March 24, 2011

Doctor Who fanfic: Five Bad Things…

Overly Devoted Archivist Uncategorized amy pond, doctor who, fanfiction, fanfiction: doctor who, my fanfiction, my stuff, rory williams, the eleventh doctor 13 Comments

Title: Five Bad Things That Didn’t Happen To Amy And Rory, And One Good Thing That Did
Author: sarah531
Rating: PG13
Characters: Amy, Rory, The Doctor (and Ambrose, River, The Dream Lord and Aunt Sharon)
Pairings: Amy/Rory (and Doctor/River, Doctor/Rose, and what might be pre-slash Doctor/Rory)
Summary: Five alternative universes and one honeymoon.

One. Not Saying Goodbye

He wasn’t late, he cut it close but he wasn’t late. Amy and Rory were trapped and anxious, but they had faith- they’d lived two lives each, three in Rory’s case, they’d lost parents and found parents and died and returned- and he’d always saved them before.

But there was a last time for everything.

“How’s it going?” Amy shouted down the phone. “With Kazran?”

The Doctor didn’t say anything for a second. “I saw him hit a child.”

“Is that bad?”

“That’s very bad,” the Doctor said. “Gotta go. Look after Rory.”

He hung up. Amy sighed.

“What’d he say?” Rory asked worriedly.

Amy seemed to think about it. “Everything’s going to be fine.”

And Rory only just believed her.

*

There were differences in Amy, since the wedding.

She’d said I love you to Rory many times, but since the wedding she hadn’t, not often at least. Rory knew that her two lifetimes had combined, and she was almost now two Amys- the subtle differences were ones only he, not even the Doctor, could understand. One Amy had been orphaned, one had grown up loved, and now, Rory knew, whenever she remembered spending her seventh birthday party surrounded by friends and showered with presents, she also remembered spending it sitting at home with Aunt Sharon. Two girls, both Amy, both his wife, both the one he loved. But he wished sometimes that she would still tell him she loved him.

*

As the ship shook and cracked Rory turned to Amy.

“Um,” he said. “Amy, I-”

“No!” she snapped. And this, Rory knew, was the Amy he had first known- Rory had been about to say three words, important ones, but they weren’t what she wanted, they meant too much.

“No?”

“No.” And she turned away. “The Doctor will save us! The Doctor always saves us!” Rory didn’t remind her of what had happened in the caves by the crack all that time ago, there was too much pain there, but he did try to hug her. She shook her head, turned away and reached for the phone. Which hurt Rory tremendously: he loved the Doctor but this was all his fault.

*

“It’s okay, it’s gonna be okay,” the Doctor said. “Kazran Sardick isn’t a lost cause, I know he’s not, I’m gonna save him, and he’ll save you.”

“He’d better,” Amy said, before she hung up. Rory watched. And thought about both of them being somewhere else- a home, warm and safe, children- Amy staring out of the window, every day, waiting for the Doctor, because he was so very much a part of both her lives and all life to come- bad things crept into his mind.

“Worst honeymoon ever,” he said, in an attempt to lighten the mood. Amy just nodded.

“I hope the Doctor’s alright,” she said.

“He’ll be fine,” Rory said, surprised that the words didn’t come out as a snap. “What about us?”

“We’ll…” She seemed to notice the fear on his face for the first time, and her voice softened. “We’ve seen the end of the world, babes- we’ve lived for two thousand years. This can’t hurt us!”

“Just in case,” Rory said, “I love you.”

Amy’s expression changed. “Don’t!” she snapped, and turned away. Rory had expected that, but it still hurt.

“Amy, I believe you, I know we’re gonna be fine, but…”

“It sounds like a goodbye,” she said. “We just got married. I’m not saying goodbye!”

*

And they didn’t until the very last moment. The Doctor was nowhere to be seen, they were falling-

“The Doctor’s dead, isn’t he?” Amy said quietly, tears on her face.

“It’s okay, Amy.”

“He’s dead, he wouldn’t just leave us, you know that!”

“He’s probably just…Amy, he’s not dead. He was captured, or…hurt or something.”

There was a loud crack, and the ship lurched.

“Say he’s not dead,” Amy said. “Do you think he’ll remember us?” The lack of hope on her face- he’d seen that before only twice, both times when he was dying. And Rory didn’t know what to do or say- these were their last moments in the world. And he doubted he’d be reserrected not once but three times.

“I think he’ll miss us,” he said. “Amy, this isn’t…I’ve been dead before…I don’t think it’s the end.”

“I love you,” she said.

“Oh, Amy.” He almost wished she hadn’t. “I-”

When they crashed the explosion was seen for miles, it lit up the night sky beautifully, but they, inside, felt it. In the split second before the light took them she reached towards him, but then they were gone.

*

The Doctor didn’t kill Kazran Sardick- he didn’t do that- but he did ensure he lost his millions and finished his life in poverty. He put right everything Kazran had put wrong, apart from the one thing that mattered the most to him, and left the place forever. He went back to Leadworth, had short conversations with Amy’s and Rory’s families, and left that place forever too.

Then he went after River, tracked her down on a broken world, and travelled with her until years blurred into centuries, because she was the only one who couldn’t leave him before her time. And she didn’t, until one day she went to the Library, and he was alone once again.

Two. The Point

He tried to drag her, he tried, but he didn’t have the strength.

“LET ME GO!” she screamed. “I’M GOING WHERE HE’S GOING!”

He shouted back at her, still holding on to her, but it wasn’t working. And tendrils of light were leaving the crack, winding around the dead body…

“Amy,” the Doctor said, “he’s dead. There’s nothing of him in there, Amy, Amy…”

Amy still wasn’t moving, she was rooted to the spot, a statue. And when she spoke it was in a deadened voice.

“He’ll be wiped from existance,” she said. “That’s what you told me. And I can’t handle that. I can’t. Could you?”

“Amy,” the Doctor said, well aware that Rory’s body was starting to disappear, and so desperate and so sad, “don’t make me lose you as well.” And he tried to pull her away again, using all his strength, dragging her to the TARDIS doors.

“Amy, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, but-”

“Let me go!” she shrieked. “I love him! I’m not leaving him!”

“Amy, this isn’t you, Amy!” And he managed to swing her round to face him. “Would Rory want you to do this? Would he? AMELIA!”

But it wasn’t working, nothing was, and she turned her wild face away and bit him. Hard.

In shock, he let go-

“I’m sorry,” she said. And even as the Doctor tried vainly to grab her, she lurched free and half-jumped, half-fell to the space where her love’s body was slowly vanishing. The beams of light caught her too, and for a moment both bodies, one living and one dead, occupied the same space-

“NO!” the Doctor yelled.

But she was going, and she was gone.

“NO!”

He burst through the TARDIS doors. Somebody was lurking in the corridors, Ambrose of all people had turned back-

“Go away!” he snarled at her, and she turned and fled. He pressed buttons on the console, smashed them hard, left the place, cursed himself, cursed the world-

He realised he was crying. He didn’t think he’d cried since his tenth life, since his own death. Furiously, he whirled around the console, pressing things, punching things…

They landed with a smash, and then he saw the whole Northover family was in the console room behind him, Ambrose fearful and almost quaking.

“What happened to Amy?” Elliot asked, puzzled.

“Who?” asked Mo. He gave a quizzical look at his son.

“Amy,” said Elliot. He stared at the Doctor. “This girl…your friend…no…”

The others watched him.

“No,” he said. “No, I think I dreamt her or something, when I was in the caves…”

The Doctor went to the door and held it open.

*

Outside, when her family was out of earshot, Ambrose turned to him.

“I’m sorry,” she told him. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“I know,” he said with a sigh.

“I did it because of Elliot,” Ambrose said, tears dripping down her face. “I wanted him safe. There was no point in living if Elliot died-”

“There’s always a point in living!”

Ambrose flinched once more at his tone of voice. “I’m sorry. And I’ll do what you said, I’ll tell the story, I’ll tell them to share the planet…”

The Doctor looked at her. He tried to make it her fault, but it wasn’t entirely, it was humans and Silurians and cracks in time alike that had ruined things.

“Tell them another story,” he said. “About a boy and a girl, who were brave and stupid in equal measures, and who are dead now.”

Ambrose looked puzzled and started to speak, but the Doctor talked over her.

“If you think, Ambrose, if you really think, you might remember that boy and girl. Because they were here today, under the ground with us. Try and remember. A girl with courage and red hair, a boy who looked after people…”

“He said he was a nurse,” Ambrose said, and then looked afraid. “No, wait, I don’t know why I said that. I wanted a nurse for Dad, but there wasn’t anyone there. It was just me and Dad and that…woman. And I killed her. There was no-one else…”

“There was,” the Doctor said. “First the boy died, was wiped from existance like he’d never been born, and then the girl followed him. They were called Rory Williams and Amy Pond. They were going to be married in the morning. When you tell this story, remember them. Because they were so very, very important. To the world and to me.”

Ambrose looked frightened once again. “But I don’t remember them!”

“Well, you’re only human,” the Doctor said, and he said it so darkly Ambrose recoiled. But she seemed to be trying to understand, although her eyes were fearful, afraid of this man she’d let down so badly.

“What took them?” she asked. “How did they die?”

“It doesn’t matter,” said the Doctor, although it did. “Just go. And tell your son. And your husband. Tell the world what happened here, and mention my friends, mention Amy and Rory. Bring them back. Today, you ruined a good thing. Now I’m giving you a ruined thing to hold. Go.”

Ambrose ran.

The Doctor went back to the TARDIS all alone and left the planet.

*

He ran into River on a collapsing galaxy falling into a black hole.

“Would you die if I was dying?” he asked her, as they lurked in a corridor waiting for the adventure to go away. “If I was being wiped right from the world?”

“Would you want me to?” she asked, eyes serious.

“No.”

“Then I won’t,” said River, and that was that.

Three. Staying With You In The Morning

It happened when she heard a song. You Give Me Something, James Morrison, the one where the person isn’t sure if they love their partner. A strange look came over her face, a sort of fear, and the Doctor knew what was coming. He dreaded it because he had already seen a friend- Vincent- lost to grief and despair, and he couldn’t handle it happening to his best friend.

“This song,” Amy said. “It was gonna be…”

The Doctor waited.

“Doctor,” Amy said nervously. “This is going to sound crazy.”

“I’m a thousand year old time traveller who lives in a box,” the Doctor said, and although he smiled when he said that it didn’t reach his eyes. “What’s crazy?”

“It feels like…I was never engaged to anyone, okay? I don’t want to get married, I told Vincent that. But I feel like…” She swallowed. “I keep thinking, I’ve got to get back for the wedding. I keep thinking will
my wedding dress look okay and will the ceremony go as planned and who’ll give me away? Cos I haven’t got a dad. But…” And she looked into his eyes. “I’ve never met anyone I wanted to marry, I’m not getting married. So why do I feel like I am?”

“Sometimes,” the Doctor said, struggling to keep his voice under control, “sometimes the brain plays tricks, Amy. It’s time travel, all your timelines jumping about, they…” But he could tell she wasn’t buying it.
And he trailed off and said, “Amy, just…”

“Just what?” she snapped, lost in thought.

“Just go over your good memories, every chance you get.” It was the best he could do.

*

It happened next when they sat in a intergalactic bar, watching passers-by.

“Men shouldn’t have ponytails,” Amy said, as a man sporting a particularly long one walked by. Then she frowned. “Okay, that’s weird. Did we ever run into a guy with a ponytail? Because that was really deja-vu-y.”

“We’ve run into a lot of people,” the Doctor said, trying to keep his voice light. “Probably some of them had ponytails.” Then they went back to their drinks.

*

And she finally remembered when back on Earth, Earth millions of years ago, by a waterfall. She and the Doctor were cleaning up after themselves- that thing they rarely did. The adventure was over, and the Doctor was using a broom to sweep nanogene-infected leaves away, and Amy was watching him and then suddenly-

“Rory,” she said.

The Doctor stopped. “What was that?”

“Rory! My fiance! We were in Venice and there was a vampire and he picked up a broom to try and save me!” She was rising to her feet. It was disbelief, more than horror, on her face. “I remember…we were getting married…we were getting married!”

“Amy,” the Doctor said, running to her. “Amy-”

But now her expression was rage. As the Doctor reached her, she flung herself at him, hitting and screaming.

“I REMEMBER!”

She hit the Doctor’s face, leaving a mark, hit his chest-

“YOU DIDN’T TELL ME!”

“Amy, it would have devastated you, it’s devastating you now, please listen to me-”

“I DON’T CARE! YOU LIED!”

The Doctor said nothing in response, and let her hit him.

“YOU LET HIM DIE!” she screamed, her voice echoing through rocks and caves.

“No, Amy, Amy, he did something brave, he saved me, he was a hero, Amy- Amy, cling to that, Amy, I’m so sorry he died…”

“You didn’t tell me! You let me just forget! Forget about someone I loved!” But the rage was dying down now, to be replaced with grief. She looked towards the waterfall, and the Doctor knew that this was what he dreaded- ever since Amy had killed herself in her dream, and ever since the man she died for died again.

“Amy. Amy, people love you, I love you-”

“Leave me alone!” she screamed, and she tried to get away, but the Doctor clung to her arm. “Amy, think of Vincent, what you did for him. Think of all the people we’ve met, all the planets we’ve saved…”

Amy seemed to be thinking of that, because she whispered, “The Star Whale. You.” But then she stared off into the distance.

“I died once, just to see him again.” she whispered.

“But you didn’t die. You’re still alive.”

“If I die now, will I see him?” she demanded.

“I don’t know. Yes. You will, I think you will, Amelia. But don’t die. You’ve got so much to do, so many who love you, Amelia…”

“It’s AMY!” she shrieked, and she pulled away from him and ran, and ran, and ran. He ran after her, caught up with her by the waterfall, sobbing and sobbing and sobbing. And she was so very close to the edge…

“Fix it,” she told him. “You have to fix it.”

“I will,” he said, although he doubted he could. “Amy, you’re not yourself right now, I can’t…I can’t lose you.”

“Don’t leave me!” she roared. “You’re going to leave me!”

“Amy, walk towards me.”

But she didn’t, so he took her hand and carefully walked her away. “Amy. You’re grieving, you’re grieving so much, and it will ease one day, I promise, but I need you to listen to me, I need you to think of what Rory would want for you…”

“He can’t want anything! He’s dead!” And she stared towards the cliff once more. “Maybe this is a dream too. Maybe I can…and he’ll…”

“No! Amy, it isn’t a dream. I’m real, you’re real. Rory’s real. Listen to me, I have to take you home, Amy.”

“The TARDIS is my home! The TARDIS and Rory!”

“Then I’ll return for you, I promise I will. I’m going to try and put right what’s gone wrong, Amy. Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” she said with a sob. But her love for her friend and her love for her fiance were at war, and she said, “But Rory did too, and he’s dead.”

“But not gone, Amy, I promise he’s not gone, as long as you and I remember him.” He took the engagement ring from his pocket, held it out to her. “And we will, I promise you, Amy, it will be alright.”

Amy nodded. But then shook her head.

“Wherever I go, whatever I do, no-one will understand what I’m grieving for.”

“Grief is universal, Amy, they’ll understand.”

*

“I don’t understand,” Aunt Sharon said furiously, flinging open the front door to find Amy there. “Every night, something like this, the drinking, the coming home late…” She took a closer look.

“What on earth?”

Amy just cried, but Aunt Sharon didn’t hug her.

“Amy? What’s the matter? What happened?”

“I was getting married in the morning,” Amy whispered to her.

“What? What’s going on? Where have you been?”

“There was a man,” Amy sobbed. “The Doctor.”

“Oh God, Amy, not this…”

“But then there was another man, and I was in love with him, and he’s dead!”

“Who, Amy? What on earth is going on?”

“He’s dead and everyone’s forgotten him!” She held out the engagement ring. Aunt Sharon stared at it in bafflement.

“Amy! Where’d you get this? Did you steal it?”

Amy seemed to break again then. With a howl, she flung herself past Sharon and into the house. Then she seemed to remember the Doctor, turned back, saw nothing, and screamed into the night,

“I’m sorry!”

And then she was gone.

Aunt Sharon stared out of the door, confused and afraid. The Doctor stepped into her line of sight.

“Yes. It’s me,” he said to her. “Everything she’s saying is true.”

Aunt Sharon gawped. The Doctor reached into his pocket and handed her a phone, which she took with shaking hands.

“There’s some numbers on there,” he said. “One of them is mine, and some of them are people who might help her, my friends.”

“Who are you?” Aunt Sharon finally said. “You can’t be him. Not the Doctor.”

The Doctor didn’t answer that. “I remember a long time ago, when I first met Amy, she was all alone in the house. In the middle of the night. And you left her there, Sharon, you didn’t look after that little girl. So now, you look after her.”

Aunt Sharon, afraid, just nodded.

“I’ll be back to check up on her. Don’t send her away, don’t let people poke around in her brain, just give her what you can. And protect her.”

She nodded again.

“And tell her that I’m going to do everything, everything I can, even if it kills me, to bring Rory back.”

“But who’s Rory?”

The Doctor shook his head. “Just believe everything she says. Because it’s true.”

And he left.

*

When he returned he looked through the window and saw Aunt Sharon wiping Amy’s tears away, and he decided it was, at least, a start.

Four. Helen

Amy went into labour in the little yellow nursery in her and Rory’s home. And it was all okay for the moment. No-one died, and someone was born-

“Amy,” Rory said, “Amy, look, it’s a girl, we have a girl,” And dizzy with excitement and hearing faint scraping at the front door, he handed it to her.

She stared at it in shock, almost like she didn’t believe it was real, and she had a right to. And she looked at Rory, and they knew they’d been given a gift that could be snatched away at any moment, and they could barely move-

“She’s beautiful,” Amy said softly. Rory held her arm.

“She’s amazing,” the Doctor whispered. He was covered in blood, they both were, and aliens were beating at the walls. They didn’t have much time. He looked at Rory.

“This can’t be the dream,” Rory said. “We have a baby.”

Amy touched the child’s face, still in awe. “Yes…she’s ours…”

The three of them looked at each other. The game had changed.

“What happens when we go to sleep?” Rory asked. “Doctor, what happens when…”

But the Doctor had turned to the far wall. Standing there, smirking, silent, was the Dream Lord.

“Congralutions!” he said, flinging his arms out, a parody of a hug. “Cigar for the happy father?” And he smirked again. “Which of you is him?”

Rory pulled himself up and ran towards him, fists clenched, but his punch hit the wall. And the Dream Lord vanished.

“Rory!” Amy shouted. “For God’s sake, it’s yours!”

“I know!” Rory shouted back. “I wanted to punch him for implying…implying…” Defeated, he fell to his knees. “Doctor! This isn’t the dream!”

“Rory,” the Doctor said, “Amy.” And he couldn’t meet their eyes. “I know what I’m asking. I know what you’re thinking. But…”

“This is our baby!” Amy shrieked. “You think we’re gonna leave her?”

“Amy-”

“You idiot!” she shouted. “Do your job, Doctor! Save us! And most of all, save her!”

A window smashed downstairs.

“What do we do, how do we stop this?” Rory asked wildly. “Doctor?”

The Doctor seemed to make a decision, spun around, went to the window. “Dream Lord! They’ve chosen! I’ve chosen! Come back here!”

But he didn’t. And something was coming up the stairs…

“We’ve chosen!” the Doctor shouted. And the door burst open, and several things happened at once-

The Ekocene breathed, but missed. Rory tried to pick Amy and the baby up, to move them away. Amy gave the baby to him, forcing herself to her feet, one hand on the floor. And then another Ekocene came in, this one didn’t miss, even as the Doctor ran to get in front of them all it breathed on Amy-

-and she crumpled to dust.

“NO!” yelled Rory. “NO!” But it was far too late. The Doctor picked up a heavy lamp, ran to the monster, and knocked it to the ground. It stayed there. Rory, still holding the baby, grabbed a pair of scissors with his other hand – the ones he’d used to cut off his ponytail- and plunged them into the Ekocene’s chest. The Doctor closed the door, and Rory started screaming.

“Amy!”

And he staggered to the cot and placed the baby there, gently. For a moment there was a pause where anything might happen. And then he turned to the Doctor, hit him without a word, hit him over and over again, and the Doctor did nothing.

“Give her back to me!” Rory shouted.

The Doctor didn’t try to stop the blows, just took them. In the cot, the baby sobbed. “She’s gone. Rory, she’s gone…”

Rory stopped punching him, punched the wall instead, and came away with his knuckles bleeding. “Doctor. She can’t be gone!”

The Doctor moved towards the cot. “Rory. Rory, listen to me. I think I know who the Dream Lord is. I’m almost certain I know. Rory…”

Rory said nothing.

“Rory, this is a dream.”

“It’s not!” He reached for the baby, still unclothed and wrapped only in a blanket. “She’s our daughter!”

“She’s what your daughter might be,” the Doctor said gently. “She’ll be real one day, but she’s not real now.”

“I can’t leave her.”

“Listen…”

“I WON’T LEAVE HER!”

The Doctor backed away.

Rory leaned over the cot, touching the baby’s face, blocking out the Doctor completely. “It’s okay. It’s okay. I’ll look after you. Me and your mum, we talked about names, she liked Helen. You’re Helen. And your mother was Amy…”

His voice was cracking. The Doctor noticed that the Ekocenes had vanished, that there was no more noise from downstairs, and he went to the door. Rory didn’t even notice.

“I’ll look after you…”

The Dream Lord was standing on the other side of the door.

“Poor little lost Amelia!” he snarled at the Doctor. “But you can still have her back! If you dare to take yet another child away.”

“That’s not her daughter in there, that’s not a real baby,” the Doctor said. “And I know what you are, and I’m going to stop you. Because this is cruel. The cruellest thing I’ve seen in years.”

“Ah, you’ve said that to so many people,” the Dream Lord said. “Doesn’t seem to work, though, does it? Daleks still at large, the Master still a naughty man, another companion gone, another life ruined…”

“We’ll all come out of this alive,” the Doctor said through gritted teeth.

“Except, of course, for the baby. Oh, Doctor…” He grinned wickedly. “You’re not.”

The Doctor just glared. And the Dream Lord vanished, and reappeared by the cot, next to Rory.

Rory seemed like he was in a trance. “You,” he said to the Dream Lord. “Can you bring Amy back?”

“Oh, honey,” said the Dream Lord, “I’m not here to help you out.”

“Don’t listen to him, Rory,” the Doctor said.

“But sweetie…” the Dream Lord said, and suddenly he looked a lot like Amy, and suddenly he was Amy, his arm around Rory. “I can stay with you.”

“Amy,” Rory said, still almost in a trance. “Amy…”

“It’s me,” the Dream Amy said. “I’m back. I won’t leave you.”

“This is Helen,” Rory said, handing the baby to her. It started to cry at her touch. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

“She is,” said the false Amy, “The most beautiful thing in the world.” And then she turned to the Doctor. A look passed between them, a look of pure hatred, that Rory saw.

“Wait…” he said.

“Think!” the Doctor shouted suddenly. “You know Amy! And that’s not her.” He started moving towards the door. “I’m sorry. But I’ve got to save us all.”

Amy just glared, glared at his retreating back as he ran. Then she turned slowly back to Rory.

“Dearest,” said Amy, “we can’t be the Doctor’s friends anymore.”

Rory took the baby from her arms. “Why?”

“You’re asking? He’s the reason I cheated on you,” she whispered. “He’s the reason I ran away. He’s the reason I never loved you as much as I could!”

Rory backed away. From downstairs there came noise…

“Rory,” said Amy, “you know he’s the reason.”

Rory just said, “Do you love me?”

“Of course I do,” said Amy. A pause. “I love you.”

Rory sighed.

“Amy’s never said those words.” And he held the baby in his arms. “You’re not her. You’re nothing like my Amy.”

The Dream Lord snarled like an animal, still wearing Amy’s face, and changed back into a man. Rory ran for the door, made for the stairs, still holding Helen, but he was too late. The Doctor had grabbed some things from the shed, constructed them into explosives within seconds, and thrown them at the house. Then he’d thrown a match. Then they all woke up in the ice.

*

“It’s hot,” Rory said, face down in the ice, “it’s so hot…”

Amy forced herself up and went to his side. She looked at the Doctor. Her eyes far away, she said, “I died, didn’t I? I died.”

“Oh God,” Rory said. “The baby…”

The Doctor said nothing, just hit a button on the console and smashed that dream as well. When they all awoke safe and sound for the final time, Amy chose Rory- he’d cut off his ponytail for her, after all. But things between them and the Doctor- they were never the same again.

Five. The Stag Night

He’d done so many hard things, but remembering Rory, how he’d clearly been in love with Amy, he honestly thought this would be the hardest. He was about to tell a man, on the eve of his wedding, that his fiancee was dead-

A horrible voice said, “What?”

And then he realised he’d already said it. Told Rory the news. And now the young man was breaking down before his eyes-

“You’re lying!”

“I’m not,” the Doctor said quietly. “Rory, I’m so sorry.”

“You,” Rory said, shaking with rage. “You! The Raggedy Doctor! You made her go with you-you came back for her, didn’t you- she always knew you would-”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, because it was true, “Rory, I did that, but-”

“Then it’s your fault.”

“Yes,” the Doctor said. “It is. Rory-”

“It’s your fault!” Rory snarled, and turned away. He stayed in a sort of hunched position, letting out a sob every now and then, and it was a long time before the Doctor touched him on the shoulder.

“I’m sorry.”

“GET AWAY FROM ME!” Rory shouted, and the Doctor did. They remained in silence for a few minutes, apart from the crying, until Rory’s phone beeped. Rory didn’t move, but the Doctor glanced at it. It said get dwn here mate stag nite startin.

More silence. The Doctor saw Rory was in a coat and shoes: he’d been just about to leave for the stag night. If he’d been five minutes later he would have missed him entirely.

“She talked about you,” the Doctor said. “Before she…died. She said to tell you she was sorry. She screamed for me, and she screamed for you as well.”

“She screamed,” Rory whispered. “Why would you tell me that?”

“Because you need to know, you need to know how she felt, that she…that she loved you.”

Rory said nothing, and the Doctor knew that it was very possible that Amy hadn’t loved him. Or hadn’t realised she had. He didn’t even know her, not the way he really should have done, didn’t know her deepest thoughts. “Rory, she loved you, I know she did.”

“You’re a liar,” said Rory, and barely noticed as his phone beeped again. “The wedding’s got to be cancelled,” he said. “I’ll have to tell her aunt…”

“I’ll do that. I’ll do it all. Rory, you should come with me in the TARDIS.” He hadn’t realised he’d planned to say those words until they came out. “I think Amy would have liked that.”

Rory looked around the room and took off his coat. The Doctor saw the t-shirt under it, a design especially for the stag night: Rory and Amy in a heart. A photograph of two people with the whole world ahead of them…and Rory seemed to stare right through the Doctor, seeing nothing and everything of him all at the same time.

“There’s not much to keep me here,” Rory said. “My parents don’t visit often. My stepsister’s got her own kids. My mates will probably forget me before too long.” He took off his t-shirt, right in front of the Doctor, not even caring. “Let me write them a note. Let me come back and visit them sometimes. And I’ll come with you.”

“Yes,” the Doctor said. “Thank you.”

Rory took a notebook from a shelf and a pen and started to write. “It’s dangerous, isn’t it, travelling with you?” He said it tonelessly, a dead voice. “What killed Amy might kill me.”

“It was a being called a Weeping Angel that killed her.”

“Then I’ll kill it.” His eyes looked sincere, but the Doctor knew, even without having known him more than a few hours, that killing probably wasn’t in him.

“All of the Angels are dead,” the Doctor said. “My friends killed them.” He watched as Rory turned away from him, using his hand to cover his pen, like a child in an exam. He glanced around the room, and saw mostly pictures of Rory with Amy, some of just Amy, some older people and children who had to be relations, and it occured to him how rarely a travelling companion of his bothered to tell their families where they were going…

Rory put the finished letter on the sofa. “Let’s go.”

“Aren’t you packing anything to take with you?”

“No,” said Rory. His eyes had changed entirely. The Doctor remembered the eyes of the man who had photographed Prisoner Zero, who had looked at the right thing when everyone else had looked at the wrong thing, and realised that man probably wasn’t around anymore.

“I’ll sort everything out,” the Doctor said. “I’ll…Rory, we can’t bury her, but there’s a memorial moon far out past Jupiter, we should go there.”

“Okay,” said Rory, and turned away.

*

They walked out of the door and to the TARDIS.

“They’re going to think I killed her,” Rory said, staring out at his home, at the stars above it and the buildings on the ground. “She disappears and so do I.”

“I’ll make sure it doesn’t come to that,” the Doctor said. He let Rory enter the TARDIS first, and wasn’t surprised to not hear the usual gasp of astonishment. He went in after him, and started up the controls, and they ran away together.

Six. Amy’s Language

The planet didn’t have a name, it had never had people to name it. But it had animals- many-coloured birds and flying stingrays- and two people lay on a blanket on the grass.

“This is better than the spaceship cruise,” Rory said, raising a hand to the sun. “No crowds- no lost luggage-”

“No crashing to our fiery doom,” Amy said.

“Always a plus.”

Amy reached for some champagne. She looked up at the sky, at the improbable fish-creatures gliding through the clouds, and said, “I’m probably just saying this cos I’m drunk…”

“What?”

“This is really perfect. The most perfect thing ever.”

Rory smiled, and held her close while the birds flew overhead and cast coloured shadows across the ground, and it really was perfect.

“I think it is too. I love you, Amy.”

“Aw, you’re so sweet,” she said, which was Amy-language for I love you too. “Let’s go for a look around. Whole planet just for us.”

*

They took a walk on the cliffs, moving away from the lush grass they’d lain on, and came to a sandy and windswept place. The stingray there were bigger, and the sun was setting.

“Oh my God,” Amy said, “Rory! Look.”

He looked where she was pointing. The TARDIS was there, but it wasn’t quite the one they knew- there were differences. And a man and a woman were standing there, in front of it, looking out. Rory and Amy heard faint voices:

“-stay with me?” the man asked.

“Forever!” said the girl, with an almost religious conviction, and took his hand. The two strange people gazed out at the horizon and the sun, oblivious to all around them and the fact that they were watched. Eventually they turned back to the TARDIS, the man’s arms around the girl’s shoulders, and the door closed behind them, and Amy turned to Rory, excitement in her eyes.

“He’s-that’s!-”

“Another Doctor,” Rory finished, staring at the spot where the TARDIS was dematerialising. “We saw them. On that hologram. The day I first met him.”

“He’s wearing my Doctor’s tie,” Amy said, the exitement dying down as she thought about things. “The one he wore when I first found him.”

They stared thoughfully down over the cliffs for a while.

“That girl,” Rory finally said, “I bet she was from our time.”

“She looked like it.” Amy said. “Do you think they…”

Rory couldn’t help but look uncomfortable. “With her? She doesn’t look, I dunno, his type.”

“Yeah, actually,” Amy said, “I thought his type was more River. Actually,” and she gave a scowl, “he’s supposed to be married to her.”

Rory thought her attitude to fidelity had changed over the past few months, and he was, although loathe to admit it, quite glad. “Maybe this was pre-River.” Then he thought about it. “He’s married to her?”

“Yeah, thought so.”

“Wow.”

They continued on.

*

They ate dinner under the stars, and threw bits to the hungry stingrays.

“S’weird how there’s no people round here,” said Rory.

“Apart from the Doctor and the hot blonde. Think he takes them all here?” At the look on Rory’s face she said, “Relax! He didn’t take me here.”

“Oh good.”

“You gotta learn to chill,” she said brightly. “Wanna get the costumes from the suitcase?”

“Can’t we have different ones? For some reason, these days I’m associating Roman armour with complete disaster.”

“That seems fair. Wear your nurse’s scrubs.”

“You packed my nurse’s scrubs?”

“I packed everything, babes.”

They looked up at the stars. It may not have been the time, but-

“Will you stay with me forever?” Rory found himself asking.

Amy smiled as if she’d been expecting it. “Oh, I don’t know,” she teased, which in Amy’s language meant yes.

*

Rory awoke to a stingray biting at his feet.

“Ow!” He sprung up to see Amy was already awake, looking thoughtfully out at the horizon. “Amy! Help over here!”

“Aww!” Amy said, without the least concern for her husband’s toes, and reached out a hand to it. “Look! It’s cute. And hungry.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a bar of chocolate. “It’s weird how it’s not scared of us…”

“Mmm. Yes. Weird.” Rory shook it away and joined his wife. “What would you like for breakfast?”

“What have we got?”

“Eggs, toast-” the stingray took off and soared away “-some bacon, some sort of squishy yogurt thing-”

“A Tastysquid from the Spaceline USA?”

“Quite possibly.” Rory threw it to her. “Oh, and a note reading, ‘Good luck Rory.’ Nice of him…”

Amy munched on the Tastysquid. “Want some?”

“Nope. I like my food a bit less intestines-like. I’ve seen the insides of people, remember?” He was reaching for the toast when he saw that overhead, all the stingrays were flying in the same direction, as if escaping. “Oh. That looks good.”

“What does?” Amy asked.

“Those stingrays…they’re…”

Suddenly the TARDIS started to appear beside them, materialising fast. Amy nearly choked on her food, and Rory started to shout “He’s not due back til tomorrow,” but the Doctor flung the TARDIS door open and reached out a hand, and suddenly things were very windy. “In! Hurry!” he shouted. Amy and Rory reacted as fast as they could, darted in, even managed to pick up some of their baggage, but the rest of it was caught up in a sudden whirlwind. The cliff they’d been standing on crumpled just as the TARDIS left it, and the Doctor leaned against the console and said, “I am good!”

“Yes,” Rory said catiously, “we know. What was that?”

“Well.”

“Doctor!” snapped Amy.

“The planet, that lovely deserted one where there’s no people just pretty coloured animals and fish? Well, turns out, every five days there’s a massive apocalyptic event and the whole planet gets wiped out and then the survivors just start again. Good thing I realised when I did!” He clapped his hands. “How was your honeymoon?”

“Calm,” said Rory pointedly.

“Well, we can’t be having too much of that. Now, I recieved a call from my good friend George today-”

“George Washington?” said Amy excitedly. “Are we going back in time?”

“George Lucas, and no. A monster has invaded the Star Wars movies. Can’t work out how it happened. Ate Chewbacca. Shall we go?”

“Oh God,” groaned Amy, “science fiction-”

“What are you moaning at, girl who travels in a police box time machine and hangs out with a thousand year old man and married a plastic Roman soldier?” the Doctor said. “Let’s go, Ponds.”

And they did.