1958
Ding.
She looked up as the lift doors opened. Fifth floor, this is it, she thought as she stepped out of the lift. Walking down the corridor, she tried to focus on the numbers on the doors instead of her own pounding heart. As it turned out, she didn't even need the office number. On the door printed in large, bold letters she read the name of the very woman she was looking for.
Amelia Williams
Literary Agent
She knocked lightly on the door and heard a voice call out "Just a second!" in a distinctly Scottish accent. She heard the rustle of papers and a drawer being closed and then a few moments later, "Come in!"
"River!" Amy stood quickly and ran around the desk to embrace her daughter.
She returned the hug with equal fervor, "Hello, Mum."
Amy pulled away just enough to grasp River by the shoulders. Despite the huge smile on Amy's face, River saw that her eyes were slightly red and puffy.
"Have you been crying?"
"Oh, never mind that now, I can't believe you're here!" Amy hugged her again, even tighter this time, then released her and waved her to the chair opposite her desk. "Have a seat, go on, then. Now how did you get here?"
"You know, the usual," River lifted her wrist.
"Ah, vortex manipulator," said Amy, taking her seat behind her desk. "So, not with the Doctor, then?" River thought she saw her face fall but the next moment the smile was back, firmly in place.
"Sorry, no. But I did just come back from a visit. He took me to see the singing towers at Darillium. Absolutely beautiful." River reached into her purse to pull out a thick manila envelope and handed it to Amy. "I have something for you."
"Oh. This is it, then? The book you wrote." River couldn't help but notice Amy's grasp tighten around the envelope. "I suppose I can read it properly, now," Amy said wryly.
"You don't have to if you don't want to." River reached across the desk to hold her mother's hand. "How long has it been, Amy? Did you ever find Rory?"
Amy looked at their conjoined hands as she spoke. "It's been five years since the angel sent me back. As for Rory, I haven't found him yet, but I still have a few leads that may lead me to him."
River squeezed Amy's hand again, "Do you know if they sent you back to the same time?"
Amy was silent for a moment, then smiled up at River and said, "I don't know yet, but I haven't given up."
"Of course you haven't," River smiled back. "You wouldn't be Amelia Pond if you had."
Amy laughed. "Didn't you notice the sign on the door? It's Amelia Williams. I finally changed it about two years after I married Rory."
"But the Doctor always called you Pond?"
"Well, I never really had the heart to correct him. You did say he doesn't like change."
River smirked, "That, I did." She looked once again at the manuscript, now on Amy's desk. "By they way, before I forget. I promised him I'd tell you to write an afterword."
"Did you now?" Amy, too, stared at the manila package.
"What will you tell him? About Rory, I mean?"
Amy sighed deeply as she considered. "I'll tell him we're happy together. Never let him see the damages, right?"
"Right," River stood and walked around the desk to embrace her mother's shoulders. "And anyway, it's not really a lie if it happens eventually, right?"
Amy leaned her head on River's. "Right."
Later, when River left her office, Amy opened her desk drawer and pulled out the newspaper she had received shortly before her daughter's arrival.
December 16, 1954
Obituaries
Rory Arthur Williams died yesterday at Riverside Nursing Home at age 82. He passed away quietly in his sleep. A former nurse, Mr. Williams had no surviving family. His wife, Amelia, went missing in the 1900s and he spent the rest of his life searching for her. He never remarried.