A/N: Because I never liked the way how at the beginning of Series 6, Amy and Rory are suddenly living like a normal married couple with no explanation of how they got there. Not my best work.

"So Rory and I have been talking lately."

"Well you're married. I hope you talk."

"Right, well…" She pauses and sits down on the chair next to the console. "We've been talking about…going home. Well, he's been talking about it. I've been half listening to him and then changing the topic as fast as possible." She sort of mutters the last part, and the Doctor notices and stands up a little taller, leaning against the console and looking at her.

"And what have you – or what has Rory – been saying about it?" He's scared as hell, he's not gonna lie. He's always scared when his friends talk about going home. He tries not to show it, but he is. The prospect of being alone again is not an appealing one – the prospect of saying goodbye to Amy is even worse.

Amy shrugs. "He thinks we need to go home eventually. Start living like normal people."

"Living like normal people is no fun," the Doctor mutters, smiling a little. It's funny because it's exactly what she's thinking.

"He said our honeymoon has to end sometime." She looks up at him. "I thought the whole point of a time-travel honeymoon was that it was going last forever." She looks sad so he walks over to her and kneels down next to the chair.

"Well it's lasted about – four months?" He doesn't know if he would consider those four months as all part of the honeymoon, exactly, but he can understand where Rory's coming from. That's the problem with Rory – the Doctor rarely agrees with him, but he always understands. The Doctor understands Amy's opinions more than Rory's, but Rory takes care of Amy, so therefore…the Doctor has to side with Rory sometimes.

"I know it has," she says, sort of rolling her eyes a bit and not looking at him. She's talking very quietly now. "But the honeymoon excuse was what I kept bringing up whenever he mentioned going back. I don't think it'll work for too much longer."

"You must have known this would happen someday," the Doctor says. He's saying it to make him himself feel better, not just her. "You can't just stay traveling with me forever."

"But why not?" She looks over at him sharply. He just kind of frowns at her. He can see it in her eyes. This happens sometimes. She needs an answer from him but there are some things that he just can't quite explain.

"Because, you're married, Amy." The Doctor moves some of her hair out of her face. "You can't just keep running."

"You do it."

"But I'm different. I don't have anyone to slow down for." It's true. He has Amy, he guesses, but even if he were with Amy in that way, she wouldn't want to slow down. If they were together…they could run as long as they liked.

"But I don't want to go back to Leadworth," Amy says, frowning at him. "I really don't. You don't know what it's like to live there, Doctor. You've only been a few times. It's different when you live there and you can't leave."

The Doctor knows it is. If he had his way, he would let Amy continue on in the TARDIS forever. Her personally just doesn't work all cooped up in Leadworth like that. He smiles. "Think of it like this: it'll be an adventure trying to live an ordinary life after this."

"Not a particularly fun adventure. I just don't get why Rory wants to go back."

The Doctor sighs. This was the problem with Amy and Rory. They never understood one another. They looked in life in completely different ways sometimes. He leans against the railing and thinks for a bit. "Rory wants to settle down and be happy and quiet and boring. It's a reasonable dream, but he just so happened to pick the girl who wants the opposite."

"I don't want to make him upset," she mutters. "I mean he's already traveled with us for so long. Maybe it's time I do what he wants to do."

"Yeah, maybe it is." The Doctor knows she's right. He wishes she wasn't.

"I'll just miss this, so much." She looks up at the TARDIS interior and sighs.

"You can talk to him about it," the Doctor suggests. "Maybe you two can come to a…compromise."

"We'll have to," Amy says, standing up. "Because there's no way I'm just leaving."

She walks away without another word, presumably to her and Rory's bedroom. The Doctor likes how she doesn't want to leave, but at the same thing it makes him kind of sad. It'll just mean she'll be even more upset when she does.

"I mean, we can't just hop into a spaceship and never go home!"

Amy purposely doesn't look at him because that was exactly what she had intended to do. After since she was seven that had been her dream. Hopping away in a spaceship always sounded like the perfect solution to her problems, but apparently Rory didn't think that way.

He's raising his voice with her, only a little, but she doesn't like it anyway. He isn't mad at her or anything. He's just talking about why they have to go home.

"But are you sure though?" Amy asks, looking up at him in an almost challenging sort of way. "We could stay here for a while longer." Or forever. That would be nice too, she thinks.

Rory shrugs. That's probably the most useful about him, in Amy's opinion. He never fights with her. He was known to argue with her, but he always backed down before things could get heated. "Amy, it's been a while since we've been home," he says cautiously. "Doesn't any part of you miss it?"

A small part of her does miss things from home. Mainly her family and friends. But living in the TARDIS is worth the sacrifices. Rory has more things to go back for than she does – maybe she should do this just for his sake.

"Okay. I'll go," Amy says finally.

"You will?"

"Yeah," Amy says. She makes a small gesture of defeat with her hands. "Let's do it tomorrow, okay?" She gives him a little smile before walking away.

It's easier for her to just get it over with. That night, she packs all of her things into her suitcase. She doesn't allow herself to really feel. She doesn't want to think about the pain.

She doesn't talk to Rory much at all. She's not mad at him, but she knows that he will probably try to comfort her, and then it will start sinking in that she's leaving. She sent Rory to tell the Doctor about their departure, and she wonders how the Doctor reacted to that. Surely he would miss them, but surely she would miss him more.

It's going to be tough to leave this bedroom and get used to a new one. She lies down next to Rory on the bed, gazing up at the ceiling. He begins talking about how they should buy a house together when they get back. Amy supposes that's a good idea, but she doesn't really care. She knows that when they get home, Rory will take care of everything important, and she'll just grumble about how boring Earth is.

She mutters goodnight and then rolls over, not falling asleep.

Amy watches as her boys say their goodbyes. She can't help but smile as the Doctor and Rory hug each other. They've already landed in Leadworth. It's just on the other side of that door. She thinks of all the times she'd opened that door to find mystery and adventure awaiting her, but today, it led to the most ordinary place she could think of.

Finally, Rory takes both his and his wife's suitcase and exits the TARDIS. It's obvious that he left first so that Amy and the Doctor could be alone.

Amy steps forward, her head hanging, watching her feet.

"You alright, Pond?" the Doctor asks. He gently lifts her chin – she can't help but smile when he does that, but this time, she's also fighting tears.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she replies. "Just not a big fan of goodbyes."

"Oh, Amy, you really don't think you can get rid of me that easily, do you?" She wonders how he's remaining so cheerful. He must be hurting inside. At least, she hopes he is – or else it's just her. "I'll be here to check on you from time to time. Both you and Rory are welcome any time you like."

She wants to protest. She wants to say that's he's wrong, because maybe – just maybe – they won't see each other again. Maybe he'll go and get himself killed before he gets the chance to visit. Maybe he'll go too far in the future again and make her wait for years. Maybe he'll forget about her…

But instead she just nods and smiles. "Of course. Keep in touch, okay?"

"'Course," he mutters before pulling her into a hug. She grips his tweed jacket tightly, wishing she would never have to let go. Her life just won't be the same without having her Raggedy Doctor there every day.

When she finally pulls away, she's wiping tears from her eyes. Rory appears right on time, asking Amy if she's ready. "Yep!" Amy says cheerfully, gripping Rory's hand and beaming back at the Doctor as she walks outside. She's not as sad as she thought she would be – in fact, she's a little bit excited to start a new way of living, even if it will be more boring than time-traveling. Also, the idea of seeing the Doctor in the future is something to look forward to. She kisses Rory's cheek as they walk into Leadworth, and it's then that she realizes just how much she actually missed this stupid place.

The Doctor stands at the door of the TARDIS for a while, watching his Ponds walk away. Out of all the times his friends had left him, this is perhaps the most painful. He's most worried about Amy. What if being married, well, changes her in some way? He's worried that she'll be unhappy. He's worried about abandoning her again and what effect that will have on her.

But he knows he has to give her space. He just can't drop out of the sky every few weeks. He'll need to give her time to adjust – likewise, he'll have to adjust to being on his own. He's not interested in getting a replacement for Amy or Rory. He has people and places that can keep him busy. Having someone else in the TARDIS would feel like a betrayal, a too-constant reminder that Amy and Rory were gone.

The Doctor walks back the console and smiles a bit. Just him and his TARDIS now – at least she never leaves him.

He isn't sure what's going to do now. Continue running, he supposes. There's no point in coming back for Amy and Rory – he probably will sometime, because he misses them already, but he knows that things will never be quite the same. And because of that, there's no reason to rush.

What just happened is a minor setback, he tells himself. Nothing he hasn't been through before.

So the mad man blasts off once again, leaving behind his Amelia Pond yet another time.

But he holds onto the hope that he'll see her again before too long.