"...and then we discovered it wasn't the Robot King after all, it was the real one." Thea grinned as she sat cross-legged before Rory as he sat on the jump seat, listening to her story.
"Fortunately, I was able to re-attach the head." The Doctor called from the otherside of the console.
"You did put it on backwards first." She reminded him.
"I fixed it, didn't I?" He huffed.
Rory looked at Amy as she headed down the stairs to join them, "Do you believe any of this stuff?
"I was there." She remarked.
Thea rested a hand to her chest, "you think I lied about that?"
"Oh!" The Doctor jumped as a small beeping alarm went off, "it's the warning lights. I'm getting rid of those." He slapped the console, "They never stop." And then kicked it.
"Well, if you don't read the manual." Thea shook her head, heading over and flicking a switch and the lights went off.
"Hey." Rory whispered as he followed Amy as she walked down the stairs, "You're still thinking about it, aren't you?"
"Oh, shush." She hissed, glancing to the console where the Doctor and Thea stood, "We saw him die."
"Yeah, 200 years in the future."
"Yes, but it's still going to happen."
"Thea said she is going to change it." Rory reminded her.
"What if she can't?" Amy stressed, "what if it's one of those things she can't change?"
"Her future self wasn't there."
"Exactly! Where was she? What if something happened to her?" She shook her head, not even want to think about that. Seeing the Doctor die, as much as it hurt, she could just about handle, but Thea? She saw that girl like a daughter, seeing her die would be like losing a daughter.
"Knock knock." Thea said.
"Who's there?" The Doctor laughed.
"Mail."
"Mail who?"
She blinked, as though only just realising she had spoken, "no," she laughed, pointing to the door as something knocked.
"What was that?" Amy asked as she and Rory walked over.
"The door." The Doctor slowly walked towards it, "it knocked."
"Right." Rory frowned, "We are in deep space."
"Very, very deep." The Doctor agreed, returning the knock, "And somebody's knocking." He pulled the doors open to see a cube of light floating there. Thea eyes widened, recognising the device. "Oh, come here. Come here, you scrumptious little beauty!"
He reached out for it and it flew past, whizzing around Amy and Rory and back to the Doctor hitting him in the chest, knocking him to the floor before flying over to Thea, the girl slowly reaching for it, eyes wide.
"A box?" Rory looked at it.
"What is it?" Amy asked.
The Doctor popped up, staring at the cube as Thea held it, hardly believing it, "we've got mail."
~.~
The Doctor set the controls as Thea held the cube, unable to believe what they had, "it's a T.L.E.M.S," Thea explained to Amy and Rory, "Time Lord Emergency Messaging System. In an emergency, we can wrap up thoughts in psychic containers and send them through time and space."
"Anyway, there's a living Time Lord still out there, and it's one of the good ones." The Doctor added.
"You said there weren't any other Time Lords left." Rory reminded them softly.
"There are no Time Lords left anywhere in the universe." The Doctor agreed grinning, "But the universe isn't where we're going. See that snake?" He pointed to the snake on the side of the box, seemingly eating itself, "The mark of the Corsair. Fantastic bloke. He had that snake as a tattoo in every regeneration. Didn't feel like himself unless he had the tattoo. Or herself, a couple of times. Ooh, she was a bad girl." He hit a lever as the console sparked.
"They always had this...trustworthy smile..." Thea smiled, recalling how she had met a regeneration of the man.
The Doctor looked at her sharply, "you knew him?"
"He and my father had matters to discuss once." She offered, "he was very nice, and he always came back from his off-world travels with random nick nacks for me." She gave a small laugh, "my parents hated him for it. Claimed he would destroy all their hard word of making me worthy for the Council."
The Doctor chuckled, "think they might have been right about that."
"I don't think I was cut out for a Council girl."
"Nah, no daughter of mine would ever work on the High Council." The Doctor grinned at her.
"Whoa!" Rory grabbed onto the console as the TARDIS jolted, "what is happening?"
"We're leaving the universe!" The Doctor shouted.
"How can you leave the universe?" Amy shook her head.
"With enormous difficulty!" Thea called, already bracing herself for a crash landing as she tucked her head to her knees on the jump seat.
"Right now, I'm burning up TARDIS rooms to give us some welly." The Doctor added, "Goodbye, swimming pool. Goodbye, scullery. Sayonara, squash court 7!"
The TARDIS landed with a thump a moment later.
"Ok," Amy let out a breath as things calmed down, "ok. Where are we?"
"Outside the universe, where we've never, ever been." The Doctor grinned, dancing round to Thea as she slowly stood up, "isn't that amazing?"
Before she could answer, the lights dimmed.
"Is that meant to be happening?" Rory asked.
"No..." Thea shook her head, stroking her hand along the console.
The Doctor pressed a few buttons, but nothing worked, "The power, it's draining. Everything's draining. But it can't. That's...that's impossible."
"What is that?" Rory looked around as they were left on darkness, the power completely out.
"It's as if the Matrix, the soul of the TARDIS, has just vanished." The Doctor breathed, "Where would it go?"
"Well, let's go find out." Amy determined, taking Rorys hand and pulling him off towards the doors.
The Doctor moved to follow, pausing to see Thea staring at the time rotor, one hand resting on it, the other holding the cube, "Thea? What is it?"
"I just..." she shook her head, lowing her hand to hold the cube in both as she looked up at him, "I think it'll make you angry."
He nodded slowly, baring that in mind. He tried very hard to not get anger. It was the shortest distance from a mistake, when he got angry he always made more mistakes. He didn't know why she felt like the cube would make him angry. Surely it would make him either happy or sad. Finding another Time Lord, and then having to explain why Gallifrey is no longer around...
He closed his eyes a moment, tucking her hair behind her ear and kissing her forehead, "it'll be fine." He promised, taking her hand and pulling her towards the doors, stepping out after the humans, finding themselves standing in a large junkyard.
"So what kind of trouble's your friend in?" Amy asked.
"He was in a bind." The Doctor muttered, looking around, "A bit of a pickle. Sort of distressed."
"Ah, you can't just say you don't know." Amy teased.
"But what is this place?" Rory looked around, "The scrap yard at the end of the universe?"
"Scrap yard outside the universe." Thea corrected.
"How we can we be outside the universe? The universe is everything."
"Imagine a great big soap bubble with one of those tiny little bubbles on the outside." The Doctor began.
"Ok."
"Well, it's nothing like that."
Thea sighed, resting her hand against the side of the TARDIS, "She's completely drained." She glanced around the junkyard, getting a very bad feeling about just being here. It was quiet, very quiet.
"So we're in a tiny bubble universe, sticking to the side of the bigger bubble universe?" Amy confirmed.
"Yeah." the Doctor nodded.
"No." Thea turned around.
"But if it helps, yes." he glanced at the TARDIS, "This place is full of rift energy." He reassured Thea seeing she looked rather upset by the old box, "She'll probably refuel just by being here. Now, this place. What do we think, eh?" He picked up a pebble and tossed it, "Gravity's almost Earth normal, air's breathable," he hopped in a tub, "but it smells like..."
"Armpits." Amy supplied.
He pointed at her, "Armpits."
"What about all this stuff?" Rory wondered as he looked at a makeshift lantern, "Where did this come from?"
"Well, there's a rift." The Doctor explained, "Now and then stuff gets sucked through it. Not a bubble, a plughole. The universe has a plughole and we've just fallen down it."
"Thief! Thief!" Someone shouted in the distance, "You're my thief!" They looked over to see a woman with large hair in a blue Victorian style dress running towards them.
"She's dangerous!" An older woman warned as she and an older man, both in mismatched clothes, chased the woman, "Guard yourselves!"
The woman launched herself at the Doctor, who quickly heeded the older woman's warning and pulled Thea behind him, "Look at you. Goodbye. No, not goodbye, what's the other one?" And then she kissed him suddenly.
"Watch out." the older man called, "Careful. Keep back from her." he pulled the woman back as the Doctor wiped his mouth, "Welcome, strangers. Lovely. Sorry about the mad person."
"Why am I a thief?" The Doctor eyed the woman, "What have I stolen?"
"Me." She said simply, moving to Amy and playing with the ends of her hair, "You're going to steal me. No, you have stolen me. You are stealing me. Oh tenses are difficult, aren't they?"
"Yes?" Thea frowned.
She gasped loudly, seeing Thea peeking round the Doctor, watching the woman curiously, "oh, look at you!" She pulled Thea head to her chest, "my little princess!" and pulled back to pinched her cheeks, "you are so cute!" and peppered Theas face with kisses.
"Oh. Oh, we are sorry, my doves." the older woman said as she and the older man pulled the mad woman away from a very confused Thea, "she's off her head. They call me Auntie." She shook the Doctors hand.
The older man did the same, "And I'm Uncle. I'm everybody's Uncle. Just keep back from this one. She bites!"
"Do I?" The woman looked over from where she stood, stroking Theas hair, "Excellent." She lunged herself at the Doctor, biting his ear as he cried out in pain.
"Biting's excellent!" The woman cheered, "It's like kissing, only there's a winner."
Thea tilted her head, "never thought of it like that."
"Don't." the Doctor shook his head, "don't encourage the mad woman."
"So sorry, she's doolally." Uncle told them.
"No, I'm not doolally." the woman remarked, "I'm...I'm...it's on the tip of my tongue." She gasped, "I've just had a new idea about kissing." She turned to the Doctor, "Come here, you." She lunged at him but Thea pushed him back, the two running to use Amy and Rory as shields from the mad kissing and biting woman.
"No, Idris, no." Auntie called as she and Uncle tried to hold her back.
"Oh, but now you're angry." Idris looked at them, "No, you're not. You will be angry." She tilted her head thoughtfully, "like the princess said..." she frowned, "will say?" She shook her head, unsure of the tenses, "The little boxes will make you angry."
Thea stiffened, eyes wide. She had said that. She felt that the box would make him angry and somehow the woman knew she had said it, but no one could get inside the TARDIS without permission. She couldn't have known what she had said. She frowned, seeing the woman smiling at her.
"Sorry?" the Doctor frowned, stepping forwards, "The little what? Boxes?"
Idris laughed and grabbed his chin, "Oh, your chin is hilarious." She looked at Rory, "It means the smell of dust after rain."
"What does?" Rory shook his head, confused.
"Petrichor."
"But I didn't ask."
"Not yet. But you will."
"You don't say it..." Thea said slowly, tilting her head curiously at Idris, "you think it."
The woman was practically beamed as she pranced over to her, hugging her tightly, leaving Thea very confused and startled.
"No, no, Idris." Auntie stepped forwards, "I think you should have a rest."
"Rest." she nodded, "Yes, yes. Good idea. I'll just see if there's an off switch." she fell forwards, Thea catching her, knowing she was about to fall. Rory rushed forwards to help put the unconscious woman in a nearby wheelbarrow.
"Is that it?" Uncle asked, "She dead now. So sad."
"No," Rory checked the woman over, "she's still breathing."
"Nephew," Uncle turned to an Ood with green eyes as it silently approached them, "take Idris somewhere she cannot bite people."
The Doctor turned, startled by the Odd as he cheerily greeted it, "Oh, hello!"
"Doctor, what is that?" Amy hissed.
"Oh, no, it's all right. It's an Ood. Oods are good."
"Unless they're eyes are wrong." Thea muttered, watching the odd warily. The Doctor had told her about his previous encounters with the species. She knew to be cautious of red eyes, and those green eyes weren't normal for Ood.
"Love an Ood." the Doctor walked over to it, "Hello, Ood. Can't you talk?" He glanced down at the communicator orb in its hands, "Oh, I see. It's damaged. May I?" the Ood nodded and opened the top of it, "It might just be on the wrong frequency."
"Nephew was broken when he came here." Auntie told them, "Why, he was half dead. House repaired him. House repaired all of us."
The Doctor put the cap back on the orb, it glowed green and various voices started speaking, calling out for help, "If you are receiving this message, please help me. Send a signal to the High Council of the Time Lords on Gallifrey. Tell them that I am still alive. I don't know where I am. I'm on some rock-like planet."
"Turn it off!" Thea gasped, turning to bury her face in Rorys chest, trying to block out the voices as Nephew turned it off.
That was horrible, all those people calling out for help, all their people. All of them ending up here, but yet there was nothing but silence in her mind, which only meant they were dead.
"What was that?" Rory asked, rubbing Theas back to comfort her, "Was that him?"
"No, no." the Doctor murmured, "It's picking up something else. But that's, that's not possible..." He looked around, disturbed by the amount of voices they had heard, "That's...that's..." He spun to Auntie and Uncle, "Who else is here? Tell me. Show me."
"No one." Thea breathed.
"Just what you see." Auntie agreed, "Just the four of us, and the House. Nephew, will you take Idris somewhere safe where she can't hurt nobody?"
"The House? What's the House?" The Doctor asked as the Ood carried Idris somewhere.
"House is all around you, my sweets." Auntie gestured around, "you are standing on him. This is the House. This world. Would you like to meet him?"
"Meet him?" Rory blinked.
The Doctor held a finger up at Rory, "I'd love to."
"This way." Uncle turned, gesturing them to follow, "Come, please. Come."
"What's wrong?" Amy whispered to Thea seeing her more hesitant to follow than the Doctor, "what were those voices?"
"Time Lords." Thea breathed, "not just the Corsair. Somewhere close by he thinks there are other Time Lords."
"And you don't?" Rory frowned.
"It's too quiet. No one's shouting in my mind."
Amy put her arm around the girls shoulder, squeezing her, sending a concerned glance over to Rory as they followed the Doctor.
~.~
Uncle led them into a large cavernous room with a grate, with a green light emitting from it. "Come. Come, come. You can see the House and he can look at you." He leaned over the grate, gesturing the Doctor to follow.
The Doctor glanced at Thea, silently telling her to keep back as she stood between Amy and Rory, as he stepped up besides Uncle peering down the grate.
"I see. This asteroid is sentient." The Doctor realised.
"We walk on his back," Auntie added, "breathe his air, eat his food."
"Smell its armpits." Amy muttered, getting a small smile from Thea.
"And do my will." Auntie and Uncle stiffened, their eyes vacant as a deeper voice spoke through them, "you are most welcome, travellers."
"Doctor," Amy called, "that voice...that's the asteroid talking?"
"Yes." The Doctor stepped down from the grate, "So you're like a sea urchin. Hard outer surface, that's the planet we're walking on. Big, squashy, oogly thing inside, that's you."
"That is correct, Time Lord."
"You've met Time Lords before." Thea said, more of a statement then a question.
"Many travellers have come through the rift, like Auntie and Uncle and Nephew. I repair them when they break."
"How?" Thea frowned.
The Doctor up a finger at her questions, finding his more important, "So there are Time Lords here, then?"
"Not anymore," House sighed, "but there have been many TARDISes on my back in days gone by."
"Well, there won't be any more after us. Last Time Lords. Last TARDIS."
Thea rubbed her arms at that, getting a very bad feeling about tell House about that. She didnt know why but this entire place made her nervous, the only one here who didn't was that mad Idris woman and she had no idea why.
"A pity. Your people were so kind. Be here in safety, Doctor. Rest, feed, if you will." Auntie and Uncle looked at each other as House released them.
"We're not actually going to stay here, are we?" Rory asked.
"Well, it seems like a friendly planet." the Doctor shrugged, "Literally." he looked at Auntie and Uncle, "Mind if we poke around a bit?"
"You can look all you want." Auntie smiled, "Go. Look." she took Amys hair in her mismatched hands, "House loves you."
The Doctor clapped his hand, "Come on then, gang. We're just going to, er, see the sights." he took Theas hand, turning and leading them off as Thea glanced back at the mismatched people.
~.~
Thea frowned, stopping, swearing she could hear a voice calling out.
"So as soon as the TARDIS is refuelled, we go, yeah?" Rory asked, hopeful.
"No." The Doctor replied, "There are Time Lords here. I heard them and they need me."
"You told me about your people, and you told me what you did." Amy began.
"Yes, yes, but if they're like the Corsair, they're good one and I can save them."
"And then tell them you destroyed the others?"
The Doctor flinched at her words, "I can explain. Tell them why I had to."
"Not everyone's so forgiving." Thea said quietly, "if they worked in the Citadel or for the Council..." she shook her head, she didn't even want to think about how someone would react to finding out what happened to their home. She didn't know how many people would have actually been on Rassilons side for the Final Sanctum but she could assume none of them would have gone against the great founder even if his ideas were evil and mad.
"I have to try." He sighed.
"What do you need from me?" Amy stepped up.
The Doctor patted his jacket pocket, "My screwdriver. I left it in the TARDIS. It's in my jacket."
"You're wearing your jacket." Rory pointed out.
"My other jacket."
"You have two of those?"
"Have you seen how many arm warmers I have?" Thea countered.
"Okay, I'll get it." Amy nodded, "But Doctor, listen to me. Don't get emotional because that's when you make mistakes." she pointed at Thea, "keep your phone on missy."
Thea mock saluted, "yes, mum."
"I'll call you from the TARDIS. Rory, look after him." she turned and headed off as Rory looked like he wanted to follow.
"Rory, look after her." The Doctor smirked.
Rory smiled at them and ran off after his wife.
"I don't hear anything." Thea murmured.
"They have to be here somewhere." the Doctor reasoned.
Thea followed sadly, hearing the desperation in his voice. He so badly wanted there to be another Time Lord and she knew how low the chances were. If someone else was here, why couldn't they reach out to them? Why were they not calling out? And why did Auntie say it was just them here?
She shivered, rubbing her arms when her phone rang.
"Hey, we're here." Amy spoke as soon as she answered, "Screwdriver's in your jacket, yeah?"
"Yeah, it's around somewhere," the Doctor called, "Have a good look." he pulled out his sonic, tossing it in the air and catching it as he locked the TARDIS doors and Thea ended the call.
"Come on." the Doctor muttered, walking off again, "Where are you? Now, where are you all? Where are you?" he closed his eyes as Thea stepped up to a small cupboard. He opened his eyes and stepped up besides her, "Well, they can't all be in here."
He opened the cupboard to see 10 glowing distress cubes, all calling out for help.
Thea stared sadly at the boxes. All these people who had been lured here and killed, their cries for help left out to lure even more poor souls.
"Just admiring your Time Lord distress signal collection." The Doctor swallowed as Auntie and Uncle approached, "Nice job. Brilliant job. Really thought I had some friends here, but this is what the Ood translator picked up. Cries for help from the long dead. How many Time Lords have you lured here the way you lured us, and what happened to them all?"
"House," Auntie began, "House is kind and he is wise."
"House repairs you when you break!" The Doctor advanced angry on them, "Yes, I know. But how does he mend you?" He flashed them with the sonic, "You've got the eyes of a 20 year old."
"Thank you." Uncle smiled.
"No. Oh, no, I mean it literally. Your eyes are 30 years younger than the rest of you." He ripped off the mans hat revealing a blue elfin ear, "your ears don't match, your right arm is two inches longer than you're left, and how's your dancing? Because you've got two left feet. Patchwork people. You've been repaired and patched up so often, I doubt there's anything left of what used to be you." He put the sonic away grabbing Aunties larger arm, "I had an umbrella like you once."
"Oh, now...it's been a great arm for me, this..." Auntie held it up and the Doctor stared at the snake tattoo on it.
"Corsair..." He breathed.
"He was a strapping big bloke, wasn't he, Uncle?"
"Big fellow." Uncle nodded.
"I got the arm and then Uncle got the spine and the kidneys."
"Kidneys."
Thea closed her eyes, fighting back tears, these people were standing around and talking to them as if it was nothing that they had the body parts of the long dead! Their people hacked away to be used as parts from these puppet people.
"You gave me hope, and then you took it away." The Doctor glared at them.
"That's enough to make anyone dangerous." Thea warned them.
"God knows what it will do to me. Basically, run!" The Doctor barked as Auntie fled.
"Poor old Time Lord." Uncle backed away, "Too late. House is too clever."
"I'm so sorry." the Doctor whispered to Thea seeing her wiping her eyes. "We never should have come here."
"We clung to the little hope we had." She breathed, "guess we're more alike than we thought."
"Giving as you're my daughter I'd like to think so." He smiled lightly, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
Thea pulled out her phone as it rang, answering it, "No sonic screwdriver." Amy said, "Also the doors seemed to have locked behind us. Rory thinks there's a perfectly innocent explanation, but I think you lied to us."
"Time Lord stuff." The Doctor waved her off, "Needed you out of the way."
"What, we're not good enough for your smart new friends?"
"How did she know?" Thea shook her head.
"What?"
"She said the boxes would make you angry. How did she know that? She knew I had said it!"
"Doctor, what is she talking about?" Amy huffed.
"Stay put." The Doctor ordered, "Stay exactly where you are."
Thea hung up as they ran out the room.
~.~
They ran into another room to see Idris sitting in a large cage area, her eyes closed.
"How did you know about the boxes?" the Doctor demanded, "You said they'd make me angry. How did you know?"
Idris smiled, "Ah, it's my thief, and my princess."
"Who are you?" Thea asked quietly, eying her intently.
She opened her eyes, "It's about time."
"Are you psychic too?"
"Who are you?" The Doctor demanded.
"Do you not know me?" Idris looked at them, "Just because they put me in here?"
"They said you were dangerous." The Doctor stated, "I won't risk you harming Thea."
"She wouldn't harm me." Thea assured him, eying the woman. There was something in her bones telling her that, that this woman, as mad and bitey as she was, she wouldn't harm them, not purposely anyway. The way the woman had acted earlier, hugging and gushing and smothering her with kisses.
"I would never harm my princess." Idris agreed, "and I wasn't talking about the cage, stupid." she stepped forwards, kneeling on the floor, resting her head against the bars, "In here. They put me in here. I'm the...Oh, what do you call me? We travel. I go..." she breathed out, imitating the wheezing on the TARDIS.
"The TARDIS?" Thea blinked.
"Time And Relative Dimension In Space." She recited, "Yes, that's it. Names are funny. It's me. I'm the TARDIS."
"No, you're not." The Doctor argued, "You're a bitey, mad lady. The TARDIS is up and downy stuff in a big blue box."
"Yes, that's me. A Type 40 TARDIS. I was already a museum piece when you were young, and the first time you touched my console you said..."
"I said you were the most beautiful thing I had ever known." The Doctor breathed.
"And then you stole me. And I stole you."
"I borrowed you." The Doctor defended.
"Borrowing implies the intention to return the thing that was taken. What makes you think I would ever give you back?"
"You're the TARDIS?" The Doctor repeated.
"Yes."
"My TARDIS?"
"My Doctor. My sweet unique child. Oh." she smiled, "we have now reached the point in the conversation where you open the lock." She stood up and stepped back as the Doctor hesitated, glancing back to Thea as she nodded, knowing they let her out.
He pulled out his sonic, unlocking the cage and Idris stepped out, looking at them closely.
"Are all people like this?" Idris wondered.
"Like what?"
"So much bigger on the inside. I'm, oh, what is that word? It's so big, so complicated. It's so sad."
"But why? Why pull the living soul from a TARDIS and pop it in a tiny human head? What does it want you for?"
"Oh, it doesn't want me." Idris said simply as she walked over and sniffed Theas hair before stroking it.
"How do you know?"
"House eats TARDISes." Idris and Thea said at the same time.
"House what?" He looked between them as Thea shrugged, "What do you mean?"
"I don't know." she took a small piece of Thea hair, braiding it, "it's something I heard you say."
"When?"
"In the future."
"House eats TARDISs?"
"There you go." She put a finger to his lips, "What are fish fingers?"
"When do I say that?"
"Any second now." Thea started to smile.
It was a lot easier to trust her feelings and abilities when there was someone else who understood. Of course, not in the same way, but still, the TARDIS saw the future and often spoke it before and confused many people.
"Of course." The Doctor lowered Idris' hand away from his mouth, "house feeds on rift energy and TARDISes are bursting with it. And not raw, all lovely and cooked. Processed food. Mmm, fish fingers."
"Do fish have fingers?" Idris wondered.
"But you can't eat a TARDIS. It would destroy you. Unless...unless..."
"Unless you deleted the TARDIS Matrix first."
"So it deleted you." The Doctor chuckled.
"But House can't just delete a TARDIS' consciousness. That would blow a hole in the universe. So he pulls out the Matrix, sticks it in a living receptacle and then it feeds off the remaining Artron energy. Oh." She blinked and looked at the Doctor, "You were about to say all that. I don't suppose you have to now."
"Amy and Rory are in there!" Thea gasped, "they'll be eaten!" She pulled out her phone as they ran. "Amy!" She shouted down the phone as they ran, "Rory! get out of there!"
"Something's wrong." Amy replied.
"It's House." The Doctor warned them, "He's after the TARDIS. Just get out both of you!"
"We can't. You locked the door, remember?"
"But I've unlocked it." The Doctor insisted.
"You stupid well haven't." They heard the cloister bell ring, the lights inside going out, "Doctor, I don't like this."
The Doctor tried the sonic on the doors, snapping his fingers, but they wouldn't open.
"Open!" Thea pulled on the doors, trying to force them open.
"Doctor!" Amy yelled from within.
"Open this door!" The doctor banged on them. "Amy. Rory!"
The TARDIS began to dematerialise forcing them back as they could only watch the box fade away.
"Amy?" Thea tried the phone again, only getting static, "Rory?" she hung up.
"Okay, right." the Doctor nodded, "I don't, I really don't know what to do." He smiled a bit, "That's a new feeling."
"Come on!" Thea called, pulling him back the way they came.
~.~
"Its gone!" Thea shouted as they ran back into the room where Idris was sitting, Auntie and Uncle in the back.
"Eaten?" She looked up in alarm.
"No, it left." The Doctor shook his head, "Not eaten, hi-jacked. But why?"
"It's time for us both to go, and keep together." Auntie remarked as she and Uncle pulled blankets around themselves.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Go?" The Doctor turned to them, "What do you mean, go? Where are you going?"
"Well, we're dying, my love." They walked closer, "it's time for Auntie and Uncle to pop off."
"I'm against it." Uncle stated.
"It's your fault, isn't it, sweets? Because you told House it was the last TARDIS. House can't feed on them if there's none more coming, can he?"
Uncle sat down heavily, "So now he's off to your universe to find more TARDISes."
"It won't." Thea whispered.
"Oh, it'll think of something." Auntie nodded before falling to the side.
"Actually, I feel fine." Uncle stood up...only to fall down as well.
"Where did the Ood go?" Thea wondered.
"You're not dead!" The Doctor shouted at them as he scanned them with the sonic, "You can't just die!"
"We need to go to where I landed," Idris called urgently, "quickly."
"Why?" Thea frowned.
"Because we are there in 3 minutes. We need to go now." She ran for the door only for a sharp pain to struck her in the side, "Ow. Roughly how long do these bodies last?" She asked.
The Doctor ran the sonic over her, "You're dying."
"Yes, of course I'm dying." She grabbed the sonic from him, "I don't belong in a flesh body. I could blow the casing in no time. No, stop it. Don't get emotional. Hmm. That's what the orangey girl says. You're the Doctor." She held the sonic out for him, "Focus."
"On what?" He huffed, "How? I'm a madman with a box, without a box!" He snatched the sonic back and put it away, "I'm stuck down the plughole at the end of the universe on a stupid old junkyard!"
"No." Thea started to smile.
"No what?" Idris looked at her.
"We're not."
"Not what?" the Doctor frowned at her, confused.
"Its not just a junkyard!" She grinned, looking between them, "its a TARDIS junkyard."
The Doctors eyes widened at that, "come on!" He grabbed Thea's hand to run off only to turn back to Idris, "Oh, sorry. Do you have a name?"
"700 years, finally he asks." Idris huffed.
"But what do I call you?"
"I think you call me..." She smirked, "Sexy."
The Doctor flushed, "Only when we're alone."
"We are alone."
"Thea is right here." He nodded to her.
"I don't mind." Thea grinned, biting her lip as she couldn't wait to find out Amy and Rorys reaction to her name. She grabbed Idris' hand and pulled her off, "keep up old man!" She called to the Doctor.
He rolled his eyes, but smiled all the same and ran after his girls.
~.~
The Doctor took the lead, scanning around as the stood on a small hill, overlooking the junkyard. "Valley of half-eaten TARDISes." he breathed, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"I'm thinking that all of my sisters are dead." Idris remarked, "That they were devoured, and that we are looking at their corpses."
"Ah. Sorry." The Doctor winced, "No, I wasn't thinking that."
"No. You were thinking you could build a working TARDIS console out of broken remnants of a hundred different models." Thea stated, "I was thinking the same."
"And neither of you care that it's impossible." Idris added.
"Unpossible. Nothings impossible."
"It's not impossible as long as we're alive." The Doctor determined, "Rory and Amy need us. So yeah, we're going to build a TARDIS."
"Come on!" Thea laughed, as she helped Idris down the slope.
~.~
Idris stood in a shell of the TARDIS they had already managed to build, examining a piece of equipment, "Bond the tube directly into the Tachyon Diverter." She called to the Doctor.
"Yes, yes, I have actually rebuilt a TARDIS before, you know." the Doctor strained as he pulled a large wall over by some rope, "I know what I'm doing."
"Nope!" Thea called, as she knelt nearby, shifting through other pieces, trying to get a sense of what they needed.
"You're like a nine year old trying to rebuild a motorbike in his bedroom." Idris remarked, "And you never read the instructions."
"I always read the instructions." The Doctor defended.
"Which is why the manual is in a supernova." Thea quipped.
Idris smiled at her and looked at the Doctor, "There's a sign on my front door. You have been walking past it for 700 years. What does it say?"
"That's not instructions." The Doctor grumbled.
"There's an instruction at the bottom. What does it say?"
"It says..." Thea began, but Idris put a hand over her mouth.
"I want to hear it from him." She smirked.
"Pull to open." He recalled.
"Yes. And what do you do?"
"I push."
"Every single time. 700 years. Police Box doors open out the way."
The Doctor threw down the rope and walked over to her, "I think I have earned the right to open my front doors any way I want."
"Your front doors?" She raised her eyebrows, "Have you any idea how childish that sounds?"
He turned away, "you are not my mother."
"And you are not my child."
"Am I your child?" Thea asked.
"Oh, of course you are." Idris turned to gush over her.
"You know," The Doctor spun back round to her, "since we're talking with mouths, not really an opportunity that comes along very often, I just want to say, you know," He pointed at her, "you have never been very reliable."
"And you have?"
He stormed back off to the wall, "You didn't always take me where I wanted to go."
"No, but I always took you where you needed to go."
Thea blinked as she realised that. All those places they'd gone that they hadn't been aiming for, always accusing the Doctor for bad driving. She had wondered just how the Doctor knew about Sarah Janes wedding...had it been the TARDIS herself?
"You did." the Doctor smiled, his eyes widening, "you knew Thea was with Sarah Jane."
"You knew the Trickster was behind it all." Thea breathed.
Idris smiled, seeing them both finally starting to realise that now.
Oh she had known where the girl had ended up and knew her thief and the little princess needed each other even if neither of them knew it. On that day the stars aligned and started the events that drew them back together.
Thea smiled softly at Idris, taking her hand, "any other day I wouldn't have wanted to know him, but that day..."
"You said next time." The Doctor recalled.
"Well, it wasn't like I could just leave you to regenerate alone." Thea mumbled. "You knew he would adopt me." She looked at the Idris, the woman smiling widely.
"You needed each other." The woman whispered.
The Doctor smiled softly at them, "look at us talking!" He exclaimed suddenly, "Wouldn't it be amazing if we could always talk, even when you're stuck inside the box?"
"You know I'm not constructed that way." Idris told him, "I exist across all space and time, and you talk and run around and bring home strays." She gasped, nearly collapsing as Thea caught her.
The Doctor rushed to her side, "You okay?"
"One of the kidneys has already failed. It doesn't matter." She dismissed, "We need to finish assembling the console."
"Using a console without a proper shell." The Doctor whistled, "It's not going to be safe."
"This body has about 18 minutes left to live. The universe we're in will reach Absolute Zero in 2 hours. Safe is relative."
"Then we need to get a move on. Eh, old girl?" The Doctor moved back to putting the wall up.
Idris placed a hand on her side, turning back to the wiring as Thea knelt down to help her.
"Do you know..?" Thea asked quietly, "what happened?"
Idris smiled sadly, "I won't tell."
"Tell him what?"
"That you remember."
Thea swallowed, not realising the woman could know that, "remember what?"
"I know it hurts, but it wont one day."
Thea glanced at the Doctor a moment before back to the wire on the lap as Idris reached over and took her hands in her own, "Its okay to be scared. Scared is good. Oh what is it he says," Idris pondered, "will say? Scared is a superpower. It makes you strong."
~.~
It wasnt long before they had a partly built TARDIS console in the middle of the junkyard, with two wall panels meeting in the back, a makeshift console in the middle, sans the rotor, which the Doctor was lugging over.
"You'll need to install the time rotor." Idris called.
"How is this going to make it through the rift?" The Doctor wondered.
"Useless." She muttered, tossing a piece of junk behind her.
"We're almost done." The Doctor called as he slid the time rotor in place, "Thrust diffuser..." He looked over the controls, "Er, retroscope. Blue thingy."
"Stabilisers." Thea corrected.
"Do you ever wonder why I chose you all those years ago?" Idris looked at them.
The Doctor scoffed, "I chose you. You were unlocked."
"Of course I was. I wanted to see the universe, so I stole a Time Lord and I ran away. And you were the only one mad enough."
"Or smart enough." Thea countered.
"You were mad enough to run off with a cat in a shuttle." Idris looked at her as though almost disappointed she had taken a shuttle and not another TARDIS.
"The shuttle stations weren't guarded at the time." Thea defended.
"My sister is waiting."
Thea blinked, assuming the woman had her tenses mixed up. If she had left Gallifrey in her own TARDIS she likely wouldnt have known Sarah Jane or met the Doctor.
It all worked out this way, right?
"Right." The Doctor clapped his hands, pretending he wasn't listening to their conversation. It sounded as though it was a private girl-to-girl talk, despite them speaking so close to him. "Perfect. Look at that. What could possibly go wrong?"
And a piece of the console popped off.
Thea and Idris shared a look.
"That's fine. That always happens. No, hang on. Wait!" He grabbed a couple of red velvet ropes from the junk, handing one to each of them as they attached them around themselves to the console, like seatbelts. "Right. Okay, let's go. Follow that TARDIS!" He and Thea started punching in buttons as Idris caught sight of herself in a mirror, pulling and tugging on her face as they worked.
The console powered down.
"Oh no, come on." The Doctor moaned.
"There's rift energy everywhere." Thea frowned.
"You can do it. Ok, diverting all power to thrust. Let's be having you." He wound a crank and the console sparked, "No, no, no, no!"
"What's wrong?" Idris looked over.
"It can't hold the charge." Thea sighed.
"It can't even start." The Doctor complained, "There's no power." He looked over to see her pulling her lip, "will you..." And put his hand over the mirror, "we've got nothing..."
"Oh, my beautiful idiot. You have what you've always had. You've got me." Idris kissed her middle finger, her eyes glowing gold with the power of the vortex as she touched the rotor, powering it up.
They clung to the console as a golden shield surrounded them, the familiar wheezing filling the air as they disappeared.
"Whoo hoo!" Thea cheered as they flew through the rift.
"We've locked on to them!" Idris reported, "They'll have to lower the shields when I'm close enough to phase inside."
"Can you get a message to Amy?" The Doctor called over the noise, "The telepathic circuits are online."
"Which one's Amy? The pretty one?"
"Yes!" Thea laughed, knowing to her, Rory was the Pretty one as Amy was the Orangey one.
Idris nodded, closing her eyes and putting her hands on either side of the rotor, reaching out. She opened her eyes as her mind reached the Pretty one, "hello, pretty." She greeted.
Thea peered round, seeing a faint image of Rory on a ladder, "hi, Rory!" she waved.
"Don't worry." The Doctor assured on Idris' other side, "Telepathic messaging. No, that's Rory." He ran back to focusing on the controls.
"You have to go to the old control room." Idris told Rory, "I'm putting the route in your head. When you get there use the purple slider on the nearest panel to lower the shields."
"The pretty one?" The Doctor scoffed.
"And Amy is the Orangey one." Thea agreed.
"You'll have about 12 seconds before the room goes into phase with the invading Matrix. I'll send you the pass key when you get there. Good luck." She pulled her hands away, ending the transmission.
"How's he going to be able to take down the shields anyway?" The Doctor asked, "House is in the control room."
"I directed him to one of the old control rooms."
"There aren't any old control rooms. They were all deleted or remodelled."
"I archive them, for neatness. I've got about 30 now."
"But I've only changed the desktop, what, a dozen times?"
"So far, yes."
"You can't archive something that hasn't happened yet."
"You can't." She smirked.
"Were nearly there!" Thea shouted, seeing the TARDIS in the distance, growing closer.
"You're doing it, you sexy thing!" The Doctor cheered.
"See, you do call me that." Idris grinned, "Is it my name?"
"You bet it's your name!"
"Whoo!" She placed her hands on the rotor once more, sending the words 'crimson', 'eleven', 'delight', 'Petrichor' to Rory before stumbling back.
Thea glanced over to check she was alright before her attention was drawn back, seeing the readings, "shields are down!" She reported, "can you warn them?"
Idris nodded, placing her hands on the rotor, connecting to Rorys mind again, "We're coming through. Get out of the way or you'll be atomised."
"Where are you coming through?" Rory asked her.
"I don't know."
"Oh, great. Thanks."
She cut the connection and looked at the Doctor, "It's not going to hold."
The Doctor pulled a lever and they materialised inside the previous console room.
"Doctor!" Amy shouted running over from one of the y-beams.
"I might be sick." Thea turned and dry heaved as the Doctor held her hair back, rubbing circles on her back as she paled. "that was the worst pilotting ever."
"I know." He continued to rub her back.
"Not good." Idris moaned as she got up, "Not good at all." The Doctor moved to help Idris, "How do you walk around in these things?" And sat her down on the floor of the makeshift console.
"We're not quite there yet." The Doctor murmured, "Just hold on. Amy, Rory, this is, well, she's the TARDIS. Except she's a woman. She's a woman, and she's the TARDIS."
"She's the TARDIS?" Amy pointed, eyes wide.
"And she's a woman. She's a woman and she's the TARDIS."
"Did you wish really hard?" Amy teased.
"Shut up." He huffed, "Not like that."
Thea helped Idris to her feet, "Hello. I'm Sexy."
"Oh." The Doctor moaned, pointing at them, "Still shut up."
"That names for when we're alone." Thea whispered.
"The environment has been breached." Houses voice rang out, "Nephew, kill them all."
Amy and Rory looked around for the Ood that had been chasing them, "Where's Nephew?" Rory wondered.
"He was standing right where you materialised." Amy added.
"He must have been redistributed." Thea grimaced.
"Meaning what?" Rory looked at her.
"You're breathing him." The Doctor said as they moved to cover their mouths.
"Oh, come on." Amy groaned.
"Another Ood I failed to save." The Doctor sighed.
"Doctor. I did not expect you." House remarked.
"You didn't see us coming." Thea joked as she helped to support Idris, the woman giving a small smile.
"Not now." The Doctor pointed at her and clapped, "that's me all over, isn't it? Lovely old unexpected me."
"The big question is, now you're here, how to dispose of you? I could play with gravity..." They all fell to the floor, until House eased up, Idris remaining on the ground as Thea stayed by her side as Rory came over, "Or I could evacuate the air from this room and watch you choke."
The Doctor grasped at his neck as they struggled to breathe as the air was sucked out, "You really don't want to do that."
"Why shouldn't I just kill you now?"
"Because then I won't be able to help you." The Doctor panted as the air returned, "listen to your engines. Just listen to them. You don't have the thrust and you know it. Right now I'm your only hope for getting out of your little bubble through the rift, and into my universe. And mine's the one with the food in."
"Water..." Idris gasped as Thea held her hand, quietly singing to her to try and comfort her.
"You just have to promise not to kill us. That's all, just promise."
"You can't be serious!" Amy gaped.
"I'm very serious. I'm sure it's an entity of its word."
"Dad, she's burning up." Thea called, tears in her eyes.
"She's asking for water." Rory added.
"Hey." The Doctor smiled as he knelt besides her, "Hang in there, old girl. Not long now. It'll be over soon."
"I always liked it when you call me old girl." She breathed.
"You want me to give my word?" House called, "Easy. I promise."
"Fine." The Doctor nodded, turning to stand again, "Ok. I trust you. Just delete, oh er, 30 percent of the TARDIS rooms, you'll free up thrust enough to make it through. Activate subroutine Sigma 9."
"Why would you tell me this?"
"Because we want to get back to our universe as badly as you do. And I'm nice."
"Yes. I can delete rooms. And I can also rid myself of vermin if I delete this room first. Thank you, Doctor. Very helpful. Goodbye, Time Lords. Goodbye, little humans. Goodbye, Idris."
Thea squeezed Idris hand as a bright light filled the room, materialising them out...
~.~
...and into the main control room.
"Yes." the Doctor chuckled, "I mean, you could do that, but it just won't work. Hardwired fail safe. Living things from rooms that are deleted are automatically deposited in the main control room. But thanks for the lift."
"We are in your universe now, Doctor." House countered, "Why should it matter to me in which room you die?" Idris pulled Rory closer, whispering in his ear as Thea watched the Doctor, "I can kill you just as easily here as anywhere. Fear me. I've killed hundreds of Time Lords."
The Doctor swallowed, "Fear me. I've killed all of them."
"I don't understand." Rory frowned at Idris, "There isn't a forest in here."
"Yeah, you're right." The Doctor continued, "You've completely won. Oh, you can kill us in oodles of really inventive ways, but before you do kill us allow me, my daughter, and friends Amy and Rory to congratulate you on being an absolutely worthy opponent." He clapped.
"Congratulations." Amy agreed, clapping along, confused.
"You've defeated not only the Last of the Time Lords but the TARDIS matrix herself." Thea called, standing up but not moving from Idris, "a living consciousness you ripped out of this very control room and locked up into a human body! And look at her!"
"She's stopped breathing!" Rory called urgently.
"Enough." House cut in, "That is enough."
"No its not." Thea snapped, "You forced the TARDIS into a body so she'd burn out safely a very long way away from this control room. A flesh body can't hold the TARDIS Matrix and live for long. Do you see her?"
"And you think I should mourn her?" House scoffed.
"No. I think you're an idiot." Thea glared, "You let her back into the very room you wanted her out off."
"But now she's back in the box again, and she's free!" The Doctor smirked as Idris gave her last breathe, a golden light streaming out of her, swirling around them, changing the green light back into the golden light of the vortex.
"No." House shouted, "Doctor, stop this. Argh! Stop this now."
"Oh, look at my girl! Look at her go. Bigger on the inside. You see, House?"
"Make her stop."
"That's your problem. Size of a planet, but inside you are just so small."
"Make it stop."
"Never!" Thea glared at the faint remaining green lights, "get him, mum!"
"Finish him off, girl!" The Doctor cheered as House moaned as the TARDIS took her home back, taking out all the green lights, the golden lights fading back to its dark setting.
The Doctor turned to hug Thea, when a voice called out, "Doctor? Thea?" They turned to see that Idris' body had gone, but there was a hologram of some sort, made from the golden light, "are you there? It's so very dark in here."
"We're here." The Doctor swallowed as they walked over, squeezing Theas hand.
"I've been looking for a word. A big, complicated word, but so sad. I've found it now."
"What word?" Thea asked.
"Alive." she smiled, "I'm alive."
"Alive isn't sad."
"It's sad when it's over. I'll always be here, but this is when we talked, and now even that has come to an end. There's something I didn't get to say to you."
"Goodbye?" The Doctor guessed.
"No. I just wanted to say hello. Hello, Doctor. Hello, Thea. It's so very, very nice to meet you."
"Please." The Doctor sniffled, "I don't want you to. Please."
Idris smiled at them as the light grew bright and she disappeared with a ghostly whisper; "I love you both."
Thea turned and buried her face in the Doctors chest and he hugged her tightly, both crying for their loss.
~.~
The Doctor sat on the harness under the console, fiddling with some wires as Thea sat on the bottom step, resting her head on the railing as she watched in silence.
"How's it going under there?" Rory called as he and Amy stepped down.
"Just putting a firewall around the Matrix." The Doctor replied, "Almost done."
"Are you going to make her talk again?" Amy asked.
"We can't." Thea sighed.
"Why not?" Rory frowned.
"Spacey-wacey."
"Of course it is." Amy laughed a bit. That had been her guess.
"Well, actually," the Doctor explained, "it's because the Time Lords discovered that if you take an eleventh dimensional matrix and fold it into a mechanical then." Rory reached over at two dangling wires, connecting them, making them spark, "Yes, it's spacey wacey." the Doctor flinched, pulling his blackened goggles down.
"Sorry." Rory murmured as Thea laughed, "At the end, she was talking. She kept repeating something. I don't know what it meant."
"What did she say?" The Doctor looked at him.
"The only water in the forest is the river." he recited, "She said we'd need to know that someday. It doesn't make sense, does it?"
"Not yet." Thea smirked, "but it will."
"You okay?" The Doctor eyed Rory.
"No." he sighed, "I watched her die. I shouldn't let it get to me, but it still does." Amy walked down to sit besides Thea, "I'm a nurse."
"Letting it get to you." The Doctor began, "You know what that's called? Being alive. Best thing there is. Being alive right now, that's all that counts. Nearly finished. 2 more minutes, then we're off. The Eye of Orion's restful, if you like restful. I can never really get the hang of restful."
"What do you think, mum?" Thea looked up at the TARDIS, "peaceful day out at the Eye of Orion or another fun adventure!"
"Look at you." Amy shook her head, "It's always you and her, isn't it, long after the rest of us have gone. A father and daughter and their box, off to see the universe."
"I'm not complaining." Thea smiled.
"Well, you say that as if it's a bad thing." The Doctor smiled, "but honestly, it's the best thing there is. The House deleted all the bedrooms. I should probably make you two a new bedroom. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"Okay. Er, Doctor, this time could we lose the bunk beds?" Amy asked.
"No. Bunk beds are cool." He defended, "A bed with a ladder. You can't beat that."
"Theres extra space for other activities." Thea added, "not those kinds, though." She said quickly, her face turning red as Amy smirked at her.
"It's your room." the Doctor said, "Out those stairs, keep walking till you find it. Off you pop."
They started up the stairs when Rory stopped, "Doctor, do you have a room?" Amy just pulled him off to leave them alone.
~.~
The Doctor finished wiping down the console a little while later, "Are you there?" He asked, "Can you hear me?" He shook his head at the Silence, "Oh, I'm a silly old..."
"So the Eye of Orion," Thea cut in, jumping up from the jumpseat and joining him at the console, "or wherever we need to go."
They both looked over as a lever moved on its own.
The Doctor grinned, "i'll go get the picnic basket!" He cheered, rushing off.
"Dont forget the mini meringues!" Thea called after him, moving back round to the monitor, still giving off an unclear result about Amys pregnancy.
She sighed, reaching out and placing a hand on the time rotor, closing her eyes, "I understand what you said to Rory, and I know I can't change that. Even if I could, I know I shouldn't, but I can still stop his death. Can't I?" She opened her eyes, feeling the faint hum around her, "i'll take that as a yes."
She kissed her fingers, placing them on the rotor, "thanks, mum."