Anywhere I would have followed you

'When you run with the Doctor, it feels like it will never end... But however hard you try, everything ends' - River Song


"So you do know you're sort of like a Peter Pan don't you?" said the feisty redhead entangled in the staircase rails of the bigger on the inside box.

"Peter Pan?"answered the raggedy man incredulously. "Who in the world-"

"You obviously. Oh you mad man," She rolled her eyes at his scrawny trouser clad legs, popping out awkwardly from under the console. "You don't know a clue about fairy tales do you?" she sighed. A resounding BANG! echoed in the room. Amy hopped to her feet, alarmed. "Doctor?"

A moment later, The Doctor's head popped out, covered in soot, grinning like a positively cheeky child. "I know you." Amy scowled, hands on her hips. "No really, Doctor. Fairy tales?"

She was greeted by the soot covered face of a genuinely confused child. "If the Dalek before Christmas counts..."

"Peter Pan is a story about a boy who never grows up," she began loudly, plopping on the cool glass floor next to him. Rolling her eyes at the hopeless alien. Her hopeless alien. "He comes from a place called Neverland, stupid name I know, somewhere in the stars, where nobody ages." At this point, the Doctor was sprawled next to her, chin in his hands, elbows propped, listening earnestly. Ears alight and eyes sparkling with curiosity. "So he comes to Earth, with his closest companion, a pixie whose dust allows him to fly. And he whisks away a girl who was tired of waiting, too see the stars."

She merely glances at him and the Doctor nods, expression unreadable nevertheless prodding her to continue. She takes a breath. "And they go on adventures. They visit planets and fight monsters and save the day. It's like a dream. The best dream in the universe."

When she pauses, his brow knots.

"And then what happens?" He asked.

And Amy looks at him then, scrutinizing him because he doesn't sound like himself. Her eyes are wet, he realizes. He touches his face. It's wet too.

"And then... I don't know." She tells him slowly, looking only slightly afraid. "I honestly don't know what happens in the end."

The Doctor shot her a dark look, sending for the first time shivers down her spine.

"Who says it's going to end?" He snapped, voice hoarse. His mind deadlocked in a stubborn and unreasonable state. No longer did he look like a boy sprawled on the glass floor. The man who shot up, had a ramrod straight back and a shadow of a pained beast. Amy fell quiet. Realizing they had naturally pieced the parallels together, she felt her stomach sink. Reality came crashing down with it.

Suddenly she felt like that girl again; waiting for the days that never came.

"Amy this is just the beginning!" The raggedy man exclaimed, scrambling to his feet, already twisting buttons and pulling levers. The TARDIS hummed in agreement, taking them to some place in time and space that they haven't yet ventured.

(A corner of the galaxy which is a corner of the universe which is forever growing and shrinking and creating and There is so much; So much more to see! )

"Nothing would ever get started if we keep thinking about how it's going to end. Have I ever told you that?" His voice pitched in her direction.

Amy shook her head feeling a burning sensation in her cheeks, suddenly embarrassed she had proposed the question in the first place. She got to her feet, keeping her eyes on the floor as she brushed herself down.

"Besides," the Doctor murmured, looking reflectively in her direction. The glass of the time rotor distorting his image. The wetness in their eyes had disappeared but the sadness hadn't left yet. A small forlorn smile touched his face. "To die would be an awfully big adventure."

The thought itself made Amy shake her head adamantly. Would he go out like a candle or explode in a magnificent supernova? And where would she be when he did? She walked over only to be enveloped in bone crushing hug that he knew they both needed.

"I can wait for that adventure," she said without a doubt. "We've been through too much together, Doctor. I'm not expecting a happy ending. I didn't exactly consider it when I first entered the TARDIS but after losing Rory... Doctor, the only thing I can't consider now, is a place without you even if it means you'll be here without me. And when it happens, you'll be different, not the raggedy man I know and love but still someone who is going to take care of this beautiful universe. More like...a father than any superhero." Her voice was laced with wisdom beyond her years. The Doctor realized she missed him; she felt vacant without Rory and it echoed when she spoke.

"I'm not immortal. Someday I won't be here. "

Amy pulled away to study her once imaginary friend's face. So old yet so young. The face that she knew since she was a little girl.

"I can wait for that. And I hope it's going to take forever. Because right now, raggedy man, I'm not going anywhere and neither... are you." He said jabbing a finger into his jacket.

The Doctor sighed, pressing his face in his little Amelia's hair. Oh how she'd grown up, giving long winded speeches on life and death. That was his job. "The only place we're going Amelia, is the stars. What do you say Pond? Have you ever seen a supernova? Though it's quite a wait but the finale... It will burn your eyes, in a good way. Are you up for it?"

Amy skipped towards the big blue doors and opened them with flourish. "Waiting is dusty with cobwebs and moss- don't ever say the word, Doctor. Let's just call this an adventure, a huge amazing adventure; before another one."

"And another one!"

"And another one!" She chimed holding out her hand for him to take.

The bow tie clad man shook his head incredulously. The roles were definitely reversed today!

Maybe it was just one of those days where ridiculous, impossible things happen; the horrible unimaginable things and then the things that are simply right. He's always hoping for one of those.

The Doctor grinned, the melancholy on his features disappeared. He dived down the stairs, and grabbed his best friend's hand; clasping it tightly with a reassuring squeeze as they ran into the unknown. Leaving only giddy laughter in their wake.

The Doctor and Amy Pond

And the days that never came.