TARDIS crashing. Wife … well, he didn't quite understand what happened with Rose when he regenerated, but he was sure it wasn't good. He could feel her mind, but it was dormant, and he was already regretting spending so much of the last day closed off from her.

He looked down, seeing Rose's hair spread out beneath her head, careful not to step on it as he steadied his TARDIS who was currently sparking and glitching and growling at him for hurting both her and Rose. He removed his suit jacket, too tight on him in this body, and tossed it aside somewhere.

"I'm sorry," He said, patting the rotor before reaching under the console and pulling out the fire extinguisher. He moved about the room, finding himself a bit more uncoordinated than normal post-regeneration as he put out the fire. The entire console room was beyond repair, he could see. A new desktop would have to be installed.

A shame, it was at least one thing he knew Rose liked.

He wasn't so sure she'd like the new him.

Especially if he was the reason she was currently laying on the grating like some kind of Snow White. All she'd need was the bitten into apple lingering by her hand, and she'd be all set. No, no, Snow White had black hair. Black as ebony. Sleeping Beauty was blonde. Beautiful, though not as beautiful as his Rose.

He knelt down by her head, brushing her hair away from her cheek. She looked peaceful, and it would be a shame to wake her. But she did look so much like one of those fairytale ladies under a sleeping curse that he had to try it. New lips to try out, and all, so there was that excuse as well.

The Doctor placed a chaste kiss on Rose's red painted lips, and waited.

And waited.

But nothing happened.

The TARDIS made a grown of protest, and maybe a bit of alarm. He hadn't even had the chance to mentally ask why before there was a loud crashing preceded his ship lurching about. He grabbed Rose protectively, a first in a very long time, and held her to him as the room tipped. His back hit the rail, Rose's head bumping his chest as the walls where now both ceiling and floor.

"Your a transdiminsional Time Ship." He growled out loud. "Can't you keep the room right way up even when the outside clearly is not?" The TARDIS hummed in a growl back at him. "Sorry," he apologized, knowing this whole situation was really his fault. He should have just regenerated once he had Rose. He shouldn't have held it off, not like he had. Jenny had likely seen him, this him, at some point because of River. Tim, well, he would just ask some uncomfortable question to verify his identity. He'd never even seen Donna at her wedding, and Rose could have easily given Wilf the envelope holding the lottery ticket he'd purchased to ensure his best mate's future. Another thing he could have done post-regeneration. Why, why, why did he put it off?

Carefully, he made his way toward the jumpseat and laid Rose down on what was normally the back rest.

"I'll see what kind of mess I got us into, Sweetheart. Then I'll be back." He kissed her knuckles. "Promise."

He looked around, seeing what he could find to help get himself out the TARDIS doors at this angle. He supposed he could have just crawled up the grating, but it would be a right disaster when the floor panels would inevitably fall away.

The TARDIS nudged his mind, and he looked around in time to see the newly materialized grappling hook fall toward him. Dull points, at least, in case her aim hadn't been quite accurate or the drop so short. "Thanks, dear." He said rubbing a hand along the rail and getting a hum of satisfaction from the TARDIS before she groaned in pain. The doors above his head swung open as he whipped the grappling hook in a circle by its rope and gave it a toss. It caught on the edge of the door way, and he began to pull himself up.

He glanced back at Rose, making sure she didn't just suddenly stir awake, marveling at how she still looked entirely like a princess from a story. Put to sleep by a curse, his curse. Curse of the Time Lords, living on forever and regenerating instead of dying. He was her cursed apple, the cause of her current state.

Apple.

Why did an apple sound particularly appealing right now?

He could use an apple.

Mmm, apples. Supposed to keep the Doctor away. He wondered vaguely if that was an Earth saying that came about because of him. Would apples somehow become a way to stave him off? Pears, he could certainly see that happening, but apples?

The Doctor pulled himself out the open doors of the TARDIS, spotting a large home to his left, a large garden around him, and a little ginger girl staring at him in disbelief.

"Can I have an apple?" He asked her, a bit breathless from the climb and his new body not fully finished on the inside. "All I can think about is apples. I think I'm having a craving. That's new, never had cravings before." He managed to get himself over the edge and straddled the frame of the door. He looked down, seeing Rose where he left her on the jumpseat. "Good, good, everything still seems relatively, somewhat good."

"Are you okay?" The little girl finally spoke, startling him with more than just her Scottish accent. He hadn't been expecting that, or her to talk, really, and he had to grip the door frame to keep from flopping back inside. It would mean falling, he was never a fan of falling, was even more apprehensive about it now, given recent events.

"Just had a bit of a … fire. Sorta crashed a bit. It's fine, really. Hell of a climb up." He said as he turned back to the girl, swinging a leg so he was sitting on the edge. He didn't feel quite right in this body. It seemed to lack the grace his previous three had, and he wasn't so sure sitting so precariously was a good idea.

"Are you a policeman?" The little girl asked, shining her torch on his ragged looking clothes.

"Why? Did you call a policeman?" He asked her in turn, suddenly nervous about the possibility of sitting in jail while his ship was less than fully functional and his wife was in some sort of coma.

"Did you come about the crack in my wall?" She asked, a bit hopeful that that was the case.

"What cra…." He started to say, suspicious of the idea, but the bolt of fire in his body made him stop short. He lost his balance, thankfully falling forward in stead of backward, and landed on his hands and knees.

"Are you all right, mister?" The little girl asked, kneeling down with him.

"I"m fine. It's okay, this is all perfectly norm …." Another bolt of fire, but this one went up his throat, shot out his mouth. He watched the regeneration energy float into the sky and disappear.

"Who are you?" She asked, more confused sounding than anything.

"I don't know, I'm still cooking" He admitted, catching his hands glowing in the corner of his peripheral but watching this girl's reaction. "Does it scare you?"

"No, it just looks a bit weird," She said with a shrug.

"And the crack in your wall, does that scare you?" He asked her, seeing the bravery waver in her big, brown eyes. He wondered, just briefly, if Jenny would have had eyes like that had she had been a proper child.

"Yes," This little girl told him bluntly.

He jumped to his feet, feeling awkward but was starting to think this would be his new normal. Brilliant. "Well then, no time to lose. I'm the Doctor, do everything I tell you, and don't wander off." He said as he moved, watching this ginger girl more than where he was going and collided with a tree.

Maybe it was better that Rose was in a coma right now. If his last body had regeneration sickness and made him lay in a bed with a failing brain, and this one seemed to be working but perhaps just not properly, than he didn't want to think what she'd have been like the next go around if she were there to witness this stage again.

And as the word 'if' entered his mind, his stomach tied itself in knots. Because 'if' should not be a question.

"You alright?" His ginger friend asked, and he could tell she was trying not to laugh at him. Human's and their slap-stick humor.

"Early days, steering's a bit off." He replied, getting his senses back. "Come on, snack first, then we'll check on that crack." He stuck out his hand, partly without thinking, almost entirely out of habit, and was completely surprised by the cool little hand slipping into his. Not cool like him or Jenny, but from this small girl who'd been outside in nothing but her night gown and a coat. She lead him inside the house as if he was the safest being in the universe to be around, and that instant confidence, and the fact there was a sense of off about her home, made him wonder who this little girl really was.

~DWDWDW~

It was part experiment, part making the little girl smile that made him go through so many foods. He was positive he wouldn't like the beans, or the bread. Yogurt was a bit of a gamble, but he thought he'd give it a shot. When the regeneration energy still coursing through him reminded him that he was getting a bit weak from so much exertion post-change he switched gears and followed his taste buds. The combination they led him to was more than a bit unorthodox, but it was so delicious he didn't care. Fish fingers and custard! Fish custard! Sweet and savory and tastes like a bakery under the sea.

He and the girl ate their snacks in companionable silence, hers being ice cream right out of the tub, both smiling at each other like it was all some great joke. After popping the last fish finger in his mouth, the Doctor lifted the great, glass bowl and drained the last of the custard into his mouth. He felt it sticking to his upper lip, which was reassuring that it was currently the only mustache he had, and he whipped it away with his big gangly, not hairy but still manly hands.

"Funny," The little girl said, her smile too wide for her mocking to be serious.

"Am I? Good, funny's good." He replied, leaning in a bit. "What's your name?"

"Amelia Pond," She said with pride.

"Ah, that's a brilliant name, Amelia Pond, like a name in a fairy tale." He sighed, remembering his other fairy tale-like lady waiting for him to return. "Are we in Scotland, Amelia?" He asked her to distract him thinking on that too much.

"No, had to move it England. It's rubbish." She said, and he chuckled a little at that.

"So what about your Mum and Dad, then? Are they upstairs? Thought we'd have woken them by now."

Amelia looked at the giant tub of Ice cream in front of her with her broken heart shining in her eyes. "Don't have a Mum and Dad no more, just an Aunt."

He knew that tone, knew she'd lost them in some tragic way. Orphaned, essentially, but at least she had family to take her in. If Rose were here with him, he wondered if she'd have wanted to take her in. They'd done it here and there for a couple days over the years, took kids with no parents on safe trips and brought them back to where they were living. Give them something to remember as they grew up, a special thing just for them. Always amazed him how a woman who swore she wasn't really motherly, nor wanted young children, could be so good with them. Seeing her with them ….

"So your Aunt," he said, clearing his throat and getting his mind back to what was important. "Where is she?"

"She's out." Amelia said plainly.

"And she left you all alone?" He asked, looking about the big house in surprise. Honestly, who does that?

"I'm not scared." Amelia said firmly, almost as if he offended her.

"'Course you're not." He said, looking at the girl and really taking her in. She had a fiery spirit to go with her fiery hair, and he could see that she wouldn't shy away from anything. Almost anything, anyway. "You're not scared of anything. Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of box, man eats fish custard, and look at you just sitting there. So you know what I think?" He asked, leaning forward on his arms.

Amelia mirrored him. "What?"

"Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall." He said, and she nodded slowly as her eyes got big.

"You wanna see it?" She asked him.

He smiled as warm and genuinely as possible. "Love to." He stood, holding out his hand for her to take even though she was clearly too old and too independent for such a gesture.

She took it anyway, and lead him up stairs and down the hall to her bedroom.

He quickly took in the space, seeing the usual child's bedroom with a bigger bed than most kids had. It looked, by the paint job, like it may have been a boy's room at one point and no one bothered to adapt it. On the bedside table he spotted a large picture of two adults, a woman and a man who shared equal similarities to Amelia. Her parents.

But that wasn't the only thing that got his attention, for the crack in her wall was not a typical crack in the least. He felt the convergence of time and space on that crack, feeling it was made by something, purposely splintering reality for something to come through.

Cold fear shot over him as he approached the crack, wondering if Jackie or Pete suddenly had to come back through for one reason or another. Then he remembered that time moved faster over there.

"Amelia, what year is it?"

"1996," She replied, and he whipped around to look and see if she was serious. She was.

"1996," He repeated. "So not the Tylers, then?" He mumbled to himself as he reached out and ran his fingers along the crack. It wasn't the parallel, but somewhere else. He tapped the wall, feeling no change in solidarity around the glowing white light. "How long's the crack been here?"

"Not long." Amelia replied, and he turned to see her toying with an apple and a butter knife. He wasn't sure when or where she'd grabbed the two. Maybe she'd gone back down stairs after he'd asked her the year. His mind did kind of wander off there for a moment, realizing a younger version of his wife was here somewhere. Still young and innocent before her troubled teen years hit and she'd lose most of that wonderful, youthful trait. It occurred to him at that moment that Amelia would be about the same age, and she didn't have that innocence in her eyes. He watched as she looked the apple over in her hand. "I used to hate apples," She'd said, "So my Mum put faces on them." She extended the apple toward him, and he came over to collect it.

"Sounds good, your Mum." He said as he looked at the smiley face Amelia carved into it. "What happened to her?"

Her eyes shot toward the picture by the bed. "She and my Dad were in an accident." She replied, stating it like a fact, cold and detached while her eyes showed her pain.

When she returned her gaze to him, he smiled. "I'll keep it for later." He said, putting the apple in the pocket of his trousers before turning his attention back to the wall. "This wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So here's a thing: where's the draft coming from?" He took out his sonic screwdriver and scanned the crack, reading the results. "You know what the crack is?" He asked Amelia redundantly.

"What?" She asked.

"It's a crack," He replied as he ran his fingers along it once more. "I'll tell you something funny, though. If you knocked this wall down, the crack would stay put. 'Cause the crack isn't in the wall."

"Where is it then?"

"Just here. Two parts of time and space that should never have touched, pressed together here in the wall of your bedroom." He heard something, an echo of some kind, and pressed his ear to the wall by the crack. "Sometimes, can you hear …?"

"A voice?" Amelia finished, "Yes."

The Doctor reached into his pockets, searching for his stethoscope, remembering that it was in his blazer and he'd gotten rid of that. He then looked around the room, spotted a water glass on the bedside table, and darted for it. A flick of his wrist helped empty the glass of its previous contents and he returned to the wall. Placing the cup on the wall, he listened using it to amplify the sound.

"Prisoner Zero has escaped." A voice declared.

"Prisoner Zero?" The Doctor mumbled.

"Prisoner Zero has escaped. That's what I heard," Amelia confirmed. "What does it mean?"

"It means on the other side of this wall there's a prison and they've lost a prisoner." The Doctor replied as he backed away from the wall, putting himself a bit more between Amelia and the crack. "Do you know what that means?"

"What?" She asked.

"You need a better wall." He said, trying to think of what he could do to seal it. But who was prisoner zero, and what kind of prison was on the other side of the crack. Simple misdemeanors, or was this the place of murderers? He looked over the crack, then the desk in front of it. "The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way," He said as he moved to the desk and lifted it out of the way. "The forces will invert and it'll snap itself shut." He considered, "Or…." Or he'd just let a bunch of criminals out of prison.

"What?" Amelia asked.

He turned, looking down at the little ginger girl. "You know when grown-ups tell you everything's going to be fine, and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better?"

"Yes." She said, down trodden because any child who lost their parents probably had heard it a lot.

"Everything's going to be fine." He said, smiling in what he hoped was a reassuring manner. Then again he had no idea what he looked like, if he was even kind looking to begin with. He wished for the dozenth time that he wasn't navigating this alone and held out his hand to little Amelia. She took it, and he pointed his sonic at the crack.

It widened, and he could make out what looked like high-security prison cells on the other side. Very, very barely he thought he saw a familiar face smirking knowingly at him from the cell across the way. He stepped closer, noting she crossed her arms, looking smug before she disappeared behind what looked like a giant eye with a blue iris. Amelia gasped quietly, hand tightening around his. A little ball of light, fuzzy around the edges, darted out and hit the Doctor, knocking him back a little and making him stumble on to the bed. The crack snapped shut, disappearing entirely.

"There, you see? Told you it would close." He said, straightening his tie. He liked that, sorta, though there was something that didn't feel quite right about it.

"What was that thing?" She asked. "Was that prisoner zero?"

"No, I think that was Prisoner Zero's guard." He said, reaching into his trouser pockets, searching until he found the bill fold paper. "Whatever it was, it sent me a message. 'Prisoner Zero has escaped,'" He read. But they knew that already, it had been repeated to the point that Amelia had already known what the voice on the other side of the wall had been saying. Unless….

He stood, frantically looked around the room then stilled. He tried to look without looking, but Amelia distracted him.

"What's going on?" She asked him.

"I think Prisoner Zero escaped through here." He said, dashing out the room and down a flight of stairs. "Brand-new me, nothing works yet. But there's something I'm missing. In the corner of my eye," he tried again on this level, and he thought that maybe there was something there, something he shouldn't ….

The TARDIS cried out, her engines screaming and the cloister bell chimed in warning.

"No!" He cried, darting for the stairs, hearing Amelia following him. "No, no, no, no, no." He cried as he ran out the house to his injured Time Ship.

"What's happening?" Amelia's voice called behind him.

"I've got to get back inside." He said as he detached the grappling hook and pulled the rope up. "The engines are phasing, it's going to burn, and I can't have that happen to my girls." He said as he began to tie the rope around the inner door handles.

"But it's just a box," Amelia said with confusion as she looked it over. "How can a box have engines?"

He smiled at her. "It's not a box, it's a time machine." He said in a way that he knew would make her eyes go wide.

He wasn't disappointed. "A real one? You've got a real time machine?"

"Not for much longer if I can't get her stabilized. Five minute hop into the vortex should do it." He said as he climbed up on to the edge, pulling the grappling hook up but the rope.

"Can I come?" She asked.

The Doctor barely considered, knowing exactly what his wife would have said. "Not safe in here, not yet. Five minutes, I'll be right back." He caught the worried look on her face before she masked it. "Trust me, I'm the Doctor. Might be closer to ten minutes, maybe as much as twenty-minutes, but I will be back." He said, and she started to smile. "Geronimo!" He cried, swinging his legs over and hopping down.

In a strange way, the ship righted itself when he came in, and he face planted on the grating. She hummed something like a "that's what you get" before groaning in pain.

He was just thankful he had the grappling hook held away from him before he jumped. Giving the rope a good tug, the doors shut before he got to his feet. He sent the ship into the Vortex, and he felt her hum of relief. Now that this girl was taken care of, he moved on to the other.

He was pleased to find Rose was essentially in the same position he left her in, except on the seat instead of back rest. Of course, it would have been the best if he'd reentered to find her sitting up with her eyes open and cheeky grin.

He lifted her, holding her to his chest as he carried her to the corridor. The TARDIS moved the medbay close by, and he sent a silent thank you to the wonderful ship as he carried his wife inside.

Setting Rose down on the bed, he had the scanner going over her, checking on her condition as he pondered the whole Prisoner Zero situation. He would have seen Prisoner Zero escape if it had when he opened the crack. Would have noticed something off about the house. But he did, didn't he? Just a slight something in the corner of his eye. Just like when someone is using a ….

Oh! Oh, that was very much not good.

"Sorry, Sweetheart," He said as he kissed Rose on the forehead. "I'll have to come back for you later." He gave her one last kiss than darted out the medbay.

The TARDIS was suddenly growling in his mind, protesting as he put in coordinates.

"It's to save a little girl! Blimey, you can hold on for just a moment or two, can't you? You're still gorgeous even if you are a little … crisp." She zapped him. "Ouch!" He said, shaking his hand before glowering at the rotor. "Don't think I won't find the mallet." He warned, and she landed with a harder shudder than normal. He sent her one last glare from where he fell against the grating, and then got up, bolting for the doors in an effort to warn Amelia.

~DWDWDW~

Amelia Pond once had parents who embraced her imagination, her wonder, and her sense of adventure. Such was the case that had that crack in her wall been there when they were around, and she told them all about the Raggedy Doctor who closed it and then disappeared in his magic blue box, they would have simply told her to write the stories down, and tell them all about it after tea. Instead, she was the ward of her aunt who didn't understand, freaked out about this imaginary friend and how it was a man of all things, and placed her in years of therapy. And while the therapist was at least patient and understanding enough to not immediately shut down the possibility that this actually happened, she often redirected Amelia to talking about other interests. Not the most conventional of therapy treatments, but it helped. And since her Aunt insisted on living in her grandparents' old home in Leadworth, it was also all she could get unless she wanted to commute to London.

As she got older, the dream of the Raggedy Doctor returning to take her away from the stupid Aunt and the terrible therapy, the boring town full of old people where nothing ever happened had faded away. They changed to other dreams, like writing silly books like the ones she'd occasionally indulge in, or maybe even going to school like Rory had, though not to be a nurse. Something, though. Anything.

But modeling paid well, and she didn't mind heading into the city like her Aunt always had. And it was on the return of one of these trips that she came up the drive, got out of the car, and fell against it as she looked at the blue police box sitting in the garden next to the shed her aunt bought to replace the one that 'simply collapsed' twelve years ago.

She considered calling Rory, or even Mels, and telling them that it was real. Then she remembered that the former was at work, the latter god knows where, and she headed inside the house. She glanced at the box repeatedly.

Amy, as she preferred to go by these days, entered the old family home quietly, her heart stuttering as she heard a voice everyone tried to convince her wasn't real calling her name in a frantic manner. But it couldn't be real, someone simply broke in. She didn't know who would, but she'd give 'em a good smack for their trouble.

Picking up the cricket back her aunt kept by the door for just such an occasion, one Amy frequently mocked before, she ventured carefully and quietly up the stairs. When she came up behind him, she panicked, and hit him.

The Raggedy Doctor, solid and breathing, was now laying on the floor by her feet and knocked out cold.

"Oh my God!" She cried out, not really knowing what to do, or think.

Kneeling down, Amy brushed her hair back as she looked him over. He looked exactly the same. Exactly, not a single thing being different from what she remembered, and she was wondering if she was hallucinating. She'd have to tie him up or something, just to be safe. Darting up to her room, she rummaged through her closet and found the Halloween costume she'd worn last year: Sexy police woman. It came with cuffs, a fact Mels had been quick to point out and only rolled her eyes when Rory had stammered and blushed.

She was about to simply run downstairs and cuff the Raggedy Man to the heater when she realized she could do more. Maybe he just aged well, came back wearing the same clothes. Maybe she could find out who he was and what he really wanted if she played pretend for a bit.

Changing her clothes for the costume, Amy ran down stairs and dragged the Raggedy man to the heater and cuffed him there. Not long after, she noticed he was stirring. She could do this, she could pretend to be a cop. Her costume looked real enough, though the skirt was a little short, and the top showed a bit too much cleavage, but he was a man, what would he notice?

She took a deep breath, turned to the fake walkie talkie, and began to speak as he woke up.

~DWDWDW~

Pretending to be a policewoman was the worst idea Amelia had had in a long time. Because now she had the one person she thought might be able to do something about the sharp-toothed, eel like alien in the room she never knew was there cuffed to the heater. And she realized she'd lost the key to the cuffs somewhere in her bedroom.

She crouched beside him as he tried to get the silver thing with the blue light on the end that she remembered from her childhood to work while it was covered in goo. Alien goo.

There was a white glow around the door that she should have always known was there but didn't, and her heart caught in her throat. "What's that? What's it doing?" She asked the Raggedy man as he tried getting the thing to work.

"I don't know, getting dressed?" He retorted sarcastically. "Run, just go. Your back-up's coming, I'll be fine." He said, a flicker of concern in his eyes that she didn't think was for himself.

"There is no back-up." She admitted.

He looked at her in shock. "I heard you on the radio, you called for back-up."

"I was pretending. It's a pretend radio." She admitted, not really wanting to.

"You're a policewoman!" He insisted.

She took off the hat, her hair falling loose around her. It was still teased from the photo shoot, enhanced by they way she had to wind her long locks to hide under the bowler hat. "This is a costume from Halloween."

Before the Raggedy Doctor could say anything, the door to the room Amy was sure shouldn't be there fell to the floor, and a man in coveralls led a rottwieler into the hall by the leash. He glared at them with a menacing smirk, and Amy was completely and utterly confused when the man started barking and growling instead of the dog.

"What?" She shook her head, glancing down at the Raggedy Doctor.

"It's all one creature disguised as two." He explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Clever old multi-form. A bit of a rush job, though. Got the voice a bit muddled, didn't you?" He taunted the man and dog. "Mind you, where did you get the pattern from? You need a psychic link, a live feed, how did you fix that?" The man-dog-thing started coming toward them. "Stay, boy!" The Raggedy Doctor ordered. Much to Amy's surprise, it yielded. "Her and me? We're safe. Want to know why? She sent for back-up." He said with utter confidence.

"I didn't send for back-up." Amy said, voice rising as she wanted to smack this flesh version of her imaginary friend for still believing that.

He looked at her like she was the thick one. "I know. That was a clever lie to save our lives." He turned to the creature again, which was fine because Amy wanted to never look at him again. "Okay, yeah, no back-up. And that's why we're safe. Alone, we're not a threat to you. If we had back-up, which I normally do have, the fiercest kind of back-up, you'd have to kill us. Which you wouldn't, because my back-up would get you first. And believe you, me, that is not a pretty sight."

"What are you babbling on about?" Amy demanded in a loud whisper.

"I am babbling a bit, aren't I? Had a gob before, too. Carried that over, just a bit more disconnected in thoughts, I guess. Sorta. Probably." He looked back to Amy after he turned away for a moment. "Where were we?"

"Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded. Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded."

"What's that?" Amy asked, glancing around the house and honestly expecting to see a giant blue eye looking at her from somewhere.

"That would be back up." The Raggedy Doctor said to her with a slight grin. He turned back to the creature. "Okay, one more time. We do have back up, and that's definitely why we're safe."

Something about his words gave Amy confidence, and she truly believed him as she looked smugly at the creature.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated." The voice that made her think of the eye called loudly, and Amy lost the feeling of security.

"Well," Raggedy Doctor said, also losing his smugness. "Safe apart from, you know, incineration."

As the creature turned and ran, the Doctor started beating the silver cylinder thing against the floor and ignoring the repeated threats of the loud, booming voice. He cursed the device, then it suddenly started whirring, the blue tip lighting up, and he pointed it to the handcuffs. The end on his wrist popped open, and he clamored ungracefully to his feet.

"Run!" He shouted at Amy, giving her a bit of a push toward the stairs and following her as she ran down them. Once out the front door, he used the cylinder-lighty-thing on the door, and she heard it lock. "Why'd you pretend to be a policewoman?" He snapped at her.

"You broke into my house!" Amy replied, flushing a bit at her poor costume choices these last couple years. "What's going on? Tell me!" She demanded of him as he headed toward the blue box that filled her childhood dreams and spawned more stories than she dared admit to.

"An alien convict is hiding in your spare room disguised as a man and a dog, and some other aliens are about to incinerate your house, any questions?" He paused, looking to her as he snapped his fingers.

"Yes." She said, because there were a lot of questions Amy wanted to ask of this man who she had put so much faith in. A man who only showed up when she finally allowed herself to believe he really, truly, never would.

"Me too," he said with a sigh as he reached into his trousers and pulled out a key. He turned to the door, fitting it in the lock, but nothing happened when he turned it. "No!" He pounded on the door. "No, don't do that, not now!" He sighed, looking to Amy with guilt. "She's still rebuilding, not letting me in."

The voice that threatened the incineration of her home boomed above them, and Amy caught a glimpse of the man-dog-creature looking down at them from a window. "Come on," She said to the Raggedy Doctor as she took him by the arm and attempted to pull him away.

But he was stronger than she thought he should be, and he remained statue still with his eyes on something behind her. Amy's heart dropped into her stomach as she realized what he'd seen.

"Hang on, wait." He said as he suddenly pushed past her like her hand hadn't gripped him in the least. He looked over the shed, hand on the walls. "I destroyed that shed last time I was here, smashed it to pieces."

"So there's a new one, let's go." Amy went over and tried to pull at him again, but he wouldn't move.

He sniffed the wood, ran his fingers over it. "But the new one's got old. It's ten years old," He licked the wood. Licked it. Splinters in the tongue would not be pleasant, and what if there were lead in the paint? She wasn't sure when that stopped being a practice, but the point stood. He may have known where it was, but not what had been on it. "Twelve years. I'm not six months late, I'm twelve years late." He turned and glared at Amy. "You said six months, why did you say six months?"

"We've got to go," Amy urged him, but the Raggedy Doctor seemed determined.

"This matters, this is important, why did you say six months?"

"Why did you say five minutes?" Amy snapped back, and watched the Raggedy Doctor's face fall as if he finally understood who she was.

"What?" He asked, following her this time when she pulled him by the arm and lead him away.

Leadworth was small, and by half running they'd gotten a good distance away from the house in very little time.

It was when this unspoken safe line had been cleared that the Raggedy Doctor stopped them, pulling her to look at him. "You're Amelia." He said, and she had to admit she liked the way her proper name sounded coming from him.

"And you're late."

A/N: Hello! And welcome to the finale edition of the Run With You series. If you were looking for cracks and the Universe and Silence falling you have come to the wrong place. Because, sorry Moffat, but that doesn't work here. I will be following the entire Pond era as a guide, but I may drop episodes entirely. So if your favorite goes missing I'm sorry, but I've made some calls here and there to what could actually work and what doesn't, and with the amount of changes made to the history of the characters, especially River's, it's logical to assume some events don't happen.

As it was with the previous two, if things don't change during the episode I will not rehash them. That is strongly the case in the beginning of the fic (the first few chapters).

Until near the end of the week. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Joyous Yule, what ever you may celebrate (or don't, and in that case, Happy Day).