A Girl Named Willow *The Adventures of the Tenth Doctor/COMPLETE*

Chapter Twelve

After the alterations had been completed, the Doctor and Willow decided to take a little stroll in the flower garden connected to the Western part of the tower. Willow sucked in a large breath of the outside air. A small breeze rustled her curls, a relief to the hot weather on this planet.

Flowers of all kinds lined a small path encrusted with polished gold that intertwined through the whole garden. Willow made an intention of grabbing a chipped piece and stuffing it in her jean pocket. Grand and decorative fountains were sprinkled in the garden, and small alien birds that resembled something like hummingbirds flitted throughout bushes and trimmed trees.

"Doctor," Willow said as she walked with him. His trench coat's tail rose and fell with each step they took. "How are we going to get out of here?"

"I already told you that," he said confidently. "We're breaking out during the wedding."

"Which was rescheduled for today," Willow said anxiously.

The Doctor rolled around his tongue before responding, as if that major detail had gotten away from him. "Still," he said quietly, but grew more confident. "We'll break out during the wedding."

Willow furrowed her eyes, frustrated with his response and composure.

"Yes, but when we break out, how are we going to save the Earth? He's still going to attack it, no matter what."

"I'm already ahead of you," the Doctor said, winking. "One hit from my screwdriver on the main data frame should disable their weapons for a long time, and I mean a looong time. Of course they may try to fire at Earth once again, but with a few alterations and programing, the Tardis can askew the planet's alignment just by half an inch, affecting all their coordinates and ability to fire at anything within a one hundred mile radius. Quite simple really, but in order to do all of this, we need you to get out of that wedding. Speaking of which, did you ever finish reading that book?"

Willow sat staring at the Doctor, making no attempt to comprehend a word he just said. She shook her head and cleared her throat after processing his question. "N-no, actually. I still needed to read about how to separate from a Rotarian, but I saw that the library is blocked off at the moment for the wedding. "

The Doctor suddenly straightened up, eyes wide and teeth gritting. "I swear I've read that entire book before! I should remember this!"

He folded his arms and closed his eyes. "Give me something about the book to remember," he prompted.

"Like what?"

"I dunno, page number, color, smell."

"Smell?"

"Did I stutter? Yes, smell!"

Willow huffed. "I don't remember what the smell was, maybe it was like an old book. But for sure, I remember these big golden letters that said 'escape.' I also remember sitting there for a very long damn time because of how big that freaking book was," Willow said, bending down to tie her now-dirty Converse.

"Length, big golden letters, escape," the Doctor racked his brain of that moment when he read the book. "Come on Doctor! Think, think, think!" His eyes abruptly opened and they shined.

"Ah!" He shouted, making Willow tip over as she tied her other shoe. He bounced from foot to foot, excitedly preparing what he was about to reveal.

"It says, and I quote, 'What you must do is perform a large sacrifice that involves the massacre of both the king and the entire kingdom.' Kind of brilliant that I remembered that, don't you think?"

Willow sat there with a blank expression on her face. "You could have brought up the fact that you remembered that portion of the text a little bit earlier!"