"Amy, come see this," Rory's voice wavered as he spoke. "There's a gravestone here for someone with the same name as me."
"What?" I half-laughed out at him. That was impossible, we'd just spend the last five minutes celebrating the paradox that spared his life. Something like that would have to be much more than just a coincidence if it were true.
My eyes shifted back up at him in just enough time to catch his puzzled expression before the angel appeared right behind him. There was no warning time. I screamed out the name of the sole person who could help.
"DOCTOR!"
My eyes never faltered from the stone beast in front of me. My Rory... He isn't gone. He can't be.
"Where the hell did that come from?" River's voice rang out from behind; I picked out the sound of the Doctor running forward.
"A survivor," He mumbled. A sense of panic filled his tone, "Don't take your eyes off it."
"Where's Rory?" His expression circled aorund in my thoughts constantly, bringing a stinging sensation to my eyes. I opened them wider, desperate not to blink.
The Doctor eased forward, glancing from the statue to the space in front of me where Rory had stood. In response, he whispered sorrowfully, "I'm sorry, Amelia. So, so sorry."
"No." I had to save him. "We could just go get him in the TARDIS. Just one more paradox."
"Would rip New York apart."
"No, I don't believe you." He would have done anything to save me, I have to do the same for him.
"Mother, it's true," the sound of River's voice shattered my heart. My Melody... She was ours, was she as heartbroken as I was? Tears began to blur my vision. I took a step towards the statue.
"Amy, what are you doing?" The Doctor was always able to read right through me, even now.
"That gravestone, Rory's," simply saying his name made my heart skip a beat, "there's room for one more name, isn't there?"
I would join Rory, my Rory. No matter what we always stayed together. That fact wasn't going to change now.
"What are you talking about? Back away from the angel; Come back in the TARDIS. We'll figure something out!" I could imagine the Doctor shaking his head frantically as he pleaded with me.
I'm sorry Doctor...
"The Angel would it send me back to the same time as him?" I needed to hear it out loud in his voice.
"I don't know. Nobody knows!" He was scared, just like I was. I have to hear it.
"But it's my best shot, yeah?" Tears began to stream down my face, but I was so desperate to have him back.
"NO!" I couldn't tell if he was telling me not to keep inching forward or answering the question.
"Doctor, shut up!" River screamed back at him. "Yes, Yes it is!"
And that was all I needed.
"Well then, I just have to blink, right?" The angel's empty eyes glared back at me, sending shivers down my spine with it's fierce stone expression.
"NO!" The Doctor kept screaming. It didn't seem right to leave him there without any confort.
"It'll be fine! I-I'll be with him. Like I should be." I began to stutter out the words through the terror the angel sent into my mind. Rory, my love, I'm coming for you soon enough. "Me and Rory," I muttered to myself.
I put on my bravest face, staring down this monster. It would be fine. It couldn't hurt us because we would have each other reguardless. All the fear I had faded away at that moment. "Melody."
The Doctor said something else, but I'd toned him out. He would not convince me to change my mind. River's icy hand closed around my own. This is the last time I'll see her. My baby.
"You watch after him," the words must have been barely audible through the tears, "You be a good girl, and you look after him."
"You are creating fixed time," the Doctor spoke slowly now, holding back tears. "I will never be able to see you again."
I'm so sorry, Doctor. "I'll be fine. I'll be with him."
"Amy, please," Guilt pressed down on my chest making it harder to breathe as he spoke, "Just come back into the TARDIS." My sobs grew heavier and heavier as I realized the end was near. "Come along, Pond, please."
Come along, Pond. How many times had he told me that before? On what occasions? The memories surged through my mind all the way back to the beginning when I met my little imaginary friend. My raggedy man. I couldn't think of anything through the guilt and misery except apologies to him.
I'm sorry, Doctor, so incredibly sorry.
"Raggedy man," I have to be with Rory. The Doctor had River to be with, Rory had no one. How could I damn his soul to that much lonlieness? I can't leave him after everything we've endured. I spun my body away from the Angel, staring at the Doctor for one last time, "Goodbye."
And then I was back in New York, alone on the moonlit street facing Winter Quay.