"Defense"

It was several years before Rory thought back to that horrible, horrible day - when they realized Amy had been taken by the Church, pregnant and afraid and forced to give birth alone. Then River had told Rory that she couldn't go with them, and he hadn't understood at the time. And the Doctor, well ... he had said only one thing. One nasty, bone-chilling phrase that Rory had forgotten until the Christmas the Doctor had finally shown up again almost two years after faking his death.

Rory stood at the kitchen window watching snow softly fall on the outdoor furniture in the back garden.

And he remembered.

"Rory! Amy sent me in for ..."

Rory pivoted and promptly slugged the Doctor, slamming him back into the fridge.

"Rory!" Amy yelled, rushing to the Doctor. "What did he do?"

He stalked to the Doctor. "Don't you ever do to River what you threatened to do before Demon's Run. If you do, I will hunt you down and run you through."

"What? What did he say? Doctor?" Amy stared at them, confused and a bit frightened.

The Doctor wiped his bloodied lip with the back of his hand. "No, he has a right to slug me for that," he admitted.

"What did you say?" Amy demanded again.

Rory stared him down. "Go on. Tell her. Tell her what you told me when River said she couldn't come with us."

The Doctor stared at the floor.

"He said," Rory told Amy, "that he would eradicate her from his future. Change everything. You know what that means?"

"Yes," said a hoarse voice from the kitchen door. Rory looked over his shoulder to see his daughter, packages hanging limply from her hand, face pale and drawn. "I know exactly what that means."


Amy took the Doctor off to tend to his lip, and Rory and River stood in the kitchen.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "I didn't know you were coming."

"Don't be." River rummaged through the wine cabinet and found a very good vintage. "I suspected as much."

"You've done Demon's Run?" Rory handed her an empty glass.

"Yes. Not that long ago though. Just long enough for him to come back, to apologize over and over for something he said. It was the first thing he did apparently, after leaving you behind. I didn't ask him, but I knew it had to be bad." River gave him a wan smile. "It was."

"I'm sorry, too," Rory said. He leaned against the counter and stared miserably at the cabinets. "Even though I didn't know at the time, that you were Melody, I should have defended you. You didn't deserve that. You wanted to come. I told him. I should have thought about it. But, I admit, I was angry with you."

"You'd every right to be angry with me. I could see it. In your eyes." River chuckled sadly and played with the empty wine glass. "That was the worst part, really. I disappointed you."

"You were a good girl," Rory quickly retorted. "You did as you were told, even if we were too stupid to realize it. You didn't do anything wrong."

He reached for her, pulling his little girl into his arms and held on with everything that he could. "Do you want to go see him?"

"The Doctor and I deal with it later," River said, hugging him just as fiercely. "I was looking forward to spending time with you and Amy. I'm sure she's threatening him within an inch of his life right now."

"So Scottish," he said, and they laughed. "Well, there's something I've always wanted to learn how to do."


Three weeks later

River looked up from the archeology journal she was reading to see Rory standing on the other side of her cell door, dressed in Roman costume and wearing a vortex manipulator. He procured the Doctor's sonic and waved it. "I just came from Christmas 2012. You have no idea how hard it was for me to steal this," he said.

"I think he would sleep with it if I left him." River sprang off the cot.

"I can't believe I'm learning how to break into a jail cell."

"You get used to it. A little spoiler there. Remember what I told you?"

Rory concentrated then waved the sonic at her cell door. The sprinklers promptly turned on.

"Damn it," he muttered and tried again. This time, mariachi music played from the alarm system.

"Very festive!" River shouted over the maracas. She reached through the bars and laid her hands over Rory's, helping him do the correct moves to get the bars open. She took her father's arm. "Well, where to, Dad?"

"Since I'm dressed for the part, how about Roman theatre?"

"Love it!" River leaned over to key in the coordinates and left the mariachi music playing as they disappeared into the past.