'Like I mentioned before, I don't know the why, only the how—and it's just a guess.'
I thought you said you knew.
'Welll—when I say knew it's more like theorized.'
The light in the room shifted to red as the explosion spread outwards and interrupted their conversation as the Doctor regained part of his consciousness.
"Doctor?" he heard River asked, her cold hand stroking his hair away from his eyes.
"River," he sighed. "He never got to tell me how."
"Sweetie," she murmured. "Who? How what?"
He found the energy to open his eyes and look at her. "The other Doctor—my hand." He tapped his temple. "He's in here. Right now. I can feel him still." His eyes darted around them. "It's because of the Pandorica, I think."
"Sweetie, what are you going on about?"
"Nevermind. Different problem. I'll deal with it later." He tried to sit up straighter. "Let me talk to Amy." River's hand hovered above him before she offered up a sad, small smile and nodded.
Are you there? he thought in wonder. No response. It seemed to be one sided—the other Doctor could see everything he did, but he couldn't see into the alternate universe. How? How, how, how?
"Hi." The gentle voice shook him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see the Scottish redhead.
"Amy Pond," he breathed. "The girl who waited. All night in your garden. Was it worth it?"
She blinked back her tears. "Shut up. Of course it was."
"You asked me why I was taking you with me and I said, 'no reason.' I was lying," he admitted, thinking out loud.
"It's not important," Amy muttered.
"Yeah," the Doctor argued. "It's the most important thing left in the universe. It's why I'm doing this. Amy—your house was too big. That big, empty house with just you."
"My aunt was there," Amy interrupted.
"Where was everybody who lived in that big house?"
"I lost my mum and dad."
"How?" the Doctor asked suddenly. The question of the hour, it seemed. "What happened to them? Where did they go?"
"I—I don't…"
"It's ok, it's ok," the Doctor murmured. "Don't panic. It's not your fault. There was a crack in time in the wall of your bedroom. And it's been eating away at your life for a long time now. Amy Pond. All alone. The girl who didn't make sense. How could I resist?"
"How could I just forget?"
"Nothing is ever forgotten," the Doctor told her carefully, leaving these words in her mind. "Not really. You just have to try."
The building shook again, this time more rough than before. "Doctor!" River called. "It's speeding up!"
Amy backed out of the Pandorica slowly, watching at the metal bindings closed around the Doctor once again. The door shut with a clang. Laughing, chest heaving, he rushed to type out a final message to River. One last word.
The Pandorica rattled around harshly, the Doctor's wounds knocking up against the metal painfully.
I can feel you there, now, the Doctor thought absently. Still haven't woken up in your universe?
'I didn't get to tell you the how. We were so rudely interrupted.'
If he was at the heart of the explosion, the cracks would close around him. He would never have been born. The Daleks, Time Lords, Gallifrey—they'd all be restored. Rose, Mickey, Jackie—they'd all be returned to their universe. The other Doctor would never exist. He wouldn't be having these problems. Rose would never have met him—she'd be able to live a happy life with Mickey or someone else.
Maybe it was better that way.
'Shut up. Let me tell you how—'
Does it matter anymore? The Doctor asked him.
'What?'
After this, I won't ever have existed. That means you wouldn't either, he explained.
Suddenly it was like the two were being ripped away from each other, the universe rewinding, and the Doctor woke up on the TARDIS.
Rose blinked and looked down at her phone where the words "PETE CELL" were fading from the screen.
"What's wrong?" Her mother came up behind her and looked over her daughter's shoulder.
"I don't remember," she breathed in confusion. "I was calling someone named Pete."
"Pete?"
"Yeah." Rose's eyebrows pulled together and she looked around, immediately recognizing her and her mother's flat. "I feel like—oh, I don't know. My head hurts." She turned and headed for the kitchen, filling up a glass of water. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a blue pinstripe suit jacket hanging on the back of one of the kitchen chairs. "Mum," she called.
"What?" Jackie asked, appearing in the doorway. "What is it?"
"Is that yours?" she asked her mother, gesturing to the foreign article of clothing.
Confusion clouded Jackie's face. "No, it's not mine. I thought it was yours—that, that bloke of yours."
"What bloke of mine? Mickey?" She walked over and pulled the jacket off the chair.
"No, the one with the crazy hair," Jackie said, passing her to put her empty mug in the sink.
"Great hair," Rose responded automatically. "Wait." In the blink of an eye, the jacket she was holding disappeared.
"Did you just—" Jackie stuttered, pointing at Rose's still hand.
"Yeah," Rose muttered. "Something's wrong." She jerked her own coat off another chair and headed for the door. "I'm going for a walk."
The air outside bit at Rose's face, but she charged on down the sidewalk like she didn't notice. People passed her without a second glance. She looked up to the sky out of habit, and something else clicked in her head. Something was missing.
She would just brush it off as serious déjà vu if she hadn't witnessed the blue jacket disappear right in front of her eyes. Something was going on. Something…something foreign. Alien. Rose blinked at the thought, the word alien fitting the description too well in her head.
It felt like she was forgetting something, something big. She looked up at one of the tallest buildings in the city, Torchwood Tower. She'd been in there once or twice—it was just an office building.
"You dropped this," a woman said, stopping Rose by gently tugging her arm. Rose looked up at the woman. Her wild ringlets sprung out in every direction around her face, her wide, bright eyes on Rose. A smiled played on her lips and she held out a black notebook.
"That's not mine," Rose told her. "I wasn't carrying anything."
"It's yours." She held it out of Rose again. "I promise."
Rose's eyebrows knit together in confusion. She felt like she knew this woman. "Have we met?"
But the woman shook her head. "Not physically, no."
"Who are you?"
"My name is River Song. We have a mutual friend." She held out the notebook again. "Please, take it. It's yours. Everything is going to change soon, but you just have to hang onto this and remember."
Hesitantly, Rose took the small book from the strange woman. "What do you mea everything is going to change?"
She held up a worn, blue book. "Once I get this book to someone, things will go back to normal."
"Are you insane?" Rose questioned, prepared to run.
River laughed. "Maybe. Has anything weird happen—notice anything disappear?" She noticed Rose bite her lip and continued, knowing she was going in the right direction. "Have you felt like you've forgotten something?"
"Who are you, River Song?" Rose demanded.
She looked down at a bulky-looking watch on her wrist. "Just a quick visitor. I actually shouldn't be able to be here—this old thing is going to short out the moment I return. I'll just have to get my old one back from the Doctor when I get back."
And with a wave, the strange woman disappeared.
