((Things Aren't Always What They Seem: Part III))

~~OO~~II~~OO~~

After dropping Steph off somewhere, reassuring her that we would find Catie and make sure she was safe, the Doctor and I set out to look for her. The TARDIS had sent us a few years later than I wanted, telling me that doing so too early wouldn't be good for the universe. So I'd sighed and told that to the Doctor, who'd then proceeded to pull me out of the TARDIS.

Now, he and I were wandering around the streets of London in the 1800s. He kept close to me, making sure I didn't get lost anywhere, and Clave was curled happily around my shoulders. Thank goodness for that, because otherwise? I was screwed. The TARDIS had locked us out without his sonic, making it so that we couldn't get back in even with a key. She needed rest desperately, and I'd reassured the Doctor of that when he'd grown slightly anxious about whether or not we'd be stuck here.

London had a similar layout to what it was in the modern days. It was different enough that I'd get lost without the Time Lord to guide me through it, but it was easy enough to navigate. "We need to find the biggest park and just wait there," I told him as we walked down a darkened street, "That's where Catie would go. A huge park with space to run around in like a kid. She should show up around midnight dressed in black." He gave me a curious look and I shrugged. "Don't ask me why. It's Catie. She doesn't give a reason for anything."

The Doctor sighed. "I noticed that the other day. She broke all of the pencils the TARDIS placed in her room."

"Oh, that's a usual thing," I mused, scratching Clave's chin. "She says she does it so that there's more pencils in the room."

The Doctor shook his head with a slight smile, adjusting the collar of his trench coat. "Here we are," he said a few minutes later, throwing his arms out after running a hand through his already perfect hair. "Biggest park in London at this time!"

I glanced at the sky. "Let's go find a place to sit and chill, she'll show up, I'm sure."

We did just that, finding a decent patch of grass to sit in. Clave slid from my shoulders and curled up with his head in my lap. I stroked the heavy plating along his spine with a mournful look, then said quietly, "Doctor?"

The Doctor, who'd flopped down and gotten comfortable despite the slight chill of the night, glanced to me. "Ali."

Smiling crookedly at him, I said quietly, "Um, we need to start talking about what to do about the TARDIS-"

"It won't happen," the Doctor said sharply, cutting me off. I frowned unhappily as he continued. "We'll make sure it doesn't remember? You'll end up fine. No dying, no becoming the TARDIS, just fine. We're going to look for a way to fix the TARDIS after this."

"But, Doctor," I protested. He began to talk over me, and I finally just shrieked, "LISTEN TO ME ALREADY." His mouth snapped shut, both of us glowering at each other for a brief moment before I said quietly, "The TARDIS told me I have under two weeks left before she dies. You need a TARDIS, or everyone's going to die. I've accepted it, alright? It's time for you to." I stroked the aggitated Clave's head soothingly, biting my lip. "I'm sorry, but it's true. Okay?" Now seemed like a good time, so... "Doctor, back when the Angels sent me back in time, I, err, I met someone for all of two seconds. Didn't talk to them, just looked."

He looked cranky now, like a pouting child as he muttered, "And?"

Ignoring his temper, I said quietly, "She gave me a message." I tilted my head back to look up at the brightly sparkling stars. I recited the message she'd given me. "It said, 'Good luck. We'll meet again soon. -Bad Wolf'." He froze beside me and I gave a tight smile, expecting the response he soon gave.

"Rose," he rasped, sitting up quickly. He studied me. "Are you sure it said that?"

"Yes," I confirmed, "And not only there, too. Back on my house when the Zygon was there and when we first met the Carfioliax. That time I didn't notice it really though. I didn't think about it until I saw the words again later." I'd seen them in a few other places now I thought about it. "Doctor, you once told me that when Bad Wolf showed up, it meant bad things were happening. Things aren't going to end well, you know they won't."

He pinched the bridge of his nose, shoving a hand through his hair with a tired sigh. "I know," he muttered, "I know. It doesn't mean I have to willingly accept it, though."

"Seriously. I leave you guys for like, what?, two years? And all you two have managed to accomplish is argue even more with each other. Jeez. Improve your improvement skills, would you?"

My head snapped around to look at Catie and I felt a moment of surprise. She looked way different then she had a few hours before. Her long brown hair had been pinned up in a careful style, and rather than a pair of jeans, some kind of crazy T-shirt, and her usual black boots filled to the brim with random objects, she was dressed in a Victorian styled dress with simple looking shoes. Yet, despite the new look, she still had a cape on, as she usually did when running around at night. Though this cape was more of a cloak...

"Don't say a single word," she growled warningly, waving at herself. "I can't wear jeans anymore and it's annoying."

"Then lets get going," I said cheerfully, jerking a thumb in the direction of where the TARDIS was parked, "We can get you some and wait until the TARDIS is ready to get moving-"

"I can't," Catie said at the same time as the Doctor spoke, saying quietly, "Ali, she can't come with us."

Glaring at both of them, I crossed my arms and stood. "Why not?"

Catie arched an eyebrow. "For one, I don't want to be one of those mothers and abandon my family."

I sputtered wordlessly for a moment, earning a chuckle from the Doctor. "Family? As in, husband and children?" She nodded. "The hell, Catie! I know the TARDIS couldn't come sooner, but..."

She shrugged. "Things happen. And it wasn't really a good idea for me to be running around here alone like I usually like." Her eyes brightened. "I have a daughter now." She paused, then sighed and smirked, holding her hand out. "Okay, since we're obviously completely different people now, let's introduce our new selves shall we? Or at least, I will. Cathrine Oswald. Wife of Henry Jackson Oswald and mother to the lovely Clara Oswin Oswald. Now, if you two would stop your bickering for more than two seconds, let's head back to my place 'cause I have enough dinner left over to last a lifetime."

My head was spinning. Catie was married. Two years we'd left her here, unable to come sooner, and here she was, married and mother to a child. Remind me not to leave her alone for more than a second ever again...

So much for bringing my friend home.

~~OO~~II~~OO~~

The next morning found the Doctor and I uncomfortably settled on a not so comfortable couch. Catie's, must I say it, husband had left for a job already, and now we were sitting across from Catie, who had a young, dark haired girl in her lap. I had to admit that she was cute, with big brown eyes and hair just a shade darker than Catie's. Catie gave a smug smile. "So. You two go on a date yet?"

"Oh, here we go," I moaned, throwing my head back in exasperation as the Doctor gaped in surprise at the blunt question. "Don't you start on this again!" She'd gotten onto me about it days before in the TARDIS.

"You discussed this before?"

"NO!" I cried sharply at the even more surprised look on the Doctor's face. He did not need to know we'd had that conversation!

"Don't lie," Catie chimed in, earning a dark look from me. I mouthed a threat to her and she smiled charmingly at me before replying nonchalantly. "Oh, you know. We were talking about how she never has gotten a date that isn't crazy, stuff like that. Talked with her friend Bre once. Was interesting. And apparently from what I heard, you get out and you go nuts with aliens."

"Where the hell are you going with this, Catie?" I said through gritted teeth, quickly becoming furious. If she dared do what I thought she was doing...suggest what I thought she was suggesting...her daughter would be missing a mother in two point five seconds.

She obviously didn't understand that I was totally serious about my threat, because she beamed innocently at the Doctor. "You guys said you can't go anywhere in the TARDIS for a while, so why don't you two go out and get something to eat? I can give you some directions to a really good restaurant I know of. You won't even have to change clothes. I wear my one pair of jeans there every now and then."

I threw my arms in the air in exasperation. "Damn it, Catie!"

She grinned at me with what was a near evil look before turning back to the still surprised Doctor. "Come on, Ali can't look too bad today that you don't want to at least take her for dinner."

The Doctor pursed his lips uneasily, shoving a hand nervously through his hair. Clave purred as he reassuringly nuzzled my chin. "I'll put it this way," Catie said. "By the time the dinner and whatever else you guys do is over, you can go back to the TARDIS. You won't even have to come back here." She smiled broadly, smug.

I glanced at the Doctor. "Fine," I muttered, then smirked at the Doctor, sure he'd say no. "What do you say then?"

"It will give us something to do," he admitted. I silently screamed curses in my head. I'd been counting on him saying no! Damn it! I gave Catie a murderous look and she smiled innocently.

"We will be stopping back here before we leave though," I warned, narrowing my eyes. "You got that? I do want to say goodbye." I lifted Clave, grunting as I did so at his weight, and kissed his nose. "Clave, you're going to stay here and keep an eye on Catie and little Miss Clara, okay? We'll be back later."

Clave purred, nuzzling my cheek before squirming out of my grasp. He crawled up and curled around Catie's shoulders, yellow eyes gleaming when Clara squealed excitedly and tried to reach up to touch her.

Catie gave us the directions to this little place she knew of, telling me that we'd be able to get food for free if we told the employees who'd sent us there, and the Doctor and I were soon making our way down the street. He'd stuffed his hands into the pockets of his trench coat, whistling a quiet cheerful little tune as we walked. "This is not going to end well," I told him warningly, "No matter where we go, we always run into some bad guy."

"Last night Catie told us she'd checked every little thing out," the Doctor reminded me with a slight smile on his face. "There won't be any people we have to worry about today."

I swear the guy was enjoying himself. Like, seriously, really enjoying himself as we reached the place Catie had directed us to. We headed inside, and I was surprised when none of the staff sent us weird looks, instead greeting us warmly and guessing that we were friends of Catie's. As expected, we simply let them take us where they wanted, a simple corner table where Catie usually sat, apparently.

Sadness filled me. She'd found a home here. Despite enjoying her work back in New York City, she liked it here and didn't want to leave from what I'd seen. She was happy. I supposed I would miss her, but...I wouldn't be thinking about anything soon.

As if sensing the dark direction my thoughts had taken, the Doctor said gently, "Ali, we'll make sure you live. I promise I'll find a way."

"We're running out of time," I murmured, back, shoving a hand through my thick hair before beginning to braid it again. I really needed to trim this wild mess... "Doctor, I have just under two weeks. How the hell are we going to find a way around it in two weeks without you losing the TARDIS? I just...I don't think it's possible to save me. Mind you, I don't want to die, but..."

He reached out and completely messed up my braid by forcefully ruffling my hair, smirking lightly at my glower. "We'll find something," he replied, then glanced up when a woman appeared, dressed in Victorian styled clothing under an apron. She smiled brightly at us.

"What can I get you two?" she asked, her voice holding a sharp accent. I was reminded of the waitress that had served Bre and I the day that I'd met the Doctor. "Wine?"

"No, no wine," the Doctor answered. "Hot tea for me, and..." He glanced at me with a slight look of disgust. "If you could make some tea for my companion and chill it?"

I grinned, feeling just a bit touched at the fact that he'd somehow remembered that I liked my tea iced. And when it arrived, I downed it with a content sigh. Heaven in a glass, I decided. It wasn't exactly icy cold, more of tea left out to cool, but it didn't taste too bad. No doubt Catie drank it like this, too, seeing how she was from Texas as well. Making myself as comfortable as I could in a wooden chair, I glanced at the silent and thoughtful Doctor. "What are you thinking about?" I demanded.

"Nothing," he said quickly. Too quickly. I glared at him suspiciously until he admitted, "There was a bit of craziness on the radars before we left the TARDIS. I was thinking that we may check them out after the TARDIS has recharged."

"Bre contacted me yesterday," I agreed, "She said people were vanishing into thin air. Maybe it has something to do with that."

"It's possible." We exchanged slight smiles and I rolled my eyes at our conversation. Sent out to enjoy ourselves and all we could manage to speak about right now was what adventure we planned on going nuts in next. Tugging thoughtfully on my braid, I set my glass down. "Alright. Since we're supposed to be enjoying ourselves, why don't you tell me about some previous trips we haven't been on? You had others travel with you. You've got to have seen something that I haven't."

The Doctor chuckled in amusement. "There was this one time..."

It went on like this for a few hours as we drank tea, both cold and hot, as we challenged each other to trying the opposite of what we usually drank. Let me just say it didn't end well. I choked when I burned my tongue and the Doctor obviously had to fight the urge to spit it out. We had a silent mutual agreement to never do that again after exchanging drinks for the ones we preferred. Conversations were exchanged until finally, my phone beeped. Surprised that it was even alive after not charging it for twenty four hours, I glanced at it. A familiar number was flashing. Examining it, I announced cheerfully, "The TARDIS is done, Doctor. Shall we head back to Catie's to at least say goodbye?"

The Doctor eagerly nodded his agreement. I smiled slightly. He'd enjoyed our time together, but even the waitress serving us had seen his restlessness, his longing to move around and get back to saving the universe.

A short walk later found us back at Catie's. Clara was napping, she told us when I questioned where the young girl was. I liked Clara; she was sweet and absolutely adorable, and something told me she would grow up to be someone very important. Clave obviously agreed, because when I checked in on them with Catie's permission, he was cuddling with her, purring. He opened his eyes and raised his head to greet me, however, and I smiled, opening my arms for him. He carefully pried himself away, then scampered over. Biting my lip, I paused to think.

Despite what the Doctor said, there was no doubt my time was running out. And Clave...he needed someone who wouldn't leave him in the TARDIS all of the time... "Clave," I said softly, kissing his nose. "Why don't you stay and live with Catie and Miss Clara, hm? Protect them for me when I'm gone?" Clave whined softly in protest, but there was a knowing look in those intelligent yellow eyes. He knew as well as I did why this had to be done. Swallowing and forcing back tears, I carried him out into the entrance of the house, where Catie and the Doctor were chatting. "Catie," I interrupted.

She must have seen the importance in what I was going to say, because she cut off her conversation with the Doctor. "Yeah?"

I stroked the plating along Clave's back, lovingly caressing the scales I would never feel again. "Could you do me a huge favor? Keep Clave with you, please. He's...he can help keep you and Clara safe should any alien show up. He shouldn't be running around with us, it's not very good for him. Please." My voice cracked slightly and I cursed when the tears began to appear. "Just give him a good home so the Doctor won't have to worry about him?"

Catie's eyes flashed knowingly and she let a reassuring smile appear on her face. "I'll take good care of him," she promised. "We'll have some fun, won't we Clave? You can help keep track of Clara."

Pained, I turned my eyes onto the whining alien. Clave stared pleadingly up at me, though he held no will behind it. He had to stay and he knew it. Gently, he licked my cheek, and I rested my forehead against his, closing my eyes. I knew he'd done the same. "You be a good boy, Clave. Okay? Keep Catie and Clara safe." He whimpered softly, pulling back to nuzzle me. "Good boy," I repeated, kissing his head a final time before setting him down and stepping away. Clave looked up at me with a look that broke my heart.

I'd never see one of my best friends again...no, make that two." I turned to Catie, forcing her to give me a hug despite her unhappy reluctance to do so. "Bye Catie, I hope I'll see you again some day. Keep that husband of yours in line."

She smirked close to evilly. "Oh, I will. See ya 'round, Ali."

Without another word, I nodded at the Doctor to show I was ready to go back to the TARDIS, my soon forever home. "Let's go," I muttered, turning and slipping out of the door.

I wasn't blind to the desperate look he wore and I certainly wasn't deaf to pitiful wailing sound that Clave gave as the door clicked shut.

~~OO~~II~~OO~~

I ignored the TARDIS's soothing lullaby as I glared angrily up at the ceiling. It wasn't fair! Damn it! In my anger towards what was going to happen, I'd thrown just about everything everywhere. The planets that had once revolved around above me were in crumpled masses on the floor. For some strange reason, I'd nearly shredded my pillow. The Doctor had kept his distance, most likely knowing that I didn't feel too happy at the moment, and for that there was a bit of guilt.

And then the phone rang. I irritably opened it and snapped without looking to see who it was, "What?"

"...jeez, chill the heck out. Was checkin' up on you."

"Drevan," I mumbled, relaxing. "Sorry. It's been a...hard day." He demanded to know what had happened and I launched into the tale. "So there were these stone angels..."

When I'd finished, Drevan was quiet. "You're not upset over leaving Catie though. I know you, Ali. What's wrong? What aren't you telling me? You love Clave, you wouldn't just leave him for no reason..."

I swallowed thickly, pursing my lips as I stood and wandered over to study my appearance in the body length mirror in the corner of my room. I looked horrible. I'd abandoned my jacket, leaving myself in a normal red T-shirt and jeans, along with a pair of fuzzy socks because why not? But my face was tired and drawn, showing signs of stress. Lovely. Running my fingers through my messy hair, I mumbled, "I can't tell you, Drevan. I'm sorry."

"Why not?"

I frowned, squinting at the mirror. Was that...had something rippled? Curious, I reached out to touch the mirror...and my fingers sunk into it. Shocked, I jerked back. "Err, because I'm busy at the moment."

"Doing what?"

"Uh...trying to figure out what the hell is up with this mirror."

"My Girl," the TARDIS suddenly hissed. She was tense, her voice pleading. "Don't touch it. Something is wrong."

Pissed off at her, I ignored the TARDIS and let my fingers sink into the mirror another few inches. On the other side, I felt crisp air. "Uh...Drevan? I'm going to have to call you back." Without another word, I dropped the call and shoved my phone into my pocket. He would be upset that I hadn't answered his questions, but whatever.

Curiosity killed the cat. A saying I'd always acknowledged and believed. But satisfaction brought that stupid cat back, right? So why the hell wouldn't I do exactly what I probably shouldn't have done? Without pause, ignoring the TARDIS as she began to scream and howl, I stepped through the mirror.

I was immediately transported to an unfamiliar room. It was white. White everywhere. White carpet, white sofa, white walls, white TV, you name it. Curious, I let my fingers drift along the walls and distantly noticed that there was no door leading out of the room. Not even a white door. I'd been longing for comfort, I realized, and I'd certainly got it. The couch was as soft as a newborn puppy.

There was a problem, however. When I looked back, the mirror I'd stepped through was gone.

Distantly, I remembered Bre on the phone days before. "Where have you been? It's all over the news. People have been disappearing by the thousands! Please tell me you didn't get caught up in the disappearing things..." I should have known better. When weird things happen around the Doctor or the TARDIS, it's not a good thing.

Damn it all to that place called Hell and back.

~~OO~~II~~OO~~

A/N: And next begins the craziness! ;) Thanks for the reviews and I hope you enjoyed!

Guest: BECAUSE IT'S GOOD FOR YOU. lol XD

bored411: Don't we all hope that. XD And I present to you...Catie's whereabouts!

BrainStormer: I GIFT YOU THE DATE. Yeah...Steph was kinda just existing, wasn't she? I'm gonna agree with you there. Silly characters that won't show themselves more...

MaybeALittleBroken: You should be good at that singing stuff. Look at last year. XD I SHALL DELIVER MORE NIGHTMARES TO YOUR MIND.