The Doctor's Wife
A/N: I'm skipping Curse of the Black Spot because I don't like the episode. And, Now on with the show…
We were just flying around in deep space. The Doctor was talking to Rory about one of our many adventures with Amy, "Then we discovered it wasn't the robot king after all, it was the real one. Fortunately, I was able to re-attach the head." said The Doctor.
Amy walked down the stairs from the top level and Rory looked at her, "Do you believe any of this stuff?"
"I was there." said Amy.
Just then a small, beeping alarm went off on the console, "Oh, it's the warning lights. I'm getting rid of those, they never stop!" he slapped the console.
I shook me head and patted the console, "You ignore him…" I loved the TARDIS and all of her quirks. That's what made her so special. Just then we heard a knock on the door. We turned around and looked at the door. ""What was that?" asked Amy.
"It was a knock on the door," I said, as Us Time Lords started to walk slowly towards the door.
"Right. We are in deep space," said Rory.
"Very, very deep space," said Annabelle.
There was another knock on the door, "And somebody's knocking." said The Doctor.
The Doctor slowly opened the door and I smiled at what I saw. A small box just floating outside, "Oh, come here. Come here, you scrumptious little beauty!" He reached out to grab the box but it just whizzed past him and into the TARDIS. Amy and Rory had to duck as it flew past them and crashed into The Doctor's chest and knocked him to the floor. I smiled as Annabelle and I helped him up.
"A box?!" said Rory.
"Doctor, what is it?" asked Amy.
"We've got mail!" he said. The Doctor and I ran back to the console and started to work.
"That box is part of the Time Lord emergency messaging system," I said, "In an emergency, we'd wrap up thoughts in psychic containers and send them through time and space."
"Anyway, there's a Time Lord out there, and it's one of the good ones!"
"You said there were no other Time Lords left," said Rory.
"There are no Time Lords left in the universe, but the universe isn't where we're going!" said The Doctor, as he tossed the box to Amy.
"See that snake? That's mark of the Corsair," I said, "He was a good friend of our family. He had that snake as a tattoo in every regeneration. He didn't feel like himself without the tattoo."
"Or herself, a couple of times," said The Doctor, "Ooh, she was a bad girl!"
The console started to spark and the TARDIS shook. We all grabbed onto the console, "What's happening?!" asked Rory.
"We're leaving the universe!" yelled Annabelle.
"How can you leave the universe?" asked Amy
"With enormous difficulty!" I said. "Right now, we're burning up rooms in the TARDIS to give us some more power."
"Goodbye swimming pool," said The Doctor, "Goodbye scullery, sayonara squash court seven!"
A short time later, the TARDIS stopped with a jolt, that almost knocked us all to the floor.
"OK," said Amy as she pushed some hair from her face, "OK. Where are we?"
"Outside the universe," said The Doctor with a smile, "where we've never, ever been."
But just then the lights started to dim, "Is that meant to be happening?" asked Rory.
I started to get scared. The last time the TARDIS lost power like this was on my first trip with the Doctor and Rose. "It's the power," said Annabelle, "It's draining." she tried the controls, "Everything's draining! But it can't. That's... That's impossible."
Then the room went dark. "What is that?" asked Rory.
"It's as if the matrix, the soul of the TARDIS, has just vanished," said The Doctor, "Where would it go?"
The Doctor headed to the door and opened it. It looked like we landed in an intergalactic junkyard. The rest of us stepped out and Amy asked, "So what kind of trouble's your friend in?"
"He was in a bind, a bit of a pickle, sort of distressed," said The Doctor.
"Aw, you can't just say you don't know."
"But what is this?" asked Rory, "The scrap yard at the end of the universe?"
"Not end of, outside of," said Annabelle
"How we can we be outside the universe? The universe is everything."
The Doctor put his arm around Rory's shoulders and said, "Imagine a great big soap bubble with one of those tiny little bubbles on the outside."
"OK."
I looked at my uncle, "It's nothing like that." I said. I put one of my hands on the TARDIS, "She's completely drained, look at her…"
"So we're in a tiny bubble universe, sticking to the side of the bigger bubble universe?" asked Amy.
"Yeah…." said The Doctor.
"No." I said.
"But if it helps, yes." The Doctor walked up to the TARDIS, "This place is full of rift energy. She'll probably refuel just by being here. Now this place, what do we think, eh?" he threw some dirt in the air, "Gravity's almost earth-normal, air's breathable, but it smells like…"
"Armpits." said Amy.
"Armpits."
"Where did this stuff come from?" asked Rory.
"There's a rift. Now and then, stuff gets sucked through it," The Doctor snapped his fingers, "Not a bubble, a plughole. The universe has a plughole and we've fallen down it."
"Thief! Thief!" called out a female voice. We turned and saw a woman in a light blue Victorian style dress running toward us, "You're my thief!"
Behind her was an older man and woman chasing her wearing mismatched clothes, "She's dangerous! Guard yourselves!" said the older woman.
The young woman ran right up to the Doctor and grabbed his shoulders, "Look at you! Goodbye! No, not goodbye, what's the other one?" then she kissed the Doctor.
"Watch out!" said the older man as he tried to pull the young woman off of him, "Careful, keep back from her!" The man and older woman pulled the younger woman away from The Doctor, "Welcome, strangers, lovely. Sorry about the mad person."
"Why am I a thief? What have I stolen?" asked The Doctor.
"Me. You're going to steal me. No, you have stolen me. You are stealing me. Tenses are difficult, aren't they?" said the young woman. Then she looked over at me and Annabelle and gasped, "Bear! Sweetpea!"
She ran up to us and gave us both a hug. Before we could ask anything the man and the older woman pulled her off of us, "Oh, we are sorry, my doves. She's off her head. They call me Auntie." Then Auntie shook our hands.
"I'm Uncle," said the older man, "I'm everybody's uncle. Just keep back from this one, she bites!"
"Do I?" asked the young woman, "Excellent." She went up to The Doctor and bit his neck.
"Ow! No, ow, ow!" shouted the Doctor.
Auntie and Uncle pulled the young woman away as the Doctor rubbed his neck, "Oh, biting's excellent!" said the young woman, "It's like kissing, only there's a winner!"
"Sorry. She's doolally," said Uncle.
"No, I'm not doolally," said the young woman, "I'm... I'm...It's on the tip of my tongue. I've just had a new idea about kissing. Come here, you!" The young woman chased after The Doctor.
"Idris, no, no!" said Auntie.
The Doctor stood behind Rory, Amy, Annabelle and me, "Oh, but now you're angry," said Idris, "No, you're not. You will be angry. The little boxes will make you angry."
"Sorry? The little what? Boxes?" asked The Doctor.
Idris laughed, "Your chin is hilarious!" she pinched The Doctor's chin then looks at Rory, "It means the smell of dust after rain.""
"What does?" asked Rory.
"Petrichor."
"But I didn't ask."
"Not yet. But you will."
"No, Idris, I think you should have a rest," said Auntie.
"Yes, yes, good idea!" said Idris, "I'll just see if there's an off switch." She fainted and started to fall forward. Rory caught her and he and The Doctor placed the young woman in a nearby wheelbarrow.
"Is that it?" asked Uncle, "She dead now? So sad."
Rory did a quick check, "She's still breathing."
"Nephew, take Idris somewhere she can not bite people."
We turned and saw an Ood with green eyes behind us, "Oh, hello!" said The Doctor.
"What is that?" asked Amy.
"It's all right," I said, "It's an Ood!"
"Oods are good, love an Ood," said The Doctor as he walked over to the Ood, "Hello, Ood. Can't you talk? Oh, I see, it's damaged. May I?" he opened the translator, "It might be on the wrong frequency."
"Nephew was broken when he came here," said Auntie, "Why, he was half dead. House repaired him. House repaired all of us."
The Doctor fixed Nephew's translator and when he closed it back up. We heard a bunch of messages all playing at the same time, we heard one message clearly, it was a a man calling out, "If you are receiving this message, please help me. Send a signal to the High Council of the Time Lords on Gallifrey. Help! I'm still alive! I don't know where I am. I'm on some rock-like planet."
Then the Ood turned off his translator, "What was that? Was that him?" asked Rory.
"No, no, it's picking up something else," I said, "But that's... That's not possible. That's…"
The Doctor looked at Auntie and Uncle, "Who else is here? Tell us. Show us! Show us!"
"Just what you see. It's just the four of us, and the House," said Auntie, "Nephew, will you take Idris somewhere safe where she can't hurt nobody?"
The Ood picked up Idris and took her away. Annabelle asked, "The House? What's the House?"
"House is all around you, my sweets. You are standing on him." said Auntie. Uncle jumped up and down then Auntie said, "This is the House. This world. Would you like to meet him?"
"Meet him?!" asked Rory.
"I'd love to," said The Doctor.
"Me too," I said.
"Me three," said Annabelle.
"This way," said Uncle, "Come, please. Come."
Auntie and Uncle lead us toward a nearby cavern. "What's wrong? What were those voices?"
"Time Lords," I said, "It's not just the Corsair."
"Somewhere close by there are lots and lots of... Time Lords." said Annabelle.
Then, us Time Lords started to follow Auntie and Uncle. With Amy and Rory close behind us. They led us to a room with more junk and a grate with a green light glowing underneath it. "Come. Come, come." said Uncle, "You can see the House and he can look at you and he…"
Us Time Lords looked at each other and then walked over and knelt beside the grate and looked down at the green light, "So this asteroid is sentient?" asked Annabelle.
"We walk on his back, breathe his air. Eat his food…" said Auntie.
"Smell its armpits," said Amy
Just then a deep voice started to come out of Auntie and Uncle's mouths, "And do my will. You are most welcome, travelers."
"Doctor... that voice, that's the asteroid talking?"
"Yes," said The Doctor, "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," said House.
"So you've met Time Lords before?" I asked.
"Many travelers have come through the rift, like Auntie and Uncle and Nephew. I repair them when they break."
"So there are Time Lords here?" asked Annabelle.
"Not any more, but there have been many TARDISes on my back in days gone by."
"Well, there won't be any more after us," I said, "We're the last of Time Lords and we have the last TARDIS."
"A pity. Your people were so kind. Be here in safety. Rest, feed, if you will." Then, House freed Auntie and Uncle from his control.
"We're not actually going to stay here, are we?" asked Rory.
"It seems like a friendly planet. Literally," said The Doctor. He turned and looked at Auntie and Uncle, "Mind if we poke around a bit?"
"You can look all you want. Go, look. House loves you," Auntie walked up to Amy' and cupped her face with both of her hands. Auntie's left hand was much larger and more manly then her right hand.
"Come on then, gang. We're just going to, erm... see the sights." said The Doctor as he lead us out of the room.
We walked through the tunnels of the planet. As we walked, I could have sworn I heard someone calling out 'Thief! Bear! Sweetpea!' The Doctor heard it and said, "Shh, shh."
"So as soon as the TARDIS is refueled, we go, yeah?" asked Rory.
"No. There are Time Lords here," I said, "We heard them and they need us."
"You told me about your people and you told me what you did, Doctor," said Amy.
"Yes, but if they're like the Corsair, they're good, we can save them!" said The Doctor.
"Then tell them you destroyed the others?!"
"I can explain. Tell them why I had to."
"You want to be forgiven."
"Don't we all?"
Amy nodded and asked, "What do you need from me?"
"My screwdriver," said The Doctor, "I left it in the TARDIS. It's in my jacket."
"You're wearing your jacket." said Rory.
"My other one."
"You have two of those?"
"Wait," asked Amy as she cut in, "What about Teddy and Annabelle's screwdrivers?"
"They are in the console recharging," I said.
Amy sighed, "I'll get it, but, Doctor, listen to me. Don't get emotional because that's when you makes mistakes."
"Yes, boss," said The Doctor with a salute. I rolled my eyes.
"I'll call you from the TARDIS." Amy tossed her phone to The Doctor, "Rory, look after them." then she walked out.
I saw the look on Rory's face. I could tell Rory wanted to go with her than baby-sit us, "Rory, look after her." I said with a smile.
"Yeah," said Rory, then he went to follow Amy.
Then, the three of us continued to look for the Time Lords. A short time later Amy's phone started to ring. The Doctor put the phone on speaker, "We're here," said Amy, "We're here. Screwdriver's in your jacket, yeah?"
The three of us pulled our sonic screwdrivers out of our jackets, "Yeah, it's around somewhere. Have a good look." Then he hung up the phone, activated the screwdriver and locked the doors of the TARDIS. We didn't like lying to Amy and Rory, but we had to protect them somehow. Plus, they were hiding something from us so we felt we were even. "Come on! Where are you? Now where are you all? Where are you?" said The Doctor to himself.
We all closed our eyes and held hands. Then we could sense the Time Lords. We opened our eyes and saw a curtain. We walked over and pulled back the curtain to show a small alcove, "Well, they can't all be in here," said Annabelle.
Just then we heard murmuring voices. We turned in the direction of the voices and saw a cabinet in the wall. I walked up to it and opened the door. I could feel the tears forming in my eyes as I looked at what was inside the cabinet. It was nothing but Time Lord distress signal boxes. All of them calling out for help. I fell Annabelle walk beside me and give me a hug to comfort me. Just then Auntie and Uncle came up behind us. "We were just admiring your Time Lord distress signal collection," I said as I wiped the tears from my eyes, "Nice job. Brilliant job. We really thought we had some friends here... but this is what the Ood translator picked up. Cries for help from the long dead." We turned to face them and I said, "How many Time Lords have you lured here, the way you lured us? And what happened to them all?"
"House, House is kind and he is wise," said Auntie.
The Doctor started to get angry, "House repairs you when you break. Yes, I know. But how does he mend you?" he scanned Uncle with his sonic, "You have the eyes of a 20 year old."
"Thank you." said Uncle.
"He mean it literally," said Annabelle, "Your eyes are 30 years younger than you are." she pulled Uncle's hat off his head, "Your ears don't match, your right arm is two inches longer than your 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," said The Doctor, as he put his sonic away and grabbed Auntie's larger arm, "I had an umbrella like you once."
"Oh, now, it's been a great arm for me, this," said Auntie. Then we saw the snake tattoo on the arm.
"Corsair." said I said.
"He was a strapping big bloke, wasn't he, Uncle?"
"Big fella." said Uncle.
"I got the arm and then Uncle got the spine and the kidneys," said Auntie.
"Kidneys."
"You gave us hope, and then you took it away," said The Doctor, "That's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it will do to me! Basically... Run!"
Auntie ran off but Uncle just backed away, "Poor old Time Lords. Too late. House is too clever." Then he left.
The three of us Time Lords were furious. We thought there was a chance that the three of us weren't the Last of the Time Lords but we were wrong. We knew we had to get out of there, but before we left we had to find out how Idris knew the boxes would make us angry. We went to search for the voice we heard earlier when Amy's phone started to ring. The Doctor put the phone on speaker and Amy said, "No sonic screwdriver. 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," said The Doctor, "Needed you out of the way."
"What? We're not good enough for your smart new friend?"
"'The boxes will make you angry.' How could she know?"
"Doctor, what are you talking about?"
"Amy, you and Rory stay exactly where you are." I said.
Then, The Doctor ended the call. We found Idris in a large cage, she was sitting on the floor with her eyes closed. "How did you know about the boxes?" asked The Doctor, "You said they'd make me angry. How did you know?"
"Ah, it's my thief with his bear and her sweetpea."
"Hey," said Annabelle, "Nobody calls me 'Sweetpea' but Mom."
"Who are you?" asked The Doctor.
"It's about time," said Idris.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"Do you not know me? Just because they put me in here?"
"They said you were dangerous," said Annabelle.
"Not the cage…. In here," Idris put a hand on either side of her face, "They put me in here. I'm the... Oh, what do you call me? We travel. I go…" My jaw dropped when out of her mouth came the sound of the TARDIS.
"The TARDIS?" asked The Doctor.
"Time and relative dimension in space. Yes, that's it. Names are funny. It's me! I'm the TARDIS."
"No. You're not!" said Annabelle, "You're a biting, crazy lady. The TARDIS is a huge ship that travels in time and space and disguised as a blue police box."
"Yes, that's me. A type 40 TARDIS," said Idris, then she looked at The Doctor, "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," he said.
"And then you stole me. And I stole you."
"I borrowed you."
"Borrowing implies the eventual intention to return the thing that was taken. What makes you think I would ever give you back?"
"You're the TARDIS?" I asked.
"Yes," said Idris.
"Our TARDIS?"
"My Doctor, Bear and Sweetpea. Oh! We have now reached the point in the conversation where you open the lock." The Doctor used his sonic on the lock and Idris stepped out of her cage. She looked closely at The Doctor's face. "Are all people like this?"
"Like what?" he asked.
"So much bigger on the inside? I'm... Oh, what is that word? It's so big, so complicated. It's so sad."
"I don't under stand why House would pull the living soul from a TARDIS and put it in a tiny human head? What does it want you for?" I asked.
"It doesn't want me," said Idris, as she sniffed the Doctor.
"How do you know?" asked The Doctor, as Idris sniffed me and Annabelle.
"House eats TARDISes." she said.
"House does what?!" I asked, "What do you mean?"
"I don't know. It's something I heard him say." said Idris as she pointed at The Doctor.
"When?" he asked.
"In the future."
"House eats TARDISes?"
'There you go," said Idris, as she put a finger on the Doctor's lips, "What are fish fingers?"
"When do I say that?" asked The Doctor with a muffled voice.
"Any second." said Idris.
"Of course!" I said, "House feeds on rift energy and TARDISes are bursting with it."
"And not raw," Said the Doctor, "All lovely and cooked, processed food… Mmm, fish fingers."
"Do fish have fingers?" asked Idris.
"But you can't eat a TARDIS," said Annabelle, "it would destroy you, unless…"
"Unless you deleted the TARDIS matrix first."
The Doctor chuckled, "So it deleted you."
"But House just can't delete a TARDIS' consciousness, that would blow a hole in the universe," said Idris, "He pulls out the matrix, sticks it in a living receptacle and feeds off the remaining Artron energy. You were about to say all that. I don't suppose you have to now."
"The Doctor pulled Amy's phone out of his pocket, "I sent Amy and Rory in there. They'll be eaten. Amy! Amy! Rory, get the hell out of there!" Then we started to run though the tunnels.
"Doctor, something's wrong," said Amy over the phone.
"It's House. He's after the TARDIS. Just get out, both of you!"
"We can't. You locked the door, remember?"
"But I've unlocked it."
"You stupid well haven't!" Then we heard the sound of the Cloister Belle. That just made us run faster, "Doctor, I don't like this." said Amy.
We reached the TARDIS and we all tried our sonics to open the doors. The Doctor even tried snapping his fingers, but nothing happened. "Open!" shouted The Doctor.
"Open this door!" I shouted and banged on the door.
"Amy! Rory!" called Annabelle as she banged on the door.
Just then, the TARDIS dematerialized , in front of us. The Doctor tried calling Amy, "Amy? Amy, can you hear me?" But he didn't get any answer, "OK. Right. I don't... I really don't know what to do." He smiled, "That's a new feeling."
I rolled my eyes and took him by the hand, "Come on…" then we all ran back to the caverns. We found Idris sitting on the floor of the cave. Auntie and Uncle were there too. "It's gone." I said as we ran back in the cave.
"Eaten?" asked Idris.
"No, it left," said The Doctor, "Not eaten, hi-jacked. But why?"
Just then Auntie spoke up, "It's time for us both to go, Uncy," I looked and saw her and Uncle wrapping themselves in blankets, "together."
"What do you mean go?" asked Annbelle, "Where are you going?"
"Well, we're dying, my love," said Auntie as she walked to a chair, "It's time for Auntie and Uncle to pop off."
"I'm against it." said Uncle.
"It's your fault, isn't it, sweets? Cos you told House it was the last TARDIS. House can't feed on them if there's none more coming, can he?"
"So now he's off to your universe to find more TARDISes."
"It won't," I said.
"Oh, it will think of something." said Auntie then she fell over. The Doctor rushed over to her to check for a pulse.
"Actually, I feel fine," said Uncle, he stood then fell straight to the ground.
"You're not dead," said The Doctor as he started to scan Uncle, "You can't just die!"
"We need to go to where I landed. Quickly." said Idris.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because we are there in three minutes," she stood up, "We need to go now!" she ran out of the cave but then stopped when she got outside, "Ow! Roughly, how long do these bodies last?"
"You're dying." said The Doctor.
"Yes, of course I'm dying," said Idris, as she took the sonic, "I don't belong in a flesh body. I could blow the casing in no time. No, stop it, don't get emotional. That's what the orangey girl says. You're the Doctor. Focus." She returned the sonic to him.
"On what? How? I'm a madman with a box, without a box!" he took the sonic back, "I'm stuck down the plughole at the end of the universe on a stupid old junkyard!"
"Are we?" asked Annabelle with a smile.
"Of course we are! You don't see the TARDIS anywhere around do you?!" asked The Doctor as he looked around, "Oh…" I looked around and realized what my uncle and daughter both realized.
"Oh, what?" asked Idris.
"We're not," said The Doctor.
"Not what?"
"It's not a junkyard," I said with a smile, " Don't you see? It's not just a junkyard."
"What is it then?"
"It's a TARDIS junkyard!" said The Doctor, "Come on." The Doctor started to run but he stopped and came back, "Ooh, sorry, do you have a name?"
"700 years, finally he asks." said Idris.
"But what do I call you?" asked The Doctor.
"I think you call me... Sexy."
Annabelle and I started to laugh. The Doctor whispered to Idris, "Only when we're alone!"
"We are alone."
"Come on then, Sexy," said The Doctor as he took Idris by and we started to run. As we ran across the surface of the planet, The Doctor scanned the bits and pieces of destroyed TARDISes. We climbed on top of a large mound and looked down at the collection of various ships, "A valley of half-eaten TARDISes. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked The Doctor.
"I'm thinking that all of my sisters are dead," said Idris, "That they were devoured, and that we are looking at their corpses."
"Ah. Sorry. 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. And you don't care that it's impossible."
"It's not impossible as long as we are alive," I said, "Rory and Amy need us. So, yeah, we're going to build a TARDIS."
We started to work on the makeshift console room. In a short time we had a shell of a room with a small console in the center, "Bond the tube directly into the Tachyon Diverter," said Idris as she and Annabelle worked on the console.
"Yes, yes, I have actually rebuilt a TARDIS before, you know. I know what I'm doing," said The Doctor as he and I were dragging a piece of wall by a rope.
"You're like a nine-year-old trying to rebuild a motorbike in his bedroom. And you never read the instructions."
"I always read the instructions!"
"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!"
"There's an instruction at the bottom. What does it say?"
"Pull to open."
"Yes, and what do you do?"
"I push!"
"Every single time. 700 years. Police Box doors open out the way."
I looked at her, "You know… Those instructions refer just to the little door where the phone is…
The Doctor threw down the rope, walked over to her and said, "And besides, "I think I've earned the right to open my front doors any way I want!"
"Your front doors?! Have you any idea how childish that sounds?" asked Idris.
The Doctor turned away and muttered, "You are not my mother!"
"And you are not my child!"
The Doctor turned back around, "You know, since we're talking with mouths, not really an opportunity that comes along very often, I just want to say, you know, you," he pointed in Idris face, "have never been very reliable."
"And you have?" said Idris, Annabelle and I all together.
"You didn't always take me where I wanted to go." The Doctor walked away.
"No, but I always took you where you needed to go."
I thought about it, "She does have a point… If the TARDIS hadn't taken us to Messaline, we wouldn't have Annabelle…" I smiled as I looked at my daughter. I loved her so much I couldn't imagine my life without her. I walked up to her and gave her a quick hug.
The Doctor whirled around happy, "Look at us. Talking. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could always talk? Even when you're inside the box?"
"You know I'm not constructed that way," said Idris, "I exist across all space and time, and you talk and run around and bring home strays."
Idris fell but Annabelle caught her before she hit the ground, "Are you okay?"
"One of the kidneys has already failed," said Idris, "It doesn't matter. We need to finish assembling the console."
"Using a console without a proper shell is not going to be safe," I said.
"This body has about 18 minutes left to live. The universe we're in will reach Absolute Zero in three hours. Safe is relative."
"Then we need to get a move on, eh, old girl?" said The Doctor as he and I walked back to the piece we were dragging over.
A short time later we had three walls up as The Doctor carried a central column over his shoulder to the makeshift console, "You'll need to install the time router," said Idris.
"How is this going to make it through the rift?" asked Annabelle, as The Doctor slipped the column into place in the console.
"We're almost there," I said as I checked over everything, "Thrust diffuser. Retro scope. Blue Stabilizers…" I looked at The Doctor and smiled.
"Oh… Do we really need the Blue Boring-ers?" he asked with a wining tone of focie, "What's the point in traveling through time and space if you can't feel all the shakes and shimmies…"
I shook my head and continued to work. Then, Idris asked, "Do you wonder why I chose you all those years ago?"
"I chose you," said The Doctor, "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."
The Doctor joined the rest of us at the console, "Right. Perfect. Look at that. What could possibly go wrong?" a small piece fell off, "That's fine, that always happens. No! Hang on! Wait!" He grabbed some red velvet ropes and handed them to us then we attached the ropes to the console. Right. OK, let's go. Follow that TARDIS!" said The Doctor as he pulled the lever on the console. Then nothing happened.
I checked the controls and said, "It can't hold the charge. We can't even start it. There's no power!" I looked at Idris and saw her making faces at herself in a mirror in the console.
The Doctor put a hand over the mirror to get her to focus, "We've got nothing!"
"Oh, my beautiful idiot," said Idris. You have what you've always had - you've got me." She kissed her fingers. Her eyes started to glow gold with the power of the Time Vortex. Then she tapped the rotor and we heard a familiar wheezing sound and we dematerialized off of the planet and start to chase after the TARDIS.
We were flying though space in our makeshift TARDIS. There was no roof and one side was missing but the energy field around us protected us from the extreame temperatures of deep space. The Ride was quite rough, but the Doctor was enjoying every moment of it, "Whoo-hoo!" he shouted.
"We've locked on to them!" shouted Idris, "They'll have to lower the shields when I'm close enough to phase inside."
"Can you get a message to Amy?" I asked, "The telepathic circuits are online."
"Which one's Amy? The pretty one?"
The Doctor nodded. Idris nodded and closed her eyes. She put her hands on the rotor then she said, "Hello, Pretty!"
The Doctor and I ran over to Idris and looked into a small monitor where we could see a faint image of Rory hanging onto a latter, "What the hell is that?" Rory asked.
"Don't worry," said The Doctor, "Telepathic messaging. No, that's Rory."
"You have to go to the old control room," said Idris, "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!"
"You'll have about 12 seconds before the room goes into phase with the invading Matrix. I'll send you the passkey when you get there. Good luck!"
"How's he going to be able to take down the shields anyway?" asked Annabelle, "The House is in the control room."
"I directed him to one of the old control rooms," said Idris.
"There aren't any old control rooms," I said, "They were all deleted or remodeled."
"I archive them. For neatness. I've got about 30 now."
"But I've only changed the desktop, what, a dozen times?" said The Doctor.
"So far, yes."
"You can't archive something that hasn't happened yet!" I said.
"YOU can't." said Idris.
Soon we could see that we were catching up to the TARDIS, "Keep going!" shouted The Doctor, "You're doing it, you sexy thing!"
"See, you DO call me that. Is it my name?" asked Idris.
"You bet it's your name!"
"Whoo!" shouted Idris as she put her hands on the rotor again and she sent Rory the code words, "Crimson. Eleven. Delight. Petrichor." A few moments later, she announced, "They did it. Shields down!" I through a lever on the console and we started to increase speed toward the TARDIS. Idris sent another message to Rory, "We're coming through. Get out of the way or you'll be atomized."
"Where are you coming through?" asked Rory.
"I don't know."
"Oh, great. Thanks!"
"It's not going to hold!" shouted Idris.
I pulled a lever on the console and the next thing we knew we were in the last incarnation of the control room. The makeshift console landed on the ramp that led from the door up to the console. We looked and saw Amy and Rory standing by the main console. Amy smiled, ran to us and gave us each a hug, "Doctor! Teddy! Annabelle!"
"Not good. Not good at all," said Idris, as she tried to get up Us Time Lords went to her and helped her sit down. "How do you walk around in these things?"
"We're not quite there yet... just hold on." said The Doctor. Then, The Doctor turned to Amy, "Amy, this is... Well, she's my TARDIS. Except she's a woman. She's a woman, and she's my TARDIS."
"She's the TARDIS?!"
"And she's a woman. She's a woman and she's the TARDIS.
"Did you wish really hard?"
"Shut up!" said The Doctor, "Not like that."
"Hello. I'm... Sexy." said Idris as she stood up.
"Oh!" said The Doctor as he rubbed his head. Then he pointed at Amy, "Still shut up."
"The Environment has been breached. Nephew, kill them all." said House's voice.
We all looked around for the Ood, "Where's Nephew?" asked Rory.
"He was standing right where you materialized." said Amy.
"Ah. Well, he must have been redistributed," said Annabelle.
"Meaning what?" asked Rory.
"You're breathing him," I said.
"Eugh!" said Amy.
"Another Ood I failed to save," said The Doctor.
"Doctor, Teddy, Annabelle, I did not expect you," said House.
"Well, that's us all over, isn't it?" said The Doctor as he clapped his hand and walked around the console, "Lovely old unexpected us."
"The big question is, now you're here, how to dispose of you?" said House, "I could play with gravity…" House increased the gravity and we were all pulled to the floor. We all struggled to get to our feet until House returned gravity to normal. Idris then collapse to the floor Rory went to her side. Then, House said, "or I could evacuate the air from this room and watch you choke."
We all started to gasp for breath as House sucked all the air out of the room, "You really don't want to do that!" said The Doctor.
House returned the air to the control room and asked, "Why shouldn't I just kill you now?"
"Because then we won't be able to help you," I said, "Listen to your engines. Just listen to them. You don't have the thrust and you know it."
"We're your only hope for getting out of this little bubble, through the rift, and into our universe." said Annabelle.
"And our's the one with the food in it!" said The Doctor, "You just have to promise not to kill us. That's all, just promise."
Idris whispered something to Rory. "You can't be serious," said Amy.
"I'm very serious," said The Doctor, "I'm sure it's an entity of its word."
"Doctor, she's burning up," said Rory, "She's asking for water.
The Doctor knelt down next to Idris, took her hand, and stroke her face, "Hey. Hang in there, old girl. Not long now. It'll be over soon."
"I always liked it when you call me... old girl." said Idris.
"You want me to give my word?" said House, "Easy. I promise."
"Fine, OK, We Trust you," said The Doctor as he stood up. The Doctor looked at Annabelle and me.
Us Time Lords didn't trust House but that's what we were counting on. "You need to delete 30% of the TARDIS rooms in order to get enough thrust to make it through the rift. Activate sub-routine Sigma-9."
"Why would you tell me this?" asked House
"Because we want to get back to our universe as badly as you do. And we're nice," said The Doctor.
"Ye-e-s. 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."
There was a flash of bright light and we all found ourselves back in to the main console room. But it was bathed in an eerie green light. "Yes. I you could do that, but it won't work," I said, "There's a hardwired fail-safe to prevent that. 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, Time Lords," said House, "Why should it matter to me in which room you die? I can kill you just as easily here as anywhere. Fear me. I've killed hundreds of Time Lords."
"Fear ME. I've killed all of them," said The Doctor.
I took The Doctor's hand, "Not all of them…" I said with a smiled.
The Doctor smiled at me, "No… Not all of them…"
"I don't understand," Rory said to Idris, "There isn't a forest in here."
"You're right, House," I said, "You've won. You could kill us in a bunch of really creative ways, but before you kill us allow me, my uncle, my daughter and our friends Amy and Rory to congratulate you on being an absolutely worthy opponent."
Us Time Lords started to clap. The Doctor grabbed Amy by the arm and forced her to stand and she joined in on the clapping, "Congratulations!" said Amy.
"Yes, you've defeated us," said Annabelle, "me, my mom, my uncle, our friends and last but definitely not least the TARDIS Matrix herself, a living consciousness you ripped out of this very control room and locked up into a human body and look at her!" She pointed to Idris laying on the floor with Rory by her side.
"Doctor, she's stopped breathing," said Rory.
"Enough! That is enough," said House.
Amy joined Rory next to Idris.
"No. It's never enough," said The Doctor, "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. Look at her body, House."
"And you think I should mourn her?" asked House.
"No. I think you should be very, very careful about what you let back into this control room," I said.
Just then energy started to flow from Idris as she opened her mouth, "You took her from her home. But now she's back were she belongs and she's free!" said Annabelle.
The energy flew around the room going in and out of the console. We watched at the light changed from green to gold, "No! Doctor, stop this! Teddy! OW! Annabelle! Stop this now!" shouted House.
"Oh, look at our girl," said The Doctor, "look at her go! Bigger on the inside! You see, House?"
"Make it stop!"
"That's your problem, House," I said, "You're the size of a planet, but inside you're just so small!"
"Make it stop!"
"Finish him off, girl," said Annabelle.
House groaned and yelled until he was gone. Once it was silent again we turned and saw that Idris' body was gone. Then we heard Idris' voice, "Doctor? Teddy? Annabelle? Are you there?" We turned and saw a glowing projection of Idris, "It's so very dark in here."
The three of us stepped over to the projection, "We're here." said The Doctor.
"I've been looking for a word. A big, complicated word, but so sad. I've found it now."
"What word?" I asked.
"Alive. I'm alive!"
"Alive isn't sad," said Annabelle.
"It's sad when it's over," said Idris, "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?" said The Doctor.
"No, I just wanted to say... hello. Hello, Doctor. Hello, Teddy. Hello, Annabelle. It's so very, very nice to meet you all.
Us Time Lords all had tears in our eyes as The Doctor said, "Please! We don't want you to. Please!"
Then the projection of Idris started faded and we heard the familer sound of the TARDIS as she faded. Then we heard her say, "I love you all."
The three of us Time Lords then turned toward each other and joined in on a group hug.
Later, Annabelle, The Doctor and I were under the console working on fixing the mess that House made. The Doctor was sitting in the harness. Amy and Rory just watched us from above. "How's it going under there?" asked Rory.
"We're just putting a firewall around the Matrix. We're almost done," I said.
Rory walked down the steps and Amy asked, "Are you going to make her talk again?"
"Can't," said The Doctor.
"Why not?" asked Rory.
"Spacey-wacey, isn't it?" asked Amy.
"Well actually, it's because the Time Lords discovered that if you take an eleventh-dimensional matrix and fold it into a mechanical…" Annabelle started to explain before Rory touched two wires together causing a large spark. "Yes, it's spacey-wacey!"
"Sorry," said Rory, "At the end, she was talking. She kept repeating something. I don't know what it meant."
The Doctor stood up, "What did she say?"
"The only water in the forest is the river. She said we'd need to know that someday. It doesn't make sense, does it?"
"Not yet," said The Doctor as he went back to work.
I went up to Rory, "You OK?"
"No. I watched her die," said Rory, "I shouldn't let it get to me, but it still does. I'm a nurse."
Amy then walked down and joined us sitting on the bottom step. "'Letting it get to you' - you know what that's called? Being alive." I said, "And that's the best thing there is. Being alive right now, that's all that counts."
"Nearly finished," said The Doctor, "Two 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."
"Why am I not surprised by that?" I asked.
The Doctor looked up at the console, "What do you think, dear? Where shall we take the kids this time?" he asked The TARDIS.
"Look at you all of you," said Amy, "It's always you three and her, isn't it? Long after the rest of us have gone. You three and your box, off to see the universe."
"You say that as like it's a bad thing," I said, " But honestly, it's the best thing there is:
"The House deleted your bedroom," said The Doctor, "I should make you two a new bedroom. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
Rory leaned over and whispered something to Amy, "OK. Doctor, this time, could we lose the bunk beds?" asked Amy.
I looked at my uncle, "You gave them bunk beds?"
"Of course," said The Doctor, "bunk beds are cool. A bed with a ladder! You can't beat that." All of us Time Lord and Human looked at him, "It's YOUR room. Up those stairs, keep walking till you find it. Off you pop!" Then Rory and Amy ran up the stairs to their new room.
A little while later, us Time Lords were standing around the console. The Doctor had a cloth and was wiping off the console. He did a quick scan with his sonic and then started to enter some commands in the console but stopped. He looked at the rotor and asked, "Are you there? Can you hear me? I'm a silly old... OK. The Eye of Orion, or wherever we need to go."
I looked at the lever next to The Doctor and my eyes got big when I saw it move on its own, starting dematerialization. We all looked at each other and laughed and then we started to run around the console helping the TARDIS fly.
A/N: Thank you again to everyone who's read and reviewed this story. Please keep it up, it helps me keep being inspired to write. I can't believe I've made it to chapter 50!