Hello, my name is HappierHere and I suck at writing multichapter fics…
To make it up to you: 2 Rory-centred drabbles which –thanks to the wibbly wobbly nature of the Doctor Who Universe – fit nicely in my 'Life, as witnessed by Rory Williams'-series.
First one is somewhat inspired by the song of Chameleon Circuit: An Awful Lot of Running. Look it up on youtube: worth your time!The second one is inspired by my planned trip to NY and the Doctor Who Novel 'The Forgotten Army'. I hope you get the inside joke without having read the book.
Jeff was whining about his old age again, setting of their fellow drinkers in the pub. Grey hairs, bad hips, declining sexual health,… Rory had heard it all before. He never joined in, simply preferring to sip his coffee until another subject came along.
He himself felt he had nothing to complain about.
Yes, he was getting a day older, but - perhaps unlike most there – he had lived his previous years to the fullest. And always in good company; only few more years to go before he and Amy could start planning their fiftieth anniversary.
The grey hairs didn't bother him. In fact, they were a blessing. Now when River popped by, she could call them Mum and Dad to her heart's content, without caring who heard them.
He trained in the gym three days a week and went for regular jogs with his wife. Their friends thought them insane and worried that some morning they would run into a heart attack. In fact both of them were in perfect health.
They needed to be. Rory planned on living a long time, perhaps visiting another moon, but definitely spending more time with his family. And that family included his son-in-law…
Seventy-plus or not… When the Doctor shows up, there's bound to be some running.
On his 35th birthday, his daughter showed up with three tickets to New York. His wife had been a co-conspirator, he soon found out, because his workplace had already been notified and a suitcase with his favorite shirts stood packed beside the front door.
They only had to drive to airport, where River got through customs and on to the plane effortlessly thanks to her husband's psychic paper.
The week itself was, hands down, one of his best vacations ever.
Mostly, because it had been a perfectly normal trip: tourists, musea and discovering the city on foot, instead of aliens, mysterious ruins and running for their lives...
There had just been a slight hitch when Amy knocked the cap of a police officer, but Rory was able to talk them out of trouble. Later Amy mumbled something about speedy little buggers and brain control in apology. Rory didn't understand, but River just nodded, like she knew what Amy was talking about. Perhaps it was the reason she kept shooting the Doctor's hats off.
The latter eventually showed up bearing cake in the middle of Central Park. Even he managed the rest of the weekend without causing (or attracting) mayor incidents.
The family picture (River grinning stupidly in the midst of their sandwich hug) with the Statue of Liberty in the background quickly became Rory's favorite.