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Chapter 21: Time Out of Whack

Breaking the others out of jail was not at all as difficult as Jack had thought it would be. The cell bars, he discovered, where rather weak and the lock was easy to pick. It's as if they want us to escape, he thought warily.

Donna turned to thank him, when she caught sight of the woman standing in the door way behind him. Her eyes widened in shock. "River? River Song!"

River didn't even look surprised that Donna knew her, though she clearly didn't recognize her by the look on her face."You must be a friend of the Doctor. He and his friends are the only ones I met in the wrong order."

Donna nodded. "Yeah." she said, but there was something in her tone that made Rose frown. She looked over at her friend and shot her a questioning glance.

Donna saw the look and mouthed the words "I'll explain later." Rose nodded. She turned to River. "So, River how well do you know the Doctor and do you know what's happened to him?"

"Oh, I know him very well." said River and she laughed. It was a rather flirtatious sort of laugh and one that suggested that to her at least the Doctor more than just her friend. Rose felt a twinge of jealously and Donna and Martha felt jealous for her. "Yet," River added a little sadly, "he doesn't know me that well...at least not yet. As for what's happened to him...yes, I do know."

"Really? What?" asked the others all at once.

"He flew the Pandorica into the heart of the exploding TARDIS."

A moment's stunned silence greeted her words and then everyone started talking at once.

"What's the Pandorica?" asked Mickey.

"Wait a minute...the TARDIS was exploding!" exclaimed Jack.

"Did it have anything to do with that crack on my wall?" asked Amy.

"What did he do that for?" asked Donna.

"When was this?" asked Martha.

"Is he...dead?" asked Rose, fighting to control the tears that threatened to burst forth. She did not know who this women was, but she was absolutely certain that she did not want to cry in front of her.

River waved a hand to silence them. "First off, one question at a time. Second, introductions. You all know my name already and the only people I know are Jack and Amy."

"Mickey Smith."

"Martha...I'm Mickey's wife."

"Donna Noble."

"Rose Tyler."

River eyed Rose and the younger woman wasn't sure she liked the way River was looking at her. "I see." she said simply.

"Now, as for your questions. Mickey asked what the Pandorica is." River paused for a second, as if she were trying to figure out how to answer.

"The Pandorica is a fairy tale, or so the Doctor believed. It was a metal square box, big enough to hold one person. It was designed to so that whatever was put inside it would not get out, unless it was opened from the outside. There was a legend that said that it contained the most dangerous monster of all time."

"What was it?" asked Mickey.

"The monster? Nothing...as it turned out. The Pandorica was a trap...a trap for the Doctor. It was designed by a number of the Doctor's worst enemies. The Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, the Nestene, and many others had all come together and formed an alliance...an alliance against the Doctor. Their plan was to lock the Doctor inside the Pandorica...and keep him there forever."

"But why?" asked Jack. "I mean, I know they all hate the Doctor, but wouldn't have been easier for them to just kill him?"

River sighed. "They were afraid that wasn't enough. You see, there were these...cracks-"

"Like the one in my room." Amy interrupted and River nodded.

"Exactly like the one in your room." said River. "They...well they were cracks in time and there was this light coming from them. Anything that touched it got erased from time. It was like they never had existed."

A hushed silence fell on the group as everyone seemed to understand where River was heading. Rose felt a sinking feeling in her stomach. "Is that what happened to the Doctor?" she asked at last.

"Not quite." said River. "As I was saying these cracks were crack in time and the universe was falling about. It was slowly being destroyed over time. The Doctor discovered that they were caused by an exploding TARDIS."

"And the Doctor's enemies thought that because there is only one TARDIS left that the Doctor was responsible." Martha guessed. River nodded. "So they put him in the Pandorica to punish him? What good would that do?"

"No, not to punish him. To stop him." River corrected. "They figured it hadn't happened yet and that if they stopped him the universe would be safe."

"Am I the only one who finds that ironic?" asked Mickey. "I mean only a few years ago the Daleks were the ones trying to destroy the whole of reality and now they're trying to stop the Doctor from doing the same? How messed up is that!"

"But what happened?" asked Rose anxiously. "Is he still trapped in the Pandorica? And if he is, how did that erase him from time?"

"It's a paradox really." River admitted. "Rory got him out."

"Rory?" asked Amy incredulously. "Rory Williams? My fiance?"

River nodded. "The same. He used the Doctor's sonic screw driver. He was given it by the Doctor...well, a future Doctor. Who got out of the Pandorica because Rory used the screw driver."

"Paradox." Jack agreed.

"Unfortunately, the universe was still being destroyed." said River. "The Doctor figured that the only way to stop it would be to create Big Bang 2, which would reverse the effects and the only way to do that was to fly the Pandorica into the heart of the exploding TARDIS."

"And the Doctor ended up on the wrong side." Donna guessed. "Getting himself erased from time."

River nodded.

"So, he's stuck." said Martha in horror.

"Uh, not quite." said River. "Amy...a future Amy was able to bring him back by remembering him."

"So what's the problem?" asked Jack. "If the Doctor is back, everything's fine...right?"

"I wish." said River. "Someho,w even though the Doctor is back and his future is on the right course, his past is still wrong. The Doctor exists, but seems as if he never did...until the moment he showed up at Amy and Rory's wedding."

Rose bit her lip. This was a lot of information to take in. She had always expected that there wasn't a simple explanation for the Doctor's sudden disappearance and the rearrangement of time, but this was a complicated mess! "So, we need to fix the Doctor's past. But how?" What she didn't ask, was what would happen if they did? She was only back in this universe because the past was changed. Once that was fixed, would she end up back in the alternate universe with John Smith? And what about Donna? Would she go back to remembering nothing about the Doctor?

Rose caught her eye and she could tell by the troubled look on Donna's face that the same thought was going through her mind.

River sighed. "I wish I knew. The only person who could figure it out is the Doctor, but it since he is gone at this time, that is out of the question."

"Wait a minute!" said Mickey. "You said in that in her future Amy brings the Doctor back, right? So why don't we just locate the future Doctor to help us?"

Donna looked dubious. "That's not a good idea. I mean, mixing up time lines? It's never a good thing. Especially if we bring Amy with us. She could run into her future self and that would be a paradox."

"Surely not all paradoxes are bad." put in Amy.

"Having the same person from two different points in time meet is." said Rose, thinking of when that had happened when her dad had thrust herself as a baby at her. That was what had given the Reapers enough power to get inside the church and the Doctor had gotten killed because of it.

"But we have no other options." said Mickey. "River is right: the Doctor is the only person who could figure all this out. If you are certain that we should avoid paradoxes, then we could always leave Amy behind."

"Hey!" said Amy, glaring at him.

"What I meant," he added quickly, "is take her back to her own time and then go into the future to try and find the Doctor. That way there won't be two Amys."

"Oh, please, don't!" pleaded Amy.

Rose sympathized with her. She no longer felt jealous, now that she knew that Amy did end up marrying Rory. She knew it wouldn't be easy leaving Amy behind, but she also saw the necessity of it.

"I'm sorry, Amy," said Donna, "but Mickey is right." She looked over at River. "You coming?"

River shook her head. "It's my past you'll be dealing with."

Donna nodded. "Understood." She looked at her friends. "Well, let's find the Doctor, shall we?"

Author's Note: Yes, I know it has been over 2 months since I updated! I am so sorry for the delay and I hope it hasn't put you off of continuing to read this. This chapters was mostly dialogue, but hopefully the next few chapters will have more action. Oh, and by the way, since I started this before Series 6 started, this story is going to be completely AU from that. So, those of you who haven't seen any of Series 6 yet need not worry! You can keep reading this!