Ties Between Time and Space

✦23✦

Chapter Twenty-Three
Getting Stuck In Paris

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"I don't get it," Rose said, staring at the large screen. "How come they got in there?"

"They teleported. You saw them. As long as the ship and the ballroom are linked, their short-range teleports will do the trick," the Doctor said.

"Well, we'll go in the TARDIS!"

"We can't," Emma shook her head. "The minute we landed on this ship we became part of the events. Both here in the future and there in the past."

"Fantastic," Rose grumbled.

"Well, can't we just smash through?" Mickey suggested.

"Hyperplex this side," the Doctor stressed, pointing at it, "plate glass the other. We need a truck."

"We don't have a truck," Mickey said.

"I know we don't have a truck!" the Doctor exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air before crouching down behind the control panel.

"Well, we've got to try something," Rose stated.

Emma sighed, coming up behind the Doctor to rest her hand on his shoulder. Instantly, he calmed enough to try and think straight again. His thoughts were racing as he thought over every possible possibility.

"No," he said, a bit slower than before. "Smash the glass, smash the time window. There'd be no way back."

"Could everyone just calm down? Please," the voice of Reinette had all of their heads turning back to the large screen of the ballroom.

"Emma," the Doctor said and grabbed a hold of her hand, a look in his eyes she couldn't quite decipher as he pulled her out of the room and down the hallway.

There was no other way.

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Reinette sighed as she stared at the ballroom full of people. No one else was taking charge, not even the King, so she decided to herself.

"Such a commotion. Such distressing noise," she said. "Kindly remember that this is Versailles. This is the Royal Court, and we are French." Reinette swung around to look straight at one of the androids. "I have made a decision. And my decision is no, I shall not be going with you today. I have seen your world," she told it, "and I have no desire to step foot there again."

"We do not require your feet," the android replied.

Two androids dressed as women stepped forward and pushed Reinette down onto her knees. Their blades pointed at her throat to keep her in place.

"You think I fear you, but I do not fear you even now," Reinette bravely declared. "You are merely the nightmare of my childhood. The monster from under my bed. And if my nightmare can return to plague me, then rest assured, so will yours."

In the distance, a sudden whinnying of a horse sounded. Everyone looked around for the source, even the androids' heads tilted from side to side. And galloping began, becoming louder and louder by the second before the large ballroom mirror shattered. Out of it came the white horse fit for a fairytale with the Doctor riding him and Emma sitting behind him, her arms around his middle. The horse's hooves touched the ground and the Doctor grinned, circling the room with Arthur until all of the androids had backed off some. He reared Arthur up before sliding off of him and helping Emma down with a hand.

"Madame de Pompadour," the Doctor greeted, smiling.

"I did make a promise, Reinette," Emma told her.