This is unashamedly a Happy Ending for the Ponds, so there's no Big Bad and minimal running around.
They just have to survive Manhattan first...
Pond's Home for Unusual Children.
1.
"Amy!" Rory called, reading the words carved in stone.
"Come look at this."
"What?" Amy was eager to get away, but she turned back all the same.
Rory frowned.
"There's a gravestone here for someone with the same name as me."
Amy came back over, and her eyes widened in horror at what she saw over her husband's shoulder.
"Rory, don't move!" she shrieked, taking a rapid step forward so she didn't lose sight of it.
"What? What's wrong?"
"Doctor! Come quick!"
"Starting to scare me now..."
Rory knew what had to be behind him to make his wife react like that, so he stayed still. As still as a statue. Oh, bad choice of words...
The Doctor and River came running at Amy's cry, skidding to a halt just behind her as they too caught sight of the Angel behind him, standing with its hand outstretched, fingertips just inches from his shoulder.
"Where the hell did that come from?" River demanded, moving round to his right as the Doctor flanked it on Rory's left, making sure the Angel was covered from all sides.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, taking a quick reading.
"Somehow, it survived the paradox. It's very weak, but still dangerous - don't take your eyes off it!"
"Rory, move forward, very slowly," his daughter instructed, eyes open wide, not even blinking. She reached out and took his hand, guiding him away, and as soon as he was clear, she turned him around so he could see the living statue that had nearly killed him.
"So... what now?"
"Wait here. Keep looking at it," River commanded, then ran back to the TARDIS.
The Doctor kept on taking readings, muttering to himself, circling the Angel until River came back. Their eyes locked on the deadly stone figure, they couldn't see what she was carrying at first, something large and heavy and as tall as herself.
There was a series of peculiar noises as she hefted the large object into place between them, directly in front of the Angel.
"Doctor?"
River sounded very pleased with herself.
"Oh. Um. That's... Well, I don't see why it shouldn't work."
"The image of an Angel is an Angel, right? So it can't move, so long as it's looking at itself."
"What?" Rory asked. "Can I stop looking at it now?"
"Um. Maybe."
The Doctor still sounded unsure, so Rory risked a glance to his right, at the object River had fetched; it was a huge ornate mirror on a stand, reflecting the Angel back on itself.
"Where did you get that from?" The Doctor asked.
River smiled.
"Our bedroom."
"You two have a bedroom?" Amy asked, then shook herself. "Don't answer that. There're some things a mother shouldn't know."
The Doctor continued to scan the Angel, frowning.
"It seems to be working. Back away, everyone. Slowly."
The Pond family did as they were told, still not taking their eyes away from the Angel.
When they reached the TARDIS, and the Angel still hadn't moved, the Doctor let out a sigh of relief.
"It's holding."
"But for how long?" Amy asked. "Doctor, we can't leave it there."
"Why not?" River asked. "It's almost dead anyway. Before long, it'll just be a statue, nothing more."
"Is that true?" Amy took hold of Rory's hand and he realised she was shaking. He squeezed her hand back, feeling the cool metal of her engagement and wedding rings against his palm.
"Well, yes, I suppose so. The paradox nearly destroyed it; that's why it came after you. It needed the energy it would have gotten from, well, from killing Rory. It can't survive without it."
"Good." Amy sounded satisfied. Then she flung her arms around Rory, holding onto him very tight, a sob escaping from her.
"Hey. It's okay. I'm okay. Not dead this time!"
Amy swatted him on the shoulder.
"Not funny."
But she was wiping away tears, a glad smile breaking through. Rory mirrored her expression.
"We definitely have to go to the pub now."
"Just a minute."
The Doctor was frowning, waving his screwdriver like a magic wand.
"Rory, what did you say about a gravestone?"
"Um, there was one for a man with the same name as me. I was looking at it just before Amy saw the Angel."
"Not good. Not good at all."
"What? Doctor, what are you talking about?" Amy asked.
"That wasn't the gravestone of someone with the same name as you, Rory. That was your gravestone. The Angel was going to kill you; it had already started changing time around you."
"But we stopped it from happening," Amy argued. "So what's wrong?"
"The gravestone's still there," the Doctor replied, looking very serious. "It's creating another paradox. This could get very nasty-"
Anything else he was about to say was cut off by an explosion of stone and grass in front of them; River, ever the practical one, had taken out her gun and blasted the offending stone to smithereens.
The Doctor and the Ponds stared open-mouthed as bits of stone and graveyard rained down on the frozen Angel, then turned back to the TARDIS door.
River smiled, even more pleased with herself.
"You were saying?"
"You can't just get rid of a paradox by blowing it up!" The Doctor shouted, indignant.
"Whyever not?"
"Because there are rules! Things don't just disappear when you shoot them!"
River indicated the broken stone and small crater surrounding it, the scorchmarks on the trapped Angel.
"That one did."
"Oh, forget it!"
"Yes, let's."
River grabbed hold of her parents, pulling them into the TARDIS.
"Time to go."
Everyone was glad to oblige; Rory had never been so glad to hear the TARDIS doors close behind him.
"So, pub!" The Doctor was instantly at the controls, flipping switches and spinning around, bashing seemingly random parts of the console. River went around behind him, subtly correcting.
"Just a regular pub, this time, yeah?" Amy asked. "Not one on Jupiter, or under the sea or-"
"Alright, alright. Just 'normal' and 'boring' and-"
"And safe," River cut in, looking over at her father with quiet relief that he was still there. Rory wondered if she knew when he was supposed to die, or if she'd chosen never to look that up. If that was the case, then she had probably been as scared as Amy.
He went over and gave her a hug, but carefully, so as not to damage her sparkly gown.
"Bit overdressed for the pub, aren't you?"
River rolled her eyes.
"Yes, Dad."
Disclaimer: none of this is mine, yadda yadda etc.
I never really intended to write this - came up with the original idea for what follows when trying to guess how the Ponds would be written out.
Although what actually happened wasn't all that bad from their perspective (they got to live out their lives together), I think they deserve a happy ending.
The story title will start to make sense from the next chapter.