Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who and am not making any money off of this fic.
Advice
"Well?" Amy asked impatiently as she stood next to the Doctor outside the TARDIS and took in its damage. "What happened?"
"Well, Amy," the Doctor said cheerfully as he pulled out the sonic and examined its reading upside down. "Looks like we have been sucked through a crack in time and space."
"Okay…" Amy replied. "What does that mean?"
"It means, Amy, that at this present point in time, our exact location is cannot be predicted, calculated, or pinpointed in the usual methods."
Amy thought about that for a moment before replying, "So, basically, you don't know where we are, and can't figure it out either."
The Doctor actually looked sheepish for a moment. "No, it appears not."
Amy breathed deep the smell of fried potatoes and grinned. "Well, wherever we are, I smell chips. Do you want some?"
The Doctor grinned. "Love some really. But only if there's custard."
The TARDIS squealed as steam came hissing out of the main console. The Doctor winced and began scolding the ship as he walked back in to fix what was wrong. Amy just shook her head laughingly and followed her nose to the chip shop.
"Here's your change."
"Thank you!" Amy chirped, taking her chips and munching happily on them as she exited the shop. Not seeing the Doctor anywhere, she simply shrugged and headed for the open air book stands down the way instead. He was probably still tinkering with the TARDIS, so she'd just catch up with him later.
She was skimming the back of a rather sultry looking historical romance novel when a bright blue ball bounced over and hit her in leg. Looking down, she smiled at the bright face of a brown haired little boy as she picked it up. "Hello," Amy said.
"Hi!" the little boy chirped, clutching the ball tightly as he blinked from behind a wall of bangs.
Amy put the book down and asked him, "Are you lost?"
The little boy shook his head. "No!" he pointed at a tall man with spiked hair wearing jeans, glasses, and a pinstriped jacket making his way across the book aisles. "My Da's right there."
"I see," Amy said, as the man finally spotted the boy and called out to someone behind him, "Found him!" striding over quickly, he apologized as he picked the boy. "He wasn't bothering you, was he?"
Amy shook her head and flapped a hand at him. "Not at all. Just getting acquainted is all."
"Really now?" the man asked quickly, his thick eyebrows rising up as he turned to his son. "Did you ask this nice lady her name?"
The little boy shook his head and the man sighed. "Don't you think you should?"
The boy nodded and turned to Amy. "I'm Collin."
Amy smiled. "Nice to meet you, Collin. I'm Amy." She held out a hand to shake and the little boy wrapped his fingers around hers slowly before shaking her hand and dropping it and going back to clutching his ball.
Amy grinned at him and said to his father, "He's adorable."
The boy's father smiled. "We like him," he said. He smiled at the boy, "Now, why don't you go find your mum?"
Collin nodded and let his dad put him down before running off into the aisles again.
Amy smiled at the sight and said, "You're not worried about him wandering off?"
The man shrugged. "Nah. He's a good kid. Knows he shouldn't go gallivanting around weird places until he's old enough. We've always told him, if you can't pronounce it, don't go near it."
Amy laughed. The Doctor had said something similar recently when they'd been on Xylias4; shortly after they'd gotten covered in slime.
"You said you're name was Amy?" the man asked.
Amy nodded. "Amelia, actually. Amelia pond. Everyone calls me Amy for short."
The man nodded and held out his hand. "I'm John. John Smith."
Amy shook his hand briskly. "Pleasure to meet you, John."
The man smiled and said, "Pardon my saying so, but you're not from around here, are you?"
Amy shook her head. "Not really, no. Just passing through."
"How do you like it so far?"
Amy glanced around at the quaint shops and fields in the distance. It looked like a nice place. Good for families. Very serene. Amy turned and told John so.
John smiled. "Yeah, that was pretty much our mindset too. When my wife and I met, it was all big cities and grand adventures. After we got married, we decided that something quiet would be better."
"Sounds nice," Amy commented.
"It is," John said, as cries of "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" came floating out the stalls.
John and Amy turned, and Amy watched as he laughed out joyfully and kneeled to let himself be tackled by Collin and a fair haired little girl of close resemblance. A young blonde woman smiled at the sight of the man and children as she walked up. Seeing Amy, she resettled the toddler on her hip away from her protruding belly and said, "Pardon their actions. Bunch of animals they are."
"Rawr!" cried out the little girl, pigtails flying about as she jumped to standing and pounced on her father once again.
"It's alright," Amy said. "They're quite entertaining."
The blonde smiled and asked, "Hope my husband's not bothering you."
Amy shook her head. "No, it's alright. I've just been waiting for a friend."
"Pond!"
Amy laughed. "And there he is now!" she turned around to see the Doctor and called out, "Perfect timing!" as he came running up to her with a fresh bag of chips and a carton of custard in one of his hands.
He smiled at her as he approached. "Making friends are you?"
Amy nodded. "Of course!" She turned back to the woman and John, who were now rising to stand, with each of his wild children on one hip. "This is John, and this is his wife-"
"Rose," the Doctor breathed, his voice going soft at the sight of her. Amy watched silently as he slowly took in the sight of the blonde woman with her pinned up braids and bright blue eyes. Her tall husband with his lanky form and inquisitive gaze. She worried as she saw a never before seen emotion on his face; one that, if she didn't know any better, could possibly have been called regret.
The woman smiled at the Doctors knowing her name and slid the child she held down her body to let them stand on their own, her hand in theirs. "That's right. Have we met?" she asked, as John and their children looked on curiously.
The Doctor smiled. "You could say that." He looked to John and the children, than back to Rose. "You've made a family," he commented softly. He looked down at the free hand with the wide gold band she had dropped to rest on her rounded belly and said, in an awestruck voice, "A growing family."
Rose began to look at the doctor warily and replied, "That's right."
"How's Jackie?" the Doctor asked suddenly.
Now Rose frowned. "I'm sorry, but you're being very rude, asking questions like this. You said we've met? I don't think I remember you."
The Doctor smiled reassuringly. "Oh! Sorry. Don't mean to be. Just a shock is all." He cocked his head to take in the surroundings and said to himself, almost as if in confusion, as if it was a puzzle to solve. "This was supposed to be sealed off you know."
"Doctor?" Amy asked curiously. "What are you talking about?"
Rose's and her husband's eyes grew wide. "Doctor!" Rose exclaimed. She stepped in close and took in his floppy hair, bow tie, and braces. His silly grin that was starting to grow and the sonic screwdriver peeking out of his jacket pocket. "Can't be," she said. "You're completely different."
The Doctor's smile dimmed and he said quietly, "Now Rose, you, of all people, should know that things change." He eyed her pack of children and her husband who now smiled at him as if they were old friends. "You've changed," he commented to him lightly.
John shrugged. "Had to. Needed to." he stepped closer to Rose and their children squirmed in his arms. He let them down and they ran off into the stalls, taking their toddler sibling with them.
Amy frowned at the exchange between these people she'd thought were strangers. "Am I missing something?"
The Doctor, Rose, and John all looked at her before Rose smiled bemusedly and said, "We're old friends."
The Doctor chuckled and John muttered under his breath, "There's an understatement."
Rose's small smile turned into a wide grin and she said happily, "Would you like to stay for some lunch and tea? We've got a fairly large kitchen. It won't take long."
"That sounds nice," Amy said. "Doctor?"
The Doctor smiled at Rose and sighed sadly. "I don't think that will be a good idea." He pulled out his screwdriver and looked down at it quickly before saying, "Actually, we should probably get going. Seems like the crack we slipped through to get here is about to close soon. Explains all the TARDIS's damage today." He looked at Rose apologetically and said, "Sorry."
Rose nodded. "It's okay. I understand."
The Doctor held out his hand for John to shake, then turned and started back down the road in the direction to where he'd left the TARDIS. Amy watched him go for a few moments before turning back to Rose and John. "Sorry 'bout that," she said.
Rose smiled. "It's alright. I don't think he expected to see us here." She nodded at the road and said, 'You should get going, don't want to miss whatever excitement he has waiting for you next."
Amy smiled as she finally realized that Rose knew exactly who and what the Doctor was. "It was nice meeting you," Amy said.
"Likewise," Rose replied.
Amy waved goodbye and started down the road. The TARDIS and the Doctor were in her sight when she heard a voice call out, "Amy!"
Amy turned to see Rose walking as quickly and purposefully up the road as her belly would allow her to and stopped to ask her, "Yes?"
Rose breathed deeply as she caught her breath. "Bit of advice," she said kindly. Resting her hand on her belly, she nodded on down the road at the doctor, who was rooting through some wiring coming out of the doors. "Bout him."
"Yes?" Amy asked again, curiously.
"Watch your heart," Rose said. "The Doctor's a good man, and a great friend. But no matter what happens, he is always going to be the last of his kind. He is always going to wander, and he is always going to say, 'I can't'."
Amy frowned. "I don't understand."
Rose smiled sadly. "One day you will." She watched as the doctor yelped from a spark and kicked the TARDIS door furiously, than leaned close to stroke and soothe a moment later. She chuckled and said, "I got lucky, you know. A set of circumstances too wild to predict and too crazy to explain changed everything and I got to keep my Doctor, in an odd, warped way. But that's something that's one in a billion, a trillion even! Most likely it will never happen again. And this Doctor will once again still be the only one."
"Why are you telling me this?" Amy asked.
Rose sighed. "Because you seem like a nice girl. And I would hate to see you get yourself hurt. It's a great joy, but it's also hard, traveling with the Doctor."
Amy nodded and asked carefully, "Do you regret any of it? Traveling with him, I mean?"
Rose grinned and shook her head. "Never in a million years. The Doctor's the best thing that ever happened to me, will ever happen to me. And I wouldn't change a thing."
The TARDIS started to wind up for its departure and Amy heard the Doctor call her name. "Coming!" she yelled. She turned back to Rose and smiled. "Thank you, I suppose," she said softly.
Rose smiled. "Don't worry about it. Good luck to you, Amy Pond."
Amy smiled at Rose for the last time and ran back to the TARDIS. Rose watched as she brushed past the Doctor in the door and the smile that lit up his face as she did so. He reached to close the door and stopped as he saw Rose. His bright smile turned sad and tight at the sight of her, so Rose waved cheerily to relax him as he stood there. "Good bye!" she called out. "Good luck!" Finally, he grinned wide, waved back, and shut the door before the TARDIS began to disappear in time and space for what she was sure was the last and final time before her eyes.
Than, as the breeze blew softly through an empty field of grass and lilies, she began her walk back down the road.
Later on, as they sat by the pool eating custard, her with some fruit and the Doctor with his chips, Amy turned to the Doctor and asked, "Do you miss her?"
The Doctor smiled, not even asking who she meant and said simply, "Yes."
Amy nodded and said, "She seemed happy though. With her husband and her children."
The Doctor nodded. "Yes, she did."
"Are you happy?"
The Doctor looked up from his custard and smiled at her. He looked around at the TARDIS, his new TARDIS, his home, which had changed and grown with him after everything he'd been through. He remembered Rose and all the joy he'd had with her, than with Jack, Martha, and Donna. How he'd cared for them. How he'd wanted them to be happy, to live full lives. And they were. He knew they were.
Than he looked at Amy, Amelia, who had waited for so long to travel with him. He'd barely known her and she'd trusted him so. Despite the two year delay after the original 12 year gap. He'd asked her to come with him, and she'd agreed. Had joined him for adventure and excitement among the stars. They'd had such fun together already, and they'd only just begun.
The Doctor looked at Amy fondly and smiled, "Yes, Amy. I'm happy."
"Are you sure?" Amy asked.
"Positive," the Doctor said.
Amy grinned. "Good," she said, and then laughed and shoved him, and his custard, into the pool.
A/N: Well, there it is, hope you liked it. This has been sitting on my computer for awhile, finally thought I'd put it up. It's my first Doctor Who fic. I'll be honest and say I've only just managed to catch up on series 1-5 about two weeks ago. So please be kind, but still feel free to review.
Thanks!