For once, the TARDIS is peacefully quiet. Well, quiet except for the soft mumbling of expletives from the Doctor where he's under the console attempting some repairs. Now, Amy is certainly no mechanic, mind you, but the appropriate way to fix something normally doesn't involve slamming it with a hammer. Then again, she also never imagined a strange man would invade her home to eat fish fingers and custard.
Rory is in his and Amy's bedroom where he's attempting, and subsequently failing, to make the bed correctly. Seriously, what's the point of having all these throw pillows if they just get cast aside at night? Not to mention, the Doctor's driving isn't the smoothest, and lord knows how often Rory and Amy come back to find their belongings strewn throughout the room.
Amy's in the kitchen, preparing tea for the occupant's of the blue spaceship to share, and just as she's reaching for the mugs- "WAIT!" The Doctor's voice rings out behind her, causing her to jump, and whirl around to her raggedy man so she can tell him just where he can shove his 'wait'.
However, the look on his face stops Amy in her tracks. This isn't her doctor with his goofy smiles, wild hand gestures, and insane love for bow-ties, fezzes and Stetson's. No, this man standing before her looks, for the first time, every bit of the Time Lord he is. While it's not uncommon to see the Doctor's true age expressed in his eyes or words, never have his emotions been displayed so blatantly on his face as they are now.
This is the face of a man who's seen billions of years worth of history in one moment. The face of a man who's seen town's, cities, countries, and planet's burn themselves up with power, or thirst, or war. A face of a man who's felt every emotion known to the universe as deeply as a stake driven savagely through his heart. A man who lives with the knowledge that he's the last of his people, but, more than that, it's his fault. A man who feels so vast and extensive in this universe that he's constantly running towards something that will reduce him to the size of a mouse. A man whose pain runs so deep that it can never be assuaged, so he spends his days helping to curb the pain of others. Mostly though, it's the face of a man who's resigned himself to the greatest of heartbreaks. And that is the most painful thing in the universe to see.
Rory runs into the room, seemingly alerted by the Doctor's shout. "What's wrong? What's happening?"
At a loss for words, Amy simply shakes her head, unable to voice the severity of the situation because she doesn't know. She doesn't know what set the Doctor off, and, if whatever it is reduces the great Time Lord to the man he is now, she's not sure she wants to find out.
"Doctor?" She questions, her voice never having been so gentle.
"I-I'm sorry, it's just-" The Doctor clambers for words, and it's excruciating to see the man with all the answers unravel into a stuttering mess. However, before either Rory or Amy can respond, the Doctor grabs a mug from the open cabinet behind Amy, and escapes into the TARDIS.
A beat of silence passes between the Pond's before Rory pipes up again with, "Amy? Is everything okay?"
"I'm not sure. I've never seen him look like that." She responds in her Scottish twang.
"What exactly happened?" Rory presses, tone measured and skeptical. It's not the first time the Doctor's reacted strangely toward something, but the look on Amy's face causes his jaw to clench along with his fist. Nobody hurts Amy! Not even the Doctor.
Amy shakes her head, draws a breath, and says, "I was making tea, and he just flipped out. I was reaching towards the mugs when he yelled, and I almost tore him a new one for scaring me half way to the bloody moon! But his face, oh God, Rory, his face. You should have seen it. He looked so ancient. It's easy to forget how old the Doctor really is with his antics, but, for a split second, I saw the man behind the mask."
Tears welled up in the flirty ginger's eyes, and her husband drew her into the circle of his arms, gently smoothing her hair as his wife cried over the completely inhuman man they called the Doctor.
This, Rory thinks, is by far the worst part of traveling with the Doctor. While there's no doubt in Rory's mind that Amy loves him, she loves the Doctor too. Not romantically, of course, but there's just something about the Doctor that makes people want to fix him, help him, impress him. To watch his wife jump through hoops for the Doctor is a great and terrible thing. Rory and Amy have experienced many victories and grand adventures though their travels, but they've also seen terrible things, experienced horrible loss while knowing there was nothing they could do to help. To have a thousand years worth of experience with those great and terrible things, well, Rory can only imagine what the Doctor's face must have looked like.
"Do you want to go talk to him?" Rory questions as he wipes a stray tear off her face.
"I don't know what to say."
"That's a first."
"Oi! Shut it, stupid face!" And, with that indignant statement, Amy Pond is back to her old self.
"Why don't you start by asking him what happened?" Suggests the roman. Amy nods her head then grabs his hand before leaving the kitchen to find the Doctor.
Now, you may not be aware of this, but the TARDIS is big. Like, once you go in you never come out, big. Not to mention, because the time machine likes to change things now and again, it makes things very hard, if not impossible, to find a person if they don't want to be found.
Apparently, however, that is not the case in this particular situation. Expecting a day long expedition to find the Doctor, Amy and Rory are surprised to discover him in the very first room they come to. More than that, though, the door is open. Wide open in an unspoken invitation.
Now or never, Amy thinks as she draws in a deep breath, and ventures into the room.
And there you have it!
Not sure if I'll continue this story, or leave it here...
Anyway, review please!