Chapter Text
T he doorbell interrupts Peyton's vacant stare at the empty word document on her laptop's screen in her childhood bedroom, spurring her to push herself out of the chair and toward the door with newfound energy.
Every time that doorbell rings, she is filled with hope that this time it's the Doctor calling.
Peyton had come to a close brush with death on the last field trip the two of them took and the Doctor insisted that she take some time for herself and her family on Earth for a bit. She had, of course, argued against him but in a slightly petty retaliation, he dropped her in the south of Wales, leaving her to find her own way home to Leadworth.
That was several months ago.
Peyton opens the door, silently praying that it's him, but instead it's the postman with a few letters in hand. She thanks him as she takes them inside, closing the door behind her. Bills. Rewards card for her dad. Hang on.
The last letter. Dark blue and covered in stamps. One could say Tardis blue. She flips it over to open it. On the other side, a silver '3' is stamped, she doesn't bother with what that means right now. She tears it open, eager to look inside.
24/04/2011
16:30 MDT
37* 0'38"N 110* 14'34"W
She almost drops it in earnest to grab her phone and call the Ponds.
"This is it, yeah?" Amy asks as the three of them step off the bus and into the desert. "The right place?"
"Err, nowhere? Middle of?" Rory replies sarcastically.
"Howdy!"
They turn around as the bus disappears into the horizon and see a man lounging on the hood of a car, cowboy hat on his head and all. It's him.
"Doctor!" Peyton yells, unable to stop the smile from her face.
"Haha!" He laughs, jumping off the hood of the car. "It's Peyton and the Ponds!"
He runs to meet them and pulls Amy into a hug. "Pond one, Pond two, and not Pond! Hello, come here!"
"So, someone's been a busy boy then, eh?" Amy smiles, fixing the Doctor's bow tie.
"Did you see me?"
"Of course," Peyton rolls her eyes.
"Stalker," he winks.
"Flirt," Amy claps back.
"Husband," Rory reminds her.
"And Rory the Roman!" He pulls Rory into a hug next.
"I'm feeling a bit left out," Peyton folds her arms and pouts teasingly.
"Miss Peyton Saxon!" He throws his arms around her shoulders as she holds onto his waist. "How has my favourite niece been?"
"It's Barrett," she scowls but can't hide her smile.
"Bit of a step down from 'space daughter'," Amy jokes.
"You're not still upset that I left you in Wales, right?" He asks, pulling away from her.
"Bastard," Peyton says as she punches him in the shoulder. He stumbles backward, feigning pain from her half-arsed attempt at hitting him.
They all laugh heartily. The weight of the heavy bag on Peyton's back almost disappears and she clutches her sides in pain.
"Nice hat," Rory comments once they had calmed a little.
"I wear a Stetson now. Stetsons are cool," he says, readjusting his belt.
The sound of a gunshot causes all of them to jump. The Doctor's Stetson flies off. Peyton turns to see River Song, standing cockily, blowing the tip of her gun. "Hello, Sweetie."
Peyton leans over the chair of a booth in the diner by Amy and the Doctor's heads. Rory had beat her to the seat next to River, leaving her cut out.
"Don't pout, dear," River smiles at her.
"You're not my mum," Peyton rolls her eyes, but a smile manages to break through her facade. River winks at her before taking another sip of her coffee.
"So, what's happening, then?" Amy asks, fiddling with the straw of her cola. "Because you've been up to something."
"I've been running. Faster than I've ever run, and I've been running my whole life," the Doctor admits. "Now it's time for me to stop. And tonight, I'm going to need you all with me."
"Okay, we're here, what's up?" Peyton asks.
"A picnic! And then a trip. Somewhere different, somewhere brand new."
"Where?" Amy smiles excitedly.
"Space, 1969."
"Salud!" They cheer, holding their glasses of wine to tap against the others.
"So, when are we going to 1969?" Rory asks.
"And since when do you drink wine?" Amy asks, tilting her glass toward the Doctor.
"I'm eleven hundred and three. I must have drunk it some time," he says before taking the bottle to his lips and tilting his head back. He spits it out almost immediately. "Oh, wine's horrid! I thought it would taste more like the gums."
They all laugh at the disgruntled Time Lord.
"Eleven hundred and three?" Peyton frowns, looking into her wine glass for a second before back to the Doctor. "You were nine hundred and eight the last time I saw you."
"And you've put on a couple of pounds. I wasn't going to mention it," the Doctor scoffs. Peyton glares at him while the other's chuckle.
But Amy doesn't. Amy is staring off into the distance.
"Who's that?" She asks.
"Who's who?" Rory raises an eyebrow. She tears her eyes away from their spot on the horizon to look at her husband.
"Sorry, what?"
"What did you see? You said you saw someone," Rory says.
"No, I didn't," Amy says, after taking another sip of wine.
Peyton looks over to the hill where Amy was staring, there's nothing, no one there.
"Ah! The moon, look at it!" The Doctor smiles up to the sky where Peyton can indeed see the moon in the late-afternoon sky. "Of course, you lot did more than look, didn't you? A big silvery thing in the sky, you couldn't resist it. Quite right."
"The moon landing was in sixty-nine," Rory says, putting two and two together. "Is that where we're going?"
"Oh, a lot more happens in sixty-nine than anyone remembers," the Doctor says ominously. "Human beings, I thought I'd never get done saving you."
The distant sound of tires on sand makes Peyton peek up in curiosity to the top of the beach to see a silver station wagon, an old man getting out of the driver's seat.
The Doctor stands and gives him a wave which the man returns.
"Doctor, who is that?" Peyton asks, noticing that they clearly know each other.
"Oh my God!" River gasps, looking back toward the lake.
Peyton turns her head too and quickly scrambles to her feet.
"What the..." She trails off.
An astronaut, not a modern one either, is standing in the lake. It seems not to be moving, but how did it get there? Peyton stumbles a step forward toward it, but the Doctor places a hand on her shoulder with an uncomfortable amount of force.
"You all need to stay back. Whatever happens now, you do not interfere. Clear?"
They all nod unsurely but stay by the picnic mat as the Doctor drops his bottle of wine in the sand and makes his way toward the astronaut who meets him on the shore.
It's difficult to see what's going on, the Doctor seems to be taking to it.
It raises its arm.
Peyton screams in shock as it shoots the Doctor with a blast of green light.
"Doctor!" Amy begins to sprint toward him, but Peyton, River, and Rory grab her before she gets too far.
"Amy, stay back!" River yells. "The Doctor said stay back!"
"Amy, it's okay," Peyton pants, unable to hide the panic in her voice. "He's gonna..."
Regeneration. The impossibility of a Gallifreyan.
The Doctor drops to his knees and stares at his hands, even from here Peyton can see the golden light pouring from his hands and face.
He stumbles to his feet with a renewed energy and looks toward his friends. He throws his head back and stretches his arms to the sides. Even from Peyton's position, she can feel an uproar of wind caused by the energy he is exerting.
That's when the astronaut shoots him again. The light goes out and the Doctor crumples to the ground.
"No! Doctor!"
Each person on the picnic blanket scream variations of those two words and they rush to his side. The astronaut turns and heads back into the ocean.
Amy and River fall to the Time Lord's side while Peyton and Rory stand protectively over his body, eyes fixed on the retreating astronaut. It does not take long for the two of them to break however, crouching down beside him.
River pulls out her computer and scans the Doctor's chest.
"River, River?" Amy whimpers.
The solemn expression on River's face gives away the truth. The Doctor lying prone in the sand before them, is dead.
Peyton stares at the blue envelope in her hands. River is two, she is three, Amy and Rory are four, and Mr Delaware was five.
"So, where's the other one?" River asks as they enter the diner.
"You think he invited someone else," Rory frowns.
"Well, he must have. He planned all of this to the last detail," River fumbles with the Pond's and her own envelope.
"What is he, was he, up to?" Peyton runs her fingers along the side of the envelope, feeling it's sharply folded corners as it grazes her skin.
"Space, 1969, what did he mean?" River closed her eyes tight, trying to reach for any possible idea or reasoning.
"You're still talking but it doesn't matter," Amy snaps at them. Peyton walks over to her and places a hand on top of hers but she snatches it away from her.
"Hey, it mattered to him," Peyton says.
"So it matters to us," River backs her up.
"He's dead," Amy whispers.
"But he still needs us," River takes a few slow steps toward them. "I know, Amy, I know. But right now we need to focus."
Peyton breaks away from her and leans her head on Rory's shoulder. She closes her eyes but the image of the Doctor's burning body is the only thing she sees.
A brutal reminder that she is alone. The last Time Lord.
Peyton snaps her eyes open and sigh, Rory rubs her shoulder.
Her eyes fall on one of the tables in the diner, no intention behind it other than to stare blankly until River finds a way to fix the situation but she sees something that catches her eye. A blue piece of paper lying on the furthest table. Tardis blue.
"Look," she gasps, catching the group's attention.
It takes little over a second for her to cross the diner and pick up the envelope and eye the silver lettering on the cover. 1.
"Excuse me, who was sitting over there?" Rory turns and asks the man behind the counter.
"Just some guy."
River catches up to Peyton and places a hand on her back and carefully takes the envelope from her hand.
"The Doctor knew he was going to his death," River says. "So he sent out messages. When you know it's the end, who do you call?"
"Your friends, people you trust," Rory suggests.
"Number one," she holds up the envelope. "Who did the Doctor trust the most."
In Peyton's time travelling with the Doctor, she had gained little insight into who he trusted. River obviously, she knew his future and was probably his lover at some point, as much as he denied it. Amy, Rory and herself were his friends and she was sure he trusted her. But the ancient man did not give any hint at there being somebody else in his life that he trusted. He had told her that he was the last of their people, all long lost to the Time War. So who was it that he could trust so much?
The creaking of the heavy door at the back of the diner caught the interest of Peyton's ears. It was more of an unconscious reaction, just her over-analytically responding to anything in the vicinity.
But it's the man who emerges. The tweed coat, the stiff shoes. That bloody bow tie. He has a straw in his mouth and she can see the blue light of the Tardis windows behind him.
The Doctor.
She is sure the feeling of horror and disbelief was mutual among the four of them who weren't supposed to be dead. Peyton wants to yell at him, to sob, to hit him, to laugh. But she settles on a vacant stare.
He smiles widely and points at the group of them, as if he is oblivious. This is a cruel joke.
"This is cold," River manages in barely more than a whisper. "Even by your standards, this is cold."
"Or hello, as people used to say," he chuckles.
"Doctor?" Amy stammers.
"Just popped out to get my special straw. It adds more fizz," the Doctor explains, as if that could possibly be the answer they're looking for.
Peyton and Amy walk up to the man together, looking him up and down. Amy's fingers touch his chest as she circles around him. "You're okay. How can you possibly be okay?"
"Hey, 'course I'm okay," he says worriedly, pulling her in a hug. "I'm always okay. I'm the king of okay. Oh, that's a rubbish title, forget that title. Now, Rory the Roman!" he releases Amy and pushes past Peyton to engulf Rory in his arms. "That's a good title."
He lets go of Rory and spins on his heel to face Peyton. "And Peyton!" he grabs her hand, raising it above her head to twirl her before pulling her into a tight hug. He smells like fresh laundry, greasy diner food and something inexplicably him. Her arms wrap around his middle cautiously, still unbelieving that he is even there. "Hope you haven't gotten into too much trouble since I last saw you. Sorry about Wales."
He pulls away and pats her cheek with a wild grin on his face before whipping his head around to River, who he walks toward slowly.
"Doctor River Song. Oh, you bad, bad girl. What trouble have you got for me this time?" He whispers, she assumes that's his attempt at flirting.
Stone-faced, River slaps the Doctor across the face harshly, creating a sound that makes all in the room cringe.
"Okay," the Doctor gasps after a few seconds of stunned silence. "I'm assuming that's for something I haven't done yet."
"Yes, it is," River replies, she can hear in her voice that she's a second away from either yelling or crying.
"Good, looking forward to it."
"I don't understand," Rory blurts out. "How can you be here?" He raises his index finger and presses it to the Doctor's chest.
"I was invited," the Doctor answers, clearly a little confused. He snatches his invitation from River's hand. "Date, map reference. Same as you lot, I assume, otherwise, it's a hell of a coincidence."
"River, what's going on?" Peyton asks.
"Peyton, ask him what age he is," River instructs.
"That's a bit personal," the Doctor says before biting down on the end of his straw.
"Tell her. Tell her what age you are," River orders.
"Nine hundred and nine," he frowns.
Not an hour ago this man said he was eleven hundred and three. If she hadn't spent the last year of her life travelling in a time machine, she would say it was impossible.
But the one who the Doctor trusts the most. He invited his younger self. But why?
"But you said-"
"So where does that leave us? Jim the Fish? Have we done Jim the Fish yet?" River interrupts Amy, staring intensely at the Doctor.
"Who's Jim the Fish?" The Doctor asks, his eyes lighting up excitedly.
"I don't understand," Amy shakes her head.
"Yeah you do," Rory looks at her, trying to say what was on all of their minds without saying a word.
"I don't! What are we all doing here?" The Doctor raises his voice a little, frowning at the interaction between Rory and Amy.
Silence. What could Peyton possibly say? She can't tell him he's going to die. She's sure that's against one of his rules. And even then, how does anyone tell someone something like that?
"We've been recruited," River thinks quickly. "Something to do with space, 1969, and a man called Canton Everett Delaware the third."
"Recruited by who?" The Doctor asks, walking away from them slowly.
"Someone who trusts you more than anybody else in the universe," River says.
"And who's that?" He turns around and raises his eyebrows, lowering the straw from his mouth.
"Spoilers."
"1969, that's an easy one. Funny how some years are easy. Now, 1482, full of glitches. Now then, Canton Everett Delaware the third, that was his name, yeah? How many of those can there be? Well, three, I suppose."
There was a weird energy around the five travellers when they piled into the Tardis. The three and a half humans stand around the edge of the glass platform, leaning against the railings, silently mulling over the events of the last hour while the overly energetic Time Lord runs around flipping switches and pressing buttons.
Peyton's gaze is fixed on a particular flashing light on the console, unbroken as she stews in their dilemma.
How are they supposed to figure out what the Doctor wanted them to do when he's dead, but the version of him in front of them has no idea yet of what is to come? Do they tell him that they're solving his murder? Or do they expect him to blindly follow instructions from an unknown and possibly untrustworthy source?
Peyton's stare is broken by Amy who storms down from the console, closely followed by Rory, then River.
"Peyton, is everybody cross with me for some reason?"
"I'll find out," she gets to her feet, unable to meet his eye, and heads to the staircase that River and the Ponds disappeared down without looking back at the Doctor. She know that everyone ignoring him probably is confusing to him right now, but it hurts too much to face him.
She finds Amy sitting against the base of the console while River and Rory stand in front of her.
"Explain it again." She hears Amy's request.
"The Doctor we saw on the beach is a future version, two hundred years older than the one up there," River says in a hushed voice.
"But all that's still going to happen? He's still going to die?"
"We're all going to do that, Amy."
"We're not all going to arrange our own wake and invite ourselves," Rory snaps bitterly.
"The Doctor, in the future, knowing he's going to die recruits his younger self and all of us, to do what exactly?" Peyton adds to the conversation. "Avenge him?"
"Avenging's not his style," River shakes her head.
"Save him," Amy suggests hopefully.
"That's not his style either," Peyton sighs.
"We have to tell him," Amy says, getting to her feet.
"We've told him all we can," River says firmly. "We can't even tell him we've seen his future self. He's interacted with his own past. It could rip a hole in the universe."
"Except he's done it before," Amy reasons.
"And if I recall, the universe did sort of blow up," Rory reminds her.
"But he'd want to know!" Amy hisses.
"Would he? Would anyone?"
Peyton's blood runs cold as the Doctor's head appears upside down, leaning precariously off the side of the console floor. "I'm being extremely clever up here, and there's no one to stand around, looking impressed. What's the point in having you all?"
He pushes himself out of view and hopefully out of earshot.
"Couldn't you just slap him sometimes?" River rolls her eyes in frustration. She turns to join him up at the console.
"River, we can't just let him die." Amy's broken voice stops River from taking another step. She turns and looks back to the red-haired girl, looking so small and frightened against the harsh lights. "We have to stop it. How can you be okay with this?"
"The Doctor's death doesn't frighten me, nor does my own. There's a far worse day coming for me."
The Doctor taps the monitor as they all gather round to see what the TARDIS has found, or rather where, or maybe when.
"Washington DC, April 8th, 1969," Amy reads aloud. "So why haven't we landed?"
"Because that's not where we're going," the Doctor says.
"Then, where are we going?" Peyton asks, golfing her arms.
"Home!" The Doctor exclaims. "Well, you three are. Ponds, off you pop and make babies. Peyton, don't go investigating into anything dangerous and make me come to save you. And you Doctor Song," he taps her nose and begins walking around the console. "Back to prison. And me, I'm late for a biplane lesson in 1911, or it could be knitting. Knitting or biplanes, one or the other." He slumps down into the beige seat on the other side of the platform, crossing one leg over the other and furrowing his brow in his hand.
Peyton walks around to him, slowly and cautiously, unsure of what he's doing.
He looks up at them with a tired expression. "What? A mysterious summons? You think I'm just going to go?"
Peyton makes eye contact with River and then Rory as she tries to find the words to convince him to go.
"Who sent those messages? I know you all know. I can see it in your faces. Don't play games with me. Don't ever, ever think you're capable of that," he says. His eyes bore into Peyton's and she feel as though he is searching her with only his pupils. His hazel eyes, though often so soft and inviting were now dark and menacing.
"You're going to have to trust us this time," River says slowly.
"Trust you? Sure," he gets to his feet with a sarcastic smile and makes his way over to her. "But first of all, Doctor Song, just one thing, who are you?"
River does not answer but stares defiantly into his eyes.
"You're someone from my future, I'm getting that, but who?"
No response.
"Okay. Why are you in prison? Who did you kill? Hmm? Now, I love a bad girl, me, but trust you? Seriously?"
"What about me? Can you trust me?" Peyton asks, mostly just to save River from the Doctor's interrogating gaze.
He cocks his head in her direction.
"I know just as much about you as I do Doctor Song. The child of my nemesis, probably put on Earth to foil me in some way, even if you don't know it yet. How Time Lord are you? And how did you even survive? Time Lord and Human DNA don't mix, and yet here you are."
Peyton opens her mouth to argue but he raises his hand to warn her not to.
"Then trust me," Amy grabs Peyton's hand, pulling her back a little.
"Okay," he says, interested, he walks toward her, not looking in Peyton's direction at all.
"You have to do this, and you can't ask why," she says in a quiet voice.
"Are you being threatened? Is someone making you say that?" He asks, concerned.
"No."
"You're lying."
"I'm not lying."
"Swear to me. Swear to me on something that matters," he says lowly.
There's silence as the Doctor and Amy stare at each other, neither one willing to break.
"Fish fingers and custard," she promises.
The silence is deafening as they wait for the Doctor's reply. Amy's fingers are still tightly wrapped around Peyton's hand as she looks up into the eyes of the ancient man before here.
"My life in your hands, Amelia Pond," he whispers finally.
He backs away slowly and Amy's grip on Peyton loosens.
"Thank you," River smiles at the two girls, Peyton sends her a meek smile back.
"So!" The Doctor yells, a quick change of pace not unusual to the Doctor but still manages to make Peyton jump anyway. "Canton Everett Delaware the third! Who's he?"
River walks around to the monitor and looks up at it. "Ex-FBI, got kicked out."
"Why?" The Doctor asks. River shrugs.
"Six weeks after he left the Bureau, the President contacted him for a private meeting."
"Yeah, 1969, who's president?" The Doctor asks.
"Richard Milhous Nixon," Peyton recalls. Half an alien brain was sure useful for holding information. "Vietnam, Watergate, need I go on?"
The Doctor doesn't even look at her.
"There's some good stuff too," River offers.
"Not enough."
"Hippy!" She teases.
"Archaeologist," he pokes back.
Peyton frowns, feeling a little ignored by the Doctor. Why was he avoiding her? He was the one who said all that hurtful stuff. She wants to reason that he didn't mean it, but with how he is acting, she isn't even sure.
"Okay, since I don't know what I'm getting into, this time, for once I'm being discreet, putting the engines on silent," he smiles like a small child coming up with a clever idea. He flips a lever and a horrible screeching sound fills the TARDIS.
While Peyton covers her ears, River rolls her eyes and pushes the lever back.
"Did you do something?" The Doctor sticks his head back around to River's side, looking at his four companions with a concerned look.
"No, just, watching," River assures him sweetly.
"Putting the outer shell on invisible," he ducks back around the other side of the console. "Haven't done this in a while, a big drain on the power."
"You can turn the Tardis invisible?" Rory asks.
"Ha!" The Doctor says with the press of a button, turning up the brightness of the lights in the room.
"Very nearly," River sighs, pressing the button again, the lights returning to normal.
"Uh, did you touch something?" The Doctor asks again.
"Just admiring your skills, sweetie," River lies.
"Good! You might learn something," he says, very impressed with himself.
"Take notes," River nods in Peyton's direction. "This will be you one day."
"Now, I can't check the scanner, it doesn't work when we're cloaked," the Doctor frowns, adjusting the knobs on the monitor. "Um, just give us a mo."
He runs toward the doors and as she so often has, Peyton follows, along with the Ponds and River. "Whoa, Who's, whoa, whoa, you lot, wait a moment," he says, turning to face them. "We're in the middle of the most powerful city, in the most powerful country on Earth." He opens the door. "Let's take it slow."
He ducks out, leaving the four of them in the TARDIS. They walk back up to the flight deck.
"Arrogant bastard," River rolls her eyes before slumping against the railing.
"Well, what do we do now?" Rory asks. "Wait for him to come back?"
"Or get himself killed, again," Amy scoffs.
Nobody has anything more to say, Amy falls down into the leather chair and pulls out her phone, Rory jumps up the stairs and stands next to her, looking a little lost.
Peyton pushes herself up to sit on the railing, resting her feet on the lowest rung and letting her hands rest beside her.
The warmth of River's hand covers one of Peyton's and she looks at the girl sympathetically. "He's a bit insensitive, that man. He didn't mean what he said."
"And how do you know that?" Peyton sighs. "It sure sounded like he did."
"Believe me," she runs the pad of her thumb over the back of Peyton's hand. "You'll see soon enough."
"You say you're from his future, but how can he have a future with you if he treats you like that," Peyton raises an eyebrow.
She laughs silently at that. "He's doesn't know who I am and that scares him. Soon he'll know that too, dear."
"He said he doesn't know who I am either," Peyton looks down and watches River's thumb trace a circular pattern onto her hand. "So, in the future, do you know who I am, what I am?"
River pats Peyton's arm lightly and walks toward the console, adjusting her denim jacket as she does.
A loud bang causes the entire room to shake and Peyton is thrown off her perch, thankfully landing on her feet.
"Every time," River groans.
"What just happened?" Amy asks.
"The fool probably ran into the TARDIS," she shakes her head, grabbing the monitor.
"He said the scanner wouldn't work," Rory frowns.
"I know," she swings it around so they all can see the screen. "Bless." She connects a wire to it that creates a shower of sparks.
She adjusts the knobs, and they all lean in close.
An image appears of the Doctor being pinned to the floor by several men in suits.
"River! Have you got my scanner working?" The crackly voice of the Doctor groans through the speakers.
"Oh, I hate him," she rolls her eyes.
"No, you don't!" The Doctor yells, obviously anticipating River's comment despite being unable to hear it. There's yelling in the background. "River, make her blue again!"
River quickly jumps into action, leaning across the console to pull two levers before standing back to watch the monitor.
Peyton sees the very surprised faces of the Americans in suits and she can't help but laugh a little bit.
"So, do we get to go say 'howdy' now?" Amy asks.
"No, we wait for the Doctor," River insists. She looks back to the screen and sees the men now holding the Doctor at gunpoint. "Change of plan, we wait for me."
She marches down to the door, Peyton follows close behind. She opens the door quietly and she hears a snippet of the conversation.
"You think you can just shoot me?" The Doctor asks, sitting in the President's chair with his feet up on the desk.
"They're Americans!" River yells, throwing the door open. All the guns are on her now.
"Don't shoot, definitely no shooting!" The Doctor jumps to his feet in a panic.
"Definitely don't shoot us either," Peyton calls as she steps out of the TARDIS with her hands up. "Very much not in need of getting shot."
"Look, we've got our hands up," Rory adds as he and his wife step into the Oval Office.
"Who the hell are you?" The President demands. The President seems a little younger in real life than he does in his photos, but Peyton can tell it's him none the less. It must be early days.
"Sir, you need to stand back," the only man in a brown jacket says. Peyton catches a glimpse of his face, she saw it not five minutes ago on the monitor when the TARDIS was trying to find the Delaware man. Before her is the younger version of the man she saw on the beach. Number Five. He brought the gasoline, he knew .
"But who, who are they? What is that box?" The President insists.
"It's a Police Box, can't you read?" The Doctor says, a little offended. He lowers his hands a little. "I'm your new undercover agent, on loan from Scotland Yard. Code name: The Doctor. These are my top operatives; The Legs, The Nose, Blondie Number... I don't know, I've lost track, and Mrs Robinson."
"I hate you," River mutters under her breath.
Peyton adds a glare in his direction too, though it falls unseen by him as he eyes the guns still trained on him. Blondie Number What ? She catches herself being angry at the stupid nickname, as if that really matters.
"No, you don't," he smirks.
"Who are you?" Nixon asks again.
"Boring question. Who's phoning you, that's interesting. 'Cause Canton Three is right, that was definitely a girls voice. Which means there's only one place in America she can be phoning from." The Doctor, as always, not only has every weapon in the room on him, but also everyone's attention.
"Where?" Canton asks flatly.
"Do not engage with the intruder, Mr Delaware," one of the security men warns.
"You heard everything I heard, it's simple enough. Give me five minutes and I'll explain," the Doctor offers, sitting back down calmly and kicks his feet back up. "On the other hand, lay a finger on me, or my friends, and you'll never, ever know."
"How'd you get it in here?" Canton asks, clearly a little distracted. "I mean, you didn't carry it."
"Clever, aye?" The Doctor nods in his direction
"Love it."
"Do not compliment the intruder!" The same security man chastises him again.
"Five minutes?" Canton confirms.
"Five," the Doctor promises.
"Mr President, that man is a clear and present danger-"
"Mr President, that man walked in here with a big blue box and four of his friends and that's the man he walked past. One of them's worth listening to," Canton interjects. "What say we give him five minutes, see if he delivers."
"Thanks, Canton," The Doctor smiles.
"If he doesn't, I'll shoot him myself."
The smile quickly drops from the Doctor's face. "Not so thanks."
"Sir, I can't recommend-"
"Shut up, Mr Peterson," Nixon orders. "Alright, five minutes."
The gun pointed at Peyton's head lowers slowly and she brings her arms back to her sides at the same pace. She exhales a breath she didn't realise she was holding and looks to Amy and Rory to make sure they're okay as well.
"I'm going to need a SWAT team ready to mobilise, street-level maps covering all of Florida, a pot of coffee, twelve Jammy Dodgers and a fez," the Doctor looks up at the President expectantly.
"Get him his maps," Canton orders.
Peyton sits on the floor of the Oval Office staring at the same map she's been holding for the past five minutes.
Once all the guns had been put down, the Doctor had requested that the recording be played again. When Amy asked what they were supposed to be looking for as he shoved an armful of maps into her hands, he just kept muttering to himself; "Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton."
The map of Glades county seemed to be ever-changing before her tired eyes. She rubs them meekly, trying to focus.
Jefferson. Adams. Hamilton.
Landmarks? People? Hang on, street names?
"Why Florida?" Canton asks, breaking the studious silence in the room.
"That's where NASA is," The Doctor replies. "She mentioned a space man. NASA's where the space men live. Also, there's another lead I'm following."
"Space man?" Amy whispers in Peyton's ear, crouching down beside her, making her jump. She is certain Amy was sitting on one of the couches a second ago. "Like the one we saw at the lake?"
"Maybe," Peyton shrugs, looking up at the oblivious Doctor across the room.
"Probably," River says, getting to her feet after obviously eavesdropping on their conversation. Amy stands to return to her post but stops in her tracks. Peyton assumes she's going to add something but she doesn't.
Peyton looks up at the red-haired girl. Her eyes are fixed on something across the room.
"I remember," she whispers.
Peyton moves to follow her gaze but Rory steps in the way. She leans around him but there's nothing out of the ordinary there.
"Remember what?" He asks.
"Nothing, I just..." she jerks her hand to her stomach, leaning over a bit.
"Amy, what's wrong?" Rory frowns.
Peyton slowly gets to her feet as well. "Amy?"
"You alright?" The Doctor asks as he walks by with another map.
"Yeah, no, I'm fine. I'm just, feeling a little sick," she brushes past her husband toward one of the guards standing at the door. "Excuse me, is there a toilet or something?"
"Sorry ma'am, while this procedure is ongoing, you must remain within the Oval Office," he says.
"Shut up and take her to the restroom," Canton snaps.
"This way, ma'am," the other guard nods. Peyton and Rory both make a move to follow her, but the remaining guard blocks their path, staring intently as if daring them to make another move. They both take the hint and back off.
"Your five minutes are up," Canton says across the room to the Doctor, who is still pouring over his map.
"Yeah, and where's my fez?" He snarks back.
Peyton sits down next to Rory and peers over his shoulder at the map he picks up.
A phone starts ringing.
"The kid?" Canton asks.
"Should I answer it?" Mr Nixon hovers his hand over it cautiously.
"Here!" The Doctor shouts, prodding his map with his finger. "The only place in the United States that call could be coming from."
Peyton pushes herself off the couch to see where the Doctor is pointing.
"See? Obvious when you think about it," he shrugs.
Out of the corner of her eye, Peyton sees Amy and the brown-haired guard re-enter the room.
River unintentionally blocks Peyton's view of the map as Canton leans over. "You, sir, are a genius."
"It's a hobby."
"Mr President, answer the phone," Canton says.
Nobody dares say a word, no one dares to breathe as Richard Nixon picks up the turquoise handset and sets the machine next to it to record. "Hello. This is President Nixon."
"It's here!" The faint voice of a child can be heard through the box recording the conversation. "The Space Man's here. It's gonna get me! It's gonna eat me!"
"There's no time for a SWAT team, let's go," the Doctor pushes past Peyton to grab his jacket off the back of a chair and he swings it around his shoulders.
"Come on," River mutters in Peyton's ear, grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the TARDIS.
"Mr President, tell her help's on the way. Canton, on no account, follow me into this box and close the door behind you," the Doctor says before following Amy into the time machine hastily.
"What the hell are you doing?" Peyton hears Canton yell.
Peyton grabs the railing as the Doctor and River get the TARDIS into flight. This feeling will never get old.
"Jefferson isn't a girl's name, or her name either," the Doctor says. "Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton. River?"
"Surnames of three of America's founding fathers," she answers.
"Lovely fellas, two of them fancied me," the Doctor smirks.
Out of the corner of her eye, Peyton sees Rory talking to a bewildered Canton by the door.
"You see, the President asked the child two questions: 'where are you?' and 'who are you?' She was answering where. Now, where would you find three big historical names in a row like that?"
"Where?" Amy asks.
"Here! Come on!" The TARDIS lands with a thud and they all run to the door.
Canton stands in the way and places a hand on the Doctor's chest to stop him. "It's, er..."
"Are you taking care of this?" The Doctor asks Rory before pushing past Canton and leading them outside.
"Why is it always my turn!" Rory groans.
They find themselves in a messy office of sorts. The only light is pouring out from the TARDIS and creeping in through the windows from the streetlights.
"Where are we?" Peyton asks.
"About five miles from Cape Kennedy Space Centre," the Doctor says without looking at her, waving a small American flag he found on the distressed desk. "It's 1969, the year of the Moon. Interesting, don't you think?"
"But why would a little girl be here?" Amy looks around using a flashlight River thrust into her hand.
"I don't know. Lost, maybe," the Doctor places the flag back on the desk. River picks up a discarded phone next to it. The Doctor stands. "The President asked the girl where she was, and she did what any lost little girl would do. She looked out the window." He peers through the blinds and the signpost outside which Peyton gathers features the names of the three founding fathers in question.
"Streets. Of course, street names," she smiles.
"The only place in Florida, probably all of America, with those three street names on the same junction," he again fails to acknowledge her. "And Doctor Song, you've got that face on again."
"What face?" She raises an eyebrow.
"The 'he's hot when he's clever' face," he smirks.
"This is my normal face."
"Yes, it is."
"Oh, shut up."
"Not a chance."
Peyton and Amy share a significant look of disgust at the two time travellers.
The TARDIS door creaks open and Canton stumbles out. "We've moved. How, how can we have moved?"
"You haven't even gotten to space travel yet?" The Doctor chuckles at him.
"I was going to cover it with time travel," Rory glares at the Doctor as he appears from the box, closing the door behind him.
"Time travel?" Canton stammers.
"Braveheart, Canton. Come on!" The Doctor spins on his heel and leads the group further into the building.
"It's a warehouse of some kind," River turns on another flashlight and shines it around. "Disused."
"You realise this is almost certainly a trap, of course," the Doctor says calmly.
"I noticed the phone, yes," River says just as calmly.
The whole idea of this being a trap is putting Peyton on an edge that the two clearly don't seem bothered by.
"What about it?" Amy says quietly.
"It was cut off. So how did the child phone from here?" River answered.
"Okay, but why would anyone want to trap us?" She asks a follow-up question.
"Don't know," the Doctor shrugs. "Let's see if anyone tries to kill us and work backward.
As they continue to wander through the warehouse the feeling of unsettlement continues to grow in the form of goosebumps on the back of Peyton's neck. She shivers involuntarily and Amy reaches for her hand.
"Now why would a little girl be here?" River shines the light on a broken control panel before scanning it across the room.
"I don't know. Let's find her and ask her," the Doctor suggests.
River's flashlight stops, illuminating some sort of machine, definitely fallen into disrepair but still very strange looking.
"It's non-terrestrial, definitely alien. Probably not even from this time zone," River deduces.
"Which is odd," the Doctor walks over to a bench filled with definitely human and definitely 1960s technology. "Because look at this!"
"Earth technology, contemporary," Peyton notes her own deductions.
"Very contemporary, cutting edge!" The Doctor says excitedly, picking up a space helmet from a crate. "This is from the space program!"
"Stolen?" River frowns.
"What, by aliens?" Amy stares at the helmet conspicuously.
"Apparently," the Doctor shrugs.
"But why? If you can make it to Earth, why steal technology that can barely make it to the moon?" Peyton scoffs.
"Maybe 'cause it's cooler!" The Doctor laughs, putting on the helmet. He flips up the visor. "Look how cool this stuff is!"
She gets an unwelcome flashback to the beach, to the astronaut that killed him.
"Cool aliens?" Amy chuckles sarcastically.
"Well, what would you call me?"
"An alien."
"Oi!"
"I, uh, I think he's okay now," Rory appears with Canton. Peyton was beginning to worry about them for a minute.
"Ah, back with us, Canton?" The Doctor cheers, taking off the helmet and discarding it where he found it.
"I like your wheels," Canton replies, staring at the alien machine with his flashlight trained on it.
"That's my boy!" The Doctor slaps him on the shoulder. "So, come on. Little girl. Let's find her."
"River..." Peyton trails off before she can finish her sentence. She doesn't even know how to say it.
"I know what you're thinking," she replies, picking up a tube from the machine covered in some sort of gunk.
"No you don't," Peyton shakes her head.
"You're thinking if we can find the Space Man in 1969, and neutralise it, then it won't be around in 2011 to kill the Doctor."
"That's exactly what I was thinking too," Amy confesses, standing across the other side of the machine.
"Okay, lucky guess," Peyton looks away.
"It's only because I was thinking it too," River admits. The three exchange unsure glances.
"So, let's do it," Amy says in a hushed voice.
"It doesn't work like that," River says. "We came here because of what we saw in the future. If we try and prevent the future from happening, we create a paradox."
"Time can be rewritten," Peyton insists.
"Not all of it," River shakes her head, looking down at her scanner.
"Says who?" Amy challenges.
"Who do you think?" She sighs. "What's this?"
River's torch follows one of the tubes, leading toward a manhole left slightly ajar.
"We can still save him," Amy whispers.
"Doctor," River ignores her. "Look at this. The Time Lord appears at their side, peering down at River as she pushes the heavy metal cover aside to reveal a dark hole with a ladder.
"So where does that go?" He asks, taking a step forward and peering down into it.
"There's a network of tunnels running under here," River reads from her scanner.
"Life signs?" The Doctor asks.
"No, nothing that's showing up."
"Those are the worst kind," he says. River pops her scanner in its pouch on her belt and hops onto the ladder in the hole. "Be careful!"
"Careful? Tried that once, ever so dull," she smirks.
"Shout if you get into trouble," he bends down to look her in the eye.
"Don't worry, I'm quite the screamer," she teases before descending into the tunnels. "Now there's a spoiler for you."
"Gross," Peyton mumbles to herself.
"So, what's going on here?" Canton asks.
"Uh, nothing. She's just a friend," the Doctor panics.
"I think he's talking about the possible alien incursion," Rory leans toward the Doctor.
"Okay!" The Doctor sighs in relief and places a hand on Rory and Canton's shoulders before walking past the girls. "Split up, search this stuff. Amy, Canton. Rory, Peyton. Shout if you find anything, or if something tries to kill you."
Peyton steps to Rory’s side and wanders over to a bench covered in seemingly human trinkets with him.
"Surgical equipment," Rory says and he shines his flashlight over the items.
"Hmm?" She looks up at him expectantly.
"This is all stuff you'd find in a hospital. Syringe, tweezers, scalpel. A bunch of stuff," Rory bends down to get a closer look.
"All clear!" River appears from the manhole. "Just tunnels, nothing down there I can see. Uh, give me five minutes, I want to take another look around."
"Stupidly dangerous!" The Doctor warns.
"Yep, I like it too. Amy, look after him." She disappears back down and Peyton hears the heavy footsteps of the Doctor approaching behind her.
"Peyton, would you mind going with her?" He asks softly.
"Yeah, a bit," she scoffs without looking up at him, pretending to be interested in the surgical tools Rory is showing her.
"Peyton, are you angry with me?" He places a hand tentatively on her shoulder. At his touch she spins around to face him, knocking his hand away from her.
"You've been avoiding me! All those things you said on the TARDIS. Did you mean them?" She asks in a hushed voice even though she can feel everyone in the room's eyes on them.
"I'm sorry, Peyton," he lowers his head. "I was stressed, I was a little scared. I shouldn't have snapped at you."
"Damn right you shouldn't have," Rory glowers.
"So, you didn't mean what you said?" Peyton asks, looking pointedly back at the equipment, her eyes getting a bit too damp for her liking.
"What can I do to make it right?" He asks, however, Peyton notices that he avoided the question, but really, what should she expect from him?
"Some grovelling, for a start," she jests.
"Oh, my Peyton Barrett," he pulls her close, wrapping his thin arms around her. He presses a light kiss in her hair. "It would take a lot more than your father to stop me caring about you."
"Sap," she teases, shoving him away, and folding her arms looking the Time Lord up and down.
"Feisty. Also, just for the record, you're blondie number six."
"Shut up."
She looks up into his eyes a moment longer. "Hang on, River. I'm coming too." She calls before grabbing the flashlight out of the Doctor's hand and heading toward the manhole. She hasn't quite forgiven him, but she is slowly learning that despite the Doctor's shortcomings, perhaps listening to him is the surest way to stay alive.
As Peyton lowers herself down, the freezing metal gives her hands a near burning sensation and as her feet touch the ground, the slap of water against concrete makes her glad she wore faux leather boots instead of sneakers.
She looks around at her surroundings. The tunnels are made of brick, not what she was expecting at all, and beyond a hole in the wall, she sees River leaning against the brick, panting slightly.
"You okay?" Peyton shines her torchlight on her.
"Ah, yes, yes. I just felt a bit sick. It's the prison food probably," she pulls her scanner out of its bag. "Did the Doctor send you to babysit me? Ha! One day he'll laugh at that."
Peyton frowns, not bothering to ask what that means. She's learnt when dealing with River Song that she never explains herself, but she always proves to be true in time.
"This way, what do you think?" She asks, changing the subject. She begins to walk without waiting for Peyton's reply.
She follows cautiously, shining her flashlight around the wet walls. There's some more of that gunky tubing that was on the machine down here. Other than that. The tunnel isn't much to look at.
There's a rattling sound. The sound of something brushing against the wall. Each minuscule disturbance her ears pick up makes her more paranoid.
"I keep thinking I can hear things," she whispers to River.
"Interesting! These tunnels are old," she completely ignores her. "Really old. How can that be really old, and nobody notice them?"
River's flashlight stops as it illuminates a metal door. Peyton groans.
"What's behind there?" Peyton stares at it. "Is it a maintenance hatch?"
"It's locked," River crouches down to be eye level with the handle. "Why do people always lock things?"
"They probably have a good reason," Peyton looks behind her quickly as she hears another noise. "Do you think it’s going to be something dangerous?"
"Oh, almost definitely," River chuckles.
"You're going to open it, aren't you?"
"It's locked. How's a girl supposed to resist?"
"Is this sensible? Shouldn't we get the Doctor to have a look?" Peyton reasons.
"God, I hope not. And you've got to stop relying on that man. You're a big girl now."
"You and him, I can see it," Peyton raises an eyebrow but River is too busy concentrating on the door.
"Keep a lookout," River says.
"What did you mean?" she asks. "What you said to Amy. That there's a worse day coming for you?"
She looks up at Peyton with sad, sad eyes. She almost regrets asking.
"When I first met the Doctor, a long, long time ago. He knew all about me. Think about that. Impressionable young girl, and suddenly this man just drops out of the sky. He's clever and mad and wonderful and knows every last thing about her. Imagine what that does to a girl."
"I don't really have to," Peyton drops her eyes to the floor. She thinks about her first meeting with the Doctor. He may have not known a single thing about her, but he was alluring. He was magnetic. He still is.
"Trouble is, it's all back to front," she sighs. "My past is his future. We're travelling in opposite directions. Every time we meet, I know him more, and he knows me less. I live for the days when I see him. But I know that every time I do, he'll be one step further away. And the day's coming when I'll look into that man's eyes, my Doctor, and he won't have the faintest idea who I am."
The door mechanism whirs to life, startling her a little. She had been working on it as she talked.
"And I think it's going to kill me."
River gets to her feet and places a hand on the door handle, looking at Peyton for confirmation before thrusting it down.
The door falls open slowly. There's a large room behind it. River walks in and Peyton follows her cautiously. But what she sees is so familiar.
"I've been here before," Peyton gasp. River turns and looks at her with the strangest expression. "Maybe not here exactly. But another version. In England, 2010, with the Doctor. It's a ship of some kind. It was hiding in a flat-"
The central pillar starts flashing and a loud noise fills their ears.
"We've triggered an alarm. Check if anything's coming."
Before Peyton can protest at how bad of an idea that is, she finds herself following her orders immediately.
She sticks her head outside the door and freezes as she sees two white figures in black suits. Except they're not men. They're not even human. Their faces remind her of that painting of 'The Scream ', ivory white and without a mouth.
Their eyes are black and deeply sunken into their skulls.
Three fingers.
At least seven foot each, their height that is.
Peyton's hearts pound in her chest as she tries to cry out to River, but she can't make a sound. Simply staring at the creatures in fright.
She gathers some strength and pushes herself back into the room.
"There's nothing out there," she calls to River. She frowns. Why are her hearts beating so fast? Peyton wipes cold sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. How did that get there?
This place gives her the heebie-jeebies and she wants nothing more than to leave immediately.
The alarm thankfully stops. Peyton walks toward River at the console and watch her as she stares intensely at her scanner. She places a hand on one of the orbs.
"No, don't!" Peyton cries out.
River looks to her with an eyebrow raised but nothing happens. No electricity, she doesn't drop to the floor dead.
"These tunnels," she says. "They're not just here, they're everywhere. They're running under the surface of the entire planet! They've been here for centuries."
"How has nobody noticed them?" Peyton frowns. "Seems like the sort of thing you wouldn't just forget about."
Light flashes from the tunnel behind them and the feeling of goosebumps crawl up her neck again, Peyton turns her head ever so slowly, peering into the darkness.
Sunken eyes.
Ivory skin.
Three fingers.
She just saw them. But she forgot. How did she forget?
The sound of electricity whirs through her ears and she hears River scream. "Peyton!"
Everything goes black.