3 Months Later.
Avalon, Amy, and Canton sat inside a car parked outside an orphanage, underneath a heavy rainstorm. Canton reached to turn off the radio and looked back at the two women, both dressed in black suits to pose as FBI Agents, Amy in the passenger seat and Avalon behind, "Ready, check?"
Avalon raised her palm and stared at it hard, rubbing a finger over it, "All clear..." she answered emotionless, "...and more than ready," she made sure to add.
Three months. Three months it had been since the last time they faced the little girl (who would later kill the Doctor) and because of its 'guardians' (the creatures who had the power to erase memories) they had to be on the run for that much time. Of course, it had been part of the plan between everyone. While all the companions were out in various states of America, gathering information of the creatures after the little girl, the Doctor would be 'locked up' in Area 51 with Canton looking over him and 'chasing' after the other companions. During that time Avalon had come across many, many of the creatures...who all knew her, apparently. The small moments she could retain a conversation she'd demand to know how and why they knew her. Over and over she kept getting the response of their knowledge of her friends. That alone was a powerful motive for her to have a creature face to face and demand what they wanted. That was why she was there, standing in front of the orphanage with Amy and Canton, she needed answers and she was going to get them.
The Doctor had, had a plan to end the creatures' reign over the Earth, because that was what they were...they weren't just a simple tribe going for world domination, they had already won. They were the reigning species of the planet and it was time for the humans to finally remember and throw them off their planet. While he went to begin the plan, on the rocket-ship that would land on the Moon in just a couple hours, Avalon, Amy and Canton were to try and find the girl's 'home' and hopefully the girl herself. Meanwhile, Lena, River and Rory would remain in the TARDIS overlooking both parties should either get into trouble. Everyone in the group had nanorecorders inserted into their hands so communication would be easier, as well as a tool against the creatures who could evade their minds as soon as they looked away.
Avalon knocked on the front doors of the orphanage, impatiently groaning when she had to knock for the third time. Finally, a man, Dr. Renfrew opened the door but only slightly, "Hello," he greeted.
Canton held up his ID, "FBI. You must be Dr Renfrew. Can we come in?"
"The children are asleep," Renfrew seemed to be making an excuse.
"We'll be very quiet," Amy assured.
"Is there a problem?"
"It's about a missing child," Avalon noticed how nervous and simply...not quite there, type of stance the man had.
"What are you...? Yes, yes, come in, please."
Avalon pushed the door open and walked inside first, Renfrew quickly taking the lead. The trio observed the inside of the orphanage with distaste the further they walked inside. The entire building seemed on the brink of falling to the ground. What drew their attention most was the big, bright, red letters written on the walls 'GET OUT' and 'LEAVE NOW'. That didn't seem very welcoming for the children nor the adoptive parents.
"This way," Renfrew led them for the stairs, "Please excuse the writing. It keeps happening. I try to clean it up."
"Are the kids in some sort of arts and craft phase?" Avalon looked at the wall with the writing as they passed by, "They're the ones doing this, yes?"
"Yes. The children. It must be, yes."
"That doesn't sound very sure," Avalon whispered back to Amy who nodded in agreement.
"Anyway, my office is this way," Renfrew continued leading them up the stairs.
"We nearly didn't come to this place. I understood Graystark Hall was closed in '67," Canton was noticing the writing on Renfrew's wrist matching the same words on the wall.
"That's the plan, yes," Renfrew mumbled.
"The plan?" Amy caught the word with suspicion.
"Not long now."
"You do realize it's the year 1969, right?" Avalon raised an eyebrow, watching Renfrew freeze and look back.
"No, no. We close in '67. That's the plan, yes."
"I just said it's 1969 now!"
"Why are you saying that? Of course, it isn't."
"July," Avalon added, more than irritated she was being blatantly ignored.
"My office is this way, this way," Renfrew went off to a small stairway.
"We'll check upstairs," Amy whispered to Canton.
"Be careful," Canton nodded to the two gingers as they continued up the remaining steps.
~ 0 ~
Avalon pushed open a door in the upstairs hallway, leading Amy inside a disused dorm room with many bed frames on either side. Across from them were big, red words 'LEAVE ME ALONE' just like the stairway wall had.
"Well, then," Avalon breathed and walked further inside with her flashlight, "I think we came to the right place," she looked back at Amy who was already taking out her phone.
Amy nodded and spoke into her phone as soon as the line had been opened, "I think we've found the place she was taken from," she spoke to the Doctor.
"How do you know?" the Doctor was quick to ask.
"Cos those things have been here. But the whole place is deserted."
"There's just one guy here and we think he's lost it."
"We don't 'think' we know," Avalon made sure to clarify loud enough for the Doctor to hear.
"Repeated memory wipes fry your head eventually. Find out what you can, but don't hang around."
"Where are you?" Amy dared to ask, even Avalon dreading the answer.
"Gotta go!" the Doctor hurriedly said, "Got company!"
"...who are probably dressed in blue with guns," Avalon shook her head, "Idiot."
Amy laughed lightly, "Probably," she moved up to where Avalon stood in front of the words on the walls.
Soon after, the door slammed shut, making both turn to see what had caused it. They ran for the door to open it but Avalon had stopped in the center of the room, looking at her hands that now bore the tally-marks on the backs of it, signifying they'd seen the creatures again, "Amy!" she called, the other ginger turning and saw Avalon's hands, "...look at your hand, Amy," Avalon swallowed as Amy's palm flashed red, the nanorecorder having been used.
Amy pressed her palm and listened to her voice on the recorder, "I can see them, but I think they're asleep. Get out! Just get out!"
Avalon turned around for the window, gasping deeply when she saw her reflection on the window where her face was covered in tally marks, "There's a swarm, there has to be," she stumbled back, bumping into Amy.
Both women happened to look up to see exactly what Avalon had assumed, a swarm of the creatures up in the ceiling like bats as they hung upside-down. Amy accidentally knocked a pail as she tried moving backwards for the door, waking one of the creatures. Avalon raised her hand to leave herself a message when the door opened up on its own and unfortunately made both women look away from the creatures and forget all about them. As they left the room, the creature they'd woken up had stood in the middle of the room and watched them leave.
"Let's try this room," Avalon stopped by a second door and was about to open it when Amy spoke to thin air.
"Hello, who are you?"
Avalon turned and looked around, seeing nothing but walls and doors, "Amy? Who are you talking to?"
Amy went over to a new room where she'd literally just seen a woman with an eyepatch on it, like a hatch. Avalon sighed and followed Amy to the room she'd chosen, "Amy?"
Amy opened the door that led into a nursery, "Hello? I saw you, looking through the hatch..."
"Amy, there's no hatch here," Avalon stood at the door that was completely solid.
Amy frowned of confusion, she knew what she saw. Avalon left the doorway and came inside the room, "This place was just used," she remarked as she went over to the bed and picked up one of the stuffed animals, "They're in good condition and not dirty, look?"
Amy agreed and moved over to a bureau filled with different portraits of the little girl at various ages. However, she picked a certain portrait up and stared at it in disbelief, "How? How can that be me?"
"What is it?" Avalon set the stuffed animal down and headed for her but stopped at the sound of footsteps.
Upon both turning, they found the astronaut entering the room, "Who are you?" Amy immediately called, "We don't understand, so just tell me who you are!" the astronaut lifted its visor and revealed the little girl inside, the side of the inner visor cracked from the bullet Amy had fired at her, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to shoot you. I'm glad I missed."
"But you killed the Doctor, or, you're going to kill him," Avalon sadly said, unable to be furious at a terrified, little girl for something that probably wasn't her fault, "You can't control that thing, can you?" she nodded to the spacesuit, "Cos you said...you said the spaceman was going to eat you..."
Amy realized what Avalon was trying to say and had to agree, "Oh my god..." she covered her mouth, "...the spaceman came and..."
"Please help me," the little girl begged, "Help me, please."
Without a thought, Avalon dashed to help the girl...when two of the creatures entered the room and slammed the door shut and headed for all three.
~ 0 ~
After hearing the screams of Avalon and Amy, and shooting one of the creatures, Canton ran up the stairs and hurried to the door from which Amy's voice was coming from, "Help me! Please, I can't, I can't see! Somebody help me!"
"Amy!" Canton tried breaking down the door, "Avalon! Can you hear me? I'm going to try to blow the lock. I need you to stand back."
Just as Canton raised his gun, the rest of the group had arrived, the Doctor quickly pushing the gun down, "Okay, gun down, I've got it!" Amy, Ava, we're here. Are you OK?" he used the sonic on the door and went inside.
"I can't see!" they heard Amy sobbing.
The Doctor rushed for the spacesuit laying on the floor while the others searched for the missing gingers.
"Where are they, Doctor?" Rory frowned when the room came up empty.
"They're not here," Lena gasped with realization.
"It's empty," River had raised the visor of the spacesuit while the Doctor used the sonic on it.
"It's dark, it's so dark. I don't know where I am," Amy's voice continued to be heard, "I don't think Avalon's here...please, can anybody hear me?"
The Doctor saw two nanorecorders laying on the floor, one still blinking red from where Amy's voice was coming from. Rory saw them as well and picked them up, "They took this out of them? How did they do that, Doctor?" his heart broke as he heard Amy crying through the recorder, still pleading for help, "Why can I still hear her?"
"And how come Avalon's isn't doing anything?" Lena took her sister's recorder and stared at it, hoping to at least get something that would tell her she was okay.
"Is it a recording?" River questioned while the Doctor used the sonic on the recorders.
"It defaults to live. This is current," the Doctor sighed, "Wherever Amy is right now, this is what she's saying."
"And Avalon?" Lena nearly teared up, "Why can't I hear her voice? Where is she?"
"Must be unconscious," the Doctor had to guess.
"Amy, can you hear me? We're coming for you. Wherever you are, we're coming, I swear," Rory had taken to talking to the recorder,t hinkg he'd be heard by Amy.
"She can't hear you. I'm so sorry. It's one way," the Doctor sadly informed him.
"She can always hear me, Doctor," Rory frowned, "Always, wherever she is. She always knows that I am coming for her, do you understand me? Always."
"Doctor, are you out there? Can you hear me?" Amy began questioning through the recorder, "Doctor? Oh, God. Please, please, Doctor, just get me out of this."
"He's coming. I'll bring him, I swear," Rory promised Amy and looked at Lena, putting an arm around her shoulders, "We'll find them," he assured her, the brunette beginning to sniffle the more she stared at Avalon's nanorecorder.
Renfrew appeared at the doorway, "Hello, is someone in there? Who? I think someone has been shot. I think we should help. We... I can't... I can't remember."
~ 0 ~
The Doctor and the others were led back to Renfrew's office where the creature Canton had shot was still on the floor, backing away once the Doctor had went for it, "OK. Who and what are you?" he got straight to the point as there was no time to waste.
"Silence, Doctor," the creature answered with ease, "We are the Silence," the Doctor recalled the previous mentions of that word through his travels, beginning with the day he regenerated, "And silence will fall."
~ 0 ~
Once the empty spacesuit was brought to the abandoned warehouse and set up on the operating table, the Doctor and River began examining it in hopes of gathering something of the Silence to help Avalon and Amy. Meanwhile, Lena and Rory stood to the side, both holding the nanorecorders in their hands.
"It's an exo-skeleton. Basically, life support. There's about 20 different kinds of alien tech in here," River gestured to several of the technology inside the spacesuit.
"Who was she? Why put her in here?" the Doctor still didn't understand what an entire species wanted with a little girl.
"Put this on, you don't even need to eat," River continued, as if to emphasize how powerful the the Silence were, "The suit processes sunlight directly. It's got built in weaponry and a communications system that can hack into anything."
"Including the telephone network?"
"Easily."
"Why phone the President?"
"It defaults to the highest authority it can find. The little girl gets frightened, the most powerful man on Earth gets a phone call," River shrugged, "The night terrors with a hotline to the White House," she saw the Doctor sniffing her invitation envelope, going as far as licking it, "I feel compelled to point out if Avalon were here she would've smacked you for that," the Doctor opened his mouth to argue but considered it and ended up shrugging with agreement, "Either way you won't learn anything from that envelope," River made sure to clarify.
"Purchased on Earth, perfectly ordinary stationery, TARDIS blue," the Doctor reviewed what he'd gotten from the envelope, "Summoned by a stranger who won't even show his face. That's a first for me. How about you?"
"Our lives are back to front. Your future's my past, your firsts are my lasts."
"Not really what I asked," the Doctor frowned.
"Ask something else then."
"What are the Silence doing? Raising a child?"
"Keeping her safe," River judged by the spacesuit's components, "Even giving her independence."
"The only way to save Avalon and Amy is to work out what the Silence are doing," the Doctor pointed at her as well as the others.
"We know," Rory sighed as he and Lena neared them.
"Every single thing we learn about them brings us a step closer."
"Yeah, Doctor, we get it, we know."
"Have we considered the fact that perhaps the little girl isn't so...normal?" Lena spoke up for the first time since they arrived at the warehouse.
"Well, I'd say she's human, going by the life support software," River informed them before they agreed with Lena.
"But?" the Doctor asked.
"She climbed out of this suit," River sighed, "Like she forced her way out. She must be incredibly strong."
"Incredibly strong and running away," the Doctor tilted his head, "I like her."
"We should be trying to find her."
"Yes, I know, but how?" the Doctor challenged, "Anyway, I have the strangest feeling she's going to find us."
"Why does it look like a NASA space suit?" Lena stared at the spacesuit with confusion.
"Because that's what the Silence do, baby sister," the Doctor pointed, "Think about it. They don't make anything themselves. They don't have to. They get other life forms to do it for them."
"So they're parasites then?" Lena guessed with irritation, "Is that why they took my sister? To put them to work or something?"
"I like the idea," the Doctor nodded, "But we can't be sure. You're right, though, they're like parasites, super parasites more like it. Standing in the shadows of human history since the very beginning. We know they can influence human behavior any way they want. If they've been doing that on a global scale for thousands of years..."
"Then what?" Rory asked.
"Then why did the human race suddenly decide to go to the moon?" everyone looked over at a broadcasting television they had to the side, the Doctor continuing with the theory, "Because the Silence needed a space suit."
~ 0 ~
A while later Rory took a seat on the floor against crates with Amy's nanorecorder, Lena resided inside the TARIS with Avalon's recorder, while the Doctor and River worked on the spacesuit. The Doctor held River's handheld device and looked at the video Canton had recorded of the Silent and grinned with triumph. He shut the device off and turned to River just as they saw the spacesuit gloves twitching.
"This suit, it seems to be repairing itself. How is it doing that?" River blinked and stepped back from the suit, "Doctor, a unit like this, would it ever be able to move without an occupant?"
"Why?"
"Well, the little girl said the space man was coming to eat her. Maybe that's exactly what happened."
They heard the sounds of Amy from the nanrecorder from the crates, "I love you. I know you think it's him. I know you think it ought to be him. But it's not, it's you. And when I see you again, I'm going tell you properly, just to see your stupid face. My life was so boring before you just dropped out of the sky," Rory dropped his head after hearing that, dejectedly, "So just get your stupid face where I can see it. OK? OK?"
Quietly, the Doctor moved over to the crates and sat beside Rory, "She'll be safe for now. No point in a dead hostage."
"Can't you save her?" Rory asked, trying his best not to sound so impatient.
"I can track that signal back. Take us right to her and Avalon."
"Then why haven't you?"
"Because then what? I find them, and then what do I do? This isn't an alien invasion. They live here. This is their empire. This is kicking the Romans out of Rome."
"Rome fell," Rory sighed as he reminded the Doctor of the key fact.
"I know. I was there."
"So was I."
The Doctor agreed and remained quiet for a moment, "Personal question..."
"Seriously?" Rory raised an eyebrow, "You?"
"Do you ever remember it? 2,000 years, waiting for Amy? The Last Centurion?"
"No..."
The Doctor gave him a sharp look, "Are you lying?"
"Course I'm lying!"
"Course you are," the Doctor realized it was pretty stupid to believe Rory could actually forget such a thing, "Not the sort of thing anyone forgets."
"But I don't remember it all the time," Rory shrugged, "It's like there's… a door in my head. I can keep it shut."
"Please come and get me. Come and get me," Amy continued to sob from the recorder.
"Doctor?" they heard Lena call.
The Doctor turned for the brunette who stood at the doorway of the TARDIS with tears on her eyes as she held Avalon's nanorecorder in her hands, blinking red. He hurried towards Lena, looking between the now re-activated nanorecorder and her, "What...what-"
"She screamed, big brother," Lena sniffled, "Like a horror movie, she screamed and then...it went silent again," her voice cracked as she went inside the console room.
"Did she do or say anything?" the Doctor followed her inside, motioning to Rory and River to give them a moment.
"She was telling them to stay away from her," Lena said in the midst of her crying, "Then it went silent," she plopped down on the console chair, "I want her back!"
"We'll get her back, you'll see," the Doctor went over and hugged her, "I promise you we'll get her and Amy back."
"I believe you, don't worry," Lena pulled away and looked up at him, "I just hate that it's taking so long to see them again."
"Yeah, Ava's not going to be too happy about the wait," the Doctor tried to joke and get Lena to at least chuckle.
"No, she knows you're coming, I heard her say it," Lena held up the recorder in her palm, "She believes in you completely."
"Really?"
"You don't believe that, do you?" Lena raised an eyebrow, suddenly suspicious. She cleaned her face of her tears and set the recorder on her side, "A full year of traveling together and you still have doubts?"
"She's a bit sarcastic, you know," the Doctor tried to make an excuse, "Sometimes, it's a bit hard to know when she's being truthful..."
"She wasn't like that as a child, you know," Lena sighed, "She had to learn to defend herself from the people in town. Being sarcastic just worked and it stuck with her, like a defense mechanism. But she trusts you completely, I swear. I know it was wrong to do so but..." she sheepishly smiled, "...I sort of read her short stories.
"Lena!" the Doctor blinked, never expecting to hear that from Lena, the most innocent woman he'd ever met.
"Amy was already reading them and when I caught her she sort got me too," Lena shook her head, "Please don't tell Avalon, she'll kill me!"
"She'd never," the Doctor chuckled and put an arm around her shoulders, "But, hey...since you happen to know about those famous stories, you wanna maybe...tell me, what's the big hullabaloo about them?"
Lena smiled softly, "They're...completely fairy-tale, just like her. She really cares about you, you're a lot more important to her than you think."
"How so?" the Doctor found himself a lot more curious than he ought to be about it.
"Your her fairy-tale man," Lena patted his arm and stood up, "And you'll rescue her just like always," she declared with 100% certainty.
~ 0 ~
Amy gasped and came to an awake on a tilted operating table, underneath a bright light, "Where am I? Where is this?"
One of the Silence nearby turned to face her, "You are Amelia Pond."
"You're ugly, has anyone mentioned that to you?" Amy rolled her eyes and saw Avalon on the right side of the room, "Avalon!" the other ginger woman was unconscious, her head lulled to the side, "Avalon! What did you do to her!?" she demanded from the Silence.
"Examined her," the Silence answered.
"Let me go right now!" Amy ordered a she struggled to free herself, her hands strapped down by metal cuffs of the table.
"We do you honor," the Silence corrected, "You will bring the Silence. But your part will soon be over."
"Whatever that means, you've made a big mistake bringing me here, because wait till you see what's coming for you now," Amy smirked and glanced at Avalon, "And that's just her after she wakes up," she nodded to Avalon.
"You have been here many days."
"No, we just got here," Amy shook her head, not about to believe them, "You just put us in here."
"Your memory is weak. You have been here many days."
"No. No, we can't have been," Amy insisted.
"You will sleep now. Sleep, like the girl," the Silence started nearing her.
"No! No! Get off me!"
"Sleep."
"No! No!"
The sounds of the TARDIS materializing stopped it all and the Silence turned to see the Doctor, River, Rory and Lena coming out of the box, the Doctor holding the portable television in his arms, "Oh! Interesting. Very Aickman Road, seen one of these before. Abandoned, wonder how that happened. Oh, well! I suppose I'm about to find out. Rory, River, keep one Silent in eyeshot at all times," he didn't mention Lena as the girl had already ran to her twin's side and tried freeing her, "Oh, hello, sorry. You're in the middle of something. Just had to say though, have you seen what's on the telly? Hello, Amy, you all right? Want to watch some television?" the Doctor set the television on the console, "Hope it doesn't wake up Avalon, poor girl doesn't get enough sleep. Although for your sakes..." he eyed the Silence, "...it might be interesting to watch her after she's been freed, "Ah, now, stay where you are. Because look at me, I'm confident. You want to watch that, me, when I'm confident. Oh, and this is my friend, River. Nice hair, clever, has own gun, and unlike me, she really doesn't mind shooting people. I shouldn't like that. But after what you've lot done...I'm gonna let it slide."
"Not that you could've stopped me," River gave him a sharp look, her tone not one you wanted to challenge. She looked at the Silence with a dark glare in her eyes, "Make a move towards any of us and I'll shoot you all down, make no mistake of that."
"Now maybe you could just listen a minute," the Doctor held a finger to the creatures, "Because all I really want to do is accept your total surrender, and then I'll let you go in peace. You've been interfering in human history for thousands of years. People have suffered and died. But what's the point in two hearts, if you can't be a bit forgiving now and then. Ooh! The Silence. You guys take that seriously, don't you? OK, you got me, I'm lying. I'm not really going to let you go that easily. Nice thought, but it's not Christmas. First," he turned on the television for them to see the broadcasting of the moon-landing, "You tell me about the girl. Who is she? Why is she important? What's she for?" none of the Silence answered and so the Doctor went on, "Guys, sorry. But you're way out of time. Now, come on, a bit of history for you. Aren't you proud, because you helped?" he pulled out the antennae from the television, "Do you know how many people are watching this live on the telly? Half a billion, and that's nothing, because the human race will spread out among the stars, you just watch them fly. Billions and billions of them, for billions and billions of years. And every single one of them, at some point in their lives, will look back at this man, taking that very first step, and they will never, ever forget it," he stopped and watched the screen for the moment and pulled out a phone, "But they'll forget this bit," he spoke into the phone, "Ready?" he received the go from Canton and so hung up, gesturing for them to watch the television. As the moon-landing unfolded, the scene changed to that of the wounded Silence repeating over and over for the humans to kill any Silence they saw, "And one whacking great kick up the backside for the Silence!" the Doctor cheered, "You just raised an army against yourself, "And now, for a thousand generations, you're going to be ordering them to destroy you every day. How fast can you run? Because today's the day the human race throw you off their planet," the Doctor leaned away as the Silence leader advanced on him, "They won't even know they're doing it. I think, quite possibly the word you're looking for right now is, "Oops!" Run! Guys, I mean us!" he turned to the group, hands flailing in the air, "Run!"
As soon as the Silence drew energy to shoot, River began firing on all of them just as she had promised. Meanwhile, the Doctor used his sonic to keep them back.
"We can't get them out!" Lena called to them as she and Rory still worked on the restrains of Avalon and Amy.
Avalon slowly blinked open her eyes, "Wh..."
"Go, just go!" Amy ordered Rory, seeing they were getting no where near close to freeing them.
"We are not leaving without you!" he snapped.
"Will you just get your stupid face out of here?!"
Rory stopped upon those words and looked at Amy with shock.
"Right, into the TARDIS, quickly!" River instructed as she kept her fire on the Silence.
The Doctor ran over and freed Amy then Avalon, "Don't let them build to full power!" he shouted to River as he rejoined her.
"I know. There's a reason why I'm shooting, dumbo!" River rolled her eyes and happened to see him using the sonic again, "What are you doing?"
"Helping!"
River scoffed, "You've got a screwdriver. Go build a cabinet!"
"That's really rude!"
"Shut up and drive!" River pushed him for the TARDIS then noticed Lena struggled to walk Avalon towards the TARDIS, the ginger woman still half asleep, "Doctor!" she called again and pointed to the twins.
The Doctor hurried over and tried helping Lena when the amount of time made its presence and so he scooped Avalon up into his arms and took her and Lena back into the TARDIS. Once gone, River smirked and brought her gun to the fullest of powers, making a complete 360 spin, shooting the Silence dead. She finished and turned for the TARDIS to see Rory standing at the doorway, wearing a dumbfounded expression on the face, "No one saw that right?" River twirled her gun into its holster, "Bad influence and whatnot."
"So, what kind of doctor are you?" was all Rory could think of saying after seeing that.
"Archaeology," River pulled out her gun and fired at a Silence behind her without even looking, "Love a tomb," she smirked and entered the TARDIS.
~ 0 ~
River pushed the Doctor out of the way and started working the controls of the console. The Doctor frowned and tried taking control again, "You can let me fly it!"
"Yeah, and then that one over there is going to throw up with your style of piloting!" River nodded over to Avalon who sat on the stairs with Lena.
"I feel fine now," Avalon repeated for what seemed like the millionth time, "And I'm used to his terrible piloting."
"Yeah, she's fine," the Doctor agreed with a deeper frown.
"Why not instead of arguing you two make it back to the Whitehouse and explain to them what's gonna happen now?" Avalon raised an eyebrow, "Could be a lot more useful, you know."
With a huff from the Doctor, he let River fly the TARDIS to do as Avalon had suggested. They landed in the White House where the Doctor promptly explained to president Nixon how everything would be fine...well, sort of...or perhaps scared them a bit. He left the president and Canton with a hope that Canton could be reinstated into the FBI, after all he only wanted to get married. With that, he flew the TARDIS, he flew it that time, and brought River back to her cell.
He now stood in front of her cell, saying goodbye to her as this time (and as usual) she had helped him once again, "You know...you could come with us..." he offhandedly commented.
"I escape often enough, thank you. And I have a promise to live up to," River nodded, "You'll all understand, soon enough."
"Right," the Doctor ignored the last comment, never really putting much thought into her typical mystery puzzles. He turned and started heading for the TARDIS.
"Say bye to the others for me, please," River called, "And please do take care of them."
The Doctor stopped and considered something before nodding and turning around, "Really?"
"Hm?"
"You want them safe?"
"Yes, that's why I just said to take care of them," River shrugged, confused what he was going on about now.
"River, I know this goes against all the rules about time traveling, especially between us, but I feel compelled to tell you that I was once warned to keep a certain someone away from you or you'd hurt them."
"Oh..." River looked down, guessing which person was that 'certain someone' who should stay away from her.
"If I value that person's life, I should make sure you're far away from her, why?"
"Spoilers," River shrugged.
"I take it you know which one I'm talking about?"
"Avalon."
"Good, now I know I can't really trust you very well at the moment, haven't reached that point, but you could gather up some points if you tell me what to do about that warning?" the Doctor stepped towards her, "Should I really do that? Should I keep her away from you?"
River took a long breath before she looked up, "Yes, you should."
The Doctor was surprised she'd bluntly tell him to do that. He was expecting some sort of argument with shouts about it, something more than...just that.
"I'm telling you that someone told me to keep her away from you," the Doctor repeated, slightly irritated she didn't even care about it.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure I know who it was judging by the point of timeline you and she are in," River shrugged, "Keep her away from me, if you want. But I'm going to tell you right now that many people are going to be after her, I'm not the one you should worry about."
The Doctor raised his eyebrows, "Excuse me?"
"What you heard," River stepped back into her cell and closed the door, "You do what you have to do."
"Frankly, I'm a bit upset you don't even seem to care," the Doctor frowned, "How can you not care!? This is Avalon we're talking about! What's the matter with you?"
"Sheesh, you're overreacting aren't you?" River tilted her head, a faint smirk on her face.
"No, I am not! This is something serious and you're acting like you could care less!"
"You, on the other hand, seem to care a lot more," River remarked with innocent eyes, "More than you probably know."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Look, I completely mean what I said," River sighed, "You do what you have to do to keep Avalon safe, no matter who you have to keep her away from."
The Doctor, solemnly, nodded and turned away, vowing to do just that.
~ 0 ~
Once back in the TARDIS, the Doctor worked quite fast to get away from Stormcage, "Rory, I'm going to need thermo couplings. The green ones and the blue ones."
"OK, hold on," Rory rushed for the corridors.
Since the twins were not in the room at the moment, the Doctor took chance and moved to Amy, "So..."
"So?"
"You're OK?"
"Fine. Head's a bit weird," Amy tapped the side of her head, "There's lots of stuff I can't quite remember."
"After effect of the Silence. Natural enough. That's not what I was asking," the Doctor clarified and looked around just in case anyone was around, "You told me you were pregnant."
"Yes," she nodded.
"Why?"
"Because I was. I thought I was. Turns out I wasn't," Amy placed her hands on her flat stomach with a smile.
"No. Why did you tell me?" the Doctor clarified and leaned on the console, crossing his arms.
"You're my friend. You're my best friend."
"Did you tell Rory?"
"No."
"Amy, why tell me and not Rory?"
"Why do you think?" Amy sighed and thought about it for a moment, "I traveled with you in this TARDIS for so long. All that time. If I was pregnant for some of it, wouldn't it have had an effect? I don't want to tell Rory, this baby might have three heads, or like a time head or something."
"What's a time head?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow, amused.
"I don't know, but what if it had one?"
"A time head?"
Amy laughed of embarrassment, "Shut up, alright!" afterwards, the Doctor pointed to the corridors, making Amy realize they hadn't been speaking alone, "Oi! Stupid face."
"Er, yeah. Hello," Rory came out of the corridors with a small wave.
"Taking that away from you, if you're going to listen in all the time," Amy pointed at the recorder Rory had in his hand and was trying to hide from her.
"OK, that's a fair point. But you should've told me that you thought you were pregnant," Rory tried to make a valid argument, "I'm a nurse, I'm good with pregnancy."
Amy laughed, "Not, as it turns out, that good," she walked up and met him halfway, giving him a hug, "So can you stop being stupid?"
"Er, no. Never. I'm never, ever going to stop being stupid!" Rory shrugged and made her laugh again.
"So, this little girl, it's all about her. Who was she?" the Doctor wondered for a moment as he returned to the console, "Or we could just go off and have some adventures. Anyone in the mood for adventures? I am. You only live once."
At those words, Amy and Rory remembered the Doctor's death and kept quiet. While the Doctor had a pregnancy scan on Amy, which was confusingly switching from positive and negative, Lena came around from the second level rails, "I'm ready to go home now, big brother!" she called as Avalon emerged from the corridor upstairs.
"Do you have to leave so early, baby sister?" the Doctor pouted as she came down the stairs, "I was just telling Amy and Rory we could take an adventure."
"I'd love to but my dad is expecting me home," Lena shrugged, "Plus, I've made my choice about these travels," she smiled softly, "And I'm good where I am now, trust me. Plus, I gave Avalon a little present to remind her that even though we're apart we're still together."
Avalon raised her left wrist to show a new pink beaded bracelet. "Kind of corny, but a thoughtful gift."
"And look, we match!" Lena giggled as she raised her own arm to show another bracelet, the same one but in baby blue.
"Well why not take those matching bracelets out for a trip?" asked the Doctor again.
Lena looked at her sister who also gave her a pleading look. She supposed just one trip wouldn't hurt anyone, "Well...alright," the others cheered which made her laugh, "But just one trip, big brother, alright? Only one."
"I swear," the Doctor raised a hand for his promise.
Lena clapped excitedly, "Well then, take us some where fantastic!" she pointed to the console.
"Can do," the Doctor nodded and quickly worked the controls while the humans clung on, wondering just where the Doctor would land them and how much trouble they'd be in soon enough.
Author's Note:
Sorry for taking forever to come back to this! But I'm back now soooo...hope you guys liked this! :)
