Author's Note: Hello there! Thanks for checking out my new story. I haven't written a fanfic in a long while and hopefully this a lot better than my old ones (yikes!) Anyways, I came up with this idea after watching "The Angels Take Manhattan" and "The Snowmen" recently. It's my first attempt at Doctor Who fanfiction so be nice if I don't get everything down perfectly (especially grammar). So, basically this is going to be one long piece, but I'm breaking up into segments so they're not necessarily full chapters like you'd find in a regular story. They're going to be fairly short segments, but I'm going to publish two tonight and (hopefully) I'll be finishing more to publish soon, but I'm a bit notorious for disappearing without a trace and showing up a month later to continue something, so don't be too surprised! Well, as you could tell by the story title and brief description that this a darker more emotional piece about what the Doctor went through after losing the Ponds *sniffle* leading up to "The Snowmen" and I might even write more after that, but we'll see. The one thing I liked about "The Snowmen" was that the Doctor kept Amy's glasses and I find that significant. I really wasn't a big fan of the special overall and am a bit tired of seeing people falling from tall places (MOFFAT!). Anyways, enjoy part 1 and go ahead and let me know what you think. Thanks! :)
The Doctor reached down gently, his hand shaking slightly as he caressed the edge of the frames and picked them up between his fingers, raising them into the light to observe them better. Through the lenses he could see everything like a reflection. A reflection of that day in its entirety. That day in Manhattan.
He remembered the first time he'd seen her in them. Sitting there in the park, his little Amelia Pond. But she wasn't little anymore and it hurt. Deep down somewhere in his hearts it pained him. The Doctor remembered looking at her, really looking, and seeing that his little Pond wasn't there anymore. She's been replaced by a strong, grown woman. She wasn't even a Pond now. She was a Williams, but for some reason calling her Pond made him feel better, that maybe, just maybe it wouldn't end in disaster this time. That his little Amy would always be there with him. That was when he realized that time was taking its toll on his beloved and there was nothing he could do about it. At first he pretended it was their fault, that they made the little lines of age on the creases of her eyes, but it wasn't them. In all reality it was him, but he denied it. He wouldn't let it be true. He wouldn't accept it.
It had happened so many times before and he'd let it. His companions always ended up worse off than they'd been when he found them. A soft tear rolled down the Doctor's cheek followed by a stream of more and he let out a horrible choking cry that echoed in the lonely silence of the TARDIS that had once been inhabited by his friends…his family. Memories were brought back of the Time War, of the family he'd lost to it, but they were no more. Just like everyone else he'd dared to love.
The Doctor recalled reading the last chapter title of the Melody Malone book. The pain that had consumed him was too much to bear, and he'd been so angry, so upset. No one could console him. He'd read it…and then it had to happen. He was reminded of the ripping sensation inside when he'd watched her and Rory jump from the hotel rooftop, the horror that it was possible that the paradox wouldn't work, but it had. He remembered grasping hold of both of them, enveloping them in a hug as if to protect them from anything out to harm them. Soon he discovered the truth though. He couldn't protect them and soon his joy was shattered once more. The apology could never be enough. Rory had been taken by the angel and his name permanently engraved on the stone that lie above his grave. A pang of guilt arose in the Doctor's throat as he pleaded with his fairy tale Amelia to come back. He couldn't lose both of them. Losing Rory was bad enough, but to lose Amelia would be worse. She'd seared onto his hearts and he loved her more than anything, well, almost anything. After all, the TARDIS had been with him forever. Her last words came back to him "Raggedy Man, goodbye." Maybe it had been a sign? A sign that his little Amelia was still there, but that she wasn't afraid and that she no longer needed his protection. The Doctor had dropped to his knees as she disappeared, reaching out as if he could bring her back from the clutches of death, but now her name was beneath Rory's and she was gone. He'd never see his Amelia Pond again.
If River hadn't been there he would've stayed, crying out until the night came and lying over her grave. But even River had to go eventually. He went back for the last page. He hated endings, but it didn't matter, he needed to read that afterword, to know his Ponds we all right. The Doctor sat alone on the bench in that park, gently putting on the one thing he had left of her. Somehow having them on was a comfort as he read and he kept them, glad that his Amy and Rory had been able to be together in the end. Still, a cold spark arose deep inside him and he would never be the same again. This fairy tale had no happy ending.
