This is the second installment of the Perfectly Imperfect storyline. By the way things are feeling, this may end up as a series of short stories, so cross your fingers and snag me all the spare muses you can find.

Still un-beta'd XP

I own nothing Doctor Who, but I did buy my husband a sonic screwdriver...now he chases me around the house with it...

"Hello sweetie," a woman's husky alto echoes over Rose and the Doctor's heads, "I know you're around here somewhere and I've got a bottle of wine to share with you, so stop tinkering with the blender or whatever and come have a drink before you take me out dancing."

"But you hate wine,"the blond Time Lady mouths to her companion.

He grimaces comically and nods in agreement, then pokes a finger skyward "That's River."

Of course it is, who else could have made things this awkward?

"Ya think?" she whispers sarcastically and crouches closer to the central column, "So what are you gonna do about her? Is it going to mess up any time lines if she knows I'm here?"

"Well first off, if I'm very lucky, I'll be able to avoid the wine. And second...well I have no idea about it yet, but I'll think of something eventually," he presses his sonic into her hands, "Keep that safe for me, would you? Every time she shows up, she meddles with all the controls and you know how I hate that."

She bobs her head and the Time Lord starts up the stairs, but is snagged once more, "What should I do? I'm not gonna sit down here and hide all day, waitin' for the not-quite-Missus to get bored and wander back to her cell ya know."

"There is a second set of stairs over there, a bit of an emergency exit so to speak," he indicates, pointing to the far side of the platform, "You make a run for it while I distract her."

While the Doctor bounds up to greet the other woman and she dashes for the hidden exit, Rose discovers that she is grinning from ear to ear and it is the same smile she has always ended up with with whenever she's found herself running for her life because of one of Sean-or the Doctor's- schemes has fallen to pieces.

Sorry if it's choppy, I'm exhausted and my head is pounding, but I promised a number of people that I would try for a sequel...