was a depiction of the TARDIS exploding.
~8~
The Doctor, Amy, River, and Angel rode on four horses across a field, River now in a pair of tan pants and a white jacket.
~8~
Angel stood on one side of the desk, looking at the painting with Amy, while the Doctor and River stood on the other side, "Why's it exploding?" Amy asked.
"I assume it's some kind of warning," River sighed as the Doctor turned and sat down heavily, his thoughts worried.
"Something's going to happen to the TARDIS?"
"It might not be that literal. Anyway this is where he wanted you. Date and map reference on the door sign, see?"
"Does it have a title?" the Doctor wondered.
"'The Pandorica Opens,'" Angel breathed, looking at it.
"Yes," River replied tersely.
~8~
"Come on!" the Doctor urged his horse faster, "YA!"
~8~
"The Pandorica?" Amy frowned, "What is it?"
"A box," River answered, "A cage. A prison. It was built to contain the most feared thing in all the Universe."
The Doctor got up and began pacing, "And it's a fairytale, a legend. It can't be real."
"If it is real, it's here and it's opening. And it's got something to do with your TARDIS exploding," the Doctor turned and pulled out a pile of local maps, "Hidden, obviously. Buried for centuries. You won't find it on a map."
"No. But if you buried the most dangerous thing in the Universe, you'd want to remember where you put it."
"We don't need those," Angel said and they looked up at her, watching as she just stared at the painting a moment longer before finally looking at them, "I think I know where it is."
The Doctor nodded and River called for horses to be brought.
~8~
They rode quickly, Angel leading them straight to Stonehenge.
~8~
The Doctor soniced some of the stones lying on the ground of the ancient location while River took out a scanner and did the same, bringing up information, Angel just wandering around, through the stones, getting a sense of the area, "How come it's not new?" Amy wondered.
"Because it's already old," River guessed, "Been here thousands of years. No one knows exactly how long."
"Since 2,545 BC," Angel said, her hand resting on a stone as she looked up at it. She glanced at Amy, "Makes it 2,647 years old already."
Amy smiled at her and looked around and back at River, pausing when she saw that River seemed irritated with Angel's knowledge, she herself had gotten used to Angel's knowledge of time, it was just...something she did, she couldn't help being good at it just like the Doctor couldn't help being brilliant, "Ok," she called, pulling River's attention to her instead, "This Pandorica thing. Last time we saw you, you warned us about it, after we climbed out of the Byzantium."
"Spoilers!" River held a finger to her lips.
"No, but you told us you'd see us again when the Pandorica opens."
"Maybe I did. But I haven't yet. But I will have. Doctor," she turned to him as her scanner beeped, "I'm picking up fry particles everywhere. Energy weapons discharged on this site."
The Doctor looked over at her, only for his gaze to be pulled past her, to Angel as the Time Lady looked over at a large flat stone in the middle of the circle, far too intently for him to overlook. He walked over and stepped onto it, "If the Pandorica is here, it contains the mightiest warrior in history. Now, half the galaxy would want a piece of that. Maybe even fight over it," he jumped off and put his ear against it, "We need to get down there."
~8~
River placed a device on the corner of the large stone the Doctor had been standing on, lights set up all around them in the darkness, "Right then," she walked over to where he was standing by Angel and Amy, "Ready?" she pressed a button on her scanner and the rock slid to the side, revealing stone steps were hidden there. The Doctor stepped closer to it as River took a torch from her pocket and turned it on.
"The underhenge," he whispered, taking out his sonic and using it as a torch as they entered.
He stepped out of a narrow passageway along with River. Angel walked over to a wall and picked up a torch, looking at it intently before she placed her hand at the base of one end of it, concentrating until a spark of gold jumped out of her finger tips and into it, a fire lighting on the end of it. She smiled at Amy, who picked up another torch and lit it off hers, the two of them moving over to a large set of double doors with a large bar across it, holding the torches up for the Doctor to see. He lifted up the large board acting as a lock across them and looked at River, the two of them pushing the doors open to find themselves in a cavernous room, with a large box with an intricate circular pattern on each side in the back of it.
"It's the Pandorica," the Doctor's eyes widened as Angel stiffened.
She recognized it now. That box...it was what she'd seen when Prisoner Zero had just been caught by the Atraxi. She'd seen the crack in the Byzantium, she'd seen that box...and now...now she was terrified of what the other aliens she'd seen could be. If the Pandorica was real, if the Pandorica, something that should be a myth, was real...what were those aliens? What would THEY do?
"More than just a fairytale," River nodded.
They started forward, Angel walking right up to it and looking at it while the Doctor stopped, spotting the arm of a Cyberman lying on the ground. He shook his head and walked over beside Angel, "Don't touch it," she whispered to him.
But he didn't listen, resting his hand against it, too lost in his thoughts to be aware she had even spoken, "There was a goblin, or a trickster, or a warrior. A nameless, terrible thing, soaked in the blood of a billion galaxies. The most feared being in all the cosmos. And nothing could stop it, or hold it, or reason with it. One day it would just drop out of the sky and tear down your world."
"How did it end up in there?" Amy wondered.
"You know fairytales. A good wizard tricked it."
He walked around to the other side of it as River looked around with her scanner, "I hate good wizards in fairytales," she murmured, "They always turn out to be him."
Amy smiled, "And I suppose that makes you the fairy godmother, Angel?" she called with a laugh.
"I'd rather the guardian angel," she agreed with a small smile, following the Doctor around the box with her torch so he could see.
Amy looked at the box a moment before commenting, "So it's kind of like Pandora's Box, then? Almost the same name."
"Sorry, what?" the Doctor glanced at her as he came around from the back.
"The story. Pandora's Box, with all the worst things in the world in it," the Doctor turned and used the sonic on the box, "That was my favorite book when I was a kid," he stopped and made his way over to her, concern etched on his face, "What's wrong?"
"Your favorite school topic, your favorite story. Never ignore a coincidence, unless you're busy. In which case, always ignore a coincidence," and he walked back to the Pandorica.
"So can you open it?" River asked.
"Easily. Anyone can break INTO a prison, but I'd rather know what I'm going to find first."
"It's already opening," Angel remarked as she stared at the box intently.
River's eyes widened and looked at her scanner, aiming it at the box, "She's right…there are layers and layers of security protocols in there, and they're being disabled, one by one. Like it's being unlocked from the inside."
"How long do we have?" the Doctor looked over.
"Hours, if we're lucky," Angel answered just as River opened her mouth, though the Time Lady couldn't see, her back to River as she stood slightly behind her.
"What kind of security?" the Doctor turned to Angel, knowing, from her remark, that not even calling her his good luck charm would help them, the situation was that serious.
"Everything," River cut in quickly, making him look back at her, "Deadlocks, time-stops, matter-lines."
"What could need all that?"
"What could get past all that?"
"Think of the fear that went into making this box. What could inspire that level of fear?"
Angel winced, closing her eyes and rubbing her head.
'…you pricked the side of a mighty beast, Madam Kovarian, and entirely failed to run…'
'…hope in this endless, bitter war…'
'…you make them so afraid…'
"Hello, you, have we met?" the Doctor continued, not noticing Angel shake her head and look at him with a small, concerned frown, that vision...it hadn't sounded good at all.
"So why would it start to open now?" River wondered.
"No idea."
"Hmm, and how could Vincent have known about it?" Amy added, "He won't even be born for centuries."
The Doctor pulled out his sonic and used it but this time on the stone pillars around them, "The stones! These stones are great big transmitters, broadcasting a warning to everyone, everywhere, to every time zone. The Pandorica is opening!"
"Doctor...everyone, everywhere?" River's eyes widened more.
"Even poor Vincent heard it in his dreams. What's in there, what could justify all this?"
Angel closed her eyes, a terrible pit forming in her stomach...
"Doctor, everyone?"
"Anything that powerful, I'd know about it. Why don't I know?"
"Doctor, you said everyone could hear it. So who else is coming?"
"Oh…"
"Oh?" Amy eyed him as he stiffened, "Oh, what?"
"Remember how you met the Daleks, Amy?" Angel turned to her, the pit growing even more, "They aren't the only enemies we have."
River turned and held her scanner against a pillar, "Ok, if it is basically a transmitter, we should be able to fold back the signal."
"Doing it," the Doctor soniced the pillars.
"Doing what?" Amy called.
"Stonehenge is transmitting, it's been transmitting for a while...so who heard?" River remarked.
"Ok, should be feeding back to you now," the Doctor looked over at River as Angel looked down, starting to breathe heavily, the pit starting to twist in her stomach, "River, what's out there? Getting anything?"
"Give me a moment."
"River, quickly, anything?"
"Everyone," Angel blinked.
River gaped at her readings, "Around this planet, there are at least 10,000 starships."
"At least?" Amy's breathed.
"10,000, 100,000, 1 million, I don't know. There's too many readings."
"What kind of starships?" the Doctor called.
And then...a Dalek transmission came through, "Maintaining orbit."
"I obey," a second stated, "Shield cover compromised on ion sectors."
"Daleks," Amy remarked, "Those are Daleks."
A/N: Oh boy, River... :( Nothing quite too bad or biting here...but we still have 5 more chapters to go }:) But next chapter we get Rory! ^-^ I really hope you all love the reunion moment between him and Angel, it made me tear up a little writing it :')
Poor Angel though, she came SO close to telling Amy! Oh Doctor, you have the worst timing! Lol :)
Some notes on reviews...
You can submit as many entries as you'd like for the challenge :) I know that inspiration can hit me at any time for something after I've already had an idea for it, so if you're ever reading and get another idea from another chapter/episode or just randomly have one for a past episode feel free to submit as many as you'd like :)
Lo, I don't think it's weird :) I'm very touched that you like the stories enough to read the other ones too :)
That's so ironic! I might be going to Hershey for a few days next week! ^-^ My family usually goes there every year, but we haven't the last few due to summer courses and things, but we just might make it this time :) I think I'll squeal if I see the DW shirt too :)
Thanks! I'm glad you like the twists, I tried to be very careful in not putting too many people off with them, though I wouldn't fault anyone who didn't like them and stopped reading :) And I'm glad you feel that way about River, that was definitely what I was going for ;) I'll do my best to keep up the good writing :)
Lol, then I have to say Hi! and Welcome to DW! ^-^ This story, as of posting this chapter has about 738 reviews :) Oh I don't think I could pick a favorite episode of all...but if I really had to...the Doctor's Wife, just because of the TARDIS and all the references to DW scattered through it :) And no problem at all, thank YOU for reviewing and reading :)
That's cool that she comes across as take charge to you :) I sort of saw it as her creating the future by hinting at the relationship they might have. To me, it made it seem forced and rushed and like the Doctor didn't have a choice in it, but that might just be me not understanding the point of the 'wedding' since he'd just gone from River trying to kill him to him marrying her :/ In my series though (for Evy and the Professor too) River isn't his wife (or at least we don't think for this series at least). And even if River was in this saga, Mate trumps Wife. So really, in the stories, River has no claim to him and the Time Ladies being there before her makes him theirs and not Rivers :) So in the fanfictions at least, River can't really act like she's mad that her 'husband' is in love with another woman when he's not her husband (and even if he was, he's Angel's Mate) :) And in this story (or the others) Amy might not be his mother-in-law. If, somehow, in this saga River does marry the Doctor, Angel is still and will forever be his Mate, and Rory's Pilot. And there IS a twist I have planned for River's history that makes her relationship with her parents strained and not as close as in the show. But it'll all be explained later :) That's the great thing about fanfiction though, if you put a character in early enough and give them a different relationship with the main character, it can really shape the relationships around them. Like here, Angel was introduced early enough where Rose never developed those feelings for the Doctor and Angel Mated with him long before River meets him which affects that relationship too :) For the most part, in this story, Angel and the Doctor were Mated first, if anything, Angel should have more of an issue with River being flirty and suggestive around HER Mate :)
Lol, I won't say if the Doctor will remember soon or not, or how he might if he does :) We'll have to wait and see :)
I'm not sure how to find stories on tumblr :( Sorry! I know that, for mine, I try to put a click-through link for the main cover so that it directly takes you to the story on FF. Sometimes if you search someone's blog you can find a link to their stories or at least their profile somewhere else, but I'm not sure :(
Oh just you wait till Rory sees Angel again, nurse mode won't even begin to cover it ;)
Thanks! I'm glad you like the stories so much :) And thank YOU for following me on tumblr too :)
We'll have to see about the 1,000 reviews thing :) For now it's more of a hope/dream of mine to have one story reach that amount, and I figure, if we do, it would be nice to give a small treat, like with the 500 review teasers :)
No worries about River, we only have her for 6 chapters (including this one) and then we have a nice break of 9 chapters without her :) Thanks for the suggestions, I'll definitely check them out :) I think we'll see a little bit of Angel being chipped away at, at first, mostly because she is pregnant and more emotional than she might have been in dealing with River. But I can say we'll see her pick herself back up and stand strong against River eventually :)
We might see Angel, Evy and the Professor meet again, it's possible :) I plan to do a crossover themed one shot each year for April 13th to celebrate when I first published the Professor :) We might see them again as their 11th selves :) Maybe with Time Lady 4, you never know :) Though, for now, my next crossover is (tentatively) a SuperWhoLock one of the Professor, Michelle, and Leena :)
I am SO on Fluff withdrawal too :) I think that might be why I keep adding more and more memory-flashes, like it's that little bit of fluff I need to make it through an episode :)
Oh I can say these next two episodes will be VERY scary in terms of what will happen with Angel }:) But I won't say how :) Lol, I think I'd still stay tight-lipped about whether he'll remember if we don't reach 1000, it's more just a hope/dream to get to it and, if we do, I feel like you'd all helped me reach a dream of mine so I'd give you 'the answer to the question' lol :) We'll just have to see :) You all have been SO amazing with the reviews so far, and we still have about 2 weeks left of the story :)