Packing for a trip with the Doctor was always hard. You never knew what to prepare for: sunshine, stormy weather, rain, snow… Amy was travelling with the Doctor for about two years now and she still needed hours to sort through her wardrobe and pick what she would take along. It was basically impossible to plan.
Amy sighed and added two more t-shirts and a woollen cardigan to the pile. If she was running out of outfits, the Doctor would have to take her back here to get something or somewhere she could go shopping. It would probably be the latter one.
"I definitely need new underwear," she muttered, looking through a pile of pants she had worn way too often. Just as she was sorting the best looking out, it knocked on her door.
"Come in," she called, expecting her mother to bring some more ironed laundry for her. Amy moved around, her arms full of underwear, and Rory who had just entered the room turned instinctively his back.
"Sorry," he told the half open door. "I didn't mean to burst in on you like this."
"Relax, Rory," Amy reassured him. "It's just pants, nothing you haven't seen before."
"Right, okay," he said, closing the door and facing her again. For some reason he seemed uncomfortable.
"Blimey, sometimes you wouldn't think we're dating from the way you're acting." She held up two skirts to decide which one she would take.
"We are?" Rory asked, which Amy commented with a critical look towards him. "I mean, we are. It's just nice hearing you think so, too."
"Of course we are – whenever I'm here…" She tossed both skirts on the pile of things to pack and turned back to her wardrobe.
"Good," he concluded, not knowing what else to say.
One more pair of jeans was thrown onto the bed, then Amy left her wardrobe wide open and began to fold her clothes.
"If you've come to wave me off," she said, piling tops, shirts and pullovers into her bag pack, "the Doctor won't be here until seven."
"Actually, I'd hoped we could spend the time together."
"I'm sorry, Rory," she sighed. "I think I need the time to pack."
"Yeah, right," he said. "I'm sorry about the bad timing; I should've done it earlier."
"Done what?" Amy let her bras drop back onto her bed and turned to Rory. She had absolutely no idea what he was going on about and that scared her.
"Erm, okay, not quite how I imagined it to be, but whatever -," he muttered. "Anyway, I've been thinking about this for a while now and -" He fumbled in the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small box. Opening it, he presented her with a ring and the words: "Amelia Pond, will you marry me?"
With the usual noise that sounded a bit like the engines were fading, the Doctor let his beloved TARDIS materialise in Amelia Pond's backyard. There was a smile on his face as he had just come from watching the seven moons of Szycaria touching the Lucion nebular which happened only once in about a thousand million years or so. To him it could happen every day if he wanted, but he had picked today to actually go there and see it.
The front doors were slammed close which made him look up.
"You're late!" Amy exclaimed and came marching towards the consoles.
"I'm sorry, got a bit lost in the Lucion nebular," he apologised and eyed her worriedly. "You alright?"
"Like I said: you're late," she threw her bag pack onto the floor.
"How late?"
"Twenty minutes!"
"Twenty minutes? Amy, that's nothing. It could've been months or a year, but twenty minutes are only a blink of an eye."
"Not to those who wait!" she shot at him. He eyed her carfully.
"What happened?"
"You were supposed to pick me up at seven, but you arrived at 7:20 pm."
"Amelia, what happened?" The Doctor grabbed her hand and made her look at him. Amy hesitated, then drew her hand away, but she did not break eye-contact.
"Rory asked me to marry him."
They stood there, holding each other's gazes in silence. There was something in the Doctor's eyes, Amy couldn't quite make out.
"What did you say?" he asked silently.
"Yes," she whispered, then louder, "I said yes, can you believe that? Why would I say yes?" Disorientated she walked on the spot.
"Because you know this has to end someday."
Amy looked at him and shook her head. "Doctor, what are you saying?"
"Two years of travelling with me, sooner or later you will have to go back home."
"But travelling with you, why would I give that up?" She leaned over the console towards him and penetrated him with her questioning eyes.
The Doctor looked at her intensely. But then his gaze fled towards the levers and buttons beneath his hands.
"Growing old, that's something you do with a man like Rory, not with me."
Silence engulfed them as they let the Doctor's words sink in.
"So what do I do now?" Amy finally asked. "Do I have to choose?"
The Doctor didn't answer, but something about the way he tilted his head said yes. She shook her head. She didn't want to choose. She couldn't choose. She wanted both, her best friend and her future husband.
"Can he come with us?" she suddenly asked. The Doctor's gaze was back at her, his face was hard to read. "Rory could travel with us. I mean, just for a bit, before we get married and settle down."
The Doctor shrugged. "I guess that would be alright," he admitted and found himself in Amy's arms as she continually thanked him.
"I'll be just a moment," she said after she had let him go again. She ran down towards, but stopped in the doorframe to look back once more. "Don't you dare to run off on me, raggedy man!" she warned him. Then she was off to find Rory.
A/N: I'm really not happy with the title, but I can't think of anything better right now.
Also I had to stop writing there, before the Doctor leaves without Amy or does anything equally stupid.
I don't really trust myself with stories that involve Amy and the Doctor without the being in love. It's just the way my shipper heart beats...