Idris clutched Auntie's hand in her own as they slowly made their way to Uncle. This disfigured man stood in his confederate outfit, holding his makeshift shaft.

"Will it be me, Uncle?" Idris asked him, fear and trepidation in her voice.

"Yes, it's going to be you." The older man responded, his drawling voice bordering on uncaring. "I only wish I could go in your place, Idris. Nah, I don't," he suddenly said, his entire mood changing as he laughed, "cause it's really gonna hurt." Idris breathed in sharply and looked to Auntie, who was nodding and smiling mutely.

A pain shot through the young woman's abdomen, knocking the breath out of her. "It's starting." She gasped. "What will happen?" Idris asked as she was led to a crude platform. She stood above the metal grating and looked to Auntie as the hunched woman explained.

"Oh. Er… Nephew will drain your mind and your soul from your body and leave your body empty." Nephew, an Ood with glowing green eyes, grasped the sides of Idis' head as he prepared the mental swipe.

Idris' eyes widened. "I'm scared." She whispered.

"Well I expect so dear." Auntie replied, none too gently. "But soon you'll have a new soul. There'll be a Time Lord coming."

Idris grasped her throat and gasped as jagged fingers grasped at her mind. It roughly ripped her entire being apart from her body, leaving behind an empty shell.

She collapsed.

Rose Tyler sat silently in The Library. She looked down at the text before her, disbelieving. She'd found it. She'd finally found it. A way back home.

The Doctor has told her, had clearly stated that travel between parallel worlds was impossible, and he was right. To travel outside the universe was a completely different thing altogether. All one needed was the correct coordinates and a nifty little thing similar to a vortex manipulator.

Rose looked down to the device on her wrist. It wasn't the exact same as Jack's in the other universe, but it was close enough to the original. It'd taken Rose almost ten years to gain enough knowledge, and then the necessary supplies to cobble a somewhat working facsimile together. Once she'd made it to a time period with the right tech, she'd quickly made a new one. It was flawless. Black metal, sleek like a watch and held a digital touch screen that popped up from its glass-like face.

Now she had her coordinates too. After a year of searching The Library in Pete's world – which Rose was more than happy to find wasn't infested with the Vashna Nerada like the Doctor had said it'd been in the other world – now, Rose could go home.

A quick pop outside the universe and then slip through a crack into the original universe and she was one step closer to the Doctor.

Rose stood up and pulled on her TARDIS blue leather jacket, a replica of the one she'd worn all those years ago when the stars had gone out. With quick fingers, she typed in the coordinates and specific codes required to leave.

She didn't hesitate.

POP!

Rose stumbled as she landed on hard ground. Her vision swam for a second and she desperately fought back the erg to be sick. Everything slowly swam back into place and Rose straightened up. She'd landed on some sort of planet… of garbage. There was junk everywhere. It was as if someone had thrown all things ever lost or unwanted onto one planet. Rose briefly wondered if there'd be a section for socks that the laundry ate and never gave back.

She bounced up and down on the ground. Different from earth, similar but off a bit, she evaluated. Not surprising though, considering she wasn't in the universe anymore. Rose pulled out her sonic screwdriver. It was sleek and made of black metal, like her vortex manipulator. The light at the end lit up a bright blue and emanated a warbling noise as she scanned the dirt.

"Yup," she said, popping the 'p'. "Defin'ly different."

"Wolf!"

Rose's head snapped up in the direction of the call. A woman in tattered Victorian style clothes waved as she ran out from behind some half destroyed spaceship. Her face broke into a grin and she raced down the road as she waved and hollered. "It's you! It's really you!"

"I'm sorry wha'?" Rose stepped back as the woman grabbed her shoulders, then her face, then her hair. It was as if the dark haired one couldn't quite believe that Rose was real.

"Oh I didn't think this would happen yet! I really should have realised I mean, how many times will I get to walk about, really?"

Two slightly hunched people came racing out from where the woman had come from. They waved their arms and hollered for the woman, Idris did they say?

"Who are you?"

"Oh but you're supposed to – no wait you will – or maybe I should –" Idris gasped as realisation struck her. She grabbed Rose's cheeks and before the blonde knew what was happening, Idris was kissing her.

Shock. That was the first thing that ran through Rose's mind. Then suddenly Bad Wolf opened up. Rose didn't understand why, she'd harnessed that power years ago. She knew how to control it, how to stop the Time Vortex inside of her from consuming her. Then suddenly Idris kissed her and… TARDIS. Oh my god.

Rose opened her eyes and looked into Idris'. They both glowed a bright gold as the Time Vortex swirled between the two of them. Idris gently let go of the other woman's face.

"How?" Rose asked the TARDIS. "No – wait, better question. Where's the Doctor, yeah? He can fix this."

Idris opened her mouth but a man stepped forward and gently pulled her back. "Sorry about her," he chuckled dryly, "she doesn't know what's going on."

Rose narrowed her eyes. "Is tha' a joke? That's an immortal time and space machine right there. She knows plenty, thank you. Now where'd tha' Doctor? Wha' have you done with him?"

The man glared darkly. "Oh you're gonna be a bit of a nuisance aren't ya? Nephew?" Rose turned around just as an Ood came forward and hit her across the side of the head. She collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Idris turned glaring, gold eyes on Uncle. "What have you done to my Wolf?"

"Now none of tha' Idris, or we'll lock you up when the Time Lord arrives."

"So what kind of trouble is your friend in?" Amy asked as she looked about the junk on the planet they'd landed on.

The Doctor half listened to her question, the rest of his mind firmly on where the TARDIS Matrix could have gone. It couldn't have just vanished. It couldn't be dead. He looked around; up was the back end of a spaceship, everywhere else was scrap and junk. "He was in a bind. A bit of a pickle. Sort of distressed." Amy was talking about the little box he'd received. Mail. The thought itself perked him up. The Corsair had to have been alive to send it. Another Time Lord. Alive.

Amy rolled her eyes as she looked about the new planet herself. "Ah, you can't just say you don't know." The Doctor didn't hear her. He was gazing at a mound of junk creating a misshapen hill. There was a silver metal pipe jutting out of the side of it with some sort of writing on it. He gazed intently at it, squinted his eyes to see.

"But what is this place?" Rory asked, still confused as to where they'd ended up. "The scrap yard at the end of the universe?"

"Not end of, outside of." The Doctor responded, distracted. Those words, they couldn't be.

Rory, however, was persistent. "How we can we be outside the universe? The universe is everything."

Right, the Doctor thought, Companions. Questions. Real life calling. "Imagine a great big soap bubble with one of those tiny little bubbles on the outside." He told Rory, he wrapped his arm around the other man's shoulders and guided him back towards the TARDIS.

"Okay." Rory said, picturing it in his head. That made sense.

"Well, it's nothing like that." He patted Rory on the back and stepped up to the TARDIS. "Completely drained. Look at her." How was that possible? Was that possible? He was distinctly reminded of another time, not too long ago, when the TARDIS had powered down. That had been an alternate universe though, this was outside the universe. Same principle applies I guess, the Doctor considered. He ignored the little voice in the back of his head that told him to hope. Nope. It had not been her words on that silver pipe. Nope. Most definitely not. Impossible.

"Wait." Amy said, catching on. She lifted a spatula as she leaned against a rusted and dirty washer. "So we're in a tiny bubble universe, sticking to the side of the bigger bubble universe?"

The Doctor continued to stroke the outside of the TARDIS, still distracted. "Yeah. No. But if it helps, yes." Right, yes, focus. He thought. Focus on the problem at hand. He stepped away from the TARDIS. "This place is full of rift energy. She'll probably refuel just by being here. Now, this place." He lifted up some dirt and threw it in the air. He analysed it as it fell back to the ground. "What do we think, eh? Gravity's almost Earth normal, air's breathable, but it smells like…"

"Armpits." Amy supplied as she wrinkled her nose.

"Armpits." The Doctor agreed with a laugh.

Rory stepped up to some hanging objects, cleaner then anything else around. "What about all this stuff? Where did this come from?" He tapped the object and it swung about.

"Well, there's a rift. Now and then stuff gets sucked through it. Not a bubble, a plughole. The universe has a plughole and we've just fallen down it."

"Thief! Thief!" A woman's voice called out from around one of the broken down spaceships. "You're my thief!" A dark, curly haired woman in a ratted teal dress ran towards the Doctor.

Two others raced out from behind her, a hunched over woman and a disfigured confederate solider. "She's dangerous. Guard yourselves." The woman hollered to the visitors. The curly haired one ran straight up to The Doctor, eyes wide.

"Look at you." She exclaimed, talking rather fast for even the Doctor. "Goodbye. No, not goodbye, what's the other one?" An idea sparked in her mind. This worked with my Wolf, she thought. Then she was kissing the Doctor. Oh! Her mind raced, this is quiet different from the usual with her Thief.

"Watch out. Careful. Keep back from her." The man pulled Idris off and she laughed in a half crazed manner. The Doctor went to wipe his mouth then – wait – no. There was something on the woman's lips. He knew that taste. "Welcome, strangers. Lovely. Sorry about the mad person."

The Doctor ignored the man. "Why am I a thief? What have I stolen?" This couldn't have anything to do with her. He thought desperately. She was gone. Besides, it'd been a whole regeneration since he – since they…no, it had to be something else.

"Oh it didn't work. It did work, has worked. For her." She'd hoped to make him see who she was, but maybe it was just her Wolf who could connect like that. Through the Vortex.

The Doctor's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Her who?" Oh, the woman thought, such a smart boy. Already on the case.

"Oh." The older woman gasped and held her side, tired from running after the curly haired woman. "Oh, we are sorry, my dove. She's off her head. They call me Auntie." She held out her hand to the Doctor. The Time Lord glanced sideways watching the crazy one touch Amy's hair and then continue on.

"And I'm Uncle. I'm everybody's Uncle. Just keep back from this one. She bites!" He ended on a holler.

"Do I?" The woman exclaimed, suddenly right beside the Doctor. "Excellent." She grabbed the Time Lord around the neck and bit down on his ear.

Uncle pulled the woman off of the Doctor again, as he hollered and stomped his foot. "Ow! Ow! Ow, ow, ow!"

The woman smiled brightly. "Biting's excellent. It's like kissing, only there's a winner."

"So sorry." Uncle apologized. "She's doolally."

"No, I'm not doolally. I'm, I'm. It's on the tip of my tongue." Her eyes widened again. "I've just had a new idea about kissing. Come here, you." She jumped forward and everyone moved again. The Doctor hid quickly behind the Ponds, as Auntie and Uncle pulled the crazy one back.

"No, Idris, no." Auntie scolded the woman.

Idris' eyes filled with sadness. "Oh, but now you're angry. No, you're not. You will be angry. The little boxes will make you angry."

"Sorry?" The Doctor stepped out from between the Ponds. "The little what? Boxes?" Oh no, The Doctor thought. Dread crept into his heart.

Idris grabbed the Time Lord's chin. She laughed. "Oh, ho, no. Your chin is hilarious." Then suddenly, as if from the middle of a conversation, she was talking to Rory. "It means the smell of dust after rain."

"What does?" He asked back.

"Petrichor."

"But I didn't ask."

"Not yet. But you will."

Auntie's eyes widened. "No, no, Idris. I think you should have a rest." They couldn't have a repeat of that blonde person, could they?

Idris nodded her head. "Rest. Yes, yes. Good idea. I'll just see if there's an off switch." Idris tipped to the side, collapsing. Rory jumped forward and just barely caught her before she hit the ground. He settled her on chair and checked her pulse.

"Is that it? She dead now. So sad." Uncle's comments as sentimental as they had ever been before.

Rory didn't even notice the other man's tone. "No, she's still breathing."

"Nephew, take Idris somewhere she can not bite people." The older man ordered, slightly arrogantly. He seemed almost sad that she was alive.

An Ood stepped toward the group of people.

The Doctor noticed him and clapped. "Oh, hello!"

Amy jumped back, away from the green eyed alien with intestine like body parts coming down from his mouth. "Doctor, what is that?"

"Oh, no, it's all right. It's an Ood. Oods are good. Love an Ood. Hello, Ood. Can't you talk?" The Doctor looked down and noticed the dead ball that was his communication device. "Oh, I see. It's damaged. May I? It might just be on the wrong frequency." The Ood nodded and the Doctor popped open the communication device.

Auntie nodded at the pair. "Nephew was broken when he came here. Why, he was half dead. House repaired him. House repaired all of us." She glanced down at her misshapen body.

The Doctor popped the communication device back together, now fixed. It lit up a bright green colour and emitted a series of voices trying to break through. "If you are receiving this message, please help me. Send a signal to the High Council of the Time Lords on Gallifrey. Tell them that I am still alive. I don't know where I am. I'm on some rock-like planet." Behind the main message, a voice the Doctor easily identified as the Corsair, were dozens of other voices. Time Lords. But one, he could have swore he heard some on say B–

"What was that?" Rory asked, confused. "Was that him?"

The Doctor shook his head. Voice hoarse, he tried to respond to what Rory had asked, "No, no. It's picking up something else. But that's, that's not possible." They couldn't be alive. They couldn't have said those words, not her words. "That's, that's. Who else is here?" The Doctor turned to Uncle and Auntie. "Tell me. Show me. Show me."

Auntie took a step back from the angry Time Lord. "Just what you see. Just the four of us, and the House. Nephew, will you take Idris somewhere safe where she can't hurt nobody?" She avoided the Time Lord's gaze, lest he discover her lie.

"The House? What's the House?" The Doctor asked, maybe some Time Lords had survived. Yes, maybe they had. Focus on that, he thought, focus on that.

"House is all around you, my sweets. You are standing on him. This is the House. This world. Would you like to meet him?" Auntie smiled.

Rory took Amy's hand. "Meet him?" He didn't like the sound of that, or the way the Doctor was acting. He was getting a very bad feeling.

The Doctor clapped his hands together. "I'd love to." Of course, Rory thought.

Uncle nodded and began leading them away. "This way. Come, please. Come."

The three of them lingered back for a moment. Amy walked over to the Doctor, Rory still holding her hand. "What's wrong? What were those voices?"

The Doctor took a deep breath. "Time Lords." He couldn't help but smile. "It's not just the Corsair. Somewhere close by there are lots and lots of Time Lords."

Amy frowned. That wasn't possible. He'd said so himself. The Time Lords were dead.

The TARDIS woke up in a little cell with blankets strewn across the floor. Nephew stood guard to the side, watching the door to the entrance. But that wasn't right. He won't be there when the Doctor comes. Oh, not yet then, she realised.

Rose moaned and rolled over beside her, lying uncomfortably on the bed of blankets.

"Wolf." The TARDIS whispered kindly. Her poor Wolf. She shook the blonde lightly, a moment later the woman's golden green eyes blinked open. Rose shot forward and then groaned and held her head. "Easy does it, Nephew hit your head." The TARDIS nodded her head in the direction of the Ood, who paid them no attention.

"Bloody Oods." Rose grumbled. "Doctor loves 'em, but I've been attacked by them how many times now?" The TARDIS laughed, it sounded like bells. Rose looked up at the woman and smiled. "Right, so… how did this happen?"

"Oh right, yes. I have to tell, hasn't happened yet." Rose smiled, bemused. The TARDIS sat back and waited while the blonde got comfortable. They sat across from each other within the small confines of their cage. "I'm, I'm."

"The TARDIS." Rose supplied.

The TARDIS gasped happily. "Yes! That's it! I'm the TARDIS! Time And Relative Dimension In Space! Oh! Names are funny. I'm the TARDIS, the TARDIS Matrix to be exact. I've been deleted, removed from my home and put in here."

Rose shook her head, "Why though? Where's tha' Doctor, he would never have allowed this."

The TARDIS waved her hand, not too concerned. "Oh he's found out. Will find out, is finding out. Oh! Tenses are difficult!"

Rose laughed. "Righ', well I'm sure you'll get the hang of it, yeah? How 'bout we go find him? I'm sure he's more than a bit confused by now."

The brunette rolled her eyes. "He's fine, plenty busy with the strays."

"I'm sorry?" The only thing Rose could picture was the Doctor with a box full of stray cats, but he hated cats.

"Oh what's that word? Pee… Assist… Companions! That's it! Two new ones. Well old, well…"

Rose raised a hand to stop the babble she new the TARDIS was about to let loose. She was just like the Doctor. "What happened to Donna?" Rose had liked Donna, she was amazing. The Doctor Donna, how could the Doctor give her up?

The TARDIS didn't answer. With a sudden burst of clarity her manic presence had lacked before, she said, "He's different now."

Rose's heart sank. "You mean he regenerated."

The TARDIS didn't deny it.

Uncle gestured to the trio, ushering them into a room within the depths of a broken spaceship. "Come. Come, come. You can see the House and he can look at you."

The Doctor stepped up to a small platform with a metal grating. He looked down the shoot to the smoke-y green abyss beneath. "I see. This asteroid is sentient."

Auntie nodded. "We walk on his back, breathe his air, eat his food."

Amy smiled sarcastically. "Smell its armpits." She mocked.

Auntie and Uncle both straightened up suddenly, there voices deep and refined. "And do my will. You are most welcome, travellers."

Amy backed up into Rory who grabbed her shoulders, lending her strength. "Doctor, that voice. That's the asteroid talking?"

"Yes." Then the Doctor turned his back on Auntie and Uncle, talking to the entire planet. "So you're like a sea urchin. Hard outer surface, that's the planet we're walking on. Big, squashy, oogly thing inside, that's you." He bent down and inspected the dirt again, this time more closely than before.

"That is correct, Time Lord."

The Doctor jumped back up. "Ah. So you've met Time Lords before?"

"Many travellers have come through the rift, like Auntie and Uncle and Nephew. I repair them when they break."

"So there are Time Lords here, then?" The Doctor couldn't keep the hope out of his voice.

"Not any more, but there have been many TARDISES on my back in days gone by."

The Doctor took a deep breath. Of course not. "Well, there won't be any more after us. Last Time Lord. Last TARDIS."

"A pity. Your people were so kind. Be here in safety, Doctor. Rest, feed, if you will." Auntie and Uncle were suddenly released, the tension from before leaving their bodies.

Rory looked around then stepped toward the Doctor, as if to try and speak in confidence with the Time Lord. "We're not actually going to stay here, are we?"

The Doctor tossed his head back and forth, considering. "Well, it seems like a friendly planet. Literally. Mind if we poke around a bit?"

Auntie nodded and gestured out the door. "You can look all you want. Go. Look." She touched Amy's face, stroking her cheek. "House loves you." Amy made a face and quickly walked towards Rory.

The Doctor watched the interaction closely, his eyes on the woman's misshapen arm. "Come on then, gang. We're just going to, er, see the sights."

The TARDIS gasped suddenly in the middle of telling Rose about the Doctor's previous bodies and personalities. "He's coming."

Rose perked up instantly. "The Doctor? He's comin'?"

"Yes." The TARDIS frowned. "But you're not here."

"What do you mean I'm not here? I'm sittin' right here."

"Yes. But you won't be. Don't you see?" The TARDIS looked imploringly at Rose. The blonde's brows furrowed. She closed her eyes and focused on the future timeline that they were currently existing in. The TARDIS was right. Her place jumped from here to the TARDIS, she should be there in a manner of minutes. Rose opened her eyes to the smiling woman before her.

"Right, I'll use my vortex manipulator. It'll put me off just in front of the box, I think."

The TARDIS rolled her eyes and smiled lovingly, "No need. You're part Time Vortex, you can pop in and out of there any time you want. Vortex manipulator or not."

Rose raised her eye brows. That was certainly handy information. The two girls stood and smiled at one another. "It was wonderful to meet you TARDIS."

"Oh and you!" The TARDIS grasped Rose's shoulders and pulled her in for another kiss. After a moment, Rose pulled back and laughed.

"Will we ever get to do this again?"

"Oh Wolf, you can kiss my console any time." The brunette responded with a saucy wink.

Rose laughed, shocked at the response. "TARDIS! No, I mean. Talk. Will we ever get to talk like this?"

The TARDIS' smile softened and she gazed lovingly at the Wolf. "The Doctor will never be able to understand to what extent we are connected, Rose."

Rose smiled, her special one she usually only ever gave to the Doctor, with a little bit of tongue poking out between her teeth. "That's not really an answer, is it?"

The TARDIS laughed, "No, it's not." Then she kissed the Wolf one last time, lightly on the lips. Her fingers ghosted over the vortex manipulator, she activated it and sent the companion on her way.

POP!

Rory turned around in the hall they were in. He looked to the Doctor expectantly. "So, as soon as the TARDIS is refuelled, we go, yeah?"

The Doctor shooK his head. "No. There are Time Lords here. I heard them and they need me."

Amy stepped towards the Doctor. "You told me about your people, and you told me what you did."

"Yes, yes, but if they're like the Corsair, they're good ones and I can save them." He looked at Amy with big green eyes, and if it were any other person, Amy would have said watery too.

"And then tell them you destroyed the others?" She crossed her arms. This was only going to end painfully for him. She could already tell.

"I can explain. Tell them why I had to." His hands gestured in what Amy recognised as his attempt to implore another.

Amy would have none of it. "You want to be forgiven." You won't be, she thought.

The Doctor smiled bitterly. "Don't we all?"

But he was her friend. Amy nodded once, her mind made up. "What do you need from me?"

The Doctor smiled. Oh Amelia Pond. "My screwdriver. I left it in the TARDIS. It's in my jacket."

Rory shook his head, confused. "You're wearing your jacket."

"My other jacket." The Time Lord replied, then proceeded to give the man a look like he'd dribbled on his shirt.

"You have two of those?"

The Doctor took that offensively. He opened his mouth with a comeback but Amy cut him off. "Okay, I'll get it. But Doctor, listen to me. Don't get emotional because that's when you make mistakes." Amy pulled out her mobile and tossed it to the Time Lord.

The Doctor smiled and saluted. "Yes, boss."

"I'll call you from the TARDIS. Rory, look after him." Amy turned and left down the hallway to head back to the TARDIS.

A small grin on his face, he pointed in the direction Amy had just gone. "Rory, look after her."

Rory looked back and forth between the two. He nodded once. "Yeah." Then he turned and headed after his wife.

Amy glanced behind her as she heard footsteps approach. She saw her husband and rolled her eyes. Of course. "I told you to look after him."

"He'll be fine. He's a Time Lord." Rory shrugged and nodded once. They stepped up to the TARDIS.

Amy paused and turned to her husband. "It's just what they're called. It doesn't mean he actually knows what he's doing." Then she pushed open the TARDIS doors and he followed her inside.

As the doors closed, a green smoke swam up from the ground. It enveloped the TARDIS and quickly spiralled up the length of the powered down machine.

Amy climbed up the TARDIS steps to the main console. She pulled the phone off its hook and dialed her cell phone.

The Doctor picked up on the first ring.

"Hey, we're here." She informed him. "Screwdriver's in your jacket, yeah?"

"Yeah, it's around somewhere. Have a good look."

The sound of something locking echoed through the TARDIS. Amy looked up at Rory. "Did you do that?" She hung up the phone.

Rory gestured with his hands, and shook his head. "I didn't do anything. Right. Jacket." They both began looking for the Doctor's other jacket.

"Come on. Where are you? Now, where are you all? Where are you?" The Doctor wandered about the spaceship. The Time Lords had to be here somewhere. He wouldn't hear those voices if they weren't. He pulled back the curtain to a small alcove and popped his head in. "Well, they can't all be in here." The alcove was tiny, with rock walls and curtain doorways, no one could hide there.

Soft voices whispered through the alcove. The Doctor froze. What? He turned on his heel and looked at the small cupboard that sat just at eyelevel. The whispers continued. He opened the cupboard and found ten little glowing boxes. Ten of them. The same as the one that had brought him here. His face grew dark as the voices washed over him. Distress calls. These boxes were distress calls.

The Doctor turned to Auntie and Uncle who stood silently behind him.

"Just admiring your Time Lord distress signal collection." He told them lightly. But something dark lurked beneath that voice. "Nice job. Brilliant job. Really thought I had some friends here, but this is what the Ood translator picked up. Cries for help from the long dead. How many Time Lords have you lured here the way you lured me, and what happened to them all?"

Auntie swallowed and looked about. Anything but into the Time Lord's dark eyes. "House, House is kind and he is wise."

"House repairs you when you break. Yes, I know. But how does he mend you?" The Doctor rounded on Uncle. "You've got the eyes of a twenty year old."

Uncle smiled and ducked his head bashfully. "Thank you."

"No." The Doctor's voice grew darker. "Oh, no, I mean it literally. Your eyes are thirty years younger than the rest of you. Your ears don't match, your right arm is two inches longer than you're left, and how's your dancing? Because you've got two left feet. Patchwork people. You've been repaired and patched up so often, I doubt there's anything left of what used to be you. I had an umbrella like you once." He spat the end at their feet. Then the Doctor saw it, right in the corner of his eye.

He grabbed Auntie's arm, the one that was about three sizes too big. He turned it over and right there on this wrist, a snake tattoo. Just like the Corsair."

"Oh, now, it's been a great arm for me, this." Auntie defended.

"Corsair."

Auntie and Uncle didn't seem to see the tension in the Doctor. That or they simply did not care. "He was a strapping big bloke, wasn't he, Uncle?"

"Big fellow."

"I got the arm and then Uncle got the spine and the kidneys."

Uncle nodded. "Kidneys."

The Doctor stepped towards them. One step. Slow and deliberate. He looked them in the eye, his own eyes dark and haunting. "You gave me hope, and then you took it away. That's enough to make anyone dangerous. God knows what it will do to me. Basically, run!"

Uncle and Auntie jumped at his tone. Then Uncle stepped forward a bit. "Poor old Time Lord. Too late. House is too clever." The pair turned and hobbled off. The Doctor glared as they left. He could still hear the voices of the dead Time Lords behind him. It wasn't helping.

The Doctor's phone rang. He pulled it out as he stormed away from the cubes.

Amy spoke from the other end of the phone. "No sonic screwdriver. Also the doors seemed to have locked behind us. Rory thinks there's a perfectly innocent explanation, but I think you lied to us."

"Time Lord stuff. Needed you out of the way." Rory, so much faith, just like – no. But he'd hear those words, he could have sworn… On the voice feed… from the boxes. The little boxes.

"What, we're not good enough for your smart new friends?"

"The boxes will make you angry. How could she know?"

"Doctor, what are you talking about?"

The Doctor was running now. "Stay put. Stay exactly where you are." He hung up.

The Doctor raced through the door to where they had put Idris. She was sitting in her cage with her legs crossed and her eyes closed, meditating. She seemed completely at ease with being locked up. "How did you know about the boxes? You said they'd make me angry. How did you know?"

She opened her eyes, they brightened when they landed on him. "Ah, it's my thief."

"Who are you?" She could be psychic. She could be telepathic – no. That didn't account for foreknowledge.

Idris smiled and rolled her eyes. "It's about time." He really was so useless without the Wolf.

"I don't understand. Who are you?"

"Do you not know me? Just because they put me in here?"

He shook his head. How was that relevant? "They said you were dangerous."

"Not the cage, stupid." Idris lifted her hands and placed them on either side of her face. "In here. They put me in here. I'm the. Oh, you know what? You are quite slow. She figured it out in seconds."

"You mentioned a she before, she who?"

Idris smiled wickedly. "I'm the TARDIS."

The Doctor frowned. "No, you're not. You're a bitey, mad lady. The TARDIS is up and downy stuff in a big blue box."

Idris stood up and brushed off her skirts. "Yes, that's me. A Type Forty Tardis. I was already a museum piece when you were young, and the first time you touched my console you said–"

"I said you were the most beautiful thing I had ever known."

Idris grabbed the bars of the cage and leaned toward the Time Lord. "And then you stole me. And I stole you."

"I borrowed you."

She smirked. "Borrowing implies the intention to return the thing that was taken. What makes you think I would ever give you back?"

"You're the TARDIS?" He questioned, still disbelieving. How could it be?

"Yes." He really was much too difficult to convince.

"My TARDIS?"

"My Doctor. Oh. We have now reached the point in the conversation where you open the lock."

The Doctor pulled out his sonic and used it on the cage. With a soft click, the door swung open. The TARDIS stepped out of her prison, a slight sway to her hips as if she were dancing.

She looked up at her Time Lord questioningly. "Are all people like this?"

No matter how hard he tried, he simply could not get the awe struck look off his face. "Like what?"

"So much bigger on the inside. I'm, oh, what is that word? It's so big, so complicated. It's so sad."

The Doctor's mind was already racing past her words. He was onto more important things. "But why? Why pull the living soul from a TARDIS and pop it in a tiny human head? What does it want you for?"

The TARDIS smiled wonderfully. "She asked that too!"

"She who!" The Doctor yelled. Who else was on this planet?!

"House eats TARDISES." The TARDIS said abruptly.

He shook his head. "House what? What do you mean?"

"I don't know. It's something I heard you say."

"When?"

"In the future."

"House eats TARDISES?"

"There you go."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Oh but of course. House feeds on rift energy and TARDISES are bursting with it." He frowned. "But you can't eat a TARDIS. It would destroy you. Unless, unless…"

"Unless you deleted the TARDIS Matrix first." The TARDIS supplied. "But House can't just delete a TARIS' consciousness. That would blow a hole in the universe. So he pulls out the Matrix, sticks it in a living receptacle and then it feeds off the remaining Artron energy." She gasped in air and then raised her eyebrows. "Oh. You were about to say all that. I don't suppose you have to now."

The Doctor's eyes filled with horror. "I sent Amy and Rory in there. They'll be eaten." The Doctor pulled out his phone and began running towards the TARDIS. "Amy! Amy? Rory? Get the hell out of there."

Amy paced back and forth in front of the console. "He's not trusting us and he's being emotional. This is bad. This is very, very bad."

Rory nodded. "Yeah, I think it probably is."

"Sometimes I hate being right."

POP!

Amy and Rory both turned towards the doors. A woman stood with her back to them. She was average height with honey blonde hair and a deep blue leather jacket. She wore black trousers and matching black combat boots. How on earth had she entered the TARDIS?

Amy and Rory stepped towards the stairs. "Umm… who are you?" Amy asked rudely. "And how did you get in the TARDIS?"

The woman turned around and Amy could see, even in the darkness of the powered down TARDIS, that she was beautiful. She had full, pouting lips, and sharp cheekbones with big hazel eyes. She was young too, that stood out beyond all else. She was very young, younger looking than Amy and Rory themselves.

"Oh, hello!"

"Who are you?" Amy repeated forcefully.

The blonde's smile turned awkward. "I'm Rose." No recognition. Of course, Rose thought. No, right. Why would he talk about her? She stuck out her hand and walked towards the bottom of the steps. "Rose Tyler."

Rory and Amy cautiously walked down the steps and shook her hand. "I'm Rory Williams. This is my wife, Amy."

The blonde's brows rose. She whistled. "A married couple. I never thought I'd see the day the Doctor allowed domestic on his ship."

"How do you know the Doctor?" Rory asked, cautious of the fact that the woman still hadn't mentioned how she had entered the TARDIS.

Rose's smile softened, "I used to be a companion of the Doctor's. Like yourselves. I travelled with him." The couple nodded.

"Right. Yes. Sorry. But how did you get in here?"

"Oh! Just used this." Rose lifted the sleeve of her leather jacket and showed them her sleek vortex manipulator.

Amy frowned. "And what is that?"

Rose raised a brow at her sharp tone. "Vortex manipulator. Better question though, what are you both doin' in the TARDIS. You're outside the universe! Hell of a day to call in sick."

"The Doctor told us to stay in the TARDIS." Rory informed her.

A look of pure astonishment crossed Rose's face. "And you're gonna listen to 'im?"

Amy couldn't help the grin that spread across her face. It darkened quickly though, and she said, "He locked us in."

Rose smiled brightly, it seemed to light up the room. "Oh, well that's easy enough to fix." Rose pulled out a long, cylinder looking tube. A sonic screwdriver. She turned towards the door and began work on undoing the Doctor's locking mechanisms.

Amy and Rory followed closely behind. Amy crossed her arms, still suspicious of the woman. "That's a sonic screwdriver. Where'd you get that?"

Rose didn't even look up from her work. "I made it."

Rory frowned. "It looks like your vortex whatever-thing-y."

"Made that too."

"But what is it?"

Rose paused in her work and straightened. She turned to them and for the first time saw all the burning questions in their eyes. Vaguely, she wondered if this was what the Doctor always felt like. "A vortex manipulator is a time travel device. It allows the wearer to teleport through space, as well as time. I made this one myself. I also made the sonic screwdriver. I linked the systems up so they work in sync. The screwdriver is, however, modelled after my late husbands design."

Rose turned back to the lock and tried to open it up again. She frowned. "Something else has locked this."

The glow of the console turned an unearthly shade of green. The three companions turned towards the centre of the room, dread in the pits of their stomachs. "Oh no."

Amy's phone rang. "Doctor, something's wrong."

"It's House. He's after the Tardis. Just get out both of you."

"We can't. Something else has locked the door."

"But I've unlocked it."

"Yes, and something else has locked it again."

"Wait, but how can you know that?"

The Cloister bell sounded and the green glow of the console flickered in an out of life.

"Doctor," Amy whispered, "I don't like this."

The three of them could hear the Doctor, just outside the doors as he hollered to get inside. Rose struggled to open the door but nothing would work. She debated using her vortex manipulator, but then the TARDIS would be gone. If she stayed here, then at least they'd have a fighting chance of saving her.

"Rory, hold my hand."

The Doctor stared at the spot where the blue box once stood. No. He raced back to the TARDIS, his human TARDIS. "It's gone." He informed her, his voice dead event to his own ears.

"Eaten?" She asked the question as if it were of no concern to her. She was meditating again, the Doctor realised

"No, it left. Not eaten, hi-jacked. But why?" The Doctor turned and saw Auntie and Uncle with blankets over their shoulders, getting comfortable on some chairs they'd set up.

Auntie smiled at him. "It's time for us both to go, and keep together."

The Doctor's brows furrowed. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Go? What do you mean, go? Where are you going?" They couldn't go. He needed all the help he could get if he was going to get the TARDIS back.

"Well, we're dying, my love. It's time for Auntie and Uncle to pop off."

Uncle made a face. "I'm against it."

"It's your fault, isn't it, sweets? Because you told House it was the last TARDIS. House can't feed on them if there's none more coming, can he?"

"So now he's off to your universe to find more TARDISES." Uncle glared.

The Doctor glared right back. "It won't."

"Oh, it'll think of something." Auntie collapsed to the ground. Dead. The Doctor rushed over and checked her pulse.

Uncle nodded. "Actually, I feel fine." He collapsed to he ground next, also dead. The Doctor leapt over to the man, confirming what he already knew.

The Doctor growled. "Not dead. You can't just die!" He ran his hands through his hair. This was ridiculous.

"We need to go to where I landed, Doctor, quickly."

The Doctor threw his arms up and sighed. "Why?"

"Because we are there in three minutes." The TARDIS jumped up and grabbed the Doctor's hand. "We need to go now." They began to run then stopped just as suddenly. The TARDIS bent over and clutched her side. "Ow. Roughly how long do these bodies last?" She looked up at the Time Lord, unconcerned.

"You're dying."

"Yes, of course I'm dying." She said in a voice that made him feel like an idiot. New feeling. "I don't belong in a flesh body. I could blow the casing in no time. No, stop it. Don't get emotional. Hmm. That's what the orangey girl says. You're the Doctor. Focus."

"On what? How? I'm a madman with a box, without a box. I'm stuck down the plughole at the end of the universe on a stupid old junkyard. Ooo…" His eyes lit up at the same time his head looked up, like a dog catching sight of a squirrel.

The TARDIS looked at him sharply. "Ooo what?"

"I'm not." He said excitedly.

"Not what?"

"Because it's not a junkyard. Don't you see? It's not a junkyard." He laughed and grabbed her hand again.

"What is it then?" The TARDIS asked, thoroughly exasperated.

"It's a TARDIS junkyard. Come on!" The Doctor paused and the turned back to her. "Oh, sorry. Do you have a name?"

"Seven hundred years, finally he asks." She huffed. She fixed her hair and stared coolly at the Time Lord.

"But what do I call you?" He responded, nonplussed.

"I think you call me," She smiled saucily, as she had at the Wolf, "Sexy."

The Doctor's eyes widened. He looked around. "Only when we're alone." He whispered.

Her smile widened. "We are alone."

The Doctor thought for a second and glanced around again. Then, he returned her saucy smile with one of his own and tugged her hand. "Come on then, Sexy."

They crested the hill of metal and trash. A picture of TARDISES strewn out across a vast stretch of land fell before them. A strong sense of hope invaded the Doctor's heart, this was hope.

"A valley of half eaten TARDISES. Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He smiled excitedly.

"I'm thinking that all of my sisters are dead. That they were devoured, and that we are looking at their corpses."

The Doctor looked sideways at the TARDIS. His smile faded a bit. He hadn't even considered that side of it. Oops. "Ah. Sorry. No, I wasn't thinking that."

"No. You were thinking you could build a working TARDIS console out of broken remnants of a hundred different models." She turned and levelled her heavy stare on him. "And you don't care that it's impossible."

At that, the Doctor smiled again. "It's not impossible as long as we're alive. Rory and Amy need me. So yeah, we're going to build a TARDIS." And the Wolf too, The TARDIS thought. She would be on the TARDIS, and if she were lucky, House wouldn't figure out her little inability to die.