"Just bring them back safe."

The five words rang through the doctor's head on an infinite loop. A record on repeat, constantly reminding him of his failure. Failure as a companion. Failure as a timelord. Failure as a friend. He sat on the threshold of the TARDIS, his head in his hands. Parked in plain sight, he couldn't bring himself to look up at the house before him. Their house. The house with the blue door, and the potted plants which had been lovingly tended to by Brian Williams for his son and daughter-in-law in their absence.

"Doctor?"

The fine hairs on the back of the doctors' neck stood up on end. He hadn't heard the door open and Brian walking towards him. When he finally glanced up, he was greeted by a jovial grin.

"Doctor!" The elation on his face was plain for all to see. Brian shuffled forward, careful to respect the doctor's space and peered into the TARDIS over the doctor's shoulder. Taking a deep breath, he gathered his thoughts and whatever composure he had left and rose to his feet. His hand raised and ran through his scruffy hair as he brushed it from his face, and for the first time he opened his mouth to speak.

"Brian," he began.

"- Rory! Amy! You can come out. I'll put the kettle on and make us a brew," Brian began, spinning on his heels to get to the task at hand.

The doctor shook his head slowly. "Brian, wait..." He trailed off, trying not to let his emotions get the better of him. He had gone over this conversation in his mind since that day in New York, but it didn't seem to get any easier. The familiar feeling of restriction in his throat began to creep up over his consciousness, and he coughed to subdue it.

"What, you're going to tell me you've brought some kind of alien tea which is better than my Tetley?" Brian joked as he turned around. His face tensed as he saw the expression on the doctor's face. He had never seen the doctor look like this before. Confused, happy, excited - yes. All emotions he had seen the doctor register, but this... Brian knew this wasn't good. He peered again at the TARDIS behind the doctor, who was beginning to walk towards him. "Rory? Amy? Please, come out of there, now." Brian's voice was now straining as he leant on his tip-toes before moving towards the blue police box with speed.

The doctor put his arms out to stop Brian, and tightened his grip on the older man's shoulders. "I'm sorry;" the only words the doctor could speak as a tear rolled down his cheek. "I'm so sorry."

Brian shook his head in disbelief. He pushed past the doctor and ran up to the phone box, stepping inside. The bright lights of the machinery mirrored the loud sounds coming from seemingly every space of the huge interior. "Come on now, don't play around." He ran around the console as he called out for his children, becoming more frantic as he searched for them.

The doctor stood against the door of the machine, letting the patriarch of the family react. He never was good at endings, and this was an ending he had become unfamiliar with. He was used to controlling it; dropping his companions off when their time was up like with Martha and Donna. He hadn't felt this grief stricken since that time at Bad Wolf Bay. The things he tries to forget when he lays down to rest; so he cannot remember the look on Rose's face before he began to walk away. Amy and Rory, though. He had no control over this; this was something he couldn't handle.

By the time Brian had stopped running from one corner of the TARDIS to the other, he stopped, his chest rising and falling heavily as he tried to catch his breath and a face much paler than usual. Sorrow, frustration and confusion were now turning into anger, and as he watched the doctor in the doorway of this machine, he could feel himself slipping. "You. This is your fault!" He pointed at the doctor and walked towards the timelord. "You have the ability to travel through time. You're the one man who saves this planet on a daily basis," the tone of his voice rising and getting louder as the tears started to fall. "The last time I saw you, we talked about this. About them travelling with you... so you can travel back in time and save them. Bring them back here. Bring me back my family."

As Brian's face creased with guilt, and the sobs were now escaping the older man, the doctor stood there awkwardly, shaking his head. "I can't do that, Brian. I can't go back to that fixed point in time. Rory and Amy created a paradox, and therefore a fixed point in time. That cannot be changed."

"I don't care, you can change it. You are the doctor. The man who took me travelling through space. We were amongst dinosaurs on a spaceship! You ask any man on earth and he will tell you that isn't possible. But it is. So you're telling me that you can't change that? And this is me, begging you to at least try."

The doctor sighed and walked past Brian to the console, and began tapping the keypad before him and pulling the levers to his right. "Amy and Rory knew what they were doing. They knew about the paradox, I couldn't stop them. They made a choice. They did this knowingly, Brian. I'd give anything to bring them back," Brian watched him, a look of desperation on his face.

"What are you doing then?"

"Bringing you your family," the doctor didn't look up as he moved about with the random pieces of the circular console.

"I knew it! I knew you could. You know, that's not a very nice joke to play on an old man," Brian began to cheer up, expecting his son and his red haired wife to walk through the door any minute now. He turned around as he heard footsteps and an unfamiliar face appeared in the doorway.

"Hello, sweetie."