done for challenge 1 for the LJ comm she_is_to_me.
"Amelia?"
Amelia Pond has the terrible habit of staying up all night waiting. Waiting for that noise, the one she's only heard twice but has memorized nonetheless. That noise that bounces around in her head, the one that means he told the truth. He hasn't abandoned her. He's come back.
She has the terrible habit of lying in bed and listening. Sometimes she thinks she's heard it and will rush over to the window, but there's nothing but the empty backyard and the wind. She'll pad back to bed defeated only to get up again twenty minutes later.
This terrible habit of Amelia Pond's means that she's dreadfully tired during the day. Her eyes droop close and her teachers snap at her and she gets phone calls home. Aunt Sharon sends her to bed earlier and earlier each night and comes in to check on her frequently, but even though she closes her eyes her ears are still wide open, and her brain is coming up with a million and one scenarios about him.
"Amelia? You're falling asleep again."
In an attempt to throw her teachers off her scent she recruits Rory Williams to keep her awake. He sits next to her and pinches her whenever her eyes droop closed, elbows her in the ribs and hisses at her until her eyes flutter open and she sits up straight again.
"Amelia!" Rory's normally quiet voice has taken on a harsh edge as his fingers find her skin and pinch. She yelps and straightens up, glaring at him.
"Well you told me to wake you up!"
She rubs her leg and scowls. "Well I wish you wouldn't pinch!"
"It's the only thing that will wake you up," he insists, but his voice has taken on an apologetic quality and he's turned back to the front.
She sighs, knowing she can't exactly be impatient at the boy. He's the one saving her from punishment and more doctors.
She watches him out of the corner of her eyes. He bites his lip and then looks down at his hands. He turns to her and then stops. Finally he opens his mouth and says, "Er, Amelia?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't take this the wrong way but, uh, I was just thinking... why don't you stop waiting? I mean, I don't mean completely, obviously you're not going to just stop but at night, at least... you could sleep. I mean. If you... didn't stay up. Because I'm sure if he comes, when he comes, he'll come to get you. So you don't really need to stay awake ALL night."
He looks almost afraid as he whispers, glancing every now and then to make sure their teacher doesn't come over. He never looks her in the eye and his voice gets quieter and quieter as the speech progresses. She almost wants to laugh at the poor boy.
"Because, Rory." Rory is the only one who will listen to her stories about the Doctor and she knows that she has to be patient with him or else she'll have no one. "Because when he comes back, he's going to show me the world. The whole world!He's going to take me up among the stars, and I don't want to miss one minute of it!"
He chews on his lip some more. Then he finally says, "Well, er... I just... if he... doesn't come... not that I'm saying he won't! But if he doesn't, I promise, well I promise I'll find a way. To show you the, uh, stars. Somehow."
He's never said anything so nice to her- nobody has ever said anything that nice to her! She finds herself blushing and she averts her gaze from him, but there's a warm feeling spreading through her chest with the knowledge that Rory, at least, will never forget her.
"Thank you, Rory.
"But he'll come."
Her faith in the Doctor never wavers.
Years later, after a lifetime of waiting for the Doctor and a lifetime of waiting for her, Rory wanders through the TARDIS looking for the mad man in the box she had fretted about for so long. He'll never completely forgive himself for not fully believing her.
"You must think I'm silly," he says once he's finished explaining. It is silly- she most likely won't remember anyway and he'll look like a fool. But it's something he feels the need to do anyway.
The Doctor smiles and Rory feels assured that he doesn't think he's an idiot. "Silly? Well, a little bit. But not for this reason. This is not silly. This is... lovely. Lovely? Yes. Not silly."
"Why have we stopped?"
She pokes her head around the corner and looks at him and the Doctor, her eyebrows raised. "Well?"
The two men look at each other, and the Doctor gestures at Rory to go on.
"Er, well, I... you see, I, uhm... I had to... pee."
She squints at him. "You had to pee?"
He shifts uncomfortably from foot to foot. "Yeah."
"You know the TARDIS has bathrooms, right?"
He looks frantically at the Doctor for support, who jumps in.
"Yes well, Rory here expressed his need to relieve himself and I decided that we should land somewhere to, you know, have an adventure."
"After I pee."
"Yes yes, after he... does that."
She looks from one to the other and then shrugs. "Whatever is going on with you two I don't wanna know. Alright, let's go then!"
She skips off to the door, grabbing Rory by the hand. She's just about to leave when she looks around for the Doctor.
"Doctor, aren't you coming?"
"Right. Yes, I'm just going to, first I have to..."
"Pee," Rory supplies. The Doctor nods.
"Right. Pee. Because of course, Rory is going out there-" he gestures at the door- "and so I'll go in, in here..."
"You're weirder than usual today." She turns to Rory. "You too."
"Well, shall we?" He pulls her to the door.
"Shall we go to pee?"
"Right." He jabs at her. "Pee."
When they get outside, she gasps. "Rory, where the hell are we?"
He leads her a little farther away from the TARDIS.
"I asked the Doctor to bring us here."
"Why? And where is here?"
"Well, I don't know, exactly. He didn't tell me. Just... look up."
She does.
"I asked him to take us to a place where the stars shined the brightest."
She cranes her neck up, staring in awe at the endless space around them.
"And I know it's kind of anticlimactic, since you've seen so much and you've been all over. And you were right, because he came back, and he showed you all these wonderful things that I never could. So this probably doesn't even count, but I promised that I'd show you the stars."
He clears his throat, suddenly very self-conscious and awkward, certain she has no idea what the hell he's talking about.
"So, uhm, that's why we're here."
She lets out a low sigh, exhales a disbelieving breath of air. He's certain he's messed something up and shifts from foot to foot, hands stuck in his pockets.
"I know it's nothing to everything you've seen and I'm probably stupid for this. I am stupid for this. God, just forget it." Who cares about stars? He can give you the whole universe.
He starts to walk back to the TARDIS but she grabs him by the front of his shirt and holds tight. "You remembered?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"We were seven!"
He shrugs. "I remember pretty much everything that has to do with you."
She finally tears her gaze away from the stars. Her eyes are shining.
"You..." Then she jumps on him, nearly knocking him backwards. He grapples helplessly for some footing and finally just falls, smacking his head on the ground. He curses, but then she kisses him. Everything else is forgotten, even the bump on his head. Her hands touch his face and her lips cling hungrily to his and everything is okay again.
When she pulls away to breathe she looms over him. "You are ridiculous and wonderful and sweet and a terrible, terrible liar. Don't ever try to hide something from me again; you do a rotten job of it."
Before he has time to protest this nice yet slightly abusive take on his character she kisses him again.
His faith in her never does, either.