Title: Cadency
Author: tromana
Rating: PG-13
Characters: Eleven, Brian Williams
Summary: post-7x05 The Angels Take Manhattan. The Doctor isn't quite finished with the Ponds. Yet.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Notes: Spoilers for 7x05 The Angels Take Manhattan - and an episode tag to the same episode.
Cadency
The Doctor felt terribly sad as he stood at the blue door. River had warned him against it, had told him that it was a bad idea time and time again. Naturally, he hadn't listened to her. She was only his wife; any advice he got from her had to be taken with a pinch of salt. Besides, she was a self-confessed psychopath. Who took advice from a psychopath, really?
So, he straightened his bow tie, knocked three times and waited.
After thirty seconds, he got bored and knocked again. Only when he was about to knock for the fifth time did Brian Williams finally answer the door.
And the moment he did so, his face crumpled.
Brian stoically invited him indoors, offered him tea and biscuits, which the Doctor politely accepted. It was rude for him to turn up such a nice offer, after all. And besides, he had felt compelled to come here, even though he was the bringer of bad news. He'd promised Brian he would look after them and he'd failed miserably. Even after he uttered the words, Brian was still the one comforting him instead of the other way around. Good old Brian. Technically, he may have not been a Pond, but he really was one through and through.
"So we can never see them again?"
"No, we can't," the Doctor said and he sipped at the tea. It had already gone cold.
"Because 1930's New York is filled with paradoxes and the Earth will explode if you land the TARDIS there?"
"That's about the gist of it, yes," he answered grimly. He'd gone over it time and time again in his head. How he'd begged, pleaded that Amy hadn't gone near the Angel. How he'd implored her not to take that one last risk and sacrifice everything to their fate. He could remember the look in her eyes the moment she disappeared and then the look in her daughter's eyes when he turned to face River.
He hated goodbyes, hated them. Rose, Sarah, Romana, Jamie, Peri… all of them. They all left and it was never the same. Even after all these years, it never got any easier.
"Why don't you just land in 1930's New Jersey and take the bus?" Brian asked quietly.
"What did you say?"
"Land in New Jersey and take the bus?"
The Doctor mulled over this concept for a minute, mouthed the words 'take the bus' several times before he jumped up from his seat and kissed Brian on the crown of his head. He beamed from ear to ear and almost danced around the room before Brian stopped him. The man looked at him in the eye seriously and the Doctor sobered a little.
"Brian Pond, you are a genius."
"I am?"
"You are!"
"But I thought it was common sense…" he answered, trailing off.
"Exactly. Exactly," the Doctor enthused. "And that is precisely why I couldn't see it that way."
Brian furrowed his brow, but the Doctor continued to enthuse. There was still a chance, there was still hope. He hadn't lost everything just yet. The power of three, they could be back together again. It was possible.
"I want to see them."
"You do?"
"Take me to them," he said quickly. "Just for one last time. You've had your goodbye, Doctor and I want mine. Rory is my son. And Amy, she's family too."
As he phrased it like that, he knew that he simply couldn't say no to Brian. He had a point. But then, considering who he was related to, it was hardly surprising. This was where Rory had got his common sense from. It was all there, in brilliant Brian Williams. He wasn't fazed to be back in the TARDIS again, nor was he overawed by the concept of time and space this time. All Brian had was one thing on his mind: to see his son and daughter-in-law one last time.
So, the Doctor took him straight to New Jersey, ready to pick up the bus and make that journey.
When it came down to it, he still couldn't find the courage to go and find Amy and Rory. Throughout the flight in the TARDIS, he had been fingering River's book. It lay heavily in his hands, just as both mother and daughter had probably expected. Amy's afterword had said she was happy. She and Rory had everything they needed, namely, each other. That all they wanted was for him to move on and find somebody new. He couldn't see them again, couldn't try and uproot them from the happiness he'd shared with them. Their time was over; they had their own lives to live. And worse, he couldn't risk seeing them again, only to have to say goodbye yet again so soon.
Instead, he watched Brian walk towards the bus stop, with his anachronistic clothes and suitcase and plonk himself down as he waited for the bus to arrive. The Doctor raised a hand to wave at him as he boarded before returning to his beloved TARDIS. He'd spent a few minutes returning her to the beautiful blue he knew and loved. Her paintwork still gleamed and she looked like she needed a quick spin to break her in.
He'd promised Brian he'd come back, and return him to his own time. The Ponds may not have anything, excepting Brian, left in the twenty-first century, but Brian did. More than that, really. He wasn't one for feeling like a fish out of water.
The Doctor didn't come straight back. There was a problem with the Jagaroth on Mars. And then there was a slight issue when trying to persuade Nefertiti to go back to her own time. Of course, he had to pop by and see River and she did that thing in that place and… it was all too much to think about. Still, he did return to Brian. Just as he promised. When it came to the Ponds, he always kept his promises.
"You're late," Brian said irritably and crossed his arms in disgust. "It's been over a year."
"But I swear…"
"It's okay, I understand. You're always like this, Amy and Rory said."
"How are they?" the Doctor asked, his voice catching as he spoke.
"Good. Better than that, really. They've adopted a daughter and called her Melody."
"Oh, that's just what the universe needs. Two Melody Ponds!"
Naturally, Brian was confused when he returned to the TARDIS after one year, three months and two in 1930's USA. He didn't question it though, and the Doctor was glad. Even though he was late, he had still kept his promise. Brian had seen his family, watched them settle down and met his adoptive granddaughter. He would never meet the original Melody Pond, and the Doctor would never meet the second Melody either. It was a fair trade off.
And for a short while, he wouldn't be alone either. Because he had Brian with him, for now.
After him? Who knew? But the Doctor would cross that bridge when it came to it.