"Apalapucia!" the Doctor exclaimed while going around the console flicking switches and knobs here and there, ignoring the odd looks he was receiving from Amy and Rory.
"Say it again?" Amy raised an eyebrow.
"Apalapucia."
"Apalapu...?"
"Cia," Minerva called from her spot on the chair by the console. She was currently holding a jar of cookies, a brand new one since she'd eaten all the other ones already. She looked at her jar suddenly and felt like something was missing...
"Apalapucia," Rory tried his go at the word and was genuinely surprised to see he'd gotten it right.
"Apalapucia," the Doctor pointed at him.
"Apalapucia. What a beautiful word," Amy admitted.
"Beautiful word, beautiful world," the Doctor informed and turned to them, "Apalapucia, voted number two planet in the top ten greatest destinations for the discerning intergalactic traveler."
"Why couldn't we go to number one?" Rory raised an eyebrow.
"It's hideous," the Doctor spat, suddenly upset, "Everyone goes to number one. Planet of the coffee shops. Apalapucia!"
"Wait a minute, I could go for some coffee," Minerva's voice rang from the corridors and made everyone look to see her hurrying back with her jar of cookies and...purple marmalade in another jar. She followed their gazes to her snacks and felt self-conscious, "...I felt like I needed marmalade..." she slowly hid her jars behind her back.
"You've got a cookie problem," Rory pointed at her, overall amused by her gimmicks, "Ever heard of the cookie monster?"
"I did, but I liked Elmo instead," Minerva nodded and slowly came back to them, "That's why my grandparents bought me a fish in a bowl and my elmo doll."
"Of course they did," Amy nodded, "Spoiled granddaughter."
Minerva made a face and went to the Doctor, "I heard coffee," she whispered, "Can I have coffee?"
"Um...how about you finish that," the Doctor brought her arms out to see the jars she held, "And then we'll go to the coffee shop." Although truthfully he didn't plan to considering it was really better if she didn't drink coffee in her state. But he believed by the time they got off Apalapucia she would have another list of cravings.
"I can't stop eating," Minerva whispered to him, genuinely concerned, though to him it was much more amusing.
It'd only been a couple weeks since they learned she was pregnant and already her cravings were skyrocketing through the roof. She'd gone through the entire stock of cookies and she was just itching to tell her grandmother the news of the pregnancy just so that Isadora would make her snickerdoodles...because she'd been craving them for several days now.
"So how about Apalapucia?" the Doctor suggested and took the jars from her to set them on the chair, "Maybe get your mind off it."
"Off what?" Amy called, she and Rory had gone to the door to await the grand planet on the other side.
"Cookies," Minerva went for the partial truth, "I really want cookies."
They still hadn't told either human of the pregnancy and Minerva knew it was better to tell them before they figured it out or noticed anything but she couldn't find the right way to tell them. She didn't want them to think she was replacing River with a baby she was going to carry to term. She loved River very much and could never be replaced by another child. But how could she make Amy and Rory see that?
"Cookie monster," Rory repeated and made her chuckle.
The Doctor returned to her side holding a cookie with marmalade for her and handed it over, "Let's go, then," he pulled her for the doors, "I give you sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades! I give you..." he threw open the doors to find an empty, white spacial room on the other side with double gray doors.
"Doors," Rory finished for him, not very impressed.
"Doors. Yes. I give you doors," the Doctor rolled his eyes and stepped out with Minerva and Rory, "But on the other side of those doors, I give you sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades."
"And perhaps coffee," Minerva quietly added.
"Have you seen my phone?" Amy called to them and made them look back to find her still inside the TARDIS.
"Your phone?" the Doctor raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah."
"Your mobile telephone? I bring you to a paradise planet, two billion light years away, and you want to update twitter?" the Doctor couldn't quite comprehend that and shook his head.
Amy rolled her eyes, "Sunsets. Spires. Soaring silver colonnades. It's a camera phone."
"On the counter, by the DVDs," the Doctor waved her off.
"Thank you," Amy gave a mock bow and headed back inside the box.
"Have I ever mention my thankfulness that you weren't one of those humans obsessed with their phones?" the Doctor looked down at Minerva as they headed for Rory by the gray doors.
"Guess that little part of you snuck in while I was human," Minerva remarked.
"How do we get in?" Rory asked them as soon as they were with him.
"I'm gonna go with the buttons right there," Minerva pointed to a panel with two buttons on the side of the doors, one a green anchor and the other a red waterfall.
Rory pressed the green button and the doors slid open to show a white room on the other side, only consisting of a white table and white chairs with a large magnifying glass on the center of the table. The trio stepped in and looked around the simple room.
"OK, so, rain check on the soaring silver colonnades," the Doctor frowned.
"It's a magnifying glass," Rory pointed at the glass on the table.
"Hey?" they heard Amy's voice on the other side, "Hey, it's locked!"
"Yeah, push the button," Minerva called to the other ginger.
Several seconds passed by and the door remained closed. Rory sighed and called out, "C'mon, Amy!" but there came no answer. He walked back to the doors and opened them up, finding his wife was no where to be seen, "Where is she? Where on wherever we are is my wife?"
The Doctor had taken a seat at the table in front of the glass and pressed a green button, making a blurry picture of Amy appear on the glass, "Rory... I think I've found her," he slowly called to the human.
"What do you mean you've found her?" Rory asked as he and Minerva joined by the table, "Whoa! No, but, she's not... she's not here! I can see her, but she's not here," he peered around the glass.
"Where am I?" Amy was calling, "In fact, where are you?"
The second door of the room opened up to reveal a white robot, a handbot, standing on the other side. It had a blank head but with real hands. Immediately, the trio put their hands up.
"That's freaky," Minerva blinked, "Robots always want to kill us..."
"Hands! Hello. Hands," the Doctor really hoped Minerva would be wrong this time and that the robots were actually friendly people, "Handbot with hands, Rory."
"Welcome to the Twostreams Facility. Will you be visiting long?" the handbot asked them.
"Er, Doctor. Something's happening," Amy called them back to the glass to see the image was fading.
"Amy!" the Doctor worked to restore the image, "Stay calm! Stay still! Ah, time's gone wobbly."
"Use the sonic," Minerva went with him and pulled out the sonic from his pocket and used it, hoping it would help.
"I hate it when it does that," he muttered.
"Will you be visiting long?" the handbot started following Rory.
"Good question, bit sinister. What's the answer to not get us killed?" Rory asked with clear honesty.
"Oh, she's back," Minerva cheered as the image of Amy returned to the glass, though this time the human ginger was sitting curled up in a corner of her room.
"Doctor, a little help. Minerva?" Rory called to them as he backed away due to the handbot still following him.
Amy looked up at the sounds of noise, "And where have you been?" she asked, sounding upset.
"What do I tell it?" Rory was getting frantic seeing he was just being ignored while the handbot advanced on him.
"I've been here a week!" Amy snapped at them.
'A week?" the Doctor blinked, "I'm so sorry! Aha! Same room, different times. Two timestreams running parallel but at different speeds. Amy, you're in a faster timestream."
"Doctor, it's going again!" Amy cried as the image began faltering again.
"Doctor! Minerva!" Rory practically shouted.
"Come on. Gotcha!" the Doctor finally got the image on the glass working, "There. Stabilised, settled, shh!"
Rory was now cornered by the handbot and was staring at the hands, "Why has this got hands?"
"It's organic skin," Minerva turned around and walked to him, "Ultimate universal interface, grown and grafted, not born. It's actually seeing with its fingers, scanning the room."
"But why not just give it eyes?" the Doctor remarked.
"Will you be visiting long?" the handbot repeated its question.
"As long as it takes," Minerva answered it.
"Amy, what exactly did you do?" the Doctor began questioning her so he would know how to fix it.
"I just, I came in, and I pressed the door button."
"Ah..." Rory started realizing what had happened, "...Amy, there are two buttons," he moved around the handbot with Minerva and returned to the glass, "Green anchor, red waterfall. Which one did you push?"
"I pushed the red waterfall," Amy shamefully answered.
"Great," Rory grumbled and headed for the doors, glad to leave the handbot behind. He went out and pushed the red button but when he entered the room he found no Amy anywhere, "Amy?" he groaned and walked out, "I pressed Red Waterfall, and she wasn't there!" he said as soon as he returned to the room where Minerva and the Doctor were.
"So you can't follow her directly," Minerva sighed.
"You know, it's never simple!" the Doctor groaned and glanced at the handbot, "Hear that, Handbot? She just pressed the wrong button. We're aliens, we didn't know."
"Statement... rejected," the handbot said just as a red light on its chest brightened, "Apalapucia is under planet-wide quarantine. This is a kindness facility for those infected with Chen7."
The Doctor nearly had a hearts attack and covered his mouth and nose with his mouth while doing the same for Minerva, "What?"
Minerva shot him a look and tried pushing his hand off her, "One heart," she tried to say.
"Chen7, hmm?" even Rory had covered his nose and mouth upon seeing the Doctor doing it.
"The one day plague," the Doctor told him.
"What, you get it for a day?"
"No, you get it, and you die in a day."
"There are 40,000 residents in the Twostreams Facility. Please remain in the sterile areas," the handbot explained, "Visiting hours are now."
"Sterile area, we're safe," the Doctor breathed and immediately Minerva pushed his hand off.
"Rory and I were safe all along, we have one heart," Minerva reminded, misunderstanding his overreaction with her.
The Doctor looked around and knew he couldn't speak outloud, so he spoke with her telepathically, 'You have one heart, but what about the baby?'
Minerva blinked as she started considering that, 'Moontsays have always had one heart. Even from the beginning, back on Gallifrey, the mutations altered them.'
'But this time conception was with one Moontsay," the Doctor couldn't help smirk at her, 'It'll be a lottery for our baby and I didn't want to take the chance ours actually has two hearts. Your air is his/her air.'
Minerva nodded slightly and had to agree with that, 'See, this is why I need to get one of those pregnancy books cos I got nothing of motherhood skills.'
'I doubt they make them for Moontsays...'
Minerva rolled her eyes, and suddenly heard Amy calling from the magnifying glass, "What about me!?" she was obviously thinking the illness could get her.
"Chen7 only affects two-hearted races like Apalapucians," the Doctor explained as they returned to the glass.
"And Time Lords," Minerva added.
"Yeah, like me. In that facility, I'm dead in a day," the Doctor rolled his eyes, "Time moves faster on Amy's side of the glass. Amy, you said you'd been here a week. What did you eat?"
"Nothing. I wasn't hungry," Amy slowly realized it.
"No, because Red Waterfall time is compressed. That's the point. The Time Glass syncs up the timestreams for visits. You could be here for a day, watch them live out their entire lives."
"And watch them grow old in front of your eyes? That's horrible," Rory frowned.
"No, Rory, it's kind," Minerva softly said, "You've got a choice. Sit by their bedside for 24 hours and watch them die, or sit in here for 24 hours and watch them live. Which would you choose?"
The Doctor picked up the magnifying glass and headed for the TARDIS. They heard the sounds of Amy in despair, "Doctor?! Doctor, don't leave me!"
"I'm here, Amy. I'm right here," the Doctor assured her.
"Where are you? Am I looking at you?"
"Turn left, just a fraction," he instructed the ginger, "Bit more, stop. That's it."
"Eye to eye?"
"Eye to eye to eye."
"Hello," Rory waved to his wife, Minerva joining in.
"Amy, I'm taking the Time Glass back to the TARDIS. Like satnav, I'll use it to get a lock, then smash through, using the TARDIS to get you out," the Doctor promised, "Until then, you're on your own," he used the sonic on the glass.
"What are you doing?" Rory watched him in confusion.
"Locking onto Amy. Small act of vandalism, no-one'll mind," the Doctor assured just before the alarms went off.
"Oh look at that, they minded," Minerva playfully rolled her eyes.
"Find somewhere safe and leave us a sign, Amy," the Doctor ordered her, "Remember, you're immune to Chen7, but don't let them give you anything. They don't know you're alien. Their kindness will kill you. Now go!"
Amy nodded and headed for the door of her room. She pressed the button and the door slid open. Before going in, she glanced back to them, "Rory, I love you. Now, save me. Go on," she smiled and went in, the doors closing right behind her.
The trio hurried into the TARDIS and the Doctor placed the glass to the console like a switch, "This is locked onto Amy permanently. Play the signal into the console, the TARDIS'll follow it," he attached a cable to the glass but accidentally set off smoke on the console.
"Bad move! Bad move!" Minerva coughed with all the smoke rising.
The Doctor hurried over and grabbed a tool chest and opened it up, "Now then, I know you're in here. Um... erm.. Haha!" he put on a pair of black-rimmed glasses and looked up, "How do I look?"
"Like you finished the look of a total dork," Minerva smirked.
The Doctor made a face, "Glasses are cool," he took the glasses off and put them on Rory, "Oh, yes. Hello, handsome man."
"Oh, hello," Rory waved, a bit flustered.
"Hello, Rorycam!"
"Huh?" Rory raised an eyebrow.
Minerva sighed and pointed him to the larger monitor, "Sorry Rory, my husband's just an egotistical dork."
"And my wife is just rude," the Doctor frowned at her.
"Which I learned from you," Minerva crossed her arms.
"Oi, you were sassy and rude long before I showed up!"
"Um, guys," Rory cleared his throat and raised a finger, "My wife's still out there..."
"Sorry, Rory," Minerva quickly stopped but still a shot a look at the Doctor, "We'll continue this later," she warned and saw the roll of his eyes.
"So we're breaking into Twostreams," the Doctor began, "Now, I can't go in, the Chen7'll kill me, no regeneration. And, frankly, I don't want to risk Minerva either. She may have one heart but..." he eyed her as he racked his mind for an excuse, "...you never know..." that perhaps wasn't a very good excuse, "You will be my eyes and ears," he told Rory.
"Rory-cam. Rescue Amy. Got it," Rory nodded with determination.
"That's the spirit! Now, smashing through a timewall could get a bit hairy."
"Is it safe?"
"You know better than to ask that question," Minerva scoffed, "I suggest you hold onto something."
As suspected, the TARDIS wasn't very keen on breaking into the timestream. But, eventually, the TARDIS materialized into the room and allowed Rory to step out, wearing the glasses given by the Doctor along with the time glass attached to a belt worn across his body.
"Red Waterfall! We made it," he cheered, "How do we know that we're in the same Red Waterfall as Amy?"
From inside the console room, the Doctor stood in front of the scanner with Minerva at his side, "We locked onto Amy's timestream."
"Eyes front, soldier," Minerva called as the scanner's image drifted to the Venus di Milo's breasts.
"Right, yes, sorry," Rory apologized and continued on through the gallery.
"Apalapucians are the great cultural scavengers, Rory, this gallery's a scrapbook of their favorite places," the Doctor explained as they watched the human go through the different items the natives had gotten.
"Is that the Mona Lisa?" Minerva tried peering but Rory had passed it, "Hm, poor Da Vinci had to move on from the real subject he wanted to paint," she innocently glanced at the Doctor, "Because someone took me away."
"It was against the rules!" he argued with her, knowing she was just peeved from their small disagreement earlier, "He was getting attached and I had to stop it."
"At least he thought I wasn't rude," she made a face and looked away. The Doctor made a face - was she seriously upset over that small detail?
"Where... is everyone?" Rory caught their attention as he walked through an empty room.
"Right, Rory, switch the Time Glass on and sonic it. I'll send a command to the screwdriver," the Doctor returned to business, "Amy's here somewhere. If I can just get a lock on her. I wonder what happens if we mix the filters?" in a flash, the alien pair saw the millions of people, all out of sync, appear on the scanner.
"40,000 time streams overlapping," Minerva breathed at the sight, "Red Waterfall isn't one time stream. It's thousands."
"Are they happy?" Rory wondered.
"Oh, Rory. Trust you to think of that," the Doctor shook his head, "I think they're happy to be alive. Better than the alternative."
As soon as Rory lowered the time glass, they all saw a person charging for him with a katana and dressed in warrior-like armor, "I come in peace!" Rory fell back to the floor with a sword at this throat, "Peace, peace, peace, peace!"
"Wait a minute..." Minerva leaned forwards on the screen at the sight of bright, ginger hair falling from the person's helmet.
"I waited," the warrior spoke through an enhanced computer voice.
"Sorry, what?" Rory was confused.
"I waited for you," the warrior pulled the sword off him, "I waited!" she lifted the visor and to reveal a noticeably older Amy, stunning everyone.
"Amy," Rory breathed, "Doctor, Minerva, what's going on?" he stood up, "Amy," he stood up and studied the ginger in front of him.
~ 0 ~
"'I think the time stream lock might be a bit wobbly," the Doctor found no words to describe the happenings in front of them.
~ 0 ~
Amy drew her sword as if to strike, scaring the living hell out of Rory, "No, please. Please!"
"Duck," she ordered and as put the sword through a handbot's head as soon as Rory obeyed. It fell back to the floor and so she quickly bent down beside it, "Handbots carry a black box in case they go offline. I've changed the cause of termination from hostile to accidental. 'Easy to re-program. Using my sonic probe," she replaced the box with one of her own.
~ 0 ~
From inside the TARDIS, the alien pair could only watch the older Amy at work...so casual-like...like she'd been doing it for several years now.
"Oh, we messed up big time," Minerva breathed, listening in to Amy practically telling then how they failed.
"You didn't save me," Amy was walking away from Rory.
"This is the saving! This is the us saving you! The Doctor just got the timing a bit out!" Rory frantically tried explaining as he hurried after his wife.
Amy stopped walking but didn't look at Rory, "I've been on my own here a long, long time. I've had decades to think nice thoughts about him, even Minerva. Got a bit harder to stay charitable once I entered decade four."
"40 years?" Rory's mouth fell open, "Alone?"
Amy took it the wrong way and scowled, "36 years. Thanks!"
"No," Rory quickly shook his head, "I meant...you look great. Really. Really."
"Eyes front, soldier," Amy mumbled.
"Still can't win, then!"
"In fact, I think I can now definitely say I hate them," Amy frowned, "I hate the Doctor and Minerva. I hate them more than I've ever hated anyone in my life," she stepped closer to Rory, specifically's glasses, "You can hear every word of this through those ridiculous glasses, can't you, Raggedy Man and crownless Princess?"
~ 0 ~
The alien pair exchanged glances and quickly worked to get the audio on. The Doctor flicked the last switch and spoke up for the humans to hear, "We put the speaker phone on!"
Amy didn't waste a chance and got straight to the blame, "You told me to wait. And I did. A lifetime."
"Amy...it was an accident," Minerva decided to cut in.
"You've got nothing to say to me," the human ginger spat.
"Oh yeah?" Minerva raised an eyebrow, "Behind you!"
She could see more handbots coming in on the humans and felt the need to point it out. Fortunately, Amy was quick enough to deal with them.
"Good eye," the Doctor quietly remarked to Minerva, hopes of perhaps a small, civilized, talk could arise.
"...thanks," Minerva mumbled and stepped back from the console, "I'm thirsty. I'm gonna go get water."
"Well I...I have some," the Doctor, as casually as possible, reminded her.
He severely disliked being in situations like these with her, even if it was just small disagreements and not even a full argument. And, now that he realized, he should be trying his best to keep her happy and calm. She was pregnant! She had to be tranquil at every moment and he wasn't helping by snapping at her. She was going to go through changes and it would be more than normal for her to snap here and there...
"Are you going to give me it...or...?" Minerva felt awkward for asking when they weren't on good terms at the moment. But he kept looking at her and not saying a thing...and she was really thirsty!
The Doctor snapped out his thoughts and quickly dug into his jacket's inside pocket, "Yes, yes! Of course!" he pulled out a water bottle and held it for her, "Here you go," he flashed a small smile for her.
Sheepishly, Minerva took the bottle from him and gave a small nod as a thanks. She then moved around the console and remained on the other side where she couldn't face the Doctor. She didn't want to get into their disagreement, especially because she wasn't even upset anymore. If the Doctor still had some snaps in him she wouldn't have any comebacks.
The sounds of Rory's voice brought the two aliens back to the present problem, "OK, so we just take the TARDIS back to the right time stream, yeah? We can stop any of this happening."
The Doctor gave a solemn look to Minerva, both feeling awful for what they would be saying, "We locked on to a time stream, Rory. This is it," he quietly informed the human.
"This is so wrong!" Rory groaned.
"I got old, Rory, what did you think was going to happen?" Amy mumbled as she walked down a corridor.
"Hey!" Rory grabbed her arm, "I don't care that you got old! I care that we didn't grow old together. Amy, come on, please."
"Don't touch me," Amy muttered as she pulled her arm away, "Don't do that," she warned then continued walking.
"It's like you're not even her," Rory breathed.
"36 years, three months, four days of solitary confinement," Amy shrugged then faced him again, specifically looking into the glasses, "This facility was built to give people the chance to live. I walked in here and I died. Do you have anything to say? Anything, Doctor? Minerva?"
"Where did you get a sonic screwdriver?" the Doctor curiously wondered, choosing to ignore her hurtful anger.
"I made it. And it's a sonic probe," Amy corrected.
Rory looked at her with surprise, "You made a sonic screwdriver?"
Amy rolled her eyes, "Probe!"
~ 0 ~
"It's so a screwdriver," Minerva commented to the Doctor without thinking, only realizing she said it when the Doctor laughed. She blushed and looked down, a small smile creeping on the corners of her mouth.
Once again, the voices of their companions broke through their moment.
Rory was staring a handbot with a smiley face drawn over its face, "Oh, you... disarmed it," the robot didn't have any hands whatsoever.
"Oh, don't get sentimental, it's just a robot. You'd have done the same," Amy shrugged casually.
"I don't know that I would have," the Doctor had to make an input.
"And there he is," Amy gave a groan as she turned to face Rory, "The voice of God," she rolled her eyes, "Survive. Cos no-one's going to come for you. Number one lesson. You taught me that."
It was Minerva's turn to roll her eyes and moved over to the speaker, "Oh shut up, Pond. That is not what we have taught you. You know we always come for you and yes, I know this time we were a bit...late..." Amy let out a large scoff, "...but this would be the first time we've left you for a bit longer. And I'm sorry, really, I am so sorry, but you do not get to throw away all our positive lessons because of this. Cos I mean, by that logic, the Doctor and I would still hold over the fact you chose to vote to forget back on the Starship U.K."
"Oi," Amy had to interject, "That was a mistake. I couldn't even remember doing it!"
"Well guess what, this was a mistake as well!" Minerva did her best not to sound harsh nor angry herself, but Amy really was not making it easy for her. Yes, what happened was awful and even worse for Amy since she had lived a good part of her life but it was an honest mistake.
The Doctor watched Minerva in concern with her little outburst, that definitely was not the way to go about being 'calm'. Things only got worse when he heard a small little 'oh' escape from Minerva's lips.
She had a hand over her stomach and another over her mouth, suddenly looking a bit pale. He immediately forgot about what ever they were disagreeing on and ran over to her side, "Minerva? What's wrong? What hurts!?" he tried removing her hand off her mouth but she shook her head and pushed him away.
"Bathroom!" she managed to choke out before dashing away.
"Minerva!" the Doctor called after her, his hearts pounding with fear of what could be wrong. He looked between the monitor and the corridor in which she'd gone through.
He loved Amy, he did, and he was going to try and fix this whole mess...but his wife came first.
"Minerva!" he ran into the corridors as fast as he could. The TARDIS took care of rearranging the rooms and placed Minerva's whereabouts closest to him. As soon as he opened the door he heard the awful sound of his wife vomiting in the bathroom of their bedroom. He quickly ran to the bathroom and found Minerva on her knees, currently chucking up what ever it was she'd eaten that morning...which was a lot.
"Go away," the ginger shooed him off with a hand, "Don't look at me..."
The Doctor bent down beside her and pulled her hair back, resting a hand on her back, "I'm not going anywhere, love. I can't do much right now except grab your hair and for that I'm sorry. But I'm not going anywhere."
Minerva gave him a look, "This is awful, I look awful, I feel awful, go away..."
"Hey, it's okay," the Doctor rubbed her back soothingly, "It's all okay. Don't think about appearances, and most importantly...don't you ever think I'm gonna let you go through any of this on your own simply because you're not looking your best."
Minerva gave a small smile, "I really don't look my best..." she said quietly, making a face as she tasted remnants in her mouth, "...nor smell my best..." she gagged again then covered her mouth.
"C'mon," the Doctor helped her up and grabbed a towel near the sink for her, "Use this and then take this," he pulled out the last water bottle he had in his jacket.
Minerva snatched it from him and drank nearly the whole bottle. She took a deep breath then hurriedly flushed the toilet, "I need to get out of here," she dashed out the bathroom and then took a fresh deep breath, "Much better. I don't even know where any of this came from," she rested a hand over her stomach and looked down at it, "Well, maybe one..."
The Doctor gently reached for her arm and turned her around, "And, maybe from your little conversation with Amy."
Minerva had to agree on that last one, but that didn't mean she regretted did, "Well I stand by my statements. She's being completely unfair," she crossed her arms, "I mean, her situation is bad, yes, but she's acting like we've always left her to fend for herself. That's not true-"
"Hey, hey," the Doctor set his hands on her arms, "Calm down, it's really not good for you to be so upset. You're supposed to calm and taking it easy. Now, I would love to tell you that this whole nausea thing is going to go away...but it's not," at that, Minerva had to sigh, "But things that could help is keeping a calm attitude. Now I promise I will do my part but I really need you to do your own too. Not for me, not for you, but for our baby..."
Minerva nodded, "For our baby," she repeated in a whisper. She quickly threw her arms around the Doctor and buried her head in his chest, "I'm so sorry for everything. I'm really sorry, but can you please just hug me back?"
"Forget about it all, Clever Girl. It was nothing," the Doctor hugged her back, putting a kiss on her head, "Completely nothing."
Minerva closed her eyes for a good moment, knowing they still had a big problem to solve but perhaps for just a couple more minutes she could stay in her husband's arms.
~ 0 ~
After a long battle of arguments with the future Amy who refused to help herself for fear of her inevitable death, Minerva and the Doctor finally got her to agree simply by putting it in two words: Rory Williams.
Because no matter how grumpy and bitter the future Amy was...she still loved her husband. Of course, her younger self did help in that bit. The Doctor had managed to sync both Amy Ponds' time streams to allow for a conversation between the two. Now...now they were about to get started.
"OK, Doctor, Minerva, Two streams is back on air. Right, OK, so this is big news," the present Amy took a long breath as she realized what she was about to do, "This is temporal earthquake time. I am now officially changing my own future. Hold on to your spectacles. In my past, I saw my future self refuse to help you," she looked at the time glass where her younger self was in, "I'm now changing that future and agreeing. Every law of time says that shouldn't be possible."
"Yes, except sometimes knowing your own future is what enables you to change it, especially if you're bloody minded, contradictory and completely unpredictable," the Doctor nearly sing-sang for the future Amy, making Minerva giggle on his side.
"So basically if you're Amy Pond," Minerva decided to add.
"Oi, shut up crownless princess," the future Amy playfully rolled her eyes, "It's not about what I'm doing, but who I'm doing it for. I'm trusting you to watch my back, Rory."
Rory nodded with a determined smile, "Always. You and me, always."
"Cos here's the deal... you take me too in the TARDIS. Me too," Amy looked directly into the glasses for the alien pair to hear them.
Rory made a face at the request, "But that means that there'll be two of you, permanently, forever."
"And that way we both get to live."
"Two Amys together. Can that work?"
~ 0 ~
Inside the TARDIS, Minerva and the Doctor looked at each other with concern. It very well could not...
"We don't know...it's your marriage..." Minerva made a face, "...I hate lying to them," she whispered to the Doctor afterwards.
"Minerva!" Rory scolded her.
The Doctor scratched his head and thought for a moment, looking at Minerva, 'You know there is no way this could ever work' he decided to speak with her telepathically so the humans wouldn't hear a word.
Minerva nodded, 'But if we tell them that then this Amy won't help us and then that means we'll never rescue our Amy'."
'What should we do, then?'
Minerva bit her lip and looked at the scanner, seeing Amy waiting for an answer from them. She sighed, full of shame but performing a duty nonetheless, 'We have to lie. We promise Rory we would save Amy and that is exactly what we're going to do.'
And so, with that, Minerva turned to the scanner and finally answered to the humans, "If we shunted the reality compensators on the TARDIS, re-calibrated the doomsday bumpers and jettisoned the karaoke bar then we could probably do it...the TARDIS can...sustain the paradox," she swallowed hard and closed her eyes.
The Doctor took over and allowed Minerva to take her moment to process, "OK, Amy - Past Amy – stand by the door. Future Amy, you too. Future Amy, can I borrow your sonic scr... probe?"
"It's a screwdriver," the future Amy finally let him have it. She handed the screwdriver to Rory who used it on her and her past self.
"Rory, sonic it, double our power," the Doctor instructed, "Amy Now, you're our link to Amy Then. We need to get a signal through. That signal will be a thought. Amy Now and Amy Then, share a thought. Something so powerful that it can rip through time. Rory, sonic the plinth front. Inside you'll find three levers and a jumble of wiring. That's the regulator valve. After we've rebooted, you have ten minutes to get back to the TARDIS. "
"Okay," Rory said as he worked.
"Pull out the red and green receptors, re-route blue into red and green into blue. Leave red loose and on no account touch anything yellow. Come on, Rory. It's hardly rocket science. It's just quantum physics."
Minerva gave a small nude to the Doctor, "They don't teach that in high school you know. Not everyone has some stupid academy-"
"Hey," the Doctor pointed at her.
"Right, what am I saying, you never paid attention anyways," Minerva chuckled.
"I paid loads of attention thank you very much," the Doctor argued, "Just on the subjects I liked."
"Mhm," Minerva crossed her arms and looked back at the scanner while Rory finished up with the Doctor's orders.
"Oh yes," the Doctor moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, "Whenever this certain moon princess talked I listened to every last word she said."
"Yeah sometimes I thought that was just because you wanted a good snog before you left," Minerva mumbled and fiddled with the controls.
"Partly true," the Doctor acknowledged.
"Hey!"
"But it was also because when she spoke she had this sweet, angelic voice that just captivated me..."
Minerva blushed as a kiss was set on her neck, "Well..." she breathed and leaned back on his chest, "...guess that was kinda true."
The Doctor chuckled and kissed her cheek, finally looking at the scanner to see if Rory was done, "Now the lever, Rory," he called, "Throw them in order! Amys, start thinking the most important thought you've ever had. Hold it in your head and do not let it go! Lever one."
Minerva watched the future Amy do a funny little dance she immediately picked up, "...is she doing the Macarena? Why would she do that?"
"Some funny human custom?" the Doctor tried.
"Dunno," Minerva shrugged.
"Lever two, Rory," the Doctor instructed, "Level three!"
"Ah!" Minerva exclaimed as sparks flew from the console, pushing the pair back.
"Are you okay?" the Doctor quickly moved Minerva away from the console as it settled down.
"Yeah," Minerva shook her hand and turned it over to find a small burn on her palm.
"Oh, look at that," the Doctor quickly saw the injury and took her hand.
"Don't you dare use that energy on me," Minerva warned and snatched her hand back, "It's limited and you know it."
"But-"
"Plus, think about it, this kid is going to have half of your genes," she pointed to her stomach, "She'll be as clumsy as you are. Save that energy for her."
"Him," the Doctor pointed and rushed back to the console to avoid another disagreement, "Rory, Rory, take the glasses off. You're getting temporal feedback," he shouted to the companion as the glasses sparked.
"Doctor!" Minerva called as the console proceeded to spew out more sparks and even smoke.
The Doctor had no idea how to fix it and simply went ahead and spoke to the companions, "Rory, Amy, we've created a massive paradox and the TARDIS hates it. She's self-phasing, trying to get out of here. What's nasty Amy done to you? Just calm down, dear," he started cooeing the box, "Hang on in there. Rory, you've got eight minutes left. I'm sorry, you're on your own now."
Minerva saw the scanner turn to static, "Oh no...now what are we gonna do?"
"First of all, I'm gonna ask that you get away from this room," the Doctor turned to her and gestured for her to get to the corridors, "This is not a good, safe environment for you."
"I'm not leaving until we got Rory and an Amy in here," Minerva sucked in a breath and ran up to the console.
"Minerva-"
"No," the ginger cut off the plead and turned to him, "Now button it up and be quiet, do you understand?" she pointed.
The Doctor gave up and nodded, "Alright, fine," he rolled his eyes, "But at least go wait at the doors and stay away from the console."
"That I can do," Minerva agreed, "...mostly cos there was a Mona Lisa there..." she gave a big grin and ran for the doors.
"I don't even think it's that good," the Doctor called to her with a face.
Minerva stopped at the doors and glanced back, "And why do you say that? Cos it was painted by the man who looooves me?"
"He does not love you!" the Doctor turned to her, more irritated than ever, "He can't love you!"
"But I think he does. Even wanted to marry, probably..." Minerva was having far too much fun teasing him. She liked it when he got jealous, it just reminded her how much he loved her and wanted her all to himself.
"Over my dead body!" the Doctor erupted into a shout, making it harder for Minerva to maintain herself from laughing.
"Can you imagine what would've happened if the human me had stayed with Da Vinci instead?" Minerva raised an eyebrow, "I would've became Mrs Da Vinci."
"MINERVA!"
Minerva started laughing, "You were jealous then and jealous now. Don't worry my dear Martian, I like some hot Time Lords instead," she opened the doors and walked out into the gallery, wondering how long it would be until the Doctor cooled off. It was rather funny provoking him.
After a couple minutes, the two Amy's and Rory came running into the gallery room, along with them came several Handbots. Minerva quickly stepped into the doorway, "Hurry!" she called to them.
"Go! I've got your back!" the future Amy assured her younger self and Rory. The young pair ran through the doorway that would soon lead into the gallery room.
However, the past Amy was confronted by a handbot and touched her on the side of her face and knocked her out with anesthesia. Rory managed to shut one handbot down with a trick Amy had taught him. He ran over and took the Mona Lisa painting to ram it over the handbot's head who touched Amy. As Rory picked up Amy and ran towards the console, something the future Amy was able to watch.
"Come in, come in, come in!" Minerva ushered as she held both doors open for them.
Rory ran in and set Amy on the floor, the Doctor hurrying over to check up on her. Minerva looked back at the future Amy with sad, teary eyes. The future Amy realized what was going to happen and so dropped her katana and dashed for the TARDIS.
"I'm sorry," Minerva shut the doors and locked them.
"What are you doing!?" Rory was appalled to see what Minerva had done.
The Doctor ran over to Minerva and took her away from the door, "It's okay, it's okay," he kissed her hair.
"No, it is not okay!" Rory yelled at both of them, "What the hell did you do that for?" he ran for the doors to open them but the Doctor beat him to it and pushed him back.
"We lied to her, Rory," Minerva quietly said.
"Minerva? Doctor?" the future Amy was pounding on the door, "Let me in!"
"There can't be two Amys in the TARDIS. The paradox is too massive," the Doctor tried to explain to Rory.
"She'll die!"
"No, she'll never have existed," Minerva corrected him, "When we save our Amy, this future won't have happened."
"But she happened! She's there!"
"Minerva! Doctor! I trusted you!" the future Amy yelled from the other side.
"No, she's not real," the Doctor sighed and moved back to Minerva.
"She is real," Rory argued.
"Rory, I'm sorry, but it's either you let that Amy in," Minerva pointed at the doors, "And we leave the young Amy out there for 36 years or we keep this young Amy and rewrite the future. Take your pick."
"This isn't fair. You're turning me into you," Rory frowned.
"You think I haven't been faced with terrible decisions during my reign?" Minerva challenged, "Or that the Doctor's had to make the decisions none of you can make? We're sorry, but this is reality. Who do you choose?"
"I, er..." Rory looked a the door where future Amy was still calling.
The Doctor took Minerva's hand and led them away from the doors, allowing Rory to make his decision. They both checked Amy again before heading over to the console.
"Rory? Please," future Amy placed a hand on the window of the door. At the sight, Rory did the same and put his hand on the glass, "The look on your face when you carried her. Me. Her. When you carried her away, you used to look at me like that. I'd forgotten how much you loved me. I'd forgotten how much I loved being her. Amy Pond, in the TARDIS. With Rory Williams."
Rory was in tears and about to give up, even turning the latch of the door, "I'm sorry, I can't do this..."
"If you love me, don't let me in," the future Amy realized what he was going to do and stopped him, "Open that door, I will, I'll come in. I don't want to die. I won't bow out bravely. I'll be kicking and screaming, fighting. To the end."
"Oh, Amy. Amy, I love you," Rory sniffled.
"I love you too. Don't let me in. Tell Amy, your Amy, I'm giving her the days. The days with you. The days to come."
"I'm so, so sorry."
"The days I can't have. Take them, please. I'm giving you my days."
Rory let go of the latch and stepped back, "I'm so, so sorry..."
With the decision made, the Doctor started the de-materialization process and finally got out of there, essentially rewriting the future and erasing the future Amy from the timelines.
~ 0 ~
After Amy had been rescued and woken up, Minerva and the Doctor had left her with Rory who would explain what had happened to her future self. Minerva had claimed she felt awfully tired and almost immediately the Doctor had her scooped in his arms and brought to their bedroom for sleep. And when he believed her to be asleep, he had left her to get conjure up a surprise for when she woke up.
So when Minerva woke up, she came to surprise to find herself alone. She huffed and got out of bed, not even changed to sleeping clothes as she fell asleep before they'd entered the room. She looked around for the Martian, "Doctor?" she called but received no answer.
She left the room and trusted the TARDIS to put the room he was in first. However, she got the most delicious scents and had to turn away from her mission. She followed the scents towards the kitchen and poked her head inside the room, her eyes widening and a gasp escaping her lips.
"You woke up a bit earlier than I guessed," the Doctor made a face as he came out the kitchen to greet her, "Surprise?"
Minerva started smiling as he led her into the room. The entire kitchen was covered in different plates full of cookies. Cookies of all kinds, including Earth and the Monsoon. They all smelled wonderful.
"Is this for me?" she stopped at the counter were odd, blue, squared cookies were piled into a plate.
"Just for you," the Doctor assured, amusingly watching her pick up the blue cookie and take a bite of it.
"Mm, this is delicious," she turned to him, "You want me to get me to the size of an elephant," she accused but still ate nonetheless.
The Doctor laughed and shook his head, "No, this is my way of apologizing for our little disagreement earlier in the day."
"Oh...oh no, don't...don't say you're sorry," Minerva set her half-eaten cookie on the plate, "It was stupid, completely irrelevant. The emotions and my lack of water is just getting to me and I'm taking it out on you. Don't say your sorry."
"I will say I'm sorry because I should understand all that," the Doctor stepped closer to her, setting his hands on her arms, "You're going to be a bit more moody and I need to learn how to calm you...not anger you. It's not good for you nor our baby."
"I'm sorry," Minerva felt the need to apologize, "I promise I'll make my effort not to snap at you. I'll just snap at someone else...like Jack, or Mickey...they usually can tolerate stuff like that."
The Doctor smiled in amusement, "Sure, why not."
"You're incredibly sweet you know..." Minerva smiled softly and moved closer to him, "...where'd you get all these cookies from?"
"Um, well...planets I've been to here and there," the Doctor looked around, "Asked for the most delicious ones and here we are," he picked her up and set her on the counter, "Only the best for my wife."
"Now I feel completely special," Minerva blushed, "And very calm," she leaned down and gave him a kiss, "Thank you, Martian."
The Doctor smiled and nodded, "I promise to get you all your cravings, alright? Anything you want, I am there," he tapped her nose.
"Well...since we're on the topic of cravings..." Minerva bit her lip as she looked around, "...I can't help but notice...there aren't snicker-doodles...I could really go for some snicker doodles. Like the ones my grandmother bakes, mmm..." she closed her eyes and savored the cookies.
"We could ask her for some," the Doctor offered, "But of course we'll have to tell her why..."
Minerva beamed, "Do you think we should?"
"Why not?" the Doctor pushed a strand of her hair from her face, "Tell her she'll be a great-grandmother, I'm sure that'll motivate her to bake you a batches and batches of cookies."
"Let's," Minerva agreed, "We'll tell everyone there and then we could tell Martha and Mickey, oh! And Donna and Shaun!" she gasped and leaned forwards, "What do you think Jenny and River will say? They'll be having a little sibling!"
"Well, I think River won't be that surprised, honestly," the Doctor shrugged, "She's bound to have already seen the birth."
"Oh I can't wait for that!" Minerva exclaimed, "Let's go tell them, then. And then, you know...Amy and Rory..."
"As you wish my goddess," the Doctor took her off the counter and set her on her feet while giving her a kiss.
Minerva playfully rolled her eyes, "My Martian," she pecked his lips and took his hand, practically buzzing with excitement as she wondered how her grandmother would react to the news, along with their family and friends!
Author's Note:
I gotta be honest, part of the lack of updating is because I don't like this episode. I found it so incredibly OOC for Amy that it actually makes me mad xD. I had to quit editing several times because I just couldn't continue! But anyways, here it is and I hope it wasn't too bad!
Just a side note...can you guys believe this story is almost over? Like 4 more chapters to go! ;)
For Reviews:
Riiiight? I'm so happy for them! Baby time is cute time for them!
Weeeelll...it IS fair game in Doctor Who where anything can happen *evil smirks*. Am I that cruel? You pick ;). And happy belated Halloween!
Pretty much it for now! Have a good weekend and see you next time!