Okay! So I've had some interest for this fic, so I'm gonna give it a shot! Not much more to say here, only that there is a teaser still up that I posted to see if it was worth posting. So now, here goes!

Summery: One minute she's in a normal life where her favourite show is about a time traveling alien: next she's IN that show, where not everything is the same as she remembers. Not only that, but there are mysteries surrounding herself as she inexplicably jumps from one point to another in that alien's time line. What alien, you ask? The Doctor, of course! Can she figure it out? Will she even survive long enough to do so? Find out! First in the Storms of Fire Saga

The Beginning

Chapter 1: Power of Three

Ding!

A woman in her late twenties with short, dark brown hair, lifted her head, seeing the lit-up words 'Bus Stopping', and moved her hand from the button she had just pressed. Standing up, she carefully made her way to the front of the bus, holding various poles to keep her balance as the vehicle turned the last corner. With a low hum and a puff of air, the bus stopped and the double doors before her slid open with a clatter.

"Thank you," she called to the driver as she stepped off onto the pavement. She pulled the hood of her long, black coat up over her head to shield her from the chilled wind, and began walking. Before she knew it, she was home, closing the door of her small apartment and taking off her coat, shoes and bag. Pulling out her phone, she sighed as she read the newest text message from her friend.

'Sorry, can't meet up tomorrow after all. Maybe next week?'

"And again," she murmured, typing a quick 'OK' and sending it before casually tossing her phone onto the sofa as she moved to change. Ten minutes later, she was dressed in a simple pair of white pyjama bottoms and shirt, and she grabbed a cold pasty and a bottle of water from the fridge before setting herself up for the evening.

She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror that hung in the hallway, and she paused. A young woman stared back at her, with short, dark brown hair that just touched her shoulders, slightly ragged as she had cut it herself recently. Her face was almost heart shaped, but slightly longer, with pale skin that still gave her acne when she got stressed, and she had the faint signs of bags under her eyes from lack of sleep.

Speaking of her eyes, they were a pale blue that most mistook for grey or silver unless they looked hard. Not that she'd let them; she didn't like people staring at her, especially when she couldn't figure out why.

Another ten minutes later, and after taking her medication, she was curled up in a blanket on her sofa, munching on the pasty as she watched one of her favourate sci-fi tv shows. What else? Doctor Who.

So far, she was almost caught up with season 9 of what fans called 'New-Who'.

This was all she needed. She didn't have many friends. Her job was a simple one that left her not rich but comfortable. At the end of the day, she was content to just lay here and watch her favourate show.

But that was about to change, as she dozed off partway through the episode. It was all about to change...

The first thing her mind registered was a burning sensation throughout her whole body, like liquid fire was bubbling just under her skin. Her eyes refused to open, and she felt like she hadn't moved for ages, but she couldn't tell if she was moving her fingers when she tried.

"Oh, my god!"

What was that? A voice? Female, maybe...

The burning feeling faded, not completely but enough so that it could be ignored if she tried, and she could feel her limbs again. It was still seemingly impossible for her to move, though.

Then someone's hands were on her, trying to be gentle as she was lifted into someone's arms.

"Oh, Ember..." A man's voice now? "So this is where you started..."

Bells... She could hear bells...

There were more voices, but they were further away. It was harder to tell what they were saying over the bells and... Screaming? Someone... No, something... Was screaming...

"D... What's... with her..."

The female she heard before... What was she saying...?

"... can't adjust... Too many... brain can't..."

Who was talking? Where was she...?

"Ember, focus... My voice... Ignore..."

Focus...? She tried to open her eyes, but there was too much light, too much darkness around her...

"No!" Someone's hand covered her eyes, making her close them. "Just... voice! ... else! Focus on..."

She tried to focus on the voice, trying to ignore everything else. The bells, the other voices, the screaming...

"That's it... There you go, Ember... Just my voice..."

The man's voice was becoming clearer, revealing that its owner was the one holding her. He was starting to sound familiar too, but from where?

"Do you know my voice, Ember? Do you know who I am?"

Her mouth was dry, she had to swallow several times before she could even croak out words. "... Who...?"

"It's alright, it'll come to you. Now, try to open your eyes. Just a little, just so you can see me."

The hand moved away from her face, and she tried to open her eyes. The lights and darkness came back, and she tried to look around, but the same hand came back to hold her cheek.

"No, no, just me. Look at me, one thing at a time. Come on, focus on me..."

Blinking, she felt the hand tilt her head, and her blurry vision began making out other colours. Grey...? Black...? It took what felt like forever for her eyes to finally focus enough to reveal that there was a person; the one who was holding her. Grey hair, slightly wrinkled face, dark eyes...

"There you go," the voice came from this face, this man, that was very familiar to her. "Now... Do you know who I am?"

Trying to think was like trying to dive for objects in a pool full of custard: she couldn't think clearly. It took a few moments, but then names started drifting into focus.

"... Peter...? ... Capaldi...?"

The man gave a bemused look. "Ah, that's the actor. I'm not acting here. Try again, come on..."

That wasn't his name? She tried again, taking slightly longer, and another name surfaced...

"Caecilius...?"

"Getting there, in the right world this time. Come on, you can do it..."

She struggled to think again; she was sure that was his name.

His name... Name... No, Title... Vow. He chose it... He chose...

"... Doc...tor...?"

The man smiled brightly this time. "Yes, yes! That's it!"

"Doctor? What's happening?"

The female voice! She tried to turn her head to look, but the man held her firm, but gently.

"Clara, hush!" He whisper-shouted to somewhere behind her. "She still needs to adjust! Oh, this explains why she didn't want to come down here!"

What? The lights were coming back, and her vision started blurring again.

"Look, no scar!" The man was saying, his thumb briefly touching her face before the hand moved to brush her left bicep. "No Mark! This is before everything!"

What were they talking about? What scar? What Mark? What...?

"... Help..."

The man's hand returned to her face. "Oh, Ember... I wish I could... But it's not time yet. Your journey is just starting. Come on, you need to focus. You need to go."

"... Go... where...?"

"It's going to be alright. You're going to be okay... But focus, I know you can do it. You need to go now."

She tried to move. Her limbs were starting to respond now, albeit sluggishly, and she felt the arms of the man leave her. "W-wait... Don't go..."

"I'll be right with you, Ember, I promise. I'll always be there."

She wanted to ask what he meant, but then the burning sensation started building again, not as painful but too much for her to ignore. "Ah... What's..."

The man was saying something, but she could no longer tell what. The burning was overpowering all of her senses...

When it faded after what felt like forever, she could tell instantly that she was somewhere else. The floor was not stone anymore, something she hadn't realised she'd noticed, but was instead glass. As the burning feeling faded again, this time completely, she rested her cheek against the cool glass and tried to take deep breaths. She realised her senses were coming back a little bit quicker this time, allowing her to focus on more than one thing at a time without sending her into a spin. The noises around her seemed random: a dinging that reminded her of a bus, machinery, buzzing... Humming? Wherever she was, it was sure active.

"Ember!"

A man's voice made her jerk her head up, only for her to fall back from the momentum. Luckily it seemed there was a leather seat behind her that helped brace her as she suddenly found herself in someone's embrace.

Her eyes finally adjusted, taking in her surroundings, but she instantly questioned what she saw.

There was a huge, hexagonal control panel right in front of her, fitted with instruments that didn't seem to belong: a typewriter, hot and cold taps, a gramophone, an actual phone, and others. Her mind, which had screeched to a halt, finally supplied her with where she was.

The TARDIS, during the era of the 11th Doctor!

Speaking of, the Doctor was the one holding her now, tweed jacket and bow tie included. His hair was slightly longer than it was at the beginning of this incarnation, meaning this was further along, and he was rambling as he seemed to be examining her while trying to hug her at the same time.

"Body temperature ten degrees lower than average, no Mark," He gently took her chin and turned her head slightly. "No scar, never seen this outfit before, must be early in your timeline, and you've never been so quiet."

The last part was directed at her as he looked her in the eye, the smile on his face finally falling into a confused frown. "Ember? Are you alright? Where did you just come from?"

"...Why...?"

"Huh?" The man said, puzzled. "Why what?"

She finally cleared her throat and look at him. "Why are you calling me that?"

"Calling you what? Ember?"

"Yes, that! Why are you calling me that? That's not my name! My name is..." She paused, then frowned, her blue-grey eyes becoming unfocused. "My name... My name is..."

The Doctor looked like he was trying to be patient, but it was obvious that he was practically vibrating as he waited. His frown deepened as she began to shake.

"My name... I don't... What is my name...?"

"Ember," the Doctor tried, but she jumped and tried to back crawl away from him, pressing her back against the seat behind her.

"No, that's not my name! But... But why can't I remember?!"

Sensing she was about to have a panic attack, the Doctor quickly moved forward and scooped her up into his arms, easily brushing off her attempts to push him away. "It's ok, it's ok... Try to breathe, now. Deep breaths, come on..."

It took several minutes, but she eventually brought her breathing under control, allowing the Doctor to hold her with her back against his chest. His arms came around her waist, holding her right hand in both of his and gently rubbing it in a surprisingly gentle and soothing motion.

"... Why are you calling me Ember...?" She finally asked, her voice quiet.

The Doctor sighed. "You're right. It isn't your real name. But I don't know your real name either. You've never told me. I'm not even sure if you ever remembered. But Ember... Is the name you chose to have. At least, that's what you've told me."

"I told you... ?" She - Ember - repeated, confused as she looked down at her hand in his. "But... This can't be real..."

"Ah, I see..." The Doctor mused, and Ember wasn't sure if she correctly heard the disappointment in his voice. "What's the last thing you remember doing before you were here?"

"I was..."

Bells. Screaming. Voices. Peter. Caecilius. Twelve...

"Future," she mumbled. "Somewhere in the future... But I can't remember where..."

The Doctor nodded. "And before that...?"

Ember frowned. "I was at home... I fell asleep, I think..."

"I see. And before you ask; no, this is not a dream. I'm sorry, Ember, but this is all real." The Doctor shifted so that he could look at her face. "I can't tell you everything, but everything has changed. This world, the world you thought was fiction, is real. I don't know if the world you knew before was a dream or another dimension or an illusion, but..."

"You're kidding..." Ember looked around in disbelief. "I just... Appeared here?"

The Doctor shrugged. "More like jumped. It's the best description we have to explain it. You jump, from one time and place to another, completely without your control or mine. The only thing I can tell you for sure is that you somehow move up and down my timeline."

Ember slowly pulled away from him and stood up, albeit shakily, and walked a few feet away from him. "This sounds like some weird fanfiction..."

"Fanfiction?" The Doctor repeated, puzzled, before his eyes widened in understanding. "Ah, stories made by fans of shows and films and the like. You told me about this before."

"Let me guess," Ember said with a laugh that was almost hysterical. "I'm secretly a Time Lord too, right? That's what most of them do..."

"No, you're not," The Doctor said, then paused, then looked sheepish. "Well, not completely..."

"Not completely? Then what else am I? Human? Sycorax?" Ember shivered. "... Dalek?"

The Doctor looked mortified. "No! No, definitely not Dalek! But... You're part Time Lord, I can't tell you how much, and part... I can't tell you that either."

Ember swallowed hard. "Do you even know...? When do I find out?"

"From my point of view? We found out at the same time, a very long time ago. From yours; nowhere near as long, but... A little while yet."

There was a long pause. Ember looked around, trying to take it all in. The Doctor looked like he wanted to do something but wasn't sure if he could or should.

"This really isn't a dream..." Ember finally murmured. "This is the real TARDIS... You're really the Doctor..." she glanced around again, catching herself in the reflection on a shiny piece of metal. She frowned when she saw that her hair was longer, going just below her shoulder blades, and she now wore a simple white shortsleeved top and white trousers that were not what she remembered wearing before. They looked like white scrubs, and she was barefoot. When did I change clothes?"

"Ember..." The Doctor slowly stepped forward, like she was a frightened deer that would bolt at the first sign of danger. "I'm going to tell you something that might help you, ok?" He waited until she nodded. "When I met you for the first time, I didn't believe you were real. It was before I even met Rose. You did something that helped me not only to believe that you were real, but also helped me begin to let myself heal, even if I didn't realise it at the time. If you want, I can show you how you did that."

Ember paused, watching him carefully, before she nodded again. The Doctor slowly approached her, keeping his movements slow and clear so that she could change her mind if she wanted. He reach her without trouble, and he gently placed his arms around her shoulders, pausing at the slight flinch she gave. He waited another few seconds before gently pulling her to him, tucking her head under his chin so that her ear rested against his chest.

"Close your eyes," he murmured gently. "And listen..."

She did so, and after a moment, she heard it: four steady beats coming from this man's chest, and she blinked in shock. She could hear his two hearts.

"... I did this?" She asked, puzzled. She felt him nod against her, and she placed a hand against her own chest, only to frown as she could only feel one heartbeat. "But... I've only got one..."

"Your body is still adjusting," The Doctor explained. "It won't take too long. Oh!" He jerked up, almost making Ember fall over, and turned her to face him. "Until your second heart kicks in, you'll need to do this to show me you're you!"

He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against hers. Nothing happened for a few moments and Ember was about to ask what he was doing, when suddenly her body shivered as something went through her. It was like she could sense the universe itself all around her, the very air molecules she was breathing, the nerves in her brain sending and receiveing signals...

Wait, no... not hers... His.

"Easy, Ember..." The Doctor's voice gently reached her ears. She vaguely realised that he'd pulled back slightly, but she'd followed him to keep the connection. It was almost addicting.

"What... is that...?" She asked.

The Doctor smiled. "Me. It's me."

Ember took a moment to clear her head as she leaned back away from him. "What do you mean, you?"

"Time Lords. We're unique from all other species. As you know, I can see the timelines. What must be, could be and must not. What you just felt is what a Time Lord is in their core. As your body readjusts to your Time Lord DNA, you'll be able to show me and other Time Lords that you are one as well."

Ember furrowed her brown in thought. "Do all Time Lords feel like that?"

The Doctor shrugged. "In a sense, yes. But there's a tiny spark in there that's different from everyone else's, so if you've felt them before, you can recognise specific ones."

"Okay..." that was something she'd have to file away for later. She'd noticed he was fiddling with things on the console. "So... where are we?"

"Heading for Earth, actually," the Doctor seemed to burst into motion, grinning away as he piloted his ship. "We're dropping in on the Ponds!"

"Just for a visit?"

The Doctor paused, then shrugged. "Well, the Tardis picked up something odd happening on Earth, so I thought I'd take a look at that too."

"What did she find?"

"Let's find out." With a shudder the ship finally reached its destination, and the Doctor bounced to the doors. Ember quickly caught up, only to look around in confusion.

It was a perfectly normal street, with normal houses and normal gardens and normal cars. What was not normal were the thousands upon thousands of black cubes that littered almost every surface they could balance on: every window ledge, the ground, the cars, in bushes, on the grass; they were everywhere.

The Doctor had parked the Tardis right next to a play ground, and it didn't take long for him to scurry off to it and climb up some metal frame. Perched at the top, he grabbed the nearest cube and eyed it closely, pulling out a magnifying glass.

Ember took a moment before it clicked. "Power of Three." She liked this episode because of the randomness, and wondered where she would fit into it. With a shrug, she walked over to stand at the bottom of the climbing frame to look up at the Doctor. "Well? Think this is what the Tardis picked up?"

"Doctor! Ember!"

The two looked up to see none other than Amy and Rory Williams looking at them from the street, both clad in dressing gowns and Rory's father stood next to them.

"The invasion of the very small cubes." Ember glanced up at the Doctor's voice, only to blink in puzzlement at the interested gaze he'd set upon her. "That's new. Any hints?"

"Hints? I give hints?"

The Doctor shrugged as he proceeded to come down from the climbing frame. "Sometimes. Either that or you give me a vague idea of how bad the situation will be. That's based on how the 'episode' goes. I don't always get it until later, but eh..."

Ember looked around at all the cubes. "What if for example I tell you everything about the cubes. They're dangerous, you already suspect that. But say I tell you where they're from, who brought them, why, etc. That way you can have them disposed of before anything happens."

"Two things could happen if you did that." The Doctor replied. "One: nothing happens. We get rid of the boxes, the big plan is foiled and we have a lovely afternoon with the Ponds. Two: the people behind this plan sees that we know what's going to happen, and set off the big plan early, and things go bad."

Ember bit her lip, a troubled look on her face.

The Doctor noticed this and put his hands on her shoulders, getting her attention. "Ember, here's a spoiler for you: there are times where you're going to try to change something that happened in the show. Say for example, you try to stop a person from dying. One of two results will follow: either that person lives without a hitch, or time twists so that they die anyway. It's up to you to figure out when you can change something and when you can't."

"So both results have happened at some point." Ember mused. "But how can I tell? How will I know when I have to allow someone to die? How do I manage to just stand there and let it happen?"

"I'm afraid you never told me that," the Doctor answered with a grim smile. "But you try. That's all I can ask for, and I'm grateful to have you by my side regardless."

Ember gave a small smile. She opened her mouth to speak when she was cut off by an impatient Amy.

"Are you two coming in or not? There's a draft!"

The Doctor grinned and pulled her along, back into the Tardis so he could move it across the road and into the house that Amy and Rory lived in. He was quick to hug each of them in turn as they entered, and Ember was surprised when Amy turned and hugged her as well.

"What are you wearing?"

Amy's question had Ember looking down at the white scrubs she didn't remember changing into. "I woke up in this."

"It looks familiar," the Doctor said. "Though I don't know why."

"You'll figure it out," Ember replied.

Amy paused, looking at Ember closely. "Wait, your scar... it's gone..."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "It's not gone, Pond. It just hasn't happened yet for her."

"What scar?" Ember asked, raising a hand to touch her face gingerly. She recalled Twelve saying something about a scar, and Eleven earlier. "I get a scar? When? How?"

There was a pregnant pause as the group before her looked everywhere but at her. The Doctor took the chance and changed the subject.

"All absolutely identical. Not a single molecule's difference between them. No blemishes, imperfections, individualities."

Brian spoke up. "What if they're bombs? Billions of tiny bombs? Or transport capsules maybe, with a mini robot inside. Or deadly hard drives. Or alien eggs? Or messages needing decoding. Or they're all parts of a bigger whole. Jigsaw puzzles that need fitting together."

"Very thorough, Brian." The Doctor said, nodding in approval. "Very, very thorough. Well done. Stay here. Watch these. Yell if anything happens."

He turned and walked to grab a long coil of wire, leaving Brian with two cubes to watch as Amy, Rory and Ember followed the Doctor.

"Doctor, is this an alien invasion? Because that's what it feels like." Amy said, grabbing a box of random junk that the Doctor indicated to her.

"There couldn't be life-forms in every cube," Rory tried to reason. "...could there?"

"I don't know. And I really don't like not knowing." The Doctor stopped at the door and pointed at Ember. "That doesn't mean you should tell me."

"More fun that way?" She asked, raising a brow.

The Doctor grinned at her as he stepped out of the Tardis, having landed it behind the sofa in their living room. "Right, I need to use your kitchen as a lab. Cook up some cubes. See what happens."

Rory looked at his watch. "Right, I'm due at work."

"What?" The Doctor paused where he was filling a saucepan at the sink to look at the man incredulously. "You've got a job?"

"Of course I've got a job. What do you think we do when we're not with you?"

"I imagined mostly kissing."

"Don't confuse our alone time with yours, Doctor," Amy said, to the confusion of Ember: she was sure that wasn't what was said in the show. "I write travel articles for magazines and Rory heals the sick."

"My shift starts in an hour." Rory added as the Doctor added salt and pepper to the saucepan of water. "You don't know where my scrubs are?"

"In the lounge, where you left them."

Ember glanced at where the Doctor was grabbing fiddling with some of the random items and Amy was watching, remembering that this was going to be a bit of a touching moment for the two, and decided it should be private. "I'll, uh, go help him look."

As the brunette turned and left the room, Amy and the Doctor watched her until she was out of sight.

"This is the first time she meets me, isn't it?" Amy asked, her voice soft.

The Doctor sighed. "This is the first time she meets any of us, Amy. This is the very beginning for her. Everything we've... I've been through, she hasn't seen it with her own eyes yet."

Amy looked at him in surprise. "Then she hasn't..."

"No." The Doctor looked at her as he grabbed his magnifying glass again. "This is the very first day. Now, all the Ponds..."

Meanwhile, Ember had walked into the living room, only to squeak and turn around as she caught Rory in the middle of pulling his work shirt on, which meant he was only in his boxers. "Sorry! I forgot you were in your undies!"

Rory didn't seem bothered that he'd been seen, but did look at her in confusion. "It isn't the first time you've seen me in just undies."

"W-what?" Ember would have turned to look at him in surprise, but thought better of it. "I what? You mean... how..."

"Oh, this is the first time," Rory muttered in realisation before he moved to Ember's side, chuckling at the light dusting across her face. "It's alright, really. At least you didn't catch me in my birthday suit. I can't tell you, but trust me. I trust you with my life."

Ember glanced up at him, confused by what he'd said. "Really?"

Rory nodded firmly. "If it wasn't for you, I'd have given up on Amy a long time ago."

"No, no, you can't say that!" Ember stammered. "I haven't done anything..."

"Yet."

That one word had her look at him again, to see how sincere he was. His gaze was firm, and while she was glad he wasn't looking at her like he did at Amy, she was surprised at the affection he showed, almost like a close sibling.

Before she could voice her questions, there was a crash as the front door was literally smashed down. Rory and Ember jumped at the sound, Rory taking a step to the side so he was shielding the young woman as several men in black military outfits stormed in, pointing guns and yelling.

"Clear!" One yelled. "Trap one, kitchen secured."

"You two!" The man at the front called, beckoning to them. "Come with us!"

Rory tensed, surprising Ember with the protective aura practically radiating off him, but she swallowed and gently grabbed his arm, shaking her head. The two then put their hands up as they were marched back into the kitchen, where Amy and the Doctor were also surrounded.

"There are solders all over my house and I'm in my pants," Rory declared dryly.

Amy crossed her arms, looking him up and down. "My whole life I've dreamed of saying that, and I miss it by being someone else."

"I never got that," Ember said quietly, though she tensed as everyone looked at her. "I just didn't get why you'd want to be in that situation."

"All these muscles, and they still don't know how to knock."

Everyone turned at the new voice as a woman with short blond hair and a tan overcoat stepped carefully over the fallen front door and walked up to them. "Sorry about the raucous entrance. Spike in Artron energy reading at this address. In the light of the last twenty four hours, we had to check it out, and the dogs do love a run out. Hello. Kate Stewart, head of scientific research at UNIT. And with dress sense like that..."

She pulled out what looked like a handheld scanner and held it up to the Doctor. The screen on it bleeped a few times and showed an X-ray of his chest, adding on his two hearts.

"You must be the Doctor." Kate finished, lowering the scanner as the Doctor saluted her. "I hoped it would be you." She paused as she looked around, finally noticing Ember who was still being slightly guarded by Rory. "Ah, and Miss Ember herself, if the silver eyes are an indication. Now it's really an honour."

Ember blinked, puzzled. How did her presence there make it an honour?

The Doctor noticed her puzzled look and decided to change the subject. "Tell me, since when did science run the military, Kate?"

"Since me." Kate replied. "UNIT's been adapting. Well, I dragged them along, kicking and screaming, which made it sound like more fun than it actually was."

"What do we know about these cubes?"

At that, Kate's face fell. "Far less than we need to. We've been freighting them in from around the world for testing. So far, we've subjected them to temperatures of plus and minus two hundred Celsius, simulated a water depth of five miles, dropped one out of a helicopter at ten thousand feet and rolled our best tank over it." She sighed as she walked around to the far side of the counter. "Always intact."

"That's impressive." The Doctor mused, though he didn't look happy at the news. "I don't want them to be impressive. I want them vulnerable with a nice Achilles heel."

"We don't know how they got here, what they're made of, or why they're here."

The Doctor plucked a cube from the side. "And all around the world, people are picking them up and taking them home."

"Like iPads have dropped out of the sky." Kate agreed. "Taking them to work, taking pictures, making films, posting them on Flickr and YouTube. Within three hours, the cubes had a thousand separate Twitter accounts."

"Twitter." The Doctor pulled a face, like the social website was an enemy to him.

"I've recommended we treat this as a hostile incursion. Gather them all up and lock them in a secure facility. But that would take massive international agreement and co-operation."

The Doctor straightened, getting the idea. "We need evidence. The cubes arrived in plain sight, in vast quantities, as the sun rose. So, what does that tell us?"

Amy tilted her head, looking thoughtful. "Maybe they wanted to be seen. Noticed."

"Or more than that, they want to be observed. So we observe them. Stay with them round the clock. Watch the cubes, day and night. Record absolutely everything about them. Team cube, in it together." The Doctor picked up a cube and kissed it.

Ember almost smiled, remembering what happened next, before it dawned on her that time skipped four days in the show. Now, she actually had to wait the four days. "Oh, boy..."

Ember was officially bored.

She, like the others, had waited for the cubes to do something, anything.

Though she herself hadn't resigned to staring at cubes like the others had. She had tried to tell them it wouldn't work, but they kept shushing her or distracting her with something else.

The first thing she did was have a shower and a change of clothes. Those white scrubs were practical, but not comfortable for long term use.

She'd perused the Tardis wardrobe (which really was as big as she'd imagined), and finally settled on a pair of slim, dark blue jeans and a matching denim jacket with a plain purple long sleeved top and a pair of black trainers similar to converse that Ten wore. She only hoped they weren't the actual ones.

The rest of the time was spent lounging around. She had no job to speak of, so she tried to keep herself busy. And get some information about herself from the people around her, but that didn't go so well.

Brian said he'd only met her once before, though he'd described her as 'feisty with a sharp tongue' before the Doctor had rushed in and shushed him. Amy and Rory had their lips sealed, only replying with "you'll find out" or "spoilers", though Rory gave her the feeling that she'd done something in his past to really win him over, as he seemed to care for her like a sister.

And the Doctor? He was no help. He just gave her a wistful smile as though he was recalling something amazing, but then would clam up or change the subject if she tried to get more out of him. It was frustrating, if she was honest.

But now, the four days had passed, and just like in the show, Amy and Rory were sat on the sofa on either side of the Doctor, who was upside down with his feet over the back of the furniture while he was glaring at the small pile of cubes on the coffee table before them. Ember was sat on the armchair sideways so her legs went over one of the arms while her head was resting on the other. She grinned as she finally saw the Doctor's patience snap.

"Four days. Nothing! Nothing!" He grumbled as he grabbed one of cubes, shaking and even smacking it. "Not a single change in any cube anywhere in the world." He put the cube down in order to pull himself into a relatively sitting position, whining at Amy. "Four days, and I am still in your lounge!"

"You were the one who wanted to observe them." She deadpanned, pulling a face.

"Yes, well, I thought they'd do something, didn't I? Not just sit there while everyone eats endless cereal!" The Doctor clumsily pulled himself up and off the sofa to stomp around.

Rory rolled his eyes, looking like a parent trying to calm a toddler. "You said we had to be patient."

Instantly the Doctor ran back, pointing at the man. "Yes, you! You, not me! I hate being patient. Patience is for wimps."

Ember giggled as the Doctor sat back down on the sofa. "You tell me to be patient. Does that make me a wimp?"

"No, not at all, I meant humans, not you," he quickly rambled before taking a breath and sending Amy a pleading look. "I can't live like this. Don't make me. I need to be busy."

"Fine!" She snapped. "Be busy! We'll watch the cubes."

With that, the Doctor dashed off. Ember watched, curious, as he repainted the garden fence, mowed the lawn, and did... something with the Williams' car by pulling a long cable out of it. She'd also gone to sit in the doorway of the back door while watching him play keep up with a football.

"Ninety eight," he counted, and Ember was impressed that he wasn't making it up. "ninety nine, one hundred. Amy!"

He'd even vacuumed the house, getting under Amy and Rory's feet to do the living room.

"Four million nine hundred ninety nine, five million." He finished by balancing the ball on the back of his neck before letting it drop. He turned to grin at Ember, only to blink in confusion when he saw her staring with wide eyes. "What is it? What?"

"I thought they were exaggerating on the show," she murmured, remembering how most of the things he did had been sped up to make it more comical. "But you really did all that..."

The Doctor was grinning now, and he patted Ember on the head as he passed by her and back into the house, shrugging on his jacket before he jumped over the back of the sofa to sit between Amy and Rory again.

"That's better." He said with a sigh. "Nothing like a bit of activity to pass the time. How long was I gone?"

Rory checked his watch as Ember returned to the room. "Er, about an hour."

There was a pause, and then the Doctor shook his head. "I can't do it. No."

Amy was on him the moment he got off the sofa and ran for the Tardis. "Where are you going?"

Before the Doctor could answer, he noticed Rory's father sitting in the exact same spot they'd left him. "Brian, you're still here."

Brian blinked up at him. "You told me to watch the cubes."

"Four days ago."

"Ah!" Brian shrugged. "Doesn't time fly when you're alone with your thoughts?"

Ember coughed as she entered the Tardis, moving to sit on the captains chair. "Not all the time. And sometimes being alone with your thoughts is a bad thing."

There were a few moments of silence, as no one knew how to reply to that, before the Doctor then began to flick switches on the console.

"You can't just leave, Doctor." Rory argued.

"Yes, of course I can. Quick jaunt, restore sanity." The Doctor waved him off. "Ooo, hey, come if you like."

Brian stood up. "They can't just go off like that."

The Doctor looked between him and Rory. "Can't they? Can't you? That's how it goes, isn't it?"

Rory sighed. "I've got my job."

"Oh yes, Rory. The universe is awaiting, but you have a little job to-"

"It's not little." Rory interrupted. "It's important to me. Look, what you do isn't all there is."

"I never said it was."

"Doctor," Ember called, gaining their attention. "You know they can't stay forever. They have to live their lives."

"All right. Fine." The Doctor grumbled, but it didn't have much venom in it. "I'll be back soon. Monitor the cubes. Call me. I'll have the Tardis set to every Earth news feed." He shooed the Ponds out of the Tardis before looking over at Ember. "Staying with them?"

Ember shook her head. "No way. I know how long it'll be from their side. And I haven't got a job, at least not anymore."

The Doctor frowned at that, noticing her face fall as she finished talking. "Tell me about it."

Ember looked at him, puzzled. "About what?"

"Your job. What did you do before you came here?"

"Didn't I tell you before now?"

"Little bits here and there," the Doctor answered, making Ember narrow her eyes at the vagueness. "But still... do you miss it?"

Ember paused, her gaze on the console but not really seeing it as she thought over her answer. "I... don't know. I mean, this is really big. One minute I'm there, then suddenly everything I know is..." She trailed off, uncertain, before finding her voice again. "Well, it's also probably culture shock right now. It hasn't really sunk in, you know? But I'll probably miss it, maybe..."

The Doctor had walked over to her as she spoke, and then smiled when she looked at him. "I'll be there to help when it sinks in. And I don't just mean that as a promise. I've already done it."

"But you can't tell me when, right?" Ember asked, a small smile coming to her face.

"Spoilers." The Doctor grinned, then suddenly he was bouncing around the room, pressing buttons and pushing levers, the Tardis shuddering as it took off. "But enough about that! Let's go!"

The Doctor ended up taking Ember to Vegas, to see the sights for the first time. She'd mentioned she'd never been to Vegas before.

They landed back on Earth, nine months after they'd left (which Ember had tried to warn the Doctor, but he didn't listen). The two of them walked through the house towards the back garden where they could hear a party, the Doctor carrying a huge bouquet of flowers, and soon they heard Amy talking into her phone.

"She's here tonight, being as it's our wedding anniversary." She was saying. "We thought you might have dropped by. I left you messages."

"I know!" The Doctor said once he'd reach her, handing her the flowers. "Happy anniversary! Come with me. And bring your husband."

Amy looked at Ember, who shyly waved as the Doctor walked off without them. "He's got a surprise for you two. I'll stay here and keep the guests unaware."

With a grin, Amy grabbed her husband and went off after the Doctor. Ember looked around at the guests and sighed. She wasn't used to being at parties like this, but she didn't want to be the extra wheel while the Doctor took the Ponds on an anniversary trip.

Even if his attempts would end badly.

Maybe Brian could help her with this.

About an hour later, the Doctor returned with Amy and Rory. The couple were just cutting a cake when Brian walked up to the Doctor.

"How long were they away?" He asked.

The Doctor hesitated. "I don't know what you're talking about, Brian."

The man looked at him flatly before pointing out an obvious giveaway. "Because they're wearing totally different clothes from earlier."

The Doctor hesitated again, but gave in. "Seven weeks. I got side-tracked. A lot."

"What happened to the other people who travel with you?"

Ember looked away, not wanting to think about what she knew was coming.

"Some left me. Some got left behind. And some, not many but... some died." The Doctor admitted, but quickly added "Not them. Not them, Brian. Never them."

"You can't promise that, Doctor." Ember said softly, gaining their attention as she turned to face Brian. "But I can. They will eventually stop travelling with us, Brian, but not because of death. They'll do it because of life. They will not die while they're with him."

Brian nodded and walked away, satisfied with the answer. The Doctor waited until he was out of earshot before turning to Ember. "You really shouldn't have said that."

Ember looked at him. "It wasn't just for him. You needed to hear it too. But you also need to know that they're going to stop sooner than you think or want. I know you're attached to them, but sooner or later you'll need to let them go." She paused to glance over at the couple. "So make the most of the time you have with them now. You know better than anyone that these times are fleeting."

The Doctor followed her gaze, watching Amy step out into the back garden, and then looked at Ember again. At her nod of encouragement, he moved to follow the redhead.

He found her just looking at the darkening sky, and he moved to join her.

"Ember did great," Amy commented, knowing he was there. "I know you said she was quite shy at the beginning, but she really made sure they didn't know we were gone."

The Doctor nodded. "She doesn't know how brilliant she is, or is going to be. All she knows is what she's seen on a tv show."

Amy smiled. "Then she's only got half the story, right?"

The Doctor nodded again, enjoying the comfortable silence for a few moments before he spoke. "Can I stay here, with you and Rory, for a bit? Keep an eye on the cubes. However long that takes."

"I thought it would drive you mad."

"No, no, no. I mean, I'll be better at it this time. I miss you." He admitted, though it was difficult.

Amy looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "But you miss her too, right?"

The Doctor sighed. "When I met River for the first time, she knew me and tried to explain to a friend about how it is. Gave an example about looking at a photograph taken of someone before you knew them. You look at them, how young they were, and it's like they're not done yet."

"And that's how you see Ember right now?"

"In a sense, yes." The Doctor ran a hand over his face. "You and I know what she can do, but she hasn't done it yet. Right now, she's shy, unconfident in herself. She doesn't know why she's here."

"Can't we just tell her?"

The Doctor shook his head. "If we did that, we change her future. Time can be rewritten. All we can do is be there for her."

Another month passed, with nothing from the cubes. Ember was once again on the armchair as she watched the Doctor play Wii Tennis.

"Oh, yes!" The Doctor cried, leaping onto the sofa and doing a dance. "Second set, Doctor! Ha ha! Oh, if Fred Perry could see me now, eh?" He paused. "He'd probably ask for his shorts back."

Ember giggled as she watched him prance about. "Why did you take his shorts?"

"We had a bet." The Doctor turned his attention to the game. "Third set decider, come on, then."

He played for a bit more, and Ember got so distracted by it that she didn't notice the cube float into the room until went past her and hovered in the Doctor's face. She tensed as she watched it.

"Out of the way, dear, I'm trying to..." The Doctor began, but then realised what he was talking to. He looked at it carefully for a moment before speaking. "Whatever you are, this planet, these people, are precious to me. And I will defend them to my last breath."

The cube didn't answer, though Ember wasn't sure if he was expecting it to. He gave it a flat look.

"Is that all you can do, hover? I had a metal dog could do that." He paused as the front of the cube opened and a small tube extended from it. "Oh, that's clever. What's that?"

Ember waited for him to realise that was a gun, but then she realised he wasn't going to move. With a gasp, she shot to her feet, grabbed the Doctor by his shirt and yanked him towards her.

Though the act did cause him to fall on top of her on the armchair, it proved to be a good move as the cube fired a millisecond later, missing them and shattering a vase that was behind them.

The Doctor, now seeing the danger, got up and pulled Ember up with him, making sure he shielded her as he dodged two more shots before they escaped the room. After checking Ember wasn't hurt, he then cried "Why didn't you tell me about that?"

"Why didn't you move?!" Ember snapped back. "You were looking at an unknown thing and you didn't think it might have been dangerous?!"

"Well why isn't it chasing us?"

Ember pinched the bridge of her nose with two fingers and jerked her thumb at the doorway with her free hand. "It only wanted us out of the way so it could do that."

The Doctor followed where she pointed, peering carefully around the doorway to see what the cube was doing. To his surprise, it seemed to have lost interest in them in favour of using the tv to surf the web, images flickering rapidly on the screen. "Ooo, you really have woken up."

"Doctor?" Rory called from the kitchen before he ran over to them. "Hi. Er, the cube in there, it just opened."

"The cube upstairs just spiked me and took my pulse!" Amy cried as she ran down the stairs.

"Ha! Really?" The Doctor was grinning as he grabbed his jacket and pulled it on. "Mine fired laser bolts and now it's surfing the net."

Brian suddenly appeared from the back of the house. "You're never going to believe this. My cube just moved. It rattled."

Rory's mobile phone rang just then, and he quickly picked it up. "Hello?" There was a pause. "Right, I'll be right there." He hung up and looked at Amy. "I have to get to work. They need all the help they can get."

Brian stepped up. "Let me come, help out."

"Take your dad to work night, brilliant!" Rory muttered before facing Amy again. "Okay, are you going to be all right here?"

Amy nodded. "Keep away from the cubes."

"Right." With that, the father and son left. Amy turned to ask the Doctor something when she saw him looking his psychic paper.

"What are you grinning about?" She asked.

The Doctor looked at her. "We're wanted at the Tower of London."

He took off, Amy a moment behind him. Ember was about to follow when she noticed the cube in the living room had stopped searching the web and was now hovering near the doorway, seemingly watching her. Ember bit her lip before making a decision and stepping closer.

"I know who you are," she said quietly. "I know why you're doing this. You think you're helping this planet, but you're trying to kill millions of people. It may not seem like much to you, but it does to me. If you keep going, there will be consequences. So I'm asking you now: please stop."

For a moment nothing happened, and Ember began to think she was wasting her breath. Then, to her surprise, the front of the cube glowed blue and a familiar voice came from it like a speaker.

"You are the fire."

Ember blinked, facing the cube again. That sounded like the hologram from the ship she knew was watching. "Pardon?"

"You are the fire."

"Well, they call me Ember, if that's what you mean..."

"No," the voice replied. "You are The Fire. Why are you trying to stop the Tally? Surely you understand."

Ember frowned. "Well, I know what you mean when you talk about all the harm humans do to the planet. But I don't see that as a reason to purposely kill them off."

"Then you do not understand."

"Then tell me," Ember implored. "Make me understand. Why are you calling me the Fire? Do you even know me?"

"Yes. You are The Fire."

Ember was getting frustrated now. "What does that mean?"

"Ember!"

The brunette looked away from the cube for a moment to see the Doctor come running back in. When she turned back to look at the cube, she was surprised to find that the cube was now on the coffee table, completely still.

The Doctor jogged up to her and took her arm, pulling her with him out the door. "Come on, Ember! They have a car for us!"

Reluctantly, Ember let him drag her off, deciding that she would talk to him later about the cube.

Less than an hour later, Amy, Ember and the Doctor were stepping out of a black car, looking up at the Tower of London. Kate came out to meet them.

"Every cube across the whole world activated at the same moment." She explained.

The Doctor grinned as they entered a dark tunnel that seemed to lead under the tower. "Now we're in business. You sent me a message to my psychic paper. You know what? I'm almost impressed."

Amy looked around as they entered a huge underground area. "Secret base beneath the Tower. Hope we're not here because we know too much."

"Yes, I've got officers trained in beheading." Kate replied, though it was hard to tell if she was joking or being serious. "Also ravens of death."

"I like her." Amy decided.

"Um, maybe check the batteries of those ravens?" Ember said, only to stop when Amy, Kate and the Doctor looked at her. "You know... so they don't get sluggish... I'm just gonna shut up now."

The Doctor wrapped an arm around her, squeezing a hug as he smiled. "Never shut up. It might not make sense now, but everything you tell us is important."

The small group entered an area that had lots of individual armoured cubicles, each containing a cube that was doing something different.

"There are fifty being monitored, and more coming in all the time. I don't know how useful it is." Kate explained. "Every cube is behaving individually. There's no meaningful pattern. Some respond to proximity."

Amy put her hand on the glass of one of the cubicles, only to pull away as the cube inside let flames shoot up from the top of it.

"Some create mood swings." Kate added, gesturing to one had a woman sat staring at a cube and weeping.

Ember sighed. "I can do that without a cube." She blinked in puzzlement as the Doctor hugged her sideways again, his expression pained.

"Er, what's this one?" Amy called from another cubicle.

Kate nodded at it. "Try the door."

Amy hesitated, and then looked at Ember as she called "It's alright, Amy. That one isn't dangerous."

Puzzled but now curious, Amy pulled open the door of the cubicle. Instantly the cube inside began playing the Birdie song, rather loudly.

"On a loop!" Kate had to raise her voice so they could hear her as the Doctor put a finger in each ear. Amy quickly closed the door, cutting off the music, as Kate led them to a set of monitors that were showing various images from scan results to cctv and so on. A larger screen had a map of the planet with little red lights blinking on it. "This is the latest."

"Oh dear." The Doctor let go of Ember to get a closer look at the results. "Systems breach at the Pentagon, China, every African nation, the Middle East..."

"I've got governments screaming for explanations and no idea what to tell them." Kate said, resigned. "I'm lost, Doctor. We all are."

"Don't despair, Kate. Your dad never did." The blonde looked at him in shock, but the Doctor smiled. "Kate Stewart, heading up UNIT, changing the way they work. How could you not be? Why did you drop Lethbridge?"

"I didn't want any favours. Though he guided me, even to the end. Science leads, he always told me." Kate had looked away but then looked at him again. "Said he'd learned that from an old friend."

The Doctor's smile turned into a determined one. "We don't let him down. We don't let this planet down."

"Um, I could still tell you, if you ummph," Ember had started speaking, but was cut off abruptly by the Doctor's hand over her mouth. A moment later he pulled back with a yelp as she'd bitten his hand to release her, and she looked guilty. "Sorry. Force of habit. I don't like that."

She expected him to scold her, or be confused by her vague answer, but instead he nodded and wrapped an arm around her and hugged her again. "Sorry."

Ember was about to ask what he meant, when one of the researchers sat at the monitors spoke up. "They've stopped."

The three of them looked at the screens again, to find all of the red dots had stopped blinking. The scanners showed nothing, and even the cctv footage was showing that the cubes had stopped. "The cubes, across the world, they just shut down."

"Active for forty seven minutes, and then they just die?" Kate asked, puzzled.

"Not dead." The Doctor corrected. "Dormant, maybe."

Amy looked at him. "Then why shut down?"

"I don't know. I don't know. I need to think." The Doctor turned and started walking off. "I need some air. Who has an underground base? Terrible ventilation."

Ember hesitated as Amy followed the Doctor out, but then sat in an empty office chair. This was another private moment between Amy and the Doctor, and she didn't want to butt in on it.

"Miss Ember?" She looked up at Kate as the blonde approached her.

"Just Ember is fine," she waved off. "What's wrong?"

Kate looked at her with a thoughtful expression. "How early is this for you?" At Ember's surprised look she shrugged. "UNIT has files on you. Doesn't have much, but it says you somehow travel in time, but not like the Doctor. You go back or forward in time, but always near him. But you look exhausted, so I'm guessing you haven't been doing this for very long."

"Technically, this is my first adventure with the Doctor," Ember answered. "Whatever the files say about me, is stuff I haven't done, not yet. So you shouldn't tell me any details, ok?"

"Fair enough." Kate nodded. "But I think you should know something. You're brilliant."

Ember blinked, puzzled. "Pardon?"

Kate sighed. "The files say you have a... condition. And you have some bad days. But I want you to know that you're brilliant. You're going to do things in the future that... well, defy explanation."

"That's just it; I haven't done any of that," Ember replied, a frown on her face. "Everyone's looking at me like I'm as good as the Doctor, but I really don't see it myself. I'm just a nobody who's watched the show. And as for the things you claim I've done... even if I don't know the details, I've gathered enough to figure it out. But time isn't set. Just because you've seen it happen doesn't mean it's going to go that way when I get to it. The Doctor probably already told you, but time isn't a straight line. It can turn and twist and change at any moment. What if I get it wrong? What if I screw it up?" She sighed. "I'm finding it hard to see what you think is so brilliant about me."

Kate looked like she wanted to answer, but a clatter at the entrance alerted them before the Doctor came running back in. "Kate? Before they shut down, they scanned everything, from your medical limits to your military response patterns. They made a complete assessment of Planet Earth and its inhabitants. That's what the surge of activity was."

Barely a sentence into his speech, the power cut off, plunging them into darkness as Amy rejoined them. The only things that still had power were the cubicles and the computers in front of the group.

"Problem with the power?" The Doctor asked, though he knew better.

"Not possible." Kate shook her head. "We've got back-ups."

"Hmm."

"Doctor?" Amy called, looking at a cube in one of cubicles. "Look."

She pointed, and Kate and the Doctor saw what she did: the cube had the number 7 light up on it.

"What?" The Doctor muttered in puzzlement as they looked around, seeing that every cube had the same number.

"Why do they all say seven?" Kate asked.

"Seven." The Doctor was rambling, trying to figure it out. "Seven, what's important about seven? Seven wonders of the world, seven streams of the River Ota, seven sides of a cube."

Amy blinked. "A cube has six sides."

"Not if you count the inside."

There was a clunk sound before the number on the cubes changed to 6.

"It has to be a countdown."

"Not in minutes." Kate said as Ember walked up to a cubicle, watching it.

"Why would it be minutes?" The Doctor asked aloud before he turned to the blonde. "Kate, we have to get humanity away from those cubes. God knows what they'll do if they hit zero. Get the information out any way you can. News channels, websites, radio, text messages. People have to know that the cubes are dangerous."

"Okay, but why is this starting now?" Amy asked. "I mean, the cubes arrived months ago. Why wait this long?"

"Because they're clever. Allow people enough time to collect them, take them into their homes, their lives. Humans, the great early adopters. And then, wham! Profile every inch of Earth's existence."

Kate's face fell, realisation hitting her. "Discover how best to attack us."

The Doctor nodded. "Get that information out any way you can. Go!"

"Right."

The Doctor began looking at the computer screens, trying to figure out the scans. "Every cube was activated. There must be signals, energy fluctuations on a colossal scale, there must be some trace. There can't not be. We need to think of all the variables, all the possibilities, okay? Go, go, go, go, go!"

There was nothing Ember could do, as she watched the number change to 5. She debated telling them, but then what if the countdown was ended faster? More people would be near them.

"It'll be alright."

Ember jumped. She hadn't realised that the Doctor had walked to her side. Unbeknownst to her, he'd watched her for several minutes before he'd moved.

The Doctor smiled at her. "On a scale of one to ten, how bad is it?"

"Um," Ember paused, thinking. Yea, lots of people had heart attacks because of the cubes, but they hadn't really shown if everyone lived. "I guess... it looks worse than it is, so maybe a 6?"

"Not too bad then." The Doctor nodded to himself as they watched the cube's number change to 4. Ember blinked; was it just her, or was it going a little faster? "Well, may as well take it head on. I'm going in."

"What?" Amy asked, shocked as she and Kate walked over to them. "Doctor, please. You don't have to do this."

"She's right." Kate added, as the number reached 3. "You don't have to be in there. We can do this remotely."

"Remotely isn't my style." The Doctor said as he straightened his bow tie, only to pause as Ember put her hand on the door to stop him from opening it. "What's wrong?"

Ember sighed. "It's going to hurt. You don't need to be in there. You'll figure out without getting hurt."

The Doctor looked her in the eye. "Will it kill me?"

"Not right away," Ember replied after a hesitation. "But it'll still hurt."

"Then I have to see what happens," The Doctor said as he gently moved her hand away from the door, surprising Ember by placing a light kiss on the back of her hand before he let go. "See you after."

Before he could change his mind or the girls could stop him, he opened the door and ducked inside, closing it behind him. Kate, Amy and Ember moves to the window to see him as he sat down at the table, the cube in front now at 2. He gave them a reassuring smile as the number changed to 1, and then 0 before the lights went out. The top of the cube slid back like a lid to reveal its interior.

"Geronimo." The Doctor murmured before he leaned over the cube to look inside.

A few moments passed, but nothing happened. "What's happening?" Kate asked.

Amy was confused as well. "Well? What's in there?"

The Doctor took a moment before responding. "There is nothing in here."

"Er, well, that's good." Amy assumed, looking at the two women beside her. "It's not, it's not bombs, it's not aliens."

"Why? Why is there nothing inside?" The Doctor was even more confused and starting to get frustrated. "Why? It doesn't make any sense."

Ember closed her eyes. "Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there."

The Doctor stepped out of the cubicle and ran over to the computers, calling to a bespectacled researcher. "Glasses, is it the same? Is it the same all around the world?"

Kate looked at the cctv cameras, the ones that showed cubes open but nothing inside. "They're empty. We're safe, right?"

"Ah, no, no, no, we are very far from safe. All along, every action has been deliberate. Why draw attention to the cubes if they don't contain anything?"

Amy gasped. "Doctor, look." On the monitors, anyone who was near a cube suddenly seemed to crumble, clutching their chests.

"They're CCTV feeds from across the world." The researcher said, looking at the screens. "They're showing the same."

"People are dying." Kate gasped.

"What? They can't be dying." The Doctor was as shocked as they were. "How? How are they dying?

Kate leaned over to look at the researcher. "I want information on how people are being affected."

"The cubes brought people close together. They opened and then-argh!" The Doctor suddenly fell back into a wheeled chair, rolling back a few feet and clutching his chest.

Amy quickly ran over to him. "Doctor, what's the matter?"

"Argh. Ah, I don't know!"

"It's his heart!" Ember blurted out. "It struck his heart!"

The researcher, who'd jumped at her shout, looked at some scans. "She's right. Hospitals are logging a global surge in heart failures. Cardiac arrests."

"That's it. Oh! Oh! Oh!" The Doctor yelped, thumping his chest. "Only one heart. Other one's not working."

"Okay, I'm going to get you to the hospital!" Amy grabbed hold of the chair and started to push it towards the exit.

"Oh, no, no, no, no. Just a short circuit. Turn around, turn around!" The Doctor cried, making her wheel him back to the computers. "Tell me, show me. Ten seconds after the cubes opened, show me the patterns in their electrical currents." A few moments of the researcher tying produced what sounded like a heartbeat. "See?"

Kate paled. "No!"

"Yes, the power cut. They zapped the power and then-argh! They're signal boxes. People leaning in, wham. Pure electrical surge out of the cube targeted at the nearest human heart. The heart, an organ powered by electrical currents, short-circuited. How to destroy a human? Go for the heart." The Doctor yelped again, leaning back. "Ow. Crikey Moses."

"Doctor, the scan you set running." Kate looked at a screen. "The transmitter locations. It's found them."

The Doctor shook himself off to lean against the desk. "And look at them all, pulsing bold as brass. Seven of them, all across the world. Ow! Seven stations, seven minutes. Why is that important?" Another jolt had him leaning back again. "Argh! Ow, ow. How do you people manage one heart? it is pitiful."

Amy rolled her eyes, but didn't comment. Ember would have giggled like she did when she first saw this episode, but seeing it in real life wasn't as funny.

"A wormhole, bridging two dimensions." The Doctor tapped the screen. "Seven of them hitched onto this planet, but where's the closest one? Glasses, zoom in."

Amy paled as she recognised the location. "It's the hospital where Rory works."

"He's okay," Ember reassured her. "For now. But we need to get there now."

It took a quick order for a car to take them to the hospital. As they entered the building, they could see that the staff were more than overwhelmed as the patients were flooding the hallways with even more coming in.

"How many deaths have been recorded?" The Doctor asked, panting.

Kate shook her head. "We don't know. We think it could be a third of the population."

"Kate, I have to find the wormhole, but the attacks could still happen. Tell the world. Tell them how to deal with this. The world needs your leadership right now."

"I'll do my best."

"Of course you will. Good luck, Kate." The blonde took off, but the Doctor got another jolt. "Argh! Argh!"

"Okay, how long are you going to last with only one heart?" Amy asked, moving to put his arm over her shoulders to help support him.

The Doctor struggled to pull out his sonic, scanning around. "Not much longer. I need to locate the wormhole portal."

Ember looked to the side, spotting a young girl in the corridor with them. She probably would have been overlooked, but Ember knew better; the girl wasn't paying them any attenton, or even showing any care about the panic around her, just standing there holding a cube. "Doctor! Here!"

"Hello. Hello!" The Doctor moved painfuly over to her, scanning her. "You are giving off some very strange signals."

Amy's eyes widened as the girl's face glowed blue, just like the cubes. "Oh, my God."

"Outlier droid, monitoring everything. If I shut her down, I can..." A flick of the sonic and the girl collapsed, the Doctor catching and easing her down. "Ah. It's all right, it's all right." He then fell himself. "I can't, Amy. I can't do it. I need both hearts!"

Ember nudged the redhead and nodded at an abandoned defibrillator. Amy got up to grab it. "All right. Desperate measures."

"What?" The Doctor looked over to see what she was doing, eyes widening as Amy ripped his short open. "No. No, no, no. That won't work. I'm a Time Lord!"

"Yes it will," Ember insisted, gripping his hand before letting go as the small machine whired.

"All right, clear!" Amy warned before she pressed the paddles against the Doctor's chest, sending a jolt of electricity through him.

"Whoo! Ooo. Ooo!" The Doctor sat up abrubtly, Amy chucking away the padle as he quickly got onto his feet and did a jig. "Welcome back, lefty! Whoa-ho! Two hearts! Woo! Back in the game. Ah." He finished with a flurish, making a pose before he ran up to hug Amy. "Never do that to me again." He moved to hug Ember before turning her to face him. "Hint?"

The brunette blinked at him before her mind registered what he asked. She cursed herself silently: she had to remember that this wasn't a tv show anymore. "Goods lift."

Nodding, the Doctor took her and Amy by the hand and pulled them with him down the corridors. To Ember's surprise, it didn't take long for them to find the lift and step inside, looking around.

"Ah, portal to another dimension in a goods lift?" Amy looked skeptical.

The Doctor looked at his sonic. "The energy signals converge here. Does seem a bit cramped, though." There was a pause, and then the Doctor carefully prodded the back wall with a finger, making it ripple like water. With a grin, he looked at his companians. "Through the looking glass, ladies."

Amy took his hand immediately. Ember hesitated, but did the same. Together, they stepped through the portal and onto the deck of a huge spaceship. Ember immediately recognised it from the show, and looked at the line of bodies.

"Where are we?" Amy asked.

"We're in orbit." The Doctor replied. "One dimension to the left."

Amy finally noticed her husband on a table next to where Brian was on a stretcher. "Rory!"

"Ah." The Doctor pulled a small vial out of his pocket and tossed it to her. "Soborian smelling salts. Outlawed in seven galaxies."

Amy had just woken Rory when something shot at them, barely missing. They all ducked.

"Whoa! Whoa! What kind of a welcome do you call that?" The Doctor yelled as he turned to Amy and Rory. "Get them out of here. You too. Now!"

Amy frowned at him. "What are you going to do?"

"Absolutely no idea." The Doctor gestured to Brian, helping them get the gurney moving as Amy woke the father with the salts. "Get him to the portal."

Amy and Rory moved Brian's stretcher, the man jolting awake, and another shot narrowly mised them as they made their escape. Ember was quickly covered by the Doctor to protect her. "Whoa!"

A man that looked old and scarred appeared out of nowhere. "So many of them crawling the planet, seeping into every corner."

The Doctor rose to his feet as the man disappeared and reappeared at a bank of seven computer in a honeycomb pattern, following to stand on the other side. "It's not possible. I thought the Shakri were a myth. A myth to keep the young of Gallifrey in their place."

"The Shakri exist in all of time, and none." The man stated. "We travel alone and together. The Seven."

"The Shakri craft, connected to Earth, through seven portals and seven minutes." The Doctor moved to the side, keeping Ember behind him. "Ah, but why?"

"Serving the word of the Tally."

"Why the cubes? Why Earth?"

"Has the Fire not told you?" The man looked at them as the Doctor glanced back at Ember, much to her confusion. "Not Earth, humanity. The Shakri will halt the human plague before the spread."

The Doctor looked at him again. "Erase humanity before it colonises space. We thought the cubes were an invasion. The start of war."

"More like pest control." Ember muttered.

The man nodded. "The Fire is correct. The human contagion only must be eliminated."

Amy suddenly reappeared at their side, along with Rory. "Who are you calling a contagion?"

"Oi!" the Doctor yelped. "Didn't I tell you two to go?"

"You should have learned by now." Rory nodded. "Ember tells you all the time."

"Yeah, and what is this Tally anyway?" Amy asked.

"Some people call it Judgment Day," the Doctor replied. "or the Reckoning."

"Don't you know?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I've never wanted to find out."

"Before the Closure, there is the Tally." The man cut in, apparently laughing. "The Shakri serves the Tally."

"The pest controllers of the universe, that's how the tales went, isn't it?"

Amy furrowed her brows. "Wow. That's some seriously weird bedtime story."

The Doctor looked at her incredulously. "You can talk. Wolf in your grandmother's nightdress?"

Ember nudged him. "Doctor, focus."

"So, here you are, depositing slug pellets all over the Earth, made attractive so humans will collect them, hoping to find something beautiful inside." The Doctor got back on subject, walking back to the panels. "Because that's what they are. Not pests or plague, creatures of hope, forever building and reaching. Making mistakes, of course, every life form does. But, but they learn. And they strive for greater, and they achieve it." He wandered back to the humans. "You want a tally? Put their achievements against their failings through the whole of time, I will back humanity against the Shakri every time."

The man look at Ember, which surprised her. "And the Fire agrees with this?"

Ember stumbled. This bit wasn't in the show. "I told you before. There will be consequences if you don't stop."

"The Tally must be met." The man said. "The second wave will be released."

"What does that mean?" Amy asked.

"It's going to release more cubes to kill more people."

"The human plague breeding and fighting. And when cornered, their rage to destroy. The Fire will understand." the man stated, making Ember even more confused, as he walked over to them and gestured. "You're too late, Doctor. The Tally shall be met."

With that, the man vanished.

Amy blinked. "He's gone?"

"He was never really here." The Doctor explained as he ran around the panels to face the controls. "Just the ship's automated interface, like a talking propaganda poster. I can stop the second wave. I can disconnect all the Shakri craft from their portals, leave them drifting in the darkspace. Ah, but all those people who were near the cubes, so many of them will have died..."

"Amy," Ember called, miming the defibrillator. "Clear."

The redhead immediately understood. "I restarted one of your hearts."

"You'd need mass defibrillation." Rory added.

"Of course. Ah, beautiful." The Doctor hugged Ember before taking out his sonic and getting to work. "But, Ponds, Ponds. We are going to go one better than that. The Shakri used the cubes to turn people's hearts off. Bingo! We're going to use them to turn them back on again."

"Will that work?" Amy asked.

"Well, creatures of hope. Has to. Thirty seconds. Don't let me down, cubes, you're working for me now." The controls began to crackle. "Oh dear. All these cubes. There's going to be a terrible wave of energy ricocheting around here any second. Run."

The group turned and ran towards the portal, Rory adding "I'm going to miss this."

They just reached the portal and gotten to the lift before they heard a muffled waboom, throwing them forward, and the rippling wall stilled. They watched for a few moments before turning and walking away.

"Ember," the Doctor gently held her back so that the Ponds went ahead slightly. "You said you told them before. You spoke to him before?"

Ember bit her lip. "I saw one of the cubes earlier. I though maybe I could talk to the Shakri and get them to stop. He called me the Fire."

The Doctor nodded. "One of your names. You've got quite a few."

"But you knew he meant me. That means something,"

"Yes, but it's a bit early for you yet."

Ember sighed. She had a feeling she was going to hear that a lot.

Just as they reached the car that would take them back to the Tower of London, Ember suddenly felt a familiar burning sensation, starting with her chest. "Agh!"

Amy and Rory looked concerned, but also like they knew what was going on. The Doctor quickly pulled Ember into a hug.

"It's alright," he murmured, tightening his hold as Ember whimpered. "You're about to jump, it's ok..."

Ember tried to speak, but the burning flared, overwhelming all of her senses. She felt the arms around her disappear, and she flailed in panic. After what seemed like forever, the burning sensation began to fade, and she found herself lying on the ground with someone's hand on her back.

"Deep breath, Ember, that's it..." A voice soothed above her. She rolled onto her back to look up at the speaker, only to blink in surprise at the sight of the Ninth Doctor looking at her in worry.

"... I didn't expect this."

Well, here it is! The first chapter! Let me know what you think!

Next Time: Ember has a choice, and an odd encounter.