A/N: This idea came to me after the line "one dark night, you will count the children on Gallifrey that day" and yeah. Hella angst up ahead. I don't own Doctor Who, sadly. If I did there would be an unexplainable miracle in which EVERYONE LIVES.
Amy woke up at some god awful hour of the morning. She groaned when she saw the display on the clock. 3:00 AM. She rolled onto her back irritated at whatever had woken her up. No one who valued their life would wake her at this hour, and Rory's snoring was for once not the problem. Amy couldn't focus with that bloody scratching in the background. That must be what woke her up. She groaned into her pillow. Why was there scratching on the TARDIS? There weren't any mice, where there?
Amy had not signed up for mice.
She sighed. There was no going back to sleep now, not with that scribbling. Who- Whatever was making that noise was about to get some righteous ginger fury in it's (their?) face. She disentangled herself from Rory and flopped out of bed. Amy winced at the cold floors. They needed a rug, something red that would match the new-
She was getting off topic.
She needed to check on the Doctor anyway. After accidently landing on 'Arachneruta', a purple planet inhabited by 'friendly' aliens, the trio went to see the glowing shrine. They didn't know the Arachnerutans saw certain articles of clothing (read: bowties) as a personal offense to the king (According to the doctor, that story involved a runaway coyote, a glittery lasso, and green jelly).
That eventually led to the Doctor being stung with one of the Arachnerutans' poisonous quills. The symptoms included: madness, death, and even more death. Because of his
Superior Time Lord Physiology™, the 'death and even more death' part was excluded. Annoyingly enough for everyone involved, the Doctor would still have to go through the stark-mad phase.
Last she checked he had been questioning his attraction for girls named after nature.
Amy realized with a jolt that, one, the scratching had gotten louder, and two, the previously rambling Doctor was not to be heard. Amy, the brilliant girl that she was, put two and two together.
Foaming at the mouth or not, the Doctor was going to have 180 centimeters of a tired, angry, Scot on his hands. Amy hoped he had a God to pray to.
She stormed out of her bedroom, armed with a pillow and following the erratic scratching. Her feet were cold, her head hurt, and she was fully ready to smack some sense into a certain someone. The TARDIS was huge, and while she walked through the halls she rehearsed her grand entrance.
A classic "WHAT THE FUCKING HELL DO YOU CALL THIS?" would do nicely.
Amy finally reached the source. A door at the end of the hall was pulled to, and she could she a sliver of light peeking out. She stormed up and stopped in front of the door. Taking in a deep breath, she slammed the door open.
"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL DO YOU CALL THIS?" she yelled at the Doctor, who was just standing in front of a chalk board, making quick tallies with a stylus. He didn't bat an eye.
"Hello?" Amy said, walking up next to him. "Anyone in there?" The Doctor still didn't acknowledge her, his eyes were glazed over and unblinking as he scratched out the marks quick and methodically. He was swaying ever so slightly, a clear sign of his exhaustion, and his bite looked painfully swollen. There were tear tracks on his face and his eyes were red-rimmed. Amy could see nine-hundred years of pain and sorrow in his eyes, now more than ever.
That scared her more than any alien.
"Doctor?" she said, this time with the soft voice she used on children and the elderly. It surprised her that she didn't know which the Doctor was. "Are, uh, are you okay?"
"Two billion eight hundred sixty-nine million nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred eighty-seven."
"What?" Amy said, taken aback. That was…a number. Which didn't answer her question at all. "What does…that have to do with anything?"
"I'm forgetting something, someone, some people." The Doctor said hurriedly. "Some are missing. There are at least- were at least thirt…teen…more" The Doctor trailed off, his voice getting so weak at the end that it was barely a whisper. His eyes were filling with tears now, and he fell to the floor.
"Doctor!" Amy yelped, surprised at his sudden drop. She knelt down next to him, putting her hand on his non-gravely injured shoulder. "What are you doing? What's with the tallies?"
"Two-point-eighty-seven," He said, his voice shaking. "billion." He leaned into her touch, seeking her comfort. "I don't- I didn't- I-" He started crying then, too hard to continue his thought. Not that he would have made much sense any way, Amy thought. Was counting some weird Time Lord thing?
"Shh…" Amy said, awkwardly comforting the practically immortal alien who has saved the world repeatedly. Who would've thought? "It's…okay. I know you didn't." She tried to give him the best reassurance she could manage, what with her little understanding of the subject.
"They didn't do anything." He said, raising his voice "THEY DIDN'T DESERVE THIS!" the Doctor yelled standing up. He shakily rose and wobbled over to the board which had more white than green. He drew thirteen tallies and then promptly collapsed.
Amy ran over to the Doctor, turning him over and feeling for a pulse. She let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding when she felt his odd double-time pulse. He had probably passed out from exhaustion.
Amy looked around at the tiny white ticks on the board, then back at the fast asleep doctor.
"You've got some serious explaining to do."
A/N: I am so sorry for not updating my fic, The Twelfth Branch, in forever. School's been a pain in the ass, and I honestly have no idea where I want to go with it. I think the best thing to do is to cure my writer's block with hardcore angst. You've been warned.
Expect the next chapter by the 4th, at the latest.
Later bitches
