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The TARDIS had barely materialized back in Amelia's back garden when both Danni and the Doctor emerged, both with cloths over their mouths to try and protect their lungs from the smoke billowing from the console. The fires around the room had quickly dried them, but unlike the Doctor, Danni was still choking on the smoke around them.
"Amelia!" He called before running towards the house, "Amelia! I worked out what it was. I know what I was missing! You've got to get out of there!" He used the sonic screwdriver on the door, and after a few failed attempts the door opened.
"Amelia?" Danni called as she followed him upstairs at a slower pace. She knew exactly where the little girl was. And that she wasn't so little anymore, so she hung back.
"Amelia, are you all right? Are you there?" The Doctor asked, growing more concerned about the little girl's whereabouts. He headed straight to the door at the top of the stairs, the one he had just begun to notice before and tried to open in with the screwdriver, "Prisoner Zero is here. Prisoner Zero is here! Prisoner Zero is here! Do you understand me? Prisoner Zero is..." He turned as the floorboard creaked behind them and was hit by a ginger policewoman wielding a cricket bat. He hit the floor, but Danni moved out of the way.
"Good god Amelia, that was so unnecessary." Danni cried as she knelt down beside him, making sure he was just unconscious and not dead. The woman pointed the bat at her.
"How do you know who I am?" She demanded.
"Because, unlike him, I'm not an idiot, and because I promised we'd be back and we were." She stood up and brushed her hands against each other, "Now, do you want me handcuffed as well?" Amelia shook her head, still wielding the bat menasingly.
"You said five minutes." She pointed out angrily. Danni shook her head.
"Actually, he," She pointed at the Doctor, "said five minutes. I said we'd be late. This is late."
"This is twelve years!" Amelia exclaimed, "Twelve years is not 'late'." She raised the bat, ready to hit Danni, who held her hands up in defense.
"Now, now." Danni chuckled nervously, "No need for the bat. It's not like I could have done anything about it."
"You could have travelled here quicker." Danni shook her head.
"Oh no, I never fly the TARDIS." She replied, "Rule 35, don't let Danni fly the TARDIS."
"What the hell is the TARDIS?" Amelia growled, "You're starting to really get on my nerves."
"Yes, well, the bat's not warming you to me either." Danni snapped back, "The TARDIS is the time machine. You know, the big blue box?" She grabbed one of the Doctor's arms, ready to pull him to the radiator, "Look, he's going to wake up soon. If you want him not to know you're Amelia, help me move him."
"How do you know I am Amelia?" She asked, grabbing his over arm. Together they dragged him to the radiator.
"Because I can see the future, remember?" Danni replied, remembering how they'd explained it to the child, "Lord, you're hard work when you're young."
~0~0~0~
The Doctor blinked slowly, coming back to the land of the living at the sound of a female voice he didn't recognise. His head hurt, that was odd. It had been years since he'd had a headache. He perked up slightly at the thought, before dismissing himself as a fool. In front of him stood a policewoman, talking into the radio pinned to her lapel.
"White male and female, both mid-20s, breaking and entering. Send me some back-up, I've got them both restrained." She turned to face them and placed a hand on her hip, "Oi, you! Sit still." she commanded.
"Welcome back online, sleepy-head." Danni added, patting him on the arm with her free hand. He groaned in pain as he tried to think back on what had happened.
"Cricket bat. I'm getting cricket bat." He muttered.
"You were breaking and entering." The policewoman replied. He suddenly tried to shoot up from the floor, falling backwards and dragging Danni to the side when he reached the end of the reach of the handcuffs. He looked down at his wrist, tugging at it slightly.
"Well, that's much better. Brand-new me, whack on the head. Just what it needed." He suddenly looked alarmed and spun to face Danni, assuming she had also been attacked, "Are you all right?" He tilted her head to try and see the back of it, "How long were you unconscious? Does it still hurt?" She pulled away.
"I ducked." She told him, "Seriously, she swung at us with a cricket bat, and you didn't even move. Just dropped like a sack of potatoes."
"I've just regenerated." He grumbled, "Give me some leeway. I'm not up to scratch at the moment." Danni shook her head with a smile.
"I'll say. So young, it's really odd." He leant in closer to her face, a smile tugging at his own lips as he brushed his nose against hers a couple of times, like an escimo kiss.
"And you're getting old now." He teased in a whisper, "So many years you've spent with me..."
"Do you want to shut up now?" The policewoman interupted their moment, bringing the Doctor back to the situation, "I've got back-up on the way!"
"Hang on, no, wait - you're a policewoman." The Doctor stated as if he just realised.
"And you're breaking and entering. You see how this works?" She waved her hand to illustrate.
"But what are you doing here? Where's Amelia?" He asked, his concern growing again now he was back on track. The policewoman stared back at him with a solemn face.
"Amelia Pond?" she asked.
"Yeah. Little Scottish girl. Where is she? I promised her five minutes but the engines were phasing. I suppose I must have gone a bit far. Has something happened to her?"
"Amelia Pond hasn't lived here in a long time." She replied.
"How long?" The policewoman's eyes widened as she tried to think up a suitable lie.
"Six months." She settled on.
"No, no, no! I can't be six months late! I said five minutes. I promised." Danni shifted so she was sat cross legged.
"Don't worry, I told her we were going to be late." Danni told him. He looked down at her.
"And why didn't you tell me?" She shrugged.
"You should know by now that you're never on time." She pointed out.
"Am too!" He exclaimed, offended.
"Do I have to point out the year Rose was missing?" She replied and he pouted. The policewoman, obviously tired of the bickering, turned away and pressed the button on her radio.
"What happened to her? What happened to Amelia Pond?" He asked Danni, who smiled at him.
"It's not my story to tell." She bopped his nose, "But you're living it, so keep up."
"Sarge, it's me again." The policewoman said, "Hurry it up, they know something about Amelia Pond."
"I will say, though," Danni told him as his gaze shifted to the hidden door, "That is the fakest English accent I have ever heard, and I have watched a LOT of American telly." The Doctor frowned, realising he agreed and so he focused his attention on the woman in front of him.
"I need to speak to whoever lives in this house now." The Doctor stated urgently.
"I live here." The policewoman replied.
"But you're the police." He said, confused.
"And she has to live somewhere, sweetie." Danni told him with a sigh.
"You got a problem with that?!" The policewoman added.
"No, but..."
"Oh Lord." Danni sighed, "Let's get this moving, I wanna see Rory. How many rooms?" She asked Amelia, who blinked, having not been expecting that. Plus, how did she know about Rory.
"I'm sorry, what?" She settled on. The Doctor nodded towards the back of the hallway, where Prisoner Zero's hiding place lay.
"On this floor. How many rooms on this floor? Count them for me now." He commanded firmly.
"Why?" She asked.
"Because it will change your life."
"Five. One, two, three, four, five." She pointed along as she counted, at every door but Prisoner Zero's.
"Six." Danni corrected.
"Six?" She asked incrediously and both Danni and the Doctor nodded.
"Look." The Doctor commanded gently.
"Look where?"
"Exactly where you don't want to look. Where you never want to look, the corner of your eye. Look behind you." The policewoman turned slowly and stared, slightly scared, at the new door.
"That's... That is not possible. How's that possible?"
"There's a perception filter round the door. Sensed it the last time I was here. Should've seen it." He admitted.
"But that's a whole room. That's a whole room I've never even noticed." The woman protested. She'd lived here practically her entire life, how had she not seen it?
"The filter stops you. Something came a while ago to hide. It's still hiding. You need to uncuff us now!" The Doctor explained urgently. The policewoman began walking slowly towards the door.
"I don't have the key. I lost it." She flippantly threw back.
"How can you have lost it?! Stay away from that door!" She ignored him, continuing slowly towards the door, "Do not touch that door!" She placed hand on the doorknob, "Listen to me! Do not open that..." But she did anyway, "Why does no-one ever listen to me?" He turned to face Danni, "Do I just have a face that nobody listens to? Again...?" He began searching his pockets with his free hand, "My screwdriver, where is it?"
"I would say, with our luck and such, it'll be in there." Danni replied, motioning to the door the policewoman had just entered.
"Silver thing, blue at the end. Where did it go?" He called to her.
"There's nothing here" She called back.
"Whatever's there stopped you seeing the whole room. What makes you think you could see it?" He explained, "Now, please, just get out!"
"Silver, blue at the end?" She described.
"My screwdriver, yeah." He confirmed.
"It's here."
"Must have rolled under the door." He said in relief.
"Yeah. Must have." She paused for a moment, "And then it must have jumped up on the table..." The Doctor shared a worried look with Danni, before they both turned back to the extra door.
"Get out of there!" They both cried out, trying to get her away from Prisoner Zero, "Get out!"
"Get out of there!" The Doctor continued as he stretched as far as he could, Danni trying to manoeuvre her arm to allow him more room. Of course he couldn't reach the room, but she had to let him try. There was no reply, but also no screaming so whilst Amelia wasn't being eaten or anything, she always still wasn't leaving, "What is it? What are you doing?"
"There's nothing here, but..." the policewoman trailed off.
"Don't do it!" Danni cried, "Ignore whatever is in the corner of your eye and leave the room!"
"What is it?" Amelia asked.
"Don't try to see it. If it knows you've seen it, it will kill you. Don't look at it. Do not look." The Doctor warned, but he was too late. Her scream rang throughout the house.
"Get out!" Both he and Danni screamed, more desperately than before. This time she listened and ran out sonic screwdriver in hand, slamming the door closed behind her. She ran over to the Doctor and Danni.
"Give me that!" The Doctor snapped. He snatched the screwdriver and locked the door before trying to use it on the handcuffs. It buzzed weakly a few times but didn't do anything, "Come on. What's the bad alien done to you?" He inspected it closely. The policewoman shot him an incredulous look then looked back at the door.
"Will that door hold it?" She asked.
"Oh, yeah, yeah, course! It's an inter-dimensional multi-form from outer-space - they're all terrified of wood." He replied sarcastically.
"Stop being so rude!" Danni snapped, "It's a reasonable question considering we're still attached to the radiator." They were distracted from the impending argument by a yellow light glowing from behind the door, flooding through the edges.
"What's that? What's it doing?" Amelia. asked. The Doctor looked up from rubbing the screwdriver with his finger, trying to warm it up.
"I don't know, getting dressed? Run. Just go. Your back-up's coming, we'll be fine." The Doctor commanded.
"There is no back-up." She admitted. The Doctor looked at her in surprise.
"I heard you on the radio, you called for back-up." He pointed out.
"She was pretending. It's a pretend radio." Danni explained, "She's a pretend policewoman."
"No, she can't be." He protested, looking up at Amelia, "You're a real policewoman."
"I'm a kissogram!" She exclaimed, her Scottish accent back in place. She took her hat off and chucked it away, her ginger hair cascading down her shoulders. The door suddenly broke from its hinges and fell to the floor, revealing a man in blue overalls and his pet Rottweiler. He stepped into the hallway, standing on the door.
"But it's just..." The policewoman started, trailling off. It was just what, exactly? It was just a slimy snake thing, now it was just a man and his dog?
"No, it isn't. Look at the faces." The Doctor replied. All three watched as the man growled and barked while the dog stayed silent.
"What? I'm sorry, but what?"Amelia asked again, looking at the pair for answers, she was now completely and utterly lost.
"It's all one creature. One creature disguised as two." Danni explained. The dog and the man turned in unison to look at her.
"Clever old multi-form. A bit of a rush job, though. Got the voice a bit muddled, did you?" They turned to stare the Doctor down, "Mind you, where did you get the pattern from? You'd need a psychic link, a live feed. How did you fix that?"The man snarled at him then took two steps forward. It began baring it's teeth, huge pointed fangs that meant it had to unnaturally stretch the man's mouth.
"Stay, boy!" The Doctor commanded and the two stopped their approach, "Them and me, we're safe. Want to know why? She sent for back-up." He motioned to the officer with his head.
"I didn't send for back-up!" She protested.
"I know, that was a clever lie to save our lives. OK, yeah, NO back-up! And that's why we're safe. Alone, we're not a threat to you. If we HAD back-up, then you'd have to kill us!"
"Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded. Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded." A voice proclaimed from outside.
"What's that?" Amelia asked, panicking.
"That would be back-up." Danni replied with a sigh.
"OK, one more time." The Doctor tried again, "We do have back-up and that's definitely why we're safe."
"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated." The voice outside declared.
"I wouldn't call incineration 'safe'," Danni added, "But it's all relative, I suppose." The creature turned and walked into one of the rooms off the hallway as the voice repeated it's warning to the planet below. The Doctor banged his screwdriver against the floor, pressing the buttons even though it didn't work.
"Work, work, work. C'mon." He muttered until it began buzzing. He held it against his handcuff, unlocking it and allowing Danni to pull it out the other way, both now free.
"Run." He told the officer but she didn't move. He stood up and grabbed her arm, pushing her forward, "Run!"The officer let out a yelp but began running out of the house, the Doctor grabbing Danni's hand to make sure she was following. After they were all free of the house, he zapped the door to lock Prisoner Zero in.
"Kissogram?" He declared.
"Yes a kissogram! What's going on?" The officer replied, her English accent back in place.
"Why'd you pretend to be a policewoman?" He asked as they headed towards the TARDIS.
"You broke into my house! It was this or a French maid! What's going on? Tell me! Tell me!" Amelia demanded.
"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?" The Doctor rattled off before turning to the TARDIS, trying to unlock it.
"Yes." the officer stated.
"Me too."He groaned in frustration when it didn't open, "No, no, don't do that, not now!"
"She's still rebuilding, so she's not letting us in." Danni explained to the policewoman, "Someone went all nuclear and destroyed the console room."
"Again, I was regenerating!" The Doctor exclaimed.
"I know, sweetie." She reasured him, "I was just explaining it to the human who has no idea what's going on?"
"Oh, and you do?" Amelia snapped and Danni nodded.
"Oh yeah, this one's easy." She brushed off.
"You know, you seemed less of a cow when I met you as a kid." Amelia grumbled and Danni shrugged.
"I grow on you." Was her reply, not at all offended. This Amelia had the distict difference of fancying the Doctor, whilst younger Amelia just was in awe of him. Seeing him all touchy-feely with her probably was like a kick in the gut. She'd grow out of it, and she was closer with Amy than anyone really, so it would all end up okay in the end.
"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated." The guard continued to call.
"Come on." Amelia took action, grabbing the Doctor's arm and pulling him away from the TARDIS. He kept hold of Danni's hand, pulling her along in a line but he skidded to a stop when he caught sight of the shed behind the TARDIS.
"No, wait, hang on, wait, wait, wait. The shed."He broke out of her grip, letting go of Danni and running over to it, "I destroyed that shed last time we were here, smashed it to pieces." He muttered.
"So there's a new one. Let's go." Amelia insisted.
"But the new one's got old. It's ten years old at least." The ginger kissogram looked down at Danni in panic as the Doctor sniffed the shed, running his finger along it then licking it.
"He'll catch on in a minute." Danni murmered, "Don't panic, but it'll take a while."
"12 years." The Doctor stated over her. "I'm not six months late, I'm 12 years late." He strode over to them, staring down the kissogram. She had lied, which made her suspicious. Standing between her and Danni, he tried to tower over her, even though she had an inch or two in height over him. In the back of his mind, he was glad Danni was so small, because this body seemed to be a bit shorter than the last.
"He's coming." The woman protested weakly.
"You said six months. Why did you say six months?" He pressed angrily, "Why did you lie to me and Danni?"
"We've got to go." She tried again.
"This matters. This is important. Why did you say six months?" He demanded.
"Why did you say five minutes?!" The woman screamed and the Doctor's mouth dropped as he realised she was in fact Amelia.
"What?" He breathed, stunned.
"Come on." Amelia settled on, now back to Scottish once more. Danni smiled, that was more like it.
"What?" He repeated.
"Oh, come on!" Danni cried, grabbing his arm and dragging him off behind the two gingers.
"What?" He cried as they ran out of the back garden, the alien ship above them still broadcasting it's warning.
~0~0~0~
The Doctor led them up a steep village street, lined with a wall and street lamps. A biker road past, ringing his bell to signal his approach and the noise seemed to startle the Doctor out of his flight-mode as he stopped and spun to face Amelia.
"You're Amelia." He stated and she sighed, walking purposefully past him.
"You're late." She countered. Danni and the Doctor jogged slightly to catch up with her.
"Amelia Pond, you're the little girl." He continued, still shocked.
"I'm Amelia and you're late." She repeated.
"In all fairness, I did warn you." Danni pointed out and Amelia glared at the other red-head.
"12 years late!" She exclaimed, "That wasn't a warning, that was a bloody tease!"
"Well, you tell an eight year old that you're going to be a decade, see how well they react." Danni retorted.
"What happened?" The Doctor asked Amelia, looking her up and down. She'd... well, she'd grown, that was for sure. One minte little girl, next minute fake-police officer.
"12 years." She gave as an explaination.
"You hit me with a cricket bat." He exclaimed.
"12 years." She said with a disgruntled laugh.
"A cricket bat." He repeated.
"12 years and four psychiatrists." She told him. He frowned, confused.
"Four?" He asked. She looked away, slightly embarrassed for admitting that out loud. She hadn't meant to, it had slipped out.
"I kept biting them." She admitted and Danni laughed.
"That's my girl." She cheered and Amelia smiled slightly despite herself.
"Why?" The Doctor asked. Amelia stopped and looked at both of them with out a pout.
"They said you weren't real." She replied quietly. She had begun to suspect that each one of them awful adults, with their obnoxious attempts to be her friend, and their 'tell me what's wrong. I'll pretend not to tell your Aunt, but really I will' attitudes. All lies, it turned out. It seemed a general consensus that she had made them up because her parents weren't around anymore. Two magical grownups, coming to fix the things that scare her, the female with a shocking resemblance to herself? As an adult, she could see why they thought that. Hell, she'd started to believe that. She really wished that this was some sort of breakdown, but the fact that they'd left her house made her sincerely doubt it.
"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated." The warning rang out, screeching at the end. The three looked over at the ice cream van owner who was fiddling with his speakers, trying to fix them.
"No, no, no, come on… What?" She asked, on the line between disbelief and panic, "We're being staked out by an ice-cream van?" The Doctor didn't reply, just dragged Danni over to it as Amelia followed. Why did he have to hold her hand all the time anyway?
"What's that? Why are you playing that?" The Doctor demanded, looking between the equipment and the seller.
"It's supposed to be Claire De Lune." The seller offered as he couldn't figure out why his tape player was playing the nonsense coming out of it. The Doctor picked up up and held it to his ear, listing to the recording before handing it back. He spun around once then rushed off to the side, looking around at all the people also receiving the message.
"Doctor, what's happening?" Amelia demanded. Instead, he turned and ran off, hopping over a low fence into a garden. Danni grabbed Amelia's hand.
"I shall warn you now, Amelia. He always does this, and it won't ever stop. Come on." She told her gently and the pair ran around the front of the garden and up the path, meeting him in the front room, smiling widely at the old woman who was trying to turn her television over.
"Hello! Sorry to burst in, we're doing a special on television faults in this area," He glanced over at Amelia, "Also, crimes. Let's have a look." He walked over and took the remote off the lady and tried changing the channel himself. There was a giant eye being broadcast, swivelling around as if it was scanning the area.
"I was just about to phone. It's on every channel." The woman explained as she turned to face Amelia, "Hello, Amy, dear. Are you a policewoman now?" She asked confused.
"Well, sometimes." Amelia replied, running her hand through her hair, embarrassed.
"I thought you were a nurse." The woman stated, confused.
"She can be a nurse." Danni interjected, "Or a nun, or even sometimes a maid."
"I dabble." Amelia interupted with a nervous laugh, trying to stop the direction of the conversation. She didn't want to have to explain her job to the kind old lady she'd known since she'd moved her as a child.
"Amy, who are your friends?" The woman asked instead with a smile at Danni, who grinned back.
"Who's Amy? You were Amelia." The Doctor protested.
"Yeah, now I'm Amy." Amelia snapped in reply.
"Amelia Pond - that was a great name." Danni told her and she shook her head.
"Bit fairy tale." Amelia disagreed, although that's why she'd always liked it. Can't let them know, though. 12 years, they deserved to squirm.
"I know you, don't I? I've seen you somewhere before." The old woman asked the pair, turning to the Doctor.
"Not me. Brand-new face..." He pulled a face, as if it would explain everything, "First time on. And what sort of job's a kissogram?" he asked Amy, who shot him a look.
"I go to parties and I kiss people." She cleared her throat, "With outfits. It's a laugh." She defended.
"You were a little girl five minutes ago." He snapped back.
"You're worse than my aunt." She protested just as angrily.
"I'm the Doctor, I'm worse than everybody's aunt." He retorted seriously. He turned to the woman, tapping her once with his screwdriver, "And that is not how I'm introducing myself." Suddenly all smiles again, he picked up an old radio and began to flash his screwdriver at it. An array of warnings began playing out of it, each changing language with each zap of the screwdriver until he stopped and it turned off. He placed the radio back where it was.
"OK, so it's everywhere, in every language. They're broadcasting to the whole world." He sped over to the window and pushed it upwards. He stuck his head out and looked up at the blue sky, searching for something.
"What's up there? What are you looking for?" Amy asked. The Doctor pulled his head back in, a thoughtful frown on his face.
"OK, planet this size, two poles, your basic molten core... They're going to need a 40% fission blast." A man walked into the house carrying a laptop case and the Doctor paced over to him, "But they'll have to power up first, won't they? So assuming a medium-sized starship, that's 20 minutes." He kept going up on his tiptoes then down as if to meet the taller man's eyeline, who was staring at him wide-eyed, "What do you think, 20 minutes? Yeah, 20 minutes. We've got 20 minutes." He declared.
"20 minutes to what?" Amy asked.
"Are you the Doctor?" The man interrupted and the old woman smiled happily.
"He is, isn't he? He's the Doctor! The Raggedy Doctor. And she's Danni-Girl. All those cartoons you did when you were little. The Raggedy Doctor and his Danni-Girl, it's them." She crowed happily, finally being able to place them both.
"Shut up." Amy whispered to her gently, but firmly. This was, without a doubt, the most cringeworthy thing that had ever happened to her. And that included the time she was de-pants in front of the whole year at secondary school. Why Mels had done that, she would never know.
"Cartoons?" He asked, still trying to work out what to do as he went to sit on the couch next to Danni, who was looking over the back at Amelia.
"You made ones of me too?" She asked, touched that she had been remembered too. Amy had always told her that she had come with the Doctor, but every time she had recalled something from her childhood she never really mentioned her. She had always assumed she had been jealous and since he had been very touchy-feely since they'd first landed this had cemented the idea Amy had just ignored her part in that night.
"Gran, it's them, isn't it? It's really them!" The man laughed.
"Jeff, shut up!" Amelia snapped then turned to the Doctor and Danni, "20 minutes to what?"
"The human residence. They're not talking about your house, they're talking about the planet. Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship and it's going to incinerate the planet." Danni explained calmly.
"20 minutes to the end of the world." The Doctor confirmed, the giant eyes warning still transmitting in the background.
~0~0~0~
The three swiftly left Jeff and his Gran to head into town, the Doctor still looking around as if he was trying to find something he had lost. That was something that lasted throughout the regeneration, he was always late, he always misplaced something and he always forgot something important. It was adorable.
"What is this place? Where are we?" He asked suddenly.
"Leadworth." Amelia... no Amy replied. Danni shook her head slightly, she had to remember this was Amy, but having rushed from her being an 8 year old girl to a 20 year old kissogram did make it hard to differentiate, especially considering she was used to older Amy's herself. She could understand why the Doctor had a hard time separating the two sometimes.
"Where's the rest of it?" He asked.
"This is it." Amy protested, feeling a sense of injustice at the dismissal of her home. She might not like it, but everyone else had to.
"Is there an airport?" The Doctor asked.
"No." She replied with a shake of her head.
"A nuclear power station?"
"No." Amy laughed.
"Even a little one?"
"What do you think?" Danni interjected, struggling to keep up with the two's long strides. Being shorter than everyone else was such a pain sometimes.
"Nearest city?" He continued.
"Gloucester, half an hour by car." Amy replied.
"We don't have half an hour. Do we have a car?" He asked her and she shook her head again.
"No."
"Well, that's good! Fantastic, that is." He snapped sarcastically, "20 minutes to save the world and I've got a post office." He waved at it. "And it's shut! WHAT is that?" He pointed at a pool of water by the side of the road, his focus now drawn to it as he strode over.
"It's a duck pond." Amelia... Amy replied.
"Why aren't there any ducks?" He asked forcefully.
"I don't know. There's never any ducks." She explained.
"Then how do you know it's a duck pond?"
"It just is. Is it important, the duck pond?" Amel...Amy asked.
"I don't know." He spasmed as a regeneration spasm rushed through him, "Why would I know?" He sat down next to the pond, clutching his chest and panting, "This is too soon. I'm not ready, I'm not done yet." Amy looked at him, wide-eyed and concerned as Danni leant down and gave him a hug, kissing the side of his head. He clung to her as he rode the pain out.
"You relax for a minute, I know what happens next." She told him as the sky darkened. The trio looked up towards the sky.
"What's happening? Why's it going dark?" Amy asked them as the sun flickered and it went bright again, now a burning ball of fire in the sky, "So what's wrong with the sun?" She turned to Danni.
"Nothing. They've put a force-field thing up. They've sealed off the upper atmosphere, now they're getting ready to boil the planet." She explained. The Doctor pushed himself up and looked around the village green at all the people stopping and filming it on their various phones.
"Oh, and here they come, the human race. The end comes, as it was always going to - down a video phone!" He complained, rolling his eyes at them.
"This isn't real, is it? This is some kind of big wind-up." Amy asked, the gravity of what was happening hitting her and being unable to process it.
"Why would I wind you up?" The Doctor asked, sounding hurt.
"You told me you had a time machine." She explained, her hands clasped underneath her chin.
"And you believed me."
"Then I grew up."
"Oh, you never want to do that. No, hang on, shut up, wait! I missed it." He smacked his forehead as if to jolt his memory, "I saw it and I missed it." He did it again, his forehead going red, "What did I see?" Danni grabbed his hand to save his forehead from another assault and pointed over at the phone box on the other side of the green where Rory was filming Prisoner Zero, still as the man and his dog. The Doctor yelped in realisation and spun Danni around, kissing her on the lips before hugging her tightly. He looked at Amelia over her head.
"20 minutes. I can do it. 20 minutes, the planet burns. Run to your loved ones and say goodbye, or stay and help me."
"No." Ameli... Amy replied quietly. The Doctor let Danni go and stepped towards her, confused.
"I'm sorry?" he asked as if he couldn't hear her.
"No!" She cried angrily, reaching forward and grabbing his tie. He protested as she dragged him over to a car.
"Amy! No! No! What are you doing?" She pushed him against the grey car and when the driver had stepped out she slammed his tie in the front door. She snatched the keys out of the man's hand and locked it with the fob, "Are you out of your mind?"
"Who are you?" Amy demanded.
"You know who we are." Danni replied. She looked down at her then back at the Doctor.
"No, really, who are you?" She demanded again.
"Look at the sky! End of the world, 20 minutes." The Doctor shouted.
"Better talk quickly, then!" She shouted back.
"Amy, I am going to need my car back." The driver told her timidly.
"Yes, in a bit. Now go and have coffee." She told him without looking at him.
"Right, yes." He replied slowly, walking off and leaving the wild child to it.
"Ha! I always liked you." Danni cried as she reached forward and grabbed the apple out of the Doctor's pocket, who stared at her in shock and with a pink tint to his cheeks, and tossed it at Amy, "Catch." Amy caught it turned it over slowly in her hand until a smiley face stared up at her.
"I'm the Doctor. I'm a time traveller. Everything I told you 12 years ago is true. I'm real, Danni is real. What's happening in the sky is real, and if you don't let me go now, everything you've ever known is over." He explained urgently.
"I don't believe you." She admitted, although both could see she was starting to. He sighed and grasped her wrist with his free hand.
"Just 20 minutes. Just believe us for 20 minutes. Look at it. Fresh as the day you gave it to me. And you know it's the same one. Amy, believe for 20 minutes." She looked down at the apple again then lifted the fob up, pressed the button and unlocked the car.
"What do we do?"
"Stop that nurse!"