It was too much toomuchtoomuch. He can't take it, can't take the pain. She'll come back, of course she will, she always comes back. All he has to do is wait.

And so he sinks to knees in the grass. She'll be back, he swears to himself, eyes wide and mouth half open from shock. Just give it a minute, she'll come. Amelia Pond is his rock, she wouldn't just leave him. She loves him.

River kneels beside him, attempting to force his immobile figure into the TARDIS, but he stays, dragging his entire body weight. He's got to stay, got to wait. She'll be back, and if he's gone when she comes she'll be so cross with him.

"Doctor! Come on, we've got to go. This isn't healthy for you! She's happy, leave her."

Leave her? He could never leave her. He loves her with all of his hearts. It powers his every moment. Without her he is nothing.

"No, no," he babbles. "She'll be back, we just have to wait. Oh, that tricky Amelia Pond, always running off." River looks at him with pity as he fervently nods his head. "Just you wait and see, she's coming."

"No, Doctor, no." He whips his head towards her, and the blind emotion in his eyes is heartbreaking. "She's gone. Amy's gone, and she's not coming back, not ever. Do you understand?"

He looks at her with tears in his eyes, lost and confused. "But... But I love her. She can't have left me, not now. We need each other. I need her."

River puts her arms around the Doctor's slim frame, pulling him up to his feet. He keeps his elbows bent, hands gripped tightly in front of his chest as though warding off a blow. "I'm sorry, Doctor. I'm so sorry."

It can't be true. AmyAmeliaPondPondPonds, beautiful, red headed, fiery Amy Pond. She's been with him since he regenerated, he's never truly been alone. She can't be gone, she can't.

The Doctor is vaguely aware of River helping him gently into the TARDIS, sitting him down, and placing a blanket over his shoulders. She glances at him, her eyes full of sorrow, before setting about the console, pulling levers and pushing buttons. There is nothing she can say that will help him.

"If we're going to die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band," the Doctor states, glancing over at River.

"What? Doctor, I don't-" She looks back, confused, but his attention is no longer on her.

He sits haphazardly, his eyes flicking from side to side as if trying to decipher a complex problem, deep in concentration. What is going on? The world must be wrong. There must be some way he can-

As River approaches she can hear him mumbling to himself, almost incoherently. It's the same words, repeated over and over. "I love her, I love her, I love herIloveherIloveherIloveher..."

"Oh Doctor, I know she was your best friend, I understand. She's my mother."

He looks at her with sudden clarity, his eyes dark and his face severe. "You don't understand. My best friend? She was so much more than that. I love her."

River holds in a gasp. "Oh, oh my. I didn't- I thought... But we... I'm so sorry Doctor, I should've seen it."

"Yes, you should've," he says, turning his face so it is once more out of her vision. "But no one ever does."