A/N: It's not like what I usually write, since it's much more serious and it's mostly all inner thoughts of the Doctor during AGMGTW. R/R, enjoy.
This is war. He stands back and watches as his best friend cries, her child lost, stolen away because of him. A shiver runs down his spine when he realizes that every last person in the room is there for one reason- him. If it were not for the Doctor, the building would be empty. There would be no armies for or against him. He… collects people. Friends. Enemies. Victims. So, so many victims.
But as a fight unfolds before him, he watches a leader rise up before his own eyes, a man reaching his full potential for the woman he loves. Oh, Rory. He had always been such a wimp, never standing up for himself, but here- here, he was leading a fight against the Headless Monks. How could this have happened? When had this transformation taken place? With a smile hidden in his massive brain, the Doctor realized it was the day the man had punched the Time Lord for saying that there was no time to save Amy. Starting that day, Rory had started to amount to something real, a real man, a real hero. Now, standing in full Roman armor, the Doctor couldn't think of anyone he'd rather put in charge of his life in battle.
With a heave and a grunt, Rory pushed back a Headless Monk as the Doctor hurried about, realizing he still had much to do. But his thoughts still went to Rory. Not only was he a brave and strong man that deserved to be a leader, but he deserved to be loved. With a slight twinge deep in both his hearts, the Doctor gave in to the fact that Amy could not have picked a better husband if she had tried. He closed his eyes in a blink, simultaneously letting go the small, so very small part of him that clung to the hope of keeping Amy with him for as long as possible, claiming her loving self. Amelia Pond may have loved and almost worshipped the Doctor, but someday soon he would have to call her Amy Williams. And Amy Williams loved Rory, loved him as much as the hero deserved.
So perhaps if the Doctor had never returned to Amy Pond, Rory would never have grown into the man he soon became. Perhaps the Doctor had caused a small seedling of hope to grow among the desolate plains of his other less glamorous achievements consisting primarily of heartache, loss, and death. If his 9 centuries had taught him anything, it was that power of time could cause arrogance and flippancy, which in turn created pain for the wielder of the power's dearly beloveds. And he, a Lord of Time, was no exception. So planting a seed of hope in the form of Rory's growth of character was a small victory to a man who had committed so many crimes.
Someday soon he would have to leave Amy and Rory, his two greatest friends, to let them continue to grow. Something he himself would never do- grow. But he would leave them indeed despite how lovely it would be to keep them to himself. Though when the time came for him to leave them behind, as he did to all he loved, he hoped they would think of him still and not hate him for showing them the universe and then cruelly taking it away.