Thanks so much for the wonderful reaction on this!
"Hullo, Amy!" the Doctor said cheerily as if he'd just dropped by for tea.
She didn't have time to recover from his sudden appearance in her- cell? Holding area? - Before he started off again, yammering at the Silence. "Oh, this is my friend River. Nice hair, clever, and has her own gun. And unlike me, she really doesn't mind shooting people. I shouldn't like that. Kinda do, a bit."
"Thank you, sweetie," River responded with a secret little smile.
Instead of retorting, the Doctor continued addressing their enemy. They were hissing like a bunch of cats that had just had a vat of water dropped on them, circling around him warily. "Guys?" he questioned them. "Sorry, but you're way out of time. Now, come on, a bit of history for you," he continued, clapping his hands like a five year old. "Aren't you proud you helped? 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." He smiled even wider at the Silence's sudden and intense, and then went on. "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. Oh, but they'll forget this bit. Ready?" he said into his transmitter.
Someone replied in too small a voice for Amy to hear, but she saw the TV crackle to life. Neil Armstrong was about to take his first step, when the looming, grainy face of the silence stepped in. "You should kill us all on sight," he rasped.
She just then noticed Rory was undoing her bonds. "What took you so long?" she whispered.
"We were busy," he said quietly. He wouldn't meet her eyes for some reason.
The Doctor was off again, talking at the speed of a racehorse. "And one whacking great kick up the backside for the Silence! You just raised an army against yourself! And now, for a thousand generations, you'll be ordering them to destroy you every day. How fast can you run? Because today's the day the human race throws you off their planet. They won't even know they're doing it. I think, quite possibly, the word you're looking for right now is 'oops," he finished with a dark glee.
Rory was still fumbling with the ropes. "Hurry up, stupid face," Amy hissed.
He stopped and looked her head on. "I'm not your stupid face anymore." He finally undid the ropes, and walked back to the Tardis. Amy rubbed her wrists for a moment, and then followed. She felt unsettled and faintly ashamed for something she didn't know she'd done.
The atmosphere in the Tardis was rather morbid for a team who'd just saved the world. Amy caught River's eyes. The older woman shrugged, clearly as confused as she was.
The Doctor dropped River off in relative silence. Amy took this chance to try and talk to Rory.
"Hey," she said softly, leaning in towards him.
He fiddled with something. "I think I'm going to go home," he said abruptly.
She leaned back, extremely startled. "Why'd you wanna do a daft thing like that? You have space and time and everything on this ship. And me," she said, laying a hand on his arm.
He pulled away. "That's just it, though," he said sadly. "I don't have you, do I? He has you, and he always has. I heard you on the monitor."
Amy didn't know what to say. She felt like there was an enormous crashing in her ears. She couldn't deny what she said, and she couldn't defend it. She could only stand like a deer in the headlights.
"I've had space," he said, stepping away. "And time, well, two thousand years of that was quite enough. And the only everything I've ever wanted was you. So I guess there's not very much left on this ship for me."
Amy started to cry, fat, silent tears. "I love you," she said desperately. "I love you so much."
Rory took her hand gently. "I guess you do," he said softly. "But you'll always love him more."
She wiped at her eyes angrily. "There's not a thing I can say to stop you from going, is there?" she said with doomed finality.
"Nothing that isn't a lie," he said.
She leaned into him for one last hug. He held her like she was everything, all of space and time wrapped up in an impossible ball.
The Doctor strode back into the Tardis at this moment. He hesitated for the barest moment before beginning a ramble. "Happy couple again? Well, not that you were-"
"I'm leaving, Doctor," Rory said.
The Doctor paused, his gaze darting between the two. "Ah," he said, spinning to his controls. "I assume Amy's already attempted to talk you out of it?"
"Yea," Amy said. "He says he's going."
The Doctor pushed a few buttons. "Well, you'll be missed," he said, turning to face Rory. He dug something out of his jacket and tossed it to Rory. He caught it with relative ease, and looked at it. It was a little mobile.
"If you ever need us, give us a ring," the Doctor said. He walked Rory to the door. "She probably didn't mean it, you know," he said in a low voice. "Imminent death does crazy things to people."
"'Course she meant it," Rory said gruffly. He glanced back at Amy, who was trying to hide a couple of stray tears. "Treat her right, Doctor," he said.
The Doctor clapped him on the shoulder. "You know I will."
Rory gave a sad little wave to Amy, and then stepped out of the Tardis, closing the door behind him with a click. He breathed in the fresh Leadworth air as the Tardis buzzed in and out of existence.
The Doctor hopped up the stairs to Amy. He didn't try and comfort her; he was always rubbish at finding the right words.
She finally looked up. "Where do we go from here, Doctor?" she said softly.
Slight cliffhanger, I know, but things will be all sorted out soon. Hopefully.
-Layla
