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"The Government has again apologised for extensive radio interference caused by solar flare and sun spot activity." The male voice on the radio read out, rousing the Doctor from his blissful uncoucious state into the land of the living once more. He blinked at a ceiling fan spun lazily above his head and he looked away, trying the focus on Amy who was stood in the doorway, arms crossed as she leant on the side.
"Amy?" He groaned and she nodded, eye patch still on.
"Those stun guns aren't fun, I'm sorry. I wanted to avoid a long conversation. You need to get up though, we'll be in Cairo shortly." She explained.
"Amy Pond! Amelia Pond from Leadworth, please, listen to me." He struggled to pull himself into a sitting position on the sofa he'd been asleep on, the words 'stun gun' making a lot more sense now, "I know it seems impossible, but you know me. In another version of reality you and I were best friends. You, me and Danni. We, we travelled together, we had adventures..." He stood up, the movement of the ground underneath him causing him to stagger into the opposite wall, "Amelia Pond! You grew up with a time rift in the wall of your bedroom. You can see what others can't, you can remember things that never happened." He stumbled over to her, picking up a small blue box off one of the tables next to the sofa, waving it at her passionately, "And if you try, if you really, really try, you'll be able to..."
"Look in your hand, you moron." Danni called from behind him and he glanced down, seeing that the blue box he'd picked up was actually a small TARDIS model.
"Oh." He stated. Amy nodded to the wall behind him and he turned to see it covered in drawings of their adventures together, "Oh!" He focused on one, him and Danni dancing together, "Oh..."
"You look rubbish." Amy told him and he turned, smirking happily.
"You look wonderful." He tossed the TARDIS at her before turning and walking over to Danni, who was sat behind a desk in her classic blue dress and black cardigan. She was smiling weakly at him, relieved that he had actually woken up.
"You shouldn't be talking," He scolded her lightly, "you need to concentrate on forcing the sound out." He'd really run out of ideas of how to stop it. All he could do was help her create barriers to stop it being so loud, but time dying around them seemed to be having a similar effect on the drumming as the time loops had at Craig's.
"Nothing is happening, everywhere to everything. You're missing the bigger picture." She propped her elbows on the desk, leaning forward and using her hands to support her face, "You need a shave."
"I love you." He told her sincerely and she blushed.
"I love you too." She replied and he beamed, "But you still need a shave. Amy's right, you look rubbish."
"But don't worry. We'll soon fix that." He turned to see Amy holding up his tweed and bow tie. He rushed over, taking the clothes off her and staring fondly at them. He hadn't seen his outfit in so long, and the toga was very uncomfortable.
"Oh!" He sighed, he had missed his bow tie, "Geronimo!" He dashed out of the room, before turning and smiling sheepishly, "Bathroom?" Amy laughed and pointed down the corridor outside. He rushed off, leaving the two girls alone. Amy walked over, perching herself on the edge of the desk.
"How are you feeling?" She asked gently. Danni shrugged.
"Fine, I suppose. Do we really have to go to Cairo?"
"If he just sees how many people want to help, he may be open to letting them." Amy replied, "Winston said you've barely been speaking."
"Oh, Amelia." Danni sighed with a sad smile, "I'm always fine." She didn't know about the other Time Lord meaning of 'fine'.
"You only call me Amelia when you're worried." Amy pointed out, picking up her notepad off the desk and flicking through the notes she had taken about what she could remember of the other time line.
"That's because I am worried." Danni replied.
"About what?" Danni sighed, glancing up to see her reflection in the mirror on the next wall. She was too pale, her hair hanging around her face and she needed to put some more weight on.
"The Wedding."
~0~0~0~
The Doctor checked his appearance in the small mirror on the wall. He'd shaved, just like Danni had requested, but had kept the longer hair. He rather liked it, and it tickled his neck slightly which was always a plus. He'd made Amy and Danni turn around before he'd re-entered the office, wanting to show off his new look.
"OK, you can turn round now." Amy, who was sat behind the desk in the chair, and Danni, who was on her knee, turned around and he turned on the spot, "How do I look?"
"Cool." Amy replied instantly and he grin, delighted.
"Really?!"
"No." Amy laughed.
"Yes." Danni stated. He ignored Amy, meeting Danni halfway across the room as they hugged tightly, "Love the hair. You should keep it like that." She twisted a strand at the base of his neck through her fingers, standing up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on his lips. The Doctor spun her around, lacing his fingers on her stomach so they were both facing Amy.
"Cool office though." He told Amy, "Why do you have an office?! Are you a special agent boss lady? Not sure about the eye patch." His eyes darted around, taking in every single detail of the room. It was so cool! Maybe he could do something like this in the TARDIS...
"It's not an eye patch." Amy explained, "Time's gone wrong. Some of us noticed. There's a whole team of us working on it... You'll see."
"And you've got an office on a train, that is so cool." Amy smiled fondly at his enthusiasm, "Can I have an office? Never had an office before! Or a train. Or a train slash office."
"I don't think the TARDIS would appreciate being replaced by a train slash office." Danni pointed out.
"What if I just kept it in one of the rooms? She wouldn't mind."
"Yes she would, because you'd refuse to use the console room she lovingly created just for you." Amy smiled at the good-natured bickering before standing up, rushing over and chucked her arms around the pair, pulling them into a big bear hug.
"God, I've missed you both!" She exclaimed, squeezing them tightly. Danni laughed and wrapped her arms around her waist as the Doctor let go of her to wrap his arms around Amy's shoulders.
"OK, hugging and missing now." He let her go, looking around as he remembered the last time he'd hugged Amy, "Where's the Roman?"
"You mean Rory!" Amy exclaimed and he nodded, "My husband Rory, yeah?" She turned to the desk, rummaging through the paper on the surface before holding up a sketch, "That's him, isn't it? I've no idea, I can't find him. I love him very much, don't I?" The Doctor and Danni looked at the very flattering sketch of Rory, Danni smiling as she saw just how Amy saw the Last Centurion.
"Apparently." The Doctor replied with a confused frown. It didn't look anything like Rory.
"I have to keep doing this. I have to keep writing and drawing things. It's just so hard to keep remembering..." Amy leant against the desk, as if she was exhausted at the mere thought of the process. Danni shrugged out of the Doctor's grasp and over to her, patting her on the arm as she pulled herself onto the desk next to her.
"That is very true." Danni agreed, "I either get floods of memories or absolutely nothing at all. It's what's making the noise even worse. It doesn't like it when I remember."
"It's not your fault," The Doctor stated, "either of you. Time's gone wrong. Do you remember why?" He asked Amy who nodded.
"The lakeside."
"Lake Silencio, Utah. I died." He confirmed.
"But then you didn't. I remember it twice, different ways."
"Two different versions of the same event, both happening in the same moment. Time split wide open. Now look at it." He pointed out the window at the scenery passing by, "All of history happening at once."
"Does it matter? I mean can't we just stay like this?" Amy asked. She didn't want the Doctor to die, here he was still alive. She remembered him dying, she remembered Rory and River sending his body out into the lake and she remembered Danni being happy about it. Here the Doctor was alive, and Danni was just as happy. Why did anything have to change?
"Time isn't just frozen. It's disintegrating." The Doctor explained, "It will spread and spread and all of reality will simply fall apart." He shot a sad smile at Danni, who he could tell was warring with herself. She didn't want him to die any more than he wanted to leave her behind. He just wished he could comfort her, but she wasn't very comfortable being hugged by the shape-shifting robot he was currently controlling. There was a knock on the door and all three stared at it as a solider leant in, complete with eye patch. Danni beamed, there was Rory!
"Ma'am, we're about to arrive. Eye drives need to be activated as soon as we disembark." He told them and Amy nodded.
"Good point. Thank you, Captain Williams." Danni jumped off the desk, practically running over and chucking her arms around the very startled soldiers.
"Oh Rory!" She whispered, hugging him tightly, "It's so good to see you again." Rory gingerly patted her back back, squashing down the slight feeling of recognition he felt at the sight of her and the man in tweed. He'd been informed of who they were, and why they'd be brought on the journey to Area 51, but he still shouldn't know who they actually were.
"Nice to meet you, ma'am." He replied before gently removing her from him. She placed a kiss on his cheek before bouncing back over to Amy, who she was pleased to see wasn't entirely happy with her display of affection towards the Captain.
"Hello!" The Doctor called over, also smiling at the man he'd barely seen in over 200 years.
"Captain Williams, best of the best, couldn't live without him." Amy explained and Rory turned to leave. The Doctor picked up the sketch Amy had drawn, holding it up to examine again and he laughed.
"No." The Doctor agreed, handing the drawing to Danni, letting his fingers brush against her hand even though it wasn't quite the same as actually touching her. Those little moments, controlled entirely by him, and not the rest of the crew on board the Teselecta, reminded her that he was still in there, that she wasn't just with someone who looked like him.
"What is wrong?" Amy asked the pair, who were huddling towards each other, muttering about the picture.
"Amy... You'll find your Rory, you always do. But you have to really look." He told her.
"I am looking." She insisted. The Doctor turned from Danni to smile fondly at his companion.
"Oh, my Amelia Pond." He reached over, taking her face in his hands and she giggled happily, "You don't always look hard enough." She frowned, feeling like he knew more than he was letting on but let it brush aside; they had bigger problems than her love life.
"Why are you older? If time isn't really passing, then how can you be ageing?" She asked him, taking in his longer hair and slightly, only slightly, older appearance.
"Time's still passing for me." He replied sadly, turning and taking Danni back in his arms. She tensed instantly, the idea of someone who wasn't him hugging her causing her skin to crawl but this was the closest he could get and he just wanted her close, "Every explosion has an epicentre. I'm it... I'm what's wrong."
"What's wrong with you?" Amy asked, aside for the bow tie, of course. He closed his eyes, burying his face in Danni's hair, sighing sadly because he couldn't smell it.
"I'm still alive."
~0~0~0~
Rory handed the Doctor an eye-patch as they headed down a narrow staircase in Area 51, which turned out to be one of the Great Pyramids in Egypt. He held it between his thumb and forefinger as he examined it, Rory leading the way into another hallway. Danni walked behind him, holding Amy's hand for comfort.
"You have to put it on, sir." Rory told him when he noticed the Doctor was just eyeing it suspiciously.
"An eye patch. What for?" The Doctor asked, "And why didn't you give Danni one?"
"It's not an eye patch." Amy corrected.
"It's an eye drive, sir. It communicates directly with the memory centres of the brain, acts as external storage." Rory explained as they walked past two guards, who followed them into the large room.
"Only thing that works on them." Amy finished, "Because there's only one living thing that can remember them." Around the room were Silents, all suspended in glass cases surrounded by what Danni guessed was water, but she was never entirely sure. The three looked at her as she glanced around, trying to keep each of them in sight because she didn't want to look away. She'd been weaker, much weaker than normal and she felt like she'd be sick if she turned away from them. That was never a good look, and she needed the Doctor to remember her fit and healthy and as pretty as she could muster. She had to keep him convinced marrying River was not a good idea.
"The Silents." Rory stated, "We've captured over 100 of them now, all held in this Pyramid." The Doctor walked up to one of the containers, looking the creature inside up and down.
"Yeah. I've encountered them before. Always wondered what they looked like." He muttered. He could remember Danni describing them to him, in the TARDIS back with Canton but he couldn't remember what she said. The creature tilted it's head in the same direction as the Doctor, then back again as it pointedly looked behind him. Danni backed up into Amy, it was staring right at her. It knew she was there.
"Amelia..." She whimpered and the Doctor's head snapped around, only able to remember the creature because of his view of the others, and he stormed over, pulling her in for a hug, almost crushing her against his chest. Cutting her view of the Silents caused her knees to buckle, a wave of nausea washing over to her as she clung to him, squeezing her eyes shut as the drumming exploded, protesting at being away from the alien. Realising his error, the Doctor pressed a kiss to her head.
"Put your eye drive on and, you'll retain the information, just like Danni. But only as long as you're wearing it."
"The Silents have human servants." The Doctor pointed out, waving the device at Amy, "They all wear these."
"They'd have to." Amy replied.
"This way." Rory lead them past more of the containers, each of the Silents turning to look at the group as they walked past, each of them lingering a bit longer on Danni than was comfortable.
"They seem to be noticing you."
"They've been waiting for me." Danni whispered sadly, squeezing the Doctor's hand before remembering it wasn't actually the Doctor and loosening her grip slightly. They had to believe it was the Doctor, and if she acted odd around him they'd suspect something was wrong.
"Don't you mean me?" The Doctor asked her lowly, concerned at the way they were eyeing her. The Doctor had the Teselecta switch sides, with the Silents only lining one wall he wanted to put something in between them and the woman he loved.
"No." Danni replied with a small shake of her head, looking down at her toes despite how bad she felt. If she cut off eye contact with them, she would feel awful for a moment but then it'd calm down. Hopefully.
"So why aren't the human race killing them on sight any more?" Amy asked loudly, detracting the Doctor from what Danni had said. Now was not the time to go into that.
"That was a whole other reality. What are the tanks for?" He replied, pointing to the containers.
"They can draw electricity from anything, it's how they attack. The fluid insulates them." Rory explained before turning to Danni, "And I don't like how the way they're looking at you, ma'am."
"Me neither." The Doctor added. He was the one he wanted dead, why were they all fixating on Danni?
"Danni." She corrected Rory, "Please don't call me ma'am." Rory nodded, even though he'd never call her by her name, and turned to Amy.
"Ma'am, I'm sure it's nothing, but I should check it out. They haven't been this active in a while." He turned to the two guards, "You two, upstairs, check all the tank seals. Then the floors above, get everyone checking."
"Sir!" The guards cried in unison and then rushed off to do as they were commanded.
"You go ahead, Ma'am." Rory instructed and Amy nodded.
"Thank you, Captain Williams. Doctor, Danni, this way." Rory followed his men whilst Amy, the Doctor and Danni continued down the hallway.
"Captain Williams, nice fella. What's his first name?" The Doctor asked casually.
"Captain." Amy dismissed, nodding to a doorway in front of them, "Just through here."
"Just give us a moment, just need to... check something... Ma'am." He gave her a quick salute, kissed Danni on the head then rushed back after Rory. Amy pulled her lapel up to her mouth.
"We're in. He's on his way." Amy told the people on the other end of the communicator pinned there before turning the Danni, "Where's he going?"
"To talk to 'Captain Williams'." Danni replied, making quotations in the air.
"Why?" She asked, confused, as she glanced back at the way the two men went.
"Because he's your Rory." She replied, "You've not been looking hard enough, Amelia, but you always find him eventually." Amy shook her head; he didn't look anything like the man she saw in her dreams. Not that he was bad looking, he was quite cute in his own way. And smart, and caring...
"You're worried." Amy stated, wanting to lose that train of thought before it got away from her. Danni nodded.
"They're all looking at me." She replied.
"If we told the Doctor..."
"The orders are not to tell him, Amy." Danni snapped, suddenly very angry, "And I won't have you ignore them!" Amy held her hands up in surrender.
"Okay, okay." She replied and Danni visibly deflated.
"Sorry, sorry." She muttered. She had to stop getting so angry. Amy was only trying to help.
~0~0~0~
"Attention, all personnel. Please check all assigned containment units." Rory called over the communication system as they entered the main room in the pyramid, the Doctor now back at Danni's side, holding her hand tightly as he tried bigging Rory up to the seemingly disinterested Amy. Danni couldn't help but smile at his efforts, he really thought they belonged together, it was like something out of a rom-com, where the child tries to get their parents back together again. A woman in a white lab coat approached a large-haired woman stood with her back to them.
"You were right. Just his presence in the building caused the loop to extend by nearly four chronons." The Doctor spotted the woman and rolled his eyes.
"Hi, honey. I'm home." River turned around, hand on her hip and an eyebrow raised.
"And what sort of time do you call this?" She replied before frowning, "Danni? Are you okay?" Danni nodded once, huddling into the Doctor's side and shooting her a weak smile.
"Fine. I'm fine." She replied, trying her best not to be hostile towards her. There was still time to change the course of events, she still might never marry the Doctor. Hell, she might marry the Doctor. Not that she wanted... oh, who was she kidding? She'd give anything for it to be her he'd marry. She was only human, after all and she loved him more than anything.
"Someone get her a glass of water!" River ordered and the woman in the lab coat ran off to fetch one. River stepped out of the way, revealing Madame Kovarian tied to a chair.
"The death of time. The end of time. The end of us all. Oh, why couldn't you just die?" She moaned loudly.
"Did me best, dear. I showed up." He took the glass off the lab coat lady and handed it to Danni, "Drink." He commanded lightly before walking around Kovarian, looking at all the aspects of the pyramid/laboratory. There were computers dotted around, along with other examination equipment amidst the ancient Egyptian artefacts, stone sarcophagus in one corner and ornate golden statues. A digital clock hung above them all, displaying the time, stuck between two seconds, "You just can't get the psychopaths these days. Love what you've done with the pyramids. How did you swing all this?"
"Hallucinogenic lipstick." River explained, "Works wonders on President Kennedy. And Cleopatra was a real pushover."
"I always thought so." The Doctor retorted as he continued his circuit of the room.
"She mentioned you."
"What did she say?" He asked.
"Put down that gun."
"Did you?" River shrugged with a smirk.
"Eventually."
"Do you really have to flirt?!" Danni exclaimed angrily, shaking so much she splashed the water she hadn't drunk onto the front of her dress.
"We're not flirting." The Doctor told her firmly, walking over to take her hand. She snatched it back, leaning closer to him.
"Yes you are." She hissed.
"It was such a basic mistake, wasn't it, Madame Kovarian? Take a child, raise her into a perfect psychopath, introduce her to the Doctor." River called over her shoulder, "Who else was I going to fall in love with?" Danni winced and the Doctor's eyes darkened in anger. Every time he tried to convince Danni there was nothing going on between him and River, she had to go say something like that.
"It's not funny, River." He snapped, "Reality is fatally compromised. Tell me you understand that."
"Dinner?" River asked in reply.
"I don't have the time. Nobody has the time, because as long I'm alive, time is dying. Because of you, River." He bit her name out. She didn't seem to care that time was falling apart around them. She was dooming the universe, her parents, his Danni-Girl to non-existence and she didn't even react.
"Because I refused to kill the man I love." She replied confidently.
"Oh, you love me, do you? Oh, that's sweet of you!" He started walking towards her, "Isn't that sweet?"
"Get him!" Danni screamed behind him.
"C'mere you!" He dived at River but two soldiers took hold of him, pulling back and restraining him.
"I'm not a fool, sweetie. I know what happens if we touch." River replied softly. He nodded, smiling at the soldiers who relaxed their grips and he pushed them away, grabbing River around the wrist and holding on tight as she struggled.
"Doctor, no, let go! Please Doctor let go!" Amy cried as the clock on the wall changed to display 5:03.
"It's moving. Time's moving!" One of the technicians on the side exclaimed as Amy begged for him to let go of her daughter.
"I'm sorry, River, it's the only way!" He told her as the room began dissolving into the scene at Lake Silencio, before Danni's voice ripped through the change.
"Get him!" Danni screamed and the soldiers in the room ran over to him. Danni span to face them, a look a fury on her face.
"How hard is it not to let him near her?!" She exclaimed angrily.
"Sorry, ma'am." one soldier apologised as the Doctor was handcuffed.
"You know this is the only way. We're the opposite poles of the disruption. If we touch, we short out the differential, time can begin." The Doctor told Danni, confused at her adverse reaction to his actions. She understood, he'd explained it to her over and over again and sometimes she'd remember it from her own universe, so why was she stopping him going through with it?
"Oh no. I'm not letting you take this. I know what happens here, I'm not letting you do that to me!" She screamed, pointing at River as everyone stared at her. They all knew she was more adamant at keeping the Doctor away from River than even the woman herself.
"You know the plan." The Doctor whispered to her, trying to keep everyone else from hearing.
"I. don't. care." she bit out, "I do not care! I've gone along with everything, everything, so far, never questioning and never saying no. But I'm not going to be put through this!"
"Surely you more than anyone would want him to die." Kovarian taunted and Danni span around, glaring at her.
"Shut up!" She snarled, pointing at her menacingly.
"After all, it is what will save you." The woman continued as if she hadn't heard her and Danni ran over and shoved the woman, causing the chair to tumble backwards and her to hit her head on the floor.
"I said SHUT UP!" She screamed. Amy grabbed her arm and pulled her back while the soldiers righted the prisoner.
"We're not going to let him die." She told her friend.
"But it'd solve so many problems, not least the drumming in her head." Kovarian pointed out, barely fazed by the tumble and Danni ripped herself out of Amy's grasp, running over slapped her hard.
"If you don't shut up, I will kill you." She promised, "And you know I will."
"Stop the drumming?" The Doctor asked as he walked over to them, hands behind his back, "How do you know about the drumming?"
"Of course we know about the drumming." Kovarian told him with a triumphant smirk. Danni pushed her way in front of Kovarian, blocking the Doctor's view of the woman in black.
"I don't want it to stop." She insisted to him, eyes wide and trembling, "Never. Never ever ever EVER!"
"Calm down." Amy told her and she took a deep breath, "Keep blocking it." She shook her head,"We don't know what will stop it, right?" Amy looked up at the Doctor who nodded.
"We don't know how it even got there." He confirmed and Kovarian laughed.
"Yes you do." She told him, "Or has little Danielle not told you?" She tutted as Danni's hands clenched by her sides, "Keeping secrets from the Doctor, now that's what I call the tables turning." The Doctor looked down at Danni, who refused to look him in the eye.
"Danni?" He asked, "What is it?" She shook her head.
"I don't know." She insisted, "It's just there. Leave it at that."
"The drumming will stop at 5.02pm on the 22nd April 2012," Kovarian told them and the Doctor's gaze snapped away from Danni, "when the Doctor is killed by the side of Lake Silencio."