A/N: Thank you for all the lovely reviews and alerts and stuff! I hopeyou enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I'm sorry I took so long to write this! Hannah Tennant x

Disclaimer: Don't own anything!

Festivities in the Williams household were in full swing. The Manor and the area in which it was situated were mounted with many bright and cheerful Christmas decorations; including, what Rory thought, a rather garish illuminous reindeer which stood guard outside the front door. But it seemed to everyone else who visited or worked in the Williams residence that the reindeer was indeed more classy than tacky.

But the reindeer was only a small part of the new celebratory décor. Two hundred brand new fir trees from a top quality Christmas tree farm in Cornwall had been ordered in just six days ago to be planted in and around the Manor. The house gardeners had clearly had their work cut out for them, venturing into the thirty acres of land which the Williams' owned and imbedding as many trees into the soil as they could per day. Of course, Rory paid them a little extra for their additional effort, in the spirit of Christmas.

But the new trees were just the beginning- they weren't finished quite yet, oh no. Six hundred strings of fairy lights had just arrived by the van load this morning, and it was the staff's job to make sure every single one of the two hundred trees had three strings of lights wrapped round their branches before nightfall; and if one of the sets weren't working, to report back and order another set ASAP.

Everything about this Christmas had to be perfect.

Although it could never be perfect. Not properly.

The foyer at the entrance of the Williams Manor was crammed full with people- mostly household staff milling around, doing what they were paid to do. Rory stood in the centre of the foyer, watching all the activity occurring around him. Usually he would be inclined to help, but just the idea of that, in the position he was in, was considered practically unholy. The master of the house daring to bestow work upon himself which he didn't need to do? It would be in the society columns for weeks- some of the staff leaked a little gossip here and there and that, seriously, was gossip worthy.

Rory was still coming to terms with how mad that was. But that was only half of it. Living in a mansion, having more money that he could ever dream, owning a business which was creating millions each day… That wasn't even the mad part. Seeing as literally two weeks ago he was living in a tiny flat with his wife and struggling to pay the TV licence, that may sound mad… But it wasn't. It didn't even come close to insane.

Travelling in time and space- now that was insane. With a nine-hundred-year old alien, your daughter who just happens to be older than you, and your beautiful wife who you would do anything for.

But they're not here. They're not going to be here for a long time yet.

"Mr Williams? Sir?"

A voice from behind him distracted Rory from his thoughts, as he blinked back to reality. What was the point in thinking about something you couldn't have quite yet?

Rory coughed. "Sorry. I was… Distracted. Yeah."

The person, who was a young lad –sixteen years old, seventeen perhaps- dressed in the crisp white shirt and black trousers which all of the male staff at the Williams Manor wore, smiled shyly.

"No problem, Sir." the boy said, passing a clipboard to his employer and a little black biro. "I wouldn't have disturbed you, it's just another batch of Christmas lights has arrived and you need to sign for them."

Rory nodded and scribbled his signature across the dotted line. "Next time, just sign it yourself. It could save time, I suppose."

The boy's eyes widened. "Me? Seriously? Sign for your mail?"

Rory supressed a smile. It was so weird that people looked up to him. They practically got starstruck around him, for God's sake. Rory Williams, the plain old boy from Leadworth, whose lifetime dream was to become a doctor solely to impress his future spouse. But, of course, things weren't like that in this timeline. He never lived in Leadworth. He never trained to be a doctor, but ended up being a nurse.

And he never, ever married Amy Pond.

But he would. Just not now. Oh bloody hell; this was all way too wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey for him. And he was sure, wherever Amy Pond was; she was thinking the exact same thing.

He hoped she was okay. He hoped they were both okay.

"Sir? Are you alright, sir?" the boy blinked up at Rory, concern mounting in his eyes.

"Sorry, I keep zoning out." Rory shook his head, smiling slightly. "And yeah, you can sign my mail. If my…" he paused, "Sister is not around. What's your name, sorry?"

"It's Ryan, sir. Ryan Olive."

"Well, Ryan," Rory passed him back the clipboard. "Thank the deliverers on behalf of me and my sister, and thank you."

Ryan grinned. "No problem, sir. No problem at all."

Ryan tipped his head in respect and jogged out the main entrance again. Rory admired his enthusiasm; he must've been fresh out of school, not a whole lot younger than Rory himself. But Rory felt a lot older in this environment. According to the history the TARDIS had set up for him (thank you, Doctor), Rory had been voted young businessman of the year in 2003, at just twenty-two years old.

Rory wondered if Amy knew anything about him and his sister and what they did- although, they probably didn't. The TARDIS purposely made it so that her and his human timelines wouldn't overlap in any way. That would cause disastrous consequences; completely defeating the objective of why the two Time Lords were in hiding in the first place. Knowing River and the Doctor, things were never quite that easy…

Rory shuddered. He didn't want to think about the night in which it happened. The night in which they changed. All he had to concentrate on now was looking after River, and steering her in the right direction, while Amy took care of the Doctor.

But they're not River and the Doctor. They are not your daughter and your best friend. They're human. Human as can be.

"Oh my goodness, that's perfect!" Rory heard her squeal from across the hallway, expressing her delight towards the massive Christmas tree which had been placed strategically adjacent to the spiral stairwell.

Rory couldn't help but grin. She was getting excited over a Christmas tree. A bloody Christmas tree. A bloody domestic Christmas tree. Something incredibly normal and human-like. Something that River Song wouldn't give the faintest about. River Song wanted the newest model of sonic blaster and more exciting ways of breaking out of prison- which she was in for for murder. River Song did not get excited over Christmas trees and lights and baubles and whether the mulled wine tasted mulled enough.

But that wasn't River Song. That was Melanie Williams. Not Melody, no, Melanie.

"Oh, Rory, come and have a look at this!" Melanie squealed, ushering Rory over to where she was grinning madly. "Isn't it just perfect?"

Rory walked over, one eyebrow raised. "Isn't it a bit, well, big?"

"Nothing can ever be too big, sweetie." Riv- Melanie said sincerely, patting Rory on the shoulder.

Hello sweetie.

Rory shook his head. "With you, I suppose."

"I've told you all along," Melanie smirked, as she began to walk away to supervise another area of the foyer. "Brother, dear."

Oh yeah. His daughter was now his sister. Nothing confusing about that, of course, although Melanie didn't know about that. She had a human brain, with human thoughts, and to her Rory was her brother and always had been. Why should she think anything else?

But Rory found that very weird indeed. He was incredibly glad that she wasn't his wife or anything, because that was well, sick, in so many ways. But his sister… Well, it wasn't right. But it did keep them close, of course. Rory always knew where Melanie was, and that comforted him. He knew when she was in trouble, or causing trouble.

Look after her, Rory.

He glanced over to her, chatting animatedly with one of the female housekeepers. She was still as outgoing and confident as she ever was, and she was definitley still had River's adventurous side. She'd had an accident, when she was a teenager, while she was on her gap year travelling around the world. She'd fallen and broke her leg mountain climbing in the Andes.

Rory struggled to remember all those memories, like that one. But he coped.

Melanie was a good few years older than Rory, but she'd always loved her little brother. She used to take him to the park when he was little and push him on the swings, and hold his hand down the big slide at the swimming pool.

Melanie and Rory's parents, Lucas and Martine, died not that long ago. It was a very traumatic time, for Melanie especially- Lucas died first, from a cancerous tumour which had developed in his brain. Martine died not soon after, apparently, of a broken heart. Their parents were deeply in love, of course.

Rory didn't know a thing about these people- Lucas and Martine were stories. Completely made up, so their backgrounds added up properly, and so they could answer any awkward questions. But Melanie could remember them. Even though they weren't real- and Rory had to keep it that way.

Melanie and Rory decided to form their business not long after their parents' death- they bought a small nightclub with their inheritance, and it kind of sprouted from there. Now they had a chain of around fifty clubs across England, Scotland and Wales, and were planning on growing their small Empire across the water in Ireland and France; then eventually going on to America. They were millionaires, living a life of luxury- and they did their bit for charity too, forming the Williams Foundation (original much) to help research into brain tumours, like the one that killed their father. It was a very commendable organisation with a lot of support.

The TARDIS had created them the perfect backstory.

You wouldn't be able to guess that Melanie was never supposed to be human at all; you would never be able to guess that she was also in love with an alien. The only thing that remained of Melanie's previous identity as the enigmatic River Song was a small fobwatch; decorated with intricate little symbols. Inside there, contained River's soul, and was never to be opened unless of a serious emergency. Rory kept it on him at all times, deciding not to give it to Melanie at all- there was just too much of a risk that she'd open it, even though it was enclosed in a perception filter.

River had trusted him with it, so he was going to do his duty. As a father.

Suddenly, Rory felt a wine glass being shoved in his hand- instantly cooling his increasingly sweaty palms.

"What's this for?" Rory asked.

"What do you think, idiot?" Melanie grinned, tipping the burgundy liquid into his cup. "I've bought a new club."

Rory blinked. "What? Why? Where?"

Melanie laughed, shaking her head. "Don't look so surprised dear. We've been planning on buying a new one for ages… I just took it from the plans to the present."

"You mean… You bought one abroad?" Rory queried, taking a sip of his wine. He didn't turn down alcohol at a time like this.

"Oh no," Melanie passed the bottle to a waiter, "It's in East London."

Rory nearly spat out his wine. "What? Why!"

Melanie shrugged. "I don't know. It felt… Right. Something about it was telling me… I don't know."

Rory gulped. This didn't sound good.