All those years ago when he had told her that the swimming pool was in the library, she had never believed a word. And yet here it was: a beautiful, airy space with vaulted ceilings and colonnades, like the cathedral that her aunt used to make her visit when she was younger. There were even a series of translucent stained windows pieced together out of delicate shards of coloured glass, set into the archaic stonework. A light of unknown origin shone through and made the oranges and reds glow like dying embers and the blues and greens sparkle like a sea studded with jewels.
Peculiarly, green climbers and flowering plants seemed to have found their way into the magnificent chamber and then curled lazily around the colonnades and ornate statues like emerald snakes, intermittently splashed with the purples and pinks and yellows of blossoms. They gave the place a wild feeling, like the outside was seeping inside and there was nothing that could be done to control it.
Although it looked like the interior of an abandoned church, there were signs of it being well kept. The bookshelves, for instance, tucked carefully into the alcoves between the towering colonnades were perfectly tidy – if a tad dusty – and meticulously ordered in a manner that was very un-Doctor-like. Perhaps, the TARDIS tidied herself. It wouldn't be surprising.
Volumes upon volumes of books, in varying states of condition, all rich with colour and waiting to be perused, used, loved. There must be more books in here than Amy had ever seen in her life, which she guessed wasn't really saying much, but there were a lot. And, considering how long the Doctor claimed to have lived, it wouldn't be a surprise if he had read them all – twice. Dragging her gaze away from the cute, rickety ladder that was balanced precarious against the edge of one bookcase, Amy's green eyes fell upon what she had been looking for.
The Doctor.
It was strange how differently she now saw him. And she wasn't sure if she liked it. An uncomfortable knot sat in her chest like a stubborn, immovable thing and she wondered whether it could ever be undone. What she had seen in that room, what she had discovered….it changed everything.
Fluidly, the man who looked like a man but was actually an alien, sliced through the water with more finesse than a knife cutting butter. His body could have been made out of nothing for all the disturbance he left behind. Usually, when one swam they would leave a wake, swirling and rippling water, but the Doctor even seemed to defy that physics. He was impossible. Especially, considering the lack of elegance and poise that he possessed on land. Amy swore that he was probably the clumsiest person she knew. The way he moved was just…jumbled: wrists twirling at all the wrong angles; bandy legs and knobbly knees; floppy hair flip-flopping all over the place; poker-backed sometimes and arched at others and those ridiculous hand gestures. Well, she wasn't even going to start on those. The Doctor was just odd. An oddball bouncing around his massive spaceship looking for someone to stop him; to catch him before things got….
"Pond!"
Amy jumped, her eyes flashing down to focus on the man that had just been entangled in all her thoughts. He grinned up at her with that cartoonish mouth and sparkling, deep-set eyes, obviously very pleased with himself for having caught her off-guard.
"What's up?" He leant against the edge of the pool, sloshing water – quite deliberately – onto her slippers.
"Oi, watch it, you," she snapped, hopping back out of range. The Doctor offered her his best innocent expression. She wasn't fooled. "Don't try your puppy-dog eyes with me, Mister."
"What puppy dog eyes? This is my natural expression." The smirk that spread across his lips certainly was. "So, anyway, as I was saying, 'what's up'?"
She stared at him for a moment and toyed with her lip. Now was probably not the best time. She wasn't thinking straight and was bound to phrase everything wrong – that tended to happen this early in the morning when she hadn't had breakfast. Speaking of breakfast, her stomach grumbled loudly.
"You growing a baby monster in there, Pond?" the Doctor grinned.
"Of course," Amy deadpanned.
"Well, you should have told me! We'll have to feed him up and call him Albert and give him a bow-tie when he comes out," the Doctor rambled before halting mid-sentence and yelping, "Where was I? Oh yes, how are you this morning?"
Shrugging nonchalantly, Amy murmured, "Good."
"Good? Good? Well…I feel great! Early morning swim certainly washes away the night's cobwebs. Fancy it?" He ran a strong hand through his wet locks and gestured wildly with the other. Ah, there were the crazy hand flings she'd been missing.
"Hmm…" She made a point of looking like she was considering it, then, "No."
"No?"
"Yes, Doctor, no."
"Well, that's just confusing, Pond. Obviously, you are in two minds so I shall have to make the decision for you!"
And with that, quick as a flash and as lithe as an eel, the Doctor lunged across the smooth tiles at the edge of the pool and grabbed at his companion's slender ankle, swiping her off her feet and into the water with a loud screech – on her part of course.
The Doctor laughed hysterically as she thrashed about for a bit but his laughter soon died on his lips when the thrashing stopped and she didn't come up for air. His face a blank mask of horror, he dived beneath the surface and grabbed for his friend who was floating motionlessly at the bottom of the pool. His hearts thundered loudly in the eerie silence of the underwater atmosphere as he scrabbled against her cotton nightie before managing to grab her arm. Gotcha!
However, a sudden pain in his stomach forced him to let go and a torrent of surprised bubbles spewed from his mouth. What the…? Amy's eyes flashed open and she had time to arch one perfectly plucked eyebrow at him before propelling herself to the surface. Still feeling the ache in his abdomen, the Doctor followed suit.
"Good god, Amy, I thought you were dead!" he shouted as soon as he broke the surface and they were staring at one another. He wind-milled his arms to emphasise the point, bringing them down with a splash.
"And whose fault would that have been, eh?" The Doctor had the grace to look sheepish. "Yes, yours, alien boy."
"It was a bit of fun, Amy."
"Yeah, well I didn't enjoy it very much," the fiery Scottish girl yelled, splashing her way to the edge of the pool and hauling herself onto the edge.
"I could tell. You kicked me."
"Yeah?"
"In the stomach!"
"And?"
"It hurt," the Doctor said, indignantly.
"Yeah?" Would she stop using that word? "Well, you hurt me too!"
And with that she stormed away, sopping wet and obviously very, very angry. Stunned, the Time Lord watched her leave and wondered how on earth he could have upset her that much. He had been very careful when pulling her in to make sure she didn't hurt herself but maybe he'd miscalculated and she'd bumped her head or something. But that didn't really explain the explosive anger. Still, he had better check on her, she could have concussion or something.
Hopping out, agilely, onto the poolside, he considered grabbing a towel but decided that there wasn't time and instead hurried off down the corridor which Amy had taken. His wet feet slapped on the hard floor and he felt rivulets of water dripping down his smooth, pale skin making him shiver involuntarily. Where had she gone? Why was she being difficult about this? If she was injured then he needed to check her over.
"Amy? Amy?" he called, ducking his head into the various rooms that he passed and still not spotting her. "Pond? Amelia?"
It was as he shoved his head round yet another door that his hazel eyes fell upon her slender figure. She was hunched up on the floor in a room that was usually used for ballroom dancing with her arms hugging her knees and her shoulder blades sticking up into the air. There was a puddle slowly forming around her but she didn't seem to care. She looked awfully small and vulnerable.
"Amy," he murmured, rather bewildered, when he saw that her face wasn't only wet because of the dunk in the pool but also with salty tears.
Cautiously, he padded across the hard wooden floor and dropped down beside her. She didn't acknowledge his presence so, tentatively, he inched a little closer to her and reached out with nimble fingers in order to exam her scalp for bumps or bruises. As soon as he touched her, she jerked away.
"What are you doing?" she snapped, her thick Scottish accent giving an extra bite to the words.
"Checking your head. You said you were hurt?" the Doctor answered, earnestly, his eyes trying to seek out hers. When she didn't reply, he pressed again, "Where are you hurt, Amy? I need to check to see if it's serious."
"It wasn't physical," she mumbled into her arms.
The Doctor ducked his head towards her. "What?"
"I said." She looked up and glared, coldly, at him. "It wasn't physical."
"Oh." For a moment the Time Lord looked confused, then, "Oh…." He scratched the back of his own head, satisfied that his friend was okay in the material sense. Then he glanced at her again before gently peeling her arms away from where they were hiding her face. "Then what did I do to hurt you?"
Their eyes met for a second and the Doctor felt sure that he saw the truth glimmering in the depths of Amy's moss green orbs but then she looked away, abruptly, and shook her head. It was a very human reaction, especially when he saw that her lip was trembling and her eyes were shining. She was trying to fight down whatever emotions were causing her to react in this way.
"Amy?" he tried again. With a feather-light touch, he softly brushed his fingers along her cheek. "Please tell me, Amy."
"Your hands are cold," she said, bluntly.
"Well, I have just been in a pool and I'm not really wearing much." The Doctor gestured down at his flower-printed shorts. "Because I wasn't really thinking about me and being cold when I ran after my friend who claimed to be hurt and looked very, very upset." His hand dropped onto her shoulder. "You're cold and wet too."
"Someone pulled me in."
"I know and I said I'm sorry but really, Amy, that can't be what this is all about…can it?" Astonishingly, the usually confident Doctor sounded unsure.
Amy glanced at him and then closed her eyes, tightly. "Trust me. It can."
AN - Well then, I wonder what secrets Amy will be revealing before she can get any out of the Doctor. Or will it be vice versa?
Thank you very much for the reviews.
