“Don’t worry, I will find a way to get us out of this,” the med-tech remained optimistic and walked up to the door. She hammered against it as she had done a fair few times already, trying to get their jailer’s attention, but received no response.

“You better, seeing as you were the one who got us into it,” Helen sighed, sparing a thought to the buffet they could be enjoying right now if her girlfriend had a little more impulse control.

“How was I to know the area was off limits?” Liv shot back and the linguist pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because of the big ‘Keep Out’ sign?”

“Well, that’s an invitation if nothing else,” the med-tech argued back and her girlfriend shook her head to herself.

“You sound just like the Doctor…” she huffed and wondered how she had ended up the only responsible adult in the room with the two of them. “Who could really make an appearance right about now…”

“He’s probably still at the party,” Liv wandered over and dropped into the chair across from her.

“As we should be. There isn’t always some great conspiracy. I’m sure whatever the Doctor wanted to know about the Company can be discovered in conversation,” Helen quipped.

“Yes, which is probably why he’ll be gluing himself to Tula all night to get in on all the big shot conversations, rather than getting us out of here…” the med-tech hummed as she leaned back in the chair. She would have to formulate an alternative plan. She took a moment to observe how beautiful her girlfriend looked tonight. She was wearing a navy evening gown and had her hair done up. Tula had insisted they make an effort if they were to attend this exclusive Company party. Liv had resisted to the best of her abilities, settling for a slacks, shirt and waistcoat, but Helen? She certainly looked the part and it gave her an idea.

“Well then, who do we have here?” The door opened and a police officer stepped inside.

“Leave this to me,” Liv told Helen with a wink and the linguist frowned.

“You better not be making this worse by impersonating-” she started hissing but her girlfriend was already out of her seat and meeting the officer half way.

“Liv Chenka, hello. Let me tell you off the bat, you’re making a mistake,” she addressed him with no further ado and he almost laughed.

“And why would that be?” He countered.

“You should know that it’s not a good idea to detain one of the Twenty,” Liv announced, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

“The Chenkas are not a founding family,” he retorted after a moment of digesting her words, and carried on to the table.

“Well, no, but my lovely wife here is, so-” the med-tech followed and gestured to Helen. The linguist’s head snapped up and behind the officer’s back, Liv mouthed to her to play along.

“Your-” the police man frowned, focusing his attention on the linguist who pulled herself up in her chair and put on a stoic expression, while cursing her girlfriend in her mind.

“Hello,” she greeted him icily.

“Yes, my wife Helen,” Liv repeated, looping around to stand beside her chair. The officer remained standing on the other side of the table, seemingly unsure how to respond, and encouraged, the med-tech carried on: “And if you’re attached to your job, you ought to let us get back to the party.”

There was a moment of stunned silence in which the officer seemed to be weighing his options and Helen tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach at being called Liv’s wife. 

In the end, the police man was not so easily led and consulted his tablet, pulling up information on the detainees.

“There is no bio-record on the system to verify that-” he started and of course there wouldn’t be as Helen had never even been registered as arriving on Kaldor. TARDIS travel spared them many visa applications. Liv, however, had already thought through how to use that very fact to their advantage:

“Now think about how many people would actually be able to have their bio-data extinguished for privacy? Who would have that influence?” She prompted. The officer ignored her and focused on Helen:

“What’s your maiden name, Miss-” He started and the linguist didn’t miss a beat:

“It’s Dr. Chenka, actually,” she answered cooly, trying not to show how much saying so actually thrilled her.

“And why would she tell you after having gone through such trouble to protect her privacy,” Liv interjected again. “You have some nerve.”

And slowly, she was wearing the police man down.

“Well, how else-” he pinked around the ears, keeping his eyes fixed to the tablet scrolling helplessly through information that was just no use to him.

“I mean, we can wait this out,” Liv carried on, and put her hand on her girlfriend’s shoulder. “Perhaps we can make a phone call? Let Helen’s parents know? I’m sure they won’t be happy to verify her identity for you, but they will, and then we’ll see what happens next, won’t we?” She challenged.

“I mean, I’m sure we can just-” the police man grew flustered and the med-tech could see the finish line, so she set out to drive the point home.

“Besides… they’re displeased enough as it is that Helen married below her station, imagine what a scandal like this would do… Mind you, her parents would never let it get that far. And believe me, it won’t be Helen that gets in trouble over it. Or me, cause let’s face it: I’m pretty loveable, aren’t I, dear?” She flashed a smile at Helen who settled for a roll of her eyes which was all she could do to stop herself from laughing. Meanwhile, Liv focused on the officer once more and concluded: “It’ll be the police officer that put her in detention.”

“I-” The policeman went extremely pale.

“So if I were you, I would just forget this whole thing ever happened. We will go back to the party and no-one has to hear about this,” Liv smiled.

---

“I can’t believe that worked,” Tula shook her head in disbelief when Liv recounted the tale of their escape to her. She was utterly mortified by the whole thing.

“I can be very convincing when I want to be!” The med-tech retorted smugly with a glance to Helen who tried her best not to laugh. 

“I’d buy that Helen is one of the twenty,” Tula conceded after brief consideration. “What I find impossible to believe is that she would be stupid enough to actually marry you,” she smirked and Liv gaped:

“EXCUSE ME?” She exclaimed and to remedy her put out expression, Helen looped her arm around her and smiled: