The Doctor and Rory in Search of a Ring

by cullenelijah

In a boys day out, The Doctor helps Rory find the perfect engagement ring for Amy, on a distant planet's moon where the Hathraart Market dwells. It is a seemingly nice day out until someone recognizes The Doctor's value.

The Doctor and Rory, In Search of a Ring

He looked from shop window to shop window with no success. His coworkers gave him recommendations of places to look and he never saw anything he liked at any of them. They had been together for years (though she considered it to have been a shorter time than he did), and he was finally ready to pop the big question. He didn't want to settle for any old ring, but everything was too expensive, too cheap or too good to be true. He wanted something special; something unique that everyone would think, ah, what a perfect ring for a perfect girl, that Rory sure does have great taste! Or something along those lines at least. He finally entered the last shop on his list of places to try, "Wish me luck" he said to no one in particular, and went in. Twenty minutes later he came out emptied handed. Another store with nothing in his price range, so he put his hands in his pockets and headed home to Amy.

One block from their home he heard that familiar whirring sound and suddenly remembered his friend the Doctor! "Of course!" he exclaimed to himself, "I'll bet he can help me find a ring somewhere!" Just as the Doctor opened the door to the TARDIS and stepped out, Rory bolted towards him. Just as the Doctor began to say hello, Rory grabbed him and hid inside the TARDIS, closing the door before anyone noticed.

"I need your help." He said seriously.

"Hello to you too Rory." The Doctor said, pretending to be as serious. "What can I do for you this fine day, what day is it?"

"It's Friday! But listen, you know I've been with Amy together for a few years now and well—"

"You're getting a puppy!" The Doctor cut him off.

"Ah, no, no we're not getting a puppy, I want to ask her to marry me." Rory confessed bashfully. "I just haven't been able to find a ring for her.

"Rory, why would you get her another ring? She has so so so so many already!"

"But, Doctor, that's what you do, you ask them to marry you and present them with a ring, a diamond ring."

"Diamond, why on Earth would anyone want an old lump of coal!" The Doctor tried to leave the TARDIS.

"No Doctor, trust me it's, it's romantic! I was wondering if you could bring me somewhere, so I could get her a nice ring?"

"An adventure! I was just coming to ask you and Amy if you wanted to go on an adventure! Let's go get her, what do you say Rory?"

"No, I mean, no I was hoping the two of us could go in secret so Amy doesn't find out? You know, keep it just between us?"

"Oh, yes, yes," The Doctor said slowly. "So, just to clarify, what's being kept between us?"

"Doctor! Can you recall anywhere to find a diamond ring!"

"Of course I do!" the Doctor answered matter-of-factly, "Zygoraen!"

"Great let's go now!"

"To Zygoraen! Rory no, no we can't go to Zygoraen!"

Rory was getting right frustrated with the Doctor at this point, "And why not?"

"Because it's made of diamonds!"

"Well isn't that perfect?"

"No! On Zygoraen diamonds are just like dirt! It's not romantic! You need to find something different, something hip, something, something cool."

Rory crossed his arms and tapped his toe. He just stared at the Doctor.

The Doctor finally got the hint and answered, "I have an idea!

With that he ran to the console and flipped the switches and suddenly the whirring began again notifying Rory that the TARDIS was in motion, though to where, he didn't know.

"You know Rory we never hang out just the two of us, just the boys you know? We're the boys! We should make a band! Amy and the Boys!"

"I don't sing," answered Rory shortly. He was very tired of the Doctor's silliness.

"Why is it that we don't do things just the two of us?"

"I don't know Doctor, we're a trio, we do trio things." In the back of his mind, Rory wondered if when he and Amy married, would they stop doing trio things? Once they were married things would be different between them all. The Doctor had been Amy's best friend ever since he came back for her, before then he had been her best friend. Now they were three best friends, but now things would change…

"We've arrived!" The Doctor brought Rory back out of his daydreaming.

"Where are we then?"

"Rory where is your sense of adventure! Come on, let's go!" and with that the Doctor ran to the door of the TARDIS and with a quick wink to Rory, opened the door and was gone. Rory rubbed his eyes, groaning and followed the Doctor.

When he stepped outside, he found himself in what seemed like an exotic market. There were tents set up everywhere with interesting creatures roaming around. Though he had seen many before, he was still shocked by the sight of aliens, especially since they never looked like the ones from the movies. The Doctor was waiting with his arms crossed, observing the goings on of the market before finally saying, "Welcome Rory my friend, to the Hathraart Market!"

"Which planet are we on?"

"The Hathraart Market is on the moon of the planet Yunipa, it's about the size of your moon actually!" And the Doctor started jumping up and down, giggling hysterically. He flew up about twenty feet before gracefully returning down. After he did it three times, he finally grabbed Rory by the shoulders and said, "Oh come now, have a little fun! The two boys out on an adventure and you don't even seem to be having fun!" So he stuffed his arm under Rory's shoulder and jumped again, this time slowly dragging Rory with him.

Against his will, Rory began smiling like an idiot; he had never experienced anything like this before! When they touched down again he cleared his throat, crossed his arms and said, "So, um, Doctor, can we get started?" Turning around however, he found the Doctor was already in the market, looking at the booths.

He jogged over to catch up with him, and to his horror, the Doctor was looking at something that looked like a severed thumb, though on looking closely he found it was something like a flower.

"The Brumbill Flower," The Doctor said to Rory, "known across the universe for their smell, go on, take a whiff!"

Rory leaned down and inhaled lightly, fearing a foot odour to fill his nose. To his surprise it smelled like strawberries and cream, with a hint of Irish Bells. He looked in amazement to the Doctor, "It smells like Amy!"

"The flower appears to you as something unattractive visually, but smells like something very attractive to you!"

"So what does it look and smell like to you..?" Rory asked with a small sideways grin.

"I can't say."

"Oh come on Doctor, tell me!"

"It looks like you kind of, and smells like my TARDIS."

"It looks like me?!"

"Shouldn't that be a compliment to you Rory?"

"Well, I mean, I'm glad you don't think I'm the most attractive thing, but I'm the least?"

"Rory! I'm just making a joke!" The Doctor laughed and turned away. Rory could've sworn when the Doctor turned he saw his face look suddenly serious, as though he'd said something wrong. Rory rolled his eyes and followed the Doctor down the row of tents, unaware that they were being followed.

Rory stopped suddenly at a tent that had a basket full of little diamonds, with a few gray rocks sitting in them. He gazed at them, amazed by the beauty of the thousand little diamonds. The figure in charge of that tent was a big creature, probably eight feet tall, with bluish purple scales all over it's body. It had two eyes, in two sets on either side of its face, with a small little mouth just between the bottom two eyes. It stared at him, though it's emotion was unclear to Rory.

"Hi there, I was just wondering how much for those diamonds?"

"They're not for sale."

"What, but, you have them laid out here?" Rory asked very confused.

"They're there to display the stones."

"Those ugly gray things? Those are what you're selling?"

"What did you say? These stones were found deep in the ground! I spent hours upon hours digging through diamonds to find them! And you call them ugly!"

"I'm sorry it's just, where I'm from, diamonds are scarce, and stones are very common, we make roads with them…"

"That is ridiculous. What are you?"

"Human, I'm… I'm a human from Earth."

"I haven't heard of that before—"
"Don't listen to this part time peddler," said a small creature that suddenly appeared beside Rory. "He's just a Zygoraenite. He doesn't realize the worth of his diamonds, to him it's just your, ah what is it… earth, it's just earth to him."

"Earth? Oh you must mean dirt?"
"Dirt? What is that?"

"Ah nothing, anyway, I realize I've lost sight of my friend so I should be going." And he turned to find the Doctor.

"My name is Igbee," said the little creature, catching up to Rory. "I'm employed by Yunipa's Market Council to aid newcomers to find what it is they've come to Hathraart to get. So, can I help you?"

"Oh I'm Rory, I actually do need help, I'm happy you found me! I'm going to ask my girlfriend to marry me and I need an engagement ring? Do you know what I mean?"

"A mating bangle? Is that similar?" asked Igbee confused.

"To tell you the truth I'm not sure what a bangle is but sure? Mate, wife, but a little metal thing with a jewel that goes on the fin—" Rory then realized that the creature didn't have fingers, they were more just stumps with little splits in them for picking things up.

"Don't worry I know of fingers!" Igbee assured him, "I know just the tent, follow me if you will!" And he took off, dodging through the crowd trying to keep his eye on the short little creature that was slowly getting out of sight.

"Wait! Igbee! Hey wait for a minute! I—Hey! Igbee!" Rory called but unfortunately, Igbee was suddenly gone. Rory turned at the corner where he thought he had seem him turn down but found two large creatures, similar to Igbee, standing there with a bag. "No…" Rory said in disbelief, and then one creature hit Rory in the head, and threw him in a bag.

Rory awoke sitting on a giant diamond, he laughed to himself thinking never again, would he feel this rich, sitting on a diamond bigger than himself. He then felt the pain around his ankles and realized that he was tied to the diamond.

"You're awake! Good!" cried a voice he recognized as Igbee's. And then he appeared from behind Rory, the other two big ones following.

"Alright, joke's over, who are you?" asked Rory even more annoyed. He had come here to find a simple ring for his beautiful girlfriend, and now the Doctor had ditched him, he'd been kidnapped by these creatures, and to top it all off, they stolen his shoes.

"I told you, I'm employed by the Yunipa Market Council! I just lied about my title. I'm not a sort of escort around the market, I'm a collector of sorts."

"Oh yeah and what is it you collect?"

"Rarities, exotics, the expensive items you wouldn't otherwise find on Yunipa."

"Ok and how do I fit that criteria then?"

"You're a human. We've never had a human come here before. And your shoes are made of a fascinating material, I've never come across anything like it, may I ask what it is?"

"They're leather. Well not real leather, they're imitation leather."

"Imitation leather…" Igbee practiced saying, trying to get it to sound like what Rory had said. "Is that better than leather? Imitation?"

Rory had to think quickly, "Imitation leather is worth more than I am I bet. On Earth we don't have much imitation leather, these shoes cost me fifty-five pounds! That's a lot of money!"

"Fifty-five pounds… that sounds like a lot!" Igbee seemed thrilled by his find. "But the council will be most interested in a larger specimen such as yourself. I will keep this imitation for myself!"

"But wait no! No!" Rory panicked, and then realized something weird about what Igbee had said, "If you've never had a human here in the market, how did you know about Earth?" Rory was going to try anything to keep the creature talking. He wasn't really scared because the Doctor had a way with saving things at the last minute. Sometimes at least. Well it happened once, and he was hoping this would be the second!

"I've seen humans before. You see I'm a scout; I explore the universe searching for new rarities. I'm only here to drop of my last discovery. It was by chance I saw you when you and your friend got out of your box. Why were you in a box?"

"That's my friends ship," said Rory, uncertain if that was too much information. It was then that Rory had a brilliant idea. "Wait! My friend!" Rory felt truly awful about what he was going to say, but he had to. "My friend is the last of his kind! He's a Time Lord!"

"What did you say?!" Igbee screamed, suddenly furious. "Time Lord?!"

Rory immediately knew he shouldn't have said that. He just stared at Igbee.

"Your friend… is he by any chance… The Doctor?" Igbee asked with an evil grin spreading across his face.

Rory kept his mouth shut. He even knew that he would be exploiting the Doctor's past by saying it in the first place, but now he had really done it. Igbee apparently knew the Doctor.

"So this means that the Doctor is looking for you, since you're missing? Oh this is good news! Good news! Thrarkul! Fnetul! Go tell the Council immediately that the Doctor is in the Market, and Igbee will be delivering him tonight!" The two creatures nodded and left Igbee alone with Rory.

The Doctor was working his way from tent to tent, looking for anything that would have rings for Rory to give to Amy. The Doctor felt bad that he never spent any time with Rory. Whenever he went to visit them, his first intention was to see Amy, his old pal, and then he would remember that he also would be seeing Rory. He had never gone to intentionally see only Rory. He was thrilled however, that Rory had asked him for his help, this meant they truly were friends, or, what did they call them on Earth, ah yes. He and Rory were 'bros'. When he saw how desperate Rory was for his help he decided that he would cross the universe twice with Rory until they found what he was looking for, but this was the obvious first destination.

"Doctor?" asked a voice from the current tent he was inspecting.

"Janine!" The Doctor exclaimed cheerfully! "How are you doing! I didn't realize you were on Hathraart now?"

"Yes I closed my shop and moved solely to the Market! Doctor I don't think I've ever seen you alone?"

"I'm not alone?" the Doctor asked puzzled.

"But…" No Janine was puzzled. "Where is your companion…?"

The Doctor turned to introduce Rory. Where was Rory? The Doctor wondered. He had been so entranced by his thoughts and by looking at the merchandise he hadn't realized he'd lost Rory!

"Gotta run Janine! Nice bumping into you!"

He ran through the streets looking for anyone Human and saw nothing. Just as the Doctor was about to turn a corner, he bumped directly into these two large creatures.

"Pardon me gents! I was just—not you…" The Doctor looked into the faces of Thrarkul and Fnetul, the henchmen of a vicious hunter, known for kidnapping endangered species and selling them for high prices to the citizens of Hathraart as pets. And he himself was a last survivor.

"You!" Fnetul shouted.

"Get him!" cried Thrarkul.

The Doctor ran.

"And then we arrived on Gntftnl, you may have heard of it? The whole planet is covered in moss? Ah well they have the most delicious water in the universe! If the family that buys you is nice, maybe they'll take you on a vacation. Oh be prepared, they may change your name, most people don't like the original name, you understand I'm sure." Igbee was sitting in front of Rory on the floor, waiting for the Doctor to show up to save his Human friend. To pass the time he had been telling Rory of his travels and conquests. Rory was very much over hearing this dwarfs stories.

"Igbee!" Shouted a voice from far behind Rory. "The Doctor! We saw him!"

"Why didn't you grab him!" Shouted Igbee, jumping up from the ground when his two henchmen entered.

"We tried! He ran!" answered the second of the two. "He's very quick."

"Yes, much too quick for us."

"Shut up you two! I told you to run to Council and inform them, and you haven't done that either! Get out!" With that they simply left. "Ugh they're so stupid those two. Where I'm from, the bigger you are, the dumber you are, which is why I'm so small, and cunning. Those two were born big and stayed big. Poor things. But back to my adventure!"

"No!" shouted Rory! "Enough with your adventure! I don't care that you found a squeaky monkey thing—"

"It was a Squeekian Moonkai! They're beautiful things!"

"I don't care! Just let me out of these stupid ropes and let me find the Doctor and let us leave! I'm supposed to propose to my girlfriend for Pete's sakes!"

"I don't think that will work for me! I need the Doctor. They'll pay me very well for him!"

Rory suddenly had an idea! "Wait! If you let me go, and bring me back to my friends ship, you can steal his ship, his TARDIS! The last of its kind as well!"

"What's that?" Igbee seemed interested.

"Yeah! Why take him, he's not fun, he's just a person. The TARDIS though, that would be a real find. Capable of travelling through time and space! Think of the discoveries you could make with that, the money you'll make!"

"Why would I let you go when I could go get it myself? I saw you leave from it, I know exactly where you've left it!" Igbee was definitely intrigued.

A few words went through Rory's mind. How could he convince him… How… Ah! Yes! "You can't get in it! It's locked!"

"I'll break the door down."

"Igbee, you can't break the TARDIS door down. It's the strong machine in the world, she's alive. It can't be done."

"You're just saying that to convince me to set you free, then you'll run?"

"Igbee, no, no no listen to me. You keep me with you. I'll unlock the TARDIS, she knows me. I can help you fly her, she trusts me. She won't trust you."

"You know how to fly the Time Lord's TARDIS?" Igbee asked amazed.

"I do." Rory had no idea where to even begin to fly the TARDIS. He didn't even have a key to get in!

"Well Rory my friend," (Igbee was not Rory's friend), "I'll make you a deal. You come with me, we steal the ship, you travel with me for a short time, I make you rich, you then lead me to the Time Lord and I steal him. How's that sound?"

"You'll untie me?"

"Of course."

"It's a deal."

The Doctor finally found the TARDIS and ran inside. "Ok old girl, I need your help. I've misplaced Rory, so to speak, can you help me find him?" He hit a few buttons. "What do you mean right outside that's imposs—oh well look at that."

On the screen in front of him, he saw Rory standing at the door of the TARDIS with Igbee the Hunter on his right. He turned on the audio to hear what was being said.

"So this here's, well she I mean because she's alive after all, is the, umm, TARDIS. Hello girl, have you missed me? Haha, small inside joke between us…" ranted Rory. "Ok I'll just umm, open her door I guess? Umm no see you'd think you would need a key but you don't actually, you just say the umm, magic word… yeah... The magic word…"

"Ok, Rory must have some crazy plan, so I'll run and hide, when Rory says something silly, open the door and let them in. Once Igbee is inside… Do what you do best old girl. I'm counting on you!" the Doctor patted the TARDIS console and ran down the stairs. Maybe he would hide in the library? Or the kitchen! Then he could eat!

"Yeah… The magic word…" Rory said, trying to think of something clever to say to impress Igbee. He was praying that the TARDIS understood what he was doing and would open up for him. "Alrighty… ah one" he began, mind racing. "Ah two—" the door flew open, causing Igbee, who was leaning of the door, to fall in. Rory stepped over the little dwarf saying, "Watch that, the door opens in." And he smiled to himself because that was really cool to say.

"This is the TARDIS…" Igbee said to himself, dusting himself off. "It's beautiful."

"Yeah she's alright I guess, little old for my taste." Rory laughed to himself. A lever suddenly fell and hit Rory on the hip. It was going to bruise. "Oi, it's him you gotta worry about not me!" he whispered.

Igbee walked around the console, touching buttons, trying to make anything happen. "Why won't it do anything?" he asked, annoyed.

"I told you, only myself or the Doctor can fly her, speaking of which he's going to be here soon, so we best get ready for it."

"Well no let's leave before he gets here! Igbee was suddenly nervous, he didn't know if he had made a wise decision in believing Rory.

Rory looked behind Igbee, to the stairs down into the TARDIS, where the Doctor was no doubt in hiding, but to his surprise, a very small creature that resembled Igbee, only a bright silver colour, was coming up the steps. This creature a similar face as Igbee, but there were elaborate patterns across the skin, in a deep blue colour. It was clearly someone important, Rory assumed.

Igbee, seeing Rory's confused expression, turned around and his hearts nearly burst. "My Queen!? What are you doing here?!" He exclaimed and dropped to his knee. Rory Had no clue what was happening or how this "queen" had gotten in the TARDIS.

"Igbee the Hunter," the Queen said slowly. "What do you think you are doing."

"Pardon me mistress, what can I do, I do not understand what it is you ask?"

"You are hunting the Time Lord aren't you?"

"Yes my Queen! He's the last of his kind, very amazing, he would make a good collectors piece!"

"He is the last of his kind Igbee, yes. But the Time Lords are of a higher order than even we are, and you are breaking thousands of laws by simply hunting him! You will cease your hunt immediately and resign from the Hunters Board."

"But, my, my Queen this is not possible?!"

"Do as I say Igbee or you shall be assigned to my personal waiting staff!"

"Yes, yes my Queen. Understood. Rory, I am truly sorry we will be unable to travel together, I had so hoped to be friends. Good luck with your proposal." And with one final bow to his Queen, he ran from the TARDIS faster than he had ever run before.

Rory walked over to the Queen, who was only two feet tall. He knelt down beside her. "Excuse me but how is it you got in here? The door was locked wasn't it?" She turned and looked at him and suddenly where her face had been the Doctors face now was.

"Boo!" The Doctor shouted with a huge grin on his face.

"What the—Doctor you almost gave me a heart attack! Quit laughing!"

"I'm sorry Rory I couldn't resist! Isn't that what bros do, you know, prank one another?"

"Bros? Alright there cool it on the lingo. What was that queen?"

"The TARDIS was projecting the Queen into the ship to scare Igbee away! Brilliant isn't it!"

"Wait so there are no laws he was breaking?"

"Nope! Well I mean the whole moralty issue, selling living beings and what not but now he thinks he's in trouble so we're safe!" The Doctor walked towards the door.

"Wait Doctor! We can't go back out there? What if Igbee or those other two are waiting?"

"Trust me Rory, we're safe. Besides I've got something to show you!"

"Janine!"

"Doctor! What brings you by again?"

"Well Janine my bro Rory here needs your assistance," Rory shifted his weight uncomfortably at being called "bro" again.

"Well Rory," Janine said, turning to look at him. She had beautiful golden skin with deep green hair, like grass, with the most stunning blue eyes. "How can I be of assistance?" she smiled.

"Well to be honest I have no idea what it is you do so…" Rory felt very awkward.

"Rory! Janine here is a Feathere, she looks into you and from what she sees she creates a piece of art." The Doctor explained, with a wink to Janine to prove he remembered. "And she just so happens to be most talented in making jewelry."

"Oh you are? Oh you are! I need an engagement ring!"

"Very well, please sit down, yes right there. Alright now I'm just going to place my hands on either side of your head like so, yes alright now close your eyes."

Rory closed his eyes and suddenly he saw Amy. He saw Amy the first day he met her, this morning when he turned over and saw her reading her book while he slept, and he saw her getting into the TARDIS. Then he saw the Doctor, standing in the TARDIS, talking to him while Amy was asleep downstairs. And then he opened his eyes.

"Pretty girl," Janine commented and winked playfully at Rory. "Alright give me on moment and I'll return with your ring. The Doctor followed her with his eyes as she went to the back of her tent and went behind a curtain.

"You fancy her Doctor?" Rory smiled, punching the Doctors arm.

"Janine? Oh no no no no I couldn't. No not Janine." He paused, looked at Rory, looked at Rory's arm, back to Rory, and then he punched Rory's arm so hard that Rory was forced to take a step back. "Oh I'm sorry was that too hard?"

He rubbed his arm where his second bruise was already forming. "No it's good, I'm good. Ow."

When Janine reappeared she had a small box in her hands. She motioned towards Rory to take it. "Well, what do you think?" Janine was clearly very excited by it.

Inside the box sat a little silver ring with beautiful jewels on the top. The center had one circular bright red jewel, and on either side were two deep blue triangles. And the two of them were encircled by smaller jewels that looked like stars when the light hit them. "It's perfect…" Rory finally whispered, amazed by the beauty of the ring.

The Doctor looked over Rory's shoulder to inspect it. "It looks like a bowtie! You're lucky bro! Bowties are cool! This might be your best work Janine!" Janine smiled, blushing.

"How much is it?" Rory asked, suddenly worried it would be out of his budget.

"Seeing a love that strong is more than enough Rory, you've given me inspiration for many pieces of jewelry to come, thank you." She smiled warmly again, before slipping behind her curtain into the back of her tent.

"Well Amy should be expecting us!" Said the Doctor and walked off to his box.

"Ok try it again, but this time, a little more emotion!" The Doctor instructed.

Rory groaned, "Alright but last time! You're making it weird!" The Doctor was straight faced.

Sighing, Rory got down on one knee in front of the Doctor, who was leaning against the console of the TARDIS. "Don't sigh, you're in love!" Rory glared at the Doctor.

"Amy, I have loved you since the moment we met. Every day since, I have been dreaming of this moment, and it wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the Doctor. ("Very good Rory! Just as I said!") The three of us have been on many trips together, which have helped us grow as a trio. And now, it's time for the trio to become a duo plus one. Amelia Pond, the love of my life, will you please be my wife?" "Very good! Ending it with a rhyme! Very Shakespearian! How could she resist!" The Doctor walked around the console, leaving Rory on his knee.

"But actually Doctor, I do owe it to you. You've been a real friend to me. Thank you."

"A real friend? Possibly even a… bro?"

"Alright fine, ya, we're bros."

"Very good! We're here!" The Doctor ran to the door of the TARDIS. "Now go get 'em tiger!" He opened the door; Rory could see the street outside that led to his house. As he walked up he turned to the Doctor and gave him a big hug. When he let go the Doctor winked as Rory stepped outside.

Once the door was closed, The Doctor walked over to the console again and said, "Well old girl, looks like it's you and me once more." He let his emotions show on his face. He was sad. The trio wouldn't be the same. "Where to know?"

As Rory walked towards the house, he saw Amy sitting in the window reading her book. He stopped to admire her, she was so beautiful. He heard he familiar sound of whirring behind him and the TARDIS was gone. Rory got the door and stopped before entering. He smiled thinking that the two of them, Amy and himself, would soon become a duo.