The Doctor was dead.
Amy Pond couldn't quite believe it. After all, he'd died before and always managed to find his way back to reality. He was the Doctor, and he couldn't die. But he had, and left his three companions alone in the desert diner. Amy sat in silence, Rory wrapped his arm around her and River watched the two of them with a solid face, even if her heart was being ripped into shreads inside of her body.
"I can take you two home" River said, interupting the silence that grew between them. She could drive the TARDIS - and with the Doctor dead, she knew that she would probably be the only person who ever would again.
Amy steered down at her drink. Rory steared at Amy.
"Amy? There isn't anything else we can do. Let's go home" Rory assured her, though he two was feeling some pain after witnessing the death of a friend.
"No.." Amy said bluntly, her eyes unmoved. "We have to wait. He will come back. He always comes back"
"Amy... I'm sorry" River said uncharacteristically softly, reaching out a slender hand to cup Amy's fists. "I'm so so sorry, but.." River stopped and took a long breath in, fighting off the tears that had welled up behind her eyes. "But it killed him in the middle of his regeneration cycle - there is no coming back from that..." she squeezed Amy's hand.
Amy pulled away quickly and looked up at River with slanted, accusing eyes. "So you're just going to give up on him! Just like that?" Her words were strong and spiteful, and she shook of Rory's embrace. "He can't die! He is a damn timelord"
"Amy, Please-;"
"Don't Amy me, River. I am staying here, I am going to wait for him because he WILL be back, weither it is tomorrow or ten years from now"
River swollowed, her shattered heart in her throat. Truth be known, she felt more pain then Amy and Rory combined. The Doctor, Her Doctor. He was dead, and she understood that. At least they had meet Jim the Frog, and done Easter Island. She looked to the table and tears welled in her eyes. No picnic at Asgard, and no wedding. Nothing more. She looked up to catch a glimpse of Rory patting Amy on the back and dissaparing to the bathroom, leaving the two woman alone.
"River..."
"Yes, sweetie?"
"How can you be so strong?" Amy said, bursting into tears once again. River quickly stood up and move to Amy's side of the booth, shuffling along until their bodies were one, and River lung her arms around Amy's neck.
"Oh, darling - If only I were" She said, a few tears rolling down her cheeks and getting lost in Amy's hair. A few minutes past before Amy looked up at the face of River and sniffed.
"You are going to stay with us, right? You are not going to leave us too..." Amy swollowed and rested her head on the nape of Rivers neck.
"No sweetie. No, of course not. I'm here" She patted Amy's hair, watching the bathroom door swing open as Rory reappeared, nodding at River in thanks for comforting his wife when he simply could not.