Prologue ~ A goodbye and hello

"You will be okay Amelia." The Doctor said kissing Amy's forehead.

Amy smiled at him sadly. He still called her Amelia, even after all these years and all they've been through. She is and always will be Amelia Pond, like the name in a fairy tale, to him.

"I don't know how I could be." Amy said wiping the tears away from her face. "He's gone Doctor and I just…" She let her sentence trail off. She didn't know how to live now, not without him.

"I'm sorry Amelia, I really tried, I really did." He sighed and let go of her. "I didn't make it in time."

Amy looked up at the Doctor, her Raggedy Doctor, her best friend. "I know." She whispered. "I know."

The Doctor looked back at the TARDIS. She stood on the corner of Amy's street, tall and blue, like always. He let go of a long breath.

"Time to go," he said sadly.

"Goodbye." Amy replied.

"I'll see you again."

"No you won't."

"I'm sorry Amelia."

"I know." She smiled. "Now go off and have your adventures with your blue box. And if you ever see that daughter of mine, tell her to visit her old mom sometime, okay?"

The Doctor's mouth thinned into a tight line, and Amy knew he was keeping something else from her. He had been for a while, since before Rory… She couldn't think of the word right now, it hurt too much.

"Goodbye Amelia Pond." The Doctor smiled his typical smile; the one that held so much underneath. So much that Amy would never know now.

He walked away, leaving Amy standing in front of her TARDIS blue door, alone in the chilly pre-winter night. She watched as the TARDIS dematerialized as soon as the Doctor went in.

The Doctor and his TARDIS, next stop: anywhere.

Not any more, not for Amy Pond.

Not for Rory either.

Amy let out another sob as she thought about her wonderful husband. His car parked in front of her didn't help either. She just expected him to walk out of the front door with a goofy smile on his face. A goofy smile that she would never see again.

Amy walked into her empty house, confronted by the life she had left behind. Pictures of Rory and Amy were scattered around the house; some had the Doctor in them, some had River, their daughter, in them. But they all had memories, ones that Amy didn't want to see right now.

She walked up to her bedroom in the dark. She flicked on the light and walked over to Rory's dresser. She pulled out one of his checked shirts and got undressed and then put it on, like she used to when he was…

She laid on the bed wrapped up in the blankets and his smell when she heard a noise downstairs. Instantly her heart leapt out of her chest.

Rory, she thought. He had made his way back for her.

Amy got up and slipped her feet into her slippers and pulled on her dressing gown. There was a loud groan from downstairs and Amy's face fell. That voice wasn't Rory's.

She flicked on her bedroom light and grabbed the closest thing in her reach, which just happened to be a bat. She couldn't remember who put the bat in the bedroom in the first place, but there was a good reason behind it, she was sure.

She reached the stairs and looked down.

"Who's there?" She called and then chastised herself. Of course they weren't going to answer that question.

Amy walked down carefully. "I have a bat and I'm angry, extremely angry, so don't push me." She said in her thick Scottish accent.

She reached the light and turned it on and gasped.

"What the…" She said.

"Hello Amelia, glad to see that you're back." Sherlock said getting up from the couch and walking towards her. "I have something to discuss with you."