Came up with this one while reading an excellent manga about the struggles of dealing with partial deafness. Made me curious what the Doctor would do with someone who is handicapped in such a way. I am not deaf, however, so if anything seems inaccurate, review and let me know and I will edit it. Everything in here is from what information I could find online.

I sighed quietly as I walked down the street with my hands in my pockets and my headphones in my ears; the music loud enough to be heard by the few people who walked past, giving me dirty looks. I was used to it and just ignored them. I already knew very few people liked me here in Leadworth and the only ones who did were the friends of a friend. Though, I suppose we are all friends, now that they let me move in after that... incident back home. I grimaced, pushing the thoughts out of my head and adjusting the grocery bags looped around my elbow as I texted Amy Pond.

I'm on my way back.

Better help me with the groceries.

They're heavy.

-LT

I tucked my phone away and allowed the bags to slip back down into my hand as I sighed again. Next time, I'm stealing Rory's car. Amy was the one who let me move into a room in her house, though her and Rory weren't too willing to let a friend of Mels' just walk in and live in their home. I knew why. I wouldn't let me in either. With tattoos all up my right arm and another on my calf and the smell of smoke clinging to my clothes, I could be quite the imposing figure, if I wasn't so lanky. 5'11" and I was hardly all muscle, though I did have some. I worked at a tattoo parlor in the next town and had met Mels there as I gave one of her friends a tattoo. I somehow got dragged into her group after that and found myself being pulled into all sorts of trouble, but after the incident, she figured it'd be best for me to stay someplace a bit less... bitter.

I suppose my battered appearance when I showed up at Amy's door in the middle of the night soaking wet from the recent rain, may have helped convince her to let me stay for a short time at least. And I had been planning on leaving the moment I found someplace to stay, but we'd grown friendly towards one another and she let me stay rent free; though I still slipped some money into her wallet when she wasn't looking. I liked her though and her straight forward attitude meshed with my quiet nature easily, which only made things better with how easily I was able to hear her.

I had gotten very sick when I was younger and afterward, my hearing hadn't been the greatest and has since gotten worse. My left ear was nearly completely deaf and my right wasn't much better. But Amy had a loud voice that easily carried and I found that I could hear her better than most other people. Mels sometimes spoke too fast and I couldn't catch everything she said at times, and Rory spoke too quietly to hear half the time too. Amy though, seemed to be the perfect pitch and loudness, so I almost always heard her. Helped me feel a bit more normal and gave me a chance to hold conversations without having to ask her to slow down, speak louder, or repeat herself.

Weird. I thought, pulling out my phone once more. She usually texts back by now. I checked my phone, still seeing nothing and put it away before walking up towards her house; balancing the groceries as I tried to get out my keys. Once I was inside and placed the groceries down on the kitchen table, I pulled out my earbuds and called to her upstairs.

"I'm back with the groceries! Why didn't you text me back?"

I didn't catch her response and sighed, leaving the groceries for now and putting my hearing aid in my left ear as I made for the stairs. I heard something else as I adjusted my hearing aid and frowned curiously up at the ceiling.

"Attention Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded." It repeated on a loop and that only confused me more. "Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

"Right then. That's odd. Hope it's not talking about us." I muttered quietly, having paused at the bottom of the steps before making to head up them once more.

Before I could get more than a few steps up, however, Amy came rushed down with someone hurrying behind her.

"What—"

"No time for questions, Leon! We need to go, now!"

She grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the house, to the back door where we waited outside as the man pointed some silver stick at the lock, giving her a look.

"Kissogram?"

"Yes, a Kissogram!" She snapped as he jumped off the steps and we followed; myself very confused. "What's going on?!"

She went after him, but they were now both face-to-face and arguing.

"Why'd you pretend to be a police woman?"

"You broke into my house. It was this or a French maid. What's going on? Tell me." She demanded as we followed him through the garden and over to a police box.

A familiar blue police box.

"Tell me!"

"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?"

I raised my hand. "Yes. Who are you?" I then turned to Amy. "And did he say aliens or is my hearing off?"

Amy roller her eyes, whispering to me just loud enough for me to hear. "This is the Doctor. I told you about him, remember?"

I nodded, eyeing the man, before turning back to her and pointing to the house. "I take it I can't go back in there and put the ice cream in the freezer? It's going to melt."

"No!" She shouted, waving her hands as the Doctor rattled with the door to his police box.

"No, no, no, no! Don't do that! Not now!" He shouted; his voice also pretty easy to understand so far. "It's still rebuilding. Not letting us in."

I pointed at it, also whispering like she had, though I wasn't sure why. "And that's the ship? With a swimming pool in the library?"

"Yup." She said, popping the 'p', before turning to look up at the house; catching something I didn't hear.

I turned as well and saw a man and his Rottweiler standing at the window, barking, apparently.

"Is he barking?" I questioned and Amy groaned, grabbing my arm and pushing the Doctor with her other arm.

"Come on!"

He struggled though and pointed at the shed, before rushing towards it. "No, wait. Hang on. Wait, wait, wait, wait. The shed. I destroyed that shed last time I was here. Smashed it to pieces."

"So there's a new one. Let's go." Amy argued.

"Yeah, but the new one's got old. It's ten years old at least." He sniffed it and then stuck his finger in his mouth, making me raise a brow. "Twelve years. I'm not six months late. I'm twelve years late." He said, moving towards Amy.

"He's coming." Amy said, trying to rush him along, though I could see her plan falling apart along with her self-control.

Oh, Amy. I knew he'd hurt you by doing that when you were younger, but he's about to find out just how badly.

"You said six months. Why did you say six months?"

"We've got to go." She persisted.

"This matters. This is important. Why did you say six months?"

"Why did you say five minutes?!" She shouted at him, before realization dawned on both of them.

"What?"

"Come on." She grabbed his hand and tugged him along as he continued to question it.

"What?"

"Come on!" She shouted, and pulled him past the man and his dog standing at the back door as I hurried after them.

"What?"

We ran past a bicyclist up one of the roads as he rang his bell at us and I stopped with Amy and the Doctor as I fiddled with my hearing aid. Why can I still hear the voice? I shouldn't be able to hear anything if we're not at the house. Unless... that's not where it's coming from.

"You're Amelia." The Doctor said, bringing my attention back to him and Amy as we started walking again.

"And you're late."

"You're Amelia Pond. You're the little girl."

"I'm Amelia and you're late." She repeated, obviously angry, but I knew better than to try and stop the angry Pond.

"What happened?"

"Twelve years."

"You hit me with a cricket bat."

I raised a brow. "You hit him with a cricket bat?"

She ignored me. "Twelve years."

"A cricket bat."

"Twelve years and four psychiatrists."

"Four?"

"...I kept biting them."

"Why?"

"They said you weren't real."

The Doctor turned to me then, looking me up and down. "And who're you?"

"Leon Travinsky." I said, eyeing him as well. Hm, bit of a fixer-upper, but nice.

He looked between Amy and I. "And you two are—"

"No!"

"God, no." I muttered, waving a hand. "It's the other side of the fence for me."

It took him a moment, before my words dawned on him. "Oh. Oh. You're gay."

"Mm, only a bit." I said, before bringing up my earlier question. "How come I can still hear that announcement even though we're not in the house?"

He frowned, looking at me. "You can still hear it?"

I was about to say yes, but then he and Amy turned to an ice cream truck nearby and I figured I'd missed something again.

"No, no, no. Come on. What? We're being staked out by an ice cream van."

"I don't think that it's coming from just the ice cream van." I said, but I don't think I was heard as the Doctor and Amy had already rushed to said vehicle.

Sighing, I headed over as the Doctor picked up the radio and held it to his head; the ice cream vendor giving me a small smile.

"Can I get you anything, Leon? You helped me fix the freezer on this thing after all."

"Banana split then." I said with a nod. "And you just needed a new coil, is all. Yours had a leak."

"Oh, but I wouldn't of been able to fix it." He said, before passing me the plastic tub and a spoon, which I took gratefully. "On the house."

I nodded my thanks and turned to Amy as she looked at a few other confused people.

"Doctor, what's happening?"

The Doctor then turned to me and got in my face before leaning to the side and pointing at my ear.

"What's that then? A transmitter?"

I furrowed my brows, pushing his hand away from my ear. "Hearing aid."

He frowned, eyeing me. "But you're what? Twenty?"

"I have partial deafness." I snapped at him, before eating some of the ice cream to calm me down. "Not like I wanted it."

His expression slipped slightly into a guiltier one. "Right. Sorry."

I knew I couldn't hold it against him. We'd just met and it wouldn't be the first time someone had been rude about my hearing impairment, so I shrugged and let it go.

"It's fine. Doesn't matter."

He pointed a finger at me, grunting, before turning on the spot and rushing over to a fence and jumping over it; Amy and I being forced to follow, though we went around the obstacle and into the home of Mrs. Angelo and her grandson Jeff. I knew them from when I had to come by and fix their plumbing, and they were nice enough to me. Better than most people in town, anyway.

"Hello, Leon! Surprising to see you here." Mrs. Angelo greeted with a small smile, though I could tell she was speaking far louder than usual, judging by the wince from Amy and the Doctor. "The plumbing's been great since you fixed it."

"That's good, Mrs. Angelo, but you don't have to shout. I can hear you." I tapped my hearing aid a few times. "Brought my aid this time."

"Ah, I always said it was a shame for your impairment. You're still so young."

"Yeah, well, nothing I can do now." I said, remembering why I didn't hang out around town much.

As nice as she is, she always seems to know how to say all the wrong things.

"Amy, who is your friend?" She asked, bringing my attention to the Doctor once more.

"Who's Amy? You were Amelia."

"Yeah? Now, I'm Amy." Amy replied and I knew she only changed her name to that because of him; though I silently wondered if he'd figure that out.

"Amelia Pond. That was a great name." He said, wistfully.

"Bit fairy tale." She quipped back and I could feel the tension rising.

Thankfully, Mrs. Angelo ruined it.

"I know you, don't I? I've seen you somewhere before."

"Not me. Brand new face." He opened his mouth to show her his teeth or something. "First time on. And what sort of job's a Kissogram?"

New face? What, like plastic surgery? I frowned slightly, looking for any tell-tale signs of that, but seeing none. If not plastic surgery, then what? He said there was a 'multiform' alien or something at Amy's. Could he be one too? As impossible as it sounds, I'm ready to believe in anything at the moment. I shook my head out of my thoughts and missed out on whatever Amy responded with, seeing the Doctor pointed his stick at the radio he'd picked up as the voice changed to different languages.

"Okay, so it's everywhere. In every language. They're broadcasting to the whole world."

He rushed to a window and I followed behind him and Amy, speaking my thoughts out loud.

"So when they say 'human residence', they're not just talking about Amy's house then."

He pulled his head back in from the window and headed my way, looking around at me before smiling and patting my shoulder. "Well, aren't you a clever clogs! Right on point."

"I would take that as a compliment, but in this situation, I feel it's not something to be happy about."

"No, you're right." He said, dropping the smile and getting serious as he paced. "Okay, planet this size, two poles, your basic molten core? They're going to need a forty percent fission blast."

Jeff walked in then and the Doctor turned to him, eyeing him as though he was trying to size him up.

"But they'll have to power up first, won't they? So, assuming a medium sized starship, that's twenty minutes. What do you think, twenty minutes? Yeah, twenty minutes. We've got twenty minutes."

"Twenty minutes to what?" Amy asked as Jeff pointed at him as he came back over to us.

"Are you the Doctor?"

"He is, isn't he?" Mrs. Angelo said excitedly as the Doctor looked around confused. "He's the Doctor! The Raggedy Doctor. All those cartoons you did when you were little. The Raggedy Doctor. It's him."

Amy said something, but I missed it as the Doctor gave her a look.

"Cartoons..."

He turned and walked off to sit on the couch in front of the TV as Jeff came over with a grin.

"Gran, it's him, isn't it? It's really him!"

"Jeff, shut up." Amy said, heading to the Doctor as I did the same; finishing off my banana split. "Twenty minutes to what?"

"Incineration." I said, catching her attention as the Doctor snapped his fingers and pointed at me. "The 'human residence' that the announcement is talking about, is the world."

"Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship. And it's going to incinerate the planet." The Doctor explained. "Twenty minutes to the end of the world."

It took him a moment, but he soon got up and rushed out of the house as Amy and I headed after him like lambs to a slaughter.

"What is this place? Where am I?" He asked as a little boy passed us; looking at me fearfully before rushing off with his toy helicopter.

"Leadworth." I muttered, not letting the little boy's actions get to me.

"Where's the rest of it?"

"This is it." Amy replied.

"Is there an airport?"

"Nope." I hummed.

"A nuclear power station?"

"No." Amy said next.

"Not even a little one?"

"No. the most you got today is a closed post office. Not much help there." I said, before he groaned.

"Nearest city?"

"Gloucester. Half an hour by car."

"We don't have half an hour. Do we have a car?" The Doctor asked and I gave him a look.

"Why bother with a car if we don't have the time?"

"Good point. But that's fantastic, that is. Twenty minutes to save the world and I've got a closed post office. What is that?" He said, pointing at a small pond and looking at it.

"It's a duck pond." Amy said, confused and he stepped away and faced her.

"Why aren't there any ducks?"

"Yeah, I've always wondered about that." I muttered. "There's never any ducks around. I just call it a pond."

The Doctor nodded towards me, giving Amy a pointed look before she punched my shoulder, making me wince.

"Don't encourage him."

The Doctor suddenly twitched back unnaturally and I hurried over to him as he clutched his chest, before I knew what I was doing.

"Are you alright?"

"This is too soon. I'm not ready. I'm not done yet."

"Done with what?" I asked, curious, but also worried; though when the sky darkened, I found something else to be equally worried about. "Um, I'm guessing that's not good?"

"What's happening? Why's it going dark?" Amy asked, before the sun went from dark to an unusual swirl of oranges. "So, what's wrong with the sun?"

"Forcefield or something to keep Prisoner Zero from leaving the planet I'm guessing?"

He turned to me in surprise. "How'd you figure that?"

I shrugged. "It's what I'd do. Can't let him escape no matter what, so keep him trapped." I turned to him. "Why? Am I right?"

"Spot on, actually. They've sealed off your upper atmosphere. Now they're getting ready to boil the planet." He then got up and looked around as people began wandering out with their phones. "Oh, and here they come. The human race. The end comes, as it was always going to, down a video phone."

I let his arm go, once I realized he wasn't going to keel over, but caught sight of Amy freaking out.

"This isn't real, is it? This is some kind of big wind up."

"Why would I wind you up?" The Doctor asked, confused and I frowned at him with a slight glare.

"Probably because you did already. You told her you had a time machine." I said, moving to her side and giving her a sort of side hug as he looked a bit guilty.

He turned to Amy though. "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 himself upside the head. "I saw it and I missed it." He hit himself again. "What did I see? I saw. What did I see? I saw, I saw, I saw—"

He looked around for a second, after spacing out momentarily, and I looked around too, before spotting Rory a little ways away surprisingly not photographing the sun. But why? Everyone is and he's not. Why? There's something else.

"Twenty minutes." The Doctor said, rounding about to face us once more. "I can do it. Twenty minutes, the planet burns. Run to your loved ones and say goodbye, or stay and help me."

"No." Amy said before I could get a response out.

"Amy?"

"I'm sorry?" The Doctor questioned, confused as Amy grabbed his tie.

"No!"

"Amy! No, no, what are you—" The Doctor was cut off as she pushed him up against a car someone was getting out of and I hurried over as well, trying to stop her.

"Amy, what are you doing? We should help him!"

She glared at me and grabbed my shirt as well, shoving the Doctor's tie and my shirt into the car door, before slamming it shut and pinning us there; locking the car.

"Are you out of your mind?" The Doctor questioned as I gave her a disbelieving look.

"Why me, too?!"

"Who are you?" She demanded from the Doctor, getting in his face a bit as I struggled to move a bit further away from him; our faces only inches away thanks to how she trapped us both.

"You know who I am."

"No, really. Who are you?"

"Amy, is now really the time? The Earth's about to be incinerated." I argued and her glare turned to me, making me shut up.

"Look at the sky. End of the world, twenty minutes." The Doctor also attempted to point out.

"Well, better talk quickly, then." She responded as the man beside her spoke up.

"Amy, I am going to need my car back."

"Yes, in a bit. Now go and have coffee." She snapped at him, scaring him into listening to her.

"Right, yes." He said, walking off looking worried, before Amy turned to me.

"And you, why are you so accepting of this? He just pops out of nowhere, tells you aliens are attacking, and you believe him?! Just like that?! I'll bet you haven't even heard half of what he's been saying!"

I winced at that, feeling her words jab me in the chest as she realized what she'd said and quickly covered her mouth. I couldn't hear her apology. It was too soft and her hand covered her mouth, so I couldn't lip-read, and I suddenly felt rather out of place. Ever since she told me about the Raggedy Doctor who'd come to save her when she was a kid and then left her, I'd been jealous. I never told her this, of course. She'd expected me to laugh at her for believing in such a thing, but I couldn't. I'd heard about how her aunt treated her and I thought it was actually really good that she had this... raggedy man there to help her through her time alone. Sure, she'd had psychiatrists and was bullied a bit in school, but she always believe that the Raggedy Doctor would come back for her and used that to help move her along through life.

My life was far different. I didn't have a so-called imaginary friend to wait for when I was a kid, let alone someone like the Doctor. So when he popped up talking about aliens and running around like an idiot, and even complimenting me. How could I not? How could I not follow him and attempt to get a taste of the childhood I'd missed out on? The door lock clicked and I opened the door; having missed out on whatever the Doctor and Amy were talking about as the two of them rushed off and I just stood there by the car. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes and letting it out as I tried to stay calm. I should've known. They all think it. Everyone does. I can't have friends, because we're in two different worlds. I'm stuck alone while they can go off and talk and have fun with whomever they please. I can't. They talk too fast, or too softly, or I zone out and miss things entirely and have to get them to repeat it. Even Amy... She's not in the world I am. She's with the Doctor and Rory and Mels. They don't understand. I can hear. I can... Just not enough.

"Leon."

I didn't bother to turn around, knowing by the voice and how clear it was, that it was Amy.

"Leon, I'm really sorry. I-I didn't mean it. Really. I was just frustrated a-and... I thought I'd lost a friend. That you believed him, before you'd help me."

I sighed and turned to her, seeing the guilt plain as day on her face. "I wouldn't do that, Amy, and... it's fine. I know you didn't mean it." Lies. "Let's just help the Doctor."

She nodded, looking slightly better, though I knew that I'd probably let something slip and she was still suspicious.

"Why do you believe him, though?" She asked.

"He's the childhood I never had." I said quietly. "I'm... just making up for lost time, I suppose."

"Oh..."

Things grew quiet between us, but once we rushed over to where Rory and the Doctor were, Amy quickly turned to Rory as she panted for breath and spoke to him; the Doctor looking at me curiously.

"You're not out of breath."

"Nope." I hummed, keeping calm despite the tense atmosphere between Amy and I. "I go jogging every morning."

"Ooh, good habit."

I shrugged. "I suppose."

Amy brought our attention back to her though. "This is Rory. He's a friend."

"Boyfriend." Rory and I both said.

"Kind of boyfriend."

"Amy." Rory grumbled as I sighed and the Doctor got back on point.

"Man and dog. Why?"

Rory gave the Doctor a once over and I groaned, knowing what was about to happen.

"Oh, my God. It's him."

"Just answer the question." Amy grumbled with a roll of her eyes.

He ignored us. "It's him though. The Doctor. The Raggedy Doctor."

"Yeah. He came back."

"But he was a story."

"How many people did you tell this story to?" I asked her; I couldn't hear her response.

"He was a game—" Rory was cut off as he was grabbed by the shirt by the Doctor.

"Man and dog. Why? Tell me now." The Doctor demanded, tired of wasting time, I assumed.

"Sorry. Because he can't be there. Because he's—"

"—in a hospital, in a come." The Doctor said with Rory, shocking him.

"Yeah."

"Knew it. Multiform. You see?" The Doctor said, letting him go with a grin as he wiped his hands down his shirt and fixed it, before poking Rory's forehead. "Disguises itself as anything, but it needs a live feed. A psychic link with a living but dormant mind." He suddenly turned and I followed his gaze to see the same man and his Rottweiler there barking; him heading a little closer. "Prisoner Zero..."

I frowned, thinking. If he's Prisoner Zero, then all we need to do is give him up to whoever's looking for him. But he's a multiform. He can change shape, so unless we can trap him—No. That won't even work.

"How many shapes can it have?" I asked, before seeing that everyone was turning and looking at something in the sky.

I turned as well, and felt my heart skip a beat at the large, snowflake-shaped ship flying above us with an eyeball in it. It had a beam that was searching for the prisoner, but I got the feeling that it would not be so easy to catch him.

"As many as it wants." The Doctor said, glancing at me as I stared back. "As many as are available to it. It needs a living, but dormant mind."

He was looking at me strangely. Almost as though he was waiting for me to catch onto something, and my mind buzzed with the new information as he faced Prisoner Zero again.

"See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology. And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver." He said, holding up the silver stick he'd been using before.

"Sonic screwdriver? You going to assemble a sonic cabinet or something?" I asked in disbelief, making him turn to me in disbelief.

"What? No! No, I'm going to do this!" He held it high up into the air and pushed the button, making everything around us go haywire—including my hearing aid.

"Ah!" I shouted, grabbing the offending object and pulling it out of my ear as it screeched at a pitch just high enough to cause me pain and as it continued to wail, I grimaced and shoved it in my pocket as I looked around to see what the Doctor had done.

Street lights blew out, an elderly woman's electric wheelchair was rolling off on its own, along with a firetruck. I looked back at the multiform to find it snarling and I moved a bit closer to the Doctor so I could hear him.

"I think someone's going to notice, don't you?"

He pointed it at a telephone box, blowing that up, but then the sonic screwdriver sparked and he dropped it to the ground as it smoked. Quickly, he knelt down to it and shouted angrily.

"No! No! No! No! Don't do that!" He threw it back onto the grass, before standing up and turning towards the spaceship that was leaving. "No! Come back! He's here! Come back! He's here! Prisoner Zero is here! Come back!"

He continued to shout at the leaving ship, but when I turned to look at the multiform, he glowed a dull orange and disappeared down a draining system.

"Doctor?" I said, tapping him on the shoulder. "He's gone, actually. Went down the drain."

"Well, of course it did." He snapped, obviously still upset.

"What do we do now?" Amy asked, having joined us with Rory.

"It's hiding in human form. We need to drive it out into the open. No Tardis, no screwdriver, seventeen minutes. Come on. Think. Think!"

The group of us headed over to the drain it had disappeared down and I gave the Doctor a puzzled frown as I tried to figure things out; him and Amy arguing about the multiform.

"The ship. It can't find him because he changes disguises, right?"

"Right."

"And you said it could have any disguises it wanted as long as they were in a coma, or whatever, yeah?"

"Yes, yes. But how does that help?!" He asked me as he pulled a hand through his hair.

"Can't you just show them the disguises it has? If they knew what he looks like, they could take him. There can't be that many coma patients in this small town."

"Oh... Oh, you genius!" He shouted, grabbing my face and suddenly kissing my forehead; making me redden as Amy gave us both a look.

"What? What'd he say?"

"Just the absolute, most brilliant idea I've heard all day, that's what!" The Doctor grinned, turning to Rory and holding out his hand. "Rory, give me your phone."

"How can he be real? He was never real!" Rory said loudly, still lost about this whole Doctor nonsense.

"Phone! Now! Gimme." The Doctor demanded, taking it off Rory and flipping through the photos.

Rory was muttering something, but without my hearing aid, I could hardly understand his muttering. But it should still be working, right? I dug through my pocket and tried my hearing aid, but whatever the Doctor did with his sonic screwdriver wrecked it somehow and it wouldn't work. Great. Now I have to go out and spend money on a new one. I mentally grumbled as I scowled down at the object and pocketed it as the Doctor spoke up.

"These photos. They are all the coma patients?"

"Yeah."

"No." The Doctor disagreed. "They're all the multiform. Eight comas, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero."

"We just need to get the ship back here then, right? Show it the photos somehow?" I asked and he nodded.

"Correct again! Leon, was it?"

I nodded as he grinned.

"I'll bet you're a whiz in school. Really clever, you are."

I felt a pang through my chest, not having the heart to tell him I had to drop out due to my hearing. "Thanks."

Amy cut in then, probably seeing that I was uncomfortable. "He had a dog, though. There's a dog in a coma?"

"Well—"

I missed what he said with how quickly he spoke, only hearing something about dreams, before he spoke louder.

"Laptop! Your friend, what was his name? Not him, the good looking one." The Doctor said, gesturing to Rory; who muttered something too lowly for me to hear.

"Jeff." Amy replied, making Rory even more upset.

"He had a laptop in his bag. A laptop. Big bag, big laptop." The Doctor grabbed Amy and Rory about the shoulders. "I need Jeff's laptop. You two, get to the hospital. Get everyone out of that ward. Clear the whole floor. Phone me when you're done." He glanced at me then. "Leon, you're with me. Come on!"

I nodded, before hurrying after him as he ran off back towards Mrs. Angelo's house. He paused just before entering though and poked me in the chest with his finger sternly.

"You."

I blinked at him. "Me?"

"Yes, you. I mentioned school and you got upset. Why?"

"I wasn't upset." I argued, knowing that my indifferent mask had been kept firmly in place, just as it had nearly all twenty years of my life. So how did he see through it?

"Fine, not upset, but bothered. Obviously. So tell me. Why?"

"Do we have to do this now?" I questioned instead, hoping to get his mind on a different track instead on keeping it on this one.

"Yes, because it's important."

"Hardly." I muttered quietly, but he caught it, grabbing me by the shoulders and making me stiffen as he got close and looked at me.

"It is important. I may have just met you, Leon, but you're..." He looked me up and down briefly. "...curious. You're quick, like to run, exciting. I like people like that, so I don't want to do anything that may upset them. And that goes for you too. So please. Tell me why."

I swallowed thickly, nervousness creeping into my stomach, though I kept all traces of it off my face as I spoke. "I was forced to drop out of the best law school in the country because of my hearing disability getting worse. So yeah. I was smart in school."

He smiled a bit. "And even cleverer now. Come on then. Let's go borrow that laptop."

I nodded as my lip twitched slightly upward, and followed after him up the stairs to Jeff's room; where he sat on his bed with his laptop in surprise.

"Hello. Laptop. Gimme." The Doctor said right off the bat and Jeff panicked as they fought over it.

"No, no, no, no. Wait."

"It's fine."

"Hang on!"

"Give it here." The Doctor said, snatching it from him and sitting on the end of the bed as I joined him; only to wrinkle my nose at the pornographic pictures on screen.

"Oh, have better taste, Jeff." I grumbled at the A-typical woman on screen.

The Doctor though, smacked me lightly on the arm. "Shush, Leon! And you, Jeff, get a girlfriend."

Mrs. Angelo entered then and Jeff became a bit more panicked.

"Gran."

"What are you doing?" She asked the Doctor.

"The sun's gone wibbly, so right now, somewhere out there, there's going to be a big old video conference call. All the experts in the world panicking at once. And do you know what they need?" He asked, typing away. "Me. Ah, and here they all are. All the big boys. NASA, Jodrell Bank, Tokyo Space Center, Patrick Moore."

"Ah, I like Patrick Moore." Mrs. Angelo said excitedly, forgetting why she was up there to begin with.

"Ooh, he was a looker when he was younger." I mused out loud, earning a nod from the woman as the Doctor playfully pushed me and spoke to her.

"I'll get you his number. But watch him, he's a devil." He turned to me then. "Not you."

I shrugged. I said when he was younger. Jeff though, was worried about other things.

"You can't hack into a call like that!"

"Can't I?" The Doctor grinned, before six live videos popped up on the screen and he flashed some sort of wallet at them.

I couldn't understand a word any of them were saying; the speakers on Jeff's laptop not being the best quality and making it rather hard to pick up the lower tones that I could catch. So I just sat back and listened to the Doctor talk.

"Hello. Yeah, I know you should switch me off but before you do, watch this."

He began muttering though, so I couldn't even hear him and I sighed quietly; feeling left out. I'm used to it though. Socializing in school was a pain enough, without having people dismiss you because they were too lazy to repeat things or speak in a way I could hear them. I waited for the Doctor to finish, raising a brow as he spoke to Jeff and ignoring the slight churning of my stomach, before he suddenly got up and rushed out; not even looking back at me. It hurt a bit, and I let out a soft sigh as I pushed myself up off Jeff's bed; only for the Doctor to come back. I felt my spirit's lift, but he spoke to Jeff.

"Oh, and delete your internet history." It was then that he turned to me with a slight frown. "What are you doing? Come on!"

He grabbed my hand and off we went, down the stairs and out to the street, before he caught sight of the runaway firetruck.

"Are you going to—"

"Oh, yes." He grinned, pulling me towards it and shoving me inside as his phone rang and he started up the car. "You take it."

He threw the phone at me, but I held it in disbelief.

"Doctor, I can't."

"Course you can. Just answer it." He said, reaching under the vehicle and messing with some of the wires.

"No. I mean, I really can't."

"Wha—" He stopped upon seeing me and nodded. "Right. Hearing impairment. Sorry. Really."

I shook my head, passing him back the phone as I turned to look out the window and he answered it as he drove. It's fine. I'm used to it. I'm... used to it. Yet my chest didn't stop hurting even as he put on the sirens and gave me a grin; that I just glanced at briefly before turning back out the window. It's not like I can hear them. They're too high pitched. I snapped out of it though, when I saw that the firetruck was headed right for the side of the hospital.

"Uh, Doctor? I really don't think crashing a firetruck is a good idea." I said, gripping the seat I was in tightly, but he stopped the firetruck feet from the building and gave me an odd look.

"Crash? Who said anything about crashing?" He then grinned. "Now come on, Leon! We've got a ladder to climb."

He hurried out of the truck and began making his way up the ladder as I followed behind, not really minding the view as he climbed on ahead of me, especially since it distracted me from looking down. Once again, he's not bad. I mused, climbing in through the window as he hopped down and gave Amy and Rory a hug; whatever he was saying being too quiet for me to hear. At this point though, I honestly didn't care anymore. I was just glad Amy and Rory were alright, but the Doctor spoke up as he faced a woman and two kids; who I assumed were a disguise of the multiform.

"Take the disguise off. They'll find you in a heartbeat. Nobody dies."

I couldn't hear a word the alien said, the voice it chose being out of my hearing range, so I just listened to the Doctor.

"Okay. You came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again."

I frowned, brows furrowed as I went over his words. A crack in the universe? Connecting other universes? Or connecting other places in the same universe? I shook my head out of my thoughts, turning to Amy.

"You alright?"

She nodded, eyes fixated on the alien, who I turned to just as the Doctor spoke happily.

"And we're off. Look at that. Look at that."

I stared up at the clock just as the alien did, equally confused.

"Yeah, I know, just a clock." He said, rambling a bit, though I was only able to hear a part of it. "...The word is out. And do you know what the word is? The word is zero."

He went on, saying something about spaceships and armies and codes, before holding up his phone.

"The source, by the way, is right here."

A bright light hit the windows and I winced away slightly, not appreciating the attack on my retinas as the Doctor grinned.

"Oh! And I think they just found us."

Sure enough, outside was the large eyeball spaceship, but the multiform hardly seemed worried.

"Yeah, but this is the good bit." The Doctor said with a smirk. "My favorite bit. Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. Every form you've learned to take, right here."

Some more of his ramble was lost in translation, but I caught the last bit as he held out his arms with a huge grin.

"Who da man?!"

He turned to us as the multiform, even, gave him a look and I wrinkled my nose.

"Yeah, don't do that."

He begrudgingly gave in to that and I just caught sight of what the alien said now that the light dimmed some and I could sort of read her lips.

"Then I shall take a new form."

"Oh, stop it. You know you can't." The Doctor drawled. "It takes months to form that kind of psychic link."

"And I've had years."

She glowed orange and I struggled to figure out what she meant when I noticed Amy start to sway.

"Amy!" I called out, quickly grabbing her and lowering her carefully to the ground as the Doctor rushed over.

"No, Amy?! You've got to hold on. Amy?" He called out, holding her face as I cringed at a pain in my head.

I brought a hand up, catching Rory's attention as my own vision twisted and fogged.

"Leon? Leon!"

I heard a voice then, a familiar one as I caught sight of the multiform, who was blurred slightly. The multiform… it looks like… me?

"Oh, this one's rubbish." My own voice said, coming from the multiform's mouth as it smacked the side of its head. "Can't hear a darn thing."

The pain suddenly went away and I sucked in a sharp breath as I blinked and looked up to see the Doctor, giving me this look that just tore at my heartstrings. Rory pat his shoulder then and gestured to the multiform, who had changed form once more. This time, it was the Doctor. Our Doctor sat up and gave it a look.

"Well that's rubbish. Who's that supposed to be?"

I turned to him with a strange look. "What do you mean, 'who's that supposed to be'? That's you."

"Me?" He questioned looked down and then back at Rory and I. "Is that what I look like?"

We both nodded as Rory gave him a confused look.

"You don't know?"

"Busy day." The Doctor said quickly, getting up and moving over towards the multiform. "Why me, though? You're linked with her. Why are you copying me?"

A little girl stepped out then, wearing a bright red coat that nearly matched her flaming red hair and I immediately recognized Amy from the pictures she had of her younger self in her bedroom. The little girl was saying something, but I couldn't see much of her face from past the Doctor's legs and instead turned my attention to Amy.

"Amy. Amy, come on. Don't let this alien thing get in your head."

What I missed, was the multiform disguised as the Doctor flickering into the form of myself for a split second; cluing the Doctor in to what exactly was going on. He immediately rushed over to us, speaking to Amy.

"Amy, don't just hear me, listen. Remember the room. The room in your house you couldn't see. Remember you went inside? I tried to stop you, but you did."

I frowned. "What does the room have to do with—"

"Shush." The Doctor scolded me and I did, feeling a little hurt that I was being ignored, but understanding that Amy's life was at stake here.

"You went into the room." He continued. "You went inside. Amy, dream about what you saw."

I looked up at the multiform then, understanding that Amy had seen the true form of it, and that the Doctor had just tricked the alien into taking its own form, through Amy's memory. Sure enough, the multiform shifted into an eel like creature with really long teeth. It was then that it began to squirm in the beam of the ship outside and the deep voice spoke out once more.

"Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained."

And after a moment of the multiform staring at the Doctor—possibly saying something, I wasn't sure—it disappeared and a wind cut through the room as the ship left. The Doctor though, hardly looked pleased and began dialing something on his phone as Rory questioned him.

"The sun. It's back to normal, right? That's… That's good, yeah? That means it's over."

The Doctor pat his head as he walked past and Amy began to stir, but I got up and headed after the Doctor with a frown.

"If it's over, why do you have that look on your face, like it's not?"

"Clever and observant. I like you." He smirked at me, before looking up at the ceiling briefly. "And it's not."

"What do you mean, it's not?" Amy asked as Rory looked at him in disbelief.

"What are you doing?"

"Tracking the signal back. Sorry, in advance."

"About what?" Rory asked as the Doctor put the phone up to his ear.

"The bill." He then began talking loudly into the phone. "Oi, I didn't say you could go! Article fifty seven of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established level five planet and you were going to burn it? What? Did you think no-one was watching? You lot, back here, now."

He hung up the phone and tossed it to Rory as I gave him a disbelieving look.

"You didn't."

"I did." He replied as I shook my head.

"No. No, no. You can't have."

"Yup." He said popping the 'p' as Amy spoke.

"Um, what exactly did he do?"

I turned to her with a blank look. "He called them back."

"What?!" Rory exclaimed; the Doctor leaving the room as Amy and I hurried after him.

"Where are you going?" Amy asked.

"The roof. No, hang on." He ducked into another room then, Rory catching up behind us as he began searching through the lockers.

"What's in here?" Amy asked and I gave her a look.

"Clothes. It's a locker room."

"Spot on again, Leon. By golly, you're on a roll." The Doctor chirped, tossing clothes over his shoulder. "I'm saving the world. I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show."

Rory, who'd been catching the clothes the Doctor was throwing aside, pulled a shirt off his head as he shouted at the man. "You just summoned aliens back to Earth. Actual aliens. Deadly aliens. Aliens of death. And now you're taking your clothes off. Amy, Leon, he's taking his clothes off."

"Turn your back if it embarrasses you." The Doctor chimed as he began taking off his trousers too; Amy and I giving him appreciative glances.

"Are you stealing clothes now?" Rory said, his confidence wavering with every shirt the Doctor tried on only to take off again. "Those clothes belong to people, you know."

He soon turned his back and then muttered something to Amy, who replied with a 'nope', before turning to me.

"Leon, please tell me you're turning your back?"

I shook my head. "No way. I usually have to pay for shows like this." I held up a hand as the two of them turned to me in shock. "Mels's idea, not mine... Though I can't say I never enjoyed it. I am allowed to appreciate the… finer things in life."

I felt a smirk tug on my lips as the Doctor tried to squirm into some form fitting pants, before he took them off and soon found something more to his tastes. At that point, he had on a cream colored dress shirt, some dark jeans with suspenders, and a number of ties hanging around his neck. Needless to say, I wasn't the only one disappointed when his display ended and the four of us headed up to the roof; where the spaceship hovered rather closely. Swallowing thickly, I suddenly realized that we were literally face to… eye with deadly aliens. Or, as Rory said, aliens of death. Oh man. I could literally die today, right now, and not even know what it would be like to do something crazy. Like travel the world or something. Let's just hope the Doctor knows what he's doing. Said Doctor was walking right up to the ship, confident as ever as Amy argued with him.

"So this was a good idea, was it?! They were leaving!"

"Leaving is good. Never coming back is better." The Doctor chirped, making me nod my head at his logic as he called out to the ship above us. "Come on, then! The Doctor will see you now!"

I wanted to make a quip at that, but jolted back a step as the eyeball shot from the ship and right into the Doctor's face. It scanned the Doctor then as he pulled his suspenders up over his shoulders.

"You, are not of this world." It stated, voice deep enough that I could hear it quite clearly.

"No, but I've put a lot of work into it." He then held up one of the ties around his neck. "Hm, oh, I don't know. What do you think?"

"Is this world important?" The ship demanded to know and the Doctor made a face.

"Important? What's that mean, important?" He tossed a tie over at Rory. "Six billion people live here. Is that important? Here's a better question. Is this world a threat to the Atraxi?" He tossed another over to Amy, who passed it to Rory. "Well, come on. You're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?"

A hologram of the world formed before us and I watched as wars and temples and bombs and other historical events flickered across it before the ship answered.

"No."

"Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?" He asked, messing with another choice for tie as more pictures moved across the image.

"No."

"Okay. One more. Just one. Is this world, protected?"

Images of robots and aliens and other things I'd never seen before went across the image and I swallowed thickly, questioning where I was when these aliens showed up on Earth and silently being glad that wherever I was, I wasn't around.

"Because you're not the first lot to come here. Oh, there have been so many." The Doctor went on. "And what you've got to ask is, what happened to them?"

Faces of men went across the screen then. Some old, some young, some with dark hair, grey hair, white hair. And then the Doctor walked through the image, making it disappear.

"Hello. I'm the Doctor." He said, a tweed jacket over his shoulders and a red bow-tie around his neck. "Basically… run."

The eyeball quickly went back to the ship and shot out of the sky and back into space. I stared in shock that this one man could make a whole ship just bolt for it at the mention of his name, and suddenly, I was a bit concerned.

"Is that it?" Amy questioned. "Is that thing gone for good? Who were they?"

We turned to ask the Doctor, but he was already gone from the roof.

"Now where in blazes did he go?" Amy asked and I spoke up.

"His ship, perhaps?"

Her eyes widened at that and I mentally smacked myself as I realized what that meant and we all hurried after the Doctor. We made it to the backyard of Amy's home just as the blue ship began to flicker in and out of focus with this wheezing noise that made me wince; wondering what he could have done to make it sound like that. But then it was gone and I felt my heart sink at the realization that he might never come back. Then I wondered how Amy felt, knowing him far longer than the hour I had and as she closed her eyes, I knew she was steeling herself up for the pain his departure had caused and I hesitantly went over and hugged her side.

"You alright?" I asked and she nodded, putting a smile on her face

"Yeah. Course I am. He'll come back. He will."

I nodded, hoping she was right, but knowing better than to get my hopes up, much less encourage someone else to do the same.

Amy was woken up out of her dream about waiting for the Doctor, by the very same noise she's wished to hear outside her window the past two years. Jumping up and out of bed, she checked the window with a grin upon seeing the blue box waiting in her garden, and raced down the stairs and out the door just as the Doctor came out of his ship.

"Sorry about running off earlier." He said excitedly. "Brand new Tardis. Bit exciting. Just had a quick hop to the moon and back to run her in."

Amy hurried down the steps of her back porch and over to him.

"She's ready for the big stuff now." The Doctor went on, patting the box behind him.

"It's you." Amy breathed. "You came back."

"Course I came back. I always come back. Something wrong with that? Where's that one guy? Leon? Leon, right?"

Amy nodded. "Not here. And you kept the clothes?"

"Well, I just saved the world. The whole planet, for about the millionth time, no charge. Yeah. Shoot me. I kept the clothes."

"Including the bow-tie."

"Yeah, it's cool. Bow-ties are cool." He said, adjusting it. "Leon really isn't here? I rather liked him."

Amy made a face. "Yeah, not here. Are you from another planet?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"So what do you think?"

"Of what?"

"Other planets. Want to check some out?" He asked quickly.

"What does that mean?"

"It means. Well, it means come with me."

"Where?"

"Wherever you like." He smiled.

"All that stuff that happened. The hospital, the spaceships, Prisoner Zero."

"Oh, don't worry, that's just the beginning. There's loads more."

"Yeah, but those things. Those amazing things, all that stuff..." She marched over to the Doctor angrily then. "That was two years ago."

"Oh. Oops."

"Yeah."

"So that's…"

"Fourteen years!" She snapped.

"Fourteen years since fish custard. Amy Pond, the girl who waited. You've waited long enough."

She eyed him for a second, before turning to the Tardis. "When I was a kid, you said there was a swimming pool and a library, and the swimming pool was in the library."

"Yeah. Not sure where it's got to now. It'll turn up. So, coming?"

"No."

"You wanted to come fourteen years ago."

"I grew up."

"Don't worry. I'll soon fix that."

He snapped his fingers and the Tardis door clicked open, making Amy chuckle in disbelief before heading inside. The Doctor followed after her and closed the door, moving past her to the console as she looked around in shock and amazement, near tears.

"Well? Anything you want to say? Any… passing remarks?" The Doctor asked, bounding over to her knowing that he was dangling the proverbial carrot in front of the hungry horse. "I've heard them all."

He bounded up the stairs to the console once more and Amy finally got some words out.

"I'm in my nighty."

"Don't worry. Plenty of clothes in the wardrobe. And possibly a swimming pool. So!" He grinned up at the ceiling. "All of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will. Where do you want to start?"

Amy bounded up after him. "You are so sure that I'm coming."

"Yeah, I am."

"Why?"

"Cause you're the Scottish girl in the English village, and I know how that feels."

"Oh, do you?"

"All these years living here, most of your life, and you've still got that accent. Yeah, you're coming." He grinned, twisting a few things and ringing a bell as the ship groaned.

"Can you get me back for tomorrow morning?"

"It's a time machine. I can get you back five minutes ago. Why? What's tomorrow?" He asked quickly, but Amy shrugged it off.

"Nothing. Nothing. Just, you know, stuff."

"Alright then. Back in time for stuff." He said, suspiciously, as something dinged and a new sonic screwdriver popped out of the console. "Oh! A new one."

He tried it out with a grin, tossing it to his other hand and tucking it away in his coat.

"Lovely. Thanks dear." He whispered, pressing a few more things, before Amy suddenly turned to him.

"Why me?"

"Why not?"

"No seriously. You are asking me to run away with you in the middle of the night. It's a fair question. Why me?"

"I don't know. Fun. Do I have to have a reason?" The Doctor asked back, pulling levers and such as he did.

"People always have a reason."

"Do I look like people?"

"Yes." She said stiffly and he quickly rattled off his reason as he messed with a phone.

"Been knocking around on my own for a while. My choice, but I've started talking to myself all the time. It's giving me an earache."

"You're lonely. That's it? Just that?"

"Just that. Promise." He said, coming around the console to face her.

"Okay."

The Doctor flicked off a nearby monitor showing a crack, before being sure to double check something.

"And Leon? You said he was gone? Like, gone gone? Like..." The Doctor made a slashing gesture across his throat and Amy made a face.

"What? No! Gone, as in moved out. He left maybe two months after you took off. Said something about starting over? Mels found him a place closer to his work."

The Doctor furrowed his brows. "Work? What does he work as?"

"A tattoo artist."

The Doctor grimaced at the thought, but turned some dials on the console. "Yes, well we can't have that. Let's go pick him up, shall we?"

Amy raised a brow. "Pick him up? You mean we're taking him with us?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Why not? I think he deserves at least one trip for helping out, don't you?"

Amy didn't really agree, having hoped to spend some time with the Doctor on her own, but after what happened between her and Leon after the Doctor ran off a second time, she hoped to possibly make up with him; so she smiled.

"Alright. Let's go."

The Doctor grinned and sent the Tardis off, the two of them hanging on and laughing until the ship came to a stop and they both rushed for the doors. Upon leaving the Tardis though, they found themselves in a crowded city area with laughing drunks passing after leaving some of the bars nearby. Immediately, the Doctor frowned and pulled Amy close to him, not liking the area, and Amy tossed an arm out to a tattoo shop across the way; it's glowing neon sign flashing a light green in the window.

"That's where he works." She told the Doctor who nodded and hurried them across the road, into the shop.

A bell chimed above them and a man with short spiky black hair came out from the back room and took off his blue rubber gloves; his ears, nose, lips, and eyebrows littered with silver rings.

"'ello there! You 'ere for a tattoo or piercing?" The man chirped happily, a flash of silver revealing a ball piercing in the center of his tongue as well.

The Doctor winced. "Ah, neither, actually. We're here for Leon."

"Oh! Friends of 'is then?" The man smiled. "'e'll be right out. 'e's finishing up on a client right now. You sure you don't want something done? I think you'd look great with a nose piercing."

A shiver went down the Doctor's spine as he touched his nose and Amy waved her hands at the man.

"Ah, no thanks. Really."

"Alright." He shrugged, picking up a fedora from off the counter and sashaying towards the back, but not before giving them a wink. "My name's David, by the way. Just shout if ya need me."

Amy gave him a nervous chuckle and waved, before she pulled the Doctor's arm down and speaking in a hushed whisper. "Let's get out of here."

"We can't. Not without Leon." He whispered back.

Amy was adamant though. "It's fine. He's mad at me. We had a fight after you left. So let's just go."

This only made the Doctor want to bring Leon even more. "You had a fight? About what?"

"Nothing!" Amy said, speaking up now as she struggled to try and pull the Doctor towards the door. "It was nothing. A stupid fight, is all."

"Oh, it was stupid now, was it?" A voice said from behind them and they both turned to see Leon pulling off his purple rubber gloves and tossing them in a trash bin behind the counter, without looking up.

"L-Leon." Amy muttered as he went on.

"Because last I checked, it was a bit more than just a 'stupid fight'. And I don't appreciate you mocking me, Pond."

Leon finally looked up and the Doctor was surprised to see a heated glare on his face, before he locked eyes with him and the look disappeared into his usual blank expression; though the Doctor could see a bit of surprise in his eyes. He went to say something, but before he could, a rather excited drunk man bounded out of the back room, grinning and showing off his left bicep.

"Amazing! This guy is absolutely… just… brilliant! Thanks mate!"

Leon nodded and waved to the man as he hurried out with a shout about going to drink some more, before Amy spoke.

"Leon, I really didn't mean what I said back then! Really! I was just angry and the pressure of everything just got to be a bit much and I took it out on you! I really am sorry!"

The Doctor expected a rather loud shouting argument to ensue, but surprisingly, Leon just sighed and dragged a hand down his face as he plopped down in a chair behind the counter.

"Do you know how hard it is…" He looked up, the corner of his lip twitching upwards slightly. "...to take you seriously when you're in your nighty?"

Amy turned a bright beet red as she looked down at her white nightgown, before looking back up at Leon, furious.

"Y-You jerk!" She then turned to the Doctor and smacked him on the arm. "And you! Why didn't you tell me!"

"I thought you knew!" The Doctor said back, holding his arm and mouthing 'ow' in pain.

Leon let out an indignant snort, the Doctor turning in surprise and managing to catch the small smile that flashed across his face for a split second, before it disappeared and he spoke.

"So? What is it you two wanted?"

Amy made a face. "You're… not mad at me?"

Leon waved a hand nonchalantly. "Nah, I'm good. I was angry then, but I've gotten over it. And you apologized. What more is there to be upset about?"

The Doctor gaped in shock at how easily Leon gave in, but Amy let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness. I actually thought you were still angry with me."

"Oh, I'm always angry with you, Pond." Leon said seriously. "I just know there's better battles to fight than sitting around for years arguing with you. Now, what is it you want? I doubt it's a tattoo or a piercing."

The Doctor smiled, glad that everything worked out relatively easily. "We came to pick you up!"

Leon raised a brow. "Pick me up and take me where exactly?"

"On an adventure!" The Doctor beamed and Leon furrowed his brows in deep thought.

"Adventure? You mean in your ship? To see… aliens?"

"If you want." He smiled. "Anywhere, anywhen! And I promised Amy that once we're finished, I'd get you back by tomorrow."

"Tomorrow..." Leon drummed his fingers on his tattooed bicep, plainly visible below his rolled up sleeves. "Tomorrow is..."

His eyes widened suddenly and he looked over at Amy who look away sheepishly. "You're not..."

Amy groaned, grabbing Leon's arm and pulling him into the back after telling the Doctor to stay put. She pushed Leon against the wall then and pointed a stern finger in his face.

"Tell him nothing."

Leon played innocent, though his disapproval was obvious. "Oh, you mean about the fact that you're getting married tomorrow?"

"Sh!" Amy shushed him, looking around to see the Doctor grimacing as he looked at some photos of previous customers. She turned her head back to Leon with a frown. "I just want to have one day where I don't have to worry about marriage or commitment or Rory or anything. Is that so bad?"

"So… you're eloping."

"I'm not eloping!" Amy said, rather loudly and David poked his head out of one of the rooms.

"Ooh!~ Is this some dirt I'm hearing? Leon, I thought you played for the other team?"

"I do." Leon said bluntly. "Hope you're not letting anyone bleed out back there."

"Oops! Almost forgot." David chuckled, ducking back in the room. "Do continue though!"

Amy lowered her voice a bit, before repeating herself. "I'm not eloping."

"Right. Running away with a man you barely know to go on adventures the day before a wedding isn't eloping." Leon drawled out and Amy groaned.

"Really, Leon. It's not like that, okay? I just want to unwind before the big day, is all. He promised to get me back in time, so there's no harm in having a bit of fun."

"Unless he's twelve years late." Leon muttered and Amy swiftly punched him in the stomach; making him double over so she could grab his ear and hiss at him.

"He won't be late. And you will tell him nothing. Got it?"

"G-Got it." Leon wheezed out, before Amy let him go.

"Good."

She walked back into the main room with a smug look on her face and Leon rubbed his stomach with a wince before speaking to the Doctor.

"So, um… where did you park?"

"This way!" The Doctor beamed, dashing out the door with Amy as Leon sighed and called out to David in the back.

"I'm heading out, David! And if I'm not back by the day after tomorrow…"

"I get to keep the headphones?" David asked with a chuckle and Leon rolled his eyes as he headed out.

"They're all yours."