The Big Bang: An Exploding TARDIS
The Doctor cast one more look at Angel's body before he turned to head off, "Right, we've got 12 minutes, that's good."
"12 minutes to what?" Amy demanded, shaking her head, actually starting to feel...angry with the man, "Till she's killed? How is that good?!"
True, she and Angel hadn't had the easiest relationship, for some reason, at first, it was strained. But, oddly enough, after losing Rory, they'd bonded. She knew that Angel and the Doctor remembered Rory when she hadn't, but she'd still felt that loss. Perhaps that was why she and Angel had spent time together, Angel had lost her companion and she had lost her fiancé, both very devastating losses, both of them had needed comfort and understanding. The Doctor had likely never had a companion erased from existence before so really only Angel would understand how that felt. She was glad for it though, because it had let her and Angel strike up a long overdue friendship. And now the Doctor, the same man who went...mad really...whenever Angel wasn't there or when she was hurt...was just...walking away, unperturbed.
What was wrong with him?
"You can do loads in 12 minutes..." the Doctor shrugged, "Suck a mint, buy a sledge, have a fast bath. Come on, the roof!"
"We can't leave her here, dead!" Rory shouted, rushing up to grab the Doctor's arm, pulling him back and turning the man around, glaring at him with tear-filled eyes. He glanced back at Angel's body, lying there, unmoving, disgust at the Doctor for his complete disregard of her filling him. In his mind, he couldn't think of a single reason for the Doctor to be so cavalier about just walking away. He felt bile rise in his throat at just the thought of leaving Angel's body, the body of his pilot, just laying there, rotting on the floor! How could he leave her?
"Oh, good! Are you in charge now?" the Doctor yanked his arm away, his jaw tensing at how they were questioning him, looking at him like he was a monster for wanting to get out of there. It hurt, quite a bit really, to know they didn't trust him, trust that he was doing this for a reason. They didn't know what Angel had whispered to him, they didn't know what needed to be done, what Angel had asked him to do, and what he would do, for her, he really would do anything for her. It was why he'd taken her to Jack when all he'd wanted to do was keep her in the box, it was why he never won the arguments against what she wanted, like staying in the woods with Amy or to go to the TARDIS with River, in the end, it was what she wanted and he very much doubted he could say no to her...
~oOo~
"You must know, even without an emotional connection, you must realize how...attracted I am to you," he blushed faintly as she smiled, oh she certainly did, and it was quite fun to tease him a bit about it, "More than anyone has right to be with another," he added with a small laugh, "I already want to be with you, more than anything and...I'm not sure if I'll be able to hold off till the connection's formed. I'm afraid I'm not strong enough to resist you if we start the bond..."
She let out a small musical laugh that made him smile for hearing it, "YOU?" she poked him in the chest, "Not strong enough? You're the strongest man I know."
"But the source of my strength is also my greatest weakness," he reminded her, but she seemed confused, "YOU," he told her, "I'm stronger because of YOU Nella. I think faster, I move quicker, I feel stronger because I'm protecting you. But..." he looked at her with a small frown, "If anything ever happened to you...I'd be a wreck. I...I wouldn't be able to function, to focus, to keep myself safe, I'd...I wouldn't want to..."
"Theta," she breathed.
"And I could never say no to you," he smiled again, "I DO want that emotional connection to you Nella, I truly do. So you," he tapped her on the nose, "Had better be strong enough for the both of us because I doubt I'll be able to resist you for long."
She laughed, "I'll try my best then."
"Brilliant," he laughed as well, pulling her in to give her a sound kiss.
~oOo~
He shook his head, feeling a throbbing in it, his head starting to hurt, like a pressure was building, "So, tell me, what are we going to do about Amelia?"
Rory looked back to see young Amelia was gone, her cup lying on the floor, but the girl nowhere in sight, "Where did she go?" Amy looked around.
"Amelia?" Rory called.
"There is no Amelia," the Doctor said, "From now on, there never was. History is still collapsing."
"How can I be here, if she's not?" Amy shook her head.
"You're an anomaly. We all are. We're all hanging on at the eye of the storm, but the eye is closing, and if we don't do something, reality will never have happened. Today, just dying is a result. Now, come on!" he turned and headed off.
Rory shook his head at the Doctor, glaring at his retreating back, his hands closing into fists, before he swallowed and turned sharply, heading in the opposite direction, moving to kneel by Angel's side. Amy walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder as she looked down at Angel's prone form, knowing how much this had to hurt Rory, Angel was HIS Pilot, "She won't die. Time can be rewritten. The Doctor'll find a way to save her. I know he will."
Rory solemnly nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat and pulled his jacket off, laying it over her, his heart breaking for her, for her and her baby, it looked like she had been attacked, and...there was no way the baby would have survived that given what Angel had said about her family history. He closed his eyes, squeezing his nose with his forefinger and thumb for a moment, he'd done this, 2,000 years ago, he'd covered Amy's dead body with a blanket, 2,000 years later, it was a gesture that still hurt to do.
He promised himself silently, he'd be back, he'd come back for her, he wouldn't leave her like the Doctor had, not ever, "I'll come back," he whispered to her, about to rest his hand on hers, just peeking out from his jacket...
When the Doctor snapped at them from a distance, "Move it! Come on!"
Amy squeezed Rory's shoulder again and took his hand, helping him up before she tugged him off, up the stairs, after the Doctor.
~8~
The Doctor climbed out of a stairwell and onto the roof of the museum, Amy and Rory rushing after him as he stalked across the flat surface. He'd gone quiet when they'd started to follow him, quiet and tense, hunching a bit as he walked, a walk Amy recognized from when Angel had been in Torchwood, and she was honestly starting to get a little worried for him. She knew Angel was the last of his kind but for the girl to have SUCH a profound affect on his countenance when she wasn't even there...there had to be something else to their relationship, there had to be.
"What, it's morning already?" Amy looked around, squinting as she saw the daylight, "How did that happen?"
"History is shrinking," the Doctor replied, adding a bit of a huff to his words, "Is anybody listening to me?" he hated repeating himself when time was of the essence, "Universe is collapsing. We don't have much time left," he walked over to a satellite dish and soniced it.
"What are you doing?" Rory asked.
"Looking for the TARDIS."
"But the TARDIS exploded," he shook his head, it seemed the Doctor really had let Angel go into the about-to-explode box then. He was starting to think that the Doctor had gotten it wrong, that it wasn't a future Angel they'd seen on the stairs but that...maybe she'd teleported out of the box a bit too late, had gotten caught in the explosion, the controls going wonky, and sending her though time and space to just then. It was a stretch but...he never understood how a lot of things happened when the Doctor was involved.
"Ok, then." the Doctor rolled his eyes, "I'm looking for an exploding TARDIS," he pulled the dish off its mounting with a bit too much force, not that he was really concerned about that, he had a suspicion, one he needed confirmation of if there was any hope of saving Angel.
"I don't understand," Amy frowned, "So, the TARDIS blew up and took the Universe with it. Why would it do that? How?"
The Doctor stood on a raised section of the roof, "Good question for another day. But for now...total event collapse means that every star in the Universe never happened. Not one of them ever shone. So, if all the stars that ever were, are gone, then what is that?" he pointed to a large ball of fire in the sky, the only thing providing light, "Like I said, I'm looking for an exploding TARDIS."
"But that's the sun," Rory shook his head.
"Is it? Here's the noise that sun is making right now," he held up the dish and amplified the sound with the sonic, allowing them to hear the TARDIS wheezing, "That's my TARDIS burning up. That's what's been keeping the Earth warm."
"Doctor, there's something else," Rory closed his eyes, trying to make it out, "There's a voice..."
The Doctor frowned and adjusted the settings.
"I can't hear anything," Amy remarked.
"Trust the plastic."
The Doctor held the dish back up to hear someone counting, "5,972,918,484…5,972,918,485…5,972,918,486…"
"Doctor," Amy gasped, her eyes wide in horror, "That's Angel!"
"What's she doing?" Rory shook his head, though he nearly breathed a sigh of relief at hearing Angel was alive, if still in the TARDIS, because that meant the Angel they saw on the stairs really was a future version...and if they knew she got hurt, then there was still a chance to save her, to keep her and the baby from getting hurt, "Why's she counting?"
"Of course, the Emergency Protocols..." the Doctor breathed, realizing what had happened, "The TARDIS has sealed off the control room and put her into a time loop to save her. She is right at the heart of the explosion…only…"
"Only what?" Amy asked, feeling a sense of dread fill her at how he stiffened, his face turning into one of horror.
"A human wouldn't notice the loop, they'd just relive the moment. A Time Lord though, they would be aware of it, of their impeding death and the explosion. She's feeling it happen every time!"
"Then get up there!" Amy shrieked.
The Doctor hit the Manipulator and disappeared.
Rory couldn't help but actually let out a breath as his eyes widened. Angel was in the heart of the explosion, feeling it happen over and over…it seemed he hadn't been the only one to last 2,000 years on his own. He could only pray the Doctor would be able to get in there and get her out.
~8~
Angel sat on the floor of the control room, leaning back against the console, her legs tucked to her side for the moment, "5,972,918,487…" she closed her eyes as the explosion hit her back, her hands forever on her stomach.
~8~
Angel sat on the floor of the control room, leaning back against the console, her legs tucked to her side for the moment, "5,972,918,488…" she closed her eyes as the explosion hit her back, tensing as it happened again.
~8~
"5 bil…" Angel began...
When she looked up startled to see the Doctor standing by the door, the Manipulator strapped to his wrist, "We have to go now!" he shouted, running over to her, helping her up.
"Wait!" she pulled away and quickly hit a button on the console.
"…dare teleport me out of here Angel!" River shouted as she reappeared in the TARDIS. She blinked, frowning, confused, when she saw the Doctor standing there too, "Doctor?"
"No time!" he held out his wrist to them just as the loop began again, the console exploding behind them...
~8~
The Doctor reappeared on the roof with Angel and River, "Angel!" Amy cheered, moving forward to hug the Time Lady tightly.
"…and the plastic Centurion?" River eyed Rory.
"It's ok," the Doctor waved her off, trying to tug Amy away from Angel, "He's on our side."
But Angel just turned to Rory, "Rory!" and hugged him as well.
"How are you?" Rory asked her quietly, hugging her tightly, "You ok?"
There was a hidden meaning there, she knew, he wasn't just asking about her. She nodded.
"Yes, good question Rory!" the Doctor reached out and tugged Angel away from him, "Are you ok Angel?" he held up the sonic, about to scan her, but Angel quickly grabbed it, looking just slightly panicked as she did so.
"Fine!" she said quickly, twisting the sonic in her hands to stop it scanning her, the last thing she needed was for her pregnancy to be broadcast right then. Thankfully the explosion in the TARDIS had only hit her back, repeating a moment before it completely engulfed her. It strained the TARDIS to continue on such a loop, but that was the Emergency Protocols in action, they were meant to preserve life, so the explosion never fully hit her, but just kept repeating like a terrible heat against her back before it started again.
"Right, good, then, next question...WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!?" the Doctor suddenly shouted, making them all, even River, jump...well, everyone except Angel as she had been expecting that, both from being psychic and feeling his turbulent and terrified emotions at that moment and just...knowing him.
"Doctor..."
"You knew, you HAD to have seen that happening and you went into the TARDIS?!"
"In all fairness," Rory cut in, "YOU let her go..."
"Shut up Rory!" he Doctor snapped, rounding on him a moment, till the man held up his hands in surrender and stepped back, actually a bit afraid of the deadly glare the Doctor was directing at him, before he turned back to Angel, "Angel it was exploding! It was going to explode and you knew you couldn't stop it, didn't you?"
"I...had a fairly good idea," she whispered.
"What on Earth possessed you to DO that!?"
Amy and Rory shifted, watching the Doctor actually shouting at Angel, but they could both tell he was extremely worried about her. He'd been on a warpath to get to the roof to check on the TARDIS before. And they had a suspicion that the Angel on the stairs had warned him about this, hinted at it, so he'd be able to get her out of the box. His drive to get there made sense now, why he'd left Future Angel there to save Past Angel, it had to be a terrible decision to make and Rory found himself hoping he never ever had to make one like that.
River Song, on the other hand, frowned in irritation as she watched the Time Lords have a moment, no matter if it was a shouty one. The Doctor only ever got THAT worked up when he was truly scared or hurt or angry and she knew he was worried and scared for Angel, that much was VERY clear. She should have known in the TARDIS, she really should have. She knew what sort of person Angel was, what to expect, she should have realized earlier that Angel would teleport HER out to keep her 'safe' at her own expense. But she'd only worked that out when she'd seen Angel at the controls and she knew what it would mean for them both in the future...because now, because of that, the Doctor was fawning and fretting over the Time Lady. It was disgusting. If it had been HER in the TARDIS, he'd be just as worried about her, she was sure, he'd be fretting and focusing on HER instead. It SHOULD be HER he was focused on.
Angel always had to get in the way didn't she?
"I had to," Angel told him.
"Why?!" he shook his head, not seeming to believe that.
"Because that explosion wouldn't have lasted as long as it has without the TARDIS looping it!" she explained, "It would have just exploded, none of us would be here, and Amy would be dead. Without someone in the console room that the Emergency Programs needed to protect, the explosion would be over. I paused it. I gave you time."
The Doctor blinked, straightening.
He...hadn't thought of that.
It was true, the only reason the Earth was still there for so long, millennia after the explosion, was because the TARDIS was there, acting like the sun, and the TARDIS was only there because it had been on loop. Because Angel had been in it. He closed his eyes, he didn't even have to ask (as terrible as it was to suggest) why she hadn't gotten herself out and left River there. Angel would never risk another person's life and...River wasn't a Time Lady. River would have been caught in the loop, unaware of what was happening, living the same moment without a clue...she wouldn't have been able to activate the teleport to bring Angel back. But Angel was aware, she had everything ready to get River out and back and keep the TARDIS going.
"Time that is slowly running out," Angel continued, pulling him from his thoughts, swallowing and not contradicting his thoughts.
He was right, for the most part, that she'd done it because she wouldn't want to trap anyone else there, but also...she didn't trust River, not this version of her, not at all, she didn't trust that, if she'd teleported out, stuck in the in between space for that spilt second that was millennia in the real world, that River would teleport her back. She had a fear that River would have just left her there, floating in a single moment of eternity and not bothered to get her back. That was where River had been, not in a time looped moment, but in between teleports...like in the Library, frozen in a moment in time, and then restored as though nothing had happened, which it hadn't. It was like when the Doctor had been taken by the Reapers, he'd disappeared, to her it had been the longest moments of her life, but to him one second he was there and then the next he was back but the room and people had changed.
"The Emergency Protocols will shut down now that we're out of the console room," she added, "The explosion has resumed. We've got minutes, 7 minutes left before it completes."
"That is...genius," the Doctor breathed, blinking as he smiled at her, "Stone cold brilliant," he started to laugh, "How did you think of that?"
"It's a TARDIS," she shrugged, modest, though the others could see a faint blush on her cheeks at the compliment.
"You know I dated a Nestene Duplicate once..." River remarked, eyeing Rory as she cut into the moment, seeing the Doctor's gaze on Angel starting to grow soft and NOT about to let that happen. She'd worked too hard to let that happen, "Swappable head, it did keep things fresh. Right then," she continued as they all looked at her, now paying attention, "I have questions. But number one is this...what in the name of sanity have you got on your head?" she turned to the Doctor.
It was then that Angel noticed the Doctor had a fez on.
"It's a fez," he replied, "I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool."
With a look from River, Amy grabbed the fez and threw it into the sky, River shooting it in midair, all their gazes following it's flight...except Angel, who found her attention lowering to the ledge of the roof with a frown.
"Oh!" he pouted.
"Run!" Angel shouted suddenly, a tremor of fear in her voice as she shoved them. They looked at her curiously when…
"Exterminate!"
Their eyes widened and they immediately ran as the Dalek levitated up the side of the building, "Run, run, move, move!" the Doctor called, about to use the satellite like a shield as the Dalek fired...only for the blasts to hit a golden wall, Angel with her arm behind her to keep it up, "Go! Come on!" he grabbed her hand and pulled her on, the wall lowering as they reached the stairwell...
~8~
The Doctor soniced the hatch of the stairwell as soon as they were down, River stood with her gun aimed at it just in case, Rory, Angel, and Amy by the wall, Rory holding Amy's hand though he had his other arm around Angel's shoulders, the girl was shaking terribly, probably because of the Dalek attack...or the explosions she'd just endured, or both.
"Doctor, come on," River hissed.
"Shh," he cut in, listening intently to the top of the hatch, "It's moving away, finding another way in," he climbed down the ladder, "It needs to restore its power before it can attack again. Now, that means we've got exactly…" he checked his watch.
"Four and a half minutes before it's at lethal capacity," he continued down the stairs.
"How do you know?"
"Because that's when it's due to…" he swallowed hard, trailing off, casing a glance at Angel that he hoped she didn't notice.
Angel though, did, and frowned at it...until she flinched...seeing a snippet of her appearing in a flash of gold at the top of a set of stairs in his mind, her clothes singed before collapsing. She let out a breath and shook her head, looking down.
It wasn't a vision...it was a memory. It was the Doctor's memory...
"Due to what?!" River looked at him with concern, seeing the solemn look in his eyes and fearing the worst for him.
"Oh, shut up, never mind," he waved her off, not wanting to have to tell Angel what was coming, it didn't seem like the girl had seen it yet and he wasn't going to let that hang over her head, he...he was going to try and stop it, "How can that Dalek even exist?" he muttered to himself, trying to work it out as they walked into a hallway, "It was erased from time and then it came back."
"So did Rory," Angel whispered, shaking her head, trying to not sound like she knew what was going to happen.
"Yes, but that was a memory impression from Amy. How did the Dalek come back?"
"You said the light from the Pandorica..." Rory began as they entered one of the exhibit halls.
"It's not a light, it's a restoration field, but never mind. Call it a light. That light brought Amy back, but how could it bring back a Dalek when the Daleks have never existed?"
"Ok, tell us," Amy said.
"When the TARDIS blew up, it caused a total event collapse..."
"A time explosion," Angel added, seeing Rory struggle a bit to keep up and Amy frowning as she tried to follow.
"Yes," the Doctor nodded, "It blasted every atom in every moment of the Universe. Except..."
"Except the atoms that were trapped in the Pandorica."
"The perfect prison. Inside it, perfectly preserved, a few billion atoms of the Universe as it was. In theory, you could extrapolate the whole Universe from a single one of them, like cloning a body from a single cell. And we've got the bumper family pack."
"I think I got most of that, "Rory shook his head.
Angel smiled at him for that, "The Pandorica holds a memory of the Universe, like Amy's mind held a memory of you," Angel explained a little more to him, "The light of the Pandorica is like a big transmitter, broadcasting it out."
"And that's how we're going to do it," the Doctor nodded, grinning widely at how it felt to have someone keep up with him, and Angel said she wasn't clever.
"Do what?" Amy frowned.
"Relight the fire! Reboot the Universe. Come on!" he walked briskly down the hall, not noticing Angel slow, a pit forming in her stomach once again as a terrible feeling of dread hit her.
"Doctor, you're being completely ridiculous," River shook her head, following him, "The Pandorica partially restored one Dalek. If it can't even reboot a single life form properly, how will it reboot the whole of reality?" she reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him, making him turn to her in one of the halls.
"What if we give it a moment of infinite power? Transmit the light from the Pandorica to every particle of space and time simultaneously?"
Angel looked over, down the hall, staring at it as though expecting something to be there...
"Well, that would be lovely, dear, but we can't, because it's completely impossible."
"Ah, no, you see, it's not," he tapped his forehead, "It's ALMOST completely impossible. One spark is all we need."
"For what?"
"Big Bang Two! Now listen..." and suddenly he was cut off...
By someone shoving into him forcefully.
He landed on the ground with an 'oomph,' looking up to see Angel blasted back by a Dalek's laser.
"Exterminate! Exterminate!"
The Doctor scrambled to his feet and rushed to her side as she rolled onto her back, completely ignoring the Dalek behind him as he frantically tried to examine her, not even thinking to use the sonic in his worry. Rory pulled Amy out of the way, around a corner as they were nearest to it, and aimed his gun hand at the Dalek. River ducked behind an exhibit but aimed at the Dalek as well, more because the Doctor was still out there in the line of fire, "Get back!" River shouted at him, "Doctor, get back now!"
"Exterminate!"
Rory fired on it, managing to hit it's eyestalk again, making it pause, it's energy depleting a moment.
"Angel," the Doctor grabbed her hand, panting as he clutched it tightly, his knuckles nearly turning white as his hearts raced, his blood running cold, his mind...just completely blank of anything but what Angel had done, "Angel, it's me, the Doctor. Angel why did you do that!?"
She blinked up at him, "I've died nearly 6 billion times, once more won't hurt."
And she really didn't know. It just...happened. She hadn't even thought to use the Vortex to block the attack just...ran. She understood now what the Doctor had meant when he'd broken the window of Magpie's shop instead of using the sonic to unlock it. He hadn't thought, his concern for her had just...addled his mind, made him react first, the quickest way to get her out of danger. And that's what happened to her, she was close enough to react...and she just...had...
And it was stupid! It was SO stupid of her. She should have used the Vortex, she should have done something besides this, blasted the Dalek with Vortex energy like she had the screen with the Weeping Angel, brought up a wall like she'd done only minutes ago, shouted at him to duck, anything but this...
Because it hurt.
Her stomach hurt.
Oh that was not good at all, was it?
She closed her eyes, trying not to cry at what that could mean, her stomach really, really hurt!
What was wrong with her? Was she just trying to punish herself more? Make herself completely alone in the Universe? What sort of woman, what sort of pregnant woman, condemned herself to an explosion and then got blasted by a deadly laser without even a thought to her unborn child?! True she had only a small hope (and a rather desperate need) that the baby would survive, that everything would be ok, a big stretch given her family's luck with pregnancy. It was a completely unrealistic hope, she knew that, one that would just hurt her so much later when she lost the baby. But this?! To do this?! Why would she do that to her baby? She hadn't even thought about it, she'd seen the Dalek, she'd seen the Doctor, she'd seen it fired and...ran...
"It was my turn don't you think?" the Doctor whispered, trying to smile, trying to make her smile somehow, because the tears in her eyes when she looked at him were killing him. She looked completely devastated and in terrible pain and it hurt him so much to see her like that, to know she'd done it for him.
She shook her head, "A brilliant Time Lord or an average Time Lady? The Universe needs you more, it always will…" she groaned, closing her eyes tightly as the golden energy of the Vortex swirled around her and she disappeared, literally faded away before him, his hand clenching into a fist as her hand disappeared from its grip, leaving him just staring at the floor.
The Doctor's eyes widened in horror at what had happened, working out where Angel had gone and why she seemed so pained to do it, the Vortex took a lot out of her when she wasn't ready to use it. Even more now that she was injured.
"Where did she go?" River shouted, this was NOT what they needed, a wild goose chase for a missing and injured Time Lady with a Dalek after them! The Doctor would be a wreck till they found Angel again, she knew, entirely too focused on getting to her, so focused that nothing she could do would distract him and that was NOT what she wanted.
"Downstairs," the Doctor said, "12 minutes ago."
"She died," Amy added, River looking over at her with wide eyes, but actually seeming to frown at that.
Rory swallowed hard, he'd thought he'd have more time to save her, to work out what had happened to hurt her and prevent it.
"Systems restoring!" the Dalek cried, "You will be exterminated!"
"We've got to move!" Rory shouted, "That thing's coming back to life."
The Doctor shook his head, bringing himself back to the present, tot he moment and matter at hand, "We need to go now!" he jumped up and ran off, grabbing River's arm as he passed, and pulled her back towards Rory and Amy.
"You will be exterminated!"
"Rory come on!" he yelled when Rory made no move to follow them.
"I'll be there in a moment," he said, before dashing around the corner...towards the Dalek!
"Rory!" Amy cried, running after him.
"You know?" Rory glared at the Dalek, moving to stand right in front of it, his shoulders squared, his eyes narrowed, "I think Angel may have known this would happen 'cos she told me, all about you, Daleks. How you work, how your shields work," and she had, the very first night he'd come aboard the TARDIS, she'd told him about the Daleks, "Right now your systems are still restoring. And that means your shield is weak," he aimed his gun, "One shot, just one, through your eyestalk would stop you permanently."
"Records indicate you will show mercy," the Dalek scanned him with its sucker arm, "You are an associate of the Doctor's."
Rory glared a bit more at that, "I'm Angel's companion. And you just killed her," and with that, he fired his gun-hand, striking the Dalek straight though the eyestalk. And then, the next thing he knew, Amy was in his arms, kissing him deeply.
"Oi!" the Doctor shouted, "You two, we need to go now!" he turned and ran down the hall, the two running after him and River hand in hand.
~8~
They ran down the stairs to the main lobby, Amy and Rory stopping short, seeing Angel's body was gone. Rory's jacket was there but the body was gone, "How could she have moved?!" Rory shook his head.
"She was dead!" Amy agreed.
"Who told you that?" River looked over at them as they ran down the stairs. That was why Amy's words before had confused her. THIS was NOT where Angel or the Doctor died, she knew for a fact it wasn't here, so why had they claimed that Angel had died?
"I did," the Doctor said, turning down the corridor, not even stopping as he stormed on, oh after this was over he and Angel were going to have a serious talk.
River smirked and glanced at Amy and Rory, "Rule one. The Doctor lies. You want the truth, you ask Angel."
~8~
They ran down another exhibit hall, towards the Pandorica room, Amy gasping when she saw what was waiting within.
Angel was sitting inside the larger, yet surprisingly smaller-on-the-inside, box, her dress dirty and torn, slumped over to the side, her head resting against the side of one of the restraints. She was pale naturally but seemed even more so now and the eerie green glow of the box wasn't helping any. She looked...so small, given her flowy dress and the size of the box, so small and hurt and weak and just...tired...She couldn't imagine how much strength it had taken for Angel to, alone, get up and drag herself over there and do...whatever it was she was doing to the box as she had a screwdriver, an ordinary one, in her hand.
"Angel!" Amy shouted, running over to her with Rory, but the Doctor beat them to it, kneeling before her, checking her quickly.
"Why did you tell us she was dead?!" Rory demanded, his heart racing. Why would anyone tell a lie like that? Why would anyone lie ABOUT that?
"We were a diversion," River realized, shaking her head as she worked it out, "As long as the Dalek was chasing us, she could work down here."
"And she knew we'd be safe because she was there with us when it attacked," Amy breathed, knowing Angel wouldn't let anyone be used as bait unless she was there with them, protecting them, like she had just before.
"Angel," the Doctor whispered, reaching up to cup her face in his hands, his thumbs lightly stroking her cheeks, trying to wake her, not seeing River's jaw clench at his 'sweet' action or the fact he was ignoring the conversation behind him in his focus on the girl, "Can you hear me? What were you doing?"
Angel blearily opened her eyes and looked at him a moment, searching for something in his eyes, her expression falling a bit when she didn't see what it was. She winced, reaching feebly for his hand, he let her take it, watching as she weakly pulled off the Manipulator and cracked it open, shifting in the chair to work on hooking up the wires she'd released an cut to it.
"What's happening?" Rory looked up, alarmed, as the explosion in the sky got bigger, able to hear the wheezing noise now with his plastic hearing even without the satellite amplifying it.
"Reality's collapsing," River replied, not looking up, instead closely watching the Doctor watch Angel, "It's speeding up. Look at this room."
"Where did everything go?" Amy looked around to see the displays empty.
"History is being erased. Time is running out now that the explosion has resumed," she frowned, watching as Angel finished hooking up the Manipulator and sat back, panting at the effort, "What was she doing?"
"Big Bang Two," the Doctor replied grimly, not even noticing when he took Angel's hand and held it, though, by River's pursing lips, she noticed.
"The Big Bang," Rory frowned, "That's the beginning of the Universe, right?"
"What, and Big Bang Two is the bang that brings it back?" Amy asked, "Is that what you mean?"
"The TARDIS is still burning," the Doctor explained softly, reaching out his free hand to brush a lock of hair from Angel's head, there was a thin layer of sweat on her brow and he could feel a fever setting, "It's exploding at every point in history. If you threw the Pandorica into the explosion, right into the heart of the fire..."
"Then what?"
"Then let there be light," River realized, "The light from the Pandorica would explode everywhere at once, just like he said."
"That would work? That would bring everything back?"
Rory looked down, feeling the breath leave him...because he could see Angel's other hand resting on her stomach as her face scrunched in a pain he'd seen on a few women's faces in the hospital. The baby...something was wrong with it, she'd been fired at by a Dalek, it hit her, he'd seen it hit her, he felt his heart stop at the thought of what that meant for the baby.
"A restoration field, powered by an exploding TARDIS, happening at every moment in history," the Doctor replied.
"Oh, that's brilliant," River breathed, "It might even work!"
The Doctor frowned, squinting at the Manipulator, "She's wired the Vortex Manipulator to the rest of the box."
"Why?" Amy asked.
"She's going to fly the Pandorica into the heart of the explosion," River replied as though it should be obvious.
"No, she isn't," the Doctor shook his head, reaching in to try and tug Angel out of the box, "I will."
"No," Angel struggled, her eyes snapping open, surprisingly managing to remain in the box despite the Doctor's pulling and her own weariness.
"Angel," he shook his head, "You're too weak to fly it! Get out and I'll do it."
"No!" she just shoved him back a bit, "The Universe needs you!" she shouted, her voice hoarse, tears in her eyes, "It doesn't need me. Not anymore."
What was the point in her? The only thing in the Universe that might need her...might very well be gone. She'd gone numb, but she could feel the pain in her stomach just increasing more and more. No one needed her anymore. Her family had their real families, Rory had Amy, and the Doctor...
The Doctor looked at her, complete shocked she would say that, "Angel please…" he whispered, his hearts breaking, "I…I don't want to be alone."
Angel swallowed hard, her glance flickering to River for just a split second, closing her eyes when she saw the woman smirk, "You won't be."
He blinked and suddenly he...
~oOo~
He was standing at a computer terminal, glaring at River Song, "I DON'T need YOU professor Song," he looked at her, showing her the truth in his eyes, making her flinch, making her breath hitch at the words.
He really didn't need her, did he?
As though reading her thoughts, he continued, "The only one I need, the only one I will EVER need, is that girl right there," he pointed to Angel, "My Mate, my Angel. Not you," he stared at her long and hard, "I'm sorry professor Song, but it will never be you."
And with that, he turned back to the terminal.
River swallowed hard, despite his words, despite how they hurt to hear, she couldn't let him do this, "Doctor this will kill you!"
He didn't even look up as he continued working, "Angel's dying," he said, his voice thick with sorrow and a coldness that spoke of fierce determination, a dark note to his voice that spoke of a promise to come, a promise he would see through to the end, "She's going to die, and I'd rather die with her than live without her, not for anyone," he turned to spit that last word out at her, glaring at her.
~oOo~
He blinked, back before the Pandorica, not having a clue what that was about. All he could see was himself, standing in the Library, glaring at River, Angel collapsed to the ground a few feet away, and he was shouting at the woman. He didn't know what he was saying, but...he was angry, very angry with her, and he felt, for a moment, that anger against River rise in him again, but why? Yes, River had been a bit short with Angel and not very civil, but loads more people had been meaner to him and he didn't feel that anger towards them.
He shook his head, "You go, I go, and that's final, last of the Time Lords," he said, the same fierce determination in his voice that had been in his voice in the Library, though he didn't even realize it, and this time...Angel was too weak to argue.
A/N: Oh dear God, that moment with Angel, being so at the end of her rope as to be willing to fly the Pandorica herself so he wouldn't have to...kills. And to be in the explosion, with her baby, and...and the Dalek...I just...oh boy... :'( What is wrong with me? What could possibly have happened in my life that would turn me so evil as to do this to Angel?! ...besides working in Accounting...lol :) I really have no idea...no, no, actually it's probably Accounting :)
And the baby! OH MY GOD! THE BABY! O.O ...Angel was in A LOT of pain wasn't she? ...is the baby...could the baby be... O.O I can't even say it :( I suppose we'll have to wait till tomorrow(!) to find out what exactly happened to the baby as a result of all of this :(
But I hope it cleared up why Angel teleported River out, she's like the Doctor, SHE'D rather herself be hurt to save someone else :) And, to me, my interpretation of the loop and how the TARDIS was still there was that the explosion kept looping, and THAT was why the TARDIS didn't just go bang and that was it but lasted nearly 2,000 years, because of the loop. Angel knows her TARDISes, she knows that, if someone's there, it'll loop and THAT would buy the Doctor enough time to save Amy. As for River...well, we've seen how the Doctor is when Angel's hurt or in danger or separated from him, I could see River realizing what Angel was going to do and knowing EXACTLY how the Doctor would react to it, how focused and driven he'd be to protect that person later...and she wants that for herself. SHE wants to be the one he's impressed with and concerned about and fretting over, and now it's all on Angel :( Did you like his little 'shouty' moment where we really see just HOW worried he was about it all? :)
As for that little counting thing Angel was doing...anyone want to guess what it is? I can give a hint, every loop in the TARDIS was about...10 seconds long (I actually think I might have really timed that from the episode lol).
We also have another submission for the HOTS challenge! Woo! There's a link up on tumblr also :)
Regaining Treasured Memories - SpaceTime, by Sarah310592, (the fanfiction site)/s/9598449/1/Regaining-Treasured-Memories-Spa ceTime
And wow! We've gotten to another sneak peek (I think that's a new record!) And since I did one from the Christmas special already, I think I'll take one from...the SJA Death of the Doctor! :)
~8~
"Have you told him?"
"I can't," Angel swallowed, "Because he doesn't even realize that he's forgotten. He clearly doesn't want to remember either," she laughed mirthlessly, making Sarah Jane frown at how...not Angel that was, "I told him, right to his face, that we were Mates and he just said that of course we were friends," she shook her head, "I just…I don't know what to do Sarah."
Sarah Jane looked back over at the Doctor as Jo looked surprised at something he'd said to her, "Will he ever remember?"
"I don't know," Angel admitted in a whisper. Sarah Jane could only reach out and take the girl's hand, squeezing it tightly in an offer of strength.
~8~
Sarah Jane you are just SO awesome aren't you?! :) I was debating between this and another moment in that episode, but both were semi-spoilery so I thought you all deserved a little treat, we now know that Sarah Jane will find out at least about the Doctor's amnesia, but I won't say if she'll find out about the baby...if the baby's even still there }:) But as for what led up to her finding out about the amnesia and what she might try to do about it, we'll have to wait and see :)
Some notes on reviews...
They definitely thought she died ;) Good thing the Doctor was still alive, unfortunately none of them know about the Mating so it wouldn't have even clued them in that if he's alive Angel had to be too ;)
River's sort of frozen in time. Like when you blink and miss something. She blinked and was teleported out and back in 2,000 years later, completely unaware it happened. I think, with the TARDIS exploding it wouldn't have been able to complete the teleport so it pulled a CAL and 'saved' her till she could be 'downloaded' again :)
I don't like the Doctor/River pairing at all nope :) But the characters and plot always has a way of taking me places I don't expect and sometimes even places I'm not fond of, so we'll have to see if they'll mutiny and take control of the story :) Lol, it IS a lot of angst isn't it? :)
We'll find out for sure whether the baby might possibly still be alive in the next chapter }:)
I'm glad you like Angel so much (and the Professor) and it's perfectly ok if Evy's not your favorite, it's cool :) Speaking of the Jara spin-off, while I'm set to post that story on the 30th, I've mentioned that if inspiration hits, we might get two (or more) updates a month for each of the spin-offs and I can say there's one chapter for it that will NOT leave me alone. So I'm hoping to write it this weekend and post it (and a post on the 30th too!) :)
I think I can do the Aragorn/OC preview, I tend to do them on the 15th of the month...and I have NO idea why lol, but I might do one for that sooner than that though :) I can say I'll be posting the Aragorn/OC cover on tumblr at some point either today/Saturday/Sunday, I haven't worked out the order of the 3 covers I'll be posting yet :)
Definitely less than 98 reviews left till 1000 :) I'm seriously freaking out about how much people want to know what's happening with Angel and the Doctor, I'm really touched that people like the character so much they want to know that badly :) Oh yes, you will most certainly have to duck }:) But I can promise, for how bad and feel-killing this chapter was...the companions(!) will make an appearance in the next chapter! So it sort of makes up for that a tiny bit :)
I LOVE Charmed :) Lol, Baby Chris is how I picture LJ from the Lunar Cycle to look and little Wyatt is one of the Keta twins from the Academic Series ;) Chris is definitely my favorite, how he gave up so much to try and save his brother, having to deal with his family not trusting him, being around his dead mother, his father trying to kill him half the time, and still he fought for his brother to be good, even after losing Bianca, he was just awesome :)
I might create an original OC one day. I can say that the Clara episodes have a lot going on where Angel might not be able to focus on a companion though, but there's always hope for the future ;)
I haven't seen him in Doctor Faustus no, but I'll definitely have to check it out thanks! :)
Lol, I might actually do something similar to the spin-offs for my next Time Lady, a spin off of the OC's life on Earth and her time with UNIT :) But that's WAY in the future. So far the only spin-off planned for this series is the TARDIS POV that should be up in September :) I'm thinking I might have to limit how many spin-offs I do for a series (2 at most but just 1) because I want to update ALL of them at least once a month and, come September that'll be 4 ongoing spinoffs that I'll have to maintain along with writing and posting other stories and things :) But I can say that I do have quite a few AUs planned for all my series to write either during the (way too massive) lulls between series of DW or after the show ends (which it better not! lol) :) But those are great ideas :) I can say that the TARDIS POV will sort of give a different perspective of the Doctor/Angel's relationship and would be similar to Recollections as we'd see a few off-screen/mentioned adventures too :)
I think, with Owen, he's more focused on his own wife and her pregnancy than to notice the signs in Angel, and, with her being an alien, he wouldn't be able to tell for sure if she was pregnant or if the cravings weren't just alien appetites :) But he might be a bit suspicious though, I think all of the team were for different reasons, like Tosh with the decaf tea, but none of them know for sure since none of them (maybe not even Jack) know what is 'typical' for a Time Lord :)
Vincent and Angel were sort of like siblings yeah, I can see him being an honorary member of Gingers United too ;)
Lol, I actually think I might make TL4 allergic to cats, just to shake things up by giving her an allergy to something so ordinarily Earth in nature :)
Rory will be...conflicted when he figures out who River is and how she's treating Angel. He's noticed there's something off with how Angel reacts to River, how she doesn't seem to like being around her. And, once things calm down and the world isn't ending, I think he'll be able to reflect on little things River does that are hurtful to Angel. I think, the next time we see River, we'll really see Rory's thoughts on what he's realized about how River treats his pilot that we might not see here :)
I agree, 3 chapters is a killer, but it's good for building suspense :) I can say I don't think I will EVER do a story where 3 chapters equals an episode again, not even for Sherlock lol :)
Not quite dead :) But I hope this chapter sort of explained why the Doctor was a little ok with it :) He was doing what Angel asked him to :) Awww :)