A/N Io non proprio DW o la BBC.

Book of the Update: The Odyssey by Homer

Chapter 28

"Wrong. Wrong. Wrong."

"Doctor, why did we come here if you're just going to criticize everything?" Donna asked at last, finally fed up with the Doctor hopping around, claiming that artifacts and their dates were wrong.

He ignored her. "Ooh, that's one of mine! Oh, that is as well! Oh, but that's wrong."

Rose giggled and shared a look with Donna. "Yeah, we get it, Doctor. Everything's wrong except what's yours. Can we go now?"

He looked up in indignation. "You don't like museums? I love museums."

"No, they're all sort of…" She waved her hand around wrinkling her nose. "Dusty. And boring."

He stepped over, standing very close to her. Their chests were almost touching. "Oh, Rose Tyler," he said quietly. "We could make this museum very unboring."

"Oh yeah?" she challenged, looking up at him, "And how would we do that?"

"I've got quite a few ideas," he said, his voice husky. She was sure her face turned scarlet, but before she had a chance to reply, Donna made a groaning noise.

"I'm still here! Might do you well to remember there's other people on this planet, please and thank you!" she cried, hand over her eyes. Rose's eyes widened and she blushed furiously, but the Doctor didn't even seem to mind. He just winked at Rose and took her hand, leading them both over to look at the artifacts once more.

"It's not a planet, Donna Noble," he announced, "It's an asteroid. This is the Delirium Archive, final resting place of the Headless Monks. The biggest museum ever."

Donna just rolled her eyes and watched as the Doctor continued to go around and judge the artifacts. Most were wrong. Rose was pulled along rather helplessly, but she didn't seem to mind. The Doctor kept one eye on the artifacts and one eye on her, as well as his hands and occasionally his lips on her cheek or the crown of her head. It was rather sweet, actually. She'd sort of tuned out his repeated announcement of 'wrong' when he stopped suddenly, looking at an artifact as though it had burned him.

"Oh, but this….this isn't right at all," he mumbled, his brows furrowed and his mouth open.

"What is it?" Rose asked, looking at him with concern. Donna walked over to see the artifact that was causing so much confusion.

"It's just an old box," she said with her eyebrows raised. "What's so wrong about an old box?"

"It's not just any old box, it's a homebox. From one of the old starliners. Sort of like a blackbox on an airplane," he explained dismissively at their questioning looks," but look at this. This writing? Shouldn't be here. It's impossible. This is Old High Gallifreyan. Lost language of the Time Lords." He paused, looking at it. "There was a time, long ago, when these letters could burn through stars and tear apart galaxies. But that was centuries – millennia ago. They stopped using this when I was only 300. No one else knows it, because –" he stopped short. "Anyway, it's impossible."

"Doctor," Rose asked gently, "What does it say?"

He smiled bitterly. "Hello sweetie."

Donna's eyes widened. "Oh! But I've heard that before, back in that big library, with that River woman!"

"River woman?" Rose asked, picturing an alien made out of water. Or perhaps some ancient tribal person, who went by the names of the earth and stuff.

The Doctor released her hand. "Yes. That's why we've got to…." He paused, looking around the corner briefly and then back at the glass case enclosing the box. Within seconds, he'd sonicked the lock on the case and threw off the glass. The sound of shattering and alarms blaring filled their ears. He snatched the box. "Run!"

DOCTOR WHO

The Doctor flung open the door, his arms open, and stumbled back as a woman crashed into him. "River?" he asked her, but she ignored it.

"Follow that ship," she commanded, pointing to a spaceship out in the distance, amidst the stars. The Doctor nodded and ran to the console, setting his ship to actually fly for once.

Rose just looked around, a bit confused. After a second or two, she stepped down to the woman and held out her hand. "Hello. I'm Rose."

The woman turned to look at her and smiled from ear to ear. "Yes, yes you are," she said, ignoring her hand and pulling her into a tight hug. Rose blinked but hugged her back, albeit a bit awkwardly. The woman froze and pulled back suddenly. "You don't know who I am."

Rose smiled nervously. "Umm, sorry."

The woman laughed, but her eyes were sad. "No, I'm sorry. I'm making a lovely first impression. I'm River Song," she said, holding out her hand.

Rose took it with a smile. "Rose Tyler."

River's eyes twinkled, but she said nothing. She looked around. "Is Amy here?" Rose shook her head and the woman sighed. "Oh. Donna, hello! Have you met me yet?"

"Don't you remember?" Donna asked, her eyebrows scrunched together.

River shrugged, laughing. "Hasn't happened to me yet." She looked as though she were about to say something else, but before she could, the TARDIS swung around violently, sending them all crashing to the floor, and River jumped up and ran to the console, flipping switches.

"What're you doing?" The Doctor cried over the noise of everything shaking about.

"Helping you fly the TARDIS! Turn on the stabilizers!"

"There are no stabilizers!"

"The blue buttons!" River cried, frustrated.

"They don't do anything, they're just blue!"

River slammed her palm down onto the blue buttons and the TARDIS stopped shaking immediately. "Yes," she said slowly, "The blue stabilizers."

Rose raised her eyebrows and shared a look with the Doctor, who seemed miffed that someone could fly his ship better than him. "We're losing them," he announced, "They've gone into warp speed."

River rolled her eyes and shoved him out of the way, spewing out a long string of words that Rose couldn't understand and apparently landing the TARDIS without the whooshy noise. Rose loved the whooshy noise. The Doctor seemed like he was trying very hard not to be aggravated. "Alright, let's have a look," he said, leaving River at the console. He grabbed Rose's hand and stepped toward the door. Rose gave him a questioning look, but he just shrugged and shook his head. It seemed he knew nothing about this River Song as well.

"Wait! Environment check!" she cried, but the Doctor just rolled his eyes and opened the door.

"Right, yes. Sorry, environment check. It's nice out," he declared sarcastically after he'd poked his head outdoors. River started to read something off of the screen, but the Doctor cut her off. "We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet in the Dundra system, oxygen rich atmosphere, eleven hour day, and a chance of rain later."

Rose laughed. "You think you're so impressive."

He winked at her and shut the door, leading them back over to the console. "I am so impressive."

"How do you know how to fly this thing?" Donna asked River, who smirked.

"Oh, I had lessons from the best."

The Doctor leaned against the wall, a proud look on his face. "Well…yeah."

"Shame you were busy that day," River continued, looking at the Doctor.

Donna snorted. The Doctor frowned and stood up straight, dropping Rose's hand and ushering River out of the TARDIS. "Have fun." And he slammed the door behind her.

"Doctor!" Rose admonished, "That was rude!"

"I don't care."

"Why are you running away from her?" Donna asked, crossing her arms.

The Doctor frowned and walked over to the console, preparing to start the dematerialization sequence. "Because she's the future. My future. And I don't want to deal with it."

"So, um…what is she to you? In the future?" Rose asked, a bit nervous to hear the answer.

He froze where he stood and turned to look at her. "Not what you think," he told her solemnly, "I promise, she's not what you're thinking."

Rose chuckled nervously, trying not to show how relieved she was. "Right, cause you don't do that. Don't do domestic."

He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He just stood there, looking at her. "I could," he said quietly. So quietly that a first Rose thought she had imagined it. But before she had a chance to say anything, he cleared his throat and looked away. "Yes, well, let's go."

"Hold on," Donna cut in, "I wanna see this Alfalfa planet. Can't we just go out for a little while?"

He groaned. "You two are going to be the death of me. Alright, come on. But only for a little while!" he called after them, as they'd already run outside. With a sigh, he released the controls and walked outside, shutting the door of his ship behind him. "Now you've seen Alfava Metraxis. Let's go."

"Oh come on, Doctor," Rose said, taking his hand and leaning on his arm. "Don't be such a bore. Let's have a look around!" He smiled despite himself. Rose was always so optimistic and happy wherever they ended up. Here they were in a filthy shipwrecked wasteland, and she wanted to explore. Fantastic. "Why did it crash?" she asked, looking up at the destroyed ship.

River sighed. "Was that my fault?"

"No," the Doctor said, but he gave no explanation.

"Shouldn't we try to get them out?" Rose asked in concern, but the Doctor just shook his head sadly.

"No survivors."

They were silent for a while. Rive pulled out a box-shaped scanner – or maybe it was a communication device – and raised it in the air. It beeped.

"I don't get it," Donna said in a hushed voice to the Doctor, "how did she do that box thingy in the museum?"

"Two things always guaranteed to turn up in a museum: the category 9 starliner homebox, and sooner or later, him. It's how he keeps score," River told Rose, who giggled.

"I'm not a taxi service," the Doctor said, wagging his finger at them. "I'm not going to be there every time you decide to jump out of a spaceship. I'm not a babysitter!"

River snorted and looked down at the little rectangle thing she was holding. "Oh, you are so wrong. There's one survivor. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die." Her box – maybe it was a communication device and a scanner – rang and she put it up to her ear. "You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land; I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal." She raised it in the air, but apparently it wasn't strong enough. "Doctor, could you sonic this?" she shouted, pointing to the, umm, phone.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and sonicked her, though he didn't look as though he wanted to.

"So where are we? Have we done the rubber heads yet?" River asked, pulling out a blue book from God knows where.

"I've seen that book," Donna announced, pointing to it. "Back at the Library, when –" The Doctor slapped his hand over her mouth.

"No, River, we have not done the rubber heads."

"What is that?" Rose asked, gesturing to the book.

The Doctor frowned. "Don't look at it. It's her diary, to keep up with us. We all keep meeting in the wrong order. Time travel," he scoffed, purposely not looking at the book. Rose blinked. She'd never kept a diary, when she was dimension-hopping. She'd met several Doctors, but never thought to keep a diary to keep it straight. Perhaps this was different, though. River seemed different.

A flash of light brought her attention back to the wrecked ship, where four men dressed in military clothes had just appeared. Transmit, maybe. They turned and walked over to where the small group of time travelers stood. "You promised me an army, Doctor Song," said the one who appeared to be in charge.

River smirked. "No, I promised you the equivalent of an army. This is the Doctor, Donna, and Rose."

The military man saluted them and Donna puffed up a bit. She liked salutes.

"Father Octavian, sir. Bishop, second class. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation."

"What're you investigating?" Rose wondered aloud and Father Octavian turned to her, shocked.

"Doctor Song hasn't explained what we're dealing with?" he asked incredulously and Rose swung around to look at River.

"Well," she began, "What do you know of the Weeping Angels?"

DOCTOR WHO

"I've seen that before," Rose said, pointing to the statue on the screen.

The Doctor's head snapped up. "What? Where?" he asked in concern, at her side in an instant.

Rose frowned, still looking at the screen. "Uhh…ages ago, back when I was dimension-hopping. I landed on earth once, sort of my time I suppose, and I saw one a' them. Next thing I knew, I was in some street in the 1960s. Thought it'd just been the cannon acting up, but…"

"1969?" the Doctor asked, gripping both of her hands. "You were in London in 1969?"

She turned away from the screen to look at him. "Yeah. I was all over the place back then. Why?"

He smiled, his expression somewhere between upset and laughing. "I was in London in 1969. Last me, that is. I saw you, and I…I thought I was hallucinating," he confessed with a breathy laugh. "We were so close and we didn't even know it."

She smiled sadly, cupping his cheek with her hand. "We're together now. That's all that matters, yeah?" she asked tenderly and he closed his eyes with a smile, leaning into her touch. Rose thought she heard him say 'I love you' but she wasn't sure. But it was a high possibility. He seemed to say it as often as he could now, maybe to make up for all the times he couldn't.

"Uhh, if you'll excuse me," began Father Octavian, almost sheepishly, "We ought to get on with the investigation…?"

The Doctor's eyes opened and his face fell. "Yes, right. So! The Weeping Angels!"

"I'm sorry," Donna cut in loudly, "What's it do? It's just a statue."

"It's just a statue," River told her," until you look away. Sorry about the video, it's only a second. I've put it on a loop."

"Where did it come from?"

"What the video?" River asked, confused.

"The angel! Where did the angel come from? River, use your common sense!" the Doctor chastised, his hand clinging onto a strip of fabric hanging from the ceiling. It ripped. "Oops," he said quietly, throwing the loop behind him as though it might not have happened. Rose rolled her eyes and took his hand to keep him from fiddling with anything else.

"I snatched it off a wrecked RanVahan ship," River began slowly, looking at the Doctor with a mix of laughter and embarrassment. "Before that it was in a private collection. Dormant for ages," she added, and Rose frowned.

"Dormant? That means it's got a time when it's not dormant. So what is it?" she asked, looking to River for answers once more, thoroughly annoying the Doctor, who obviously thought he was better than the archaeologist woman.

"It's an alien," she explained, and Donna rolled her eyes but didn't comment. "It's an alien that is only alive when no one's looking at it. Otherwise it's a statue. If you blink…" she trailed off and Rose blanched, thinking that perhaps she'd had a near miss back in 1969. At least she'd had the dimension cannon to escape from…whatever it was the angels did. Donna shuddered, looking at the short video. It was so spooky, all alone in the dark like that, she thought idly, be terrifying if that thing came after you.

"So!" the Doctor said, trying to bring the energy back up to happy again. "Hyperdrive would've split open on impact," he announced, leading the way out of the small military vehicle. "That whole ship's gonna be flooded with drive burn radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms…dinner to an angel, but deadly to any other living thing. Perhaps not Jack," he added as an afterthought, and River stumbled a bit.

"You alright?" Donna asked her, catching the woman's arm to steady her. River nodded, but Donna could swear that the woman's ears were a bit red.

"Just didn't know that you were acquainted with the Captain," she said smoothly. "Caught me off guard."

Donna was surprised. Not only that she knew Jack, but that she didn't know him through the Doctor or Rose. "Oh, you know him?"

River smirked. "Not really. Spoilers, I suppose," she added with a laugh, though it sounded forced.

While this conversation had gone on unnoticed behind them, Rose, the Doctor, and Father Octavian had been working on a sort of sketch of what they were dealing with here. "Who built that temple?" the Doctor asked abruptly, pointing.

"The Aplans," River answered, overhearing, "Indigenous life form. They died out hundreds of years ago."

"Two hundred years later, the planet was terraformed," Octavian added. "Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the population –"

"Oh, there is," the Doctor assured them. "Lock and load, Bishop!"

Octavian called out for River, but she waved her hand at him, looking intently at some little book. "Two minutes. Sweetie, I need you!"

"Sweetie?" Rose mouthed, looking up at the Doctor with one eyebrow raised. He shrugged, his eyes wide, and made to go to River, pulling Rose along with him.

"Oh, Rose, darling, perhaps it'd be best if you'd stay with Donna?" River asked hopefully. Rose nodded slowly, despite the Doctor's protests, and stretched up to lightly kiss his cheek before walking back to where Donna stood, rather alone. "Thanks, you're a doll!" River called to her back in a gushing voice and Rose wondered how close they must be in the future. Shareen used to call her doll.

"So nobody needs us?" Donna asked, rolling her eyes. "Typical." And she went back into the drop ship, Rose on her heels.

Rose shuddered when she looked at the screen again. The video was still playing. "I feel as though we ought to sing," she said with a nervous laugh. "Might make that thing seem a bit less horror movie."

Donna looked at it, frowning. "Rose," she said, pointing at the video. "Wasn't the statue facing the other way? With its hands over its eyes?" Rose walked closer, her eyes wide. "River?" Donna called, poking her head out the door. "Did you have more than one clip of the angel?"

The woman turned. "No, just the four seconds."

Donna frowned, pulling her head back inside. "Right…" she said slowly. When she turned back, she saw Rose staring at the screen, looking petrified.

"She said that was only the four seconds, yeah?" Rose asked in a shaky voice and Donna nodded. "Well how come it's just moved?"

"What d'ya mean, it's moved? It can't have," Donna said, trying to be reasonable. But sure enough, the angel had turned, facing the screen. "Keep looking at that, will you?" she asked Rose, who nodded numbly. Donna looked down in the corner at the time. It was the same four seconds, on a loop, just like River had said. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, and then back to 24 again. Rose squeaked and Donna snapped upright, looking at her.

"I blinked," she said quietly, still staring at the screen. "Didn't mean to. It's moved again."

"But it's just the recording!" Donna protested, though the evidence was right in front of her. "Can't we just unplug it?" Rose nodded at her and bent down slowly. She inched forward, trying to keep one eye on the screen. She looked away for a moment to see the plug, but it was stuck. She couldn't pull it out. "Here, let me try," Donna said, bending down to help her.

Rose screamed when she looked up again. The angel was so close now that all that could be seen was its face. "Doctor?" she asked weakly. Then she shook her head, trying to drop herself back into her Torchwood training. What would Agent Tyler do? "Alright, Donna," she said, "Keep looking at it. Don't look away, don't blink. Let's just try and…back up to the door. Yeah, that'll work, the door."

They both slowly stood, not taking their eyes off of the angel, and backed toward the door. Rose stretched her hands out behind her, so she wouldn't hit anything, but apparently Donna hadn't thought to do that, as she backed into the desk and fell forward a bit from the impact. Rose looked down at her. "You alright?"

"Yeah. Sorry." And then she screamed. Because now, the angle wasn't on the screen. The angel was in the room. "Doctor!" she banged on the door, looking away from it.

"Don't stop looking at it!" Rose commanded, trying to reach the remote on the table. She couldn't find it. "Doctor!" The remote. She couldn't find the remote. "Alright, Donna. I keep looking at it while you grab the remote off this table, okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, alright. Go," Donna said, snapping her head down and snatching up the remote in an instant, raising it up in front of her and pressing the power button. The angel flickered, but came back just as strong. It had fangs.

"Rose! Donna!" came a muffled cry from outside the door.

"About time!" Donna growled, still pressing the power button. "It won't turn off!" she yelled in a panicked voice.

"Don't panic!" Rose instructed her, staying oddly calm herself compared to what she was only moments ago. "We can figure this out. Door. We never got to the door."

Donna reached behind her and yanked on it. "It's locked shut!" she hollered, loud so that the Doctor could hear outside.

"Hold on!" he yelled, "Just don't blink! Keep looking at it!" they heard a thud. "Augh! It's deadlocked!" a muffled reply, too faint to make out. "Well there are now! Try to turn it off again!" he ordered, addressing Donna and his Rose inside.

"Yeah, got that bit – S'not working!" Rose announced, her voice still calm, but now slightly shaking.

"Don't look at the eyes! Look anywhere except the eyes!"

"Why? Doctor, what's gonna happen? What's it gonna do to us?" Donna shrieked, staring at it in horror.

"The image of an angel is itself an angel," he mumbled, barely loud enough for them to hear. "Why didn't I realize that sooner?" there was a loud noise, like he'd banged his head against the door.

"What was that?" Rose asked, "About the images? Donna, give me the remote," she instructed, holding out her hand. Donna dropped it into her palm and Rose took her eyes off the angel, trusting Donna to keep looking at it, and looked down at the numbers in the corner. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, blip, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, blip, 24, 25, 26, 27, 2 – she pressed the power button and the angel flickered before the screen went black, sucking the angel back inside.

Donna sighed with relief and the door popped open. "Oh, sure, now he gets it open," she grumbled.

Rose was still frozen in place, holding the remote out in front of her, totally in shock that it had worked. "Not bad," she finally said, looking a bit breathless. The Doctor bolted into the ship, pulled Donna into a fierce hug, and then released her and pulled Rose into a fierce hug, squishing the remote between their chests.

"Oh my stars, Rose," he said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head, still crushing her to his chest. "Don't you ever do that again. Don't ever scare me like that," he said and she leaned her head on his chest, breathing in his scent.

"Can't make any promises," she mumbled, "You know, jeopardy friendly over here."

He laughed into her hair but it sounded sour. "I don't care what you are," he told her fiercely, "You're mine and I'm not losing you."

Her breath caught and her mouth turned up in a ridiculous smile, but she hid it in his shirt. "I won't let you. Not again."

"So that was the angel? It was here?" River asked, though she hated to break up the moment. Donna shot her a glare; she knew how much the Doctor needed this with Rose. She remembered how he was ages ago, with the frowny face and the moping. It wasn't a sight you could see without your heart breaking just a little.

"No," the Doctor answered, still clinging tightly to his Rose, "just a projection. It was just scoping us out."

Rose shuddered, holding the Doctor tighter. "The angels have awakened."