(AN) Yippee, another Doctor Who fic, I'm actually uploading! This isn't my best work, but it's finals week, I can't really concentrate on much. Enjoy!

Amy bit her lip, pacing in circles around the near deserted lobby of the shopping center. The space greatly resembled that of a mall native to Earth, but it was much more quiet, less bustling, and the shoppers consisted mostly of completely naked semi-humanoid aliens that changed colors like chameleons and had doorknobs for heads.

The Doctor had left her here in the midst of a shopping session where they had browsed through the delightfully foreign (to her at least) commodities that inhabited the windows of the various shops. Before he unexpectedly dashed away from her, he had given her a very vague, very mumbled excuse for leaving, from which she could only discern the phrases "banana had problems", "purple is good", "it reached hydrostatic equilibrium", "the Tnars are in trouble", and "gotta go Pond, be back in thirty minutes, it's all very wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey."

However, it had been almost an hour since this moment, and the mall was slowly clearing out. Amy had begun to grow worried; what if this situation was just like last time? What if the Doctor didn't come back for forty years or something⁉ Amy twisted her hands through her hair, her pacing increasing in speed as a small groan escaped her mouth.

"Oi."

Amy froze at the sound of the voice, turning to where it had come from. A man sat on a bench in the lobby, off to the side. Surprisingly, his skin was a somewhat natural looking color, and his head wasn't a doorknob... He looked human! He had short-cropped dark hair, intense gray eyes, and was clad simply, in a leather jacket, shirt, and jeans.

"Yes?" she responded.

"You're gonna wear a hole in the floor," he said flatly in a northern accent. Amy thought he was genuinely being serious until a warm smile broke out across his face. She found herself smiling too, and gravitating towards him as she did so. She could swear that she had never seen him before in her life, but he looked so familiar.

"Whats on your mind?" he asked casually as she approached him, sitting on the bench by his side.

Amy rubbed the back of her head. "Ah, nothing really to worry about...just a friend... he's running a little late..." she trailed off, glancing at him hesitantly, expecting him to scoff or think she was ridiculous for getting worked up over something so small.

However, he just nodded understandingly instead. "Yeah. I can relate; my friend just popped to that clothing shop over there, said she'd be a tick, and before I knew it she wanted to try on the whole store and she hasn't come out in three hours since!" He sighed, nodding at a crumpled up wad of greasy newspaper on his lap. " I got her chips too, but they went all cold, had to eat them myself. " He threw his head back, shutting his eyes. "Apes," he mumbled.

Amy didn't quite understand what he meant by the last bit, but she ignored it, quirking a mischievous eyebrow. "Are you two... y'know..."

The man looked confused for a moment, but then his cheeks flushed a ruddy red. "What⁉ No, not me an' Rose, never, no no no..." He shook his head firmly, crossing his arms as he stared determinedly at a fixed point on the ceiling.

Amy's eyebrow went up even further. "What is it then?" she inquired. "She not your type? Already married? Age gap-?"

" Oh, you have no idea," he laughed.

Amy leaned closer to him. "What are you even doing here? You don't exactly resemble the natives."

The man avoided her gaze. "Oh, ya know, traveling and such. I'm a traveler, you see, been to loads of places." He shot a suspicious look at her. " Y'know, I could ask the same of you!"

Amy blushed. " Yeah, me too... traveling, well, my friend kinda dragged me into it... I've been lots of places with the Doctor."

The man suddenly got a very intense look on his face. " What-!"

"Amelia Jessica Pond! You have no idea what I just found!" The Doctor's voice rang through the empty space, and Amy turned to him, less surprised than she should have been to see that he sported a fez that ejected neon green bubbles from it every few moments. However, this wasn't the source of his pleasure, for from behind his back he pulled out a small serving of fish sticks, completely coated in custard. Amy inwardly cringed as he stuffed one of them into his mouth.

"I'nt thith pothitibly brillian?" he exclaimed, mouth still full of food. He swallowed, continuing. " The Tnars have positively IMPECCABLE taste, ooh, sensitive topic, they don't really have mouths, oh, whatever-But they didn't even blink when I asked them for fish sticks as a matter of fact-" He froze, mid-speech, staring at the other occupant of the bench with a dazed look on his face.

Amy stepped towards him. "Doctor?"

It took a moment for him to speak again, and when he did, he said "Pond, get up, right now, we have to go," in a rushed, urgent manner.

Amy was shocked at his words, to say the least, and she responded accordingly. " What for?"

He shook his head. "This isn't supposed to be happening, not like this-"

"Doctor, what are you saying?"

"Just get up‼" he yelled, and Amy flinched, shooting an apologetic look to the man, who wore a confused expression on his face that was most likely mirrored on hers.

Amy walked to the Doctor, but when she reached him, he didn't move. Amy tentatively placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey-"

He put his hand on top of hers, gently, and whispered, "Pond, I'm so sorry, I'll be a moment, you really should just go to the TARDIS or something." He brushed her hand off, and approached the man, who was instantly on his feet, tense and waiting. Amy had made her choice; she was going to stay.

When the Doctor reached him, the man spoke in a confident yet defensive way. "Hey. I didn't mean any harm, we were just talking, I'm not a bad bloke."

At these words, the Doctor seemed to physically deflate.

"No," he responded. "You are one of the greatest men alive and I mean no ill will to you."

The man nodded uncertainly, and then gestured to the clothing shop behind him. " My friend's in there, I'm gonna go check on her, alright?" He started to walk away, but the Doctor stopped him, grabbing his shoulder.

"Wait."

The man stared at him coolly with his steely eyes. "What?"

"Tell her. Just tell her," the Doctor murmured.

The man's face went red again, but he played dumb to the meaning behind the Doctor's words. "What do you mean?"

The Doctor grew closer, bracing is hands on the man's two shoulders. "She's only human. She isn't like you; one day she will grow old, and wither, and die! You're making a mistake in keeping silent!"

The man jerked away from under the Doctor's grasp. "I'm leaving!" he exclaimed angrily, beginning to storm away.

"No!" the Doctor shouted, running after him. " Tell her that ever since you found her, after you had spent such a long time alone, running, oh yes, always running...tell her that as soon as you laid your eyes on her she became the most sacred, most beautiful creature in the universe! Tell her that her smile is brighter than the seven suns of Zyrgoron, that she smells sweeter than the Plooshtar Bells of Maksurta, that even though Queen Elizabeth the first is quite the catch, you would only marry her out of curiosity-GAH I'm blabbering again aren't I⁉" he yelled, looking at Amy for affirmation.

Amy gave a firm nod."Yup."

A look of understanding and something that looked almost like fear dawned on the man's face. " Are you saying that-Oh great gods of Galifrey you-"

"No," the Doctor said softly. "I'm saying that one day it will be too late." He shut his eyes, his face twisting in agony."God, it will be so late, and you will end up saying something stupid like 'quite right too' and she will never know!"

A look of desperation grew onto the man's face. " But I can't you don't understand, or rather you understand way too well because you're m-!"

"Doctor!"

All three occupants of the room turned towards the new voice. A girl, a young woman who appeared to be barely out of her teens, with bleached blond hair and a huge smile had just exited the clothing store and was approaching them. Rather than going to the Doctor though, to Amy's surprise, she went to the man in the leather jacket. He put a protective arm around her waist, drawing her close to him. "Rose, we have to go."

Understanding, horrible, wretched understanding hit Amy with full force. In a complete and total daze, she turned to the Doctor, her Doctor, not the younger one, and saw a look of complete and total despair written across his features as he stared, transfixed by the girl. Finally, however, after what felt like years but was only probably a few seconds, he turned away. "As do we, Pond," he said, in response to the other Doctor's last statement. His voice was raw, cracked with emotion.

He strode away from the scene, as did the other Doctor and Rose, and Amy ran after him. When she reached him, she grabbed is hand, and pulled him so he was facing her. His face was blank, devoid of any emotion, and his hand was limp in hers.

"Hey," she whispered, searching his face, for a sign, any sign, that he could hear her.

"Hey yourself," he replied.

She wrapped her arms around his thin form, resting her face in his shoulder. He didn't hug her back, his arms hanging stiffly by his sides, but Amy didn't care. When she pulled away, she took his hand and squeezed it.

He squeezed it back.