Time flew by. They went on adventures, though they didn't do any episode. She'd checked with him to see that they'd already done the majority of the episodes she'd seen anyway, though she wasn't sure what that meant. She wasn't sure why she'd landed two years late, but she knew that it meant that something had changed, or was changing.
That was all the more proven by what Saxon had done, intervening when he'd had no right to intervene. It made sense, given that he apparently hated her for banishing him to an alternate dimension (and what fun that would be. It would have to be after the Year- actually, that made sense, from a timeline point of view. Strictly speaking, if she wanted to keep the timeline intact, then it would make sense getting him out of the way until a later date. Or now, she supposed).
They did the mental math. They had been running for three months during the recon mission to gain information about the Silence, and it wasn't until women were around eight weeks that they noticed that they were pregnant, which left four months for them to wait. Four months was nothing to someone who lived eight hundred years. It may as well have been four days for all the time it took for them to make it to the factory.
She once again sat back as she hadn't in a long time, simply letting events play out. Amy and Rory, who'd known her for a bit longer now, knew that something was off, though neither of them commented as she knew they wanted to do. She was a bit odd on a good day, and that had only gotten more true with time, not less.
She'd meticulously studied the episode, so she didn't intervene until he tried to interface with the flesh.
"Not yet," she told him, and he trusted her so he didn't. She waited until after Jennifer had been uploaded to the flesh to freeze time around them but kept the flesh moving. She hoped that it was enough. She'd had this theory ages back that the reason that Jennifer had been so angry was because the Doctor had plugged into the Flesh and she'd gotten some of his more vitrol emotions. Then again, she herself had PTSD from getting lost on the moors as a kid, so maybe it would make no difference at all. Only time would tell.
"Why is he doing this?" he asked, rubbing at his hand after he'd interfaced with the flesh. "What is it all for?"
"Apparently, I trapped him in an alternate dimension. That's bound to make anybody angry."
"But he said something about the Church. Something about teaming up with them. Why? Why team up with the Church?"
She grabbed his shoulders, searching him. "You're about to find out," she told him. "And I'm really very sorry for what it means."
"What does that-"
She shook her head. "Things what need doing. You'll find out soon enough."
He sighed through his nose but trusted her enough to let her unfreeze time.
#####
Anna sat up suddenly, breathing in.
She was… She looked around, jumping up. She'd been with the Doctor, had she teleported? It appeared she was now somewhere… else, somewhere else along the monastery-
Everybody!
That was literally the thought that she had, that everybody needed help-
And she would help them.
She ran and she didn't look back.
#####
Luckily, she found them in the mess hall, as she thought that she would do.
"Oh, thank goodness," she said, putting her hands on her knees. "You're all still here, even Cleaves," she smiled, pointing at her. "Hey, hey, Cleaves, sup, Amy-"
She started to tell Amy to breathe before she stopped, shaking her head, and she looked at the Doctor-
"-woah, what?" she asked, glancing around at all of them to see the looks on their faces. Even the Doctor. "What, everyone's fine, right? Jennifer, where's-"
"Everybody's fine," the Doctor said, his hand barely out as he crept towards her, looking at her like-
… Like she was a specimen he was studying. Fascinated.
She tilted her head, frowning. "Wh..." She barely shook her head. "But I didn't-" she started, before she frowned, glancing down. What was the last thing she remembered?
"Anna, hey," he said, and she looked up at him. "Everything's fine. I promise. Just breathe."
She frowned. "I thought you were telling Amy to breathe."
At the look on his face, she realized how it sounded.
"No, sorry, I didn't- mean it like that."
She looked down to see that his hands were clasped on her shoulders. She blinked.
"I can't... feel that." She shook her head, still looking at her arms. "I can't-"
"I know," he said. "Look at me, I know." she did, looking up at him, and she realized that there were tears in her eyes. "You're still stabilizing and I'm sorry for that, but it's okay. It's okay because I can help you."
"Doctor?"
It was strange, to hear her own voice. It was strange to hear her own voice, because it sounded deeper than she was used to.
"I wonder if I sound like a good singer," she said, without thinking about it, tears still in her eyes. The Doctor looked back at her, this look on his face. "If I'll hear what other people hear when I sing. Different pitch, and all, but just slightly different- I'll bet you I have a sexy singing voice."
The Doctor was glancing between the Anna's, but he'd moved enough that Anna- the Original Anna could see her.
She looked surprised before she opened her mouth... before she stopped. A look ran through her eyes, and all of this happened between one breath and the next.
"Oh... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
She snorted. "You sound like him. Married couples, and all that, sounding like each other." She looked at him. "We're still married, right? It still counts? Or- I mean, eight hundred years-"
A surge of energy went through her and she grabbed at her chest, stumbling back into the wall. Her back hit it and she made an 'oomph' sound, sliding down the wall.
"It's okay, it's okay," she heard, and she opened her eyes, breathing hard as she looked at the Doctor in front of her. His hands were on either side of her face, but she only knew that because she could see his hands, not because she could feel them. "You're just stabilizing, you're fine, just breathe-"
She grabbed at his hands on her face, desperately.
"You know that it's me, right?" she asked him, imploringly. "It's me, it's Anna-"
"I know, I know that it's you, I know," he reassured her.
"Kiss me."
The words left her mouth before she had a chance to think about it, but a second later, she shook her head.
"No, no, don't… don't. I'm-I'm not…" She shook her head, and she started to sob.
He brought her to his chest.
"Sh, sh, it's okay, it's okay, you're okay, you're okay, just breathe…"
"I'm-I'm all right," she said, but she was in shock. "I'm-I'm all right, it's just extra emotions, leaking out, it'll-it'll…" she sobbed, clutching on him. "This hug is really… Nice…"
"Okay, okay, sh, sh…" he said.
She started to feel it, then, him rubbing comforting circles into her back, holding onto her, and she clutched onto him tighter, the feeling of the tweed nice beneath her fingers.
"I need to head back out, find Jennifer," she heard from across the way.
"Hold fast a moment," she heard the Doctor say, and she felt his hands on her cheeks a moment later, pulling her back. "I'm handing you off to Amy now, is that okay?"
She nodded. "Fine," she said, and he smiled, wiping at the tears on her cheeks, before he winked at her. She laughed, and his smile grew a little bit more at that, before he bopped her on the nose.
"Amy?"
"Yeah," she said.
"Just sit with Anna for a moment, need to have a little chat with Anna."
"I need to find-"
"We need to strategize, bit more complex, now, isn't it?"
"Doctor-"
"Amy," he said, and there was a warning in his voice, and he was already walking towards Original Anna…Except it was more complex- actually, less complex than a past and a future Anna. Sort of nice. No paradox this way, at least. Memories intact-
Except, they weren't. Because she couldn't remember what had happened… what, up to them walking into the monastery? Bits and pieces, something about… freezing time, or something?
Amy walked up to her, hesitantly crouching down in front of her.
"… Hey, it's-it's okay-"
"I know that you don't think of me as a real person, I just… I need the physical contact- Amy," she tried, and Amy stopped talking. "My nerve endings are rebooting, sort of like waking up after your whole body has gone numb, except it's bone deep, and I just need the physical contact to help it along, is that okay? I just… need a hug, basically."
"Oh… okay, I…" she started, glancing over at the Doctor.
"Amy," she tried. "Please. Before-before I start sobbing again."
"Yeah, okay," she said. "Come here."
Amy pulled her in for a hesitant hug, and Anna clutched onto her desperately.
"There, there," she said, awkwardly patting her on the back.
She barely laughed, pulling Amy in even more as she rested her head on her shoulder-
"Hold on, what do you think you're doing?" Cleaves asked, and she squeezed her eyes shut, pushing her head more firmly against Amy's shoulder. "That thing isn't even a real person, it's a bit of machinery gone wrong."
"Not now," she whispered, digging further into Amy's shoulder. "Please, please, not now…"
She felt her face starting to morph, starting to change, and she squeezed onto Amy a little bit tighter.
"Okay, ow, that's-that's starting to hurt-"
"Don't be afraid," she whispered to her, before she broke apart the hug and stood.
"Anna-"
She clutched at her face and she screamed, before she ran off, past Cleaves, who was more than happy to get out of her way.
#####
She was breathing harshly, leaning against the monastery wall as she stayed in a crouch.
She thought about her counterpart and the Doctor, and she worried for a moment. He'd said that he knew that it was still her, but did that mean that he still loved her?
Well. Being loved like a friend to the Doctor was better than not being loved at all by him, she supposed.
She smiled as she thought about him. That wonderful, impossible man. Was he-
"Jennifer," she realized, and she got up, running to where the new Doctor was still forming.
#####
It was harder, though, because she wasn't connected as she was used to. It felt like she'd lost a limb. She was completely directionless and altogether lost and right now, that meant that she had to stumble her way blindly through this place.
She got afraid for a moment, the thought of ghosts popping out-
"Oh, stop it, what're they going to do, jump out and shout boo? Get serious here, Anna- Ooh, Anna. Anna. Could be. Could be Taylor, or Emma, or- No, I like Anna, Anna's a nice name."
She'd picked it, though, so didn't that make it her name?
"I am, her she is me, although-" she realized. "Technically speaking, doesn't that mean that we're, like, two different-" she sucked in a sharp breath of realization. "Oh, this is perfect! Because now we- I, we? Can finally answer the question of what we would've been like if we didn't- aren't- weren't what we are? Although, apparently, it means talking to ourself." She frowned. "Myself." She shook her head. "I need to find the Doctor- No, I need to find Jennifer! Jennifer?" she called out, and she ran once more, searching for the non-ganger who she could totally save. …
Probably save, "Don't get all technical on me now, we've a person to find- and I know that it's all right because the other me was looking for her! Original me- Hello."
She raised her eyebrows when she saw that Cleaves was standing behind her, still breathing hard, still looking like her ganger self.
Something in it triggered it in her too, and she made a noise of pain, once again falling against the wall.
"Frac, frac, frac," she whispered. "No, no, stabilize, just breathe, breathe…"
She was Anna and this was just her, diverged.
"I'm Anna," she whispered. "I'm Anna- Ah!"
There was a pain in her chest and she squeezed her eyes shut, pushing her head back.
"It's all right. It's all right." She opened her eyes to see that Cleaves was kneeling down in front of her, still looking like her flesh self. Pain shot through her and her eyes squinted. "Come on. We'll find the others."
"I've to-I've to find the Doctor," she told her, nodding-
She squeezed her eyes shut, pushing her hands against her face.
"You've to come with me," Cleaves said, reassuring. She opened her eyes, shaking her head. "We've to find the others."
Her stomach retched and she turned off to the side, retching up a part of herself.
She looked down at it, poking at it.
"That's… That's me," she whispered.
"It is," Cleaves agreed. "Come on."
"Okay."
#####
"It's okay," Cleaves said, when all the other gangers saw Anna. "She's one of us. And, we have the advantage now. We have the acid suits. We can move freely. Strike at will."
"But we don't have to," Anna spoke.
"I know that you think he's your friend, but he's not," Cleaves told her, as she started down the stairs. "He's just like the rest of them. They'll melt us first chance they get."
She tried to search for the right phrase, the right wording… and then realized that it wasn't coming. Fine, then, she thought. I can do this without it.
"Why?" she asked. "Because that's what human you would do?"
"Yes."
"But we're all still human-"
"We're gangers, now," Jimmy said. "Pure and simple."
"Does that mean you aren't Adam's dad anymore?"
"How'd you know about Adam?"
Christ. Oops.
She realized, then, that there and now, she could actually die.
And she realized she didn't care.
Not in the way that she didn't want to live because, god, did she want to live, but in the way that it didn't matter, she could intervene, she could talk to them, she could make them see reason, and they would, because she was Anna and she could do this and what was the point if she didn't try to help people?
"I know about a lot of things," she started, creeping down the stairs. "I know that this is a factory that mines acid, that we're all gangers, but that we're also human. We have hearts and lungs and souls, just like the rest of the people in this factory-"
"They won't see it that way, least of all me, and we have to protect ourselves," Cleaves said, as she began to put on her acid suit. "I know that this is hard for you, and I'm sorry, but if you don't want to get melted, you're going to have to start seeing things our way."
"No, I don't," she said, searching the rest of them. "Listen to me, I know this is hard, and I know that you all know that because-"
"Give it a rest, kid," Buzzer said, as he put on his suit. Kid. Ha. Though, technically, she was only a few hours old. "It's like the boss said. So, shut up and put on an acid suit, since god knows where Jennifer went off to."
She raised her eyebrows, watching as the rest of them put on acid suits.
"No," she said. "Because I know that there is good in those people, and I know this-"
"Anna-"
"I know this because I know that there is good in you, too. You all are good people, kind people, people who are hard working and raising families and just trying to make a living. And, you're trying to do what's right. And this? This situation, right here, it's brand new and it's wonderful and it's a chance, a real chance for us to show the humans, to show each other, and ourselves, that we can be better than what our fear tells us to be. Because that is what makes someone human. Their ability to feel their fear, and rise above it, to always find a better way." She searched the room, which had gone quiet. "You want to attack, you want to start a war? Because the only way that road leads down is more tears, for us and for them. And, if you do win, if we win this imaginary war, how are you supposed to look Adam in the eye and tell him that his da's a murderer, all because he was too scared to see another way? Is that the example you want to set for your son? Is that the person that you want to be? Any of you? Really?" She shook her head. "Because looking around at all of you, that isn't what I see. I see a room full of good, honest, hard-working people who just want to live. And, the way to do that is not through violence. It's by sitting down and talking it out with the other people, the other good, honest, hard-working people, so that we can find peace. So that all of us can live." She searched them. "Please. Can we do that? Together?"
They were all shifting, but a moment later, they all stilled. She raised her eyebrows and looked back to see that the Doctor was standing at the top of the staircase, and she felt relief filling her at the fact that he was there.
Some of that relief was replaced by confusion at the look on his face, a cautiousness resting behind his mask.
"Hello," he said, searching them. "How are you all getting on?"
She was surprised when Cleaves stepped in front of her, and she frowned as she tried to barely push her back.
"Why don't you tell us?"
"Well, we have two choices," the Doctor said, but he wasn't making eye contact with Anna. She barely frowned. "The first is to tear each other apart. Not my favorite," he quickly followed up with. "The second is to knuckle down and work together. Try to work out how best we can help you."
She heard Cleaves sigh, and she looked at Cleaves to see that she was looking at her.
"Fine," she said. "We'll do it your way. Might as well give it a chance," she said.
"Boss, this is obviously a trap," Buzzer pointed out, and Anna rolled her eyes.
"The kid's right," Cleaves said, as she started up the stairs. "And, so is he. We can either tear them apart or we can try to work something out so that all of us can make it off of this island, together. Now, come on." She looked back down at Anna. "Lead the way."
She raised her eyebrows. "Yeah, sure."
She got in front of Cleaves, to see that the Doctor was finally looking at her. There was an impressed look in his eyes, a smile on his face, his hands still on his hips.
"Honestly," she said, and he raised his eyebrows higher. "A woman does all the heavy lifting and the man gets all the credit." She brushed past him, looking up into his eyes. "Typical," she said.
He had that look on his face, and she winked at him before she made her way out of the room. She realized she didn't know which way to go and she turned back.
"I'm-I'm-I'm actually a little directionally challenged right now, so if you could just-"
"It's to the left, dear."
She stopped, smiling wide at that. "Much obliged," she told him, and he nodded at her. She started walking off.
#####
He, of course, did end up getting ahead of her as he spoke.
"Now, I know its hard for you to hold your fully human form. That's why you keep shifting between the Flesh stages, but do try. It'll make the others less scared of you."
She thought about the real Cleaves standing behind them- Real, the non-flesh Cleaves standing behind them-
And then she remembered.
She sucked in a breath, opening her mouth-
Before she stopped, dancing up to his side as she put her hands behind her back.
"I know where Jennifer is. The non-flesh one, at any rate," she told him, and he glanced down at her, raising his eyebrows, his hands behind his back.
"Oh?" he asked.
She hesitated at the look on his face-
Before she remembered what she'd forgotten.
"Hold on, where am I? The-the non-flesh me?"
"With Amy and co."
"Why isn't she looking for Jennifer? Or did she with her-"
He held up his hand flat before pushing it down. "Voice down and ix-nay on the owers-pay," he mumbled, glancing back at the other gangers.
She raised her eyebrows. "Right," she said, and she looked over. "Oh, I'm like you now."
After a moment, he spoke. "In what respect?"
"In danger because of how I can be used against her." She snorted, smiling. "Imagine that. Oh, this is so weird, and so so cool, she's very, very cool-"
"She's you," he reminded her.
"She's me and yet not, all at the same time, it's more complicated- Okay, Jimmy is Jimmy and Buzzer is Buzzer, but- Hold on, have I not explained this?"
"Didn't get much of a chance to, what with all the Rory running off and blah, blah, blah, you were saying?"
She glanced back at the gangers. "You said ix-nay on the owers-pay," she pointed out. "My point being that, whilst we have the same memories-" she let out a breath. "I'm her to a point-"
"The point in which you diverged and became flesh, yes, I understand that-"
"But it's more. Complicated. Than that," she tried to explain to him, "because I am her to a point, the point where-"
"Everything all right up there?" Cleaves called out.
She glanced up at him to see that he was looking at her expectantly.
"Yeah," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Yeah, everything's fine."
She let out a breath, looking down at the ground. There was silence between them for a moment.
"Did you talk to her, about how I got created?"
"She doesn't know, though she's got a theory about the Flesh interfacing with both of us when time froze."
She raised her eyebrows before she frowned. "When time froze?"
"Yeah, you know, earlier?"
She shook her head, looking at the ground. "The last thing I remember is the solar flares... us entering the monastery, but... it's still..."
"It's all right," he said. "The memories'll come in, just give them time- hold on, what you were saying before, what you were trying to tell me, that you two are different people... because you have different futures? In which case, I mean, technically speaking you are correct, but not entirely in that the two of you, here and now-"
She felt disheartened and she didn't even know why.
"Just stop," she said, looking down at the ground as she once again crossed her arms over her chest.
There was silence between them for a long moment, and she realized how cold she was. She glanced up at him, wondering if he'd-
"Can I borrow your coat?" she asked him, before she'd thought it through properly. "I'm freezing."
"Yeah, course you can," he said, and she smiled and looked down before she looked back up at him to see that he was shrugging off his coat. He wrapped it around her and she smiled, widely.
"Much obliged," she said, and she put her arms into the jacket. "Oh!" she said, remembering and suddenly very, very grateful that she-... Original Anna had gone over the episode with a fine tooth comb. "Just ask for it before… Or, maybe it won't…" she frowned, looking down before she looked up at him. "Did I tell you if I was…"
He raised his eyebrows, now jacketless. "If you were…?"
She shook her head, sad that she had to give the jacket back because she was cold. "Here," she said.
"No, it's fine, keep it," he said, rubbing his hands up and down her arms. She blushed at the contact, looking down. "You look to be about three degrees right now, shivering up a storm."
She remembered then, that Anna and the Doctor were married.
But she was Anna.
But only to a point.
It didn't matter. Almost being Anna was still something damn amazing, because that was Anna. Amazing.
She cleared her throat, smiling.
"As much as I appreciate the thought," she told him, and she took his coat off, before she smirked. "And, as much as I enjoy you undressing," and here, she looked at him to see the way his eyes widened, glancing back at the gangers, flustered. She smirked. "We've got things what need doing."
He took his coat back, shrugging it on, before he moved, pressing himself closer to her so that his body was pressed completely against her as they walked side by side.
"You keep talking like that," he said. "And we'll have much dirtier things what need doing."
There was a wide smile on her face.
"Ooh, yes, considering that there's two Anna's, and no chance for a paradox, I'll bet your mind is going absolutely wild right now," she said, and she looked over at him at that to see that his eyes were wide, to realize that he genuinely hadn't thought about it.
"That's just- that's-" he started, and he looked over at her, his eyes dark with desire. "Oh, ho, ho, Anna, Anna, Anna," he said, and he reached out, running his finger along her jaw. "You've absolutely no idea the things I'm about to do to both of you."
She smirked.
"Anna?"
Her eyes widened at the same time that the Doctor's did, and they both broke apart.
"You sure everything's all right?"
She looked down… glancing down at the Doctor, and she smirked.
"Yes, Cleaves," she called back, smirking as she looked down at the ground. "Everything's peachy keen."
She was surprised when he reached out, wrapping her up in his arm before he kissed her on the forehead.
"Anna. My Anna."
She wasn't his Anna. It was wrong of her to take him away like this.
But, ooh, the flesh Doctor wasn't off limits, was he?
Despite this, she smiled as she glanced up at him. "My Doctor," she returned, and she kissed him on the cheek before she stalked ahead.
#####
"Until the Doctor gets here. Hello- Where's Anna?"
Anna looked around to see that she was nowhere in sight.
"Here! Right here, sorry," she said, ducking out from underneath the table. "Knocked over the card pile. My bad."
She raised her eyebrows, smiling as she watched her picking up said cards.
"This is…" Jimmy said.
"You're telling me."
"All right, Doctor, Anna. You've brought us together. Now what?"
"Before we do anything, I have one very important question." Anna raised her eyebrows, looking over at the Doctor. "Has anybody got a pair of shoes I could borrow? Size ten. Although, I should warn you, I have very wide feet."
She frowned, looking down to see him wiggling his toes in his socks.
"Two questions. How? And-"
"Don't answer that," Anna said, from across the room, and she raised her eyebrows, looking back at Original Anna. She raised her eyebrows as well as she made her way to the Doctor. "You okay?"
He frowned. "Course I'm okay," he said. "Why wouldn't I be? Or, will be, once I get some shoes."
"Hold on, I've got a spare," Jimmy piped in, because of course Jimmy did, he was Jimmy.
She raised her eyebrows, looking over at Anna. Anna caught her looking, and she raised her own eyebrows.
"What?" she asked.
She put her hands to her own temples. "Come on, read my mind," she said- "Oh, Rory, where's-"
"I'm right here," Rory said, and she looked over at him before she glanced over at Jennifer. She was looking between the two of them.
"Hang on, how can there be two of them? She never plugged in."
"Yes, I did," Anna said, turning to look back at Jennifer. "When I ran off during the storm, plugged in, voila."
"But you weren't in the room with us. You were with him."
"She's right, you two were together when you found me. How… did you get created?" Cleaves asked.
"Okay, that is a long story, and it's not the point," the Doctor said.
"But I don't understand," Jennifer said-
"Jennifer!" Anna cried out, and she looked at her other self to see- "Oh, what do you mean, no-"
"Do you not understand silent communication anymore?" Anna asked her.
"Shoes, as requested," Jimmy said, and everybody looked at him. "What?"
#####
"The Flesh was never merely moss," the Doctor explained. "These are not copies. The storm has hardwired them. They are becoming people."
"With souls?"
"Rubbish! Achoo."
"Bless you."
"We were all jelly once. Little jelly eggs sitting in goop."
"Yeah, thanks. Too much information."
"We are not talking about an accident that needs to be mopped up. We are talking about sacred life. Do you understand? Good. Now, the Tardis is trapped in an acid pool-"
Cue Anna looking at Original Anna, Original Anna glancing over and shaking her head.
"Fine," she mumbled, putting her head in her chin.
"-Once I can reach her, I can get you all off this island, humans and gangers, eh? How does that sound?"
"Can I make it home for Adam's birthday?"
"What about me? He's my son, too."
"You? You really think that?"
"I feel it."
Focus, focus, focus…
"I've got Jennifer covered," Anna said, and her head shot up to look at her. Anna glanced over at her, but she wasn't making full eye contact, do you mind? She thought, as if she could read her thoughts, which she couldn't, except she could but maybe she didn't know what she was thinking, but hey, at least she was trusting herself, right, and not disintegrating her, would she do that, she wondered, would she really dissolve her doppleganger because she didn't trust her she honestly didn't know what the hell why was she thinking so fast and so much-
"Doctor."
"And as for Cleaves, well, she'll turn up, I'm sure." The thought disappeared from her head and she shook it from her mind. She glanced over at him to see that he was giving her a look, and she furrowed her brow. "In the meantime, I'll-"
"This circus has gone on long enough!"
And, at this, she had a thought.
Because, normally, she might try to put up a shield between Cleaves and them, or teleport the cattle prod from her hand, or any number of things. It meant she had to think outside of the box.
She quickly ran to the front of the room, and Cleaves pointed the weapon at her threateningly.
"Anna," the Doctor hissed at her, but she held her hand back.
"What're you gonna do, Cleaves, shoot me? Cause I don't think you will, cause here's the funny bit, you've no idea which one of us is the ganger and which one isn't." she saw the look pass through Cleaves' eyes. "Would you do it? Risk killing what you consider a real person, just so that you might kill a ganger?"
"She's right," Anna said, stepping up next to her.
"Anna, don't you dare," the Doctor said, lowly, threateningly, and she wanted to glance at her counterpart but she couldn't, because they both had to keep a straight face if this had any chance in hell of working.
"Because, as it turns out, you would've shot one of your own kind, because, here's the other funny bit, Cleaves, I'm the ganger." She put her arms out. "What're you going to do now? Shoot me? Because you think I'm less than, even though I have her memories, her thoughts, her words, I am her in every respect-"
"Back. Up." Cleaves warned her. "This is a circuit probe, fires about forty thousand volts. Would kill any one of us, so I guess she'll work on gangers just the same, including you."
She smiled-
No. She didn't smile. She sneered, taking a step towards her.
"Go on. Do it. End this peaceful talk because you, Miranda Cleaves, needed a bit of goddamn control, because you're so bloody scared of any. Little. Change!"
She wasn't sure if Anna saw it coming, but she knew that nobody else did. Especially not the Doctor.
The moment that the electricity hit her chest, he howled. Out of grief, out of anger, she didn't know. All she knew was that, one second, he was across the room, the next, he was to Cleaves, grabbing the cattle prod and throwing it at the wall. Anna startled, watching the exchange-
"Doctor, no!"
Cleaves was on the ground, looking up at the Doctor, plain terror sitting on her face. He was breathing hard, looking down at her, and Anna quickly stepped between them.
"This isn't what she wants," she reminded him, in a firm voice.
He searched her, breathing hard, before he snarled. He turned from her and she let out a breath, turning to look back at Miranda-
To see that she'd already scrabbled up and back and was breathing hard, searching the room.
She looked back to see that the Doctor was kneeling down next to Anna, and he actually cursed before he turned back to Cleaves.
"She had a heart, aorta, valves, a real human heart, and you stopped it." He stood. "If you know what is good for you, you will walk from this room and you will not look back-"
"No," she said, and she turned back to Miranda. "You won't." She turned back to look at the Doctor. "Because that's not. What. She wanted."
He snarled at her again, and she stepped up to the challenge.
"Try it," she snarled right back, and he grit his teeth.
"Jen?"
"What happened to her will happen to all of us if we trust you!"
The Doctor closed his eyes.
"Wait, wait, just wait," he said, his face reading anger.
"Come on!" Jen shouted, and she and the others took off.
Cleaves, the flesh one, threw her a look, asking her if she were coming with her. She shook her head, and Cleaves threw her a look, glancing back at herself, before she shook her head and then took off. She didn't look back.
When the gangers had all cleared the room, the Doctor spoke.
"I hope," he said, opening his eyes as he looked at Miranda. "That you are very, very happy with yourself. Look at what you have done, Cleaves."
She was breathing hard and, despite the fear that she knew Cleaves felt, she spoke.
"It was always going to be war, Doctor. It's us and them, now. Us and them."
"Us and them," Dicken agreed, from across the room.
The three humans looked to Jimmy next, and Jimmy sighed.
"Us and them."
#####
The Doctor pulled her aside, speaking to her in a corner of the room.
"Can you transport her back to the Tardis?"
She furrowed her brow, saw the way that he was searching her eyes, a look in his, and she raised her eyebrows.
"I'm not her, Doctor-"
"I know that, I know that," he enunciated, glancing about the room as he lowered his voice once more. "I'm asking you if you can transport her body back to the Tardis."
A frown deepened her brow.
"I. Am not. Her-"
She was surprised when his lips were suddenly smashing onto hers, and, for a moment, she kissed him back.
He pulled away and she felt dazed, searching for his lips a moment after they'd parted, before she opened her eyes. His hands were cupping either side of her face.
"You are her in all the ways that count," he told her.
"I am," she agreed, quietly, and surprise lit up the corner of his eyes, followed quickly by confusion. "But I'm still not. Her."
Exasperation, confusion-
"Then what- Oh."
Before understanding.
"You… You can't… saying about, ix-nay on the…" he raised his eyebrows even higher. "Oh," he said, and he searched her. "Oh… Kay-"
He took his hands off of her face, throwing his arms down.
"Ooh, I hate when things are complicated," he said.
"Sort of a funny life to lead, then," she said.
"Nothing is funny about this," he corrected her.
"No, really?" she asked him.
"Ooh, hey, sarcasm, that's helpful!" he told her, and he let out a sharp breath.
"You want me to be helpful then ask a helpful question-"
"Fine, why hasn't she come back to life, yet, eh?"
She raised her eyebrows, glancing over where they'd put the sheet over her body.
"Oh."
"Yes, oh," he said, and he let out a sharp breath. "Cleaves, most defendable room in the monastery." When she didn't answer within two seconds, he spoke again, only it was with much more anger. "Cleaves, most defendable room in the monastery!"
"The chapel!" she told him, and Anna looked over at Cleaves, but her mind was on Anna. Why hadn't she come back to life yet? Why would a cattle prod have done it? This made no sense.
"Will she be okay?" Anna asked, and the Doctor looked surprised by the question, even as Cleaves continued. "Anna. Will she be okay?"
"As long as I live and breathe," he promised her. He walked up to her, cupping her face in his hands. "We'll fix this," he told her, and there was a promise in his eyes. "I promise." She didn't understand why he was suddenly smirking. "Besides," he said. "I already promised some… dirtier things what needed doing, if I recall correctly."
She smirked at that as well.
"Be a bit rubbish if you didn't follow through on that, wouldn't it?"
"Totally," he said, and he leaned in to kiss her. "Absolute-"
"Doctor," Amy said.
"What?" he asked.
"Hate to break up this very important snogging session," Amy said. "But, in case you forgot, there's still gangers on the loose because she killed one of their own?"
She frowned at the same time that he did… before understanding reached her, barely a moment after it reached him.
"I think we just figured out why she hasn't-"
"I think so too," he agreed, and he barely smiled before he bopped her on the nose, twirling on his heel. "Cleaves, you have crossed one hell of a line, killed one of their own, and now, they'll come back, in a big way. But, enough about that. We'll head to the chapel, like she said."
"Doctor, what're you doing?"
"I'm not just leaving the woman that I love behind," he said, and something about that made her feel a blow to her chest, like, Oh, he loves her and not me. Except, that was to be expected, wasn't it? Because she was the Original Anna, not Ganger Anna. Not the one he was willing to leave behind.
But, that was fine, because he was Original Anna's. Not Ganger Anna's.
The Ganger Doctor, on the other hand…
She cleared her throat as she heard Amy speaking.
"Doctor, I'm sorry, but that was just the ganger Anna."
Ooh. Ouch.
"The actual Anna is standing over there, alive-"
Joke's on you, Amy.
"I'm not her," she said, interrupting whatever Amy was saying. The Doctor was looking at her for an entirely different reason, now. "But, she was me, in every way that counted. She might be my ganger, but that doesn't make her any less real of a person than I am right now, standing in front of you." She shook her head. "It's a damn shame if you can't see that."
"Anna-"
She heard the Doctor say something in a low voice, before she saw looked over and saw him scooping Anna's body up. He looked up at her, examining her with a look, and she nodded towards the door.
"Come on," she said, and there was a smirk on her face. "Things what need doing."
She caught the smirk on his face before she turned away, walking out the door-
Before she stopped. Directionally challenged right now. Right. Urgh.
#####
She walked through the door, apparently first in line, and she heard Jimmy's comment about the flares, but that was secondary to what she knew was in the room.
"Hello?" she called out, quickly running inside. "Hello?"
"Why?"
She raised her eyebrows.
"Why what?" she called back.
"Why?"
"Why what?" she called out, once again.
"Anna, stay back," he cautioned, and she turned back in time to see him grabbing her, pulling him behind himself.
"What for?" she asked. "He's-"
He pointed at her in warning and she searched him.
"Seriously?" she asked him. "Does that work on-"
He had the audacity to cover her mouth with his hand, his eyes wide.
"Seriously-"
She licked him.
He instantly retracted his hand, shaking it.
"Anna!" he said, and she shrugged… before she smirked.
"Oh, what, you have a problem with me licking your hand now? You certainly didn't-"
His eyes went wide as saucers. "Really," he hissed at her. "Seriously, now is not the time-"
She smirked, before she reached out and pulled him in for a kiss, despite the thought that she'd had earlier. It was fine, she thought. She was proving a point.
"There's always time," she told him, as she pulled away.
He had a look on his face and he growled, reaching out like he wanted to kiss her, and she smirked, realizing that maybe that hadn't been such a good idea, considering that he looked like he had all kinds of ideas-
"Is now really the time?" Amy asked.
She would've reached out and kissed Amy to prove her point further, but the Doctor spoke.
"Show yourself, right now!"
"Doctor, Anna, we are trapped in here and Rory's out there with them." He ignored her, still looking into the room beyond. "Hello? We can't get to the Tardis and we can't even leave the island."
"Correct in every respect, Pond. It's frightening, unexpected, frankly, a total, utter, splattering mess on the carpet, but I am certain, one hundred percent certain, that we can work this out."
He came into view. The Flesh Doctor. She felt a thrill of something thrush through her.
My Doctor.
"Trust me," he said, as he straightened his bowtie. "I'm the Doctor."
