At first, Amy thinks the Angel is cruel. As if things weren't already dreadful as it is, the Angel just has to send her to the Great Depression. That lone survivor Angel—the last of its kind and so very cruel.
She calls Rory, thankful the Doctor had sonic-ed both their phones to get service in every era and galaxy. After he gets over the shock that she had actually come after him ("Of course I came after you, you idiot!"), they arrange to meet in front of the Empire State Building and for ten minutes, she actually thinks things will be fine. Then, Rory says over the phone that he's already there but when she arrives, he's nowhere in sight.
"Are you sure you're in front of the Empire State Building?" Rory asks.
"Pretty sure. Do you have the right building?"
"It's the tallest building in New York right now. You can't really miss it."
"Well, it's not done yet, so maybe you're mistaken."
There's a noticeable pause on his line. "Amy…what do you mean the Empire State Building is not done yet?"
And it's not so much a plot twist but knife twist, right in her heart. The Angel sent Amy to 1930. The Angel sent Rory to 1934.
The Girl Who Waited must wait again.
She hates the cruel Angel with all her wounded heart.
So now she's stuck in Great Depression New York with no money and nowhere to go. Naturally, she seeks refuge in a Hooverville. The tents are set up in Central Park and she absolutely despises Central Park, but it's here or the streets. And it's here when she's sitting by a small fire one day that Solomon enters camp and announces two newcomers. Before Solomon even says his name, she knows it's him.
The Doctor. Her Doctor.
Well, not her Doctor, not yet. He's an older version, the tenth before her eleventh. She recognizes the suit-and-trainers look for her raggedy man had worn the very same thing the first night they met and that night will forever be engrained in her memory. This is the Raggedy Doctor before he became raggedy.
Amy wants to run to him and ask him to save her and Rory with his TARDIS and bring them back to her Doctor. But she's scared the paradox will tear the entire universe apart.
Although, she figures, it won't hurt the universe if she talks to his companion, right?
To tell the truth, when she catches sight of the other woman by the Doctor's side, she's met with a pain in her chest. Of course he had other companions before her, just like he'll have new companions after her. She always knew this. But seeing it, actually witnessing the cold truth—she can't help but feel pitifully replaceable.
Still, she quietly approaches them and when the Doctor is preoccupied talking with Solomon, she pulls the girl aside and asks her about the Doctor. Her name is Martha, from London 2006. From the way she talks about the Doctor, it's easy to see that Martha adores him, because Amy used to have the same adoration in her own eyes. It makes her wonder if it's inevitable, falling in love with the Doctor. And it makes her wonder how Martha's story will end.
"And you know the Doctor?" Martha asks.
Amy hesitates for a second. She watches this Doctor talk with Solomon, his trainers peeking out from underneath his suit pants. His hair is a different kind of wild and even though he has an older face, he's so young. He's a stranger, she realizes. A perfect stranger who doesn't even know who she is. (Is this even half of what River felt?)
"Yes," she answers, "I knew the Doctor. But he doesn't know me. Not yet anyway."
Martha's eyebrows shoot up in clear confusion.
Amy gives a weak half-hearted laugh. "Timey wimey stuff, yeah. You'll understand one day." The other Doctor, the stranger Doctor, is walking with Solomon and that one kid Frank over towards them now and she knows it's her cue to exit. As she's turning away, she turns to Martha and gestures between the two of them. "Don't tell the Doctor about this, okay? He hates it when he meets people in the wrong order."
Before Martha could reply, she's ducked under the side of a tent.
And for the record, she really intended on just watching from the sidelines, honest. Just be one of the nameless faces in the crowd while the Doctor runs, always running, whizzing out his sonic, talking so fast to keep up with his train of thought that no one else understand a word he's saying. (She misses this—misses him—so much.) She didn't even go with the Doctor and Martha as they go into the tunnels to investigate the disappearances, even though she desperately wanted to. She seriously was only going to be an innocent bystander, trying to keep the universe intact and all.
But then the Dalek comes.
The old woman standing beside her wails in fright. "Oh God, what is that?!"
Almost instinctively, Amy mutters, "Dalek."
She is standing so far away and besides, everyone in screaming in panic, so there's no way the Doctor could have heard her from all the way on the other side of the crowd. But he does. His head whips around and his eyes lock onto hers and she freezes in place.Doctor, she wants to say and scream and shout, it's me. Please, you know me. Amy Pond with the crack on her wall. She swears she sees recognition flash across his face, but she knows it's probably just her mind playing tricks on her hopeful heart. Soon, the Dalek and the ensuing chaos commands his attention and he runs off to meet their leader.
Later, when the Doctor and company have saved the day and he and Martha are bidding farewell to the residents of this Hooverville, Amy notices he tries to look for her, the curious woman with the bright red hair who somehow knew about the Daleks. She hides and he doesn't find her. But Martha does.
"You travelled with the Doctor, didn't you?" she asks Amy.
"Yeah."
Martha glances down at Amy's skinny jeans underneath her long overcoat. "And you're not from the 30's."
"No."
"So how did you end up here?"
"I…I lost the Doctor."
Martha looks at her with sympathy and perhaps a bit of anxiety for the day she too will lose the Doctor, but for now, she's patting her pockets to search for anything to give. She pulls out the small rectangle and hands it to Amy. "Here. It's—"
"Psychic paper," Amy finishes. She could get a place to live with this. She could get a job. "Thank you. Are you sure I can take this?"
"I'll tell the Doctor I accidentally lost it. I'm sure he has more."
Amy hugs Martha goodbye and as she watches her leave with the Doctor, she realizes that the Angel wasn't cruel after all. The Angel sent her four more years back so that she could see the Doctor.
/
She waits the years and months and days and finds Rory in front of the Empire State Building just as he's hanging up from his call with her younger self. And then, life is alright.
Rory gets a job at the hospital and Amy dabbles around, sometimes doing some noveling or journalism and sometimes investing in all the right companies in the stock market. Just like before, she can't settle, can't not wait for him. She goes by Amelia now, Amelia Williams. She imagines the Doctor smiling because he's always preferred Amelia, her name a bit like a fairytale, and then she imagines the Doctor scowling because Come along, Williams doesn't have the same ring to it, really.
She honestly thought the Doctor would come save them again. Even though he said he couldn't, even though he said the whole universe would collapse in on itself if he came back to New York again, she still held onto the same childlike hope that she'd hear the sound of the TARDIS landing on her street. If the Doctor could come here in his past, maybe there is some quantum loophole or something that would allow him to come again in his future.
But months later, when there's an unexpected knock at the door and Amy holds her breath as she opens the door, it's the wrong time traveler on her front porch.
"Not happy to see me, Mother?" River smiles.
After River gives Amy the manuscript for her Melody Malone book and tells her to write an afterword, Amy finally asks the question that's weighing down on her chest, threatening to crush her alive.
"The Doctor," her voice quivers, "he's really not coming?"
River gives her an apologetic glance that's answer enough.
"I'll never see him again?" The word never resounds inside of her, echoing through every fiber of her being until something inside surely snaps.
River begins shaking her head, but she sees the devastated look on Amy's face and her apologetic glance turns into one of pity and then one of conspiratorial camaraderie. "Tell you what," River whispers, leaning in close, "The Doctor will never see you again, but that doesn't mean you can't see him again."
River takes out her small blue notebook and flips to a certain page. With one swift motion, she rips the page right out of the binding and hands it to Amy. "Just don't say anything, dear. Spoilers"
After River leaves, Amy quickly reads the page, front and back. Dates—no, a part of a timeline. The Doctor's timeline, but in the proper chronological order. The page starts with November 1, 1930, New York—Daleks in Manhattan and her heart lurches at the sight of those words. The Doctor will never see her again, but that doesn't mean she can't see him again. Seeing the pre-raggedy Doctor years ago wasn't some miraculous flux of the timestream or some merciful gift from the Angel. It was simply Amy's new beginning.
Time can be rewritten, a great man once said.
She holds the page to her heart because this is the very last thing she has left of that great man.
/
As for the manuscript, she puts it on top of her wardrobe and lets it collect dust. Maybe if she never publishes the book, she can change what happened. Maybe if she never publishes the book, they would've left Central Park unscathed and continued on with their travels like they were supposed to, and this version of Amy and Rory would wake up back on the TARDIS as the paradox fixes itself.
Maybe old habits die hard and even now, Amy can't stop hoping.
/
October 10, 1938, Germany—Melody Pond kills the Doctor, brings him back, and becomes River Song.
March 28, 1941, London—Are you my mummy?
June 3, 1941—Daleks and Winston and the Second World War.
It takes a lot of convincing on Rory's part to keep Amy from flying over to Europe when the war starts. ("No, Amy, you're not going to Nazi Germany.") She pretends to overlook any logical hazards of wartime and instead focuses in on how many times the Doctor appears in this part of history. But Rory enlists in the war and gets stationed in London. When he calls her one night and says he did it, he met the Doctor, Amy is supremely jealous.
He tells her that once he heard about a mysterious case in which people were literally growing gas masks right out of their faces, he just knew the Doctor would be there. It's just that—and he warns her not to laugh—well, in his effort to investigate the case, he got a bit too close to the patients and he got infected himself, so when the Doctor finally showed up, Rory was lying on one of the cots with a gas mask for a face, asking if the Doctor was his mummy.
Amy can't help it. She throws her head back and laughs.
"You won't believe this," his voice is excited over the phone, "the Doctor was old and had a buzz cut and wore a leather jacket. Leather! And Amy, you should've seen his ears!"
Amy smiles at the mental image for bit before she asks the question that's been burning on her mind. "What was she like?"
"Who?"
"The Ears Doctor's companion." She dubs the different Doctors Ears, Hair, and Chin.
"Blonde. Pretty."
Amy rolls her eyes.
"And there was another man there too. A captain, I think."
"Like, another companion of the Doctor?"
"Maybe." Rory then says something else, but she's too busy trying to picture the Doctor traveling with two other people beside her and Rory and failing.
When snaps back to reality and starts listening to Rory again, he is telling her about some of the guys he's met. There's the Sargent Latimer who's a veteran of the first war and he carries around this fob watch with him to every battle. He says a great hero gave it to him and now it helps him be exactly where he needs to at exactly the right time. And then there's this young lad who goes by Nightingale, his mum's maiden name or something like that, who had gotten sick and in his fever delirium confessed that his mother was from the future. Everyone else just laughed and still tease Nightingale about it, but Rory thinks maybe it's the work of Angels.
And finally there's Wilfred Mott, this brilliant man who has the kindest heart Rory has ever seen. Three years into the war and Wilfred hasn't killed a man yet. Once the war is over, Wilfred says, Rory and the missus are invited to visit his home in London anytime.
/
The arguments begin about three years after the war ended. It was inevitable, anyway.
"You're not even fucking trying," he shouts. "I got a job at the hospital, I made friends with the neighbors, I even fought in a bloody war! And all you do is live your life revolving around that damn list and write a couple children's books that are really just you reliving the adventures with the Doctor, yet you still won't publish River's book. Christ, Amy, let it go. He's not coming back. You can't change what happened."
When he storms away this time, she half expects the Doctor to show up and fix her marriage again. But even now, he doesn't come.
And she realizes without the Doctor, and now without Rory, she's so alone.
So she finds Rory and brings him back herself. She apologizes profusely and agrees yes, they should move to that bigger house and yes, they should adopt a kid. She starts volunteering at the local chapter of the suffrage movement and when some ladies ask her to join them for tea after one of the meetings, she does. She stops setting a third plate at the table.
But the manuscript still lays untouched on top of the wardrobe. Even now, she can't bring herself to seal her own fate just yet.
/
June 1, 1953, Muswell—The Wire and the faceless people.
The first time they visit Wilfred, it's really just an excuse to fly to England to meet up with the Doctor. After meeting Wilfred's family and settling into the guest room, they leave their son Anthony to play with Wilfred's daughter and sneak away on the pretense of "having tea with an old friend" for the afternoon.
It's easy enough finding the town. And it should also be easy enough finding the Doctor—just run towards any sign of danger without abandon and you can bet he'll be running there too.
They are walking down the street trying to find any oddities when a girl in a pink poodle skirt frantically runs up to them. She's slightly out of breath from running and grabs onto Amy's arm as she catches her breath. "Excuse me, do you know where the Magpie telly store is?"
Amy shakes her head no and the girl keeps running down the street.
"Did she seem familiar to you?" Rory asks, after the mysterious girl had disappeared down the street. She did seem familiar, even though Amy knows she's never met her before. Something about the girl just isn't adding up right. She could've sworn skirts like those don't come into fashion for another decade. And wow, are people really already saying "telly"?
They don't find the Doctor that day and Amy is more disappointed than she lets on. She could barely sleep that night. Her mind keeps drifting back to that strange girl with her anachronistic outfit, her unmistakable 21st-Century-London accent, and her knack for running.
The next morning, Rory sits up with a bolt and Amy nearly falls off the bed in fright. "I figured it out!" Rory cries. "The girl from yesterday. It's Rose, the Doctor's blonde companion!"
They are out the door as fast as possible, leaving Anthony at the breakfast table and a confused Wilfred waving at them from the front yard.
"Well, hurry back," Wilfred calls after them, "you don't want to miss the coronation!"
By the time they return to the same street they were on yesterday and find the Magpie Television store, they're almost too late. It's the Hair Doctor this time. Rose is nowhere to be seen, but there's a young boy with the Doctor and both of them are stuck in a rather strange predicament—their faces are being sucked through the television screens.
"…the hell?" Rory mutters.
Amy notices the Doctor seems to be struggling with his sonic screwdriver and the monster or alien or whatever that was inside the television is making the Doctor weak, bringing him down to his knees. Before Rory could stop her, she dashes inside the store, snatches the sonic from the Doctor's hands, and points it to the wall of television sets. The bright beams detach from the Doctor and the boy's faces and they both collapse onto the ground. Amy stares at the sonic in her hands. It's not the one her Doctor used, but she would have been able to recognize this sonic anywhere. It's the same one the Raggedy Doctor once used, all the way back to the beginning with Prisoner Zero, when it rolled under the door and onto the table.
And then she realizes the magnitude of what she's just done.
She saved the Doctor, which definitely doesn't count as being an innocent observer. Now their timelines have crossed and oh god, what if she just created a paradox. What if she just ruined everything?
In her panic, she drops the sonic and runs out the door, grabbing Rory's hand and pulling him behind her as they sprint back to Wilfred's house. She can barely hear the Doctor's voice calling after her.
To their credit, they don't miss the coronation after all. Amy and Rory sit in the Mott's living room doing their very best to pretend that they're actually enjoying themselves watching the special televised event and not actually freaking out on the inside because maybe the universe will collapse any second now. But it doesn't. Nothing happens.
Later, Wilfred gets a call from a friend and gets invited to a block party as a post-coronation celebration. Only after Amy has gotten in the car and they're halfway there does she realize that they're heading back for Muswell. Sure enough, the second they arrive, her eyes land on the telltale blue TARDIS parked down the street and the Hair Doctor standing a few meters away, staring at her. She excuses herself from Rory, Wilfred, and the kids to go towards the tables with the food. The Doctor immediately walks over to join her.
She really shouldn't talk to him, but—well, she did intervene and save his life and no one got swallowed by a paradox or anything, so what's the harm in a few more words? Perhaps the universe has its lenient moments too.
"How did you know how to use the sonic?" he asks when he is beside her. No hello, no preface, just the Doctor trying to figure out the girl who doesn't make sense. She smiles wistfully because she wants to tell him if you think I'm a curiosity now, wait until you actually meet me.
She looks him in the eye and responds, "You showed me once."
/
November 23, 1963, London—Ian and Barbara find the first Doctor
The second time they visit Wilfred, it's really still an excuse to see the Doctor.
After asking around and finding the school, Amy uses her psychic paper to get in as a substitute teacher for the day. After classes end, she wanders the emptying hallways and hears their conversation before she sees them. Two teachers are muttering something peculiar about one Susan Foreman.
Later, Amy follows the teachers following Susan home to 76 Totters Lane. From the street corner, she watches as the two teachers poke around the junkyard before finally encountering the Doctor. They peer into the doors of the TARDIS. They step inside, the door swings shut behind them, but before it closes all the way, the First Doctor sticks his head out to furtively look up and down the street. When he spots Amy staring, he freezes, but after a second, his face breaks into a grin and he winks at her before ducking his head back in and shutting the door. With a wheeze of the brakes (he's really flown like this since the beginning, hasn't he?) the police box blinks in and out of existence before disappearing altogether.
It's funny, she thinks. Here, a police box actually makes sense.
/
July 2-21, 1969, London.—Stranded by the Angels.
This time they have a legitimate reason to visit Wilfred. You know, besides tracking down a past Doctor. Wilfred's daughter is getting married.
It's a beautiful ceremony. And it makes Amy and Rory realize that their own son Anthony is now almost 24 himself and before they know it, they're going to be grandparents. The thought is pleasantly unsettling.
After the wedding, they only plan on staying in London for a few days before flying back to New York, eager for the next date in the timeline. Of all the times they've searched for the Doctor, this is the one they do with the least zeal. Amy catches herself wishing they don't actually run into the Doctor this time. Because something about the description stranded by the angels jabs at her vulnerability and threatens to rekindle the hope that she's suppressed for decades now.
See, the Doctor never told her he was once sent back in time by the Angels too. And if he escaped that time, maybe they could also...no. She really can't afford to think like this anymore.
Completely by coincidence and not at all by intention, Amy and Rory walk into a shop and there's Martha at the counter. Martha, the Hair Doctor's companion, the nice girl who gave Amy the psychic paper all the way back when. Martha still looks as young as she was back in 1930, but Amy is a middle-aged woman now.
"The Doctor and I are trapped here in 1969," Martha later explains when Amy asks. "We're trying to get this girl to find the TARDIS for us, back in 2007, and then send it to us here."
"How are you managing that?" Rory asks.
"She gave us all the instructions beforehand. It's complicated. Timey-wimey stuff. Hey, I remember now, you also said that last time!" Martha points at Amy.
They chat for a while longer and then Amy gives Martha a hug and she and Rory leave the shop. Amy doesn't ask where the Doctor is and Martha doesn't offer to take them along with the TARDIS arrives.
/
April 8, 1969, Washington, DC & Florida—The impossible astronaut.
July 20, 1969, Washington, DC—The Silence invasion.
This one is the hardest for Amy because it's finally him. The Chin Doctor. And if seeing the Doctor with his other companions was difficult, seeing the Doctor with herself is downright unbearable.
She and Rory hide out and inconspicuously follow the TARDIS, watching their former selves live out an adventure from so long ago. The Silence in the White House, the orphanage, the spaceship.
She was so young then, and naive. She didn't know she was already a ganger, already pregnant, or that River was her daughter. She didn't know that her story would one day end.
Just once, she ends up cutting it too close and didn't step back into the shadows quick enough. The Doctor (her Doctor, at long last) catches a glimpse of her hair from across the street. He curiously peers over and calls out her name, taking a few steps towards her. She holds her breath and anxiously awaits with a quickened heart. But then the younger Amy pokes her head of out the TARDIS and answers "yeah?" and the Doctor goes inside the TARDIS as well with one final glance over his shoulder at the darkness across the street. Maybe he just imagined it then.
After everything is over, she goes to see Richard Nixon in the White House. Yeah, the last time the President saw her she was 40 years younger, but she can't have changed that much. When he sees her, though, she watches his eyes flicker over to the wrinkles on the corners of her eyes and the grey hairs among her red and okay, maybe she has changed that much.
He tells her he's happy to see her, says he's sorry when she explains what happened with the Doctor, and if she doesn't have a job, maybe she wants to come work for him? Canton had quit and he needs someone to fill that spot.
She takes it, and she's rather good at it too.
For the next few years, she grows close with the President. He knows she's from the future, so he often goes to her for advice. Every time he asks, she refuses to tell him flat-out how things turn out. When Watergate finally rolls around, it's like watching a long, dragged-out car wreck. You know how it ends but you can't change it, fixed points in time and all that.
One night, right towards the very end, he calls her. "What do I do?"
This time, she tells him. "Mr. President, I think it's time to resign."
/
Rory dies the winter of '86. Amy is there beside his bed for his last breaths.
He says, "I'm so glad I die like this and not in that room in Winter Quay."
He says, "I still can't believe you followed me, even after all these years."
He says, "I love you."
/
November 7, 1987, London—Pete Tyler Dies.
This is the last date on the list before April 7, 1996—Crash Land in Amelia Pond's Backyard and she doubts she'll live until then.
Although it would make for a killer full circle ending, that's for sure.
She stops by Wilfred's one more time, for old time's sake. Wilf's wife had passed a few years back and Rory died last year, and there's an all-encompassing sense of finality when Wilfred invites his old friend inside for tea. Little Donna is growing up so fast, her hair just as red as Amy's was. She has a sharp mouth and plays with the boys and she's not afraid to beat them up if she has to. "She reminds me of you," Wilfred tells Amy.
On the wedding day, she finds the chapel easily enough and gets into the ceremony easier still. It seems no one questions stranger elderly ladies who crash weddings, everyone just assumes they know the bride and groom some way or another. Amy can't really see how this wedding is eventful in any way to warrant a visit from the Doctor, until the screaming starts.
A crowd of the late-comers are hurried into the church, herded in by the Ears Doctor himself. Just before he slams the heavy doors shut, Amy catches a glimpse of flying monstrous Reapers outside. Ah, now that's more like it.
In the end, after hell breaks loose and the Doctor locks it back up, Amy stands on the sidewalk, watching Rose kneel down beside her father and stay with him until his last breath, and even a while more after that. Behind them, Jackie is silently crying while baby Rose is noisily crying in her arms. Amy offers to hold baby Rose and Jackie gives a quiet thanks before she's sobbing harder, comforted by her close friends.
Amy adjusts the baby in her arms so that she's facing the road. "Look, Rose, it's you! You from the future. Can't you see? You're going to grow up to be such a brave young lady. Strong and beautiful and so brave. You're going to meet the most brilliant man and he's going to take you to the most brilliant places you will never forget. So even though your dad's gone now and it's going to be tough, just your mum raising you on her own, but remember this Rose Tyler: you have so much to live for."
When she looks up, she sees the Ears Doctor watching her, listening to her. She keeps rambling anyway and the Doctor just smirks. Maybe he thinks she's just a mad old lady.
/
January 14, 1988, Manhattan.
She's with her granddaughter at a small coffee down the block from her apartment. She settles down onto a couch by the window and gives her granddaughter a five dollar bill, after which the little girl skips away towards the counter to buy their drinks. Just when she thinks to turn and remind her granddaughter to be careful carrying the drinks, a pair of sturdy hands reach out to grab the mug of latte and the mug of hot chocolate from her granddaughter's hands. Amy's spectacled eyes trail up to see a dark three-piece suit, a bow tie (oh!), and the familiar face of an old friend she hasn't seen in so long, she's forgotten how much she missed him.
It's the Doctor. Here. Right before her eyes.
But today's date isn't listed in River's timeline and the realization hits Amy like a punch. If River didn't list this, then she didn't know. And if River didn't know, then…Amy sighs. Even Silence-raised half-Time Lord daughters have to die, in the end.
"Let me carry that for you," the Doctor says.
The little girl smiles. "Thank you, Mister…um…?"
"Doctor."
"Thank you Mister Doctor."
He chuckles and Amy feels tears in her eyes. It's her Chin Doctor alright, but a future Doctor, an after Doctor. The Doctor after her. He doesn't wear the tweed jacket anymore, she notes. She wonders why. And he's alone. She wonders why.
"And what's your name?" he asks her granddaughter.
"Melody Williams."
The Doctor freezes at the name. Little Melody, oblivious to her new friend's reaction, keeps walking until she reaches Amy's table. Amy watches the Doctor slowly turn their way, look up, and meet her eyes. She suddenly feels the urge to hide; she's so old now and the Doctor still has that same youthful face and the juxtaposition of the two of them is almost offensive.
Maybe, she thinks, maybe he won't recognize her. There could be lots of Melody Williams in the world. She doesn't necessarily have to be related to Amelia and Rory Williams nor does she have to be named after her aunt who traveled space and time in the opposite direction of the Doctor himself. She doesn't even look like Amy anyway, so really, the Doctor might think it's all a coincidence.
"Melody, you shouldn't tell your name to strangers," Amy says. Both Melody and the stranger ignore her completely.
"Melody Williams, huh?" he invites himself to their table and pulls a chair over. "I knew someone named Melody Williams once."
"Really?" Melody asks, sipping her hot chocolate.
"Yeah. Well, technically her name was Melody Williams. Everyone still thought of her as Melody Pond, though."
"Why's that?"
"Because when you have a mother like Amelia Pond, how can you not call yourself a Pond?" He looks directly at Amy and she just knows he knows. The Doctor doesn't believe in coincidences, after all.
"Sounds like this Pond was a good friend of yours," Amy replies coyly.
"An old friend. My best friend. And my mother-in-law, although we don't talk about that. The most brilliant, nonsensical, beautiful force of nature I have ever met with hair so bright I could never forget."
She doesn't know what to say.
He grins and pulls his chair closer. "Did you really think I didn't recognize you, Pond?"
"My hair isn't bright anymore."
"But you are. Oh Amy, you're still so bright."
She has to look away and drink her latte, if only so the stupid tears can go back into her tear ducts. She's really much too old for this emotional stuff. "How are you here? In New York?"
"I try every day." His admission almost makes her spit coffee all across the table. "This time, somehow the TARDIS managed to squeeze through for a short while, but 1988 was the closest I could get. I didn't think you would still be here."
She hears his unsaid question. Why are you still in New York? Of course, she could have moved back to London or Leadworth or anywhere, yet she stayed here, all these years, despite how much she despises Central Park and the accompanying memories. Of course, she knew she would end up buried here in New York so she didn't want to mess up her own timeline. Of course, to be perfectly honest, she has a hundred more excuses as to why she chose to stay, and none of them being the truth—that she's still waiting. And he's finally here, 58 years later. She's 87 years old and it's much too late now, but he's finally here. That's all that matters. That makes it worth the wait.
"Were you happy? All these years?" he asks.
"Yes."
Only when she says the word does she realize it's the truth. All those years, chasing after the Doctor's past, visiting Wilfred, working for the president. It was happy.
"So, Melody?" he whispers, looking pointedly at her granddaughter.
She smiles. "It was Anthony's idea, he's my adopted son. I told him everything that happened. He wanted to name her Melody because I hardly got to spend any time with my Melody, you know, before she became River."
Suddenly, a girl bursts through the door of the coffee shop. "Doctor!" she cries, "we have to go now, the TARDIS is starting to disappear."
With that, the Doctor immediately springs to his feet. He kisses Amy's forehead one last time, waves at Melody, then follows his new companion out the door and down the street. Through the window, Amy watches them run and it hits her with a pang in the chest. Of course he found someone else, that's what she would have wanted, for him not to be alone. It still hurts a little, though, to know the person fixing his loneliness isn't her.
"Gran, I like Mister Doctor," Melody says.
"Me too," Amy says.
That night, she writes the afterword River told her to write decades ago. Fifty-eight years and she got to see him one last time, but she's still here, the Angel still got them, and she realizes she was always going to publish that book in the end. It was always going to end like this.
She tells him about finding Rory. She tells him not to be alone. She tells him goodbye. As she's writing, she thinks back to all her adventures with the Doctor, until something changes in her memory. She's always had a duality of childhoods—in one, the Doctor falls out of the sky and the Doctor always fell out of the sky; in the other, she has parents and she's always had parents. Now, the Doctor actually comes back in five minutes and he's always come back in five minutes, like he said he would.
"We're going to have the greatest adventures, Amelia. If you're patient, I'll take you to see the stars and you, you're going to be glorious."
"But when?"
"When you're older."
"People always say that."
"Am I people?"
And so, as she removes the paper from the typewriter, sticks it at the end of River's manuscript, and sends it to her old publisher, she rewrites time, one last time.
/
Somewhere in the universe, a thousand years in the future and five light-years away, an old Time Lord is dying.
He blinks and then something shifts in his memories, another point in time that isn't a fixed point in time alters ever so slightly. Just enough for a fiery red-haired force of nature to let herself in.
He smiles.
edit 8/9/14: fixed a small typo and changed the ending slightly to reference the doctor from the christmas episode.
thanks for reading! if you like doctor who, please check out my comic "the raggedy hatter" (an amy/eleven alice in wonderland au). you can find it on my AO3 account and my tumblr, links in my profile!