It took what seemed like an eternity for Amy to stir, but maybe that was just because the Doctor was worried so much. River did not stir as quickly. Amy groaned as she squeezed her eyes tight before opening them in a squint. She looked up through hazy eyes to see the Doctor's face looming over her own, just a little too close. Not that she minded. The events that had led up to her passing out (the second time in a short amount of time) came back to her.

"Amy. You're alright," the Doctor breathed. He kissed her forehead lightly like he did when he was worried about her. She looked down at her arms to see though they were no longer bleeding, there were still cuts just beginning to heal over. Amy sat up a bit, propping herself up on her elbows and saw that River looked in worse shape.

"What… what exactly happened?" Amy asked. Her head was a bit foggy, and she'd been in immense pain for a good bit of the time back at the library or passed out on the floor. Fat lot of help she'd been.

"The Written Ones, as you've realized, took over River's body and started eating her soul. They ate away enough that she could survive the Big Bang Two along with regeneration, changing her enough. I don't know how much, if at all, River will recover…" the Doctor trailed off, glancing at the still unconscious woman to his left. "But anyway, then they attacked you, writing words in your skin. Painful words," the Doctor continued, gently stroking her arm in between the cuts such as not to touch them directly but reassure her all the same.

"And you saved me. Saved both of us," Amy said, recalling bits of what had happened after the Written Ones had attacked her. The Doctor's mouth formed the smallest of smiles.

"I didn't do that. You were the one that listened, that fought them off. After all, words can only hurt if you let them. And you didn't let them," the Doctor shook off Amy's words.

"But you gave me a guiding voice, told me how to stop them. And you saved River. How, exactly, did you save her?" Amy asked, confused on that bit. To Amy's surprise, the Doctor's smile grew a little bit at that question.

"I shoved a fish finger with custard down her throat to make her throw up," the Doctor replied in a slightly prideful voice. Amy laughed at that.

"Wow, you're disgusting taste in food actually was helpful!" Amy teased. The Doctor faked a glare at the redhead, but quickly joined her in laughing.

"Anyway, River was forced to throw up all of the remaining ink in her body, releasing the Written Ones. They travel through ink and paper," the Doctor explained. Both the Doctor and Amy fell silent, looking at River. She looked so small as she was curled up on the floor. Her face was pale and parts of her looked unrecognizable- she was shorter, her fingers looked longer, and her eyebrows looked darker. Even her hair was a shade or two darker.

"She regenerated partially, that's why she looks different," the Doctor said, appearing to read Amy's mind. The two sat in silence for a bit longer until the Doctor got up to send the TARDIS flying through time and space again, this time landing in Leadworth, but not in Amy's backyard.

"Amy… I need you to find Rory. See if he can get a private room at the hospital for River. I need to run some tests and such, but we don't want anyone poking around," the Doctor said. Amy nodded, agreeing that she would. The Doctor stayed in the TARDIS to watch River while Amy ran out of the machine, not stopping until she reached Rory's house and was banging on his front door. Rory opened up in a hurry, took on look at Amy, and grabbed his keys.

"What do you need?" Rory asked. There's Rory, the best friend anyone could ask for. Ready to go at a moment's notice. He ran with Amy to the car.

"Hospital. Could you get us a private room?" Amy asked. She was too out of breath from running the whole way there to say more. She had done a lot of running with the Doctor, but she could never quite catch her breath as fast as the Doctor. Rory nodded as he drove the short drive to the hospital. Once they arrived, Rory ran up to one of the head doctors and said something to her, probably asking for a room. She looked a little cross, but she said something back and Rory walked back to Amy.

"She's giving us a room on the first floor, right down the hall. What is this for anyway?" Rory told Amy. Amy was about to respond when she got a text from the Doctor- what room? She quickly replied with the room number.

"You'll see in a moment," Amy replied, running with Rory to the private room. Awaiting them was a blue police box and a man carrying a sickly woman.

"Wait… is that… River?" Rory asked, searching for her name. Amy had forgotten that Rory had no memories of River, that no one did but the Doctor and herself. The Doctor just looked at Rory as his answer.

"Okay, you two, this is going to get complicated. You need to leave the room," the Doctor said gravely. Rory made for the door without a question, but Amy started to argue.

"No! I can help you!" Amy argued. Rory took her by the arm and pulled her out of the hospital room and into a waiting room next door.

"What are you doing? I'm supposed to help him!" Amy yelled at him. Rory didn't even flinch. He'd definitely grown a lot since the first days Amy had met him.

"No, you're supposed to stay out here while the Doctor lives up to his name for once," Rory said sternly. Amy sighed and sat down in one of the armchairs while Rory sat on the couch across from her. They sat in silence for a few minutes, both wondering what was going on in the other room and hoping River was okay. After a little while, Rory was starting to find the silence to be awkward.

"So…" Rory started, drawing out that one syllable and hoping that Amy would fill in the rest. He was in luck.

"I'm getting married," Amy said, reminding herself eerily of the night she'd told the Doctor about how she was supposed to be marrying Rory. Rory's eyebrows rose as he saw the proof on Amy's raised hand- an engagement ring.

"To the Doctor?" he asked in surprise. Amy nodded and smiled slightly. He hadn't figured that the Doctor was exactly the marrying kind. Plus… well, he'd completely forgotten about River.

"Amy, what happened with River?" Rory asked more seriously. He didn't quite remember everything, but he certainly knew that she wasn't supposed to be alive right now. So Amy told him an abbreviated version of what happened from the Pandorica to the Library of Alexandria to where they were then, leaving out the fact that she was supposed to be his daughter with her. That would be just too awkward to explain.

And then it was back to silence. Rory didn't know what to say to all of that, and Amy's head was wrapped up in what was happening in the other room. Finally, after about an hour, the Doctor came into the waiting room. Amy sprung to her feet immediately.

"She's awake," the Doctor stated with a tired smile. Amy and Rory both eagerly followed the Doctor into River's private wing. River was propped up in the bed looking like she'd just been dragged through hell and back, which was probably appropriate considering she'd been: exploded, almost erased from time, partially regenerated, possessed by the Written Ones, and then kept alive by the Doctor. That was a lot for one person. River turned to look at the two people who had just entered the room.

"Amy. Rory. I see you're still putting up with the Doctor," River greeted. Amy couldn't help but laugh a little in relief. Rory smiled as well, happy to have helped save another person.

"Alright, well River needs her rest. So a quick hello only, and then it's back home for all three of us!" the Doctor said firmly. Amy and Rory approached River's bed, noticing even more so how little things about her had changed.

"How are you feeling?" Rory asked, the nursing instinct in him taking over. River gave him a look.

"How do you think? Like I've been digested," River answered sarcastically. It was good to see that her personality hadn't changed too much. The Doctor stepped closer too, joining in on the visit.

"In good news, now that you're alive, you get to be invited to a wedding," the Doctor said gently. River looked mildly surprised and her eyes glanced to Amy's hand where she saw her ring.

"And whose wedding might that be?" River asked sweetly. The Doctor mocked looking offended.

"Mine, of course!" the Doctor retorted playfully. River laughed weakly, obviously feeling the pains of all she'd been through but not letting it show through her voice.

"Well, it had better be to Amy or else I'm not going. She deserves it after all you've put her through," River responded. The three laughed, partially just because they were all relieved that things had turned out alright.

"Okay, well we'll let you get some rest. Off we go now," the Doctor said, pushing Amy and Rory out the door. The three walked together until they reached the hospital door where Rory turned the opposite direction. The Doctor and Amy promised to see him soon at the wedding and walked to Amy's house hand in hand.

*DW*DW*DW*

"I told you, I already invited everyone that I want to come! And they've already planned how they're getting here, mostly by vortex manipulators. I do hope they all are at points in their time streams where they know me well…" the Doctor replied to Amy's comment about how the Doctor hadn't added any names to the guest invite list. With the wedding occurring the next day, Amy was stressing and making sure everything was going exactly as planned.

If Amy was stressed, then Tabetha was a nightmare. The Doctor had loved meeting Amy's mother up until she'd started planning her daughter's wedding. Tabetha was a woman on a mission, and nothing would get in the way of her daughter having the best day of her life. So, as a general rule, the Doctor avoided her.

People were constantly in and out of the house, mostly planners and caterers, asking questions about just about everything. The food, the decorations, the music, the flowers, how it was all going to work in the reception hall they'd chosen. The Doctor was fascinated at just how much planning went into a wedding. It made him almost wish that he and Amy had eloped in Vegas or something. That would've solved a lot of problems.

"Are you sure? And really, are you even going to tell me who to expect? I mean, there aren't going to be any people with time heads coming, are there?" Amy asked expectantly. The Doctor gave her a quizzical look.

"A time head?" the Doctor asked. Amy glared at him.

"Oh, shut up. You know what I mean," Amy said grumpily. The Doctor shrugged.

"No, I don't but that's okay. Don't worry- I only invited humanoid people. No one at our wedding will think there's aliens in their midst," the Doctor answered with a wink. Amy sighed and smiled, still loving those two words coming from the Doctor's mouth- our wedding.

"Stop worrying so much," the Doctor said, leaning forward to kiss Amy's forehead comfortingly. "You'll get to meet a lot of special people, Pond. I have a feeling you'll have great fun with it," the Doctor added. This seemed to brighten up the ginger considerably and she raised her head such as to capture the Doctor's lips with her own.

Both the Doctor and Amy could hardly wait for the next day to come.

A/N: So River's alive! And the wedding is soon to come. Sadly, that means that this story is coming to a close, once and for all. The next chapter will also be the last. So I'd really appreciate some comments!