River followed Grayle to a room full of antique vases and statues. She quickly looked around and immediatly noticed a curtain with some chains creeping out under it. Then she looked at one of the vases. The chinese writing translated itself. She read the word written on it.
YOWZAH
"Hello, Swettie." She said to no one in particular and took off her coat. "Hmm, let's see... Crime boss with a collecting fetish." She slowly approached the curtain. "Whatever you don't want anyone to see has got to be your favourite. Or possibly..." She opened the curtain and unveiled a Weeping Angel. "...Your girlfriend." She looked at the statue, slightly shocked. "So... girlfriend, then." She started writing something on her Vortex Manipulator.
"What are you doing?" Grayle wondered.
"Oh, you know..." she sighed. "...Texting a boy."
...
She stared at the Angel. It was badly damaged and it had a long, rusty chain wrapped around its neck, body and arms. It looked like it was in a lot of pain. For a second, River felt sympathy for the creature.
"These things are all over, but people don't seem to notice." Grayle explained. "It never moves while you're looking." He looked at River who was staring at the Angel's dameged face.
"Oh, I know how they work." She stated, still staring at the Angel. Don't blink. She told herself.
"So, I understand. Melody Malone. A detective who investigates... Angels." Grayle slowly approached the light switch as River was looking at the Angel.
"It's badly damaged." She stated, still staring at the Angel.
"I wanted to see if it could feel pain." Grayle said coldly.
"You do realize it's screaming. The others can hear." She turns around to face Grayle, whose hand was on the light switch. "Is that why you need all those locks?"
Suddenly, the lights went off for a second, and then back on. River turned around again to face the Angel. In her horror, the one second of darkness was enough for the Weeping Angel to grab her wrist. She tried to pull her wrist out, but she couldn't. She realized thet the only way to get free was to break her own wrist or the Angel's.
"You're going to tell me all about these creatures. And you're going to do it quickly." Grayle shut the lights off again, a bit longer than before.
"NO!" River shouted and Grayle turned the lights back on. River gasped, and quickly looked at the Angel. It didn't move, but it was holding River's wrist even tighter than before. There was no way of her pulling out her wrist without breaking it. She sighed, slightly pained by the lack of circulation in her hand.
"The Angels are predators. They're deadly." She started to explain. "What do you want with them?"
"I'm a collector." Grayle laughed. "What collector could resist these? I'm only human."
"That's exactly what they're thinking." River whispered. Then, there was a whoosing noise in the hall and the entire house started to shake. It became louder, and louder every second. River smiled.
"What is this? What's happening?" Grayle panicked. "Is it an earthquake?"
"Oh, you bad boy. You could burn New York." River smirked.
"What does that mean?!" Grayle shouted and ran towards the hall.
"It means, Mr. Grayle: Just you wait 'till my husband gets home." She looked towards the hallway herself.
Suddenly, there was a shockwave and Grayle flew though the air and fell on the floor – the shockwave hit him. Then, she heart the TARDIS door open. She looked curiously down the hall and saw Amy.
"River!" Amy ran towards her, nearly tripping off Grayle and hugged her tightly.
"Nice to see you too, mother." River said, smiling.
A few seconds later, Amy finally let her go and looked at the Weeping Angel. She was utterly confused, but decided not to ask anything.
"Can you get your wrist out?" Amy asked. River shook her head.
"She's pretty strong. Even in this condition."
"Oh, well. I'm sure the Doctor will be able to get it out." Amy smiled. "Did you see Rory?" She asked, remembering why she came here in the first place.
"Yeah, he came here with me. But, they took him somewhere." River said.
"OK. I'm gonna go look for him." Amy said and started walking away, then stopped and looked at River. "Will you be OK?" She asked, motherly concern growing in her eyes.
"Of course I will. I'm always OK." She smiled reassuringly.
"That's my girl." Amy smirked and walked away, calling for Rory.
River sighed and looked at her wrist. Her hand was starting to get blue from the lack of oxygen. A few seconds later, the Doctor emerged from the TARDIS and approached Grayle's body. He checked his pulse.
"Shock. He'll be fine." The Doctor said, not noticing River, who was standing in a room at the end of the hallway.
"Not if I can get loose." River smirked.
The Doctor now noticed her and walked towards her, fixing his hair. River rolled her eyes and smiled – she was happy to see him. When the Doctor saw the Angel, he was slightly concerned, but decided not to show it.
"Where are we now, Dr. Song?" He asked, trying to see in what part of her timeline he was. "How's prison?"
"Oh, I was pardoned ages ago. And it's Proffesor Song to you." She said, showing off a bit.
"Pardoned?"
"It appears that the man I killed never existed in the first place. Apparently, there's no record of him. It's almost as if someonene's been running around, deleting himself from every database in the Universe." She said, smiling.
"You said I got too big." The Doctor said, poking her nose. Then, he took his sonic screwdriver and started scanning her wrist.
"And now, no one's ever heard of you. Didn't you use to be somebody?" She asked him.
"Weren't you the woman who killed the Doctor?" He asked her, still scanning her wrist.
"Doctor who?"
He smiled and looked at the readings on the sonic. "She's holding you very tight." He said and looked at the Angel.
"At least she didn't send me back in time." River said.
"I doubt she's strong enough." The Doctor said, still loking at the Angel, so that River could look at him.
"Well, Swettie." River sighed. "I need my hand back. What is it going to be? Are you going to break my wrist, or her's" She asked and smiled. The Doctor just looked at her. "Oh, no. Really? Why do you have to break mine?" She asked, slightly panicked.
"Because Amy read it in a book." He said, while Amy reentered the room. "And now I have no choice." Then he turned and looked at Amy. "See?"
"Wha- What book?" River asked with a tremble in her voice.
"Your book. Which you haven't written yet, so we can't read." He said, showing River the book and sitting on the armchair behing her, putting his head in his hand.
"I see. I don't like the cover much." River said and looked at Amy, who was still standing in the doorway.
"But, if River wrote a book – she'd make it useful. Yeah?" Amy asked, still concerned both about her daughter and her husband.
"Well, I'll certainly try. But, we can't read ahead – it's too dangerous." River warned Amy.
"I know. But, there must be something we can look at." Amy said, desperatly.
"What? A page of handy hints. Spoiler – free." The Doctor said.
"Chapter titles." Amy said.
The Doctor realized that it's a brilliant idea and retrieved the book from his pocket. He looked at the chapter titles and read: The Roman in the cellar. "He's in the cellar."
"Gimme." Amy said and the Doctor tossed her his sonic. She caught it and hurried towards the cellar. The Doctor kissed River on the cheek and hurried after Amy, but stopped when he read the last chapter title.
Amelia's last farewell
River could see concern oh his face. "Doctor? What's wrong? Tell me."
He stomped his feet and growled, angry at the Universe for all the bad things that ever happened to him and for the bad things that will happen.
"Oh, no. I know that face. Calm down." She tried to calm him.
"NO!" He threw the book across the room and ran back to River.
"You get your wrist out. Get your wrist out without braking it." He told her and walked towards the cellar.
"How?!" River asked and looked at him walking away.
"I don't know, just... Change the future!" He yelled back and ran towards the cellar to help Amy.
River looked at her wrist, confused. She didn't know what to do.
"What now?" She wondered. She knew that the Doctor and Amy would be back soon, so she had to get her wrist out quickly. She tried to pull it out slowly, but it was of no use – the Angel was holding it very tightly.
There's no other way. – she thought. She took a deep breath and quickly pulled her wrist out. She yelped, but didn't scream – she would, but the Doctor couldn't know. She had to hide it. She sighed shakily as she put on her long-sleeved coat, so that he wouldn't notice. There were footsteps in the hall – the Doctor and Amy were back. River quickly took her Vortex Manipulator out of her pocket and typed in something in attempt to find Rory. She sighed again and stepped out in the hallway. Her wrist ached, but she didn't want to worry the Doctor or Amy.
"So is this what's going to happen?" She heard Amy talking. "We just keep chasing him back in time, and they keep pulling him further back?" Amy was sitting on the steps in the hall, and the Doctor was walking around the room, waiting for River. He wanted to help her, he should have helped her. He didn't want River to break her wrist, but if she broke the Angels wrist, it would probably attack her.
"He isn't back in time." River said, walking in. "I'm reading a displacement, but there are no temporal markers. He's been moved in space, not in time. And it's not so far by the looks of it." She smiled and looked at the Doctor.
"You got out." He said and looked at River's wrist, but the sleeve was hiding it. River noticed this and started typing on the Vortex Manipulator again.
"So? Where is he?" Amy asked impatiently.
River didn't answer her question. She didn't quite hear it, actually. She was concentrated on what she was doing, but her wrist was aching more than before. But, she just bit her tongue and continued working.
"Come on. Where is he?" The Doctor asked, excitedly. He was glad that River got out and that she found Rory.
"If it was that easy, I'd get you to do it." River said, a bit blinded by the pain. But, she was still looking for Rory's exact location, so that they could teleport there.
"How did you get your wrist out without braking it?" The Doctor asked again, still excited.
"You asked, I did." She lied. "Problem?"
"You just change dthe future!" He said, smiling. He would do anything for Amy to be safe, and now there was hope.
"It's called marriage, honey." River smiled. "Now, hush. I'm working."
"She's good, huh? Oh, have you noticed?" He asked Amy and sat next to her. "Really, really good." Amy nodded and suspiciously looked at the small blood drop forming on River's hand.
"Ah, wherever it is, it's within a few blocks." River said. She couldn't even concentrate anymore – the pain was so strong. "There's a car out front. Should we steal it?"
"Show me!" He jusped on his feet and grabbed River's wrist – the broken one. River whinced in pain and sighed. The Doctor stopped and looked at her wrist, realizing it's broken. He didn't care about the chapter title he read a few minutes ago. Right now, he had to help River. He slowly took her left hand and walked her to the stairs. She gave him her Vortex Manipulator and sat on the stairs. She simply lowered her head and didn't say a word. He looked at her for a moment and walked to Amy. He gave her the Vortex Manipulator and told her to try to find Rory. Then he walked to River and sat next to her – she wouldn't look at him.
"Why did you lie to me?" he asked her quietly.
"When... one's in love with an ageless god, who insists on the face of a twelve-year-old, one does one's best to hide the damage." She said, now looking at Amy who wasn't very good with alien technology.
"It must hurt. Come here." He gently took her wrist and put it in his lap to examine it.
River shut her eyes for a second at the feeling of Doctor's hands taking her wrist. "Yes." She sighed. "The wrist is pretty bad, too." The next thing she felt was her bone slowly healing. She knew what he was doing. "No, stop that. Doctor, stop it." But, she was too late – her wrist was already healed.
"There you go." He said and kissed her wrist. "How's that?"
"Well. Let's see, shall we?" She slapped him. " That was a stupid waste of regeneration energy! Nothing is gained by you being a sentimental idiot!"
The Doctor gasped, holding his cheek. "River."
"No. You embarrass me." She said and stormed out.
"River!" He called for her, but she was already gone.
Then, Amy walked to the Doctor and tossed him the Vortex Manipulator. "Tell you what. Stick to the science part." She said and hurried after her daughter. She found her, standing outside - she was crying.
"OK. Why did you lie?" She asked her.
"Never let him see the damage." River said, blinking away her tears. Amy approached her and put her hand on River's shoulder. "And never let him see you age. He doesn't like endings." She said and turned to face her mother. Suddenly, Amy hugged her.
"Don't worry." She said. "I'm gonna slap him for this." River laughed.
"And then, I'm gonna thank him." Amy said, after letting River go. She took River's wrist to inspect it – there wasn't even a scratch. "Wow." She was impressed. "He'd only do that for you, you know."
"I do." River smiled.
A few moments later, the Doctor emerged from the house and handed River the Vortex Manipulator. "I found him. He's at Winter Quay, wherever that is."
"Good." Amy said. "I'll just..." she walked towards the car. She had a feeling that she had to leave the pair alone. The Doctor started walking after Amy, but River stopped him.
"Wait." Suddenly, she pulled him towards her and kiised him. "Thank you." She said when they parted. The Doctor looked utterly confused. "Now, come on. Let's go find Rory."