The group walked a ways until Alex suddenly started feeling faint again. There was a ridiculous amount of pounding in her head, like there had been before she screamed and passed out. She felt like she was going to throw up and she could feel her energy level rise and fall as her body tried to fight whatever was inside her. Yes, there was something inside her. Not a virus per se, but something that was out to do her harm.

Even though her eyes were now partially squeezed shut in pain, Alex could still make out Amy looking a lot like she was. Amy swayed a bit and Alex started to rush over to her, but suddenly felt faint again and was forced to stop. Luckily for her, River happened to turn around to check on them and Alex could vaguely see her eyes widen in alarm. "Amy? Alex? What's wrong?"

"Four," the girls recited. Amy swayed again and collapsed onto a mossy tree trunk in the middle of the clearing they were in. Alex fell onto the ground. She attempted to make her way over to Amy, but failed as her body lost momentum again.

"Marco, get her and bring her over here!" River commanded. As Alex was being lifted up off the ground, River knelt down next to Amy and called out, "Med scanner, now!" Alex was carefully placed on the trunk next to Amy and immediately curled into a tight ball. Beside her, Amy was in a similar position.

As River sat down next to the girls with the med-scanner, Octavian protested, "Dr. Song, we can't stay here. We've got to keep moving."

Had she been able, Alex would have glared at him. Now though, she settled for thinking rather nasty thoughts about the Bishop. River ignored him, instead focusing on placing a blood pressure cuff around Amy, then Alex.

"We wait for the Doctor," she said calmly.

"Our mission is to make this wreckage safe and neutralize the Angels," Octavian ground out, stepping towards her. "Until that is achieved—"

"Father Octavian," River interrupted. "When the Doctor's in the room, your one and only mission is to keep him and Alex alive long enough to get everyone else home." She turned to give him a wry look. "And trust me, it's not easy. Now, if he's dead back there, I'll never forgive myself. And if he's alive, I'll never forgive him." There was a brief pause, during which Alex was able to detect a slight jolt of adrenaline to her system, which could only mean one thing. "And Doctor, you're standing right behind me, aren't you?"

"Oh, yeah," the Doctor breathed, stepping out of the shadows. Alex opened her eyes slightly and smiled. He looked perfectly fine, except for the glaring absence of his tweed jacket.

River whirled around and fixed him with a smirk. "I hate you," she told him, in the exact type of voice that meant she didn't. It made Alex's jaw clench.

"No, you don't," the Doctor shot back in the exact same tone. Alex's jaw clenched tighter. She watched him race into the clearing. "Bishop, the Angels are in the forest!" he warned.

Octavian nodded. "We need visual contact on every line of approach!" he ordered.

The Doctor ran over to them and knelt beside the girls. He smoothed Alex's bangs away from her forehead and lightly kissed her hairline before moving to Amy. Alex felt herself relax and regain enough strength to move into a sitting position.

"How did you get past them?" River questioned. Alex frowned and opened her eyes all the way. The Doctor was purposely avoiding her gaze and was focusing only on Amy.

"Did you encounter the Weeping Angels?" Alex asked.

"I found a crack in the wall and told them it was the end of the universe," he said casually, answering both Alex and River's questions.

"What was it?" Amy croaked out.

"The end of the universe." Before Alex could jump in, he grabbed the monitor from River's hands and said, "Let's have a look then."

"So what's wrong with me?" Amy wondered. Alex scooted closer to her and brushed some stray hairs out of her face, letting her know she was there.

"Nothing, you're fine," River assured her just as the monitor the Doctor was holding began beeping wildly.

"Everything, you're dying," he blurted, quite unsympathetically actually.

"DOCTOR!" River and Alex snapped. Alex reached over and wacked the back of his head.

"Ow!" he yelped, shooting Alex a dirty look. He eyed them both critically. "Yes, you're right. If we lie to her, she'll get all better." He tossed the monitor to the side and stood up, beginning to pace rapidly. "Amy, Amy, Amy, what's the matter with Amelia? Something's in her eye. What does that mean? Does it mean anything?"

"Doctor," Amy moaned.

"Busy," he shot back.

"Scared!"

"'Course you're scared. You're dying," he retorted. "Shut up!"

"Doctor!" Alex cried, outraged.

"Alex, hit him," Amy weakly instructed. The Doctor hastily moved out of Alex's reach and gave Amy a quick glare before pacing again.

"Okay, let him think," River soothed.

"What happened?" the Doctor questioned. "She stared at the Angel, she looked into the eyes of an Angel for too long. . ."

"Sir! Angel incoming!" a cleric called out.

"And here!"

"Keep visual contact. Do not let it move."

"Come on, come on!" he groaned to himself. "Wakey, wakey! She watched an Angel climb out of the screen, she stared at the Angel and . . . and. . ."

"The Image of an Angel is an Angel," Amy recited.

"A living mental image in a living human mind," the Doctor mused, coming back over to kneel by Amy's head. "We stare at them to stop them from getting closer, we don't even blink, and that is exactly what they want, 'cause as long as our eyes are open, they can climb inside."

Alex's eyes widened, her mind processing this, and the truth soon became clear to her. "There's an Angel in her mind!" she and the Doctor cried at the same time. River stared at them, her eyes wide and filled with terror at this news. Alex hastily looked into Amy's eyes. Sure enough, an outline of an Angel was visible in her pupil.

"Three," Amy and Alex recited and Amy bit down on her lip in an effort to keep unwanted counting from flying out anymore. "Doctor, it's coming. I can feel it! I'm gonna die!"

"Please just shut up," the Doctor begged. "I'm thinking! Now counting - what's that about?"

Alex thought about this. Maybe a scare tactic? It would make sense. It would make someone so terrified about why they were doing this that they wouldn't even notice a Weeping Angel slowly taking over their mind. She was about to voice this to the Doctor when she heard him ask into the com, "Bob, why are they making Amy and Alex count?"

"To make them afraid, sir," Bob replied calmly.

"Okay, but why? What for?"

"For fun, sir." Alex mentally groaned. Did these Angels have a death wish or what?

She watched as the Doctor's gaze grew dark and he growled slightly, the sound sounding both terrifying and sexy to Alex, before throwing the communicator down on the ground, most likely causing it to bust. Let them try to hurt Alex and Amy, he thought. They won't succeed. I'll make sure of it.

"Doctor, what's happening to me?" Amy asked, her voice weak and filled with terror. "Explain."

He sighed and stepped towards her again, gently pushing Alex to the side to sit next to her head. "Inside your head, in the vision centers of your brain, there's an Angel. It's like there's a screen, a virtual screen inside your mind and the Angel is climbing out of it and its coming . . . to shut you off."

"Why isn't Alex being affected the same way as her?" River wondered.

The Doctor thought about this very quickly. He had a pretty good idea and it only proved, once again, that Alex really wasn't that safe in many situations. "Alex's mind is extremely strong," he said slowly. "There's an Angel in there but Alex's mind is fighting it, trying to get it out like with the Star Whale and with me when I entered her mind."

"That screaming I was doing and when I fell unconscious. . ." Alex started, then stopped, trying to wrap her head around this. "I could feel those atomic bomb things going off in my head."

"Your body temporarily shut itself down and when the Angel was significantly weakened, it allowed itself to go back to normal."

"Is the Angel inside me defeated?" Alex asked.

The Doctor only had to take one look into Alex's eyes to answer that question. Surrounded by copper-colored irises, an outline of an Angel could be seen in her pupils. It appeared to be a little weak, but also extremely angry. "No, not exactly," he answered cautiously. He readied himself for an outburst but was surprised when Alex simply cast her eyes to the ground, swallowed down a lump in her throat, and silently nodded.

"Okay," she whispered, accepting her fate. She looked over and eyed Amy nervously. "What about Amy?"

The Doctor's face tightened and he mentally cursed the Angels in just about every language he could think of. "Ally, your mind is not normal. You see past perception filters with ease and your mind goes DEFCON whenever something threatens you. Normal humans cannot do that. Amy's mind is average. It's so normal that the Angel can access it easily."

"Then what do I do?" Amy shivered.

"If this was a real screen, what would we do?" The Doctor stood up, glancing between Alex and River.

"We'd pull the plug, we'd kill the power," Alex answered. She suddenly looked panicked. "But we can't just knock her out!"

"You're right," the Doctor conceded. "The Angel would just take over."

"Then, what?" River asked, her voice expressing worry. As she kept a close eye on the rapidly dropping blood pressure monitor, she reminded him, "Quickly."

"We've got to shut down the vision centers of her brain!" the Doctor cried. "We've got to pull the plug, starve the Angel."

"Doctor, she's got seconds!" River reported.

"How would you starve your lungs?" the Doctor wondered, not letting panic seep into his voice even though it was already spreading through his system like poison.

"Uh, I'd stop breathing," River replied, distracted.

Alex immediately saw where the Doctor was going. "Amy, close your eyes!" she ordered.

"No, no, I don't want to," Amy whimpered.

"Good, because that's not you, that's the Angel inside you," the Doctor spoke softly, trying to keep the frightened girl calm. "It's afraid. Just listen to Alex. Close your eyes."

She glanced between them in fear before willing herself to close her eyes. Once she did, River's monitor beeped and switched from the alarming red it had been to a calm green. "She's normalizing," River breathed. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, you did it! You two did it!"

"Sir? Two more incoming," a cleric announced, unwillingly breaking the joyful mood.

"Three more over here!"

Amy slowly sat up, assisted by Alex. River monitored her vitals before abruptly pulling the blood pressure cuff off her arm. The Doctor stood in front of Amy, watching her like he expected her to spontaneously burst into flames, as River reported, "Still weak. Dangerous to move her."

"So, can I open my eyes now?" Amy quizzed. She really wanted to open her eyes. It was scary keeping them closed while a bunch of Weeping Angels ran all around the group.

"Amy, listen to me," the Doctor ordered, his voice both firm and gentle. "If you open your eyes for more than a second, you will die. The Angel is still inside you. We haven't stopped it. We've just sort of. . ." He paused, looking for the right words. ". . .paused it. You've used up your countdown. You cannot open your eyes." River wrapped an arm around Amy while Alex gently squeezed her shoulder.

"Doctor, we're too exposed here!" Octavian cried. "We have to move on."

"We're too exposed everywhere," Alex grimaced. "And Amy can't move!"

"And anyway, that's not the plan," the Doctor jumped in, getting Alex's attention.

"There's a plan?" River and Alex questioned. Once the two had finished, they slowly turned to look at each-other, both shocked. River shook her head. "God, you two are rubbing off on me," she muttered bitterly.

"I don't know yet," the Doctor replied quickly. He didn't exactly look forward to the prospect of a cat-fight between River and Alex and he didn't want one to start now.

"Doctor, what about me?" Alex asked. River immediately started checking her blood pressure as Alex asked, "I mean, there's an Angel in my mind. Am I safe?"

The Doctor was about to respond when River cut in. "Her blood pressure's perfectly fine," she reported, taking the cuff off Alex. "But, based on the way she's been acting, it probably isn't a good idea to take her along. She could collapse again."

Alex wanted to hate River for this remark and dismiss it off as jealousy - even though she had no idea why River would be jealous of her - but she knew the somewhat insufferable woman was right. She could have a freak-out at any moment. The safest place for her right now was not by the Doctor's side but by Amy's.

The Doctor also knew this, but he hated to admit it. He wanted - no, needed - Alex by his side. He wanted to protect her, but he knew forcing her to move quickly along a huge oxygen factory was selfish for him and harmful for her. He reluctantly nodded and bent down to meet Alex's eyes. "She's right," he admitted, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice and failing. "It wouldn't be safe for you."

Alex nodded, then thought of something. "Doctor?" she said hesitantly.

"Yes?"

Alex swallowed roughly before plunging ahead. "Could you . . . maybe, take a peek in my mind at the Angel?" she requested. "Just to see what it's doing?"

The Doctor was surprised, to say the least. He stared at her, his expression serious. "Are you sure?" he asked quietly. Amy and River, sensing that this was a private conversation being continued, shifted a little ways away from them. "I don't want to cause you any more pain."

"I'll be fine," Alex assured him. She looked up at the glass ceiling of the oxygen factory and studied the stars that gazed down upon them. Then, still staring upwards, she said, "I just want to know what my mind is doing."

The Doctor nodded, knowing it would be pointless to try and change her mind. Instead, he got up and sat beside her. He gently pulled her into his lap and settled her so that her back was pressed into his chest. "Comfy?" he asked. Alex nodded and closed her eyes. Breathing deeply, he placed his hands on Alex's temple and entered her mind.

Her mind was dark except for a single spot of illumination. He was shocked to find a Weeping Angel in a type of cage. It had been significantly weakened and appeared to have parts of it missing while other places were crumbling into dust. Its face was currently showing a look of outrage and pain. Clearly, Alex's mind had done a number on it.

He sensed the mental attack rather than felt it. The Doctor hastily retreated out of Alex's mind and found himself back in the Byzantium oxygen factory, Alex perched on his lap, her eyes closed and her jaw clenched. He lifted a hand and smoothed out her hair, causing Alex to relax almost instantly.

She opened her eyes, now a simple chocolate brown. "Well?" She looked at him expectantly.

"Your mind currently has the Angel trapped," he told her. "I saw a cage which I guess is the equivalent of stopping it for the time being. The Angel was rather weak and it can't do much to you right now."

Alex nodded. "That's good." She looked into his eyes and studied them carefully. In them, she saw fear, worry, and a huge amount of determination to save her, Amy and everyone here. She also saw a faint glimmer of something she couldn't identify. Is it . . . love? She wondered. Oh, God, Alex! Stop it! Get it through your head! He isn't in love with you!

She smirked at him and reluctantly got off his lap. "Go," she ordered, sitting down beside him. "Save the planet and everyone here."

He nodded and leapt to his feet. "Right!" he cried, jumping up on a rock. "Father, you and your clerics, you're gonna stay here, look after Amy and Alex. If anything happens to either one of them, I'll hold every single one of you personally responsible . . . twice. River, you and me, we're gonna go find the primary flight deck, which is. . ." He licked his finger and moved around until he was facing Amy, Alex, and River again. "Quarter of a mile straight ahead, and from there, we're going to stabilize the wreckage, stop the Angels, and cure Amy and Alex."

"How?" River questioned.

"I'll do a thing," he replied vaguely.

"What thing?" River frowned.

"I don't know!" he admitted, exasperated. "It's a thing in progress, respect the thing! Moving out!"

"Doctor, I'm coming with you!" Octavian spontaneously declared. He approached the Doctor and River to look them right in the eye, but he could already see that the Doctor wasn't thrilled about his announcement. "My clerics will look after Miss Pond and your Ally. These are my best men. They'd lay down their lives in their protection."

"I don't need you," the Doctor scoffed. He took a backwards glance at Alex before adding under his breath, "And Alex is not my anything."

"I don't care," Octavian shot back. "Where Dr. Song goes, I go."

The Doctor stared at them, completely baffled. "What?" he blurted out, similar to the way his tenth incarnation used to do. He stared at River, then Octavian. "You two engaged or something?"

God, if only it were that simple, Alex thought wryly. She wouldn't have felt so threatened by River if she had been Octavian's fiancée - even though she didn't have a reason to feel threatened by River in the first place. She wasn't involved with the Doctor. That was that.

Octavian gave River a long look, who shifted slightly, before turning back to the Doctor. "Yes. In a manner of speaking," he answered vaguely. "Marco!" he called to a cleric. "You're in charge till I get back."

"Sir!" Marco affirmed.

As the three began to walk ahead, Amy called out, "Doctor! Please, can't I come with you?"

"You'd slow us down, Miss Pond," Octavian told her, no trace of sympathy in his voice. Alex frowned and stuck her tongue out at his retreating back, before muttering an unintelligible curse under her breath.

"I don't want to sound selfish, but you'd really speed me up!" Amy shot back. Alex smirked and watched as the Doctor sat down beside Amy.

"You'll be safer here," the Doctor explained gently. "We can't protect you or Alex on the move. I'll be back for you as soon as I can. I promise."

Amy frowned. "You always say that," she retorted. Alex bit her lip and turned to watch the clerics watch the Angels. She knew Amy still had trust issues regarding the Doctor and her waiting for different periods of time. She was still scarred from him abandoning her when she was seven years old and frankly, Alex couldn't blame her. Amy should be a bit cautious when it came to this man.

"I always come back," the Doctor reminded her. He stood up and looked around at the clerics. "Good luck, everyone! Behave! Do not let that girl open her eyes! And keep watching the forest. Stop those Angels advancing. Amy, Ally . . . later." He turned to River and Octavian in the distance. "River, going to need your computer!" And with that, he was gone.

Amy shook her head. "Yeah, later," she responded sadly.

Alex sighed but quickly gritted her teeth as a ridiculous pounding started in her head. Apparently, the Angel had regained some strength and was using it to try and overpower her. Well, that's not happening. Alex squeezed her eyes shut and buried her head in her lap as she waited for the pounding to pass. As she was down there, she heard footsteps approaching them.

"Amy, you need to start trusting me." It was the Doctor! Alex perked up, but quickly perked back down again as she detected something in his voice. It sounded like desperation and sadness. He hadn't been like that a few seconds ago! "It's never been more important."

"But you don't always tell me the truth," Amy accused.

The Doctor laughed slightly. "If I always told you the truth, I wouldn't need you to trust me."

"Doctor," Amy began slowly. "The crack in my wall. . . How can it be here?"

"I don't know yet, but I'm working it out." The Doctor's voice sounded rushed and he paused for a moment, possibly to try and gather his thoughts. "Now, listen," he instructed. "Remember what I told you when you were seven?"

"What did you tell me?" Amy asked, confused.

"No. No," the Doctor groaned. "That's not the point. You have to remember."

"Remember what?" Amy quizzed desperately. But there was no response from the Doctor. "Doctor? Doctor?"

Alex lifted her head, the pain having subsided a bit, as Amy quieted down, now convinced that the Doctor had left. But Alex knew otherwise. She could feel a distinct rush of adrenaline in her system and her heart was beating faster than it had been before. She scooted away from Amy a little, her eyes still closed, and hesitantly whispered, "I know you're still here."

There was a deep, throaty chuckle that sounded like it was coming from in front of her. "You always know," the Doctor said. Alex heard him shift and he was kneeling in front of her. She smiled, beginning to open her eyes, when she felt a hand cover them.

"Don't," the Doctor ordered. Alex stiffened at the edge in his voice and nodded slightly. She heard the Doctor sigh. "Sorry," he whispered, removing his hand.

"You don't need to be worried about me," Alex assured him. "I'm fine. It's just a headache. The Weeping Angel is just trying to break out of its cage, that's all."

"Hmm," the Doctor hummed. He reached out and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear before slowly tracing her jawline with the pad of his thumb. Alex's breath hitched and she shifted closer to him.

"Like that?" Alex could practically hear the smirk in his voice. He knew he was making her lose control and that was the one thing Alex didn't like to do; except with him.

Alex bit her lip to keep from moaning out a 'yes' and instead reached out to grab his shirt collar and pull him closer to her. Damn not kissing him! She'd kiss him properly this time, completely unlike the spur-of-the-moment one during the Dalek adventure. She was going to. . . Alex stopped as she felt a familiar material beneath her fingertips. It was a tweed jacket, the one the Doctor always wore. But he had lost his to the Weeping Angels a few minutes ago. So . . . how was he wearing this one?

"Doctor," she said, running her fingers over the material, "where did you get—"

But Alex was cut off as the Doctor, without warning, pressed his lips to hers. Alex was shocked, but quickly overcame it. After all, she had been fantasizing about this for the last two years.

The Doctor's lips tasted like how you might imagine a flame would taste, all daring and hot. Alex grazed her tongue over his upper lip and she could vaguely hear him suppress a moan. He parted willingly and she dove her tongue into his mouth, running it over every inch, committing it to memory. He reached up and tugged slightly on her hair, pulling her head back to slant her mouth over his the way he wanted. Alex felt a shiver run through her at his dominating actions but didn't do anything to stop them. As far as she was concerned, he could do whatever he wanted to her.

The Doctor sank his teeth into her lower lip and nibbled a little, requesting permission. Alex gleefully opened her mouth and about fell back in ecstasy as his tongue raced over the roof of her mouth. His hands landed on her hips and she was soon pressed right against him. How anyone wasn't noticing them she could not answer.

The Doctor moved his lips away from hers and started planting hot kisses down her neck. Alex strained towards him. "Please," she begged. "Don't stop."

She felt him smirk against her skin before he planted a long, lingering kiss in the hollow of her throat. Alex swallowed the strangled cry that threatened to come up and dug her fingers in his hair, pulling him back up to her lips. She hurriedly kissed him, feeling rushed and panicked all at once, as though this were all something that had to be done quickly.

She was about to move and kiss his jaw when she felt his hands land on her shoulders and push her back. Alex whimpered slightly from the loss of contact and tugged on his jacket collar. She wanted to forget all about the Weeping Angels here and just keep on kissing him senseless. She knew it was selfish, but she wanted this more than anything.

He moved out of reach. "I have to go," he said softly but firmly. There was a pause and then, Alex felt his lips on her forehead. That kiss was oh-so brief and then, like a ghost, he was gone.

Alex felt a slight lump rise in her throat but shoved it back down. She was not going to cry over this man leaving her, particularly when said man was being completely mysterious for no apparent reason. For whatever reason, he needed Amy to remember something, something Amy herself couldn't remember. And he had somehow regained his tweed jacket even though she knew he had lost it to the Weeping Angels. Alex wouldn't have put it past him to keep a spare somewhere on him, but it was still extremely suspicious.

She groaned as she opened her eyes and muttered, "That man is an absolute mystery. He'll be the death of me."

"Mine too," Amy joked, although Alex knew there was a small glimmer of possibility in her statement as well.

Alex scooted closer to Amy and the two sat in silence for a few minutes, Amy trying not to panic and Alex trying to figure out what the hell had been up with the Doctor. "Do you know what the Doctor was talking about to you a few minutes ago?" she abruptly asked. When Amy raised an eyebrow, Alex blushed and smiled apologetically, even though she knew Amy couldn't see her. "Sorry. Couldn't help but overhear."

Amy shrugged. "It's fine. I don't know. I can't recall him telling me anything majorly important when I was seven." She was silent for a moment before speaking again. "What did he say to you? I heard you telling him that you knew he was still here and then him replying but nothing after that."

Alex shifted and gulped. She didn't really want to tell Amy of her kiss with the Doctor. She knew her friend - for whatever reason - had developed a crush on their time-traveling alien friend, or at the very least wanted to sleep with him, and it didn't seem right flaunting it in Amy's face that the Doctor had kissed her best friend. On the other hand though, maybe she would dismiss a romantic interest in the Doctor as foolhardy and follow her heart back to Rory. Oh, but then Alex would never hear the end of the Doctor having a crush on her. No, better to stay silent for the time being.

"Oh, uh, nothing," she lied. "He was just checking on me. I had a headache, but I'm better now."

"That's good," Amy said, not allowing her true thoughts to enter her voice. Alex was hiding something, but what? Knowing it would be pointless to try and grill her, Amy decided to see how their current situation was. "So . . . what's happening?" she called over to one of the clerics. "Anything happening out there?"

"The Angels are still grouping," one of the men told her. Above them, the lights flickered ominously. "Are you getting this, too?" the man asked another cleric.

"The trees? Yeah."

Amy straightened up, her shoulders stiff. "What's wrong with the trees?" she demanded.

Alex's eyes darted around them, watching for any Weeping Angels. As a cleric called out something, she answered, "The Angels. They're ripping the tree-borgs apart."

"And here!" a cleric Alex thought was called Philip reported. "They're taking out the lights."

Amy was rapidly beginning to panic and she grabbed Alex's wrist in a death-grip. As Alex winced, she cried, "What is it? What's happening? Tell me! I can't see!"

"It's the trees, ma'am," Marco answered grimly. "The trees are going out."

"Oh, crap," Amy mumbled. "I can't see and we're in a bloody forest with bloody Weeping Angels!"

Think I don't know that? Alex thought, but didn't say. Aloud, she quipped, "Well, look on the bright side. At least we're not in a black hole! Then we'd really be screwed!"

Amy frowned. "Shut up, Alex."

Alex was about to retort when she heard some clerics announce that the Angels were advancing on their respective sides. "Weapons primed," Marco ordered. "Combat distance five feet. Wait for it."

"What is it?" Amy demanded, hating that she couldn't see and was pretty much being kept out of the loop. "What's happening? Just tell me!"

"Just keep your eyes shut, Amy, and don't move," Alex advised. She was about to say more when she caught sight of a bright light currently flooding one side of the forest. "What the hell?" she blurted out.

"What is it?" Amy asked, reacting to Alex's sudden outburst.

Alex ignored her though. "The ship's not on fire, is it?" she asked, remembering the burning ship she saw crushed into a mound of rock hours earlier.

"It can't be!" one cleric protested. "The compressors would have taken care of it."

Alex frowned. Well, what else could that light be? A startling thought occurred to her and she was just about to voice it when a cleric announced, "Marco, the Angels have gone! Where'd they go?"

"They just vanished?" Amy shot a confused look at Alex.

"This side's clear too, sir."

"Are you seriously saying that the Angels are just gone?" Alex checked, not believing her ears.

"There's still movement out there," one cleric told her. "But away from us now. It's like they're running."

What the hell could frighten a Weeping Angel? Alex wondered. It would have to be something big. Again, she thought about the startling thought that had come to her a few moments ago. Was it the crack? Was it expanding?

"Running from what?" Amy questioned.

"Phillip, Crispin," Marco called, attracting Alex's attention. He pointed to the light and ordered, "Need to get a closer look at that."

Alex frowned. For some reason, she didn't think that was a good idea. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" she demanded, but the clerics ignored her and headed towards the light.

"What are you all looking at?" Amy demanded, beyond frustrated that she couldn't see anything. "What's there?"

"It's like. . ." Marco trailed off, trying to figure out how to explain such a sight to a person who currently couldn't see. "I don't know, a curtain of energy, sort of shifting. Makes you feel weird, sick."

"And you think it scared the Angels?"

"What could scare those things?" a cleric wondered.

It was then that Alex noticed Amy turning on the spot, trying to find a certain spot. She frowned at her and narrowed her eyes, even though she knew it wasn't worth doing since Amy couldn't see, thus not being affected by them. "Amy, what are you doing?"

"Point me at the light," Amy ordered her, knowing that Alex would immensely disapprove of what she was planning to do, but not caring in the slightest.

"You can't open your eyes!" Marco objected, unable to avoid hearing the girls' conversation.

"I can't open them for more than a second," Amy corrected. "That's what the Doctor said. I've still got a bit of countdown left."

"I will not let you do this," Alex argued, her eyes flashing angrily. "I'm not going let you kill yourself! And even if you do succeed, the Doctor will kill us both!"

"Ma'am, you can't," Marco continued, but Alex already knew that it was pointless. Once Amy Pond made up her mind on something, you couldn't argue her out of it.

"I need to see it!" Amy cried. Alex sighed. She knew Amy had made up her mind and no amount of arguing could change it. The Doctor will kill me for this, she thought wryly, before tuning back in to hear Amy ask, "Am I looking the right way? I have to be quick."

Alex reluctantly moved her into the right position. A moment later, Amy opened her eyes, which widened in terror as she saw the crack outline heading closer towards them.

"It's the same shape!" she gasped. "It's the crack in my wall!"

"Amy, close your eyes now," Alex gently ordered her, but Amy was too shocked to listen.

"It's following me! How can it be following me?" she shakily wondered as she sank down to the ground, landing on her knees. Alex followed her and hurriedly covered Amy's eyes. Once she felt Amy's eyelashes flutter closed, she removed her hand and watched Amy process this new information.

"Are you alright?" Marco called over to them.

"Yeah," Amy answered. "I-it was the same shape. Alex, what does that mean?"

Alex sighed and shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted aloud. "I really don't." She rubbed Amy's arm comfortingly. "But don't worry. The Doctor will fix it. I know he will."

"Marco, you want me to get a closer look at that?" a cleric Alex was pretty sure was called Pedro asked. She frowned at him but only frowned even further at Marco's answer of approval.

"Don't get too close," Marco warned as Pedro set off, leaving them to be guarded by only one cleric.

"Hang on, what about the other two?" Amy asked him.

Alex felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She knew it hadn't been a good idea for those clerics to go off and investigate that crack. "Why not just wait until they're back?"

Marco turned to look at them confusedly. "What other two?" he demanded.

"The ones you sent before," Amy reminded him. Even though she couldn't see him, she still managed a frown in his direction.

"I didn't send anyone before," Marco objected.

Alex's eyes widened. Was he an idiot or something? Knowing recent events, probably 'or something'. . . "Yes, you did," she argued. "Phillip and Crispin. I said that probably wasn't a good idea and judging by how you can't remember them, I was right!"

But Marco didn't register this last part. "Crispin and who?" he frowned.

Amy quickly spoke up. "It's true, I heard you!"

"Ladies, there never was a Crispin or Philip on this mission," Marco insisted. "I promise you."

"No, I heard you," Amy continued, desperately trying to get him to see the truth. "Before you sent Pedro, you sent Crispin and Phillip and now you can't even remember them."

Something had to have happened, Alex thought. She cast a nervous look at the expanding crack. And I'll bet anything that it had something to do with that crack.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by Marco repeating, "Pedro?" He said this in a confused voice and Alex instantly knew that he had forgotten that cleric as well.

"Yeah, before you sent Pedro," Amy impatiently replied.

"Who's Pedro?" Marco questioned.

Alex groaned and sank down onto the tree stump. God, what was happening here? It was like these men, once reaching the crack, were . . . erased from people's minds. But why only Marco? How come she and Amy weren't being affected? It could be because of my mind, but that still doesn't explain Amy.

". . .Pedro was here a second ago and now you can't even remember him!" Amy was crying as Alex tuned back in.

"There never was a Pedro!" Marco cried, frustrated. Sighing, he lowered his voice to gently say, "There's only ever been the three of us here."

"No, there were six of us!" Alex snapped. She got up and began to pace. "Why can't you remember?" she shouted towards the ceiling.

"Listen," Marco said, turning to Alex. "I need to get a look at that light, whatever it is."

Alex felt like banging her head against a tree - or his even. "Were you even listening to a word we said?!" she shouted. "That light is the whole cause of why you can't remember three clerics!"

"Don't worry, I won't get too close," he assured her.

"No, you can't!" Amy objected, although not as fiercely as Alex. "You mustn't!"

"Here." Marco reached into his bag, ignoring their protests, and pulled out a communicator. He passed it to Amy. "Spare communicator. I'll stay in touch the whole time."

"You won't," Amy remarked gravely, shaking her head. "Because if you go back there, what happened to the others will happen to you!"

"There weren't any others!" Marco protested.

"There won't be any you if you go back there!" Alex yelled. God, why couldn't this man get it?!

"Two minutes," he assured them, again ignoring everything they had to say. "I promise."

"Please, just listen to us!" Amy begged.

Alex closed her eyes and groaned. "Stupid, bloody, religious numbskull!" she cried. She had half a mind to march off after him but she knew she couldn't leave Amy alone. The Weeping Angels could come back at any minute and someone who could actually see needed to be there to hold them off.

"Alex, where are you?" Amy cried out, her voice panicked. "Don't leave!"

Alex crouched down next to her and rubbed her shoulder. "I'm right here. Don't worry, the last thing I'm doing is leaving you."

The girls situated themselves back on the tree stump. Alex stood on top of it, up on her tip-toes, trying to see any Weeping Angels, how big the crack was, and Marco. So far, she hadn't seen any Angels or Marco, but she could tell that the crack was big and it was getting even bigger by the minute. As she kept watch, Amy was fiddling with the communicator, trying to contact Marco.

"Hello?" Amy called softly into the device. "Are you there? Hello? Hello?"

"I'm here," Marco's voice responded. Both girls breathed sighs of relief. "I'm fine. Quite close to it now."

"Then come back," Amy begged. She knew Alex was starting to get worried, even though she hadn't said anything out loud. Both of them would feel a lot safer if the cleric was there with them. "Come back now, please."

"It's weird looking at it," Marco revealed. Alex listened attentively. His voice sounded awed and distanced at the same time. "It feels really. . ." Feedback erupted on the com and Alex felt a cloud of despair sink over her. Marco had evidently disappeared, just like the other clerics. Stupid, creepy crack, she thought angrily.

"Really what? Hello? Really what?" Amy demanded desperately. She fiddled with the dials on the com some more. "Hello? Hello?!"

"Amy—" Alex began, but Amy refused to listen.

"Hello?! Please say you're there! Hello? Hello?"

"Amy, he's gone," Alex said sadly. She jumped down and sat next to her distraught friend. "It's just us now."

A/N: They kissed! Properly this time, not just a quick peck! And that Doctor was from the future. Wonder what's going to happen. . .? :)

Notes on reviews. . .

rycbar15 - Thanks for the compliment! And don't give up on writing. Believe me, I used to write horribly. Most of my stuff from elementary school is unreadable and embarrassing. Sorry, you'll just have to wait and see what exactly Alex is. I can promise that it'll be big though, so that's something. :)

HopieCC - Glad you like that Alex is counting down with Amy. You're right, I can't think of any OC fics I've read where that happens. And I have to agree with your comment about Alex and River. Alex is concerned about why River is in prison, but she's more inclined to judge after she learns why River is in prison. At this point, for all she knows, River's in jail for shoplifting. :) Right now, she just doesn't like River because she's flirty with the Doctor. :)

SopherGopherroxursox - I'm glad you like the dynamic with River and Alex. Lots of OC stories portray OC's and River as friends/almost-sisters, but based on Alex and River's personalities, I think they're a bit more inclined to act as frenemies. :) I can also say, on the Mels note, that 'Let's Kill Hitler' is very entertaining and interesting.

The-Lonely-Assassins - Thanks for the kind criticism! I'll admit, the Doctor is a little different here than he is on the show, mainly around Alex, but I am trying to keep him just like he is on the show as much as possible. And I'm trying not to be mean to River, I swear I'm not! I'll admit that I really don't like River that much. I've always seen her as manipulative and not really concerned about anyone else except the Doctor, but I'm not a fan of character-bashing stories and this is not going to be one of them. I promise I'm going to try to treat River equally. Glad you like the story and I hope you keep reading! :)

ElysiumPhoenix - I can't say who she bit! It will be revealed eventually. :)

Thank you to Sherlockian082994, Gwilwillith, BadWolf666, rycbar15, HopieCC, SopherGopherroxursox, The-Lonely-Assassins, and ElysiumPhoenix for reviewing and thank you to those who followed/favored this story and put me on Author Alert. It means so much! Now, I have to go do history homework. . . :( Please review and see you tomorrow!