Ten

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I've decided not to write 'The Beast Below' or 'Victory of the Daleks' as I feel nothing significant really happens, apologies if you did want to read that!

THE DOCTOR, Amy and Pip were currently walking around a museum, much to Pip's and Amy's distaste.

"Wrong. Wrong. Bit right, mostly wrong. I love museums" the Doctor was pointing out exhibitions and calling them out for how "wrong" they were. Pip groaned silently, she hated museums, so much in fact, that she frequently went out of her way to avoid going there when the lead care worker, Sarah, organised trips with the children to such places. She ended up hiding back on the minibus whilst the other children went inside.

"Yeah. Great. Can we go to another planet now? Big space ship? Churchill's bunker? You promised us a planet next" Amy pointed out, making the Doctor frown at them, walking backwards whilst he was at it.

"Amy, this isn't any old asteroid. It's the Delerium Archive, the final resting place of the headless monks. The biggest museum ever" the Doctor shot back, rolling his eyes as if to say 'wasn't that obvious?'.

This only made Pip grunt, the Doctor turning his head to look at her, and grinning. The grin was not returned, however.

"You've got a time machine. What do you need museums for? And jesus christ wipe that grin off your face, it doesn't suit you" Pip continued for Amy, adding her own comment at the end.

The Doctor pouted, before smiling again, as he'd found some other exhibition to examine.

"Wrong. Very wrong. Ooh, one of mine. Also one of mine"

"Oh I see. This is how you keep score. Got to raise that ego of yours, nice and high" Pip smirked at him, making him glare playfully at her.

A few minutes later they happened to come across a square box in a case, the Doctor seeming very taken by it.

"Oh great, an old box" Amy rolled her eyes.

"It's from one of the old starliners. A home box" the Doctor grinned at the box, which, didn't smile back at him.

'It's an inanimate object mate' Pip thought to herself.

"What's a home box?" Amy asked him.

"Like a black box on a plane, except it homes. Anything happens to the ship, the home box flies home with all the flight data" the Doctor replied, still smiling at the home box.

"So?" Amy asked him again, not understanding the importance of this box.

"The writing, the graffiti. Old High Gallifreyan. The lost language of the time lords" the Doctor said, gesturing towards the circles.

"There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple gods" the Doctor continued, Pip suddenly interested, as she saw she could actually understand the language all of a sudden. She stifled a laugh at what it said, the Doctor sending her a confused glance.

"What does it say?" Amy asked him.

"Hello sweetie" the Doctor read out the words. Pip burst out laughing, for that was a catchphrase an old friend of hers had, when she was alive, at least, a long time ago.

The Doctor glared at her, wanting to ask what was so funny, but seeing Amy place her hand on her back, he stopped himself. A coping mechanism of some sort, he noted.

Pip calmed down soon after, regaining her posture, she mumbled an apology to both, Amy, hugging her. She'd never met this friend of Pip's, but knew she meant a lot to her. She remembered Pip coming home devastated, and broken one night, the night her friend had died. She never did tell her how, though.

Through the security camera, a woman winked in its direction. Pippa didn't  catch this happening, didn't see the woman, for she was far too busy looking at other objects that caught her attention.

An alarm sounded shortly after, chasing them back to the TARDIS, much to the girls relief. They managed to close the doors before a group of guards saw them, however.

The Doctor took this as a sign. The person that had written those words had made this happen. They needed help, perhaps.

"Why are we doing this?" Amy asked, Pip looking up at her, confused.

"Doing what?" Pip asked her, Amy rolling her eyes at her in response.

"The woman? The one who winked at the camera? You didn't see her?" She responded, Pip shaking her head in response.

""We're doing this because someone on a spaceship twelve thousand years ago is trying to attract my attention. Let's see if we can get the security playback working" The Doctor trailed off, pressing buttons and pushing levers on the control panel.

Pip had nearly dozed off, just realising how tired she was. She hadn't slept in what seemed like forever. She was sure she felt insomnia's hand on her shoulder just then. She didn't hear any of the recording, or see the woman.

She opened her eyes about five minutes later, after hearing the Doctor shout "Whoo!". She jolted upright, Amy turning around, and laughing at her. She glared at the red head in response, obviously not in a good mood.

The Doctor opens the doors, and a woman comes flying in. She had blonde, curly hair, and a face that she recognised so well, was so familiar to her. She couldn't believe it. The woman turned to her and gasped in shock.

Pip felt sick just then. She couldn't believe it. She was alive, River was alive.

"I'll be right back" she muttered, before storming out of the control room, the Doctor staring after her in both confusion and sadness. Why did he feel like this? Why did he care for her so much?

The woman looked as if she was going to cry, but quickly regained herself.

"What happened?" Amy asked, trailing off.

"I don't know" the Doctor felt guilty, although he did nothing. He was sure of it.

"Follow that ship" she managed to say, not feeling as confident as before. She couldn't believe Pip was here, travelling with the Doctor. She was so proud of how far she had come, from the broken, bruised girl she was all those years ago. She'd missed her best friend so much.

"Use the stabilizers" River shouted at the Doctor, the two of which had been shouting for the last two minutes.

"There aren't any stabilizers" he shouted back.

"The blue switches" River practically rolls her eyes.

"Oh, the blue ones don't do anything, they're just blue" he trailed off, unable to think of any other suitable description for them.

"Yes they're blue. Look, they're the blue stabilizers" River pressed the buttons, the TARDIS stopped shaking seconds after.

"See" she smiled smugly at him.

"Yeah. Well, it's just boring now, isn't it? They're boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers" he remarked, River actually rolling her eyes this time.

Pip came back shortly after, and an uncomfortable silence followed. River so badly wanted to talk to her, comfort her, but figured she would want time to get her thoughts together.

She gave a little smile, in no particular direction, before sitting in one of the seats placed around the control panel.

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